The Chris Cardé Experience

Davis is a funny place. Perhaps this is neither unique nor uncommon, but I still hold a special place in my heart for the town, no matter how anal the town is towards the students -- especially in spite of, or perhaps because of the brilliant mix of yuppie + militant NIMBY activism pursued by the town residents.

The title of this post has nothing to do with the contents. I just felt compelled to share it with the world. You've been warned -- and, I hope, are happy to hear that you're not embarking on a reading adventure about my hair. I mean, gel IS keeping my hair down, so the analogy fits. It's just not really blog-worthy.

Two good friends from college, Rona and Wayland, tied the knot in the East Bay a few weeks ago... It was a great wedding -- intimate, personable, fun, and -- enhanced by the presence of a bunch of college friends who I just don't see enough of these days. The ceremony itself was in Union City, followed by a Chinese banquet in Oakland's Chinatown. I wish that I had been more of the party in a box that I know I can be.... but to be fair, I basically stepped off of the flight home from Germany, dropped a suitcase at my house, and went to the rehearsal dinner. Jetlag's a bitch. I must be getting old!

Jetlag consumed any photographic ambitions I had for the rehearsal dinner, but I was rip-roarin' to go the next morning! Following are some of the highlights:

Lauren helping Wayland (the groom, of course) achieve penultimate levels of spiffiness before the ceremony

Post-coffee, pre-ceremony waiting around... With camera, of course!

More below the fold. Click Read More to continue!

Seasoned, multilingual world travelers probably take great pleasure in immersing themselves in the local tongue. If you're language-retarded like me (need proof? I took Intro To remedial German AFTER living in Germany for 7 months and still needed help), however, your alternative is to take simple pleasure in the funny English phrases observed all around you. Yes, that's right. I don't speak German and I laugh at others' efforts to speak my language. I'd also laugh at toddlers who fall while learning to walk, but am only on Step 7 of my 12-Step Being-a-Meanie program.

So anyway, while taking the ICE home from Freiburg last night I noticed a funny one... Public transit in Germany is wonderfully proactive about giving you all the information you need when you need it. So, for example, when any train, subway, streetcar, etc is pulling into a station they will generally announce on what side the doors will open. Side-note: this compensates for -- or reinforces depending on how you look at it -- the German tendency to get up and stage at the exits of your transit vehicle at least 5 minutes early. Fitting with the perfectly space-aged decor, the ICE has a pretty little LED sign at the end of each coach cabin that informs passengers with relevant and timely information, such as the next stop, ETA, current [relativistic] speed, and of course -- as you approach a station -- what side to get off. And that's the best part. The standard phrasing is: Please Alight in the Direction of Travel: Right. (or Left. You know.)

Along similar lines, I came across a tremendously funny entry in one of my favorite expat-in-Germany blogs (authored by the wonderfully witty Molly B.) while living here last year. The original entry is here, but I'll reprint the funniest part below.

Yeah, I think I've had that exact conversation at work more than once. Unfortunately, this is where the language barrier (and coarse translations) end up causing interpersonal frustration and (sometimes) anger -- something that we would expect to be expressed delicately ends up coming out with all the finesse of a sledgehammer. I much prefer the funny signs and translations you come across while roaming Europe on the weekend. At work it can hit a little too close to home.

I have to say, however: I'm very happy to be back in Stuttgart. I forgot how much I enjoyed the flavor of life here. It looks like I may be moving back here sooner than later - stay tuned!

"It's not a recession, it's a correction!
Correction: it's a recession."

A quote from the mainstream media's seemingly daily coverage of -- oh my gosh! -- gas prices;

Really? Does this circular logic really pass for critical journalistic thinking these days? The price of gas will come down due to... the price of gas? Thanks, CNN! I'm going to go back to watching The Daily Show for news now.

<sarcasm>In other news, somebody sent me a forward telling me about this awesome plan where nobody's going to buy gas on a single day, and we're totally going to stick it to the oil company man. It's totally awesome because you don't even have to drive less. Just buy the same amount of gas the next day! Brilliant!</sarcasm>

Keith Olbermann deserves a whole heap of credit. His commentary on MSNBC calling out the Clinton campaign's pattern of negativity, double-standards, reality distortion, and pandering to the politics (and constituents) of the minute was nothing short of awe-inspiring. He managed to encapsulate so much of the disgust, revulsion, and angst that I (and I suspect many fellow progressive Democrats) have experienced in watching the Clinton camp's response to this latest uproar. Watch the video through the end, and you'll see Mr. Olbermann put together a fairly damming argument drawing from a range of observations on the Clinton campaign's strategy showing that the Clinton camp is engaging in a shameless campaign of racial division and double-talk.

If you're viewing this on Facebook, come on over to my blog at carde.com to see the embedded video.

What's absolutely stunning (and telling) is that Keith Olbermann takes great pains to identify himself as siding with neither Clinton or Obama in the primary process. If this is how undecided voters see these actions, it'd be supremely interesting to be a fly on the wall of her campaign war room to understand how they think this will help the candidate and the party win this November.

Nonetheless, I'd like to give Keith Olbermann the highly coveted (ha ha) Chris Cardé Prize for Non-Awfulness In Cable News. Congrats, Keith. This would be the first time I've seen a news show (excepting The Daily Show, of course) call out a politician or campaign on their bullshit. There might be hope for cable news yet.

Wednesday saw my return to San Francisco from Corpus Christi, Texas, where I had joined the Obama for America campaign's final sprint to the Texas Two-Step as a volunteer. Long story made short: it was an amazing experience. The spirit, determination, energy, and intelligence of the people working and volunteering for the campaign are nothing short of breathtaking. Frankly, I'm addicted, and can't see any other reasonable option but to rejoin the ground operation in Pennsylvania in advance of their April 22nd primary.

Fellow volunteers -- two of whom also hail from the S.F. Bay Area.