Keeping the Plate Full

OK last week we went to Sundance to see our kid's husband's premiere, then I quit my old firm, then I joined my new firm, then over the weekend we went and brought home a brand-new Westie:

And next weekend I am scheduled to take up beekeeping.  Plus the band's got another gig coming.

And maybe take up bridge.

And biking season will be back when this Winter finally ends.

One thing I'm starting to learn:  don't wait.  Live life.  Once in a while, when you can, get a puppy.

Two Days Past Groundhog's Day

And so, if he sees his shadow, there's more Winter to come, and he goes back underground.  If not, he stays out because winter is over.  Just not good science.  There sure was no sun that day, it was close to a blizzard, and today the temperature is about 5 degrees and the snow is firmly packed.

But it's an ancient holiday, the marker of mid-season, like its cousins Halloween and May Day.  It is about breaking light and lengthening days, a confirmation that Spring will come.  I hope he did go back underground, it's freezing out there, but I'm on board.

Land Ho

I left my old firm yesterday and joined a new one today.

The story of how I got here is long and occasionally fierce.  I can't think how to dress it up in metaphor, so I won't, and I won't tell it straight, so that's that.  Maybe there will be later musings on lessons learned and vengeance.  But nothing really, at least nothing for now.

Today what matters is that I have sailed into Plymouth, the Indians are friendly, and under the watchful eye of the Big Guy the landscape looks well lit and promising.

Storm Coming In

This season has been a bitch, and it looks like it isn't over yet.  Another one rolling in.

This could be the big one, at least here in analogy-land.  Be sure to keep the lines open.

Among the Stars

Everyone should have the kind of close encounters with movie stars that we had at Sundance.  Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Zachary Quinto, and Simon Baker were among the cast, and were all beautiful and talented and probably extremely wealthy.  But at a gathering after the premiere they were also genuine and perfectly willing to engage in friendly, normal (if you consider the movie business normal) conversations with us, the in-laws.  It was probably a testimony to JC and our daughter, whom they had befriended.  But it also challenged the idea that fame and fortune inevitably corrupt.  These were just our kids' colleagues.  It was as if we had gone to their office party.

I happen to the think the movie, Margin Call, is spectacular.  Of course I'm biased.  But I do think this, and to hell with anyone who disagrees.

Sundancing

Proud to report that my son-in-law, JC Chandor, wrote and directed Margin Call, which premieres tomorrow night at Sundance.  We are here to cheer him on.

The East Side

Here in St. Louis, across the river, there is Illinois, the world of East St. Louis, our Other.  Old industrial plants like this, and strip bars, and wrecked buildings.  A torn-up history.  This place was free when people held slaves in St. Louis; but also the scene of some of the bloodiest race riots in American history, in 1917.