I’m in a desperate race to finish my book club selection before Thursday, so you’ll have to excuse the abbreviated post. If you’re looking for something to read, you could do much worse than Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood. I’ll give a brief review in a few days. But first, the text awaits.
I’m hoping to travel to San Francisco sometime this year to visit my brother. And while I’m looking forward to seeing him and exploring the Bay Area again, I don’t look forward to flying again. For us gimps, flying can be an uncomfortable hassle that forces us to abandon our wheelchairs and sit in seats that are not designed to accommodate our unique anatomies. Then there’s the added stress of wondering whether our wheelchairs will arrive intact once we reach our destination. It’s enough to make someone start a petition to require airlines to allow wheelchairs in the passenger sections of airplanes. On-line petitions probably don’t carry much weight, but I signed it anyway because I’d someday like to fly without choreographing the whole endeavor.
I’ll leave it others to blog about the grim news unfolding in suburban Boston. Instead, here’s an amusing clip of Harrison Ford and Chewbacca airing things out on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Because sometimes humor is the only way to cope with the insanity.
Of course, I’d like to see Ford in the next Star Wars movie. And I’m guessing he feels the same way.
I try to avoid blogging about the weather, but today’s spring snowstorm has me thinking more about melting Arctic sea ice and global weirding. According to some climate scientists, disappearing Arctic ice may result in more harsh, snowy winters like this one. And if our summers are also trending warmer (which they seem to be), I may be spending a good deal more time indoors during the entire year. This isn’t exactly the future I was hoping for.
In what may be a sign of things to come, Senator Max Baucus delivered a stern warning to Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius for not doing enough to educate people about what the Affordable Care Act means for them. He has a legitimate point; the feds need to step up their public relations efforts soon if they hope to get people enrolled in health coverage beginning in the fall. But Baucus should be more concerned about the implementation of the federal exchange that will be serving over thirty states. The success of health care reform hinges upon the work of anonymous programmers and web designers who must construct a website that is stable and functional on a massive scale from day one. Getting the word out is important, but it won’t matter much if the exchange website is overwhelmed or difficult to use.
The feds are certainly capable of pulling this off, but I wonder if elected officials really understand how much technical wizardry is necessary to make health care reform a reality. And I wonder how many other Democrats will start predicting failure as a means of political damage control.
While I’ve been fighting this cold, my reading quota has fallen sharply. I hope to begin correcting that soon. But first, the latest episode of Mad Men calls. That Don Draper is a right bastard, isn’t he? I’m expecting epic fallout once Megan takes the blinders off. Don’t disappoint me, Matt Weiner.
My apologies for the lack of updates over the last few days. I’m feeling better, but it may take a few more days for me to be at full strength again as this particular virus is something of a malingerer. So don’t expect any dazzling prose in the immediate future. Then again, you probably don’t expect that anyway.
Of course, my thoughts are with the people of Boston. Let’s hope the perpetrators are caught soon and that the media shows good judgment as they rush to cover this tragedy.
I seem to be fighting a cold, which is rather inconvenient. More tomorrow.
Even though I may lose my last few remaining readers as a result, I invite you to check out Shane Burcaw’s blog entitled Laughing at My Nightmare. Shane is an engaging writer who brings a sense of humor to his stories about living with spinal muscular atrophy. He’s also younger and better looking than me, although I’m trying to not let that color my assessment of his talent. Shane also answered questions about his disability on a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread. Reddit alternately fascinates and frightens me, so Shane is also much braver than me. In short, I don’t know why you’re still here when you could be reading Shane’s blog.
Let us pour out a pint of grog in memory of Lucasarts, the legendary game developer that Disney is shuttering after acquiring it last fall. My brother and I spent a good portion of our youth crowded around the computer in my bedroom, playing games like Day of the Tentacle, X-Wing, and Dark Forces. X-Wing was particularly suited to our style of collaborative play; he would handle piloting and combat duties while I would remind him when to double aft shields and punch it. Good times.
You can still find classic Lucasarts available through, er, alternative distribution channels. All you need to play them is the ScummVM emulator.
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