About Fred

The long weekend

Today is Presidents Day, and I spent most of it spring cleaning, if only to let myself pretend for a little while that it was spring. And not, you know, bitterly and painfully cold.

I took the dog for a walk at 6:30 this morning, and no amount of layers was keeping that windchill away. I looked at the weather report as soon as I came back in, and I seem to remember it saying 17°F (“feels like” -1°F), but I could have been delirious from the cold. (I also remember dreaming an extensive rendition of some children’s barnyard song in the style of Billy Joel, though I can’t remember the song, and the more I think on it, the less I think it would be amusing if I could.)

I did some grocery shopping, some cleaning, and some more watching of Rubicon. I’m three episodes to the end now, and while I know the show was cancelled somewhat unceremoniously, I’m hoping the rumors that it reached some kind of conclusion are true.

I go back to work tomorrow, although thankfully not back to the office until Wednesday. By then, it’s supposed to be a little warmer — back up to the balmy 40° it was on Friday, perhaps? — and I won’t have to worry about dying from exposure just to take the dog out to pee.

The weekend

Yesterday, I gave blood at the local library. Or, rather, in the bloodmobile parked outside the library. This was my first time donating inside one these things, and while I don’t have any pictures, it was similar to this one, only a little smaller and a little more cramped, especially with everyone wearing winter coats and all.

Afterward, I cam home and re-watched Almost Famous. It’s altogether I napped during a small chunk of it. That’s pretty much the highlights of my Saturday.

Today, my writing group was cancelled, thanks to car troubles — not mine — so I went and had what turned out to be a really great sushi lunch. I’m new to this idea that raw fish can actually taste good — although I usually do still stick to the rolls — but today’s tasted very good indeed.

Then I came home, did a little housecleaning, and shredded some old documents while I watched episodes of Rubicon. I liked it for the brief moment it was on TV back in 2010, then bought the season, then just let it sit there. But today I’ve watched a third of it, and I’m still liking it, so I’m not regretting the purchase. I can see why it didn’t click with viewers, and nowadays it would probably fare even worse on AMC. (I like The Walking Dead, except when I don’t, but it’s hard not to argue that it’s distracted AMC from the path it seemed to be on before this. Even its other powerhouses, Mad Men and Breaking Bad seem a little like legacy shows that don’t quite fit the new model.)

Anyway, I like Rubicon, even if it is, by design, slow. But I figured, political thrillers don’t necessarily age well. (Even if I remember being pleasantly surprised by The Parallax View a few years ago, and that was definitely one of this show’s models. And some forty years old.) Time to give it a shot.

That, plus an incredible amount of freezing cold wind, was my Sunday.