Grizzled Speaks, etc...

I will be in downtown Chicago today. "Seeing the sites?", you ask. Taking in familiar haunts? Well, yes and no. I will be at the lovely Daley Plaza or whatever it's called now, but I will not be visiting with old friends, or taking in the view. I will be deep in the bowels of the building doing my civic duty. Yep, that's right, it's time for jury duty.

To be perfectly honest, a day of reading, even if waiting to be called for a jury,  sounds rather enticing, and even though I won't be out and about at some of my favorite spots, I will be back in the city I love. I might even be able to have lunch with Grizzled.

And speaking of Grizzled...

Grizzled often refers to himself as the Maris Crane of this blog. Although he listens to me go on and on about it, he generally stays out of it. He feels it's my deal. It's not that he's not interested, it's not that he doesn't have anything to say, he just feels it's my deal. That is why I was a little surprised last week when he handed me a piece of paper and asked if I would post it. I expected to find one of his long political rants or a brief history of salt or nails, but no, instead it was this:

I need to put on my serious, albeit short, pants here. For all of the bravado and trash talk, I have found this Holiday, Yeah I Said Holiday, Bill O'Reilly, Whattya Gonna Do About It, Bake-Off to be an interesting experience that is inclining me to wax philosophic. I am solidly in the camp of those about whom Bill O'Reilly speaks, the secularists who are apparently conspiring to??? destroy Christianity??? advocate bestiality??? destroy the high morality of our youth??? plunge the world into darkness and otherwise cause all other heinous acts of this world??? I don't really know what his message is, but I tend to dismiss most if not all of it as nonsense.

The Roman Catholics beat most of the spirituality out of me at an early age. The closest I can come to believing given what I have observed is that if there is a god, he is imperfect and, at best, apathetic about the human race. If you start from there, the rest seems to follow pretty well. Again, it's what I believe and does not reflect or diminish in any way what you believe or even what Bill believes. So, in my reality, we only have each other as we hurtle through space.

To that point, I am heartened to see that people of whom I have an only tangential knowledge are willing to spend their time and effort to bake for me. The fact that people so removed from my existence are sending me good wishes is a hopeful thing. Although he's no Geddy Lee, I think Elvis Costello summed it up nicely with, "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding". Thank you all for letting me play in your game and best wishes to you all for a fulfilling and prosperous New Year.

Comments

[fish]

Yeah, well those are wonderful sentiments and all and Grizzled seems like a really terrific kind of guy, but WHO WON?!?!?!? I am pretty sure I nailed it.

[Snag]

Grizzled is obviously a far nicer and more thoughtful person than any of us.

Along those same lines, what's the fun of being on a jury if there's no capital punishment and you can't pick the defendant?

[Grizzled]

I'm on a brief break from civic duty... I ran to Grizzled's office before I go back and find out how long they own me... one trial or one day. Let's hope for one day or less.

As for who won, fish... you must get AG on board. You have a way with her. Promise her a night with yourself and I'm guessing we'll get anything we need from her.

[Jennifer]

Oops, that wasn't Grizzled... just his computer.

[Chuckles]

Grizzled is obviously a part of the Cookie Conspiracy as he did not deny that he is part of the Cookie Conspiracy.

[Adorable Girlfriend]

Very good AG knowledge G-unit! Bravo.

News Flash though: AG dumped Fish over his lack of cookies. The only thing he won was a relationship ender...

[billy pilgrim]

I can only promise AG to not mention chili dogs anymore.

People, taken individually, are quite fetching.

It's taken as a group that the Hu-Mans become alarming. I sometimes wish to follow the Ro-Man into a cave with a shortwave radio and a bubble machine, wear an alarming amount of fur with inappropriate headgear, and wait for the giant lizards to exterminate the race....

[Claire]

Aw Grizzled, you SO aren't the Maris Crane of this blog!

[blue girl]

Grizzled is obviously a part of the Cookie Conspiracy as he did not deny that he is part of the Cookie Conspiracy.

lol.

Very nice and sweet guest post from Grizzled. Although I was a total slacker and didn't get myself to the UPS Store in time.

Is there a category in this year's bake-off for good intentions?

I think there should be.

I would win it all!!!!!

[Jennifer]

I'm free! I'm free! I was on the jury, answered all questions in a stellar fashion and they excused me! Even the people around me said they were surprised. They thought I was trapped.

[Brando]

Congrats Jennifer. Did you tell them that you thought OJ was innocent?

I didn't think Grizzled was Maris, but now I think he's Charlie of Charlie's Angels.

[Shayera]

You know there are 3 (mostly) non-blogging spouses (spices?) I'm a little in love with: Grizzled, The Skimmer and Mr. Shakes.
They're just too sweet for words.

[Snag]

Grizzled is Roger Maris?

[mdhatter]

If I ever need an image of Grizzled, I take the screenname and imagine a guy walking to and from a log cabin with your bear friend Ben in tow.

If i had to I'd say Grizzled is more the Norm Peterson of the Blog. We all know his name, and whenever he comes in he says something clever.

and, just to offer a surprising factoid, I learned two days ago that Nick Lowe actually wrote 'what's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding?', but Elvis Costello took it and made it his own and brought it to the people.

[Jennifer]

Shayera- Grizzled is honored to have you as a groupie and is happy to be in such good company. :)

Brando- that must have been it. I honestly don't know what got me off, but I'm glad I am.

Snag- have another bourbon.

mdhatter- Grizzled said he was aware that Nick Lowe wrote that. He then referred to him as the laziest man in rock and roll (according to Rolling Stone). I'm guessing Nick doesn't care.

[Mandos]

On reading that lovely letter, I have that distinct "Mandos wins" feeling. Of course, I always have the distinct "Mandos wins" feeling.