« August 2004 | Main | October 2004 »
September 20, 2004
Where's MY museum?
I'm listening to coverage on NPR on tomorrow's opening of the Smithsonian Institution's new museum dedicated to the American Indians. Cool, right? I want to know when I get my museum.
Lemme back up.
The people speaking on Talk of the Nation were Native American advocates, each with a different story about how us white folk have been hating and oppressing them. I was particularly affected by one twenty year old American Indian/Hispanic woman who had trouble fitting in at school, both on and off the Res. She's now a student at Stanford, so she apparently did something right.
She talked about how people called her "Pocahontas" and asked her if she lived in a teepee. (tipi? Whatever. Depends on your Americanization-of-the-week spelling conventions) Well, I got made fun of at school too. I got my ass kicked regularly by a black guy (one of the only ones on my bus) who would stalk me, corner me, and menace me on a daily basis. The other (white) kids on the bus made fun of me (in rough order of frequency) because I had red hair, blue eyes, was overweight, and didn't like football, soccer, baseball, or any other "cool" team sport.
So where's my museum? Forget that, where's my scholarship to Stanford?
I'll answer my own question. There is nothing more cruel than a bunch of kids in middle school. I'd rather take my chances with Iraqi insurgents than the snakes I had to go to school with (and I went to a rich white kid school in suburbia). Kids are hideously mean to anybody who they percieve as different, and believe me: NOBODY is better at telling you that you are different than a middle school child. Talk about projecting ego issues onto others...
Sometimes I wonder if my kids will be outsiders like that. I wonder if they're going to be mean to other kids. I wonder if ANY kid is ever not an outsider. I think that right there is the fundamental challenge of parenting (and citizenship). How do you tell a kid that it's OK for other people to be different? How do you teach that kid that they need to love that person, even if they hate you? How do you teach a kid that, at the end of the day, the things that make us the same are far, far bigger and more important than the things that make us different?
I'll let you broaden that point to world citizenship.
I have much the same feeling when I talk to people who have strong opinions on feminism. (Yeah, here we go...now I'm stepping on some toes.)
Now, let's put the knee-jerk reactions on hold. I like women. Frankly, I identify more with the average woman than with the average man. I like women a LOT.
This weekend, Barb is going on a womens' retreat with her church group. She's going to go talk girl talk with her surrogate family. Sounds great, huh?
Why does it have to be women only? I know that women often feel like they have a unique perspective on their lives. I know that women feel like they've got problems that are unique, and like to talk about them with like-minded people. Fair enough.
But what happens when that gender identification doesn't map onto somebody's life experience? Where does a guy (like me) who doesn't like football and other "guy stuff" fit in? Can't go hang with the women, because I'm a guy. Can't go hang with the guys, because I don't give a crap about golf or football or whatever.
(This is a loaded question. I know exactly where I fit in: I fit in with a group of hyper-smart, cosmopolitan people who come from a lot of different life experiences. They're men, and women, and black, and white, and Asian, and Middle Eastern, and whatever. NONE of the superficial differences between these humans are even slightly relevant to my experience of them.)
It's hard for me to feel like I owe women something because I'm a white guy. I owe women what I owe every human being: Respect, consideration, and honor. I don't owe them money because white guys make more money than women do. I don't owe them consideration because women only got the vote 90 years ago (or so, I've slept since that history lesson). I don't owe any group any thing, because I am not responsible for any of the societal problems that white men are apparently responsible for. Any policy that takes from me and gives to them (for any value of "them", just for fun the same argument works for the idea of slavery reparations) is unjust.
Does that make me a sexist?
Sometimes I wish I was a member of some sort of "historically underutilized" or "disadvantaged" group. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to get my degree (which so far has totally failed to get me gainful employment. Yay American dream!). Maybe if I weren't a white guy from a middle class upbringing, I would have had somebody out there looking out for me. I'd have had somebody who could give me a hand up. Because, let me tell you, I wasn't exactly taking phone calls from The Man. Whitey sure didn't help me one little bit, and the Patrimony sure wasn't returning my calls.
I got where I am today because I have family that love me, friends that support me, and enough brains to pass some standardized tests. I am incredibly grateful to be in that position, but I don't think it's particularly unique to me. It's certainly not a function of me being white or male.
Of course, where I am today is "unemployed", so maybe this is a cautionary tale in its own right.
This sounds like hatin', doesn't it? Me, I love the Smithsonian Institution. I love learning about other people, learning their stories, learning their food, and (most importantly) realizing yet again that they are Just Like Me. This doesn't surprise me anymore. At the end of the day, I don't think I deserve a museum. I don't think there's anything special about my experience, or the experience of red-headed non-athletic intellectual men. Guess that's why I don't have a museum.
But isn't my story a worthy one? Do I get a voice? Who speaks for me?
Nobody?
Guess I'll do it for myself. Why don't you do the same?
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: What a great book!
DATE: 09/21/2004 08:18:18
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Nonspecific Musings
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
102
-----
BODY:
I love Bruce Sterling. I just finished Zenith Angle, which is about a fictional cyber-war that happened immediately after September 11, 2001. I enjoyed it so much, I stayed up all night reading it, and now Barb's alarm clock is going off. The last book I spent all night reading was If Chins Could Kill, which was also written by somebody named Bruce. Weird.
I'm not saying this was my favourite passage in any book ever, but it's awfully close.
Van felt a strange respect for them, [...] for the amazing Cold War rocket state of his grandfather's generation. A lost empire of truly macho engineering, where America's best tech guys just sort of rolled up their sleeves, lit an unfiltered Camel, and detonated hydrogen bombs.
Word!
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: I like riding the bus.
DATE: 10/20/2004 01:24:17
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Nonspecific Musings
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
106
-----
BODY:
I like riding the bus.
I like giving the other riders I see every day names in my head.
It's weird when you get on the bus and see all the same people you saw the morning before.
It's weirder when you catch the same bus you did yesterday, only all the people are complete strangers.
I like the zippy flippy sound that the signs on the side of the bus make when you sit right under them.
I like going across the Ross Island Bridge at sunset.
I like riding the bus.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Don't get run over by trains.
DATE: 10/25/2004 00:22:29
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Nonspecific Musings
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
107
-----
BODY:
In Willamette Weekly (like the Dallas Observer or Austin Chronicle for you Texas-bound folks) there was a quarter page ad reminding people not to step in front of the light rail train.
Yeah. I'll make a note of that on my Palm Pilot.
Now, I understand that people get killed by trains. You have large objects moving rapidly through places where there are pedestrians, there are bound to be mishaps. What I'm trying to understand is the demographic target: Who exactly is the audience here? I mean, are there really people who see that ad and say, "Well GOL-LY! I guess I'm going to be a little more careful around train tracks! I didn't know them huge metal things was dangerous..." I mean, if you can read, I'd think you've got enough of a grip on causality to make you avoid large fast-moving objects.
In other news, Barb and I found the COOLEST cocktail set on God's green earth in a little antique shop. It was totally serendipity...we just ducked into this store to avoid a torrential deluge (the first one I've seen up here in "rainy" Portland) and found a beautiful, CHEAP, chrome cocktail shaker, sweet corkscrew, and a nifty bottle opener all in this cool art deco-y stand. It is teh awesome.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Been a while, huh?
DATE: 01/10/2005 00:55:15
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Nonspecific Musings
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
108
-----
BODY:
Remember me?
There was Thanksgiving. We went to Oroville. It was good. My family rules. Then there was Barb's graduation. We celebrated with her fam. Then we celebrated Christmas, with her fam. That was all good. I like family Christmases, and I'm glad that none of the weird stressful junk was much of an issue.
I got some cool stuff for Christmas.
1) TiVo. I had no idea how broken TV was until using it.
2) 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime. w00t.
3) Some seriously awesome cutlery and knife lessons.
Much other cool stuff too: That's just some highlights.
So what's new? Well, my security clearance was granted. I found out on Friday that it had been re-examined, and granted on September 10, 2004. So...they've just been sitting on it for four months. I'm proud of the fact that my head isn't spinning around furiously. I'm getting back in touch with my Raytheon contacts to see if I can put anything back together.
Oh yeah, and H is knitting me a seriously cool scarf. It's made from alpaca, which is fun to say.
Oh oh yeah yeah, and Barb and I are considering getting some kitties. I've always wanted kitties. I think it's about darn time I had some.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Lego+Anime=Goodness
DATE: 10/14/2001 01:07:21
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Stuff I Want To Buy
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
12
-----
BODY:
Sunday, October 14, 2001
You know, I think I need to move to Japan. Japan gets all sorts of cool electronic gizmos way before we do. They also have GREAT TV, and I must confess that I'm a bit of an anime fanboy. Not a really scary one, mind, but I am predisposed to enjoying Japanese animated programming.
I also love giant robots. Especially ones that transform.
Now, on the other side of the pond, LEGO just rocks. I've played with LEGO pretty much since I discovered my opposable thumb. I have a Mindstorms kit that I've not been able to spend enough time with, but it's still one of the greatest toys ever. The guy who built a robot that will solve a Rubik's cube out of LEGO is my new hero.
So, Japanese robots and LEGO. Never the twain shall meet, right?
For those that don't read Japanese (that set includes me) and are not familiar with Japanese pop culture (that set does not include me), I'll give you a rundown of the available sets. Like you care.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (currently my favourite Japanese cartoon. Come on, Cartoon Network! Bring it to the US!)
Devilman (haven't seen it, but I want to. Prototype cool Japanese anime.)
Planet of the Apes (Yes, that one's in English, but for completeness' sake...)
VOTOMS (One of the few giant robot animes I haven't seen. I need to.)
Mazinger Z (came to the US as Tranzor Z while I was little. It was cool then, and it's cool now.)
Special Force (Police special forces. Think Jackie Chan cop movies.)
Astroboy. (Another one I haven't seen)
Disney Characters (I hate to say it, but these are kinda creepy)
TRON (LEGO lightcycles. Wow.)
Five Pages of Miscellany (includes figures from Blair Witch Project, Bruce Lee, Kellogg's, and, um, Queen Kong)
OK, so Queen Kong was kinda wrong. I'm faintly afraid of a culture that produces figurines of busty plastic monkeys. Then again, we have Jerry Springer, so I guess we can't talk.
Speaking of cool giant transforming robots, this is right at the top of my Christmas list. Or Gundams are always cool, too.
Yes, I'm a geek. I'm OK with that.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: OMG! KITTIES!
DATE: 01/22/2005 23:41:47
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Stuff I Want To Buy
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
110
-----
BODY:
YAAAAAAAAAY!
OK, for 25 years, I've known I was a Cat Person. However, for a variety of reasons, I've never been in a living situation where I could properly care for a cat.
Until now.
Barb and I adopted two adult cats from the shelter today. One is a four year old boy cat, ten pounds or so. They called him Pooh Bear at the shelter, but I think his name is really Biscuit. He's a tawny golden-blondey light orange buff color. (Kinda like the leopard was before the Ethiopian put all the spots on him. Or a biscuit.) And he flopped down on the couch between Barb and me while we were watching the Good Eats episode about biscuits on the TiVo. (Which, by the way, is the best thing to happen to television since the remote control. Scratch that...since the television.)
He's adjusting just fine, I think.
The other cat is a little two year old girl cat. She's smaller (maybe six pounds) and feeling a little bit more skittish (after having been in her new home for all of four hours...she's doing fine, just not flopping onto the couch with us quite yet). She's bright orange and black, with a white blaze on her chest and white mittens. The shelter calls her Miss Kitty. She hasn't told us her real name yet. We were walking through the cat rooms at the shelter, and this one basically just climbed up onto my shoulder. She's a sweet girl...just needs to get settled in and make friends with the boy cat.
Miss Kitty is a special-needs cat. She has an autoimmune disorder that leaves her prone to sores in her mouth. All of her back teeth have been removed, which seems to help in most cats. We talked about it, and decided that a) she loved on me, and b) she needs a home, and we can take good care of her. She's eaten, drank, and pooped in the litter box, so we think she'll settle in just fine if we leave her to her own devices.
I'm very happy. Pictures will be up soon, as soon as the Gallery is feeling better.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Pics of the kids.
DATE: 01/24/2005 00:35:53
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Stuff I Want To Buy
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
111
-----
BODY:
Biscuit
Maggie
More pics here.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Baby, baby, it looks like it's gonna hail...
DATE: 08/06/2003 01:32:52
PRIMARY CATEGORY: I don't TOTALLY suck at Dancing
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
54
-----
BODY:
Right, so lately I've been taking some swing dancing classes. If you've ever seen Tommy's picture gallery, you'll probably note that every third picture is of people dancing. It's something that my friend Peter was into, and Peter drug Tommy into it, and Tommy in turn drug me into it. Of course, it wasn't THAT hard to convince me that dancing 'till the early morn with pretty girls was a Really Good Idea, but the learning curve was daunting. Of course, now that I've (unfortunately) got some free time on my hands, dance lessons was on the top of my List O' Things to Do. Not-so-coincidentally, George has arranged some lessons for us rank beginners. Helen and Tommy (right and center, respectively) were dragooned into teaching.
Now, I'm a musician. I have a decent sense of rhythm, and I can count to four. The freaky thing about swing dancing is, although the music is almost always in four, the step is in three. For a while, I'd be trying to count this in my head, and my brain just exploded. Trust me when I say that dance partners don't like that. I remember once, when I was just learning, my poor long-suffering dance partner looked at me and said "What ARE you doing?" And I said "Really not sure." She kindly finished our "dance", thanked me, and bolted for the cover of people who knew what was going on. Don't blame her in the slightest.
But, now, after a couple weeks of lessons, I've stopped counting, and it's starting to come a bit more naturally to me. It's gotten to the point that even if I get out of step, I can pick it back up in a beat or two, and if I'm really clever, my partner is none the wiser. Now I just need to get better at communicating my intentions to my follow, and THE WORLD IS MINE!
Baby steps, Lee, baby steps.
So tonight was the wrap-up for the beginner class. I even roped my mom into joining us, as the last few lessons we were short a lady or two. She did great, even when I sort of threw her in the deep end after about ten minutes of practice and explanation. After class, we went to The Bone for mo' dancing. I met my goals of 1) Not maiming anyone and 2) Dance with several different people. I haven't yet proceeded to 3) Dance with strangers and 4) not embarassing myself, but I think that's not too far from my grasp. (The embarassing myself part isn't really much of a hangup. Normally, my gaffes are good for a laff. Which is almost as much fun.)
Maybe when I figure out the Charleston.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Look Right
DATE: 08/06/2003 01:40:24
PRIMARY CATEGORY: I don't TOTALLY suck at Dancing
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
55
-----
BODY:
I meant to attach this poll to the story below, but I forgot. Any ladies answering "6" or "9", please feel free to email me. Thanks.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: MORE DANCE! MORE DANCE! and HTTP Referrer Logs
DATE: 08/13/2003 02:33:52
PRIMARY CATEGORY: I don't TOTALLY suck at Dancing
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
58
-----
BODY:
I guess I've done caught the bug. My friends (including my ride) decided they were done dancing tonight at The Bone before I was done. Happily, I didn't step on too many toes tonight (although I suspect Allison will chuckle about my utter inability to dance THAT slowly. There was some weird tempo thing going on. I remember asking her "Well, this is weird. I'm looking for suggestions." to which she replied "I just follow." Thanks, dear. : )
Helen showed me a thing or two about blues dancing. That was WAY a lot of fun. I'll be happy to practice that a lot of times with any victims I can corner.
I was browsing through my referrer logs tonight. I found out that I'm about hit number eight if you search Google for "amazon warriors". My life is complete.
I'm also number two on Yahoo for "skeeved define", and number two on Google for GPS online classes.
My buddy Matt's site is number one for "footie pajamas".
Tommy is number eleven if you search for Strangeheart. He was number three last week, but it looks like some bigger sites have picked up on this awful, awful movie that's fun to watch. I talk some about it here. (OK, so I'm trying to climb the rankings. Sue me. I was number eight, and now I'm down below 20. Not acceptable.)
I have a new vice. I drank the Friendster kool-aid. Posted a ridiculous picture of myself, and people I know (and people I don't) have a whole new way to stalk me! Wheee!
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Dancing with Girls==Good.
DATE: 08/23/2003 02:25:12
PRIMARY CATEGORY: I don't TOTALLY suck at Dancing
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
62
-----
BODY:
It's three o'clock in the morning. Just got back from a dance in Ft. Worth. Tommy and I piled into a car with Angela, Allison, and Heather, and headed over to the Ft. Worth Swing Dance Society's monthly (?) dance. It was held at this pretty Unitarian church, not far from Arlington.
Saw some new faces, and some old friends. Helen was running a lesson as we arrived, with a bunch of stuff I already knew how to do. Heh. So, Tommy and Allison volunteered to teach me the Lindy hop, which is a very different step than the stuff I'd already known. It also involves a partner with a not-inconsiderable head of speed, which I am required to redirect into spinny motion without letting her strike other dancers, furniture, the floor, walls, or any other dense articles. No pressure.
Helen was actually impressed that I pulled this one off. I don't know how to start the step, or stop the step, or really what to do while I'm doing the step, but the basic Lindy hop? I've got it. Sort of. Mostly, I'm happy that it's an eight-count step, instead of the ridiculous six-count that the regular swing basic step works in.
(Although, much to my chagrin, I found several places in the music where, although it was still in four, the three-count step worked as a great counterpoint. Guess those composers knew their business.)
Tommy set me up with a bunch o' swing standards for me to learn. I swear, he's like a pusher.
I've decided that when I can dance as well as I can cook, I will have mastered the masculine arts, and will then transcend to a higher level of being.
And chicks will dig me even more.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Tommy's Obituary
DATE: 08/27/2003 02:31:10
PRIMARY CATEGORY: I don't TOTALLY suck at Dancing
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
63
-----
BODY:
Wow. So I saw ol' Tommy get eviscerated by a girl tonight. She was a meanie.
So, there are a few couples on the floor at The Bone tonight, and the band is sounding pretty hot. Jeff and Allison are dancing, and Tommy decides he's gonna cut in and steal Allison. Good idea, wot? So he does, and Jeff promptly grabs another partner (who was not a part of the Usual Suspects, we who all know one another at these dances). So Jeff's dancing with New Girl, and Tommy's dancing with Allison. Jeff and Tommy then switch partners.
Or so they thought. New Girl is spinning towards Tommy, and just as he catches her, she jumps backwards and starts dancing with Jeff and Allison. Now, if she'd been playing, this would have been funny...
At first everybody thought she was just messin' around...which was fine. But she didn't so much as LOOK at Tommy after leaving him hanging...no "Ha ha! Wasn't that cute?" Unfortunately, she was all just "Uh, no." (and how's THAT for miserable sentence structure!?)
Pretty cold.
See, the swing scene here in Dallas is pretty friendly. Every single one of the regulars I've danced with has put up with more than a little bit of ineptness (although I more often than not dance with girls I've cooked for in the past, so they know that I'm not a totally worthless human being), and a self-deprecating chuckle and a big grin is enough to smooth over my lame-itude. That's a friendly dance. I mean, we're all there to learn and have fun, right?
This other person...dunno. She did not want to play. Well, maybe she wanted to play with Jeff (who is a magnificent dancer), but that is just RUDE.
So, New Girl, if you're reading this, you ain't gotta be like that.
After that, there were a couple good dances. I managed to sneak in and grab Angela after Jeff got distracted, but I was nice enough to give her back when we were done playing. Jeff, Tommy, and I (along with our lovely partners Heather, Allison, and Catherine, I think) executed a very cool synchronized group dip at the end of one song. We were all cool and stuff. And I? I didn't step on a SINGLE SOLITARY TOE. I rock.
Now here's a random picture.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: oddeyes15
EMAIL:
URL: http://
IP: 4.40.150.64
DATE: 08/31/2003 16:29:46
Haha, I can post a comment!
First of all, I'd like to say that stealing me (Allison) away from Jeff is no easy task... Jeff is rather protective of certain follows, so major kudos to Tommy for pulling it off. Secondly, I think if we see "New Girl" and she pulls something horrible like that again, there will be sufficient need for some "frappe a la tete."
Next task: get Peck to dance. There was way too much sitting going on from that boy, I tell you. We must "initiate" him properly into our dancing circle, jah? Tuesday is approaching...
-----
--------
AUTHOR: God
TITLE: Two, two, TWO updates in one! Day!
DATE: 05/12/2004 21:36:56
PRIMARY CATEGORY: Church stuff. God is cool.
STATUS: publish
ALLOW COMMENTS: 1
ALLOW PINGS: 1
CONVERT BREAKS: 1
-----
KEYWORDS:
85
-----
BODY:
Tonight, I went to choir practice. I've got a couple more to go yet, but it is one of my last rehearsals in the church I've attended for 20 years. We worked on this cool bouncy Handel tune, and a bunch of other fun music.
During the announcements part, everybody sang me happy birthday (Happy Birthday!) and then, because I'm leaving, I was presented with a Methodist hymnal embossed with my name, and signed by the music minister, who has been a wonderful influence on me for a very long time. He referred me to a prayer, which I thought was very appropriate. (Number 69, for those of you with a hymnal)
For True Singing
Glorious God, source of joy and righteousness,
enable us as redeemed and forgiven children
evermore to rejoice in singing your praises.
Grant that what we sing with our lips
we may believe in our hearts,
and what we believe in our hearts
we may practice in our lives;
so that being doers of the Word and not hearers only,
we may receive everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Amen indeed.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
-----
--------
Posted by Lee at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 14, 2004
Portland's WalMart Denizens Suck.
OK, I've been in Wal Marts in Texas (rural and metro), Louisiana (it's all rural), and Northern California. I'm going to go on record stating that Wal Mart denizens here in Portland, OR are the least considerate bunch I've ever seen.
What exactly possesses people to stop dead in the middle of the walkway, each of four children wandering off in different directions, and turning your ridiculously over-burdened cart directly into my axis of advance to have an argument with your wife IN THE DAMN FOYER OF THE STORE? This happened to me three times trying to get in and out of the building.
Add that to the fact that the people in charge of designing the traffic flow into the front of that building were drooling idiots, and you've got a Recipe for Fun with Humanity.
Posted by Lee at 06:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 09, 2004
Get me off this planet.
Tonight, while buying cold medicine for a sick girlfriend, I decided to also buy a loaf of bread and some cream soda.
I've never been carded trying to buy cream soda before.
The world is broken.
Posted by Lee at 12:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 08, 2004
Happy Anniversary, Grammy and Granddad!
This past weekend, Barb and I drove to Oroville, CA for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. (Uh, WOW. That's really quite an accomplishment! The marriage, not the drive...) We contemplated flying, but decided that the extra flexibility of having our own car outweighed the time advantages of driving. Basically, if you assume that a hour and a half flight takes about five or six hours of door-to-door travel time, and eight hour car trip isn't too bad. And we got to see pretty things on our way back.
We drove down Friday night. Barb managed to find a relatively traffic-free route out of Portland, and we made good time. Grammy let us in the door, and we basically collapsed into our air mattress on the living room floor.
I awoke to the sound of family cooking breakfast. YAY!
Saturday, we went swimming, and built a puzzle. My aunt K brought her son L up with her, and he and I had a good time playing in the water.
That night, we all went to this little Italian joint for dinner. Pictures here!
Sunday, Barb and I went down to Sacramento to visit with my mom's mother. We went out to the Crocker Art Museum, which was a really nice piece of architecture with some neat paintings in it (and WOW! What a dance floor in the ballroom!). We then went to see Riding Giants at Tower Theater (the original!), which was a beautiful movie. Then we went out to a tapas restaurant, which (with the exception of the rather dull potatoes and the mingy serving of a really nice goat cheese with wine) was very tasty and pleasant. We finally took Gram back home, and I spent half an hour showing her how to use her WebTV (with which she might be reading this missive, I hope!) and some basics on her mobile phone.
Technology is fun.
Monday, we played in the Feather River (which was stupendously cold) and watched the salmon run. That was fun (but stinky). That afternoon, we had a barbecue birthday celebration for several cousins. The tri-tip roast was, as I expected, delicious. There's something about meat grilled on my granddad's stagecoach-shaped grill. It just tastes better.
Tuesday, Barb and I woke up pretty stuffy. We had breakfast and piled into the car, and drove back home. We skipped the Sundial Bridge in Redding, which we were pretty interested in seeing, because we were both feeling pretty rocky and wanted to get home.
We rolled into Portland, and ate Lebanese food at Nicholas. Yum yum.
If I can just get my sinuses to drain, I'll be doing just fine. I've never in my life had my ears stuff up like this. Truly gruesome.
Posted by Lee at 04:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack