Local news

You know it's a slow news night if the lead story on the 11 pm news is a county prosecutor being arrested for having sex in the bathroom of the football stadium. AND they sent the repoter to the stadium to file the report.  It's a Wednesday night. There's no one there! 

Fantastic!

I found this yesterday when reading Doonesbury...

"Listen, we've never been 'Stay the course.'" - George W. Bush, in This Week interview.

I might have to give him credit for being that audacious. It does boggle the mind though. 

The interminable wait for the bus

The evenings that there is an event @ Qwest Field/Safeco are hell for the commute home. Absolute hell. Should have left earlier. Now I'll be waiting for another half hour for the bus. Sigh. It's a mundane topic I know but it's better than thinking about the hell that is the Iraq war, the state of political discourse in this country, the ever widening gap between the rich and poor, the appalling behavior of the Republican party...

The joys of international travel

Where to begin...let's start with the people who have decided that air travel is akin to being on a duckhunt or safari and wear all their best Ex Officio like clothing, including the lightweight, wrinkle-free vest.  We sat at the stand, on the plane for 2 hours. 1st because we were waiting for a spot to take off and 2nd because a passenger was taken ill and had to be removed from the plane.  And then they had to find her luggage.  The only sleep I got was while we were waiting.  Or how abut the insufferable old git holding court at the back of the plane with a pompous nerd/geek and some passionate young French students as audience.  It was nauseating. Next up a patch of the worst turbulence I've ever been through, conveniently happening when we were having our evening meal.  Now, I'm sitting in f***ing SeaTac waiting to be picked up...I haven't slept in 20 hours and I'm eating chocolate covered peanuts and a latte. It's Belgian chocolate so it's much better than your average goober. I'm sure this will all be a distant memory by tomorrow.

The return

I'm on the train @ Paddington waiting to depart for Heathrow. The week flew by. I developed an annoying habit of not sleeping until 2 a.m.  Which would be fine except that I always had a meeting in the morning and then dinner. I would be falling asleep @ dinner, get back to the hotel and then be wide awake.

I think my meetings all went well. It's almost funny how much talking one end's up doing. I feel as if I talked non-stop for 5 days. Friday was the easiest day by far. I had a 4 hour lunch. ;-)

I had every intention of getting up this morning and going for a run before my flight home. That didn't happen. Completely knackered, as the English like to say. Now I have to do some gift shopping @ the airport. Which means finding some appropriate knicknack for my mother and mother-in-law.

London

I'm in London on business and am just returning from dinner with a friend and his wife. I've known KJ since we were 5.  He's a successful architect and married an Englishwoman a couple of years ago. I made the trek out to Wimbledon to see their house and have dinner. The house is darling and we had dinner at a pub called the Fox and Grapes. We enjoyed our meal in the company of 6 dogs.

I just love the fact that I can get almost everywhere by tube or train. It's fantastic.  Makes me wish for more public transportaton @ home...

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God's wrath

I realized the other day that perhaps my *difficulties* at work are actually the work of God. I have a feeling that God is smiting me. I'm already going to hell so I wonder if all this smiting is necessary?  I'm also beginning to believe that my mother's recent obsession with my location at all times might be connected.  (I'm joking about all of this of course, but you never know).  ;-)

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A few things to smile about

The fullpage ad taken out by a fellow from Lynwood asking whether we feel safer with Bush in charge. The bumpersticker that reads '1.20.09 Bush's last day.'. The faintest glimmer of hope that the American public will wake up to the rampant hypocrisy of the Republican party (I'm not suggesting the Dems are free of it but the Republican variety is so noxious and appalling). I read a Garrison Keillor piece in Salon today and he wrote that anger is what keeps old liberals alive. He's right!  There's nothing like a presidential press conference or a Republican congressional scandal to get your blood boiling.  I would be willing to settle for a decent, competent government that doesn't make me swear like a sailor...

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Pushy people

I *love* getting on the bus at the end of the day. It's like playing defense - lots of blocking, elbows, anticipating the opponent's next move, the relative aggressiveness of the other passengers and the bus driver. I'm giving a big thumbs up to the woman who pushed into me but had the decency to apologize.  The woman who narrowly missed stepping on my feet as she cut in front of me gets a big *BOO.*

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