and then there were 2...

So Edwards is out, which kind of sucks because I really liked him. Especially his stance on poverty issues. Although, I really like all 3 of the democratic front runners. Ideally, I would have liked to combine the 3 of them into one super-candidate because I like parts of each one. Edwards seems to have a lot of substantive issues, he’s from the south and is very “electable” (whatever that means). Hillary has experience (and also comes with Bill as part of the package). Obama has the charisma and energy and momentum to bring change. We need to elect Jorackary Edamaton, or Hillohnarack Oclintwards. Or Al Gore.

overheard...

In the Subway, filling up my soda cup:

Guy #1: You know, I actually watched some of the president’s speech last night

Guy #2: Yeah, I started to, and then I remembered how much I hate him.

just back from exercising my franchise

Happy Florida Presidential Primary Day everyone. Even though our votes supposedly won't count, I did my civic duty anyway. I love going to the polling place. And remember ladies, we were Sufferin' Till Suffrage...

he used several of the 7 dirty words...

Saw George Carlin last night at Ruby Diamond. He's as funny as ever. A lot of the material he did will probably appear here. He had some good political stuff and religious stuff. It was an interesting mix of students and old hippies and people like my parents (who I got tickets for the show for Christmas). A good time was had by all.

Also, a random link to the 7 dirty words...it's always fun.

if elected, I hope he keeps these campaign promises

Can I just say that I am totally in favor of renaming October "Barak-tober". The other ideas seem sound as well...

Trapped in Tennessee

Here's a leftover from a week or so back. Been slack with the posting of late.

So I’m on my way to DC this AM, and I’m flying Northwest which means a layover in Memphis (you can not fly anywhere directly from Tally, except for South Florida or an airline hub City…Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, you know the drill). An aside: How much do I love that the Northwest Airlines planes all say NWA on the side? Every time I see one, I imagine Ice Cube flying it. Old-school jheri curl gansta Ice Cube:

not new, family-friendly Ice Cube:

Anyway, we head off to Memphis as scheduled. We’re about a ½ hour away from landing, and we are told that there is a huge thunderstorm there and no one can land. After circling and wandering around in the sky for a half an hour or so, we are told to divert to Huntsville, AL for refueling. If only I had been headed for Space Camp.

So we land in Huntsville, hang out for 30 minutes or so, get told we can take off, drive about 10 feet in the direction of the runway, get told to never mind, we’re still grounded, and then hang out for 45 more minutes. Oh, also there was no beverage service during the flight. When we got on the plane, the fight attendant announced that due to “unusual circumstances” there would be no beverage service. I just assumed that this meant that the catering truck had failed to show up and stock the plane or something. Which sucked, because I had failed to eat breakfast, assuming I would at least get some peanuts or the equivalent and some water during the flight. Baring that, it’s only a hour flight or so, I would just grab something in Memphis. Sigh…

Anyway, so we had been told there was not beverage service, but once we were stuck on the tarmac, the flight attendant suddenly hauled out the beverage cart and started passing out drinks. So now I’m really curious as to what the “unusual circs” were. Also, still no snacks…

It always sucks to get stuck in a confined space, which this most assuredly was. It was one of those small planes with 2 seats on either side of the aisle and like 20 rows. Very cramped. In the plus column, we lucked out that we had a totally cool pilot. He kept telling us what was going on and giving us updates on the situation as soon as he got them. He also came out and chatted with us, helped the flight attendant serve water, collected all the trash, and even made coffee for some folks. It was nice because by talking to the people face to face and being friendly, it kept anyone from being irate and made our captivity much more pleasant. I love it when people are nice.

So now I’m stuck here in Memphis, and as a result I have that damn Arrested Development song stuck in my head. (I speak of “Tennessee” by the mid-90’s hip hop group, as opposed to the theme song from the awesome TV show.)

So, I’m delayed until 2:50 (it’s now noon) and there is not a soul in this concourse of the airport. It’s really odd. There are at least 7 gates with in my view, and I swear I see only 3 other people sitting around waiting. There aren’t even any staff members at the gates. It’s very disconcerting. See for yourself:

I’m sitting by the window, and it is now sunny as hell outside. You would never know the whole place way shut down due to weather just a couple of hours ago.

I am making the most of my time. I’ve learned that CNN is really does report the same stories over and over. I never watch more than 5 min at a time at home, so I don’t notice. Having it playing in the background for 3 hours or so though, really drives it home. I have heard several times about: various people murdering their children, a murder story from Tally that is getting national press due to a possible serial killer tie-in, Kerry endorsing Obama, and a crane operator who passed out is being rescued in Atlanta…a nothing story about which they are offering extended, minute-by-minute coverage as if it were the white ford bronco chase. (They also keep saying it’s on Peachtree Street, which offers no information as it has been my experience that all streets in Atlanta are called Peachtree.)

Also, via the helpful airport announcements, I now know:

The Treat Level has been raised to “orange” Isn’t always orange?

Smoking is prohibited in the airport except for in 2 restaurants: Maggie O’Shea’s in Concourse A and The Blue Note Café in the passenger connector between concourses A and B.

You should keep track of your luggage and not accept packages from strangers. (As sound advice now as it was when your mama gave it to you as a child.)

Thus armed with knowledge, I am going to take a nap.

there's something to be said for succinctness

I was looking to see what was on TV tonight and I discovered the following descriptions for tonight's episode of CSI:

"An entire family is murdered, except for a daughter who may be possessed by the devil. "

Yeah, I would totally watch that. Especially if Lucy and her dad were involved somehow...

Did anyone else hear the taped phone call between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee? I really don't get it. To me, it makes Clemens seem more guilty. Whenever McNamee asks him "what do you want me to do?" (which he does like 20 times), Clemens never says "just tell them the truth". Isn't that what an innocent man would say? He also never asks"why did you lie to the commission?" or any variation thereof .

His lawyer is trying to say that Clemens was carefully trying to make sure it wouldn't seem like he was coercing a federal witness, but dude, come on. I understand that he shouldn't say "I want you to tell them I didn't use steroids" or "I want you to tell them you lied". You can't tell a witness what to say (and if he is guilty, that would be telling him to commit perjury). But saying "just tell the truth" really couldn't be construed as coercion. It's what he is supposed to be doing anyway.

It's just such a weird conversation in general, with all the talk of various dying children and missing children's funerals because of press conferences, and people getting ulcers. In fact, why would these 2 people, who are in fact suing each other even as we speak, get on the phone in the first place? If someone accuses me of a crime and ostensibly ruins my career and shot at the Hall of Fame, I'm really not that interested in chatting with him. Ditto a rich, blow-hard athlete who is suing me for defamation.

And if the whole point of the conversation was for Clemens to try and clear his name by getting McNamee to admit on tape that he lied or whatever...well, that didn't happen, so why would you release the tape? It just makes you look sketchier. And kind of dumb.

7 unrelated things

1. I'm coming off a 2 week Christmas vacation. I haven't gotten that much time off for the holidays since I was in college. Even when I worked for the university, I still only got a few days off, despite the fact that the students were gone for damn near a month. Vacation is good.
   
   
2. I was right about Smells Like Teen Spirit (see previous post for details...)
   
   
3. It's cold outside. Now, I realize that cold is a relative concept and many of my yankee/ex-pat friends will not cry tears for my Floridian winter, but the high today is only supposed to be 47 or so and it will be down into the teens tonight. That's cold around these parts. Although it is sunny and blue skies abound, which beats dreary, rainy cold.
   
   
4. Did you know that the University of Central Florida in Orlando is the 7th largest university in the U.S.? That doesn't seem right.
   
   
5. Lynne Spears is releasing a parenting book? Through a Christian publishing house? Words fail me...
   
   
6. There's a new version of American Gladiators scheduled to premier this week. My guilty admission: I loved that show. Actually, I will generally watch any of those competition type shows...World's Strongest Man, lumberjack games, Pro Bowl Skills Challenge...I'm really not discriminating. I blame too much Battle of the Network Stars and Laff-A-Lympics in my youth.
   
   
7. I should have double good luck these days. Not only did I eat my Hoppin' John yesterday, but I also remembered to say "rabbit rabbit" yesterday morning. Of course, now I have to go knock wood so I don't jinx it...