notes from behind the coffee counter

John Updike, a Lyrical Writer of the Middle-Class Man, Dies at 76 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com

Sad day, big loss. I consider John Updike as one of America’s greatest writers. I was taking a creative writing class when I was first introduced to his work. It was the short story “A&P.” Sammy, the protagonist, has always been one of my all time favorite characters in literature, right up there with Holden Caufield. Yeah, I’m one of those. In that creative writing class (which by the way is where I fell in love with my wife, Jennifer) we all had to write a research paper. I can’t remember what the parameters had to be but I chose to write about how Sammy was a catalyst to the counter culture that would eventually follow in the later years of the sixties. I later expanded the paper to include Holden Caulfied for another English class at a different school. (I got an A on both papers, BTW.) Updike’s writing has always fascinated me because he made it look easy. As if. The News Hour on PBS has a great interview with John Updike from 2003. In it he talks about Sammy. Actually he’s asked about that short story. Probably because it’s become a staple in English departments nation wide. When he talks about Sammy its as if, for just a moment, he became real person for me. And Updike’s explanation of Sammy feelings in the end helped me recognize I was on the right track in my paper of long ago. So, thanks John for all your works and especially thank you for introducing me to not only Sammy but writing in general.

Best ad of the week: Say Goodbye To Mr. Bush

Most expensive lay: Natalie Dylan, a 22-year-old student from San Diego, Calif, auctions off her virginity. Offers are as high as 3.7 million. Hope there’s a money back guarantee.

And something else to sink my heart. Coffee to jump prices 26%. Say it ain’t so, Joe.

Paul Krugman – Forgive and Forget? – NYTimes.com

On one hand I totally agree. We can’t let abuses of power go unpunished. Otherwise we have no right to complain when the next guy (or gal) does it. There is so much to answer for here I really don’t know where to begin. The Iraq fiasco would be a good place to start.
On the other hand Gerald Ford’s reasoning for his pardon of Nixon makes sense to me. Do we really want to spend the next 4 years bickering over Bush’s mistakes when we could be doing something constructive? Yeah, me too.
Lets not forget what Ford said in his inaugural address:

My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.

I know Obama won’t say it but it sure feels that way now.

Apple’s Chief Is Taking Medical Leave – NYTimes.com

Anyone who knows me knows I’m all about Apple products, especially the Mac. I’m not going to go through the whole mess on whether Steve Jobs has the responsibility to disclose his health condition publicly. Personally I feel its none of my business. I feel that Apple is in a good place with Tim Cook, Philip Schiller and Jonathan Ive. Dan Moren over at MacWorld has a good take on this. I would say this though, as person who worked for Pan Am I am very well aware of a CEO that is synonymous with his company. Some say Juan T. Trippe kept Pan Am in his head. I hope this isn’t the case at Apple, but I really don’t think so. There is an insightful quote in the Times article:

By all accounts, Mr. Cook does not have the long-term vision or showmanship of Mr. Jobs, who appears capable of peering around corners into the future of technology, and can whip crowds into a frenzy merely by taking something new out of his pocket.

That kind of personality can’t be replaced. Now is the wake up call for all of us, for a day we all know will someday day come.
In the meantime get well Steve. Best wishes.

Well we just spent a shit load of cash (actually not) on redecorating our living room. For the longest time we had a set of Christmas lights that we strung across the ceiling. It was cool because it gave a soft light in the room and made TV watching bearable without the glare. Problem was they were old and when one bulb went out it took a whole string with it. Good luck finding replacement bulbs (I think the set is about ten years old.) We decided to go with candles. Soft light, cheap, and most importantly is you don’t have to rewire anything. It actually turned out real well. Here’s a look see.
Oh yeah, Jen decided to get her hands done in henna. Although I’m not a big fan of such things I do admit it looks real well. Check it out here
Well we finally finished Mad Men and I must say its awesome. All fan of Don Draper should check this site out. Jen is going to usesome of the episodes from the first season for her Persuasion class this spring. We had to come up with a creative way for her students to watch it. I mean you can’t expect them to buy a complete DVD set. Solution: iTunes. Three episodes at 2 bucks each. Hell they spend more than that on texting for shits sake. And who doesn’t have iTunes these days, especially in college.
Just started (finally) to watch Band Of Brothers this week. Wow. Let you know How I feel about it later.