Highlights from My 24 Things to Improve My Life List

It seems to be a slow Saturday night, and I can tell that from Twitter where I saw that people as diverse as right-wing evangelical acivist Nathan Tabor, from Winston-Salem, NC, moderate conservative pundit David Frum and liberal journalist Suzy Khimm were all watching the Republican debate from Michigan tonight.

So, perhaps this will mean more blog traffic than normal.

A funny thing happened the other day as my mom and I were browsing through an independent bookstore in Roanoke, Va. I stumbled across a copy of a self-help book entitled "Clean Like a Man" by Tom McNulty. I saw on the back jacket that comic/actor Richard Lewis ("Curb Your Enthuiasm") had strongly endorsed it as he confessed to being an Oscar Madison-type.

My mom looked when I showed her the book, which I should probably read_twice, and said (paraphrase): "Oh come on. You know you'll never read the thing; sorry son, but you are a hopeless cause."

So, with that, here are highlights from a list I made today on ways I could improve my life:

1. Lose weight

2. Get a good-paying job

3. Write a short story or even a short, short story

4. Clean house (hence, the reason for the vacuum cleaner image)

5. Try to get more hits on the two blogs; surely there is someone in a hut in the jungles of Burundi who cares about what I have to say.

6. Develop more confidence around attractive women; some guy found a way to ask Anne Hathaway out on a date.

7. Go on more long walks

8. Read Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" or at least the first chapter.

9. Watch more Jean-Luc Godard films (we would've gone with Ingmar Bergman, but his films make me feel very depressed, especially "Fanny and Alexander," it's more gut-wrenching than "Schindler's List").

10. Listen to more Turkish psychedlic music from the 1970s.

11. Save up money to buy a $500 antique Swiss cuckoo clock.

12. Drink more Counter Culture* coffee instead of Starbucks.

*-Company based in Durham, NC. Reportedly, they use beans from farms in Rwanda and/or Uganda.

Quote of the Week- Mark Twain

Today, we conclude with our month-long quips from cultural radicals and subversives from Mark Twain. Though he is considered a mainstream author today, there have been various times when Twain's works have been considered controversial. The use of the n-word vernacular that was used quite often at the time of publication (1885) of Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has caused a stir at times for some local schoolboards even though no could rationally suggest that Twain was a racist.



The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn., is among the most popular tourist attractions in the Nutmeg State.



Here is Twain's quote:



"A person who won't read has advantages over a person who can't read."



SIDEBAR ONE: Though I am a Democrat, David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, is among my favorite politically conservative pundits as he talks in terms of broad pictures as opposed to the likes of Rush Limbaugh who today proclaimed that Barack Obama 'wanted Hurricane Irene to be a huge disaster.'



Of course, like most liberals, my favorite conservative pundit is (of course!) David Brooks, but Frum, who is also keen and objective in his commentary, is a close second.



Yesterday, Frum tweeted the following regarding how Hurrican Irene affected his weekend: "Side benefit from Irene: taking my daughter to see Declaration and Constitution at National Archive with no line at all. Unprecedented."



SIDEBAR TWO: Speaking of Hartford, I actually saw a Hartford Whalers bumper sticker in Roanoke, Va., today. This was interesting to me because the Hartford Whalers have not existed since the team left for the Tarheel State and became the Carolina Hurricanes.



As the 'Canes, the team won the Stanley Cup in 2006, which actually made some people in North Carolina pay more attention to hockey than NASCAR-racing. But, of course, since racing legend Richard Petty is from Randleman, NC, and the late Dale Earnhardt hailed from Kannapolis, NC, that didn't really last. Of course, their offspring is involved in the sport as well.



But, I found out some interesting information while googling the Hartford Whalers. The current minor league hockey team in Hartford renamed themselves the Connecticut Whale last year to honor the Hartford Whalers. And, ironically, the team's previous name was the Hartford Wolf Pack, which is the same nickname for North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where the Carolina Hurricanes now play (they temporarily played in Greensboro).



The Hartford Whalers existed from 1979-1997. And, they left, in part, because the likes of then-governor of Connecticut John G. Rowland, a Republican, didn't want to spend tax payer money on a new hockey arena for the team.



But, there is still an active group that wants to bring the Hartford Whalers back in one way or another (perhaps having a new team with that name, such as what happened with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL). And, The Whalers Watchers, as they are called, will meet in Hartford on Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m.



As for the Connecticut Whale, they have their home opener on Oct. 15