So, let me tell you about my whirlwind weekend in Fun Capital of the World, Abilene!
Friday was kind of a downer, with the funeral Mass and all--really rainy and miserable, so we spent a pretty quiet day.
Saturday, we were up at 4:30 (yes, AM) to get on the road. A leisurely drive out west, with our usual stop in Eastland for breakfast (nothing good, just McDonald's) and to stretch our legs by walking around their Walmart.
Outside, they had a bake sale, and I bought everything. Okay, not everything, just a couple of brownies, some banana bread, and some peanut butter cookies. Hey--I wasn't just being a pig, it was for a good cause!
We reached the outskirts of Abilene a little after 9:00; we killed some time cruising around town, where I hit a couple of pawn shops (found some classic DVDs for $2 each, really lit up my cheapskate nature), then went to McKay's, a great local bakery. Irene asked me if I wanted a birthday cake...I looked at her like she was nuts. Me, *not* want a birthday cake? Was she kidding?
Yes, she was, because she'd had them bake me a nice red velvet cake...it was waiting for us. That sneaky little devil! I was completely surprised. (She's so good to me; there's no joy in the world like a happy marriage.)
Being satisfied with herself for having successfully sandbagged me, we killed some more time having lunch at a local Chinese place (Szechuan) until we could check into our hotel...where we settled in and took a nap. (Really exciting, yes?)
We decided to skip dinner, since I'd nibbled on bake-sale stuff and Irene was still stuffed with whatever she'd had for lunch, so we got organized in time to get to the Civic Center for the 8:00 performance--Copland's Appalachian Spring suite and Beethoven's Ninth.
The place was nearly sold out, which is quite surprising--we've been to several Abilene Philharmonic concerts, and they're usually well-attended but nothing close to sellouts. (Beethoven brings 'em in, I guess--unless there's a big contingent of Copland fans in Abilene.)
One thing about the Abilene Philharmonic--they sing the National Anthem at the start of every concert, and the audience really belts it out. It's incredible, and beautiful, and more venues should do it. I remember as a kid going to Cubs games in Chicago, at a time when people would sing the anthem...for years afterwards, I thought that the last two words of the Star-Spangled Banner were "Play ball!"
(...Okay, dumb joke.)
The performance was wonderful, except for the audience, which coughed so much throughout that the Copland sounded more like a Concerto for Tuberculosis Ward and Orchestra. It was distracting, to be sure. (Many years ago I attended a TV taping of a Chicago Symphony concert, and before the performance they threatened us within an inch of our lives to be quiet--or leave before the start. I wish they'd do that at every concert.)
Anyway, the Beethoven was wonderful--the only mitigating factor being the relatively small size of the orchestra. During the finale, they were almost overwhelmed by the *three* combined choruses. Still, a great evening; I was left with a lump in my throat at the conclusion. Just astounding that someone stone deaf could compose anything so celestial. (If that isn't proof of a higher power, what would be?)
Sunday, we had a relaxing morning and checked out, stopped for an early lunch at an excellent local burger place (Rick & Carolyn's), then had a quiet drive home. Later, my neighbor brought over her 9-year-old grandson Robert for cake and presents (I was very touched; Robert conspired with Irene on a gift for me--I don't know why that kid likes me so much, but he's definitely the current president of my fan club.)
All in all, one of my best birthdays. Ever since my 39th, which I spent in the Emergency Room with a knee injury that put me in wheelchair for four months, any birthday I walk away from is a good one!
That's probably more than you wanted to know...but it was a good weekend. Too bad I was too busy to take any pictures!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Any day now...
Our Obama, who art in Washington, Deficits be thy name.
Thy socialism come, thy will be done, On Wall Street as it is in Congress.
Give us this day our daily food stamps, and forgive us our income, as we fail to forgive those who actually create jobs.
And lead us not into bankruptcy, but deliver us from free markets.
For thine is the Oval Office, and the teleprompter, and fawning media forever and ever.
Amen.
Thy socialism come, thy will be done, On Wall Street as it is in Congress.
Give us this day our daily food stamps, and forgive us our income, as we fail to forgive those who actually create jobs.
And lead us not into bankruptcy, but deliver us from free markets.
For thine is the Oval Office, and the teleprompter, and fawning media forever and ever.
Amen.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Obama snacks...no wonder they don't sell well
I saw this news story today:
"A gimmicky snack bearing a caricature of US President Barack Obama making a peace sign has gone on sale in Indonesia, but worried consumer activists are already calling for it to be banned.
The "Obama" snack packet shows a grinning Obama making a peace sign with his right hand and spinning the globe like a basketball on the fingers of his left hand."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e51d3128469e20a697ca763ff37e9031.21&show_article=1
No wonder Indonesians want them banned--they're probably too much like their namesake:
Great packaging, but nothing inside except a bill for $20,000,000,000,000 that's due in ten years.
Scott
"A gimmicky snack bearing a caricature of US President Barack Obama making a peace sign has gone on sale in Indonesia, but worried consumer activists are already calling for it to be banned.
The "Obama" snack packet shows a grinning Obama making a peace sign with his right hand and spinning the globe like a basketball on the fingers of his left hand."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e51d3128469e20a697ca763ff37e9031.21&show_article=1
No wonder Indonesians want them banned--they're probably too much like their namesake:
Great packaging, but nothing inside except a bill for $20,000,000,000,000 that's due in ten years.
Scott
Friday, December 5, 2008
Islamic Terror in Mumbai
Ever since Vietnam, we've propagandized ourselves with the idea that nothing is worse than war, and therefore it is to be avoided at all costs.
The effectiveness of this propaganda is reflected in how unwilling countries are to face something that is really so much worse than war, and is getting worse (and more widespread) every day.
Islamic terrorism transcends borders and nationalities; it is a broad, relentless attack on civilization itself, and cannot be negotiated away, or bought off, or waited out.
How many more innocents are going to die before we wake up?
The effectiveness of this propaganda is reflected in how unwilling countries are to face something that is really so much worse than war, and is getting worse (and more widespread) every day.
Islamic terrorism transcends borders and nationalities; it is a broad, relentless attack on civilization itself, and cannot be negotiated away, or bought off, or waited out.
How many more innocents are going to die before we wake up?
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Should we bail out big auto?
Should we bail out big auto?
Nope.
Sooner or later, everyone who’s made a bad decision has to take his lumps. Automakers have spent decades making bad decisions, and they’re going to have to face it.
Yeah, it’s tough to think about all those high-paying jobs being lost. But if they’re not value-added activities, they need to end.
This “bailout” is really corporate welfare, in which the rest of us get to subsidize the wages of automakers because their own efforts can’t justify their pay. Terrible idea.
I live in a city that twenty years ago went through a local depression; energy, transportation, and defense jobs went away simultaneously. It was painful - extremely so - but not ruinous. The economy diversified, some of those cyclical jobs returned, and things are better now.
So it’s far better to pay the piper and get over it than to throw good money after bad trying to perpetuate an unsustainable economic model.
Scott
Nope.
Sooner or later, everyone who’s made a bad decision has to take his lumps. Automakers have spent decades making bad decisions, and they’re going to have to face it.
Yeah, it’s tough to think about all those high-paying jobs being lost. But if they’re not value-added activities, they need to end.
This “bailout” is really corporate welfare, in which the rest of us get to subsidize the wages of automakers because their own efforts can’t justify their pay. Terrible idea.
I live in a city that twenty years ago went through a local depression; energy, transportation, and defense jobs went away simultaneously. It was painful - extremely so - but not ruinous. The economy diversified, some of those cyclical jobs returned, and things are better now.
So it’s far better to pay the piper and get over it than to throw good money after bad trying to perpetuate an unsustainable economic model.
Scott
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Is Religion "Religulous"?
The insufferable twerp Bill Maher has a movie out, "Religulous", in which he makes the point that organized religion is dangerous.
Movie critic Roger Ebert says "The movie is about organized religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, TV evangelism and even Scientology, with detours into pagan cults and ancient Egypt. Bill Maher, host, writer and debater, believes they are all crazy. He fears they could lead us prayerfully into mutual nuclear doom."
Maher's entitled to his opinion, of course, but I'd like to share something from what I saw last weekend.
My local Catholic church (I'm not a member) had its annual International Festival; it's a low-key fundraiser for the church and school. It features food booths with treats from various countries--Jordan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico (of course), Germany, and others.
Looking around, I noticed that it was an event that transcended race, gender, age, income, and any other demographic lines you'd care to name. Everyone had a good time. Parents supervised, boys and girls flirted, little kids played games, and everyone was eating a lot. The unifying factor of this diverse group was Catholicism.
I just have to think--despite Maher's concerns that religion is a negative influence, all I have to say is that it's been the atheistic cultures (Nazism, communism) that have been both the most murderous and the shortest-lived. (Cany anyone name any great culture in the history of the world that has been without worship?)
Of the atheists I've known, I've never seen any of them engage in the kind of simple community pleasures offered by this one parish's event. I've heard a lot of talk from them about tolerance and brotherhood, but frankly, I've never seen them practice the kind of tolerance I saw at this church-sponsored event.
Perhaps religion has a lot to answer for--no doubt, killing others in the name of God isn't much of a recommendation for brotherly love--but it would be a shame only to focus on the negative and ignore the long history of kindness, creativity, and even unity that religion can offer.
Movie critic Roger Ebert says "The movie is about organized religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, TV evangelism and even Scientology, with detours into pagan cults and ancient Egypt. Bill Maher, host, writer and debater, believes they are all crazy. He fears they could lead us prayerfully into mutual nuclear doom."
Maher's entitled to his opinion, of course, but I'd like to share something from what I saw last weekend.
My local Catholic church (I'm not a member) had its annual International Festival; it's a low-key fundraiser for the church and school. It features food booths with treats from various countries--Jordan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico (of course), Germany, and others.
Looking around, I noticed that it was an event that transcended race, gender, age, income, and any other demographic lines you'd care to name. Everyone had a good time. Parents supervised, boys and girls flirted, little kids played games, and everyone was eating a lot. The unifying factor of this diverse group was Catholicism.
I just have to think--despite Maher's concerns that religion is a negative influence, all I have to say is that it's been the atheistic cultures (Nazism, communism) that have been both the most murderous and the shortest-lived. (Cany anyone name any great culture in the history of the world that has been without worship?)
Of the atheists I've known, I've never seen any of them engage in the kind of simple community pleasures offered by this one parish's event. I've heard a lot of talk from them about tolerance and brotherhood, but frankly, I've never seen them practice the kind of tolerance I saw at this church-sponsored event.
Perhaps religion has a lot to answer for--no doubt, killing others in the name of God isn't much of a recommendation for brotherly love--but it would be a shame only to focus on the negative and ignore the long history of kindness, creativity, and even unity that religion can offer.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The First Presidential Debate
I was counting Obama's stammers, pauses, "umm's", etc. throughout (I got a total of 165), and they were occuring at an increasing rate as the debate wore on, getting quite obvious at the end.
As to the Kissinger statement, I think it might have been another attempt by Obama to get a rise out of McCain (as he tried earlier with the litany of things McCain had been "wrong" about). Much to McCain's credit, he kept his cool despite the taunts.
Overall, I think Obama was clearly trying to do two things: Tie McCain to Bush and blame businesses for all economic problems. The first point is absurd, and the second reflects Obama's hostility toward capitalism.
Has anyone noticed that Obama knows nothing about how money is made? He pictures the capitalist as a misanthropic Scrooge McDuck, sitting on piles of cash while laughing at the misery of the peasants. (Even McDuck knew better than that; see 1967's "Scrooge McDuck and Money". Obama would be well-advised to watch it.)
Anyway, economic prosperity depends on business doing well, expanding its efforts, making more capital investment, hiring more workers, finding new markets around the world. Prosperity does not come from the government, which is confiscatory at its foundation.
A glaring ignorance for someone who wants to be the leader of the nation with the world's largest economy. (Note that I did not say "leader of the world's biggest economy"--I don't think that is or should be the President's job.)
Scott
As to the Kissinger statement, I think it might have been another attempt by Obama to get a rise out of McCain (as he tried earlier with the litany of things McCain had been "wrong" about). Much to McCain's credit, he kept his cool despite the taunts.
Overall, I think Obama was clearly trying to do two things: Tie McCain to Bush and blame businesses for all economic problems. The first point is absurd, and the second reflects Obama's hostility toward capitalism.
Has anyone noticed that Obama knows nothing about how money is made? He pictures the capitalist as a misanthropic Scrooge McDuck, sitting on piles of cash while laughing at the misery of the peasants. (Even McDuck knew better than that; see 1967's "Scrooge McDuck and Money". Obama would be well-advised to watch it.)
Anyway, economic prosperity depends on business doing well, expanding its efforts, making more capital investment, hiring more workers, finding new markets around the world. Prosperity does not come from the government, which is confiscatory at its foundation.
A glaring ignorance for someone who wants to be the leader of the nation with the world's largest economy. (Note that I did not say "leader of the world's biggest economy"--I don't think that is or should be the President's job.)
Scott
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