Segues

My sister Marcia informed sister Leslie and me last week that our mom's been at the doctor's office, addressing some of her health issues, such as weight loss and pains, which could be for lack of eating and NOT DRINKING WATER. Perhaps she'll start taking those Boost-type drinks.

Yesterday, my mom was at the doctor's office for several hours, getting an IV for her dehydration. Marcia was driving mom home when she tried to avoid something on the road, left from some road construction, and hit something else. This briefly propelled the car into the air. The landing initiated the deployment of the airbags, which forced my mother's glasses into her face, cutting her, which made her scream, which unnerved Marcia.

Bottom line is that my mom went to the hospital to get checked out for a few hours, but did end up returning home. The vehicle, on the other hand, was towed and is probably totaled. Marcia notes it could have been worse.

and speaking of lack of water

Our office, indeed a bunch of offices, got e-mail notices recently that state contracts could no longer pay for water. Now, we're not a state agency. Nevertheless, our water dispenser was carted off yesterday. When I saw someone wheeling one machine, I knew ours would be next, and alerted everyone to get as much water as possible.

Odd thing is that we still have three bottles of water, but no real way to consume them. I used to have messages pop up on my computer to get a glass of water four times a day; I have to shut those down, and find a new way to stay hydrated.

and speaking of my office

We have been in our present building for 4.4 years. Never have I seen so many ladybugs on the walls and windows outside our office as I did yesterday after none noticed a couple days earlier. THOUSANDS of them, yet very few around the rest of the building. What is going on?

and speaking of checking thing out

I ordered checks by phone for the first time in over a year and a half. $32 for 150 checks? Don't know what they were before, but it wasn't NEAR that much! It'll prompt me to do more online transactions, though most of my bills are autopay already.

and speaking of the unexpected

I was riding my bike downtown a couple days ago when I saw a woman riding a Segway down Western avenue in Albany. I had actually never seen one up close before, only on television. We happened to catch the same red light, and I engaged the young woman who rides it in conversation.

Seems that she won the machine in June in a drawing, a total fluke. Now she rides it to work twice a week, rides her bicycle twice a week, and drives the car once a week.

I checked the Segway site, based in New Zealand, and found five dealers in the state of New York, on Long Island, Queens, western New York, Poughkeepsie (mid-Hudson) and Coeymans (around Albany).

A bus driver said that one will see the Segway more often because they were once not legal to ride on the streets but now are, traveling in the same stream of traffic as the bicycles. I didn't independently verify that, but it seems right.
ROG

Doing Away With Dewey

There was an article in the local paper last week that the Albany Public Library was going to do away with the Dewey Decimal System in favor of a system that's more like a bookstore, as I understand it. I have mixed emotions.

On one hand, I see why the library would want to utilize a system like that which the book-using public is used to. While I grew up using the Dewey Decimal System in the Binghamton Public Library, where I worked as a teen, it's not as though I'm wedded to it. Indeed, the books in the special library where I work uses the Library of Congress classification, an alphanumeric system even more arcane for the casual user than Melvil Dewey's categorization. Also, when I was going to library school, I quickly tired of the jokes about my devotion to the DDC.

On the other hand, the conversation suggests that DDC is complicated and that the bookstore model is "better". Maybe it's me, but I always find what I'm looking for in a DDC or LC library, while I'm more likely to have to ask for need help from a book store clerk. That's because the categories in some bookstores are not as helpful as they might be.

The example that immediately comes to mind is Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas A. Blackmon. Last month, the Writers Institute and the Friends of the Albany Public Library sponsored Doug Blackmon to speak at APL.

For those of you not from the Albany area, the Writers Institute was co-founded 25 years ago by William Kennedy. Bill Kennedy is THE most noted writer to come out of Albany, and his fiction about Albany has been award-winning. I happen to particularly enjoy his nonfiction book, O Albany!

There was a dinner before the Blackmon presentation, and for reasons unknown to me, I had the pleasure to sit next to Doug Blackmon. We had a very interesting talk. One point that he made, relative to this current discussion, is how well or poorly his book sells in a given store depended, to a very large degree, on where his book was placed in said bookstore. If it was placed in the American history section - and the story certainly is an American story not often heard - then it sold all right. But if it were placed in the ghetto of the black history section ("ghetto" is my term) - as though the story were only important to, or applicable to black people - then it tended to do less well.

Now, a library book is not sold by the institution. But how often a book circulates certainly effects whether or not other books on that topic and/or books by that author.

I have no inside information just how this "bookstore" model is going to look until the Pine Hills branch - MY branch - reopens next month beyond what I've read here. But I'll be very interested to find out.
ROG

N is for Nest

We have lived in our house for nine years. The only wildlife that deigned to live on our back porch were these bees or wasps, who would actually drill into the wood of the porch.

So when my wife complained that I had tracked some grass onto the back porch back in May, I had no idea what the heck she was talking about. It turns out that there was a couple birds, male and female, building a nest on a narrow rail above the front porch. I should restate: actually, they were building three or four nests. But all but one were ultimately abandoned, but the vacated nests were eventually used to fortify the chosen dwelling. This rail is only about three inches (7.5 cm) wide, though the nest itself is about five inches (12.5 cm) in diameter; very well designed, I'd say.



Eventually, eggs must have been laid, although I couldn't see from that angle; there's only about a half foot (15 cm) from the top of the post to ceiling of the porch. Generally, one or the other bird would be hanging out at the nest the vast majority of the time. Although when I would open the back door and the smaller adult bird was awake, sometimes he or she would fly away for a time, but not too far.



Ultimately, we saw three baby birds being fed by their parents. But before too long, the birds were gone, leaving behind only the nest and purple poop on the porch. We're still unclear as to why they chose our home as their temporary residence, but it was fun while it lasted.



ROG

Now greener ogre

I came across this software that takes phrases and makes several anagrams. One of the samples is the title of this piece. It also took the line "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" and changed it to "Neatly weighs up mawkish philosophy about unforseen reality", which I thought was rather funny.

Saturday, we had plans to go to a museum a distance away, only to discover that it was unexpectedly (and illogically) closed. Plan B involved the usual housecleaning and shopping. But there came a point were my wife was going to take a nap and the daughter had fallen asleep on the sofa. Could I go to the grocery store to get some things?

I was surprised a bit by my disappointment. The idea of being in my own house, well not alone, but with it to myself was SO tantalizing. Going out to the store seemed counterintuitive, but go I did.

On the way back I run into five boys, maybe aged 14, on bicycles; no helmets, BTW. I too was on my bike. one asked me where Central Avenue was. Central Avenue is only THE main street in Albany. The answer wasn't that simple; if they wanted a low number, it would have made sense to head east on Western Avenue, but the higher numbers would suggest going straight (north) on West Lawrence, ignoring the fact that the road seems to end, something you can do on a bike, though not a car.

I travel on, and see them AGAIN on North Allen, in front of the elementary school. The same kid said he couldn't find Central. I said, "You have to keep going." Another kid asked, "Is it beyond Washington Avenue?"

"Yes".

Second boy: "See, I TOLD you so!"

Then boy #1 told me about some "furry" candy he wanted to buy, but his friends were going to go buy pot. Was this true, or an attempt to get a reaction from me? As it turns out the address they gave me was in Colonie, well past the Colonie Center mall, and I warned them it as a long ride.

I restated my directions: ride until you run into a funeral home. At which point, one of the other boys burst into a crying jag. I was told that his grandmother had just died. But this was "crying" that sounded mighty insincere, and I feel they're trying to yank my chain, though I passingly apologize.

They went on their way, I mine, left wondering: who ARE these kids, where did they come from, what did they REALLY want in Colonie, and how the heck do they not know where Central Avenue is?
***
I've been having a lot of vivid dreams recently. One involved a relative of mine on my father's side who accused me of mocking her when she had a child out of wedlock. this is untrue, as far as i know, but the specificity of that and other dreams is fascinating to me. These are the dreams you wish you could film, or are really glad you cannot. Another dream was particularly grotesque, again with references to my father's people. These things are supposedly manifestations of something, but I'm at a loss to ascertain what.
***
Why has my mother's phone number in North Carolina changed? New area code AND the seven digits. I've known the old number impressed in my mind for years. Arrgh.
***
Arthur at AmeriNZ on bigotry, in this case, a homophobic columnist.
***
Thom Wade links to the Jon Stewart/Daily Show assessment of an Al Franken amendment to a Congressional bill against rape by governmental contractors. 30 Republicans, who I thoughtfully listed in the comments to that post, opposed the bill.

ROG

Magical Mystery Tour MEME

Another Sunday Stealing.

1. Is there anybody you just wish would fall off the planet?

Right now it's Glenn Beck. Somehow more irritating to me even than Rush Limbaugh.

2. How do you flush the toilet in public?

Very well, thank you. Well, some of them flush automatically, others with a handle which I push with my hand. What, am I supposed to use, my feet?

3. Do you wear your seatbelt in the car?

Yes, but not outside the car; people would talk.

4. Do you have a crush on someone?

Sure. Probably you.

5. Name one thing you worry about running out of.

Time.

6. What famous person do you (or other people) think you resemble?

No idea. There was an Albany high school math and science teacher I evidently look like.

7. What is your favourite pizza topping?

Mushroom & onions. Together.

8. Do you crack your knuckles?

I can, but rarely do.

9. What song do you hate the most?

The Men In My Little Girl's Life by Mike Douglas.

10. Did just mentioning that song make it get stuck in your head?

It's so vapid that, no, not really.

11. What are your super powers?

Ability to discern information that may not be evident to others.

12. Peppermint or spearmint?

Peppermint.

13. Where are your car keys?

Lost. I swear they're in the bedroom, but cannot find them.

14. Last song you listened to?

Where Did Our Love Go by the Supremes on a Motown compilation album.

15. What's your most annoying habit?

I have no annoying habits. I'm perfect.
Honestly, it's a certain shyness where I don't always engage with people.

16. Where did you last go on vacation?

Well, I won't consider visiting my mother in Charlotte, NC. Staying in Saratoga.

17. What is your best physical feature?

I am told my eyes.

18. What CD is closest to you right now?

You mean physically close to me? Some Motown compilation.
Emotionally? The Beatles' Revolver.

19. What 3 things can always be found in your refrigerator?

Milk, yogurt, ketchup.

20. What superstition do you believe/practice?

Really don't have any. Don't even read the horoscope, though I have in the past.

21. What colour are your bed sheets?

Blue.

22. Would you rather be a fish or a bird?

Bird, for sure. Maybe a falcon.

23. Last thing you broke?

A glass in the kitchen sink.

24. What are you having to eat tonight?

Pizza in all likelihood.

25. What colour shirt are you wearing?

Green.

26. If you could be doing anything else today, what would you rather be doing?

Catching up on reading.

27. Do security cameras make you nervous?

I've surrendered to the notion that there just is no privacy anymore. I'm so glad that whatever I might have done in my sordid past was not captured on film.

28. If you wrote a book about your life, what would the title be?

How Green Is My Valley

29. Last time you went to a cemetery?

Visited one in Saratoga.

30. Last concert you went to?

Bruce Springsteen.

31. Favourite musician(s)/bands you've seen in concert?

Talking Heads; Temptations

32. Next concert you're planning to attend?

Have no plans. But I tend to see one a year.

33. Do you talk to yourself?

Pretty much constantly. And I find myself to be a pithy conversationalist.

34. Have you ever adopted or purchased a pet?

Had cats for years, but not for years.

35. Have you ever been present when an animal is being born?

Yes, kittens.

ROG

Half Breed

I have developed a premise about some of those folks who instinctively dislike and especially distrust Barack Obama; while some of it may be because he's black, I think there are just as many who react that way because he is of mixed race. Allow me to explain.

That bayou yahoo who refused to give a marriage license to a mixed race couple - doesn't he know about Loving vs. Virginia? - was probably seen as an aberrant reactionary; well, maybe.

When people say that someone is "half" something, that "something" is generally something other than white, e.g., "she is half Chinese", with the white assumed. (Read this Racialicious article to see why the whole fractionalization nomenclature is problematic.)

In fact, the only person I've EVER heard described as "half-white" by a white person is Barack Obama. Usually the context is this: "Why does he identify himself as black when he's half-white?"

Well, that's the great thing about the United States now, though not always in the past, is that people generally decide how they are identified. What the Census has allowed as of the last decennial count is that people can choose if they consider themselves as of one race or two races or multiple races. It's THEIR choice. Michelle Obama gets to identify as black even with her mixed heritage. Henry Louis Gates Jr gets to identify as black, even though his DNA test revealed in a PBS documentary that he was as much of European stock as African.

But when Barack Obama identifies as black when he had a white mother: is this seen as some sort of "rejection of his whiteness"? Thus the Glenn Becks of the world can say, apparently without irony, that the President "hates white people" and have some coterie of folks actually believe it.

I've not been talking policy disagreements here, so if you think that the enmity is totally based on deficits, health care. et al., that's fine. I'm just not convinced.
***
The title comes from the sometimes-angry Indian/white "half breed" named Quint on Gunsmoke, played by Burt Reynolds in 1962-66, who had difficulty fitting in with either culture.
Or maybe some song by Cher.

ROG

Talking withing Songs QUESTIONS

I was just listening to a Best of Sam and Dave album. In the intro to I Thank You, someone says:
I want everybody to get up off your seat
And get your arms together, and your hands together
And give me some of that o-o-old soul clapping
with the last three words practically sung.

An even better intro, though not a better song, is on their You Don't Know What You Mean to Me, which has an almost preached "Eddie FLOYD wrote the song."

Going back to the earliest days of rock and roll, there have been spoken lyrics within the context of a song. Some work for me, such as the corny Leader of the Pack by THE SHANGRI-LAS:
Is she really going out with him?
Well, there she is. Let's ask her.
Betty, is that Jimmy's ring you're wearing?
Mm-hmm
Gee, it must be great riding with him
Is he picking you up after school today?
Uh-uh
By the way, where'd you meet him?

Others, not so much. There is a truly awful interlude in an Everly Brothers song called Ebony Eyes:
The plane was way overdue so I went inside to the airlines desk and I said "Sir, I
wonder why 1203 is so late?" He said "Aww, they probably took off late or they
may have run into some turbulent weather and had to alter their course." I went
back outside and I waited at the gate and I watched the beacon light from the
control tower as it whipped through the dark ebony skies as if it were searching for
(my ebony eyes.) And then came the announcement over the loudspeaker-
"Would those having relatives or friends on flight number 1203 please report to the
chapel across the street at once."

The original Supremes did it in Love Is Here And Now You're Gone
You close the door to your heart
And you turned the key, locked your love away from me
AND
You stripped me of my dreams
You gave me faith, then took my hope
Look at me now
AND
My heart cries out for your touch
But you're not there
And the lonely cry fades in the air
It's OK, but not my favorite song from the group.

In fact, the LONGEST rap in the pre-rap era that I own has to be the album version of Stevie Wonder's Livin' For the City, all that about "New York City: just like I pictured it; skyscrapers and everything."

So, excluding rap, or songs with rap elements, such as Blondie's Rapture, how do you feel about songs with spoken lyrics. What songs do you like? What songs do you hate? You may also pick rap/hip hop songs as well, though I may (if we're talking early rap) or probably won't recognize the reference.
ROG

Roger Finally Answers Your Question, Gordon

Gordon, the near twin, asks:

Here's a question that might lead to some, well, potentially awkward and uncomfortable conversation:

With all of the "criticism" around President Obama winning the Peace Prize, how much of it do you feel is legitimate (i.e., it's too soon to tell) and how much may be racially motivated.

Part of the reason why I ask is that several of my friends, after being moderate/liberal for years, are now suddenly becoming hard-core conservatives, and claiming that they "never trusted" Obama. Although the record's still out for me, to be fair - he's only been in office ten months, and he has some extremely formidable tasks ahead of him...

(I'm still annoyingly moderate, leaning towards liberal)

I'm willing to suggest that lots of people are legitimately in the "too soon to tell" camp, including myself. That said, I too have been fascinated about quickly people have turned with racial vitriol on Obama in general. I may have used the example of a close relative of my buddy Steve Bissette who had voted for Obama less than a year ago and now thinks that we need to "get the n****** out of there."

I think that the black President may have more goodwill with, say blacks - polls suggest that - but perhaps less with others. I'm not saying he didn't waste some of his political capital here and there, but that doesn't explain the racial ugliness that seems to underlie much of it.

Part of it is the VRWC. Even if you've never watched Glenn Beck - I never have - one inevitably has heard that "Obama hates white people" on someone's blog, and that he's "playing the race card", when most of the time, he studiously avoids even talking about it. (And when he does, you end up with a "beer summit.") Add to that the birthers and the like, and suddenly a talk the POTUS wants to give to schoolkids is Communist socialist Nazi propaganda.

You know the old saying, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." Surely SOME of it must be true, right, RIGHT? And if that guy with the funny name hates white people (like his mother and grandparents) and we don't REALLY know anything about him (his TWO autobiographies notwithstanding), then maybe if one thinks he DOES hate white people, I can only imagine that they would not be so kindly disposed toward him.

Take the Chicago Olympics bid. You know I'm with you on not thinking a Chicago Olympics was such a swell idea for reasons you talked about. Still, I believe he HAD to go to Copenhagen to try. Imagine the narrative otherwise. Leaders from Brazil, Japan, and Spain go, but he doesn't. The Games are awarded elsewhere. Obama is blamed; "If he had only gone to the IOC, the Olympics would have come to America. Obama must hate America." It's your basic damned if you do...scenario.

As for the Nobel Prize itself: if he were nominated two weeks after becoming President, he was in the running based on a then-pervasive sense that by electing - dare I say the cliche again? - a "historic" candidate for President, that his Nobel nomination and selection was based on a hope that the United States was taking an important step in becoming a post-racial society. Which it ain't reached yet.

Now, you've gotten me to wondering: if Hillary Clinton, or for that matter, Bill Richardson, had been elected President, might one of them been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize based on THAT historic breakthrough?
ROG

Climate Change

I agreed to do this bloggers unite to save the world thing today on climate change, but my heart's not in it. I mean, there are still people who deny that we are slowly, or not so slowly killing ourselves and our planet. No wonder they called a movie about the topic The Age of Stupid.

President Obama gave a nice speech on climate change at the United Nations last month. Of course, Jon Stewart on the Daily Show rightly mocked the amount of fuel used by the leaders getting to New York City.

I WILL plug the 350 event on October 24. That day, in almost every country of the world, ordinary citizens will come together in a series of events and rallies and demonstrations and glorious public art projects, all designed to do one thing: make the most important number in the world the most well-known.
That number is 350, as in parts per million carbon dioxide. In the last two years, the scientific community has made very clear that it's the maximum safe level for carbon in the atmosphere, at least if we want to have a planet "similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapated."

Perhaps huge participation numbers will light a fire under President Obama when he goes to Copenhagen in December for U.N.-sponsored climate talks.

Of course, we as individuals have to do more. I may use a reel mower, which I tend to arrogantly think of as a REAL mower. We compost. But surely our old house still needs more insulation. So it's not just the leaders; it's gotta be all of us as well.

I've mentioned this before, but someone should explain to me how cap and trade is NOT functionally like the (not so) old church tradition of selling indulgences, where the the "sinners" pay for redemption.

As the President said: "Unease is no excuse for inaction. And we must not allow the perfect to become the enemy of progress."


ROG

M is for Mowing

I hate mowing the lawn.

This is not a matter of lack of energy, though it is a matter of time. Mostly, though, it's a matter that I really like seeing the wildflowers growing in the back yard and really hate mowing them down. All things being equal, I'd rather hire a goat to keep the grass down.

Still I found some interesting narratives and statistics. I've discovered that the country's great obsession with the lawn is fairly recent, though the lawn mower, has been around since the 1830s.

In the 1930s, U.S. lawn mower sales held at about 50,000 units annually. Following World War II and the American migration to suburbs, homeowners began to take a growing pride in tending their lawns, hedges, and gardens. During this same time, new grass seed varieties were also being developed, and the quest for the "perfect" lawn became a popular hobby and a point of pride.

I understand this abstractly, but basically the lawn obsession is totally foreign to me. The neighbors might care, however.

Reel mowers were the standard home lawn grooming device until the 1950s, when gas-powered rotary motors developed into more than a rough cutting tool. By the end of that decade, power mowers outsold reel mowers by a margin of 9 to 1. The rise in the popularity of power garden equipment was accompanied by a corresponding surge in lawn mower accidents—wounds from flying debris and toe and finger amputations. In the mid-1990s, design changes combined with news stories about equipment safety have raised public awareness.

I have a reel mower now. It uses no gas, no electricity, makes a minimal amount of noise. I will admit, however, that the overly rainy June and July made mowing difficult, not only because mowing wet grass is more difficult, but also because the rain made the grass grow faster.

One of my neighbors was considering buying a reel mower, but after this last summer is far less inclined.

In 1972, the federal Consumer Product Safety Act created a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC); one of the initial concerns of that agency was power lawn mower accidents. At the time an estimated 77,000 people each year were injured by the whirling blades of this equipment. Following 10 years of CPSC data gathering and testimony from experts and consumers, the first safety requirements for power lawnmowers—the deadman control and blade housing and shield designs to prevent foot injuries—were adopted.

Something that operators of reel mowers have never had to concern them,selves with.

The Environmental Protection Agency continues to be a strong motivator when it comes to improving lawn and garden equipment. It has been the EPA's position for some time that lawn mowers are significant polluters. A recent EPA-funded study compared gasoline mowers typically used across the country with cordless electric mowers. Gasoline-powered equipment emitted eight times more nitrogen oxides, 3,300 times more hydrocarbons, 5,000 times more carbon monoxide, and more than twice the carbon dioxide per hour of operation compared to the electric models.

The EPA study concluded that if just 20 percent of U.S. homeowners with gasoline mowers switched to cordless electric mowers, there would be annual emissions reductions of 10,800 tons of hydrocarbons, 340 tons of nitrogen oxides, 84,000 tons of carbon monoxide, and 70,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

And if they stuck with reel mowers, it'd be even better.

ROG

Oh, Yeah, Television. I Remember Television

The wife and daughter left to visit parents/grandparents Sunday afternoon until Monday afternoon. I had this impressive list of things to do. Not the least of which is to remove clothes from the armoire I have and put them in the new dresser I bought from my in-laws the day before. I always disliked the armoire I have currently. I didn't ask for it, I didn't buy it, and I felt it was imposed on me. But my clothes had to go SOMEWHERE when Lydia took over the room which had a massive closet where my clothes used to reside, especially for socks and underwear.

One time. one of my sisters rearranged my armoire, so that all of my T-shirts were in one large section. I realized early on that I HATED this. Moreover, my T-shirts hated it. I may have mentioned this before: Karen Sammler, a character on one of my favorite shows of all time, Once and Again, would organize her underwear and socks in such a way that they would each get used approximately the same number of times. In the armoire, the most recently-washed T-shirts tended to get washed, put away and be the only ones I could easily get to. I suppose I could have rearranged them back, but that wasn't optimal either.

So when I put my T-shirts in the dresser drawer - ah! There were T-shirts in there I hadn't even SEEN in two years. It takes SO little to make me, and the T-shirts, happy.

I should have emptied the rest of the armoire, but I discovered this device in my living room that discovered I could watch anytime I wanted, without negotiation, called the television. Since I was over two weeks behind on everything, save for The Office, I decided to actually watch some of the new and old shows I had recorded.

The Office (NBC): watched with the wife the Pam and Jim wedding show. My, Dwight seems even nastier this year than before, with real potential to create actual harm.

Modern Family (ABC): I've seen only seen the first episode and I failed to record the second. It didn't really come together for me until the family actually came together at the end. Look forward to seeing again.

Glee (FOX): I missed that premiere episode in the spring. When my wife and I saw it rebroadcast this fall, we weren't sure it was worth seeing again; it seemed a bit facile. But the second show sealed the deal. It featured my adoptee Victor Garber as the father of the lead character. Jane Lynch's character seemed less shrill and more devious.

The Good Wife (CBS): I decided to watch this because it features actors from other shows I've watched. Not only Julianna Margulies from E/R, but also Josh Charles from Sports Night, Christine Baranski from Cybil (and a lot of other stuff). Also, Matt Czuchry, Rory Gilmore's obnoxiously pompous boyfriend in Gilmore Girls, who plays the same pompous jerk here, and Chris Noth, doing some cross between his characters on Law & Order and Sex in the City. I thought the premise - woman stands by her man after sex scandal a la Silda Wall Spitzer with Eliot, then needs a job - was pretty thin, enough for a one-off movie but hardly a series. But after two episodes, I am looking forward to see what happens, how it plays. The secondary story about her home life (two kids and her mother-in-law) has potential.

Brothers and Sisters (ABC): The tease of the first episode suggested trouble for one of Nora's (Sally Field) children, and intentionally make you think it's one rather than another. I was irritated. But I'm two eps behind, so i haven't seen the resolution.

Grey's Anatomy (ABC): Yes, I'm still watching it. I thought the premiere was a rather good example of how people grieve, in this case, the death of George; it's not all at once, and you can postpone the pain, but not really avoid it. the second show was about cutbacks and a whole other type of pain and grief. Izzy (Katherine Heigl) hasn't irritated me as much as she has in previous seasons, but I'm not unhappy that the actress will be taking off time to make a movie.

But I also watched football. Not a whole game, mind you. Overtime of the Broncos over the Patriots; are the Broncos for real? Interesting how the Red Sox and the Patriots seem to be on the same arc - ultimate success to also-rans. I also watched a little baseball, primarily Game 3 of the Yankees over the Twins. Caught the baserunning blunder on the Twins' part and homers by A-Rod and Posada. But I just couldn't stay up another half inning to see if the Yankees would hold the lead. (They did.)

People often ask me if I saw "last night's JEOPARDY!"; the answer, almost invariably, is "no". So they often tell me what the Final JEOPARDY! answer is, testing me to see if I would have correctly gotten it, but almost always, some major element of the answer is missing.

Well, back to sharing the set with the wife and child; it was fun while it lasted.

ROG

Christopher Columbus

The wife gets up one morning last week and while taking her shower muses on the word colony. Since Christopher Columbus was also known as, among other things, Cristóbal Colón, she wondered if his name might be the root of the word.

Interesting premise, but apparently not so. According to the dictionary, the etymology of the word colony is from the Middle English colonie, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, from Latin colonia, from colonus farmer, colonist, from colere to cultivate.
***
Confidential to FGH: all meals in Columbus, OH are $14.92 or a multiple of same; it's a municipal mandate. Also true in Columbia, SC.
***
Went to the wedding of Susan Brynofson, a member of my church choir, and Robert Gierthy yesterday. Congratulations to them and their families.
***
There's a new 1.25 mile pedestrian walkway over the Hudson River between Highland and Poughkeepsie, near my old college town of New Paltz, the refurbishing of an old railroad bridge long abandoned. I need to walk this sometime.
***
I had indicated my fear from making my first appearance on radio since I used to read news copy for my college radio station XX years ago. It's now available for dissection. I'll tell you what was very weird about it, which was told to me beforehand: I never talked with the host before or after the show. Also I really thought I finally was rolling when it ended. More info, including the links here.
***
Free Gospel Concert: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson today (Monday, October 12)
Huxley Theater, New York State Museum
A pre-concert movie at 3PM - Mahalia Jackson: the Power and the Glory
In concert: Sharon Fullard, Constance Graves, Marjorie Rush
Merline Smith - Concert Master
Visit Through the Eyes of Others on exhibition in West Gallery

ROG

Camel through the Eye of A Needle

The liturgy for this week in my tradition includes the Gospel of Mark, the 10th chapter, starting with the 17th verse. It's about a rich young man who follows all the laws, but Jesus said, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." The young man was NOT happy.

Then Jesus said, at verse 25, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Similar scripture can be found in Matthew 19:24 and Luke 18:25.

A couple thoughts on this: There are lots of folks who seem to think that what is meant by the eye of the needle is a small gate or a rope, thus difficult but not impossible to achieve. I don't buy it and this site explains it well as any.

Also, it's clear that most of the poorest Westerners are much better off than the poor in developing countries. Does this lead some in the United States, e.g., to decide that the poor in their own country are not worthy of compassion? When I type the word "underserved" in Blogger and in other word processing formats, the spell check wanted to know if I really meant "undeserved".

Mostly, though, I was thinking of last week's PARADE magazine survey of How Spiritual Are We?, we being Americans. In the print version, the visual representatives of faith leadership were were Rick Warren and Joel Osteen. Rick Warren is problematic for all sorts of reasons, including his apparent homophobia.

But I want to concentrate on Joel Osteen, who is engaged in what's commonly referred to as the "prosperity gospel." Essentially, if you are positive, then God is going to give you all of the goodies of this world. To my ears, it's just a more polished version of the late Rev. Ike, who would say, "Why have that pie in the sky, when you can have it NOW, with ice cream on the top." I find myself agreeing uncomfortably with some evangelicals (as the term is commonly understood) when I suggest that Osteen's teachings are heretical to Biblical teachings. I watched him two years ago on 60 Minutes, and I'm more inclined to believe so after the program than I did before it, even though the interview was designed to answer his critics.

"Love of money is the root of all evil", the Bible says. Even when preached by a reputed man of God.
ROG

Information QUESTION

I was reading the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago, and they reported that betting line and most of the "experts" predicted that Chicago would get the 2016 Olympics; you know how THAT worked out.

My question, then, is: What are your sources of information that you most trust? It might well be different sources for different info.

For instance, I find Advertising Age to be a remarkably good gauge of the fall television season, not so much what will be good as much as what the advertisers will be likely to buy into, which may have to quality. the shows they picked to click (Glee, Modern Family, The Good Wife) showed up on many lists as did their losers (Brothers, the already canceled The Beautiful Life). The point is that, year in and year out, they've been reliable.

Bill Flanagan of MTV has an occasional segment on CBS Sunday Morning where he recommends albums. There hasn't been one I have purchased that I did not enjoy. This includes albums by Lizz Wright, Randy Newman, Mudcrutch, and Levon Helm, plus an album of Nashville blues.

I used to love to watch Roger Ebert with Richard Roeper or the late Gene Siskel, and he, interacting with his cohort, always gave me a good gauge as to whether I would like a movie. I didn't always like what he liked - he had his blind spots - but I always knew WHY he liked it and it informed my viewing. Actually, now I am more affected by Ebert's pronouncements on non-movie topics such as alcoholism, death and racism.

When Chicago was up for the Olympics, I had had my doubts about it. So I was happy that Gordon confirmed my feelings; all things Chicago, I tend to listen to Gordon. Likewise, the American expat Arthur's insights, especially on New Zealand politics, are generally my gauge. And there are a bunch more: Johnny Bacardi on Elton John music, Jaquandor on movie music, etc., etc.

Who are your guides?
***
My reaction to Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize was epitomized in the title of something on saw at Common Dreams: now earn it!
ROG

A Couple Lennon Flicks

Sometimes I see October 9 creeping up on the calendar and have not much to say past "Happy birthday, John." This year, though, as a result of the 09/09/09 VH1 Classic extravaganza, there were a couple Lennon-related items worthy of noting, neither of which I had ever seen before.

One was a live concert in New York City in 1972, a benefit for the mentally handicapped (the preferred term in the day). It was odd, though. It all SOUNDED particularly familiar, such as him referring to his old group as the Rolling Stones. That's because I own the album that was released posthumously in 1986; I have it on vinyl, perhaps one of the last LPs I ever bought. A photo of Lennon given to me by my friend Rocco was almost certainly from the same set of concerts. (Yes, the same Rocco who gets a mention in Love & Rockets 40.)

VH1 bleeped a couple words in the concert, one of them a pronoun. One was in the title of Woman Is the N***** of the World, which was excised several times. The other word was from Well Well Well. In the line, "She looked so beautiful, I could eat her," the "her" was clipped. The interesting thing about the technology is that it didn't affect the backing track, only the vocal track.

Something that I DIDN'T know until recently is that there were two concerts. And Elephant's Memory, John and Yoko's backing band, was reportedly really ticked off with Yoko Ono, believing she should have released the music from the tighter second concert rather than the first. A few of those second show performances appear on the box set Lennon Anthology. John messes up the lyrics to Come Together in both.

Here's a performance of Instant Karma, followed by Mother.

The other item I saw was the 2006 feature film, the U.S. vs. John Lennon, which chronicled the development of John Lennon's evolution from moptop to the famous/infamous "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus" comment to John & Yoko on the cover of Two Virgins. But ultimately, he was recognized as a political creature - black activist Angela Davis, e.g., took notice of the Beatles song Revolution. Many may have thought John and Yoko's bagism and bed-ins were silly; John didn't seem to care. Yet "Give Peace a Chance", recorded at the Montreal bed-in, became as much the antiwar anthem as "We Shall Overcome" was the anthem for the civil rights movement.

Post-Beatles, John and Yoko's activism became more pointed, hanging out with Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Bobby Seale (who appears in the film). When John was seemingly successful in freeing activist John Sinclair, the Nixon White House became concerned about the 1972 election, especially given the passage of the 26th Amendment allowing 18-year-olds the right to vote for the first time nationally.

What to do? Based on a suggestion by Senator Strom Thurmond, the Nixon White House decided to try to deport John Lennon. The basis was a marijuana conviction that lots of pop stars in England had been subjected to, all performed by one overzealous officer.

The twists and turns of that four-year journey are fascinating, especially as told by among others, Walter Cronkite, Mario Cuomo, John Dean, Ron Kovic, George McGovern, Gore Vidal, and Geraldo Rivera, who had broken the story of the abuses in the mental health system, and was MC for the One to One concerts. Most interesting, though, was Watergate convict G. Gordon Liddy, who freely confirmed that the Nixon White House WAS out to get John.

October 9, 1975 was not only John's 35th birthday, it was the date of Sean Lennon's birth AND the day their immigration lawyer Leon Wildes informs John that he'd won the case. In some ways, I think the movie should have ended there. Instead, we get happy scenes of John, Yoko and Sean for a few minutes, followed by four gunshots. It seemed tacked on, though Yoko's only complaint was that the bullets should have been louder.

Still I learned a LOT in this film that I did not know. Recommended. Here's the trailer.

ROG

As Much of a Rant as I Can Muster

Ken Levine had an interesting post about ranting. He ranted about Christmas decorations in September, sports seasons that gpo on too long and the like.

SamuraiFrog links to a young woman ranting about a giveaway of Darwin's Origin of the Species, and for good cause. (Language NSFW.) SF is also good at ranting, himself.

I suppose I've ranted now and then in the comments sections of other people's blogs. I know that at least on one occasion recently, I got rather incensed that a letter writer suggested that the blogger was being racist, essentially because the blogger saw some of the reaction to Barack Obama as being racist. I felt the need to defend the blogger, though I knew the blogger didn't need any defending from me. But I was SO incensed that I was compelled to anyway.

My little rant here, I guess, is small potatoes. My wife is a big fan of figure skating. During the fall and winter, there are six Grand Prix events that take place across the world. Apparently, though, according to this site, the only event that will be televised this season is the Skate America, and for that, only the Ladies Free Skate. No short programs, no men's, pairs or dance. The U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be shown in January, but in the season leading up to an Olympic year, one wants more opportunities to gauge the skaters from other countries as well as the American contingent.

Meanwhile, NBC IS showing what I frankly consider junk events such as Halloween on Ice Starring Mannheim Steamroller or Musselman’s Brian Boitano Skating Spectacular. These are exhibitions, not real competitive skating. And while I don't care personally, I think the coverage of he sport does it a disservice. It'd be like showing pre-season games and the All-Star Game without showing the regular season competition. Of course, the fact that the junk events are scheduled so often may be a reflection of the ratings, in which case I suppose the skating viewers may be to blame as well.

Oh, know what else is bugging me? The fact that when i type the words men's, women's, or children's in Blogger and elsewhere, they are underlined in red as though they are misspelled. Sure I can ignore it, but why is it indicated as incorrect in the first place?




ROG

L is for Lydia

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor, now part of modern Turkey. Its population spoke an Anatolian language in the Indo-European language family known as Lydian, which became extinct in the first century BC. Coins were invented in Lydia around 610 BC.

Lydia was also a rich businesswoman of Thyatira in modern Greece, who appears in the Biblical book of Acts. She housed the apostle Paul and his colleagues. Ah, that money linkage.

The church that I went to as a child in Binghamton, NY, Trinity AME Zion, was two very short blocks away, down Gaines Street over Oak Street, to the corner of Oak and Lydia. On weekdays, I would walk down Lydia, zigzag five more short blocks to my school, Daniel S. Dickinson.

Yet none of that, save for the vague recollection about the New Testament woman, was consciously in my mind when we decided to name our daughter Lydia five and a half years ago.

Here are pics from her first two and a quarter years; the last picture was developed 6 July 2006. Some of the earlier pics I never used in the blog before.









































And a more recent shot, from her fourth birthday party:




ROG

Date afternoon

One of the things those relationship "experts" always say is that, in order to keep a relationship strong, you need to continue to "date" your spouse/s.o. It's ESPECIALLY necessary when you have children.

So we decided on a date afternoon this past Sunday. We used to do it once a month, in the middle of the month (we got married on 15 May), but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. The trick about Sunday is that it was communion Sunday (which means a longer service) AND the wife was partially in charge of the after-service snacks. And because my wife's a deacon, people had things to ask her. So while she was talking, I struck up a conversation with someone. It turns out she kept talking because I was talking, and I was talking because SHE was talking. By this point, our babysitter, who had previously had just been sitting around, had engaged in conversation.

So, it's 12:45 pm by the time we get home. too late really to feed the child and get to the 1 pm movies. So instead we went out to a restaurant. It's a Middle Eastern restaurant called Ma Moun. The food was good, but we were mildly worried that no one else came in the whole time we were there.

Then we went to Staples to buy a paper shredder. Tres romantique, n'est-ce pas? Except that it was just nice even doing something that mundane. the cool thing was that they were on sale 25%. The confusing thing was that the one we decided on was only marked down from $79.95 to $74.95; a larger machine would have cost the same. We took it to the counter for a price check and stated our confusion with that minimal discount; the clerk called the manager, who surveyed the situation and said, "How much do you want to pay for it?" Well, since you asked...The manager took $15 off, and the $59.95 was what we had in mind. Usually it's the wife who picks up on these pricing discrepancies, but this time I sussed it out.

It was a nice date.
***
Did that radio thing I was worried about yesterday; I haven't heard it yet, but once the nausea went away, I guess it went OK. I'll listen to it when it's available.
***
Yesterday afternoon about 5 pm, Joe Fludd, long-time FantaCo customer, e-mailed me with the sad news that Nic Morrison, another FantaCo regular who worked there for a time had died. I enjoyed seeing Nic around from time to time. As the obit noted, he "entered into eternal life on his 47th birthday, October 1, 2009, at the Hospice Inn at St. Peter's Hospital, ten days after suffering a devastating stroke." The wake was Sunday, the funeral yesterday; had I known sooner, I might have made one or the other. Quoting a mutual friend, "Nic was a gentle soul and a good person. 47 is too young."
***
Apparently, Blogger has a limit of 2000 labels, and I have reached that threshold. Thus, e.g., I cannot add Nic Morrison to the label. Sometime when I have absolutely nothing better to do, I will deal with relabeling fifty-three months of blogging.

Doane Made Me Do It

OK, Alan David Doane didn't MAKE me do one of those Facebook thingies; I CHOOSE to do so. Since he sent it a few days ago, my answers are as of lunchtime on Thursday, October 1.

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth?

Flavored ice pop; more for the hydration than the flavor.

2. Where was your profile picture taken?

In my office at work, I think.

3. Can you play Guitar Hero?

Never even tried. It seems that if the child shows an interest someday, I might give it a go, but otherwise can't foresee doing it.

4. Name someone who made you laugh today?

I was playing racquetball, and my partner made a terrible swing, awful swing, which was so unpredictable that it hit the ball sideways and we made the point.

5. How late did you stay up last night and why?

10 pm, working on a proposal for a session at a conference.

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks?

Don't believe so. I've been under fireworks; didn't like being singed or the volume.

8. Which of your friends lives closest to you?

Probably Bill and Orchid.

9. Do you believe ex's can be friends?

I definitely do. There were at least three at my wedding to Carol and she knew it. Oh, and I thought you spelled the word "exes",

10. How do you feel about Dr Pepper?

Ambivalent. Haven't had it in years.

11. When was the last time you cried really hard?

Listening to an adagio a couple weeks ago. Wrote about it.

12. Who took your profile picture?

No idea. Could have been any one of a half dozen roving amateur photographers in our office.

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of?

My daughter Lydia.

14. Was yesterday better than today?

Well, it's a toss-up. Yesterday was more productive, today is more fun.

15. Can you live a day without TV?

Well, for myself, it happens quite a bit, judging from my DVR. But 30 minutes/day for the daughter is magic.

16. Are you upset about anything?

Not actively.

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it?

I do.

18. Are you a bad influence?

I used to be; ah, those were the days...

19. Night out or night in?

Well it's choir night AND it's garbage night, so I won't be in the house until 10 pm.

20. What items could you not go without during the day?

I've gone without the computer but prefer not to.

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?

My friend Mike Attwell, I believe. He's much better now.

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say?

What's a text message? Are we talking cellphones? I haven't used the feature. If we're talking e-mail, haven't used the feature in a very long time.

23. How do you feel about your life right now? It could be worse.

24. Do you hate anyone?

Not presently. Though there are plenty who tick me off.

25. If we were to look in your Facebook inbox, what would we find?

Lots of virtual plants I haven't gotten around to accepting.

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass?

Not if it was looking for caffeine.

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before?

Yes, and they were WRONG.

28. What song is stuck in your head?

You Make My Dreams by Hall & Oates; my wife says the bit in 500 Days of Summer using that song is one of her favorite parts of any movie EVER.

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2 a.m., who do you want it to be?

You know the anxiety if someone doing it would negate whatever joy it would have. Really, it couldn't wait until morning? But if it was one of three friends I haven't seen in 20+ years, MAYBE they could get away with it.

30. Wanna have grand-kids before you’re 50?

Moot point. I'm over 50, was over 50 when the CHILD was born.

31. Name something you have to do tomorrow?

Go to my daughter's school to see the Apple Run, whatever that is. EDIT: It's a bunch of kids in the five kindergarten classes running around a track of about 200 meters,. the girls and boys riun separately. Lydia won her heat.


ROG

Now, I'm a REAL Albanian

I was at a party in Albany, NY in the early 1980s. Someone commented how difficult it was to be considered "from Albany" if you weren't born here, or had not been here "at least thirty years". And I always remembered that.

Well, finally, I am real-life, dyed-in-the-wool person from Albany, with all the rights and privileges that come with it. Especially the right, nay, the obligation, to make fun of people on commercials who say Al-ban-y (like the guy's first name) instead of ALL-BAN-Y .

I moved to Albany in 1979. So I didn't remember, I was not present for:
*When WRGB moved from Channel 4 to Channel 6
*TV children's entertainer Freddy Freihofer
*What Albany looked like before it was torn up to build the Empire State Plaza

But I HAVE been here long enough to remember:
*When Erastus Corning was mayor
*When the band Blotto was on MTV (Worst video? NO WAY!)
*When the band Fear of Strangers was the Units; own a Units single
*When the Spectrum Theater in Albany was the Third Street Cinema in Troy
*The Honest Weight Food Co-op, two addresses ago
* Metroland, a half dozen addresses ago
*Justin’s, a couple owners ago
*When Phil Jackson coached Albany Patroons, who played in the Washington Avenue Armory, and won the 1984 Continental Basketball League title
*The 1986 Albany Tricentennial Celebration
*The October 4, 1987 snowstorm
*When they filmed Ironweed in Albany; had a Jack Nicholson sighting at the Palace Theatre
*When the Knickerbocker Arena (or whatever they're calling it now) was built
*When Jerry Jennings ran for mayor as a progressive
*The July 15, 1995 derecho; woke me out a sound sleep with 70 MPH winds rattling my bedroom windows at 7 a.m.
*Albany First Night

I should note that I did, in fact, live in Schenectady for a year and a half before moving to Albany. But everybody knows that, except for going to work or for special events (going to the Troy Music Hall, Proctor's in Schenectady, the Palace Theatre in Albany, e.g.), travel between Albany and Schenectady, or Albany to Troy, for that matter, is strictly prohibited, enforced by the barbed wire at the borders. Likewise the cities and the suburbs.

I'm a homeowner now, but I was a renter for a number of years. As a result, I have lived on a number of streets in Albany, including: Hudson Avenue, Madison Avenue, Morris Street, Lancaster Street, Manning Boulevard, North Allen Street, Ontario Street, Second Street, and Western Avenue. Though I've been in the same place for the last nine years, I'm convinced that my friends still write my address in their address books in pencil.

In the last primary election cycle, one of the candidates indicated in the literature being born in Albany, while the opponent came here only in 1991. Is that 30-year rule is breaking down? If I'm remembering correctly, the transplanted candidate won.

Photo from the NYS Education Department
ROG

QUESTIONS I Found On the Internet

But first, to wake you up: perhaps the worst Also sprach Zarathustra you may have ever heard (1:30).

1. Do You Wear A Watch? The implication is that people wear Rolexes or nothing, that watches are unnecessary in the world of cell phones and other devices that time and that the only people who wear watches do so for style, not function.

For me, though I have a seldom-used device, I would rather wear a watch. the problem, and it is of long-standing duration, is that watches don't seem to like ME. I swear my biorhythms have killed more watches than I thought would be humanly possible. So I don't. But I would.

2. When you were a child, did your parents kiss you? If they did, did they kiss you on the cheeks, the lips, the forehead, or where? If you are a parent/grandparent, where do you kiss your child.

I have no recollection of my father ever kissing me. In fact, on the few times he hugged me, it tended to be of this one-arm variety. My dad kissed my sisters, this peck on the cheek thing generally speaking. My mom kissed me, usually on the cheeks, but occasionally on the forehead.

When she was a baby, I kissed Lydia everywhere. Now I tend to follow her lead. Sometimes it's on the lips, though she told me recently that my beard was scratching her. So now it is usually on the forehead, though yesterday it was on the lips.
***
A tremendously detailed response to someone who wanted a book banned.

I found this article about NFL schedules being practically set in stone in my Google Alerts; somewhere both the words Roger and green appear. Regardless, it's a good piece about how how the slow start by the former Super Bowl teams is NOT about scheduling parity.

How soon will the daughter want this:

You may recall that the silhouetted version caused a bit of a stir, but the actual doll, not so much.
ROG

Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 2

Sunday Stealing: One Long Meme (Part Two)

27. Do you prefer to sleep or eat?

Depends on how tired I am. I NEED that first burst of sleep in order to function. Other than that, I'd probably pick eating.

28. Do you look like your mom or dad?

There are pictures of Carol's and my wedding when I look extraordinarily like my father. Carol, BTW, is still getting used to how much she looks like her mother.

29. How long does it take you in the shower?

Ten minutes, max, unless I'm in there for the massage function of the shower, rather than to clean. The other factors are 1) I'm usually at the Y on the way to work, so I need to hustle and 2) at home, I have to wait out my wife, who takes a bit longer.

30. Can you do the splits?

I could never do a split, even as a kid.

31. What movie do you want to see right now?

Still haven't seen Ponyo, but there are a bunch of them.

32. What did you do for New Year’s?

We probably went to sleep before midnight. Or Carol did and I crawled into bed at 12:01.

33. Do you think The Grudge was scary?

I have no idea what this is.

34. Do you own a camera phone?

There's a photo function on my cellphone, but I don't know how it works.

35. Was your mom a cheerleader?

Seriously doubt it.

36. What’s the last letter of your middle name?

N, as in Owen.

37. How many hours of sleep do you get a night?

Six, almost never in one continous shot.

38. Do you like Care Bears?

Not really, but I haven't done an in-depth analysis as to whether I should.

39. What do you buy at the movies?

Butter, with popcorn. Or the other way around, I think.

40. Do you know how to play poker?

Define "know". I've played for pennies or matchsticks; haven't ever played for real money in decades, and that was for a dollar ante.

41. Do you wear your seat belt?

Oh, heavens yes. Seat belt almost certainly saved my life at least once, and probably thrice.

42. What do you wear to sleep?

Depends on the season. Summer is T-shirt and pajama botttoms. In cooler weather, pajamas; the top and the bottom don't alwasys match.

43. Anything big ever happen in your hometown?

Rod Serling grew up there. There was that dreadful murderous rampage back in April of 2009. Actually, the first big thing I remember happening in Binghamton was the "salt babies" incident.

44. How many meals do you eat a day?

Generally, three.

45. Is your tongue pierced?

No, and don't forsee me doing it.

46. Do you always read MySpace bulletins?

It's been so long since I've dealt with my MySpace page. Hard enough to do Facebook and Twitter.

47. Do you like funny or serious people better?

Depends. There are people who think they are funny but who I don't. Conversely, there are some folks who are so damn serious, they are unrelentingly boring. I'll say funny people, but they actually have to BE funny.

48. Ever been to L.A.?

No; the closest I've been is the Angels stadium in Anaheim.

49. Did you eat a cookie today?

No, but the day is young.

50. Do you use cuss words in other languages?

Only mild invectives.

51. Do you steal or pay for your music downloads?

Actually neither. Amazon has free downloads sometimes as do some artists. I have contributed to the latter.

52. Do you hate chocolate?

No, but I prefer strawberry.

53. What do you and your parents fight about the most?

In the day, it had to do with curfew; I hasd a lousy sense of time when I was a kid.

54. Are you a gullible person?

A useful quote from Ronald Reagan: "Trust but verify." And I never even voted for him.

55. Do you need a girlfriend to be happy?

No, my wife would object.

56. If you could have any job (assuming you have the skills) what what would it be?

A syndicated columnist.

57. Are you easy to get along with?

You mean you don't think I am? Honestly, I'm very mellow about things when I don't have a strong opinion, but I can draw a line in the sand on things important to me. All in all, I'D say yes, but you'd need to ask others, wouldn't you?

58. What is your favorite time of day?

If I'm awake, 5 a.m. It's my alone time.
ROG

What's The Frequency, Roger?

Lessee, there's Peter Gabriel's On the Air; Joni Mitchell's You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio; Elvis Costello's Radio Radio.

All that is a stall to say that I'm going to appear on Barbara Weltman Internet radio show, Build Your Business Radio, which airs each Monday from 4pm to 5pm/ET.

As her producer Gloria wrote me: "We would like to have you as a guest on an upcoming radio show in early October, if possible. Barbara enjoys highlighting her guests' areas of expertise, and we ask them to compose 5 to 8 questions for her to ask during the interview. Build Your Business Radio's audience consists primarily of small businesses and entrepreneurs. You'll get to use the podcast following the interview to post on your site, etc."

I have an area of expertise? Always thought of myself as a generalist.

Anyway, I’ve agreed to be on Monday, October 5 during 2nd half of show. The studio calls the guest (a/k/a, me) at 4:24pm/ET; live interview begins at 4:30p, continues for 11 minutes, breaks, resumes for 9 minutes more. 20 minutes to fill.

Don't mind telling you...well, let's put it this way: I think it was Steve Stills at Woodstock talking about CSN's second gig who indicated how scared they were.

The fear is...er, ah...that I'll...um...in the words...ah, ah...that my wife...hmmm...hates...suck. Also...(mumble)...I hate (ahem) the sound of [cough] my own...eh...voice when I...er...hear it.

So why do it? Because I'm afraid. One of the things that we've been doing with the daughter is, whenever she does something she's heretofore been scared to do, such as going to a new school or seeing a new doctor, is give her a penny, which she can trader in for certain goodies. Hey, I wonder what I'LL get for doing this?

Also, if I ever get ambitious enough to do my own podcast some decade, this gig will be a baseline for me. Now, I'm hoping it won't be TOO bad. I DID give Gloria a half dozen questions for which I DO more or less know the answers. They're mostly about the Small Business development Center, the state Data Center program, being a librarian, and being a census data junkie (oh, no, can't say "junkie",; it has implications). I'm trying to anticipate the curve balls; I noted in my bio that I used to deal in comic books, so I'm thinking of a couple points on THAT topic, just in case.

So if you want to hear it, but don't have access, I'll link to the podcast afterward. Unless it REALLY sucks.