Plus I Thought This Was Nifty

Ooh, a link!

No, over here.

Completely Out of Context, but Worth Repeating Anyway

"I'm not sure you can effectively protect the sovereignty of a modern nation-state by loving your enemies (which, for starters, might involve not killing them), turning the other cheek, or seeking the last place at the banquet table. In other words, if a comprehensive Christian ethic exists, I consider it antithetical to the possibility of a Christian nation."

--Ted

Watch "Around the Horn"?

Bill Plaschke is terrible.

Canoe-wise

We had a great time.

Yes, I'm a Whine Person

Spent the afternoon yesterday working in the yard (which I abhor) with Randy (whom I adore) and ended up with a pretty nifty sunburn for my trouble. Heat index over a hundred, temperatures in the mid-nineties -- screw that. Some people dig that sort of thing, but I, who am not shaped for sportive tricks, I hates it. Sweaty and grimey and paranoid about our rampant poison-ivy. Nuts to that.

So I'm burnt and I don't like to go outside even to turn on the hose that waters the garden. (I'm grateful that we've an old-school mail slot in the wall that keeps me from having to walk to the mailbox and back -- I sweat like Moses Malone all summer long, always have) And tomorrow, they day I was supposed to eat sushi with Tara, the powers that be @ work have announced a "Team Building" event. ("Team Building" being defined as "stuff they make us department heads do on our days off to boost morale. Make sense to you? Me neither; anyway...) Meaning that I'll spend my day off canoeing. I enjoy canoeing as much as the next guy (as long as the next guy isn't some kind of crazy canoe-loving freakazoid) but tomorrow is supposed to be hotter and more humid (heat index up toward one-ten and temps approaching ninety-eight, and I'd much rather be eating sushi and reading Harry Potter.

And I'm already sunburnt.

Ichiro Watch

.310

Baseball Question

Name the four National League second basemen to hit at least 20 homeruns and win a Gold Glove in the same season.

Ah, Emily...

"And as for the truth, it seems like we just pick a theory;
The one that justifies our daily lives and backs us with quiver and arrow
To protect openings 'cause when the warring begins,
How quickly the wide open narrows..."

from "Deconstruction" by Emily Saliers

More Gold From Ted

...and the other one's hailing a taxicab...

Okay, One More

Ruthie says we can keep him. :)

Fresh Wonton

What a smile.

More Bumpersticker Fun

Seen in the Kroger parking lot:

"The U.S. Military: # 1 in Freedom"

And then a picture of a hand held up to signify "Number One," with blood dripping from the extended index finger.

Back to the Shelf, You

I've been wading through this since late June, and am getting nowhere. Robert Penn Warren was the United States' first poet laureate and the writing in All the King's Men is poetic (though not enough to be bothersome) and pleasant enough to read, (there's also a movie due out in December with Sean Penn, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Kate Winslet -- mmm...Kate Winslet,) but I just can't get into it, so...

I will read this instead.

He's a Funny Kid

We've already established that Sam, my sister's (recently turned) three-year-old is an intelligent, articulate and amusing kid. We like him lots. One day last week Ruthie and I were hanging out with Sam and his eleven-(ish)-month-old sister Cassie. Cassie's a pretty girl and (they say) has a great smile, but the list of people in the world that she's cool with is very, very short. And if she's not cool with you she screams and cries and screams...and cries....and screams.

So I'm sitting on the couch with Sam trying to decide whether to play trains or watch Lord of the Rings and Cassie is doing what my mother, (or was it Aunt Marji?) used to refer to as "wailing like a banshee," and I turn to Sam and say, "Cassie's crying."

And he says, "She does it every day -- I hate it." Come on, this kid's three.

And because it's a game for me now, I say, "Sam, is Cassie a monster?"

And he turns to me thoughtfully --it's not a game for him -- shuts one eye and raises the opposite eyebrow and says, "No, she's a crab."

Recommended Reading, Part II

Don't be afraid.

Ichiro Watch

.307

Amen

Probably you all read Ted anyway, but for the love of God don't miss this one.

Random Song I've Always Loved

"Valotte," by Julian Lennon

What're ya gonna do?

She's Funny

We dropped the Wonton off at my Mom's for the evening last Friday and headed off to dinner and a movie. As we pulled out of the driveway I wondered to Ruthie if we shouldn't have left our car with my mom as it has the baby's car seat in it, in case she needed to take him anywhere.

"That," she said, "is what ambulances are for."

17-1

The good thing about baseball is that a 17-1 loss only counts for one loss.

The bad thing is that sometimes you get pounded by the Red Sox.

Let it Begin

Okay, the All-Star break is behind us and it's time to start talking baseball. Some quick random thoughts before we go watch the Batman movie.

**The Yanks had a terrible first half (if only by Yankee standards) and are at this moment a game-and-a-half back. If this series with the Sox goes well the boys'll be in first. Lots of ball yet to play.

**Someone had to say it. (In the interest of balance, Gammons disagrees.)

**Batting average may be the second most overrated stat in the game, but let the Ichiro Watch commence. He's @ .308.

No Comment

Three stickers seen on the same car:

"My boss is a Jewish carpenter."

"I'm not opinionated, I'm just always right."

And one of a cartoon bunny pointing to her crotch and saying, "Eat me."

Just Me, Sitting Here Quoting People

"What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us are wrapped up in parentheses."
--John Irving, The Cider House Rules

Gotta Go to Work

There's not much time for this before I need to be off to work, but yesterday I went back to the church in Price Hill to talk to them. I sat down a couple weeks ago to start on what I planned to say, but thought I'd toss off a quick blog entry that had been rattling around in my head for days before I started on the "talk." What I ended up with was a 1700 word blog entry (see "Resurrection," June 21,) that, with a little attention, seemed as worthwhile for a Sunday as anything else I was likely to come up with, so I went with it. It was a departure from the kind of thing I'd been doing for them, but I doubt that very many people noticed that.

Got in and out as quickly as I could, though there were some people there whom it was good to see. Mostly it's just awkward. I did get to sit by Tom & Kerri though -- I like them.

Even apart from the church thing it was a busy weekend. Maybe I'll get around to blogging about it.

We Have Some Thoughtful Friends

"If there's anything we need one another for, it's to help us see Life, to hold each other's hands when we have to go down into the basements of ourselves and turn the lights on, to prod each other to spend our days wisely, to urge each other to invest our lives and time in things that matter to us, to point out beauty, to sit with and be with ugliness and grief, to stir up one another's imaginations, to pass hope back and forth among one another that Life can be better in this world: that it's worth our tears and sweat and failures... And to remind each other that being with another human with confidence and quiet gentleness is the most difficult and beautiful thing we could experience."
--tg

Deep Night

Where's the line between

Self-pity and real grieving

I don't know...don't know

One Day More

You can pretty much
Reuse yesterday's haiku
But tonight it's worse

I Miss My Family

Okay guys...Yoo-hoo
Yesterday was kind of fun.
You can come home now.

Hmm...

Ambiguity

Consumes a haiku's top line

But I'm not sure why.

Evening Haiku

Home all by myself
It's just me until Sunday
Something's not quite...

I Hate Summer

This is my current desktop wallpaper.

Trivia Question

How many players in the baseball Hall of Fame were born in Cincinnatuh?

Birthdays Mean Gift Cards

Picked up k. d. lang's drag and the new Ben Folds yesterday. Thanks hannaH & Dale!

Odd

For some reason, yesterday's post only shows if you click on July from the archive sidebar. Hmm.

Help me Finish this List

Top Five Movies About Our Dads

**Big Fish
**Field of Dreams
**Garden State

GIDP

Six to four to three
Double play up the middle
Worse than striking out

Currently Digging

Lyle Lovett's "Nobody Knows Me."

Another

I am is enough
If Who are you's the question.
Don't complicate it.