I Hear That Train A Comin

On my "Things To Do Before I Die" list is the goal of traveling across America by train. I envision a leisurely week or so of riding the rails with my camera and my notebook. Any destination is fine. I just want to feel relaxed for a period of time and gaze at my country's glorious scenery - not by plane where I am thousands of miles above it or by car where I am focusing more on the road than beauty around me, but by train where I can casually study the view out my window and reflect on all that has happened in this land over so many years.

Usually, when thinking about this, I imagine a trip up into the New England states. I think of timing it to witness the awesome fall foliage. But today, I was talking with my Montana residing friend and did a little AmTrak.com research. There is a route called the Empire Builder that travels from Chicago to Seattle with a stop very near her home. It'd be nice to finally meet a friend I only know through blogging. What a beautiful trip that would be. My wife has always wanted to live in Montana (she even subscribed to the Billings Gazette while in college at UGA). I doubt we'll ever move there, but it would be a nice gift to her to take a trip to Montana.

So, the "Things To Do Before I Die" list now includes AmTrak's Empire Builder route. Paige and I would leave the kids with my mother-in-law and we'd just disappear together for a while. No internet, no blogging, no punch clocks - just leisure time with my love as we get to know parts out west.

I found a nice article on that route and train travel in general at thelobby.com.

What's on your list?

Orphans

"'Orphans' (in stores Tuesday) is a teeming, seething menagerie too antic to be corralled, a leviathan too vast to be easily grasped."

-from a review of Tom Waits' new CD set, by Richard Cromelin of the L. A. Times

I Don't Have To Camp Out For Three Days For Yesterday's Technology

All of this talk of PlayStation3 has me wondering, "Is it time I upgrade to PlayStation2?" I have the first PlayStation system but it's buried deep within a storage unit somewhere and I just don't have it in me to go digging for it. I have no need for the latest technology. I just want something to play Madden football on.

With that in mind, I guess now might be a good time to check eBay for unwanted PS2s.

Craig Wilson Gets My Thanks

Only losers lack the manners to thank the finder - Craig Wilson, USA Today

A Link From My Finnish Friend

In Finland's Footsteps

Good News For Jazz Fans

Nashville gets rare chance to hear live jazz from masters

It's Like This

I can't go into the details because I know better than to blog about work.

Suffice to say that I am finally home, I have beers in my belly, and I have Vern Gosdin playing on the stereo.

There's a song in my mood and disposition tonight. But Nashville is full of writers tonight and I'd just rather leave the writing to them. I've finally got walls, beer, music, and solitude. Ten hours on the clock and I'll take my reward.

[Edit to add: The funk is gone. Why? The workplace is a million miles away, Vern Gosdin has run his course, and I am now listening to 1991's fantastic Bone Machine by Tom Waits. I'm back on top.]

Juggling Two Houses

I'm so glad that our experience with that is a thing of the past. Here's an NPR story on getting caught between two mortgages. With us, it was a mortgage and rent. And the stress of it all just about did us in. It seems that it happens to more people than I had thought.

It's A Good Thing For Them That We're All So Car Dependent

In so many areas of our lives, the people with whom we make deals are held responsible to certain levels of honesty and integrity. Whether it be out of respect to the law or out of fear of losing customers to competitors with lower prices or nicer smiles, we consumers are treated well and with dignity.

And then there is the car business. From dealers to repair shops, it seems that we not only lose out on the deals, but we just accept it as a foregone conclusion that we will be lied to and we will pay too much. We are just too weary to fight these battles. I would love to live in a city with better mass transportation. I would love to not need to own a car. Even if living in a city with a higher cost of living outweighed the price of driving a car in my current city, I would just feel better not having the daily worry of whether or not my car would start and how that would affect my family financially. And essentially, I want to be no one's sucker.

I'm thinking of this after reading the latest in alleged Bill Heard dishonesty:

"We would like to congratulate you on your ‘04 Trailblazer," a voice said.

It's a recording that'd been left on the car's message system by the salesmen at Bill Heard that closes with this zinger:

"I know you got f**ked, but still in the long run, you're going to be happy with it. So, take care!"

I invite your comments on the subject of trusted mechanics and car dealers. Shared knowledge is indeed shared power.

Is That Of Montreal Doing An Outback Steakhouse Commercial?

Yes, it is.

And now The Go! Team is featured in a Honda commercial. It's like this Titans game is being brought to you by Vanderbilt's WRVU. I can't wait for the next commercial break. I'd like to request something by The Mountain Goats, please.

Opening Act

Here at Chez Bez, we pause for dramatic effect.

Video Premiere: Tom Waits: "Lie To Me"

Tom Waits' new video, courtesy of Pitchfork.

Veterans' Day

My grandfather.

A hero and a man among men.
When seeking a role model for how to be
the truest of gentlemen,
I look only to him.

I thank him for his service, his guidance, and his love.

Bukowski Night

I write the blog because the fantasy is that one day I write for a living and stop punching a clock for a living.

When was the fantasy's seed planted? A long time ago. I was wandering about an old bookstore that didn't survive downtown Nashville's resurgence as a tourist destination. I couldn't have been but nineteen or twenty years old and already I was dealing with more than I was ready for in life. At the front end of one aisle of that old bookstore was a title of a book that caught my eye. It was called Women. I had never heard of its author, Charles Bukowski, but I liked the title and I liked what I read from skimming a few pages.

I bought that book that day, and from that night to this day Bukowski has been the man I always go to when I need to read the best. In Waffle House diners and in workplace locker rooms, I have settled myself down by reading his poems and his novels and his short stories.

Tonight, the kids are sleeping well and my wife has turned in for the night. It is only me and my bulldog occupying the main room and I am finally watching a wonderful documentary on the man called Bukowski: Born Into This. The bulldog is chewing on a blanket. I'll have to get after her for that, but I'll give her a minute or so of fun first.

I've got mine.

A Day of Leisure

They stayed home from daycare today. One had a fever and the other wasn't feeling too well either. Of course, there is an upside to this: Pajamas all day long.