"Knock Your Can On Down"

Michelle's been a wee bit sick this weekend, having actually taken off part of Friday from work to get some sleep and try to fight off a more serious illness. She seems to be doing better, and will hopefully not miss anymore work because of this malady.

As a general rule, I try not to discuss politics with my family. I used to think I was a political moderate, but my time here in Virginia has proven to me that I'm actually just a liberal who didn't know it. Most of my family, true Oklahomans that they are, are quite conservative. Knowing this, and also knowing that they don't actually follow politics the way that I do (what with living within spitting distance of the nation's capital), I recognize that trying to change their minds about anything political is a task akin to Sisyphus: I can keep rolling the stone of fact and whatnot up the hill, but their opinions are just gonna shove it right back down to the bottom of the hill.

This isn't to say my family's ignorant; far from it: my parents are both college-educated, as are some of my grandparents, and the ones who don't have "fancy college learnin'" are still quite intelligent in that "I can fix things with my hands and know how the world in Oklahoma works" sort of way. None of them (with the exception of my brother, Clif) has any sort of historical or political science training, or really understands how politics work. Clif does, and it's possible to have an intelligent discussion on the issues with him, even if we don't agree on things.

With the rest of my family, though, it just isn't possible. I know what I believe to be right, and I know that they disagree. I know I'm not going to change their minds, and they know they're not going to change mine. So we...don't talk about it.

Anyway, yeah, I don't talk about politics with my family. Does mean that, come November 4, one side or the other may do some gloating that the other doesn't want to hear. It's a very distinct possibility.

And now, a kitten!

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The White Stripes, "Your Southern Can Is Mine"

"Don't You Give No Jive To Me"

We finally set up the new fish tank over the long weekend. As I'd suspected, setting it up didn't take more than an hour, it was just difficult for us to find the time and energy to spend that hour getting things up and running.

The tank looks great, though. I'll try to post a picture of it when I think about it.

Spent a lot of time last week listening to the latest in Dylan's Bootleg Series (volume 8, for those keeping score at home). It's nice to hear unreleased and alternate stuff from the past couple of decades (it's hard to believe that the 1980s are a couple of decades ago. Ugh! Like I need to feel old or something). I do have one beef, though: some of the song selection was a little week. For instance, did we need two different versions of "Mississippi" and "Dignity?" Honestly, "Dignity" isn't that great a song to begin with, and one version would've been more than enough. Why not some more of his soundtrack stuff, or maybe an alternate take of "Things Have Changed" (from the fantastic Wonderboys soundtrack)? I'm also still waiting for him to actually release the amazing solo acoustic version he did of "I'll Remember You" on the movie Masked and Anonymous. I mean, it was absolutely gorgeous, but wasn't anywhere to be found on the soundtrack to that film. C'mon, Dylan, it's a great reinterpretation of your own work!

I notice how Apple's put out the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros this week. I know that my own computer is still in perfect working order and doesn't need to be replaced yet, but I can't help salivating over these things. I am a little put off by the fact that they've completely done away with the mouse button, though. I mean, I get that the touchpad has reached some sort of new plateau or whatever, but I'm old fashioned and liked having a button.

Also, I'm afraid it'll just be that much easier for the cats to jump up on the computer and accidentally purchase a song from iTunes.

I have an interview on Thursday for an after-school tutoring job. Don't ask me why I want to spend more of my time working.

I leave you with this: the cats spent a good half hour watching me clean out the old fish tank a couple of weeks ago. They were absolutely fascinated by it. They are also tiny as hell still, even though they're already over a year old. Michelle and I think they will remain tiny forever, 'cause other cats we've seen that are younger than they are significantly bigger. Our cats are scrappier, though.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Blind Willie McTell, "Southern Can Is Mine"

"I Am A Warrior"

So a pencil company, Mirado, makes a pencil called the Black Warrior.

Personally, when I think of the term "Black Warrior," I think of this:



That's totally not what you get in the store, though.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Jenny Lewis and Elvis Costello, "Carpetbagger"