76 Trombones
I need you badly, badly, Madam Librarian…Marian
If I stumbled and I busted my what-you-may-call-it
I could lie on your floor
'Till my body had turned to carrion….Madam Librarian.—“Prof.” Harold Hill
The Music Man was stunning. The performance really could not have been better. While I am familar with the play's music, this was my first time seeing the actual play. I'd say it was one of the best I've seen, if not the best. The talented actors and actresses at the Muny truly did justice to it.
I'll write more about it tomorrow, but I had to say at least that much. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for my comments on Kerry's speech as well — since I was at the Muny, I had to record the fourth and final night of the DNC and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. I will tomorrow, however…
Going to the Muny...
I'm going to the Muny tomorrow night to see “The Music Man.” I'm a bit worried… I hear it might rain, and I sort of wonder if Christopher and Pressed's dismal record concerning the Muny might end up rubbing off on me. Scary. Very very scary.
Christopher, you're not going to be there, right?
Observations on DNC Night Two
Senate hopeful Obamba definitely stole the night. Bar none, hands down. He probably stole the whole two nights, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one people are talking about after the convention is over. This guy was a politician's politician and gave a very good speech on his upbringing and unifying the nation. He only sent a few barbs toward the Bush administration, which was an added plus.
Mark my words: this guy will be running for the president in a few years.
Earlier in the night Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont gave a decent speech that began after the longest applause thus far during the convention. He lamented that he had hoped to receive such a reception, but had hoped it would be on Thursday rather than Tuesday. He didn't say a whole lot new or different from his stump speeches, but this time it was (obviously) for Kerry rather than against him. Given his clear popularity with the audience and medical credentials, I betcha he has the title Secretary of Health and Human Services coming his way if Sen. Kerry beats President Bush on November 2.
Ron Reagan did a speech arguing for Embryonic Stem Cell Research, arguing that it doesn't involve fetuses (give the man a prize, that must be why they call it embryonic). He then proceeded to explain that the embryos weren't human because they didn't have fingers and toes and so on as if that was a clear fact. Anyone who didn't agree with that, he essentially stated, “has a political axe to grind.”
Reagan then used an ends-justifies-the-means argument referring to the situation of a girl who does have fingers and toes and a brain. He argued that this wasn't a political speech he was going to give, but urged people to “vote for stem cell research on November 2.” Reagan, despite mounting evidence against it, argued that embryonic stem cell research would provide replacement parts on demand for people as though this was a known and confirmed fact.
Drudge reports than Michael Reagan has again denounced this stand and says his sibling is being used by the Democrats. The senior Reagan son in June pointed out the fact that reports citing that the Reagan family supports stem cell research sadly excluded himself and his father.
QOTW #10: Traveling
What's the farthest west you've been (relative to where you are from) and when did you go there? North? South? East?
West: That would be the State of Washington (farthest point: the Pacific Ocean and the Olympic National Forest). I went there once in 1997.
North: That would be Minneapolis, Minnesota, also in 1997.
South: Eureka Springs, Arkansas, some time in the early 1990's (can't recall when for sure). I've been down that way a few times since.
East: Shelbyville, Indiana, in the mid-80's. I've been that far numerous times since then.
I was suppose to make it to Florida, Puerto Rico and and several Caribbean islands in 2001, but family medical complications prevented me from making it to that trip. I'm aiming to go to Canada some day soon.
How about you? Post your answers below or post a link in the comments to the answers on your blog.
Democratic National Convention
I've been watching most of it since 7:00 on C-SPAN. Nothing terribly remarkable thus far. Al Gore had a few humorous barbs aimed at Bush that were pretty good, I'll admit. “You win some, you lose some. And then there is that third type,” Gore remarked.
That was the only thing that's really stuck out so far, I think. Not surprisingly, all of the speakers have attacked Bush a lot. Sen. Clinton is coming up right now.
35 Questions
Christopher blogged these questions the other day.
1. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR BEDROOM WALLS?
White.
I don't read a book, I read books. I'm terrible at sticking to just one book. Right now, I am reading:
- Misunderestimated by Bill Sammon.
- End of State (Left Behind Political Series) by Nessa Hart
- Rumors of Another World by Philip Yancy
- Learn to Read New Testament Greek and It's Still Greek to Me by David Alan Black
- Just Started Back Reading: The Remanent by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
- Planning to Start Back to Soon: Wild at Heartby John Eldredge
I plan to start Rush Limbaugh's second book and some others soon.
3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
A big Dell logo pad for my main system, a blue (plain) ergonomic pad for my iMac.
4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Monopoly.
5. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
Time or eWeek
6. FAVORITE SMELL?
Ditto Christopher's choice: Freshly brewed coffee.
7. FAVORITE COLOR?
Ditto dittoing. For the one millionth time green, one of the darker shades.
8. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR?
Pink.
9. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOUR ANSWERING MACHINE PICKS UP?
Four.
10. MOST IMPORTANT MATERIAL THING IN MY LIFE?
As long as I'm following Christopher's lead, I'll say cotton.
11. FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM?
Vanilla.
12. DO YOU BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT DAILY?
No.
13. DO YOU HAVE A STUFFED ANIMAL IN YOUR ROOM SOMEWHERE?
Yes. I collect seasonal ones.
14. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY?
Usually cool. I don't like the really bad ones though — I've had enough hail for a looooooong time. Of course, hail isn't particularly scary, just annoying.
15. FAVORITE DRINK?
Water (filtered or bottled), coffee, iced tea (no sweetener, no lemon), Coke, lime-aide.
16. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY?
September 24.
17. FAVORITE VEGETABLES?
Dittoing Christopher again. I love potatoes. Especially baked ones, but also fried, hash browned, mashed, twice baked, scalloped, au gratin, etc. I prefer Yukon Golds.
18. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
A job that let me do a bit of everything. If I could only pick something “exciting,” I'd say a politician.
19. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Brown, just like I have.
20. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE?
Yes.
21. TOP THREE FAVORITE MOVIES (IN ORDER)?
I'm not sure. I don't think I have favorites like that. Some good ones: The Great Escape, Shrek, Home Alone, The Passion of the Christ…
22. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS?
Usually, yes.
23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
Boxes, extra blankets, some pillows, an unopened Linksys EtherFast switch.
24. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER?
13
25. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH ON TV & IN PERSON?
Figure skating.
26. WHAT IS YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR?
I don't think I have a biggest fear.
27. FAVORITE CD OF ALL TIME & RIGHT NOW?
That's tough. Either Declaration by Steven Curtis Chapman or Woven and Spun by Nichole Nordeman
28. FAVORITE TV SHOW OF ALL TIME & RIGHT NOW?
All Time: I Love Lucy (others: I Dream of Jeannie, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Now: The Dick van Dyke Show
29. HAMBURGERS OR HOT DOGS?
Hot dogs, big kosher hot dogs… the kind Costco has in big packs and at their food court.
30. THE COOLEST PLACES YOU'VE EVER BEEN?
Big Cedar Lodge, Ridgedale, MO.
31. WHAT WALLPAPER AND/OR SCREEN SAVER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW?
My G5 has photos from a hike on the Katy Trail (randomly switching). PC has the Mandrake Linux 10 wallpaper at the moment. iMac has one of Apple's wallpaper collection and the PowerBook has the default Panther wallpaper.
32. DOES MCDONALD'S SKIMP ON YOUR FRIES & DO YOU CARE?
Sometimes, but my main concern is that they are hot, like Christopher.
33. FAVORITE CHAIN RESTAURANT?
Hollahan's and the Cracker Barrel.
34. IF YOU HAVE A BOY (OR HAVE ANOTHER BOY) WHAT WOULD YOU NAME HIM?
Mark
35. IF YOU COULD LEARN TO PLAY ONE INSTRUMENT OVERNIGHT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Piano (after all, if you can play the piano/electronic keyboard, you can sound like you play almost anything.)
The Old Gray Lady Admits Stance
Well, not really, but almost. The reader advocate for the New York Times finally has admitted that the paper is unabashedly liberal. And not just on the opinion page or the op-ed page, but in its news coverage. In an insightful piece, Daniel Okrent, the “Public Editor” of the Times even notes that the paper's characture of the gay marriage issue makes things look so great that they “would make a very effective ad campaign for the gay marriage cause.”
Okrent, who seems to enjoy this self-examination, continues, saying that “You wouldn't even need the articles: run the headlines over the invariably sunny pictures of invariably happy people that ran with most of these pieces, and you'd have the makings of a life insurance commercial.” So what will the liberal media do now?
That's going to be difficult. It was relatively easy for the media elites to black list Bernard Goldberg, a long time CBS News reporter who they could argue was obviously crazy. After all, he published his harsh criticism of bias in the media in the conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. What will they do now that the Old Gray Lady has said the same thing?
They'll probably ignore it. First, a disclaimer at the bottom of the article makes it clear that the Times isn't officially saying this. And, even if they are, the likelihood most people will hear about it is rather slim. Despite its impressive size, the New York Times still isn't read by most Americans, and I can't see Dan Rather coming on and saying “In other news, we at CBS News admit today that we're a bunch of liberals. All that stuff I said about us being all across the spectrum was hogwash.”
So maybe this article will do some good. For once the mainstream media won't be able to just mindlessly copy all the stories from the Times.
Cleaning
Today was a cleaning day. I didn't plan it that way, but I sit here with a large box near my feet of miscellaneous odds and ends that I pulled out while feeling too energetic… somehow leaving them on the sofa didn't seem like a good idea, so they are now in a box waiting to be sorted through.
It all started when I was looking for my Windows 98 CD to do a reinstall for a client who lost their CD (it's a valid license they have, they just don't have the CD). Anyway, then I realized I was missing two CD's from my audio CD collection. I never did find the jewel cases, although I did find the CD's in a CD holder (I forgot I had taken them out). Now if I can just find the jewel cases, I'll be happy.
Meanwhile, I have a mess. In a way, that's good. Usually the only way I ever get around to organizing things is if I'm forced to by the fact that I already have everything pulled out and it never goes back into as small of space as it came out of… thus necessitating organizing actions. Tomorrow I hope to finish.
Reflections on the Rally
Well, I know I keep promising, so here are some thoughts — scattered as they may be at one o'clock — about the rally on Tuesday.
I've already said it was great. The speakers, who hit on a lot of important issues, including the Missouri Marriage Amendment, where interesting. Save for MO GOP chairwoman Ann Wagner, it was a mostly positive set of remarks too. Ms. Wagner did do a bit of mud slinging, on the other hand, comparing a Kerry Speech to a root canal and doing an obligatory slam of President Clinton. Other than that, though, most of the presentations were purposeful statements of what the politicians hoped to do.
With an estimated 11,000 people in attendance, the arena was almost full and and certainly was full of anticipation. There was a definite sense of anticipation back in November of 2000 at the Family Arena when the then-Gov. Bush came in for one of the last pre-election rallies, but that excitement was far larger now that Dubya is the most powerful man in the free world.
The UMC Church of the Shepherd worship team did a great job. I can't imagine what their Sunday services are like, but they were very good at doing different styles of music including rock, CCM and traditional patriotic. The second group to sing was a bit too rap-like for my taste, but they did get everyone going chanting “B-U-S-H.” I need to look up their name, but I think they might be a Christian rap band.
Then, the speakers quit as did the music groups and we had canned music for a few minutes. After awhile, a man in a black suit came out and placed the presidential seal on the podium. He's arrived! Sure enough, a few moments later, the room grew dark and as dramatic music echoed through the arena, lights made to project “W's” floated around the room and the ceiling turned red, white and blue. “Ladies and gentlemen… please welcome the President of the United States!” Then the spotlight found its subject and President Bush was on stage.
At that point, the president took to the podium and spoke for probably about 45 minutes. In 2000 he presented a great vision and message. Yet his tone and message were far more purposeful and eloquent this time, showing how the events of the last three years had transformed Bush from someone apparently destined for a lukewarm presidency to certainly one of the most determined, interesting presidents in some time.
Negativity was kept to a minimum, with only a few pokes at Kerry. The big poke (and one well earned by Kerry) was about Kerry's ringing praise of the vulgar Hollywood elites and their comments made at a fundraiser earlier this month. How Kerry could listen to people like Whoopi Goldberg make obscene remarks and then say they were the “heart and soul” of America is beyond me. President Bush noted that he thought the “heart and soul” of America was “in placed like St. Charles, Missouri.”
At an earlier, more lighthearted moment, he also pointed to Kerry's flip-flopping. “Sen. Kerry has been in Washington a long time. Long enough to hold both sides on just about every issue.” Later, he joked that if you ran into Sen. Kerry and found you disagreed with his views, you clearly just ran into him on the wrong day.
Bush covered his standard stump fair, including stopping frivolous lawsuits, keeping the U.S. independent of other nations (more specifically, not to trust national security decisions to other world leaders), keeping taxes low, a pitch for “No Child Left Behind” and, of course, lots of talk about Iraq. He pledged to do all he could to keep the country safe and never allow the government to take measures that would make the country less secure “during his watch.”
He also did a small pitch for gubernatorial hopeful Matt Blunt. After making one statement he looked back at Blunt and quipped, “isn't that right, governor.”
Overall, his message came across extremely sincere and assuring of his positions. It was probably one of the best speeches I've heard him give. Being there definitely made it just that much better. After the end of the speech, he took a long time to shake hands, going deep into the crowd, picking up babies, and even — right before leaving — jumping up in the air to touch the hand of someone leaning down from a high row of seats over the doorway.
All I can say is this: if you get the chance to go see the President during this election season, do it. It was an experience that can't be exactly explained by putting a few words together on a screen. You won't regret it, but I think you will regret missing out on the opportunity.
One of those days
I was busy from almost the time I got up until now, yet, I feel like very little was accomplished. sigh Tomorrow I'd like to get not only “stuff” done, but the kind of stuff that will actually make me feel like I'm moving forward rather than just running in circles.
