Moving On Over

Alright folks, I'm finally taking the time to switch this blog over to Wordpress and thus, another domain. You can now find me at www.american-in-jordan.com (same address without the "blogspot" suffix).

I started this blog on a whim and wasn't intending to be very serious with it. Thus Blogger seemed like the easy and free way to get things rolling. Come to think of it, I'm still not serious with it, but I figured it was time to migrate over to a more robust platform that allows greater customization.

As you will see, I haven't had time to put together anything fancy, theme-wise, so my new domain looks like thousands of other generic Wordpress blogs out there. Rest assured, however, that a new theme is in the works and should be up and running shortly. Until then, pardon my dust.

I've migrated all of the posts off of this blog, as well as nearly all of the comments. If you happened to comment in the past two days on this blog, I'm afraid that it won't show up on the other (I migrated everything over 2 days ago). If it really means a lot to you to have your most recent comment on my new blog, just copy and paste it there and the world will be right once more.

I'm Ron Burgundy?

Olivia Munn, one of the hosts of G4's Attack of the Show, makes a funny mistake when reading the teleprompter. At least she can laugh at herself.

Favorite Blogger(s) Day

It's all the craze today. If you're not doing it, consider yourself square. Religious Arab Girl has invented the officially unofficial Blog About Your Favorite Blogger Day which happens to be today.

Apparently I'm supposed to just list a single blogger, but I'm having a hard time choosing just one. Besides, everyone else is doing it so why can't I? (Does that sound like a Cranberries album title to anyone else?)

The Most Professional Blog in Jordan Award: This goes out to none other than The Black Iris. Sometimes serious, sometimes witty, sometimes sarcastic but always entertaining and informative, The Black Iris is the creme-de-la-creme of Jordanian blogs.

The Most Outrageous and Entertaining Blog Award: If there's any question about who I am referring to, apparently you haven't read the mis-adventures of the shoe-loving, vertigo-plagued Rambling Hal.

The Dudes I Don't Mind Running Into Around Amman Awards: This one is a tie between Moey and Jad. Both guys are cool and I consider myself fortunate to call them friends.

The Hijabi Chick That I Most Connect With Award: This one goes to Shaden at Sugar Cubes, the coolest hijabi chick I know. ;)

The Expats That I Most Enjoy Reading Awards: I really love reading about the adventures of Kinzi and the Jordan Ladies, as I can identify with their efforts to juggle between multiple cultures.

This list is not exclusive of all the great blogs that I read and enjoy. And for all of you other bloggers that I love to read and have never met, hopefully we can remedy that soon.

One Reason Why America Switched To Self-Serve

I stopped to have gas put in my car last night. I pulled up to the pump and told the attendant that I wanted 10JD worth of gas (which was all I happened to have in my pocket at the time).

The next thing I know, the guy was putting the hose back into the pump and standing at my window waiting to be paid. As I handed him the 10JD, I glanced back at the pump and noticed that he had only put in 9JD. I waited for my change and he stood there with a blank look on his face, expecting to be "tipped" an entire JD.

After 10 long seconds, I asked him, "How much did you put in?" He responded, "Nine." So I said, "Well give me back a dinar, then," which he begrudgingly did.

Gas station attendants in Amman are beginning to get out of hand. Either they put in just under what you ask them to in hopes that the extra spare piasters will go into their pockets as tips, or "accidently" put in just a bit over for the same reason. If you tell them to fill up the tank, they'll put in 20.350JD rather than an even 20.

But my idiot put in 9 when I asked for 10. I figured that if you can't count, you sure don't deserve a tip, much less an entire JD.

Naughty Pottery

I took a couple friends to Petra this last week (my 15th trip) and was hiking off the beaten path when I happened upon a Bedouin lady and her table of wares. I was about to pass without a glance, as usual, when a certain piece of pottery – an oil lamp with a design of questionable nature – caught my eye.

This was one of those train wreck/car accident moments. You know, the ones where you are passing by and you can't help but gawk. I did a double take to make sure and, yup, there on the lamp was a naked couple...ahem...getting busy.

I decided that such a thing was so bizarre, I needed to take a picture of it; otherwise my friends would never believe it. But wouldn't you know it, this was the first trip to Petra (out of 15) where I had left my camera in the car. This artifact was too good to pass up, however, so what else was a guy to do but haggle for the best price.

As I walked away with my newly-purchased treasure, I imagined the scenario in which such a piece might be manufactured. Perhaps pottery lamps were the Nabatean voyeuristic equivalent to You Tube. So say a Nabatean young couple goes to the market to buy oil lamps when suddenly...

WOMAN: "Ooo...this one is nice. Wh...wait a minute! Look at the figures on this lamp. Do they look familiar?"

MAN: "Hey! That's us! What the heck?"

SHOP KEEPER: "Perhaps next time you should close the curtains of your cave windows before you decide to get frisky."

Then again, I may have just purchased an oil lamp with a Nabatean couple playing leap frog.

In the buff.

Al Qaeda Also Fed Up With Ground Zero Construction Delays

Banana Hammock

I just returned from a day at the Dead Sea with a simple but important insight: no man, and I repeat, no man (short of being on the Olympic swim team) should ever, ever, for any reason, wear a Speedo. If someone told you that you looked good in a Speedo, chances are they were lying to you.

So in tribute to all those paunchy men with hairy backs who are sporting ever-so-skivvy swimwear, I give you this...