Miscellaneous Ramblings

I had a cool moment of Zen yesterday.  I was at a local park playing in our weekly doubles league (-7 for those that care) and I sat down on a bench that perhaps I’ve sat on 200-300 times before over the years and I saw something I hadn’t noticed before.

I don’t want the world.  I just want your half.

It reminded me of the NC State expression tunnel (is that still around?) where it was OK to creatively graffiti.  There would always be some place where someone had written ‘Frodo Lives’.

The quote above comes from probably one of the best They Might Be Giants songs ever written ‘Ana Ng’.

Once again I’m hooked on the Olympics.  It was the same way for the Winter Games as well though I find more interest in the Winter sports.  HD certainly doesn’t hurt, I mean how can you go wrong with High-def Badmitten?

Greasy Spoon, Diner, Cafe, Caff.  All the same to me, a diner.  I’ve always been a big fan of the diner.  The food.. well I’ve never really had a bad meal at a diner.  You get what you pay for though.  Don’t expect gormet, but do expect good and cheap.  One of my few disappointments with the Raleigh area is the lack of really good diners to be found.  They can be found, but you have to know where they are and they aren’t just around the corner like they are in other places.  My diner experience started in college when after a nightly binge a trip to waffle house (the one on the far side of the highway with the two very nice butch lesbian waitresses) was a requirement.  I’ve even seen the sun rise a few times at that waffle house.  A trip to atlanta wouldn’t be complete without a trip to The Original Pancake House.  I practically lived at the waffle house in Auburn.  Anytime I’m in the mood for good cheap food I generally hit a diner.  Diners are a place of real people.  There’s no pretense to eating at a diner.  There’s generally no need to check the menu or see what the seasonal specials are.  The best waitstaff in the world work at diners, fast, efficient and generally real and friendly.  If you strike up conversation with a diner waitress it’s because she’s a nice person and wants to talk to you (otherwise she won’t) not because she’s trolling for a tip.  The diner is one of the few restaurants where you can actually just sit and watch the world go by, read a paper (as long as it’s not during the rush).

I revisited my diner love with a trip to Waffle House this weekend while the wife and kid were away.  3 eggs scrambled with cheese, raisin toast, hash brown (scattered, smothered, covered and diced) and a vanilla coke (it was afternoon so no coffee).

I dug a friends grave today. My oldest friend, my most loyal friend. I buried my dog today. First I had to end his life. They say it’s the right thing to do, they say it’s better to stop the suffering. They say the prognosis is bad. None of that makes it any easier to tell someone to kill your dog. They wouldn’t let me do it, but I was there, I held his head and told him I was sorry. Sorry I couldn’t fix him, I had always fixed him before, it was my job. This time I couldn’t. So I told them to kill him, I rubbed his ears and told him I loved him as he drifted away. Then I brought him home, in a plain cardboard box with a heart on one end. Then we dug a hole in the back yard, we did it ourselves. It was fitting. He was our dog, he was my dog, so I dug him his grave. He can take his last summer nap now. He was doing so well, acting like he was 2 again, we never new anything was wrong. I don’t think he ever knew anything was wrong till the end. In the dark we stood, even the cat, I thanked God for his gift. He taught me more than I ever taught him. I covered him myself, it took much less time than to dig his grave. A shallow grave, under some trees where he can see the whole yard. He used to love to sit and survey his domain. In our old house he’d sit at the high point like a king and just watch his whole yard, he sat above the house so I think he was watching over us too. I’m tired and sore now, I can’t even feel the physical side, the emotional drain has been too much. I’ve shed a lot of tears today, I’m shedding them now. My eyes hurt, my head hurts, my arms and my back hurt, but most of all my heart hurts. He was there through everything, he was always glad to see me, we never fought. He was my companion on long road trips. He was my confidante, he always kept the best secrets. He was my wife’s rock when I wasn’t around, he took her in and loved her as he loved me. He was her dog too. We were his people. I miss him so much. Now all the food that falls on the floor has to be cleaned up. The gate to the stairs doesn’t need to be left open so he can come and go anymore. I don’t have to feel around for him on the floor to keep from stepping on him when I go to bed.

He was my loyal friend. He was my oldest friend. He was my companion, He was my dog and I love him and I will miss him dearly.

Zoot MacLeod — June 8, 2008 — R.I.P.

The intrepid Captain Pickard sent me a link the Weezer video Pork and Beans which on top of being an excellent song is also an excellent video. However I immediatly felt slightly deficient in that I only recognized about 60% of the youtube references contained within. So I’m now trying to track down the videos for everything I’ve missed by not going daily to youtube.com or break.com.

On a side note ‘The Red Album’ comes out 6/3, I’ve already lala’ed it, but I might try out their mp3 purchase stuff just to see how it is. Depends a lot on their policies around DRM.