After the short burst of comments I got in a post on intelligent design, I resolved to post less on political/ideological topics. I like the traffic provocative posts generate, but I enjoy keeping this blog vapidly shallow even more.
Today however, I really wanted to post a link to this article which really spoke to me. I think I'm going to have to read up on some cold war non-fiction in the near future, as well as learn some things about this guy Locke. What do you all think of this article in light of current events?
PS: Its snowing again.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
My Heart Burns for Alcohol, Caffeine, and Milk
I've mentioned before that I have had chronic, intense heartburn, for the better part of a year now. I'm only about 15 pounds heavier than I ought to be, so I think its mostly just an age thing. I despise the thought of being dependent on zantac or similar daily heartburn meds, just to be able to eat without feeling pain. So I sleuthed out the root causes of my heartburn and eliminated them from my diet. The sleuthing was the easy part. It turns out that it is was simply the usual suspects, alcohol, caffeine and dairy. The really hard part was quitting all of those things (strangely, I found caffeine to be more difficult to let go of than alcohol). I've gone almost three weeks now and the only hearburn I've felt has all been correlated with mild dehydration.
Now I'm not making any promises to let go of any of these things permanently. I can still take small doses of dairy, and I like having a drink when a social scene calls for it. I don't mind having to take an occasional zantac before going out, and as long as I keep the dairy low I think I'll be OK. It seems that the caffeine was the worst culprit anyway, I can't even have decaf coffee or tea because even those things had enough caffeine to give me raging heartburn. I've also started jogging and eating less, just to get rid of those 15 extra pounds, just for good measure.
Lifestyle changes are really fucking difficult.
Now I'm not making any promises to let go of any of these things permanently. I can still take small doses of dairy, and I like having a drink when a social scene calls for it. I don't mind having to take an occasional zantac before going out, and as long as I keep the dairy low I think I'll be OK. It seems that the caffeine was the worst culprit anyway, I can't even have decaf coffee or tea because even those things had enough caffeine to give me raging heartburn. I've also started jogging and eating less, just to get rid of those 15 extra pounds, just for good measure.
Lifestyle changes are really fucking difficult.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Sunday Snowday
We got 21 inches of snow last night. This is what our backyard looked like when we woke up this morning.
We took a whole bunch more pictures during the day, some of which are up at the wife's page, click on the picture above to go there.
The first order of business was to get our snow gear on and play with Ollie out in the back yard.
I mean, we always knew our dog had balls, but this is out of control.
Chris and I tried to make a few snow angels, but with Ollie helping us, they didn't quite turn out to be picture-worthy works of art. Eventually we finished shoveling the driveway, which was exhausting, at around 11 AM. I opted to cook us both omlettes for brunch and then we went for a walk, trudging through the bike paths.
The only regret of course, is that this didn't happen last Thursday night. Our road is still unplowed though, and there is no way that either my wife's VW Beetle of my Honda Civic could drive over the snow to the main road, so with any luck, we'll be stranded tomorrow.
We took a whole bunch more pictures during the day, some of which are up at the wife's page, click on the picture above to go there.
The first order of business was to get our snow gear on and play with Ollie out in the back yard.
I mean, we always knew our dog had balls, but this is out of control.
Chris and I tried to make a few snow angels, but with Ollie helping us, they didn't quite turn out to be picture-worthy works of art. Eventually we finished shoveling the driveway, which was exhausting, at around 11 AM. I opted to cook us both omlettes for brunch and then we went for a walk, trudging through the bike paths.
The only regret of course, is that this didn't happen last Thursday night. Our road is still unplowed though, and there is no way that either my wife's VW Beetle of my Honda Civic could drive over the snow to the main road, so with any luck, we'll be stranded tomorrow.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Steven King
This is where Steven King and his family lives. I have never read a novel by Mr. King, but I used to live in a two room apartment down the street from him back in 1993. I ran into Steven once at a gas station that didn't have swipe-card pumps yet, so people still had to go inside to pay for gas. Besides the cashier, he and I were the only two people inside the station. He was driving some kind of sports car, but I didn't know enough about cars to tell you what it was exactly. He smelled like wood smoke at the time.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
For the Record
Some of you may have noticed an annoying little habit of mine. I tend to post first-drafts of everything I write here, and then edit posts only when I eventually get around to reading what I've written. The last post about the deer is a good case in point as it was a particularly bad and hurried first-draft, with lots of errors (now mostly fixed). I rather enjoy the idea that there might be people who actually read this blog from time to time, and this habit of mine can't be helping you. So from now on I resolve to only publish writings that have been proofed at least once. Please return to your normal routine.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
When Nature Fights Back
I almost forgot to mention yesterday's most interesting-part-of-my-day story. When I came into work Monday, one of the first conversations I overheard was something about clearing all the deer out of the building. By the sounds of the conversation it was meant to be humorous, but based in fact, and not just a joke. So I asked around and sure enough, at some time between 4AM and 7Am Saturday morning, a young stag had broken into the building at which I work.
The structure itself is long and single-story. Its divided up into four distinct sections we refer to as suites A through D. All of the windowed offices are at ground level, and in most suites, the windows go from floor (or ground if you are on the outside) to ceiling. Presumably this buck was wandering around on the company lawn when it saw its own reflection in the dark windows. Assuming a challenger had arrived on its turf, it charged directly at its foe, head down. Of course, this particular buck had very recently molted its antlers (it is winter after all), and so it hit its window-opponent with its bare forehead. The double-paned window shattered and the deer careened onward into an office in Suite A, cutting itself up very badly in the process. Consequently, the regulatory affairs director's office was quickly trashed as the deer bucked and bled all over the office. Fortunately the door was open, so the buck proceeded into the main lobby of Suite A where it continued to track blood all over the carpets and eventually into the taste testing room we use for, well, taste-testing things. Here it decided to shake some of the blood off of its hide (thereby distributing it all over the ceiling tiles and walls), and lie down for a rest.
At around 7AM, someone came by the company to get some weekend work done. They saw the smashed window in the front of the building and presumed the worst. The cops arrived shortly therafter and entered the building through the smashed window. Upon seeing the blood everywhere, guns were drawn. They eventually followed the blood to the taste testing room where they were relieved to see a dying deer rising up on wobbly legs. As animal control doesn't work weekends in this county, the cops had a new problem, getting the deer out of the building. They managed to coax it out of the taste testing room, but they could not get it to move out of the Suite A lobby. The poor deer just kept circling the desks in the middle of the lobby, spilling more and more blood. Finally one of the cops manged to grab the deer by the head and wrestle its weak body through the nearest door. Once outside, it was euthanized with a 9mm bullet.
By the time I arrived on the scene on Monday to survey the damage, the facilities coordinator had managed to tear up most of the sections of carpet and ceiling tiles where the blood had been spattered, and had disinfected the walls. The whole suite smelled like a veterinarin's office. The entryway leading to the door that the cops had dragged the deer through was the only part of the building that still retained a strong musky odor of angry, wounded buck.
None of the damage will interrupt the normal workday for anyone, despite how bitterly our facilities manager complains about it (he seems to hate his job no matter what comes up) and it will only cost a minor sum for repair. However, with all the development and new buildings around this town, I can't help but feel like this was nature's lame attempt at thrashing us back. A hurricaine would have been a more effective choice I think.
The structure itself is long and single-story. Its divided up into four distinct sections we refer to as suites A through D. All of the windowed offices are at ground level, and in most suites, the windows go from floor (or ground if you are on the outside) to ceiling. Presumably this buck was wandering around on the company lawn when it saw its own reflection in the dark windows. Assuming a challenger had arrived on its turf, it charged directly at its foe, head down. Of course, this particular buck had very recently molted its antlers (it is winter after all), and so it hit its window-opponent with its bare forehead. The double-paned window shattered and the deer careened onward into an office in Suite A, cutting itself up very badly in the process. Consequently, the regulatory affairs director's office was quickly trashed as the deer bucked and bled all over the office. Fortunately the door was open, so the buck proceeded into the main lobby of Suite A where it continued to track blood all over the carpets and eventually into the taste testing room we use for, well, taste-testing things. Here it decided to shake some of the blood off of its hide (thereby distributing it all over the ceiling tiles and walls), and lie down for a rest.
At around 7AM, someone came by the company to get some weekend work done. They saw the smashed window in the front of the building and presumed the worst. The cops arrived shortly therafter and entered the building through the smashed window. Upon seeing the blood everywhere, guns were drawn. They eventually followed the blood to the taste testing room where they were relieved to see a dying deer rising up on wobbly legs. As animal control doesn't work weekends in this county, the cops had a new problem, getting the deer out of the building. They managed to coax it out of the taste testing room, but they could not get it to move out of the Suite A lobby. The poor deer just kept circling the desks in the middle of the lobby, spilling more and more blood. Finally one of the cops manged to grab the deer by the head and wrestle its weak body through the nearest door. Once outside, it was euthanized with a 9mm bullet.
By the time I arrived on the scene on Monday to survey the damage, the facilities coordinator had managed to tear up most of the sections of carpet and ceiling tiles where the blood had been spattered, and had disinfected the walls. The whole suite smelled like a veterinarin's office. The entryway leading to the door that the cops had dragged the deer through was the only part of the building that still retained a strong musky odor of angry, wounded buck.
None of the damage will interrupt the normal workday for anyone, despite how bitterly our facilities manager complains about it (he seems to hate his job no matter what comes up) and it will only cost a minor sum for repair. However, with all the development and new buildings around this town, I can't help but feel like this was nature's lame attempt at thrashing us back. A hurricaine would have been a more effective choice I think.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Weekend in New York
I spent this past weekend in New York City. My buddy Joe had a birthday on Friday and his girlfriend Robin had planned to bring him up there to celebrate. What she didn't tell him was the part about how Robin was going to have Chris and I come along. So Robin had to make up some excuse about why they were stopping by our house before they got on the road to New York. When he got here of course, we had to inform Joe that our bags were packed so we could join him on the trip. He seemed pleased. Of course, being male, I imagined him thinking to himself, "dammit, now Robin and I won't be able to fuck for a whole weekend, and no birthday anal sex."
I was pretty tired as I was up too late cleaning the house so our dog/house sitter didn't have to live in the same filth we normally do. On top of that, I took my motion sickness pills too soon before getting in the back seat of Robin's car. It didn't take very long before I turned green and everyone suggested I switch seats with Joe so I could ride in front. I felt bad about that, but not as bad as they would have felt after I puked all over everyone. We made good time to New York and collapsed in our room at the Marriot Marquis. We stayed at the Marquis because Chris' sister Lisa is employed there (as a conference manager I think), so we got the family and friends rate.
We had 3 PM tickets for the MoMa which had a few pieces done by Pixar as the latest transitory exhibit. The MoMa is a damn inspiring place. It made me want to finally get those blank canvases, that I've had sitting in the closet for a year now, all painted and dirty.
Anyway, after the MoMa it was time for dinner, but before that, we discovered that Lisa had been really cool and had ordered an "amenity" for us - a bottle of wine and a cheese plate delived to the room. It wasn't long after we snarfed that shit down before we left. Robin had our weekend pretty efficiently planned out, and dinner was no exception. Apparently one has to make reservations two months in advance to get a table at the Union Square Cafe. The place publishes thier own award-winning cookbook. They have managed to put together an award-winning wine list as well. Many of the wines in their wine list were 20 years old, as an homage to the restaurant's 20th anniversary. I was still feeling run-down from the drive and lack of sleep, and was a bit spacey, so I wasn't my conversational best, but dinner was awesome. I had oysters for an appetizer, the tuna steak with wasabi mashed potatos for the entree, and baked Alaska for dessert. Did I mention that dinner was awesome?
Sleep came quickly after we got back to the hotel. Our plans for Saturday were open-ended, which was good because Joe caught a migraine headache and basically had to spend the rest of the day in the hotel room with the lights out. So Robin, Chris and I went out and got breakfast at a place called HK in Hell's Kitchen (get it?). The Eggs Benedict was really good. Chris and Robin started getting all girly-talky so I decided it was time to detach by catching a movie. I went and saw "Underworld: Evolution" only because I saw the original Underworld and surprisingly enjoyed it. I shouldn't have pushed my luck. Actually, it wasn't a total loss as there was a full-nude scene with the female lead, Kate Beckinsale. The scene left much to be desired, probably because of this, but still, a fully nude Kate Beckinsale was worth at leat 40% of the admission price.
After the movie I stumbled onto an internet cafe, but only had time to check my email and a few news pages before I ran back to the hotel. It was raining pretty hard now. I made it back to the hotel and found that the women had returned from shopping and Joe had joined the neurologically-able.
Saturday evening was to be Robin's coup de grace to Joe's birthday weekend. Joe, like most American nerds, can quote most of the lines from most of the works done by Monty Python. Tonight we had tickets to Spamalot. In case you haven't already heard, Spamalot is an Eric Idle-written, Broadway adaptation of "The Holy Grail" with bits of "Life of Brian" and other Monty Python works thrown into musical mix with some hot-as-hell showgirls and a A-list cast. Funny as hell, especially when you already know most of the punchlines (isn't it weird how the more times you watch a comedy, the better it gets?)
And that was just about it. The next morning we had some trouble with the elevator (Marriot Marquis, why have such a high-tech elevator queueing system if it takes 15 minutes to get one?), but we finally made it down from the 33rd floor and out into the city. After another breakfast at HK, a short observation of the Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown, and a quick stop at Ferrara's in Little Italy, we were back on the road home. We got back in time to get comfortable, order some subs, and watch the Superbowl. Ever since the Patriots dropped out the playoffs I've been feeling a bit lost at sea, so I was only vaguely rooting for the Seahawks (actually, I was just rooting against the Steelers), so it didn't really matter that I passed out after Robin and Joe left during half-time. And oh ya, Mick Jagger, will you please just shut the fuck up already? What the hell was ABC thinking?
I was pretty tired as I was up too late cleaning the house so our dog/house sitter didn't have to live in the same filth we normally do. On top of that, I took my motion sickness pills too soon before getting in the back seat of Robin's car. It didn't take very long before I turned green and everyone suggested I switch seats with Joe so I could ride in front. I felt bad about that, but not as bad as they would have felt after I puked all over everyone. We made good time to New York and collapsed in our room at the Marriot Marquis. We stayed at the Marquis because Chris' sister Lisa is employed there (as a conference manager I think), so we got the family and friends rate.
We had 3 PM tickets for the MoMa which had a few pieces done by Pixar as the latest transitory exhibit. The MoMa is a damn inspiring place. It made me want to finally get those blank canvases, that I've had sitting in the closet for a year now, all painted and dirty.
Anyway, after the MoMa it was time for dinner, but before that, we discovered that Lisa had been really cool and had ordered an "amenity" for us - a bottle of wine and a cheese plate delived to the room. It wasn't long after we snarfed that shit down before we left. Robin had our weekend pretty efficiently planned out, and dinner was no exception. Apparently one has to make reservations two months in advance to get a table at the Union Square Cafe. The place publishes thier own award-winning cookbook. They have managed to put together an award-winning wine list as well. Many of the wines in their wine list were 20 years old, as an homage to the restaurant's 20th anniversary. I was still feeling run-down from the drive and lack of sleep, and was a bit spacey, so I wasn't my conversational best, but dinner was awesome. I had oysters for an appetizer, the tuna steak with wasabi mashed potatos for the entree, and baked Alaska for dessert. Did I mention that dinner was awesome?
Sleep came quickly after we got back to the hotel. Our plans for Saturday were open-ended, which was good because Joe caught a migraine headache and basically had to spend the rest of the day in the hotel room with the lights out. So Robin, Chris and I went out and got breakfast at a place called HK in Hell's Kitchen (get it?). The Eggs Benedict was really good. Chris and Robin started getting all girly-talky so I decided it was time to detach by catching a movie. I went and saw "Underworld: Evolution" only because I saw the original Underworld and surprisingly enjoyed it. I shouldn't have pushed my luck. Actually, it wasn't a total loss as there was a full-nude scene with the female lead, Kate Beckinsale. The scene left much to be desired, probably because of this, but still, a fully nude Kate Beckinsale was worth at leat 40% of the admission price.
After the movie I stumbled onto an internet cafe, but only had time to check my email and a few news pages before I ran back to the hotel. It was raining pretty hard now. I made it back to the hotel and found that the women had returned from shopping and Joe had joined the neurologically-able.
Saturday evening was to be Robin's coup de grace to Joe's birthday weekend. Joe, like most American nerds, can quote most of the lines from most of the works done by Monty Python. Tonight we had tickets to Spamalot. In case you haven't already heard, Spamalot is an Eric Idle-written, Broadway adaptation of "The Holy Grail" with bits of "Life of Brian" and other Monty Python works thrown into musical mix with some hot-as-hell showgirls and a A-list cast. Funny as hell, especially when you already know most of the punchlines (isn't it weird how the more times you watch a comedy, the better it gets?)
And that was just about it. The next morning we had some trouble with the elevator (Marriot Marquis, why have such a high-tech elevator queueing system if it takes 15 minutes to get one?), but we finally made it down from the 33rd floor and out into the city. After another breakfast at HK, a short observation of the Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown, and a quick stop at Ferrara's in Little Italy, we were back on the road home. We got back in time to get comfortable, order some subs, and watch the Superbowl. Ever since the Patriots dropped out the playoffs I've been feeling a bit lost at sea, so I was only vaguely rooting for the Seahawks (actually, I was just rooting against the Steelers), so it didn't really matter that I passed out after Robin and Joe left during half-time. And oh ya, Mick Jagger, will you please just shut the fuck up already? What the hell was ABC thinking?
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Listen
When I was a 17-years-old, my hearing was much better than it is now. I was also a new car driver. Sometimes, at the end of a long drive, after I'd pull up into the driveway or some parking space, I'd shut the car off and sit there for a while, just listening. The novelty has worn off a little, but I still try it from time to time.
Maybe it seems weird but I encourage you to try it sometime too. A car throws off so much white noise while you drive. You get used to it and it gets filtered out, but if you give yourself a second to remember what quiet sounds like right after shutting off the car, you'll notice a subtlely dramatic effect. Just turn off the car, and stay still. Don't let your clothes or your keys or anything make any noise.
The car starts to creak as it cools, a jet flies overhead with its bass hiss, nearby highways hum, a bird or two whistles some distance away. I think its a pretty nifty moment. Maybe this is part of why people say "I'm sensitive" ...that, or they think I'm a closet homosexual.
Maybe it seems weird but I encourage you to try it sometime too. A car throws off so much white noise while you drive. You get used to it and it gets filtered out, but if you give yourself a second to remember what quiet sounds like right after shutting off the car, you'll notice a subtlely dramatic effect. Just turn off the car, and stay still. Don't let your clothes or your keys or anything make any noise.
The car starts to creak as it cools, a jet flies overhead with its bass hiss, nearby highways hum, a bird or two whistles some distance away. I think its a pretty nifty moment. Maybe this is part of why people say "I'm sensitive" ...that, or they think I'm a closet homosexual.
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