Once again, Cakeshop provides

"Bang on the Ear" by the Waterboys.

Veterans Day

Well, here it is, Veteran's Day, one day after the Marines Corps birthday and the first year (I'm ashamed to say) that I'm really thinking about the people who fight for their country and either live for a long time like my grandfather or become injured or die. Anyway, I'm going to eat a slice of cake, as you do on birthdays, give another little shout out to Cold Steel Walker and say thanks.

In other news, I now like my cats who I had previously disliked. I wouldn't say I'm gay for them, like I am for 90% of dogs, but I feel definite affection.

Good story.

Cold Steel Walker

Last night I went to a benefit at Town Hall called Stand Up for Heroes, organized by the Bob Woodruff Foundation. It's a charity that takes care of wounded Iraq vets, those with wounds both seen and unseen. It was amazing night, I was Martha Raddatz's date, mom of one of my best friends, Greta, and White House Correspondent for ABC News. Bruce played, auctioned off his Harley for $70,000 and his guitar for $45,000. More importantly, I think his son was sitting in front of us. At least my friend Erin thought so. Anyway, Martha introduced me to one of her friends, General Newbold. He's a Marine and we started chatting and I mentioned that my grandfather was a Marine and served in the Pacific during WWII and that his nickname was Cold Steel Walker. General Newbold stopped short and said that he knew that name very well, Cold Steel Walker was famous in the Corps. So that was pretty amazing and I'm looking forward to hearing more stories about him, but here's an anecdote that my dad sent to me, which I find badass. This was sent to my dad by a man named James Gleason when Grandpa died.

COL. WALKER: I READ WITH GREAT SADNESS OF THE DEATH OF YOUR FATHER AND MY COMMANDING OFFICER “COLD STEEL” WALKER…. I WAS THE CORPSMAN WHO TREATED HIM ON NEW GEORGIA WHEN HE WAS WOUNDED, AND HE LAUGHINGLY ALLOWED ME TO INCLUDE THE STORY IN MY BOOK REAL BLOOD! REAL GUTS! U.S. MARINE RAIDERS AND THEIR CORPSMEN IN WORLD WAR II, OF HOW, AT THE AGE OF 17, I WAS SO AWED AND FRIGHTENED, NOT OF THE JAPANESE BUT OF HIM, THAT I FORGOT TO PUSH THE SYRETTE INTO THE MORPHINE TUBE, SO THAT HE RECEIVED NO MORPHINE WHEN I TREATED HIM INITIALLY. I DIDN’T HAVE THE NERVE TO TELL HIM ABOUT THAT UNTIL SOME 50 YEARS LATER AT A RAIDER REUNION. SEMPER FIDELIS, JIM GLEASON, 4TH MARINE RAIDER BATTALION CORPSMAN.

I assume this is where I get my incredible tolerance for pain and general toughness.

Here's a link to General Newbold's article in Time Magazine about why the war in Iraq is a mistake: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1181629,00.html

More like Lip Gloss

As I look through the photos of Obama victory celebrations across the globe last night all I can think of is how cool those kids uniforms in Indonesia are, you know, at the school where tiny Obama went when he was tiny. And as I look at the pictures of McCain's concession speech all I can think of is how slutty Sarah Palin's lip stick and gloss combo is. How did I never notice that? It's the super shiny nude color gloss of a porn star. Crazy. Oh, and Hooray!!!!!! My corner had a quasi riot last night in that people where on the street cheering and then the cops came, which I think secretly pleased the hipster masses because it made them feel badass. So the cops and the hipsters sort of looked at each other and the hipsters continued to chant "Yes we can!" and it was sort of an awkward stand off. Then we all went to bed.

Voting

I have a fear that I'll somehow flip the wrong switch tomorrow and vote for McCain just because I spaz out. It's kind of like the whole don't push the red button because the red button will destroy the world thing and you just HAVE to push the red button. Remember that Ren and Stimpy where Stimpy gets space madness? Or was it Ren. It was Ren. That, I think, was my favorite Ren and Stimpy. Anyway, Ren pushes the red button. And the space ship explodes. That's more or less the scenario that will play out at my voting center. Or, like last time, a crazy dude who's registering me will insist that I'm not registered and then get really mean. Well soooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrry that I maintain a PO Box, dick. Yeah, I said it. That guy was a dick.

Judith Light Pleases Me

I don't know what it is about her, but I'm glad Judith Light is having a career resurgence with Ugly Betty. I don't watch Ugly Betty and I wasn't the biggest fan of Who's the Boss? But I just like Judith Light. I don't think she's that pretty and her harshness sort of scared me as a child, but I think it's the fact that I know her name that pleases me. It's sort of like knowing Alan Thicke's name. I just like to reference them to let myself know that I know them. Anyone can know a Kirk Cameron or a Suzanne Somers, but Judith Light is a little cooler. Now, if I knew the dad's name on Step by Step then that would be weird. See how that works? Good.

The 'Herst

I had to get out of NYC for a couple of days and relax in CT, maybe because my block is teeming with CMJ hipsters morning, noon and night and the unwashed masses were just getting to me. Is it over yet? Please let it be over. Anyway, I decided to drive up to Amherst for the day to write, because Amherst rules. It's beautiful and collegiate and people are still unwashed but in a different way. I'm writing in the science library, where I used to "study" with my friends Tim and Dan. All we basically did was quote South Park and try to master Timmy's lines (the kid in the wheelchair). We got it down to "Rar deer bawz." And we'd just sort of say that back and forth. Then Timmy and Dan would smoke, as Tim puts it, "quad hourly." College.

I'm also listening to two songs on repeat from the new Orkkevil River album, The Stand Ins.
The songs are "Lost Coastlines" and "Singer Songwriter"

Also, I'd like to mention that the Pioneer Valley is home to my favorite radio station of all time, WRNX (Amherst, Northampton, Springfield). I can't explain it, just happy music and cool DJ's (I think Rachel Maddow used to work there) and local commercial spots that are charming and hockey and somehow old-timey. Fly By Night Mattresses stands out. 100.9. So good.