Spent the weekend in Galveston attending my wife’s 30th high school reunion. I tagged along and enjoyed the wonderful weather. Went to a couple of the events, but I knew no one so I was able to duck out and let her enjoy catching up again with her old school friends. We stayed on the harborfront, near the cruise terminal and the Strand. The weather was terrific. I had lunch on a patio on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed some live music playing in the square, which was part of the Galveston gay pride event. The band was quite good. I think they were the backup for American Idol’s Kady Malloy, who was also scheduled to be there, along with pop star Tiffany. I didn’t stick around for that.
Today, by contrast, we are getting torrential rain, with amounts of 1-5″ likely. I think we’ve already had at least an inch or two come down. It got very, very dark around 8:00 and then it poured. We could actually catch up with our annual rainfall if all goes according to schedule. It’s been a wet October after a droughtlike 2009.
It was Halloween on Mad Men this week, and Don Draper had his mask ripped off. Betty finally confronted him with her knowledge of the contents of his drawer and, surprise of surprises, she actually had most of the pieces put together already. However, she made him spill the beans, and it was a gut-wrenching scene, the tension of which was heightened by the viewer’s knowledge that his current paramour was sitting outside in the car and could show up at the door at any moment to really mess things up. Nicely done, all around. It’s hard to say how this is going to play out. The subject line today was uttered by a man giving out treats to the Draper children. He correctly identified their disguises, then looked up at Don and said this. Nice.
Keeping with the Halloween theme, this is an amusing essay on how the “holiday” plays in France, written by Peter (A Year in Provence) Mayle.
I finished Heat Wave by Richard Castle this weekend. It’s the tie-in novel to the ABC series Castle starring Nathan Fillion. Light and breezy, with about as much substance as a Robert B. Parker novel. Not a bad book, and perhaps better than I anticipated. Here’s my review. Look for Fillion in a familiar disguise on tonight’s episode.
The Harlem Globetrotter contestants showed a mean streak on The Amazing Race last night. Facing elimination, they tormented and taunted poor Mika, who was already terrified about going down the six story water slide, to the point where she had to step aside and let them go ahead. The poker players made their best showing yet, coming in second. I was impressed with Tiffany’s rowing skills. She handled that dinghy better than most of the men, some of whom propelled the boat doing the backstroke!
