Why wait?

Jennie sent me this picture with a note that this could be me in 30 years.

My thinking is simple: Why wait? Get me that hat, and I'm heading to Wal*Mart right now!

Even better, imagine me in this hat on the motorized hot dog throne of doom. Wow, I'm getting shivers.

How big a geek am I?

My car's been approaching a mileage milestone--all "1"s, 11111 miles--for some time now, and being a numbers geek, I've been unreasonably excited about the prospect. Tonight, as I was driving back from a concert by Sarah's orchestra (more on that tomorrow), I realized the changeover would occur during this trip.

In a flash, I knew I had to photograph the magic moment.

This task was not without its challenges, because it was after 10:00 p.m. and I was going 74 miles per hour on a 65-mph freeway. Nonetheless, I pulled out my iPhone, thumbed up the camera app, and while steering with my knees tried to focus the camera on the odometer.

Yes, you were glad not to be on the highway with me at that moment. Fortunately, few people were.

At this point, Allyn, who was in the car with me, was not pleased with my driving. I suggested that she could improve it by unbuckling, climbing on the hump, leaning over, and focusing the camera on the odometer while I leaned to the left to see around her.

She did not like this idea.

Even when I pointed out that if we were in an accident her death would be a most memorable one as she shot like a rocket through the windshield, she did not like my plan.

I then offered that if her reflexes were fast enough, she could grab my hair on the way through the glass and perhaps either stay in the car or at least scalp me--but still she did not like the idea.

Some people.

Fortunately, the changeover came just after we left the freeway, so I was able to pull over to the side of the road and take this happy snap.




Pretty cool, eh?

Yes, I know: I am a very big geek indeed.

I still think the ride-the-hump-while-taking-the-photo idea could have worked.

Cosi fan Tutte

A while ago, Sarah's orchestra played for a partially staged version of this Mozart opera, so of course we went to the show. I enjoyed the music, the orchestra's performance of it, both the singing and the acting of the performers, and the minimal staging.

The story, though, pissed me off. Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto played with a well-used device: fiancee swapping. An older man says that he can prove to two young men that all women are fickle--and he can do it in one day. At his urging, the two male leads pretend to go to war, then return as rich Albanians and woo each other's fiancees. Eventually, they succeed and get the women to state their love for the new men, thus proving the old man's point.

I was okay with it to this point. If you want to write a story claiming that all people are fickle, I won't argue with you. I might like to believe otherwise, though I'm not even sure I do, but it's certainly a fair point to make.

What pissed me off is that when the men reveal who they truly are, instead of apologizing for being bitches, they berate the women--and the women take it as due chastisement. I understand that in the time and the culture of this opera women's rights were far from what they are today, but as far as I'm concerned, entrapment is entrapment, and the men were if anything far worse than the women.

I hope that after the first performance of this show, Lorenzo Da Ponte went home to a very cold bed that stayed icy for some time.

Just how much are the Spanish into ham?

This much:

Yeah, that's right: Ruffles with ham flavor.

Sorry about the wrinkles, by the way. I carried that bag all the way back from the Barcelona airport after Scott and I consumed the contents while waiting for our plane. When he first told me we had to buy some chips, I argued with him that potato chips were both unhealthy and unnecessary, but after he showed me the bag, I knew instantly that I should have trusted my son. Of course we had to eat them!

Lest you worry that these chips tasted like the chemical abominations they probably were, relax: They were yummy. Our only regret was not buying two bags.

I'm very glad not to have seen them for sale in any store near us, because then I'd have one more bad habit to break.

I think it's time to order some Jamon Iberico.

Kick-Ass

Four of us went to see this movie Saturday night, and I rather liked it. Of course, I'm a card-carrying fan boy, so I would, but I think the movie provides enough genuine heart and action to attract a far wider audience than just those geeky enough to harbor strong feelings about whether it should be "Doctor Who" or "Dr. Who," a topic the refreshment-counter attendant and I were discussing before the film. ("Doctor Who," of course, and I will brook no argument.)

The plot proceeds basically as you expect it to go, but for this sort of film, that's okay, even desirable. Matthew Vaughn, the director, is constantly navigating between opposing forces--realism vs. fantasy, parody vs. straight film--and in general he achieves a reasonable balance. The silliness, which is inevitable, only becomes irretrievably over the top by the end, at which point the film has earned enough suspension of disbelief that you don't mind.

I thought the cast was generally fine, but Chloe Grace Moretz, who plays Hit Girl, steals the show. Every time she's on screen, the camera loves her, and the movie is better for her presence.

I must note one thing: If you're the kind of person who cannot suspend disbelief, or if you must look at every movie that contains kids and ask if the actions of those kids is healthy, then do not see Kick-Ass. We already know that it's not a good idea to train your daughter to kill, so you have to accept a world in which that training is acceptable or the film will appall you.

For everyone else, I recommend it.

Saint Jacques, take two

I gave this restaurant a rave review a while back, but a single meal can often be deceiving. So, both to get a second take on the place and because it was so good, a group of us headed back there last night. I'd talked with the owner beforehand, so he had made a special menu for us--not a tasting menu, but a new, one-night-only menu from which we could order.

We tried almost everything on that menu.

It was all great.

Amazingly, this meal was even better than the first one we'd eaten there. Not a single dish any of us had was less than excellent. I started with sweetbreads with a truffled potato, and they were the best sweetbreads I've ever tasted. The truffled potato croquettes were exquisite. My second course, a foie gras pasta with two perfectly prepared scallops atop the thin and wide noodles, contained possibly the best pasta sauce I've ever had. It was amazing. I hope no one noticed me wiping the bowl with my finger. The main course was a beef tenderloin done in a classic French sauce and with bacon, and again the sauce was wonderful, the meat perfectly prepared, and the accompanying potato delicious.

I've eaten at Joel Robuchon and Guy Savoy in Las Vegas, two of the best French restaurants in America, and I would rank this guy's sauces alongside theirs.

We will definitely eat there again. If you live in Raleigh, do not miss this place.

Why so much?

A lot of folks ask me why I stay so busy, sleep so little, maintain the pace I do, and so on. Some then say that they think it's because I must like being so tired, or that I crave the adrenaline rush, or that in some way I must love this pace. I've thought a lot about this question, and I think I understand the answer.

It's not that I love the pace. I don't. I'm fed up with the stress and the fatigue and all that those things cost me.

What I love is all the stuff I get to do. I love growing a company and working with technology. I love writing. I love the Jon and Lobo series, but I also want to do the thriller. The new Lobo story was fun to write. Doing The Wild Side is a hoot, and I'm getting to meet and work with these amazing women writers I would not normally know. I read and watch movies and watch DVDs of select TV shows and follow MMA because they're all so interesting. I go to great restaurants because I love food. I love working out and running and being at the beach and traveling.

The world is one great big ball of shiny, and I just can't get enough of it.

That is what's worth the cost. That is what I'm addicted to.