Taking on the priest

1. Today I am flying to Ohio for a funeral for my friend's father. Her parents are Catholic, and yesterday my friend went with her mother to meet with the priest to make the arrangements for the funeral, where her mother asked to have a family friend give a eulogy. The priest said they didn't allow eulogies. My friend said it was very important to her mother to have a brief eulogy. The priest said it was against his rules, as eulogies can result in people telling off-color stories. She explained that the person giving the eulogy was a well respected member of a nearby parish. He still said no.

So my friend, who had flown in on short notice and was just about done with this priest and his rules for her father's funeral, got up out of her chair and put her face inches from his face, and said, "I insist we're having this eulogy."

Turns out they're having a eulogy, and the story is spreading in the local parish. It sounds like her mother is both appalled and proud of her for insisting on the eulogy, all up in the priest's face.

2. Talking with my sister today, I remembered a cross-country flight I took a couple of years ago. I was seated next to a 60ish black woman who had never flown in first class before, and possibly had never flown before at all. Her kids had bought her a ticket in first class to bring her to some family event. We spoke a bit as we were getting settled, and then I noticed that she was refusing the things that the flight attendants were offering.

On a hunch, I thought of a way of letting her know that everything that was offered in first class was free (soda, meals, snacks, alcohol, in-seat movies), and soon after that she was ordering Crown Royals. On rocks. I didn't know people drank Crown Royal straight up like that. She had brought with her many things to do, including knitting, reading, magazines, puzzles, and even some child's pants to hem, but in the end, she watched the movie and drank Crown Royals.

3. Associated Press reports, "An air traffic controller at New York's Kennedy Airport was suspended for allowing his young son to radio instructions to several pilots." These were planes that were on the ground, not in the air, but still. It is astounding that any air traffic controller thought that was a good idea.

And here I was annoyed when the cashier at the 7-Eleven let his young son ring up purchases.

Wrong about John Edwards, right about bathroom signs

1. I just finished my first month of work at Fusion-io, and I could not be having a better time at my job.

2. A friend sent me an email yesterday and reminded me of an instant messaging session the two of us had in mid-2007. What an eye-opener it was. I loved reading how wrong I'd been:

Kelli: I love John Edwards.

Friend: He is fake. Also, a terrible person. It is all a charade.

Kelli: No, he is the real deal.

Friend: He probably cheats on his wife and is obsessed with fine Italian suits.

Kelli: You are a terrible judge of character. Obama is the fake one.

Amazing, yes? I was so deeply wrong about John Edwards, and I am not inclined to trust when I shouldn't. If anything, I have the opposite problem, of trusting too little. I am especially mistrustful of politicians.

3. On my first day of work, I found signs on the inside of the women's restrooms that admonished the women,"Come on ladies, clean up after yourselves." This is a high-rent professional building, not a fast food joint. In one restroom there was even a can of air freshener with another homemade but laminated sign that said something like, "Think of others! Use if necessary." I let some bossy woman's signs nag me for three days before I realized I didn't have to, and I threw the signs away. I have no idea if there are similar signs in the men's room.

That's not football

1. I listened to the BBC tonight on the radio, and toward the end of the broadcast they got to "Sporting news." I thought, "Good. Maybe I'll hear who won the Tennessee vs. Stanford women's basketball game today." But they covered first cricket and then "football," by which they meant soccer. That was it. Not even the final from the Cowboys vs Saints game.

CatPaint

1. The iPhone has an app called CatPaint. It allows you to take an existing photo and add cats to it. Here I have added a leaping kitty to a photo taken walking along a beach in Oregon. There are about 7 cats to choose from. I need this ported to the Blackberry, or I will change to an iPhone.


2. Excellent column by Gail Collins in the NY Times about why Joe Lieberman is blocking a public option when he was in favor of expanding Medicare availability until last week. Her conclusion, boiled down to a sentence, is that he "isn't actually all that smart."


3. My uncle Dave sent me a photo of his siblings as they were heading off to school. This would have been in the late 1930s. Notice that they're carrying actual pails for their lunch pails. I love these old photos.

Dithering

1. I was reading today how Mr. Hasan, the murdering psychiatrist from the Ft. Hood massacre, is in constant pain, is incontinent, and is paralyzed from the chest down. The first thing that struck me is how lonely it must feel to him to know that no one cares about his suffering or wishes him well. Or at least, he probably imagines that no one cares, but there are some who will care, in spite of the terrible thing he did.

2. There are probably worse things than being trapped inside your body for 23 years, completely conscious but incapable of communicating in any way, but I can't think what they would be. I've heard that that man is now writing a book, and I'll read that book. I want to know what he did all those hours, all those years, in order to keep his mental life alive. Did he tell himself stories? Did he create fictional worlds where he could move and talk? Did he simply live from visit to visit from the hospital staff and his family?

3. And does this mean that everyone who has a loved one in a persistent vegetative state is now going to worry that their loved one is really alive inside, and aware, and trying to communicate? I have to believe that for every man like this one, there are hundreds of Terry Schiavos, who really are gone.

4. I listened to Sarah Palin being interviewed on Fox News last night. Her book is selling like crazy. She said one thing I agreed with (i.e., that more should have been made during the campaign of Mr. Obama's association with his spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright), and then she said about a dozen things that made me speak unaffections at her on the TV. Like when she asserts that Mr. Obama is "dithering" about what to do in Afghanistan. She used that word at least four times.

5. Karl Rove came on after her, but I had to mute him, but then realized I could still see him smirking, so I changed channels.

6. I heard from an old friend today, and hearing from her made me feel so good. That's quite a gift.

I just washed my hands

1. Today at work someone went out of his way to introduce himself to me in the hallway. He was a former colleague from a different company, though I didn't remember him. To be polite, I put out my hand to shake his hand after he introduced himself, and he refused, saying, "No. I just washed my hands," and he pulled his hands back far from me. It was one of the oddest social interactions I've ever seen at work.

2. Sarah Palin is coming to Utah to promote her book, which is probably a safe stop, as Utah is the reddest state in the nation, but she's appearing at a Costco. Authors at Costco?

Shockingly rude waitress

1. A friend and I went to lunch today at Cafe Med on 33rd South. We walked into the restaurant and a waitress angrily walked to the counter, grabbed two menus, and barked at the other waiter, "These two are yours." By "these two" she meant us, though she didn't so much as look at us. Then she strode over to a table, expecting we would follow, slapped the menus down on the table, and, not waiting for an answer to her question about whether the table would do, walked angrily away.

We walked away, too, and out of the restaurant, surprised at such a spectacle as that. My friend said that someone walked out after us as if to say something, but didn't say anything because we just kept walking.

2. Then at lunch we discussed whether we believe in ghosts. I don't, at least not like in the movie where they haunt people or places. She does. But she's never seen one. It's surprising how many people believe in ghosts and disembodied souls when not one single person I know has ever seen one. I suppose it's rather like belief in God.

Paranormal Theatrics

1. I just saw "Paranormal Activity." It was very Blair Witchian with its jumpy camera movement and bickering characters, both of which make me want to walk out of a theater, but it had a couple of spooky moments. If I were either Siskel or Ebert and voted with a thumb, I would give it a thumbs down for lack of character development, lack of any basis for the behavior of the characters, absolutely no chemistry between the leads, and my all time least favorite thing in movies: people behaving in ways that no one would in real life would behave.

(SPOILER) For example, your house is haunted by some malevolent being, and in the middle of the night, after finding footprints that lead to your bedroom, you find the entrance to your attic ajar, and so you grab a ladder and climb up into the attic? Please.

Hiccups, Part 2

1. It got cold in Utah today. It's the time of year when I start worrying about animals who don't have a home. There is a cat who lives on my porch after the neighbors abandoned him (he doesn't like to come inside), and I just went out and checked his igloo and heating pad. It's toasty warm inside and he didn't come out to greet me, though he did purr when I reached in and petted him good night.

2. I have been visiting a teen psych ward the past few days. Some of the families who have children in those hospitals are so deeply troubled that it seems arbitrary which family member is a patient and which is a visitor. I wonder if they flip a coin to decide. Not all the families are so troubled, and are taking real steps to help each other, but some have clearly made the blame and damage and hospitalizations a routine thread of their family life. I don't know how they ever stop, or if they even want to.

3. My cat has hiccups again. I wonder if I could get him to drink through a straw while holding his nose.

Startling the cat

1. I am thinking of startling my cat to cure his hiccups, but it doesn't always work on people and it probably won't work on the cat either. And I feel guilty startling a cat, because I can't explain that it was for getting rid of the hiccups. He's had them for about 15 minutes.

2. I'm not sure how much it's bothering him, since he is asleep.

3. I don't think people can sleep with hiccups.

4. OK, so startling him didn't cure the hiccups, possibly because it didn't startle him. He just opened his eyes and looked at me when I said boo.

Windy gull; not a new day in Utah

1. Gulls are so common that I forget what completely amazing creatures they are, and how beautiful. This guy is walking on the shore at high tide in a windstorm. There were hundreds of them and they almost seemed like part of the landscape, and unremarkable. When I focus just on him, he's beautiful. He looks pensive.

2. The Mormon Church came out in favor of a nondiscrimination ordinance to protect gays in Salt Lake City. I could not be more surprised and pleased. Some people suggest that it's a new day in Utah, where the predominant religion is now answerable to the political might of the gay community. I think not. I think it's just a step that they could support, so they did, and I am happy for it. (At least one prospective city councilman fell on his sword opposing this ordinance, and then his church endorsed it. Ouch.)

Dreams

1. A friend of mine said the most amazing thing about his deceased father today, and it's been on my mind all day. I won't repeat it because it seemed private, but it reminded me that the world, no matter how bleak it seems at times, has comfort and love hidden all around us in places we least expect.

2. German shepherd puppies are being born in real time at a friend's house. Last I checked, there were two puppies to go. I am going to have to go see those puppies.

Security

1. My friend works for a online brokerage, and to log in to their VPN, she uses a 6-digit key that is generated randomly every few seconds and displayed on a fob that she carries. That's the tightest security I've ever seen. I'm pleased to say that I have an account at her company.

2. I may have endangered a marriage by getting the husband hooked on Farmville. If both people get hooked, there's less danger. I've spent many hours side by side, farming and admiring the other person's farm. It's a fine, relaxing spend of an evening hour.

Heated storage: Mystery solved

1. I found out why people use heated storage units. Heat keeps relative humidity down. In humid climates, condensation will form when the temperature drops to the dew point, and all your stuff gets moldy. We don't have that problem in Utah, but all the places I saw in Oregon were heated.

2. The gull at right was getting his feathers messed up in the very high wind. He looks a little annoyed at not having his usual sleek body. Gulls are the easiest birds to photograph. They are large, slow-moving, not shy, and animated. And they're everywhere. And if there weren't so many of them, maybe we'd again see how beautiful they are, and how varied.

Heated storage units?

1. There's a yarn store on the Oregon Coast Highway that we visit every time we come here. They have a cat named Gabriel who lives in the store. We always stop to visit Gabriel and get a picture of him.








2. Today there was a new dog there, too. He was called Dutch and he was much, much too large to be in a yarn shop. As soon as Shauna sat down, Dutch jumped on her and covered her entire head in dog spit.

3. We saw storage units up and down the coast advertising "heated storage units." I have been thinking for three days and I cannot imagine what someone would store in a heated storage unit.

4. There's a homeless man here in Florence who stands at busy street corners and holds a sign asking for money. While he holds his sign, crows pick through his fully loaded-down bike. I didn't think I should take a picture of that.