Hi folks,
I'm spending the first summer since 1973 without air conditioning here and I must say that it's been an education. Living in the USA certain does have it's advantages as most places there come with a/c of one kind or another. It's 85 here today which is a far cry from what we're hearing about back in Lynchburg where it's been in the high 90s up to over a hundred for weeks on end now. We DO have fans a plenty and once away from the West side of the apartment it's cooler. We can't however open all of our back windows due to the pigeon population back there that hasn't been resolved as it's taking forever to get the nets in place to build them out. I've toyed with the idea of a "stand alone" a/c unit but have no idea about what "type A" or "type B" power requirements are here.
Summers here are not as long as they are in Virginia so we have a little over 2 months left of warm weather and then it'll be gray and rainy for the rest of the year. I haven't mentioned that riding the Metro in this is also quite warm, say at least 15 degrees warmer when you add masses of people crowded together underground on trains. This weekend we go to hit a museum somewhere in the 16th (our hood) and the twins are off into their new quarter at Strayer University. Cassie is having fun at work and I'm working on new music and getting ready to play out again as a solo here probably in the fall. A new Roland AC-60 amp will be on the way soon and I'll need to get started wood-shedding to get ready for the gigs which if everything works out will be at our favorite Brasserie here in the 16th. I'm looking at doing Sunday afternoon shows in their upstairs room which is intimate but very nice. Cassie and I start rehearsals for our trip to Cluny in August to be with our new friends Claudia and Fred who also plays for the annual village festival there on August 14th. Should be a blast!
That's it from warmth central here in Paris. Just remember to never take your a/c for granted. We certainly won't again.
Love to all everywhere......*
A bientot,
Sid
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
My Sixth Blog
It has now been around four months since we came to Paris and things are still never boring. A couple weeks ago, I finished my first quarter at Strayer Online and I had GPA of 89.4 for my math course. A week later, Niall finished his and I think he got a score around 98. Our new book for our next quarters came in a couple days ago, and I'm sure they'll prove very useful to us. We've also gone to the library to return books this week and I picked out four new ones that I intend to share with Niall. Things have still been going well for us here and I hope they continue to for the future of our time here.
Kian Hagan
Kian Hagan
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Fear And Loathing In The French Football Federation And Landon Donovan
Yesterday here in Paris Nicolas Sarkozy called an emergency session of their parliament (I think that's what it's called here) to discuss and debate the miserable failure the French National Soccer Team was in South Africa at this year's world cup. The team played poorly and evidently there's been misgivings about their coach for more than 4 years and those obvious misgivings led to out and out mutiny by some of their players in South Africa some of which was captured on film and replayed over and over and over again on French TV. These antics led to cancellation of several major sponsors and commercials being yanked from TV and print media as the French National Team never made it out of Group Competition and was sent home without a win early. We've never lived in a foreign country when the World Cup was happening and as you've seen in previous blogs, we've enjoyed it. We do however feel bad for our French friends who are very unhappy at the lack of professionalism by their team and the embarrassment it has caused here in France.
On a different note, not even the FIFA Referees were able to stop the USA Team from winning their group last night although the Belgian Ref tried mightily to do so. We've watched all of the USA games and the one constant in all of them was poor officiating that bordered on purposeful bias to the point the French commentators would yell "incroiable!" at almost every bad call and out and out declared the Americans had been robbed in the game against Slovenia. It was only fitting last night that Landon Donovan who's played with the US Team for as long as I can remember scored the winning goal last night and I shouted in the living room and had tears in my eyes. They were moving on to the final 16!
I'm including a link in this entry that tells the story far better than I ever could.
Love to all everywhere especially the USA National Soccer Team in South Africa!
USA!
Sid
http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/student-s-video-tribute-to-donovan-a-hit--fbintl_ro-videodonovan062510.html
On a different note, not even the FIFA Referees were able to stop the USA Team from winning their group last night although the Belgian Ref tried mightily to do so. We've watched all of the USA games and the one constant in all of them was poor officiating that bordered on purposeful bias to the point the French commentators would yell "incroiable!" at almost every bad call and out and out declared the Americans had been robbed in the game against Slovenia. It was only fitting last night that Landon Donovan who's played with the US Team for as long as I can remember scored the winning goal last night and I shouted in the living room and had tears in my eyes. They were moving on to the final 16!
I'm including a link in this entry that tells the story far better than I ever could.
Love to all everywhere especially the USA National Soccer Team in South Africa!
USA!
Sid
http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/student-s-video-tribute-to-donovan-a-hit--fbintl_ro-videodonovan062510.html
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
That was good...
On Friday (6/19/10), I finished my final exam for my first quarter at Strayer University. That was the final assignment for my class, HUM. 101 that involved the origins of Western culture. With that my first quarter was over and I was given over a week break to relax.
My scores came in on the following Monday (6/21/10). I got a 49/50 correct or a 98% correct score. Later that day, my total quarter grade came in and it turned out to be a 96.7%.
Needless to say, I was very very pleased, as were my parents and my brother. My next Strayer quarter will not begin until the 28th of June, so as I said, I have some time off until then.
Niall
My scores came in on the following Monday (6/21/10). I got a 49/50 correct or a 98% correct score. Later that day, my total quarter grade came in and it turned out to be a 96.7%.
Needless to say, I was very very pleased, as were my parents and my brother. My next Strayer quarter will not begin until the 28th of June, so as I said, I have some time off until then.
Niall
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Water Heater And Magic
Bonjour all,
About 2 weeks ago while taking a shower here I noticed that the hot water dropped out and became cold for about 10 seconds and then returned to hot water. As the days went by I also noticed when washing dishes or my hands in any of our 3 sinks it was the same but with more frequency. Then last Tuesday we were expecting guests and I called the apartment management company (which will remain nameless here) who dispatched 2 plumbers (one would have been fine) who arrived after lunch both smiling secret smiles and went into our kitchen to look at our water heater. I'm not sure if I mentioned the way water is heated in most apartments here so here goes.
Our water heater is what I've heard friends refer to as a "flash" heater that is wall mounted in our kitchen behind a large cupboard. It not only heats hot water for our sinks, baths, or showers, but also heats the water for our radiators in cold weather. It's method of heating is through natural gas which probably comes to France via Russia and how it works is when anyone turns on a "hot" knob in either a sink or bath tub or shower; the water heater automatically starts heating the water as it passes through the heater so essentially it flash heats the water unlike our water heaters at home which were 50 gallon hot water reservoirs always kept at a steady hot temperature in perpetuity. It should also be noted that our current water heater is brand new as it had been installed right after Cassie signed the lease on the apartment.
O.K., back to the grinning plumbers...... They went right into the kitchen, opened the cupboard, looked at the water heater and found a small gauge on the front that was zeroed out. I watched as the main guy (who was the tallest) reached to the back of water heater and turned a small knob and the gauge began to register into a green zone on the dial. He then turned on the hot water in our kitchen sink and let it run and sure enough, problem solved. Naturally he spoke little or no English as I tried to ask him what he'd done. The only reply I got with a smirk was "magique"! I did however see where the knob was that he adjusted although I don't think he knew that before he left. A bill arrived from our apartment management company for 88 euros that was generated by that visit and I just found out in broken English from apartment manager that anything going wrong with the water heater is our responsibility save for the yearly maintenance visit, at least that's what I think he said.
So, long story short, we'll be paying 88 euros for around 2 minutes of "magique" this week.
Magique indeed mon amis,
Love to all from our magique maison,
Sid (Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat........nuthin up my sleeve.......*) Hagan
About 2 weeks ago while taking a shower here I noticed that the hot water dropped out and became cold for about 10 seconds and then returned to hot water. As the days went by I also noticed when washing dishes or my hands in any of our 3 sinks it was the same but with more frequency. Then last Tuesday we were expecting guests and I called the apartment management company (which will remain nameless here) who dispatched 2 plumbers (one would have been fine) who arrived after lunch both smiling secret smiles and went into our kitchen to look at our water heater. I'm not sure if I mentioned the way water is heated in most apartments here so here goes.
Our water heater is what I've heard friends refer to as a "flash" heater that is wall mounted in our kitchen behind a large cupboard. It not only heats hot water for our sinks, baths, or showers, but also heats the water for our radiators in cold weather. It's method of heating is through natural gas which probably comes to France via Russia and how it works is when anyone turns on a "hot" knob in either a sink or bath tub or shower; the water heater automatically starts heating the water as it passes through the heater so essentially it flash heats the water unlike our water heaters at home which were 50 gallon hot water reservoirs always kept at a steady hot temperature in perpetuity. It should also be noted that our current water heater is brand new as it had been installed right after Cassie signed the lease on the apartment.
O.K., back to the grinning plumbers...... They went right into the kitchen, opened the cupboard, looked at the water heater and found a small gauge on the front that was zeroed out. I watched as the main guy (who was the tallest) reached to the back of water heater and turned a small knob and the gauge began to register into a green zone on the dial. He then turned on the hot water in our kitchen sink and let it run and sure enough, problem solved. Naturally he spoke little or no English as I tried to ask him what he'd done. The only reply I got with a smirk was "magique"! I did however see where the knob was that he adjusted although I don't think he knew that before he left. A bill arrived from our apartment management company for 88 euros that was generated by that visit and I just found out in broken English from apartment manager that anything going wrong with the water heater is our responsibility save for the yearly maintenance visit, at least that's what I think he said.
So, long story short, we'll be paying 88 euros for around 2 minutes of "magique" this week.
Magique indeed mon amis,
Love to all from our magique maison,
Sid (Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat........nuthin up my sleeve.......*) Hagan
Thursday, June 17, 2010
That was fun...
From Saturday (5/12/10) afternoon to Sunday (5/13/10) morning, my brother and I had our first sleepover here in Europe with our new friend Erik. I'll tell you we had a hoot and a half. First off Erik let Kian play his Super Smash Brothers Brawl game on his Wii console while Erik and I watched, and that was fun. Later we had to pause on that for dinner and I found that quite enjoyable, for Erik's Mom did quite a good job making the food. Kian would continue playing the SSBB game for some time longer after that. When my brother was finished, Erik then showed the both of us more of his Wii games and played one on the system and that was entertaining. Before going to bed, Erik pulled up some more hilarious internet review videos on his IPhone and that brought on the good laughs.
Kian and I had our room on the top floor of house and I'll say that the room we had was nice. The sleeping itself could have been better though. The two of us took a little time to get to sleep due to us trying to settle into the beds. The morning though, took quite a turn for the better. Erik's Mom made a very good breakfast for us and Erik and the shower we used worked quite well. Kian then got to get in some more SSBB playing and to top it off afterward, Erik showed us two more net videos on his IPhone before it was time to go. Erik's Mom drove us all the way back to our apartment and it was a nice ride complete with some engaging conversations.
Well, that was our first sleepover in France and it was quite fun. I expect we will do it again sometime in the future.
Niall
Kian and I had our room on the top floor of house and I'll say that the room we had was nice. The sleeping itself could have been better though. The two of us took a little time to get to sleep due to us trying to settle into the beds. The morning though, took quite a turn for the better. Erik's Mom made a very good breakfast for us and Erik and the shower we used worked quite well. Kian then got to get in some more SSBB playing and to top it off afterward, Erik showed us two more net videos on his IPhone before it was time to go. Erik's Mom drove us all the way back to our apartment and it was a nice ride complete with some engaging conversations.
Well, that was our first sleepover in France and it was quite fun. I expect we will do it again sometime in the future.
Niall
Monday, June 14, 2010
Get Smart Dubbed In French
Hi folks,
I was watching the news in French today and went to make lunch and when I came back Get Smart (the series from the 60s) was on and dubbed in French. It's pretty funny as I didn't like it then and it's even stranger in French. Add this to the preponderance of "draws" in the World Cup one of which was between the US and UK and there's the distinct feeling of living in a true paradox.
Our Friends Emanuel and Susan arrive tomorrow for an overnight before they head to London and I need to open up the sofa bed to see how it works and also check to see if we have sheets for it.
The only other thing that's worrisome is the flash water heater is acting strange the last few weeks. I need to call the management company who's in charge of our apartment. That in and of itself will warrant a blog entry.
The oil problem on the US coast has become big news here and everyone is waiting to hear what the president will say. Also, the British newspapers are yelling about how everyone's retirements are being ruined by the American rhetoric about the spill.
The pictures of the oil soaked birds and dead fish are all too familiar save for this being far more damaging than the Alaska spill in the 90s.
No buyer for the house yet. We'll continue to keep our fingers crossed.
Cloudy here today with a high in the low 70s.
Love to all everywhere.
A bientot,
Sid
I was watching the news in French today and went to make lunch and when I came back Get Smart (the series from the 60s) was on and dubbed in French. It's pretty funny as I didn't like it then and it's even stranger in French. Add this to the preponderance of "draws" in the World Cup one of which was between the US and UK and there's the distinct feeling of living in a true paradox.
Our Friends Emanuel and Susan arrive tomorrow for an overnight before they head to London and I need to open up the sofa bed to see how it works and also check to see if we have sheets for it.
The only other thing that's worrisome is the flash water heater is acting strange the last few weeks. I need to call the management company who's in charge of our apartment. That in and of itself will warrant a blog entry.
The oil problem on the US coast has become big news here and everyone is waiting to hear what the president will say. Also, the British newspapers are yelling about how everyone's retirements are being ruined by the American rhetoric about the spill.
The pictures of the oil soaked birds and dead fish are all too familiar save for this being far more damaging than the Alaska spill in the 90s.
No buyer for the house yet. We'll continue to keep our fingers crossed.
Cloudy here today with a high in the low 70s.
Love to all everywhere.
A bientot,
Sid
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