Wayne's Whirled

The wife of a long-time friend of mine was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a year ago, and she is riding the Arizona Bike MS Event at the end of March which is a two-day, 150 mile ride. Geesh, it makes me tired just thinking about it.

Since I am unlikely to leap off my couch and jump on a bike and join her, I did the next best thing and DONATED. I know all of us want to have some good Karma flowing so throw a few dollars at this to get a jump on the next time you do something bad. Then you’ll just be even.

You can read about Marlene and donate to her effort HERE. Really you can. I know you can. Okay, I’ll buy you a frickin’ drink next time I see you if you donate. I’m not above bribing you. And you don’t have to pick $25; you can choose your own amount so if you give $5 you’ll be even after I buy you that drink.

There is currently no cure for MS; to learn more about MS, to read stories of those affected and to see what else is being done to combat this disease, check out the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website.

We thank you for your support.

It was supposedly “The CLIMB to Conquer Cancer” but we certainly spent a lot of time on buses.  School buses.

So I joined my friends Princess, Max, Esther and Elmer on the Climb to Conquer Cancer this morning, which consists mainly of walking about six miles to the top of South Mountain but ALSO consists of multiple rides on real school buses to get to and from the parking area and also down the mountain after hiking to the top. I realized that in all the years since I last rode a school bus (be nice) the technology has NOT CHANGED AT ALL. Even the windows have the exact same “squeeze in on both sides and slide up or down” kind of latches. And either the seats seem so close together:

or maybe I am bigger. I’m not sure what I expected; maybe drop-down DVD screens, a small Starbucks counter or at least wireless internet access. Nada.

And check out this little guy who made it to the top!

Had a wonderful time; wish you were there.

Yup, I went out and tore up Scottsdale last night with my friends Erica, Chris and a couple friends of theirs. Actually we just tore up Kazimierz Wine Bar but it was really fun. It turns out that Dennis Rowland plays there Thursday nights so the music was pretty cool. Here is a shot:

We had fun messing with one of Erica’s friends named Ryan; Erica, Chris and I were there early and were tucked in a corner so when Ryan came in he was sitting by himself at the couches reserved for our group. I got some scoop on Ryan from Erica and went over and sat down next to him and started talking to him like I’ve known him for years; I fessed up right when I could sense he was going to ask “Who the hell ARE you?” He was a great sport and all of the people there were cool and witty.

One other interesting note: I guess it was Scottsdale ArtWalk night so there were a lot of artists in the house. It was obvious because it TOTALLY threw off the usual 90%/10% Snottsdale ratio of blondes to brunettes!

Thank you Lord.

Hey, it was a tough week and I DID catch an early movie (Jumper; I had to see it ’cause I read all the books; kinda goofy though).

Nice fire, huh? And yes, that IS a TiVo’d episode of Judge Judy up there. How sad 🙂

So I was able to get to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art to check out the Edgerton Photography Exhibit before it closes tomorrow. You’ve all seen the stuff; super high-speed photography, much of it done way back in the 1930s:

Now this was WAY before computers (try to IMAGINE it, young people), so the methods they had to time the photography were ingenious indeed. After that, went and checked out the play/standup routine called “World of Jewtopia” which detailed all the funny things about being Jewish (or Gentile, for that matter). One funny part was where they put up a drawing of a restaurant and had the crowd figure not only where the only good table was located but also WHY the other tables were inadequate. Curiously enough, the crowd yelled out the correct answers for all of them (too close to the kitchen, to close to the drafty window, OUTDOORS, etc).

During the Q and A after, a young girl from the crowd mentioned that there were no cute Jewish men on Jdate. I assume this is because they are all trolling for shiksas on Match.com…