Those cheeky, talented Brits

While I was in China last week, Our Lady of BYU sent me a link to a YouTube clip of some woman called Susan Boyle. Since I was on my Blackberry, I couldn't play the clip (well I could but I didn't want to pay the international roaming charges). All Our Lady said was you'll be surprised. By all that's holy, she's right. Have you seen the clip? Well, stupid YouTube (Fascists/Hypocrites! Seriously, who do they think they are?) have disabled all ability to embed ANY of the clips related to this woman, so click on the link above to give it a go. I'd just like to point out that I wish they'd be as vigilant in monitoring the really hideous stuff that seems to get through their stupid site as they are things like this. So much for their owner, Google's mantra, do no evil.

All right, first things first, to look at, she's a trainwreck. And we all judged accordingly, but what a voice! She blew out the performing hall and I know that my jaw hit the ground the minute she started to sing. I honestly thought she was lipsynching at first. It's an amazing performance. Now, it could be a flash in the pan. Who knows?

It's not the first time this show, "Britain's Got Talent" has found a trainwreck and turned it into something amazing. A couple of years ago, the same show had a bloke on called Paul Potts. When he walked onto the stage, it was the same reaction. You took one look at him and thought, "Oh my. No good can come from this." Well, look what happened:

So this guy has since sold over two million albums and is soon to release another one. The clip is classic - watching Simon Cowell midway through, you can see his head spinning, thinking "How am I going to turn this mess into a cash cow?"

Anyway, both talented people. Incredible voices. Nice reminder about judging a book by its cover. English food=bad. English village singers=good, really good.

It only gets angrier

Last night's post came from an airport hotel in lovely, and by lovely I mean complete and total hole, Newark, New Jersey. I thought that was exacerbating my condition and that things would turn for the better upon my return to Chicagoland this morning. While it was all kinds of good to have the stunningly patient SML pick me up this morning at ORD, getting home did not cure me.

I'm not pleasant when I'm sick so I had warned the family and they were prepared. It's been a long day. You know it's bad when your wife tells you the following: "Um...you've got a funk going on." And by funk she's not referring to my dancing skills or a heightened state of depression. This in spite of the fact that I had showered and I maintain a pretty high state of cleanliness. It's the demon inside of me working its way out. So this is how I feel right now:

And here's my new BFF:

I'll say this...whatever is tearing through me (and tearing through me faster than the French caved to the Nazis), it's not going to make me give up the adventure of trying new foods all over the world. This is merely a minor setback. It's also a bit of a diet aid. Since I can't start running again for two more weeks, when my one month running ban is lifted, this is merely eliminating a few pounds that normally would have come off in a couple of runs. See, there's good to be found in everything.

Back in the US and one angry stomach

I've just spent the last 17 hours on planes from Hong Kong and Shanghai back to the US. It was a great week in Shanghai and Hong Kong, but I believe I'm paying for it now. On Wednesday night, I had dinner with several co-workers at a very, very local restaurant above one of the wet markets in the Wan Chai area of Hong Kong. It was an amazing meal but one where I really wasn't certain what I was eating and let's just say that made for a very unpleasant ride home. Very unpleasant. And it's not like it's improving. I'm hoping that it's just exhaustion and not a bad reaction to either the pig's knuckles or the black tea jelly for dessert. It couldn't have been the pregnant lady rice, which was amazing by the way. It was seasoned with ginger. Maybe it was the tripe-like stuff...I don't know. And then there was other stuff I couldn't identify. Here's what I know...it seems to be going horribly wrong and it's going to be a long night.

D'oh!

The US Postal Service made a pretty momentous announcement today. One of such magnitude that I can capture my feelings by paraphrasing a remark made by our nation's First Lady: "For the first time in my life, I'm proud...of the USPS." Why? Look:
Could it be anymore awesome!?

I, for one, think this is the greatest thing that the Postal Service has ever, ever done. Completely awesome. Memorializing the greatest family ever like this. Outstanding.