Musings and Meanderings

Do you enjoy reading this blog? Want to meet other blogs on a random basis? This is mega fun. Click and Drag this link NextBlog up onto your links bar on your browser. It is so much fun. That is how I found BlogLeft and a few other entertaining sites. More later.

Happy Birthday to ME! 41 yrs ago in a hospital in Santa Monica CA , Kay Sprinkel Habiby had a bouncing baby boy! My wife treated me like a king last night as she is going "over night" tonight by making my FAVORITE meal Pork Roast, with her special New Potatoes with Dill and a nice salad. Alexander got me the most wicked cool Raider cap and Liza gave me a gift card for Best Buy so I can buy more electronic toys for the house. We are thinking of getting a Surround Sound system now that we have a DVD player. My Dad also called yesterday figuring that he wouldn't get through to me today. To celebrate my birthday I am having my lower wisdom teeth removed on the 26th. No joke. It is all in the timing. Out.

Open House We attended Alexander's Open House last night and we are very excited! His teacher (a man this time) seems to have a fantastic attitude about teaching. His class is small (only 17 students) and this teacher seems to believe strongly in free thinking (gasp!) and being a facilitator with the students vs. just droning on and on. This is a huge change from the two elderly harpies that Alex had last year. In fact I can safely say that his reading teacher successfully turned him off of reading. We are hoping that he will bond with this teacher and do well this year. This gentleman stays late three nights a week after school with the single intent of helping any students that want help. Those readers from the late great state of NY know that 4th grade is the year for the first "big test". I felt very strongly last year that they were already teaching to the test in a lot of ways. We were assured last night that this is exactly what he does not do! Appare

The Music Man What I have been listening to recently. Jam Bands First of all I periodically go through a rediscovery of the Grateful Dead. I know that sounds almost like an oxymoron... periodic rediscoveries of the same band... but I get to the point where I will listen to too much GD and need a break. Anyway the most recent cycle started today by me replacing my copy of Without a Net. What great enjoyment I still get from songs like Cassidy, ChinaCat Sunflower (I named my last cat after that song), Eyes of the World and Franklin's tower. As you can imagine there have been quite a few bands that cut their teeth on the Dead in some form or another and have gone on to success in their own right. I would say the band with the most owed to the Dead, though not in a musical sense per se but in the sense of bring different types of music together to make something unique is String Cheese Incident . Like the Dead they are very taper friendly and I have quite a few of the

WAMC Commentary Paul Elisha of our local PBS station WAMC has this to say today. I think it is very deep and thoughtful. If you are reading this as an archive, look for Paul Elisha's 9/17 commentary on the page that comes up. Usually Paul and I don't always see eye to eye. I think he is a "libertarian" as sometimes is sounds knee jerk conservative and sometimes neo-liberal. But he is always refreshing.

Thinking of my Grandfather(s) I don't know why but I have been thinking about my Grandfathers recently. Both were amazing men in their own right, but for now I have been most recently thinking of my Grandfather on my Dad's side. Sadly I don't know a lot about his life. I know I should, but he was much older than my Grandmother and other Grandparents so he passed away when I was a young man. What I do remember is a very stern man who was also very loving in his own way. Grandpa Habiby was very much of the "old world". Indeed he lived in the British Mandate of Palestine and then Israel and the occupied territories all his life. My family has been Christian (Anglican) for generations. My understanding is that he was a high court judge in the British Mandate and was a friend of Christians, Jews and Moslems alike. Apparently after he retired from the bench he kept his law practice helping the poor on a pro bono basis regardless of their religion. I

Know thine Enemy So when I drive around in the afternoon out on sales meetings or picking up equipment to repair I listen to Rush Limb-erger (you know the "big fat idiot of Al Franken's book). Ok don't freak I have not lost my mind. Actually the reason is SSIA (Subject Says it All). Anyway.. I listen to Rush for a laugh. He is very bright and so incredibly the tool of the Conservative Right. In fact in the lexicon of the Gen-X ers he is a TOOL. It is very sad to me to hear what is obviously a very sharp mind just ramble on and on about the Left Wing Conspiracy and how the Clinton Administration is the reason for (basically) all the world's woes. The one that really amused me was how Rush blamed the Clinton Admin for Saddam Hussein's presence in the world. I'm sure I don't need to elucidate on the absurdity of this Bush cheerleader blaming the Dem's for the situation in Iraq. ANYWAY! I turned the radio on after a meeting yesterday an

Wow 14 years! Yesterday was my 14th wedding anniversary. 9/10/88. Took the night off from the computer. Seems like just yesterday that I married my blushing bride. Other days it seems like we have been married forever. Now I mean that in the best way, don't you ever feel about a friend or loved one that you have JUST gotten to know them but have also known them all your life? Well that is the way with my wife and I for me. We have had our ups and downs. The downs have been pretty heavy and fairly personal so I won't go into details. The ups have been the perfect Yang to the Yin of the downs, or is that the other way around? We didn't have our son till we had been married for 5 years and didn't buy a house till we had been married for 10. In fact it was our 10th wedding present to ourselves. (Kind of makes it hard to top with something at 15, maybe we will renew our vows). Overall, and in relation especially to my parent's generation and others

So now I gird my loins for what will be the annual chest beating and all around maudlin remembrance of September 11, 2001 . And what have we really learned in 12 months? We have learned that Americans really do care about each other. In times of adversity we pulled together as we have not done in a long time. We also learned how the average Joe can be a hero, especially when looking his own death in the face. I think we learned something basic about the American spirit and Sept 11 brought that out in all of us. But the commemoration of this horrific event is now bringing out some of the worst of the American Spirit. Every network from ABC to ESPN (oh yea they are the same) are rolling out their Special, Exclusive, No one else is doing what we are doing, So watch us and feed our advertisers special . This is that part of the American spirit if you will that is sensationalist. We seem to have a hunger for endlessly revisiting stories that get so "up close and personal&qu

Kodak family moment. Son and Wife watching Willy Wonka together. Sigh. Sometimes life is very precious. Presently reading : Time Zero - Justin Richards Last listened to : Trey Anastasio show from 5/31/02 that I downloaded off of Furthernet.

Added bonus of homeownership in our neighborhood. When we bought this house in this neighborhood we had no idea of the great added bonus. Twice yearly full fireworks displays viewable from our back yard. Remember sneaking to the outside of the Drive in to watch the movies for free. (ok maybe not). Well this is better. The town across the river has two annual festivals that end with a fireworks display that is usually pretty good. Just finished watching this year's which was better than ever. All from the comfort of our back yard. Cool.

Don't ya just love it when on a nice Saturday morning when you have been planning for three weeks to sleep in instead of get up and do some family thiny or clean house you get awoken at 7:30am by your child laying in doing forced coughs? When does the child become part of the community in the home and start being considerate of others? I'm just wondering here, cause I hope I don't have to wait till he is 18.

The Troubling New Face of America By Jimmy Carter Thursday, September 5, 2002 Fundamental changes are taking place in the historical policies of the United States with regard to human rights, our role in the community of nations and the Middle East peace process -- largely without definitive debates (except, at times, within the administration). Some new approaches have understandably evolved from quick and well-advised reactions by President Bush to the tragedy of Sept. 11, but others seem to be developing from a core group of conservatives who are trying to realize long-pent-up ambitions under the cover of the proclaimed war against terrorism. Formerly admired almost universally as the preeminent champion of human rights, our country has become the foremost target of respected international organizations concerned about these basic principles of democratic life. We have ignored or condoned abuses in nations that support our anti-terrorism effort, while detaining America

E-gads I have three weeks of archives. Seems like I just started doing this... "Not just a cup but a just cup" I read somewhere that there is a initiative on the ballot in Berzerkely this year to make it a crime to NOT serve Fair Trade or Organically Grown coffee (not necessarily the same thing by the way.) While I think that this is a noble effort.. only in Berzerkely would they legislate this. I just love California and miss it terribly. From a distance of course. Here at the Habiby Household we only buy Fair Trade or Organically Grown or Shade Coffee but that is our choice. I don't see the need to legislate this. But it is a nice idea. Opening night 2002 - 2003 Football season. My second most loved team (the Niner's are playing my.. well they are in the top 5.. the Giants) BOTH offences look anemic at best but the defense has been outstanding. Alexander sat up and watched the first half. He is asking a heck of a lot less questions this year so I

End of Summer... wahhhhhhh Baa Dee Baa Dee that's all folks! Well tomorrow the roads will be jammed with Staties going back to work after their obscenely long Union guaranteed Vacations. Kids back in school on Wednesday here in NY. Ended the Summer with a bang with Alexander's 9th birthday party. And I did need the Advil before it was over! No the kids were great.. I just had the mother of all toothaches. Not nice. Great 3 day weekend. Mom visit. Alex's birthday. And to cap it all off I think I broke a record. I ripped 11 discs and burned 25 this evening. Not sure how I did so many but with a 24x burner it takes all of 5 min to do up one disc. You know I heard that the Stewardess' Union for some airline was looking for a 15% increase in wages over the next three years. Lets see.. no inflation.. economy in a recession. HEY CAN I HAVE A 15% RAISE TOO??? Makes me ill. In fact we had Black Thu/Fri at my office. 6 layoffs in the back. Bookkee

I already love this Pro version. Gosh I am a poor speller and I type too fast. I just got the Pro version of this service and found TONS of spelling errors. So I apologize to all (ok one or two) readers. In the future you will not have to pain through the misspellings.

I am going to be changing the template of this page occasionally. I just did and I am about to do it again. So you are not loosing your mind.

Well the Mom visit went of wonderfully. We had a great time. Picked her up from the Airport on Saturday and it was off for a pleasant 2 hr drive to NH to meet with her cousins (well mine too of course) an older, well off and very well educated couple who live in a beautiful part of South West NH. The view from their house was breath taking and Alex even learned to drive their golf cart they use to get around the property for gardening. I took lots of pictures of the gardens which I understand have been written up in just about every gardening magazine and are included in any gardening tour of the area. Actually both are Master Gardeners and studied the craft for a time in England. The drive back was equally enjoyable as MW and I discussed my essay (archived) on my call for the removal of Saddam Hussein. We agreed that he needs to be removed and agreed that it needs to be a multilateral effort. I think this was missed in my essay on this subject and I do firmly believe that Amer