Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Windy day
I was running the a/c fan over the weekend. Took it out of the window yesterday just before a rain-wind storm arrived from the south, blowing & rattlng against that window. The a/c was on almost constantly all summer, PSE&G was paid plenty for it. Still gusting out there.
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At the lab yesterday to leave a "sample." A man there born in 1923, I overheard. Small guy, staring at TV, smile on his face, I had to poke him when his name was called. Looked like he never worried about anything. Going half-deaf probably made no difference, he heard enough long ago.
I had a pal in high school, guitarist, his band practiced in his basement rec room. Also, his cute sister held court in a kitchen well-stocked with soda & chips. His mom jabbered loudly on the phone. It was practically an open house with all the teenagers wandering in & out & hanging around.
Meanwhile, dad sat placidly in an easy chair in the living room, long wire running from the TV to an earbud plugged into his left ear.
"How does your father stand the noise & chaos?" I asked.
"He's deaf in his right ear," said my friend.
***
Billionaire New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has his minions again stirring up talk about an independent presidential candidacy. This allows him to shrug off ambitions we know he has, which is supposed to make us believe he stands apart from (& above) petty partisan party divisions, & therefore we ought to beg him to rescue us by running for president, although he disdains the public mud wrestling this would require of him.
In the context of New York City, Bloomberg is, like him or not, a proven politician & a tough cookie. But Manhattan is one of the most provincial places in America, & no one from there is more provincial than a multi-billionaire who travels the world in luxury & brags about riding the subway to work. It's not hard to figure why he believes he could bend congress to his will the way he does New York's contentious City Council. Hubris.
***
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
***
At the lab yesterday to leave a "sample." A man there born in 1923, I overheard. Small guy, staring at TV, smile on his face, I had to poke him when his name was called. Looked like he never worried about anything. Going half-deaf probably made no difference, he heard enough long ago.
I had a pal in high school, guitarist, his band practiced in his basement rec room. Also, his cute sister held court in a kitchen well-stocked with soda & chips. His mom jabbered loudly on the phone. It was practically an open house with all the teenagers wandering in & out & hanging around.
Meanwhile, dad sat placidly in an easy chair in the living room, long wire running from the TV to an earbud plugged into his left ear.
"How does your father stand the noise & chaos?" I asked.
"He's deaf in his right ear," said my friend.
***
Billionaire New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has his minions again stirring up talk about an independent presidential candidacy. This allows him to shrug off ambitions we know he has, which is supposed to make us believe he stands apart from (& above) petty partisan party divisions, & therefore we ought to beg him to rescue us by running for president, although he disdains the public mud wrestling this would require of him.
In the context of New York City, Bloomberg is, like him or not, a proven politician & a tough cookie. But Manhattan is one of the most provincial places in America, & no one from there is more provincial than a multi-billionaire who travels the world in luxury & brags about riding the subway to work. It's not hard to figure why he believes he could bend congress to his will the way he does New York's contentious City Council. Hubris.
***
Labels: Elizabeth NJ, weather
