crazee

i adore a friend of mine, prone to emphasizing with a double "e" the distinction between garden-variety crazy and, shall we say, moreso. she's not always appreciative of the difference between double "e" crazee with reasonable self-awareness, and double "e" crazee with none at all, along with the coincident need to give herself far more credit than she ever allows, but such is never lost on me. (like i said--adore).

so it is this morning that i'm awakened at 7am by the phone ringing and the double "e" crazee voice of a newly old acquaintance (how does one best characterize reconnecting with a 25-years-ago friend for the first time in, well, 25 years?) explaining concern about my not responding to emails over the weekend after i said on friday that i wouldn't be responding to emails over the weekend (long story about heart attacks and friends living on the sides of barely-accessible mountains far from my interest in devising ad hoc net connections, especially when being away is its own reward for an online home-worker like me) and not to expect to hear from me until well into the day on monday.

(pop quiz: guess the gender of aforementioned newly old acquaintance)

to said newly old acquaintance's credit, such was accompanied by a sincere explanation that no response was expected, even while such lack of response prompted said phone call to determine whether the lack of response was because a) i was not available as i had suggested, or, b) i had decided the sending of emails over the weekend after being told not to expect replies over the weekend was too much attention, and had driven me silently away.

(anyone tired yet?)

my shower drain's morning companion had certain opinions, clearly voiced, as to the proper response, but mine was just to hear it all out, explain that i'm thankfully, as a result of being divorced as much as anything, immune from improper or undue emotional manipulation, (pausing 10 minutes to accept the explanation that no improper or undue emotional manipulation was intended, which, of course couldn't have been, could it), and free to pass word along that noon monday was still the best estimate of my engagement on such personal matters.

"i lay my head on the railroad track / waiting for the double 'e'"
"but the railroad don't run no more / poor poor pitiful me"

warren zevon has the best answer to EVERYTHING

:-)

clueless

the local paper of record, under the general heading of a blind squirrel finding a nut every once in awhile, last week went to a moderated comment format for its online content. long overdue, this policy is sure to eliminate some of the more egregious affronts to human decency littering its online forums.

however, the paper of record being, well, itself, you couldn't possibly think that they'd really grasp the first thing about the concept, could you? in today's [insert colorfully demeaning characterization here], the self-congratulatory coverage of their new comment format included a shaded call-out box headed "many comments cross the line". indeed, they do. we've all read them. but reading a couple that the paper's moderator found crossed theirs found me scratching my head.

"nice job [public official]. you get more expensive every year and less effective. are you mailing it in like tom brady?"

huh?

read this one again with, say, the editor of the local paper's name inserted instead: "nice job mr. campanini. you get more expensive every year and less effective. are you mailing it in like tom brady?"

i would say this is an extremely reasonable and cogent statement of the situation, save it being unnecessarily harsh against one mr. tom brady. offensive? not nearly. libelous? are you kidding? the truth is always a bullet-proof defense against charges of libel, and the editorial policy on "offensive" in this new forum is pretty ridiculous if this is one of the best examples they can name.

the good news for you, gentle reader, is that you can usefully skip all of the paper's online content now, since whatever redeeming elements might have tagged themselves to the articles will obviously have been expunged before you or i would ever have hope to see them.

too funny. not so funny to think about where this all remains headed, (i.e. less local content, higher subscription prices, and continued worthless editorial content and near-insufferable bias), but i guess this is what we get for patronizing the institution.

and, yeah, i'd welcome the opportunity to defend myself from a legal charge of libel for saying so. (countersuits being as american as, well, suits). i long ago stopped wondering if they realize how clueless their online stumblings appear--now it's just to sit back and wait to be entertained.

the conditional and fungible morality of shower drains

the divorced man's shower drain can be an interesting mirror into his life. (at least it may be to him, as well as some of the other people prone to use it). you see, a shower drain can bear certain evidence of those who have made its acquaintance, so to speak, and it can be funny sometimes, the way that he and others can encounter those tell-tale signs.

i have to admit, for a remarkably long span of time post divorce, i would regard the longer remains with a bizarre sort of pre-excuse reflex, as if i felt i would need to explain how it was that the more beautiful strands might have wound up there. ("she's just a friend--a very clean friend...") though, over the years, that feeling of disapprobatory oversight has (thankfully) diminished and disappeared, leaving only the feeling of being loved that such can engender. ("yes, she's a beautiful friend--a very clean and beautiful friend...") i have to be honest to admit that they (they which wind up upon the drain) haven't all been of one same sort, but i can be honest as well to say that their previous owners all were aware of how that particular drain might be used with some, um, variety...

funniest are the moments when even those enlightened, non-possessive and non-judgmental visitors, who believe they know the frequency and occasion of each guest, will find a particularly handsome strand there and still have that primal reflex to question, even if only to confirm their knowledge of the itinerary. for example, one afternoon recently, one particularly lovely and welcome bathroom guest tossed in a reference to a particularly lovely necklace lying unrecognized by the side of the sink into an unrelated conversation... (yes, it amuses me that one of the results of my keeping my children and my, um, intimate guests entirely, and i do mean entirely, separate, is that they each can forget the other exists). yup, daughter's...

so, today it is that the laugh is on and with me yet again. where often abides a pleasant reminder of houseguests past, there was, as is somewhat usual, (usual, to my ever-thankfulness), a small collection in the usual spot. i know my eyesight hasn't dimmed so much at sufficient distance to make the identification too difficult, (i am, after all, more than six feet tall, even soaking wet, and it's reading that vexes me so), but closer inspection yielded just the briefest of possible moments of un-recognition... and then... the payoff...

it

was

mine...

some weeks ago i had decided to wear my hair a bit longer than had become my custom. darling alicia who tends it so well had no difficulty in shaping the mop accordingly. well, it would appear that there is a length at which hair will not be inconvenienced by a shower drain, because mine has passed that length to a point where it will start to accumulate again. and there it was. there's also, of course, the aging man's concern about "what does it mean?", and, seriously, there's no double rainbow at the end of that sort of thing. i am choosing to believe it's the length thing, not a sudden decision by the follicles to resign and/or retire.

women never seem to mind gray, (at least certain women, as my shower drain will attest), but we all fear that they're not quite so sanguine on the subject of less. (shaved is another story, and i have first-hand observation of many such success stories among my friends, though, no, not via their bathroom plumbing, tyvm). i like to believe that mine, stuck or not by the drain, are still going to work for the purpose evolution likely intended, and that my shower will always be at least that bit more entertaining to myself and to others.

but please don't judge my shower drain--it cannot help itself.

and, on another note...

it's not all whining and gloom here today--tonight at the plough and stars in cambridge (on mass ave just a little bit south of harvard square) caitlin dibble and melvern taylor (and, rumor suggests, tim lewandowski's trombone among other unpredictabilities) offer a set of quirky, inimitable originals and covers to warm the hearts of all intrepid.

there's a car leaving here from lowell after 9:30pm, (yeah, it's a late one--but what are you gonna do tomorrow besides enjoy your snow day?), and you ought to think about joining the pleasure of it. or, at least, appreciate that music is for all of us, and the tonic to our frustrations and disappointments.

now you've done it

"terrorists", quite obviously, lack the tools of basic sanity you and i both perhaps take a bit for granted. of course, this doesn't stop them from being morbidly crafty, even while it never guarantees intelligence, and as exhibit a to the latter i submit to you the recent moscow airport bombing. (that we can be so arrogant as to think 9-11 was about us has always been both baffling and frustrating to me, and madrid railroad commuters and delhi hotel guests and now moscow air travelers have compelling stories of brutal loss with which to rebut).

vlad putin was pretty concise, as he enjoys to be: "retribution is inevitable".

the russians are the folks who calculatedly gassed to death 129 civilians in a crowded moscow theater a few years ago in order to get and kill 39 of the miscreants holding them hostage. the russians are the folks who sent a million of their own people, including civilians, under the wheels of german tanks to stop hitler in stalingrad, and then discovered that 85,000 out of the 91,000 german prisoners of war taken in that battle had died before repatriation was negotiated 10 years later. these are people around whom, to coin a phrase, you don't "find a stranger in the alps". (has anybody seen the big lebowski on free cable, and enjoyed the euphemisms chosen to cover up the near-constant profanity? here's your hint: "this is what happens larry... this is what happens when you find a stranger in the alps", and email me if you'd like to just skip to the answer--this one is even beyond my 14 year old daughter's vocabulary, and, as you know, that's my litmus test for words chosen to be written here, and, not uncoincidentally, way past the pale).

i know dubya was trying to pretend he was a geopolitical buford pusser, but he shot his mouth off far to much for it to work. our boy vlad has a better handle on the role, and i, for one, am anticipating with horror, fascination and dread, that we will be hearing more about this one very soon.

an open letter to franky descoteaux

last saturday night, our city administration dispatched upon us downtown residents and business owners a barrage of snow removal machines that resembled nothing so much as a flashing swarm of mechanized locusts. the goal was to clean up the blockaded streets and sidewalks from the surfeit of snow piled there, and to "help the local residents and business owners". (this per dpw commissioner ralph snow quoted in the local broadsheet that i won't link here cuz they charge and the links blink off after a short while so i read it the old fashioned way from the actual paper paper, and, yeah, the "snow" part is funny all by itself). it had snowed wednesday, but the excuses seem to have piled up faster than the white stuff, and there were seemingly no end to the reasons that the city, represented by the decisions of mr. snow, chose to do everything they could to snuff out whatever passes for commerce down here these days.

i'm too tired and too disgusted to list this year's business closings downtown, but for irony's sake i'll list one in particular belonging to one particular city councilor whose voice has been deafeningly absent from the discussion so far, frank descoteaux, which would be monkey's ice cream.

ms descoteaux, you own businesses here downtown. you ran on a platform, among other points, that promised downtown residents and business owners a voice in the running of the city. so where can we find your position on all of this? where can we find your opinion of the city choosing their assault (for that is what it was) on those of us who have set our beachhead here downtown where no one else in the city dares, yet where everyone else in the city depends for lowell's core character and soul?

anyone interested can borrow my copy of the local rag to read the quotes from downtown business owners about what the snow removal timing and scale did to their businesses on saturday night. no, nobody was out looking for ice cream, and franky's burrito joint was likely closed by then, but the economy down here is pretty precarious, and when many of the downtown's employers are done wrong this way, the whole situation cries out for someone with a clear voice to say "this will not stand".

franky?

franky?

don't get me wrong. the snow being gone is a good thing for the downtown. but, as one downtown resident remarked from his experience driving home through waltham earlier in the week, some cities address the problem as it occurs, and when it will only help, not grievously hurt, the downtown residents and businesses in need of service. this past saturday night, downtown waltham was open for business, and thriving.

this can't be said for not-today-shangri lowell, and i'm still waiting for the candidate who claimed she cared to show it.

music

not sure whether this nonsense serves better before or after the fact, but, today you get the after the fact version of things, and it's the best my tired-out self can manage. (ok, melvern coming up this week, thursday at toad, as well as on valentines day in portsmouth--there--you've got a before to go with it all, too).

this past thursday night corey b held court at fortunato's, and it was a great evening of from-the-heart and from-the-hip music. i know no one who prepares so many songs as prolifically as corey, to ensure that no two sets are ever alike, and are each filled with a marvelous and eclectic array of everything from lady gaga to warren zevon to billy bragg to amazing originals from corey himself. (if you haven't caught on, sadie hawkins dance is one of the best songs you've never heard on the radio, and you owe yourself the treat of hearing it live). yeah, he jumps off the bar and puts 1000% into all of it--it's all true. (get there!) this week he even let ukulele madness infect his penchant for doing zevon as zevon demands to be done, and sent poor, poor pitiful me right out like the double e that don't run by here no more, but thunders down its track like few songs can thunder. (thanks for being so generous, corey!)

friday night was even better, if only for the sheer number of incredibly talented musicians who took the stage at voices rock club to celebrate carl johnson's (that's tyngsborough carl johnson to you and to the rest of us) birthday. no number was provided, i think, so that there wouldn't need to be a limit to the number of birthday cocktails sent his way over the course of the evening, but the cake was awesome, and the shouts out to his folks and his family and all of his friends in attendance were heart-warming and from the heart, too. carl and his friends in big trouble gave one of their best performances of theirs i've yet ever seen, and he brought up guest vocalists and musicians (when his brother does skynyrd, it always brings the house to its feet) all throughout the set who really made things special, indeed. my own personal favorite moment was when his friend and bandmate, claire finley, borrowed the bass, and let carl go ALL THE WAY on luther allison's cherry red wine. george was working the kit to keep up (and did he ever) and the whole thing was like being in rock and roll church. amazing. then, to top it all off, carl called up peter lavender, arte kenyon, steve esposito and justin beaulieu to run through a set of the music that they're collectively putting on the map. many of peter's incredible songs, with those of arte's and carl's too, played in an ensemble that's as talented as plays anywhere--and literally closed the place. (i've never been so sad to see 2am in my life).

and, because it's never enough, saturday night it was jen kearney and the lost onion (carl and claire again, with pete maclean too, and mark mullins with an effects rig for his trumpet that was downright tasty) down at toad in cambridge, and despite it being cold as new england january on the street, the line waiting to get in was out the door and around the corner. the first set was magical, of course, and i'd say the same about the second and know i'd be right, except for midnight was just about all i had left in the tank. i got to hear abandoned and let love rule and forgiven and so many songs of jen's i absolutely love, played as only this incarnation of the lost onion can play them, but i couldn't make it all the way to the end. the generous soul in me will say it was to let one of the truly dedicated get inside after an hour in the freezing cold, and that's true enough, but it's also because there's only so much heaven one soul can indulge in a three day period, and this three day period was as good as any i've ever known.

and melvern is just days away.

life is good.

fun

last night, on a walk to the grocery store, a snowball landed some distance away from me, and i became aware that a kid--couldn't have been much more than 10 or 12--was having a little fun. there are a lot of things a 50 year old guy can do in such a situation, but anyone who knows me might guess that reaching down for a handful of snow is pretty much at the top of any list. and spare me your immediate concerns for disrespect and incivility--at some point, soon, i'm going to write about my frustration that the *boy* in all of us is being drummed out of our civilization. boys like to throw snowballs. it's essential to who we are, and were, and, hopefully, will always be. i say it's something to be celebrated, not discouraged. yeah, you bet, i reached down for a handful of snow, and i thanked providence that a boy thought enough of me to still invite me to the game.

and the kid was pleased, too--"let's see what you've got, old man!"--and my first shot surprised him a little, i think, with its speed (us old guys can still bring it) but it was wide enough to give him little real concern as he stepped slightly aside, and it exploded against the brick of the building behind him.

his spot behind an extremely tall snowbank was pretty well fortified. i had to appreciate his exuberance for his advantage, and without concern for his tosses in my direction, i threw yet another directly at him, a little bit more slowly, but with a little bit better aim. this time he had to step purposefully aside to avoid getting splashed with snow, (you could see his eyes widen a bit to realize i wasn't necessarily going to be a pushover), and so he redoubled his hopeful lobs in my direction, which were just about at the edge of his effective range, despite them mostly falling harmlessly in front of me.

to the side of him were a couple of older teenagers, who, obviously from their laughter, found the whole thing highly amusing. i don't think there's much funnier to a 16 year old with a 16 year old's accurate arm than a 12 year old and a 50 year old continuing to miss each other with snowballs. so i winked at them and bent down to shape my next missile.

you know my favorite saying? not the other one, or the other other one, but the one that says "age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill"? yeah, that one.

well, taking my time to carefully and purposefully form two perfect and perfectly sized and weighted snowballs, i turned again to face our youthful protagonist with that wink still in my eye. the first one i lobbed, high in the air, with a beautiful arc that soared across towards the spot where our favorite youth was standing. i paused for the slightest moment to appreciate his eyes, looking nowhere but up at the ball of snow lazily floating his way, and to confirm what i knew from being 50, not 12--that he no longer took any heed of me or what might happen next.

it made me laugh to do it, and i was further pleased that it made the other two kids laugh to see it happening. no idea if they'd ever seen the trick before, though i was very pleased to know that three more people won't forget how it works, because boys are clever like that, and that the secret wouldn't end with me, and that it would live on in our boyish civilization for many more years to come.

yes, i took that second snowball, and i threw it like a dart on a straight line that easily beat the softer toss to the target.

ploosh

a beautiful thing.

mothers, (and fathers), if your boys are being boys, and you want to tell them not to do that in the house, or not to do that in public, or not to do that which is essential and elemental as boys for them to do, please think twice, and choose when it's really just your misunderstanding about how this half of our civilization and our culture works.

snowballs are beautiful.

i'm gonna throw more today.

really?

one of the better snl bits of recent years has been the "really?!?" segment with seth meyers and amy poehler. (first example of which here, but there are many more worth seeking out, including rants against rod blagoyovich, AIG and goldman sachs). i'm reminded of the desperate need for such a skit in the wake of yet another pain relief commercial that's just played during my tivo recording of last night's "the daily show with jon stewart". (yes, i sometimes catch some comedy as i eat my lunch, and, yeah, that's one of the perks of working from home, and, no, i don't feel bad about that, especially while so many of the people i know have now had two snow days in the past week, and hardly feel sorry for those of us without ever having a weather-related work excuse). you know those commercials--nothing can stop that headache/body ache/muscle ache/fever/other inconvenience but the medicine found in this one and only one brand-named remedy, and you'll be miserable if you don't buy it...

really?

some time in my lifetime the benefits of all-natural aspirin have apparently been completely and absolutely forgotten, in favor of medications for which patent (and profit) protections still apply. we've been told it's because aspirin can cause gastrointestinal difficulty, and even that it's been linked to an ominous syndrome in which children can die. (reyes syndrome). either way, it's tylenol and advil 24x7 on tv and everywhere else, and its as if there isn't another substance known to man beyond acetaminophen and ibuprofin that could possibly be trusted to treat pain, fever, inflammation, etc. in you or anybody else. just $5 for a box of a couple dozen pills at your friendly neighborhood drug store...

really?

glossing past evidence that reyes syndrome also occurs with non-aspirin medications, (the main indicator is a viral infection, not an analgesic or antipyretic), lets consider why it is we are being asked to trust brand-name chemicals for treatment of what ails us, shall we?

pain relief?
inflammation?
fever?

truth is, aside from being best advised to take aspirin with food if you have a sensitive stomach, there's nothing that acetaminophen and ibuprofen claim to do that aspirin doesn't do more naturally and, probably, better. (oh, except one thing: empty your wallet--compare the cost of a bottle of aspirin to the alternatives and tell me if it's even half). in fact, due to specific qualities found only in aspirin, taking aspirin coincidentally reduces risk of both stroke and heart attack in the process. nothing else in that particular aisle of the pharmacy does that. only aspirin.

so why do we line up like sheep to pay big money to johnson & johnson and pfizer for something unnatural that works no better than the natural alternative we've known and used for centuries? (acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin to you and me, comes from willow bark--it's even in the journals of hippocrates', the father of medicine himself, from 300 years BC). i know the reason--it's because johnson & johnson and pfizer and their prodigious ad budgets find no use for aspirin among their profit aspirations (sorry, bad attempt at a pun that doesn't quite work) so they pretend to you and me that it doesn't even exist.

so, are we sheeple? are we going to keep spending twice what we need to achieve even less of what we need even more?

aspirin, please.

MUSIC!!!

i'm continually blown away by the talent of the artists who call lowell home. case in pertinent point: http://serial-thrillers.com/video/.

better than

better than watching the sports scores, or even fantasy sports scores this one is:

my friend's convalescence from surgery begins this afternoon. all went well, and that's the right kind of a start. the current choice is between april skiing in colorado, or yachting in the caribbean, and i'm betting on his being able to choose either or both. modern medicine is that amazing.

speaking of which, anyone not adamant in favor of universal and affordable health care for all can go hang out with those folks wanting open heart surgery patients to run errands for them. (there's a special circle in hell reserved just for you). as elated as i am to know my friend will be with his family for many more years to come, i am saddened that not everyone gets this same chance in life to hold their loved ones once again.

another way to put it

years ago, when i was a fresh-faced software jockey sent into the wilds of manhattan to beard the fearsome financial services beast, i had questionable fortune to fall in with one particular character who never quite got the hang of things. he had been recruited from a marquee company with his very impressive resume, and intended to close all sorts of fantastic and fantastically large business upon the assistance of my technical expertise, but found himself deer not in headlights but in a lion's den of eat-him-alive new york bankers. it wasn't pretty.

at one point, one project manager at one of the most storied and historical banking powerhouses in the city, with whom i had been working for months, found it necessary to phone the ceo of my company to say of this salesman "he's a very nice guy, but he'd be better off selling tacos". it all reflected well on me, since they insisted that i stay on and finish the business myself, (a rare and important achievement, as, to that point in history, and never since, none of the techie folks in the company were trusted within a mile or at least several floors of the world trade center--yes, this story goes back that far--of a dollar deal and a software contract. but the funniest part is how the message was preserved and passed on, like a favorite cave campfire story, from generation to generation and layer to layer among the who's who of my software company.

the ceo forwarded a copy of the voicemail to the head of operations with a brief message to "take care of it", whereupon the head of operations forwarded it to the head of sales with a similar imperative, whereupon the head of sales sent it to the guy in charge of the new york region, whereupon it found it's way to me with a question for background to the effect of "what the f*** is going on here?" the short answer was that, yes, indeed, jack would be better off selling tacos, and we all got a very good laugh about it in the end. (for one example that set the tone for the whole thing, jack had, in his first presentation to the bank, gone on for 30 minutes about our success with manufacturing software as reason for their trust that we could take care of a bank, and if you've ever met a new york banker, you know that they are even more arrogant than texans, and tune out after exactly a split second when it's not about them. i heard once there was a texan who went to harvard--he never knew what to talk about first).

anyway, between that message, and the one from one of the (married) sales guys to one of the hotter (and it turns out kinkier and also married though not married to the same guy) female product reps talking about what he was going to do to her in the hotel room, every new hire eventually got let in on the joke with their own personal bequeathed copy of the message, complete with annotations and uncensored comments from the ceo on down. i tell you all this this morning, because i do believe this is going to be much like the present text message now on my cell phone from my quadruple-bypass-needing friend's most amazing customer, of which a copy i will share with you here:

"so sorry to bother you - especially if today is surgery, but tenant in lower unit locked themselves out. would [son] or [daughter] be at house do [sic] he can walk across to get an extra copy??"

the very good, the just fine, and the but ugly

a good friend of mine is having quadruple bypass surgery this morning far too young. (50). he runs his own business in real life, taking care of various properties for their owners near his home in vermont, and it's pretty clear it's the stress of his work that's caused his heart attacks and required this extreme intervention. he's said as much to his customers in communication of the contingency plans to keep them and their interests covered while he is having his chest cracked open and his heart stopped while they do the frankenstein thing on his internal cardiac plumbing, and there have been three kinds of responses:

the first, and most inspiring for us all and the bright future of the human race, were from the customers who said "how can i help", picked up shovels and snowblowers and gloves for emptying trash containers and went immediately to work doing as much of his business for him as they could. i've spent many hours riding around in pickup trucks with these guys, eating hot food prepared by their wives, and i love each and every one of them.

the second, and the most reasonable from an arm's length business perspective, were from those who said "please don't worry about us" and "just take care of yourself and best wishes for a full and speedy recovery". they've sent cards and tried as much as possible to solve their own problems and not bother him or his family during this extremely difficult time.

however.

the third, and the most jaw-dropping, gut-punching and nausea-inducing phone calls, text messages and emails you can possibly imagine, are those listing all the things THEY need while he's got a spare moment for them. he is, as i mentioned, on the table this very moment, and his wife is holding his phone and getting the beeps and buzzes that sent her husband to the very brink, and, to her eternal credit, still holding things together and with a bright thought for hopeful recovery.

me?

i've begged her, though she won't yet tell me, where these people live because i will have some free time tomorrow and a full tank of gas, and i will so happily drive to their front door and ring their doorbell and then call their phones and send them barrow-loads of emails and barrage them with a blizzard of text messages to say, "don't worry, he's ok".

because he is going to be ok. i do know it.

but, seriously???

MUSIC!

ok, yes, it snowed a little yesterday, and, yes, cambridge is a little bit of a haul, even if it is to see melvern taylor and his fabulous meltones be, well, fabulous. so have i got a deal for you:

tonight at 9pm, at fortunato's right here in snow-globe beautiful downtown shangri-lowell, (you may not be able to see as much of the cobblestones right now, but the iron streetlamps look especially pretty with their little white hats on), arte k is bringing his solo stylings to the people, and you, too, can be in on the magic. (rumors of carl johnson attending and maybe even sitting in are credible, coming as they do from the man himself, but you always have to show to know, as they say, so come on down!)

thursday nights are nice nights to be out, (only friday to navigate before the weekend), and you can be home in bed by 11 and still get a fine piece of things to enjoy. me, i'm going to try for the doubleheader (carpool slots still available) and have my cake and listen to it, too.

you should totally treat yourself to one, the other, or both!

laziness and doubt

it occurs to me today that most of us might feel that american political discourse should be more civil and productive than currently is. i expect it is out of strong belief in the merits of our positions that lead us to strong opposition to others, but it occurs to me that taking an antagonistic stance against anothers best belief merely shows off laziness and doubt in ones own.

if we were truly inspired by the merits of our beliefs, we would be more confident in the inspiration they should engender in others, and not provoked to tear down the beliefs of others to defend them. it's far more likely that the opposition has, buried somewhere deep beneath all that is objectionable, some kernel of positive contribution that could be made to improve the proposed solution, if only they were engaged and embraced to make it. yet we are too lazy and doubting to open up to that improvement--and that's a stain against us all.

it's ironic that when we open ourselves up to the collaborative improvement of our proposals, we open our would-have-been opposition up to become partners in support of our goals. for one example, belief in strong, safe and secure borders does not compromise belief in the american dream for all, and vice versa, so shouldn't we all be compelled to achieve a solution that guarantees both, not just one or the other? if we believe that random violence at the hands of a sociopath is wrong, and believe faithfully in our constitution at the same time, then shouldn't we all be compelled to solve any challenge with respect to both beliefs?

the crowning irony is that we already had requirements for background checks that would have, SHOULD have, changed the outcome of this tragedy had they been faithfully observed, and, really, no change is required of any of us, rather than to insist that our laws and regulations are more diligently respected and observed. that our political process may be coincidentally improved in the meantime, by reducing the laziness and doubt that has crept into our collective system, then we can achieve a double bonus that representative giffords, judge roll, citizen christina green, and all those tragically affected by this horrific event, can all count among their lives' accomplishments, beyond all that has been cut too terribly short by a madman's bullet.

civilization is built upon the common human experience we all share for ourselves and our children, regardless of race, creed, nationality or religion. sociopaths, who also exist regardless of race, creed, nationality and religion, may choose not to follow the example of our civilization, and, unfair as it may seem to them, they will need to be constrained from harming others by means of (sometimes lethal) force. it is up to the rest of us to ensure that we remain in solidarity, not just in blind opposition, in pursuit of our common goal. we will accomplish more working together, rather than against and apart.

we must put our energy and faith to work, not our laziness and doubt.

what he said

the president had this to say in acknowledgment of christina green, the 9-year-old gunned down in the recent violence in arizona, who was at gabby giffords' public appearance at the generosity of a neighbor, and for her love for democracy:

"she saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted. i want to live up to her expectations. i want our democracy to be as good as christina imagined it. i want america to be as good as she imagined it."

what he said.

a little snow

speaking of a little snow, rob mills' police blog (one of the best regular reads anywhere in the city if you haven't already discovered) contains a very useful link to the national weather service' map for average area snowfall predictions. taking his link a bit further, i discovered this page on that site that compiles all the local observations across new england, from which you can keep up with the actual current accumulations, though not in a pretty, multi-color map format. (not a problem for us stats geeks, but i know not everyone is like me).

the readers digest version is that connecticut has already taken accumulations up into the 20" range, and much of massachusetts is already over a foot. anyone want to make bets on where the deepest accumulations will occur? one thing i know is that the deepest accumulation will absolutely not be on top of my car(s), as they are both safely tucked away in the garage at the best place on earth. (condo living has its rewards). ironically, i am missing the shoveling (just a little bit) so if you need a hand, don't hesitate to raise one!

larger than france and germany combined

recent australian rains are "flooding an area larger than france and germany combined."

it's hard to comprehend.

here's a week-old map of the flooding, though the sheer vastness of the australian continent makes it difficult to convey the scale visually. (the present extent of the flooding is far larger than is pictured here).

or, put another way--i have absolutely no problem at all with a little snow.

hello? city hall?

a confused friend pointed out this evening that the city website is still advertising free snow emergency parking at the early garage on middlesex street, though the city employees actually at the early garage on middlesex street are equally adamant that no free parking is ever available there. http://www.lowellma.gov/newsitems/20071121-snow-parking-policy/

the other supremely confusing element of the present snow emergency announcement(s) by the city is that there is (apparently) a delay upon which the actual snow emergency takes place after the announcement, and though you find word at 6pm that a snow emergency has been declared, it's not immediately obvious (though buried in the obfuscating language of the announcement) that the actual emergency itself doesn't go into effect for another six hours. http://www.lowellma.gov/newsitems/20071121-snow-parking-policy/

three points, in case anyone at city hall is listening/reading:

1. if snow emergency parking is not available at the early garage, the web page suggesting it is needs to be changed ASAP. (and if it is available at the early garage, then employees there need to be informed and people let in to park).

2. if snow emergency announcements are made, then they should be made more clearly. if the emergency is "declared" at 6pm, then it's more than a little confusing that it only might "be effective" as of some different hour. (in this case, midnight). my suggestion is leading the announcement not with the time of the announcement, but with the more important time of the actual snow emergency. as in, "tonight's snow emergency begins at midnight--cars can begin to park for free at 6pm, and will be ticketed if left on the street after midnight". or something like that.

3. if snow emergency announcements, declarations and effectiveness should be foreseeable at 6pm the night before a significant storm, having the garages only open at midnight is highly inconvenient to residents, to the point of being ridiculous and more than a little mean-spirited. are people supposed to go to bed, set their alarms for midnight, and then move their cars? really? i'm hoping that the ayotte garage is free starting at 6pm, but it's hard to tell from the online info.

or do i have this all confused? (in which case, see original points about the lack of clarity/veracity of the city web site...)

all we want to know is when and where can we park? and by when do we have to be off the streets so as to avoid tickets and tows?

music

yeah, i get distracted by politics... yeah, i know, it gets tiresome...

all i can do is apologize and tell you that the best antidote to all of this is to enjoy some great music with good friends. (good beer doesn't hurt, too).

melvern taylor and his fabulous meltones return to the stage at toad in cambridge this thursday night at 7:30pm. (as melvern is fond to say, you should totally come). you WILL see me there.

friday night a week from now, it's gotta be voices rock club over on lakeview ave right here in beautiful almost-downtown lowell. (the club is in centralville, but you can't hold that against it, as the aiken street bridge is a pretty walk any time of year). tyngsborough carl johnson turns some indeterminate age that week, and his preferred method of birthday celebration is to invite the who's who of lowell and nearby musicians to share the stage with him and play their brains out. arte k, of the arte k band, peter lavender of the peter lavender band, steve esposito of all of the above, justin beaulieu of all of the same and more, and lots of other "very special guests" (carl has a LOT of friends) will be playing with carl all night long. (last time a similar event took place, one of the neighborhood regulars in the bar sang two a capella renditions of tin pan alley classics from his youth and brought the house down--you never know what will happen, or who will happen it).

you really need to get out and experience more of this great city. it's the best place on earth.

teach the children well

shout out to kathleen marcin's contribution on the downtown lowell blog here. she asks why we can't educate our children about guns in the same way we educate them about drugs. i can't tell her why not. heck, we send 'em to driver training, and cars are far more lethal to teenagers than guns are.

yes, i think kathleen has offered a good idea. i'd love to see something like this here in lowell. greg danas, of instructional shooting, inc. on andover street, is one of the best firearms educators in the state. it would be interesting to me to hear his thoughts on how we might go about such a thing, too.

i'm sure many parents, like those opposed to sex education despite all statistics showing that sex-educated youth get pregnant (not to mention venereal disease) less often than abstinence counterparts, will be uncomfortable with exposing their children to firearms this way. i don't know what to tell them other than feel free to opt theirs out, and teach them as they can at home. or not. mine, i'd feel safer to know are getting good information from a qualified source.

more poor taste (mostly because it seems there's never any end to it)

"don't retreat, reload" is a poor choice of political words--especially in the light of the gabby giffords shooting. a lot of "liberal" folks i know agreed when i opined so a couple days ago. but i'm growing quickly tired of their hypocrisy, and the partisan political rhetoric that is trying to stain party when the responsibility for all of this has to remain with each and every individual one of us.

to wit:

have all the "liberals" in this country forgotten already barry's pre-emptive 2008 verbal barrage against mccain? you know, the one in which he said "if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun". yeah, that one.

politicians and partisan pundits need to sit down, shut up, and realize that their shit stinks, too.

respect for differences would be a useful place to start.

funniest youtube clip i have ever seen

"the blackbirds fell to the ground, ah, in beebe arkansas--well the goverenor of arkansas' name is beebe".

i couldn't stop laughing. enjoy!

gun culture?

recent violent incidents in the city of lowell, and now more in arizona and elsewhere, have residents rightly questioning issues related to firearms. there have been lively discussions on several sites, including this one on dick howe's blog and i'm hoping more in the future.

to that discourse, i would contribute this fascinating item from the washington post, about a situation currently playing out just to our north in the great oft-presumed conservative bastion of new hampshire. in this particular case, a woman who was told repeatedly on the phone of no interest in receiving either visitors or offers of purchase on land, who drove past countless "keep out" and "no trespassing" signs to both visit and make offer to purchase land, all while remaining long past beyond being exhorted strenuously to leave, became offended by the brandishing of a legal weapon on said legal weapon's owner's property. somehow, the statute in this otherwise oft-presumed conservative bastion which is otherwise known as the state of new hampshire, was interpreted to require that said legal weapon's owner to spend three years in jail for having had the inspiration to wave his gun at an unwanted intruder in what was concluded by a judge to be "criminal threatening with a handgun".

WTF???

i say, let's prioritize attention on criminal behavior with a handgun starting with illegal possession and/or discharge. if ward bird wants to be left alone, i think we all have plenty of time with which to do that, which can be better spent focusing on the sociopaths among us, and their violent rampages.

you say ee-ther, i say eye-ther

back in the early parts of last century, the scourge was "anarchists". (we even got a world war out of it). today, we're obsessing on "terrorists", and it's fair to say we may very well be destroying our own country in the process more effectively than any wartime foe has ever.

but what do we really hate, and who are we fighting about it?

sociopathic behavior, that i shall define as abnormal absence of empathy combined with abnormal immoral conduct, would seem to be a consistent thread, yet we are all oddly compelled to fine-tune the focus and try to lay it all down to one sort of political or religious zealotry or another. but why?

high school kids on their deadly rampages are no less devastating than disaffected anti-government lunatics on theirs. all such are hardly indistinguishable in their insanity than those would would mail bombs, incindiary devices or deadly toxins through the mails as an alternative. and though we have no trouble prosecuting "attempted" such-and-such in our legal system, somehow we fail to find the commonality between the motive, and that, it seems to me, is naive and ill-advised.

the foundation of our civilization is that murder is wrong. why we then go about shading in gray all the different flavors is beyond me. some would pursue and prosecute based on religion, at the necessary consequence that attention, resources and efficacy are sacrificed in other cases. others would pursue based on politics, ostensibly to defend our governing institutions, but, again, at the cost of attention, resources and efficacy against other cases.

so who is more dangerous to america? a lone native lunatic who would gun down a federal judge and a congresswoman along with a 9 year old boy? a fanatically overzealous foreigner who would gladly do the same were he or she to be given an opportunity?

why isn't our answer "all of the above"? why do we find the lives and circumstances of the victims to be bartered in worth based on our perceptions of the killers? are we all not opposed to the very essence of this sort of violence? that sociopathic behavior, and associated murder, is wrong in all cases?

a woman has died here in lowell at the hands of gunmen who would have killed countless more had they been able. some are braying about ethnicity, but i am saying that we have to take a step back and open our eyes to the fact that distinctions blur details, rather than pull them into focus.

terrorism is all around us. it knows no ethnicity, race, religion, creed or nationality, just as death knows all.

sapere aude

poor taste

the face of terrorism in america is today jared loughner's. he's not muslim. he's not anything but a murderer of (so far) among others a federal judge and a 9-year-old boy, unless we also count him the assailant who has but a bullet in the head of arizona congressional representative gabrielle giffords. (which he has). a good number of others have been wounded as well. (near unbelievable story here).

of course, not everything occurs in a vaccuum, and, lest we forget, they indeed are crosshairs that were chosen to represent the representatives (including gabrielle giffords) on a certain tv personality's "hit list". nobody believes (i hope) the intention was as has occurred. but nobody should mistake that rhetoric should come with responsibility, and i'll be curious to hear the wording of the communique that i should hope will be soon forthcoming. it should be, at the very least, interesting.

until then, color me continued to be aghast at what passes for popular statesmanship these days, and with solidarity and respect for the grief of those who have been devastated by today's events. this particular tweet has today been removed, but its memory lingers. so does the memory of a june 12th event, sponsored by giffords' electoral opponent, jesse kelly, to "shoot a fully automatic m16" to "get on target" and "remove gabrielle giffords". this stuff can't be made up, and even that would be too much. there should be more said from the right than is.

it had to happen

recalling various aphorisms for chance, ("even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile", or "even a stopped clock is right twice a day"), you knew it was bound to happen. yes, for the first time in over three years of reading, i think that i unequivocally agree with a lowell sun editorial. seriously--campy's opinions (e.g. his hallucinations about "death panels" the other day) are generally so ridiculous as to qualify for the funny pages in almost any other newspaper on any other day. but, today, the story is proper police resources for the city of lowell, and today the space, that is usually just that--space, is, for once in three years, right on the money.

the math is pretty simple--when times get tougher, crime gets tougher. it's what desperate people do. and times have been pretty damn tough for over two years now, so it's a tribute to city of lowell police superintendant kenneth lavallee and his entire force that we're only now having this discussion. this week city manager bernie lynch proposes another $100k from free cash to be put to use by the city of lowell police department, and my only comments would be "why only that much?" and YES.

if you ask me, you can put almost any urban social problem (take a look at the 9-time-loser dui case on the front page of the same paper, and combine it with the hit-and-run injury of a 10 year old kid, and see where the math takes you) down to safe neighborhoods or the lack thereof. growing up in a stew of violence and loss only begets more violence and loss, and we ALL deserve better.

i know why neighborhoods become safer. they become safer because we care as a city to make them so. i also know that making EVERY neighborhood safer is in our collective and selfish self-interest because there but for the grace of god do we all. and $100k is what i would barely call a down payment on better schools (better schools are the result of better students aren't they?) and better economics (think downtown business closings like that the other day of dharma buns are made more or fewer by stories of city violence?) and better life for all of us here.

love me, love my dog

a friend made comments on facebook (yeah, i know) complaining about people who complain about the dog when they come over, and i like the point. we can all debate irresponsible pet ownership, but at least we should have the civility to respect a person's right to keep their own place whichever way they prefer to keep it--animals included.

in the larger sense, i've often had occasion to listen to complaints (that's what criticisms are) about some people i know by other people i know, and it's funniest because, often, they're bi-directional and comically coincident. (ever notice that your best asshole friend always thinks your other best asshole friend is an asshole friend, and vice versa?) takes one to know one, i always think to myself, and i do my best never to pile on and ratchet up the rhetoric. love me, love my friend, ya know? actually, love everyone. i think some guy a few years back tried to say something to that effect...

anyway, so it is that i find geopolitical posturing these days to be an absolute hoot. (anybody else read the wikileaks cables like scripts from an snl skit?). we wave our nuclear weapons around like the big stick they are, yet we whine incessantly whenever anybody else wants to build some of their own. other countries sail whaling fleets around the globe eradicating whole species of cetaceans while bleating about global disrespect for the environment. still others drop white phosphorous munitions on civilians while railing against the evils of terrorism. (yeah, i know, i should get off that one, but, seriously, i've seen pictures--i can't).

humans seem to have a perverse proficiency to ignore in themselves everything they like best to complain about in others. it's someone's HOME, for crissakes. if they keep a rambunctious dog, we should be happy for them that they are living as they best please. we have our own homes in which to be free of such. if folks maintain odd customs about baksheesh or gender roles where they live, we have to take for ourselves a HUGE deep breath, and acknowledge that, at some point, our business ends where their border begins. sure, sure, apartheid was wrong and we were right to do something about that, but i really like the approach that was taken. "if you don't keep that black/white dog off your sofa, i'm sorry but i can't come over".

the best life changes and the ones that stick best are the ones that we come around to making for ourselves. isn't it reasonable to expect that it's the same for others?

in the meantime, i'll keep looking for ways in which my own proverbial dog(s) can be indulged on my own rhetorical couch, which, i think, is best accomplished by making a point of hanging out with an indulgent and understanding group of playmates whenever possible. things are always a mess around here, ya know? especially that dog over there on the davenport.

gaza youth breaks out

this could be a hoax as easily as it could be anything else--i'm not vouching for its back story. but i am reading this over and over and over again and finding it hard to disagree with its sentiment. you can look 'em up on facebook, and you can enjoy the manifesto here:

GAZAN YOUTH’S MANIFESTO FOR CHANGE

Fuck Hamas. Fuck Israel. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community! We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice and indifference like the Israeli F16’s breaking the wall of sound; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of this fucking situation we live in; we are like lice between two nails living a nightmare inside a nightmare, no room for hope, no space for freedom. We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone because they are taking care of their lands; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, beating up or incarcerating young people demonstrating for what they believe in; sick of the wall of shame that separates us from the rest of our country and keeps us imprisoned in a stamp-sized piece of land; sick of being portrayed as terrorists, homemade fanatics with explosives in our pockets and evil in our eyes; sick of the indifference we meet from the international community, the so-called experts in expressing concerns and drafting resolutions but cowards in enforcing anything they agree on; we are sick and tired of living a shitty life, being kept in jail by Israel, beaten up by Hamas and completely ignored by the rest of the world.
There is a revolution growing inside of us, an immense dissatisfaction and frustration that will destroy us unless we find a way of canalizing this energy into something that can challenge the status quo and give us some kind of hope. The final drop that made our hearts tremble with frustration and hopelessness happened 30rd November, when Hamas’ officers came to Sharek Youth Forum, a leading youth organization (www.sharek.ps) with their guns, lies and aggressiveness, throwing everybody outside, incarcerating some and prohibiting Sharek from working. A few days later, demonstrators in front of Sharek were beaten and some incarcerated. We are really living a nightmare inside a nightmare. It is difficult to find words for the pressure we are under. We barely survived the Operation Cast Lead, where Israel very effectively bombed the shit out of us, destroying thousands of homes and even more lives and dreams. They did not get rid of Hamas, as they intended, but they sure scared us forever and distributed post traumatic stress syndrome to everybody, as there was nowhere to run.

We are youth with heavy hearts. We carry in ourselves a heaviness so immense that it makes it difficult to us to enjoy the sunset. How to enjoy it when dark clouds paint the horizon and bleak memories run past our eyes every time we close them? We smile in order to hide the pain. We laugh in order to forget the war. We hope in order not to commit suicide here and now. During the war we got the unmistakable feeling that Israel wanted to erase us from the face of the earth. During the last years Hamas has been doing all they can to control our thoughts, behaviour and aspirations. We are a generation of young people used to face missiles, carrying what seems to be a impossible mission of living a normal and healthy life, and only barely tolerated by a massive organization that has spread in our society as a malicious cancer disease, causing mayhem and effectively killing all living cells, thoughts and dreams on its way as well as paralyzing people with its terror regime. Not to mention the prison we live in, a prison sustained by a so-called democratic country.

History is repeating itself in its most cruel way and nobody seems to care. We are scared. Here in Gaza we are scared of being incarcerated, interrogated, hit, tortured, bombed, killed. We are afraid of living, because every single step we take has to be considered and well-thought, there are limitations everywhere, we cannot move as we want, say what we want, do what we want, sometimes we even cant think what we want because the occupation has occupied our brains and hearts so terrible that it hurts and it makes us want to shed endless tears of frustration and rage!

We do not want to hate, we do not want to feel all of this feelings, we do not want to be victims anymore. ENOUGH! Enough pain, enough tears, enough suffering, enough control, limitations, unjust justifications, terror, torture, excuses, bombings, sleepless nights, dead civilians, black memories, bleak future, heart aching present, disturbed politics, fanatic politicians, religious bullshit, enough incarceration! WE SAY STOP! This is not the future we want!

We want three things. We want to be free. We want to be able to live a normal life. We want peace. Is that too much to ask? We are a peace movement consistent of young people in Gaza and supporters elsewhere that will not rest until the truth about Gaza is known by everybody in this whole world and in such a degree that no more silent consent or loud indifference will be accepted.

This is the Gazan youth’s manifesto for change!

We will start by destroying the occupation that surrounds ourselves, we will break free from this mental incarceration and regain our dignity and self respect. We will carry our heads high even though we will face resistance. We will work day and night in order to change these miserable conditions we are living under. We will build dreams where we meet walls.

We only hope that you – yes, you reading this statement right now! – can support us. In order to find out how, please write on our wall or contact us directly: freegazayouth@hotmail.com

We want to be free, we want to live, we want peace.
FREE GAZA YOUTH!
GYBO

in the navy

the ap has this story, and it's hard not to figure we're not getting the whole story. if nothing more than for the memory of shirley sherrod's old job as the usda, i'd be interested in giving this more time to play out before making the personnel move, but, hey, i watch snl and i don't think misty davis' comments at the end of the article should be ignored.

some observations:

the videos can't have been that bad--they were aired publicly throughout the ship, (navy guys can tell me if i have my "ship" vs. "boat" terminology correct--dad never got me clear on that one), and it seems clear based on grassroots expressions of support, that the crew didn't mind at all--in fact, it sure sounds like they loved them.

the videos can't have been that bad--the guy got PROMOTED to run the ship after they aired.

the videos, bad (or not) as they may have been, were shown 3 and 4 YEARS ago, and it's hard to fathom why this has to result in a personnel action NOW, especially while they weren't aired during this guy's tenure as CO.

the videos have been compared in nature to snl skits and the family guy. having seen will ferrell and rachel dratch carry on in the hot tub with various cast-mates and guests, i'm willing to believe it's entirely probable. (can't muster the time or inclination to do yet another animated adult comedy half-hour, so family guy fans will need to fill in for me on that one). hard to think that the navy is trying to be more tight-assed than the fcc, but here you have it.

this could be exactly what is worst from the combination of PC from the left and "family values" from the right, and we as a nation are quite likely losing our minds regardless of the outcome.

or, put another way--if al qaeda would hate it, it can't be all bad, and who are we to be doing al qaeda's business???

happy new year

just spent some of the most relaxing days of my life lounging around with my coronarially-challenged old friend, reminding him constantly that there are never any thanks necessary for the opportunity. if only i could make a living this way--i would. (now if only he could discover the trick). know any wealthy heart-attack recovery patients in need of a little mellow companionship? (in the meantime, i guess it's back to work and back to catching up with everything i missed while away...)

nice to see the bruins and patriots still on their rolls towards their respective titles, (you heard both here first), and the sun shining over the merrimack valley. hard not to feel fortunate. i know not everybody does, and i know not everybody has reason to, and maybe the rest of us can find some way in 2011 to do a little more about that.

how's that for a resolution?

the middle way

i'm never sure how and whether to share attribution for the great ideas i'm occasionally able to pass along here, not knowing the desire (or not) of the progenitors to be associated with the scribblings...

which is all a long way to say this was highly recommended to me by a friend who and whose opinions i would highly recommend to everyone:

the art of happiness, by the dalai lama.

i ordered a copy for my other friend, mr. acute right coronary artery occlusion, in hopes that it contributes in some small way to his complete and full recovery, and i ordered an extra copy for myself because life is always best as a shared endeavor with good friends, and who want to be the last one at any party to figure out what's going on.

this year my other resolution is to find a generous local buddhist who is willing to get me started with some real meditation techniques. you know me, i'm a happy guy, but it's clear the world needs more inner peace, and it has always made sense to me to take advantage of the teachings of experts.

all the best to you and yours for the new year in however you plan to spend it!