Alistair Cooke’s death was sad news for us this morning; we were lucky enough to hear quite a few installments of his excellent BBC NEWS | Programmes | Letter From America radio series, owing to the fact that our local :NPR affiliate, WBEZ, broadcasts BBC World Services on Saturday mornings. I’ll miss that warm, erudite voice very much. Dammit.
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So we’re home again. It’s been a hella fine weekend, but it’s nice to be back in our own house, and a few hours from now, we’ll sleep in our own bed. The thought fills me with contentment. Of course, the fact that I don’t have to go to work until Monday is probably part of this feeling. After learning the harsh lesson of our outbound trip, we made tracks to the airport early and had no problems at all. It truly was “Easy Check-In.” Won’t check in less than 90 minutes prior to departure again, ever. Nope. Joy of…
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The party last night… what a good time was had by all! It turned out that most of my cousins (of mine and the next younger generation) were there in addition to a bunch of my niece Sydnee’s friends and in-laws. The food was fabulous – Syd’s husband Eric is fond of Indian food so there were a lot of interesting items to choose from. The house was amazing – stuck up on the mountainside with a creek roaring down a little gully alongside, with several decks and great views of the valley through tall pine trees (kind of a…
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We’re visiting in Utah and I won’t have much computer time, but so far we’ve packed a lot of visiting and hanging out time in less than one 24-hour period. Last night we even sampled a little of Salt Lake’s nightlife and went to the Bayou for a casual bachelorette’s party (except that all of the guy friends of my nephew-in-law were there too). It was a fun time, and we particularly enjoyed showing my sister Tudy the benefits of turning her cell phone on to “vibrate” mode and stuffing it down her pants. The look on her face? Priceless.…
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Another creative action by civil(ly disobedient) servants Oregon county bans all marriage: “It may seem odd,” Benton County Commissioner Linda Modrell told Reuters in a telephone interview, but “we need to treat everyone in our county equally.” State Attorney General Hardy Myers said in a statement that he was “very pleased” with Benton County’s decision. “It is my sincere hope that the legal process will provide clarity for each of Oregon’s counties.” I just love it when government types use stuffy pol-speak to endorse tricky issues. Now come ON, Lane County, OSU is stealing a march. The home of the…
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I had a conversation with one of the agents earlier that got me thinking: I need some sockpuppets in order to make routine customer service calls more pleasant to handle. She was telling me an old, old story – client on the phone is not happy about some aspect of his travel, but what he’s really not happy about is actually some aspect of his company’s corporate travel policy, because he can’t get the SUV/upgrade/much more expensive hotel/ticket on a non-preferred airline that he wants. He was rude-ish to the agent and she was calling me to vent. There was…
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Things to do tonight: Laundry Sort out travel bag Pack Remember to throw in contact lenses, sunglasses, hat, hiking shoes Smooch hubby Things to do tomorrow: Leave house by 6AM to make 810AM flight to S**t Lake Settle in at B&B, goof around at Mom’s Need to pick up prezzie for Daniece and Danephewinlaw Dinner with David’s friend Jim and girlfriend (note, several good restaurants in neighborhood Smooch hubby Collapse Things to do Saturday: Leisurely breakfast See what Mom’s up to (prolly do odd jobs) Check out Pop’s old tools for possible liberation (miter box) Sort out prezzie (wrap, yadda)…
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One of these days, I really have to get started again on the England trip journal entries. The good part is yet to come – walking in Yorkshire and climbing over dozens of stylish stiles. Walking used to be a much bigger part of my life before I bought a car and became a suburbonaut – when I lived in Seattle, I didn’t own a car, and often walked home from work when I lived in Fremont and worked at the top of Queen Anne Hill. It was about a 45 minute walk, mostly downhill, through some of the prettiest…
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Seen at The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century :: farther down, there’s a picture of a building described in a quote on the page as “a totemized retro-futuroid coffee table joined umbilically to its Soviet-style predecessor.” No, no, no, no… it’s a giant space Dalmatian attempting to impregnate a Dachsund. Sideways. Arrroooooo!!
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The most comforting voice in morning radio,Bob Edwards is getting bounced as :NPR Host. I’m really sad to hear this news, because Bob’s voice in the morning has been a familiar part of my morning routine for so long. I’ve been a regular listener of Morning Edition since at least the early 80’s. I have to date that kind of memory by where I was living at the time and whether or not I had a pet. Such are the vagaries of memory. But through it all, Bob Edwards’ voice on the clock radio was one of the few constants…