Musings
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Why do IDIOTS get away with crap?
Remember the plum tree that keeps me awake? Well, two corrections…as someone pointed out, it’s the fence making the noise, not the tree…and it’s actually a cherry tree. Not like the kind you go pick cherries from in an orchard, but the kind that drops cherries all over the sidewalk and they make a mess and you step on them and track the juice in on your carpet. Yeah, that kind of tree. Anyway, we’re tree hugging liberals, and we certainly don’t want the tree cut down…just pruned a bit, so it doesn’t knock down our fence. We live in a condo complex, and Ted is the president of the…
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Father Bob
The other day, I mentioned a poem by ee cummings, that was introduced to me by a teacher of mine, and I said I would tell you a bit about him someday. Well, today is the day. That teacher’s name was Bob Hanlon, and he was my Latin teacher, as well as my Composition in Literature teacher in High School. My first day of 9th grade, when I first saw him, all I could think was of the Beatles’ line, “I am the Walrus”, because he was kind of pale, kind of roundish, and had this big, walrus-like mustache. But the more I got to know him, the more I…
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Our Weekend So Far
This weekend has been busy so far. Friday evening we went to a potluck hosted by some friends from Maya’s school. One nice thing to come out of that was that the only other girl there for Maya to play with was E, a girl who she doesn’t really get along with at school or in scouts. They had a nice time, and I’m hoping that opened her eyes a bit to the possibility that this girl might be OK. Not that they will necessarily hang out at school or scouts, but that maybe when they’re the only people around, they can get along then. There are dynamics involved when…
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Saturday Poetry
OK, after the last three days of serious, personal family stuff, mostly written by someone else, I’ve decided to lighten things up a bit, and bring you a poem today, also written by someone else. Who knows, maybe this will become a Saturday tradition, a poem that I love but did not write. no man,if men are gods;but if gods must be men,the sometimes only man is this (most common,for each anguish is his grief; and,for his joy is more than joy,most rare) a fiend;if fiends speak truth;if angels burn by their own generous completely light, an angel;or(as various worlds he’ll spurn rather than fail immersurable fate) coward,clown,traitor, idiot,dreamer,beast- such…
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Russian Cooking Class
The main fundraiser at Maya’s school is a Spring Festival, which combines with a live auction, and raises much needed funds to keep the school doors open. The big ticket items tend to be the quilts, which are made from squares made by the students and sewn by dedicated parents, trunks made by woodworking parents, and excursions put together by the teachers. One of Maya’s teachers, Zhanna, is Russian. She emigrated from the Ukraine about 10 years ago. Her offering for the auction was a day of cooking, where the parents and kids would learn to make traditional Russian food, enjoy the pool at her condo’s clubhouse, and all around…
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Failure to Thrive
Any parents out there know what this term means…when you have a newborn, and they’re not doing so well. Well, no newborns around here, but what with the weather being 103 yesterday and me getting all grumpy because I was hungry (just for dinner, it’s not like I even missed a meal, for goodness sake) and then I had a hard time sleeping last night because, though the fog came in and brought much needed relief from the heat, it also brought a wind that pushes the plum tree next door against the fence, causing a creaking noise ALL FRIGGIN NIGHT LONG. I’m just saying, it was hard to sleep.…
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I Need A Chauffer
Yesterday, I walked everywhere, and boy, these dogs are barking. I started with a walk to Noah’s for breakfast, which is just about a mile and a quarter each way. Not too far, but my shoe selection was based more on heat than comfort. In other words, I was wearing sandals. Next, we had to go to the old work office to move what little bit of stuff there still remains into a storage space. The office is in a business park, and the storage space is actually a small office two parking lots over in that same office park. Yesterday was also one of my coworker’s last day, so…
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Props to Safeway
I stopped at Safeway on Thursday evening, and when I got back to my car, there was a woman filling the trunk of the car next to me with fruit and veggies. Corn, watermelon, strawberries, and so on. She didn’t have any bags, she was taking the items out of a big box and putting them into her trunk. I asked her if she had bought all of this at Safeway, wondering if she was against bagging her groceries for some reason, or if she were planning a huge party, since there was so much food. No, she said, Safeway donates the food to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Color me…
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This Isn’t Even Alaska…or Yosemite
Here’s your picture of the day. Click the picture to get the story. Moral of the story? Don’t leave food in your car…a lesson I learned back in 1984, Yosemite, food in the station wagon, bear in the station wagon, food gone, windows broken, car moved a couple of feet, 4 very scared campers who had just graduated from High School (one of whom would be me…) Ack! (Picture died with the move to the new blog. Sorry. It was a picture of a bear in a convertable.)
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This Is Us*
A few nights ago, I was up watching Sex and the City DVDs, and it was the episode where Miranda and Steve get married. Miranda was saying that she didn’t want the cookie cutter wedding, didn’t want someone else’s idea of a wedding, that what she wanted was a wedding that represented them, and who they were. I liked that. I liked it, because it resonated with me. I felt like we had that, a wedding that represented us, 13 years ago today. When faced with the idea of a big white dress and a long walk down the aisle, I thought, “Well, that’s nice for other folks, but not…
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Children Who Feel Empty…
I found this article in my SF Chronicle Magazine, from Sunday’s newspaper. It’s pretty long, but worth a look if you have some time. Really, there’s nothing here that I haven’t thought before…too many kids today are overscheduled, over-pressured, and very unhappy because of it. One thought that came to me, though, is that this story is about upper-middle to upper-class kids…what about the lower-middle and lower-class kids. When their parents push them and push them, isn’t it supposed to be a sign of caring? And conversely, if they DON’T push them, isn’t that a sign of failure? Where’s the happy medium? The article, which is really exerpts from the…
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Everything Old is New Again
My buddy Neva and I went to dinner and a little shopping on Monday evening, and one of the places we ended up was Sephora. I wanted to get some Lorac mascara, as recommended by Gina. The girls who worked there had the bright, multi-colored eye shadow that was semi-popular in the mid-80s. You know, like Cyndi Lauper here used to wear. Seeing them made me think a couple of thoughts… 1st, boy, I’m getting old, because things that were trendy when I was in college are coming back around. 2nd, it reminded me of my mindset when I tried these looks…I just wanted to be cool. That was the…
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Resistance Is Futile
Now that I’m working from home, phone calls have been coming to my home phone, which I don’t really like. Sometimes someone else wants to use the phone, or if it’s during work hours, Ted and Maya feel funny answering it. Options: 1. A second phone line. 2. Vonage. 3. A cell phone. Let’s look at these, one at a time. 1. I don’t really have a big problem with a second phone line, but I’m not sure of the intricasies of having one for work, and having maybe a different calling plan than our regular phone. Our regular phone has no special provisions for long distance during the week,…
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Why do we live here again? Can anyone remind me?
Maya said she likes Girl Scout Camp, but it’s pretty hot, and I think she’s starting to get a little bit bored with doing the same activities every day. And seeing as how we’re in the middle of a fairly fierce heat wave, with the crappy air quality that goes with it, I don’t blame her for not really enjoying being outside all day. Right now it’s 11:20 in the morning, and it’s already 91 degrees. Blech. Maybe we should move to Portland. Today: Plentiful sunshine. Very hot. High 106F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight: Mainly clear. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow:…
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Girl Scout Camp
Maya’s going to girl scout camp this week. It’s a one week camp at Little Hills Ranch, which is in San Ramon. She is really enjoying it so far. She’s learning archery, they swim almost every day in a big pool, they learned to make egg drop soup and chinese chicken salad, they do art projects, etc. All in all, lots of fun. It’s kind of a pain in the butt for me, because it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to drop her off and pick her up every day. But it’s only for one week, and the benefit of starting work so early and…