Here it is, Friday again. On the one hand, it's great to come to the end of another busy working week...on the other, the weekends when we're supposed to relax tend to be busier than the rest of the week. Now why should that be?
Tonight, as always, we'll go dancing...always a great way to unwind after a busy day. Tomorrow is dancing, too - we'll be driving up to Bethesda, MD, for Agnes to get some training for her eventual certification by the International Society of Teachers of Dance (quite a big deal for a professional dancer). My job is to take notes for her while she concentrates on the training.
And on Sunday, the day we lose an hour of sleep for Daylight Savings Time anyhow, we have to meet a group of other volunteers at the ghastly hour of 5:45 AM to take our places in support of the annual Cherry Blossom Run, cheering on some of our friends who have the gumption to run. Not my preferred way to spend a Sunday, but our friends deserve our support, and the weather promises to be good. I'll see how annoying I can make myself with my camera.
So...no political message or other grousing today, just a few notes in expectation of a busy weekend. At least Agnes and I will be able to do something together, which is a good thing by itself.
Have a good weekend. More ruminations coming...
Bilbo
Friday, March 31, 2006
Thursday, March 30, 2006
There was an interesting article on the CNN website yesterday, titled "Who gives a @#$% about profanity?" The subtitle was, "Poll says 75% of women and 60% of men don't like swearwords."
I talked about this in my post last Sunday, when I wrote about the standup comics who couldn't get out a sentence without peppering it with four- and seven-letter words. Once again, I'm not above using a little profanity for effect...but I don't think it's necessary to use the "f-word" and its relatives and derivatives multiple times in a single sentence. What's really disheartening is that the use of language that would break the ears off a marble statue is freely and loudly used in the most public of places, and in the hearing of children. And the children are picking it up.
I think it's sad that some people are so poorly educated and socially immature that they have to spew torrents of gutter language in the absence of anything more intelligent. No matter how handsome, witty and intelligent one may be, the use of foul language undermines our image and contributes to the growth of the impolite society. Like most normal, healthy men, I love watching beautiful women...but when they start talking like steveadores, they begin to look like old hags.
Why don't we all step back, take a deep breath, and decide to begin with a profanity-free day once a week? Or even just cut back to one curse word per sentence? I know it's a fantasy...but compared to some of the fantasies I could have, I suppose it's not so bad.
Have a good day. And watch your language!
Bilbo
I talked about this in my post last Sunday, when I wrote about the standup comics who couldn't get out a sentence without peppering it with four- and seven-letter words. Once again, I'm not above using a little profanity for effect...but I don't think it's necessary to use the "f-word" and its relatives and derivatives multiple times in a single sentence. What's really disheartening is that the use of language that would break the ears off a marble statue is freely and loudly used in the most public of places, and in the hearing of children. And the children are picking it up.
I think it's sad that some people are so poorly educated and socially immature that they have to spew torrents of gutter language in the absence of anything more intelligent. No matter how handsome, witty and intelligent one may be, the use of foul language undermines our image and contributes to the growth of the impolite society. Like most normal, healthy men, I love watching beautiful women...but when they start talking like steveadores, they begin to look like old hags.
Why don't we all step back, take a deep breath, and decide to begin with a profanity-free day once a week? Or even just cut back to one curse word per sentence? I know it's a fantasy...but compared to some of the fantasies I could have, I suppose it's not so bad.
Have a good day. And watch your language!
Bilbo
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Things that make you feel humble...
There's a wonderful website sponsored by NASA that each day publishes magnificent photographs of the universe, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories. You can find the site at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html.
This is one of the very few websites I visit every day without fail, because it stirs a feeling of awe and wonder at the majesty of the universe, and a sense of just how small and unimportant each of us is in the inconceivably vast sweep of the cosmos. Tens of billions of galaxies, each with tens of billions of stars, most of them so far away that we can only see them as they looked when dinosaurs ruled the earth, when their light started its lonely journey across the void. It staggers the imagination.
Is there anyone else out there? I don't know. But it surely seems as if there's no shortage of possible places for them to be. Maybe there's someone out there, peering up at his night sky through his six eyes, typing in his blog with the digits at the ends of his tentacles, and wondering the same thing. It's nice to think we may someday know.
Have a good day, and check out the astropix website. I think you'll like it.
Bilbo
There's a wonderful website sponsored by NASA that each day publishes magnificent photographs of the universe, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories. You can find the site at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html.
This is one of the very few websites I visit every day without fail, because it stirs a feeling of awe and wonder at the majesty of the universe, and a sense of just how small and unimportant each of us is in the inconceivably vast sweep of the cosmos. Tens of billions of galaxies, each with tens of billions of stars, most of them so far away that we can only see them as they looked when dinosaurs ruled the earth, when their light started its lonely journey across the void. It staggers the imagination.
Is there anyone else out there? I don't know. But it surely seems as if there's no shortage of possible places for them to be. Maybe there's someone out there, peering up at his night sky through his six eyes, typing in his blog with the digits at the ends of his tentacles, and wondering the same thing. It's nice to think we may someday know.
Have a good day, and check out the astropix website. I think you'll like it.
Bilbo
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Things that make you go AARRGGHH!! (Part 2).
One of the things that was very important to my parents, and which they drilled mercilessly into us, was the importance of good manners. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if many parents are doing that any more. On the bell curve between Miss Manners and boorish morons, the top of the curve is disconcertingly far to the boorish moron end. From simple everyday rudeness like the inability of some people to say "please" and "thank you" to the more technical rudeness like folks who have to share their most intimate cell phone conversations with you, we just aren't a very polite society any more. And that's a sad thing.
Two examples...
A few months back I was waiting for my flight Reagan National Airport in Washington. Sitting a few seats away from me was a well-dressed businessman who was - literally - shouting into his cell phone, berating the person on the other end for their ineptitude in being unable to schedule an appointment for him. With his proctologist. What was he thinking? And what were we supposed to think?
Second example: I arrived at the Metro station one morning to go to work, and as I approached the train, I saw that one of the doors was more than half blocked by a woman with several large pieces of luggage. She was apparently very concerned that she would not be able to get off at her stop in time, so she tried to ensure a good exit position by parking directly in the doorway. When 0ne person pointed out to her that there was an open, front-row seat right behind her, she glared at him and snapped that he should mind his own $@#! business. What was she thinking? Obviously, not about anyone but herself.
Now, I'm not suggesting that I'm a consistent paragon of good manners...I suffer fools a lot less gladly as I get older, and I'm more likely than I was when I was younger to answer rudeness with rudeness. But like to think that I absorbed some of the lessons my parents taught me about simple politeness and consideration for others. And wouldn't it be nice if everyone had parents who cared enought to teach that lesson?
Be polite to someone today...you'll find it's not so hard, and most people will thank you for it. More commentary tomorrow.
Bilbo
One of the things that was very important to my parents, and which they drilled mercilessly into us, was the importance of good manners. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if many parents are doing that any more. On the bell curve between Miss Manners and boorish morons, the top of the curve is disconcertingly far to the boorish moron end. From simple everyday rudeness like the inability of some people to say "please" and "thank you" to the more technical rudeness like folks who have to share their most intimate cell phone conversations with you, we just aren't a very polite society any more. And that's a sad thing.
Two examples...
A few months back I was waiting for my flight Reagan National Airport in Washington. Sitting a few seats away from me was a well-dressed businessman who was - literally - shouting into his cell phone, berating the person on the other end for their ineptitude in being unable to schedule an appointment for him. With his proctologist. What was he thinking? And what were we supposed to think?
Second example: I arrived at the Metro station one morning to go to work, and as I approached the train, I saw that one of the doors was more than half blocked by a woman with several large pieces of luggage. She was apparently very concerned that she would not be able to get off at her stop in time, so she tried to ensure a good exit position by parking directly in the doorway. When 0ne person pointed out to her that there was an open, front-row seat right behind her, she glared at him and snapped that he should mind his own $@#! business. What was she thinking? Obviously, not about anyone but herself.
Now, I'm not suggesting that I'm a consistent paragon of good manners...I suffer fools a lot less gladly as I get older, and I'm more likely than I was when I was younger to answer rudeness with rudeness. But like to think that I absorbed some of the lessons my parents taught me about simple politeness and consideration for others. And wouldn't it be nice if everyone had parents who cared enought to teach that lesson?
Be polite to someone today...you'll find it's not so hard, and most people will thank you for it. More commentary tomorrow.
Bilbo
Monday, March 27, 2006
There's a great line in the movie "Aliens," in which the frustrated character Ripley asks the inquiry board that's questioning her, "Did IQ's just drop sharply while I was away?"
I felt that way when I read about the huge rallies in Los Angeles in favor of illegal immigration. Well, not exactly in favor of illegal immigration per se, but against cracking down on it. If you read my post of March 16th, you know how I feel about the topic - immigration per se is fine, and is in fact essential to keeping our country strong and vibrant. But the real issue here is the willingness of some immigrants to break the law, and of many people in this country to excuse that illegality. Where are we if we are able to pick the laws we choose to obey? What does it mean to be a nation of laws if the laws can be ignored with impunity? What message does it send to those who break the law to come here, and those who support them...that it's all right to break laws, if you don't think they should apply to you ?
To reiterate my earlier point: to protect our security, we must get a handle on illegal immigration, and we must do it by providing legal opportunities for those who wish to come to this country. The facilitation of illegal activity is illegal and should be punished. People who have violated the law to enter this country should be rounded up and jailed or expelled. We will do much more for new immigrants if we can provide avenues for them to come here legally...if we can offer them the full protections granted and responsibilites demanded by legal residence and citizenship.
Immigration reform doesn't mean, "it's okay to break the law." Immigration reform means, "you are welcome to come here and enjoy the fruits of life in America, but you must do it within the law." If you don't like the law, work to change it...not with mass demonstrations, but with the grassroots political action that makes your elected representatives respond to your concerns. America offers you this possibility. Most other countries don't.
And if your IQ has dropped sharply enough that you can't understand that, then perhaps you need to reconsider not just your rights under the law, but your responsibilities as well.
Have a good day. More random comments tomorrow.
Bilbo
I felt that way when I read about the huge rallies in Los Angeles in favor of illegal immigration. Well, not exactly in favor of illegal immigration per se, but against cracking down on it. If you read my post of March 16th, you know how I feel about the topic - immigration per se is fine, and is in fact essential to keeping our country strong and vibrant. But the real issue here is the willingness of some immigrants to break the law, and of many people in this country to excuse that illegality. Where are we if we are able to pick the laws we choose to obey? What does it mean to be a nation of laws if the laws can be ignored with impunity? What message does it send to those who break the law to come here, and those who support them...that it's all right to break laws, if you don't think they should apply to you ?
To reiterate my earlier point: to protect our security, we must get a handle on illegal immigration, and we must do it by providing legal opportunities for those who wish to come to this country. The facilitation of illegal activity is illegal and should be punished. People who have violated the law to enter this country should be rounded up and jailed or expelled. We will do much more for new immigrants if we can provide avenues for them to come here legally...if we can offer them the full protections granted and responsibilites demanded by legal residence and citizenship.
Immigration reform doesn't mean, "it's okay to break the law." Immigration reform means, "you are welcome to come here and enjoy the fruits of life in America, but you must do it within the law." If you don't like the law, work to change it...not with mass demonstrations, but with the grassroots political action that makes your elected representatives respond to your concerns. America offers you this possibility. Most other countries don't.
And if your IQ has dropped sharply enough that you can't understand that, then perhaps you need to reconsider not just your rights under the law, but your responsibilities as well.
Have a good day. More random comments tomorrow.
Bilbo
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Last night we went to a local comedy club with our daughter and son-in-law. We enjoyed their company and the MC and the two featured stand-up comics were reasonably funny, but why is it that many comedians have to use so much foul langauge in their routines? One of the performers, in particular, didn't seem to be able to get out a sentence without peppering it with four- and seven-letter words.
Now don't get the wrong idea...I can curse with the best of 'em when the occasion demands, but I tend to agree with my mother, who always said that foul language was what people used when they weren't smart enough to say anything more intelligent. And I once read a quote from someone (whose name I can't remember) that curse words, because there are so few really good ones, should be held in reserve and brought out, like the flag, on special occasions when they are needed to rally ideas.
To me, really good comedy should challenge your brain, and should make you laugh without resorting to vulgarity unless it's somehow integral to the joke. One of the funniest comedians on the planet, Steven Wright, doesn't use foul language but makes you think twice and laugh with his twisted observations on everyday things ("I used to work in a fire-hydrant factory...you couldn't park anywhere"). Oh, well. I guess I'll just live with it, since it's not going to go away.
One other observation from the evening...sitting at a table right in front of us was an attractive young woman wearing very strange shoes. The high heels were of clear plastic and featured built-in lights - red on one side, blue on the other - that flashed as she walked. She looked like a cute police cruiser. I've seen shoes like those on small children, and running shoes with flashing safety lights for folks who like to run in the dark, but I've never seen them on dress shoes for ladies before. Interesting. I wonder what it would be like to see a ballroom full of ladies dancing swing or jive, wearing shoes like those...it boggles the mind.
See you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Bilbo
Now don't get the wrong idea...I can curse with the best of 'em when the occasion demands, but I tend to agree with my mother, who always said that foul language was what people used when they weren't smart enough to say anything more intelligent. And I once read a quote from someone (whose name I can't remember) that curse words, because there are so few really good ones, should be held in reserve and brought out, like the flag, on special occasions when they are needed to rally ideas.
To me, really good comedy should challenge your brain, and should make you laugh without resorting to vulgarity unless it's somehow integral to the joke. One of the funniest comedians on the planet, Steven Wright, doesn't use foul language but makes you think twice and laugh with his twisted observations on everyday things ("I used to work in a fire-hydrant factory...you couldn't park anywhere"). Oh, well. I guess I'll just live with it, since it's not going to go away.
One other observation from the evening...sitting at a table right in front of us was an attractive young woman wearing very strange shoes. The high heels were of clear plastic and featured built-in lights - red on one side, blue on the other - that flashed as she walked. She looked like a cute police cruiser. I've seen shoes like those on small children, and running shoes with flashing safety lights for folks who like to run in the dark, but I've never seen them on dress shoes for ladies before. Interesting. I wonder what it would be like to see a ballroom full of ladies dancing swing or jive, wearing shoes like those...it boggles the mind.
See you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Bilbo
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Things that make you go AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
I was running errands earlier this afternoon, and had stopped to pick up a few things (five, to be exact) at the local Costco warehouse store. As is usual for a Saturday, the store was pretty crowded, and I ended up in the checkout line behind a woman with a cartload of stuff the size of Mount Ranier. The cashier eventually finished ringing up this lady's very large order and announced the total...at which time the customer suddenly awoke from her daydreaming and realized, "Oh, my goodness...I guess I have to pay for this!" She rooted around in her enormous purse, eventually locating a wallet which turned out to contain no money. She rummaged in the purse some more and eventually managed to find three different money envelopes, from which she extracted about half of the amount needed to pay her bill. She then asked the cashier if she could apply the cash to the bill, and pay the rest with a debit card. The cashier agreed, counted up the cash, and announced the remaining total... whereupon the lady now realized she needed a debit card! She went back to excavating in her purse and in time extracted a battered debit card, which she swiped and poked a PIN which turned out to be wrong. She tried the PIN twice more with the same result, then went searching for yet another debit card. This one, too, seemed not to like any of the PINs she entered. Finally, she produced a third debit card, this one wrapped in the letter from the bank which had provided her PIN ... she carefully, digit by digit, copied the PIN from the letter, and successfully finished paying for her purchases.
But the story isn't over, because she thought the amount was too high. She remained parked at the end of the checkout lane while she laboriously compared the receipt (which was of prodigious length) to the contents of her cart.
Now, I don't know about you, but this sort of thing annoys me. I dislike having my time wasted by someone who's being stupid. If you're in a checkout line, common sense should indicate that you will eventually be asked for some form of payment, and common courtesy would tell you to have it ready so you can speed things along and not inconvenience those in line behind you. I don't think this lady will ever read this blog...and if, by some miracle, she read it, I doubt she'd recognize herself. Whatever happened to good manners and common sense?
Okay, I'm done fulminating now...time to finish doing the laundry so that I can enjoy other things on this partly-cloudy, chilly afternoon.
Enjoy your weekend. Avoid idiots in checkout lines. See you tomorrow.
Bilbo
I was running errands earlier this afternoon, and had stopped to pick up a few things (five, to be exact) at the local Costco warehouse store. As is usual for a Saturday, the store was pretty crowded, and I ended up in the checkout line behind a woman with a cartload of stuff the size of Mount Ranier. The cashier eventually finished ringing up this lady's very large order and announced the total...at which time the customer suddenly awoke from her daydreaming and realized, "Oh, my goodness...I guess I have to pay for this!" She rooted around in her enormous purse, eventually locating a wallet which turned out to contain no money. She rummaged in the purse some more and eventually managed to find three different money envelopes, from which she extracted about half of the amount needed to pay her bill. She then asked the cashier if she could apply the cash to the bill, and pay the rest with a debit card. The cashier agreed, counted up the cash, and announced the remaining total... whereupon the lady now realized she needed a debit card! She went back to excavating in her purse and in time extracted a battered debit card, which she swiped and poked a PIN which turned out to be wrong. She tried the PIN twice more with the same result, then went searching for yet another debit card. This one, too, seemed not to like any of the PINs she entered. Finally, she produced a third debit card, this one wrapped in the letter from the bank which had provided her PIN ... she carefully, digit by digit, copied the PIN from the letter, and successfully finished paying for her purchases.
But the story isn't over, because she thought the amount was too high. She remained parked at the end of the checkout lane while she laboriously compared the receipt (which was of prodigious length) to the contents of her cart.
Now, I don't know about you, but this sort of thing annoys me. I dislike having my time wasted by someone who's being stupid. If you're in a checkout line, common sense should indicate that you will eventually be asked for some form of payment, and common courtesy would tell you to have it ready so you can speed things along and not inconvenience those in line behind you. I don't think this lady will ever read this blog...and if, by some miracle, she read it, I doubt she'd recognize herself. Whatever happened to good manners and common sense?
Okay, I'm done fulminating now...time to finish doing the laundry so that I can enjoy other things on this partly-cloudy, chilly afternoon.
Enjoy your weekend. Avoid idiots in checkout lines. See you tomorrow.
Bilbo
Friday, March 24, 2006
This week feels as if it had 17 days in it, but it's finally Friday, and the weekend beckons. I'm sure Einstein would have had some theory that explains why working weeks feel so long and weekends so short, but I probably wouldn't understand it anyway.
Speaking of understanding, today we have yet another example of something I just don't comprehend. Agnes has found a nice, reliable and hard-working lady who comes once a month to clean our house. That, I understand. The strange part for me is that we have to clean the house so it isn't too dirty before the lady we pay to clean it arrives. Go figure.
But by this afternoon the house will be sparkly clean, this evening we can go dancing, and I will be able to embark tomorrow with full energy on the centerpiece of my weekend: renting a front-end loader to move the accumulated dirty wash downstairs to the laundry room and turn it into clean wash. Next time, I'm going to read the fine print in the marriage contract more closely...
Enjoy your weekend. I'll try to post something a little more thought-provoking tomorrow.
Bilbo
Speaking of understanding, today we have yet another example of something I just don't comprehend. Agnes has found a nice, reliable and hard-working lady who comes once a month to clean our house. That, I understand. The strange part for me is that we have to clean the house so it isn't too dirty before the lady we pay to clean it arrives. Go figure.
But by this afternoon the house will be sparkly clean, this evening we can go dancing, and I will be able to embark tomorrow with full energy on the centerpiece of my weekend: renting a front-end loader to move the accumulated dirty wash downstairs to the laundry room and turn it into clean wash. Next time, I'm going to read the fine print in the marriage contract more closely...
Enjoy your weekend. I'll try to post something a little more thought-provoking tomorrow.
Bilbo
Thursday, March 23, 2006
More about dancing...
One of the wonderful things about dancing is that it allows you to become, for about three minutes, someone completely different. I'm a pretty average-looking middle-aged fellow, but for the three minutes of an average song I can be an elegant man-about-town, taking a beautiful lady in my arms and gliding around the dance floor in time to music that carries me away to other times and places, far from the cares and worries of life and job.
And, as I'm fond of telling people, there's nothing quite like being married to a dance teacher. On the one hand, I'm under the thumb of a demanding live-in taskmaster. On the other hand, I can go to the studio dance party every Friday night, dance with any woman I like...and have my wife criticize me if I'm not holding her right! It doesn't get much better than that!
Time to get ready to go to work. Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for more random thoughts.
Bilbo
One of the wonderful things about dancing is that it allows you to become, for about three minutes, someone completely different. I'm a pretty average-looking middle-aged fellow, but for the three minutes of an average song I can be an elegant man-about-town, taking a beautiful lady in my arms and gliding around the dance floor in time to music that carries me away to other times and places, far from the cares and worries of life and job.
And, as I'm fond of telling people, there's nothing quite like being married to a dance teacher. On the one hand, I'm under the thumb of a demanding live-in taskmaster. On the other hand, I can go to the studio dance party every Friday night, dance with any woman I like...and have my wife criticize me if I'm not holding her right! It doesn't get much better than that!
Time to get ready to go to work. Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for more random thoughts.
Bilbo
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Well, I seem to have fallen behind on my posts...I had intended to post last Monday, when Agnes and I returned from our dance competition, but life intervened, and here it is Wednesday night. Better late than never, eh?
Have you ever been to a ballroom dance competition? If you haven't, you're missing an event that is more fun and exciting than you could ever imagine. Agnes and I traveled to Stamford, Connecticut, last Thursday to participate in the Tri-State Challenge, a major East Coast competition. We did very well...we danced eleven times, taking a first place on points (93.6 out of 100) with our American Gold Cha-Cha Solo Exhibition, and ten first place finishes in our regular heats (American Gold Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Rumba, Cha-Cha, Swing, and Bolero, and International Silver Viennese Waltz and Quickstep). In the picture above, Agnes and I are in the on-deck chute, waiting to be introduced for one of our Latin dance heats. Sadly, I don't have many photos of us dancing...since I'm the one who usually takes pictures of everyone else, it's rare that someone actually takes a picture of us...this one isn't too bad, especially since you can't see how nervous I am.
People often say they don't think they could dance competitively...they'd be too nervous and self conscious. All I can say is that it's a marvelous experience to be whirling around the dance floor in the arms of a beautiful woman while the audience cheers you on. That's MY kind of sport!
We'll talk more about dancing, both socially and competitively, in future posts. We'll talk about a lot of other things, too, so come back again soon. I promise to be more regular about posting!
Bilbo
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