what?

let them eat cake

As the game was winding down after dinner last night, the brace of girls set-to on a cake from the greatest baking book in the World. L. had picked a chiffon cake - we had to borrow a bundt pan from down the street - and so off they went at about 7:45pm. By the time it was finished, cooled, and frosted we had a massive mess of cake and lemon frosting for the kids to snack on at about 10:15pm. Is that normal? I had a bite of L.'s and even though is was lovely it was way too sweet for me to even contemplate without a huge cup of coffee. Needless to say, a sugar rush drowned in coffee wouldn't be the best idea of the weekend.

All the kids are home from school, the Feds are shutdown so X is home, and I'm home because it's just pretty crappy driving out there. My company decided last week that if folks wanted to swap next week's Presidents' Day holiday to today - in just this event - that it wouldn't be a problem. I'll consider this my holiday weekend.

Here are some visions...

melted

I'm catching the last half of the Super Bowl (can I use that term? Will I be sued by the NFL?) while X and H. play a game of chess and L seems to be making frosting for the chiffon cake that's in the oven. The sport of the day, beyond this, was the Caps v. Pens game in D.C. It felt like a playoff game between two teams that don't much care for one another; it doesn't hurt that the two best players in hockey are meeting. It started out horribly as Crosby scored two early goals and the Caps trailed 4-1 near the end of the second period. Ovechkin came back with a hat trick - he's already scored the Caps first goal - and he scored the third and fourth to tie the game and send it to OT. He then provided the winning assist on a slap shot that Mike Knuble finished. Amazing stuff. The highlights are above. These guys were just hammering away it each other all game. Fantastic. That's 14 in-a-row for the Caps.

It took me about 1:45 to get the car dug out this morning and then X headed out to recover H. from his two-night sleepover; she made it there and back only getting stuck on our unplowed road about ten feee from my well-shoveled parking box.

The schools have already cancelled for tomorrow so my tuition for L. is being well used!

Nothing more to report from the homestead. Quiz night tomorrow.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night

This is what we'd become by about 6pm when the power finally dropped. X warmed the leftover pizza from last night in a crepe pan over our fire, we pulled out Trivial Pursuit cards, and every one managed to survive. The power is back as of about 8pm, the kids (L. and G.) won the trivia battle, and it looks like we finished with about 23"-24" of total accumulation. X shoveled the steps after her long walk and I'll dig out the car before the Caps v. Pens game tomorrow.

t

Saturday, noon

It's a pretty good storm we have going here on The Hilltop. If you've been to the house then you have some reference for the front and back porches. That hump at the bottom of the stairs is our car. We're well stocked with food and firewood so there're no issues here. H. headed out for a sleepover last night knowing full well - as did the family - that he wouldn't be coming home anytime soon.

As I was filling out the grocery list at the store yesterday morning there was a man in front of me in line buying four cases of Coke and two gallons of wiper fluid. I think I understand the Coke but the wiper fluid is beyond me; what exactly does he expect to be using it for? Do you see my car? Wipers are the least of my worries.

The Caps won their 13th straight game last night - an ongoing club record - and have the Pens in D.C. tomorrow at noon. Being that Pittsburgh is playing in Montreal today I have no idea how they imagine they'll get into D.C. anytime today or tonight. As of now, Reagan and Dulles are completely shut down. I suspect there may be a delay in the start time, maybe 7pm, and fans will have to decide on watching the Super Bowl or heading to the game against our deepest rivals.

We have loads of books, magazines, a few DVDs, Netflix-on-demand, and we still have power out here. Updates to follow.

t

freaky old shows...and people.

We got back to quiz night last night and did better, point-wise, than normal but so did everyone else. My claims to fame are two-fold, as they would be if they are claims: first, I made X and Phil stick with the Faye Dunaway answer on the "who is this" picture round (it was a 50s or 60s black-and-white photo). I only claim stubbornness and not knowledge on that one. My second point was during the 'Life and Times of William Shatner' round when the question was something along the lines of "on this 1965 show that included blah blah and talking trees, William Shatner played a dancing onion." I immediately came up with H.R. Pufnstuf, to which they both looked at me as if I were radioactive; they'd never heard of it. Of course, what else in 1965 could have talking trees and dancing onions? Yep, I was solid gold.

Last Saturday night we had a bit of a D.C. blizzard and there was some wonder on whether or not I'd have class. We were scheduled to finish up soups with a shrimp bisque, New England clam chowder, and a consomme. In the end, only 7 of the 20 showed up and so we worked 10 lbs. of shrimp into two gallons of bisque and two gallons of chowder. Once we got that sorted we finished the other 4 lbs. of shrimp into scampi and a very light breaded shrimp. I was shrimped out at the end of the night but it was a great class - loads of room in the kitchen and the chef instructor seemed to really enjoy the time. We're moving into poultry and some butchering this week (this a one-quarter, eleven-week, classical techniques course that runs about 11 hours per week.)

Both gals in the house are knocked down with sickness. L is reading in her room and X is laid out on the other living room pillow area. Both will get doused with NyQuil and sent to bed any moment.

Love to all.

t

P.S. I suspect all will be home tomorrow as we have another 4-6 inches of snow in progress.

plotting

The kids headed out to school this morning, one by bike and one on foot, with stop #1 being the Metro bus at the bottom of our street. From there they go to the Metro and on to Vienna. The last step is catching the school’s bus that runs them from the metro station to the school’s front door. It was at the ultimate step that some confusion rained down; the two got separated at the end and L. wasn’t sure where the bus picked up the kids. She gave me a quick call and eventually made it to the bus safely but this is more a story about me than about her (or them).

There’s a small bus circuit the runs around Fairfax City (The CUE bus) and it’ll take you from the Metro to the school’s driveway; as long as you know its schedule and map. What I’d forgotten to do – unbelievably – was package up my normal, and overly detailed, guide material containing the bus map, time tables, a map of the bus shelter parking lot, and spare change for L. before the first day of school. (Yes, each item is highlighted and annotated.) X can vouch for my over-planning when it comes to journeys; but it’s good over-planning. The best example was when we met in Barcelona for a week and I showed up with a selection of restaurants, city maps, transit maps, country maps, transit maps, and other assorted items. One impressive bit – if I do say so myself – was our regional train ride from Barcelona to La Garriga for our night at Termes spa. We were catching our train from Placa Catalunya to La Garriga and I’d mapped out the line and times for departure…in laminated form. The stations in Spain – as with most of Europe – don’t necessarily have loads of English instructions laying about the place so you use your experience and trust the timetables even if you’re not sure what the train, or the announcements, say. Our train was leaving from track Red 3 at 3:41pm and arriving in La Garriga about 40 minutes later. We got to the track about five minutes early and when a train pulled in at 3:41, we boarded. I still remember us wondering if we’d done the right thing – what if we ended up Lisbon? – but we both knew it’d work out in the end; that's sort of our travel M.O. The next day we reversed the process from the small, single-track station in the country and simply boarded whatever train was passing through at our appointed time.

The reason I haven't told you this before is because it's not really a story.

chop, slice, score

Let me give you a quick story about filling out your cooking school knife/junk kit. You need a really good skimmer; you do loads of clarified butter and if you don't have a good skimmer you might as well go sit in the corner. You need a tourne knife because doing tourne potatoes is a skill that needs not only practice but good equipment. What else? Right, a good lemon reamer - I have a juicer at home but I'm not carrying that thing back and forth to class. I also picked up a French-built baller for doing Parisienne potatoes. The Parisienne cut is essentially doing a melon baller move; but, with raw potatoes they are an absolute bitch; my teammate and I sorted out angles, edge of table leverage, and cussing as we did our practice last week. Seemed to me that even though the angles will never change, a good, sharp baller would be solid gold. Oh, and I had to buy a new whisk since mine somehow disappeared last week. Along those lines, what I learned right quick from a guy on my team who works at a place in D.C. is this: tape your kit. Especially since we have 17 of us in the same kitchen with the same kit it's essential to be able to see and ID your stuff from distance. He'd white-taped his gear and I've now white-and-red taped my stuff - no issues from now on.

I have to take a second to throw in an Onion piece that is so very true. Here, go off and take a read. My favorite place when I was living out in Nevada was stocked with the coolest coffeemakers anywhere. The owner in Fallon always hired the most interesting crew and there was definitely one that fit the mold of "guys showing up to see her" barrista. (Actually, there were three or four over the years but one certainly stood out.) It's pretty funny to read this and not wonder at all about what the staff meeting was like when they came up with this idea. In fact, I never even knew her name. Is that misogynistic?

L. did her first day of school today and everything seems to have gone quite well. She reports that she's got only 8-10 kids in each class, her teachers are cool, and school isn't so bad - I can't ask for much more than that. After dropping her off, I wondered just how it is that I've been so lucky in life...that comes up often of late.

The funniest part of the day occurred while she was being "shadowed" by another student who came upon H. and stopped to introduce the two of them. H. immediately let her know that he already know, and in fact lived with, L. and had known her since they were four. I think the shadow thought it all a bit strange.

The Caps have won 8 straight (longest streak in a quarter century; and won 10 of 11) and look nearly invincible right now. Obviously, the playoffs are what count but they are gelling quite well right now and the (Spring) future looks bright.

L. and I, the 51, caught a very nice rendition of Rent at the Keegan over the weekend. If I can muster up the time for a review, I'll pass it along.

love to all.

t

a peep from a kitchen

I’m settling into my second week of culinary classes but still have a few fixes to implement: getting up earlier on Thursday and Friday mornings, using my Saturday afternoon dead-time (I have an 8-11:30am class and a 6-10:30pm class) to get a bit of work done, and sorting out travel. In case you’re wondering, I have class Thursday night (6-8:30pm) and Friday night (6-10:30pm) along with my Saturday courses. Last week we were working on knife cuts (yikes) and stocks, with mother sauces and soups on tap this weekend.

L. is settled into the house with her room in shape. We’ll probably try to paint the walls over the next few weeks in order to brighten it up. Honestly, the walls could have used a coat when we moved in a few years back. She has some sample card on the shelf and she and X will come up with a choice at some point.

We had a little scare on the school as they caught me out on paying for the semester up front. After some discussion between the headmaster, the finance person, and I, we managed to sort out a four-month plan that’ll be very tight for us but will work in the end. The third quarter starts on Wednesday so L.’s long(er) winter break will finally be over. She’s heading into D.C. this morning on the Metro to hit the museums again while the crowds are sparse this time of year.

Here’s my political input for the week: piss off, Ben Nelson. The senate election in Massachusetts has changed the landscape a bit – nothing I’m overly worried about in the long run – but at least with the Democrats having only 59 senators (or if they’d have had 61 before), ol’ ‘Dumbass’, Ben Nelson, can’t hold everyone in the country hostage to his whims. I cannot believe anyone would vote to re-elect him after his performance.

There was rumor of some snow today – and through the weekend – but it end up just spitting a bit this morning.

Maybe by Sunday you’ll get another update.

t

...has no grade-point average

We adults snuck out last evening and left (now) five children to their own devices. Actually, L. was watching the N. Park clan sleep and the boys were doing what monkey boys do at home.

Last night was the final night of the D.C. area restaurant week where a great number of chefs open their places to set-price, fixed menus that usually include three courses and wine for about $30-$40 per person. I guess it’s a chance to control prices whilst luring folks out to new restaurants they’ve never tried. I made us a reservation at Kora in Crystal City which is the new place run by our favorite chef/owner from Farrah Olivia. We talked about the results of this foray on the way home last night and I’ve considered the meal even more throughout today, and it’s only getting worse.

I have no idea what was the genesis behind the new place aside from him needing to close FO when the rent apparently skyrocketed at his Alexandria location. Kora is allegedly an Italian place but the set-price menu didn’t seem to offer what I might consider Italian fare – aside from tiramisu. It’s a bigger venue then FO but the design isn’t anything to write home about; certainly nothing like his last room. The wait staff that we encountered was clearly of the hourly sort, and by that I mean non-professional waiters. FO was full of the kind of waiter that knew the food, understand the menu, and could do more than ‘take orders’ and (maybe) come back. Our group was pretty amateur (the dessert order was lost) across the board. The food was below mediocre and that’s a pretty harsh thing for me to say. I had a seasonal seafood soup (salmon being the season) with bacon bits on top, a mushroom polenta for mains, and tiramisu for dessert. The soup seriously could have come from a carton with some cooked bacon pitched on top. The polenta was a horribly overcooked square that was rockhard on the outside and bit cold in the middle – I imagine someone ‘grilled’ it, but it’s a mystery to me. The mushrooms were a poorly sauteed and poorly seasoned collection chucked on top with a few cherry tomatoes halved around the plate. Dessert may have worked its way up to mediocre but I have a theory that says tiramisu is probably going to always be okay but rarely stunning – they met my theory dead-on. Both the WonderTwins opened with beet salad which at least got “it was good” reviews, and Corey had a lamb shank that he said may have been dead-and-gone for a very long time. I didn’t hear much on the other two desserts around the table but it wouldn’t be enough credit to move everything up to the “we’d go again” grade.

I just don’t get it. If he was going to move (forced to move) why not just re-open FO at the new place? Italian? His style doesn’t seem to even consider Italian as an option and now he’s opened a place (in which there is no way he was at the helm last night) that will not survive until summer, in my opinion. Considering our awe of his fool at Farrah Olivia, the great staff, and the lovely atmosphere it’s hard to believe it’s come to this. Even though the total was a reasonable $190 (w/tip and two bottles of wine) for four adults, Kora is an utter failure in my book. I’m pretty devastated by the whole thing. Word is that he’s looking to open up in the District and if it Farrah O. then I’ll be there, posthaste. If not, he’d have a hard time getting me in the door. For all my readers (!) that loved Farrah Olivia, as of now, it's a goner...

Ah, life.

We are back on for quiz night at the pub this evening. I’ll pass along results.

t

chop chop

Here’s a timely piece on culinary school (I start tomorrow night). What’s difficult to gauge, using my own hopes, is how hard it must be to pay for an education of any sort knowing that your job opportunities are limited, financially. As pointed out, there are loads of careers where you can just as easily work your way up through skill and practice but oftentimes that might entail starting even lower on the pay scale and spending years trying to get in the door. Of course, the paper doesn’t necessarily get you in any door, either, and that was made pretty clear at my orientation last week.

The massive difference for me is that I’m taking this on as a combination of my interests and a good dose of hope for down the road. I’m not paying anything for the time I’ll be spending learning the basic skills (which I don’t actually have right now) and my living expenses are covered as I continue to work in my career field. If I decide to give the food world a go in three years' time I won’t owe anyone anything, I’ll have my retirement pay and health insurance, and I can probably take a few steps without being overwhelmed. Those that are attending the full-time day program (I’ll be full-time nights) are going to be those who aren’t working and taking loans in order to pay for school and living expenses over the next three years. Coming out of a degree program with $60K in debt and falling into a world that pays you $25K per year is demented. When you break it down, what should be the norm – something like 12-15 months and <$10K in cost – would make much more sense. My friend, Todd, went to accelerated nursing school for 15 months and it ran about $25K – to be a nurse and to save lives. And here we’re talking about food and cooking? Hmm.

Regardless, my voyage begins and I’ve got a much more relaxed road ahead of me than most students – aside from not being home to cook three nights a week. If it goes pear shaped? The world will keep turning and I’ll still have money sitting around for other education, if I choose.

That's that. L. arrive tomorrow evening.

believe

Former Solicitor General Ted Olson has written a truly important piece on gay marriage rights in America. (Olson has joined David Boies, his nemesis in Bush v. Gore, in a federal lawsuit to overturn California’s Proposition 8 as unconstitutional.) Fortunately for me, he covers everything I wanted to say about gay marriage but didn’t possess the clear, legal, and logical opinion headmeat to write. You can read it here. (I’ve claimed my stake from an entry by Andrew Sullivan.)

One thing I want to add, and something that Olson addresses in the piece, is the idea we have that somehow progressed ages from other types of discrimination. I’ve given this idea a test run on X and some friends and I think it’s is important to understand. When you look back to Brown v. Board (1954) and Loving v. Virginia (1967) and really take the time to just process those dates – 1954 and 1967 – you’re more likely to believe that it took way too long to overcome segregation and discrimination; yet it's not been long enough to be fully destroyed. I use my parents as a measuring stick of time – not opinion – when I sort this out in my head. My father would have been a rising college junior when the United States finally decided that ‘separate but equal’ was unconstitutional. My father. Not my grandfather or some distant ancestor from the 19th century: my father. At a university, studying, planning a family (me included) when we decided as a country that segregation was illegal. It stuns me to think of what it would be like to be a 20 year-old man and living in a time when a country finally decided that blacks and whites must be allowed to attend the same schools. If you contemplate the amount of time that black Americans have had to grow and succeed in our country it's the smallest of eras: my father’s working life. Period. Yet, we somehow expect that we’ve solved all the racial issues of our country in a blink of the eye. As for Loving, I was two years old when the Court decided that blacks and whites could not be prohibited from marrying. Suddenly, we aren’t even digging back to some generation of my family that came before. It happened in my lifetime and I’m all of (nearly) 45.

What does it mean, to me? It means that when I look at the gay marriage issue and consider transporting myself back to when my father was 20, and putting myself in that time and place – knowing what we as a country now know, it would be truly embarrassing to live through the debate of integration. And if I can look forward in my life to when I’m 65, I’ll be embarrassed for the current me to have lived through a period where basic civil rights were ignored by so much of my country.

That's all I've got...

T

by invite only

We spent last night at a retirement party for the firm. I was the +1, which allowed me to sneak into the soiree with minimal problem and free valet parking. It was an event that gave insight into the folks that my love works with: each and every one in the small place are a type of Sitcom character. A load of smart and energetic lawyers who care for each other - even in debate - and then go about their business. An enjoyable evening all around.

Now, the club. There is no way in hell I'd ever be at this place without my escort. We're once again talking about a level of clientele that I'll never be on my own. I've never been to a gig where people were walking around offering hor d'oeuvres on trays and filling my drink whenever I choose. I felt like I was living in a Jane Austen novel and was sorely tempted to sit down at the baby grand and knock out some classic 19th century sing-a-longs. I looked all about for Elizabeth Bennet or Mr. Darcy. I must have waved away at least $400 in canapes, crudites, zakuski, amuse-buche, and meze; oh, for the want of a big, reusable bag. I probably would have stood out if I was wrapping each piece in foil and stashing it in my saddlebag.

We've done yeoman's work around the house this weekend. The boys have been hard working in moving everything into one room so that Laurel can move into the other when she arrives on Thursday. All the holiday gear is put away and our new (double) living room is back in order. I'm all about back in order so I'm quite happy. X is sitting over by the fire in in her slippers, allegedly reading some work; I think she's happy.

t

really? questions?

I ordered a refill, on-line, for my dayplanner the other day and just a minute or so ago I got this update, via e-mail, from the company. I need you to really focus on the power of this correspondence and remember that this is the entire update:

Your order has been updated to the following status.

New status: Packing

Please reply to this email if you have any questions.

Do I really need this? Can you let me know when Pete the Packer is taking lunch? I really want to know how 'packed' it is. Will Pete be able to finish it by this afternon? Is he a good wrapper?

Wow.

t

bags of money

I was ready to off and run on using cash versus card fees this morning when I stumbled upon this in the NYTimes. Usually, I feel like they steal ideas from me but I didn’t get on the ball fast enough to claim any sort of misdemeanor on their part. This all blends into a local-area thing I’ve been on over the last months: cash money. When you read the piece you’re clued in on what goes on beyond just the fees and percentages and stumble into things like interchange costs. I’d read about the process awhile back and when you realize that the “percent” paid isn’t actually the “percent” paid then you get frustrated. It seems like we’re talking about nickels and dimes but it isn’t; they estimate it costs the average family $427 per year and brings in $45 billion to the issuers and banks - not just nickels and dimes anymore. My initial change from card to cash was based on local businesses more than chain stores and national retailers. If I can save myself and my computer repair shop, auto mechanic, co-op, local bookstore, local CD shop, or small restaurant a few bucks here and there, I’ll do it. I’m not naïve enough to believe that there isn’t a need for plastic – whether debit or credit – but we can limit what it costs us and our merchants. Clearly there’s a need when shopping online for big ticket items like plane tickets and hotels but I know I’ve been able to limit my use of my even my debit card when buying around here. It certainly takes some planning on my part: stopping at the bank and withdrawing cash to pay bills (I even avoid the ATMs as much as possible) in advance can be a bit of a hassle, but not anything I’m not willing to do.

In the words of William M. Sheedy, VISA’s president for the America (nice title, BTW), “At times we have a perspective problem.” I don’t think it’s perspective, Mr. Man.

Speaking of hassles. D.C. implemented a $.05 charge on plastic bags starting on January 1, 2010 and apparently the apocalypse is upon us. Once again, a pretty simple life lesson (even beyond the enviro-screaming): if you’ve never been one to use reusable bags then I will guarantee if you give them a go you’ll never go back. If you need to load up three bags of chow and haul them to the car, the hemp or reusable bags with actual handles are so much better. You keep them in your car, you carry them into the store, just like you do with your wallet, your keys, your head, and your feet, and you shop. This is not some cultural overhaul; think of it as a functional change to your life. If, after you’ve done that, you want to further consider the benefits of not having a bunch of plastic bags flying around the planet, feel free. If you want to keep using plastic bags, feel free, I’ll merely add you name to the column under ‘simpleton’.

I have a Capitals game tonight so I’ll be in my seat and drinking a beer.

apparently this is what you need to groom a cat

I decided to take a picture of this box that was sitting on the living room table as a sort of mystery. This might be the strangest list of tools you'd come across in day-to-day life. Consider it a mystery - maybe you'll know.

This is what's become of my cat after her visit from the grandparents who spoiled her rotten. By the way, that's our bed she's hijacked.

tools/trade

I have my orientation for school on Thursday morning. That’s a picture of my knife rack, up above; I’m purchasing a kit for school that includes knives, unis, a bunch of other kitchen gear, and whatnot (although I’m adding my own Scando-peeler to the total). The knives aren’t as good as mine but I’ll make due – if there’s a problem then I’ll just slap my Globals in there and lay down some gold. One of those knives was the first quality piece I ever bought (at a kitchen shop in Dinkytown years ago) along with my big, thick, quality board; I remember lugging them home on the flight back to England. That was the period when I began to cook real stuff in earnest, and now I’m moving along. I love my knives.

I got a call at home early on New Year’s Eve from the Canadian Border Patrol, or whatever they’re called. Melissa and L. were heading into and they decided to give me a jingle. We’ve managed to keep up with the parental affirmation letters when one parent and child are traveling out of the country (L. to Canada a few summers back and again with me last summer). This was the first time they’ve ever asked for the letter and they called first my work (not there), then my cell (I didn’t recognize the 604 area code and had gnocchi- covered hands), and finally the home phone about two minutes later. Fortunately, X answered and passed Dudley along to me. A very nice gent just confirmed the dates I’d included in the letter and following up with a question about where she’d be going after this trip (answer: here). He was no doubt confirming the story on that end and I was happy to see it. Anyway, they are out in the great NW and L. will fly into D.C. on the 14th.

If I haven't wished you a Happy New Year, then I do now: Happy New Year.

the end is nigh

I’m on the theatre a bit of late and this piece in the NYTimes once again piqued my interest. The main article is all well-and-good but the three or so pages of comments are more interesting. We you read, even in the abbreviated encounters with the contributors, are the smallest of insight into people’s lives. I’ve always held the view that live performance, whether rock n’ roll or on the stage, is the purest form of bonding between people; not only between performers and audience but between the audience members themselves. Everyone leaves the theatre in discussion about what they just saw and how it may have injected some new tangle of life in them. The ‘performance’ is more grand than reading – something different and just as special – because when we’re sitting in our seats we see the same thing and our mind’s eye is no longer the prime motivator behind our visions of a story. Whether I’m watching opera, drama, comedy, improv, or a musical, I rarely forget that every moment of the performance is given as a personal gift to me. They are showing me the perfection of their art; and I get to take it home and let if wave in and out of my mind.

I don’t know that I can think back to a play that changed my life. I well remember my first big production was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat back in the early 1980s in Chicago. My aunt and uncle had tickets and we all drove into the city for the show; I remember my prius and post feelings: first, I didn’t much want to be dragged to a theatre to watch a play. Second, I was amazed at how much I enjoy it. Maybe that’s a “change life” moment but I consider it more as exposure and not genesis, per se. I saw a few shows while living in England but the process work of picking dates, getting tickets, and heading to London was outweighed the enjoyment of the show. Moving to the D.C. area in 2006 would probably merit more consideration in ‘life changing’ theatre than the others. I hadn’t been here too long before WonderTwin 2 hooked us up with tickets to The Tempest at Keegan one Sunday afternoon. Once you live in a vibrant theatre city you realize, if you care much about it, that going to shows isn’t much different than heading to the movies: there are loads of companies and shows running year round. After The Tempest I started looking and organizing the scene in D.C. and subscribing to the Washington National Opera, Woolly Mammoth, and Keegan, while keeping an eye out for bigger shows and other theatre’s play lists. Of all those that we, or I, have attended a few stand out over the last three years (A Streetcar..., aside): The Hostage at the Keegan and Lost in Yonkers at the DCJCC Theatre J. The Hostage stands out because it moved effortlessly between comedy, drama, and musical with all the actors and actresses capable of each style. I find the idea of a multi-talented song-and-dance-and comedy trooper quite romantic. Lost in came to me as what I think of as a perfect ‘play’ (I guess Neil Simon knows his stuff), or what I’d imagine as a perfectly developed stage piece.

Just as with the comments in the Times’ article, I think that we don’t necessarily equate our most important event of any sort directly to quality; oftentimes, the timing in our lives is far more powerful. I can only imagine living in NYC as a child and going to see Annie of Oliver on Broadway when young. Even if you became a live-long lover of theatre there’d never be another that held as strong as a childhood event. I find it an interesting exercise to think back and not necessarily draft a list of best but to gather a group of most impressive.

See? I am staying away from lists.

Happy New Year.

t

and all i wanted was a BB gun

My holiday story involved my laptop. I know, how spiritual. About two or three months ago the left-side of the my MacBook experienced what we call white wine v. power cord connection-hole-area. The initial symptom was not good: no power at all - dead, dead computer with no battery nor AC operation. After a day or so the juice managed to sort itself out and it finally powered up but only worked via AC power; no battery charging. I took it to the Apple store about a week later; they popped it open, and then called me at work to tell me that it appeared exposure to liquid had occurred and it wasn't covered under the one-year warranty (I'll admit that the wine issue was not revealed at initial drop-off). But, for a one-time fee of $750 they could send it back to the plant and get it repaired. Awesome! A one-time $750 fee. That's really nice...only charging me once. I declined and decided to ride it out a bit longer before finally calling a computer repair place in Arlington that we'd used in the past for X's Vaio. I dropped it off a few weeks ago, alerting him to the liquid and the overall problems, paid the $100 up front for labor, and was told he'd order the module power/battery thingy and see if swapping it out would fix the problem. If that worked I'd pay another $125 and have a laptop with a future. After a week he called and said that, unfortunately, the new module hadn't fixed the issue so I was out the door for $100 in labor which was fine by me. Over the last few days I've been using the MacBook with the power cord and rueing the brilliant/not brilliant magnetic connection that pops right off if the cord or computer gets tugged. It's brilliant in that it would protect your computer crashing to a floor; it's not brilliant when any little nudge immediately powers down the unit. The final bit of this saga is what happened last night. With the boys out of the house we were sitting around doing what we do - X reading a fashion mag, me typing something or other on the computer - when I glanced up to the corner of the screen and instead of seeing an "x" declaring no battery power, charge, or connection, I see a 58% charged number. What the what? After another 20 minutes the battery was fully charged and everything is completely operational now. It's a truly miraculous story; I think I have a regenerative, living, computer. What are the odds? I must have passed along some karma over the last week or so; maybe paying all my local merchants in cash and saving them credit/debit card fees has come back to me full circle. Maybe not.

We've had rain and 40+ degrees over the last 24 hours and it's melted away most of the snow that was piled about the area. I'll push off the remaining slush from the driveway this afternoon.

We're doing roasted chicken, mashed, brussel sprouts (on the panini grill), turnip soup, and gravy for second Christmas tomorrow night. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by.

t

not a list

Kiva.com - WonderTwin #2 turned me on to this organization far later than she should have; I somehow blame jealousy, or something. The lowdown is this: you're making micro loans that are paid back in full and you then redistribute the funds to another business or withdrawal them, as you choose. If you don't know about micro loans then take a bit of time to read about Muhammad Yunus and microfinancing. You'd be hard-pressed to find something so easy yet so rewarding. Easy peasy.

The Avett Brothers - I've posted about them a load this year and they're worth it. Their music is easily the best discovery of the year and their place in my huge-ish music collection is well assured. It's Americana, through-and-through, and it's simply amazing stuff. Their album, I and Love and You, was the best I bought all year.

One Day / Matisyahu - I'm a sucker for bombastic anthemic music and this is the best reggae/hadistic Jew bombastic song of the year. You write a hook like this and I'll be your friend forever. I can't embed the version I'd like to but here it is over at his youtube channel. If you dig around you can watch the even bigger, bombastic-ier original - great, great song.

Cate Blanchett - Well, I love me some Cate; always have, always will. Getting a chance to see her in A Streetcar Name Desire was a treat. Here's an interview (roll down and select your media) she gave to Diane Rehm while in-residence for the three-week run here in D.C. She's exactly what I thought she'd be if I could have drawn a picture. The combination of her acting and the fantastic show at the Kennedy Center was almost enough to make you give up theatre; you won't see better.

The Waco Brothers @ Iota - Easily my show of the year. A great band, a great bar, and a sunny Saturday afternoon. I'd been waiting years to see them and they didn't disappoint. They are pure cow/rock punk and led by the imcomparable Jon Langford.

January 20, 2009 - I'm not the impatient sort. What a fucking day. Here we are a year in and there are things I'd like to happen faster but Barack Obama is doing exactly what I expected from him as we walked the streets of NoVA campaigning for him last year. Eleven months and people are yelling and screaming - on both sides. Simmer the fuck down. Time. Time. Time. Beep, beep.

Ta-nehisi Coates - TnC writes (blogs) for the Atlantic and he's taken over as my favorite blogger (from his compatriot at the Atlantic, Andrew Sullivan). TnC doesn't process anything like the volume of entries or followers, but his framing of some great debates is stunning. I read his book about growing up in West Baltimore, A Beautiful Struggle, and it gave me pause on life and how I'm where I am and why others are where they are. Real deep, right? I love his stuff and his comments from readers show a real depth of honest discussion.

How American Health Care Killed My Father - Another Atlantic number here; this piece was written by David Goldhill and is the single, best take on healthcare that I've read. I gave it to a conservative I work with and he was surprised when I told him that this is exactly the way I want it to be. It makes so much sense - but it would take real dedication and time to implement - it's almost funny. Great, great stuff.

Christmas Shoes - We happened to be fortunate enough to be at Lisner when they recorded Patton Oswalt's latest (he's a native of NoVa), and he was great. This animation was created by some whackjob with too much time on his hands. Oswalt and Eddie Izzard have, for too many years, been my favorite comedians and now you can have a piece. It's a bit harsh, don't play it on speakers if any easily offended are around, but play it loud...

(Addendum: I want to add in Brian Regan here under 'comedy'. This guy can do the cleanest and more gut-wrenching comedy in the World. Trust me...dig around a bit and watch some of his skits from a few years ago at the Improv. I'm just going to give you a taste with his Pop Tarts piece - a good laugh over the Holiday is crucial.)

My family - We aren't the call every day sort of family - well, I'm not the call every day sort of person - and time wanders away sometimes. It doesn't mean I don't think about them often and know that there's a part of all of them that carries me through my days. I guess I have to trust that they know that. To bring it full circle; as the Avetts say:

"Always remember, there is nothing worth sharing
like the love that let us share our name."

My dearest - I won't get too mushy here but I think I might have the coolest chick in the World. Another year has slipped by, I feel like I'm getting old, and here I have the most amazing, beautiful, loveliest, smartest, funniest, (sexiest) and dopiest girl you could possibly imagine. I love her, deeply.

Oh, shut up.

love peace.

As Bill Walton says, "Your life, your lunch, your choice."

t

cooking

I meant to add a bit about an article in the New Yorker that ran on about stoves. Yes, stoves. As only they can do, the title and quick blurb gets you thinking, "that might be interesting"; a trap that got me totally caught up about four years ago when they did a two-part series on freight trains. This one is Hearth Surgery by Burkhead Bilger and it addresses the massive health issues surrounding wood-burning stoves used to cook around the World (you can read an abstract here: a subscription is required to read the entire article, digitally). The amount of engineering involved in creating a device that doesn't kill yet allows various cultures to cook three-times-a-day is staggering. Talk about a group that walks this Earth in the shadows, yet are trying to help nearly three billion people; it's truly an issue that seems nearly unsolvable. I'm slackjawed that I can fire up a safe, functional cooking device so easily yet the issue is so massive beyond our shores. I'll print a few copies and mail them out if anyone is interested.

holiday double foot

Prior to - or at the point of conception - of our blizzard, we attended a get together thrown by some parents from H.'s school last evening. I think the primary catch was parents of 8th graders so X was invited, and I, by proxy; I let them know that mine will be there next semester and they were quite grateful to know another girl would be showing up - apparently the gals are horribly outnumbered. The host/hostess house was something to behold. I don't know a spark plug from a Holley double-pumper carb any more than I can tell you square footage of a house but I'll guess this place had to be about 5,332 square ft (okay, I looked it up in the tax assessment). It's a beautiful place full of loads of art, massive rooms, at least three fireplaces that we could see, and a massive kitchen. Based on some Google mapping there's a pool that Michael Phelps could train in out back. As X was saying on the way home, when you find yourself 'hanging' around staffers, lobbyists, and some pretty elite folks you begin to wonder how this all happened. The highlight of the place was the Christmas decorations in the house. I've never in my life - nor have you unless you've been to Winsdor Castle - seen anything like it. There was more moving carousals, massive trees, camels, massive trees, a collection of at least 30 8" diameter snow globes, massive trees, and more decorations than we could even store in our house if we moved out. It was stunning and I so wish I had my camera to run some undercover youtube video. All that any of us could imagine was that there was some massive lazy susan mounted under the house that allowed one holiday/seasonal decoration kit at a time to be out. We then started wondering what would be the empty placeholder after Valentines and before the 4th of July; one guest pondered that maybe it was 'Spring'. I'm still a bit stunned by it all. We did have a wonderful time but it failed my house test which is that if I can't clean it myself then it's too big.

It looks like we'll top off tomorrow morning at about two feet of snow. We scurried out very early this morning - in only 8" of snow - to grab a few things at the store and mail some Christmas items. We got stuck twice: once in the near flat parking lot of the grocery and then as we parked in front of the house; even by Midwest standards this is a humdinger.

Maybe I'll send some pictures in the morning. My camera is in the car and I have no desire to stomp out in 3-4 foot drifts.

We're fine. Lots of food, wine, and coffee and no one's power has gone out yet. Oh, we also have a cord of firewood on the porch.

Love to all.

t

some fill in

I think I've decided there will be no "best of" lists this year - at least not in a one-t0-ten configuration. I have some recommendations that I'll throw out but it'll merely be here-and-there stuff. I'm thinking about it, stand easy.

As of this typing (during this typing?) I've pulled up Let It Be by the Replacements. I read a piece in Slate today about how a few months ago, October, marked the 25th anniversary of its release. I'm gobsmacked that it's been that long but if I dig deep and think about passing along my college transcript in order to get into cooking school a few months back, it makes more sense: 25 years, wow. I'm equally amazed that it's only sold about 250k units...ever. When you have a band that holds the pinnacle of '80s bar band lore a mere quarter-mil seems pathetic. I never really knew how great their sway was beyond the Twin Cities musicdome that included Husker Du, Run Westy Run, early Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, The Suburbs, Urban Gorillas, and the like. This, by the way of addition from me, is a great album. Getting old...

The kids devoured their weekly offering of salmon, rice, and broccoli with homemade cheese sauce. X came home and downed her mushroom and sun-dried tomato risotto...as if it magically materialized; is this what I've created? Is this what it's like to run a restaurant with folk coming and going? Maybe I should rethink this whole idea.

We've got a winter storm warning, granted it's a D.C. storm warning, for tomorrow night and through Saturday. I'm planning on doing the Eastern Market one more time for Christmas shopping Saturday AM; a brilliant snow would be fantastic. I'll send pictures.

t

it's math...or not.

I've been meaning to bring this up for eons but I always forget. The morning traffic reports that I hear on WAMU in D.C. always report morning traffic in this manner: "I-95 from the Beltway to the 14th St. bridge is taking about 19 minutes; that's 14 minutes than normal." Normal what? I've driven that fur piece of road any number of times on weekends or late evenings and it's a good four or five miles. Is 'normal' what it would take me to get from one end t'other at 1am on Tuesday when I can drive 60mph? Methinks that is the case. If I'm some K St. lawyer sitting on I-95 every weekday morning at 8am there is never a time when I'd consider five minutes to be normal. Normal is 19 minutes. If it's more than that what I want to hear is this, "I-95 from the Beltway to the 14th St. bridge is taking about 75 minutes because some jackhole in a HUMMER rubbed the barrier, careened right, and crushed a fucking Prius. That's 59 minutes more than normal. Now back to Steve Inskeep."

Along with my banking issues we are in the midst of swap to AT&T since The Hilltop falls into the fair service area for our old service. Of course, there's no easy way to move from bank-to-bank or cell service-to-cell service without death-and-destruction crossing your mind. Maybe if you added in an attempt at sorting out amalgam vs. composite filling within my dental insurance you could make my head explode.

My pal Buzz was working out in Denver this week and realized, belatedly (as Buzz is), that the Caps are in Denver tonight but he's flying out today. You can't teach kids anything.

I'm on hold with AT&T since my (and L.'s) new phones will dial out but not accept calls. Wish me luck; I'm going in...

love to all,

t

dorks and dates

Based upon X's report from dropping off the boys on Friday night there's no way I can properly relate the degree of fantasy cooldom on exhibit at the Anime Pavilion. I'm not making that name up. They had a fantastic time playing Magic - the Gathering - with the adults and then returning the next morning for some more dueling. I'd say it's the rough equivalent of me finding an arcade when I was 13; total focus. If you imagine comic book shops, Dungeons and Dragons, and indie record stores, then simply blend that all together, you have a winner.

After dinner last night we exited, stage left, and headed to Woolly Mammoth to see Too Much Light Makes Baby Go Blind - 30 plays in 60 minutes. I'm a huge fan of Woolly as a structure and the company, as a whole. Too Much is actually a visiting show by the Neo-Futurists out of Chicago (much like the soon-to-be returning Second City and their Barack Stars in February) but the theatre is perfect for just about any production that'll I'll glom onto. The Neos are smooth in their ability to complete all thirty self-penned plays in a random order determined only by the audience yelling a number upon hearing the cue - 'curtain'. As they told us before the show began, we'll get some things right away and others we'll laugh about in two years; and it's true - I've mysteriously been able to recreate in my mind nearly all 30 vignettes. It's quality theatre by a group of horribly talented actors.

Nothing but rain and cold today as I bundled up and headed to Eastern Market for Christmas shopping and then on to Dupont Circle for a winter's farmers market. The rain and cold kept a number of vendors away from Eastern this morning - and customers - but I had a great time, nonetheless. As I was awaiting the stalls to get configured I wandered into Capitol Hill Books with my coffee (from the grand Peregrine Coffee) and grabbed a few volumes. The first thing I came across on the "new arrivals" shelf was Spice by Jack Turner; who doesn't want to read an annotated history of the spice trade? No one, that's who. I'll eventually be well-versed in any spice questions that might arise at Quiz Night. I didn't get much Christmas shopping done but I did end up with a beautifully hand-turned maple, french-style rolling pin. The farmers market gave me the Jerusalem artichokes and cauliflower that ended up in some type homemade red sauce, parmesan-gouda, and fresh ricotta lasagne. These things happen...

I'll leave you for the day, or night.

t

into a dark hole, out of a dark hole

Most of our snow disappeared over the last few days and that worked out well for woodstacking activities. X ordered a cord of firewood yesterday and it greeted us upon my arrival home from work. The boys and I managed to get about three-quarters the way through the drive-to-porch wood stacking so there’s not much left for today or tomorrow. We only worked for 40 minutes – with varying levels of “this is going to take forever” ringing about The Hilltop – before we headed inside so I could make dinner (salmon steaks, rice, and broccoli with homemade cheese sauce for them). As I was washing my hands I asked H. if he had change for a $20 bill, which he did, and I paid both $10 for the 2/3-hour worth of work. I think the surprise of getting paid – I think of stacking wood as a little more than normal work – seemed to salve their misery of work. Of course, they immediately wanted to know when we might do the rest; work suddenly not seeming so bad. The problem now is that I think they “owe” someone make-up work and I believe I’ve been told that finishing the woodstacking is going to said make up, payment be damned. I’ve been clued in to not tell them they won’t be getting any money until after they finish. I’m not sure I’m overly interested in this soon-to-be endless debate.

Part of the reason money has become an issue for them is they’ve discovered a Friday Night Magic club/tournament in Falls Church which may or may not involved buy-ins or card purchases. Magic – The Gathering (as all true players refer to it) is a fantasy card game that involves something about monsters, fairies, lands, weapons, evolution, booster cards, blah, blah, and blah. I have no idea how it’s played since fantasy isn’t anything that interests me but the boys are literally shaking in anticipation of being a part of it all. I’m sure they’ll have a blast even if the 9:15pm starting time will lead to sleepy Saturday mornings.

I've finally bitten the bullet and started to change banks from USAA, or as I call them, "The Devil", to a local bank. USAA has a bit of a monopoly on military and retired military and they really suck as far a pure banking goes. The insurances and whatnot seem better but who knows; if I die maybe we'll have that answer. I despise them like I despise all huge banks that are making more money on fees and jackassery than actual banking. Fuck 'em all.

Nice ending, eh?

Love

t

train a comin'

There’s some talk about the intertubes that the purchase of NBC by Comcast may spell the end of Hulu.com, which is a joint venture between ABC and NBC, at least as we know it. Maybe it evaporates into the ether or maybe they start to charge for me to watch TV shows on-line. I’d have a problem if it completely disappeared because we use it quite a bit, but I don’t, on very general terms, have an issue with a process that asks me to pay for what I watch. The ‘very general part’ is an assumption that since I’m not paying for broadcast TV now I wouldn’t want to have to pay for those shows in the future. What’s most interesting about this oncoming change is that it’s one more example of an industry that relies on technology but either doesn’t understand it, or simply refuses to see the future.

Here’s what we know will happen in the next few years: television will available on-line for a nominal (or free) cost. Television will be in homes via either cable, satellite, and/or broadband streaming over the internet. People will not be watching TV at set times every night in order to watch their favorite TV shows – it will all be on-demand, all the time. TV that is steamed via broadband will be available in quality that allows us to watch it on the actual TVs in our houses. My point is this: do you believe that any of those things won’t happen? Not a chance. In my mind, as I’ve pointed out in endless conversations, is that we know where we will be in three years’ time – and we have actual events to back this up (music, newspapers, books) – so why do the ‘leaders of industry’ refuse to either learn or lead? If I were to say to you that in three years time the stock market will be down 45% and bonds will be up 15% from where they are now, what would you do? I know that seems a simplistic point-of-view but it’s perfectly valid. Within that example, what the TV industry is doing right now is trying to buy a bunch of stocks under some misguided illusion that they can will them higher. What they are doing in the real world is trying to sort a way to maximize profits while continuing to operate using decades-old rules and restrictions as a prop.

My favorite example of this methodology is the easiest, and earliest, story: music. If you really rack your brain and think back two decades you’ll remember the historical timeline: the move from LPs to 8-tracks to cassettes to CD (and the horrible digital disc) to on-line delivery. There was never a point, particularly once we’d digitized the process where any one thought that time would stand still. During CD adolescence there was the gnashing of teeth and limitations on ‘recordable’ blank discs; you couldn’t buy a machine that would record. Even though we knew that recordable data sources were going to happen the fight went on and on. Then we had internet distribution and the industry simply dug in its heels, prosecuted people, yelled and screamed about profits, and then, effectively, went under. What they wanted to do was limit access, maximize profits, and fuck the customer. What a forward thinking company, Apple, did was figure out a way to simply be a conduit for the goods, at a reasonable price, and reap the rewards. iTunes does nothing but take the money, move the music, and kill on the bottom line. Why? They actually thought ahead and figured that you can be a part of the revolution or you can sit on your ass and cry. Good riddance EMI, Atlantic, Sony Music, et al – enjoy your days a non-entities.

If, for now, we set aside newspapers and magazines, book publishing is the next to fall. Not because the written (or electronic) work isn’t viable anymore but because the group of smarty-pants refuse to see the future. We may think that they see it with the Kindle and Nook but both of those products are delivery products, Amazon and Barnes and Noble, respectively, that are stomping the life from the publishers, and rightly so. What the publishers are trying to do is continue to charge $20-$24 for a new book that costs nothing to publish or deliver; they have no idea that we once again know the end result of the dream and it’s not in buying stocks…again. The publishers will continue to battle this until the last breath leaves their collective body and, in the end, they will also be irrelevant. They have a chance to continue as a business but the model has to change – the tipping point is here.

TV, both delivery and content, is clearly on the same path. I’ll look into my crystal ball and say, with certainty, where the content will be in the end. I will also say that I know what the delivery and content holders will try to do over the next few years. I will also say, with certainty, I know the final result.

What’s funny about all of this is that that I’m not averse to paying for music, books, or TV. I’ve paid for every song in my vast collection, I’ll buy books for a reasonable price, and I’d pay for ala carte TV. The funny thing is that they tried to not allow it for music, they are doing the same for books, and TV is only following suit.

Smartest guys in the room; that’s funny every time I hear it.

What now, bitches?

T

just a saturday

Apropos of nothing, or maybe something, I snapped a few shots on this Saturday. You get Lemon as she sits on her throne eyeing the snow; a lot more snow than we expected, and the real keeper - the box. X is going through her closet, and believe me, it looks like something exploded all over our bedroom. She dragged some empty boxes into the room earlier, pen in hand, and this is what I found. I worry.

love to all,

t

season's first

We've got our first snow on The Hilltop this morning. Before everyone settles in for the cold - and sometimes snowy - winter we always find the first snow romantic. Suckers.

quarter up

I'm a day behind on this, and X didn't find the story very interesting, but I'll pass it along, regardless. If you hail from the the Plains, Great Midwest, or varying portions of I-95 and Pennsylvania then you know from Skee Ball. We aren't talking about Chuckie Cheese or little kids-disco-light 'Skee Ball'; this is bowling alley, old-time arcade, and midway Skee Ball. I remember long ago when my brother and his friend (Dave or Dan?) played an entire day of Skee Ball at Peony Park in Omaha so they'd have enough tickets to buy eight, stemmed Budweiser glasses - that was big time, but that's not the point.

On my way home from the Caps game on Thursday night there was a couple sitting in the seat in front of me on the Metro and she pulls out her iPhone and starts to play electronic Skee Ball. (If you've ridden the Metro you know that anything going on in the seat in front of you is perfectly visible, especially when they are drunk and gabbing about their iPhone.) She'd only been playing Skee Ball for a few seconds before I knew she wasn't from any of the areas listed above. She's rolling her balls up the middle of the run...as if that's the professional method. I was tempted to remove my headphones and set her straight: in Skee Ball, if you want to properly impress the crowd, you'll need to bank your shots mid-bumper and then sit back and tally tickets. If you want to hang anything near 350-400 points you'll never get there going straight. It was almost unbearable.

Then again, maybe she didn't care.

t

hey, what's this thing do?

A panel of experts, appointed by the federal government, recently changed its recommendation and said that such routine mammograms should begin at age 50 rather than at age 40.

Off to a horrible beginning. I read, and listened to, quite a load of commentary over the last few weeks that addressed this recommendation. At first, I was a bit confused on why they’d recommend waiting on routine exams but the more I heard, from both sides, the more it made sense. What’s vital is that this is merely a recommendation, with some strong supporting data, but it doesn’t hold the rule of law or stop you and your doctor from doing what’s best for you. Like many other recommendations made by various independent and professional groups, we don’t need to open up this can of misery where the Senate will now begin to “debate” and “amend” every fucking piece of health and it’s place in the bill – I will give you a paycheck if the Republicans don’t next propose an amendment saying that “the four out of five dentists recommending Crest” are full of shit and that any health care reform package must not include any reference to brushing and/or flossing. This was a huge mistake on the Democrats part and something that sits astride Harry Reid’s narrow and incapable shoulders

I can’t believe this stuff. Like we need these knock-a-looks to be so far down in the weeds.

“I put forth an amendment requiring that all insurance companies participating in the exchange provided coverage for non-hurty band-aids for all children.”

bothered in sleep

I’ve been babbling at X for at least the last year about racism, crazy folk, where we’re going in this life, and my despair on issues from wars to the New Haven F.D. Supreme Court case, and myriad other pins that clutter my wee brain. Now, I can steal what I think is the most dead-on explanation of what I’ve been feeling but been unable to articulate. What’s been eating at me is what I see as some form of deductive logic from our daily lives; when in truth, or at least in my view, how we react in life is more a inductive logic gleaned by simply walking our days; we take specific instances and infer that event upon a greater population. We don’t, even if we think we do, live our lives by some utopian belief that everyone is nice, everyone is happy, and that everyone treats us all the same. We know that’s not true and we know, from our daily frustrations, that it’s not how people live. The minority of encounters in our life draw the darkest marks and it's those instances where it turns on us and the ugliness rises so that we shudder and hide. Nevermind. Here's the explanation.

I also want to pass along a great piece, Daddies Win!, from Roger Angell in the last New Yorker. Unfortunately, you need a subscription to read it on-line - I guess if you get the New Yorker you've already read it, if not...do. If you don't have access, and you like reading the highest quality journalism, find someone to print it for you. I've given up on baseball, for the most part, but his summary of the Yankees' playoff run is simply stunning. Great stuff.

That's my cat, sleeping. She puts me at peace.

So does this...



Love to all.

T

blowing in the wind

Over the weekend I was cornered, or called over to the coffee table, to answer for my opinion on Global Warming. I was apparently next-in-line after X had addressed this same query; I attempted a deft escape by replying that we basically believe the same thing and, well, essentially…ditto. That didn’t seem to bat away my inquisitor so I decided to simply break out my big gun-theory created for just this moment: us. What I find most potent about this ideal is that is anchors itself in common sense and simply reaches out and touches our lives. Instead of interpreting and analyzing scientific data, and in place of the skewing of numbers to our own needs or yelling at each other (or using phrases like “Drill, baby, drill!”) why not just look at our house and our life and contemplate behaviors. If you think about your daily life and its influence on what’s immediately around you then you’ll know there are simple changes available. Let’s say you’re at the market and you load all your groceries in shitty little plastic bags. Why? First of all, they are horrible for carrying anything. Second, do you like the idea, or vision, of all those bags floating about your neighborhood and hanging in trees and shrubbery? Probably not. We can go out and buy reusable bags for next to nothing and eliminate that problem. What about when you leave the house and turn the heat (or A/C) off for the day; what’s crazy about that? You save some money and don’t burn up fuel. Maybe you decide to ride a bus, ride the Metro, or walk from here to there. Maybe you decide to buy a smaller car because you’re tired of paying $120 to fill up your truck or van. Who knows? There are loads of things that sit within your own circle that will do all of us some good without even contemplating the larger circle beyond your neighborhood or city. If you think about spending less money, cleaning up your life and home, and trying – even just a bit – to cut back on the obvious stuff then we’re halfway home.

We import about 30% of our oil from countries we seem to label, somewhat blindly, as “terrorists”; most of our imported oil actually comes from Canada and Mexico. If instead of fighting a huge tapestry of ‘eliminating oil usage at all costs’, we started in the backyard and worked toward a 15, 20, or 25% reduction then we’d be well on our way. A small piece in our house, where we cut back by 20%, isn’t at all painful and if we all make a similar decision it’d be better all about the place.

Maybe in ten years we’ll won’t be debating reduction in petroleum usage but celebrating new and renewable sources. What’s weird about global warming is that it’s not actually an argument, is it? It’s not a battle between armies massed against each other, really. Just the common sense around your life and home is a good enough start.

Granted, my answer while sitting on the coffee table wasn’t quite as detail but the gist was the same.

At that point, I excused myself and made a cup of tea.