Over the course of a few days, I watched Roger & Me, Michael Moore’s first documentary, and released in 1989. Previously, I’d only seen Fahrenheit 9/11 (June 2004, Dallas TX theater) and Sicko (December 2007 rental.) I know a large number of people may not like Michael Moore or his tactics, but I think he’s interesting, so his efforts shouldn’t be dismissed outright. As a matter of fact, I think you should listen to everyone’s viewpoints, and then make your own decisions.

This documentary primarily revolves around GM beginning to implode under its own bloated weight and mismanagement, which resulted in plant closings, and the effects on the livelihoods of former GM plant employees in Flint, Michigan, and the surrounding areas. Moore attempts to speak to at-the-time GM CEO Roger Smith. Moore’s film crew illustrated a lot of the poverty in Flint, and the attributed much of it, unfairly I think, to GM. Yes, GM closed a number of plants in the 1980′s and moved those jobs to Mexico. However, that’s a business decision, and I don’t think it would be GM’s responsibility to do something more for former employees. Now, yes, when you have GM senior mgmt taking large bonuses, you have to question the logic.

If you take the “Blame GM!” argument out of it, what remains is a sad and interesting look at the after-effects. Flint’s failed attempts to make the city a tourist destination – a new hotel, Autoworld, etc. The dramatic rise in crime, attempts at finding new jobs, the evictions. The film crew went along with Sheriff’s Deputy Fred Ross as he evicted tenants who were behind on their rent. The sheriff’s deputy was doing his job, but it was heartbreaking to see young children affected and confused about what was happening. A young mother yelling at her children to hurry up and get their coats. Another mother asking where is she supposed to go, while her toddler boy is sucking his thumb and gazing at the camera. Watching it, you had to wonder what happened to these people, what did they do next, and where did they go?

Roger & Me (1989)

My idea - posting a reminder on each cubby

I don’t consider that the act of actually responding to an invitation is all that difficult. If you get an invitation, call or email them back! Have we ourselves missed RSVP dates? Of course, who hasn’t? Still, we do eventually call or something. For each of the kids’ birthday parties in the past six years, it has been mind-numbing to understand why the parents of children can not RSVP to save their lives. We invite the entire class, and what do we get? Absolute silence. It’s not just us — we’ve spoken to other parents, and they’ve gotten the same type of non-response. I think we’ve had the most luck when we tackle another parent in the hallway, and point-blank ask them, “Uh, did you get our invitation?”

I remember for Josh’s 2nd birthday party, we received three actual attendees from his class, plus our friends and family. One time we were fed up, and we had Josh’s 4th birthday party in his classroom during the school hours, and hired a clown. We figured, these kids will at least have to be there at that time. This year for his 6th birthday party, my wife sent out 40 invitations, and about 25 kids showed up.

I’ll be honest that we’ve been struggling with Lily’s birthday party this year. We found a really neat place called Junglerrrific nearby that has a great facility and program. There are only 25+ kids in her class, but we’ve only received a few actual responses from her classmates’ families. Absolutely nothing from the rest. It was possible some of them forgot or lost the invites, so I had this bright idea to put reminders (or post-it notes) on the cubbies, so the parents would be reminded. Yeah, we got two more responses. Two.

What is wrong with these people? I think with friends and the handful of classmates, we’re at about 15, so we’ll be fine for Saturday, but I’m honestly shocked and appalled by the lack of effort. I mean, really, our kids are in the same classroom all year. You get an invitation, can you say something?

Last year, we had some of our friends over to celebrate the kids’ March birthdays. Since we hadn’t had folks over in a long while, we invited people over again, since both the kids still had birthdays this year.   We had the party last night, and man, good party! 

Last year, we ordered all the food from a local Indian restaurant, but this year, my wife and I decided to go with a Middle-Eastern theme on the food. She made these two great red bean and baba ganoush dips, as well as meatballs, a shrimp dish, salad, and a this semolina-based cake. We supplemented the dinner with Afghan narange rice, and two different types of chicken kebabs. It was all very delicious.

There was a lot of conversation, drinks, food, and a few rousing games of Jenga. Good times, photos to post later.

Three years later, I need a new beard trimmer. I used a Norelco Philips trimmer for about three years, but now I seem to have lost the walle charging cable. Where the hell could it go? These things don’t go walking off, you know? After two weeks of manually (and unevenly) grooming my beard with a pair of tiny scissors, I got fed up. Specifically, my wife looked at me earlier this month and said, “Your beard is uneven.”

I went “ARGH!” It’s not fun to trim your beard with scissors, and if it’s still going to look bad, forget it, I’ll just buy a new trimmer. I saw this Philip Norelco Qt4070 on Amazon, figured good enough, and ordered it. After a few days of use, I’ll say it works as expected. However, I don’t find the vacuum feature useful, as I still find hairs on the sink. Also, the trimmer shears don’t stay within the device, but jut out, so it’s a little more difficult to ensure I’m keeping it even. Design challenges aside, my beard is even now.

Philips Norelco Qt4070

The Master Lock 1590D

Last month, I purchased a new Master Lock combination lock from Target. I would use this for my gym locker. Instead of getting a traditional combination lock with just numbers (and I could forget the combo), I opted for this new-fangled combination lock that used letters and numbers to create words. It’s just a 3 alphanumeric code, but still, easy to remember.

I used for a few times, but misplaced it for two weeks. I finally found it under the couch, and was elated. However, I dropped it on the kitchen floor later that day, but didn’t think much of it. Later at the gym, I couldn’t get the lock to open after attemping the combination for 15 minutes. I gave up, and carried my valuables with me throughout my workout. Frustration!

On the way home, I called the Master Lock customer line, and spoke to a rep. The rep happens to mention that they’ve been “having some problems” with this particular model, so she would send me a “one-time only” replacement, but it would be the traditional combo lock. Sigh, whatever, at this point. I looked online later, and it seems many other people have complained that the 1590D has caused much grief to other consumers. You would think someone would pull these defective products from stores in the meantime.

I received my replacement combination lock in the mail this week, and it’s not even new — it’s refurbished! I thought they could at least send me a new lock, not one that is all dinged up. Thanks for keeping customers happy, Master Lock.

The Total Pillow

About a week ago when we were shopping at our local Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Josh and I were pushing the shopping cart and saw the Total Pillow. We’d seen this on tv commercials before, but it seems it’s available now in stores.  You can bend it in a few different ways for various uses, such as a back pillow, neck pillow, etc. It was like $10 or so, and I thought it might be nice to have for when I’m in the car or the office. A lot of times on long drives, my lower back hurts, and I wish I had some sort of back support. During last year’s Michigan/Chicago road trip, I used the kids’ neck pillows, but it wasn’t the best option.

It’s been a few days, and I’ll report that it’s definitely better than nothing.

This week, I saw Woody Allen’s 1977 film Annie Hall, apparently one of this most famous and acclaimed films. I’ve read that this was one of his most popular films, but I didn’t know that it had won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. I haven’t partaken with a majority of Woody Allen’s films, though I do slightly remember watching portions of Sleeper many moons ago when I was a kid.

Annie Hall is about Allen’s character Alvy Singer who meets a woman named Annie Hall, played by Diane Keaton. They fall in love and get into a relationship that lasts a few years. They eventually break up, and the film’s premise is a view of adult relationships. Not being a student of the 70′s, I thought it was an interesting look at love and life in the 1970s. I don’t quite understand the fashion choices, but it was interesting to watch the beginning and end of a relationship. I was reminded that relationships are complex and difficult and wonderful.

Annie Hall (1977)

As you know, I’ve become more adept at home improvement jobs around the house, mostly through trial and error. I’ve had to, since it isn’t cost effective to hire someone to do it. Plumbing has been my Achilles Heel, and have been thwarted regularly.

With some small modicum of trepidation, I replaced the faucet in the main floor powder room. It wasn’t so bad. The kit also came with materials to replace the stopper (and the associated flanges, gaskets, pipe, etc.) However, once it started talking about Plumber’s Putty and Tape, and when I couldn’t figure out how to replace it, I said forget it, good enough.

Looks good, I think, and the hot water works again.

The last of the three new movies we purchased arrived today — Megamind. I ordered it at Walmart.com last week, with free shipping to our local store. I’m not personally a big fan of Walmart, but this was pretty easy, and the price was right. I hope we can crack this open in the next few weeks.

Megamind Blu-ray & DVD combo

Doug and I went out Friday night to see Paul, the new Simon Pegg and Nick Frost “meet an alien” movie. The alien is “Paul”, a wise-crackin’, fun-lovin’ alien. There were a few other options out there on a Friday night, but we settled on watching a movie over at the Garden State Plaza mall. I ate dinner at the food court, and then we walked over to the AMC theater.

I thought Paul was a pretty good movie. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play two sci-fi / fantasy, convention-going guys on a road trip through southwest USA, visiting sites famous for UFO sightings, including Area 51. On the way, they run into Paul, voiced by Seth Rogen. Paul the alien was the best part of the whole movie. During the course of the plot as they try to get Paul where he needs to be, they’re chased by government agents, and run into rednecks and other strange folks, including Kristen Wiig’s bible-thumper.

Pegg and Frost wrote this film, so there are a zillion sci-fi references, so when you watch this movie, keep an eye open for them.

Paul (2011)