Harry's Ruminations

You know, growing-up I had three examples of "real life" to go by: My mom, my Dad, and my Aunt Norie. Each led vastly different lives: Mom was a schoolteacher; Dad was a travelling salesman; and Norie did payroll for the local office of the D.O.T. Like most schoolteachers, Mom's life existed on two levels--the "regular" hours that looked so attractive, and the reality. On paper, it was a sweet enough deal: Work 7 to 2, 5 days a week, get Summer Vacation and lots of "snow days". Reality wasn't so rosy, with Mom doing lesson plans in her off time, grading papers 'til the wee hours of the morning, and running extra-curriculars all the time. So yeah, I didn't want to be a teacher. Dad's job wasn't just bad--it was an anathema. He was gone 10 to 14 hours every day selling groceries to every God-forsaken grocery store in Eastern Kentucky. He put 50,000 miles per year on his car, and only got off on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ac...

Linky Oh, Jim Carrey, how far and hard you've fallen. Last night, Whitney and I RedBox'd Yes Man , a movie completely devoid of plot. Plot: A progression of a story through introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution (denoument). Yeah, this story has none. It has a terrific *premise*, that of a man who is stuck in a rut until he magically transforms into a guy who can't lie and hilarity ensues (wait, that's that other movie by the same guy ). No, this time, he's a guy who can't say 'Yes,' until he goes to a life-changing "Say Yes" seminar taught by General Zod. After this, he experiences a Benny Hinn-style conversion, saying "yes" to everything. Compulsively. And that's pretty much the movie. Back the truck up, there's no plot from that premise on in. Oh, there's lots of peripheral characters, vignettes, and sketches, but it's much closer to "Kentucky Fried Movie" than "Citi...

Perhaps Cal's a bargain at that price. However, when I look at the budget presentation here , I see a $2.2 Billion budget for the University of Kentucky (slide 5). Calipari's $4,375,000 per year is right at 0.2% of the total budget. A pittance? Again, perhaps. However, when we flip over to slide 11, notice a budget slashed to meet declining revenue projections, with 188 positions eliminated. It makes me sick to my stomach to read the last slide, Dr. Todd's valediction to those whose education become unaffordable, and those staff who lost their jobs: The budget before you is far from perfect. There is pain here that no one seeks and no one deserves. In it lies the sacrifice of our students, who will pay more tuition. In it too lies the sacrifice of our faculty and staff, who will not see their pay increase. Yet, you found $35 million to pay some scoundrel who'll probably lead us straight to NCAA sanctions. I can't believe my tax dollars support this kind of crap....

Too long for a tweet, to short for proper blog. Here goes: On Gillespie Yes, you woke up the next day, and Billy Clyde Gillespie is really gone. He's trying to "win" the breakup, showing the world his smiling public face, but make no mistake--you hurt him. You took him right off the turnip truck, threw him in front of the most rabid fan base this side of Notre Dame football, and now he'll be laughing all the way to the bank as he deposits $6 million. I'm no lawyer, but I think that's what that "Memorandum of Understanding" implies. I hate this state sometimes. We generate illiterate sheeple via our public education system, we're closing down higher education programs left and right, and we have to pay someone $6 million TO LEAVE. Brilliant! * * * On Corporate Jargon My wife hates corporate jargon. And general wordiness. And fuzzy-logical things. I laid this gem on her last night: Plans are useless, planning is essential -- Dwight D. Ei...

It was a hot Friday evening, the pavement sizzling though the sun was just about to clock out for the day. Work stank today, in that "Where else you gonna get a job, loser?" sort of way. Fear and loathing in Lexington, yup. But, she waited. She was hundreds of horsepower, rear wheel drive, and leather interior. She didn't run, she purred. Red--I've NEVER had a red car, but nothing else seemed to fit. Those 4 50-series tMIGHT last 10,000 miles, if I never drove hard. Tonight was for driving hard. Slide in, flip the ignition to 'run' just to hear the fuel pump engage. Six individual throttle bodies need lots of pressure, after all. Grind the starter. Yeah, baby...I know it's been a whole week. Sorry. Clutch in, left and up for reverse, ease her out. Idle lopes along...cams, cams, cammmmms.... Lights on. It's twilight, but I don't want anyone missing me on the windy road as I speed by. Coolant temp's coming up, but it'll be awhile...

Ah, Revolution. Romantic thought, isn't it? Taking an untenable social and political situation and hitting the big 'Reset' button on the old Nintendo. Start fresh. Start clean. Do it RIGHT this time. Certainly, it worked for our Founding Fathers. You see, I've been hearing the 'R' word bandied about quite a bit in the last few weeks. Casually, as if people were trying it on for size, or as a rhetorical caper: "Do __________, and you'll have revolution in the streets, Mr. Chairman!" As Peter Griffin would say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa....whoa....whoa!" Take a step back and THINK for a moment what revolution would mean in modern America. We are no longer a decoupled society of self-sufficient frontiersmen, able to handle the gamut from Native American attack through plague through famine in stride. We're 300 million "entitlement" people without basic survival skills other than driving to Kroger to buy fuel. Glen Beck said it...

As I sit here at 5:15 am, drinking coffee and eating Raisin Bran, this is pretty much the first time in 2 weeks I've felt like myself. A head cold turned into bronchitis, then back into a severe head cold. I had fever & chills 3 out of 4 days last week. Finally, the doctor prescribed a course of antibiotics and two days later I couldn't hear out of my right ear. Fun times. So, Dr. Whitney prescribed strict rest--don't do anything unessential. Weld my butt to the couch, drink lots of fluids, stay warm--all good advice. Nearly drove me batty, but at least we started a RedBox-fueled movie marathon. Reviews below: Bolt : Amazing this pointless, self-important, slow 3-D animation came out of the same people who brought us The Incredibles . It's a very small movie, essentially a rip-off of Homeward Bound , starring vocal talents (!) of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus. Like the title character in "The Truman Show", bolt is a TV superstar who has no idea ...