Dude

I told you that Rhett, Francesco, and I went out last Thursday night and had a really good time. I forgot about this little nugget. The same Dutch bartenders who let us stay late so they could chastise us for individual gun ownership and the freedom to choose your doctor provided a funny story earlier in the night. The three of us decided we wanted White Russians. The bartender was not sure what that meant so we explained that it was equal parts vodka, Kahlua, and milk. She came back a few minutes later with tiny shot glasses full of White Russian. We corrected her and she confessed that she had never heard of such a drink. We told her about The Big Lebowski and how its protagonist (anti-hero? role model? god?), the Dude, drinks nothing but White Russians. That turned on the light bulb. “Oh, I know the Dude. Yeah! I like that movie.” She said something in Dutch to her coworkers. All three of them got excited and started walking around behind the bar saying,

“Dude”
“Dude!”
“the Dude”
“Dude Dude”

I wonder what they call a White Russian in Dutch. He orders it about five thousand times throughout the movie. I’m sure it translates to something freaky and nonsensical. The Dude probably orders bicycle grease or fritesauce. The Dude is a uniter. Never underestimate his ability to fuse cultures.

Hand Wash Only

I finally set about cleaning my apartment for the first time in about a month. It was reaching critical levels when Travis arrived and went steeply down hill from there. Sunday was supposed to be the day that I tackled the mountain of dishes (I have no dishwasher), bought a new shower head, vacuumed, put all of the tickets and various papers I have collected in one spot, finished my book, started a new one, and actually sat in the park behind my house for the first time. None of that happened. I slept most of the day. The sleep was much needed but I could have used the other things as well. One thing I did accomplish was laundry...sort of. My washing machine now makes some strange noises for 45 minutes before delivering soaking wet, semi-clean clothes. I think it has stopped spinning, rendering it just slightly more useful than my bathtub and two hands.

My boss gave us the day off to finish ongoing projects and relax. She needed to get everything organized so she can make a list of things we need to accomplish in the next two weeks. We are meeting tomorrow to go over things and dole out responsibility.

Rhett's impending arrival provided the necessary impetus for me to clean. As most of you know, Rhett is much more relaxed than he was in college or even a couple of years ago but he's still considerably more high maintenance than Travis. I could have taken Travis to a tent out back and said, "here's your room". I did not feel compelled to clean the apartment for Travis. We just washed dishes as they were needed. Rhett will face no such obstacles. The dishes are all clean and I'm working on straightening up the place. The washing machine is a different story but he'll only be here for a few days so I'm not too worried about that.

Look for Rhett to contribute to the blog much the way Travis did.