Happy Valentine's Day (4 of 4): The Funny, Quirky and Dark Side of Romance......

Our apologies to our Republican friends, yes we know Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are not actually gay lovers.

10 People Who Will Decide Who Becomes Prez (1 of 10): Rock and Roller in Seatlle Suburb

Name: Steve Nichols

Age: 48

Reisdency: Bellevue, Washington.

Job: Rock and Roll Guitar Player

Will Likely Vote: Obama

***_Notice: please see disclaimers at the end of this entry


The suburban vote will be crucial for both President Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney. Center-right political pundit David Brooks said (if our recollection is accurate) that the shift in the politics of suburbs in places like Philadelphia, Seattle and Raleigh were ones which enable Obama to win over John McCain in 2008.

Washington state has voted for Democrats in every election since 1992 and even though there are Republican strong-holds in places like Spokane, Yakima and Everett, we expect that Obama will carry the state again this year.

Bellevue, Washington, right across the lake from Seattle, is actually considered one of the best places to live in America, according to Wikipedia. The 2010 Census indicated that the 98006 zip code had a population of 122, 363, and the town was on the boom until the economic recession of 2008.

Among its famous citizens are Ann and Nancy Wilson who formed the band Heart; they objected to the use of their song "Baricuda" at the 2008 Republican Convention.

Bellevue is sister cities with Yao, Japan, and three other cities around the globe.

DISCLAIMER: Steve Nichols is a fictional character, though there are at least two relatively famous people with that name including an American soap opera actor and an American car design engineer.

The image is actually of guitar player/producer Mark Hermann who has played for the likes of Foreigner and Joe Walsh. We have no idea what his age, residential area and politics are.

SIDEBAR: Pigs swimming in the Bahamas?! Yes, there is a hysterical short piece in the current issue of "Mental Floss" about these creatures. They were apparently left by a fleet for a barbecue, which never occured.  Of course, this might hurt the magazine's circulation in Karachi, Pakistan!

There is also a wonderful photo on the search engine bing.com of multi-colored buckets in the African nation of Burkina Faso.

And, lastly, we noticed that we had a hit from Algeria today....we are quite impressed that you were able to discover us!


http://www.bellevuereporter.com/

http://www.mentalfloss.com/

http://www.bing.com/

Silly Picture to Fill Space- A Vietnamese Pig

We noticed that some folks from Pakistan were checking out our blog today, which we really appreciate. Alas, this image might make them inclined to check the web page of "The Nation" (ironically a Pakistani nationalist publication called "The Nation" shares its' name with a very liberal magazine in America which features an always biting column from Eric Alterman).

I do actually sympathize with folks in Pakistan because my late Turkish father Mehmet Gokbudak forbade me to eat pork, but I was allowed to read "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss.

But, hopefully, they will still like us in Slovenia!

For those traveling through North Carolina, the town of Lexington, between Greensboro and Charlotte (well closer to Greensboro), is said to have some of the best barbecue in the South. And, Google recommends Speedy's Barbecue, which has a web site (speedysbbqinnc.com) and their phone number is (336) 248-2410. We have never eaten there ourselves.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Working at the County Fair

We are gradually winding our special Summer Jobs series of entries which concludes next week as we examine the possibility of high school or college students working at their local county fairs.

Alas, the city of Lyncbhburg, Va., has already their county fair (well the nearest jurisdction to them that has a county fair) when the Campbell County Fair was held in July.

But, in nearby Danville, Va., the Danville-Pittsylvania County Fair gets underway in the community of Ringgold on Sept. 17. The fair lasts until Sept. 25, and this year, it will feature performances from Colt Ford and Clarence Carter.

Additionally, there will be a demolotion derby on the first Friday and Saturday (as well as Sunday) of the fair, and there will be a monster truck rally on the Wednesday and Thursday of fair week.

The Shenandoah County Fair in Woodstock, Va., which is about three hours north of Lynchburg (and two hours south of Washington, DC) in the Shenandoah Valley gets underway on Aug. 27. Country singer Josh Turner is the feature act of the fair in Woodstock.

We would also like to take a moment to dedicate this entry to students at North Providence High School in Providence, RI, where Joseph B. Goho is the principal. They play their first football game of the season in a road game with crosstown rivals Moses Brown.

While we could not find out the school's nickname in spite of 'hours of research,' we were able to discover that the mascot for Hope High School, another Providence school, is indeed the Blue Wave!

Bonus Silly Picture to Fill Space- Big Pig!

We are posting this image of a Vietnamese pig (George Clooney apparently had one like this for a pet!) in honor of the 28th Annual Hillsborough Hog Day, which gets underway in Hillsborough, NC (near Chapel Hill) tomorrow morning starting at 9 a.m. The festivities are scheduled to conclude around 6 p.m.

I actually went to this fest two years ago, and it was quite the interesting occasion. I wanted to jokingly invite a Turkish friend who was taking classes at UNC on a lark, but I'm not sure that Mustafa (pse) shares my twisted sense of humor.

This year, I was reminded of the event through an ad in "The Carrboro Citizen" (weekly newspaper in Carrboro, NC, which is also near Hillsborough).

The ad featured the following tidbits:

Admission is Free!
Crafters, games and contests.
Live music all day Saturday.
Fun for the whole family.

There will also be lots and lots of barbecue!

For those who live in the Tarheel State, but have other plans, there is also a b-b-q place called 'The Pit' in Raleigh, NC, on West Davie Street which claims to provide 'everything but the squeal.'

Now, I must profess that even though I am a human secularist, as a Turkish-American who had a Muslim father (alas he died when I was 13) I still feel guilty indulging in pork.

But, apparently, one gave ham and bacon without eating pork when they dine at The King's Family Restaurant (no relation to the chain of the same name in the Altoona, Pa., area) in Newark, NJ, as they offer halal meats. According to the New Jersey restaurant's web site, King's also offers omelets with beef or turkey bacon instead of pork.

Somehow, I can't imagine this would go over very well at the Omelette Shoppe (a regional chain open 24/7 with restaurants in Virginia and West Virginia) in Beckley, W.Va., which presumably has a very small Arab-American population.