banging on the pipes

Our rental car is a Toyota Prius, but we're not straying far from the condo and in a small state like New Jersey, "fuel efficiency" goes a long ways, believe me. The condo we're renting: location is perfect; it has way more space than we need; the decor is way over the top, kinda feels like it might have been decorated by a 70-year-old drag queen. It's great! The week is going fast.

We did drive the twenty miles north to Atlantic City a couple times, where we both came out ahead, gambling-wise. We also took a three-hour tour of Atlantic City Convention Hall, the tour mainly being centered around the hall's historic pipe organ, which happens to be the largest pipe organ in the world. It takes that long to tour because the pipes for the organ are placed literally throughout the building (The largest pipe is 64 feet long). I happen to love pipe organs, and if I ever start going back to church again one day, a primary reason will be that I miss hearing (and occasionally playing) a pipe organ (Of course, these days that awful contemporary music, with guitars and drums and garage-band-reject singers, has taken over the music programs at a lot of churches, but that's a topic for another blog).

Back to the Convention Hall pipe organ. I played it once (briefly!) in 1969, which apparently was one of its last years of being fully operational. At present, the organ is being totally restored -- finally -- and I hope to get to hear it again sometime. The highlight of this tour was being able to sit at it again and at least pretend to play.

the gadgets in my backpack

Traveling used to be so much easier, and I'm not talking about what a pain security is or how awful the airlines are. I'm talking about all the stuff you gotta bring with you these days. There's the laptop and the cords; the digital camera and the cord and the charger; the cell phone and the charger; the iPod and the cords. I mean, I forget one of these items and I'm screwed. I get so obsessed with remembering all this junk that I'll probably forget something essential (?) like underwear! And how many of those items will I accidentally forget and leave in New Jersey??

Anyway, here's the plan: tonight we arrive in Philadelphia, stay overnight in NJ with my sister Mary and brother-in-law John; the next seven nights after that we'll be staying in a condo at 14th & the Boardwalk in Ocean City, as well as visiting relatives in Millville and vicinity; then one night in center-city Philly at the Alexander Inn; home the next day.

I'll blog from Ocean City. Unless I forget my laptop.

brother in a strange land

My friend Barb, the leader of my book group (that I am usually AWOL from), was surprised several months ago when I mentioned that I had a brother who lived in Shanghai. Barb, one of the select few people in the world who read my blog, said she only knew about my sister Joan, who gets a frequent mention here in these meandering lines, so Barb assumed she was my only sibling. Actually, I have five siblings, and what's amazing is how well we get along and how much we still like each other and keep in touch with each other. Joan just happens to be the only one who lives nearby.

It's my brother Davy who mostly lives in Shanghai. He teaches English there, loves China, is very fluent in Chinese. When he is back in the States between semesters, he lives in San Antonio, Texas. He's in San Antonio right now, skipped a semester to take care of some medical issues, which thankfully he came through great.

But it's funny to think of a brother in a place that is so foreign. No, not China. Texas. Yes, I know what you're saying, it's one of the 11 states I haven't been to yet, so I shouldn't judge a place by pre-conceived notions. Well, why can't I? And then last month the governor of Texas suggested that Texas should secede from the United States because it's so out of touch with what's happening in the rest of the country. I say, why the heck not?.. (although I say he should have to take all the states between him and South Carolina with him)... I really can't picture the rest of the country bothering to fight another Civil War to keep them in the Union.

So, if I don't go visit Davy sometime soon, I might be visiting him in a foreign country. Who knows which one?

And I need to get down to visit my sister Nancy in North Carolina sometime soon also. It's been a year already.

Next week, though, I'll get to see my brother Ronnie and sister Mary when Jerry and I vacation for a week in our family's home state of New Jersey, the only state that's totally in touch and of which nobody ever has pre-conceived notions.

more sports and weather

It looks like Brett Favre isn't coming to the Vikings after all, or, who knows?, maybe he just wants a chance later on to get his name back in the headlines again, Will he un-retire or won't he? I know the guy is a dweeb, but I just want to see some spark in this franchise so that they don't move to Los Angeles in a couple years if they don't get their new stadium, and maybe he could be a one-year spark.

Switching from football to a sport that is actually in season -- baseball. The Minnesota Twins, the team that was almost dissolved several years ago by Major League Baseball because the state wouldn't build them a new stadium, moves into their brand new stadium next spring. The stadium is looking good, everybody is excited about finally having baseball outdoors again after twenty-some years inside the Metrodome, an awful venue for baseball but which somehow helped bring them two World Series Championships. And there is certainly something romantic about picturing those beautiful summer nights watching baseball outdoors. But remember what I was telling you about what a terrible April we had this year -- the wind and the rain and the cold? And do know how many snowstorms Minnesota has had during the month of October while some teams somewhere were off playing in the World Series? Let's hope for lots of rugged season-ticketholders. And players.
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On the home front: we've taken our house off the market for now and are going to try to stick it out. :-)
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My next blog will be sport-less and weather-less. I promise.

seeing a purple #4

How about some football drama in the month of May? Well, in this case, it's just sort of a mini-drama for Minnesota Vikings fans as suddenly there is Brett Favre talk back in the air. Tonight, as I write this, Vikings coach Brad Childress is in Mississippi (Mississippi??) visiting Brett Favre, presumably to talk Favre into coming out of retirement AGAIN to come quarterback the Vikings to the Super Bowl (ha!).

Most Vikings fans here, of course, have been hating Brett Favre for about 18 years as he led the much-despised Green Bay Packers to a lot of success. So how to turn around and potentially have to cheer him on??..

I say, let's do it! The Vikings were so listless last year that they could hardly sell out their one local playoff game. Favre might at least bring out some fans to boo him. Let's fill those stands again, dudes. Come on, Brett... What's the worst that can happen to an old guy like you?.. -- a career-ending injury?? You won't be missing out on much more career! Would you rather be sitting on your front porch in Mississippi smoking a corn pipe?!

Who knows?.. Maybe we could learn to love the guy!

"i hate wind", i say

"What wind?" Jerry responds.

This was after Joan and Tom and I had been complaining in unison about what an awful April it had been because of the gloom and mostly too-cool temperatures and especially the wind. The wind blew like crazy (and is still blowing, even today) even on the relatively nice days!

(I realize there is nothing more pathetic and trite than a guy in Minnesota blogging about the weather, but bear with me....)

"And how can you hate wind, anyway? Think how awful it would be to have no breeze on those warm sunny days!" he says.

But I'm not anti-breeze! I'm anti-wind! -- the kind of wind that makes it hard for me to even walk one block to work or for Joan or Tom to stand out waiting for the bus -- day after day after day. It's not much consolation that it might be hot wind instead of wind-chill wind. Let's have some calm days! What if I wanted to golf (which, thank goodness, I don't!)?

... or how do I get into that windless bubble where Jerry apparently resides?

zone flipping at 7:10

I have one of those funky non-electric satellite alarm clocks, the kind you used to buy at places like Sharper Image stores (back when there were Sharper Image stores)...

Well, I woke up one morning last week and looked at my alarm clock and it said 7:10 -- time for me to get up. So I did my usual morning stuff -- shaved, showered, had breakfast, woke up Jerry, and went to the office. I was sitting at my computer at the office when I noticed what the time was -- 7:10! huh?

So I called Jerry and told him I must have looked at the clock cross-eyed an hour ago -- it must have been 6:10 an hour ago instead of 7:10 -- and he actually had an extra hour to go back to sleep or whatever. He went over and looked at my clock, and it said 9:10! My clock was skipping from time zone to time zone. Either the world is spinning haphazardly or my satellite clock needs new batteries!

But i've been thinking how my mind has been less than focused lately, skipping all over the place, not ever sure what day or time it is! so that's enough of that. Focus. Focus. Today is the thirtieth of April 2009, tomorrow is the first of May. Okay. Okay.

And what did I miss commenting on in the meantime?:

-- The Obamas' new dog.
-- Susan Boyle.
-- Arlen Specter becoming a Democrat.
-- The swine flu (but stayed tuned)...

But here's one I can't leave commentless: the death of Bea Arthur last weekend at age 86. Jerry and Tom and Joan and I were all so sad to hear that news. I can't begin to tell you how many times over and over again we have watched all The Golden Girls shows and quoted from them to each other, and Dorothy was always my favorite character. Even though the show hasn't actually been on the air in 15 years, it always seemed fresh and familiar and welcoming in reruns and on DVD. Consider how many hours we have spent with Bea Arthur and the other Golden Girls actors and characters. It's no wonder we take it so personally.

meanwhile, during the offseason.....

Two reasons why it's so hard to solve a redneck murder:
1. The DNA all matches.
2. There are no dental records.
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Has it come to this ? Me telling redneck jokes??
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We have decided where to go on our post-Ides of April trip, although it turns out that we're not leaving until the Ides of May. The choice was almost Montreal, but then we decided that we needed something less hectic than a big city where everybody is speaking French, so we're going to someplace familiar and relatively manageable -- Ocean City, New Jersey, after all (as I was guessing on March 28th). Once we decided, Jerry immediately started looking for offseason deals (he loves planning a trip way more than the trip itself) and found us a cool condo on 14th and the Boardwalk at a good rate. So that's where we'll be if you're looking for us third week of May.

The advantages of Ocean City are, of course, that we love Ocean City, and relatives to visit are nearby, and that there is so much within driving distance (the advantage of the East Coast). Weather-permitting, though, we'll probably mostly just sit on the deck and vegetate and continue our recovery from a tough winter. It will still be quiet at the Jersey Shore in May, and, who knows?, maybe the weather will be almost summer-like. Or not. Who cares.

drive, he said

It's like running a marathon for three months, and then suddenly it's over and you have to get used to walking again. Or stopping.

So what's been happening in the world while I was doing nothing but working 12-14 hour days?.. what did I miss?

Let's check: Absurdity still reigns, or is it just that the news prefers reporting the absurdity because we've learned to expect it?

Like how about this one for an example? -- PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) asked the Pet Shop Boys to change their name. Apparently "pet shops" are now politically incorrect. They're afraid animals will have hurt feelings?? (The Pet Shop Boys respectfully declined their request).

So maybe I won't try to catch up on the news after all.

Jerry, meanwhile, is anxiously waiting for me to decide where we should vacation to sometime soon. Right now, I don't care where, as long as it is somewhere relaxing and somewhere other than here. This will be one of our more spontaneous trips, if it happens. I might like to just get in the car one day and just start driving.......... Or go the airport and get on the first plane we see. Or just wait til I have my brain back and think it through.

anyway, for better or worse, the blog is back..............

marching into april again

Tom just got done beating us at cards again. Now, a little while before midnight, he and Jerry are downstairs watching TV, and I'm exhausted -- on a Saturday night! -- but way too wired to go to sleep. The last several weeks for me have been work almost non-stop, and it's kind of peaceful to sit down at the laptop on the Blogger site and realize how blank my brain is. Tschaikovsky is playing on my iPod (through the stereo), followed abruptly by an old Dionne Warwick/Burt Bacharach song. I'm having some herbal tea, drinking from a mug that says "Republicans Are Creepy" (A Christmas gift from Tom).

A few years ago, I read a book called The Joy of Stress, the premise of which was that stress is not necessarily a bad thing, that there is good stress and there is bad stress and that you have to use stress to your advantage. This has been one of my busiest busy seasons but, surprisingly, one where the good stress is far outweighing the bad stress. Assuming that I actually survive through the middle of April, this has been one of my better busy seasons (out of 32), maybe because of outstanding co-workers or the best mix of clients or, who knows?, maybe the stars happen to be aligned just right.

After the busy season ends, I'm expecting a big change in my business, possibly taking on a couple of partners, bringing on decisions that will mean a bunch of new good stress/bad stress issues. In between this and that, I might need a little break, possibly back home, maybe taking a walk in Ocean City, New Jersey, on the beach where one day my ashes will be strewn. Maybe I'll jump in the air once, or, more likely, maybe I won't.

On the stereo, from the iPod, I've Got You Under My Skin, one of my favorite songs. And the tea is making me sleepy.

beware the ides of march -- 2009

This morning, a Sunday at the Four Inns restaurant in downtown St. Paul, Joan, my barely-limping sister, was giving me a hard time for not updating my blog in two weeks -- "I'm so sick of opening your blog and seeing that Joan Rivers photo!" she said. Jerry and Tom looked on with blank looks, since they never look at my blog and of course had no idea what she was talking about.

So here I am, back at it, mostly to move Joan Rivers out of the spotlight but also to let all my faithful fans know that I'm alive and well. The first two weeks of March are always nuts for me at the office -- major deadlines on the 15th, the Ides of March (although this year since the 15th fell on a Sunday, the deadline extends to the 16th, so I can take a little breather today). I'm hanging in there just fine, except for being nap-deprived.

Non-work happenings of March 2009:

-- Both our houses are still for sale. Lots of lookers, lots of great comments, no buyers.
-- Jerry took a couple of overnight trips during the past two weeks (while i'm slaving away over a hot computer) -- the first to New York City, the second up to northern Minnesota (Lutsen, on the North Shore of Lake Superior) to go skiing. Either trip sounds great to me (as long as I wouldn't have to actually ski) (Of course, right now getting out of town sounds so wonderful that I wouldn't care if it were to Topeka, Kansas!).
-- I've been reading the newest John Grisham novel, The Associate, for at least a couple of weeks. This is a book that should have been done in a weekend, but, wow, is it a pathetic excuse of a Grisham novel! He used to be a better writer than this, or at least less lazy than this. Not recommended.
-- Everybody is talking about the economy and it may be just that it's a sunny day and I'm feeling blindly optimistic, but I'm wondering if maybe in some ways the worst is over. Let's all get over being depressed about it and make some adjustments.
-- Obama is doing ok, but, wow, who would ever want that job? And I'm feeling kinda sorry for Republicans, who are stuck with Rush Limbaugh (their chubby new "face"), Bobby Jindal, and Sarah Palin. Oh, more March 2009 news -- Bristol Palin and her trash boyfriend broke up. What a big surprise -- wonder when they'll show up on The Jerry Springer Show.

Back to normal soon, guys. My version of normal, that is.

what do the normal folk do?

Jerry decided to take a whole day off -- today, a Saturday -- and he somehow talked me into taking the day off too... His reasoning -- "I need to work this Sunday, so you should just work Sunday too instead of today, and we'll spend the day together." This time of year, I'm working all the time, and right now so is he, but I rearranged a client appointment and cancelled a haircut appointment (and I desperately need a haircut) and took the day off.

So now what? My idea of taking a day off would have been to stay at home and "chill", but, no, Jerry said we should do what normal people do on a Saturday. Which is what, I wonder?

We started by going out to breakfast, at Victor's 1959 Cafe ("revolutionary Cuban cooking") in south Minneapolis, then headed to the Mall of America (the opposite of "chilling"), the highlight of which was running into comedienne Joan Rivers, who I actually like very much. She was there for some promotional event for QVC cable shopping network, I think, and also to autograph a couple of her newer books that I had never heard of and had no interest in. If she would have been signing copies of her old bio, Enter Talking, I would have waited in line (It's one of my favorite celebrity autobiographies). She is 75 years old now but has had so much plastic surgery that she looks like a very blond mannequin. Scary! but she's still funny.

The Mall was mobbed today, thousands and thousands of people. We bought some shirts on sale at Macy's and then wanted some coffee, but all of the coffee shops either had long lines (I don't do lines) or had no available seating. So we left the chaos of the Mall behind and headed into Bloomington, where we found a very cool Starbucks in a very seedy strip mall, and had a leisurely cup of coffee while we read the newspaper -- much more my idea of a day off!

Tonight, Tom is here. We're going to watch In Bruges on DVD and then play cards til we head to bed.

Then we'll get up and go to work, which for us this time of year, is normal.

if i were an Oscar voter

The Academy Awards are Sunday night, and here is where my votes would go:

Best Picture: I liked all the nominated films for Best Picture, but this is the order in which I would rank them: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, and Frost/Nixon. I'm a little surprised that I'm picking Benjamin Button ( a Brad Pitt movie, of all things), especially since Milk and Slumdog Millionaire are so great, but I think it's the one that is best overall. Slumdog Millionaire will, of course, win this category, but I'm thinking that it won't look nearly as good five years from now as it does now, especially with all that "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" stuff ( a TV show that I hate).

Best Actor: Sean Penn in Milk. He's amazing.

Best Actress: a tough category. Kate Winslet is great in The Reader, and she will win, but how can anybody be better than Meryl Streep in Doubt?

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Of course.

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams in Doubt.

Best Director: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Best Original Screenplay: Milk.

If Slumdog Millionaire wins everything, I'll be disappointed but unsurprised.

And Hugh Jackman is the host on the awards show this year?.. a non-comedian??

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A later note: Hugh Jackman was great!

presidents' day

This morning, I asked Jerry who he would rather spend today, Presidents' Day, with -- me or Barack Obama? -- and was surprised when he answered "Barack Obama." Ouch!

Doesn't matter. We're both working today anyway (and I bet Barack is also).. We did take the morning off to take my sister Joan to the doctor to have her cast removed. She is now once again among the walking! The wheelchair is history.

What is "Presidents' Day" anyway?.. When I was a kid in New Jersey, we had both Lincoln's birthday (Feb 12) and Washington's birthday (Feb 22) as holidays every year, and somehow it all got merged into a Monday holiday called Presidents' Day, which meant that Lincoln and Washington got smushed into bad company like Franklin Pierce and george w. bush. Maybe that's why fewer and fewer companies have this as a paid day off. What's to celebrate??

definitions of a miracle

I was reading about the pilot of the "Miracle on the Hudson" plane being interviewed on Larry King. You know the story? The U.S. Air flight that was taking off in New York, hit a bunch of birds, and crashed into the Hudson River? Amazingly, everyone on the flight survived, and the pilot and crew were great in time of crisis.

But I keep thinking about how this event keeps being called the "Miracle on the Hudson". What is a "miracle", anyway? According to Wikopedia, "A miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention..." So what was the divine intervention in this case? It seems to me that a better divine intervention would be to not have those birds there at all. In other words, maybe the miracle is all the thousands of flights that don't hit birds in the first place. Maybe this wasn't a "miracle" at all, maybe it was more of an "oops".

And who was watching out for the birds? (Apparently they weren't sparrows!)

Continuing with Wikopedia, though, I also see a more watered-down definition: "In casual usage, 'miracle' may also refer to any statistically unlikely but beneficial event", a description which I guess sort of applies when a plane crashes and all the people on board survive -- certainly more of a "miracle" than the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team winning the gold medal, for instance. And for the news media to start reporting the news using less dramatic terminology? -- well, I guess that would be a miracle.

will work for food

For me, it's easy to lose perspective this time of year... I get kinda weird when I work long hours day after day... A couple nights ago, I was bleary-eyed and goofy when Jerry picked me up at the office... It was late, and I was starving and on the verge of crabbiness (and you've never seen me crabby, I'm sure)... "Where should we go to eat?" Jerry asks, trying to accomodate... I feel the need to drown my sorrows in something greasy, so I say, "I'm really in the mood for Psycho Suzie's!" So he drove me over to Psycho Suzie's, where I ranted at him about my day until the cocktail started taking effect and the sausage-and-mushroom pizza arrived at our table, and suddenly life was good again.

Meanwhile, there are all those people out there suddenly without jobs, and I'm wondering where that will all end... More homeless people?.. Believe me, you don't want to be homeless in Minnesota in winter. Target Corporation and Best Buy are headquartered here in Minneapolis, and even they are laying off significant numbers of corporate staff. So for now, I guess I won't complain about being overworked.
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Didn't watch the SuperBowl this year (Arizona? Pittsburgh? halftime show?.. who cares?), went to a movie instead (Frost/Nixon). Still need to see a couple more Oscar nominees, The Reader and Benjamin Button, maybe The Wrestler and Doubt if I don't run out of time.
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Just finished reading a good book, Polanski by Christopher Sandford. Not the best biography I've ever read, but I enjoyed it very much -- Who has had a more dramatic life than Roman Polanski?
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Am I missing something, or what is the big deal about Michael Phelps smoking some pot? Where's the loyalty, Americans? This guy won eight Olympic gold medals! Let him have some fun!

#100

I realized that this is my one-hundredth blog posting since starting Et Maintenant? in August of '07. As I sit at my computer here on Blogger.com, often with a blank brain, I still try to keep in mind the book Jon gave me, Nobody Cares What You Had For Lunch, and make an effort not to be too mundane or at least to keep the mundane relatively interesting. Sometimes I get reactions, often I get silence.

At my book group this past week (which I hadn't attended in a couple years but was happy to get back to at least for a visit), there was some discussion of blogging. My friend Barb was putting in a good word for my blog, and others were saying they can't imagine putting thoughts in blog form for the whole world to potentially see.

What the heck, I enjoy it anyway. I doubt that many strangers stop by this blog site and pay much attention to it.

The site I don't really understand is Facebook. I do have a Facebook page, due to peer pressure I guess, but I don't get the overall point of it, especially the "What are you doing right now?" part. Barry, in the book group, said his wife is on Facebook and must have too much time on her hands because she puts things on there like "Right now I'm having a Coke".... and of course that comment goes out to all her Facebook "friends", who I'm sure are thrilled that she is having a Coke....

Others are very into Myspace. My sister Joan (who is recuperating nicely from her ankle break, thank you) has favorite Myspace sites that she checks almost day, like Lindsay Lohan and other celebrities and controversial characters. I don't do Myspace. You can only read what a Myspace member has to say if you are accepted by them as a "friend".. and I'm sure I couldn't emotionally handle a rejection if I asked to be somebody's Myspace friend and got no response!

So I stick with my blog, which is apparently there for the world to see, friend or not, and I'll head into the next hundred posts. Try to contain your excitement.
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Our book group selection, by the way, was The White Tiger (the 2008 Man Booker Prize winner) by Aravind Adiga, which we all liked. It's a novel about India, life in the lowest of castes, definitely not a book that would prompt you to buy a plane ticket to India however. For me, reading it was a good companion experience to seeing the excellent new movie, Slumdog Millionaire, also about dirt-poor Indians, which, unfortunately, no one else in the group had seen yet. (I'm on my annual mission to see all five of the Best Picture Oscar nominees -- have so far seen two of the five.)

great expectations

January isn't a great time to be moving into a new house, but I bet the Obamas won't be carrying any boxes into the White House in the next few days so it won't likely be a problem for them... The job I'd like is being one of the movers getting the bush family the heck out of there -- as fast as possible, maybe breaking some furniture along the way (like real movers).

I for sure don't envy Barack Obama as he becomes President. There are only 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week -- Where does he start to undo the disasters of the past eight years? Yet the pressure on him to perform is intense.

As 2008 ended, I heard so many people say how glad they were to see the year end and how they expected 2009 to be so much better. A lot of people found 2008 to be a total downer, for financial reasons, for personal reasons, whatever. I can understand that, but at the same time I've never been glad to see a year end. I'm never even glad to see a day end. There aren't enough of them.

And I admit I've always been better at looking back than at looking forward. And looking back at 2008, I'd rather think about the good -- at least, selfishly, my own personal memories:

--- November 4, Election Night.
--- (Without getting too corny) all the time spent with family and friends.
--- The Phillies winning the World Series.
--- Vacations, in particular the week in New England in September and the four day trip in August to Alaska (pre-Palin).
--- Labor Day in St. Paul -- Marching in the anti-war rally against the Republican National Convention (and not getting arrested).
--- Some great theater -- especially the touring production of Jersey Boys, the Jungle Theater's The Gin Game, and the Guthrie Theater's A View From the Bridge.
--- All the books I read during the year. My favorites: Pictures from a Revolution by Mark Harris and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.

With that, I'll lay 2008 to rest. I apologize for being a Pollyanna.

Best of luck, President Obama... Show them how it's done. Hope you like the new house.

oh, to be in Phoenix!

It would be pathetically predictable for me to go on and on about this Minnesota winter -- how it is the worst in years; how it was 17 degrees below zero (not counting windchill) as I was walking to work this morning; how we are currently having days when the temp doesn't even go above zero all day long; how it seems to snow every other day; etc., etc.

So I won't. You know how I hate being predictable.

But this evening I was thinking about Phoenix, Arizona, where the temperatures today were about 75 degrees (above zero). Tom and I were at the Minnesota Wild/Phoenix Coyotes hockey game in St. Paul this evening. The first thing I always think is, how did Phoenix, a city out there in the middle of the desert, get a team that plays hockey, a winter sport? And then I'm thinking, what about those Coyote players, flying north to play in Minnesota, where the temps are 90 degrees cooler than where they left. Gosh, it must have been a shock to their systems. They were awful tonight, even with Wayne Gretsky coaching, losing to the Wild 6-3.

And I do have to say that I'm sure that a winter in Minneapolis is not as bad as a summer in Phoenix!

.... but I do admit, as I go out there to scrape ice off my car windows, that a couple days in Phoenix might feel good right about now....

Maybe this coming weekend, for instance, when the Arizona Cardinals are hosting my Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday for the NFC championship, the winner going on to the Super Bowl (Sorry, I just switched from hockey to football).. ! I could hang out with the Eagles fans that you know will be interspersed in those home-team stands .. (And how did Arizona ever get a football team, anyway??) Go, Eagles!!
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It's been a while since I've blogged, and I've been meaning to have some profound thoughts looking back at 2008, and here it is the 13th of January already.. Is it too late? I'd hate to be like one of those people still wishing people Happy New Year in March!

zero to sixteen to fifty

Do you know that old song, "Sixteen Candles", the song that starts "Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, baby, I love you so"... ? It was a big hit by the Crests back in the late 1950s. Well, my sister Joan once heard on the radio that this record was released on January 6, 1959 (which I haven't verified, but, hey, it had to have been released sometime!)... The significance of January 6, 1959?? -- the day Joan was born...!!

so have a listen to the song by clicking the link below, then be sure to wish Joan a Happy 50th Birthday, Baby!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-o5LsYtKU