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Patrick • 06/14/03 • 11:31 PM:

As moderator and all-around He-Man of this website, I veto your category because it doesn’t fit the guidelines recommended by the committee and unanimously approved by all members present: that they must be single plural words.

You call yourself a designer? Of what? Strip malls? Ugh! You’ve got 19 categories, all nice and in the same family of plural nouns, and then you add an ALL-CAPS six-word, two-exclamation-point, non-plural non-noun for a category?

I suggest you get over that. By the way, if you feel like taking this to another level and fighting my decision, you can’t. I am ALL POWERFUL!

Seriously. And it’s a lot of work for me to delete all the crap made when you created this crappy category.

Besides, you didn’t even give us a quote from Dad.

I still love you though. Sorry I’m being mean. But you made me freak out big time.

Patrick • 06/15/03 • 1:07 AM:

If you wanted a category called “Dadisms” or something, that would fit the style guide, though I (and Dad) might still question its necessity. Dad was just writing about how we have too many categories already.

Dad • 06/15/03 • 1:50 PM:

Yes, I was commenting just the other day that we have too many categories, but vetoing suggested categories may go beyond what is prudent. Nothing, after all, sucks the life out of an enthusiastic entry more than an outright rejection by a self-appointed dictator. There are really no bad ideas, remember, only poorly executed ones. Dan, you are obviously pleased and excited about this new category, and who’s to say it won’t become the fastest growing new category down the road. As to the fact that it is not a plural noun, I am reminded of the immortal words of one of our greatest wordsmiths, William Wadsworth Emerson, who said, if I remember correctly, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…” In fairness to Patrick, it can also be the buggaboo of big minds as well.

Patrick • 06/15/03 • 7:51 PM:

Okay, everybody make up whatever category suits your fancy for whatever entry you like. And build in Yellowstone National Park with whatever architectural style you like. Nevermind if it fits the theme we’ve carefully groomed over a century, or if it minimalizes ecological intrusion, or if it is esthetically pleasing. Just throw up (pun intended) your strip malls wherever you like. Just make sure you have a lawn-ornaments store.

Thing is, one doesn’t have to set up categories with the program that runs this site. Most blog sites just save entries in chronological order. Do you want me to just get rid of the categories? Huh?

As for the enthusiasm of the entry, I’d say it was the emptiest entry since Kathleen’s “Hey, I’m just posting so I can see my picture [even though I’ve already posted twice before, but I guess I never looked at my post after I made it].” If the thing included a quote from Dad or something, then that’d be at least practicing what it preached. But it was just a meta-entry: “Hey, let’s make a new category. I’m not going to put anything in the category myself just yet, but it’s there in case anybody needs it.”

Who, by the way, the heck is William Wadsworth Emerson? I almost halfway feel like you’re making a joke by alluding to something, but I’m really disallusioned if you are. Just in case you weren’t joking, the man’s name was Ralph Waldo Emerson. William Wordsworth was a British poet from the middle 1800s. You can read his complete poetical works here. You can read a lot of Emerson’s work here.

In any case, I think the quote you meant to cite from Emerson is this: “If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him” (from Nature).

If you’d like to duel with Emerson quotes, check out this page. Bring it on!

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