Angelo's visit and other musings updated

I invited Angelo to be a guest speaker to my class on Friday. It was a really fun day, and he did a great job. I believe it is always good to bring in a fresh face and a new voice from time to time. He spoke off the cuff and well. I chimed in to amplify a point or to crack wise. I've read about team teaching, and if this is any indication, I like it. He spoke to my seniors about Beautify CNMI, blogging, developing your communication skills and going off to college in the states as a Chamorro.

In Asia, students just don't speak very much. It is just a fact of life that takes some getting used to. Angelo opened with a question and got the usual response, very little. My favorite quote of the day, and one I'm still laughing about two days later, was when Angelo was imploring the students to develop speaking and writing skills and said, "Talking is not something just white people do."
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Ken is back. I'm glad, as his is one of my favorite blogs. In other blog news, Commonwealth Soundoff, a new and I thought encouraging blog, is locked and viewable only to the invited. I can't even begin to understand that one. It is too stupid for further comment. I took them off my blogroll the day after adding them.
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I talked to one of the Taste of India people, and they are indeed coming back to a new location on Middle Road. They are opening in Guam in July.
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After years at Wild Bill's, Stella is gone. She was like my own personal Filipina Helen Hunt character from As Good As It Gets. I wasn't as big a dick as Nicholson as Melvin Udall. She apparently was accused of theft and the legal allegations remain to be sorted out. My breakfast here will never be the same. My favorite three waitresses have departed the Sam's/Wild Bill's scene over the last few years. None remain. There are new and creative ways to make this island worse. She pleaded the fifth when I asked her about it.
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I visited our friendly, neighborhood, overpriced Costco, and this Ipod, $234 on Amazon, was $449 at Costco. Anyone who buys that at Costco is too rich, too stupid, needs to be gang slapped -- or all three. This is what I'm talking about when I lash out at island retailers when they bitch about poor sales. Retailers here make it impossible to buy things here and not feel like an idiot. There is no way shipping, or anything else, accounts for nearly double the price on a one pound Ipod.
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There is currently an online backlash set assail by Dengre regarding Bruce Bateman's column on the Nepalese man who set himself on fire. I emailed Dengre and told him that Bruce isn't evil, and in fact has done some good things with fund raisers for local arts and sports groups, and helped to reward the teacher of the year after the government stiffed her. I explained that he is an affable guy with whacky Right Wing politics who spouts off in the company paper with no regard to political correctness and sometimes sensitivity at all. The guiding rule for comedy and satire is to go after the rich and powerful, not the poor, oppressed, desperate and mentally unstable. Bruce missed that memo. I urged Dengre to focus on more evil people like sweatshop mouthpiece Richard A. Pierce , who knows better and says with a straight face that $3.05 is ok because that is more than China, or Danny Aquino, who has quite a record of Filipino and American bashing in the Tribune archive, but Dengre is a relentless guy and he seems pissed about Bruce, so I'm not sure how this shakes out. A movement is afoot to make Bruce Keith Olberman's Worst Person in the World, but I don't think Bruce will make the cut. It is funny to search Bruce's name in the Tribune archives and see how many angry responses he gets to his column. He has managed to piss off a broad array of people. I responded to him once over something he said about PSS. I'm sure he'll enjoy being the Cruella de Ville of liberals. You're just not Cheney enough to get the Olberman endorsement from this flaming lefty, Bruce.
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Lost continues to be great. The only thing is, they have this climactic battle set up with the Others for the finale next week, but since there are three more seasons to go, as recently announced, it is guaranteed to be anti-climactic. I started thinking about that as it was getting tense in the last episode.
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The Yankees continue their putrid play. Joe Torre has been a great manager, but he is symbolic of this whole team: highly paid, lacking fire and over the hill/past his prime. This team could use a fiery guy like Bobby Valentine, Larry Bowa or Billy Martin's ghost. The New York papers are all over these guys -- deservedly.
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One thought while walking last night: Best Song of the 60s - A Day in the Life by The Beatles, 70s - Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, 80s -Bad by U2, 90s - Come as You Are by Nirvana and and of the 00s so far - Clocks by Coldplay.
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I'm now an official member of the We Love Saipan network. I'd like the moniker, We Love Saipan, government excepted -- other than Cinta, but that is not as good a soundbite. That's why I can't run for office, not concise enough.