Sicko
So, yeah, haven't been blogging for various reasons. The best excuse I have is "pneumonia!", which actually should be a good enough excuse for you, so shut up.
Except for a lingering hacky, rattling cough and the feeling that I never quite get enough sleep, I'm over it now. At least I think I am; I have a follow-up chest X-ray scheduled for Wednesday, at which time I suppose I'll know more.
Kristi and I watched "Sicko" last week. Good timing. Just like the bad timing that brought this whole thing on right when The Company changed its sick-day policy from "basically unlimited" to "six per year". Fortunately I have understanding management. There was also our switch this year from $20 copays to $40 copays, but that was our own damned fault. Anyway, "Sicko" was thought-provoking, but most of the thoughts were along the lines of, "This could have been so much better a movie if somebody other than Michael Moore had made it." Sad, but true.
Of course, other video was watched during my convalescence. Lots of "Heroes." "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." "Pride and Prejudice" (okay, it was on PBS, but we missed the last night because of the Oscars so we broke out the DVDs to wrap it up).
And now I'm feeling better, and Kristi is sick. Hopefully not pneumonia sick, but her fever is as high as mine ever was and she feels like crap (it's true, I felt her). So Emma helps by breaking out the "Harry Potter" collection and subjecting Kristi to the entire series, in order. Could be lots worse; could be that damned "Hannah Montana" DVD over and over and over. I wonder when Emma will be ready for "Firefly"?
While I was standing around the clinic a week ago waiting for my antibiotics prescription to get filled, I popped across the hall to say "hello" and "thank you, a million times thank you!" to my former physical therapist,
Allison Trombley. She is truly a miracle worker.
Labels: blogging, illness, movies
Truly Sad
Emma isn't impressed by the Marx Brothers. And I was
so sure she was my daughter.
Perhaps starting her with "A Night at the Opera" was a mistake. Too MGM-ish. I might get one more chance at this; do I go with "Animal Crackers" or "Duck Soup"?
Labels: movies
White Christmas
We had one. A solidly white Christmas, like I can't remember having had since we moved here. Some years there has been snow on the ground, but old, dirty, salty, dog-pee-stained snow. But this year was a storybook Christmas -- it looked almost like a fake stage production, with big fat flakes falling straight down outside the family room window as Emma and I sat at the table, beating up on Kristi at the "Sorry!" board. (Kristi is far too nice a person to succeed at "Sorry!")
We spent the day opening presents, playing with presents, reading presents, watching presents on TV, cooking and eating (not the presents, doofus), and generally having a fine time.
Between my birthday and the holidays, I always make out like a bandit compared to Kristi, which never seems fair. Even so, let the gloating begin! Though I'm sure I'll forget something, here's the list: several CDs, including Springsteen's latest; pretty much every Marx Brothers movie ever made, in two box sets; the latest "Harry Potter" movie (more a family gift, really); "To Kill a Mockingbird" on DVD, which we watched Christmas Eve; "Heroes" season one and "Rockford Files" season one on DVD; several computer books, because yes, I am a nerd; a laptop stand and cheap keyboard, so that my laptop can impersonate a desktop computer (I highly recommend this, as the ergonomic difference is enormous); a Caribou Coffee gift card; a Dilbert desk calendar; lots and lots of Red Vines; and a Sansa Clip 2-gig MP3 player, which is making Emma (who bought herself an iPod Shuffle earlier this year) drool uncontrollably.
Shoveling is much more pleasant with an MP3 player; even though I wasn't feeling great, I was laughing my way through Weird Al's version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" when I realized I'd done the next-door neighbors' sidewalk as well. (Which is good, since they're on vacation.)
Labels: birthday, christmas, gifts, holidays, movies, weather
Father's Day
Yesterday my next-door neighbor, Steve, recommended that I try out the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis. Never having ridden it, I thought that sounded like a fine idea, so this morning I headed on over.
The greenway runs east-west through the heart of Minneapolis, all the way from the Mississippi River Parkway to Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles. Oddly enough, as I transitioned from the River Parkway to the greenway, I saw yet another two-door purple RAV. They're suddenly everywhere I'm bicycling, but when I'm out driving mine, I never see another one. Weird.
The greenway makes good use of existing and former railway rights-of-way to carve a path across town with a minimum of cross-traffic. Much of the route is below-grade, between 29th and 28th streets, with "onramps/offramps" every half-mile or so to get you back into traffic if you're so inclined. (
Here's an example of one looping off of the greenway and up to 18th Avenue, and
here's a picture of one from on the greenway itself.) Dotting the path are community gardens and other things to look at, including a
restaurant patio at the back of the old Sears building (now upscale condos, hotel, shopping and dining). When you get to Uptown and close to the lakes, people's front yards come right down to the path, and you can admire the landscaping and (inwardly) thank them for the scenery.
The whole ride this morning was about 17 or 18 miles. Sitting at the lakes, I considered riding south past Calhoun and Harriet and catching the Minnehaha Creek trail back east, but I figured that would've taken too long. So I simply retraced.
When I got home, Emma had a Father's Day present waiting for me. I'm wearing it now: a blue t-shirt with "Dad: The Man, The Myth, The Legend" embroidered on it. (Very tastefully.)
After a (prolonged) call to Kristi's dad, we walked down to the Saint Clair Broiler, where Emma has bought me breakfast the last two Father's Days. With Kristi no longer working weekends, this was the first time we'd all eaten there together. Food: fine. Company: great. Booths: in serious need of repair.
Then a relaxing rest-of-the-morning around the house, followed by
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End in Oakdale. I was thoroughly satisfied; despite what I'd heard, I had no trouble whatsoever sorting out the various plots and double-crosses. Topped off everything with dinner at Sawatdee, another Father's Day tradition.
Labels: bicycling, family, movies
Nun Soup
Over at
Worth, TheNightfly pointed out the resemblance between the star of Pixar's 2008 release, "Wall-E", and Johnny 5.
I've long been (mildly) critical of "Lilo and Stitch" for what I perceived as a blatant recycling of the plot of "Iron Giant". However, this mention of "Short Circuit" reminds me that it was, in fact, an earlier example of the "incredibly destructive war machine develops a conscience and makes friends" plotline.
Was it the first? Anyone got an earlier example? I'm guessing there were earlier sci-fi books or short stories, maybe a Twilight Zone episode, but I can't think of anything offhand. And it's important that I know. I'd hate to think that something starring Steve Guttenberg was actually original.
Labels: movies
My Wife Is Very Smart
So why is she completely unable to insert a Netflix movie into its return envelope
with the barcode visible before sealing the flap?
Labels: family, movies
