…that asserts that God is in the details.
It’s wrong.
God is in the backups.
Now I’m depressed.
Reading this article has convinced me more than ever that most people are just plain dumb. Harsh? Maybe, but the fact that more people can identify the American Idol winner than the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, coupled with the fact that less than half the country could identify Saudi Arabia as the main source of Sept. 11 hijackers, plus the fact that four in ten Americans seriously think that Iraq was behind those attacks…
Either people are stupid (likely), or the clown shows that pass for news in this country have failed to inform people (equally likely). Either way, I’m starting to feel the same way I used to feel about work: it’s no better anywhere else, but at least different dysfunction would be a change of pace.
I called it ten years ago…
My doctoral dissertation was going to be the definitive exploration of how the methods and styles of Southern politics were becoming nationalized. Ten years on, I find it tough to see how the process isn’t complete.
When are we gonna catch a break?
The ongoing health issues have now caught both my in-laws, although each of them seems to have a simple surgical resolution, on the face of things. Both at once is kind of problematic. My knee is way down the list, although it’s officially official: I need to have my knee scoped to clean up 21 years of neglect. It’ll be a one-day thing, outpatient in the afternoon and fine by morning (theoretically), so it can kind of wait. Meanwhile, the heat hasn’t subsided. Although we did escape to the mountains at the weekend for two days largely away from computing, cell phones, and news and the wider world in general. It was almost worth sleeping on the ground just to truly be away from it all…looks like time to update my list of stuff I’m enjoying.
Emotionally ectothermic
I don’t know what it is about the hot weather that makes me depressed, but it would explain a lot. I always hated summers growing up, and I think the steady diet of humidity and 90 degrees is probably why. Now I’ve gotten used to California weather, and when the high pressure sticks over the Bay Area, I go completely pear-shaped. And now they’re saying that it’s going to be like this until Friday?
No wonder I love the fog so much. If the next five days weren’t packed to craziness, I would have long since split for Skyline Drive in the evenings and maybe even a trip to the city this weekend once the weather lifts. of course that’s always assuming it does lift…and that awful stretch last June makes me think it might not be over as quickly as they think.
Well that sucked.
Vandy goes down in extra innings, 4-3, and is out of the tournament without even getting out of regionals. Pretty ignominious finish to an otherwise glorious season – owned the SEC, rode the top of the rankings for months, but couldn’t win a regional playoff at home – against Michigan, of all teams. Sigh. What is it about the Wolverines that gives us so much trouble? (See the opening of Dudley Field in 1922 if you don’t believe me.)
Rough F-ing life.
Wednesday night, I piggybacked on an offsite with my wife’s company. I sat in the hotel bar of the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, drinking 15-year-old Laphroaig and watching the fog drift in over the Pacific. (Okay, there wasn’t any drifting in – it was there from the moment I arrived.) I had fish and chips and a free bottle of red wine and vanilla-laced creme brulee for dessert. I got to sit by the firepit outside our door and just unwind and do nothing. It was beautiful. Actually, though, almost as good was the next day, taking a drive up Skyline with the fog barely above the roof of the car. And then I got to work from home for the afternoon…so really, I was only 4 hours away from work, and yet it felt like I got the whole vacation I missed having company here all week through Memorial Day.
And then tonight I got two pints and a curry for half price at the Saint (that plus the wife’s gardenburger added up to a slick 16 bucks) and am now relaxed on the couch watching Coupling, and the new Graham Norton starts tomorrow night, and dammit if I’m not having a great time. It’s like somebody threw a switch. I think it’s the old “mutually-reinforcing traumas” – when you have guests for a week, you need to go to work to get away…but when you’re getting pummelled at work, you need to get away at home. To get relief, I had to get away from both.
So as I play Suggs’ show back from this morning, I’m thinking…I need to start blogging more. However, I need to see what the tradeoff is in the Valley between anonymity and hire-ability. After all, I may not have this gig forever…