Let me state right now that the West Wing is the greatest television show that the world has ever known. If you don't agree with that statement, you must leave my blog immediately and never come back!
(Unless you leave nice comments. The nice commenters maybe can stay.)
Here's a clip from one of the many, many superlative episodes (Season 4, "Game On," the Ritchie-Bartlet debate, in case you were wondering):
I especially love the line "Diplomacy needs all the words it can get its hands on."
You may have noticed that I can be a bit wordy. Well, if you're looking for a short, snappy blog, you've come to the wrong place. I think that concision is overrated and possibly the sign of moral laxity. Or at least an inadequate vocabulary.
Here at Native Observation, we're talking about two whole countries and then some, and we need all the words we can get our hands on!
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10 comments:
No doubt about it. West Wing was the best show ever on network TV. (At the time, I said the same thing about Hill Street Blues, but I think that was on after your bedtime, so I won't go on and on about it.)
I was bereft when West Wing went off the air. I had joked about how I spent an hour each week in the bubble, pretending there was an articulate Democrat in the White House. And then, when President Santos didn't actually get to serve his term, I had to come to grips with reality. I was much more hooked into the parallel universe of the Bartlets and Josh and CJ and Toby, et al, than I had let myself believe. I *need* an articulate Democrat in the White House.
I suppose I shouldn't wind myself up here in your guest space with my rant about President Gore and the stolen election of 2000, or the voter interference and voting machine fraud of 2004, or my loathing of Ralph Nader.
Yeah, I guess I won't start.
I miss West Wing.
And Leo, and Will, and Charlie. . .
sigh
And Mrs. Landringham, and Debbie.
Moving on . . .
Deb, you forgot Sam and Josh and CJ and Will. Do you think I should post a reader poll on who was more attractive, Sam or Josh or Will?
Scott, being dismissive of WW will get you no where on this blog!
Oh, you misunderstand! I wasn't being dismissive of WW at all. Loved the show (though it ran a little long in the tooth). I was simply being dismissive of Deb. She was commenting as a way of avoiding the billing atrocities file. And we see through that ruse quite easily.
Saying that WW ran a little long in the tooth sounds a little bit like you're implying that it was less than perfect. That's unacceptable language here at Native Observation!
Also, you seem to imply that Deb has more important things to do than commenting on my blog. Next thing I know, you'll be implying that I have more important things to do than blogging!
My to-do list for the next 6 weeks includes:
- File French and American income tax returns,
- Find a moving company that won't bankrupt me,
- Figure out what furniture, etc. I have to get rid of and sell it all (Craig's List, e-Bay, etc.--there's actually a prospective buyer in my apartment at this very moment, and I'm negotiating with him on which of my appliances he wants to buy, in between typing to you),
- Find a place to live, health insurance, etc. in the U.S.,
- Work for a living (authorization to start working for new client JUST came through about an hour ago, so now I have to get ready to leave for a week Africa on Sunday, immediately followed by 1.5 weeks in DC),
- Have many going away dinners and lunches with friends in the coming days and weeks,
- Move to America, and
- Blog.
I'm making my blog my highest priority, and so should you all!
:-)
Scott has his own special personal paper clip at my house. I'm gradually transferring the atrocities file into his clip, one page at a time.
My insurance ideas for you will come under separate cover, because the public posting of my many opinions would probably get my own policy canceled.
Even I'm not too young to remember Hill Street Blues. (And I feel comfortable using Sgt. Esterhaus' famous roll call "Let's Be Careful Out There" in everyday life.)
Sorry it took me so long to post a comment. Forgive moi?
End of the year for a teacher rather resembles the life of one moving from Paris to the US. Or so I like to tell myself.
I did get my taxes done (April 14!). And I survived organizing and running the National Honor Society Induction Ceremony and the Senior Banquet. My students were well prepared for the AP exam in literature, although their visits to the local prison, jazz festival rehearsals, and early sports "outs" took precedent over coming to class in the few weeks before the exam (when we were reviewing everything important).
But, yeah, yesterday I realized that I'm bringing the senior class to Valleyfair next Tuesday but hadn't ordered tickets or any buses. I was one short of the size medium senior class t-shirts and had to give a smallish kid an extra large instead. The office never ordered my letter pins for drama letterers (but that's okay since I never organized an awards banquet anyway). The ag department's small engines class offered to do $5 tune ups of mowers, so I drove mine from my house to school at 7:00 in the morning yesterday and then walked home (in my pajamas), learning just how many people go in to work early and are gullible enough to think that I was walking on the side of the road for some laudable cardio reason. My technology grant request was denied in favor of purchasing Smartboards for the elementaries, so now I look forward to another year of tripping over wayward extension cords, fighting for the media center's one Canon projector that actually works and has a cord long enough to reach my computer, and shuffling plug-ins in my one accessible outlet so that the overhead/VCR/projector/news TV works when it's supposed to (an action that requires me to bend over with my derriere toward the darlings). Our insurance premium rates jumped just under 15% this year, which is good for us (WHAT??!?!?!) and since I'm the district labor/management insurance committee chair, I get to explain our new high deductible insurance policy to people who don't understand it. I have 8 sets of papers/tests to mark and grades are due Friday and I caught an extra overnight shift at my second job tonight. But that all pales in comparison to the three quarters of a million dollars our district was forced to cut this spring (that's basically one full-time teacher cut per grade, K-12, in a district with only 5 teachers per grade to begin with), three teachers whose jobs are being cut/shuffled illegally (so our lawyers advise) and a lame duck superintendent who doesn't seem to care if he follows PELRA or not (two more weeks of being union president, two more weeks that may last until September). The legislature found a tiny amount of additional money for K-12 schools, which is a little miracle with Minnesota's budget woes, but the pension bill did not include a Rule of 90 provision for teachers hired after 1989 (I was hired in 1990) so I "get" to teach until I'm 65 or I can't fully access my own retirement fund. FYI: Most teachers burn out WAAAAAAAYYYYYY before 65. The teaching "legends" usually put in 40 years and retire at 62.
My favorite West Wing moment?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND_a8rA67VA
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