The South Pole: Haven of Technology, Utilities, and Smartypants-es.

You might be thinking, "Wait--the South Pole?  Isn't that Antarctica?  Nobody lives there."  That's what I thought, too, until I met an Antarctican. 

Let me start at the beginning.  I took a late lunch with a friend to catch the second half of the Germany v. Turkey semi-final in the Euro 2008.  After the match, everyone rushed to the front to pay their tabs and some Eastern European/Russian/Slavic guy neither one of us had ever seen began chatting with us.  He wanted to know where I got my shoes because he wanted to get something like them for his girlfriend (See?  Even men love Lord Byron and Mr. Rochester--they're that awesome).  

As we were starting to take our leave he asked our names and if we were on facebook.  My friend told the truth and I lied, as I always do in these situations.  Giving out personal information is not something I do at the drop of a hat and I am not going to add someone I met once for 5 minutes to my facebook but I didn't want to hurt his feelings.  However, he also asked about e-mail.  Great.  Now what was I supposed to say?  Everyone has email.  I panicked and said I don't have it so then he knew I was lying and asked if I have internet.  I said no except that it was only a half lie because at home I really don't have internet or cable or anything.  He didn't believe me and joked that I must live in the stone age but otherwise let it pass. 

After writing down my friend's name for facebook she asked where he was from.  "Antarctica," he said.  "You know, the South Pole?  But we do have running water, electricity, and internet down there."  Aha.  "Revenge is sweet," his expression said, so I just grinned and left it alone.