Category: Uncategorized (Page 91 of 96)

The New York Times reports the White House chief of staff for the Council on Environmental Quality (the folks who advise “Dubya” on environmental policy), edited government climate reports to minimize links between greenhouse gases and global warming. This guy, Philip A. Cooney, was an oil industry lobbyist who used to lead their fight against limits on greenhouse gases. No, wait. He still does.

Your government looking out for the people…

They call it “the Starbucks experience.” Yesterday I visited the a new local Starbucks while waiting for a diagnosis of my Volvo air-conditioning problems. The folks at Starbucks strive to manage every detail of the customer experience; from lighting to layout to light jazz… The pendants hanging from the gold spraypainted exposed ductwork looked like egg-shaped Alien pods missing the bottom third so the stellar rays could emerge. The pods hung precicely by carefully choreographed electron transporters. The lighting, artwork and focus-group color schemes are all part of the “set” that is Starbucks.

However, on any stage, it’s the players that are the big challenge…the human element of the production requiring direction. As this once aspiring actor stepped into the spotlight, he felt an odd, but familiar glance from a woman in her late 50’s in the corner. She was waiting for her “date,” a similarly aged man decked out in jeans and a grey Red Sox tee shirt. I wondered if I’d still be doing the “meeting for coffee” thing ten years from now.

Taken right out of Starbucks Central Casting, the 20-something hipsters were busy behind the counter doing their cool Starbucks schtick. Nearby, one apprentice was meticulously cleaning, oblivious to the Splenda wrappers beneath his feet… I was so overwhelmed with the brilliance of the theatre, I didn’t hesitate to buy a $3.89 “Venti” (that’s “large” for those of you playing at home) Iced Latte.

I took my seat for the rest of the show. Mysteriously, both soft, green velour upholstered chairs seemed occipied. Not with people, but with some stuff… an application, a large steaming coffee, a pen… some rolled up paper. Maybe their owner was in the bathroom. Several minutes passed. The couple to my left continued their nervous dialogue. Traffic flowed onto Route 2 in front of me like a relentless river into the sea. To my right, a man about 60 sat alone. His hair was askew, but not on purpose like so many wear today. I sat. I sipped. Slowly, the older thespian rose and slowly walked to center stage. He wore a white t-shirt with a credit card ad and chinos. He picked up the large coffee that was no longer steaming. He took a sip, or maybe just acted like he did. He put the coffee down and began his silent, solo performance. He wore an “American Tourister” bag tag around his neck on a black shoe lace. His hands gestured adeptly and toward the State Police barracks 150 yards in front of us. He slowly stopped for another small, phantom sip. He then leisurely spun around, almost like dancing. He bowed down and picked up the Splenda wrappers. He was at an age that he knew what clean meant. He flailed some more. Then he put his coat on…a navy blue windbreaker, and walked outside with his coffee. The application stayed on the table with its partner, the pen. It was nearly 90 degrees out, but the man seemed to have no perception of the heat. Maybe he was preoccupied with the demons in his head. He sat. I wondered what happened to this poor soul to thrust him into this … solitary… lonely… state of mental illness. A divorce? The death of a loved one? Unemployment? I wondered just how far from that are any of us?

So said the “English as a second language” guide at Heather Gardens. What we were looking for was Grange Hall, an old restored post & beam hall in the village of West Tisbury where a collection of “Jaws” memorablia was on display. So off we went, expecting the booty of buoy’s, spear guns and other cool props to be “just around the bend.” Well, after several bends, a couple long straightaways and a few hills, we were nowhere. This particular journey kept my interest with extraordinary old trees and the occasional outdoor sculpture, but Kyle wasn’t feeling the love. Not the the trek was all mellow for me either. Most of it was spent worried about Kyle’s positioning within the 18” walking path on the side of the “State Road” as cars and trucks whizzed by.

Finally we reached a bus stop and decided to wait for the next one. We waited for about 15 minutes, chatting with a couple brothers who had also come over for the “JawsFest.” Well, I chatted. Kyle was just clutching his Boston Magazine, wondering how this adventure had gone so horribly wrong. As the bus sped toward us, Kyle muttered, “Finally” as the bus whooshed by us with a big gust of wind. We were back to walking… After forty-five more minutes of silent trudging, we arrived at the village. Maybe that guy meant 500 kilometers… We darted into a little general store for pizza, a tuna wrap and some lemonade. We ate in slience, sitting on the wood bench in front of the place. We’d walked about three miles and weren’t too happy about it. The tuna was good. Just like I remember at the beach as a kid. Kyle erased two slices in ten minutes. The lemonade evaporated at a furious pace. Now, it was time to face the music.

The Grange Hall exhibit had everything. Well, they didn’t have the severed torso of Robert Shaw’s “Quint,” but what do you want for ten bucks…each? Hey, they had just about everything else, including “Ben Gardner’s” head, and Kyle was in Great White Heaven. Later, as we smoothly glided back to New Bedford on the awesome high-speed ferry, Kyle still had his Boston Magazine on his lap. He said quietly, “Thanks Dad. That was fun. I like Martha’s Vineyard.” Me too, Kyle. Me too.

An old friend liked to use the cliché, “it’s the journey, not the destination.”

It is in that spirit that Kyle and I set out for a day-trip to Martha’s Vineyard for “JawsFest,” the 30th’anniversary celebration of the filming on the island. Really, I’m taking the one hour and forty-five minute drive to New Bedford and the one-hour ferry trip for one reason: to get a picture of Kyle with the big movie star. Yep, “Bruce,” as director Stephen Spielberg named him, is terrorizing the island once again!

We’ll arrive in Vineyard Haven around 11:00 and find our way to Heather Gardens in West Tisbury. Why a mechanical shark will be on display at an inland nursery and garden center is a mystery, but I’m going to relish it. Work it isn’t. The big mystery is whether Kyle will get close enough to the fictional great-white to snap a picture. He loves the crocodile from the Peter Pan films, but won’t go near the mechanical one at the Rainforest Café in Burlington… Stay tuned.

A friend of mine has cancer again. I think this is the 4th time. You would think this wretched disease would have learned it’s lesson by now, but no, it’s looking for another good old-fashioned ass-kicking. This cancer is “Wiley-Coyote” stupid. You know, keep trying over and over, but always ending up with an anvil smashed off your head. This is gonna be bad. I mean a really bad beating like those Richard Pryor used to describe in his stand-up act. Yeah, he’d tell about the “whoopin’s” he’d get from his mom when he did something really bad. He’d go on to describe in hilarious detail how she would lecture him and that the cadence of each word would be accompanied by a good, solid whack…. Same thing here… I can hear it now: “Didn’t…. I….. Tell…. Your…. Sorry…. Cancer… Ass…. Never…. To…. Come…. Back????” It’s gonna be “Rocky,” “Fight-Club,” and “The Thrilla in Manilla” all rolled into one with cancer lying dead in the ring when it’s over. I’m simply amazed that she comes into work, laughs, spits sarcastic humor and has incredibly loud conference calls all while kicking cancer’s ass. My favorite part is when she gets that Eastwood-esque glint in he Irish eyes, and says, “Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya… punk?” Cancer… Dude, give it up. You don’t want any of this.

Ted Sorensen was special counsel and a good friend to our 35th president, John F. Kennedy. On May 28th, he wrote an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe on what would have been JFK’s 88th birthday. Mr. Sorensen’s opinion speculates on what JFK might say to our leaders of today. I hope they read it. An excerpt:

To Vice President Dick Cheney on international organizations, alliances, and consultations: ”The United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient. We are only 6 percent of the world’s population . . . we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind.” (University of Washington, 1961)

It turns out that an ex-FBI agent, Mark Felt, was the “Deep Throat” who guided Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to “follow the money” as they investigated a ostensibly petty burglary at the Watergate complex outside Washington DC in June, 33 years ago. The two then young Washington Post reporters wrote a great book called “All the President’s Men” that later became an OK movie. Read the book, or if you’re lazy, rent the movie.

Match.com is really doing women on their site a disservice when they place this, um, eye-catching ad next to the 1” x ¾” pictures of “women seeking men.” I mean, there are some beautiful women on there, but man… Compared to air-brushed perfection? Unfair. I suppose it also pops up when women are checking out guys, so maybe the ladies are getting some shopping in and match.com is getting some click-through revenue. Actually, they got me to click through and look around, but I didn’t buy anything…today.

If many of the lonely souls are like me, then they take some time to write a “grabber” headline. So, I wonder what the thought process was for the women who came up with these:

Yet another dating service – That’s the spirit! You’ll be marrying your soulmate in no time!
RN seeks man with active brain waves – OK. Will an EKG be involved to verify?
Toss a football or wear a black dress – This is a good one, but it would have been so much better had she used “while wearing…”
*#^@^%#%@!!!!!!!!! – Maybe it’s just me, but there’s a “Bobbit-esque” vibe to this one.
Is there anyone NORMAL out there??!! – Um. No. Not really.
If married, drunk or liar do not reply – My favorite. A woman who knows what she doesn’t want.
Nudging Fate – Interesting. I think this is what most people are hoping an internet dating site will do for them. In fact, it would make a great name for a site…

“The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.” – Aaron Copland

The RustedRobot passed me a musical baton a few days ago. I will now do my part by picking it up off the stadium floor to keep the sonic relay going…

Total volume of music files on my computer: 5GB
The last CD I bought was: yesterday – “A sides win – singles 1992-2005” by Sloan
Song playing right now: “Still Be Around” by Uncle Tupelo (live)
Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me: These are in my 64M Nomad IIc that I use while working out, so I hear these at least 3 times a week:

1. “Whatshername” by Green Day
2. “Prove it All Night” (live in NYC) by Bruce Springsteen
3. “Rock Your Ass” by The Supersuckers
4. “Cold Hard Bitch” by Jet
5. “Ready for You” by Sloan (June 15th at TT The Bears – Cambridge)

I now elect to pass the baton to:
Megan, Barb, Dave and Mary
Leave yours in the comments field…