Wow.

Crazy month.

Can’t stop to chat.

Do take care.

Car Talk

Not as in Click and Clack, but as in Sarah and Dad in the car this morning. This morning and every Saturday morning with Dad. Today it went as follows:

Sarah: “I couldn’t get myself to really care about David Blaine or how long he could or couldn’t hold his breath.”

Dad: “He said it was a big mistake to bring the chains in there with him.”

S: “How ridiculous. ‘Not only will I be suspended in a giant sphere of water till my skin rots off …’”

D: “I thought the chains added a little excitement, personally.”

S: “… ‘But, I’m going to be chained there …’”

D: “And when he went in, they played Barber’s Adagio for Strings.”

S: “‘And I might as well break the no-breathing record while I’m in there’ … What?”

D: ” They played Barber’s Adagio for Strings.”

S: “Barber has one of those?”

D: “He had the one that mattered.”

S: “All right. How does it go?”

D: “I have it here somewhere …”

S: “You mean you can’t just hum it?”

D: (putting a CD in) “No I can’t just hum it.”

S: “Oh yeah. I recognize this. Yeah.”

D: “And can you hum it?”

S: “Yes.”

D: “All right [turns it off] … Go for it then.”

S: (Hums it.)

D: (turning it on) “Way to go! It almost resembled it slightly even.”

S: “Some envelope-stuffing party at Kathy’s last night, eh?”

D: “Oh man! Quite a shindig!”

S: “What’d you think of Kay’s new dog, Genesis?”

D: “She was great. Hardly noticed she was there.”

S: “Well, she was outside most of the time, wasn’t she?”

D: “You mean Genesis made her Exodus?”

S: “HA! … I LOVE-iticus. For a Numbers of reasons.”

D: So, you know the story behind this song, right?”

S: “I can guess. Someone died.”

D: “No, but it is popular at funerals. But, the good story is that when Barber wrote this, he sent it off to Toscanini to hear what he thought of it. So he sent a copy and waited and waited to hear what Toscanini thought. Come to find out, Toscanini didn’t take time to write him back because he was too busy committing the score to memory.

S: “OK. That’s a little lame, don’t you think? He couldn’t find one hour out of 24 in a day to drop his friend a note to tell him he liked it?”

D: “Yeah, well. Arturo Toscanini always was a little …”

S: Eccentric?”

D: “Ssssssh. There’s a beautiful grand pause in here. He builds and builds and builds up to a wonderful big chord … and then there’s silence.”

S: “Thank you, Dave, for the definition of a grand pause.”

D: “Ssssssh!” … (turns up the silence) … ” … … Beautiful! Wasn’t that just heart-breaking?”

S: (clutches her chest)

D: “The collating and stuffing last night was actually pretty efficient with all those people there. And that Dave L was right on top of things.”

S: He’s such a good guy. So laid back and friendly.”

D: His voice always takes me by surprise.”

S: I know what you mean. Such a low low voice coming from such a short guy!”

D: “he gets lower with his normal voice than I do with a cold.”

S: “I’d love to hear what he sounds like with a cold.”

D: “You could probably hear each vibration as it goes by.”

S: “You could wave to each one.”

D: (turning up the music) “You know who wrote this one, right?”

S: “Yes.”

D: “Who wrote it?”

S: “Tschaikovsky.”

D: “Oh come on. Get a life. That ain’t Tschaicovsky, sister.”

S: “Mmmmmmm. Well, it was one of his friends, then.”

D: “Tschaikovsky didn’t have too many of those, you know.”

S: “No. I know who it was though! It was someone Tschaikovsky was mad at, wasn’t it?”

D: “I’ll help you out. It’s Jean [Frenchish pronunciation ZjjjjjjAW]“

S: “Well, yes. Good old Jean. It’s Jean … ummmm … Jean …”

D: “Like the movie they made about him.”

S: “Right. I loved that movie. The movie … “

D: “The movie JjjjjjjjjjjjAWS!“

S: (completely cracks up!)

D: “You’ll get it now. He was Finnish.”

S: “I’d be finished too if I wrote this stuff.”

D: “ONE … two … three. ONE … two … three. ONE … two … three.”

S: “Thank you, Dave, for the definition of a waltz.”

D: (sighing) “Sibelius! Sibelius! Sibelius!”

S: “Right. That’s him.”

Into the Light

I’ve never had full sight myself — only enough to read very large print and to distinguish faces. I could tell hot from cool colors: I could see detail if a thing was close enough: I could follow the action on TV if I sat close enough to lick the screen. I could describe the houses across the street though, and I had depth perception, so to my thinking, I had all I needed visually.

But after losing the last of my sight at 14, I often find myself wondering … What if I could have it all back? And what if I could have all of it — 20-20 vision?

I’m happy how I am now, but if the chance ever comes, would I take it? Would I be able to deal with it? Would it overwhelm me? See — never having full sight, I know there’d be so much to learn! It would take courage.

Julia posted this article about someone with that kind of courage and more.

United 93

I’d been looking forward to seeing United 93 for a while. Ever since I heard Glenn Beck’s review of his pre-screening (a review which he barely got through due to his breaking down on air about six times). True, Glenn doesn’t need much to trigger an on-air break-down. Just get him talking about his family or the lessons he’s had to learn the hard way while battling drugs and alcohol. He does tend to come off as an overly sensative guy. But, you can bet when Glenn breaks down, it’s about all the right stuff!

I went to see United 93 on Monday night with Kristin and one of her minions ( … or are they menions?). Man! What a crazy intense film! Even knowing the outcome … you’re jittery as a double-espresso high on the edge of your seat as the unwitting ineptitude of our nation’s flight traffic control unfolds … and unfolds … and unfolds before you. And there’s nothing to do but watch. Watch and wish you hadn’t brought so much soda in with you.

By far out-weighing the anxiety of this film is the humbling awe you have for the stark heroism of the passengers of United 93. These, unlike the thousands of innocents in the towers without a choice, thought they had a way out. Yet, left utterly alone in the face of an uncertain choice, with the barest glimmer of survival ahead, they chose a certain death for themselves rather than risk the probable deaths of hundreds more.

For all the seriousness of this docudrama, I did find myself laughing at a few key points.

There’s one point where after much chasing and fumbling around to get the go-ahead from the FAA to put war birds over Manhattan, one of the chief controllers is finally on the phone with someone who can get ‘em up. The only clue that he’s finally got the Commander and Chief goes something like … ‘Hello … Yes Sir. [deferential tone] … That’s my question Sir. What do we do now?’

Aaaah, Thanks for that, Bush.

Then, in the plane, when the passengers are discussing what to do now that they’ve been thoroughly terrorized and probably hijacked,, you get a bad whiff from across the pond. I mean you’re just so perfectly down-wind, you can’t help but laugh. It’s a European of some stripe who stands up and says, ‘No. Don’t do this. If we just talk to them and give them what they want, they will let us go and we can all get home safely!’

So here’s a link to more reviews. I’m telling you, everyone should see this film. At least everyone who’s not already been irreparably touched by the truths of 9/11 2001. Consider it your duty as an American or as a citizen of the world at large.

Final Skinny on the Job

Well, it wasn’t merely a persistent bout of wishful thinking after all; I am actually getting out of the pen factory and into something else at IBMilwaukee! I will start June 19. It’ll start out a little crazy because everyone’s going to be getting acquainted to the brand new facility at the same time! (That’s why this whole career thing has been postponed time after time to begin with: The moving of the plant and offices has been taking longer than expected, and the renovating, and they’re negotiating friendly transportation relations with the Milwaukee bus system — all this takes time, I’m told.

But guess what. He told me my proposed starting wage, and I like it. It’s better than expected. It’ll be a little tight (considering the apartment I want to be able to afford) but it’s definitely doable. Especially since I don’t have too many extra expenses like kids and a car. Heck, I won’t have cable, and there’s no need for a land line beyond my DSL connection, really. So, I’m considering myself set! … Basically. Almost. … OK … I’m set minus the part about being … set.

About the job: I’ll be starting as an e-commerce/customer services rep to help me get to know the company. My brother, Steve, gets to train me for this. They will then assess my talents and performance to move me on up if I’m offering something and that’s what I want. Not quite sure what ‘on up’ means, but I can dig.

So June 19! Oh yeah … and I get my own office! Mine. An office. And here I was just looking forward to decorating a little cubicle. This is all very, very nice.

The Prize-Writers

Check out this article on the kind of “journalism” that’s considered worthy of a Pulitzer these days. Kind of puts a damper on the whole thing about the truth being preferable to fiction, doesn’t it?

From the article:

The roster of Pulitzer winners had an unmistakable get-Bush smell to them, especially Dana Priest’s exposing secret prisons in Europe for terrorists in
the Washington Post, and James Risen’s and Eric Lichtblau’s NSA-surveillance exposure in the New York Times. The Pulitzers have a prize for Public Service,
but these leaks in the War on Terror might better deserve an award for Public Endangerment. As Bill Bennett put it, many Americans think it’s odd that
on these stories, “the leaker can be prosecuted, but the person who wrote it down, told every citizen about it, and told every enemy of every citizen of
this country gets a Pulitzer Prize.”

After reading this, I found myself wondering what kind of writing I think should deserve a Pulitzer. I think bloggers should count. Then we could at last award some of those American military bloggers. You know, our courageous men and women on the ground all over the world in defense of our freedom? As in — they’re the ones in a far better position to comment on the themes of this last Pulitzer batch. Check ‘em out!