Blogblah!!! » weather

July 17, 2010

John Long — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:14:05 +0000

Blogblah

It’s been gangster movie festival here at St. John’s Infirmary lately.

First, the Godfather trilogy of course; followed by Pesci and DeNiro in Casino with Sharon Stone; then, Goodfellows with that knockout Ray Liotto performance. I branched out with the Coen Brothers’ Millers Crossing, but came right back to the good stuff with Pacino and Depp in Donny Brasco and then Nicholson, DeCaprio and Matt Damon in The Departed. Just when I think I’m out, they keep sucking me back in and Public Enemies found its way into the DVD player.

I’d like to get out of the house and do something. Maybe go to the mall and see Inception for something different. Uhmm. There’s a bit of irony in that sentence, but I can’t quite parse it out. Maybe some reader like RebL will be able to help me with that.

I complained in the last post about what a stick figure I’ve become, but to be honest I just don’t feel like eating in this 100 degree and humid weather we’ve been having. By the way, does this hot weather mean that Al Gore is still fat but that climate studies are maybe just a little right? I keep getting mixed up when I don’t watch Glen Beck every day and need someone with mainstream thinking to help keep me on the straight and narrow.

Read an interesting piece about how the radical right is now interpreting the Constitution in the same way religious fundamentalists treat the text of the New Testament. Who knew John Calhoun would take the place of Elijah in legal thinking? I can’t get over this 10th Amendment talk from the Tea Party folks. I suppose they slept through that whole 1860-1865 week in high school U.S. history. Maybe they had the flu or the dog ate their homework. That’s the ticket, as some SNL guy used to say.

I’m really sorry I missed Lady GaGa in town. No, really. I would have liked to see that show. In fact, I would have liked to be the guy who confirmed her gender up close and personal. I might be a sick old guy, but I’m still a sick old guy. Speaking of newer singing acts, will the fact that Pink fell mean that from now on, it’s after the fall?

July 11, 2009

John Long — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:30:39 +0000

Blogblah

Yesterday, when I went someplace with a large, black asphalt parking lot, my car thermometer that was showing 109 degrees on the concrete street began just blinking and couldn’t register the temperature on the asphalt. Thank you all, but I think I’m beyond needing to hear remarks that it is hot in Oklahoma in July. Since you’re the same people who tell me it is cold in Oklahoma and bitch and moan in February, you can leave that out of our conversations as well. When it’s too hot to have the top down on my convertible, it’s too hot. Further, if the top is up on my Midlife Chrysler, no man is truly free. I also do not feel the need to hear you say something incredibly stupid about man-made climate changes.

Sen. Inhofe, this includes you. Perhaps, Sen. Inhofe, you may wish to direct your attention to other areas. Clearly, you know absolutely nothing about climate because you are fast earning the title of most clueless U.S. Senator, which puts you in some pretty scary territory considering your Republican cohorts. May I suggest you consider a discussion with our other U.S. Senator, Dr. Tom Coburn? That whole “C Street” and “The Family” stuff with Sen. Ensign might be a good place to start. In all your glorious Republican Party-ness, maybe you might could possibly discuss just how inappropriate it is to pay off a blackmailing cuckold to the tune of $96,000 in just-under-the-radar-reporting-requirements payments of $12,000 from Sen. Ensign’s parents, Vegas casino millionaires.

OTOH, I may be getting more conservative than I used to be concerning another issue: the 2d Amendment. I have been someone who thought it perfectly appropriate and constitutional to restrict the private ownership of automatic weapons, rifle propelled grenades, bazookas, and even so-called “Saturday Night specials”. Just right now, I’m trying to re-think my notions of the “right to bear arms.” What’s got me there is watching the Iran demonstrations. I realized that the maurading Basijis with batons on motorcycles who have beaten and injured so many protestors in Teheran wouldn’t last long in America. Oh, maybe the crowds would have been dispersed by these thugs on the first day, but the second day? There’s enough firepower in the hands of private individuals in the good ole’ U.S. of A. that yahooligans on motor bikes wielding clubs wouldn’t last long against an angry American crowd on the second day.

Of course, Americans didn’t take to the streets in 2000 when a coup put Bush in the White House. I’m not so sure that if the events of the 2000 election should take place in today’s economic climate that things would be the same as they were back then. A botched election plus 10-12 percent unemployment and some empty bellies has a way of making crowds more unpredictable because jobless angry people have nothing to lose, the very definition of freedom if we listen to Kris Kristofferson and Janice Joplin. Is anyone else finding themselves listening to Bob Dylan while watching the events in Iran, specifically “The Times They Are A-Changin'”? Or, maybe, The Who’s “We Won’t Be Fooled Again”? In a discussion of these matters last night with the Oz, he said something I thought was brilliant: “I’m too old for the army, but I’m just old enough for the revolution.”

Speaking of the 2000 coup d’etat, the latest news about W’s secret surveillance programs and the possibility that Cheney directed a secret assassination squad outside all oversight makes me long for a Congress and, yes, even a president, with the backbone to frog march those war criminals into a cell next to Joseph Padilla or maybe someone as yet unnamed in Gitmo.

It’s too hot to write any more. Anyone else hot? Gee, do you think it’s hot enough? Wow. It’s really hot, isn’t it?

Blogblah

February 11, 2009

John Long — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:10:08 +0000

Blogblah!!!

STORMY WEATHER
The television weathermen in this town knock me out. They DO get excited. There was more to get excited about than usual today — all those Oak Tree Homes! — so the weathermen got more excited than usual. WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT: THE WORLD IS GOING TO END! WE MEAN NOW! GRAB YOUR ANKLES AND KISS YOUR ASS GOOD-BYE, IT’S ALL OVER FOLKS! MOVE UNDERGROUND AND REMEMBER YOUR NEIGHBOR JUST WANTS YOUR FOOD AND AMMO.
Very valuable service and all that. I’m grateful for the technology and the early warning systems we have here. Blah blah blah.
But get a grip.

It’s not like any of us can actually do anything to change the weather. There’s really not much you can do if a tornado actually hits the structure you’re inside.
Personally, I like thunder and lightning and extreme wind.
I’ve stood out on my front lawn to try and experience reported 100 mph winds. Rain stings like a BB gun and you get paranoid that some branch will come out of the sky and kill you, but you hope it lands on the mean old lady that lives … nevermind.
Even if your structure stays stable, I’ve seen big trees driven through walls.
You can’t be in the news business in Oklahoma City without having covered the weather. I think it’s some kind of rite of passage and maybe even a law that all journalists, no matter how ill-equipped, must speak to someone who has just been uprooted by a killer storm that took baby brother.
And, no, you don’t feel great because you’re getting a “scoop”, you feel like shit. You feel awkward and rude and cruelly compelled by the nature of your job to do something you would never ever do under “normal” circumstances.
“Tell me, miss big sister, did you and baby brother ever argue in the back seat of the car over who was touching whom?”
“What?”
“Well, DID you?”
“I g-g-guess so, why are you bringing it up?”
“It’s all your fault he’s dead, isn’t it?”
“Don’t say that!”
“Admit it! Admit it! You killed baby brother! Didn’t you?!?”
“Mister, there was a terrible storm and the tree just come through the wall … ”
“Sure, big sister, sure. I’m sure that’s EXACTLY how it happened. Didn’t you also shove him in a closet and hold the door shut when you were supposed to be looking after him?”
“We were playing! We were just playing! Why are you bringing this all up?”
“And didn’t you also let him take the blame when YOU were the one who spilled the milk?”
“That was years and years ago, before he could talk!”
“So, you admit that your torture of baby brother took place over many years, do you?”
Did I mention that it’s the full of the moon?
My mind is so gassy that I can’t stop the brain f@rts and Pepcid isn’t helping.
I SEEM rational, but there’s something off kilter.
Shut up!

January 27, 2009 (updated)

John Long — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:25:55 +0000

My yucca plants covered with ice and snow

THERE’S SNOW BUSINESS IN OKC

Since the courthouse is closed today due to the weather “emergency”, I thought I’d take time from being bored at the house and maybe do a little blogging since I’ve not really written anything since the Inauguration on the 20th, a week ago. Before he tells you all about it, I’ve got to admit to a tiny bit of cruelty: I laughed and laughed and could not make myself come to the rescue of Sinatra late yesterday afternoon when he found himself in the middle of an icy driveway and couldn’t get any traction. Have you ever seen a cat lose its footing? I don’t think that happens often, or at least I don’t see it often, and watching my “snow cat” floundering just struck me funny. So funny, as it happens, I couldn’t keep my own footing well enough to go rescue him. When I finally got to him to pick him up and carry him back inside, he was PISSED. Fortunately for me, it was nothing a good petting and a little canned food wouldn’t assuage.

LongRydeHome's Earth/Sky/Water sculpture at my house, now improved and new with SNOW added!

While I was outside taking pictures, I snapped a shot of the sculpture that is installed in my front yard. This work is by my blog buddie, LongRydeHome, who graciously commends and refers to my Jan. 20 post, and I thought I’d plug her work. It’s not really set at such an angle, by the way, that’s just my bad picture taking. The small ball represents the earth and the semi-circle around it is the sky; the dangling piece is obviously waves of water if you ever get a chance to look at the piece. Now, of course, it’s new and improved with not just earth, not just sky and more than water — introducing the new and improved WITH SNOW version of KO’s work! I love the way the sculpture works with the arc of a wall just behind it and the rocks that provide the setting.

The view down 61st Street, looking east from my house

Just so that Nojackla, Mom-A-Tron and MindOverMary, living in New Orleans, Tucson and Charleston respectively, can remember what Oklahoma winter weather is like, I thought I’d let ‘em see down my street why their hometown is shut down. As I write this at midday, just about 11:30 a.m., the weather report says it’s 20 degrees (F) and snowing on top of the ice we got on the streets last night. A few good and brave folks, including Muffy, are out on the streets, but an old guy like me knows better than to even try.

New Avatar?

When I run out of cigarets, I’ll either stop or put on a lot of warm clothes because it’s pretty toasty here in my little studio and it just looks miserable outside with it snowing/sleeting hard enough for me to hear it hit the bushes even through my closed window.
John X was wearing a hat at the RC the other day when I tried to take a snapshot of him, but he turned the tables and took a picture of me wearing his hat. What do you think? Better or worse than the black and white “GQ” picture? Does this look like the sort of man who’s blog you’d like to read? Better yet, does this look like the kind of lawyer that could get you divorced? Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.

A lonely blogger types his fingers to the bone

I’ve been playing with my computer and i-Phone during this bad weather and picked up some nice free “apps” for the phone: Shazam, which will listen to a few notes of any music and then tell you what the song is, who sings it and refers you to the YouTube where you can see the video or refers you to the i-Pod/i-Tunes download; Stanza, which lets you download free books from the public domain and read them on your phone; and also Google Earth, with which most of you are familiar from your laptop or desktop. Does the thumbnail on the right look more “bloggish”? I think this is the best picture Sinatra has ever taken of me, but that may be a matter of taste.

TODAY’S THOUGHT

Just because you’re in the driver’s seat doesn’t mean you have to run over people.

The Last Lecture
Randy Pausch

I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY!

$100 Civil Fine for Pot Debated

Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth

SINATRA SPEAKS

Chairman of the Bored

Muffy, he laughed at me. I am the most fearsome hunter in the territory and a ruler of the universe and he laughed at me. I’m humiliated. When he sees the heating bill from opening and closing the door and window to let me in and out 50 times today, he won’t be laughing then, oh, no. He’s been extra careful to keep his closet shut so I can’t get to his shoes and poo in them, but I’m watching and waiting and he’ll forget one of these days and then!…shoe poo!
Muffy, you just wait and see if I don’t.

January 15, 2009

John Long — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:45:33 +0000

A cool cat with blue eyes. Call him Sinatra

So, last night he leaves me all alone so he can go to his hey-hey meeting and tonight he brings people over with all kinds of dog and cat smells all over them traipsing through my feeding room and into my wool throne room where they all sat around with the flickering square noisemaker. I’m either bored or overstimulated with not much in between. Since I have to barf anyway, I’m going to throw up right in front of the watering hole he refreshes every time he gets out of bed. I intend to remain steadfast in L’Resistance until he returns the better weather and the baby birds. Vive la chat!

January 10, 2009

John Long — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:21:31 +0000

MOM-A-TRON BEETS HER FATHER

Mom-A-Tron

Just when I think I’m getting the hang of this 21st Century technology, somebody comes along and really gives me some perspective about how much there is. Today, Mom-A-Tron has a power point presentation she made herself — about beets of all things — and put to music and presents on her blog as a video. Damn. Pretty impressive, I must say. I personally loathe beets in all forms and fashions, but she seems to have acquired a fondness for them that escapes me.

EVERYBODY TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER, BUT NOBODY DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT

BECAUSE I SAID SO!

What a fine example of Oklahoma weather! It was top-down, sunny and in the mid-70s this afternoon and not long after dark, the wind was out of the North and it was freezing. I guess I should be grateful for any January day in which I can have the top down, and I am, believe me I am. Nevertheless this back and forth under a full moon is messing with my mammal midbrain and warm bloodedness.
Had a plenty good time at Paseo this afternoon with a good fraction of the usual suspects and we had India food from the buffet at 50th and May and I have the predictable aftereffects of curry to prove it.
We missed MCARP when we had the name of the artist playing on the Musak right on the tip of our tongue, but couldn’t quite place him/her and we just KNEW he’d have the cut on his iPod/iPhone playlists. Oh, well.
By the way, the line: “Everybody talks about the weather … .” That’s by Oklahoma’s own Will Rogers, who had a lot to say about our weather. I suppose it’s always been like this.

SINATRA SPEAKS

A cool cat with blue eyes. Call him Sinatra

Muffy, you are such a naughty girl. Such language! I know what you mean because this full moon is making me a little quirky, too. Today, I got my head stuck in one of the heating vents and if I had been like that when he got home! That wasn’t the only thing. I was up in my tree, minding my own business, when this bluejay I’ve been chasing for two years lands on the same limb I’m on about 2 feet away! I couldn’t believe it! He said: “Boo!” and flashed away and by the time I was springing at him, my back feet fell off the branch and I was hanging on for dear life. Muffy! That was SO embarrassing. So, I acted like I meant to do that and just continued to climb back down the tree. Memsahib and her Thugee would never let me forget it if they had been there. So, tomorrow, I’ve decided to practice murderous pounces from perches on the living room furniture. I’ve already put all three of my mouses there. I hear wet food! Bye!

I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY!

Belgians Know How to Take Sick Days

Confess to Barkeep, then Priest, Finally at AA

Women Really CAN smell desperation!

TODAY’S THOUGHT

Those who know don’t talk
Those who talk don’t know

Stephen Mitchell translation of Tao te Ching
No. 56