Back to the Blog

Well, well, well, look what we have here. I had pretty much forgotten that I had a blog. Actually, that's not true- I'd just forgotten that it was mine. I think I checked here every once in a while to see if it had been updated. Hopefully you've done the same, but I can't blame you if you've abandoned hope that my words would ever populate this space again. Well, you Eli-Atheists are about to have your cynicism destroyed- I'm back, baby!

In the next day or so I will be introducing a big re-design of this blog. I've put a lot of time and effort into really personalizing it, and I'm hoping that will motivate me to keep writing here. Having a page that's really mine will at least make the experience more pleasant.

So, anyway, keep checking back for the new design and I'll see you back here real soon!

Cheers,
Eli

Great Benefits Package

One of the things that happened during my long blogging hiatus is that
I got a new job. I'm still an assistant, but I work at Miramax now.
I'm also still a temp, which means no holidays or vacation pay, but
the money's good and it has one more huge benefit: I can walk to
Carney's for lunch.

Carney's is my second favorite hot dog in town. I rank it behind
Skooby's and well ahead of Pink's. It used to be third, but Pinkberry
evicted my old number 2, the Wiener Factory. Carney's has great hot
dog meat, good topping choice, and you get to eat in a train. How cool
is that? It's a good thing I'm making more money, because I'll be
eating here a lot.

One more thing that happened over my break? I got an iPhone, and this
post was written entirely on it.

Cheers,
Eli

A Long December

"A long December, and there's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last."- Counting Crows.

That's about as well as I can put it. There is legitimate reason to believe that the upcoming year will really be better. And it's going to be a long December (and rest of November) while we wait out the end of Bush era. I can't wait. Anyone would be an improvement over Bush, but Barack Obama is something entirely different.

We can talk all we want about his race, and make no mistake, it's a huge deal that an African American has been elected to the highest office in America. But Barack Obama is so much more than his race. He is brilliant, charismatic, and a born leader. He may not have years of experience, but I trust him. There's a lot of troubles laying ahead for our country, but when I look at the new president-elect, there is no doubt in my mind that he is the best man to face them. The opposition spent a lot of time talking about experience, but I think it's overrated in the presidency. Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy were very inexperienced, and they both made America a better place through their presidencies. On the flip side, George W Bush was experienced and his cabinet had high-level political experience stretching back 40 years. And look how well that turned out.

Barack is an inspiring figure. You only have to look at the voter turnout to see this is true. He didn't just bring out the African American vote, he brought out the youth vote. My generation, for the first time in our adult lives, had a candidate we could be excited about. I voted for John Kerry, but I wasn't thrilled at the idea of it. I believe that this man can bring about the change he promised and restore our status on the world stage. There's a feeling I have in my gut that I haven't had in a long time. It may be cliched at this point, but that feeling is hope. I am proud of my country today.

And yet.

In California, voters very narrowly passed a ban on gay marriage. I am a straight, married man, and this pisses me off. I can't even comprehend the arguments against gay marriage. It hurts no one and doesn't affect straight marriage in any way. Actually, I take that back. The fact that my gay and lesbian friends aren't allowed to get married weakens my marriage significantly. If two people who love each other aren't allowed the same rights to legally express that love, how much can marriage really mean? No one has ever given me an argument against gay marriage that wasn't just a weak paraphrasing of, "It's just wrong." This kind of ignorance is simply disgusting. The ads in favor of this proposition flat out said, "If this doesn't pass, we won't be allowed to refuse services to people based on our beliefs." In other words, we legally want to discriminate against these people- please vote to let us continue hating freely. So don't pat yourselves on the backs too hard for electing a black president, America. You've just decided to oppress and discriminate against a new victim.

To my gay and lesbian friends, keep fighting the good fight- I'll be standing alongside you every step of the way.

But I can't let that get me too down. Besides, Prop 8 will likely be overturned in courts (yes, it's that poorly conceived and executed). We do have a lot to be proud of today. I look forward to seeing this presidency through and remembering what it's like to be proud of your government. Good night, I'll talk to you again soon.

Cheers,
Eli

Kinnear, Kinnear, Kinnear, Kinnear

Today, I've seen at least 3 people who look like Greg Kinnear. I am relatively certain that none of them was actually him.

Crossword Madness

The words MAMA or DADA have showed up for at least the last two days of the NY Times crossword, and they showed up in two or three other puzzles today. They are never clued as "Arp's Art?" or "____ Cass" or anything of that sort. At least two of the puzzles used the exact clue, "Word from the crib." I'm telling you, there's some sort of strange conspiracy amongst crossword constructors. In a related story, today's CrossSynergy puzzle featured the clue "Actress Stark of Star Wars." I saw "Star Wars" and thought, "Great, this'll be easy." But I've never heard of her. The answer was "Koo." What the hell? Apparently, Koo Stark is an actress who played one of Biggs' friends on Tatooine in a deleted scene from A New Hope (I think she calls Luke "Wormie"). What??? You seriously expect people to know that, crossword puzzle? I LOVE Star Wars, and while I was familiar with the scene, I couldn't have told you that actress' name! She doesn't even list the role on her IMDB page, for cryin' out loud! Sheesh. You just made "the list," CrossSynergy.

By the way, I'm basically just blogging a random thought each day to get back in the habit of posting. I'll get back to my usual way of posting Eddas (that's Scandinavian Epics for you non-crossworders) and philippics (look it up yourself, I ain't Wikipedia) shortly.

Cheers,
Eli

Consider the Carrot

Yesterday, my wife told me the pack of carrots she took for lunch had a weird white coating and smelled funny. She tasted one and said they tasted sour and threw them out. Today, I examined my carrots carefully. They looked and smelled like normal, so I went ahead and ate them. I think they tasted okay.

But that's the thing- I only think they tasted okay. The whole time I was eating them I couldn't convince myself that the orange sticks I was shoving in my mouth were normal. I couldn't for the life of me remember what carrots were supposed to taste like. This happens a lot. I want to see if the milk is still good, but damned if I know what "normal" milk taste is. Weird.

One Of Those Days

This morning, after breakfast, I needed to clean out the cereal bowl and I took it into the bathroom sink instead of the kitchen sink.

Then, when Mike picked me up for carpool, I took out my keys and tried to unlock the door on his car with them.

Just now, I turned on my laptop and when it made the "Mac Chime" (ie- the sound it makes EVERY TIME I TURN IT ON), I panicked and reached for my cell phone (My ringtone sounds nothing like a Mac Chime, by the way, it's "Go Cubs Go" by Steve Goodman).

I think I might need to go back to bed and just skip a day.