Quo Vado?

• Site visit scheduling allows me to spend next weekend with part of my family in the Boston area for the price of two days parking and a cab ride.
• I found an old-fashioned metal band-aid box at the Eckerd’s today. I’m so stoked.
• I’ve listened to the first two season of The West Wing way too many times to count, but there are parts of it I still insist on hearing.
• Bug bites on the top of your feet suck when wearing sandals. Topical Benadryl is da’ bomb.
• Firebrand keeps gigging me about my love of tall men to make me turn colors.

I spoke with Alm last night about the historical realities of England in the past as it relates to the question I began to ponder Wednesday. While the vein of that question didn’t last long, we did end up discussing general attributes of different ethnic backgrounds in the region. She made some comment that she understood the Celts waring tendencies because they were always looking for something to entertain them, but she couldn’t figure out why the Germanic peoples were so often the instigators in conflict. From her perspective their wars appeared to be lacking serious in-your-face passion, and she didn’t understand what drove them to it. When I offered the possibility that perhaps to the Germans war was a means to the end, she seamed to think it fit extremely well. I loath attaching such generalities to a whole people, but it definitely fits how I approach the decisions in my life. The path may not be pleasant, but I’m going to take it anyway, because I know that the other end of the road has what I want. Please, stay out of my way.

For your own safety, of course.

Dear Fry Boxer at Chick-Fil-A:

Please stop putting crappy end-of-potato fries in my box. They’re always way underdone and nasty. Thanks. - kmsqrd

PS. Also, try to convince the cashier that when I ask for my tea split half sweet, half unsweet I really mean it.

PPS. Remind your staff that Honey Roasted Barbecue Sauce does not equal two packages of barbecue sauce and two packages of honey mustard sauce.

Friday Spies ©: Karnak the Magnificent Edition for April 29, 2005 via the folks at Begging the Question

This week we’re going to change it up a bit. Instead of five lame questions, Friday Spies is going Karnak-style with five lame answers. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, it to provide the questions that generated the following five answers:

1. What three names did Cliff the Mailman need to correctly identify to buy himself a new bar stool? Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz, Lucille LeSueur.

2. Why do I flip my mattress every three months? To get to the other side.

3. What would it take for you to get married? Drugs. Massive quantities of drugs.

4. Who is the last stranger you marked as missing? Milbarge.

5. What are triple left turn lanes? Without question, the single most idiotic thing ever thought up by the human mind. (Note: The question “What is this week’s set of answer-questions?” will NOT be accepted.)

To entertain half of my brain, I listened to a bit of NPR at work today. During a break from the interview with Ridley Scott about his new movie Kingdom of Heaven, I posed a question to myself and realized I didn’t have the knowledge to answer. How has not dealing with the immediate impact of war made my generation different from generations before it? (I’m not discounting the two Gulf wars, they just don’t seem to resonate throughout society the way World War II or Vietnam do.) Are the trends found within the culture similar in anyway to those during similar times of ‘peace’?

• There is an internal debate every time I order chicken fingers, fries and honey roasted barbecue sauce about what the is to be the last thing dipped into the sauce.
• I’m much more cheery now that I have my car back.
• I’m running off to Virginia Beach for Memorial Day in vague hopes of seeing Pink Shirt Boy again. This is some kind of sad.
• Four-way stops still scare me.
• I’m not really awake.
• My cookie craving came after having a salad for dinner. Maybe salad’s not so good for me after all.
• They don’t make my favorite Birkenstocks anymore.
• I need to paint my toenails.

Alchera Assignment: Write anything in response to the following picture.

First Response: Yes, Grams I was wearing clean underwear.

Second Response: I’m headed to the ocean next month, and while I’m there I’ll be sure to have a conversation about the things that amaze me. The seemingly repetitive sound of the waves coming to shore combined with a long gaze out to sea will renew my awe that so many things about the world work they way they do with little interference. Lately, however, I wonder just what I would do if the ’ conveniences’ of life disappeared. Grant it, I’d lament loosing my car and having to walk everywhere; but then I might actually know my neighbors. Eating the same thing everyday would quickly bore my taste buds; but it’s quite possible that I’d be in better health for it. As the benefits begin to seriously out pace the costs, I begin to remind myself that life is what you make of it, and it moves as fast as you get pulled along, regardless of the time period. So, bring on convenience, just let me know before my plane becomes a pavement pancake.

My brain isn’t working today and I have nothing coherent to say.

Suspecting this might be a problem tomorrow, I hereby declare tomorrow an all-request-day here at Quo Vado. I’ll even do my best to express the snark before trying to type. So, if you have a random or not-so-random question for me leave a comment or e-mail me.

An actual sign in the bathroom at work today:

WARNING:
THE HOT WATER IS
HOT.

In order to drive my car home at speed yesterday, I went to the movies to pass some time. I’d seen previews for The Interpreter over the last couple of months and had waffled back and forth over whether or not to see it. Since I had the time yesterday, and the reviews were decent, I decided to give it a try. The movie nearly killed my bladder. I didn’t want to leave my seat for fear I’d miss something. While the movie has fireworks, the tension builds slowly and pays off in the end. Both Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn earn their salaries in this movie and I now understand the reverence some folks use when saying Sydney Pollack.

The Interpreter

• Matinee or Evening Movie: Evening
• Add to Collection: Yes
• Grade: A-

I really enjoyed this movie, and if you were waffling about seeing it give it a chance. I would suggest however, that your first viewing be in a theatre as the distractions of the rest of the world my disrupt the tension building.

The jaw of the guy accepting the keys to my rental dropped yesterday when he realized how long it had been in the shop. After holding my car hostage for forty-six days, the body shop returned it to me yesterday with a process that once again defined unwieldy. The car looks fabulous and drives well, so I’m glad to have it back. The replace my back bumper, thus removing the fuel vampire marks I earned six months ago. By the time you add the total cost of the repair to the cost of the rental, the insurance company probably should have totaled out the car.

The forty-six day span makes returning to a standard something more than putting on an old pair of jeans. I had to keep reminding myself to up-shift and down shift approaching lights or corners. Even the buttons seem wrong now. I know I’ll be back in the swing of driving it on Monday, but I find the delay difficult to take. Remind me to finish setting the mirrors. I drove near speed last night with the windows down, the top open and the music all the way up. Now, I’m going to get cleaned up, so I can drive again.

Friday Spies for April 22, 2005 via the folks at Begging the Question.

1. Which Simpsons character are you most like? Lisa, of course.

2. Name a song you hate that is performed by a band you like. Name a song you like by a band you hate. The Thunder Rolls sung by Garth Brooks and and as much as I hate to admit it Hero by Enrique Iglesias

3. What skills do you possess? Nun chuck skills? Computer hacking skills?Well, not answering questions, returning a shot from underneath the basket to the free-throw line with a bounce, speaking my mind, and many other useless things.

4. Coen Brothers or Farrelly Brothers? I’m not partial to either set, but if I have to choose, The Coen Brothers.

5. What do you predict will be the worst part(s) of the new Star Wars movie? Sitting through the ramp up and release publicity. The three originals most excellent, I want nothing to do with the first three. Commercialism runs amuck.

I like to sleep. Actually, I love to sleep - it’s one of my favorite activities. So, why am I so unable to press the power button on remote to turn off the boob tube? I know I need to sleep, but I cannot turn off the ugly fakeness of Paris Hilton. Heaven help me!