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| the smackdown | Little Blenheim | the dernier cri | |||
The unpleasant, acrid smell of burnt poetry.
Young Men in Spats, 1936
Looking for the Old Stuff? Visit the Archives here. Jan 2009 Feb 2009 Mar 2009 Apr 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 Aug 2009 Sep 2009 Oct 2009 Nov 2009 Dec 2009
June 30, 2009
Ivan collects a fine from Don for not having his medals properly displayed on his uniform! 7:57 a.m. - Interesting evening last night. Florence Lodge #281 hosted a Colonial Ladies of the Table dinner, which is put on by the National Sojourner's, a Masonic organization made up of military officers. They wear costumes from Revolutionary times, and the dinner is an open Lodge featuring a number of formal toasts to various heroes from Revolutionary times - Ben Franklin, Joseph Warren, Abigail Adams, and the 4 branches of the military. And there are a number of informal toasts, too. Drinks are served in "cannons," and the tradition is to ready the cannon (hold the glass up), aim (bring it to the mouth), and fire! (drink the wine), and ready arms (slam the glass down on the table). It's a fun evening, and the men representing the different branches give each other a lot of good-natured ribbing. We had dinner catered by Fazoli's, which really needed to be have been served in those sterno trays to keep it warm. I have a deep and profound respect for Omaha's Masonic community, and the Sojourner's, in costume, still pitched in to clean up after dinner when they might have gone home.
Meanwhile, it's the halfway point of the year. Who'd've thunk the year is 50% through. With the economy in shambles, I can't say its been a phenomenal year thus far, but I'm fortunate to have a job, my wife has a job she loves, I have a great family, and neither Jennifer nor I want for anything. We've made wonderful progress on house projects, and we continue to save. The dogs, our families, and the two of us are healthy. I continue to have fun in my different organizations, so I guess the first half of the year has been a good one, all things being equal. Let's hope the second half of the year continues this upward trend.
June 29, 2009
Is it just me, or does the ConAgra image look like the Studio54 symbol? 12:11 p.m. - I'm looking closely at the picture of my wonderful wife and I notice the stylized logo of a happy face and a spoon, presumably representing a happy person enjoying a delicious ConAgra food product. Right? But to me, it reminds me of the cocaine spoon from the old Studio54 club in New York. Is that the message they are secretly sending? ConAgra food products will get you high? Or is that just the warped product of my thinking. I'll err on the side of caution and assume its just me.
Quite the pleasant evening last night. We went over to Julie's and I grilled really good filet's wrapped in bacon, and Julie made one of her always-yummy salads. I swear she could take a bootlace, a few twigs, and some leaves and make a fantastic salad. Afterward, Jan dropped by next door bearing Rocky Road ice cream cones - just what I didn't need after a huge dinner - and they were great. We sat on the porch for a while and had a really nice time.
Afterward, Jennifer played on her new computer and I continued puttering around on the new HP. She seems to be making more headway than I on getting hers up and running, so I may have her take over on the HP. It was a nice evening and the weather yesterday couldn't be beat!
June 28, 2009
3:09 p.m. - Leisurely Sunday. The weather is perfect. We did a bit of work outdoors - weeding the garden, spraying for weeds in the driveway - sat outside for a while on the porch and enjoyed weather, and then grilled burgers for lunch and ate in the backyard. Jennifer played on the computer for a while and watched TV, and I took a brief nap, and we've been watching movies upstairs and watching the dogs nap for the last hour or so. I may sit on the porch later, and we're having dinner next door later with Julie.
June 27, 2009
Self portrait by Jennifer at Louis M's.
1:53 p.m. - Jennifer decided she wanted Louis M's for breakfast/lunch, and far be it from me to disagree. I had the guacamole, bacon, cheddar burger, and of course it was excellent. I love Louis M's! Afterward, we drove downtown, and after a great deal of searching and useless advice from me, parked and wandered down to the Leahy Mall for the arts festival. Do you realize it has been one year since the giant windstorm on June 27, 2008? We had light rain yesterday morning, but fortunately, no 150 mile per hour straight line winds.
This year, it was slightly overcast and about 77°, so the crowds were huge. Problem is, its the same artsy-fartsy stuff year after year, and after you've bought one cunningly made clay pot or a shiny bronze bowl, you've kind of seen it all. But its fun to see the crowds, check out the puppies, listen to the music, smell the gyros roasting with the vendors, enjoy kettle corn, and see the sights. All would have been perfect, but Jennifer wandered off and I had the dickens of a time finding her.
She's having a lie-down in the bedroom, and I am about to spring up and do some serious house cleaning. Still updating the computer and moving files over from the old machine.
9:03 a.m. - Friday was an extraordinary day. Or at least, an expensive one. I started the day with a trip to Lowe's for various sundries: new filter for the A/C, insulation tape, and so on and so forth. A trip to Lowe's always adds up with one doohickey or another. After a late start, Jennifer and I looked in on the Furniture Mart, ostensibly to get a new PC. Our 2004 HP is just starting to get a bit long in the tooth after 5 years. I had planned to hold of on upgrading until next year, but alas, now is the time and they were having a 32 month, interest free financing deal. So we upgraded to a new HP with 750 GB, 8 GB of Ram, and all sorts of other bells and whistles. I've spent an endless number of hours reinstalling various programs - Microsoft Office (can't believe I found all the requisite paperwork with the registration numbers!), FrontPage (ditto on the disc and registration key), Firefox, Carbonite, etc. Ugh. What a pain. I can't say I'm thrilled with Microsoft Vista. At any rate, Jennifer surprised ourselves by getting one of those Toshiba minicomputers, which is basically for web browsing. She did a great job getting it up and running without any help (particularly from their help line), and once it was working, she made a bee-line to the bedroom to watch TV shows on Hulu.com. I'm still working on updating this PC with all our old files, programs, music, and pictures. On the plus side, this computer does seem to be reasonably faster than the old one, which takes 25 minutes just to boot up now.
After entailing our lives for the next 32 months, we grabbed a great lunch at Old Chicago, ice cream at Russell Stover's, and then stopped by to visit my father for a while. On our way home, we visited our neighbors who have just welcomed a new baby daughter to the family. I got to hold the baby, and she was so pink and cute and had that fresh baby smell. The best part was, once she got ripe, I got to hand her back to Mommy with no shame on my part.
In the evening, we wound up going to see Star Trek again (as fun the second time as the first!) with a late night burger at Burger King. We both stayed up until about 2 am playing on our new computers. Fun day!
June 25, 2009
10:28 p.m. - Leapt up at 10:00 to take the dogs for their final trip outside, and somehow in the process of leaping, managed to get a horrible, violent case of the hiccups. I hate having the hiccups, especially when they are the powerful kind that make you leap into the air by the very force of your lungs contracting and expanding. And having been cured by a double dose of puppy kisses, having got my nightly glass of water, I'm going to bed.
8:59 p.m. - A few hours later. . . A few observations: when you give dogs left over prime rib, they will literally lick the floor translucent in their efforts to gobble up every minute trace of tasty, tasty meat. We went to Eli Caniglia's for dinner on a lark, and had prime rib. Nom nom nom! We hadn't been there before. Eli Caniglia's is one of the few remaining old Italian steak houses in Omaha. That was delicious! We brought home a tiny bit for the puppies, and they went insane.
Meanwhile, I am saddened to learn Michael Jackson died. Really, I'm fairly neutral about it, though I don't deny having "Beat It" on my mp3 player's 1980s tracks. You got to love American news. The networks did their 2 minute reports on Iraq, the economy, the Governor Sanford scandal in South Carolina, and finally, at the end of the evening, 2 or 3 minutes on Michael Jackson and his role in pop music. CNN, on the other hand, has devoted 4 hours (if not more) of continuous coverage to Michael Jackson. You have to admire their ability to throw highly paid talent at covering the immaterial, but sensational.
Last night, the Sts. John Lodge of Education met at Anthony's steakhouse. Great dinner, with the presentation of a brief paper on the history of Masonry in Nebraska, but more importantly an interesting discussion about how the Millennial generation thinks. This generation, born after 1980, were raised by doting 'helicopter' parents who told them they are special, played in little leagues with no winners or losers, or all winners. They are laden with trophies just for participating and they think your business-as-usual ethic is for the birds. In fact, they are never labeled as having "failed" a test or class; that's just "deferred achievement." Interesting to think how this generation meshes with the ethics of the veterans, the 1960s, and Gen X generations. Multiple generations have to work together in the Lodges, even with seemingly opposite ethics. And we of the older generations - I have to count myself among them - have to appeal to this crowd if we are going to get their participation. Well, perhaps you had to be there. Take my word for it, very interesting discussion.
5:23 p.m. - So the heat index is 97°. It is obscenely hot outside, and I, fresh from the rigors of the office, am outside in the sweltering climes (again) spraying the weeds in driveway with the harshest chemicals known to man. Hopefully this time it takes, and we kill the foliage.
June 23, 2009
9:13 p.m. - I took a short little ride around the neighborhood on the scooter! That thing is a royal pain to get plated and titled and licensed, but it sure is fun to drive!
Unlike Carthage, Marius finds no major ruins here after the rains. After last year's windstorm (one year come Friday), you can't be too careful about these things. 8:14 p.m. - Got home and decided to be industrious, so I began to carefully spray the weeds growing in the driveway with the most lethal poisons known to man. Which means, of course, that the heavens immediately opened up and it began raining cats and dogs. So there goes all my work spraying, and the weeds are openly mocking me as they luxuriate in the cracks in the concrete.
I figured I would sit outside and enjoy a gentle rain, so I sat outside with my Palm Pilot, a few carefully chosen musical selections, and a decent briar. And that only meant that cruel Nature was going to drive me from my comfortable perch. It really began to rain! Fierce, driving, beating rain. And hail. And high winds that blew the chair and furniture off the porch around me. And made me soaking wet in a matter of seconds. And blew the front door open and soaked water all over the floor and all over Arabella who happened to be standing at the door.
So I went in, soaking wet and shivering, and sat in the front parlor with a wet Maltese on my lap as we watched the howling rains. It rained very heavily for about 20 minutes, and then somewhat less fiercely for another 20 or 30 minutes. I made an inspection tour afterward, and there seemed to be no real damage. A few downed branches - nothing major - furniture blown on the lawn, the cover blown off my scooter, garbage cans tossed around. Fortunately, all's well that ends well.
7:15 a.m. - The heat index is 88° outside right now, and it will creep up to about 95° by the end of the day. Yikes! Another day to sit inside and try to stay cool. I slept reasonably well last night, but I'm still tired. I could go for another hour of the dreamless.
June 22, 2009
7:50 p.m. - It's 91° outside with a heat index of 105°, and Jennifer wants to go for a walk. Is she crazy?! I went outside to water the plants for a few minutes, and about exploded in flame. I'm not even breaking out the scooter today. . . . Picked up Greek Islands for dinner.
7:25 a.m. - Grilled porkchops and asparagus last night, but was otherwise lazy. Jennifer was beat from a long day at work (again), and went to bed on the early side. I went to bed on the early side myself, and slept fairly well. I could go for another hour or two, but I'm off to work.
It's looking to be in the mid-90's today, temperature-wise, so I am leaving the air on for the puppies. Poor little guys in their fur coats. I hope they don't get too warm. They've got plenty of fresh water, so I suppose they'll be okay.
June 21, 2009
Driving the Corvette in the Papillion Days parade.
2:23 p.m. - So it is about 90° and about as humid as the surface of Mercury. I have barely stirred all afternoon. Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II has been on AMC all afternoon, so it's a sign to stay put and stay cool. All 3 dogs are passed out at my feet.
It has been a fun weekend, except for Jennifer being at Railroad Days all day yesterday and today. I went to the Papillion Days parade and got to drive Larry's 1994 Corvette. What a sweet ride! It's hard going back to my crappy Toyota Corolla after driving a choice piece of machinery like that. Eventually I want to get a mini-'57 Chevy. I drove Roger's around the parking lot - that is the most fun! Fortunately it was warm, but not insanely hot like last year. I got a bit of sun, but didn't roast. I love the parades! Next week is the parade in Red Oak, but I'm not certain if I can make that one.
In the evening, I picked Jennifer up and we went to the Durham to admire some sort of steam engine, and get pictures of ourselves on the tracks. Then we went to dinner and stopped at Legend Comics.
I took Jennifer to work today, and then went to the grocery store. Since then, I've been exceedingly lazy. Caught up on my napping, and have generally been vegging.
June 19, 2009
I took a nice ride around the neighborhood, and I ventured as far as 36th and Leavenworth to fill the gas tank. Perhaps Toad was speaking of traveling by motorbike when he said it is the only real way to travel.
The Rat shook him by the shoulder. "Are you coming to help us, Toad?" he demanded sternly.
"Glorious, stirring sight!" murmured Toad, never offering to move. "The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here to-day--in next week to-morrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped--always somebody else's horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!"
"O stop being an ass, Toad!" cried the Mole despairingly.
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Toad of Toad Hall |
5:20 p.m. - I've been wanting to read Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows for a long time. It probably jumped into my head to read it when I moved back to Boston in 1996, and I never could come across a copy, or I'd forget about it, or I'd get side-tracked by shiny objects. I finally came across a copy for $1 at the Scottish Rite book sale, and snagged it. I think I must have last read it in the mid-'80s, and I forgot what a delightful book it is. This passage, as Badger tries to force Toad never to drive (and wreck) a car again, has been making me smile all day:
"Then you don't promise," said the Badger, "never to touch a motor-car again?"Maybe it's because Toad says poop-poop to mimic the sound of a motor car. Or maybe just because it's a well-crafted story about talking animals. Poop-poop."Certainly not!" replied Toad emphatically. "On the contrary, I faithfully promise that the very first motor-car I see, poop-poop! off I go in it!"
"Told you so, didn't I?" observed the Rat to the Mole.
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The ol' reliable Toyota turns 142,000 |
9:32 a.m. - And now for something really useless. My car rolled over to 142,000 miles this morning. I wish Jennifer had been there to see it with me. Fortunately for her, I had the foresight to bring my camera and capture the moment digitally. So let's crunch some numbers. I've owned the car for 4,314 days, or 11.8 years. That means, I've driven her on average 32.91 miles per day (thanks LMEF for screwing up that average with a daily commute of 120 miles). So that means, if my calculations are correct, that when I'm ready to upgrade her to a brand new used Toyota Corolla in 2012, I'll have just crossed the 180,000 mile mark. If the rust doesn't ruin the car first. She's dirty, rusty, the paint is flaking off, Percy has had at least one horrific accident in the front passenger seat, and the rain leaks through the roof onto the drivers seat leaving a mildew-y smell inside, but she runs like a dream, gets about 20 mpg in city driving, and has had about $22,000 in maintenance done on her, despite having only paid $10,600 in 1997.
Got home at about 7:00 p.m. last night after the Board meeting. Long day! I picked up a tank of propane on the way - and they are getting too damn expensive. $60 for a new tank! Yikes! I grilled burgers, but I didn't do a great job of it, and they were undercooked in the middle. I had to nuke them in the microwave to finish cooking them. Jennifer went on a long walk while I finished cleaning the kitchen, followed by a ride on the scooter around the neighborhood.
June 18, 2009
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Delicious burger noms from Stella's for lunch |
12:58 p.m. - Had a burger from Stella's for lunch. The burger was a fine nom, but the fries were a bit bleh. Still, I am satiated and my tummy has an ample happy. Now, I will nap. Someone be kind enough to wake me when its time to go home.
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Percy and Arabella prepare for a tough day while Daddy is at work. |
7:12 a.m. - This seems to have be the busiest week on record in quite a while! On Monday, I went to the Scottish Rite business meeting. Tuesday was the library committee at the Scottish Rite. Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. was the Ethics Committee at Scottish Rite. Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. was the Friends of RiteCare Dinner committee at Scottish Rite. Tonight is the board meeting for the Neighborhood Center! On Saturday, the Papillion parade. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get the scooter licensed and plated, and the DMV is declaring the machine to be "not street legal," in spite of dozens of others perfectly legally plated and titled! So I have to figure out how to lug it across town to get it inspected (so the county can soak me for another $10 fee), and once declared legal, it needs a new title (yet another $10), followed by plates (still more $), and then a license letting me ride motorbikes (yet again more $$$). I'm starting to think this scooter isn't the most brilliant idea I've ever had.
Followed by Percy barking at 3:00 am on Tuesday night. Jennifer took him out, and then I took him out, and then I finally took him out a third time and was not too kind about it with him. Fortunately, last night he didn't bark.
Followed by a quick trip last night to Popeye's to pick up chicken strips for J. Why do I subject myself to this torture? They are so historically incompetent. You ask for chicken strips - mild - and you get fried chicken, spicy. They "forgot" the biscuits. Every time! I've never actually received a correct order with them, and yet I am dumb enough to go back about once or twice a year for their overpriced fare. I blame me for being misguided in thinking they can check an order to get it right.
Next week seems to be a minor respite: I've got a Table Lodge at Florence #281 on Monday, which is a dinner for the wives. I won't subject J. to that, but I suppose I ought to go. On Wednesday, I've got the Lodge of Education, which will be a long evening. Members will present papers and research, which can be interesting. At least there will be a great dinner out of it at Anthony's steakhouse.
As for the weather, no respite. We've passed through the May/June Amazon rainy season and are now in the dog days of summer which last until Autumn. It will be hot, humid, and 93° today!
June 15, 2009
9:38 p.m. - Long day. Scottish Rite business meeting this evening, and I am utterly exhausted right now. Plus, I can't find my comfortable shoes for work. I'll be padding around the office in my socks if I have to wear those ghastly brown shoes that are lined inside with concrete.
June 14, 2009
10:34 p.m. - Holy moly! We took a long walk this evening after dinner. I was beat before we got 3 blocks, but I soldiered on for 3.6 miles. Fortunately, the weather was absolutely perfect for a walk, and we walked to the Field Club trail, all the way to the end at Vinton Street, back to 32nd Avenue, and back home through the Hanscom Park neighborhood. I got my second wind once we hit 32nd Ave and Vinton, or at least, it felt easier heading home than heading out. That probably helped burn off a mere half of dinner; regardless, I need to walk like that every evening to work off dinner and build up my metabolism. My feet are beat, and at least I'll sleep well tonight!
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CHIP event at Florence Lodge |
6:19 p.m. - Blink, and another weekend is gone. Started Saturday off with the monthly KSA meeting. I seem to have misplaced my memory stick, which contains the minutes I took to Saturday's meeting. That is not good, not good at all. At least I have a month to find it before I need to distribute the minutes for the July meeting. I came home briefly afterward and then headed off to the CHIP event at Florence Lodge. This is the Childhood Identification Program (CHIP), which provides a disc to parents that records a brief video of a child, their vital statistics, a dental swab, and a tooth imprint in the event that a child goes missing. I estimate we had about 80-100 kids pass through the doors during the day. Like all events, we needed about a dozen more volunteers, but it was nice to see a great turn out of fellows from Mercer Lodge, Florence Lodge, and the Eastern Star chapter.
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I still plan to get a basket for 'Bellie to ride in |
I came home around 2:00, and logged a mile's ride or so on the scooter. That is so much fun, and I am getting more and more confident as a driver. Around 5:00 I went outside with the dogs and zoned out, listening to music while Arabella slept in my lap and the other two rolled around in whatever filth they could find. Tim popped over the fence at some point to let me know that we were having dinner at their house at 7:30, and later popped up again to ask if I could procure some mint leaves for mojitos. I went to Baker's for mint leaves, and as I got back, Jennifer called and sent me back to the store for ice cream. Grrrr. . . . I went to the Mexican grocery store on 30th and Leavenworth rather than back to Baker's.
At 7:30, we looked in on Tim & John's for drinks and dinner to celebrate Julie's birthday. mmmm. . . mojito. Not the best drink I've ever had, but it had lots of rum, so who cares. Chased with a marguerita, which was also not the best marguertia, but it had lots of tequila. Tim made one of his famous pizzas (nom nom nom) followed by ice cream, strawberries, and shortbread. I think we all suffered from major carb overload after that feast! It was fun to hang out with Tim, John, Julie, Jennifer, their 3 dogs, our 3 dogs, and Maureen who dropped by after dinner. We really do live in one of the best neighborhoods in town (in spite of spending a solid half-hour reminiscing about the problems we've had over the years - barking dogs, obscenely loud wind chimes, a drunk who once passed out in a neighbor's lawn at 3 am, the time some Air Foce idiot buzzed the neighborhood at sonic speeds just above the roof top. . .)
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Pixar's Up - a one of their best movies. |
Today, we were up early. Jennifer went for a healthy walk, and I went for another ride. Then we went to see Pixar's Up, which was possibly one of the best movies they've made. Really a beautiful story, and well crafted movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it! We stopped by Saigon Restaurant afterward. This afternoon, Jennifer did a bit of gardening, and I went for another short ride. I was going to grill for dinner, but the damn grill is misbehaving (probably some moisture in the gasline), so we had hotdogs. Ech. We'll go walking later. Jennifer is currently digesting, and I'm playing online and watching Arabella devour a rawhide while Percy naps.
June 12, 2009
9:27 p.m. - Maybe I should feel like I
ought to be productive on a day off. . . Ahh, to heck with it. What's the
point of a day off if you're going to be productive. I started off reasonably
productive: stopped at Lowe's, picked up printer cartridges at NFM, dropped off
and picked up dry
cleaning ($40 to put fresh feathers in a pillow? Sheesh! I could have bought a
new damn pillow for $40!), got a haircut (they scalped me. Worst. Haircut.
Ever.), and bought groceries. Then the day went down hill from there. Sure I did
some laundry, filed papers, threw out stuff, cleaned my desk, but I also took a
power nap for 2 solid hours.
Jennifer got home at about 7:00, and after failing to convince me to get her take out Greek food or chicken, we went for a 2 mile walk down Woolworth Avenue, around Field Club, down the Field Club trail, up Pacific Street and back to Woolworth, and thence back to 33rd Street. 2 miles even, according to Google Earth. Not bad. I wanted to take a brisk walk, but Julie and Jennifer brought along Natalie, our neighbors 3 year old (3 1/2, she informed me, without specifying whether it was the first or second half), which slowed us down. Probably for the best, since I'm in no shape for 2 mile hikes. Then again, the child wanted me to swing her, which about winded me the last few blocks. Jennifer is hanging at Julie's, and they're getting take-out Chinese. I'm content sipping water while lounging at home. Perhaps I'll take advantage of the cool weather and sit on the front porch.
8:09 a.m. - It seems to have been quite some time since our last little fireside chat, True Believers. Time seems to have got away from me. There's always something going on in the evenings. Or, I'm just feeling lazy.
Last
weekend was the Omaha area Masters and Wardens meeting, representing all the
Lodges around town. We had about 30 people attend, and it seemed like everyone
brought donuts. And yet, they all got eaten. Not by me, mind you, but I did have
one or two. And for once, we conducted the meeting in record time - though it
takes me another 30 minutes of heavy hi-howareya-howyadoin and handshaking amongst the
brethren to get out. Afterward, Jennifer and I went to
Ducati and I got my
Buddy
scooter. I upgraded from the 50 cc to the 125 cc, which has a bit more oomph to
it. Jennifer wanted me to get the orange or the blue, but definitely not the
red. Too Husker-y, she said. I wanted the red, so I settled for the black. Part
of me wishes I splurged and got one of the fancier, 150 cc international series.
I also got a giant helmet, which makes me feel like Darth Evans. Afterward, we
stopped at Hector's and then looked in on my mother's to say hello and made
plans for an evening movie.
We went back at 6:00 and picked her up to see Angels and Demons, the latest crap from author Dan Brown. I know others liked it, but it was BAD. It was AWFUL. I have no beef with Tom Hanks - I'm sure he's worth his $50,000,000 per movie. But he brought no life to the 2-dimensional character of Robert Langdon, and the story was far-fetched to begin with. Brown's strength as a writer is that each chapter of his book ends in a cliff-hanger, and you have to find out what happens to our intrepid hero as he teeters on the brink of oblivion after every 5th page.
On Sunday, we stayed home - perhaps just as well, since we've been shoveling money into the local economy as fast as possible. I watched a really stupid movie on Sci Fi called The Sands of Oblivion, the premise of which is that. . . well, it's just too dumb to go into in more detail. "Uninspired and formulaic" was the best review I read, and as Jennifer said, when you say "an original Sci-Fi movie," it's the stamp of doom right there. You just know it's going to suck worse than anything in the history of sucking. Suffice it to say, the moment I learned that the Freemasons had a hand in trapping a 5,000 year old angry Egyptian god in a pyramid in the sand dunes around Guadalupe, California, I was hooked.
It's been a busy week with what feels like constant interruptions. Meetings all day. Meetings that interrupt meetings. the Scottish Rite line officers met on Monday night. Tuesday was free. On Wednesday, I ran home to accept delivery of the scooter and then ran off to our Council Bluffs office for the open house. On Thursday, I met with my mom and her financial advisor.
Jennifer took the Buddy 125 on its maiden voyage, and she is far more poised and relaxed on it than me. I had to take it back in until the crowd of neighbors dispersed. Last thing I wanted was a bunch of gawking neighbors offering me helpful advice. But I took it out a bit later, and it was very intuitive and easy to ride. Surprisingly easy! And lots of fun! I'm still a bit wobbly at sharp turns, and tend to turn to broadly, but it is very easy to ride, and not much different than riding a bike. I just got insurance yesterday, and I need to get it licensed and plated later, followed by my own "class M" qualification on my drivers license.
Which brings us to today. . . I am taking my first scheduled vacation day off since about last November. Of course, my "to-do" list is a mile long, but either I take a few days or lose them, and I could do with some time off of work. Off to get a haircut, pick up groceries, go to the drycleaners, stop at the hardware store, go to the DMV. Tomorrow will be as busy, with KSA in the morning and an event at Florence Lodge lasting until 5. Ugh. I could live the puppies' lifestyle - all 3 are fast asleep. What tough lives they live.
June 5, 2009
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| Behold! Dunkin Donuts announced a new donut joining their lineup, titled "Toffee for Your Coffee," and described as a "glazed, sour cream cake donut topped with chopped Heath Bar" bits. Oh my! Nom nom nom! |
10:07 p.m. - I like Friday evenings like this. Nothing going on, no responsibilities. We went out back after dinner to water the plants and spent a while sitting outdoors, enjoying the weather. Then we went to the front and did the same thing until the neighbors walked by. We took Arabella out to meet their daughter and chit-chatted until Julie strolled over, followed by more porch sitting. I think we came in at about 9:30. Jennifer has gone to bed, and I'm watching the end of Kung Fu Panda (for about the millionth time) on HBO before turning in myself.
Tomorrow morning, off to the Masters and Wardens meeting. Ugh. At least I get to meet my scooter afterward. Jennifer has come to terms with my impulsive purchase. Yay!
2:09 p.m. - Nice evening last night. We went out to that nasty Chinese buffet J. likes for dinner, and afterward sat around for a few hours in the neighbors' beautiful backyard. We brought over Gryffindor, Arabella, and Percy and let them play with Daisy, Violet, and Dog #3, their Boston terriers. Turns out that for a tough guy, Percy was kind of cowed by the 3 Bostons. It was a relaxing and pleasant evening.
Went to bed by 10:30, and then the Chinese dinner had its revenge all night long. I don't think I fell asleep until about 3:00 a.m.
June 4, 2009
4:01 p.m. - Had lunch at Tangier Shrine this afternoon, as part of the networking group. It was a somewhat smaller crowd, but I always look forward to meeting the fellows, exchanging news and ideas, and making new contacts.
It has been very busy lately, with an executive committee meeting last night of the board I sit on lasting 2 hours. We had some good ideas come out of the discussion, and I am proud to sit with some amazing people with extraordinary insight into great boardsmanship, but it sure was a long meeting!
Meanwhile. . . looking forward to getting my bike on Saturday. Scoot. . . or die. That's the motto of us hardcore riders.
June 1, 2009
7:30 a.m. - Woke up at about 4:15 this morning. We had very high winds last night which blew open and slammed doors during the night. Gryffindor got up, and I figured I'd take him out. He stood on the porch and gave me the biggest WTF expression. Dude, when I need to use the bathroom, I'll tell you. And then he marched back inside and went back to bed. Fortunately, Percy and Arabella didn't wake up. I tossed feverishly for at least another hour and fell asleep around 5:30, before waking up at 6:00. Jennifer's new iris plants we bought yesterday blew away in the wind, and I recovered the remains throughout the yard. Hopefully they survive.