20/02/2013

Poly-wolly-doodle all day news update

M. Lee sent me this hilarious link to the Beast's annual 50 Most Loathsome Americans list. I am not on it.

Monster-size casino bling

I spent the weekend at the Circus Circus hotel in Reno attending a conference. Naturally, I managed to squeeze in a photo safari.

Midway wild things eyes on you.

I'm not without a certain amount of guilt as M. Lee was home working on the floors. Hey, I'm not a total flake. He won't let me help. Trust me. I've offered but before I left, I did manage to get my office emptied out (miracle) and when I was gone M. Lee put the refrigerator back in the kitchen and the toilet back in the bathroom.

Office in parts

Now all the crap from our offices is in the middle of the living room and today he's applying the last four coats of polyurethane to those floors so they should be done by tomorrow.

All work


All play.
You don't have to rub it in.
I am already suffering monstrous guilt.


Ps. Roy, you mentioned putting a joke penny in the floor so M. Lee passed this along for your viewing pleasure. Crazy ass penny floors.

13/02/2013

M Day

"M" is for moving. "Day" is for TODAY!!!


Red Dragon and Alien Rock protest this disturbance mightily.

Yikes! This is it. Today I dismantle my office. Better that I do it than the job be done in the style of one of those postmortem clean outs where, in one afternoon, your kids come in and dump your lifetime of treasures into 20 or 51 big black lawn bags and take everything to the landfill. But there is so much stuff...special rocks, candles, photos, bags, note pads, little boxes, bottles, sort later piles, brief cases oh, and the entire cast of the Invisible Theatre has to move as does the stage itself along with the printers, chairs, tables, book shelves, file cabinets, cables and oh god...

After I've got the room emptied out, M. Lee will come in and tear out the filthy, coffee stained rug and put in the new ...TA DA.... PAPER FLOOR!!!! Can't wait. This is the last phase. Woo-hoo. And then in 10 weeks, just after we get kind of settled into the new studio, formerly known as the living room, we leave for the rest of the year. Crazy.

11/02/2013

Paper floor update #2

It's a slow go but the paper floor is progressing brilliantly. Last night at about 10 pm, M. Lee applied the last of 10 coats of polyurethane to the kitchen and guest bathroom. It's not without problems. Some edges will need redoing where the glue is not adhering to the sub-floor, but he'll figure that out.Anyway, the house is still in shambles. The dishwasher and refrigerator are in the living room with tools, bags, buckets, mops...you get the idea. Chaos. But the chaos, the real chaos has yet to begin. That happens when I start dismantling my office. That's next and the last phase. The final frontier. The Day always finally arrives, doesn't it?

07/02/2013

Who said?

Yesterday my daughter sent me this photo of Thea "reading" the newspaper. Who said she could grow up so fast? Yes. Yes. It's all good. It's what you want them to do but come on!

Thea at three. And no. She doesn't really wear glasses.

Reading at this point is identifying letters of the alphabet but she is definitely on her way!

Writer

04/02/2013

Madness in Holley, New York

"The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest." 
- Henry David Thoreau



This is madness!

The fire department in Holley, New York is sponsoring the seventh annual "Squirrel Slam," an annual event organized for the mass killing of squirrels, with prizes given to the individuals who kill the largest and heaviest of the animals, often the pregnant females. This year, the squirrel killing contest even has a "youth" category for children 14 years and under interested in trying their hand at killing. I'm sure Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold would approve. Before opening fire at Columbine High School they bragged about cruelty to cats.

Therefore I say madness. And, because of this murderfest, how many wounded squirrels will crawl away to suffer and die slowly? And how many females will die and leave their young alone in the nest to starve to death?

If this isn't obscene enough, the Holley Fire Department will raffle off firearms including an AR/22 Semi, all part of their killfest frenzy. And I always thought firefighters were the "good guys".

Please add your voice to the protest:

Sign the petition


And/or better yet, give 'em a call:

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo: 518-474-8390
Mayor John Kenney, Jr.: 585-638-6367
Orleans County of Tourism: 1-800-724-0314

Members of the Board of Trustees:
Ross Gaylord: 585-638-6367
David Dill: 585-638-6367
Lewis Passarell: 585-638-6367
Donald Penna: 585-638-6367

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

02/02/2013

Cirque du Soleil and Big Elvis

Cirque du Soleil's O turned out to be every bit as spectacular and amazing as it's claimed to be. Dazzling. Impossible. Thrilling. Wonderful. Okay the narrative, the love lost and found story, is almost totally eclipsed by the spectacle. Or was it found? I don't know. It didn't matter. The show is, simply put, fantastic. Yes, tickets are really expensive, but it's incredibly expensive to produce and the level of performance is world class so they earn it. While it didn't linger like a play would, it is a circus after all, I would not hesitate to recommend O to anyone wanting a something special evening. OTOH, do I think this fabulous spectacle is worth the millions and millions of gallons of water? All due respect to the artists but...no.


Anyway, next time you're in Vegas, check out Big Elvis. Pete Vallee is a very talented guy who does a free show daily, 2 to 4, at Harrah's on the Strip. So far, he's logged over 7,000 performances. It's a sweet, sad, fun show. If you're in the neighborhood, check him out. He's worth it.

This unedited excerpt is a peek into what I think of as a true Las Vegas moment. The sound guy has trouble cueing up the signature song Big Elvis wants to treat us to so he pulls "Sweet Carolina" out of the hat. Then, just as he rocks into "All Shook Up", my battery runs out. I had another one but M. Lee and his mom were already looking for an escape. The music was so loud. They offered to wait on the street but it seemed more fitting, more respectful to The King and the Forces That Be, to leave something on the table. I hope Pete has better luck than Elvis. I hear he's on a diet and down to 450 lbs. That's something.