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The unpleasant, acrid smell of burnt poetry.
Young Men in Spats, 1936

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Jan 2009	Feb 2009	Mar 2009	Apr 2009	May 2009	June 2009
July 2009	Aug 2009	Sep 2009	Oct 2009	Nov 2009	Dec 2009

 

January 31, 2009

5:28 p.m. - Jennifer and I continue convalescing. She went to Aldi's for groceries, and I've been puttering around sniffling and doing laundry and light cleaning. We paused for a while to watch last night's Battlestar Gallactica again, which was as good the second time as it was Friday evening!

Jennifer is watching The Count on ABC Family. My God! This is the worst movie. Ever. Of all time. We saw this in 2002 or 2003 at the $1 movie theater, having paid 50¢ ticket to get in. And I was ready to leave and demand my 50 cents back! They took Alexander Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo" and made it into this crappy movie The Count. They ruined a perfectly good book! Dumas must be spinning in his grave at this horrible movie. I've been telling Jennifer to change the channel, but she is mesmerized. What an awful movie!

I am momentarily off to the Scottish Rite to help host a wedding. They told me be there at 4:30, so when I got there an hour ago, they told me guests wouldn't arrive until 6:00. Grrrr. I came home and have been pretty much wasting time waiting to head back. So much for the afternoon. 

January 30, 2009

5:47 p.m. - Kudos to the Neighborhood Center for the 4th annual Youth Art Auction last night. The crowd was smaller than in previous years, but the art still sold and I think the auction did well for the Neighborhood Center. The NC is starting to spread its wings, and is branching into Council Bluffs and it is really starting to make some waves in the community.

In the meantime, I am down with another cold. I think I gave my early-January cold to January who took it, nurtured it into a full-blown case of the flu, and gave it back with interest. I feel like someone is working a jackhammer inside my sinus cavity, and I have a wicked headache. The city always gets wind of my fragile health and sends firetrucks and police cars up and down Center Street all day at work, with their sirens blaring. Except for helping out with a wedding at the Scottish Rite tomorrow, I don't have anything I need to do (for once), so I can catch up on rest.

January 29, 2009

7:13 a.m. - For some reason, this has been a long week. So many meetings and things going on - last night's Board meeting at work, tonight's Youth Art Auction for the Neighborhood Center. We're making our way to Friday, but it is sure taking its time.

Victor is coming by today to work on the stairs. I spent an hour last night moving all the boxes and brooms and mops and detritus that accumulates on the backstairs shelves over the last few years. How did all of that get there? I found a bag of dog food we must have bought for Gryffindor when he was a puppy - back in 2002! Ick! Lots to throw away when Victory's guys are done today.

I'm looking forward to tonight's Art Auction, which is a fun event attended by a lot of familiar faces. But I am also looking forward to two nights with nothing planned, where I can kick back. Meanwhile, Jennifer is still down with a bad cold and came home early to rest yesterday. She'll probably stay at home today, too. There's still nothing much more I can do but bring her cooling drinks and keep my distance.

January 28, 2009

Rebuilding the basement steps. Who doesn't love sinking discretionary money into projects like this.

7:22 a.m. - I am feeling dismal today, as much because the cold, winter weather doesn't want to end as because of the economy. All of our accounts have taken it in the shorts, and I am temporarily suspending our monthly contribution to pay down bills - even as we seem to get new ones faster than they can be paid. Victor is looking in tomorrow morning to rebuild the basement steps. I could postpone the project, but they need to be done sooner rather than later, and the last thing I need is for those rickety 100 year old steps to fall apart under me. These house projects never seem to end. Jennifer wants to start on the outside, which is low priority, other than sanding and painting the eaves this Spring. I hate feeling this stressed (and impoverished)!

Meanwhile, Jennifer is down with a bad cold, and went to bed last night at 6:30, after dinner. There's not much I can do other than periodically bring her cooling drinks of water and fluff up her pillow.

On the plus side, I am having a wonderful time talking to old and new friends on FB. I never thought I would enjoy it quite as much as I do, but I am having a grand time reconnecting with friends I haven't seen in nearly 20 years.  I should also count in the credit column a warm house, healthy puppies, and a car that is running for at least one more day, so I should feel reasonably blessed. I am sure I'll buck up considerably when the weather changes.

January 25, 2009

5:07 p.m. - Why are weekends so short? It feels like we just began. Mom, Mike, Jennifer and I went to Outback on Friday, and we gorged on steaks. Yum! And Battlestar Gallactica afterward. That's my kind of Friday!

I spent Saturday morning at the Strategic Air & Space Museum for their brain exhibit, listening to my co-workers give an excellent presentation about Alzheimer's. Some of the fellas from Lininger #268 looked in on the State Historical Society to see the Lininger collection. I wish I could have joined them, but it was well worth the time spent at the Brain exhibit. We had a fairly lazy afternoon - Jennifer bought groceries, and I had my oil change at Jiffy Lube and then bought a new dress shirt at Kohl's with a gift card. Spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy. Hellboy was on cable? I couldn't pass up that opportunity for the umpteenth time, right? Jennifer made a butternut squash soup which was incredible, and we didn't do a darn thing all evening.

This morning, Percy woke me up at 3:30 a.m. to go outside. I took him out, and he went right back to sleep (good dog!). I, of course, tossed and turned until 8:00 when I got up to do laundry and shovel a few inches of snow. Jennifer and I went to see Last Chance Harry at the movies, which was really just an excuse to go out and have Chinese food afterward. All things being equal, it was neither a great nor a terrible movie. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson really can't screw up a movie. I was really more amazed that in what should have been a very, very long day for Dustin Hoffman, not a hair was out of place and he was perfectly shaved the entire time. We stopped by Tom's antiques afterward, and Tom wouldn't accept a dime for an antique Masonic shaving mug. He really is an amazing guy, and I love having nearly everything we own be from his store. Plus, that antique shaving mug looks choice in my bookshelf.

And now, for a late Sunday afternoon - you know, if this were France, tomorrow would either be another day off or a holiday - Jennifer is lying down watching TV and I'm catching up on the news.

January 22, 2009

So much for the value of my promises. I vowed to continue keeping up my website, and with the ease and interactivity of Facebook (ahhh, Web 2.0, you seductive temptress), I seem to have been migrating there more and more. Well, in order to catch you up, let's run through a laundry list of what I've been up to. This way I can pretend I'm keeping you up to date. 

So stepping back a bit.

• January 17, 2009 - Installation at Florence Lodge. I am Chaplain this year. And I do not propose to give up my Scottish Rite duties to be Chaplain. I'll attend Florence Lodge on the first Monday business meeting, and occasionally, as I feel up to the challenge, the fourth Monday. At any rate, installation went okay. A few minor glitches along the way. I shot out of there so fast afterward that I left the tuxedo vest someone had given me, which I was to wear at the Scottish Rite installation. I should have gone back for it, but I wasn't going to drive across town for it.
  

• January 19, 2009 - Installation of officers at Scottish Rite. This is always a classy affair, with the gentlemen wearing tuxedos. I am very happy that I've lost enough weight to squeeze back into the tux I bought a few years ago. Granted, I have a long way to go (and I wish I had that damn vest rather than the cummerbund). It takes some time to install 60+ guys with pomp and circumstance, but its a nice ceremony followed by a wonderful dinner.
  

• January 20, 2009 - The office gathered at 10:00 to watch Barack Obama get inaugurated as 44th President of the United States. I can't say his inaugural speech rose to the level of oratory like Kennedy's Ask not what your country can do for you speech, but he had a few moments that transcended a mere speech. It was a strong, masterful, and powerful speech, and I hope he can accomplish what he sets out to do. I was actually more moved by Rev. Joseph Lowery's benediction. John Williams' re-arrangement of Aaron Copeland's arrangement of "Simple Gifts" was quite well played. Of course, how are Yo Yo Ma and Itzak Perlman going to screw that up? I'm not going to tease Aretha Franklin about her hat. She's the Queen of Soul, dammit. But if I am having her at my inauguration, I expect her to open with Respect, sing God Bless America, and close with Respect.  
  
  I was amused when told that a friend's young son had watched the Inauguration in a school assembly. When asked what he thought, he said he was bored. I suspect that in 20 years, he'll say he will always remember where he was when Obama took the oath of office and that it is the defining moment of his generation. It reminds me of twenty-somethings getting misty-eyed and saying that they remember exactly what they were doing when popular crooner Kurt Cobain died of a drug overdose in 1994. I roll my eyes - they were what? 10 years old at the time? Eight? And the news barely made a ripple in their lives. 
  

• January 21, 2009 - A new season of Lost. Jennifer will kill me for this, but I was kind of dreading it. One hour of Lost per week is sufficient for me. Two hours of Lost is overkill. And worse, it was at my mother's house, which means sitting on an uncomfortable sofa. On the positive side of the ledger, her TV is ginormous, which is the way you should watch television. Also a strong note, Mom made lasagna with low carb pasta, which was an excellent repast. As for the episode, the series continues to baffle and perplexe me. Too many twists and turns. I want a beginning, a middle, and an end. Not a beginning, a middle, a pre-beginning, a post-end, a middle, a flash back, a flash forward, another middle, and all of the above from a second or third perspective. 

In the meantime, I seem to be staying crazy busy with the Ethics Committee at Scottish Rite, work, house, and the usual. Percy had an accident in his kennel last night, and whined just loud enough to wake me up but not loud enough to alert me to any potential gastrointestinal dangers. I came downstairs at 6 a.m. and found he had exploded inside his kennel at some point, so I was cleaning up a horrible, horrible mess. I brought him upstairs while I showered and dressed, during which time he threw up all over creation. The horror! the horror! I could have easily kicked the dogs across the house yesterday - every time we get home, they go insane, barking, yapping, and thrashing around until they get attention. We need to figure out how to train them to take our arrival and departure in quiet stride. 

 

January 15, 2009

moar funny pictures

10:17 p.m. - I promise, faithful readers, that I have not forgotten you. With the extraordinary schedule this past week and the sub-zero temperatures gripping the Midwest, I have been either running around or engaging in the hermitlike, trying to keep warm. I promise to regale you with my tales of the Wal-Mart (oh horror!) and the curious affair of the one-armed monk.

In the meantime, I had to share my first lolcat. What, says you, is a lolcat? Good question. Short answer is: a website featuring wacky cat pictures with wackier captions. Somehow these pictures have touched my funny nerve, and I peal with laughter at these cats. Tears streaming down my cheeks, belly laughs. At any rate, I made my first lolcat and submit it for your consideration.

January 9, 2009

7:13 p.m. - I picked Jennifer up from her week in warm Atlanta, GA, and of course it immediate began snowing. The weather is horrible outside. Regardless of the weather, I'll be at the KSA meeting tomorrow morning. I hope the members bother to show up.

January 8, 2009

7:05 a.m. - A day of rest wasn't enough. I'm still queasy downstairs, and it struck me again in the wee hours of the night. Arabella also woke up and I took the dogs out at 1:30. The boys went back to sleep, and once again, I put her in bed with me. After jumping around a bit, she settled down and slept the rest of the night. I tumbled and tossed, but slept reasonably soundly after awhile until my alarm woke me up.

I've got to take the cat to the vet in a few minutes and I'm going to a Masonic installation this evening, to represent the Scottish Rite. It's going to be another long day. Yesterday's Lodge audit was a nightmare. I'm so glad to be done there.

January 7, 2009

4:32 p.m. - The Old Boy has been down among the wines and spirits today. Some kind of stomach bug. I've been feeling rotten all last night and all day, and I left work around 10:00 this morning to rest and recuperate. I've puttered around a bit and took a nap, but I'm still on the mend. Unfortunately, I can't get away from tonight's audit meeting at 8:00 at Florence Lodge. We had to meet that late to accommodate one member, and I won't get home until 10:00, if not later. Ugh.

Last night, between my own nocturnal peripatetics, Arabella decided to get up. I took the dogs out. Percy went right back to sleep and Gryffindor immediately hopped back into bed. Arabella decided she wanted to play, so I had to let her run around for a few minutes. I put her in bed, and after she jumped around for a few minutes, she went right to bed. I tossed and turned feverishly, but I must have fallen asleep around 5:00, because the next thing I knew my alarm was going off.

January 6, 2009

8:12 p.m. - In Jennifer's absence, I am indulging my nerdier tastes - jamming to opera, blues, Beastie Boys, and any other music that I like. Loudly. No television on whatsoever. No barking dogs. The house is entirely mine.

I kinda-sorta broke my diet this evening. Made fried chicken rolled in wasa crackers, which I had pulverized to a kind of flour. Turns out it didn't work. Not really tasty at all. Wasa crackers, even ground to powder, are not meant to be fried. I'll just stick to enjoying them with tuna fish in the future.

January 5, 2009

7:05 a.m. - Jennifer was up at 3:00 this morning, and I was up at about 3:20. Ugh. I'm a morning person, but not that early! We got off to the airport around 3:45, and since I haven't heard from her, I presume she caught her 5:45 flight to Atlanta without any hitches. She's off for a week's buying trip for the gift shop, and I am a bachelor for a week. While I suppose that means I should be hoisting a few flagons, it really means the house will never be cleaner!

I got home around 4:20 and tried to go back to sleep. I think I may have drifted off here and there, but I kept waking up and my brain never really shut off. I am going to be really tired by mid-day, and with Lodge tonight, I'll be exhausted by evening. It's going to be a long day, but hopefully a quiet and uneventful one!

January 4, 2009

The front parlor is my favorite room. It's so. . . Edwardian.

7:42 p.m. - Quiet day today, as well. Jennifer spent most of the day packing for her buying trip at Gift Mart in Atlanta, and I puttered around the house, cleaning, vacuuming, doing laundry, and being generally domestic. I finally vacuumed up the pine needles from the Christmas tree, which have been driving me insane for the past week.

We'll have to get up at 3:00 a.m. so I can get Jennifer to the airport by 4:00. Ugh. Why is she on a red eye flight?

On a positive note, I've lost enough to wedge myself back into my old tuxedo. I won't have to rent one this year for Oscar Night or for the officers' installation at Scottish Rite. This gives me every incentive to be very, very good on my diet - which I admittedly broke (repeatedly) on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Back to tuna fish tomorrow.

January 3, 2009

10:23 - Two observations. First, Arabella is adorable. Every night, she goes straight into her kennel for bed. I call her out, and she comes to Daddy so I can take off her collar. Then she immediately turns around, and goes right back into the kennel and goes back to bed. She's an angel! And second observation: it is a solid sheet of ice outside - the driveway, the steps, the sidewalk, the street, everything. Won't be pleasant tomorrow. Hopefully some of it will melt.

Percy cools his marbles on the floor.

9:44 p.m. - Sorry. Nothing interesting to report from the River City. Jennifer worked on Friday. I spent the morning getting groceries, mailing a package, dropping off dry cleaning, and then was obscenely lazy the rest of the day. Boring Friday evening followed. Yesterday was chilly, but mild.

This morning, I got up early, made brought Jennifer breakfast in bed, and then went out to pick up dry cleaning. It has been misting all day, and has been getting progressively colder. We'll have a nice layer of ice on everything by Sunday morning. I stopped by the Furniture Mart and got a couple of movies, and then piddled away the afternoon. Jennifer went out all day with Julie, and got home at about 4:30. We frittered away the late afternoon, as well. I watched Tropic Thunder on DVD, which was amusing. I've been wanting to see that since it came out. Jennifer took a bath and went to bed. So long story short, we are boring people who did absolutely nothing.

 

January 1, 2009

What better way to start your New Year than with a nice picture of Gryffindor?

7:52 p.m. - After a daytime of intense sloth and laziness, followed by a long nap around 3:00, I finally got industrious and de-Christmased the house. The tree is back in storage for another year, the ornaments are put away (minimal breakage this year, thanks to constantly keeping an eye on Crookshanks' whereabouts), and all the other holiday stuff have been returned to the basement for their year long slumber. I like having my house back!

Meanwhile, I am bored witless this evening. No movies on TV. Jennifer is playing on the computer. I don't have any wild interest to resume my book about the 1864 election, though I'll eventually finish it.

12:12 p.m. - Jennifer expressed an interest in ordering a pizza. I am going to assume that New Year's is not a day for me to remain steadfast to my diet. But tomorrow, dammit, I resume the tuna fish and those awful cardboard crackers.

11:57 a.m. - So far 2009 is a quiet year. Jennifer got up at 7:30 when Percy - as usual - began barking. She went back to bed and slept until 10:00, but I got up shortly after the dogs. We've been puttering around this morning, doing absolutely nothing interesting.

Gorging on all that tasty, tasty sushi was a nice treat yesterday. I love getting my sushi on! We'll have to do that again. Then again, $100 for raw fish. . . Maybe once a year is just right.