"Noon to Night"

Yesterday morning I was up dark and early with the rain and thunder claps and all.

By the time I left for my first class (8:00) the rain had slowed but was pouring again by the time I got off the bus (8:30). I arrived with a soaked-through rain jacket. Do waterproof rain jackets lose their waterproofing power over time??

Gretel, my student, just laughed. She drives to work and was glad she missed the larger-than-golf-ball-size hail (which came later). By the way, have you ever seen a car elevator? One day she passed me on our way to class so she picked me up and drove into the parking garage and right into a car elevator. I was amazed!! The only one I had ever seen was on the Fisher Price garage!

My 9:30 student, Juan, had a different way of dealing with the morning's weather. At the downstairs laundromat, he actually walked in drenched, looked at the owner and said, "Give me any pair of dry pants you have. Those. Hanging there." Left his there to be dried, and appeared in the 5th floor offices with pants that belonged to some poor fat man. Do you think he'll know that Juan had his pants on half the morning?

Got some errands run before having to be at my MWF job at noon. It was still coming down but the jacket sufficed. I wasn't about to fall for the "15 peso umbrella" trick. "PAR-A-GUA, PAR-A-GUA. PAR-A-GUA, PAR-A-GUA." You walk 5 blocks and it miraculously breaks. You can just imagine the factory conversation in China: "Make me an umbrella that breaks in 10 minutes."

Errands included: visiting the cool new Movistar (cell service provider) building with a pay-as-you-go scratch-off card whose numbers had just disintegrated before my eyes after purchase. Service was surprisingly quick. Yes, I could have a phone plan if I wanted but I actually spend less per month with the scratch-offs than the lowest plan cost. So there's that explanation.

Take the bus. Go 10 blocks. Bus stops dead still about 15 blocks from where I need to be. Of course, rain+public transport in BA=no go. I get off, sprint down Florida Avenue off to pick up my new debit card. First bank account in Argentina. Exciting. Service = again quick. What is UP with you today, BsAs? Oh, I forgot. NO ONE GOES OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN!" Yes, of course, what was I thinking? Note to self: run more errands in the rain.

But before leaving I had to activate the card. Girl who helped me must have thought I was an idiot. "Choose your PIN." Turns away. (ok, done.) "Choose your BBVA Francés PIN." Turns away. (really, they have to be different?? ok, done.) "It can't include any personal information." Turns away. (Wow, they know my phone number. Ok, another.) "It can't have any numbers in a row that coincide with your debit PIN." Turns away. (geez this is getting ridiculous. Ok, another one.) "ok, good. Now when you access online banking you can change your PIN." (There can't possibly be any more series of 4 numbers I would be able to remember.)

I notice fog around the very short skyscrapers downtown. I get to work. And dun dun dun. 15 minutes later this appears out the window:

Along with the previously-mentioned hail. It was all over in minutes. Sky went back to grey from black, and today we're back to sunny. Just another 24 hs. in Buenos Aires.

It made news in English!:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=wild_weather_hits_buenos_air_120811 (photo credit)

Looking for other ways to say "Please find attached"?

Honestly, I don't use the phrase "please find attached." It's a bit stuffy and formal and 1965 "typewriterish." (When they used to physically attach documents to each other!)

It's fine. You can use it. But just in case you get tired of it, here are some other options*:

I have attached the Word document.
The Word document is attached.
Please take a look at the attached Word document.
Please take a look at the Word document I've attached.
You will find the updated document attached to this e-mail.

*Taken from: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=331546

Did you Know?

We think of companies that have been around 100 years as "old."

Did you know the world's oldest continuously operating family business, Kongō Gumi Co., started in Japan in the year 578??


What did they do? They built Buddhist temples.

Unfortunately, their run ended almost five years ago in 2006 and is now part of Takamatsu, a larger Japanese construction company. But 1400 years!

You can read more here: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/apr2007/sb20070416_589621.htm

Just a random piece of knowledge...

When to use Which?

Many ESL speakers use what and which interchangeably when asking questions, but they are not interchangeable.

The problem is not what, but which.

Which is used when:
1) asking for information about one of a limited number of things
"Which car is yours?"
"Which Tupperware is yours?"

2) asking about choice
"Which meal do you want?"

"Which is worse?"

For example, you would not say:

"Which was the name of your previous company?" (incorrect) because there are millions of companies

"Which name are you going to give the baby?" (incorrect) because there are countless names.

BUT, if you know the parents are choosing from a short list of names, you could then ask "Which name are you leaning towards?" (correct)

Procrastination

Procrastination. A great word that does not describe such a great quality:

http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=procrastinate


Today is my birthday, and the best gift has definitely been the one I gave myself: FINALLY mailing (not e-mailing) my 2010 income tax papers to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service in the U.S.) I just dropped them off at the post office before coming to work and am 24 pesos poorer but not without a sigh of relief AHhhh...

I procrastinated and procrastinated and put this off month after month. Since I don't owe the IRS any money, it wasn't at the top of my priority list, but I knew I needed to declare my foreign earned income either way.

So procrastination means leaving things until the last minute. Do you procrastinate? Are you a habitual procrastinator?