Whenever I spend a day writing, I find myself not wanting to spend a night writing. Which explains a dark Wednesday. Guess what I did on Wednesday? Yep.
But we cannot have two dark days, can we? No, we cannot. So let’s start off in that great NN.c tradition of bitching about the weather.
Today it didn’t reach 50 degrees. In fact, it barely reached 45 degrees. It also snowed, and rained, and snowed again. On my way to the parking garage, a three-block walk that can feel like 300, I passed a wan little family headed to the ballpark, dressed for a polar expedition. What a sucktastic night for baseball.
However, it was a good excuse to wear boots for one more day. It’s always a little hard to put some nice boots away for the summer.
I guess in the Department of Following Up on Stuff, I should note that the 78-year-old man on trial for having sex with his Alzheimer’s-afflicted wife beat the rap. What a terribly sad story, and what a waste of judicial resources. I hope he enjoys what years he has left.
I’d say it’s also not looking good for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who made the mistake of flipping off a camera in his cell, now a nice exhibit for the prosecutors who want to give him the needle. He’ll get it, I expect, but for once I agree with his defense team; it’s far from a definitive message. He may well have been saying f.u. to the camera itself, which I don’t think anyone would welcome in a personal space.
There’s also talk of a “smirk,” another expression it’s unwise to wear in a court of law.
Amy Schumer isn’t everyone’s cup of dirty tea, but if you’re in a safe office or with headphones, you might like this — “Last Fuckable Day.” I know I did.
Weren’t we talking about teratovas the other day? Ew.
With this weak, thin effort, it’s my bedtime. Zzzz.
Dexter said on April 23, 2015 at 3:45 am
It was damn-nearly whiteout snow in Battle Creek yesterday. The Tiger game was indeed played in football weather, plus the Stankees whipped the Tigers badly, early, and often.
In 24 hours or so I have drive to Battle Creek VA again for a second exam of my eyeballs…I just had it done in Toledo last Thursday but…not good enough for them, as they prepare my records to send off to Cleveland and get me squared away. All in good time, my pretties…
Well…to my utter surprise, they handed me a handful of cash for travel expenses. Who’d a thunk it?
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Julie Robinson said on April 23, 2015 at 6:41 am
My only comfort yesterday was that I could stay inside all day. On Saturday it was 80 and I was restraining myself from planting flowers.
Our daughter invited me down to Orlando to see the Epcot spring flower and garden show because she had a free pass earned when she gave a presentation there. And I thought no, it’ll be nice here by then and hot down there, and I have too much work to do, and now I wish I had gone. Has anyone gone? I’m not a Disney person but she said it was spectacular.
Amy Schumer and I feel the exact same way about football.
Starbucks name generator:http://www.whatsmystarbucksname.com/. Mine was
Germine.
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alex said on April 23, 2015 at 7:10 am
Here’s some Teratovas you won’t get out of your head.
My Starbucks name? Alax.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 23, 2015 at 7:41 am
In the Patrick O’Brian series of Royal Navy novels of the very early 1800s, the ship’s surgeon and natural historian Stephen Maturin is fascinated by teratomas, which I’d never heard of before reading those books. (They’ve made me look up more stuff than anything else I’ve ever read.) Suddenly I’m hearing about them in the real world rather often — wonder what that’s about.
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beb said on April 23, 2015 at 8:08 am
I often hear lines about how some killer showed “no emotion” when read his conviction. The implication is that he’s some stone-cold killer than deserves to die. But really, isn’t this part of the manly art of stoicism whereby you refuse to show weakness before your enemy? What was the convicnt supposed to do, leap up out of his chair, beat his chest and cry “why did I ever do that? I was such a fool! Oh, G*d, I’m ruined!” Of course not. You take it like a Man.
The drive to work this morning had one of those weather conditions that always fascinates and pleases me. Ahead of me were particularly dark and heavy clouds while behind the sun was brightly shining. So everything in the mid-ground before me stuck out almost luminescently. It’s just an amazing sort of contrast.
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Basset said on April 23, 2015 at 8:22 am
Just a little cooler than usual in Nashville this morning, no snow. And the sun’s out, just for a change.
Stayed up later than usual last night, saw Denny Laine in a club just outside the tourist area. The boomers among us might remember him, he was in the Moody Blues and later Wings, still on the road at 71 and standing up there singing “Mull of Kintyre” (which he cowrote) to a half-full room with hockey playing on the TVs over the bar. Looked like he was having a good time although I didn’t get that close, mrs. B and I opted not to pay extra for the meet & greet.
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nancy said on April 23, 2015 at 8:39 am
It was like that this morning on my way to the pool, beb. Reminded me that even shit weather has its loveliness.
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Deborah said on April 23, 2015 at 8:57 am
My Starbucks name is Debora which is pretty close. Usually in Starbucks or most any other place they write Debra. I usually say “Deborah, spelled the long way”, and they get it right.
It was cold and dreary in Chicago yesterday too, but the sun is blazing this morning. It should be a little warmer.
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Joe K said on April 23, 2015 at 9:26 am
Julie @2,
Wife and I go down every year to the flower and garden show, this year were going down late, may 13, it’s a neat thing to see, you can get lots of good ideas, the crowed this time of year aren’t to bad.
Pilot Joe
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brian stouder said on April 23, 2015 at 9:51 am
Say – ring the bell! Great Greta over at Fox News, who I fondly watched back in OJ-days on CNN, wrote a pretty pointedly exasperated article about the congressional Benghazi investigation.
http://nation.foxnews.com/2015/04/22/greta-delaying-benghazi-house-committees-report-until-2016-wrong-unfair-american-people
What will our angry uncles say, now?
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brian stouder said on April 23, 2015 at 9:53 am
(I bet they’ll say they never liked her to begin with, and wonder whether she had her boobs done when she got the facelift)
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Judybusy said on April 23, 2015 at 10:05 am
Yes, the tertomas are creepy, but wow! That surgeon’s technique was amazing, and I’m so glad it was successful. I was just thinking about the crap weather coming our way tomorrow–high of 43, rain, sleet, snow. I’m hoping work allows for a mid-day spin class. That always perks me up.
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Heather said on April 23, 2015 at 10:54 am
I was really turned off by Amy Schumer and her show in Season 1–well, the skits were funny, but she was so vulgar in her stand-up in the interstitials. But now I’m in love with her. Nothing in that skit posted is particularly a new idea but we do need to keep shouting it to the rooftops–and if you can be funny and original about it, that’s so much better.
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brian stouder said on April 23, 2015 at 11:08 am
Here’s a story Pam forwarded to me.
Mike Pence is beginning to look genuinely….odd
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/23/trinkets-web-site-part-gov-pences-unique-lobbying-effort/26204791/
The lead:
Promotional gift bags. A slick, campaign-style website. Undisclosed corporate donors. Gov. Mike Pence has employed each of those strategies in a last-ditch effort to save one of his top legislative priorities — a new $84 million “regional cities” initiative intended to boost economic development across the state.
So, what marvelous ‘gifts’ did the governor bestow upon the legislators?
(emphasis added by me) Inside were letters of support from the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and mayors of several cities. There was also a gift: a magnetic paper clip sculpture with the regional cities website written on it.
The article is simply….strange
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Suzanne said on April 23, 2015 at 11:47 am
And those magnetic paper clip men in the gov’s gift bags look like they are having a (not allowed in Indiana) good time!
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Julie Robinson said on April 23, 2015 at 11:48 am
Pence also just lost his Department of Transportation Commissioner, who resigned effective immediately. Metaphors of rats and ships come to mind.
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Andrea said on April 23, 2015 at 12:51 pm
Ok that Amy Schumer piece was brilliant. Love that Julia is going to let herself go. Thanks for the chuckle. I needed it today.
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Jakash said on April 23, 2015 at 1:22 pm
I don’t support the death penalty, regardless, but it seems to me that guys like him would PREFER to die, and that is an additional reason why he should be given a life sentence.
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Sherri said on April 23, 2015 at 2:40 pm
My Starbucks name is Suazei. Maybe I should start using that as my screen name here.
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BethB said on April 23, 2015 at 3:30 pm
My Starbucks name is Bruse. Makes no sense. FWIW–When I die, I probably will be the only person on earth who has never darkened the doors or the drive-thru of a Starbucks. I used to kid my niece that I wanted “She never went to a Starbucks” etched on my tombstone, but since I’m now donating my body to the med school, it’s a moot point.
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Kirk said on April 23, 2015 at 3:46 pm
me, too, BethB
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Sherri said on April 23, 2015 at 4:08 pm
Remember the story in the news a few weeks ago about the 8 year old feeding the crows and getting gifts from the crows in return? Her neighbors aren’t quite as charmed: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/neighbors-at-war-over-feeding-of-crows-in-portage-bay/
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BethB said on April 23, 2015 at 4:08 pm
Kirk, glad I’m not the only one; guess the tombstone would have been incorrect.
BTW, I drink one cup of coffee a day, black, and I make it at home every morning. I have been known to drive-thru McDonald’s for a Mocha Frappe on occasional late Thursday afternoons after my volunteer job–I just need a little jolt of caffeine to keep me awake for twenty-five miles!
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Jolene said on April 23, 2015 at 6:14 pm
Instead of the “never been to Starbucks claim,” I can claim, honestly, that I knew Starbucks when it was only one small store opposite the Pike Place Market. When I’ve mentioned this to younger people in years past, they respond as if I had set I traveled west in a covered wagon. A world without Starbucks is impossible to contemplate.
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MichaelG said on April 23, 2015 at 6:52 pm
That Amy Schumer thing was funny. I’ve always thought that Julia Louis-Dreyfus was very – attractive. I can match you, Jolene. I used to go to Peet’s when there was only the one store on Walnut and Vine in Berkeley. I’ve even met Alfred Peet!
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Susan Gillie said on April 23, 2015 at 7:14 pm
I’m wondering about that teratova thing? Has anyone fact checked the story?
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Sue said on April 23, 2015 at 7:23 pm
I wasn’t impressed with Amy Schumer the few times I saw her, so crude. Then in the last few months there have been several articles in the ‘OMG a humorous woman! Feminist humor that’s actually funny! AND she appeals to the male 18 – 34 demographic which is SO important’ vein. Just couldn’t get into the qualified praise, which of course is not her fault. But yesterday I decided to check out some of her stuff:
Milk Milk Lemonade – ok, funny but I’ll bet that male 18 – 34 demo isn’t watching it for its message.
Video war game – Amusing and biting and of course with a message but mostly it made me angry just because it’s so true and nothing’s changed.
Saturday Night Lights parody – Loved the coach’s pep talk at the end, brilliant way to make a point.
Fuckable – perfect. I couldn’t help thinking that Tina Fey might have been able to do stuff like this on SNL if she didn’t have to please Lorne with Mom Jeans skits.
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LAMary said on April 23, 2015 at 8:43 pm
When he was about eight years old my younger son told the barista that his name was Prometheus. That became his permanent Starbucks name.
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Deborah said on April 23, 2015 at 8:48 pm
I used to love Starbucks, but lately I’ve slowed way down on that front. I mostly make coffee (decaf) at home because I prefer mine now and I’m sick to death of the pastries they have a Starbucks. Enough is enough. When I think about how much money I’ve spent there over the years it’s depressing. I’ve seen the original Starbucks in Seattle but that was many years after it had gone global.
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Deborah said on April 23, 2015 at 9:06 pm
That crow story is too bad. We have lots of Ravens in Santa Fe and I love watching them and listening to them. We have a bird feeder for small birds there, like finches etc. The piñon jays and are too big to sit on the perches, it’s one of those cylindar type feeders with multiple short perches. We had it hanging over a flower bed originally, the birds dropped so many sunflower seeds that sunflowers took over so we moved it to a different location. My favorite bird in Northern New Mexico is the mountain blue bird, the males are positively cyan colored, just lovely http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_bluebird. We have an old lady in our neighborhood in Chicago who puts out bird seed for the birds, but at night the area where she leaves the seeds is crawling with rats. The police have asked her stop many times, she does for awhile and then she starts up again. Not a great thing to do in a city like this.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 23, 2015 at 10:02 pm
I am Grof.
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Dexter said on April 23, 2015 at 11:12 pm
I am Damon. I have been to two Starbucks and I pass the one inside the Toledo VA every time I walk in there. The first was in Columbus around 1998. It was the one near Ohio Stadium. I remember the place was about half-filled by students , all whom had their big laptops plugged into floor outlets. It was church-quiet in there. I approached the counter to order a cuppa joe, and the barista said “Shhhh! People are STUDYING in hear!” And I refrained from a hearty FUCK YOU as I heel-turned and exited rapidly.
The second , I recall fondly. I had rented a deluxe Trek bicycle and I was touring the Charleston peninsula…must have been about 1997 or so, which makes this my very first Starbucks visit. I remember that the coffee was very, very strong. I make home-brewed java every day. It’s easy, but then I don’t have to scramble off to work any more either.
And it’s the end of a personal era, as I hired a lawn care service for the summer. Grandkids never visit and I can no longer walk behind a mower , my bad hip does not allow me to. Eventually, this will get fixed; I just must be patient. I just finished local hospital therapy, now a weight loss program begins next week, then an MRI, then an injection into the joint…then who knows? Now off to bed…and off to Battle Creek at 5:00 AM. Oh joy!
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Dexter said on April 23, 2015 at 11:14 pm
Those kids were studying in here, not “in hear”. Just tired ,mis amigos y amigas.
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MichaelG said on April 24, 2015 at 12:26 am
I bought an espresso machine and make my own coffee now. It’s wonderful. My last two lawn mowers and last three weed whackers were stolen. Now I have my lawn done. With my physical situation over the last year I’m just as happy not to have to cut the thing myself. Also, I’m not getting any younger.
I am very glad to hear that you are getting the medical attention you deserve, Dexter. It’s just too bad you have to travel so far. I also hope they will declare you disabled and start sending you a check every month.
The Doc told me that it would be a four to six week healing process after my lung operation. I scoffed. No more. Ten days on and I’m still very sore and moving gingerly. They didn’t break any ribs but they slit the cartilage and spread the ribs way wide and basically fisted my chest. I could feel the huge drain line up under my sternum before it was pulled out by the resident who impressed the daylights out of me. She was an attractive blonde young woman with the beautiful name of Nalani Grace. Scary smart and very competent. She is going to be a great surgeon. Anyway, this is going to take longer than I had thought but I think it’s going to be worth it.
I feel great, no more coughing and blowing my nose, breathing is not back to my teen years but is better than it was. They tell me that they got everything (I think they tell all the girls that). If so I should be done. No more surgery, no more chemo. That would be nice to think. We’ll see. I’m not holding my breath. Cough, cough.
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brian stouder said on April 24, 2015 at 7:31 am
Superb news, MichaelG
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Jenine said on April 24, 2015 at 12:24 pm
Good to hear! Recovery from that much of an insult to the infrastructure will take a while. Here’s to clear breathing.
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northierthanthou said on April 26, 2015 at 5:36 pm
Whenever I get started writing, I just want to keep going for awhile. It becomes a problem when friends and family decide they’ve given me enough time. Very hard to get across how hard it is to build momentum.
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