pio, I thought we'd got rid of you. Didn't we conduct your funeral just the other day? And now you're back, making me giggle when I'm supposed to be doing serious work. My productivity goes down when you're around here.

Well now I'm scratching my head. My theory is quashed. My same car in the USA has a 28 gallon gas tank but here it holds a whopping 106 liters! So even though I can cover 60% more distance, it takes almost 4 times the amount of fuel! If my calculations are correct, the metric system consumes 236% more fuel for the same amount of work.

So if we want to reduce global warming, the clear answer is to bin the metric system and go back to the English system!

Global warming is Europe's fault!

Pio, if your conundrum is real (about the Bibles - not driving and global warning), maybe I can help. I live in what may be the Bible capitol of the known universe. I am SURE and CERTAIN that I can find a bendable, white, Catholic, properly illustrated, correct version Bible to meet your requirements.

Get a load of THIS!!!!!

Design Your Own Bible!

I don't know why you didn't find any on Amazon....I did first try. This one appears to have a flexible cover.

White leather Bible on Amazon

Other:
First Holy Communion Bibles

Can I make my own commandments too?

Amazon must store cookies on my computer to always direct me to electronics. That first one is quite nice. I'm concerned it might be French though. Douay-Rheims?

I went through the design your own site. That is serious work and it asks a lot of questions I don't think I know the answers to. I'm going to stick with prefab with the exception that if I can get it personalized with like a gold leaf name on the cover - that would be nice. I think I saw one of those earlier but I think it was NT only.

Thomas Nelson does make a light purple "princess" bible but I don't know if they make a Catholic version.

BTW, most of the good religious book stores here can imprint a name in gold or silver leaf.

Seriously there is something about my personality that makes me run away from things like Thomas Gibson. I simply cannot handle too many choices. I much prefer being given a small list of options that I can choose from. I absolutely hate to have to design something from scratch. It's why I refuse to eat in Mongolian restaurants. Even hot dog stands make me uneasy. I don't like Burger King because I don't want it MY way. I just hate the thought that, after it is all said and done, I didn't really get the best one - that I could have done better. Thomas Gibson either needs to add a help function or I need to go to Waldenbooks and buy a black and yellow "Bible Design for Dummies".

Purple Bible is a classic example - that would never ever have occurred to me.

I think I've been like this ever since I read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. I'm not entirely proud of it but it is what it is.

I just read that Obama has a sign on his desk that says "The Buick Stops Here".

Not a good omen.

We have been talking for years about doing something and last weekend we finally decided to stop talking and start doing. I think it is already well documented here that gemela has a thing for shoes in general and boots in particular. The problem has always been that it takes her an extra half hour getting ready to go somewhere because it takes at least that long to go through all the shoe/boot boxes to find the pair she is looking for. I got them all out of the closet being careful to treat them with special reverence and I photographed every pair. Then I imported everything into Photoshop and reduced them down to 2.2" wide so I could fit 21 photos on an A4 page. Then I printed them out and, during this process, I went out to buy more printer cartridges because it hadn't occurred to me exactly how many pages I was going to be printing. I cut the photos and, finally ,I matched up every photo with it's corresponding box and glued them on. Now all the boxes are stacked neatly and, yes, with the photo facing outward.

Okay so what I thought was going to be a time saver has backfired. Gemela has now found quite a few pairs of shoes that she forgot she had bought. This now gives her more options to consider. In addition, now that all the shoes are so readily accessible, she spends even more time trying on several pairs before making the final decision.

What I can't quite understand is why she will go through three or four clothes changes before deciding what she is going to wear. It is especially curious since she has to cover it with an abaya so nobody can see it anyway.

Pio - I thought of Gemela when I read that Michelle Obama wore $540. Lanvin sneakers to volunteer at the food bank.

That was a nice thing you did for your wife!

$540? Cheap at the price. Okay I admit I'm a little OCD about cable ties - but I've never paid $2,000 for one.....yet. I'm leaving the possibility open though.

One pair of boots she has never worn and now doesn't like because the toes aren't "pointy enough".

I told her we may have to cancel our mandatory Mexico pilgrimage this summer so she needed to start thinking of a plan B. We already have some shows (Lion King, etc. for the DDs) booked for a three day layover in London so I suggested we stay in Europe. Then it suddenly occurred to me - where is Salvatore Ferragamo located? Could be a bad plan. I would rather risk the influenza porcina.

BTW if anyone is ever planning to do what I did with the shoe photos, a little tip - DON'T PUT THE SHOES BACK IN THE BOXES BEFORE YOU PRINT AND ATTACH THE PHOTOS! We did because I simply ran out of space to have all those unboxed shoes lying about. It got to be like that plastic number puzzle we played as kids where you had to move the jumbled numbers around until they were sequential on the plastic board with one tile missing. I could have shot myself for the stupidity. And I'm not joking here - 7 hours start to finish. That was almost like work!

To her credit, she did say "thank you mi cielo". I don't get THAT at the office.

Of course, if I did, it might make going to the office more fun. The company could save millions - compliments in lieu of salary increases. And you know what? We would take it....Gladly....

Here ya go Pio~~~> Lather, Rinse, Repeat to your heart's content!

Mrs. W

BTW I still believe to this day that what ended the A was when I caught her with the cell phone and she admitted she kept it hidden in one of the shoe boxes. Then I ransacked the closet and dumped all the shoes in a pile on the bedroom floor as I searched the boxes for more "hidden treasures". She finally saw something at risk more important to her than POSPB. She HATES to see her shoes disrespected in ANY way. I know that because it almost caused a D years ago in one of our house moves in Dubai when I left her shoes in a (neat) pile so she could accommodate them at her leisure. I honestly thought I was doing a thoughtful thing. I mean I didn't dump them. I placed them gingerly. Obviously I was wrong... As I found out... Heatedly.

What I learned was that touching a latin woman's shoes is a bit like messing with a dog while he/she is eating.

LOL, gotta love Gemela..............

Darn. Rolled past 6000 and didn't even notice.

I really need a life.

What I find most disturbing is that Higgins leads Murphy 11 - 5...AND I CARED ENOUGH TO LOOK IT UP!

What is WRONG with me?

Okay that was a rhetorical question. I don't really need anyone to offer opinions about that.

A friend I work with told me his wife signed him up for a pilot’s class. He was going to the first class that night and he suggested I sign up too. It was only 25 riyals (6.67 USD) per class (curious they don’t charge for the whole thing but I guess some people drop out and don’t want to lose a lot of money). I have to admit I have always dreamed of flying ever since I read that Weekly Reader story in third grade about sailplanes and the cost of the class is just unbelievable. The company I work for has its own air force (737’s, 747’s, GS5’s , a fleet of helicopters, etc.) so I was thinking I might even be able to switch career paths after graduation. I was also thinking after retirement I might do a “Six Days Seven Nights” thing like Harrison Ford except without Anne Heche.

So I signed up for the pilot’s class. It wasn’t anything like I expected. First of all, I didn’t think you had to be in such good physical shape to be a pilot but MAN did they work us. So far we haven’t talked about planes at all. In fact, there is very little informative instruction and I haven’t quite figured out yet what the big inflatable balls have to do with anything. All I know is my abs are killing me. I can see now why people are only willing to pay by the class. I might drop out. I’m not sure being a pilot is worth this much pain. I guess they want you to be small so you can fit in the cockpit easier?