Recess was my favorite subject

And apparently, the same holds true for ole Georgie W. According to CNN, Bush has used a recess appointment to appoint John Bolton (pictured below) as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.

It's hard to argue with this appointment when he has such glowing performance assessments such as "a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" and a "serial abuser" of subordinates" as described by Carl Ford, the former chief of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. I'm sure Bolton, our prince of peace, will do us proud at the U.N. with a fist in one hand and a hooker in the other. Go Team Republicans.

Reality Check

Something happened to me today. It has nothing to do with my trip here in Amsterdam. It was an epiphany. Now I can't get it off of my mind. I'm beginning to realize that I am a fucking idiot. Maybe no more of a dolt than anyone else, but a pillock in my own special way. I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to fix this problem. I'm not sure I have the guts/balls/testicular fortitude to really affect a change in who I am. Eh fuck it. I'm going to finish my work, and then get hammered/pissed/drunk off my ass. Perhaps the blissful state of inebriation will give me some answers. Until then, fuck George W. ( I'm angry at me. Perhaps now is not the best time to run off and play with chloroform. Oh well, fuck it)

Update: Ok, feeling a little better now. The one disadvantage of a foreign country is that all the people you normally bitch to are all thousands of miles away.

Bring on the random

Lets see, a few random thoughts for today...

I'm really tired of the airplanes that buzz my apartment at 7am every morning and then continually throughout the morning and afternoon.

I'm enjoying the relaxed style out here alot. Taking 3 hours to eat dinner is pretty nice actually.

Went out on the town a bit for the first time this weekend. Hooray Beer!

Riding on the back wire metal storage bracket of someone's bicycle, drunk at 3 in the morning, for an hour, going halfway across Amsterdam... really hurts your ass.

The Dutch really like fries. Every Dutch meal I've eaten has included a big plate of fries. But putting Mayo on your fries, I DON'T think so.

What a badass

Go check out this story about a blind kid who can play video games. Not only can he play video games, but apparently he almost never loses. He doesn't use any special brail system either, he just plays normal video games. He claims that he uses audio cues and asks alot of questions when first learning a game. Still, it's pretty amazing.

"Those bold enough to challenge him weren't so lucky. One by one, while playing "Soul Caliber 2," their video characters were decapitated, eviscerated and gutted without mercy by Mellen's on-screen alter ego.

"I'm getting bored," Mellen said in jest as he won game after game."

Productivity?

I'm actually making decent progress on the project that I'm supposed to complete while I'm here. I've almost finished the prototype chamber I'm building to mount onto their Optical Tweezer apparatus Why is this blog worthy? Irony. I am a lazy bastard in Irvine, which is boring as hell. Now I'm in Amsterdam, which I think everyone agrees is NOT boring, and now I'm busting ass in the lab. Must be the shitty weather here. I saw the sun for the first time in 10 days this morning.

Roxanne.... you don't have to put out the Red Light (district)

Yikes, I think I was reaching with that title. Anyways, here is a quick photoblog of the Red Light district (Sorry, no pictures of an prostitutes. Maybe I'll take a few on my next trip there.)

First we start off with a trip to the Erotic Museum. It's a funny little museum with lots of strange old pictures and some funny videos.


Next stop, the Hash Marijuana Hemp Museum. They had some pretty crazy looking old pipes and bongs. Plus, they have a big room where they grow pot. I've had a few friends who had maybe one or two little pot plants, but this was a green house dedicated to them. In a word: impressive.

I didn't actually go into here, it was really crowded but this is apparently a famous little coffee shop.

Here is my token canal picture in the Red Light District. I never realized how many canals this city had until I came here.

And here is a picture of Central Station, which is the main hub for the transit system in Amsterdam.

Dutch T.V.

So, I've now had the opportunity to watch some Dutch Television and there are some distinct differences from U.S. television.
1) They show boobs on Television! Ok, in all seriousness, I have seen boobs on various channels and at a variety of different times during the day and night.
2) There are these late night "dating" shows that are like our phone sex commercials in the U.S. I'm not 100% sure that you are buying prostitutes through your television, but that's my guess. I particularly started thinking that when the host of one of these shows took off her panties and put them in the envelope, and then something in Dutch popped on screen. I'm not sure if she was selling them, or if they were a gift to the next caller.
3) MTV here is a somewhat different. Instead of just having rap videos on 24/7, they actually have a nice variety of rock, rap and techno/dance music. And to my amazement, their videos featuring female artists are not contests to see who can wear the sluttiest whore outfit. Sorry Britney.
4) CNN international is FAR better than the CNN we see in America.
5) World and environmental issues are not only in the news here all the time, but they actually emphasize them.
6) Almost forgot, Metallica documentary on MTV is much better uncensored. See item 1)