Rambling and Ranting
Transcendent Moment
Oct 22nd
We’re sitting around the dinner table, eating lemon pepper chicken that’s perfectly cooked right off the grill. You know the kind, with the fat slightly crispified around the edges, but the middle is perfectly white and juicy.
The Cardinals are playing on TV. Unbelievably, the Cards are leading the heavily-favored Tigers one game to nil, and Game Two is currently scoreless. After the post-season letdown from some high-powered Redbird teams of recent years, there’s a refreshing underdog spirit emanating from this squad. And it somehow makes the chicken taste that much better.
Instead of listening to the usual Tim McCarver droning commentary, we have the Rolling Stones playing in the background. Not a CD. The actual Rolling Stones are playing in Zilker Park tonight, and strains from The Glimmer Twins are intermingling with the chicken aroma and Cardinals spirit in quite a sensory smorgasborg.
Later in the evening, the Cardinals may have fallen behind by three, but Keith unleashes the buzzsaw riff leading into Jumpin’ Jack Flash. It is a sublime evening in Austin, TX.
Mirrored Glasses
Sep 20th
I got new glasses last week. My vision has stabilized of late, so this is my first new pair in several years and I was excited to try a slightly different look. I opted for what I interpreted as austere Euro-styled frames, but in reality they’re little more than a warmed over, slimmed down version of the ubiquitous NASA-engineer look from the 60’s. I shot for Sprockets, and ended up with Falling Down.
There’s always that period of adjustment with new glasses. It took a few days, but the new prescription bludgeoned my corneas into submission, and a few days later I had gotten used to my new look. It must be similar to how people adapt to plastic surgery, except you don’t get to put your new titties back on the nightstand before bed.
Anyway, a funny thing just happened. I’m sitting in my London hotel, working late on some TPS reports. I’m working late because in today’s digitally flattened world, nobody respects a good 6 hour time zone shift. But that’s another story. I’m working late. In between micro-bursts of mini-brilliance, I gaze round my posh room and catch my relection in the nearby mirror. To my shock, I see my Dad looking back at me. Or rather, I see the hazy memory of my Dad’s high school photo, complete with (now) retro specs.
I’ve never been entirely sure which parent I favor, and in what ways. People have commented in either direction, usually basing their opinion on which parent they know (or like) better. My personal pendulum has swung both ways (not like that, perve), but the new glasses definitely tilt the scales back towards Dad.
It’s probably not a coincidence that this revelation comes as I’m about to become a father. Not that the glasses are related to knocking up my wife (that I’m aware of), but pending fatherhood is taking its toll. My little girl is still roughly 14 years + 2.5 months away from dating, and I’m already developing an anti-punk scowl to go with my growing collection of guns, both of which bring me that much closer to becoming my Father.
I guess I saw this coming. The new glasses just made everything a little bit clearer.
hygiene, low-giene
Nov 9th
Attention. Is it too much to ask that all users of the 2nd floor men’s room please try to:
a) get all pee in the urinal rather than the floor, and
b) get all water in the sink rather than on the counter?
It’s a simple concept, really. Our society has been steadily improving waste disposal and cleanliness for a couple thousand years, in various forms and technologies, and you’re really setting us back with your Neanderthal behavior. If compliance is difficult, there is ample greenery just behind the building where you can fully embrace your hedonistic micturation.
Thank you.
stop presses on previous post
Nov 4th
OK … NOW I’ve seen everything. And I have a new favorite blog.
It all started when I was doing research at work. For real, on the clock. I had Googled a new product our client is testing, and came upon a reference to it in showmeblog.com. I was about to alt+left back, when I noticed the “recent photo” (at right) that put a whole new double entendre spin on the site.
I initially wrote this off in the “crazy naked guy” folder, but now I’ve gotten hooked on the site. First off, you gotta love any blog with the last four entries of “still no Internet.” Throw in claims about inventing blogs, lots of crotchety criticisms of Bush et al, and a storied history in BBS, and you’ve got a blog damn well worth reading. Renews my faith in the Interweb.
Thanks naked stormwatching guy (aka Jim Howard).
snatch’d off
Aug 28th
I just had an epiphany. Rachel and I watched a British movie, Brassed Off!, a couple weeks back. Not overly memorable unless you can’t get enough of the plucky British working class, using their grit and quirky determination to overcome their dour lot (see: The Committments, The Full Monty, et al). Or if you really like marching bands. Or Ewan McGregor’s butt.
Anyway, a bit non-speaking player had looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. Two weeks later, my unattended brain figured out that the quiet brute from Brassed Off! was also the slow-witted brute, Gorgeous George, from Snatch. IMDb says both roles were played by a boxer-cum-rugby player named Adam Fogerty. So how about that.
Why this processing power isn’t dedicated to important things like world peace or a unified theory is beyond me.