Sunday, August 21, 2011

Receipts

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Sat 7/30/11 2:04 PM
To: Marissa Bea

Hi Sweetheart,
Does this ring a bell? There was a 1958 war movie on channel 9 and since I hadn't seen it since, oh, 1958 I vegged out and watched. A submarine captain (Clark Gable) new to the crew of this particular sub takes them out, but first runs them through unusual drills and maneuvers. The crew and officers become restive, and even more so when he avoids combat with an enemy target (not wanting to be seen). Tension grows between him and the first mate (Burt Lancaster). Finally the capt. orders the ship to a dreaded shipping lane where many previous subs have been sunk, including his own from a year earlier. This is in direct violation of their original orders to avoid this area, but the capt. wants revenge on a particular enemy. The officers cite Navy regulations and urge the First Mate to assume command. He refuses. In a first encounter in the dangerous zone they have some success using their new maneuvers, but are damaged and the captain is injured. The First Mate does assume command and announces they are returning home, but then changes his mind and leads them back into the attack.
It is called "Run Silent Run Deep" and was considered a good movie back then.
Oh, receipts. I have a stack of little receipts for my deposits to your checking acct. for health insurance. There's no reason to send them to you, is there? You couldn't possibly have "missed" any of them? Should I just destroy them? (I still have qualms about destroying paper, especially when there are $ signs on it).
We are packing today for Missoula. As you see, I have time for this so we are well along in packing. Hope to leave way early, like 04:00, to avoid the afternoon desert. And the Sounders are on KONG this evening.
Love
Dad

----------

From: Marissa Bea
Sent: Mon 8/01/11 10:57 AM
To: Home

Hey Dad, I don't think I've ever seen that movie, but I did see the movie The Sting last weekend, with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It was also good. Brad Pitt really looks like Robert Redford when he was younger. You ever seen it? And I don't think I need receipts for anything, I keep all of the bills they send me that say "you owe us $0 because you already paid online, but here's a piece of paper to confirm that." Wish I had the option to get that sent by email, save a lot of paper....

Have fun in Missoula! I was at Mari's bachelorette party in Atlantic City on saturday night. Have you ever been there? It's really a sad excuse for a city, not very much to do there. And talk about soul-less. Whew. Love you!!

----------

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Sun 8/07/11 2:36 PM
To: Marissa Bea

Dear Marissa,
We're back! No, silly, I don't mean have you seen that movie. I mean the plot. It's Moby Dick! but the whale has become a Japanese ship, and of course the whale doesn't win this one. As for The Sting, it is one of many that everyone I knew was raving about and seeing when it first came out, that I have never seen. I haven't seen it, but your Mom surely has. No, haven't been to Atlantic City and don't plan to. An English actor, Stephen Fry, did a 5- or 6- episode TV series on PBS just a couple years ago in which he traveled all regions of America. He loved everything with just 2 exceptions: Miami, and Atlantic City. Sad and soulless is just about exactly how he described it. You have a refined taste.
Love,
Dad

----------

From: Marissa Bea
Sent: Sun 8/07/11 2:45 PM
To: Home

I did think of that at first, but the "ship" not winning might have thrown me off.

I'm not surprised about Mr. Fry disliking Miami or AC. Although I've never been to Miami, I've been to Orlando, and I imagine them to be similar...basically Florida. I could live my whole life and never go back, and I wouldn't feel deprived at all. :)

Included Herewit

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Sun 5/22/11 6:16 PM
To: Marissa Bea

Hey, guess what. I just got the NYT crossword today with the above theme, that you and I had last Sunday. So we're a week behind. Don't send me any answers.
Love, Dad

----------

From: Marissa Bea
Sent: Sun 5/22/11 7:12 PM
To: Home

haha, has it always been that way??

----------

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Mon 5/23/11 12:40 AM
To: Marissa Bea

How would I know?
Dad

----------

From: Marissa Bea
Sent: Mon 5/23/11 1:29 AM
To: Home

I dunno, you're a dad, you know these things, right?

Jonah

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Sun 5/22/11 2:16 AM
To: Marissa Bea

Hi Sweetie,
Your Mom says you and your friends have been having a lot of fun on Facebook about the Rapture. I guess I'm assuming that you didn't get taken up in sending you this e-mail. They have been having rapture parties and rapture concerts and rapture garage sales out here. Anyway, you remember that verse of Jonah that we looked up? I recommend reading the whole book of Jonah, because 1) the context makes the conclusion about rapture events even more ludicrous (it is the King of ancient Nineveh speaking) , 2) It is short, only the two sides of a single page, 3) It is the subject of the remarkable sermon by the preacher at the beginning of Moby Dick (and you should see Orson Welles deliver it in the 1956 movie), and 4) it is bizarre and puzzling right to the last line. Why would the God of the Hebrews send a prophet to scold the pagan inhabitants of the capital of Assyria? And why would they listen to him, and repent? .... The Sounders scored in the 92nd minute tonight, beating KC 1-0. Paul and Johanna got to sit right on the sideline seats because she's still wearing her post-surgery boot for another few weeks. Have fun at the party after your Harps game this Saturday.
Love,
Dad

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A train ride

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Thu 5/12/11 5:47 PM

HI Everyone,
Marissa and I took the subway to the 2nd biggest park in New York, in Brooklyn, to play disc golf. Stan, Beth, and Jacob will appreciate that we could not find any of the facilities, so we just made it up as we went along, aiming for trees, ducks, and icky nearly naked old men in speedos. On the subway back to Queens I pointed to a slumped, sleeping man without socks, without a belt, obviously homeless. Marissa asked if that was the kind of patients I get in the hospital. I said yes and pointed to his edematous feet and bet that he would have sores on them that he wasn't even aware of. Then 4 young men got on and announced that they would entertain us. They proceeded to breakdance, and they were good, nearly as good as Cirque du Soleil. I didn't give them a dollar. Then they got off and Michelle got on. She called the whole car to attention and told us how she was a widow just fired, with 2 small children to raise and she doesn't smoke drink or do drugs. I didn't give her a dollar either. Then the homeless man woke up, staggered down the aisle, and began to chant something that sounded like "damn bad dancer" or "badass madman", and holding out his hand. I gave him a dollar. I figured he needed a drink. He continued ranging up and down the aisle, forgetting to beg, and finally went out the door between the cars, where the sign says "do not go out the door between the cars", and peed into the darkness. We were afraid we were going to see him fall to his death. He came back in tracking wetness, and several times opened the doors again to shout at someone or something out there. At the next stop half the car got off; Marissa pointed to me that they were all getting back on the car behind us. He stayed with us to the end of the line. All in all, New York is a much nicer and more pleasant place than I remember from the early 1970s.
Off to Manhattan tonight for an art show.
Steve

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

We threw it away

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Tue 5/03/11 2:21 AM

Fellow cynics,
A couple years ago I decided that Osama bin Laden had died, perhaps even killed in the original Afghanistan operation, that we knew it, and that the Bush Administration kept it secret because they wanted to fight their wars and didn't want people thinking it was all over because "we got bin Laden". I might have e-mailed about it. I found that there were many others who agreed, including important people.
Last night I watched what was happening on TV and told Carol "Oh well, guess I was wrong." Then I joked that maybe this is all a fraud. At work today people started talking about how they had buried bin Laden at sea. "That's crazy" I said. I thought they got their facts wrong as so often. The rumor mill working overtime. Tonight I see on TV that it is true. In other words, put in the form of a little play, it goes like this: "We have caught and killed the most wanted criminal in the world!" "You have? Where is his body?" "Oh, we threw it away".
They threw it away. In less than 24 hrs, the evidence is gone. I think my theory is back on the table.
Steve

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Lindsey Frost

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Sat 4/02/11 1:37 AM
To: Marissa Bea


Hi Sweetheart,
You remember babysitting for my AA friend Harold Frost? They were at the dinner and meeting I went to tonight. Their daughter Lindsay, whom you babysat, is 21 now and entering the Navy. Some time ago she was saying "National Guard" (whatever for?) but her mother said no, they go to Iraq. No Army, No Marines, no Nat. Guard. You can go to the Coast Guard, the Navy, or the Air Force. So it's the Navy. I pointed out that she is 21 and wondered how her mother can tell her which to allow and which are verboten. Her Mom says "she listens to me". Sheesh, where do you get kids like that?
Love,
Dad

----------

From: Marissa Bea
Sent: Sat 4/02/11 11:47 AM
To: Home

You guys raised us to be indiviuals, think for ourselves and not let others stand in the way of our achievements. And neither of your daughters decided to join any military or government funded position. I think you win. :)

----------


From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Mon 4/04/11 12:59 AM
To: Marissa Bea

Dear Marissa,
Wow. Showed it to your Mom and she says Wow too. I almost think I'll frame your reply and hang it on the wall.
Love, Dad

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

I'm a Harborview patient

From: STEVEN BEA
Sent: Tue 3/08/11 1:21 AM
To: Marissa Bea

HI Sweetheart,
Guess who signed me in to the Harborview ER today? Carly Crider. She thinks she's going to get into the UW Medical School soon. But if you ask her on Facebook or whatever if she signed me in, she might tell you that the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act forbids her to tell you. Well, what happened is I banged my elbow so bad that I thought I might have actually broken a chip of bone. But it only hurts (like hell) if you press it RIGHT THERE. I don't feel it at all otherwise, and kept on working. I just wanted to get it documented in case it flares up some time later. I didn't realize I didn't have a Harborview number, but it seems all the vaccinations I've gotten there for the past 26 years have been through the Employee Health Dept. Anyway, I'm fine and how are you?
Love,
60 y/o Male BD 11/25/1950 DOS 3/7 2011 H3117508

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Worst Military Calamity Ever

From: STEVEN BEA
To: Marissa Bea

HI Everyone,
For no good reason except for your amusement, I have discovered the worst military disaster in history. Not because of casualties, or consequences, but for stupidity. On google, check out the 1788 Battle of Karansebes. Enjoy!
Steve

Bowdlerizers


From:STEVEN BEA
Sent:Wed 1/05/11 8:47 PM
To:Marissa Bea 


HI Sweetheart,
Your Mom told me you got in safe. I have been sick until the present, had to call in again today. Your Mom can't understand why I get hit so hard, and she doesn't, and I can't understand it either.
There's something in the news here you might find professionally interesting. Some schoolbook publishing company, I think located in Alabama or thereabouts, is going to publish a cleaned up "Huckleberry Finn". What they're cleaning up of course is the word "nigger' in, apparently, 200 occurrences. They are replacing it with "slave", though, I think, there are many occurrences where that wouldn't make sense. Anyway, KING-5 news had an on-line poll about it, and so far 95% are saying "leave Huck alone", 3% are for the cleansing, and 2% undecided. (I find it surprising that anyone would take the trouble to call a poll to report indecision.). It gives me hope to think that many of those people do understand that Huck is a profoundly anti-racist book.
A couple months ago a mother of a high-school girl here in Seattle, a Native American I think, objected to the word "savage" in a book, and now "Brave New World" is getting a going-over.......
Love, your Dad