Ramblin' with Roger

She’s understood language for months, but she’s really increased her spoken vocabulary a great deal in the last month. I’m particularly pleased that she likes to say “thank you”; may it always be so.

It’s starting to hit me, just a little, that “how they grow so fast” thing that every parent I’ve ever met has told me, almost always unsolicited.

Black Friday, a day I avoid shopping like the plague. It’s not a political thing, it’s more agoraphobic, not in daily life, but shopping in the mall:
Fear of being alone-NO
Fear of losing control in a public place-YES
Fear of being in places where escape might be difficult-ABSOLUTELY
Becoming house bound for prolonged periods-SOMETIMES
Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others-OCCASIONALLY
Feelings of helplessness-YES
Dependence upon others-YES
Feeling that the body is unreal-OH,YEAH
Feeling that the environment is unreal-WELL, IT IS, ISN’T IT?
Anxiety or panic attack (acute severe anxiety)-OCCASIONALLY
Unusual temper or agitation with trembling or twitching-TEMPER AND AGITATION, YOU BETCHA
There hasn’t been a sale created that will get me into a retail establishment today.

Allen, Woody, the movies of. It is truly scary how much “Annie Hall” paralleled my life. Or my life paralleled “Annie Hall”.
Beatles, The. Collectively and individually.
Cats. I grew up with cats. Haven’t had one in about 20 years, but cats and I get along.
Donors, blood. The need is always great. In my experience, the Red Cross people are trying to make the process more efficient. Last time I donated, I was in and out in 30 minutes, from reading the instructions to the health history to the actual donation (5 minutes) to juice and cookies. Your experience may vary. Next time, I get my 14 gallon pin; so now you know- I only donate for the fancy jewelry.
Emmy” night. I’m a sucker for the “old line” awards shows. It isn’t who wins or loses, it’s how they win (or lose) that’s fun. That and reading the grousing about how so-and-so should have won.

Family and friends. Carol and Lydia. The Greens in Charlotte. The Greens in San Diego. The Powells. Mark K. Mary R. My fellow librarians. The folks at my church. My racquetball buddies. Those strange blogger buddies I’ve only met electronically through Hemby. It’s like the awards shows: when you start naming folks, you risk leaving important people out.
Gilmore Girls. Probably my favorite show right now. Sure it’s a soap opera but so is Arrested Development and 24. My favorite scene from last season involved Bible-thumping, rock-n-roll-hating Mrs. Kim arranging a rock tour for her daughter Lane; so out of the blue and yet consistent.
Hell– before there was the iconic Homer Simpson ever aired, there were a series of strips that eventually were turned into a series of books by Simpsons creator Matt Groening called Life is Hell, Love is Hell, etc. that I related to greatly.
Ice cream– the good kind. when I was a kid, my mom bought the store brand. Now, I can taste the difference between the good stuff and the crap.
Jennings, the late Peter. As a result of the death of my favorite newsperson of recent years, ABC News is doing a month-long series called “Quit to Live”, aimed at understanding the tobacco consumption phenomemon from a variety of angles.
Kelley, David E.– his quirky shows, from Picket Fences to Boston Legal, have entertained, and occasionally infuriated me. He’s married to

this woman, for which I imagine he is thankful.
Librarians are wonderful people.
Massage– I need to get another one soon. One of life’s great pleasures.
New York-it’s a schizo state: upstate/downstate tensions with Long Island in both camps, oddly shaped. My sense is that most people think only of the buildings of New York City, but we’ve got farms in this state.
Oscar night- I can enjoy it even when I’ve seen few of the films. Watch it more on tape these days.
Pasta– as my old pappy, the great Italian chef Leslio Verdi, once said, “It’s all in the sauce.” You cook it it a LONG time. For instance, the sauce for lasanga should be cooked for at least four hours on the stove BEFORE it goes in the oven.
“Question authority”– whoever came up with THAT one got it right, especially these days.
Racquetball -sport of the gods.

Saturn– my favorite planet. When I was about nine, my father painted the solar system on my bedroom ceiling. One of the coolest things he ever did for me.
TiVo and other technologies that make life easier.
Utopia: It’s good to have a vision of what’s better than what we have.
Valentine, Saint. It’s not so much the hearts and flowers and chocolate and cards that I appreciate; it’s that there was a person (or persons) who lived whose loving acts now mean that the very name can inspire the giving of hearts and flowers and chocolates and cards.
Weather-we have it here in Albany. We’ve had snow, followed by 70 degree weather this fall, then rain. It’s beginning to snow today. It ain’t always 72 and sunny, and that’s good. “Builds character,” I’ve been told.

X-Men comics– not so much for the comics themselves, though I enjoyed them well enough at the time. When I sold the bulk of my collection, the increased value of X-Men 94-150 and GS 1 made it worthwhile to get rid of. I lived on that money for a couple months. (Comic cover courtesy of Comic Covers.)
Young, Neil – with and without his various compatriots.
Zen– I don’t practice it, but I’m glad some folks do.

Another dream I had was one in a series I call the Television Episode Continuation or TEC dream. This involves watching a TV show just before I go to bed and the story from the show continues, this time with me in it. This used to happen a lot when I used to watch “Cagney and Lacey,” for some reason, usually the domestic stuff between Harvey and Mary Beth Lacey. Last night, I watched a taped episode of “Commander-in-Chief” from about a month ago, and I found myself inside Mac’s White House, discussing strategy about the Russians. It’s only the third time I’ve seen the show, and while I like it well enough, it’s not my favorite show or anything.

If I were casting my life story, Geena Davis would definitely play my wife. Carol’s hair is darker, but they are both very tall. That doesn’t explain, though the TEC phenomenon.

When it was first connected, on September 6, it was SO fast, much faster than the dial-up we’ve been suffering with for the past two or three years. I was a happy camper.

Then one day about a month ago, there was an invasion so virulent that not only did it slow down my Internet connection, I couldn’t even open Word documents or games. So I disconnected the RR connection, and got some McAfee software. But trying to rehook the Internet connection failed for reasons that are beyond my Luddite capacities.

Ultimately, I had to get my old friend Mark (not to be confused with co-worker Mark) to come up to Albany from down near New Paltz to try to fix the problem. His quick fixes showed that I had at least nine spyware attachments and one virus, but it didn’t solve the problem, and he ended up having to wipe my hard drive and reloading Windows and other software, plus anti-spyware protection, virus protection, and a firewall.

The cool thing is that I got to see him and his wife and daughter, and we all went out to a Middle Eastern restaurant for a fabulous meal.