The Catch-All Post

Since I really don't have that much to post about - just a few little things to comment on - I'm going to lump them all together in this one post.

First, I now have access to this blog from our apartment. One of the subtle reminders that we are living in a co**unist county was the fact that any web site with "blog" in its name was blocked from the internet service in our apartment. I finally found a way that I could post from home but then I couldn't see how the posts looked until I got to the office where access is unrestricted. Anyhow, having access from home will make updating the blog much easier.

Along these same lines, YouTube had always been available here but it was suddenly blocked about a week ago. Now it is back and available again. I'm not sure what happened (it's not like they report this stuff in the news) but maybe they found a way to block only certain content.

Second, if you looked at the pictures I took in Wales, you might recall my sweet ride, the Passat wagon. Well, earlier today I was working on my expense report for that trip and I ran across the receipt where I filled the car before returning it. I'm not sure what fuel prices are in the States but I'm assuming it's still around $3.00/gallon so I was curious how that compares to prices in the United Kingdom. I filled the Passat with a little more than 33 liters of diesel, which cost 33 British pounds. This converts to 8.7 gallons and cost $68, or $7.80/gallon. Interestingly, there were no SUVs to be seen, except for the occasional Range Rover. I guess if you can afford a Rover, $8 for a gallon of fuel shouldn't be a problem.

Lastly, we are being treated to a fireworks show tonight. I don't know what the occasion is but we've had a steady barrage of fireworks for the last two hours. This is not really uncommon but has been happening more frequently lately. Sometimes they don't even wait until it's dark and just set them off in the middle of the day. Someone told me that the Chinese believe it brings good luck to shoot off fireworks whenever you move into a new house or apartment. I don't know if this is true or not - sounds to me like an excuse to play with fire. And these aren't your ordinary, out-of-state, buy-one-get three-free fireworks. This is the good stuff like the pros use. After all, the Chinese did invent gunpowder, you know. This did provide an opportunity to try out the "fireworks" mode on my camera. The pictures didn't come out that great but I think part of the problem was that I was too close (easily within 100 yards). Here's a link to them anyway. http://picasaweb.google.com/baamick/Fireworks