One-word resolution.

Today in yoga class, my first of the year, we were invited to set an intention for the hour. I normally ignore the woo-woo aspects of yoga, but I’d walked to the studio, and the mild exercise had already gotten me in a more yoga-ish head. All at once it came to me, not just the intention for the class but the one-word New Year’s resolution I’d been looking for: Balance. Verb, not noun. I think that’s going to be the goal.

(Credit where it is due: Laura Lippman came up with the idea of one-word resolutions, and usually announces hers to her social-media networks. I think hers, this year, is Model.)

And with that, the year is off and running. We did a balance exercise in that very same class — tree pose. As usual, I sucked at it. So, I have my work cut out for me.

Not much to report over the last couple of days, but I did find some good stuff to direct you toward, so let’s get to it.

I know we’re well past the death of Mario Cuomo — and on to that of Little Jimmy Dickens — but when Roy recommends something, I pay attention, and when he said Wayne Barrett’s Cuomo obit was the best of the bunch, I read it. And I agree, especially after this lead:

Predictably, Ed Koch beat Mario Cuomo in the New York Times obit contest. Until the Times changed it a day later, the front-page introduction to the Cuomo obit described him as a “prickly personality.” Koch’s 2013 obit branded him “brash, shrewd and colorful” in its headline. Ask anyone who knew both which one was more “prickly.”

And passages like these come only from deep knowledge of your subject:

He became the prison builder to compensate for his staunch opposition to the death penalty, which became the hammer Koch used to beat him in a primary, runoff and general election in 1977, when the Son of Sam, a serial killer who captivated the city with mad murders, was arrested in August. Remarkably, at a time when death was a bipartisan bromide, Mario stood against the wind for 12 years, until the governor who beat him, George Pataki, could gleefully welcome its return. If we are looking for a list of Mario’s accomplishments, start with an end to official revenge killings, a veto of the soul.

Continue on to his Notre Dame speech, when every word was a prayer for tolerance, a careful reconciliation of a church he loved with a constitution he loved at its point of collision, the abortion issue. “We know,” he said to Catholics, “that the price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that they might try someday to force theirs’ on us.” The convention speech he gave in San Francisco in 1984 was not so much “the tale of two cities” as it was the tale of two Cuomos—the one his soul yearned for, which he could express on a national stage, and the one who governed New York, where every dollar was a decision.

Woo, it’s been a fortnight for death, hasn’t it? And now Stuart Scott, whom I know mainly from watching his silent lips moving on the gym TV, but I’ll take others’ word for it.

I think I’m going to want to read this book:

The book is ambitious — verging on frenetic at times as it hops through the flotsam of our exploded economy and culture — but its central thesis is that the plutocrats of the Internet (the Mark Zuckerbergs and Larry Pages of the world) have availed themselves of an astonishing spectrum of rights while wholly disregarding their responsibilities.

And…

Amazon — which customers rightly love for its efficiency and ease — does not, in fact, want to make the world a better place. Neoliberals would argue that the company enriches our culture by upping access to content and products. But Keen argues that “the reverse is actually true. Amazon, in spite of its undoubted convenience, reliability, and great value, is actually having a disturbingly negative impact on the broader economy.” He points to what he describes as Amazon’s brutally efficient business methodology, which has squeezed jobs out of every sector of retail, according to a 2013 Institute for Local Self-Reliance report that Keen cites. The report says brick-and-mortar retailers employ 47 people for every $10 million in sales, while Amazon employs only 14. Perhaps the question Keen is getting at is this: Are we consumers, or are we citizens? It’s a frustratingly complex inquiry.

Man, I’ll say.

Anyway, I guess it’s back to the grind for those of us lucky enough to have some time off, and back to the week for everyone else. Happy Monday to all.

Posted at 12:01 am in Media, Same ol' same ol' |
 

46 responses to “One-word resolution.”

  1. brian stouder said on January 5, 2015 at 6:52 am

    One word resolution?

    Appreciate

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  2. Suzanne said on January 5, 2015 at 8:16 am

    I’ve just started doing yoga in the past few months. I stink at most of the balance poses, which is why I need to keep doing the yoga. I am amazed how much better I feel! Last winter, I started taking a fitness class with some friends, but it was too much sweating, jumping, go, go, go (and at least a day of aches and pains afterward). With yoga, I might ache some, but it’s a “good” ache. Maybe someday, I’ll even be able to have some stability!

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  3. alex said on January 5, 2015 at 8:38 am

    One-word resolution? Punt.

    I forget who recommended it here some months ago, but I finally got myself Hulu Plus and an HDTV antenna and got rid of satellite service. Excellent advice and I thank you.

    I had been paying $150 per month for a big bunch of nothing, and when I tried to quit my service last June they wanted to sock me with some ridiculous early termination fee. So I took a reduced package at a reduced price of $50. For that I got the local network affiliate stations, and not even as much programming as comes up on my plain old broadcast antenna, what with the local stations now having separate weather and reruns channels in their lineups.

    Fuck DirecTV. They may try pulling the early termination bullshit on me again — I think they must do that to everyone — but they can’t legally make you take their service for more than two years and I know we’ve surpassed that. Upon the news that I was quitting, they tried to offer me the same service with a $15/month price break. The rep was clearly irritated that I didn’t think it was a good deal to pay for something I can otherwise get for free.

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  4. beb said on January 5, 2015 at 8:52 am

    One word resolutions? “anti-depressants” as in I need more and better anti-depressants.

    I bet Wendy did not want to go for a walk this morning. I didn’t want to drive to work. Even my car didn’t want to go – the door wouldn’t open. Ice on the door frame.

    And tomorrow is supposed to be even colder.

    When I hear of the death of “Little” Jimmy Dickens my first thought was ‘how old do you have to be before you can drop ‘little’ from your name. Little Stevie Wonder was in his 30s or so before he became just Stevie Wonder. Then I saw a picture of James Dickens … man, he was little! But he appears to have had a good life and a long one.

    Mario Cuomo was from before I became interested in politics but the more I read about him the more I like him. Interesting how Ed Koch was ‘brash’ while Cuomo was ‘prickly.’ Kind of how women are bitchy but men are decisive.

    And have you heard that Oklahoma wants to ban the wearing of hoodies? The article I read was a little confusing because part of the time it sounded like the goal was to ban wearing hoodies or masks in the commission of a crime. This is about as stupid as banning the wearing of plaid while committing a crime. Other times the article seemed to imply that the ban would apply to all people at all times because there was talk about how the bill would need to make exemptions for Halloween and weather that is so bitter than ski masks are required. This, of course, has nothing to do with crime, this is about condemning black people for being black.

    And in Florida some county clerks have decided that since the courts have ruled that they can’t ban gay married they will retaliate and not perform any marriages. Though I guess they still have to issue licenses.

    I hate to suggest that stupidity is our national sport, but there certainly are a lot of professionals.

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  5. coozledad said on January 5, 2015 at 9:12 am

    Stalk vegetable Nosferatu Louis Gohmert “That other really stupid fucker from Texas” is making a play for speaker of the house. He’s really no dumber than Boehner, but he doesn’t have the “fifth of Johnny Walker Red by five o’clock every day” accent.
    http://www.juanitajean.com/2015/01/04/well-hes-just-a-regular-bill-gates/

    If he really wants this thing, he’s got to humanize himself with Unocal by drinking some yankee liquor and puking some pork and fried taters down his suit jacket.

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  6. Jeff Borden said on January 5, 2015 at 9:40 am

    Gosh, and all I set as a resolution was flossing daily. Oh, and I’m giving up drinking for the month of January after getting far too comfortable with late afternoon cocktails during the break. The only bad thing about not having a few cocktails is the knowledge that when I awake, that’s the best I’ll feel all day.

    I don’t see how the House could be much loonier with Gohmert holding the gavel. Boehner has been an ineffective, whiny little douche as speaker, one of the worst in my lifetime, but elevating Louie Louie officially would signal House of Representatives is just a poo-flinging primate house.

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  7. brian stouder said on January 5, 2015 at 10:09 am

    Gosh – that would make McConnell over in the Senate the equivalent of Dean Wormer…!

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  8. brian stouder said on January 5, 2015 at 10:09 am

    Gosh – that would make McConnell over in the Senate the equivalent of Dean Wormer…!

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  9. Deborah said on January 5, 2015 at 10:15 am

    I’ve given up booze for January too, I think it was here someone said it’s good not to drink one day a week, one week a month and one month a year. For me it’s not cocktails, but wine. Maybe once in awhile I have a bourbon but we rarely have hard stuff in the house.

    One word resolution: think.

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  10. Jeff Borden said on January 5, 2015 at 10:24 am

    Hey Deborah,

    My alcohol-free effort was greatly tested yesterday evening. I was out with my dog in the local park, where the winds were really howling, with the temperature at 22 degrees. I’d underestimated the wind chill badly and was pretty freaking cold when we returned after 45 minutes of dogged Frisbee toss and catch. The lure of a nice glass of Scotch, bourbon or rye was almost overpowering, but I went with a hot cup of green tea.

    It’s always useful, I think, to reassert your control. I need to do this with the Internet, where I spend too much time reading political blogs that are interesting, but also maddening.

    Onward and upward. . .

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  11. Dorothy said on January 5, 2015 at 10:41 am

    I was off work for 12 straight days and rarely took the time to read entries here. I missed you guys and gals! I did read back some this morning and wanted to mention to Heather (is that right?) that we watched The Bletchley Circle last summer or early fall, and really enjoyed it. Our daughter has been watching it this past week via Netflix too. I plan to add Happy Valley to our que at Netflix. We recorded the 60 episodes of The Wire that HBO ran starting on 12/26 and have seen 15 or 16 of them so far. Yes we’ve seen them before but it’s so great to re-visit those characters and stories. Squeezed in around all that Wire watching we painted our master bedroom, master bath and guest bath; took a trip to Pittsburgh to visit my mom and Mike’s aunt, and reconnected with a couple we hadn’t seen in about 15 years. We vowed not to let so much time pass again – it was great! Could have talked all night with them but after two hours we got the hint that the restaurant needed the table. I sewed a new jumper, a new blousy jacket, and a baby quilt top. I made progress on an infinity scarf I’m making as a birthday gift for my d-i-l (Jan 31st), and now I’m back at the office. I had an interview last week for a job in the Music Department. I’m very hopeful to get that job, but not counting on it. I’ve been disappointed too many times now after almost a year here. My niece who owns the bookstore in Athens, GA got engaged this weekend and she might be borrowing my wedding dress for the big day. I’m thrilled that she asked for it. She’s very slender and I was, too, back in 1979. But she is 6 feet tall, 3 inches taller than me. She might be able to make it work with flats (I wore slight heels). But I told her she can alter it if she wants to – no one else I know is going to wear it. If they get married out in California, where Jim’s family is, I hope we get invited. I’d be so tickled to watch that dress go through another wedding ceremony, this time from the observers’ seats!

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  12. Judybusy said on January 5, 2015 at 10:44 am

    WC -25 here today, and the dog was unfazed as we took a walk around the block. In our 1-year-old garage, it was a balmy 25 and I didn’t have to scrape!

    My resolution: be. I am usually a whirlwind of activity, and I’ve been contemplating yoga to calm my monkey mind. Today, though, I really want to go to spin class. It’s been over a year and I’m just in the mood!

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  13. Heather said on January 5, 2015 at 11:33 am

    Dorothy, yeah, the Bletchley Circle was me. I’m in awe of your productivity over your break! I managed to clean out my closet and fill two bags with stuff to give away–but the bags are still sitting in my kitchen. I also started to build a WordPress site as a portfolio so I can find another job. Did lots of soul-searching etc over the break and realized that a large part of making myself happier is to get out of a position that no longer fulfills or satisfies me.

    One word resolution: Presence (as in be present).

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  14. Basset said on January 5, 2015 at 11:56 am

    My one word… walk. Goals for this year are to do the hundred again and to walk home from work one long summer evening, a little over twelve miles.

    Deer season ended yesterday, too damn warm for most of it and then last night the temp fell to around twenty.

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  15. Charlotte said on January 5, 2015 at 12:08 pm

    We had a windy night that drifted up the foot of new snow, then sometime before dawn it warmed up and started to rain. It’s ugly ugly out there. Two sets of emergency sirens already this morning (the firehouse is 2 blocks up the street).

    I’ll second the Bletchly Circle, and I loved Happy Valley (although it gets *very scary*) — I just adore Sarah Lancashire –the same actress who is in The Paradise and Last Tango in Halifax. I watch so much Brit. TV while working (my actual job involves a lot of clicking through various screens, and I find without a procedural, I lose track. One of those things where a steady slight distraction makes me more productive) — anyhow, so much Brit. TV that I bought a subscription to Acorn TV on my Roku account — lots of British and Australian series. Well worth the five bucks a month. Also looking forward to booting up Downton Abbey this morning ….

    I wasn’t as productive as Dorothy, but I did do a lot of active Auntie-ing … the theme of this holiday seems to be college plans and birth control. As the not-a-wife and not-a-mother grown woman friend, I get the sex ed — happy to help. Also made two little woolie dresses, and started and ripped out and started and ripped out and started a hat again.

    One word for 2015 — I think I’m with Nancy — Balance. (Also, I too suck at the tree pose.)

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  16. adrianne said on January 5, 2015 at 12:15 pm

    One word resolution (ripping off Michelle Obama): Move! I feel so much more energized in my new job, which entails racing around Manhattan at a New Yorker’s pace to get to work. Also availing myself of proximity to Union Square, a lovely public space, to get in midday constitutional.

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  17. Joe K said on January 5, 2015 at 12:56 pm

    One word resolution? Tolerance, of people and things I can’t control.
    Added up my running mileage for the year, ran 262 days for 1651miles 31 a week or 6.3 a day average.
    Disney World 1/2 marathon this Saturday, 5:30am
    Pilot Joe

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  18. Basset said on January 5, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    Little Milton was “little” to the end. Saw him just before he died and he musta gone close to 300.

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  19. Deborah said on January 5, 2015 at 1:23 pm

    Just an explanation about my one word resolution: think. I’ve been spending way too much time online this winter, I need to stop that because it seems to be making my mind mushy. There are too many distractions when I’m trying to read something, pop-ups and losing my place while scrolling etc. I want to get back to reading more print books and thinking about what I’ve read. Just being more thoughtful about everything in general, less multitasking, concentrating more.

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  20. Charlotte said on January 5, 2015 at 1:44 pm

    Ooh forgot a project — I’m making hard cider! Had 5 gallons cider pressed from the backyard trees, and it’s now burbling away in the kitchen … we’ll see how it comes out …

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  21. Jeff Borden said on January 5, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    Bassett,

    If you get a dog, you will walk. I do a minimum of two miles almost every day. It’s enjoyable about 90 percent of the time, but even in rain and snow and cold, Cosmo has to get out. And that means I have to get out.

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  22. Carolyn said on January 5, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    Vegetables

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  23. Basset said on January 5, 2015 at 2:44 pm

    We are dog people and involved with local rescue – just waiting for our 15 y/o cat to cross the rainbow bridge before we get another animal.

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  24. Jeff Borden said on January 5, 2015 at 2:58 pm

    I should’ve known.

    While I rode my bike a lot during nice weather, I was a vegetable in the winter months before Cosmo’s arrival. No more.

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  25. Sherri said on January 5, 2015 at 3:34 pm

    My one word resolution is lighten. As in lighten up, don’t take things so seriously and worry so much. As in, lighten the load, get rid of a lot of this stuff that I don’t need any more.

    I loved Bletchly Circle and Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax. Next on my list is Scott & Bailey, which was created by Sally Wainwright, who also created Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax.

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  26. coozledad said on January 5, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    Ivory and ivory live together in the key of C
    You can play without using one black key, Lord, why can’t we?
    We all know white people are the same wherever you go.
    There’ll be mayonnaise, some polka ,too.
    And we learn to golf, and sometimes rolf each other
    But it’s all in good fun
    ‘til the kid gets the gun.

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  27. Judybusy said on January 5, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    I really liked Scott and Bailey. The 2nd season is waiting for me at the library. I also enjoyed Broadchurch with David Tennant. The 2nd season of that just began airing on the BBC.

    Spin class went well, and I have marked when the Y is offering yoga. Overall, the Y has such friendly, encouraging instructors. The one today gave a nice warm welcome back. Of course, now I need a nap. Thankfully, my partner is feeling much better and will be making dinner every night this week. I felt like such a weenie, getting tired of having to do all the cooking, cleaning and shopping, etc. And we don’t even have kids.

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  28. brian stouder said on January 5, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    Judybusy – disliking cooking/cleaning/shopping is universal, indeed!

    Cooz – I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that the more history one knows, the less chest-thumping one is ever inclined to do.

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  29. Jolene said on January 5, 2015 at 5:04 pm

    My PBS station has a British affiliate. (Not sure what the right vocabulary is for stations that have multiple frequencies.) Anyway, in addition to the British mysteries and crime dramas that appear on the main station, there’s another batch that appear on the secondary channel. Vera, Inspector George Gently, Foyle’s War, Scott & Bailey, D.C. Banks, Inspector Morse, and Inspector Lewis have all been available there at various points.

    Also, if you have Roku, you can subscribe to the Acorn channel and get all these and more whenever you want them. I’m about to start Line of Duty, which Alessandra Stanley described a few days ago as “bracingly different” from Downton Abbey.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/arts/television/line-of-duty-compared-with-downton-abbey.html?_r=0

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  30. Jeff Borden said on January 5, 2015 at 5:28 pm

    The older I get, and the more I read and learn, the more I realize how little I know.

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  31. coozledad said on January 5, 2015 at 5:45 pm

    the more I realize how little I know.

    It can be even worse than that, finding out what you think you know is western spin, or cold war spin, or shit that accredited journalists have peddled as truth, when it’s only feeding that trough of bullshit that is the conventional viewpoint. I thought it had reached its nadir with Cokie Roberts and Dancin’ Dave, but it keeps getting shittier. Chuck Todd is so damned stupid he let it slip that no one will come on his show unless he blows them. If you’re going to be bought and paid for, at least do it with some damn grace.

    I’ve been reading Tamim Ansary’s books on Afghanistan, and how cozy the Neocon Bush administration was with the Taliban and the Pakistani intelligence services, thinking they were playing 19th century balance of power politics. Their incompetence and blindness is still staggering. Bush and Cheney and Bill Kristol and Condi were like the scouts for a new Donner Party. I only wish they could be tried so we could see them publicly cannibalize each other.

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  32. Deborah said on January 5, 2015 at 7:50 pm

    Well we took the last of our holiday house guests to the airport. My husband goes back to Chicago Weds, just in time for frigid weather, while it’s going to be in the high 40s here in Santa Fe for the next week or so. I won’t see him for 3 weeks then until we go to NYC. I’m looking forward to a little quiet time as much as I will miss him.

    Judy Busy, I know what you mean. I felt like a wimp when LB had her surgery I was doing all the cleaning, cooking and heavy lifting and there are no small children here and I don’t even work outside the home either. But I was going out to our construction site everyday and feeding the workers during all of that so my plate was full. It was nice when LB was back to doing the cooking I must say. She’s almost 100% healed now, but she requires no extra special treatment anymore.

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  33. Dexter said on January 5, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    Drink is alluring, to be sure. I remember a friend told us of an elderly lady showing up at a meeting. She used to share a glass of wine every day with her husband as soon as he arrived home. As the weeks turned to months after his death, she found herself craving a second glass, and drinking it alone. When she began feeling weepy and desiring a third, she showed up at AA and never uncorked another jug. Now long sober myself, I still crave addictive items like coffee and tobacco , pipe tobacco, which I let pass, but I drink coffee with abandon and I don’t cause trouble for others or myself (as tobacco would kill me straightaway with my maladies, coffee seems harmless for me).
    I stated here my N.Y.R. was to lose some weight. Now I want to break another habit which I have, and that is a daily Coca-Cola, which I usually have around 5:00 PM in the warmer months. I get plenty of caffeine in coffee and I do not need the sugar. (and the new stevia-Coke doesn’t interest me at all).
    My vans were iced shut, a real pain in the ass. One was to go to the junk yard today but I have insurance for one more week so no rush. Saturday the fucking ice on my stoop was treacherous. I hate ice worse than snow or fog or anything. I cannot safely navigate the ground on ice with a cane in one hand — and a fall on my bad hip would be disaster-in-a-can. And my friend in Fort Myers was bitching about 85F. temps today. F’real. Shee-it.

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  34. Dexter said on January 5, 2015 at 10:48 pm

    Yoga classes. Years ago I was attending a Christian church for a few years, and a topic came up in discussion, and a yoga class was formed. An older man heard about it and petitioned the pastor and elders to cease and desist, as he believed yoga was evil …from Google headers: “There is no Yoga without Hinduism and no Hinduism without Yoga.” Upon further review the class was re-named something else, and all was fine with old Fuddy-Duddy. Ain’t that the shits? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152844050341077&set=a.439833001076.232712.556636076&type=1

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  35. Deborah said on January 5, 2015 at 10:49 pm

    Dexter, I have a somewhat unwarranted fear of falling on ice and breaking a hip. I walk on ice like a constipated penguin. I’ve had a stress fractured foot and that is enough. Walking is my only exercise and I hate it when I can’t do it. At my age I have pre-osteoporosis which makes me more vulnerable. One of these days I’m going to have to listen to Sally Fields and start taking medication for it.

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  36. Dexter said on January 5, 2015 at 10:58 pm

    I hear ya, Deborah. I have never been able to navigate icy parking lots like some folks seem to do with abandon.

    A friend just called and told me he had heard a man on the radio raving about the Brit Sci-Fi show “Dark Mirror”. I just moved it to “My List”. Anybody seen it? To the TV….

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  37. Dexter said on January 6, 2015 at 4:16 am

    Dark Mirror has six episodes available, from 2011. Hol-eee shit… I’ll wager you have never seen anything like S1E1…most repulsive program since old John Logie Baird and Philo Farnsworth were figuring out television 90 years ago. OMG. NETFLIX.

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  38. Dorothy said on January 6, 2015 at 6:37 am

    Since my knee replacement I too am paralyzed with fear when I have to walk on ice. In my mind, if I fall on my left knee with any degree of force, that implant is going to rip through my skin and leave me howling and broken with no one around to help me get to my feet. I know that’s bizarre but what can I say? It’s my supreme wintertime fear.

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  39. Jill said on January 6, 2015 at 8:02 am

    I’m the same way on ice. I mince along like an 80 year old (I’m 54). I worry about going down hard and then being out of commission for months, which would be a nightmare for anyone but I’ve got the added concern of a rambunctious St. Bernard counting on a couple of walks a day.

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  40. Dorothy said on January 6, 2015 at 8:12 am

    Two dogs at our house, Jill, that add up to 170 lbs!

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  41. Basset said on January 6, 2015 at 8:28 am

    I’ve had about enough of Comcast, about to cut the cord – anyone care to share their experience with dropping cable, specifically what you did for net service afterward?

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  42. beb said on January 6, 2015 at 8:32 am

    Jeff Borden @6: While Boehner has been a miserable excuse for Speaker of the House you also have to consider what he has to work with, which is a bunch of bomb-throwing nihilist who’s first impulse is to burn the government to the ground. Boehner is actually committed to keeping the government working. Gohmert … he’s the chief cheerleader for the bomb-throwers. So, actually, there’s a big difference between Boehner and Gohmert.

    Coozledad @31: Chuck Todd isn’t being stupid when he says no one would come on his show if he asked them tough questions, he’s just being honest. The fatal flaw of Meet the Press and the others is that they have become platforms for the parties to launch their lies and disinformation disguised as talking points rather than places where they have to defend lying to the American people.

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  43. coozledad said on January 6, 2015 at 8:49 am

    Chuck Todd is being stupid when he breathes. His truth exists somewhere on the “Al Gore claims he invented the internets” and “Reagan destroyed the Soviet Union with his bare hands” continuum of late 20th century dick mud.

    I’ll bet a hundred dollars he subscribed to Cigar Afficianado back in the day. There’s nothing worse than a striving nonentity, unless it’s a striving nonentity with a merkin on its face.

    And speaking of pussyface, here’s one of Chuck’s masters of the universe:

    http://gawker.com/son-murdered-hedge-fund-manager-dad-over-200-allowance-1677610465

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  44. alex said on January 6, 2015 at 8:56 am

    Dex, I don’t know how well an HDTV antenna would pick up the networks from your location as you’re quite a ways both from Fort Wayne and Toledo, but that’s what I’m using for my local stations. Otherwise I have a Roku and I’m watching shows on Hulu. Might try out some of the other offerings via Roku if they don’t set me back too much.

    My internet is through the local cable provider, Mediacom. If you go the route I’ve taken, you may want to keep your cable internet service even if you get rid of your cable TV.

    I had switched from cable TV to satellite several years ago when the cable company jacked its rates to $150 a month. The honeymoon with satellite was over pretty quickly when DirecTV jacked its rates to $150. I wasn’t getting my money’s worth. Both sucked. While they offer an almost infinite selection of programming, most of it is shit I wouldn’t watch if they put a gun to my head.

    Last night I watched about a dozen episodes of South Park that were about a dozen years old. How cool is that?

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  45. Jill said on January 6, 2015 at 9:19 am

    Dorothy, my two (one died Christmas week) were 245 lbs. combined so I know what you mean!

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  46. Dexter said on January 6, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    I messed up here and on Facebook. I called that NETFLIX show “Dark Mirror”. It is “Black Mirror”. I heard Robert Downey, Jr. bought the rights to episode three with the possibility of making a movie based on just that episode. Now I shall have to watch that one tonight.

    Alex, my brother went all-free digital via house-top antenna about 8 years ago or whenever digital became the norm. He barely watches any TV at all so he’s happy, but it’s not for me. I love channel-surfing with a whole varied menu and OnDemand and all that stuff. Just hooked am I. I also never have any connectivity issues with Time Warner RoadRunner internet service…not for a few years now. But yes, a big FUCK YOU to DirecTV, who tried three ways to screw me outta a lotta dough I did NOT owe, one involved the return of a receiver that was obsolete that they lost in their fucking Memphis warehouse, but finally found…they were billing me increasing amounts for that POS, saying I had not returned it, receipts and tracking #s be damned. I will never deal with those bastards evermore.

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