The Return of Imus

I was stuck in traffic yesterday morning. This was probably a good thing as I got to Listen to a good portion of Don Imus. I think it made me appreciate on some small level what he meant when he said he was thankful for being fired:

I was thinking how fortunate it was that I had been fired, because had I been there talking to them, and apologizing to them, and offering them these excuses, and still had my job.... they would have thought that I was there to try and save my job, and that might have been true, but I was there to try and save my life.

Another thing he said was he realized that when he met with the students and was "providing context" to his remarks, it was irrelevant to them. This hit somewhat closer to home. I think more people have had the experience of being forced to face their own prejudice, and find themselves saying something to the effect, "But I have (insert group here) friends!" or otherwise justifying behaviors or statements. In the end it doesn't matter.

However, does it matter that Imus had done so much good? Well perhaps it both mattered and was irrelevant at the same time. Maybe it didn't directly make up for the remarks, but taught us a greater lesson.

I sort of grew up listening to Imus. My dad mainly listened to 660 AM "The Fan" in the car when I was growing up. Especially in the morning. I don't know at what point Imus was syndicated, but really it didn't matter. From my point of view there was always Imus in the morning.

When I rediscovered AM radio on my own, I became a WABC fan. Morning Drive time was time for Curtis and Kuby. Although I had mixed opinions about the "incident," I was not reallt affected by it. To be honest, I was initially disappointed to hear that Imus would come to WABC, as I had grown accustomed to the cast of characters that I heard in the morning.

My memories of the I-man pitching his charities was first SIDs and then later his ranch. Regardless of any accusations of fund misappropriation, and the general waste of money that charitable bureaucrats can do sometimes, kids with cancer go to the ranch and have fun. It's somewhat ironic that it is a functional ranch, uet the meals are vegetarian, but hey not everyone can eat their own dog food.

A left learning person I know remarked years ago that the man is a bigot and he carries a handgun. Well I don't see a link between gun ownership and bigotry. Unless he has shot anyone we cannot link his gun ownership with prejudices. However, I think his owning a gun and behaving certain ways provided a different context for people who had negative views about Imus before the incident.

So in the end nothing has changed, but Imus's position on the dial. Oh and of course 2 black comedians working on Imus's staff. Perhaps if he makes some off color remark about non celebrity African Americans before 6am, and the two black comedians on the air don't get offended by it, that will provide some context we can all agree on. Then again perhaps not.

Lean Pockets with a Whole Grain Crust

As previously stated I am dog sitting and the dog comes with Whole Grain Lean Pockets. I have discovered these are not to my liking.

Now generally I like most whole grain foods. These however, taste more like cardboard than there white flour counterparts. I can't explain why. They just do. They are slightly better in the toaster oven than the microwave. However, only slightly.

Now on to the lean part. Generally, if a processed cheese is "light" it is not tasty. There are many cheeses made from skim milk that I like. obviously, the hot pockets is made from processed light cheese.

So if I am complacent to eat them, when there is other food in the house, why do I write about them? Well I guess this is proof some people rather sit on their soapbox than take action.

Dog Sitting

I'm watching this thing for the week.



It's name is Willie. I figured today would be his freak out day after waking up and realizing mommy didn't come home so I chose to work from home so he wouldn't be so lonely. He slept until about noon and ignored me most of the day. The one exception was a bought of activity around noon that inspired me to take him for a walk. Generally he poops in the backyard during the cold months. Since the weather was warm enough this was a bit of a treat for him.

Willie of comes with its owner's apartment. This is something I enjoy. Its not terribly far from my place and the apartment comes with food, which other than the whole grain lean pockets, I can't complain about. Being I ate lean the lean pockets twice, I guess I have little right to make that particular complaint. Fool me once, shame on lean pockets, Fool me twice, and I should have gotten pizza for lunch.

Well its off to bed. I have a full day of staring at my laptop screen from my desk tomorrow.

We need a figure skating channel!

Today was setup the tree day for the girlfriend. She's a fan of live trees. I grew up on artificial trees, and wish to continue the tradition when I have a family of my own. However, this is not the story of how a man and a woman compromise on important matters that define us as human beings, or at least Judeo-Christian homosapians. Rather, its about figure skating!

So, while the girlfriend was setting up the tree, and I was writing about matters of profound unimportance in this blog, the TV was on. The channel was ESPN and figure skating was the event being broadcast.

I don't remember what competition was being televised, but I was paying more attention to it than I would like. What I mean by that is I have a terrible time tuning out background noise and was distracted by the TV. However, the girlfriend wanted to watch it and I wanted to let her.

After the event , the next sport being broadcast was NFL football. Now here in the United States, we all know every man loves football, and figure skating is a womans sport. We also thank God that we have at least 5 ESPN to broadcast all sports, including "mainstream sports," "alternative sports," "extreme sports," "vintage games," and of course curling.

However, until ESPN and the Oxygen Network team up and and provide us an all figure skating channel, our Sunday afternoon rituals will be interrupted by "girl sports." So I beg of you Oxygen, deliver us from Nancy Kerrigan!

Apparently I like Congnac

Authors note: I originally wrote this on Black Friday 2007, along with several other articles I never finished. I am finishing this now. Perhaps I might get a chance to finish the rest of the series.

In between dinner in Little Italy and After Dinner Cordials at McSorley't I sampled Ferrand Cognac at Astors's Wines and Liquors. To my surprise I like cognac when its done properly. At least I like it when it's done by Ferrand.

The tasting was lead by Jean-Francois Daniel, apparently a representative of Ferrand. He claims their cognacs are comparative to single malt scotches, and I agree with that.

They showcased three of their products at the tastings. They were the 10, the 20 and the 30 year equivilant. A bit of a note on that. These are blended cognacs. In the world of scotch, a.k.a. that which I know best, to say a blend is X years old is to say that the youngest cask used in it is X years old. Apparenly, in the case of Cognac you are allowed to call something the equivalent of X years. Well despite this ambiguity, and the fact that these are blends, I reeaffirm that these are single malt scotch equivalent.

The 10 year old was quite oaky, but still a Cognac. The 20 year old was quite fruity. The thirty year old was divine. I don't pretend to have developed my pallet or pallet vocabulary enough to explain the difference. However, its there.

What Makes a Good Grab Bag Gift?

This Saturday the girlfriend is hosting a small Christmas party for her friends. By the time plans were settled, there was no time to draw names from a hat, so the gift exchange will be grab bag style as opposed to Kris Kringle. This means of course that we are tasked with picking a gift that anyone would like.

So what makes a good gift in a grab bag context? I'll set the following criteria.

1. The gift should be consumable, that is the act of using the gift destroys it. Food, spirits and candles are examples of this.
2. As a corollary to rule 1, if the container for a gift is meant to be saved and reused, it should be as small as possible. Stackable is an inferior but satisfactory substitute for small.
   
3. As an exception to rule number 1, if it can be mostly assured that the gift's receiver will be able to make good use of the gift something permanent may be given. Seasonal items also count in this context of permanence. Examples, would be Christmas tree ornaments.
4. I would shy away from giving something personal. Its a grab bag.

Now for the explanations.

I'm of the belief people have too much junk. I'm by no means an advocate of green living and low carbon foot prints. I just think we collect more things than we need. This is why I'm a big fan of consumable items. If I receive smoked salmon I will eat it and not have to store it in my attic. If I receive a smoker, I will cook smoked meat two or three times and then it will take up space in my garage until the statue of limitations on selling it at a garage sale passes.

Items specifically marketed as gifts in stores fall into two distinct categories. Those that come in pretty cardboard boxes with gold accents, and those that come in pretty reusable containers of non cardboard material. Opt for the former not the later. Some people are very good at making use of square wicker baskets, but most are not.

If you absolutely must give something permanent, a Christmas tree ornament is a good idea. However, there are exceptions to even this rule. Parents of older children generally have more ornaments than they need. If you compare the Christmas trees of younger adults versus older adults you will see that younger adults tend to have ornaments that are sold in ten packs and older adults have acquired more than their share of unique ornaments of sentimental value.

Am I being just slightly heartless here? Yes I am. However, that is the point. I am a packrat by nature. Many others are like me. We all like to give and receive gifts. If you give me a gift I probably will never throw it away, and the same is true for my fellow packrats. By following my guidelines, you allow the gift giving and receiving to continue, without causing attics to become needlessly cluttered.

Obligatory Happy Thanksgiving Post

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. I don't want to get into a history of the Holiday at this time. Rather than attribute it to certain parties, I will point out the origins of the concept of thanksgiving.

Originally, days of thanksgiving were days spent in church declared whenever something good happened in the community. What we call Thanksgiving evolved from special day of Thanksgiving declared once a year as a harvest festival that in addition to the church going, had a large feast associated with it. It was usually on a Thursday in New England because that was the day of the midweek prayer service., so most people attended then.

Each colony would declare a thanksgiving once a year and eventually it became a national holiday. These days the president pardons a turkey, and eats another.

Perhaps one day I will further study the origins of this holiday and report them here. Until then, happy thanksgiving to all readers of my blog and their families.