smacky and bucky

Finished over the long holiday weekend:

Currently reading:

Had a doctor's appointment yesterday after work. As I mentioned before, the office is in the same complex with a Goodwill, so I usually glance around the shop before the appointment. I actually ended up making a purchase yesterday:

About three weeks ago, HR posted a photocopy in the office kitchen about colds and flues. The text and art is so mundane, I hardly gave it a second glance. But today, as I was microwaving something, I actually read it. Among the tips about how to wash your hands was this little statement:The poster was created by the CDC, which explains the anonymous "big brother" tone to it. "You may be asked..." It suggests that while you may be asked in a polite tone, you will be putting the mask on.

If I see someone in the halls wearing a surgical mask, I'm going home.

I understand now why it received so many harsh reviews on Amazon. Without giving away any plot points, Lee Child has his long-running character Jack Reacher make statements critical of the war in Iraq. As you can guess, a lot of the reviewers don't like that.

To be fair to the reviewers, some of the negative reviews weren't solely for the political position, but because Child had Reacher take any position at all on the subject, as he has always been a character who lives outside the day-to-day world, not one who makes political comments.

I give the book 3 out of 5. The supporting cast was flat and their dialogue often read like a self-conscious TV script. I'm looking forward to the next one, due soon, and I'll just chalk this one up to Child having something he wanted to say and shoehorning his characters into making his points (only partially successfully).

Seriously? I know the company's ads look like an endless homage to '70's porn, but come on. Sexy Romper??? Do they realize how ugly, how unappealing, how sleazy that looks?

After a day mowing the fields on the tractor, and before grilling steaks, I took a second to snap a camera phone pic of myself, dressed like an extra on movie night on MASH.
Pretty good weekend at the river.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and I got there early. The waiting room is a depressing place where people avoid eye contact, so I try to avoid getting there too soon. Luckily, the office is next door to Goodwill. We've been dropping stuff off there like a boss the past year, but I hadn't actually gone in and looked around, assuming it would just be a déjà vu trip, as I stared at all my old stuff. But I had 30 minutes to kill...

Browsing the music selection at Goodwill is really hit or miss (usually miss) and you have to work your way through a lot of crap before even finding a band name you recognize. I got lucky and found the double CD of Dave Matthews Band's "Live at Red Rocks 8-15-95" in perfect condition. I paid a whopping $2.00 for it (it's $23 on Amazon). Score!


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The Caps lost game three last night, but they tied it up with less than two minutes left to take it into overtime, so they went down fighting! Next game is Friday night.

"This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside of its beliefs. It does not require the church to perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation of Church and State," Governor Baldacci said.

"It guarantees that Maine citizens will be treated equally under Maine's civil marriage laws, and that is the responsibility of government."

Well said. Gay marriage in NO WAY impacts your religion. Nor does it threaten "traditional marriage."

Marion Barry, the one DC council member who voted against recognizing gay marriages performed in other states, has himself taken advantage of his right to marry four times... and his right to divorce, three.

Where have I been? Well, a few things have been going on...

(1) Hockey: Wife and I have been watching the Capitals in the playoffs. It's the first sport both of us care to watch, so we've jumped in with both feet as a couples thing. Last night's game was a rocker!

(2) Went to the hometown over the weekend for grandmother's birthday/ early Mother's day celebration. My mother looked so much better than she did in March (when she had the heart attack).

(3) Taking care of some personal stuff. What's personal enough that I don't want to discuss it here? Might talk about it later.

(4) Reading. Just finished Harlan Coben's Hold Tight. It was my first by him. The story is basically the suburban parents' nightmare, with a kid getting involved in something insidious and the parents trying to save them. Pretty good. Finished it in three days. Now I'm reading Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher novel Nothing to Lose. It got surprisingly negative reviews on Amazon, and I'm only on chapter 3 and already think I see where the story is going, but I'll finish it.

(5) Last two books of the spring season are at the printer. That's been keeping my weekdays busy.