Winter, he hath arrived. So of course I had to go to the Apple Store in the blizzard. Kate’s laptop was acting up, and of course it had to be fixed. So out I went, early on, and it wasn’t too bad, as long as you didn’t try to drive at Detroit speeds. Some people didn’t get the message; one spun out right in front of me on the way home, one exit before mine. He had just passed me going at least 60. (I was doing 45, which felt safe.)
I recall thinking: If this jerk hits me I am going to be so pissed.
He didn’t hit me. He was one lucky spinner, crossing three lanes of freeway before coming to rest facing traffic, but in the shoulder. Assuming everything was still inflated and aligned, all he had to do was wait for a break in traffic and do a U-turn.
Boy, was I glad to come home and see this:
Now it can be told: Deep inside, I’m a big ol’ L7 who puts up Christmas lights.
It doesn’t look like much snow. It isn’t much snow. Although it snowed heavily all day, the temperature hovered right around 31 degrees, so we mostly got slush. Then the temperature plunged overnight and the wind picked up, however, and I expect all day we’ll have falling limbs, power outages and ice upon ice. I can feel my character building.
Of course it could have been worse, and it was worse, elsewhere, and how many disappointed Vikings fans must be today, with either a worthless ticket to a football game or a very expensive one, should they be in any mood to book a last-minute flight to Detroit to watch their Vikes play tonight. Spare the jokes. OK, don’t: First prize, tickets to a Vikings-Giants game in a badly designed, unsafe stadium. Second prize, the same game in Detroit. Ha ha. We can laugh because, due to the unexpected turn of events, the game here is absolutely free. Show up, take your seat. If only I didn’t have to work. If only I cared enough about football to go downtown in single-digit temperatures, wrangle a parking place and trudge through near-gales (now blowing 29 knots) to watch a game in a warm stadium with a non-collapsing roof.
Think I’ll make beef stew instead.
And skip to the bloggage, before I go outside and attempt to chip my car out of the ice.
I missed this on Friday: John Lennon vs. Bono, and the death of the celebrity activist. Whatever shred of respect I retained for Bono blew away with his latest Louis Vuitton ad, which shows him arriving in Africa with his wife and about nine million dollars’ worth of luxury luggage, and no, I don’t care who they donated their goddamn fees to. It’s still disgusting.
Gene Weingarten can make running out of gas — no, not running out of gas — funny.
The Australian papers frequently go as far over the top as their British cousins, so caveat emptor, but here you go: Islamic biker gangs! They’re called “bikie” gangs in Oz, which for some reason makes me picture guys riding vehicles made by Fisher-Price.
And Dick Nixon gives us another gift from beyond the grave. If you read all the way to the end, you found this rancid morsel:
Nixon and Mr. Kissinger were brutally dismissive in response to requests that the United States press the Soviet Union to permit Jews to emigrate and escape persecution there.
“The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy,” Mr. Kissinger said. “And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.”
“I know,” Nixon responded. “We can’t blow up the world because of it.”
Maybe a humanitarian concern. But nothing to get excited about.
OK, time to put on the parka and the long johns. It’s brutal out there.
coozledad said on December 13, 2010 at 9:28 am
Grappling with the serious issues of the day after a pint or so of vodka (or was gin Nixon’s drink?):
“The Jews have certain traits,” he said. “The Irish have certain — for example, the Irish can’t drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I’ve known gets mean when he drinks. Particularly the real Irish.”
This one made me laugh and laugh.
Tomasky found this amusing, too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/dec/13/richard-nixon-knew-the-wrong-irishmen
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susan said on December 13, 2010 at 9:46 am
said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Nixon and Kissinger obviously were made for each other.
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adrianne said on December 13, 2010 at 9:49 am
As a REAL Irish drinker of longstanding, I’ve got to agree with Tricky Dick: most Irish DO get mean after a lot of drinks. Or morose. Not a lot of merry Irish drunks out there!
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coozledad said on December 13, 2010 at 9:53 am
adrianne: You wouldn’t by any chance be a member of the real IRA, would you?
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Fearguth said on December 13, 2010 at 10:00 am
My take on the Sons of Islam: http://bildungblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/mr.html
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ROgirl said on December 13, 2010 at 10:08 am
The Australian paper has a link to Foxsports, so I’m assuming it’s a Murdoch publication. The pic of Bin Laden really gives it that extra oomph.
Nixon is just the gift that keeps on giving. I firmly believe that his tactics set in motion the cultural and political dramas that are playing out today. What a scumbag. I loved Hunter Thompson’s writing about him as a vampire stalking Washington in the dead of night.
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brian stouder said on December 13, 2010 at 10:14 am
Well, the “L7” reference has me lost at the bakery, but I do love the Christmas lights.
I don’t understand Tricky Dick being vain enough to want to keep LBJ’s taping system (and therefore record every utterance that tumbled from his thin lips, in the Oval) and yet not vain enough to consider how history would view such stupid remarks.
Aside from that, with all due respect to Bobo’s (err…make that Bono’s) world travel and Louis Vitton baggage, I was quite impressed and pleased with Nat & Kat’s world-circling victory on last night’s concluding episode of Amazing Race. Those women were unfailingly good-humored, intelligent, and relentlessly competitive from beginning to end (as opposed to most of the other teams, who have at least a bad day here or there; or one team with one fellow who had a sustained bad attitude). I love that show.
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Deborah said on December 13, 2010 at 10:29 am
Brian, L7 means “square”. If you hold your fingers in the L7 position you make a square.
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MichaelG said on December 13, 2010 at 10:39 am
“wife getting haemorrhoid surgery” and he wanted it done now. Boy, that conjures up some marital images.
I’m an Irish drunk and get neither mean nor morose. Maybe a little sincere. My grandfather was a gen-u-wine IRA member before he emigrated to this country. Wait, he emigrated from Ireland and imigrated to this country? I guess it’s all in your point of view.
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brian stouder said on December 13, 2010 at 10:47 am
Thanks, Deborah!
You know, according to a classic old display at Science Central (sort of a Children’s Museum here in Ft Wayne), I am very “L7” (within an inch either way, comparing head-to-toe height to finger-tip to finger-tip reach)
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Jolene said on December 13, 2010 at 11:02 am
The Urban Dictionary seems to have several definitions for L7, some of which suggest something a little more exciting than being a square.
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brian stouder said on December 13, 2010 at 11:13 am
Jolene – whoa!!!
I think Dwight the Troubled teen hurled one of those other “L7” terms at the Proprietress
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adrianne said on December 13, 2010 at 11:15 am
No, Cooz, I’m not a member of the REAL IRA, or the ersatz one, either! But my prescription for grief (something we Irish experience all too frequently): One shot of Jameson’s. Repeat if necessary.
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Julie Robinson said on December 13, 2010 at 11:18 am
Hurrah for the always educational nnc. I just measured my wingspan and it is 6″ more than my height. Which probably explains why I’ve never owned a coat with sleeves that cover my wrists, but am very good at reaching the top shelf at the grocery store.
Dave Barry no longer writes a column, but happily for us he still compiles a Christmas gift guide: http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101210/LIVING/12100301.
And in the who-cares-anymore category: Evan Bayh will not run for governor of Indiana because his sons are freshmen in high school. He keeps saying he’d like to run a university, but it seems none have come calling.
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Jeff Borden said on December 13, 2010 at 11:19 am
Susan,
Thank you for reminding us that the little rat bastard war monger Henry the K. won a peace prize. And, yes, you are quite right. Henry and Dick were perfect for each other. The Mick and Keith of sleazy politics.
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Sue said on December 13, 2010 at 11:24 am
That is a lovely picture; I love classy Christmas decorations. I assume by the elegance of it that you know not to leave the decorations up until April.
And of course I have commented here before about my neighbors’ decorations, lots and lots of bright things in a very tiny yard. This is I believe the fourth or possibly the fifth year in the life of the Giant Inflatable Carousel, which is destroyed or flattened within a week of being put up, every single year, by weather or wind. This year they put it up and it didn’t do anything, right from the start, almost like it was trying to tell them something (‘I can’t go on… I just can’t…). The lights worked but it did not spin, didn’t totally inflate and there must have been some moisture inside the bubble because it was all frosted over and opaque inside. So after a few attempts to get it going they just left it and now it’s under a foot of snow, like in years past. Ahh, making those Christmas memories.
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Joe Kobiela said on December 13, 2010 at 11:41 am
Nancy,
Your to late if you want to watch the Vikes & Giants tonight, the tickets are all gone and the Lions are afraid they may have oversold the game. You might want to watch this one closely tonight. If there are more fans than seats it could get ugly.
Pilot Joe
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alex said on December 13, 2010 at 11:59 am
Last year tried to outcrass the neighbors with decorations fashioned from gas station LEDs and somebody came and cut the wires. (It was pretty garish, I must say, but I wanted just once to put up a display more ugly than anyone else’s and came damn close.) This year I’m back to my less is more aesthetic with just a few white light strands and decorations made from evergreen boughs, hawthorn berries and pine cones gathered from my own property.
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nancy said on December 13, 2010 at 12:03 pm
I hope you took pictures, Alex. Of last year’s display.
And I’d consider wire-cutting to be pretty fucking hostile, especially in your neighborhood. So much for live-and-let-live in placid Leo.
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4dbirds said on December 13, 2010 at 12:06 pm
I think your decorations look lovely and inviting.
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Dorothy said on December 13, 2010 at 12:19 pm
My very favorite outdoor Christmas decorations involve greenery and lights interspersed and you have both. Simply lovely.
Folks I would like to ask for good, positive thoughts from all of you. I know much of the crowd here is not of the praying variety, but that’s okay with me. I’ll take whatever I can get when it comes to reinforcement and support. My husband had a colostomy last week that had poor results. They found a mass at the cecum (a new word for me), where the small intestine meets the large. The doctor said they’ll be doing surgery regardless of the results of the multiple biopsies she took. They have to remove that section of the intestines. It’s right where the appendix is. We had an appointment for Wednesday at 3:30 but they’ve called and asked to change it to Friday. Sure, prolong our agony, go right ahead! Mike has to call them back at 1:00 when they get back from lunch to reschedule.
We had an uneasy weekend, trying to be positive but fully knowing what he’s up against. He’s scared, and I am too, but we’re trying to be optimistic. That’s not easy with the C word staring you in the face. It’s shitty news to get anytime, but never more so than at Christmas.
On the upside, did I mention that our son got back together with his girlfriend a week before Thanksgiving?! That made us tremendously happy.
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LAMary said on December 13, 2010 at 12:24 pm
I think Gene Weingarten has not run out of gas or come as close to running out of gas as many times as I have in my life. Making it to the gas station is an art form for me.
Next time you get the beef stew making urge check out the pot roast recipe in WSJ from an LA restaurant called Jar. I made it yesterday and it was sublime. So good. about a half hour of prep and three hours in the oven, no exotic ingredients. I used brisket, but the recipe calls for denuded short ribs. Brisket worked very well. I wish I had leftovers but I don’t. It was that good. It was a dish I saw on the Food Network show, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.”
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nancy said on December 13, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Dorothy, I’m there with all the optimism you need. FWIW, I’m under the impressions large-intestine masses are less worrisome than most, because they tend to be very slow-growing. (Which is why you only need colonoscopies every five years.) However, any surgery like that is bound to be traumatic, and you have my sympathies.
If this doesn’t change the tone too much, here is Alex’s “garish” holiday display. Bright, yes, but it still has that tasteful gay minimalism, so I’m calling the wire-cutting a hate crime.
(Unless it was a squirrel.)
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Julie Robinson said on December 13, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Dorothy, I am of the praying variety, and I will.
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brian stouder said on December 13, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Dorothy, you and yours shall be in our prayers and good thoughts. I’ll put the “A” team* on it, too – which has to be worth some high multiple of anything I can offer!
*my wife’s family have the frequent flier miles, when it comes to prayer
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Jean S said on December 13, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Dorothy, sorry to hear it–and yes, my vibes are off in your direction. Just fyi, my brother-in-law underwent surgery for colon cancer about 3 1/2 years ago (at the age of 50). All follow-up scans continue to look fine.
—
on the Tricky Dick front: One of my beloved college professors used to toss beer cans at the TV whenever Nixon’s vile face appeared. God love ya, Murray Arndt; as always, you were right!!
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Kim said on December 13, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Dorothy, hang in there – and listen to Dr. Nancy (I think that she has it right). Prayers coming your way.
I think a little “tasteful gay minimalism” is completely appropriate, both in a yard as a holiday display and as a blog interlude. Alex needs to reconsider what constitutes crass!
LAMary – thanks for the dinner tip. It snowed here in Virginia, something we experience perhaps twice a season (if at all, although last winter was one for the books), and I am working from home so pot roast it is.
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MichaelG said on December 13, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Dorothy, my thoughts and hopes are with you and your husband. For what it’s worth, I have a very good friend who had the same thing seven or eight years ago and is in fine shape today. There is cause for optimism.
A bazillion years ago when I was in the Army, I was driving down Bragg Blvd in Fayetteville, N.C. in my VW when it died. I coasted into a gas station, right up to the pump. Pretty lucky.
Your house looks lovely, Nancy, and I like that light tree, Alex. Hate crime indeed.
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LAMary said on December 13, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Alex that isn’t tacky at all. There was a house in Hawthorne, NJ, when I was growing up, that had stuff like the pope (john 23) and JFK depicted in lights on the roof.
Pot roast recipe link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123819733281561707.html
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ROgirl said on December 13, 2010 at 1:23 pm
My thoughts are with you and your husband, Dorothy.
I just went out to shovel and boy, is it cold. Sunny, windy, and bloody freezing.
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Sue said on December 13, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Dorothy, I’ll think good thoughts. Perhaps that’s the same thing.
And an aside – this is the gentleman who will be replacing Senator Russ Feingold:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/12/13/chamber-ron-johnson/
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Peter said on December 13, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Dorothy: Prayers and Happy Thoughts being sent to you. Good luck!
Julie: No offers for Evan Bayh? Not even Kaplan? DeVry? Wossamotta U? Sheesh.
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Deborah said on December 13, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Dorothy, thinking of you and yours. My praying skills are kinda creaky, but I’ll give it a go, whatever it takes. I’m glad to hear your son got back with his girlfriend too.
I used to be bad about running out of gas too. Especially when I had a series of MGs, one after the other spent most of their time in the shop with electrical problems. When the Miata finally came out in the late 8os I went out and bought one immediately. I got the same fun out of it without the headaches. I never ran out of gas with the Miatas either. Maybe they had a more prominent gauge or something. I got another Miata after we gave my first one to my step daughter as her first car. I had it 10 years before I reluctantly gave it up. When I got the second one it was just never the same. So when we moved to Chicago I sold it. I don’t need a car here, we just have my husbands beemer now, it sits in the garage most of the time.
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MichaelG said on December 13, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Lucas electrics, Deborah. Brought to you by Joseph Lucas, the man who invented darkness.
Why do Brits drink warm beer? Because they have Lucas refrigerators.
Apologies, Mary, if the above offends the in house. Those are ancient jokes.
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LAMary said on December 13, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Dorothy, I’ll ask Sister Colleen and Father Mark to put in a good word.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 13, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Dorothy, grace and peace to you and your husband; I think Sue’s got a lovely point. I’m a few days off of one year from my surgical misadventures, and I pray it all turns out as well for him as it did for me at the other end. (Maybe sooner than a year, but y’know.)
I’ve been out on an all-day training, and missed something from the start of the thread — Dick Nixon was Irish? I had no idea.
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4dbirds said on December 13, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Dorothy, I’m sending all my positive thoughts and all my fingers and toes are crossed. Best wishes.
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prospero said on December 13, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Dorothy, believe it or not, I’m getting pretty old but I have been saying bedtime prayers since I can remember (which is in my second year). On my knees. My kid, my future grandkid, my ex, my constant companion, my brothers and their families. You and Mike will fit in fine. S. says it’s an affectation, but it seems to bring some balance.
Whence L7. How cool was this cat?
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Dorothy said on December 13, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Many, many thanks friends. I’m more than a little nervous due to the fact I lost a sister-in-law to colon cancer 11 years ago. And my grandmother in 1971. But I also keep telling myself that medical advances get better and better so we’ll try to concentrate on those facts instead of the sad outcomes. Difficult but not impossible to pull off, I’m sure.
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Kim said on December 13, 2010 at 2:09 pm
I have that running out of gas experience all the time. Have actually run out twice – once with my own car back in the 1900s, and once with a rental in England. In the latter instance couldn’t figure out what had happened, driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car, inscrutable control panel, manual trans – walked to a mechanic (who the English called something else, so we only thought it might be a mechanic), who agreed to take a look and pointed us in the direction of a pub. When he came to retrieve us with the news we all had a good laugh and a few rounds. Those were the days.
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LAMary said on December 13, 2010 at 2:12 pm
None needed Michael. I’m sure he’s heard them all. He was in the auto/truck business back in UK for years. He worked for British Leyland and then for VW UK.
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alex said on December 13, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I’m not a praying man, but you have my sympathies, Dorothy, and I’m wishing you and your husband all the best.
The photo of that tree doesn’t quite do it justice. It was twenty feet tall and visible from as far away as the BP station from whence its parts came. The neighbor whom I suspect of cutting the wires has a beagle that came up and nuzzled me while I was assembling it and got a shock and ran away yelping. (The lights ran on a low-voltage system that humans are impervious to but that animals can feel.)
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Deborah said on December 13, 2010 at 2:25 pm
MichaelG, one night for some reason I got in one of my MGs and turned on the headlights, which was odd for me, I always started the car first and then turned on the lights. What astounded me was that when I turned on the lights that time, the car started, with no key in the ignition yet. I had no idea how long it had been doing that. I tried it over and over again when it happened and sure enough every time I turned on the lights the car started. I took it to the shop the next day and was told that wasn’t unusual. Lucas indeed.
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Little Bird said on December 13, 2010 at 2:28 pm
The MG you had when I was in fifth grade had very pretty indicator lights. Too bad they weren’t marked so we had no idea what they meant.
(That would be the MG that had the cracked engine head and the glowing manifold)
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Rana said on December 13, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Dorothy, I’ll send good thoughts in the direction of you and your husband. Even when things like that turn out well, they’re still scary in the meantime. Sympathies.
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MarkH said on December 13, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Prayers coming your way from here as well, Dorothy, along with as much positive fellow Pittsburgher thoughts as I can muster! You and Mike hang in there!
So, the girlfriend’s back? Sounds like it’s a good thing, and I hope it is. Maybe that home purchase will happen after all!
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Joe Kobiela said on December 13, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Prayers comming at you and yours Dorothy. I try not to have run out of gas storys, if I ever due, you will all read about it in the papers.
Pilot Joe
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John G. Wallace said on December 13, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Dorothy, I’m not a “praying type,” but am spiritual and you and your husband are in my thoughts. I just came down that frightening road with thankfully a less challenging and very positive outcome. We’ll include you in warm thoughts from Vero Beach.
Pilot Joe – Not up for a Gimli Glider adventure?
I’m an aviation nut and enjoy two other blogs. I think both might be of interest to other’s here.
http://fl250.blogspot.com/
A young captain of a regional jet with good insight on the ever changing
industry and a career I have followed from flying cancelled checks to his current senior status due to an industry in flux.
No offense to the hostess and the many gifted writers here but Captain Dave is a notch above most of our work, and an artist in the air also. Many of his followers were originally thinking he was doing the flying when Sully saved the day. He’s discreet but we all know his paying gig….
http://fl250.blogspot.com/
enjoy and stay warm!
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paddyo' said on December 13, 2010 at 3:36 pm
All the best to you and your husband, Dorothy — the outpouring of “positive thoughts” (and yes, actual real prayers, too — I don’t pray much now, either, but I’ve not forgotten how) here in the nn.c community are undoubtedly strong fabric for girding loins against that rat-bastard Mr. C. I believe The Proprietress is right about things that go bump in the intestines. We’ll all be confident that the docs get it and that you and your Mike will be done with it.
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Judbusy said on December 13, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Dorothy–adding my thoughts and sincere well wishes fo a positive outcome for your husband. Paddyo is right–Mr. C is a rat bastard! Please keep us posted.
That metrodome video is much-watched here in its home town. We’re finally getting plowed, passable steets, too. 17″ is a lot even for Minnesotans. We also try to keep lots of gas in the tank: helps the car start in the sub-zero temps!
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Catherine said on December 13, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Dorothy, sending good thoughts and prayers. And a virtual casserole (food is my response to any/every crisis).
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Jolene said on December 13, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Good thoughts to you, Mike, and the rest of your family, Dorothy. Hope you are able to get through the waiting without too much anxiety, and that, at the end of the waiting, the news will be good.
My running-out-of-gas story involves a VW Rabbit and a German gentleman who happened along when I foolishly let that happen, but, even more dopily, didn’t realize that’s what had occurred. He poked a stick into my gas tank and, not getting much of result said, “I zink you forgot to feed your Wabbit.”
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Dexter said on December 13, 2010 at 4:18 pm
Dorothy, I hope your husband’s problem turns out to be minimal; I know how a mind can race with thoughts of possibilities. I had a scare four years ago which ended well, and I pulled out all the stops twelve years ago, grabbing for a little serenity when my wife had two surgeries, and they both ended well also.
It’s so damn hard to steel yourself in what I consider the proper way, the old fashioned “pray for the best but expect the worst” , then when we got the good news, three times…the instant melting of tension and instant relaxation of the spirit.
I think a lot of people turn against God when they have a great prayer life, tons of support, prayers coming in form all over the world …and then , sometimes bitter disappointment.
It surely is easier when people can grasp the idea that if you believe in a supernatural being, everything happens for a reason, it’s God’s will, not ours, which always prevails. That is so hard for most people.
Some of us here are believers and some are not, some are inquisitive and some of us may be scared of the whole concept of a power greater than ourselves, don’t care, and never think about such matters. That is just the way it is, and at different times I have been all of the above, probably. I do know that powers exist that I admit I cannot battle, and I take comfort in that, and all is well, whether everything always ends well or not.
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Dexter said on December 13, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I had a cuss-moment yesterday that included The Finger and open palm gesturing indicating “W.T. FU( l< are you doing?"
4-lane street, center turn lane. I begin to enter the center turn lane prior to making a left turn. From an entrance to the 4 lane street, a pickup truck guns it and heads directly for me. I hit my brakes, he slips and slides right by me, ahead of me now, cutting across my turning lane into the intersection during a red light…guns it , just missing cars crossing from the parking lot to cross the big street…and somehow misses everybody. It was the worst driving I have seen in about four years, when an old lady lost her shit somehow and crashed into my parked car here at my house, totalling my car, damaging two pickup trucks, and ramming my neighbor's house full-tilt.
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4dbirds said on December 13, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Yes paddyo’ is right, Mr. C is a fuckedy, fucked, fucking fucker or whatever Ashley said.
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basset said on December 13, 2010 at 4:57 pm
John G, I think you mean “Flight Level 390” on the second link… mentioned it here awhile back.
Dorothy, more support coming your way from another of those non-praying secular humanists… our trials this past spring sure helped us understand the value of other people caring, makes no difference whether it’s wrapped in a socially approved ritual or not.
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moe99 said on December 13, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Dorothy, just back from chemo and more trench digging so I too have joined your prayer tree for your husband. Might we know his first name, so I can offer it up at church on Sunday for the whole congregation to join in? They’re good at this.
edit: Ah, see his name is Mike by re-reading the comments. Speed, not comprehension was my strong suit. Prayers and good thoughts coming your way from the upper left hand corner of the map!
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Dexter said on December 13, 2010 at 6:09 pm
I really enjoyed Gene Weingarten’s WaPo piece…and then I clicked onto one of my bookmarks to read once again “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
http://bnrg.eecs.berkeley.edu/~randy/mitty.html
I think that when I was a schoolboy, Thurber and ee cummings were my faves.
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paddyo' said on December 13, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Yes, 4dbirds, I believe the exact Ashley phrase (at least as repeated memorably in “Treme”) is:
“Fuck you, you fucking fucks.”
That should always apply to the rat-bastard Mr. C and his various evil companions.
My nephew and godson, bless ‘im, had his own way of challenging the rat bastard that, sadly, claimed his father last month. Brian said, often and with gusto:
“Cancer can lick my balls.”
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John G. Wallace said on December 13, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Indeed, Capt. Dave and the adventures of FiFi the electric jet can be found at:
http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com/
Sometimes the fuel management stuff shows how tight cost controls are in the airlines and the things pilots have to worry about beside the flying aspect.
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LAMary said on December 13, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Ashley once said, “Fuck you you fucking fuckmooks” here. I noticed Treme didn’t go there.
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Julie Robinson said on December 13, 2010 at 7:23 pm
JohnG, do you enjoy Vero Beach? My sister lived there for five of the happiest years of her life. Beautiful weather and a friendly, supportive community made it hard to leave when she was offered a promotion. Now she lives in Palm Beach County, and boy howdy, that place stinks. I believe Ashley would have used his famous phrase there.
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prospero said on December 13, 2010 at 7:48 pm
I went to Vero Beach once. In utero. My mom and dad went to Dodgertown the Spring before I was born, the year the Giants stole signs and won the pennant but still lost to the goddam Yankees. I’ve got photos of my mom playing catch with Campanella and Duke Snider and Jackie.
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LAMary said on December 13, 2010 at 8:01 pm
John G, when did you live in Glen Rock?
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Jolene said on December 13, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Richard Holbrooke has died. No guarantees of tomorrow, people, not that you don’t all know that.
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Dexter said on December 13, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Thanks for the update, Jolene. What that man went through these past few days …I wish on only my worst enemy. Hell, not even him. Horrendous aortic tear, the worst thing that can happen to a heart.
And of heart health, I wonder what the fallout will be from this latest heart study that concludes that even one breath of second-hand cigarette smoke can cause noticeable heart and lung changes. One puff. I smoked cigarettes for 13 years, kee-reist–musta damn-near killed myself.
Now, like an old acquaintance used to say, “I studiously avoid cigarette smoke.”
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 13, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Ashley’s influence must have broadened my awareness of creative & polemical obscenity, because I saw this tweet and immediately figured out what it stood for without hardly a decrypting thought:
AYFKMWTS???! http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/steele-seeks-second-term-to-run-g-o-p/
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prospero said on December 14, 2010 at 12:05 am
“And of heart health, I wonder what the fallout will be from this latest heart study that concludes that even one breath of second-hand cigarette smoke can cause noticeable heart and lung changes. One puff. I smoked cigarettes for 13 years, kee-reist–musta damn-near killed myself.
Now, like an old acquaintance used to say, “I studiously avoid cigarette smoke.”
Can’t take any of these things seriously.
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Dexter said on December 14, 2010 at 12:48 am
I just finished watching a movie that scared the living stuffing out of me. “Orphan” with Vera Farmiga starring as the mom. Just blood-curdling. Gave me the creeps. Don’t watch it! Evil, evil, evil.
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Bill said on December 14, 2010 at 12:51 am
Dorothy: Our prayers are lifted to heaven for you and Mike.
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