40 Years Later...

So my dad is retiring tomorrow.

It makes me feel bittersweet.

I mean, he deserves it. He's worked 40 years in the industry, as an engineer, and another ten before that. So fifty years of work and paying taxes.  And he and mom want to travel and rest and go up north and do what they want to do. But a selfish part of me doesn't want to see him stop working. I want to be young enough to have a dad who isn't retired, you know? I don't feel old enough to have retired parents. And I don't want to be old enough to have them be, well, old....

We joke about wanting to retire all of the time. I mean, we get tired of working. It's hard and long and sometimes utterly exhausting.  But I still have 2/3 of my career left.

It's just bittersweet, you know? Selfish. But happiness. I hope he has a long, long retirement ahead.

Good News from Texas

Conservatives are excited about Ted Cruz making it into a run-off against David Dewhurst in Texas. With Dick Lugar going down in defeat, and the "Tea Party" caucus of Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and others, having Cruz in the Senate would be another great conservative pick-up. Yes, I am biased because I know him somewhat.

Here's hoping good things happen on July 31.

Graffiato Review

I finally made it to Graffiato. Despite the City Eats reservation snafu, the service was very good. The Kingdom Come cocktail (bluecoat gin, green chartreuse, passion fruit, lemon) was very refreshing.  Green Chartreuse!

What I particularly enjoyed: the flatbread with the pepperoni sauce, the roasted cauliflower, the crispy gnocchi with mushrooms, the arrancini special, and well...everything was good. The asparagus was a little plain, and the spaghetti was very good, though the gnocchi was just perfectly buttery and crisp...we all would have had a second helping. We did not sample the pizzas or desserts, but I would be up for that next time. We all left a little hungry and headed for some frozen yogurt afterwards before it started to downpour. Perfect ladies night out!

Memorial Day

We had both a busy and a restful weekend. Barbeques with friends, including Moira and Bill and Jenny.  Dinners at home, including salmon pasta and fish tacos. Time on the couch, and lots of time at the gym.  Time watching TV and surfing the internet and just chilling.  Time gardening and time running errands.  And time not quite sleeping in.  And time remembering of those "who here gave their lives, that that nation might live."

The week will be busy, and it all starts at 5 a.m. tomorrow. Tonight it's dinner at Graffiato, which I am looking forward to! I'm just grateful that it is not a year ago, when we were about to move, right?

And today is dad's birthday...65.  I have a post about retirement, about how I feel about that, about the realization that I am getting old, and they are getting old, but that the years ahead will all be good ones.  I am not quite ready to write that just yet.

The Simpsons

I don't think I saw a single episode of the Simpsons this year. After two decades, I would make the case it should be retired. But it still has its moments of brilliance, and this Tumblr Site is pretty cool. The best Simpsons movie moments, compared? Now how about a musicial guest comparison, next?

Detroit Goes Dark

It's Drudge's headline right now.

Detroit, whose 139 square miles contain 60 percent fewer residents than in 1950, will try to nudge them into a smaller living space by eliminating almost half its streetlights.

As it is, 40 percent of the 88,000 streetlights are broken and the city, whose finances are to be overseen by an appointed board, can’t afford to fix them. Mayor Dave Bing’s plan would create an authority to borrow $160 million to upgrade and reduce the number of streetlights to 46,000. Maintenance would be contracted out, saving the city $10 million a year.

 Detroit is bigger, landwise, than Boston, Buffalo, and San Francisco COMBINED. 

Veepstakes?

Speculation on who Romney's running mate will be is growing, and I'm with the author of this Real Clear Politics piece that Rob Portman does have the edge. And the Post also profiled him. I also recall that there is a close Romney advisor who is close to Portman, which might also give him an additional advantage.

So what if he's boring? He's competent, by all accounts a good person, a family man, and from the swing state of Ohio. And that would lend some interesting Michigan/Ohio correlation on the ticket, right?

There are certainly other compelling candidates...Paul Ryan, whom I like a lot; Chris Christie; Marco Rubio; a mystery woman (not Sarah Palin, but maybe Nikki Haley--eh; and an also ran like Rick Santorum. But I'd like to see someone experienced, competent, someone who knows economics...I'd be very pleased if it were Portman. Dare I say even a bit excited.

Enough, Obama

Campbell Brown published a fantastic column in the NYT this weekend, telling Obama to "stop condescending to women."

It’s obvious why the president is doing a full-court press for the vote of college-educated women in particular. The Republican primaries probably did turn some women away. Rick Santorum did his party no favors when he spoke about women in combat (“I think that can be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission, because of other types of emotions that are involved”); when he described the birth of a child from rape as “a gift in a very broken way”; and how, if he was president, he would make the case for the damage caused by contraception.

But Mitt Romney will never be confused with Rick Santorum on these issues, and many women understand that. (I should disclose here that my husband is an adviser to Mr. Romney; I have no involvement with any campaign, and have been an independent journalist throughout my career.) The struggling women in my life all laughed when I asked them if contraception or abortion rights would be a major factor in their decision about this election. For them, and for most other women, the economy overwhelms everything else.

Another recent Pew Research Center survey found that voters, when thinking about whom to vote for in the fall, are most concerned about the economy (86 percent) and jobs (84 percent). Near the bottom of the list were some of the hot-button social issues.

...

I have always admired President Obama and I agree with him on some issues, like abortion rights. But the promise of his campaign four years ago has given way to something else — a failure to connect with tens of millions of Americans, many of them women, who feel economic opportunity is gone and are losing hope. In an effort to win them back, Mr. Obama is trying too hard. He’s employing a tone that can come across as grating and even condescending. He really ought to drop it. Most women don’t want to be patted on the head or treated as wards of the state. They simply want to be given a chance to succeed based on their talent and skills. To borrow a phrase from our president’s favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, they want “an open field and a fair chance.”

I am so sick of this so-called "war against women."  Most women are not so parisanly driven to think that contraception is threatened or that one particular party is out to get them. It's liberals who are so obsessed with abortion rights and have no idea how government really works. It's the economy, stupid.

Behind Mad Men

I finally got a chance to watch the Behind the Actor's Studio episode with the cast of Mad Men. I largely agree with these observations--the show was far too edited down and Bravo should make the entire conversation available.  Heck, they have dozens of hours of Housewives specials, right? Hideous.

I really respect the actors and their discussion. John Slattery and Christina Hendricks are such consummate professionals...I didn't realize he went to Catholic! And she lived in Fairfax. It's actually amazing at how they all came from small towns (except Jared Harris), and all had to work so hard to make their careers so successful.  And how awesome is Jon Hamm...can you imagine him as a teacher? And to lose both your parents at such an early age?

I am sad that there are only a few more Mad Mens left this season...I hope the next season comes back soon!!!

Dose of Detroit Good News

Great to hear that there are some good young leaders who are invested in the city.

"The biggest problem in Detroit is not crime," he said. "It's not education. It's vision. Nobody can say what Detroit is in a positive way. You watch TV. Detroit is the butt of every joke on every station on every show. 'Well, do you want to go to apocalypse or Detroit?' ... And there's no one saying, 'That's not what Detroit is.' ... You have all these young, semiprofessional people here who have lived in Atlanta, who have lived in Chicago, who have lived in L.A. or New York, and they say, 'I can do everything I ever wanted to do right here.' "

Though I disagree; I believe education and family values and violence and drugs are a BIG part of it.

And yes, Matthew Stafford is awesome. This made me teary.

Suddenly, the Lions own quarterback began bidding on the package, Dhani teased about being able to watch and play at the same time, saying I know you were good last year, but man that is talent. I assumed he was driving the price of the package up, all the money goes to Mott, I thought it was incredibly cool of him. As the bidding continued he wasn't backing off… he was in it, he wanted to win that package, and had I known why, I'm certain, I would have been in tears. Somewhere in the $15k range  Matt Stafford was the owner of the MNF package, the crowd laughed, but moments later, that same crowd would be giving the Mott newcomer a standing ovation. As he won the package he turned to Will and said, there you go buddy, you go to Chicago, and take your family. The look on my sons face, I will never forget. His chin began to quiver, he was about to cry. He quickly jumped up and gave Matt a hug, and thanked him over and over again.