« August 2003 | Main | October 2003 »
September 30, 2003
Things on my mind this
Things on my mind this week to ramble about:
1. The Yankees lost their first playoff game today. I don't know what would make me happier - the Red Sox winning the World Series, or George Steinbrenner undergoing a complete meltdown when the small market Twins defeat his Best Team Money Can Buy. I still want my Sox to win it all, but this week you can count me as the world's biggest Twins fan.
2. We threw my younger brother his bachelor party this past weekend, and despite an unfortunate car incident, the day went off virtually perfectly. I know my brother had a great time, and that's what it's all about. It's somewhat weird throwing your younger brother a bachelor party - not because he's my kid brother, it's not like I felt I was corrupting him or anything silly. It's just that he's younger than me - this sort of forces the issue of his age, and mine. Somewhere along the line, when no one was looking, we got old. Or older, anyway. At any rate, he's done well for himself, she's a great girl and I'm proud of him and happy for him. If you're reading this, bro... Mazeltov.
3. As much as I don't like living in New York, I must admit that there is something gaudily wonderful about Times Square. We were there last night, taking in all its tacky neon glory. It's just a car wreck of a place - you don't necessarily want to look, but you can't turn away.
4. The Bush Administration is the most evil ever to hold power in the United States. It's not bad enough that they LIED about Hussein's WMD in order to hoodwink people into supporting the war they've wanted since Daddy held the office - and that their having done so has cost several hundred American military their lives. Now we have the White House deliberately placing the life of a loyal American serving her country in danger, just because her husband doesn't support the president. Without question, this Administration is a disgrace.
5. Loving this weather in New York. I am a huge autumn fan. I miss seasons.
Posted by Christopher at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)September 20, 2003
It's hard for me to
It's hard for me to have rambles or thoughts on things in the world this week. My job was ridiculously intense this week and I had very little time to pay attention to much of anything outside of my four office walls. I have to wonder about the quality of life in America anymore...we already work more than any other culture in the world, and now we're inventing all this technology that in theory makes it "easier to have flexible hours" but in reality means that you are ALWAYS in reach of your office and boss. I'd bet that most white collar Americans work at least 48 hours a week now - in many cases, I'd bet 50-55 hours is "normal."
Well, no matter what Corporate America says, 11 hour days is not normal. Starting at 7:45, going home at 5:30, pantomiming the role of Daddy or Mommy for a couple of hours and then logging back on to work for another two or three hours at night is not normal. Technology and the "more, more, more" greed culture behind American business is ruining our quality of life in this country - sure, our standard of living is higher than anywhere else... but I'll bet you the Europeans enjoy their lives more. Look at the rates of diagnosed depression in the United States over the last 10 years. Look at the rates for heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, and even suicide. I bet they've all gone up, and I don't believe anyone need look further than the evolution of the workstyle over the last ten years to find out why.
The cliche is that in Europe, they work to live, while in America we live to work. I totally agree with the cliche. We are quickly becoming a stressed out, joyless, horribly misfocused culture, thanks to Big Business and technology. People try to cram "vacations" or "leisure activities" into little blocks in between conference calls and e-mail. No one I know takes a vacation without bringing their cell phone and laptop with them anymore. It's a perversion of the idea of making it into the "leisure class;" back in the day, people used to dream that their kids would go to college and get jobs where they didn't have to punch the clock and work in the mines and factories and shops anymore, but could aspire to a higher level than their parents. The American Nightmare of today is that when kids reach professional and economic levels beyond those their parents achieved, they actually have less free time than their parents ever did. No one except the hourly worker ever works a 40 hour week anymore. I find this pathetic. But I don't know who I'd blame, exactly.
Corporations and business demand it, sure - but companies keep buying the technology that enables the 25x8x366 workstyle; people don't ever stand up and say, "enough is enough." Working has become a drug in this country - but it's impossible to tell where the addiction started and just who is enabling whom. Corporations and big business have rapidly taken the joy out of American life. Workers, however, let them do it. We're all to blame. And when the health and well-being epidemic reaches crisis proportions in this country over the next few years, we will only be able to look in the mirror.
(Deep breath.) Ok... rant over. Can I just say that my absolute favorite song right now is, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett? More on Buffett, the image of the lifestyle of his songs, and why I've become a Parrothead, in another Blog this weekend. For now, I have to log on and do some work.
September 13, 2003
There is not much I
There is not much I can say about Johnny Cash or John Ritter that hasn't been said by any of the myriad writers in their obituaries. All I will add is that John Ritter made people laugh for thirty years; Johnny Cash made people feel that he was singing to them - which made people feel less alone, which in turn made them happy -- for fifty years.
Two lifetimes spent making other people happy. Not a bad way to go out. We should all be so lucky to leave that legacy.
Rest in peace, gentlemen - and thank you.
September 09, 2003
Random rambles for the week...
Random rambles for the week...
1) The Recording Industry (tm) sued 246 file sharers this week - including a TWELVE YEAR OLD GIRL - for music theft, blaming file sharing for a massive decline in CD sales since 2000. Memo to the friggin' boneheads running the music industry: You wanna know why sales are way down? Because your product SUCKS right now, that's why. ClearChannel owns every damn radio station in every damn market, and the suits in San Antonio have never understood that music is about feelings and freedom, not market research and science. No matter the market, we know what ClearChannel will force down our throats - the "Mix" station for adult contemporary; the "Z" station for teenyboppers who think Missy Elliott, Ja Rule, Beyonce and Good Charlotte are talented; the "Hot" station that panders to the urban listener; the faux-edgy station that pretends to be an alternative rocker but plays the same payola'd sh... crap; the list is predictable and endless. Worse yet, in every market, the same 20 songs get played over and over and over. Nothing fresh breaks the airwaves. No one gets to hear anything different.
ClearChannel, Cumulus, Infinity, and the other monolithic Big Brothers of the radio industry have KILLED creativity, and that is killing interest. And yet the music industry pathetically goes along with it. Guys, you want to sue someone for your stumbling profits, sue ClearChannel. Knock corporate radio on its ass, instead of kissing its ass, and maybe we'll all start wanting to buy CDs again. Encourage creativity and expression, not mindless mimicry. ClearChannel is the devil, and the music industry suits are apparently too stupid to understand to whom they've sold their souls. Then again, any group that thinks it's going to get good PR and sympathy out of suing 12 year olds for downloading nursery rhymes and television themes, well... must be the same people who think I want to hear anything performed by Black Eyed Peas or 3 Doors Down.
2) I'm as agnostic as they come. I hate religious people who try to force-feed their beliefs down our throats like we were geese in a pate factory. I think that judge in Alabama ought to be permanently disbarred from practicing law anywhere in the Unites States of America. And I think the Constitution ought to be amended to specifically and in writing establish a permanent separation of church and state, so that religious expression and religious zealots and bigots cannot use my tax money or property it paid for to proselytyze me.
All that said... I cannot for the LIFE of me fathom why a group of atheists in New Jersey is suing to keep the piece of the World Trade Center that fell into the shape of a cross out of the permanent 9/11 memorial. That coincidental alignment of metal served as a gathering place at Ground Zero for Sunday masses for the faithful among the rescuers, and brought those who believe a little bit of comfort as they did a horrifically brave job in the weeks following the attacks. The symbolism brought peace of mind to thousands, if not millions who saw the images.
The atheist group says that including the cross beams would make the memorial a religious expression and not a memorial, and would make non-Christians feel excluded. Guys... guys. I'm usually on your side. Manger scenes on public property make me uncomfortable. I squirm at the idea that the US Congress opens each day with a prayer. And I don't want religious expression of ANY kind anywhere near a public school. But this memorial? That cross belongs there, and you're demeaning the entire "separation of church and state" cause with your argument.
September 11, 2001 was one of the worst days in American history, if not THE worst. In the aftermath of the henious attacks brought on by blind religious intolerance, people all across the country were devastated. We all looked for our own things to hold on to during the weeks afterward, our own piece of sanity and comfort that would tell us the world was going to be okay. Every individual reacted differently. Some people took comfort in things that did nothing for others. And that wreckage in the shape of a cross meant so much to so many... it was a life raft when they needed it most, a piece of peace in a violent and horrible time. Whether it brought me any solace at all - or whether it represents anything that ever would - is immaterial; it HELPED people. Doesn't matter if it helped all of them, it helped SOME. And I cannot imagine why anyone would try to keep something that brought someone peace during that time out of the permanent memorial.
Muslim victims died in the 9/11 attacks; if someone put a Qu'ran in the memorial because it gave them peace when thinking of loved ones lost that day, so be it - I have no problem with that. Jews lost their lives that day; if a Star of David were incorporated into the memorial, I have no problem with that. In this one case, I have no problems with any religious artifacts being part of the display. Whether we like it, don't like it, or are equal to it, religion did play a tremendous role in the lives of many of those lost, and in the healing of many of those left behind. To deny the dead that tribute, and to deny the living that comfort, is downright cruel. And no agnostic or atheist should be SO small minded as to behave that way just to salve their petty disagreements with organized religion and its followers.
Save the battles over church and state for the fights that actually matter - keeping religion out of public schools, out of courthouses, out of public policy... and let people grieve and memorialize in whatever way they see fit. New Jersey atheists are imbeciles.
September 06, 2003
It's going to be a
It's going to be a great September.
With twenty one games left in the season, there are seventeen Major League Baseball teams still with a legitimate chance to make the playoffs. There are pennant races shaping up in four of the six divisions - and the lead in both the National and American League Central divisions could literally change daily for the rest of the season. It's looking like this will be a classic fall in baseball history. It's reminding me of why I love baseball so much.
The great characteristic that separates baseball from every other sport is the length of its season and the fact that games are played every day. Those of us who consider ourselves baseball purists will tell you - with varying degrees of smugness - that this is what makes baseball a thinking person's game... being a baseball fan requires an attention span, a willingness to pay attention for six months. Baseball means that a bad game means your team goes back and plays again tomorrow. Baseball allows that a slump in April that lasts the whole month means that your team has five more months to right the ship. The season isn't compressed like football season. There's more than 16 games to a season. Baseball fans don't get the instant gratification that football fans crave - a three game winning streak in football means you're more than likely going to be in the playoffs - at the very least, your team will contend. In baseball, a three game winning streak means you have 25 more weeks to go. It takes patience to love baseball.
Except in September. This month, the same characteristic that requires patience during the other five months of the season now means heightened excitment that no sport can match. Seventeen teams have playoff aspirations this month - and their situations change every 24 hours. On Sunday, both the NFL and MLB will play games. On Wednesday morning, the NFL standings will be the same as they were 48 hours earlier. By Wednesday, the lead in three MLB divisions, plus the wild cards, could well have changed hands - twice. Or even three times. Every day brings a critical game; every night brings must-win tension; every game the hopes of a team's fan base are carried on the shoulders of its players. For the next three weeks, raw throats and eyes deprived of sleep because they stayed up late to watch the baseball game will rule the day in offices in Boston and New York. And Philadelphia and south Florida. And in Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Houston, Seattle, Oakland and Los Angeles. Not on Monday morning only. Not just during the playoffs like in the NBA or during March Madness. EVERY morning.
There's something poetic about a game whose defining characteristic is the methodical and patient nature of its season suddenly providing the most intense daily excitement of any of the major competitive sports.
Each day for the next three weeks will be a season in itself, with fans in some cities cheering deliriously while others die a little death as the day ends. The next day, their positions could be reversed. The day after that, who knows?
My beloved Red Sox may not make the playoffs. I could be heartbroken on October 1. But baseball's going to give me - and all of us - three weeks I'll be telling my kids about someday.
September 01, 2003
Spent part of Labor Day
We spent part of Labor Day weekend with Tim & Donna and Mike & Jenn and their kids at Loveladies, NJ, on Long Beach Island (www.longbeachisland.com). Surprised how acclimated I have gotten to the Florida warmth - it was 74 and breezy on the Jersey Shore this weekend, and I was cold. Not chilled; flat out cold. It was a great time though... fun to hang out with the kids, and it's always nice to be at the beach.
Interesting phenomenon Tim, Mike and I observed... after the kids and the girls had gone to bed, the three of us guys went out to the beach to smoke a cigar and take in the ocean at night. We started noticing that some of the waves seem to almost glow in the dark as they broke before reaching the shore. Mike had heard of it before - turns out, a certain type of algae exhibits biolumniescence (http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/) when agitated or stirred up... so as the waves broke while rolling into shore, the algae was giving off its glow. Pretty cool effect.
Another thing I learned much to my chagrin: when walking down a beach just after high tide, close to midnight, in the dark, makes it hard to see the jellyfish that the tide leaves behind on the sand - which in turn makes the things easy to step on. Yuck.
