I know that the usual phrase is “aging stinks” but in my case it smells. Or rather I have olfactory hallucinations now that I never had before. They’re called ‘dysosmia’ and they can be caused by any number of physiological or neurological events. In my case I strongly suspect that sinus infection and or allergies are the root cause.
What happens to me is that I get a faint odor of smoke, like cigarette smoke or burning paper, when there isn’t any smoke present. Sometimes the sensation is strong enough to make me ask Michele if she smells smoke too. The bouts of phantom smoke smell seem to correlate with sinus headaches. A quick google search or two unearthed several pages talking about this phenomenon. At least I’m not alone with this particular malady.
Of course some of the pages my search turned up are highly medical in nature and stridently urge the reader to go to as many doctors as possible as quickly as possible because the odor hallucination is almost certainly a precursor to migraines, tumors, or alien invasion.
As for me, knowing what the cause is, and being able to remedy it with an over the counter treatment, is enough. I’ll leave the alien invasion group alone with their tinfoil hats.
This afternoon and evening I received three calls to my cell phone that all came from “private number.” Each time the caller choose not to leave a message on my voice mail. Since they are blocking their caller id from appearing on my phone I have no way to know for certain that it was the same party calling each time, but I’m willing to bet that it was.
Three calls, all resulting in the same voice mail, probably means this isn’t a wrong number. Once or even twice I could understand. But if you were trying to get ahold of someone wouldn’t you leave a message eventually?
With the increasing proliferation of my home and cell numbers in various databases I am noticing an increasing number of calls I don’t wish to receive. As a personal choice I don’t answer calls from “unknown” or “private” numbers. My number is private, I pay for it to be unlisted and unpublished, so I understand the desire for privacy. But when you call me, repeatedly, without leaving a message, using a line that has it’s caller id blocked, then you are going to be frustrated.
You see, while the call maybe urgent and important to the person making the call, it isn’t necessarily those things for me receiving it. The call is an interruption in my routine. I have to stop what I’m presently doing and answer the phone. Once I accept your offer of a telephone call by answering it I’m trapped. So I really appreciate the insight caller id provides; if the call is from a number I know, I can evaluate the ramifications of accepting the call.
But, if you block your inbound number to me, my answering the phone is a roll of the dice. Maybe it’ll be a good experience, maybe it’ll be some slime mold selling me something I don’t want.
For me, no caller id equals no answer.
Leave it to Apple to reinvent the mouse. One button looks with multi-button functionality is what the new “MightyMouse” from Apple promises. While I am not a fan of corded input devices, and have transitioned away from using a mouse altogether on my PowerBook, I am very tempted to buy this mouse.
We didn’t watch as many movies this weekend as usual, but we did see a couple of good ones.
The Adventures of Robin Hood The original Errol Flynn version, campy, over-acted and under rated. Even with Kevin Costner’s wooden performing style I prefer the newer one to this one, but it’s worth seeing.
The Godfather Your collection is not complete unless you have this masterpiece. The chilling decent into darkness portrayed by Al Pacino is stunning. Maybe the best movie even in my opinion.
Shortly after I got my first driver’s license in the mid-1970s, Illinois, along with most of the rest of the country passed a law making it legal to turn right at a stop light when it was red, provided you stopped first and no one was approaching. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately most people are just large children in need of adult supervision, especially when they are behind the wheel of a car.
Increasingly I find that driver’s think right turn on red means they have the right of way over traffic approaching on the cross street; that they don’t need to stop or give way to moving traffic. Just in the past week I have seen two near accidents caused by some cow head blowing through his/her red light to turn right in front of moving traffic that had the right of way.
That driving is a privilege is lost on these cretins. Sharing the road and defensive driving have become quaint anachronisms. Today’s take-no-prisoners style of driving endangers every one on the road. Contributing to this problem is the hurry-up attitude our society has about everything. No one is content to merely drive with the flow of traffic any more. Our highways, especially around large metropolitan areas, have become race tracks. People will drive outrageously just to pass a single vehicle. It seems that in America today winners are good, losers are bad, and everything is a contest.
We are a nation of self-indulgent, spoiled brats in desperate need of some maturity. Unfortunately, I don’t see the US growing up any time soon.
Recently we’ve watched:
In Good Company A light-hearted look at corporate takeover and employment angst. Somewhat predictable, but funny and enjoyable all the same.
Hostage I read this book several years ago, and once again, the movie was lacking. When every the screenplay doesn’t involve the author of the book you know you are in trouble. Most disturbing was a recurring rape theme that I don’t remember at all in the book. Using rape as “entertainment” is not only sick, it’s wrong.
Coach Carter Very good movie, perhaps better than “Remember the Titans”. As always Samuel L. Jackson delivers a commanding performance.
Be Cool The sequel to “Get Shorty”, Be Cool tries and ultimately fails to achieve its title command. The ensemble cast is great, and there are bits that are quite good, but the coy attempt to recreate a Pulp Fiction like feel fall flat.
Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine A very interesting look at the “defeat” of Garry Kasparov by IBM’s chess computer Deep Blue. Very little actual chess, but a lot of discussion about the atmosphere around the games in New York City where the computer ultimately won the match.
Final Cut A slightly futuristic film about the impact of chips implanted in humans to record their entire lives. Robin Williams stars and turns in a good performance, but the story left me wanting more. The conclusion was dissatisfying in that his character’s life ultimately has no meaning.
The Aviator A tremendous movie, with an outstanding performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes. A disturbingly good portrayal of life with obsessive compulsive illness and no treatment.
This is just ridiculous.
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In December 1995 my life, my world, was turned upside down. And I have been happy ever since. You see, that December a decade ago I met my future wife online in, of all places, an AOL chat room. One or two online chats quickly grew into a phone call. And that initial phone call blossomed into more calls until we were talking for several hours every day.
She was living in Colorado and I in Illinois so after three months on the phone I traveled to meet her in Colorado Springs. That initial meeting was both terrifying and uplifting. Returning to our separate lives afterward was hard for both of us. Our daily phone conversations expanded to multiple calls a day, and by mid-summer we were ready to see each other again. Since neither of us could afford the plane trip we agreed to meet in Salina Kansas, which was almost perfectly halfway between us. The motel was old, and bed painfully swaybacked but we had fun for three days getting to know each other even better.
It would be November before we saw each other again. Our relationship had deepened, and we were both thinking about living closer to the other. Michele’s job was in jeopardy as the psychiatric hospital she worked for was going out of business. The November weekend we spent together in Salina was when we both realized that being together was what we wanted, what we needed.
Michele made the trip to Springfield the first time during a bitter cold, snowy week in January 1997. We had been talking on the phone for a year and we were ready for a life together. Although initially dismayed at the stark flatness of central Illinois after living in Colorado, Michele was ready to leave her crumbling job situation behind and move. I flew to Colorado Springs Valentine’s Day weekend to help her get ready for her move a couple of weeks later. Instead we ended up packing her entire apartment for the movers, and driving back to Illinois together a week early.
We’ve only been apart two nights since, both for employment interviews I had.
Shortly after moving into the duplex where I had been living by myself, Michele and I announced our wedding plans to my family and hers. This coming Tuesday, July 26, 2005, we will have been married for eight years. We have lived in four states, moving as many times, during our marriage. Together we have faced financial hardships, the death of loved ones, and the loss of a cherished pet. We have also laughed and grown, explored our spirituality and come to a greater understanding of who we are as individuals.
Michele once said that marriage is where you resolve the issues from your childhood. I believe that to be true, and I know that we have each grown in our own ways to address those issues. We are happiest when we are at home, together, sharing life.
After ten years of knowing this amazing woman, of learning to see myself through her eyes, of anticipating her smile, of wanting to share all of me with her; after all these years I still can’t wait to be with her at the end of the work day.
Michele, I know we have said this more than once, but I would marry you again in an instant. Honest and for true. You complete me, you provide the light in my life, you allow me to be your hero, and you are my hero when I need one. I am truly the most fortunate man alive in the universe; for I get to share my life with you.
Thank you for being my friend, companion, lover, partner, hero, buddy, and wife.
I lov eyou //\ichele
As we approach the next anniversary of Nine-Eleven I have this thought.
15 of the 19 individuals involved in the hijackings and subsequent attacks on New York City and Washington were Saudi Arabians. So naturally we attacked Afghanistan and then Iraq.
What if 15 of the 19 individuals had been North Korean? Would we have invaded Japan? South Korea? If they had been Columbian would we have invaded Cuba?
My point is that there are really only two motives in the world: money and love. We, as a country, pay enormous sums to the Saudis for oil. America, like a petulant teenager, knows when not to bite the hand that feeds it.
What chaps my ass is that we give lip service to fighting terrorist while shipping money by the boatload to a country that open supports terrorists.
I just don’t get it.
Michele and I both like “reality” television. Our favorite shows are Survivor and Amazing Race. We also liked The Mole when it was on the air. However our shameful secret is that we also watch Big Brother.
Each season has gotten more and more smutty. It’s like a whole summer of the Jerry Springer show. On steroids. The people willing to expose themselves (literally and figuratively) on this show are an amazing cross section of self-important, full-of-themselves exhibitionists.
We find ourselves repulsed and attracted at the same time. Rather like passing an automobile accident and having to slow down to look.