This strange English language,

Last night, someone said "good evening" to me in English.

He meant "good night".

But they _should_ be the same, shouldn't they? The words "evening" and "night" are almost the same, so why not use them interchangably?

What a great language!

Here's my take on the subject in American English (British, Canadian, and Australian might be different):

"Good evening." is only used as greeting, but "Have a good evening." is a way of saying "goodbye".

"Good night." or "Have a good night." are both ways of saying "goodbye".

But, from the Hardy Boys books in my childhood, I also learned that "Good night!" is an old way of saying "Oh, my goodness!"

Further thoughts on this? Please comment!

Obese man in his underwear

So there's a guy who lives across the street from my apartment. His living room window is straight across from the window in the room where I sometimes sit to use my laptop.

He's big and likes to wear "wife-beater" undershirts while sitting in his chair. Thankfully, I can't see him from the waist down. Sometimes he smokes a pipe. I don't think that's very common in Egypt.

I especially find this strange/funny because when I visit James and Linda, when walking down their stairs, there's an apartment you see into beside them where a guy sits in his underwear!

Ah, the joys of living close to other people!

I'm a Star Trek geek!

Alright, as some of you may know, I love Star Trek! It began as a fascination with the old series, meeting James Doohan once as a child, then getting into the movies as they came out. After that, I watched some of the new series, but it just wasn't the same.

Anyway, I just read today that CBS/Paramount are releasing updated versions of the old episodes, with updated special effects, sound, and music. Wow!

Prescription Drug Assistance

As I ponder my near future of insurance that will have a high deductible and no coverage for medications, I find sites like these quite interesting:

Together Rx Access
and
Partnership for Prescription Assistance

Essentially, these are broad programs for low-income households to help them get discounts on prescription medications. There's a short application and if you meet the requirements, then you get a free card which you show at pharmacies.

Affordable health care is still a serious problem in the US and this isn't the solution, but it's a step in the right direction.

Tennessee?

Just chatted on MSN Messenger with my friend David. He was in an airport somewhere in Tennessee, waiting for his flight back home to Michigan. Ah, the wonders of wireless technology! As I type this, he's hopefully boarding his plane and get back to Michigan quickly and safely.

I can't believe I scooped him on this. He didn't even write anything in his own Blog while in the airport! I'll allow it this time, since I know how tired he is.

Speaking of which, it's about time for _me_ to head for bed!

Bees!

I was reminded today that I don't like bees. Okay, maybe a few of them are OK but at my local bakery/sweet shop, there was a swarm around some of the trays. Bees were...well, making a "bee line" (can't believe I actually used that expression almost in context) to the really sweet items and using the aisle to get there.

My choice was to be in the aisle where the bees were flying, or standing outside in the sun. Not good choices. It was 1.30pm and we seem to be having a mini-heat wave, so the breeze feels like when you open up your oven! Anyway, I chose the sun b/c that was only temporary discomfort. Making the bees angry could resulted in a pain that lingered.

I was able to keep my nervousness in check b/c I was aware of it. I just tried to be aware of where the bees were, what they were doing, and how I was reacting.

I'm not sure if this is a "normal reaction" (not that a situation comes up in everyday life very often), of if I'm overly-sensitive.

You see, as a young child I used to walk barefoot through our yard to get the mail. One summer I got stung by bees several times in a short period of time. I guess the doctor then declared me "allergic". I'm not sure if I've gotten stung since then, so I don't know what kind of reaction I would have. Hmmm...maybe I should have an allergy test done at the doctor when I get back from the US to check for this and other things.

New pics!

Well, it's getting to the end of the month, so I thought I should upload as many pics as possible onto Flickr. There's quite a variety of pictures from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy and comment here, please! This one was our small group for Ultimate Frisbee in Cairo on Tuesday.

Feast or Famine!

So yesterday was a really busy day. I only ate breakfast, snacked during the day, and then had dinner. Unfortunately breakfast was before 8am and dinner was after 9pm! But dinner was at my favorite take-away restaurant in Tanta!

But today, I went with people on an all-day trip to a retreat center in a village outside Tanta. Actually, it's 2 days and people stayed the night, but there weren't enough beds for everyone so I came back. Just as well -- I need to rest up and prepare for classes that start Saturay!

Anyway, it was a big day of socializing, meetings, and eating -- lots and lots of eating! Yummy stuff, too!

From the Comments...

If you're like me (are you?), you often skip over the comments link in Blogs. Thinking this is true, I've decided to post 2 recent comments here and reply to them:

From Mary, regarding my announcement of the Chat Contest winners:
" Does that mean those of us who lost don't get visits? :-( "

No, but it means you should try to win future contests. *grin*

I'm not actually sure what it means. Of course, I want to visit lots of people! It seems I will have the time. That's a good start. Beyond that, I'm giving preference to people who live in the warmest climates to visit in January and February. I'd also love to be able to have a bed/couch to crash on and possibly some home-cooked food. But I'd better not ask for too much!


And from Erik, in response to my post about shoes:
" I think of you every time I see "that guy" on campus who wears shorts and sandals no matter the weather. :) "

This made my day! *laugh* Some of you understand this comment, others don't. It boils down to the fact that while at Albion, I was known to walk around during the winter in shorts and sandals. Generally, this was just a few yards from the door of our residence hall to the door of the dining hall. Sometimes it was across campus. *grin* Hey, I still have all my toes -- so no harm done!!!

I wore shoes yesterday

That may not seem like a strange thing to you, but it is to me! I think that's 2 times I've worn shoes since April or May.

No...I don't run around barefoot! *yuck* I just like wearing sandals when the weather is warm!