I Feel for the Guy

I really do. I feel for him because, even having buried a parent, I consider sobbing out "I can't" to the also-sobbing girl begging me to forgive her to be the hardest thing I have ever done.

It also remains the singular turning point that has led to the best period in my life since I stopped experiencing summer vacations, so there are upsides to it.

Even though working has become a kind of any-time, 'round-the-clock kind of thing, the honest-to-God fires aren't very frequent anymore. I can pretty much come and go as I please, and most of my team is learning to appreciate that I tend to work according to the specifications of the job, not according to the clock.

I enjoyed coming home this evening to enjoy an after dinner course with Monk and Stef consisting of a fine port, a medley of cheeses and home-made crackers, and some sophisticated entertainment.

I'm paying close attention to the newsfeeds, looking to see who's noting the death of Ricardo Montalban and who's noting the death of Patrick McGoohan. The results? Only the Beeb has mentioned both. I look forward to TiVoing the impromptu The Prisoner marathon that will likely appear on BBC America this weekend.

A lot of people don't appreciate The Prisoner, and that's a damned shame. Not only was McGoohan the star, but he was also the series creator, executive producer, and writer and director for several of the episodes including my favorite episode, "Many Happy Returns". Back in the day, in order to make a television program true to your original vision you had to be part perfectionist, part one-man band. There is a ton of stuff to The Prisoner that I'm sure I'm missing, so I need to go back and review the series, periodically cleansing the palate with an episode of The Avengers, and then going back to the fray.

This Patrick McGoohan memorial technique that I describe is pretty much exactly what I spent five months doing in late 2006 and early 2007.