Fall Classic

Currently Reading: God Emperor Dune by Frank Herbert

Ok, I'm right back where I started with my reading list, at least where the Dune chronicles is concerned. I know, not much of a big announcement right? Just warming up, that's all. You'll have to cut me a little slack.

You see, as September starts to slip away, we're entering one of my favorite times of year: fall. Why fall? Well, the colors for one. I mean, how can you go wrong with all the great orange and red trees all over the place. Yes, there are lots of falling leaves and those leaves will have to be raked up. But not by me, which is another part of the attraction I suppose. Besides that, unlike the spring flowers which color my OTHER favorite season, the fall leaves do NOT leave me sneezing and coughing and wishing I was indoors.

And let's talk sports too because that's another big part of the season. You've got football for real now. The teams are starting to get their acts together, they're playing more like teams, they're not screwing up nearly as much as they were in pre-season. Of course, the games actually count now too, I've mentioned that in a previous blog. You've also got a HUGE array of weather to play football in this time of year. Out on the west coast and in the south, it's still warm if not downright HOT. On the sidelines you'll see those misting machines to cool down players between downs. But up north and back east, well the temperature is slowly dropping and pretty soon, during those night games especially, you'll start seeing long sleeve shirts, the sweatshirts, then jackets and coats and finally, my favorite, snow :-) Oh sure it's too early for snow right NOW, we probably won't start seeing that until November but we're close. You can feel it right around the corner. Just a little nip in the air, maybe a brisk wind from time to time. It's out there.

The baseball season is winding down now as well and the fall classic will start up in October. Looking at the standings, we'll probably see quite a few of the usual suspects in the playoffs. Who knows, we might even see another Yankees vs Red Sox series and those are always great. They're gearing up for one now in fact. Unfortunately it'll be played over the weekend and I'll be working so I doubt I'll get to see any of it. That's another thing I like about the playoffs. To maximize television exposure, they play most of their games at night when I'm off so I'll get to see them. Yes, I know, all you non-fans out there will complain about having to wait a little later for the new episodes of your favorite FOX shows and I can understand that. Just remember, this only happens once a year and hey, overall it means fewer repeats down the line right?

And let's not forget one of the HUGE attractions this time of year: fall temperatures! FINALLY we can shut off the air conditioners and open up the windows. Let the apartment air out a bit so it's not so stuffy. We can go out and enjoy our balcony and our lounge chairs out there and just watch things go by out in the parking lot. Dangerous to do that this time of year though, if you're prone to naps that is. You might just end up sleeping half the day away. I know I've felt like that the past few days.

September also means we've got to finish up the paperwork for the INS. I sent out an e-mail to a lot of people (most of whom read this blog anyway so you already know about it) asking them to write up a little letter telling the INS that yes, CC and I are still married and aren't faking it. It's all part of making sure you don't have people getting married JUST for the green card like they used to in the old days. Now you get a conditional green card for a few years then you can apply to have that condition removed. That's what we're doing now. Next step after that is citizenship for CC if she wants it. She says she's going to go for it but I told her she doesn't have to. It's not like we force it on anyone. I guess she really wants to vote. She's already been called for jury duty so she probably already feels like one of us (no, she didn't have to serve on a jury; she's not qualified under the rules due to her not being a citizen).

We're going to California in a few weeks too, that's sort of our anniversary present to each other. We're taking a nice short vacation and visiting some of her relatives in L.A. We're also going to DISNEYLAND! I could only get 5 days off though. Yes, we'd prefer a longer vacation but the salon can't afford for me to miss more than 5 days. It's just not possible. On the plus side though, it's probably better for us financially to only stay the 5 days. The longer we stay, the more money we spend, the less we have for the holidays and you know the holiday season gets more expensive every year.

I think I'm going to go outside and enjoy that fall weather for a little bit. Maybe have a nap on the balcony while I'm at it. This season only comes once a year you know :-)

The Delta Fair

Currently Reading: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Well now, if you've already seen CC's blog you know that we went to the Delta Fair on Sunday after I got off from work. Work, as you'll recall, was so very slow that day because of the holiday and I figured since I usually get out early on Sunday, that would be the best day to go visit the fair.

The fair itself is located just across the street from CC's office which is all of 5 minutes away from our apartment. If we REALLY wanted to, we probably could have just walked over there from the apartment but we'd have to cross a river and a cornfield to get there. Probably best that we drove instead. And, because we parked at CC's office, we didn't even have to pay for parking.

As far as the fair itself is concerned, it's pretty much like any other mid to large carnival you've ever been to. They have the usual assortment of vomit rides, rides that go around and around at high speeds with the sole purpose seeming to be to get you to throw up the over-priced hot dogs and sodas that you've eaten. Oh yes, and they have hot dogs and sodas naturally. I had a foot long corndog myself but here in Memphis for some reason they call them pronto pups. Guess they wanna feel different or something.

It reminds me of when I was working at the call center years back and we were doing a poll on the Mid-South Fair. One of the most popular reasons people went to the fair, one of the few things that got positive reviews across the board: pronto pups. Go figure.

Anyway, we had a pretty good time. CC said it was a little too carny for her which I got a kick out of. I mean, when was the last time you went to a fair or carnival and it WASN'T that way? Ok sure, you have your smaller, local carnivals which are better but when you start having the bigger rides and stuff, well you're in carny town.

We're actually stacking them back to back this year. The Delta Fair which I think just started up here in Memphis runs until the weekend. After that they'll be running the Mid-South Fair over in mid-town so all these people here will drive their carny trailers across town and set it up over there. Honestly, same people, same stuff, just more area on this side of town to set up so it doesn't look as big and doesn't feel NEAR as crowded.

One thing I did get a chuckle out of was the comparisons between the two in the paper. Most folks seemed to like that this new fair was over on this side of town mostly because it wasn't in a bad neighborhood and there was plenty of parking. Those are the big concerns at the other fair. The neighborhood just isn't that great and after dark you tend to get paranoid about things. Plus there have been a few gang-related incidents over at the other place too. And don't get me started on the lack of parking and the over-priced parking there. Everyone with a lot will be trying to rake in as much as 10 bucks a car just to park. It's crazy.

So, what did CC and I enjoy the most at the Delta Fair? Well here it is. Yes, that's right, we rode the mechanical bull. I went first. CC was a bit scared to go on but at the same time she kept telling herself she'd regret not taking advantage of the opportunity. So, I went first to get her going. That's me up on the bull there. I lasted quite a while thank you and that thing was bucking pretty good before I finally fell off. I lasted my 8 seconds that's for sure. I was a bit sore the next day though. Bruises on my thighs and my back hurts a bit but it was a LOT of fun.

And here's CC. I had some free time on Thursday so I thought I'd make HER bull ride pictures more interesting. Besides, she only took ONE of me :-)

And, so naturally I had to find some sort of video to bring all this together and wrap things up so we'll close with that 80's classic, I Wanna Be A Cowboy by Boys Don't Cry. Enjoy!

Just stuff on my mind.

Currently Reading: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

We've just passed Labor Day so that means Fall is right around the corner. I'm happy to say that the heat wave has also finally passed. In fact, last night it was actually cool enough for us to sleep WITHOUT using the window AC unit in the bedroom. Let's hope it stays that way. I've had enough of the heat for a while.

I had to work on Labor Day though. Nothing sinister about that, I just work on Mondays. It was REALLY dead. Kinda of makes me wonder why we bothered to open up. It's Labor Day right? That means those of us who LABOR aren't supposed to work. Somewhere along the way we got that all mixed up. Now it's the people who manage who get the day off along with all the office workers. But if you're tied to retail like I am, you probably had to go to work like it was any other Monday.

We're also coming up to the end of baseball season. Looks like there might be a little bit of action going into the final stretch. The Yankees and the Mariners were slugging it out for the wild card slot over in the American league so that might develop into something. We've still got plenty of time to go though for one of the leaders to have a major meltdown and change the playoffs. We'll just have to wait and see.

CC and I are going to see the Shaolin Warriors in November. There's a group that tours the country putting on a show and they'll be stopping here in Memphis. That's going to be a great one. Can't wait to see it. We've already got our tickets and the show is on a Sunday night so there won't be any problems with the schedule. CC will be back from her October training in Florida, it's well after our trip to California at the end of the month. Perfect :-)

Speaking of the California trip, we still haven't figured out all that we're going to do. We're for sure going to Disneyland and we'll be seeing CC's relatives but other than that, we're still open. I told CC I'd like to visit the beach at some point. It's been an awfully long time since I've seen the ocean from the ground. So at some point we'll stop by one of the beaches out there. What else? Who knows? We may not even decide until we actually get there.

Football season opens this week! WOO HOO! It'll be great to have the regular players back in for the whole game and the games will actually have some meaning again. On the other hand, it was nice being able to watch football from Thursday through Monday instead of just on Sunday and Monday. Maybe if the ratings were good they'll spread the schedule out a bit more. Then again, once the regular shows start popping up again on TV there probably won't be as much of a demand for fresh entertainment. We'll have to wait and see.

Oh yes, it's August

Currently Reading: Spook Country by William Gibson

So here we are, FINALLY almost through with August. I'm not seeing as many smoking thermometers in the little weather forecaster at the bottom of my Internet browser, the kids have mostly gone back to school now and I can only breathe through my nose at random intervals.

You see, no August would be complete without the annual flowering of the crepe myrtles. Oh yes, very pretty trees (or bushes if you keep them trimmed up short). Lots of pretty color variations. And they totally mess me up every year at this time. Actually, they're not flowering. They've BEEN flowering for a while now but whatever they do at the end of August, that's what messes me up. Popular trees here in Memphis. Two of them right in front of our building (one right under the window in the living room). Hate them damn things this time of year.

I got pulled back into high school week. Got a message from a guy I went to high school with about our 20 year reunion. There's a site up for it now and folks are posting pictures of what they're doing these days. The people who are there aren't particularly surprising, it's the people who AREN'T there that throws you. I look down the list of names and there are quite a few missing. Guess they've decided it's better to forgive and forget :-) It's either that or they just don't have time to mess around with things that happened 20 years ago. And there I will admit I have seen some creepy things at the site. There are some people who just can't seem to let go. 20 years gone by, LOTS of water under the bridge and they still can't let it go.

And speaking of water under the bridge, my high school flooded. Seriously, I saw the video of it. Lots of heavy rains down there in Texas and even though the area is on a low hill and there's plenty of drainage, still flooded. THAT'S how much rain they've been getting down there. It's the sort of season when you discover that your house is built in what USED to be a creek bed 100 years ago.

Anyway, I saw some of the local news video. The place hasn't changed much since I went there though I did notice some fresh paint on the lockers and the gym was a little more colorful. I heard they've built on to it at some point but they never showed the building from the outside so I have yet to see what that extension looks like. According to the newscaster, they had 4 and a half feet of water on the ground floor. Because of that, the school is closed, obviously, and everyone will be bussed over to the other high school in the district. Yeah, THAT'S going to be a really popular move.

All goes well at work though it's not going very consistently. On average it works out nice and even but what's been happening lately is one REALLY busy day followed by one really DEAD day. Sunday I had 9 dogs and was turning people away. Monday I had TWO dogs and I couldn't drag people in on a choke chain. That's just how it goes.

Ooo, allergy medication kicking in. Looks like it's time for me to veg out for a while. Enjoy!

PS: Almost forgot this . . .

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More Adventurous Than You Think

Currently Reading: Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

Now, over the years I have taken quite a few sarcastic remarks and assorted jibes about being a picky eater. The rumors aren't true. I'm actually not nearly as bad as people say but I have that reputation because some of the things I don't like are very popular. For example, seafood. I'm really not a big seafood eater. I just don't like it. I tend to refer to shrimp as critters and I've never been all that big on fish. I will eat some of it. I like tuna and salmon and from time to time I even eat eel but you'll never have to fight your way past me to get to the all-you-can-eat special at Red Lobster.

Just to give you some idea of what I WILL eat though, to give you some idea of how wrong that reputation is, this is what I had yesterday for lunch:

Keema Matar: minced lamb cooked with fresh green peas, tomatoes and herbed spices
Chicken Curry: traditional dish cooked with boneless chicken, onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and curry spices
Aloo Matar: potatoes and green peas cooked with onion and tomatoes mildly spiced
Chana Masala: garbanzo beans with ginger in a specially spiced sauce

Plus rice and some sort of appetizer that I can't find on the menu but seems to be a sort of samosa. If you guessed we were eating out, you guessed right. You may have also figured that we were eating Indian food again. Yes, CC and I hit the lunch buffet yesterday at Bombay House, our favorite Indian restaurant here in town.

Bombay House is one of the places I will certainly miss when we move to Nashville. Everything I've had there has been good, EVERYTHING. Better still, we've been going there for maybe a year and a half now and nothing has changed. The food is still just as good now as it was when we first started going there. We've been to one other Indian place that's also popular but I didn't like it nearly as much. The quality of food just wasn't the same.

So, if you're feeling like something a little different, trek on over to Bombay House. Some of the dishes are spicy but I haven't had anything that's been too hot to eat. Spicy, in the good sense of the word :-)

I picked up the latest from William Gibson yesterday. He's the guy who's credited for coining the term cyberspace. Great author. Writes really complex stuff. Unfortunately, like a lot of really great authors he doesn't write quickly. He's not the type to churn out a new novel every year or every two years for that matter. It's not uncommon to go three our four years between novels, which makes them all the more enjoyable.

His subjects tend to be tech related. The only question is how far into the future (or in one case the past) he's going. His first big trilogy was set in a very high tech future. One of his short stories is the basis for the movie Johnny Mnemonic. You may have seen that one. It pops up on cable from time to time.

Not sure where and when this latest one takes place but I seem to recall it being set in the near-future. His previous one was also set in the near future and I've yet to find out if the two are related. His first three were, so were the second three so it makes sense that some minor character from Pattern Recognition will show up as a major character in this one and will carry over into a third. That seems to be his MO.

But before I get to reading that one, I've got to finish Children of Dune. And after I read the Gibson book, I'll likley head back to Arrakis for God Emperor which will bring me back to where I started some time earlier this year. And from there? Who knows. There are two novels due out in the fall that I have on my short list so I may have some more fresh material to work with soon.

Incidentally, the second of those awful Dune books is out now. It's a freaky attempt to link the whole Dune saga together with the really awful prequel and sequel novels that Frank Herbert's son has been doing. You'd think he'd have learned from the whole Chris Tolkien thing. Never mess with someone else's fictional mythos, even if it was created by your own family. Resist the temptation to try and build on that because it won't work. It would have been better if he'd taken all his ideas and just set them WAY WAY in the future. Use the same fictional world if he wants, just don't try and link up with the past like that. It always bites you in the ass.

Still hot here in the south. I'm seeing forecasts for today ranging from 104 to 107. Tomorrow it's going to cool down a bit. It'll only be 101. Then we get a MAJOR rush of cold air, dropping it all the way down to 96 on Saturday. I remember something like this happening in 2000, about the same time of year too. I was in Manila at the time visiting CC and it was actually MUCH cooler over there than it was here. I missed the entire heat wave. By the time I got back things were normal again. No such luck this time unfortunately. But that's ok. It just reminds me of summer in Texas.

Besides, it's hard to complain too much about the weather when there's actual football going on now. Yes, it's only pre-season but it's still football played by the NFL and not some lower level minor league wannabe kinda thing. I'm even getting to see maybe 4 games a week. They're playing at night and I don't work nights anymore so this is a good thing.

Well, time to crawl into the safety and coolness of the bedroom. I'll probably stay there until the sun goes down or at least until the dogs REALLY need to go out. Place just gets too damn hot here in the afternoon.