Month: October 2006

  • An Ode to Toyota Turkey


    So it's official now that I've lived in Turkey for a little over a year.  I will not miss narrowly avoiding cars trying to turn left from the far right lane using the cover of pedestrians playing chicken with us.  I will not miss the look of bewilderment of a face gazing upon a real, live Asian for the very first time.  I will not miss the pungent musk of working class men (and women).  What I will miss is Toyota Turkey.  This morning, I took my 2000 Solara to the Toyota Service and Dealership here in Ankara, and had my oil changed, a brake light replaced, a punctured tire replaced with one that I brought, all four tires rotated, and a car wash to boot.  All for the grand total of less than $20 dollars. 


    It's almost like stealing, and it brings out the imperialist in me.



  • Here we come, KOREA!!!

    Ok, fine, that was really gay...


  • We're Moving Again...


    Although not for another year.  Here is the list we submitted in order of preference for our next post:






























































































































































    Order Location Position TED Lang Comments
    1 Seoul Con-Econ 12/07 KP 2/0 I think we have a good chance at this if you stress cone and home country
    2 Seoul Con-GSO 05/08 NONE In FSBid, in the description, mentions nothing about rotating to GSO
    3 Seoul Con 05/08 KP 2/0 We'd get this
    4 Berlin Econ 07/08 GM 3/3 Position is Econ, category is Pol, job is analysis and reporting. Bad timing, but possible
    5 Luxembourg PAO 05/08 GM 3/3 Good timing, and at least it's not Consular
    6 Pretoria SA 12/07 NONE Interesting position, but interesting enough to go to South Africa?
    7 Nassau Con-Pol/Econ 10/07 NONE Not just Consular, and nice place
    8 Managua Pol/Econ 06/08 QB 3/3 Good job and better than Consular. Reviews on Nicaragua neutral
    9 Guatemala Con-Pol 04/08 QB 3/3 Got really good reviews
    10 Munich Con 04/08 GM 3/3 Consular, but better than Mexico
    11 Frankfurt Con 05/08 GM 3/3 Consular, but better than Mexico
    12 Tijuana Con 03/08 QB 3/3 Best location
    13 Matamoros Con 02/08 QB 3/3 Border and beach town
    14 Guadalajara Con 05/08 QB 3/3 Best reviewed Mexican post
    15 Hermosillo Con 06/08 QB 3/3 Another Mexico
    16 Helsinki Con 10/07 NONE Nice, but cold
    17 Mexico City Con 05/08 QB 3/3 Big city
    18 Monterrey Con 01/08 QB 3/3 Not sure about this one
    19 Port-of-Spain Pol-Con 12/07 NONE Reviews say mission is very poorly managed, but better than Lima
    20 Santiago Con 04/08 QB 3/3 Don't really want this one


    And the winner is...


    tune in tomorrow...


     

  • More Education


    If you have like 40 minutes to spare, check out this online discussion of jihad and Islamic conversion.  It's basically these three American dudes beating up on this Turkish dude, and the last American guy is kind of annoying, but some great history and information in a (relatively) quick read.


    http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24999


    And here are some discussion questions to go along with it:


    1.  So I think we can all agree that a Christian version of Shari'a would not be good.  But wouldn't that naturally occur if the majority of your nation was truly Christian?  And if you think not, then why shouldn't it, you liberal nazi?


    2.  (For all you conspiracy theorists out there):  Is Pope Benedict the anti-Christ?  Personally, I think he looks really freaky.  And this whole business with the quote of the Byzantine emperor bashing Mohammad just makes my head spin, both the original speech and his subsequent responses.  This dude's up to something, man.  Very, very fishy if you ask me...

     

    p.s.  I will post some organized thoughts at some point...


  • Education at Warp-Speed


    Check out this flash presentation to see the the last 5000 years of Middle East history in only 90 seconds:


    http://www.mapsofwar.com/


    The Mongols kicked some serious butt...


     

  • Woohoo!!!  Yankees suck!  

    Go Mets!!!


thehoojer

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