Ceteris paribus

I learned a new latin phrase today. Ceteris paribus means "all else being equal." Latin phrases are essential for the sophisticated Scottsdale resident. Hoard them like gold and become the most fashionable person you know.

Vocabulary is the new bling.

wo hui shua putonqua

I bought the Pimsleur Mandarin CDs so that I can impress the locals when I hit China in mid-June. My previous experience with Pimsleur (an excellent conversational language program that reminds you of words at scientifically perfected intervals so that you learn in an easy and effective way) was for Spanish which I already knew. I didn't appreciate how hard it would be to acquire a language from scratch, especially a tonal one. I've been spending time with our new Czech employees and have heard a lot of their language. Even though I don't know a word of Czech beyond "hello" ("ahoy"), I can distinguish where words and phrases begin and end as well as the underlying emotion. At the start of a Pimsleur lesson a conversation between fluent speakers is played. The Mandarin segment was completely incomprehensible. After listening to the first lesson last night and this morning, I felt ready to give speaking it a try. I knew I was shaky, but I tried to say "I can speak Chinese" to my Chinese coworker. She giggled through the sixty seconds it took for me to get it out, then proceeded to correct every single syllable.

Goodnight Cuddles

I have my own cat story to add to Mark's. My parent's decided last night that it was time to put Cuddles our cat of eighteen years to sleep. She was in a lot of pain and diabetic, and the care required to keep her going was beyond their ability to provide. My mom told us three kids in an email, because she didn't think she could get through a call, particularly with my youngest sister who is only a little older than Cuddles was. She wrote, "...she followed us around and meowed all the time. She was telling us that she didn't feel good and asking us to make it better." My dad always talked a hard line about the cat, but in the end he was very sad to take her in. I felt detached as I read about it this morning. I'm glad I wasn't in his position, because that would have sucked, but in a way it would have brought closure. Now she's just gone. Pets are great to have around--I would always come home to Cuddles, and she did like to sleep on my bed (even if I was extremely allergic to her). These days I have to open the door slowly to give my roomate's 120lb Great Pyrenees Tess a chance to get out of the way. She's eleven years old and arthritis is noticeably slowing her down. Even a year ago she would jump and chase like a puppy (an enormous puppy that would crush your leg if she fell on it), but now she runs out of bounce pretty quickly. She's one of the most laid back and friendly dogs I've ever known, and it's hard to see her falter.