Quote:

"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth and tell the whole world - "No. You move."

-Captain America to Spiderman

B.J.:
81 words
Typing Test

Amy:
77 words

Typingtest

Charles Bukowski

“Let it enfold you”

either peace or happiness,

let it enfold you

when i was a young man

I felt these things were

dumb,unsophisticated.

I had bad blood, a twisted

mind, a precarious

upbringing.

I was hard as granite, I

leered at the

sun.

I trusted no man and

especially no

woman.

I was living a hell in

small rooms, I broke

things, smashed things,

walked through glass,

cursed.

I challenged everything,

was continually being

evicted, jailed, in and

out of fights, in and aout

of my mind.

women were something

to screw and rail

at, i had no male

friends.

I changed jobs and

cities, I hated holidays,

babies, history,

newspapers, museums,

grandmothers,

marriage, movies,

spiders, garbagemen,

english accents, spain,

france, italy, walnuts and

the color

orange.

algebra angered me,

opera sickened me,

charlie chaplin was a

fake

and flowers were for

pansies.

peace an happiness to me

were signs of

inferiority,

tenants of the weak

an

addled

mind.

but as I went on with

my alley fights,

my suicidal years,

my passage through

any number of

women-it gradually

began to occur to

me

that I wasn't different

from the

others, I was the same.

they were all fulsome

with hatred,

glossed over with petty

grievances,

the men I fought in

alleys had hearts of stone.

everybody was nudging,

inching, cheating for

some insignificant

advantage,

the lie was the

weapon and the

plot was

empty,

darkness was the

dictator.

cautiously, I allowed

myself to feel good

at times.

I found moments of

peace in cheap

rooms

just staring at the

knobs of some

dresser

or listening to the

rain in the

dark.

the less i needed

the better i

felt.

maybe the other life had worn me

down.

I no longer found

glamour

in topping somebody

in conversation.

or in mounting the

body of some poor

drunken female

whose life had

slipped away into

sorrow.

I could never accept

life as it was,

i could never gobble

down all its

poisons

but there were parts,

tenuous magic parts

open for the

asking.

I re formulated

I don't know when,

date,time,all

that

but the change

occurred.

something in me

relaxed, smoothed

out.

i no longer had to

prove that i was a

man,

I didn't have to prove

anything.

I began to see things:

coffee cups lined up

behind a counter in a

cafe.

or a dog walking along

a sidewalk.

or the way the mouse

on my dresser top

stopped there

with its body,

its ears,

its nose,

it was fixed,

a bit of life

caught within itself

and its eyes looked

at me

and they were

beautiful.

then - it was

gone.

I began to feel good,

I began to feel good

in the worst situations

and there were plenty

of those.

like say, the boss

behind his desk,

he is going to have

to fire me.

I've missed too many

days.

he is dressed in a

suit, necktie, glasses,

he says, "i am going

to have to let you go"

"it's all right" i tell

him.

He must do what he

must do, he has a

wife, a house, children.

expenses, most probably

a girlfreind.

I am sorry for him

he is caught.

I walk onto the blazing

sunshine.

the whole day is

mine

temporarily,

anyhow.

(the whole world is at the

throat of the world,

everybody feels angry,

short-changed, cheated,

everybody is despondent,

disillusioned)

I welcomed shots of

peace, tattered shards of

happiness.

I embraced that stuff

like the hottest number,

like high heels,breasts,

singing,the

works.

(don't get me wrong,

there is such a thing as cockeyed optimism

that overlooks all

basic problems just for

the sake of

itself-

this is a shield and a

sickness.)

The knife got near my

throat again,

I almost turned on the

gas

again

but when the good

moments arrived

again

I didn't fight them off

like an alley

adversary.

I let them take me,

i luxuriated in them,

I bade them welcome

home.

I even looked into

the mirror

once having thought

myself to be

ugly,

I now liked what

I saw,almost

handsome,yes,

a bit ripped and

ragged,

scares,lumps,

odd turns,

but all in all,

not too bad,

almost handsome,

better at least than

some of those movie

star faces

like the cheeks of

a baby's

butt.

and finally I discovered

real feelings for

others,

unhearleded,

like lately,

like this morning,

as I was leaving,

for the track,

i saw my wife in bed,

just the

shape of

her head there

(not forgetting

centuries of the living

and the dead and

the dying,

the pyramids,

Mozart dead

but his music still

there in the

room, weeds growing,

the earth turning,

the toteboard waiting for

me)

I saw the shape of my

wife's head,

she so still,

i ached for her life,

just being there

under the

covers.

i kissed her in the,

forehead,

got down the stairway,

got outside,

got into my marvelous

car,

fixed the seatbelt,

backed out the

drive.

feeling warm to

the fingertips,

down to my

foot on the gas

pedal,

I entered the world

once

more,

drove down the

hill

past the houses

full and empty

of

people,

i saw the mailman,

honked,

he waved

back

at me.

Apple Store -1

Last night was a disappointing evening at the Apple Store. I'd been unable to burn a dvd on my Macbook Pro, and troubleshooting pointed to the dvd write head needing replacement. I made an 8pm appointment at the Genius Bar, and arrived at the recommended 7:55pm toting the computer, power supply, and dvds I'd used, and secure in the knowledge that I had seven months before the Applecare warranty expired.

I checked in, and was told that the service appointments were running a few minutes behind. B.J. and I spent about twenty minutes browsing cases, software, and messing around with all the new software. Periodically, employees would offer assistance, which we declined, mentioning each time that we were waiting for the Genius Bar.

Come 8:30, we sat down to play I Spy on the children's computers, which was by far, the highlight of the night. At 8:45, my patience ran out, and I snagged an employee to ask what the hold up was. He responded by apologizing profusely, saying my appointment had been canceled. Regardless, he worked me in, and fifty minutes past the appointment time, I sat down at the Genius Bar.

Ten to fifteen minutes of troubleshooting later (trying different DVDs, checking the system log, etc), Mr. Genius went to the back and returned with a replacement drive. In order to eliminate software issues entirely (as a last ditch effort before authorizing the repair), we booted the laptop off an external HD and burned from there. Surprisingly, the burn worked perfectly.

I left the Apple Store after an hour and a half with instructions to do an archive and install and a reminder that the store was closing for two weeks of renovations, and I would need to go to another store for any further repairs.

Things that make a bad week better

1. A new haircut
2. Batman: The animated series
3. Agatha Christie novels
4. Frog in a Blender icy
5. New pictures of Lexi eating noses.
6. Griffin Clarifi iPhone case
7. Pandora.com
8. Funny people on twitter
9. Candles
10. Husband who does all of the housework and still puts me to bed at 9:30

Quarter Life Crisis

Washington Post Article

Regarding a quarter life crisis:

Dear People Currently In Crisis,

In the immortal words of Drew Carey, "You say you're pissed off that life didn't turn out the way you wanted it to? There's a group for that. It's called 'Everybody.' They meet at the bar."

The crisis will subside after a while.

Love,
Me


----------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Baby Boomers making fun of the Quarter Life Crisis,

You created the mid life crisis, and that's equally pathetic.

Love,
Me

P.S. (I'm not even touching the fact that you helped get us into this economic mess.)

More book reviews

Again, continuing from this post.

#9 His Dark Materials
First, His Dark Materials is a series made up of three books "The Golden Compass", "The Subtle Knife", and "The Amber Spyglass". This makes it a crappy addition to this list.

The Plot: Two kids and their metaphysical representations run around doing everything metaphorical the author could think of. Then they go kill God.

The Good: The first book in this series is the best of the three. The author creates a lovable main character in Lyra and I found the portions that dealt with daemons charming.

The Bad: This is obviously a response to the Narnia series. The similarities (new worlds, talking animals, creation metaphors, strong female villains) are a little bit in your face. I got the impression that the author decided that subtlety was overrated by the third book, which is when the 'killing God' bit went from an interesting, albeit heavy handed topic for a children's book, to the stick that the author chose to beat his message into the reader.

In addition, the third book becomes more of an adult love story, which breaks the themes of innocent loyalty and friendship that have been paramount up to that point. It was a disruptive decision, and one I wish he'd left out.

The Verdict: 3.5 out of five for The Golden Compass, 2.5 for the other two books. Probably offensive to some who can't tell the difference between reality and books.


#53 Cold Comfort Farm

The Plot: A society woman goes to live with her redneck relatives at Cold Comfort. She neatly arranges life around her to her liking.

The Good: Clever language and a plotline that was written to be tongue in cheek. The author succeeded at writing a very amusing book without seeming like she was trying too hard.

The Bad: The book is a little slow at the beginning.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5. Charming! I especially love the cows.

Keeping up with myself

I feel more like a grown up this week than I have in a long while.

I was in Minnesota this past weekend, visiting my niece, Lexi, who is an unnervingly smart baby. (She's five months old, and trying to talk.) My favorite thing to do with her (aside from teaching her oral acrobatics) was to take her outside onto the front porch and watch the outdoors together. Lexi doesn't like being bored and she's quite content when watching the fascinating outside world. I never thought I would be as captivated as I am by a tiny hand grabbing my thumb and toothless gums drooling on my knuckles.

The rest of the week has involved me stepping forward to take more responsibility at work. Seventy five percent of the time, I feel like I'm drowning under the mounting piles of paperwork and 'Idontknowhowtodothis' panic, but during the other twenty five percent I feel like an adult who is doing their job.

Who knew that self awareness can be brought on by not breaking the baby and doing your damn job?