Z-I-G-G-Y. Man! I just read my "hump day" post, in which I whine and moan about something that annoys me. When did I become so crotchety? Okay, I don't really think I'm crotchety, but I sure love typing that word! My friend Barry has noticed this change in me and has complimented the "new Michael" that is not always positive, so there must be something to it. Barry - now that's a crotchety guy! (Okay, the word is retired for the rest of this post.)
In the end, though, I can not keep becoming this new me. I will be old Michael. Or Ziggy. It's very confusing. Oh, there I go complaining again. When will it end?!? Anyway, I will be the old me, filling the air (and internet) with words of thanks, praise, and family-friendly humor, rather than polluting it with the exhaust of cynicism and anger. That will be my goal. At least until my softball game tonight during which I will curse proudly and loudly if my hitting doesn't improve. (Speaking of baseball-related sports, how about them Texas Longhorns!!! College World Series finals begin soon and we'll be there! Hook 'Em Horns!)
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Hump Day...
Happy Wednesday, Riders! I hope your week is treating you well. Mine has been lovely. Participated this past weekend in a yearly canoe trip with friends. Please use the link to the "cabinprayers" blog for more information on that, plus pictures. It was fun, as always, though. I got to visit the camp I spent all of my childhood summers at for a little while on Sunday morning. That was fun. I'm going back there this weekend for a week. That's how I know I have a good life. I still get to go to camp in the summer. Now, one day, if this keeps up, I may well be saying, "That's how I know my life sucks. I still have to go to camp in the summer." But for now (and the foreseeable future) it's a good thing. I just had lunch with a good friend who's going to London for most of the rest of the summer on a study program. That's something to envy. I love my Mississippi camp, but London could be nice, too. Wait, I have babbled myself into a state of sidetrackedness! Back to business...
The title of this post refers partly to this middle day of the work week, but also to an annoyance that is growing more and more widespread in my community (and, I suspect, in others). On my way back from lunch, I passed through a neigborhood that has chosen to install its own speedbumps. Not on a private drive, mind you, but a very public street. I'm seeing this more and more often, especially, of course, in more upscale neighborhoods. What the hell?!? The speed limit is 35 mph, but you can't go over the bumps at much more than 25 without destroying your (pimped out) ride. I understand that, perhaps, people were speeding through the neighborhood. Okay, fine. So put speedbumps in that require you to go no more than the speed limit. Who told these people that they could just put these out there, anyway? Did they even ask anyone? Maybe it's for my own protection. Maybe these are the same people that are blowing their debris out into the street (see post entitled "Blown Away") and they're trying to help me successfully navigate their trash by slowing me down. Thanks, but no thanks. Throw your trash away and let me drive in peace. At or near the speed limit. Damn it.
P.S. - Have a nice day!
The title of this post refers partly to this middle day of the work week, but also to an annoyance that is growing more and more widespread in my community (and, I suspect, in others). On my way back from lunch, I passed through a neigborhood that has chosen to install its own speedbumps. Not on a private drive, mind you, but a very public street. I'm seeing this more and more often, especially, of course, in more upscale neighborhoods. What the hell?!? The speed limit is 35 mph, but you can't go over the bumps at much more than 25 without destroying your (pimped out) ride. I understand that, perhaps, people were speeding through the neighborhood. Okay, fine. So put speedbumps in that require you to go no more than the speed limit. Who told these people that they could just put these out there, anyway? Did they even ask anyone? Maybe it's for my own protection. Maybe these are the same people that are blowing their debris out into the street (see post entitled "Blown Away") and they're trying to help me successfully navigate their trash by slowing me down. Thanks, but no thanks. Throw your trash away and let me drive in peace. At or near the speed limit. Damn it.
P.S. - Have a nice day!
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Visitor Update!
Yeah buddy! Now we're rolling along. It took almost a year for Ziggybackride to get 100 visitors, but now, just about a month later, we're at 150. I guess I've been checking in a lot more often! Maybe you could be the 200th! Wouldn't that be something? Yeah, but just barely.
Wanted: Foreign Language Tapes
I'd love to have some tapes to help me learn a new language I would like to speak. I'm good with English, I know some Hebrew, a little French, and I took 3 years of Latin (God knows why!) in high school. I'll tell you where I can't communicate, though. At the counter in any Starbucks. I see people with fun, tasty looking beverages, but I don't know how to get them. I hear them saying things that are not on the menu. They must be native speakers. I need tapes to listen to in the car.
tape: Please repeat. Venti.
me: Venti.
tape: Venti macchiato.
me: Venti... what?
tape: Venti macchiato.
me: Venti macchiato.
tape: It is customary to end your order with "please." Please repeat. Venti macchiato, please.
me: Venti macchiato, please.
tape: you have reached the conclusion of lesson 37. please turn the tape over to learn about frappucino and why we call the smallest cup "tall."
I think this would be very helpful. Not just to me, but to others who would like to enjoy a cup of coffee at the hip, neighborhood coffee place, but who didn't grow up in whatever country speaks this language regularly. Maybe the State Department has a program that they use for diplomats. Perhaps one day I can be an ambassador of coffee.
tape: Please repeat. Venti.
me: Venti.
tape: Venti macchiato.
me: Venti... what?
tape: Venti macchiato.
me: Venti macchiato.
tape: It is customary to end your order with "please." Please repeat. Venti macchiato, please.
me: Venti macchiato, please.
tape: you have reached the conclusion of lesson 37. please turn the tape over to learn about frappucino and why we call the smallest cup "tall."
I think this would be very helpful. Not just to me, but to others who would like to enjoy a cup of coffee at the hip, neighborhood coffee place, but who didn't grow up in whatever country speaks this language regularly. Maybe the State Department has a program that they use for diplomats. Perhaps one day I can be an ambassador of coffee.
Friday, June 11, 2004
The Importance of Being a Movie Star
Today, I begin a new chapter in my life. Today marks the beginning of filming for a movie that I will be appearing in. It is an independent, feature-length comedy being made by a group of local filmmakers. It is not likely to be seen by very many people, but you never know!
At the moment, several movies are being made in the Memphis area. There are a couple that are being backed by major studios, that star famous actors, and that will one day be in theaters. This is not one of those movies. That's something I'm getting very good at explaining to friends who are excited to hear that I'm going to be on screen. The thing is, I'll be in the movie, but the movie may never be on a screen. Ahh, but I should not be so negative. I'm sure big hits and big careers have begun with smaller projects than this one. So, be on the lookout for "The Importance of Being Russell" at independent film festivals near you starting in 2005.
Today, I begin a new chapter in my life. I know very little about how it will turn out, but I'm quite certain it will have something to do with being in movies. Will it be a long chapter, filled with stories of living a life on the big screen? Or will it begin and end with "The Importance of Being Russell?" I can't tell you that. This is just the preview. You want the rest of the story? Buy a ticket!
At the moment, several movies are being made in the Memphis area. There are a couple that are being backed by major studios, that star famous actors, and that will one day be in theaters. This is not one of those movies. That's something I'm getting very good at explaining to friends who are excited to hear that I'm going to be on screen. The thing is, I'll be in the movie, but the movie may never be on a screen. Ahh, but I should not be so negative. I'm sure big hits and big careers have begun with smaller projects than this one. So, be on the lookout for "The Importance of Being Russell" at independent film festivals near you starting in 2005.
Today, I begin a new chapter in my life. I know very little about how it will turn out, but I'm quite certain it will have something to do with being in movies. Will it be a long chapter, filled with stories of living a life on the big screen? Or will it begin and end with "The Importance of Being Russell?" I can't tell you that. This is just the preview. You want the rest of the story? Buy a ticket!
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Blown Away...
Well, with the knowledge that there is a disposable toilet brush in the world (see previous post) has come the freedom to ponder other questions; to tackle other issues, if you will (and you will!). Here's one that has been gnawing at me for a little while:
I live and work in neighborhoods where people take their lawns and landscaping fairly seriously. I am lucky to spend a lot of my time in a particularly beautiful part of a very nice city (hooray for Memphis!). I regularly see homeowners or their chosen landscaping service hard at work around the neighborhood. At some point in pretty much every project I see undertaken, someone pulls out the blower. This relatively new addition to the home gardening scene perplexes me. You see, there is nothing in or on these lawns that actually needs to be blown around. There are, however, many things (cut grass, leaves, etc.) that need to be bagged and discarded. It seems that folks are under the impression that the easy availability of the blower has made bags and bagging unnecessary. Now - my neighbors seem to believe - it's okay to just blow any trash out of your yard and into the street and everything's clean. I guess trash bags were just a temporary band-aid on the problem that blowers have now fixed?
Everything I have ever learned about cleaning, being part of a community, or finishing a project tells me that this is not right. That you are not, in fact, finished with your work as long as you've gotten all the things you don't want anymore out into the street. Apparently, though, the common sense of many members of my community has been sucked through their garden hoses right out of their heads. Or perhaps someone just blew it into the street for someone else to find and clean up.
I live and work in neighborhoods where people take their lawns and landscaping fairly seriously. I am lucky to spend a lot of my time in a particularly beautiful part of a very nice city (hooray for Memphis!). I regularly see homeowners or their chosen landscaping service hard at work around the neighborhood. At some point in pretty much every project I see undertaken, someone pulls out the blower. This relatively new addition to the home gardening scene perplexes me. You see, there is nothing in or on these lawns that actually needs to be blown around. There are, however, many things (cut grass, leaves, etc.) that need to be bagged and discarded. It seems that folks are under the impression that the easy availability of the blower has made bags and bagging unnecessary. Now - my neighbors seem to believe - it's okay to just blow any trash out of your yard and into the street and everything's clean. I guess trash bags were just a temporary band-aid on the problem that blowers have now fixed?
Everything I have ever learned about cleaning, being part of a community, or finishing a project tells me that this is not right. That you are not, in fact, finished with your work as long as you've gotten all the things you don't want anymore out into the street. Apparently, though, the common sense of many members of my community has been sucked through their garden hoses right out of their heads. Or perhaps someone just blew it into the street for someone else to find and clean up.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
The Dawn of a New Day...
Early on in the life of Ziggybackride, I wrote a persuasive, lucid, well-thought-out piece on "The Most Disturbing Thing in My House." (at least that's what others seemed to think about it!) The title of the entry referred to the toilet brush. I asked then why, in our society, we did not have access to a disposable toilet brush. I asked why we should keep our bodily filth in a corner in the bathroom. I asked important questions. I demanded answers.
A new day has dawned, my friends! Presumably because of pressure exerted on the household products industry by avid readers of this site (I can't imagine any other possibilities), someone is now making a toilet bowl cleaner with disposable cleaning heads. Our dream has become a reality!
Now, the possibilities are endless. Now, we know that if we can but imagine, we can accomplish. We must now dream new dreams. We must commit ourselves to the noblest of causes. There were generations before us who could never have imagined the disposable toilet brush. What will the generations to come bring to this world of ours? I am humbled by the possibilities!
A new day has dawned, my friends! Presumably because of pressure exerted on the household products industry by avid readers of this site (I can't imagine any other possibilities), someone is now making a toilet bowl cleaner with disposable cleaning heads. Our dream has become a reality!
Now, the possibilities are endless. Now, we know that if we can but imagine, we can accomplish. We must now dream new dreams. We must commit ourselves to the noblest of causes. There were generations before us who could never have imagined the disposable toilet brush. What will the generations to come bring to this world of ours? I am humbled by the possibilities!
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