Dwarf Planet in Purple

1. I already wrote stuff about my Christmas-week trip to Massachusetts in my paper diary, so please pardon me for not rehashing it. I'm thankful for the people I did see and am sorry I didn't get to see more people. Schedules are always a bit tricky around the holidays. I'm just glad that I got to see people instead of interacting with them on Facebook. Not only had it been three years since I'd been to my native commonwealth, but also I hadn't visited with some friends for four or five years.

2. I am disgusted beyond words at the cruelty the Trump administration is inflicting on people -- unpaid federal employees and contractors, possibly food-stamp and Section 8 recipients, and who knows who else -- during this government shutdown. I have been living on the financial margins for eight years now, and I wouldn't inflict this on anybody, even for a month.

3. We're in the middle of a cold snap. Last night I wanted to see the total lunar eclipse, but I could stay out for only a few minutes at a time. (The last time I went out, I put my sweatpants on over my jeans.) I couldn't look at it through a window because the Moon was roughly straight overhead and my upstairs neighbors' balconies got in the way. It was really windy, too. I didn't think of looking up the temperature on my phone, but I sort of didn't want to know. (The lunar disc looked so three-dimensional during totality.)

4. Speaking of last night ... the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl yet again! But, geez, the latter part of that AFC championship game (fourth quarter and OT) were anxiety-inducing in the extreme. By the time the Pats actually won, I felt physically exhausted. Well, OK, maybe not as exhausted as the players, but still....

5. I should mention that I have started to work on a feature article that is due in mid-March.

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting to LJ/DW over the next couple of days. I'll just have my tablet with me, so those posts are liable to be VERY short. A few other random comments:

1. Still reading Rebecca. At times I wonder whether Rebecca was the illegitimate child of Mrs. Danvers. Yes, I know all about the rigidity of British social classes and all that, but still... Wait, wait, DON'T tell me!

2. For sports fans around here, the 30th anniversary of this gruesome injury is a Big Deal, but maybe this week will finally become known for Bryce Harper's National League MVP award. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about David Ortiz.

... when I was reminded why the windows in the future educational center in the Very Prestigious Institution (the project that I am working on for the V.P.I.) are blast-proof. Something about high-value targets across the street and all that. Especially high-value on April 15 every year.

Seriously, I am still heartbroken over yesterday's Boston Marathon bombings. Despite 20 years in the Maryland suburbs of DC, I still consider myself a Massachusetts person who happens to be living down here. If you know me in person, you have probably noticed that I tend to get prickly when somebody disses the Bay State in my presence.

So, even though the cynic in me wants to say "gee, every night in American cities at least three people die in drive-by shootings and that does NOT make huge banner headlines," I grieve for the dead and injured and have nothing but disgust for the coward(s) who planted the bombs and (presumably) took off before they exploded.

I still lack Internet at home, so I have to get out of here for the evening, but here are links to a couple of wonderful essays about the deep affection for Marathon Mondays: Dan Kennedy and E.J. Dionne. I too remember standing in Kenmore Square or along Brookline Avenue to cheer on the runners -- first the elite, then the average Joes and Janes who flocked (or staggered) by a couple of hours later. (One summer I also sublet a room in an apartment about a block from the second blast site. Crappy building back then, but tony location.)

Last night after dance/music practice I had mixed feelings while watching CNN: I was proud to see photos from my favorite college newspaper shared on the news network, but saddened at the occasion that brought it about.

I guess silmaril would call these "bitties." :-)

1. Apparently the boy toy saw a few snowflakes overnight because he stays up really late, but any "snow" was gone by 9 a.m. when I looked out the window. Snow falling on cherry blossoms is very beautiful, but also very wrong.

2. Last weekend was Lunacon, and I didn't go. Afterward I did the usual blog search and found comments and descriptions like this one. "Distinct lack of energy in the air" is a telling phrase. It's just as well I didn't go.

3. Tonight the boy toy made onion soup with Guinness beer. Not too bad, actually.

4. Noticed the NCAA Elite Eight proceedings with some detachment. After all, none of *my* alma maters is involved (unlike some folks on my Facebook f-list). Interesting that Coach Cal (Kentucky) will face Coach Calhoun (UConn) in the semifinal round. Their teams played each other when Coach Cal was at UMass and, sadly, UConn always beat us.

5. Five things make a post....

("Bitties" being a word borrowed from silmaril, of course.)

Half of the NCAA men's round of 32 is set, and my score is 10 correct picks to 6 incorrect picks. Then again, I had selected Georgetown to go to the Elite Eight. Oh, well.

One of my Facebook (and church) friends, T.H., reported that she got her first daffodil bloom a couple of days ago. Heh, I got my first blossom on March 8. That's still a week later than some years, thanks to the stormy winter. Plus, I have a south-facing condo and the earliest-blooming daffodils are in a sunny spot; T.H.'s house is mostly in the shade.

Is Maryland part of the South? Apparently, for purposes of the Council of State Governments, we're more comfortably aligned with the Eastern region rather than the Southern region. But we still have that phrase "Northern scum" in our state song, and we can't erase the less savory parts of Maryland history, such as the fact that the University of Maryland's law school wouldn't let Thurgood Marshall enroll because of his race (though Marshall later got the court to bite that school in the butt). And then we still have to deal with the legacy of Roger B. Taney. Bleah. Also, I learned when I was studying Maryland heraldry that the counterchanged "cross bottony" (the red and white parts of Maryland's flag) was used as a pro-secession banner in Civil War days. Ugh.

Speaking of politics and law and history ... please, please, please let the House pass the health-insurance reform bill this weekend!! It's not perfect, but we NEED it!