Cold Shoulder

I know I've whined about my old aching body in the past - and actually this isn't new.

I recall mentioning my painful left shoulder in posts about my gym workouts over the last 2-3 years.

Since I am a guy, I just figured I'd power through the pain, but after 36 months, I finally arrived at the fact that it might not be going away. Especially since a few weeks ago, I couldn't even raise my arm 30 degrees, let alone get it over my head.

I don't get it - some days I can lift a 50lb dumbbell and others I can't get a gallon of milk out of the refrig. Or hold a Warrior 2 pose in yoga without thinking I can't keep my arms up any longer.

I had myself convinced my rotator cuff had a tear. The stories I've heard of surgery are harrowing, but I've also heard of just physical therapy and / or cortisone injections. I had finally had enough and saw an orthopedic doc - a non-surgeon, as I didn't want them springing to the chance to cut.

As it turns out, I lucked out. No tear in the rotator. Bonus!

But I do have something called "impingement syndrome" which could be a precursor if not worked on. Now I have a prescription for physical therapy. Now I need to make and keep the appointments. Normally that is not a problem, except for the next three weeks I'm barely at home.

One of the odder things is the ortho doc and going though my issue.  First, he told me not to sleep on the arm, which is the side I sleep on. "Don't do it", says he, but it's hard to undo a lifetime behaviour, no?

The other one was when asking about lifting. "Why do you want to lift that kind of weight anyway?".

Now, this is a good looking doc and many ortho docs are ex-jocks (not to stereotype), but the question stymied me. I had no response that didn't make me out to sound like a vain douche. So while all answers formulated in my head, too much time had passed for me to actually answer - though maybe it was meant to be rhetorical. He moved on.

So, now we'll see what PT has to say.  I won't be seeing my old physical therapist, Adam. I'll be heading down to the JCC to get it done. They have a good PT program, but here is hoping they can help me - you know, sometime in November when I have availability.

Oh yeah, I like how you can see my lung under my rib cage. Cool.


Song by:  Garth Brooks

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 31st 12 of 12. 

12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, a number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad stopped doing the 12 of 12 links in December of 2011, but I will continue, as I like doing it.  I just can't link with the others who participated monthly.  Bummer.

I'm in California for this one. All 12 of 12s can't be exciting, but I suppose they're not meant to be - it's just a log of your day.  Since I'm not home, no Sophie or Petey pics.  Sorry.

03:56. Yes, you'd think I took the pic at 04:01, but the hotel clock was not set properly.

08:30. Outside client site. Gotta have your Emergency Preparedness stuff together.

 10:00. Blobby has a headache.

14:15. The normal steel-toed shoe covers don't fit my feet, so I had to wear these yellow covers that made my feet clomp like I was a horse.

14:30. Blood Drive. I just went in to take a pic. Clearly I can't give blood. Even if I could, I might be too wussy to do so.

 16:00. About to go out into the plant - putting in my ear protector.

 17:00.  The California everyone believes exists.

17:10. The real California

18:40.  Nearing sunset.

 18:50.  Courtyard by Marriott lobby. Not great, but they've done a good job updating them as opposed to what they were in the past.

19:20. Dessert. I'm not proud of it. Lemon pound cake w Strawberries and whipped cream.

20:55. Mostly packed.  06:50 flight home, but it means leaving hotel at 05:00.

I'm So Afraid

"Weren't you afraid to fly today?"

If I got asked that question once, it was asked two dozen times yesterday.

The answer was "no", I was not frightened.

While 9/11 is permanently ingrained in history, the day was an arbitrary one 11 years ago and I hold no sense of dread that the events of that day will repeat itself on the same date and day of the week.

I get that some jackoff might try a copycat thing on or around the same day (see Waco, Oklahoma City, Columbine), but I have a job and I can't be looking at every history marker to decide whether I'll get out of bed in the morning.

I knew which date I booked. I'm sure it was my imagination, but the skies seemed emptier today. Maybe coincidence, maybe not. The first leg of my flight was only about 30% full in coach - not that I was in coach, but I heard it was. Hell, I was asleep before the plane taxied out. It was a 05:50 flight. I was tired.

The second leg wasn't much more full. I had all three seats to myself (ugh, yes, I was back in steerage!). The biggest tragedy was a movie with Kevin Kline, Diane Keaton and Diane Wiest. It was about a runaway dog. If I were that pooch, I'd have hit the highway too. Horrid. Horrid.  If people are forced to watch that shit on planes, the terrorists truly have won!

I will say, there was one disconcerting moment of the travel. Sitting in Houston's airport, appropriately named 'Bush" (though for 41, not 43), at 08:46 they had a moment of silence (announced!) and then played the Star Spangled Banner.  They did it again 11 minutes later. You know, when the North. then South towers were hit.

If 9/11 wasn't on people's minds before, it was now.



Song by:  Fleetwood Mac

Mr. Jones

I'm never sure if these types of films count for my yearly goal of seeing 12 movies in a theater per year, but over the weekend, we went to go see Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

That asswipe, George Lucas, ended up rebranding it with the "Indiana Jones and the..." part after he started putting out shittier and shittier prequels and sequels to the original film.

31 years after it's original release, for a very limited time (one week?) Raiders is back in the theater (in IMAX), mostly to promote it being released on Blu-Ray.

Raiders is one of those movies I never ever tire of seeing. ...and I've seen it........a lot! Possibly in the triple digits?

Back in '81, my mother, ever annoyed with me, kicked me out of the house since I was so painful to be around (according to her). I went to see Raiders, knowing almost nothing about it.  Since clearly, I wasn't old enough to know these adventure type movies from the '30s, this kind of serial was new to me. Action, Drama, Romance, Humour, Nazis - all in 100 minutes. It had it all!

I'm not sure how many of you saw the first Transporter movie, but close to the end of that film, there is a segment with the transporter doing what is so close to a scene-for-scene car driving stunt that I'm not sure how it wasn't lifted right from the Raiders film.

At this point, I have no idea exactly how many times I've seen Raiders - on the screen or tv. It was the first movie I owned on video tape...........and that tape was a Betamax!!!!  (I'll wait while you youngsters, or dementia prone folks (Mike) Goooogle that). Either way, I'm sure I'm over the 100 mark for viewings.

As mentioned, the one prequel and two sequels are horrid, fair and poor, respectively. In the original, Lucas told a decent story and Spielberg did his thing - and let's face it, at this point and time, it was "his thing".

More than I realized at the time, or even after, Spielberg set stuff up so similarly in his movies of this era. Sounds emanating from the ark were the same/similar that came from the big UFO scene in Close Encounters. The altar scene in Raiders had a very similar quality of the staging area on the other side of Devil's Mountain in Close Encounters. And there were a number of Poltergeist elements as well. But I don't think it's illegal to plagiarize yourself. Maybe the Nazi element was just a set-up for Schindler's List.  Nahhhh.

Save a few special effects at the end of the movie that even 30 years ago were weak and now even more so - but you can kind of overlook them.

My movie-going companions seemed to chuckle their way through it which kind of irked me. Yes, Karen Allen was kind of whiny. Yes, the story was implausible (yet they really want to see the new James Bond - since that is set hyper-reality!). They'd all seen it before, so what's with the laughs?

But I'm not sure Harrison Ford has looked better.

Oh, and I've decided to include this in my movie going total - so we only have five more to go.



Song by: Counting Crows

My Music Monday

With me working at home, I don't get in the car much anymore - and when I do, it is usually to an airport. Long distance with the radio are almost nil and we don't have great radio stations in Cleveland to begin with.

So new music to me might not be new to others. And finding new stuff that I like is fewer and farther in between. So, I don't think it's cheating if I stumble across a good song from someone else's blog.  I'll always give them credit.

Take seeing the video / hearing the song from Joe.My.G-d. a week or so ago. I think he posted it mostly because he had met the band and he did go on about the video.

To me, the video is ok - nothing too great, but at least interesting to look at. For me, it's all about the music.

The Presets (nope, never heard of the before), are decent - at least with this song: "Ghosts".

It is one of the more original songs I've heard in a while. I'm sure with the right remix, it would be good in the clubs, but what do I know, I haven't been to a bar that plays dance music in quite.some.time. I'm an old fart.

But even without some 12" extended mix, I like the tribal / Aboriginal beat / vocal that is incorporated into the song. Actually, it is what makes the song.

I've sampled other stuff from the Presets on iTunes and it all seems a little more generic to me. Granted, only a few songs and only for 90 seconds, so I know it's not a great sampling, but I don't see me rushing out to buy anything of theirs.  Maybe not even "Ghosts".

Still....a pretty original and interesting song.

Vacant Chair

710 got a new chair yesterday!  Yayyy!

Well, it got delivered yesterday, it was ordered a little bit ago.

We've been looking for a replacement chair for about 2-3 years.

He is not to fault for the the hold-up. I mean, there is a HUGE selection out there, but man there are a lot of crappy designs on the market - and of course, it has to feel right too. Our backs are not getting any younger ya know - we need support.

The chair you see above is our old one. I still love it, though time and sun through windows has faded the fabric, and our butts and cats - even without claws - has made it in dire need of reupholstering, it's lived a long an healthy life. I'm thinking it's like 15 years old now.

Sophie still likes it, as she shared it with 710 and makes it her own when no one is around. Even after being moved out of the sunroom, she gravitated right to it.

Sure, she went right to the new one too, to plant her butt next to 710 - some things never change.

Getting the new chair, and having my newer chair (2 years ago?) it just makes it harder to put off redoing this room.

While I went with 710 to look at chairs, I can't say I really looked at the successful candidate itself. Of course I cared, but I cared more that he liked whatever he was getting. It's more modern than I remember seeing, but I can't say I was paying that much attention.

I got to sit in it and it's nice. Lots of support, which I like. But it's not my chair.....except when he travels. You see, Sophie won't sit next to me in my chair, but she'll sit next to me in his.



Song by: Steve Winwood

The Survivors

I am sorry to say that I get annoyed at those specials and telethons that take over the airwaves - and I mean every airwave.  I don't want to pay extra for HBO for the same thing I can see on the WB. 

I have nothing bad to say about StandUp2Cancer, because let's face it, I know first hand how tough it is and can be.  ...and it would make me sound like a heel to say anything else. 

But I don't see why anyone thinks that having to watch Coldplay perform will make me want to part with my hard earned dough. 

Sure it's great they're raising money for the disease, I guess........but it's Coldplay. Haven't these cancer victims suffered enough?

Personally, I blame Osama bin Laden and Jerry Lewis for these shows. The latter for all those crappy crappy MS telethons and the former for the WTC fund - which I would LOVE to know where that money went. 

For the settlement that was given to the 9/11 victims families, equal monies were taken off from the government award if they received other donations. I'm assuming that telethon donated monies to somewhere. 

But as those immediate days after 9/11 passed and we sat and watched Julia Roberts ask you for $$$, I was on the phone with Becky and she had me laughing for the first time since that day, when she called and opened with, "I don't know I feel about giving Al Pacino my credit card number".  

True that!

And I'm good about trying to give to the right charities. Morty did his cancer bike ride last month and I shelled out for that. I'm always proud of him for that event and happy to contribute.  ....but something about these massive telethons bugs me in how they manipulate people to contribute. 

Sure, the end result is that more funds go to research and treatment - allegedly. 

In a way, it'd be fun to have a Survivor t-shirt, but the design is so f'ugly - and it looks like my left armpit survived cancer. And I have always felt weird about being a survivor. It seems boastful to say it and almost disrespectful to those who did not survive. 

I know - I know, people will tell me otherwise, but for me, it just seems uncomfortable to say, let alone walk around with a t-shirt telling everyone.  But there should be more survivors and if talking about it brings exposure to the situation, it can't be all bad - you just have to answer a lot of questions, and maybe that is the weird part for me. 

But I did not stand up to cancer last night. I sat on my hairy ass, nursed my cold and watched whatever was on the DVR. 

Song by: the Pet Shop Boys

Sick Muse

I'd like to post something fun and funny.

I haven't really been watching the Democratic convention that much. I know I should, but I just don't seem that invested in speeches to nominate the only Democratic candidate. Yes, the speeches are inspiring and hopefully there will be a bump for Barack in the polls.

But today I'm sick. I'm stuffed up, my sinuses hurt and my teeth are starting to ache.  Not good signs.

So I'm not up for being clever, funny, political or opinionated today. But I can't leave ya hangin' now, can I?

I guess that's a good thing about having a doggie. Doggie pictures.

Oh, Petey apparently has a girlfriend - so says the neighborhood chatter.  He's no longer the newest pooch in the 'hood.  Esmé is a Great Dane rescue and just one the calmest and nicest dogs on the block. We see her on our morning and early evening walks and they just get along.  However, our neighbors tell me "I hear Petey has a girlfriend...."  Oh, how people will talk. 

I'm assuming Esmé is named from the J.D. Salinger short story "For Esmé - With Love and Squalor" fron his book (one of my favourites) Nine Stories.  I'll have to ask if they renamed her or if they stuck with the name she had previously. 

I'd never want a Great Dane, but she is so pretty and so well mannered. I just don't want to pick up those size poops. And my lord, at least they didn't name her Ophelia....so that's a plus. 

Without further ado - Peter!

He's not supposed to be on the couch. But he was so cute, I let him stay there until we heard 710 come home. Every once in a while we come home and the pillows are on the floor.  I'm not sure how that happens. 

We take him up to the Shaker Lakes just to get him out of the 'hood and to get him in a car that doesn't only take him to vet or kennel. 

In my office, Petey likes to look out the window at his big tree, but hates the wood chair, so I lift him up on it and he'll stay for a while.  We need a better solution.

When he goes out, he goes out hard. He snores and wheezes just like 710, Sophie and myself. 

Sophie is getting more and more comfortable with Petey. He is almost never out of her sights when he's in the house. I'd like to say she'd end up sleeping with him, but all his Old Man noises still make her keep her distance a bit. 

Another window; another chair. He likes the fabric on here, but the chair has wheels, so that doesn't work either. But it's a different view for two other trees. He's rarely in my office anymore - he loves loves loves being outside - up to 12 hours per day. That will change in Winter, I'm sure. 

So that's it  That's what I got. Hopefully my head won't explode in the next day or so. 



Song by: Metric

App of the Month

Hey, I didn't do an App of the Month in August - who knew?

I'm not really sure I have one for this month either. Of course, it is free - and that might be too high of a price.

Alfred Kinsey did most of his work at Indiana University and this app - the Kinsey Reporter - is an IU application.

I'm mot sure what I thought it was going to be. I assumed it was going to tell me where on the scale I landed (a big old 6!), but that is not what it does at all.

Notice it is the Reporter, not Report.

They want app users to report their sexual encounters or those around us.

Granted it's not necessarily 'sex' per se, but things about flirting, fetishes, etc. Each category has different data elements they want you to capture and submit.

The way I see it, IU wants us all to be their unpaid work-study students.

I'd give a better overview of it but............the website kind of is extremely slow to respond and after getting the app up and running ONCE - it bombs out since.

Maybe it's being overused.  Maybe IU is an embarrassment to the Big 10 in more ways than football.

You get what you pay for.  I won't be keeping the app, but I figured I'd see what it is about.  Or was about.

All Kinds of Stuff

I have no post per se today. So I can just post random stuff. Stuff that isn't big enough for an individual post.

Oh hell - call it what it is:  filler.

After our movie the other day, we found (damn those ads on the movie screen before the film!) a new old fashioned ice cream parlour. Sweet Moses.

No, there are no religious implications here - the founder of Cleveland was.....ta da, Moses Cleveland.  So no burning bush or parting of the sea stuff.

But don't eat a full brownie fudge sundae for dinner - no good can come of it.

Let's see - Sunday yoga was tough. I knew it would be when I saw the instructor in an orthopedic boot. I knew she was going to have something to prove - and she did. Everything was on fast forward. She'd be on the third position before you had a chance to get into the first. And no, this was not just me. I was happy to have the class end.

After yoga was lunch with my cousins, some of their kids and some family friends.  Mind you, I'm pushing 50, but I kind of thought it funny that we were at the "kids's table". There was an older faction who sat together and then us 40 somethings - and their kids. I'm not sure I can grow-up if I try.

And then there is a Petey story from yesterday morning. Well, Petey is in it - but not a story about him really.

It's been raining on and off here this weekend. We need it, so I'm not complaining.

Yesterday, I was doing our morning walk and not only was the sidewalk flooded due to the rain, but these people had let their sprinklers run too, completely making a humungo puddle that we had to walk around. So what do I do?  I cut through their tree lawn, which was also saturated.

Wet muddy ground.  One determined dog pulling. One Blobby face down in the mud - glasses flying off his face.

If you ever wondered if the dog would come back and rescue me or go get help - fear not.  He turned around once, looked at me and tried to trot off.

Man's best friend.  Pffft.

It's all ok. It was a shower day anyways - and it was 06:20.  Unless someone was standing at their window, no one saw.



Song by: the Cure

You're Missing

While we are still behind on our movie going venture for the year, over the weekend we notched another one on the belt. 

Honestly, I haven't been paying too much attention to movies, though there are previews of coming attractions that makes me stupidly think that we can make the goal of 12 movies in a year. 

But since I haven't been paying too much attention, I certainly did not hear of the movie / documentary (?) Imposter. 

The premise presented to me made it sound like the true-life story would be told taking you through the events or a missing and seemingly found child and letting you know the outcome as the movie progressed.

Lies. All lies.

You know from the first 120 seconds if the man is real or well, the title of the movie.  There! There's your 'spoiler alert'. 

As it turns out, knowing if the man in question is an imposter or not really the crux of the story. Well, it is and it isn't. Clearly the man in question is completely fucked up on multiple levels. However, compared to the missing teen's family, the imposter is seemingly completely sane. 

Since this is a film from A&E, you'll expect to see it on cable as a documentary there, but we paid full price to see it in a theater. Everyone seemed to like more than I did. I found the first 30-40 minutes to move too slowly and the edits were too crappy for me. 

After this Texas family of the missing kid became more involved, the weirder it got. That whole 'truth is stranger than fiction' applies here.

Yet, I was unsatisfied. Too many questions, too few answers - a weird, non-assigned / non-paid private investigator and an FBI agent who doesn't seemingly have a clue and missing the most basic things - like, oh say, eye colour!

As 710 said, it's a way to kill 90 minutes.  ...and it was a way to knock one film off our list.  6 more to go. 

Song by: Bruce Springsteen

My Music Monday

I know it is a holiday, but it is still My Music Monday.  I mean, it's only Labor Day.

Since I don't really have a post to go with the holiday, per se, I can always incorporate a song, as much as possible.

I have plenty of songs with the word 'work' in it, but I wasn't up for John Lennon's "Working Class Hero".  I have one song with the word 'labor'  - and you're getting it here.

Welcome to Lucinda Williams' "Fruits of My Labor".

The song comes from Williams' World Without Tears , which when released in 2003 I was not a huge fan of (and yes, I know I just ended a sentence with a preposition).  It still isn't the top of my Lucinda list, but it's grown on me and it has at least four great songs.

Williams, for those who don't know her, can be an acquired taste.

Louisiana born and bred, Lucinda has a hard gravely voice that sings rock, blues, folks and Americana.  Some might say country, but I don't really think that fits.  The voice sounds whisky-driven. Her biggest claim to fame was when Mary Chapin Carpenter covered her "Passionate Kisses" and had a major hit with it, back in 1992 (?).  It also earned her a Grammy for songwriter that year.

There is no official video for "Fruits of My Labor", so it is a live AOL session (AOL? Really???). But Williams is the same live as she is on record. No studio trickery - what you hear is what you get.

Enjoy the song.  Enjoy the holiday.

State of the Art

I probably write about the Cleveland Museum of Art once a year.

Mostly because that is all we end up going to it - annually - which is a total shame.

The place is so world renowned, to truly take in all it has to offer, visits should be at least a monthly.

The museum is nearing the end of a seven year renovation - and they just opened this atrium (to your left) this last week.  The official opening of it is in a month or so. I'd say they're 90% completed with the renovation.

The atrium space is nice. I enjoyed it, even though it has no art - and I'm not sure it is slated to have any.

We really went to see the new space, but of course, ended up seeing some of our favourite pieces and a few I hadn't seen (or at least noticed) before.

...and I know folks do this, but I've never seen it and it was a little impressive.

This elderly man was doing an awesome sketch of a painting on the wall. I secretly snapped this shot over his shoulder. His skill was quite impressive - but you're talking to a guy who can't trace that turtle in the back of a magazine that would have gotten me into art school! ....which is how I think Gauguin

This was the original painting.  Yes, it's a shitty shot, but you're not supposed to take pics in the museum. I didn't want to get caught by the guards. 

I would like to say we'd make more time for the art museum, but who knows. My lord, it's free - it's a mile away from our house. You'd think it wouldn't take much effort. Clearly it is.  I gotta change that.



Song by: Gotye

The Hands That Built America

I'd say 'submitted without comment'  - but I can't let it go.

MAJOR fail at the Republican National Convention - no matter how true it is.

Song by: U2

Telling Me Lies

I have to be honest, I can't stomach to watch the Republican convention even to mock it. I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the Democratic one either. I'm not sure there's nothing new under the sun there.

Remember when the conventions at least used to have surprises?  I mean, they used to announce the running mate AT the convention. There might even be a question who the nominee would be - and not basically anointed seven months ago.

Not for nothing, but Paul Ryan got accolades from the lemmings who will vote for him even if he murdered triplets live on national television. That is to be expected, as sad as that is.

But I have been loving some, but not all, of the news organizations calling him out for his blatant lies during his speech. TPM (whomever they are),  LeftAction, Politiscoop, ThinkProgress - you know all those mainstream media places that the likes of Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin will rally against.

BUT - even Fox called it 'deceiving'.

Don't get a hard-on yet, a lesser buried story on Fox is much nicer about the 'fact checking'.

I was hoping Soledad O'Brien would kind of rip into this, but any CNN story on the distorted truth seems to be so under the radar I couldn't find one. I didn't even try MSNBC.

Hell, I only saw two pictures of Romney having a large donor (in money, not fat) reception on a boat......flying the flag of the Cayman Islands.  Seriously, you can't make this shit up.

The point, I suppose, is for all the cries from the Palins, Malkins, Coulters, Roves etc of the world about the 'lamestream' media, it's not there.  It. Is. Not. There.

I know it is too much to ask that this line of thought goes away, as those lemmings are in need of something/anything to try to differentiate the candidates or to make them feel good about the choice that has been thrust upon them.

In reality, these voters / viewers are just too stupid to see through the veil of fibs. Honestly, I don't understand it.

My thoughts on the untruths are: these guys (and by that, I mean most politicians) are sending up test balloons to see what, and how much, they can get away with; how far they can stretch the truth to further their agenda - all the way up to stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction' that were as fictional as Geppetto himself



Song by: Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris & Dolly Parton

Record of the Month - Classic

Another installment of a disk I have enjoyed over the years. I'm trying to keep the Record of the Month posts to be fairly new releases. Classics are going to be ones that are at least 10 years old.

For 2011, I thought I'd focus on debut disks - just to make it more challenging for me. I don't think you'll care one way or the other.

I'm running out of interesting debuts and even though that was a 2011 goal, I've kind of kept it in 2012. I suppose they don't have to be interesting - or even good. It's just throwing it out there and seeing what it is. 


Pat Benatar's debut, In the Heat of the Night was actually pretty strong - kind of.

I mean 'kind of' because technically having two charted singles - "Heartbreaker" and the excellent "We Live For Love" - it had material that is so familiar to me that I wasn't sure what was a radio hit and what wasn't.

Benatar did a more than admiral job with John Cougar's (yes, he was still 'Cougar' back then) "I Need a Lover". Actually, I might like her version than his.  And I like ""Rated X", No You Don't" and the title track.

My friend Jon will now and again throw out a reference to "My Clone Sleeps Alone"  - I only find that song ok. Still the album is pretty good debut - or even just a regular release.

Benatar clearly went on to a slew of hits, some better than others and in later years put out some great non-commercial music. It has been about 10 years since she's put out any original material - and that's a shame, because of all the overplayed radio success she had, the woman still has a powerful voice and some good skills at picking music.

Portrait

You may or may not have watched my Cedar Point video yesterday.  But if not - why not?  C'mon people, I"m not filming, editing and posting these for my health!

Anyhoo - in that video you might have seen me sitting for my pastel portrait.

Normally it is not something I'd do, but compare and contrast got the better of me.

On one of our my first trips to Cedar Point, which would have been right before kindergarten (ugh), my parents had a pastel drawing done at that time. So figure I was about 5 - right?

Fast forward (though not very fast) 44 years and here I am having it done again.  I mean, why not?

From a 12 of 12 back in 2010 (?) you may have remembered seeing my 5 yo chalk-self. It was a funny-ish story.

Shortly after having it done, we moved houses and cities. About 10 years later, the owners of our old house found the portrait had fallen behind a bookcase and mailed it to my parents. 20 years after that, I got it framed.

Oh, I was also having a real pissy time at Cedar Point, apparently.  Cranky Blobby.

There is a problem I see with the portraits that I didn't really think existed - my rugby ball sized head. For years I tried to justify seeing it in that picture as some talentless Cedar Point drawing hack who is now no doubt working at Payless Shoes.

But now 44 years later, another artist and the same subject, the truth is out there.......

As 710 watched him do the rendering, he thought the black and white portion was just great and wanted him to stop at that. Then he chuckled as the black beard he painted started to get speckled with white.

Neither version captures my eyebrows very well. Let's face it - they are a defining feature of my mug. ...and my nose has gotten bigger - no surprise.

I guess I could have made a pouty face or had him draw a blue and green striped shirt on the new one for a true comparison......but I wasn't that invested.

Can't wait to see what the next version looks like in 44 years.



Song by:  Rosanne Cash

Rollercoaster

Usually when I do a vlog, it's just the video, no text.  Today is different, at least slightly.

710 and I went to Cedar Point this last weekend, alone, by ourselves!

I wasn't planning on videoing a thing until I'd say we were halfway through our day and then I started to see if I could formulate a vlog post.  But it turns out, without going back to replicate a number of things - which I was not willing to do - there wasn't a lot of cohesion to the video that I did shoot.

So now, you get some set-up, some context (but only some) and then of course, the video.

This was the first time in almost 20 years where we haven't gone to CP without kids - nieces and nephews. And while I adore them, they're too timid, too short, or too impatient to ride the adult coasters. So we've missed out on a lot since then.

This time, it was just us.

It worked well - and it didn't.

Our first two coasters were a mistake. The Mantis is a stand-up coaster that warned you to take out earrings. Not an issue, but I ended up seeing why. They pull over security rack banged your head and ears so fucking hard on the ride it was no fun at all. None.

The next ride, the Mean Streak, is one of, if not the, tallest, fastest wooden coasters in the U.S.  3:10 minutes is a long time in coaster rides - and it only had a 10 minute wait. But it came at a price. 1:20 minutes the pain in my back was so jarring, I was cringing ahead of time thinking of each hill and turn. Seriously, on that pain chart they give at the doc's office, it was easily a 9. I was on the verge of tears.

When getting off, we thought we had made a mistake coming and that maybe we were too old for this.

But 710 talked me into going on the RuPaul Top Thrill Dragster!  It takes off at 120 mph (not kidding) and shoots you up 400 ft and over one curve and then 400 ft down. The ride takes 17 seconds.   We've seen it not be able to make it over the top and come back down - backwards.  Yikes. Which is why I never wanted to go on it.

I was cursing 710 on the 45 minute wait, but I was wrong. The ride was SO worth it.  And you gotta figure, you can do almost anything for 17 seconds (though my iphone timed it at 23.4 seconds!).

After that it was onto the Magnum (which you see me - avec hair - on in 1990?). And revel in it folks - that's 710 in the front right.

You can't really take pics on coasters these days.  They're too fast and oh, my iPhone is considerably more expensive than a disposable camera.  ...but you see me with hair.  ...and thin.

The Magnum is still a blast - and Millenium Force is over the top incredible (no sides to the car and no steps down the incline if you ever got stuck - oh and 310 ft down!, but it's the second hill that is the fun one). It is totally worth a 75 minute wait.

So yeah, we ended up having fun - though for two times now, the Maverick (yes, most of the coasters start with 'M') has been so backed-up we couldn't get on. 12 seats per car - are you kidding me?  Oh, and it broke down as we  and waited and waited.  We finally gave up.

So - that's some of the background.  None of the video is in any kind of order, but it's just meant to be fun - that's all.





Song by:  Everything but the Girl

My Music Monday

Doing a My Music Monday segment with a video can be just as tricky as doing one without.

Sometimes the video, while not overwhelm the song, distracts from it. But blogs are visual and often an embedded audio player doesn't strike a reader's fancy.

The video for this week's selection, the National's "Conversation 16" is such a video - distracting.

While many videos have zilch to do with an actual song, this one falls in that category. And that's a shame, because "Conversation 16' is such a great song (my opinion, of course) that you really should listen to it - possibly more than a few times.

Matt Beringer's lyrics are dark, yet funny - intriguing, yet nonsense. But the vocal arrangement / phrasing is great (my opinion, of course) as is the drumming.

I guess the video is the same way, mostly the no sense of it, with John Slattery from Mad Men and that chick from the Daily Show and now on 30 Rock (she kind of annoys me on everything she does).

If you're not taken with the vid, just listen to the song - possibly more than a few times.

Personally, I think the song on some kind of radio should have gotten more airplay and it's been 2+ years since a new disk from these guys (though they have new songs out here and there on other projects), it's fun to revisit some of their better tunes.

This is one of them.  In my opinion, of course.

Change is on the Way

It started earlier this month, after weeks of 90+ degrees, it just dropped to 70s and even sometimes 50s at night.

Now, while walking Petey yesterday, I saw this. A tree that is changing colours already.

Granted, it is only one tree, at least on the walk we did, but it is the sign of things to come.

Of course I know this. Cyclical it is, as the Earth revolves around that gaseous ball of hot plasma and hydrogen.

Walks in the morning are no longer in the light. It's light by the time we're done, just not when we start. {sigh}

But I'm enjoying it as it comes. What are the alternatives?

I'll save my hate and resentment for Winter.


Song by:  Shawn Colvin