Greg Bales

Late Nights, Early Mornings

I suppose the best time to whine about Daylight Saving Time passed two days ago, but two days ago I was dead-eyed and depressed that Benjamin Franklin the Standard Time Act of 1918 Ed Markey and Fred Upton had ignominiously legislated my morning run with the dog into darkness. For the first time ever, I actually agree with our local libertarian Beth Cody. DST can be measured in smiles my ass, Ed Markey.

It is remarkable how disruptive the change of a clock can be. Earth orbits the Sun at 66,622 miles per hour, but the daylight changes by almost imperceptible degrees each day. It was already dark by the time I got off work during the deepest part of winter, but two weeks later, it was dusk, and two weeks after that, someone remarked, pleased, that his drive to Cedar Rapids could take place in full daylight. In winter, the daily increase of day is a change one can watch with mounting excitement, like the approach of a birthday, or one can suddenly notice it, like discovering a mediocre magazine has suddenly become good. Incremental, accumulative change is the way of Earthly time. Our attempts to manipulate it twice a year are to our eternal discredit.

Wednesdays Aren’t Just for Poetry

I’ve decided that Wednesday can’t be for poetry alone—I’ve just never had that much of a head for it; instead, it’s about the arts in general. Visual arts or poetry or fiction, whatever strikes my fancy. Meanwhile, Thursday and Friday topics are still in the air, though I think Laura might have a good idea for Fridays.

Unfortunately, however, tonight is a bust; I’m exhausted and can’t think straight enough to rhyme. Instead, what I can do is ask two questions:

  1. Are vampires really that hot that being “The Vamp’s Search Engine” is such a good idea?
  2. With all the drama and exciting prizes surrounding the fact that Toyotas have lead feet, is no one proposing to put black orange boxes in cars?

Status Updates 2009

I find the status update and the tweet intriguing genres. Because they are founded on formal brevity, at their best they represent a revival of aphoristic speech, wit and wisdom returned to us (and licensed by Facebook for dissemination and profit). I don’t claim to be one of the genre’s better practitioners, but I do think it’s fun to play with. What follows are all of the status updates I posted to Facebook in 2009.

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