McDeevers Tavern |
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A chronicle of your typical 30-ish suburban family.
Neil - Dad. Works for a big ol' company run by old white men with deep pockets. Send mail to Neil Sarah - Mom. Stays at home. Tries to keep kid and house clean and orderly. Succeeds admirably with both! Ethan - First kid. Now 20 months old. Wonderful kid. The apple of our eyes! Baby #2 - Expected Time of Arrival: July 1st.
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Monday, August 04, 2003
Lots of Updates!! HUGE HUGE HUGE Update! Benjamin Theodore was born on July 15th at 12:22am at Abington Memorial Hospital. He was 22 inches long and probably tested the scale's strength at 10lbs 2oz. He's doing well these days. Last night, he slept about 6 hours and gave mom and dad some much needed uninteruppted sleep! Ethan gets along pretty well with Ben. Sometimes he doesn't realize that Ben can't play with heavy books or toys so we've moved many of the heaviest toys to the basement or the garage to reduce the risk that Ethan will hurt Ben by mistake. Definitely can't leave them alone together. Note to self: add Ben to the family roster on the left side of the screen. Blogger, unfortunately, does not support images so I'll need to figure out a place to put the pictures. Stay tuned. Da Fire, boss, da fire! Tonight, I realized a lifelong dream that I've always had. When I was younger, I always kind of felt that it was a pipe dream or a fantasy that a deaf person could be a firefighter. I always loved the idea that I could hop on the back of the truck as it was leaving the station and provide a real, tangible benefit for the community I live in. After some inquiries at my local fire department, they were more than willing to let me join. Even if I'm not 100% comfortable at this point doing interior work (worst nightmare is that someone else gets hurt or worse because I couldn't hear them); they're more than willing to help me find a role I feel comfortable with. During my research into the fire service, I realized that doing other work around the fire department, whether it be running hoses from the truck to the hydrant, helping with fireground safety, or even helping the hose guys stay on the ground; it's all honorable work. Ok.. now stop bugging me to update the blog! :) Thursday, June 12, 2003
Horror of Horrors!!! Sarah and I have been quite despondent these past few weeks. No no no.. nothing so serious like losing a job, having your house burned down, or stubbing your big toe. Rather, it seems our local supermarket has discontinued Newman's Own Parmesiano Italiano salad dressing. While this may not seem like a big deal compared to, say, stubbing one's toe; it DOES prevent us from really enjoying our salads with a creamy dressing that has just the perfect twang of roasted garlic and peppercorns. *sigh* Interweb Famosity (I saw this line somewhere and can't remember where... lo muy siento!) This past weekend, I was talking with Jon Mitchiner of Minotaur Technologies, LLC fame and he mentioned that he's been reading the blog as well. While we were talking about blogs, we both realized we enjoy the dullness of the dullest blog ever published. Personally, I think the May 15th entry is the best: Earlier on I heard something that I wanted to remember. I found a pen and wrote it down on a piece of paper. If I need to be reminded of the information at any point I will find the piece of paper and read it. Almost zen-like in its execution, no? I believe I enjoy this blog because it proves that somewhere out there, someone leads a duller life than I do. Kind of like watching COPS. Check out the redneck getting busted by Sheriff Brown and getting his head slammed against the cruiser hood after saying, "the drugs y'all found in mah pawket ain't mine... I's carrying dem fo' my buddy Billy Jim Bob!" All of a sudden, your problems seem quite trivial, right? Thursday, June 05, 2003
Ahh.. that was the name of the place! Don't you hate it when you've eaten at a really great place and you forget the name of it? While we were in California, we ate at a superb (at least I thought so..) mexican place in Oakland but I couldn't remember the name of it. Thanks to our hosts, the restaurant's name is Dona Tomas. If you're ever in the area, simply go. Blogs blogs and more blogs.. There are a few blogs I check on a regular (ok.. daily) basis. Here's my list. Please note that some of them may offend puritanical sensibilities. Blackcore - My buddy Tim from college. Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it reminds me of what life in DC was like. A Girl Named Bob - I have NO idea how I found this site. It has this "Sex and the City" feel to it but the person who writes for the blog does it so darn well that it's my own version of reality TV. AllTooFlat.com - This isn't strictly a blog site (humor-oriented?) but there are 4 "blogs" on the site that are also extremely well-written and also funny at times. They got a lot of attention a few months ago because they host a neat program called Elgoog. It's the popular Google search engine but they display it all backwards. Cool. I have more but the URL's are at work. (shhhh...) Will post them later. Monday, May 26, 2003
Promises Made, Promises Kept... I said we've been busy and I wasn't lying. Here's why: 30th Birthday Party: Sarah hosted a 30th birthday party for me with many family members and friends in attendance. It was really great seeing many of my relatives here in PA. I also enjoyed a late-evening poker party with the guys. It was the first time I was completely blown out of the water. My earlier criticism of the differences between PA and DC/MD poker players still stands. Go West, Young Man! Sarah and I spent a week out in the Bay Area visiting our friends Rob and Wendy. It was fortituious timing for all involved. Rob just got a job in Sioux Falls, SD at CSD after a 6 month down-time after his last contract expired. He took advantage of the well-toned muscles yours truly to get lots of grunt work done. Their house is up for sale so if you're in the market for a nice home in the San Francisco area, give them a ring. Their place was beautiful. We enjoyed the change of scenery and took advantage of their superb babysitting skills to enjoy a night out in Oakland's Ridgemont district. We ate at Crepevine; which is a crepes place where you can get sweet and savory crepes. Sarah had italian-style crepes and I think I had some egg-stuffed crepes with apple-smoked sausage. Good stuff. Later that week, we ate at a GREAT mexican place. Dammit, tho. I can't remember the name of it. When I remember, I'll post it again. Good true mexican food. Sunday, May 25, 2003
I've heard this several times already! If you ever want to be made to feel like scum of the earth, lower than Mephistopheles, or worse than a democrat appearing on Fox News; then start your own blog. People will crucify you if god forbid, you don't post on a regular basis. been very busy lately. I promise I'll make time tomorrow to post updates! Friday, April 18, 2003
Birfday, birfday! Sarah gave me a very nice birthday gift on Tuesday. She paid for Mark D. and myself to play racquetball for 2 hours at her club. Afterwards, we went to a tavern down the street, had a cheesesteak dinner (You say: "first you exercise THEN you eat the greasiest sandwich known to man?" I say: "So?") and watched part of the Phillies game. Just a great evening out and a great way to remind yourself how many muscles you've ignored in your back, your legs and your shoulders. On the birthday itself; Sarah and I dropped Ethan off at her mom's place and went to Maggiano's in KOP. Good food. Looking forward to easter good eats this weekend. Providence & Boston This past weekend, Sarah and I took a trip to Providence and Boston. Meghan and Jim were great hosts and even better babysitters! I can't tell you how much reading I was able to do thanks to their expertise! Actually, when we arrived on Friday, Ethan only slept for an hour during the 6 hour trip up (lots of traffic) so he was already very very cranky. He didn't like the dogs (Meg and Jim have two: Maggie and Yankee) and every time Yankee walked close to him, he started bawling. He went to bed that night around 8 or so and went right to sleep. On Saturday, he seemed to be much more comfortable with the dogs but still somewhat shy. Meghan and Jim showed us around Brown U, where Meghan works and their new house as well. It's a beautiful single family home near a really good hotdog joint called "Spike's Junkyard Dogs". Great selection of hot dogs and the dogs themselves are really good. Later on Saturday, we left Ethan in Meghan and Jim's capable hands and drove north to Boston. Kevin was excited to see us. While his living quarters are very nice, I think the boys would be wisely advised to spring for some kind of cleaning service to come to their place and do some cursory cleaning in the common areas. Of course, these ARE college boys so one cannot expect too much. We then took the T to BU and walked around their campus. A nice campus. Kevin forgot to bring his 1st film to show us but he said if he has time, he'll try to transfer it to videotape. We then took the T to the Museum of Fine Arts and cooled our heels (literally) while waiting for the film to start. The movie is "Touching Lives: Portraits of Deaf/Blind People" and required for Kevin's class. The movie was a nice movie. Sarah and I both felt it seemed to be more about the woman who produced the film and her deaf-blind siblings (who declined to be interviewed on film) than the deaf-blind people she actually profiled. We ate dinner at a tex-mex place down the street from where Kevin lived. This kind of "experience" really made me wish at times that I lived off-campus while I was at Gallaudet. Actually, the portions at this restaurant were so good that Sarah and I were full by the half-way mark. We donated the leftovers to Kevin's roommates. (Some of these guys definitely need to eat more than Ramen noodles every day..) On Sunday, we were delighted to see Ethan so comfortable with the dogs that he was spontaneously giving Yankee hugs. Maggie didn't seem to care much for Ethan getting too close to him so she and Ethan didn't share many fleas. Jim had to work on a report he's submitting so Meghan, Sarah, Ethan and I all went to the Providence Zoo. It was really nice there. They had a much bigger selection than the $8 entry fee would suggest. Ethan saw penguins, seals, zebras, elephants, and more. Like our experience at the aquarium, we think he was more excited to be out of the house and running around than seeing these different animals. He was visibly more excited chasing a squirrel than seeing a zebra. After the zoo, we went to a sandwich place on the Brown U campus. It was a beautiful day on Sunday (mid 50's and sunny). We spent the rest of the day at Meghan and Jim's decompressing and getting our lazy bones ready for the long trip home. On the way home, we made VERY good time. We left Providence at 8am and got home by 12:45. There was no traffic at all anywhere on the whole trip (of course, driving a few mph over the speed limit helps). Wednesday, April 16, 2003
He who knoweth not the blog-eth, shalt not complain-eth Yes. My own personal arch-nemesis, Lloyd has been bugging me yet again about my lack of updates to the blog. I am guilty as charged. However I asked him if he knows what Blogging really is about: NeilMcD [8:28 PM]: so when are you gonna put up your own blog? LLindley2 [8:28 PM]: i aint NeilMcD [8:28 PM]: you ain't? LLindley2 [8:28 PM]: cuz am too blunt and would offend the sensitive, backstabbing, gossiping folks NeilMcD [8:29 PM]: actually a blog is great for that shit.. NeilMcD [8:29 PM]: if someone accuses you of being a gossip, just tell them that you're not gossiping behind their backs.. NeilMcD [8:29 PM]: you're actually making it plain what you think of so-and-so right in their faces. LLindley2 [8:30 PM]: nah...better not.... cuz will cause problems on my end and etc..... NeilMcD [8:30 PM]: awww.... So obviously Lloyd doesn't know how much sweat, blood, toil, and tears go into this. I have lots of updates regarding our recent trip to Providence. However, I sent a really good e-mail to my folks describing the trip so I will just post that instead (it's at work. I'll post it tomorrow). Monday, March 31, 2003
Thanks for your concern... Some people have asked me how I'm doing today. I'm much better. The dressing is off and only some big TOUGH-STRIPS from band-aid bandages are covering the blisters and they don't hurt at all. However, Percocet is the devil's work! The informational sheet they gave you with this strong narcotic painkiller says that you should take this after eating and should drink plenty of water and eat lots of fiber. Well, ol' dumb-ass here (that would be me) did exactly the opposite: he didn't drink a lot of water and he ate mostly junk food thanks to two days of parties ("Spring Break" party at the office, and Mom Ruth's b-day brunch on Saturday) meant on Saturday afternoon, I was popping veins in places I didn't even know *had* veins. Thanks to water, fiber, and other substances, my gastrointestinal tract is on its way back to normal. Let this be a lesson to me that I have and will continue to learn and forget: RTFM! Friday, March 28, 2003
Dammit. It's been one of those days. You get socked at work. Finished the crappy task they gave you 5 minutes before you leave. Spend time with Ethan (always the highlight of my day). Cook dinner. Absentmindedly put pot lid on a burner thats still going. Burn hand. Spew stream of half-completed expletives and place hand in water. Ponder for a moment if you should call Sarah for professional medical consult. She says go to ER. Call Colby and get thee to aforementioned ER. Wait 1 hr for doctor (record time!). Get burn cream and hand wrapped up. Get two pills of percocet (SCORE!). Get home. Eat dinner you burned your hand on. Take percocet and go to bed. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ I'm typing this at work with my pinky finger on my left hand and with full use of my right hand. It's not too bad. you get used to it after 10 minutes but i can't help but feel as though my left hand has cerebal palsy. My left hand has blisters running across the thumb and three fingers (index to ring). Dr said i need to change the wrapping tonight and keep it on one more day. Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Blog of the day http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/ Some people feel that the US news media is overly focused on the US military (their wins/losses/casualties/etc.) and not on the Iraqi civilian population. The folks at Blogger.com (they own this gig) have highlighted the blog of an Iraqi civilian in Baghdad who has been posting his observations throughout the military campaign. Some people have said they thought his blog was actually some kind of CIA dis-information mechanism. However, some people (with entirely way too much time on their hands) have done some research and concluded that he is most likely the real thing. I thought it was fascinating to hear that arab radio broadcasts when B-52 bombers take off from their base and how they just go about their normal routine for 6 hours and then start keeping their eye on the nearest bomb shelter (because it take exactly 6 hours for the bombers to arrive). In any case, the blog is a great view from the other side. Monday, March 24, 2003
OK. Since I promised to expound on my thoughts regarding various issues, here's where I keep that promise: What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing.... For the record: I support the men and women in uniform. This is not meant as a Michael Moore-ish "Stupid White Men" rant. Some people have the idea that criticizing the war means you're either not patriotic or anti-military. Far from it. Sarah has a cousin who serves aboard the USS Tarawa and I know he would kick my ass at the next Ruth family gathering. The reason for our current quagmire is simple: The Congress of the United States has shirked its Constitutional duties and given the President carte blanche to wage war and infringe on our civil rights. I do believe this situation is only made possible by that singular event that occurred a year and a half ago. The 9/11 attacks exposed how divided Congress was (which is normally a good thing) and allowed a previously weak Executive branch the opportunity it needed to grab more power. I still have faith in our system. Historically, there has always been a "pendulum" of power between the Executive and Legislative branches. One could say that during the Civil War, World War II, Reagan's term and the current crisis, the pendulum was firmly in the Executive's court. During Reconstruction, the 1910's and 20's, the period after Nixon's presidency and during Clinton's presidency, the pendulum swung back into the Legislative sphere of influence. You could also argue that the Judiciary has exerted its pull on this "pendulum" as well. The Dredd Scott decision (allowing freed slaves to be recaptured without due process), Plessy v. Ferguson (permitting separate but equal segregation of the races), Brown v. Board of Ed, and Roe v. Wade have all left HUGE imprints on our country's history. Rambling a bit here (sorry), but my point is this: Congress *is* wrong in being "yes" men to the President. The Democrats and Republicans both have the responsibility of debating (per Sen. Byrd's speech), questioning the Administration regarding the cost of the war (something they've failed to do and something Bush keeps avoiding), and safeguarding individual civil liberties. Workin' for a livin'.... I had a job interview at my company for a position that would do the following: - Organize volunteer activities for co-workers - Introduce producers to each other to foster cross-marketing opportunities (eg. real estate to insurance agents, etc..) - Prepare reports regarding the revenue these cross-marketing efforts bring in It would be a promotion for me and it seems like a job I would really enjoy. *keeping my fingers crossed!* PITA Part Two.... Remember my rant about the performance review? Turns out that I wasn't being evaulated against my co-workers (the folks I work closely with). Rather, I was being evaluated against ALL of the programmers at my company who were at the same level as me. This kinda-sorta resolves some concerns but it still bothers me that I could do a job worthy of a '5' but only get a 3 because they can only give out so many 4's and 5's within a certain group. While I'm glad just to HAVE a job in this uncertain economy, it'd be nice to actually be paid for the work you put in, you know? Oh, and Christy hasn't been voted off yet. Deaf people are complaining left-and-right about her not using ASL. I don't care. I'm not like the rest of you mindless freaks who have to watch "reality shows" to escape reality. 'duh' Thanks again to Lloyd who never fails to remind me how I shirk my duty to update this page on a regular basis. I have plenty of thoughts about the following things: The war A possible new job Performance Reviews Survivor Etc. I just need the time to put these thoughts into coherent form. Thanks! Tuesday, March 04, 2003
Performance Reviews are a PITA: A major rant from Neil That's right. It's performance review time at work. That means that your pay and bonus for a whole year is determined at one moment in time in February when a a month and a few days have gone by since the previous year ended. Let's review: My company has a bonus system that is built into your total compensation package (duh). The bonus is determined by algorithms and mathematical formulas devised by Cray supercomputers and guys from MIT with advanced mathematics degrees. The major factor for any person at this company rests on one number: A number between 1-5 on their performance review. If you get a 1, you're pond scum and you're going to be collecting unemployment soon. Bonus? Ha! If you're a 3, you're average and you get a small bonus. If you're a 5, you're going to be putting down serious money on a down payment for the new Maybach soon. In 2001, I was still getting my "sea legs" with Lotus Notes and figuring out how to do whatever it was I needed to do. For that effort, I received the rating of '4' and a pretty good bonus. In 2002, with 3 years of experience in my belt, I really started cranking out Lotus Notes databases; finishing my projects early or on time, supporting two major databases, AND dealing with all the uncertainty of being merged with another area, then reverting back to our old area, then re-merging with a different area and each time, being told that my big butt is in line for possible layoffs. Still, I'm getting work done and getting it done right. And what do they give me? 3. I've been fuming on this since they gave me the review a few weeks ago. Last night, I sat down at the table, put out the 2001 review and compared it with the 2002 review and listed everything out on paper. (as you saw above). In any case: I have a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor on Thursday. I've already sent her a nice e-mail outlining my concerns above and asking how I can avoid such a lousy rating in the future. She said: "You didn't do anything wrong. I'll tell you more on Thursday." So my annoyance and fuming has to wait two more days. Great. I'll probably be an stark raving, unshaven, unclean, profanity-spewing mad lunatic by then. If you see a guy on Chestnut street in a few weeks muttering about getting three'd, please give him (me) money for some coffee. Monday, March 03, 2003
Losers Ball Thanks to Lloyd who keeps bringing up the fact that I have not updated this page in 12 days. As a sign of my appreciation, I gave him about 2 dollars of my money at a poker game held at Teck's house. I've also posted his e-mail address so you can tell him how much you appreciate his nagging skills. Poker: Not for the faint of heart... As usual, we started off with a $5/person pot and 5-cent ante for each game. Here's a few observations: Pennsylvania vs. the District For some reason, the DC people cleaned most of us out. I left the game with only $2.25 in my pocket and the DC folks left with probably a collective $16.25 in theirs. I attribute this to three things: 1- They're more experienced than we are. They've been playing these games for the past several years. We just started a month ago. 2- They keep throwing out new games. This was my one pet peeve of the evening. Instead of letting us really get used to the games they've introduced, they kept introducing a new "twists" into the games. This is great to avoid getting bored with the same game (see # 3) but it makes it more difficult for newbies to really understand the nuances of the game that was just introduced. (You also spend more time explaining the "twist" than you do actually playing it!) 3- The Pennsylvania people have no creativitity. These guys kept doing 5D7 or 5D8 (translation: 5 card draw, 7's Wild or 5 card draw, 8's wild) and THAT gets boring the third time around. I can chalk it up to learning the game but the third or fourth time you say 5D7 gets to be boring. Cable: Fun and Easy! Colby helped me out on Saturday for an hour trying to get the cable wired from one side of the living room to the other (previously, it was stapled around the baseboards and doorframe in the true college dorm fashion). Had no problem getting the cable hooked up thanks to finding a connector where the main cable line came into the house. I had already cut a hole in the wall for the plate that would hold the cable coaxial connector and Colby was drilling from the basement up to the first floor. We'd already measured out where he needed to drill and were confident that we'd get it right. He started feeding the cable through and I was groping in the wall hole (that didn't come out right, did it?) and wondering where the heck is this thing? After Colby came up to help figure out what was going on, we realized he'd actually drilled a hole into the floor of the living room RIGHT UNDER the entertainment center. Apparently, the basement walls are actually 2 inches SMALLER than the living room walls so there is literally NO way to run a new wire from the basement to the first floor unless you don't mind it going through the floor. Since it looked and worked OK, we left it as is. Survivor Update After watching 10 minutes of the show while I was in Rochester, I can't even watch it. It's just a bunch of plain.... even the word synonomous with fecal matter and rhymes with "fit" doesn't adequately describe how BAD this show is. Sarah tells me that Christy went on a MAJOR *whine whine* "poor me!" *whine whine* hissy fit during the 2/20 episode but she was not featured heavily in last week's episode. Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Catching up... Lots of tidbits from my trip back from Rochester, the Storm of the Century (for 2003 anyway) and returning to work. Unidentified Man Drives 6 hours home, cites Javascript code The last day of class was kind of anti-climatic. Because the DIIT classes are funded by the United States government (National Science Foundation) they require a very intensive evaluation of the class. This sucked out almost 2 hours of the day. I really wished they had the evaluation on thursday after class was over. That way we could have covered more material on Friday. Some observations: 1. The class was great. I learned A LOT about not just javascript, but also LotusScript as well. The pace of the class and the ability to actually bounce ideas off the teacher/classmates was just outstanding. 2. The RIT Inn was a nice place to sleep and set up base. However, the hotel is also being used as an "overflow dormitory" meaning that there were many students in the building. This wasn't bad in itself, but that meant the services the Inn provided were really college-level services. We didn't have a full-service restaurant (it was like a small cafeteria) and the "bar" was just an empty space where you could only play a pool game or darts. No service provided there. 3. When you're sitting in a class for 5 days doing coding exercises, you start thinking in code. var daydream = "rich and famous; for (brain = dead) { do.daydream } else { do.work } Very disconcerting especially when you're spending 6 hours driving home all by yourself. Calm before the storm? Sure! We've been spoiled in the Northeast these past few winters. When the forecast calls for 6 inches, we automatically assume it'll actually be 4 inches. So when the forecast called for 16+ inches, I assumed it would just be a few inches and we'd be done and over with. Ha! By the time Monday rolled around, we'd gotten about 20 - 23 inches of snow (can't really tell at my place because of wind drifts, etc.) And just to think, I went to the store on Saturday and didn't bother getting extra food for the snow-bound days. Needless to say, we survived on leftovers from saturday's dinner and frozen pizza on Monday. Shoveling is the devil's work (or it should be.) When monday morning came and I looked at the huge pile outside the front door, the first words I muttered to myself cannot be reproduced in a forum viewed by family members. After trudging through the messy garage, I finally opened the door to reveal two things: 1. The snow is REALLY deep. 2. The shovels are next to the front door that is sealed shut because of snow. #@$#)@! This is what happened next: Trudging through calf-high snow to the shovels, then starting to shovel. Gave up after 30 minutes of shoveling and only getting as far as the first car. Called Colby and berated his choice of using automated snow removal machines and possibly calling his masculinity into question. Going out shoveling again and wondering if masculinity is overrated. Colby stops by with his 4X4 Jeep and tells me if I help him load the snowblower, he'll come and help me finish up. Completly emasculated, I help load up the snowblower, do the McD driveway, do some neighbors driveways and then return the blower to the Teck household. Many mad mad props to Colby for offering and helping us do heavy-duty snow removal. A spot in heaven (or the jewish equivalant) has officially been reserved for him. Survivor Update: The women won the first immunity battle, meaning that the men had to kick off one of their testosterone-laden losers. I didn't see the episode but Sarah told me that Christy Smith noted how difficult it was for her to communicate with other members of her tribe. I just hope it doesn't be come *whine whine* "poor me!" *whine whine* Thursday, February 13, 2003
Update re: deaf Survivor The much-vaunted premiere is tonight. Here's hoping the networks realize what a ratings kick-in-the-pants it is when they feature deaf/blind/etc. people in their reality shows. Also, I asked the question earlier: Would Christy have an interpreter during the Survivor competitions/meetings? According to a recent deafdigest, they said no interpreter would be provided at all. Bummer. Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Cold. That's it. It's cold today. The kind of cold that sucks the air out of your lungs even though you're bundled up with gloves/hat/hooded jacket. It was 0 degrees this morning with 30 mph winds and 55 mph wind gusts along with two inches of new snow. The class is progressing along nicely. Not much else to report. Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Attack of the Mutant SUVs! Let me preface this by saying its COLD up here. It was 0 degrees outside when I woke up this morning. After a pretty windy snowfall yesterday, the good folks at the Rochester area DOT didn't bother plowing/salting the streets. Some of my classmates are in my hotel and they were taking the shuttle bus over from the hotel to the class. Since the buses only run once every half-hour, its easier for them if I give them a lift. While we were driving, I noticed the roads were VERY slippery so I didn't really even go over 30 mph the entire time. Once again, a mutant SUV passed me on the right. A few minutes later at the next traffic light, we saw the SUV had slid into the drivers side of a car sitting at the light. All occupants were OK and we continued on to the class. We ate dinner at a local restaurant yesterday. Thanks to Pru's expense account, I had steak au poivre and french onion soup. As we were receiving our orders, Sarah came online and told me she and Ethan were having hot dogs and mac and cheese for dinner. Great! Now I feel guilty about having a good meal while my wife and only begotten son are eating college eats! Then again, they're not out driving with the mutant SUVs. Sunday, February 09, 2003
Uh oh, he's thinking again... Expanding a bit on my earlier observation on the big Lexus SUV that got stuck: I called it "The poor man's revenge" because I wonder if it is the weapon by which the lower socioeconomic classes exert a type of revenge against the rich folks who buy these montrosities. In other words: we're all driving cheap Ford Focus cars (Focii?) in the same conditions as big Lexus and even though he probably spent 35 thousand dollars MORE on his car than Enterprise spent on my rental Focus, he STILL couldn't avoid getting stuck. Let this be a lesson to you: don't blog when you're tired! |