When U was spelled V, how could they tell the difference between U and V?

I am sure that you all have been wondering the exact same thing. If you have any theories, feel free to share.

As you are all aware, I am sure, this last week has been a rough one. As I have said before, events like these show us how connected we are. It also reminds us to keep our friends and family close, and when you are far away from both, it makes it double difficult to deal with some of the reactions; especially when the media is chock-a-block with coverage so you cannot get away. As the days progress, I find that I am listening to music a lot more than I had been previously and I only listen to a little bit of the news before I have to turn it off. And that is just the news magazines. I have not been able to listen to any of the interview/talk shows on NPR at all.

While I was off in emotional numbness, many things have been going on here, so I figure I will bring you up to speed:

Crew has started with a bang, rowing five days of the week. This is very exciting, since it gets me out of the flat more in the evening. (Though this also means that I am not quite as likely to sit down and write a post, do not worry, I will work on it… not that I have ever really been that regular.) The Twins managed to sweep the Mariners and then go down to Kansas City and loose the series to the team that is pretty close to an automatic last in the division. I am now taking beginning Spanish as well as Flugmedizin (roughly, flight medicine, but you knew that, right?).

The circumstances of my taking Flight Medicine is a little round about. I do not know if I had vented any of my frustration at my academic advisor at Purdue to you, but to sum it up, he ignored me for two months until I got my mother to call him. It all comes down to the fact that I had been trying to figure out if I needed to take any classes while I was here for two (TWO!) months. And he never replied. Then, after I ‘pulled out the big guns’ (direct quote from Prof Wms.) and finally broke the stalemate, he tells me that it would be nice if I did take one class here. I nearly lost it. I had been trying to get this information out of him for two months and he finally tells me a week and a half after the semester starts. Let us just suffice to say that I was royally teed (speaking of royalty, did anyone not hear that Prince William and Miss Kate Middleton broke it off and then about Willie’s boozing spree? If so, you win a prize for being able to pick you media outlets a lot better than I…). Anyway. This news led me to frantically figure out what class I should take (that had been another issue, nothing was really fitting), which led me to discuss it with my ‘overseer’ at work, which led us to finding a little class called Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin—did I mention that we found this class at 1:30 Friday afternoon…when the class started at 2:05? And I was at the airport? Well, let’s just say that that was the quickest bike ride to campus that I have even pulled off. The normally thirty minute route took me less than twenty. All of the rushing turned out to be not needed, since it ends up that the class will actually start at 2:30 (and go until 5:30—long time for German listening). And that is how I came to take Flight Medicine, which, luckily for me, only started last Friday (a week after other classes) because it only meets every other week, because it is taught by a doctor who works for Lufthansa, and has to come down to Braunschweig special to teach the course. So I did not miss any class, and it only meets twice a month.

Now that you have heard my rant about Prof Wms., what else is there that I can relate to you? Mario moves to Berlin this week. And if he does not get his act together he is going to leave the things I borrowed from him when Dad was here here. His sleeping bag is going to do him a lot of good on my book shelf. Spring is really here. The wild flowers and later flowering bushes are popping up everywhere. Including the dandelions. Hopefully I will be able to get out and take some pictures of the lovely greenery this weekend.

I am sure that you do not want to read any more of my rambling at the moment, so I will leave you with the Worldwide (but really Europe-wide) Security Status Report:

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from ‘Miffed’ to ‘Peeved’. Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to ‘Irritated’ or even ‘A Bit Cross’. Londoners have not been ‘A Bit Cross’ since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from ‘Tiresome’ to ‘A Bloody Nuisance’. The last time the British issued ‘A Bloody Nuisance’ warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

Also, the French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from ‘Run’ to ‘Hide’. The only two higher levels in France are ‘Surrender’ and ‘Collaborate’. The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France’s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.

It is not only the English and the French that are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from ‘Shout Loudly and Excitedly’ to ‘Elaborate Military Posturing’. Two more levels remain: ‘Ineffective Combat Operations’ and ‘Change Sides’.

The Germans have also increased their alert state from ‘Disdainful Arrogance’ to ‘Dress in Uniform and Since Marching Songs’. They also have two higher levels: ‘Invade a Neighbor’ and ‘Lose’.

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed sibs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

It is not terribly charitable and not really even all that true (even stereotypically) to some of the countries that it mocks. However, the first bit and the last two bits just about make up for the other bits. To fully disclose, I found this lying about the printer room at work (incidentally, also my office) and it was, in my opinion, obviously written by an American, or some one quite Americally oriented. And that is not just because the spellings are American and not British.