Revelations in Music and Fashion

I'm reading this book of Jenny's on the train this week about the history of the DJ, and it mentions Ben Sherman, a clothing designer that I dig, as having been the label of choice in the working class "northern soul" clubs of Northern England back in the sixties. I can see that, although they've come a long way since then, with $90 shirts and the like.

And on the train this morning, I'm listening to Kraftwerk (also a Jenny musical selection - yes, books on DJs, early elctronic music, she's much cooler than me), and I hear a familiar melody while listening to Computerlove. Turns out that it's the melody that Coldplay uses in Talk. Who knew? Not a great song though, IMO, even with the catchy melody.

7/7/77: Happy Birthday to Jenny!

The celebration actually started eight days ago, when Em and Dave were in town and we went to an O's-Phillies game. I had called the O's a day before, and gotten Jenny's name - and upcoming age - up on the scoreboard with the other birthdays! She was (probably?) happy that her name was up there, but less than thrilled about her age being displayed, since she still had eight more days of her twenty-eighth year to enjoy.

Little-known fact: Jenny shares a birthday with fashion icon Pierre Cardin! (same day, but back in 1922)

Fine Dining in Baltimore

For our one year anniversary, Jenny and I dined at Charleston on Saturday night. By far the most expensive meal either of us have ever eaten, but easily the best dining experience as well. So many dining experiences seem focused on a loose combination of quantity and quality - at the conclusion of the meal, one measure of satisfaction is often, "am I so full that I have trouble getting up from the table and leaving the restaurant?" It's rare that a satisfying meal is purely the result of the exquisite quality of the food, and has nothing to do with quantity. This was one of those rare moments. I sincerely doubt that there is a finer restaurant anywhere in the Baltimore area.

Walking on the Moon

No, not literally. But that is what I felt like I was doing on occasion during our recent trip out to Utah for Jenny's brother's wedding. That feeling stemmed not only from the wedding, which had facets that were unfamiliar in a bizarre way, but also from our subsequent trip to Moab and Arches National Park, a landscape that was unfamiliar in a spectacular, otherworldly way.

Utah is...different than the East Coast, there's no mistaking that. I had been out there three (?) times previously, so I thought I was getting used to the culture. Then we went to this wedding. Foremost, it was a Thursday affair, which is unheard of in the East. I can only assume that the Thursday date was necessary so that Chris and Jen (the newlyweds) could have use of the Salt Lake City temple for the ceremony. It probably saved them a few bucks too, something that I can appreciate since we're still paying off our own wedding that took place last November.

I had never attended a wedding in which I was barred from viewing the actual ceremony, until last week. The Mormons have a closed-door policy for their weddings, evidently. Actually, my understanding is that the closed-door policy is for the temple, but since the wedding takes place within said temple - in nerd-speak, according to the distributive property - it applies to weddings as well. So Catholic heathens like myself waited outside the temple, along with the non-temple-worthy Mormons in attendance, children from Mormon families, and everyone else. That worked out OK; the weather was nice and we played with - and, when necessary, chased down - niece and nephews. The reception was fun, with live band and food, although the absence of a bar or any adult beverages of any kind was striking. I was warned beforehand, but it's still weird to be drinking lemonade (w/o whiskey) at a wedding reception. At least the reception was uneventful, unlike the previous evening's rehearsal dinner. During which the bride's parents both chose to mention that they wished that the bride's previous fiancee (boyfriend?), who was in attendance with his wife, had been the one to join their family. Never mind that Chris is a fabulous guy who's a lot of fun to be around, and that one would be hard-pressed to meet a nicer person, and that he was sitting right next to them hearing this crap! - the parents of the bride should really know better than to be so rude and disrespectful of their daughter and future son-in-law, right?!? I'm not sure I would have believed that it happened, were I not there to hear it myself.

I don't think words can do Arches National Park justice. The hiking was amazing - challenging and beautiful. Sometimes we would stop, not for a rest, but simply to look around for a sec. The weather was pleasant enough too, aside from the wind on the first day. It was what I would imagine the surface of Mars to be like, except with more cacti, shrubbery, and butterflies. Truly an alien landscape, but maybe all too appropriate that it's located in Utah? Don't get me wrong, I like visiting, and Jenny's family is wonderful. But it's still good to be home.

62 Essential Vitamins and Minerals

That's what your average box of Grape Nuts cereal contains. Not only that, but 500% of your USDA RDA - that's Recommended Daily Allowance, for you non-label-readers out there. And what does it have in the taste department? I'm glad you asked!

Jenny (my lovely and talented wife) and I don't often disagree, believe it or not. But I can only hope for the best, and prepare for the nutritious, when she buys breakfast cereals without me. While it's true that I do enjoy the sugary cereals - I have always had a particular affinity for Lucky Charms - I don't need tons of sugar for breakfast. There's nothing wrong in my book with Special K, even the plain stuff without the fruit, or Cheerios, the classic stand-by. But breakfast is the first meal of the day, and I'd prefer not to experience character-building events so early in the morning. Grape Nuts might be fantastically healthy for me, it might be the single greatest source of fiber known to cereal, but it also tastes like mulch. Cheap mulch, not the premium mulch with cedar chips and stuff like that. Cedar chips would actually improve Grape Nuts. Maybe I should write to Post and suggest that - "Grape Nuts, now with cedar!" I've heard that cedar doesn't stay crunchy in milk though, so it's probably not as marketable.

I also never thought much of frosted mini-wheats - kind of bland, I always thought, even with the sugar. That tune changed in a hurry when I discovered the colon-cleansing joy of regular (non-frosted!) shredded wheat. Frosted mini-wheats are a fabulous concept by comparison! Scouring the kitchen for a pop-tart is never an ennobling task, but alas, it was all too necessary on that sad morning.

I'm not asking that pastel-colored marshmallows be added to every cereal, but could we perhaps find a happy medium? Honey-Nut Cheerios? Total, with raisins? Golden Grahams never killed anyone, at least not that I've heard.