Over a Candle

A real blog post describing our first day in Ireland, and our drive from Dublin to Dingle, will be up when I have the time. For now, I have some pictures on Flickr!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbnimble/

This was written while waiting in JFK. Things are better now. This is just the first day.

By all rights, I should be writing this halfway across the Atlantic. Indeed, by all rights, I should be sleeping and not writing at all. But every once in awhile, the universe feels the need to remind me that I have few rights in this process of life.

Our trip to Ireland started well enough. We made our first flight, from Fargo to Minneapolis, without any troubles at all. The flight from Minneapolis to JFK boarded on time as well, and all seemed fine.

Shortly after we boarded, just when we thought we might push away from the gate, we were informed of a 45 minute delay. No real reason was given. Just heavy traffic on the East Coast.

So we waited.

And waited.

And the delay became an hour and a half.

We would be arriving in JFK just when our flight to Shannon was due to take off.

We began to panic. We nearly left the plane to try to talk to a ticket agent. Bu just then the plane was cleared for taxi. So we sat down and hoped.

At some point after take off, we were told we would only be 45 minutes late. It would be close, but we could make it.

But it was not to be. We were held in the air for a time and wound up parking away from the terminal. We watched from a shuttle bus as an Aer Lingus jet backed away from it’s gate.

I held on to some slim hope that Aer Lingus had two flights leaving at the same time. Bu our fears were confirmed quickly inside the terminal. We had just missed our flight.

After much running around, we got rebooked on the next flight out. To Dublin. At 2 AM. Arriving in Dublin at 2 PM local time. Adding three hours to that first day’s drive. Assuming nothing else goes wrong.

I know it’s not the end of the world. Bu it was like a punch in the gut. We worked so hard for this trip. And we have been through so much this year. To have this kind o monkey wrench thrown into things… I kept it together just long enough to get us checked through to Dublin and write some emails.

We need to put this behind us so we can enjoy the rest of the trip. Right now, I’m just so tired.

“I don’t know how we’re going to learn to write novels by reading non-fiction,” she complained. Despite being in her twenties, she looked like a child. That was probably due, in part, to her petulant tone, he guessed.

“Trust me,” he chided, “if you don’t know reality, you can’t effectively write fiction. Without a sense of how things truly work, you are likely to strike a false note with your reader. That can be enough to lose your audience. Unless you know the truth, you cannot lie.”

“Who wants to lie? I just want to write fiction.”

He ignored her continued whining. Rather, his words had reminded him of his father’s disturbing demand. The privileged position he inherited from his father was to be reinforced by entertaining other elites while they made fun of the less fortunate. It was a distasteful chore, but he couldn’t help but wonder about what truth his father wanted to teach him.

Based on a dream I had last night. I didn’t want to forget it.

It looks like the 2008 Election is finally over. Today, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the election panel’s finding that Al Franken won, by the narrowest of margins - 312 votes, over incumbent Norm Coleman.

There was some concern Coleman might proceed to contest the election in the Federal Courts, but he said today he wouldn’t do that. And Minnesota Governor (lame-duck, probably running for President in 2012) Tim Pawlenty has said he will sign the election certificate.

I’m glad to see this election over. And I’m glad Coleman was defeated. He was too cozy with the Bush administration. And he needed to be tossed.

Will Franken make a good Senator? I don’t know. We now have six years to find out, I guess. I wish him well. And I feel confident that he can’t be any worse than his predecessor.

I must admit to being a bit nervous that the Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate (counting the two independents that usually vote with them and the two Senators who have been ill and absent). Assuming that count holds up, I’m not terribly comfortable with the Democrats having that much power. I have long been a fan of divided government (though lately I think there’s been a bit too much division). And this concentration of power gives me pause. However, I take some comfort in knowing that the Democrats have a penchant for being unable to stick together.

Now that that’s finally over, what shall we do next for our political entertainment?

It seems that when school is in session, I don’t have time to write my blog (at least lately). And when it’s not in session, there is nothing interesting going on to write about.

I did get the basement almost back to normal, though. Everything I’ve taken down there is put away. And I have taken down most everything that we brought up and put in the library. The comic books are down there and put back on shelves (that was the big thing). And Ronni can once more sit on the papa-san chair in the library. More importantly, the litter box is easier to get access to. (The cats could always get to it, but now I can get to it to clean it.)

In honor of getting things back to normal, I finally took down the door between the kitchen and the basement stairs. Now the cats have free access to our new basement.

I’m wondering how long it will take them to destroy it.

I’m also wondering what I can get rid of down there. Part of me wants to get rid of some of the comics (not all of them), but I can’t bring myself to throw them out. And I can’t imagine they’re worth anything. I wish I had someone to give them to. But I can’t think of anyone off-hand.

I’m also tempted to get rid of my Magic cards. I haven’t been playing the game lately. (I was too busy last school year. And since I’ve gotten into Star Wars miniatures, I have little interest in Magic anymore.)

There is just too much stuff. Even the pack rat in me wants to pare down my material possessions a bit. And besides, I need to make room for more Star Wars minis.

* Going a month before balancing a checkbook means the process is going to take way too long.

* Water on the floor underneath a water heater does not necessarily mean the water heater sprung a leak.

* Pointing out that the leaky boiler pipe was just installed by the company fixing said pipe does mean you don’t have to pay for the repair.

* Water on the floor of my basement, in any amount, now causes me disproportionate distress.

* Cat vomit is never fun to clean up. But still less not-fun than human vomit.

* Going six months in between yoga sessions does lead to some seriously sore muscles.

* Most things that have sat in a box, in your basement, untouched, for five years can be safely thrown away.

* Playing six days of grand-slam tennis and then stopping, just because it’s Sunday, is silly. What am I supposed to watch?!

* A trip to Ireland requires 4 different moleskine notebooks. I hope it’s enough.

* Managing to pack for a nine day trip using only a carry-on and a backpack seems to deserve some sort of reward.

* Newsradio is still one of the funniest shows ever on television.

* Trying to readjust a night person’s sleep schedule, especially when said person suffers from insomnia, is nearly futile.

I finally moved everything out of the garage that didn’t originally reside there. I swept it out, and Ronni was able to park in the garage for the first time in three months. The basement still has to be organized, but at least all the stuff from the garage is back down there. (The comic boxes are still up in the library. I may move those tomorrow. Or Sunday. Tomorrow is supposed to be ungodly hot.)

Anyway, earlier this week, Ronni and I had our new chair delivered. Several weeks ago, we decided to go out and buy a new love seat. We really only had the couch in the living room, and we wanted another place to sit for when people come over. (Something we keep meaning to do, and keep not doing.) This would be the first piece of furniture we bought together as a couple with our money, so we wanted to do it right.

We spent several hours in a furniture store before finally settling on a love seat. We went to finalize our order, but the salesman who had been helping us was on the phone. While we waited, we noticed another item that looked even better than the one we picked out. We decided to get this piece instead of our original choice. We were a bit surprised by the tag on it, though. It was identified as a chair.

Ronni and I fit side-by-side in this “chair.” Indeed, I think it is bigger than some of the love seats we were looking at.

Here’s a picture:

Now, Bishop, bless her, is not a small cat. You can see that she is already at home in the chair. But calling it a chair still seems a bit funny. After all, it’s quite clear there’s room for a human being next to Bishop. Or even another cat. I can’t imagine the person for whom this is a normal “chair.”

But word use to the side, the chair is comfortable an fits nicely into our house. And the cats, especially Bishop, are very happy.

So once more a GOP “moral values” official gets caught with his pants down. Almost literally.

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, was supposedly out hiking the Appalachian Trail. Really, he was in Argentina visiting his mistress. He spent the time in crying, apparently, and he wants to reconcile with his wife. Of course, all of this comes to light only AFTER he’s been caught. But if his wife believes him… Hey, more power to her.

Despite all the fun I suppose we could have with Sanford falling flat on his Bible, the fact of the matter is that I just don’t care. I don’t want Sanford strung up for his crimes. Who he sleeps with is between him and his wife, and perhaps his mistress. It’s not my business, and I don’t think public officials should lose their office for their private affairs (no pun intended).

What I want is for people like Sanford, and all the other public figures out there who would have us believe they are morally perfect, to keep their judgmental mouths shut about other people. Instead of trying to impeach presidents over extra-marital affairs, as Sanford voted to do, perhaps we could stick to politics? Instead of worrying about who is sleeping with whom, who is married to whom, we could keep the government out of the bedroom?

I don’t care that Sanford is sleeping around. I don’t think that makes me better than him. I don’t think that means he can’t hold public office. I do think it means that those who live in glass houses (which is every one of us) should be careful about throwing stones. Sanford’s problem isn’t that he slept around. His problem is that he (and others like him) make other people’s affairs their business.

That’s what I would like to see stop.

So apparently there is this show about a couple with eight kids. This show, as far as I can tell, simply follows this couple through their life and that of their family. This is reality television, after all. And who wouldn’t want to watch?

Apparently, a lot of people do. Honestly, I only heard about this show because recently, it seems, Jon and Kate have been having marital problems. And now they’re getting a divorce.

Why is this news? Because they’re on TV, and anything happening to people who are on TV is inherently news worthy. Trust me.

It’s not Jon and Kate I care about. Frankly, from the little coverage I’ve seen about this non-story, they both seem rather self-involved to me. Rather, I can’t help but wonder how this is affecting their kids. This show has followed the family through five years. (It’s in its fifth season now.) As if that voyeuristic trip hasn’t been enough (complete with Pennsylvania investigating whether or not child labor laws have been violated), now we get to follow the kids through the tragedy of divorce.

You see…

One thing the couple could agree on: “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ will continue.

“We interview separately, we’ll film different things,” Jon explained. “Me and the kids, her and the kids.”

“How does the show go on?” said Kate. “The show MUST go on!”

Yes, the show must go on. For the kids, right? Because lord knows, nothing makes dealing with your parents’ divorce easier than having it filmed and broadcast to millions of people.

At what point will our obsession with watching other people’s misery subside? I’m afraid I have my answer to that already, since just tonight, I saw the ad for a new “Bachelor”-style reality show, but with “real” women (the ad suggests they’ll be in the size 16 range). We see the women vying for the love and affection of the lone man on the show. And in the interviews, they agonize over their weight. Now that’s entertainment!

One hopes that viewership of Jon and Kate will drop off enough that the kids might get a normal-esque childhood. But that’s probably hoping for too much already.

* The quotes and other material come from this article.

Ronni is really happy that our peonies have bloomed. They don’t last forever, but they are quite pretty while they last. Since the rain has finally taken a break (the Red River is above flood stage, but predicted to crest below major flood stage, so no worries there), I thought I’d take the opportunity to get a few photos.

Here is a close up of one of the peonies.

And just because I’m always proud of my marigolds, here’s a close up of a few of the marigolds in our flower boxes.

Just a few flowers for the beginning of the summer.