Slapinions

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Lost: The Economist Season 4, episode 3

LOST SPOILER ALERT . . . . . . . .

I enjoyed tonight's episode but it didn't grab me by the throat like 'Confirmed Dead'. Still, a lot of questions answered, and naturally, a lot more questions created.

We now know Sayid is one of the Oceanic Six, joining Jack, Hurley, and Kate (whose status seems to have been confirmed in the previews for episode 4; there had been some question about how she could be part of the official 6 [and free] since she was a fugitive).

Of course, unlike the rest Sayid is now a hitman ('headhunter' indeed) and I have to say the opening scene where he kills Mr. Avellino on the golf course was a genuine shock to me.

For a man whose life seems to be one long attempt to reconcile his violent lifestyle with his loving nature he's sure doing a shit job of it, even after being rescued from the island.

He soon sets up house in Berlin with Elsa, a hot young woman who's employed by a mysterious 'Economist'.

At random but infrequent times she will be paged by her boss and go to meet him. Sayid attaches himself to her romantically in anticipation of finding this Economist and (presumably) killing him.

In the end it turns out Elsa was herself a mole, assigned to draw out Sayid's employer. Despite wounding him Sayid manages to kill her, then sheds genuine tears for her death. Memories of Shannon's death? Perhaps.

Again, if the contradictions in his heart are so great, do something about it man.

Let me choose this time to throw out a prediction: the mysterious 'economist', this character worthy of the episode title and enemy of Sayid, is Locke. Go wikipedia the historical John Locke and note his work in the field of economics. In my mind, it's a disappointingly shallow nome de plume.

Back on the island we have limited action overall (the focus of the episode is clearly off-island) but a whole lot is revealed in small doses.

Dan, the physicist who commented on the odd way the light scattered on the island, runs an experiment that smacks of Einstein the dog's trip in Back to the Future. Like that trip, this one is meant soley to introduce an important concept to the viewer: the time difference between the arrival of the 'package' and the movement of time on the island is 31 minutes.

I'm thinking light-movement-time distortion equals something related to the time travel created by traveling near the speed of light. Time moves normally for folks on the ground, but for you in the craft only a moment flies by. Tie that in with Dan's insistence that the pilot stick to the EXACT bearing, and that bearing only . . How this all fits into the island . . ya got me sister.

Re: Locke's little group.

Jacob seems to have abandoned Locke, leaving him to his own quarrelsome devices. Hurley sure played his role as Judas to a T, and as a result we did learn a few things:

* Sawyer doesn't want to leave the island, and he is serious about making a life with Kate. I don't think Jack is consciously pushing her to Sawyer, but his pragmatic observations (i.e. Locke won't kill her because Sawyer won't let him) are helping thejobalong.

* Ben has routinely left the island, as evidenced by his many passports. Hence, the photo in the last episode is explained.

Confession: I really wasn't too surprised that Ben was Sayid's mysterious employer. All that talk about 'lists' gave it away. But who are the folks on the hit list? They are aware of their guilt/presumed guilt, if the look of fear on Mr. Avellino's face is any indication.

Who's the mysterious RG on Naomi's bracelet? And why is Elsa wearing a similar band? Did Sayid take it from the corpse and give it to Elsa?

Why do the boat people have Penny's photo?

And I'm sure it's just slipped my mind, but what happened to all the other 'Others'?

Ok, 5 more episodes left in the pre-writer's strike queue, and I've heard 5 more if they can get the cast and crew together in time to salvage some more of this season.

What's your take on the episode?

Not on AOL/AIM? Comment Here View Non-AOL Comments

Tags: Lost, Sayid

Hey, Pictures are working again!

Ok, after a quick request to the journals editor, my pictures can now be uploaded. They said there was no problem to begin with, but maybe they just released some of that 'magic smoke' without realizing it.

Not the Valentines graphic I had planned btw, but I'm nowhere near that file.

Here's the pics of the girls from this morning. A little darker than I hoped, but beggars can't be choosers given the difficulty loading them today.

Hey - in that top pic, the one with the straight arms - is YaYa flipping the camera the bird? Naw, but it sure looks like it doesn't it?

The kids got small bathsets and a dress up animal face as gifts (Smiley got a Spiderman set with a bath toy that looks just like an electric razor). Lu made Lisa a card at the library yesterday, making a really articulated flower out of glitter glue (and mushing it to nothingness on the way home) while YaYa made her one at her Brownie meeting.

Meanwhile the Mrs. and I aren't doing anything for Valentines this year, not even exchanging cards. The anniversary of our first date is Feb 22nd and we usually make a big deal out of that, so Valentines plays second fiddle even in the best of years. This year, with full schedules, no money, and the pair of us exhausted, we'll save our energy for that day.

Hope everyone has a happy holiday!

* * *

One bit of crud news today. AT&T, who I haven't had as a phone provider in a year or more, called me AT WORK to ask for a past due $103 amount. I've never even seen a bill as it's probably still going to my old address; really, at first I thought we were discussing a balance for the business. I never imagined I still owed those bums anything.

I said to fax me a copy of the bill and that I'd pay it out of my tax return. She abruptly upped the ante and said that her 'next option' was garnishment. This is a blow by blow accurate transcription of what came next.

"Ooo, well I'm sure that ONE CHECK garnishment period will really hurt," I said, annoyed at how quickly she'd resorted to threats. What the heck? Am I 18 years old and unaware of how ridiculous and non-cost effective the pursuit of a lousy $100 would be? C'mon!

"Well, it will affect your credit rating. You'll never qualify for a car, or a house. .. " she said.

I cut her off. "I already own a home," I said.

"Hmm. Well, I guess that's all people like you ever aspire to," she said. WTF?

At this point, at work but dangerously close to exploding, I called her [redacted] and hung up on her.

She was way out of line, but I think my ending salvo would fail to sway many sympathies with the powers that be. I'll pay the dang bill (provided I ever SEE one) but man . . I'm glad I'm no longer with those buggers.

UPDATE: The pics are WAY darker than they should appear. I'll try to find time to tweak them later. ..Done!

Not on AOL/AIM? Comment Here View Non AOL Comments

Tags: AT&T, Valentines Day

Morecambe and Wise

Back in the day good ol' Joe at Magic Smoke would hear your cry for help in J-Land - such as the one that accompanied my tears as AOL still refuses to upload pics, despite trying three different computers and three different files - and come to the rescue.

Alas, no more.

So instead we will temporarily forget about the cool Valentines graphics and the neat shot of my girls all dolled up this morning, put aside the few serious text-heavy posts I have in the wings, and break character a bit.

I present to you a Morecambe and Wise skit called 'The Breakfast Skit' that Jeannette over at Make 'em Laugh put on her blog the other day.

I'd never heard of the duo, and the fact that they're British is no excuse, as the local public television stations are in love with the BBC to an embarrassing degree and inundate us with all kinds of Brit programming, good, bad, and average.

Jeannette, at my request, filled me in on some details. As the email contains nothing personal I'm going to reprint it here:

Morecambe and Wise were legendary over here. They had a weekly t.v. show where they did all sorts of sketches and skits. They pulled in audiences of over twenty million a week which for a small place like the U.K. was phenomenal.

Their yearly Christmas special was a must see for everyone and pulled in around 40 million viewers. Some of the biggest of our stars guested one their shows, they did a classic sketch with Andre Previn and send up of Singing in the Rain, Nothing like a dame all sorts. Each week there was a small play what Ernie wrote. That is what he used to say, we would like you to appear in a play that I wrote. The play was always silly and was written to show of Eric’s comedy.

Eric was the tall one and he was the comic. Ernie was the little one- as Eric used to say the “one with the short fat hairy legs” although Ernie could be a comic in his own right. They also had a standing joke about Ernie wearing a toupee although he had his own hair. You would have to see a few of their shows to really appreciate them.

The stripper that you saw was one of their classics. They rehearsed it for several hours but then did it in one take, some doing.

Eric had a coupe of heart attacks but could not give up the business. Another heart attack killed him at the age of 58. Ernie was heartbroken. They had started their double act as teenagers. Naturally he could not go on alone so he spent his remaining years appearing on talk shows and on panel games etc.

They are very much missed over here.

I am so glad that you enjoyed that sketch. I think some types of humor appeal all over the world and you do not have to be British to enjoy it.

Thank you for asking about them.

Jeannette

Naw, thanks for introducing us to them. If this skit is any indication, they're well worth a further look.

Tags: Morecambe and Wise

How I spent my day - exciting aint it?

A very odd day off Wednesday as I spent a good chunk of the morning in court, where my Mom and her brother are opposing each other over my Grandmother's estate and possession of my childhood home.

It's a pretty simple yet complicated situation, and for obvious reasons I'll skip the details here. One statement in particular stuck with me though.

The judge admonished them both saying he was reluctant to bring the weight of the law into what was start to finish a family matter.

"If and when I render a judgement I guarantee I'll go home that night, sleep peacefully, and forget about it. I'll never think of it again. The two of you, on the other hand, will have to think about that judgement for the rest of your lives. You'll be brother and sister long after this court proceeding is over." He then went on to urge a private resolution to the issue, although he put plans in place to hedge his bets.

Anyhow, just one additional piece of advice, this time direct from me: if you enter a federal courthouse, do not pass through a metal detector with 3 inch nails casually stuffed in your pocket from a leftover home fix-it.

The guards tend to frown on that.

* * * *

Later this evening, on the phone with my Mom:

Me: I don't care what you do, but just make sure if you wind up with the house you take steps to get everything straight before I have to go through this with [my sisters]

Mom: Oh, I know!. The girls keep saying the same thing to me all the time.

Me: [amused]Yeah, I can hear them now: 'Get Danny out of the will now, we're the ones that love you! Get him out!' Am I right?

Mom: [amused silence, then an awkward intake of breath through her teeth, followed by her standard send-off] . . well, I'm gonna let you go . .

Me: [laughing] well, allrighty then.. ..

* * *

After court I stopped at a thrift store and got the Baby a great pair of Barbie Island Princess sneakers, in a suitable size for summer, for only 75 CENTS!

I also found a MatchBox Fire Engine backpack for Smiley for $1.50, but I didn't have enough cash, so I had to run to an ATM and double back for it.

** I have pics of the items, but right now AOL is saying it can't upload. Whatever. Fear not, gentle reader, I shall post them later! *

** 9:15 a.m - still not working, and on a different comp, different file. Thanks AOL!* * *

* * * *

Another Obama ad just ran across the TV in the living room. The guy makes so many guarantees I wouldn't be surprised if he ran a spot promising to help me lose weight and tone my quads while virtually eliminating freezer burn.

Honest and true: even if we were the same party, I'd laugh him off as a shyster. How did this guy back Hilary into a corner?

My Lord, the things these eyes have seen in only a third of a century.

But the good news/bad news (you choose) is that his recent dominance has culled from my subconsious a long recognized/never articulated reasoning behind my abandonment of the Democratic Party 16 years ago.

I reckon it's worth a post, but that'll be another day.

Not on AOL? Comment Here View Non-AOL Comments

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Just for the folks who know me offline - My Birthday List

I've always been a big proponent of making Christmas/Birthday wish lists - I once joked I wished they'd let me have a birthday registry at the bookstore - but in recent years I must admit I'm starting to find it obnoxious.

Not that that'll stop me from doing it ;)

At any rate, more as a personal 'wish list' to myself than any actual Birthday list:

DVD's -

Family Guy's Blue Harvest (just the single disc edition. I've never watched a director's commentary and I'm not about to start with a cartoon's)

Nirvana Unplugged - kinda po'd about this one. I turned down a chance to watch it because I was sure it was under the Christmas tree - nope. Worse yet, I'm told that someone 'guaranteed' they'd 'already' bought it for me back then, stopping other would be buyers in their tracks.

CD's

Into the Wild Soundtrack - Eddie Vedder

Rear View Mirror - Pearl Jam

there's more CD's I want to own, just to basically recreate a portion of my once impressive college-era collection, but I'll do that at thrift shops.

Books:

None really. 501 Must Read Books, in the bargain bin at Walden's, strikes my fancy.

Clothes

A new belt and another pair of slippers would rock

Never Gonna Happen

Zune MP3 player

Electric guitar with amp

Betcha never thought of this

I could use a carrying case in my car for all my cassettes

LuLu's First Speaking Role in Church

Today LuLu had a speaking role at her school's Mass, saying 'let us pray to the Lord' after the petitions.

This is a big deal for a K4 kid.

Because of other obligations - I worked, Lis had a photo appointment for Baby, etc - no one was able to attend.

I am sure this will come back at us in 20 years when she screams "You always loved YaYa better!" but I guarantee you this much: we never made such a big deal about YaYa's debut, photographing her and telling her how proud we are.

Heck, I even took a short video of her tonight, 'round bedtime.

[Please note that the high pitched girly voice you hear is not Lisa, it's me. It is no wonder folks embarrass themselves on American Idol, because what I hear when I speak is COMPLETELY different than the reality.

Let me tell ya, it's always made me want to cry. Dang my maternal Grandfather and his high voice genes!]

Tags: LuLu

A Short Quote from 9/11

I find it unsettling that Bookreporter.com, one of my favorite book related sites, chose the following quote as their daily inspiration as the morning of September 11th, 2001 dawned:

September 11th
Tomorrow's life is too late. Live today.
— Martial, Epigrams

Tags: martial, 9/11

Monday, February 11, 2008

Please excuse the technical problems w/ the last post

Somethings very goofy, no doubt because of the size and quantity of pics, but the last post is very hard to read.

If however, you open it via 'permalink' on the bottom of the entry and view it as a stand alone page, it's ok.

I'll try to work on fixing it when I'm not exhausted.

Dan

UPDATE: Well, exhausted or not, I fixed it (one pic was too wide). Now if only my wife had stopped and bought chocolate chip cookies like I asked, then, THEN I'd say this was a moment of triumph. :)

Instead, I think I'll go read some Stephen King.

The Ash Wednesday Blizzard of 2008

Folks in Wisconsin don't get very rattled by winter. Sure, the news stations scratch and claw to see who can provide the most weather reports and the best fear-inspiring storm graphics, but I think to Wisconsinites that's just a form of entertainment, like professional wrestling: no one here takes it seriously, but its fun to watch.

So the blizzard that hit last Wednesday didn't induce panic in the streets, but it sure packed enough oomph to make us pause.

Predictions going into Ash Wednesday were awful, with phrases like 'whiteout conditions', 'icy roads' and '17-20 inches of snow' batted about.

School was cancelled throughtout the city and anybody with common sense stayed home.

Naturally, that didn't include me, since I had to go to work at noon. I really, really, didn't want to leave the house but felt obligated A) because I'm the boss, and I couldn't expect other folks to show up if I wouldn't and B) I had an early afternoon meeting with a lawyer to oversee a deposition.

As you can imagine, once I got to work the lawyers cancelled and my second shift called in.

Not that I blame anyone; it was really turning into a whopper of a storm. This next pic hardly looks as if threatening weather was upon us, but trust me, it was just the eye of the storm.

Pretty, isn't it? I thought so when I stopped the car to take the shot. But these next few are far more typical of the day:

Keep in mind each one of the preceding shots was taken before 2 p.m - the blizzard would continue until well into late evening, tapering off in prime-time.

In the middle of this

no-visibility

ice-under-snow-covered roads

drifting and blowing snow

bitter strong wind

heavy wet snowfall

my wife called me and said she was going to take advantage of the snow day to pack up the kids and take them to Target to buy a pair of jeans for YaYa..

What???? Evidently she'd fallen into the comfortable 0pattern of discounting the weather predictions by 75%, which frankly is usually a safe bet. One look outside quickly discouraged her.

But about half an hour after hanging up jsonline.com broke a news story of a fatal van crash less than mile from our home, on a street we take often. Of course, it wasn't my family (thank God!) but for a moment there . .

Now one of the unique aspects of my business is that, much like funeral homes, we tend to benefit from other people's suffering. Big storms bring in big bucks, and Ash Wednesday was no exception. (we also tend to do well in great weather; it's the in-between where you have to fight and scrap for every dollar; go figure)

So, thrust temporarilly into the same job I held 9 years ago, and working alonside a brave replacement for my absent employee, we busted our humps throughout the long grueling evening.

The airport closed; more business. The local restaurants closed; more clients. By seven this was the situation: the city was shut down. No one was coming in, no one was going out, and no one was going to have any opportunity to eat, drink or be merry.

[Well, not quite true. We had a solid stock of alcohol, but it sold out quick]

During a lull I went to take some more pictures before darkness descended. Here's the depth ofthe snow as of, oh, 3:00 or 3:30. The numbers on the ruler are purely for decoration and don't dentote the actual depth - it's a foot long, minus whatchya see.

Note the ruler in my footprint.

As you know by now, this was a religious holiday, and one of some importance both to myself and my staff. With masses cancelled it was the first year in quite a long time where I didn't have the glory of having some descendant of the Reformation giggle and tell me I had dirt on my forehead.

More imporantly, we had to abstain from meat, and we had no fish on the premises. Thus we bravely sent out a young gentleman into the peak of the storm, to return shaken but not stirred, fish fry's in hand.

Suprisingly the ride home wasn't too bad, as I have the fortune of being able to take two major throughofares (sp?) to within blocks of my house. It was near my home that the fun began.

I ignored my wife's telephone warning and attempted to drive into our alley. I got no further than the entrance before I was hung up on drifts three or four feet deep. Once I got help and pushed my way free I parked blocks away in the only halfway decent spot, and walked home.

The alley was miserable, with snow drifts going up to my hips. And then, horror . .

The picture doesn't do it justice. The drift was three or four feet high and covered the majority of the 400 square foot parking slab we'd put in last year. Add to that the fact that if wehad any chance of escaping in the morning, I had to dig out a good chunk of the approach in the alley.

This was heavy, wet snow, a pure pain to move. Best of all? My snowblower was buried under a drift and I couldn't get it out without digging a path to the shed. So it was back to a good ol' fashioned snowshovel, yessir.

Suprisingly it went quickly. This didn't take finesse, it took brute strength, and of that I have plenty to spare. Still, thanks to Lisa the front had been shoveled once early in the day and a gracious neighbor had snowblowed the rest of the buildup, sparing me that chore.

We still were unable to get the van out the next day and Lisa wrote a very angry but articulate email to the Alderman complaining of Milwaukee's longstanding policy to leave alleys untouched (but under penalty of fines require homeowners to shovel out the garbage cans for city crews). The alderman not only wrote back but called me, gave me his cellphone number, and then called and left a message that was so long and chatty my machine cut out.

Huh. Guess it's an election year.

The next day I had to dig some cars out at work, and boy did my muscles feel it. By then the snow had melted just enough to give it some extra weight, making it just that much harder to clear out.

Oh, one cool thing: on the way home from work one dayI stopped and took photos of the biggest snowman I'd ever seen. Keep in mind this was taken a few days after the snowfall and it had already partially melted and shrunk. Note the pedestrians relative size to the snowman.

The total snowfall?17 or 18" I believe, with drifts of much deeper depth. Other areas of Southeastern Wisconsin got hit much harder. That snowfall put us over the five foot mark for the year; last year at this time we had experienced just over TWO feet.

Tonight's forecast, following two days of temperatures of -5 F and windchill temps of negative 35F?

Three to seven more inches of snow.

Tags: Ash Wednesday, Blizzard, Milwaukee

New Graphics for the Site

For quite awhile now I've hated the picture in the 'about me' section. I rarely wear T-shirts anymore and haven't for years, my hair is (sadly) thinner, and I have never stood in front of the Art Museum in a dorky thumbs-up pose.

It was great for '05, but not '08. Plus the pics of the kids desperately needed updating.

So here's the new version, again created by Oftencold during a rare day-off up in the wilds of Alaska.

Note that while he did all the hard work, I did tone down the text just a smidge. The rest of it still applies - if your boy toy is a publishing maven, by all means send him a link.

Of course there were previous versions too. In retrospect I kind of like the text at the end of this one . . hmmm. .

This next one was yanked because it included my full name, and the pic had inspired someone to ask what accident caused the scar on my forehead. In fact, it was nothing more than a crease on the scanned photo. Frankly, I can't even see it now, but that might be because of the resolution. Plus, in retrospect, newborn Parker looks like a shrunken head that I propped up on a pillow.

The creator of the graphics vetoed this next one because he didn't think that City Hall was recongizable enough behind me in the pic. I suppose the Art Museum is slightly better known, but not by much.

Plus I'm trying to alter what I call the 'masthead' above every post. Here's an early attempt:

Note the nesting dolls representing the family. Remember, it's still just a draft. I was kind of thinking of having different mastheads for each subject - family, politics, sports, local, general, etc.

What comes to mind is the YaYa nose-picking pic on the current masthead, now front and center on the Family version . . . again, I guess we'll wait and see.

Tags: oftencold

What's your take on this?

Over the weekend I received news from YaYa's Godfather that his Grandmother had passed away.

The viewing was held today at a local church and I took YaYa out of school for an hour to attend.

My rationale for taking her was simple: I thought it was an appropriate show of respect for her Godfather and a good way for her to cement his importance in her life. He lost his mother a few years ago and I imagine that made the loss of his grandmother even more difficult to handle. He attended the funeral of my own Grandma in 2006 and I had met the woman, if only briefly. I felt it right to make YaYa attend.

[by the way: as his mother was the first of our parents to pass, it was horrible harbinger of things to come for everyone in my generation; it signaled that a new day had arrived for us all]

At the showing she was not 'bad' per se. She was quiet and more or less respectful. But she acted very shy, hiding behind me at times and offering her condolences only when strongly prompted, and even then with a dopey grin on her face. She prayed by the casket with me but claimed to have forgotten the words to "Hail Mary", which is a bold-faced fib. Her hug was more of a headbutt. And she seemed to take far too much pleasure in being the demure, shy little girl at the party.

None of this, on the face of the retelling, seems worthy of my anger. I know I'm coming off as over the top when I say that on our ride back to school I ignored perhaps six apologies and didn't speak to her at all.

But you know what? Every parent wants other people to see their kid for who they are, and YaYa's a very social, very courteous (when she wants to be), and very refined kid.

Yet every time - and I mean EVERY time - she's near her Godfather she turns into this shy, goofy stranger. Every. Single. Time.

The guy has no kids of his own, so I can only imagine what he says when I'm not in hearing distance. You can't say 'wait til you have kids of your own' to someone who doesn't have one; they might nod agreement but in their heads they're thinking their kid will be better, more polite, more social.

I did it. You did it. Every future parent thinks it.

His Dad was cool about her behavior.When she bumped into an easel of pictures he was quick to her defense. "That's ok. If you drop it we'll just pick it up. No big deal."

So some folks will say she was too young to attend, and in my defense she's been to a few before and certainly has attended fewer than I did as a child.

So what do you think? Was she too young? Does she feel too pressured by me and so act out with her Godfather? Does she try to 'be' someone else to impress him and have it backfire? Or am I just nuts?

What's your take?

Tags: YaYa

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Weekly Sentence with Val

Val maintains a weekly contest in which readers have to construct a sentence using six letters that she provides. The letters have to be kept in sequence and must be used to begin each word.

This weeks letters are:

TCRABC

My contribution for this week:

TODD'S CHILDREN ROUTINELY ATE BLUE CRAYONS

Not bad for a beginner, eh?

Tags: Weekly Sentence

'Just' some pics of Lauren

Last night we were cleaning the house when I put on a little Buddy Holly and Lauren started bopping to the beat. I grabbed the camera and once she saw it she hit the brakes but still gave me some whopping smiles.

[Please note that I'm sorry that every pic of her seems to include a dirty collar, and that this one includes some spit-up on the chin, albeit generated as the shots were taken. I assure you, it was wiped off promptly.

This, coupled with the makeup laden shots of YaYa in the last post, I'm sure paints a very trailer-parkish portait of the clan :) But in fairness Lauren, for all her great points, is a spitup and drool machine and keeping her clean is a constant challenge.]