We euthanized Einstein. I spend days saddened every time a ‘routine’ reminds me it is no longer necessary. I spend days sharing my favorite photos. I spend nights wondering when I’ll feel like it’s the right time to get my next fuzzy bundle of delayed heartbreak.
Talked to my boss' boss about no longer being a manager. I’m not very good at lying, even by omission. Management without a project I really wholeheartedly believed in was miserable. The company takes care of me, again. For all my bitching about my work over the last 12 years, they’ve let me switch gears several times.
Saw Hamlet for the 400th time. This time by Kentucky Shakespeare and StageOne.
We live in capitalism. It’s power seems inescapable; so did the divine right of kings. – Ursula K Le Guin
SpaceX launches a car to prove it can use its rockets to get cargo, and someday people, to Mars. My desire to see Elon Musk go to Mars increases throughout the year.
The Winter Olympics happened. Remember those? Me either.
Super Vacation! San Diego, Cruise down the Baja Peninsula with nerds, Disneyland
If plan A didn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters! – John Mahoney (Martin Crane)
A young woman named Emma Gonzalez reads aloud the names of 17 of her former classmates, followed by well over four minutes of silence. The only people unmoved by this are ones that think their guns matter more than other people’s children.
I finish a custom made Einstein puzzle made by Liberty Puzzles. These aren’t cheap, but they’re pretty spiffy. Made of wood, cut with LAZERS, and the shapes are wild. It’ll take you a lot longer than you think.
The Republican legislature of Kentucky, along with its troglodyte governor pass a bill over hauling teacher pensions. Of course it doesn’t stand up to judicial review, but wasting taxpayer money on consultants and lawyers and creating chaos is really all the modern Republican party really stands for.
Bought a Casper mattress, because we listen to too many damned podcasts.
Bought “Muppet Guys Talking”, an independently produced documentary that’s just 5 muppet performers, Frank Oz (Miss Piggy, Ernie, Fozzie Bear), Dave Goelz (Gonzo, Travelling Matt, Zoot, Bunsen Honeydew), Jerry Nelson (The Count, Snuffleupagus, Emmett Otter, Floyd Pepper), Bill Baretta (Pepe the Prawn, Big Mean Carl, Rowlf 2, Dr Teeth 2) and Fran Brill (Prairie Dawn, Zoe) telling stories. I, of course, bought the super-duper deluxe edition. That included membership to a private facebook forum, that’s lead me to a number of wonderful things this year.
Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny. – Stephen Hawking
My dad & step-mother celebrate their 40th anniversary at a lovely party arranged by my sister.
We get a new roof put on our house, because Home Ownership is aaamaazing.
Our annual, drive away from Louisville for Thunder Day tradition took us to Evansville, IN. Angel Mounds State Museum was tremendously interesting, and the little zoo there has giraffes. My wife is happy if she gets to see a giraffe.
Bill Cosby is found guilty of aggravated assault, making a good 30% of cultural references from my childhood unusable in polite company.
A live version of Jesus Christ Superstar airs on NBC. And I really dig it. This surprises me more than it surprises you, trust me.
Everyone’s life would be improved if they could do one great magic trick. And tell one great joke, play one tune on the piano, and do one great origami fold. – Harry Anderson
Michelle got her Master’s Degree. Because she’s smart and diligent. I’m only a little jealous.
Got a new dog. A greyhound named Hedy. She came with the name “Bossy,” we decided pretty quickly that was inappropriate. After soliciting science themed names, to honor Einstein, we narrowed a huge list down to 3 names: Ada, Scully, Hedy. Then we rolled dice to pick. It worked. She’s beautiful. She’s subjected to a lot of photographs
Roseanne Barr gets her show cancelled. Further proof that life is really really hard for rich white people.
A cult is a religion with no political power. – Tom Wolfe
Take a lot of pictures of our new dog. Greyhounds are beautiful, especially when you join a dog park and watch them run full speed for 10-15 minutes before they’re ready to go home and curl up on the couch.
A young lady named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wins a democratic primary in NY. I think the kids might have just had enough of Reaganomics run amuk.
A Thai soccer team gets rescued, without the help of Elon Musk, who calls the lead diver a pedophile. Remember when I said I wanted to see Elon Musk go to Mars? I don’t really care if it’s a round trip.
The first lady of the United States, a former fashion model, wears a coat with spray painted text, “I REALLY DON’T CARE. DO U?” Yeah, we are definitely in the dumbest timeline.
You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together.
Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don’t have. – Anthony Bourdain
Go see my brother’s kids perform Twelfth Night at the end of their Camp Shakespeare summer program. It’s crazy weather, so instead of being at the park, we’re in the office space on Broadway, and hustled in and out because they have limited seating and 4 other programs to get through that night. The kids liked it. And I’m all for helping a kid nerd it up.
As a surprise to the folks that pre-ordered the superfan edition of Muppet Guys Talking, they sent us Frank Oz autographed copies of the DVD. So now both Gonzo and Grover have personally signed things I own.
Our AC went out. Luckily it was $150 fix, but homeownership is a fool’s game, y’all.
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. – Harlan Ellison
Went to Chicago for work, due to a scheduling snafu a coworker and I took a full day off and touristed around Chicago. Finally went to The Field Museum, saw the Love & Marriage fountain, ate a deep dish pizza.
Went to see a kid in The Wizard of Oz. She made a really good sarcastic townsperson.
Read all but one of George Saunders' short story collections. I got the last one for Christmas this year, so that’ll be another notch for my completionist belt.
Students tear down a civil war statue at UNC. Racists and people who don’t actually know any history are aghast.
Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, it’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening. – Aretha Franklin
Michelle and I go to Locust Grove to listen to Sarah Vowell answer questions about The Marquis de Lafayette and have a super neat early 19th century style dinner. The weather was also crazy that day, rain and mud made it far more of an adventure than anyone in the 21st century realistically expected.
Brett Kavanaugh takes a seat on the highest court in the land, because there are no real repercussions if rich men do evil things, but stop and later pretend to not remember them.
Michelle had given a month’s notice to her jobby job, because they couldn’t find a new role for her that would take advantage of her fancy new graduate degree. Then, some scary medical stuff happens in the family. That’s not my story to tell, but it does mean Michelle ends up not looking for a new job just yet. I realize how insanely lucky we are to be able to go down to a 1 person income for a while, and have more time that will be a lot more valuable than a few weeks of salary.
Philadelphia introduces a new mascot, Gritty. All other mascots tremble in fear. (and I don’t even follow hockey)
The audience will always forgive you for being wrong and exciting, but never for being right and dull. – Burt Reynolds
Jamal Khashoggi, a legal US resident, is brutally butchered and murdered in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. In exchange for making it no big deal, Saudi Arabia keeps pumping out barrels of oil for the US market. Enjoy your $2/gallon gas.
Michelle and I celebrate our 10th anniversary in New York City. We see a play (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), we visit some museums, we have some lovely meals. We stayed in a kickass hotel, in a great location. It was an amaaaazing trip.
On that trip, I finally got to visit the Museum of Moving Image’s Jim Henson Exhibition. I was one of the kickstarter backers of this exhibit, and was entitled to a curator led tour. The curator surprised me with a special guest. Bonnie Erickson, the builder of Miss Piggy, Sam the Eagle, Statler and Waldorf and dozens of other muppets. Oh yeah, and the Phillie Phanatic. She was super friendly, and I grinned like an idiot for the hour or so she spent with us. Michelle still makes fun of me for it.
Before we got Hedy, we had many discussions about getting two dogs. After our wonderful experience with this girl, we decide to go ahead and make the second dog another greyhound. Hux is brought into the family. Sanity is dismissed.
We have more than 420 (heh) trick or treaters come to the house. The first 100 get fidget spinners, the rest get 2 small lame pieces of candy. Because that’s too damn many kids.
In my experience, each failure contains the seeds of your next success - if you are willing to learn from it. – Paul Allen
One of the guys in the Muppet Guys Talking group, was the assistant to Carroll Spinney (Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch) as he was doing his final tour around the country, signing autographs and meeting fans. He offered to get stuff signed for us for the same rates going at the shows. So I took him up on it. A book, a signed photo, and then a surprise letter and yellow feather from the man himself. I admit it, I teared up.
Mid term elections. Every candidate I gave money to lost. Maybe it’s a sign? The rest of the country isn’t quite as bad as every local election. Maybe that’s a sign too?
The 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day passes and the Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces is holed up in a hotel room because of rain. Everyone who voted for this incurious, imbecilic, ahistorical lout really needs to take a long walk off a short pier.
I learn how much “fun” it is to try and walk two greyhounds of vastly different temperament at the same time. Hux is way way way more energetic than Hedy and has far worse manners. He’s still a good boy, mostly.
Watched my wife defend her Master’s Thesis. She’s smarter than me and has way more letters after her name.
Yet another robot landed on Mars.
Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something. – William Goldman
Excelsior! – Stan Lee
We get family portraits made with the dogs. We’re those people now. I’m sorry.
I met Steve Whitmire (Gobo Fraggle, Sprocket, Kermit’s Step-dad) and got yet another autographed picture. I’m really done now. I don’t wanna be an autograph hound.
Our house is improved by a full wall of built in bookshelves and cabinets in my office, and our porch is screened in to make it even more awesome once global warming completes its grim work, or winter ends. Whichever comes first.
The 50th anniversary of the famous Earthrise photo passes. The future used to seem so much brighter.
If you’re not having a good time, find something else that gives you some joy in life. – Penny Marshall