January 4, 2009:  Dressing with Wolves  Our Cary wants set up The Wet Receipt Society as a sort of mentor group to The Dog Ate My Homework folks [see June 8, 2008 diary].  Sounds like masses of fun, but I prefer my new job producing the next big cable hit, Dressing with Wolves, where contestants go clothes shopping and have their purchases critiqued by vicious canines.

January 13, 2009:  Happy Sam Bradford Day!  The University of Oklahoma Sooners may be number five in the ranking of college football teams these days, but our beloved OKC mayor knows a good man when he sees one, so congrats to Sam.

January 19, 2009:  Less Paperwork

"What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork."  Pearl Bailey
more quotations

I plan to spend Inauguration Day in front of the TV with income tax &$#@ spread out in front of me.   At least I won't be cold, but will I be warm?  Power to the people.

January 20, 2009:  Hope  No taxes have been done.  I was riveted to the tube - just like everyone else who could watch the morning's inaugural events.  And despite all our troubles, it's hard not to be inspired.  We have a long road ahead, but Barack Obama must surely be the right man at the right time.  Perhaps he is our Augustus, the rebuilder of our nation.  Roman Emperor Augustus took Rome, which had been a republic for centuries and then survived three strong dictators (Marius, Sulla and Augustus uncle, Julius Caesar) and civil war, and turned it into a stable empire that endured for hundreds of years longer.

February 7, 2009:  Deep Fraud: A Bernie Madoff Cookbook  I had the title, and some related thoughts - now long gone, and then I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona.  The film was better than expected - I haven't enjoyed Woodie Allen's work since I found out he was a p%#&@^t (with my apologies to his current wife, I think).  And Academy award nominee Penelope Cruz did a very good job, but I can't help but wonder why entertainers feel the need to give themselves awards.  Constantly.

A recent news program showcased a couple who discovered the high cost of adoption and set up a foundation to help others afford to do it, to grow their families through love rather than biology.  The foundation founders and loving parents deserve more praise and support, and maybe a night out filled with accolades, than people who are very well paid to do work most of us can only dream of. 

March 14, 2009:  Senegal Bound  Our Jill is off to Dakar for independent study and some time with friend Amber in the Peace Corps.  When I updated family and friends, I spelled malaria "maleria," and Jill suggested I was referring to the HIV variation her pharmacy tech in Boston thought was curable with malaria pills!!!!  Jill noticed Peace Corps volunteers are given malaria pills that can produce night terrors and other fun side effects.  We don't know why.  Perhaps they are supplied by Halibut?????

March 16, 2009:  Mine Golde Doth Escape Mee  Late last night, Flighttracker.com told us Jill's flight would be an hour late, so we called Amber, catching her in an early morning cab to let her know.  Five minutes later, Jill called us.  Her flight had arrived, Amber was waiting outside the airport.  (She wasn't allowed to wait inside.)  After a long nap, Jill called again and announced she was ready to experience Dakar.

Today's title comes from Lauren Willig's The Temptation of the Night Jasmine and has nothing to do with Senegal, and everything to do with life.  Or does it?  Because just as I was typing this, Jill called again to say her credit card would not work and she was afraid $200 was gone forever.  I called the company, previously informed of the trip, of course, and they thought she had selected the wrong account for a withdrawal.  Before I could call my daughter, she called again using her brand new Senegalese calling card.  All is well, and she had just enjoyed a bean sandwich.

March 19, 2009:  Phone a Friend  We've had several more phone calls from Jill.  She and Amber are making their way to Amber's village via sept car to nearby Velingara.  A sept car is the Senegalese version of a bush bus.  It seats seven (sept) passengers and whoever else can cram themselves and their stuff on board.  Schedules are irregular, but after two days (12 hours) in sept cars, they were riding the last 25 km with another Peace Corps volunteer who had a car. 

Jill's latest call, this morning, was from somewhere on the road.  They had run out of gas.  Temperatures are in the low hundreds (Fahrenheit).

The connection was poor, but I managed to discover Senegal has no system of trash collection, so litter goes out the car window.

March 30, 2009:  Home Again  Jill came home, grateful she lives in the US and very much enlightened as to the stark poverty of many Senegalese.  The staple diet is millet and peanut gruel.  Clean water is in short supply.  Any water is in short supply.  When I asked what chance the children in the villages have, she said university is free but if a student has no family in Dakar, where they would have to live, he or she would have no way to survive while going to school.

Jill took necessities for Amber, a Rubric's cube, which went to a teacher, an origami kit, which went to a Peace Corps hut guard who works long shifts, and small photos of President Obama that were distributed by Amber's village "father."  She brought home some beads and small souvenirs and a deepened experience of the wider world.  (photos coming someday soon)

June 3, 2009:  Oh, Santa  Last year, brother Bob sailed a German tall ship from the Canary Islands to Ireland, passing through a mega storm on the way.  He wrote up his experiences, which were submitted to a Yachting Magazine essay contest.  AND HE WON A TRIP TO THE NORTH POLE via Finland and Russia!

June 21, 2009:  Twitter This!  I have resisted Twitter on the grounds I don't have time.  Besides, Facebook has depth and makes more sense, though people who just want to social network don't want me to sell them something in either case.  But we all have to cheer the way so many in Iran have made use of these communication tools to keep ahead of the government clamp down and spread the word about what is happening on the streets in Teheran.  Power to the people.

August 10, 2009:  My Grand Tour  Several weeks ago, I hit the road and drove from OKC to Boston in three mad, glorious days of insanity.  While the plan was to help my daughters move, my inner travel geek is always on the lookout for new people and places.  And since I had no relief driver in tow, I got to control the music and the books on DVD - definitely a plus for me.  Once again, I experienced the wonder of the United States.  Every state is different, but each has something to offer in the way of scenery, weirdness and history.  Even solo road trips can be entertaining.

I, however, was so mind-numbed by my driving marathon, that I failed to realize I was arriving on my daughter's birthday until I stumbled into a not very good Brookline barbecue restaurant that shall therefore be nameless.  The pleasure of seeing my kids, their roomie and the dog (not in the restaurant), and meeting friends and employers was indescribable, as any parent will understand.  And when Cary arrived the next day for some moving fun as well as for day trips to Salem and Newport, RI, why all I can add is Wahoo!

We saw fewer sights than I'd hoped but here are our Boston highlights:

Boston Common - a large and lovely park filled with statues.

Boston Statehouse - a gold-domed structure that could have been worse, but gets bad local press (or so I understand).  The eye catcher is a much photographer statue of General Hooker, whose name evokes gales of laughter among the immature.

Granary Burying Ground - adjacent to Boston Common, it's the final resting place of Paul Revere, Ben Franklin's parents, not Mother Goose and more.

Quincy Market - shops and restaurants, a great place to wander down to the waterfront.

Restaurants we like:

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