City On Fire!

I'm looking out my window at work at this rather apocolyptic sight. The kilt store's on fire y'all!

I was in there yesterday looking for gifts to bring back to the States and I thought to myself "man, these are some cheap kilts." They must go up like gangbusters.

So, besides the tartan bonfire it's just a regular old day in Scotland. I had a long conversation on the train this morning with a Chilean man who teaches Management at St Andrews. He was on his way to a conference in the States, so we spoke at length about those subjects I love so much: Iraq, global warming, and the world's perception of Americans abroad. The latter is something I spend about 43% of my day dealing with, and frankly, I'm tired of defending myself. The conversation invariably ends with the other person telling me how dissimilar I am to other Americans they have met, which always makes me wonder what kinds of people are floating around out there and what are they doing? Most, if not all, of my American friends are frightfully engaged and intelligent people. Why is it always a surprise when we aren't gun-wielding, Bush-loving, ten-gallon-hat-wearing miscreants with a white tennis shoe problem?

Ack, well. I didn't have any preconceived notions about Chileans, so I told him I enjoyed their wine. "Thank you," he said, "we are very proud of it."