Sundays at the Fulton

Last night saw the return of Kris and Chris; welcome sights, both of them. We discussed the "normalcy" of living in Las Vegas, strip clubs in general and specifically, our conservative relatives, our crazy relatives, the Avon Lake rec center issue, minor-celebrity gossip, and M. Night Shyamalan and his name, among other things. Now if we could just get Mr. Coleman to return and Tim to show up a little more regularly . . .

Jumble performance: one stumper in the initial unscramble that came together once the missing letters were supplied by the pun solution, but a good performance overall.

Slacking off on the Fulton blog because of heavy workload, but we have been going out. The new patio is quite nice, although we were unable to enjoy it this past Sunday because of rain and coldness.

There is general anger over the losing of Boozer, although it was pointed out that we had contemplated both his trade and Shaq's trade several weeks prior, only under a much different scenario.

Much discussion about my little experiment in online dating, but I'm not reiterating that here.

Jumble performance over the past few weeks has been truly kick-ass.

A quiet night, last night, in which Larry and I had some good food and discussed Kelly's poor cat, my niece's dance recital, the favorable economics of running a dance studio, pathological liars, the ambitions (or lack thereof) of friends and relatives, and my disappointment in the lack of loose-end tying in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, which I finally finished this week. I also learned something interesting about Larry, but since y'all weren't there to hear it, you miss out.

A stellar, probably record-breaking performance from Larry in the initial Jumble unscrambling, but a pathetic outcome overall, this being the second time in the year or so we've been doing this that we had to give up and look at the answer. Must be the bad juju given off by the PD's new PDQ section.

Struggled to find words --
Kris did it so much better.
We will miss him much.

Transportation difficulties caused us to move the Sunday confab to Nighttown, where the service was worse than mediocre. (I reiterate that we do not get poor service from the Fulton, and that while being thrown a free round once in a while would be nice, it's not necessary to my continuing to like and patronize the place.) Tim bristled at the undercover patio section being nonsmoking, Larry tried to set his arm on fire and succeeded in setting the tablecloth on fire, Kris introduced us to Alexander, and I shared a story that illustrates the sheer idiocy of some members of the anti-choice movement.

Beyond that, I'm having a hard time recalling exactly what we talked about. A little help here?

Dennis + "Meet the Press" = trainwreck

kids' piano recitals = priceless

(John Kerry + deferred nomination acceptance) / public opinion after a weekend to percolate = possibly a good strategy

Democratic Party fundraising time ≠ Republican Party fundraising time

Lori + dating = headshaking

Jumble / (Larry + Lori) < 2 minutes

Much serious and prolonged discussion re: the Iraqi prisoner scandal. No consensus on whether it is ever okay to treat people that way. Some feel that if the result is preventing another 9/11, it might be justifiable, espceially if the other side is not a country per se (e.g., Al Qaeda) and thus not subject to the strictures of the Geneva Convention. I feel that it is never okay and that we should be above this kind of treatment (people are people, we should be held to a higher standard, etc.) and pointed out that in this particular case, we're talking mostly about people who had been randomly rounded up off the streets for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and had no known connections to terrorism.

Lynndie: Still trailer trash. Open speculation over whether she'll send someone over to Jessica Lynch's place with a crowbar a la Tonya Harding in response to JL's condemnation of the situation.

Many think Jerry Springer is a viable and electable candidate for governor of Ohio. I will bow to their superior knowledge of the man within the realm of politics, but as a voter, I want to see something of substance from him other than big monetary contributions; I want to see him distance himself from that horrible show; and I want to start hearing what he's about. Right now, all he says to me is "let's make Ohio a laughingstock over something else."

Tim wonders how I can condemn the Jerry Springer show yet hold such affection for the equally train-wrecky Showbiz Moms & Dads. It's a good question, and I'm still strying to come up with a way to adequately describe the differences between the two for me.

Jumble performance: below average.

In attendance (in order of arrival): Me, Larry, Tim, Khaled, special guest Ki, Chris C.

Treatment of Iraqi prisoners = despicable and inexcusable.

Lynndie = trailer trash.

Rummy: The longer he sticks around, the better for the Democrats.

Bush = beyond the point of no return. He's outta there.

Baseball: Um, some conclusion or another. (Remember the "wah-waah-wah-waah" sound the adults made in the Peanuts animated cartoons? That's what detailed baseball talk sounds like to me.)

Jacobs Field has a whole lot of empty seats.

The Fulton's chicken sandwich = heavenly.