Kitchen Project - The Beginning

A serious kitchen remodel begins with demolition on Monday.
There is a lot of packing of cabinets into boxes and moving of kitchen stuff.
It's like moving out.
We will be without a kitchen for 8-10 weeks.
I resist spending money, most of the time, but I am sure that this update will be excellent, like the upstairs project was some years back.
Other current events: Finished reading Kevin Roose's Unlikely Disciple, a story of a Brown student's semester at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, undercover. Recommended.
I will be teaching a short (2 Sunday) class in January on the Dead Sea Scrolls. A selection of them are coming to the Milwaukee Public Museum, and a little orientation never hurt anyone.

Quite a Week of Outages (of all kinds)

I am not complaining. More than anything, this is a way for me to list off what is going on so I can prioritize. But I figured that some or all of the items might be of interest.

Okay, so. One, S. discovered that the brakes on the Insight had failed. Luckily, she was in the driveway. Like a goofus, she did drive it to the dealership without incident (the stones of Indiana Jones, that one). Now we wait for the part to be shipped from Japan. Ugh! Two, my step-father, V. had a massive heart attack and is in intensive care in the Quads. I am driving down to support Mom and to visit him. Three, huge hardware issue at my work (my area of management). Cause yet unknown, and impact is contained, but it continues not to be good. Four, yesterday morning, I got to experience my first oracular migraine. If you don't know what that is, good for you. The short version is that it is a migraine headache focused in the visual center of the brain, causing one or both eyes to experience strange behaviors. The ophthalmologist checked the retina, and it looks fine. So, take two aspirins and call me if it happens again. [Side note - playing tennis with dilated eyes is not funny in the slightest.]

So, what have we learned? Feel blessed when disasters decide only to brush up against you, rather than knock you out. Remember that some people aren't so lucky, and support them as best you can.

As a side note, as a result of a mention on a Twit RSS feed, I am reading Jean Baudrillard's Transparency of Evil. It is awesome. We are, indeed, in a time when the systems we have created tend to train us and discipline us more than we control them. For example, some think that we use computers. Not exactly. Our behaviors bend (operant conditioning) to the rules in the programs as much as we customize the programs for our use. We gain skill in 'mousing.' We learn 'short cuts.' And are rewarded. Our skills at spelling and mathematics atrophy, increasing our dependence on the machines for basic functioning. Do machines help us become better humans, or lazier humans?

It's been that kind of week for me. Perhaps lighter fare another time.

McEnroe is 50

Growing up a left-handed tennis player in the 80s, there was only one person to emulate - Johnny Mac. And I did. To this day, the hours of volleys in the grass (because why would you ever let the ball bounce?) have left me awkward from the baseline and automatic at net. I caught a glimpse of Johnny Mac playing a team tennis match (with kids 30 years younger than him) and got chills on one point where he volleyed an impossibly hard and low forehand so that is travelled exactly 90 degrees from the inbound trajectory, skimmed the net, and practically hit the judge's chair (which is inline with the net). Physics and gravity be damned, so it seemed and still seems. As they say, the greatest men's doubles team (before the Bryans) is John McEnroe and anyone else. Childlike reverence for an unlikely hero.
So, I have gravitated to doubles, naturally. My mixed partner, L, and I won two matches at the state tournament, one an improbable come-from-behind. One of the best moments of the summer came at the end of the comeback win, after shaking hands with the opponents, when my partner and I just looked at each other and smiled those tight, 'probably-shouldn't-shout-for-joy-just-now' smiles. I don't get to visit 'the Zone' often, but I did that day, and it is critical to have an activity that transports you. Thanks, Johnny Mac. All that practice pays off.

The Government Inspector by Gogol

We just saw this production at the Milwaukee Rep.
When a play is good, it is easy to say that there was a fortunate alignment of good acting, good writing, good directing, and magic.
When a play is bad, it is sometimes hard to pinpoint which of those elements is out-of-sync. Each intensifies the other, like a resonance eventually tears a motor apart.
Or, perhaps, it was the historical moment. In the nineteenth century, one relied on the occasional farce and slapstick for amusement. One could not reach into the over-stuffed DVD supply or cable channels and pluck out any number of light situation comedies. But now, with the abundance of witty word play and hilarious two-dimensional characters, The Government Inspector did not satisfy me. Unfortunately for live theatre, I have come to expect more depth and innovation, more philosophical and emotional depth of the live-ness.
And, yet, my very dissatisfaction is interesting. What is theatre to me? What do I really expect? Is laughter not enough? Is philosophy and intellectual reflection the only reason to go to plays? Isn't 'being entertained' enough... sometimes?
Perhaps I am too much in my brain and not enough in my heart or belly.

Collected Thoughts for a Missing Quarter

Apparently, I am not committed to blogging.
Updates? A kitchen project was planned, then placed on 'hold.'
Reserved two kittens, waiting for the litter (perhaps as late as June 2010).
Practicing the bass. Practicing tennis. Working out more regularly (lost 10 pounds).
Absolutely nothing to say.
Maybe later. Maybe not.

Vacation in California

Packing B and M's house, impending flooring.
Church anthem.
Jamming on a borrowed bass (Autumn Leaves sounded pretty good, but as to the rest, I have much work to do).
Falafel Drive-In.
Congreve's The Way of the World.
Life Birds and Parks.
Mountains and Lava Rocks.
Lots of talk about Business Time.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival (The Music Man, Equivocation [Aye! How do you learn all of those lines?], Macbeth, Dead Man's Cell Phone, and Death and the King's Horseman).
Bed and Breakfast, stress on the breakfast.
Star Trek and Woodpecker Movies.
Jen' Garden and Dragonfly (restaurants).
Bend, OR.
The Ellis Motel, whoo!
iPod Funk-competition on the drive home.
Great Friends who are more like Family!!

Way Too Hard

After 12 and a half years, Ivy the Cat (or as Apple branded her - iCat) is no longer with us. She had a progressively worsening heart disease that took the fun out of her and of all of her favorite things. [I hate writing this, just for the record.] It was the hardest decision of our lives, and we are still mighty miserable. She gave us a lot of joy and companionship, and we miss her more than words can express. They say that time heals and that it gets easier. Well, the 'easier' had better hurry up, because this part is terrible.