Hook Equity

I came home and tried to hang up my coat. It is my total winter coat - sort of like a sleeping bag, but a coat. Very nice and warm. But that's not the point.

I came home and tried to hang up my coat. But I can't. He has all the hooks. There are 6 hooks on my coat rack, and his coats take up all 6.

I have a total of 2 coats that I need to hang up for everyday use. Why do you need 6? I want hook equity.

Have you had that problem?

The art is Givanni Boldini's Putting on her Dress. I don't have a date for this, but it is probably the 1870's. You know she will need a coat to wear with this dress. I hope she has hook equity.

New Product Idea

I have a truly inspired idea for a new product. If someone could put it together quickly and get it ready for Christmas shopping, I know they'd make a fortune.

You've heard of noise-canceling headphones? They are amazing headphones that emit a sound that somehow cancels out the sounds around you without just blasting a ton of static into your ears. Some of them work really well. I have a pair that I wear on airplanes.

Well, how about noise canceling mouthpieces? They would cancel out the sound of the person wearing them, so no one would have to listen to them speak or scream. They would be great for children, whether on airplanes, art museums, movies, or when your friends bring them to visit.

If you could make some really cheap ones I could carry some with me, and offer them to needy children.

I'm just a giver, you know. Always thinking of the children.

Anyone interested in creating this product?

The art is Pablo Picasso's Mother and Child, 1922.

Cats or Children?

I think I'm better with cats than with children. When I come home, Cujo meets me at the door, meowing loudly and continually. I have learned that this is his "I'm hungry" cry. So I fill his dish and take it to his area, saying, "Look Cujo, it's yummy yummy Cujo food for Cujo!" I like to say his name a lot, because I think somehow he will learn it and eventually come when I call him, fetch sticks, and guard the house against burglars.

My friend has a 2 year old child. To him I say, "So, have you considered colleges? What do you think you'd like to do?" And sometimes, "Geez, kid, get a job!" And, "Do you realize it is rather annoying when you run around and around the house like that slapping everyone?"

I pick Cujo up and stroke him, saying, "Good Cujo. What a good kitten you are, my little special kitty cat." Cat hair and dander flies everywhere. There are times when I seem to be wearing a cat hair suit.

I shake hands with my friend's child, then wash my hands, because we all know kids are germ magnets.

It's probably a good thing I forgot to have children.

The art is from an old 1980's T-shirt that I've always loved, based on a Roy Lichtenstein painting.

OK so say you are in a bar, pub, or a restaurant where you are bound to use the restroom more than once.

I tend to go to the same stall over and over again. Do you?

If there is an odor there after my first or second or whatever visit there, I freak out a little, but I don't go to a new one. Do you?

If I flush and the toilet paper doesn't go all the way down, I tend to leave it in the hopes that some one else will see it and be repulsed, and therefore less likely to use "my" stall. Do you?
Just wondering.

The art is Jean Helion's Upside Down, 1947.

Mexico Flood

In case you hadn't heard, there are hundreds of thousands of people affected by a huge flood in Mexico.

From the AP Story:
At least one death was reported and nearly all services, including drinking water and public transportation, were shut down. The flood affected an estimated 900,000 people — their homes flooded, damaged or cut off by high water. The flooding is in Villahermosa, the state capital of Tabasco, in southeastern Mexico.

The floods are also affecting oil production and cultural treasures (like these huge pre-Colombian Olmec heads that are really amazing).

I don't know anyone in that area, but if you do I hope everything is OK for them.

There are some Reuters photos here:
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/110207mexicofloods/im:/071018/photos_ts/2007_10_18t135257_450x346_us_climatechange_usa_energy;_ylt=AhC9khKtWwx.bOXjBKfuuc.aK8MA
The art is Mexican surrealist artist Rodolfo Morales' Angel de Anoranza. He often included women, angels, and buildings in his paintings.

Sports Fans

The Red Sox won the World Series. I am a Sox fan, so that made me happy. It made a lot of people happy. It made them so happy that at least 37 were arrested here in my lovely Boston.

This is a quote from our WBZ News site:

37 people were arrested overnight in the city by Boston and State Police, mostly for disorderly conduct. No serious injuries were reported. 16 cars were vandalized on Newbury Street. Most of the damage was broken side view mirrors, broken windows and damaged windshield wipers. At least one small fire was set and at one point, the crowd flipped a pick up truck on to its side. Young people sprayed each other with beer and some climbed street signs or utility poles. Pictures captured by WBZ-TV crews showed at least one car tipped over near Copley Square. (end quote)

I am puzzled. How does starting fires and destroying property express your team or civic spirit? I just don't get it. At least no one was killed, like in 2004.

I don't think this is endemic to Boston. I know all over the world people go crazily violent when their sports team wins. What is it about? Seriously, I just don't understand it.

Of course, I also don't understand how a US event is termed a "World" Series. But maybe that's just me.

The art is Bacchus, 1626, by the Baroque painter Jusepe de Ribera.

A Deep Philosophical Question

Do you think that my cat knows I love him? And can he love me?

Or does he just want me because I feed him and scoop out his poop, and if I died he would eat me?

The art is Nude With a Cat, 1949, by Balthus.