look at that big ol' butt 

the other cheek, turned 

The G35 - from the front... 

Monday, Monday ver. 824.01

Catching up after a lost week is a bit tough, especially when your motivation didn't come with the computer repair.

I'm about to re-do five tax returns, and then print them out for delivery. Very fun stuff.. then, it's time to work my booty off, in anticipation of delivery this course work TOMORROW. Yarg.

Tomorrow, I have to deliver all of my online content. I think I have it all designed, and know what I'm going to say.

And, I have about 1/3 of the materials already completed. So, up early to complete and send off the work, no IM and no email until it's all done.

Got a bunch done today; it's amazing what one can accomplish when the tax and mortgage software is working properly. Have tomorrow dedicated to the online course content, and then all the rest of the week reconstructing a client's books for the last two years. I like having work to do.

Ah, Bram's driving up. He's so excited that I could find the G35 like his to be the car for me. He keeps talking it up. Chuck and I are going tomorrow to look at one (and an FX35, also, which is Chuck's preference.) The G35 is stunning, though, and has a LOW stock number, which suggests that they've had it a while.

I'll stick up some pictures here in a second.

Secret Agent Man was suddenly back in touch today. Oof. That man, I swear.

Sunday - more rain, or .. is it clearing up?

It looks like it could be clearing up. Laundry is underway. I'm watching a VERY strange movie called "Tarnation," about a guy from Houston, and his growing up in foster homes, having a mother who is schizophrenic. The movie is a montage of pictures, video, super 8MM and answering machine messages. It's .. um .. bizarre.

Bram is off somewhere - he was looking for a chair or something. Chuck loaned me his car for tomorrow - it's a lovely car, but it's so TINY. Holy schmoly.

Church today was good. I talked about "Doubt," and we kicked around the idea of what happens when you lose your goals or bigger picture. It was quite a conversation.

Mikey's flying to Newark tomorrow, and he's panicked. He hates to fly. Nothing I tell him makes a difference. I don't know whether he's trying to make me crazy, since he knows I'm an airline geek, or whether he's really this scared.

Talked today about the car thing. As I told Chuck yesterday, what I REALLY want is for the Universe to cough up the car or the resources for the car. And, I want .. I'm not sure. Maybe I need to get clear about that. Yarg.

I have so much to do. not having my computers working has really screwed me up.

Friday attention

So, this is a PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT:

If anyone persists in calling me to blather on pointlessly about their job, boyfriend, daughter, manicurist, ex-boyfriend, would-be boyfriend, politics or other troubles, please expect the following:

First, telephone contact will be short and unrewarding.
Second, I will stop answering your phone calls.
Third, I will stop RETURNING your phone calls.

How do you know if you're a culprit, and that your telephonic contact is about to be or is being controlled? Here are a few clues:

a.) if you hear me say "I have to go now" and you suddenly rush in to ask me how I have been doing - this is a sign that you've not engaged me in the conversation at all.
b.) if you can feel me physically shove my way into your monologue to tell you that I have to get off the phone - like I have to cut you off and raise my voice to wedge my way in
c.) if I tell you something about a new gig, a new job, a new boyfriend, a new house, or that I've moved to Anchorage three weeks ago, and you say "I didn't know anything about that."
d.) if you hear my voice mail message A LOT
e.) if I start a telephone conversation by telling you that there's a time limit, which will be strictly observed.

Now, we return to our regularly scheduled program.

Ruby's back in the shop. This time, with a busted driver's seat frame - both sides failed. They are going to attempt to weld it back together, and then check to see if the seat mechanism continues to work. If not, then they're going to look for a replacement seat. This one's going to hurt.

Chuck's on his way over, and we're going to a.) pick up a check, b.) have dinner, c.) he swears he's going to fix this computer so it works. Finally.

Tomorrow, I've called off a meeting, and I think I'm going to see if I can get some work done OUTSIDE - Jackie's been digging up the planters next the patio, the garage door remains busted, and there are two light fixtures that need to be installed. The patio needs to be hosed/scrubbed down, as does the driveway. I need to find someplace to recycle paint. And, I have about a week's worth of computer work to catch up on. Since I haven't been able to do ANY.

Rain-E Thursday

Another unproductive day, mostly thanks to my desktop computer, which is barely working at all. I can operate, at most, two software programs at a time, and nothing that sucks up a lot of memory.

Went to drop Ruby off to have her seat back fixed; I had made an appointment to have the work done more than a week and a half ago. Got there, and .. they won't take the car. They won't even discuss it until next week. I left. Came home, it had started raining, and the seatback had fallen into the back seat again.

Bitter, party of one.

Came home to the desktop freezing up. And freezing up. And San Jac being twits, as per the usual. They have extended the deadling for enrollment of the class that starts .. Monday .. until tomorrow. They tell the students fifteen different things, including that they don't know who the chosen instructor is .. and then, ask me if I'll cut my hourly rate to hold the class.

I spent hours trying to get the computer to work. Hours. Until nearly four o'clock. By that time, I was ready to scream.

I don't know how to catch up. Very frustrating.

Dinner with Chuck cancelled due to a blond moment, coupled with a younger, cuter Latin man being available.

Screaming is yet possible. I'm dizzy - I think my blood sugar is way out of whack.

More hump day that feels like Monday

Teaching my class - they're working on their in-class exercises.

Got all excited about the new VW Rabbit, until Bri in Hotlanta shot it out of the trees. Using an Uzi. And a ballistic missile. Now, I'm back to the ...

Hell, I don't know.

I talked over the A. Hitler thing with Donna today, and got more insight. It's very cool. Another article to write.

So, I figured it out - Hump Day that feels like Monday

Had ten people yesterday (well, more than ten actually, but we got to ten and leveled off there as people came and went) Some of us hung in the pool, the rest cowered under the patio cover, Bram broke the garage door, hired some poor little guy from Home Depot's parking lot to paint his bedroom, and we watched a bunch of the Star Trek marathon. Fernando made sandwiches, queso and rum cakes, and a good time was had by all. No massive intoxication, no embarassing amorousness, and I had the kitchen clean and was in bed by 10:30. Well, I could have been.

So, I was reflecting on the Hitler dream this morning, especially the part about going through the airport to my (truly gorgeous .. oh, my) FW 200 with all of the people getting it ready to travel. I started to see that in that scenario, I was only focused on BIG picture issues. I wasn't concerned about the NOTAMS, or the tire pressure, or the catering load-in, or the departure clearances, or whether the airport fees had been paid .. I was only absolutely certain that all of those things had been done - certain to the point that I didn't think about them.

From a SOM perspective, in that mindset, everything that I was focused on INCLUDED having the airplane's needs (and therefore, my needs) attended to. I was comparing my own past focus with this perspective, and .. I've been focusing on the blades of grass.

The adage we're pulling in here is - can't see the forest for the trees. (I keep finding that these old adages have so much value and validity, kind of amazing.)

This isn't to say that you should (or I should) abandon attention to the small stuff. It's just that FOCUSING on the small stuff prevents one from focusing on the BIG stuff.

This morning, after my contemplation, I picked (back) up "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," having already read "The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler," and "Berlin Diaries." And, the very next sub-chapter I came to was the discussion of Adolf Hitler and his income before he became Chancellor. It seems that ol' AH gave very little thought to his support, and income stream. He just knew it would be there.

All of this provides me with fodder for further consideration.

Okay, it's time to get cracking on a few more things -

Last one, I swear - another Focke-Wulf Condor 

The Focke Wulfe 200 at New York after the first non-stop flight from Berlin to New York 

The Focke Wulfe Condor 200 

A Birthday Present for America

From Daily Kos

By DarkSyde on osama

Here's a birthday present for ya America, courtesy of the White House I'm sure:

Link--WASHINGTON, July 3 -- The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday. [...] The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

Yes, OBL, the guy President Bush said we were going to 'smoke out' 'dead or alive' is no longer deemed a threat--or at least not enough of a threat to actually you know, pursue vigorously from within the CIA. After all, the President is 'truly not that concerned about him,' even though bin Laden and his pal Aymen killed 3000 Americans and are threatening in every new Al Qaeda video production to kill some more.

What the fuck kind of President is George Bush anyway?


So, those of you who still support this administration - how does this action square with your certainty that they're protecting us from terrorism?

July 4th, bizarre dream edition

So, this morning, I was dreaming that I was Adolf Hitler, and it was the late 1930s. I was in New York for a meeting with some political figures. The room was lavish, and everyone was saying blah, blah, blah. I came to realize that they were telling me "this is the line you cannot cross," or "this is as much as we can give you," but that these were just words. I could do anything I conceived. I left, and went to the airport, to board my Focke-Wolfe 200 (the first four engine long distance airplane) It was there at the New York airport, polished to shine like a mirror, with fresh black and yellow trim paint. Crew people were buzzing around the aircraft, readying it for departure.

And then I had to climb the wooden stairs to the ship (these being dreams, they don't occur in a linear fashion.) The stairs were long and steep, and in the middle was a wooden structure that one had to slide undebrneath, part of a military training regimen.

There was a young military man coming down the stairs, and he limbo-ed under the structure, but I walked up and around on the outside. Then, I was talking to some guy who worked for me who hadn't completed some task he was to have done. I told him he had to cut his ear off in pennance. He did. That was gross.

Still thinking about the meanings of this dream.. it's interesting.

Monday, Monday ver. 822.01

Well, it's all stinky up in here today. Barbara is painting Bram's bedroom, and it turns out that she started by using OIL based wall paint (we scrounged through the garage for supplies.) So, the cucarachas are all dying swiftly, and my brain cells are failing by the thousands.

Have been opening a client's huge stack o'mail. Yurg. Have to get this all organized now. Have more things set up for this week.

So, I'm having a fag float tomorrow. This fag float was to have been brought to you by other members of my fag float team, who were so happy about the memorial day experience that they said they wanted to "chip in and do up the 4th of July." Now, they've decided that they are "just going to show up."

Thanks. Why again is it that they keep calling me bitter? Oh, yeah, because people don't follow through with what they say they'll do. Yurg.

Cleaned out the garage today. Hooo baby. Got the trash can FULL of stuff. Swept things down, moved things out, cleaned things up, it looks like a garage instead of a foreclosure in progress.

Later on

The house still smells. It smells as if I've soaked a bunch of charcoal in the living room; the lighter fluid smell is so heavy. Did I mention that the garage is nice and clean?

Sunday - a pie bake-off

Rosita gave me some blueberries today, and I decided it was finally time to make up a pie with the cherry pie filling that came to live with me some nine years ago. Was it the kind of pie filling that can survive nine years?

It's good stuff!! The pie. With the nine year old cherry filling. Bram loved it. He's SUCH a great guy. This is turning out EXACTLY like I was wanting - with a room mate that's responsible, fun, great to be around, good company, and a participant in developing the house at a concept.

Barney's getting more feeble by the day. I put his collar on, and a few hours later, it's lying on the ground. He gets up unsteadily, and is deaf as a post.

Declare our Independance

Source Article

On the Fourth, Read the Declaration of Impeachment
By David Swanson
AfterDowningStreet.org

Sunday 02 July 2006

Veterans for Peace has drafted a Declaration of Impeachment using nothing but excerpts from the Declaration of Independence (plus a few words in parentheses). It reads as follows, and should be read at picnics and protests on the Fourth of July:

"... whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

... all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations ... design(s) to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

... The history of the present King (George)... is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny ... To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

* He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

* He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

* He has ... deprive(ed) us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury ... transport(ed) us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

* He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us ...

* He is at this time transporting large Armies ... to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

* He has constrained our fellow Citizens ... to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

A (President) whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

We, therefore ... do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People ... solemnly publish and declare, That these ... Free and Independent (People) ... are Absolved from all Allegiance to the (Bush Administration), and that all political connection between them and (this Administration), is and ought to be totally dissolved ... And for the support of this Declaration ... we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Note that the colonists didn't just write these words. They also fought and died for them.

Supporting our troops and working to ensure that they not have died in vain are notions that no longer apply to the soldiers who died in the fields around my house in Virginia. The statute of limitations has expired, and the 4,435 who died to rid America of a King George are now in fact required - as a matter of patriotic duty - to have died in vain.

In vain their deaths to free us of a unitary executive.

In vain their deaths to establish freedom of assembly.

In vain their deaths to separate church and state.

In vain their deaths to create freedom of speech.

In vain their deaths in the cause of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.

In vain their blood spilled in rivers to establish the right to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.

In vain their ultimate sacrifices to create a representative democracy based on checks and balances.

In vain the heartache of their families suffered in the name of an end to empire.

All in vain, all unsupported. Welcome to the world of free speech zones, detention without charge, no access to a court of law, no prohibition on torture. Welcome to the end of the veto and the birth of the signing statement. Welcome to an executive branch that neither obeys Congress nor so much as informs Congress of its actions. Welcome to wars of aggression for a theocratic plutocracy. Welcome back, King George.

King George is opposed by almost all Americans who identify themselves as democrats or Democrats. Only 9 percent of Democrats approve of his "handling the situation with Iraq," according to a CBS poll. The so-called Republican Party, on the other hand, is split. 71 percent of Republicans approve of the king's war, a number that is steadily declining. So, I have to say it annoys me a teeny little bit when the military industrial media complex calls the Democratic Party split and makes that alleged split the focus of reporting.

What they mean is that a little band of plutocratic leeches living in the swamps of the District of Columbia displays different tendencies from the citizenry. Within this inbred sect, Republicans are almost united and Democrats quite split on the question of whether to slaughter more Iraqis indefinitely. All the Republicans are for it, and half the Democrats are for it too. But half the Democrats have come over to the side of the American public to receive the scorn of the pundits and preachers of Objectivity.

What nobody is making note of, though, is that the anti-war Democrats in Congress can balance the scorn that the media bestows on them with the implicit gratitude of the soldiers of the War for Independence, the war in which we were opposing, not creating, a foreign occupation.

I fully expect, one day soon, to wake up to this headline: "Dems split on torturing grandmothers," followed by words to this effect: "Republicans forced a deeply divided and uncertain Democratic Party onto the defensive this week, bringing to a vote their long-planned GT bill. The Grandmother Torture Act of 2006 provides the President with the freedom he needs in handling the rising threat from seniors engaged in terrorist activities, said several Republican leaders. The defeat is expected to hurt the Democrats in November, Diebold executives reported.

Of course, on the question of building permanent military bases in Iraq, it is the Dems in Congress who are united and the Republicans in Congress who are very much split. But that story is not a story, so it doesn't really matter who's split or not split or anything else. Nor is historic justice being served the way it should. Every member of Congress working to create permanent bases in Iraq for unwanted and illegal foreign troops should have two dozen reenactors of the American Revolution occupy their office and live off their campaign funds while endlessly reciting the Declaration of Impeachment.

Happy Fourth!

David Swanson is creator of MeetWithCindy.org, co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997. His website is www.davidswanson.org.

How to Reduce the Size of Government

From Daily Kos

by kmiddle
Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 10:09:53 AM PDT

Government spending is out of control. On the Federal level, it's easy to just borrow more money (thanks China). But states have a tougher time; they can't just keeping the mint working overtime. And so the total tax burden continues to be near all-time highs for the average working family.

I have identified the reason behind this problem: Too many politicians.

All those governors, Speakers of the House, State Senators and Representatives, elbowing each other for position and voter attention. And they all feel the need to "do something" for their constituents, which almost always translates into "take money out of my wallet for something I don't need." Not to mention 50 state Attorney Generals, Secretary of States, Treasurers, etc. etc. etc. All full-time jobs, with their own staffs, security details, offices, lights, phones, computers...waste, waste, waste, I say.

* kmiddle's diary :: ::
*

So here's my modest proposal - one that will instantly reduce the size of government and reign in uncontrolled spending. Reduce the number of states from 50 to 10.

The current political borders for the states are historical artifacts that have no relevance to today's modern society. Can anyone living in Rhode Island honestly describe the major social and political issues that separate them from Connecticut? Hell, in Rhode Island, you have to go to another state to get to the Super Walmart.

Any state that has a geographic description in its name (eg, North, South) has obviously been begging for consolidation since its inception. Otherwise, they'd have had the good sense to pick a real name. And what's with this whole Arkansas/Kansas thing? Did Arkansas just want to get its Yellow Pages listing ahead of Kansas? Why not AAAArKansas instead?

Here are just a few benefits of cutting the number of states down to 10:
* An 80% reduction in the number of politicians who feed at the state government trough. Only 10 governors, etc. Think of the salaries saved! That alone should be enough to reduce taxes by 10%.
* An 80% reduction in the potential for mischief. Along with an 80% reduction in the number of people we Kossacks need to watch like hawks.
* An 80% reduction in the number of US Senators (only 20 instead of 100). Who can possibly argue that fewer US Senators is a bad thing?
* Better overall quality of politicians. Right now, for every John Murtha, there's a Bob Ney, a Jean (not so)Smart, and a Katherine Harris. If there are fewer jobs to chase, the most qualified people might actually have a shot at displacing the knuckleheads. (I know this is a bad example, because the US House is based on population; but having fewer state political offices will force politicians to look elsewhere for work. It's a "trickle up" theory.)
* School children would be freed from mindless memorization of state capitals and be able to concentrate on important stuff. Social studies teachers might actually be able to teach things like - horrors!!! - the Constitution.

Here are my recommendations for the new 10 United States of America;
* Rockysnowland: Combine Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Except for the upstate of Maine and Buffalo, they're all about an hour's drive from each other, and their regional issues are pretty much the same. Which is to say how shovel all that snow and how to farm around all those darned rocks.
* Delavanialand: Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Back in the 1700s, New Jersey was hard to get to from Pennsylvania because of the Delaware River. Now we have things called "bridges." And what in the heck is Delaware doing hogging all the coastline from Maryland? Ridiculous. Combine them all.
* Minneconsin: Minnesota and Wisconsin. Cheese for everyone!!! Ice sculptures, too.
* Michohnoisy: Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, along with Kentucky. Michigan has to give up the noncontiguous portion to Minneconsin. It's mostly the old Northwest Territory, with Kentucky thrown in for good measure. As it is, the only reason Indiana exists is to prevent Ohio and Illinois from bumping into each other. So why not combine them all?
* NASCARalia: Alabama, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Yes, West Virginia, I realize you separated from Virginia during the Civil War. Get over it. War's over.
* Texarkanianohoma: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas,. Alternative name: Tornadoania.
* Cornsas: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.
* Idakota: Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming.
* Colozonah: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
* Oceania: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington.

No one has caller ID?

I'm watching another anthology of gay short films; more tortured young homosexuals, and no one has caller ID. It's bizarre. And, why is everyone in these films 24 years old? Most of the 24 year olds that I know haven't the emotional or intellectual depth to fill a tea cup, let alone to engage in complex human interactions. Are we gay people so afraid of age and average that we can only depict ourselves through tight bodied children? The only old gay people that I've seen in a movie are either campy and ridiciulous (Nathan Lane in Birdcage) or they're intensely self-destructive (Fighting Tommy Riley) or psychotic killers.

Day two of zero motivation this week. What do to? I guess it's a weekend of working.

Ruby goes into the shop to have her interior trim pieces fixed next week. She really needs it.

I can't get Quicken to open up to save my life. Annoying.

If you find my house boy, please return him. 

This is for George. And anyone who still thinks that we're on a good course. 

With discussions of 9/11 and the Bush Administration. 

Especially since I don't feel like smiling. 

Ah, this one is for Kim K .. and her voice mail from last night! 

I can't tell, is this the best one for Kim K, or ? 

Remember, a balanced diet is a bar of chocolate in EACH hand. 

Pretty much what I need to hang out on my "shingle" 

Secret Agent Man, take note. 

This for my lady friends "of a certain age" 

For the WoB #3 (revoked) 

nuff' said 

This is for Jenny Hunter - to whom I owe my start on the way to practitioner licensing. 

This is for my sister Mikey the Evil 

This defines how I've felt for two days 

This is for SEVERAL people I can think of. 

Morlocks 

A murlock 

Morlock or murlock

So, E squared just called me "King of the Murlocs."

A murloc, according to Wikipedia, is:

The murloc is a fictional race in the Warcraft Universe, created by Blizzard Entertainment. It is a bipedal amphibanoid race residing along coastlines, lakeshores and riverbeds, as well as in underwater ruins. Murlocs are distinguished by their bulbous bodies, large mouths lined with row upon row of sharp fangs, and slime-coated skin. Murlocs range in coloration from turquoise to darkish grey, and in height from 3-1/2 feet to 6 feet.

Murloc culture is tribal in nature, and religion is generally shamanistic, with most villages containing a number of oracles and tidehunters, with coastrunners and warriors for defense. Habitations are generally crude huts with peaked roofs, huddled around a body of water. Oddly enough for amphibianoids, they prefer their food cooked, and will happily build campfires or even large bonfires which easily accommodate their favourite dish, the "spit-roasted gnome warlock".

Murloc behavior toward other races is best characterized as "hostile," and even more so as "unbelievably hostile." Typically, approaching within 100 yards of even one, apparently isolated, murloc will result in the subject letting forth the usual gurgling warcry "Rawgrlrlrlrrlglrl!" and dragging forth his entire village of 20, emerging as if by magic, to battle the visitor. Such assaults generally result in a nasty, slimy overkill against the hapless tourist. Indeed, it is nearly impossible for even the most dedicated murloc hunter to get just one to himself -- three or four Murlocs are usually the bare minimum.

Murloc hunting, however, is a time-honored vocation, particularly since murloc fins are a prized delicacy when used for soup broth, and slimy murloc scales are sought after by advanced leatherworkers for use in crafting fine armor. In addition, hefty bounties are often placed on certain murlocs, due to their incredibly-pronounced disregard for the sanctity of life, generally-accepted notions of fair play, or lack of simple common decency. By the same token, pounding one of them into guava jelly with a large mace is surprisingly satisfying.

A morlock, on the other hand, is a:

fictional species, created by H. G. Wells for his 1895 novel, The Time Machine. The Morlocks, as well as another supposed offshoot of humans, the Eloi, exist in the future world in the year AD 802,701 in 'The Time Machine'. The Morlocks are said to have descended from humans, although they have evolved to become a completely different species by the 8028th century.

Morlocks are humanoid creatures. They don't seem to wear clothing, and are instead covered with fur. The Time Traveller describes them as 'almost spiderlike' in their demeanor, in that they silently slink around in the dead of night and snag their prey. They live in an underground civilization, where they maintain ancient machines that they may or may not remember how to build. Their only entrance to the surface world is through a series of well-like structures which dot the future English countryside. As a result of living underground, the Morlocks are extremely sensitive to light, and apparently have little or no melanin in their skin.

The Morlocks are cannibalistic, as their main source of food is the Eloi, another race descended from Humanity who lives aboveground. The Morlocks seem to treat the Eloi as cattle, and the Eloi make no resistance.

The above describes the Morlocks from the original novel. Since then, many other sources (such as movie adaptations, sequels to the original novel, etc.) have given variant descriptions of them.

The feeling of deju-vu

Most of the people I know don't remember diddly-squat about the Kent State "Massacre" (which only resulted in four deaths, but they were unarmed, non-violent students.) I was only twelve years old when it happened; my cousin Anne was attending Kent State at the time, and I adored her, so the events left a sharp note in my memory logs.

Here, you can read up (if you're so motivated) on what HAPPENED, both before, during and after. This will read very much like the Bush administrations' take on people who protest the Iraq war, people who speak out against it, and what could easily happen again.

So, if you think this is more liberal ranting on my part, so be it. You can ignore these tantalizing hyperlinks and just keep on keeping on - worrying about whether Brittany is going to have a boy or a girl, or whether that thing between Ashton and Demi is for real, or for show. Then, when some over-zealous troops or police shoot up a non-violent protest somewhere in this country, you can remember "I told you..." and maybe, just MAYBE come back and read them.

Or not. I expect not.

Prelude to Kent State: Nixon Invades Cambodia
Call Out the National Guard: May 1-3, 1970, at Kent State
"They Just Started Shooting Us Down" -- Kent State
"They Should Have Shot Them All" -- Kent State Aftermath
"Inexcusable": Investigating Kent State
Guardsmen Go on Trial: Kent State
"Blood on my Hands": Kent State Civil Trials

So, they offer to quit attacking and we say ..

"go hang."

From Daily Kos

Half a trillion
by kos
Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 08:44:03 AM PDT

Half a trillion.

The overall cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other global anti-terror operations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will top $500 billion next year, according to congressional estimates and expectations of future funding.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said in a report that through the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the government will have spent $437 billion on overseas military and foreign aid funding. That includes the latest supplemental spending bill signed into law this month, which provided $69 billion for the war effort.

Add in roughly $1.5 billion in FY07 Foreign Operations funds for Iraq and Afghanistan; $50 billion in Pentagon "bridge" funds for the first half of FY07, plus as-yet-undetermined supplemental funds for the remainder of the next fiscal year, and total war-related costs will easily soar over $500 billion one year from now.

Meanwhile, Sunni insurgents have offered to cease all attacks if the US offers a timetable to withdrawal.

Eleven Sunni insurgent groups have offered an immediate halt to all attacks - including those on American troops - if the United States agrees to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq in two years, insurgent and government officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Withdrawal is the centerpiece of a set of demands from the groups, which operate north of Baghdad in the heavily Sunni Arab provinces of Salahuddin and Diyala. Although much of the fighting has been to the west, those provinces are increasingly violent and attacks there have crippled oil and commerce routes.

The groups who've made contact have largely shunned attacks on Iraqi civilians, focusing instead on the U.S.-led coalition forces. Their offer coincides with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to reach out to the Sunni insurgency with a reconciliation plan that includes an amnesty for fighters.

But of course Bush rejected the offer outright. No timetable. No withdrawal. Hundreds of billions more and countless lives set to be sucked down the Iraqi sinkhole for the rest of the Bush presidency.

$1,000,000,000,000 of Gay Money and the Ringing of the Bell

from Daily Kos
by Rippe
Wed Jun 28, 2006 at 05:06:50 AM PDT

Just 6 years from now, gay and lesbian buying power in the U.S. will reach $1 trillion -- a 50% increase over today's estimated $641 billion.

But just two days from now -- this Friday -- a national gay support organization will celebrate the GLBT's impact on the economy by ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) makes this historic and symbolic appearance at the NYSE Friday to drive home a point to Corporate America: gays are a vital part of the U.S. economy.

* Rippe's diary :: ::
*

To put this in perspective, consider that $641,000,000,000 is:

15 times the FY06 federal budget for the Department of Homeland Security...

$100,000,000,000 more than this year's Department of Defense budget...

8-10 times the federal budget for the Department of Education...

About $140,000,000,000 more than the U.S. will make in Social Security payments this year.

See the budget numbers for yourself here.

Today, my significant other and I will be driving from Madison to Chicago with another gay couple to watch the Milwaukee Brewers (hopefully) beat up on the Chicago Cubs. The tickets were $46 each. The gas will be about $40 each way. I've allocated $100 for souvenirs. The beer and hot dogs and peanuts at the game will exceed $200 between the 4 of us. Happy hour after the game will add $50. Dinner will approach $200.

Four gay guys will spend $1000 today -- on a major league baseball game, for crying out loud!

So..please join me in congratulating PFLAG on Friday's historic event, and in thanking the GLBT community for its contribution to the economy.

Tuesday progress

Source article

Thomas Jefferson has a strong opinion about the Kos affair

What does Thomas Jefferson have to say about the Kos & David Brooks & Newsweek & Jason Zengerle brouhaha? Let’s ask him:

Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, tho’ not the most wise depository of the public interests.

In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Call them, therefore, Liberals and Serviles, Jacobins and Ultras, Whigs and Tories, Republicans and Federalists, Aristocrats and Democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still, and pursue the same object. The last appellation of Aristocrats and Democrats is the true one expressing the essence of all.

That’s all there is to say about this. The people who own the New Republic, Newsweek, the New York Times and the Democratic National Committee are Jefferson’s Aristocrats. They fear and distrust regular people. So they’ll attack anything that allows regular people to organize themselves and have some voice in how things are run.

That can be unions, or DailyKos, or the AARP, or in 2397 A.D. the Association of Alpha Centauri Moisture Farmers. It doesn’t matter. The important thing, from their perspective, is to destroy anything that allows regular people to talk to each other, discover their common interests, and act. In this particular case, the Aristocrats will not stop trying to destroy the blogosphere until (1) they succeed or (2) they or the blogosphere switch parties.

Virus Myth, Part I

One moonlit night in 1983, a biochemist named Kary Mullis was driving along a California mountain road when he had an aha! experience akin to Newton's with the apple and Archimedes' in the bathtub. Mullis immediately pulled off the road, awakened his sleeping girlfriend, and told her that he suddenly knew how to replicate DNA.

It was a problem that had been vexing scientists and, as it turned out, Mullis was right. His insight into the polymerase chain reaction won him the 1993 Nobel Prize for Chemistry and led to the invention of DNA-replicating machines and the tests they make possible, including the one for HIV antibodies.

This is simply by way of establishing the impeccable scientific credentials of Dr. Kary Mullis. Because when someone of his stature questions whether the HIV virus causes AIDS, we should probably listen.

Huh? Of course HIV causes AIDS, we all know that, don't we? The CDC tells us so, the media tell us so, our doctors tell us so. End of story.

Well, actually not. There is a sizeable, and growing, chorus of dissenting voices. And unlike many groups that challenge an entrenched mainstream belief, this one does not consist of loudmouths with fringe credentials. It is made up of pre-eminent scientists with rock-solid reputations.

Among dozens of others, in addition to Kary Mullis, we find Dr. Peter Duesberg of UC Berkeley, one of the world's leading molecular biologists; Dr. Heinz Ludwig Sänger, emeritus professor of molecular biology and virology at the Max-Planck-Institute in Munich, Germany; Dr. Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, professor of medical physics at Australia's Royal Perth Hospital; Dr. Walter Gilbert, 1980 Nobel prize winner for his work on DNA sequencing; and Dr. Gordon Stewart, professor emeritus of public health at Glasgow University and a former AIDS adviser to the World Health Organization.

Impressive, and that's just the short list. So, what are these men and women saying?

Kary Mullis: "If there is evidence that HIV causes AIDS, there should be scientific documents which either singly or collectively demonstrate that fact, at least with a high probability. There is no such document."

A few quick reminders: AIDS is not a disease, it's "Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome," a catch-all applied to those whose natural bodily defense systems have been so compromised that they no longer protect the individual from any number of life-threatening diseases. AIDS vaulted into public awareness when large numbers of gay men in San Francisco started exhibiting horribly devastated immune systems in the early '80s, and began to die of previously rare or normally benign diseases such as Kaposi's Sarcoma and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. A crash program attempting to isolate the source of this epidemic yielded the discovery of the HIV retrovirus by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier and its designation as the "cause" of AIDS. Montagnier has since backed off and now considers HIV as merely a "co-factor" in AIDS cases; Gallo still vigorously defends the premise that HIV is the cause. (Full disclosure: Gallo patented the first "AIDS test kit" in 1984.)

There are many problems associated with the HIV/AIDS theory. Take the AIDS test, for example. It establishes the presence of HIV antibodies, not of the virus itself. Why? Because the virus is present in such minute quantities that it's too hard to find. How can such a tiny amount of virus do such awful systemic damage? Good question. Defenders of the status quo have been forced to claim that the virus somehow does its dirty work, then essentially disappears, only to have its effects show up later, often years later. That's a pretty unique kind of infection.

Then, too, aren't antibodies evidence that the immune system is doing its work? Yes. HIV/AIDS proponents claim that the virus is killing T-cells [one of the key components of the immune system], Peter Duesberg says. Yet, "At the same time, all they ever found in patients was antibodies against the virus. And I said those two things don't make any sense at all. A retrovirus isn't killing cells. That's the one thing we always knew and agreed on about retroviruses--that they do not kill cells. The second thing is viruses only cause disease when they are bonded, not when they are neutralized by antibodies. That's what you call a vaccine, when a virus is neutralized by an antibody."

There are reliability difficulties as well. An Australian research team, writing in Bio/Technology in 1993, concluded that no test procedure met the "gold standard," the "quintessential element for the authentication of any diagnostic test," wherein positive tests consistently lead to finding the virus, negative tests to not finding it. Or, in other words, a positive antibody test may mean the virus is there, but it may not.

Additionally, Mullis writes, "[Those] tests are based on a lot of assumptions that are not very easy to prove, because they've never isolated the organism completely by itself. There's not a tube of HIV in the country that's pure. There are cultures that have by mass something like one out of 100,000 is HIV. That's all. That's the best we've got."

Furthermore, treatment of HIV infection often involves immune-suppressive drugs that will, on their own, kill you as readily as any ailment, often closely mimicking the syndrome they're meant to cure. This Duesberg calls "AIDS by prescription."

Finally, there is the classification loop by which the CDC links HIV, AIDS, and disease. A person is said to have AIDS if he or she suffers from one or more of 31 different diseases--all of which existed long before the AIDS epidemic--and if he or she also has HIV antibodies. Someone who succumbs to tuberculosis and has the antibody thus has "died of AIDS." Minus the antibody, it's just plain old TB.

Likewise, "AIDS" is the diagnosis in Africa for anything involving cough, fever, persistent diarrhea and substantial weight loss, a symptom grouping that, probably not coincidentally, also defines malnutrition.

In short, the problems are many and the case against the HIV/AIDS hypothesis is complex. Space limitations mean that we have only hinted at a few basic aspects of it here. But there is a wealth of information on the Internet. www.virusmyth.net is a good starting place for interested readers. It archives papers by Mullis, Duesberg, and many others. We encourage our readers to inform themselves about this ongoing scientific debate, with minds open to the possibility that everything they think they know about AIDS may be wrong.

A stubborn clinging to unproven dogma is one of the worst enemies of the quest for truth. While we're not scientifically qualified to say with any certainty who is right in this controversy, we are sympathetic to Kary Mullis' complaint that "so many scientists have absolutely refused to examine the available evidence in a neutral, dispassionate way. Several respected scientific journals have [rejected] a statement issued by the Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the H.I.V./AIDS Hypothesis simply requesting 'a thorough reappraisal of the existing evidence for and against this hypothesis'." That kind of peer review seems like a minimum effort that can, and should, be made.

Our final question is, of course: If HIV doesn't cause AIDS, what does, then? There is no one answer. Most likely, the dissenters say, different diseases have different etiologies. Problem is, no research is being done on alternative theories because the HIV people get all the grant money.

In the next issue of WWNK, we'll take a closer look at some of these theories and the roadblocks frustrated researchers encounter in trying to pursue them, and we'll examine the career-threatening consequences of dissent.

Monday, Monday ver. 831.01

Oof. I spent most of the day today working on the class reunion stuff. I made significant progress, at least.

Little Liz isn't going to happen. Time for Ruby to get a thorough cleaning, and go to the trim shop.

Bram the room mate is a lot of fun. I'm enjoying him being here a great deal. Well, it's only been a day, but .. I think I've scared the bejesus out of him talking about the Bush administration...

So, I was talking to this guy two nights ago. At least, I was talking to the guy who was using this picture. Isn't he impossibly handsome? Like, it HAS to be a fake? 

Why I skipped Gay Pride this year

It's just not fun anymore. The parade used to be a fabulous, exciting, heart rendering event - with several hundred thousand people lining lower Westheimer, screaming their hearts out.

Now, it's 1/3 churches, 1/8 lesbian service organizations, 1/4 multi-national corporations, three bars (all owned by Charles Armstrong) and BCBC. Churches? Churches that promise to be inclusive, and that Jesus will take us in? The same church organizations that are fighting against gay marriage, and fighting against gay people being seen as anything other than behavorial choice?

A bunch of people marching with signs for Jesus and overtaxed, underpowered audio systems playing Christian rock is NOT what I associate with gay pride.

Charles Armstrong, who is the Lord and Master of all Gay Commerce in the City of Houston now puts his usual five bucks into gay pride, and we have a token appearance for the six gay bars he now owns. He probably docked his employee's pay to create the float, or made them work on it on their own time or something.

I remember when there were entries for every significant gay business; bars had elaborate floats built on fire trucks or construction equipment, there were all-gay amateur marching bands, the Dallas gay cheerleaders, fifty-four thin, moustached men in leather chaps, leather vests, leather boots and leather caps, each carrying a flag of the fifty states, one carrying the flag of the United States, one carrying that of the City of Houston, one carrying the rainbow flag, and one the flag of Mary's, the oldest gay bar in Texas. People were exuberant.

Now, it's just the young lesbians who are. It's gotten to be a contest for "look at how accepting we really are."

The truth is different. The truth is that the prejudice has become somehwat unfashionable. It's still there. It still operates. Show me an openly gay upper level member of management in a Fortune 100 company. Show me an openly gay partner in a big five accounting firm. Or in a major law firm. Show me the CEO of a major multi-national company whose partner at a party is a man with whom he's shared his last thirty years.

It doesn't exist. It likely won't exist. Just as women continue to beat their heads against the glass ceiling, and black people are welcome just SO high and no higher, we are only allowed to achieve the maximum in businesses that we own. There are several, some very successful.

Yet, we will likely never measure up to the standards of Oprah or Mary Kay Ash. Most of our gay business leaders are still focused on the party, and focused on the youngest man they can still coax out of his very fashionable drawers. They are vicious snubs of other gay businesses, unless they think that they can get "it" or get it for free.

There is no bigotry like that with which the gay community assaults itself. Being old is cause for excommunication. Being fat is worse. Being effiminate even worse than that. The gay ideal is a clone army of thin young men in low-rise, $150 jeans, wearing an earth toned, distressed t-shirt with "Abercrombie & Fitch" emblazoned across their gym toned chest. Everthing is geared to speak to that image. There are no businesses that cater to an older crowd, except as to allow those older persons to try to pick up on the young ones that look just like .. the ideal. All right, there are a FEW businesses that are free of THAT much single-mindedness, but I defy you to find some gay business owner who actively seeks out other gay businesses to supply their needs.

So, rather than be regaled with zealots telling me that Jesus will welcome me into their worship services, or watch Countrywide Home Loans' float lionize having squeezed out all of the independant gay mortgage brokers, or Wells Fargo pretend to be accepting of homosexuality, or Bill White act like gay people mean a rat's ass, I stayed home, and reflected on a time when half-naked go-go boys dressed as fire fighters, grinned madly at the crowd from the top of their rented fire truck, instead of suffering through the intense discomfort of the Fire Chief and those few firefighters who could be compelled to ride behind the closed doors and windows of their COH fire engine.

Saturday - Pride Day

In Houston, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco .. but not in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, or certain other cities.

Waiting for the new mattress/box spring to be delivered; Bram moves in tomorrow, and I had to get another bed. The guest room looks a zillion percent better with the mattress and box spring in place, and bedding on the bed. I need to put together a list of some things to pick up at Bed, Bath and Beyond - like a red silk duponi bed skirt, some other stuff.

And that damned cook top.

As soon as the mattress/box spring shows up, I need to run over to HEB and pick up a few things.

I've been looking at things that work and things that don't work for me, and where I'm getting resistence from the Universe. Mortgage loans, chasing old tax returns, working for businesses that are in trouble - just don't work. Chasing people who are already train wrecks only invites that wreckage into my own life.

I need to go up on my fees, and charge up front, only.

It looks as if writing courses, delivering courses and writing for NV is going to work for me. I'm really enjoying developing some course presentations, and conceiving articles for NV. I just put together a concept for a DaVinci code dialogue with a Christian scholar, a Jewish scholar and discussion ..

Friday night wonders

Watching "Die, Mommie, Die." What a great movie. It's a hoot.

The garage door opener is working again! And the yard is mowed! And the pool is clean! YAY! Tomorrow, I'll vacuum, and the house will be all spic and span for the new room mate's arrival Sunday night. Tomorrow, I have to also buy a new bed, as the new room mate is renting the guest room for a month and then getting his own furniture.

The garage door opener is working again! Did I mention that the garage door opener is working again?

Renewed the loan officer license today. Mailed all the eBay stuff. Spent four and a half hours getting medical tests done. Reduced by nine pounds from last month, had normal blood pressure, normal EKG.

It's time to hit the hay here ... have a ton to do tomorrow, including floating in the pool with Mikey, Ro-Ro and Ro-Ro's friends.

Thursday - maybe I'll try this AGAIN

This wireless router is less valuable than a dog turd in a punch bowl. It works for about ten minutes, then I have to go upstairs, unplug it, reset it, and come back downstairs. Of course, in the meantime, whatever I was working on is GONE.

Today was passably productive. Now, I'm at the mercy of this client, who may or may not show up to finalize his thing. He's not being any more reliable than he was before. Lovely stuff.

I should make some dinner and eat it before it gets too late. By the time I'm done with that, the wireless router should have collapsed onto its fainting couch again, and I'll be in synch.

Watching a documentary about Robert McNamara, the secretary of defense from the Vietnam era. I've seen it before, as it turns out. It's a goood show.

In summary:

1. I am going to let my loan officer license go, because I'm just no longer going to try to schlepp loans, and I can't see paying the $200 to keep that license.
2. I'm going to fire .. well, most of the clients I have .. tomorrow, because I'm no longer willing to have clients who try to negotiate the fee after the fact, and refuse to pay in full or on time.
3. I'm going to start looking for another place to live; I'm unwilling to continue to dance this dance with Twitch .. yes, no, maybe, it depends.
4. I'm going to tell a number of people that I'm no longer interested in discussing "deals" with them, because they bring me nothing. They call over and over and over and over and pester me with hypotheticals, but they offer nothing.
5. I'm going to figure out how to make my life work for me, and only work on things that don't involve solving other people's problems.

I am going to focus on my church development, including the articles and presentations that I have. I am going to focus on my website, and web based delivery of content that will make me money. I am going to focus on the mortgage training materials.

Somehow things are going to have to work out to support this.

Playing the slots in McCarren Int'l Airport?

Why do that when you have open access wifi!?!?

We have just about an hour before our connecting flight, and we've already evacuated in the men's room, grabbed a beverage, and now we're sitting here with our Dell laptops (which are nearly identical) clamshelled together, digging into our electronic worlds.

So, where to start? My joy at the American Episcopalians' choice of a new leader? Being kept awake nearly all night by E's OCD wheaton terrier? The three LOUD persons sitting behind us on the flight from SEA to LAS, who blathered on about waaaay too personal material? The dreary drive at the butt crack of dawn from Vancouver to Seattle? Or, shall I compare and contrast the treatment we had at the hands of ICE (the new border customs and immigration agency) and the government of Canuckistan?

On the way up Thursday night, we were in a huge line of cars crossing the border. We sat in that line, which suddenly broke free and we zipped up as the cars were processed in no time flat. We pulled up, and a camera took both our car's VIN and license tag. Here's how the conversation went:

Canuckistanian inspector: Where are you from?
Doug (for D&C): Houston, Texas
C.I. Rented car?
D&C: Yes
C.I. Both US citizens?
D&C: Yes
C.I. Purpose of your visit in Canada?
D&C: Visiting friends for the weekend
C.I. Where are you headed?
D&C: Vancouver
C.I. When do you return?
D&C: Monday morning
C.I. Bringing any gifts into Canada?
D&C: No, sir.
C.I. Have a good time in Canada.


Now, here we come back into the United States of Jesusland, as modified by the Republican party over the last twenty-five years:

US ICE Nazi customs inspector: What is your place of residence?
D&C: Houston, Texas
ICE Nazi: Where were you in Canada?
D&C: Vancouver
ICE Nazi: What was the reason for your trip?
D&C: Visiting friends
ICE Nazi: Did you buy anything in Canada?
D&C: Yes, a bottle of aspirin each, and a bottle of cough syrup (C got sick while we were there)
ICE Nazi: Is there codiene in them?
D&C: Yes, sir
ICE Nazi: When are you returning to Houston?
D&C: This morning at 11:20, we're headed straight to SEATAC
ICE Nazi: The drugs you're bringing in are controlled substances. Park your car, and go inside and wait with the drugs.
D&C: Yes, sir.

Inside, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Nazi #2, wearing BATTLE DRESS gives us further enlightenment.

ICE Nazi #2: Are you C?
C: Yes, sir.
ICE Nazi #2: Where do you live?
C: Houston, Texas
ICE Nazi #2: Both of you?
D&C: Yes sir
ICE Nazi #2: How do you two know each other?
C: We've known each other for years.
ICE Nazi #2: Why were you in Canada?
D: A Friend's 40th birthday party
ICE Nazi #2: How do you know this person?
D: I've known him for eight years - we've worked together in computers
ICE Nazi #2: Where is your prescription for these drugs?
C: We don't have one
ICE Nazi #2: You realize that these drugs you're bringing into the US are controlled substances. Having them in the State of Washington is a felony. I could call the Blaine PD right now and have you charged with possession.
D: uh-huh
ICE Nazi #2: So, what are we going to do about this?
(interruption by loud sirens and everyone scrambling outside to deal with the threatened incursion across the US Border. From Canada. At 7:15 a.m. In the morning. On a Monday.)
ICE Nazi #2: Are these for your personal use? you've opened them.
C: I came down sick while I was there.
ICE Nazi #2: The US doesn't ban the importation of these drugs for personal use, but you're only allowed 50 pills. This is way more than that. You could turn around and drive back to the drugstore and return these, but since you've opened them, I doubt that they will take them back.
D: uh-huh
ICE Nazi #2: So, if you're going to insist on bringing these into the United States, I'm going to have to call Blaine PD and have you arrested.
D: Okay
ICE Nazi #2: However, if you want to bring in this one (handing C the cough syrup) and you want to bring in this one (handing D a bottle of aspirin) then you could dispose of one of these into the trash, and I'll just let it go by.
D: Okay
ICE Nazi #2 thereupon escorts D outside to a trash can. D throws bottle of aspirin, of which two tabs have been consumed, into the trash.


ICE Nazi #2: You can go now.

I feel SO much safer!

Deep in the Finlandia

Today, we ventured out for a quick tour of those things that make Vancouver fun and unique. We saw the steam clock, which was swarmed with people, and we drove through Stanley Park and the West End. We ate at a restaurant overlooking English Bay. Now, we're sitting in E's house, watching the sun go down over downtown through the front window and waiting for him to make some salmon and pasta.

Much napping. MUCH napping. Much drinking, too - not by Chuck and by me, but holy cow the alcohol consumed here!!

Yesterday, I had a message from the Buick dealer - automated marketing message. They are having a "major sales push" and my Riviera is "just right for trade in; we'll give you a maximum value for it."

So, tweaked by their communication, I went to their website for the first time in a few weeks. The car I ordered is now on their online inventory. As in, they haven't sold it. As in, they LIED when they said there were all of these customers for it.

And I want it.

We have five big homosexuals here in this house, and ONE bathroom, with a single, 15 gallon water heater. They're thinking of making a reality TV show about it.

Humping toward YVR

Another day spent nearly entirely away from the home office. Have to leave around 11 for a meeting in The Woodlands, and then teaching a class in Pasadena, which obviates coming back here.

Got radical yesterday (it was a VERY angry morning) and had Babs take ALL of the clothing that didn't fit to the resale shop and drop it off. It's gone, and my closet looks totally empty. I have to pick up some laundry today, or I'll have nothing to wear on my trip to YVR tomorrow.

Monday, Monday ver. 762.01

Blessings unto us all. It's hotter than the bloody blue blazes of hell today, but part of that is that I have a fever, gained from more food poisoning from the same source (presumably.)

I've worked a bunch today, in an unusual pattern of working for forty-five minutes, then laying down for forty-five minutes to try to settle the cramps and fever.

Taught my first class for San Jac tonight in a long, long time. Got the replacement stereo face plate for Ruby today, and it's nice to be able to use the stereo again.

I have another crazy day tomorrow. At least the bank reopened the Fabulair bank account, which they closed without cause or notice. Craziness will continue to ensue all week, it seems.

Five Hundred Thirty Eight

$538.00

That was my electric power bill for last month. 102 was my blood glucose this morning. $65.00 was the total of gift cards I nabbed yesterday for transferring prescriptions. $40.00 was what I paid the lad who put the pool neeting up (after many, prior, failed attempts) and who cleaned out the garage, $250 is what I should make from selling things on eBay that we FOUND in the garage, zero is the amount of time I get to spend with Chuck today, $65 per bedroom is what I've agreed to pay the guy who's going to paint the upstairs rooms, $400 is the price I've quoted for the vacant bedroom upstairs, 5 is the number of seemingly real candidates for said bedroom, $3 is what Lisa paid for dog clippers at a garage sale yesterday for me, $3 is likewise what I paid for a coy pond liner at the church garage sale, and $175 is what a seller on Craigslist was asking for a similar pond liner, albiet somewhat bigger. 22 is the number of books I have about the Titanic. 90,400 is the number of miles on Ruby, and six is the number of suspension repairs I've had done on her in thirteen months. Sixty is the number of minutes before I need to be at church, and twenty is the number of minutes it's going to take me to get ready if I close down the computer RIGHT NOW.