The Return of CubeHenge

It is in these rare days as we approach the Winter Solstice that I can see direct sunlight in my cube.

I'm not close to a window and most times the sun is too high in the sky or around the building in the evening so the light does not come through.

This time of year at around 5 pm, I can see a small band of sunlight at the cube wall opposite of my PC.

Dankbarkeit

A. for Kadam Tom and his remarks at Kelsang Oedens funeral. He told us the story of how she described her job duties as "I do what needs to be done."

B. for Death Cab for Cutie and their excellent songs which allow me to enjoy music.

C. for having been able to have known Kelsang Oeden and to understand what it means to be a compassionate person.

D. for Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula for giving me something good to read. It also allows me to learn new words.

E. for the cold weather, to know that for everything there is a season...

nice day outside

still recovering from ear/nose surgery so I've been laying low at the homstead.

I can't drive anywhere because I'm still on the pain medication.

I'm like an old man sitting around the house doing crossword puzzles and walking the dog every 3 hours.

my name is not Reese Kitchens

somehow mail that should go to Reese Kitchens ends up at my house.

I keep living notes for the postman but the problem keeps repeating itself.

I bought the Complete New Yorker for $60 yesterday at Costco. I dug in and printed out a copy of one of John McPhees's articles from 1986 about geology in Wyoming.

pretty cool stuff.

trains, trains, trains

I went to the Great Train Expo at the Indiana Fairgrounds today.

It was an excellent exhibition. There were lego trains "N" trains, "HO" trains and Lionel trains. I saw tons of books about trains and many accesories as well.

I even found a few Marklin and Fleishmann trains that 2 vendors were carrying. I was looking for more European content at the show because that was the model train stuff I grew up on but still I was very happy with the show.

Marklin and Fleishmann are the two big German vendors in the model train market and we had a Fleishmann set up when I was a kid.

a few of my favorite pastimes

I'll just list 5.

# riding to Glendale mall on my bike and buying the Economist magazine. Later that night jumping in the garden tub and reading the Economist.

# looking up facts on Wikipedia. What is the population of Franklin County Indiana? When was the Dan Ryan expressway built? Who coined the phrase "the 5th column"

# listening to music on the computer. Has the stereo system become obsolete?

# reading a good book. Unfortunately I have trouble finishing a book once started.

# talking Rex on a walk when the temperature is below 40 and Orion is in the night sky.

ok, I'll add a 6th.

# playing Snood on the computer and listening to "Everybody's got to learn sometime" by the Korgis. ... it will astound you.

went to lunch today.

Grabbed 3 bialys and some cream cheese from the Bagel Store in Nora Plaza.

Went back to 91st and the Monon Parking lot to munch them down and monitor the AM radio airwaves.

I saw a big city crew pull up with a chipper, tree trimming equipment and about 6 men.

I couldn't figure out what they were doing until I came back from my walk and saw them clear all the brush around the north side of 91st street. I also saw bunches of flowers and plants at various points around the intersection. I rembered the fatal accident there about 2 weeks ago when I woman going down the trail at night fell of her bike and was hit by a car.

The city was clearing that part of the trail to improve visibility out to 91st street.

It was a bit odd to see the workers and figure out about 20 minutes later what they were doing.

Listening to "Death Cab for Cutie" on my Itunes now. these guys rock

I'd never have heard of them were it not for my downloading of soundtracks from Itunes and venturing out and getting other material by the group.

comment left on a blog

I for one will be looking forward to "eastern style" DST.

I'm looking forward to many pleasant bike rides and dog walks next spring past 8pm.

I think it's ridiculous to get off work in September at a reasonable hour and come home to darkness.

I'm also tired of having to adjust data synchs and processes twice a year because for 6 months are on the same time as a production servers and for another 6 months we are behind. Just when I get used to being a hour behind we go through another adjustment.

I won't try to tag an actual dollar amount to the inconvenience of not having DST but it makes a difference. The way people outside of Indiana view our quirky ways is a perception but perception is reality and reality fuels business decisions.

As Henry Ford once said:

"Businessmen go down with their businesses because they like the old way so well they cannot bring themselves to change. One sees them all about - men who do not know that yesterday is past, and who woke up this morning with last year's ideas."

jck

driving in the rain

Sunday night we drove back from Dorothy's in Portage through the remnants of Rita.

I've never seen so much rain in my life.

It was like driving through a snowstorm keeping my eyes focused on the tailights of the car in front of me.

I went home and found the latest radar map and the entire state of Indiana was being rained on.

the night the lights went out in Georgia?

is that a song?

or do I have that confused with "Midnight Train to Georgia" and the "Night they drove old Dixie down"

Anyway, whenever a lightning storm strikes tht north side of Indianapolis the power will go out on my block before anyone else is effected.

As I saw the storm rolling in around 6:30 I started shutting off the TV, radio, and computer. I saw what was coming. Sure enough as I was heading downstairs to feed the cats the power went out. 10 seconds later, the power flickered back on, but I knew better we were going down. 20 seconds later I was in the basement greeted by the sounds of the perpetually miaowing felines and the sound of the UPS going off. We were power-free.

Across the street the power was on, a block to the east the power was on but on my little circuit the power was out. This always happens. I wish I knew someone at IPL who could explain this phenomenon. A few years ago we were without power for 2 days while the other side of the street was uneffected.

Immediately I swung into action. Having gone camping 2 weeks earlier and pondering the fate of New Orleans I set forth. Candles were blazing, lanterns set up and MRE's were distributed to all those in need. I think I saw Michael D Brown speeding down the street in a Suburban.

When my wife came home I quickly downed my dinner and sped off to the QuicMart and scored 5 bags of ice. I got home, frozen goods were iced down, ice was stockpiled in the basement freezer, MRE's were distributed again.

Suprisingly the power was restored around 8:20 pm. I was shocked, this is a record for the IPL crew on my little circuit.

So thus I am enable to blog and tell you my tale....

good night.

JCK

My friend Steve

has a blog and it is here

Steve's blog

and yes, I posted to it so it gives me something to say:

I congratulate you! The candle making marketers have found your site. I am jealous.

Up to this point My blog has only been graced by those dealing in Russian, Ukranian and Belorussian brides.

From my perspective the undergraduates always get screwed. For the most part Althetic programs, grad school programs are paid for off the backs off the undergrads.

When I graduated from Johns Hopkins in December of 1989 I was told there was no ceremony and that my diploma would be sent to my parents address in June of 1990 when the "official" graduation took place.

I was overseas at the time and wondered why my degree never showed up in Ohio. A few years later I happened to be in Baltimore and with the help of a few people in the admissions office found my diploma in the back of a utility closet with a huge "Return to Sender" stamped across the tube.

Indeed they had attempted to send it to my home address as "6291 South Brinker Avenue". Oddly enough, my home address was 291 South Brinker Avenue where my parents still lived.

For four and a half years they had never made that mistake when it came to sending tuition bills and report cards, yet somehow my diploma had missed the mark.

I have often thought of how much time, money and energy went into getting that degree and yet not one person in the JHU admin could take the time correct the "6291 Brinker Ave" into "291 Brinker Ave"

Needless to say I have not donated one penny to that institution.

Bottom line: From what I know colleges don't give a damn about their undergraduates as long as they foot the bill.

oops, I did it again

i mean, i posted it on Indy Scribe

Aristocrat Indianapolis

I've lived within walking distance of the Aristocrat for the past 12 years. It's a nice place.

Often our attachment to these places has to do more with all the experiences we accumulate in them than with the food. If you've come to visit me in Indianapolis then you've probably been to the A'cat (I just made that up).

I remember once when my parents came to visit me in 1994 and we went there. When the server took our order she asked my Dad what side he wanted with his turkey club.

My Dad always suspicious that people we trying to rip him off because of his thick German accent despite having been in the USA since 1954 said he did not want a side order.

My Mom quickly retorted, “Harry, it comes with the sandwich!” I remember staring glumly at my plate as my Dad relented and requested seasoned potato chips with his Turkey Club.

The incident registered such an impression on my Mom she felt compelled to write me about it a week later.

My father has been gone for over 5 years now but whenever I set foot in that place I think of that story.

Aristocrat Indianapolis

I love Soundtracks, I love I-tunes

I enjoy downloading the Soundtracks because it means I won't have to listen to the same artist.

It's a good way to sample a wide variety of music.

some of my favorites;

Almost Famous -- love the 70's tunes, sadly the collection lacks "Freebird"

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind -- especially the Jon Brion tunes he writes music the way my brain thinks

Garden State -- love the music but have not seen the movie.

Lost in Translation -- love the music, love the movie

Sideways -- I enjoyed the movie, music done by the same artist so I get a little bored with it

Thicker than Water -- the music is good, has anyone seen this movie

and just today I downloaded part II of "Six feet under" -- I'm digging it. I've never seen the show but seriously thinking of making my first "Complete season of" genre-purchase.

I used to work in a funeral home.

Doctor (John) Robert(s)

I found my old Beatles disc and imported the song into ITunes.

Now I can sing along and say "John Roberts" for every occurence of "Doctor Robert".

I feel much better now.

I think this line is the best

Take a drink from his special cup, John Roberts

Also I posted on IndyScribe

regarding this article:


Set in Indiana: Close to Home

to me the picture looks like it came out of some cheesy video game. Perhaps the "midwest module" for Grand Theft Auto.

it doesn't look real. Yes, I recognize the skyline but the perspective is odd. Too low to be shot from a helicopter but too high to be shot from a roof. Also the cars look like matchboxes.

from the Hollywood perspective it's prolly easier to just to grab a stock image of downtown Indy and autogenerate some sort virtual suburban reality. Why pay someone to drive out here set up equipment and make a real shot when you can fake it.

my two cynical cents worth...

JCK

ein Zufall? a coincidence

very strange.

I was watching ESPN classic tuesday morning. Normally I would be locked into Washington Journal on C-span but I've gotten pretty burned out on the whole John Roberts things. I just keep hearing that Beatles song "Doctor Robert" from in my head.

I just dug up the lyrics, I think they should play the tune at the start of the hearings....I did change a few things around.


Ring my friend, I said you call John Roberts
Day or night he'll be there any time at all, John Roberts
John Roberts, you're a new and better man
He helps you to understand
He does everything he can, John Roberts

If you're down he'll pick you up, John Roberts
Take a drink from his special cup, John Roberts
John Roberts, he's a man you must believe
Helping everyone in need
No one can succeed like John Roberts

Well, well, well, you're feeling fine
Well, well, well, he'll make you... John Roberts

My friend works for the national health, John Roberts
Don't pay money just to see yourself with John Roberts
John Roberts, you're a new and better man
He helps you to understand
He does everything he can, John Roberts

Well, well, well, you're feeling fine
Well, well, well, he'll make you... John Roberts

Ring my friend, I said you'd call John Roberts
Ring my friend, I said you'd call John Roberts
John Roberts

here's a link about the real Dr Roberts

http://aboutthebeatles.com/song-doctor_robert.html

damn, I really want to hear that song right NOW! and you can't get Beatles songs off the Itunes store because of that bickering over the "Apple" trademark. I prolly have it on CD somewhere but that would involve a major basement reconaissance effort which I'm not up for right now...

anyway back to the ESPN classic

they were replaying a game between Pittsburg and Houston back in 1978 which I'm sure I watched as an 11 year old growing up in Columbus, OH. I always remembered the place kickers because my Dad was always correcting the pronounciation of their names as most of them were European soccer players. Toni Fritsch, an Austrian soccer player was the Houston place kicker and when I saw the old footage I remembered the name immediately. And tonight I was out parsing the Wiki obituaries and Herr Fritsch died of a sudden heart attack yesterday in front of a restaraunt in Vienna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Fritsch

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Fritsch

exciting...not!

Sunday

two cups of weak coffee (1/4th caffeinated 3/4th decaf)

Monday

two diet cokes

I went through my 7th grade yearbook and tried to look some people up that I knew.

I assume most of the girls got married and changed names and people like "Tim Taylor" are pretty hard to track down; too many matches

however some of the ethnic names yielded results. not many people in central Ohio have Polish surnames so I did find a few.

no, I didn't call anybody up.

coffee update

Friday:

one small coffee from the Gevalia machine at work

2 Diet cokes (12 oz each)

Saturday

20 oz Diet Coke split into two "feedings" {12 oz around 9 AM, 8 oz at 1 pm)

the great caffeine chill-out?

trying to reduce the amount of caffeine I take in.

i waited until 9 am to have my first cup of coffee today.

i will try to reduce my consumption over the weekend.

it's nice to have a standard measure to go against. when I'm at home it's hard to gauge how strong the coffee is due to the different blends we have.

thus I might switch to 12oz measures of Diet Coke to better gauge my detoxification efforts.

need to get motivated

I'm planning on one day finishing my short story "Days of Grease and Angst" but before it is finished I have to finish it.

I'm planning on posting it out here (but only when it is finished):

Critique Circle

Also on the to do list:

C-Span essay contest:

Viewer Calls

Wrap the Shuttle in Duct Tape!

I was listening to this morning's Washington Journal program over the Internet tonight. It only took 20 minutes to get to the "call of the day". The topic of discussion was the space shuttle and what to do with it.

A caller from Millersville, MD suggested a fix:

"... once they spray or paint or whatever they do to that foam, wrap that entire tank in duct tape, that holds a lot of things, that's just might hold that foam in place."

Will you miss me when I'm gone?

Sometimes I'm just drawn to a book by the title.

I saw this book at my Mom's apartment when I was visting for the 4th of July and started it reading it.

Will you miss me when I'm gone

I had not even heard of the Original Carter Family though I knew of June Carter Cash.

I read the book which led to another I-Tunes purchase.

Carter Family RCA Legends

Usually you listen to some music then you read about the group. Here I did the opposite.

Once again, on the IndyScribe tip

Here's a comment I posted to a recent submission

I guess I'm a "reacter" or is it "reactor"

I can't do anything until I see something I have to respond to.

If only I could get this strategy to get me to finish my short story.


Indy Scribe

"I know the wall well. It's not that far from my house.

One of my favorite quotes was "Don't Fall, Prey."

The College Ave "mini-riot" you refer to occurred duing the summer of '95. I remember the date because it was the same year a disturbance broke out at Deer Creek when deadheads stormed the fences at the concert facility when they couldn't get tickets. Jerry Garcia died about a month later.

The whole deal was weird. The Spring before the riot, I remember reading about the agressive tactics of the Indianapolis Police Department in the New York Times. Not a word of this program was mentioned in the Star. Once the disturbance happened the intense police presence was brought to light here locally.

so much for zero tolerance policies..."

i read it on Indy scribe

Carmel, a city on the Schmooze

here were my comments

I laughed, I cried. The article was one of the funniest pieces I've read on the Internet in some time.

Does Carmel have a slogan. Downtown Indy's has to be one of the worst "Amazingly Always New". What does that mean anyway? Is the downtown area torn down every night and re-built before sunrise the next day?

Actually I'd rather have a downtown that's "Modestly Sometimes Old". Isn't that part of the attraction of going downtown? To see something historic, buildings that have withstood the test of time.


Also, what is Indy's "Wholesale District"? Are they planning to put in a Sam's Club or Costco down there. I've been downtown many times since the mall opened and yet I've never engaged in any "wholesaling" whilst in the "Wholesale District". How does one participate in said activity?

I wonder how much was paid to whatever marketing/PR firm that came up with "Amazingly Always New"?

Paul Klee makes it a major news item on the Yahoo Home Page

Paul Klee

What the article does not mention that he became a Swiss citizen after his death. Apparently the Swiss did not want to claim him in life, but wanted his legacy after his death. Though he was born in the capital, Bern he was not Swiss. As his father was German and mother was Swiss, he had to take German citizenship. Were the roles reserved he would have become Swiss the day he was born.

He does hold the time honored distinction of being kicked out of Germany by the Nazis. Had he been allowed to stay it's hard to say what is legacy would have been.

BERN, Switzerland - When Paul Klee applied for Swiss nationality after fleeing Nazi Germany, his request was refused because it was feared that if his art should "take root in Switzerland, it would insult real art and cause good taste to deteriorate."


Sixty-six years later, the work of the painter — now considered one of the greatest modern artists — has found a permanent home in Bern, the Swiss capital that finally accepted him. The Zentrum Paul Klee, which opens Monday, will house over 4,000 pieces of Klee's creations — one of the world's largest collections from a single artist.

Paul Klee

I am an Internet genius!!!

no, not really

but 14 months after creating this site and 12 years in the Information Technology industry, the last 5 with a dot com, I actually have a site that can be googled.

I was looking at one of my traffic reports listing a Whopping 247 vistors since December 11,2004 and saw google as one of my referers.

Someone one at the Italian version of Google (http://www.google.it/search) (Cerca con Google) had done on search on "Clint Eastwood LAUREL" and my site popped up and they went to it.

can't get enough of the "Span"!!!!

The blogging continues

Yes, I'm probably one of the few people out there who will actually pay to download author interviews from C-Span. But I've found a gold mine in the I-Tunes "Music Store".

Just do a search on "Brian Lamb" and you will see 104 "songs" in the search results. Yet, these are not songs of a musical nature but the product of the genius that is known as Brian Lamb.

After my near miss (at least I think I was close) at the Jeopardy try-outs in Chicago I spent a lot of time studying US Presidents. So I downloaded author interviews Mr Lamb had made with Presidential scholars. At 1 hour a piece, it's a quicker way to assimilate info then to read the whole book. So I did learn a good deal about McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, James K Polk, Warren Harding, Franklin Pierce.

I highly recommend these "songs".

My latest foray has been into 20th century Soviet history. Of course there is a limitless supply of literature on Stalin. C-Span was kind enough to record not one but two hours of interview with the author of this book:

The Court of the Red Tsar

I checked out the book from the library ( I need to save some money after all those I-Tunes downloads). It's pretty interesting but the infinite cast of characters, intriguing and subterfuge makes "Anna Karenina" look like a nursery rhyme.

Stay tuned.

It was almost over 20 years ago today...

I graduated from the Columbus Alternative High School (CAHS)

It was a city-wide high school drawing attendance from all corners of the Columbus Public School district which at that time had around 80,000 students.

My high school experiences were probably no different than most they we did have a few quirks at CAHS

# No regular classes on Wednesdays. Instead we had Co-Curricular day which allowed us to have internships at various government agencies, the Ohio State University or any business that would sponsor us. One of my friends got an internship at a record store on campus. My internships were usually involving computers so there was some educational aspect to them.

# No sports teams. If you wanted to play sports you had to do that at your "home" school. I knew few people who did that as our school did not attract many athletic types and transportation to and from schools would be problematic.

Cryin' Joe Ryan

I don't know why I recall this suddenly today but I thought of some old elementary school memories from Westgate School.

We had a real large school yard, most of it grass. We'd play all sorts of games out there, most of them I can't recall. We did have some games of touch football that would devolve into tackle if none of the teachers were around.

One kid I'll always remember was Joe Ryan. He was one of the shorter kids at school, had a huge mole about 1 inch west of his lip and usually wore a winter hat regardless of the weather. No matter what game we played by the end of recess Joe would be in tears complaining that someone had cheated him or hurt him on the field. Next the teachers would get involved and whatever game we had played would be banned indefinitely.

About 5 years later in high school my friend Quinton and I would toss the frisbee back in forth in my side yard after shoool. It was a favorite after school past time and all the events, tragedies and comedies of the day would be hashed out between throws. One day our "primary" frisbee got stuck in a huge pine tree and I had to head back into the garage to retrieve an older frisbee I had stuck in the box long ago. I pulled out the faded red disc tattered along the edges and pitched back out to my friend.

After a few rounds of back and forth my friend asked me "Who is Joe Ryan?". He tossed the frisbee back to me and flipped it over. On the back in indelible magic marker was printed "Joe Ryan". I hadn't thought about him in years. I have no idea how I came into posession of his frisbee, I don't think he'd ever been to my house. I hadn't seem him since elementary school and had no idea where he'd gone.

I just hoped he wouldn't be upset with me if he knew I had his frisbee.

people moving

My Mom is moving to Westminster Terrace in Columbus next week. We are heading there this weekend to pick up some furniture.

In the yard next door to us is a large construction dumpster. Apparently renovations are under way. Last night I could hear a !clunk! about every two minutes or so. According to Michael down the street the house needs a new roof and a multitude of other improvements.

the weekend that was

I went to Pilates class on Saturday. It was pretty intense, I don't know if Pilates is that demanding or I'm that out of shape.

I started reading "The Broom of the System" by David Foster Wallace. I haven't read any fiction for a while. The last book I read was "The Kite Runner" which was also a book club selection.

I've also started memorizing the list of Presidents. I can go from William Henry Harrison to G.W Bush.

Mary has been working on painting the bedroom and I've helped here and there.

Jeopardy Tryout, Chicago,IL April 2005

Went to the Jeopardy tryout at Navy Pier last Saturday morning.
I left home around 7:45 and had parked the car right off Lake Shore Drive by 11 am.
There were about 60 people trying out and only 5 made the cut.
I'll try again next year.

I'm been listening to some Booknotes interview from Brian Lamb of C-Span. So far I've gotten through interviews regarding T Roosevelt, McKinley and Harding. The Harding interview was entertaining. I think Lamb knew more about the subject than the author, John Dean of Watergate fame. At times Lamb would ask questions about Harding, Dean would stumble and stammer and then Brian Lamb would provide the answer to his own question.



changes in the neighborhood

We have a new neighbor at last, Hooray.
She's not moving in until June after some repairs are done on the house. It's been vacant since Mr Stuey split last October. The "for sale" sign is still in front and the realtors lock remains on the door. She owns a dog that looks like Rex and she seems a bit friendlier that the past residents. My strongest memories of Mr Stuey are the sounds of multiple motorcycles being revved up at all hours of the night. It wasn't that bad but every now and then we'd be treated to a burst of Motomayhem from the garage next door. I'm glad those days are over.

Ogden Nash seyz

From "Lines in Praise of a Date Made Praiseworthy Solely by Something Very Nice That Happened to It", by Ogden Nash:

"As through the calendar I delve
I pause to rejoice in April twelve.
Yea, be I in sickness or be I in health
My favorite date is April twealth. "

Tomorrow, April 12th is my birthday and I have no idea why Ogden Nash favors it for he was born on August 19th 1902.

The only two things I remember about April 12th is that
1) FDR died on this day in 1945
2) It's also David Letterman's birthday who was born 20 years before me and grew up in a house not far from where I live in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis

12 years in Indianapolis

On March 29, 1993 I started working for MSE Corporation at 941 North Meridian Street as a Digital Conversion Technician. I had moved here from Columbus, OH the Friday before. It's interesting to consider what has changed in the workplace in those 12 years. I had barely heard of the Internet and there were probably two people out of 300 at MSE who had access to the .Net. I had no email, no voice mail, no MP3s and my first work computer was a UNIX based machine that ran Intergraph Workstation.

Worst song ever; I'm so happy!

Driving into work today I heard Starship's "We built this city"

Hands down, this is the worst song ever created in the history of mankind.

I'm so grateful to WKLU 101.9 here in Indy for rolling out this stinky turd of a tune.

It represents the worst of the 80's, cheesy keyboards, inane lyrics and over powered bass line that I find personally offensive.

All the worst lyrics ever:

Someone's always playing corporation games
Who cares they're always changing corporation names

Isn't this band Starship itself a corporation living off past 60's glory cranking out schlocky Corporate rock and chaning its name: Jefferon Airplane >> Jefferson Starship >> Starship.

Listening to this song is like watching "Death Part III", it's soooo bad you can't help listening to it.

I just found this link which confirms my opinions.

Worst Songs ever

another day, another blog

It's gotten cold again here in Indianapolis. This Sunday was pleasant except we had to replace our dryer vent. Typical comedy of errors involved when I pick up a toolbox. the list of casualties: broke a window in the basement trying to get into the crawlspace, smashed wife's fingers while she was in said crawl space and I was on opposite side of the wall trying to will the vent attachement into its place. No I wasn't kicking the attachment in, I never force anything. I would do no such thing.

During the last repair miss-adventure I almost fell through the drywall in the garage trying to inspect a leak on the roof. Fortunately I only bent the ceiling out of shape and did not crash onto my '92 Saturn parked below.

I just ordered 3 old Genesis CDs off of Amazon. I got tired of waiting for the tracks to appear on itunes. So soon I shall be in possesion of Nursery Cryme, Selling England by the Pound and Foxtrot. This is from the "tea and crumpets" phase of the band with Peter Gabriel doing the main vocals, Phil Collins (before he became an annoying pop star) on backing vocals and drums.

Some of my favorite films

I've been living in DVD land the past few weeks. My wife took a trip to Israel and had to attend a funeral in Los Angeles leaving me plenty of time to veg in front of the big screen TV. I've watched some old classics such as "Animal House" and "Easy Rider" and even checked out a a copy of "Home Alone" from the local library. My favorite retro-trip was "Midnight Cowboy". This movie rocks. Something about seeing New York City, 42nd street, alienation and good acting appeals to me. I saw the movie on my parents VCR about 10 years ago and it was interesting to see what I had remembered. In one scene, Ratso and Joe Buck are freezing in their decrepit dwelling dancing to the song "Orange Juice, on ice, it's nice..." It really captures the whole idea of being stuck in misery and finding the right tune, the right mood to propel you out of the yuckiness of life....

oh my

I have not made a blog entry since December 22nd 2004

It's been a while, almost two months.

I could have been done with my summer journal of 1978 rebroadcast by now.

My latest project is taking an online writing course at:

http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/

It's gone well so far, I've gotten through three sessions and I enjoy what I'm doing.

Otherwise not much has transpired over the past 2 months. We still have the same 3 cats and dog. Sadly, Mary had to go to Los Angeles for a funeral last week. Her cousin Mark, who was only 46 years old died from a viral infection.

Life is fragile, keep writing, keep talking

regards

-- Joel