Gotta love a web site like DaliRacing, with (among many other entertaining points) a pic like this one (original linked image removed from this page), and a message like this when you fail to check a box in their order form:
Please at least pretend that you read and understood the terms and conditions and check the box to proceed with your order.Postscript, October 2005: I am troubled by reports I've heard from unhappy Dali customers; my comments on the entertainment value of the Dali web site are not endorsements of Dali's business practices.
Tuesday 10.28.03
I haven't written much here lately.
(I haven't done a bunch of things.)
I'm feeling drained from chaos at work, and from watching a neighbor in trouble with drugs and the law (see the entry for October 10, below).
Work: most of the engineers at the company I work for have been laid off. I'm among those still on board; I'm trying to wind up some work the company wants to deliver, trying to help avert a disaster.
Neighbor: arraigned today on several charges, jailed, out on $25K bail, already had a bit of a criminal record; he's frustrated and angry and possibly unstable.
Both of these are long stories. I'm burnt out on thinking about them, I'm not up to going into a lot of detail here.
But I'm holding together, and I find myself very attuned to some of the simple pleasures of life. The crescent moon looked so nice this evening.
And I'm glad I live in an area of California that's not on fire.
Monday 10.20.03
| This 1997 photo of Fidel Castro in the cockpit of a Concorde reminds me of the line from Monty Python's Money Programme song: |
|
You can keep your Marxist ways
But it's only just a phase
Saturday 10.18.03
From a review in today's NY Times of a book about the Rolling Stones:
In addition to the Stones' reminiscences, each chapter contains a brief, self-congratulatory essay by a photographer, producer, financier, critic or fellow rock star. Basically, these people are here to remind readers that the Stones are really, really cool and that it's really cool to hang out with guys who are this cool. Gushes Edna Gundersen, pop music critic at USA Today, "As a budding flower child in high school, I grooved on Jimi Hendrix and idolized Bob Dylan, but it was the mystique of the Rolling Stones that steered me towards a career in rock journalism." Well, golly, aren't USA Today readers the lucky ones!Dear Times editors: that's just gratuitously bitchy.
(See also the journal entry for Thursday, October 9, below.)
Friday 10.17.03
When I've seen one of James Rosenquist's paintings in a museum, it's usually been my favorite piece in the show, the one I stood in front of for the longest time, the one I really remembered afterwards. If I didn't already have a trip to New York scheduled (for my Dad's 90th birthday next month--go Dad), I'd probably make one anyway to see the exhibition of his work that opens today.
About this show, the NY Times says (among other things, of course)
It is too big.Somehow I can't imagine that's going to be a problem.
Friday 10.10.03
Imagine:
You make friends with someone who lives down the street from you. As you get to know him, you find him to be intelligent and to have a good sense of humor. But you also find he's got some double standards and is bigoted in some areas. You also find out that he's been in and out of jail a few times for nontrivial offenses. You recognize that no one is perfect and try to be a friend to him in any case. He is generous and helpful to you. He seems to have gotten his act together; you don't see eye to eye with him about a number of things, but he earns your trust.
Then (a short version of a long story) he goes back to using speed, people say he's become more difficult to deal with, you hear that he's threatened people, and indeed he threatens the family members he lives with seriously enough that they lose patience and have him arrested. But he's never threatened nor abused you; to you, he's always been helpful.
You get a collect call from him in jail. He needs money to be bailed out. He is your friend, but you are also friends with his family, and you are concerned that he has threatened them and that he might indeed cause them harm if he could (especially now that they've had him arrested).
What do you do.
Thursday 10.09.03
From an editorial in today's NY Times:
In politics, it is better to be lucky than to be good. But Mr. Schwarzenegger already knew that from his movie days.Dear Times editors: that's just gratuitously bitchy.
Wednesday 10.08.03
When I see a young man at a distance, my mind tends to fill in missing details favorably (that is, I imagine he looks good). Upon closer inspection, some guys live up to what I'd imagined, but most of the time they don't. I mention all this by analogy to yesterday's election: Schwarzenegger didn't provide many details, relying on the ability of voters to imagine them.
Before being attacked by a tiger onstage, Roy Horn told the audience (as he had hundreds of times before) that it was the animal's first time performing. I wouldn't want to do that. I would've tried to find a way to entertain people without lying to them.
Thursday 10.02.03
Living in a small town, one gets to know most of the police officers. I had the following conversation with a friendly Highway Patrol dude in town yesterday (not this exact dialogue, but the key points went roughly like this)
| CHP: | Nice car. |
| Tommy: | Thanks. I thought you were gonna say something about the [lack of a] front license plate. |
| CHP: | I hadn't noticed, but now that you mentioned it, you oughta have one. You know why? |
| Tommy: | In San Francisco, they have cameras at intersections that take pictures of [the fronts of] cars that run red lights. |
| CHP: | Think of a reason that helps you. |
| Tommy: | If the car is stolen, a front plate makes it easier for you guys to identify it. |
| CHP: | Exactly. Very few people get that. How come you don't have a front plate on the car? |
| Tommy: | There's a bracket I have to get. I just got the car a couple weeks ago. |
| CHP: | When are you gonna take care of it by? |
| Tommy: | I'll do it this week. |
| CHP: | How fast have you gotten that thing up to, anyway? |
| Tommy: | You mean on a track, not a public road, right? |
The stock front license plate bracket for my car looks like shit, lots of people risk tickets and leave it off. I made my own bracket last night. It included some threaded rod: a material I use so often, you'd think I had a fetish for it. The owner of the hardware store asked me what I was making (typical small-town question). I'm often happy to answer questions like that, but this time I just said "you can't have too much threaded rod around the house."
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