[raw] My reservations for the moon were set and this card proved it. Click image for larger view. [/raw] For all the dystopian commentary on mankind's distant future the 1968 film 2001 projected, it also allowed us to place ourselves in an optimistic and limitless near future as we neared the apex of America's space program: the moon landing. This was one of the first films to feature low key product placement like the American Express credit card and the iconic scenes of Pan Am's Space Clipper ferrying people to the a near orbit docking station on their way to the moon....
Barely Socially Acceptable, Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 15.05.2011
Anatomy of an Encounter: I Could Be Wrong
As I stood in a long line at the ATM outside my bank I smelled smoke. It came and went and, after a while I started to look around for the smoker. At first, I couldn't spot him but finally noticed the man right in front of me was holding a cigarette behind his back as he conversed with the woman in front of him. When I was young I had a severe form of asthma with no help, I'm sure, from my parents' 1950s smoking habits. Luckily, I grew out of the disease. But to this day, I relive those years whenever as much as a simple chest cold impedes my breathing. So you can see why I don't like inhaling secondhand smoke. Rather than passively accepting my fate, I've started to be a little more proactive when it comes to this part of my health. I watched him for a while, assessing his approachability, but decided not to pursue it.
Yet, I really didn't want that smoke wafting in my face. I felt I was being held hostage in line. The next nearest bank branch was a few miles away and my lunchtime was almost up. And, yes, he was shorter than me and dressed in a business suit with no visible tattoos but you never know with smokers (okay, to be fair, you never know with anybody). I took a few steps back to catch my breath and consider my options. "Please don't say anything," I told myself. "Remember when you nicely asked a woman smoking just inches from a restaurant door to please move away? Don't do it." Suddenly I heard myself saying, "Excuse me, would you mind not smoking in line?" And with that I stepped over to the other side.
Jim Anderson surrounded by his adoring family. Umm, not quite me. I walked down the hall as I'd done thousands of times before. As always I'm on a mission. Most of them are trivial: take the trash to the kitchen, transpose a novel from my backpack to my nightstand, or talk to my wife about something or other. This time as I walked out our bedroom door I turned my head, just for a second, to glance at my older daughter's bedroom. And in that moment I felt the culmination of my life to that point. These fleeting events can never...
Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 29.12.2010
On Becoming the New Old Fogey
As we get ready to ring in the new year, I'm reminded that I'm not getting any younger. And, I'm quite comfortable with that. Late night New Year's Eve parties have given way to quiet evenings at home with my family and friends. A little Thai, and while the kids play in their bedrooms with friends, we're nicely ensconced in front of our fireplace, a good old vine Zin in hand. Times Square isn't even on our radar. But being comfortable isn't my only goal come January. Oh, sometimes I aspire to be a Father Knows Best sort of dad,...
Artistic Tendencies, Fairly Odd Parents-Present, Idiosyncratic Celebrations, News Outta My Control / 31.10.2010
The Rally for Sanity? It Was Insane!
I positioned us at the Rally for a good photo op of the Capitol. At the last minute I decided to bring one of my Chamomile Tea Party posters to the Rally for Sanity here on the National Mall yesterday. So Friday afternoon I got it printed BIG. You might wonder why this wasn't on my radar weeks ago. After all, procrastination is not my usual style. Let's see, there's work, soccer games, work, grocery shopping, exhaustion, and work --well, you get the picture. The Chamomile Tea Party is my "side" biz. Promotion is key to any success but my methodology...
Child's Play, Fairly Odd Parents-Past, Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 12.09.2010
Just Thinking Good Thoughts
My mother's tombstone is so high above my head, it's hard to connect with her grave. Every trip to Los Angeles is punctuated by a visit with my parents. They're buried at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park, just a few hundred feet from each other. I haven't lived in L.A. since the mid 1980s but it will forever be the place I come from. And this visit has become part of my ritual each time I return. I'm usually alone with my thoughts but this time the city was a stop on a family vacation so my wife and girls were with...
Commuting with Nature, Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 02.06.2010
I’m in Heaven and It’s Only Wednesday
This is Glenda. The morning commute was ending like all weekday commutes. As I shoved my way to the surface it was time to start thinking about work: the fires I needed to put out or needed to start. I didn't look forward to either, quite frankly. I'm a risk taker but lately it's been in remission. "If I can just get through the day without making waves," I thought, "my day will be a success." (And it was only Wednesday.) I looked around at my fellow commuters climbing the stairs to the top, I mean the street. What were they...
My anniversary gift, set to the time we were married. Click on image for larger view. Yesterday was our seventeenth wedding anniversary. And while I wasn't expecting furniture, the traditional gift for this celebration, I definitely wasn't expecting this! I woke up to Susie's loving warning: "Don't come out until I tell you!" I obeyed. And when she finally gave me the signal I made my way the kitchen. "I know you've been lusting over a special watch so I wanted to give you this to go towards it," she said. I noticed the smile in her eyes. My heart leaped....
Child's Play, Fairly Odd Parents-Present, Professional Auteurism / 24.04.2010
On Talking to Strangers
Never say a commonplace thing. Jack Kerouac My name is Jeff Gates and I talk to strangers. More on that later. We don't want our children to be fearful of public engagements. But we want them to be able to understand the risks. Illustration from an ad for online security software. With one bona fide teenager and a proto soon-to-be teen in the house privacy has been a hot family topic. Well, only their parents seem to think it's an important issue. The girls seem totally nonplussed. And that's our point of contention. My wife and I are trying to teach our children...
Fairly Odd Parents-Present / 26.03.2010
A Big Return on Our Taxes
My romantic rendition of the Del Capri wedding chapel. Click image for a the full view. The advent of tax season means it's time for our extended family's annual pilgrimage to Dundalk, Maryland, a working class neighborhood, just east of Baltimore. There we meet Ed, our CPA, at the home of his side business, the Del Capri wedding chapel. We've been making this yearly sojourn since our girls were toddlers. Back then, during breaks in the action I'd keep them occupied by walking each of them down the aisle set up for a wedding that was to take place later that...