Duck!

Hello World, Well, when it comes to movable feasts, Ramadan turns out to be one of the slipperiest character ever, skittering around the calendar from the frigid deep freeze of winter, to the sweltering Dog Days of summer, like some shifty underworld kingpin one step ahead of the law. This time around, it started on May 15, but don't bother looking for it there again, because it will be nowhere in sight, I can tell you that. I don't know how they arrive at the date, year by year, but it's a wonder to me that it ever caught on, the way people have to chase around after it all the time. And this is without even fireworks or green beer, for heaven's sake. Speaking of fireworks, of course, the last weekend in May brings us Memorial Day weekend, and all that it entails, by jingo. Like any movable feast, I know that it seems early, since the month doesn't actually end until Thursday this year. Actually when May starts on a Friday, Memorial Day (observed) will be the earliest it can be, which is the 25th, and conversely, when May starts on a Saturday, the holiday will be observed on the 31st, which is the latest that it can be. (For instance, this happened in 2010.) Of course, for us purists, the holiday-formerly-known-as Decoration Day will always be fixed in our minds on May 30th, so having the occasion celebrated on May 31st is not only ridiculous, but an affront to our patriotic sensibilities, by George. And speaking of special occasions, last Saturday was the 143rd running of the venerable Preakness Stakes - or once again, perhaps "swimming" might be the better term than running, thanks not. (I'm sure the famous Maryland ducks thought the world of it, and not to mention, the terrapins, it goes without saying.) A tiny field of only 8 horses left the gates at Pimilico (compared to the thundering herd of 20 hopefuls at the Kentucky Derby previously) splashing through the same slop that bedeviled man and beast at Churchill Downs, and once again, thanks so much not. Unlike the Derby, where Justify ran away with it, basically wire to wire, this time it was much more of a horse race, as they say, and Justify was lucky to hold off the hard-charging Bravazo and Tenfold at the finish, to claim the first two jewels, and set up a potential Triple Crown at the Belmont in a few weeks. Honestly, at this point, if the sun comes out at the Belmont, the poor horse is not going to know what to do with himself. In 140-odd years of running these races, only 36 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, so Justify is already in pretty select company right there. Besides Justify, the only horses who ran in both races now are Good Magic, Bravazo, and Lone Sailor. There were 16 horses who ran in the Derby but skipped the Preakness, while 4 gave the Derby a pass and then ran in the Preakness later. Of the 24 total horses (apart from Justify, obviously) it should be interesting to see who likes their chances over the long haul in the final race, and makes the trip to Queens - or conversely, shows up at Belmont for the first time, without running in either of the two earlier races. I would call these Johnny-come-lately's "spoilers" (I'm looking at you, Sarava) but frankly, I think the evil spirit of Affirmed has already long since got that covered, I dare say. Meanwhile at work, we recently prevailed upon one of our sub-contractors in the Bronx to do some work at an on-going project in Queens, that seemed like something they would take to, like a duck to water, as it were. But first they sent us a quote for their part of the job, asking us to indicate that we agreed to the terms of their proposal, by signing on the line under what they described as "CONTRACT ACCEPTATION," whatever that might mean. Seriously, you would think that any spell-checker worth its salt would have balked at a spurious term like "acceptation," and not just let it slide on past without tossing out a bunch of proof-readers-type obstacles in its path, by golly. For my part, i wasn't a bit afraid to sign the document, on the theory that they couldn't hold me to an agreement of nonsense words, at least in what might be referred to as common parlance. Or perhaps that should be "parlatation," under the circumstances. Elle