Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure in the Chinese culture, you are taught to make as much noise as possible when eating your food and drinking. Now, with that being said, my office is in America. I cannot STAND it when the Chinese guy next to me slurps his water and then lets out an "Ahhhhh" afterwards. Seriously, it makes me homicidal. All day long *slurp* "ahhh". *Slurp* "Ahhh". OMFG.

You do know that George RR Martin is not actually from Westeros, right? He creates a world in his 50-something American mind where it's acceptable to marry a 13 year old (all right, fair enough) but then goes on to describe it all in lurid and gratuitous detail. Just because that doesn't happen to bother you doesn't mean that it's not a legitimate observation about his work. Nobody's calling for censorship, I just stated why I personally found his work unreadable. It's because I think of him the same way I think of American dudes who go to Thailand to have sex with 11 year old boys, stating that "It's considered normal in that culture."

Listening to a story of coincidences on This American Life and I'm loving hearing all these incredulous stories. I think I kinda had one the other day at the car repair shop. I drop off my car at 7:30 am and wait in the lobby for my friend to pick me up. I'm surprised that the lobby was pretty packed this early with 6-8 other people waiting for their cars. As I'm waiting, I see an older man sitting across from me waiting for shop's shuttle service. Fast forward 5 hours later, my car is ready to be picked up and I ask if I could get a shuttle ride even though I was a few miles outside of their radius. They agreed and picked me up on time. As I get in the van, I see that same man from the morning in the passenger seat (and no he was not the driver).

I love American Greed on CNBC, I'm always astounded at the levels of deception people go through just so they can feel like a big shot.

This morning I discovered that my 7 year old will do anything you ask without complaint if you tell him Captain America would do it. Score.

I can't stand American airline carriers. The service sucks and they've cut back on so many things that made flying a nice experience. What's next, passing around the picture of a peanut butter sandwich and calling that a snack? My favorite carrier so far is Royal Dutch Airlines. Tasty food, excellent service, warm towels and the whole aircraft was clean. One of my relatives thinks Emirates is the only way to travel and I don't blame him. My mom is a former flight attendant who worked for a foreign carrier and thinks our country's airlines are no different than cattle cars in the air.

I love learning about food and culture.... don't get me wrong..... and I do a lot of professional lunches and dinners, I have excellent table manners and am well educated and well traveled. That said, beyond basic civility I cannot possibly educate myself on every single nuance and detail of international food customs. By the way, I have some Chinese customers and in their culture is quite common to eat noisily and to slurp. While that doesn't fit the American ideal of politeness at the table, it is quite fine in theirs. Let me tell you, graciousness will translate across borders. If you commit a small social gaffe but address it with humor, it's no big deal. It is only the small minded you can't accept that cultural differences are the norm and then

I discovered a new show and I'm in love with it--Online Dating Rituals of the American Male.

I seriously thought Jamie from "Worst Cooks in America" was a woman this whole time.

I used to work in an Asian restaurant that served authentic Asian cuisine, not Americanized junk, I love it