Carleen and Mike » 2003 » November

Banned From Lowe’s

Mike Huxley — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 22:24:11 +0000

My wife has banned me from Lowe’s. It’s not my fault really, I’m a product of my genetic background i guess. I haven’t REALLY been banned from Lowe’s–I just can’t go in without Carleen as chaperon. You see, we’re in the midst of painting our house, and when we need painting supplies I find it convienient to stop by Lowe’s in the morning on my way home from work. Unfortunatly for me, all the cashiers at that hour are very attractive young women. D’oh. This is what happened:
I was getting some paint samples for the trim in our living room. I took those samples home and decided on which would best fit the room. After deciding I got in the car and headed back to Lowe’s to get the paint mixed and headed for the checkout. Being that there is only one cashier at that time in the morning, I had little choice.
When it became my turn to check out I noticed it was a particular young woman whom had cashed me out several times (with no previous incident, I might add). Apparently she recognized me from my previous visits as well as the visit earlier that morning. She said to me, “Are you going to spend all morning at Lowe’s?” Now I took this as flirting, although it doesn’t sound very flirty in type, the way she said it, was. Now normally, I would have flirted right back (to a reasonable level) and went on my way. This morning though, I was far too tired to engage in the wity banter of that conversation, and I gave a polite chuckle and muttered a few words and left. Now, I’m an honest guy and quite frankly that made me feel very good, being flirted with by a very attractive woman like that, and so I told Carleen what transpired. She, of course, took it all in stride and asked “Was she cute?” To which I replied, “Yes, very.” Nothing further was said at this point.
However the next morning I was turning the house upside down looking for my brushes to continue the painting, as any good husband would, but alas the brushes were lost. It seemed I had to make a trip to Lowe’s. Being rather upset at this, because of the valuable time I was losing, I told Carleen that I was heading down to Lowe’s. To which she responded, “Hurry back” Luckily for me, there was a different person at the checkout and I did not have to endure the verbal precociousness of hormonal young women.
I knew the question before I even stepped through the door. “Was the cute girl there?” I was further accused of throwing the brushes away on purpose, JUST so I would have an excuse to visit Lowe’s. I was appalled.
So faithful readers, am I in the wrong? Am I to remain indoors through my entire young life so as to keep at bay the lustful young temptresses?

Dave Barry

Mike Huxley — Wed, 26 Nov 2003 17:44:16 +0000

I have found Dave Barry’s Blog and Columns once again….life, is good. For those of you that haven’t heard of Dave Barry, he is a journalist with the Miami Herald. his brand of humor is unique, I don’t think anyone has ever made me laugh quite as hard.

*%@#!

Carleen Huxley — Mon, 24 Nov 2003 14:59:19 +0000

It hasn’t been a very good weekend. I came back from a walk with Chani yesterday to find myself ankle deep in dirty water. The toilet next to the laundry room had literally exploded, although my father insists that using the word “exploded” is an exageration. We spent much of the afternoon cleaning. We won’t be able to wash clothes or dishes for awhile, until the plumber gets it fixed. I guess I should be thankful that this didn’t happen on Thursday during our Thanksgiving dinner.

I did manage to finish the 1965 version of Dr. Zhivago yesterday. It was good but I enjoyed the newer version much better. I just found the romance between Sharif and Christie to be too passive and stoic for my taste. The movie is a product of it’s time, I realize, but I just didn’t care very much for the characters the way I did in the newer version. The best part of the movie was Sir Alec Guiness character who played Zhivago’s half brother. He really added to the story. The ice palace was very pretty but it kind of bothered me that they used onion domes. I’m sure the makers of the film were just trying to create something that looked very “Russian” but it’s highly unlikely that onion domes would have ever been placed on a vernacular building in Russia, especially a country house. Read here if your interested.

Response to Grr by Mitch

Carleen Huxley — Sun, 23 Nov 2003 02:07:38 +0000

Grrr

Mike Huxley — Sat, 22 Nov 2003 16:32:30 +0000

Grrr

Mike Huxley — Sat, 22 Nov 2003 16:31:36 +0000

ok hopefully this one will work

Mike Huxley — Sat, 22 Nov 2003 16:25:52 +0000

just a test post to see if I can actually post images correctly

One book phenomenon

Carleen Huxley — Fri, 14 Nov 2003 15:52:27 +0000

There’s something that I’ve been very curious about for awhile. You have all these authors, famous authors like Nora Roberts, Grisham, Clancy, Patterson, Stephen King, etc., who write hundreds of books. People could probably argue all day about which one of their books are the best but none of them really live up to the idea of a “classic” book. Then you have people like Sylvia Plath, Boris Pasternak and Harper Lee who write just one book, a real “classic” book that becomes the subject of critical debate and discussion in essays, books and literature classes from around the world. I wonder if there is a name for this phenomenon? I’m sure there are more authors that belong in this catagory but I can’t think of anymore myself. I’ve tried searching on google but haven’t had any luck since I’m not even sure how to phrase this in a search.

Another exciting day at the library

Carleen Huxley — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 00:50:07 +0000

There is a man who comes to our library who is, shall we just say, a character. He has been a problematic customer in the past because he used to insist on using our staff phones to call his answering machine to check his messages. It got so bad that he would just walk up to the phone and use it without even asking. Although this problem has been solved, he has since found another way to harass our librarians. Today I came into work and found out from Laura that he’s been pestering Courtney for the past few weeks with a question which they thought had to do with “making adult toys for veterans out of household materials”. This obviously seemed like an odd question to Laura but being the wonderful library she is, she didn’t ask questions and proceeded to help Courtney find some information on the internet. Well, they weren’t able to find much. Come to find out, further into the discussion Laura finds out that what he really wants is information on how to make “adult toys for the bedroom out of household materials, in particular prescription pill bottles”. Apparently he pronounced “bedroom” in such a way that made it sound like “veterans”. I realize that as librarians we’re supposed uphold the principles and ideals presented in the Intellectual Freedom Handbook, bla, bla, bla. Believe me, I understand this and I support those principles with everything that I am, and keep them in mind whenever I’m helping a customer. But this is just bizaar. He came back tonight and pestered Jennifer with the same question. Jenn was very tactful in her response and told him that she wasn’t exactly familiar with that particular genre but she would see what she could do. Jenn commented later that she was very curious as to his choice of “household” materials and didn’t quite understand the “physics” when it came to the whole perscription pill bottle thing. Obviously, this is conjuring up images that could make anyone ill with disgust. I mean, I’m no prude but that is just disgusting and I don’t think we should have to be subjected to this mans “unusual hobbies” even if he did read in Men’s Health that sex and masterbation contributes to a long and healthy life. I really feel like this is harassment. As a professional, where can we draw the line?

Dr. Zhivago

Carleen Huxley — Tue, 11 Nov 2003 17:57:08 +0000

I finished watching the Masterpiece Theatre presentation of Dr. Zhivago last night and I must say that I am utterly exhausted from the experience. I don’t think I have ever watched anything so tragic. Based on a book written by Boris Pasternak in the 1950’s, Dr. Zhivago is an epic love story that takes place during the Communist Revolution in Russia in the early 20th century. The historical backdrop of the story has compelled me to learn more of this tumultous time. Quite frankly, I’ve always been a rather weak historian, studying only what I needed to know for my degree, avoiding anything too brutal or depressing. Like his main character Yurii Zhivago, Pasternak was himself a poet and his book is apparently based partly on his own life experiences. Because he protrayed the revolution for exactly what it was, atrocities, butchering and mindless brutality, Dr. Zhivago was rejected for publication by the Soviet authorities. He countered this by agreeing to have his book published abroad and in 1958 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature only to be forced to renounce the award when the Soviet Press initiated a progaganda campaign against him.
The original and very famous Dr. Zhivago motion picture came out in 1965 starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. My mother has instructed me to watch this one for comparison which I will do as soon as someone returns it to our library. Apparently, this version didn’t focus as much on the complicated nature of the relationships but instead concentrated more on being a visual experience. It will be interesting to see the the differences. Hans Matheson plays Dr. Zhivago in this presentation, best known for really not much which is suprising because he’s fantastic in this movie and a very talented actor. Keira Knightly takes on Julie Christie’s part as Lara, a dressmakers daughter and Yurii Zhivago’s love. Knightly is probably best known for playing opposite Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Carribean which came out this past summer. She was also excellent.
However, I wouldn’t suggest this version to anyone who can’t stomach the brutality of war. If you can’t handle the butchering of limbs or situations of extreme starvation where a persons forearm actually starts to look tasty, don’t watch this. One specific scene will give me nightmares for some time to come. After being conscripted by the Red Army, Zhivago enters a small village with his troops. The place seems empty until they notice two legs, chopped off at the knees, nailed to a sign. As if this wasn’t horrific enough, the body that these legs belong to is actually still alive, hiding in a shed. He manages to crawl out, using one arm, since the other one has also been chopped off, pleading for help. Zhivago frantically digs for the morphine in his doctor’s bag, but realizes that there is none left, since his Comrade has stolen the rest so he can dull some of his own “pain”. Meanwhile, another soldier decides he can’t take it any longer, sneaks back to his wagon where his three children lie sleeping, pulls out his gun and shoots them. “No one can hurt them now” he says before pointing the gun at his own head. Zhivago looses it himself, and runs away, risking his own execution but luckily his Comrade feels sympathetic today and lets him go. He eventually finds his way back to the arms of Lara which brings us back to the heart of the story which really is the love story. I admire Zhivago’s character because he still somehow, in the middle of all of the monstrousness and inhumanity that’s going on around him, remains true to himself and manages to have a deep love for life.