Musings and Meanderings

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

2008-09-23T23:19:00.001-04:00

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska, eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed 17-year-old daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude," with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable

And finally - how come this Palin character is not allowing ANY reporters into her first meetings with world leaders?

Oh yes just what we need another Dick Cheney.

America! Get a clue.

2008-09-08T22:34:00.001-04:00

What a difference one year Makes

Incoming Sophomore

Incoming Freshman

2008-09-06T13:55:00.003-04:00

Interesting collection of articles about Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin Fact Check: The Real Sarah Palin

The Lies and the Real Facts

2008-09-04T18:05:00.000-04:00

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

2008-06-25T23:50:00.004-04:00

Click on the logo below and you will be asked if you wish to download a 10 meg exe file. This is the best of the best of my NF 08 pictures, and is definitely Virus Free.

Enjoy

2007-12-24T23:51:00.001-05:00

2007-10-18T21:09:00.000-04:00

A memoir of a funeral
yes this is long

A beige car raced along the highway, driver lost in thought. The road seemed to go on forever, and overcast reflect the mood in the car, the reason they were on the road. Suddenly the sun showed its face through the clouds illuminating the man’s sleeping face. The phone rang. They had not made it in time, Jimmy was passing. Nearly breaking up, her voice asked him to say a prayer, and then the sun hid itself behind the clouds again, as if it knew.

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The voice on the phone was deep and sad, “Michael, Jimmy passed before we were able to make it out there.”

I stood there under the florescent lights and sighed, cellphone to my ear.

“It would mean a lot to everyone if you could come out.” The voicemail continued.

This had been a long time coming, though hope shines through the darkest days, there had been little question in my mind that this day was going to dawn, just not this soon.

Hardly 6 months older than I, felled by that dark disease, cancer.

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It’s easy to forget for a few hours surrounded by young people, that a childhood friend and loved one had passed too soon. The noise of the halls, the activity of the classroom, all so full of life. It’s one of my greatest gifts and curses, the ability to completely forget for an hour, a day, even longer.

Once home though, the thoughts crowd you out, make it hard to stay focused on what you are doing.

Of course the cell phone was nearly constantly going off. First my father, then my father, then my father again. “Yes I am doing the flight research now” I told him. “No I have not told Liza yet, she won’t get home for a couple of hours now.”

By the time she had gotten home, I still had not decided. I knew I should go, but I really don’t like funerals. I mean who does? Besides it would mean canceling taking a class I really liked. Rationalize, Rationalize Rationalize….

In the end it was my own body that decided for me. Watching the end of Ghost Whisperer, about a platoon of Iraqi’ soldiers who were survived by one hero, the anger I felt about the futile waste of lives every day in Iraq, and the sadness of loosing Jim welled up inside me and I nearly cried.

Ok yea I should go.

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Did I mention that I really like to sleep in on Sunday mornings?

What surprised me the most was the length of the line for security at 730am on a Sunday morning.. Doesn’t any one else prefer to sleep in on Sunday?? I opted for business casual, so I wouldn’t have to change on the way to the viewing.

The clever customer service award goes to the United attendant at the check-in, whom in a marvelously brave gesture allowed me to take my hanging bag up to the gate to discover it had to be checked… I wished I’d just decided to check the bag. Then I wouldn’t have had to scrounge for shampoo and mousse later…

Have I mentioned too that I do love airplane rides?

When we were young, we used to fly round trip San Jose to Orange County quite often, once a month, maybe twice for a period in our youth. Getting on an airplane meant seeing our sisters, our father and step mother, it usually meant fun, maybe a trip to Disneyland. Just as I anticipate the first snowfall, I am always excited to fly. Now as an adult it’s the opportunity to catch up on reading. I pulled the ace though by getting one of those emergency exit row seats… Lots of leg room.

I made my way to the gate in Chicago for the Indianapolis leg. Airports are big malls with food courts now a days. You can get anything you need, anytime. Except some decent take out food at a decent price.

Laurie and Anne joined me at the gate to Indy. We flew one of those 2x2 CanadaAir jets. As I looked out the window on our descent I noticed a large round track with a tall superstructure along the inside straightaway. The Brickyard!! The place of some of my earliest sports memories. I’d never seen a full aerial shot, the grounds are beautiful and there is a golf course just to the side.

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The beige car picked us up from the airport, driven by my Step Mom. As I looked out the window driving into Carmel, listening to the litany of issues, problems and interactions, I was glad to be for a time in the warm embrace of this side of the family. Each was dealing with this loss in their own way, Elias the planner, Dad the conciliator, Ollie the organizer. That all could cope in their own way in the full bosom of the family was what family is all about.

What little I saw of Carmel and Indianapolis was very beautiful, but not very distinctive. Like many newer city and suburban areas, there is a sameness to it that transcends location. Frankly I could have been anywhere. As we drove around the business and retail areas of Carmel later that impression was reinforced by others voicing the same opinion.

We dropped our stuff at the Residence Inn and headed over to the viewing. Jimmy was laid to rest in a beautiful casket that was open. I don’t have much experience with open casket; the first I ever saw was when my wife’s grandmother passed last year. This is always a sensitive subject, but I have never been sure if I am comfortable with this. One of my cousins and I did go up to the casket finally to pay our last respects to Jimmy. I could see that the last year had been very hard on him, but he was peaceful and as many commented, we could almost see his amazing smile in his face. The funeral home with the aid of his family had put together a wonderful retrospective of Jimmy’s life in pictures, from 60’s ear family photos, to the most recent pictures of him when he was involved in Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong organization. I am still wearing the yellow band we all took to wearing this weekend in support of this organization.

The hardest thing was not seeing Jim but seeing his father. This was understandably a very difficult time for him, and his health has been an issue for some time. We all sat with him for a bit, and tried to comfort him as much as we could. He is very lucky to have such an amazing wife for support, and I know in the end he will be able to celebrate Jim’s life, and be happy that Jeff is functional, and that Mary and Jay are healthy and happy.

My Father did a service for Jimmy there at the funeral home that was very moving. He related many stories about Jim’s life, his work, hobbies, and non profit organizations that he had supported. I for one learned much about my cousin’s life from this service. Finally when it was all done we retired to the Residence Inn for a small get together with food and drinks.

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When people look at the pictures from this small dinner and the reception that followed the funeral and gravesite services, I am asked if this was such a sad event, why so many people are smiling. The short answer is that people need gaiety during times of trial. But more importantly this is exactly what my cousin would have wanted. He had a keen sense of humor and was the type of person to say “Just get on with it, get past it, move on.” Of course we will in no way ever get past such an untimely passing, but it is in this spirit that the dinner was a happy one to the extent that it could be.

Have you traveled on business before? Well you know those bog standard meeting rooms, not the ones with the long tables in rows but the strategically placed round tables? This was the canvas that we painted our little get together.

Add some sheets for tablecloths, the “have liquor bar will travel” New Hampshire alcohol collection, and the hotel boombox. Liberally sprinkle in large amounts of cold cuts, cold chicken and other delights, stir briskly and you have a colorful party.

Although there had been some socializing at the funeral home, it was not until this get together that folks were able to relax a bit and forget for a while. As the room filled up people began to settle in and “tuck in”, as the English say, I sat near Jeff. As I had not had a chance to talk to him since his stroke, I had been looking forward to this more than anything else. We talked and talked as we ate and ate. That man for being so thin sure can demolish a plate of food. Emir and one of Jimmy and Ollie’s life long friends also sat with us, as did various others from time to time.

Next to our table Armand did what would best be called holding court. He was extremely entertaining with stories that were apparently uproariously funny, and between him and Anne they had that table breathless for most of the night. Jay’s family and Mary’s family arrived around the same time with Ollie and they settled out at various tables as well. I got a chance to speak with Jay for some time, and then he and his wife Theresa took care of their child and Mary and Matt’s kids at the pool for a bit.

The full party did not actually wind down until around 1200 or so when Kathy came back with Carol. Her presence meant that of 11 living children in my generation, only three were missing, my two brothers and younger sister. My bag checking fiasco put the final movement on the evening when I did a bit of path finding (it was not far) to one of these 24 hr markets and got some personal care items. I stayed up a bit to read then checked my mail and crashed on the pull out couch. Cecil, my roomie had already gone to bed in the bedroom, but only after trying to be too nice and take the pull out. I had to explain to him that I wanted to be able to check my email before bed, so he finally acquiesced and crashed in the bedroom a few hours before me.

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With a little grumbling about not sleeping in, both generations of family coalesced at the big open breakfast the Residence Inn serves. It was a good variety of standard fare both warm and cold. I had mostly protein, eggs, sausages etc, but also treated myself to some French toast as I figured that the day would be long and that the funeral reception at Matt’s brother’s house would be quite a bit down the road.

We all met at the funeral home once again and this time the local Priest did celebrate with a few words. Since I had commandeered the minivan for the trip to the market last night I became the designated driver and Nav user thanks to Mary and Matt offering up their vehicle for transport use. The Starbucks coffee a few of us went to go get when we arrived had been cooling in the car, and I had been drinking a cold water in its stead. I made the mistake of brining it into the viewing and was very strongly told to take it back outside by my Uncle. Ooops. Then of course I noticed some people from Ollie’s side of the family a bit later in the viewing with.. yes coffee from Starbucks. Apparently their Uncle’s didn’t get the memo…

Can I just mention here, that for people who do not drink “sissy soup”, those of us who only drink black coffee, Starbucks must be the most over rated coffee in the history of mankind. The best comparison I could make to my cup is battery acid. Simply horrid. Now those who have it “light and sweet” or whatever will surely beg to differ. But I just don’t like the aftertaste of milk and sugar in my mouth after a good cup.

At the appropriate time I went out to start the Minivan. Two of Carmel’s finest were there with their motorcycles and were explaining where to put the funeral flag and to put your lights and blinkers on. I programmed the Nav so I had some idea of where we were going, and then once loaded up we followed the funeral procession to the church.

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Having never been to a Roman Catholic funeral, nor for that matter having experienced much of Roman Catholicism at all, I was curious but cautious about the service beforehand and quite impressed afterwards. The young priest’s sermon which covered Jim’s life used the Saints in the stained glass windows as examples of different points of his life. My personal beliefs not withstanding I thought it was an excellent way of showing Jim’s life to one that followed his faith. I was proud of my cousin as I learned even more about his life during the service. The church itself was quite beautiful with a tile fresco of Jesus on the cross behind the altar, a huge etched glass scene above the entrance to the main part of the church, and also housed a private school. The one thing I did though was opt to sit alone back and to the side of the families. Here is where I can be the most uncomfortable sometimes with a loss of a friend or loved one and preferred to just sit alone. Once the funeral was over we followed the casket back outside and reassembled the procession to go on to the burial.

The cemetery that the family had chose for Jim’s last rest was really quite beautiful, and the sun was shining so bright and warm that we had a tent erected over the grave. This was the hardest part for all of us, but as my Father and the Roman Catholic Priest alternated speaking from their liturgy, I felt the final presence of my cousin around us. Although this is not within the Christian teachings, I am somewhat psychic, and it was a powerful presence. My heart went out most to his widow and to his father, who looked so lost and sad. I won’t speak much of this because it just is not seemingly to share private grief, but I did empathize with them by considering what a loss my son or wife would be to me, in order to try to understand better.

As the service ended, and even as the funeral home directors made some rather obvious statements to the family that the service was over, we all stayed around the casket and the grounds next to the tent. Mary’s girls each took some of the roses that Ollie was offering to everyone in remembrance and began to spread them around the other gravestones. Jimmy would have loved this, he being such an obviously giving person, as evidenced in his life and his charities. We finally broke up and went back to the vehicles to go over to Matt’s brother’s house for the reception. I programmed the Nav system to take us there, and promptly took a wrong turn. Technology only works when the human is competent.

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Words really don’t cover the beautiful house and the wonderful hosting that Geno and Cindy provided for all of us. Matt’s brother is a really nice giving person, and the food that was there was really amazing. The house itself was huge, and had ample space inside and out for the legions of family that descended upon them.

We did the obligatory group photos’ right before Jay and his family had to leave. To have all these people in one place was extremely rare for my side of the family. We are truly dispersed to the four winds, you name a continent or area of the US and we have someone from there. Left coast, Midwest, Right Coast, Middle East, Europe, etc etc.

I know I have not mentioned everyone individually that I saw this weekend but that would add even more paragraphs to this apparently long winded memoir. Just be assured if you are reading this and you were there, it was good to see you, even if the reason was so sad.

We traded emails and then started to drift off to homes or airports. Laurie, Anne and I went back together with Ted, driven by one of Ollie’s work friends Lilly. She and I had a very nice discussion along the way in the front seat. Once in the airport we realized we had arrived MUCH too early, and had nearly two hours to wait. If this is possible, the security lines at Indianapolis were shorter than Ive ever seen in Albany and that is saying something. Anne and I went shopping and I did get the obligatory snow globe for Alex and the equally obligatory refrigerator magnet and keychain. Laurie worked, and Anne surfed and I read, until all of a sudden we realized that their flight was supposed to leave in 15 and no call to board had come along. Indeed I ended up boarding before they did even though my flight time was 45 min later. I know they got home because I got an email but I don’t know the story.

I flew through DC on the way back and I was refused to pay outrageous prices for airport food again, so when I went shopping I found a little shop that sold political stuff, buttons and bumper stickers for all the various candidates. Having not made a firm decision on whose bumper sticker I want I passed on those and I felt that the buttons were probably not authentic. However I did see a lot of mugs that said Friends don’t let friends vote Democrat. Lots of them. At first I was taken aback that this was a right leaning shop, then I got to thinking. They probably started with equal numbers of mugs with for the Dems and Reps, so I figured that the Dem ones were much more popular. Sure enough I hunted around and found one that that said “Friends don’t let friends vote Republican” and bought it. (Sorry to all my Rep readers, but you all know where I stand).

The flight to Albany was all but empty and I got home around 11, to a couple pieces of warm pizza. A nice welcome home.

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I’d like to write a nice paragraph here, but I think I have pretty much said it all. Jimmy lived a good, but too short life. We will miss him.

Thank you for reading this

2007-10-15T23:57:00.001-04:00

Back safe and sound

It was indeed a bittersweet Sunday and Monday but I'm glad I went.

I'm toying with an idea of combining my writing knowledge from the books I've been reading (see below) to put together a memoir of the weekend. Either way it was wonderful seeing cousins I had not seen in tens of years, but very sad to have someone pass who was just a few months older than I.

2007-10-13T22:31:00.000-04:00

Busy weekend

In an addendum to the sad passing of my cousin Jim, I have accepted the help of one of my Uncles and booked tickets to the funeral in the Midwest. I leave bright and early Sunday am with a lay over in Chicago, where in amazing serendipity, I hook up with my step sister and cousin for the second leg of the journey.

I return on Monday night late via DC. It was a hard decision, but I feel the right one. Difficult because I had to take time from my jobs and definitely the right one as I did actually want to be there.

Although it is a solemn occasion, I will be taking the time to reacquaint myself with some cousins I have not seen in years and years including Jims' brothers and sister, and a few other cousins. My generation will be well represented in that there will be at least one child of each of my Dad's generation's brothers and sisters (did that make sense?) Dad's generation are all originally immigrants and this is an important old world distinction.

2007-10-11T22:46:00.000-04:00

Sad Passing

I wanted to share the very sad news that my cousin Jimmy has passed due to complications from the cancer he has been fighting for some time. Jim was the son of my Uncle Elias, who is my father’s older brother.

Although as adults we were not close, during college he and I hung out together a bit in my early years at Pitzer. I have very fond memories of him, and our prayers go out to his family. Sadly this is the second of Elias' children who have been afflicted in some way, as his younger brother Jeff is a survivor of a heart valve prolapse that caused a very debilitating stroke. Jeff and I were very close all through college, as he was with my brother Greg.

2007-10-10T20:16:00.000-04:00

What cha been reading Mike?

Thank you for asking.

First of all I've been reading this amazing series by Writers Digest Books called Write Great Fiction. There are four books in this series written by either successful authors, writing teachers, or both. They cover Dialog, Plot, Characters,Emotion and Viewpoint, and Description & Setting. All are extremely well well written and engaging. In addition I have a few other books from that printing house that I have ready to read, and I joined the Writers Digest Book Club and got four new books for 21 bucks, and promptly quit the club.

So why am I reading them? The reasons are two.. ok no Monty Python I promise. One reason is fairly simple. I want to write fiction. So I'm boning up on the subject. Also which leads nicely to the next paragraph: I'm an "interested reader" for a friend's unpublished works.

So I can't tell you much about what he is writing except that it is genre bending and very well written. He has a excellent grasp of cinematic writing, you really see the action as you read it. Great (and lots of) characters and characterization, and some extremely challengeing ideas which power the novel. So far it is Six novels in all, five of which I have read second drafts of. Guess thats all I can write about this.

Next up are the classics. I have a PDA which doubles as a book reader, so I am reading at this moment The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. I had forgotten how great that book really is. Got inspired to read some great fiction by the aforementioned books about writing. I also have Dumas' Three Musketeers and a host of other "classics" either on the PDA or on my HD.

I am also, in a tribute to the author, re-reading all of my Jack Chalker books, at least the ones I have in ebook for now, as I don't wish to dig through the attic for my book boxes. I finished his "Well World" series which if I am not mistaken is 8 books. I'm now reading his 5 book "Spirits of Flux and Anchor" series. Mr.Chalker was always a mind bending reader, and since his passing last year, I've definitely missed reading his new series'. He specializes in people who are in unique situations where their minds, bodies or both are changed in some way during the novel. He is not a one trick pony mind you, but this theme of how these challenges are handled are pervasive in his writing. He writes everything from Hard Science Fiction, through Sword and Sorcery Fantasy to very humorous takes on this large genre.

When I started the school year this year I decided to bone up a little on any theories or practices of teaching. So I went to the local library (yea you can sit back in your seat now) and checked out a small stack of books on theory and practice. I've definitely read some fascinating books, the most recent of which is unfortunately finished and returned, or I would mention it here. I read the Essential 55 and the Excellent 11 by Ron Clark. I also have in my book bag The Elements of Teaching by Banner and Cannon and Teach With Your Strengths by Liesveld and Miller.

So four books at a time at any one time is probably enough. Its easier when it is two fiction and two non fiction.

Thanks for listening!

2007-10-09T13:55:00.000-04:00

Lets hear it for Saint Anford!!!!

Ok so first on Saturday Stanford dumped USC at the last min. That is UNRANKED St. Anford dumping NUMBER 2 in the nation USC.

THEN

The Beefalo Boils.. almost became the Buffalo Bills again on Monday night. Either way, even though they lost at the last possible minuite by .. ugh.. Dallas... their rookie quarterback and ST. ANFORD graduate Edwards did magnificently!!! Not bad for a kid that went "0-for" one of his years at Stanford.

All hail!

2007-10-08T19:36:00.000-04:00

My Enneagram

I learned of this system while reading one of the Writers Digest Books series from "Write Great Fiction: Dialogue" by Gloria Kempton.

Enneagram Test Results

Type 1	Perfectionism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	42%
Type 2	Helpfulness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Type 3	Image Focus	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	46%
Type 4	Hypersensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Type 5	Detachment	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	42%
Type 6	Anxiety	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	54%
Type 7	Adventurousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	46%
Type 8	Aggressiveness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	62%
Type 9	Calmness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	78%

Your main type is 9
Your variant is social

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

And here is another one

Enneagram Test Result

Enneagram Type Indicator Results

Your highest score will indicate you basic type, or it will
be among the top 2-3 scores.

Type 1	Type 2	Type 3	Type 4	Type 5	Type 6	Type 7	Type 8	Type 9
2	7	5	3	3	4	6	1	5

The Nine Personality Types of the Enneagram
Type 1: The Reformer. The rational, idealistic type.

Type 2: The Helper. The caring, nurturing type.

Type 3: The Motivator. The adaptable, success-oriented type.

Type 4: The Artist. The intuitive, reserved type.

Type 5: The Thinker. The perceptive, cerebral type.

Type 6: The Skeptic. The committed, security-oriented type.

Type 7: The Generalist. The enthusiastic, productive type.

Type 8: The Leader. The powerful, aggressive type.

Type 9: The Peacemaker. The easygoing, accommodating type.

For more information about the types, the test or your score, click
here.

2007-09-23T13:02:00.000-04:00

46 today

I'm working today. Taking next weekend off. Alex was perplexed regarding why I was working today, he does not get the idea of stretching out a birthday to a week at least. Dad called me at work last night, and then this am around 930. Mom called around 1230.

Alex and Liza snuck birthday cards in my backpack, and I know they are planning a nice dinner tonight.

So that is it, 46 not 47.... lol.

2007-09-19T12:59:00.000-04:00

I am a Math Moron

Please disregard my post from September 10 of this year. I know I was married in 1988. What I can't seem to get my head around is that this is still 2007. I have been thinking that I am about to be 47 and that my 20th is comming all year. That will be NEXT year, in 2008. Then 2009.... 30th HS reunion. Weee

2007-09-10T21:45:00.000-04:00

20 years ago today (No it is 19, see above)
(comments added when I realized my mistake)

Hard to believe. Long time, yet no time at all. We got married at the Apel Inn in Altamont. It was a quite service outside, though the fireworks leading up to it almost did in the marriage, and the officiating Minister almost got replaced. The night before had been the reception dinner at the Desmond and it was a doozy, so everyone was a bit "peaked". The ceremony had lots of attendees, including three ducks and two cats.

Things are tight and a bit strained so we stuck with cards this year. For the last big anniversary's we did something, but not exactly on that date.

At 5 yrs we had Alex, a month earlier.

At 10 yrs we closed on our house 2 mo later.

At 15 yrs we took a 2nd honeymoon a year later in Paris.

So there is still time to celebrate.

This isn't sour grapes, nor is it an invitation to send a belated happy anniversary but it frankly surprises me how many called or sent letters. None.

(OK this is no big deal at 19, ask me again next year)

When my brother Andrew had his I was prompted to call, as he considered it a big deal. It is par for the course with brother Andrew. He seems to get most of the attention these days.

(just ignore this section completely)

Lets see if we make to 40 I will be a sprightly 64, heck 60 i'll only be 85 fully in the realm of possibility with the longevity of my family. Now just to see to the longevity of the marriage.......

2007-09-06T22:49:00.001-04:00

Just a quick update on the car situation.

They did not total the car, but the damages will take about 20 days total including parts ordering. Rental will be covered till then. Good think I have that addition to my policy! Got a real run a round by Enterprise today but finally ended up with a Dodge Magnum for a day, till they get the right "class" of car that is under my daily rental limit. It is black with tinted side windows in the back, and frankly looks like a hearse. No idea why anyone would want one of these things, it gets terrible gas mileage.

So there we go, I will probably pop a picture of it on the blog tomorrow just for laughs.

2007-09-06T07:19:00.000-04:00

First day of High School
thank you emmy

2007-09-05T22:02:00.000-04:00

When bad things happen to good people...

She stopped. I stopped. The car ahead of her started. She started. The car ahead stopped. I started.. and got stopped...

I looked up, she took off, I looked at my dashboard and the next thing I knew my head was on the steering wheel. She was driving a jeep and the tow bar spot nailed the front of my car... crushing the bumper, wrecking the radiator and making a general mess. The compartment was full of steam before you knew it.

ZERO DAMAGE TO HER CAR. I hate SUV’s… if it had been a car I hit there would have been minimal bumper damage to both cars.

This happened today around 5pm on the way to Radio Shack. Needless to say I didn't get there. I had it towed to my Insurance Company's body shop... and I won't know for a bit if it is done.

I love(d) this car. Think good thoughts about a repair instead of a total.

I'm quite sore. But the airbags didn't go off so part of that is from all the yardwork I did on Labor Day I figure. Still my back hurts.

Here are the cell phone pics.

And here we are at the body shop.

My only worry is that cross beam. If it is part of the frame.. then I don't see them rewelding it. Otherwise.. well we can hope it's not totaled.

Alex's 14th Birthday.. the day of

2007-08-30T23:19:00.000-04:00

We go Whitewater Rafting tomorrow. Should be fun!

Here are this nights' piccies.

2007-04-02T23:32:00.000-04:00

US Air really sucks

Yes that is Liza's bag on the tarmack in Puerto Rico. We watched it crawl up the loading ramp and then drop to its peril right in front of our eyes. Good thing that almost everything in there was not fragile. The one thing that did get broken was the souvenir refrigerator magnet we had bought. Not sure what we are going to do yet about this. Yes they picked it up, but not after watching four other bags get to the top of that ramp and plummet to their peril.

So why else does US Air suck.

DID YOU KNOW that they have the nerve to charge 5 dollars for really crummy box meals during flight?

DID YOU KNOW that both our 767 going to Puerto Rico and our 757 coming out of Puerto Rico have bad audio feeds so that (god forbid) we use our own headsets to watch the movie, the sound is so crackly that the headsets could not be listened to?

DID YOU KNOW that the US Air hub in Phili is so bad that very few flights but the first ones get in and out on time?

DID YOU KNOW that last year US Air arbitrarily zero'd out unused mileage on their mileage program last year?

The actual travel story is that we left the Paradisus at 9:30 for a 12:30 flight. Our travel / hotel coordinators who put the weekend together had local talent at the airport to wisk us through the agricultural check and off to security. Security was a breeze so we ended up with and hour and a half to kill before takeoff. So we thought.....

We didn't board / takeoff until 1:30pm. The movie back up to our second leg (Phili) was "Miss Potter" which looked lovely, but ended up as I said to be unenjoyable due to the aforementioned audio situation.

We arrived with just 45 min to spare between flights and two terminals to cross. Or so we thought....

We did take the time to grab a very yummy meal from Au Bon Pain in the Phili Airport, but the service was soo amazingly lousy I can't even begin to describe the total rudeness and indifference of the employees there.

Anyway we get to the gate and the next leg is running a half hour late. Then an hour. Then we sat on the runway for 30 min....

We finally got home, I dropped Liza off at the house and went and got the Dog and the kid's clothes etc etc.

Home at last.

DONT FLY US AIR!!

2007-04-01T23:05:00.000-04:00

Saturday Night and Sunday

Saturday Night Dinner and Martini's

Our dinner at Bamboo Asian Fusion was very good. This place was a bog standard "Hibachi cooking table" restaurant, as well as the best of the fine dining at the Paradisus. The restaurant lived up to its name on both counts, very good food, but not superlative performance. The only complaint I had was that the food was much saltier than normal.

I started the night with a Coconut Martini, which was actually quite good as a starter drink. I had another at the dinner, but the sweetness was a bit much so I switched to regular dry Vodka Martini's. This was a mistake because five or so later.. well I was hungover the next day.

In the mean time we had a really fun time after dinner hanging out with lots of Liza's friends. You will even find a picture of one of the women we were hanging with smoking a cigar on the Photo Bucket site. Another lovely night in Paradise.

Sunday - ATV ride and the Closing dinner.

Ok yea so I woke up with a wicked hangover. However even after many offers to not go, I bucked it up and got ready for our Sunday Activity. First though we did get to finally get a really great breakfast at the Caribbe restaurant, which runs on a buffet style. They had a great omelette chef and the food made me feel almost human.

We then got on our busses and headed up into the mountains for the ATV ride. This was billed as an ATV ride through the rain forest, an idea which actually boggles the imagination if you think about it, but really turned out more to be just a ride through the mountains. Do look at the pictures at the Photo Bucket site. The ride was really quite fun. We splashed through lots of water and mud puddles, and made a general mess of ourselves. Our destination was a beautiful river where Liza and one of the other Superstar Winners from our local warehouse went swimming. All and all it ranked right below the dinner last on Friday night as the most fun in my book.

We got back around 1:30 and I was kind of crashing from the high of riding around the jungle on a big ATV, so I laid to take a nap and ended up sleeping almost two hours. I woke up feeling much better, but not better enough to drink. So we showered and dressed up for the final formal dinner. Again look to the Photo Bucket page to see how well we cleaned up. The dinner itself was fairly unremarkable, it was "surf and turf" which was underdone beef and overdone mahi-mahi. I got some spaghetti, which is the best way I can describe what I got, instead of the beef and shrimp.

Liza got her Presidents' Club ring this evening, only the second woman in the history of the company to earn this ring through sales. (All VP's get the Presidents Ring by default). This award is earned by hitting all her numbers, qualifying for Superstars, and doing this after five full years of service. So this year, being her sixth, was her first possible year to qualify, which is an achievement in itself.

We had some local entertainment afterwards, and the party broke up fairly early, as it tends to do with the travel day the next day. I went up and chilled in the suite and Liza went out and did a bit of final schmoozing.

Remember to return to the PUERTO RICO PHOTO BUCKET SITE as I will be scanning in the Professional photos that we were given of our trip, as well as my 35 mm photos when I get them developed.

Next up.. the horrid trip home and why you should NEVER fly USAir.

2007-03-31T16:14:00.000-04:00

Friday Night and Saturday

Friday Night Dinner

Our dinner Friday night was supposed to be a bit of a surprise coming in to PR. Thu night we all got cards inviting us to a special dinner in the Rainforest. So we all bundled up into four busses and headed up to the mountains. The ride was a bit hairy but when we got there were were treated to a lovely little walk through the Rainforest at night and then had a nice cocktail hour.

The dinner itself, the food, was pretty disappointing, at least that was the consensus. Personally I thought the meat was ok, but somehow they had destroyed the local grouper that they cooked up for the fish. How they did that is still beyond me. After desert there was much dancing and fun. Everyone got pretty buzzed who wanted to on Bacardi Rum punches including yours truely. Liza doesnt "do" rum but she had a few herself.

We got to talk to a lot of people, including Rick's Hillman's wife for quite a bit. You always get to meet the most interesting people on these trips, and this trip has been no exception. With it being the third Superstars trip for Liza, you begin to see the same faces over and over, which is good too.

We had to chase down a late night snack at the Mirador "restaurant" after we got back to the resort because the dinner had been so unremarkable.

PUERTO RICO PHOTO BUCKET SITE
Remember to go from Bottom to Top, and page one to three!!

Saturday - Fun day on the beach

We slept in on Saturday and didn't get down to the beach till 1115. We had not eaten either, as we kinda slept through breakfast. We had a great time just hanging on the beach with the Hillman krew. The food was amazing, and made up for Thu and Fri's fare. We had chicken, ribs, salad etc. Very yummy.

There were Hobie Cat Catamaran rides available free for one half hour so we did that, and it was really fun. Those things do get going. We also had a challenge from Upper Hillman Management to all comers, and they beat all three teams that challenged them in Volleyball.

Tonight we have our "special" dinner at an Asian restaurant which seems to be the best one according to the people we have chatted with. It's just Liza and I, but we may be joined by Mike from her region, whose wife was not allowed to go on this trip by her school district because of how close it was to the Spring Break in two weeks.

PUERTO RICO PHOTO BUCKET SITE
Remember to go from Bottom to Top!!

2007-03-30T17:54:00.000-04:00

Thursday and Friday

Thursday - Albany to Puerto Rico.

We flew from Albany to Charlotte, and then laid over an hour, and flew Charlotte to San Juan. Both legs were easy and the planes were comfortable to the most part. We met up with the other two sales people from L's division, although one of them was sans spouse as her School District would not let her have the time off so close to Spring Break.

We arrived San Juan on time and took a one hour bus ride to the Paradisus Resort. This is an all inclusive resort, so the food and drink are part of the package.. so far.. the drinks are weak and the food is strictly Marriott standard... but its still all good as they say.

Once we were in our bungalow we got changed and headed down to the meet and greet out by the pool. I got two great pictures of Caribbean Sunsets which you can find on the Photo Bucket site under Puerto Rico.

PUERTO RICO PHOTO BUCKET SITE
Remember to go from Bottom to Top!!

We then had a super nice dinner inside (it is threatening to rain anytime this weekend so most of the events have been moved inside.) There was some local entertainment and the food was mostly local as well, jerk chicken, local rice and bean recipe's etc etc. I didn't get a good shot of the entertainment, but I will be able to scan in some photos we got from the event coordinators.

By Thu night, because of the lack of food and sleep before the reception, but the end of the night I was nursing a nice sized headache. Still, I tried to bury it under some Tequila Sunrise's and was moderately successful. We finally retired from the post dinner parties about 1130 or so.

Friday - Award Breakfast and Old San Juan

We have done just two things today so far. There is a very special dinner at a rainforest this evening that Ill post about later.

We had the obligatory 3 hour award session for breakfast this am. Typical Marriott breakfast fare, and they couldnt seem to serve HOT coffee. However the meeting was enjoyable if a bit long and there is a picture of Liza getting her Third Superstars award over on the Photo Bucket site.

We had a chance to go into Old San Juan today and so we grabbed it. IT was an hour ride to and from, but the old city was as charming as we remembered it from when we were here 14 yrs ago on the Family Reunion Cruise. We did a lot of window shopping, and had a nice local canape snack in a small plaza in the middle of the old town. Yes the pictures are at the Photo Bucket Site.

We did go all the way out to the old fort as well and looked around. They were flying kites today, very windy, and it was just great to experience the old city and the old historical forts. This activity was optional and we are very glad we did check it out.

Ok more later. Enjoy the pics at the Photo Bucket Site. I will caption them later if I can.

PUERTO RICO PHOTO BUCKET SITE
Don't Forget to look from Bottom to Top!

2007-02-15T07:50:00.000-05:00

So Winter Finally Comes to the Capital District

We survived the Valentines Day Nor'Easter. School was closed on Wed and Thu, and the Mall even thought to close on Wed. L didn't go out in the storm so we all had a nice day at home, barring the 2.5 hrs that I shoveled out the cars. As you can see below that really didn't matter. Enjoy the pics and think of us digging the car out again so L can do a reset today. I took these Thu Feb 15 around 745am.

Here is the Dog in the back, Yes she is SMALL but there is LOTS of snow.

Here she is again. Yea thats a bit of snow. When we throw her in the snow bank its taller than she is.

Looking out the front porch to the street. We DID shovel yesterday, but not yet this am.

Looking back the other way from the Street.

And what I have to shovel this morning with L so she can go do a reset.

2007-02-08T22:52:00.000-05:00

We are quite fine thank you

For anyone worrying that the "Upstate NY" snow problems have caused any problems in the Capital District have no fear. We are too far away to be experiencing any "Lake Effect" snow like Oswego.

2007-01-16T18:40:00.000-05:00

Some shots of the MLK Day Ice Storm.

2006-12-26T10:36:00.000-05:00

The Three Brothers Together for Christmas

Albany, San Francisco and France together in NH

2006-12-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

The lesson learned from Vietnam NOT applied to Iraq.

When I was younger I read an amazing book called "The Fire in the Lake". The premise of the book was that we were doomed to failure in Vietnam. Before you get all hot under the collar this book had NOTHING to do with Military reasons.

The book was a sociological and economic analysis of the Asian and Vietnamese cultures. It's main premise was that bringing democracy to a people which whom the whole concept of Democracy was foreign was doomed to failure.

This is a failure of American policy in general. The exportation, sometimes at gunpoint, of our version of Democracy belies a hubris on the part of Americans that pays no attention to the culture or society we are trying to import into.

The abysmal failure in Iraq can be attributed to this inability to perceive or even imagine a peoples who are not ready for, or have any background in, democracy. For some reason administration after administration, Democrats and Republican suffer from this hubris of thinking they are all just like us.

America was founded by a unique group of men, during a unique time in History. One that has never been reproduced. Look at the French Revolution for example, an attempt at democracy that was even during the same historical period. To export this experience either by subterfuge or by gunpoint just does not work. It never has. Democracy is not something to be shoved down the throat of a nation or group of people.

Democracy must evolve and be taken on internally and willingly in order to work, from the bottom up, not the top down.

The sin of hubris is rank with the now discredited "neo-conservative" movement. The assumption that we could just pile "democracy" on Iraq or any other nation is really laughable and insulting to not only the American people but to the world as well.

America is a unique and special nation, one with a rich history based upon a long history of European values. We should celebrate it and at the same time help other cultures be the best that they can be. To forget how special the American experience is, and to think we can export it willynilly anywhere in the world, really cheapens the richness of who we are, and creates suffering throughout the world where we try.

2006-11-25T11:48:00.000-05:00

When Black Friday Comes....

Worked the 930 to 930 shift yesterday, so thats what... half day?

We did over 30,000 on Black Friday, I had a decent day with just under 4k myself.

My feet were throbbing by the end of the day though, but that's no surprise. Still have 8 hrs today and 7 tomorrow to get through before I take the day off on Monday, no teaching and no RS.

Send the phone sales my way ok?

2006-11-23T11:03:00.001-05:00

59th annual Turkey Trot

Alex did ok. Two pics from the digital, though why the first is out of focus is beyond me. One from the start of the race and one at the end. He is in yellow. Said his stomach was bothering him by the end of the race. It was raining and just above freezing, but he ran it.

2006-11-22T10:34:00.000-05:00

Sunset on two coasts in one Day

I sent the first pic to a friend in Santa Cruz CA, and she sent me the second one back three hours later. Both were taken with camera phones.

Technology is so amazing

2006-11-21T19:28:00.000-05:00

They Declared the War, I just fight on the side that is right.

I have gotten a lot of comments from friends here and IRL about "all the parties are alike" and why I don't see that they are. Well friends they are not alike.

The Right via the Republicans have declared a cultural war from the grassroots. This is a moral, political and economic crusade to change the face of America.

They wish to tell us what movies are good for our children.

They wish to tell us what science we can research.

They wish to tell women how to take care of their bodies.

They wish to mix their religious nonsense into our school's curriculum.

They wish to make the rich richer, corporate profit margins fatter at the expense of the American worker, and the middle class suffer.

They want to tell me that my marriage is somehow cheapened because two people who are the same sex want to make the same vows to God that I did.

They say they are fighting a culture war declared upon them by Hollywood and the "East Coast Establishment". Yet never have these so called cultural warriors told middle America how to live.

They never took the bully pulpit and said: "You have to watch this movie, listen to this music, research this subject, teach this subject, have an abortion, get a divorce, etc." Not once. Not ever.

Yet the denizens of the Right feel so threatened that they for years have been slowly taking over, first county seats, then states and then the Congress to do exactly that: Tell me what I can watch, listen to, teach, what my wife or daughter can do with her body, etc.

They are hypocritical to the extreme. They have the unmitigated gall to think that they know what is better for me, my child and my family than I do.

So why say this now? Why continue the good fight? Because these people are are just stunned they are not down and out, and they will come roaring back in two years. They will not stop trying to change my America into some Religious Reich.

You ask why I don't cut the right a break? Because this is a culture war, declared on my America, and I am fighting back the best way I know how. The Democrats are not perfect, but they sure as hell are better than the alternative we have been living with for the last 12 yrs.

OUT

2006-11-06T17:27:00.000-05:00

The Scandal Sheet. Read it, learn it. Vote the bums out on Tuesday

Science: An Inconvenient Truth

The scandal: The clear and present dangers of global warming haven't just met with a cold shoulder at the White House -- Bush officials have ordered a freeze on the facts. The White House kept a grip on scientists at federal agencies, limiting their contact with the media and issuing reminders to "stay on message" in interviews, according to government e-mails obtained by Salon this year through a Freedom of Information Act request. Employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have said that administration officials "chastised them for speaking on policy questions; removed references to global warming from their reports, news releases and conference Web sites; investigated news leaks; and sometimes urged them to stop speaking to the media altogether." The White House also blocked publication of research by NOAA scientists linking global warming with escalating hurricanes, according to a September 2006 article in the journal Nature.

The problem: An overwhelming majority of scientists, scholars -- and heck, even some policymakers -- believe that when it comes to safeguarding the planet's future, we should seek truth, not truthiness.

The outcome: In September, a group of 14 senators raised the problem with the inspectors general of NASA and the U.S. Commerce Department (which oversees NOAA), who have since launched formal investigations into the alleged coercion.

Further reading: "Climate-controlled White House"; "Brownout at the EPA"; "The Know-nothings"; "Does George Bush Even Know What Science Is?"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Trumped-up Terror Busts

The scandal: It wasn't just the "Lackawanna Six" who got the Kafka treatment after 9/11. In February 2006 director of national intelligence John Negroponte warned Congress about "a network of Islamic extremists" in Lodi, Calif. Two men there were charged -- Umer Hayat, an ice cream truck driver, and his son, Hamid -- but the cases, riddled with faulty intelligence and coerced testimony, crumbled in court. FBI agents had pushed the two men into separate accounts about a training camp in Pakistan, but the confessions didn't square. "You can hear the agents literally dictate to [Hayat] what it is that they thought he was involved in," James Weddick, a 35-year FBI veteran who reviewed the interrogation tapes, told "Frontline" this fall. "And then he mimics back to them what he thinks that they want to hear."

Then there was the highly publicized bust by the feds in Miami this summer: A group calling itself the "Seas of David" stupidly dreamed out loud of blowing up the Sears Tower -- but lacked weapons, means of transportation and the al-Qaida "uniforms" they hoped to purchase from a terrorist-cum-FBI operative. FBI deputy director John Pistole admitted the group was "aspirational" rather than "operational." And then there were the three Arab-Americans locked up this year for the menacing act of buying a bunch of cheap cellphones at Wal-Mart.

The problem: You may be starting to sense a pattern here -- has the Bush administration been exploiting fear of terrorism as a political weapon? (Is the pope Catholic?)

The outcome: In the Lodi case, Hamid Hayat was convicted for attending a training camp and lying to the FBI, though the FBI never did any follow-up investigation in Pakistan; the defense has filed an appeal. Umer Hayat's case led to a mistrial. The seven "Seas of David" members await trial in March. Due to lack of evidence, terrorism charges against the cellphone buyers were swapped out for conspiracy and money-laundering charges -- which were later tossed out by a federal judge.

Further reading: "Real Threat or Fake Terror?"; "Is the U.K. Better Than the U.S. at Stopping Terror?"; "Be Very Afraid"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Pat Tillman: The Hero Myth, the Ugly Truth

The scandal: Attempting to deceive the American public about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was nothing new from the P.R. department of Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon -- think back to the Jessica Lynch fable or the various Pentagon efforts to hide U.S. casualties -- but the Pat Tillman affair perhaps stands as the Bush administration's most craven and cynical attempt to bury a painful truth while maximizing political spin. When the former football star and Army Ranger was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, the Pentagon put out a press release implying that he'd died while courageously taking "the fight to the enemy forces." It wasn't until long after Tillman was awarded a Silver Star and his memorial service was televised nationally that the truth came out: He'd accidentally been killed by his fellow soldiers. In June 2005, columnist Robert Scheer reported that files from an internal military investigation given to him by Tillman's mother made it "unmistakably clear that the true cause of Tillman's death was known in the field shortly after he was killed and reported as fratricide up through the military command. Yet those facts were systematically kept from the family -- including Pat's brother and fellow Army Ranger, Kevin Tillman, who was serving in the same unit in Afghanistan -- while a markedly inaccurate story played itself out in the world's media."

The problem: The campaign of deception went all the way to the heart of the White House. According to a memo included in the Army's investigation, in late April 2004 -- right as the Abu Ghraib torture scandal was sending shock waves around the world -- a White House speechwriter requested information on Tillman ahead of the president's appearance at the upcoming White House correspondents dinner. There, Bush declared: "Corporal Tillman asked for no special attention. He was modest because he knew there were many like him, making their own sacrifices." By then the White House had already told the press that Tillman was among those who had "made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror."

The outcome: The ugly charade -- which the Army later absurdly blamed on "an administrative error" -- remains under investigation by the inspector general of the Defense Department and the Army Criminal Investigation Command. Last month, Kevin Tillman published a scathing criticism of the "illegal" war in Iraq.

Further reading: "The Truth About Tillman"; "The Army's Not-So-Heroic Damage Control"; "The Invisible Wounded"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

A Black Hole for Terrorist Suspects

The scandal: In November 2005, the Washington Post exposed an international web of secret CIA-run prisons chillingly referred to as "black sites." In unknown locations from the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan to Eastern Europe and Asia, terrorist suspects were imprisoned indefinitely without charge, and subjected to brutal interrogation techniques including simulated drownings. The revelation of the prison network sparked international outrage, including from European allies, and further stained America's already Abu-Ghraib-blackened global reputation.

The problem: We all want the Khalid Sheik Mohammeds of the world to be brought to justice. We also want to protect the American principles that distinguish us from the terrorists -- secret kidnappings, torture and kangaroo courts not being among them.

The outcome: The White House refused to confirm the existence of the CIA-run prisons until the landmark 2006 Supreme Court ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld determined that the Geneva Conventions apply to all prisoners, including so-called enemy combatants. Following the ruling, Bush announced the transfer of 14 highly touted prisoners to the U.S. facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, another contemporaneous icon of American abuse. With a relentless Dick Cheney leading the way, the administration has continued battling for legal cover that would allow them to conduct military tribunals and harsh interrogations.

Further reading: "Tortured Justice"; "The Supreme Court Clips Bush's War Wings"; "The Bush Code of Secrecy"; "Wrong About Rights"; "America Can't Take It Anymore"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Hurricane Katrina: One Heck of a Betrayal

The scandal: As one of our treasured cities came under siege from the worst natural disaster in modern U.S. history, where the hell was the federal government? Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff apparently was asleep on the job -- more than a day and a half went by before he deemed it "an incident of national significance." Bush didn't bother to interrupt his vacation in Crawford. Leadership in the Gulf Coast's time of peril was left in the hands of dithering FEMA chief Michael Brown, aka "Brownie," whose qualifications for the job amounted to falsified emergency-management experience listed on his résumé.

The problem: America watched unthinkable horror unfold beneath astounding political indifference and bureaucratic failure. For thousands stranded in New Orleans, hope and human dignity washed away as food, water and medicine ran out, and violence, sickness and death spread. It was four days before the National Guard showed up. Hundreds of firefighters marshaled from elsewhere to help were diverted to Atlanta for days of training. Months later, as evacuees had to begin vacating temporary residences, more than 10,000 FEMA trailers sat unused because of restrictions against use in floodplains. Nearly $1.4 billion in federal aid was fraudulently distributed, paying for everything from "Girls Gone Wild" videos to a two-month-long Hawaiian vacation.

The outcome: Two FEMA officials and a quality assurance rep for the Army Corps of Engineers were convicted in 2006 on bribery charges. While "Brownie" resigned as FEMA chief in the wake of the catastrophe, no federal leaders have been held accountable. Rep. Henry Waxman of California, who would likely serve as a next Democratic head of the House Committee on Government Reform, has vowed at least to review "waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayers' money" in connection with Katrina.

Further reading: "Timeline to Disaster"; "Halliburton's Gulf Coast Slaves"; "Cry for Katrina's Kids"; "No Direction Home"; Salon's complete Katrina archive.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Iraq: The Central Front for Global Insecurity

The scandal: The Iraq war has poured fuel on the fire of Islamic radicalism and swelled the ranks of militants across the globe, according to the 2006 National Intelligence Estimate, whose findings were leaked in September to the New York Times. Days later, Bush declassified portions of the report that showed that the war in Iraq was indeed a "cause célèbre" for jihadists. “If this trend continues," the report concluded, "threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide."

The problem: Where to begin? How about: The Iraq war has poured fuel on the fire of Islamic radicalism and swelled the ranks of militants across the globe. The latest NIE, which is the highest amalgamation of findings from various U.S. intelligence agencies, is directly at odds with Bush’s long-running refrain that we're winning the war on terror. It also undercuts findings released by the Bush administration on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks claiming that "America and its allies are safer" and that much has been done "to degrade Al Qaeda and its affiliates and to undercut the perceived legitimacy of terrorism."

The outcome: Never mind those pesky security concerns abroad -- time to focus on a witch hunt at home! Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, launched an investigation of minority staff members, hoping to string up anyone involved in the leak of the NIE's contents to the press. Meanwhile, Bush vowed just last week that Rumsfeld will continue to run the show at the Pentagon through 2008. Maybe Bush hasn't noticed that a growing number of active-duty members of the military, who've experienced the Iraq abyss firsthand, are calling on Congress for a major change of plan. And they've got some generals backing them up.

Further reading: "At War, in Denial"; "How the War in Iraq Has Damaged the War on Terrorism"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Bush's Unethical Judges

The scandal: With the appointment of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court got most of the attention over the last year -- but the White House has also worked to stack the nation's appellate courts with right-wing, corporate-friendly judges, some of them a little too corporate-friendly. As Salon and the Center for Investigative Reporting uncovered earlier this year, two Bush nominees to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge James H. Payne and Judge Terrence W. Boyle, broke federal ethics law by ruling in numerous cases involving corporations in which they owned stock. Meanwhile, a Salon/CIR exposé published just last week revealed that at least two dozen federal judges confirmed under Bush made political contributions to leading Republicans who were influential in their appointments, or to the president himself, while under consideration for their judgeships.

The problem: Federal judges receive lifetime appointments. Discovering that Bush has picked judges who may be in good company with the DeLay-Abramoff gang doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the integrity of the nation's courts.

The outcome: Following Salon's report, Bush withdrew his nomination of Payne, who subsequently had told the president that, among other reasons, he felt obligated to remain at his district court post in Oklahoma to see through an overhaul of that court's filing system. Bush has not withdrawn his nomination of Boyle; his fate still hangs with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Further reading: Money Trails Lead to Bush Judges; "Controversial Bush Judge Broke Ethics Law"; "Bush Judge Under Ethics Cloud"; the full Salon/CIR investigative series scrutinizing the federal judiciary under Bush.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Iraq Budget Blown to Smithereens

The scandal: Thanks to a morass of murky contracts and failed oversight, more than half of the budget for some Iraq reconstruction projects -- and we're talking in the hundreds of millions here -- has been burned on overhead costs, according to a report released in October by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The overhead costs in some cases were as much as 10 times the expected amount. Sure, security in Iraq is expensive (see above) -- but according to the report, the most money was wasted, incredibly, on idle time. ''The government blew the whistle for these guys to go to Iraq and the meter ran," Jim Mitchell, a spokesman for the inspector general's office, told the New York Times. "The government was billed for sometimes nine months before work began.'' Meanwhile, any guess as to who's leading the pack here? Yep, you got it -- Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc., with its various oil-facility contracts, tallied the highest level of overhead costs.

The problem: As columnist Paul Krugman noted last week, Baghdad received less than six hours a day of electricity in October, and much of Iraq’s population currently lives with untreated sewage and without clean water. If you're still having trouble doing the math here, Stephen Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense added it up recently: "These contracts were to design and build important items for oil infrastructure, hospitals and education, but in some cases more than half of the money padded corporate coffers instead."

The outcome: Soon enough, it will be anyone's guess. Last month President Bush signed the FY2007 Defense Authorization Act, which includes the termination of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the funding watchdog. The SIGIR will disappear by October 2007, regardless of the status of funds it was designed to oversee. Sen. Russ Feingold, who helped create the watchdog office, is indeed troubled: "American taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going in this costly war," he said last month. "This termination plan means that billions of dollars will go without proper oversight and auditing."

Further reading: "Accounting for $108 Million in Overcharges"; "The Buck Stops Where?"; "Halliburton's Iraq Gravy Train"; "Fill 'er Up -- With Taxpayer Dollars"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Uncle Sam Goes Big Brother

The scandal: "Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity," the New York Times reported in a Page One bombshell on Dec. 15, 2005. According to "nearly a dozen current and former officials," the report said, the top-secret program was carried out without the court-approved warrants required by law for spying inside the U.S. In the three years since 9/11, the Bush government had secretly monitored the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of "hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people," according to the Times. This spring, USA Today reported the existence of a massive database at the NSA, containing phone call records of tens of millions of Americans provided to the government by major telecom companies. And in June, Salon uncovered evidence pointing to government surveillance of U.S. Internet traffic.

The problem: Bush has plunged America back into Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover territory, and perhaps beyond.

The outcome: In what promises to be a long legal saga, two federal district court judges have so far ruled against Bush: Judge Vaughn R. Walker in San Francisco, and Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit. In July, rebuking a mind-bending state-secrets claim by Bush administration lawyers, Vaughn allowed a suit to go forward against AT&T for allegedly collaborating with the NSA. In August, Diggs ruled that "The President of the United States, a creature of the same Constitution which gave us these Amendments," had "undisputedly violated" the First and Fourth Amendments, as well as the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. No doubt the Supreme Court will eventually have the last word. Until that time comes, the domestic spying presumably continues.

Further reading: "Is the NSA Spying on U.S. Internet Traffic?”; "The Bush Doctrine Under Surveillance"; "Uncle Sam Is Listening"; "Bush's Illegal Spying"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The House That Corruption Built

The scandal: The Jack Abramoff influence-peddling ring began to unravel in 2004, but it was over the last couple of years that the scope of GOP corruption came into view. Among the dozens of players with fingers in the pie: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana, Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio and David H. Safavian, former chief of staff of the General Services Administration. Perks that politicians and staffers enjoyed ranged from campaign contributions to prime sporting events tickets to luxurious vacations to high-end wining and dining. Meanwhile, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a GOP representative from San Diego on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, earned investigators' interest in 2005 for dealings with his own circle of friends in the defense contracting industry. Trafficking in cash-stuffed envelopes, luxury houses and yachts, Cunningham was exposed for taking upward of $24 million in bribes in exchange for securing government contracts.

The problem: Anyone who knows politics knows that corruption is part of the game on both sides of the aisle. But this has been a veritable epidemic of sleaze and criminality among the current ruling party.

The outcome: Cunningham pleaded guilty to bribery charges and resigned in November 2005. Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of federal conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion in January 2006. Safavian was convicted in October of lying to investigators and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Ney pleaded guilty in mid-October to charges of conspiracy and making false statements -- and late Friday, finally resigned. DeLay was indicted on a conspiracy charge back in 2005 and resigned this June, but he has not been convicted of a crime.

Further reading: "Abramoff's 'Rock Star'"; "Abramoff-Scanlon School of Sleaze"; "The Hammer Falls"; "The GOP's Spreading Plague"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Hushed Up About Corporate Media

The scandal: In September 2006, the L.A. Times reported that during Michael Powell's tenure as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, two internal draft reports exposing the ill effects of corporate media consolidation were quashed. What the agency prevented from getting any airtime: A 2004 report that found locally owned TV stations did a better job covering local news and issues, and a 2003 report pointing out a decrease in the number of radio station owners.

The problem: Powell and his aides denied knowing about the studies -- but clearly his corporate-friendly agenda would necessitate flipping the channel on such troublesome findings. Both Powell and his successor, Kevin J. Martin, supported reduced restrictions on television station ownership and the lifting of a ban preventing companies from owning a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same market.

The outcome: The looser FCC rules backed by Powell and Martin have been put on hold since 2004, after an appeals court said the FCC failed to sufficiently justify them. After getting ahold of the two suppressed reports, California Sen. Barbara Boxer blasted the FCC for "destroying every piece of a document they didn't like." The FCC's inspector general is investigating.

Further reading: "Indecency Wars"; "Last Stop Before the Media Monopoly"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Republican Hypocrisy, in All Its Naked Glory

The scandal: Former Florida congressman Mark Foley's sexually predatory instant-message and e-mail exchanges with underage congressional pages were exposed by ABC News in late September. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert first claimed to have learned of Foley's behavior only after the story broke -- but later admitted that he had "no reason to dispute" statements by other Republican congressmen that they'd informed Hastert about the Foley problem beginning nearly a year before.

The problem: Could there be anything that strips bare Republican sanctimony more than this story? Foley was in charge of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus in the House, for God's sake. The notion that the Republican leadership had no clue about his behavior looked laughable within hours of the initial news. In the words of one former page Foley had in his online sights: "sick sick sick sick sick."

The outcome: Foley resigned the day the story broke, then ducked into alcohol rehab and had his lawyer announce that he was molested by a priest as a youth. ("I'm a victim, not a perp, see?") The House Ethics Committee and the FBI are conducting separate probes. Hastert has refused to resign, with Bush backing him up. Meanwhile, there's little more than a fig leaf left to cover up the truth about the hard-line wing of the GOP. On Friday, another figurehead of anti-gay politics was exposed: Evangelical heavyweight and anti-gay marriage campaigner Rev. Ted Haggard admitted to receiving massages and buying crystal meth from a gay prostitute. He resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, though he denied the prostitute's claims that the two partook in a drug-laced sexual affair for the last three years.

2006-11-02T19:10:00.000-05:00

They Cannot Loose

Who am I referring to? The Republicans of course. This is because on top of the lies and deciet the Republicant's have mastered the art of stealing elections in a 1st world country.

As shown by 2000 in Florida, where Katherine Harris locked up the state and in 2004 where Kenneth Blackwell did the same in Ohio, the Repbublican't have found every means legal and illegal to negate the will of the voters. Exit polls don't lie, just Republican thugs.

And now paperless polling machines are even more ubiquituous than ever.

No in every close race in the US Senate and House you should expect the Repbulicant's to win in a narrow margin. Bet the house on it.

We don't live in a Democracy anymore.

2006-10-25T23:24:00.000-04:00

Last week on his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity encouraged Democratic voters to "stay home on Election Day," adding that, "your vote doesn't matter anyway." He asserted that Democrats should not turn out to vote "for the sake of the nation" because Democrats' votes "won't change who occupies the White House" and Democratic "candidates have absolutely no idea how to win the war on terrorism."

On the same program, Hannity misrepresented the Democratic Party platform, stating: "I don't think abandoning our troops on the battlefield, or closing your eyes to enemy communications or listening to enemy communications in our country, or killing the economy, or supporting illegal immigration, I don't think that's something to run on."

Comments like this demonstrate how Hannity and other right-wing media figures hope to impact the upcoming election -- regardless of their spin about being objective.

2006-10-14T13:02:00.000-04:00

Some of Alex running Cross Country this year

2006-10-01T11:12:00.000-04:00

A lovely Visit

MW came out this weekend and took us to dinner at Garcia's Saturday night. Here is a picture of Liza and Mom from my dinky camera phone at the Restaurant.

2006-09-25T19:10:00.000-04:00

Well it's a darn good thing there is no Global Warming.
or Another thing to trust W on....

Global temperature highest in millennia

The planet's temperature has climbed to levels not seen in thousands of years, warming that has begun to affect plants and animals, researchers report in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Earth has been warming at a rate of 0.36 degree Fahrenheit per decade for the last 30 years, according to the research team led by James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.

That brings the overall temperature to the warmest in the current interglacial period, which began about 12,000 years ago.

The researchers noted that a report in the journal Nature found that 1,700 plant, animal and insect species moved poleward at an average rate of about 4 miles per decade in the last half of the 20th century.

The warming has been stronger in the far north, where melting ice and snow expose darker land and rocks beneath allowing more warmth from the sun to be absorbed, and more over land than water.

Water changes temperature more slowly than land because of its great capacity to hold heat, but the researchers noted that the warming has been marked in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. Those oceans have a major effect on climate and warming that could lead to more El Nino episodes affecting the weather.

"This evidence implies that we are getting close to dangerous levels of human-made pollution," Hansen said in a statement.

Few scientists doubt that the planet has warmed, though some question the causes of the change.

Hansen, who first warned of the danger of climate change decades ago, said that human-made greenhouse gases have become the dominant climate change factor.

The study said the recent warming has brought global temperature to a level within about one degree Celsius — 1.8 degree Fahrenheit — of the maximum temperature of the past million years.

"If further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know. The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about 3 million years ago, when sea level was estimated to have been about 25 meters (80 feet) higher than today," Hansen said.

2006-09-23T11:35:00.000-04:00

It was 45 yrs ago today

That I was ejected into this world in Santa Monica California. 1961, a different era and different world.

A good half way point today, many of my Grandparents generation lived into their late 90's. We will see what 20+ yrs of semi-abuse will do to my longetivity.

As for today the Godz were kind to me and I don't have to work till 430, and I have the house alone, a rare commodity in my world during the school year.

2006-09-16T23:18:00.000-04:00

We are sooooooo screwed!!

By Alister Doyle, Environment CorrespondentFri Sep 15, 11:26 AM ET

Polar bears are drowning and receding Arctic glaciers have uncovered previously unknown islands in a drastic 2006 summer thaw widely blamed on global warming.

Signs of wrenching changes are apparent around the Arctic region due to unusual warmth -- the summer minimum for ice is usually reached between mid-September and early October before the Arctic freeze extends its grip.

"We know about three new islands this year that have been uncovered because the glaciers have retreated," said Rune Bergstrom, environmental adviser to the governor of Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago about 1,000 km (600 miles) from the North Pole.

The largest is about 300 by 100 meters, he told Reuters.

On a trip this summer "We saw a couple of polar bears in the sea east of Svalbard -- one of them looked to be dead and the other one looked to be exhausted," said Julian Dowdeswell, head of the Scott Polar Research Institute in England.

He said that the bears had apparently been stranded at sea by melting ice. The bears generally live around the fringes of the ice where they find it easiest to hunt seals.

NASA projected this week that Arctic sea ice is likely to recede in 2006 close to a low recorded in 2005 as part of a melting trend in recent decades. A stormy August in 2006 had slightly slowed the 2006 melt.

"There are very unusual conditions this year from Svalbard to Alaska," said Samantha Smith, director of the WWF's environmental group's Arctic Programme.

One international study in 2004 projected that summer ice could disappear completely by 2100, undermining the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and driving creatures such as polar bears toward extinction.

WAKE-UP CALL

Smith said the shrinking ice should be a wake-up call for governments to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from power plants, factories and cars that most scientists say are causing global warming.

"The Arctic is likely to warm more than any other part of the world" because of global warming, said Dowdeswell. Darker water and soil, once exposed, soaks up far more of the sun's heat than mirror-like ice and snow.

The melt may also open up the Arctic to more exploration for oil, gas and minerals, increase fisheries and open a short-cut shipping route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Ian Stirling, a researcher with the Canadian Wildlife Service, said polar bears were finding it harder to find food, threatening their ability to reproduce.

"In 1980 the average weight of adult females in western Hudson Bay was 650 pounds (300 kg). Their average weight in 2004 was just 507 pounds," he said in a report this week. Numbers in the Hudson Bay region dropped to 950 in 2004 from 1,200 in 1989.

For some, the unseasonal warmth is good news. It was 5 C (41 F) on Friday in Longyearbyen, the main village on Svalbard. "Last year the first snow fell here on September 11 and stayed all winter," said Bergstrom.

"A lot of people here have boats to go out hunting in summer and go to cabins. So it's a good year for them -- the ice melted earlier and they can still use the boats," he said.

2006-09-10T23:58:00.000-04:00

18th Wedding Anniversary

This picture was taken by the lovely couple from the other end of the Cooking Table.

Isn't she beautiful!

2006-09-07T13:23:00.000-04:00

Boycot ABC this Sunday and Monday Night

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer

A "terribly wrong" miniseries about events leading to the Sept. 11 attacks blame President Clinton's policies, former Clinton administration officials said in letters demanding that ABC correct it or not air it.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Clinton Foundation head Bruce Lindsey and Clinton adviser Douglas Band wrote in the past week to Robert Iger, CEO of ABC's parent The Walt Disney Co., to express concern over "The Path to 9/11."

The two-part miniseries, scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday and Monday, is drawn from interviews and documents including the report of the Sept. 11 commission. ABC has described it as a "dramatization" as opposed to a documentary.

"ABC/Disney acknowledges this show is fiction and in direct contradiction of the 9-11 commission report and the facts, and it is despicable that ABC/Disney would insist on airing a fictional version of what is a serious and emotional event for our country," Clinton Foundation spokesman Jay Carson said in a statement Thursday. "No reputable organization should dramatize 9-11 for a profit at the expense of the truth."

Calls to ABC seeking comment Thursday were not returned.

The letter writers said the miniseries contained factual errors, and that their requests to see it had gone unanswered.

"By ABC's own standard, ABC has gotten it terribly wrong," Lindsey and Band said in their letter.

"The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has a duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely. It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known."

The letters pointed out examples of scenes they had been told were in the miniseries, but which they said never happened. Albright objected to a scene that she was told showed her insisting on warning the Pakistani government before an airstrike on Afghanistan, and that she was the one who made the warning.

"The scene as explained to me is false and defamatory," she said.

Berger objected to a scene that he was told showed him refusing to authorize an attack on Osama bin Laden despite the request from CIA officials. "The fabrication of this scene (of such apparent magnitude) cannot be justified under any reasonable definition of dramatic license," he wrote.

Lindsey and Band objected to advertisements for the miniseries, which they said suggested that Clinton wasn't paying enough attention to the threat of terrorism.

"While ABC is promoting "The Path to 9/11" as a dramatization of historical fact, in truth it is a fictitious rewriting of history that will be misinterpreted by millions of Americans," they said. "Given your stated obligation to 'get it right,' we urge you to do so by not airing this drama until the egregious factual errors are corrected, an endeavor we could easily assist you with given the opportunity to view the film."

The five-hour miniseries is set to run without commercial interruption. Director David Cunningham said it was a massive undertaking, with close to 250 speaking parts, more than 300 sets, and a budget of $40 million. Cunningham has said he shot 550 hours of film. The cast includes Harvey Keitel, Patricia Heaton and Donnie Wahlberg.

2006-08-25T23:10:00.000-04:00

Sure wish I could go to this!

Click on the banner

2006-08-22T11:01:00.000-04:00

Morons!

SG-1 Ends Run; Atlantis Back

SCI FI Channel confirmed that it will not renew its record-breaking original series Stargate SG-1 for another season, but will pick up its spinoff series Stargate Atlantis for a fourth year. SG-1 aired its 200th episode on Aug. 18, and the SF series is the longest-running SF show on American television.

SCI FI issued the following statement on Aug. 21: "SCI FI Channel is proud to be the network that brought Stargate SG-1 to its record-breaking 10th season. Ten seasons and 215 episodes is an astounding, Guinness World Record-setting accomplishment. Stargate is a worldwide phenomenon. Having achieved so much over the course of the past 10 years, SCI FI believes that the time is right to make this season their last on the channel. SCI FI is honored to have been part of the Stargate legacy for five years, and we look forward to continuing to explore the Stargate universe with our partners at MGM through a new season of Stargate Atlantis."

Stargate SG-1, developed for television by executive producers Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate. SG-1, which originally starred Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge, began on Showtime, then moved to SCI FI after five seasons. The current cast includes Tapping, Shanks and Judge and newcomers Ben Browder, Claudia Black and Beau Bridges. It airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

2006-08-15T21:49:00.000-04:00

Highschool Memories Survey

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be.

1. Who was your best friend? Jenifer Quentin, Henry Olsen
.
2.What sports did you play? None

3. What kind of car did you drive? Step Dads 64 1/2 Mustang 286 hardtop

4. Friday night where were you at? Football Games, McDonalds, Studying. Always with Jenifer Quentin

5. Were you a party animal? That came during college

6. Were you considered a flirt? Yes

7. Ever skip school? Never

8. Were you a nerd? Rose above the "brain" clique Sr Year

10. Did you get suspended/expelled?Never

11. Can you sing the fight song? I dont think we had one

12. Who was your favorite teacher?Probably Mr Perry or Mr Hubbard

13. Favorite class? ??? Double Lunch at the "radio" Station

14. What was your school's full name? Lynbrook High School

15. School mascot? Viking

16. Did you go to Prom? No

17. If you could go back and do it over, would you? I'd do it better.

18. What do you remember most about graduation? The grad party

19. Favorite memory of your Senior Year? Jenifer Quentin

20. Were you ever posted up on the senior wall? What is that?

21. Did you have a job your senior year? No

22. Where did you go most often for lunch? Either the "radio station" or the cement planters.

23. Have you gained weight since then?ACK yes.

24. What did you do after graduation? Pitzer College Class of 83

25. When did you graduate? Class of 79

26. Where are most of your classmates? Seems most are in California. Though some are scattered around the nation and world

27. Are you going to your ten year reunion? 10 & 20, 30 is just around the corner (ACK)

28. Who was your home room teacher? Mrs Trudeau I think

2006-08-14T23:00:00.000-04:00

Watch the changes in the Mall

I've mentioned a few times that the Mall I work in has been massively renovated. Here I think is a great series of pictures (no I think they are lousy which is why I put them up) showing the transformation of one part of the mall putting in a Fireplace.

March 06

April 06

May 06

June 06

July 06

2006-08-08T22:35:00.000-04:00

Two Day Trip to NH

Well I am just back from a wonderful trip to NH Monday and Tuesday to drop off the kid to stay with his Grandparents and participate in a Family Reunion of sorts in the guise of a BBQ and Dessert.

This previous Saturday I had missed a much larger event in MA because of my work. So when my Dad said he was doing a more intimate BBQ on Monday, I knew I would be there.

It was so wonderful being with all my Aunts and Uncles. I cannot remember being with the majority (5 of 7) of them in I don't know how long. I think it was the Caribbean Cruise in fact. Some of whom I had not seen since that cruise.

In addition, many of the "cousins" were there as well. I should explain that my Grandfather Jamil's brother married my Grandmother Mary's sister, so there are double cousins in the family who were raised together in part and are more brothers and sisters than cousins. We had many of them in attendance as well, and it's always wonderful seeing them as well.

One of Dad's neighbor's put on the BBQ part of the evening, just a few doors down from his house a across the street. About a 3 min walk. Then we retired to Elias and Margie's new abode in NH which was about three miles from Dad's house.

I thought everyone looked really good, and you can see from the pictures. The pictures at the Mike Montfort site run as a slideshow. Or you can look at the thumbnails and then the bigger pictures at the Gathering on PhotoBucket as well.

Today I got up and the NY/NJ contingent left for points south around 10am. It was nice to see them again, and after taking trash to the dump, running to CVS and Blockbuster, and other errands for Dad, I headed home myself.

2006-08-05T23:24:00.000-04:00

The Secret Finally Revealed!

The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a Courthouse is that you cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians .. It creates a hostile work environment.

2006-08-04T17:27:00.000-04:00

The Friday Five!

1. How much time do you spend on the Internet daily?

I'd say anywhere from 2 to 5 hours reading and emailing on and off through the day.

2. What are your favorite 3 websites?

my.yahoo.com
www.economist.com
www.nytimes.com

3. Do you eat at your computer?

No, not normally, but I will snack at it.

4. Pick one and why - Reading the news online or in a newspaper?

Newspaper, I know go figure, but I prefer to read a newspaper.

5. How many people are on your instant messenger buddy list?

Between 10 and 20.

2006-08-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

I've been on a vacation from Anger.

Barely keeping down my frustration with the Republican'ts and their pandering, warmongering and generaly poor international behavior.

But I'm gearing up to go on the offensive so watch out!!

2006-07-27T15:42:00.000-04:00

The jewel from my NF 06 Autograph Take

Signed by the Drummer, this album is VERY rare. Out of Print for a long time.

2006-07-23T13:06:00.000-04:00

Who Says the Bush Doctrine is Dead?

We have just transferred it to our allies.

As Dr. Rice resists the International call for a cease fire in the Middle East the Isreali's do our dirty work by allegedly dismembering hezbollah.

In the mean time what is the ratio of innocents killed in Isreal by hezbollah's pathetic missles compared to the carpet bombing of Lebanon by our "allies".

According to AP:

"Civilians have taken the brunt of the 12-day war that has cost 368 lives in Lebanon and killed 37 Israelis."

And why are innocents dying at all? To further whose agenda?

Shameful

2006-07-21T00:58:00.000-04:00

Art Pictures

I've gone through and picked out my favorite Artsy picutres (of those I can find) and created a link on the Mike Montfort Picture Site.

This is also a kind of preview of the movies, assuming this thing actually works on your computer. I'm still not sure how the technology works.

Anyway enjoy the pics.

2006-07-20T17:12:00.000-04:00

So many great resources on the web

Photo Bucket is a great service like Flkr and others that offers places to share your photo's. One of the features of PhotoBucket is to create little animated web montages of pictures in their site you upload.

So if you notice there is a new feature in the "menu" to the right. Memory Lane.

Have a good laugh if you must. To see the big version of the picture shown just click on it and it will take you to the PhotoBucket parking place for that particular picture.

2006-07-18T16:12:00.000-04:00

Seems the day for Web catchup

I just got my FlickR site up to date as well. The link is over to the right on the menu list. Or you can click here

Mike's FlickR Site

2006-07-18T14:47:00.000-04:00

The Chincoteague Blog is UP

An illustrated and annotated journal from our vacation in the first week of July to Chincoteague VA is up at a specialized site strictly for the trip

Chincoteague 2006

This will open a new window. Also the link will be on the menu to the right on this blog for some time. Full pictures from the trip are here

Chincoteague Pictures

2006-07-10T23:20:00.000-04:00

Marvel Ultimates Hard Back Vol 1

This amazing graphic novel collecting the Ultimates Issues 1 - 13 arrived in my mailbox from my dear friend cjwrites just before we headed down to Chincoteague. I stashed it away for the trip, and read about half on the way home on Saturday.

Well I finished it on Monday, and it was quite exceptional. The artwork is just superb and the writing very credible. This is a sort of Reboot of the Marvel Avengers, though how it relates to the ongoing Civil War series (i.e. before, after or during) I am not sure. The superhero's are dysfunctional, flawed human's which gives a better view in my mind to the whole idea.

Nick Fury, Capt America, Thor, the Hulk, Hank Pym (Giant Man) and his wife (Wasp), also brought into series one were two of Magneto's kids, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, as well as Hawkeye and Black Widow. Quite a collection of characters. As the second series progresses I understand others will join S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Ultimates.

This is why I've always preferred Marvel to DC, growing up it seemed that the DC hero's were too shiny squeaky clean. Spiderman has been my fave since I can remember, but Capt America used to sit on my ceiling in my house in San Jose growing up.

Anyway I can't wait to read the Ultimates 2, and series 3 & 4 are apparently commissioned.

2006-07-08T23:31:00.000-04:00

Home Safe

Had a great time in Chincoteague VA. I did take some notes as it were when I was there so I will post the highlights tomorrow or Monday. Also I will be posting a more comprehensive journal of the week for those who care on a separate Blog which I will link to this one.

2006-06-26T23:58:00.000-04:00

Monday to Home

I slept till about 9am and then got up and going, leaving by 10.

It was raining cats and dogs all the way home.. a precruser of what we got later that week.

Remember that Blog's are done most recent FIRST. So make sure to go down to Friday to read the NEARfest weekend experice in proper order.

There will not be any blogs until at least July 10th. Enjoy your time off.

2006-06-25T23:38:00.000-04:00

Nearfest Sunday

As much as I had anticipated seeing KBB, FM and OT on Saturday, I really had no idea what I was up against for Sunday.

I was very pleased with the day.

We got going a tad earlier on Sunday AM from Mark's house so we arrived at Zoellner with plenty of time to spare. And there to my immediate chagrin was the big guy again sitting next to me. However he broke the ice by asking what we could come to some sort of "compromise". I ignored the comment as a terrible way to start a conversation and instead talked about bands and where he was from etc. Anyway we came to some compromise as it were: he sat comfortably and I leaned forward to take pics lol. I also told him after 17 yrs of marriage I was quite comfortable with my sexuality and did not find rubbing shoulders that big of a deal. He laughed.

Guapo

Golly wow. This band was a super pleasant surprise. Very much RIO or Zuel school of prog rock. Very much ART ROCK. Their set consisted of half of one album and half of another (Oni and Black Suns) of which I decided to get Black Suns as I liked that portion of the show better. I have listened to the CD twice now since I left PA and it is really a remarkable achievement. I am sorry I didn't get Oni as well. On Saturday periodically I would get up and move from my center seat int the first row of the Grand Tier to the first row of the Orchestra next to Mark C to take pics.

My timing was fortuitous for Guopo because the next song after I sat down involved the band walking through the audience in front of the Orchestra playing little hand held instruments. Very clever and a real audience grabber. Apparently the band Van had broken down on the way from Phili so they had to get cabs and had not slept all night. This was in evidence when in line for my autographs, one of the band members started doodling on the face pic of another. Apparently mine was the first and he doodled in some for or another on all the other pics that he could. Definitely a 5/5 and my pick for most pleasant surprise of the show. (This was a tough call with Ange)

Spotlight... didnt see it. Sorry.

Ange.

Golly wow again. One of the benefits of doing a later review is reading others'. Down side is Review Fatigue and it probably doesn't get read as much as the first ones. Anyway I found Ange's antics on stage to be fully in the tradition of great performance Prog in the tradition of Amon Duul II, Hawkwind, and other bands with a sense of theater.

Christian and Caroline's theater were quite remarkable, though of course I had no idea what the songs were about. The music however was quite excellent.

Hassan has my vote for best overall Guitar performance at NF (though Mark Bonilla is a better overall guitarist). His solo's were sweet and well executed. One of the highlights was definitely Tristan's vocal piece at the end of the set. Though so different from Dad's voice it was fantastic on it's own. I ran down to get the Par Les Fils de Mandrin DVD after I got my Programme signed so the band got a good laugh at seeing me in line again (I guess those Hawkwind Tshirts pay off). I was able to explain to Hassan in my broken French my brother living outside Paris, so my French was semi successful the second time in line. Overall this band got a 5/5 for me as well.
Ok look the DAY gets a 5/5!!!

Niacin.

Back maybe two years ago Progression Magazine (may it rest in peace) (someday) did an article on Planet X and Niacin. Since then I have been interested in both bands, from that article and of course seeing Planet X at NF 04. So I was anticipating good Fusion, but not sure what the flavor would be. Well it was definitely kick ass blues. This band admittedly stretched even the "Art Rock" definition of the festival, but in it's own right fit perfectly in with the festival atmosphere.

I was really very very impressed with Billy Sheehan. I think the slang is I was "at school" for Bass playing. I have not seen anyone use his bass in more rapid ways in a long time, and in its' own way, extremely unique. Probably the best Bass player I've seen except Chris Squire, as I am a BIG fan of what I call "lead Bass", ie a musical theme on its own, not just part of a rhythm section. Dennis Chambers was by far the strongest drummer since Christian Vander for a NF perfomance. I too would have liked to hear more of Jon Novello's keyboards, but if you bought the Live sweat and beers album you are amply rewarded with that. No doubt comparing that CD to what we heard, they did play a Proggier set than maybe usual. Best blues band at NF ever... yea 5/5.
.
Break and an FM Story.

I decided NOT to miss the signing so I just stood in line for a half hour shoot the breeze with many friends until the band showed up. Billy was giving out unsigned bass picks, and Dennis looked like he really did not know what to make of all us crazed proggies. I ended up running out to Wendy's at the last minute to get some food.

Now I want to tell my FM story. Thanks to Hannah I chased down Marty Deller the drummer from FM on the second floor while waiting for Niacin to come from dinner. He was there with his wife and teen aged son and was headed to dinner. I told him at that time how much I simply wanted to express my thanks for his music, and as an aside that I had missed the signing. He said he had as well!

Anyway I told him I had the Vinyl cover to Direct to Disc (refer to my review from Saturday) and that I had wanted him to sign it, but didn't want to bug him during his family time. He said how cool it was for me to have brought that and that he definitely wanted to sign it. He told me that he would be in row T for Emerson. During my waiting I was accosted by two FM fans who were really interested in my Album, and had talked to Marty extensively. Anyway they were instrumental in me finding him before the Emerson set and getting a huge signature across the front of my cover and another brief chat. Marty actually said that it was important to him that I got that signature I wanted. Such a nice person. A fanboy thing, but I think it is important, especially to these prog artists who are not big stars, to really tell them how much their music has touched your life if that is indeed true.

Keith Emerson Band

I was majorly excited to hear that Mark Bonilla was playing with Emerson. My friend from the West Coast has seen Mark in solo a few times and just raves about his guitar playing. Now I had no idea what to expect from a set list, thinking maybe that the Keith Emerson Band would be all about new music or something. Instead I got ALL OF TARKUS. Oh my god. I thought I died and went to proggy heaven. Bonilla's guitar work was a perfect compliment to the wicked playing of Emerson on all his keyboards. We did get to get a taste of the famous Moog, but I think it was there as much for WOW value than to be played that much. Keith was FULL of really great stories and his set ended up Two and a Half Hours.

I had forgot just how much I love classical music interpreted by Him. I was raised on classical, big band, jazz and show tunes. Keith's amazing renditions of various classical pieces on Sunday night was just a fantastic ending to a fantastic weekend. I honestly can not tell you which classical pieces he did, especially in the "Nutrocker Suite" but there was much more than just the Nutrocker in there.

-==-=-=-
Overall this was the best festival since returning to Bethlehem. It is hard to reach the heights of the Trenton shows in my mind due to the "name" acts at those performances, but on the other hand, Keith Emerson is by no argument from me the most "exhalted" Prog Star to grace the Nearfest halls.

I got to meet all my friends, my merry *band of lunatics* and hang with them for a weekend. It's all I get during the year, other than emails so I cherish seeing all of you, and some I may forget to mention: Mark, Mark, Steve, Bill, Donna, Robert, Kevin & Hannah, Adam, Andre, Jim, Paul, Bob, Luis, Eric and anyone I missed mentioning.

And a special "missed you bro" to my oldest Prog friend Scott M who is in merry Italy this summer instead of NearFest.

Many more Nearfest pics are in Mike Montforts Nearfest Gallery

2006-06-24T23:59:00.000-04:00

NEARfest Saturday.

Started with oversleeping as the Hatfield show had gone way late. It was overcast in the morning and ended up being a very pleasant rainy weekend. This kept the temperatures down, but only seemed to POUR during the dinner break on Sunday, so most of us stayed dry.

After a pleasant morning and jawing over breakfast Mark and I hauled butt back to Bethlehem only to be confronted on 3rd or 4th ave with the Motorcade for the Puerto Rico Pride day. I did a little U turn and trail blazed a different route to Zoellner.

It did get us in a tad late, but just barely. We missed the first few stanza's of KBB's opening song. Totally different people sitting next to me Saturday from the Legends Showcase, which would turn to be a problem later in the day...

KBB

I am a huge Jean Luc Ponty fan. Have been since 77 or so, his music sings to my soul. So I am always looking for something similar, even though that is a pipe dream considering how unique his talent is. KBB comes close, with a strong whiff of Mahavishnu Orchestra thrown in. Their set was just smoking good, and again the looming hand of Jazz settled over Zoellner as the band played. I have one of their albums Four Corner Sky on my iPod so I did recognize a couple of pieces. I'm a big fan of Jazz so this worked for me.

The lead in the band was also the spokesperson and he had a type written sheet of what he was to say at the breaks, as he didn't feel comfortable enough to ad lib in Engrish. I thought he did much better than the spokespeople for some of the other Japanese bands in previous years. The drummer was wearing a Japanese Boy Scout Uniform during the set, but had taken it off for the signings. Overall this band got a 5/5 from me for the killer electric guitar and tight fusion. I got their Live album (and the bonus outake disc) in line to get my signatures.

Riverside

I had no idea what to expect with Riverside. What I found was extremely excellent heavy prog bordering on metal. I have since listened to the CD twice now and feel their CD is much softer than the performance we got. This was refreshingly heavy that was not in a RIO or Zuel subgenre, something we have not really had at Nearfest that much.

I was reminded very much of Tool for some reason, not that they imitated them in any way, but some of the vocals and musical back beats were a bit similar. Having never heard them I have no idea what they played of course. I gave this band a 4/5, nothing wrong with a solid B. The band was very pleasant at the signing and as I said I picked up their CD to have it signed.

Between Riverside and FM we took a picture of all the internet friends who I meet every year.

Back Row: Eric and his wife, Mark C (my host), Steve I (Long Island), Jim (Ohio), Hannah (15) and her dad Kevin (NJ), and Robert from Quebec
Middle Row: Donna K (NJ), Mark G (Ohio), Adam P (NYC),and Me
Front row kneeling: Bill K (NJ) and Andre (NYC)

FM

Praise be to Rob for being a FM fan, or I would never have seen this band at Nearfest. Maybe never, for as they supposedly opened for the Rush Moving Pictures Tour, I frankly don't remember seeing them. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, I just do not remember them opening. Maybe I got to the concert late. ANYWAY seeing FM was a great highlight for me. I don't usually comment on other reviews, but I have read some pretty lukewarm responses to this band. I would like to offer the opinion from the Fan perspective.

Cam and Marty were really very ON for this performance. They had taken the time to go back and review the studio and outtakes from the acetates and tapes for their albums and wanted to bring the original music back to life without the drift that happens to any band's music over time. This effort really showed in the performance. Their take on Sci Fi rock/prog is very unique, and uniquely Canadian. Prog with a pop tinge. Their newest member, who to me looked like the actor Deep Roy (the oompa loompa in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) was probably the best person I have heard in that band position. Anyway for me FM is a very personal thing, being a avid sci fi head since Elementary School, not only do I know and love their music, but the lyrics speak to me as well. 6/5 for Nostalgia alone.

I missed the signing for FM because I was told they were having dinner first, and Bill K has filled you in on the fiasco at Brew Works. So I won't hammer it except to say that thanks to Kevin's daughter Hannah, as well as a couple of guys I had not met before I was able to track down Marty before the Emerson show and get him to sign my rare "Direct to Disc" aka Head Room Vinyl cover.

I did get to speak to Marty, tell him how much his music had touched me over the years, and to learn that he still had ALL the acetates for Direct to Disc and they WERE setting up to release this on a CD in the near future, with possible outtakes that he had kept as well. Direct to disc is a live studio album where the band did two suites, Border Crossing and Head Room, recorded directly to Acetate with no remixes and then published on Disc Washer records in a limited quantity.

Ozric Tentacles

When I got to my seat late, there was an enormous person sitting where a petite woman or no one at all had been sitting earlier in the fest. This crushed me between to "big guys". Bit of a "personal space" contest during the show which Mark will confirm had me pretty ornery by the end. Really most uncomfortable, but in the end the gentleman and I became "friends" on Sunday and chatted quite a bit.

For a headlining act, I don't have that much to say really. A few thoughts. 1) I should have seen them a long time ago. 2) The Ed Wynne show was MUCH BETTER at Nearfest than the show I saw at Revolution Hall in Troy the Saturday night before. 3) Brandi needs to stop giggling on stage, it just strikes me as very unprofessional. 4) I loved the back graphics movies that were made by the dread locked blond guy that kept making monkey noises and cartwheels during the signing. 5) They did play somewhat of a best of set so I enjoyed what was played. Sorry I don't do setlists. Finally - Ed needs to put his ego back in his pocket and get some musicians that will talk to him musically on stage instead of just back him up. Tons of Blanga tonight, very little inspiration. 3/5 for being too focused on one player.

However OT did get done at a reasonable hour so even with the signing everyone got out of Zoellner well before Midnight.

Many more pics at Mike Montfort Nearfest Gallery

2006-06-23T23:51:00.000-04:00

Nearfest Weekend Part One

I diddled around the house for much of the morning getting things in order to go. Made sure I had enough prog in my iPod for the trip. I left my house around Noon Albany time and ran errands including picking up film and going to the bank. I was officially on the road to NJ by 1pm.

The drive down was a breeze, the only traffic being some congestion on 287 near where 80 meets, mostly slowdowns to oogle the other side (north) which was backed up pretty badly. I got to Bill and Donna's house around 4pm. They were kind enough to have chicken breasts on the BBQ (I don't eat beef) and we had a nice chat for a couple of hours. Adam Holquist showed up fairly soon after I did.

I followed Adam out from Bill and Donna's and I got to the venue in plenty of time to meet Mark Clark in the upper parking lot and get down to the seats. My seat was dead center first row Grand Tier, just next to the mounted video camera. Great seats for hearing perfectly and for taking pictures.

Tony Levin Band

The concert started out very well with an acappella piece specially written for NF. Funny and cute. Levin showed his mastery of his instruments that was very enjoyable. The set list varied considerably which was what I would expect of such a talented band. Jerry Marotta did a fine job on the Gabriel tunes, and one of the highlights for me was Tony's story and piece about playing with the Great Apes with Peter. I also enjoyed the obligatory Larry Fast piece, and the development of that piece by the rest of the band was quite excellent. I also enjoyed having Jerry come forward and play the two strange instruments: one looking like a large can of soup and the other a grouping of Ninja Throwing Stars. All in all a great performance, and considering their CV's or Resume's very apt for a Legends Showcase.

Hatfield and the North

I was a bit nervous about Hatfield. I had been listening to Hatwise on my iPod and found some of the songs I had to hit fast forward on. I knew I was not going to be able to do this in the theater obviously. Well I need not have been worried. As another reviewer said Hatfield was sublime. Hatfield showed itself to be, at least to me, almost more of an avant Jazz group than a Progressive Rock group. But where exactly is that line? I don't really care. The pieces they did were just wonderful, very complex and sometimes atonal. Watching Phil noodle on guitar was really a treat. I have found over the years it to be true that as these musicians age they just get better and better. Also just hearing Sinclair's voice pleases me, being a Caravan and Breatheless era Camel fan as well. I did get a chance to tell Sinclair what a great time I had in 79 seeing him at the San Jose Performing Arts Center with Camel during the signing. When I mentioned I even had a copy of the show he practically jumped up with excitement, and gave me his address to send it along to him.

More pictures from this great concert are here

Mike Montfort's Nearfest Photos

2006-06-09T15:29:00.000-04:00

The Friday Five!

1. What is (or would be) your dream vacation?

A month living in Paris.

2. What's one thing no vacation can do without?

A power inverter from 220 to 110

3. What has been the best trip of your life so far?

Tough one... A week in Paris with my wife, 10 days in Italy with my family, and the week in Isreal are all very close to each other.

4. Who was with you on that trip and what is the role of that person in your life?
See above

5. What's the worst thing that can happen during a vacation?

You didn't use American Express Travelers Checks.

2006-06-06T18:51:00.000-04:00

More Exective Powers Abuse

While I still cannot decide if the Justice Department overstepped it's bounds in the Jefferson case, this serial abuse by the Bu$hCo administration should not be overlooked. In a NYT article from Sunday

Under Mr. Bush, the secrets privilege has been used to block a lawsuit by a translator at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Sibel Edmonds, who was fired after accusing colleagues of security breaches; to stop a discrimination lawsuit filed by Jeffrey Sterling, a Farsi-speaking, African-American officer at the Central Intelligence Agency; and to derail a patent claim involving a coupler for fiber-optic cable, evidently to guard technical details of government eavesdropping.

Does it seem to you that maybe they are stretching the good old exective privilige too far. No surprise the last big batch of so called state secret defences was during the Regan Administration. Good old Republican'ts. Can't fess up to their mistakes. Can't face the scrutiny of the truth. Just Can't.

Remember this when you Vote in December.

2006-06-05T15:17:00.000-04:00

My Grandmother's Obituary can be found here:

Marian Boyles Sprinkel

Feel free to sign the guestbook if you want.

Brother Andrew

Apparently he continues to recover and shows no sign of back sliding into the emotional problems he was having before. I had a long talk with my Mom today and she is very hopeful. Still have not gotten an update via my Step-Mom from my Dad but I will post it when I do.

2006-06-01T22:14:00.000-04:00

This is the best they could do?

After YEARS of silly muscular men running around in tights, a comic book company is doing a Homosexual character? A gay Superman you cry?

No a Lesbian Batwoman.

Such imagination.

2006-06-01T06:30:00.000-04:00

She waited till Mom came home.

Grammie died last night at 11pm EST. Mom was kind enough to wait to call till this morning at 615am.

Grammie waited till Mom got back to Cali, which is remarkable in itself. A final remarkable chapter in a remarkable life. Mom read to her from the bible and the Christian Science book before she finally let go last night.

As Mom said I can celebrate her life personally by getting my credentials. She was very proud of what I am doing, and was satisfied that another generation was teaching (She was a career teacher and my Mom taught for many years before becoming a consultant).

There will be no big funeral, her religeon does not allow for that, so I won't be going back to the left coast for anything. Just keeping her in my thoughts.

2006-05-29T21:20:00.000-04:00

Brother Update

He is now well out of the coma, off nearly all tubes and wires, soon to be out of ICU and expressed to his father and mother tonight that he just wants to be "well and happy." That is all we wish, too. He is still quite compromised with his lung situation -- lingering pulmonary edema, a pulmonary embolism (small, thank goodness) and related phlebitis in his left arm which are being treated with blood thinners (the arm looks better already), and of course getting slowly back into food (a high protein diet but very slowly, mostly liquid, as 14 days with tubes in his throat was quite damaging to his swallowing ability). Tonight he so much wanted a particular kind of ice cream bar he loves, but the doctor said not yet.

The good news is he is awake, and determined to get well, remembers nothing of what happened.

His company, has been more than supportive -- visits and assurances of complete medical coverage beyond insurance if necessary. Andrew's daughter (7 1/2) wrote him a letter which we took over tonight and that pleased him; I recorded his children's voices (his sons are 6 and almost 4) night before last and that was a thrill for him; and his wife is keeping things together in his absence from home.

His father has been and will continue to be very helpful in carrying out of the best medical alternatives for him moving forward. Fortunately, Andrew is now able to participate in those decisions.

2006-05-28T11:09:00.000-04:00

You are the fourth Doctor! You're certainly the most popular. You've got quite the bohemian sense of style, and you never met a scarf that was too long. You have no qualms about playing a bit of a buffoon, but your carefree nature turns into steely resolve in the face of danger.
Take this quiz!

Quizilla
Join

Make A Quiz More Quizzes Grab Code

2006-05-27T12:57:00.000-04:00

Brother Update - Good news

Andrew has opened his eyes and recognized them. He even smiled. They have removed the respirator from his throat and he has an oxygen mask but he was able to ask "What Happened?" He does not seem to remember and we can only hope that in His mercy, God has erased the unpleasant memories from his mind.

The doctors caution that he has a long way to go, but are optimistic. He has a bad sinus infection which they cannot treat yet because of the blood thinners he is taking for his phlebitis. His arm is still swollen and he is still jaundiced but "Hope" is hanging over everything right now.

2006-05-26T15:27:00.001-04:00

The Friday Five!

Honey, I’m Home!

1. How many places have you lived in your life?

MANY - Los Angeles, Mountain View, San Jose, Claremont CA, San Francisco, Greenwich CT, Wappingers Falls NY, New Market NH, Plaistow NH, Cohoes NY, Schenectady NY, Troy NY.

2. Which was your favorite and why and what street was it on?

Where I live now and of course 6007 Countess Dr in SJ.

3. If you could live anywhere for the rest of your life, where would it be?

How bout Paris? Realisticly where I am now, though more in the country would be great.

4. What would your ideal home have in it?

My stuff. Great sound system. Large Library. Hobby room. A gym would be nice.

5. Can you describe your current crib?

Well its wooden with a tiny mattress and bars to keep me from crawling out..
OH you mean my HOME. More proof of the decline of Western Civilization.. my CRIB indeed.

Anyway it is a very old home, parts are 175+ hrs old. No 90 Degree angles in the place. Hardwood floors. Dirt basement. Very cosy and full of great personality. Was someone else's fixer upper problem.

2006-05-25T18:39:00.000-04:00

Brother Update

My brother is being brought out of the coma gradually. They began yesterday evening. His lung infection is gone as is his fever; he has some remaining edema in one lung and also some small pulmonary embolisms in both lungs which are not good but not considered dangerous -- and, as of yesterday evening, he has presented with a major phlebitis in his left arm. It is terribly swollen. They are treating the embolism with blood thinners which should also work for the phlebitis.

2006-05-24T18:28:00.000-04:00

Fear Factor

I wondered for.. oh say about a milisecond.. why the Republican'ts would come to the defence of Democrat Wm Jeffersons' in regards to the FBI raid on his office. (The congressman who keeps his pocket change on ice).

The same Jefferson of whom the Democratic leadership has called to step down from his committees. The same Jefferson about whom the Democratic leadership asked for a full investigation.

(Amazingly different tune than the Republican'ts sang when Queen of DeNile Tom DeLay was under investigation).

An amazing display of bipartisanship not shown since the Twin Tower aftermath.

In fact I've not seen this upset even through no WMD's, Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, NSA spying, nor a host of other nasty things that have happened in the last few years.

And the reason why?

They figure they are next.....

cut to midnight scenes of scurrying aides and Congress people cleaning out their Washington Offices and makeing sure their freezers only have frozen FOOD in them.

2006-05-23T20:23:00.000-04:00

No Global Warming? Oh Thank God!

In his May 23 column, Wall Street Journal columnist Pete Du Pont claimed that carbon dioxide is "not a pollutant" and repeatedly cited a misleading, industry-funded study on climate change to prove that the "truth about 'global warming' is much less dire than Al Gore wants you to think." But Du Pont's numerous assertions -- on the danger posed by carbon dioxide, the temperature record in Greenland, the effect of the sun on global warming, and the threat of rising sea levels -- all misrepresent the underlying scientific research.

In a similar vein, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh noted that the "Antarctica ice sheeting is actually increasing" as evidence that global warming theory is "unsupportable by facts." But, in fact, only the interior Antarctic ice sheet is growing, which is considered proof of climate change.

What are these people smoking? Crack?

Du Pont's column relied heavily on the conclusions of a 2006 report, "Climate Science: Climate Change and Its Impacts," by David R. Legates, associate professor of geography and director of the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Delaware. The report was published by Du Pont's employer, the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think tank that has received substantial funding from energy interests such as ExxonMobil Corp.

Before repeating several of the report's findings, Du Pont noted its conclusion -- that "the science does not support claims of drastic increases in global temperatures over the 21st century, nor does it support claims of human influence on weather events and other secondary effects of climate change" -- which he described as "the reality about global warming and its impact on the world."

2006-05-22T20:16:00.000-04:00

More Sunday Lies
from Media Matters

On Meet the Press, Tim Russert interviewed two Republican members of Congress -- Rep. Charlie Norwood and Sen. Lindsey Graham -- but no Democrats, allowing Norwood to level unchallenged attacks on Democrats.

During the interview, Russert allowed Norwood to repeat the misleading Republican charge that "Democrats refused" to let House Judiciary Committee chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) remove a controversial felony provision from Sensenbrenner's own immigration bill. Because Russert did not respond to the statement and because no Democrat appeared on the broadcast, Norwood's statement went unchallenged and unexplained.

2006-05-21T14:32:00.000-04:00

Brother Update
from my stepmom

It has been 9 days now that Andrew is in this coma. He has had several set-backs over the last two days and the doctors say he is still critical and the situation is degrading. His respirator has been turned completely back up again. His lungs are not responding to the medication and they are trying something else to try and clear the infection and pneumonia. They have still not been able to determine exactly what put him in this condition. We all know that he has been in quite a depressive state for some time now and seems to have totally lost his will to live.

2006-05-21T11:11:00.000-04:00

Update from the 'burgh

Brother Andrew

Last Friday my brother Andrew had was appears to be a nervous breakdown. This is on top of some very sensitive issues he is having already which I will not to into in detail. His wife checked him into a hospital outside Paris (where they live). He had apparently taken an overdose of anti-depressants, to what ends I don't know. It caused a problem in his brain, and last Saturday am they found him unconscious in his hospital room after an epileptic seizure. He was put into ICU as he had vommited and breathed in some of the fluids. When he was brought around the first time he became "agitated" as they say in medical speak, and was put into an induced coma. He has been in this state since Sunday. My mom and dad have gone over there to be with him. Whatever your particular faith, whether you pray or give good vibes to the Universe keep my brother in your thoughts. He has a wife and three children.

Grandmother

Not to add to the pressure on my mom or anything, but this week my Grandmother went back to the hospital at her request. Now she is 97, but in remarkably good health for her age. Just the last month or so it seem that she is giving up so to speak. However it was her request to go to the hospital and she seems to be more cognizant about the world since she left. Keep her in your thoughts for my mom, who is dealing with a mother and son who are sick.

Great end of the week teaching

I got a call Wed very early am from my "handler" begging me to take a "difficult" class at a different school in the district than I usually go to. Seemed the retired teacher that was scheduled for that class had been up all night with a panic attack. Well I did my magic and we had a great three days. Only one "instance" of problems, later in Wednesday. Thursday we worked all day on their inventors reports so that they could be ready for Open House that night. I am nice by saying this teacher is disorganized and messy. So I started cleaning the room up during their Gym period. When they came back they all pitched in to help. Great bunch of kids when given direction. It is experiences like this that remind me why I decided to go into teaching.

2006-05-19T23:35:00.000-04:00

The Friday Five!

The friday five is two years old! Thanks to everyone for helping to keep it going.

This week's questions were suggested by veracious_g.

1. What type of mood are you generally in on a rainy day?

Introspective. Listen to Jazz and read the paper mood. Lay in bed with my wife and play mood. However usually it's turn on the windshield wipers and to to work....

2. What are your favorite things to do when the weather is gloomy?

See above

3. Have you ever been kissed in the rain?

Yes, my College Sweetheart and I.

4. After the rain stops, do you continue what you were doing, or do you run outside to do something else?

Depends on the mood and what I was doing. lol.

5. What is your favorite drink/food to have when it's raining outside?

Hot tea.

2006-05-18T23:41:00.000-04:00

Thirteen Things about
Mikey
Memories of my Brother as he lays in a coma.

01. Biking to Palo Alto, and having a passing driver saying he was whiped out on the road, looking back and seeing his front wheel had fallen off. He ended up with stiches and I ended up with a guilty conscience because I didn't put his wheel on tightly enough.

02. Him visiting me in College. We had a wonderful time. Very much a bonding experience. Then the same as I visited him in college.

03. A lunch with Poe Fratt, my mom and my brother. It was first time that I felt I had the edge intellectually. My brother is very very smart.

04. His long long hair in High School. I thought it was just grand, a real statement.

05. His wedding. The Bride and Maids in these great Chinese dresses. Meeting her friends and his. Speaking French to his parents in law, actually having a deep philosophical conversation. (Couldn't do that now lol).

06. He had dimples instead of knees when he was a toddler. VERY cute.

07. Years of him being my "older" little brother. Lots of great career advice.

08. The anger and disappointment I felt when he announced he was moving to France. I had this fantasy of us growing old near each other on the East Coast.

09. Wrecking his toy drummer on Christmas day in Denver with my cousin Steve. Very bad. Lots of guilt. I was a bad boy.

10. Eating his amazing cooking. In brooklyn and in France. Yumm.

11. Great phone conversations (before he got sick) about everything and anything under the sun, politics, culture, etc.

12. Seeing him with his three kids, two kids or one kid. He is an amazing Dad.

13. Watching him graduate Summa Cum Laude from NYU School of Business (Stern). An amazing accomplishment.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Diary of a Music Whore

Daddy's Roses

Alone on a Limb

(leave your link in the menu comments section, I'll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. ItÂ?s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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2006-05-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

The sad passing of common sense
from my friend Dzdolfan

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has
been with us for many years.

No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long
ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as
knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the
worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more
than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children,
are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for
kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash
after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only
worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the
job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer Panadol, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student
but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted
to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became
contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better
treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a
burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to
realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in
her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; by
his wife, Discretion; by his daughter, Responsibility; and by his son,
Reason.

He is survived by three stepbrothers:
I Know My Rights;
Someone Else is to Blame; and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

2006-05-12T20:47:00.000-04:00

The Friday Five!

If you knew you were going to die on at specific day at a specific time, what's the last...

1. song you would listen to?

Long and Winding Road

2. book you would read?

Lord of the Rings

3. person you would talk to?

My wife and/or son

4. food you would eat?

Pasta, who cares about carbs if you are already dead

5. goal you would accomplish?

How bout, not die?
ok well to stay in the spirit of this...
Make sure my family was well cared for.

2006-05-11T18:34:00.000-04:00

This is my bumpersticker...
...on my car...
...right now.

Talk about being ahead of curve:

NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.

This country is becoming a Republican't wet dream.

2006-05-09T19:06:00.000-04:00

This is still bugging the heck out of me
so I turned to media matters for the facts

I briefly stated my surprise in the sheer gall of Little Tommy De Lay, the new Queen of DeNile, on George Stephanopolis' ABC Sunday Morning this weekend.

Read this:

From the May 7 broadcast of ABC's This Week:

STEPHANOPOULOS: The president is talking now about tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, investigating price gouging by oil companies, maybe raising fuel efficiency standards. Do you think that's the right approach?

DELAY: I mean, I think he's talking about more than just that. I don't think either of those will have an impact on lowering demand or, or increasing supply. We are -- we are paying the price of Democrat policies. The Democrats have stopped us from developing American oil and American gas in this country. They've stopped us from drilling in Alaska, off the offshore of Florida and California, the huge reserves of oil shell and natural gas in the West. They stopped it. If President Clinton had signed drilling in ANWR back in the '90s, we would be enjoying a million barrels a day more today, and that would have an impact on gas prices.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Relatively small, but you are -- clearly are paying a price also with your base right now. And I want to show you --

DELAY: It's not relatively small. A million barrels a day is pretty significant. It's exactly what we're losing in the Middle East.

HERE ARE THE FACTS

Contrary to DeLay's claim, the 2006 Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) report released in February by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) concluded that, if ANWR had been opened for development in 2005, daily production would have peaked at 780,000 barrels per day in 2024, falling to 650,000 barrels per day by 2030. In addition, a Department of Energy study conducted by EIA found that oil production in ANWR would have a relatively insignificant impact upon crude oil prices.

The report concluded that drilling in ANWR would reduce oil prices by 30 to 50 cents per barrel by 2025, "relative to a projected 2025 world oil price of $27 per barrel" The report also noted that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) "could countermand any potential price impact of ANWR coastal plain production by reducing its exports by an equal amount."

Further, contrary to DeLay's claim that Democrats were responsible for blocking drilling off the coast of Florida, The Washington Post reported on May 30, 2002, that it was the Bush administration that blocked drilling there.

Truth is indeed a rare commodity with these Republican't s from Texas.

2006-05-08T17:48:00.000-04:00

If you are not completely appalled you have not been paying attention

But when the German newspaper Bild asked him to name his best and worst
moments as president, Bush gave an offbeat answer about the best moment:

Bush admitted it was not easy to pick a best moment because "I've had a lot of great moments," according to a transcript of the Friday interview released Sunday.

"I would say the best moment was when I caught a 7 ½-pound largemouth bass on my lake," Bush said eventually

2006-05-07T11:15:00.000-04:00

The new Queen of De Nile

Oh

My

Gosh

Did you see Tom DeLay on George Stephanopolis' show this am on ABC?

This guy is living in la la land.

My favorite was that it was the Democrat's fault for the high Gas prices. Hey Tommy, it's no party's fault, but it's your party in power since 1992 d00d!

The Republicant's are lucky this guy is leaving. As a proud Lib I wish he would stay. He made Howard Dean look reasonable (Howard followed him on the show) and that is saying a LOT.

I will miss Tommy, his entertainment vaule alone is almost enough to want him around. But in the end I will be glad to watch him go down in flames for his arrogance.

2006-05-05T18:27:00.000-04:00

The Friday Five!

1) Do you like your birth-name? Why?

I do like my birth name a lot. It is strong, named after a kick arse Arch Angel as well as having my father's name as my middle name. My last name is very unique so I like that too.

2) If you could change your name to anything else, what would it be?

Professionally I might change my last name because of it's uniqueness. I have in places on the net.

3) What names would you consider giving your children?

We considered Jasmine for our child if it had been a girl. "A"'s first name was our first choice. He also has my father's name as his middle name.

4) If you had a band, what would you name it, and why?

Pretence. or maybe LaserHead.

5) Is there a name that you completely hate? Why?

A few kids at school have absolutely ridiculous names. One family named their kids, I fool you not, Sir and Master. I heard another's kids new brother was named Payne because the mom was in labor so long and it was painful. What are these people thinking????

2006-05-05T18:12:00.000-04:00

The week that was.

No real blogging this week for some reason, not really sure why.

Not going to do a Thursday Thirteen either.

Saturday/Sunday. VERY slow weekend at the Shack. No cell phone sales at all. Can be frustrating.

Monday. Was scheduled to do Kindergarten but got moved to 6th grade in the morning. Had a great day, a great class. A couple of the students said I was the coolest sub they get. ya gotta like that.

Alex had a track meet on Monday but becuase he left his cell phone at home I didn't know where to meet him to watch, and he had to cool his jets back on Campus till I drove out to get him, hopefully an object lesson in remembering the cell phone.

Tuesday. Never got a call from the service, so I had an enforced day off from teaching. I worked on the vinyl project and got a few Yes albums under my belt: Tormato, Going for the One, Relayer and Tales. The process is: record the side onto a CDR-W on my stand alone CD burner connected to my stereo. Three album sides fit on one CDRW. Then I rip the sides on my hard drive, use a program to cut the side into tracks and remove any clicks or silent spots at the beginning and end. Then I encode them into 224 VBR MP3's. I also did some house cleaning, finally finished the last book in the Baroque Cycle Trilogy by Neal Stephenson. And went to the Shack, where it was a very slow night.

Wednesday. Easy day teaching, I had a student teacher, 1st grade. I've subbed for the regular teacher before and the kids know me. I had a kick ass day at the Shack selling two cell phones, one was a Treo 650 which is a truckload of money, and a nice spiff too.

Thursday. Was scheduled to teach special ed inclusion class. I got moved to an older group, kind of a "dumping" ground class I'm sorry to say of special needs (not special ed) and behavior problems. I got very OLD SCHOOL on two of the boys by putting them in a corner facing the corner early in the day, one for making a snide comment about my family and the other for throwing things. This really made a difference and the rest of the day those two along with the other difficult students in the class were really pleasant. I did make a point to pull one of the most difficult aside at the end of the day and compliment him on his behavior.

No Shack Thursday nights so I got some things accomplished. This included refilling the propane so I could do BBQ chicken, and mowing the lawn. Tiring though and I was in bed by 11. My iPod went dead while I was mowing and I was hoping mad, but I left it on instead of plugged in, and it exhausted the battery. It worked fine Friday after I recharged it. My boss at the Shack said it is a common occurance and sure enough there is a reset procedure on the iPod web site. Hopefully it was just a freeze and not a HD issue. Time will tell.

Friday. Cake day. pre-k. I'm very fond of the Teacher Assistant who is in the class and we have a great time talking. Easy day for the kids, and an easy day for me. Sold a Razr almost as soon as I walked in the store, so SPIFF's will be ok for the week.

2006-04-28T18:32:00.000-04:00

The Friday Five!

Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby

1. Who was your first kiss (your mom does not count)?

Jeanette Miller, 6th grade, in my room.

2. What is your idea of the perfect date?

Sushi and a movie (that one is for "L")

3. What music needs to be on when you are “getting your thang on”?

I like chill, she likes Dan Fogleberg. Either are fine.

4. What is the most amazing experience you’ve ever shared with a partner?

Oh well my family reads this. So we have to keep it clean.

5. Sex is best saved for: love, marriage, alcohol, days that end in “y”?

Love

2006-04-27T23:48:00.000-04:00

Thirteen Things about
Mikey
A meme I found online

01. I am a complex conflicted person.
02. I want to be able to teach in a classroom of my own.
03. I wish that we could erase the last 6 yrs of Bu$hCo.
04. I miss time off.
05. I fear becoming inconsequential.
06. I hear as well as a 18 yr old even though I have tintinitus.
07. I wonder what it would be like to have had a career path.
08. I regret not listening to friends and family about said path.
09. I am not a follower.
10. I make with my hands killer eggs benedict.
11. I write a blog almost daily, and want to write fiction.
12. I confuse my left and right, its a form of Dyslexia.
13. I need to be respected by my peers.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Diary of a Music Whore

Daddy's Roses

Alone on a Limb

(leave your link in the menu comments section, I'll add you here!)

2006-04-25T19:54:00.000-04:00

Star Trek Armada

Sunday night I went over to FYI and for just $4.99 got a used copy of a Star Trek Four Pak which included Armada I and II and Elite Force I and II.

So like 1.25 a game.

And Armada is FUN! It's completly mindless of course. Not as second by second involving as Star Fleet Battles, which sometimes are just too complicated. In this you build ships and stations, research, build etc. All so you can apply a can of Whup Ass to the opposition. You start playing the Federation, then you change to Klingons, then apparently to Romulans, and then I think back to being Jean Luc himself.

There are CGI movies which connect the various scenarios into a connected plot as it were. Today I got so caught up in Martok beating up Romulans that I lost track of time and was almost late for my second job.

Weeee what fun.

2006-04-24T20:17:00.000-04:00

Just a couple of things

I think it HIGHLY AMUSING that a Fox employee will finally be doing for pay what he has been doing all along, along with the rest of his network, being a shill for Bu$hCo. Though for pure SHRILL SHILL you can't beat Mary Matlin.

The idea that Dubya's solution to high gas prices is to stop buying for the National Reserves and to eliminate the Pollution Control standards for Gas when the evidence of Global Warming is all around us WOULD be funny, if it were not so bloody serious and SO indicative of just what is wrong with this Administration.

2006-04-23T19:41:00.000-04:00

Thar Be Wherewolves Har!!

Against much strong support for the second episode of Season Two of Doctor Who in the Yahoo groups I read, I must voice my concern.

It's not really working that well.

Ok yes the effects are great. Ok yes the Doctor and Rose are mega cute. Ok yes the oooooo Scottish Moors, Full Moon and Howling Creature were oh so scary (not).

But what was the point of the episode? Was it simply a vehicle to introduce the Torchwood Institute and set up a future collision between them and the Doctor?

And what did happen to the bald monks in red? And does anyone really care?

I did think that there was a very funny line, when the Lord of Torchwood Manor asks the Doctor, Rose and the Queen if they thought it strange that all the staff was gone, the Doc quipped "Well your wife gone, lots of tall bald atheletic men hanging about, I thought you were just happy".

So what have we proved in two episodes. That once again Davies needs to STOP writing scrips and get on with producing and let people who can actually write scripts to do the scripting. We have learned that even with 44 min of air time, Dr. Who cannot even touch the complexities and engaging characterizations of Battlestar Galactica. In short, we are getting the short shrift while Davies keeps hogging up the scrip writing.

So on to next week! We get Sarah Jane Smith and K9 in a guest appearance. We get Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy's Rupert Giles) as a villan. But will we get a plot?

Only the shadow knows for sure.

2006-04-22T19:36:00.000-04:00

There is an absolutely brilliant piece on the Dems in the newest Economist Magazine this week.

They were smart enough to put it in the non subscription section so everyone can read it. I strongly suggest a quick perusal.

OUT

2006-04-21T18:41:00.000-04:00

The Friday Five!

Well the Friday Five for today was lame AGAIN, so I dipped back one year.

1. You have the summer and plenty of money to travel abroad. Where all would you go?

Europe! Start in the UK, maybe catch a HW show, then off to France to see brother and Uncle, then Spain.

2. What foods would you be sure you got to eat?

Lots of full course meals in Paris, sample different Spanish regional dishes, and try to avoid the Fish and Chips in the UK

3. What landmarks would you be sure you got to see?

StoneHendge, The tour Eiffel, Cote D'Azure, Rock of Gibralter, I'd have to do some more research.

4. What airline would you use?

The one with the best price of course.

5. Would your knowledge of other languages influence where you went?

Well yes I speak a smattering of French and English.... ;-)

2006-04-20T18:12:00.000-04:00

Thirteen Things about
Mikey
Things I DID get accomplished on my "Vacation".

If you read last week's TT you know that I was officially off teaching from Good Friday till this comming Sunday. Good Friday plus the Spring Break. I was off Sunday and Monday from the Shack as well due to Easter, and the Mall being closed. Otherwise my Vacation included working 28 hours at the Shack. Yes indeed thats my version of a vacation.

1. Raked and bagged up the remaining leaves in the back yard. I did not do the pile in the very back.

2. Cleaned up the basement.

3. Took 10 gargage bags of recycling to the store. That netted $23, almost not worth the effort.

4. Went through all the magazines in the Sunroom. Made up 3 bags of recycling. Tied up the Smithsonians, Scientific American's and Food & Wine's by complete year. I will either donate them or try to unload them on Ebay.

5. Cleaned out my closet in my office. One huge bag of trash from there.

6. Did quite a bit on the Vinyl Project. First five Saga Albums, the core mid career Eloy (SCME, Clouds, Planets, TTT), ELP's WBMFttStNE, and two Midnight Oil LP's.

7. Went for a lovely hike around Peebles Island in Cohoes on Tuesday. This is a state park, and was a Patrol Event for this month. Wonderful day, I have pics but have not decided where to post them. Then A and I ran some errands and had lunch out side.

8. Completed all my trade responsibilites except one, including getting the BOC and HW DVD's out.

9. Stayed up late, and slept in on T, W, Th. Much needed psychologically.

10. Spent all day Thursday fixing a co-workers son's computer. Tried everything to make it run faster - speed disc, anti virus, anti pest. Finally just backed up the My Docs and re-installed windows. Then I did all the XP updates, and it does run a heck of a lot faster though.

11. I did Read, but not enough.

12. I did some general house cleaning, but nothing spectacular.

13. I did NOT, update my trade list, Played heroclix with "A", or fix our bikes. But I think 12 good strongs things to claim to have done is good enough.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Diary of a Music Whore

Daddy's Roses

Alone on a Limb

(leave your link in the menu comments section, I'll add you here!)

2006-04-19T20:07:00.000-04:00

From Scientific American

Thomas Jefferson would be appalled. More than two centuries after he helped to shape a government based on the idea that reason and technological advancement would propel the new United States into a glorious future, the political party that now controls that government has largely turned its back on science.

Even as the country and the planet face both scientifically complex threats and remarkable technological opportunities, many Republican officeholders reject the most reliable sources of information and analysis available to guide the nation. As inconceivable as it would have been to Jefferson--and as dismaying as it is to growing legions of today's scientists--large swaths of the government in Washington are now in the hands of people who don't know what science is.

More ominously, some of those in power may grasp how research works but nonetheless are willing to subvert science's knowledge and expert opinion for short-term political and economic gains. That is the thesis of The Republican War on Science, by Chris Mooney, one of the few journalists in the country who specialize in the now dangerous intersection of science and politics. His book is a well-researched, closely argued and amply referenced indictment of the right wing's assault on science and scientists. Mooney's chronicle of what he calls "science abuse" begins in the 1970s with Richard Nixon and picks up steam with Ronald Reagan. But both pale in comparison to the current Bush administration, which in four years has:

* Rejected the scientific consensus on global warming and suppressed an EPA report supporting that consensus.

* Stacked numerous advisory committees with industry representatives and members of the religious Right.

* Begun deploying a missile defense system without evidence that it can work.

* Banned funding for embryonic stem cell research except on a claimed 60 cell lines already in existence, most of which turned out not to exist.

* Forced the National Cancer Institute to say that abortion may cause breast cancer, a claim refuted by good studies.

* Ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to remove information about condom use and efficacy from its Web site.

Mooney explores these and many other examples, including George W. Bush's support for creationism. In almost every instance, Republican leaders have branded the scientific mainstream as purveyors of "junk science" and dubbed an extremist viewpoint--always at the end of the spectrum favoring big business or the religious Right--"sound science." One of the most insidious achievements of the Right, Mooney shows, is the Data Quality Act of 2000--just two sentences, written by an industry lobbyist and quietly inserted into an appropriations bill. It directs the White House's Office of Management and Budget to ensure that all information put out by the federal government is reliable.

The law seems sensible, except in practice. It is used mainly by industry and right-wing think tanks to block release of government reports unfavorable to their interests by claiming they do not contain "sound science." For all its hostility to specific scientific findings, the Right never says it opposes science. It understands the cachet in the word. Perhaps Republicans sense what pollsters have known for decades--that the American public is overwhelmingly positive about science and that there is nothing to be gained by opposing a winner. Instead the Right exploits a misconception about science common among nonscientists--a belief that uncertainty in findings indicates fatally flawed research.

Because most cutting-edge science--including most research into currently controversial topics--is uncertain, it is dismissed as junk. This naive understanding of science hands the Right a time-tested tactic. It does not claim that business interests or moral values trump the scientific consensus. Rather rightists argue that the consensus itself is flawed. Then they encourage a debate between the consensus and the extremist naysayers, giving the two apparently equal weight. Thus, Mooney argues, it seems reasonable to split the difference or simply to argue that there is too much uncertainty to, say, ban a suspect chemical or fund a controversial form of research. The Republican War on Science details political and regulatory debates that can be arcane and complex, engrossing reading only for dedicated policy wonks.

Thankfully, Mooney is both a wonk and a clear writer. He covered many of the battles in real time for publications such as the Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones and American Prospect. "When politicians use bad science to justify themselves rather than good science to make up their minds," Mooney writes, "we can safely assume that wrongheaded and even disastrous decisions lie ahead." Thomas Jefferson would, indeed, be appalled. Writing in 1799 to a young student whom he was mentoring, the patriot advised the man to study science and urged him to reject the "doctrine which the present despots of the earth are inculcating," that there is nothing new to be learned. He concluded by saying opposition to "freedom and science would be such a monstrous phenomenon as I cannot place among possible things in this age and this country."

2006-04-18T09:25:00.000-04:00

What would you have done $274 billion?

Paid for 36,308,698 children to attend a year of Head Start?
OR
Insured 164,150,265 children for one year Dollars?
OR
Hired 4,750,726 additional public school teachers for one year?
OR
Provided 13,289,278 students four-year scholarships at public universities?
OR
Built 2,468,295 additional housing units?
OR
Fully funded global anti-hunger efforts for 11 years?
OR
Fully funded world-wide AIDS programs for 27 years?
OR
Ensured that every child in the world was given basic immunizations for 91 years?
OR
Rebuilt New Orleans?
Or
Any combination of these to lesser degrees?

WELL

We know what Bu$hCo would do with 274 Billion... Don't you???
Source

2006-04-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

A nice start

While the other NY team struggles to get in the groove, the much maligned Mets have done some amazing things already in April.

This is the first time they have been 10 - 2 out of the gate.

This is the first time in any division that a team has been 5 games out in front after only 12 - 13 games.

For the last few years I've watched the beginning of the Season with some interest, but as my Mets have slide into futility year after year it's been hard to follow. My other team the A's is something more in spirit for me as I have no idea of the roster nor can I really follow them on a nightly basis.

So lets hope that the Press finally got it right, and the Mets will be a contender for the Wild Card this year, or maybe even the division.

2006-04-17T19:54:00.000-04:00

And for those of you who are keeping track

From my Thursday Thirteen list of things to get done on my "Vacation", I have already by Monday Night accomplished numbers 1, 3, 4, partial on 7 and 10.

Not a bad start