Doing the Obvious

In two unrelated (well, except in my mind) events yesterday, the inevitable happened. Brett Favre got released by the Jets and Alren Specter finally realized that there's no place for moderates in the republican party.

Favre claims he's retired and I tend to believe him (this time). But, I won't be completely convinced until September. On another football related note, I cannot believe how poorly the Raiders' drafted. Another piece of evidence that Al Davis has lost it.

Of course, the democrats are licking their chops over Specter's defection. Assuming that they can FINALLY get Al Franken seated in the senate, they would have a filibuster proof majority of 60 (assuming they all vote the same way). Knowing them, they'd abuse the power so much that they'd lose the majority in 2010, but that's not the point. It would give Obama a freerer hand on energy and health care policy as he'd has a solid majority in the house (and can lose some votes from moderate democrats) and could do as he pleases in the senate at least until January of 2011. People can talk all they want about the first 100 days of his presidency, but this would make the first 18 months far more significant.

Another Shake of the Death Rattle

My m-i-l came home from the assisted care hospital on Sunday. Part of her release was that she would begin getting hospice care. At this point that means that she gets the cool bed and weekly visits from a nutritionist, rn, etc. She's still catheterized and has the portable commode as she's too weak to get in and out of bed herself. As usual, she spent her time in the assisted care facility complaining instead of doing anything to improve her strength.

Ever since her husband died in 2001 she's been in the "woe is me" mode. Her current situation has seriously upped the ante and she's (figuratively) searching the yellow pages for Dr. Kevorkian's number. At this point, I honestly can't blame her.

The wife went to see her yesterday and said she was very clear headed about things (for a change). It's hard to refute her logic. Who would want to spend X months in bed getting worse by the day. Of course, she could try to make her life better by reading, inviting people over, etc., but she wouldn't do that when she was doing somewhat better.

CA does have a weak assisted suicide law, but with her history of depression no doc would ever certify that she's making the decision with a clear head. So, she's going to go on like this for at least a bit longer. But, probably not much longer.

Hatin' on the Haters

Oh, where to start...

I know. You remember those pond scum who protest at military funerals saying that the soldiers had it coming because American tolerates (sorta) gays and lesbians? No, I'm not going to link to them. Well, they're still at it, and spreading their message of love...and by that I mean, the opposite of love.

There's a high school near me that's going to put on a production of RENT (be happy, Jen). This school is in the middle of VERY republican country, so we're talking about a bunch of relatively conservative rich kids. But, our friends from the midwest can't let this stand, so they are on their way to protest. What, I don't know (freedom of speech? operas being turned into popular plays?). Silver lining? You know they're gonna sell far more tickets than they would have otherwise. Maybe then the school will have enough money to hire a gay drama teacher.

I don't know about where you live, but out here the animal rights groups are starting to take on a terrorist vibe. I believe that as the top dog in the land food chain we have some responsibilities towards other critters and, let's face it, animal research isn't pretty (nor is farming, for that matter). Sure, most of the animals are bred to be killed during the research, but that's not the point. But, we tolerate it to support product and medical research (some of which saves other animals' lives, I suppose).

If these people want to protest to make conditions more humane for animals and minimize the amount of research done on them, I willing to listen. But, I'm not for getting rid of it entirely and firebombing houses and cars undercuts their non-violent message.

Now that Bush the C-Student is out, some UCLA researchers grew a pair (hm...perhaps cloned a pair?) and protested against the intimidation. This is not the most extroverted group of people on the planet, so they must really be pissed. And I don't blame them. I'm thinking the FBI's going to be a bit more sympathetic towards them now that there are two people who can read in the White House.

Up and Running

After a very stressful beginning of the week, I got my laptop back up and running. Best I can tell, there's only one program that I lost (I had it as a zip file and not on CD and hopefully I can find it on Limewire) and I saved all of my data. Still, I'm kinda pissed at myself. I'm so fucking stubborn sometimes. I could have easily had this resolved late last week if I wouldn't have been so worried about reloading programs. Yeah, it takes a little time, but about 10% of what I fucking wasted with Norton tech support. I'm such an idiot sometimes.

In m-i-l news, she got admitted to the hospital overnight, then moved to an assisted living joint (she's been there before). She'll be coming home this weekend and will be getting intro to hospice. Her MRIs show that her cancer has spread to her liver. Also, the bigger problem in her back is that the disk where she has the compression fracture is herniated. Oh, and she can't pee, like she's got an enlarged prostate or something.

The wife's birthday is Friday, but she's in no mood to celebrate (including canceling her family bday party on Saturday). We're going to go hear some music tomorrow (the HB's at a school overnight) and we'll do an immediate family birthday dinner when the HB gets back on Friday.

Hopefully things will get better soon.

Death Rattles

One reason I haven't been blogging so much this week is that my computer got a virus. Actually, I think it got a couple and has probably had some low level ones in it for a while. I had been thinking of getting a new one soon anyway, but spending a week reloading software (assuming it would even be compatible with Vista) made my stomach turn.

So, my first stop is Symatec since I use Norton. Not really by choice as it came loaded on the computer. The one thing I love about their tech support is that they take control of your computer and do all of the work. The thing I don't love about them is that they only react to the problems you can describe (despite the $100 fee), so their fixes are minimal and it usually takes 2-3 calls to get it done right. This has been the case so far. I say so far in that each time I've called I've gotten something taken care of (first it was uncontrollable pop-ups, yesterday it was Google hijacking). The good news of all of this is that since they've done the cleanups, my computer hasn't run faster in years. The bad news is that between the cure and virus damage my computer is having non-virus related problems.

So, my second stop was HP tech support. This is always pretty hit-and-miss. Unfortch, they don't have the cool remote help so I had to spend some time on the phone with them on Friday night. Until 3am. Actually, before I got on the phone with them I tried their on-line tech support chat. This was an enormous waste of time. The only thing they wanted to do was reformat the drive and reinstall windows. Uh, I don't think so (see reloaded all of my software comment above).

The primary problem was that the system would boot, flash a blue screen error, then reboot. The tech I worked with got this (eventually) resolved. However, in a bizarre twist, the USB ports will read my external hard drive (you can bet your ass the first thing I did was back-up my data again as soon as the call was over) and replicator port, but not any other USB devices (e.g., MP3 players, camera, etc.). Nor will those things work when I plug them into my replicator's USB ports. So, I have a "date" with the senior tech who was helping me with these after midnight on Friday.

The other week my m-i-l was diagnosed with a compression fracture in a vertabrae in her back. He's got osteoporosis, so it's not a huge surprise that she's got this. It's causing her a lot of visible pain, in addition to her other pains, real or imagined. Falling into the latter is her emphysema diagnosis. My wife found out at the last doctor's visit that her lung capacity is between 92% and 94%. Not exactly emphysema range. But, because she all but refuses to take her Prozac and Xanax she gets a lot of anxiety. Which makes it hard for her to breathe. Which gives her more anxiety. Which makes it hard for her to breathe. Etc. In fact, the doc needs to sign special paperwork to get her the 24 hr. oxygen.

Given the situation, it makes one wonder why she needs the 24 hour care, oxygen, etc. if all she needs to do is take her fucking medicine. Dont' get me wrong, she's old and frail, but she seems to be making this tougher on herself, and far more tougher on her kids, than she needs to.

Calling Them as They See/Saw Them

Hm..weird that I would write about sports announcers twice in a week. However...

Normally, I watch sports with the sound off. After you've watched enough games there's really not much more they can say on TV (having said that, I LOVE listening to games on the radio). With all of the super-loud people on TV, it is hard to remember how different John Madden, who announced his retirement today, was.

I loved his enthusiasm when he was the RAIDERS head coach and was glad that he brought it to the broadcast booth. He thoroughly enjoyed football, knew it inside and out and expressed both. He also brought a coach's view of strategy to the booth (as I recall, there were plenty of ex-players calling games, but no coaches).

I'll admit that I haven't listened to him in a couple of years, but I don't recall anyone saying that he had lost it. Though, I know some who were tired of his shtick. He retired from the RAIDERS before he had to, so it's not surprising that he would do that again. I wish him well and hope that his next chapter is as good as his last one.

Coincidentally (I think), the LA Times ran a story on the Clippers' long suffering (as any long term employee of the Clippers is) announcer, Ralph Lawler. Actually, the coincidence was that I watched and listened to him do a game the day before. He's as good of a play-by-play man as they come, but has languished in LA in the shadow of Chick Hearn (Lakers) and Vin Scully (Dodgers).

He has a job of extremes. On one hand, when I was doing college radio, I would have given my left nut to get a professional play-by-play gig. But, if I knew that the team I was covering would lose 2/3 of their games almost every year, that would give anyone pause. Who wants to deliver bad news to fans just about every night?

What's amazing is that he's one of the only competent employees that is visible to the public that the Clippers' owner Donald Sterling keeps around. To work for such a cheap ass who puts a barely passable team on the court must be tough. One can only conclude that Lawler is a) a crazy optimist and/or b) he LOVES basketball and/or c) he's as loyal as can be. Of course, he's well paid, gets to travel in style, etc. But, still. You'd think that after Hearn died he would have had his agent at least call over to the Lakers. Maybe UCLA or USC basketball?

He's a pro. Too bad he's had to slum it with the Clips.

Catch-Up and Taxes

I think I'm FINALLY caught up at work. Of course, I should say that in a stage whisper or else who knows what else if going to flood my inbox. I've got a proposal due tomorrow and I need to decide if I want to do more work for a new client (they don't pay particularly well).

Monday I sent off our taxes. The good news is that we're getting a refund from the State and Feds. The bad news is that we gave them an interest free loan last year. Sigh.

As a Libertarian, April 15th is a black holiday. It's the one time that you can get people to ask, "Exactly what am I getting for my money here?" What kills me is the republicrats faux anger at the situation. It would be one thing if Reagan, Bush I and Bush II shrunk government, but they didn't. The fact is that there are no serious "small government" republicrats with any power in the party. Shit, these guys spent money in Iraq and Afganistan and wouldn't even put it in the budget.

Both parties want big governement. They just disagree on what they want to blow our money on. It's either matriarchical local programs or patriarchical weapons programs. And, of course, anything that sends federal money into their district.

So, as you look with sadness at your check register, or wait in anticipation at the mail box, spend a few minutes thinking about how well your money's been spent. Once you stop crying, you can go register as a Libertarian (see link at the right).

Phillies and Pirates

I LOVE the beginning of baseball season. It's the unofficial beginning of summer in LA. While not normally a fan of the team, I was pleased to see that the Dodgers kicked the shit out of the Giants in their home opener. The Angels are scuffling a bit, even though they took 2 of 3 from the Red Sox, but will be fine once they get some of their pitching healthy.

When I was a kid we went to Philly EVERY summer for at least a week or two. Being a baseball fan, we'd go to games at the Vet and listen to Harry Kalas on the radio. His style was always similar to Vin Scully, the Dodgers' announcer and I really enjoyed listening to him (he also did national NFL games on the radio). I was sad when I heard of his passing. It serves as a reminder to enjoy Vin (who's significantly older) while we still have him.

I'm generally a pacifist, but there are occasions when people have earned the violence they get. Like those Somali pirates. I'm very impressed with the marksmanship of the Navy SEALs for three of them to get those dudes with one shot while on a bobbing boat. I spoke to a friend of mine who used to be in special forces. He was pretty impressed as well.

These guys aren't Al Quada ideologues. They just want to make some money. Of course, the guys on the boats are the ones getting rich from the activity. I think if a few more of them get their heads blown off at sea that recruiting will start getting a bit tougher. We'll see.

NY Wrap Up

Remember how I said that MoMA wasn't going to be any better than the Guggenheim? Well, I was right. In spades. Friday afternoons/evenings are FREE at MoMA, so it was an absolute fucking madhouse. It was super crowded and it was hard to really see anything. I felt badly for the boys because there was some things there they would have normally enjoyed. At least I got a pick of the HB in front of a Jackson Pollack, which is not my desktop background.

The wife was concerned that the airport was going to be a zoo on Saturday morning, so we left about 3 hours before our flight. Even though it was raining, we made every light on the way to La Guardia, there was no traffic, and no lines at tickets counter or security. This gave Mr. United Airlines one more chance to fuck with us.

Of course, they couldn't guarantee that the four of us could go stand-by to make an earlier flight through Chicago (strangely, they didn't even offer to put us through Denver). Then, we had to ASK them to put our four seats together (for the 3rd time in 3 legs). Then, we get to the gate and there's been a change of equipment. They put us two and two behind each other, which is fine, except the put the boys, who are minors, in the emergency row, so we had to swap with them. All this AND a 3 hour layover in Chicago. Hm...wonder why they went bankrupt.

All in all, we all had a good time on the trip. We've pretty much done everything in the big town with the boys, so I can't imagine us taking them there again. I would like to go back with the wife and stay downtown, eat at good restaurants and hear some jazz. Maybe sometime soon.

NYC Blues

Not for us, we're still having a great time. But, you can really see how the recession has hit here. First, lots of news stories about getting through tough times. Far more than you see in LA. Second, not nearly as much stuff on Broadway, and what is there mostly revivals.

The weather held today, so we were able to walk around. We made it to the Guggenheim, but it was a zoo. We'll be going to MoMA later, but that will probably be more of the same. Then, since the wife and I promised ourselves we would have real food tonight, we'll either go to an Irish place across from MoMA or a French place near Lex.

Flying home tomorrow (sniff) with a loooooong Chicago layover (thanks, again, United Airlines). The boys are having a good time, as the wife and I are. It's been a good trip.

Spring Sunshine

It's been a busy day for us. After getting in some good sleep we grabbed some breakfast. Unfortunately, we had to switch rooms. The original room was a suite with two queen beds. Oh, and ladies, the shower had quite the "magic stick". We were a little miffed by this at first, until we go into the new room which is awesome. It's on the corner of the hotel with views of Central Park and the Hudson River.

Speaking of Central Park, it was a beautiful day to walk through it. We crisscrossed our way through all the way up to the Guggenheim (which was closed, dammit). The trees haven't greened up yet, but there were lots of flowers in bloom. We hit some of the famous spots (Strawberry Fields, the Obelisk, etc.) before grabbing some lunch in front of the Met.

The nephew wanted to see Grand Central Station, so we took the #6 down Lexington to 42nd Street (we're on 54th Street) and checked it out. I think he was suitably impressed.

Now we're just kicking it at the hotel for a bit. We'll grab some dinner around here (no more Times Sq. food, thank you very much) before seeing a show tonight at 8. But for now, some web surfing and watching the Masters is just fine.

Critters Behind Glass

It SNOWED this morning while we were having breakfast. Woot!

The American Natural History Museum is a very HUGE place. But I always get the sense that it's setup for people who don't get out (even to a zoo) much. However, it does have some amazing taxidermy.

The exhibits on evolution, geology, biology etc. are great and gave us a lot of things to talk to the boys about. But, it's all kind of sterile. Who knows, maybe a guided tour would have been better.

Tonight, we're going back to Times Square and going to a restaurant we like (Ruby Foo's) and then Ripley's.

Tomorrow's supposed to be nicer, so we're gonna spend the day in Central Park. I can't wait.

Happy Passover to those of you who give up your leavening for the week.

Crashing in the City That Never Sleeps

We took the train from south Jersey to NYC this morning after breakfast and got here around noon. We tried to get tickets for The Lion King, but since it's about the only good family friendly show on Broadway we were shut out. We'll try again tomorrow.

We did make it to Madame Toussaud's, which the boys loved (and made waxed hand models) before checking into our hotel. I used what seemed like a million points and a sperm sample to get us a suite at the Hilton for four nights. We munched on the happy hour appetizers and called it dinner. As we were planning our activities, we decided to make a run a the Empire State Building in the evening. It still took us over an hour to get up there (much shorter than during the day) and it was about 40 degrees with a really brisk wind on the observation deck. It was clear, so you could see everything in NY and Jersey. We (and about everyone else in our group) stayed up there about 15 minutes before going back down (which took another 30 min).

I'm thinking tomorrow we'll hit the Natural History Museum and the Planetarium. It's supposed to rain, so it will be a good day to be inside. Thursday's supposed to be our good weather day, so we're saving Central Park until then.

Traisping the Northeast (Updated)

Today we drove out to Gettysburg. It was about 3 hours from southern Jersey. The drive was beautiful through rolling hills and farmland. In CA, except for some of the vineyards, the farmland is flat.

The national battleground site is amazing and mostly intact. There are a few things that are striking about it. One is that some buildings are right in the middle of the site. My sense is that most were rebuilt after the war by the residents as the pictures of the war show most everything devastated on the field (there are some buildings in town that have war damage). Second is the number of monuments. There are markers (some quite large) for every state (US and Confederate), divisions, battle positions, generals, etc. Third, you can walk pretty much anywhere and get the same view the the participants had.

We had a guide drive us around for two hours and he was really great with the boys and made things really come alive for all of us. I can't compare it to the audio tours since we didn't do one, but it was cool to be able to ask questions and get reasonable answers. The wife and I could have easily done another hour of the tour.

The visitor center is about a year old and is well done. The museum provides a good backdrop of the battle as well as a lot of detail about those three days and its aftermath. As you would imagine, there's a lot of space dedicated to the Gettysburg Address. Interesting in that the reaction of the newspapers to it was quite mixed, even in the north.

The boys really enjoyed the visit, especially the nephew. The HB got a bunch out of it as well and said he liked it. Not bad for this kind of side trip.

Next on our itinerary is a train ride from south Jersey to NYC. Looks like we'll have OK weather there. We've got a city pass to all kinds (MOMA, Empire State Building, the Met, etc.) of things and tickets to 39 Steps. I think we'll try to get some Lion King tickets at the half-off booths. Based on searching the web, etc., the bad economy has been tough on Broadway and there aren't many shows that are appealing (LOTS of revivals).

Bummer about Michigan St. UNC definitely showed in the tourney that they were the best team.

The Big Trip

We (the wife, HB, nephew and I) made it to Philly Saturday night without many problems (we flew United, so there was, of course, some buttfuckery to be had). Enjoyed a cheeseteak and some scotch while watching Villanova get beat by UNC.

Today we did some serious tourista stuff in Philly, Liberty Bell and Indepdence Hall. Then we went to the Mutter Museum. We figured the nephew would like it. We were wrong. He LOVED it. Lots of suspended body parts, models, etc. There was one exhibit of drawers that included over 2000 things that an ear, nose and throat doc had extracted from people's throats. Teeth, dentures, toys (jacks), safety pins, all kinds of pits and seeds, machine parts and almost anything else small enough to fit in someone's throat. Amazing.

After the museum, we battled some hellish traffic and drove to Gettysburg. We're scheduled for some tours, etc. I'm really looking forward to it. We'll drive back to Philly in the evening, then catch a train to NYC Tuesday morning.

Fair Election

Remember how it was such a big deal last year when a republican justice department indicted republican senator Ted Stevens of Alaska? Steven, convinced of his innocence requested, and got, a speedy trial hoping that his name would be cleared by election day. Wrong. He was convicted four days before the election and lost to a democrat by less than 2% of the votes. During the trial the justice department got their wrists slapped a few time for withholding evidence and the like.

Now, Obama's justice department has determined through an internal investigation that there was other prosecutorial misconduct and has asked that the charges be dropped (Stevens appealed the original verdict).

As a practical matter, all of the bigwig republicans in Alaska are calling for a special election hypothesizing that without the conviction Stevens would have won. On that point, they are probably right. Never mind that they all asked for Stevens to resign while on trial.

Whether Stevens is innocent is another matter. Eric Holder, the Attorney General, probably figured that he had a no-risk way to send a message to the department. The 85 year-old Stevens' political career is toast (thanks to Bush) and he can say that he's cleaning things up by pulling out of the case. While the prosecutors clearly over-played a good hand, they probably would have gotten a conviction without the shenanigans. But, we'll never know.

The special election argument is an interesting one. We vote within a specific time period (remember absentee ballots and voting by mail) and nothing that happens after election day matters. If the Alaska republicans get their way, what's the criteria for saying, "Hey, our candidate got screwed"? Over-turned convictions? Being shown to be right for a political decision? New dirt being dug up about the winner?

Good timing is important when running for office (I'll be McCain wishes the economy was better off last summer and fall). But, I think Stevens was a victim of his own associations, bad timing and a new tide in the country.