BanderasRojas

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Six Strikes, You're Out

Posted on 11:36 by Unknown
We have been sleeping in our apartment since Sunday night.  It's bliss.  Our "stuff" is supposed to arrive from California via England via Madrid Thursday.  We can't wait for that to happen. 

We now have wireless connectivity for one of our laptops.  Via Vodafone.  I finally gave up on Movistar after phoning Monday morning and being told that someone would call me Monday, and then going into the store Monday afternoon to be told that if someone didn't call me Monday night, they would probably call me Tuesday. 

Since this had been going on since Thursday; and since this was my sixth visit to Movistar and I still had no contract; and since I had stopped off at Vodafone in the morning and learned that if we signed up with them for internet, we would have immediate wireless connectivity even though the hardwire installation might take more than three weeks; and since I found a cable company that could give us more channels (also immediately); and since when I told the sales rep at Movistar all this, she just shrugged her shoulders... I said thanks but we wouldn't be signing a contract with them and I moved on.  Movistar struck out.  But, in case you don't know, it's really only three strikes and you're out in American baseball.




LOVED THE UNIFORM BUT, AT THE AGE OF 5, I COULDN'T HAVE TOLD YOU THE RULES OF THE GAME.

Vodafone was true to their word.  The only problem is we can't seem to get the modem to work for us both.  So, Jerry has connectivity.  I share his computer as needed.  And I go over to Starbucks for a Frapuccino and 45 minutes of free WiFi.  That's where I am right now.

On Friday, I bought a new permanent smart phone to replace the cheap, temporary, basic phone I've had for the past few weeks.  But, because I kept my number and changed service providers (from Yoigo to Vodafone), my smart phone and my internet connection that comes with it will not be live until Friday at two. Government regulations.  I didn't realize that and couldn't understand why I had no service on my new phone.  Miguel at Vodafone explained it to me.  I'm sure the sales rep who sold me the phone last week would have explained that to me, as well, and it was simply lost in translation.

WHICH BRINGS ME BACK TO BASEBALL
Several years ago, our Norwegian cousin Jon Olaf asked Jerry to explain the game of baseball.  It's not an extremely complex game, we thought.  It would be fun and simple to explain, we thought. 




EXPLAINING BASEBALL, IN NORWEGIAN,
TO BONNIE THE DOG.
Jerry began by telling Jan Olaf that there are two teams with nine players each.  There are nine innings in a game, with three outs per inning. 

"What's an inning?" asked Jon Olaf. 

Jerry attempted to explain an inning.  That wasn't too difficult. 

But then, "What's an out?" 

Jerry tried to explain that one way of getting "out" was to get three strikes.

"What's a strike?" 

Jerry discussed the very basics of strikes — the swing-and-miss kind and the strike-zone kind — and that if you got four balls before you got three strikes you would walk. 

First, Jan Olaf laughed at the idea of anyone having to walk anywhere with four balls. 

But then he wondered where one would be walking... And... "They use more than one ball?" 

Explaining Spanish phones, internet, and TV to me is kind of like explaining American baseball to Jan Olaf.   

Except that Jan Olaf was fluent in English.
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Seeing a Stork in Sevilla: Good or Bad Omen?
    There are a number of superstitions about storks. Among them: 1.  If a stork builds a nest on your house, your house will never burn down no...
  • The Ceramic Monastery Museum and Gardens
    Some of my recent posts have been all about the special exhibit at the Center for Contemporary Art here in Sevilla. You may remember that th...
  • Life in a Bottle
    CHURCH OF SAN SALVADOR ON THE PLAZA SAN SALVADOR THIS AFTERNOON. We went out for dinner Thursay night with Margarita.  She led us to a tapas...
  • A Tower of Gold and Potatoes
    On one of my recent strolls home from Goldenmac (computer service) in the neighborhood of Los Remedios followed by a stop at the Foreigners...
  • Forever Plaid
    When I was 14, my sister Dale told me I needed to learn how to dress. She took me shopping and taught me. Since her favorite places to shop ...
  • From Sioux Falls to a Straight River
    THE MONARCH OF THE PLAINS (AKA THE AMERICAN BISON OR BUFFALO). We spent the weekend in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and enjoyed a gathering of...
  • The Missouri River
    The Oahe Dam along the Missouri River just north of Pierre, South Dakota, forms the fourth largest artificial reservoir in the United States...
  • Not Feeling Completely Renewed
    I'm in the process of renewal but I'm not completely there yet. More specifically, San Geraldo and I made some progress this morning...
  • The Sun Will Rise and the Moon Will Set
    The planting is done. So is the arranging (mostly). Now I'm just waiting for the sun to come back out (tomorrow? Sunday?) so I can get s...
  • Yeah, But Is It Art?
    My cousin Al (first-cousin once-removed) is a curator of contemporary art visiting from the United Sates and, until he mentioned it, I didn...

Categories

  • alameda (1)
  • anchovies (1)
  • anchovy (1)
  • art (1)
  • avenza (1)
  • bananas (1)
  • barcelona (1)
  • beacon+hill (1)
  • best+restaurant (1)
  • boston (1)
  • brooklyn (2)
  • cambridge (1)
  • cannelloni (1)
  • carrara (1)
  • catalina (2)
  • charles (1)
  • chef (1)
  • china (1)
  • cooking (1)
  • dining (1)
  • downstate (1)
  • drawing (1)
  • ed+sullivan (1)
  • erotic (1)
  • españa (1)
  • first+kiss (1)
  • gay (1)
  • gonzalo (1)
  • hercules (1)
  • I (1)
  • italy (1)
  • jrw (1)
  • mitchell+block (1)
  • ponce+de+leon (1)
  • porch (1)
  • restaurants (1)
  • san+diego (1)
  • sevilla (4)
  • seville (3)
  • sheraton (1)
  • spain (3)
  • suny (1)
  • wences (1)

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (141)
    • ►  September (4)
    • ►  August (18)
    • ►  July (21)
    • ►  June (18)
    • ►  May (19)
    • ►  April (15)
    • ►  March (19)
    • ►  February (12)
    • ►  January (15)
  • ►  2012 (214)
    • ►  December (17)
    • ►  November (18)
    • ►  October (21)
    • ►  September (19)
    • ►  August (20)
    • ►  July (18)
    • ►  June (22)
    • ►  May (25)
    • ►  April (17)
    • ►  March (12)
    • ►  February (9)
    • ►  January (16)
  • ▼  2011 (145)
    • ►  December (18)
    • ►  November (18)
    • ►  October (16)
    • ►  September (19)
    • ▼  August (19)
      • Six Strikes, You're Out
      • Hurricane Irene and the Dowager Duchess Face Off
      • The Shortest Distance Between Two Points... Does N...
      • Coming Out of the Dark
      • Less Strange, Still in the Dark
      • The Poplars of Hercules
      • Oh, How I Wish That It Would Rain
      • Home Away from Home... Away from Home... Away from...
      • Still in the Dark and Making Faces
      • Thirty Years of Bliss
      • Carmen, Margarita, Paco, and Jerry
      • Crepe Myrtle? Go Ask Alice.
      • Be Careful What You Wish For
      • Someone Might Call This Cozy
      • Alien Encounters and Signs of Water
      • Present and Accounted For
      • Open for Business, Unless We're Not
      • Powerlessness... And Another Set of Knockers
      • Nice Knockers
    • ►  July (16)
    • ►  June (17)
    • ►  May (6)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (6)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile