Briefly Noted, Again

1. The Oakland Cathedral. When they first were putting up the structure for the Oakland Cathedral, I allowed my skepticism to take a small break, as the wooden skeleton was actually a little bit appealing (not, perhaps for a church, but as a thing that defines a certain space, perhaps). Since leaving Oakland, I have not been back to see it (this is our seventh month in Vallejo). Yesterday we had a couple of errands to do in Oakland, and we drove by. It has become even uglier than the drawings. The addition of glass to the whole thing makes it out and out hideous. Now, they are not finished, so I am reserving my final judgement until then, but if it keeps going the direction it is going, the thing will be too tawdry and wrongly-proportioned to serve as the lobby of a Marriott hotel. Let us pray that the diocese sells the thing to some bank or government agency (it is far too ghastly to be a restaurant, although the big wide open space will be useless for much else), or simply decides as an act of charity and contrition to tear it down.

2. Netflix. Have I mentioned how much I love Netflix? I never considered it as a thing to do when I lived close to good video stores, but now that I don't, I am liking Netflix even better than the local good video store I used to enjoy. What a deal! And I can browse in the middle of the night, early in the morning, whenever.

Recess is over. The student (who is in full pirate mode, thanks to the recent gift of a toy pirate gun and belt) insists that our school is now "pirate school." Ahoy there me hearties!