Wrist Watches

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

I'm fed up with people saying they are going to stop wearing wrist watches just because they can always tell time from their phones.  The way I see it wrist watches were invented as an alternative to the pocket watch so people could tell the hour just by looking at their wrist, without having to dig into their pockets.  The pocket search is further complicated when any one of the following variables is in effect: a) tight pants, b) overcoats in cold weather, c) proliferation of pocket goods (e.g. keys, candy, etc.).  

The invention of the wrist watch is analogous to the new technology of the keyless entry and ignition.  This key was invented to help people avoid the trouble, and occasional injury, of always reaching into your pocket and exposing your cuticles to the harsh materials.  Ironically, by abandoning the wrist watch and reaching for the cell phone, people are literally rejecting science and technology.     

Specs

It looks like my computer-screen-intensive lifestyle has finally caught up with me... and not a moment too soon. On the east coast, you're a nobody if you don't wear glasses. You have to be a nerd to be heard. The experience at the eye doctor was all so sudden. He ran some tests and told me to respond "clear" or "blurry" and next thing I know, this young sales associate is telling me which frames look good on me and which don't. Suddenly, I now belong to this new society where you talk about books that you have read while wearing a vision-improving apparatus on your face. I was kind of nervous about the new look but preliminary feedback has been overwhelmingly positive--one person even plans to feign blurred vision at an eye exam. I think as long as I just continue wearing V-neck sweaters I'll be OK.

Fall TV: 30 Rock

30 Rock has been crushing it so far in Season 3. The Oprah episode was wonderful. My favorite part was the ethical dilemma theme with Kenneth ("scenarios are like lying to your brain", and the elevator scene [tripped wire, hermetically sealed, oxygen enough for 8 people, unfortunately there are 7, I have replaced the emergency phone with a pistol loaded with 1 bullet] where Kenneth can't pull the trigger fast enough). So far this season has been pleasantly comical. I'm not sure if you saw last week's episode with Kathy and the soap operas but the scene up in the top floor where Jack and Liz were acting out a passionate soap scene and were on the brink of kissing was pretty fantastic.

Season 1 is definitely on par with (if not better than) what we've seen so far in season 3. Season 2, as with so many other sitcoms, felt a bit interrupted, possibly gimmicky at times (thanks to the writers' strike) but the raw wit and the character interaction and the topical satire remained strong. I highly recommend renting/acquiring season 1 (and 2). If you're looking for some greatest hits, I think my favorites from Season 1 were 'Jack Meets Dennis' and whatever the episode with Thomas Jefferson is called. They pretty much all have at least something redeeming about them.

Financial Meltdown

As the financial markets came to a near collapse during the early part of this week, I, like so many others, found myself with head in hand. The Dow dropped nearly 500 points on Monday after Lehman's bankruptcy, Merril Lynch's merger, and AIG's troubling balance sheet came to light. Then, on Wednesday, stoked by investor pessimism, it dropped 450 points (4.1%) to finish at 10,609.66, its lowest closing level since Nov. 9, 2005. This led me to hastily sell off a sizable portion of my stock portfolio on Thursday morning--ironically, the market jumped about 400 points after I sold. The Fed announced that it plans to enact a bailout program which would take the bad assets off the balance sheets of financial companies, freeing them up to resume conducting business in a somewhat regular fashion, and restore some sense of trust and confidence between institutions. The market has reacted positively over the past 2 days but we'll see how this plays out long term.

The Bunkbed Series

It comes down to this: 2 brothers, former bunkmates, separated across the nation, but united as family, forced to duke it out. In one corner, The Al Pedriques (Desmond B.) bolstered by Chase Utley, Justin Morneau, the ailing Vlad Guerrero, the surging Andre Ethier, and Cliff Lee. In the other corner, The Gordon Geckos (Twainfecta) a.k.a. The Wall St. Whammers who surged from 12th place to 4th place over the course of about 6 weeks just to get into the playoffs, and who now, miraculously, find themselves in this 2-week September Classic. The Geckos boast a lineup of Alfonso Soriano, Jimmy Rollins, Manny Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia, Nate McClouth, et al. And a pitching staff backed by Jon Lester, Brett Myers, Mike Mussina, and a bunch of mediocres.

As these brothers go tete a tete, the question on everyone's mind is: who will end up on top?