Monthly Archives: September 2008

Now I Can Get Some Sleep

Regrettably, I fell asleep halfway through McCain’s speech last night. When I woke up, he had just finished. Time for balloons. Poor Andrea Mitchell, drowned in balloons. She was trying to come up with something clever, like when John Chancellor said while being carried off by security at the 1964 convention, “This is John Chancellor, somewhere in custody.” Andrea said she was somewhere on the convention floor, and I’m sure she had Chancellor in mind, but she just couldn’t think of something clever.

So, my long bout of sleeplessness will come to an end.

  • Two weeks of Olympics.
  • A week of the Democratic convention.
  • Then the Republican convention.

Now, finally, there’s no reason to stay awake past 10:00.

I guess McCain knew I needed the sleep, so he let me get started early.

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Wasilla – A Big Small Town

Laugh if you want about Sarah Palin being mayor of a little town like Wasilla. Truth is, Wasilla is the fourth-largest city in Alaska. And it’s growing. Used to be ninth.

If Palin were mayor of the fourth-largest city in Indiana, she’d be living in South Bend and rooting for the Fighting Irish.

With 9780 people, Wasilla is roughly the size of Decatur, Ind. So there.

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Sarah Palin: Gotta Love Her!

Sarah Palin rocked. Her family rocked. Excellent pick, Mr. McCain. The news this morning, various channels, replayed her best lines–and there were a lot of them. When she was selected, the conventional wisdom was that McCain had just forfeited his greatest argument against Obama–that he was inexperienced. But Palin’s executive experience–though minimal–only accentuates Obama’s pervasive novice-ness.

A few other notes:

  • Rudy was superb. He killed Obama on the experience issue. Gave me extensive pause.
  • Did you know that John McCain was a POW? Someone pointed that out last night.
  • I watched the first 45 minutes of Morning Joe this a.m. A ravefest for Palin.
  • I remain concerned that the McCain campaign is headed toward the contemptible “divide the country so we can win the election” tactics of George Bush.
  • The constant “USA!” chanting really gets on my nerves.
  • Mitt Romney: boring! He said something about Republicans not being the party of Big Brother. ‘Scuse me, but–warrantless wire-tapping of American citizens? Curbing of civil rights?
  • I didn’t like the campaign people constantly portraying Palin as a victim of the press. As if she was sequestered in a hotel room, barely holding back tears, muttering, “Everyone’s picking on me. Please tell them to s-t-o-o-o-o-o-p.” She’s a tough gal. I can’t imagine she enjoys being depicted as a victim.
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Olberman: Funny Guy

Mike Huckabee said that Sarah Palin got more votes for mayor than Joe Biden got for President. It was a joke. But soon as the speech ended, Keith Olberman felt compelled to offer a correction–that Joe Biden got far more votes than that. He wondered where Huckabee got his information. Keith: it was a joke. Chill, dude.

MSNBC put Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews in different rooms. Good idea.

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Go Vs. Do

BusinessWeek had a superb issue about life in the office. One of the articles talked about working from home, and said, “In the future, work will not be a place you go, but something you do.” That’s not an exact quote, since I’m relying on spotty memory.

Most of my work can be done at home. I don’t need to go to the office. As long as I get my work done, whether I’m wearing khakis or pajamas, there is happiness in Whoville.

What about “church”? Is church a place you go, or something you do?

Or something you “are”?

Is Anchor a church because people go there every Sunday morning? Or because those people, during the week, represent Christ in their workplaces, pray for each other, show concern when fellow attendees are sick or experiencing hardship, etc.?

Is a marriage a legal status, or a relationship?

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Two Books for Labor Day

Finished two mysteries over this long weekend, both from the Black Lizard imprint.

  • A Coffin for Dimitrios, by Eric Ambler. Ambler_Ripley.jpgThis 1939 book roams from Turkey to Greece to Yugoslavia to Paris, as our protagonist, a writer of detective novels, researches the travels of a shady figure named Dimitrios. I could have used more action, but I definitely need to read more Ambler stuff. Very literature fellow.
  • The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith. As in Strangers on a Train, Highsmith loves to get into the psychology and inner thinking of characters. Ripley (played in the movie by Matt Damon) is quite an interesting, moral-less character. There are four more Ripley novels I need to read. But a Highsmith novel isn’t something you read casually. You need to work at it.
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Book: Appaloosa

appaloosa.jpgI saw a photo somewhere of Ed Harris in an upcoming Western movie called “Appaloosa.” I wondered, “Is that from the book by Robert Parker?” Parker, of the Spencer novels? The Appaloosa which had been setting on my bookshelf for over a year?

So I read it. And it didn’t take me long to realize, this would make a great movie. A realization overwhelmingly confirmed by the end of the book.

We don’t get enough Western movies. The last one worth mentioning was “3:10 to Yuma,” with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. There was a Brad Pitt movie about Jesse James, but it kinda came and went. But “Appaloosa” should be a good one.

The movie stars Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson as freelance lawmen whose occupation could best be described as “town tamer.” The bad guy is Jeremy Irons, and the girl is Renee Zellweger. I’m looking forward to a good Western. And a good Western must always be seen, at least first, on a big screen. No waiting for the DVD.

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The Van Wert Fair, 2008 Edition

Last night, Pam and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Van Wert County Fair. We figure this is the 20th (if not 21st) year in a row for us. We started coming at least one year before we were married, in 1989. Both of us had come to the fair for many years as kids. Probably crossed paths and didn’t know it.

We went with my brother, Stu, and his wife, Joyce. Their daughter Paula put in a couple appearances, tearing herself away from the tractor pull, which her husband, Tom, was engrossed in.

We were more interested in the Air Dog show–something new this year: dogs taking a running leap into a pool, trying to catch a toy thrown into the air by the dog’s owner. They had a contest. Each dog got two tries. If the dog caught the toy before hitting the water, they wrote down the measurement (one dog went 22 feet). The dog with the best combined measurement won.

I forget which dog one. But our favorite was a pit bull that leapt with maniacal abandon. The best pure jumper was a dalmatian. This was definitely a great addition to the fair.

Ate the usual stuff: Rager’s ham sandwich, a funnel cake, and finished with cherry ice cream. Tried a couple new things this year: the Venedocia Lion’s Club sausage sandwich, which rumor said was better than Rager’s (I’m not so sure), and a big helping of vanilla homemade ice cream.

Everything’s in the same place every year. The pony ride moved, but they posted a big sign to tell people, lest their world be traumatized.

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