It’s a minor miracle (I think) that I have overcome my severe allergies to cats…  and while I’ve grown to really like my feline friends.  I still think they’re the most destructive force we have in the house.

Today’s photo is me in amazement of what our cat Nola did to Fin’s freshly wrapped gift.   She’s going to be sooo pissed.

So I have no details on this limo I saw parked just off of Rio Grande and 6th street in Austin, but it’s on my must RENT list before I die.

This new years resolution is going to be the end of me…  committing to watch one movie I’ve never seen every day in 2010 seemed easy at first but I’ve fallen a little behind.  Hoping to close the gap today.

That said… here are six movies I knocked out recently.

The Bucket List – I don’t really have a lot to say about this movie…  I hope to never see Morgan Freedman (sp?) bald again.

Couples Retreat – I’m not afraid to say it. I’m a Vince Vaughn guy..  it still couldn’t believe he signed on for this mess.  It had two good laughs in it.. avoid at all costs.

Transamerica - I put off watching this movie for a very long time…  sorta wish I hadn’t but I’m glad I watched it nonetheless.  It reminded me of the movie All About My Mother.

The Hurt Locker - There’s no other movie that I’m pulling for more I think this Oscar season that the Hurt Locker. If you haven’t seen this its a must watch.  I watched this on the heels of Transamerica and it made me not want to watch movies for a while.  Both are very draining, but good.  Nay, great.

The Late Shift – Watched this on the heels of all the Conan/Leno thing.   I had only seen the last 20 minutes…  decided to watch it from beginning to end.  I wonder why HBO hasn’t put it on more this month.

MOON – I really, really, really wanted to enjoy this…  As Si-Fi flicks go – its a total must see.   Didn’t do it for me tho’.

With dinner under control (thanks again Zissou!), Elliot and I got to play a game we normally do when I get home from work.  I make it to the base of the stairs and I threaten to chase him up the steps.   He expends an insane amount of energy running up and down… with zero chance of me actually going up to get him but its a fun game nonetheless.

So a few days have passes since the passing of J.D. Salinger and I’ve had a few days to reflect on his work and its impact on me in my life.

My introduction to Salinger is a little different from most…  On my 4th birthday, I sat on a couch and sat next to a weeping mom who had just heard that John Lennon had been shot and killed outside of the Dakota.

As the years passed, there was rarely a December 8th that would go by where they wouldn’t remember John, the shooting or the book that directly/indirectly involved that night.

The Catcher in the Rye

My mom had no interest in knowing what the book was about and my dad (who was a ferocious reader up to his 40′s) had high praise of the book but he never went out of his way to get me a copy.

That changed by the time I was middle school and began to pick up books that I had interest in…  I gravitated then (and now) to non-fiction work mostly, I picked up the occasional “fiction” book but I never seemed to find an author that spoke to me.

That changed as soon as I read Catcher in the Rye…  I think its the first book that made me love “fiction”.   I read the book for the first time at the age of 13…  had it assigned to me as a freshman in High School and that may have been the only reading assignment (outside of To Kill a Mockingbird) where I actively participated in questions and answers and spoke to Mr. Martinez (my English lit teacher) after class to explore why I connected to such with Holden.  I recall asking him about Salinger and I tried to get a better understanding on his other work.

He recommended that I check out Nine Stories… which I checked out and then went out of my way to pick up anything he’s ever published.   The short story “Franny” remains to this day as my favorite.

Over the years I began to collect copies of Catcher in the Rye that had different dust covers/jackets/editions.   I don’t own a 1st edition of the book… and have lost out on a number of eBay bids for Russian pressings of the book where it comes in a all white dust jacket with black script.   It’s an odd collection… but its mine.

I truly never give that much thought to being a parent… occasionally I listen to an album or an artist and think “I can’t wait to turn them on to this!”.

I truly can’t wait to have a kid look at my book shelf and have him or her ask why I have so many copies of this book.

Made it over to Waterloo records to catch one of the most talked about acts of last year, GIRLS from San Francisco.  One of the things I really wanted to do this year was get back into seeing shows.  I saw a handful of shows in 2009 and there’s no way that I can go through 2010 with seeing as few of shows as I did last year.

The GIRLS hit the stage a little later than we had hoped for…  we actually skipped out on having a late lunch to catch them at 5:00pm, we had to wait nearly 45 minutes after until they began to play their first song.

The set was short and sweet.  They played a number of tracks off their debut disc “Album” that I wanted to hear live so all in all it was a near perfect outing.  We could have stuck around town to see them play again later in the evening, but they don’t really have enough material to make it worthwhile.

Shortly after catching GIRLS play an in store set over at Waterloo Records, Fin and I made it over to Anthropologie on the corner of 6th and Lamar in Austin, TX.  We were mostly passing a little time while in the area… Fin found something that she insisted I put on.  A photo was taken and we knocked out our self-portrait of the day.

When I heard that J.D. Salinger passed away I knew that I wanted my photo of the day to have Catcher in the Rye somehow involved so I rushed home after work and took a photo of me reading a favorite moment in the book.  (Holden, in the elevator pretending to be bullet ridden)

I have a lot of thoughts on Salinger, Catcher in the Rye and why I’ll miss him but I will complete that reflection at a later time.  Off to bed.

Apple got around to finally dropping the iPad today…  wanted to quickly weigh in on the device.   In short…  I think its hard for me to justify the purchase but I wouldn’t leave it off any wish list I send out to friends and family.  The lack of camera (front or back) sucks…  I wish it could run App’s simultaneously and it could potentially have all the hassles of carrying a laptop and not have all the benefits of being a laptop.

That said…  it would be great to have on the couch and it would also be great to have the one with the optional data plan on it to use on road trips.

I’m really curious to see if Fin’s Mom or my Sister picks one up.

One of the nice things about looking for a local cake maker is getting to bring home a few samples of their work before you make a decision on who you’re going to go with.   I think we found who is going to make Fin’s B.day Cake next week.   Nadler’s Bakery and Deli