Month: September 2011

Soup strainers

Yeah, I have to pretty much agree. It is damned near impossible to look sexy (or even to look like you want to be taken seriously) with a standalone moustache. Not completely impossible, I guess, but damned close.

I once briefly considered doing a blog featuring photos of preposterous facial hair. This was many years ago when I still lived in San Francisco–fertile territory for such things, what with all the hipsters and bears roaming around off-leash and cross-breeding. I got as far as scouting domain names. Should’ve rolled with that. Might have been fun.

Hmmm…

NY1

For some reason, I seem to be getting Time Warner Cable’s New York news channel on cable this week. I assume it’s related to the upcoming anniversary–they seem to be running lots of special programming–but it’s kind of a nice change of pace watching their morning news rather than the perky morons on Fox 8.

Weekends

Two weekends ago: Plans ruined by car trouble.

Last weekend: Nice visit with emotional undertones.

This weekend: Lots of homework.

Next weekend: I may just sort of watch movies and not react to them (or the world) in any way whatsoever.

Five weekends from now: Shuffle off to Buffalo and points north (and west and east).

Rethink this one?

I’m really not the patriotic and easily offended sort.

But…

On this particular weekend, it strikes me as not in the best of taste–and also pretty fucking creepy–to have an air show going on that involves lots of really loud, low-flying planes that can be heard all over town.

Flying north

Sorry. The title is just a gratuitous Thomas Dolby reference. I’ll actually be driving north, which will be infinitely more fun–if no less expensive.

I’m getting very excited about my upcoming Canadian vacation. Considering how long it’s been since I’ve been all that excited about much of anything, that’s a pretty happy thing to say. Yeah, it’s been a shitty year. The worst ever. By far. So this should be a nice break.

The itinerary is being shaped by an outside force that I shan’t be naming right now (when I get back I promise) and it’s not completely solidified yet, but it looks like I’ll be in Buffalo visiting Sarah and Brad on the 8th and 9th, followed by five days in Toronto, three days in Ottawa, and a few more days in one or more locations that may include any combination of Montreal, Portland, and Schenectady.

It’s going to be a more urban trip to Toronto than the past two; I’m staying close in and am planning to do more walking and transit. Once out of Toronto, I’m looking forward to road tripping across southern Ontario and seeing friends in Ottawa (which I’ll be visiting for the first time) and upstate New York. I’M also planning to do a Stpehen Shore style diary scrapbook kind of thing.

And when I get back, I’ll have a very unique Canadian souvenir. But more about that later…

Smoky dreams

Nearly eight years after quitting, I find that still smoke a lot in my dreams. I Invariably end up having a cigarette just before I wake up. Then, when I’m in that brief half awake moment, I get really sad that I’d managed to quit for so long but started back. But a second later I wake up completely, realize that I never started back, and am very happy.

It’s a stressful but generally good way to wake up. And it reminds me how glad I am that I don’t smoke anymore.

Randomly Friday

Assorted thoughts while spending a Friday evening with Gene Tierney:

  • The first day of fall is always a happy day in my world, meaning as it does that the long hell of summer is coming to an end.
  • I’ve been having very odd sex dreams the past few nights. I suppose this continues my recent trend of dreaming about habits I’ve given up. If only I could start dreaming about pizza and fried food…
  • I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone call Starship a classic band before and I sincerely hope that I never do again.
  • Here’s an article that just screams, “For the love of God please don’t read the comments, or you head will surely explode.”

Ring twice

It’s kind of quaintly anachronstic to say that I’m sitting at home on Saturday morning waiting for the postman. It’s also kind of a pain in the ass because I have other things I’d rather be doing.

I’m waiting here because there’s something coming that I’ll have to sign for and it will be an even bigger pain in the ass if I miss delivery and have to go in and pick it up next week. Since I live and work thirty miles apart, and since the post office closes at 5:00, it’s not like I can just pop over on my lunch hour. I’m addition to waiting in the interminable line and interacting with the rude, surly postal workers, I’d also have to take time off from work.

All of which is indicative of why the postal service is in trouble now. The fact that it makes even its premium services like Express Mail so inconvenient through limited hours, etc. demonstrates why FedEx and UPS are winning that battle. At least they manage to keep some staff on hand so you can pick up a fucking envelope after work.

Yeah, I realize that postal rants are just too easy, but it’s been a while since I did one.

Monday reassessment

So I guess there’s a bit of a premium for that convenience. I just went to FedEx and spent more to send something three-day than I would’ve spent at the post office for overnight service. Sigh…

Other Monday stuff:

  • You’ll no doubt be relieved to know that I’m more or less over the serious funk that you didn’t know I was in yesterday.
  • My extremely important vacation is now once again in the hands of the nice folks at Canadian immigration. Long story. Don’t ask.
  • On the plus side, my AppleTV has also recovered from the serious funk it was apparently in yesterday, and I finished a major administrative task at work today.

Time for some Hawaii Five-O…

Randomly Friday night

Since I no longer have the ABC Friday night lineup from 1972 to count on:

  • I seem to be accidentally stumbling on lots of Canadian films on Netflix of late. There may or may not be any significance to that. Probably not.
  • Speaking of Netflix, I cannot for the life of me determine what movie I’ve ever watched that would suggest that Ayn Rand: In Her Own Words should keep being my “top pick.”
  • Mr. Kellogg and I have, it seems, a radically different notion of what constitutes “one serving” of cereal.
  • Only one more (extremely long and stressful) week till vacation. And a visit from Duncan next week too!
  • Best of all, though: Tonight marks the end of that ten-day run of Erythromycin I’ve been taking for a little gum infection. If you’ve ever taken it, you’ll know why I’ll be very relieved not to be.
  • Maybe even better still: Low of 47F tonight and 41F tomorrow night. Be still my heart.

Good night, all.