Home on the range

Only five months ago I replaced the bulbs in the microwave oven that light the stovetop. And now one of them has already burned out again. Rather than wait for the other one to go out I replaced them both.

Yesterday we were about to leave to go out to dinner, when an intense hail storm hit. They were the size and shape of Mentos candy. In this video you can hear them hitting the skylights on the porch which, fortunately, weren’t damaged.

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After the hail there was heavy rain. Ten seconds into this video you can see that the downspout next to the garage couldn’t keep up.

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Later, at Legal Seafood in Framingham, MA, Eric’s salad was delivered with hair in it. That’s a first for us at any Legal Seafood restaurant, and it took way too long for a replacement salad to be delivered. It should have been complimentary, but it wasn’t. Boo, Legal Seafood!

Anime-ted

Eric and his cousin Kate are somewhere here in the Hynes Convention Center,  where we’re attending Anime Boston. The Hynes has a very good free WiFi network, as I just found out.

Unlike last year’s Anime Boston, I have only good things to say about the registration process, because it was 3 hours and 59 minutes shorter! Yesterday, as pre-registered attendees, it took all of one minute for us to get our badges. Dealer space has been doubled, making navigation much easier, and there are lots of well-trained volunteers. Bravo, Anime Boston organizers! Thank you.

I’ve been hanging out in the video rooms, partly to check out the various projectors. One of the Animes being featured is Kino’s Journey, which Eric had us watching a couple of years ago. Here’s a shot of the room taken with the Acer netbook’s webcam.

Anime Boston video room

That old car smell

I’m not big into driving for its own sake like my buddy Bismo is, but I’ve always noticed the makes and models of other cars while behind the wheel. Without thinking about it, I make mental notes about other vehicles, and I can recognize many cars with the smallest of visual cues. For example, have you noticed how the fenders are now flat vertically around the wheel wells? That’s a recent design trend.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I carry a percentage of typical car vintages, and some weeks ago, while commuting on the Mass Pike, I realized that it seems there are fewer new cars on the road these days. Since then I’ve been consciously looking for brand-new cars, and I’ve confirmed there really are fewer of them showing up compared to a year and more ago. The way things are going, we’ll probably be hearing auto dealers proclaiming “The 2009’s are here, so come on down!” for another year or two.

Monte Schulz to unveil “This Side of Jordan” at Book Expo

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Fantagraphics has put out a press release about Monte Schulz’s new novel, “This Side of Jordan”:

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF THIS SIDE OF JORDAN, A NOVEL BY MONTE SCHULZ

THIS SIDE OF JORDAN, by MONTE SCHULZ, will be unveiled at the 2009 Book Expo America in New York City, May 29-31, with an appearance by the author on Saturday, May 30, at 2:30PM in the Autographing Area.

Monte Schulz

The novel is described as, “a tapestry of American life in the summer before the economic crash of 1929, and a quintessential novel of the rural Midwest offered unexpectedly as a crime thriller.” You can pre-order it from Amazon at this link. Monte says “This Side of Jordan” is very different from his first novel, but like “Down by the River” I’m sure a ripping good read is guaranteed for all!

Beav it to Cleaver

Netflix Watch Instantly on the Roku means TV Land no longer exists for me. I was watching an episode from the third (1959) season of “Leave it to Beaver” tonight when I was surprised by a brief guest appearance. June is at a women’s club party, hosted by Mrs. Harrison.

Leave it to Beaver

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/MAY/Beaver01.mp3]

They don’t explain what sort of trouble Mrs. Mondello’s daughter is in, but by having the ladies point out that she’s eighteen, parents in the audience can imagine for themselves. This is the sort of clever scripting for family TV shows that later disappeared. After “All in the Family” premiered, TV comedies dealing with personal issues were about as subtle as a backhoe breaking a gas main.

A year after her appearance on Beaver, the actress playing Mrs. Harrison would be heard on TV again, and her voice has been ever-present ever since, even today, ten years after her death. Listen carefully to the audio clip. She’s out of character here, but she played somebody you’ve heard a thousand times.

Leave it to Beaver

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/MAY/Beaver02.mp3]