Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Not a good day to go on a game show...

I flew back from Washington yesterday and arrived at 12:30. 
For whatever reason, a restful sleep on an airplane is as elusive as a Santa hat in New York the day before Santacon. 

At the airport, (in Washington yesterday, now I am off the rails narration) an older Chinese couple approached me pointing to my bag and saying something in what I believed to be Chinese. Must be a secret message carved into most of my haircuts. I thought they wanted to go to baggage claim but before I got them in the right direction I wanted to make sure they were not looking for a place to check additional bags. They handed me with a paper with items written in Chinese (like how to ask for Tea or to ask for the way to embassy) and it said where to pick up bags. 
I walked them through Dulles until I found a yellow shirt person (like the 1970's) who actually worked at the airport and I explained their situation. 

Also had an issue locating my keys in my carry on bag. Was happy when I found them. 

Now back to arriving in San Francisco, it was late and you had to wait for a cab (if this was the worse I had to deal with but I was I am pretty fortunate) and it was cold/rainy. 
When I got home, the power had been out. Now something I do that may not make a whole lot of sense is that I do not turn my clocks with the whole daylight savings time. Went to sleep but had no idea what time it was between the clocks, jet lag and the time change. 

It is really cold and windy with big rain storms on and off. 

Picked up my Cousin and his wife to take them to the airport (they are going to China, probably to see the couple that I saw yesterday at the airport.
They called as there was key confusion. Luckily I was near where they lived and was able to find the keys. 

Went for a run in the cold and windy hills of Daly City (I did not run in Maryland). Not a great run. 

posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 5:31 PM 0 comments

Friday, December 24, 2010

My answers to the Chronicle Geographic quiz

1. Approximately how many countries are there in the world? Count yourself correct if you guess within 20.

240

2. True or false: Two countries with at least one McDonald's franchise apiece have never gone to war with each other.

False

3. If you felt like having your toe bitten off by a Komodo dragon on its home turf, to which country would you book your flight?

Indonesia

4. Which western European nation's name originally meant "land of the rabbits"?

Luxumnug

5. Where would you find the Spanish Steps? Hint: It's not Spain.

Rome

6. Where would you find the Swiss Guard? Hint: It's not Switzerland.

Vatican City

7. What animal are the Canary Islands named for? Hint: It's not a bird.

Lizard

8. Where would you find the Luxembourg Gardens? Hint: It's not Luxembourg.

9. Where is Tabasco Sauce made? Hint: It's not Tabasco, Mexico.

New Orleans

10. Where would you find Harry's New York Bar? Hint: It's not New York.

San Francisco

11. Where would you find Waterloo Station? Hint: It's not in Waterloo, Belgium.

London

12. If you were being pompous in the pampas, where would you be?

13. Lake Tahoe is considered to be the second-largest alpine lake in the world. What's the largest?

Lake Geneva

14. It's the home of Queen Maud Land and Vinson Massif, and the entire continent is covered by a single international dialing code: 672. What continent are we talking about?

Antartica

15. This Ecuadoran island chain's official name is the Archipiélago de Colón, but nobody calls it that. What do we know it as?

Galapagos

16. The family of Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen must have been proud as punch when one of the world's largest objects was named for the British explorer. But, pretty much from the start, the public has refused to call it that, preferring a surveyor's original alpha-numeric designation. What is it?

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17. "Providence Plantations" is part of the official name of one U.S. state, although virtually no one calls it that. Which one? Rhode Island

18. Nobody seems to agree on the name for this large body of water, although of its three most common names, the Vermilion Sea is the, well, least common. What are the other two?

19. What independent nation's name derives from "White Russia?" Beleraus

20. Where do Panama hats come from? Hint: It's not Panama. Miami

21. Mexico's capital is Mexico City. Three other world capitals are similarly named (the name of the country plus "city"), and a fourth sort of qualifies. How many can you name? Panama City

22. What name did Europeans give to the smallish oranges shipped from the Moroccan port of Tangiers?

Tangerines

23. What state celebrates the California gull as its official state bird? Hint: It's not California. Arizona

24. Rank these three places in size, from smallest to largest: the island of Manhattan, Orlando's Disney World, and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

25. What is the only continent without an active volcano?

26. If a Parisian described you as gauche, on which side of the River Seine would you presumably be?

27. In the names of the 50 states you can find every letter in the alphabet - except one. Which one? X

28. Bernardo O'Higgins was one of the founding fathers of what nation? Hint: It's nowhere near Ireland.

Mexico

29. What's further north? Venice or Vladivostok, Siberia? Venice

30. Every planet in out solar system is named for a figure from Roman or Greek mythology - except one. Which? Earth

31. In Venice, all gondolas - except those belonging to high-ranking officials - are legally required to be painted a certain color. Which one? Pink

32. If you wanted to travel between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul by river boat, what river would you use?

33. In what city would you find the neighborhood known as Elephant and Castle? London

34. In what national park would you find Fairy Falls, Hellroaring Creek and the Firehole River? Yosemite

35. If you desired to donate blood in Transylvania, to what country would you travel? Romania

36. Place these capitals in order of altitude, from lowest to highest: Guatemala City, Nairobi, Kathmandu.

37. Which part of New York City was originally given a name by the Dutch that means broken land? Manhattan

38. The nations of East Timor, El Salvador and Ecuador all use the same currency. Which one? Dollar





40. What, exactly, is a Hoosier? Resident of Indinaadvertisement | your ad here

41. Into which sea does the Crimean Peninsula jut? Red Sea

42. One end of the Hoover Dam is in Nevada. In which state is the other end? Arizona

43. At Khartoum, in Sudan, the white and blue versions of this geographic feature meet. What are we talking about?

Nile

44. If you wanted to mellow out in the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, where would you find it?

Between Spain and France

45. Nigeria, Niger: Which one is landlocked?Niger

46. The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, a Portuguese-speaking island nation, is just off the coast of what continent? North America

47. What mountain range separates China from Pakistan? Himilayas

48. North Korea shares borders with South Korea, China - and one other country. Which one? Russia

49. Is New Zealand's capital, Wellington, at the north end of the South Island or the south end of the North Island? south end of the North Island

50. The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador didn't join Canada until 1949; previously it belonged to Great Britain. Which part is an island, and which part is on the mainland?  Newfoundland





Marcus Zack Ronaldi
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posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 6:13 PM 0 comments

Donating Blood and dream

Yesterday I donated Blood. An odd thing I actually like doing. 
Need to schedule it after running as blood donation then running not so good. (A little bit of advice from the Greatest Blog) 

Had a dream that I was at the new New York Mets Stadium. It was huge but most of the seats could not see the game (between the Pirates) or even be aware that a game was going on. They were selling loads of stuff not related to Baseball (Like aluminum pans). Cosmo was at the game. He was not into the game. 

--
Marcus Zack Ronaldi
http://www.marcusronaldi.com

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posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 7:46 AM 0 comments

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Patience at the Dollar Store

I am going to my party and I am bringing my $1 Store Brownies where all of the ingredients come from the dollar store. 
It actually cost around $12. 
Here is the recipe

One area I need to work on is being more patient with the lottery players of the world. 
When I walked into the store, I said that I would be patient. 
While walking through the store some liquid came flying over one of the aisles or the ceiling. I thought the place had a leak in the ranch opposite of fred. I said out loud, what is that? 
Turns out the scholar on the next aisle said, "I was spraying a spray" and I knew that I had an opportunity to not get annoyed. 



posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 5:37 PM 0 comments

Wobbly table.

One of my least favorite blog entries among my quarter dozen readers is about dreams. 
They would rather hear about accidentally drinking rancid orange juice. 

This is what I remember, I was in some sort of China shop with these porcelain decorations on a table. I put my hand down on the table which was wobbly and one of them broke and the person said I had to pay $200. 
I left pointing out the fact that the fragile thing was on the wobbly table.

Later I am notified that I am being sued by the store and they are having a trial (with a jury etc) over the $200 item. 
The court room is packed and I end up losing the case and have to pay the $200. 

--
Marcus Zack Ronaldi
http://www.marcusronaldi.com

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posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 7:22 AM 0 comments

Friday, December 17, 2010

My cell phone...

Google makes some amazing things, Google Voice, Maps, Docs etc..
Which are all free but the one thing I pay for, my Android phone from Samsung, which does cool stuff is kind of annoys me for a number of reasons
1) When someone calls it freezes the entire phone
2) Battery life is measured in half life (If I am out and about for eight hours without only making a couple of calls the battery is completely drained. (I would never use it as an MP3 player because of this...) 
3) Trying to make a call the phone freezes. I hope I am not chased by Zombies, but then again, who am I going to call in that event
4) Phantom calls

The coverage is good and I do not get dropped calls. Will be getting a new phone in April unless I can convince Sprint to give me a new one...

posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 8:02 AM 0 comments

Monday, December 06, 2010

Random thoughts......

If you gave me a map of Marlton I could label most of the houses and I still for some stupid reason remember some phone numbers but if you offered me $1000 I could not tell you the name of my next door neighbor and I do not know off the top of my head my land line number (before you start goofing, I need it for toiling from home...) 
I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Just an observation. 

Ran a small 5K in Golden Gate park from the panhandle to the DeYoung. Glad I was not hungover as running with a hangover is not fun. Afterwards we went to brunch at Squat and Gobble which I like because you pay first and your not faced with a post meal math problem. 
Also purchased some black berries (which were $.99) 

Started raining like a monster movie as I got home (running in the rain is also not fun but I have more control over the lack of hangovers compared to the weather...) 

--
Marcus Zack Ronaldi
http://www.marcusronaldi.com

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posted by Marcus Ronaldi at 4:58 PM 0 comments