Spent Christmas in chilly Western Mass. Had a great, relaxed time up until Christmas afternoon when I was hit full-on with one of the worst colds I've had in years. I literally did nothing at all Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday excpet sleep and take NyQil. I somehow managed to drive myself home on Sunday. I'm feeling better and have to work tomorrow. In some ways I'm glad that I was sick on vacation and not while I had to work, in other ways, for obvious reasons, I'm kind of pissed about it.
On Christmas I cooked a goose for the first time, for the wife's family. The trick to cooking goose is making sure you position and baste it properly, otherwise it's way too fatty. I went too far overboard though, and it ended up being dry and tough. It tasted good though.
My brother sent me a boxed set of Ingmar Bergman films and I made the wife's family sit down and watch "Smiles of a Summer Night" which no one liked and all thought was depressing and too serious. Oh well.
No plans for New Years. I have to work late Wednesday but I'm taking Thursday off.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Why I Don't Watch Basketball Anymore
There are two pro sports I like: Baseball and Basketball. I have nothing personal against hockey, but I didn't grow up with it, and I find it hard to watch on TV. I actively dislike football for a number of reasons that I'll list on a different post. Other sports may have pro teams, but these four are the only ones on my radar.
The older I get, the more I find I like the idea of baseball rather than actual baseball games themselves. To me baseball is leisure-- having three free hours to sit and listen to or watch an entire game, night after night, for an entire summer. Baseball is long stretches with not a whole lot going on, punctuated by moments of great excitement. Baseball is also appealing because deep down every kid knows he COULD be a baseball player. Baseball players come in all shapes and sizes. You don't have to be strong or fast or tall to be a good baseball player. You just have to be good at playing baseball.
Baseball season always winds down right around the time basketball pre-season is gearing up. So they're a perfect compliment for one another. Basketball is played indoors and is faster-paced. Basketball has more of a gritty, urban feel to it than baseball, which has more of an old-timey bucolic feel. Basketball games aren't on every night, just three or four times a week, easier to follow when life is busier. Unless it's a great game going into overtime, there's no danger of the game going on forever. Right as basketball season is winding down (the playoffs go on forever), baseball season is starting up again. By the time the NBA championships are over, the mid-season penant races are starting to heat up in baseball, and it's only a few weeks until the all-star game.
All this sounds great, but truth is, I rarely watch basketball (or baseball, for that matter) anymore. I used to follow the Lakers religiously when I was in high school. I knew not only all the players on the team, but on all the teams, especially the ones in the Pacific Division that the Lakers played five or six times a season. I wish I could get back into it, but I can't. I think, sadly, my days of enjoying watching basketball are behind me. I may catch a game now and then, but things will never be the way they once were. The reasons? Well:
1. I'm older than almost all the players in the NBA now. It's hard to look at the guys playing now the way I looked at Worthy and Scott, when I realize that most of them were born in the 1980s. Some of them now in the LATE 1980s.
2. I started working. Ever since I started working I've found it hard to get excited about the games. Priorities change and I'd usually rather be doing something else with the few spare hours I might have available after dinner every night. Part of it, I'll admit, is the realization of how much these guys are getting paid for what they do. I'm not saying they don't deserve it, but I am saying that I enjoy the games less knowing that these guys are all getting paid millions.
3. Chick Hearn died. A huge part of my enjoyment in watching the games was listening to Chick Hearn. Now that he's not announcing anymore it just isn't the same.
4. I moved. The local teams are fine, but I just can't get excited about them the way I could about the local teams when I was a kid. When the Celtics or Knicks are playing the Lakers my role is always as 'The guy from the visitor's city, who's rooting against the home team."
5. The players are too human. Goes hand in hand with being older than most of them. Though I could swear there are more thugs and criminals in the NBA now than there were 15 years ago. You would hear about certain players having run-ins with the law, but now it's much more in-your-face, widely reported, and probably just happens more often. There's more of a culture of being proud to be a thug that's infiltrated the NBA, that wasn't there before guys like Iverson and Spreewell came into the league.
6. I'm not a kid anymore. Really the most important thing. Sports are for kids. Period. You can enjoy the game as an adult, you can call yourself a fan, but the culture of being a fan, is for kids. Sports heroes are sports heroes because they're what a young guy fantasizes he can be like as a man in this world. He can do great things, he can rise to the occasion under pressure, and he can be awesome and have thousands of people cheering him on. That's how every pre-teen boy wants to see himself and have others see him. The same is true for comic book superheroes.
Once you get out of school, out into a job, etc., you have to BE the person you had the luxury of dreaming about being when you were a kid.
The older I get, the more I find I like the idea of baseball rather than actual baseball games themselves. To me baseball is leisure-- having three free hours to sit and listen to or watch an entire game, night after night, for an entire summer. Baseball is long stretches with not a whole lot going on, punctuated by moments of great excitement. Baseball is also appealing because deep down every kid knows he COULD be a baseball player. Baseball players come in all shapes and sizes. You don't have to be strong or fast or tall to be a good baseball player. You just have to be good at playing baseball.
Baseball season always winds down right around the time basketball pre-season is gearing up. So they're a perfect compliment for one another. Basketball is played indoors and is faster-paced. Basketball has more of a gritty, urban feel to it than baseball, which has more of an old-timey bucolic feel. Basketball games aren't on every night, just three or four times a week, easier to follow when life is busier. Unless it's a great game going into overtime, there's no danger of the game going on forever. Right as basketball season is winding down (the playoffs go on forever), baseball season is starting up again. By the time the NBA championships are over, the mid-season penant races are starting to heat up in baseball, and it's only a few weeks until the all-star game.
All this sounds great, but truth is, I rarely watch basketball (or baseball, for that matter) anymore. I used to follow the Lakers religiously when I was in high school. I knew not only all the players on the team, but on all the teams, especially the ones in the Pacific Division that the Lakers played five or six times a season. I wish I could get back into it, but I can't. I think, sadly, my days of enjoying watching basketball are behind me. I may catch a game now and then, but things will never be the way they once were. The reasons? Well:
1. I'm older than almost all the players in the NBA now. It's hard to look at the guys playing now the way I looked at Worthy and Scott, when I realize that most of them were born in the 1980s. Some of them now in the LATE 1980s.
2. I started working. Ever since I started working I've found it hard to get excited about the games. Priorities change and I'd usually rather be doing something else with the few spare hours I might have available after dinner every night. Part of it, I'll admit, is the realization of how much these guys are getting paid for what they do. I'm not saying they don't deserve it, but I am saying that I enjoy the games less knowing that these guys are all getting paid millions.
3. Chick Hearn died. A huge part of my enjoyment in watching the games was listening to Chick Hearn. Now that he's not announcing anymore it just isn't the same.
4. I moved. The local teams are fine, but I just can't get excited about them the way I could about the local teams when I was a kid. When the Celtics or Knicks are playing the Lakers my role is always as 'The guy from the visitor's city, who's rooting against the home team."
5. The players are too human. Goes hand in hand with being older than most of them. Though I could swear there are more thugs and criminals in the NBA now than there were 15 years ago. You would hear about certain players having run-ins with the law, but now it's much more in-your-face, widely reported, and probably just happens more often. There's more of a culture of being proud to be a thug that's infiltrated the NBA, that wasn't there before guys like Iverson and Spreewell came into the league.
6. I'm not a kid anymore. Really the most important thing. Sports are for kids. Period. You can enjoy the game as an adult, you can call yourself a fan, but the culture of being a fan, is for kids. Sports heroes are sports heroes because they're what a young guy fantasizes he can be like as a man in this world. He can do great things, he can rise to the occasion under pressure, and he can be awesome and have thousands of people cheering him on. That's how every pre-teen boy wants to see himself and have others see him. The same is true for comic book superheroes.
Once you get out of school, out into a job, etc., you have to BE the person you had the luxury of dreaming about being when you were a kid.
New Year's Resolutions
I can only think of four this year. I should probably have more, but I think these four are doable, and will all improve my quality of life in the long-run. On a side note, I can't believe it's going to be 2009. This will be the last year of the 20-oughts. Unbelievable.
Resolutions:
1. Phase out my clients in New York City and work only in Westchester. This would make my life so much easier. Going into the city all the time is such a hassle. I wanted to live and work outside of the city and I've only accomplished one of the two. I'm pretty sure, at this point, that I'm going to return to a school in the fall anyway. I didn't love working in a school but I see the benefits over doing what I'm doing now. Ultimately, if I stay in this field long enough, I'd like to end up in academia. But that opens up a whole other set of headaches that I don't want to deal with at this point.
2. Get rugs and curtains for the apartment. This sounds dumb and easy, I know, but it's something I really want to get done. We've been here since August and still have neither.
3. Start at least 18 books this year. That's about one book every three weeks. The last few years I've been starting about 10 books a year but only finishing one or two. I'm also going to have to set a limit of three weeks on a book I've started. If I'm not well on my way to finishing it after three weeks then it's time to move on. Hopefully this strategy will increase my total number of books read for 2009.
4. Buy nothing on credit. I'd like to go one full calendar year without buying anything on credit. I'm pretty sure the last year I did that was 1999. I'd like to put those days of having to rely on credit to get me through a tight month behind me.
So that's it. Like I said, I should probably come up with more. I could do more things with my wife, and I should probably drink less and exercise more but those things are hard to quantify.
Resolutions:
1. Phase out my clients in New York City and work only in Westchester. This would make my life so much easier. Going into the city all the time is such a hassle. I wanted to live and work outside of the city and I've only accomplished one of the two. I'm pretty sure, at this point, that I'm going to return to a school in the fall anyway. I didn't love working in a school but I see the benefits over doing what I'm doing now. Ultimately, if I stay in this field long enough, I'd like to end up in academia. But that opens up a whole other set of headaches that I don't want to deal with at this point.
2. Get rugs and curtains for the apartment. This sounds dumb and easy, I know, but it's something I really want to get done. We've been here since August and still have neither.
3. Start at least 18 books this year. That's about one book every three weeks. The last few years I've been starting about 10 books a year but only finishing one or two. I'm also going to have to set a limit of three weeks on a book I've started. If I'm not well on my way to finishing it after three weeks then it's time to move on. Hopefully this strategy will increase my total number of books read for 2009.
4. Buy nothing on credit. I'd like to go one full calendar year without buying anything on credit. I'm pretty sure the last year I did that was 1999. I'd like to put those days of having to rely on credit to get me through a tight month behind me.
So that's it. Like I said, I should probably come up with more. I could do more things with my wife, and I should probably drink less and exercise more but those things are hard to quantify.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Schwarzenegger Speaking German
I always knew he could, but I'd never heard him until now:
What stands out to me is the fact that he DOES NOT CHANGE HIS ACCENT AT ALL when speaking German or English. I don't know if this is a conscious decision on his part, though somehow I suspect it might be. It also seems like he doesn't speak German much anymore, since he has some word-finding problems here and there. Also, notice how he refers to himself as Stadtsberger, but the caption says Gouverneur.
What stands out to me is the fact that he DOES NOT CHANGE HIS ACCENT AT ALL when speaking German or English. I don't know if this is a conscious decision on his part, though somehow I suspect it might be. It also seems like he doesn't speak German much anymore, since he has some word-finding problems here and there. Also, notice how he refers to himself as Stadtsberger, but the caption says Gouverneur.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Cold
It was cold today. When I woke up this morning it was in the teens, just below zero if you factor in the wind chill. The high today was around 25. I spent a lot of the day outside, traveling from one client's apartment to the next, killing time in between.
It snowed a lot on Friday and then again yesterday morning, so all that accumulated snow has turned to ice, making the roads and sidewalks very slippery.
Fortunately I like the cold. I can tolerate it well for someone who didn't grow up with it, but even I have my limits. When I lived in California I used to work with a guy who grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. He went back there for Christmas one year and when he came back he said the temperature was -40. After a certain point, I wondered, is there really any difference between the cold? Does -40 feel any different from 0? How could it?
He said it did feel different and tried to explain it to me but I didn't get it. After living in the northeast for four years, now I get what he was saying. This is how I'd best describe all ranges of temperatures. The following only apply to daytime highs, because 30 degrees in the morning of a day where it will get up into the 60s is an entirely different beast than 30 degrees at 2pm where the overnight low will be 5.
I'll start with hot and work down:
over 90 if it's dry, over 82 if it's real humid: too hot. Not comfortable. Just want to stay inside and turn on the air conditioner. Don't want to do anything active outside. Hope that it will cool down soon.
75-82 if humid, 80-90 if it's dry: comfortably hot. Doesn't feel oppressive. Can still do most things, don't hesitate to go out. Probably will be perfectly comfortable once the sun goes down.
65-75 if humid, 65-80 if dry: comfortably warm. Don't have to think about the weather. Can wear short sleeves and be fine.
50-65: perfect. This is temperature range at which I'm optimally comfortable. I'm not too hot and I'm not too cold. I can wear long pants, long sleeves and maybe a light sweater at the cool end and be perfectly fine. Being outside is not a problem.
35-50: comfortably cool. You definitely want to wear a coat of some kind and maybe a hat. As long as it's not windy you're fine. You can still do most outside stuff.
25-35: cold. This is the point where I start having to wear gloves and a scarf. I can be outside for a while but I don't usually want to stay out too long. If it's windy or very dry it can start to get uncomfortable.
5-25: Uncomfortably cold. This is the point where you really can't do much outside. If you have to be out you want to keep it to a minimum. It's not comfortable, but it is possible to be outside for a little bit.
-15 to +5: Forget about it. This is just too cold to do anything. This is the point where being outside, even just for a little bit can be painful. If your ears aren't covered they'll start stinging within a minute or two. If you don't have gloves on, your hands will start to feel like they're being stabbed with a thousand little sharp knives. Towards the lower end breathing comfortably starts to become n issue. All that cold air going straight into your lungs starts to hurt and your nose gets dry.
-15 is the coldest air temperature I've been in, but I've been in wind chills up to -30. I wouldn't say I have enough experience with that kind of cold to talk about it at length, just that the breathing issue gets more intense and things (like cars) start not working. Also, when it gets that cold, no matter if your house is insulated and has central heat, you can never really get warm, everything is saturated with cold.
It snowed a lot on Friday and then again yesterday morning, so all that accumulated snow has turned to ice, making the roads and sidewalks very slippery.
Fortunately I like the cold. I can tolerate it well for someone who didn't grow up with it, but even I have my limits. When I lived in California I used to work with a guy who grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. He went back there for Christmas one year and when he came back he said the temperature was -40. After a certain point, I wondered, is there really any difference between the cold? Does -40 feel any different from 0? How could it?
He said it did feel different and tried to explain it to me but I didn't get it. After living in the northeast for four years, now I get what he was saying. This is how I'd best describe all ranges of temperatures. The following only apply to daytime highs, because 30 degrees in the morning of a day where it will get up into the 60s is an entirely different beast than 30 degrees at 2pm where the overnight low will be 5.
I'll start with hot and work down:
over 90 if it's dry, over 82 if it's real humid: too hot. Not comfortable. Just want to stay inside and turn on the air conditioner. Don't want to do anything active outside. Hope that it will cool down soon.
75-82 if humid, 80-90 if it's dry: comfortably hot. Doesn't feel oppressive. Can still do most things, don't hesitate to go out. Probably will be perfectly comfortable once the sun goes down.
65-75 if humid, 65-80 if dry: comfortably warm. Don't have to think about the weather. Can wear short sleeves and be fine.
50-65: perfect. This is temperature range at which I'm optimally comfortable. I'm not too hot and I'm not too cold. I can wear long pants, long sleeves and maybe a light sweater at the cool end and be perfectly fine. Being outside is not a problem.
35-50: comfortably cool. You definitely want to wear a coat of some kind and maybe a hat. As long as it's not windy you're fine. You can still do most outside stuff.
25-35: cold. This is the point where I start having to wear gloves and a scarf. I can be outside for a while but I don't usually want to stay out too long. If it's windy or very dry it can start to get uncomfortable.
5-25: Uncomfortably cold. This is the point where you really can't do much outside. If you have to be out you want to keep it to a minimum. It's not comfortable, but it is possible to be outside for a little bit.
-15 to +5: Forget about it. This is just too cold to do anything. This is the point where being outside, even just for a little bit can be painful. If your ears aren't covered they'll start stinging within a minute or two. If you don't have gloves on, your hands will start to feel like they're being stabbed with a thousand little sharp knives. Towards the lower end breathing comfortably starts to become n issue. All that cold air going straight into your lungs starts to hurt and your nose gets dry.
-15 is the coldest air temperature I've been in, but I've been in wind chills up to -30. I wouldn't say I have enough experience with that kind of cold to talk about it at length, just that the breathing issue gets more intense and things (like cars) start not working. Also, when it gets that cold, no matter if your house is insulated and has central heat, you can never really get warm, everything is saturated with cold.
A Show I Don't Like
My wife and I have been to both locations of Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles restaurants in New York a couple of times. It's one of our default special occasion and taking-guests-from-out-of-town places. French food with an unassuming twist. Awesome Steak Frites for $19, traditional fare like escargot and foie gras if you're feeling adventurous, and probably the best creme brulee I've ever had anywhere. It's a great place. After one visit my wife offhandedly asked the waiter what Anthony Bourdain was really like. The waiter responded "He's great; he's a really cool guy."
Bobby Flay also has a couple of restaurants in the city. The only one I've been to is called Mesa Grill. It's pricey but the food is damn good. The signature dish is a pork tenderloin topped with a tangy chili sauce. The pork is super-tender, and even better, the sauce is SPICY. I love it when places aren't afraid to serve stuff hot like that. The margaritas at Mesa Grill are solid, and I had a Yucatecan tacos appetizer there once that I still think about from time to time. Again, after one of our meals there my wife asked the waiter what Bobby Flay was really like. "Oh, he's a dick," is what the waiter said.
And I can believe it. I've grown to really hate the show "Throwdown: with Bobby Flay". It's pretentious, it's pompous, it's just plain mean. The premise is that Bobby Flay sends a film crew out to some cook somewhere who's known for, usually, some kind of a regional speciality (ie, fried chicken, lasagna, crab cakes) under the guise that they're being profiled for the Food Network. Then, right in the middle, Bobby and his freakish red hair jump out and everyone's supposed to be blown away that it's really him (it's really funny to see when the people obviously don't know who he is), at which point Bobby challenges them to a "throwdown".
The throwdown consists of Bobby and the regional cook having a contest to see who can make the better (fill in the blank). Of course, Bobby is a world-class chef and has a crew of people working for him. Bobby is able to spare no expense, whereas the local cooks have undoubtedly been under pressure to perfect their specific dishes so that they're not only tasty but also cost-effective to mass produce and serve in their restaurants. It really bothers me that this point is never acknowledged by the show.
The worst part is the judging, where usually they get some renowned food critic and then just some fat local guy who likes to eat a lot of whatever the throwdown dish is. The judging always goes something like this: "Well, Dish A is really, really good. In fact, it's amazing. The ingredients are so fresh, are those Montenegran truffles I taste? And Dish B, well, when I think of real authentic, home-made ___ this is what I think of", which is just a nice of saying "Oh my God, Bobby Flay's food is incredible and gourmet, and the local's stuff tastes like good local stuff."
Bobby Flay's food clearly always tastes better as a result of all his advantages, not the least of which is that he's simply a great cook. The locals "win" about half the time, I think, because the judges just feel bad for them. It's disheartening to see a couple of grandmas from Munclon, Maine, who've been making chocolate-chip cookies for 45 years lose a cookie baking contest to a jerk like Bobby Flay. I'm half expecting the next throwdown to be at a lemonade stand, where Bobby wipes the floor with a couple of 8 year-old kids. Chili-chipotle lime-ade from Bobby is what I'm putting my money on.
The one time I did enjoy watching the show was the one where the throwdown ingredient was Chicago-style deep dish pizza. The competitor was clearly just as a big a jerk as Bobby is, and was riding him and insulting New York pizza the whole time. Not in a facetious, playful way, but in a pretty mean-spirited way. You could tell Bobby Flay was pissed. I had to watch it to the end, though, because I knew I'd enjoy watching either one of them lose.
Bobby Flay also has a couple of restaurants in the city. The only one I've been to is called Mesa Grill. It's pricey but the food is damn good. The signature dish is a pork tenderloin topped with a tangy chili sauce. The pork is super-tender, and even better, the sauce is SPICY. I love it when places aren't afraid to serve stuff hot like that. The margaritas at Mesa Grill are solid, and I had a Yucatecan tacos appetizer there once that I still think about from time to time. Again, after one of our meals there my wife asked the waiter what Bobby Flay was really like. "Oh, he's a dick," is what the waiter said.
And I can believe it. I've grown to really hate the show "Throwdown: with Bobby Flay". It's pretentious, it's pompous, it's just plain mean. The premise is that Bobby Flay sends a film crew out to some cook somewhere who's known for, usually, some kind of a regional speciality (ie, fried chicken, lasagna, crab cakes) under the guise that they're being profiled for the Food Network. Then, right in the middle, Bobby and his freakish red hair jump out and everyone's supposed to be blown away that it's really him (it's really funny to see when the people obviously don't know who he is), at which point Bobby challenges them to a "throwdown".
The throwdown consists of Bobby and the regional cook having a contest to see who can make the better (fill in the blank). Of course, Bobby is a world-class chef and has a crew of people working for him. Bobby is able to spare no expense, whereas the local cooks have undoubtedly been under pressure to perfect their specific dishes so that they're not only tasty but also cost-effective to mass produce and serve in their restaurants. It really bothers me that this point is never acknowledged by the show.
The worst part is the judging, where usually they get some renowned food critic and then just some fat local guy who likes to eat a lot of whatever the throwdown dish is. The judging always goes something like this: "Well, Dish A is really, really good. In fact, it's amazing. The ingredients are so fresh, are those Montenegran truffles I taste? And Dish B, well, when I think of real authentic, home-made ___ this is what I think of", which is just a nice of saying "Oh my God, Bobby Flay's food is incredible and gourmet, and the local's stuff tastes like good local stuff."
Bobby Flay's food clearly always tastes better as a result of all his advantages, not the least of which is that he's simply a great cook. The locals "win" about half the time, I think, because the judges just feel bad for them. It's disheartening to see a couple of grandmas from Munclon, Maine, who've been making chocolate-chip cookies for 45 years lose a cookie baking contest to a jerk like Bobby Flay. I'm half expecting the next throwdown to be at a lemonade stand, where Bobby wipes the floor with a couple of 8 year-old kids. Chili-chipotle lime-ade from Bobby is what I'm putting my money on.
The one time I did enjoy watching the show was the one where the throwdown ingredient was Chicago-style deep dish pizza. The competitor was clearly just as a big a jerk as Bobby is, and was riding him and insulting New York pizza the whole time. Not in a facetious, playful way, but in a pretty mean-spirited way. You could tell Bobby Flay was pissed. I had to watch it to the end, though, because I knew I'd enjoy watching either one of them lose.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Physical Anthropology Quiz
Match the soccer player with his country of origin:
The countries are:
-England
-Netherlands
-Italy
-Sweden
-Poland
-Ukraine
-Greece
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The countries are:
-England
-Netherlands
-Italy
-Sweden
-Poland
-Ukraine
-Greece
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Friday, December 19, 2008
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
I give you Mr. Cat Stevens:
Not many people realize that he wrote this song and that his version is the original one. Rod Stewart's version sucks. Sheryl Crow's shrill version is suckier. This is the only version that makes me realize what a great song it really is.
Not many people realize that he wrote this song and that his version is the original one. Rod Stewart's version sucks. Sheryl Crow's shrill version is suckier. This is the only version that makes me realize what a great song it really is.
If My Life Since High School Were a Book
I think I'd be on Chapter 10 right now. Here's how I would divide it up:
Chapter 1- Post high school. The time immediately after I graduated when I wasn't going to school but was working at the restaurant and the toy store. This is the time during which I met Sara and learned how to drive.
Chapter 2- Working at the Library. Working at the library and going to Fullerton. During these years I switched majors from History to Anthtopology and then almost to Linguistics.
Chapter 3- Going to London. This is when I went to London. It was such a cool experience it gets its own chapter.
Chapter 4- Post-London. Getting back to my real life. Finishing up at Fullerton and working at the botanical garden and the bookstore in Pasadena.
Chapter 5- Doing Jack Crap. After I graduated from Fullerton, going up to Seattle and back a few times, working at the veterinary clinic. I got a bad case of bronchitis during this time that I think was directly related to being so stagnant with my life.
Chapter 6- Extended time in Seattle. I went back up to Seattle and spent an extended period of time there. It was while I was there that I decided to go back to school, get a Master's, and train for a real career.
Chapter 7- Getting my post-bacc. I went back to Fullerton and got my post-bacc in speech path. During this time I also worked at the Huntington.
Chapter 8- Going to U Mass. After I finished my post-bacc I went to U Mass and moved to the east coast.
Chapter 9- Living in Manhattan. I lived in New York like a big jerk for the first few years out of grad school.
Chapter 10- Now. I'm living in Westchester, I'm married, and I'm trying to figure out where to go with my career. My mind is occupied with things like buying a house and deciding whether or not to have children.
Hopefully there will be many more chapters yet to come, and hopefully they will be as relatively tranquil as the ones that have come before them.
Chapter 1- Post high school. The time immediately after I graduated when I wasn't going to school but was working at the restaurant and the toy store. This is the time during which I met Sara and learned how to drive.
Chapter 2- Working at the Library. Working at the library and going to Fullerton. During these years I switched majors from History to Anthtopology and then almost to Linguistics.
Chapter 3- Going to London. This is when I went to London. It was such a cool experience it gets its own chapter.
Chapter 4- Post-London. Getting back to my real life. Finishing up at Fullerton and working at the botanical garden and the bookstore in Pasadena.
Chapter 5- Doing Jack Crap. After I graduated from Fullerton, going up to Seattle and back a few times, working at the veterinary clinic. I got a bad case of bronchitis during this time that I think was directly related to being so stagnant with my life.
Chapter 6- Extended time in Seattle. I went back up to Seattle and spent an extended period of time there. It was while I was there that I decided to go back to school, get a Master's, and train for a real career.
Chapter 7- Getting my post-bacc. I went back to Fullerton and got my post-bacc in speech path. During this time I also worked at the Huntington.
Chapter 8- Going to U Mass. After I finished my post-bacc I went to U Mass and moved to the east coast.
Chapter 9- Living in Manhattan. I lived in New York like a big jerk for the first few years out of grad school.
Chapter 10- Now. I'm living in Westchester, I'm married, and I'm trying to figure out where to go with my career. My mind is occupied with things like buying a house and deciding whether or not to have children.
Hopefully there will be many more chapters yet to come, and hopefully they will be as relatively tranquil as the ones that have come before them.
What I Remember About High School
If I really stopped and thought about it I could probably recreate my class schedule for each year, but I'm really more interested in what's on the surface-- readily available-- what sticks out the most. I'm purposely not trying to think about it too much, just what pops into my head.
I realize this will mean nothing to anyone but Bryan and Brendan. If you're not one of those people then it's your fault that you didn't go to high school with me.
Freshman year- Shanks in the morning. Shaw as well. Videos in Shaw's class about self-esteem. Having to write reports for Shaw's class that were somewhat challenging and satisfying to complete. Spanish with Andrade in the afternoon. Reading Amalia and writing out all those conjugations. Typing with Barnhart-- and his poster of Patrick Swayze on the wall.
Sophomore year- Beeken, obviously. Reading "The Jungle". Benoit's class. Uhh... Wow. Not remembering much of that year.
Junior year- Shanks again. She had given up on teaching and was just showing us videos that we used to make fun of. Silvey's class-- goofing off, mostly making jokes about "The Man".
Senior year- Proach and Cimino in the morning. I had Benoit again, a retread of sophomore year English. Journalism with Kinzler. Anatomy with Coach Brancheau.
For some reason I can more easily remember morning classes.
About the time in my life overall:
-Playing a lot of guitar. Listening to a lot of REM. Listening to a lot of KABC and KFI. Watching, I think, every single Lakers game played from 1989-1993. Watching or listening to every Dodgers game from 1989-1993. Catching the occasional Angels game. Playing basketball in the backyard every single afternoon and still sucking at it by the time I graduated. Watching a lot of Comedy Central. Reading a lot of Steinbeck, Dave Barry, and whatever edgy thing I could find in the book section at Tower Records. Playing a lot of baseball with my brother. Going to track practice and trying to talk to every single girl on the team and getting absolutely nowhere with any of them.
Man, I'm glad that's all over.
I realize this will mean nothing to anyone but Bryan and Brendan. If you're not one of those people then it's your fault that you didn't go to high school with me.
Freshman year- Shanks in the morning. Shaw as well. Videos in Shaw's class about self-esteem. Having to write reports for Shaw's class that were somewhat challenging and satisfying to complete. Spanish with Andrade in the afternoon. Reading Amalia and writing out all those conjugations. Typing with Barnhart-- and his poster of Patrick Swayze on the wall.
Sophomore year- Beeken, obviously. Reading "The Jungle". Benoit's class. Uhh... Wow. Not remembering much of that year.
Junior year- Shanks again. She had given up on teaching and was just showing us videos that we used to make fun of. Silvey's class-- goofing off, mostly making jokes about "The Man".
Senior year- Proach and Cimino in the morning. I had Benoit again, a retread of sophomore year English. Journalism with Kinzler. Anatomy with Coach Brancheau.
For some reason I can more easily remember morning classes.
About the time in my life overall:
-Playing a lot of guitar. Listening to a lot of REM. Listening to a lot of KABC and KFI. Watching, I think, every single Lakers game played from 1989-1993. Watching or listening to every Dodgers game from 1989-1993. Catching the occasional Angels game. Playing basketball in the backyard every single afternoon and still sucking at it by the time I graduated. Watching a lot of Comedy Central. Reading a lot of Steinbeck, Dave Barry, and whatever edgy thing I could find in the book section at Tower Records. Playing a lot of baseball with my brother. Going to track practice and trying to talk to every single girl on the team and getting absolutely nowhere with any of them.
Man, I'm glad that's all over.
Hello Americans, I'm Paul Harvey...
Johan Maurits Sjoman Laaksonen was born in Pori, Finland in 1862. He was from a Finlandsvenskar family, which basically means "Swedish-speaking Finn", indicating that his family had originally come to Finland from Sweden, most likely sometime in the Middle Ages, when Finland was just one state in the Kingdom of Sweden, along with places like Estonia and Karelia (which is now a part of Russia). Socially conscious, upwardly mobile Finns of the time (especially Finlandsvenskarren) often gave their children German-sounding first names because they believed they sounded more educated and sophisticated (take for example: "Heinrich" versus "Jukka").
Johan had a sense of adventure and when he was old enough he left Finland and went to London. He joined the British Navy and spent most of the 1880s and 1890s working on a ship and traveling all over the world, going to places like Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, places most people from Finland had barely even heard of, much less ever travelled to. Johan eventually anglicized his name to John Lakson, and around 1895, during an extended stay in New York City met and fell in love with a tall copper-haired woman named Marie. Marie was also from Finland, though not from the west coast as John was. She was part Lapp (or Saami if you want to be politically correct) and for generations her family had worked as reindeer herders and cod fishermen on the frozen tundra and between the craggy fjords on the northernmost part of the continent of Europe.
John and Marie married and decided to stay in the U.S. John had once traveled to Portland, Oregon when he was in the navy and was fond of the place, because the evergreen forests and abundant lakes and rivers reminded him of where he grew up. The couple eventually settled in the town of Amboy, Washington, just north of Portland. Amboy had, at the time, a thriving Finnish community. Daily conversations and business transactions around town were conducted mostly in Finnish, sometimes in Swedish, and just about never in English.
John and Marie had three chidren. A son, John Jr., was born in 1898. A daughter, Marie, was born in 1902, and a second daughter named Mildred was born in 1906.
Now, at this point you may be wondering what all this has to do with anything, but here's where 'the rest of the story' comes in to play. The youngest daughter Mildred graduated from high school in 1924, married her high school sweetheart and moved to Los Angeles. They had no children together. When World War II broke out, Mildred's husband enlisted, and never returned.
Mildred remarried several years later though and that one marriage, later in life did produce one son named Bobby. Bob (as he is called as an adult), in turn, married a woman named Hope, which led to many jokes over the years. Bob and Hope had a girl, born in 1971, and though they almost named her Deirdre, at the last minute they decided to name her Heather. Four years later Bob and Hope had another baby. This time it was a boy. When trying to decide on what to name him, Bob said "Let's name him after my grandfather-- John".
The lives of all those mentioned above would have been quite different, if nonexistent had John Lakson not decided to move to London as a young man. But most importantly, if he hadn't moved to England, he might not have ever changed his name to John.
Somewhere out there, in an alternate universe, in a nether-region of time and space, there's a guy out there who looks just like me. And the poor bastard's name is Johan.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Johan had a sense of adventure and when he was old enough he left Finland and went to London. He joined the British Navy and spent most of the 1880s and 1890s working on a ship and traveling all over the world, going to places like Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, places most people from Finland had barely even heard of, much less ever travelled to. Johan eventually anglicized his name to John Lakson, and around 1895, during an extended stay in New York City met and fell in love with a tall copper-haired woman named Marie. Marie was also from Finland, though not from the west coast as John was. She was part Lapp (or Saami if you want to be politically correct) and for generations her family had worked as reindeer herders and cod fishermen on the frozen tundra and between the craggy fjords on the northernmost part of the continent of Europe.
John and Marie married and decided to stay in the U.S. John had once traveled to Portland, Oregon when he was in the navy and was fond of the place, because the evergreen forests and abundant lakes and rivers reminded him of where he grew up. The couple eventually settled in the town of Amboy, Washington, just north of Portland. Amboy had, at the time, a thriving Finnish community. Daily conversations and business transactions around town were conducted mostly in Finnish, sometimes in Swedish, and just about never in English.
John and Marie had three chidren. A son, John Jr., was born in 1898. A daughter, Marie, was born in 1902, and a second daughter named Mildred was born in 1906.
Now, at this point you may be wondering what all this has to do with anything, but here's where 'the rest of the story' comes in to play. The youngest daughter Mildred graduated from high school in 1924, married her high school sweetheart and moved to Los Angeles. They had no children together. When World War II broke out, Mildred's husband enlisted, and never returned.
Mildred remarried several years later though and that one marriage, later in life did produce one son named Bobby. Bob (as he is called as an adult), in turn, married a woman named Hope, which led to many jokes over the years. Bob and Hope had a girl, born in 1971, and though they almost named her Deirdre, at the last minute they decided to name her Heather. Four years later Bob and Hope had another baby. This time it was a boy. When trying to decide on what to name him, Bob said "Let's name him after my grandfather-- John".
The lives of all those mentioned above would have been quite different, if nonexistent had John Lakson not decided to move to London as a young man. But most importantly, if he hadn't moved to England, he might not have ever changed his name to John.
Somewhere out there, in an alternate universe, in a nether-region of time and space, there's a guy out there who looks just like me. And the poor bastard's name is Johan.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Ebert's Best Movies of 2008
He lists a total of 26. For me, each falls into one of four categories:
Movies I've Seen:
1. Encounters at the End of the World- Saw it over the summer and liked it well enough, but didn't think it was up there with some of Herzog's other efforts.
Never Heard of and Don't Care About Seeing:
1. Ballast- Sounds like another Eve's Bayou.
2. The Band's Visit- a cross-cultural comedy of manners in the Middle East. Sounds like a riot. I'm guessing everyone ends up dead at the end.
3. Chop Shop- If I want to watch poor people in New York for two hours, all I have to do is take public transportation into work.
4. Frozen River- Sounds like it's basically the same movie as "Chop Shop".
5. Happy-Go-Lucky- Another charmer from Mike Leigh, to make you want to slash your wrists on Christmas Day.
6. Shotgun Stories- Inter-familial rivalry and class rivalry, all at the same time. I CAN wait.
7. Slumdog Millionaire- brought to you buy the same folks who made "A Life Less Ordinary".
8. Standard Operating Procedure- As if fiction isn't always depressing enough on its own, here's a documentary to make you feel awful about the world.
9. Trouble the Water- A documentary about Hurricane Katrina. Enough said.
Heard of But Don't Want to See:
1. Che- Why anyone gives a rat's ass about this guy is beyond me. Plus, the film is 47 and a half hours long. First we had to live with "The Motorcycle Diaries", and now this?
2. Doubt- Yes, exactly. The ads make this movie look so incredibly goofy. I'm guessing it's about a group of actors who go to a Halloween party, and then start yelling dramatically when they arrive and realize they all dressed up the same.
3. Frost/Nixon- Maybe it's good, but it just doesn't seem like an interesting premise for a film.
4. Rachel Getting Married- Umyeahno.
5. Milk- See "Frost/Nixon"
6. The Reader- Should be called "The Snoozer"
7. Revolutionary Road- The suburbs are horrible, blah blah blah. And the boat sinks at the end.
8. W.- If I want to watch George Bush screwing up the country all I have to do is turn on the news. Plus, after JFK, Oliver Stone should not be trusted to make movies about "real" people and events.
9. Wall-E- Something about these Dreamworks movies rub me the wrong way. I feel like I'm being sold the same thing over and over again, just in different packaging.
Heard of and Want to See:
1. The Dark Knight- I keep hearing how good it is, and I believe it.
2. The Fall- Sounds original and worth seeing. If it's from the guy who directed the video for "Losing My Religion" it'll probably be nice to look at.
3. Iron Man- See "The Dark Knight"
4. Synecdoche, NY- Kauffman always does stuff that's interesting.
5. My Winnipeg- I wanted to see this when it was playing at the Tribeca Film Festival, but we couldn't get tickets. Quirky pseudo-documentary about a cold place. Sounds right up my alley.
6. I.O.U.S.A.- Don't know if I REALLY want to see it, but I'm hoping that if I do it will motivate me to never buy anything on credit ever again.
7. Man on Wire- Wanted to see it when it was out but never got around to it. The guy did something that I could never, ever, in a million years, even contemplate doing.
Movies I've Seen:
1. Encounters at the End of the World- Saw it over the summer and liked it well enough, but didn't think it was up there with some of Herzog's other efforts.
Never Heard of and Don't Care About Seeing:
1. Ballast- Sounds like another Eve's Bayou.
2. The Band's Visit- a cross-cultural comedy of manners in the Middle East. Sounds like a riot. I'm guessing everyone ends up dead at the end.
3. Chop Shop- If I want to watch poor people in New York for two hours, all I have to do is take public transportation into work.
4. Frozen River- Sounds like it's basically the same movie as "Chop Shop".
5. Happy-Go-Lucky- Another charmer from Mike Leigh, to make you want to slash your wrists on Christmas Day.
6. Shotgun Stories- Inter-familial rivalry and class rivalry, all at the same time. I CAN wait.
7. Slumdog Millionaire- brought to you buy the same folks who made "A Life Less Ordinary".
8. Standard Operating Procedure- As if fiction isn't always depressing enough on its own, here's a documentary to make you feel awful about the world.
9. Trouble the Water- A documentary about Hurricane Katrina. Enough said.
Heard of But Don't Want to See:
1. Che- Why anyone gives a rat's ass about this guy is beyond me. Plus, the film is 47 and a half hours long. First we had to live with "The Motorcycle Diaries", and now this?
2. Doubt- Yes, exactly. The ads make this movie look so incredibly goofy. I'm guessing it's about a group of actors who go to a Halloween party, and then start yelling dramatically when they arrive and realize they all dressed up the same.
3. Frost/Nixon- Maybe it's good, but it just doesn't seem like an interesting premise for a film.
4. Rachel Getting Married- Umyeahno.
5. Milk- See "Frost/Nixon"
6. The Reader- Should be called "The Snoozer"
7. Revolutionary Road- The suburbs are horrible, blah blah blah. And the boat sinks at the end.
8. W.- If I want to watch George Bush screwing up the country all I have to do is turn on the news. Plus, after JFK, Oliver Stone should not be trusted to make movies about "real" people and events.
9. Wall-E- Something about these Dreamworks movies rub me the wrong way. I feel like I'm being sold the same thing over and over again, just in different packaging.
Heard of and Want to See:
1. The Dark Knight- I keep hearing how good it is, and I believe it.
2. The Fall- Sounds original and worth seeing. If it's from the guy who directed the video for "Losing My Religion" it'll probably be nice to look at.
3. Iron Man- See "The Dark Knight"
4. Synecdoche, NY- Kauffman always does stuff that's interesting.
5. My Winnipeg- I wanted to see this when it was playing at the Tribeca Film Festival, but we couldn't get tickets. Quirky pseudo-documentary about a cold place. Sounds right up my alley.
6. I.O.U.S.A.- Don't know if I REALLY want to see it, but I'm hoping that if I do it will motivate me to never buy anything on credit ever again.
7. Man on Wire- Wanted to see it when it was out but never got around to it. The guy did something that I could never, ever, in a million years, even contemplate doing.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
70s Wonderfulness
This song and video perfectly capture the decade of the 1970s for me. Or at least my perception of it. The disco beat, the afro, the mirrored walls. You get the impression this guy went straight to Studio 54 after wrapping and spent the next ten years nursing a cocaine habit:
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
California ,There I Went
Certain people who shall remain nameless are insinuating that I'm being a big jerk because I like to talk about going into New York all the time. Little do they know that I'm a big jerk for completely different reasons. Actually, I want to even the playing field a little bit by talking about my recent trip to Southern California. I've been away for a little over four years now and here is my updated take on the place with what hits me most:
1) The weather is usually pretty nice. Even when it's hot and dry at least it's not humid. I do wish the place were greener, but especially when I've been back there between the months of November and April the weather is always very comfortable.
2) It's a lot more laid-back than New York. In general, of course, there are exceptions. This fits my personality well. I come off as kind of a slacker in New York, I can tell. Whereas I generally came of pretty hard-working in California. In New York there's an expectation that you're going to get more work done in less time. People in California work hard too, but there seems to be a different value ascribed to it.
3) The San Gabriel Mountains are nice to look at. When you can see them, of course.
4) The Mexican food and burgers are so much better than what you can find on the east coast.
5) Pasadena is still one of my favorite places ever.
6) If I moved back I would probably get sick of it again after about six months.
Sorry for that last one but it's important to be truthful about such things. I actually like Southern California more now than I used to. I like having it be a place I can visit now and then, and the wife likes it a lot too. But as far as day to day life goes, at this point, I need cold weather to keep me going. Maybe when I'm ready to retire I'll feel differently.
1) The weather is usually pretty nice. Even when it's hot and dry at least it's not humid. I do wish the place were greener, but especially when I've been back there between the months of November and April the weather is always very comfortable.
2) It's a lot more laid-back than New York. In general, of course, there are exceptions. This fits my personality well. I come off as kind of a slacker in New York, I can tell. Whereas I generally came of pretty hard-working in California. In New York there's an expectation that you're going to get more work done in less time. People in California work hard too, but there seems to be a different value ascribed to it.
3) The San Gabriel Mountains are nice to look at. When you can see them, of course.
4) The Mexican food and burgers are so much better than what you can find on the east coast.
5) Pasadena is still one of my favorite places ever.
6) If I moved back I would probably get sick of it again after about six months.
Sorry for that last one but it's important to be truthful about such things. I actually like Southern California more now than I used to. I like having it be a place I can visit now and then, and the wife likes it a lot too. But as far as day to day life goes, at this point, I need cold weather to keep me going. Maybe when I'm ready to retire I'll feel differently.
5 Hour Walk
This past Sunday, just for kicks, my cousin Ben and I walked the entire length of the island of Manhattan. The whole trip was about 15 or 16 miles, and it took us exactly 5 hours and 5 minutes to walk from Marble Hill to Battery Park. We only stopped once, at my sister-in-law's place on 83rd, and that was only for about 10 minutes.
Some of the things we walked past:
1) The Dyckman House-- the oldest Dutch farmhouse in Manhattan still standing (and presumably about the only one). Very anachronistic to see a house like that set between modern apartment buildings and across the street from a Rite Aid.
2) Trinity Cemetery at 155th st.-- Where a lot of people are buried, including Clement Moore, the author of "Twas the Night Before Christmas", who incidentally, used to teach at Columbia.
3) Columbia University
4) Tom's Restaurant-- the side of which was made famous as a bumper in "Seinfeld" (The neon sign that just says "Restaurant" that we've all seen a million times on TV).
5) The Ed Sullivan Theater-- where Letterman does his show.
6) Times Square, of course.
7) Madison Square Park, which borders the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building and the Flatiron Building-- both early skyscrapers.
8) Union Square
9) City Hall
10) St. Paul's Chapel-- with Ground Zero right behind it-- still nothing has been built yet.
11) Trinity Church-- where Alexander Hamilton is buried, right across from Federal Hall and the NY Stock Exchange.
12) The Bowling Green-- Where Peter Stuyvesant used to practice his lawn bowling.
13) Battery Park-- offering views of The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the harbor.
And about a million other things.
Biggest Surprises:
1) The sense of continuity it gives you is really worth it. To see how neighborhoods change and fade into one another.
2) There is an awful lot way up north-- I tend to think of 125th street as way uptown, but we actually started on 225th street and walked for over an hour before we even got into Harlem.
3) All the pedestrian traffic in Midtown really slowed us down.
4) It wasn't really that hard. Sure it took a while, and my legs were sore the next day, but all in all, we weren't exactly exhausted by the time we got to Battery Park.
Some of the things we walked past:
1) The Dyckman House-- the oldest Dutch farmhouse in Manhattan still standing (and presumably about the only one). Very anachronistic to see a house like that set between modern apartment buildings and across the street from a Rite Aid.
2) Trinity Cemetery at 155th st.-- Where a lot of people are buried, including Clement Moore, the author of "Twas the Night Before Christmas", who incidentally, used to teach at Columbia.
3) Columbia University
4) Tom's Restaurant-- the side of which was made famous as a bumper in "Seinfeld" (The neon sign that just says "Restaurant" that we've all seen a million times on TV).
5) The Ed Sullivan Theater-- where Letterman does his show.
6) Times Square, of course.
7) Madison Square Park, which borders the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building and the Flatiron Building-- both early skyscrapers.
8) Union Square
9) City Hall
10) St. Paul's Chapel-- with Ground Zero right behind it-- still nothing has been built yet.
11) Trinity Church-- where Alexander Hamilton is buried, right across from Federal Hall and the NY Stock Exchange.
12) The Bowling Green-- Where Peter Stuyvesant used to practice his lawn bowling.
13) Battery Park-- offering views of The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the harbor.
And about a million other things.
Biggest Surprises:
1) The sense of continuity it gives you is really worth it. To see how neighborhoods change and fade into one another.
2) There is an awful lot way up north-- I tend to think of 125th street as way uptown, but we actually started on 225th street and walked for over an hour before we even got into Harlem.
3) All the pedestrian traffic in Midtown really slowed us down.
4) It wasn't really that hard. Sure it took a while, and my legs were sore the next day, but all in all, we weren't exactly exhausted by the time we got to Battery Park.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Movie Update
Tropic Thunder: 2/4 stars
Didn't quite do it for me despite some funny scenes. I usually find Ben Stiller hilarious but his role in this one is pretty weak. The film never finds the right tone either. It starts out seeming like it's going to be unique and original but it gets real cliched and almost hokey towards the end. Jack Black is barely in it and one of the supporting actors is really annoying. Disappointing.
Didn't quite do it for me despite some funny scenes. I usually find Ben Stiller hilarious but his role in this one is pretty weak. The film never finds the right tone either. It starts out seeming like it's going to be unique and original but it gets real cliched and almost hokey towards the end. Jack Black is barely in it and one of the supporting actors is really annoying. Disappointing.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Say Hi to your Mother for me
On Thanksgiving morning I flew from Newark to Chicago and then on to Orange County. On the flight to Chicago I sat next to a friendly woman, probably about 50, who I could tell wanted to chat. Since I'd gotten up at 3:30 that morning about all I could think about was wanting to get some sleep and didn't really feel like talking. Usually in situations like this I'm very friendly to the person but try not to do anything that could keep a conversation going.
I'm not a particularly nervous flyer but I do have a hard time falling asleep on planes for some reason, so I took out my biography of Steve Martin that I've been reading. Long story short, talking the book out led to the woman making a comment about it, which then led to her telling me that she and her husband run a farm in New Jersey, just outside of New York City, and that their animals are often used for films and TV shows in the New York area. She said that whenever you see a llama on 'Saturday Night Live' (as you often do in the background, whenever Lorne Michaels is on camera, along with showgirls) that it is her llama. She said she also provided the animals for the Mark Wahlberg talks to animals skit (the donkey was hers) and that a lot of the Brian Fellow skits with Tracy Morgan used animals from her farm as well.
I can't say that I found it totally interesting but I thought it was kind of neat to meet her and talk to her, all the more so because she was such a nice person. I had no reason to believe she was lying because I'm not sure why you'd lie about something like that, and she had kind of a zookeeper, animal wrangler, outdoorsy look to her.
I did ask her the one question that popped into my mind as I was talking to her: How do you get a donkey into Rockefeller Center? She said the donkey fits into the back of her van and that they just drive in, park underneath the building, and the donkey goes up to the studio in the freight elevator.
Sounds good to me. Her destination was Chicago, and when she left I told her I'd keep an eye out for any animals on the show.
I'm not a particularly nervous flyer but I do have a hard time falling asleep on planes for some reason, so I took out my biography of Steve Martin that I've been reading. Long story short, talking the book out led to the woman making a comment about it, which then led to her telling me that she and her husband run a farm in New Jersey, just outside of New York City, and that their animals are often used for films and TV shows in the New York area. She said that whenever you see a llama on 'Saturday Night Live' (as you often do in the background, whenever Lorne Michaels is on camera, along with showgirls) that it is her llama. She said she also provided the animals for the Mark Wahlberg talks to animals skit (the donkey was hers) and that a lot of the Brian Fellow skits with Tracy Morgan used animals from her farm as well.
I can't say that I found it totally interesting but I thought it was kind of neat to meet her and talk to her, all the more so because she was such a nice person. I had no reason to believe she was lying because I'm not sure why you'd lie about something like that, and she had kind of a zookeeper, animal wrangler, outdoorsy look to her.
I did ask her the one question that popped into my mind as I was talking to her: How do you get a donkey into Rockefeller Center? She said the donkey fits into the back of her van and that they just drive in, park underneath the building, and the donkey goes up to the studio in the freight elevator.
Sounds good to me. Her destination was Chicago, and when she left I told her I'd keep an eye out for any animals on the show.
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