On Today's Agenda

Item #1
Today the sun rose at 7:09 am and set at 6:13 pm. That's 2 minutes and 37 seconds more sunlight than yesterday. And tomorrow we get 2 minutes and 38 seconds MORE daylight. Hoo.ray.

Item #2
I read this book last week. I liked it. It's a good travel memoir.


Also terrified me a little bit, which was probably not one of the author's aims, but you can only read about the smog and pollution in one of the largest countries in the world for so long before you determine that your best bet is to saddle up one of the cats and go build yourself a cabin off the grid. I think the really disturbing part of the book (at least from the pollution angle, the Chinese quality of life angle is a whole different kettle of fish) is the Chinese reaction to it, which is that progress (and progress equals the production of cheap toys with which to stock the shelves of Wal-Mart) necessitates air quality that poses an immediate, visible danger to one's health. The author reported that several times when he mentioned the air quality to locals, they replied, "There's pollution in LA too." It's like reading about the violence in Afghanistan in The Storyteller's Daughter. The author travels with Afghan fighters who have never known their country in a time of peace. They have no concept of what peace time would be like and no conception of themselves as anything but warriors. Disturbing. As far as pollution goes, you could also just go to one of my city's council meetings to hear distressing statements about pollution in Utah from the elected representatives I voted against, who still don't seem to notice that we spent several weeks locked into our homes this winter to keep from shortening our lives sucking down the nasty air trapped in the inversions. Read Lost on Planet China. And then go get yourself a cat and a cabin.

Item #3
I heard the theme song to the TV show Cheers today and it made me want to cry. It reminds me of my childhood. (But I didn't cry, because I knew the sun was going to stay up until almost 6:15. Happy day.)