LAS to ORD to MSP

Ok, changing planes at Chicago O'Hare airport, heading back to Siberia.  But what a great break.  I wish everybody in Minnesota could get away for three days in warm temperatures and no snow.

by the time we got to phoenix

I misnamed yesterday's post.  Instead of MSP to LAS, it should have been MSP to PHX to LAS, because we had to change plans in Phoenix, Arizona.

In my usual free-ranging guilt while we were taking off from Minneapolis, I was questioning the decision to go to Vegas when there is so much work at the office and a house move coming up shortly, but by the time we got to Phoenix, where the temperatures were in the 70s, I was over that.  By the time we reached Las Vegas, I was saying "Minneapolis who?"

MSP to LAS

A brief reprieve from a punishing winter.... into the desert, the escape from reality.  Back Wednesday.

tristan & somebody

Oh there it is, I had to look it up again -- the name of the play that we went to see the other night at the Guthrie Theater -- Tristan & Yseult -- but when I Wikipedia it, Yseult comes up as Iseult or Isolde -- that's what happens when 12th Century legends evolve, names change forms.  This 21st-century variation of the story included clown-like hijinks, eclectic but good music, and general silliness wrapped around a story of kings and battles (physical and emotional) taking place in old Cornwall.

Next at the Guthrie -- Shakespeare's Othello.  I plan on reading it before then if I can and then having my friend Naomi explain it to me on the way to the theater.

we ask for so little

Me, yesterday, to a stranger in the elevator:  "It's 40 degrees outside."

The stranger:  "AWESOME, MAN!!"

the miserable people across the hall

Okay, I might be the problem.  Jon and Tom tell me that I like everybody, which to them means that I have no "standards."  And it's true that I try to be friendly to everyone, even strangers on the street.  Who knows?  They might be angels (Hebrews 13:2)!

But here is the other extreme:  a few months ago, the county opened an office on the other side of the elevators from our offices, and there just seems to be something wrong with the people who work there:  they are absolutely the unfriendliest people I have ever encountered.  Not only will they not say even a token "Hello" when they pass us in the hall, they won't even make eye contact or acknowledge our presence.

This leads me to one of the following explanations for their obvious misery:
--  They all desperately hate their jobs (and it's likely that many county employees do hate their jobs but can't leave because the benefits are good).
--  They hate each other.
--  They've been ordered to never mingle with non-county employees.  But why?

Don't get me wrong.  The phoniness of "Minnesota nice" can be pretty irritating too, but I at least don't take that personally.

the messy in-between

The remodeling of the new house continues at what seems like a snail's pace and is at a stage of looking like nothing, or at least nothing livable.  Meanwhile we sit in our condo and wait and sort of wish we could move some stuff, but no rooms in the new place are finished enough to move anything into.

the future living room

the future family room

the crashes

It's funny, watching the Olympics, how, with all the sleek beauty of the winter sports on display, what gets replayed over and over are the screw-ups -- the crashes and falls, broken bones, the tears of disappointment, and Bob Costas's eye problems.

It sorta reminds me of watching a NASCAR race, where the only moments that get replayed are the crashes.

spamming for jesus

As a technologically-challenged blogger, I've always been impressed that Google can screen and block spammers from having their "comments" show up on my posts.  Occasionally, one gets by them and I have to go in and delete a rogue comment, which, if I didn't do that, the comment would be inviting you to click on a link to a site perhaps dangerous or just plain sleazy.

The one that got by them yesterday was a Jesus spam -- a long, preachy bit of earnest silliness that included even the Ethiopian eunuch and would lead a gullible reader to another blog site (that probably asks for money at some point).  Spam evangelism -- has this replaced the loudmouth would-be preacher on a downtown soapbox?  Or how about this? -- Recently I saw a guy with Bible verses tattooed all over his arms.  Is he thinking that inking his body will inspire lost souls?

"LOL!"

Here is one of my favorites of 21st-Century evangelistic lunacy:  The Facebook friend who quotes the theoretical words of Jesus in the Book of Matthew: "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven," and then strongly suggests that if you don't "share" the post affirming that you love the heck out of Jesus right there on Facebook ("and 97% of my friends won't"), he will deny you in heaven and you are doomed for eternity.  I guess that non-Facebookers are off the hook on that one, at least.

'tonight' won't be just any night

It was partly because it came on right after the Olympics opening ceremony (which I watched part of), but the last Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show set a ratings record for that show, and next week Jimmy Fallon moves on to become the new host of The Tonight Show.  Jimmy Fallon seems like such a nice guy and is extremely talented -- he was just on too late for someone likes me who falls asleep in front of the TV way too often -- so I'm a little excited that he'll be in that earlier time slot.  Plus, he moves the show back to New York, where it belongs.

And I gotta say, the Olympics sure look good in HD.

the word is that sochi sucks

It could be that the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia has had the worst advance publicity of any Olympics, except for maybe the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.  Hotel accommodations are somewhere between non-existent and horrifying, the slopes and other venues are dangerous, athletes are getting hurt... and then there is the repressive Putin administration hosting it all.

So it will be interesting to see whether people tune in to watch or not.  As frigid as this winter has been in much of the U.S., will viewers want to see more snow and ice?

The replay of the opening ceremonies is on TV tonight -- hmmm, whether to watch, or might there be a better offer?

glued to ed sullivan

It was fifty years ago this week....

The Ed Sullivan Show was on CBS for many years, but, for baby boomers of a certain age, it was that one Sunday night in early February of 1964 that will be remembered most.  It was just two months after the assassination of President Kennedy, and it was a winter of gloom.... until word got out that a British pop group named the Beatles was going to be invading the U.S., and we would finally get to see them with our non-comprehending parents in glorious black and white on, of all places, The Ed Sullivan Show.

There was nobody who didn't watch.  There was nobody who wasn't talking about the show in school the next day -- the songs, the haircuts, which one is your favorite Beatle? --  and music would never be the same.  You know the rest of the story.  It all happened fast and seems like only, well, Yesterday.

P.S.  John was always my favorite Beatle.

they missed the thin air of mile-high stadium

Maybe they had trouble adjusting to the relatively thick, normal air of East Rutherford, New Jersey, but, whatever the reason, the favored Denver Broncos choked on something and lost Super Bowl XLVIII big-time yesterday to the Seattle Seahawks, 43-8.  Jerry and I, rooting for Seattle, enjoyed the blowout.  People who just wanted to "see a good game" didn't.

Best commercial, in my opinion:  Doritos.

no hope bowling

I'm still a little freaked out that we're moving to a suburb, even a relatively palatable suburb, and am trying to cautiously adapt to the concept of living outside the urban core.  Jerry has some pet names for some of the Minneapolis 'burbs, for example:  Eden Prairie is "Eden Scary";  Maple Grove is "Maple Grave"; New Hope is "No Hope"....

No Hope is a suburb even farther out than our soon-to-be home, and that's where we went bowling with Tom and Liz today, the New Hope Bowl, and I realized that, wherever I am -- urban, rural or suburban -- I'm a lousy bowler.  Maybe the boundaries matter less than I fear.  And maybe I should bowl more than once every three or years.  At least it would be something to do while mingling with the natives.

It wasn't long ago that people could still smoke INSIDE bowling alleys...

what february is

February -- it's that oddball month that only has 28 days and occasionally 29 while all the "normal" months have 30 or 31.  It's also the month that has two "R's" in it, but only one is pronounced!

For those of us for whom winter is a burden, it's also the month on the downside of January when, even thought the weather might be just as cold and dreadful as January's, it feels like we are over some sort of hump and spring is more than an abstract neverland.

It's also the month of diverse observations and celebrations to warm your heart-- Groundhog Day (tomorrow), Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras (Karneval or Fasching to some of you), President's Day, Black History Month, and this year even the Winter Olympics.

So let's raise a glass to February.... and, if it's awful, what the heck.  It's only 28 days.

mid-winter sports update

"What?" you are saying, "it's only mid-winter?" Hang in there, readers.  Maybe some sports news will warm you up.

And I need to write this quickly, in this potentially brief moment when my favorite winter sports team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, has a winning record (23-22).  Half the season is over, and the Wolves, as usual, have been a disappointment from pre-season expectations, but they still have a shot at a playoff spot if they can get their act together.  Hope is alive.  Basketball is a long season.

Football, the shortest sports season, ends Sunday with the Superbowl, the most overstated of all sporting events.  It's the Denver Broncos vs. the Seattle Seahawks, neither of which teams is easy to care about, but I'm leaning toward rooting for Seattle, first of all because I like the city of Seattle but also because I loved Seattle player Richard Sherman's trash-talk a couple weeks ago after the Seahawks beat the 49ers --while most people hated it.  Hey people, it's football, not a sensitivity workshop!

The biggest talk the Superbowl this year has generated is what the weather will be like in an outdoor northern stadium, in this case Met Life stadium in North Jersey, which has had some extremely wintry weather lately.  It was fun picturing those corporate executives (the only people who attend a Super Bowl) shivering in a blizzard, but the forecast is now for moderate, tolerable temps.  Now all those execs need to worry about is whether Chris Christie will close a bridge or two and they won't be able to get to the game because they're stuck in traffic jams in New York.

I like 'girls'

Say, have you watched the HBO series, "Girls", now in its third season?  I gotta say -- it's not for everyone, but I sure do like it.  Adam is the best character, the only one on the show with some soul, and, ironically, one of the few characters who isn't, well, a "girl".

why i was watching netflix

You know I like Obama just fine, but, I'm sorry, I just can't watch State of the Union speeches anymore; in fact, I think maybe I haven't watched a SOTU since that year when Clinton was speaking at the same time everyone was waiting for the O.J. Simpson verdict (Remember the split screen?).  The whole event is generally just so much phoniness -- ideas that will never be enacted, pretend-respect, an occasional idiot-Congressperson shouting out "Liar!" at the President... Who wants to see that?

So instead last night I watched an obscure foreign (Luxembourg, Germany) film that I enjoyed but which ended on a down-note, so I followed it up with two episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which left me feeling better than seeing two hours of John Boehner making funny faces behind the President would have done.

a man of song, a man of peace

“I’ve often thought, standing onstage with 1,000 people in front of me, that somebody over on my right had a great-great grandfather who was trying to kill the great-great grandfather of somebody off to my left. And here we are all singing together. And wouldn’t it surprise all those great-grandfathers if they could see their great-grandchildren singing together? They’d probably say, ‘Why did we fight so hard?’ Good question!

We all go to different churches or no churches, we have different favorite foods, different ways of making love, different ways of doing all sorts of things, but there we’re all singing together. Gives you hope.”
                -- Singer/songwriter/activist/great guy Pete Seeger -- 5/3/19 to 1/27/14

steam room conversationalists

Guy #1:  I've looked forward to this all day.
Guy #2:  These are the times when our dues are worth paying.
Guy #1:  How high did the temperatures get today?  The highest I saw was minus 8.
Guy #2:  I saw minus 6, but it was on a bank clock and those are always undependable.
Guy #1:  Tonight it's supposed to get down to minus 22, with windchills of almost minus 50 degrees!  They've already called off school for tomorrow.
Guy #2:  Really?  What is that, the 5th time this month?
Guy #1:  Something like that.  Today they even cancelled classes at the U [of Minnesota], and that never happens.
Guy #2:  It didn't used to be like that.  Times have certainly changed from when we were kids.
Guy #3 (to himself):  Oh dear god, shoot me now, please don't let me blog about the weather again tonight!

creature choices in the basement

As we are cleaning the basement --

Him:  There's a dead mouse.
Me:  Then we're moving!
Him:  No, we're not moving.  We haven't even moved in yet!
Me:  I'm not living in a house that has mice!
Him:  Every house in the world has a mouse at some time or other.
Me:  Then we'll get a cat.
Him:  No, we're not getting a cat.
Me:  Which would you rather have, a cat or a mouse?
Him:  A mouse!  You won't let me have a dog, so I'm not going to let you have a cat.
Me:  I don't want a cat!  I just don't want mice!  There's no comparison.  With a dog, it's always, "Hey, can you run home and let the dog out?" or "We can't go away for the weekend -- Who would watch the dog?"   Cats are way more self-sufficient.
Him:  So are mice!

The debate continues.

oh, deer !

We won't be officially moved into the new house for quite a while, but we were sitting there sipping some Macallan 12 this afternoon when we had our first visitor.  It was a cute moment, communing with nature and all that, but I'm thinking that we won't be nearly so charmed this summer when we find our yard and garden all chewed up.

what good is sitting alone in your room?

"Come here the music play...."

So it's January in Minnesota, the weather is worse than even normal, it's snowing, it's f-ing cold and wet and miserable, so let's go out to the theater.... We bought some last minute tickets, and Jerry and Joan and James and I are trudging over to the Pantages Theater to see Theater Latte Da's new production of Cabaret.  Cabin fever be damned!

radical, indeed!

Apparently it's for real.

It was a painful process -- dealing for two months with realtors, mortgage brokers, bankers, appraisers, surveyors, and even FEMA -- but we closed on that house today, so I guess it's official that we're gonna move, all of which involves renovations of the new place followed by the sale of our condo.  The next round of frustrations will come from contractors -- the wallpaper-removers, the painters, the chimney sweeps, the carpet-people, the hardwood-floor guys -- who always promise promptness and end up producing delays and complications.  Maybe you can relate.

The most radical part of the whole deal is that we are moving, ever-so-slightly, out of the urban core.  I always have said that I could never live in a suburb, even an acceptably inner-ring 'burb, but, ya know, never is a long time....

... and wait til you see what we do to that place.  Then you'll understand.

the importance of warm buns, part 2

As much of the United States shivers in this extraordinarily frigid winter of 2013-2014 and the term "polar vortex" has suddenly entered everyday usage, there are two groups of people that are driving me crazy:

cockroach

1)  The people who live in Florida and are lording their 60-degree temperatures over the rest of us like they are living in some sort of paradise.  Believe me, if there is paradise anywhere, it certainly isn't Florida:  the most screwed-up political system anywhere, the worst drivers in the country, more than their share of crazy people and prison inmates, unbearable heat and humidity seven months out of the year, alligators and bugs, irritations ad infinitum....  (What I'm saying is, there are worse things than cold weather).

polar bear

2)  People who watch Fox News and therefore don't believe there is such a thing as "global warming" and are using the extremely wintery weather as "proof" that the theory is a hoax.  "Climate change", resulting from the reality of overall global warming, creates extremes of all kinds.  "I've never seen weather like this in my life," you may hear in winter or summer.  Just wait.  It will get worse.

the importance of warm buns

It used to be that cars didn't have air conditioning, and, even after they did, it was a long time before I personally had a car that had air conditioning.  As anyone will tell you, once you have a car with a/c, you can't go back to doing without.

I'm here to tell you that the same goes for heated seats, if you live in a place like Minnesota.  My current GTI is the first car I've had with heated seats, and, as long as I live here, I can never again have a car without them.  It's become a necessary, almost-decadent luxury.

'hi, dennis!'

In a way, I sort of regret not being an alcoholic or drug addict, because, to tell the truth, I'm thinking that a stint in rehab might feel kind of good.  I mean, you sit there for four weeks, six weeks, whatever, getting plenty of sleep, talking about yourself with counselors or in group sessions and drinking decaffeinated coffee and wearing comfortable clothes.  What's not to like?

But -- on the other hand, what if you happened to get the roommate from hell or group-dominator that doesn't even know he is part of a group?  For instance, I was just reading that Dennis Rodman has checked himself into treatment for his drinking problems.  You know Dennis Rodman? --  former flamboyant and  attention-grabbing NBA player with the Chicago Bulls, currently in love with North Korea and best friends with Kim Jung-un, an overall publicity hound?  Got the mental visual of an immediate group relapse?

the cleaning of the trash chute system

A 22-story condominium building is complicated and maintenance is nonstop, and rules and notices are part of daily life -- Do this, don't do that, the garages are being power washed, the trash chutes are being cleaned.... Somewhere there is a balance in condo living between the luxury of not shoveling snow and the suspicion that you live in a dormitory....

on either side of some really bad pizza

I know it's a little weird, but we went to see two movies last night.  You know, it's Oscar season, and, even though I'm miffed that Inside Llewyn Davis (Coen brothers movie) wasn't nominated for Best Picture, I still self-impose the obligation of seeing the nominees.....

So the first one was The Wolf of Wall Street, the wild new Martin Scorcese film, which started at 6:10 p.m.  We got home from work and dashed to the movie theater and made it in time but had no time for dinner, so we grabbed concession snacks to tide us over -- me, a hot dog and Jerry, a large popcorn -- and settled into our seats, not realizing that Wolf of Wall Street was three hours long.

So it's quarter after 9 when we get out and Jerry wants to go to another movie (August: Osage County) in the same cineplex, this one starting at 9:30.  So we bought tickets and headed back to the concession stand, where this time I bought a personal-size cheeze pizza and Jerry got a hot dog.  I should have had another hot dog.  The pizza was  by far the worst pizza I have ever had, which is saying something considering the fact that there is plenty of horrific pizza in the world, and I don't even know how further to express how hideous it was.  But I survived and lived to tell the tale.

Wolf of Wall Street:  wow.  It's the movie this year that everybody either loves or hates and, even thought we felt like we had been hit by a freight-train by the time it was over, I found myself closer to loving it than hating it.  With all the F words (500+ of them), the nudity, and the general debauchery, it won't win a Best Picture Oscar, but, in a way, maybe it should, because it is genius film-making. Sort of.  August: Osage County:  Not as good as seeing the stage version and not nominated for Best Picture, but Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts have nominations, and they are always fun to watch.  It was a very different kind of picture from Wolf of Wall Street (except for the F words).. :-)

this might be the radical change

It looks like we're going to be moving....

the new house

as we all wait to win the lottery

A favorite quote from John Steinbeck:

“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”.

a week ago, i was seasick

Seasickness surprised me.  I'm not a person who ever had a problem with motion sickness or anything like that and it was a large ship and I wasn't expecting to even feel the ocean below us.

The first night, Saturday, was fine, but the next morning was not.  At first I thought that maybe I just had too much Scotch the night before (Drowning my sorrows watching the Eagles lose to the Saints)... But the first two days on the Atlantic were rough and windy and I found myself weaving and a little queasy whether standing, sitting or lying down, and by Monday I still wasn't feeling right.  As it turns out, there were a lot of seasick people on the cruise -- the people who hadn't thought to bring pills or a seasick patch -- and were happy to reach our first port -- San Juan, Puerto Rico -- where I was tempted to kiss the ground when disembarking.

But after that, all was well, and now it's dry land that feels weird.

Old San Juan, 1/6/14

having a jacqueline bisset moment

Once again, I'm admitting to a mid-winter guilty pleasure:  watching the January and February movie award shows, culminating with the Oscars in late February, and seeing all or most of the nominated films before then.  In anticipation of the probable Oscar nominees, I've already seen Gravity, American Hustle, Inside Llewyn Davis and Blue Jasmine and will see quite a few more in the next several weeks.  The rest of the year, I hardly ever go to the movies.

Last night was the first of the award shows:  the Golden Globes, which used to be kind of a joke but in recent years has attracted attention and some perceived credibility or maybe just has been another excuse to lay down the red carpet for the eager-to-be-seen celebrities -- some major, some minor and temporary.  The program in some ways was back to being a joke -- long delays as winners took forever to get to the stage and then didn't know what to say when they got there.  A memorable moment:  Jacqueline Bisset's sort-of acceptance speech, in which she mostly stood there silently dumbfounded.  Jacqueline Bisset was a star back in the '60s and '70s and hasn't been heard from in a long while, which, when we heard her name as a nominee, made us say, "Jacqueline Bisset is still alive?"  As she stood there struggling for words and we are yelling out "Say something!", I could sort of sense the emotions she must have been feeling -- success and recognition long after her prime.... or did she just have to much to drink?

three months of something

Hey, at least I only added two cruise pounds, but I'm feelin' a little weighed down:  walkin' the gangplank back into the office in the morning after seven days on the seas while tryin' hard not to choke on my usual impostoritus!  Lots of office hours will be jammed into the next ninety days, and, on top of that, somewhere in that time frame we're moving from our condo into a house (Oh that's another story).

I'm giving myself a pep talk.  Wish me luck.  I need for 2014 to be amazing, and it's going to be my choices that make it happen.

MIA to MSP

Sitting at Miami International Airport, catching up on the news from the past week.  Chris Christie, what were you thinking?

Heading home to Siberian Minnesota, wondering when I will ever feel 80 degrees again.  Was a little sad leaving the ship.

things to do on a cruise ship

Eat.
Drink.
Lie in the sun (unless it's raining or too windy or your pale skin can't handle too much sun).
Gamble.
Eat.
Shop.
Go to a show.
Drink.
Read.
Make small talk with people you will never see again (although you may become Facebook friends).
Drink.
Watch TV in your stateroom.
Eat.
*****
One thing I can say for sure.  When we pull into Miami tomorrow morning, this ship is going to weigh a lot more than it did when we left last week.  Many passengers are planning the diet they'll start when they get home.  Others will head right for Old Country Buffet.

nothing compares 2 u

I figure I should spent a few minutes of expensive cruise-line Wi-Fi to post at least once while at sea. I'm sitting on the top deck, right next to the Sunset Bar, which is my favorite of the bars on the ship.  My headphones are on as I listen to my iTunes, which just brought up a Sinead O'Connor song (hence, the title of this post).  There are people all around me, speaking various languages, while I unsocially cocoon within my iPad.  How 2014 of me!

The first two days at sea were extremely windy, but now there is just a gentle noontime breeze.  The ship itself is beautiful.  We had stops on the islands of Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.  The cruise is --what can I say? -- an experience.  I'll tell you more about it when I'm not paying by the minute.

thinking titanic thoughts

Checked-in, unpacked, getting used to the stateroom (which has a nice balcony), ready to explore the ship.  Internet access over the next week will be hit-and-miss (mostly miss), but I'll stop by and say Hi when I can.

The most surprising part of this trip so far:  how nice downtown Miami is!  We have a fun evening last night with Dina and Norbie, friends who moved down here from Minnesota a couple years ago.  Had a great meal at a restaurant in Little Havana.

Anyway, we're off..... Wi-fi will fade away shortly.
*****
P.S.  Thankfully, there are no icebergs in the Caribbean!

MSP to MIA

You gotta admit, it's a big country.  You leave one place where it's all snow and ice and ten degrees below zero and three hours later you're in a place where there are palm trees and temperatures in the 70s.  Miami looks pretty good today, although, honestly, if I had to live here, I'd kill myself.

We're staying in a pretty swanky hotel tonight, across Biscayne Boulevard from the cruise ships and American Airlines Arena, where the Miami Heat play.  We're having dinner tonight with friends who moved here a couple years ago.  Tomorrow night, we'll be on the high seas, I guess.

dragging me, kicking and screaming

For 15 years, Jerry has been trying to get me to go on a cruise, and I've always said, Heck, No!  What's the appeal?  Cruises sound so terrifically boring.

But he has gently persisted and I have resisted and this year he finally said, "I'm booking it!"  Whatever.  He puts up with my crap, I can put up with some of his.

So we leave tomorrow, flying to Miami, catching a cruise ship for a week in the Caribbean.  We're taking along our friends Tony and Diane, who we have never traveled with, so that should be interesting too.

I do admit, now that we are going through day after day of subzero temperatures here in Minnesota, that the warm weather part of this trip has me almost excited!

Our ship:

memory, mummers, and new scents

For a while this morning, I was live-streaming the Mummer's Parade in Philly.  The Mummer's Parade has been part of New Year's Day celebrations in Philadelphia for a couple centuries.  Mummers:  Wild costumes and music and a festive atmosphere in a parade that goes on and on.

As a kid, I once went to a Mummer's Parade that was ringing in one of those late-1950s new years.  A friend's dad invited me to go along with them.

What I remember the most about that day:  The Mummers were great -- very colorful and much more fun in person instead of on a black and white TV.  But it was very cold, and we had to keep ducking in buildings to get warm.

It was in those buildings that I was first exposed to the scent of booze.  I come from a family that had never had one drop of alcohol in the house, and in these buildings -- restaurants, stores, whatever -- everybody was drinking, and in one of them I remember seeing a woman, maybe in her 50s or 60s, just sitting there nursing her whiskey and staring absently in a hard sort of way, out the window at the Mummers out there in the street.  That image of her has always stuck with me.  I've always wondered what her story was.

why december was quiet

"Unsettled", that's what Jon tells me I've been, and that kinda sums up 2013 for me.  I can't explain any of it.  I didn't like the things I used to like but wasn't sure how or if to replace them.  I wanted to move on but didn't.

A New Year's Eve usually depresses me -- the time-goes-too-fast thing.  Here at the end of 2013, I am ready for the start of a New Year.  Getting back to normal while at the same time doing something radically different:  that's the plan.

2014 may turn out to be the best year that I have left.  I want to get back to blogging -- maybe back to an every day thing -- but only if I can say something at least marginally worthwhile.  That's why December was a blank -- There was nothing.

'so did you see any shows?'

You know that I love Las Vegas as another-world getaway, but, let me tell you, I'm a really boring person to go to Vegas with.  I can spend a couple hours at a time zoned out in front of a slot machine or perfectly content just having a cup of coffee and people-watching.  When I get home, friends ask, "So did you guys see any shows?" or "Did you find any good restaurants?", and that's all normal Vegas stuff, and I usually say No, because, let's face it, I'm no foodie and I have no interest in seeing Celine Dion or Donny & Marie.

As I write this, I'm sitting in our room on the 21st floor of the Aria Hotel, looking at the flashy neon of the Las Vegas Strip and enjoying the moment.  Meanwhile, Jerry called.  He was just in a multi-car accident (he was sitting at a stop light, not moving), so the rental car is dented up but he's okay.  Reality sneaks back into my awareness.
*****
And, by the way, we did go a show -- Zarkana, a Cirque du Soleil show here at the Aria.
*****
Home tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

MSP to LAS

The heck with it.  It's my birthday, and I'm gonna go to Las Vegas.

first, the non-radical stuff

I didn't set out to skip two weeks of blogging.  It's not like I didn't have anything to share.  Maybe I just wasn't ready to share.

Remember when I said I was feeling the need to make a radical change of some sort?  Well, that radical change may be imminent or it might not happen at all.  Whichever it is, getting close to doing something radical has re-invigorated me in some weird way, even if it doesn't end up happening.

On the same-as-usual front, I've been going to too many Timberwolves games and a few plays and even a Scotch class.

The Guthrie Theater still gives me complimentary tickets to selected performances of most of its plays, which I appreciate.  Two plays that I saw this fall were Tribes and Skiing on Broken Glass, two relatively new works given great interpretations by the Guthrie.

Something new, something old:  The Guthrie has been doing Dickens' A Christmas Carol every holiday season for 30-some years -- every year, a masterful production -- and, even though I've seen it before several times, there were the tickets, and I took my son Tom, who hadn't seen it, and it was fun.  The sobering fact, seeing it on the 17th of November, is that some people are already thinking about Christmas.  Some people are already listening to Christmas music.  Some people are already planning on Christmas-shopping on Thanksgiving at those awful retailers that will be open that day.  Help!

utter worthlessness, part 2

And then there is the silliest of political trends -- "ranked-choice" voting, which is now in place here in oh-so-progressive Minneapolis.  Two days ago, the election for Mayor (and City Council and other city positions) took place, and because of the new loosened rules, there were 35 -- count 'em, 35! -- candidates on the ballot for Mayor.  Voters were to pick their favorite of the 35 -- then, if they wish, a 2nd choice and a 3rd choice.  One candidate ended up with 36% of the 1st-choice votes and enough 2nd- or 3rd-choice votes to somehow put her over the top.

The way I see it, ranked-choice voting will in the future be a boon for fringe candidates, and the loose rules will be perfect for anybody who might be desperate to see his or her name in print.

Certainly, today's two-party system is screwed up, but a replacement for it should be something other than laughable... or dangerous.

the utter worthlessness of 2013 democracy

Consider the plight of the honest, intelligent, well-intentioned members of the U.S. Congress, assuming such members still exist.  They might have great ideas of solving some problems, but nobody hears them.  The media only hears the attention-grabbing loudmouths like Ted Cruz or Michele Bachmann, who get into the news for trying to be even more outrageous and nuts than their past idiocies.  And the plutocrats like the oil-rich Koch brothers keep buying elected officials, who then are not allowed to have a conscience of their own.

botannical madness in the inner city, part 3

It's November 5, and most of my patio plants are still surviving even though Minneapolis has had freezing temperatures -- maybe because it didn't get too cold and the plants are next to the building.  I'm hearing that we may be having some snow tonight, so my beloved plants may be meeting their Waterloo.  It was a good season.  Thanks for your advice, Jon and Nancy.

mid-autumn sports update

When you stop and think about it, are we really better or worse off having professional sports in our lives?  Is it merely a cute harmless distraction from reality?

I think it depends on which teams you choose to love.  If, like me, you mainly focus on the Minnesota and Philadelphia teams because of their connections with our lifetime mailing addresses, then it can be argued that having professional sports in our lives causes endless misery and heartbreak, and, if I wanted to dwell on that notion, I'd start harping on football:  how horrible the Minnesota Vikings (1-8 so far) are this year or how the Philadelphia Eagles have no credible offense.

But, no, I'm in a Pollyanna mood, so let's find something to be glad about:

Basketball.  The NBA's season is only a week old, but for the Minnesota Timberwolves, my bad-luck favorite, it's been good:  3 wins, no losses.  They look amazing if they can avoid the injuries that usually doom them.  And the Philadelphia 76ers, predicted before the season started to be the worst team, are also 3 and 0, including  a victory over the champion Miami Heat.

Unfortunately, three games just won't do it -- each team plays 79 more games between now and April -- but Wolves and Sixers fans can feel good today and harbor some sort of guarded hope.
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Hockey:  My son Tom and I had a wonderful time last night seeing the Minnesota Wild defeat the New Jersey Devils, 4-0.  The Wild seem to be having a pretty good season.  I don't follow hockey too closely, but there is something about the energy of seeing hockey in person, along with 18,000 fans who all understand hockey rules better than I do, that draws me in.  Go, Wild.  Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Flyers are awful this year.  Fortunately, we keep expectations low.
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Added later:  By 9 P.M. that evening, neither the Timberwolves nor the 76ers were still undefeated.  I may have jinxed them.

the wicked people are gone for now

The Broadway touring version of Wicked was back in town for a few weeks and finally finished its run last weekend.  I mean, Wicked isn't a bad show to see once, and I saw it several years ago and for me once was plenty.  Somehow they manage to still fill the seats.  But the good and bad witches are gone at last, and now I don't have to give directions quite as often to confused-looking suburbanites as I'm walking back from the gym.

i was thinking about hillary

October was a weird month and now it's over, with nothing left of it but Halloween night, an annoyance at best.

For me, it was a month of tremendous dissatisfaction (hence, no blogging) for which I have no explanation.  I've had this urge to do something totally radical without having any decent radical options.

I'm thinking it's a panic-at-this-stage-of-life thing, realizing that there isn't enough time left to do everything and anything.  Boredom with the routine, maybe.

Or maybe just too tired to deal with the routine much longer.  The age thing again.

And that's when I thought about Hillary Clinton, an amazing woman of about my age, who may run for President in 2016, three years from now, potentially taking office in 2017.  She would be one of the all-time great Presidents, probably.

But why the heck would she want to?  Isn't she tired too and how much more tired will she be in a potential term extending eleven years from now?  Being President is hard work and, especially these days in the current political environment, ultimately unrewarding.

If I were her, I'd say No and go hang out with Bill.... well, at least some of the time anyway.  It's hard to picture the two of them being totally retired and watching "The Price is Right" together.

Same here.  No "Price is Right" for me.

Something else.  But something.

mad but not quite bad

In the last couple months, I've kind of gotten into Scotch whiskey, liquor that I had never really thought about before.  I think it started with our catch-up binge of the TV series, Mad Men, and I've been going through a Don Draper-wannabe phase, which made me realize what a wuss I've always been with my alcoholic-beverage choices, so I went right for the other extreme.  I started with Glenlivit 12, which Jerry happened to have in our liquor cabinet.  Then a client gave me a bottle Balvenie Doublewood.  Both brands are terrific.

So I've been learning and trying various brands of Scotch, mostly, unfortunately, at the high end, which has made me become a Scotch snob who looks down on the lesser brands of Scotch.

A month or so ago, I was with my two business partners at our happy-hour bar next door to the office, and I asked the waiter for a glass of whatever their best Scotch was.  He said, "That would be our Macallan 18,"  so that's what I had, and it was so wonderful that it was practically a life-altering experience.  But then we got the bill:  $30 for that little two-fingers of Scotch.  Whoops.  But I played it cool, just as Don Draper would have.

Now we're on a new TV-watching binge, a show that has been around since 2008 (we're always a little behind the times), Breaking Bad, in which the main character produces and sells crystal meth.  No temptations there.

we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

Montreal Botanical Gardens

It's so hard not to go on a useless rant about John Boehner and his treasonous lunatic-fringe Tea Party idiots, but you're hearing enough of that already in these shutdown days, unless you are one of those people who only get their "news" from FoxNews or Rush Limbaugh, in which case, what the heck are you doing reading my blog anyway??

Hey -- the Montreal Botanical Gardens.... If you go to Montreal, it's a must-see -- the 2nd or 3rd largest botanical garden in the world (depending on which tour book you read).  It's beautiful and peaceful.  A good escape.

YUL to MSP (two days ago)

Back from Montreal... what a great city.... I could live there.  (Watch the video in full screen if you can)

MSP to YUL

My son Jon and I are about to fly to Montreal.... Neither of us have been there before.  Renting an apartment there for a week, will get to know the city well!

 

 

Look out, Canada, here we come....

 

i love two things

"I love two things.  I love you, and I love the opera."  -- Ronny Cammareri (played by Nicholas Cage) in the movie Moonstruck.
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Personally, I love the Puccini and Verdi Italian operas.

Tonight we're going to the Minnesota Opera's production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut.  Giacomo Puccini also wrote the music for La boheme, Madame Butterfly, Turandot and other great operas.

Manon Lescaut, which premiered in Turin, Italy in 1893, is one I haven't seen before and am of course looking forward to it.

 

 

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My son Jon and I leave tomorrow for a week in Montreal and Quebec City.  Parlez-vous français, dudes?

rediscovered aunts and uncles

Currently on the Thrust Stage at the Guthrie Theater is the Anton Chekhov classic, Uncle Vanya, first performed in Moscow in 1899 but still thoroughly enjoyable here in Minneapolis in 2013, with remarkable characters that are real, sometimes funny but ultimately kind of miserable.  See it if you are local and get the chance.  It's there until late October.

Besides seeing Uncle Vanya this past week, I also got to see How to be a Korean Woman, a one-woman performance by actress Sun Mee Chomet, based on her own story of growing up in the U.S. as a Korean adoptee and then as an adult going to Korea in an attempt to find her birth family.  This show is up in the Guthrie's Dowling Theater, is just there briefly (ending tomorrow) and is entertaining, funny and sad.  In her story, she does ultimately, after much frustration and determination, find her mother, aunts and grandmother and learned from them, well, how to be a Korean woman, which might not be at all what you would expect!

Thanks, Guthrie, for providing such quality and variety.

delta's health care options

Michael, a friend (actually, more like a friend of a friend), and his wife were coming back from London the other day on a Delta flight, sitting in coach seats.  At some point, there was an "Is there a doctor on this flight?" announcement.  Michael's wife is a physician, so she responded.

There was a passenger in Business Class having a heart attack or something.  Michael's wife was gone from his seat for an hour and a half, trying to revive the man.  When she went back to her seat, she told Michael that the man didn't make it, he had died.

Shortly after that, a flight attendant came to them and said thanks for helping, we could move you up to Business Class if you like.  Michael:  "No thanks, there's a dead guy up there!"  So this is what the flight attendant offered them instead:  a $50 voucher on their next Delta flight!

What??  That's it??  Might it have been something bigger if the guy had lived??

what you didn't miss

"You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do." -- Eleanor Roosevelt.
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A word of wisdom to the lapsed bloggers out there.  Who cares what your readers think when you probably don't have any anyway?  Write what you want, write it for yourself.  Experiment.  Go wild.  Take chances.  Or just post photos of your cocker spaniel.
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What you missed or, more likely, didn't miss since I woke up screaming:

--  Within the last month, I started to write emotional rants about the Syria thing, really angry stuff, but I found myself self-censoring because I apparently worried about how you, the unknown reader, would react.  You know I like Obama, for the most part, and you might get the wrong idea if I started comparing him to LBJ or george w. bush, two presidents who led us into destructive, unnecessary but corporate money-making wars based entirely on lies.  Plus I didn't know how sensitive you might be to over-use of the F word in describing my rage.  So I published nothing.  I need to take chances of offending you, the perhaps reader, sorry.
--  I started drinking Scotch, thanks in part to going on a binge watching 5 seasons of the amazing TV show Mad Men.  I'll have more to say about that (Both about Mad Men and Scotch).
--  To get a fresh start on working out, I dropped my membership at Lifetime Fitness and joined the YMCA.  For the past month and a half, I've been obsessed with getting back in shape, and I'm feeling great, and when I'm feeling good, my brain works better.... Let's see if it shows in my renewed blog ...

ET MAINTENANT 2.0

i wake up screaming

Not too many of you have slept with me, so you probably don't know that once in a while -- maybe once every couple months -- I have this recurring nightmare in which I am driving my car at a good speed on a busy freeway, and I suddenly lose my sight and feel myself careening off into the dark unknown, waiting for the deadly crash. I wake up screaming, maybe jumping out of bed -- shaking, heart pounding and a general mess.  Last night was one of those nights.  Takes a while to settle down after that.

Otherwise, generally, I'm a delight to sleep with.
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Saw the new Woody Allen movie last night -- Blue Jasmine.  Cate Blanchett is great.  Remember her at Oscar time.
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Tomorrow starts the month of September.  I want it to never end.

the nearby diva

As people started trickling out of the bar to the Diana Ross concert across the street last night, I started having some regrets, or maybe it was the cocktails kicking in.  I said to Jerry that maybe we should have gone to see her after all.  After all, I hadn't seen her since 1967 -- Steel Pier, Atlantic City -- when she was still with the Supremes.  Back then, I was the ultimate Supremes fan, you know, and to some degree I still am.

But I admit that I'm still holding a grudge against Diana, for the way she treated the other Supremes, Flo and Mary, and, by extension, us the fans (A book I highly recommend:  "Dreamgirl:  My Life As A Supreme" by Mary Wilson).  So I went back to the cocktail and only had fleeting nostalgic interludes.
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Yesterday, by the way, was a big anniversary:  50 years since the civil rights March on Washington, where MLK gave his "I have a dream" speech, 8/28/63.
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Coincidence:  in our catch-up marathon of "Mad Men" (we are in Season 3), last night's episode took place during the week of that 1963 historic march.
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I kissed Mary Wilson once, or did I already tell you that?  I have never kissed Diana Ross.  It's her loss.

view from the loveseat...

...when the temperatures are in the upper 90s and you don't feel like being anything but a couch potato....

the surprising thing about netflix

Ok, I'm finally on my 30-day Netflix free trial, and I'm shocked at how few movies there are on Netflix.

BUT --  I also finally listened to those people who have been telling me all years that I would love the TV series "Mad Men"... So Netflix has come in handy.  Just finishing Season 2 (out of 7 so far!).

august trivia

Here we are in the hot, humid "dog days" of August, so let's take a moment for some August trivia.

First, where did the term "dog days" come from?  Per Wikipedia:

The Romans referred to the dog days as diēs caniculārēs and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky. The term "Dog Days" was used earlier by the Greeks (see, e.g., Aristotle's Physics, 199a2).

Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies." according to Brady’s Clavis Calendaria, 1813.

OK, maybe that was more than you needed to know about Dog Days.

August was named for Caesar Augustus, 8 B.C.  (Do you ever wonder about the "B.C." thing?  Is that what their Hallmark calendars said, counting down the years to zero?).

Fast forward to August 1969 A.D.:  Woodstock, 400,000 baby-boomers peacefully sitting in the mud listening to music in between the rain storms.  Oh here's some Woodstock trivia:  The Beatles were invited to play at Woodstock, but John Lennon said No, unless Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band could also appear.  I'm thinking this may have been a hollow response, since the Beatles hadn't performed in public since 1966.

August 2013:  the NSA, chaos in Egypt, political nonsense in the U.S. Congress.... The Sea boiled and Wine turned sour.  No days of Peace and Love, at least none that I noticed.

Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.

how leon used to look

I first started loving Leon Russell during his time with Joe Cocker -- early '70s, the Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour -- but he had been part of my life during the '60s too, I just didn't know it.  He composed or accompanied many of the '60s hits that I liked.

Until last night, I hadn't seen him perform in person in about 15 years.  His performance at the Dakota Jazz Club showed that he can still sound the same as he used to and play the piano like nobody else.  He's 71 now, is a bit limited physically, has had a Santa Claus-look for quite a while, but he's still cool and unique.

I even bought a Leon t-shirt -- why not? -- but the photo on it is Leon back in the early '70s, when a person might say he was in his prime.  But he is still performing 180 days out of the year, is still commanding audiences, so maybe his whole life is his prime.

he could feel it slipping away

He was so determined to not sleep through the month of August, but he woke up and it was August 20th already.  He had even missed Aviation Day.

So the question he faced was whether to lament the lack of accomplishment of 20 days or try to live 31 days in the 11 that were left?

He's still undecided. And he doesn't know how many Augusts are left.

linkedIn, maybe lockedOut

When it comes to technology and internet trends, I'm usually a couple years behind the rest of the world, and here I go again.  Yesterday I finally stopped ignoring requests and opened a LinkedIn profile (which everybody else did several years ago) and am gradually compiling some business "connections" (It was hard to invite prospective "connections" at first since I was starting with zero and didn't want to look unpopular with those first invitees).

And now with LinkedIn I have yet another sign-in password to remember.  It sort of scares me when I occasionally log in somewhere, am prompted for my password, and my mind draws a complete blank.  As I wander further into senility, I wonder if one day I'll have no password memory and I'll have to go back to dealing with people in person instead of on my iPad.

tired?

eventually the little guy made me nervous

Mary O. pointed out to me that there was a butterfly on the outside of my office window, just hanging there.

At first, we said, "How beautiful!"  But he just stayed there and stayed there, even when I tapped on the glass.

I started thinking, maybe it's a sign to me from somebody or something, maybe something positive.  But after he clung there for several hours, I had a fear that the poor thing was going to die there, and what the heck kind of sign would that be to me??

He finally was gone, and I'm hoping he just stopped by to have a nap and then flew away refreshed.  If instead he gave up the ghost and crashed to the sidewalk below, I don't want to know.

the dandelion fountain at the park

Walked over to the park for the Loring Park Art Fair that's going on this weekend.  Beautiful day for an art fair.  Beautiful day to have a park nearby.

mid-summer sports update

Was baseball always this boring?  When I was a kid, I loved baseball.  My brothers and I used to collect baseball cards and had hundreds of them (and should have kept them until they became collector items), and I knew every player on every team.  Of course, there were only 16 teams then, maybe it was just easier.

Or maybe it's that the Minnesota Twins are exceptionally awful this year and are distorting my impressions.

I was given tickets to yesterday's Twins game vs. the Kansas City Royals, and the game was deadly dull (maybe unless you were a Royals fan).  The  best part of going to a Twins game is being in the stadium, which is very cool.  But by the end of the 7th inning, I had enjoyed the stadium and bratwursts and Jumbotrons enough for one day and left.  I look around as I leave and wonder how the season ticketholders manage to come back for as many as 80 home games without going postal.

The Twins record so far this season:  Won 45, Lost 60, and they are 15 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit in the American League Central.  And there is no hope of getting better than that this year.

The Philadelphia Phillies, my other team -- almost as pathetic:  Won 50, Lost 58, 13.5 games behind first-place Atlanta in the National League East.

No more baseball talk this year.
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Meanwhile, football teams are in training camp and pre-season games start any day now, the depressing part of that being that once football season starts, suddenly it's Christmas, and who can think about that?  Here's another depressing thought:  A month from now, the Minnesota State Fair will be wrapping up.  It will be Labor Day.

So, if somebody offers you Twins tickets this year, Just Say No.  Get away from your television.  Don't watch any more baseball or NFL pre-season games.  Go for a walk.  Go for a bike ride.  Think warm thoughts.  It's summer and it's fast.

an unusual number of weddings for a thursday

For the past eight hours, as of 12:01 a.m., gay marriage has been legal here in Minnesota.  Over those hours, dozens of couples have already been married -- at the Minneapolis City Hall, at St. Paul's Como Conservatory, even at the wedding chapel at the Mall of America.  Celebrations went well into the early morning and are probably still going on.

I of course slept through most of that, but I celebrate the day anyway and offer congratulations to all the new brides and grooms.  I'm at the moment enjoying the photos on the StarTribune website and I see faces of people I know.  There's the senior pastor of my church.  He and Minneapolis Mayor Rybak officiated the first ceremony.  Then I see another man that I know well, marrying his partner of some 40 years, and looking overjoyed.

My concern is that, in the upcoming months, a lot of couples will tie the knot without from a legal standpoint thinking it all through, maybe to give the Michele Bachmanns of the world a poke in the eye or maybe just because "it's MY turn to have a party!" (which, let's face it, these days is why a lot of hetero couples get married).  They won't be able to file their tax returns the same anymore (which may be good or bad), and, if things don't work out, they don't just move out, they need to get a divorce.

For better or worse, for richer, for poorer, equality and liberty and life are what it's all about and for that this is good for all Minnesotans.  Some of them just don't realize that yet.

botanical madness in the inner city, part 2

I left you all hanging at Schiphol Airport, but relax, we managed to get home yesterday, or at least I think it was yesterday, jet-lag is doing a job on me.

Mary, the nice lady who lives in the unit next door, watered my patio plants while I was gone, and they're looking darn good, ya think?

AMS to MSP

Flying back to the U.S. today.  Presumably, that is:  standby, you know.

Not sure if I'm sadder about leaving Amsterdam or sadder about going home.
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Added later:  a bad standby day, two flights so far were full and tomorrow isn't looking good either.  If this goes on very long,  I might have to apply for Dutch citizenship!  :-)

common scents and red lights and a cup of coffee

I write this as I sip a morning latte at Coffee Company, a coffee shop in the next block from our hotel -- a real coffee shop, not one of those Amsterdam "coffeeshops" that exude the sweet scent of marijuana.

Today will probably be our last full day here in Amsterdam, and I always wonder, after many visits, when and if I will ever be back.  This visit has been different from others because it was so unplanned and because we are staying in a hotel instead of on a houseboat or in a rented apartment in one of the quieter neighborhoods.  I admit, it's been fun this time to be in this touristy center of the city, surrounded by crowds speaking every imaginable foreign language and wide-eyed visitors seeing the red-light district for the first time.

The mornings here, though, are the best time, as the city begins to wake up.... And on we go...

a twin and his twins

It's not as big a story as the birth of William and Kate's royal baby, but it's a cuter story:

Joe Mauer, all-star catcher for the Minnesota Twins, and his wife are the proud parents of newborn TWINS, born today or yesterday (I'm confused about what day it is in Minnesota right now).

(I stay more updated on the news when I'm out of the country than when I'm home.  Believe me when I tell you that the Edward Snowden story gets different coverage here in Europe that it does in the U.S., and not in a good way!)

my knee hurts

uh-oh, not sure where that leads.  Knees are strange, complicated creations and not meant to last eternally.

Otherwise, life is good, and I feel weirdly inspired:  meaning, maybe not in ways you might expect.

life at the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky

Thanks to a deal on hotels.com, we are staying at one of Amsterdam's premier old hotels, located in the heart of the old city, just across the square from the Dam (the palace).  We will be in this hotel for five nights.

The day has begun -- it will be another hot one -- and we will head into the neighborhoods that we know well.

if only i could spend several years in the netherlands

We are having a peaceful Sunday morning at friends' vacation home on the southern Dutch coast.  We spent the night here with them and will take the train today back to the wonderful hubbub of Amsterdam.  It's all good.

spontaneity on a friday night

Despite what I said in my July 7th post, "the boys' embrace of uncertainty", here I go embracing an uncertain uncertainty.

Jerry messaged me from the Netherlands this afternoon, saying basically, Hey, James is going home tomorrow, why don't you come over and spend a few days?  Standby, he says, is wide open.

So I am taking him at his word and am going to try to get on the 9:50 flight to Amsterdam tonight.  Amsterdam, my favorite city, is the draw.  Wish me luck.  If I write an angry post later tonight, you'll know that I'm stuck at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport.

an evening with jane austen fans

I have the feeling that I would have appreciated the Guthrie Theater last night more if 1)  I had ever read the book Pride and Prejudice or 2)  I was a fan of the TV series Mad Men.

You see, the theater was packed with lots of people (mostly women) who had read Pride and Prejudice and loved Jane Austen novels in general.  Then there were other people who came to see Vincent Kartheiser, who plays a character in Mad Men, playing the prideful Mr. Darcy.

And this seems to be a beautiful stage production (adapted by playwright Simon Reade) of a 400+-page classic novel.  It's just that for a novice like me, it's hard to remember which of the five Bennet daughters is which and which guys you wish that each would end up with.  So, if you're going to see this play, put yourself in the proper category:  Austen fan, Mad Men fan, or confused and sometimes-bored stranger.

de-friend (click), de-friend (click), de-friend (click)

Since the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman verdict, I've been dismayed to see how many of my Facebook friends are blatantly and unashamedly racist, and some, sad to say, are relatives of mine.  It's been an embarrassing week to be American.  Thank god that at least I'm not a Floridian.

but the lake is still enormous

Minnesota, you know, is the "land of 10,000 lakes", and I'm sitting on the south end of the. 2nd largest, Lake Mille Lacs, a couple hours north of Minneapolis.  "Mille Lacs" is French for "a thousand lakes", and this lake, at 137,000 acres, is as big as a thousand normal-size lakes.

I was first here in August 1978 for a week of staff training at a lodge that I most remember for its great food.  That lodge has been replaced by a bigger, better (?) lodge, surrounded by time-shares and golfers.  The lake looks the same.  You look up at it and can't see across it.  I like it.  It doesn't make me feel like golfing.

le quatorze juillet 2013

Jerry and James left Paris last Thursday, and it was probably a good time to leave.  As they were leaving, thousands of French people were streaming into Paris for Bastille Day weekend, the biggest celebration in France all year.  It would have been wild but crazy, maybe fun but maybe not for guys who can't speak French, and hotel rooms would have been at a premium, if available at all.

For any French citizens and Francophiles and former French students out there on 14 July 2013, Happy Bastille Day!

For any non-Francophiles and non-former French students wondering what the heck Basille Day is, help is on the way -- just click on the link:

Basille Day on wikipedia

words from the spyhouse

Various things I've learned this week:

When the blooms fall off lilies, it might mean that the plants are getting too much water or too little water, too much sunlight or not enough sunlight, or it might mean that lilies just don't bloom very long into the summer.

If you are a man in your 50s and you take a boy of 20 on a whirlwind trip to Europe, chances are you each aren't going to want to do the same things 24/7.

I like the stories on Season 1 of The Newsroom except for the mismatched love interests, which are frustrating and eventually predictable.

I need to figure out if I can write my book on Google Drive and whether I should re-think having the word "masturbation" in the first sentence.  Might it set the wrong tone?

It would have been a good weekend to have been in Seattle, weather-wise, but there were only three Delta fare specials this week:  Rapid City, South Dakota, where, even though I've never been there, I might move to one day to live in an apartment over a hardware store to write my book (if Home Depot and Walmart haven't put all the hardware stores out of business there);  Chicago; and Detroit.  I'm not ready to have my Rapid City vision crushed by reality yet, so that was out.  Chicago, now that I think about it,  I maybe should have considered.  Detroit? --  yeah, right.

Some people in my life are just plain mean, and I'm having a hard time dealing with the realization that people that I care about can be mean to other people that I care about.  Where does that leave me?

Even though I've gotten away from blogging every day, I haven't had anybody complain about that to me.
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P.S.  The Spyhouse is a coffeeshop on Nicollet Avenue just south of  downtown.  It's sort of part funky, part hipster, and then there's me, but the coffee sure is good.

laziness and the newsroom

"Summertime.. and the living is easy..."  Maybe it's a little mid-July thing, but I'm finding that once I get home from the office this week, I accomplish nothing and am a total slug... and I don't even care...

As I work up the energy to at least be a couch potato, I've been watching Season One of the HBO series, The Newroom.  I've watched 4 out of 10 episodes and am still reserving judgment on what I think of the program overall, but so far, for a leftie like me, it feels pretty good.

the boys' embrace of uncertainty

I could have gone -- Jerry wanted me to -- but I just couldn't handle the uncertainty.

You see, Jerry once again has these Delta "buddy fares" for cheap airfares, the downside of buddy fares being that he has to fly standby, which maybe isn't a problem getting on a flight and maybe is.

So he asked James, my 20-year-old nephew, to go with him, and James, who has never been much of anywhere, snapped up the offer, but -- hey -- standby was made for 20-year-old adventurers and kids at heart, like Jerry.

Tomorrow -- hopefully -- they fly off to Europe for two weeks, destinations not totally known.  Depending on which flight they get on first, they will either fly direct to Amsterdam or direct to Paris and from there, who knows?  They are traveling light with no hotel rooms booked yet and Eurailpasses in their backpacks and the continent of Europe at their feet.

They will come back with stories --  all of them good, I hope.

botanical madness in the inner city

Summer was late in coming, true, but I finally got around to buying some plants for the patio.  Now that I sit here looking at them, I wish I could stop thinking about how short their beautiful lives will be.

Thanks for the help, Nancy and Jon.

the 4th and the preceding days

It's the 4th of July, one of those let's-get-together-and-have-a-cookout-and-then-go-see-some-fireworks holidays, and we're going to follow those traditions more than we usually do.

My sister Nancy is visiting from North Carolina, in the mood to celebrate the 4th with family and that's us.  She had never spent any real time here in the Twin Cities, so we've had a fun week of showing her around and just hanging out with her.

Right before she arrived, it was Pride weekend -- the biggest yet -- so the days have been full.

Weather is finally perfect, I finally put out some plants on the patio, we'll enjoy it all while we can.  Life s good, and the blog posts will get better.