Idiosyncratic Celebrations, News Outta My Control / 08.11.2006
A Hole in One!
The Dems knocked one right through this tree. [ Fall Foliage, Election, Democrats, ] ...
Idiosyncratic Celebrations, News Outta My Control / 29.07.2006
Don’t Go in the Water (or to Silver Spring)
Hooper ya idiot. Starboard. Ain't you watchin' it? Quinn, from Jaws Killer hurricanes. Massive floods. Record heat waves. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. And now this. Huge sea creatures attacking high rise buildings in the burbs of our nation's capital. This isn't just another summertime assault by a Great White; it's an attack of the great GREAT BIG white shark. A 1950s B sci-fi flick? The result of global warming? Al Gore must be snickering "I told you so!" Wait. It's Shark Week and Discovery Channel's worldwide headquarters just outside DC has been eaten alive by a big fish. I was there --those teeth are...
An idyllic birthday from my past (that's me on the left). My birthday approaches. And as it gets closer I must find a set of goodies to suggest when my family asks: "Daddy/Husband/Favorite Son-in-Law, what would you like for your birthday?" A set of techno toys is lust-worthy, but iconoclastic presents are always nice. I am, after all, a good gift giver so that makes me a very, very difficult gift receiver. I think: I alone know what I want. Oh, the hubris. So, what do I want? I scour the Web looking for something I just must have. And I scan....
Idiosyncratic Celebrations / 04.07.2006
Happy Fourth!
Related Stories: Carpe Diem and The Washington Post's Patriotic Parades With Political Flair [ July 4th, Independence Day ] ...
Stewie Griffin and Arnold: fitting namesakes for our American football. It's the World Cup and EVERYBODY has football fever. Everybody but Americans. Ok, not all Americans. Everybody south of our soon-to-be fortified US-Mexican border is glued to their TV. The rest of us are carrying on our lives as we always do --waiting for our football season to start in the Fall. We live Saul Steinberg lives: there is the US and then there is the rest of the world. We've got miles and feet; the rest of the globe has kilometers and meters. We've got gallons and quarts; you've...
Idiosyncratic Celebrations, News Outta My Control / 11.02.2006
The XX Winter Olympiad: Let the Politics Begin
NBC's Brian Williams waxes political at the Turino Olympic Opening Ceremonies (Quicktime, 2.1 MB). Click image to begin video. Last night I sat down with my family to watch the opening ceremonies of the XX Olympic Winter Games. A glass of Chianti and a nice fire. Perfect. Perfect until Brian Williams, NBC's Nightly News anchor and co-host of the program began editorializing during the presentation of the Italian flag. Watch the video. We'll talk in a minute...
Fairly Odd Parents-Present, Idiosyncratic Celebrations / 05.02.2006
Five Years of Sticking it to the Man
Five Years of Sticking it to the Man. Click on the image above to watch a self-tribute to my years in the blogosphere. (Quicktime 4.5 MB). And don't forget to take a look at the inspiration for this little parody. This week marks the fifth anniversary of Life Outtacontext. On February 9, 2001 I wrote my first piece, I am COTR, a reflection on the power of being a Contract Officer’s Technical Representative. Translated from government-speak, I was learning how to advise lawyers on the technical aspects of writing contracts for new media projects. Not the most auspicious of subjects...
Artistic Tendencies, Fairly Odd Parents-Present, Idiosyncratic Celebrations / 01.01.2006
A Visit from the Salad People
My family and I usually spend New Year's Eve quietly together. No loud parties and no dodging the inebriated on the roads. We are not on everybody's party list. In fact, I don't think we're on anybody's party list --it's been years since we were invited to a New Year's Eve celebration.
So last night we decided to buck tradition, but buck it in our own special way. We still opted for a quiet night at home. But this year we invited our friends Liz and Doug, along with their daughter to join us for that sip of Zin to ring in the new year (fruit punch for the kids of course).
Early yesterday I made a beeline for Trader Joe's, our favorite self-serve party caterer. Our Trader Joe parties are legendary. We sit around the coffee table with hors d'oeuvres of Trader Joe's brie, Trader Joe's artichoke dip, plastered on Trader Joe's assorted crackers with a bit of guacamole (you guessed it, also from TJs). It's the modern family's recipe for a successful party: easy to put together, inexpensive, and it tastes great. With a little vino, we were all set.
At first we thought we'd make tacos for dinner. Fun for the kids and everyone could fill their tortillas with whatever they wanted (a good dish for our mix of light meat eaters and vegetarians). But then Susie had an even better idea. After filling up with pre-dinner snacks, was a big meal really necessary? Instead let's make use of our new cookbook: Salad People And More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up. Let's make salad people for dinner!
So we lined up all the ingredients (a little lettuce, pears, raisins, melon, cheese, olives, cashews, tomatoes, carrots, and some curly pasta) and let loose. Here are the results of our New Year's Eve repast:
New Year's Eve: a time to reflect on what was and look ahead to new possibilities. Well, I've never been one to follow tradition. Why, I've already started my annual January clean and tidy around Chez Gates and it's still December! Yet writing allows you to document these transitory points in time. Without them I would remain consumed with the moment-at-hand: working on my most pressing deadline or putting out sibling rivalry fires at home. And so today I took a few moments to reread my entire year's posts from Life Outtacontext. 2005 started with a trip downtown to a swearing...
On our recent family trip to Disneyland I noticed something new: all the announcements and cautionary instructions for rides were both in English and Spanish. The all-American theme park had changed in a remarkable way. My Southern California friends are surprised when I tell them that bilingualism is very much a part of our lives in Washington, DC as well. No, not in those hallowed halls of the Capitol but on the streets and the marketplaces around town. Signs on our busses and at retailers like Home Depot and Ikea are in Spanish and English (the only holdout of any...