Posted inHome life

I’ve found my true love

It took almost all of 2003, but on December 30—yesterday at 5:00 pm—I found my true love. And the greatest thing about it is that Laurel embraced her also. A threesome! Cool! Also hot, because sparks fly when you touch her in a certain way. Her name? Electricity. Along with tens of thousands of other people in the mid-Willamette valley, we lost our power about 3:00 am early Monday morning. We got it back at 5:00 pm Tuesday afternoon. So we had some 38 hours to ponder how much Electricity does for us, and how under-appreciated she had been in…
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Posted inHome life

A sign we’ve been married 13 years

This is indeed a sign that our marriage is well into a second decade—when I went into Morlan’s Plumbing last month, ordered a “whisper quiet” Panasonic bathroom exhaust fan, and said, “It’s a Christmas present for my wife.” Strangely, the Morlan employees seemed surprised at this, and even told me that this was the first time they were aware of a ceiling fan being a gift. Well, they don’t know Laurel, and how sensitive she is to loud noises. She carries ear plugs in her purse, and puts them on in a theatre whenever a movie sound track rises above…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life Sustainability

Holiday catch-up

Oh, my, ten days since my last posting—must be almost a HinesSight procrastination record. In my defense (as if I need one; heck, it’s my weblog, and I can do what I want with it, but the Protestant ethic is hard to get rid of), the holidays spread stress, along with good cheer. In my experience, the good cheer starts about now, the weekend before Christmas, by which time we start to get out of the preparing-for-Christmas mode, and begin entering the actually-enjoy-Christmas mode. Anyway, here’s my attempt to catch up on the trajectory of our mid-December life: Artificial tree…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Accurate Doonesbury reporting

Laurel is a big Doonesbury comic fan, as am I. But she was unaware, until I pointed it out to her, that the Doonesbury series about Schwarzenegger’s investigation of himself, seeking to find out whether he truly groped women who didn’t want to be groped, was absolutely based on truth (click on dates before and after the link above to get the full Doonesbury take on the story). The governor of California really is investigating himself, which goes to prove the cliché that truth is stranger than fiction. For additional confirmation, check out this recent CNN story on the subject.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Not proud to be an American

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Old anti-war chants keep going through my head, as true for Iraq as they were for Vietnam. “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many children are you going to kill today?” Answer, for Bush, nine. How much more United States wrought terror are we willing to condone?
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Posted inHome life

Gordon

A few hours ago I went into the Courthouse Athletic Club’s karate room, where for nine years I used to train with some great guys and gals—and where I still like to work out several times a week, enjoying the wood floor and the memories. When I started to take my shoes off, and put my sweat towel down, I saw a sheet of paper on the counter with Gordon Waite’s photograph, and a caption “In Memoriam.” Gordon was a good karate buddy. He died unexpectedly Thanksgiving morning, at the age of 72. That is just so wrong. And yet,…
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Posted inEntertainment

“Bad Santa” strangely compelling

We got ourselves into the Christmas spirit, Laurel and Brian style, by going to see “Bad Santa” last night. Since the reviews of this movie had emphasized that no one should see it who expects to be uplifted or inspired, naturally it was tops on our Must-See Holiday Flick list. Our sense of humor tilts decidedly in the direction of wry dry cynicism, so a movie that stars Billie Bob Thornton as a drunken, womanizing, thieving Santa is right up our alley. We also love HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Comedy Central’s “Reno 911”—when we’re not watching PBS or listening…
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