TEA, as you start your tenth year, I want you to have a wonderful year. A year full of sports, superheroes, Jedi, & fun.
You are a great kids and I love you. I cannot imagine my life without you.
Happy Birthday!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Happy Birthday, TEA
TEA, as you start your tenth year, I want you to have a wonderful year. A year full of sports, superheroes, Jedi, & fun.
You are a great kids and I love you. I cannot imagine my life without you.
Happy Birthday!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Keywords
I love some of these keywords.
- "I love you but I love me more"
- There were a bunch of various ones that pointed to the Dinosaur BBQ in Troy in the wake of Irene.
- "top 25 odb songs" There are 25 songs that are listenable by Ol' Dirty?
- Mike Doughty Bald Ummm...okay.
- Facebook Birthday Guilt HAHAHAHAH
Using Social Media For Good
Those of you who use Foursquare (and those who don't, why not?), check out this "perk"...
Here is the important part:
When you check in at any Walgreens, they'll donate a flu shot to someone in need.
Via Foursquare's Twitter.
Here is the important part:
When you check in at any Walgreens, they'll donate a flu shot to someone in need.
Via Foursquare's Twitter.
Bullet Pointing a Thursday
- I woke up from a dream. The dream was where someone was telling me a joke. I forget the dream and who was telling the joke, but I know the punchline..."Jessica Tandy's Sex Tape". Great, no? Try to get that image out of your head.
- Tomorrow is TEA's birthday. I am picking him up from school and taking him out to dinner tonight. We are going to his favorite place, which so happens to be the New World Bistro Bar.
- Shopping for a nine year old is fun. Mostly because when I am looking at the things, I ask myself, "Would I want this one?" Then I get the better one that I would like to have.
- I have failed to find a transcript from last night's GOP Debate. I have watched some coverage of it, and read some quick recaps but I have failed to get a clear idea of who the winners (apart from Mittens) really were. Any suggestions? Should I bother?
- I am not going to complain about the rain, especially as friends are being flooded out. Again.
- I missed Chrissie Hynde's birthday yesterday. I will rectify that.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wednesday Morning Bullet Points
- I realize that it more than a little self involved to complain about the rain in terms of my life, especially when people are flooded out of their homes and such but I am going to do it anyway. If I thought that there was a malevolent force in the universe responsible for all the bad things (AIDS, Tornadoes, Light Beer), I would assume that S/He was doing this because I am serious about training.
- As part of my training, I have given up on tobacco use. Yesterday, I was in bed by 9:00. My head was aching and I was feeling like ass and the slightest disturbance of my (a text message, phone call, or the sound of the rain on the window) quiet was enough to set me off. It was not nice. I mean, I have been happy all summer long and then at the end I choose to do this to myself? WHAT WAS I THINKING?
- I am better today and will be even better tomorrow.
- Everything that comes out of Tina Brown's mouth makes me angry. I will never forgive her for ruining reading favorites and now I am thinking that she should be deported.
- Oh, Hipster Hitler!
Episode 1 - Book from Hipster Hitler on Vimeo.
- I forgot to mention it, but TEA painted me his own version of the Nott Memorial, framed it and gave it to me for my birthday. It made me very happy.
Important Movie Quotes - Ghostbusters
"What did you do, Ray?"
There are so many great lines in this film.
There are so many great lines in this film.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Feeling Out of Sorts
Maybe it is because the summer is actually over, that it is a rainy Tuesday, or maybe it is because I am coming to terms with time and decadent behavior catching up with me and my increasingly decrepit body, but I am feeling out of sorts. (Hence the post title...see, it does make sense. I am not senile. Get off my lawn.)
I finished two of the four books that I am reading this morning. The Leftovers (Great, and possibly the best book I have read in the last year but the ending seemed too...expected. However, finishing did allow me to finally get around to read Stephen King's review in the Times. Interesting perspective that Mr. King has. I have read someplace that in addition to being a critic, he is also an author. I could see that.) and The Know-It-All and have started The First Days (which isn't as bad as the back cover suggests (watch below) and I have needed to get my zombie on).
One of the reasons I am feeling out of sorts (for the definition, I find this useful.) was because today is the day that I started getting serious (or as serious as I get about anything) about my training and it was hard. Running at quarter to six in the rain was not the optimal time to be doing anything, let alone running on a body that ate well and drank well for the past week (it was my birthday and HJ77 was here for the whole time) but I did it.
While running, a song came on and I found myself singing along with it. This, in and of itself, is not odd as I sing all the time. Not well but I make up for my lack of skill with enthusiasm. First, I was able to run in the rain because HJ77 picked up the iPod shuffle that I had been wanting to pick up for myself but had difficulty ever getting around to purchasing and running with the iPhone instead, which was sub-optimal (Thank you!) and the song that I was singing outloud had been a trigger for a while, creating a cascade of memories and I only realized this as I was getting to the part of the sing-a-long that had always made me laugh. So...this is a goodness, no?
Apart from the searing pain in my chest and my knees aching like they were trying to give birth to their own little knees, the run in the rain went well, and even better, I was able to laugh and sing-a-long to a song that I had not been able to in a while.
Life could be a lot worse, and even then, it would still be okay, if all I have to complain about is my aching knees and the various banalities of everyday existence. One of my friends accused me of being less fun because I was happy. He did not apologize for that (nor did I expect him to. He has a reputation to maintain.) when we had dinner last night, but he said he was glad for me.
I finished two of the four books that I am reading this morning. The Leftovers (Great, and possibly the best book I have read in the last year but the ending seemed too...expected. However, finishing did allow me to finally get around to read Stephen King's review in the Times. Interesting perspective that Mr. King has. I have read someplace that in addition to being a critic, he is also an author. I could see that.) and The Know-It-All and have started The First Days (which isn't as bad as the back cover suggests (watch below) and I have needed to get my zombie on).
One of the reasons I am feeling out of sorts (for the definition, I find this useful.) was because today is the day that I started getting serious (or as serious as I get about anything) about my training and it was hard. Running at quarter to six in the rain was not the optimal time to be doing anything, let alone running on a body that ate well and drank well for the past week (it was my birthday and HJ77 was here for the whole time) but I did it.
While running, a song came on and I found myself singing along with it. This, in and of itself, is not odd as I sing all the time. Not well but I make up for my lack of skill with enthusiasm. First, I was able to run in the rain because HJ77 picked up the iPod shuffle that I had been wanting to pick up for myself but had difficulty ever getting around to purchasing and running with the iPhone instead, which was sub-optimal (Thank you!) and the song that I was singing outloud had been a trigger for a while, creating a cascade of memories and I only realized this as I was getting to the part of the sing-a-long that had always made me laugh. So...this is a goodness, no?
Apart from the searing pain in my chest and my knees aching like they were trying to give birth to their own little knees, the run in the rain went well, and even better, I was able to laugh and sing-a-long to a song that I had not been able to in a while.
Life could be a lot worse, and even then, it would still be okay, if all I have to complain about is my aching knees and the various banalities of everyday existence. One of my friends accused me of being less fun because I was happy. He did not apologize for that (nor did I expect him to. He has a reputation to maintain.) when we had dinner last night, but he said he was glad for me.
Important Movie Quotes
From Blade Runner:
(This is going to be an ongoing project...a list of important movie quotes, mostly of a geek variety, as an edification tool. Please submit ones that you think are important.)
(This is going to be an ongoing project...a list of important movie quotes, mostly of a geek variety, as an edification tool. Please submit ones that you think are important.)
Monday, September 5, 2011
Suburban Nightmares and Being An Old
I was thinking about The Leftovers and the other things that Perrotta has written while I was in one of my periodic nighttime moments of wakefulness and I was realizing that I do not understand much about the suburban world that he has developed so well. I do not understand the mores and I fail to grok the underlying tension. I am wondering if it is malaise or some sort of post-consumer ennui. Now by saying this, I am not underestimating that there are large numbers of people out there (I am beginning to realize that I know quite a few of them) (or that if certain changes had not been hoisted upon me, I would be living this life) but I do not understand them.
Maybe all some people are searching for is the banality of a dream that was artifice from the beginning, created by the Ur-Draper at the start of the period of American dominance (which coincides well with the long decline of the same American dominance) but they still want that dream, no? (Hell, parts of that dream are appealing to me.)
Where it came to be relevant to me was at the Mall. Why was I at the Mall (for the second day in a row on a holiday weekend no less)? HJ77 wanted and needed a netbook to supplement her other technology. (Create a product and people will discover that they have a niche that did not know that they had.) We were at the Mall because we had discovered that Best Buy had the best price of all the retailers (web and brick and mortar) so we schlepped to the Mall. TEA joined us on the trip.
While I was there, I found myself starting to become more and more agitated (with TEA, with HJ77, with everyone around me. I began to hope that we were going to be approached by those annoying Dead Sea Salt sales people so that I have a place to spew my building venom) because it was too...busy. There were simply too many people moving around in a disorganized fashion. Too many people who felt that they were entitled to my space. (Let me be a complete dick here about baby strollers...you don't need a stroller the size of a smallish SUV when you are shopping. Get a Bjorn. If you are not strong enough to carry your child in a Bjorn, maybe you should have considered your fitness for breeding before squeezing out that child of yours. Or, when running your errands, leave the child at home. If you need a babysitter so that you can get some shopping done, just let me know. I will come over and do it just to save those folks that don't particular think that little Zoe is the cutest thing ever from having their toes run over by your H2 of a stroller. And...scene.) And I was...uncomfortable. I was out of my element. I was surrounded by people who were as selfish about their space and time as I am however, they were (in all likelihood) not thinking about this orgy of consumerism as a sign of the death of the individual and the co-opting of the "American Dream" by marketing organizations.
I do not understand this and I think that I am okay with it.
Maybe all some people are searching for is the banality of a dream that was artifice from the beginning, created by the Ur-Draper at the start of the period of American dominance (which coincides well with the long decline of the same American dominance) but they still want that dream, no? (Hell, parts of that dream are appealing to me.)
Where it came to be relevant to me was at the Mall. Why was I at the Mall (for the second day in a row on a holiday weekend no less)? HJ77 wanted and needed a netbook to supplement her other technology. (Create a product and people will discover that they have a niche that did not know that they had.) We were at the Mall because we had discovered that Best Buy had the best price of all the retailers (web and brick and mortar) so we schlepped to the Mall. TEA joined us on the trip.
While I was there, I found myself starting to become more and more agitated (with TEA, with HJ77, with everyone around me. I began to hope that we were going to be approached by those annoying Dead Sea Salt sales people so that I have a place to spew my building venom) because it was too...busy. There were simply too many people moving around in a disorganized fashion. Too many people who felt that they were entitled to my space. (Let me be a complete dick here about baby strollers...you don't need a stroller the size of a smallish SUV when you are shopping. Get a Bjorn. If you are not strong enough to carry your child in a Bjorn, maybe you should have considered your fitness for breeding before squeezing out that child of yours. Or, when running your errands, leave the child at home. If you need a babysitter so that you can get some shopping done, just let me know. I will come over and do it just to save those folks that don't particular think that little Zoe is the cutest thing ever from having their toes run over by your H2 of a stroller. And...scene.) And I was...uncomfortable. I was out of my element. I was surrounded by people who were as selfish about their space and time as I am however, they were (in all likelihood) not thinking about this orgy of consumerism as a sign of the death of the individual and the co-opting of the "American Dream" by marketing organizations.
I do not understand this and I think that I am okay with it.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Current Reads
The Leftovers - Tom Perrotta - I am just getting into this one and I have noticed something different about this. It is less mean than Little Children or Election. I think this is a good thing. Perrotta becomes more engaging with every page. I know that this book has been reviewed a lot (I have not read them but I can only assume that they are great) and that being nothing related to a literary critic, I suggest you pick this up on your own.
The First Days - Rhiannon Frater - This book is kind of famous for some reason. I picked it up at the Book House because I had read good things about it (even though I cannot find the review online any longer) and I was hoping that it was going to be another fun zombie book. I have to withhold judgment until I actually finish it but...maybe the reviewers and I look for different things when it comes to writing and such. I do not enjoy giggling at scenes that should be evoking a sense of horror or dread, but maybe they enjoy that.
Dog Blood - David Moody - If you loved Hater, you owe it to yourself to read this. Just do it. Stop asking questions.
The Know It All - A.J. Jacobs - What does a guy who has outsourced his life do for fun? Read the Britannica cover to cover. I like Jacobs as a writer, especially some of the things he has done for Esquire but I am not sure that I would like him as a friend or colleague.
The First Days - Rhiannon Frater - This book is kind of famous for some reason. I picked it up at the Book House because I had read good things about it (even though I cannot find the review online any longer) and I was hoping that it was going to be another fun zombie book. I have to withhold judgment until I actually finish it but...maybe the reviewers and I look for different things when it comes to writing and such. I do not enjoy giggling at scenes that should be evoking a sense of horror or dread, but maybe they enjoy that.
Dog Blood - David Moody - If you loved Hater, you owe it to yourself to read this. Just do it. Stop asking questions.
The Know It All - A.J. Jacobs - What does a guy who has outsourced his life do for fun? Read the Britannica cover to cover. I like Jacobs as a writer, especially some of the things he has done for Esquire but I am not sure that I would like him as a friend or colleague.
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