Pelkey's Prattle

Way to go, Dubya

2007-03-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

Instead of sending more troops, why doesn't George go? He can ride around in one of the poorly armed vehicles and dodge roadside bombs.

When is this country going to be willing to admit we have the biggest moron in history for a president and remove him?

The Iraqies are fighting for their country. What are we fighting for?

WASHINGTON - Military leaders are struggling to choose Army units to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan longer or go there earlier than planned, but five years of war have made fresh troops harder to find.

Faced with a military buildup in Iraq that could drag into next year, Pentagon officials are trying to identify enough units to keep up to 20 brigade combat teams in Iraq. A brigade usually has about 3,500 troops. The likely result will be extending the deployments of brigades scheduled to come home at the end of the summer, and sending others earlier than scheduled.

Final decisions — which have not yet been made — would come as Congress is considering ways to force President Bush to wind down the war, despite his vow that he would veto such legislation.

In the freshest indication of the relentless demands for troops in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of coalition forces in the north, told reporters Friday that his troops have picked up the pace of their attacks on the enemy in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

"Could I use more forces? No question about it," Mixon said, adding that he had asked for more.

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said a day earlier that it was likely that additional U.S. forces will be shifted to areas outside the capital where militants are regrouping, including Diyala. The region has become an increasingly important staging ground for militant groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq.

"There have been about 30 percent more offensive actions and attacks. Many of those are initiated by us; some are initiated by them," Petraeus said from a military base outside of Tikrit.

"I am cautiously optimistic that in the next 30 to 60 days that we're going to see some significant differences in the security situation in Diyala." If not, he said, he'll go back and ask for still more support.

Petraeus said Thursday that the U.S. buildup in Iraq would need to be sustained "for some time well beyond the summer" to garner the needed results.

Maintaining increased troop levels, said military officials, will require troops to return for what could be their second or third tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, and force military leaders to juggle the schedules to give soldiers a full 12 months at home before returning to battle.

The officials would speak only on condition of anonymity, because no final decisions have been made and no formal requests for the forces have come from commanders in Iraq. But they said it is beginning to appear likely that Petraeus will ask to maintain much of the buildup at least through the end of the year, and possibly into 2008.

One official said planners are scrambling to figure out what combination of units and schedules can be fashioned that could give Petraeus what he wants and have the least negative impact on the troops.

The complex scheduling must identify which units would have been home for 12 months and be trained and ready to go, plus whether the needed equipment would be available and what impact a schedule change has on other plans for the equipment or troops months down the road.
Combat troops, meanwhile, are coming to realize that the Pentagon can't fulfill its commitment to give soldiers two years at home for every year they spend deployed.

At Fort Drum, N.Y., the 1st Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division is already training for a return to Iraq this summer. The brigade, which spent a year in Iraq and got home last summer, is not yet on any official list of units scheduled to deploy, but it's likely to go in late summer.

"It's prudent planning for us to be prepared to go back in a year," said Fort Drum spokesman Ben Abel.

Military officials also acknowledge that units scheduled to come home later this summer — such as the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division — could be forced to extend their tours by up to 120 days to maintain the Baghdad security buildup.

Initially, the Bush plan called for sending 21,500 extra U.S. combat troops to Iraq — mainly to Baghdad — with the last of five brigades arriving by June. So far two of the brigades have arrived in Iraq. The latest estimates indicate that up 7,000 support troops may also be needed, including more than 2,000 military police.

America's Song for Iraq

2007-02-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

Here is our Iraq War song, paraphrased from a certain play about 30 years ago.

Our beleagured soldiers singing to Dubya:

We've been living to win here.
Dying to win here, but it shouldn't be like this.
This was unexpected,
What do we do now?
Could we start again please?

Chaney singing to Dubya:

I've been very hopeful, so far.
Now for the first time, I think we're going wrong.
Hurry up and tell me,
This is just a dream.
Oh could we start again please?

Pelosi singing to Dubya:

I think you've made your point now.
You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home.
Before it gets too frightening,
We ought to call a vote,
So could we start again please?

America singing to Dubya:

We've been living to win there.
Dying to win there, but it shouldn't be like this.
This was unexpected,
What do we do now?
Could we start again please?

Dubya singing to Iraq:

I think you've made your point now.
You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home.
Before it gets too frightening,
You ought to call a vote,
So could we start again please?

Could we start again please? (Repeat for 5 more years)

Rocky Balboa singing to the world:

Could we start again?

What a couple of Washington Legislators are thinking

2007-02-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

S-1832.1 _____________________________________________
SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8016
_____________________________________________
State of Washington 60th Legislature 2007 Regular Session
By Senators Oemig, Regala, Kohl-Welles, Kline, Spanel, Fairley,
Kauffman, Fraser and Prentice

Read first time 02/15/2007. Referred to Committee on Government
Operations & Elections.

1 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
2 REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
3 THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
4 We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of
5 the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully
6 represent and petition as follows:
7 WHEREAS, On September 8, 2006, when summarizing a bipartisan Senate
8 investigation into prewar intelligence on Iraq, Senator John D. (Jay)
9 Rockefeller IV, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on
10 Intelligence said that, "The Committee's investigation into prewar
11 intelligence on Iraq has revealed that the Bush Administration's case
12 for war in Iraq was fundamentally misleading. The Administration
13 pursued a deceptive strategy of using intelligence reporting that the
14 Intelligence Community had already warned was uncorroborated,
15 unreliable, and in critical instances, fabricated."; and
16 WHEREAS, The President, the Vice President, and members of the
17 President's Administration appear to have deliberately misrepresented
18 the severity of the threat from Iraq by providing distorted
19 intelligence to Congress and the public in order to justify war with
20 Iraq; and
p. 1 SJM 8016
1 WHEREAS, The war with Iraq has cost the lives of many Washington
2 state residents and squandered taxpayer money from the state of
3 Washington; and
4 WHEREAS, The President has publicly admitted to conducting
5 electronic surveillance of thousands and perhaps millions of American
6 civilians without seeking warrants; and
7 WHEREAS, Washington state residents are likely to have been subject
8 to this electronic surveillance; and
9 WHEREAS, The President, the Vice President, and members of the
10 President's Administration have acted to strip American citizens of
11 their constitutional rights, based solely on the discretionary
12 designation by the President of a United States citizen as an "enemy
13 combatant"; and
14 WHEREAS, Such offenses, if committed, are subversive of
15 constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law
16 and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of Washington
17 state and of the United States of America; and
18 WHEREAS, Petitions from the country at large may be presented by
19 the Speaker of the House according to Clause 3 of House Rule XII; and
20 WHEREAS, Jefferson's Manual section LIII, 603, states that
21 impeachment may be set in motion by charges transmitted from the
22 legislature of a state; and
23 WHEREAS, If the President and/or members of his administration
24 committed such offenses, ignoring these offenses would undermine core
25 American values of truth and justice; and
26 WHEREAS, Impeachment is a process defined in the United States
27 Constitution by which charges are brought against a President or Vice
28 President or civil officers of the United States; and
29 WHEREAS, The filing of these charges is followed by a trial in the
30 United States Senate that determines guilt or innocence;
31 NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully request that, in
32 order to preserve confidence in the office of the Presidency and the
33 Executive branch, our senators and representatives in the United States
34 Congress determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge
35 President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney with the
36 above offenses and, if so, to follow the Constitutional process of
37 impeachment.
SJM 8016 p. 2
1 BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately
2 transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker
3 of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the
4 State of Washington.
--- END ---

Gov's take on climate change

2007-02-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

EXECUTIVE ORDER 07-02
WASHINGTON CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGE

WHEREAS, there is scientific consensus that increasing emissions of greenhouse gases are causing global temperatures to rise at rates that have the potential to cause economic disruption, environmental damage, and a public health crisis;

The drivers of climate change are global, but the effects of climate change on Washington are local and unique, including our dependence on snowpack for fresh water, our reliance on hydropower for energy, and our significant amount of shoreline;

According to the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, the effects of climate change are already being felt in the state of Washington in the form of average yearly temperatures rising faster over the 20th Century than the global average, mountain glaciers in the North Cascades losing up to a third of their area since 1950, snow pack in the Cascades declining by 35%, peak spring river runoff occurring 10 to 30 days earlier and the proportion of stream flow that arrives in summer decreasing as much as 34% in sensitive river basins; and

WHEREAS, Washington has taken significant actions to address climate change, including:

• Adopting the 2005 Clean Car Act requiring certain automobiles to meet tougher emissions standards beginning with 2009 models;

• Retrofitting 50% of school buses and 20% of local government diesel engine vehicles to reduce highly toxic diesel emissions;

• Leading the nation in requiring fuel suppliers to ensure that 2% of the fuel they sell is biodiesel or ethanol;

• Leading the nation in adopting high performance green building standards and having one of the most energy efficient building codes in the nation;

• Implementing the best energy efficiency standards for appliances;

• Passing a clean energy initiative to increase the amount of energy efficiency and renewable resources in our state’s electricity system;

• Purchasing hybrid and low emission vehicles for state agency use;

• Adopting the Columbia River Water Management Act, which will work toward meeting the water storage needs for agriculture, communities, and salmon; and

WHEREAS, Washington has tremendous opportunities to build a healthier and more prosperous future by embracing the challenge of climate change through expanding our clean energy economy;

Washington’s rural communities can gain economic benefit through the production of renewable fuels, keeping more of the money Washington residents spend on imported fuels here at home; and

WHEREAS, Washington has worked closely with California and Oregon in establishing the West Coast Governors’ Global Warming Initiative and is working with other western states to address climate change in a coordinated effort and through the Western Governors Association; and

WHEREAS, Washington’s vast hydroelectric system must be taken into account in any regional or national climate program; and

Washington State must continue its work to be prepared for the inevitable impacts of climate change.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Christine O. Gregoire, Governor of the state of Washington declare the state’s commitment to address climate change by:

1. Establishing the following greenhouse gas emissions reduction and clean energy economy goals for Washington State:

• By 2020, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state of Washington to 1990 levels, a reduction of 10 million metric tons below 2004 emissions;

• By 2035, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state of Washington to 25% below 1990 levels, a reduction of 30 million metric tons below 2004;

• By 2050, the state of Washington will do its part to reach global climate stabilization levels by reducing emissions to 50% below 1990 levels or 70% below our expected emissions that year, an absolute reduction in emissions of nearly 50 million metric tons below 2004;

• By 2020, increase the number of clean energy sector jobs to 25,000 from the 8,400 jobs we had in 2004; and

• By 2020, reduce expenditures by 20% on fuel imported into the state by developing Washington resources and supporting efficient energy use.

2. Implementing the significant policy actions taken in 2005 and 2006 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These actions will move Washington State to at least 60% of the 2020 goal and grow the clean energy economy by:

• Working to ensure cars sold in Washington meet stringent emission standards beginning with 2009 models;

• Retrofitting the most polluting diesel engines in school buses and local government vehicles;

• Working with farmers, entrepreneurs, fuel distributors and retailers to assure that biofuel feedstocks are grown in Washington; that refiners, blenders and distributors of biofuels create family wage jobs in Washington; and that the public can purchase fuel blends that reduce our dependence on imported fuel;

• Constructing high performance green buildings;

• Maintaining the highest levels of efficiency in our state’s energy code and regularly updating and enhancing those standards;

• Examining compliance with appliance efficiency standards and updating and enhancing those standards;

• Implementing the requirements of the Energy Independence Act by adopting rules that help utilities to succeed in meeting their renewable energy targets;

• Pursuing new water resources in Eastern Washington, including water conservation projects, developing new storage and new creative water management alternatives; and

• Reducing energy use by state agencies by achieving the goals established in Executive Order 05-01, Establishing Sustainability and Efficiency Goals for State Operations.

3. Achieving at least the remaining 40% toward the 2020 goal for Washington State and planning for our future, I, FURTHER, order and direct:

A. The Director of the Department of Ecology and the Director of the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders to develop a climate change initiative, Washington Climate Change Challenge, to achieve the goals of this Executive Order. Executive Cabinet agencies are directed to provide their full assistance and support in developing Washington Climate Change Challenge. I invite the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, the Commissioner of Public Lands, institutions of higher education, and members of the Legislature to assist in this effort.

B. The Director of the Department of Ecology and the Director of the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development shall include representatives from business, including transportation, forestry and energy sectors, agriculture, local, county and regional governments, institutions of higher education, labor unions, environmental groups and other interested residents as appropriate in the development of Washington Climate Change Challenge.

C. Washington Climate Change Challenge shall address the following elements and process steps:
i) Consider the full range of policies and strategies for the state of Washington to adopt or undertake to ensure the economic and emission reductions goals are achieved, including policy options that can maximize the efficiency of emission reductions including market-based systems, allowance trading, and incentives;

ii) Determine specific steps the state of Washington should take to prepare for the impact of global warming, including impacts to public health, agriculture, the coast line, forestry, and infrastructure;

iii) Assess what further steps the state of Washington should take to be prepared for the impact of global warming to water supply and management;

iv) Initiate active involvement by the state of Washington in the development of regional and national climate policies and coordination with British Columbia;

v) Recommend how the state of Washington, as an entity, can reduce its generation of greenhouse gas emissions;

vi) Work with the state of Washington’s local governments to maximize coordination and effectiveness of local and state climate initiatives; and

vii) Inform the general public of the process, solicit comments and involvement and develop recommendations for future public education and outreach.

D. The Director of the Department of Ecology and the Director of the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development shall submit Washington Climate Change Challenge to the Office of the Governor within one year of the signing of this Executive Order.

This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.

Signed and sealed with the official seal of the state of Washington, on this 7th day of February 2007, at Olympia, Washington.

By:
Christine O. Gregoire
Governor

January is Warmest on Record

2007-02-16T19:35:00.000-08:00

LiveScience Staff
LiveScience.com

The average global temperature last month was the highest for any January on record, according to NOAA, climbing to 55.13 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1.53 degrees warmer than the 20th-century average.

The global reading, an average of measurements taken over land and sea, beat out the previous record for a January, set in 2002 at 54.88 degrees.

Land temperatures especially peaked at a record-high 3.40 degrees warmer than average.

The warm January was at least partly the result of an El Niño weather pattern that began last September and continued into January, combined with the continuing global warming trend, NOAA reported today.

The most unusually warm temperatures were measured in the Northern Hemisphere, far from the equator. Large parts of Eastern Europe and Russia experienced temperatures more than 8 degrees above average, and temperatures more than 5 degrees above average occurred in much of Canada. The snow cover in January in Europe and Asia was the second lowest on record.

The warming was less pronounced in the 48 contiguous United States, where the average January temperature was just under 1 degree above the 20th century average.

Scientists say no single weather event or warm month can be blamed on global warming, but that more extreme conditions are likely as the planet's climate changes and strings of warm months are indeed evidence of climate change.

An upper-level wind pattern brought warmer-than-average temperatures to the East and colder-than-average temperatures to the southern Plains states and much of the West.

Hundreds of daily low temperature records were broken during a mid-January cold snap in Arizona and southern California.

Snowfall was below average in most of the Rockies, meaning that water supplies could plummet later this year. Drought is already occurring in 25 percent of the contiguous United States, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, at the end of January. Droughts are worst now in southern Texas, Wyoming, the western High Plains, and northern Minnesota.

Last year was a record warm year in the United States. The past nine years are all among the 25 warmest on record for the contiguous United States, a streak unprecedented in records dating back to 1896. Scientists say 2007 could be the warmest yet globally.

Colts

2007-02-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

I love football and Indianapolis.

DA BEARS

Well, I don't mind the Bears in the Superbowl, although I would have preferred Seattle. However, unless they can revive Jim McMahon, they will be a cannon fodder team for even the worst defense in the NFL.

Payton wasn't awsome, Marvin wasn't marvelous. The Indy special teams were a half point short of awful. But, the defense, the defense, the defense. And watching Joseph and Dominick made everyone who could remember go Edgrinn who?

Kind of fun to get to say, "Let the Bear offense play. Please."

All over until next year.

Weenie

2007-02-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

wee·nie /[wee-nee]
–noun
1. Informal. a wiener.
2. Slang. penis.
3. Slang. an insignificant, disliked person.
4. Slang. A person, especially a man, who is regarded as being weak and ineffectual.
5. Football. Rex Grossman

Too Little, too Late

2007-02-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

My pledge to focus on global warming, climate change, whatever, appears to be too little, too late. Doesn't matter if people believe in global warming or not. Rather than debate it, we need to start thinking about how to live with it. If nothing else, waterfront is going to be more literal.

By SETH BORENSTEIN

PARIS - The world's leading climate scientists said global warming has begun, is "very likely" caused by man, and will be unstoppable for centuries, according to a report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The scientists — using their strongest language yet on the issue — said now that world has begun to warm, hotter temperatures and rises in sea level "would continue for centuries" no matter how much humans control their pollution. The report also linked the warming to the recent increase in stronger hurricanes.

"The observed widespread warming of the atmosphere and ocean, together with ice-mass loss, support the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that global climate change of the past 50 years can be explained without external forcing, and very likely that is not due to known natural causes alone," said the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — a group of hundreds of scientists and representatives of 113 governments.

The phrase "very likely" translates to a more than 90 percent certainty that global warming is caused by man's burning of fossil fuels. That was the strongest conclusion to date, making it nearly impossible to say natural forces are to blame.

What that means in simple language is "we have this nailed," said top U.S. climate scientist Jerry Mahlman, who originated the percentage system.

The 20-page report, which was due to be officially released later in the day, represents the most authoritative science on global warming.

The new language marked an escalation from the panel's last report in 2001, which said warming was "likely" caused by human activity. There had been speculation that the participants might try to say it is "virtually certain" man causes global warming, which translates to 99 percent certainty.

The panel predicted temperature rises of 2-11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100. That was a wider range than in the 2001 report.

However, the panel also said its best estimate was for temperature rises of 3.2-7.1 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2001, all the panel gave was a range of 2.5-10.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

On sea levels, the report projects rises of 7-23 inches by the end of the century. An additional 3.9-7.8 inches are possible if recent, surprising melting of polar ice sheets continues.

But there is some cold comfort. Some, but not all, of the projected temperature and sea level rises are slightly lower than projected in a previous report in 2001. That is mostly due to use of more likely scenarios and would still result in dramatic effects across the globe, scientists said.
Many scientists had warned that this estimate was too cautious and said sea level rise could be closer to 3-5 feet because of ice sheet melt.

Nevertheless, scientists agreed the report is strong.

"There's no question that the powerful language is intimately linked to the more powerful science," said one of the study's many co-authors, Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria, who spoke by phone from Canada. He said the report was based on science that is rock-solid, peer-reviewed, and consensus.

"It's very conservative. Scientists by their nature are skeptics."

The scientists wrote the report based on years of peer-reviewed research and government officials edited it with an eye toward the required unanimous approval by world governments.
In the end, there was little debate on the strength of the wording about the role of man in global warming.

The panel quickly agreed Thursday on two of the most contentious issues: attributing global warming to man-made burning of fossil fuels and connecting it to a recent increase in stronger hurricanes.

Negotiations over a third and more difficult issue — how much the sea level is predicted to rise by 2100 — went into the night Thursday with a deadline approaching for the report.

While critics call the panel overly alarmist, it is by nature relatively cautious because it relies on hundreds of scientists, including skeptics.

"I hope that policymakers will be quite convinced by this message," said Riibeta Abeta, a delegate whose island nation Kiribati is threatened by rising seas. "The purpose is to get them moving."

The Chinese delegation was resistant to strong wording on global warming, said Barbados delegate Leonard Fields and others. China has increasingly turned to fossil fuels for its huge and growing energy needs.

The U.S. government delegation was not one of the more vocal groups in the debate over whether warming is man-made, said officials from other countries. And several attendees credited the head of the panel session, Susan Solomon, a top U.S. government climate scientist, with pushing through the agreement so quickly.

The Bush administration acknowledges that global warming is man-made and a problem that must be dealt with, Bush science adviser John Marburger has said. However, Bush continues to reject mandatory limits on so-called "greenhouse" gases.

But this is more than just a U.S. issue.

"What you're trying to do is get the whole planet under the proverbial tent in how to deal with this, not just the rich countries," Mahlman said Thursday. "I think we're in a different kind of game now."

The panel, created by the United Nations in 1988, releases its assessments every five or six years — although scientists have been observing aspects of climate change since as far back as the 1960s. The reports are released in phases — this is the first of four this year.

The next report is due in April and will discuss the effects of global warming. But that issue was touched upon in the current document.

The report says that global warming has made stronger hurricanes, including those on the Atlantic Ocean, such as Hurricane Katrina.

The report said that an increase in hurricane and tropical cyclone strength since 1970 "more likely than not" can be attributed to man-made global warming. The scientists said global warming's connection varies with storms in different parts of the world, but that the storms that strike the Americas are global warming-influenced.

That's a contrast from the 2001 which said there was not enough evidence to make such a conclusion. And it conflicts with a November 2006 statement by the World Meteorological Organization, which helped found the IPCC. The meteorological group said it could not link past stronger storms to global warming.

Fields — of Barbados, a country in the path of many hurricanes — said the new wording was "very important." He noted that insurance companies — which look to science to calculate storm risk — "watch the language, too."

What goes around...

2007-01-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

Interesting turn of events. My new year's resolution has become part of my job. My assignment is to monitor my agency's contribution to the effects of climate change, and facilitate activities with the intent to change. Despite my interest in climate change, I didn't see this coming.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 43.20A RCW (Department of Social and Health Services)
to read as follows:

(1) The department shall evaluate its activities and their effect on the climate in terms of the total amount of greenhouse gases produced.

(2) The department shall report to the legislature every two years, beginning in 2008. The report must include, but is not limited to:

(a) The total amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide;

(b) How the department is incorporating the effects of climate changes into its programs and activities;

(c) The interest groups involved with aiding the department in climate change issues; and

(d) The adaptations, activities, and technology used to reduce the effects on climate.

Bush is almost a believer

2007-01-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
President Bush will outline a policy on global warming next week in his State of the Union speech but has not dropped his opposition to mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions, the White House said on Tuesday.

"It's not accurate. It's wrong," White House spokesman Tony Snow said regarding media reports suggesting that Bush would agree to mandatory emissions caps in an effort to combat global warming. Such caps could require energy conservation and pollution curbs.

"If you're talking about enforceable carbon caps, in terms of industry-wide and nation-wide, we knocked that down. That's not something we're talking about," Snow said.

Britain's "The Observer" newspaper reported on Sunday that senior Downing Street officials, who were not named, said Bush was preparing to issue a changed climate policy during his annual State of the Union speech on January 23.

U.S. allies such as Britain and Germany have pressed for a new global agreement on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. Bush withdrew the United States from the protocol in 2001, saying its targets for reducing carbon emissions would unfairly hurt the U.S. economy.

"We'll have a State of the Union address in a week and we'll lay out our policy on global warming," Snow said when asked whether British Prime Minister Tony Blair had persuaded Bush to agree to tougher action to combat global warming.

Bush has pushed a series of initiatives aimed at encouraging the development of alternative energy sources such as hydrogen and ethanol. That theme is expected to be emphasized in his speech.

Germany is hosting the Group of Eight summit later this year and German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to make the fight against climate change a top issue on the agenda.

Meeting with Merkel at the White House earlier this month, Bush said he was committed to "promoting new technologies that will promote energy efficiency, and at the same time do a better job of protecting the world's environment."

The topic of climate change also came up on Tuesday when Bush met with new U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon. Ban raised the subject, according to a U.N. source.

"This is a global problem that calls for global leadership," the source quoted U.N. secretary general as telling Bush. According to the source, Bush said that those who sign on to protocols like Kyoto need to live by them.

EVOLVING
Bush administration stances on global warming and other environmental issues appear to have evolved over the last year, starting with the president's 2006 State of the Union address, when he called U.S. addiction to foreign oil a serious problem that required more spending on new technologies.

After years of skepticism and calls for more research into the causes of global warming, Bush acknowledged last summer that humans exacerbate the problem.

His administration also is considering designating polar bears, whose icy habitat has been melting in recent years, as an endangered species. That could pressure the government to impose tougher measures to avoid global warming.

Snow suggested the president was sticking to his emphasis on voluntary steps to curb emissions.
"The president believes in doing everything in our power to use innovation and the power of innovation to achieve people's goals of having cleaner energy and abundant energy," he said.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Zabarenko)

Climate Change for the Global Warming Poopooers

2007-01-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

For those who debunk the concept of global warming, this should gladden their hearts.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - A storm blamed for at least 39 deaths in six states spread into the Northeast on Monday, coating trees, power lines and roads with a shell of ice up to a half-inch thick and knocking out power to more than half a million homes and businesses.

Ice-covered roads cut into Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observances from Albany, N.Y., to Fort Worth and Austin, Texas, where officials also canceled Gov. Rick Perry's inauguration parade on Tuesday because another round of ice was expected during the night.

The weight of the ice snapped tree limbs and took down power lines, knocking out electricity to about 135,000 customers in New York state and New Hampshire.

Even in Maine, a state well-accustomed to winter weather, a layer of sleet and snow on roads shut down businesses, day care centers and schools.

In hard-hit Missouri, the utility company Ameren said it would probably not have everyone's lights back on until Wednesday night. Overnight temperatures were expected to drop into the single digits. As of Monday afternoon, about 312,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity.

Missouri National Guardsmen went door to door, checking on residents, and helped clear slick roads.

About 106,500 homes and businesses blacked out in Oklahoma, some of them since the storm's first wave struck on Friday, also were still waiting for power Monday. Ice built up by sleet and freezing rain was 4 inches thick in places.

"Emergency responders are having a hard time getting to residents where their services are needed because of trees and power lines in the road," said Pittsburg County, Okla., Undersheriff Richard Sexton.

The Army Corps of Engineers dispatched soldiers from Tulsa to deliver 100 emergency generators to the McAlester area. Fifty additional generators were being sent from Fort Worth, Texas, by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. About 127,000 customers were without electricity Monday in Michigan.

More than 160 flights were canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Before dawn Monday, a car slid into the path of a dump truck on an icy New York highway in Sennett, 20 miles west of Syracuse, killing the car's driver and two passengers.

"It was very icy, rainy, a snow-sleet mix, so definitely the road conditions had a lot to do with this," Sheriff David Gould said.

A wave of arctic air trailed the storm and was expected to push temperatures into the single digits in some areas. Oklahoma officials strongly discouraged travel, saying the frigid weather would refreeze slush and water on roads.

Waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow since Friday had been blamed for at least 15 deaths in Oklahoma, eight in Missouri, eight in Iowa, four in New York, three in Texas and one in Maine. Seven of the Oklahoma deaths occurred when a minivan carrying 12 people slid off an icy highway Sunday and hit an oncoming truck.

In California, three nights of freezing temperatures have destroyed up to three-quarters of California's $1 billion citrus crop, according to an estimate issued Monday. Other crops, including avocados and strawberries, also suffered damage.

The newest version of the same

2007-01-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

BAGHDAD - Washington's top general and diplomat in Iraq conceded on Monday that past experience might breed doubts about a new U.S.-backed Iraqi security plan for Baghdad but they insisted this time will be different. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist, announced the plan a week ago and President Bush has pledged 21,500 extra troops, most for Baghdad, saying the plan's success will "in large part determine the outcome in Iraq."

I don't think anything the US does will determine the outcome in Iraq. All it will determine is how long it will take them to drive us out. Eventually, despite our worst efforts to keep them from getting to do this, Iraq will determine their own future.

Nigerian president calls for international action on climate change

2007-01-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

Nice to see our president is focused on killing Iraq while other countries, even some in the third world, are figuring out the "climate change" controversary. Maybe they need ExxonMobil to help them focus on what's important, like they did for Bush.

ACCRA (AFP) - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for international assistance to help Africa deal with the devastation caused by climate change.

Speaking at a conference on German-African partnership in the Ghanaian capital Accra, Obasanjo called late Saturday on all nations to adhere to international protocols the environment.

He said deforestation was having a detrimental effect on the continent's ecology and called for urgent action to prevent Lake Chad, a shallow lake providing water to millions of people in several African countries, from drying up.

"We have to do something about the lake so that about 10 million people will not be out of water," Obasanjo warned.

Lake Chad borders Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad. Water levels have been falling in recent years due to climate change and increased human usage.
The conference, hosted by Ghana's President John Kufuor, was being attended by German President and former International Monetary Fund head Horst Koehler during a four-day visit to Ghana.

Also attending were presidents and 50 youth leaders from 18 African countries, including Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare.

Koehler used the event to call earlier on Saturday for the European Union to change its attitude toward Africa and address double standards in areas such as trade and human rights.

"It is inconsistent that we in Europe demand justice while closing our eyes to injustice in Africa. This also means that we in the north must change our behaviour," he said.

Alternate plan for Iraq

2007-01-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Why isn't the alternate plan for Iraq leaving Iraq? Having served in Vietnam, I know first hand how occupying a country that hates all of us does not work for "democracy," not even Bush' s version. The United States cannot rule the world, or even an oppressed country, if the people in the country don't want them to. The only way we can "win" in Iraq is kill everyone. Is that what we really want?

Leaving Iraq. Admitting we can't determine everyone's destiny for them and ram it down their throats. Admitting we are just another country on this planet. Working to rebuild, like with Vietnam, when Iraq ready. The sooner we leave, the sooner stability can come. Yes, people will continue to die until the country determines it's own fate. But what are people doing now?

Unseasonable Weather Jolts Northeast

2007-01-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

No one mentions global warming anymore....Not.

By JOHN KEKIS, Associated Press Writer 17 minutes ago
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - As Marie Goff drove up the muddy access road to the top of the bobsled track at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Saturday, the thermometer on the dashboard caught her eye.

"Unbelievable, 51 degrees," said Goff, a driver for the Olympic Regional Development Authority.

"Thank goodness it stopped raining and thank goodness the track is refrigerated."

The balmy winter, which has sap running, the buds on the trees are sprouting, and dogs are shedding their winter coats, has been unlike any other in Goff's memory, and she's 83.

The National Weather Service reported record or near-record temperatures across the region Saturday after a long warm spell.

Albany International Airport hit 71 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The temperature at Boston's Logan International Airport was 69 degrees at about 2:30 p.m. In New Jersey, all-time records set in 1950 were broken in Newark, Trenton and Atlantic City. And in New York City's Central Park, the thermometer hit 72, tying January's all-time high. The city, and much of the region, has seen no snow this winter.

"I can remember a thaw at Christmas many times, but not for the length of time we've had this year," said Goff, who was ferrying passengers at the Chevrolet Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge, a competition on ice by racecar drivers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected a December, January and February about 2 percent warmer in the Northeast than the 30-year average, citing both the oscillation of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific, or El Nino, as well as long-term climate trends.

A cold front coming into the Northeast was expected to begin lowering temperatures Saturday night, said Neil Stuart, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Eight of the 12 warmest years on record have happened since 1990, and the big culprit for the overall trend has been global warming, said David Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist at Rutgers University.

"You can't explain this without including the enhancement of greenhouse gases," Robinson said.

The weather is bad news for some businesses. Kelly Belli, 34, a secretary at Aero Snow Removal's office in Newark, N.J., said worrying wasn't going to solve the lack of business, she said.

"You can't change the weather," she said. "It is what it is."

Where's the snow?

2007-01-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

One good thing about climate changes, some places are getting better? Battered west coasties can vacation in NY, where the highs today are in the 70s. NYC has no snow yet this winter, a new first (January 5) in recorded history. What will summer bring? For snow lovers, Denver has had three years worth of accomulated snow in the past three weeks. Guess they are getting NY's snow.

Wonder if some day Malibu Beach will become Malibu Desert, Denver will be Antarctica, and NY will be the Riviera. Not to worry, everyone knows Global Warming is a myth.

LOS ANGELES - A major wind storm has blacked out thousands of customers, boosted the danger of wildfires and whipped up a dust storm linked to two deaths.

Strong Santa Ana wind is customary in Southern California in December and February, but this storm, which was continuing Saturday, is one of the fiercest in years, meteorologists said. Gusts to 62 mph were reported late Friday in the Malibu hills, and wind was measured at more than 80 mph in some mountain passes.

The National Weather Service declared a red flag warning for fire danger because of the wind and the Los Angeles County Fire Department stationed 100 additional firefighters in vulnerable areas.

A minivan hit a tour bus during a dust storm Friday near Barstow, killing a 56-year-old woman and her 13-year-old grandson, said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Arnswald. Several others were injured in the multivehicle wreck.

"When I came through (after the crash), the visibility was nonexistent. There was just sand everywhere," Arnswald said. "I had been there just 20 minutes earlier, and there was no sand and everything was clear."

The wind also downed scores of trees and utility lines, knocking out electrical service Friday to more than 100,000 homes and businesses.

Switched to the new version

2007-01-04T19:55:00.000-08:00

So, what's different?

Climate Change in W Washington

2007-01-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

This is from the National Weather Service

Consider this message as a heads up.....looks like we are going to get a major change in the weather pattern next week.

You are welcome to forward this message to other interested parties.

Impacts of El Nino are starting to take hold in the Pacific Ocean weather pattern. A Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) has crossed into the western Pacific tropical region and is heading east. For you weather junkies and those who have not attended our fall media/emergency management workshops in the past, much more about the MJO is available from the NOAA/NWS Climate Prediction Center at:

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/MJO/mjo.shtml

As the MJO heads east toward central America during the next week or so, the weather pattern across the Pacific and for that matter, the northern hemisphere is forecast to shift dramatically. Bottom line for our area is that a major ridge of high pressure is forecast to set up south of Alaska with lower pressure over the western U.S., pushing the storm track south into California and the inter-mountain region.

So what does that mean? After we get by this weekend with yet another wet and windy storm, the storm track will shift from a general west to east pattern to a north-south orientation in the Mon-Wed time frame and a colder air mass from the interior of western Canada is anticipated to descend into western Washington and much of the western U.S.

The transition from our current pattern to the new weather pattern may involve some lowland snow mid-week. Temperatures will cool into the 20s and 30s in our region by Wed or Thu. In the longer term, this MJO may finally initiate the long-awaited El Nino weather pattern with the storm track predominately across the southern tier of the U.S. Until that occurs full-time, we will have to endure a period of below normal temperatures.

Bottom line - consider this message as a heads up and to watch NWS weather forecasts and any statements closely through next week via our web site at

http://www.weather.gov/seattle/

Another quite interesting feature on our web site is our area forecast discussion issued every 6 hours, where forecasters discuss the upcoming weather pattern and confidence - kind of reading between the lines of the forecast. The area forecast discussion (AFD) can be found at this link:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/forecasts.php

The latest 6-10 day outlook is at the following link, demonstrating the confidence in colder than normal temperatures for the Pacific NW. In addition, I added what the upper level weather pattern may look like mid-week next week (flow moving from north to south into the western U.S.) at this link.

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/610temp.new.gif

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/
analysis/namer/gfs/12/images/gfs_500_156s.gif

Group: ExxonMobil paid to mislead public

2007-01-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

Thought this was interesting, including the link between EM and cigarette disinformation.

WASHINGTON - ExxonMobil Corp. gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in a coordinated effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming, the Union of Concerned Scientists asserted Wednesday.

The report by the science-based nonprofit advocacy group mirrors similar claims by Britain's leading scientific academy. Last September, The Royal Society wrote the oil company asking it to halt support for groups that "misrepresented the science of climate change."

ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the scientific advocacy group's report.

Many scientists say accumulating carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from tailpipes and smokestacks are warming the atmosphere like a greenhouse, melting Arctic sea ice, alpine glaciers and disturbing the lives of animals and plants.

ExxonMobil lists on its Web site nearly $133 million in 2005 contributions globally, including $6.8 million for "public information and policy research" distributed to more than 140 think-tanks, universities, foundations, associations and other groups. Some of those have publicly disputed the link between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

But in September, the company said in response to the Royal Society that it funded groups which research "significant policy issues and promote informed discussion on issues of direct relevance to the company." It said the groups do not speak for the company.

Alden Meyer, the Union of Concerned Scientists' strategy and policy director, said in a teleconference that ExxonMobil based its tactics on those of tobacco companies, spreading uncertainty by misrepresenting peer-reviewed scientific studies or cherry-picking facts.

Dr. James McCarthy, a professor at Harvard University, said the company has sought to "create the illusion of a vigorous debate" about global warming.

The other side of the fence

2007-01-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

Or the middle anyway.

Finding a middle ground in the debate on climate change
By Andrew C. Revkin Published: January 1, 2007

NEW YORK: Amid the shouting lately about whether global warming is a human-caused catastrophe or a hoax, some usually staid climate scientists in the usually invisible middle are speaking up.

The discourse over the issue has been feverish since Hurricane Katrina. Seizing the moment, many environmental campaigners, including the former U.S. vice president, Al Gore, and some scientists have portrayed the growing human influence on the climate as an unfolding disaster that is already measurably strengthening hurricanes, spreading diseases and amplifying recent droughts and deluges.

Conservative politicians and a few scientists, many with ties to energy companies, have variously countered that human-driven warming is inconsequential, unproved or a manufactured crisis.

A third stance is now emerging, espoused by many experts who challenge both poles of the debate.

They agree that accumulating carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe gases probably pose a momentous environmental challenge, but say the appropriate response is more akin to buying fire insurance and installing sprinklers and new wiring in an old, irreplaceable house (the home planet) than to fighting a fire already raging.

"Climate change presents a very real risk," said Carl Wunsch, a climate expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It seems worth a very large premium to insure ourselves against the most catastrophic scenarios."

"Claiming we can calculate the probabilities with any degree of skill seems equally stupid," he said.

Many in this camp seek a policy of reducing vulnerability to all climate extremes while building public support for a shift to nonpolluting energy sources.

They have made their voices heard in Web logs, news media interviews and at least one statement from a large scientific group, the World Meteorological Organization. In early December, that group posted a statement written by a committee consisting of most of the climatologists assessing whether warming seas have affected hurricanes.

While each degree of warming of tropical oceans is likely to intensify such storms a percentage point or two in the future, they said, there is no firm evidence of a heat-triggered strengthening in storms in recent years. The experts added that the recent increase in the impact of storms was because of more people getting in harm's way.

There are enough experts holding such views that Roger Pielke Jr., a political scientist and blogger at the University of Colorado, Boulder, came up with a name for them (and himself): "nonskeptical heretics." "A lot of people have independently come to the same sort of conclusion," Pielke said. "We do have a problem, we do need to act, but what actions are practical and pragmatic?"

This approach was most publicly laid out in an opinion article on the BBC Web site in November by Mike Hulme, director of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research in Britain. Hulme said that shrill voices crying doom could paralyze instead of inspire. "I have found myself increasingly chastised by climate change campaigners when my public statements and lectures on climate change have not satisfied their thirst for environmental drama," he wrote.

Carbon Dioxide

2007-01-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

Interesting, who is one what side. Reminds me of a group of important people who said taking Iraq would be "shock and awe." I'm curious to know how well passing a law that says we aren't in global warming will affect global warming.

Supreme Court takes up issue of carbon dioxide emissions
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is defending its refusal to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new motor vehicles in the first case about global warming to reach the Supreme Court.

The Environmental Protection Agency lacks the power to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, the administration said in court papers. Even if it had such authority, the EPA still would not use it at this point because of uncertainty surrounding the issue of global warming, the administration said.

Global climate change is "a controversial phenomenon that is far from fully understood or defined," trade associations for car and truck makers and automobile dealers said in a court filing signed by former Solicitors General Theodore Olson and Kenneth Starr that backs the administration position.

Twelve states, mainly along the nation's Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as three cities, a U.S. territory and 13 environmental groups are arguing that the EPA ignored the clear language of the Clean Air Act. Under the 1970 law, carbon dioxide is an air pollutant that threatens public health and the EPA must regulate it, they said.

The case is scheduled to be argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning.

Carbon dioxide is produced when fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas, are burned. It is the principal "greenhouse" gas that many scientists believe is flowing into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate, leading to a warming of the Earth and widespread ecological changes. One way to reduce those emissions is to have cleaner-burning cars.

"There are compelling reasons for the court to join the issue now," Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly said in a brief on behalf of the states, cities and environmental groups.

A federal appeals court in Washington, in a fractured decision in 2005, upheld the administration's position. The Supreme Court decided to take the case in June and is expected to rule before July 2007.

The court's decision could have far-reaching effects. A separate case involving the EPA's claim that the Clean Air Act similarly does not give it authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants also is making its way through the federal courts.

Together, U.S. power plants and vehicles account for 15 percent of the world output of greenhouse gases, said David Doniger, counsel for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group involved in the Supreme Court case.

An association of electric utilities, the Utility Air Regulatory Group, opposes greenhouse gas regulation. But two individual power companies, Calpine Corp. and Entergy Corp., are on the other side.

"This case makes for strange bedfellows," Entergy said in its brief. The company said it has to be able to make plans 25 years in advance, and that the EPA's current rules will not "stand the test of time."

Michigan, home of the U.S. auto industry, and eight other states are backing the EPA.

Presidents of the United States

2007-01-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

Despite our history books, George logs in at number 17.

The following served as the President of the First Continental Congress:
1. Peyton Randolph (September 5, 1774 – October 21, 1774)
2. Henry Middleton (October 22, 1774 – October 26, 1774)

The following served as the President of the Second Continental Congress:
3. Peyton Randolph (May 10, 1775 – May 23, 1775)
4. John Hancock (May 24, 1775 – October 31, 1777)
5. Henry Laurens (November 1, 1777 – December 9, 1778)
6. John Jay (December 10, 1778 – September 27, 1779)
7. Samuel Huntington (September 28, 1779 – March 1, 1781

Note: Samuel Huntington continued as president from the President of the Second Continental Congress to the President of the United States in Congress Assembled with only a title change.

The following served as President of the United States in Congress Assembled: (maximum one year terms)
7. Samuel Huntington (March 1, 1781 – July 9, 1781)
8. Thomas McKean (July 10, 1781 – November 4, 1781)

Note: Thomas McKean was the first to use the title of President of the United States.

9. John Hanson (November 5, 1781 – November 3, 1782)
10. Elias Boudinot (November 4, 1782 – November 2, 1783)
11. Thomas Mifflin (November 3, 1783 – October 31, 1784)
12. Richard Henry Lee (November 30, 1784 – November 6, 1785)
13. John Hancock (November 23, 1785 – May 29, 1786)
14. Nathaniel Gorham (June 6, 1786 – November 5, 1786)
15. Arthur St. Clair (February 2, 1787 – November 4, 1787)
16. Cyrus Griffin (January 22, 1788 – November 2, 1788)

The following served as President of the United States under the current US Constitution:
17. George Washington, 1789-1797
John Adams, 1797-1801
Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809
James Madison, 1809-1817
James Monroe, 1817-1825
John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
William Henry Harrison, 1841
John Tyler, 1841-1845
James Knox Polk, 1845-1849
Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850
Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853
Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
James Buchanan, 1857-1861
Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865
Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869
Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-1877
Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881
James Abram Garfield, 1881
Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885
Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893
Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897
William McKinley, 1897-1901
Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
William Howard Taft, 1909-1913
Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921
Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923
Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929
Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945
Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953
Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963
Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001
George Walker Bush, 2001-

Global Warming vs. Climate Change

2007-01-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

I've noticed in the past twenty-four hours that "global warming," the term, has been replaced with "climate change" by those in the know. Maybe it is a Republican thing, kind of like replacing "Christmas" with "Holiday Season" is a Democrat and governcrat (formally called bureaucrat) thing.

Watched Al Gore's "An Inconvient Truth", which used both terms, and ABC's "The Last Days on Earth", which stuck with climate change. Interesting that climate change was the number one concern of the seven most deadly potential calamities:

I think this was the order:
1. Climate Change
2. Manufactured Pandemic
3. Nuclear War
4. Asteroid Collision
5. Volcanic Activity
6. Intelligent Machines
7. Altering DNA

However, the Mayans, who had a calander ending December 21, 2012, may have discovered a castrophy ahead of the asteroid heading toward us in 2029 and again even closer in 2037.

Of all of the potential happenings, the climate change one is easiest to notice and just about the only one I can do something about, even if in some very small way. It is happening here, as Western Washington becomes warmer and with more severe weather.

When I grew up, we skated on Kitsap Lake in the winters of the 1950s. People even drove cars on it. Kitsap Lake has not frozen over in more than 20 years, not even once.

When we visited Mt. Rainier in the summer, we used to stop and play in the Nisqually Glacier caves next to the road. Those caves are now twenty-year-old trees and what little there is left of the glacier is no longer in sight.

November was the wettest month in the last 100 years, and a day in December the wettest day. 2006 was the sixth wettest year and that was with four months of zero rain. Eight of the 14 wettest years have occurred in the past ten years. We had the strongest windstorm since 1962.

We are in the midst of a climate change in Washington.

Worldwide, the ice is melting; the world is warming.

I remember the time when important people in suits would say smoking cigarettes didn't kill. Now important people in suits dispute global warming. I wonder if they are related to the cigarette people.

New Year's Resolution

2006-12-31T19:05:00.000-08:00

Lots of people make lots of New Year's resolutions, but I'm limiting mine to one. This planet we all share is going to be a much tougher place to live on, if not for us, for the generations to come, if we ALL don't band together to slow, halt, and reverse GLOBAL WARMING. If all of us make only one New Year's resolution, it should be this:

I resolve to do my part to learn, practice, and teach ways to reduce global warming.

Ten years ago, despite most of us doing nothing, we reversed reduction of the o-zone layer. This time, if most of us do something, we CAN reverse global warming.

What say you?

Some Christmas Thoughts

2006-12-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

Not my thoughts, but some actually make sense.

Hints for Having a Healthy, Happy Holiday Season

Do not take responsibility for everyone else’s holiday happiness! Delegate or divide the work among those with whom you will be sharing the holidays. Don’t rescue, if someone fails to carry out their part, let them find their own solutions and let them deal with the consequences. Don’t take on the responsibility for other people’s attitudes.

Do not reinforce whining behavior by paying attention to it. Don’t let someone else’s stress become your stress.

View any task you take on as a choice you have made. Attitude makes a difference. “I choose to…” rather than “I have to…”

Work at staying in the moment. Don’t worry about tomorrow’s tasks today. Give positive attention to the tasks before you at the moment.

Eliminate a sense of competition. The holidays are not a contest.

Do not be seduced by your own or other’s traditions. Do a “traditions inventory” to see if they are still valid, fit the need and are enjoyable. Be willing to release out-of-date traditions and build new ones. Don’t impose your traditions on others or allow their traditions to be imposed on you.

Give yourself gifts. Nurture yourself. Be a little selfish.

Do things with your family and friends that you can all enjoy. Don’t pretend to be enthusiastic. Look for alternative activities that everyone will enjoy.

Refuse to be lonely, even if you are alone. You can choose what you think and experience. Again, nurture yourself. Remember that doing is an antidote for depression. Look for those places that need you – hospitals, nursing homes, group homes, jails, etc.

Do not overspend. Avoid setting yourself up for “future stress” when the bills come in. Use your imagination to come up with meaningful gifts that say, “I’m thinking of YOU and who YOU are.” Remember love does not come with a price tag or designer label.

Get rid of all the things you dislike about the holidays. Choose your activities and the manner in which you celebrate. Give yourself permission to eliminate things that are a burden or a bother (even Christmas trees, sending cards and family dinners).

Avoid self-defeating habits. You know those things that are harmful to your health and well-being. Do not overeat. Do not drink too much. Get enough rest.

Give yourself time to remember and celebrate the true meaning of the holidays. Read familiar stories. Listen to music. Participate in holiday services if that is appropriate for you.

Take time to remember what is important

List three essential things that will make your holiday season a special experience and concentrate your energy on them.

Do what you enjoy, avoid the tyranny of “should.”

Take care of you
Eat and drink wisely.
Exercise regularly.
Make time to relax.
Get a massage or take a hot bath.

Simplify your celebration
Establish realistic time and money budgets and stick to them.
Scale your gift-giving so it is in line with your resources, values and beliefs.
If you are having a party in your home, consider hiring a maid for the pre-and post-party clean-up.
Do not put unreasonable pressure on yourself to do everything perfectly.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, share responsibility for making the holiday season happen. Ask for help.
Remain tuned to your emotions
Spend some time alone and make time for meditation or relaxation.
Extend love and joy to others – and be open to receiving as well.
Try to judge yourself and others less.
Let things happen rather than make them happen. Remain flexible.
Know that there will be delays, frustrations and disappointments.
Use waiting time to relax and revitalize yourself.
Share any feelings of sadness and discuss how to make the holiday season less painful.
Laugh more.

Help others
Look for ways to give of yourself this season.
Get involved in charitable community programs.
Involve someone else in your holiday celebrations.

White Christmas

2006-12-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

Not exactly snow covered hills and trees, but what was left over after shoveling the snowfall two days ago.

Got Gas?

2006-12-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

This is the question of the day in Washington. As many business without power include gas stations, those with power have no gas. Also, the grocery stores are both doing a booming business and running out of groceries. Some guy selling gas from his home east of Seattle was getting $15 a gallon.

I've been tagged?

2006-12-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

Something I found snooping on someone else's blog. Gail listed me.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Digging Ditches
2. Fixing Computers
3. Cleaning out dead cats under houses
4. Financial Manager in state government

Four Places I’ve lived:

1. Seattle, WA
2. San Diego, CA
3. Kita-Kamakura Japan
4. Allyn, WA

Four favorite foods

1. Major Food Groups: chocolate, peanut butter, maple (as in bars and syrup)
2. Bird (turkey, chicken)
3. Cow (steak, roast, hamburger)
4. Pasta (pizza, lasagna, noodles)

Four movies I could watch over and over:

1. Lord of the Rings (all of them)
2. Star Wars (most of them)
3. Love Actually (sap for romance)
4. Anything romantic with Keira Knightly, Meg Ryan, Kate Hudson, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts (pathatic)

Four TV shows I enjoy:

1. Pro Football
2. Survivor
3. American Idol
4. Anything romantic with Keira Knightly, Meg Ryan, Kate Hudson, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts (yeah, whatever)

Four places I’ve traveled:

1. Red Sea
2. Singapore
3. Bath, NH
4. Sedona, AZ

Four places I’d like to visit:

1. Tuscany
2. Anywhere around Tuscany
3. Anywhere on the way to Tuscany
4. Civil War sites (like Gettysburg)

Four websites I go to (almost) daily:

1. Football (Footballguys, Huddle, Yahoo Sports, NFL)
2. Blogs (Gail - that's an oops, Randy, Brooke, and sometimes mine)
3. Google (I Google everything and everyone) not a web site?
4. Dictionary (so I can't spell)

There.
To pass this on (if anyone even shows up here):

Briscoe - http://www.blogger.com/profile/7175812 (whatever?)
Randy - http://beta.blogger.com/profile/01472972660086103611 (wow)
Brooke - http://www.blogger.com/profile/6947424
IJ - http://www.blogger.com/profile/7117727

The only other blog responders with addresses still showing. Not that half even blog and I don't know how to copy and paste like Gail does.

Washington State in Crisis

2006-12-16T07:38:00.000-08:00

We had a double dose of wind storms this week. The baby storm on Tuesday night knocked out power, but the flooding was worse. The daddy storm on Thursday night did to Washington what SF did to the Seahawks. One person drowned from the rain when her basement flooded and she couldn't get out. A dozen more were killed by falling trees.

I have six tall evergreens in my back yard. I do not know how they managed to stay up through some of the gusts, but they and my fence survived vertical. Driving required numerous maneuvers around fallen trees, the most I've seen since the 1993 storm.

Much of Washington is without power still. Drove to and from work though totally dark streets, including traffic lights. No power anywhere. Buildings loomed like a post-disaster sentinels in the darkness. Only car lights broke the gloom, with strobes of light bouncing shadows against the walls. A small portion of downtown Shelton had power and stood out like a beacon of hope. The single gas station and pizza place had lineups onto the street.

My state office building in Olympia strangely had power, but the street in front of it did not. People were very gracious going home in a five lane to two merge, even giving the right side traffic the opportunity to turn left. Very slow going.

I live in a community with underground power direct from a substation. So, 20 seconds of lost power for switching was the sum of the storm. Many of my co-workers are facing up to Christmas without power and came to work to get warm. A fitness club with power had a sudden boom in membership, not for the exercise equipment, but for the showers.

The pattern continues. The snow storm that hit last month is expected to come back tonight. We just aren't having any fun this winter, which officially hasn't even started yet.

Jerame Lynn Pelkey

2006-12-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

I woke up at 4:36 this morning to let the cat out. The cat is trapped upstairs by the herd of Pomeranians on the other side of the doggy gate downstairs. So, I have to let her out the front door and let her in from the deck door to the second floor when she climbs the support beam. Poor cat. As I plopped back in bed, I hoped she would stay out until the alarm went off at 5:30. Back to sleep.

I found myself sitting on the living room couch and admiring the newly decorated tree with my family, the kids at home for Christmas, when someone settled down on the floor next to me and hugged my knees. "Hi, Daddy," she said.

"Daddy?" I don't have a daughter, although I have almost a daughter-in-law.

She appeared to be a young girl, well a teenager, probably old enough to drive, and she smiled up at me with some expectation.

"I'm Jerame Lynn Pelkey, spelled J-E-R-A-M-E, your fault for the spelling, and I'm your daughter. Better than Coquette Cheri." She shivered at the thought. "I arrived April 1, 1989, also your fault, and am 17. I'm 5'6", and weigh 125 pounds on a good day."

I tried to figure her out. She seemed to look the right age, and correctly proportioned for 17, actually quite cute, and in good shape. "Do you like that height?" I asked.

"Sure, too tall for the short guys, and tall enough for the tall guys."

I studied her some more, which didn't seem to bother her. She actually spun around to make certain I didn't miss anything, and rehugged my knees. For someone I had never met before, she didn't have a space issue. She wore layered tees and jeans that might have given her an inch of coverage in the back, as long as she didn't gain another pound.

"OK, I'm not as cute as Briscoe, and not as smart as Erin, but close enough. I passed the WASSL and got 1500 on my SATs, have a 3.8 GPA, and play basketball, twice this week."

"You have breasts," I said, rather dumb on my part.

"Duh, Daddy, and very nice ones, too, thank you." She closed one eye and squinted at me with the other. "You aren't still sore at Michael Fletcher, are you?"

"Who?" I couldn't place him, although the memories were tumbling back, sort of. Very fuzzy. I remembered someone named Mike in her life, but not why.

"Mike, the guy you caught trying to feel me up in seventh grade. My fault, he didn't want to, not in your house anyway. I double-dared him."

"Why?"

"Cause I wanted him to know I had a bra. Girl thing, OK. Get over it, Daddy."

I seemed to remember him now. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Cause you are such a prude. Some days I'm amazed I even exist. Mike's glad, though. He says you did good."

"Mike is current?"

"Double duh. Daddy, I like Mike, lots. So do you. He's coming over in a few to pick me up. We're going to shoot some hoops. We aren't doing anything else, Daddy, honest. I'm taking care of myself. Well, kissing, maybe. But not making out kissing."

"Jerame, you don't have to tell me."

"I know, but I want to. I want you to know I'm doing OK, not lonely or bored. I'm gonna have a good future, with or without Mike. I know where I'm going. You helped me, Daddy, by letting me live here for a minute."

"A minute?"

"OK, for almost an hour. Here." She touched my heart. "You let me live here. But, before I go, I need something."

Jerame tugged me off the couch and crushed herself against me. I hugged her back for a minute, then started to let go. "Stay, Daddy, stay. Please. Till you go back to sleep. Hold me."

I held her, my little girl soon to be gone. And we drifted together into sleep.

The cat banging on the deck door woke me up. 5:23 now. 47 minutes. The cat gave me 47 minutes to meet a girl, my girl, who never really existed.

Who was she? Although a dream, she seemed so real, as if I were meeting someone who might have happened, with detailed features, conversation, and a personality uniquely hers. Someone.

I’m writing down what I remember of the dream, mostly because of the very last thing she said before we drifted off.

“Promise you won’t forget me?” she asked, whispering in my ear.

“How?” I must have known it was a dream, or I wouldn’t have asked.

“Blog me, Daddy.”

So, Jerame, my little girl, wherever you are. Consider yourself blogged and not forgotten. Take care.

Snow week

2006-11-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

Well, the snow just doesn't want to go away. Today was the fourth day of cold and skating to and from work is becomming a habit. The traffic was so bad on I-5, people abandoned their vehicles in the middle of the freeway. The morning news showed cars slowly winding around the parked vehicles. Wierd.

Snow Minute

2006-11-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well, winter has arrived in Western Washington. Already the rainest month on record in many places, today we added to snow to help pad the total. Snow in Western Washington is really crummy. First, it has to rain thoroughly, to get the base wet and icy. Then, it snows really big flakes for about 2-4 inches. Then, it rains everything into a big mushy mess. Last, it freezes. So, tomorrow it is skating time.

Sometimes, so many accidents clutter the road, the cars have to wait in line for their turn. Two deep accidents are in really poor taste and Washington drivers are usually polite about their spinouts and fender benders. Makes the hour commute up to three hours. Can't wait.

Check the Munster's House pic on my pic blog.

Other than Thanksgiving

2006-11-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

It appears the war in Iraq isn't being disguised very well anymore. The body count seems to hover between 100-200 daily now, with the latest revenge being the act of buring alive random people. My question is obvious? What are we doing there?

Not to knock the world's greatest superpower, but in Iraq, we appear to be the world's greatest superpowerless. All of our efforts seem to contribute to nothing more than adding victims to the body count. If we can't even protect ourselves from Iraq "religious" groups, how can we protect them from each other?

We could divide Iraq and tell the minorities in each section to move. Then we could put up walls between them. But, would it eliminate anything? These people desperately want to kill each other, almost as much as they want to kill us. And so far our contribution is probably more in providing the weapons they use against each other than any other single thing.

Should we leave Iraq? What difference would it make other than removing both weapons and targets?

Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

Today I'm cooking my first ever turkey. I have had turkey as long as I can remember, which makes about 57 stright Thanksgivings with someone else making the turkey. So, I'm thankful for all of you turkey makes out there.

So far, making a turkey seems to be going about as well as I would expect of someone clueless about such an effort. I started by thawing the turkey in the back of the fridge. Only problem with that, the back of the fridge more likely freezes stuff than thaws it. So, I had to microwave thaw it enough to get those little barzy things apart and throw away the throwaway. Then, time for a swim.

Stuffing. Never stuffed a turkey either. Well, I've stuffed the stuffing in, but never made the stuffing to stuff.

Ever try to find directions on how to mix stuffing on the stuffing box? They have all sorts of fancy recipies for the stuffing, even stringing a birdie feeder with it. But nothing on how to prepare and stuff a turkey. But, to the rescue. The paper thing attached to one-time pan I picked up to cook the turkey in had stuffing directions. AMAZING! Now, does hot water mean boiling water or just hot tap water?

Basting the turkey. Says use spread. It lied. I melted some spread in the microwave. Put it in a cup and on for 50 seconds to get it melted. Only problem, none of the butter was left in the cup after fifty seconds. Well, the microwave needed a cleaning anyway. Tried a cube, like when making cookies; worked just fine. So, don't microwave the squishy spread stuff.

How often to baste? Easy. Every time I think about it. Baste. Works out to be once every 40 minutes or so. The one-time pan also said to cover the turkey with foil, not the plastic lid. Since I couldn't get the plastic lid to fasten tightly before I slipped the turkey in the oven, that was a gimmie.

How long to cook? Well, it has a pop-up thing that I check every time I baste. So, taking the rule of thumb, also on the paper, a 14 pound turkey should take 3.5 hours. Which means it is over half done. I'm winning.

Election 2008

2006-11-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

The day after elections is one of the best, as the smut commercials are gone. What a relief as it seems the candidates should all be in jail for all of the rotten things they are reported to do, or for all the rotten things they lie about against each other.

I'm very concerned about 2008, as Bush finally goes away. Maybe his little brother can run. "Jeb Bush - It's my turn" would make a cute button. With Bush out of favor, way out, the Dems should have a cake walk. Maybe they can trott Kerry the Clown back out and make it interesting. Personally, I'm rooting for Hil. Let Bill sleep in the First Lady's suite.

Actually, with the lack of decent leadership, maybe we should look toward actors for president. After all, it did work for Uncle Ronnie. Who would make a good president?

When Kevin Kline was president in Dave, he balanced the budget and started a jobs program. OK. He was very conservative. Better than a budget blowout and a war in Iraq. Imagine Phoebe Cates as the first lady. (with clothes on) So, one of them played a conservative.

When Michael Douglas was president, he went for fuel emmission reductions and gun control, oh, and flag burning. Imagine Katherine Zeta-Jones as the first lady. Would improve the TV ratings. He could get Martin Sheen as his chief of staff and Michael J Fox as his advisor. Hmmm, too liberal? Maybe a conservative running mate would help.

How about a Michael-Kevin ticket? With Phoebe and Katherine. Cool, but... Not dignified enough?

Dignified actors. OK. Morgan Freeman. He's done a couple of presidents and he was very dignified. Maybe with Denzel Washington, like when he was the football coach. Stong and dignified. Be different.

Too bad James Garner is too old. He acted a good president with Jack Lemon. He could run with Jack Elam, but he is gone, too. Maybe Sally Field. They did well together in a movie. And we could still really like her.

William Shatner. He could get Leonard for the VEEP. Be entertaining. Too theatrical?

Hey, Harrison Ford. Should have thought of him first. With Tom Hanks. Yeah, baby. Maybe box office translates into votes. And they are at the top.

If we could relax the out of country birth thing, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sean Connery. Arnold has the same experience as Uncle Ronnie had. And who wouldn't want James Bond watching over us?

Well, I'm out of ideas. Back to Mrs. Bill and Heintz 57.

Hey, it works

2006-10-29T20:50:00.000-08:00

My blog didn't work for ten days. Suddenly, today, it posted yesterday's failed effort, which I thought was deleted. Do not understand blog rules, active X's, and JAVA scripts. But, I did the old Bill Gates special. I made them all inactive, turned my computer off and on, made them all active, and suddenly everything worked, even yesterdays very non-political blog.

Since I'm on the subject, we in Washington are being subjected to really, really bad slogans. WA-MU is the slogan for Washington Mutual, a small bank here. The state of Washington, thereof, decided, to the tune of several hundred thousand, to create the tourest slogan Say-WA to capture the trade, from maybe Say-CA or Say-OR. After six months of Say-WA, they conducted a poll. 97% of those polled thought the slogan was not a positive boost to tourism. Seattle, not to be outdone, now proclaims themselves as the Metronatural city, and even put it on the Space Needle. Very possible they could actually beat the Say-WA poll. The nice part of course is the proper use of taxpayers' money.

Now that my blog works, I'll have to think of something positive for tomorrow.

I'm just not getting this:

2006-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

This is another article on members of the Catholic Church paying off victims of rape by their priests without any penalty to the rapest priests, unless you count rotting in hell for eternity as a penalty.

"-- LOS ANGELES - A Roman Catholic religious order and the Los Angeles Archdiocese will pay $10 million to settle allegations of clergy sexual abuse, according to representatives of those involved.

The Carmelite order will pay most of the settlement to seven people, including two who said they were sexually molested at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino. The archdiocese will contribute about 5 percent, a church spokesman said.

"We are encouraged by every settlement, and we hope every one leads to another," said attorney J. Michael Hennigan, who represents the church in Los Angeles.

Defendants included the Rev. Dominic Savino, 67, a Carmelite priest who was fired as the school's president and suspended from the priesthood in 2002 after allegations surfaced that he had molested boys in the 1970s.

Former school principal John Knoernschild and two other members of the order not associated with the school were also named.

John C. Manly, a victims' lawyer, complimented the Carmelites "for stepping up and doing the right thing," but said no amount of money could make up for the damage inflicted by the sexual abuse.

"It's been a long, hard road for the victim," he said of one of his clients.

The Carmelites ousted Savino shortly after a woman reported to the Los Angeles Archdiocese's then-new sex abuse hot line that he had abused her twin sons during a 1979 field trip.

The seven Carmelite cases are dwarfed by more than 560 unresolved claims from people who say they were abused by Catholic priests in Southern California over the last 70 years. That litigation has been pending for years as dozens of lawyers try to agree on a settlement.

Savino originally went to the all-boys school in 1977 as a part-time counselor. He left in 1986 to pursue a doctorate in psychology, then returned in 1995. --"

This is almost like every US citizen (and maybe even some illegal aliens) paying for Bush's stupity in Iraq. Wait a minute, it IS like every US citizen paying for Bush's stupity. Wonder if people rot in hell for being stupid.

PS: In order to "stay the course" one actually has to have a clue as to what the course is. So, Bush needs to amend his plan to "figure out the course" before he can "stay" it.

No politics in my blogs. :(

How I spent my summer vacation

2006-10-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

Or last night anyway.

The bod isn't what it used to be, or rather is quite a bit more than it used to be. Last night I had an extreneous part, about the size of this letter O. It is one of nature's best tortures, commonly called a kidney stone. Anyway, it left its home in my kidney (probably why they are called kidney stones) and took the journey out, bumping along happily and somewhat painlessly until it got to my...well, almost to the end. At this point, it said hello in it's special way.

EEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!

You get the drift. A couple of gallons of water later, it bid farewell at 5:15 this morning. I know as I took two Advil at 5:16 and wanted to check to see how long before I could take the next two.

So, I'm fine. Fine is an acronym. I'm also in boxers, cause anything else is just a bit too unfriendly. Don't picture me, 57 years old, 250 pounds, sittling in front of my computer in boxers. See? You shouldn't have. It's not a pretty sight. No little picture cams ever gonna be in my life.

About time

2006-09-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

Noticed the publishing world warmed up its feet and actually made a comment or two about the fanatics. Although I got but one response comment to my blogs, I did get some personal notes from those who do not want to be identified as to how dangerous it was to blog about Islam. If that doesn't tell us we have a problem, I can't imagine what could. We can't be a bunch of Chamberlains, we need to be Churchills. Hiding will only help the other guys win.

Am I missing something?

2006-09-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

The Islam world is condemning the Pope for calling them evil and inhumane. And, at the same time, they are proclaiming they will conquer the world and eliminate all other faiths, implying the people with the faiths as collatoral damage. Aren't they being exactly what the Pope is calling them? Also, where is the outrage over what crap they produce? Promising to kill all of us non Muslims is a bit more evil and inhumane than the Pope calling them. I looked for some anti-Muslim backlash, but couldn't find any. So, this is my quiet corner anti-Muslim backlash. If what they say happens, not only will they eliminate the rest of us, but they will also condemn half the world that's left, the female half, to a life of slavery. Even if the non-Muslims aren't complaining, the women should.

Bad Pope

2006-09-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Calling Muslims "evil" and "inhumane." Who would ever think that? The Muslims will probably kill a thousand people in protest just to prove him wrong. And since the Pope is infallable, he can't admit he made a mistake in order to be politically correct, even if he didn't.

Their complaint about being called inhumane kind of goes with the "Muslims Execute Nuns" article in the paper today. I wonder how many Muslim missionaries get executed by Catholics? Of couse, history doesn't favor Catholics, who invented "burned at the stake" for religious purposes.

When I was in Vietnam, we used to kill commies for Christ. Not exactly sound religious doctrine. I think "religious" people give religion a bad name.

So, are Muslims and Catholics religions, or just stereotyped cultures pretending to believe in a god.

To badly paraphrase a Bible passage and take it out of context. "The faith you have, keep between yourself and God." I like that passage, even if I mangled it.

My blood sugar is horribly screwed up due to way too much non-work things happening at work. So, if I don't sound like I'm running on all cylinders, trust me, I'm not.

Goodbye

2006-09-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today our office secretary died.

She was a little lady, who's smile warmed up everyone in the morning, and whose power walks set an example for everyone. She loved her role as a secretary, taking care of the rest of us.

Even as her illness ravaged her, she never lost her smile, and her desire to be positive. Her last day a couple of months ago, she came to visit me in my cube, about a 50 foot walk, and rested for awhile, before reminding me of something I was supposed to do. She said it with a smile and a question, "You'll take care of it?" My response was, "I will." It was our last conversation.

Janet, I already miss you. And although I only knew you at work, your spirit was so much more. When I think of you, I smile, cause your smile is what you left me with. I don't think you could have done better.

Fare well.

Fires

2006-09-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Washington is on fire. We have fires on the west side this year, thanks to no rain for months. Also thanks to Senator Hargrove, who personally eliminated the juvenile youth camps, which produced 100-200 firefighters each year, except the one in his own district in Naselle. This was to save money so he could continue funding his pet project, forcing schools to call parents every day a kid missed for every day they missed. Now incarcerated juveniles are confined to facilities without this training program. This may have saved the state some money, but the fires are burning up the profits.

One is ten miles away, and the smoke is covering the neighborhood. One is about 30 miles away, and is just going to burn until the fall rain puts it out. The lack of firefighters is taking its toll here. So, thank you Senator.

PS: The Link

2006-09-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

http://pelkeyspictures.blogspot.com/

It works

2006-09-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

After three weeks, the photo part works now. So, I'm posting photos on Pelkey's Pictures. The first is Erin's cute house in Geneva NY.

Coyotes

2006-08-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Coyotes have roamed the neighborhood here for the past 20 years. One would do a howl and growl thing about once a month, not necessarily with the moon, but not often and usually alone. Until this week.

Suddenly, the golf course over the back fence has become coyote central. They are a they now, not a single male, they are often, and they are bold. Just ask the cat, who came in last night looking just a little bit frazzled, and she didn't even leave the yard. I could hear scraping on the back fence, and see groups of yellow eyes.

For some reason, unknown, but for which I'm thankful, the Poms, 100% barking fools, don't bark. Not even a low growl. These guys will bark if I accidently scrape the wall while walking down the hall or if anyone moves too fast in their presence. They do group howls just for the sake of making noise, without any reason whatsoever. But, last night, through an hour of coyote congregation, not nary a note.

Maybe they realize to a coyote they are a happy meal. Or maybe they have heard the coyotes every night all their lives and don't think anything of it. Who knows? They never bark when the furnace comes on, but do when the ice maker drops the ice.

Right now they are in the lay around me while I'm on the computer sleep mode. So, I don't move fast or scrape walls.

Dreaded Day Job

2006-08-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well, every wannabe author's albatross is the dreaded day job. I'm no exception here, as my day job has set back my writing future almost as much as my lack of brilliance in turning the pen, er key.

My current dreaded day job is better than the past two. I can actually focus enough during off hours to attempt to complete Runners 2, my WIP started in 1991, only 15 years out.

Taking from that great movie classic, "You get what you settle for," I'm not setting well right now. Even if I am old and decrepit, I still have enough gas in the tank for another shot at doing something important, thus I'm trying to climb the corporate ladder again. One would think after six sawed off limbs, I wouldn't go out on another, but...

At my ten-year high school reunion, about mumble mumble years ago, some of my classmates were sitting around reminiscing about their high school career. It was a tough one to hear, as I wanted to know where they were going, not where they'd been.

The good ol' days are just that, probably much better relived than originally lived. But what about the good new days, the ones around the corner?

My mom and step-father-in-law are in their eighties, and are living the good new days in their assisted living center. They don't reminisce about the past (probably can't remember), they plan the future, sometimes two or three hours ahead of time. Despite being oldies, they still have that focus.

So, taking a page from their book, I'm focusing on the future. And starting with the effort to put a little less dread in the dreaded day job. Who knows what I am still capable of screwing up out there.

Not working

2006-08-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

My blog has refused to accept pictures for two days now. Maybe it took the weekend off.

I'm home again.

2006-08-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

Things one can do whilst visiting offspring who live far away in their new home.

1. Buy them stuff. Almost doesn't matter what, they appreciate almost anything.
2. Wash dishes. Especially if they don't have a dishwasher.
3. Seal a deck. Takes more time than brilliance. Vacationing dads have time.
4. Mow the lawn. See above.
5. Fix things. All those starter years of fixing things finally can pay off.
6. Do stuff with them. This is the important part.
7. Do stuff without them. This gives them some space.
8. Buy food. And cook it. Food always tastes good when someone else makes it.
9. Relax. Wow, almost an impossibility when working in todays do or die world. Relaxing was great.
10. Don't be critical. They will live their lives just as they want to when you aren't around. If you raised them correctly, or close enough, the bad habits they pick up won't outweigh the good.
11. Develop new habits. The habit of getting soft ice cream from the best place in town every evening is hard to top.
12. Enjoy being alive. Beats the alternative and can be fun.

I'm in NY

2006-08-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Upstate, where the grapes grow, the cows moo, and the roads are all two-lane and empty. I'm visiting my son Erin, who just bought a house.

I'm trying to get good pictures from my new camera, but it is a challenge. It has an autofocus, which takes some getting used to in that it wants to think about every picture and decide what is important to focus on. I get great pictures of two little bitty people in a background of fuzz, when I didn't care about the people. But, I interrupted it before it had completely made it's decision. Shooting from a moving car, some things are perfect, others are a complete blur. I'm learning to be patient. However, the plus side is the resolution is incredible. I can blow the pics up to 20x20 and the detail is perfect. At about 2.5 MP a shot, My 1 GB flash card is good for 400 pics.

I'm at Hobart and William Smith Colleges writing this. It is a very beautiful school in Geneva. Erin is a chemistry professor here. I'll post some pics when I get home.

In case you wondered

2006-07-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a day lilly.

Mixed Messages

2006-07-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

After my world opinion, decided a local opinion to balance. I think Ebenezer sitting in my day lilles looks pretty cute. This shot comes from my new Canon Powershot A620 - my new toy.

Ebenezer in the day lillies

2006-07-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

Culture Shock - theirs and ours

2006-07-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

In Lebanon, the H guys filled a building with women and children and shot rockets off the roof. When Isreal shot back, they killed the women and children, which gave the H guys a huge propaganda chip. What kind of people would be willing to do that, including the women and children willing to be blown to bits for the cause? Noted that few if any of the men hung around to get killed.

This is what Bushocracy is trying to cure in the Middle East. This is an important piece of the Muslum culture, (can't even choke out the word religion) dying for the cause. For the US to conquer the Middle East, would we would have to kill all of them, the men anyway?

Just as important as dying for the cause, or getting our side to kill them, is their side killing women and children for the cause, just for political gain. Doesn't matter whose women and children they kill, ours theirs, anyone's. They have no trouble killing their own people, Muslims killing Muslims. Or better, Muslims killing Jews. It happens here, too, like in Seattle. We are fighting a culture where life is meaningless and death is important.

Can we who fear death and love life, especially life's toys (like SUVs) co-exist with a culture who thinks we are as nuts as we think they are? And whose goal is to eliminate us, the infidels?

Our goal isn't to eliminate them. Or is it? Us pushing Bushocracy on them probably means the same to them. Which is worse?

Bushocracy is a term to cover the concept of a society where people elect their tyrants and whose tyrants try to prop up fake favorable governments in other countries with their own military. Baby Bush didn't invent it. We tried it in Europe, Vietnam, Central America, and Iran long before Baby Bush came along. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Daddy Bush are recent examples. Baby Bush just happens to be the current elected tyrant, who tried to do it in Afganistan and now is trying to do it in Iraq.

I probably have this all wrong. Or do I?

Not much blogging lately

2006-07-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

If I blogged something, it would be on what's wrong with Bush. But, it's like stating the obvious, so I'll spare the reader or two.

I could blog about my dogs, but I just did. Pix is still giving me dirty looks for trimming her.

I could blog about my house, full of European castles waiting for their miniature gardens. Hohenzollern is my favorite.

I could blog about my writing, except I'm not. Writing, that is.

So, I'll blog the weather, 95 for the third straight say. No global warming here. Not the ususal rainy weekend we used to be accustomed to. Cooking.

Have a swell day, whoever reads this. And don't forget to say hi.

And Freckel, the worry wort

2006-07-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

Freckel is in worry mode, which happens any time I try to photograph her. Again, this is greatly enhanced or she would blend with the background.

And Ester

2006-07-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

A rare picture of Ester, where you can tell where she starts and the background stops. This is enhanced.

Here's Emily

2006-07-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Since I'm showing dogs, here is Emily. A bit fluffy herself.

Pix After

2006-07-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

So, poor Pixel got shaved, sort of, shortened hair anyway. She is cooler, but not happier.

Pix Before

2006-07-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

Pix was cooking in her coat. 95 degrees does that. Not much shade under the leaf.

How to blog pictures

2006-07-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

As in, how to blog pictures?

A fellow blogger par excellance has managed to post her book cover in the column next to her blogs. Very cool looking. However, I am blog handicapped and doing what her instructions think will accomplish same, accomplishes nothing. Since it worked for her, it must be me. Anyway, I posted them in the blog, just in case anyone doesn't know.

Coming Someday (Maybe)

2006-06-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Third Book Coming Soon

2006-06-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

Second Book

2006-06-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

First Book

2006-06-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

600 miles without a single road rage

2006-06-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

I drove to Spokane and back over the weekend, in the 90-105 degree weather. The most surprising thing was the abundance of cars on the west side of Washington and the lack on the east side. But, both sides were in good moods. Everyone got along OK as we inched into and out of Seattle. But, getting to the east side, almost wanted to wave at the other cars just for their company.

One of the more interesting things in the land of empty space is cruise control. I set mine to 74, low enough to never interest a cop, and cruised for 200 miles. The only problem were the drivers who set their cruise control to 74.5 and would take 10 miles to pass me. It is wierd watching a car go by one inch at a time. I can't quite do it the other way. If I caught someone going 73.5, I sped up and passed them. Otherwise, they would end up climbing up the tail of some semi waiting for me to finish. Of course the 74.5ers don't that for me. Only I'm not patient enough to wait and instead I speed up and pass, then slow, which means they have to do it all over again. However, it gave us all something to do.

Road Rage - the saga continues

2006-06-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today was a two parter. I have two lights between my parking space and the freeway. The first is about 4.5 minutes against, 30 seconds for. I was the fifth car back, and the light can run twelve through if everyone cooperates. Well, the fourth position lady was busy multi-tasking on the phone and shuffling stuff and didn't notice the light change for about five seconds, when the driver behind me notified her. So, she threw her stuff down and moved up to the light while it was still green and stopped. The guy behind me is the mayor of honk city, so it is continous. She waits until the light turns yellow, then zips through, followed by me through the slightly orange light, and the guy behind me goes through fire engine red. The second light is about 200 feet from the first, and geared in sync. However she stops at the first blush of yellow, so we all stop. I'm thinking if she is going to sit through the green again, but no, halfway through the red, away she goes. This is very wierd. People in Washington are as guilty as any other place running red lights, but not usually right in the middle. If she is color blind, maybe she could learn top is stop and bottom is go.

So onward to home. I drive through a small town, where the road out actually is cleverly hidden from the casual out of stater. It requires a right turn, left turn, and right turn, all at unmarked intersections (if you want to avoid lights) and down a road that looks like a dead end. I was the second car behind a California driver, who turned right and left, then went, whoa, this doesn't look like a highway (not even a center line stripe). He stops in the middle of the corner and pulls out a map. Now, there is plenty of space to pull off the road, but not an option. The driver in front of me pulls up next to him and rolls down his window. Looks like he is trying to help, because we all know the state/county/city can't afford a road sign. But, the CA driver guns it, taking off about 20,000 miles from his tires and does a CA signature stop at the place for the right, and goes straight. The driver in front of me pumps his fist out the window, yeah right, and we all turn right. The CA guy isn't a complete zero, notices no one is following him and U's just as I turn. However, he has to wait out the rest of the group turning right and gets to join the back of the line. One of the drivers behind me thinks it's Sunday and they disappear from my rear view mirror. I can just see the CA guy fuming for the next ten miles down a two-line road with no place to pass. Cool.

So, the first needs a DWF citation, Driving While Female, and needs to take Remedial Pay Attention class or probably will cause an accident or some more road rage. The mayer of honk city needs a DWM, Driving While Male, and needs to take an Anger Management class or he will be the road rager. The CA driver also needs a DWM citation, Driving While Male, and needs to take a Asking Directions class and a Gas Petel Containment class. Me, I need to take a class on How to Avoid These People. This is now the third time in three weeks I've been between the road rager and the ragee.

Paper Tiger

2006-06-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

The separation of man from beast is man's ability to create masses of paper.

I'm a fiscal person, not an engineer. But, my new position has put me in contact with paper. Not from the user end, as in stuffing it in the copier and filing it in cabinets. But trying to figure out "good" paper from "evil" paper. It seems a former governor decided at the last minute (literally) to ban "evil" paper from state government. Evil paper is also called "virgin" paper. Good paper, or former-virgin paper, is called recycled paper. The odd concept is, even though it takes virgin paper to create former-virgin paper, banning virgin paper is a good thing. Maybe the governor depended on enough people to ignore his ban to keep the paper flow going, and look good at the same time, although banning evil paper didn't get him the DC cabinet position he was striving for.

If good paper comes from good recycling companies, then evil paper comes from evil companies, those who cut 5,000 year old virgin timber and strip our land of all life in order to polute our world with the recidual of making the evil paper. Only statistics don't exactly back this up. For example, we have more trees now than we did 100 years ago. Less grasslands, less wetlands, but more trees.

The grasslands and wetlands killers aren't evil paper companies, but developers. But the evil paper makers are nonetheless blamed for the loss of habitat, even when they keep habitat growing, by of all things, planting trees.

I live on one of those developments made from grasslands and wetlands, called a golf course. We have very nice grass and ponds, and Canadian geese. Stupid geese, can't they read? With the only place left to land, they think the golf course is their habitat. So what if it is exactly where they used to land 100 years ago? Don't they know the evil paper companies destroyed it?

Have you ever watched a flock of Canadian geese fly into the evening sky in their perfectly formed Vs? Or land together on a pond, skiing in sync with each other? Or get into honking wars with other geese? Much better than watching golfers duff and cuss, duff and cuss, one group after another.

The golf course people try to scare the geese away with fire crackers and dynamite. It doesn't exactly work because there is no where to scare them to. Better than the Deer Haven condo owners up the street who want to kill the deer.

I've gressed. Back to paper.

My quest, if it can be called that, is to find out the truth about paper. Can we eliminate the evil paper companies who cut and replenish our trees and replace them with 100% recycled paper companies, who don't? Can recycled paper make recycled paper forever, with nothing new added? Or are the evil paper companies going to have to stay in business, despite our best efforts, to keep us in the life style of paper we are accustomed to?

Road Rage part two

2006-06-11T11:37:00.000-07:00

Driving into an exit ramp behind a bunch of cars, with no one behind me for a half mile, I watch a nice lady in a blue car come flying in the second lane. At first I thought she was just going by, but suddenly she puts her blinker on. Well, there's plenty of room behind me. But, she is going too fast, or more important to her, we are going too slow. She passes me and tries to cut in front of the car in front of me, but it is an old pickup truck and the driver ignores her. Desperate, or something, she slams on her brakes and tries to cut in front of me, but is now going too slow and ends up trying to cut into me. I swerve and speed up a little, and her momentum carries her (gasp) behind me. Now it is honk and flashing lights time. Somehow, cars in the second lane wishing to exit have the right away over cars in the exit lane.

Not much I can do about it, but the pickup driver suddenly forgets where his gas petal is and we coast all the way to the stop sign. He goes right into the right lane, I go right into the left lane, and she goes flying by me on the right, gets right up on the pickup's bumper, flashes her lights and honks at him. Then she cuts in front of me, but since I'm making a left turn, it is a useless gesture. The pickup driver shares his IQ with her, makes a right turn and leaves her in the midde of the street alone, honking at no one.

For some people causing and being in road rage seems to be an addiction. Had she been in the proper lane and willing to wait about five seconds, she would have saved herself and us the wear and tear on our lives, and due to the pickup coasting for about a quarter mile, been actually ahead. The worst part, she probably went to work complaining about being late because of the crapy other drivers, who didn't see her coming and park and bow as she went by. She wasn't in an SUV, just a little blue Toyota, but I can see it coming.

This is the second time in a week I have been between a road rager and a victim. It isn't making my life any happier.

Coming to a Freeway near You

2006-06-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

I have heard a bit about road rage, and seen some drivers cutting off others and then getting into a close encounter for a couple of seconds. I've been cut off my share, and have watched cars speed by in pursuit of each other. But, for some fortunate fate, full meal deal road rage hasn't happened to me. Until today.

Merging onto the freeway behind some cars with the right lane empty, things looked fine. Until the Mustang in the left lane flying by suddenly slammed on his brakes and cut in front of me. A Maxima following him did the same thing, only without any room left. I managed to swap lanes without hitting him and passed the second car, as both cars were now going about 40. (No, normal people really don't go 40 on a freeway in Washington.) With the Maxima right on his tail (like about six inches) the Mustang stayed even with me until we caught up to the car who had merged in front of me, also going a bit slow for some reason. Just as I was about the pass him, the Mustang gunned it, cut in front of me, and took off. The Maxima tried to follow suit, but the car in front slowed down more and he didn't have the room. So I passed the very slow car and moved back into the right lane. The Maxima immediately flew by me and I thought things were over. Except the Mustang slammed on his brakes again, almost stopping, and again cut in front of me. The Maxima followed suit. Now we were all going 40, so not knowing what else to do, I passed them again. However, the Mustang kept even with me for the next three miles, speeding up when I did and slowing down. The driver was a elderly Jewish man, complete with flowing beard and cap thing.

When we came upon another car, also going slow, I passed and pulled into the right lane. So instead of being on my right, the Mustang now stayed even with me on my left, the Maxima still about six inches off his tail. We continued along until we came to another intersection where a car pulling out was going slow enough for us to catch him. The Mustang left me and cut in front of the next car.

When the Maxima pulled next to me, I got a long look at the driver, who to my shock was a arab. I pulled out my cell phone and waved it at him, not like a gun, but like I'm now dialing 911, which I did. The Maxima driver, when he saw my cell phone, sped away, at the California freeway speed, of 80 something.

So, I got the state patrol. When I described the situation, they got all exciting, even yelling at me for "endangering" myself by waving the cell phone. Like what else was I supposed to do, pull over and let him attack me with his box cutter? Oops, profiling. Anyway, they were still interested right up until I described the drivers. They got throught the Jewish man, beard, cap, but when I said the second driver was a arab, they hung up on me.

I know it is politically incorrect to think in terms of racist, but it appears this wasn't just road rage, but ethnic road rage. It was a very scary thought.

Anyway, the arab sped away and was out of sight. The Jew settled down and slowly left me. When we came to the next merge, he was about a quarter mile ahead of me. But, then he did a very stupid thing. As the vehicles slowed into the merge with just a few feet left in the right lane, he suddenly passed the car in front of him and cut in front of him. This car had not been involved in anything.

At that point it dawned on me as to what may have happened. The Jew had cut off the arab, and they were battling away when I interrupted them. But, the Jew didn't learn anything from the experience.

If you are going to run around in your beard and cap, and therefore, profile yourself, driving like an idiot doesn't help. For me, not to be blanket prejudice, I wish these two would take their acts somewhere else, like the Middle East, and leave me alone.

But, that isn't going to happen. The Middle East, due to the melting pot this country is always been, has come here. We can't run and we can't hide. And, it doesn't seem we can do anything to solve the road rage between fat red-neck Nothern European decent white guys with no history of hate, mush less than between races who have hated each other for 3,000 years.

Da Vinci Code

2006-05-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I joined the couple of other people on the face of the earth and now have seen the movie of madness and anti-Christian efforts, so I'm told. Actually, it wasn't as nearly as bad as described, nor as good as the sales indicate. It followed the book sufficiently to give readers a view of the places and events described. It had pleasingly good actors in Tom and Audry, although they didn't have great chemistry. It was too fast at the beginning, did too much talking and not enough showing, and left out a bunch of detail. It was better than Cider House Rules movie compared to book version and much worse than any Lord of the Rings or Bourne series movies. It isn't going to be a great success, because other than seeing the interesting places, most likely nothing will motive the movie goer to watch it again. Better to re-read the book.

Most important, it didn't live up to all of the anti-Christain hype attributed to it. Actually, one of the major plot points in the movie depicted Tom as being quite devote when it mattered, when he was facing death. It did depict Audry as being in the lineage of Christ, but so unoffenceably it hardly was noticed. It fluffed away the Opus Dei connection to the point of the audience barely noticed the Catholic connection.

People hated The Passion of Christ movie and wanted this one to be worse for comparison. In truth, it appears to make the established church seem a bit foolish for all of their complaining about very little. The worst scenes were not of the alternate Christ revelation, which was the complaint focus, but of the flagulation by the Opus Dei monk. If any backlash could possibly occur about Opus Dei, it would be if in reality they actually do flagulation, it would seem to me to be a really good reason to oppose them as they engage in a very non-Christian activity, kind of on the line of killing females as witches. Jesus was tortured and killed as a substitute for Christians, which means this is taken care of. The very act of flagulation is an act of no faith in Jesus, not as an act of faith, as it seems to say Jesus's death wasn't good enough.

Anyway, I'm glad I went, just to prove to myself I can see such a debacle and not be shattered in my faith. I would say the movie, Office Space, was a worse slam on those would want to live a chaste life, although much more subtle.

To Catholic or not to Catholic

2006-05-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

Some of my more serious blogs have been in reference to The Da Vinci Code and the Catholic backlash and the backlash to the Catholic backlash. I admit I'm not particularly crazy about the Catholics, from their history of "death to the infidels," everyone not Catholic, to their insistance that their clergy remain virgins (at least from the point of ordainment) and the consequences of a whole bunch of them flunking virginity with children and being coddled and covered up for it.

I think thoughts like: If Peter was the first Pope, I wonder what his wife was. And if those in power wanted his wife written out of the script, why did they leave in the mom-in-law line?

He who bashes Catholics can't complain about others who bash Catholics. However, I was surprised when I found this in the Wikipedia. Half of Christians (established religion Christians anyway) are Catholic, which didn't suprise me. The surprise was the discussion as to if Catholics even are Christians. I linked and printed it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic

The Roman Catholic Church, or Catholic Church, is the largest Christian Church in the world. According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Church,[1] the Church's worldwide recorded membership at the end of 2003 was 1,085,557,000, over half of the estimate at that time of the total number of Christians. It is led by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, currently His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

It has defined itself as "the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter" — i.e. the Pope — "and the bishops in communion with him."[2] It teaches that it is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of all people.

There are some non-Catholics, however, who take issue with defining the Catholic Church as "Christian" because of its inclusion of various practices that seem, to some Protestants, at odds with their understanding of Biblical teaching. These include the veneration of specific saints, including Mary, and the teaching of such ideas as purgatory and the salvation that comes through faith and works (as opposed to merely faith). The Catholic Church's understanding of the Bible as the written part of a larger "tradition" (here, "tradition" in the technical sense, of the "deposit of faith handed down from Christ," not in the usual use of the term as mere "custom" or "practice") is also at odds with Protestant theology which emphasizes the Bible alone as a standard for belief. Those Christians who characterize Catholicism as "non-Christian" charge that the teachings of the Church are cult-like and rooted in pagan traditions -- some go so far as to identify Catholicism with the "Great Whore of Babylon" of the Book of Revelation.

Wow. I would have thought an opening "encyclopedia" discussion would be a little more neutral, not 60% bashing. This to me is below the belt Catholic bashing, calling them heathen in a theoritical unbiased description, which encyclopedias used to be famous for. Or maybe they weren't. More like I was even more naive before than I am now. So, I decided to look for something positive to say about Catholics and did, again in Wikipedia:

Among the positive things mentioned that I also didn't know was a movement by the Catholics to fix themselves, called the Counter-Reformation.

The Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation was a movement within the Roman Catholic Church to reform itself in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Reformation was comprehensive and comprised five major elements:

Doctrine
Ecclesiastical or Structural Reconfiguration
Religious Orders
Spiritual Movements
Political Dimensions

Such reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church, the reform of religious life to returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focus on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality.

Don't know if this is correct, really happened or what. But, it did give me some promise. Anyone with a personal relationship with Christ is a Christian, to my simple mind anyway, including Catholics.

Final Four (May Madness?)

2006-05-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

As with March Madness, my picks for American Idol are long gone now. But, unlike the basketball ending, no singer is looking like Florida. More so each week, they seem to be emulating a contest to see who can improve the least. Paris, who wasn't the worst singer, but who probably was the least marketable at her current age, leaves Katherine alone with the three guys. Hopefully, she will prevail, not that I buy any CDs at my old age. However, I can't see any of the guys being the next Carrie Underwood. More like the next Ruben Studdard.

Although I'm certain this isn't important, this is the worst of the American Idol seasons, and may be the turning point for downhill. With reality show saturation, this would not break my heart. I've been through comedy (Sid, Phil, and Lucy - boy, am I old), variety (Ed, Steve, Carol), Western (Roy, Ben, Bret, Chester, Ward, Clint - lots of westerns), the father-figure led family (Ozzie, Beaver, Shelly), detective (Kojak, Bret again, squinty eye), Soap (D, D2, Knots, Billy Crystal), the sit-com family (Dr. H, Michael J, the bar in Boston), the do-nothing family-free sit-com (Kramer, Joey), and now the reality era (Colleen, Ramber, Hung), combating crime scenes "dem bones" and "is there a doctor in the house" for the top spot. Wonder what is coming next?

Bush vs. Vietnam

2006-05-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

I know for the military and veterans (active ones anyway) Bush was a breath of fresh air after Clinton, but I'm not able to equate what is happening in Iraq as being the right thing. Having been in Vietnam, the parallel is too close. We can't turn other cultures into ourselves with might.

If I were an Iraqi, and had only rocks to throw, I would throw them until the last American left. Imagine Iraq conquering us and demanding we embrace their culture. It isn't as much right vs. wrong, as many proclaim, it is us against them. And, as with Vietnam, us don't always win with might.

But, also as with Vietnam, or Japan, or Germany, or England 200 years ago, what is war today can be something else later. As what happened in Vietnam, for us to succeed in Iraq, I think we need to leave town first.

Could not pass this up

2006-04-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

After the seriousness of my last several blogs, I could not resist passing on this from my good buddy IJ. As I live in a cube farm, compared to his life on a real farm, I know first hand most of the below. Just didn't have a good handle for them. Thanks, IJ.

These are words you might not find on your "Word of the Day" calendar or webpage:
NEW WORDS FOR 2006 -- Essential additions for the workplace vocabulary:

BLAMESTORMING: Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible. (I've actually attending meetings exactly for this purpose.)

SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves. (Bush is a long-term Seagull Manager.)

ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than by working hard. (I suck at this, hence my up and down career.)

SALMON DAY: The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end. (This used to be every day. Now I have a cool job; it only happens about once a week.)

CUBE FARM: An office filled with cubicles. (My life for the past 25 years. Happiness is a cool looking cube.)

PRAIRIE DOGGING: When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on. (For you few who are not in cube farms, this is one of the highlights of the day.)

MOUSE POTATO: The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato. (Does 12-16 hours a day count?)

STRESS PUPPY: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny. (Currently, I'm suffering from lack of crisis anxiety.)

IRRITAINMENT: Entertainment and media spectacles that are annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. The Anna Nicole show or the Bachelor are prime examples. (For me, it's Survivor and American Idol. I can't imagine anyone desperate enough to watch Anna Nicole do anything, including Anna Nicole. Of Course, some people can't imagine anyone desperate enough to watch Survivor and American Idol.)

PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again. (Sometimes this actually works. I just got my speaker to work by slapping it upside the head.)

ADMINISPHERE: The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. (Herein lies the heart of a good bureaucracy, wherest I lie, or am. I think I lie there, too, especially when putting together a budget.)

404: Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message"404 Not Found" (meaning that the requested document, like the person's brain, could not be located.) (Finally, a definition of me.)

GENERICA: Features of the North American landscapes that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, subdivisions. (This is where I go for lunch.)

OHNOSECOND: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake. (I've had a lot of these. Probably should have another one the second I post this blog.)

WOOFYS: Well Off Older Folks. (My parents happily woofed along for many years.)

CROP DUSTING: Surreptitiously farting while passing through a cube farm, then enjoying the sounds of dismay and disgust (leads to PRAIRIE DOGGING). (I almost deleted this. Fortunately, no one where I work reads my blogs. No one else does either.)

I'm adding one:
EMPTY PARKING LOT: What I view stepping out of my building at 5:00:01 on Friday.

Response to the response

2006-04-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Did I make a mistake about graven images? As a Lutheran in confirmation, we studied the commandments, the same as the catholic version. When I broght up graven images, I was told it wasn't important. The response from my pastor still floors me, 43 years later. Not important? Although graven images is in everyone's Bible, it suffers from what is probably one of the greatest cover-ups in history.

A personal relationship with God is what the faith part of religion is about. The rest appears to be cultural, and as bad as this sounds, secular. People killing people based on their religion is an example of what not having faith is all about. To me, killing is the opposite of faith. And it doesn't just pertain to followers of the Bible. Followers of the Torah and Koran aren't following their own religions if they think killing those who think differently is OK.

Faith in God is personal. You can share your faith, but you can never make your exact faith be someone else's exact faith. You can never make your own exact faith be your own exact faith 100% of the time. What goes on in the mind is between you and God, and no one else will ever truely know.

What about one way to God? If only the Christian faith works (or Islam or Judiasm or Hindu or Buddist) are the rest condemned to hell? By the way, hell as revealed to me isn't a fierly pit with Al Pacino holding court. It is the absence of God. None of us know what hell is like because none of us have ever been without God.

I grew up a Christian, which means I believed all other religions were evil in they were leading their followers directly to hell. This remains the standard rule of many religions. But, at the same time, those with other religions, some believe they are in direct communication with God and their religion has been revealed as being correct. Do I know the answer to this? NOT A CLUE.

The Bible does say be a Christian or else, as probably do other holy books about their religions. The Bible does have the tiniest of loopholes. Both with the man on the cross getting in without mandatory baptism and a passage about those who didn't hear the Word but still live it having a chance. However, I'm not able to say, "Be a Christian or you are screwed for eternity" to anyone. I can speak for myself only. And leave the decision about who gets in and who doesn't to God.

One of the wonders of blogging is we can share different opinions, some probably more educated than others, and still be OK.

A response to my rant about catholics

2006-04-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

This came from someone whose site is incredible and his thoughtfulness has to be shared. It is a response, but I posted it so those few who actually read my blog won't miss it. His blog is:

http://cantuar.blogspot.com/

I love Fiddler on the Roof.

However, I think you make a mistake in your accusations against the Catholic Church.Your objection about the 10 Commandments doesn't hold because the entire text is still included in the Catholic arrangement. Catholics do believe it is wrong make images and worship them as if they were God Himself.

Also, the Catholic Faith is not invalidated by the presence of sin and ignorance. John Paul II (a very holy man) acknowledged the presence of sin and ignorance amongst Catholics and even its leadership.

But even Christ had sinful followers and leaders. Judas betrayed Him. Peter denied Him and even cut off a fellow's ear in defiance of Christ.

Reading and writing has NEVER been banned by the Catholic Church. Even at the time of the Reformation, the laity could understand the Latin of the Mass and most had prayerbooks to help them. I'd encourage you to read Stripping of the Altars.

The killing of people is wrong. But Jews kill Palestinians and each other. Does that mean that Judaism is evil. Hindus and Muslims kill each other over religion. Again, why focus on Catholicism when warts can be found anywhere?

Reducing everything to "a personal relationship with God" sounds nice and satisfying. But at the end of the day, "personal relationships" require knowledge and communication.

If I don't know who my wife is, what her feelings, emotions, desires, thoughts, etc. are - How can I have a relationship with her?

At the end of the day we must to submit to God's revelation about Himself. That means there cannot be contradictions. Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha can't be all be correct. Jesus said He was the Son of God and the only Savior of maknind. Mohammed said he was only a human prophet. Both can't be right.

Maybe I'm on a roll - or not

2006-04-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Snooped through blogs with the tag "The Da Vinci Code" and found this one

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060428/en_nm/vatican_davinci_dc_3

The most interesting comment to me was:

In his address to the group, Amato said Christians should be more willing "to reject lies and gratuitous defamation."

He said that if "such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust they would have justly provoked a world uprising."

He added: "Instead, if they are directed against the Church and Christians, they remain unpunished."

This sums up my previous blog opinion about catholics. If I don't think exactly how their second most important person thinks, I must be punished. Which is what the catholic church was able to do right up until they lost power. I embrace The Da Vinci Code, not because I agree with it, which I don't, but because it enables (in some cases forces) people to think, compared to the established religion's preference of "don't think."

How can any one think someone's different opinion, called "lies or errors" here, should "justly provoke" anything? I'm invoking the he who is without sin, chuck the first rock theory. This isn't just for followers of Christ, but followers of the Torah and the Koran. If you read your own writing, the focus is not on kill everyone who doesn't perfectly agree with you. If that were the case, only one person could be left alive, and that person would have to commit suicide half the time.

Let people think. If the cream flows to the top, and the crap to the bottom, let the process happen. Even with the Da Vinci Code, God is still in charge.

"The Da Vinci Code" Thoughts

2006-04-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

A line from Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" tells you why it's easily the most disputed religious novel of all time: "Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false."

I got this off the internet. I have read the book and listened to it. And I have listened to some of the rebuttals. Interesting, some of the rebuttals have more lies than the book itself.

I am very happy about the book and the movie. Not because it is factual, but because it is setting established religion on its nose, where it was 2,000 years ago, and where it should have stayed.

When I was a child, the RSV, just out, was considered blasphamy by the King James group, and still is today by some, despite the understanding the KJV had a few flaws in it. A recent spam (like yesterday) insisted the KJV was the only version "authorized" by God. Wow.

The catholic church ruled western religion for a thousand years, 400-1400, which coincidently were called the dark ages. Reading and writing were universally baned outside of a small in-group, prients, monks, and such. Even services were in a language unknown to the congragations. Corruption was normal. Killing by torture anyone with independent thoughts was normal. Killing women who were even slightly exceptional was normal. Killing people who tried to break away was normal. America was founded, in part, by those trying to get away from the church. Anything better now? In Washington alone, the priest rape price is going to be over $100 million before the victims are completely and properly paid off, with few prients going to (choke) "jail" for a crime that for everyone else jail is a given.

How accurate is the catholic church? Let's see.

The second commandment is on graven images, whoops. WRONG. The second commandment is the third commandment moved up a notch, and the tenth commandment is doubled. Cool. Now they can spend billions on images cause they rewrote the commandments.

How about marriage. How did Peter get a mother-in-law without being married? What happened to Paul saying a religious leader needed to be the husband of one wife? Doesn't work in the catholic church. How many popes fathered children? Oops.

People in glass houses have rock throwing issues. Any catholic complaining about false doctrine better go find a mirror.

I don't claim to have a clue about the validity of of the Da Vinci code or the correctness of religion or doctrine. I don't claim to know any answers about religion, faith, or spirituality, except one. If you have a personal relationship with God, you have something. If you don't, you don't.

Anyone who wants to know what I mean about having a personal relationship with God, watch Fiddler on the Roof. Just a movie, but Tevye shows what I'm talking about in a way not duplicated by anything else I've seen. And, it isn't even a Christian depiction.

Let's see. Where did that idea come from?

"And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." Gen. 5:24

Enoch did in the Bible what Tevye did in the movie. And what we all could be doing, if...

All of the rest of religion is smoke and mirrors. And the catholic church appears to have that market cornered. Not that the rest of established religion isn't trying to compete. And all of us including me, regardless of our religious affiliation, or the lack of, all of us want to point fingers. But, who is right? If you have a personal relationship with God, it doesn't matter who is right. And, if you don't have one, it also doesn't matter. Search your heart. Which do you have?

Channel Bouncing

2006-04-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight it was a bounce between watching the Mariners and American Idol. I prefer American Idol for the most part, except for a couple of singers. For the Mariners, I like watching Ichiro bat, after that it trails off.

Sexton complained the other day that Ichiro took off running during his at bat. He forgot to mention for his last at bat, he took a called third strike for the third out while Ichiro languished at second. Sometimes when Ichiro runs, bad things happen. However, when he doesn't run, nothing happens.

The Mariners, now behind 11-0, play about as good as Kelly Pickler sings. Hopefully, between the two, only one will be around to torment next week. Although, if Kelly lasted another week because Taylor got voted out, I would be OK. Not much the Mariners can do, except make all of the other teams happy to be playing them. Not much American Idol can do, except hope the finalist can sing a little bit. Bo and Constintine were in the wrong competition. They would have been 1-2 in this one.

My American Idol top four: Paris, Mandisa, Katherine, Lisa. Oops, two are missing. Just like Kelly's and Taylor's singing.

Briscoe and Ebenezer

2006-04-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

The dogs love having Briscoe home. Here he is playing catch with Ebenezer, who has the ball in his mouth, catching it on the fly. Please ignore the dandilions, as if I didn't have them, it would be just ground. I did mow them the next day.

Runners Book Two

2006-04-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Last night, Briscoe worked on my cover for Runners Book Two and came up with this. I wanted a sand dollar on a beach with runners. In about 20 minutes, he whipped this out. I think it's pretty cool looking.

Kid's home

2006-04-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

Friday, I picked up Briscoe, my younger son, who is staying for Easter weekend. We did mondane things, ate dinner at an IHOP, drive through traffic, visiting with my barking group. We didn't have to do anything special because, despite the miles and the time apart, he is still the kid (does pick up the tab now) and I'm still the dad.

He's moving to France this year, so very far away. And, although I hate flying and cigarettes, I'm probably going to France sometime to visit. In a way this is sad, as already far away becomes really far away. In a way this is not sad. I probably never would make it to France, my family's ancestry country (Pelletier) if not for some reason. Nice is close to Italy, so maybe I'll even get to see the countryside from Under the Tuscan Sun, one of my favorite movies.

Then, if Jon and Jen ever get married and I finish Runners, I can have them honeymoon in the city of Jon's ancestry and know what I'm talking about for a change. Maybe.

Loren and Bobbi

2006-04-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

Loren and Bobbi

Thirty-nine years ago as a senior in high school, my good bud Peggy talked me into a spring hike in the Olympic Mountains with her church youth group. Two members of the group were in choir with me, Loren, who sat next to me in the tenor section, and Bobbi, who played the piano. We expected a walk in the park, and were completely unprepared for the snow still piled everywhere.

Loren had a bit of a crush on Bobbi, the principal's daughter, and off limits for guys with date stuff (necking to be specific) on their minds. She was a very sweet girl, and I could understand Loren's interest.

Well, as the photo depicts, the hike went badly slogging through the snow and we gave up. I captured them together at the turn around point, about half way to our destination, Loren struggling in the snow while trying to pose next to Bobbi, watching him.

I graduated a few months later and never saw Loren again. But, I still remember him as being a really nice guy. So much so that he is included in my book Runners, as the guy Jon Perone sits next to in choir, along with his crush on Jenny, the piano player. The characters are not close to being the same people, but would not exist if not for Loren and Bobbi

Yesterday, I read Loren's obiturary at 54. So, Loren, although I haven't seen you in 39 years and probably never would had you continued, this is my farewell to you. As Mr. Hope said for us all, thanks for the memories.

And, as a reminder to myself, life isn't long enough. Don't let go of those really nice people in your life. Better to capture them on a snow day in spring than in a farewell blog.

Learned something new

2006-04-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Friday I took a class on how to assess buildings for earthquake potential. Yeah, right, like I'm an engineer or something. However, the class was much better than I could have imagined. Regular people can really do this, if they pay attention. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to conduct a high level assessment. Almost sound like a government employee, which of course, I am.

Anyway, much different from assessing revenue streams or funding distributions. (more government sounding stuff) Maybe I might even like doing this stuff for a living.

Why are people stupid?

2006-03-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

Found out last week that when my former boss was telling me I was being investigated, she was lying to me. Why would somebody be that mean? I know guys are supposed to be macho and able to tough out poorly contructed interactions by others, but I'm not. I really thought she was a very nice person and believed what she told me. I actually cared about her, even while she was lying to me. Guess that makes me stupid or something, a guppy in the fish food chain. Does my former boss care?

My sister's school was almost shot up a couple of weeks ago. The kids planning to do the deed were practicing when one shot the other. Although arrested, the judge let the shooting kid go home to his parents. If the kid was planning to shoot up a school, which most likely would have ended with others dead and him either dead or in jail forever, why would anyone let him go? Who is stupid, the judge, or me for thinking the judge is missing a couple of cylinders in his engine? Does the kid care? Does the judge care?

Yesterday, some kids had an all night rave party, ending with many of them dead, for no apparent reason other than one of the party goers decided to take everyone out, including himself. It was so useless and stupid. Why would parents even allow their kids to be out all night doing anything? One mom was interviewed and said she didn't know if her kid was alive, but if she was, she was grounded for life. Somebody should have grounded the parent for life. Does the parent care?

If life is meaningless without God, even with God it is a struggle to comprehend it. I don't want to equate caring with stupid, but today am falling a bit short.

Survived

2006-03-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

Survived my first day. Actually went well. I think I'm going to like this, if I can get past the detail stuff and sink my teeth into something difficult. Optomistic after one day.

First Day tomorrow

2006-03-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my first official day in my new job. I moved my stuff there today, after getting a send off from my old job. Despite my being there only four months and with a primary assignment of finding a new job, I was given a very nice send off by the few staff I got to know. Walking into the building where I worked for 16 years, I was greated by about 50 people I knew well enough for them to know I was back. Very warm feeling.

I will miss the very nice people where I was exciled, but it is good to be back. That doesn't even count the 10 extra miles and 30 minutes of commute I no longer have in my life. Tomorrow I will find out how well this will work when they want me to do something. Can't wait.

My Poor Fence

2006-03-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

Last month, a windstorm blew down 40 feet of my fence. I put up a plastic temp fence to keep the dogs in, but chipping out the post bottoms sunk in cement was a major wear out. I'm up to resunk painted posts so far. The dogs love the close up to the golfers for barking.

I'm back, sort of

2006-03-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

Been a couple of months (six.5) since my last blog. I wanted to wait until I got another job, which I finally did and it starts next week. I'm still in the State of Wash, still in the state of DSHS, and still in the state of fiscalness. I'm moving from social programs to dirt and structures, formally called the Lands and Buildings Division. I will be fiscalling around in the Capital Programs Office.

The last six months have been like being placed on administrative leave, except I had to go to work. I mostly did what I could think of work wise for those last six months, with an occasional, "Can you do this?" thrown in. My only real assignment was to find another job, which I now have done. Mission accomplished.

I did do a couple of things to earn my keep. I found a couple million in extra revenue in an administration I volunteered to snoop in. They were happy for the possibility of getting more money. I also found an equilivant amount of double dipping in another administration. They were happy to ignore my report. I laid the ground work for some fiscal revolting against tryanny and oppressive number hiders, which in government is as common as computers. If the revolt happens, it might be cool, seeing working stiffs break out of their mushroom mode and get to know what's going on in their own programs, as long as I don't get sucked back into it.

The most exciting part of the last six months are two investigations of allegations against me, which seem only to be in theory, as in those six months they have been open, nothing has happened. So, something to blog about in the future, should I actually be told what happens, or for that matter, even find out what I'm accuesed of. Isn't life great?

Since I haven't blogged in six months, I don't expect anyone to stop by and actually read this. But, if somebody does, feel free to say so.

Been So Long

2005-09-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

I could barely remember my ID and password.

Younger kid and GF are coming this weekend. Means I need to teach five barkers to rest their barks for a couple of days. Right now they are surrounding me asleep, not a bark among them.

I'm blogging at home on a work day as I'm between jobs. My boss on Tuesday gently informed me that my great effort to make things work at work would now get to be focused elsewhere. How is that for a nice way to put the five letter F word? So, next Tuesday, I get to start a new career managing litigation responses and building spending plans, at least until I can find something else to do for a living.

Could be worse. Watching the citizens of New Orleans shoot at their rescuers while part of the city burns reminds me of Iraq. Insurgents and refugees. I wonder if they will count in the death toll the future murders taking place due to the looting of guns. I realize I have no ability to understand what could cause people to need to do that. I can picture the city on fire, as more unhappy people voice their displeasure. I hope I'm wrong.

I got gas at a pump with $2.93 for premium, as that is what my car takes. As I pumped, the attendent was changing the number to something that started with a 3. Washington has a huge gas tax, but it is dwarfed by the differences in prices, as much as 25 cents a gallon between stations facing each other. The Safeway check person asked me not to buy Safeway gas, as it was being artifically inflated to take advantage of the unstable situation. Some looters are 3,000 miles from New Orleans. The worst looters are those who use the situation for personal or political gain. What's in it for me?

I guess the most important thing to say is life keeps working, despite much effort to the contrary, because much more effort is spent trying.

Fantasy Football

2005-08-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

It is that time of the year again. When the football experts ride their computers to glory or doom, depending on the heros of the grass and artificial turf to take the bouncy ball across that chalky white stripe (with their cell phones handy to call Mom). Doesn't matter if the team, what team, wins, loses or goes belly up, just as long as the score is done by my guy.

I once won when my guy had been sitting on the bench in a blowout, suddenly was brought in to run the football six inches and get his third score of the day. I once lost when my stupid quaterback took a kneel for a one yard loss. Such is the adventure, and uncertainty. The challenge is done way before the game starts, reading volumes of stats, projections, opinions, gosip, and invoking personal gut decisions and ignoring personal predjudice. Payton Manning is a jerk, but if he is my jerk, he better score. But not too much, cause I'm playing against him in another league. If the hundreds of hours pay off, the winners gets to print the final results and store it with all of the other trash that needs recycling. And then wait six months for next year.

This is my 20th season of this madness. Hopefully, 20 years from now, when I'm gumming my food and my women, and Farve is throwing from a wheel chair, I'll still be able to key with my arthritic fingers and pick Payton Manning the third's pass to Randy Moss junior for the winning score.

Day off

2005-08-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

I had to spend the weekend preparing discovery for litigation for the various entities filing suit against Mental Health. So, I rewarded myself by taking Monday off. I visited my Mom, who is doing much better than she was last week. Step-father-in-law was much happier about it, too. I went to lunch with my sister. She is fine in the middle of her school's out summer vacation. I fixed my fence, a section that had so much rot the dirt was holding the boards up. I went to the dentist and got the new sonic slush, which unlike the pic it scrape, the sonic sluch hurts all the time and still hurts. I tried to get my wireless connection back.

I did all of the above except one in about a half day. I spent the other half day on the one. At 9:20 I gave up. All of the phone conversations with people who have English as their second or third language, the internet chat, the download, the execution, and the resetting and turning on and off and on and off, did nothing.

I think Linksys is in India or Pakistan, as they all sounded the same (five tries) and not European or African or even Washingtonian. They were very nice people, that I could not understand no matter how hard they tried. When they tried to pronounce the letters for "ping," it sounded like Victor India Clancy Slush. (Peter, India, Nancy, and I have no idea what they thought G was) They could all say India, though.

Anyway, I gave up. So, I surrender. When I want to connect, I run a wire across the kitchen and family room (50 feet) When I'm done, I disconnect it. Neat. Better than running the phone line 20 feet and getting 7.6 KPS. So much for wireless, the wave of the future, but still in the future.

Back to the stone age

2005-07-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

My wonderful broadband linksys wireless connection decided not to connect anymore. So, I call Wave, who determines the signal is at the modem. So I call Linksys, who determines my configuration has been lost. Just hook the modem to the computer and all will be fine. However, the modum is 50 feet from the computer. Which is why I have wireless. Well, hook up a laptop. Well, I don' t have a laptop with a internet connection. Well, you can't get reconnected without a direct link. If I had a direct link, I wouldn't need wireless. So, I'm back to the phone line and 24 KPS and two minutes between screens. Stone age. Yet, I did this for ten years and somehow survived. I just don' know how anymore.

2005-07-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

Nellie the cat.

Trouble with cats

2005-07-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well, they don't bark, but...

We have a little Siamese.

As part of the reduction of barking program, when we heard my cat and another cat snarling at each other on our fence last night, I didn't let them out to bark the other cat away. Unfortunately, before I could get there, the other cat took the liberty to shread my little cat. So, now it is off to the vet for stitches and internal checks.

All I had to do was let them out, they would have barked their brains out for five minutes, and I would have a happy and healthy cat, instead of catburger and a vet bill. No wonder people live where other people don't.

Consumer reports

2005-07-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Truck is still in the shop, awaiting fix or die directive. Looked up truck in Microsoft consumer reports to check repair problems. Truck- 1998 Frontier - got an 8.5 consumer rating and listed worse problem as check engine light comes on without reason. They are correct. Truck check engine light is always on. However, when rest of truck isn't working, the light doesn't go off.

Checked 2003 BMW - 9.5 consumer rating. Only problem listed is coil. Only thing I have had fixed in 60,000 miles is coil. Two for Two.

Checked 2000 Sable. 8.5 consumer rating. Listed lots of stuff. Three for three.

Checked 1994 Miata. 9.3 consumer rating. Listed spark plug wires. So, four for four.

Conclusion: Way too many cars.

Barkers

2005-07-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have five of them. All asleep at the moment. Got an antibarkerhateophonecall. So, am on antibarking mission. Which means when they are outside, I'm outside. Actually works. Barker curtailment number one. I let the dogs out and stand in the middle, whispering "Don't bark" over and over. And they don't. The chief barker chased a bird and didn't bark at it. However, squirrels and cats, well, they can't be perfect. So, barker curtailment number two. They start barking and I tell them to go into the house. And they do. Amazing. If only my employees would mind like that.

Got a Pom book on how to. Says they have to be able to bark somewhere or sometime, like a designated barking area. So, inside is their designated barking area. Probably means I'll never have another visitor, but I'm facing enough lawsuits at work, just for being in Mental Health, and don't need them at home, too.

Freckel is developing a whisper bark. Emily is working on an almost bark whine sound. At least they are busy.

OA vs. MAA vs. YA

2005-07-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Vacation thoughts:

If Old Adults are over 65
and Middle Aged Adults are 40-64
and Young Adults are 16-25,
what are the 25-40 set called?

My insurance moved me from the under 70 set to the 56-69 set, which lowered my rate. The ratings also say that no one under 25 can ever drive one of my cars. It probably helps that I don't even know anyone under 25 with a drivers license.

Movies can be R rated if only the language puts them there. I wish some conversations could be R rated. I used to work in construction as the gopher (a very long, long, long time ago, like 40 years or so). I would have to ask the gopheree to just say nouns when they wanted me to get something, because they used so many descriptive adjectives and turned them into nouns, I could not figure out what they wanted. I was quite amazed what they thought tools were capable of.

Construction guys lived that language, and most never saw the inside of a college or even got to twirl their tassel (HS grad). However, where I work now (a very short, short, short time ago, like last week), the people, virtually all with MS or PhD sub-titles in social stuff, talk just about the same way. I'm sharing vacation with my five dogs, who all bark a lot. But, not one of them has barked a single bark deserving an R rating.

I don't drink beer, ever. But, I'm still fat. Actually the health ratings for my height and age say I have to lose 20 pounds before I can consider myself merely fat.

I walked four and a half miles today in one outing. I started out on Saturday at at two separate half mile outings and worked up to it. I've managed to lose a pound. At this rate, if I can walk four miles a day until Christmas, I'll finally be fat again.

Summer Vacation

2005-07-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

For those very few of you who were stopping by to read Novas, you will have noticed I gave it up in May, and almost gave up blogging in general. It isn't that I don't know what happens next. when it came to me, I didn't like it. So, I'm waiting for something else to come, which of course, doesn't work.

I've been spending my "free" time trying to save Runners Part Two from the scrap heap, where it probably belongs. But, I can't do that, as Runners Part One has sold some books and people, whoever they are, may want to know what happens next. Unfortunately, so do I.

Runners Two and Three were written and I thought ready. But the minor editing turned into a major revision of Two, which of course will carry over into Three. Fortunately, it will not carry backward into One, or I would really be in trouble.

I'm on vacation this week, which means I only have spent half of it working, instead of all of it. I would like to say work is better, but it isn't. Too many good people who work where I work don't want to be there. And the inverse works, too. Going back will be a real trial, as it was last time I took a week off. But, I made a commitment, and I'm sticking to it until...well, just until.