The Lydster, Part 49: Skills

On Lydia’s birthday last month, I measured her: 3’8″ or 44 inches. Her mother weighed her on the bathroom scale: 46 pounds. Then the next week, the doctor took her vitals for her four-year checkup. 44″, 46 lbs. 0ur wall chart and scale meet medical standards.

For her birthday, we had a little party for her with her maternal grandparents, one of her uncles and aunts and two of her cousins. She was uncharacteristically cranky; I mean she can be cranky, but usually only to her parents at bedtime (and not that often). Actually, she was sobbing uncontrollably for reasons I didn’t understand, other than fatigue. So I got one or two of her stuffed animals, they talked to her, and she was fine. My wife said, “You’ve got skills.” I said, “You seem surprised.”

One of the things Lydia got for her birthday was a ball and bat. It’s not a Wiffle ball, but an OBall, with a bunch of the letter O glued together in a spheroid. BTW, Fred Hembeck will be pleased to know the colors of the ball are orange and blue, the Mets’ colors. She likes to hit. While I tried to rig up some T-ball-like arrangement, she prefers me to pitch to her. And though she writes and throws right-handed, she seems to prefer to hit left-handed. She likes the pitches low and inside, though she does OK low and a little outside as well. Perhaps she’s got skills.

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Casting the Movie QUESTION

On NPR last week, their movie critic was casting the movie of this political season.
For Barack Obama, he picked Will Smith , deeming Denzel Washington too old. Smith’s movies are often inspirational, he suggested.
For Hillary Clinton, Meryl Streep, who he said played a similar role in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate.
For John McCain, Richard Dreyfus, who played an old senator in another movie.

I think Denzel could still do it, but Will’s good. Streep’s Streep, but aren’t their a number of other actresses of a certain age who could do it? Joan Allen once played the Vice-President, e.g.; the first person to come to mind (as an actress of a certain age, not anything more sinister) was Linda Blair. And while Dreyfus could play McCain, I’d prefer him to play Dick Cheney.

Who would you pick? Also, who should play the “stars” of the Bush administration: W., Cheney, Condi Rice (Debbie Allen came to mind), Colin Powell (John Amos played a general on “West Wing”), Alberto Gonzales? Also Laura and the twins.

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April Ramblin’

Added to my blogroll:

Bob and Ray’s Old Time Radio.

Sports Illustrated Vault.

Stuff I’ve been thinking about:

The 2008 TIME 100 Finalists. Tyler Perry went from the middle of the pack to #4 after he sent out e-mails to his fans. Meanwhile, at #73, Britney Spears is ahead of Condi Rice, David Petraeus and George W. Bush,, among many others.

The BBB Offers Free Document Shredding During National “Secure Your ID” Day – May 3, 2008; not one community in New York State is participating!

Who is the patriot? One who served or one who deferred and continued to defer and never served?

Bill Moyers: Journalists As Truth-Tellers. Were it more so.

Why it’s so tough to unseat incumbent politicians

Power to the people vs give peace a chance. Ah, Mike Gravel, you rock.

What your money looks like, if you’re using US currency.

Having To Say You Work For A Bimbo.

The Global Tribute Fund is “an initiative to pay tribute to the inspiring women in our lives.”

Please DO NOT buy this book.

Garrison Keillor gets nostalgic over Northwest Airlines. Obviously, the OLD Northwest Orient, because the conglomerate that’s threatening to merge with Delta is the one airline I absolutely have refused to fly for years.

There’s a comic book show in Albany this Sunday; might go. I thought to go to the NYCC last weekend, but it didn’t work out; Fred Hembeck tells all about it. Ron Marz and my friend Bill Anderson will have been at both shows.

How to Slap a Hamburger Together — in 156 Steps.

Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks. But would you expect otherwise?

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Bitter

I was checking out this recent this Modern World with Tom Tomorrow and it occurred to me – I wonder how many of the folks this cartoon represents are bitter?

In the wake of Barack’s “bitter” battle, which probably hurt him in yesterday’s Pennsylvania primary, a number of folks have actually come to his defense, including the Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel; in fact, Robert Reich, a superdelegate who served in Bill Clinton’s cabinet, recently came out for Obama, primarily because of Hillary Clinton’s campaign going negative over this.

But are people bitter? I mean, even GayProf is losing his Zen.

I must say that the Iraq war and loss of basic human rights in the US has made me annoyed; no, “annoyed” doesn’t begin to cover it. Torture in my name has really ticked me off. If you don’t know the name John Yoo, you should. He was the government official who “publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.” More recently, A Torture Victim’s Records Were Lost at Guantánamo, Admits the Camp General; oops! And Amnesty International has unveiled a ‘Waterboarding’ film.

But, am I bitter?
Let’s find the dictionary.net definition:
2) Causing pain or smart; piercing; painful; sharp; severe.
3) Causing, or fitted to cause, pain or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant.
5) Mournful; sad; distressing; painful; pitiable.
I’d say definitions 2 and 3 apply to me, but not so much #5, for more than pitiable, there are times when I’m just furious. So, it depends on your take of the word.

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Bike

In honor of Earth Day, for which our local bus company (which carries bicycles on a rack) will let you ride for free, pieces about the bicycle.

(Picture from http://drunkcyclist.com/.)

Bike to Work in Albany, New York is Friday, May 16th 2008. Plan now.

Nice Racks.

Learn How To Fix Your Own Bike.

The Puma Glow-in-the dark Folding Bicycle for safe commutes.

What a Fred is.

‘Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery’ cartoon strip.

Your typical bike commute:


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