Chevrolet: Avalanche, Aveo, Camaro, Cobalt, Colorado, Corvette, Equinox, Express, HHR, Impala, Malibu, Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe, TrailBlazer, Traverse, Uplander.

Buick: Enclave, LaCrosee, Lucerne.

Cadillac: CTS, DTS, Escalada, SRX, STS, XLR.

Saturn: Astra, Aura, Outlook, Sky, Vue.

Pontiac: G3, G5, G6, G8, Grand Prix, Solstice, Torrent, Vibe.

Chrysler: 300, Aspen, Crossfire, PT Cruiser, Pacifica, Sebring, Town and Country.

Ford: Econoline, Edge, Escape, Expedition, Explorer, F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, Flex, Focus, Fusion, Mustang, Ranger, Shelby, Taurus.

Густой туман, видимость метра полтора-два. Едет Девушко с дальним светом (!) и сумасшедше двигающимися дворниками (!). При этом она едет 30 mph в левой полосе и одновременно выщипывает брови (!).

Official turnout in the city and county of SF was 49.79% - less than half  of registered voters bothered to get their lazy asses to a polling station?? National average is at 64%. Shame on you, San Francisco.

Такого веселья на улицах я еще не видела и не слышала. Это наша оранжевая революция. Очень надеюсь, что результат будет более видимым и настоящим чем в Украине.

Независимо от того, что он и как сможеет сделать или изменить, сам факт, что он в Белом Доме говорит об очень положительном развитии во многих уголках этой страны.

К сожалению, в то же время гомофобы в Калифорнии торжествуют, что не может не огорчать. The matter-of-fact-ness of implementing one group's religious beliefs into the state constitution and the landslide success of such a proposition is ignorant, very wrong, discriminating and simply disappointing.

The new California Academy of Sciences is opening in 5 days. It is basically a fancy Natural History Museum and so it looks quite promising. There is a planetarium, an indoor swamp, an aquarium and a rain forest.

Admission is pricey at $25 for adults but it may be worth it.

http://www.calacademy.org/

This morning I caught a random children's show on French TV. There was a puppet mother, puppet baby and a bunch of other puppets and everybody was trying out to figure out who is the baby's father. It all ended in a bunch of dancing, jumping around and the song "Qui est le père du bébé?".

1 kid without a ticket because United messed up, comme d'habitude.
1 kid stuck at Frankfurt because Lufthansa went on strike, ended it on Friday and started to strike again today after realizing that the raise they got is not enough. French habits are spreading.
1 kid had his passport, wallet and laptop stolen in Spain. The US Consulate is 2 hours away and emergency passport services are operating Mon-Fri from 9 AM to 1 PM.
3 kids are scattered all over the East Coast and can't fly to Geneva until Tuesday because airlines are not responsible for weather-related delays and cancellations.

It's a beautifully designed building but also the perfect example of pretty and impractical things... The gates are on different levels and there are plenty of escalators going up. Unfortunately escalators going down are nowhere to be found. They would have probably disrupted the overall architectural aesthetics.

The train passes green meadows, well-fed sheep and horses, wildflowers... and from the front seats a toddler's voice keeps repeating "Mama, habibi, mama habibi!"

I counted 6 condom dispensers and 1 ATM. Not surprising in a country where a typical movie has the following plot: Michel loves Sophie, Sophie loves Luc, Luc has a crush on Florence, who is in love with Anne, but Anne loves Jean, who loves Natalie, who loves Michel. And at the end of the movie they all go out to dinner.

Not that I am surprised... but the airport workers at all Parisian airports will be on strike this weekend. Good thing I am taking the train. But who knows, maybe the train workers will join in?
I just saw an interview with the head of the union of left handed luggage handlers or whatever...anyway he said that the passengers will not be affected by the strike... because there is WiFi at the airport and they can get any information they may need by googling it.

Ha, I just heard in the French news that the French government has recently authorized employers to abolish the 35-hour week. Clearly Sarko's love for the Anglo-Saxons (and their model of obsessive overworking) shows here.
In the US we think that getting to work early, skipping lunch and staying until 9 PM shows dedication and is generally a virtue. Well, the French have better things to do. Moreover, they will report you to the HR manager if you don't take at least a 1-hour lunch. Seriously.

Of course everyone knows that any attempt to take away rights from the French will result in a grève (strike), thus the new regulation requires the following:
The employers are to negotiate the increase in work hours with the employees, who can refuse and remain on the 35 hour week. If the working week is increased to 39 hours, employers have to buy back (!) the hours at the employer's rate of salary.

By the way, I also found out that apparently Paris did not get the Olympic games of 2012 because on the big day of the IOC visit to the capital, all transportation workers conveniently went on strike and the IOC encountered a completely paralyzed Paris. The government begged the workers not to strike that day but they said that it would be too much of a hassle to reschedule. Vive la France.

Of course the fact that the big rival London got the games, hurts the French big time.

A couple days in Italy make me realize how spoiled we are across the Atlantic… Upon landing, the oh-so-German pilot exclaims “Well, dear passengers, as usual nobody is responsible for us around here; we have landed, but we don’t have a gate, a bus or a ladder to disembark. Welcome to Italy.”

The taxi driver was most amusing telling me that traffic rules “are more like guidelines anyway”. Just like the pirates’ code. If you car fits through, you can drive through

The city is covered in Jeep Grand Cherokee ads while most people drive a Fiat Cinquecento or, those with a family, a Fiat Punto at best. Surprisingly, “Gasolio” costs as much as diesel here too.

I tried eating at the hotel restaurant twice without any success. Once it happened to be a weekend (how dare I assuming it’s open on the weekends). And the next time they told me they were too busy to feed me. I ended up going to an Osteria nearby where they served delicious linguini with truffles. This made me realize that from the Italian perspective, when I cook at home, my pasta is too cooked and my sauces too raw. The Osteria was a full Italian restaurant experience with a good white Chianti en masse and a sleezy waiter salivating all over me, trying to convince me that a) I need a table companion to truly enjoy the meal; b) that companion should be him; c) no meal is complete without limoncello, espresso, grappa, _____________ (fill in the blank). Since I had already spent 2 per diems on this meal, the limoncello did not make it on the check.

Looking forward to France. A country where I can communicate and don’t feel like the ideal stereotype of an American tourist (on my way to the airport in Florence I asked the taxi driver in English to switch on the air conditioning... I must say it’s 37 degrees C and the humidity is at 80%... I think I paid 5 EUR more for this request). Considered American here, I’ll be German once in France, since there is no way I can eradicate the German accent from my French.

What’s up with all the 35-year olds living with their mothers? Not enough women in this country? This morning during breakfast, one mother actually offered me a date with her son.

А вокруг все в белых штанах. Почти Рио де Жанейро.