News Bytes, Hourly Updates, and Morning Haze

The first news of the day is the non-news that, any day now, the NHL will be on semi-permanent sabbatical for a year or more. The interesting thing, to me, is the degree of apathy outside of the USA's northern neighbor. There's been virtually no reaction. The following URL is a poll of ESPN users who were asked "Do you care that the NHL is expected to cancel the 2004-05 season?" Breaking it down by vote, 3/4's of the respondants didn't care, and by state, not one managed to convince the NHL to try and eke out a settlement. Guess we're either hitting the rink and playing on Sundays on our own or buying a lot more DVD's. Or both. But one thing's for sure: any day now the announcement will come -- either that the season is called off or that a 30-game season (as opposed to a full complement of 82 games) will suffice. Much like pissing in the wind, this dispute is torturous, could have easily been avoided (see The Boogie Plan for solving this messy labor dispute, and other things, at Greed, Stupidity and A Question and An Answer) and leaves a bitter aftertaste.

If you're so inclined:
http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/story?page=nhlseasonpoll050203

The hourly update is that my parents and my grandmother are trekking later today into NYC for my dad's second visit (first for "leisure") to the City since he left Lennox Hill. Yesterday he had his first full post-home-arrival visit with the doctor and all systems are working. Like I've advised some clients, he won't be running marathons anytime soon, but the fact that he lost about 60 pounds means I'll have to pick up the pace to keep him honest. That, and we're not hitting The Palm or Peter Luger's anytime soon ;-)

The other hourly update is I'm reorganizing the entire PC, thanks to a brand-spanking new Maxtor 250GB drive, and I'm finding stuff I thought was gone long ago, and some stuff I wished was already gone...between that and upgrading the iPod I've been busy, not to mention the last week or two of 6AM to 8PM workdays. I've been running around between City agencies the last few days and I must admit, the City has some mighty ugly employees. Some resemble passable transvestites, some resemble amateur transvestites, and some resemble people who ought to consider becoming transvestites. The word of the day, boys and girls, is transvestite.

The morning is a breezy sort of white-out and I've been poking around, trying to get CD's organized and put away...having packed up a bunch, I've dug some of them out for re-ripping and some others for sale (do I really need a copy of the Bulletboys CD? One of their songs begins with the lyric "One...two...fuck...you." Ah, refreshing.)

So I came across a copy of the South Park Christmas Album (Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics), which is nearly as intellectual an excercise as the aforementioned Bulletboys CD, except the Boys of the Bullet variety seemingly take themselves seriously, which Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the duo behind South Park) do not. To wit, there's a song entitled "The Lonely Jew on Christmas" which is a duet between Kyle Broflosky, one of the show's characters, and Neil Diamond. It's a keeper. Did I mention that Mr. Hankey, the "star" of the album, is a piece of "poo" who sings Christmas carols and invokes the spirit of Christmas? Mensa members, keep out.

Finally, and on a somber note, there are reports of a variety of disturbed people out there. In Utah, a friendly-looking couple is being held on suspicion of terrorizing their five children until they are extradited back to Beverly Hills, where they live. In Huntsville, Alabama, a woman was charged with the deaths of her three children, ages 8, 9, and 11. The children never returned to school after winter vacation and police finally visited her house and found each child dead. And, to wrap up this trio, Michael Jackson is still flashing the peace sign whenever he attends his trial for child molestation.

I'm considering getting Pat Benatar on the phone to commission a new performance of "Hell Is For Children" as a thank-you for making leggings in the 80's a common sight. Maybe she can do a few public service ads and, somehow, convince parents that when they abuse and or otherwise do damage to their kids, it affects everyone who comes in contact with them down the line. It's a legacy of pain, frustration and sadness. So maybe she'll do a few PSA's...

If that were only the answer.