Politics as Usual....

House Democrats to Push Higher Gas Mileage Standards

What is amazing to me, is why it takes such great gobs of time to do something as simple as elevating the gas mileage standards. The issue seems fairly cut and dry, and the reason it won't pass quickly is because all of the congress men & women will tack on their pork before the thing sees the light of day. Additionally, 35 mpg by the year 2020 is weak in my opinion. It just shows that no one, including the democrats, is serious about doing what is right to conserve energy. It is all just politics as usual.

MY WEDNESDAY

Kate and I went to Roggie's Brew and Grill in Brighton located in Cleveland Circle. We had a large peperoni pizza (By the signs outside, it makes it seem like it is their specialty even though the menu is rather diverse) which was quite good. It was a notch above Boston's plentiful Greek style pizza, albeit it sported a similar crust. Following dinner we returned to Kate's apartment which is a couple of blocks over the Brookline city line. We reserved our room in Manhattan for our up coming trip to NYC. We finally settled on a place after pouring over many economy/budget hotels and Bed & Breakfast establishments. It is a small independent hotel in Chelsea. It apparently has recently been redesigned and renovated and has gotten consistently rave reviews on several different booking agencies. It should definitely be a unique experience that I look forward to.

Thursday, 4 out of 5 almost out of the way!

The steady......

metallic drone of the air conditioner resonates in my environment as I dwell in the artificially controlled humidity and temperature. Oh the miracles of a little freon, a three pronged adapter, and electricity.

I sit here sipping my artificially sweetened blueberry green tea, resting my foot on my peeling particle board PC desk. I stop to scratch my thinning hair, and think of errands to do, what I should do, what I should have done, and what I should be doing. I draw a blank and listen to the condensation on the air conditioner coils as it ricochets off of the metal combs.

Hmmm.....

Tonight I watched Midnight Cowboy, sporting a young Jon Voight (making the Angelina Jolie relations more evident) and Dustin Hoffman, not to mention Harry Nilsson's classic tune "Everybody's Talking at Me". It was a good film, depressing, but well done. It was highly stylized for the time period it emerged from. I've read that it was originally rate X, but by today's standards it seems PG13....I guess R. I suppose the prostitution, homosexuality, and drug references probably did it in then. It would seem like it came out at a time when the masses (outside of perhaps the college scene) probably would not be ready for it. It was one of those films that left me a bit comatose. It reminded me a little of Requiem for a dream in some of the imagery. There was a great bohemian party scene midway through the film with music that had to have been an inspiration for Stereolab (Elephant Memory, "Old Man Willow"). Hoffman was great playing yet another completely different role right on mark.

Anyway... I have to get beauty rest, or something along those lines so...
tah tah!

My weekend... a day late

I'll keep this brief and to the point:

Friday Kate came over, we had Italian sandwiches (made at my apartment) and corn on the cob. After our meal we had some soft serve at Soc's. I had half & half (my usual) and Kate chocolate with chocolate sprinkles. Saturday Kate and I began searching for a hotel online for a weekend get away to NYC in early August.

Saturday night brought Tim's Bachelor party which consisted of a pub crawl around Boston. The usual suspects were there, John, Jim, Jess, Nate, Tim's brothers, his cousins, and myself. Jess and Nate stayed in Melrose after the festivities. Sunday Nate, Jess and I had breakfast at the nearby greasy dinner (I forget the name) but it hit the spot. After we accompanied Nate into Kenmore Square so he could visit the Red Sox club house and buy a new hat. After Jess and Nate left for Maine I passed out on my bed for a couple of hours. Then I got up, visited with Jason downstairs, and then called Kate & my folks. This was followed by more hotel searching online. My deal breaker for hotels would probably be bad bathroom access... and bugs. I can deal with roaches... but bed bugs are definitely something I don't want to run into. SO I've been having a blast reading reviews on cleanliness and all of that jazz.

Anyway... nothing of note.

I watched a great documentary yesterday about Somalian immigrants, and the trials and tribulations they go through when coming to the U.S. It was on PBS as part of a series called POV (point of view). These charities that bring these people over really need to do a better job of preparing them for the United States. As admirable as it is to give them an escape from refuge camps they are getting neglected upon arrival. If they aren't better prepared for the culture shock when they arrive, then they need to be more conservative on who comes, and when they are allowed to come. The charities should concentrate on making things right for perhaps smaller numbers of immigrants at a time, rather than taking on mass assimilations.

Tonight I watched Vendetta with Natalie Portman which was quite a good little Sci-Fi flick. It reconnected me with my Libertarian sentiments.

We'll That's all.....