Harvey Korman, goodbye old friend
Harvey Korman and Tim Conway
Harvey Korman has died. Harvey, you will be missed my old friend, your time came too soon and the world had yet to see your true brilliance.
In a time like this, the famous WH Auden poem, Funeral Blues, comes to mind.
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good
May 27, 2008
How to Use a Book
Thanks to KS for bringing this up. Pretty funny. Probably even funnier if I understood Norwegian.
May 23, 2008
NASCAR vs Martha Stewart
A friend of ours just got her US citizenship, she is French and to celebrate a few of us are having a BBQ party for her. Her husband suggested one of two “American” themed meals. I won’t tell you which one we are going with. I like the gross generalization though, especially since my buddy Unc is a NASCAR fan.
A sample NASCAR menu:
- Grilling any kind of meat (ending up in a bun of some sort)
- Something with heavily processed cheese (Velveeta, Cheeze Wiz, etc)
- A salad involving mayonnaise (potato salad, cole slaw, pasta salad, etc)
- Potato chips and some kind of dip (e.g. french onion)
- Popsicles
- Bud in a can for the big people
- Kool Aid for the little people
A sample Martha menu:
- Clam bake (various shellfish; clams, crabs, lobster, etc)
- Or substitute clam chowder in place of clams, but still have the other
shellfish
- Corn on the cob
- Baked beans
- Fresh bread
- Sorbet
- Sam Adams Summer and a California white white for the big people
- Lemonade for the little people
May 20, 2008
Cowboy Junkies
I saw the Cowboy Junkies at some small place in NYC in, oh, I don't know, late 80s, maybe 1990. I was with my friend Jeff and some other people and they brought out Tony Bennett to sing a song, totally out of the blue, it was strange. I actually think it was a Bennett cover that the Cowboy Junkies did. They are most known for a cover of Velvet Underground's Sweet Jane and I think are one of the most under appreciated groups of my time. Misguided Angel is still one of my favorite songs of all time. It would make my top ten list of deserted island songs. Outstanding lyrics with soulful female vocals.
I tried to find a good video of the song I like on YouTube, and I came across the music video, a duet with Natalie Merchant, and the Cowboy Junkies doing it live for some TV event. Plus coffee shop remakes. And some homemade picture montages. Ugh. Below is a 40 second clip of the song that I think most accurately captures the song Misguided Angel. Below that is a video for Sweet Jane.
Trip to Vegas
Patti and I had a little time away last weekend. I was in Las Vegas Monday through Thursday for work. On Thursday morning, Patti left the kids with her parents and flew out to Vegas to meet me. A day earlier, on Wednesday, my parents, who could write a book on how to tour Vegas, came in to Vegas to show us around. So Patti and I met up with them Thursday night and spent the day with them on Friday. Brief description of events...
Brief description of events...
- First, the conference I was at was pretty good. I won’t get into details about it, but I had some great dinners and social events as well as effective meetings. And cool give-aways at the exhibitor hall.
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- The last two times I’ve been in Vegas, I didn’t stay at one of the big casinos where my conferences are held. I find Vegas a little stressful and tiring, so I stayed at a great Hilton Grand Vacation club, still on the strip, near the Sahara and just south of the Strat. I get a large one bedroom suite with a full kitchen, washer dryer and jacuzzi for about half of what I would pay at the big places. It’s not as convenient as staying where my work is, but I find it more relaxing. There are no games in it but it has a nice health club, great pool area and is still close to everything.
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- Thursday Patti got in while I still had to work, so she took a cab to the hotel and got a massage. I met up with her later in the afternoon by the pool. It was around 90 and sunny.
- We had a light dinner and met up with my parents Thursday night. I picked them up at their hotel and we went to Fremont Street for this cool overhead light show.
- Friday we got up early and had a large and cheap breakfast at an off the beaten path hotel/casino called Arizona Charlies. Eggs, steak, toast, potatoes, for 3 dollars. You gotta love places that want you to save your money for the slots.
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- After breakfast, we went to Hoover Dam. Yes, THE Hoover Dam. We have all probably seen shows on it on the Discovery Channel or in school, but there is no way it does justice until you see it in person. I love shows on building mass structures like bridges and aircraft carriers, but this was on a total different scale. We got there around 9:15, with the tours opening at 9, so it was perfect. It gets super crowded and since I hate crows and just about anything in general, it worked out well. We took a cool tour, then walked from the Nevada side to the Arizona side. I have a ton of pictures.
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- After the Boulder Dam, we drove back and went to Caesar’s Palace to grab a quick bite to eat and then watched a free show at one of the fountains. It was…interesting…and no more will be said of the show. We saw Pete Rose and Gordie Howe signing autographs at a store in the Forum Shops. He wanted 70 bucks for a picture or 80 for a signed ball, so I passed. Funny how Pete Rose was signing autographs in Vegas when he got kicked out of baseball for gambling. I'll hold my next Fat Club meeting at Wendy's.
- After Caesar’s, we drove to this store that sells anything for gamblers. I saw it on the travel channel once. You can get packs of cards that were used in the casinos to old chips, from craps tables to real slot machines, dice and books and almost anything you can think of. Really fun.
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- After the store we went to the top of the Stratosphere. It’s the highest structure west of the Mississippi and has a 360 degree view. I have some great pictures from there, it was a very clear day. They also have three rides on top, there used to be a roller coaster but they changed that to newer ones. None us had the…fortitude…to go on the rides. Seriously, I love amusement park rides but this one was crazy scary, picture above.
- After the tower, we were going to head to Rio for a free show but kind of ran out of steam. So we stopped by our place at the Hilton and then went to dinner.
- Dinner was going to be a good but inexpensive steak dinner at a place call Ellis Island, where you have to say a secret phrase in exact order and with the right pronunciation to get the steep discount, but the wait was too long.
- So we got back in the car, again, and drove to a place called Terribles. A trick my parents have is to sign up for the players club at each casino because in addition to getting points for giving them your gambling money, you can get free stuff and discounts. So we signed up and got a coupon for a free buffet. For the first time in as long as I can remember, we ate at a buffet. Food was good and it cost us 5 bucks a person, plus tip. More money for the slots. Just like breakfast.
- We played the slots there for about 30 minutes after dinner and headed home. Or back to the hotel. We dropped my parents off at their hotel and called it a night, Friday night. We were exhausted from working all week, late dinners with clients, Patti taking care of the kids, cross country flights, sleep schedules that were still on east coast time, running to 7 places in one day and the dry heat of Nevada, but it was fun. Patti and I closed the day out by sitting in the Jacuzzi by the pool and having a couple of cold beers.
- Saturday was much more relaxed. I get up early, especially since my body was still on east coast time, so I was up at 5AM. I worked for a while and watched the Survivor Fans vs Favorites finale online. Patti got up late and while she ran on the treadmill, I went to the pool.
- We hung out in the 95 degree poolside until noonish, then got ready for the afternoon. We agreed that we would not talk about what we were doing next until we were at the end of the current activity. Our lives are run by schedules and timeframes, meetings and playdates and sports practices and flights and bedtimes and mealtimes and appointments and customer calls and alarm clocks and frustration and temper tantrums and pickup times, so we wanted to NOT plan anything. Mid afternoon, after lunch, we walked to the Sahara Casino in 100 degree heat, didn’t really like it, and walked to the Strat.
- Here comes my first real gambling experience of the week. I obviously know how to play blackjack, I can count to 21, but there are specific rules for when to stand and when to hit. If you are somewhat advanced, there are rules when to split and double down. I wanted to play blackjack but was nervous about being an amateur at a table with pros, and getting them ticked off that I didn’t do the right thing. It can be a serious business, and I hate to look like an amateur. But as we were walking through the Strat during the afternoon on a beautiful Saturday, I saw a table with only one other guy, and it was for low money, a 5 dollar table. So I sat down and played for about an hour, winning a hundred and losing a hundred and coming back to even. I walked away with 5 or 10 bucks in my pocket and a couple of free beers. And had a great, GREAT time. I doubled down with an ace and split with two tens, 6 showing for the dealer, and won both times. I talked to the other players that came to the table, and one dealer was really cool about helping with what to do when. Patti watched for a little and then went off to look at the shops and play the slots.
- After that, we stopped at the Worlds Largest Souvenir shop, then back to the hotel for more pool time. Then had dinner at Rio, where we played craps, then to the hotel OJ Simpson was busted in, Palace Station, where we both played blackjack, then back to the hotel. We were so exhausted by the time Saturday night came and had to get up around 4AM to fly home.
Sunday we flew to Boston through JFK and picked up the kids at a friends house. Jim and Pat had the kids and with only about an hour overlap, dropped them off at our friend’s so they could drive back to NY. When Patti and I were leaving the hotel at 4AM, there were a ton of people just coming in from being out all night. Pretty funny. Our lives and bodies are about 3 thousand miles from staying out all night, it's sadly just not in us anymore.
The thing that amazes me the most about Vegas is the size and scale, the building that is going on. Oh, plus the excessive amount of cleavage that is shown by every woman that can pull it off, and some that shouldn't. Seriously, you have no idea how much skin and tight clothes are worn by the ladies that come to Vegas, like it's some land that doesn't see size or body type, only hotness, which there was plenty off. Again, some people should not have been in their attire, but it was definitely fun to people watch. And you should see the billboards and flyers on the ground, like porn jumped from the pages of brown paper covered mags and the internet to 40 foot signs high above roads and on moving plywood trucks on the strip.
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But I digress, back to the size and scale. There are cranes and construction sites everywhere. With so many existing hotels and casinos, they are building a ton more. And as I go into the big ones (Caesar’s, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand), the medium ones (Palace Station, Rios) and the ones that the locals go to (Arizona Charlie’s), it’s amazing that they are all full of people. Crowds and buffet waiting lines and packed garages, at every single place. It’s crazy. So much money going through that city it's no wonder states like Mass are considering licenses for casinos.
So we had a good time, lost a little bit of money, bought some fun presents and took some great pictures. My parents took us to some spots that we probably would not have ventured to in our lazy sedentary vacation mind set, which is good because this was our first trip to Vegas together and no idea when we would do it again. Overall a nice trip and we appreciate the help from my in-laws and the tour from my parents.
May 13, 2008
Emily and Ethan
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More travel pictures
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Arby's
Note to self: Never eat at Arby's again. Even if it means starving to death.
It could have just been the Arby's at Atlanta airport's terminal E that I made the mistake of ordering from today during my 4 hour layover to the west coast, but I doubt it. I've eaten some pretty awful meals, especially when I was a consultant, and Arby's, which I haven't had since I had a stomach virus in my early teens RIGHT after eating at Arby's, was by far the worst of all time. Even now, about 13 hours after I ate it, I'm not sure what they gave me, or what month it was actually created in. I have probably reduced my overall life span by a couple of years because of today's lunch. Even the freakin Dr. Pepper was terrible.
But if you like Arby's, that's cool, it's all good. Yum yum eat it up.
Thought I'd share - Dave
PS. I'm back in Vegas and I don't have my usual dread of it. Couple of reasons for that - I'm staying at a mainstream hotel, Patti is coming to meet me, I am meeting up with my parents for the Dobrindt Sr. tour of Vegas - so in a much better mood this time despite being stuck in coach for my flight from ATL to LAS.
May 09, 2008
How will the democratic presidential nomination end?
If there’s any question on how this democratic nomination process will end, all you have to do is watch a clip from Zoolander. Click here to see what I’m talking about. The moment is around the 2 minute mark. At the DNC in August, in Denver, they are going to announce Barack as the choice and Hillary is going to walk up and accept the nomination before a stunned and silent crowd. It's going to be GREAT.
I’m not sure if this can get any more odd. Seriously. Does Hil really think the democratic party is going put aside the fact that Obama has MORE votes and give it her?? If that ever happened, the most recent Al Sharpton self-promotion event in NYC is going to look like a walk in the park. As Ace Rothstein once said “The probability…is a million and a half to one…it's in the billions. It cannot happen”.
May 06, 2008
Waldorf Astoria
I'm at the Waldorf Astoria tonight in New York. Long story, but I had an option at staying at a low end Hilton family hotel in a crappy part of town for 500 hundie a night, or the Waldorf for less than what I usually pay for at the sold-out-tonight NY Hilton. So I chose the Waldorf.
More on it later, but it's niiiiiiiiiice.
May 02, 2008
PBS Carrier
If you have some time, I recommend watching this great series on PBS about the Navy carrier the USS Nimitz. It's fascinating.
Series Director Maro Chermayeff, who was a producer and director of PBS’s six-episode Frontier House in 2002, described Carrier as “a cross between Top Gun, High School and Prison.” The filmmakers concentrated on a few members of the crew, which has an average age of 19
"Click on picture for more info”
May 2
Today is May 2. It’s the 123 day of the year (because it’s a leap year). On this day in history…
In 1568 , Mary I of Scotland escapes from Loch Leven Castle, where she had been imprisoned by Sir William Douglas, that bastard.
In 1900 the King of Sweden, Oscar II, declares support for the United Kingdom at the time of the Second Boer War, which was highly anticipated.
The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City in 1969.
Benjamin Spock was born in 1903, Bianca Jagger was born in 1945, Donatella Versace was born in 1955, The Rock was born in 1972, David Beckham in 1975, Lily Allen and figure skater Sarah Hughes in 1985.
It’s Flag Day in Poland and Teacher’s Day in Iran.
You can read more about this day here, here, here and here.
It is also our daughter Emily’s 6th birthday. Which also makes it my birthday. I am older than 6.
- Dave
Baby Dropping
Dave: EMERSON!! COME HERE!! Patti, get a sheet and meet me on the roof.