Moved In!

So I've been a little busy but now I've moved into a new apartment in a much quieter side of town (thank goodness for that). In the meanwhile some interesting sights:

There was a metro bus with a Dianetics advertisement (on the inside). For those of you that are unfamiliar, Dianetics is the book written by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology about the metaphysical relationship between mind and body (or at least in his mind). I've had the "opportunity" to visit the L. Ron Hubbard Museum in Hollywood and I spent most of the time trying not to laugh at the poor guide, who was utterly brainwashed in the workings of the cult.

IKEA now stocks the Daim candies again-there was a period of several years (up until a few weeks ago) that the candies were not sold. As an IKEA fan, I was glad they brought them back. Now if they would only restock the dessert cakes that had broken Daim pieces in them. Speaking of random foreign foods, I'm half-tempted to order a case of Guarana soda.

"Let Your Best Photo Travel The World"

I know a fair number of people who really like to take pictures, and I figured this contest might be interesting for a few of you. Basically the contest, run through Flying Blue (the frequent flyer program for Air France, Air Europe, Kenya Airways, Aircalin, and Tarom), consists of uploading (up to 10) travel photos to the site and the judging panel will select three winners. The winners will have their photos used on luggage tags that are given to elite members for up to two years. Additionally, winners will receive a one-year membership to Flying Blue's platinum status (which includes SkyTeam Elite+), 200,000 Flying Blue miles, and a luggage tag with their winning photo. The contest is available here and runs until midnight on July 9 (it says inclusive, so I'm assuming at the end of the 9th) Paris time (GMT+2). Currently one of my pictures is featured in the gallery. :)

For those of you that are concerned about rights and licensing (which of course is a legitimate concern):
Flying Blue only has the rights to display your photograph in the gallery during the contest period. If you don't win nothing else will happen. If you do win, in exchange for the prize, Flying Blue is essentially granted irrevocable rights to your photo for the luggage tags and for use on its website and social media pages for two years. This also includes image modification and text overlay for purposes including advertisements.

Taking The Bus

My bus rides are never as weird or interesting as the one depicted by Cyanide and Happiness, but I tend to find that riding the bus exposes me to the greatest range of people around, ranging from the downtrodden castaways to the clean and well-dressed. Since it is a means of public transportation, however, there have been a fair share of uneasy times.

A few weeks ago I was taking the bus to Northgate Mall on a weekend and a (somewhat not right in the head) gentleman gets on at the same stop at which I'm getting on the bus. However he starts to have a long discussion with the driver, and soon enough, our bus gets stopped by the police and the man is escorted off the bus and detained. I'm not sure what was going on, but my guess was that the driver was not happy for some reason to have the police come on the bus and physically remove the passenger. Several months ago I was also on a bus downtown with a belligerent passenger who kept cussing out the driver before getting off after being on the bus for only one stop.

In addition to the belligerent, there are the passengers who try to talk to everyone about their lives and their inflated sense of self-worth (or perhaps they just like to hear themselves talk). Most notable was several weeks ago on the light rail to the airport during the afternoon rush there was a fellow who tried to have conversations with everyone about their private lives. I can understand a little bit of small talk, but on a jam-packed train that's carrying twice as many passengers as usual due to a bus breakdown in a tunnel station preventing traffic for 20 minutes? I think talking to a stranger who likes to hear himself talk is the last thing anyone wants to do.