Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Thursday, June 18, 2009

I Need Your Help

Somebody needs to email me or hit me on Facebook, cuz I think I might be missing something.

What is the subject of my consternation?

The one-armed hug.

What's up with this? I keep getting these things and, don't get me wrong, I love getting hugs, but I don't understand why people do this.

Reluctance to commit? Body odor?

Or is it "I like you" but not "I love you?"

Seriously, I don't get this.

Am I committing some horrible social faux pas by using both arms?

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Are You Freaking Kidding Me?!?!

We have guests from out of town (Vietnam, in case you were wondering) staying at the fancy Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley. Today, they invited us to come to the pool with them.

Cool! A luxury resort and spa with a very nice pool AND a little kiddie pool with a little kiddie water slide. Even a hot tub.

I was stuck at work, but hey that's ok. My kids will have a blast with their cousin, splishin' and splashin'.

Well, guess what?

As a guest, to visit the pool?

$25 for an adult. $15 for a kid.

Whahaha....

Pardon me whilst I retrieve my jaw from the marbled floor of your foyer.

Yep, cost us $55 for my wife and my two kids to "hang by the pool" for 45 minutes.

Fifty-five.

Dollars.

Forty-five.

Minutes.

More than a dollar a minute. One dollar for less than 60 seconds at a pool.

A big concrete hole filled with water. That's two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.

Two of the more common elements on our planet. One of the most common compounds on Earth.

Our very bodies are mostly made of this stuff.

I'm really not seeing where I'm getting anywhere near my money's worth. In fact, I think I hear my money screaming to me from their, no doubt, fur lined pockets.

And what is it saying?

"Help! We've been kidnapped!"

"Yes," I say in reply, "and I've been raped."

Unfuckingbelievable.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

School Assignment: Write About Your Town

I love Oakland because really friendly people live in Oakland. Here in
Oakland, there are lots of fun places to go. Like swimming pools, playgrounds,
trails for hiking, lakes for fishing, and fun mountains to climb!

- Cameron (age 6)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Walking

Beautiful day today.

Sunny. Warm. Once the fog burned off, that is.

So, after a lovely 5 minute walk, I'm at the gym climbing onto some sort of modern day torture device that's going to nuke those love handles and power up my aging ticker. Lot's of folks at the Y today, trying to get fit or get ready for swimsuit season or whatever.

I look over to my left and see some folks walking on treadmills.

Good for them, I think. They're here, they're making the effort, they're doing it!

Wait a minute.

They're inside, on a beautiful day, WALKING on a treadmill. Walking. Walking?

The Y I go to is probably less than 10 minutes WALKING from a beautiful lake in a park like setting with a lovely WALKING path all the way around.

The sun is shining, it's warm and you're WALKING on a treadmill. INSIDE.

Damn.

Ok.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Inspiration

Have you ever been really inspired by someone, I mean REALLY inspired, to the point where not only do they make you want to be even better at what you do, but they validate what you have done up to the point you discovered them or their work?

Yeah?

Me too.

You ever go back and reread or reexamine the work that inspired and validated your own and then found that same spark was no longer there? In fact, the work almost left you feeling a little bored? A little disappointed?

You still see what it was that had you so captivated "back then," but now....meh, not so much? Like you've moved on, not past them because, hey, they're brilliant, but your tastes have moved on...evolved?

Yeah?

Me too.

Kind of a bummer.