Adventures in Rufus and/or Otis – Page 4 – The Virtual Memories Show

April 12, 2010April 12, 2010

What It Is: 4/12/10

What I’m reading: I finished Indignation last week, and returned to The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. Picked up a bunch of comics collections on Saturday, so I’ll make time for those.

What I’m listening to: Static & Silence, by Sundays.

What I’m watching: The Men Who Stare at Goats, The September Issue, the last round of the Masters, and Treme.

What I’m drinking: Funnily/weirdly enough, I didn’t have a drink from the beginning of Passover to the Friday after it ended, an 11-day span. This weekend, I broke out the Citadelle and Q-Tonic.

What Rufus & Otis are up to: Their first Sunday greyhound hike since mid-January! And, boy, was it a long one: 5+ miles, a chunk of which was plagued by gnats, another chunk of which was sodden and muddy. And then there were the car-sized ticks. And don’t get me started on the C.H.U.D.s . . .

Where I’m going: Tonight, I’m heading out to the Nets’s final home game of the season. Since they’re moving to Newark after this season (and eventually to the land-grab arena in Brooklyn), this’ll be their final game at the Meadowlands. I thought it’d be a good way to honor the memory of my pal Sang, with whom I went to many a Nets game, both when they were losers and when Jason Kidd transformed into the best team in the east. To that end, Sang’s pal Chuck is going to come along, even though he’s not a basketball fan. I’ll letcha know how it goes. These links will be dead in a few days, but here are the NYPost‘s articles (1 and 2) on the (ignominious) history of the arena off 16W.

What I’m happy about: That on the way out of the MoCCA festival, I got to bump into Gahan Wilson. I shook his hand and said, “I just want to thank you for so many decades of wonderful cartooning.” He beamed and said, “Thank you, young man! You’re very kind!”

What I’m sad about: The only person to call me “young man” lately is 80 years old.

What I’m worried about: Having to learn another niche of the pharma biz so I can write an article on it this week.

What I’m pondering: If basset hounds are really this sad:

March 31, 2010March 31, 2010

DON’T LEAVE US!!!

Rufus & Otis were perfect gentledogs while we were away, but they were exhausted by the time we got ’em home. So much so . . .

March 16, 2010

The love that dare not bark its name

I expect to see them spooning soon.

March 8, 2010March 21, 2010

What It Is: 3/8/10

What I’m reading: Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson, and The Ask, by Sam Lipsyte.

What I’m listening to: A new Mad Mix I’m finishing up.

What I’m watching: Shopgirl, which felt like Steve Martin’s poor attempt at being LA’s Woody Allen.

What I’m drinking: Death’s Door Gin & Q-Tonic

What Rufus & Otis are up to: Well, Rufus is celebrating his second anniversary in our home today, but Otis got a little too aggressive with a neighbor’s dog a few days ago and nipped the poor guy on the foreleg. That said, I warned the owner around a million times that Otis isn’t good around smaller dogs, and that it wasn’t a good idea for her to bring her pup over. No harm done (her dog has really thick, curly fur that kinda protected it), and she was the one apologizing. Also:

Where I’m going: Nowhere, although I’ve got a court appearance this Wednesday as part of the never-ending process of recovering the vet fees that resulted from Rufus’ attack lat May.

What I’m happy about: Two years of Ru without rue. Also, it’s my mom’s [cough, cough]th birthday! Congrats!

What I’m sad about: Amy won the rodering battle at her birthday dinner at Marea on Saturday night, with her Baccala antipasti. Who new salt cod, polenta and beets would whup everything else on the menu (except for the Ricci, of course).

What I’m worried about: How I’ll deal with the fact that I didn’t win an Oscar before turning 40.

What I’m pondering: What I should be doing with my reading and writing. I kinda want to write a long-form essay that would require 10 tons of reading and work, and I can’t imagine any sorta market for it.

March 1, 2010February 28, 2010

What It Is: 3/1/10

What I’m reading: Alec: The Years Have Pants, and an article in the New Yorker about Montaigne that one of my pals forwarded me a few month ago.

What I’m listening to: The soundtracks to Sunshine and Moon, as recommended by Jason Kottke.

What I’m watching: The Conversation, Frost/Nixon, Funny People, Coraline, and the U.S./Canada gold medal hockey game. That was the only event I watched from the entire 2+ weeks of Winter Olympics coverage.

What I’m drinking: Old Raj and/or Hendricks and Q-Tonic.

What Rufus & Otis are up to: Neither of them is too happy about the 20″ of snow we got pasted with last week. Otis managed to eat a mouse that had died from the bait trips we left out for it in the garage. Apparently, my library was on his little mouse bucket list, so he died in the middle of that room, where Otis found him and swallowed him whole. I tried to get Mickey out of his mouse, but by the time I got to him and pried his mouth open, all I could see was the end of the mouse’s tail going down Otis’ gullet. It doesn’t look like there was enough poison in the little guy to affect Otis, happily enough. With his propensity for curling up in a tight ball in the sun, we always joked that Otis is part-cat. Now we know the horrible truth; he’s all cat.

Where I’m going: Nowhere in particular, but I managed to get roped into a round-trip to Philadelphia that literally amounted to 3 minutes of parking before driving back (130+ miles) home. All this to pick up a collection of files that could have easily been packed into a box or two and shipped up to me. I’m peeved about this.

What I’m happy about: It stopped snowing. AFTER FORTY-EIGHT HOURS.

What I’m sad about: That I finally watched a hockey game all the way through, and my country failed. I’ll never watch hockey again. Sob!

What I’m worried about: Flying from Brazil to Paris.

What I’m pondering: What to get my wife for her birthday (it’s Wednesday, btw).

February 25, 2010February 25, 2010

Public Service Announcement

Alms Doggie-biscuits for the poor:

February 22, 2010February 22, 2010

What It Is: 2/22/10

What I’m reading: Consider the Lobster and In The Shadow of No Towers, Art Spiegelman’s 9/11 comix.

What I’m listening to: Night and Day, by Joe Jackson. Started 69 Love Songs, by the Magnetic Fields, but it wasn’t good car music. I’ll have to give it a listen at home.

What I’m watching: The Brothers Bloom (meh), The Ricky Gervais Show (I almost peed myself with laughter), The Life of Tim (I wish I was stoned), the end of Tracy McGrady’s first game with the Knicks (David Lee is terrible on defense), and A Serious Man (wow; I’m not quite sure where it’s going to fit in my Coens pantheon).

What I’m drinking: Miller’s & Q-Tonic, and Hendrick’s & Q.

What Rufus & Otis are up to: Attending a Sunday greyhound meet & greet at the Petco in Kinnelon, NJ. Otis was a little overwhelmed by the scene, and really wanted to go after the smaller dogs that customers brought in. Oh, and it was not funny to have a cat adoption event right next to the greyhound group.

Where I’m going: No travel. Gotta buckle down to finish the March issue this week.

What I’m happy about: Dad reached his 72nd birthday yesterday.

What I’m sad about: I’ll never dress anywhere near as well as The Style Guy.

What I’m worried about: My mid-life crisis will be nowhere near as bombastic as Jack Kirby’s.

What I’m pondering: Buying a Bamboo Fun tablet for my desktop computer.