number 365

I made it through one year, Ruthie.

My blog started four years ago this month, but it was pretty sporadic until last August when my niece Ruthie challenged me to post something every day, and I have ever since, even though, as you know, some of these posts have been pretty darn lame.  Today is the 365th day in a row.  I can't guarantee that I'll make it another 365 days without lapsing, but let's give it a try.

If, instead, I had written a page a day of a book, I'd have 365 pages by now.  Maybe that's what I should do instead -- or in addition to...

... because I keep wondering, Will this blog hang out there in cyberspace indefinitely, even after I'm dead, or will it all just disappear one day?  The Internet might end up one day just being a nostalgia joke, sort of like eight-track tape players.

the cbs evening news with katie couric

Ruthie, my niece, thinks we're a little strange because we finally got a DVR on our cable TV, which she prodded us to do, and the program that we most consistently record and watch is the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

But hey, I'm working these late days, and there is something kind of weirdly comforting about getting home at 9 p.m. and watching the news that was on at 5:30 and skipping through all those pharmaceutical commercials and having Katie give us the news in that soft style that she has. It's just too bad that the only news lately seems to be Libya and Charlie Sheen, but apparently there isn't much else going on the world or she'd be telling us all about it, I'm sure. And the program always ends with a heart-warming, non-news wrap-up. Thanks, Katie.

ok ruthie, we have a dvr.... now what?

My niece Ruthie has been prodding us to get the DVR (sorry, I don't know what DVR stands for) option for our cable TV so that we can record programs and not have to be home to see them at the scheduled time and also to be able to fast-forward through commercials, which in itself was the selling point that got my attention. The last thing we need is to watch more TV, but we finally gave in and had Ruthie's husband Ryan (who works for the cable company) come over and bring a DVR-ready cable box and install it. It screwed up our universal remote for a few days, but now that's been fixed and we are officially a DVR household.

So what do we do now? We set our CBS Monday night shows and also The Big Bang Theory to record, but as I scroll through the viewer's guide on this snowy evening, I'm finding it hard to find something else tape-worthy. Daytime TV? well, let's look. How about Ellen, Jeopardy!, or the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric? All fine programs in their own way, I'm sure, but do I need them? Nightime TV? -- A lot of unfamiliar and unappealing titles. I'm certainly not going to tape any of those American Idol-type shows!

What I need is some guidance... Ruthie??

leading us through the wasteland

My niece Ruthie needed someone to watch the Emmys with last night. The Emmys are the awards for TV shows, you know, and I hadn't watched those awards in a number of years. "You realize, Ruthie, that the only current TV show we know is 'Two and a Half Men'?" She assured me, though, that the reason to watch awards shows with someone else is to have somebody to make sarcastic comments to, so we of course were up for that.

But it turned out to be fun watching with her. She knew most of the nominated shows and the celebrities, so she was our interpreter for 2010 television. She also is a huge Jimmy Fallon fan, and he was the host for the program, so she was filled with Glee about that. Without her telling us who everybody was we would have been Mad Men. Or Lost.

sometimes the ending is the best part

I hate those weeks when I'm either too busy to blog or wearing a head filled with garbage unsuitable for my blog-reading public... This was one of those weeks, juggling between a merger that I need to make happen by the first of July and the normal real work.

But it's a beautiful Saturday here in Minneapolis, and I spent most of the morning on the deck reading a book and drinking coffee and un-cluttering my brain. This afternoon I went to the gym and worked off some of my week's frustrations and then, what do you know?, ran into my sister Joan downtown as we were both waiting for busses home.. (Is the plural of bus buses or busses?) And here I am, sitting on our front patio writing to you all. The week ended nicely.

Say, did you watch the Tony Awards last Sunday night?.. Of course, you didn't, and I bet you can't name one new Broadway show from this past season, can you?.. But we always watch the show, and this year my niece Ruthie and my grandnephew Corey came over to watch with us since Ruthie never has anybody to watch the Tonys with, and what good is watching an awards show if you have nobody to make sarcastic remarks to? So we had fun with it and shared throwback Pepsi (which of course Ruthie hated) and potato chips, and maybe that was the highlight of the week, sad to say. This week will be better.

and since you, like most of the world, missed the Tonys, here's a clip of the highlight of the show: Neil Patrick Harris, the host, singing the closing number:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-cB2HpNQ2k

like no other store in the world

I know better than to go to the Mall of America on a Saturday afternoon, but Jerry had me on a mission to find a shower-curtain rod a lot better than the cheapo one that we got at Target that keeps falling down and just broke a tile. I figured that Bloomingdale's must have some cool shower-curtain rods, so off I went to the MOA this afternoon.

As I was walking into Bloomingdale's from the parking ramp, I noticed their classy-looking sign that said "BLOOMINGDALE'S: Like No Other Store in the World"..... Hmmm, I thought. I wonder how much money somebody got for coming up with that slogan. I mean, isn't it totally meaningless? Isn't every store like no other store? Isn't even every Bloomingdale's like no other Bloomingdale's? That's what I should have been -- a slogan inventor, making big bucks for saying nothing. When you think about it, how many slogans mean anything at all? Consider this slogan, which might be the worst: "UPS: See What Brown Can Do For You"! I mean, really, does seeing what brown can do for you make you want to use UPS? Brown might easily be the least-inspiring color!

Anyway, I got to the bed-and-bath department in Bloomingdale's, and guess what. They have plenty of shower curtains but zero shower-curtain rods. I asked the saleslady what store might carry them, and she answered, "Well, certainly not Macy's. You might have to go to Bed Bath & Beyond."

Of course there is no Bed Bath & Beyond at MOA. The nearest one is several miles away down the interstate, and here I was already at the mall. So I wandered aimlessly and almost hopelessly through the MOA, through the mobs of people that all seem to be from out of town (A local would know to stay away on a Saturday). The highlight of my wandering was when I was walking past the Build-A-Bear store where my niece Ruthie used to work: I was wearing my Phillies cap, and another guy in a Phillies cap high-fived me!

Then, as luck would have it, I found a quality shower-curtain rod at one of the other anchor stores, Sears. Sears might not be like no other store in the world, but at least it was like no other store at the mall!

busting out all over

June 2008, and it finally feels like spring, almost summer, in Minnesota. Wow, what a wait we had this year. I hope summer lasts til December. Ha!

Family news. Two times in the past four days, I became a great uncle again, and, let's face it, how could any kid have a greater great uncle? I love babies, as you well know (Up until they hit the 7th grade, at least!). On Thursday, my niece Michelle had a baby girl, named Heron, born into a segment of the family that is currently and inexplicably naming babies after birds. Saw a photo of her this morning, and she's beautiful, of course... Then this afternoon my niece Ruthie had her baby, a boy named Corey. No photos yet, but you can be sure they're coming. Mothers and babies (and fathers) are doing fine. Welcome to the family, kids... hang on for a wild ride (and a few cheesesteaks!).

Happy Birthday, Corey.