Tag: Me and Mine

Friday The Last Of April Chat-a-roo

Wasn’t it just last Friday? Time is flying. I am making arrangements for an undergrad reunion so I suppose I am a bit sensitive to these things. Yes, 25 years ago I was a seedy weedy sullen yute at the University of Kings College and soon people will be returning there from across the globe. From Engerlant to the Yukon so far. Of course I dread it. But if you qualify as a mid-late 80s grad, you should go. Two words: video dance.

  • Update: The Flea is good enough to point out one of the sillies things I have read in a long time. Never mind Alberto Gonzales, WMD, Libby, drugged up Limbaugh just saying no, Enron economics, Saskatchewan in the 1990s, moral majority, Oliver North, trickle down economics and a bazillion other things we could all trot out if we have 27 seconds to spare – conservatives apparently don’t lie. What was it Alberto said? Oh, yes – they just don’t remember. Flea’s line is far more honest and admirable:

    …what I like best about being a reactionary is that I do not have to make sense.

  • While I promised not to slag Web 2.0 for a while, I think it is entirely in my rights to point out that Blogger and Podcaster magazine is a wee bit Web -1.0 for me. Don’t get me wrong. I bought Yahoo magazine back in around 1996 and still wish I had those sitting around. But why do I need a magazine about this which is essentially a magazine?
  • I announced the formation of CAMWA – join in.
  • The New Liberaltarian Progressive Democratic Conservatives are having a bit of a hard time. First, I have a hard time with the fire and brimstone the-sky-is-falling the-sky-is-falling flip out of last week turning into the 8 billion dollar green millstone placed around the neck of the consumer…but not so much the polluters. Then, there is the steering of public funds into the boosting of Tory backbenchers prospects through focused funding of local instances of national celebrations. [Ed.: Yes! I can write that sentence without using the word “sponsorship” so it must be different.] Not to mention the application of creationist analysis to a war zone: torture is a theory and as there is no proof it cannot be. I hope the Prime Ministers groomer is especially on her game. Wouldn’t want him to notice the slide and take it personally.
  • But green is not all bad. David recently posted about generating kites in the sky. It was announced this week that the largest solar power facility in North American is going to be built in Sarnia. Soon there will be again talk of the sling tide project.
  • It’s also been a bad week for movie actors. Just as the Prime Minister’s handlers wish he had found other things to do – besides, you know, saying what is on his mind – so, too, wished Hugh Grant that he had not thought that kicking the arse of someone in public was a good idea. At least he only used his foot. Richard Gere tried to enter into some sort of merger with Shilpa Shetty, a noteworthy Indian actress, and now like Grant he faces charges.

What is it about men passing their best before date? You consider an agreement with a toothless non-profit the same as an agreement with a nation state. You consider low level assault either by boot to the arse or smothering hug to be your right. You consider traveling 1600 km to sit in a dorm room only to realize you are equidistant to the old wrinkly stage again the right thing to do.

Pity men as they move into their golden years. We can’t help it.

Barbara Pym

I rarely read fiction any more. And I don’t think I can point to a favorite author in that part of literature where there are no references to beer or brewing. Well, this does allow me to read Inspector Morse mysteries as that character is never seen consuming solid food, preferring a quick pint followed by a slower one as a means of problem solving.

But I read this yesterday about an eccentric British novelist called Barbara Pym who died 27 years ago. Usually I find good eccentric writing mainly in the form of essays. Right now I am reading Starkness at Noon by Richard Boston which is a collection of his pieces from The (Manchester) Guardian from the mid-90s. And, oh, he was involved in the establishment of CAMRA to some degree in the 1970s so there is that, too. He appears to be the opposite of Pym in many ways – mainly a bit rough around the edges – but one cannot pick and choose amongst one’s eccentrics. But they both seem to have an interest in personal quirks and foibles. And I do have that whole problem with watching Heartbeat on TVO. Yet I am prepared to only get page ten…depending on the beverage references.

Morton Loses…But Named Champions Anyway!


My people – my pale, pale people.

It is all coming together. For those in the pool, the answer is 6(a). See, the Morton lost today but so did Stirling. So that leaves Morton top of the league with two games to go. Automatic promotion. Respect: Stirling’s the town where I learned about ska in 1980 at Dad’s pal’s house (aka “me auntie’s”) care of Dad’s pal’s late teen daughter (aka “me auntie’s kid”) and that Specials 7 inch ep she controlled. And Stirling was the scene of “the epic bender” in 1986. Entered a pub and the bartender shouts “yes, the Canadians are going for it!” Entered the next pub and there is the shorter guy hitchhiking out of town at the end of Gregory’s Girl. I also realized Scots kids tucked in their wool sweaters on that trip…like, in their pants.

Anyway, the Greenock Morton actually advance to the First Division – which is the second division – for next season. Playing with the almost big boys. Woot. Photos above from an excellent set at Inverclyde Now in which the photographer does a great job not only of capturing the emotion of the visiting Greenock supporters but also gets a great range of the various jerseys sported by the fans – I love the blue tartan one. A great set by a thoughtful photographer turning his back on one story for another. I think we have about eight Morton jerseys in the house, two or three scarves, a pennant – and a few pins, many old programs and those cloth badges. And books…I have books…and away socks. And programs and a Jimmy Cowan cigarette card from around 1948. And other stuff.

Big big day. A wee dram of the good stuff in my Greenock Golf Club 1890-1990 tumbler tonight. More championship Morton chat at greenockmorton.net and from The Greenock Telegraph. Grannie would be proud.

April Showers Bring Friday Bullet-pointy Chatt-a-ramas

This week. This was a short week. Short weeks are good in that Friday comes faster but it also has the air of less than a full week off as much as less than a full week of work. But was another week in your life. And it has passed.

  • Later Update: man’s only trump card soon to be lost thanks to science.
  • Lunchtime Update: NYCO knows where the bees are.
  • Update: please consider and vote for the best of beer poetry. The prize is a weekend of free beer so make your decisions carefully.
  • Speaking of passing, this was the week that Kurt Vonnegut died. I first read his books when one should – in my late teens. In my mind, I vaguely lump him with the also late Peter Sellers but he is almost the opposite. Sellers was a big jerk personally and only celebrated the absurdities of life as an angst-ridden professional. Vonnegut advocated contentment, humour and compassion for this life in all he did, even as he suffered from personal depression.
  • One of my constant bloggy reads throughout the years has been Ian at xtcian.com and he is celebrating his fifth bloggiversary today with a retrospective. I’ve followed him through his medicated post-9/11 volunteering singlehood to his medicated becoming a husband through his medicated struggles as a movie maker through his medicated struggles as a TV writer through now his days as Daddy. Because he comes to the game as a good writer he is, in my opinion, the best personal blogger on the net. And I say that even though his regular updates with pictures of his kids are the second nicest photos of family – after mine…which, of course, I never post because I have a clue about data mining and biometrics.
  • I have been trying to think of analogies in Canadian culture on the Don Imus now-firing. I think that it is a good thing that this pervasive voice was fired for saying such a foul thing – and saying it in such an offhand…even, dare I say, entitled manner – that was focused on a specific and small group of young people who achieved only excellence. The closest I can think of as an equivalent would be Don Cherry calling our national women’s hockey team Pepsis and sluts. But he never would. He may be a dope but he is not cruel. I think that is the thing and maybe it is the thing that broke the back of the shock-jock’s status even with all his good work for charity.
  • The Tiger points us to the photo of the week. I miss Jean like I miss Ed Broadbent.
  • The BBC is running an interesting series examining anti-Americanism. Being at a peak of pro-Americanism in my personal life these days (what with baseball being my main sport of obsession now, what with my upstate day-tripping, what with listening largely to NCPR and WFAN for my radio diet, what with my exploration of BBQ and what with the dreary nature of Canadian politics compared to the gold mine that is local New York state politics) I find anti-Americanism beyond my understanding. I am fortunate in what I am able to do and have a more than a couple of projects on the go that get me involved in cross-border discussions. But was not always the case – I suppose, like me, many more Canadians can say that compared to say in the 80’s. Is this, too, due to free trade?

What a load of bullets. Usually I struggle with these but those whipped right out. Now for coffee to be followed by spelling mistake correction.

Easter Monday Plans

Easter Monday is the weirdest of holidays. A civic holiday in lieu of a religious holiday. No other religious holiday recognized in law is fixed to a day of the week so, appropriately for my present purposes, we still get the Monday off.

I have failed in my past Easter Monday plans. Since 2005, I have failed to learn more about Boogaloo music. Given two years since that thought, I could have become something of an amateur expert. So too, however, went my adult novice homeschooling in Arabic and Dutch years earlier and I have come to expect these short comings of mine. But I have also been a man of action. In 2004, I was on the Wolfe Island Ferry on Easter Monday. In 2006, I bought a banjo as it was the day before Happy Me Day! Because I needed a banjo. What are the things I need ten days before the 2007 version of HMD?

1. A trombone mouthpiece
2. a newly shingled roof by the end of the summer
3. a garden shovel
4. passports by the end of the year
5. shotputs

That is not too bad. And just to fill out the calendar, this blog started almost four years ago, on a day which was four days after Easter Monday 2003.

Today I will brew. I will do laundry and dishes and scrub here and there first but in the afternoon I shall brew…unless I nap.

Alou! Mets! Baseball!

Good to see Moises Alou in the Mets uniform tonight. He has cemented my satisfaction that one should have both a favorite American League team and a National League team. Why? Better chance of having former Expos to root for. Also usually provides you with something to watch when Boston is playing Tampa.

Resources for starting or enhancing your own joint obsession:

That’s a start. Who other than Pedro has been on each of the Expos, Red Sox and Mets? Not Moises. Not Bill Lee. Kirk Bullinger can live that dream if he were only to pull up his socks and get back into the game.

Fact: Julio Franco enters his 30th professional season tonight.

Monday And Coffee

I think I just disproved that theory about coffee. Consider this:

  • Monday.
  • Monday after the clocks leap forward.
  • Monday after the clocks leap forward and I “sleep in”.
  • Monday after the clocks leap forward and I “sleep in” and there are seven kids in the house because it is March Break and my nieces are visiting.
  • Monday after the clocks leap forward and I “sleep in” and there are seven kids in the house because it is March Break and my nieces are visiting so I can’t make coffee as we have a grinder and that will wake the nieces.
  • Monday after the clocks leap forward and I “sleep in” and there are seven kids in the house because it is March Break and my nieces are visiting so I can’t make coffee as we have a grinder and that will wake the nieces so I have to get it at work meaning a foggy drive in.
  • Monday after the clocks leap forward and I “sleep in” and there are seven kids in the house because it is March Break and my nieces are visiting so I can’t make coffee as we have a grinder and that will wake the nieces so I have to get it at work and I get to work meaning a foggy drive in – and there is no coffee when I get to work.

Somewhere, somehow, I earned some credit of some sort.

The Rules For 500 Up

I know I am not supposed to post twice on a Friday but I have just had two shocks. I met someone my age who had no idea what 500 Up was and, when I described the game, reported not having ever played anything like it. That was shock one.

I though 500 Up was a great universal. I thought it was primordial. Now I Google “500 Up” and only my post pops up as referencing the game. This is really weird. It is like I mentioned bread – or at least popsicles – and realizing the people I was talking to had never heard of them.

Sloan has a song called “500 Up” off of their first record. Here are the lyrics. Disturbingly, the game is only there as a passing reference, an analogy mixed with another image – a reference only one in the know would know:

Sliding downwards
You’re the batter
That’s what they say
500 up
On the ladder

Do you know the rules to 500 Up? Why is this not on the internet somewhere? That is shock number two. Now I have to know. Are there different points to catching the ball in the air and fewer points for getting it on a bounce? How many points? Did you decide how many before each time you played? I haven’t played it for 21 years. I haven’t played Kingston Nova Scotia stickball for 35. That was a hell of a game.