A Week in Review

It's time for another episode of the compelling drama A Week in Review.

Batman
I finally saw it, and at the risk of being shot dead in the street, I'm going to say that I didn't love it. I liked it fine, but love? No. My first issue - what happened to the theme song? You know, "na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!" That was a great song. Why change it? And I didn't see one exploding bubble with the word "POW!" when Batman hit someone in the face. They messed with a classic.

(I certainly hope that I'm not the only person here who's old enough to remember the tv series and to get this little joke.)

I had been told by so many people that this movie is the greatest ever that I expected to be really entertained, and I just wasn't. It's long; the plot goes in all kinds of different directions; it feels heavy, and by the time it was over I just felt sad for every character onscreen. The Joker is right - why so serious? This is, after all, a comic book superhero movie. Shouldn't it be more fun? I do agree with the praise that's been given to Heath Ledger. He was brilliant, and his scenes are the best in the show. Of course, I wouldn't discourage anyone from going. It's worth seeing, and should be seen on the big screen. Maybe I've just lowered your expectations enough that you'll enjoy it more than I did? I hope so.

The Dentist
Would you like a story about my teeth? I thought you might. My dental history is stellar. I had two cavities when I was eight, and two more about six years ago. That's it. Can't get much closer to perfect teeth. I've never had Novocain or a drill or any of it. But, I have one tooth that's been bothering me for a few years. It hurt to bite down on something hard or chewy - kind of felt like hitting my funny bone. I told my regular dentist about it several times. He looked at it, said it looked fine, and sent me on my way. The last time I went, I must have been more convincing, because he finally believed that there might be a problem and sent me to an endodontist. The endodontist said that I had some cracks in my teeth, and wanted to do a root canal on the problem tooth and the one behind it. Why the other one? I still don't know. But, having had so little experience I didn't know better, so I went along with his recommendation and scheduled the appointment.

Luckily for me, my sister-in-law has terrible teeth, and knows just what to expect from dentists. I told her about the root canals. She thought it sounded a little strange, and suggested that I go to her dentist for a second opinion. I did, and his opinion was that I did indeed have a crack, but only needed a crown on the one tooth that hurt. Hooray! I'll go with that. So, Wednesday I went in for the prep work. It was pretty much awful. Well, compared to root canals, it probably wasn't bad at all. But being new to the drill, I was a little shaken. He ground my tooth down on all sides so that a cap will fit over it, took a mold of what was left of my tooth, and then put a temporary cap on it. I go back in a few weeks for the permanent crown. It still hurts. He said it would hurt for a while, and he was right.

On the bright side - I saved $650 by going with a crown instead of two root canals. This dentist is really nice and explained all that was happening very well. I'll stick with him from now on. And, they had this cool visor thingy that held a small movie screen about three inches in front of my eyes, and I watched "Pirates". It was a great distraction. Honestly, looking at Orlando Bloom makes everything better. What an advancement in dentistry.

A Private Pool
Marla has a swimming pool in her back yard, and it's the best thing that ever happened to me. A swimming pool is one of life's greatest luxuries. Swimming with her boys, though, means keeping your eyes open for potential dangers. Jonah thinks it's a lot of fun to do cannon balls off of the diving board straight at me. He likes that I get a good splash. I was relaxing in the water, talking to Marla, when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Jonah in perfect cannon ball form, in the air, grinning like the devil, and about to land six inches away from me. It is kind of funny, now that I think about it.

Extras
I love the British comedies! In fact, there's a series called "As Time Goes By" starring Judy Dench that is one of my all-time favorite shows. It used to be on PBS every night at 10pm. Now they're showing "Keeping Up Appearances", which is pretty good too. Anyway, I'd heard about Ricky Gervais Brit com "Extras" and decided to try it. I rented the first season on DVD, and laughed from beginning to end. I bought the complete series from Amazon this week. The comedy is smart and subtle and so good. He has a different celebrity guest star in each episode, and it's fun to see them acting it up, often in self-mockery. Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom, Daniel Radcliff, and Chris Martin from Coldplay are some of those who've been on. It's great. A word of caution - the dialogue sometimes gets a bit crude, and there is some language. Just keep that in mind if you decide to check it out.

Orlando Bloom
I've mentioned him twice now, and that might make you think I love him. You're right. I do. I have ever since "The Lord of the Rings". He's the most gorgeous man alive. My sister-in-law thinks he's too girly, but she's dead wrong. He's perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Coldplay Revisited
"Viva la Vida" is still in my CD player and I still love it! Best CD I've ever owned.

Tim
I'll wrap this up with another story about Tim. He was at my desk yesterday with a printed copy of an email in his hand. He asked me how to find the email address of another recipient so that he could write him a message. On the paper was “mailto micheal.somthingorother@". I told him that that was it, and he said, “So I don’t need this ‘malito’”, pronouncing it like it’s Spanish. I told him that it was "mail to". He said, “Well why the hell don’t they put a space in there then? I’m not dumb, I’m just stupid.” I love that he cusses right here on the floor of the Church Office Building. It’s my favorite thing.

Thanks again for your continued support.
You are loved.