Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Verizon Update
Verizon knocked $305 off the bill so I'm happy. In future, if you think you're using a lot of peak minutes, check the website where it's easy to find peak usage both as a whole and as individuals. The month finishes on the 26th so please try and remember as that date approaches. I can give you the pw by email. If it happens again, the culprit will pay the overages. Mom, Luke and i will be getting new phones this week (speakerphone!) and I'll keep my very reliable Samsung aroud in case someone drops theirs in the toilet. Not that anyone would. I'm just sayin'.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Some pictures from the weekend
This past weekend, Laura and I went to Philadelphia to help Caleb and Kate move. We saw Jason, and met his stepfather Dave, and had a great time at Ikea, and went out to dinner, and generally had a wonderful time when we weren't lugging boxes up stairs. I am gnashing my teeth that I took no pictures of their lovely new apartment (I was going to do it on Sunday, but as things turned out, we didn't get there on Sunday) and no pictures that turned out well of any people involved. Caleb, please let us know if and when you get that mattress moved-- I am worried about it!
I did get a few pictures of Caleb's current houseguest, the Cutest Puppy Ever. Well, except for one other puppy, of course, but that goes without saying. This is Darwin:
Darwin is not supposed to be on the couch. But it would take a harder heart than mine to make him get down.
On Monday, I drove up to Saratoga Springs to meet Grandma and Liz and Ana and Patty Peckham and see Grandma's sculptures in a show that has been traveling around the country. Here's one of her bronzes:
Here's the artist with her daughters, granddaughter, and almost-daughter:
And here is a family of windmills, astonished by a passing balloon:
I did get a few pictures of Caleb's current houseguest, the Cutest Puppy Ever. Well, except for one other puppy, of course, but that goes without saying. This is Darwin:
Darwin is not supposed to be on the couch. But it would take a harder heart than mine to make him get down.
On Monday, I drove up to Saratoga Springs to meet Grandma and Liz and Ana and Patty Peckham and see Grandma's sculptures in a show that has been traveling around the country. Here's one of her bronzes:
Here's the artist with her daughters, granddaughter, and almost-daughter:
And here is a family of windmills, astonished by a passing balloon:
No Butts About It
Speaking of sex, these kids were swatting girls on the butt. And sometimes the girls swatted the boys on the butt, but only under duress, I'm sure. Girls wouldn't do anything like that under normal circumstances. They should do to these kids what they did to the Duke Lacrosse team.
The Hum and Roar of the World...
in a country with socialized medicine, aka a "single-payer" system. That single payer would be "the government" and they will decide when you can have a goddamn hearing aid, even if you're 108. See here.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
A joke
A Polish immigrant went to the DMV to apply for a driver's license. First he had to take an eye sight test.
The optician showed him a card with the letters "C Z W I X N O S T A C Z.'
"Can you read this?" the optician asked.
"Read it?" the Polish guy replied, "I know the guy."
The optician showed him a card with the letters "C Z W I X N O S T A C Z.'
"Can you read this?" the optician asked.
"Read it?" the Polish guy replied, "I know the guy."
Friday, July 27, 2007
Anybody read this book?
It's called "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". I think it will probably be a bestseller, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I just read it and I thought it was great. I wondered what others may have thought of it so I went looking around on the internet (heard of that? There's this box in the corner of the room...) and, of course, found that, truly, everybody's a critic.
The first criticism that I ran across was as follows: Harry Potter went through all that just so, 19 years later, he and Ginny could be living humdrum suburban lives. Will Leitch, whoever he is, in Slate says, "Did we really go through all this just to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione take up residence on a cul-de-sac?" Well, really Will, I know you'd never stoop to living on a cul-de-sac, and your life is just one grand adventure after another, but, I hate to tell you, for many of us, maybe even Harry and Hermione, this is what we want. To rid the world of evil so we can enjoy life on the cul-de-sac, watching Albus and James and Lily grow and blossom and have their own adventures. Kudos to Rowling for recognizing that, after slaying the dragon or the wicked wizard, the cul-de-sac is a good place to start a family.
The second criticism I found was, of course, the feminist one. A Slate reader writes, "The continued short shrift that Harry gives Hermione is incredibly frustrating in this book, more than in any other. Perhaps Rowling's one effort to comment on this is when she complains about having to do all the cooking - which is not only immediately dismissed, but also like, come on! The one thing Hermione is going to complain about is something so easily dismissed by the unsympathetic reader as an 'age old' feminist complaint. How about the fact that Hermione does everything and never gets a shred of the credit, other than some astonished expressions and the occasional "Mione that's amazing!" Which reminds me of the joke about how many feminists it takes to change a lightbulb. Here's an idea, slate reader. YOU write a book. Fill it full of tiresome, pedantic, feminist lessons and see how well it sells. In the meantime, those of us who aren't obsessed with the gender of characters in a book will enjoy this one.
Another Slate reader bemoans the lack of sex in the book. The characters don't feel real to this reader because they aren't continuously fornicating and snogging and thinking dirty thoughts during all that time they spent in tents in the woods. Well, I must say, I really enjoyed that Rowling was brave enough, in this day and age when we are just bombarded with sex from all sides, to almost ignore it. I don't care if the characters weren't "complete". I don't want to know Harry's lurid and lascivious thoughts. He can keep them to himself if he's half the man we think he is.
The book isn't perfect. (Actually, I understand there are six more books in the series that precede this one. You'd think they'd have made more of a splash!) But it's a tour de force. I can identify with the characters and root for or against them. The various themes are well-developed and food for thought. But mostly, I liked the way the book paced. Very, very slowly, at first. More than halfway through, it starts to pick up speed very slowly. Then faster and faster until you are just hurtling toward the end. And the end, I think, is beautiful.
I may have to see if anyone we know has the other six books.
And I can't wait for the movie.
Anybody else read this book?
The first criticism that I ran across was as follows: Harry Potter went through all that just so, 19 years later, he and Ginny could be living humdrum suburban lives. Will Leitch, whoever he is, in Slate says, "Did we really go through all this just to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione take up residence on a cul-de-sac?" Well, really Will, I know you'd never stoop to living on a cul-de-sac, and your life is just one grand adventure after another, but, I hate to tell you, for many of us, maybe even Harry and Hermione, this is what we want. To rid the world of evil so we can enjoy life on the cul-de-sac, watching Albus and James and Lily grow and blossom and have their own adventures. Kudos to Rowling for recognizing that, after slaying the dragon or the wicked wizard, the cul-de-sac is a good place to start a family.
The second criticism I found was, of course, the feminist one. A Slate reader writes, "The continued short shrift that Harry gives Hermione is incredibly frustrating in this book, more than in any other. Perhaps Rowling's one effort to comment on this is when she complains about having to do all the cooking - which is not only immediately dismissed, but also like, come on! The one thing Hermione is going to complain about is something so easily dismissed by the unsympathetic reader as an 'age old' feminist complaint. How about the fact that Hermione does everything and never gets a shred of the credit, other than some astonished expressions and the occasional "Mione that's amazing!" Which reminds me of the joke about how many feminists it takes to change a lightbulb. Here's an idea, slate reader. YOU write a book. Fill it full of tiresome, pedantic, feminist lessons and see how well it sells. In the meantime, those of us who aren't obsessed with the gender of characters in a book will enjoy this one.
Another Slate reader bemoans the lack of sex in the book. The characters don't feel real to this reader because they aren't continuously fornicating and snogging and thinking dirty thoughts during all that time they spent in tents in the woods. Well, I must say, I really enjoyed that Rowling was brave enough, in this day and age when we are just bombarded with sex from all sides, to almost ignore it. I don't care if the characters weren't "complete". I don't want to know Harry's lurid and lascivious thoughts. He can keep them to himself if he's half the man we think he is.
The book isn't perfect. (Actually, I understand there are six more books in the series that precede this one. You'd think they'd have made more of a splash!) But it's a tour de force. I can identify with the characters and root for or against them. The various themes are well-developed and food for thought. But mostly, I liked the way the book paced. Very, very slowly, at first. More than halfway through, it starts to pick up speed very slowly. Then faster and faster until you are just hurtling toward the end. And the end, I think, is beautiful.
I may have to see if anyone we know has the other six books.
And I can't wait for the movie.
Anybody else read this book?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Eat Locally
Elizabeth Edwards is really commited. Such strength of purpose.
If you're a local eater, and you travel a lot, should you bring local food with you? Or should you buy local food when you get there? I wonder which would be better for "THE ENVIRONMENT".
If you're a local eater, and you travel a lot, should you bring local food with you? Or should you buy local food when you get there? I wonder which would be better for "THE ENVIRONMENT".
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Funniest anniversary card ever . . .
. . . or the most appropriate, anyway. From Scott and Judi -- who else?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
26 Years (Option 1) (couldn't decide...)
Hey, lady, you think the FIRST 26 years was fun? Well, I know...yes, there was that...and that...and, hey, I thought we were past that.... But, SOME of the first 26 years was fun, right? Right?
Oh, dear. Well, in any event I'm promising here and now to make the NEXT 26 years EVEN MORE FUN. Waddaya mean it won't take much? Just you wait and see. All those things you've longed to do? We're gonna do 'em. Fasten your seatbelt and hang on tight!!
As proof, to celebrate our anniversary, I bought you your very first ever....
subscription to TRAILER LIFE MAGAZINE!!!!
Waddaya mean, "It figures"?
Happy anniversary, dear wife.
Oh, dear. Well, in any event I'm promising here and now to make the NEXT 26 years EVEN MORE FUN. Waddaya mean it won't take much? Just you wait and see. All those things you've longed to do? We're gonna do 'em. Fasten your seatbelt and hang on tight!!
As proof, to celebrate our anniversary, I bought you your very first ever....
subscription to TRAILER LIFE MAGAZINE!!!!
Waddaya mean, "It figures"?
Happy anniversary, dear wife.
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