Vampire plots

It has occurred to me that our planet has for the last two decades been the focus of a comprehensive campaign by vampires to lay the foundation for acceptance and dominance of the human world.

Previous to this time, vampires have always allowed themselves to be portrayed as gruesome, fearful beasts who appeared to be barely human. In the absence of long distance communication and fast responders such as police and fire departments (only those that are socialized, of course) the vampire society began to see that they had to gain acceptance or even admiration to maintain their wealth and power.

Nearly twenty years ago, female vampires were portrayed as sexy and powerfully appealing for the first time in a widely distributed film. While this changed the opinions of a portion of the male population, it did nothing to gain the complete social integration desired by the vamps.

In the last ten years, we have seen a constant stream of incredibly hot, sexy, lovable vampire males. Tom Cruise, David Boreanaz, the twinky boys from the Twilight series, Wesley Snipe, even Ryan Reynolds has made a mostly naked appearance to utilize his inimitable Adonis belt to persuade a malleable populace to want to be with a Vampire or be LIKE a Vampire.

Prescient as they are, the Vampires could predict the passage of the Patriot Act, which would inevitably bring them permanently out of the financial shadows and into the sunlight. This marketing campaign was only the broadest in their effort to grow their number and gain full civil rights.

Clearly, Hollywood is being run by Vampires, given all of this content.

(hee hee)

Lexi? Really?

So, I awoke from a dream that I was selling Lexus automobiles.

I was really, really good at it.

Thankya thanksgiving

So, a few things to start with - a very interesting op-ed in Mother Jones about Congress and regulating the financial markets. Best quote from that piece -

"I remain pessimistic on the ability of Congress to rein in the financial community in any serious way. They just don't have the power."

Next, a terrific and funny contribution from a Northwest flight attendant in today's New York Times. Terrific reading for anyone traveling this Holiday season.

Having a peaceful weekend, did my "traveling" today just trekking from the office to the apartment.

Tomorrow, going to Donna's where we will hang out drinking coffee and jabbering all day. No turkey (I think), no "tradition", no nonsense.

Speaking of holiday traditions, it is quite well established that Christmas is a re-purposing of the pagan winter solstice. Easter is the spring solstice. Thanksgiving, though?

It's a holiday unique to North Amercia. Canadian Thanksgiving is earlier than is ours and is to celebrate the end of the harvest.

Here in the US, we are told that some of the first English settlers invited their Native American neighbors over for a little nosh in gratitude for their support of the previously starving English settlers.

With turkeys, cranberries and mashed potatoes.

What if it wasn't so? What if we've had a re-write of history, just as we have with the Bible and so many other "truths" that are taken for granted?

These two diaries are very interesting - they're pretty angry (given the author's point of view) but the present a very interesting perspective and a possible background we've never heard about.

Just a quiet rant, but it seems to me that holiday shopping and hours are particularly aggressive today.

I wonder

Eleven years ago, my mother died. She was in hospice for a few weeks, which provided me with ample time to think up stuff to research on the nascent 'net.

One of those things was great big transatlantic ocean liners, which led to the very late night question "What ever happened to the SS United States?"

Turns out, it's in Philadelphia. It's been in Philadelphia for nearly fourteen years. It's been stripped out, auctioned off, abused, whipped, ignored and allowed to rust since 1969.

It is one of only four preserved (in a manner of speaking) former ocean liners, and the only one still with its entire power plant (engine room) intact.

The fastest ocean liner in history, the ship had a storied career until it was suddenly and unexpectedly pulled from service fifty years ago last week.

I have long been one who pined for a past I never lived. I have studied it (the past), read about it, thought about how it could be put to service (those elements which survive).

I even cooked up a (in my view, quite decent) plan to restore the SS United States to service. However, what is the POINT?

I have driven cars from my youth that were unattainable and incredible, only to realize that they are poor substitutes for what is available today. Everything is better and everyone's expectations are different; why does it make sense to pour a huge volume of resources into preserving something that has no more use?

As an example, I have a simple lovely chafing dish that belonged to my great-grandmother. It has a working double boiler, and a working oil lamp. As a device for heating and serving food, it's unworkable as compared to other solutions. It takes up space, consumes resources and does nothing but sit there.

As does the SS United States.

In the thirteen years since it came to roost in Philadelphia, there have been numerous efforts to turn it into a museum, into a hotel, into a convention space, into a working ocean liner - and no one has had the money or inclination to execute on that. It's not suited for a cruise ship, it's not efficient enough to use as a steamship without a half billion dollars of renovations, it's a project that would cost easily $50 million just to make the ship sound enough for long term display, and then it's just a vast, empty space that isn't safe for people to move around.

Few ship museums support themselves. Even fighting ships with a rich history don't support themselves.

We have aircraft rotting away in dozens and dozens of museums. We have six or seven aircraft carriers, and five or six battleships moldering and rotting away in various stages of decay in this country. We have battlefields that are falling apart, cemeteries of people dead more than a hundred years that are ignored - why do we struggle so hard to revere the past and then ignore it?

I realize that most of the people seeking to salvage the SS United States are people who have traveled on her, or urgently desired to do so when she was in service. Very few have a currently developed affinity - certainly not enough to support the ship.

Without having done any kind of organized research, I assert that nearly all of these tombs and relics are preserved by those who served on and in them, worked on and in them, used them, knew them in their youth. In their later years, they are seeking something - validation? Reliving when they were young and vigorous and doing the newest, highest, best thing possible?

We can't save every machine to benefit the ego and id of a bunch of people who will be dead as the machine again wears and rusts out.

Why cannot we reclaim our vigor and our glory by sharing our talents with those in need, with those who need education or comfort, or guidance?

As I have written in this blog, I had an idea in 1973 that a metallic green Chrysler Imperial was THE manifestation of success, and of acceptance into the world that was desirable. For more than thirty years, I thought that having one would bring me that feeling of success and acceptance - and mistakenly thought I had an affection for that car - that it was somehow unique and special.

And then, I had one - listing and leaking black oil into my driveway. And I ignored it for a month.

Reliving my past and my feelings occurs inside of me, and doesn't require the rehabilitation of a non-functional leviathan.

We have nearly 1/5th of our population without health care, nearly a tenth without adequate food, over half without decent education - and we're going to raise money to restore the Battleship Texas? To scrape, paint, moor, insure, power, rehabilitate the SS United States? To repair the USS Lexington in a few more years when the hull has predictably deteriorated to a point that she's no longer structurally sound?

Just how many freaking preserved aircraft carriers does a world need, anyway?

We're fighting each other tooth and nail about whether we should have health care for everyone and we (as a race) have invested thousands upon thousands of hours and billions of dollars enshrining the past for future generations that will not care one whit.

Please notice that I am not evaluating the incredible waste that went into building fleets of battleships and aircraft carriers and bombers and moving them around like so many chess pieces for hundreds of years. I am only speaking to the waste we currently indulge - it is insane, it is inhumane, it is morally offensive.

One of the solutions proposed for the SS United States is to sink her as a barrier reef.

Let her rest in peace. Let those resources go to feed, clothe and educate our children. Just say "no" to throwing money after the glory days of youth that youth today utterly ignore.

Futzing - or, Divo happiness

So, today I've been futzing - I've reduced the number of emails I'll get each day, and reduced the number of text messages in a big way.

I've re-org'd my internet favorites, cutting back on the clutter.

I have simplified all kinds of communications tools, to cut down on the input levels.

I have mapped out some web content changes.

And, I've had a great time doing it all!

Tomorrow, more execution of the "plans"!

Remember Fractured Fairy Tales?

Call this Hysterical History. Or come up with a better name for me to use.

Prior installments - how VW came to buy Porsche, and how Safeway came to be Safeway again... now, THE HISTORY OF AUDI!

http://www.dinesh.com/history_of_logos/car_logos_-_design_and_history/audi_logo_-_design_and_history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Union
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSU_Motorenwerke_AG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DKW

Horch/DKW/Wanderer/Audi = Auto Union

Audi = Latin for "Hear" or "To Hear" (or "listen")
Horch = Founder's name, yes, but German infinitive for "Hear" (or "listen")

Is it possible that what distinguishes Audi at its soul is listening to what people want?

I can NEVER remember DKW. It's so SIMPLE too - Dampf Kraft Wagen (rolls eyes). 'Cause all those shiny cars on your lot SO remind me of steam powered buggies.

Horch were actually more elite PKWs (Personnen Kraft Wagen, as distinct from Last Kraft Wagen) during and immediately after the Hitlerzeit than were Mercedes. And, of course, BMW was an aircraft motor company and motorbike company.

When I was an exchange student to Wolfsburg in high school, everyone in northern Germany called BMW "Bayerische Mist Wagen" - Bavarian Manure Cart.

Mercedes were taxis.

NSU is an older company than is Daimler-Benz, being founded in 1873. Karl Benz made his first motorcar in 1885. Of course, NSU started off making sewing machines. They started making motorcycles in 1901. They were, in 1955, the largest motorcycle company in the world. Started producing cars (again) in 1957, and were the first company to mass produce Wankel engined automobiles - the most famous being the Ro80, spiritual predecessor to the Audi 80/VW Passat, now being sold as the A4. The Ro80 was the European Car of the Year in 1967.

Producing such a revolutionary car broke the bank, and VW AG bought them in 1969, merged them into Auto Union (which for many years hadn't been doing much of anything) and renamed the whole shooting match "Audi" even though that brand (of the five) was the least well known. Maybe they were on to something.

After the war, only DKW were produced in West Germany - all of the Horch, Wanderer, Auto Union facilities ended up in EAST Germany. Daimler (those bastards) bought a controlling interest in Auto Union in 1957, bought the rest of the farm in 1959 and then started getting cold feet. With the help of the Lower Saxony government, VW bought the schtuff in 1964. Horch had bought the farm during the war, and Auto Union was resurrected by Daimler, who never really recovered from AU's Silver Arrows whipping the shit out of Daimler's racers in the 1930s.

Damiler had designed a lovely little platform called the F103, which was the foundation for the Audi 80/VW Passat, save for that the Audi version was only sold as "Audi" (single model) until the acquisition of NSU a few years later. In 1965, VW kicked the DKW name to the kurb, and Audi was the brand.

Pack rattage

From those really snarky, smart people who run TUT's Adventurer's Club:

Now let me get this straight: You want things that you don't yet have, people in your life who you don't yet know, and events to take place that haven't yet occurred, so that once these "things" come to pass you'll feel happy, confident, and fulfilled; accomplished, desired, and appreciated; treasured, adored, and like one bad mamma jama, a beautiful sight to see?

But... wasn't that your rationale for all the other stuff you wanted, that you now have?

Whooohoooooooo!
The Universe

Uh, yeah.

As I get further away from having far too much stuff, I keep noticing the dichotomy within myself of finding more stuff I don't need or use, and keep finding more fun and useless stuff that I am convinced I need.

Of course, the best part of this is being judgmental about someone ELSE who is accumulating too much stuff, and my observing that.

Like I was never a ripe target for such criticism.

Probably the ripest area for improvement within myself is further dispatching processed, non-nutritional foods from my life. Watching how other people focus on buying food that is advertised shows me that I've already separated myself from the "herd" quite a bit. I've also noticed how easily and eagerly I leap back into the mindless consumption of advertised food - it's analogous, of couse, to the endless desire to buy something.

What is it that drives that "need"? It's not need at all. It's learned behavior. When I was being raised, having a 2300 square foot house was the standard, now it's well above 3000 square feet that are "needed". New cars are "needed".

Matticia has a perfectly serviceable eight year old Honda that he treats like the appliance it is. How much money has he saved in the past five years by not indulging the craving for a new car?

I am going to dig further into this "need" for needless things, and figure out what that's all about. When it came to be, how and .. well, the why is already known - it's to increase the unit cost of widgets and to sell as many widgets as can be sold.

All Hallow's Eve 2009

Matt is Matticiaforming his garage into a passable, professional disco and I've been watching Hulu, making chex party mix and fiddling with my iTunes library - deleting stuff I'd never listen to (why oh why was it there in the first place?)

I feel another nap coming on.

The costumes last night were amazing, many of them. I was associated with a hot hot pink spiderman, there were some truly beautiful and astonishing ensembles put together by some people who had clearly invested a great deal of time and effort into their costumes.

My favorite costume of the evening was a 30-something gentleman who had crafted a Julie London-eske evening gown in shiny bright green and gold fabric, and had made the gown's skirt as a layered wedding cake, his hat another layered wedding cake, his face and hair painted in green, gold and orange, with a "torch" that was a third layered wedding cake with freshly baked cupcakes atop. All illuminated with mini-lights.

He could have hidden a small nuclear plant inside there for power. How he could walk up and down stairs was beyond me.



A few notes:

If your belly and midriff bulge out like a roll of poppin' fresh dough just after you bust open the container on the edge of the kitchen counter - you should re-think that shirtless/midriff exposure.

Being under 25 with a great body, no shirt and a face mask is NOT a costume.

Wearing no shirt, a kilt, a loincloth, or any kind of skirt with some face or body spray paint might be a knock out at a straight club, but don't expect much attention at a professional, Gay club costume contest.

Girls, please don't take it as rejection when you come show off your creative and revealing Hallowe'en costume at a gay club and we don't grovel at your loveliness. It isn't personal. We just happen to be far more interested in the over-the-top drag costumes and all the men who are basically naked.

Wearing a costume that makes you look like the crack whore we already knew you were - well, it's a costume, yes, but don't be surprised when we don't notice that you're wearing it.

Young and well built men who put their bodies on display through wearing nearly nothing should be aware that anyone who has eyesight is INVITED to stare by their effort. There is no visual filter that eliminates old, fat or balding men, or women.

weeks away, we get to choose

In a few weeks from today, we go to the polls. In Houston, there is a contest mayor's race, but for the most part, this election seems to be a yawner.

These off-year elections are actually the more important, as far fewer voters turn out, and these are the elections where we make decisions about matters that affect us directly and locally.

Since our state is governed by a lengthy and unruly constitution, we have a variety of measures which require constitutional amendments. We Texans just go along with this process, rather than demanding a new constitutional convention to clean up the mess - much like California.

What's more disturbing, the ballot summaries of these measures are too abbreviated and sometimes diverting from the real effects. Each of the ballot measures this year have been summed up for us by the Secretary of State's office, and contain the full text of what we are voting on. You can see this report here.

There are a number of amendments on the ballot this year that deal with property tax matters. Many people will vote based on pre-judged perceptions about taxes in general without really understanding the measures that they are voting on.

Over the next week, I'm going to review ALL of these ballot measures and analyze them for anyone to read. You'll be able to find these reviews here on my blog - you can sign up for notices that new posts have been made or just ask for updates from me directly.

Let's all agree to stop with the bombastic bullet points, because we ALL want a society that just works for everyone. Let's educate ourselves as to what is in front of us and use the power of the ballot box to take back this world from those who have only their self-interests at heart.

Monday Mourning

This is post #2 under the same headline -

Last night, Matticia told me he nearly cried on the way home from work. He had spent many hours yesterday fussing about party effects he's purchased for delivery - and saw a guy trying to sell his bicycle on the street for $20 to buy some food.

I think that's called "realizing one's priorities are a bit screwed up". I don't know anything about that at all.

A few months ago, I was convinced that a beautiful $100K Audi S8 would make me happy. I had been convinced that a beautiful home with a pool and a garage were necessary and appropriate.

Having had a few of those beautiful homes, with rooms I didn't go into, boxes in closets I didn't open, kitchen appliances in cabinets I didn't use, I can tell you I was wrong about that.

I didn't really understand HOW wrong I was until this morning.

Even as I settled into my peaceful little apartment, even as I reveled in the freedom of having a LOT less stuff, even as my stress level unwound - I STILL thought that a gorgeous S8 would do me right. Happiness could rise or fall on whether the S8 had a full leather upgrade, and absolutely was dependent on it having the $6800 Bang & Olufsen stereo system.

I poured over the Audi S8 brochure (and the interwebs, frankly, and every other resources I could drum up). I looked at other cars, too. Whipping my neck around at every pretty shade of red paint, maybe THAT one, maybe THIS one.

Then, the week before my birthday, I started to contemplate how much money I was spending on having a car.

I've been making car payments since the fall of 1977 - so, 32 years of monthly obligation. 384 months of uncertainty. 11,520 days of worry. 230,400 or so individual moments of being afraid, unsure, or concerned.

I drive 4.6 miles each way to the office. Once or twice a week, I drive 52 miles round trip to the church. Every once in a while, I may run up ten or twenty miles in errands, or to have a visit with someone.

Call it 170 miles a week (last week being the exception with FIVE trips to church).

Those 170 miles will cost a very predictable $35.00 in gasoline and miscellaneous wear and tear on the car. Insurance is another $60 a month.

So, why was I paying nearly a thou a month for a car?

Between the interest cost and depreciation, that's what the Red Rocket was costing.

So, $1.58 a mile.

$7.25 to drive to work.

$164.32 for each drive to church.

$142.20 to visit a friend outside the beltway (no wonder I'm so committed to staying inside the loop).

This was insane. Especially since the math is exacerbated with the stress.

New choices were made.

I just acquired my SECOND 1998 Buick Riviera. Victoria Regina, her name. She has 67K miles on her, fewer than did the Red Rocket. She's paid for in full. She needs some loving labor, but she's pretty.

And I love her.

This morning, as I was running back and forth between the storage locker, the laundry room, VR (as she's now nicknamed), and the mailbox, I kept noticing how much she makes me smile. Like, I am giddy happy smiling.

Giddy. About a car that cost fewer than $4,000.

She doesn't have a snorting V10, Audi exquisite engineering, and she cost less than the Bang & Olufsen stereo.

But, every day that I own her is the opportunity to have something other than twenty fearful thoughts.

Monday Mourning

My brother (half-brother, dad's first marriage) died Saturday afternoon/evening of a heart attack in his sleep. He was 53.

He died because of our country's policies over the last thirty five years or so.

Mike (whose real name was Edgar, but nicknamed Mike so as to avoid confusion with my dad) had a high school education, gained at a time in this society when that was enough to get a decent job and raise a family on that income. And, he got both a decent job and a family, working in an auto plant.

Which auto plant was closed some twenty years ago. He then went and got trained on repairing ATM machines and drive through machines, and supported himself and his family working outside in cold Michigan winters, making it easier for people to pull up inside their climate controlled cars and access their accounts without having to deal with the bank lobby.

Until that bank was acquired by another, larger bank and they outsourced to a different vendor.

He and his wife struggled to keep up the property taxes on their very modest house, and of course health insurance was impossible.

Being of stocky stock, Mike had always been prone to weight gain. Between the stress, the cheap food and the lack of care, he developed type II diabetes in his early 40s. Had a diabetic stroke at 47.

Couldn't walk, couldn't work. Social Security fought him tooth and nail for three years on collecting disability, and when his snap-back occurred, a significant chunk of it went to the lawyer.

They had train-wreck luck, but Mike never seemed to begrudge his life.

The last few years, Mike could walk a few blocks. I don't know how much weight he had gained, but I can guess it was a lot.

His death of a heart attack over the weekend was, I guess not a surprise. Without money for health care, without money for prescriptions, without purpose and hope - victim for our having savaged our nation's manufacturing base, beaten down the unions, allowed for megalithic business combinations - he was one of the tens of thousands whose life trajectory was shot down without fault or recovery.

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me

Wild and woolly! I guess, it wasn't so wild, but it was non-stop low key action.

So, today, I mostly worked on a loan - mortgage loan, my last one - and finally, for the first time since 1996, THIS one is going the way they should have all been going. Neat, tidy, clear communication ..

Just as I was finishing up with that this afternoon, my neighbor was texting about getting together for dinner tonight - AND mentioned that he was across the street with his mom surfing for bargains! I hitched onto their parade, and we went over to Marshall's - where I found a new coffee mug (of the style I love) for 10% of the original price, a cool console table for between my club chairs marked down from $179 to $50, and FOUR pair of dress trousers (representing a 400% increase over what I had previously had) all cheapola! THEN, we went to the Empire Cafe and had some cake - mine was called "Chocolate Mugging" I think. Then, we came back to the apartments and I had to lay down.

One of my very first tax clients dropped in today - he told me that when he came up the stairs and rounded the corner he could tell how much more calm and happy I was than he's ever seen me. He remarked about it twice, and then we talked about the fallacy of "obtaining" when done with debt. Great conversation, and it was nice to be acknowledged for having been changed.

I had fun today! My phone was blowing up, the IMs were pouring in, and nearly every one of my high school friends on Facebook wished me happy birthday. Wow.

Thank you world! I had a great birthday!

Whirlwind preparedness

I had the most strange and delightful dream last night. I had just purchased a new home theater system - it was no bigger than a coffee table book, and it had two little speakers, each the size of a CD jewel case. It was very chromey and awesome looking.

The whole rest of the dream was about trying to keep from losing or letting other people damage this cool new toy, plus weird additions showing up to the house, my mom being present, etc.

This morning, I walked around the block (which is nearly a mile) and came across six discarded soda cans, and four discarded plastic bottles. I picked them all up, to assuage my feelings of guilt on behalf of my fellow man.

I'm finding that written to-do lists are becoming more and more important.

It's very interesting - I watched some Hulu last night, and saw a Daily Show piece in which Jon Steward interviewed a man with a computer modeling program that has been right about what was developing nearly 100% of the time, and 100% of the time better than the CIA projected.

He said in his mind, and based on his projections, things are actually headed in a pretty good direction - peace in the Middle East, health care resolution in the US, movement on climate change, people behaving themselves in general.

Something for everyone to pray for.

I'm just gonna rant on a while here -

On people who hate taxes -

Why is it that so many people who hate taxes and feel that "they pay too much" actually pay nothing at all?

On people who don't want changes to health care -

Why is it that so many people who are so jacked up about health care have no health care themselves except "don't get sick, and if you do, die fast"?

On people who don't want gay marriage -

Why are you willing to welcome insta-marriages between opposite sex couples who have just met, or divorce, or ... just how is your marriage threatened by anything from outside of that marriage?

On people who believe that other nations pose a threat to us -

How? How are they a threat? Please don't share with me fanciful speculation, tell me just how they are a threat.

On people who believe that their state should secede from the Union -

If it wasn't acceptable for the South to secede in 1860 when Lincoln, who was against slavery but came to office without a mandate to end slavery, why would it be acceptable now when Obama, who had a far greater voter mandate came to office not proposing (and actually not changing) much of anything?

Should I or shouldn't I?

The hardwood floor in the kitchen mocks me. It lies there, silently, knowing that it's dirty and sticky and that it's thereby driving me crazy.

Earlier, the countertop, the trash, the bathroom, and the dishes all cooperated nicely. Although there were a few overpour incidents, they all cooperated with the clean-up.

And yet, the kitchen floor continues to mock.

It knows full well that I am very careful with splatters, spills, footfalls, and such.

Still, it's sticky. It's dirty in that subversive, non-visible way. It mocks me.

I could get out the pail, fill it with warm water and a smidge of detergent and then clean it, following with the Orange 3 in 1 treatment that adds a hint of shine.

Should I or shouldn't I?

I probably will, whether I should or not.

Saddiday night and ...

I'm too pooped to pop?

It's so interesting - the question was posed "when in your life have you been happy?"

Uh .. wow. That was a hard question to contemplate.

So much has happened in the last year, it's like being fast forwarded.

Saddiday night and ...

I'm too pooped to pop?

Be careful what you wish for - Tuesday edition

So, at about 5:40 this morning, I awoke to the pleasant sound of a hard rain. The air conditioner popped on about then, and I got up to turn it off, wanting to enjoy the sound of the rain for a while.

Shortly afterward, the power went out for three hours. I've listened to a lot of rain!

Apparently, my Swedish furniture name is DÖYGLLAS.

A few isolated anecdotes -

First, an extraordinary picture of a US Air Force transport aircract - "Air Force One" is how one would normally think of it. This one, previously used for that purpose, was at least thirty years old when this picture was taken. Who says our government ALWAYS wastes tax dollars?

Next, I'm sure you've figured out that I'm pretty annoyed by stupid. Well, increasingly, premature death is BECAUSE of stupid.

Just be wary of the stupid people around you, should their efforts to purify the gene pool with their actions unintentionally affect you.

Next, if you were wondering who benefited the most from the recently concluded "Cash for Clunkers" program, this chart will give you those answers. Big winners - just as you'd suspect, Honda, Toyota (the champeen), Hyundai, Nissan.

But, buried in these statistics are some truly amazing items - my favorite car (regardless of what Robert thinks) is the Audi S8 - it's EPA rated for 13/18 - and Audi SOLD one with the clunkers trade in credit. What in God's name could someone have traded in on THAT which provided a fuel economy increase of six mpg?

Two HUMMERS were sold. Tens of thousands of pick-up trucks.

I'm visualizing many fewer supertankers unloading foreign oil onto our soil because of this.

As I engage my day, which started out with enforced peacefulness and contemplation, I am also thinking about the stuff I've got that I'm still not using. Watch this space for announcements relating to the selling off of even MORE stuff.

Mondays - why would they get someone down?

I rather like Monday mornings, but mostly because of my own design. Since I usually work all weekend long, Monday mornings are a slower time for me, doing some cleaning, organizing my week, and so on.

Today, I played catch up from a mechanical standpoint - consumables replaced, bills paid, and so on. I broke down and decided to have DSL set up at my apartment, so that took a bit of time.

Here in my little apartment, there is some white noise of traffic in the background, the ceiling fans are - of course - unobtrusive, and the only real noise I get is from the roar of the air conditioner. It's so tranquil - and so not what I'm used to. I've spent more than twenty years in living quarters with loud room mates, loud neighbors, traffic, neighbors, people beating on my door while drunk - I can say that this may not be the most luxurious or fancy place I've lived, but it has a peacefulness that even my grandfather's house didn't have.

That peacefulness is a luxury that goes beyond anything that could be measured in currency.

As is my constant, I keep finding ways to tweak my surroundings to make them just that much more pleasing, that much more workable, that much more attractive.

I'm weird that way. I like it though, so I have no intention or inclination to change that.

It's funny - even though I have given away, cut back, thrown out so much of what I had been carrying around, I'm finding increasingly that a fair amount of what I do have here is .. not used.

Perhaps another purge is in the works.

Sunday peace

After being here for two months, I am thinking about refinements. Having the bedroom painted, adding some more lighting, just some little tweaks to make things a little more special.

Sidebar - Sigourney Weaver is a presenter at tonight's Emmy awards and looks like a hundred million dollars in cash - WOW.

Peace for me right now means that I have been enjoying my peaceful and solitary environment, and enjoying not having some task or project needing attention tonight. So, more profound thoughts will follow - anon.