More adventures at the nail salon

Today the conversation started somewhere about wine, and I told how much I liked the Georgian Wine that we had at the wine shop in Zakopane. (The winoteka is pictured here.) One of the Ukrainian ladies told me a liquor store she was certain had Georgian wine.

This exchange led the other client to ask about my being in Poland. Then she began to tell me about being in Warsaw in 1979 on a faculty exchange. It was fascinating to hear what life was like as an American in Warsaw then. She went on to tell me the Polish director to whom she reported during this time gave her the standard party speeches about what she could and could not do. She said that she did some things on the not to do list such as exchange money on the black market. She also told me she smuggled in paper and ink wrapped as Christmas gifts to be used for underground newspapers. She said after Poland gained its freedom the Polish director wrote her and thanked her for all she had done for Poland.

What a blessing it was for me to be at the nail shop at just the right time! I think I have more fun at the nail shop than anyone -- this may also serve as a commentary to the blog entry from David in Poznan about women seem to have a different hair cut experience than men.

Adventures in Reading

They're gone! Our city is returning to normal. Thank heavens! Now time is available for other things.

I stumbled into a story about Georgia (the country)on the New York Times web page and that reminded me one can read Europe news there. So I looked to see what was on the page for Poland. Much to my surprise I find the missle system heading for Poland was designed by a Polish man. Read more here:

http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/russian-bullying-backfires-in-poland/index.html

Signs of Gustav

About 7 PM I headed out for a few groceries. About 45 minutes later when I was in the car coming home, I saw a beautiful, beautiful sky. There was clouds in pink-orange cloud like cotton candy against the almost aqua sky we get in the fall. Sorry no camera with me.

Later I hear these clouds are the end of Gustav. Amazing!

Convention Observations

Today I had to go to work. That takes me through the convention area, so I chose to ride the bus rather than attempt to drive. The first thing I noticed is that the most reliable bus in my home area wasn't totally reliable on the schedule. One should come at least every 15 minutes, but we waited longer than that. When the bus finally arrived, one came right behind another. The bus ride was usual until we got about 3 blocks from the Xcel Center where the convention is held. Then we were on a long detour around it. That made the usual 25 minute bus ride take almost an hour.

Coming home, the bus came on schedule. I was glad I was on the bus because it was definitely bumper to bumper traffic. Going so slow allowed me to see a few things. First I was a bit puzzled about a van that said Capitol City Police Service and had a logo obviously from Washington D.C.

Near the Minnesota Capitol area I could see a lot of tents and what looked like a minor protest being organized. A bit later we went by a bus display -- the best word I can find for it for an organization called votesmart.org. Haven't looked that up. (Oh later, I did look it up and it reminded me that this is called the Voters Self Defense Bus. The web site says it was at the Democratic convention, too. You can see a picture of the bus on the web site.)

Then we went by a huge video screen being operated by something called Vote Blue Minnesota. It is displaying pictures of politicians involved in the Abrahamoff scandal as we went by. Later this evening I learned this is sponsored by two very average Minnesota Democrats who decided they wanted to create an alternate message nearly two years ago when it was announced that the RNC would here. They spent a good part of the retirement funds to do this for four years.

A slight way later I could see down a hill to the Xcel Center and noticed a lot of tents obviously not usually there. The biggest tent had the FoxNews logo on it.

Oh, I forgot the biggest hit in town. We went by the History Theater which is being used by the Daily Show. The lines to get in there rival the convention.

One more day of this and then they leave town. I suspect it will be the last time St. Paul bids on a convention for awhile. It's a lot more trouble than its worth. Readers from elsewhere may find the best source of local news to be the Minnesota Public Radio web site: www.mpr.org

I've changed the photo to the right to the Xcel Center for a few days, so that folks elsewhere can better envision this place.

I'll add that during this ride through middle class neighborhoods and then down Summitt Avenue where the houses are over the million dollar mark I didn't see a single lawn sign for the Republican candidates. I thought certainly if anyone was supporting the McCain candidate that during the RNC they would have signs up. If you don't understand about the signs, lawn signs are a big thing in Minnesota, something I really don't like about Minnesota. I don't like anyone put a lawn sign on my property.

Adventures in Life

I have to scream at the world! I just watched Cindy McCain being saluted for adopting two girls from an international orphanage Been there and done that myself. Now I see Palin being saluted for raising a child who is developmentally delayed. Been there and done that too. And they are saluting her for supporting a teen age daughter who became pregnant. Been there and done that. And not only have I done all those things, I did it alone as one of maligned "single parents."

I'm not at all impressed with the honoring of these women. There have been many of us who have done just exactly the same thing, and we don't have any political convention saluting us!!

Adventures with the weather & the RNC

The past few days have been very warm -- nearly 90 degrees and very muggy, and the air conditioner isn't working. Well, at this stage of summer one doesn't fix it, and hopefully by next summer I won't be living here anywhere. So I'm very glad we've had a 25 degree drop in the temperature in the last 22 hours. Life is much more comfortable.

The local news is that the out of hand protesters were not part of the original protest.

And now this afternoon, an intersection is closed due to a package under questions.

First Day of Convention

Update
It is being reported that about 250 people were arrested today, more than the total in Denver. The difference -- there wasn't a huge antiwar protest in Denver. There are an estimated 10,000 participants in today's demonstraton protest, and I think they will continue during the next few days.

Things did get out of hand. Had it been a work day, and had I gone to work, I would have driven home right into the a protest in an unexpected place. But I've always thought what we needed to plan for was the unexpected would happen during these days.

I stayed home all day sorting and moving things around with the goal of moving sometime in the next few months. Meanwhile here's what happening in Saint Paul:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/09/01/protestsmonday/

It is locally reported that nearly all the national media has left Saint Paul deciding instead to cover the hurricane instead. If you have a convention and no one listens, is it a convention?