Sunday breakfast at the diner

Pancakes and bacon, yum! So glad I'm not vegetarian anymore.

I looked up from the short stack on my plate to witness babycakes jumping out of her seat. Turns out, her phone had started to vibrate on the table top and she thought it was ... well, we don't want to know what she thought it was.

Later I suggested that if her vibrating phone startled her so much that she switch it to one of the 48,000 available ringtones provided by her service provider.

"I'd rather be startled than annoyed," she replied.

Flashback to the '80s

When Mel Harris showed up on West Wing this week I had an automatic flashback to the show thirtysomething (1987-1991).

Read this thoughtful essay about the show by Susan Emmanuel for a quick reminder of what the show was about and why it struck a chord in so many people my age.

We (I was married with small children) didn't watch the show at first. We tuned in only after a college intern at my workplace came over to our house for dinner one evening. After homemade lasagne and salad she chirped, "You guys are just so thirtysomething!"

Know what? We were.

Finally, photos from Acapulco

I opened a Flickr account and uploaded a (tiny) photo album from our Acapulco trip. I'll add more when I have more time.
Enjoy

Highway to hell

I was on the freeway a lot today. Two hours there [long meeting] and two hours back. There were good stories on Morning Edition until the radio faded out and then there was nothing but country music and jesus so I listed to Girlymen on CD and counted the number of dead animals on the side of the road.

There were about 100. Mostly racoons but a few skunk and deer (oh my god they are so big) and some that could no longer be recognized but judging from the fur I'd guess dogs, cats and coyotes.

And then I started noticing the bottles filled with yellow fluid. These were coke bottles and half-gallon milk jugs and other containers that wouldn't normally be filled with any liquid of that hue ... then I remembered hearing about how long-distance truck drivers don't stop to pee they just do it into bottles and toss them out the window.

Gross. Really.

I think somebody needs to get out there and clean up the side of the road.

This is not about work

So this morning after the sixth person appeared at my office door with comments like "this'll just take a minute" and then three people start having AIM conversations with me about things I don't want to discuss and then the phone rings and it's my doctor asking how my ankle feels because he just looked at the x-rays again and he wanted to be sure I could walk and I say, "I can go upstairs just fine but going down really hurts," and he reminds me about how I am supposed to trace the alphabet with that foot several times a day and am I putting ice on it? "Yes," I lied and the phone rings again and it's my daughter's therapist returning my call and I tell her that I've decided not to pay her anymore.

This is not about work.

I heard the news today, oh boy

Dear Hunter S. Thompson,
You don't know me but I've driven by your childhood home countless times wondering, what was it that inspired you to write the way you did? And did you really drink that much and drive around with rifles in the back of your car?

I admit, I use the "fear and loathing" phrase way too much. I assume that everyone knows where it comes from, but I'm not sure that's true.

I loved you, you old cynic you. And you'll be missed. And I affirm your right to choose when your life would end because you know, that's the only thing we really have any control over anyway.

Rest in peace.

Everybody's got something to hide ...

Yeah, I'm sorry. Haven't been around for a while.

I blame work ... and others (you know who you are).

There hasn't been a lot of sleep, too much time driving in the car, too much anxiety, too much blaming and not enough sex (hear that babycakes?)

Something's gotta give, and soon. There are no more blue ones ... and I can't sleep.

Things about which (I am embarrassed to say) I know nothing

I like to think of myself as a generalist, or someone who knows a little bit about a lot of things. But I know there are gaps in my interest and experience. Some topics are just so uninteresting to me that I have ignored them completely. For example:

Algebra
I decided long ago that I was never going to need it. However, I was an excellent student of plane geometry.

Jazz
I like music I can hum along with. The improvisational nature of modern jazz confuses me. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it.

Tent Camping
Yeah, I've slept outdoors (once, I think) but never inside of a tent. Is it fun? Am I missing anything?

Astronomy
I've heard of Hubble. I know the names of the planets. That's about it.

I am easily overwhelmed while shopping for a new computer

It's time to upgrade. This rickety old Gateway and its state-of-the-art Windows 98 operating system just doesn't do it for me anymore. Despite my best clean up efforts, we're infected with spyware and adware (Jack, stay away from those file sharing and gaming sites!) and I'm sure I've deleted several essential registry keys which might explain why the computer chooses to reboot itself randomly.

I've never been an expert on hardware so I've invested countless hours during the last several days at www.dell.com kicking the tires on some new machines.

I'm worried. Have I picked the right combination of components? Am I paying too much? Should I buy a Mac? Will I forget to save some essential files?

It was so easy to buy a car. Honda. New. Reasonably-priced. No, I don't need to see the engine or how to open the trunk because I've owned five or six Hondas already in my life.

Why can't computer buying be this easy?

Get thee to a poetry reading

My friend Eek! is one of the masterminds behind InKY. So go already.

Movies I hate ...

After the Oscar nominations were announced I started thinking about my favorite movies and also about the movies I hate. Here's my list (in no particular order):

Terms of Endearment (1983) Whiny and wimpy. I wanted her to DIE already.
Dressed to Kill (1980)Frightening misogyny. Gives transexuals a bad name.
Saving Private Ryan(1998) Just like every other WWII movie but this time with horrific special effects. The 20 minute violent sequence at the beginning had no redeeming value.
Cast Away (2000) Meaningless drivel. Tom Hanks spends a few years on a desert island and learns nothing.
Walking Tall (1973) The first movie I ever paid to see and walked out of.
The Scent of a Woman (1992) This movie ruined Al Pacino for me.
The Piano (1993) Women were supposed to "understand" this movie. I didn't get it.
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) One more reason why I hate Richard Dreyfus.
Chasing Amy (1997) Kevin Smith's wet dream about lesbians, featuring a disgusting Ben Affleck.
Shrek (2001)Tasteless and lowbrow animated garbage.
There's Something About Mary (1998) Grown men love this movie. They think it's funny. It's not.