someone great

we lost two great ones back to back. my great aunt passed away on thursday. and my wife's grandmother passed away yesterday.

the thing i admired most about my great aunt was her attitude. she was resilient. her humor and her good-naturedness radiated from her. she loved life by loving all the simple things. and she made you know she loved you too. she actually bought me a pair of star wars roller-skates. yes, they actually made those. it had darth vader on the side. i'll miss her.

my wife's grandmother was remarkable. she spoke her mind no matter the situation and generally when she spoke, we all stopped and listened. we watched many seinfeld reruns together. last time i saw her was when she, my wife and i watched the college national championship together this year. she started almost every sentence with, "oh, honey....". man, she was funny. we'll miss her too.

black bubblegum

excellent article, and starter for a series dealing with the subject, on income inequality in the united states; how much of a problem it is and where we stand in comparison with other countries.

stevie nicks fajita round-up

i don't know why, but i've brought this up in conversation a lot lately. so i had to see it.

the final countdown

the nfl season starts soon. last year, i picked a new orleans-san diego super bowl. i was confident the whole time in my nfc pick, the saints, but never in the chargers.

this year, i'm confident in my afc pick the baltimore ravens. my nfc pick is mostly a judgment based on last year's performance and that i just don't have a better pick. and that is the green bay packers.

next year's super bowl: the baltimore ravens versus the green bay packers.

on the home front, i think it's going to be a bad year. the texans will slip back to the pack and go 7-9. the schedule is too tough and we can't win the big games. hopefully they prove me wrong.

fitter, happier

my dad was heading out to target or k-mart one night, i've now forgotten which one, ultimately not pressing to the outcome of the story, but if i remember somewhat correctly, k-mart had already been overrun and returned to the emptiness of it's original state... anyway, my dad was heading to a super-store of goods and materials and popped his head in to ask me if i needed anything in the form of super-goods. i told him, "radiohead's ok computer." he gave me a weird look and left. ok computer had just come out that week. i had been a huge fan of the bends. a huge fan. i thought it was one of the best albums i'd ever heard. i lived and died from tracks two through seven and was reborn in street spirit. he returned with ok computer that night. somehow a) he found it and b) target and/or k-mart sold it. i played about fifteen times that night. i was only seventeen and had never logged onto the great expansion of the internet. but i heard the future. it was made of car crashes, buzzing noises, yuppies networking, politiking, suffocation, plane crashes and tourists moving too fast. from time to time, i come back to that album. i still can't get over it. don't lose your nerve.