Month: August 2005

I did this for only two reasons: 1) the piece I was writing just wasn’t going anywhere, (that ever happen to you folks?), though you may still see it in the future; and 2) because I’m a sucker for this self-revelatory stuff.

1. Ten years ago: In August 1995, I was going out with Carol, who’s now my wife. But we broke up in March 1996, and didn’t get back together for good until November 1998.

2. Five years ago: In August 2000, my father died. I may have mentioned that recently.

3. One year ago: saw some minor league baseball games, started to get out of the fog of new fatherhood.

4. Yesterday: Played racquetball, cutthroat (3 players), won a 30-minute long game. Worked on my self-evaluation at work, a real MEGO, except that is the only way I can even be considered for a raise. Also, I sent off an evaluation of my intern to her school. Got an e-mail from a high school friend from Binghamton, Jon Phipps, who I hadn’t seen since 1990; he was in town to pick up his wife from a meeting, so we had lunch and caught up. After work, went out to eat with Carol for our lunaversary sans the child. Wrote a CD review for the blog, which will show up Saturn-day.

5. Today: Play racquetball. Go to work, have a staff meeting. Hope to watched some taped TV. Probably go for a walk with Lydia after dinner if it doesn’t rain.

6. Tomorrow: To quote Steve Gerber, (sorry, Steve, for your pain), Tomorrow Never Knows. Racquetball, work. Was supposed to have lunch with another old friend, Michele, but that was postponed until Thursday. Probably another CD review.

7. Five snacks I enjoy: cottage cheese with any number of things: canned fruit, apple sauce, apples; ice cream, especially strawberry; fig bars; oatmeal raisin cookies; animal crackers (the good kind).

8. Five bands I know the lyrics of most of their songs: Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Rolling Stones, CSN&Y. Are Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Neil Young “bands”?

9. Five things I would do with $100,000,000: contribute $1000 apiece to a whole bunch of charities I’ve always wanted to support; pay off the mortgages of my sisters’ and my brothers-in-law’s houses (oh, and ours); do every single repair in the house that we’ve put off because of lack of money (new kitchen cabinets, new bathroom, attic insulation especially); hire a secretary, driver, housekeeper and a masseuse (ah, a daily massage); and get season tickets to the symphony, the theater and to minor league baseball. Oh, there are other things, but those are the first five off the top of my head.

10. Five locations I’d like to run away to: Fiji, Rome, Paris, Rio, some remote part of Hawai’i.

11. Five Bad Habits: Don’t eat enough salad, my desk is a mess, I tend to be late, my periodicals tend to pile up unread, I avoid balancing my checkbook.

12. Five things I like doing: Playing racquetball, reading periodicals, blogging, playing cards or backgammon, going to baseball games.

13. Five TV shows I like: JEOPARDY!, CBS Sunday Morning, Gilmore Girls, Scrubs, 60 Minutes.

14. Famous People I’d like to meet: Living or dead. Thomas Jefferson, Richard Nixon, John Lennon, Mohandas Gandhi, Christopher Reeve.

15. Biggest joys at the moment: Well, daughter Lydia is a hoot. Seeing old friends. Seeing movies with my wife again. This blog.

16. Favorite toys: Stereo, CD burner, VHS/DVD player. I have simple needs.

Must Love Dogs stars the luminescent Diane Lane and the wonderful John Cusack. I REALLY wanted to love this movie. But you know that a romantic comedy isn’t working when 1) you don’t laugh and 2) you don’t get a sense of chemistry between the two who are “destined to be together, even if they don’t know it yet.” In fact, the only time I really believed them as a potential couple was during the end credits, when in fact, they WERE a couple reflecting back on their courtship. Part of the problem with the laughs was that old story- the best ones show up in the previews.
Other fine actors, including as Christopher Plummer, who plays Lane’s father (and blind date! – this is revealed in the trailer) also appear, but I didn’t much care about any of the characters EXCEPT the Stockard Channing character, who plays one of the Plummer character’s girlfriends. It’s not an AWFUL film, but it is lacklustre.
And the title is SO wrong, since NEITHER character actually owns a dog.

March of the Penguins is a very right title for a very right film. These noble birds that don’t fly go through a tortured year-long process in an attempt to bring their young into the world. I lost count how many 70-mile treks the animals had to make. I couldn’t help but think about two things, though:
1) If humans had to go through so much in order to create babies, we’d have zero population in no time – no, make that negative population growth.
2) How the heck did the filmmaker get such compeling footage under such adverse conditions? We’re talking Antarctic winter, -80 F. And the summer is not a day at the beach, either.

ADVERTISING

Vote for your favorite advertising icon and slogan here in honor of Advertising Week in late September.

BASEBALL

Heard about the legendary eephus pitch?

MUSIC

Apparently, Van Morrison is the third to the last musician in the world with his own website. It contains free live cuts from his forthcoming album. BTW, Van’s birthday is at the end of this month, so listen to lots of his tunes.

POLITICS

Jim Wallis, the editor of Sojourners magazine, and the author of “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It”, writes a piece for the NY Times op/ed page.

The energy bill that W signed this week has a few good aspects, but also has a lot of corporate welfare, especially if one is from Texas.

My friend Mark writes: “Turn on any ‘Classic Rock’ station and chances are within a few days you will hear two songs by the ’60’s group Steppenwolf: ‘Born to Be Wild’ and ‘Magic Carpet Ride.’ Adrenalin-pumping music to be sure. On the other hand,
you won’t hear songs of social commentary that are as relevant today as they were then. Maybe we should call this in to their request lines: ‘Monster’ by Steppenwolf“.

I love the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq looking for answers from W in Crawford. Cindy Sheehan is being called The Lone Star Iconoclast. She’s obviously struck a nerve, because even the mainstream media have picked up the story.

Quote from the blogisphere: “Besides telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children, and die, the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our lives.”

And if you live in a strong Republican/conservative district, , don’t give up hope.

Ben Stein does a regular opinion piece on CBS Sunday Morning. A couple weeks ago, he recommended that W stand tough and support Karl Rove. To give in would be give the liberals that taste of blood they want. He’s probably right. But I’ll say it again: Fire Karl Rove.

Read about the campaign to stop genocide in DARFUR, the Sudan, where 200,000 to 400,000 people have been killed. The organizers believe that tactics like petitions, calls and letters are all a part of how W and his advisers are gauging public opinion with regard to the appropriate next steps to stop the atrocites. He “WILL NOT provide the necessary leadership without confidence that public opinion will support an international humanitarian intervention.” And maybe not even then, I fear. This organization is helping the refugee women.

United Methodist Bishops Back Complete Ban on Nuclear Weapons; Church Joins in Prayer for Victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki Bombings.

WORKING HARD

There’s a scam artist calling himself Arthur DiLorenzo who’s been targeting churches in the Northeast in the past; he has resurfaced. One church received a call from him recently. His story usually involves starting a new job and not being paid yet, or traveling and getting stranded, but his demand is to have money wired to him.
With minor variations, it’s a story that’s been told to pastors up and down the eastern seaboard. Something to be aware of, in case you hear of a similar call.