Our last best defense

It pains me to share this with you, because I found it at the Cupertino branch of the Santa Clara County Library:

Seriously, when library staff allow this to happen, we are just plumb on the express train to hell.

Hit the road, Jack

It’s rather comforting to know that even here in the Valley They Call Silicon, where Disruption-R-Us, there are some traditions that live on.

Like the proper disposal of post-Halloween Jack O’Lanterns:

I personally think that not nearly enough force was applied in this operation, but I suppose that the terms of execution are open to interpretation. And to the strength/age category of the pumpkin tosser.

Well done, little thought leader(s). Well done.

Park it right here

A couple of years ago I had to fly out of Oakland (which I’ll never voluntarily do again), and used one of the off-site vendors of long-term parking. Their online user interface that was supposed to have resulted in a discount for several days of parking was dreadful and didn’t match with the on-site experience. They double-charged me and it took a slew of emails to get them to remove the second charge.

Naturally, by the time we were done, all hopes of getting the confirmed discount were gone into the ether.

I’ve heard nothing from them since, thankfully, so imagine my surprise the other day when this appeared in my queue:

They don't specify, but I'm assuming you're meant to park your car with them while you're on the vacation. Not happening.

And note to all businesses: please concentrate on delivering the product or service you promised, at the stated and contracted price before you start trying to entice consumers into pseudo-promotions.

The void before the storm

The transition period between Halloween and Christmas doesn’t last long any more in the retail world. I was in Target yesterday and came across this one guy beginning the enormous task of setting up the major display for lights, decorations, wrapping paper and who-knows-what-all:

Just a couple of aisles away there was this rather poignant statement:

And right across from Mr. Jack was…this. I don’t know whether it’s left over from Halloween or in prep for Christmas. You decide.

I might have picked up some candy to tide me over the time while negotiating an offer, but all they really had left was a bunch of Reese’s bags, and I’d starve before eating that stuff.

I'll bet that kid in the middle of nothing would be ready for even the Reese's by now, though.

Gratitude Monday: All Souls

It’s been rather a tough year for me in terms of losing friends to death, so let me take advantage of Gratitude Monday coinciding with All Souls' Day to pull back—pull in—and both mourn and rejoice for two of them in particular.

I’ve written about John and Leilah before, even though of course there aren’t enough words. You have loved ones like them, too, if you’re lucky.

Over the weekend I’ve been dosing myself with requiems—mostly Verdi’s and Mozart’s. But I don’t think you need to come here for 60 to 90 minutes’ worth of solemnity. El Día de los Muertos is about celebrating the dead and knowing that some day we’ll be among them, either corporeally or spiritually, however you view such things.

So here are a couple of shorter pieces that are indelibly entwined in my memory with my two friends. First, “Poor Wand’ring One”, from Pirates of Penzance, which John introduced me to in my junior year of college. (I well recall Julie, a fellow student in my military history class, giving me a précis of this particular song, including the cadenza.)

This version is from the D’Oyly Carte, the company John loved the best for Gilbert & Sullivan.

Leilah’s song is Mary Black’s cover of “Bless the Road”, here paired with her “Speaking with the Angel”. She loved this piece; her sweet companion was her son, Anthony. It was on a DC I made for her to give him when he was in hospital.

We’re heading into the dark time of the year, when we step up our efforts to fill the night with light both literally and metaphorically. All Souls' Day gives us the opportunity to step between life and death, to consider those who’ve gone ahead of us and perhaps reflect on how we’ll make that journey ourselves. There was a time when this was meaningless to me, but I get it now. And I’m grateful for it.