boys night out

The second-to-last night of the year, a.k.a "amateur night eve", was spent out with by brother-in-law Mark. Mark and I are two-thirds of "Al and the in-laws" (the other third being Al), although "out-laws" might be more appropriate now.

We began with dinner at Venue. I've wanted to check out Venue ever since I was accosted in a bar by a woman in the O'Hare airport (on the way back from Miami) who insisted that eligible bachelors like myself should be there. I must say, Megan, that you were right. It's a great place. The menu was a bit expensive, but the quality of the food and atmosphere were enough to compensate. It's easy to dismiss it, being in a suburban strip mall. That sort of makes it a hidden gem, I guess. Cool.

After that, we went downtown, and at the last minute decided to stop into the Zoo to see who might be playing. The answer: The JazzWholes, from Omaha. They made a fantastic first impression just a few measures into their opening piece, and didn't let me down at any point throughout the night. (At the peak, I was considering "Holy F@#!" as the title of this post.) I'm going to watch for their return and go see them again.

Before they went up on stage, I saw their drummer practicing on a pad at a nearby table. I paid him a dollar to play Mark a 16th note shuffle, which I've been trying to get Mark to learn for a while now. I couldn't resist. ;-)

I hope everybody has a grand 2007. Go have some fun.

randy loves his cow

I have finally uploaded some of the pictures I took on the business trip to Miami. (Incidentally, someone else blogged about my original post here.) I'm no photographer, and I had just bought myself a new camera, and was trying to figure out how to operate it.

While I didn't get to take a cruise, I did get to tour a cruise ship. This provided lots of opportunity to practice the snappage.

My favorite picture is above. It's a picture of the only sailor I got to meet.

His name is Randy. Randy is a Purser -- or, in traditional naval slang, a "pusser". (That is, if we're to trust the Wikipedia entry's authority over naval slang.)

Randy caught me taking a picture of his porthole, and became curious about why I would take a picture of such a commonplace item. When I explained that I'm from Nebraska and that I don't get to see very many portholes, Randy jumped up and grabbed an inflatable cow that was resting on the patch of grass.

I managed to snap a picture at the precise moment where Randy uses his index finger to demonstrate a special feature of the inflatable cow: that it is anatomically correct. I think you can tell from the look on his face that he really does love that cow.

To be fair, Randy did not dwell on the subject of the cow's orifice for very long. It is only by fortunate timing that this moment is now immortalized online.

Wherever you are, Randy, it was a pleasure to meet you.

here comes the sun

December 21 marks the shortest amount of sunlight that we'll get in the northern hemisphere. For those of you who need more sunlight in your day, it's going to get better from here onward.

It's a very special day. Enjoy it.

The Areas of My Expertise

A friend at work turned me on to a free audio-book by John Hodgeman, the man who plays "The PC" on the Get A Mac commercials. If there's any part of you that appreciates deadpan, absurdist humor, you should check it out.

grumpy parental unit

Last night my 16-year-old son revealed that he blew off school all day yesterday, sleeping till noon and not bothering to go in at all -- after having gone to a movie with a friend the night before.

He forgot to set his alarm, apparently. So last night I responded with love, and told him to remember to set his alarm.

This morning I go into his room, and he's lying there sleeping through his alarm. How could that be? Alarms are supposed to be brash and impossible-to-sleep-through, right?

You know what this kid's idea of an "alarm" is? I'll tell you: barely-audible mumblings from the likes of Robert Siegel, Corey Flintoff, Steve Inskeep, and Renee Montagne. Ok, so he's got taste in radio, but that aint no alarm, son. It's a damned soporific.

I didn't have time to find my clue-stick to beat him with it, as I was gearing up to pedal seven miles to work in what weather.com calls "18 degrees, feels like 12".

And what are Nick's plans? He wants to borrow the car.

To make this journey. Go ahead, click and feast your eyes.

So, to put a fine point on it, I'm living in a bland, suburban house that doesn't fit my personality -- a house we bought based almost entirely on "location, location, location".

And the teenager wants to burn oil to make a zero-point-6 mile trek. And this is not just today -- this is any day that he thinks that I don't need the car.

Some of you out there must be parents. Please advise.

P.S. I set up a poll on the subject. Please go vote.

life 2.0

I am now a divorcé. The final hearing was early this morning, and there was no earth-shattering kaboom. The judge didn't even bang a gavel to signify the dissolution of our social construct. So far today it's a bit like one of those divisible-by-ten birthdays where you wake up and realize that you don't really feel different than the day before, contrary to built-up expectations.

In my head I had been using the "Life 2.0" metaphor for a long time now. Somehow I actually set myself up to expect a sea change. That's silly, of course, because changes to life really get rolled-out as a long series of little, frequent patches.

I'm not at all disappointed that it didn't end with a bang. That it started with one was enough for me.

All in all, life is good.

thank you

I've got my extra optical inch. Do you?

Help me out: what's the bleeped-out word that rhymes with "sconce"?

Watch the video. There's some brilliant viral marketing going on here.

nature without man

"the boundary:
the border of right and wrong.
the tariff is self.
the freedom, feeling.
the criminal, the pied piper,
is the heart and mind.
nature without man."

The Minutemen,
Double Nickels on the Dime.