saurkraut

I don’t even know what to say about Charles Krauthammer. I roll over to the WaPo and read him occasionally to see what tripe he’s dragged up from his black soul. I love how people say “Krauthammer is a smart guy” as if that’s some justification for being a soulless and ignorant mouthpiece for the lost conservative movement in America. Kraut’s latest diatribe is against Medicare paying for end-of-life counseling for people who want it. Here’s the text of the section that Krauthammer links to but won’t extract in his piece because he rolls the same way as all shallow debaters: link but don’t show the information because most conservative Americans are too lazy to actually click and read something.

(vii) Voluntary advance care planning (as defined in paragraph (a) of this section) upon agreement with the individual.

(viii) Any other element determined appropriate through the national coverage determination process. Voluntary advance care planning means, for purposes of this section, verbal or written information regarding the following areas:

(i) An individual’s ability to prepare an advance directive in the case where an injury or illness causes the individual to be unable to make health care decisions.

(ii) Whether or not the physician is willing to follow the individual’s wishes as expressed in an advance directive.

Here’s what Chuck has to say about it:

“Most people don't remember Obamacare's notorious Section 1233, mandating government payments for end-of-life counseling. It aroused so much anxiety as a possible first slippery step on the road to state-mandated late-life rationing that the Senate never included it in the final health-care law.” (emphasis added)

What we need more of in this country is late-life planning: What do you desire if you are in a horrible accident? What medical care do you want if you are comatose and brain dead? Who do you want to make medical decisions for you if you can’t? This is something that has long been championed by conservatives as long as it wasn’t proposed by a Democrat. This is the type of planning that allows you to decide what you want. If you’re on Medicare, and want advice, you can get it. If you don’t, then don’t. It’s a pretty simple concept.

Krauthammer, of course, simply recycles bullshit from wherever he can find it. Death panels equal late-life planning? You’re a really smart guy.

lack of effort

We finally made it home after two extra days stranded in the Vermont wilderness. Well, it wasn’t wilderness, per se, but according to Delta Air Lines it was.

Our Sunday flight was canceled due to the incoming storm – of which they notified us of (the canceled flight) via phone messages at about 8am. Their phones lines couldn’t handle any load (“call back later!”) and the Web site was useless. Once we got through hours later they had already rebooked us on the same flight on Monday. Insert snow/blizzard joke here. They again canceled Monday’s flight (at about 12:30pm on a 6pm departure out of Hartford) but just shuttered up at that point and did nothing. No messages, no e-mails, no phone lines, no Web site. We finally got through about 8pm and were told we were rebooked on Thursday. X told them to give us our money back, which they did in order to probably save their lives, and we rented a car one-way from Hartford to D.C. for yesterday. 14 travel hours. The NJ Turnpike was mayhem, as was the Tappen Zee Bridge, so we had to bail on that route and take the back(er) roads to get home with great help from the Gandolf Positioning System (GPS) and Getting Home Route Assistance Center. If you’re keeping track at home we transited eight states over 515 miles at an average moving speed of 42mph: Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Tired and rumpled we slept.

Christmas, on the other hand, was wonderful.

Three kids are at home. Two adults are at work.

I’m tired.

More later.

trickery

I'm not a fan of Ken Cuccinelli primarily because I think he's a blind politician masquerading as an intelligently-designed being. I guess you could claim that as a state's attorney general he's isn't a politician but in Virginia it's an elected office. As someone who is allegedly a lawyer representing the best interests of his state it might behoove him to be something other then an AG that spews against "liberals".

The health care insurance mandate, in which you will pay a fine via federal taxes for not having health care insurance, seems to be the single toothpick that Cuccinelli (and to be fair, a bunch of other states' attorneys general) is using to support his hatred of the health care reform bill. Two judges have so far ruled that the bill is constitutional and one has ruled that only the mandate is unconstitutional. One of the greatest contributors to society that the internet provides is the ability of readers to contribute well-formed ideas that are often impossible for others to verbalize. In the great debate on the constitutionality of the individual mandate it hasn't been presented better than this reader's input (at andrewsullivan.com)

What keeps getting lost in the discussion about the so-called "mandate" is that it is simply a tax penalty for people who don't purchase insurance. If that form of incentive is unconstitutional, as some are arguing, then the intellectual impasse that you immediately run into is that incentives in the form of tax breaks are also unconstitutional. Tax breaks for specific economic activities are functionally and mathematically indistinguishable from tax penalties for failing to engage in specific activities.

For example, [Wisconsin Congressman Paul] Ryan's health-care proposal, much-loved by many self-professed conservatives, centers around tax vouchers that individuals can use to purchase health insurance -- i.e., tax breaks for buying insurance. But that is equivalent to imposing a tax penalty on everyone who doesn't purchase health insurance. Would the current "mandate", therefore, suddenly become constitutional if Congress simply raised taxes on everyone (something it surely has the power to do), and then gave a tax break to everyone who gets insurance, which would have exactly the same effect as the current bill? For that matter, what about tax breaks for all sorts of specific purchases, from houses to health care, that have been in the tax code for years?

Thanks, Mr. (or Ms.) Reader.

listening and reading

There’s a regular guest/segment on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU that’s always my favorite of the month: Shaping the City with Roger Lewis. You can get the podcasts of just that show or segment free at iTunes. Lewis is an architect/professor and the shows about D.C – and cities, in general – are always enthralling. You may call me a dork; you may not.

There was a time not so long ago that I’d sit around reading slip opinions from the Supremes. (I know this is adding weights to my dorkness from above.) Andrew Cohan has published his list of must reads in law for 2010. I think I’ve already read at least parts of them but I think I might take the time to sit down and work through them more detail.

We have our first snow of the year coming down in the Metro area and you can safely assume the D.C.-area drivers will make the road a living hell. I’m heading out. I’m sure the stores won’t be crowded.

todd mile zone

I cranked up the iPhone this morning to check on the current weather – cold – and was greeted by a full-screen picture of Kim Kardashian in a bikini. You might ask…

We were reading last night; I, The Disappearing Spoon, X, some fashion mag, and she suddenly said, “Who are the Kardashians?” As if. I quickly let her know there was dad (attorney, deceased), mom (I know nothing about her), step-dad (Bruce Jenner), Khloe (married to Lamar Odom), Kim (dates athletes), and Kourtney (no idea). I also passed along that they are famous in a Paris Hilton way but without as much money, and that Kim is primarily famous for her ass. She was a little confused so I pulled up some Kim/Ass shots on the iPhone to give her a sample. That was the last thing before I clicked it to sleep. There’s your explanation. I’m not sure if this makes me look better or worse.

I baked some potato/wheat bread last night – came out so-so – and suddenly decided that I want to have a home proofing box for baking. If pushed, I’d say that about 100% of people who start baking seriously at home immediately think they need a proof box. What I’ve found – and I’m not way serious yet – is that most people simply jury rig their own contraption of sorts with plastic and pans of water. As with any hobby, once you get started you suddenly realize you need a million high- (or low-) tech items.

I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution (or a list) but am contemplating giving the oft-maligned process a go. I think refining it to something functional and doable might make all the difference.

my 15 minutes

Here's the final frame of the 2010 UK Championship from the weekend. Best of 19, tied at 9-9, John Higgins had trailed 9-5 after 14 frames.

My pal, Buzz, and I saw these two legends a number of times at the World Championships in Sheffield. We saw Higgins win the first of his three World Titles in 1998, and Williams win his first (of two) in 2000. I won 60 pounds on the latter match. Great, great stuff. I miss snooker, oh, I miss it.

Enjoy

“…die on this hill.”

I hate stealing from TnC at The Atlantic but I can’t help it. This comment arrived from a reader in response to a post on testing and standards, especially in relation to the new NYC public school administration. Not being a college professor doesn’t mean I don’t understand what he (?) is seeing. As an older student who happens to sit in class with a nice cross-section of 18-24 year-olds I’m exposed to what systems (whether public, private, or home) have spit out into the world of post-secondary education. If you want to follow along – and it’s a great discussion – here’s the post and comment section. Search for “D_e_x” to hit the first comment and you can follow from there. Here is the first comment in its entirety:

I'm up at the front of the classroom while my students take their final exam for Entrepreneurship 300. A fundamental goal in all my classes is that students learn how to critically analyze real problems applying theory and using fact-based arguments. Rightly or wrongly, I have chosen to die on this hill. They have to write executive summaries, properly formatted, using dense, precise language. Less than 5% of my students arrive in the classroom with that ability*, but ~2/3 of them leave knowing how to do so. It's teachable, but not without a lot of tough lessons and many tantrums by kids who have been failed by their families, their communities, and their schools (incidentally, I find the same thing with home- and private-school kids). Most of my colleagues have one or both of the following problems with the idea: (1) they're too lazy to bother; and (2) they think of students as sub-human and incapable of learning high-level skills. It makes me sad.

*As we are an open enrollment college, ~1/3 of our students leave after their first semester, many of them simply unequipped for college. I routinely have students who write at a fourth grade level.

Edited to add: I should point out that it's testable, too. People claim that it isn't, but it is.

In a lot of ways it summarizes what sits front-and-center when I think about education. It can be done. It is hard. We’re not ready to commit fully to the operation.

post paid

It’s well worth your time. It was worth my time and it’s something that I’ve been pondering – in one form or another – since Thanksgiving.

My own perception of my world is oftentimes completely different than the world I actually see; within my daily life and bounds. It’s not an external issue, it’s internal; something ticking away that makes me wonder where I’m going. The entire exercise isn’t too distant from the prisoner’s dilemma that we play with our future selves.

There’s a Quiz Night on the horizon, or at least over in Clarendon, tonight. Our last effort in November was horrific so we need redemption. Please, redemption. I’ll pass along results, time permitting.

working for free

Well, I’ve had both bakeries that I was interested in for my externship fall by the wayside; a bit disappointing. But, I have a good chance of staging at some point next month with my dream chef – fingers crossed. I’m also set to hit a small European/French café this week with a goal of pushing for an externship there next quarter. If that falls through then I’ll just hold off until the summer term and try to work something then.

Just a single class left this term (Wednesday) and then I’m off until January 10th. I think there might be some plans between now and then, including a few Quiz Nights.

Just about the entire clutch Wonder Twin-inspired members headed to Woolly Mammoth on Saturday for Second City’s A Girl’s Guide to Washington Politics. Afterwards it was a fancy-ish dinner at Cedar (compliments of Corey). It was an impressive meal that topped, by everyone's account, our outing at the much higher-rated 2941 a few months back. I had a stunning squash soup, an excellent fluke, and a hazelnut chocolate dessert that was exceptional. The most important, and defining, aspect of a great restaurant for us is this: great bread to open and great coffee to finish. Cedar hit on all cylinders.

once again. repeat. and again.

We had a discussion about net neutrality the other night. X played the role of expert and I played the role of me. First of all, ‘net neutrality’ is a horrible catchphrase for this issue but I can’t do much about that etymology. As far as I can sort out, there’s not a sane way around the content vs. network provider battle where the network provider comes out on top. If we believe that once we are ‘online’ then we should have unlimited access to the internet then the content providers win this battle. The prime players in the current battle are Comcast and Netflix (let them stand-in for any combination you choose, as X does) and the areas debated involve Netflix streamers using more of the transmission space than others: Comcast feels they should either be paid more by Netflix or the customers, or should be able to throttle high-use data/customers. The basic premise of net neutrality is that the backbone (means of information movement) doesn’t have the right to limit, control, or alter data delivery. Of course, Comcast built the network and set it up for triple play connectivity (internet, phone, and cable) into our homes but now can see the writing on the wall where we all cancel our cable (the phone is nearly gone) and only have internet for all our communication needs. They, unfortunately, have loads of infrastructure and costs invested and want to continue delivery dominance at the prices they desire.

It seems the only out here is for Comcast to decide on a price they feel meets their need for internet delivery and simply charge that number to every customer. From that point forward they are playing the market game that’s controlled by the existing demand and consumer forces. The final part of this freedom mystery is that, as always, we know how this will end. We know the final result will be that all of our needs will eventually – sooner rather than later – be met via the internet. There’s no way to stop it, whether Comcast likes that or not, and we’ve been down the road before: music, books, movies, etc. Just because you control the means of transmission or production doesn’t mean you’ll have it forever: you had a nice run now move on. I’d guess that we fought this exact same battle when the printing press and movable type became the norm five centuries ago. Same battles, different technologies.

I’m almost done with my autumn quarter – just two more classes after tonight – and will then have about three weeks off before kicking off again in January.

L. got her PSAT scored back, she’s smart enough.

It’s cold and the fireplace is now operational on a nearly full-time basis in the evenings.

Our cats are still lumps of uselessness.

All is well.

five minutes for fighting

Has it really been two weeks? We can call it a holiday break.

L. and I went to the Caps’ game on Saturday night and sat in the third row from the ice: it’s a whole new game when you’re essentially eye-to-eye with NHL players. The size, speed, and physicality of the game is amazing from up close. It’s not the best place to sit if you want to see the entire ice and watch plays develop but it’s a view that worth having a few times in your life. Overall it was a busy Saturday and a slower Sunday.

I finally wrapped up The Tiger by John Vaillant and can’t recommend it enough if you read non-fiction / adventure. I think X will be happy to not have to listen to my tiger talk any more. I believe the rights to the story have been sold for a film but there’s no way they won’t screw up the feel of the story. Read the book, skip the movie.

I want to take a little time to rant on politics and the economy but I’m at a crossroads on the extensions of both tax cuts and unemployment benefits. Neither has a significant effect on me directly, and I’m not quite sure on Obama’s longer view for now so I have to be careful. What I find strange is the memory of a campaign cycle that was all about cutting the deficit and reducing debt yet here we are ready to keep revenue down and increase spending – seems strange, right? My direction, as if queried, would be the let all the Bush-era tax cuts expire and extend unemployment benefits until jobs start coming back. (Being a lagging indicator – the last thing that arrives in a recession and the last to come back – the jobs aren’t there and probably won’t be for quite a bit.) The extension money is small potatoes compared to the hundreds of billions (for high earners. The number is more like $3.7 trillion over ten years if they all expire) in lost revenue that the tax cut extension would eliminated. I don’t much buy into the trickle down economics bullshit from the Reagan years. I don’t much by into the Bush idea of just continuing our lives as if no sacrifice is needed. If the Republicans dropped the “we won’t do anything until the tax cuts are addressed” in front of me I would have simply punched Mitch McConnell in the head and told him that was fine by me. Let them expire. We’ll do nothing. But, like I said, I don’t know the President’s long view on this compromise.

It was only a small venting.

old crazy

I have a few thoughts on sport. Not sport on TV or in person, but life sport.

I remember very little about my days playing little league baseball. Then again, I stopped playing at a young age and stuck more to basketball. I remember my basketball playing days (they don’t call it little league; it was the South Southwest Omaha YMCA grouping). Our team won the ‘state championship’ for fifth- and sixth-graders at the big tournament in Lincoln. That was memorable more for the weekend trip, playing on the road, and being in the Final Four. The games themselves don’t stand out. Practice at myriad Omaha area elementary schools on cold and damp weeknights (usually something like Tuesday and Thursday) don’t stand out. If pressed, I can probably bring forth a half-dozen real memories from those years of youth organized basketball. What I do remember of my youth and sport is the hours upon hours I spent playing pick-up basketball at YMCAs, churches, my drive way, and my friends’ houses. I remember me and the neighbors playing hours of a made-up baseball in the front yard: pitcher, hitter, one fielder. A whiffle bat, a yellow Trac-ball, and a fence. Once you fielded the ball you had to hit one of the first three fence planks (1st base/only base) to get the runner out before he tagged it. Repeat. This was far more exciting than any organized stuff I ever played. I remember my greatest pick-up games like they were yesterday. I remember playing Pepper in the front yard for hours.

Here’s the deal, and my crazy talking: get rid of organized sports for kids. Keep the fields, keep them nice, and let them play – just without our getting the way. If they want to play, they will. The practice and sorting of rules amongst themselves is far more of a life lesson than schedules on Excel spreadsheets, bad umpiring/referees, and overbearing parents. Open spaces and open minds. The thought of little league stuff these days just turns my stomach. Why can’t it be like this?



And why can’t we let kids make the teams – or sort the hopefuls and others. It works.



I think I might give you some time to digest this craziness before I continue on with my “let all track-and-field athletes dope all they want” position. That may be too much for one day.

pulling us along

We had what can only be dubbed a clan over for pizza night. With H. back home for the week there were 10 in all and the oven racks were on task for maximum production. Everyone seemed happy enough by the time the food disappeared – or, at least reduced in size so that leftovers were available for the WonderTwins’ lunches.

After the N. Park Dr. folks headed home we played about an hour of Charades (how Americana, are we?) with the highlight being my giving H. the test of “Grandpa”. He began some crazy dance that was apparently intended to sync us all together via Pitch Penny but was wholly unable to herd the cats in any direction. After a few more minutes of gesticulating, his mother finally piped-up loud-and-proud with “someone who’s sort of in charge of something?” Truer words….

I only have one night in class this week so preparations can continue apace for hosting Thanksgiving at the house this week. X found four more high-quality chairs (see my previous) so we should be able to just about get everyone around the table for festivities. Of course, why the kids aren’t being sent to a card table masquerading as an eating table is beyond me.

In case you’re wondering, H. is about two inches taller and now sounds like Leon Redbone.

lost treasure

I was flipping through my cellphone photos - about 98 of 122 picture are of my cat, am I an old, crazy woman? - and stumbled upon this classic. This the the parking garage near both the DCJCC and the Keegan Theatre in NW DC. You will, of course, stop because you figure it's some sort of parking area in which you aren't welcome.

Feel free to tell me who doesn't qualify to park here.

redux and then off you go

I've been waiting for Cloud Cult to return to Minneapolis and a review of the homecoming.

Here it is from the City Pages; written far better than I could.

And, a new in-studio performance at The Current with Mark Wheat intro-ing them. All my favorite stuff in one place.

small bear near river

with hat and sweater stolen from bigger bear.

just duckie

In preparation for Duckgatta 2011, "The Maine Campaign", we present the newly acquired entry from Nut Enterprises: Nut II.

Nut II is a model 2029 duck produced in Taiwan and purchased from his previous owner on November 14th, 2010 in Washington D.C.

Nut II will spend this winter and spring in training in both open and closed water environments under the technical guidance of retired champion, Nut I. Training will be accomplished at Nut Enterprise's Northern Virginia headquarters.

Training will be closed to the public and Enterprise affairs will be updated aperiodically.

take it, leave it, maybe take it

I have a love/hate relationship with Arcade Fire. I bought Funeral back in 2004 and enjoyed it for a number of months before growing away from them. Zip for me and the band over the last five years even as they exploded in 2007 with their second album. The music was good and I'm not sure what to pick at if asked to explain my distance. But it's there: no desire to see them live and no concerns about whether or not they put out another album. The funny part is that often they'll be compared to Cloud Cult in the bombastic and orchestral areas but it goes wanting when I try to see the similarities. Regardless, I bought the new album a few months ago when they were again sprung upon us as the saviors of indie music. I still don't know. I like the energy but they seem like such hipsters to me and that somehow pushes me away. I know, it's unfair. The only people who don't want to be hipsters, in whatever mold, are nobody. Here they are doing my favorite song from the newest CD.

sebastian, what is it? i'm counting matches

Updates from the weekend; not necessarily timely.

It was absolutely perfect weather for a few outings. I stocked Galactica with well-fed minions (homemade biscuits and gravy) on Saturday morning for a swing by Litteri in D.C. for Italian stock – olive oil, tomatoes, espresso, pepperoni – and subs from the deli for the kids’ picnic. After that is was to the National Arboretum for a stroll around the Asian Collection set in a valley that runs down to the Anacostia River. The kids devoured lunch while we walked (somehow G. ate an entire 12” sandwich on his own) and The Eleven has brie and cranberry baguettes at the river to finish the walk. It was our first visit to that portion of the Arboretum and it certainly fulfilled the 'day out' plan that’d been rattling around in my head. We also swung back through downtown for frozen yogurt on the way home…a bit of overkill, don’t you think? By the time we got home it was simply of matter of getting the fire going and doing nothing for the rest of the evening.

Three of us headed to Eastern Market on Sunday morning to kick-off Holiday shopping, or at least the browsing preamble. We were early enough for crepes before the line got too long and managed to haul home what appears to be a 10-lb cabbage. I can see the question rolling around in your head, “Who needs a 10-lb cabbage?” That’s exactly the response I was looking for; it’s living on the front porch with the rest of the squash.

Consider yourselves summarized.

We did Quiz Night last night and it was pure horror. Easily the worst performance of all time. Ghastly. And other adjectives and adverbs.

The weather had turned to rain. I have school for three days. It’s not quite as nice.

I want to pass along a photo from the summer’s wedding in England that the WonderTwins attended. One of their dear friends got married in what appears to be a ceremony stripped from a period-piece English drama. I’m not sure I’ve seen a more storybook wedding, even as I giggle while trying to sport Helena Bonham Carter or Daniel Day-Lewis. Anyway, if you wonder how they look when cleaned up and as attendants, now you know.

Lovely.

(professional wedding photos: here)

progressive

True colors show when I consider museums and admission prices, particularly in a nation’s capital. There was quite a bit of debate in England during Blair’s run but I think he actually managed to get admission to most of the country’s museums eliminated. They are already talking about reinstating charges in this economic abyss and it’s also raising its head here in D.C. The Smithsonian’s budget number for 2011 is about $800m. None of the Institute’s venues charge admission – even if the Udvar-Hazy does charge for parking – and it should be as close to sacrosanct as anything in budgets. In the grand scheme of things it’s not a lot of cost, budget-wise, to keep the Smithsonian free; and, in the end, that was the point of the gift in the first place.

Here’s a down-and-dirty on management for those that feel like management classes and other such junk is valuable. I’m dispensing it down from repetitive lists, bullets, charts, books, and thousands of dollars in tuition:

See what’s wrong
Figure out how to fix it
Fix it
See that it stays fixed

You can thank me later for four lines that essentially give you an MBA in management. Oh, and don’t punch anyone in the face.

We’re off to the National Arboretum for a walk and picnic tomorrow. Meet us there.

rearranging deck chairs

X pointed out this morning that we need more chairs for both Thanksgiving and general-use dining functions around the Hilltop’s massive table. Her exact words, while sipping coffee at the bar, were something like “finding solid, quality-made chairs for a reasonable price ain’t easy.” I decided then and there that I could include that tidbit within the grumpy fatherly advice given to children as they depart the nest (X added the last two):

1. Don’t get involved with crazy women.
2. Good quality dining table chairs are hard to find.
3. Don’t ever buy a piano.
4. Don’t ever buy a boat.

Of course, this led to me falling into my grumpy old father imitation (?):

“I don’t give a crap about your wife; I don’t have to talk to her. I don’t have to get in your damn boat or move your stupid piano. But, I do have to come over to your house for holidays because your mother will make me. I won’t sit in crappy chairs while eating overcooked turkey so get some goddamned good chairs. And, don’t ask me for any more money.”

On to other stuff.

Joel Klein is following Michelle Rhee as “school chancellors out the door” in urban east coast cities (but for different reasons). I’m bothered by Rhee leaving even if I’m not a DC resident because I think letting her finish the job (five years) would have been the better option but politics intervened. Klein has been in NYC for eight years which is a pretty amazing run. I don’t have fully formed opinions and evidence for charter schools, something Klein fully supported and Rhee seemed to sort of support, but it seems as if both of them were quite willing to take on the unions and bust some heads – nice turn of “union and head-busting” phraseology, isn’t it. I’ve lost count of the number of philippics turned while talking about education out loud and in my crazy head. It’s easy to look at Fairfax county or the district of my youth and make assumptions about the quality of education. I think we’re usually wrong to even consider either of those as the underpinning of the system as a whole. Shouldn’t we always consider the weakest link as the issue at hand? Even if you take that weakest link’s issues and apply them to the stronger links you’ll still see the same problems. Those problems? Mediocre actual skills and results, middling test scores, and grading that is focused on pushing kids to the next level, not learning them to the next level. I’ll let it go for now…I’m pretty pessimistic. I have an analogy to make between education and offshore drilling, if you can believe that, but I’ll hold it for another day.

(Here’s a harsh review of Rhee’s tenure in D.C. Read at will. Here’s a look at Klein’s in NYC.)

I’ve started about book, The Tiger, that has me massively enthralled. I’m taking it bit-by-bit because I’m quite keen on the writing and the story. Here’s a review from the Seattle Times and here’s the piece from NPR that got me interested (you can listen to the audio portion). I’m looking at Lemon in a new light…

Finally, one last yarn. X was given control of taking any important calls at work for a colleague at work who’ll be out of the office for a few days. The real request is for her to simply ‘handle’ the calls and ease the minds of callers – don’t actually try to solve any issues; issues to be solved will be handled by the master upon his return. She’s to just be nice and make them feel as if their concerns and feelings are being stoked. I passed along to her that you can really learn a lot from Roadhouse. In fact, just about every life lesson might be encapsulated in this fine film.

Be nice. You don’t decide to do anything…I’ll let you know.

what doing?

X left a box of spider plants near the curb over the weekend with “free” written neatly on the box. Someone finally took them yesterday but not before removing one plant / pot and leaving it behind as if some type of runt. Needless to say, she found the desertion of a single plant to be heresy. I simply pointed out that maybe her product labeling and directions needed to be more specific.

The weird news over the weekend was that a home that had been under construction down on the corner of the main streets near our house burned down early Sunday morning. I was actually headed out to pick up L. from her slumber party at 1:30am when I came upon it and called 911. By the time we got back it was gone; the firefighters finally wrapped up the fire part about 6 hours later and the investigation seemed to finish up yesterday.

I’ll try to dig up some Halloween photos…I know I’m delinquent.

t

explosion

Cloud Cult at the Black Cat in D.C. last night.

I’ve been waiting a very, very long time to see this band live – I think I may know just about every song they’ve ever done. I’ve seen some live video, particularly from their documentary No One Said It Would Be Easy, and the in-studio work at The Current a few years back and this more current offering from the new CD and their visit to KEXP in Seattle. It wasn’t long into my Cloud Cult time to see it grow to infatuation and the realization that I was on to something I’d enjoy for the rest of my life. The music is ethereal, bombastic at times, operatic often, and probably the most exciting and vibrant stuff I’ve even owned. I’ve missed them on at least two occasions here in D.C. – other agenda items – and wondered when my luck would change…I almost didn’t go last night: Monday and all, I had class from 6 to about 7:30, and I was tired. It would have been the biggest mistake to stay home.

The Black Cat is a venue that might hold 300-350 when sold out but was comfortably only loaded with about 150 for last night’s show. A perfect-sized crowd in a club that’s just about the limit of what I enjoy these days. As the band was getting everything in order just prior to kicking off, I wandered to my chosen standing square right in the middle of the floor and about 15 feet from the stage. The lights dropped and they opened with the last song, Unexplainable Stories, from their new CD Unexplainable Stories, which is a reprise (pre-prise?) of the last track on the same CD – it’s a slow, quiet-ish song that builds to an almost indistinguishable peak before fading to nothing. After that quick taste it was merely a few switches on the computer for Craig and off we went into fucking orbit. ORBIT. Nearly 80 minutes of floating amidst the sound, light, and (actual) painting that was on offer right before my eyes and ears. Standing mid-floor with the sound centered all around was simply perfection for me and for the first time in a long, long while I didn’t mind standing at a show. Any idea of being further away or standing under some peripheral lighting near the bar wouldn’t have crossed one’s mind; you were held right in place but every piece of the performance – empty glass in my hand be damned. It’s impossible to truly get the idea of what a live Cloud Cult show is all about. Even the documentary and live studio versions only give you about 10% of what’s going on with this band when they are in full flight on a dark night. Having five players all singing together, and often adding in the voices of the two painters, the trombone, the strings, the French horn, the xylophone, the effects, lights, fog, dreamy lyrics, the crazy drummer…it’s overwhelming while all the while giving you peace and comfort. You dance, you smile, you wonder. It was truly, truly amazing. I honestly feel like I’m done seeing shows now…

lordy, lordy, and lordy

Apparently, unbeknownest to me, there is a violent battle pitching apace concerning the serial comman in this country. I, for one, and for no real reason, am a serial comma guy. I'm real America. Let's just turn this debate over to Vampire Weekend - per Andrew Sullivan (you can follow a good bit of the debate at his site).

gpa

A discussion at work today devolved into whether or not Patrick Swayze was an A-list star. First all, and before we get too far down the hole, an important disclosure: I’m a big Swayze fan. My position on the A-list nomenclature is that someone would have to be on the shortlist of about 15 actors or actresses who are constantly banking big-time money for big-time movies over at least a five- or ten-year period. Swayze is a difficult bill of goods because just about everyone will bring up Ghost and Dirty Dancing, huge hits but both really surprises in the money department. By being successful in both movies I always felt that Swayze punched well above his class. I consider him the very peak of the B-list movie celebrity who endeared a lot of movie goers with those two rolls and for just a moment stood at the door of the A-list room He might even be considered the B-list king. Then again, at the very end of the discussion we suddenly remembered Point Break and for at least a moment reconsidered his place in the pecking order: alas, it didn’t change. Along with his successes you have to really consider what comes to mind when you really dig deep and think of Swayze’s career: Roadhouse, Outsiders, Red Dawn. And with those great movies, the case is closed.

I was going to serenade you with the events surrounding what is now know as the “Landlord & Dishwasher Service Call” episode but I don’t have the heart. I think you can probably figure out whether or not it was a result in the end.

My former F/A-18 pilot and co-worker was just stumped by the plane-on-a-conveyor belt-taking-off puzzle.

t

shooting j's

Over the last few months I’ve been trying to chase down some logic books – logician books, the science, not logic puzzles. Of course, I don’t mind a good logic puzzle. My luck had been middling with a few smaller paperbacks that I enjoyed but the mother lode escaped me; my Moby Dick, if you will. The problem is that I believe the world to be littered with vast textbooks on the subject that are undoubtedly dry and miserable (don’t even start on your thought that all logic is already dry and miserable). What I wanted was a guide to walk me through the process all the while being exciting and readable. This logic problem folds in nicely with my previous post on history in that we aren’t actually taught these things in school…either back in the 70s and 80s, or now. I went to some high quality public schools and aside from about two weeks of proofs and theorems in Geometry – and I hated that block of instruction – none of the real theory is offered through primary or secondary school. They also never really explain that “begs the question” is a logical fallacy and not something spouted by talking heads to mean a completely different idea. Well, I’ve found my white whale and it’s a two volume primer written by Paul Teller. Teller, who I believe teaches (or taught) at UC-Davis, has converted his course material to books that were originally published by Pearson Education. At some point they ceased printing and returned all rights to Mr. Teller and he’s been awesome enough to allow us to access it for free. I’ve already printed the first volume and am slowly working my way, two steps forward-one step back, through the meat of it all. I’m sure L. can’t wait until a few years hence when I gracefully bequest hot her a copy of A Modern Logic Primer. If you’d like to add it to your wish list then you might just find a copy under the tree at Christmas; I can already see that smile on your face.

I’ve drafted up a short Omaha primer for WonderTwin 2’s impending jaunt to my homeland. Bearing in mind that the city has ‘changed’ and grown since my youth – and my three-year tour in the early, mid -90s, the fact of the matter is the Omaha never really changes. There will still be drivers heading east on I-80 who can’t figure out which lane will take them downtown and which will shoot them off to Council Bluffs (they only changed the layout about 20 years ago). You’ll still be able to find a steakhouse that’ll serve you a hunk of meat with a side of manicotti. And the basketball hoop in my old driveway is still there – it may survive any disaster ever laid upon the world. If you look real close, and squint just so, you can see the ghost of my youth working on my turnaround jump shots and free throws on a cool summer’s eve in 1978.

I’ll let you go.

be forward, think backward

A bit more on the graphing calculator before I go.

I suddenly drew upon a revelatory process. Stick with me.

Bassinet >>>> Baby >>>> Garage sale / eBay / Craigslist

TI-83 >>>> ___________ >>>> ___________

See if you can fill in the blanks.

The more I thought about it the more I realized that a poor college graduate with a TI-83 in the boxes he's moving from his frat house might just want to get some cash. How would they do that? What could they sell?

Trust me when I say that you can type TI-83 into Craiglist anywhere in America and not be disappointed. I'm pretty sure that nothing has changed in the graphing world in the last ten years.

varying angles

The Eleven took yesterday off (and today…this didn’t work out) so that her can’s position could go through a pocket revision. I’ll put that into better terms: They were going to open up her shoulder area yesterday morning and reposition the ICD. This merry journey began on Tuesday at her first follow-up when she told them that it felt like that it might be slipping position a bit. She wanted to know if it might keep moving and cause troubles for both her and the device. This discussion got translated, a bit erroneously into “let’s pop you open on Thursday morning and fix that thing.” No one was looking forward to another trip into the twilight, re-positioning of the device, and a fresh start on her physical recovery. This may be the only time where ‘fresh start’ doesn’t indicate a good thing.

We checked into the hospital in the morning, got the paperwork in order, and were called back to the surgery prep area. The multiple questions, from multiple questioners, were answered. We spoke with the pre-op nurse, another nurse (the op nurse?), the Anesthesiologist, and had the IV started. Ready to go. Then the doctor comes in and the discussion starts to ramble through confusion: Is the move aesthetic? Is the device okay where it is? Is it bothering her? Marker is put on both her shoulders (one saying “no” on the good shoulder) to indicate where to move the thing. A bit more of a discussion and then the doctor leaves. (Pause.) New doctor enters. Come to find out he’s a more senior member of the practice and the head of cardiology at the hospital. He’s clearly been called over because there’s confusion on whether or not to proceed. He’s quite good; comforting and focused. He pretty quickly sorts out the concerns and isn’t much interested in proceeding. I think the term was, exactly, “I see no medical reason to do this.” Right. He heads out to gather up one more opinion. (At this break in the action, the OR nurse comes by and says, “Okay, are we ready to go?” To which we both sort of reply, “I think we’re holding off for a second.”) CardioHeadMan returns with practice founder who jiggles can (ICD, not his) and declares tomfoolery. Nurse comes back, removes IV, and we exit stage right. (Curtain.)

No new recovery period needed, no reentry required, recovery time will be a few months for the original, and no worries about infection nor whatnot. Happiness all around.

L. has taken to asking X. for temporary authority to direct G. in various ‘activities’. Authority has been denied.

L. told me last night that she needs a graphing calculator for Algebra. “Sure,” I say, “they probably run $30 or $40 so we’ll just grab one at the store.” Funny that. Apparently most types of calculators have come down to a cost of about nothing; not graphers. $130. Yikes. I think I’ll use it when she’s done so I at least get my money’s worth. I don’t think Euclid had a graphing calculator. I think he did his work in stone.

Am I confusing historical epochs?

t

100% manmade

If you’ve been around me on long drives or at holiday gatherings then you’ve heard at least part of this theory. It comes out when I have people trapped and they can’t comfortably escape from either a moving car or a room full of others, just as crazy, folks. For some reason it came up today while L. and I were driving to the Metro and may have followed on from some talk of Euclid and geometry and doing proofs in stone. What? They had paper in the days of Euclid? That will be much funnier in a bit.

I have this crazy position that American History, as taught in both our high schools and colleges (remember the classes American History to 1865 and American History after 1865 as core courses?), essentially goes like this:

Columbus
Pilgrams
Eli Whitney
The Civil War
Watergate

That’s it. Nothing more. If you try to draw a rudimentary timeline of what happened and how things tie together, based on what we actually teach, you’d find that a lot of Americans would nearly conflate Columbus as tour guide for the Mayflower. Seriously. If he wasn’t Julie the Cruise Director on the same voyage as the Pilgrims than it all happened within a few years of each other. How about if we look at it this way: Columbus = 1492, the Mayflower = 1620. Alright, students, give me a quick run down of what happened, here or worldwide, in that 128-year gapping hole of American learning. I’ll wait.

1513 – Ponce de Leon lands on the coast of Florida
1565 – St. Augustine Florida becomes the first European colony in North America
1607 – Jamestown, first English settlement in America, is established
(Whoa! Where are the Pilgrams?)
1619 – First representative assembly meets in Jamestown. First African slaves arrive.
1620 – Mayflower arrives

Worldwide?

1492 – The Moors conquered in Spain by Ferdinand’s troops
1497 – Vasco da Gama sails around Africa
1503 – Da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
1509 – Michelangelo paints Sistine Chapel. Henry VIII ascends to English throne
1513 – Balboa sails the Pacific. Machiavelli writes The Prince
1519 – The Reformation starts in Switzerland. Mexico is conquered by Spain. Magellan sets out
1520 – Luther excommunicated
1527 – Rome attacked by troops of the Holy Roman Empire. End of the Italian Renaiassance
1535 – Reformation begins in England. Henry VIII makes himself head of Church of England after being excommunicated by the Pope

…and on and on.

Context.

The problem we have in history is too many dates and mindless trivia. I don’t care if you can give me the year the Mona Lisa was painted but you should have a ballpark figure based on other events. I don’t care if you know the exact dates of the American Civil War but you should say something like the mid-19th century. What we should also be able to do is recognize what’s happening around the world that affects, or affected, what happened here. I think that Henry VIII thing might be important.

And yes, I used Wikipedia.com….sue me. But, I’m a product of the system, I love history, I’ve read quite a bit (not so much American), and it’s all quite shallow even to me. When you don’t have any stuffing to prop open a space it simply collapses upon itself.

In the end, you wonder why Eli Whitney didn’t just bring a cotton gin over on the Mayflower with Columbus.

Dismissed.

swept back in

Okay, back in the saddle.

The house has settled down and we’re simply back with the ‘normal’ load: the Eleven, one boy and one girl. And two cats. X is back to near normal aside from the slower recovery required for her left shoulder. That’ll probably be another couple of weeks before she can lift, rotate, and carry on as normal. I’m very pleased to have my normal chick back. Thanks to everyone out there for driving around, helping out, and sending wishes and cards. We’re lucky the knucklehead is still with us after two years of that dodgy ticker.

The four adults headed into D.C. on Friday night to see a live performance of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K for the hepcats) though they work under the title of Cinematic Titanic these days – copyright issues, I guess. The seats at Lisner aren’t the best for long sitting (a little over two hours) but the show was quite good; almost like sitting on a big couch back in 1994. I sort of considered us dorks for being so excited to see the crew live…I was wrong. I think we’re normal. Any MST3K get together is going to have a large pods ‘Trekkie’-like idolatry about the wandering about the place. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

For those who’ve been to the Hilltop you already have a visual for the next bit, for those that haven’t, here’s some background. The ‘Top is a fully wood-floored, single-level home. There’s a rug in our room, one rug in G’s, and one in the den (or “library” as east coast elitists might call it.) Other than those, the place is free-and-clear of material matter on the floors. We’ve had two vacuums (one tank that died and now an upright that does floors) since moving here about 2 ½ years ago but neither has tripped my trigger. How to most efficiently clean wood floors? I know that the fans are screaming ‘Swiffer’ at their monitors and I’d nearly give credit for that idea; but, I need you to think bigger, think better. Think one of those industrial janitorial shaggy brooms that the crazy janitor used to clean your high school classrooms and hallways. That’s right, I’m fully loaded now and the total coat was $23 at a commercial cleaning place (Daycon) right next to G.’s gong fu hut. I was waiting to pick him up a few Saturday’s ago and was eyeing the Daycon shop, as usual, wanting to head in for some commercial products; I love that sort of stuff. As I was envying (?) the place and the men that use it, I thoughtof my house, I thought of my cleaning, I thought of my sweeping. It hit me like a…well, like a sweeping thing. I wandered in and started a chat with the manager – you know, explaining my needs in the most manly way possible – and walked out with the long-handled pusher, the rack, and a blue-sky colored (washable) cover. Sweet. After a few weeks of simply sliding most things in the house to one side of the room, sweeping, sliding, and sweeping, I can report that this is the best device, ever. Don’t tell me you don’t remember trying out Janitor Watson’s shaggy push moppy/broomy thing back when you were in school. And, just as you remember it, that thing is just as maneuverable, gets all the edges, and doesn’t leave anything behind. I can’t decide if the inventor is my hero or if I’m my hero. It’s a fine line.

If you have a retractable cable keychain with about 100 keys on it that you can send me I promise I’ll wear it while working the sweeper.

sunrise

Well, well. All the girls have been re-herded to the house. L. arrived on Tuesday evening and is safely ensconced back in her room and at the New School.

X. also came home from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon – about 24 hours after her surgery. Truckloads of stuff rolled through my head while she was in the hospital: love, fear, anger. When they called me into the recovery area, after they were done cutting and tugging at her, I cried to finally see her again. She was frail, groggy, and googly-eyed as she came out of her twilight. She recognized me right away and asked me if they were done. Had it happened? I told her it was over and she was safe once again. She closed her eyes and slept for ten more minutes. Too many things to process when thinking about it all. For that, it’s said much better by her sister here and here.

She’s home. She’s still very sore but she’s recovering. Another few weeks and she’ll be (bionically) as good as new.

Days are back.

what's in style

I exported my blog over to Wordpress because I was getting a bit bored with my layout and was eyeing new styles. They have some cool stuff over there but the facts of the matter are that it would be tough to get everything aligned how I’d like it, I’m a bit impatient, and it’s actually a more rigid formatting process than Blogger. For now, I’ll keep everything going here with some shadow work elsewhere. Don’t fret; if I move it you’ll be notified. I don’t want 3 or 4 people to now have my blog.

L. is arriving here on Tuesday afternoon and will be launched back into school at precisely 9am on Wednesday morning. The New School is fine with her later arrival and we can configure everything so she’ll only need an extra English/Literature class over the next 2 ½ years.

Our days and nights are wet and cool. The Eleven is heading back down to Warm Springs on Saturday for a night in the cool country and soaks in the springs.

game of squash

I guess you have to pass through the actual first day of autumn before the squash is ready. If only we had a root cellar.

We'll be on the road to Dickerson, Maryland this afternoon to stock up from the greatest squash farmer / stand that I know of in these parts. Well, I haven't done any actual research between farmers but this falls into the "I've found what I want and I'm not moving along." If I were to work out the probability of finding a better squash guy (that's what The Eleven call him) then I'd have to do a bunch of 1*(-x) and various other things I don't understand when all I really want it a myriad of gourds. I'm not interested; and, for the small possible increase in quality or farming technique it's not worth it. If you happen to live out here in the area then I give my full recommendation to Comus Market (in this case, that picture above is actually the thing I'm blogging about). As I passed along via other media, I got a million way to cook squash and there's nothing nearly as versatile. You can thank me later.

I finally got around to getting my new lenses ordered and installed in my old frames. I appreciate that they call them progressive lenses vice bifocals; I don't feel as old and it matches my political leanings. Anyway, this takes a bit of getting used to since the sweet spot for normal (or in my case, horrid-yet-corrected far sight vision) is a fairly small portion of the glasses. If I use my peepers more than my head to see off-center then I get into the blurry area. Add in the typing or reading and using on the bottom portion and I feel like I'm some sort of Cosmonaut. I'm sure it will get better. I'm sure all the older folk think I'm just a kid complaining. And to them I say, true enough.

X and G. headed to the National Book Festival on the Mall this morning. Huge crowds as expected and longish lines for authors to sign books. The target, Suzanne Collins (of Gregor and Hunger Games fame), had a line that wasn't going to get through in the hour she'd allotted. At least there was a visual sighting.

Off to Maryland. We have our passports.

t

bad form, redux

I drove down to Rosslyn today after work to complete my VA forms. Granted, I can pick up my baby just up the street but that's irrelevant.

I get the correct form at the Registrar (it's the exact same form without the duplicate carbon underneath). I show her my form and ask, "Isn't this the same?" "Oh," she says, "yes. but it doesn't have the duplicate. Here, I'll just make a copy of yours." What? Moving along. I go down to financial services, sign in, and get directed to my advisor for the calculator form. I wait 15 minutes for him to get it all done, check my ID number, print it up, play slapass with the rest of the office, and then head back upstairs with all my ish in order. I hand it back into the Registrar and she's seems happy...until she gets to the calculator form which he's completed for only 1 credit, not 12, and it's not even my name and ID number. She opens the World Championship with this salvo, "What I need is for this form..." End. As she looks up at me I tell her that she is more than capable of walking down a flight of stairs and getting what she needs. I've done this all twice and there won't be a third chance. She stares at me like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest whilst wondering why I'm not heading straight back downstairs. I let her know that it's her issue now and that I will come back if something actually needs to be signed by Friday to complete this process. She looks at me. I repeat the words: 'a c t u a l l y needs' to be signed. I tell her to let me know when it's all in order.

Case closed.

bad form

It was a mixed bag at Quiz Night: Our overall score wasn’t as strong as we’d like but we had fun and won a prize round when we aced all ten answers to “Famous People and Their Famous Mothers”. That’s a pretty embarrassing category to dominate considering we later answered “22” when asked how many claws a cat has. How a human (or group of humans) could talk themselves into 22 claws on four paws is completely beyond me. Are there any animals/mammals/walkie things that have more than five claws/toes on this earth? 22? “Yeah, great answer!” We were like really bad Family Feud contestants.

My school has a never-ending run of administration issues. The one that most affects me is the quarterly certification sent to the VA in order to keep my flow of money in place. What they were allegedly doing up until now was submitting our paperwork at the end of the third week every quarter (after the add/drop date). Depending on the break between quarters, this caused serious issues if you didn’t see a check for 50+ days. Of course, what they don’t understand is that if the government gives you too much money (or if you drop a class) they’d get their money back, one way or t’other. They had at least three or four critical points of failure in this certification chain with the most common being inept people. Late last week they sent out an e-mail introducing all the VA / GI Bill students to a great new process that will ensure there’s no gap in payment or certification. My first thought was: How nice. My second? They’ll fuck this up. The outcome from my first response didn’t come true; from my second? Well, here’s the story.

In order to expedite the process we will be delivering the required paperwork for the next quarter to the Registrar by the end of the current quarter. (We got the e-mail last Friday and the quarter officially ends this Friday.) Great, methinks, I have class on Saturday so I’ll just print out this “certification form”, fill it out, stop by the student financial aid section (required by the notice) and pick-up my financial plan (what was outlined) and have them sign, and then drop it off at the registrar – task done. Man, that was easy! Unfortunately, the registrar isn’t open on Saturday so I was left with two forms in hand and plan to call on Monday to see if I could e-mail my scanned (.pdf) forms or fax them the paperwork. What follows is a rudimentary transcript of the 9am phone call on Monday morning (the registrar being open at 7:45am):

Me: [dial and ringing].

Them: Hello? Doc.

Me: Is this the Registrar’s office?

Doc (apparently): Yes, why?

Me: Doc, how about you answer the phone with something akin to “AiW Registar, how may I help you?”

Doc: Oh. This isn’t my phone.

Me: I guess that’s a good excuse then.

Doc: I can help you with anything. What do you need?

Me: I have a GI Bill certification form and my student financial plan that needs to be delivered to your office. Since I’m in class at night I was wondering if I can either e-mail a .pdf file with the signed forms, or send them via fax.

Doc: Wait. What do you need?

(Writer’s embellishment: “Hey, wedge, what is your problem? Trust me when I say that my phone skills are impeccable. I speak slowly, I listen to you, I describe what you need, and you’ve got nothing to say but ‘Oops, I was lost after my last breath. I’m a dumbass.’”)

Me: I need to send some VA forms to your office.

Doc: That would be Vanessa who would help you.

Me: Okay. Great. Can I fax them down there for her or can I send them via e-mail?

Doc: See doesn’t come in until 10am.

Me: So? Why do I care about that? Do you have a fax? Can I e-mail them? Does your office accept forms via those methods?

Doc: Well, she handles all of that.

Me: Great. Can you give me her e-mail address?

Doc: Didn’t she send you an e-mail.

Me: Yes, she did. But I’m asking for her e-mail address because I don’t have it here.

Doc: It should be in the e-mail she sent.

Me: What is Vanessa’s e-mail address?

That went swimmingly. I typed Vanessa’s hard-won e-mail address into my correspondence and attached both required documents along with a brief background while making reference to her widely distributed, and well considered, e-mail. What I get back about an hour later is an e-mail from Vanessa letting me know that the included certification form was actually just a sample and not the actual letter that will be signed. Those letters are in her office. Second, the Financial Services section gave me the wrong data sheet and that I’ll need to stop back down there and get a different fuckity-fuckity form. See how this works? My response is a bit curt and includes three questions and a small diatribe: I have to come down to your office to pick up another form, go down to financial services and tell them I need a fuckity-fuckity form, and then walk back to your office with paper in hand. Those are the questions. The itsy-bitsy diatribe is this: have you spoken with financial planning to make sure they know what form it is that you want? That might have been something you could have coordinated before your first, and somewhat urgent, e-mail was sent to a bunch of people, who after all, have been in the military and who might expect checklist-like directions to actually work. She sent back that ‘yes’ was the answer to my questions and this little nugget of wisdom:

“…but as with anything new there can be kinks in the system.”

Listen, you ARE the system. There’s something wrong with you. How about you say this:

“I made a mistake in not ensuring the financial services office was up-to-speed on the new process. I’m going to head down there now, get the form I need for your certification, and take care of it from here. I’ll let you know when it’s done. We won’t have this issue in the future. Thanks for taking care of your paperwork so quickly.”

Why? Because that’s how you do it. Do I need her to stroke my ego? Nope. Do I need her to be competent? Yes. That’s what it boils down to in the end: know your job, understand your process, or don’t participate. Gumming up the system because you’re inept doesn’t actually help anyone.

I rest.

t

(If you're wondering about the picture, find the famous mother of a famous child.)

the birds

Sunday morning was gutter cleaning and bird blocking on The Hilltop. Ah, my youth spent on the roof of our duplex, once a year, cleaning the crap from the gutters; remembered. We borrowed an extension ladder from down the street because the big step ladder wasn’t even close enough to get the job done; it was on X’s list of things to accomplish before winter sets in. Honestly, about half of them needed cleaning and that was clear from our earthbound view during any given rainstorm this summer. The bird blocking was a matter of filling all the openings at the tops of our front porch pillars: sparrows had moved in and this seemed a better idea than getting X a shotgun which she felt firing multiple times into the nearby tree might do the trick. She has no love for the sparrows.

This all followed a Saturday that included my finish to the summer quarter at school and the annual Hilltop block party that raged through the evening. The party is always quite fun as the adults sit around eating and drinking while the eleventy-million block kids (led by the eldest present, G.) ravage the block with endless games that appear to involve no particular rules aside from screaming and running to-and-fro. This year’s focused almost exclusively on swords, shields, various helmets and breastplates. It’s funny to see G. as the biggest kid on the block since he’s always seemed quite a bit smaller than most kids – growing up will do that. It could also have to do with the volume of food he ate throughout the day. (He and his mother came to my final Garde Manger class to sample all the foods be prepared over the quarter and presented at the grand buffet.)

In breaking news, it seems likely that L. will be moving back here around / after the Holidays and be finishing her high school life (two-and-a-half years at that point) here in Northern Virginia. It’s a longer discussion than needs to be addressed here.

With my two-week school break we’ll be crashing Quiz Night at the pub over the next two Mondays (tonight included) but will the rust cause a slowing of my trivial mind?

There a loads of stories I’ve jotted down to pass along but they’ve all disappeared. I’ll give them a think.

Everything here is peachy.

t