Peonage in NYC?

While goofing off today [er, researching current events for my classes] I found this little nugget over at The New Yorker. I'm not familiar with the business names or the addresses, but evidently the employees of a rather tony clothing store (Paul Stuart) all like to eat lunch at a particular cafeteria (Dishes) located next door. Er, make that USED to like to eat lunch next door.

See a couple of cashier positions opened up at Paul Stuart and some of the employees recommended a couple of Dishes cashiers for the jobs. Ere long, Avalon and Salma had moved next door:

“It was a smooth transition for both of them, seeing that they already knew everybody. I didn’t even need to give them a tour.” Avalon and Salma turned out to be as good at ringing up paisley socks as they’d been at selling tuna wraps to secretaries.

Now I can see why Dishes wasn't just tickled pink at losing two apparently good employees. Further, I can see how Paul Stuart and Dishes would have different perspectives on Avalon and Salma's career changes. What I can't see, though, is Dishes' vitriolic reaction:

To Moshe Mallul, the co-owner of Dishes, Paul Stuart’s behavior seemed less that of a friendly neighbor than that of an entitled big brother, or even a hostile act of industrial espionage. He suspected poaching. ... Mallul let it be known that his restaurant was not a farm team for the benefit of Paul Stuart recruiters, and the relationship quickly cooled. Lunch hour ceased to be so pleasant.

Okay I might can see how Mr. Mallul might have gotten his feelings hurt, but it gets better. Calm was restored after the president of Paul Stuart promised he'd look "beyond Forty-fifth Street for his future staffing needs" and Mr. Mallul relented and let Paul Stuart employees eat at Dishes again. [Truthfully, though, it's not clear they were ever banned from Dishes, but it does seem they were made to feel unwelcome.]

Again, I can see how Mr. Mallul might have had some ill will toward Paul Stuart, but his attitude toward his employees seems very Middle Ages to me. Were Avalon and Salma his personal property? Why did they leave Dishes and move to Paul Stuart? I'm guessing it's because they felt Paul Stuart was a better job opportunity. Yet Mr. Massul implicitly condemns Paul Stuart for giving his employees a better work opportunity. I didn't realize we were back to the days of feudal lords and serfs.

Maybe I'm reading too much into the spat, but I'm reminded of when I left my last job to come to this one. It really did put my old school in a short-term bind and some big schedule changes had to be made quickly -- one class was just canceled. Not one single person, though, expressed any kind of disapproval to me. To a person, they all congratulated me on landing a more secure and better paying opportunity. Now I know I'm talking about higher ed and not the business world, but I thought that was good of them and I'd have been sorely disappointed in them if they'd acted like the folks at Dishes.

Oh, I almost forgot, but I once served as an "expert witness" in a case similar to this one. My case, though, was even sillier. Nobody actually left the old company to go the new one, but the owner of the old company claimed that just by making job offers to some employees, the owner of the new company had damaged morale and hence productivity at his company. Did I mention that the industry was industrial supply and the timing was during the manufacturing recession of 2001-2002? I didn't have to work real hard for that money.

Nothing to add

Been kind of busy of late, so not much blogging. Two items, though, caught my interest. As an additional bonus -- from my "lack of time" perspective -- these require almost no comment from me.

First, from Newsweek, I see that the NFL has banned the use of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2" as a touchdown anthem. [Trust me, you know the song. If you don't recognize it from the title, click here to listen.] From Newsweek:

The NFL has effectively banned stadiums from playing Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2" after the Brit rocker was convicted of molesting underage girls in Vietnam, prompting a search for a substitute celebratory anthem.

The best part of the short item?

But most teams just hope to hear their touchdown song—whatever it is—often.

Second, from A Singapore Economist:

Chinese officials have decided to crack down on the practice at some rural villages of hiring strippers to perform at funerals. The practice is intended to attract more attendees to funerals because many people believe that a greater number of people improve the deceased’s chances for better afterlife. They also think that more people bring luck to the survivors as well.

I wonder if "luck" means the same thing in English and Chinese?

Good things

Since I spent most of last week complaining, I figured today I'd blog about some positive stuff.

First, my classes seem okay. True we haven't had any exams yet, but I'm getting a good vibe from most of them.

Second, I saw a really good movie over the weekend: Little Miss Sunshine. Seriously, this is a good movie. It even lived up to its Sundance hype. It's a little dark and a little funny. There were a couple of "but wait, that couldn't happen" moments, but they weren't bad. I recommend it without reservation. Wait, I do have one disclaimer -- the language is a tad raw. Not a movie to see with kids or those particularly sensitive to cursing.

Third, thanks to The Vol Abroad I now know that my alma mater has a website. This is kind of a mixed bag of good news vs. bad news for me. On the plus side, I see that "frog giggin'" is still around. On the down side, though, I see that several of my former teachers are still there. That, in itself, is not a bad thing, but many of the ones still there shouldn't have been teaching even back in my day. I couldn't find any teacher assigned to economics, so I guess it's still being dumped on whichever coach is in the "off season" during the right semester. That's too bad. Oh, another unpleasant surprise -- evidently LCHS no longer offers Hunter Safety as part of the sophomore triumvirate (health/driver ed/hunter safety). Yeah, I know it was a silly use of educational time, but I still like that I can "out country boy" most others by pointing out that 10th graders at my school took Hunter Safety -- FOR A GRADE!

Fourth, I now have a panoply of reading material. I appreciate your suggestions and I've added some of them to my list. In the meantime, though, a friend gave me a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It looks a little "Harry Potter" to me and a couple of people have told me they just couldn't read it, but I've been curious about it. Also, I got that review book from the newspaper last week. It turned out to be not so good, but I had to stay up and finish it last night because yesterday's paper offered the opportunity to review Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman -- the new book by Haruki Murakami. I know Haruki isn't for everyone, but I really like his work. Plus, this is a book of short stories and I think his stories are better than his novels. Now I have to write up my review of the first book, but that won't be too bad.

Finally, my beloved St. Louis Cardinals just completed a 3-game sweep of the dastardly Chicago Cubs. I have nothing personal against the Cubs, other than just that they're the Cubs. For those of you who aren't baseball people, this would be akin to The Vol Abroad saying, "I have nothing personal against Bama ..." (something she'd never actually say, but you get the picture). Last night's ending was spectacular -- a "walk off" grand slam by the backup catcher. Of course the backup catcher was the team's best hitter during the series. Money quote from the Cub pitcher who gave up the home run to the hot hitting backup:

"I threw a pitch down the middle of the plate to their hottest hitter," Howry said. "And he hit it out."

See, baseball really is a thinking man's game.

Okay, that's it. Just wanted to balance last week's moaning and groaning with a little good stuff.

Public service, ... Maybe

I don't know why, but these two pieces caught my eye. It seems I should have lots of pithy observations on her choices, but nothing springs to mind. Hence, I'll just throw them out there and see what y'all think. [Click on the links if you want more explanation.]

First, 10 Things You Shouldn't Buy New:

Books
DVDs and CDs
Little kids' toys
Jewelry
Sports equipment
Timeshares
Cars
Software/games
Office furniture
Hand tools

Okay, I've got no problem with most of her suggestions, but is this a typical shopping basket for many folks? "Yeah, I need a new baseball mitt, an office desk, and a diamond engagement ring. Oh, and I've just GOT to have a timeshare today!" I don't know, just seems an odd assortment.

Okay, now that you know what not to buy new, how about 10 Things You Should Never Buy Used:

Laptops
Car seats
Plasma TVs
DVD players
Vacuum cleaners
Camcorders
Shoes
Mattresses
Wet suits
Helmets

Okay I thought this list was much more sensible (I mean mattresses -- ick!) until I got to "wetsuit". Geesh!

As I said, I've got nothing to add to these. Just thought they were intersting and thought I'd share them with y'all. Ooh, this could be fun. Do you have an item to add to either list? I'll go first:
Don't buy new: Ties. Have you seen how much new ties cost? Thrift stores have wonderful collections of nice ties -- barely worn. Of course my opinion of this might change if I wore a tie more often, but that's my pick.
Don't buy used: Underwear. [Yeah it was easy and obvious. Sorry.]

Day 2

Okay, I've now made it through the first meeting with all my classes. Whew.

Fortunately, day 2 did not have any sartorial surprises for me. Plus, two of today's classes were well stocked with past (good) students. All-in-all, a better day. Tomorrow, though, it's back to the 2.5 hour macro class. Ugh.

Other than that, I did start reading A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines -- my new "review book" from the newspaper. I've only made it through the first few chapters, but I'm not getting a good feeling. First, the author is a physics professor. I realize some non-writers can pen good fiction, but I was skeptical. Second, the book is one of those "imagined lives" works. So far I've been reliving Alan Turing's tortured childhood. I've watched him get stuffed into the crawlspace under the floorboards and I've had to listen to him go through the day's activities to find out just what he did to deserve his punishment. I couldn't really follow it all, but it seemed to stem from his dislike of broccoli. Seriously; I'm not kidding.

Now how does Ms. Levin know all this? She doesn't, of course, but she's imagining what Turing's childhood was like. I don't know why exactly, but I'm usually not a fan of such historical fiction. I haven't gotten to much of Godel yet, but I'm expecting much the same.

Who knows, though, maybe I'll get past that once the story takes off? Even if I do, I'm afraid the book suffers from bigger problems. I wonder if Ms. Levin just likes to show off her vocabulary or if she's being paid by the syllable? Regardless, she loves big words and flowery descriptions. I could forgive that, though, IF SHE'D REVIEW THE BASIC RULES ON SUBJECT/VERB NUMBER AGREEMENT! Within 2 pages I found 3 such mistakes. This book is published by Knopf; didn't she have a proofreader/editor?

I admit to being a picky reader, so these may not be fatal flaws for the book. I'm hoping once I get past childhoods, something interesting will happen. Regardless, it's better than reading the intro chapters in the new econ book. See, a silver lining.

Uh oh

Well the semester has officially begun and it's not off to an auspicious beginning.

First, I just dread the start of the semester. I hate going through the fluffy introductory chapters that have to be slogged through before the "meat and potatoes" begin. Plus, I have new bunches of students that I don't know and it always takes a while for us to settle into our mutually wary equilibrium. This usually takes a couple of weeks -- coincidentally (or not), just about the time we get through the fluff/intro chapters.

Second, my first class this morning (8:00 a.m.) was an accelerated version of macro. We meet twice a week, just as other classes, but each meeting is 2.5 hours. By doing it this way, the students can take macro in the first half of the semester and then take micro from the middle of October till the end of the semester. It's a great way for motivated students to knock out econ 1 and 2 in the same semester, but it's a huge pain to teach. I'm a firm believer in the "let's do nothing on the first day" philosophy of professorship, but we only have 13 meetings in this class (or so I hear) so I couldn't really do that. Hence, my first class of the semester (at 8:00 remember) was a 2.5 hour class that I couldn't just dismiss. Oh yeah, I also realized -- after class -- that my fly was open. How's that for day 1?

Third, the AC in my classroom is broken. I think that one explains itself.

Fourth, ... Okay, I'm tired of complaining. It really wasn't that bad a day; I just felt the need to gripe on the first day of the semester.

Hey Mel and Stella: I appreciated your book suggestions. I will keep them in mind, but I got a new read out of the "books you can review" list in yesterday's newspaper. I'm picking it up on the way home today.

Book bleg

Not much happening here in Caffeine Land. Summer is over and the time is right for racin' in the streets. Whoops, didn't mean to channel Springsteen. What I meant was that summer is over and it's time to start classes again. Exciting though that usually is, I just can't get fired up about it this semester. If the start of a new semester isn't enough, I'm also battling a reading dry spell. Sure I'm still reading as much as ever, but I'm not reading anything good. Most of the time there's a book or two hovering at the back of my mind that I'm trying to get around to. Not now. The last 3 or 4 I've read have been pretty bland and there's nothing looming on the horizon. That, friends and neighbors, is where you come in -- hopefully.

I know some of you have suggested books to me in the past, but I'm going to ask again. Give me something to read, please. I guess a few parameters might not hurt. Let's see:
1. I'm looking for a novel. I already have a couple of non-fiction works that I need to get around to, so I don't need anything else there.
2. Fairly new -- less than 5 (or so) years old. This is an arbitrary rule, but I'm not looking for a list of classic works that I've just never plowed through.
3. Not too heavy, but not too light. Okay that was ambiguous. Let's try it this way: no Rick Moody or Don DeLillo, nor am I looking for the next Patricia Cornwell or Dan Brown. Note I'm not intentonally being a highbrow snob. I've read both Cornwell and Brown (though NEVER again), that's just not what I'm craving right now.
4. English language -- either originally or available in translation. Okay, that was a silly and unecessary parameter, but I'm feeling rather whimsical today. Must be the Friday thing.

I think that's about it. So put on your thinking caps and tell me some good books you've read of late. If you want to offer support for your suggestion, that's okay -- but not mandatory.

After looking back at the first paragraph, I had to check if my pants were on fire. I DO have one book "looming". One of the coffee crew recently suggested The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss. I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy yet, but she said it was better than The Time Traveler's Wife! While I know she HAS to be wrong about that, such a stronge endorsement did catch my attention. Any of you know that one? Regardless, I'm still going to ask for general input/suggestions.

Local news nuggets

As you probably know, I love newspapers. Today's Huntsville Times had two "eye catchers".

First there was a story about the state's attempt to retry a guy in a murder case that was dismissed a while ago. The facts of the case are rather lurid, but what caught my attention was the MOST confusing sentence, outside a Faulkner novel, I've ever read:

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by the state attorney general's office to reject Moore's request for the appeals court to reconsider its decision not to rehear the appeal.

Read that again. The court granted a request to reject a request to reconsider a decision not to rehear! Make sense? Without the headline I'd never haver figured out the court said the state CAN try the guy again.

A little later in the paper I came across the latest in the ongoing saga of one Laura Wilson. Wilson was the cheerleader coach at Buckhorn High, but she got in trouble for running a for profit summer cheerleading camp at the school. As the story played out other complaints emerged. The end result seemed (to me) to be that she had bent the heck out of a bunch of laws/regs, but her biggest crime was just hacking off the wrong folks. Anyway, they fired her, but she sued to keep her job. The arbitrator ruled in her favor, but the school board won't let it go. Sure enough, some court has now ruled the arbitrator was in the wrong. What I found interesting, though, was a little bit about the financing of this whole ordeal:

Wilson left Buckhorn 16 months ago and opened a private cheerleading business but continues to draw her $50,848 teaching salary while she appeals her termination. Because she is still eligible for automatic raises given to all educators, her pay recently jumped more than $4,000.

The school system has spent more than $120,000 in legal fees since December 2004 trying to fire Wilson. It is also paying a physical education teacher to take Wilson's place at Buckhorn until the case is resolved.

So they've paid her a year-and-a-half of salary, they've spent $120,000 on legal fees, AND they've paid a sub for the same 1.5 years. I know there's a principle at stake, but isn't it maybe time to cut your losses and let the woman come back? Furthermore, I've read some news stories that seem to indicate Wilson would not come back anyway -- choosing to continue her private cheering business. As long as this drags on, though, she gets the best of both worlds. She draws her salary AND runs her private business!

Anyway, just some news items that caught my eye this morning.

Cold case file

Here's something I hadn't thought about in a while:

A man arrested in Thailand is being held in connection with the slaying nearly a decade ago of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Hey, Thailand Jeff, you know him? I'm sure you're familiar with all the expats in a city of close to 9 million people, huh?

They found him

I know this story hasn't gotten much play outside my immediate are, but I'm relieve that Ray LouAllen has been found:

Lawrence County [AL] residents celebrated Tuesday after a neighbor found a healthy 73-year-old Ray LouAllen, who had been lost in Bankhead National Forest for nearly four days.

Since you probably don't know, I'll give you a little background. Evidently Mr. LouAllen went to scout hunting sites for the upcoming wild boar season. If you remember my wild hog adventures in the Sipsey, you'll know I applaud that move. Anyway, Mr. LouAllen went scouting Friday morning, but he had not returned by the end of the day. After a couple days searching, the general consensus was that he was dead. Now, though, he walks out of the woods suffering only from mild dehydration and tick bites. Wow.

Since the Sipsey is located within Bankhead Forest, lots of friends and co-workers cited this story as an example of why I should not take off and explore over there by myself. While I do realize bad things can happen in the woods, I've never felt as if I were in any danger. The closest I've come to that was one of my first day-long hikes in the Sipsey. First, I'd planned WAY too long of a hike. More importantly, though, I'd taken a poorly maintained trail and wound up on a disappearing trail, trapped on a hillside full of downed trees -- a literal logjam. Seriously, I had to get down on hands and knees and crawl under, through, and over stacks of trees. By the time I got across the hill and found the faint trail again it was getting late and I was almost out of water -- still miles from "base". Even though I felt a whisper of panic, I knew where I needed to go and I'd packed extra clothing and fire building material. Even though I didn't have a water filter with me, I knew I could get pretty safe water from local creeks as well. If I had to, I knew I could spend the night and hike out in the morning. In the end I made it back to the car, though the last 2.5 miles or so were hiked in the dark. Still, that's not so bad.

When I hear stories such as Mr. LouAllen's, I usually scoff and think something like, "How can you get lost for 4 days? Just know the basic area and picture an area bordered by 2 main trails or roads. Head in that general direction and you're bound to hit one or the other. Right?" That's what I usually think, but Mr. LouAllens' story does give me some pause. Evidently he's lived most of his life around the Bankhead and he does know the area well. I'm not sure it completely invalidates my theory, but it does make me wonder. Oh well, I'm going to reassure myself by assuming he did not have a Magellan GPS receiver. Hey, it makes me feel better, so that's the story I'm going with. Still, good for the LouAllen family.

Ugh

Just sat through a two hour lecture/workshop on "learning styles". My brain is mush, but at least now I know it's a slightly (10 out of the 18) "right brain" mush! Oh the joys of the new school year!

I'm back

Once again, the summer Minor League Baseball trip was a success! Every year I think I have just about wrung all the fun I can from this trip, but each year I'm proven wrong. Plus, I think Thailand Jeff may be a good luck charm. For the second year in a row, no games were rained out. That's always nice, but it was especially surprising this year, given the horrible weather all around us at each stop. Anyway ...

This year's trip started in Louisville, KY. We saw the Louisville Bats defeat the Indianapolis Indians 5-0. I had heard great things about the park (Louisville Slugger Field) in Louisville and it did not disappoint. It was everything a downtown minor league stadium should be. Plus, the game was pretty good -- as might be expected at the Triple A level. Unfortunately, that's the tradeoff inherent in watching more "advanced" minor league ball.

You get the nicer stadiums and a higher quality of baseball, but you have to put up with more of the distractions: bigger crowds, families with no interest in the game, the "cool set" there just to flirt with the opposite sex, etc. Seriously, we saw one young lady in impossibly high heels and an incredibly short skirt parading all around the concourse area before the game. In what kind of world is that a good outfit to wear to a BASEBALL GAME? I know I'm going a bit overboard on this, but I propose a baseball literacy test before one is allowed into a game. I've even got the questions picked out: Explain the infield fly rule. I know the rule has a reputation of being incomprehensible, but it's really pretty simple. Heck, I wouldn't even make you quote it; just explain the gist of the rule. That's all I ask.

Oh, we also made a couple of stops at the Bluegrass Brewing Company. I was afraid I had exaggerated the quality of the BBC's offerings, but that was not the case. I still think their Dark Star Porter is one of the finest beers ever.

After Louisville, we headed over to Charleston (WV, not SC) to check out the West Virginia Power's new park (couldn't get pix to post). It was nice. The game, unfortunately, was a debacle. WV scored 4 runs in the bottom of the first, then managed to lose 17-11. It was ugly! I did, though, see a couple of unusual things. First, there was almost a force out at home by the right fielder. The ump ruled the catcher's toes slid off the plate before the ball arrived, but I SO wanted to record a FC 9-2 on my scorecard. We also saw TWO catcher intereference calls against the Power catcher -- against the same hitter! That's odd. Oh, I did have to look up the scoring rule for catcher's interference -- evidently it is an error on the catcher. Seems to me that penalizes the batter's stats, but ...

Next we were off to Salem, VA. We took the back roads and we got to see The Bridge again. It's still darned impressive. In addition, I enjoyed the game in Salem. It was Thirsty Thursday, so the big open area just inside the entrance basically was a singles bar, but the game was good, the dogs were great, and the beer was cheap. All-in-all, a good night.

The next day we decided to do something non-baseball, so we headed over to Appomattox Courthouse. I was so underwhelmed I'm not even going to provide a link. It was very cheesey and just plain boring. I enjoy the battlefield parks (e.g., Vicksburg or Shiloh) much more. We did, though, find a cool bookstore/coffee shop in Appomattox. It reminded me a lot of Square Books in Oxford. They had interesting books, eclectic CDs, good coffee, and they were playing Gilian Welch over the sound system when we went in. I give it a thumbs up.

Finally it was time to turn toward home. Of course it rained and rained during our Friday drive and we did have to crawl through a wreck on Interstate-81, but we made it to Elizabethton right on time. I really like visiting Elizabethton. It's one of those small towns where the baseball team is THE entertainment in town. The folks just seem to care more in those places. Plus, we ending up sitting beside two former major leaguers -- Manny Trillo and Nate Oliver.

Well that was my summer vacation. Now it's back in the office. We have lots of "duty days" this week and they make me sad, but next week I'll be back to imparting knowledge. Wish me luck.

On the road

Starting in the morning, I'll be off on my annual minor league baseball trip. Evidently I didn't scare Thailand Jeff too badly last year; he's signed on for another year. Assuming nothing changes in the next 24 hours we're headed to Louisville, KY (home of the Louisville Bats and the Bluegrass Brewing Co.); Charleston, WV (one of my very favorite small cities); Salem, VA (first time visit); and then either Elizabethton, TN or Chattanooga (depending on various factors).

Hopefully I'll have good tales next week!

In which I show my extreme weirdness

Yesterday was the final exam for my second summer session microeconomics class. To celebrate the end of another glorious academic term, I decided to do something fun (fun being a relative term). So what did I do? I went to the movies.

Okay, but why's that weird? Well I ended up seeing two movies -- one at 4:20 and then another at 7:20. Well that might be unusual, but weird? I think not. No, my claim to weirdness lies in the two movies I saw. In fact I doubt there are many people in this great nation who have seen both movies I watched, much less on the same day. So what did I see?

First, I saw Wordplay -- a documentary about NY Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz and the annual crossword convention in Stamford, CT. A few disclaimers probably are in order. First, I'm a HUGE crossword nerd. The NYT crossword puzzle is just about the highlight of my day -- especially past Wednesday. [FYI, the puzzles get progressively harder as the week goes on, culminating with the Saturday puzzle. Most folks think the Sunday puzzle is the gold standard. Though it is bigger, it's usually only a Thursday (maybe Friday) difficulty level. See, I told you I was a crossword nerd.] Second, I'd read some reviews of the film that led me to believe it was a pretty good documentary even for non-crossword folks. Third, well I don't have any other excuses: I wanted to see it.

Turns out it was a pretty good documentary, but I really don't see the appeal for non-crossword junkies. I really liked a lot of the solvers featured in the film, but some of them came off as extremely arrogant. The best character, by far, was Merl Reagle -- a noted crossword constructor (the proper name for a crossword maker). Go here and click on Puzzling Movies (in the blue box toward the bottom of the page) for a Wordplay-themed puzzle by Merl.

Okay, so I've owned up to my nerdhood. Before heading to Huntsville, though, I'd called Thailand Jeff to see if he wanted to do something. Now I was pretty sure he didn't want to see the crossword documentary, so I invited him to go see Clerks II. Given my usual hatred of potty-humor movies, I find it hard to believe, but Clerks (the original) is one of my all-time favorite movies. Hence, it would be an understatement to say I was apprehensive when I first heard about Clerks II. Again, though, I'd read reviews that said it was pretty good. And it was -- if you're a fan of the original. I DO NOT recommend this movie for anyone not familiar with the original or anyone with any bit of human decency. Seriously, it is guaranteed to offend.

The biggest minus to this movie, in my opinion, was that I got the feeling that Kevin Smith felt compelled to make the movie even more offensive than it had to be. The beauty of Clerks (I) was that the offensive material never felt forced. Most of it really did play into the logical progression of the movie. This time it felt a little gratuitous. I won't give away any plot twists, but let me tell you that after watching this movie you'll know that the correct term for beastiality is "inter-species erotica". Still, it was a funny, funny movie. Again, though, I think it's mainly a film for Smith's fans rather than casual moviegoers.

Speaking of, a funny thing happened at the very beginning of the movie. After sitting through (seemingly) hours of previews and commercials, the movie finally started. About 15 seconds into the flick, a very objectionable word was used. Almost immediately a couple sitting a few rows behind us got up and made their way down the aisle. The guy stopped and asked me if they were in the right theatre for "Lady in the Water". While stifling my laughter I told him they most certainly were NOT in that theatre and they should get out QUICKLY. This is not a movie you'd want to wander into accidentally.

Final verdict: I'd give both films 3 (out of 4) stars. Above average, but nothing really special. Wordplay is a "must see" if you're a crossword nut and Clerks II is the same if you're a Kevin Smith fan. Otherwise, go see one of the summer blockbusters and enjoy a light night at the movies. At least that's my opinion.

Look what I made

You may remember my last foray into creative arts [FIXED THE LINK]. Well now I've made this:

Given my recent post about the "present" my co-workers gave me, I probably shouldn't be touting my basket making skills, but what do I care? So how did I come to make a basket? My co-workers wove another one last week and this time R (the leader) told me I needed to weave one for Caffeine Mom. I too thought that would be a nice thing to do and you can see the end result. I think she'll like it.

I'm debating whether to go ahead and give it to her now or wait for the next gift-giving occasion. I'm leaning toward just giving it to her now, though I'm toying with the idea of holding onto it until I need a "get out of trouble" card. Aw who am I kidding. I'll need one of those the next time I see her, so I might as well go ahed and give it to her then.

Today's biggest disappointment, so far

I read an op-ed piece in the paper this morning about the resurgence of "end time" movements and a general increase in people claiming to have seen signs of the apocalypse. I dismissed the piece, but that was before I read THIS! Derek Jeter now has his own cologne! Made by Avon! [Yes, dear readers, I said "cologne" and "Avon".]

Since he plays in the accursed American League, I knew he likely had some tendencies toward communism, baby eating, puppy kicking, etc., but Derek -- say it ain't so. Alas, it is so. As I read the AP story, each paragraph just made it worse. By the end I wanted to poke my eyes out with a sharp stick.

Derek Jeter cologne is on the way — and it's called Driven. The scent is designed to capture ambition, courage, passion and confidence, said Avon Products Inc., which partnered with the New York Yankees shortstop to develop the signature men's fragrance.

Okay, I've recovered from the mere idea of a baseball player peddling his own fragrance. What is Driven going to smell like?

It's a blend of crushed leaves, black pepper, chilled grapefruit, rhubarb, lavender, spearmint, bamboo, driftwood and oak moss, the company said.

EGAD! Chilled grapefruit?!?! How, pray tell, does the scent of chilled grapefruit differ from that of room temperature grapefruit? What about really cold grapefruit? Seriously, this is too much. Okay, though, maybe Jeter is just putting his name on the product. I mean I really don't think Reggie Jackson cooked up the formula for the Reggie candy bar in the 70s. Well, ... Nope:

Jeter was involved throughout the development process, and he's the face of the fragrance in print ads.

"I knew what I wanted. I didn't want it to overtake a room," Jeter, 32, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. "I wanted it to be clean and sophisticated."

C'mon, Derek, you're not making this easy for me. Clean and sophisticated? Aww man. There may be no crying in baseball, but evidently smelling nice is important. I think I'm going to have to go rest a spell. I feel an attack of the vapors coming on.