(photo by Neil Douglass)
820am
In the bowels of Grand Central on my way to a client meeting, enjoying a coffee and oatmeal scone at one of the gaily decorated formica tables adjacent to the food stalls on the dining concourse. Seated to my left is an elderly woman, reading the paper and carrying on a running dialogue…with herself. I listen for guidance, aware that the Universe sometimes works in mysterious ways. As it turns out, her morning discourse is about the Barack appearance on Leno, and she’s quite the cynical anarchist, as it turns out. Intelligent and sensible. Score 1 for the Universe.
My word of the day arrived by email from dictionary.com. A good one, today. What do you call the transposition of letters in phrases such as “it is kisstomary to cuss the bride” or “when the boys come back from France, we’ll have the hags flung out”? Spoonerisms. Named after Rev. William Archibald Spooner, who regularly stumbled over his own phrases while sermonizing. W?
930am
Facebook High School meets Real High School. I’ve joked about Facebook HS here before, and I still amuse myself with its similarities to adolescent behavior I observed and experienced during my teens. I wanna be one of the popular kids with 500+ friends and a glorious social and intellectual life, open to all. Alas….
Reality strikes a blow as I receive a friending invitation from one of my real high school classmates, and I am paralyzed by indecision. The last time I agreed to be part of my high school’s online bulletin board, I was emailed into delirium by the flurry of details large and small from the fine people I had mostly left behind a long time ago. I opted out within weeks. I fear the same outcome awaits—different stage, same lyrics, yes?. Isn’t this what high school reunions are for ??----hmm, don’t attend those either….OK, decision made. Sorry, Sharon, the answer is no.
1100am
Caught up with the Krugman column in the NYT. He has consistently opposed the Treasury plan to isolate the toxic assets in a bad bank and underwrite a private/public partnership to offload toxic assets from the good banks to the bad. I think Krugman’s right on substance but wrong on process----I’m not sure that We The People are ready for nationalization----sounds like something John Kerry the French Socialist would do. J Maybe we need the political cover of a faux partnership so that we avoid looking like one of those South American banana republics, right? After all, we are the USA. Harrumph! Here’s the point---how do we dress up a trillion dollar financial rescue of the banking system to make it politically palatable to Main Street, where shops are closing, people are losing jobs and unable to adequately feed and clothe their families, with no bailout in sight for their livelihoods. The Obamites consistently rate a C- in communication skills on this topic. People need to ‘get’ this one---but our leaders are failing on candor and clarity.
1215pm
At lunch at Bryant Park Grill with Scott and Denny, friends from LA who have gone on to fame and fortune in TV and film. The only parts of the media biz that still reasonably thrive. Beautiful cool crisp day outside, warm catching up convo inside. Talked about dogs, travel, The Industry, lovers, and food, but not in that order. They were both encouraging me to think more about becoming a pet owner, maybe through foster care on a temp basis to see how it feels. Scary thought but can’t keep those Bermuda beagles out of mind….
400pm
Spoke with brother Jay, who asked me how I thought Obama was doing. My reply: am in 100% agreement with everything he is trying to do, tackling 25+ years of federal neglect of the nation’s most pressing challenges. 8 years from now, he’ll exit the Oval looking like he’s 320 years old, but are we lucky to have him there now. That about sums it up for me.
Did you see Barack on 60 Minutes last night? Brilliant.
445pm
I love New York.
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