...random...but true poem excerpt.............

later, Vicki said
you don't seem too happy
and i said
you're seeing things

she said
i dont know about that
and i didn't answer

and everything else
was in alphabet blocks

Cold Snap

Here we are.

Heading down to 10 below.

First time this winter my cat actually followed me around just to sit with me. Needs body heat. Don't we all ?

Two Items -
down comforter
and thermal socks -
are key in this
volatile climate.

Brrrrr.......................

Big Ron and Little Ron

I want to say a few words about a co-worker of mine who is no longer around. He was a manager at my place of employment, and I spent many an hour working alongside of him. Unlike other fly-by-night losers with nametags that read "Manager", Big Ron was the real deal.

Officially, my job status is "below" that of the managers, yet Big Ron knew the value of myself and the other office workers who shared the same work space. He never pulled rank and we never felt condescended to. Ron knew what his job duties were and what everybody else's were and let things take care of themselves. No micro-managing and no petty bullshit.

Why was he "Big Ron" ? Well, he stood 6'11" and was approximately 275 to 285 lbs. Fit and muscular with a gleaming, handsome bald head that drew the ladies' eyes most everywhere he went. He could be intimidating when the situation called for it (he was an ex-bouncer), but we rarely saw that side. Mostly he was laid-back Ron with a no-fuss attitude.

Unfortunately, we won't be enjoying his company anymore. Last Saturday, he collapsed at work and was taken to a hospital where doctors failed to revive him. He had suffered a massive heart attack at the age of 31.

Finally, the saddest note of all. A note about "Little Ron". Yes, he left behind a smaller (for now) version of himself named Ron Jr., who is only 7 months old. He will never know how cool his Dad was. He will have no memory at all of him. But his mother will have pictures and stories, as will we - the people whose lives he touched. And someday, we can share them with him. And remember.

Official Disgust

From St. Louis to Seattle - BE STRONG MY BROTHERS!

Yep - if you're a sports fan, you can probably guess the theme of this entry. The Super Bowl was a super mess of lousy officiating. I could make the argument that it cost the Seahawks the game itself. That offensive interference call in the end zone, the supposed "touchdown" by Ruthless-burger (or however you spell his name), and that phantom holding call (???) - all were really, really bad examples of officiating.

Let me send out a note of sympathy and solidarity from the fans of the St. Louis Cardinals who got screwed over by the umpires in the NLCS last fall against Houston. The ejection of LaRussa was bad enough, but the "called strike" on Jim Edmonds right afterward? Nonsense. Also - Game Six - the phantom tag at second base which never connected, and should have left the Cards with the bases loaded, nobody out, and (possibly) Roy Oswalt headed for the showers. Arghhhh!!!!!

We stand together - Seahawk Nation and Cardinal Nation - united by our questions of "What if" ?

And it won't get any better until we can get back on the field next season.

[fast forward thru off-season please]

The Run-On

I had no plans until 10:00 Saturday night when I showered and picked out a shirt and went to the corner bar to watch a silent film with live music just like my grandparents did when they had a stretch of Saturday nights ahead of them and it was Laurel and Hardy backed by a quartet of ukeleles looped through pedals of distortion and calliope-ness into a dark room of perfect strangers watching perfect slapstick but the concession stand was better and afterward there was intelligent discussion, laughter, and spirited exchange over imported bottles of friendship when in walked Amanda with her brand new puppy Starship who was an adorable beagle and enthusiastic walker and sniffer of boots and I jumped up and kissed Amanda on the cheek and was glad to see her for the first time in many a time though she is with someone else and will be too for many a time to come and that is just fine too so after 1:00 I said my goodbyes and stepped out into the January darkness and stopped off for a six-pack to-go and stepped back out into Saturday blackness and passed a police wagon cruising for trouble and i turned the corner into a short alley over to my street and fired up a secret smoke that nobody saw then turned again onto the sidwalk and saw no cats on the way home but that was OK.