Sad Triumph

I finally drove a stake in the time sucking vortex of the 2000 piece puzzle last night.  I warned my wife away from it yesterday morning because it only had about a hundred pieces left to go and after all the time I spent with it I was going to administer the coup de grace, no one else.  I don’t think I’m going to do another 2000 piece puzzle because it did end up taking so long; of course the basement project, house cleaning, and wife’s return all had an impact.  All the pieces were there although one did have some distinct bite marks thanks to my attention craving friend – Buddy the Wonder Pooch. 

FINISHED!!!!!!
Buddy Coming in From the Top Trying to Get Another Piece of the Action

Yesterday was saddened by the passing of Roger Ebert, of Siskel and Ebert and two thumbs up fame.  I’ve always been a movie nut and before today’s instant information age that could be lonely.  These two film critics changed all that when they become almost like friends in which I would check in weekly to see what they thought about movies.  They obviously loved movies too; that’s what made them so watchable.  I pretty sure they helped infect my children, especially my daughter, with my heartfelt love of cinema.  I mourn his passing but I’m glad he’s left the pain of fighting the cancer that robbed him of his voice and that he and Siskel are once again seated together in a balcony; albeit a very high one.

Together Again - R.I.P.

The era of the film critic is probably over and at least diminished by the instant feedback films now get via the internet.  I mean, even I publish film reviews on line for whatever paltry value they may contain.  My daughter recently got me to join Letterboxd which is this really cool world wide collection of film nuts on line.  I’ve posted my film reviews there and I can see what other people think and say about movies.  I now check that site even more often than Facebook – so much fun.

Check It Out If You Love Movies

Speaking of instant access to information; I chronicled the demise of my huge back deck canopy last fall.  It put up a good fight and through the liberal use of duct tape and Velcro it made it through one last summer.  Today I sat down at the computer and entered the name of the canopy in Google and five seconds later I was ordering a replacement canopy.  I was semi-amazed at the ease and reflected how this was evidence that the internet, for all of its faults, really does make life so much easier, on so many very mundane levels.

Yesterday also witnessed the termination, with extreme prejudice, of the last of my annual chocolate rabbits.  My sister takes a little bit of glee each year with bestowing me with an Easter chocolate bunny – something my mother always did.  This year she gave me two!  I, conscious of my belt line and the return of the calorie Nazi, was trying to judiciously consume them in small bits each day at lunch.  Yesterday, I opened the last one, planning on eating just a bit but fell victim to the insatiable need that comes with chocolate – I just hope the wife doesn’t read this one.

Crime Scene Photo

The Sox lost their first game of the season last night so there goes the undefeated season but they still battled.  It was obvious the umpires were not going to let Mariano Rivera fail in his first game coming back as they were giving him strikes well off the plate.  I like this new Sox team.

Sox Lose - Toughest Part Was Having This A-Hole Take a Leading Role