— 1 —

During my time at Bowling Green State University (beginning of my undergraduate career) I lived in a French language house known as La Maison Francaise. It was here that I fell in love with Jacques Brel. I have several of his LPs. I never liked the English translations of his songs. The worst offender is “Seasons in the Sun”, translated by Rod McKuen and made famous by Terry Jacks. Compare and contrast below:

Isn’t Brel better? Big Sigh……

— 2 —

Here at our house, we all love Jim Gaffigan. His comedy is relatively family-friendly (okay, the Food Network like porn joke in Beyond the Pale was a bit much, but I have boys and I’m constantly harping on how bad porn is so, it’s not like they’ve never heard the word before, plus they’re 17 and 13). Anyway, we watched his new special Mr. Universe the other day. Really funny. Please support this good Catholic comic (father of 4 with a Shiite Catholic wife). His website is here.

— 3 —

The 1959 movie “Oscar Wilde” is on. It’s interesting to see how the scandal of Wilde’s same-sex relationship with Alfred Douglas is portrayed. Quite scandalous! The movie starts with a panorama of the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. I must admit that it’s a trip that’s on my bucket list (Pere Lachaise and Paris). I love old cemeteries, particularly Victorian. Highgate is another I want to see.

— 4 —

One of my co-workers is leaving after 16 years in our division. I will miss her great wealth of knowledge, but I’m excited to think of the possibilities now that we can ‘reinvent’ ourselves and position our division for the big changes that are coming to cooperative group research in the next two years.

— 5 —

I absolutely hate that when I’m asked for my opinion, and I give it (which, I might add humbly, I’m really, really good at), then if it differs from the opinion of the person asking for my opinion, I’m told “you don’t understand.” You know, if you don’t want my opinion, don’t ask me for it. If you ask me and we don’t agree, just say something like…I don’t know, how about “you bring up some really good points” and then go about your business?

— 6 —

I’m soon to leave for a business trip to Boston. It’s my first time to Beantown and I’m planning on following the Freedom Trail throughout the city. I think I’ll also go to see the U.S.S. Constitution. If you’ve been to Boston, I’d love to hear your suggestions. Anything cool and unusual I should know about? Ghost tours or out-of-the way restaurants?

— 7 —

I can’t believe how quickly the summer is progressing. We are going to have to start getting ready for school soon. The Heirs Catholic High School sent out an email yesterday saying that most of their textbooks will have an e-book component. Yeah! I think it will be cheaper to get him a Kindle Fire then purchase the traditional textbooks. I love technology!

Have a great weekend and thanks again to Jen for hositing 7 Quick Takes!

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