If you build it, they will come (or is that go in this instance?). A throne fit for a king and something any man could be proud of.
Toto, were certainly not in Kansas anymore, the $5k toilet which got a write up in the paper today.
Jan 14, 2004
“He has no idea how $1.5 million ended up in his account,” lawyer Kenneth Richardson told a Brooklyn Federal Court jury.
...for all of you who ever questioned why we have an income tax.
A Brooklyn office temp’s checking account got a $1.5 million boost from the IRS after he doctored his tax forms to reflect $9 million in earnings - but jitters about collecting the money got the best of him, prosecutors told a federal jury yesterday.
...for all of you who ever questioned why we have an income tax.
A Brooklyn office temp’s checking account got a $1.5 million boost from the IRS after he doctored his tax forms to reflect $9 million in earnings - but jitters about collecting the money got the best of him, prosecutors told a federal jury yesterday.
Jan 13, 2004
I was listening to This American Life over the weekend and one of the stories was by Nubar Alexanian about his tinnitus. It was a great piece and it struck a chord.
I didn’t know I had tinnitus for a long time.
When it happened, it would be sporadic and I always thought it was some kind of high frequency pitch my ears could pick up. It didn’t even occur to me something could be wrong with my hearing.
I caught some kind of a cold when I was in Europe a bunch of years back, mostly it was just a slight sore throat that manifested itself the day before I was supposed to leave.
The flight back had a connection in London and on the way in to land, I couldn’t pop my ears. The pressure just kept building up not matter what I tried. My head felt like a balloon about to burst. I couldn’t even hear the women sitting right next to me who I had been talking to throughout the flight and I could barely hear the steward when he came over after I hit the call button.
Ultimately, I did get my ears to pop although it was more of a literal thing (I think I wound up puncturing my eardrums). When it happened, I heard a sickly squeal as the pressure from my sinuses was released, it sounded like letting the air out of the aforementioned balloon.
I had to see a nurse at the airport, missed my connection, stayed the overnight (taking the subway and wandering around London on a dazed Saturday night). Wound up having bad infections in both my ears and missing a week’s worth of work.
Last year, I got sick again.
I kept trying to take time off to get better and every day the people at the place I was working at had some kind of emergency or another. I wound up in the hospital and less than a week later when I did come back somehow I was expected to spend 24+ hours at work... even though I could barely hear because of the tinnitus, I was staggering around the office like I was drunk (no equilibrium when the infection in your ears is super bad) and I really shouldn’t have been back at work at all.
You try to be responsible and people just try to take more advantage of you.
Anyway, since the last time I got sick (almost a year ago now), the tinnitus has been a fairly constant companion. I keep the TV or the radio on (sometimes both) just to fill up the empty space and keep from focusing on the constant tone. Some days it’s not so bad, others it can almost drown out everything else.
It was good to hear the story and at the very least know I’m not alone. Take a listen.
I didn’t know I had tinnitus for a long time.
When it happened, it would be sporadic and I always thought it was some kind of high frequency pitch my ears could pick up. It didn’t even occur to me something could be wrong with my hearing.
I caught some kind of a cold when I was in Europe a bunch of years back, mostly it was just a slight sore throat that manifested itself the day before I was supposed to leave.
The flight back had a connection in London and on the way in to land, I couldn’t pop my ears. The pressure just kept building up not matter what I tried. My head felt like a balloon about to burst. I couldn’t even hear the women sitting right next to me who I had been talking to throughout the flight and I could barely hear the steward when he came over after I hit the call button.
Ultimately, I did get my ears to pop although it was more of a literal thing (I think I wound up puncturing my eardrums). When it happened, I heard a sickly squeal as the pressure from my sinuses was released, it sounded like letting the air out of the aforementioned balloon.
I had to see a nurse at the airport, missed my connection, stayed the overnight (taking the subway and wandering around London on a dazed Saturday night). Wound up having bad infections in both my ears and missing a week’s worth of work.
Last year, I got sick again.
I kept trying to take time off to get better and every day the people at the place I was working at had some kind of emergency or another. I wound up in the hospital and less than a week later when I did come back somehow I was expected to spend 24+ hours at work... even though I could barely hear because of the tinnitus, I was staggering around the office like I was drunk (no equilibrium when the infection in your ears is super bad) and I really shouldn’t have been back at work at all.
You try to be responsible and people just try to take more advantage of you.
Anyway, since the last time I got sick (almost a year ago now), the tinnitus has been a fairly constant companion. I keep the TV or the radio on (sometimes both) just to fill up the empty space and keep from focusing on the constant tone. Some days it’s not so bad, others it can almost drown out everything else.
It was good to hear the story and at the very least know I’m not alone. Take a listen.
The Rocket blasted out of retirement and landed back
home in Houston. Three months after Roger Clemens threw his final pitch for the New York Yankees in the World Series, the six-time Cy Young Award winner signed a one-year contract for $5 million Monday with his hometown Astros.
The Post made no bones about it, calling Clemens a traitor. Guess Yankee fans know how Red Sox fans felt a few years back. And to think, it all would have been prevented if George had just appreciated Andy Petite.
Have you seen this man?
Actor-writer Spalding Gray has been reported missing, police said. Police in New York City and in Southampton, N.Y., where the actor keeps his primary home, were searching for the actor.
Two years back, I attended an event at CUNY midtown on 34th Street where Gray was to discuss his work and his life with his current editor. I was really excited to have the opportunity to see him in such an intimate situation where he would actually be taking questions from the audience.
I’ve been a big fan of Gray since his ‘Monster in a Box’ was shown on HBO years back.
Well, the audience was a strange mix of Gray’s fans and oldsters (the event had been sponsored by AARP). Gray seemed withdrawn and closed of from his interviewer and the audience.
Overall, it was disappointing.
I couldn’t blame Gray though as it came out during the course of the evening he had been in a terrible plane accident a few months earlier and was suffering from continual pain as a result of the accident — to give you an idea of how sever the injuries were, one of Gray’s legs was now shorter than the other causing him to have problems walking (jogging which he apparently did regularly was no longer an option). Physical activity of any kind was laborious and it closed Gray off from a lot of the things he enjoyed.
At one point during the question and answer period, I was tempted to ask Gray if he thought he would have been as successful if he hadn’t been stricken with long-term depression (a malady he struggled greatly against throughout his life). Without the constant yearning, the pangs for happiness, would he have been as proficient? If he had been content and happy, would he have written and performed as much as he had? Or would his happiness, his satisfaction with life taken away the unrelenting motivation he was possessed by.
I had my own reasons for asking the question (having also labored under the burden of depression) but, was something in the way he acted on-stage, his mannerisms, the halting way he spoke, the guarded mien of his body language which made me think it would not be such a good topic to explore.
The very next day, Spalding Gray tried to kill himself out in the Hamptons.
Sometimes you beat the beast but, sometimes the beast beats you. The battle lasts your whole life and you never truly escape its grasp.
All in all, I hope Spalding Gray turns up safe and well somewhere and all he needed was nothing more than some time to be alone to struggle against the beast he’s fought for so long.
Jan 10, 2004
One of the things that I really liked when I first go into the whole Mac thing was the kind of rebellious aspect that the whole PC thing had about it. Most of the guys who later become multi-millionaires and billionaires were geeks with hobbies. The personal computer was so different from corporate networks and the Mac in particular was the bane of PC support departments everywhere because of the ways users would tweak their machines.
The last few iterations of software are moving away from that. Especially now that the move to OS X is in full force which enables corporations to set privileges on each users machine. It seems like the antithesis of everything that the Mac was all about.
One of Apple’s partners in their success was Adobe which started making their software send mash notes to the Adobe mother ship surreptitiously so Adobe could discretely put a stop on piracy. So, this announcement is just another step down the road to the Orwellian fantasy:
Adobe Systems Inc. acknowledged Friday it quietly added technology to the world's best-known graphics software at the request of government regulators and international bankers to prevent consumers from making copies of the world's major currencies.
Adobe, the world's leading vendor for graphics software, said the secretive technology "would have minimal impact on honest customers." It generates a warning message when someone tries to make digital copies of some currencies.
The last few iterations of software are moving away from that. Especially now that the move to OS X is in full force which enables corporations to set privileges on each users machine. It seems like the antithesis of everything that the Mac was all about.
One of Apple’s partners in their success was Adobe which started making their software send mash notes to the Adobe mother ship surreptitiously so Adobe could discretely put a stop on piracy. So, this announcement is just another step down the road to the Orwellian fantasy:
Adobe Systems Inc. acknowledged Friday it quietly added technology to the world's best-known graphics software at the request of government regulators and international bankers to prevent consumers from making copies of the world's major currencies.
Adobe, the world's leading vendor for graphics software, said the secretive technology "would have minimal impact on honest customers." It generates a warning message when someone tries to make digital copies of some currencies.
Jan 8, 2004
I swear to God, life sometimes feels like a game of musical chairs especially when it comes to work. Everyone is desperate to find a place to park their ass (yours truly included). It’s one of those bad things about freelancing and employers take advantage of it. I hate it. It puts me into competition with people I know and like and makes everyone wary and antsy.
Eeeewwwww.
Eeeewwwww.
Jan 7, 2004
I consider myself very lucky. Although I am quite the recluse most of the time (something that runs in the family I would think), I have the good fortune to have crossed paths with a great many interesting and talented people who suffer my foibles and maintain a connection with me.
The other day, I got the nicest email from a woman I used to work for (and also who I have a great deal of respect for) which made me smile and then this morning I got a very funny email from a friend who took the time out to make a funny movie poster based around a blog entry.
The other day, I got the nicest email from a woman I used to work for (and also who I have a great deal of respect for) which made me smile and then this morning I got a very funny email from a friend who took the time out to make a funny movie poster based around a blog entry.
Jan 6, 2004
I keep meaning to write but, I either lose my train of thought, move on to other things or the app crashes...
...the days of the PowerCenter Pro as a web surfer are numbered.
Ma’am, please hop up into the stirrups prior to boarding.
Between fingerprinting and taking the photos of people coming into the country, aren’t we getting to the point of ridiculousness? Nature is chaotic (thankfully) the world will never be a totally safe place. Why in heavens name would anyone want it to be? What a boring place.
Anyway, I just wanted to welcome 2004 by making the statement that yes, the terroristS have won! We used to live in a free and open society but ever since September 11th we have taken more and more steps towards becoming a police state (thank you Congress for the Patriot Act).
What! Is everyone out there sleeping?!
...the days of the PowerCenter Pro as a web surfer are numbered.
Ma’am, please hop up into the stirrups prior to boarding.
Between fingerprinting and taking the photos of people coming into the country, aren’t we getting to the point of ridiculousness? Nature is chaotic (thankfully) the world will never be a totally safe place. Why in heavens name would anyone want it to be? What a boring place.
Anyway, I just wanted to welcome 2004 by making the statement that yes, the terroristS have won! We used to live in a free and open society but ever since September 11th we have taken more and more steps towards becoming a police state (thank you Congress for the Patriot Act).
What! Is everyone out there sleeping?!
Dec 31, 2003
Well, well, well... here it is the cusp of 2004.
I didn’t mean to be so remiss in my blogging duties but, a bunch of days goes by before you know it.
Im sitting under the chill of a fan in a high ceilinged room painted in brightly lit colors. Outside, there are palms trees swaying lazily in a cool evening breeze coming in off the ocean under a coal black sky full of stars.
Is this any way to bring in the New Year?
You bet your a**!
Earlier this evening I supped outdoors in the garden of an intimate Italian restaurant. What a treat to be dining Al Fresco at the year’s end.
What do you call a vacation when you haven’t worked in a few weeks? Is it truly a vacation? Anyway, whatever you would call it, I know that nothing beats the glory of being someplace warm to celebrate the New Year, and to think two weeks or so back I was griping about shoveling snow.
I didn’t mean to be so remiss in my blogging duties but, a bunch of days goes by before you know it.
Im sitting under the chill of a fan in a high ceilinged room painted in brightly lit colors. Outside, there are palms trees swaying lazily in a cool evening breeze coming in off the ocean under a coal black sky full of stars.
Is this any way to bring in the New Year?
You bet your a**!
Earlier this evening I supped outdoors in the garden of an intimate Italian restaurant. What a treat to be dining Al Fresco at the year’s end.
What do you call a vacation when you haven’t worked in a few weeks? Is it truly a vacation? Anyway, whatever you would call it, I know that nothing beats the glory of being someplace warm to celebrate the New Year, and to think two weeks or so back I was griping about shoveling snow.
Dec 24, 2003
So, the other day, blog sensei had this link posted to an article up on Time Out New York: The things you gotta do before you can call yourself a real New Yorker.
So, it’s all in fun and I click on the link and start reading through the article.
About two pages in, I find myself getting really, really mad (yeah, that’s me... the world’s angriest man – hello, Mr. Furious). So, I’m trying to figure out what it is that’s p**sing me off. I don’t read Time Out so, I’m trying to figure out it’s slant.
Then, I realize what it is. What I find upsetting is the whole ‘take a test’ to call yourself a real New Yorker thing. I know it’s tongue in cheek but, I also know that there are more than a few people who will be making the rounds at parties over the next several weeks and bragging about how they scored.
Nevermind, the whole thing has this real, transplanted, lily-white New York experience thing all over it. Like New York is this f**king theme park you come to visit.
These people are the reason getting an apartment is so g***amn expensive in this city. Mommy and daddy pay for the big rent as 3 or 4 junior achiever morons cram themselves in a hole in the wall.
You want to call yourself a true New Yorker? Try these on:
Work at least one holiday feeding the poor.
Remember the ‘city’ is five boroughs, not just Manhattan. There is more to Queens than the two airports, more to Brooklyn than the area between Park Slope and Williamsburg, more to the Bronx than Yankee Stadium and the Zoo, more to Staten Island than the Ferry.
Work for a city agency at some point in your life. Not because you want the experience but, because it’s a decent job with good benefits.
Marvel at how Friends looks like it really could be any other city in the United States excepting New York.
Run down some contemptible piece of crap who’s just ripped off one of the idiots who has moved here and is trying to validate the experience by taking a test in Time Out magazine.
Never, I repeat never set foot in some of the finest museums or monuments the city has to offer because you are way to busy trying to survive.
Have someone put a gun to your head to rob you and have them walk away with nothing because you wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of taking what is yours.
Go by the neighborhood your parents or grandparents lived in when they first arrived in this country and be proud at how far your family has come.
Spend a good portion of your day, trying to help absolute strangers because they are overwhelmed by Manhattan or in trouble.
Drive a cab for a couple of years (and speak English to boot).
Visit some other part of the country and have the people there amazed over the fact that you are a “New Yorker” and consequently bombard you with all types of inane questions about living there as if it were some kind of incredible curiousity.
Have at least one childhood friend who became a cop or fireman.
Anyway, that’s just a few for you... I just had to get that out, you’ll excuse me.
So, it’s all in fun and I click on the link and start reading through the article.
About two pages in, I find myself getting really, really mad (yeah, that’s me... the world’s angriest man – hello, Mr. Furious). So, I’m trying to figure out what it is that’s p**sing me off. I don’t read Time Out so, I’m trying to figure out it’s slant.
Then, I realize what it is. What I find upsetting is the whole ‘take a test’ to call yourself a real New Yorker thing. I know it’s tongue in cheek but, I also know that there are more than a few people who will be making the rounds at parties over the next several weeks and bragging about how they scored.
Nevermind, the whole thing has this real, transplanted, lily-white New York experience thing all over it. Like New York is this f**king theme park you come to visit.
These people are the reason getting an apartment is so g***amn expensive in this city. Mommy and daddy pay for the big rent as 3 or 4 junior achiever morons cram themselves in a hole in the wall.
You want to call yourself a true New Yorker? Try these on:
Work at least one holiday feeding the poor.
Remember the ‘city’ is five boroughs, not just Manhattan. There is more to Queens than the two airports, more to Brooklyn than the area between Park Slope and Williamsburg, more to the Bronx than Yankee Stadium and the Zoo, more to Staten Island than the Ferry.
Work for a city agency at some point in your life. Not because you want the experience but, because it’s a decent job with good benefits.
Marvel at how Friends looks like it really could be any other city in the United States excepting New York.
Run down some contemptible piece of crap who’s just ripped off one of the idiots who has moved here and is trying to validate the experience by taking a test in Time Out magazine.
Never, I repeat never set foot in some of the finest museums or monuments the city has to offer because you are way to busy trying to survive.
Have someone put a gun to your head to rob you and have them walk away with nothing because you wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of taking what is yours.
Go by the neighborhood your parents or grandparents lived in when they first arrived in this country and be proud at how far your family has come.
Spend a good portion of your day, trying to help absolute strangers because they are overwhelmed by Manhattan or in trouble.
Drive a cab for a couple of years (and speak English to boot).
Visit some other part of the country and have the people there amazed over the fact that you are a “New Yorker” and consequently bombard you with all types of inane questions about living there as if it were some kind of incredible curiousity.
Have at least one childhood friend who became a cop or fireman.
Anyway, that’s just a few for you... I just had to get that out, you’ll excuse me.
Dec 23, 2003
Winning brings out the fair weather fan.
In the early nineties when I was a Yankee fan and the team was losing, I actually used to enjoy going to games quite a bit.
It wasn’t fun watching them lose but, the people who were at the ballpark were the ones who really liked the game of baseball and really were the true Yankee fans.
Then, the team got better and started winning.
Out of the woodwork came the groups of guys, going to the ballpark to get as drunk as possible and have that male bonding type experience, one trying to outdo the other in bad behavior motivated by the “he who can consume the most alcohol” syndrome.
It got so bad I can remember two incidents vividly.
One, I was sitting in the upper deck having taken a woman I worked with to the game. A few seats over was a group of men (about 8 in all) who actually had the ability to embarrass me with their use of language (and I believe I am unfortunately known for my own colorful use of language). I was embarrassed mainly because it was so off putting to the woman I was with.
The second was during a game when I was sitting in the lower deck seats in right field and a man had taken his young daughter to the game. He at one point felt compelled to make a rather long and colorful commentary on Ricky Henderson’s parentage – Ricky an ex-Yankee has heard it all I’m sure but, it amazed me a father would behave in such a way in front of his young daughter.
Anyway, what prompted that little trip down memory lane was this little tidbit in the news that ran today:
After two straight last-place finishes, the New York Mets kept most ticket prices unchanged and lowered some others for the 2004 season.
Yep, losing will do that to you.
A couple of years back I had a Saturday plan (a Mets Saturday plan). It coincided with the team doing well and I got to go to another World Series game because of it (my first being the Yankees/Reds series way back when I was a teenager).
I had the plan for about two years and the first year was a dream. The people around us were really nice, you got to know them and they were really good people. The second year we got a bunch of new people. It was akin to having a house and having really bad neighbors move in.
They got Roberto Alomar that off-season and did a bunch of other things I wasn’t happy about so, I chose not to renew. Last place, two years in a row.
Might be time to get another Saturday plan, I bet all the fair weather fans are gone now.
In the early nineties when I was a Yankee fan and the team was losing, I actually used to enjoy going to games quite a bit.
It wasn’t fun watching them lose but, the people who were at the ballpark were the ones who really liked the game of baseball and really were the true Yankee fans.
Then, the team got better and started winning.
Out of the woodwork came the groups of guys, going to the ballpark to get as drunk as possible and have that male bonding type experience, one trying to outdo the other in bad behavior motivated by the “he who can consume the most alcohol” syndrome.
It got so bad I can remember two incidents vividly.
One, I was sitting in the upper deck having taken a woman I worked with to the game. A few seats over was a group of men (about 8 in all) who actually had the ability to embarrass me with their use of language (and I believe I am unfortunately known for my own colorful use of language). I was embarrassed mainly because it was so off putting to the woman I was with.
The second was during a game when I was sitting in the lower deck seats in right field and a man had taken his young daughter to the game. He at one point felt compelled to make a rather long and colorful commentary on Ricky Henderson’s parentage – Ricky an ex-Yankee has heard it all I’m sure but, it amazed me a father would behave in such a way in front of his young daughter.
Anyway, what prompted that little trip down memory lane was this little tidbit in the news that ran today:
After two straight last-place finishes, the New York Mets kept most ticket prices unchanged and lowered some others for the 2004 season.
Yep, losing will do that to you.
A couple of years back I had a Saturday plan (a Mets Saturday plan). It coincided with the team doing well and I got to go to another World Series game because of it (my first being the Yankees/Reds series way back when I was a teenager).
I had the plan for about two years and the first year was a dream. The people around us were really nice, you got to know them and they were really good people. The second year we got a bunch of new people. It was akin to having a house and having really bad neighbors move in.
They got Roberto Alomar that off-season and did a bunch of other things I wasn’t happy about so, I chose not to renew. Last place, two years in a row.
Might be time to get another Saturday plan, I bet all the fair weather fans are gone now.
Dec 22, 2003
Dec 21, 2003
Oh, and I also came across this map, which is... like... the mother of all subway/rail maps for NYC.
Worth having.
Worth having.
I’m a big one for the arcane lore of New York. I have a fascination for all the bridges, tunnels and infrastructure making the city go. Lots of people use these structures every day but, they are amazing and often taken for granted.
I’ve been taking the Times Square shuttle train for years and I always wondered about the hint of a platform you could see from the southern most track (track 1) when you get off at Grand Central. What was it for? Is it something used for track maintenance? Did it ever service passengers?
I found the answer here.
Then, when I would take the train up from 14th Street station, I would always wonder about the strange mirrored windows alongside the local track. Were there rooms back there? Storage perhaps?
I found the answer to that here.
I’ve been taking the Times Square shuttle train for years and I always wondered about the hint of a platform you could see from the southern most track (track 1) when you get off at Grand Central. What was it for? Is it something used for track maintenance? Did it ever service passengers?
I found the answer here.
Then, when I would take the train up from 14th Street station, I would always wonder about the strange mirrored windows alongside the local track. Were there rooms back there? Storage perhaps?
I found the answer to that here.
Dec 20, 2003
Bah! Humbug! (;>)
More on Christmas.
So, the weeks have really been flying by I’ve been trying to keep up with the crush of things that have to happen at the end of every year. There’s cards, shopping, all these odds and ends.
I’ve been out twice now (shopping that is) and I’ve found myself pretty lucky. I imagine it’s because of when I’ve been going but, I haven’t suffered through the horrid crush I dread in the stores each year.
Yesterday, I made a trek out to the local mega mall.
It was downright easy!
I couldn’t believe it. I even took the plunge and got a Christmas tree (not so much for me as for the 80 year old child). I had to stop off at Home Depot (which was eerily empty) when they made an announcement there was a sale on trees.
So, I went out to the garden center and walked among the specimens.
Like I said, Home Depot was strangely empty - even though it was only 5pm, it seemed as if it were very late at night as there weren’t any clerks around and the store didn’t have too many customers either.
So, I’m out in the chilly air in the garden center and there’s another person or two looking around at the trees also. Everyone has this bewildered look because there aren’t any clerks around to help them.
Were all eyeing the trees trying to figure out which ones are still worthy candidates (of which there seemed to be quite a few). It’s dark and the area is brightly lit but still deserted and fenced in from the parking lot. There’s still evidence of the last couple of snowstorms and you have to watch your footing.
So, it doesn’t look like anyone is going to come out soon.
I find a tree I like. Now, comes the hard part of getting the thing tied up and ready to get it crammed into my car (which really isn’t built for these kinds of things).
My choice has a knobby trunk, far too long to be of use. I can take it home like this but, really it’ll just be work having to get a jigsaw out of the garage and cut the thing down – never mind the mess. I’m lifting the thing over my head and as I bring it towards the shopping cart I’ve laden down with bags of rock salt (in preparation for our next blizzard), I spy a table with tools on it.
Yes, by god! There’s actually a working electric chainsaw, plugged in resting atop this table (there are times I’m happy I don’t have kids or have anyone else’s kids to keep an eye on). So, I lay my tree on the table and make short work of the offending trunk with the convenient saw.
I’ve always been slightly intimidated by these things (chainsaws) but, the saw moves through the tree like a hot knife through warm butter. After I finish the cut, I push the tree through the cylinder with the mesh plastic netting and I’ve got this nice bundled up tree ready for my car trunk.
There’s a customer or two that comes out into the garden center and can’t figure out if I work there or not and is too intimidated to ask (I guess it’s the chainsaw).
The whole thing was a bit odd though. I never expected to find a self serve chainsaw at a Home Depot.
More on Christmas.
So, the weeks have really been flying by I’ve been trying to keep up with the crush of things that have to happen at the end of every year. There’s cards, shopping, all these odds and ends.
I’ve been out twice now (shopping that is) and I’ve found myself pretty lucky. I imagine it’s because of when I’ve been going but, I haven’t suffered through the horrid crush I dread in the stores each year.
Yesterday, I made a trek out to the local mega mall.
It was downright easy!
I couldn’t believe it. I even took the plunge and got a Christmas tree (not so much for me as for the 80 year old child). I had to stop off at Home Depot (which was eerily empty) when they made an announcement there was a sale on trees.
So, I went out to the garden center and walked among the specimens.
Like I said, Home Depot was strangely empty - even though it was only 5pm, it seemed as if it were very late at night as there weren’t any clerks around and the store didn’t have too many customers either.
So, I’m out in the chilly air in the garden center and there’s another person or two looking around at the trees also. Everyone has this bewildered look because there aren’t any clerks around to help them.
Were all eyeing the trees trying to figure out which ones are still worthy candidates (of which there seemed to be quite a few). It’s dark and the area is brightly lit but still deserted and fenced in from the parking lot. There’s still evidence of the last couple of snowstorms and you have to watch your footing.
So, it doesn’t look like anyone is going to come out soon.
I find a tree I like. Now, comes the hard part of getting the thing tied up and ready to get it crammed into my car (which really isn’t built for these kinds of things).
My choice has a knobby trunk, far too long to be of use. I can take it home like this but, really it’ll just be work having to get a jigsaw out of the garage and cut the thing down – never mind the mess. I’m lifting the thing over my head and as I bring it towards the shopping cart I’ve laden down with bags of rock salt (in preparation for our next blizzard), I spy a table with tools on it.
Yes, by god! There’s actually a working electric chainsaw, plugged in resting atop this table (there are times I’m happy I don’t have kids or have anyone else’s kids to keep an eye on). So, I lay my tree on the table and make short work of the offending trunk with the convenient saw.
I’ve always been slightly intimidated by these things (chainsaws) but, the saw moves through the tree like a hot knife through warm butter. After I finish the cut, I push the tree through the cylinder with the mesh plastic netting and I’ve got this nice bundled up tree ready for my car trunk.
There’s a customer or two that comes out into the garden center and can’t figure out if I work there or not and is too intimidated to ask (I guess it’s the chainsaw).
The whole thing was a bit odd though. I never expected to find a self serve chainsaw at a Home Depot.
So, Christmas is less than a week away...
Yesterday as I was driving through town, I passed this manger thing they have set up off on the side of a busy intersection (in front of a school). It was the usual plastic (I think) statues of the Baybee Jesus (yes, there’s a musical cadence for that phrase hence the intentional misspelling), various livestock, a wise man or two and the happy couple (I’ll probably burn in hell for describing the thing in such a heretic fashion, one more sin to atone for on the big pile) all happy to be in the stall.
So, as I drove by it the thought occurred to me, how would this affect me if I were Jewish? Muslim? Buddhist? Hindu?
It was on city property... it wasn’t something a church had up.
I’m a little numb to the whole thing — I mean they put up damn Christmas lights right after Halloween now — I find it somewhat innocuous but, there is supposed to be a separation of church and state in this country and there isn’t supposed to be any kind of “state religion.”
So, the thought was how would I feel if I weren’t a member of the group celebrating this festival. Would I feel like an outsider? Would I be alienated? Would I find it offensive to have to confront this everywhere I turned?
I couldn’t answer the question.
It just made me think about all the other holidays other religions celebrate and wonder why they don’t get the same play. There’s a lot of lip service about equality and political correctness in our country but, then you see a manger on city property and you realize not everything is quite the way it’s made out to be.
Yesterday as I was driving through town, I passed this manger thing they have set up off on the side of a busy intersection (in front of a school). It was the usual plastic (I think) statues of the Baybee Jesus (yes, there’s a musical cadence for that phrase hence the intentional misspelling), various livestock, a wise man or two and the happy couple (I’ll probably burn in hell for describing the thing in such a heretic fashion, one more sin to atone for on the big pile) all happy to be in the stall.
So, as I drove by it the thought occurred to me, how would this affect me if I were Jewish? Muslim? Buddhist? Hindu?
It was on city property... it wasn’t something a church had up.
I’m a little numb to the whole thing — I mean they put up damn Christmas lights right after Halloween now — I find it somewhat innocuous but, there is supposed to be a separation of church and state in this country and there isn’t supposed to be any kind of “state religion.”
So, the thought was how would I feel if I weren’t a member of the group celebrating this festival. Would I feel like an outsider? Would I be alienated? Would I find it offensive to have to confront this everywhere I turned?
I couldn’t answer the question.
It just made me think about all the other holidays other religions celebrate and wonder why they don’t get the same play. There’s a lot of lip service about equality and political correctness in our country but, then you see a manger on city property and you realize not everything is quite the way it’s made out to be.
About five years ago, I was living among the future millionaires.
Yep.
Hard to believe but, I hob-knobbed with the Future Ugly Cash-rich Kids of the new millennium. Lots of money, lots of brilliant ideas, the future was happening all around us, time to get in on the ground floor and make tons of cash and be set for the rest of your life.
Well, that’s what they would’ve had you believe.
So, blue-collar me is at this place where the visionaries have looked down the road and they see the future is the internet. Overnight (seemingly) this quiet, kinda nice place that was dedicated to doing things really, really well, grew. Lots of new people, big expansion, new name for the company, all these resources focused into this bold new direction.
Money wasn’t the object, new furniture, stationery, do dads with the company logo, more offices, more people... more, more, more. Everything had to happen fast!
Big contest to name the new beast, lots of resources devoted to branding the new company, lots of buzzwords being thrown around.
I’d been there a fairly long time at this point, always as a freelancer but, predating all but a few people. I also kept a fairly low profile, I knew who was in charge and as long as my bill got paid and the flow of work coming my way was steady, there was no reason to complain.
Sure, there was attitude you had to deal with. The future millionaires were usually under 30, generally they viewed the department I worked in as unnecessary (even archaic) and the contempt they held for “print” was easy to see. Theirs was a bold new world! Interactivity! The online experience! Thousands! Nay, millions, treading the hallways of their electronic domain, a virtual world where they were the kings!
Well, it was in that spirit they decided to walk away from the things they had done so well for so long. The things that made the company successful to begin with. They looked at “the old way” of doing things and figured it was going the way of the dinosaur. They shut down the “print” area of the company and a year later...
...they were out of business (or fairly close to it).
What happened to the electronic castles that they built?
In each instance someone else moved into the ruins, I guess it’s just the final irony of the whole fiasco.
Look here (nuforia)...
and here (bma)
All those millions and no one cared about the retaining the domains.
Dec 19, 2003
“The Cubs fans’ sorrow is worth more than the Red Sox fans’ sorrow.”
The saga of the Bartman and the agony of Cubs fans over their team’s loss in the playoffs comes to a close, another one of those stories sure to become part of the mystique that is baseball lore.
The saga of the Bartman and the agony of Cubs fans over their team’s loss in the playoffs comes to a close, another one of those stories sure to become part of the mystique that is baseball lore.
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