Thursday, July 5, 2007

Random observations

So with this daily posting challenge I was worried I wouldn't have anything to write about. I warned BT that it may be rather boring but she wants to hear about my day to day stuff. Things I see on the bus to and from work and such. So the following are some of my wandering thoughts while at the supermarket today.

Germs

The people who inhabit this country are incredibly germaphobic or whatever term you would like to use:
Mysophobia - An abnormal fear of dirt or contamination
Microbiophobia -An abnormal fear of microbes
Bacillophobia - An abnormal fear of bacilli
Bacteriophobia - An abnormal fear of bacteria and other microorganisms
This obsession is made obvious by the number of antibacterial products you can get. Even G thought the antibacterial wipes that are available free from a dispenser to wipe down the handle of your trolley at the supermarket was rather over the top. N was telling me today how a woman she works with is quite germaphobic and after returning home from travelling on a plane she wont hug her son until she has had a shower because of the germs.

Milk inflation

Frustrations. I have been avoiding dairy food for the last two weeks due to an upset tum and so I have decided to try milk again and see if I still have a bad reaction. In the two weeks in which I haven't bought any milk, the price has risen $0.70US. Fortunately today milk was on special but it was still more than I use to pay.

Wrapped shopping bags
I miss the green grocery shopping bags we have at home. I noticed today my supermarket has started to sell the same thing in black for just over a dollar. It comes wrapped in a plastic bag... But don't get me started on the issue of over-packaging that happens here.

Segway not segue
Yes that very bizzare form of transport, that of course is popular here because why would I want to use the legs I was born with when there is an easier way, the Segway. I saw a guy on one this afternoon travelling on the footpath up my street. In the past I have seen people who are information contacts using them because they stand out in a crowd. G and I saw a group of people in Austin mucking around on these. It was a tour group. Definitely a unique way to see the sites of the city -beats the Wally bus as my family call it (because you look like a Wally sitting up there). It would be kinda fun to hire one to play with for a bit however I would still prefer using my legs for the walking. Here's a pic of the group we saw in Austin:



Crazy backward, stubborn, wanna be different country

Spelling - it's the Queen's English I tell you. Making it simple, poor widdle 'mericans can't cope with a few extra vowels.
Measurements - Metric just makes more sense!!! Why are Americans so stubborn?! "Oh it's too hard to change now..." -crappy excuse if you ask me. I am thankful everyday that I work in a scientific field that uses the metric system.
Paper size - why is Letter the US standard? A4 and the other series are all lovely ratios. Maths is wonderful. I remember first looking at Letter sized paper and thought it was weird, all short and fat. I am sad to say that I have become used to it so that when I see A4 it looks so strange and skinny!
Driving - on the WRONG side of the road (it's fun actually because I know it's wrong!) just to assert their independence from England.

1 comment:

GB said...

The spelling gets me too. I recently beta'd for someone in Canada where she has to walk a fine line between correct spelling and American spelling otherwise she gets reviews with 'check your spelling' in them, even though she's most definitely using the Queen's English.

*sigh*