Monday, June 13, 2005

Indianapolis was nice. Highways were incredibly uncongested, so either they have great city planning, or people don't want to live there. Take your pick. Most memorable moment was probably when Fiancee was introducing everyone at the shower and introduced "my flower girls," a 5-year-old second cousin (not a flower girl) shrieked "WHAT?!?" and started crying (apparently more due to embarrassment than outrage). We still don't know what she was expecting or why.

There was also someone at the airport who mentioned something to Fiancee about "her husband." We assume she meant me, and it was kinda cool.

Accountability: I was traveling, so aside from lugging a lot of luggage (we got 2 suitcases at the shower that were packed with shower gifts, so 4 suitcases and 2 backpacks on the flight home), not much in the way of exercise. This morning, I didn't go, but plan on making it up tonight.

What I've Learned: 1) Handel's Ice Cream is some of the best stuff ever made. 2) We do travel well together, which is nice to know. 3) There is a plane with a ceiling I can reach with my spine (ie, with my head bowed all the way forward, my neck touches the ceiling).

What I'm Reading: Finished The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody. Very humorous style, great anecdotes, but got a bad aftertaste from 2 final chapters that were supposed to be catch-alls and were actually pretty boring. Since it was assembled posthumously, I won't hold it against the author.

As part of the Great Books process, I read Plato's Apology and Crito yesterday. I'm still less than impressed with Socrates' constant disavowal of sophistry via his use of ... sophistry. And his arguments' bases are usually less than automatic truth, but I'll assume it was something fresh and interesting in his time. And his discussion of why anyone would choose to corrupt others was interesting - made me think of the Sith vs. Jedi philosophies.

Crito was far more interesting to me - the concept that choosing to live in a city (or modern country) implies accepting the laws of that place, even more so when a democracy allows citizens to affect those laws. Most people seem to embrace the laws that benefit them (unemployment benefits, public roads) and steadfastly ignore/berate the entire government whenever it's unwelcome (speed limits, April 15). There seemed to be a lot more universal/valid truth in this one than the Apology, or maybe I just agreed with these arguments' bases.

This morning I started Wicked by Gregory Maguire, the witch's life and perspective on Dorothy et al from the Wizard of Oz. So far it's fun but the witch hasn't been born yet, so I don't know how it will continue. But I've heard great things.

I've also been watching basketball. Anyone else expect the crunch-time matchup last night to be Milicic vs Nesterovic for Best Player Whose Name Ends With C (recently given up by Vlade Divac, who was also the Best Flopper of all time)? Hope the Pistons make it interesting at some point, but I'm still holding to Spurs in 5, with 4 more likely than 6.
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