I tried to post last night, but to no avail...Blogger was being beligerent and utterly uncooperative, thus my post (which was carefully written and packed with wisdom) was left unposted. Worse, it was eaten by Blogger. And then, Blogger robbed me of my memory, so I could not re-post it...because I did not remember the details. Bad, bad Blogger! Truth be told, I'm just weary. I'm weary of telling my sad tales to the ether, tired of having sad tales to tell, tired of being one who creates sad tales for people who don't deserve them.
Tonight I am in Tucson, Arizona, preparing for a meeting of the board of directors of one of my clients...a client (and whose Board) I find particularly interesting and with whom I have much in common, despite sometimes being driven to distraction by their insanity. OK, it may be partly my fault. I like them. I wish I could spend more time directing their efforts. They need direction or, at least, reigning in.
Tonight's dinner was only $1400 and change, far below my feared estimate of $2400. I am $1000 happier than I was when the wine started flowing and the menu items were selected. They pay the bills, but I have to fit them into the budget, not always an easy thing.
All of this is tangential to tonight's story. Today, I read A Man Without a Country, by Kurt Vonnegut. The book was a spontaneous purchase at the Dallas airport (almost $14...goddamn thieves). I always enjoy Vonnegut, and I'd heard a bit about it, so I bought it. Despite the price, I'm glad I bought it. I heartily recommend it if you have 45 minutes to read a book cover to cover. Vonnegut can be awfully funny and he can be awfully brilliant with his observations of the insanity of our lives. He lambasts not only the criminal bastard who currently occupies the White House, but the flock of filth that surround him. And he's not easy on the rest of us, who could if we chose correct the problem in short order. I like Vonnegut and wish I were more like him. Aside from his writing, I admire his mood, his abilty to appreciate the world and his ability to refrain from misdirecting his outrage against the political and social screwups against those he loves. I am very, very much his unsuccessful student in that regard.
I have bad news all around, but won't share it until I can post the good news that will make the bad news seem not so burdensome. Worry not, the bad news is not life-threatening, just soul-threatening...if you think I have a soul, which I would argue against.
Now, before I go to bed and awaken to participate in an all-day Board meeting, I will view the blogs of my blog brethren (et al) to see if anything awakens me.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Bloggery, Boredom, Banality, and Biden
The morning: brief bloggery, washing dishes, blogging off and on, and worrying about client demands and my lack of focus on them.
The afternoon: lunch with my wife at a Mexican restaurant close to the office, a bit of work at the office on meeting client expectations, a 35 minute "quick" car wash that's still not complete (but I'm not $16.95 poorer, thanks to the wait), and a quick visit to a grocery store, Indian soup experimentation (and moments of delight attached thereto).
The evening so far: A quick trip with my wife to the bank to make a business deposit, a decision to buy fast-food hamburgers at Sonic instead of eating my wonderful soup (my wife's call...must be her mood), washing sweaters and long-sleeve knit casual shirts, and vain attempts to find something of interest on television so I can vegetate and be entertained. All that excitement has led to this post, an exercise in boredom. Actually, I'm just fatigued, I think, from the extra client work lately. My wife has been working 7 days a week, more hours than I put in...she is the only one with a good excuse for fatigue.
Speaking of boredom: I heard a snippet of something on NPR about boredom as I was in my car today. Something about Chairman of the Bored, I think. What banality.
Oh, Biden's comments are getting coverage. Frankly, I think they were taken out of context and were probably harmless, but we better hold our politicians to a higher standard if we want to hold on to any semblance of power and have the capacity to make change happen.
It's utterly shameless to support Biden's stupid lapse if we would not support a similar screw-up by a Republican. As much as I loathe Glen Beck on CNN, I did hear him comment on the matter and, gulp, agree with his position vis-a-vis stones and glass houses. But I suspect he changes his position to suit circumstances... Democrats and other liberals and centrists cannot afford such a luxury. We have to be steadfast, or we'll lose the hearts and minds of the masses, not to mention our own sense of morality.
The afternoon: lunch with my wife at a Mexican restaurant close to the office, a bit of work at the office on meeting client expectations, a 35 minute "quick" car wash that's still not complete (but I'm not $16.95 poorer, thanks to the wait), and a quick visit to a grocery store, Indian soup experimentation (and moments of delight attached thereto).
The evening so far: A quick trip with my wife to the bank to make a business deposit, a decision to buy fast-food hamburgers at Sonic instead of eating my wonderful soup (my wife's call...must be her mood), washing sweaters and long-sleeve knit casual shirts, and vain attempts to find something of interest on television so I can vegetate and be entertained. All that excitement has led to this post, an exercise in boredom. Actually, I'm just fatigued, I think, from the extra client work lately. My wife has been working 7 days a week, more hours than I put in...she is the only one with a good excuse for fatigue.
Speaking of boredom: I heard a snippet of something on NPR about boredom as I was in my car today. Something about Chairman of the Bored, I think. What banality.
Oh, Biden's comments are getting coverage. Frankly, I think they were taken out of context and were probably harmless, but we better hold our politicians to a higher standard if we want to hold on to any semblance of power and have the capacity to make change happen.
It's utterly shameless to support Biden's stupid lapse if we would not support a similar screw-up by a Republican. As much as I loathe Glen Beck on CNN, I did hear him comment on the matter and, gulp, agree with his position vis-a-vis stones and glass houses. But I suspect he changes his position to suit circumstances... Democrats and other liberals and centrists cannot afford such a luxury. We have to be steadfast, or we'll lose the hearts and minds of the masses, not to mention our own sense of morality.
Night Out
Before I begin, let me do my part in a web experiment. This is truth
Last night, we went to a play, Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones, about a young theoretical astrophysicist who returns home to his bee-keeping father's funeral to find that his obnoxious and domineering mother has been having an affair with another man. He struggles to cope with his relationship with his mother and her lover and with his own history of running away from things he could not control. Ultimately, what emerges in the midst of this chaos is a touching rebirth of long-lost familial ties. The first act was, to me, almost unbearably slow-paced and too long at 1 hour 25 minutes. The second act was a much faster-paced experience and much more engaging. It was worth seeing, but I'm looking forward to the next offering of the season, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
We had been invited to a wine reception at the theater before the play. Because both my wife and I worked most of the day Saturday, we did not have time to eat dinner beforehand. Consequently, by the time the overly-long play was over at 10:50 pm, we were famished. We walked to our old stand-by sushi spot about 5 minutes away, hoping they would still be open. Fortunately, they were (until 11:30), so we dashed in and put in an order for 2 pieces of toro tuna, 2 pieces of unagi, and a 'volcano roll,' a wonderful dish with crunchy sushi rolls (rice filled with crisp veggies) topped with a spicy scallops and crawfish sauce. Altogether, it really wasn't much food for the two of us, but it hit the spot. I ordered a cold sake, too, just because I could. All told, the bill came to $48 with tip, a rather outlandish amount but, since we do it so rarely, worth the money to cap off the evening.
As we sat at the bar eating, we couldn't help overhearing two young women, dressed in their finest let's go hunting yuppie men cleavage-revealing clothes, seated next to us at the bar talking about their lives. We tried not to listen, but frequently I heard comments about bad boyfriends and losing jobs and moving to new cities, etc., etc.
When one of them left to go to the women's room, the other engaged us in conversation. She said she had recently lost her high-paying PR job, which she had held for eight years, with a country club management organization and was considering her options. She is single, has no ties to the Dallas area except friends, and is ready to settle down and have children. But, she said, "I haven't met the right guy yet. I've met the wrong guy twice right here at this bar. Two relationships with the wrong guy started right here."
Tonight, she said, she was beginning the procss of deciding whether to find a job in Dallas, move to New York, or move to Austin. She felt confident she could find a high-paying job anywhere she went. We talked a bit about her options and told her how much we had enjoyed living in downtown Chicago...and how nice it would be to live in New York, if the money was sufficient.
She explained that she lived in a loft apartment nearby and loved the area...she and her friends could go bar-hopping without worrying about driving home. In fact, she said, when they left the sushi place, they were going to Avanti for martinis and then to another place for more drinks and night-life, all within a very small radias of this very spot! It was girl's night out, she explained, and they were going to have a good time. "Would you all like to come with us? We're going to Avanti next, and even though you aren't a girl," she said looking at me, "you can come, too, if you don't mind us giggling."
I thanked her for the invitation, but explained that I had to drive and we would have to decline. Her friend finally returned (about 10-15 minutes later) and they left, wishing us a wonderful night. After they left, I wondered aloud whether she thought a third chance meeting in a bar might be a charm in her search for a husband.
Last night, we went to a play, Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones, about a young theoretical astrophysicist who returns home to his bee-keeping father's funeral to find that his obnoxious and domineering mother has been having an affair with another man. He struggles to cope with his relationship with his mother and her lover and with his own history of running away from things he could not control. Ultimately, what emerges in the midst of this chaos is a touching rebirth of long-lost familial ties. The first act was, to me, almost unbearably slow-paced and too long at 1 hour 25 minutes. The second act was a much faster-paced experience and much more engaging. It was worth seeing, but I'm looking forward to the next offering of the season, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
We had been invited to a wine reception at the theater before the play. Because both my wife and I worked most of the day Saturday, we did not have time to eat dinner beforehand. Consequently, by the time the overly-long play was over at 10:50 pm, we were famished. We walked to our old stand-by sushi spot about 5 minutes away, hoping they would still be open. Fortunately, they were (until 11:30), so we dashed in and put in an order for 2 pieces of toro tuna, 2 pieces of unagi, and a 'volcano roll,' a wonderful dish with crunchy sushi rolls (rice filled with crisp veggies) topped with a spicy scallops and crawfish sauce. Altogether, it really wasn't much food for the two of us, but it hit the spot. I ordered a cold sake, too, just because I could. All told, the bill came to $48 with tip, a rather outlandish amount but, since we do it so rarely, worth the money to cap off the evening.
As we sat at the bar eating, we couldn't help overhearing two young women, dressed in their finest let's go hunting yuppie men cleavage-revealing clothes, seated next to us at the bar talking about their lives. We tried not to listen, but frequently I heard comments about bad boyfriends and losing jobs and moving to new cities, etc., etc.
When one of them left to go to the women's room, the other engaged us in conversation. She said she had recently lost her high-paying PR job, which she had held for eight years, with a country club management organization and was considering her options. She is single, has no ties to the Dallas area except friends, and is ready to settle down and have children. But, she said, "I haven't met the right guy yet. I've met the wrong guy twice right here at this bar. Two relationships with the wrong guy started right here."
Tonight, she said, she was beginning the procss of deciding whether to find a job in Dallas, move to New York, or move to Austin. She felt confident she could find a high-paying job anywhere she went. We talked a bit about her options and told her how much we had enjoyed living in downtown Chicago...and how nice it would be to live in New York, if the money was sufficient.
She explained that she lived in a loft apartment nearby and loved the area...she and her friends could go bar-hopping without worrying about driving home. In fact, she said, when they left the sushi place, they were going to Avanti for martinis and then to another place for more drinks and night-life, all within a very small radias of this very spot! It was girl's night out, she explained, and they were going to have a good time. "Would you all like to come with us? We're going to Avanti next, and even though you aren't a girl," she said looking at me, "you can come, too, if you don't mind us giggling."
I thanked her for the invitation, but explained that I had to drive and we would have to decline. Her friend finally returned (about 10-15 minutes later) and they left, wishing us a wonderful night. After they left, I wondered aloud whether she thought a third chance meeting in a bar might be a charm in her search for a husband.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
ClientRanting
An unexpected dinner with clients last night started my weekend off on a less-than-happy note. I was not expecting this group of 14 women to want me to make dinner arrangements for them, nor was I expecting to go out with them. But they seemed to think I should have known that it was my role to have anticipated their expectations and to have met them. This is a relatively new client, so I'm still learning. So, thanks to my wife, who co-owns our business, we got early reservations on a Friday night at a high-traffic restaurant.
The last two times I've met with the board of directors, there was no such expectation. In fact, I think we were both perfectly happy to go our own ways during non-business hours. This is a group of people who take their jobs far too seriously. At least a few of them are hyper-religious...cross-wearing, gospel-spouting, holier-than-though people with whom I share only one thing: we belong to the same species.
I tend toward being fundamentally offensive to fundamentalists of their ilk, so I assumed they'd be much happier on their own, doing what they're perpetually going on about...shopping. I have always believed it was unfair to stereotype women as addicted to shopping...I know it is unfair. But these women give the stereotype the shred of support that lets it linger. Their harping on handbags could drive me to drink.
The fact that they selected a date for their board meeting that I had not cleared for them was a bit of an upset, too. My wife and I have season tickets to a small theater nearby and this group's meeting and dinner conflicted with our tickets. Fortunately for us, we were invited by someone else to go to the same play tonight, instead, so we will. But after a long day dealing with them, I'll not be in much of a mood for a play. I'll get over it.
Tomorrow morning, I will relish a few cups of dark, strong, hot coffee and perhaps I will blog about something less mundane than my worklife and far more meaningful to the blogosphere. At least I hope so. And, of course, I will read lots of MSM and blogs and will sort through the allegations and assertions and select those I find most believable. And from there, my day will move on.
The last two times I've met with the board of directors, there was no such expectation. In fact, I think we were both perfectly happy to go our own ways during non-business hours. This is a group of people who take their jobs far too seriously. At least a few of them are hyper-religious...cross-wearing, gospel-spouting, holier-than-though people with whom I share only one thing: we belong to the same species.
I tend toward being fundamentally offensive to fundamentalists of their ilk, so I assumed they'd be much happier on their own, doing what they're perpetually going on about...shopping. I have always believed it was unfair to stereotype women as addicted to shopping...I know it is unfair. But these women give the stereotype the shred of support that lets it linger. Their harping on handbags could drive me to drink.
The fact that they selected a date for their board meeting that I had not cleared for them was a bit of an upset, too. My wife and I have season tickets to a small theater nearby and this group's meeting and dinner conflicted with our tickets. Fortunately for us, we were invited by someone else to go to the same play tonight, instead, so we will. But after a long day dealing with them, I'll not be in much of a mood for a play. I'll get over it.
Tomorrow morning, I will relish a few cups of dark, strong, hot coffee and perhaps I will blog about something less mundane than my worklife and far more meaningful to the blogosphere. At least I hope so. And, of course, I will read lots of MSM and blogs and will sort through the allegations and assertions and select those I find most believable. And from there, my day will move on.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
A Lesson from Molly
On a typical weekday, I do not blog in the mornings...I reserve that for weekends when I have more time in the morning. But today, when I learned of Molly Ivins' death, I just wanted to post a note, an acknowledgement that her passing deserved at least a moment of my time to express my sadness at her loss. If I had been able to ignore the call of clients and the obligations I had accepted at work, I would have written about her for hours. I would have expressed my sense of appreciation and loss more eloquently than just the few words I used. But, I knew that many, many people who knew or at least appreciated Molly Ivins would share their thoughts with the world. I was right. There is so much about her in the mainstream media and in the blogosphere that it's hard not to read about her impact on politics and populist expression during her 40 year career.
I appreciate that Bev at Burning Silo acknowledged my posting and added some very good links about Molly. As I read comments about Molly this evening, I came across an interesting remembrance by Jim Hightower. The more I explored his blog, the more interesting it got. As I read his blog, I learned about the Center for Responsive Politics, whose website I visited and where I learned that Amway Corporation has made $7,652,216 in contributions in the election cycles from 1990 until 2006, with 100% of the contributions going to Republicans. But I learned, too, that the biggest donor, by far, was the $38,009,064 give by the American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees, 98% of which was given to Democrats. It surprised me to learn from the website that, of the top ten contributors during the same time period, eight leaned Democrat and two were 'fence sitters.'
I've said before and I'll say again: I am not a Democrat, but I'm far closer to being a Democrat than to being a Republican. The candidate-purchases, or the attempts at candidate purchases, reflected by the massive political contributions reported on the Center for Responsive Politics site reinforces my distrust of, my distaste for, politicians.
Molly's skepticism helped me get over the idea that one should support one party over another. Like Molly, I support ideas and principles, not parties. I think both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party should get the message that many, many of us are of that mind...and one day, progressive independents will come out of woodwork and take this country back for those of us who value the principles upon which this nation was founded.
I appreciate that Bev at Burning Silo acknowledged my posting and added some very good links about Molly. As I read comments about Molly this evening, I came across an interesting remembrance by Jim Hightower. The more I explored his blog, the more interesting it got. As I read his blog, I learned about the Center for Responsive Politics, whose website I visited and where I learned that Amway Corporation has made $7,652,216 in contributions in the election cycles from 1990 until 2006, with 100% of the contributions going to Republicans. But I learned, too, that the biggest donor, by far, was the $38,009,064 give by the American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees, 98% of which was given to Democrats. It surprised me to learn from the website that, of the top ten contributors during the same time period, eight leaned Democrat and two were 'fence sitters.'
I've said before and I'll say again: I am not a Democrat, but I'm far closer to being a Democrat than to being a Republican. The candidate-purchases, or the attempts at candidate purchases, reflected by the massive political contributions reported on the Center for Responsive Politics site reinforces my distrust of, my distaste for, politicians.
Molly's skepticism helped me get over the idea that one should support one party over another. Like Molly, I support ideas and principles, not parties. I think both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party should get the message that many, many of us are of that mind...and one day, progressive independents will come out of woodwork and take this country back for those of us who value the principles upon which this nation was founded.
Molly Ivins
Someone asked me recently about my heros. I don't really have any. But Molly Ivins comes about as close as anyone to being a hero, in my eyes. She died of breast cancer on January 31, 2007. What an enormous loss to intelligent debate and no-holds-barred reporting. She will be sorely missed.