One UP-man ship

I just finished watching UP, the Disney/Pixar collaboration about lost adventure. And life. And friendship. I rented it to watch in three segments while exercising on the treadmill. I like movies in the 90 minute range.

I did spread this over three days, but let me tell you, it's hard to walk on a treadmill with a lump in your throat. The first basically silent ten or eleven minutes are very touching and subtle. It quickly dissolves into a typical animated adventure, which is what I was expecting in the first place. Then, in the last little bit, we're back for more lumps in the throat.

My sons are the ones who encouraged me to watch this, even the one without children. "You know, Mother," one said, "it's really for adults."

"Most good cartoons are," I told him. "Watch the classics and be amazed at what they got away with."

I've got till Monday on the rental. I think I'll watch again.

When an 'Up' toilet seat is okay

I was raised in what was, basically, a female household. From the time I was 9 or so, Mother had so remodeled the house that Daddy had his own private half-bath off the kitchen. Therefore, the toilet seat in the girls' bathroom was always down.

Then I married and produced two sons and spent the next twenty-plus years complaining about the majority of the household not being considerate of the minority of the household in their toilet-seat-manners. 'Up' was the (com)mode of the day. It was get used to it or wear myself out complaining. As the boys grew older, I found there were genuinely lots of other things to complain about, and 'Up' became merely a sore point.

Then, last week, I had an epiphany. There's a definite place for 'Up' and it's in the ladies' room.

Ever go shopping early in morning, just after the store opens? If you've traveled a fair bit to get there (an hour is normal from where I live), the first place you want to go is the ladies' room. It's unsullied at that time of day (24 hour stores perhaps the exception) and the seats are 'Up' to prove that. Putting one down is guarantee that someone has just been through with the cleaning products.

Of course, I suppose, someone could put the seat back up after use, but really, don't you think that's counterintuitive for women? I do. It just wouldn't be natural.

So 'Up' means clean, but alas, probably only in the ladies' room.