Friday, November 22, 2002

A once upon a time display of flamingo stuff in my office when I worked. Several items have been cast to the four winds...given away or given to the thrift store. A few things have been saved for sentimental or arbitrary reasons. I'm downsizing. I really, really am. Some are in boxes, patiently awaiting their fate.

"The most popular labor-saving device is still money."

Phyllis George

We are up around 7:30. FFP feels better! He eats toast and jam! He drinks stuff. Yea. I mess with his dressing. He isn't bleeding much.

Some guys come from High Fidelity, Inc. They are going to 'fix our system once and for all.' They are bringing back our old amp. They are going to drill or something and put a new cable between the TV and the amp. Only the TV stays and my theory is that it is the culprit. But it's only a theory you understand. They have promised not to charge for this after I yelled at them. We will see if that holds.

In any case, they have some managed to ream some pegs on the shelving and are playing cabinet maker with some pegs I find and some scrap wood. Not a good sign. I'd feel sorry for them but their company was here to advise the cabinet maker and so I hold them responsible. Not these two guys, but the company. I give them all the remotes and leave them alone. I no longer expect it to work or work well. I just don't care anymore even if we have wasted lots of money on it.

Maybe I'll buy a DVD player for my small TV in my office and be happy with the crappy sound. Maybe I'll hire some strong bodies and a carpenter and start replacing stuff myself. Of the stuff they sold us over the last eight or ten years, the Laser player, DVD player and TV have all gone out and the former two had to be replaced and the TV had to be fixed by bypassing the PIP circuit which we didn't use anyway but we bought a new TV that is German and I don't trust it. It keeps trying to take over things. I'm only half joking. No, I'm serious. It's just like all the money you sink into computers and the way you can never get them to work the way you want.

Around 11:20, FFP gets hungry and says he will eat when these guys leave. I tell him better not wait for that...they might be here a while.

But they do leave. They want to get a check for over $200 but I say I'll negotiate with the powers to be. Then I start trying the system. I put on an LP, put in a tape, a DVD, turn on the tuner, put in a Laser Disk, turn on the CD changer and start cycling through cable, DVD, LD video and all the sound sources, too. What fun. It will be interesting to see if the video feed starts to flub now. And, with our old amp back and the loaner gone, it is now possible to play an audio source with the video from the last one selected still going. We called this 'video wallpaper' and we couldn't figure out how to do it with the loaner. The old amp seems to maintain a connection to the last input for anything if the one you switch to is off or doesn't have that type of input.

FFP eats sweet potato and spinach salad and green tea. (He is supposed to eat high fiber without too much spice or oil.) He's doing so well that I'm happy for him. Dad comes by but doesn't want lunch, says he ate enough snacks at his Senior game day at church. Then he eats a piece of bread because his stomach is a little upset. I give him some Euros and his ticket that I've had in my safe and tell him to get it together with his passport and such. And make sure he has them when we leave for Dallas.

I decide that FFP is doing well enough that I can leave him and exercise and do a few errands. I end up going out in the balmy, almost hot, still and sunny November Austin day, going to the gym, riding the bike to nowhere for twenty-five minutes while looking out at sunny, still Lake Austin, doing some arm exercises and going to the photo shop where I ponder buying several things but end up buying only another color ink cartridge for my printer.

I fool around with a project I have, making a personal ABC's book for my great nephew. And then I have to rush around and shower and get dressed up for the opera.

SuRu and I go to a Brazilian/Tex Mex place near campus for dinner, a place called Sampaio's. We have some cheese rolls to start. I think they taste a little too much like baking powder and too little like cheese. The black bean stew is full of sausage and there is toasted yucca with raisins and bacan and collard greens and rice to add. It's pretty good, very filling. SuRu has some orange roughy with a pineapple sauce. I don't think it's all that sensational, but I might try the place again. The waiter is friendly and nice, pronouncing all the dishes in Portugese (I guess). I drink a Negro Modelo with it.

We drive to the Bass and park in the lot next to Memorial Stadium reserved for somewhat major donors. They have made it clear that we won't get that privilege again unless we re-up our annual dues. In fact, we usually pay in January but they are hitting us up now, threatening not to give us parking and, further, not to allow us to buy dress circle tickets anymore. All these groups are desperate for money, I guess. But they won't get our money until another tax year. When we don't make so much money that they won't let us deduct charitable deductions. No consideration for our situation in the fund-raising letters. Oh, yeah we could send it. We could have given them a substantial donation for their opera building, too. Oh, wait. We did. These organizations have to keep coming back to the same wells and hope they haven't dried up.

"La Traviata" by the Austin Lyric Opera. I was about to use an adjective. Fiscally-challenged or embattled. But I won't. Times are tough and very strange. This is a classic, a chesnut. The soprano dies, of course, but there are a couple of great parties and a interlude in the country first. And the tenor arrives in time to watch Violetta dies of consumption after singing several perfect arias and duets and stuff. Brenda Harris renders Violetta stumbling and catching herself on furniture in her last hours. Good acting but bringing a stunning aria from your gut at the same time seems a bit odd. This is an opera that even I have seen multiple times, me the opera-stupid person. I saw it at the Met with incredibly elaborate multi-story sets. It's interesting to see new stuff but it's nice to just settle into the story and music you've heard before.

There are two intermissions and a long pause. It's over after 11. I wonder why SuRu talked me into driving with my night blindness and realize how little night driving I actually do. At home, I fall asleep after eating some apple pie that our bookkeeper made, from scratch. Oh, maybe she didn't make the pie crust. But the filling. It's delicious.

JUST TYPING
What is Friday.
If you are retired.
Days are composed of what you have to do.
You no longer assume.
That you will work and then be set free.
On the weekend, for two glorious days.
Or freed for a holiday or vacation.
Instead, there is an appointment for the Hi-Fi guys to come.
There are tickets to an opera and a friend to eat with and take in the performance with.
And tomorrow...the rest of the world will be off.
Meaning, you might walk the dog with your working buddy.
Or not go to the store because it's crowded.
The days make a different difference.