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Saturday, November 30, 2002 Movie Time We went to see the new Harry Potter movie this afternoon. It was sold out. I am not unhappy about that. I hate sitting in the theater real close to a bunch of people I don't know. I go to a movie to be with my family and enjoy the movie (or hate it) with my family, not a bunch of other people who are sitting on top of us. It's some kind of hang-up about invasion of my space, I guess -- except with this movie, it's about a bunch of little kids making a lot of noise. I think after midnight would be a better time -- I will check the listings and see if that's a possibility. We could have chosen to see 8 Mile, but we didn't. I cannot bring myself to pay money to see Eminem. We saw Solaris, which I enjoyed. Others didn't, but then again, it was thought-provoking -- that can be a problem. Friday, November 29, 2002 Thanksgiving The menu: two (2) turkeys [23 and 21 lbs., respectively]; mashed potatoes; corn; stuffing; gravy; rolls [pumpernickle, wheat, and French]; cranberry sauce; apple cider; pumpkin pie [with optional whipped cream]; chocolate Bundt cake; milk [chocolate or white]. I must say that even though I don't really like cranberry sauce on turkey, this amalgam of 6 cups of Ocean Spray cranberries, 1 cup of Tropicana Homestyle O.J. 2 cups of sugar, and 1 cup of water [liquids and sugar dissolved brought to a boil; cranberries then added and boiled until cranberries split; remove from heat and put saucepan in ice bath] was very tasty eaten straight. The stuffing was made with celery and onions sauteed in the butter with salt and pepper to taste, secret cajun seasoning, with the Brownberry stuffing bread cubes added. Then chicken stock -- made with the paste -- was added and then pressed into a small roaster. Martha Stewart, eat your heart out. This is a sacrilege to all purists; but unless you have tasted my wife's concoction, please do not criticize. You will be wrong. And she will beat you to a pulp. The three hounds would like that. The gravy was simply the best ever -- I did not watch my wife make it. I do not know what she did any different than in previous years, but it was better by far. The mashed potatoes were excellent, as usual. I can't wait for the left-overs -- that's why there are two turkeys and ten pounds of potatoes. I know she missed her sweet potatoes, and we all missed the pumpkin chiffon and chocolate pies; but she wanted to keep it simple. It was simple. It was elegant. It was great. The hard work was worth it. I enjoyed helping wash the dishes. The dogs loved their dog food with turkey drippings -- although Cocoa, the new one, a three-year-old chocolate lab-doberman mix we rescued a couple months ago from certain death, probably never had anything like that. Too rich, I think. She threw it all up in three places -- I cleaned it all up. The laminate floors I put in were a great idea -- easy clean-up compared to carpeting. And Blade Runner is on USA. Thank you. Wednesday, November 27, 2002 Convicts I spent some time a couple weeks ago with DT, a college friend, and his wife. He ended up becoming acquainted with the Kenyon College baseball coach. We traveled to Kenyon one Saturday in early May to play a doubleheader. Instead of returning home to Louisville, our first baseman agreed to play only if he could listen to the Kentucky Derby. Instead of sitting on the bench, he and a few others piled into a van to listen to the race. Fortunately, we were not out in the field at post time. The Kenyon coach related this story to DT, who then told the coach about the ride there and the shooting spree that took place -- the guys on the team carried an assortment of rifles, pistols, and crossbows and routinely killed varmint along the interstate highways and backroads while making the drive to other schools, sometimes stopping to take aim and sometimes not. The Kenyon College coach was alarmed by the revelation, but recalled that, unlike almost all other school teams that came in nice busses or vans emblazoned with school names and logos, we all came in cars, some, like my '68 Nova, held together with duct tape, shook his head and lamented, "Convicts, convicts. I knew it. I knew you were all convicts. Imagine, being beaten by a bunch of convicts." The Portland Trailblazers beat the Houston Rockets last night. How does Houston coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, feel about that? He was the victim of a savage punch by Kermit Washington in a game a number of years ago. Ruben Patterson of the Portland Trail Blazers was arrested on a charge of Domestic Violence the other day. Ruben was convicted of attempted rape in 2001. Damon Stoudamire and Rasheed Wallace of the Portland Trail Blazers ere arrested on possession of marijuana charges the other day. You will recall that Damon had a big bag of marijuana in his house a few months ago, but that charge was dismissed because of an illegal search. They will play. I wonder how Maurice Cheeks, their coach, really feels about this stuff going on -- his brother was killed and the killer's death sentence was upheld. Of course, Illinois now has a moratorium on the death penalty; so, it is unlikely that the killer will be executed. Convicts. Stuart Little? Imagine that, a mouse with a human brain. Will the human brain be tiny or will it be huge? Only your stem cell researcher will know. The debate goes on whether to make a mouse-human hybrid. Tabitha Pollock will be released from prison after the Illinois Supreme Court refuses to re-hear and appeal of its decision that she was not guilty of the murder of her chld, who was killed by the child's father, who had no history of abusing children or threatening to abuse children. At the trial, the prosecutor provided extensive proof that Pollock's children often got dirty, that Pollock let them walk around outside the house after dark, and that Pollock didn't hug them quite as much as mothers are supposed to hug their children. The killer testified that Pollock had nothing to do with the murder. She was convicted of murder and was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Her three other children were taken away. One was adopted by another family. After serving a seven-year hitch in prison, she will be free, the court having ruled that she could not be convicted for being a miserable mind-reader. 275 people got sick with a flu-like illness on a Disney Cruise Line ship recently. The ship was washed down with disinfectant. The ship left port Saturday and 85 people are sick with the same flu-like illness. Over the years many people have become ill listening to "It's a Small World" at Disney World, the authour being one of them. What music was played during the cruise? The President of the United States pardoned Katie. Her crime? Being a turkey. And in even stranger news, the Pentagon wants $10,000,000,000 a year to fight terrorism. Yes, that's 10 BILLION. "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction." William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act III., Sc. 4. Tuesday, November 26, 2002 Job Security in the Homeland Get your application in to Tom Ridge (Republicans, of course, get the first shot with Pennsylvanian Republicans getting added consideration) because he is hiring -- 170,000 openings to fill. The Census reports about 174,000 single unemployed women who are heads of households in Pennsylvania. What a gesture that would be -- hiring all women, but the Pennsylvania thing would probably not go over well. Good luck on that application. Let's just hope that when the government runs your credit report, it comes back withouit having been destroyed. You'd know who you are by now. I stopped at McDonald's -- I ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and a Diet Coke (cut down where you can). I wasn't listening to the order-taker because her speech was incomprehensible. She may as well have been speaking in tongues. And the little screen that shows the order kept winking in and out, sometimes in English, sometimes in a different language. The girl at the window handed me my change from the 10-dollar bill I gave her. It was a trick of the light, I'm sure, because people don't have red eyes like she did. And it was cold. That explains the smo -- steam coming from the change she gave me. "Six dollars and sixty-six cents," she said. Monday, November 25, 2002 Cock Fighting Oklahomans voted to ban cockfighting and to ban the breeding of gamefowl. Cockfighting is illegal in Texas, but raising the birds is legal; so, breeders in Texas are disappointed that neighboring Oklahoma won't give them locations to test their birds. A federal law takes effect in May that is designed to keep cocks from crossing state lines . It is nice to see that the President Bush's daughters, Barbara and Jenna, made it to their 21st birthday without further controversy. How about a shot of Black Bush for both of you!
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