Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane

Up for air

My sister got married two weekends ago and then I immediately followed it up with Press Week at the paper (which turned out amazing - I've got to find a way to upload some small PDF's so you guys can see the fun I'm having with design).

But I'm catching back up now. I have a couple of sports posts I want to do soon (on Kenny Rogers and on Drew Bledsoe/Tony Romo), but those might have to wait.

What's new with you?

Texas Governor's Race

So, there's this today:

Word is, the Dallas Morning News will report tomorrow on a statewide poll conducted by Brian Epstein for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. The poll will show Rick Perry is in deep trouble -- garnering just 32% support of those sampled -- with Chris Bell nipping at his heels at 27%, Carole Strayhorn trailing with 20%, and Kinky Friedman cratering in single digits.

I haven't understood the Kinky Friedman love that has been so freely passed around all over Dallas the past 6 months or so. It has seemed to me that he wasn't the Jesse Ventura/Ahnold vote, but more of the Ross Perot/Ralph Nader vote. A meaningless, throwaway vote that makes you feel good for a few minutes because you're bucking the system, but ultimately gives the election to whoever you are most ideologically opposed to.

But it seems that people are jumping off the train to Kinky-town and those votes are going to Democrat Chris Bell. Two significant things:

1) This was from a poll done for the very popular Republican senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. They wanted that to skew Republican, but it's not.

2) A five point difference is pretty damn close to the MOE.

With a little less than two weeks remaining until the election, is it possible that we have a horserace for governor and that a Democrat is one of those horses. That strikes me as a really, really big deal.

Weddings

Some of you may remember my sister, Aubrie. She blogged for a time being over here, but the she gave up blogging to move on to better things...

Namely, getting her master's degree, a good job, and a husband.

My little sister got married on Saturday. Naturally, then, I'll make this post all about me.

I've never been to the wedding of someone close to me, with the exception of both my mom and my dad when they remarried. I was really young when my mom got remarried, and barely starting high school when my dad got remarried.

My best friend of about 13 years, Chance, eloped, so there was no wedding ceremony. Being at Aubrie's wedding was... I dunno... surprising.

For one, my little sister seemed to me to be the perfect candidate to become Bridezilla, but she was cool as a cucumber. She didn't seem to be stressed out about a thing. My mom described it all as "just another party." And it seemed that way.

Secondly, this was the first wedding I've ever been in. Justin asked me to be a groomsman, and Aubrie asked me to sing (I sang Ben Folds' "The Luckiest" which Aubrie picked after having heard it at Lori's wedding party). I'm pretty sure that, immediately before the ceremony, I was more nervous than anyone else there. I used to be a music major, but I haven't done any non-karaoke performing for some time. Luckily, it all went well. And I've got to admit, it was kind of cool seeing a wedding from up close like that.

Thirdly, Aubrie and I went to a small school growing up. From Preschool until eighth grade we would be two students among no more than 20 students in a room. The "C" classroom held the fourth through eighth grades, and in my eighth grade graduating class there were 3 people.

It was small.

And, I now know that it was a unique education experience, but at the time it was all I knew, so it didn't seem strange. I'm so happy for the education that I received and, more importantly, the experiences I got to have in that environment. The teachers that were there taught us for multiple years, including Roger (who taught P.E. and did what we called "Group, which was really just a time for us to all sit down and talk about, well, whatever) and Dian, who ran the school and taught the "C" class. They both became important parts of our lives.

So, there was something kind of symmetrical about Aubrie choosing Roger to preside over the ceremony and Dian to play piano, accompanied by Shelly, her daughter who also taught us at one point.

Anyway, all of this to say that my sister made a beautiful bride, the ceremony was great, and the reception was fun.

I think I expected it to be "bigger" than it was, but it just all seemed so natural. I asked my mom if it felt weird having a daughter getting married and she said, "No. Justin's been around for so long, it just all seems natural," and that's really what it was. It just seemed like the natural next step for the two of them.

Aubrie: You told me on the cruise that we took that you sometimes wished that you had had a chance during your college years to take some time off, have some experiences and get to go some places like I had. Well, you should know that you've had experiences that I'll never have and you've started off on a life that is much different than mine.

And that's what it comes down to, I guess. You and I will have different but equally as good lives, and this is what you've gotten to do. I'm so happy that you found someone like Justin to spend your life with, and I'm so proud of the way you've been so forthright about what you want, and worked hard to get it. You deserve everything that is happening for you now, and I'm so glad that I get to be around to see it. I love you very, very much.

If someone sends me pictures, I'll post it for you, the clamoring hoards, who want to see just how beautiful she looked on Saturday.

That feeling that you have right now...

... you know, the one where that feels like, "Wow... what a tragic accident, but thank goodness it wasn't worse." That's the feeling that everyone in the country had at 8:46 exactly 5 years and one month ago, today. By 9:03 that all changed.

Sometimes, I'm struck by just how global that day was. Something like this, a pitcher accidentally crashing a plane into an apartment building, used to be one of the most tragic things we could imagine. Now it's a silver lining.

Time Waster

Pointer... I'm officially hooked.

Charm

I'm a little put off by the tone of the President's press conference today on North Korea. I understand that he feels that, now more than ever, he needs to remind us that he's down home and folksy, but isn't it sort of in bad taste to make jokes with EVERY reporter, commenting on their clothes and such, when talking about such a grave issue? It really doesn't indicate to North Korea that we're taking them seriously.

Roger Ebert

I have a little ritual that I engage in when I see a movie: I watch a movie, hopefully without having heard any reviews past the requisite, "it's a good movie you should check this out," and then I think about it for an hour or two. After I've established my own opinion, I go and read Roger Ebert's review.

I've done it since I was a teenager and the internet made reviews accessible, and his reviews are as much a part of my moviegoing experience as buying the ticket. I agree with him about half of the time, generally, but his writing has influenced my literacy and the way I form my opinions.

He's been recovering from surgery (for what, I don't know), for the past month or so, and it's been strange not to have him to go to after I see a film. What's strange is that I don't miss just getting to read his review for any specific movie, but there is sort of a void of missing reviews for a whole slew of movies from a man who has commented on virtually every film ever made for the past 30 years.

Anyway, life happens. It's just a little strange.

Now that's good TV

I know. This kind of humor is beneath me, but the thing is it's really not.

White House Blogging

I'm was quoted in this Federal Computer Weekly piece about the OMB's new blogging initiative. After the ballyhoo surrounding the blogs and the way they pursued Senator Ted Stevens about the Federal Accountability bill, the OMB has decided to pursue the help of bloggers to get OTHER initiatives more exposure.

Here's my quote:

Dylan Biles, who writes for the liberal blog Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane, said OMB can certainly further its goals by involving bloggers.

“In fact, I think most would say, ‘Welcome to the party,’” Biles said.

My answer was in response to this:

I listened to OMB Director Rob Portman and Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson speak Tuesday and they want to continue working with the blogger community toward the same ends as the passage of S. 2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (OMB sees bloggers’ power).Remembering that the administration has bloggers who hate it and love it, can OMB leverage bloggers to further its initiatives? How should OMB go about doing it?

To which my entire response was this:

The OMB can, certainly, further their own goals by getting bloggers involved (in fact, I think most would say welcome to the party).

But, the whole, "the media/government/corporation feels threatened by bloggers, so the best thing they can do is begin blogging themselves" is not, in of itself, the answer. Blogging for blogging's sake will not ever inspire real conversation. What is required is blogging with substance and originality.

 

For instance, the OMB can't just start blogging the party line. We already have outlets which give us that. What they should do is find good writers who can explain why the initiatives they wish to see passed are important and who can do so in a intriguing, interesting and sometimes provocative manner. Blogging works when you have something interesting to say, otherwise it's just reductive.

The article is interesting. My part isn't too flashy, but you always like to put a little flourish on the end of an article, and I'm happy my quote could help provide that. As the man once said, no press is bad press.

 

 

Gambling

I don't understand this:

U.S. Congress unexpectedly approved a bill early on Saturday that would make it illegal for banks and credit-card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.

The House of Representatives and Senate approved the measure and sent it to President George W. Bush to sign into law. Most analysts think his approval is certain.

It's a business story, so the political reasons are slim, focusing more on the stock prices of the offshore gambling sites, but this smacks of a sort of midterm shake-up that really affects no one (I mean, some people will be pissed off, some will be bummed, but is anyone really going to get up in arms about this?)

I'm not trying to make more of this than there is, but is this just the Republican congress spinning their wheels, or is there something I'm not seeing?