Good morning all:

“I love to go to Washington — if only to be near my money.” — Bob Hope

Well, this week Marcia and I sat and watched the inauguration. My personal favorite was Aretha. Both ministers proved why organized religion is struggling. The ceremony proved Poetry is near death, but we collectively were deferential at the visitation. Obama proved his wonderful delivery style even when delivering a largely forgettable script. I thought I missed something and so I checked. I was correct, for the first time in at least 20 years the incoming president never once used the word ‘democracy’ in his inaugural address. I do believe that ‘change’ has come to America.

The millions who generated the 130 tons of (it had to be environmentally friendly) trash on the nation’s mall, who braved cold and long lines, had a great time. Those who paid handsomely to hob-nob with the elite and the power brokers by partying into the Washington night, I am certain, had a great time. Now that the 9 to 5 grind is again the norm, our bills need paying, and our taxes are due, think of a wonderful little French saying: tout casse, tout passe, tout lasse, excepté le souvenir (everything breaks, everything passes, and everything wearies, except the memories).

In a sense this week’s events made me feel a bit like Kowalski, Clint Eastwood’s character who is as outdated as the Grand Torino he keeps in his garage. Kowalski’s family, neighborhood, city, and country have passed him by and left him sputtering in the dust. The life he had led in a nation that had been a melting pot has now become a series of cliques—he and his old cronies included. His solution is a Pabst beer and a shot. I’ll make it my mug of morning coffee, but I do like Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Last week I promised an update on our upgrading to HDTV experience via the conversion box-using-the-government-coupon road. As I mentioned earlier, we were among the last to receive the “coupons.” That is until more money is pumped into the system for a newly proposed 1-year extension than the original $1.5 billion already spent. One reason the government’s HD conversion team blew through their allotted $1.5 billion was on their insistence that the citizenry would not be happy unless we received beautifully crafted, plastic, embossed, multi-language, and hologrammed coupons. Marcia and I both agreed that our coupons were stunning.

Store number three was the magic number and had a conversion box in stock. Installation was a breeze. Our, over the air, reception of 9 stations has jumped to 22 stations (all due to sub-channels). For example, we now have access to our five regular stations each pumping out on an accompanying 24-hour weather sub-channel. I fail to understand how I could have lived without all this new enlightenment. The bottom line is that our old analog TV is now approaching HD quality. I tell people that we have a ‘faux’ HDTV. Marcia then promptly corrects by exclaiming; “it’s a ‘Dutch’ HDTV!”–her exclamation being a subtle reference to me.

Can anyone solve the mystery of the never emptying toothpaste tube? Exactly a month ago we went to Michigan for the holidays. Packing up for the trip I debated whether or not to take my scrunched-up and nearly empty tube of tooth paste or a neat and fresh little (under 3 ounce) tube reserved for air travel. I thought I’d take the chance the old would last three and a half days.

Just this morning I finally tossed the now totally empty tube into the trash. One full month after I thought it was almost empty. What gives? Is there some toothpaste regeneration molecule placed in these tubes? I’ll ask Marcia to not toss anything packaged in such a way so that the bottom cannot be readily seen. If my theory is correct then it could mean a truly positive household wide budgetary difference.

Make it a great week.

Cheers,

Dirk