April 2, 2005 [LINK]

"Out with the old, in with the new"

That is a line from one of my favorite movies, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, recently broadcast on TBS. ER's George Clooney, as the self-styled intellectual backwoods hick Ulysses Everett McDowell (?), pontificating to his escaped convict comrades on the progress overtaking the South of the 1930s. "Yessir, we've got ourselves a veritable Age of Reason -- like the one they had in France." You would probably have to see it to appreciate the humor in this flick, produced by the inimitable Coen brothers.

After twenty years of dependable service (but less than 100,000 miles!), taking me all across the U.S.A and into Canada, visiting national parks, historical monuments, baseball stadiums, and other sights along the way, I just couldn't let my old Isuzu pickup truck go without taking a farewell photograph. To see the "wave of the future" in our household, roll your mouse over the photo. $2.10 per gallon for gas? Suits me just fine, though for environmental and national security reasons, I would prefer a tax hike to bring it up to at least $2.50 or even $3.00. Call me an extremist wacko.

In the background is R. E. Lee High School, home of the 2005 Virginia boys' high school basketball champions, the "Fighting Leemen"!