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Saturday at Publix

Consumption, Family, Leisure 7 Responses »

May 142012

Here are the boys working on Lea’s personalized Mother’s Day cake:

I said to the young woman running this table “wow, you’ve got the best job in the whole store right now, don’t you?” She smiled and said “oooooh, yeah.”

So we stopped at Publix first on Saturday because I was afraid there would be a mob at the greeting cards, and I wanted to get it over with. Wasn’t bad at all. Then it turned out I could get Kohl’s gift cards there too, so I was delighted to cross “driving east on 72 through Madison in the middle of the afternoon” off my list. The custom heart cake capped the visit nicely.

I know I’ve bragged on Publix before, but it’s just an exceptionally run business. It’s a retail experience I can count on not to raise my stress level, and as that’s consistently true of at least three locations with which I’m familiar, I conclude it’s cultural. Good job, folks. Don’t go changin’.

Happy Mother’s Day

Current Events, Family, Memories 2 Responses »

May 132012

I’ve not ever been one to observe negative anniversaries or other holidays, so it’s unusual for me to be a little sad on Mother’s Day.

I had dinner with my mother’s widower a year to the day after she died because he called and asked me, and he was still so totaled I couldn’t really say no. But as we sat at the Oxford Red Lobster, he said he wanted to do it every year, and I immediately said I didn’t think that was a good idea. I think it hurt his feelings. I felt bad about that for a while.

Mom’s been gone eleven years now. I miss her mostly in unexpected whispers, but once in a while she clocks me. She clocked me this morning when I was putting up this photo on my Facebook profile. I didn’t expect that to be tearful, and then it was.

I have a childhood friend I haven’t seen in person in more than 30 years, but with whom I have a pleasant and satisfying relationship of correspondence. Her mother is in heaven now too. Days like today, she and I exchange texts and suppose that our moms must be having coffee together.

Happy Mother’s Day. Hug your mom every chance you get.

The creepiest ice cream truck EVER

Consumption, Family, Leisure, Popular Culture No Responses »

May 102012

As soccer practice wound down tonight, a familiar melody began getting louder. Ah, the ice cream man is here! But, uhhh…

Uh, sir? If I may? I don’t think a complex business plan is necessary for this sort of thing. However, you might seriously consider whether your ice cream truck should be an unmarked, windowless cargo van.

(And I swear that thing is sitting there playing “Turkey in the Straw.”)

Thursday miscellanea #187

Menagerie 8 Responses »

May 102012

Looking forward to giving the air conditioner a break over the next few days. It’s likely to be the last one for a while.
Current top of the Pandora heap for me is Missing Persons Radio.
I just caught all of Roll Tide/War Eagle for the first time last night. You know, they make these shows for everyone else. When you live here, this passion is no more remarkable than the grass or the sky. That’s most of why we think you fans in other places are just precious when you start wondering aloud about what the most intense rivalry in sports might be.
Outlook Express is such crap. It’s technically flimsy and not at all intuitive to use. I think with today’s malfunction Dad’s headed all the way onto Thunderbird, which he’s already using on his other laptop. (Yes, I know: “it’s about time,” but when something works for you, what’s the motivation to change it? I can sympathize with that. I still have this.)
Recently I was discussing Hall & Oates with a friend, and began reflecting on how deceptive memories of their heyday are. You think they had five hits or so. They really had closer to two dozen.
I see Wal-Mart is trying to lure me back into their retail cesspool with steaks, and I really must be right down the middle of the targeted demographic, because I don’t watch a lot of television and I see that commercial all the time. I’ll say the same thing I always say: Wal-Mart, you lost me because visiting your store consistently makes me miserable. Until that changes, I don’t care what’s in there. Got it?
The tablet is fun to have around for this and that, but as a primary tool it’s just not taking for me. For what I do (particularly the writing), I’d just rather have a netbook. The main thing I do on my Kindle Fire is read National Review and Commentary, and I like it for that because I don’t have the paper to get rid of.
Today (well, late this afternoon), Lea and I will have been married 15 years. She is a phenomenal wife and mother, and I am tremendously blessed by our union every day. I love you, Lea!

“Nobody messes with Joe!”

Annoyances, Language, Politics 3 Responses »

May 092012

I’ve so enjoyed Jonah Goldberg’s column on our truly remarkable vice president Joe Biden.

It’s hard to believe so much weird, nonsensical crap has come out of the mouth of only one person, and rather disheartening to begin entertaining thoughts of “a heartbeat away.”

As I started reading, I said to myself “I hope he gets into Biden’s abuse of ‘literally.’” (I’ve lamented its imminent loss here before.) Sure enough, it’s up almost first—and not just the run-of-the-mill offenses (Obama has the opportunity “literally to change the direction of the world”), but also his fondness for “literally, not figuratively” (to students in Africa: “You are the keystone to East Africa — literally, not figuratively, you are the keystone.”). He seems to just use “literally, not figuratively” as an intensifier. It’s like a mistake of mimicry a high school student would make.

I’d cite a few more examples, but the truth is that everything Goldberg lists is a greatest hit. Biden is gleefully, unashamedly moronic. Go read the piece. Enjoy it for its own sake. But after you do, please also consider one more thing. Think about the prevailing narrative of Dan Quayle—just what “everybody” “knows” about him whenever his name comes up—and ask yourself how powerful media bias is.

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