Pontification Unlimited

Well, this weekend has a been a blast so far. We all celebrated Dom's birthday to kick off the wonderful month of March. Friday was filled with bowling and debauchery(sorry bush).
Saturday was a vitamin D enriching good time, spent planting various shrubs and trees in the soon to be open low-impact Oakland Bay park. Thanks for the invite Kaitlyn, keep them coming!
Later that evening I found myself in and out of the fishbowl but more importantly listening to some great music and lyrics at a show by Kimya Dawson(check the spelling).
Today I woke up and made a dish that I have been wanting to make for some time now, lemon chicken pesto pasta. And I don't want to toot my own horn, too much, but DAMN!! I'll let the pictures entice you, anyone want to come over for dinner?









I made everything in this dish except the pasta(99 cent bag of farfalle from TJ's), and at the very beginning of prepping all the veggies I nearly sliced right through my precious little pointer finger. I spent the rest of the cooking sesh with my little tip tightly bandaged. Good news, I don't think I'll need stitches. Damn you super sharp, yet evil, chef knife!!

Modern Simplicity: 37 Reasons Why You Should Have a Shoes-Off Policy

Modern Simplicity: 37 Reasons Why You Should Have a Shoes-Off Policy

Sandy at Modern Simplicity was nice enough to link here and quote my 37 reasons.

Conversation about Countries

A colleague heard me humming the Russian national anthem. I suggested that Russia would be a great place to visit because of its historic culture. He said he had no interest in visiting because of all the crime, poverty and corruption there. I pointed out that at least people remove their shoes at the door there (he is a non-shoe remover).

I asked him where in the world he would like to visit. He said he would like to visit Iceland, because of its interesting geology. I pointed out the fact that people in Iceland also remove their shoes in homes. :)

What do Filipinos do?

There are some countries where I hear conflicting messages about whether the custom is to remove shoes or keep them on. The Philippines is one of those countries.

Some Filipinos say that it is their custom to always remove shoes when entering homes. A lot of etiquette guides say this what you have to do. Yet a lot of Filipinos are adamant that they do not normally take their shoes off in their homes.

I visited a guy once who had a Filipino wife. The couple were wearing slippers, but they did not ask me or my friends to remove our shoes. That incident does not tell me much.

I suspect a regional variation is at work. The Philippines is made up of many islands and has ethnic and religious divisions. Some Filipinos look like the Chinese, others look like Pacific islanders. Most interestingly, there is a big Hispanic influence on the Philipines.

I think Filipinos are a cool people- they like fried food, they like wearing flip flops and a lot of them also like extreme heavy metal.

Pre-Raphaelite Proportions

Some women are embarassed by having larger sized feet. They ought not to be. Some of the women in the paintings of Evelyn De Morgan clearly do not have smaller shoe sizes:









Ladies with a larger shoe-size should not be afraid when they remove their shoes; there is nothing wrong with their feet.

Cheap slippers from Lidl

I went with my mother to the budget German supermarket, Lidl. There are always lots of interesting things on offer there.

Lidl was selling cheap men's slippers. My mother bought me a pair to wear when I visit her house. They reminded me of the sort of slippers that you can buy in practically every convenience store in Japan.

Personally, I don't believe it is necessary to provide slippers for guests, but if you do, those slippers would be a good, affordable choice.

Update on Burglar Alarms

I complained that many homes have burglar alarm keypads that are situated away from the door, necessitating entering the home without removing shoes.

I found out some homes have a fob device that you attach to your keys. It allows you to turn off your alarm without going to the keypad.