Sunday Odds and Ends

9:00 AM Sunday. Outside it's cold and raining; inside, Punky is sleeping in the hallway, Agnes is sewing downstairs in her workshop, and I'm recovering from last night's funk. I should never post when I'm in a bad mood...although in my defense, I can say I was that I was driven to it by a combination of worthless, contemptible politicians and lousy weather.

Things aren't all bad. I did get quite a bit done yesterday: three big loads of laundry done (if not yet folded and put away), all the gifts for our distant grandchildren wrapped, packed, and mailed, an hour of dance practice with Agnes after the lesson she taught yesterday afternoon, and a nice dinner. So I guess I shouldn't complain.

Except about the $#&! politicians.

But today is a new day, and I just have a few odds and ends to ponder.

This coming Friday is the annual Christmas Ball at the dance studio. I haven't yet checked to see if my post-Thanksgiving body still fits into my pre-Thanksgiving tux, so I guess I ought to do that today. The Christmas Ball is always good for my ego: I can have my picture taken dancing with lots of different, beautiful, well-dressed ladies, and Agnes lets me get away with it. Sometimes, she even takes the pictures. How much better than this does it get?

We're into the annual "slow" period at work ... things in the Pentagon tend to ratchet back a little bit during the weeks around Christmas and New Years, so we can catch up on things that we haven't had a chance to do all year (clean out old files, etc). With the wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, things are less "slow" than usual for this time of year, but everything helps. Last Friday we had our annual Holiday Hallway Party, which was very enjoyable. It's nice that we can have brief periods like this occasionally so that we don't mind being treated like Roman galley slaves the other 50 weeks of the year.

It's official: our local transit authority is going to hit us with the biggest rate hike in its history starting on January 6th. This is another example of the sort of political ass-clownery that makes life in the Nation's Capital both interesting and maddening. Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia all share in the funding of the Metro system, but none really dedicates a stable source of long-term funding to it, making it hard for the system managers to plan for things like, oh, repairing equipment and maintaining reliable schedules. Plus, Congress gets to help oversee it, which is guaranteed to ensure that the system is hopelessly screwed up. I ride the Metro every day, and am just thrilled beyond words that my fare will go up by a very large, but completely uncalculateable (?) amount (see if you can figure out the amount of my new fare by interpreting this helpful chart - just what is a "composite mile," anyhow?). I don't think we'll see the actual new fares until the morning of January 6th. Happy New Year. Nothing like new, record-high Metro fares AND the threat of the Alternative Minimum Tax to bring joy and cheer to my middle class life in 2008.

We've going to visit with our new granddaughter this afternoon, which is always a wonderful experience and should help lift me the rest of the way out of my funk. I just wish all of the grandchildren could be within hugging distance. Leya has a nice tan already from the large number of flash pictures we've taken of her. I like this one.


Everyone agrees that she's adorable. And that her good looks come from Agnes's side of the family. Humpf.

Well, enough of this disjointed rambling...I need to get my big, wide backside in gear and take a shower so that Leya won't recoil in horror from me. Of course, she may do that, anyhow, but at least I won't be able to blame my hygiene.

And in too-few years, she can learn to recoil in horror from politicians, just like her loving grandpa.

What a wonderful thought.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo