Friday, August 29, 2003
Just came back from Rick Bell's inaugural fundraiser for his congressional campaign. Erstwhile philosopher and present-day computer programmer, Rick is one of my few Swat friends out here in LA. I wouldn't have guessed that he would be the first college classmate to run for public office, but that's part of the charm.
On the one hand, he looks like an impossible longshot - a 26 year-old with no experience in public office running against an incumbent with decades of experience (though she's only been in Congress for 1 full term).
On the other hand, the incumbent, Diane Watson, is a non-entity of a congresswoman. Her distinguishing project is outlawing mercury in dental fillings. Not the kinda stuff that gets Robert Caro to write a book about you. And apparently Rick will be the only candidate challenging Mrs. Watson in the primary in March.
So I'd say it's not metaphysically impossible for Rick to win the primary. His message is in the making - but I think there's alot there that could make him a more appealing candidate than Mrs. Watson, who doesn't have much going for her other than inertia. But inertia = $$$ and that's hard to beat.
Perhaps even harder to beat are the Indian meal moths that found their way into my cupboards a month ago. My crusade began casually, by throwing out a few boxes of affected cereals. After a few weeks, they were still here, and I realized they had found their way into two containers of sesame seeds (which were had closed flip-tops but were not airtight), a bag of rice, some random flakes of cereal laying in the deep dark recesses of a cupboard, and (most disturbingly) the crumb tray of my toaster. That's where I saw my first larvae, crawling on top of my toaster. I've since thrown out the toaster and every non-airtight bag of grain or seed in my house and hosed down my cupboards with Raid. Their numbers appear to be dwindling, and many of the moths I've spotted in the past two days have been of the writhing, dying sort on my floor.
Finally, lost in the news of tennis legend Jeff Tarango retiring this week, two of my favorite players, Pete Sampras and Michael Chang also called it quits at Flushing Meadows, also the site of my Little League Baseball exploits. ¶ 1:15 AM
On the one hand, he looks like an impossible longshot - a 26 year-old with no experience in public office running against an incumbent with decades of experience (though she's only been in Congress for 1 full term).
On the other hand, the incumbent, Diane Watson, is a non-entity of a congresswoman. Her distinguishing project is outlawing mercury in dental fillings. Not the kinda stuff that gets Robert Caro to write a book about you. And apparently Rick will be the only candidate challenging Mrs. Watson in the primary in March.
So I'd say it's not metaphysically impossible for Rick to win the primary. His message is in the making - but I think there's alot there that could make him a more appealing candidate than Mrs. Watson, who doesn't have much going for her other than inertia. But inertia = $$$ and that's hard to beat.
Perhaps even harder to beat are the Indian meal moths that found their way into my cupboards a month ago. My crusade began casually, by throwing out a few boxes of affected cereals. After a few weeks, they were still here, and I realized they had found their way into two containers of sesame seeds (which were had closed flip-tops but were not airtight), a bag of rice, some random flakes of cereal laying in the deep dark recesses of a cupboard, and (most disturbingly) the crumb tray of my toaster. That's where I saw my first larvae, crawling on top of my toaster. I've since thrown out the toaster and every non-airtight bag of grain or seed in my house and hosed down my cupboards with Raid. Their numbers appear to be dwindling, and many of the moths I've spotted in the past two days have been of the writhing, dying sort on my floor.
Finally, lost in the news of tennis legend Jeff Tarango retiring this week, two of my favorite players, Pete Sampras and Michael Chang also called it quits at Flushing Meadows, also the site of my Little League Baseball exploits. ¶ 1:15 AM
