Clear Lake Reflections

We've All Been There - Waiting for Someone to Get the Hell Up

2010-03-09T11:36:49Z

You are a house guest and you wake up before anyone else. "The Onion" speaks truth, my friends.

You must lie there until you sense movement from somebody who actually lives in the house.

Unless you are visiting parents. Then of course you get up, but quietly. Then you can check out last night's leftovers or possibly turn on the TV, except you don't quite know their remote control and you know that if you turn on that TV, the volume will be too loud and you won't be able to mute it or turn it down before they hear you and wonder at your presumptuousness for getting up before them in the first place.

Better to just lie there on the couch until these people who sleep incredibly late finally make noise.

These are the longest moments of your life.

Academy Awards

2010-03-08T00:04:35Z

If you can't say something nice, post a poster.

iPad

2010-02-28T19:20:04Z

I don't need one of these excuses for sophomoric humor.

But it looks cool.

No need to justify what is basically a larger iPod Touch.

But it looks really cool.

So what I'm saying is I have no use for this thing.

Just another cumbersome object to keep track of. To lose, get stolen, or stepped upon.

Isn't it cool though?

Everything Apple makes has a certain polished quality about it.

Maybe that is why all their damn stuff costs a million dollars!

But this coy smile from a street corner will put you out $500 for starters, plus accoutrements.

Cool.

This is not the age of Sinbad, or even land line phones, unless you are me.

Also the "thing" is not exactly a computer.

Way cool.

We should all definitely wait for the ruckus to settle. See what products emerge later.

Unemployment is over 10%. Such devices at this point can wreck eating patterns.

I am definitely not getting one.

Remember this stupid thing?

I guess you can cut salami with it or fan your hair.

Sonya in "Uncle Vanya"

2010-02-27T21:14:44Z

This

grabs me every time.

Brooke Smith, portraying Sonya from Chekhov's masterpiece, "Uncle Vanya"

Snippet from "Vanya on 42nd Street."

Why Fridays Are Harbingers of Mondays

2010-02-27T02:27:43Z

Not complicated.

Only 2 1/2 days exist betwixt Friday afternoon and Monday morning.

So what should we do with sixty hours?

Possibly income tax. But then what?

I say, find that old "to do" list and make it into a new "to do" list.

Change acronyms or order if you must. It is now NEW.

That's Gospel.

Save Ferris!

2010-02-22T01:08:17Z

Do You Realize How Good Celine Is?

2010-02-20T22:49:55Z

Jennifer Warnes Revisited

2010-02-20T21:15:34Z

I know it's kind of sappy, but on a Saturday when a lot is going wrong and right with the world, I like remembering snippets. Maybe somebody out there will remember this quiet piece of music.

Or possibly you will be under thirty and hear it for the first time in your kitchen or bedroom or just wandering about your house.

But I'm wondering, does she have a headache or what?

Jennifer Warnes

2010-02-20T18:53:30Z

<-- when I play THIS

with window screen open, I get red birds and blue birds perching all around.

"Dave" is Not Here!

2010-02-20T15:36:19Z

Dave.mp3

<-- This never fails to crack me up.

And to all my policeman friends out there (you know who you are) - I have nothing to do with illegal drugs.

It is just funny, and I'd be surprised if Cheech and Chong were not a staple behind the scenes of "Cops."

Glossy Paperbacks are my Downfall

2010-02-19T10:25:39Z

<-- okay I really did not need this book, but I bought it anyway.

Why?

Because it's a pretty, glossy, heavy in hand, substantial art form - despite the lame dude on the cover.

Okay, he's not lame, but I would prefer some tech-savvy woman like Sandra Bullock instead of this guy who looks like his day job is serving lattes at Starbucks.

Scroll down.

Notice anything in particular about this crowd? ------>>>>>>>>>>

They are all YOUNG.

Very young.

As if they know everything.

Well, they are geniuses, of course.

I was a young genius once. Remember "Pong" and "Centipedes?"

And what's with all the black attire? Is that cool now?

Note girls outnumber guys in genius-ville. It always happens. Country lanes. City streets. Girls always have a magic mouse touch.

The point of this whole diatribe is to declare that I'm a sucker for polished paperbacks. They feel good to buy. They feel excellent and heavy and literary.

Blog Spam

2010-02-18T10:47:24Z

I am not sure, but the following comment, attempted to be placed on this blog, might be spam:

"I harmonise with your stand and will decidedly read your emerging
articles"

So what do you think? Legitimate person, or some dull cluck in Norway locked upstairs with his computer because mom and dad have grounded him for the duration of Scandinavian winter?

They somehow get through the commenting process on Movable Type. Probably the same with BlogSpot, WordPress, all of em.

Another clue for spam is when the comment surfaces about some subject many moons ago, well beyond author recall. One wonders if that article popped up on a random Google search.

Isn't it fun to think one of your forgettable "articles" pops up on a random Google search?

Christine McVie

2010-02-18T00:09:42Z

Christine McVie deserves more recognition.

We all know how good (and weird) Stevie Nicks is, but come on, Christine had bad luck of coming in second behind the strange one.

Both sang their hearts out for years.

I grew up with them.

I love Christine McVie. I want to give her props.

Also, this song, "Little Lies," was misunderstood by my girlfriend's son at the time in mid-80's.

"Tell me sweet little eyes."

As a father figure, I told the kid,

"someday you will grow up to not understand."

Away for a Weekend - House Gremlins

2010-02-15T10:46:12Z

Okay, so like I took a short road trip over the weekend and came back to a house that seemingly had been visited by Gremlins.

All the clocks were blinking, with nary a thunderstorm to have caused a power outage. Strange. This is not South America, yet.

So I fired up the Mac. Hellooo beautiful Cinematic Display? You look plugged in to me. Of course, one of the plugs in the white transformer dealy-whoppy was loose. So try again and plug in the iPod.

What is that loud noise? Fan on overdrive. What is that bright red light emanating from the bowels of the Mac? Open up the door and peer in. Two piercingly red diodes on a chip board in the very back glaring like tiger eyes. That board connects the USB peripherals, including the iPod on a chain USB extension cable. Sigh.

RESTART and PRAY.

Humming along quietly now. My guess is that the sudden electrical loss screwed up the hardware, and my plugging in a new device only exacerbated a "bad" condition.

The point of this diatribe is to echo a puzzling, detached understanding of the universe about how it is that leaving a house alone for a few quiet days can result in subsequent owner panic attacks, not to mention clock resets.

Unfortunately, my clocks all say it is time to get ready for another work week. For those of you who actually get President's Day off (i.e. no point in checking snail mail later) - enjoy your extended weekend.

Emerson Reprise

2010-02-10T00:35:20Z

Not so long ago. Thanks iMovie for helping me pull this together.

One of the few times dude would sit still for over twenty seconds.