the DronesClub	the smackdown	Fierce Creatures	Little Blenheim	Barmy in Wonderland	the dernier cri

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

 

May 31, 2009

Does a scooter make me part of the biker culture? My wife thinks not.

5:03 p.m. - Busy day yesterday. I returned home triumphant. Sunburnt and exhausted, but triumphant. Kudos to an incredible group of co-workers, committee members, and volunteers who made the fundraiser so successful. A few of us stuck around afterward and had a beaker of Balvenie's single malt Scotch, which is so, so mellow.

The other news is that I wound up buying the Buddy 50 Scooter from the silent auction. I can't believe I did that! My wife can't believe I did that! It will be cool to have a small scooter to get to work, particularly as gas prices rise. I am considering upgrading the Buddy 50 to the 125, which is slightly more powerful. This will give me so much to do - I have to learn how to ride the thing, since I've never actually ridden a motorcycle before (erm, scooter), and I'll have to take the drivers exam to get licensed to drive it, and I'll have to get insurance for it. But I am excited about it, nonetheless. It will be cool to drive it.

I slept in until 8 am this morning. Jennifer and I went to Louis M's for an early lunch - I've been aching to partake of his tasty, tasty burgers for months! Then we went to the iris show and Jennifer got a couple of flowers. Afterward, we looked in on Tom's Antiques. We've pretty much been lazy all afternoon since.

May 29, 2009

9:49 p.m. - Quiet Friday evening at the homestead. J. is feeling down among the wines and spirits this evening and is watching television in bed. I've been reading the news online and listening to music. Percy and Arabella alternate between wanting attention to being fast asleep in here. I suppose I better suit up and take them for their walk in a few minutes.

Put the sprinkler on the lawn when I got home for work - I'm not certain it needed it, but seemed like a good idea at the time. Problem is, I left it there for about 4 or 5 hours. Oops. We'll be seeing that on the water statement next week.

May 27, 2009

9:20 p.m. [Let's try this again. . . I lost my first attempt at tonight's remarks when my machine suddenly crashed in mid-sentence, and my aging computer took 25 minutes to reboot. Grrrr.] As I was saying, it's been a cool, gray, overcast, dreary kind of day. I slept reasonably well last night with the window open so I could enjoy the cool breeze. Jennifer went to bed around 7:45 tonight, and I've been enjoying a quiet evening. It's 59° in Omaha tonight, so I went outside earlier while Percy and Arabella played in the backyard. Even with a warm leather jacket over my PJ's, it was chilly. Jennifer busted me earlier trying to sneak a pipe outside for a quick smoke, but I wasn't going to be deterred in perfect pipe weather by her disapprobation. I have to give her credit for knowing me well enough to read between the lines. [Her logical deduction: Chilly weather + sit outside = Sneak a pipe while ruminating on Life. Getting away with stuff is getting harder and harder in my old age. She really could give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money.]

Sad to report, all I have left is ditch weed, or rather, some very old black-and-gold Cavendish that refuses to stay moist. It is probably from S.G. Roi's tobacconist in the Old Market, but it may come from Boston. Who knows how old it was? It was completely dry in spite of being in an airtight jar. It smoked fairly well, but too quickly. I may toss out the entire jar since it has no taste, though it is still aromatic. I used a Peterson Army #120. Summertime is usually too hot and humid to enjoy a good pipe, so this may well be my last pipe until October.

Meanwhile. . . I'm relaxing upstairs while the dogs sleep. Rebecca W. put the idea in my head to listen to the Ramones, so I'm kicking it Old School, as the kids say.

May 25, 2009

9:06 p.m. - Memorial Day has been a quiet day. Jennifer, of course, worked all day, so I've been left to my own devices. I had thought about looking in on the movies to see Wolverine or Terminator: Salvation, but fighting the holiday crowds held no appeal to me whatsoever, and I have spent a heckuva lot of money this weekend as it is. I stayed in today, and alternated between extraordinary lassitude and mild industriousness. On the plus side of the ledger, I did tackle two more loads of laundry (including my favorite pillow, which has not had my head funk cleaned off it for probably a decade. It was icky.), watered the garden, and did a bit more tidying in the kitchen. On the negative side, I took a brief nap (snoring myself awake, so it wasn't much of a nap), watched last night's Mad Men on DVR and Night at the Museum. The dogs were content to sleep away the day, so long as they knew where I was at all times.

Jennifer got home at about 4:15 and has been pretty beat. She had a long weekend, so I don't begrudge her going to bed early. She's been in bed for at least the last hour, and I've been watching TV or having run researching Omaha history on the Douglas County Historical Society's website.

The weekend led up to the perfect backyard barbecue. Why do I need to travel anywhere on Memorial Day weekend? I'm already here.

Mmmm. . . burgers, dogs, brats.

Freshly groomed dogs.

7:48 a.m. - I need to take days off more frequently. I could get used to this kind of life, though I am sad to report that Jennifer has been working all weekend. I can't believe we are at the end of the last holiday weekend for two months! It's been quite a ride. I was up and out the door Saturday early, running errands - dropped the dogs off to get groomed (at long last!), returning some clothes to Kohl's, stopped by the hardware store to look at one of the adirondack chair (the quality was pathetically cheap), and getting a much nicer, teak adirondack from Lowe's, and then surprising myself by getting a portable speaker from Nebraska Furniture Mart. I spent a bit of time on Saturday morning afterward lounging outside in the chair and listening to good music. Eventually, I can envision a brace of adirondacks out back, after we've put cobblestone pavers in the back. I can connect my mp3 player or lap top to a device, and then it transmits the sound to the speaker which is plugged in out back. I suppose I could theoretically lug the laptop outside, wear headphones and my mp3 player, or even take a radio outside, but that defeats the purpose of technology. At any rate, the backyard slowly transforms into my perfect Shangri-La. I love having the fence so we can enjoy a modicum of privacy, and sit comfortably in the back while the dogs run around or nap in the sun. We've even taken to letting Crookshanks outside, though he doesn't quite know what to make of this new-found freedom.

On Saturday afternoon I picked up a few lottery tickets, and Jennifer and I spent a few hours imagining how we'd spend our share of the $190 million dollar prize. Sad to report, we didn't win. Oh well, for $2, we had a couple hours of fantasy time with our imagined winnings. We had a reasonably quiet evening - I grilled gourmet bratwursts from Whole Foods. Jeremy called from Seattle in the evening, and he is enjoying his vacation with an old friend from high school.

I went grocery shopping on Sunday morning and spent the afternoon scouring the house, in preparation for our Memorial Day barbecue. I finally mopped the bathroom to within an inch of its life, and then scoured the floor behind the sink on my hands and knees, and polished the bathtub until it gleams. You could eat off the floor in there. Mom, Dad, and Deirdre came over, and I grilled hot dogs, bratwursts, and hamburgers, baked beans, mom's potato salad, and for dessert, darby pie and ice cream. We sat out back and enjoyed perfect weathers while the dogs either ran around, slept, or begged for scraps. It was a very nice evening!

Which brings us back to the fact that its now Monday. The last day of a 3-day weekend, not to sound too the-glass-is-half-empty about it, but so much to do! I've run at least 6 loads of laundry in the last few days, and I'm not feeling up to folding or hanging all those clothes at the moment. Perhaps I would be well advised to lug that speaker outside and spend some quality time in the morning while the weather is still cool enjoying music, and sitting in the new chair, napping or reading. Or both.

7:34 a.m. - My wife is figuring out how to get out of work so she can stay home and watch a Land of the Lost marathon on Sci-Fi. She wants to know why time travel in the ancient world is accompanied by a synthesizer and a banjo. Good questions, all.

May 21, 2009

Meet my inner accountant. His name is Herb.

11:54 a.m. - Accounting nerd moment. My boss had a question about Unrelated Business Income, and I thoroughly enjoyed researching the answer, reading IRS publication 598 (all 21 pages of it), and finding answers to specific scenarios. Yes, I enjoyed it. I embraced my inner accountant. 

7:03 a.m. - It's already been a morning of excitement! I woke up at 4:30 and had a hard time getting back to sleep. I really, really hate humid summers. I broke down and turned the air on last night, and still had the fan on full blast. I woke up at 6:00 after spending the last hour tossing about in a febrile manner, caked in my own sweat. Ech. Jennifer had to get to work early, so I took the dogs out, finding along the way that Crookshanks the Cat got sick sometime during the night all over the dining room table. Meanwhile, a stray cat had somehow got through the fence and wandered into our backyard, so the dogs had a grand time collaring it. The poor kitty was cowering on the basement steps where the dogs couldn't get at him, but they had him surrounded. I brought the dogs back in and the cat got away.

The puppies have an appointment (at long last) to get groomed on Saturday. Poor guys have to wear fur coats in this weather. It's still nice and cool outside, but too warm inside for my tastes. I'm already schvitzing in my new shirt. Fortunately, Percy and Arabella are both fast asleep upstairs and Gryffindor is on his pillow downstairs.

My allergies are still bugging me today, and I'm sneezing and puffy eyed. Or perhaps I have a cold brewing. Ugh.

May 20, 2009

9:15 p.m. - Stayed home today to rest. I was up all night, due to an injudicious combination of an 81˚ bedroom, stifling heat, allergies, and Mr. Barky Von Schnauzer who decided to bark all night long, in spite of at least one trip outside. I feel better now, but its still insanely hot in the house even with the windows open. I've got the fan cranked, but I can't bring myself to turn on the a/c quite yet. Mom wanted to go out to dinner. I was busy grilling asparagas, chicken breasts, and sweet potatoes. We shelved all of that until tomorrow and went to Greek Iskands. I'm utterly and completely stuffed with spinach & feta stuffed chicken, spanokopita, and saganaki.

 

May 19, 2009

7:57 p.m. - At the end of the day, I went to a NAM meeting to confer, converse and otherwise hobnob with my brother wizards. Or non-profit professionals, at any rate. I came out with a tentative collaboration partnership and a volunteer. Not bad for an hour's work! I love how the Omaha non-profit community pulls together. Jennifer got home a few minutes after me, and we grilled cubed steak, baked sweet potato fries, and sauteed mushrooms. We sat outside - the weather was perfect, and the animals had a fun time zipping around in the too, too long grass.

11:03 a.m. - My friend Mike sent me a link to the Upstream Brewery's webpage promoting their Gold Coast ale, a blonde ale. Notice the picture they used? Looks familiar, perhaps? It's from the Bostwick-Frohardt collection and is a picture from 1924 of Ephraim Dixon's house on North 38th Street, which is next door to the house I grew up in. You can see my house on the left hand corner of the picture. My childhood bedroom is the window on the second floor. Ephraim Dixon was the manager of the Orchard and Wilhelm Company, a department store. My father's neighbors bought the house in about 1945 and the family has lived there ever since.

Last night was Scottish Rite. I was feeling horrible - I think due to the awful chicken salad wrap I had for lunch. I was presented a certificate for completing the Master Craftsman program, and I hope how bad I was feeling didn't show. I left right after dinner and the presentation. Jennifer had grilled chicken and was sitting out back with Julie. We had a quiet evening, though I wound up waking up at 3:30 a.m. and having a hard time getting back to sleep.

 

May 17, 2009

Across the street from the antique stores in Fremont, NE

Classic cars on display

Yes we were naughty. And so was Percy.

7:15 p.m. - This has been one of those utterly delightful weekends where we've gone anywhere we wanted and done anything we wanted, cost be damned. Jennifer worked briefly on Saturday, but otherwise, the weekend was entirely ours to do with as we would.

It began with bad omens. Or at least, it began with Arabella whimpering in her kennel at 6-something a.m. on Saturday morning and Jennifer taking the dogs out, which effectively meant we were up and at 'em for the day. She went in to work for an hour or two, and I got up to start errands - dropped off laundry at the dry cleaners and bought some new shirts and slacks at Kohl's. We decided to go to Fremont for the afternoon, and off we went, taking the long way there. We looked in on the Yankee Peddler bookstore (one of, I think, both of our favorite antiqueries in Fremont) and Jennifer bought a 1940s-era blue metal box that held medical supplies. I have no idea what we'll do with the thing, but it looks decorative in the front parlor. We poked around other stores in Fremont for another hour and then made the leisurely drive back to Omaha, stopping at Feta for lunch in west Omaha, owned by family that runs Katie's Greek restaurant. The food was comfort food and very tasty, though the relaxed cafe atmosphere was somewhat better than dinner. It would be the kind of place I'd go to all the time if it weren't out at Harvey Oaks Plaza at 144th and West Center.

Saturday evening was made for napping, and I can't seem to recall what, if anything, we did. I seem to recall falling asleep in the black chair upstairs and retiring on the early side.

On Sunday, I was up at 6:00 and at Florence Lodge by 7:00 to help set up for the pancake breakfast. These events seem to be the same - about 10% do 90% of the work. I cleaned as much as I could by the time I left at 10:00. Jennifer and I went to see the new Star Trek movie, which was awesome! I won't deny that you could pilot a starship through a rift in the plot's space-time continuum, but who cares? It made up for it by sheer awesomeness, ass-kicking adventure for 2 solid hours. The characters nailed the fun mannerisms of Captain Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Chekov, but brought a new feel to the old story. On the way home, we passed a classic car show at the Hooters on west Center road, and pulled in on a whim to examine the fine cars. Jennifer won't let me slip in my '94 Toyota Corolla and try to pass it off as a muscle car. There were some fine specimens there, and we had a fun time browsing among the cars.

Afterward, we stopped at home to let the dogs out and then sat for a while on Julie's porch and enjoyed the weather. Then we looked in on El Aquila for an early dinner. I always enjoyed El Aquila, but now Jennifer and I are so full, we're going to pass out. We've been fairly lazy this afternoon, while trying to digest.

 

May 15, 2009

We did some Spring planting this evening.

8:03 p.m. - I am so glad the grilling season is finally here! I availed myself of cool weather to grill some perfectly seasoned pork ribs. Jennifer made a roux of some sort, featuring sour cream and mushrooms to compliment my ribs. We made carrots and salad, and ate outside with the dogs running around and getting into everything.

Afterward, we sat on the porch for a little while with Gryffindor and then looked in on Westlake Hardware for some flowers for the yard. Jennifer planted a hydrangea, a red peony, and a pink peony in a patch of garden at the end of the driveway. I did the hard part - bringing the hose up from the basement, the spade, and put a decorative brick border along the edge of the garden. Jennifer will probably disagree, claiming that the hole digging and the spraying of me with the hose constituted the true yeoman's work, and the rest of the lugging was mere assistant's work. I think we'll agree to disagree, but between you and me, mine was the hardest part.

Of interest: spent some time last night at the Scottish Rite adding my minimal assistance to helping catalog the library. Fun project, and I had fun with the others on the project. Knowledgeable and flatulent are a dangerous combination. This will take quite some time. We logged about 50 books with a great deal of interruptions (and me spilling Doug's beer) which means we have about 2,950 books to go before we move to the phase II of the project.

May 12, 2009

Hicks Terrace, built in 1890 by Mendelssohn, Fisher and Lawrie

7:23 a.m. - It's been nearly a week since I last updated you on the minutiae of my comings and goings. I don't 'zackly recall what I've been up to in the intervening week, but I promise you I've been super busy. I haven't been whistling Dixie, as they say. This past weekend, Jennifer worked super long marathon days at the Garden. She got home on Sunday at 5:00 and went almost immediately straight to bed, only to be up at the crack of dawn on Monday and at work for a breakfast event. That would have killed me!

I looked in on the KSA business meeting at Scottish Rite on Saturday morning and then spent a few hours volunteering as a host for the Landmarks Omaha tour of homes. I was at Hicks Terrace at 30th and Pacific, and spoke about how the 1890s rowhouse was built to accommodate Omaha's westward growth along the streetcar lines. The apartment I was in had been subdivided into 5 little apartments, but the developer had converted back into a 2 or 3 bedroom single-family apartment. He did an amazing job of it! The porch in this picture was converted into a broad deck, surrounded by landscaping. The best feature is the broad bay windows overlooking 30th and Pacific Streets. Like all Victorians, it will take a more experienced eye than myself to decorate and furnish the apartment - there were no solid walls to put furniture against. At any rate, serving as a host on the tour was a fun afternoon. . . but I would have given quite a lot for a bathroom at the end of the day. I was dying! On Sunday, I puttered around the house while Jennifer toiled, doing laundry, cleaning, and tidying. Much like Sisyphus, I cleaned the house only to turn around and find it dusty and mess again. Where does all this stuff come from!

I grilled pork ribs rubbed in secret hobo spice and asparagus on Sunday and some of the best hamburgers I've ever grilled last night. Spring weather is perfect for grilling! We've been leaving the kitchen door open and the puppies and cat love running in and out to play. Tonight I may grill again. Or not. We'll see where the mood carries me.

I have an 8:30 NCGO meeting, so I get to spend one of those rare, leisurely mornings playing at home. My neighbor's roofers are hard at work, and I am already dreading how much shingles and debris will be flung into my yard over the course of their day. I filled 2 garbage bags of shingles and junk last night. Their cry seemed to be, "Let's see how much we can fling into Micah's yard! He won't mind at all!"

It is 7:50 a.m. Do I continue to loaf at home, surrounded by some of the sweetest puppies ever, or do I leave early and do my civic duty and vote? I really hate voting in the Housing Authority tower, where a white guy in a suit may as well be chum among sharks. Or an INS inspector in Nogales. I always feel like Dick Cheney at a Black Panther party.

May 6, 2009

2:26 p.m. - Utter terror! Far worse than anything Wes Craven could put on the silver screen. What, says you, could induce absolute panic? The loss, says I, of every single entry on my Palm Pilot and Microsoft Outlook calendar. All of them. Every appointment, every meeting, every entry - gone like a fart in the wind. I was in shock. I can't live without having my appointments. I'd be completely lost. 

Fortunately, the calendar entries were in the delete file of my Microsoft Outlook. A simple matter of dragging them back to the calendar and setting my Palm Pilot to update based on what is in Outlook rather than the other way around, and problem solved. But for a few minutes, my blood pressure was in the danger zone.

 

 

May 5, 2009

Hibiscus tree in the backyard

7:22 a.m. - I love our house when it is the Place of Rest. We spent most of last evening enjoying the backyard. I love having it fenced in, away from the rest of the world. I grilled and Jennifer made sweet potato French fries and fresh Cole slaw, and we enjoyed dinner in the back yard. We left the backdoor open so the dogs and cat could come out to play. Julie dropped by for a while, and then we spent some time planting a hibiscus tree Jennifer picked up from Sam's Club. We moved that big pot we got from El Vaquero in South Omaha to the backyard, and I wouldn't mind getting about 4 or 5 more of them. The question is: where would we put the plants indoors in the winter? Well, maybe 1 more. Fortunately, we have nothing planned in the evening tonight and we can do it again. Days like this seem few and far between.

 

May 4, 2009

7:31 a.m. - Nothing quite like having a few minutes leisure time in the morning before heading off to work to enjoy the morning, read the news, and play with the dogs. That done, I'm off to earn my monthly envelope.

 

May 3, 2009

Perfectly grilled brats. I love grilling season.

8:11 p.m. - So a busy afternoon. I finally steeled myself up be productive, and managed to (finally) put in a few hours of cleaning, laundry, and so forth of solid work this weekend. I spent a while picking up the nails the contractors left with that magnet thing-y, and managed to assemble quite a collection. Do I recycle them or simply pitch them? Seems almost a shame for such a vast quantity of nails to rust in a landfill when they might be recycled and used to make playground equipment or the deckplates for the space shuttle. Or more roofing nails.

I also picked up the various piles of yard waste - finally! And I managed to grill the vast quantities of meat in the fridge. We'll be taking bratwursts to work for a month! Scott called, and I chatted with him for an hour. Then Dad and Deirdre stopped by. Jana stopped by to bring us hostas and visited for awhile, too. Then Jennifer came home and visited with Dad and Deirdre. Dad and Deirdre left, and then Julie came by while we were in the front yard. So we repaired to the backyard and polished off a dessert bottle of Whiskey Creek Wine. I think I had my buzz on - Jennifer said my face was beet red. Normally I steer clear of red wines, but this was worth it - very sweet! The dogs loved getting to spend a great deal of the afternoon playing outside - which usually means rolling in filth, climbing into filth, or sleeping in the sun. Every weekend should be like this. There is nothing better than sitting on the porch or the backyard, enjoying a bottle of something decent, and visiting with friends or family while watching the dogs scamper about.

Ground Zero for capitalism

12:26 p.m. - Not a cloud in the sky, sunny, not a whiff of humidity, and all 3 puppies are fast asleep. My kind of Sunday. I should be doing something productive, but I've sort of pottered around, doing a mild amount of cleaning and tidying. And yes, I had a nice brief nap earlier. My kind of day!

I didn't get to meet Warren or Charlie, but I did get to see the Fruit of the Loom guys. Sweet!

Yesterday was a whirlwind! Jennifer is working at the plant sale this weekend, but I got up early and headed down to the Qwest Center for the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting. I got a credential from a friend, and went to the "Woodstock of Capitalism" at about 8:00. I've heard about 35,000 people were in attendance! The arena was completely filling up in anticipation of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger's Q&A session, but I went down to the exhibition hall to see the displays set up by companies owned by Berkshire Hathaway - Dairy Queen, Geico, Borhseim's, Nebraska Furniture Mart, and so many others! What a blast! I bought some souvenir candy from See's Candy featuring Warren Buffet, a Berkshire Hathaway windbreaker, and two pair of workgloves. And even among 35,000 or so people, I ran into a couple of people I knew! I'd had my fill by 10:00, and called it a day. I wish I owned a few shares of Berkshire Hathaway, but I can at least say I've gone to a BH shareholders meeting, something no Nebraskan should miss.

After picking up groceries, I had a very lazy afternoon while Jennifer was at work. Did some small projects, walked the dogs, watched TV, read the news.

May 1, 2009

A co-worker defiled Dilbert. My pictorial response:

You saw Dilbert yesterday.  This is him today.

Then they did this to Dilbert.	Dilbert gets even with the foam animals.