Great Sandwiches I Have Known--Part One
The Science Officer Bond1 Slice Colby Jack
1 Slice Dill Havarti
1 Slice Colby Salami
3 Slices Pepperoni
2 Slices Marble Rye
Helman's Mayo
Mustard
1/2 tablespoon dill relish
Cook 50 seconds in the microwave
Thanks, Anne, for reminding me.
Whatcha Readin'?
A couple days ago I got done reading
What's the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank, loaned to me by my dad, a Wichita resident. The basic premise of the book: Kansas voters in the last decade or so have been voting for Republicans and Conservatives who falsely make themselves out to be populist candidates-i.e. concerned about average, low to middle class folks. The trick they apparently use is to get potential voters whipped into a frenzy with all manner of supposedly crucial social issues--abortion, the sanctity of families and marriage, the evils of Hollywood--and then once elected, screw those voters over by ignoring the rhetorical pseudo-issues and getting to their
real agenda, kowtowing to businesses with tax breaks. Frank sees this scenario historically playing out in a bunch of small Kansas towns as a microcosm of national politics. The process he describes is a pretty wily bait-and-switch and I have no reason to not believe it's not true, due to my low esteem for politicians and our political process as a whole.
This certainly was not the most exciting thing I've read in a long time, but this book opened my eyes to a whole world of economics that I know that I don't understand. In general, Frank does a fairly good job of making villains of Republicans and reiterating their appeal to rich folks and businesses. There is no question where his political loyalties lie, but there is a section of the book where he contrasts today's, (well, 2004's) ineffective Democratic party with the populist Democratic party of the early 20th century. I wished that this section would have been expanded for a little more balance.
The chapter about the guy in Kansas who has declared himself the REAL pope is rather humorous and sad at the same time.
The previous is not intended as a book recommendation. You'd have to be bored, nerdy, or heavily interested in politics or all three to want to read this book. But if that's you--have at it.
On Doing the Right Thing
So, I’ve been living in my house for 2 ½ years and I just within the last two or three weeks got my blue tub to start recycling. Dumbhead me, all I had to do was call and have them deliver one. It costs me nothing.
Let me tell you people something. This is genius! In my city, all I have to do is throw all the appropriate recyclables in the tub and take it to the street when it’s full. No sorting or special preparations.
Why is this exciting to me? I can’t think of many other times when it is so
easy to do the
right thing. Most of the time I’m either too lazy, lethargic, or not interested in doing what is right. It’s usually too much effort. But this recycling…man, even
I can do this.
Please, no hard core environmentalists burst my bubble with “…well, have you considered…?” If I’m missing something or am deluded and this is not the right thing to do, please leave me alone in my delusions.
The Great Ice Storm of 2007
Like most of my readers I spent the entirety of last weekend couped up in my house due to the Great Ice Storm of 2007. (Strangely, here in Oklahoma City we didn’t get much ice, more sleet and snow. Guess I can safely return my generator to the Home Depot. Damn you, weathermen.)
I don’t know what I was thinking watching two sad movies while bored out of my gourd—
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and
Moulin Rouge. I also watched disc 1 of King Crimson’s
Eyes Wide Open-a live concert from 2003, awesomely mixed in 5.1.
In addition to all of the boob tube watching I also read an interesting little book loaned by Lance-
Flatland by Edwin A Abbott. This is a book written around the 1800s-early 1900s, all about perception. The premise is a guy who lives in a two-dimensional world, somehow visits a world of three dimensions, and returns unable to convince his fellow 2D inhabitants of a larger reality. There is much food for thought contained in this book. This brings to mind a lot of “what ifs.” What if we are like the folks who live in flatland, unable to even perceive a larger reality? What if there are actually five or twenty dimensions and we just don’t know about them?
Usually I loathe questions of epistemology, but this book kept me engaged, thinking about geometrical concepts I haven’t heard since Miss Weaver’s eighth grade math class. Too bad I didn’t know all that was riding on that information back then. I would have paid more attention.
Catching Up at the First of the Year
The blog version of what I’m thinking and feeling these days…
There’s a lot going on in the old noggin these days. First of all, like I alluded to before, I’m back from New Orleans. I have caught up on work responsibilities so I can write a little bit now.
I was in New Orleans from Dec 27-Jan 2. I went with a group of fifteen folks from my church to gut a house for Nazarene Disaster Response. This was my second such trip. The difference from last time? Different people obviously, but the huge difference was in accommodations. Last time we stayed in a non-air conditioned church gym, sleeping on air mattresses in the sweltering summer. This time we stayed in a Salvation Army Rehab Facility that was a lot like college dorms. Now, some on the trip expressed guilt in coming back to such relative “opulence” every day after work, saying that it didn’t feel “mission trip”-ey. I was not one of those people.
The coolest part for me was a second project we were able to do. As we were gutting the first house, building a huge debris pile in front, a neighbor named Hannah came over and asked if we could help with her house. The story is that she paid a crew to do what we were doing but they left the job unfinished. A single, older woman going through chemo—that seemed like something we could do. I was glad that NDR was flexible enough to allow us to do this, as there is a process of paperwork, and lists and waiting that a homeowner typically would have to go through in order to get their house gutted.
I gotta be honest. There’s not much of a religious or spiritual component to “why” I have gone on these trips. I enjoy the work. I like tearing stuff apart, getting dirty and sweaty and feeling like I’ve done something. I say this a lot, but it’s very therapeutic for me to put a crowbar through drywall and I like seeing a physical manifestation of “work” at the end of the day. I like accomplishing something. If God gets some glory, or if someone’s life is made a little easier, or someone is made happy because of it—that’s icing on the cake.
That said, however, it is certainly different to not have the homeowner on-site, working alongside you. That was the coolest part about the last trip. Anyway, it was a good trip this time, a good way to start the year, and I’m glad I got to know some people better.
Speaking of ways to start the year, some of you who know me well are going to think that someone has hijacked my blog when I tell you that I am hopeful and excited for this coming year. For one pretty simple reason- I will be paying off my credit cards within the next few months! Not many people know this, but the number one stressor for me comes from financial worries.
And even though I am battling a nasal-blocking cold right now, I’m not down. I’ve got much more important things to worry about than some stupid cold that will pass in a few days.
So, that’s the general welfare report.
I also wanted to talk about finishing the latest Klosterman book
IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas. It’s a collection of annotated interviews, (and a horrible short story.) I liked it infinitely more than his last book, basically because it was about something other than himself. But after having read all of his books now, I’m a little puzzled.
What about Klosterman makes him uniquely qualified to get paid for publishing his opinions on things? Granted, he’s a pretty smart dude. But not THAT smart. He can be pretty funny at times, but not THAT funny. And one telling thing he wrote in
Killing Yourself to Live that really caught my attention was at one point when he’s trying to describe
the sound of some song. He says something along the lines of “this is always awkward for me.” I would think that being able to describe the thing which you are going on and on about should just about be requirement #1, no? That’s kind of annoying to me—a guy talking circles around art but never really being able to get into specifics. Op Ed is such a fuzzy profession. Is it possible for this kind of commentary to be anything other than dogma handed down from on high: “Here’s why this song/album/TV show/movie/sports team is important.” The unspoken element is: “…important (to me.)” My overall impression of his writing took a real nosedive after reading
Killing Yourself to Live. It made me question the first two books. Can someone capable of such narcissism really give a circumspect review of anything?
Anyway, it feels good to have read all of his books so I can know what uber-hip pop cultural reviewers are talking about when he’s referenced.
Back from New Orleans
I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year.
Today is my first day back at work after spending a week in New Orleans gutting a house. Much better weather than the last time I was there.
I wish I wasn't so busy catching up on all this paperwork so I could tell you about it.
Maybe next time...
