“Don’t increase my job.”
I hear this line every time after I come back from one of my extended sojourns into la-la land and have to re-invade the perfectly sterile environment the S.O. creates in our place. Its a reference to the fact that I have tendency to drop things, spill coffee while pouring it, leave the toilet seat up, spread papers across my computer desk ( which is on the off-limits list to her, as far as I am concerned), eat in front of the TV and other such things. In other words, behave like a normal man.
Now most folks would see this as the shallow whining that it is, and a natural result of the fact that I spend these protracted periods on the road where we both get to revel in the joy of being answerable only to ourselves. Accordingly, re-adjustment takes a little bit of effort. As “the cup is half full” kind of guy I am though, I am pleased with her statement. First, it reveals one of the fundamental truths of the universe- that it is her (or any woman’s) job to clean up after me. It also reinforces the fact that when I need to I can simply dial up or dial down the messy quotient depending on my need to establish that the man of the house is back. All is well with the universe.
It was also a nice day today because I had the day off today in compensation for 3 weeks of mind numbing closeness with the buffoonery that is today’s Air Force. Which of course brings pointedly to mind that this fall I will need to make some decisions for the coming year. Since I despise change for the most part, the combination of these factors led me to need to blow off steam.
Normally that would involve a bar and pint glasses, but today the S.O. had lots to do and needed me to run errands. Which I did gladly, after teasing her that I was going to pour coffee all over the floor. With her sufficiently ticked off, I set out to accomplish my tasks.
Car needed gas-no surprise there. The S.O. is a real woman in that she does not pump gas if she can in any way avoid it.
Who is increasing who’s job?
Then off to the stores. I needed to replace my watch since my old one was slowly falling apart after 7 years. New G-shock-90 dollars.
Decided I needed some new shoes-24 dollars. ( Wari biki or discounts are nice!).
Golf shorts- Also on sale 3 for 25 dollars.
Then, in an unnatural move for me, I bought a new suit. Nice color, good fit, jacket was a nice mid summer to fall weight, and it had a nice “distinguished look” about it. Knowing full well the perils and cautions about buying a suit “off the rack” I plunged in and bought it.-250 dollars. ( I did have the paints hemmed, does that count as tailoring?).
2 hours and 500 dollars gone. Worst part is not one book to show for it. Sigh…….
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Regarding books its just as well I did not buy any. I’m still struggling with the two I am taking turns reading:
I’m about 2/3 of the way through the Hitchens book-he needs to be read in digestable doses-and only 70 or so pages into the Korean book- which I bought on a whim- hoping to understand them better. Or why the S.O. gets so lathered up when I mention the idea of taking a job in Seoul. ( Another way to get her fired up).
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The other Skippy has a pretty good take on Karl Rove’s departure and his love letter to his patron saint:
I would suggest that contemporary observers aren’t always wrong. The same journalists who disparaged Truman, Eisenhower and Reagan also described President Carter as a “moralistic prick and an inconsequential president were it not for his diasterous impact on everything he touched that wasn’t the White House tennis court schedule.” The press also described Presidents Johnson and Nixon as “broken” and “disgraced” respectively. The contemporary judgement of Herbert Hoover seems to have stood the test of time as well.
Which is a perfect point / counterpoint to Bush’s dreams of being the next Truman. My Canadian namesake also makes some good jabs on Rove’s appeal to history:
Folks, every political period is “highly polarized.” Being for or against giving a specific person the power to declare war on countries populated by brown people and illegally intercept the communications of the citizenry tends to polarize folks in ways that few other things that aren’t TRL can’t:
However, I believe history will provide a more clear-eyed verdict on this president’s leadership than the anger of current critics would suggest.President Bush will be viewed as a far-sighted leader who confronted the key test of the 21st century.Oooohhhhhhhhhh, this should be good!He will be judged as a man of moral clarity who put America on wartime footing in the dangerous struggle against radical Islamic terrorism.
Actually, no he didn’t. Since Mr. Rove is pointing to history for justification, so will I. And historically, a “wartime footing” usually means something. Among the things it includes is shared sacrifice. The Global War on Terror is almost singular in American wars that doesn’t involve things like conscription and massive government interference in the domestic economy to divert needed resources to said war.President Bush took what he himself described in the 2000 campaign as an “unprepared and unequipped” military and sent them far away for an indeterminate period of time. As for everyone else, they were urged to show their support by shopping and enjoying the pork that he and Congress were sending their way. If you can rationalize a way that Bloomingdales is a front on the War on terror, you’re smarter than I. am.
Read the whole thing here!
Skippy’s closing quote should be the watchword for the 2008 election campaign and a caution to every Republican zealot getting out the grass roots of so called values voters:
When Karl Rove first started going to work for George Bush in 1993, Bush forced him to give up the consulting business that made him rich. For fourteen years, George W. Bush has been Karl Rove’s only client. Their fates are bound together forever, so it is in Rove’s interest that history treat them well.Unfortunately, the legacy of Karl Rove and George Bush involves most of the rest of the world, so it is in everyone’s interest that they not be allowed to write the first draft of that history.
NUFF SAID!
