the End of July

I come from upstate New York, which means for those of you who have never been there, that July and August and maybe sometimes September are the worst months of the year. I never acclimated to the humidity, I just complained about it every summer. And I moped. And I whined. And I, one summer, locked myself in my bedroom with a little air conditioner and didn't ever leave. Thus, in my former life, back east as it were, I would be counting the days as I had now made it through a third of the hell on earth that is upstate New York in the dog days of summer.

Here, in lovely Utah, the end of July signals the end of heat. There is never really humidity, I mean there kind of is, but for the most part you can survive. You don't have to mope and whine. And because it's hotter here there is air conditioning everywhere so you really just have to make it from the car to your office. No dripping sweat when you step out of the shower.

It is the end of July. Temps this week are dropping into the low 80s. And I am happy that fall is on its way. Dear eastern family, you should move west!

In addition, one month ago my rearview mirror fell off. You cannot replace the rearview mirror unless it is less than 75 degrees. Thus, for the month of July, I have been killing people as I change langes. Very scary driver I am even with a rearview mirror, without it becomes almost diabolical. This morning it was below 70 when I woke up, in July no less, and now my husband is replacing my rearview mirror. No more excuses for causing the road rage.

a Little Movie Called Word Play

My desktop calendar is the New York Times crossword from 2005. Every day it is the same day as last year's crossword puzzle. Generally the Mondays I can do and by Saturdays I say, screw it. I enjoy crosswords. I enjoy figuring out puzzles. I enjoy the thrill of discovering a word I didn't even know I knew because the letters come together.

Last night some good friends of ours and my husband and I went to see Word Play which was a fantastic movie. It followed the crossword lives of a few people who apparently compete every year in a crossword tournament. Can you imagine? A crossword tournament? In Stamford, Connecticut. They get together at the Marriott and have been doing so since 1978. They do crosswords. The announcer says this is a 15 minute crossword and however many minutes under the time of 15 you get your crossword in you get extra points. You lose points for blank spaces and errors. They were so keyed up. They were into it. It was like watching any exciting sports event. Throughout the theatre you could hear people answering clues because throughout the movie they would intersperse crossword puzzles. My husband said busstop, ah very clever, to the answer to a clue. I laughed and laughed

Who knew there was this society of crossword puzzlers, constructors, editors who all hang out in Connecticut? Who knew that the winner of the 199... tournament also twirled baton...well I do now because apparently not only do they do crosswords, they have a talent show. It is a fun movie, it is a smart movie and I highly recommend it.

The annual tournament is during my spring break in March. What are the odds they have two hour puzzles?

the Duchess has Been Silent

For a week no less. Nothing to say. I wonder if I am wandering around with static in my brain that I have nothing to post. I'll post about last night.

Last night I went to watch my trophy husband play lacrosse (my good friends went with me and we were so loud this dude next to us just kept laughing). He is very good, All-American (2 times, Division 1A), playing on a team with a bunch of guys who are from Utah. Just in case you didn't know, lacrosse is a French word for an Iroquois Native game. The Iroquois are the native people who lived in New York and Canada before we arrived and stole their land (do you have a flag?...oop, Eddie Izzard digression). They used lacrosse to settle differences, so instead of blowing up your neighbors, you'd take a stick and a ball and try to get said ball into a goal (while beating the crap out of each other with a stick). Wouldn't it be nice if Israel and Lebanon and Palestine played lacrosse? So much easier for Condi, I would think. Anyway, lacrosse is huge in the East. Many many people play it. It is slowly making its way West as more Easterners come out here and civilize this place. My trophy husband coaches a high school lacrosse team and they are always amazed at what he can do because they've never really seen it played before.

I attended Syracuse University which has been playing lacrosse forever and pretty much rocks at it. Last night I met a guy on my husband's team who also went to SU and played lacrosse there (well I didn't play lacrosse, the also is to demonstrate that while he went to SU he also played lacrosse). He lived in the apartment next to mine while I was there. We chatted. We talked East stuff. It was great. Most of the time I love living here in Utah, but sometimes I miss being from the East and when I chat with a fellow SU alum, I miss it a little more.

He invited us to a kegger Friday night which we laughed at...why is it funny? Kegs are illegal in Utah. When I was a student at SU, Sabastino's delivered kegs to my house.

on the Veto

Well it's been a while since I've blogged something political and as I read somewhere that a very few blogs actually talk politics, I feel the need to spew, and I will include some expertise.

A bit of a lesson on vetoes. From 1789 - 2000, there has been 2552 vetoes. Some presidents are veto heavy: Eisenhower, Truman, Cleveland. Some presidents are veto light: Washington, Fillmore (mostly presidents in the 19th century during which time Congress had much more control over who got to be president). Generally the reasons for vetoing are as follows: the president thinks the legislation is unconstitutional, the president thinks the legislation is inoperable (meaning he can't implement it), the president thinks the legislation is bad policy.

From 2000 - July 20, 2006 there has been 1.

President Bush decided to veto expanded stem cell research funding for no other reason than he thinks he's a prophet from God and as such has to protect us all from our Christian failings. Oh no, wait, I'm sure he vetoed it because it is unconstitutional (well no, the Supreme Court hasn't ruled on it and we do have stem cell research). No, it must be he vetoed it because it's inoperable (well no, states are implementing funding for stem cell research pretty easily). No, it must be because it is bad policy (well no, a vast majority of Americans want to see it funded and a majority of his party and the other party want to see it funded and generally bad policy doesn't garner near unanimity). So it must be he's a prophet. He surrounded himself with people who have bought children from left over embryos (rather than adopting the many children who need to be rescued from around the country) and all these happy white people smiled as he vetoed the legislation. Where were the people who are dying from diseases that could be cured? Where were the people who weren't able to save their children from diseases that could be cured? No, see they don't have a right to life, just embryos.

The Duchess cringes and says, thank God, only 2 more years!