Random Notes from a Crank

I hate bottled water. It's such a scam. Most of the plastic bottles don't get recycled, and if they do, there's a problem because China is no longer taking our plastic recycling. 

If you haven't been paying attention, look into what plastic is doing to our waterways and oceans. 

The height of stupidity is what I've witnessed this week. My in-laws bought bottled water. So I went down to the ice machine at our resort and got ice. These people then put ice in a glass and pour bottled water into it. The ice cubes come from the local water supply, and then they pour bottled water with the ice cubes. If you're going to use locally sourced ice cubes, why the hell would you not use the damn tap water? 

Over the vacation I've read two books by Neil Gaiman: Anansi Boys and Neverwhere. Both were outstanding. And I'm wondering if the BBC series Neverwhere is on Netflix or Amazon Prime. 

The next book I'm off to read is White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America.

Random Notes from a Crank

I know the ingredients of hot dogs are notoriously sketchy, but every once in a while a good old hot dog just hits the spot. The other day I just had a hankering for a hot dog, so I got myself a chili dog. 

I actually prefer Chicago-style hot dogs sans the raw onions. 

When my siblings and I cleaned out my dad's apartment after he died, no one else wanted a number of my parents' cooking utensils, so I snapped them up. One of those that I inherited is a serrated knife for cutting into grapefruit. I've been eating the hell out of grapefruit lately.

The whole deal makes me think about the nutritional qualities of grapefruit. Check out the stats on grapefruit. Mash the links if you're interested. 

I was also thinking the other day why some scientist hasn't crossbred an orange with a grapefruit, so you could have the grapefruit taste, but you could peel it like an orange.  

I am re-watching the Ken Burns documentary about the Vietnam War. 

One of the books I'm reading right now is the biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, the book that inspired Hamilton the Musical. I first reader Chernow's biography of Grant, which I absolutely loved. The Hamilton biography is quite good, but because my store of knowledge about the Revolutionary War period is pretty strong, I'm not as smitten with the Hamilton biography as I was with the Grant one. 

I'm having my daughter read Gaiman's American Gods. It's a gateway to his other works. 

There is a certain art of not saying what you really want to say in email.

Random Notes from a Crank

A) As I write this portion of the post, I'm sitting here at gate B14 as I wait for my plane to arrive to take me to Charlotte and then Greenville, SC for a conference. 

I suspect the flight will be delayed some because of the weather in NC. 

I haven't been in a book store in a while, so went into an airport bookstore and discovered Neil Gaiman has a book of short fiction out and David O. Stewart has a new book published called Madison's Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America. I really enjoyed Stewart's American Emperor: Aaron's Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America. I suspect I'll be picking up those books soon but probably after I at least finish Wendell Berry's Our Only World.

B) It's been over a decade since I've been in the Charlotte airport back when I was routed through there for various job interviews in '02. I had forgotten how big the airport is. And hot. They have the heat turned up way too high. And it's full of slow walkers. As usual, the airport's white rocking chairs were fully used in the atriums. 

C) I'm here in Greenville, and it's snowing like hell.