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Essay Worth Reading

http://www.tnr.com
If you can manage to copy the address and have plenty of time to read and think, this is really thought provoking. Much easier, at least to me, would be to go to tnr.com and choose from the right column an essay called "A Fighting Faith" by Peter Reinhart. Requires some study and historical reflection. Even, perhaps, research, for you younger kids who may not remember Wallace, Truman, CIO before it was AFL-CIO, the origin of the Marshall Plan and the reasoning behind it etc. Pert has gone to shop and lunch with G&G so I am gorging myself on fascinating info from abroad. Abroad being north of the MD line.

Pert Joins The Blog

Pert has been invited to join the blog. He accepts. koAla is doing this one as a demo, but from now on it will be Pert. Thanks.

Thanks

I want to publicly thank koALa and Pert for their hospitality over the holidays. Some of the things that make spending time at the compound are natural: quiet in the woods, no cell coverage, rest and relaxation, for example. The atmosphere of fun, frivolity, and love are created by the proprietors of the digs, and that is what really sets the experience apart.

It's one thing for the atmosphere to be such that a stressed-out son would want to spend a few days there to get away from it all. It says a lot, though, that his wife and teenaged crumb-snatchers still anxiously await opportunities to spend time with PertoALa. The relaxed, come-as-you-are, sharing attitude can only be truly appreciated when one compares it to spending time with inlaws of Christmas past. The vibe was welcoming and pleasant, but never completely relaxed, the way we all are when at Morgington. I can honestly say that none of us wants to leave at the end of the trip.

Thanks for the oasis.

What I Really Want For The Holiday

And after. I want all my kids and grandkids to come here and live in separate cabins (or doublewides) on my land and be happy together. We'll have gigantic family meals (Liz and Stevie and Kristen and Melanie can cook) and giant bonfires (Craig and Chris and Bobby and Glen and David can gather wood). Daphne and Kelly and I can sit around and drink coffee and gossip and plan projects. Pert can tend the fire and give directions to all and sundry. Pleeease. Once a week we'll go to our separate corners to calm down. Daddy says also!!!

Wall Street Needs Your Money...

...and w wants to give it to them. Let's see.
1. The small investers got screwed over by the investment firms, who favor the big guys.
2. Many large company CEOs skimmed millions for themselves, their cronies, and the Republican campaign chests.
3.The small investor, after losing lots of $ he couldn't afford to lose, withdrew and put his $ under the bed.
4. Not jailed,(like Martha, a Democrat) but suffering high legal costs, Republican supporters are in desperate need of "some chump's" change.
5.Guess which "chump" will be forced to give his change in the cause.
6. Hint: Ethics-Economics challenged, non-newspaper reading, semi(if that)-literate, Texas cowboy to the rescue.
7. Using his "mandate" and "election capital" and traveling the slippery slope he eventually forces you to give your retirement money to them.
8. That will keep them happy till 2008, when Jeb will be champing at the bit.
9. 2010: 50% unemployment, country's economy in ruins, 300 dollars equals one Euro, all safety net programs have been dismantled, Social Security is empty and there are no poorhouses any more, so old folks die in the streets.
10. All fat cats decamp to Bimini or its equivalent.
11. Is it revolution time yet? Can you say liberal now?
12. Okay, so maybe I'm getting a little carried away--and I could go on--but you see my point.
Head the bastards off at the pass kemo sabe.

Fucking people...What is it with them?

Took Afterdinner and the oldest boy to the Megagooglecineplex the other night to see "Sideways" (excellent flick, by the way). Shortly after the interminable series of ads that they euphemistically call "The Twenty", and just before the previews ("trailers", if you're cool), Manager Boy sidles in and announces that, because they had a bad print of the flim (nod to Pert), they had replaced it with a brand new one. Unfortunately, the projectionist was still "building it", which I assume means attaching said trailers to the front end, and we'd be delayed about 15 minutes. Not really any big deal. Not for me, Mrs. Eva, and Thing 3, anyway.

You'd thing some of these people in the audience with us had just been raped up the ass without the benefit of appropriate lubrication, though.

"Do we get free popcorn, then?"
"How about free passes?"

And so on.

Manager Dude says he can't throw food at us, but can do passes. Without further explanation, he bolts, glad to be out of the firing line of the pack of assholes with whom I'll be enjoying tonite's fare. I should add that, because of the subject matter of the film, the crowd tended to be older (mid 20s to 50s, I reckon), in a theater in Alpharetta. I mention that because a free movie pass shouldn't be something that makes their day; they can afford the 8 bucks several times over.

After the theater quiets again, dude behind me starts in with his wife and the couple they're with:
"They waited until five minutes before the movie to tell us this?"
"I'll go out there to get our free tickets. I don't think they're going to bring them here."

And so on. Dude is maybe 45 or 50 years old. I don't like him.

I'm left with several choices:

I could just sit there, enjoy myself, and continue conversing with my lovely wife and son. Why ruin a perfectly nice evening?

I could stand up, face the crowd and rage: "Do you hear yourselves? Is 15 fucking minutes that big of an inconvenience to you? Are you going home to wonder why your kids aren't willing to wait a damn minute for you to get them what they want? Do you not understand why you're raising a generation of brats?"

And so on.

I did neither. The high road was too much of a stretch for me, and the diatribe would have apparently required too much courage, liquor, or both. Instead I opted for sarcasm: "How dare they? I can't believe that I have to sit here with my family for 15 more minutes", I hear myself bellow. "Somebody must owe me money! I demand satisfaction!"

Unfortunately, number one son drank it up and joined in, so I had to quiet him for behaving exactly like his old man. The apple, obviously, didn't fall far from the tree, and I taught him, right then and there, that it was appropriate to be a sarcastic asshole to strangers in a theater. I became exactly what I loathed. In two minutes time, I rode the train from righteous indignation to abject humiliation.

Goddammit. Why does being the perfect parent have to be so hard?

Chris in Northestern Hospital

My diagnosis: Hepatitis--A I hope. He went to doc yesterday, was sent to ER. They admitted him last night at about ten. Drew blood last night and hope to have diagnosis today sometime. Symptoms x 2 weeks: Nausea, malaise, headache, jaundice, cloudy urine progressing to black. He was given 2 injections of morphine(at intervals) in ER for headache, which seems excessive to me. He stil had headache at 11:00pm when I spoke to him. I'm waiting for KoF to call with latest. Updates asrecieved. The good old holiday season comes through again. Kelly used to get intractable vomiting on xmas eve when she was a kid.

Pert and the 21st Century

I have hooked up the desktop in the living room. Next task is to teach Pert to pick up e-mail and send it. I forsee.....??

Much better today, thanks

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

Do they know it's Christmastime at all?

I'm just dragging my ass up to the holidays, and foresee a major bout of depression when the holidays end and I look four solid months without any vacation time right in the molars. (That's a crappy sentence, but parse it and get my meaning.) The couple of weeks that lead up to the holidays are typically slow here; no customers want to upgrade their systems for the weeks leading up, so they won't have any new support issues over the break. Speaks well for our products, doesn't it?



This is kind of a dead week, then next week is filled with holiday luncheons and breakfasts, gift exchanges with coworkers, and any fires that break out at customer sites. I've taken care of most of my holiday shopping (until the Amazon packages arrive, and I have to wrap them). The tree is up at the house, which helps some, I think. Maybe it reminds me that I should be having more fun; I don't know.

Or maybe I just need a nap.

Tracee's Babee Zoee

Cool about Tracee's milkbaby. Congrats to her and her Belgian. A\lso to Ann and Barry congrats on their upcoming offspring. Isn't Zoe the perfect name for Tracee's baby?