Here's why I love my wife. She writes:
How's this for a commercial:
- Special food for a sick cat: $44
- Dry cleaning forgotten since October: $16
- Picking up my husband from the airport on Saturday: Priceless
Have I mentioned how much I miss my wife?
Last night I stumbled across this delightful quip from G.K. Chesterton: Marriage is a duel to the death which no man of honour should decline. I couldn't agree more.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 20:02 2008-03-17 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Battlestar Galactica 2 (Movies and TV)
By Battlestar Galactica 2 I mean the new, modern BSG that's been showing on the SciFi channel. It is first-rate drama, not the melodramatic crap that passed for the first BSG. As Edward James Olmos remarks in one of the commentaries, this show is a drama, and the story shows it. The production values and the special effects are terrific, IMHO, and they support the story, which is conceived and executed in first class fashion. The c
By Battlestar Galactica 2 I mean the new, modern BSG that's
been showing on the SciFi channel. It is first-rate drama, not the
melodramatic crap that passed for the first BSG. As Edward James Olmos
remarks in one of the commentaries, this show is a drama, and the story
shows it. The production values and the special effects are terrific,
IMHO, and they support the story, which is conceived and executed in
first class fashion. The characters aren't two-dimensional, which is a
pleasant change, and the problems, challenges, and issues raised aren't
simple, black-and-white, yes-or-no. Moreover, they're rarely resolved
in a single episode. In fact, they are rarely resolved with
any kind of finality at all. Kind of like real life, except for the
haracters aren't two-dimensional, which is a
pleasant change, and the problems, challenges, and issues raised aren't
simple, black-and-white, yes-or-no. Moreover, they're rarely resolved
in a single episode. In fact, they are rarely resolved with
any kind of finality at all. Kind of like real life, except for the
Posted by Kurt Wall
at 00:05 2008-03-17
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Screw Telecom Amnesty
(Tirades)
After seven years of encroachment upon our civil rights, of threats to our liberty, Congress, rather, the House of Representatives, finally found a spine on Friday and rejected not only retroactive immunity for telecom companies but also the efforts to further extend warrant-less surveillance.
That's the good news. The bad news is that the vote in the House was largely along party lines, meaning that it wasn't about the House standing up for the Constitution, but politics, specifically, about Democrats handing the Republican President a soft, warm turd.
I continue to find it ironic, if not disappointing, that the GOP, traditionally the more conservative of the two major parties, so readily rolls over to grant the President the ever wider surveillance powers he wants. The President's argument is that it makes us safer from terrorists. While that might be true, eroding basic civil liberties and trampling the Constitution don't make us safer. Rather, trading liberty for security makes us slaves. Or, as Benjamin Franklin wrote, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Posted by Kurt Wall at 14:39 2008-03-16 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Buy My House (Pittsburgh)
KurtWerks East is officially for sale. Kelly did a terrific job getting it ready to market. I'll take the credit (and blame) for the exterior, but Kelly gets all the credit for the fine job on the interior. Don't mind all the exclamation points in the listing.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:26 2008-03-10 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Late Night Disturbances (San Jose)
There I was, sleeping soundly at 1:30 a.m. this morning. The sounds of an argument woke me up. A young man and woman were at one of the gates to my apartment complex, the one right next to my apartment. When she started yelling "You're hurting me!" I got up, put on some clothes, and went out on my porch — I don't have a balcony because I live on the first floor — to find out what was going on. When I hear a woman telling a man "You're hurting me" and "Ow" that tends to get my attention.
It's stupid to get involved in a domestic dispute and the last time I did it I wound up in the emergency room because the guy involved pasted me and knocked me out, but I wasn't going to be able to sleep as long as they were going at it and there was no way I was going to let a man hurt a woman. Fortunately, just my presence changed the situation. She was crying and wanted her keys; he was pissed off about God knows what, but backed off. Just as I was offering to let her into the complex, the police rolled up.
Here is something I will never understand. You're a slender, unarmed civilian guy, and you're going to argue and fight with 4 police officers who have guns, pepper spray, night clubs, handcuffs, and the ability and willingness to open a serious can of whoop-ass on your head? On my planet, that's called Stupid. Dumbass did everything he could not to cooperate; the police, to their credit, gave him every opportunity to calm down and chill out. Seriously, they bent over backwards to cut meathead a break. It wasn't going to happen. Dumbass had to prove his manhood. He failed. Miserably.
After a very short scuffle, he's handcuffed and sitting in the back of a cruiser, she's sitting on the curb sobbing, and I'm still standing on my porch, stunned by what I've just seen. I give a statement to one of the officers, dumbass is hauled off to jail, and the young woman, still sobbing, enters the complex and disappears. I went back to bed and slept until 9:30.
I couldn't make this stuff up.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 11:52 2008-03-09 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Son of Dental Work Gone Wrong (General)
Meh! As I wrote in Dental Work gone Wrong last week, I went to the dentist's office on Tuesday to get my permanent crowns. Alas, it wasn't to be. After breaking the temporary crown, the dentist called the lab making the permanent crowns and changed the crown material to something sturdier, which meant they weren't ready when I showed up for my appointment on the 4th.
It's no big deal, really. I was moderately inconvenienced, but I appreciate the dentist thinking about the details and taking the time to ensure that I would have reliable front teeth. I never struck myself as being hard on my teeth, but, well, I smoked crystal meth for a while in 1999 and 2000, an activity most assuredly hard on one's teeth. It's not called meth mouth without reason. Although I do not have anywhere near that kind of damage, I've concluded that I'm reaping what I've sown.
So, God willing, I get my permanent crowns on March 11th. Really.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:36 2008-03-05 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Dental Work Gone Wrong (General)
Here's a picture of dental work gone wrong. Specifically, two temporary crowns that cracked and came off. Interesting little stubs I have there, yes? Not to worry, though. The permanent crowns will be mounted on March 4th and I'll be back to my toothsome fullness.
My teeth aren't actually that yellow, thank goodness. That's an artifact of the funky lighting in the bathroom where I took the picture. I was eating some baked chicken and as I gnawed my way through it, my top teeth hit the top edge of the temporary, which was sticking up farther than the natural teeth it replaced and snapped right off. It is very disconcerting to hear that kind of Crack! in one's mouth.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 07:59 2008-03-01 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)