11/25/04: Happy Jive Turkey Day

The other day I was touting my ability to lapse into a dream state during meetings, but today I realized something scary.  It's not just meetings.  My power of concentration is simply shot.  Conversations, magazine articles, work assignments -- I just can't stay connected to anything for more than a few seconds at a time.  I'm hoping I'm just a little run down; I have been staying up late mining for new images for the GISG and not getting much sleep.  But I think it might be something else as well, something physical. It's just too weird.  Forgive me if I don't make any sense from here on out, but something has come unwired in my brain and I hope it's only temporary.

It was a crappy-ass, rain-soaked day today in NYC. I left work a little bit early and got to hang out with Dillahunt for a couple of hours.  He seems the same, happy in Minneapolis, plotting future acts of misbehavior, no doubt.  I came home and took a nice four hour nap, and when I woke up around 10pm, the wife wanted a banana milkshake*.  Yes, we had no bananas today, so I offered to run to the dirty deli to pick some up. Our dirty deli actually has pretty good fruit.  When I went outside, the rain had stopped, a warm breeze was blowing, the sidewalks were glistening, and it smelled like a beautiful spring day. It made me so happy.  The 90 foot walk to the deli was just a reminder how lucky we are to be alive. I appreciated every second.

Speaking of lucky, it's Thanksgiving, so I should probably make just a couple quick addenda to my recent list of things I'm thankful for. Apologies if some of these are thinly disguised complaints.

I'm thankful I finally got a gmail account, and I hereby offer accounts to the first three people who leave a comment requesting one in the comments section. You probably already have gmail accounts, you slick bastards.  Or you're too cool to want 'em. Does anybody really need another email account? I dunno. So far, I like it pretty good, some nice touches, although they really stole the look of the interface from boring old Yahoo. But like my Grandpappy Maurice always said, A Gig's a Gig. I think he was talking about email storage.

I'm thankful that, as long as the remote is nearby, I don't have to watch Flavor and Brigitte make out. They actually make me physically ill.

I'm thankful for VH1 Classic.  I don't care if it's all nostalgic schmaltz -- as my Uncle Joe used to tell me, Fogelberg's Fogelberg.

I'm thankful that I bought the extended warranty for my laptop, even if it's been two and a half weeks and I haven't gotten that thing back yet. And even if I forgot to mention the busted down arrow key when I brought it in.  I hope they replace that as well.

I'm thankful that my wife has been so generous with the use of her computer in the meantime.

I'm thankful as hell that the apocalypse has managed to hold itself off for another year**.  Thanks, apocalypse. 

I'm thankful for banana milkshakes.

I'm thankful I've stayed away from McDonald's for over a year, McVeggie or no McVeggie.

I'm thankful I wasn't born in a situation where I had to join the military and get sent to Iraq by our gutless, clueless president.

I'm thankful I finally added a comments section to this site, and I appreciate all of you who leave comments, positive and negative.

I'm thankful they identified beer-thrower guy, and I can't wait for his story to unravel.  He was actually on TV talking about what a thug Artest is.  Nerve. My thinking is that they've got him on tape and he's going down.  The hands in the pockets are a dead giveaway. If I'm wrong, I apologize.

I'm thankful for guys like Joe Smith, who don't live up to the hype but manage to be productive players anyway because they bust their ass every night. I saw him diving all over the floor last week...not a lot of former overall #1's do that.   Too bad.

I'm thankful I don't have to drive past this every day on my way to work. Hell, I'm thankful I don't have to drive to work at all.

I'm thankful I'm finally back at a point in life where I can admit I like something even if I know it's not cool. I like "Everybody Loves Raymond." Fuck you. I like "Lovergirl" by Teena Marie. Up yours.

I'm thankful for unseasonably warm days and nights.

I'm thankful that we are all only an email or two away from each other at this very moment.

I'm thankful I will get to eat lots of food today.  And I hope you can do the same.

I'm sorry the world is so unfair, and my thoughts go out to the people on this planet who have no lists of things to be thankful for.

OK, I still want you to answer IMAGE #16.  Here's a hint: two words, somewhat familiar phrase, and look at details in the picture for clues. If that doesn't help, you can start answering IMAGE #18 at noon. May the force be with you.

*Here is verbungle.com's first foray into recipe-sharing:

** I found this editorial interesting, but I have to say Kristof comes across just as bigoted as the people he's condemning. These people believe the end is coming, and I think they're full of shit, but if it's actually their opinion they're entitled to it.  I don't even find their message especially bigoted -- they think we're going to hell for eternity, but they don't hate us for it. The best point in the article was imploring these authors to give all their money to charity (although I am sick of Kristof's "bet" device).  Note how these greedy bastards have learned from the mistakes of previous doomsayers, and have just said they "think this generation will witness the end of history."  Not tomorrow or next week or six months from now. Just at some random point in our lifetimes. That will allow them to sell a lot more books. I think if you're going to prophesize, you gotta be specific.