Wide Open Spaces

• I think this is the longest I've gone in any year in about 20+ where I have not seen It's A Wonderful Life. It's long been one of my favorite films, but in the last couple of years, I think I've begun to suspect that George Bailey - decent guy though he is - might be a socialist sympathizer.

•  I got my flu shot a couple of months ago. The nurse who came to our workplace said they felt this was a good batch, but that last year's sort of missed the mark. As I understand it, the people who concoct the vaccines make their best guesstimate of the strain of flu that's going to be prevalent in the upcoming season, and sometimes they don't get it right. In any event, I've not had the flu, but have been dogged for a few days by cold-like symptoms. Not enough to keep me from going to work - Heaven knows enough other blockheads will be calling in sick - but enough so that I retire about 9:00. I'm thinking tomorrow I should have run the gauntlet and will be back close to normal.
• Well, normal for me...
• In the past several years, reading actual books - beyond reference tomes and the like - has not been a priority for me. Sure, lots of magazines and interweb news, but few actual hardcover books. Well, in the course of four months or so, I've completed five books, and am about a third of the way through another. I'm trying to rebuild my reading muscle.
• My work colleagues are harrassing me for not having gotten a dog yet. Admittedly, it's been an extended mourning time. There've been a few canines that kind of appealed on the rescue sites, but which were either too large, disinterested, or which I simply missed out on. There was an Aussie Shepherd at last week's HSNT/FWAC event at Will Rogers, but she got snapped up before I could get down there to check her out. One co-worker in particular has been telling me: "Just get a damn dog already! You're more careful choosing a dog than you are a wife." I noted that I am pointedly taking my time to get just the right one, adding that my approach is at least halfway working, inasmuch as I've had better dogs than wives.
• For those of you who enjoy authentic country music, may I recommend Erin Enderlin's Whiskeytown Crier?  It's a lot like country music used to be, before it got conflated with pop and rock and roll.
• I must be somewhat on the mend, it's 10:00 p.m. and I'm not in bed yet.