Wednesday, September 29, 2004

If you're planning to watch the presidential debate tomorrow night, especially if you're still on the fence about which candidate will get your vote, I beg you to do something for me.

Turn off your TV the very second the debate ends.

Take a few hours on your own to think about what you've heard from each candidate. Let yourself sleep on it before you read or listen to a word of spin. In fact, I'd strongly recommend avoiding any outside influence from the campaigns or the media until after you've had your morning coffee on Friday.

As rehearsed and prepared for this event as these guys will be, and despite the fact that "debate" in the true sense of the word will be limited by the ground rules the two camps have set up, ultimately it's still two men standing on their own and making their best cases for why they should be entrusted with the highest office in the land for the next four years. We owe it to ourselves to make up our own minds about what we witness over those ninety minutes.

Posted @ 1:27 PM

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Tuesday, September 28, 2004

I've been meaning to mention this for a while, and I want to make sure I get it out there now while one or two folks might be able to check it out.

My brother Geoff opens tonight in The Great American Trailer Park Musical. It's being put up as part of the New York Musical Festival. While I won't get a chance to see it myself (and don't think that isn't killing me), my folks and my brother Matt will. I'm looking forward to their report. I know he'll be brilliant.

If you live in or near New York City, or will be in that area today through Sunday, give this show (and my baby brother) a look.

Posted @ 7:07 AM

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Thursday, September 23, 2004

I've gone by Jack (my given name is John) for nigh onto fourteen years now, and just this afternoon I realized something cool: the jack is the eleventh card in the deck. Eleven just happens to be my favorite number. Talk about serendipity!

And true to form, it only took me three and a half Olympiads to figure it out. That just makes it all the more special. Go me!

Posted @ 1:15 PM

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Wednesday, September 22, 2004

There's a kids' dance studio in my office building, and the majority of classes there seem to be populated by four and five year olds. When I go downstairs to grab a coffee or lunch, more often than not I have to dodge pink-clad little girls running ahead of their moms to get to their ballet lesson. It's cute beyond belief, and their exuberance always makes me smile.

Yesterday the cute factor was kicked up several notches by a young lady who was singing as she scampered along. The song of choice for this pre-schooler? "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" from The Sound of Music. If that isn't the definition of precocious, I don't know what is.

Posted @ 7:09 AM

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Thursday, September 16, 2004

Pet peeve alert! If you aren't a fan of churlish nitpicking, you might want to skip today's entry.

In this contentious election season, I'd like to make a simple request of those who are displeased with the two major candidates: when you call in to a talk show and feel compelled to lean on the overused verbal crutch "the lesser of two evils," please don't say it as if you yourself just coined the phrase.

It's bad enough that so many people expect a candidate of Roosevelt (Teddy or Franklin) caliber every four years. Much as I'd like that to be the case, it's just not going to happen in the current political environment. So let's not compound unrealistic disappointment by resorting gleefully to cliché.

Oh, and the same goes for "better the devil you know than the devil you don't."

Thanks.

Posted @ 1:03 PM

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Thursday, September 09, 2004

Wow. Has it really been over two weeks since I posted anything? Yikes! What the heck is wrong with me?

Well, nothing's wrong exactly, unless you consider being unbelievably busy a wrong kind of thing. And it's busy-ness both at work and home. Busy at work is a good thing. Busy at home is, too. But the both at the same time, and the sheer amount of it all, has me pressed for time.

I've got two hobbies ramping up simultaneously. I'm in a show that opens in a couple of weeks, so there's that. There's also the blessed return of football, which means not just watching games, but managing my two fantasy teams (and I'm the commissioner of a league to boot) and picking each week's games with my dad.

Add to this other extracurriculars that have me almost constantly on the move. Two weekends ago I caught the Eddie from Ohio show at Wolf Trap with friends Jen and Dan. Last weekend was the rehearsal dinner and wedding for my buddy Hutch. This weekend I'm heading up to NYC for my baby brother's 30th birthday.

So life is full and good. In the next few days, as things get ever so slightly less hectic, I look forward to regaling you all with tales of this good fullness.

Posted @ 6:58 AM

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