Lakers, Whew

As predicted here earlier, the Lakers beat the Nuggets in 6 games. They definitely saved their best for last, as they did almost everything right last night. They out-shot (57% to 43% overall, 56% to 42% from 3-point range, 100% to 80% from the line), out-rebounded (38 to 27), out-blocked (4-3) the Nuggets and moved the ball better (28 to 14 assists). Even when Denver caught them in the second half and the crowd went nuts, the Lakers went into overdrive and put the game away.

Their opponent in the finals will be either Orlando (who holds a 3-2 lead in the series) or Cleveland (never count out LeBron James). Tonight's game 6 is in Orlando. Game 7, if necessary, will be Monday in Cleveland. The finals don't start until June 7, so both teams (whoever they are) will be rested.

The Lakers were 2-0 against Cleveland and 0-2 against Orlando in the regular season. Despite that, I would rather they face Orlando (sorry, Madison Avenue). They would have home court advantage. Also, Orlando beat them before Jameer Nelson got hurt and he gave the Lakers all kinds of trouble.

Go Lakers!

My M-I-L is Dead

My wife called me at about 9am yesterday to tell me that her mom had died. It was peaceful in the sense that she was pretty sedated at the end and died in her sleep. Of course, that was nothing like the weeks leading up to it. The wife has mixed emotions. Obviously sad that her mom's gone, but relieved that the suffering is done.

My b-i-l flew in from Albuquerque and will be staying for the week ("Where was he last week when we needed him," sniffed my wife). He's the executor of the will and had power of attorney, so I would imagine he'll be meeting with the lawyer, real estate agent, etc.

We (my wife and her sibs, the HB, and the nephew) all got together last night for dinner. The oldest s-i-l was already three sheets to the wind. She's one of those death story tellers. "Oh, she just needed our permission to go (the woman wanted to die for at least two years now)." "She heard all of our last words and that was comforting to her (she was so hard of hearing it was difficult to have a reasonable conversation with her when she was fully coherent; I can't imagine all of the morphine helped). Whatever, if that makes her feel better, who am I to rain on her parade.

The people my wife works with sent a HUGE flower arrangment. She was kind of taken aback by it as she's not into things that are ostentatious. In a way, she found it depressing because it's such a reminder that her mom's gone.

As in all things, life goes on. We have a guy coming to take a look at our kitchen at noon. The HB's off of school today and tomorrow, but has rehearsals. The NZS2 has to buckle down more on his studies and he'll see some of his fellow exchange students for the last time on Sunday. And, the Lakers came through late in the 3rd/4th quarters last night to take charge of their series with Denver 3 games to 2.

Action on the Court

OK, I'm not talking about the French Open here. But, obviously big doings in legal courts.

First, Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor to sit on the Supreme Court. When I heard it, my first thought was, "Oh, she's the federal judge that ruled against the owners which led to the end of the baseball strike." Let's be clear about one thing: She is a lock to get through Senate confirmation. First, the elephants don't have the votes to filibuster. Even if Franken's not seated (denying the donks their 60th vote), I can't see the republican moderates, particularly Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, blocking a vote on her, even if they decide to vote against her.

There will be some picking at her speeches and maybe some rulings, but unless she hasn't paid nanny taxes or something she'll have a new work address by October. My concern about her, and all of the Supremes, isn't what she wrote about a particular case or mused in a law review article. Rather, does her interpretation of the constitution tend to give the federal government more or less power? Given how much power Obama has given to the federal government on economic matters (did you know that you and I will own about 70% of GM after its bankruptcy is final?), I fear that Ms. Sotomayor is cut from the same cloth.

Closer to home, the California supreme court decided to play Solomon, sort of, on the issue of homosexuals being allowed to marry. First, they decided that the Prop 8, which changed the CA constitution to disallow the practice of homosexuals getting married, was legit. At the same time, the court ruled that the 18,000 or so same sex couples that got married in the time between the court saying it was OK and the voters saying that it's not are still officially married. So, we have an island of gay/lesbian married couples insides a matrimonial fish bowl.

I think this goofy set of cirucumstances will be moot as I'm sure yet another initiative will be put on the ballot next go around. Demographics (older people tend not to support gay rights) and the public tide are against those who want to deny this right to others.

I have mixed feelings about the court's ruling. On one hand, a basic tenet of democracy is that the will of the people shall be followed. There was no fraud in the Prop 8 vote. Also, gay/lesbian couples in California have, as far as I know, every legal right as straight couples when it comes to property ownership, adoption, insurance, etc. So, in a sense it's a fight over semantics.

On the other hand, separate is never equal. Also, it sickens me that the state I love voted to take rights away from people. Shit, California used to lead the way in this department. I hope that I'm right about this being moot soon.

One more political note. I took the Political Irony link off of the side bar. When I first started reading it there was some balance to it. Now, all it does is take shots at republicans. As if there's no sickening political irony on the democratic side.

In family news, my m-i-l is on the 24-48 hour death watch. My wife tells me that her breathing is very slow (from the morphine). She also said that she looks 30 years younger without all of the worry lines in her face. Take that as you will.

More Weekend Stuff

Well, things have certainly changed since my last post. My wife and s-i-l got some major food poisoning from sharing a quiche at Mimi's cafe. My s-i-l, always one to look on the bright side () was happy that she puked and shitted 9lbs. The wife confessed that she hurled on four surfaces last night.

Before all of that went down, we did go see the new Night at the Museum. I wasn't wild about the first one and, like most sequels, this one was worse. However, the scenes where they are in that National Gallery and the paintings and sculptures come to life are pretty cool

So, my dad came up here today and picked up the HB from my s-i-l's. We grilled some great sausages from Jeff''s. Then we (me, my dad, the HB and NZS2) went the Norton Simon museum. Even though I just took the NZS2 to a museum (hm...I'm sensing a theme), I figured he'd like this one. Plus, it got us out of the house so the wife could sleep.

The museum has some of my favorite impressionist paintings, including Van Gogh's Mulberry Tree and Picasso's Woman with Book. And there's enough modern stuff to keep the HB interested. Of course, being the bad influence that I am, we made snide jokes about some of the religious paintings.

Back to the work thing tomorrow. The HB's got Thursday and Friday off, so I'll have to turn the money crank pretty hard on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Long Weekend

I hope that you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend. Our is going to seem endless in that the HB has Thursday and Friday off for parent/teacher conferences.

We've got the family thing going today. My mom's back in Philly, so we (me, the wife, the HB, NZS2 and nephew) are gonna all meet up with my dad for some lunch and then to the Night at the Museum sequel. I didn't think that the first was that great, but it will be fun for the boys. After that, I'll probably stay and watch the Dodger/Angel game on TiVo with my dad while the wife hangs at her mom's.

It'll also be nice just to hang out today as yesterday the NZS2 and I went hiking (same trail where I fucked myself up last year) and walked all around the Getty museum. On the hike, we had the ultimate LA experience. Our destination is this small waterfall. We get there and near the pool is this Eastern European guy with a bleach blonde page boy 'do leading a bunch of people in breathing exercises. I really wanted to take a picture, but it would have been rude. We just laughed about it.

Oh, and the stars aligned last night: the HB slept at the nephew's and the NZS2 was at a friend's. Let's just say that the wife had some stress she wanted me to work out of her. Heh. She was in the mood for the rough stuff, which is kind of unusual for her.

Tomorrow will probably be a work and gardening day (the HB will be at the nephew's).

My Wife a Cunt?

My wife is one of the kindest people you would ever meet and goes out of her way not to offend people. Let's put it this way. If you got in her car and asked her to change the radio station, she would, no questions asked. If she got in your car and didn't like what you had on the radio, she would never say a word.

So, she goes to the market last night to pick up a few things and comes back with an unbelievable story. She's on her way to the 15 item or less line and this woman cuts in front of her with more than 15 items. Whatever, as she would never say anything about it. At any rate, the other woman is sllloooowwww in putting her stuff on the conveyor and my wife is holding onto her groceries as the cashier keeps running it. Finally, the cashier puts a divider between the two sets of groceries. The slow woman then pulls out out a check and finally pays for her shit. She then looks at the wife and says, "Have a nice day, you cunt."

What in the fuck?

I don't think anyone's ever even called her a bitch to her face. She was taken somewhat aback, but was pretty good humored about it by the time she got home. But, sheesh. When the wife starts getting called names, you know that civil society is crumbling.

Another Cali Election

Yesterday, we Californians went to the polls again. While there were some local elections, the bigger deal was a series of budget initiatives to alter either previous ones or change the state's constitution on spending issues. As I saw it, they were mostly stop-gap or smoke-and-mirrors schemes to paper over the state's financial problems, which are significant.

The long term issues, as I've written about before, is that CA is one of the few states that requires a 2/3 majority to pass a budget. So, a few ideologues (in this case, republicans) can stop a budget from passing. What leads to this problem is that the state assembly/house districts are so "safe" that there is a disincentive for anyone to compromise. Until this changes, CA will be stuck with shitty budgets.

Regardless, while Ahnald can use executive power to nibble at the edges of the problem, there's only so much he can do. I've got some other suggestions for him:

1) Release all non-violent drug offenders from state prison. Tell then that if they go through a rehab program and test clean for two years, the conviction will be expunged. They shouldn't be in prison in the first place and it's costing us a fortune.

2) CA has this stupid tax loophole for yacht purchases. Like any one thing, it's not going to close the entire budget gap, but it shows that the state is serious and that everyone's going to have to pitch in. Many people who rely on state services are going to lose them. In comparison, I think the well heeled won't be hurting from this too much.

3) Insist that the state funded health plan buys its drugs from Canadian providers. These drugs are safe and they are WAY cheaper. Note that health care is the biggest budget item in CA (and probably in your state, too). Also, if you don't think this will bring down drug costs across the country, you're crazy.

You're welcome, Guv.

Oh, Lakers in 6.

NSZ2, Act III

We're getting to the short strokes with the NZ2. He's with us for 4 more weeks. Then he goes on a 32 day train tour of the US with other exchange students (yes, be jealous). When he returns, he'll move in with the other family for the rest of his stay. Yes, we'll see him some, but it won't be the same.

Like with the NZS1, this has been a cool experience. As you'd expect, he's a different kid than the NZS1. A bit quieter and a little more willing to hang out with us. The thing that boggles me about both of them is their lack of intellectual curiosity. Both were self declared non-readers. When we asked them what they wanted to see in CA, they kinda shrugged their shoulders.

Regardless, having them in the house has really opened the HB's eyes to the world and a different culture. He is totally fired up to go to NZ.

Also, we can let the NZS2 go as he's a real Californian now that he's lived through his first earthquake.


If you have a chance to be or host an exchange student, I suggest that you go for it.

Who Gets to Speak?

It's commencement time (in fact, I got an invite to Lynn's daughter's graduation). That means happy parents who don't have to pay any more tuition (though more room and board in these times), kids who gotta find a job (or a spot in grad school), and people getting their panties in a wad about who's speech they are going to forget.

Of course, the biggest hubbub is over Obama speaking at Notre Dame. A vocal minority on campus is upset that he's not pro-life and is rolling back some of Shrub's abortion policies. I have no problem with these people being pro-life. I disagree with them, but that's OK.

My first question to them is: Do they object to anyone coming on campus to speak who differs with their views on anything? If so, NDU must be an intellectually boring place. Second: Did they object when Shrub, who started two wars that have killed thousands, came to speak? Or, does life only count when it's in the womb? Third: What else should be on the NDU ideological purity list for being a commencement speaker? Anti-death penalty? Anti-contraception? Must tithe a certain percentage?

I've got news for them. Objecting to the President of the United States speaking to you on campus because of one issue is petty. Boycotting the speech the shows how narrow you are intellectually when you won't even listen to what he has to say. Makes me think that your parents just pissed away over $100,000.

The other speech bruhaha is over Miss California, the runner-up in the Miss USA contest, getting in hot water because she's against allowing homosexuals get married. I personnaly think that beauty pageants are totally idiotic, sexist exercises. Could someone explain to me the connection between giving these women scholarships and parading them around in swimsuits?

So, a beauty queen pops off about something that's controversial. It's not like she's in the state legislature or anything. She's a fucking beauty queen. Yes, she's entitled to her opinion and her voice in the voting booth is just as important as mine. But, other than that, why would the public give a shit what she thinks?

Of course, Donald Trump is the big winner here as he gets tons of free media for a contest that's fading pretty fast from the public consciousness. And the additional controversy as to whether she is shirking her duites as Miss California (what, she was scheduled for one of the space walks to fix the Hubble and she skipped it?) will keep the pageant in the news for a few more weeks.

The bigger point is that she shouldn't be castigated for having an opinion. It's not like she said that people who perform or participate in marriages between homosexuals should be shot. We really need a more civil discourse in this country.

Dazed About School

Managing one's way around the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) takes some doing and requires such because, as a rule, LA public schools suck. We have regular neighborhood schools, charter schools and magnet schools. Sometimes the charters or magnets are within regular schools. Getting into the magnets or charters is a bit of a lottery where you get points for, among other things, the number of times you apply and get rejected.

When the HB was kindergarten age, we applied to a local (1/2 mile away) charter school that we did want him to go to. But, he kept losing out in the lottery. So, we sent him to private school and kept acruing points, thinking that eventually we could use them when applying to a good middle or high school.

Well, last year the school accepted him. But, even though it meant we lost our points, we decided not to send him. The administrators were jerks and didn't really seem interested in us--we were just a number. Plus, he only would have been at the school for 2 years (it only goes K-5).

So, we lost our rejection points and decided to start over. This time, we applied to a school with the highest number of applications to seats. Wouldn't you fucking know it--he got accepted. So, we turned it down (it's an academically poor school) and we're back to square one.

This only really matters after next year if we try to get into one of the good middle school magnets/charters. Our out is that his current school goes through 8th grade. So, our hand isn't forced until he's ready for 9th grade. Saving the private school tuition would be nice, but not at the expense of sending him to a shitty school. Especially given CA's budget mess and how that's going to affect school spending.

Laying an Egg

The Lakers obviously thought that yesterday was Easter as they laid a GIGANTIC egg against Houston. The Rockets were without the player most damaging to the Lakers (Yao Ming) and the Lakers just came out playing flat. They didn't pound the ball inside (where they now had a significant advantage) and, as is his custom, Phil Jackson didn't call any timeouts when Houston was jumping to their big lead. I understand during the regular season having the team work through these tough spots. But it's for REAL now and for the life of me I can't understand how he could just sit there and watch as they dug themselves a 15 point hole in the first few minutes.

I still think they'll win this series and go on to the Finals, but they clearly lack heart. Either Cleveland or Orlando will chew them up.

In better news, the Angels have righted their ship and are back over .500 and only 1/2 game out of first place in the West after sweeping the first place team in the Central, Kansas City. Now they have the Red Sox coming to town for three games, including a day game on Thursday. All Angel/Dodger day games are company holidays as far as I'm concerned.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all of you, especially Lola and Jen's mom, had a great Mother's Day. We started our day by letting the wife sleep in (one of the NZS2's friends called at 1:30am). The NZS2 had his prom last night, so was WAY to sleepy to come out with us. The rest of us went to pick up my parents and take them to one of my mom's fave restaurants--a burger joint at the end of a pier. The views were great, even though it was a bit overcast, and we had a good time. My dad confirmed that he was going to have some minor surgery at the beginning of June. Between that and my m-i-l's health (more about that in a bit), I think the Alaska cruise is off of the table.

My mom and the HB baked after we got back to my parents while my dad and I watched the Lakers' humiliating performance. More about that in another post. Then we went to my m-i-l's.

When we walked in she was sleeping and looked like death. Her skin had the pallor of the overcast sky. Apparently, this was one of her better days. I think she understood about half of what people were saying and did show a sense of humor. The wife was busy jotting down notes for her regular home health care worker who returns tomorrow (she's had the last few days as part of her regular schedule) while bantering.

It must be odd for my m-i-l to have her death bed in the living room. Don't get me wrong, it's a comfortable place in that it's by a window that gets plenty of light and breeze. But, it's kind of public considering that she has to be changed, etc.

A bit later I'll make one of my wife's fave meals (ravioli in marsala sauce, garlic bread, and salad). Hopefully, she'll be able to relax some and read the paper.

First Time For Everything

As a home brewer I've always heard other people's brewing disaster stories (exploding this and that). I figured they were either urban legends or the result of carelessness.

So, I walk into where I keep my beer and smell, well, beer. My first thought was that when I was moving something around I had hit a bottle and cracked it or some such. After closer inspection, it was obvious that a full bottle had broken. And there was beer stains on the ceiling. Something clearly had blown. It's been warm here, but not that hot. Apparently I had not filled one of the bottles enough. At least it wasn't a bottle from a really good batch.

I'll have to keep this in mind when I bottle the Swine Flu Porter early next week.

Details and Randomness

I'll admit it. I'm not a great details person. My work, like everyone else's, I suppose, requires it on occasion. So I'm working on this automated report in Access for 170+ people. I run tons of demos using different people and all of the numbers check out. So, I let it fly and send the reports to my client.

She call back later in the morning to say that roughly 15 of them are fucked up. Hunh? I go through all of them and find a few more. Here's the thing--there's no rhyme or reason to the errors. There are seven different versions of the report, but messed up ones are spread across them. Worse than that, I can't recreate the error. I rerun all of them and they come out PERFECT. I spot check some others and they are PERFECT.

At the risk of being overly dramatic, this random occurrence probably cost me this client. I don't know what's worse, me making the error or not being able to figure out what the fuck it is so I can prevent it in the future.

The got sent out this morning east coast time and I haven't heard anything back, so I'm going to assume that everything's OK. I need a nap so I don't screw anything else up.

Change in Plans?

We're starting to get to the short strokes on the Alaska cruise. With my m-i-l's health, we're also thinking of contingencies. Besides the obvious, what if she gets a lot worse and my wife doesn't think she should go? Should the HB and I go with my parents? All for one and one for all?

This brings back baaaaaaad memories. When my f-i-l was sick (with pancreatic cancer for 3 years, if you can believe that) we made and canceled all kinds of travel plans (I'm most bitter about our trip to Spain falling through). Why do I get the feeling that we're getting back on that roller coaster?

I Guess Sometimes the Presentation Has Something to Do With It

The stars aligned tonight and the wife and I went to dinner together. Just the two of us. On the way to the restaurant I joked with her that it felt like when the HB was young and we'd joke on way to dinner that it was nice to eat while not worrying about picking up cheerios.

We'd never been to this restaurant (an Italian place in the San Fernando Valley), but we "won" a gift certificate to it at a charity auction (probably through the the HB's school). Traffic was amazingly light for a Saturday night and we were way early for our reservation. Fortunately, they had an empty table for us.

She ordered the soup and pumpkin filled tortellini (I'm with ya, it's a fall, not a spring, meal). I had the crab cakes and the seafood risotto with squid ink. The waiter specifically asked me if I was OK with the ink, and I said yes. Generally, the service was excellent.

The appetizers were huge. Having them with some wine and a basket of bread would have been enough. Then came the main courses. The torellini was pretty bland. My risotto had so much squid ink in it that it came out looking like a bowl of steaming (it was hot) shit. At least it tasted good. We paid what remained of our bill and hustled out.

The wife's been totally beat from dealing with all of her shit with her mom. So, after getting home (and confirming that the NZS2 was staying at a friend's), we went upstairs for a quickie. We came down to watch a movie and she was asleep in about 7 minutes. I'm not going to be too far behind her.

Gettin' mo' Educashion

To keep my license as a psychologist I get to take 36 hours of continuing ed every two years. Unfortch, 99% of the classes are geared towards therapists so it's intense boredom for me. I take classes at locations where they have free wifi and I can get work done.

Today's a mandatory class on legal stuff that I'm in today. Of course, it's all about the problems therapists get themselves into. Here's a hint: Don't fuck your clients.

Back to it. They can have my body, but not my mind.