Whatever

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Donna, I and 20 of our closest strangers saw The Hunger Games this morning. Went for a bike ride to DD for breakfast and when we got home there was enough time to shower, change and drive to Augusta to catch the 10:30 showing in some stadium seating.

Neither one of us has read any of the books, we both had a sketchy idea of the plot from media immersion, but the real reason we went to see it was that it was filmed mostly in our favorite part of the country, western North Carolina. Not a bad little movie. I enjoyed it more than Donna, but neither of us will be waiting with breathless anticipation for the second installment.

After doing all the prep work the last couple weeks, re-watching Iron Man 2, watching Thor, watching Captain America, and seeing the trailer in the theater today, I can now say, “I think I’ll be waiting for the DVD of The Avengers.” I almost hate to admit it, but I buy a dystopian future where teenagers battle to the death on television before I swallow the premise of an Asgardian villain attacking Earth and to the rescue come this group of “superheroes.”

The next movie I see in a movie theater will be sometime after June 8th:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UEv03g51kU&start=8

If baseball success and fan satisfaction were measured in innings played, this weekend’s three game set with Baltimore Orioles, totaling 39 innings (more than 4 complete games worth) would mean great things. Unfortunately they don’t, winning does.

The odds certainly are not in the favor of the Red Sox.

A little less than a month into the 2012 season the FRS are 11 and 16 leaving them in last place, 7-1/2 games out of the division lead. After today’s loss they are on pace for a 66 win, 96 loss season. Maybe if they try a little less harder they can get an even 100 losses to honor this 100th year anniversary of Fenway Park.

Well That Explains That

For lack of anything worth watching on the tube this evening, I had the first Iron Man movie on. It was playing on FX, so it was chock block full of commercials, but it was better than Entertainment Tonight, Wheel of Fortune or the 38th viewing of a Two And A Half Men repeat episode. One of the best sequences of the movie is Tony busting out of that cave with his cobbled together original Iron Man suit. Just after crashing into a sand dune in the middle of the desert, miles from who knows where, we go to some commercials.

What comes next in the movie I saw in the theaters 4 years ago, and what is on the DVD I got for Christmas later in 2008, is we see Mr. Stark walking around in the sand and then within a couple minutes Colonel Rhodes shows up with some helicopters to rescue him. I always thought this a little odd because, how did they get to the middle east and the scene of hundreds of Stark Industries exploding in flames so fast.

What came next on TV was a scene of a bunch of soldiers loading into some big helicopters. Tony’s friend “Rhodey” Rhodes is there and gets stopped by some General who teasingly chides him that heading off to find Stark is a fools errand as no one has any way of knowing where he might be. This explains away that quick find.

Pretty coincidental timing on the search mission and Tony completing his escape in the newly finished Iron Man suit. Then again it is a “comic book” movie, so you really can’t dig too deep on anything going on without finding incongruities.

It’s Going To Be A Beautiful Day!

Is it possible to have a pleasant flashback to an acid trip that was never taken?

We watched Sunday’s episode of Mad Men last night, and in it, Roger Sterling and his young, former secretary of a wife Jane, take LSD with some other Manhattanites under the “supervision” of her psychiatrist. We get to watch Roger’s slightly humorous and hallucinogenic evening that ends with he and Jane lying on the floor of their apartment discussing their mutual feelings that their short marriage is over.

Whether it is was the idea of this upcoming smooth and amicable separation or a residual acid high that causes Roger to proclaim brightly to Don at the office the next morning, “I have an announcement to make: It’s going to be a beautiful day!“, I’m not sure, but it had a strange effect on my day.

For no apparent reason, everything seemed brighter and shiner today. All things went smoother and easier too. On the way to work I either made it through all the traffic signals with only brief slowdowns or passed through unhindered. And even though this week I’m working 9-hour days for that free Friday afternoon off, today at the Valve Store(R) just flew right by.

So, is it possible for me to have a happy flashback to an acid trip that I never took or was it just the high dose of sugar from the DD Coffee Cake Muffin I had for breakfast?

House of Ill Repute

Donna had a tough day at work and was in a kind of surly mood when we got home (thank goodness we rode the tandem to work where she got to work out some frustrations on the hills on the ride back.) She was sitting at the PC reading emails when the phone rang.

The phone ringing at 4:30 PM can only mean one thing, someone is going to try and sell us something. We have had overabundance of calls about home security systems recently and just last night I got one from my old friends at XM Radio.

She said,”Hand me the phone, I’ll answer it.” She hit the talk button and said, “Bogardus Whorehouse! How can we help?” All she got by way of response was a quiet, “I must have the wrong number” and a quick disconnect. We both got a good laugh.

That got me thinking that we should use that greeting all the time. Maybe add a catchy slogan instead of the “Can we help you?” part. How about, “A ten spot can get you a G Spot” or maybe, “A twenty gets you plenty.” Ooh, “A C-Note gets you a Man in Boat.” Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments…

Poor Steve

We have an assembly engineer who has decided to take a job elsewhere, some place a lot closer to home. His last day is this Friday. It is also the last day of our payroll clerk and for her there is any number of little tributes and sharing of food stuffs, unfortunately for him, nothing. So Donna asked me to make up a little farewell card for him.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1115

Spel Cheker

We had breakfast at DD this morning and after walking out on Saturday morning because no one wanted to wait on us in a timely manner we were glad to see the little older woman behind the counter. She, unlike most of the younger kids that man the register, can enter our highly complex order* without hunting for several seconds looking for the right button to push. Not only that, she seemed to be the only person in the store and we got our food and drinks in a more timely fashion than usual.

On her badge, there was a label, right under her name with her title, SHEFT LEADER.

*Small Coffee, cream & sugar
Small hot Chocolate, no whipped cream
Coffee Cake Muffin
Plain Bagel, toasted with butter

Happy Fat Tuesday

Today is the last day of Mardi Gras. The day before Ash Wednesday and the start of the 40 days of Lent for those of a western Christian beliefs. Donna grew up in New Orleans and remembers while in high school actually participating in some of the parades.

When Donna and I lived in New Orleans in the middle 80’s my idea of a Mardi Gras parade was more of the ones put on by small artsy organizations that marched through the French Quarter. I really wasn’t too excited about the whole St. Charles Avenue or Metairie big parade thing. If I was still living in the Big Easy today I probably would have wanted to attend the Krewe Delusion parade on the 4th, but I definitely would have attended the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus parade last Saturday.

One year my mom and her sister took the train down from New England to New Orleans to enjoy the festivities. We had a good time showing them the sites, dining on spicy seafood and taking them to a couple of parades. But I think both women felt that the party atmosphere on the train trip down generated the best stories and oddball memories from the trip.

From left to right in the photo above: a small glimpse of our 1983 Honda Prelude, me in my quasi-Miami Vice attire, my Mom, and Virginia, Mom’s sister, my Aunt and mother to Martha and Louise.