Month: March 2010

Tuesday is LOST day, and in honor of tonight’s episode, here’s a couple of video compilations; Sawyer’s catchphrase “son of a bitch” (although used by other characters, as seen below),

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA8Xkf-2UbE&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

I barely remember if I said that first, and Kevin started acting like a monkey, or if he was acting like a monkey and I said that. It was so long ago. Kevin must have been 3 or 4, which would make me 9 or 10 (exactly, because he was born on my birthday). I remember it was warm, and we were in the front yard of Kevin’s parents’ house (apartment?) and I remember everyone laughing when I said, out of frustration and not a small amount of smart-assed-ness, “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.”

That launched him into a joyful kid’s spasm of eek-ing and cavorting and swinging his arms and miming the eating-of-bananas that anyone would recognize as being a monkey, deflecting my grumpy complaint and turning it into a game.

That’s my earliest memory of Kevin, my nephew, friend, and basically-my-brother. And if he’s reading this (hi, Kevin!), I’m thinking about him pretty much all day.

All this, and it’s William Fucking Shatner’s birthday, too?

Via Bill Corbett, my favorite William Fucking Shatner song, animated.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXWEM4gZhg4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

Happy birthday, William Fucking Shatner. You rock.

Ted Kennedy in 1978:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhYtMmw9OVk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

“It’s a matter of right, and not a privilege.” Damn straight. Every one deserves health care. Everyone.

P032110PS-0787
Originally uploaded by The White House

I know the bill is flawed, and I know there are loopholes, and I know there’s reason enough to criticize the process, and the leadership, and our broken traditional media, and all that.

But… c’mon. This is a turning point. Doing at least this much is more progressive then allowing the status quo.

And for right now, I’m happy I voted for President Barack Obama. He got something done.

Tomorrow I’ll go back to bitching about him not ending the war fast enough, continuing some of the worst abuses of #43’s foreign policy and detainee and terror war policies.

I’m watching C-SPAN while our Congresscritters debate and, hopefully, vote on Health Care Reform today.

And this song keeps going through my head:

Of course, the first time I had that song running through my head, it was in support of a potential Presdient John Kerry. So, y’know, that’s how effective it was.

I’ve been thinking about food. A couple of internet articles (and you know how accurate and well-researched internet articles are) have mentioned an idea that I’m considering: that being the idea that if you stick to whole, unprocessed foods that have been around for thousands of years, you don’t have to worry about counting calories, you will build muscle, and your fat will melt off you. It’s called, among other things, the Primal diet, as in the diet of our distant ancestors. Basically what you could kill, harvest or gather yourself. Meats, grains, fruit, vegetables, berries, nuts…

It’s an appealing idea to me; particularly the idea that it would be a bit cheaper and require less preparation. Yes, Primal dieters still cook things; no raw meats for me, thank you very much.

I have some friends who follow this diet, too. I’ve seen what they eat: salads with some nuts and a small amount of meat.

Here’s the thing: Primal diet aficionados make the claims I mentioned above (build muscle, melt fat, never worry about overeating) and a few others: have more energy, and your tastes eventually change to where refined sugars and processed foods taste bad. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve convinced myself that changing to this diet would also decrease or eliminate my hay fever: allergies are a result of a weak immune system, and we are what we eat, and eating whole foods may build up the immune system, so…

Keep in mind that my thought on eliminating my allergies through diet is one that I have not read in any of the actual literature on Primal diets. I haven’t actually read that much about the diets; just a few things here and there, and the recommendations of friends on the internets. I think it’s interesting that my brain has basically manufactured a benefit out of thin air, born of my frustration the past few days with my allergic response to the nice spring-like weather.

At any rate, I may or may not switch my diet. I really do love doughnuts, and giving them up would be a mental strain I’m not quite ready to bear. But I like thinking about it.

I’m also a bit afraid to bring it up, since some, not all, of the folks who follow this diet are quite evangelical in their passion. So if you feel moved to comment on this post, please keep in mind that I am not asking to be persuaded. I’m just thinking out loud at this point. Don’t over-enthuse, because I feel a bit uncomfortable with that and will likely react to avoid. Just sayin’.