Mr. Hyde takes the night off

Last night Rob and I went out to dinner with our friends Tom and Meredith. Afterwards, we were in the Meatpacking District trying to catch two cabs uptown when some woman walked up next to us and then positioned herself at the opposite corner, where she would easily snag the first cab to come by. Illegal. We called after her as she crossed the street, but she conveniently pretended not to hear us. Sure enough, a cab came down the street, saw her first, and picked her up.

When we finally did get our own cab, Rob told me that had it been any other night, that woman would have had to race him for the cab while getting an earful of some choice words. But because we had had a lovely dinner and Meredith is pregnant, he was being “Civilized Rob.”

Rudy Can Fail

It doesn’t surprise me that Rudy Giuliani did not win the Florida primary. Nor am I shocked that he is consequently dropping out of the race. What is surprising to me is that he actually thought his campaign tactics would be effective. The man had nearly twice as much money as Mitt Romney last Fall and even Romney had three times the funds of the next closest candidate (McCain.) So Giuliani chose to spend his millions on…direct mail. And ok, campaigning in Florida.

I suppose there was a possibility that it could have worked. With the confusion surrounding the initial primaries and caucuses, there was—for a time—no clear frontrunner on the Republican side. Maybe Rudy and his marching band of Floridians could have capitalized on the indecision and won big.

Yet even with the emphasis squarely on the Disney World State, the word is that Rudy just wasn’t Republican enough for the voters. He finished third in Florida, which suggests that his money would have been better spent if he had simply thrown it off the top of Space Mountain in handfuls while screaming “9/11!”

Also, Edwards is bowing out of the race today without endorsing another candidate. Another attempt to hold out for VP, perhaps?

Twinkle twinkle little bat

Rob and I had dinner with our new neighbor, Eric, on Saturday. We were talking about books (shocking) and Eric told us about a book he had recently read that explained the origins of phrases. His example was “mad as a hatter.” The phrase referred to the regular use of mercury in the hat-making process, which poisoned the hatters and caused neurological damage, a penchant for tea parties, and other general wackiness. I looked this up on Wikipedia today. Verified.*

For the origins of other interesting phrases, check out The Phrase Finder.

*Sadly, not the tea party part.

Valerie and Marie

I know Brooke and I are not alone here.

Let’s talk about Joe

As some of my loyal readers may have noticed, this guy named Joe comments on the blog a lot. I want to tell you a little bit about Joe. To begin, he’s my dad. And there’s something so endearing and ridiculous about having your dad be your blog’s biggest fan. It sort of reminds me of high school, when he would come to my soccer games and sit in the stands. Hmmmm. Actually, he missed a lot of those because he was at my brother’s baseball games. What’s up with that, Joe?

What’s up with that? is something Joe likes to say. He also loves the word “outstanding,” is a member of Mensa, and is fond of statements like the following: You can’t have that cheese. That’s nacho cheese. (If you don’t understand this one, I can’t help you.)

A propos of Dan’s comment on the last blog, Joe (who used to be a junior high school teacher) is now splitting his time among several activities: golf, listening to audiobooks, driving a trolley through Chicago giving tours, and starring as an extra in movies. On his repertoire, but sadly not on IMDB, are Flags of Our Fathers, Fred Clause, and The Dark Knight. If I am forgetting one of his roles, he will surely tell us in the comments section.

During the filming of The Dark Knight, the director requested that the casting agent go to wherever the extras were hanging out and bring him back the two “most Italian looking guys” for a gang scene. Guess who was chosen? That’s right: Joe. He got “arrested” in one of the scenes, so it’s possible you might even be able to find him in this film.

If I had to guess where Joe was right now, I would say he’s in the kitchen drinking “pop” out of a coffee mug while playing Scrabble on his laptop. But if I’m wrong about that, he will surely tell us in the comments section.

Heath Ledger

I suspect this is news to no one, but Heath Ledger died today in New York. I found this shocking and I also found the fact that I was shocked rather...unexpected. Who knew I cared so much? I got into a brief conversation about it with coworkers and everyone felt the same way. Kind of sad and surprised, the way you would feel if the person who had died was someone you knew just a little bit.

I'm pretty sure there's a word or phrase for that feeling that you really "know" celebrities and that phrase is not "traumatized loved one."

I know this is unrelated, but speaking of celebrities, Rob just got mad at me because I don't really know who Valerie Bertinelli is and guessed that she was the one who married that guy from Bon Jovi. Yeah, that's not the right answer.

On hating a book

Rob brought this book home from work called The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. I can’t remember another time in my life that I have had such a visceral reaction to a book. Now, it’s entirely possible that I was just in a bad mood, dubious about the possibility of a successful work week that lasts as long as two feature films, or sick of hearing about self-help books that tell you work and effort are not required and you can still BE RICH! Whatever the reason, I hated this book. I read the back cover, the intro and several chapters. I looked up its sales numbers (because I can do that) and saw that more than 225,000 copies have been sold. “People are so stupid!” I yelled. I stomped around. I flung the book aside and picked it back up several times in order to keep the hatred alive.

“Would you do this to a book of fiction I was reading?” Rob asked.

“No.” I said, aware that I was annoying him with my tirade, but unable to stop. The author actually suggests that you outsource your professional and/or personal life to “overseas virtual assistants” in India. This way, you can be rich and they can make $5 an hour. One example he gave came from an Esquire article by AJ Jacobs where Jacobs hires an Indian personal assistant and asks her to communicate with his wife for him.

Basically, it seems the entire idea here is to start an online company and hire others to do the work for you. Then you can go spend time doing whatever it is you really want to do with life. Really, that’s fine in theory and I know people who have done it (though I think those people take a little more pride in their businesses and stay involved to ensure quality.) But what I read of this book was empty enough that I can't imagine it could truly be helping people. It's gimmicky in the right ways and the concept clearly speaks to people, but I'm simply not buying it.

Not when I'd rather throw it.