What better way to start the day than with someone else's drama? Thankfully, we have off-street parking for two cars (four and a motorcycle if you're creative/stupid). To get to this parking, however, one must drive up a one lane alley that is often beset with, depending on the time of day, children on their big wheels and scooters, kids playing football after school, 10-15 guys just hanging out who take an uncomfortably long time to part, only leave you five inches on either side of your car to pass, and delivery trucks or double parked cars that leave you about an inch of clearance.
This morning, the Mistress and I had to leave for work at the same time, so she offered to drop me off. Unfortunately, we were parked in by a large black pickup truck, pulled right up along our driveway. The driver was a middle aged man, who had just walked across the street and knocked on someone's door.
Now, I never know what to do in these instances. My instinct is to say something, like "hey, you parked me in, you inconsiderate fuck", but realistically, they know what they did. They see me coming, and so I usually wait passive in my car until they move, which they've always done.
So we get in the car as Truck Guy and Answered The Door guy start talking. Suddenly, it sounds as if Answered The Door guy is yelling, and I think I hear "C'mon man, I got kids." Truck Guy is ignoring him as he walks around to enter his truck. I'm looking over my shoulder at this point and I see Answered The Door guy holding his hand out and yelling "whoa whoa whoa" as Truck Guy starts angrily pulling out, only to get sideswiped by Kid Passing The Road Blocking Truck Guy's Truck.
And there we were, still waiting to pull out. Awkward!
Don't know what the hell's going on with the economy? Know that subprime hoosie-whatsits screwed everything up but don't really understand how? This American Life put two programs: on one months ago about subprime lending, how it came to be the next big thing, and where it got us; the other about the current financial crisis. Both are amazingly informative, and if you've got a couple of hours to sit and listen, by god, do it. This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money This American Life: Another Frightening Show About the Economy
And, as far as politics go, David Brooks wrote an amazing piece on the movement conservatism has made towards anti-intellectualism. I understand that there is more than one way to govern a nation, and it is important that we draw on these different perspectives to figure out what's best for our country, but as long as I've been an adult I've only seen our nation divided into polar opposites. There is no way this is healthy for our culture. I've often wondered how we could truly all be so bitterly divided, and this article helped me understand the politics of this division. It was a wonderful, a-ha moment for me. The Class War Before Palin
The Mistress moved in about, oh, two weeks ago. She brings with her Katia, age 18 and Nova, age 10 And this, here, is the door we to put up to keep them all separated after Nova got a piece of Starbuck's nose. They're both okay, but we're clearly going to have to do this the hard way.
I've tried my best to keep politics out of my blog here, and it's been easy, because I've been keeping everything out recently. But I can't stands no more.
Tonight is the Vice Presidential Debate, the face off between Joe "Can't Remember the Facts so I'll Make 'em Up" Biden, and Sarah "I Don't Know What The Hell I'm Talking Aboot, but I Sure am Saucy, Yeah?" Palin. Never before have two Vice Presidential Candidates with such horrible nick names faced off.
Excerpts from Palin's interviews have been floating around the web, and watching them gives my brain a mighty hurt.
Translation: I don't know of any, but boy if I'm not sure there probably are some.
It's obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about. I know, I've seen this before.
Translation: I don't read any papers, now lay off ya liberal harpy.
Think about it: you have too. She sounds like she's giving a oral report on a book she hasn't read. Remember those? Some given by kids who obviously didn't read the book, others given by kids who did but they obviously didn't engage any of the material? For the most part, they're just fun to watch. Like a train wreck. But what burns me is there were always those couple of kids who were charismatic enough that the teacher, maybe thinking "oh, well they're a good kid, they obviously tried", gave them a decent grade.
If this vapid talking head skates by on her easygoing folksiness, it'll confirm everything I learned back in those homeroom days: it doesn't matter how good you are, or how much work you do, so long as you can pour it on.
(Also, hey CBS. Your fall lineup looks like crap. That "details guy solving crimes" show is the only one that remotely interests me, but the poor lead you put in is about as captivating as a roll of soggy paper towels. Seriously, that's the best you could find? Also, I tried to link to your videos, honoring their source, but I just couldn't find the newspaper comment. You should know what's up, that your clip is storming the internet, and change the keyword search accordingly, so that when I type "palin newspaper", OH MY GOD, LOOK AT IT THERE FIRST ON THE LIST. SO THIS IS WHAT THE INTERNET'S ALL ABOUT? MY GOD, IT'S FULL OF STARS! Fail, sirs, fail.)
