esrosedotblog

QUESTION OF THE DAY

So...if Rush Limbaugh dies in Hawaii, will his listeners believe the death certificate?

Ashley Stephens on Twitter.

He is in the same hospital that Obama was born. Whaddya think of that?

Labels: republican whack jobs

RES FREE

I don't much bother with the New Year.

It is a day like any other. We need dates, I suppose, and someone said that it didn't make much sense to have them be consecutive. We would be in the billion billions by now.

So they began repeating the cycle every year.

Then someone wanted months so they wouldn't have to write all the way to 365. And no one wanted three numbers for their birthday. Another inconvenience.

Somehow, holidays and, of course, the constantly interfering church had to get into it.

Another christian cockup.

So here we are with this artificial thing that needs some 30, some 31 days and a leap year besides to say nothing of the blue moon discussed (briefly) below.

A mess.

All in all, it comes out to indicate that New Year's Day is just another day in the stream.

The last time I went to a New Years Eve party I got so loaded that I did four flights of stairs legless with John at my side. That did the celebration part. It was the holiday's fault of course. That is how we think.

I believe this was the NYEve just before I got sober.

A long time ago.

Resolutions? Forget it. My gym and my Meetings will be full of people who are going to turn a new leaf. Next week. Then it will all quiet down again.

I figure, why even start it?

But if you are celebrating the day anyway, Happy New Year!

ONCE

Tonight, last night, there is a blue moon.

This comes simply because the lunar calendar doesn't match the whatever we have. They happen every three years. But this year is the first, in a while, that has the blue moon fall on the New Year. Hoo hah.

But I do like the picture.

Labels: astronomy

HEY, LOOK ME OVER! updated

I don't get the aversion to full body scanning. Neither does Kevin Drum.

Full Body Scanning

It isn't as though they can see into your booty or anything. And what if they can? They would tire of it pretty fast and you would be just another asshole.

Tthe same hysteria gets stirred when anything goes wrong with the shitty methods they have to do searches now.

We know in our hearts that these measures (shoes, liquids, nail files) are all futile.

This is all meeting the objectives of the terrorists. They want fear. You got it.

Fear.

How many days now? A week for one dude in his underwear who didn't have the wherewithal to do the deed.

Terrorists +7. Good Guys 0. Although I credit Obama for keeping his cool.

This morning on CNBC, the right wing idiot said he wanted a President who scared people. Yeh. We tried that one.

Labels: terrorism

PRUNE

Today was the annual rose pruning. It is emotionally hard to do it. There are still blooms. But there are still blooms because the roses got pruned last year.

I took the buds and they are in a vase in the dining room.

The bushes are shorn down to a nice bowl shape with a few green leaves to get things started.

With the warm winters, pruning is especially important to stop the sort of leggy growth that occurs just now.

The only question is how far they get pruned. My neighbor takes them down to about three feet. His roses are gorgeous all summer. They are in shade. But they are very tall. The way he wants it.

I will go all the way down to a foot or less on most canes. All of my bushes are in full sun and need to be dense. The way I want it.

The argument about height continues but the pruning is not in doubt.

Gotta do it.

Labels: garden

FUN WITH FREUD

Today's wonderful movie was Michael Gondry's

La science des rêves / The Science of Sleep (2006)

with Gael García Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbough.

The review says surrealism. I say Freud. Same thing. Sort of.

A self conscious young man and an eccentric young woman meet and nature takes a wandering course.

The young man gains "insights" from his dreams which we see. He moves in and out of the dreams. We are a part of them. It is great.

This film assumes that the viewer can think. And make connections.

The dreams are right out of the dream book and I (and you) have had some of them. I did not parse them all because I was enjoying things too much but there is a strong consistency between science from Freud on and what we see happening in the waking life.

The Freud connection is also there in that the boy has friends who act the id, ego and superego to his confused personna.

I am doing a lousy job of describing this film. It is a great film. Very funny. I want to see it again. That makes it, the first in a while, a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

DOXPLOITATION

Today's movie was the documentary

Not Quite Hollywood (2008)

They call it Ozploitation. It is the amazing growth of "B" movies in Australia parallel with the emergence of a high art film industry. High and Low.

Quentin Tarantino, an expert at these things, takes us through the years of sexploitation, slashploitation and roadploitation films.

It is another world. It is fun to hear some of the "how we did it" stories. It is OK to see the film clips. But a little of a good thing is sometimes better. They go on quite too long.

I enjoyed the sexploitation stuff because all of it was so funny and irreverant. A healthy bawdiness pervades the entire genré. And Barry Humphries, now famous for Dame Edna, was a writer and director for the sex films and Ms. Edna started her career cast as a prudish church lady type amongst all the wild goings on.

"I don't quite care for seeing lesbian sex. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth".

It was also sad fun to see the old or failed Hollywood actors that turned up there to get a part in a film. Broderick Crawford is the saddest. There is Dennis Hopper and Jamie Lee Curtis. George Lazenby, the failed James Bond and many others. Fun to look for.

I cared less for the gore fest part.

The road stuff was just amazing with the talk about high risk stunts and "how we did it" without being killed.

I watched the whole thing although I wanted to speed forward from time to time.

That makes it a 2 out of Netflix5. Just where a "B" picture wants to beeee.

Labels: films

GOTTA' DANCE!!

Today's movie was the documentary

Every Little Step (2008)

This film covers the casting process for the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line in New York.

Experienced dancers vie for the principal roles and tell a little of their own stories. But not a lot.

It is mostly the process. Good enough, but a bit slow at times and not enough men. OK. I am biased.

It is interesting to watch the archive footage of Michael Bennett who conceived, directed and produced the original production which was the first "workshop" show. That means that the production principals were brought together before the show was written. Songs and stories were sorted out. This technique was the conception of Joseph Papp, the director of The Public Theater.

The film perpetuates the enduring myth that the show was written by the original dancers or that somehow all that is said in the show comes from transcripts of the original get-togethers and workshops.

In fact, the show was written by James Kirkwood, a favorite author of mine, who won a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony and Drama Desk Award for the book of this musical. He worked with Nicholas Dante.

Another myth that is not laid to rest is the fact that Bennett was accused by many of the original dancers of "stealing the show". There were numerous lawsuits. Mostly settled. There was plenty of money to go around as the show continues to play somewhere around the world every day.

Neither of these stories are important to the film I saw today except insofar as Bennett is presented more or less as an icon. An angel looking over the production. it sort of pissed me off.

As to the film it is pretty good. The magic of the show and the music endure. The "kids" who audition are similar in many ways to those original dancers who supplied some of the outlines of character. Some nuggets of lines.

To me, the most interesting part was to watch the jury who still had two of the original principals still vitally active in directing and choreographing the show. They are the most interesting people of all.

Marvin Hamlisch is also on hand to talk about the music.

I could have done with about 15 minutes less of the drawn out auditions but they are very good. You cannot help rooting for some of the people who are trying so hard.

The makers of this film must have rolled "miles" of video to get all of these people, a thousand, who would winnow down to just 17 cast members and a few "covers" or standbys.

They must have had a keen eye for the standouts in that line and in the first hours of the tryouts. A huge, huge cattle call.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. I wouldn't mind seeing it again to watch some of the people who got the roles in the end more closely at the beginning.

Labels: films

STAYING THE COURSE

I stayed with my stock portfolio. Or, to put it another way, I stayed in the market. I didn't run.

Now, I feel vindicated.

Patience, Please, With That Investment Plan

Actually it wasn't much of a decision to stay with the market. I had no place to go.

I cannot understand anyone's going to cash. Or bonds. My financial constitution cannot digest interest rates that low.

And I believe that what goes down must come up. It is nature's way. Cycles.

I didn't know how fast it would happen but I knew it would happen.

In the early days, I believed in TARP and other federal steps to assuage the panic.

When Obama came in, I was politically committed to believe that his actions were the right ones to take.

If these Bush/Obama actions were meant to maintain confidence, it worked with me.

All this added up to staying with what I had.

And now, I have more than half of it back.

For two years or less, I took out expensive dollars from my IRA. The values had dropped so I was taking out dollars that were close to or less than the dollars I had put in many years ago. That is as good as cash or bonds. At least the bonds that let you take money out and cash them in early without penalty.

But, as it turned out, I was only using these "deflated" dollars for a short time.

A lot of this is also luck. Luck that I have financial coaches who said to stay. Luck that I am too lazy to think too much about the market and over analyze it. Luck that I have the kind of managed fund, not a mutual fund, that I think optimizes return although I don't like paying the fees every quarter. They are relatively small compared to the kind of money we are talking about.

I am also most lucky in being in a market that believes in the future and has rebounded faster than anyone thought it would at any time before it rebounded.

It could, of course, go all to shit in a short time. But so can I.

Labels: finance

END OF THE ROAD

I had my last MIT applicant interview today.

It was a good one. Interesting kid.

I have done 16 interviews this year.

Wow.

It started in August.

I go to the same table in the Tea Leaf and Coffee Bean shop every time. It is always empty. Today was the first time that a kid noticed that it says "Earl" on the table. Earl Grey. Tea. Get it?

The kid got an extra point.

Actually, the last time we had to sit outside because there were some rowdy teenagers in the back of the shop. That is why I left Starbucks which is on the opposite corner.

Watch out for this shit, Tea Bean and Coffee Leaf! No. The other way around. Coffee=Bean. Tea=leaf.

Labels: MIT

RHINOVIRUS

I have a small cold. Minor.

It started in the throat. Two to three days. Now to the nose. Soon, post nasal drip.

It will take seven days to clear my system. A week, if I take the medicine.

That is an old doc's joke. The old doc is gone but the common cold is not.

The worst part is the runny nose, if any. I don't have much. The normal daily dose of Clariton that I take pretty much keeps the weepies from happening. When the post nasal drip starts I will use Robitussin.

I get some sneezes occasionally. I get to show off my new into the elbow sneeze form.

I don't get colds very often. I figure that I have been exposed to most of the viri when I was traveling all the time.

By now, some of those have mutated.

Labels: health, medicine

BOOKER'S SANTA

Last week I was shopping and, somehow, thought about Franklin and the fun we had watching him open his presents, the first year especially.

He opened each one carefully. Took off the wrapping and then played with the toy some before he went to the next one.

We had decided that we wouldn't do presents for Booker because, well, I don't know why, "because". We were doing the holiday low key and he could too. Couldn't he? Couldn't we?

I got to the dog aisle of the supermarket and was drawn right into it. There were a bunch of shitty toys there as usual but, today, there was an Air-Dog dumbell (a good brand), a great squeaky rubber ball and a huge bone shaped toy made of hemp (reefer!) that advertised itself as being tough and resistant to dog attacks.

All three went into the shopping cart and home in a secret bag. John wrapped them in tissue paper.

Christmas morning. The presents came out. Booker opened them one at a time. John held on to them in case B wouldn't be patient. Booker. The most patient dog in the universe.

Anyway, it was all a great success. Booker opened them up gently and played with each toy.

The Air-Dog dumbell and the ball squeak. The ball even squeaks after you drop it, a sort of bagpipe effect. A drone. It fascinates him. He squeaks it and squeaks it then lets it drop on the floor. Drooooone.

He had the threads out of the hemp bone in minutes. Indestructible. Huh!

He is still going strong on these toys as I type. He has learned how to bounce the dumb bell toy like a tennis ball and grab it on the unpredictable rebound. The squeaky ball is the favorite. Workin' the drone.

I am going to get a couple more balls as it is soft and I don't expect it to survive any rough handling. But so far, it is doing better than the hemp bone thing. I expect to be confiscating that before the New Year. It is being slowly dismantled by chewing. Not a bad toy really but hardly indestructible.

Labels: Booker

BEST MOVIES

Once again, my list of best films for the year is complicated by the inclusion of films that I have seen before. These would include Slacker, Gosford Park, King of Hearts, Y Tu Mamå También, Young Frankenstein, The Warriors, Women in Love, Bread, Love and Dreams, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Treasure of the Sierra Madré.

These are all rated 1 out of Netflix5.

I did not see Diva this year or it would be on the list. It is an annual, usually, but just missed this time by a couple weeks.

The ten best "new to me" films, (all 5's out of Netdlix5) were:

And that is it. There were a few more new experiences this year. I saw all the films of Ramin Bahrani. Chop Shop, Man Push Cart and Goodbye Solo, all 4's out of Netflix 5 but seen together very powerful little films.

For those who care about stats, I saw 245 films this year. I am amazed. That is 4-5 a week. Which is about right, actually. Recently it has been more like three or four a week because of the MIT thing and other interruptions, but I am at my post at 1200 every day or so except Thursday. Nose to the grindstone.

Labels: films

ROLLING ROCK

Today's movie was the documentary

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

This is the story of a heavy metal band that has been going for thirty years. Well not the whole band. Two of them. The other two slots needed refills over the years.

And maybe not really "going". After a successful first album and tour it has all been downhill. I guess "going" in the sense that they are still rolling like a stone that has fallen off a mountain.

The best thing about this documentary is that it focuses on the people. Two guys who met and started playing together when they were 14. You don't have to listen to much of the music and, because of the structure of the doc, they play one main number in different phases of their career. It is a good number.

They guys are great. The rock's roll down the mountain has not been continuous. There are some high times and we see them during one.

The film is a true ode to the human spirit.

I liked it a lot. I liked them a lot. Some of it is quite surprisingly emotional. The end is wonderful. Of course it is not the end really, they are going to keep on going on.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, music

NICE

We had a nice holiday.

I went to a Meeting this morning and then exchanged some video time with kids back east. We all took a walk early. A weekday threesome. And then went to a pot luck dinner at a friend's house. A dozen people who we knew.

I took mince pie. I made two. Despite the host's saying one was enough. I brought one home. OK. I have it for New Years.

I didn't mention that I went to a party a week ago.

Last Saturday.

Our neighbor's annual open house. I usually last for 20 minutes before I take off out the back door. They understand.

This year they only invited neighbors. No clients. No one they don't like (we have the same prejudices and biases) so I stayed an entire hour. It was actually quite pleasurable. Until it wasn't.

Then I left.

That is my holiday season in a nutshell.

There are no more events.

Labels: holidays

WHERE IS SANTA

Every year I like to see where the NORAD Santa is.

This year, they decommissioned him.

Norad doesn't run it any more.

In fact, I think that the whole thing is canned. A Flash card timed to move him along according to the time.

But go see him anyway. It is still a little fun. Not too much but a little.

Where is Santa now?

We are a little late. He has already hit most of Europe as I write this.

Be sure to watch at least one video. London is good. So are the others.

Labels: holidays

THE OTHER HOLIDAY

In our house, when anyone says "happy holidays", we think Christmas, New Years and my Husband's Birthday.

John was born on the 23d of December. Not good timing on his mom's part.

If you are born on Christmas (like my daughter) or New Years, everyone makes a special effort to segment the day and make some time for the birthday cake and presents.

The 23d gets swallowed up in last minute shopping and other holiday travails. An afterthought at best.

I caught on, early on, that the more precedence given to the Birthday, the more fringe benefit the precedencer would get in return. Or one would at least avoid the dire fallout of not remembering.

So we cut the 23d out of the other days. Everything is focused on the birthday boy.

Well, we don't take down the holiday decor, but we do make an effort.

Yesterday was multiple cards and a small cake with the favorite dinner. Always turkey based. Some form, some way.

It was a nice day.

Labels: birthdays, holidays

GOOD SIGNS FOR THE FUTURE

I had an interview with an MIT applicant on Sunday.

It was quite enlightening.

My question: "We see what the Institute would give you. What would you bring to the Institute?"

This kid was comfortable with silence. He thought about this.

Then he thought some more. There was a little writhing around.

Then he said "my integrity".

Wow. Integrity. Usually it is some hackneyed thing like "my ability to work with others". Yeh. But what does that DO for other people really?

So he says "integrity".

We talked some about it. A long talk.

His idea here is that one's integrity involves being true to one's values. Not to conform, necessarily. And also to work toward having genuine values. Thought out. A moral standing point. A place to lead from and to model for others.

Pretty good stuff.

The kind of thing that makes me think there is a lot of good in the often criticized younger generation.

Well, I don't criticize, at least not generically, but you know what I mean.

This kid was right on it. He can do anything he wants with this starting point. He is bright. Smart. He is good looking and easy with his talking to an old guy.

I had a great time.

A week ago, I had a less than satisfying interview and I had to give a no-dice kind of rating and review. I don't like doing this. It makes me feel bad. But I know that I have to do it both for MIT and the kid himself. He doesn't belong there. They would eat him alive. Or "it" would. There was another one like that earlier.

I have one more interview to do for the year on Sunday. I had more kids this year. 16! Last year, 10ish.

I want them all to make it. Except for the two, of course.

Labels: MIT

ODYSSEY

Today's movie was Sam Mendes'

Away We Go (2009)

A young unmarried couple get pregnant and are suddenly jolted into reality. Thirty-somethings, they haven't yet stabilized their lives. They live like they are still students.

They embark on a trip to visit old friends and relatives to see what their lives should be like.

This is a comedy so they hit some pretty funny stereotypes along the way.

This film was slammed by many for its condescending and politically incorrect point of view. Boy. I love it for that.

It doesn't bow before anyone or kiss their asses.

The story arc is also very interesting. As the trip proceeds the comedy eventually calms down and reality enters. The last third of the film is dead serious and very touching.

John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are the couple. They meet up with his Jeff Daniels, Alison Janney, Maggy Gyllenhaal and others. Great episodic story telling.

I enjoyed this film very much and would be happy to see it again.

That makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

MISS

Sorry about yesterday. No posts. I had an MIT interview and it sucked the air out of the entire day. Well, there were other things too.

The interview was great. Wonderful kid. We talked a lot about "character". How many 17 year olds do you know who have a good deal to say on this subject?

But he wore me out. And it was super market day too.

And one hour with a Program friend. Busy.

Labels: blog, blogging, gay life, MIT

FOLLOW THE LEADER

Good pranking is an artform.

This melds three or four sessions.

Labels: fun

WHEN I WAS A KID

Today I was arranging the new red grapes in a dish and remembered that when I was a kid, red grapes were a winter holiday event. And they were not seedless.

I worked in the A&P that my Dad managed and every year, probably from the Coachella Valley where I live, there were boxes and boxes (wood) of red grapes for sale.

No other time of the year that I recall.

So we gorged on grapes. Spit out the seeds.

There isn't a whole lot to the story except to underline the obvious. We now have, year round, a whole lot of produce that used to be seasonal.

In the "olden days" we had sparagus in the spring, blueberries in late summer, strawberries hardly at all in the store, all local at road side stands. It goes on and on.

We did have lettuce, iceberg, the tasteless kind. But no other. The iceberg came in big (wood) crates, packed in ice from the central valley of California.

The ice lasted just about long enough for the lettuce to get to our store.

Tomatoes? We had hot house and then, in season, more local tomatoes from New Jersey. The old fashioned tasty ones.

The price we pay to have all this stuff all year round (in addition to the price we pay) is that it is all "shippable" now and therefore often tasteless.

One of the things about moving out here is that all the produce we buy is local except when it is not (blueberries, asparagus, some other stuff) and it lasts longer and tastes better.

We get it before the folks back east do. And we also get some breeds that are not "shippable" over flavorfull.

OK. That is enough nostalgia for today. The thoughts spun off of a bunch of grapes. And these came from just down our valley!

Labels: food, nostalgia

BUT IS IT ART?

Today's film was George Gallo's

Local Color (2006).

This is part coming of age story and part a defense of representational art.

Sound stuffy? Not at all. Especially when it is done in the words of the curmudgeonly art teacher who takes over our young man's painting education for the summer.

Of course, the abstract expressionists hardly get a word in but it is still interesting and the story is good. Often touching.

Nothing bad happens. It is all good. And that is not telling you anything.

The photography is, naturally, representational and is natural! The landscapes keep coming and the composition of many scenes could be right off a canvas. A painterly eye is directing.

Gallo is a painter and the story is semi-autobiographical. I understand that it is three teachers rolled into one for the film. I am pretty sure most of the paintings in the film are his and you can see more on Gallo's website. Plein air. Good.

I liked it a lot. It somehow teaches and entertains at the same time. Thought provoking. Beautiful. Very nice.

I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

THE LONGEST NIGHT SHORTENS

Today is the winter solstice. 947 AM PST. So it will be in about an hour from now. I am early.

If you are a druid, you can sit out an watch the sun set or rise or whatever. Look through the henge at the sun. Don't look directly into it though. Sort of blink. Then dance druid dances.

I am more interested in the fact that, beginning now, I will have longer light and can look forwards to later dog walking.

The weather is shitty here today anyway and I would not be able to see the sun, henged or not henged.

Labels: holidays, nature, seasons

STEPPING ON THEIR OWN CRANK

The Republicans are so scorched earth that they lost the chance to get middle of the road Democrats on their side for their positions.

Poor Chess Players

When Evan Bayh wants to beat the GOP more than to be a pain in the ass to his own party you know that the GOoPers have gone too far.

Well, we knew it. Now, I hope, they know it.

Nothing. Nothing is going to change the reform bill. It will be law. And it will be amended up.

Even if the Demos lose some seats over it in 2012, it stays. And the GOP is made to look like the total obstructionists they have decided to be.

Not all. Grassley, who is a bastard and a turncoat to his gang of six, would have gone for a bill with half the money that will be spent. But he was slammed back into the NO boat. As, clearly, were Collins and Snow of Maine. They will have primary problems if they stray from the tea bag purity tests.

There are more. None will fight the current leadership or risk the wrath of the tea baggers. The crazy right was turned loose to hurt the Democrats. Guess who they are hurting most.

Labels: Administration Obama, Democrats, republican whack jobs

DEADLINE

Interview with MIT kid today and another on Tuesday. One more hangs without a definite date.

This is the last week we can have them. I am about done. I do some pushups before each one now to be up and bright and optimistic. Seeing the good sides rather than the rough edges. Giving the benefit of the doubt if there is "trouble" which there almost always is.

There are a couple that I have interviewed who have not yet completed their admission process. They have two weeks for that.

I don't get to prod them even though I would like to.

It is an interesting activity.

Hard for them. Hard for me. Hard to write up and feel good about it even if when there is a top notch candidate of all time in the bunch (earlier this year). I want to be fair. Objective. Very tough to do that.

Opinions and attitudes (mine) keep creeping in.

But I try to mark that in my little essay about them. This is "me" talking. You decide, oh MIT gods. I am just a part of the process.

In a way, I can't make a mistake one way or another if I try to do my best and be honest.

It is snowing inside the Institute Great Court today.

Labels: MIT

LIFE IN THE DESERT

Today's movie was the Kahzak Russian film

Tulpan / 2009

The best movies have either an original story, clear through with humor and genuine feeling or put us in a place, real or imagined, that is utterly unique and a world apart from our everyday world.

This film does both. The simple story of a world traveling sailor who comes back home to the desert to settle with his sister and brother in law is really great. It has elements of coming of age but there is far more as the customs of his family and his own aspirations clash. The dreams about his life are colored by his life in the outside world. At home, they come crashing down.

There is also the pull of the city. It is hard to give up rock and roll for a life as a shepherd.

The life of these people is not shoved down our throats. We gently join the family in their yurt and become part of their daily lives. Very nice.

The animals are wonderful. Not all disneyfied. Real and bursting with life.

There is a girl. He has never seen her but he wants her. She is the only woman within miles. The love story is a metaphor for the experiences and choices he needs to make. Tulpan is her name. There is a great ending.

I liked it a lot and would not mind seeing it again. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

WHY WE MOVED

Winter Storm Races North

They said this could be in the top ten of great storms. But they are always saying shit like that.

I remember the 1978 blizzard that crippled Boston and the Northeast. it was the drifting as much as anything.

John and I had reservations in Florida and the day we were to leave, Logan was still closed.

But the trains were going to run and airports were open in NYC.

So we got seats out of Newark and took the first train out of South Station. Well, Back Bay.

I remember carrying suitcases through the drifts to get there with people hollering at us. "Where do you think you are going?". "Florida" we would say.

We would all laugh. Well, us more than them.

We got to New York and Newark and Ft. Lauderdale. 12 hours late. But there.

There were still guys from Boston at the hotel (the old gay Marlin Beach of dubious fame and ill repute) because Logan was still closed. We knew a few of them. Familiar bar queens and clones.

A good time was had by all.

The photo is on Beacon Hill at the height of the storm.

Labels: back east, Boston, weather

WHAT A HEEL

I wrote a while ago that I had gotten plantar fasciitis.

It is a lot better and, I now realize, not nearly as bad as it might have been.

This morning I met a guy who was limping. He has had the condition for ten months. He has more pain now than when he started treatment. He has been to "everyone" and is now with an "expensive" foot doctor.

They have used taping of the foot, exercise and other techniques. He is on a prescription anti-inflammatory.

I have done a couple of things. I tried arch supports. The first thing they tell you until someone else tells you it is all in the heel and you should have heel supports instead. My GP told me that.

I found that I could not wear my sneakers comfortably with or without supports. I started wearing birkenstock sandals and clogs mostly in the morning. In the afternoon, I switched to Merrell strap on sandals for long outside walking.

I tried the sneakers again without the heel and arch stuff. It was better but not right.

It occurred to me to try stretching my hamstrings and calves again.

I have gotten the most dramatic improvement from this. Quick. Dramatic.

I had read one of those anti-stretching articles and quit doing it some time ago. I am back to it. Also heel lifts on a machine.

Yesterday I wore sneakers to my interview. I was fine. I had taken out the heel supports. Good. I am wearing sneakers now. Three hours and walking. No pain at all.

It is all fucking trial and error. Like life.

I have read enough about this to know that very little is known about curing this condition but that I have either stumbled upon what works for me.

My take is that "no one knows anything" about it but they are willing to treat it anyway and collect their fees.

Even my doc didn't think I should go to another doc but try the home remedies and let the body take care of it.

Did I mention aspirin? I have taken it for its anti-inflammatory properties as much as pain and am now reducing it.

Labels: health

CAUGHT IN THE NICK OF TIME

Apparently a deal has materialized out of the chaos of the Copenhagen Climate Control Conference.

And "our hero" seems to have made a rather dramatic move.

The deal came after a dramatic moment in which Mr. Obama burst into a meeting of the Chinese, Indian and Brazilian leaders, according to senior administration officials. Chinese protocol officers noisily protested, and Mr. Obama said he did not want them negotiating in secret. The intrusion led to new talks that cemented key terms of the deal, American officials said.

Labels: Administration Obama

INTERVIEW

I have an MIT applicant interview today.

When I do this, it really takes most of the day.

I sort of "get ready" and then go for it.

The interview lasts 60-90 minutes. Then I have to write it up. I like to do that in the same day.

So, maybe 4 hours in all are involved.

There are at least two more to do over this long weekend. Maybe a third later in the week. A guy whose councillor couldn't make a date with him. Next territory over.

Our deadline looms. It is all over January 1st.

I have had more kids this year than ever before.

The interview is very, very important for them and I try to take it very seriously.

There are 15,000 applicants for 1500 positions in next year's Freshman class. Ten to one.

I am the only live contact with the school for these kids. And visa versa. There are no interviews given on campus anymore.

When I went, I got to see the Dean of Admissions.

No more.

It is an all on-line process except for this part.

But the role I play is very MIT like. Tough. Fair. Facing the truth.

I don't like to see a kid who I know is not MIT material. I have to say that to the "home office" when it is true. And it is in a few cases every year. I don't tell the kid but I am honest with him as far as I can be.

But that it is the hard part. Sometimes, I get to spot someone very special. A oner. I had one this year.

I always wondered how I would know when I hit what they call a "plus one" applicant.

I knew it the minute I met this kid. It is awesome. Charisma plus and wildly smart in a great open armed kind of way. An open personality. Very little ego. Great.

He also had nearly perfect SAT scores.

And you know what? There is not surety that he will get in either.

I did my part with it and try hard to paint a useful picture and the gods take over from there. 10 to one. Goddam.

Labels: MIT

EARLY ACTION

MIT just announced the "early action" results. Kids who have asked for early consideration because they need to make financial plans and/or find alternative schools.

Of the people I interviewed, none were admitted outright. None were "not admitted". All were "deferred". This is a sort of limbo. They will go into the regular admit pool.

I am not a fan of this process.

It is done, I am told, because some kids have to make early financial plans and that all the other schools do it too. Not a good reason, this latter one. There has been talk about stopping it at MIT but nothing yet.

A lot of kids, perhaps half of the class, get picked in this way. They pull from half the applications that will eventually be made. Ten percent make it.

I will probably get asked about it by one or two of the kids. Maybe all of them. Wanting advice about what to do.

I don't have any. They can wait until Mid-March to find out their status with MIT or make a decision to go to another school.

I am told that there were far more No Admit kids than the past in early action. So "deferred" is more optimistic than it was in the past.

Labels: MIT

BONEHEAD

Booker is a voracious bone hunter.

Every walk is punctuated with dashes to the bushes or lingering search missions along walls and in planters.

His mission is frequently accomplished. There is a vast array of bones in these places.

We know of two generous sources.

Trash areas where people somehow fail to hit the center of the dumpster spilling bones around.

Then there are the gardeners who eat on the run. Chicken legs, ribs. The bones get stashed in the client bushes.

There are two other sources for Booker. One is the restaurant area that lies on the NW quadrant of our walk area. Again sloppy trash practice. I try to avoid it.

And just up the street there is a corner where someone frequently throws their leftovers. I don't know who or what they are leaving the stuff for. Raccoons? Coyotes?

Booker is quite happy to be the recipient if we forget about it and don't keep a tight leash.

Now, here is the thing about bones. We were warned and cautioned and threatened by vets and others about the dangers of bones for dogs. I developed a bonaphobia.

With Franklin we intercepted the bones immediately and he had been trained to "let it go" which mostly he did and, if he didn't, would submit to a cavity search for the offending bit. Although he got quite good at hiding the thing in his mouth, he still could be induced to give it up.

Not so with Booker.

Booker is big. Booker is solid. Booker does not open his mouth and drop any fucking thing that he got there with his own efforts. Period. You cannot pry his jaws open. He will not bite, although I wonder why he hasn't, he just will not "let it go".

This goes along with Booker's appetite which is always high. He never leaves anything in his plate. Never. Franklin did, often. A picky eater.

So, in alarm, we would helplessly watch him exercise his great talent for bone finding with his habit of not giving the morsel up. He ate it. Them. All the time. Sharp chicken bones, OK ribs, big beef bones (although I have had him drop a really big one out of frustration so I got it). All manner of boney objects.

And he chewed them. Crunch.

I would freak out.

Now I put that in the past tense because it finally dawned on me that he had been eating bones for weeks, maybe one or two a walk, and there were no adverse consequences. No punctured intestines. No torn stomach.

I couldn't even find the bones in his poop not that I looked that thoroughly. None.

Booker is, obviously, a dog who has always had bones and knows what to do with them. He is a natural.

He has a huge mouth with many big teeth. Airedales have like an extra set or something.

And so I have learned to stop worrying and accept the bone chase and chew experience and to let it go. Realizing, I suppose, that fighting it would only make the chewing less effective as he rushed through the process.

And it is good for his teeth.

Hey. When I can't do anything about a problem, I just have to relax. I am out of the picture. If there is trouble I can always step in and help. Until then, let it go.

Not a bad life lesson. So late in the game. Imagine.

Labels: Booker

NOW WHAT?

Today's film, the Norwegian

O'Horten (2007)

Odd Horten, a railroad engineer, retires. This film answers the question of "what do I do now"?

Having lived his entire life by the railroad's schedule, Horten's clock and life are thrown off kilter when he has nothing to do. No place to go.

The answer to his question turns out to be "do the next indicated thing and follow your heart if you can find it". In other words, let real life take over.

And he does. With some weird and funny outcomes.

Wry, quiet, modest, this film took me over as well. It only took a short while. Like Horten, I was a bit adrift in the film until I found myself.

The symbols are nice. It is winter all the time. We start by going safely and quietly in the train through rough weather.

Outside the train, the weather is much less calm. A great metaphor, it is used throughout.

The film is very nice. Sweet.

Having been through what Horten is going through, I identify. Life not only goes on but stays at a nice height of experience. Oddly, slowing down is a part of it.

I will give this one a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

SMALL STEPS

D.C. Council Approves Gay Marriage

There will be a congressional step involved. More air time for the advocates as well as the bigots. Good for the issue. Talk. Talk. More talk.

Labels: gay marriage, gay rights

ONE SMALL STEP INTO THE HOLIDAYS

I bought a poinsettia today at the super market.

It is pretty nice for the price. Not too big.

And the wrapping paper is red and white stripes.

John says that it makes a nice total decoration.

Since that is the only thing we have so far, except for the advent calendar, I guess it will have to do.

The one I picked out has as much green as red on the top and there are a couple of really, really dark red leaves.

We just threw out the last year's supermarket plant.

I forgot to get it into the dark and so it never turned.

The big, big poinsettia that we got as a gift last year is still in the big pot outside and it is also full green. And a bit beaten up. I think that, if we get another big plant this year, (hint hint) we will put it out and then cut it down in the early spring and try a cover for the summer.

Labels: holidays, horticulture

CULTURE CLASH

Today's movie was

Easy Virtue (2008)

Based on a Noel Coward play, this story of an American woman who marries a British boy and comes to meet the parents is a rundown of the rundown aristocracy in England between the World Wars.

Updated, it still holds some water but mostly evolves around some enjoyably eccentric stock characters (ugly sisters, hostile mom, disrespectful butler) that we have all seen before.

What makes it, finally, enjoyable is its twisty ending.

Colin Firth and Kristen Scott Thomas play the parents very nicely. The young people passably. Jessica Biel and Ben Barnes.

There is a bit with a chihuahua that goes over the line of drawing room humor into slapstick which I didn't appreciate. A failure in the film's mood. It took me awhile to recover.

Typically, for Coward the bon mots are delicious.

Otherwise OK.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

22 MILLION EMAILS

That which has been lost has been found and that which was found, well, hasn't been seen yet.

Millions of missing Bush admin. e-mails found

This should be a lot of fun.

The thing about emails and shit is that you can't get rid of them. They stick like glue. Just when you think it would be the opposite.

Counter intuitive, huh?

Labels: bush. bushies

ABOUT FILMS

I am on a track to catch up on all the good films that I have missed in the last two years while I was giving priority to the NYTimes Best Film list.

That "best" list is still in process with, perhaps, 50 films still unavailable on disc at all and another hundred committed to disc but not yet released. Some will probably never be distributed since many companies, hurt by on-line distribution methods, are already curtailing their DVD production.

Meanwhile, I am watching the best of the films from 2007-2009.

How do I judge the best? Mostly from reviews in the NYTimes and LATimes as well as some other word of mouth.

There is also, now, a new cumulative critic rating that is quite reliable and informative.

Movie Review Intelligence.

I am staying mostly with the films that garner 60% ratings or over. I also read the reviews themselves or the capsules.

I drop a few but not many.

No suprise. If you stay with the critical favorites they are almost all independents, small movies or off shore. Very little Hollywood product.

Right now the well received wide distribution films would be unique items like Up in the Air, Invictus and Brothers. All released this year. Not many others. The rest are limited distribution. Art house or big cities only.

There are a lot of good films. I have 80 films in my queue right now and of the ones that I have been watching in the last couple of months, there have been no losers. And quite a few winners. Better than the so called "Best Films" did.

Will there be more "Best Films"? Yes. There are a few in the queue and I have left them where they emerged from the pending list. Their release date.

I am looking forward to seeing Z again, for example.

That is it on the film front for now.

I know that some people take a look at what I am looking at and so I figured some background would help explain where these are all coming from.

This photo is from the Wellfleet (MA) drive in theater. Still in operation.

Labels: best films, films

THUGATHON

Today's movie was the highly regarded

Next Day Air (2008)

Hip hop blaxploitation.

A keystone cops picture only the cops are thugs.

Very fast moving.

The director, Benny Boom, is a music video guy. He has brought all of the best to this fast moving comedy/thriller.

I liked it a lot and we left the english hoh subtitles on so we wouldn't miss anything. The dialects are very strong.

I liked it a lot. It is all light as a feather but fun and you will laugh. I did. LOL.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

QUIET PETS

When I was a kid, I became aware of mealworms.

At school? In reading?

I don't know.

I suspect Mr. Ravelli in school. A science project.

I had to get the pioneer worms somewhere.

I kept them in a classic reagent jar. Cork top.

I put bran and flour into the bottle with some worms.

From then on, for years, I had worms.

Fun. Life cycles.

And quiet pets.

The other day, the LATimes had an article on a guy who grows them for a living!

Compton merchant finds worms wonderful

It brought back happy memories.

Of course, the worms did nothing but live. They didn't do tricks. They were not pettable.

They did have their life cycle. When they got to the beetle stage, I would let them lay their eggs and then release them to the wild. Far from our house.

As I recall, not that many beetles were hatched from the many many worms that were born.

They did have one important quality. They were an eccentric pastime. I would do anything to be a bit off the main street.

And I was.

Labels: life, nostalgia

SPAM MAGNETS SPAM GENERATORS

I have long eschewed membership in any social network like FaceBook or any of it. I just write to the inviter on regular email and say I have a long standing policy against joining up. That I view the sites as spam magnets and that I love to be in touch but regular email will be fine, thanks.

I have never been too sure of the spam magnet thing, frankly. It seems a good excuse but unproven.

Now, I have evidence. And not only for attracting spam but generating it.

Crooks Hijack Facebook Accounts, Injuring Dignity

Actually, this is only a sideshow. I am against the networking sites because I think they are the work of the devil. Substituting fake camaraderie for the real thing. Phony intimacy. The illusion of friendship. Pals at a distance. All that. The end of the world as we know it.

But I will use whatever argument I can when invited to join up.

Did you know that if you agree to be someone's "friend" that your entire email file will get mined and sent one of those pernicious invitations? I don't know how that works but that is what has happened to a few of my real friends.

I know. It is a useless rant. These things are going to come and go and I am powerless over it. I can only take care of myself.

Labels: computer

THE MAN

Paul A. Samuelson, Economist, Dies at 94

I took his course. Everyone did. I didn't get himself but his co-author of later editions of the classic text.

I knew him as the nice guy who came to lunch every day at Walker Memorial, the MIT East Campus Dining Hall where I worked, first as a flunky and then as the head student captain.

My boss was a friend of his so I would get to sit down with them from time to time.

He was a world famous man with the humble interests of an everyman. That, I believe, was the heart of his success as an economist. He never lost sight of the fact that the economy is people and he was a people just like the rest of us.

I knew who he was but since he didn't much care about the who he was neither did I.

He was a famed Kennedy advisor but would not take a position in the government lest it tarnish his objectivity as a scientist.

He was funny. "A woman is a man with less money".

He was unfailingly kind and interested in students. He taught throughout his active career. 14.01. The basic course.

He is also a hero. He got past 90 and died at home. Good for him. What better end?

Labels: heroes, MIT

MEMORY DAY

Franklin would have been 7 years old today.

I still miss him. Sometimes very much.

I don't want the day to be an excursion into sadness.

More, I want to remember what fun he was. What great enthusiasm he had for life.

He had many friends. They still remember him.

Here, eight months later, I still encounter people who do not know that he is gone.

Booker is used to this.

He hears the story again and I talk about how happy we are that he came to live with us. What a joy he is. A great big serene Aire-boy. And I mean it.

He has gone a long way to soothe the pain of Franklin's leaving.

And he is Booker. His own dog. So remarkably different than Franklin that we see him as himself and not as a substitute in any way.

And because of the stark differences in size and temperament Booker hasn't stood in front of Franklin in our experience. He stands aside.

Two great animals. Wonderful beings with whom we share/d a happy life.

So, no more than a few tears today. Or a few lumpy throats. Mostly we will have happy memories of "first dog". I can see him running and jumping up on someone as I type. I hope it is me!

Labels: Booker, Franklin

DENIAL

Labels: global warming

POSTHUMOUS

Today's film was the documentary

Trumbo (2007)

Dalton Trumbo was a screenwriter who had remarkable success and then lost all when he refused to say whether he was or had been a member of the communist party.

He took the First Amendment on the basis that no one can ask us our political affiliations.

But they did and they held him and the Hollywood Ten for contempt of Congress. It went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Ten lost.

Trumbo spent a year in jail and at least ten years in blacklist purgatory.

But he wrote films anyway and got paid for them. Mostly B's.

Then he wrote the script for The Brave One (1957) as Robert Rich. No one came to the podium. Everyone knew that it was Trumbo.

Then Otto Preminger used him for Exodus (1960) and Kirk Douglas for Spartacus (1960) and they named his name in the credits.

The hell that he went through is told through his own letters and autobiography. Some film clips are used as well with relevant dialogue.

Except for some personal memoirs, the entire film is written by Trumbo.

What pain. What a time.

I remember that it was all wrong. The blacklists and all. I would have been in my early to mid teens. He testified in 1947. McCarthy had his fall when I was a senior in high school.

I think we have come close to this kind of thing most recently in the bush years when this film was being produced.

We only had our feet in the water but it was bad enough.

Trumbo's words are read by some wonderful actors.

I liked it very much and it was very instructive.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

BUG OUT

I have been holding my breath a bit.

I got the new disc drive on my iMac a few weeks ago.

I wasn't ready to report complete success because my problems have always been time related. It would run OK for awhile and then "deteriorate".

So far, so good.

The performance is quite astonishingly better than it was.

I am beginning to think that the machine had always had something not quite right going on.

I accepted a few needs to restart or a slowness with shutting down windows.

I had corruptions occur when I knew that John's machine, which is the same but a bit newer, was not having any of this.

I just had a buggy machine.

Now, since the repairs, I have none of this.

It is hard, of course, to isolate the effect of adding RAM from changing to the new disc but I am pretty sure that what I am seeing is an overall operating improvement based on the disc alone.

After all, I had the RAM added and then the machine failed a week later. Hence the disc install.

Things are so fast on the web. Movies play faster. I have not had to restart the machine except for adding updates to the software. No restart to "clean things up".

Happiness is a bugless machine. Also a warm puppy but I already had that.

Labels: computer, macintosh

LOVE IS WHERE YOU FIND IT updated

Today's film was the Czech

The Country Teacher (2008)

The teacher is on the run in this mild manner but deeply affecting film about sexual identity, coming of age (it can happen any time, later rather than sooner) and finding out what love is about.

It is a simple affair. Beautifully filmed in the country. Cows. Farms. Very good.

I enjoyed it. There are a lot of funny spots as well as heartful. Nice combination.

I think that this explores bisexuality in a way that I have never seen before. It almost makes me believe in it. That it really exists.

John says that he is not bisexual but that it is about transcending sex.

In any case, we are given a lot of food for thought.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

ANOTHER SLIGHT

Some Jews whine and complain over everything. I know. That makes me an anti-semite.

If that is the qualification these days, so be it.

There is such a thing as looking for trouble.

Washington Fuss Over White House Hanukkah Party

I think that it amounts to pissing on your own parade.

Labels: Administration Obama

IN THEIR FACE

I saw the first part of Obama's Nobel speech today.

It was tough. He defended just wars.

I am not sure that is what they wanted to hear.

He discussed the paradox of seeking peace in a world where some nations and groups will only respond to military force.

It was quite American.

I am pretty sure that it is another point of departure for our lefties.

I, myself, feel comfortable with it.

I don't like it. But it is realistic.

He had the ideals in there too.

Look. They picked him. He is not Ghandi. Or Martin Luther King. But he comes from that heritage.

He is a good guy trying to get along in a world where not everyone is a good guy.

SLEEPING UPSIDE DOWN

We turn our mattress once a year.

Today is the day.

It is not as easy to do as it sounds.

Last year was a clusterfuck. So many twists and turns and hollering at one another that I think we actually may have put it back exactly as it was before we started,

So this year, I enlisted some help.

How to Turn Your Mattress

It was easy if you followed the directions. Some of us didn't want to. But we got there.

It is counter intuitive somehow.

I liked the diagrams and to do it slowly so I could see it happening.

Labels: housekeeping, life

SCANDAL US

I usually shy away from the gossip pages.

I am not much interested, in the first place. And, in the second, I usually think that it is OK for people to do what they want to do as long as they accept the consequences of their behavior and stand up to the plate when the beans get spilled.

That is not a mixed metaphor. Where else would the beans go, when they get spilled, but on a plate?

I am force fed with this stuff for the half hour I sit in front of CNN at the gym. "Unknown woman taken to emergency room, lived on Woods' street and has license plate in same series as......".

Then the countdown of the bimbos.

But so often they don't come clean. The beans spill and they are underneath the falling beans or not standing at the plate. Or something.

I admire Tiger for not playing the game with the press but I am not sure that he can hold out. They have already taken him off the air. Temporarily.

Besides, it is boring.

Politics, on the other hand, does a much better job of sex scandal. It has so many sides. And, as Gail Collins says, you can have legislative hearings about it.

The Joys of Political Sex

Labels: republican whack jobs

NO SHOW

The expected frost didn't show last night. It was easily over five degrees warmer than expected. Maybe more. Clouds came in to reduce radiational cooling and the front bringing the colder air got in early so that it's warmer side started in before dawn.

I was ready though.

Our water pipes are across the roof. They got there when former owners had to abandon the in-slab piping that leaked. A second rate solution but the only economically feasible one.

I have had frozen pipes two or three times. Once with major replacement. Slush a few more. The thing is to keep the water flowing.

I would just have stayed home from the gym so I could go run some water in the back bathroom, the only vulnerable place, every 15 minutes or so.

Labels: repairs, weather

WHAT'S IN A NAME

When I read the rumors about a "deal" the other day I was amused to note that somehow they had managed to scuttle the so called "public option" and substituted something(s) that have no name at all. Extend the age limits for Medicare for half the population and setup a non-profit administrator for a plan modeled after the government employee system.

There is nothing new in either of these ideas except that, before, they were put forth as 100% plans in which either Medicare would open for everyone in need of insurance or the government employee plan would be available to all who could not get another commercial plan.

This is rather clever actually.

The "public option" title has drawn so much fire that it is radioactive. This new construct which is basically the same idea is much harder to argue against (although many will try) and it does not have the "history". And, it is like a trojan horse. Once across the border it has a legion of opportunities for unpacking into a universal insurance plan which many (65%+/-) people would like to be a part of.

Read this: Public Option Keeps Toehold in Senate Deal on Health Bill

Most of the opposition is electoral. Enough Senators are in jeopardy in their red tinged home states over their support for this thing that will have "death panels" and rationed care. Never mind that we ration it now in the market place. Aetna is rationing so much as to drop 650,000 policy holders next year to raise their profit targets. Some rationing. Some death panel. The "free market".

Anyway, I like watching the show.

Oh. I should say that one Senator stands out as totally loyal to his business roots. Lieberman, the whiner, has had 7 different reasons he has been against the public optionat different times. And everyone knows there is only one reason. He is in the pockets of his state's enormous insurance industry. Period. Oh. And he is an obstructionist, ego driven asshole. That too.

Labels: Administration Obama, health, medicine

TERRITORY

I go to the gym every day at 415 and arrive and am on my stationary bike by 430. That is all AM.

Lately, the fat guy, has been sitting on my bike when I get there.

Let's break that down.

The fat guy is really fat and has been around in the early hours for years. (He wears a sweat band. I have never seen him break a sweat). Usually he gets there after I do.

My first encounter with him was when I had a trainer and fatso used to come over and ask for advice from the trainer while he was working with me. For free. while I was paying. My trainer handled it when I asked him to after a few incidents. But still.

Not a good start.

Then, the part about "my bike". I sit in front of the CNN side of the cycles. There is a FOX end. I don't sit there.

There are probably three good bikes to see the show. I choose the center one.

I have been on this bike every day for over two years now.

Now, I do not go to the gym to see teevee. Obviously. But it is an opportunity to check in on what the mass media is feeding and it is revelatory. The anchors are kind of dim (they have to read their questions!), the topics are a weird set of real and fake news (Tiger Woods mother in law going to the hospital--live!) and what coverage there is, superficial. Also, a maddening desire to present both sides of a question even when there isn't any. How do you spell Giuiiani?

So, there it is. I watch. Actually it is watching as the sound is not on and I get to see the hearing impaired scroll's interpretation of the already inaccurate stuff on the original show.

So here comes fatstuff.

On the first day, I made some comment about the idiots on the tube. He agreed as he views FOX as the only truth on the whole media spread.

No shit. A live one. I rarely get to see one on the hoof. And he says proudly "of course, I am a Republican" and I say "and more.....if you think FOX is fact." We sort of agree to disagree. I shut up from my perch on the leftmost of the three bikes that sit in front of the video.

Now I thought this to be a one time thing. Perhaps he strayed into my territory in error. Perhaps he has not noticed that I am always on that particular bike.

But he has been back regularly. On my bike!

A right wanker.

I was going to call to his attention the fact that FOX NEWS??? is shown at the other end of the bike row and then I saw that their set is on the blink. All snow.

So he is on hardship leave, down at my end, on my bike, watching CNN which IS bad but not for the reason HE thinks it is.

Are you getting the picture?

We have some serious drama building here. Something that I do not need. Space in my head that I do not want taken up by the fat guy.

So today I took the initiative. He doesn't know it yet but my bike is now the one on the left, the one that was my second choice. Now it is Number One.

I want THIS bike.

Of course, he has no way of finding this out unless he comes in some day late and I am on the left bike and not the center bike which used to be my bike but now isn't.

I know.

Silly shit.

Junior High.

But there it is.

Labels: gym