Never a dull moment

We had our first two show day on Fela! today, and boy did it suck! The air conditioning at 37 Arts is never the most reliable thing in the world, as I know well from last year, and today was apparently one of its off days. It was stupid hot on stage for both shows, and keeping mics attached to actors (where by actors I mean crazy-ass dancers who sing) was a constant challenge. The ladies were so humid in the dressing room that it was hard to even tape them up initially, and once they get to serious sweating, no hope. 

The ladies weren't the real problem though, the real problem turned out to be Sahr. Sahr plays the lead, Fela Kuti, and he, quite literally, does not leave the stage during act one. Not once. There's not even a way to sneak him off while something else happens, because nothing else happens. It's completely and totally the Sahr show. (This theme continues into act two, but there are two quick changes, one of which can be made to afford us about a minute if we need to repair or replace something.) Since there is no way to get Sahr off stage, and the show is set in a club to begin with, the emergency back up for his mic is the handheld 58 that he uses for the intro and subsequently leaves on a stand with the band. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, we lost Sahr's mic, victim of the excessive heat induced sweat, in the beginning of the matinee's act one, and had to scramble to work around the handheld for some of his onstage actions. (Hard to roll a joint with one hand, right?) At intermission we changed out the entire thing, as Reid had heard some popping as well. New transmitter, new cable, new element - with freshly sewn on (by me) windscreen. New everything. The switch was smooth, the fix effective. During act two I lost a transmitter on one of the key women, Nicole, but nothing drastically out of the ordinary, and easily fixed on a costume change.

We wrote the whole thing off. At least it was the matinee. Fixed Nicole up, and headed out for dinner. Apparently it was monsoon season in NYC this afternoon. We were totally soaked before we'd even gone half a block! Dripping, we ate our tasty kebab rolls from the Pakistani place and rushed back to reset for the second run.

All was well at RF check, no problems. Sahr's old mic, given time to dry out and a brisk squirt with canned air, was miraculously revived, but we opted to stick with the new-brand-new one. Better safe than sorry.

We thought.

This time it went by the end of the first number. Same thing. Sweat rolled right down into the element and this time there was no salvaging it. Total goner. I'm quite sure that's the shortest life of any E6 I've ever encountered. Less than two hours. So again, Sahr spent the first act on the handheld, with some adjustments around it. And again, we swapped out at intermission. This time we were forced to go back to the earlier mic, as we were totally out of spares at that point (we lost another yesterday and haven't received replacements yet), but we got lucky and it sounded ok. We did err on the side of distance from his face, in an attempt to avert further disaster, and that lead to a lot of breath noise, that would have made me crazy, if I hadn't already been there.

Fortunately, Sahr is a total pro and takes everything in stride, including the appearance in the audience of Beyonce and Jay-Z, which pretty much tripped all the women out. (They said it was good though, that they were so tired by then that having celebs added energy to the show for them.) I'm not a big fan of either myself, but I now have a positive impression of them both because they made a point of staying around after the show for a meet and greet (and some photos for our cast) with the company. It's always nice to see celebrities engaging like that, rather than running off after the show in order to avoid the paparazzi. (Looking at YOU, Katie Holmes. We totally saw you do that the other day.)

After the show, while Reid was talking to folks about our show (awful), the real Fela Kuti's manager talked to him a bit about the PA that they had cobbled together for Fela back in the day, and that no matter what anyone else said, it sounded great, just like Fela would have wanted it himself. I was really glad to see Reid get that sort of affirmation, because his job in mixing this show is an absolute beast and I'm not sure how much anyone realizes that.

There really wasn't anything we could have done differently today, so I'm not going to dwell on it for long. AC craps out, actors sweat, gear fails. Nothing to be done about it.

I still felt like an asshole though.

Raindrops on roses... or at least houseplants.

We walked off the train into the first few drops of a lovely rainstorm - at least now that I have dry clothes on I think it's lovely! That's not entirely true. I like walking in the rain a great deal, but I'm not really a big fan when I'm still carrying all my stuff from work. Anyhow, within a block it was coming down pretty hard and we got good and soaked.

When I got home, I had to water the plants. I know this is silly, and certainly a case of me anthropomorphizing totally inappropriate things, but I feel bad for houseplants when it rains. It seems as though they know that the rain is coming down and can't figure out why they aren't getting any. (This is not totally absurd, since the changes in the air probably to key them in on some cellular level to expect water. Feeling disappointed for them, however, is a little bit daffy.)

Today was, as I expect you noticed earlier, Dave's birthday. We didn't do much celebrating, as we had a show call at 6 for Fela! and two shows tomorrow puts a damper on going out post show. I did at least take him out for an early dinner and we went down to Tekserve to pick up his birthday present. I'd been at a loss all week - the only thing he really wants is a macbook, and that's just slightly (ever so slightly) out of my price range! Last night on the train he was listening to his iPod and said something about how he'd not had the headphones out of the jack since he got it, two years ago. Those awful little earbuds that come with the iPod. (If anyone needs some, by the by, I have three sets in my desk drawer. I really have no idea where some of them came from. I don't have enough iPods to justify this. There's no reason for it.) I hate those things. I hate them especially much on other people who are near me on the train, but I hate listening to them too, and it occurred to me that Dave might likewise dislike them. So I asked if he'd ever considered getting a better set. I have the old Shure E3c model and I love them. He said he just hadn't wanted to spend the money. Perfect! A luxury item you wouldn't buy for yourself? Bingo! Birthday present! Now, I'm not made of money, far from it, so he has to settle for the SE110s, but he seems to like them, and they are a great deal better than the ones he has.

Note to Steve Jobs: You could do a major public service for transit riders everywhere if you would just include a slightly better headphone with the iPod. The ubiquity of the iPod, in all its many incarnations, means that you could single handedly reduce the irritation level of all the people who do not want to hear other people's tunes! It can't be that expensive, I'm not asking you to include Shure SE530s or anything, just something like the junkers that came with my xm radio. Slightly isolating. With similarly meh sound quality to the current iPod buds. 

Just a note...

Happy Birthday, Dave!

Fudge/Umbridge '08

I'm a day late, and always more than a dollar short, but I'm finally watching Sarah Palin's snarky speech from yesterday at the RNC. Ten minutes in, I found myself wanting to throw things, and then I realized who she reminded me of.

Dolores Umbridge. 

I thought I was just terribly clever, but it turns out that quite a number of other people had come up with the idea as well. I googled it, and found a Facebook group and a Yahoo question on the subject. So much for my independent cleverness. The Facebook group even suggests that perhaps McCain, old and out of touch, could perhaps be Fudge. I think that one's just a stretch to match the Palin-Umbridge connection, but it made a good title...

Capitalizing on... an ad?

I was just asking the google to find me a new laptop sleeve when I came across this, the Steve Sleeve, from Timbuck2. I thought it was the funniest thing I've seen all day (full disclosure, I've only been up for about an hour, since the Keyspan guys came and woke me up wanting to see the meter.) Though it looks just like the manila envelope of Apple Macbook Air advertising, it is actually a recycled plastic case for your Macbook Air (a computer, by the way, which I would never buy, given how sleek and small the average Macbook already is.) Named, of course, for Steve Jobs of Apple fame, who introduced the ultra-thin Macbook by sliding it out of, you guessed it, a manila envelope.

Is this worth the $50 Timbuck2 wants for it? No, not by half. Is it clever and funny? Why yes. Yes it is.

Home again, home again, jiggity jog

After our all-too-short trip to the Outer Banks, all of the members of our household are home. Dave and I got in this morning around ten, but Juno & Jupiter just arrived home about an hour ago. We weren't able to pick them up earlier because their hosts actually have to work for a living, poor souls. (Oh, wait. I'd like to do that. Note to self: Find job.) Our rabbits were apparently good house guests and are welcome back anytime, which is nice to hear, not that we're going anywhere anytime soon. Juno's snout, as expected, is healing quite nicely, though we do need to continue giving her meds through Thursday. They were both thrilled to be home, hopping around like mad to make sure everything was just as they'd left it. After about half an hour though, they had found their usual spots and were quite relaxed. They don't seem to be bearing us any ill will for ditching them for a week, forgiving little critters.

We returned to a note from our former upstairs neighbors, asking would we mind collecting any mail that they received and sending it on to them (in the thoughtfully provided addressed and stamped envelope, of course), and inviting us to come see them any time we happened to be on that side of the world. I know that they will be happy to be home in Ireland, but I'm quite sorry to lose them as neighbors. Aside from my suspicion that her son was actually a small elephant in disguise (or perhaps he simply had more than his fair share of gravity), Karen was a wonderful person to have in the building, always a kind word and a friendly face. The tenants I like never stay. The ones I don't... another story all together. Fortunately, they did come in once more before heading to the airport, so we did get to say goodbye to them properly. (And they were kind enough to give us a great fan!) I wish them all the best, and I'm glad for them to be going home.

I remembered today why it's always best to clean before you leave on a trip - getting out of the car after ten hours to a pigsty is quite disheartening! It's not much better now, but at least the floors are clean and the dishes are mostly done. I did a few hours of the scanning work today, though I was pretty tired and my heart wasn't in it. Or is that my brain? I threw stuff into the bread maker for a loaf of honey wheat as soon as we got home, so now I just need to make some turkey sandwiches for tomorrow so that we don't spend money eating out. Work is more precarious than ever, for both of us, I suspect, and we need to pinch our pennies harder. Make those pennies squeal!

To go with my turkey sandwich I have the most wonderful souvenir from Duck though. No t-shirts or coffee mugs for us, no sir. Before we left yesterday I made a point of going to the farm stand and buying a big bag of South Carolina peaches. What utter bliss. I intended to eat one on some cereal for breakfast in the morning, but I've just realized that we have no milk. Never mind, I'll just make oatmeal and eat the peach anyhow. They're like eating solidified, slightly tart sunshine. The firm but slightly yielding flesh, the rich colors, the smell! Why is the internet not scratch and sniff yet? Oh how I wish I could share this with you. There are peaches here, lots of them, but none of them measure up. The local ones, not through any fault of their own, are from New Jersey, which is simply not as warm or sunny as parts south so the trees haven't any chance to produce such wondrous fruit. The peaches imported (in the usual fashion, not tenderly in the side compartment of the Prius's trunk) from that same land of sun, were all pulled rudely from the tree well before it had time to impart all of that delicious sunlight it had been lapping up, in the interest of travel. You just can't get peaches like this here, and my taste buds will still be at the beach just as long as they last. (Not very, I expect.)

Beach! Beach beach beach!

We're happily ensconced in our usual Duck House (yeah, not the most creative name ever, but we just rent it, don't blame us) and I'm only sorry that we can't stay here all next week as well. My parents have taken to renting the house for two weeks, rather than the old one, and that makes for a delightful vacation. The first week is largely spent visiting with lots of my maternal extended family, and then the second is the laid back immediate family week. It was a stroke of brilliance on their part, I must say. This year the extended family portion was more intense than usual, as my mom's middle sister, Susan, rented a house just up the street with her husband and their two kids (plus my cousins' significant others.) I hear that it was especially nice because mom's younger sister and her family (husband, three youngish boys!) stayed at that house while my grandmother, three uncles and one other cousin (with boyfriend) stayed here. The Duck House isn't really that large, two queen rooms, a bunk room (sleeps four) and a two twin room. All of those people used to stay here for a few days! One year Dave and I were on the porch on an air mattress on the first night we arrived! That was actually quite lovely, and if I'd been smart enough to bring the aerobed with us, I might try it again this year. As long as there isn't rain, it's really peaceful to sleep under the stars.

Our poor bunnies are not happy with us, I'm afraid. They knew something was up when we started dismantling their house before we left, and they were not best pleased when I scooped them up and tucked them back into one of the boxes they'd come in from the pound. The car ride was surprisingly calm though, I expected them to be extremely unhappy, and while Juno cowered a bit at first, Jupiter had his head up at the first opportunity, trying to see where we were going. By the time we reached Brooklyn they both seemed fine with the situation. While we would have to come up with a better solution for any long trips, I'm encouraged by their placid reaction to car travel.

We set them up in Angela & Zach's living room, and once the cage was assembled we pulled them out of the carrier. Dave said that Jupiter was clinging to his shirt, as though he knew we were leaving them, and I've never seen Juno so happy to be picked up, and so reluctant to be put down. Rabbits typically do not like being picked up at all, so this was odd behaviour for them. I suspect they are being spoiled terribly and won't even want to come home with us on Monday!

Poor Juno did get into a bit of a scuffle with the resident rabbit, Greta. Greta had plenty of time to get used to being the sole rabbit in her multi-animal household, and efforts to bond her with the newer rabbit there, Artie, have been less than successful. I can't imagine she's happy with the current situation at all, so I can't say I was all that surprised to hear that she and Juno had come to blows. Somehow they managed to get at one another through two spaced out pens, being persistent animals, and I suspect Juno was shoving her nose through the bars for all she was worth, since she did that to us all the time before she became an outside-the-cage rabbit. Evidently Greta took exception and took a good nip at Juno's lip. Our good bunny sitters took her off to the vet, and say that she seems fine now, no trouble eating or anything. Jupiter has been quite solicitous towards her, Angela says whenever she's gone to medicate the cut she's had to move Jupe out of the way first. He's a good little guy, and fairly unflappable. I'm not worried, and I'm sure she's being spoiled even more than she was before! I will be terribly glad to see them both when we return though.

Vacation Time!

The bunnies get to have a new adventure this week. Dave and I are going on our annual trip to Duck, NC to vacation with my family, and Juno and Jupiter get to go visit our friends Angela and Zach. And the rest of their menagerie. They share their apartment with two humans, two dogs, a maniacal cat and two rabbits. Our pair are going to be beside themselves, but we're very thankful that Ang and Zach are so kind as to bunny-sit for us.

There was a great deal of uncertainty about whether we were even going to go on vacation this summer, as work has been slimmer than usual, especially for Dave, who got far less hours than he was given to expect in July, putting us both behind. Mom & Dad, of course, offered assistance in getting to the beach, but since they already foot the not-inconsiderable expense of the beach house rental itself, nevermind the mountain of food that the clan consumes, we were extremely reluctant to take them up on their offer. However, we did feel obliged to GO after they made the offer, and so we planned to leave for a week and a half.

For the second year straight, our friend Reid has rescued the long, dark teatime of our summer. Last year it was the crazy barge gig, a desperately needed week of work. (And a very odd show. On, as I mentioned, a barge. With the audience and half the sound system on a pier.) This year, he's head audio on a big off-Broadway show, and he's already hired me quite a bit for it, starting with the shop build back in May/June. (I do love a good shop build. All that titchy little stuff...) He's asked me to join the show as the A2 when the current guy leaves, and in the meantime he's been getting me on as many of the work calls as I can take. I had to turn him down there for a while because I was busy at LCI for summer session, and didn't feel right ditching them, but now we're in the true doldrums, and there is no such impediment. Lucky for Dave and I, they've just realized that they need two sound crew persons every day for the next three weeks. Which gets me right up until the time I would take over as A2. Good stuff.

Of course, this prompted some discussion about skipping the beach trip in favor of the work, and while that is probably the practical decision, I really wasn't about to cancel on my family with three days notice. Fortunately, Dave decided that he would come too, so the beach trip is abbreviated, but not abandoned. We were leaving earlier and returning later initially, but we're still getting our beach (and more importantly, family) time in, and that's what counts to me. The bunnies may feel differently...

Goodbyes

Manny is now going to continue Being Manny for the Dodgers. I really don't have anything to say about this. I'm just sad. Nothing against Jason Bay, but I think the deal stinks.

Thanks Manny. Thanks for the rings. Thanks for the dongs. Thanks for the high-fives, the dreadlocks, the antics. Thanks for being a Red Sock.

Happily Bonded Bunnies

I haven't said much about the rabbits lately, and that's largely because there really is no news on that front. Juno and Jupiter are very happily bonded, and aside from wishing that Juno would do a better job grooming Jupiter (he looks like a patchwork rabbit, he's shedding so oddly), we're all very pleased. We've dismantled one of the cages, and they now share the same, expanded cage. It's got multiple levels, and I don't really expect Juno will ever venture up to the upper reaches, but Jupiter has been enticed up once with a carrot, and I expect he will soon find those upper platforms to be his own spot when they are in their house. Right now, they generally aren't in their house much, so there's been no need. They have the run of the house these days, but we are going out of town next week, and they will be going to stay with our good friends (and fellow bunny parents) Angela and Zach in Brooklyn, where they will be expected to spend a great deal more time in their house, or in a pen attached to their house.

Here's a bit of video of them sharing a carrot. Now that's love! The quality of the video is pretty bad, having been taken in low light with our older camera, but it's still pretty cute.

They have both staked out places in the apartment that are their own territory, though they share the rug in the living room, and spend most of their time there sprawled out next to each other. Juno is a kitchen and bathroom bunny and spends her alone time either on the rug in front of the sink, or halfway in the doorway of the bathroom. I understand the current attraction of the tile floor in the bathroom, as it's been quite warm of late and we don't use the air conditioning at all, but we do have to warn overnight guests not to step on her if they need to use the facilities at night! Jupiter owns the couch. He likes to perch on the back of the couch, especially if Dave is watching TV. Honestly, Jupiter seems more and more catlike the better we get to know him. Both rabbits have really settled in and are much more comfortable with us, with each other, and even with guests who come in for the evening or for a few days. Juno won't do her full-on "dead bunny pose" when there are guests, but Jupiter is perfectly happy to hop right up on the couch or the red chair with them, startling them just as much as he does Dave!

Help me Manny Being Manny. You're my only hope!

I was going to weigh in on all the Manny kerfuffle over the past few days, but honestly, my imaginary friend Jere pretty much covered it over at his blog in, "Red Sox Fan meets Voyce O'Reisen".

It's a funny read, even if you don't really care about Manny and his relationship with the Red Sox.

Speaking of Jere, I've just had the pleasure of reading a review copy of his soon-to-be-released novel, "Dirty Water: A Red Sox Mystery", co-written with his mum, and I'll be posting a proper review soon. If you want to take my word for it though, go ahead and pre-order it. It's due out September 1, which is sort of a bummer, as it would be a perfect read for that last weekend of summer.

Tip of the hat to Ish for the exceptionally dorky title. Love. Much love.

Blast from the Past

I saw this lying on the sidewalk at 120th and Claremont Ave last week when I was walking back to the van from Columbia. Even years later, the logo jumped out at me. Not terribly useful there, I don't think.

I haven't even been to Busch Gardens in at least five years, and it's been more than ten since I worked there, but it still bubbles up to the top of my mind from time to time. I was playing Mario Kart Wii the other day, for example, and there was a level that, for some reason, I felt should be in the park in New France. Maybe it looked like a Nintendo stylized log flume. Beats me.

SAT prep suggestion

I dislike commercials. One thing you will never see me doing with my blog is taking Google up on their AdSense offer. No ads here, thank-you-very-much.

That said, the ads on ESPN tonight during this baseball game are irritating me more than average. There's this one ad that they keep cutting off (they've done it three times so far), not that I mind not seeing it - it looks particularly annoying - but it's weird that they keep cuing up that ad and then cutting it off at the same point. I suspect that it's an ad that can't afford Sunday Night Baseball, but is still stuck in the queue from whatever was on earlier.

The two that really set me off however, were back to back ads from Exxon and the US Army. Not my favorite companies to begin with, these are particularly foul bits of advertising. The Exxon-Mobil ad is blatant green-washing, attempting to make them seem like a positive energy source (!) and the US Army ad is bragging on Truman's Executive Order 9981 (equality of treatment/opportunity in the US Armed Forces - more at the Truman Library Site if you're interested.)

They really seemed like the same thing to me.

Exxon-Mobile : Environment :: US Army : Minorities

This came up on the game thread over at Joy of Sox (because I tend to sidetrack easily), and the conversation was quite correct in pointing out that the minority status isn't as significant as the economic and educational status when it comes to recruiting targeting, but since the have-nots who are being targeted by this ad ARE minority have-nots, I think the correlation stands.

Sadly, the ones who need this, aren't TAKING SAT prep anyhow.

Here at the Bed & Breakfast...

It feels like we've had a lot of company lately, or maybe it just feels like I've been cleaning up for company a lot lately!

We were lucky enough to have the great Angela and Zach over for dinner on Wednesday, and then our friend Reid came over Thursday night to drink some lovely cold beverages and try to talk me into taking an A2 gig (I should) and Friday morning Dave's best friends from high school (and before) showed up for the weekend. Fortunately for me, one of those friends is a rabid Sox fan, so I had no trouble planning our weekend around the Sox-Yankees series. Sadly for me, I could have ignored the first two games completely and possibly had a better time. (As I type, they are removing the tarp at Fenway, so the third game should start soon.)

I wish I could enjoy just feeding Dave as much as I enjoy feeding all the other people who come through our hotel here. We'd eat much better if that was the case. Wednesday was roasted veggies and a simple tomato sauce over pici pasta. (Alas, the last of that. I'd been hoarding it.) Thursday, nothing special, though since Reid had come straight from work, I threw together a plate for him. Friday we made homemade pizza before the ballgame, Saturday was french toast in the morning and hamburgers, corn and watermelon for dinner. (The corn, oh, the corn... so good. Just all of the things that fresh corn on the cob should be.)We never eat like that when we don't have guests anymore. (Tonight, for example, is leftover night.) I should get on that.

It's been a fun week though, and tomorrow I'll be all set for more guests. Anyone want to make a reservation?

this is a test, this is only a test

In the intrest of rampant consumerism, I'm just looking to see how difficult it would be to update blogger from an iPhone.

The answer is, the keypad (or lack thereof) takes some getting used to, but the browser. Makes. Me. So. Happy.

Part of that may be that the web browser on my dumb windows mobile 5 Q is lame and won't play with blogger at all

Best Game Ever

I'm obviously coming a little late to the party here, but I've just seen my new favorite Improv Everywhere mission. If you don't know Improv Everywhere, take a second and check out their website, because they really are more fun than should probably be legal. Every year they bring us the No Pants Subway Ride, among other absurd stunts, all of which increase the sum total of joy in the world. Because I was not paying attention, I missed this one:
Brilliant.

Thanks to Zach for the email!

Prickly Zuchini and other Wonders of Summertime

Thursday is greenmarket day outside of Lincoln Center, and since I'm frequently there on Thursdays, I try to take advantage of it as much as possible. There are lots of wonderful things, and people, at the market each time I go there, and I want to take it all home. That said, I have both finite funds, and finite shopping totes. This most recent Thursday, my list looked like this:

Honey
Eggs
Lettuce
Carrots
Some green thing for the bunnies

Honey and eggs were easy, there's an apple outfit that also brings along a number of items from their neighbors. They were kind enough one week to bring me some apple branches as chew toys for the rabbits, at no charge - they seemed to think it was a great lark. We've been going through honey like mad lately, as Dave has been making lots of honey wheat bread. And toasting it. And covering it with, you guessed it, honey.

Sadly, the people from whom I prefer to buy my carrots, Stokes Farm, had none this week, which meant that the fantastic (and free) bag of discarded carrot tops was also unavailable. (Most carrot purchasers let the folks there take the tops off for them, and he woman who usually mans their stall is always happy to give me as many of the carrot tops as I can carry, which is great, as the bunnies love them.) I had to buy my carrots elsewhere, and I must say, I was not as pleased with them. I still got my lettuce (and some sorrel) from Stokes, and I also found some perfect small summer squash. I got two yellow and two zucchini, and they were so fresh and so close to their planty root (no pun intended) that the stems still prickled when I selected them. I'd forgotten just how spiky squash ARE when you pick them. It's been years since my mom had a garden, and I certainly have no room for one here, but those little spiny caps made me wish yet again that I did. There's nothing like fresh squash. Nothing.

Except maybe fresh corn.

Or fresh tomatoes.

Or...

I sauteed them, with some onion and some garlic, in just a little olive oil. So perfect.

Winnable Flame War?

While I'm pointing you around the Internet, check out this guy. His name is Sean Tevis, and he's running for State Representative in Kansas. Why should I care about Kansas, you ask? Well, really no good reason. Kansas is too flat for me. But this guy is just the sense of humor I wish we had more of in politics.

Running for Office: It's Like A Flame War with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner

The weblog is an engaging look at the process of running for state office, and if you've got that $8 bucks to throw his way, do it.

Moonshot

Everytime I hear Al Gore speak, I lament that he was never our president. If this Al Gore, the passionate, articulate, engaging climate warrior Al Gore, had been the one running for president in 2000 he would have won by enough that the election couldn't have been lifted in a Floridian bank heist. He's found his voice in his cause and has become so much more than an ex-Vice President in the process.

That said, check out the speech he gave today at Constitution Hall in DC:

He's right. We can do more, and we should do more. The solution doesn't lie with individual choices, though I certainly advocate your making wise ones with the environment in mind, but rather with public choices. Policy, and the political will that drives it, is the only way forward. The US used to be a world leader. We can't just sit around playing Risk while the rest of the world worries (or doesn't) about this crisis. Some of the things he argues in this well written and superbly delivered oration are things that I've talked about, as recently as this morning.

"Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges — the economic, environmental and national security crises.
We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.
But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we’re holding the answer to all of them right in our hand.
The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels."
-Thanks to Climate Progress for the transcript

I highly recommend taking the time to watch this speech, and then calling your elected officials and candidates for office about it. Then think about it, remember it, when choosing where to bestow your vote in the fall. This is the sort of thing that we CAN do, as long as we DO it.

I hope I'm in a better mood at the end of October.

Because right now I'm in sort of a lousy one, so the All-Star Break and its attendant, well, break, is making me cranky. I miss baseball. How is Kevin Youkilis supposed to cheer me up with a grand slam if there ISN'T ANY BASEBALL?!

The All-Star Game was fun and all, but, like most of the east coast, I had work in the morning and had to give up on the tie game in the 13th inning and go to bed. I could only be more pleased with it if it had been my hero Youk with the MVP level game, rather than J.D. Drew. (Not to say that I don't like Werd, because I do, and he's been a very effective Papi stand-in. I just have a soft spot for Youk.)

Wow am I pathetic. Seriously. There will be baseball again on Friday. It's not like it's the end of the season or anything. My team is in first place (by .5 games, granted, but they'll deal with that in good order), the Yankees aren't even in second, there's still months to go. I even have nice cold beer in the fridge. I feel pathetic, but even when I'm glum, a nice baseball game really takes the edge off. It's an addiction. If I'm still feeling this underlying sadness come October and the end of the season (may it be LATE in October...) I just might have to do something drastic.

Like watch hockey.

Fun with Stat Counter

Today's random search string brought someone to my Happy Creation Day post from a few years ago. It was:

6012th birthday on october 23.

I am dying to know who was searching google for this. And more to the point, why? Whoever you are, thanks - I'd forgotten about that, and it made me laugh all over again!

The Baseball Project

I have this irritating tendency to forget that I have an emusic subscription, so I either waste a month's downloads, or I find myself scrambling at the eleventh hour to select 90 tracks. Which is what happened to me last night. I got some older Cathie Ryan, the cast recording of In The Heights and some assorted other stuff when I found this.

The Baseball Project turns out to be a collaborative project between Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Miracle 3) and Scott McCaughey (R.E.M.) who discovered a mutual obsession with baseball and casually discussed a baseball based musical project for several years before actually settling down to work on The Baseball Project, Volume One: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails last year. It's rare that I'm on top of something so quickly, but the album was just released last week, and on a lark, I downloaded it in it's entirety.

It's quite good. Largely story songs about some of the great or quirky baseball stories. (Plenty of material there for several more volumes!) Musically, it's easy and accessible, nothing earth shattering, but well worth the listen. Lyrically it's much more compelling. In Harvey Haddix, an argument for the inclusion of Haddix on any list of perfect game hurlers, they manage to use the names of all 17 pitchers to officially perform that feat without sounding at all stilted. For those of you to whom that made no sense, Haddix, pitching for the Pirates, took a perfect game into the 13th inning only to lose the game. It's the longest perfect stretch in one outing, and yet, since he did eventually allow one hit, not a perfect game. He did, however, pitch the 27 up, 27 down that the others did, and then again a third of a game. An interesting argument, and a fun song.

I particularly enjoyed Ted Fucking Williams as well, and The Yankee Flipper. The album as a whole is a love letter from some total baseball dorks who just happen to be first rate musicians to the sport they follow religiously. Critical in places, such as Gratitude (for Curt Flood), about the Gold Glove center fielder who's unsuccessful challenge to the reserve system opened the door for free agency (and today's sky high salaries), but still reverent and joyful.

And did I mention that it's just fun to listen to? I want to take it out for a drive!

I'll bet Video Professor could help you out with that, McSame...

Every single time I see those Video Professor (no link - if you can read this, you don't need it) commercials, I either mock them mercilessly, or I shake my head and ponder the poor fool who needs to be taught anything past "click here" for the internet.

Who could that lamebrain be?

Why, the Republican't nominee for President!

"I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself."

Honestly, what person under the age of 80* can possibly take him seriously? I'm willing to allow that he probably hasn't ever needed to figure out email, since there are plenty of people around him to do it for him, but web browsing? He'll have that down "fairly soon"? Really?

*My grandfather is over 80 and totally has this down, but in all fairness, my grandfather is also FAR smarter than McSame.

Friends and ancient history

Thanks Youk!

I was having a pretty crap sort of a day, but Kevin Youkilis has totally got my back. His cheer-me-up bid was a lovely grand slam, and the Sox are steamrollering over the poor O's right now, which is quite the mood alterer.

Night before last I was up too late chatting online with Walter, and somehow ended up hitting the Wayback Machine to see what lingering bits of my early blogs are still preserved there. There's something dreadfully narcissistic about rereading your own journal from nine years ago, but it's also quite fun. The word blog wasn't even in use when I started. I can't seem to find any entries from before Dec. 1999, but I started in Jan of that year. I've only kept it up intermittently though.

The thing that struck me most is that the friends I mentioned most often in those days are still the friends I go to when I'm feeling blue these days. I was feeling pretty low in one of those late 1999 entries, and my solution was to go out with my good friend Jess. Today? I called Jess and Jeremy to have them over to dinner. My mom told me once that her friends that she made in college were the ones she ended up keeping forever, and that seems to be true for me as well. Though there are a number of my high school friends with whom I am still close, and of course there are others since college. I wonder though, what it is about college that makes such long term friendships.

Whatever it is, I'm glad of it.

What should I do next? I know! I'll run for Congress!

The Democratic candidate for Congress in my home district (VA-01) suspended his campaign the other day, citing "past financial difficulties". He didn't have any real chance of winning, I'm sorry to say, but even having a Democrat on the ballot is fun - so often this seat isn't even contested. The incumbent won a special election last year to fill the seat of the late Jo Ann Davis, a very conservative Republican who had held the seat since 2001. Voting against Jo Ann Davis was such an exercise in futility - I think I wrote in my dad one time! Anyhow, Hummel didn't really stand a chance, but I'm sorry to see that he's suspended his campaign.

Since it's a loser anyhow though, heck, I'd run.

Except I don't think the bunnies want to move to DC, so I guess I'll skip it.

Holes in the 50 T-Shirt Strategy

The news, pundits and blogosphere have been making great hay out of the Obama campaign's much touted "50 State Strategy" and before you get the wrong idea, let me go ahead and say that I think it's a great plan. By spending time on every state, not only is Obama building momentum for his own election race, but he's substantially improving the chances of down ticket candidates. In the long run, I feel like the down ticket races are where the real change (anyone tired of that word yet?) can be effected. If we can send a bunch of better, more progressive congressfolk and senators to Washington with Senator Obama, then the chances of enacting a progressive agenda are substantially increased. Not that you can tell from the current roll-over-and-play-dead congress, but the legislative branch is capable of being either the sitting president's best ally or most implacable foe.

In the long term, party building of this nature is crucial if we want those 'red' states to turn purple and even blue. My beloved home state, the Commonwealth of Virginia, is increasingly blue (Obama leads in current composite polling data and we're about to replace an old guard republican senator with a wildly popular democratic former governor). Some of this shift can certainly be attributed to the growing population in the more liberal northern part of the state, and to the abysmal approval ratings of the Resident's administration, but a lot can also be laid at the doorstep of that popular governor's campaigning, and that of his successor, and at the foot of the huge netroots effort to elect our junior senator, Jim Webb, in 2006. Each successful race (and even the unsuccessful ones) that competes in the state enlarges and energizes the base. The 50 state strategy does this on a national level, even in places like Utah, home of the most republican congressional district in the country. (Utah's 1st District, in case you were curious, an R+26 district.)

That said, you didn't come here to hear me spout off nonsense you could have gotten at dKos. You came here to hear me spout off more trivial nonsense!

The Obama site has, as you would expect, an extensive collection of campaign related gear and garb you can buy. One prominent category is "State Shirts". I went looking for a Virginia for Obama shirt, which I would probably not have purchased, but nevertheless, I wanted to know it existed.

It doesn't.

Virginia, a state that hasn't voted for Democrats on a national ticket since supporting LBJ in 1964, is currently leaning towards Barack. Not hugely, certainly within the margin of error, but the trend is continuing, and I look forward to casting my (absentee) ballot for the first democratic candidate to win the state in my lifetime. (Voting for Clinton was fun, since he did win, but since he didn't win the Commonwealth, this has the potential to be fantastically better.)

There's no shirt for Virginia? He won the primary there handily! He's contesting the state. McCain actually just made an ad buy for Virginia, for crying out loud! Republicans never have to do that! No shirt?

So that made me curious. What other states have been left out?

-Iowa (McCain 41% Obama 45.8%)
-Louisiana (Solid McCain)
-Maine (Solid Obama)
-Maryland (Solid Obama)
-Mississippi (McCain 50% Obama 44%, Rasmussen)
-Nebraska (Solid McCain)
-Nevada (McCain 45.2% Obama 41.8%)
-New Hampshire (McCain 39.4% Obama 50%)
-South Carolina (McCain 48% Obama 39%, Rasmussen)
-Virginia (McCain 45.1% Obama 46.5%)
-Washington (Solid Obama)
-Wyoming (Solid McCain)
(All poll data is composite from pollster.com, except when noted. Margins greater than 10% are considered solid.)

A bunch of these states are shaping up as battlegrounds. Hook it up with the Cafe Press already! Wouldn't they like to see those states showing their support on their torsos?

But don't worry. You can get your Guam or Puerto Rico shirts. Perfect for the non-voter in your life.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Big Bunny Breakthrough!

For the past week or two we've not attempted to get the bunnies together, relying on less direct contact between the two of them. Their cages are only about a foot apart, so they have plenty of opportunity to see and smell the other rabbit, and they both use the same room as a play area, so the territoriality was limited pretty severely. At first the two of them would leave each other little "this is mine" poops around the living room (keep in mind that rabbit feces are small dry pellets, and that becomes a much less disgusting image), but in the past week that's largely stopped. We got into a routine where we would alternate who came out to play first, and after half of the allotted play time had passed, we would surround the first bunny in the pen, and let the second bunny out to romp. They could get close enough to sniff noses, but we supervised to make sure that this never ended in nose biting, which was a danger at first. We even encouraged them to spend time near the other rabbit by placing tasty treats on both sides of the pen, as you see above. Bunny bribery is quite effective.

We, and they, had become so comfortable with this routine that when Jupiter hopped up on top of Juno's house it didn't surprise or worry anyone, Juno included. While Juno was out last night she was as relaxed as we've ever seen her, sprawled out on the floor next to Dave's home base on the couch. I've been reluctant to get the two of them together because everything had been going so smoothly, but we decided that as long as she was so chill, perhaps it would be a good time to try it out. They largely ignored one another at first, with the exception of one three foot chase scene where Jupiter was startled and ran after Juno very briefly before growing disinterested. We were entirely pleased by that reaction, since ignoring each other is a very peaceful reaction from critters that are very territorial by nature. We fed them each a carrot while sitting right near the other, and thought it was a pretty good evening. We were still sitting on the ground with them, petting and talking soothingly, when Juno slipped over to Jupiter and started trying to groom his hind legs for him. (He needs some help in that area, I must admit.) The first time she tried it, he immediately hopped up and moved a few feet away, but Juno has definitely decided that Jupiter should be her bunny, and determinedly tried again. The next time, Jupiter put up with her attentions for a while, only moving when she moved up his back with her licks. We were delighted.

We figured that the night was over when Juno headed back to her house, but before we could grab him, Jupiter had hopped right up in there with her. We were all set to grab him and pull him out, as we had no intentions of stretching their tolerance that far, but Juno was completely unaffected. We cautiously let things continue, and Jupiter hopped up on Juno's ledge with her. She still didn't care. She already seems quite fond of him!

Things backtracked slightly this morning while I was making breakfast. Dave let both of them out, and they were fine together, but Juno decided to go visit Jupiter in his house, which he did not especially appreciate it. Dave hustled her out of the cage (Jupiter was right behind Dave with his own ejection plan) and we shut his front door but left his top open. Jupiter is a much springier rabbit than Juno, and has no problem exiting via the roof, but Juno can't get up there to get in. At the moment they are both sleeping in their own houses, but the doors are both open so that they can go visiting if they like. Eventually I would like them to both live in Juno's expandable house, so it's very encouraging that she has so little objection to his presence.

Fangirl?

So good luck with your elections, I hope you win. - Eddie Izzard

I'm usually not a big fangirl type, but I do really enjoy Eddie Izzard, and I was quite jealous of my friend Eliza, who had birthday tickets to see him here in New York. I hadn't even considered going myself - money's tight enough without paying for event tickets to, well, anything. Especially anything at Radio City Music Hall.

Did I say I was jealous of Eliza? Because this is nothing compared to my jealousy of my friend Ben, who is on the tour bus with the Izzard tour. He somehow tripped over the gig as Lighting Director, and it couldn't have happened to a better guy, as Ben is both a very talented and skillful person, and a great friend. Still, I am quite jealous. Evidently Eddie is a very nice guy, down to earth, and whenever he gets special treatment, he expects that everyone with him gets it as well.

Big Time Promoter Dude: Gee, Mr. Izzard, we'd love to take you out for this swanky swanky five star dinner.
Eddie: Excellent, there will be seven of us.

About a week ago I got a text from Ben asking if I was coming to the shows this weekend, and I replied that no, it was a bit rich for my blood, and also a bit sold out. His reply? "Comps, Bitches!"

Not just any comps, it turns out, third row comps. And passes to the reception afterwards. Open bar, Eddie Izzard, surprisingly small group of attendees. Very cool. Eliza and her friends were trying to get a picture with Eddie, and once they accomplished that, I took a moment to thank him for waving the Obama flag throughout the south. (He encouraged the New York show to vote for Obama, but that's not anything impressive. Ben tells me he'd been doing it everywhere though, and I thought that was great.) Somehow my brief mention turned into a very cool conversation about politics and history and the oddness of growing up liberal in a largely conservative environment. Dave said that he really liked how Eddie kept looking to include him in the conversation, even though Dave himself had nothing to say.

It's always nice to hear that your favorite artists, athletes or entertainers really are the nice people you want them to be, but it's far better to find it out first hand.

Um... Squeee?

Paint the bunnies. No? Egg the paint? Um...

We've taken a step back in our rabbit matchmaking, and it seems to be successful. When the visiting dog departed last week, we moved them back into the living room and rearranged enough that they can live side-by-side in their respective houses. We haven't gotten them out together since then, but we're letting one rabbit out to romp, then after a reasonable amount of free-range romping, herding that rabbit into the pen and then letting the second rabbit out. This way they get a chance to interact in their common space but don't really have the opportunity to do any hard core chasing. They've responded really well. Now they like to stick their noses through at the other bunny and they both sniff in a very friendly manner. At first we had to watch them very closely, as noses are very tempting tooth targets, but now we trust them to behave well, and they like to lie on the floor together in their seperate areas.

It's tempting to bring them closer, but I think we'll stick with this for a while longer.

I started the paint-the-apartment project today, and I'd forgotten how tedious painting can be. Today all I accomplished was to sand and put a layer of Killz on the bedroom walls. I was reminded yet again of how poorly all the repairs and maintenance here are performed. The last time the apartment was painted was when Dave moved in, five years ago, so it's pretty grimy, especially in that room, which has been a revolving door for the past five years, starting with Dave, then Laura (and subsequently the addition of her boyfriend), then the Soap and Candle Guy, then Comic Book Guy, then Tom and most recently Jon. Each tenant has moved furniture in and out, placed beds in different spots (and therefore put their feet on different parts of the wall) and punched their own holes in the walls. It's justifiably gross. None of that really bothered me. The unfortunate bits were the parts under the old paint. The spackle that wasn't sanded before painting, the nails that weren't removed, the poorly patched holes in the wall, the cracks. I really hadn't gotten that close to the walls before, and now that I have, I'm glad it's not my foundation that those cracks are pointing out!

We haven't yet picked the color that will go on top of the Killz I applied, but at least now when we do pick it, it won't have the dirty bleed through from who knows how long!

In other news, I ate the most amazing scrambled eggs this morning. I realized on Thursday while at the farmer's market to order apple twigs for the spoiled bunnies, that the purportedly free-range eggs I buy at the store aren't any cheaper than the local eggs at the farmer's market, so I've changed my egg buying. It's so worth it. The local eggs have a much brighter shade of yolk and the most wonderfully rich almost buttery taste to them. I can never go back! Now I just need to find some real butter...

Congratulations Are In Order

As some of you may remember, I spent a good portion of last summer on a walking truss at 37 Arts, running followspot for an up and coming Off-Broadway show. The patrons were always either amazed or terrified by our assent (in full fall arrest harness) to the truss on a "rope" ladder made of aircraft cable, but once we were up there, it was surprisingly comfortable to sit on the edge of the truss rail and lean against another pipe until the show started. It was a fun show to run, challenging to learn at first, and I never quite tired of it.

The show closed in mid July so that it could revamp and head to Broadway, where it opened earlier this year, and last night it won the Tony Award for Best Musical! The team also picked up Tonys for Choreography (Andy Blankenbuehler), Best Original Score (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and Best Orchestration (Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman). While I don't know Andy or Bill, Lin and Alex are two of the nicest guys ever, and totally deserving of the honors.

Though the show touches on some legitimate issues - what the gentrification is doing to the character of New York neighborhoods for example - it is largely big, fun musical theatre in the best way possible, couched in a love song to a single upper Manhattan neighborhood. The music and dance are heavily influenced by latin and hip-hop styles, and it makes for a very engaging show and eminently hummable score.

While I had nothing to do with the Tony success, this is the first time that a show on which I've previously worked has been nominated for major awards (13 Tony nominations) and I'm very happy for all of the people who are still with the show. They deserved every bit, and I'm proud to have been even such a small part of a show.

A Bump in the Road to Bunny Bliss

We made the mistake of letting the bunnies have too much space to play in for their last date, as they had been getting along reasonably well in the confines of the pen, and it ended in flying fur. Just a little, and no injuries, but it's back to the pen for our furry friends. Interestingly, the dynamic appears to have changed significantly when we let them have the whole room. Now instead of Juno trying to be the dominant rabbit, Jupiter is chasing her around the room! He tugged out a small hank of her fur, but since she's shedding quite a bit, he didn't actually do any damage, just grabbed some loose fur. She's pretty mellow towards him, just doesn't want him thinking he's the top bun. Once we put them back in the smaller, more restrictive pen, they were reasonably content to sit near (but not too near) each other and ignore.

They won't be having a date today, as they are having a rough enough weekend as it is. Dave's brother and sister-in-law are in town this weekend, with their dog, Sadie. She's a big scary predator, though she wouldn't hurt a fly, and the rabbits have been moved to the spare bedroom to distance them from the terror. Since they've been moved however, their houses are now close enough that they can see and smell each other but cannot touch, the hope being that they grow increasingly comfortable.

We found the perfect rabbit carrots today at the Union Square Greenmarket. One of the farm vendors from whom I was buying a bunch of kale and lettuce for the greedy little lagomorphs had these young carrots, very long and thin, with the entirity of their extravagant tops still intact. Unlike the fully mature carrots that are marketed at the supermarkets, these are just the right size for a bunny portion, and were a big hit. I'm an advocate for eating locally and supporting local farmers, so I'm glad that I can feed my bunnies accordingly!

A Very Happy Birthday to One Of My Favorite Bloggers

If you don't currently read we move to canada, you really should. Laura is a native New Yorker happily transplanted to the greater Toronto area. Her posts are thoughtful and informative on a number of progressive topics and well written and entertaining regardless of the subject. Also she has two very charming dogs, and she sometimes posts pictures of them. I'm just sayin', is all...
It's her birthday too, so if you head over there, please wish her many happy returns of the day!

Happy Loving Day

Today is the anniversary of the landmark supreme court decision in Loving v. Virginia(1967) which ended race based bars to marriage by declaring Virginia's anti-miscegenation statutes to be unconstitutional. In this case, a interracial couple, Mildred & Richard Loving, were married in D.C. and then returned to the commonwealth to live. At the time, there were laws on the books in Virginia stating:

"If any white person intermarry with a colored person, or any colored person intermarry with a white person, he shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years."(Virginia Code § 20-59)

And:

"If any white person and colored person shall go out of this State, for the purpose of being married, and with the intention of returning, and be married out of it, and afterwards return to and reside in it, cohabiting as man and wife, they shall be punished as provided in 20-59, and the marriage shall be governed by the same law as if it had been solemnized in this State. The fact of their cohabitation here as man and wife shall be evidence of their marriage." (Virginia Code § 20-58)

When they returned to Virginia, they were charged with violating these statutes and pleaded guilty, being sentenced to one year in prison, which was suspended conditionally as long as they left the commonwealth.

So they left. They moved to D.C. and made friends with the ACLU, who drove the legal train to the Supreme Court.

The court reversed the convictions, with Chief Justice Warren stating in the majority decision that:

"The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.
Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival. Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535, 541 (1942). See also Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190 (1888)."

I'm sorry to have to say that it was a suit brought against my own beloved Commonwealth that occasioned this change, but I do find it encouraging that now, forty years on, this particular form of discrimination seems so antiquated. It gives me hope that soon we will find our current marriage related bigotry quaint and old-fashioned. Perhaps the next iteration of Loving v. Virginia will be a gay couple suing the Commonwealth for not recognizing their Californian marriage.

This is another reason why we need to elect Barack Obama. Can you imagine the current court, or even worse, the court after four more years of Bush (as played by John McCain), making a decision based on "the broader, organic purpose of a constitutional amendment" rather than the "passage of specific statutes"? I can't.

And yes, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a card-carrying member of the

In Which Some Introductions Are In Order

This latest development will amuse anyone who knew me as a bunny mad child - my best friend and I wrote a newspaper based on the exploits of our stuffed animals called "The Bunny Press", for crying out loud. (Yes, I was a nerd, thank you very much.)

Dave and I have adopted two bunnies from the Manhattan Shelter of NYC's Animal Care & Control. We went intending to adopt only one rabbit, if that, but we both fell in love with separate bunnies, so we decided to take both of them. On the left here is Jupiter, Dave's selection (and now my favorite, if I can be said to have a favorite - they're both pretty great) and below on the right is my selection, Juno. (The Roman goddess, not the movie, just so's you know.) Juno is now Dave's favorite, being the more mild mannered of the two. I was actually starting to worry that Juno was too forceful a name for such a sweet and friendly rabbit, until the two of them met on their first bunny "date". Turns out that our sweet girl is quite the dominatrix!

I say "date", but the process of bonding two rabbit strangers promises to be quite the challenge. You can read more about bonding rabbits, or house rabbits in general, at the House Rabbit Society. The first time they met, Juno tried to exert her dominance, which, despite her size advantage, I didn't expect, and Jupiter resented it. Yesterday was their second date and they seemed to get along better, he mostly ignoring her and her attempting occasionally to groom him. Tonight we decided to skip the date, as there was a storm and both bunnies were a bit edgy.

So there they are, our new rabbit friends, Juno & Jupiter. Expect to see a good deal more of them as they learn to be friends with each other as well as with us.

Boy am I stupid...

I can't seem to keep track of my phone today. I left it at home this morning when I left, but both our shows were out on Long Island today, so I swung by the house on the way to the first school to retrieve it. I was even smart enough to bring the charger.

Then I left the damn thing in the van when I parked it in the garage. I realized this only AFTER fighting my way to the 59th Street Bridge, so it's going to spend the night there.

When are we getting those phone implants?

edit: crap. Just realized that my phone IS my alarm clock.

Hey! I should be able to steal from my brother if I darn well want to!

I got home slightly too late to listen to the ballgame I was particularly interested in, though I did listen to the last two outs on the way home from the train. I haven't broken down and subscribed to either the cable Extra Innings package ($$$ but high quality) or either of the mlb.tv packages ($$ but medium to low quality with crappy support) but my brother got tagged by mlb's auto-renew on his subscription to mlb.tv from last year. (I avoided this fate only through the cunning loss of my debit card and subsequent replacement last fall. Clever of me, no? And quite foresighted as well. How did I know in October? Must be psychic!) Sadly for Thomas, he has the World's Worse Web in his apartment (or possibly a faulty network card) and isn't capable of utilizing said subscription. Besides which, with tonight's Sox game in the books, he probably wasn't watching anyhow, so I decided I was intrigued by the 13th inning Nationals/Phillies game and tried to use his log in.

There are two different levels of mlb.tv this year. The basic 400K version and a theoretically much better 700K. Thomas has the 400. So I click on the 400K link and am redirected to a page telling me that "You have reached this page because your current subscription does not authorize viewing 700K streams" and giving me only one option - pay them $30 more (presumably of my brother's money) to get the 700K. I tried it again. Logged out, tried again. Asked for a different 400K game (MIN/SEA - I really didn't care.) Same thing.

Apparently there were no 400K webstreams tonight. Screw you guys who didn't want to give big greedy MLB more money. MLB.tv is run extremely poorly, so I can't say that I'm surprised, but it sure doesn't make me want to subscribe. I think I'll be listening to my Sox play on XM, or I'll pony up the cash for cable.

Now, on with the countdown...

I'm listening to the Sox game on XM, like you do when you don't have Extra Innings. (I'm still seriously tempted by it - cable had a free preview on all last week and I loved getting to turn the game on and watch in on TV. (Wow. I feel like some sort of freakish throwback to maybe the 50's... "Holy Toledo, Mabel - we can watch the game on that thar television.")

Sometimes, during the commercial breaks, they play ads for other XM stations, and I swear I just heard one for Casey Kasem's American Top 40. "Do you remember waking up and knowing it was Sunday morning because you would roll over, turn on the radio, and hear Casey Kasem say, 'Now, on with the countdown.'" Why yes. Yes I do. I remember the little red radio I had too. It was rectangular, about 8 inches wide by maybe 6 high and few inches deep, rounded on the sides, and bright cherry red. With a handle on top. I remember going outside at the old house, setting the radio at the base of the big tree, and swinging on the rope swing for hours.

It's funny, because I was never actually that huge a fan of the countdown. I didn't care especially where Madonna hit, or anyone else for that matter. Sometimes I would tape the countdown because I knew that a song I particularly wanted a copy of would be in the top ten or so, but generally it wasn't a big deal to me. But it is evocative of the 80s for me, the way I imagine VH1 would like "I love the 80s" to be. Just hearing that quote made me virtually able to smell the spring grass in the front yard, and feel the thump of the hard packed earth under the swing where my siblings and I had worn away the grass with our feet on the swing.

It feels like a long time ago.

I just want to DO something with my life

I need to change.

I like what I do for a living. It's fun. It (mostly) pays the bills. The people are pretty great.

I don't feel fullfilled anymore though. I feel like I'm just muddling through, doing the work. I'm not accomplishing anything. Increasingly, I feel as though I should be doing something that has impact. I should be living a useful life. I should be helping people, or changing things. Perhaps I should just sell everything I own and join the Peace Corps.

Except that the Peace Corps doesn't want me. Remeber that college degree I set out for? I got distracted by the lure of work in my field and I have't much regretted that. I finished three years of college, and I got out of it what I wanted - good training and experience that helped me get an apprenticeship in technical theatre. Since then, I've been working continuously in a field where it seems like all jobs are transient. I can't complain. But it's hard to switch careers (assuming I can think of something I want to do) without a degree.

I thought about going back to school in VA, get a job at the nifty performing arts center there at CNU, spend a few years there doing the part time student thing. I just don't really want to move back to VA. There were, I thought, two good reasons to return there to finish. One, the director of the theatre department would be very helpful in getting me credit for lessons learned elsewhere (for example, he doesn't think that I really need to sit Lighting Design II since I've designed professionally) and two, going to school in VA seemed like it would be a cheaper prospect than going to school in NY.

Those advantages aren't what they used to be. I don't really want the theatre degree, unless perhaps it becomes an arts administration degree - for the technical applications, my work experience is far more importaint. So the additional credits for life experience at CNU are only useful insofar as they get me closer to graduation, with a degree I don't really want anymore. (Dave points out, accurately enough, that if I finished that, I could go to grad school in something totally different.) It turns out also that in-state tuition at CNU (I've been faithfully paying income taxes to VA while on tour and in random other places for that status) is almost twice as expensive as in-state tuition at CUNY. I should apply to City College and see what transfers. Especially if we're going to move to upstate Manhattan next year!

Problem is, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I always thought I would have that sorted by now!

Date Blue?

I am seriously amused by this.

Especially the statement that, "For the price of one month on Republican-owned Eharmony, you get a full year of liberal dating choices on Democratic Match!"

In case you were wondering, that showed up as a gmail ad link with my Weekly Grist email.

Macaca!!!!!

Have you voted yet today? Go! Go now!

And if you are in Virginia, please, for the love of all that is holy, don't vote for George "Macaca" Allen. Webb's our boy...

Rather like living in a menagerie

Albeit a fairly unoriginal one! The dog howls downstairs and the cat upstairs cavorts constantly from one side of the apartment to the other, giving a drumroll effect to those of below.

I like animals. I wish I had some. I just get none of the cuddly benefit of these two and all of the irritation, so I'm pretty tired of them. (I almost amended my 'all of the irritation' statement to reflect that I don't have to deal with pee in inapropriate places, but then I remembered how the hall downstairs smells!)

What ever happened to me?

Much as I love the convenience of modern blogging, be it livejournal, myspace, blogger, vox or what-have-you, I think I have lost something. Somehow, the work involved in coding (badly) my own html pages encouraged a higher quality of writing as well. I enjoy the minutiae of my life that get recorded in the fast food blogging style, but I miss the obligation to think about what I wrote. I never write stuff like this anymore.

Five years later, that is the sort of thing that resonates most.

elusive sleep

I can't seem to get back to sleep. I drifted off around midnight and was awoken (though not enough to answer the phone) by a not-terribly-drunk dial from Walter. We're getting old now. The drunk dials aren't so drunken and instead of interrupting other drunken reveling, they interrupt sleep. I can't even call him back because he indicated that he was on his way to sleep. I sort of miss my mid twenties right now.

I blame my inability to sleep on the howling from downsttairs. Tonight it is coming from directly under my head. That must be the room where they put the poor devil at night. The irritating thing is that he started up almost immediately upon my turning out the light to sleep! The forty five minutes I'd been lying in bed reading prior? Silent. I hate that dog so very much.

geo-meme

This was suprisingly entertaining...

Or maybe I'm just a dork. I do recommend doing it with a real mouse though. It was harder to get the states where I wanted them than it should have been with my laptop!

50 States Game

Score: 94% Avg Error: 4 miles Time: 253 seconds

oh Canada!

Dear Canadians who record and upload Studio 60 on Sunday nights, you are my favorite people! I had to go to bed before it aired here last night, and now I am sitting at work waiting for my first color change in the dance show and I'm watching last night's TV while I'm doing it. Yay!

Happy Creation Day!

No seriously. (Ok, I really couldn't do that with a straight face, so it's a good thing you can't SEE my face!)

According to church scholars (with the use of a list of equinoxes and a DART), God made the world on October 23, 4004 BC. At noon.

My question is, noon in what time zone?!

And, of course, the year may be off by one because when they did this precise math, they hadn't yet run into the clever arabic concept of zero, and therefore failed to account for the year 0. There is also that niggling little issue of Herod and Jesus overlapping, that probably skews things by at least three or four years.

So the year may be a bit off, but the date, we're good on that. October 23. At noon.

So happy 6011th birthday weirdo religious earth. Or maybe 6012th... Hardly matters, we're still not giving you an intergalactic drivers licence until you turn 7000, so keep doing those loops until then.

Thanks, Dad...

Check out this editorial from the good old Daily Press! (Shamelessly republished here without permission so that in three years when the link is broken or consigned to some lost web archive I will still know what I was talking about. Copyright 2006, Daily Press.) And, though obviously it amuses me to title this post, "thanks Dad", just as obviously the confluence of my opinion and that of the paper is no more than happy circumstance. Just in case anyone is dumb enough to think otherwise.

Say 'no'
The 'marriage' amendment protects nothing and harms us all
Daily Press - October 22, 2006

We Virginians have a remarkable opportunity. We can make a statement that will resonate across this nation - and that is no exaggeration.

If we go to the polls on Nov. 7 and reject an effort to sully our state constitution with the words of a misguided effort to "protect" marriage, then we will have reminded Americans what constitutions are for. They are not for limiting human relationships. They are not for restricting freedom. They are not for muddling and meddling in the intimate questions of who may love whom and how that love is to be protected and nurtured.

The Marshall-Newman amendment - more typically referred to as the amendment to ban same-sex marriage - is a legislative train wreck waiting to happen. If allowed to leave the station on Election Day, it would amend the Bill of Rights of the Virginia Constitution with language that is, at best, ambiguous in terms of its legal effects and, at worst, mean-spirited and bigoted.

Let us look instead at Section 1 of Article 1 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of Virginia:

"That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."

Entering into marriage is most assuredly a way of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. Yet the lawmakers - content though they may have been to leave the word "men" unamended, thereby failing to recognize the other half of the population - would define marriage as "only a union between one man and one woman."

Never mind that Virginia law already prohibits same-sex marriage.

For proponents of this amendment, the law is not enough. They must carve into legal stone their effort to protect them from ... what?

Activist judges in other states is the usual answer. Unnamed robed people who would impose their values on Virginia.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

But at the core the truth is that this amendment speaks of two things:

A deep-seated prejudice against gays and lesbians.

The reality that there are among us, always, people who seek to use fear and prejudice for their own political advancement.

Let's be clear: The vast majority of Virginians who will vote for this amendment - 99.9 percent of them - are good, decent, honorable people. They will not vote for it because they "hate" anyone. They will believe they are protecting marriage, which is a noble motive. Nonetheless, their support of this amendment will be a mistake, one that, should the amendment pass, will be corrected by their children or grandchildren who will, some day in the future, wonder how we could have been so ignorant.

But until the day of correction comes, unnecessary pain will be inflicted on the many Virginians who are gay or lesbian and who would like their relationships, the families they make together, to have the public and legal sanctions associated with marriage. This amendment would cruelly deny that - nor will it even allow such relationships under another name, such as civil union.

State law already outlaws civil unions, and the constitutional amendment would put an unnecessary exclamation mark on that prohibition. This newspaper has argued for civil unions, because they would allow the legal protections associated with marriage that gay and lesbian couples seek. They would offer a compromise, as imperfect as all parties might see it.

But amendment proponents do not want compromise. And it is in their insistence on sealing every opening to the possibility of legally recognizing gay and lesbian relationships that they overstep and invite rejection of this amendment in a state where voters would surely have accepted, by large measure, this first sentence of the proposed change:

"That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions."

That would have made the point. That would have been sufficient. That would have left the door open for civil unions. But no, they insisted on this language as well:

"This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage."

Those 62 words are the command to open a Pandora's box. No one knows what they will mean to all number of relationships - including heterosexual relationships that might "approximate" marriage, or various stage-of-life agreements. The legal issues are too many to examine here, but those words will give individuals a new set of tools to inflict pain on each other. They will tear down, or at the very least expose to attack, protections, relationships and agreements that already exist.

A BARRIER TO CHANGE

Make no mistake, this amendment goes beyond its stated intent of protecting marriage. It hurts gays and lesbians. It will hurt unmarried partners regardless of their sexual orientation. It will hurt us all.

And for what?

Society's attitudes toward gays and lesbians are changing, and the change, for the most part, has been for the better. The amendment is an attempt to stop that change, to put up a barrier that says, "this far, and no farther."

But there is no evidence that gays and lesbians who seek marriage - or civil union - do any harm to marriage or society or themselves. All, in fact, are strengthened by committed relationships. Commitment should be encouraged by society.

It is the cheapening of marriage by heterosexuals that threatens society. It is the birth of children outside of stable family relationships that is so problematic.

And it is simply irrational to think that same-sex marriage has any relationship to these problems. Passage of the amendment might even make them worse because it could threaten the stability of families headed now by two women or two men.

Differing faith groups have differing views on this amendment. No faith group needs a constitutional amendment to instruct it on how to define marriage, nor could any faith group be compelled to accept same-sex marriage if it did not want to.

Across the nation, 20 states have adopted amendments similar to the one proposed for Virginia. Some people point to that acceptance as justifying the effort here in Virginia.

How much better it will be for all Americans, not just Virginians, if we in this state point back on Nov. 7 by rejecting this amendment. Doing so will not legalize same-sex marriage or civil unions. But it will be an emphatic statement that the language of this amendment goes too far. That it is unnecessary. That it is mean. And that it has no place in the constitution of Virginia.

We Virginians have a remarkable opportunity on Nov. 7. Let's reject this amendment and show the nation the path back to common sense.

Blog me here, blog me there...

Tom linked to my last post from his myspace blog, and his comments were just cute and funny, as well as pointed, and I wanted to share. Also Tom is cool, and those of you who are on myspace would probably like him.

I am constantly frustrated by the online division of my friends. There's the myspace contingent, the livejournal faithful and even some folks over at Blogger (which I find irritating because I can't just keep track of them on a friends style page.) I wish all of these things were integrated. Grr...

No, no, a thousand times, NO!

Dear Virginia,

I love you, I always have, and I always will, but this is evil.



I just got my absentee ballot the other day. If I actually stay in this state for a full year, well, one of these years I'll have to change my official residence. As long as I am still touring and wandering around after work though, I cling like a limpet to my Virginia residency! I don't WANT to be a New Yorker for real. I just play one on TV. There's nothing on the ballot this year that required much thought for me. No, I still hate Jo Ann Davis (though this year I didn't have to write in a candidate in order to oppose her - one year I voted for my dad!), and yes, I still object to stupid and hateful constitutional amendments. Actually, I object to constitutional amendments in general. I think constitutions should be fairly streamlined (ha!) and that most things can be taken care of via legislation, rather than amendments. But I especially object to evil ones.

Voting makes me happy though. You should do it too, it's fun!

I didn't need to know that.

I've learned a new thing about my neighborhood in the past few days. The people who live across the street behind us? NEVER TURN OFF THEIR PORCH LIGHT! I would never have known that, had my landlord not gone on a tree killing spree. Seriously, people, it's the middle of the night. Turn it off!

Jenny - this is dumb...

I've just spent a lot of time spiffying up this blogger page so that I can try to clone everything I post over at livejournal, but the truth is, blogger is not nearly as useful as livejournal. Livejournal is so much more, well, more everything! Accessible - you can post from phone, text, im, email or the traditional method using the web or any number of downloadable clients. Customizable - I was very disappointed about how little you can customize the look of your blogger blog without knowing how it was written. Livejournal makes it easy to make your journal look exactly the way you want it to, and while I am not willing to paint my ROOM in my team's colors the way that paint company on TV wants me to, I want my journal painted that way! Useful - Here I can set the entire journal to a less viewable mode, but not individual posts the way I can at livejournal. There is tagging here, like livejournal, and that's fine, but I miss the silly fun things like current mood and current music.

And most of all, there is no real community here - I don't have the convenience of a "friends page" where I can view the most recent posts of my nearest and dearest, or just my interesting imaginary friends.


Though the random questions on the profile page are fun. I'll give it that...