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Friday evening brought a pleasant surprise: My grandparents on my mother’s side were driving through Gainesville en route to Venice, Florida, after a visit to the Carolinas. They called me up, and we met for dinner at their hotel. My meal was excellent, and it was so nice to catch up on everything that’s been going on. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t seen them in five years. Time flies.

We have a real license plate on the new car now. They give you the option of a tag with either “Sunshine State” or your county stamped on it. I opted for an “Alachua” County tag. I have Alachua County pride.

In fact, one of the reasons I have so much Alachua County pride is because of this area’s strong support of John Kerry. Driving around the Duck Pond neighborhood this weekend made clear that that place is a liberal stronghold, and I would love to have a home there….

One is available, and Sunday evening we looked at it. It is a 1950s-style two-bedroom with a pass-through bathroom. There are toilets on either side of a shower. Odd, but neat. I wish I had more confidence in our ability to secure a loan. Ironically, the mortgage payments would be lower than the rent we pay.

And speaking of our new Volkswagen: I spent three hours Sunday morning/afternoon washing and waxing it. I knew it was taking a long time, but I didn’t realize I had been out there so long when Miriam came looking for me. I was just finishing up the wax. That is hard work. It’s a good thing I don’t work at a carwash, a la Bruce Springsteen in “Downbound Train”. I would surely be fired since at my pace I could handle only 2.5 cars per day.

While I was working, neighborhood kids kept talking to me. I don’t know if I look like Santa Claus or something, but, really, kids, don’t talk to strangers. The first two boys asked me my name, asked me to identify some rocks that they found, asked me about my car, etc. Later, two other little boys had come with their father to use the carwash next to mine. The older boy repeatedly came over to my side to chat. He was no more than six, but he sure had a lot to say. “My name’s Isaac: I-S-A-A-C. Two As.” “That’s right,” I say. “My dad’s name is Benjamin Eric W—-r, and my brother’s name is Joel.” [I have deleted their last name for obvious reasons, but Isaac came right out and said it.] I just smiled and nodded. Mr. W—-r (whom I never even got a glance of) did try and tell his boys to stay in his sight. But I got the feeling that young Isaac would have given out his SSN and mother’s maiden name if he knew it. To parents (including Mr. W—-r, if you ever see this): I know that nobody wants to make children live in fear of situations they cannot understand. But we need to be realistic. I am a nice guy who would never hurt anyone. Most people are the same way. But it is not wise to assume everyone has the best intentions. I doubt I could have grabbed Isaac and Joel and drove off without being seen, but, still, I could have watched to see where they lived. I could have taken the information Isaac told me and gone in search of his school, and used his dad’s name to pretend I was there to pick him up. I certainly could have taken off with the two other boys. There is a little girl who can’t be more than five who rides a little scooter around, and runs in front of cars. I have almost run her over twice. No parent in sight. Any maniac could grab this child and do who knows what to her.

A couple years back there was a girl around here who was older than five, but less than, say, fifteen. She was abducted from right in front of her house. Everyone was looking for her, and it was all over the news. I even heard about it down in St. Pete, where I was living at the time. I admit that I wasn’t very optimistic about her safe return. After about a week she turned up at a Gainesville Wal-Mart, alive. It turned out that she had been held by some middle-aged man in his Gainesville home, where she had been tied up and assaulted. This is the insane part: The guy’s family was in the house the whole time. He even had a daughter about the same age as the kidnapped girl. So, parents, use your brains. You cannot trust that your kids will be safe. It’s a sad fact of life. As Bruce says, “I guess there’s just meanness in this world”.

On a lighter note: Five out of my seven eBay auctions ended successfully on Sunday. And were they ever successful! My profit margin on one of the LPs was around 320,000%. Beat that, Halliburton!

Filed under: Family, Musings, Transportation on October 26th, 2004 | No Comments »

Welcome to the Birthday Edition of the News.

Friday we went to Satchel’s Pizza, which Miriam really likes now for their salad. Their pizza is really good in a non-corporate way. Then we went to our new favorite park near the Duck Pond. Later we saw Anchorman at the Reitz Union. Oh, man was that movie funny. I have never heard Miriam laugh so much. There was a fight scene involving a trident. That’s all I have to say.

Saturday morning I nearly got sick, but I didn’t, so my almost decade-long streak of not vomiting continues. July 1995 to present. That’s quite a record. We went to the Friends of the Library booksale. That place was Thunderdome. We bought a lot, however. I got twelve CDs for $2.50 each, including the Erato recording of Chabrier’s Le Roi Arthus. Rare and OOP is the way to go. I spent all night Saturday answering phones and taking pledges at the radio station. But I volunteer to do Saturday nights because the people are better then.

Sunday morning I washed the car. It’s still great. I dried it this time, and it looked a lot better. I need to wax it, though.

Anxiety is the word I would use to describe my most common feeling these days. I really have that same fever that rabid baseball fans get when their team at last makes it to the World Series, and everything is on the line. You are hopeful and you have pride, but you still feel deep down that there’s always that chance that you might be going home empty handed, and the road to the next series is long and a long way off.

Miriam and I went to see John Edwards on Sunday on the lawn behind the Reitz Union. I cross that lawn all the time, but I’ve never seen it so crowded. We were lucky because we got to sit in the bleachers while thousands of people ended up standing for hours. Plus we were super close. We got there at 12:30, and it was warm, sunny day. I climbed down from the bleachers at about 2:00 because I wanted to see if I could shake hands. At around 2:30 I saw police lights, motorcycles, and a convoy drive up onto the lawn from the west. I saw Senator Edward emerge from a SUV, put on his jacket, and when I waved to him he waved back. There was an announcement, and he ran up the steps to the platform. He spoke for about a half hour, encouraging people to vote early, and to volunteer to spread the word, and help people get to the polls. He went around the platform shaking hands, and I thought for sure I’d get a chance because there was a couple with an adorable baby right next to me. Alas, he crossed sides just before he got to Miriam and me, and then he was off. But it was a great way to spend a Sunday.

Sunday night I had a very frustrating conversation with my mom. She says she’s voting for John Kerry, but she still talked about her uncertainties about his qualifications and his record, and, basically, just repeating the same talk-radio lies that the RNC spins all the time. I guess to my mom I sounded like I wouldn’t take yes for an answer. But I can’t stand by and have distortions go uncorrected.

Here’s a point that nobody’s making, though: Aside from the fact that I think John Kerry is clearly qualified to be president, and would be very good at it, what difference does it make? Why should Senator Kerry have to face this ridiculous doubt, perpetuated by the conservative media, and repeated by dimwitted people too lazy to learn the facts, when Bush has performed so miserably. If someone is an incompetent employee, an employer doesn’t wait. He fires the loser and gets somebody better. John Kerry is better. Period.

Filed under: Current Events, Film, Politics, Work on October 19th, 2004 | No Comments »

On Sunday afternoon I took pictures of a new model named Lori. I got the pictures back on Tuesday, and an amazing number of them are very good. Lori was very nice, and had a good sense of humor, and the photographs reflect that. We were at the Thomas Center in Gainesville, and I was a bit worried about getting hassled by the man, actually. Evidently you have to pay money to take pictures there. Of course, I didn’t. Plus, they have weddings there all the time, and I was afraid that we’d get in the way of some ceremony, and a bride would scream at us, and chase us off, falling down in the mud, ruining her dress. Luckily that didn’t happen. A woman did show up with a camera and a tripod, and I thought she might be there to photograph a wedding, but she asked me where was the best place to take pictures, and told me she was there to shoot a family. After taking pictures there, we went to a nearby school playground that had some swings. It was an overcast day, which is the best kind. It all worked out well, and Lori didn’t even complain about having to change clothes in her parked car.

We have started the Beg-a-Thon at the station. It lasts ten days, and I have volunteered to take pledges on Saturday night. I have decided that is my favorite time to do it because the people are cooler during Caravan and Soul Circuit. The callers are more laid back, and the conversation is better. I was there for the opera day in April, and there is just too much pressure. The place gets crowded, and the phone volunteers are people from town who seem to be a little exclusive. I’ll stick with the politically charged conversation I get from the post-Prairie Home Companion crowd.

The debate last night was pretty good. Our boy did great, and, again, Bush demonstrated that it is really he who is out of the mainstream of American Values. If he doesn’t think there should be an increase in the minimum wage, then perhaps he deserves to earn minimum wage for a while. As Lincoln said, “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” Bush tried to dodge the issue by talking about education, arguing that people can do better. There’s nothing wrong with promoting education, and it is in everyone’s best interest to go to school. But it’s totally unrealistic to think that everyone in this country will have a degree and make $200,000 per year. There are some jobs that are always going to pay minimum wage. The people that staff those jobs deserve to be able to feed their families and pay the rent. Since Bush always takes the side of corporations, I don’t expect him to understand that.

Filed under: Current Events, Photography, Politics on October 13th, 2004 | No Comments »

Wow! What a weekend. It began Friday morning when we went to Avis to pick up a rental car to drive to Valdosta. The car was a Chevy Cavalier, and I didn’t like it. Why must American cars be ugly? So we got to Valdosta–which I had driven past on the Interstate many times, but until Friday had never seen the middle of–about noon, and after a little trouble finding the VW dealership, we at last spotted our new car waiting patiently for us. It was beautiful. We drove it around a little bit, and were baffled by some of the quirks of Volkswagens, like the way the seats move up, and the way the trunk opens. Our salesman was very nice, and it was pretty easy going when it came to paperwork. Miriam followed me in the rental car back to Gainesville, where I then drove the van back home. It was no fun getting back into the van. We rested for a little bit before taking off to Orlando to see…

REM, John Fogarty and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. We got to Orlando around 6:00 or so, and we were starving. Church Street has turned into a ghost town with no good restaurants, so we drove to Sweet Tomatoes, where Miriam and I have had many memorable meals. We got to the TD Waterhouse Center around 7:30, paid our $5 to park right next to the building, and went inside. We got our earplugs out that I had picked up earlier in Gainesville, and went into the auditorium as Tracy Chapman was playing. The breaks between acts were short; made possible by the fact that each band’s instruments and equipment had been placed on stage ahead of time, and when one band was finished, the preceding band’s gear was moved off-stage. Miriam was very excited about REM. Michael Stipe flailed around endlessly. He might be made of rubber, I don’t know. Someone should look into that.

Bruce joined REM for two songs, including “Man on the Moon”, which Miriam really liked. When the E Street Band came out the place went nuts, and they opened with “Born in the USA” after Bruce did a solo acoustic “Star Spangled Banner”. “Badlands” followed, then “Prove it All Night”, which I hadn’t expected, but was excited about. Also played were “No Surrender”, “My Hometown” with Tracy Chapman, “Johnny 99″, “Youngstown”, “The Promised Land” with John Fogarty, “The Rising”, “Because the Night” with Michael Stipe, “Mary’s Place” and “Born to Run” with members of REM. Then everyone came out for a couple encores. John Fogarty did a great “Fortunate Son”, “Bad Moon Rising”, “Centerfield” and a new song called “Deja Vu”, all with the E Street Band and Bruce. Many blazing guitar solos were heard, including a never-ending Nils solo in the REM set, and Bruce’s outstanding “Because the Night” guitar wizardry.

In total, it was a great show, and I was glad that there was something for Miriam and me to enjoy individually and together. It helped that it was for a great cause.

The drive home was torture. Yes, the new car drives great, but we were both so sleepy that staying awake was a challenge. We had to stop and fill up along the way, which gave me a chance to stretch my legs and gather myself. But within a few minutes I was terribly sleepy again. All I could think about was how badly we needed to get home. I did whatever I could to stay awake, and we made it home after 3:00AM.

Saturday after work Miriam and I went to look at this house that we’ve had our eye on recently. It’s a little more than we think we could afford, but worth a lot more than its price. It’s enormous. We see why it’s so cheap: There must have been some termites at one point. The place has fallen into disrepair. But we sat in the driveway, imagining how great it could be.

Sunday morning we went down to our carwash area and using all the car-care products we purchased the previous day at Target, proceeded to wash the new car. It still had a pretty good wax on it, so we didn’t do that, but we didn’t dry it either, so it got spots. Worse, the stupid vacuum took our money and didn’t work. I’ll have to remember to bring that up with the management at the complex. Terri’s Toy will have to do something about that.

Filed under: Popular Music, Transportation on October 11th, 2004 | No Comments »

I have been watching these debates with great interest, as I hope you have. I am actually fairly pleased with them for what they have done: Clearly illustrate the candidates’ differences. And, so far at least, they have not been won or lost by some witty quip or humiliating gaffe. That’s not how we ought to remember these things. Was I pleased with the performance of John Kerry in the first presidential debate? You bet. Did Bush do worse than I expected? Yes. Cheney did as well as I expected, which was pretty good. He’s not a pretty man to look at, and John Edwards certainly appears more engaging. But Cheney is a focused and disciplined debater, even if he is much less disciplined when he’s not on camera. He’s all about scaring people, of course.

I am glad, though, that everyone watching at home can get a good idea of where the candidates stand on the most important issues. If you have watched you know that Bush favors a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. You know that Kerry does not support putting discrimination in the Constitution. You would also know that Bush rejects the concept of bilateral negotiations with North Korea while Kerry favors both bilateral and multilateral talks. We have not, thankfully, been forced to watch some terrible blunder over and over on the news, though Bush’s scowling and eye-rolling has had its fair share of air-time.

Monday night we went to see Michael Moore speak at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville. It worked out pretty well for us because we were already on Campus. We got a bite to eat, got a good parking spot and walked to the dome. There was an amazing line at the south entrance where the students were queued up. The regular townies like us had a separate line, and when we got in it, it wasn’t too bad. Within five minutes of our getting in line, though, the length more than doubled, then doubled again, and again. By seven o’clock, when we were supposed to go in the building, I was becoming afraid that we might not make it in because of lack of space. By 7:30, however, we were in, and sitting high up in the back. The crowd kept coming, and by the time Moore took the stage the place was full. In fact, he announced that thousands had been turned away. I believe it.

The speech started out strong. He got very enthusiastic applause. He urged everyone to be involved. He continued a theme he started in Dude, Where’s My Country in which he explained how, even though most Americans do not share the values of Republicans, the GOP nevertheless controls the White House, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court. The focus and discipline of conservatives is admirable, and the progressives have no match for it. He read a letter from a soldier in Iraq in which the GI explained why he was a Democrat. Moore showed a few video clips, including one of George W. Bush emerging from the White House to address reporters following his and Dick Cheney’s joint appearance before the 9/11 Commission. Moore had not edited or manipulated the footage in any way. It was straight off C-Span. But it was stunning. Bush’s non-answers to questions was shocking. His transparent lying was amazing.

There were several protesters at the event. Moore was more than cordial. In fact, he closed by saying that he was very happy they were there, and that they were going to vote. He said that no matter what you believe, being involved is much better than “sitting it out.” I agree completely.

Sandi is coming to visit Thursday. We’re getting a new car Friday, then driving to Orlando to see Bruce Springsteen. Oh, and also REM.

Filed under: Current Events, Politics on October 6th, 2004 | No Comments »