UAE
 

What's up fellas? WOO! LAND!

WOOHOO!!!!!

That must have been the fastest post I've ever seen!

hey ardent... glad to know you're all right. Say hi to the arab emirates for me.

Remind me to share a fairly humorous UAE-related story later on....

That's the first time in the history of the world this sentence has been said.

:D

Thinking the same thing. :D

Oooh Oooh Oooh, I know this story.

I'm just glad SD decided to mention it before I had to :)

Just jogged my memory......:D

Ardent,

Get your butt home so we can attend a Cards game. They can't seem to beat the Reds and are talking about trading Vina and/or Drew.

Todd

They're about the only two struggling right? I saw the tail end of the 4-2 loss. What a bummer.

At least we're done with them, we can move on to bigger and better things.

Who would we get in a trade? A reliever? Why would anyone trade for a reliever??

Dola, I've had a pretty good time out here. Pizza, soda, and some rugby practice. We'll be playing the Dubai (sp?) Exiles in a couple of days and we're busy teaching people the rules now. Hopefully tomorrow's practice goes better than todays.

I'm off to posting elsewhere, I got to get my money's worth!

Ah, UAE -- I hit a homerun in softball with a wooden bat there once.

We have one more game with them tonight ( 4 game set ). Drew hasn't played much yet, hit what I thought was the game winning HR two nights ago, but the bullpen blew up again. Not having Izzy available is killing us.

I've heard talk about Armando Benitez.


Todd

Actually, that game is going on right now. It will be over about 4:30. Same time I get off work. #@$#@ traffic!!! *&@#**&@# Reds!!!!!!

One other thing, I don't know how I forget to mention it, but I got MY ORDERS TODAY! I leave in October and I'll be in schools from November until the end of March! I've been walking on air all day!

Don't the cards start a 3 game set with the Cubs for 1st place in the Central tomorrow? GO CUBS!

Don't hate!

Tie game 3-3 right now, damn Austin Kearns has been killing us.

Cubs who?


Todd

Hopefully they'll beat each other up, the Astros will keep their six game winning streak going, and by the end of the week the 'Stros will be in first!

Bottom of the 6th 5-4 Cards. I'm rooting for a 5-5 tie until the 12th inning to keep the cars of the road until after 5.

Dola. 8-6 Reds top of the eighth. I can't believe they are going to sweep the Cards in a four game series. That makes 5 of the last six series won for the locals with Milwaukee coming in this weekend for a chance at 6/7.

Damn Aaron Boone, 3 hrs today? He's the guy who hit the walkoff hr in the first game. Unreal.

Todd

All 3 were to lead off innings too. Either the Reds pitching is finally improving, or the Cards are in a bad hitting slump.

Either way, a 4 game sweep of the Cards is pretty rare for us Redleg fans.

Is that their nickname or their status in life?

Game's over. 8-6 now everybody get to your cars and get the heck out of my way!

Funny, I'm trying to teach Turks how to hit a softball and run to first base to get their beer...

Damn Reds!

Actually, good game today by the Reds. Although Renteria's two run error didn't help much.

Oh well, back to life in Chicago.


Todd

Ok....so my wife and I dated long distance for around 2 years, but before we got engaged, we thought it would be wise to live in the same city for a bit, so she moved to Atlanta. Now, she worked for a large bank chain in a VERY small town in North Carolina, and had never lived in a city larger than Greensboro, North Carolina. So, she moves to the A-T-L with the bank, and takes over the management of a branch in what is perhaps THE most multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual part of the city. To give you an example of what I'm talking about, the last time I heard, the nearby Clarkston First Baptist Church had different services for FIVE different languages (English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Ethiopian). World Vision settles refugees in this community from EVERYWHERE. I know there is a large population of Bosnians, and a scattering from many Middle Eastern countries. So, into this extreme multicultural melting point my small-town, somewhat-naive Chapel Hill grad wife-to-be is dropped.

With the many language barriers they faced at the branch, she typically learned to adapt well. However, the one task that drove her NUTS was that to reduce traffic in the teller line, one of her manager duties was taking care of wire transfers to foreign countries. Given the community that her branch was in, it wasn't unusual for her to spend half of her day just doing wire transfers. Many times she'd just stare blankly when she was handed a wire transfer form that had been filled out completely written in Arabic or Far Eastern characters. :) (She typically handled these by getting them to just tell her the information. Often the folks could SPEAK enough English to communicate where the money was going, but they couldn't WRITE it well enough)

Well, one afternoon very shortly after she started there, I was meeting her and taking her to lunch. I was standing nearby waiting for her, when a middle-aged, very polite Arab man came up to her and said he'd like to do a wire transfer. She looked at the form, and it was written in Arabic. So, she begins her typical "tell-me-where-it-needs-to-go" dialog. It went something like this:

Jennifer: "What country is this going to?"
Customer (with strong middle-eastern accent): "U.A.E."
Jennifer: "Excuse me?"
Customer: "U.A.E."
Jennifer: "I'm sorry, I don't understand you."
Customer: (slowly, with strong middle-eastern accent): "U......A......E"
Jennifer: "Sir, I need to know what COUNTRY."
Customer: "U.A.E"
Jennifer: (using the time-tested American method of talking LOUDLY, thinking that will cause a non-English-speaker to understand) "Sir, I need to know what COUNTRY, COUNTRY. You know, like the United States is a COUNTRY. Germany is a COUNTRY. Iran is a COUNTRY. What COUNTRY???"
Customer: "U.A.E"
Ben, unable to contain his snickering any longer, standing on the side: "Uh, honey, U.A.E. IS a country. It stands for United Arab Emirates....."
Jennifer (says nothing, face turns BEET red!)

:D

She and I STILL joke about this one, even though it happened over five years ago.

That/s funny story, Ben, hadn't heard that one before.

I came across that a lot when I was there (not saying your wife was one). It seems that most of these in-state UNC folks knew was only their little domain (since it was ingrained into them from birth) and therefore, to shelter their ignorance of the world, they form their own culture to keep Yankees and Westerners on the outside. :D <--that means don't shoot or ban me

1. Well, in many parts of the Deep South, "Yankees" and "Westerners" are pretty much one and the same. They all fit in the category of "people we don't really trust."
2. And that's a bad thing because......?????? ;)

I found that odd. I lived in North Carolina, so getting into UNC-Ch was a rather insignifigant task for me(friends at my high school with sub-1000 SATs got in easily). But when I left the state, many people at Georgia Tech were AMAZED I turned down the chance to go to UNC. Where I was, North Carolina, I viewed UNC as a rather easy school to get into and Georgia Tech as an extremely prestigious one. Many Georgia residents I talked to as a freshman had the exact opposite opinion, UNC is a great school, what do you want to come to Georgia Tech for!?

ANYWAY, the point of that is, UNC is a huge school, and you're almost certainly going to be exposed to the student populations of Duke and NC State during your stay there. I find it hard to imagine that a UNC grad would have such a cultural ignorance of the world that you guys are talking about.

I'm not doubting it or saying you're crazy, but I'm suprised by the statement.

I wonder how different that is now with the explosion of Research Triangle Park bringing so many different kinds of people to the area in the last 8-10 years.

Well, she dated a Dookie for a while, but hey, she was a Tri-Delt, give her a break!!! At the time she was in college scholarly pursuits were not her #1 priority. ;)

that sounds like a very long way of calling your wife a dumbass.

Sorry, I've been possessed by Fritz. :)

I have a good friend with whom I went to law school at UNC-CH. She is very bright and very well educated, but very poorly travelled. She grew up in Ashville and went to HS there. She went to UNC undergrad because it was a great school and super cheap in-state. She went to UNC law for the same reason. Her whole family still lived in state, so by the time I met her in law school, she had almost never left N.C..

When I asked her about her lack of globetrotting, she pointed out that she never had a good reason to leave. The state is beautiful, the weather is great, the people are friendly, and the schools are good and cheap. If there are enough people out there like her, I can see how people from UNC can have the reputation as sheltered. As far as Dook and State go--Chapel Hill is better and more fun than Durham or Raleigh, so again--why would you leave to go mingle with the other students?

In a way, it makes me jealous. As much as I love my home state (Louisiana), I had to leave it to take advantage of the opportunities of which I wanted to take advantage.

Dola--

Now I want to hear a funny SD story about Djibouti.

No, not at ALL! She BREEZED through grad school with a 4.0 GPA. From what she has told me, back in her college days, things like studying and getting a bigger picture of the world were not very high on the agenda.

Radii, I knew that would bring a response from you. You are right except that I was solely talking about my experience at Chapel Hill from 15-20 years ago, when the RT was just beginning and technologies we take for granted was in their infancy. As far as the student population (undergrad), it was easy for a NC native to get into UNC (85% of the undergrads were in-state). That's the point. It was/is one finest state schools in the country, US News has always rated UNC as one of the best bargains. Because of this, I didn't experience much diversity of the student population beyond the dyed-in-the-carolina blue wool that perpuated generation after generation. This is not unique to UNC but as you experienced, UNC does have quite a reputation throughout the country (everywhere I have lived since then has a local UNC Alumni organization). Duke, on the other hand, was just too foreign for most UNC students and it was perceived that they were just a snobby school for Northerners. NCState was for the poor schmucks that couldn't even get into UNC for some reason. :)

By point about culturalism wasn't so much of ignorance but strong provincialism and localism, which - as I studied in grad school there - is a characteristic trait of many traditional Southern institutions and organizations, not just schools but businesses as well. SkyDog was being funny but really, he is right. It didn't matter what level of experiences and knowledge I (or other outsiders) had to bring into the department, the good-old-boys/girls did things their own way - as they had always been doing them for years - and didn't take kindly anyone telling them 15-20 yrs ago the emperor didn't have any clothes. :)

As far as UNC being prestigious, it is a good school and very tough to get into from out-of-state. I believe the state mandates that 82% of its students be from North Carolina, so it makes it tough for out-of-staters to get in. This also contributes to many in-staters, who may be viewed as unqualified, getting in.

And suddenly, the whole UAE story becomes very clear :)

I guess what I expected, and remember, I spent 18 years in the area(Wake Forest, NC) before coming to Georgia Tech, but I never really spent any time at the universities save for visiting friends for a night when I was back home... ANYWAY, I picture NC State as a poor mans Ga Tech. It's a good engineering school, and a good math school, which, not to stereotype TOO much, attracts a signifigant number of non-white non-southerners. And with Duke being private and so damn expensive, it would attract all kinds of people from all over I would think.

So, I would have expected a much more diverse experience. But I totally see the point you're making.

And yeah the UNC thing disgusted me. Like I said, going to Atlanta people were shocked I wouldn't jump at the chance to go to UNC. My response is, "What do you mean? I have friends that have never left the county, that got 850s on their SATs, who are at UNC right now. I wanted to go to a school that would be challenging!" That actually pissed off a few people, with replies like "really, I have a 1350 SAT score and was valedictorian and I didn't get in there"... public schools are weird I guess. :)


Bucc, why did you know I'd reply? :) I'm loyal to the area because I grew up there, and loyal to the death to UNC basketball, but I do have my basketball and education separate and in perspective :)

Heh....comments galore..

1. Bucc: Without letting her read this thread, I asked her what the average UNC student's view of the Duke student body was. She responded (and this is pretty much a direct quote): "They had a huge population of Yankees and Asians, most of whom were pretty much non-socially-adept nerds. They all thought they were sooooo much smarter and better than us in general."

2. Jon, from what I can tell, Tri-Delt was one of, (if not the), most presitigious sororities there at the time (wy wife was a freakin' state deb....Ross Perot's daughter was a sorority sister of hers...etc etc etc). As I said though, she is definitely NOT the vapid, clueless type portrayed in the SNL skit. She's very intelligent. She WAS, however, a big part of the high society social scene in college days. Her life has changed tremendously since then, chiefly due to her beginning a journey with Christ since then.

3. Jen's view of NC State is much more like Buc's than Radii's--made up mostly of in-state folks who couldn't get into Chapel Hill. She said that "NC State was filled with middle class-to-wealthy kids who weren't too bright, so they couldn't get into Chapel Hill, but wouldn't 'lower themselves' to go to UNC-Greensboro or UNC-Wilmington."

Sorry 'bout that SD, I just couldn't help having a little fun about the Tri-Delt thing.

Whenever I hear them mentioned, I immediately flash to the incredibly funny "Southern Belle Primer: Or Why Princess Margaret Will Never Be A Kappa Kappa Gamma".
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385416679/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/103-5912117-4723031?v=glance

And between the descriptions of the various sororities & the importance of china patterns in the life of a Belle, I just can't help but chuckle everytime I'm reminded of any of it.

I give my own wife a world of grief whenever her DZ affiliation comes up, so at least I'm not singling anybody out :)

You guys that spent time there(or had wives there) during their college years would know a lot more than me :) My impressions was based on giving NC State credit for being a very solid engineering school and the stereotypes I saw at Ga Tech b/c of that.

Jon--I just checked out that link. I am shocked and appalled that the Junior League in Denver just lets anyone in. Whoever HEARD of such blasphemy???

Also, I reckon it is time to come clean a little more. True Southerners will understand the significance of these two statements:

My wife's maiden name is Ravenel. We're celebrating our 5th Anniversary by spending a weekend in Charleston.

Carry on.

That sounds like a scared man. SkyDog, does she hurt you? Its not your fault, you can talk to us. I am sure one of us could take her if need be. (Not me, I have a horrible history fighting girls 0-3, 3 times knocked the F*ck Out)