Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

These are the people in your neighborhood…

I come back from choir last Thursday night and find Shopping Cart Man asleep on their front porch.

There used to be owner-occupied houses on both sides of our abode when we first moved in a dozen years ago. On one side, there still is – different people – though, he also rents out to a number of other people. On the other side, it’s three rental units, absentee landlord, with a relatively large turnover of mostly college students. This is especially frustrating to me because I’m really lousy with names. On either side, there are possibly more people than what the properties are zoned for, though I couldn’t prove it.

Anyway, we had some issues with one neighbor’s dog, specifically where one neighbor’s dog did her business. The front lawn over there now looks like the surface of Mars, where it once was absolutely beautiful, and we didn’t want ours to appear likewise. Words were spoken, mostly between my usually mild-mannered wife and them, and it created a bit of tension between the couples.

Then Shopping Cart Man started showing up. Some of the other neighbors in the building found him rather entertaining, as he’d park his chariot in their yard and start drumming for them on their sidewalk with sticks for 30 to 60 minutes at a time; really annoying to us, even inside our residence. Further, they’d save returnable cans and bottles for him, which naturally encouraged him to come back.

Things got more interesting when Dog Owner Man found Shopping Cart Man sleeping in his hallway a couple of weeks ago, in a stairwell that was supposed to be locked; apparently, one or more of the other neighbors let him in.

I come back from choir last Thursday night and find Shopping Cart Man asleep on their front porch. This was unacceptable to me, and after I put away my bicycle, I figured I’d call the non-emergency police number. Before I get a chance, a police car, fire truck, and an ambulance all arrive, with the EMTs trying, with a great deal of difficulty, to awaken Shopping Cart Man from his drunken stupor. He eventually staggers down the street. Dog Owner Man had already made the call.

So now Dog Owner Couple and we are united by this common issue; Shopping Cart Man ought not to loiter on their property, or ours, though he never has. It also helps that the dog has stopped barking at me every time I ride through our common walkway. I still often go inside when I see Dog Owner Couple, but that more because of their cigarette habits; it’s amazing what I can smell from 30 feet away…

Tabula rasa

The downside to all this moving stuff around is that, sometimes, I don’t know what I’ve posted for a given morning; I’m as surprised as you.

I was reading this post from Cheri at Idle Chatter, which begins: “Here it is, 11:15 pm, and I’m just now sitting down to write today’s post. Somebody make me feel better and assure me that I’m not the only one who’s ever found themselves staring at a keyboard as the day dwindles away, the ‘publish’ key impertinently mocking, waiting for a flash of inspiration.”

Two things came to mind:
1) I really enjoyed the post, but
2) I almost never write that way

I find that I need to write things when they enter my mind. The post about my mother’s birthday, which you will read on November 17, i.e., my mother’s birthday, I wrote on September 15. It just came to me, and if the muse says, “WRITE THIS,” I write it. The muse can be rather insistent.

I would hate to get to November 16, think, “Geez, I ought to write something about Mom’s birthday,” and stare at a blank computer screen, so the muse does me a favor.

I find it easier to write when I know what I’m going to write about, which I suppose is obvious. For instance, if I know for an ABC Wednesday post X is for X-Rays (it won’t be, at least not this time around), it puts me to mind to think about all the X-rays I’ve had. The brain will percolate in the background while I’m doing something else, such as showering or bicycling, then, suddenly, a theme emerges.

After I have written it, I might change it, but it’s easier to change something than nothing. If it isn’t tied to a specific date, I might even move it to another day because I need to say THIS more right now. THIS is usually for some national or world event, or perhaps a noteworthy death. When Hal David died, I wrote a piece, but I had had something else scheduled for that day which was, fortunately, movable to a day or three later.

The downside to all this moving stuff around is that, sometimes, I don’t know what I’ve posted for a given morning; I’m as surprised as you. The upside is that I get to read it, well, semi-freshly. “Oh, yeah, I remember this one.”

I tend to write in spurts. I’ve created as many as four posts in a day, and often two. Then I might go four or five days without writing anything, because the muse is on strike, demanding higher wages. Or I’m sick and/or tired; spent nearly a week in mid-September with stomach flu that was not helpful to the creative process. Or I’m busy, often with the Daughter.

I like to read other blogs, not just so I can steal ideas (e.g., this post), and create my end-of-the-month summary, but because it makes me feel connected to the rest of the world. Otherwise, it’s just navel-gazing.

Today, not incidentally, marks exactly 7.5 years of blogging, every day. It is better to post once a day than three times in one day, then nothing for three days, in my hardly humble opinion.

Anyway, I hadn’t written a blog post about blogging in nearly six months, so this is my semiannual contribution to that much-maligned body of work.

VOTE Tuesday, America…even if it’s for Blutarsky

If you want to make a statement, vote. Vote for every office, even in those races where there is a candidate running unopposed.

I am always feeling a bit conflicted around Election Day. From a partisan point of view, I want people to vote for MY candidates, which means I’d prefer that supporters of opposing candidates would stay home.

On the other hand, I truly believe that the right to vote is far too precious not to exercise. After the Bill of Rights, there are only 17 amendments to the Constitution, and two of them, regarding Prohibition, cancel each other out. This means at least 1/3 of these amendments specifically address voting.

I know a lot of folks who have said to me that they don’t vote because it doesn’t matter, or because it encourages “them”, i.e., the politicians. Or worse, they don’t vote, because “they” will see it as a protest vote. Please allow me to set you straight; “they” don’t care. “They” see your uncast ballot as a sign of laziness or indifference.

If you want to make a statement, vote. Vote for every office, even especially in those races where there is a candidate running unopposed. Ever since we’ve gotten our new ballot machines in this part of upstate New York, I have realized that it is MUCH easier to cast a write-in vote.

Consider if you will, John “Bluto” Blutarsky. He had the lowest grade point average at his Faber College fraternity, Delta House, with a 0.0. Yet he went on to become a U.S. Senator. He is no more lamebrained than that Republican state representative from Arkansas who asserted that slavery was a “blessing in disguise”.

So vote. Vote in all races. Vote for my candidates if you would. Vote for third party candidates, if you must. And if you have some folks running unopposed, write in someone. Even Bluto Blutarsky, who you can see in this classic (NSFW) video.
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OH, the FUN Elections can Occupy in Classrooms: Overview of Awesome Ideas and Websites

Religious Freedom and the Presidential Election

An odd Quora question: 2012 U.S. Presidential Election: Do you think President Obama truly wants a second term, or is he just running because he feels like it’s his duty to keep the presidency in Democratic hands?

 

Hurricane Sandy and incredibly silly people

My ire was predicated by the very real devastation the storm brought to a whole lot of OTHER people.

First off, I should note that I’m fine, we’re fine, in Albany. 150 miles north of New York City, we got a little wind and a little rain, but nothing substantial. They closed our public schools in the city for two days due to an abundance of caution; the new superintendent is from New Jersey and I think she was taking her lead from the mayor, who had proclaimed a state of emergency for a day or more.

And because it wasn’t a big weather event HERE, I’ve heard people calling it a “dud”, that they were “cheated”, which frankly ENRAGED me. (I referred to such people as “idiots” on Facebook; maybe I should stay off Facebook. Someone else called them “callous douchebags”, which I suppose is worse.) I wonder if it’s the result of the infotainment quality of big weather event reportage, alluded to by both Cheri and Mark Evanier?

My ire, though, was predicated by the very real devastation the storm brought to a whole lot of OTHER people, starting in Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica, then much of New Jersey, Connecticut, and southern New York State, specifically NYC and Long Island. Over 80 dead, at least 33 in the US:
Millions without power
Oyster Creek, New Jersey on “Alert” as Sandy Threatens Nuclear Facilities
NYC flights still grounded by Sandy, and major train disruption as well. LaGuardia airport, in particular, is a mess.

One of my best friends wrote on Tuesday morning: “NYC and the surrounding area are a mess. The transit authority said this was the most devastating storm in the city’s history… The seven subway tubes underneath the East River connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn are Queens are flooded. The subway stations in lower Manhattan are flooded. Depots in all 5 boroughs where trains and buses were parked are underwater… This is the worst storm recorded in the city’s history. A buoy in NY harbor recorded a wave of 32.5 feet, the highest ever recorded. Seawalls in Queens and New Jersey recorded the ocean surging over 13 feet, the highest ever recorded. The creek did rise.”

Meanwhile, in the theater of the absurd, George W. Bush’s FEMA Director During Katrina Criticizes Obama For Responding To Sandy Too Quickly. As opposed to Michael Brown’s more…casual pace in dealing with the 2005 disaster. Also, some anti-gay preacher blamed Hurricane Sandy on “homosexuality and marriage equality”; these clowns seem to pop up every disaster. They should go send money to the American Red Cross, and, as another friend of mine used to say, “zip their traps.”
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What to do after a hurricane – US-specific, though some useful messages about preparation for all.

All Hallows Eve 2012

The Daughter will go out tonight, but because of her peanut allergy, she generally gets to keep less than 50% of her haul; her mother gets the rest.

For all my lifetime, through 2006, the end of Daylight Saving Time in most of the United States was on the last Sunday in October. But thanks to the powerful candy lobby, which wants children to be able to trick or treat on Halloween with more daylight, and its ally, the dentist lobby, which wants children to rot their teeth, it’s been pushed back to the first Monday in November. It’s this time of year that always confuses me in terms of what time it in other countries, since the start and end of DST/British Summer Time does not happen simultaneously. Go to this site to see what time it is around the world.

Glad to see that Mark Evanier has ended his war on candy corn.; well, almost. He still doesn’t like it, but as long as he doesn’t have to eat it, he doesn’t care if you do. I happen to like it, in moderation. Can’t seem to find a decent video of I Don’t Like Candy Corn by Moose and Zee from Nick Jr., which I remember watching with my daughter a few years back.

The Daughter will go out tonight, but because of her peanut allergy, she generally gets to keep less than 50% of her haul; her mother gets the rest. She’s going as a soccer player, BTW, which is a bit of a cheat since she IS.

Here’s something I may not have mentioned; I don’t particularly like peanut butter. Actually, that’s not true – I HATE peanut butter. Odd thing is that I loved it as a kid, specifically Jif. I remember eating it when I was three or four. I think I must have had too much at some point because now the smell makes me nauseous, and the taste is intolerable. I’m not allergic; I can eat peanuts, though I don’t love them.

I’ve dressed up for Halloween as an adult, but not for at least a decade.

Having never seen a movie from the Halloween movie series, I’m not planning to start now. Yet I know more about the series than I care to because FantaCo, where I worked in the 1980s, sold a number of Michael Myers masks, and other items of interest. But my buddy Steve Bissette revisits the film, and also reviews 2016: OBAMA’S AMERICA (2012).

Go search SamuraiFrog’s blog for Halloween goodness. Then, courtesy of Jaquandor, listen to spooky music – if you dare!

The Library of Congress: The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows
The Food and Drug Administration: Halloween Food Safety Tips for Parents
The Census Bureau: Facts for Features: Halloween

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