august 2008
august 9 2008 22:06 pdt it's al trautwig. please, al, do the united states a favor and shut the hell up.
august 9 2008 21:27 pdt i totally vegged out this weekend- spent way too much time camped out on the couch, watching olympics on tv. with very few exceptions, the footage was great, the commentators ranged from pretty much ok to downright offensive, and the commercials were almost uniformly terrible. i miss tivo more than ever.
in particular, there is one guy doing the color-commentator bit for the womens' gymnastics who is coming off like a total idiot. he's playing the straight man, asking the 'expert' commentators to explain the details behind the errors the athletes make- but when the girl falls off the uneven bars, and jackball (in his very best dramatic stage voice) 'what happened?(!)' it makes me want to smash the tv. i watch gymnastics maybe once every four years, but even i can tell you what happened- her hands slipped off the bar, and she fell on her ass! somebody needs to stuff a sock in his mouth because he's spoiling the whole experience.
for contrast, i was up last night watching the water polo competition on the internet feed. there was no commentary. i loved every second of it. too bad nbc doesn't have a way to take feedback from its viewers in real-time, because i can't be the only one having this reaction.
august 7 2008 14:14 pdt still 90+ degrees and no rain. the year that we moved here, i thought it rained nearly every day through the end of august. we could certainly use it.
august 3 2008 19:07 pdt hooray for ebay- sold the old bits of my yakima rack that used to sit on the acura. since i haven't owned that car since 2004 (!) it's about time that i finally got rid of the last of the accessories.
august 2 2008 18:15 pdt perhaps in an effort to fight off the coming of fall, i went a bit crazy in the garden today. i caged the tomato vines, took cuttings from the hydrangeas, planted a bunch of stuff that got started out in the spring, set up air-layer pots on that big laurel by the fence, fertilized the lawn, deadheaded the roses, and butchered the big sloppy rhododendron in the front yard that's been troubling me since the first day we moved in. and then i cranked up the sprinklers and gave everything a good soak. t also surprised a fat little garter snake on the side of the house. this place is starting to look pretty good- only one real problem area left to deal with, and it's a spot that nobody can see anyhow so i might just wait until the rains come again before we try to do anything over there.
august 1 2008 12:17 pdt it's a race to the first frost- will i get any tomatoes this year, or is it too late again? there are green fruits on the vines now, but it's already august, and the days aren't getting any longer. i guess i've learned my lesson: in the next house, do the garden first.
