So...when do we tear the shrinkwrap off the IV group read?

[Robin Landseadel]

On Aug 2, 2009, at 8:48 AM, Dave Monroe wrote:

>  I'll be happy to kick it off as well as coordinate,

I've been doing way too much kicking and coordinating as of late and  
most willingly defer to Mr. Monroe who doubtless feels a whole lot  
better now that he's out of ICU.

My hope is to lurk, toss out potshots, start flame wars and be a  
general nuisance.

Compared to even The Crying of Lot 49, Pynchon's latest is an  
effortless read. Inherent Vice goes down like a harbor seal sliding  
off Pier 39 into the deep blue and pretty much smells the same And as  
for the musical interludes . . .

	. . .I  walked around and tried to see if anybody walked behind
	me in any particular way. Then I sought out a restaurant that
	didn't smell of frying grease and found one with a purple neon
	Sign and a cocktail bar behind a reed curtain. A male cutie with
	henna'd hair drooped at a bungalow grand piano and tickled
	the keys lasciviously and sang Stairway to the Stars in a voice
	with half the steps missing.

	I gobbled a dry martini and hurried back through the reed
	curtain to the dining room.

	The eighty-five cent dinner tasted like a discarded mail bag and
	was served to me by a waiter who looked as if he would slug
	me for a quarter, cut my throat for six bits,  and bury me at sea in
	a barrel of concrete for a dollar and a half, plus sales tax.

	Raymond Chandler, "Farewell My Lovely"