Book Review

I'm mostly finished with David Klinghoffer's book "Why the Jews Rejected Jesus." I know David slightly, and we had a chance to talk to his wife a bit this past weekend, which was really nice.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about the book, largely because so many of my 5 regular readers are not only Christians, but deeply committed to their faith. I suspect this would be a tough book for most Christians to read. David says a lot of things that I think will come across badly to people convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. But it's an important book, and I think people openminded enough to read it thoughtfully will learn something. They'll definitely learn a lot about Judaism, and I suspect they'll learn a bit about their own faith.

His basic thesis is this, near as I understand it. The Jews rejected Jesus, and that rejection was critical to the development of the Western world. Without that rejection, Christianity would have remained a minority version of Judaism, and not created Western Europe as we know it. The reasons for the rejection are many, and I'll leave you to read the book to get the full effect. The most critical rejection, David says, is not the rejection of Jesus during his own lifetime, but the rejection of Paul and his development of Christian ideas and beliefs.

The critical issue for me is that much has been said about Jews throughout history by Christians (leaving aside for the moment things Jews have said about Christians.) Most of it seems to come from two things: 1) Christianity's basic ignorance of Judaism and its traditions; & 2) Christianity's refusal (not always, but often) to acknowledge Judaism's right to exist and its importance to its practitioners.

The first issue, as David indicates, was not true at the beginning. All the practitioners of Jesus' religion were themselves Jews, and would have had more than passing familiarity with the basics of Judaism. As Paul opened the faith up to non-Jews, that familiarity ended. Judaism quickly faded from Christianity's worldview, which I think led in large part to the second issue. David goes into it all, so I won't, but there's been tremendous pressure on Jews to give up their faith. How would a Christian react to being told to drop their faith and the faith of their fathers?

Anyway, there's a lot in the book, and I recommend it highly for anyone interested in the history of faith, and the history of the interaction between the two most prominent monotheistic religions.

This is

what college students should be doing with their time. No point listening to proto-communist professors drone on about the realization of being. Certainly not learning anything. Building a machine that takes 125 steps to change the batteries in a flashlight.

That's education.

A Little Pepper, Mr. Buchanan?

Given that Pat is usually full of something and vinegar, this is somewhat appropriate. Despite my own stance as a right-wing religious fanatic (anybody who believes in religion is a fanatic according to some folks), I don't like Buchanan. I think he's more than half an anti-semite, and his particular brand of conservatism grates on me. This, however, is clearly the work of a mental midget.

How much more proof do people need that the left is the domain of the infantile? Why are they the ones referred to as intellectuals when they encourage this sort of peurile behavior? Style points go to William Kristol, who in his pie in the face moment wiped himself off and continued to make his point.

Let's hear it for free speech, shall we?

Dental Update

Terry was kind enough to ask by email, and perhaps the other three of you are desperately interested in the state of what few original teeth I have left. I think I'm down to 25 or something at this point. Four wisdom teeth gone (which explains a lot), four pulled for orthodontic work that has since gone haywire, and now my second root canal leading to a cap.

Anyway, the second visit was almost as much fun as the first, including such entertaining exercises as "Open Wider, Please" and "just put this foul play-doh in your mouth for the next 6 hours while I go shopping." The result, for the moment, is a temporary cap that I can't help reaching for with my tongue every 30 seconds, and a lot of eating on the opposite side of my mouth.

So, thanks for wondering, and in two weeks I get the real (fake) tooth installed. Yippee. Its close approximation to tax day is not, to my mind, merely a coincidence.

Thursday Three?

My fanny. More like thursday 17.5967393945736394.

I'll take a shot, but under protest at the false advertising.

CATEGORY 1--Food:

1. Dunkin’ or Krispy Kreme
Either. More variety at DD, more hot donuts at KK. Either way, it's a shlep to the kosher ones.
2. Cheese curls or cheese puffs
Yuck. Styrofoam peanuts painted safety cone orange. No thanks.
3. Chocolate or vanilla
Vanilla.

CATEGORY 2--TV People:

1. Ginger or Mary Ann
Can I answer both?
2. Crockett or Tubbs
Neither.
3. Barney or Warren
Purple Dinosaur or Acting Dinosaur? Miller or Buffett? I'm too confused to answer.

CATEGORY 3--Potpourri:

1. 9mm or .45
I was never good at math.
2. Pro football or college football
Pro, until hockey season starts again.
3. Boxers or briefs/thong or granny panties
Does this really need an answer?
4. Electric or blade
Electric. See Leviticus 19:27 for more details.
5. Paper or plastic
Canvas when I remember to bring 'em, plastic otherwise.
6. Dark socks and sandals at the beach or barefooted
sandals, no socks.
7. Wal-mart or K-mart
Eh. Target most often.
8. Dog or cat
N/A
9. LP or CD
CD mostly, occasional LP. I own a turntable, & my dad's will play 78s.

Neat Article on Jim Thorpe

and the serendipity that sometimes brings things to light. It's at the NYTimes, so you'll have to register to see the article (or go to www.bugmenot.com & get a valid password).

Of course, it's interesting to hear that the experts are saying this is a brand new discovery, and the guy who bought the lucky book just went to the public library and found the news articles from the 20s detailing the basketball tour Jim Thorpe was on. One more sign that information is right in front of people who can be bothered to look.

Headlines like this

are why I hate the media. Look, I know the AP needs people to look in order to make money. But somebody up the chain there wants Mary Cheney identified as gay every time she appears in print. It is quite obvious to me that they don't want people on the right to forget that Ms. Cheney is ::GASP:: a homosexual.

The problem is, most conservatives know that. Some might wish she were not, but most of us are willing to accept that this is who she is, whatever we might choose for her. Not only did it make no difference in her father's re-election, but most decent people were upset that his family was dragged into the political debate.

I don't care if the story mentions that she's gay, but the headline makes it clear that this is the only reason they are reporting the story. If one of his other children was writing, there wouldn't have even been an article. What would have been wrong with the headline "Cheney Daughter to write Book?"

Evolutionarily speaking

I think this guy's barking up the wrong tree. Not because there's any real issue for me about evolution. I don't really have a dog in that race (to keep the metaphpor going until it collapses under its own weight), but I tend toward the creationist view. Without getting into it, I'll accept that God could have used evolution as a means of creating living beings, but I insist that it was God behind it, whatever Dr. Smartypants thinks.

Anyway, the guy's complaining that banning evolution films somehow fails the Museum world's educational mission. I may be missing something, but aren't most of these Imax theaters just there to make money? Why are they going to run a film that the locals won't come see? Sometimes I think Academia has forgotten that there's a free market out there. If they're so obsessed with survival of the fittest, why won't they let economic Darwinism rule?

Maybe I'm the idiot, I dunno.

Cliff Notes Version

of the weekend, since, I cannot possibly measure up to The Possum Car Trip from Purgatory.

Thursday, as I might have mentioned, was the Fast of Esther, and I have never fasted well. This one went OK, but it kinda screwed up my digestive system. Friday itself was Purim, the commemoration of the story related in the Book of Esther. Follows the usual pattern of "They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat." One of the key commandments for the day is to hear the Book read, and to accomodate mine & the Mrs.' needs on that score, I went to a 5:30 AM service. Quick & to the point, but I was on little enough sleep as it was.

Mrs. went, sans kiddies, at 7:30. The rest of the morning was a blur of taking the kids to a later reading (they're not obligated, but we figured they should get the flavor) and delivering food gifts to various folks. The commandment itself is to deliver two types of food to one person. Over the years this has gotten blown so far out of proportion that there are entire companies set up to handle it. I've given up on getting baskets to everyone I know, and I'm certainly not filling them up with tons of processed crap.

Fortunately, both of our local synagogues have developed methods of covering everybody. You pay as you go, and every participant gets ONE basket. It's usually overfilled, but you get one instead of thirty or sixty or whatever. We made about 15 others to deliver to non-participating types, and included: 1 orange; 2 twizzlers; one bag homemade choc. chip cookies; one bag homemade fudge. As my man Tony Kornheiser would say, "That's it, that's the list"

We head off to my brothers for the festive meal, which was fun. Friday Purim can be a bit of a problem, as Shabbos still has to happen, but we got it all worked out. We did come home to two issues. First, the kids fell asleep in the car. Naps are a thing of the past for both kids, but they really could use the extra sleep. So we left them in the car with the Mrs, and I went out to get the last things we needed from the store. The second issue was the avalanche of boxes sitting on the porch, filled with goodies. I, naturally, have no self-control, so there was much sugar consumed.

The rest of the weekend was normalish. Lunch with friends on Saturday went from noon to almost 5 PM (not solidly eating, but a lot of schmoozing), which led to our dinner plans with other friends. Watched the Incredibles with the Mrs. on Saturday night, followed by a Sunday replete with birthday parties and laundry and cleaning. Spiderman 2 on the DVD Sunday nite, collapse into bed.

Since tomorrow AM is the second of my three root-canal visits, I do not expect to be too cheerful tomorrow. Can you blog if you're face is numb? I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Informal Poll

Given that the five regular readers of this site are spread across the country, I wanted to test something. How many of you have ever heard of Asterix?

My neighbor (a South African by birth, which makes him more African-American than most other people) told me I'm only the third person he's ever met in America who knows that delightful Gaulish warrior. I wanted to see if that's true. If it is, Americans are woefully ignorant and possibly beyond salvation.

So, if you'll indulge me, kindly let me know in the comments if you are highly cultured or hopelessly enmired in ignorance.

These bloggers are crazy.

While some people

chatter on & on about having lunch with attractive people, some of us are in the midst of a fast day. I'm at the tired, headachy, and grumpy stage. Which is not all that different from my normal behavior, but today I have a reason for it.

Anyway, Sugarmama's extra special Salsa Page reminds me that I've been meaning to get back to Trader Joe's to pick up another jar or two of their Chipotle Salsa. Not being the connoisseur that Sugar is, I can't tell you how it ranks as compared to other brands. I like it, anyway.

Mind you, at the moment I think I'd eat styrofoam packing peanuts, so you probably shouldn't trust my taste buds right now.

Thursday Three

1) What is the one thing that you love MOST about Spring?

NO....MORE....SNOW. Putting the snowblower & salt away for another year cheers me up no end. Also being able to open the windows & get some air in the house.

2) ASIDE FROM POLLEN AND TORNADOES, what is the one thing that you love LEAST about Spring?

The fact that in NY it only lasts about a week before we hit the 85-90 degree temperatures.

3) Name your single most favorite song, movie, play, book, painting, sculpture, etc., etc., with “spring” as part of the title.

"Springtime for Hitler" popped into my head, but I don't know if that qualifies as "favorite." "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park?" No spring in the title, but in the opening verse. I can't think of anything else.

Archives of interest

Not a lot of time to play today, but I missed last week so I don't want to forget this week too.

In honor of absolutely nothing, here is the Alaska State Archives. Lots of interesting images and stuff to look at about the Last Frontier, as they apparently call themselves.

According to the state, they have an official insect along with about a dozen other "official" things, all passed by act of the legislature. As usual, I feel like the legislature might find more useful things to spend their time on. I guess it keeps them out of trouble.

Life otherwise

is sort of quiet. Little of consequence happened over the weekend (though I did grill some chicken, which was fabulous), short of a trip to Costco. I did get pulled off a long line there into a new lane, and the same happened on a regular shopping trip, so on that score things went extremely well.

Last night was the first of three visits to Miller the Driller the Cavity Filler (her name isn't actually Miller, but one of the sportscasters I like refers to a team Dentist that way, and it just rolls off the tongue so nicely.) I apparently need a root canal, so last night was the excavation. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, which is to say it still stunk. Two more visits to put in the almost-but-not-quite-a-real tooth, and then I can unclench my fingers.

Purim is coming up, and my big plans for getting our Mishloach Manot fixings together in advance are a dismal failure. These things can get elaborate, but we tend to keep stuff simple. By law you only need to give one person two different types of food. Some people I know (and might be descended from) give about 6,000 people 457 items each. We've kept it down to a short list of about 10-15 people, and no more than 4 items per basket.

My plan had been to spend part of the weekend making chocolate chip cookies and mint fudge, but best laid plans have a habit of misfiring. I'll make the attempt tonight and see what happens.

l/,,lkkkkkjjjjddsssa

is the message I got, via email, from my younger child. I'm glad she's picked up the old man's typing skills.

Thursday O'Three

Nothing to do with Patrick's day, but musical. Bear in mind that my dad is a professional musician, and this one strikes a chord. Get it? Huh? Huh?

1. What instrument do you play?

I have been known to play cheap kid-toy kazoos. I can sing a bit, but just a bit.

2. Which one do you wish you could play if time and talent were not involved?

Guitar. This man is EXACTLY who I would want to sound like. Never gonna happen, but a guy can dream.

3. Have you ever taken lessons for an instrument or voice and how did it go?

Yep. Aforementioned Parental unit attempted to teach me clarinet at about eight years old. [Me, not him. Duh.] I wouldn't practice, so so much for that. My grampa, who was a piano teacher by trade, did attempt piano lessons, which similarly went nowhere. I can, however, still play "Drifting" on the pianner at my dad's house (Grampa's 1893 steinway baby grand, which pops took after my grandma moved out of her house).

I also attempted to teach myself the tin whistle with the help of a tape/book package, and got vaguely far. Practice does not sit well with me, I guess

Captain Frank

posted this article about the children left behind when our soldiers are killed in action. The story is, of course, sad and tragic. These poor kids are left without a parent, and there's really nothing that can replace the parent they lost.

It did get me thinking a bit. I don't think much of Newsweek, and my automatic assumption is going to be that they're making political points about the war in Iraq. It's probably not fair of me to assume this, and the story is no less real. Suffice it to say that the Media brought this suspicion on itself.

I do not think for a moment that the death of our soldiers is a good thing. I do not think the suffering of these families is a good thing. But I do need to raise the point - is this a necessary thing? I believe the war itself is necessary, and unfortunately that brings death with it. I thought of the thousands of kids left orphaned after September 11th, and concern that our enemies had for their loss - which is to say, none at all.

Look, I'm a civilian with no one in harm's way. It's easy for me to sit back and say "this is something the country needs, and it's unfortunate that this is the result." It's a lot harder to say that when the person killed is your loved one. Yet what are the alternatives? Allowing the terrorists to run rampant here? Leaving Saddam in power when even the NY Times has figured out he had WMD capability? (See here as well for some opinion on the subject.)

I wish there was something we could do to bring back the parents of these kids, and all the other sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and friends. If there is any comfort to be taken from these deaths of these wonderful people it's that they died to protect all of us. Think about that for a minute. Not only did they die to protect their own families (which I think most of us would probably do), but they died to protect millions of complete strangers. What kind of incredible people volunteer for such a job, knowing the risks involved? Only the best this nation has to offer.

And there was more

to the fabulous weekend. Sunday brought a hairclipping for the Mrs., leaving me at home with the childroon. Endless debate over the spots on oldest's face led to an appointment with the sawbones, junior edition. Naturally, the doctor was two blocks from where Mrs. was on her appointment, and grand confusion ensued over whether or not to meet there, leave youngest someplace local, or take her to the doc's, etc. We resolved all issues by walking down the block to a neighbor who's a doctor (well, a resident, but it was close enough). He said oldest was not contagious, so I saved both a trip and a $20 co-pay.

Off then to the parental units in Brooklyn, where we handed off the kids to the tender mercies of their grandparents. My dad took them to their cousin's house nearby for dinner & playtime. Me & Mrs. got all dolled up (well, one of us did, anyway) for the annual dinner for oldest's new school. These things tend to be fancy & expensive, but this place is earning a real warm spot in my heart for how they do things. We got the invite a week or so in advance, saying "Come as our guests." Not common when these fundraisers are going on. They'll hit us up next year I'm sure, but it's not something a lot of places would have done, and I appreciate the gesture.

Anyway, we got ourselves together and headed over to the hall where the shindig was being held. To begin with, the Rabbi in charge (who was the guest of honor to boot), who has met us twice, recognized us and welcomed us warmly. Then, of course, there's food EVERYWHERE. I suspect a few of my readers would have fainted from the sheer gustatory variety on display. Huge sushi table out in the hallway; around the room in the main cocktail area: Chinese table; pasta station; dead animal on a stick table; something else I forget; deli table; carving station. You gained weight just by walking in the room.

The odd thing is, we were among the first people there & we barely ate until halfway through the cocktail hour. Bear in mind neither child goes to the school, and yet we knew tons of people there. Half the guys I play hockey with were there, as well as plenty of others from our town. Without getting into the gory details, there are a lot of reasons we're not sending oldest to the school in our town. Suffice it to say the management of the place leaves a lot to be desired. Apparently, based on the representation at this dinner, a lot of people feel the same way as us. A LOT of people.

Anyway, plenty of shmoozing, some eating, on to the awards & stuff. The kids choir sings (not exactly the Chorus at the Metropolitan Opera, but very cute & certainly heartfelt. I don't really like large women in Norse Armor anyway) Awards handed out, some genuine sentiment in the room, and then, it's off for dinner.

What? You thought a Jewish organization would only have one set of food? Dinner, dancing, a raffle (we actually won! Not usual for her, according to the Mrs., but we walked off with a pair of expensive sunglasses each. I never buy expensive shades, as I have a habit of sitting on them, but it's nice to win), and finally home.

Since then it's just everybody sick in the house, and me pretending that I haven't got the same head cold as the rest of them.

(Oh, and may I say Mrs. Skinny looked SMOKING on Sunday PM. Not that she doesn't always, but I was walking around with a hot chick at this thing. Not this kind of hot chick, thank you.)

Busy weekend

and somewhat productive to boot. While the weather was schizophrenic to say the least (snow in the AM, bright sunshine & warm temps in the PM) we did manage to do stuff. Nothing of consequence, but still stuff. Got home Friday with nothing to eat, and managed in the three hours prior to Shabbos to make meatloaf, mashed pertaters, and gingersnaps. The latter was not exactly required, but they were delicious. Even managed to get showered up, which took care of the itty-bitty hairy remnants of my periodic shearing. (yes, that means I got a haircut on the way home)

Oldest has taken to staying home with mamma on Friday nights, which is a little peculiar since she enjoys going to services so much. Her enjoyment is inversely proportional to the amount of time she actually spends in the sanctuary during prayers. Most of her time is out in the hall with her friends, which is fine for now. I'll bring the hammer down when she gets a bit older. It's not conducive to good concentration to have a whiny four year old sitting B-O-R-E-D next to Daddy.

This week she wanted to stay home, so youngest and I hightailed it (late, as usual) through the remaining slush off to services. Snack-free, miraculously. She survived. We get home, and oldest is not well. She turns down Mrs.' home-made Challah, even [GASP!] A WHOLE ROLL! Very out of character. She eats one bite each of meatloaf, mashed spuds, and a handful of dried cranberries. And then asks to go to bed. She's a little hot, she gets some tylenol, & off to bed followed quickly by youngest.

Next AM she's up perky & on-time, but has pimple-looking spots on her face. And us with lunch plans on the far side of town. Off to neighbors - #1 is a medical resident, but not home. #2 is a nurse, but asleep says her husband, so I take youngest off to services (late again). Oldest shows up an hour later, says "We're here!" and runs off to play. Nurse says it's not chicken pox, not likely contagious.

So we head off to the other end of town, have a lovely lunch, and Mrs. vamooses to a class for women, leaving me with the kiddies. NOT HAPPY. "WANT MOMMY" from youngest, oldest is too out of it to care. Home, dinner & bed by 6:15 PM, an hour before normal. Youngest goes down a bit later after Mrs. returns, and we spend a pleasant post-shabbos watching Spider-Man, which I recommend highly, and snacking on (of all things!) bell peppers and green beans.

This sort of thing

is why I love my job sometimes. Reality is always more interesting than fiction, though you could a LOT worse than this young lady.

Extra bonus points to her for keeping good company.

Thursday Three - Ahoy, Matey!

Avast, you old sea-dogs, crank up yer shantys and dance a hornpipe to the Thursday Three. Or not.

1.) Have you traveled anywhere by boat (across a pond or around the ocean)?

Various ferries, including the Staten Island Ferry, Circle Line to the Statue of Liberty, and most recently the Port Jefferson-Bridgeport CT ferry. Oh, and some of the West Coast relations required ferry travel.

2.) Have you ever owned a boat?

Nope. Well, I had a Playmobil Pirate Ship as a kid. And this looks like fun. But that's not really what you meant, is it?

3.) If you were to take a boat trip and had unlimited funds and no motion sickness, where would you go, who would you take and what kind of boat would you go on?

I'd go anywhere I wanted. Take my family. And I'd go on an aircraft carrier. This one, I think.

Bonus question: What food stuffs would you want if you were marooned.

Not sure, but I want variety. Lots of meat, and a grill to cook it on. Which means I need marinades. And fries. And burger buns. And...

Archives of Interest

Chocolate Edition. MMMMM, Chocolate.

I was looking for something neat, and the Hershey's Archives has a great site. They even have a short description of what is an archivist, if you're curious. The collections are as much about the town & the people as the company, and I think it's worth a look.

Incidentally, if you check the Oral History or Chronology links, they're using the same online database I am.

Western Movies

I got Red River from Netflix a while back, and finally got to watch it last night. I had remembered the film very fondly as being one of the better Duke westerns I had seen.

I don't know if time has changed my approach, but I admit to a certain level of disappointment. It's a good film, but it doesn't have the impact I remember it having. There's a great deal of sort of "Western Panorama" kind of thing, which I suspect works nicely in a movie theater but not so well on TV. After a while, though, it gets kind of dull.

There are some tense, dramatic moments in the movie that work very well. The scene where the mutiny finally happens and Duke is surrounded by all these people an inch away from killing him is terrific. Then the whole thing ends in a completely unrealistic, funny approach that I think was completely out of context. Duke did funny films, where the humor is perfectly fine, but it sounds a wrong note here. The final fight scene is highly charged and climactic, and then it ends flat.

I guess '40s westerns all needed happy endings, but I think this one would have been a better film without it.

Ummm, OK?

Cultural Destabilization Plot? Kidnapping Russell Crowe? Somehow the free world would collapse without greasy haired, unshaven manly good looks?

I guess Osama has different priorities than I do.

American Ingenuity - the Dark Side

appears to lie with the Chicken Vac. I don't know how, exactly, some guy woke up one morning and thought "Gee. Hoover a chicken. That should do the trick!"

And yet, somebody did. I admit I don't worry much about farming, or the treatment of animals. PETA and I do not care for each other. And yet, I wonder about the psychological effect on a chicken of being swept into a vacuum crater thing.

Well, watch the video and decide for yourself.

(Link courtesy Jonah Goldberg.)

Update

Since I'm sure you've been desperately curious, I can now safely report that I have found the site of that "I've Got Gas" commercial I mentioned sometime back when.

The company in question, Infinite Energy, is I'm sure quite pleased with itself. And yet I stand by my original conviction that it is a questionable slogan at best.

Perhaps folks in Gainesville have a different approach than I do.

Americans

are the most amazing people on earth sometimes. Not only does the guy come up with a clever idea for making new limbs for people, but he uses a piece of equipment owned by the guy who cost people their limbs.

Let's hear it for American ingenuity and decency. Not much chance of this making the "real" newspapers, but I thought the rest of you should know about it.

History in the News

Brings me back to college days, when I was first introduced to Abelard and Heloise. I don't have an opinion on the veracity of the story, but it's good to see it in the news.

If you don't know the story, the article will fill you in well enough. It's symbolic of the explosion of literacy, education and culture of the 12th century in Europe. Obviously the love story aspect of it (and the forbidden nature of that love) is what gives it resonance throughout history, but to me it signifies the great advances made during that period. After several centuries of relatively constant warfare, Europe is finally free to concentrate on other things. Abelard is a prominent scholar, well known in Paris for his ability. His prominence is what gets him involved with Heloise, and the inevitable results follow. What is fascinating for history are the conversations between the two after Abelard's, umm, unplanned surgery. They discuss philosophy, religion, etc., and their work remains one of the better pieces of literature to come out of this amazing period.

I believe Oxford, the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) and some of the Italian schools opened in the 12th century. Gothic architecture got its start then (that's for you, Mr. Possum.) The first several crusades (for good or ill) ocurred then, and the development of England as a major European power (especially under Henry II) began in the 12th c.

There are certain historical periods that are known for great advances. The 12th c. is one of those, as is the 18th c. There just seem to be these moments when everything comes together and you see these tremendous periods of creativity. It doesn't mean, of course, that all troubles melt away, but clearly society makes great leaps forward sometimes. I don't know if I can point to a reason for it, but they are always fascinating areas of study.

Thursday Three - Nausea Edition

Why Terry went for the (dis)gusto here is beyond me, but here it is nonetheless.

#1--What three commonly served food items cause you to become nauseated when you smell them? (The “commonly served” will be judged loosely to allow for regional specialties that cause you unease that might not be available in other parts of the world.)

I can't think of three, but the one I can think of is bad enough for three. I don't even know what it actually is, but there was a "food truck" [colloquially, "Roach Coach"] on the corner of 96th St. & Broadway when I used to live near there that was clearly frying petroleum byproducts. Or raw sewage. It was a hispanic food truck, so I guess it was some South or Central American specialty that smells beyond hideous. I hated waiting for the light to change there just because the smell almost killed me.

#2--What three non-cable, non-satellite television shows can you just not stand to watch? (If they make you nauseated, even better.)

Survivor; 60 Minutes; Anything on WB or UPN

#3--What three things are you immune to that seem to make other people ill?

Can't think of anything, unless allergies & asthma are acceptable illnesses. I love the smell of freshly mowed lawn and pipe tobacco. And some people I know are disgusted by the smell of sauteed onions, which I think is heavenly.

As for the rest

it was as to be expected. We got to our friend's house, went out with them for dinner at DC's lone expensive kosher restaurant. The steak I had was good, as was the rest of the dinner. The waitress was more than a little odd, but not in a terribly annoying way.

We met our friend's new dog, as well, which wasn't bad. I'm not a pet person, as no one I knew ever had one when I was growing up. I think that's a peculiarity of the New York orthodox community, not Jews in general, but... Anyway, I liked this dog - he's a golden retriever, and a very placid dog on the whole, so I didn't feel overwhelmed by him. I'm glad, as we're going to see them with the kids soonish and I think he's a good dog for small kids.

Then on the road again today, including a completely fruitless stop at Ikea in Joisey, and then home. Nearly 700 miles behind the wheel over three days, and I'm glad to be home. Youngest child's greeting on our return was fantastic, and it's always nice to be loved.

I am back

Perhaps you had not noticed I was gone. Which is how it should be.

Had a lovely few days away from home and kiddies and all. I got asked an obscenely long time ago to deliver a talk at a conference in Ocean City, MD. They asked maybe 2 months after I last delivered this talk, which was in October of 2003. (This parallels the experience I had with an article I recently had published in an unbelievably obscure journal - I sent the thing off last April and heard nothing about it until the review copies showed up in my mail about a month ago.)

Anyway, I seem to be labeled as "archives web guy", so I'm in some minor demand as the guy who can talk about archives web sites. This group was for museums, so I took the same talk from 2003 & substituted "museum" for every occurrence of the work "archives." The talk itself went fine. I co-presented with a guy from elsewhere on Long Island, and our session went pretty well. The hotel was a nice place on the whole, if only for the fridge, freezer, and microwave present in the room. When you have to travel with your own food everywhere, it's a nice help not to have to beg for a fridge. I'm sure Ocean City is pleasant enough in Summer, but it's pretty cold & dreary in February. And a little too much like Miami Beach to suit my tastes, I think. They claimed our room was $360 a night in season, which seemed a bit much even given the niceness of the room. Needless to say, our rate was considerably lower.

As yesterday was the Mrs. & mine's anniversary (6 years - even prisoners get time off for good behavior, but no such luck for my dear wife), we took the opportunity to leave the kiddies in my parent's trusty hands for a few days. After my session was done, we hit the road for Washington, DC and a chance to see some friends. The driving was a little hairy given the storm that blew through, but we made it OK. I have to admit that I'm always surprised driving through new parts of the US. This is a northeasterner's (and mostly a New Yorker's) bias, but I always equate states with the parts I've been through.

The only parts of Maryland I had seen were the highway and the DC suburbs; ergo, the whole state is suburban. I was greatly surprised to find out that everything between the resort area of the coast and the DC area is farmland. Once again, a road trip can teach you a lot about America. Which is a good thing.

More Proof

that some people have less than no sense of humor.

Catching up

Part of the reason I've been non-bloggy this week is I had Monday off, and it seems to have thrown off my rhythm. We had a nice weekend, including Friday night dinner guests. That's pretty unusual, given the smallness of my children and the smallness of most of our friends' kids.

Nonetheless, we had people over for dinner, which was fun but tiring. I can normally count on being asleep on the couch by 8:15, and this time nobody went home till 9:30. And then we had to clean up after. Such problems. The pot roast & Chicken soup were delicious, so it worked out OK.

Sunday began the project Mrs. has been talking about for a while. Normally projects take like 6 months from conception to actual work, but that's mostly because I'm lazy. Anyway, she decided a while back that our formerly white or offwhite dining room chair cushions needed replacing. Their currest shade of "Foodspill Grey" was unattractive enough, so I was game.

Now, I'm sort of handy. I've hung ceiling fans & other fixtures, and I have a decent idea of which is the business end of a screwdriver. But I am by no means Bob Vila. Or Norm Abrams, either. I had spoken to a handy friend about the idea of the chair recovering, and mentioned the idea of renting a fabric stapler for it. He said "Ridiculous. Cost you 30-40 bucks. Buy an electric staplegun for 30, & then you'll always have it."

Buy tools. SURE! So I got a new toy, and Sunday & Monday we did one chair each day. It might have been more, but we're newbies, and the children are a tiny bit interfering. If there's no hockey tonight we'll try & do another one, so maybe by next week we'll have all 6 done. I'm actually pretty proud of getting this far, frankly.

In other great news, I got handed a consulting job on a plate. Funny how by complete word of mouth I've gotten my last three jobs (2 permanent, and this temporary one.) A medical archivy acquaintance suggested me to these folks, and here I am. A chunk of unexpected change, and more fun with anniversary exhibits.

So, that's my week. Wasn't that interesting, was it?

GRRR

IT departments. BAH!

T3

Various things have been doing, which I might get to blogging about sometime. Since you can't have the usual junk, I'll import some by rendering my responses to the fabulous Thursday Three.

1) What is the strangest car you have ever owned?

I've only ever owned three, and they've all been Hondas. I guess some would consider a Civic a strange car. I'll lean on my parents for this one. Mom had an '81 Malibu, and its strangeness lies in the fact that there was no way to open the rear windows. No handles, so no windows. Why would people in the back seat need air?

2) What is the worst car you ever owned?

Back to my folks. Dad had a succession of Plymouth Vomits Valiants. The last one was a doozy that broke down if you looked at it. Naturally, Pop got himself a lease on a newer car, and when Mom finally got her license (at age 40), she got stuck with the Maroon Marooner. I say that because it had a habit of breaking down on her in various places. She finally got sick of the whole thing and leaned hard enough on Pop that she got the aforementioned Malibu.

3) How many wrecks have you been in?

Two that I can recall. Rear-ended (in the Malibu, oddly enough) by some knucklehead on the way to school one day (big brother was driving). Then somebody clipped me while they were pulling out of a parking spot. An older person coming out of a Waldbaum's, which should be no surprise.

4) SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION! Recall for us your most memorable drive-in experience.

What's a Drive-in?

This is awful

Read the posting for 2/16. Brad brings the "update" of Bugs Bunny to my attention, and I'm horrified. Disgusted. Nearly sick. I've been a fan of the Warner Brothers cartoons for years, and they still represent the finest art ever produced in this country. Funny, tremendously well drawn & animated, and did I say funny? And now some dope wants to "update it for a new generation." The accompanying article in the Denver Post Brad links to fills in the details. Bugs Bunny as Bart Simpson. Hideous.

Incidentally, I HIGHLY reccommend Brad's daily webcomic, Greystone Inn. I think Brad is very talented, and the strip is always funny. Some of the subtle things he draws, and the puns he uses are tremendous. He and I disagree politically on almost every subject, but our email and tagboard conversations are funny and polite, and I think he's a good guy. Check him out.

Now, I'm no marketing genius

but I know better than some folks. I have now heard the same commercial twice in the last two days. There's some rule change or something that allows more companies to sell natural gas to home consumers here in New York.

There's a company advertising their services in this field. Fair enough. They're promising you can set one price for your gas delivery for the next three years - "protect yourself from rising prices, etc." Ok, I understand what you're after.

However...

What Nimrod came up with the idea of SPECIFICALLY ASKING for the phone number 1-800-I'VE GOT GAS? I kid you not. The guy goes through his shpiel about the pricing, then says "Call 1-800-I'VE GOT GAS now." And then some perky-sounding woman starts singing a jingle to... you got it, I'VE GOT GAS.

Look, it happens to most humans and quite a few other mammals. Some people, usually sophomoric frat boys, get great joy out of methane, occasionally lighting it on fire. To each his own. But what idiot decided to sell a product publicly this way? I can only imagine the poor voice-over woman's face when she read this copy. Clearly she is at the point of starvation, or left whatever shame she had behind years ago.

Sometimes I think copywriters are either 14 years old, or stoned. They're writing this stuff at 3AM, giggling at each other when they think of pulling one over on the client.

Thursday Three Nine

Despite illness, T3 is back. I'm going to shoot for all nine, just to see if I can.

1. What did you give your Valentine this year?

Bupkis. The Mrs. doesn't hold of this particular piece of folderol.

2. What's your most memorable Valentine’s Day?

For a bad reason, the year I turned 19. I broke up with my girlfriend that day, or shortly thereafter. I'm not so proud of that one.

3. In grade school, what was the Valentine’s Day protocol?

Scary question. I went to an all male religious Jewish school. Tweren't no mention, much less protocol.

4. Did you ever have a secret Valentine?

Not Valentine as such, but I had a desperate crush on a girl in second grade (that would be prior to the move to the all-boys school). It went quite unrequited.

5. What would be the most romantic day/gift you could have?

At this point, sleeping till 11AM completely uninterrupted would probably do it.

6. Are you and your Valentine romantically attuned? (Huh? I mean, do you have some need to express and receive romance?)

I think I'm a little more hug-needy than she is, but we're pretty close.

7. Is Valentines Day a non-event for you? If so, what, if any, romantic traditions replace it?

I don't know that we have traditions, exactly. I did buy Mrs. Skinny a candy bar on Tuesday, which was greatly appreciated.

8. What was the most romantic time you had with your Valentine? (Romance, not sex, guys!) [I am not certain that pointing out this distinction should necessarily be directed at the male of the species. But, be that as it may, it is probably best that we stay away from discussing things that require doing a load of laundry the next day. Ed.]

You're right. Talking about the kids throwing up at midnight is probably inappropriate. That's what you meant by the laundry remark, right?

9. What do you and your Valentine find romantic that others wouldn't?

Chocolate chip cookies with no chips in them.

Just of note

I don't have an opinion on Mr. Negroponte's ability to be intelligence chief. I did, however, meet him several years ago. Soon after I started at my first real job, I happened to be going up in the elevator with him, and he said hello and introduced himself. I introduced myself, and explained that I had just started at the company. He explained that he had just started there too, and mind you, he was in a very high position there.

I thought it was an awfully decent thing to do, and I've always remembered him fondly for that one relatively innocuous act of kindness from a bigwig to a peon.

Archives of Interest

In honor of the occasion, I present the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, CA. Pictures, media guides, publications, all kinds of hockey related stuff.

Since I can't see it played, I might as well remember what it was like when they did play.

FINALLY!

The season is dead. I'm glad they killed it. A 28 game season would have been stupid, and the Cup meaningless. They should have sat down the day after they finished the last Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to hammer out something workable.

So finally in the last three days they sit down seriously and begin negotiating. Where the hell were they for the previous 9 months? Twiddling their thumbs in a stupid game of chicken that neither side was likely to win. I don't have sympathy for either side, really. Millionaires fighting over my money.

I can't really go to more than a game or two a season. The cheap seats at Madison Square Garden where my beloved and hopeless Rangers play now go for upwards of $40. Forty bucks for lousy hockey. Add in transportation and food, and just for ONE PERSON I can expect to spend $65. If I wanted to take the Missus, I'm looking at over a C-Note to watch the game live.

Look, this sport can't afford $10 million top salaries. There's no national TV contract, and no money coming in like in the other sports. This is not a league that can afford NFL-style money. What on earth is wrong with the top guys making $5 million per season? I'll never see that kind of money no matter how long I work. Paul Kariya left something like $9 million per year from Anaheim to go to Colorado for $1.5 Million. Because he wanted to win.

So there are guys who will play for less. And everybody could probably live on the salary capped money. So what's the problem? They're shafting regular guys like me to live slightly more comfortably? One extra Ferrari in the driveway?

I'm glad the season is dead. Dangling the possibility of a shortened season was just cruel. I'll go back to watching hockey if and when they come back. It would suck if the NHL disappears forever, but I would survive. They're killing the goose that lays the silver egg.

I know it's not as good as a gold egg, but it sure beats what these knuckleheads would be doing if they had to go out & get real jobs.

Fun with Referrer Logs, too

Since Terry's out sick, I get to do this too. Aside from someone looking for "stewardess", I think so far this is the oddest site from which to wander my way.

Now, I'm sure this Hong Kong person is lovely, but for all I know it's a skinny Jewish guy over there talking about corn-fried kosher salami. All I recognize are the image of Charlie Brown & Snoopy, and Keanu Reeves. Oddly, there are no Asian letters/characters for "Whoa."

This guy also stopped by. Panem & Circensis indeed. Did the Romans have those big orange peanut things too? Just asking.

Clear Proof

as if anyone needed it, that I need my head examined. I now have a microwave at work, and I went ahead to heat my lunch (very nice and spicy Mexican stuffed shells, made with veggie beef substitute). I figure six shells won't heat as well or as quickly as if I split them up. So I put three of the shells in the container that held the salad I brought (salad being finished & all) and stuck 'em in the nuker.

Putter around, go get them after the beep, take a bite and... they're ice cold. What in the...? Irritated, I go pop 'em back in for another minute. All is well, they're really good. Go to grab the second set of three, in the original container, and... What the...? They're in an advanced thermodynamic state, to say the least. Possibly even hot.

So your intrepid blogger, demonstrating his smarts, removed the hot shells, placed them on the desk, and promptly began to eat the non-irradiated ones first.

Nonidentical containers might be a good idea for next time, methinks.

This article

may be the best argument I've seen made against those who claim you need to serve in order to have an opinion on the war in Iraq.

I think this is my favorite paragraph:

To be clear: the entire notion of "Chicken______" is absurd. A free society should act on the assumption that citizens can reason about military issues without personal military experience, just as they can reason about any issue without needing a doctorate degree to do so. If you can't trust citizens to reason intelligently outside of their personal fields of expertise, you've ceded political control to the experts. A strong insight into human nature gives citizens the capacity for reasonably wise decisions on all subjects. And insight into human nature doesn't require military discharge papers

As Mr. Kern writes, you don't need to have personal experience to have an informed opinion. I can tell you from experience you don't really need a PhD to do anything. Except teach, and apparently that isn't even required if you hold the right pedigree and personal beliefs.

I can live with people being against war, and this war in particular. Telling people they need to have been soldiers to support this war is a ridiculous argument to make. And the left claims they're the intellectuals?

(With a nod to Ramesh Ponnuru at the Corner for the link)

Another odd thought

ocurred to me this AM while listening to talk radio. Curtis & Kuby are on a local AM station, intended so far as I can tell to be somekind of Left/Right Tweedledumb & Tweedledee deal. Anyway, they were talking about the Jose Canseco interview on 60 Minutes ("all the news we feel like making up and preaching to you"), and somebody said "All these kids watching Jose Canseco picked up Canseco's suggestion that they all go do steroids to become great ball players."

Now, maybe indeed that is the message people would pick up. But who on earth thinks young people are watching 60 Minutes? Give up lovely MTV offerings such as Nick & Jessica and Room Raiders (a hideous "program" where a male or a female goes through the room of three members of the opposite gender to decide who to date based on the contents of their underwear drawers. And no, I am not a regular viewer)to watch some washed up ballplayer on a news program? Interviewed by Mike Wallace? Somehow this octogenarian talking to a screwup will connect with the youth of America? I understand where the message is, but I'd be surprised if anyone under 50 watches 60 Minutes on a regular basis.

The lesson of this is that I should probably stop listening to talk radio.

It's all you Southern Types

The gummint says so. All the health food you people eat is supposedly bad for you. They want to take away the fried food group, which suggests problems ahead for Terry's PossumKitchens. How can we deliver high-quality deep-fried kosher foods if the CDC says it's all bad for you?

I can live with government being frustrated. I want people to be healthy. I understand there are healthcare costs associated with poor diet. But it's nobody's business what other people eat. Food is supposed to taste good, and sometimes that means fat is included. Andrew Stuttaford over at National Review has a real bug up his English bum about the "Health Mullahs", and he's converted me. I don't really think the Feds have any business telling people what to eat or what not to eat.

Put up the numbers, explain to folks why you think a healthy diet would be a good idea, then shut up.

Mmmm, deep fried gummint forms. Anybody else hungry?

Sometimes I wonder about people

I sometimes listen to Sean Hannity on the drive home, and one of his callers yesterday just irritated me.

Hannity apparently interviewed a certain Western University professor of insane political views (I won't dignify the looney with a mention of his name, much less a link.) Suffice it to say said "Education Professional" believes the dead in the WTC and the Pentagon got what was coming to them. It's a free country, and this jerk is allowed to say what he wants. We ought to see people like this make fools of themselves - it's meant as a warning to us to use our brains when we speak.

Anyway, the caller gets on the line and says (I paraphrase) "well, nothing should have happened to the Trade Center victims, but the Pentagon was a military target, so it's OK." Hannity took the guy to task for equating the US, liberators of millions over the last half century with the terrorist sickos who killed office workers and stewardesses. I'm fully in agreement with Hannity here, as I suspect most people are - there is no possible moral equivalent between the two.

What I wish Hannity had brought up is a few basic problems with the caller's premise. First of all, at the time they attacked us on 9/11, WE WERE NOT AT WAR. I don't care what Bin Laden said - there was no formal declaration of war, ergo there is no such thing as a military target. Granted we're not dealing with people who care for the niceties of international conventions, but I do not believe you can call something a military target when we are not actually engaged in a war. I can live with the idea of the Germans in WWII bombing the Pentagon - we were at war, and if they could have pulled it off, it would have been within legitimate target boundaries, as far as I can tell. Still would have been awful, but one couldn't really be surprised. Calling it a military target for Al Qaida assumes a certain level of common beliefs, which is clearly not the case.

Second, let's assume (as the caller was) that Al Qaida had legitimate gripes. Did they not have an obligation to address us directly to have their complaints addressed? Would the caller side with their approach that either 1) they tried to talk to us but we didn't listen, or 2) we have forfeited any right to explain ourselves? Look, I'll grant you that American foreign policy over the years has not been without issues. We have stepped on a lot of toes and caused many problems. But giving these guys ANY legitimacy is insane. Terrorists are terrorists - their entire approach is that no one is innocent, and I can't find any rational or moral defense for such an approach.

Third, we are not dealing with a recognized government. No one voted these guys any legitimacy. They are self-appointed "defenders of righteousness." Just because they have a beef is no reason why we need to legitimize it, much less bend over and take it. The caller's implication is, as the Perfesser's that we had it coming. If we do (and I don't believe we do), it's not Al Qaida's choice any more than it would be the IRA's, the Weathermen, or Aryan Brotherhood. Civilized people don't act this way.

The moral equivalency the west has developed over the last 30-40 years is among the most pernicious, subversive, and unintellectual schools of thought I can imagine. When everything becomes relative, there's no truth anymore. The end of the Shema prayer says "The Lord, your God, is truth." Without truth, there's nothing left. When you can defend someone who will fly airplanes into buildings, killing ordinary people, you cannot be considered a reasonable person.

Headline Fun - Prince Charles to Marry Parker Bowles

Presumably, Parker Stevenson was already spoken for.

Thursday Three

Computers today:

1) What was your first computer?

My mom had an IBM PC, one of the first that went on general sale for regular folks. One of these, in fact, though she had a NEC printer that weighed about 100 pounds and sounded like a WWI era machine gun. I myself was given a Commodore 64 as a gift - it may have been a Bar Mitzvah present, but I can't remember. I managed to program a Celsius-Fahrenheit converter, but that's about it. Oh, and I got it to repeat rude sentences over & over on the screen.

2) What is the worst thing you ever encountered dealing with a computer?

Where shall I begin? MicroSatan? Spam? Trying to learn how to program in Access? The hands-down winner for me is Tech Support. Either internal or at a company, I've never had an easy time dealing with them, and most techies I've dealt with have been morons or nasty, or both.

3) What is your favorite piece of software?

Mrs. Skinny, of course.

A distant second would be the database program I use here at the office, Inmagic's DB/Textworks. I can do just about anything with this DB, and in a hundredth of the time it would take to do it in Access. Heck, I could get Terry's "Check Engine Light" to go off with this thing if I wanted to. Adobe's GoLive is another favorite.

4) Big Mac or Whopper?

I'm not much use for this question. My answer is I only eat grilled burgers, and I only eat my own. Which are a mix of ground beef and ground turkey. Does this answer the question?

This seemed odd...

and I was all set to get mad about it. Dumbing-down of the curriculum and all that. Then I read it was a non-credit course, and in that case they are free to do what they want.

I do think calling this "Community Service" is a bit of a stretch.

Happy Birthday, Ma

There's something about winter birthdays on the distaff side in my family.

Mind you, so far as I know Mom has no idea this exists, and I see no real reason to bring it to her attention. She's quite computer savvy, so it's not a technophobe thing. Her tastes just run more towards sewing.

Anyway, Happy Birthday.

Archives of Interest

Feeling a bit international, I went looking for something overseas. There's a member of one of my email lists from Wales, and for some reason it made me think to find a Welsh archive today.

So, without further ado, the National Library of Wales. I leave it up to the reader if they prefer to read it in English or Welsh. The latter is one of those languages with a few too many consonants for my taste, but Hebrew comes with it's own issues, so I shouldn't complain. Once again they have a useful interactive catalog here. I object to its simplicity, though. It's helpful to have a few more fields to search on, or at least add a link to an advanced search. If you're just browsing, it's hard to know where to begin. A minor quibble, anyway.

There's a neat section on Crime and Punishment from the Circuit Courts in Wales from the 18-19th centuries. Fun reading, if you like that sort of thing.

Things I Learned this Weekend

1) While as a rule I don't think it's essential to measure the amount of beans & barley going into the cholent pot, there is such a thing as too much. Which leads one skinny person to start removing the overage perhaps 10 minutes before candlelighting this shabbos. Time that would have been wiser spent elsewhere.

2) Announcements after services can indeed last longer than human endurance. Bad enough the poor kids are sitting there drooling over the post-services snacktime (technical term is kiddush), but even the adults like me that always escape before announcements start were getting a little punchy. How are you supposed to tell a 34 year old man he has to wait for M &Ms, much less a five year old? Especially since almost everybody in the place gets the announcements by email, there's no burning reason to torture everyone.

3) You can, in fact, leave the dishes until Sunday morning to wash. It killed no one, and probably prevented a spousal spat. They're certainly clean now.

4) MOST IMPORTANT - leaving your pepper plant in its container until the first week in February is a bad idea. Aside from the fact that it looks silly having dead plants in the yard, but dirt and the water in the pot holding the dirt do, in fact, freeze.

I realize this is not news to many of you, but it is a bit of a revelation to me. We did manage to unseat the dirt in its frozen state from the base of the pot, and come warmer times we will wash it and prepare it for new peppers this year. I do intend, however, to actually remove the soil & water from the pot a tad earlier this fall. Say, in the fall proper rather than in, oh, WINTER?

On the other hand...

As for the Democratic response, I shut it off after Senator Mousy's three minute tale of growing up in Nevada where his mother took in wash to make ends meet. Depression-era stories of hardship don't cut it anymore, more than sixty years after that period. Moreover, if you're going to respond, cut to the chase. "The president offered this, we disagree about it, and here's what we want to do instead"

Don't give me crap about "Spurring research and development in new technologies to help create the jobs of the future." Read my lips - THAT IS NOT THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY. That's what private industry is for. We are still the most technologically advanced nation in the world. There's more to the economy than getting technology to move ahead, which will happen anyway.

The rest was the old liberal lines about powerful corporate interests vs. "regular Americans." It's tired, stale, and unhelpful. Millions of people in this country work for corporations, and corporations provide the energy that fuels our economy. Many people's health care is only affordable because their corporate employers pay a huge chunk of it. I'm tired of the demonization of Corporate America. Corporate America is many of us who work for it, and we should be grateful for the chance to work for dynamic, and profitable organizations.

(Incidentally, I caught a Frontline the other day where they were discussing the credit card industry. They asked the head lobbyist of the American Banking Association about how the industry made $30 billion in profit last year. For some reason I can't figure, the guy hemmed & hawed about it. What's the problem? You're in the business of making money, and you made money. You should be crowing about it. Investors and the company made money, and that's what you're in business to do. I don't see why anyone should apologize for it - that's what our economy is based on. I grant you many people are in credit card debt, but there's an element of personal responsibility there. Don't blame the company if people can't control their spending.)

Anyway, I never saw Nancy Pelosi's comments. I can't imagine, from reading it, that it was worth seeing. Listening to the left carp about Civil Liberties and our so-called police state, it's beyond disingenuous for her to be criticizing the Administration's response to terrorism. They wanted us to go crawl to the UN for protection from the bad guys, and she's whining about a lack of a defense plan? She didn't want us to go to war & she's the military's best friend? She still thinks all of Iraq is chaos - she has no idea what's going on there, I'm sure. Perhaps she ought to talk to Cap'n Frank over in Baghdad. I have a feeling he could enlighten her, if she were to bother listening.

She gets my "Just Shut Up" award.

The State of Our Union

Terry reminds me that I had some comments on the State of the Union address from last night. Now I admit to being a strong supporter of the president. He's not perfect, but I think he's handled his responsibilities well and I'm glad he's our president. I'm not certain if my reactions to the speech last night are because of my support, and how much were because it was a good speech.

I think overall it was a good speech, and I thought the president was forceful, well spoken, and completely believed what he was saying. Some lines that resonated with me:

"The principle here is clear: taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely, or not at all. "

I believe he has it exactly right - I'd just like to know that he's planning on following through. Let's cut everything, and we can all stop sucking at the the government trough. I don't believe it's government's responsibility to run everything, and maybe we don't actually need most of what's out there.

"Four years of debate is enough — I urge Congress to pass legislation that makes America more secure and less dependent on foreign energy. "

I'm not so in tune with a lot of what the President said in this passage, but the "four years is enough" line resonated with me. I took as him telling congress to get up off it's fat behind and do things instead of yammering all the time.

"Because a society is measured by how it treats the weak and vulnerable, we must strive to build a culture of life. "

A shot across the bow of the Abortion lobby, near as I can tell. I'm just glad to hear him articulate "culture of life" as a goal.

"The Constitution also gives the Senate a responsibility: Every judicial nominee deserves an up-or-down vote."

Amen, brother. I'm sick of my state's senior senator standing in the way of nominations because he can. You're either fer 'em or agin 'em - let's cut the filibuster crap, okay?

"And because democracies respect their own people and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace. "

Here's the Bush Doctrine laid out for all to see. Freedom=Peace, and bringing freedom to people is what America should be about.

There were things I didn't care for - the nods to the left about HIV, ethanol, additional social programs, whatever. On the whole I thought it was a conservative (politically) speech, and it rang notes I wanted to hear.

Thursday Three...

is here again. Thus, oddly enough, I am posting to respond. Go figure.

1) Do you have any phobias, and if so, what are they?

One, but it's a biggie. I have a tremendous phobia about medical issues. I don't want to hear about procedures described, and I certainly don't want to see procedures performed. Movie blood doesn't do it to me, but reading about brain surgery will. Naturally, I work in a medical archives. Happily, it's almost all administrative and not medical in the slightest.

2) If you do have one (or several) has it (or have they) ever been so intrusive in your life that it (or they) caused you embarrassment?

I have passed out numerous times (though not in years), including at least once in science class. Scared the blazes out of the teacher, so perhaps it wasn't all bad. You wake up & wonder why everyone is staring at you. And why are they so tall?

3) Eagles or Patriots?

I have no strong opinions, but I'm going Patriots by 10. Certain teams have an ability to put it together at the right time. Four times in the last five years? I don't think the Eagles will be able to take it away from them, barring a superior effort from McNabb - i.e. MVP effort. I'm just hoping it's not a blowout - there's no point in watching if it's 35-0 at the end of the 1st Q.

And I can always get the commercials on the net later.

Archives of Interest

A bit late in the day, but here's the Western History/Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library. They seem to rotate photos on the front page, and at the moment there's a chap in kilt with a bloody great sporran peeking out at me.

Dunno if the site includes Western Scotland, but they've got at least one celtic image in the place. Looks like fun surfing. (Turns out it's a self-portait by photographer Joseph Collier)

For some reason I thought Western History might be of interest this week.

Several Years ago today

Some very nice people on the West Coast did the nicest thing for me anyone on earth has ever done. I don't imagine they had me specifically in mind, but I appreciate it anyway.

Happy Birthday, my Love.

Talk about having the Last Word

I don't blame this guy in the slightest. Everyone connected to the NHL should be ashamed of themselves.

Uh Oh

Let's just say the hold portion of the evening should have shown me. 25 minutes with American Airlines, just for them to tell me "oh, you're on the wrong phone # - here, let me transfer you" 20 minutes later, and "yes, sir, cancelled means cancelled. Would you like to leave through San Diego, switch planes, and get home Monday at 5:30 AM? No? Better book you on the 11:30 AM Monday flight from Seattle."

So we extend the hotel a day, head back up north to see the relatives again (why not?), with the obligatory shopping stop, and all is well. Until dinner time. "kids, are you hungry?" "No, I'm just having grapes"

Whatever.

And then, at 7 PM, comes... The Return of the Grapes. Upchucking everywhere. Oh boy. Clean up, pack children in car, bring a barf bucket, stop every 10 miles to let more come out. Back to hotel so... youngest can add her contribution, in the elevator. Upstairs, one in the bath, one in bed. Deliver powerade, receive powerade back. Finally let exhausted youngest fall asleep at 11:30, while Mrs. is down at hotel washing machine cleaning clothes & such. Fall asleep at about 1AM, with a 6:30 wake-up call. Mrs. sleeps not at all, handling oldest every 20 minutes.

Pack everyone for van ride to airport, get on a VERY crowded airplane (when I originally reset our plans, they had us in 4 middle seats, one behind the other. Not only 4 unhappy people that way, but 200, so they swiftly got us all in a row.) Oldest is half-comatose the whole trip, with the ice bucket we took (with permission) from the hotel on her lap. Land early, and... no gate available. 25 minutes. Oh wait, new gate. Hurray. Taxi over, "we'll just be a few minutes." 10 minutes later, move into position, seat belts off, collect ourselves, and - nothing.

"Sorry folks, having trouble with the gate". Oldest is lying like a wet dishrag in the aisle, moaning slightly & unable to move. Overtired youngest is screaming to be held. We're up near the front, so when we start moving 10 minutes later, we're off in a jiffy. I tell wife to move off with the kids, I'll wait for the gate checked stroller. And wait. And wait. EVERYONE is now off the plane, including the pilots. I finally ask the electrician working on the gate to see what's going on, while the pilots are kindly waiting for all of us standing there waiting for our stuff. The poor electrician goes out in the 10 degree weather & grabs them himself.

I meet up with Mrs & kids, figuring everyone else is gone. Turns out... no bags at all. No moving carousels, and our co-flyers are waiting around fuming. It's now an hour since we landed, and nothing's happening. Wait, wait, wait. One carousel starts moving, we all head over there, nothing. Then it stops. Finally an announcement "your bags will be off in five minutes" - no announcement where, so I stay where I am. Ten minutes later, I check with the bag lady, who [sarcasm] politely [/sarcasm] tells me "I made an announcement", I say "you didn't say where", and she graciously tells me "#2." It does eventually begin moving, and half an hour later, our bags come off.

Call the car pick up place, race in the snow across to the CORRECT pickup location, pay, watch poor guy (on our flight, it seemed) whose car key didn't work and was told to go get a new one, he says "I LIVE IN NEW JERSEY", oldest upchucks again in the lot, get home, have oatmeal, crash.

The rest of last week is everybody else getting sick, and I'd like a do-over on last week. So that's our trip.

So then what Happened?

I can't entirely remember Thursday. Friday we hit the Aquarium, and the Indian restaurant (again.) We spent shabbos with some lovely people in one of the Jewish areas in Seattle. How we got there is pretty roundabout, but this is how Jewish Geography sometimes works.

You may recall I mentioned the fabulous party we went to some time back? No? Here's the recap - scroll to Wednesday. Anyway, while waiting in line for our car, we got to chatting with a guy. Turns out we're both going back to Long Island. I tell him what town, he says "oh, do you know so-and-so? They just moved from Seattle" How funny - we're going to Seattle! Anyway, I track down the new people on a synagogue mailing list, call up & drop the guy's name, and ask if they might be able to hook us up with anyone when we're there for shabbos hospitality. She says "oh, some friends from Seattle will be visiting next week - why don't I introduce you?"

So Mrs. goes over next week, meets the visitors, and by the time she's through we are invited to the visitor's for shabbos. Easy, right? At any rate, we found them and spent a very nice shabbos with them. They have kids around our kids age, toys to play with, and it was all very nice. It even turns out they're highly conservative (politically) and the husband knows the guy who ran for governor over there in this last election. They had other plans for lunch on Saturday, so we were assigned to have lunch with the Rabbi who's an old NY expatriate. We had lunch there with some other locals who, it turns out, we had met many years ago. The wife was a former congregant at a beginner's service that I used to work at, and we had a really nice time talking all sorts of stuff.

So Shabbos was lovely, and then back home to pack.

For our trip.

Home.

Where there's 800 feet of snow falling as we speak...

The rest of the Week

is something of a blur. The family lives a few hours north of Seattle, so we wanted to plan it rather than just running up there. Our trip was Seattle based this time because of the travel issue. Past trips have involved leaping off the plane (well, shuffling slowly off after the 10,000 other people who were hiding in the overhead compartments to slow our exit from the Sardine Can), hopping into transportation for a 2 hour ride. Not a good thing after small kiddies have been locked in a plane for 6 hours.

This time, we figured we'd stay down south (no, not Down South™), enjoy the city, and most importantly, not have to kosher shop for a week in advance. There's an Albertson's (local chain) with a kosher deli counter, kosher bakery, kosher meat available), and it was ten minutes from our hotel. So we spent a few days bumming around town doing touristy stuff, and I took the wife to a kosher Indian restaurant sans kiddies (thanks, Grandma!) which was very good (there are kosher Indian places in NYC, but us suburbites don't get in to the big city as much as when, say, we lived there.) So good was the restaurant, that we went back the day after I took Mrs. for dinner to take some of the Northern relatives, who were down for other purposes.

Weds. was back (again) to the shopping for more food, including three times as much raw chicken cutlets as I needed for the four kosher ones for dinner. We were heading up to the relations, who don't keep kosher, but it's hard to buy a small package of food in a place without a regular butcher. The relations have a grill we bought a few years back which they've left kosher for us, so I can cook there every four years or so. Anyway, drive up, and have a lovely day visiting with the folks. Great Grampa, supposedly the frail one, is walking with a cane but is otherwise in fine fettle. He told stories, jokes, and even sang a little (he used to perform light opera, including the Gilbert & Sullivan I enjoy so much.)

Uncle is retired Navy, and one of the decentest people I've ever met. He's supposedly very tactiturn, and I've noticed he's not a yakker, but I've always enjoyed talking to him. He's also tremendously handy - he built his house, and I mean actually BUILT it. Had instruction from an electrician, and paid other people to sheetrock the walls for time reasons, but otherwise it was all him. And Aunt, whom I like very much as well. I'm actually quite jealous of his skill, and it's something I wish I had. One fallout from a yeshiva education, unfortunately.

We also went to see their son & daughter-in-law's house. Cousin has inherited his dad's ability, and is rebuilding top to bottom. He even borrowed some kind of etching machine & did this neat pattern on some glass. We like all the cousins, but they may be our favorites. Lots of fun to talk to, and his wife has a phenomenal sense of humor. He's a cop in their tiny little town up there, and he had some neat stories to tell.

Anyway, dinner back at Aunt & Uncle's was a party. I had tons of chicken (marinated in lemon, pepper, salt & olive oil) so there was plenty for kosher & non-kosher alike, and we had a blast. The kids were exhausted, but they fell asleep on the way back to Seattle so it worked out.

Righto

Let's try this again, shall we?

The idea for a trip out West began some months back at the urging (all right, insistent noodging) of my dear mother in law. She pointed out (correctly) that the Upper West Coast relatives, including the Great-Grandparents, had never met our youngest child. They were not doing terribly well, getting older and all, and MIL felt it would be a good idea for us all to get out there. Now, I really like these relatives quite a bit, but I had three basic problems:

1) We never seem to just go on vacation - we're always travelling to see somebody
2) Flights and hotels are dad-blamed expensive
3) SIX...HOURS...ON...A...PLANE...WITH...SMALL...CHILDREN.

Discussion ensued, financial assistance worked out, and hence Dark and Early on a January Sunday morning, small children were wakened from their beds at about 4:30 AM and plopped into a minivan for a ride to the airport. Thence by Wingéd Conveyance to the Great State of Washington, being completely and almost exactly unlike Washington DC. The flight was not as awful as it might have been, which is to say it was kind of awful. We had taken the last row of the plane, a window & aisle each, in the hope that the flight would be empty & we could have the whole shebang to ourselves. Which turned out to be the case, as a 7AM Sunday flight was, for some inexplicable reason, not so popular.

The constant in & out of car seat by youngest child was not appreciated, but she did eventually fall asleep. The kosher meals consisted of some mad genius' approach to scrambled eggs. I think. It was yellow, anyway. It appeared the "Chef" took some eggs, roasted them over a bic lighter, ran them over with a forklift, and then put them through a shredder. The consistency resembled couscous, and the flavor... I think the straw wrappers were better, personally.

Anyway, we did survive, and hit hitch #1. Aforementioned in-law had planned to meet us at the airport, as she was driving up from Californiay. Where they live. We finally managed to contact her while waiting for our bags, when she told us she was about 80 miles from the airport. Oy. (Incidentally, I thought it was kind of cool that the Aeroflot baggage claim was right next to ours. We're in from NY, Pavel over there is in from Valdivostok. Welcome to America, Old Boy!)

Anyway, cab to the hotel, meet MIL a bit later, no rooms ready, entertain overtired children (who are jumping up & down on the hotel's lobby furniture), and we head off instead to the Children's Museum, which is a neat place. Back to hotel, no rooms, start making threatening noises, and "oh, wait, maybe it's ready after all." Run out to supermarket, buy what passes for kosher food in a non-Jewish neighborhood, collapse.

Thus ends Day 1. (Relax - the rest will be compressed)

So....

I was all set to update everyone on my fascinating trip out West, and then oldest gave illness to youngest, who gave it to Mrs., who gave it to me. I will dispense with graphic description, and simply point out that my absence this week from both blogging and work was due to G-I Tract concerns.

Can I get a do-over on this week?

Since you're wondering...

We have returned from a trip to the Left Coast. The short version - nice trip, delayed home from stupid snow, now everyone is sick.

The longer version will post after I finish catching up. Not on work, silly - blogreading.

Look for exciting episodes such as Dinner with the Pacific Northwest Relations, Rise & Shine at Dawn (EST, not where we are), Lunch With the Rabbi, Various Kiddy Museums, Grocery Shopping Daily, Snowed in when there's no Snow, and, of course, Barfing in an Ice Bucket.

I suspect there will just be one or two long posts, but this should give a flavor.

Thursday Three

Gee, what IDIOT came up with these stupid...

Never mind.

Anyway, I asked 'em, I gotta answer them.

1) Name three movies you could not live without on a desert island

Believe it or not, this is one of the tougher ones for me. Many choices, and I can't always remember what I like best. I leave open the option to change my mind later.
A) Life of Brian - "Lord, I am afflicted by a bald patch" - 'nuff said.
B) Goodfellas
C) Princess Bride - "Nothing's better than a nice Mutton, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich"
Given that I have that one memorized, it might not be completely necessary, in which case I might substitute The Quiet Man. Or The Man who Would Be King. Or... [ed. update - I thought of one more: Mr. Roberts. "The symbol of our cargo record has been thrown overboard!"]

2) What movie have you fallen asleep in the middle of/asked for your money back/thrown up while watching?

Star Wars Episode I - "The Beginning of the Plotless Prequels, where we spent $10 Billion on FX but couldn't spare a C-note for an actual scriptwriter" is coming to mind.

The real winner is Before Sunrise, as colossal a waste of film stock as has ever been seen. If I wanted to watch two people on a date, I would be on my own date. If I hadn't been on an actual date with a cute girl (pre-Mrs. Skinny), AND if it hadn't been at the $2 theater, I think I would have asked for a refund.

3) Who would play you and your significant other in the movie of your life?

The inspiration for this question is from numerous real conversations I had back in college with my friends, most of whom were in student government. Their particular party was the PHD party, for reasons pointless to explain, and we spent a lot of time casting "PHD: The Movie"

Now, I'd like to say that I was consistently compared to some of the greatest leading men in film history: Harrison Ford, Kenneth Branagh, Cary Grant, Marlon Brando, George Peppard. For good or ill, however, the consensus was always (as I remember) that the right guy to play me is...

Rick Moranis. (Here's an appropriate alternate shot)

The wife is a little harder to pick. Obviously, she really looks like this. However, since I can't overwhelm the masses with her timeless beauty, I will go with one of my favorites - Helena Bonham Carter. Preferably, for my tastes, in Prim Edwardian Look, rather than chain-smoking Parisian lady-of-the-night mode. Certainly not looking like this. Ick.

Archives of Interest

The fabulous International Business Machines has a publicly available corporate archives site. (The archivist there is a guy I've met a few times.)

When you think about how much of our lives are computer driven (and that you are reading this, I assume, on some sort of computer), you begin to appreciate the impact companies like IBM have had on the world. To think also of IBM's predecessor companies beginning their work in the 1880's, you begin to realize the crazy paths that history sometimes takes. It's hard to conceive in 1885 that punch card machines would lead to instant communication anywhere in the world (as well as massive timewasters like blogs), and yet here we are.

IBM is also an example of Corporate Archives at work. What you're seeing here is only the tip of the iceberg. The archives there is providing research, insight, and information to people around the world, both internally and externally. It's a unique function in a corporation, and one that many organizations don't appreciate.

Ummm, OK?

This is the first time I've heard of anybody wanting to go to Ethiopia since Mussolini invaded in 1935.

I will trust that the late Mr. Marley has communicated his wishes. I don't really want to know for sure, though.

Rather, Old Boy

Well, Gunga Dan escaped the firing squad. I'm not surprised, even if I am disappointed. Dan's the last guy left on earth who thinks Memogate got the story right, even if us simple types can't see it. What I can't see is how See.B.S. can possibly consider itself an honest dispenser of paper Dixie cups, much less the news.

I heard Bernard Goldberg on Sean Hannity's radio show this PM, and he suggested that this was all unnecessary - the MSM only needed to adjust itself to modern realities of the news business and they would not be irrelevant. What he meant (as I understood it) is that people have plenty of choice, and if the MSM is going to treat the public like morons, we're going to go elsewhere. I don't think this has happened yet, but it's seeming more inevitable as time goes by. Blogs, talk radio, whatever - there are plenty of places where people can go for news, analysis, opinion, whatever.

There's no need to take Rather et al as THE truth. Moreover, when a guy like this is shown to be a partisan, stubborn, know-nothing hack, the rest of us feel pretty justified in ignoring the MSM. All Rather had to do was say "look, we thought it was kosher & it wasn't, sorry" and he might have saved a shred of credibility. At this point, you get more reliable information from the Weekly World News and the National Enquirer than from network news.

Let's not even mention the report the suits came up with. No political bias? I presume there was no intent to influence the election, hmmm? I read a great quote from Abigail Adams tonight in Our Oldest Enemy ( which I highly recommend, BTW) when referring to the undeclared war between the US and France in the 1790s "Why, when we have the thing, should we boggle at the name?"

Now, aside from anticipating a highly popular word game of the 20th century, Mrs. Adams had her head screwed on correctly. Just because nobody found a memo from Rather to CBS execs saying "hey guys, I'm gonna screw Bush tonight so Kerry gets elected" doesn't mean the thing wasn't intended that way. The rest of us can see that. Defend this to the death, Danno. You're just hastening the death of network news, and I'm ready for that.

Clean-up weekend

We did have plans for the weekend, which included going out to Joisey to see some friends. Thanks to various illnesses (their child and ours) we decided to reschedule. While this meant oldest child had a chance to go to yet another birthday party, it did leave me at somewhat loose ends. Out of sheer frustration at being thwarted at my somewhat well-laid plans, I decided to attack the monster that is my office.

Now, I don't really need an office, exactly. We have a room in the basement that used to be the Mrs.' office. But, see, it's real hard to get any work (or goofing) done when small children won't leave you be. Hence the move to the family room, so children can glaze over on Dora the Explora (don't spit on the floor-a, use the cuspidor-a, that's a what it's for-a) or some other vaguely wholesome fare. And if they need Mommy, they can see her instead of checking on her every 30 seconds.

All this means is that I got an office. Which I proceeded to pile higher and higher with the great mass of critically important pieces of dead tree we get daily. Most are trifles, like bills, but occasionally we get those critical, vital, essential offers for new aluminum siding. Anyway, I went at it in a frenzy on Sunday, and succeeded in actually filing a large mass of former living oak, or ash, or sequoia, or whatever. I wouldn't say it's clean, precisely, but I have verified there are both a floor AND a desk in the space.

Oh, and I watched the Jets game on Saturday night, which ended well, if not exactly prettily enough, for my tastes.

Too good not to share

And I thought the Japanese had trouble getting things translated safely into English.

(Hat Tip to Jack Fowler at the Corner)

Thursday Three, '05 Model

1) What are three things you wish you had been able to get done in 2004, but didn’t?

Get filthy stinking rich. Two outta three ain't bad.

2) What are three things you have always wished to do, but still haven’t done?

Learn to fly; buy a brand new car for cash money; learn to cook a steak properly on the grill.

AND FINALLY, from Larry Anderson up at Kudzu Acres, who sends along this contribution regarding things of true importance--
How about some questions to really bring out the football fans this week?

Where were you on 17-16?

Well, up north we only have 12 months in a year, so I have no idea what you Southy folks mean.

What were Shug's and Bear's real names?

Abbot Suger, as we've seen previously. And I always thought it was Fozzie. Waka waka waka.

Why would anyone go to Alabama when a good school costs about the same?

Stupid question. Because they shoulda made that left toin in Albequerque.

You know, some real intellectual ones this week to get the year off right.

Of course, Skinnydan may feel a little left out, so you could always ask how Rutgers did this year.

Rutgers? They have a football team? Didn't he play bass for Springsteen?

It's been a long week

Busy, mostly in a good way, but busy. The Cliff's Notes version:

Friday, 12/31: Happy Birthday, Big Girl! For the record, it's not her finest picture ever. And she was standing in the nose section of what I seem to remember as a DC-3. So you can imagine she might have been too busy to pose like a supermodel. I'm off work, Mrs. sends me & youngest off to local children's museum so Mrs. can surprise us with homemade chocolate/mint fudge. WOW. And delicious. (museum was fun - membership means we can go anytime for 45 mins & not feel like we wasted money.)

Saturday: Big girl has a lunch invitation that lasts till Shabbos is over. Mommy gets a nap, Daddy gets to read uninterrupted for three hours. Evening actually has me & Mrs. Skinny take a night out. Local performance by an improv troupe, arranged by the Sisterhood at one of our Synagogues. Accompanied by a kosher attempt at barbecue, which was edible. The show was lots of fun.

Sunday: Lord help us. Birthday party day. 30 children 5 & under in our house. My one key line to Mrs. after was "I told you so." She agreed we didn't need to invite so many kids. Lots of help from my parents (dad brought his keyboard, and entertained musically while the paid entertainment was doing her best to keep kids in line for face painting) and other parents who stayed with their kids & served pizza, juice & cake. It was pretty rough, I must say. They get a smaller party next year. My folks stuck around & we headed off (along with two nieces) to the local chinese place for their buffet, which is better tasting & a better deal than ordering direct.

Monday: Launch date. The catalogs I have been building for 4 years, and the software installation that took so long to realize finally went live. It went smoothly, and pretty quietly for all the agita that went into getting it done. Somewhat anticlimactic, in fact. Probably just as well. It hasn't led to a deluge of reference requests, but it did bring some nice notes from colleagues around the organization.

Tuesday: Hmmm. I'm not sure anything happened. We made more fudge, which was not as successful as the mint. Milk chocolate/butterscotch, white chocolate/butterscotch. The latter tasted good, but didn't set properly. Mistakes happen.

Wednesday: All day fixing up my own web stuff. But at night. Oh man. We got invited a week ago to a 40th birthday party for a friend. Like the together people we are, we never called the inviter back until the night before. We figured "no big deal, we can show up, have cake & chips" Mrs. was dressed pretty casually, but I guessed it wouldn't matter.

Oh boy.

We show up at the house back in our old stomping grounds in the Bronx, and there's valet parking. At a house. Uh-oh, says Mrs. We go inside (we're early), and there's servers carrying trays. There's a bar. I am in BIG trouble for telling Mrs. not to change. Plus we figured it was low-key, so we had eaten dinner. Well, I was forgiven for the faux pas (that's "goof" in Frenchytalk) when we tasted the meat on a stick being passed around. Oh, it was fabulous. And then the little franks in blankets. And the... and the...

Well, we had two dinners last night. Between the actual dinner served later, and the food passers, I ate like a pig. Believe it or not, I've never had lamb chops before. I was a picky eater as a kid (hence my svelte frame) , and I've never wanted to risk buying it in case I hated it. Well, they had 'em last night, and they were fabulous. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

They topped everything off with the most amazing bit of food related gadgetry I've ever seen. The tower o chocolate. It was one of these deals. I'd never seen one, and it's really cool. The chocolate runs down in a waterfall, and you take your strawberry/marshmallow/slab of beef and stick it under the chocolate, and whammo! You got a chocolate covered prime rib.

Anyway, it was a lovely party, and the birthday girl and her husband are among the nicest people we've ever met, and we had a great time.

Today: busy working on somebody else's website. They seem ready to get things in gear, so I've been webbing away (spiderman, spiderman).

So that's my life for the last week. Any questions?