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Showing posts from July, 2011

"I am going to have to choke this guy out."

I am at the post office in Madrid. I need to mail back my contracts to my new employer in Vermont. Everything is ready, I just need a stamp. The little dog is panting at my feet trying to sniff the woman next to me who has no wish to be sniffed. Since the ticket machine is broken I ask (as is Spanish custom) "Who is last?" A priest tells me he is. The next person comes in, asks who is last and I assent that I am. He is a beefy guy, a little taller than me, slight gut, black hair turning to grey, muscled but not enormous. Ten minutes go by and the same woman is still at one of the two open windows. I look to the guy who came in behind me and roll my eyes. "For the love of God," he says. "I know. Incredible." That was a mistake. The little dog is lying on the marble floor, clearly thinking we are at the vet and a rectal exam is coming his way soon so he is panting in distress. Five minutes later my beefy friend is throwing a fit, cursing and swearing, blamin

Ramble time

* Lorelei told me I would not get any responses to "My Wife the Spy part III" because it is too scary. It looks like she is right. I'm glad she is out of that business now. * There is not a day that goes by that we do not think "I cannot wait to start our new life in Vermont. I cannot wait to have one home. I cannot wait to have a yard, a king sized bed, a lack of construction every morning, a gym where people understand etiquette and air conditioning and customer service and... etc." *We will miss Spain, don't get me wrong, but our time here is done for the moment. *After a five year wait, GRRM new novel is a huge disappointment to me. GRRM is the guy who wrote the book and HBO series "A Game of Thrones" both of which are excellent. This is the best way to explain how I feel: There is another fantasy series called "The Wheel of Time." Go look at the reviews on Amazon for books 5-10 of that series by Robert Jordan. The author of those boo

My Wife the Spy Part III

Wendy is contacted by a huge company (they're in the news a lot lately including last week's issue of Time magazine) who she has done work for before. 'Hi Wendy, How are you? Good. So, what we want this time is an investigation into two people. They want us to design a hundred million dollar project for them. The problem is, they don't seem to have any money, no previous projects, and no history of business because their company was started only six months ago. We need you to verify that they are legit." "No problem." Wendy contacts the home office and they put her in contact with a German spy. When I say spy, I don't mean it in the way Wendy is a spy, I mean it in the James Bond, gadgets, surveillance, trained in hand to hand combat kind of spy. Wendy is put in touch with him and she details what she needs. Four weeks go by and things seem to be going well. She is getting regular updates and brief reports. The spy doesn't work alone, he has an as