We went off to see the queen last week - the movie, that is. "The Queen" was nominated for various awards and I think the lead actress won a trophy but I don't keep up with all that celebrity nonsense. But you've got to see the movie.
The royal family probably hated it but it gave us a behind-the-scenes view of what life must be like for Queen Elizabeth and it also lets us know that there is a real personality behind that stoic face. The story takes place right after Princess Diana was killed, which was very stressful for a lot of people including the Queen and her family. She wanted to keep it all private - that is, keep out of it entirely - because Diana was no longer "HRH." Eventually she had to give way, of course. Her ancestors could ignore public opinion, but that isn't the modern way of doing things and Tony Blair was newly elected and anxious to "modernize" UK government.
Who knew that Queen Elizabeth has had ten prime ministers, beginning with Winston Churchill? Who knew that the custom is for the newly elected prime minister to kneel before the Queen so she can ask if he will form her government for her (and the traditional answer is "yes")?
Who knew that she was a mechanic during "the war" (WWII) and is at home behind the steering wheel of a Land Rover, driving over country trails and across rivers?
Who knew that she could become teary-eyed upon seeing a 14-point deer that the hunters (including her grandsons) were after, and would shoo it away? Who knew that she hoped it didn't suffer after being wounded and then killed by somebody from a neighboring estate, in Scotland? Reality or metaphor, the deer scenes are powerful.
And who would know that kilts look like normal clothing when worn by the men of the royal family?
You've got to see the movie to believe all this.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Uncle Jack turns 89!
I hope I look this good at Uncle Jack's age. He has slowed down physically but his mind is still sharp. One of his nieces gave him a computer game about World War II but his computer needs more memory to run it. It's his computer that has a memory problem, not his mind. That may be what a lifetime of reading can do for you!
That's his sister, Sally, with him. She and several carloads of family showed up yesterday at his and Geri's home for a surprise birthday party. Caught him by surprise, too.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
little things
This turned up in my in-box, and it may or may not be entirely true but it makes an important point:
The head of a company survived 9/11 because his son started kindergarten that morning.
Another fellow is alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One's car wouldn't start.
One went back to answer the telephone.
One had a child that dawdled and didn't get ready as soon as he should have.
One couldn't get a taxi.
One man put on a new pair of shoes that morning. Before he got to work, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.
Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone . . . all the little things that annoy me . . . I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.
Next time your morning seems to be going wrong, the children are slow getting dressed, you can't find the car keys, or you hit every traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated. May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things. Remember that there may be some good purpose for your being exactly where you at that moment in time.
The head of a company survived 9/11 because his son started kindergarten that morning.
Another fellow is alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One's car wouldn't start.
One went back to answer the telephone.
One had a child that dawdled and didn't get ready as soon as he should have.
One couldn't get a taxi.
One man put on a new pair of shoes that morning. Before he got to work, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.
Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone . . . all the little things that annoy me . . . I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.
Next time your morning seems to be going wrong, the children are slow getting dressed, you can't find the car keys, or you hit every traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated. May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things. Remember that there may be some good purpose for your being exactly where you at that moment in time.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
thinking ahead to the Super Bowl
It's been two weeks since I last blogged. I wonder if anybody noticed.
It is good, very good, to see Tony Dungy taking the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl. He left a lot of fans behind in the Tampa Bay area when he was fired after the 2001 season. (How can fans fire the owners? Not buying tickets is the only way I can think of.) He is a class act and he knows football. When he arrived in 1996 the Bucs had had 13 consecutive losing seaons. Less than two years later they won a playoff game. He left a Bucs team good enough to win after the 2002 season.
This will be the first time a black head coach has taken a team to the Super Bowl in the 41-year history of the Super Bowl but, technically, he won't be the first. There will be two of them this year and Coach Lovie Smith beat him to it when the Chicago Bears won earlier in the day. Smith is another class act. He and Dungy are going to upgrade the Super Bowl to a nice-guy competition, imagine that.
Dungy hired Smith for his first NFL job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996. Long-suffering Bucs fans have kept track of former Bucs players who have done good elsewhere and now we have the spectacle of two former coaches who have become head coaches elsewhere in the NFL and they have done just fine without the Bucs' organization and fickle fan support.
I'm not even a huge football fan. But I will be watching the game on Super Bowl Sunday, and I hope Tony Dungy and the Colts go all the way.
It is good, very good, to see Tony Dungy taking the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl. He left a lot of fans behind in the Tampa Bay area when he was fired after the 2001 season. (How can fans fire the owners? Not buying tickets is the only way I can think of.) He is a class act and he knows football. When he arrived in 1996 the Bucs had had 13 consecutive losing seaons. Less than two years later they won a playoff game. He left a Bucs team good enough to win after the 2002 season.
This will be the first time a black head coach has taken a team to the Super Bowl in the 41-year history of the Super Bowl but, technically, he won't be the first. There will be two of them this year and Coach Lovie Smith beat him to it when the Chicago Bears won earlier in the day. Smith is another class act. He and Dungy are going to upgrade the Super Bowl to a nice-guy competition, imagine that.
Dungy hired Smith for his first NFL job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996. Long-suffering Bucs fans have kept track of former Bucs players who have done good elsewhere and now we have the spectacle of two former coaches who have become head coaches elsewhere in the NFL and they have done just fine without the Bucs' organization and fickle fan support.
I'm not even a huge football fan. But I will be watching the game on Super Bowl Sunday, and I hope Tony Dungy and the Colts go all the way.
Monday, January 08, 2007
go, Gators
Being an FSU alumnus, I don't normally cheer for any team representing slithery reptiles from an institution of higher learning located in Hogtown, Florida. (That was the earlier name for Gainesville, renamed in honor of a Civil War general after the railroad came through. Hogtown is not a dignified name for a railroad station. They have a creek running through town, still named Hogtown Creek.)
Having said that, I'll be cheering for the Gators against Ohio State tonight for a couple of reasons. One is that the Gators are in the game and the FSU team is at home watching on TV. The other is that I still remember the sight of Coach Woody Hayes throwing a punch at a player from the other team when he got too close to the Ohio State sideline.
But if the Gators win, I won't be out in the streets setting fire to anything. I hope I'm still awake by the time the game ends. I'll be mumbling "go, Gators" with my eyes half closed.
Go, Gators.
ZZZzzzzz. . .
Having said that, I'll be cheering for the Gators against Ohio State tonight for a couple of reasons. One is that the Gators are in the game and the FSU team is at home watching on TV. The other is that I still remember the sight of Coach Woody Hayes throwing a punch at a player from the other team when he got too close to the Ohio State sideline.
But if the Gators win, I won't be out in the streets setting fire to anything. I hope I'm still awake by the time the game ends. I'll be mumbling "go, Gators" with my eyes half closed.
Go, Gators.
ZZZzzzzz. . .
Friday, January 05, 2007
my kind of book
The following is borrowed shamelessly from the St. Petersburg Times and the Associated Press:
There's a new book out about messy homes, offices, and lives, just in time for New Year's. The message is, stop worrying about it!
That's the case outlined by Eric Abrahamson, a professor of management at Columbia University, and journalist David H. Freedman in their new book, A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder.
Rather than feeling guilty about resolutions you have no intention of keeping, check out this list of New Year's anti-resolutions suggested by Freedman, also a columnist at Inc. magazine.
[condensed version follows]
- Feel fine about having a moderately cluttered house. A moderately messy home feels warmer, and more comfortable and nurturing, and reflects the interests and activities of the family. When people resonding to a survey calculated the amount of time they spent searching for misplaced items, it carved a mere nine minutes from their day.
- Feel fine about having a somewhat dirty house. Overexposure to fumes from cleaning products is a bigger risk than clutter or grime. Studies have found that children with limited exposure to dust and allergens are more likely to develop allergies later in life.
- Be more disorganized with your time. If you pack many rigidly scheduled tasks into the day, you'll shortchange almost everyone you deal with.
[here's my favorite]
- Have a messy desk. "Messy desks can be highly functional, with the most-needed documents ending up at hand and the less-important ones buried. People who said they keep a 'very neat desk' spend an average of 36 percent more time looking for things at work than people who said they keep a 'fairly messy' desk."
- Don't fight with partners or children over messiness. Studies have shown that kids study and function very well in messy environments.
[and here's my second favorite]
- Procrastinate more. "Procrastination is a form of prioritizing, and of letting as many things as possible take care of themselves or become irrelevant over time, without your having to waste effort on them."
I could buy this book but it would get lost in the clutter. I'll wait until the public library gets a recorded copy on CDs that I can play in my car going to and from work.
There's a new book out about messy homes, offices, and lives, just in time for New Year's. The message is, stop worrying about it!
That's the case outlined by Eric Abrahamson, a professor of management at Columbia University, and journalist David H. Freedman in their new book, A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder.
Rather than feeling guilty about resolutions you have no intention of keeping, check out this list of New Year's anti-resolutions suggested by Freedman, also a columnist at Inc. magazine.
[condensed version follows]
- Feel fine about having a moderately cluttered house. A moderately messy home feels warmer, and more comfortable and nurturing, and reflects the interests and activities of the family. When people resonding to a survey calculated the amount of time they spent searching for misplaced items, it carved a mere nine minutes from their day.
- Feel fine about having a somewhat dirty house. Overexposure to fumes from cleaning products is a bigger risk than clutter or grime. Studies have found that children with limited exposure to dust and allergens are more likely to develop allergies later in life.
- Be more disorganized with your time. If you pack many rigidly scheduled tasks into the day, you'll shortchange almost everyone you deal with.
[here's my favorite]
- Have a messy desk. "Messy desks can be highly functional, with the most-needed documents ending up at hand and the less-important ones buried. People who said they keep a 'very neat desk' spend an average of 36 percent more time looking for things at work than people who said they keep a 'fairly messy' desk."
- Don't fight with partners or children over messiness. Studies have shown that kids study and function very well in messy environments.
[and here's my second favorite]
- Procrastinate more. "Procrastination is a form of prioritizing, and of letting as many things as possible take care of themselves or become irrelevant over time, without your having to waste effort on them."
I could buy this book but it would get lost in the clutter. I'll wait until the public library gets a recorded copy on CDs that I can play in my car going to and from work.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
thoughts on another new year
The calendar has flipped its pages, and once again I am fooled into thinking this is a terribly significant event.
New Year's Day does make you ask some basic questions such as, why am I here, where did I come from, and where am I going, but these are questions we ought to ask every morning when we roll out of bed, or at least every Sunday when a fresh new week begins.
New Year's Day does give you some incentive to get started on long overdue projects like ridding the garage and closets of junk, trash, and unused neckties, but Saturday mornings are just as good a time as any to do that.
New Year's Day also give you another incentive to begin to think about getting ready to commence preparing for income tax day, but hey, not this week. Let's get the Christmas bills under control first.
I like New Year's Day. The shortest day of the year is behind us and the days are getting longer, again. It marks the middle of a relatively slack time where I work, and makes me want to do a little organizing of the debris that piles up during the year. This is why stores sell those huge boxes with lids for packing and storing stuff. What I really want is an industrial grade paper shredder than can handle a shovel full of paper at a time.
Our friends and relatives know not to expect a Christmas card from us before Christmas. We've sometimes mailed them before New Year's Day, but not this year. If we get them out before Valentine's Day, that's not too late. Christmas is something to celebrate all year long, anyway, right? Mailing Christmas cards is another way we celebrate the beginning of a new year. Maybe we'll get them out early next time. Or maybe not.
New Year's Day does make you ask some basic questions such as, why am I here, where did I come from, and where am I going, but these are questions we ought to ask every morning when we roll out of bed, or at least every Sunday when a fresh new week begins.
New Year's Day does give you some incentive to get started on long overdue projects like ridding the garage and closets of junk, trash, and unused neckties, but Saturday mornings are just as good a time as any to do that.
New Year's Day also give you another incentive to begin to think about getting ready to commence preparing for income tax day, but hey, not this week. Let's get the Christmas bills under control first.
I like New Year's Day. The shortest day of the year is behind us and the days are getting longer, again. It marks the middle of a relatively slack time where I work, and makes me want to do a little organizing of the debris that piles up during the year. This is why stores sell those huge boxes with lids for packing and storing stuff. What I really want is an industrial grade paper shredder than can handle a shovel full of paper at a time.
Our friends and relatives know not to expect a Christmas card from us before Christmas. We've sometimes mailed them before New Year's Day, but not this year. If we get them out before Valentine's Day, that's not too late. Christmas is something to celebrate all year long, anyway, right? Mailing Christmas cards is another way we celebrate the beginning of a new year. Maybe we'll get them out early next time. Or maybe not.
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