Transnational Studies

Archive for July, 2010

A few days ago, I was reading the blog of Roger Simon, on the occasion of J.D. Salinger’s passing. Simon was going to school at Dartmouth, near where Salinger lived in New Hampshire, and he really wanted to meet the writer. He managed to get as far as the great man’s front door, before being turned away by a girlfriend. In response to the short blog entry, I noted that I’ve read many books, but never The Catcher in the Rye, for whatever reason. Every time someone tries to explain the book and why it resonated with them, I just get annoyed. It makes me want to read the book less.

So I commented on Roger’s blog article, and joked that I’d probably prefer a Pastrami in the Rye to The Catcher in the Rye. I have a thing for Langer’s. Anyway, Roger then wondered if anyone had read Catcher recently, or wanted to now having not read it in the past. A few days later I when I was out and about, I idly went to a used bookstore, discovered they were out, went to a second one ditto, and wound up buying one of the few copies left at the local Borders. It’s been a couple of days, and now I’ve read the thing. It wasn’t at all what I expected, and I didn’t relate to Holden at all…but I still think it’s a brilliant book, just not for the reasons that everyone else (or those I’ve read, anyway) seem to think it’s great.

For those of you familiar with music, Randy Newman is probably best known for the song “Short People.” It’s about prejudice and how stupid prejudiced people are. Newman famously has gotten sick of various lunkheads yelling “Hey Randy, short people suck!” at him randomly on the street. He deliberately chose a characteristic that would be beyond prejudice, even semi-intelligent prejudice, and found that people were much more stupid than he thought, and that the song, as a result, resonated with a lot of people it wasn’t supposed to.

With The Catcher in the Rye, I get the same impression. I don’t think this was supposed to resonate with anyone. If I understand it corr
Power Rangers Stylized Ranger

When I used the attachments the first time, dust started coming out from where the attachment was attached to. As I was getting ready to send it back , I found out thanks to a previous review writer, that the vacuum was different than what I read in the Consumers Reports. One item missing was an extra attachment. When I called, they wanted me to pay extra for the attachment but since the vacuum cleaner was defective because of the company’s questionable manufacturing, they send me a piece at no charge.

The vacuum cleaner is good except when you vacuum rugs with fringes because it eats them up and spits them out, so you have to be very careful. I had the vacuum set at the highest setting. It works well on wall to wall carpet.
KitchenAid KICU568SBL 36in Induction

I am so lucky to have found the Conversations With God books. I know that many people won’t be able to appreciate the books’ content because of their preconceived ideas about how/when/where/to whom God speaks, but I felt like I drew this book to me. Whether or not you believe Neale’s conversations are with God, it’s hard to deny the level of insightfulness in this book. For someone like me- reading this book with an open-mind and an open-heart & listening to my spirit for the answers about its validity- it was easy to conclude that this book offers something that is way more beneficial today than the ancient teachings being forced down our throats by those who seek to control our thinking. I think the CWG books are wonderful for someone who is ready to receive them. Unfortunately, too many of us aren’t in a place where they are willing to allow themselves the benefits that can come from these teachings of freedom, self-awareness, and the true love of God.
35 Pamper Baby Blue

I bought this pedometer after looking at many, some quite a bit more expensive and some super cheap. This one is the way to go! I have rheumatoid arthritis and I was looking to increase my walking in general and with my daughter in her stroller. I wanted to know how far I was going both in distance and steps and this pedometer is great!!!!! It’s not the old school kind that can be set off by odd movements and it not only caculates steps, it calculates aerobic steps, distance and Kcal burned. It resets itself at midnight so it’s ready to put on the next morning and it saves 7 days worth of data! It’s easy to use and easy to see and since you put in your personal info before using (very easy) it can give you additional info that the old pedometers can’t give. The price is great and I love mine!!!! It actually motivates me to walk more because I can SEE what I’ve done!!!!You would be AMAZED how fast the steps add up! The most recent studies say that you should walk 10,000 steps a day for health and that’s what I’m going for. It’s not too hard for that to hard for that to add up! You can clip it to your waistband or belt, put it in your pocket or put it in your purse all of which are really handy! It does come with a safety leash to prevent loss but the clip is plastic so I decided to purchase an additional safety leash for it with a metal clip. I can’t say how the plastic clip on the safety leash performs because I didn’t use it. I DO Recommend using either the enclosed safety leash or buy one with a metal clip because the clip on the back of the pedometer is not enough to keep it on your waistband or belt without losing it. Mine has popped off when going from sitting to standing or crawling aound #doing housework, picking up my daughters toys ect.). Regardless, I LOVE this pedometer and I HIGHLY recommend it!!!!!!!!! Just use the enclosed safety leash or buy an addition one for $2 or so with a metal clip and you will be VERY happy!!!!!!
3 button pin printed

I was a bit skeptical, but this an easy affordable option that had a wonderful outcome. The book got to me in three or four days, and was in really good condition. I look forward to my next purchase! (I got the book for less than half of what I would’ve paid retail… including shipping!) If you can wait a few days for your book, go this route!
Tiny Love Carnival Wonder

I looked everywhere for this and was so happy when I found it here on Amazon. It’s nice to revisit an old favorite while driving down the road, giving me a great alternative to the garbage that’s on the radio. It was a little expensive but it is worth it for this hard to find gem.
Pyle Mega Audio Video