It's Not That I Don't Have Anything to Say

It's just that none of it falls into the category of blogging. Here are things I am currently not doing on this here blog:

• perpetually mourning over not being back on the big lake;
• outlining all the incredibly interesting work I am doing on federal regulations;
• moaning over the Tiger's barely holding at .500 or hoping that don't do something stupid like release Brandon Inge;
• flailing around about a bunch of music I have listened to, but am not sure what to say about it;
• sharing all of the secret plans for the future;
• detailing my recent bout of kidney stones; or,
• blogging (clearly).
  
  

You are welcome.

cps

Glass Half ______ ?

Listen folks. It is hot. Really hot. Really, really hot. I know I have already complained once this year, but when you start getting not just heat advisories, but excessive heat advisories (cuz it is going to be like 103 friggin' degrees) and folks are talking about two weeks of 90 plus degree days in a row (after a previous 11 day stretch of the same), I claim a little latitude in how much I get to complain. But, hey I am a positive kind of guy, right. So I am trying to focus on the upside.

After all it is only a couple weeks until we head north to the big lake where we will be joined by Little Sis and her kids. And until then, we have the benefit of great shade trees, central air and half a house that is down close to the cool, dirt earth.

Then again, being trapped in the house is a bit less enjoyable when the summer cold grunge is running rampant through the brothers with the Captain down Monday and Tuesday, the Artist picking it up late Tuesday into Wednesday and now the Engineer taking it on today. But hey, they are strong boys who rebound quickly--and they are cute most of the time so their mother probably won't strangle them.

And let's face it, I am lucky enough to have a job and that takes me out of the house, so, perhaps, I will miss the grunge (we all know how mothers are stronger than fathers and fight through mild illness immune to these things anyway). Then again, all of my colleagues seem to think that having sick children isn't enough of a challenge and so have brought their own versions of the grunge into work.

But really, I can't complain. This all shall pass and in the meantime, the garden continues to give and give. Eggplant, peppers, spinach, chard, carrots, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes are just about to turn. Of course, we have to go out everyday to water so as to try and keep these poor plants alive since it is hot--did I mention it is hot? So hot, in fact, you don't want to go out and do anything in the garden. Oh, and by the way, rain is becoming a memory and when it does rain it makes you think Noah's family must be around building something, but then it goes away for another week (it is more like wandering in the desert than 40 days and 40 nights).

Sorry, I didn't mean to start again, really. Because hey, we are all here and together and someday we will look back on this episode of summer cabin fever fondly--really we will!

Fantasy SOTU

It really is less about last night's speech and more about the whole enterprise that is the state of the union address colored by my current attitude about where we are at as a country and what is being done about that. With that caveat, here are a few things I would have liked to have heard as part of the address.

• Dear members of congress: Sit down and shut up. If you haven't noticed, things are pretty shitty out there for a lot of Americans and we continue to not be able to do enough to help them, so I don't think we have a lot to be applauding--especially not every 30 seconds.
• Oh, and can we all take the smug looks off our faces. We had enough of that for the last eight years and besides it just makes people think we're assholes--I'm talking to you mister curiously tan minority leader.
• This is supposed to be a report on the state of the union, not the potential state of the union, so I am not going to announce a whole set of new ideas implying that just because I said them here they are going to ever happen given how long it takes us to do anything. Instead I am going to focus on what is at hand and what needs done. Did I mention things are pretty shitty out there right now?
• Hey ladies, what did you think of that new Apple iPad? Nice name, huh?
• Speaking of ladies, I am going to give a nod to the first lady tonight without cracking flirty little jokes that frame her as a high schooler who can't handle the spotlight like her man can.
• Also thought it might be interesting to acknowledge the need for a strong union movement in this country since the work of their members is what led to my administration and this Congress and as far as I can tell we haven't really acknowledged that or done anything legislatively to improve the right to organize.
• Wow, there really is a lot of red and purple going on tonight--did we change our colors and nobody told me?
• To my colleagues in the Senate. Since most of you are millionaires already--would you mind sharing a little of the wealth so at least a few folks could eat and see a doctor? Mighty white of ya.
• Oh and yo, white people, I am now going to drop a little dialect on you so Chris Matthews remembers I am an African-American.

Enough for now. Perhaps more later.