I now have two passports from two different countries. I'm not sure if either issuing country would be thrilled with the news, but as far as I know there are no laws being contravened. Now if I go to Cuba, that will be another ball of wax. (Suddenly curious about that expression, anyone know the origin?)Summer seems quite over today. Yesterday was chilly and rainy all day, it reminded me very much of January in Southern California. I'm going to need an actual coat this morning, but this is bad because it stinks. (I have been meaning to take my coat to the cleaners because the wool lining is impregnated with smoking stench.)
I can't believe our old thousand dollar tv (new 6 years ago) does not even generate one phone call at $200. It's 36" too! We put it back in the bedroom for now, but it's so big and blocky that it kind of cramps the space. And really? Picture tube televisions are worthless now? I had hoped to at least pay the first payment on the new tv with the proceeds from selling the old one. We did notice that there was only one store that we visited that still carried (one) the old style tv. It was a 27" for $329. When we saw that, we thought, "Who would buy one of those these days?" I guess I see now why our old one might need simply to be given away.
19 comments:
This blog post is on the first page of a Google search for "'another ball of wax' origin", so I guess it must have come from you.
I just always assumed that the expression had to do with cleaning out one's ears. When you go from one ear to the next, you get another ball of wax. :-D
What a handsome passport photo... You lucky B****** :P
I'd love to have (a) flat screen TV(s), but our old tubes work fine, so until one breaks down we'll just make do with them. Part of my quandary is what you are facing - how to get rid of the old ones.
The original saying was, "the Whole ball of wax." I think it was in regard to candle making. The chandler would ask how many candles would you like? The customer would reply, "I'll take the whole ball of wax." This would be enough candles to last a long time.
Your old TV will still work after next february and if the person has cable or dish it will work without a converter box.
It is very cold here way too early. Makes me wonder about the winter and global "warming". ed
Canada is fine with dual citizenships and multiple passports. One of my profs held 3 (British, Cdn & Nigerian) which really helped him move around smoothly through African countries depending on former colonial ties, current politics and local biases. I have 2 and usually go into Europe on one and back to Canada on the other. That, I think, is frowned upon, but I just look at the lines for foreign nationals after a transatlantic flight and think "ugh".
The positive for the cool weather is that the colours are going to be great!
I have EU and Canadian passports, but I only travel with one per trip. I don't think officials like to see you travelling with two.
I'm getting a new tv but putting the old one downstairs with the old VCR.
How on earth did you end up with a good-looking passport photo? Mine is hideous.
Unless the flat screens start costing less than tube TVs, the next TV I buy will have a picture tube.
It's too bad you don't live here. I've found that the good people of Peaceful Town will buy just about anything!
No one really knows the origin of "the whole ball of wax." There are a number of plausible explanations, including the one listed above, but no one can authoritatively document an origin. One of the more popular theories is that the phrase is a corruption of "the whole bailiwick." One of the more amusing, but probably erroneous, theories: "Another story appeared in William and Mary Morris’s book The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins. They quote an English legal text from 1620 which describes the allocation of land among the heirs to an estate by a process very much like a lottery. Each parcel of land was listed on its own piece of paper, sealed inside a small ball of wax, and placed in a hat. Each heir then pulled out one of the balls to discover which part was his. The Morrises were strangely credulous about a link between this process and the expression in view of the nearly 400-year and more than 3,000-mile gap between that description and the then first known appearance of the phrase. Whatever the origin, this isn’t it."
Thanks for the thought about dry cleaning before winter arrives--that had never occurred to me, but the new landlord works at one...hmmm.
Meanwhile, you and Serge should come to Cape Cod for Columbus Day weekend and bring me the TV...I don't have one yet, even tho I'll have cable installed tomorrow (for now it'll give me phone and internet)!
I've always wanted two passports, but never managed to stick around in New Zealand long enough. With a Kiwi passport, I could live in Australia, which at some point was attractive.
Wow. $1000 for a tv six years ago was a lot of money.
I've only bought one television in my life. It was about 10 years ago when I moved into my own place. It was $219 and had a 16 inch screen. Egads.
My sister gave me her 27-inch one when she succumbed to the siren call of the plasma. It's great!
You could just come here for a visit...we're basking in the middle of beautiful late summer days. Come on down.
I still have the t.v. that I owned in high school (a whopping 13 inches).
When you request/renew a U.S. passport, you sign an oath that you have not been naturalized as a citizen of a foreign state. It doesn't seem the U.S. particularly enforces that oath, though.
Yeah, trying to sell a tubed television is like trying to sell a corded phone.
The only land line phones we have are corded. We used to have a cordless, but (we lost it!) no, it died a miserable painful death.
We have 2 televisions, both tubes. No plans to buy a flat/plaz thing. Desire, yes. Plans, no.
I only finally got my US passport less than a year ago. I'm going to be happy with that for now.
You are incredibly photogenic. Even in the picture of you and Laverne making funny faces you look pretty good at least from the nose up. I've never seen a more handsome passport photo.
I have dual citizenship American and Australian. There is no issue from either contry as to having dual citizenship. The only rule is I have to leave Australia using my Australian passport and if I enter the US I have to use my American passport and then the reverse on leaving so going out of US I use my US passport and getting back into Sustralia I use my Australian passport. When ever I go anywhere else say New Zealand or the UK I use only my Sustralian passport both entering and leaving both countries. Never had a problem.
Congrats on your new passport and also the new telly I'm trying to get hubby to buy us a new television (a bigger one) but so far he's not listening.
Reduce the price to $50. and you'll probably get a bite.
Spouse is still resisting my Serge-like declaration that it is time for a flat screen HD TV. I don't understand why that worked for Serge but isn't working for me?
Mark :-)
The tube type do take up a lot of room.
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