I used to be part of “The Media.” I’ve mentioned that before. When I was, I enjoyed my job. But when I see what “The Media” (with a big assist from her husband) is doing to Elizabeth Edwards, it makes me reluctant to admit I ever was a reporter. He deserves it: she doesn’t! We used to hear the phrase “common decency” occasionally, but decency isn’t common, is it?
Here’s an example of technology run amok. Pronunciation errors by radio and TV network news anchors bother me as much as spelling errors in newspapers, books and magazines do. These professional speakers ought to (and probably do) know better. I’d like to tell you about one I heard this week, but can’t. I’m writing this using Microsoft Works, and Works knows what I want to write is wrong, so when I type it, the program substitutes the correct word and I can’t figure out how to disable autocorrect. This episode does, however, raise an interesting philosophical question: if what I want to write isn’t a word, how can I misspell it?
Why am I sitting in my living room watching the parade of nations at the Olympics on TV, especially since it’s boring and it happened this morning? At least it was morning here when it happened there.
I have postulated that getting older means having to explain stuff to adults. Today, I saw a young man trying to avoid his 15 minutes of fame and realized he probably didn’t know who Andy Warhol was. The young man is a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. He is on the annual cruise that some students from Annapolis take on relatively small sailboats. I believe they are sloops. A very attractive young woman wanted to interview him for a cable TV show produced by a local college. He was reluctant to participate. More often than not, it’s very good idea for an unattached young man to do what an attractive, and unattached young woman asks him to do. I met my wife when one of her friends was wandering around saying, “Who has room in their car?” I allowed that I did. She said, “Good! You can take us home.” My wife was the other element of “us.” Almost every day since then, I’ve been glad that I offered someone a ride.
The saga of renovating my home continues. The refrigerator has been shimmed into place, making me glad I hired a contractor instead of doing the job myself. The dishwasher and microwave oven are in place. If I can get my friend to lend me two hands (just lending me A hand won’t cut it), I’ll put the stove back tomorrow. If you are remodeling your kitchen and want the project to proceed quickly, I have one word of advice for you, Formica. Actually any laminate countertop will do. It ought to be possible to create custom-made laminate counters for virtually any size kitchen in one day. Fabricating counter tops of granite, synthetic stone, concrete or certain other durable materials will take longer than the fabricator told you it would. And the fabricator will probably tell you it takes seven to ten business days. We are now ready for counter tops and could have been ready a few days ago. The counter tops will be installed a week from Wednesday. At least that’s the current plan.
That’s also the day I have to go to Saratoga Springs NY on business, but I don’t have to leave until the counters are installed. It’s tough to have to go to Saratoga Springs at the height of the racing season, but I’ll soldier through somehow. I’ll take my wife with me, and when my business is concluded we’ll enjoy ourselves for a couple of days exploring upstate New York. I don’t care for winter in that region, but the other three seasons are very nice.
