My Idea of Housework

Mpls Sprints 2008 - 2x

Lake Nokomis

June 14, 2008

Jeanette and Me
MW2x

Seeds v. Seeds

For some strange reason, I don't mind eating these little white seeds:

...but can't stand these other ones (and, therefore, they must be picked, cut or spit out, at whatever cost): (By the way, aren't watermelons supposed to be seedless nowadays, anyway? Just because they're white, doesn't make the seeds nonexistent.)

Unacceptable Ways to Tell Your Lawyer He's Fired

I think the #1 reason is: Punch him in the face in the courtroom.

A quote from the story on Revelle Loving, the man who punched out his defense lawyer in between the verdict and sentencing for killing his ex-girlfriend (and mother of his child) and her new boyfriend:

"Attacks on defense attorneys are not common, but they do occur. Last month, the state Court of Appeals rejected an appeal for a new trial from a St. Louis County man who punched his defense lawyer repeatedly in the face. The court ruled the man gave up his right to counsel and he went on to unsuccessfully represent himself."

In this case, Loving's (seriously, that's his name? Loving?) lawyer, William Selman, continued to represent him through the end of sentencing, saying "I'm an ex-hockey player." I guess he can take his lumps. However, when Selman said, "We're disappointed in the jury's verdict. We respect their decision. We just disagree with the verdict," I don't know know how anyone could take him seriously.

I don't understand the mentality of these criminals, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by someone who had killed the mother of his child in cold blood thinking it would be a good idea to hit his own defense lawyer in a court house, or doing it without thinking of the consequences. That's probably what got them in trouble in the first place - insanely thinking they are above the law (I mean, seriously: check out this guy's mug shot - talk about a smirk), or just letting their rage take over.

Loving fired an AK-47 numerous times into the parked car where his ex and her new boyfriend were sitting, killing them (with his brother Ronelle Loving's help). And then he has the audacity to say to their four-year-old daughter through the court (since she's in foster care currently), "I love you and miss you. Sorry Daddy can't be with you. Sorry your mother can't be with you, but, you know, life goes on."

Life goes on? It would've gone on for the little girl's mother, too, if he hadn't killed her.

The story goes on to say Loving's ex-girlfriend planned to try to get a restraining order against him, who had twice been charged with assaulting her. But she was killed the day before her court appointment, the prosecutor said. I hate to say it, but even if she had gotten the restraining order, it probably would not have stopped him. Paper cannot stop guys like these.

Frontenac State Park Pics

My friend, Kim, and I are going to be hiking around Mont Blanc in Europe this fall. We decided some training is in order (besides the rowing we both do a lot of). We may not have the altitude, but we do have a bit of river bluff around here on which to hike. So, off we went on Sunday with another friend, and the three of us traversed the muddy Frontenac State Park down in Red Wing. It was overcast, horribly humid in the torrential-downpours-are-imminent kind of way, and everything was very muddy, but we had a great time. We were probably a sight to behold when we went out to eat after the hike was over with, but they still served us (miraculously).

Frontenac State Park Pics, Part II

Sunday, June 8, 2008
Frontenac State Park
Red Wing, MN

Quote of the Moment

"The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." -Abraham Lincoln

Soundtracks

I can understand going to a movie, or maybe even watching a TV show, and really loving the music - enough so to purchase the soundtrack or a song or two from iTunes. But this? I don't know what to say about this. Add to it the fact that both of these $18+shipping CD's are currently out of stock...Hmm.

Who ARE the people who buy this stuff?

At least the "Official Party Survival Kit" appears to have real songs on it. The original soundtrack has titles like "Buzzed," "Mud Bath," and "Tally the Vote." Talk about retarded.

(I only ever realized that these exist because my Pandora station played a song from this also-ridiculous CD, which IS currently in stock if you wanted a copy of it, and then I got sucked into searching out reality television show soundtracks.)

Movies

Lately I've seen a few movies. I don't really have anything that brilliant to say about any of them, but have a comment or two on them.

Saw the new Narnia movie last week. I thought it was quite nice, and I was entertained. It seems so rare that you can watch a movie coming out of Hollywood (even Disney - especially Disney?) that actually warms your heart because it is morally good. This one does just that.


This week I took in The Darjeeling Limited with Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. I'm all for a good, independent film, but this one fell a bit short - it's a dark comedy, but a little shy on the comedy and little too heavy on the bizarre. I really had to laugh every time I saw Bill Murray, though. His very short scenes were fantastic, and I wish he'd been in more of them.


Then over the weekend, I saw Enchanted with my parents when we were killing an hour or two. Loved Amy Adams; the rest of the movie, I could've done without. My dad started falling asleep, and my mom kept asking me for the first ten minutes, "Are you SURE this isn't a cartoon?" That pretty much sums it up.


I'm sure to see many more as I catch up on my flicks - I miss, oh, 4 or 5 months of everything Hollywood offers during session. I'm ok with that.

Jesus Walked on Water; These Guys Don't Exactly Come Close

Some days when I'm out on the Mississippi River killing fish and having a bad practice, I'll just have to remember these guys:


Men's quad at the Mayor's Cup, May 10, 2008
Narragansett
(Thanks, Amanda.)

Ethanol

I know this is ridiculous, but every time I hear about ethanol production and using corn biproducts as fuel for your car, I always picture in my head a substance that closely resembles corn syrup.

As Time Goes (Swiftly? Shockingly?) By

I realized a li'l while back that it's been ten years since I graduated from high school. To reinforce the idea that I'm getting older (though tend not to feel like it), I went to a graduation party yesterday afternoon for a girl for whom I used to babysit. And I believe there were a few piano lessons in there, as well. In a couple weeks, I will attend another such graduation party, for another young person I spent a lot of time with when he was a lot smaller. (Good thing I'm tall - at least their chances of outgrowing me are greatly lessened.)

This weekend we actually had very nice weather...in between bouts of hail and thunder and the random torrential downpour (nearly all of which seemed to take place on Saturday evening in my neck of the city's woods). Very strange. Saturday morning was nice, and I went over to the Guthrie for a backstage tour, which I enjoyed very much, and learned a lot of stuff about the history of the theater company.

We then ate here (where I had something extremely unusual and quite tasty: polenta fries), and then walked across this bridge (all those lovely stone arches), where I saw the locks and dams and Nicollet Island and this other bridge being built (you might have heard of this one a bit, oh, last August; they're ahead of schedule, and if they stay on the current track, it'll reopen in September).