Hi from 10,000 m!

Hi from 10,000 m!, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Well, that didn’t take long. Asking a fellow passenger about his iPad, I caught myself sliding right back into A Southern drawl. I suppose it’s true, what they say: You can take the man out of Texas…

Google is sponsoring free wifi on all domestic Delta flights until the beginning of January, to promote it's Chrome web browser. I already use Chrome for some things, and quite like it. Free wifi onboard I also like.

We’ve had some choppy air on this flight, but it’s smooth sailing now. The sunset is pretty darn lovely from up here. Touch-down in Austin is coming up in another forty-five minutes. I’d say it’s almost time for barbecue. CORRECTION: Time for mom’s pot roast—even better!

New table

_MAL0653, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

This is my new dining table, a 2.4 meter long solid oak table in a simple and modern style. I’m mostly pleased with it. However, it has a bit of a bow in it, and considering how much I paid for it, I’m not sure I’m willing to accept this defect. Even with this problem though, I think the table is quite beautiful.

I am considering getting benches for the long sides, and two chairs for the ends.

Tea Party bullshit

In response to my brother’s rhetorical question asking where all the Tea Party deficit hawks had gone, I offer this reply:

For all their bluster about being against Darwin and for Jesus, the fundies on the Tea Party fringe are actually pushing for an agenda that’s their dogma’s exact antithesis: a dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest society where the gap between rich and poor widens every day and a persons value to society is judged solely on the basis of how rich he is. In the Tea Party Utopia, feudalism is the way of the world; corporations and co-opted governments conspire to perpetuate the status quo; and the Golden Rule is replaced by an amoral policy of treating your neighbor as a potential obstacle to success.

Tax cuts for the rich exacerbate the growing income disparity, forfeiting much needed investments in the country’s future just to line the pockets of those who already have more than they need. As Matt Miller rightly pointed out in his Washington Post editorial yesterday, it is particularly galling that the Republicans and their wealthy benefactors are unwilling to make the slightest sacrifice, even during a time of war and appalling deficits.

When the far Right succeeds, it does so because its fiercest adherents are so adept at doublethink that their followers, incensed into a self-righteous and xenophobic fury, do not notice—or ignore—the hypocrisy.

The living room is beginning to be livable

_MAL9414, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

On Saturday, I purchased a few solid oak tables at Jumbo in Dietlikon. Here’s the coffee table in the living room. The table is just right for the space, and matches the terra cotta tile perfectly.

My dining table should arrive on the 16th or 17th. I’m debating whether to get chairs or benches for it. The table is 2.4 meters long, and benches would allow greater flexibility in the number of people seated on each side; however, chairs are more comfortable. I will decide once I’ve seen the table in place in the dining room.

The small square table that I had originally intended to be a work table in the corner of the dining room—and a place to put a microwave oven—turned out to be bit too short for that purpose. I will move it to the guest room, where it will serve as a small desk. Additional furniture acquisitions will have to wait until after the holidays, because I simply do not have a free weekend day until the New Year!

Genevieve Michelle

Genevieve, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

A few days ago, my second niece was born. Welcome to the world, Genevieve Michelle Lowry! And thanks to Ethan and Kelly for honoring me by naming their adorable new daughter after her Uncle Michael!