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| the smackdown | Little Blenheim | the dernier cri | |||
The unpleasant, acrid smell of burnt poetry.
Young Men in Spats, 1936
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September 30, 2009
7:25 a.m. - Still recovering from an exhausting last few weeks. More news as events warrant.
Last night I took the dogs out and then they all came back in. I put Percy to bed. I put Gryffindor to bed. And then I went to put Arabella to bed. No sign of her. I knew she was in the house because I heard her playing with her squeaky ball. I called her. Nothing. I looked for her. She was no where to be seen. I even went back outside and looked for her. No trace of Maltese anywhere. After making a thorough investigation of the house and preparing to search the Fourth Dimension for her, I found her in the small bedroom in the back of the house. Somehow she got in and was having a grand time playing back there!
. . . right now she's busy going feral with what used to be a Christmas squirrel that would play a song when squeezed. The music part has long wore down, but the dogs like to play with the remains on occasion.
September 27, 2009
9:29 p.m. - It has been a momentous two weeks. Extremely long days and extremely long nights, and after a lot of work and a lot of toil, I can crown my efforts with a wildly successful Walk season, in every sense. The amazing part was seeing everything finally come together in complete harmony.
Having been home for 5 hours, I am utterly exhausted.
Last night was Charlie's anniversary, celebrating 60 years of service to Freemasonry. He is a legendary gentleman, and I was glad to see over 130 people pack the Scottish Rite for a first rate prime rib dinner in his honor. I sat with a few of the fellows from Lininger, for an evening of great conversation. I put together a simple powerpoint presentation, detailing a few high points in his life and career, and it was a great success. One does appreciate one's audience.
Little else to say. Now that Jennifer & Self are done with our biggest evenings, I think things will quiet down and we can enjoy a quiet evening or weekend at home.
September 17, 2009
Sweet! We may be finished by 2015! 9:01 p.m. - Catastrophe earlier. Couldn't find the remote control, thereby rendering the television utterly useless. Pandemonium! Fortunately, it turned up and all was well. Turns out, there was nothing on anyway.
7:23 p.m. - Skipped dinner this evening. Jennifer and I went to pick up mother's SUV to take to Fremont on Saturday. Talk about a Behemoth! It has every gadget known to man. When in reverse, it has a little viewscreen that shows you what is behind your car, and beeps incessantly at anything that might remotely be in the way of your car backing up. It has gadgets, and doodads, and secret compartments, and outlets. You could power two televisions, a refrigerator, and a laptop in that car! It's too much car for l'il ol' me, but it will be fun to drive on Saturday.
Meanwhile. . . I was wrong to ever doubt Victor's veracity. He was here, as promised, hard at work, repairing, caulking, priming, and painting. And the man sure does good work. My faith in the V-man is restored, and I shall never again doubt his word. They are putting shingles up alongside of the house - not technically historically accurate, but it looks good.
5:42 p.m. - [Editorial comment: not suitable for mothers-in-law or other parental units.] A most amusing video, for all my fellow Massholes out there, contributed by @msjen01. It's wicked pissa.
8:04 a.m. - Ahhh, the morning bagel. Is there nothing better than a morning bagel?
So I picked up Dan Brown's latest drivel The Lost Symbol. Bah! I'm 3 chapters in, and Brown is a hack. I have no issues at all with the liberties he takes with Masonry or religion - that's fair game, and it makes for a great story. He's great at the 3-page chapters, each ending in suspense, but they always follow the exact same pattern: secret millionaire schemer goes through extraordinary lengths to set up a scenario whereby the secret object falls into his lap. You'd think they get their playbook from Wile E. Coyote or Rube Goldberg. . . I think I'll finish Chernow's biography of John Rockefeller, Sr.
Upset tummy this morning. Maybe the bagel didn't like me as much as I liked it. Bleh.
September 15, 2009
8:35 p.m. - Busy day today. I was able to leave a meeting early, so I took some time to nom an excellent lunch at California Taco this afternoon. I wish there had been time to have a few friends join me. I wound up sitting next to some 20-somethings, one of whom had the loudest, most annoying laugh I've ever heard.
Jennifer is working late tonight, for (I think) the last TempO! of Twilight concert for the season. I've been puttering around the house, making a modest effort to clean the upstairs bathroom ("horrible! horrible!"), the downstairs bathroom (just one "horrible!"), tackle a bit of laundry, and generally remove the layers of detritus that have accumulated over the past few weeks.
September 14, 2009
Ooooh, artsy flower picture Look, the Smart Cars are smiling at the attention. The BMW Isetta. You could park this in the trunk of the Smart car. I could see myself behind the wheel of this one. But not, perhaps, the Nash Metropolitan. Central High in the Railroad Garden. 9:17 p.m. - An interesting observation: New World was trading at $44.86 on September 15, 2006. So that means that every dime invested over the last 3 years in my "work horse" mutual fund has lost money. Sigh. . . On the plus side, everything invested from about 2002 to 2006 has gained a bit. We have a long, long way to go to get back to about $65/share.
7:58 p.m. - Utterly exhausted. Mind numbingly, spiritually, physically, and otherwise pooped.
What the heck are you gibbering about, says you? What have you been doing, quoth the philosopher, that leaves you living in a constant chase after gain, compelling you to expend your spirit to the point of exhaustion?
Well you should ask, says I. Thereby hangs a tale.
Let me start with the end. After a long day, logging an additional hour and a quarter in unpaid toil, I came home with one thought: kick off my shoes, enjoy an adult beverage, and reacquaint myself with an old friend called television. Sadly, cruel nature had other plans. I went to the fridge to find a beverage and found the package of hamburger meat had oozed all over. It was horrible! It looked like a crime scene in there. Remember the scene in Ghostbusters when the ghosts inhabit Sigourney Weaver's refrigerator? No self-respecting ghost would live in my nasty fridge. Time was I'd've scoured the fridge if a drop of meat even remotely touched the surface. Since I've been married, I am kind of inured to it and can live with some serious ick factor without batting an eye. But this was way too much. I pulled every thing out of the refrigerator and sterilized everything. Hand washed every surface and shelf and swabbed the bottom with enough anti bacterial wipes to kill an elephant. And I threw out any foodstuff that even remotely had a scent. The ol' house hasn't been too neat as I toil relentlessly on Memory Walk and Jennifer on Garden events the past few weeks, but at least the refrigerator is above reproach. The freezer on the other hand. . .
But I mentioned the Memory Walk. What of it, says you? How was it? You know I never speak of work, but I will say that it was a stunning success. My committee worked hard and performed amazing deeds. We had about 50 or 60 people join us, in spite of over cast skies. The band was awesome, the caterer showed up on time, as promised, with tons of food, and while we didn't cart off golden doubloons in a dray, we did leave with a hefty satchel. I was very happy to have a great crowd of really nice people show up, committee members that exceeded every request we could have asked for, and a successful day.
We were home by 1:00, and I was fast asleep almost as soon as I got home. I took one of the best naps I've ever had - waking up at 5:00 am takes a lot out of you! I didn't do much of anything for the rest of Saturday, which was fine by me.
On Sunday, I was up early for a CHC presentation to a local business, which went off quite well. I spent some time looking at the Canon EOS 50D, but had to slap myself before I talked myself into spending $800 on a camera. One day. . . In the afternoon, I looked in on the Garden's European Car Show. They had over 100 European cars - featuring Jennifer's Smart Car. I am convinced she got it just to display in her own show. We went to Auto Zone the night before and spent a fortune on a chamois, sprays, wipes, car washes, and other accoutrements of the car fanatic. Jennifer spent a good hour polishing her car to a bright shine before displaying it for the masses. It was fun to watch the guys come sniffing at her car, scoffing at how wee it is, and then after sitting in it, realizing it's not that bad. And the kids loved it! I enjoyed seeing the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other Rich Folk car, though the BMW Isetta was my favorite. They had a great turnout and the weather was perfect for the car show. I spent some time with Jennifer and then took a good long walk through the Garden to admire the Railroad garden and take artsy-fartsy pictures of flowers.
I grilled ribeyes in the evening, and we spent Sunday night relaxing. All of which brings us back to today. Jennifer is cleaning in the bedroom, and I'm barely lifting a finger to be productive. Had to watch Hellboy II: the Golden Army earlier, and now I'm catching up on my e-mails.
September 9, 2009
7:00 a.m. - Woke up as usual at about 4:15 and could not get back to sleep for the life of me. I'd just about drift off, and then have a horrible itch in some hard-to-reach place on my back and have to get up to scratch. Or I'd drift off, and then have a thought about work and start pondering it until I was awake again. Tonight will be a late night - again - at work.
September 8, 2009
7:27 p.m. - Just got home about 20 minutes ago, after logging about 2.5 hours of OT at the office today. I'm beat. Hauled some of the foulest garbage ever to the curb, and am finally ready to kick off my shoes and relax. Meanwhile. . . called the contractor and he says "next week." We'll see. . . It's been "next week" since late April. Then he was going to resume around Memorial Day. After that, I didn't even bother to follow up again until J. waylaid him at a party hosted by a mutual friend. We are small dollar clients, to be sure, but we're regular, we pay promptly, we're great word-of-mouth advertisers, and we keep him busy during the down time. So why not throw us a bone and finish a job agreed to about 6 months ago? Check back next Tuesday and see what happens.
5:05 p.m. - We find our hero about 1:00, sitting in a little bistro while on the road in Dodge County, looking forward to a few minutes of peace and quiet in which to champ his wholesome sammich and ready a chapter or two of his latest book. In walks a young 20-something, Mr. Businessman, having a loud and annoying conversation with the office on his wireless phone. I realize that Mr. Businessman is important enough to merit conducting his business anywhere and everywhere, but does that mean it has to be conducted in tones loud enough for everyone to hear? Your level of self-importance is not directly related to the volume of your conversation. I hastily concluded my lunch and took a self-guided tour around the urban center of Dodge County. Once again, I think of Voltaire's wisdom of having him shot pour encourager les autres.
Got back to the office at 4:00, toiled until 4:30. Went home and let the dogs run outside, and now I'm back at work trying to finish up some paperwork so I don't fall behind. So much to do! I would much rather be with J. at the Garden listening to the U2 tribute band, but if I don't get this finished, I'll be very far behind with my record keeping. Ugh.
September 7, 2009
We had more kids at the neighborhood block party, and they had great fun throwing water balloons, making chalk outlines of themselves, and taking turns whacking a Spongebob Squarepants pinata
5:42 p.m. - Quite a nice weekend here in the River City. Saturday started out with a roar as we launched our first Memory Walk for work in Council Bluffs at the Mid-America Center. It was a stunning success, and the people at the MAC were very, very good to us. I started the day at 6 am at work running final reports and ended by 1:00 back at work, with a few reports and hauling water and banners back to storage. Jennifer was just heading to work as I got home, and I zonked out for a good hour's nap. I'm still catching up on sleep, in spite of a couple of naps throughout the weekend. In the evening, I looked in on the neighborhood block party which was fun. Jennifer got home from work and joined me outside. We sat with neighbors, had great burgers and food, and relaxed with friends until about 10:00. The kids had fun launching water balloons from a handheld catapult, making chalk outlines of themselves on the street, or attempting to destroy a very solidly built Spongebob Squarepants pinata.
On Sunday, we had a relaxing, quiet day. I stopped by the office in the early morning, and Jennifer looked in on the Gardens in the late morning. In the afternoon, we stopped by the Brass Armadillo and looked at antiques followed by dinner at Old Chicago. Quiet evening at home. I watched a bit more of To Play the King on DVD and Jennifer played online.
Jennifer stopped by work briefly today while I picked up a few groceries. We puttered around in the early afternoon, and I took another 20 minute cat nap before we headed over to my father's at about 2:00 for a picnic. . . And now, it's nearly 6:00 on Labor Day, and the weekend is ebbing away. Where did it all go. I need another 2 or 3 days with this kind of weather to relax and recharge the batteries. With 3 more Walks over the next few weeks, it's going to be an exhausting but fun September!
September 3, 2009
7:21 a.m. - I managed, if it's even possible, to log even last sleep last night than the night before. I may as well just stay up at nights rather than even try. The day hasn't even begun and I'm exhausted.
On that note, off to work. . .
September 1, 2009
6:51 a.m. - Yet another poor night's rest at Casa de Evans. Woke up at 4:30 and could not get back to sleep. It's going to be a long day. Welcome to September, my most stressful month.
