Sunday

I've obviously been very erratic with the blog over this extended weekend. The days are just so unusual with the Thursday holiday. This wouldn't be a problem if I were retired. I always say that the retirees often don't know which day it might be since most days it doesn't matter if it is a weekend or not. I know I could easily get used to a half day schedule. Too bad I have bills to pay.

This entry is being posted from the 53rd Street SB's as I await a call from 3 to do a Ross's breakfast with her, 2 and 4. And 3's friend James. They head back to C-town later today. And 4 returns to IC.

3 and I did the switcheroo on her cell phone yesterday and the process was actually more than the dread that we had anticipated. Since the current phone was in my name, and 3 wanted to change providers but keep the number, I was needed to sign-off on the exchange. The local AT&T retail store was something less than full-disclosure when we signed the new paperwork, and I have a suspicion that there will possibly be some double-billing before the thing is complete. Whenever a service contract situation is off the beaten path, whether it be phone, Internet, or refrigerators, the attending salesperson has a greater-than-50% chance of screwing the deal up. We'll see where this one concludes.

2 and I did a little run yesterday, but my calf muscle again cramped. If that had happened earlier in the week, I would not have been able to do the TT. So now I am forced to get my indoor bike and weight training schedule sorted out. This is a good thing. I have to make some decisions on 2008 biking goals. Which will likely include a trip up Mt. Rose.

Today's Sunday paper reminds me of an observation that I have wanted to note here in recent weeks.

A couple of popular comic strips have been running stories outside of the normal current-day presentation. For Better or Worse is back in time with the characters whom we have come to know as young adults being portrayed as toddlers. Funky Winkerbean is in the future with the main characters whom we have followed through their teens and up through their 30-somethings, now parents of their own teens, or retired.

I read somewhere that the illustrator of For Better or Worse, Lynn Johnston, has a medical problem that limits her drawing skills. And they're re-running earlier stories at times. I'm not sure of the rationale for Funky's leap forward. There was a cancer death of one of the main characters, and this just may be a transition period for the author.

Continuing a little more on the concept of juxtaposition of plot-line presentations, I watched most of the 13 episode FX series, Damages, this Fall, and I never did get the exact sequence of the events in that show. The premier started out with one of the main characters shown in jail, bloodied and ghost-like. Then they went back and forth in almost all the shows, always coming back to the scene of the one character in the jail cell. Glen Close and Ted Danson were central characters. The series was recently re-upped, in spite of marginal ratings, so the confusion will likely continue next year.

And several years ago, I kind of liked the quirky (and canceled) TV series Boomtown with Neal McDonough. That show had a less-ambitious format where they showed most of each week's climatic scene at the start of the show, and then spent the hour following just one of the character's actions/activities which brought him/her to the final scene.

I guess the flash-back has been, and continues to be, used many times in movies and TV shows. But the standard network flash-back tends to be a single linear scene meant to explain an element in a murder mystery. The various CSI shows do this a lot. And the "Kill Green" segments of ER beat the concept to death.

The danger with any of these indirect time line presentations is that the viewer can become frustrated with the need to concentrate and watch the entire episode(s). I know I have limited patience. It's one thing to show a re-play in a sports event. It's a whole other matter to base the entire show on a series of mixed-up scenes and think that the audience cares enough to take notes.

So I have no conclusions to this topic.

David Broder had a very insightful column today. It's worth the read.

Finally, I have to comment that as I have put this entry together this AM, I've had what has to be a Match.com initial meeting going on at the next table. This guy will be single for the rest of his life.

So, hope the holiday weekend ends well for the masses. Thanks for reading.

BCOT