I AM OSCAR!

No, not the muppet.
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Not the fashion designer either
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No, no, no...
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That's still not quite right.
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That's what I'm talking about!

So - I got the part. First read-through next Tuesday. More news at 11.

Take care.

RTT: "I'd like to say 'Thank you' on behalf of the group..."

and I hope I passed the audition.

So let me try to get you a little caught up here:

A couple weeks ago, my wife (the Middle-Aged Woman) quit her job...rather precipitously. She notified me with an email. (No sh*t - I'm not making that up.)

Last week, I had some wisdom teeth out. I had that done in-person.

Over the weekend, a good friend of mine let me know that he was going through such marital turmoil that he was expecting separation and divorce from his wife. He dropped this bomb - in an email. (Are you sensing a trend here?)*

This morning, they announced that the company I work for was entering into an agreement to be acquired by another company for almost 4 billion dollars. No warning - we came into work this morning and read an email with the announcement.

All in all - it's been a slow news month.

In other headlines, I got the stitches out of my mouth today - and auditioned for a part in The Odd Couple**. These events are not related (in any way that I'm conscious of) - but they did both happen today - and so are fair game to be mentioned in the same sentence. My good friend, Roger, was there - and I am hopeful that we will be asked to play the leads (Roger as Felix Ungar and me as Oscar Madison***). The auditions were both enjoyable and brief, so I will probably try to go back tomorrow for Day Two, in case they need an extra person to read lines and help out.

OK - what else, what else...?

I finally watched some new movies in the last couple weeks. I saw Appaloosa with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen (I recommend it) and also W. (the Oliver Stone bio with Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfuss and a great cast overall) - but I can't really recommend the film. It's hard for me to feel the same about Stone knowing how he scr*wed reality over so badly in JFK.

I also watched Good Night, and Good Luck again on my Roku player (the George Clooney film in which he appears as Fred Friendly [who later became the president of CBS News] with David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow) - it is an excellent film which I recommend highly****. The music in the movie, performed by Dianne Reeves, is also awesome. And I also streamed from Netflix to my Roku, the first 8 or 9 episodes of Lost, Season 3. I do like that show; I don't always know where they're going (I'm not sure the creators did in Season 3 either) - but I like how the episodes work emotionally.

Last night, the MAW and I worked out a budget that should allow her to stay home and work as a freelance writer for as long as she desires. The process seemed like it was going to be tortuous at first - but once we got to just crunching numbers, it seemed to go better. I would hate to think that we might upset Ms. Partly Cloudy***** again by having a disagreement. The very thought...

OK, I've probably p*ssed off enough people with my (pretty tame, really) snark in this here post.
I'd better git - while the gittin's good.

Take care.

PS: If you need more randomness in your life (and who doesn't?), I would be remiss not to strongly urge you to visit Keely at the Un-Mom immediately. If not sooner.

PPS: Why don't my Box.net widget or my YouTube videos work anymore? Have I been bad again? You can get the audio for today's post HERE.

* We got a chance to talk at length over the weekend and - well, who knows what'll happen! But at least I gave him a couple new things to thing about before walking away from twelve years of marriage.

** The MAW auditioned as well; but since she has her own blog - and I've signed a rather strict NDA - you'll have to read Unmitigated to see if there is a further disclosure on that event.

*** Felix was played by Jack Lemmon in the film, Tony Randall on TV. Oscar was played by Walter Matthau (stage & movie) and Jack Klugman (stage & TV).

**** It probably should have won Best Picture in 2006. In my opinion, it was considerably better than Crash.

***** I would give you a link to her blog - but she hasn't posted since March.

Sunday Dinner Every Night

My good friend, Paul, enlisted my assistance a few weeks ago in putting together a video for entry in the Food Network's The Next Food Network Star competition.



[Since the code from YouTube doesn't seem to be working (never had a problem before), try clicking here for the video...]

I helped him with the script and worked behind the camera. His lovely wife edited the video (great job trimming it to exactly 3 minutes!). And we all enjoyed the lamb ragu.

I'll let you all know when it's time to vote for Paul as The Next Food Network Star!

Take care.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong

[Note: This post should not be read as a snarky commentary about how other people handle their blogs. The only commentary is about how I am.]

I blew by my 100th post sometime in July. I think I was supposed to make a bigger deal about that. Maybe I should have given away a free microwave oven or something.

My site counter ticked by both 1000 and then 2000 hits at some point. At the moment, it reads 2160. I shudder to think how many of those hits are just me checking to see if anyone is reading.

I feel like I used to do a much better job of participating in Spin Cycles for Sprite's Keeper and Fiction Friday for Jeanne at the Raisin Chronicles and those relationship-building type activities. (OK - I've almost never done memes - but I hate lists!) Lately, I only seem to post if there's a picture of me looking ridiculous that I can include.

Of course, I have been dividing my attention with the He Read/She Read posts - and reading books definitely takes away from my writing time. But I intend to spend a bit more quality time here at Speaking In Caps - before all my loyal readers find better ways to spend their time.

I'll get it right sooner or later.

Take care.

The Removal of Wisdom

So this is what I look like today:

The good doctor removed my bottom wisdom teeth today. I really couldn't spare any more wisdom - in fact, it's not clear I could spare any. However, although they were not causing me pain, the wisdom teeth were candidates for causing trouble for the rest of my (very healthy and clean, thank you very much) choppers. I would go into a lot of detail - but not everyone may be interested in covering dental hygiene in such depth so early in the week.

Just remember:


I'm keeping my eye on you!

Take care.

PS: I couldn't have afforded even this simple procedure without my insurance - so contact the people who represent you in the Congress and Senate. Tell them it's time to act on national healthcare!

The Glory of "I Don't Know"

Maybe it's just me - but somewhere, sometime, at some point during my life here in these United States, we seem to have become convinced that everybody ought to know everything. No one ever seems to want to admit that they don't know the answer to a question anymore. When people don't know the answer these days, they either:

- Change the subject by pretending you asked a question they DO know the answer to - and answering that question, or

- Tell you that the question you asked isn't relevant - and that what you really want to know is something they would love to tell you instead, or

- They pretend to know the answer but never really answer your question, or

- They lie and make up an answer

While each of these responses indicates a unique talent for subterfuge, none are very helpful or efficient or honest. But it seems that use of the words "I don't know" is now an unforgivable sin - and we are all doom to the Hell of Half-Truths.

When was the last time you heard or participated in a conversation where one party ended a statement with the phrase "...you know what I mean?" and anyone else involved had the guts to admit "No - I don't have any idea what you're talking about."

And then, just when I was convinced that only the few & the brave would admit to "not knowing", I had a conference call with a software vendor who willing to acknowledge on more than one occasion that she couldn't answer one of our question regarding her product (but would find out). At one point, she even said that she didn't want to try and sell us the software by "over-promising".

Wait a minute! Was that a breath of fresh air I felt coming into my office?

Take care.

The new phone book's here, the new phone book's here!

Click on the book at left to visit a brand new blog where men and women both get a chance to offer their perspectives on a book of their choosing.




Today's Installment:
The Middle-Aged Woman and I weigh in on
Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.

Hopefully, today's He Read/She Read resembles a telephone book in length only. I'm hoping that it's a little more compelling and easy-to-read. I know you think I had been loafing around for the last few days (and you're mostly right) - but I hadn't dropped the pen completely.

Tomorrow: I have no idea what I'm going to write about. I sure hope it's something good.

Take care.

They're Playing Right Into Our Hands

The Middle-Aged Woman passed this along seconds ago...



You can read more Frazz here.

You can read more about Lonesome Dove next Tuesday here.

Take care.

Eternally Random

- Why does the afternoon weather guy on our local news radio station refer to himself as a "meaty urologist"?

- My wife, The Middle-Aged Woman , quit her job recently. Being bound by a rather strict NDA, I can only say that I was informed of this development via email.

- I can't be too random next Tuesday because the next installment of He Read/She Read is planned to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting world that day. Or, perhaps I should say, the world would have been unsuspecting - until just now. Actually, most of the world is STILL unsuspecting, so I hope that you will do everything in your power to make people suspicious.


- I hardly read the comics anymore, now that home delivery of the newspaper is only available three days a week.

- I haven't watched a movie at home in weeks. It seems unthinkable - but maybe I need to cancel my Netflix subscription.

- You know how the general populace views used car salesmen? That's how anyone managing a computer network spanning multiple states (like me, for example) views telecommunications vendors.

- I'm planning to be in The Odd Couple at Motor City Youth Theater*. Auditions are scheduled for Sept. 21 - 22. We're mostly looking for middle-aged men who can memorize dialogue and pretend to play cards. If you are the first thing and you can do those other two things, there really isn't that much acting required.

- I'm really looking forward to when I can stay up too late writing a blog post again. Writing a lunch still s*cks.

Take care.


* Contact me if you need details. There's nothing about the auditions at the MCYT website.