lazy sunday, really.

I'm providing you, generously, with the final lap of this weekend's MotoGP from Barcelona; you can thank me later. The yellow rider is Valentino "the Doctor" Rossi, the eight-time World Champion. His competitor on this fine day is his team-mate, Jorge Lorenzo, who he is now tied with Rossi atop the championship standings along with Casey Stoner; not that any of that matters to you. Since I love just about any type of racing, Formula 1 and MotoGP in particular, I exposing you to a fantastic finish that you never see in auto racing these days. Feel free to overdub the Italian (or Spanish) commentator with your own version of "the door, the door..."



A second video to entertain you comes from some genius living in Arlington, VA. Every place you see in this video is in and around the neighborhood where we used to live - and where WonderTwin #2 and brood still live. I'm not sure this could have been any better. I do think the creator owes about 90% of any royalties to Andy Samburg of SNL.



The house has been cleaned to within an inch of its life - if a house had a life. The lawn, containing the deadly hill - is in dire need of a cutting. I think I'll hold out for closer to sunset and cooler temperatures. Betwixt now and then I'm off to the grocery to gather needs for taco variants: plain, standard, meat-and-bean for the hordes; some sort of fish tacos for the normal kids. Maybe I'll update you later, maybe I won't...

over the edge

I’ve already spilled the beans to X on this entry, she’ll get nothing out of it. This whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing is horribly conducive to speaking, and bouncing things, off the other. You get what you get.

I’m perplexed by the huge condo / apartment buildings in the greater D.C. metro area: every one taller than three stories is laden with balconies. Yet, I never see anyone out on the balconies – they are clearly and idea used to sell and rent, but are rarely used by the suburbanites. Of course, if there were no balconies no one would move in, “Honey, there’s no balcony. I need fresh air in the evening. I need somewhere to entertain.” We, here on North Park Dr., spend a ton of time in our courtyard. People in the New England, those out West, those in three stories or less DO spend time outside: in courtyards, on porches, on the lawn, watching people. Nobody sits on the stoop outside a thirty-story monstrosity…nobody. If you live in something that big you want privacy, and with privacy comes the highly-valued personal balcony. In the end, it might house the bike, the boxes from moving in that you were too lazy to break down, the recycling, or the bag of garbage that goes down on Tuesday mornings. “Hey baby, you forgot to take the hidden garbage down this morning. I was planning on have the gals over for mint juleps on the balcony this evening.” As if…

I was down at NAS Pax River today. As with every trip to the ‘base’ I realize once again that I’ve got no idea how I spent twenty years in the military. I had a great job, I loved where I lived, but I was lucky. There is nothing that mixes when you put me and military together…I think I knew that when I was 21.

T.

term paper is due; hoping for a snow day

I feel like Annie Proulx and her The Shipping News has been a high school reading assignment. Maybe that sounds harsh but it wasn't so bad – Billy Budd and any Nathaniel Hawthorne would far exceed the punishment of The News. I quite liked it but I’ll be buggered if I can figure out what I’m to take away. (A moment of truth is required here. I saw the movie years ago and can only remember and associate two things: Kevin Spacey doesn’t fit my idea of Quoyle, and Cate Blanchett was hot as Petal – in a hot Cate way, not a hot Petal way.) The problem I have with any tome of fancy words is that I’ve got to be able to somehow relate it to a part of my life or personality; I can feel some parts of The News but it’s more like a bit of fog and mist (neat comparison, huh?). Here are my thoughts put to words: family, shame, loss, redemption, change (not the same as redemption), destruction, settling, home, life, love. That’s it – my entire review. I need to think about this much more.

I’m onto Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz. Christine saw it on the table a few days ago and told me it appears as if I AM serious about this lit-ter-a-ture thing. I actually bought this volume in Qatar a number of years ago and followed that up by buying the first volume of his legendary Cairo Trilogy at Dharma Books in Reno. They are the kind of books you have sitting on the seat of your car (or splayed across the coffee table) to impress girls. The first pitch into both books leads me to believe I’m in for a bit of GGMarquez with an Egyptian twist. We’ll see.

(Another aside: I just turned around my GGM autobiography entitled “Living to Tell the Tale” on the bookshelf. X keeps turning some of my books around because the titles are horrendous. The other two she turns around? “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families”, a story of Rwanda, and; “Bury Me Standing”, a story of Gypsies. I’m on board with the Rwanda title, it’s not anything lovely, the other two confuse me.)

Vilsack is out of the 2008 run. If only I had the millions to help him run. I think we missed a great chance and I am really disturbed by how much money affects our political decisions. Maybe another entry on why money shouldn’t be the deciding factor. I'll remove him from my links section; how final is that? The Slate Gabfest refered to Hilary's campaign as the British Army with every other candidate on the Democratic ledger playing the roll of a colony or insurgency - they will need tactics that don't take her on in a straight fight if they are to suceed. I'm lost on my support for now: Edwards has earned some points for the "I was wrong on the war" approach, the Clinton machine scares me, and Obama has spun his wheels over the last few weeks. Stay tuned.

Lots of snow in Arlington today. The above picture is from about 10am this morning. I took the boys out sledding and they managed to get wet to the bone. It's nothing a long, hot bath didn't fix.

T

$.01

I swung over to Olsson's Books and Records to see if they had East of Eden to rent on DVD (they should add Movies to their sign). Got home watched about 20 minutes of it and realized that it is complete and utter crap. It's not actually the book - it's garbage imitating art. I'm trying to get over it. You can see the glow of the Court House Olsson's in Arlington. Hey, what do you want as the opening penny.

T