Devil Ducky - A True Hollywood Story

Had lunch with the Curmudgeoness today, and lo, I have looked upon the Devil Ducky and survived to tell the tale.

Well, it was apparently Devil Ducky's even more evil younger cousin 'cause this one was sorta clear and had a keychain growing out of its little Ducky butt. Poor little guy's not going to float anytime soon with the ball and chain hanging off of him. I suspect mob involvement.

He had his evil eye on me the whole lunch - sat there glaring at me, like, "Go ahead - pick me up, I dare you. I'll squirt you, I will I will..." Grrrrr... Actually it might be possessed. He belongs back home with his little possessed brothers and sisters.

I'm very worried about Leslie. She's much, much less curmudgeony than she tries to make herself seem on her site. Actually she's quite friendly and fun - a "pay no attention to the (wo)man behind the curtain) kind of person. Well, I do hear she's a terror when she's had too many Apple Martini's, but hey, it was just lunch...

Guess the Quote

1000 BarryPoints to who can guess where the quote is from above...

No Googling allowed...

(Hint: It's from a TV show)

Misty, you may be disqualified... ;)

UPDATE: 08/02/04 - It was from Friends: The One After the Super Bowl

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you think are beautiful.

1. The sound of kids laughing
2. The first few bars of a concerto, and the last few bars of a symphony
3. A week of vacation ahead of you :)

Soup
What was the last concert you attended?
It has really been a long time since I've been to any kind of concert. Probably Amy Grant.

Salad
What is one thing that frightens you about getting older?
That the number of days to come are getting smaller. Also forgetting.

Main Course
Tell us about one of your funny quirks or habits.
I find I'm unable to concentrate with more than one person talking at a time nearby, or a person and a loud TV. It makes me crazy, and I get very nervous. I also have what I consider to be a special aptitude for empathy. My wife's confirmed this many time. I can usually tell, not necessarily what emotion someone is feeling but I can share emotional states with other people. If someone is feeling upset, but putting on a brave face I can sense it and adjust how I interact with them. Thus I have tons of patience for people who are looked down on (and consequently, little patience for the ones looking down on them).

Dessert
If you could extend one month to 50 days (instead of the normal 28, 29, 30, or 31), which month would you want to lengthen?
I would want 19-20 more days of spring, so April or May. Or if it's still warm, 19 more days of October.

Theatre Thursday

Week 11 - My Life.

This week the topic is YOU.

1) If there was a movie to be made about your life, what actor/actress would portray you?

A younger John Larroquette. Or maybe Scott Bakula.

2) What actor/actress would portray your love interest? Your best friend?

The love interest would be....the most beautiful and talented Hollywood actress you can possibly think of, of course! *

My best friend would be played by Alan Ruck.


3) What would be the title of your film?

The Right Thing

Bonus) What moment of your life would be the highlight of this film?

Any of the choices I've made in my life that involved doing the right thing over the thing that felt good at the time...

(* Disclaimer: My wife reads my blog)

Out of my League

Sometimes I get the feeling I'm incredibly lucky to have the job that I have, because I'm so woefully undereducated, underexperienced and undertrained to actually do it the way it needs to be done.

My job consists of creating, managing, designing and promoting the website presence of an 8,000+ employee health system and all its associated hospitals, clinics, treatment centers, programs, etc. etc. etc. Plus Hatamaran and I run the corporate Intranet (and with her short hair she's now even twice as efficient because her head tends not to loll to one side as much).

Spend a lunch talking with someone in a similar position at another company and see how they do it. Words are bandied about like "teams" and "departments" and "authority" and "cooperation" and "research" and "presentations to Executive Management of my Strategic Plan" when my days are spent just keeping loose threads from unraveling.

Her eDevelopment world is so different from mine. It has organization, it has polish, it has experience, it's professional.

I feel sometime like mine's held together with an old roll of duct tape and a string from an old kite. I put it together from scratch 7 years ago, and while the company's grown we've never really embraced the Internet as a health information and patient/consumer information tool. Oh, we start this program and that initiative but they all die slow, painful, horrible deaths. And it's always the same, after every year. And I can't do a thing about it.

You know, the 20-year High School Reunion is a week from next Friday and Saturday. Sometimes you'd like to have more to show for 20 years of college education and work experience than an big fat illusion.

Ok, feeling all lousy and lack-of-professional-self-worth here. Rant over.

Latest I Could Find on the Car Bombing

Few clues found yet to explain what led to car-bomb death (07/23, The Tennesseean)

This is the latest story I could find on their website. It does mention a couple new details I hadn't heard:

"After the blast, Young's body was found in front of his Land Rover. He was found without his pants, officials said. They were probably torn from his body during the blast, said Carlos Bauxauli, special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Bauxauli declined to release further details on that matter."

That's just sad, really. In your final moments of life to lose your pants. How can they, though, get "torn from your body"?

"Officials said Young was in the driver's seat at the time of the blast, but somehow ended up in front of the car, on the ground, after the explosion."

This is a little puzzling, however. I'm no forensics expert, but if you can tell that he was originally in the drivers seat before the explosion, wouldn't you know how he ended up in front of the car? I mean, the question doesn't make sense. If you're puzzled at how he ended up on the ground, how could you have extrapolated where he was before? Maybe that's where his pants were...ugh.

"Explosives expert Rick Eley yesterday said it would be rare for a deadly car explosion to be the result of an accident or suicide.

He estimated that car explosions are set 99.9% of the time by someone intending to harm someone else, not themselves.

Instructions on building and detonating car bombs are readily available on the Internet and in books that are available at bookstores, Eley said. An accidental car explosion would be extremely rare, he said.

A suicide in Young's case would be an anomaly that would generate interest from explosive experts worldwide, Eley said."

This looks more and more like a hit, for lack of a better word. But then there's this:

"Residents of Cavalcade Drive in Franklin's Fieldstone Farms development said their lives were becoming normal again yesterday, the day after bomb squad dogs, law enforcement vehicles and media packed their small cul-de-sac to investigate William Young's house. ''All the vehicles are gone now,'' said Michelle Taylor, who lives two doors down from Young's house. Taylor said neighbors are ready to get back to their routines, noting the inconvenience of having 10 ATF, FBI and Metro police vehicles parked outside their houses.

Officials had street blocked off Wednesday. Taylor had to ask an official to move his car every time she wanted to go somewhere. 'It was still quite a circus here (Wednesday) night,'' she said of the search of Young's house. ''I know they took his computer. An ATF official made a comment to my husband that the computer system was so intricate and intelligent that it was scary.'"

That's interesting. While an intricate computer system owned by someone in Franklin is certainly not unusual, the fact that an ATF agent commented on it as being scary is.

I'll still keep my eyes open.

UPDATE: Then there's this misleading headline:

Little known about man killed in car bomb blast (07/23, The Tennesseean)

The article then proceeds to relate numerous intimate details about Young, his wife, and his child, gossip from the neighbors about a pending move to Nicaragua (that mysteriously doesn't check out), his work history, credit history, the family's financial history, plus some interesting tidbits about a Child & Family Services Investigation in 2001 and a 911 hangup in 2002.

Gee, it's too bad the Tennesseean couldn't find anything out about this guy. I'd hate to see what they'd print if they found out anything personal or embarassing...

Well, Maybe This Time (plus car bombs)

Last week I was invited to lunch by someone who's in a similar field that I am, although with a different local healthcare company. I ended up waiting 30 minutes at Riverside Tavern, then giving up and eating alone. When I got back to the office she called, wondering where I was. Turns out she'd gone to the Westside Tavern instead. Honest mistake.

Today we're trying it again at Macaroni Grill. Any other restaurants in town with a similar name I should be aware of?

Oh, and it's Italian twice in a row - last night we went to the new Johnny Carina's in West Knox County. Tons of food, and there are three to-go boxes of fettucine alfredo, penne pasta and spaghetti lounging in our fridge.

I love Italian. And so do you. Yes. No. Yes. No.

Yes.

*****

I've gotten a lot of Google and Yahoo! hits lately about the Nashville car bombing last week. I blogged about it here. I checked some of the other hits the searches found, and haven't seen or heard any progress on the investigation. Any Nashvillians heard anything lately? If and when I hear anything, I'll post it here to help out the folks searching...

TV Tuesday

Week 19 - Memories

This week it's about you and what you remember about TV!! :)

1. What's your fondest memory of something on TV?

Sitting with a big group of friends and watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation" premiere back in '87. I bought my first VCR that day so I could tape it.

Does my whole bloody life revolve around sci-fi? Sometimes it seems so...

2. What's the first show you remember watching regularly?

Probably "The Bugaloos" on Saturday Mornings back in the late 60's. They were followed closely by H.R. Pufnstuf, et al.

3. What is the (pick one: stupidest, saddest, silliest, most disgusting..) thing you've ever seen on TV?

One of the later episodes of "Farscape" had the most disgusting things I've ever seen, that still turns my stomach. One of the villains was able to mind-control our intrepid crew by using a device that PULLED OUT THEIR EYEBALLS about 4-5 inches in front of their face and clamped a chip onto their stretched out optic nerve. I will never be able to watch that epidode again.

~Bonus~ (From the hubby! LOL) What's the best series finale you remember?
The series finale for "M*A*S*H" was really 5 episodes strung together, and some of the plots had little to do with the other as the episode went along. But they were 5 really good episodes :)

The three modern Trek finales (TNG: "All Good Things", DS9: "What You Leave Behind" and VOY: "Endgame") were all good, but not spectacular.

I'm still mad I missed the "Mad About You" finale. "Seinfeld"'s was pointless and "Friends" was good, but predictable.

But the best? Johnny Carson's final regular episode of "The Tonight Show" - the one with Robin Williams and Bette Midler. (Bette sang a special version of "One More for the Road" to Johnny that we have on one of her albums.) True the following night's episode was the real finale, but it was just clips of the past. This was the true finale.

Sounds Familiar...

Eugene Volokh notes that Slate's "Kerry-isms" and "Bushisms" (short comments making fun of quotes from John Kerry and George Bush:

"I've criticized Kerryisms many times in the past; maybe I've reached the point of diminishing returns. But it just galls me to see this sort of stuff -- not substantive, not funny, just empty snideness descending into self-parody -- in a magazine of Slate's prominence and quality."

Funny, you know - that also describes a lot of today's political blogs and commentators. Skip around the 'sphere and most every site you land on that exclusively comments on the partisan political landscape - from whichever side, it doesn't matter - is using the same tone.

It's not substantive, it's not funny and it's just empty snideness. That's why party loyalty is a farce now, the conventions are a farce and nothing of true statesmanship is coming out of any of them.

But He Looked So Peaceful I Hated To Wake Him...

Man, 55, Found Dead On Couch in Ohio Hospital

"A man was found dead on a couch in a hospital lounge, and a nurse told police that no one had checked on him for at least 17 hours because he appeared to be asleep.

...

Nurse Lynette Chihil discovered Thursday morning that Johnson was dead. She told police that Johnson, who was fully dressed and curled with his face buried in a cushion, was discolored and cold, and that she had seen him on the same couch 17 hours earlier.

[His wife] Robin Johnson said she had not seen her husband since he left home Monday morning after an argument. Police believe he camped out at the hospital rather than return home. "

My sympathies to his family, but thank goodness that didn't happen in one of our hospitals. The PR nightmare would be off the scale.

It's amazing that, not just in a hospital but everywhere, we've inured ourselves to the lives of others. "Don't get involved", "just keep walking", "it's not my problem". We sometimes are so afraid of what another person might say to us, we don't strike up a conversation or smile and wave at a total stranger.

How many people passed by in that 17 hour period? I'd hate to know I was totally ignored for that long. What happened to the connections people used to have to one another?

Blog Quote of the Day

From CWill's Pen

"In the booth to my right [at an art fair], there is always an Amish guy selling baskets. He always brings along two or three of his 57 identical-looking sons, and they sell baskets on Saturday and then drive the buggy 25 miles back home that night. They all dress alike, obviously, in plain blue clothes with straw hats, and they are all unusually short and slight. The father has a long beard and the sons have longish curly hair, and they all speak with accents from whatever language it is that Amish people speak amongst themselves. The incident: A family with several little boys was browsing in the Amish guy's booth, and one of the little boys, who couldn't have been more than five, couldn't stop staring. After several minutes of puzzling over these strange people, the little boy went up to the Amish man and said:

"Are you elves?"

The Amish man paused for a long serious moment, considering this. Then he said:

"Well, not yet."

And the little boy went away, awed. "

You've Got to be Kidding Me

Ricky Williams is retiring.

Now normally this wouldn't cause me a lot of grief one way or the other. I used to live and breathe for the Dolphins, but after Marino retired I kind of lost interest, especially when the Titans moved into the state.

But this is too much. I drafted Ricky Williams AND Shaun Alexander in my Fantasy Football Draft - probably the best 1-2 Running Back punch in my league. And then the dreadlocked one goes and does something like this...

He hate me.

Just Another Day At The Office

Ho hum...

"A little song, a little dance,
Another win of the Tour de France."

It's Official!

Thursday, May 19, 2005.
T-Minus 299 Days and Counting.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Name something you've done that made you feel guilty.

I plugged in my hair dryer and plunged the entire NorthEast into blackout. Oops, my bad. No seriously...I, um, well, I feel to guilty to talk about it.

Soup
If you could get rid of one piece of furniture in your house, what would it be, and what would you put in its place?

I'd get rid of the cabinet we store our TV on and get a nice new entertainment center so all my DVD's won't be stacked up all over the place...

Salad
Imagine you've won a contest to be a featured guest on any television sitcom or drama show. On which one would you want to be a guest star?

"Enterprise" or "The Dead Zone".

Main Course
Create a cereal. Tell us what you'd name it and what ingredients would be included.

It would have to be cherry-flavored cuz that's my favorite flavor. That's it - 100% of the RDA of cherries, fortified with vitamins and iron. Part of this complete breakfast! Serve with a glass of milk, a glass of orange juice and two slices of toast.

Dessert
Describe the most memorable night of your life so far.

The night my son was born 8-1/2 years ago. I'll get back and describe it later.

Failure of Imagination

9/11 Panel Blames 'Institutional Failings'

"The Sept. 11 commission concludes that a "failure of imagination," not governmental neglect, allowed 19 hijackers to carry out the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history. The panel calls for an intelligence overhaul to confront an al-Qaida organization intent on striking again.

...

There was a "failure of imagination" to provide either Bush or Clinton with new options — particularly military approaches — to deal with al-Qaida, the official said. There also was a failure to adapt to the post-Cold War era, and people just kept trying the same kinds of things that didn't work, the official said."

See, if they'd just listened to me this report could've come out two months earlier. Lack of imagination was obvious, because apparently nobody could think of the truly far-fetched possibilities of terrorism.

Volunteer Tailgate Party - Vol. XXVIII

Michael of Big Orange Michael is hosting the latest Volunteer Tailgate Party, a monthly compilation of the best and brightest blatherings of the Rocky Top Brigade.

Theatre Thursday

Week 10 - Moments

This week's Theatre Thursday is dedicated to those Onscreen Moments that stay with you forever.

1) What moment from what movie still makes you laugh out loud - no matter how many times you see it?

In "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", when Mr. Rooney is sneaking into Ferris' house looking for the kid, and encounters his sister Jenny who thinks he's Ferris. When they come face to face, she screams and kicks him in the face, running away. That one gets me every time.

2) What moment from what movie still makes you cry like a baby - no matter how many times you see it?

"Mr. Holland's Opus", a) when Richard Dreyfuss sings 'Beautiful Boy' about his son, Cole, and b) when they hand him the baton to let him direct 'American Symphony' at the end.

3) What moment from what movie made you actually turn your head from the screen - either in fear, revulsion, or contempt for the fact that you actually paid money to see the film?

I rented "Spy Kids 3-D" for my kids - pretty much the whole movie made me turn my face from the screen. After the first two great movies, I couldn't believe this one.

But as for a moment, when either C. Thomas Howell or Jennifer Jason Leigh (I don't recall which) absently picked up a severed finger from a basket of fries and almost ate it, from "The Hitcher", got me.

BONUS) What is one single moment from a film that is indelibly etched in your brain? Not a scene or a sequence exactly, but three or four seconds from a movie that contain an image or phrase or concept that transcends normal movies?

In the original 'Superman' - Superman has pulled a dead Lois Lane from her car and she's lying on the side of the road. He crouches beside her, sobbing, shaking his head. As he begins to stand, Christopher Reeve looks straight up at the camera, snarls, and leaps screaming into the air. That one moment of rage and grief captured on film gets me every time.

Take a Moment and answer these questions, and you'll feel you've flown across the moon..

Yeah, That's Me - Tennessee Barry...

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Nashville Car Bomb Doesn't Seem to be Terrorism - So Far

Neighbors identify man slain in Opryland parking lot explosion

"A man who was killed overnight when a sport-utility vehicle exploded in the parking lot of the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center has been identified by neighbors as William Glen Young, 43, of Franklin.

...

The home is in the sprawling Fieldstone Farms development.

...

The vehicle was parked in a remote part of the hotel's parking lot."

Soundind less and less like terrorists and more and more like a despondant lover or something.

UPDATE (07/22/04): Turns out the man who was killed was a neighbor of Donald Sensing and had a child in the same grade at the same school as Rev. Sensing's child.