Holy cow! Is tomorrow Friday already?
Indeed it is.
Well, this summer provides a spectacular example of “the days are long, the years are short”. This week distills the summer down to its very essence. IT TOOK FOREVER! And yet… it still sort of flew by.
Part of the problems has to do with the various types of mistakes. (This list is *NOT* exhaustive but feel free to point out important oversights that I may have missed.)
1. A mistake that you make and you catch before anybody sees it.
2. A mistake that you make and you catch before anybody important sees it.
3. A mistake that you make and someone else catches it before anybody important sees it.
4. A mistake that you make and someone else catches it after somebody important sees it.
5. A mistake that you make and somebody important catches it.
I try to keep my mistakes to the 1s and 2s (hey, everybody makes them) but, this week, I had a 3. 3’s tend to result in conversations if you have too many of them in too short a timeframe. I’m pleased to not have had any 3s recently… but this means that I can’t have any 3s for a while. My cushion has been flattened.
On top of that, there’s only one week before household schedules change and we move from Summer Schedule to Autumn/Winter/Spring Schedule… so we have to pack as much summer as we can into this next weekend!!!
Which means, basically, The Colorado State Fair. The one time of year I pay five bucks for a lemonade. The one time of year I don’t mind paying five bucks for a lemonade.
And the rest of the weekend, where it doesn’t involve laundry, will involve the usual. It’s time for a Costco run, time to go to the Pet Store for litter and tins of meat paste, time to go to the grocery store for tins of human meat paste and human litter, and maybe find an evening amenable to squeezing in a bottle of something in front of a movie. Or squeezing in a movie in front of a bottle of something.
So… what’s on your docket?
Got tickets to a soccer game tomorrow night, which will hopefully make The Four Year Old happy, and even more hopefully result in the Four Year Old falling asleep on the way home.
Saturday shall be more exciting, though: I found a nice looking wild boar roast for about the price of a T-Bone the other day; I’ve never made wild boar before, but I’ve found it delicious whenever I’ve gotten it at the French/Thai place downtown, and I found a delicious sounding recipe. This is also giving us a pretext to open the 2000 Premier Cru Pommard we picked up after a tasting on our vacation a few months back.
I am praying that the combination works well.
Just in case, a follow-up bottle of 2010 Red Something may soften the blow.
As it turns out, all turned out reasonably well. The wine was as good as we remembered, but it was almost done by the time we got to the boar (which I fishing nailed, BTW), so the meal itself was mostly drank with a bottle of 2009 Fat Bastard Pinot Noir* (which is what I used to cook the boar in the first place). Not quite 2010 red something, but close enough, right?
*While aware of this blog’s proprietor’s opinions on Pinot Noir, and that a certain movie that shall not be named is no reason to like the stuff, neither is a reason to dislike the stuff either. And if one is drinking a Burgundy, one is probably well advised to cook with a reasonably priced Pinot Noir. And if one is cooking with a reasonably priced Pinot Noir, then one should follow up the Burgundy with the remainder of the reasonably priced Pinot Noir.
Dude, after that movie came out, I had friends explain to me the significance of the Pinot speech and how it resonated.
I walk down that aisle at the store and the voice in the back yells “Hey, remember that time that Al* gave you that speech about how he was a Pinot too?”
This prevents me from buying Pinot.
Would *YOU* be able to buy Pinot under similar circumstances?
(*not his real name)
Sideways didn’t like Merlot. What’s this Pinot Noir business?
Pinot Noir is awesome.
Oh, yeah! I know! “I’m not drinking any frigging Merlot!” People laughed about it.
It’s just that Paul Giamatti (who is an amazing actor) gave a speech on Pinot Noir in That Movie.
My friend Al recreated the speech for me. Here, I googled it and won’t be able to give you the full effect, but pretend that someone is saying this earnestly:
It’s a hard grape to grow. As you know. Right? It’s, uh, it’s thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It’s, you know, it’s not a survivor like cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it’s neglected. No, pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And, in fact, it can only grow in these really specific, little tucked-away corners of the world. And only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand pinot’s potential can then coax it into its fullest expression.
Al went on to explain to me that this speech was really about Paul Giamatti’s character… and how this movie SPOKE to him (Al).
I drink merlot from a coffee cup, myself.
Being an Oregon guy, I love pinot. I rarely order a different red when I’m out.
State Fair!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Also, homework, now that classes are back in session. But I think the internet-start-up white paper I just read was the medicine, and the rest of my readings for the week (in the same class) are the spoonful of sugar. Actually, they’re not readings, they’re videos. That I might watch even if I wasn’t in class :). I have to create a persona for this class, and I think I will call him Cyrus T. Pinchbottle. I have another class, and it is dull and full of jargon and things that can be evaluated by standardized testing. Luckily I have a perverse liking for rote memorization, so it shouldn’t be so bad.
Otherwise, uh, I dunno. Part of the joy of weekends for me is not having to plan too much.
What’s the “T.” stand for?
Who says it has to stand for something?
The ‘.’ is a giveaway.
You are so old-fashioned.
Ineffable.
Fun with friend(s) tomorrow and Saturday. Wine club on Sunday. My sister gets married in two weeks and I should really lose five to ten p0unds before squeezing into the bridesmaid dress. So… working out is on the agenda, I guess.
Heck with that. That’s what Spanx are for.
I thought Spanx was for telling riddles?
Squirrel hunting tomorrow morning then a birthday party for the oldest daughter.
Lots of pre-deer season tasks. And lots of time with my bow. I just found out I have a spot for opening day on 09/01 so my timetable got moved up by three weeks.
Heh. Growing up in Michigan, opening day was a school holiday. (Not for *MY* elementary school, but for the high schools in the area.)
I’m going to the New Zealand Chocolate Festival on Saturday.
1. A screening of Bullit with Steve McQueen tonight
2. Friend’s housewarming tomorrow
3. Massive cleaning on Sunday
Wait, they’re still screening Bullit? Is this an at home thing or in a real live theater thing?
Classes start Monday, so I suppose I should finish making my syllabi. I’m not good with boring tasks. That whole painting the house thing is still hanging out there, too.
Oh! One good thing about Friday! It was going to be a 5 if we didn’t fix it by COB. We nailed it before lunch thereby turning it into a 2.
WHEW.
(And “it” had nothing to do with my department, though my department helped make it a 2.)
Sunday, 8:30 pm. Trying to reason with hurricane season. Went to the store for supplies and filled up all the cars and gas cans. Tomorrow, will check out the generator and spend the rest of the day tying down stuff around the house. One of the advantages and disadvantages of being a packrat carpenter is that there are lots and lots of stacks of small and large pieces of wood and tin around the house. It should not take more than a few hours to tie stuff up.
If the cane gets larger than a 2 we will have lots of New Orleans kinfolks crashing in various place around the house so things could be very lively around here for the next few days.
Stay safe, Dex.
Stay safe and good luck.
Got dragged to a party given by a former boss for a former co-worker who’s changing jobs. (I know this is unusual these days, but I’ve been working with the same folks on and off for about 25 years now.) I wasn’t feeling up to it, but a friend who lives nearby didn’t want to drive by himself, so we went.
Had a great time, of course, and feel like an idiot for having been difficult.