Sep 29 0 comments
Cerebral Squiggles

Of Total Gyms, Tony Robbins and Midlife Crisis’

I have never been one to place much significance on birthdays - you know, “Sweet 16″ (a.k.a., “Licensed for Fun!”), “Coming-of-age 21″ or “Look who’s 30?!”… Little fanfare played as I eclipsed those years. They were just “another year” in a long string of years… (But I’m not complaining!)

2003 happens to mark my fortieth year on this earth. That’s right, the “Big 4-0″ or as the greeting card companies like to say, “Naughty Forty”.

I truly hadn’t given the coming year any thought as the mirrored ball descended at midnight in Times Square, while the hundreds of thousands revelers celebrated the new year. (I marked it quietly at home with the boys - remember, I’m middle-aged now!) Nor had I been dreading the pending date of my birth until friends and co-workers started remarking frequently that they couldn’t BELIEVE that I was going to be 40. Or that I didn’t look 40. Or that I didn’t act like I was almost 40. Suddenly, “40″ took on an almost dirty connotation…. That’s DIRTY, not NAUGHTY. Unfortunately, the comments started MONTHS before the actual date - so I had time to sit and ponder the turn of another decade. My heretofore silent biological clock changed from a silent digital clock to a Baby Ben wind-up clock. The tick-tocking suddenly kept me up at night or woke me from a peaceful slumber in a childless panic.

A month before my birthday, fearing that my muscles would atrophy beyond their already slack state, I decided that I needed to have, nay, MUST have THE quintessential exercise machine, the Total Gym 11000. I had been dazzled by the infomercials over the years, with sexy girl-next-door super-model Christie Brinkley and strong man Chuck Norris, pumping their muscles in the wee hours of the mornings, telling me (and a million other insomniacs and/or losers, your choice) that just 30 minutes a day is all that I would need to shed pounds, gain muscle and tone my body.

After spending the month researching the Total Gym and Bowflex, I finally decided on the Total Gym. And, no, it wasn’t because of Christie or Chuck.

I ordered my Total Gym 11000 a few days after my birthday. I was able to rationalize my purchase as a “gift of health and fitness” that I could share with my family. Apparently, my midlife crisis was contributing to my losing all sense of reality. Was I already suffering from early-onset dementia?! I was now 40 (”Lordy, Lordy, look who’s 40!?!”), residing in a fantasy world where overweight, under-motivated and completely unrealistic expectations were the name of the game and now $1349 in debt! Yikes!

Charging it on my new Target charge card helped ease the burden of my guilt since a portion of each purchase is given back to the kids of the school of my choice… So, technically, this purchase was For the Children® . Ah, yes, I now rank among the top philanthropists for the District 281 schools.

I actually have to admit that I really LOVE the Total Gym. It does give you a tremendous workout - and it’s fun to use. The problem is - you HAVE TO WORK OUT… Every bloody day. Unfortunately, I have yet to stick with an exercise routine that lasts longer than two weeks, always finding other things to take me away from doing what I know I should do. Hang ten? Not a problem - I can surf the Web with the best of them. I am able to do hundreds of repetitions of a mouse click in under a minute without even breaking a sweat. Checking out the headlines of each of my favorite sites can be done without losing my breath. Oh, yeah, if the Olympics gave medals for this event, I’d be a shoe in for a gold.

A month or so later, I decided to splurge for another item that’s always been on my wish list… another item that has haunted the wee hours of my mornings. That’s right, Personal Power II by the master of self-help, Tony Robbins. It’s a great 30-day program. I’ve repeated the first 4 days several times, but have yet to get through the entire program. Like the Total Gym, it’s a program that requires discipline to work through the exercises. I am sobered to admit that I lack the discipline that 40 years should have developed. With luck, I hope to change this trait over the next 40 years.

And, yes, it was For the Children® . I love being a middle-aged philanthropist trapped in a midlife crisis that’s in full swing. Can’t wait for menopause to kick in and REALLY throw off my hormones. Oooh, boy.

1963 wasn’t a bad year after all….

Top Headlines from 1963

Beatles have there first big success, “I Want To Hold our Hand”

Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” is a big hit.

Valium is introduced by Roche Labs (helpful in dispelling the nightmarish thoughts created by Hitchcock’s “The Birds”!)

The ‘Great Train Robbery’ occurred in Buckinghamshire, England, yielding 5 million in cash and jewels in 15 minutes to the daring robbers

A quarter of million people participate in the civil rights March on Washington. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. makes his “I have a dream” speech.

Aldous Huxley dies

Pope John XXIII Dies, Pope Paul VI is elected

USA and USSR establish “hotline” connection.

President Kennedy visits Berlin: “Ich bin ein Berliner”.

Nuclear Test Ban treaty.

President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

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Mar 21 0 comments
General

Shock and Awe

I would have surrendered.

Kudos to our military for their skilled bombing of Baghdad. They targeted and destroyed specific sites of strategic opportunity. By all accounts, civilians and civilian sites were spared.

I am simply amazed at the restraint our military is showing - and the care that they are giving to avoid harming the citizens - and infrastructure - of Baghdad.

Mar 21 0 comments
General

Frustration in the Information Age

I need my NEWS!!

I logged into Sky News first thing this morning at work. The news from overnight was tinged with sadness (loss of coalition forces in non-combat incidents) and success. The coalition troops are advancing superbly throughout the country. According to sources, the port city of Umm Qasr has been “captured” by the mighty US Marines. Well done, boys and girls.

I am nervous at the quick progress the coalition forces are making. It seems almost ‘too’ easy. I can’t shake the feeling that some sort of trap has been set and is awaiting our brave troops. Has the Iraqi serpent been be-headed? Nobody seems to know…. (Don’t mind my paranoia - this happens about once a month….)

As news filtered through the Internet community that Operation Shock and Awe was about to commence, Sky News’ server crashed and I lost my connection to live news.

I was forced to visit the lunchroom and watch CNN’s coverage.

Mar 20 0 comments
General

In a Daze

I went to work today.

That was my first mistake.

I felt almost hungover. My body felt numb. Too much news overnight. Turning off the television was difficult to do. (The morbid curiosity side of me was waiting for the commencement of “Shock and Awe”… According to Pentagon officials, when Shock and Awe starts - there will be absolutely no mistake….)

In my cubical, I frantically searched the radio for news, eventually finding a good source of live video. Sky News provides a live broadcast. (Isn’t the Internet grand?!)

Mar 19 0 comments
General

Watching History Unfold

I am awestruck by the fact that I am sitting here, safely ensconced in my home, surrounded by the spoils of freedom and Democracy, watching two of the greatest powers in the world begin the liberation of millions of people who have been brutally controlled by a sick dictator.

Tell me again… Why does everyone hate America?

Mar 19 0 comments
General

Targets of Opportunity

Based upon intelligence on the ground, a specific site believed to be housing Saddam, his sadistic bastard sons and other top Iraqi officials, was bombarded with missiles in what can only be described as a brilliant, surgical strike.

I pray that the strike successfully eliminated the Targets of Opportunity.

Mar 19 0 comments
General

It’s Go Time!

It’s Go Time.

I was flipping through the channels - and stopped briefly at CBS. Can’t stand Dan Rather, but the live shot from Baghdad caught my eye. The sudden deafening noise that was broadcast through the television speaker sent a chill down my spine - and an eruption of goosebumps across my skin.

God Bless the President - and God Bless our brave fighting men and women.

Mar 19 0 comments
General

Waiting for the Liberation to Begin

I am sitting here glued to the television, nervously flipping between the 24 hour news channels to see if there has been any sign of aggression by our military. The talking heads seem to be of the opinion that nothing is going to happen - daylight is breaking over Baghdad. (It’s surreal to note that the audio from Baghdad clearly indicates the chirping of birds - it could easily be the dawning of a new day anywhere in the world.)

I, like so many other American and British citizens, am waiting to see how the President and his well-trained troops (both American and British) will respond to Saddam’s continued defiance.

I am feeling anxious. My pulse has quickened noticeably - and my hands have gotten clammy. I can’t imagine how the President, his staff, the military men and women and their families are feeling.

Is it wrong of me to hope that we kill the bastard and his lackeys in one fell swoop?

Mar 19 0 comments
General

Time’s Up, Saddam

Well, my clock says it’s 7 p.m. CST exactly. Time to plant myself in front of the television.

Mar 02 0 comments
General

Testing. Testing.

:: tap ::

:: tap ::

:: tap ::

Is this thing on?

.
.
.

What happened to February?!?

Feb 23 0 comments
Fleeting Thoughts

I am Pi



I am
p

Everyone loves pi
_

what number are you?

this quiz by orsa

Jan 15 0 comments
Quiet Thoughts

In Memory of Baby Riley

I know that it’s improper of me to place an entire copyrighted article in my personal blog. I’m hoping that the sharks at the Star Tribune won’t send me a nasty letter ordering me to remove it from this site. Unfortunately, the Star Tribune doesn’t keep their articles archived for public viewing - and this story needs to be remembered.

The truth is, this story is heart-breaking and heart-warming in the same breath.

If you have a tendency to cry at sad stories, then it’s mandatory to have tissue on hand….

Baby Riley David Charles had a lifetime packed with love

Trudi Hahn
Star Tribune

Published Jan. 16, 2003

The family of Riley David Charles lavished him with love.

Relatives and godparents delighted in holding him. They read to him. They took hundreds of pictures of him, almost from the moment he was born.

About 90 minutes after that moment, Riley David Charles released one last breath and died. It was about 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 2.

His parents, Kevin and Laura Charles of Minneapolis, had known since late September that something was terribly wrong. A sonogram and an MRI scan in about the 20th week of pregnancy revealed that Riley’s kidneys had stopped developing at about five weeks. His condition was called bilateral renal agenesis, and because of it his lungs were unlikely to develop.

In fact, the medical people told them, the baby could not live with his condition, also known as Potter’s Sequence. Babies with this condition who are born alive have an average life span of 30 minutes.

The doctors asked the couple: What do you want to do?

They wanted to make memories with their baby, they decided.

Baby already had a nickname: “Noodle,” gender-free and full of fun.

Now that the Charleses knew that their baby was a boy, they gave him a real name: Riley David Charles.

He had already heard the story of “The Velveteen Rabbit,” about a cloth bunny that an angel turns into a living bunny.

As they read to Riley in the womb, the book “just seemed to talk to us,” Kevin said.

The story teaches that love makes you real, Laura said. The depth of that lesson popped out at them when they read it to Riley again with heavy hearts after the diagnosis.

The couple checked into Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis early on New Year’s Day when it was apparent the baby wasn’t going to wait for his Jan. 31 due date. Early on Jan. 2, Riley’s birth was imminent. Kevin barely had time to phone the grandparents before Riley appeared at 6:05 a.m.

Exactly as the couple had asked, Riley was put in Laura’s arms as soon as he was toweled off and fluid had been suctioned from his breathing passages.

But the doctor said he couldn’t feel a pulse in the umbilical cord, and he didn’t think Riley had made it alive.

“Oh, that was the hardest thing to hear,” Laura said.

The couple held their son and cried.

Then the baby hiccuped.

Laura looked at Kevin. Could he do that without being alive?

Then Riley scrunched up his face.

And then he gurgled as he took his first breaths of air.

A stethoscope confirmed a heartbeat. Riley was alive, and Laura and Kevin had their chance to be a family with their firstborn.

Kevin, 27, an information-technology specialist for the University of Minnesota, and Laura, 33, an art teacher in the Spring Lake Park School District, had come to the hospital with suitcases jammed with the stuff of hope. The first item they grabbed was a vial of holy water for a baptism.

A three-page birth plan they had written for their medical team had specified a particular hospital chaplain to perform the baptism, but she wasn’t at work yet. So the couple started a simple sentence from their Catholic faith: “Riley David, we baptize you, in the name of the Father, and. . . . ”

When their strained minds faltered, the doctor joined in: ” . . . and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Faith a factor

Laura’s faith in God had been a big part of her decision to carry the baby to term. She and her husband had struggled with preparing for a birth, memorial service and burial all at the same time. But any doubts about the wisdom of their decision disappeared one day in late October.

Laura had been washing dishes and suddenly felt peace and grace sweep over her, she said.

She sat down and wrote a long paragraph about her feelings.

“This tiny little one has made me see God’s plan for us. That life is not just what we have here on Earth with all the triumphs and tribulations, it goes far beyond that,” she wrote.

“I can’t explain why bad things happen to good people, except to say that maybe we’re meant to look at those atrocities in a different light.”

Shortly after Riley’s birth, people filled the room: both sets of grandparents, his godmother, an aunt. An uncle who was away on vacation called in.

Because Riley had no kidneys, he couldn’t make urine while in the womb. Because he couldn’t make urine, he couldn’t make amniotic fluid (which is mostly urine after the 14th week of development). Because there wasn’t enough amniotic fluid, he was tightly confined in the womb rather than floating in it, and there wasn’t room to move or to practice breathing movements.

His lungs would be too tiny to support life, the couple had been told, and Riley might not be perfectly formed. But the only outward sign of his condition was a missing right thumb.

“His face was peaches and cream,” Laura said, “but his hands were kind of blue.” He didn’t cry; he gurgled.

They wrapped him in a turquoise quilt with a bunny print that they’d been given by a member of the Potter’s Syndrome Support Group, which they had found online.

They knew it would be a comfort, later, to possess something that had touched their baby’s skin.

Loving Riley

Everyone in the room took turns holding Riley.

The room was so quiet that all they could hear was his breathing.

They took turns reading from “The Velveteen Rabbit,” passing the book from hand to hand.

The chaplain arrived and led a naming ceremony as relatives held hands in a circle. Then Kevin settled into a rocking chair with Riley. A few minutes later, when a nurse checked for a heartbeat, she couldn’t find one. Riley was gone.

Kevin brought the baby to Laura, and they held him and cried.

An uncle and the other godparent soon arrived, and relatives held Riley for photographs before they withdrew to allow Laura and Kevin to be alone with their baby.

The couple snipped off a lock of Riley’s hair. They used an ink pad to make handprints and footprints on paper. They made plaster molds and clay molds of his hands and feet.

The nurse weighed and measured him: 3 pounds, 10.8 ounces; 15.5 inches long.

Then his parents bathed and dressed him. It had taken months to find an outfit for the tiny baby they expected.

They looked at him for a long time; they stroked his hair and kissed him some more. They put him in a bassinet so they could try to eat breakfast. They hadn’t slept for two days and two nights.

Finally, they had to let him go. A nurse carried their baby away.

Five days after Riley lived, sunset painted the sky with a rainbow of hues from purple to blue to pink. Laura was sure it was Riley making things beautiful in heaven.

“Kevin saw it and said, ‘Uh-oh, they gave Riley the watercolors.’ ”

. . .

BabyRiley4.jpg

“When I miss him so much I can hardly stand it, I remember the feel of his head on my lips,” Laura Charles wrote days after Riley’s birth. “He was a perfect blend of Kevin and me.”

BabyRiley5.jpg

BabyRiley3.jpg

Kevin & Laura Charles held the tiny hands of their newborn son Riley David Charles.

BabyRiley1.jpg

Kevin & Laura Charles spend precious time with their son Riley David Charles.

BabyRiley2.jpg

. . . .

Riley’s grandfather, Star Tribune photographer Mike Zerby, took these photos.

– Trudi Hahn is at thahn@startribune.com.

© Copyright 2003 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
Get the whole story »

Jan 08 0 comments
Disturbing Thoughts

Life without the Net

Our internet connection was down for a good chunk of the evening. The outage came without warning (does it EVER come WITH a warning?!) as I was busily catching up on everyone’s blogs.

Panic set in as one connection after another failed.

When I realized, with a sudden horror, that we had lost our connection, I felt a dizzying sense of disembodiment. I’m sure that I was starting to hyperventilate. Had I forgotten to pay the monthly bill? No, I was sure that I had - recalling distinctly my reaction (can we say ‘bitch’?) to the ever-increasing rate each month’s invoice brings.

Was it a hardware failure? No, everything on our end appeared to be in working order. Kevin called the cable company after an hour or so of blackout. The taped message confirmed my worst fears - a general outage in our area that they were working to resolve.

It felt like the age of darkness had descended upon the house… I felt lost. Seriously. I couldn’t surf any of my favorites sites: Instapundit, Lileks or any of the other some 100+ sites that suck my brain out through my eyeballs every night… I mean that in a good way, of course.

I was going to resign myself to a quiet evening - perhaps with a book - or even go to bed early - but, a miracle happened (OK, not really) and our connection was restored.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, I’m so shaken by my few forced hours of net-free life, that my brain is too jumbled to think about a serious blog for tonight. OK, that makes the assumption that my previous blogs are serious… Please.

At least I’m keeping up with my non-New Years resolution to blog at least one entry a day.

Ta da.

Jan 07 0 comments
Cerebral Squiggles

Waiting for Spring… and Inspiration

This cartoon from Literary Life by Posy Simmonds (see this link to Guardian Unlimited) succinctly captures the lethargy that has blocked my desire to write the next Great American Novel (ha! - no pressure there, huh?)

. . .

Minnesota in January can be bitterly cold with several feet of snow and -50F windchill readings.

Today’s temperature was in the low 50’s, shattering a record of 45F set in 1949. Snowfall has been next to null, giving the impression that Spring is just around the corner.

Of course, this is just Mother Nature’s way of playing with our minds. She’s mercilessly lulling us into a sense of nirvana, expecting the crocus and tulips to break through the ground and the Robins to show up looking for worms.

Alas, a cold front is on the doorstep and should reach us late tomorrow afternoon. Temperatures are expected to drop closer to normal by Thursday, with highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits.

Snow is expected in the Twin Cities on Friday — if you count flurries.

That’s right, Winter Take 2.

Jan 06 0 comments
Disturbing Thoughts

Life Continues… Despite the Monsters

Life continues to create itself and fall away, and suffering returns, and delight arrives, if even for a moment–agony, peace, rapture.

-Sandy Boucher, “Hidden Spring”

. . .

The above quote from Beliefnet.com’s Daily Buddhist Wisdom newsletter was waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home today.

. . .

This is a disturbing reminder that monsters often inhabit human bodies.

NEWARK, N.J. - A 7-year-old boy’s remains were found in a plastic storage bin Sunday, a day after his two brothers were found alive but starving in a locked room of the same house, authorities said.

Faheem Williams had been dead for weeks, Edward Gordon of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office told The Star-Ledger of Newark. An autopsy was scheduled to be performed Monday.

The child’s twin brother, Raheem, and another brother, Tyrone, 4, were being treated for starvation and dehydration at University Hospital in Newark.

The most disturbing and heartwrenching comment came from the innocent lips of the surviving twin, Raheem, on Sunday when he told investigators at the hospital that he “had another brother who had been missing for weeks.”

Police found Faheem’s body in another basement room later that day.

I feel awful for the surviving boys - perhaps surviving this ordeal is worse than death. I would think that the psychological - as well as physical - damage incurred by these two little boys must be quite extensive) Since the article suggests that the mother was/is in a NYC hospital, I have to believe that this was just a tragedy all around. Perhaps it’s naive of me to hope that the mother loved the boys - and would not have treated them this way. Then, again, where is the father?

James said the younger boy had suffered burns from his neck down that affected his ability to walk.

Both boys were enjoying food and freedom to play, he said, noting that Tyrone was eating jelly from a jar.

“[They are] two kids with good manners, good spirit, suffering for no reason of their own,” he said. “They’re reaching out for love and caring.”

What kind of a monster could knowingly mistreat little kids this way?? I truly believe in an ‘eye for an eye’ for crimes this ungodly cruel and sick - lock her up in a room and withhold food and water until she dies… See how she appreciates the endless pangs of hunger and thirst. It’s a very prolonged and painful way to die. (Why should the tax payers have to support this witch?!?)

Hang her. Shoot her. Inject her.

Just kill her.

. . . Deep breath . . .

I’m pretty sure that the Buddha wouldn’t approve of my vehemence.

Unlike poor Faheem, I have a lifetime to repent.

Jan 05 0 comments
Neuronal Discharges

Tick, tick, tick…

People who know me know that I am a morbid reader of the Obituaries. Yes, that’s right, after perusing the headlines for the latest bad news, I skip the cartoons and head directly for the Obituaries. Honestly, I don’t know WHERE that habit came from - neither of my parents read the Obits for ‘entertainment’…. Actually, I work with a gal who is even MORE morbid than me (she can actually give ME the creeps!), but I digress.

Of late, I have been fixating on the Obits of those persons who are in my immediate age group. (Before, I focused mainly on “interesting” people). I suspect that my shift in focus is due to the fact, on the doorstep of 40, I am finding myself wondering what I’ve done with my life and how it compares to others my age. At this point, I’m afraid to admit that my obituary would be quite simple: no significant other, no children, no great contributions to society. Just blah.

Ironically, I thought that I went through a midlife crisis about 10 years ago. However, I think that I’m currently in the throes of another…. I despise my job. I despise my life. I feel like I am suffocating a slow, painful death. A death that steals my soul a minute at a time, dragged out for 9+ awful hours a day, 5 days a week, week after week. And it’s only getting worse. Quite honestly, even the weekends don’t bring a much-anticipated, much-needed reprieve. It just brings more quiet time for my mind to revisit my disappointments, my fears, my anxieties. Sunday evenings find me both anxious to return to work (that sick knot in my stomach reminds me of the thrill of anticipation that I experienced as a child on the eve of a new school year) and hesitant to see another weekend slip by without any significant contributions.

I am thoroughly adrift in what barely resembles a life.

I know that I should be thankful that I have a job. God knows that I have enough debt and bills to pay….

I’m suddenly feeling very trapped. Trapped by my age, trapped by my level of education (maybe I should have pursued a Masters - but in what?), trapped by my lack of motivation or drive - have I really ever had a dream? If I did, it died years ago.

Alas, I’m apparently having a pity party for myself - I just forgot to send out the invitations.

. . .

After enough self-pity, I find it almost cathartic to read the Obituaries to remind myself that I am still alive. Perspective is everything.

. . .

I stumbled on this obituary for what sounds like a remarkable woman.

Lucy Grealy, a poet and essayist who wrote her memoir, “Autobiography of a Face” about her experience growing up with extreme facial disfigurement due to the removal of most of her jaw due to a virulent form of cancer. She was 39.

I will have to find a copy of her book - if only to serve as a swift kick in the butt to remind me that I really don’t have it THAT bad.

I was struck by the fact that her Obituary mentions her twin sister - and I wonder if Lucy would look at her sister, Sarah Louise, and see the person that she physically could have been. I imagine that it must have been difficult - for both twins (even if they weren’t identical).

. . .

Sure, I might be stuck in a dead-end job, but…

Jan 04 0 comments
Quiet Thoughts

The Gift of a Life(time)

David Harper, Superhero.

That has a nice ring to it.

Harper’s secret power has nothing to do with super-human strength or an ability to fly or x-ray vision. He dons neither a cape nor mask. But he does save lives.

Angela Rushford, a 5-year-old suffering from polycystic renal failure (a condition usually seen in older people) received a kidney from Harper, a stranger who happened to see a newspaper ad placed by the girl’s mother.

Both Angela and Harper are recovering from their surgery and should be out of the hospital in a few days.

. . .

How often do complete strangers graciously donate one of their organs for a stranger? Would you do it?

. . .

You can take the Superhero Latency Test here. The quiz is designed to help you identify any potential super powers you may have lying dormant within you.

Or, better yet, be a real hero and donate your blood, bone marrow or your time.

Jan 03 0 comments
Disturbing Thoughts

A slip of the tongue - or a cunning mind game?

Q If we do have to go to war and —

THE PRESIDENT: With which country?

Q With Iraq. And if — and with our economy stagnating, what makes you confident that we can afford —

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, you know, I’m hopeful we won’t have to go war, and let’s leave it at that.

Q But if we do, though, what —

THE PRESIDENT: Until Saddam Hussein makes up his mind to disarm — see, it’s his choice to make. See, you need to ask him that question, not me.

Q But the White House is drawing up plans to pay for the war, if we come to that. So why —

THE PRESIDENT: Well, let’s leave it at if, for a while then, until it happens.

…

You can read the entire transcript of President Bush’s remarks to the Press Pool today at his ranch in Crawford, TX here.

…

President Bush warned Saddam Hussein yesterday that his “day of reckoning is coming.” This article appears to give credence to this fact, with “some units of the 45,000-member U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force” set to deploy from California’s Camp Pendleton to the Gulf region. Last week, more than 11,000 soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division in the state of Georgia got the call. With nearly 60,000 U.S. military personnel already in the Gulf, our forces could double by February.

My prediction? I once thought that war against Iraq was unavoidable - we need to finish the job and expel Hussein (although my personal preference would be in a coffin). The more power and might we send over there, the more I see the leadership of the neighboring Arab countries increasing their pressure on Hussein to go into exile.

Then our troops would be free to deal with the mad little dictator in North Korea.

However, I would prefer to see the US withdraw our troops from South Korea and let Japan, China, Russia and South Korea deal with the little twerp. I don’t know why our brave men and women should shed their blood for people who so clearly detest Americans.

Hmm… Ironically, you could substitute Germany or France or any other European country for “South Korea” and the result is the same….

Anybody else tired of being the unappreciated peacekeepers of the world™?

Then there’s always the Saudis to deal with….

God speed faithful warriors.

Jan 02 0 comments
Cerebral Squiggles

ET… Phone home, but first pick up your trash…

I believe that alien beings have visited our fair planet in the past. Before you say ‘better add another layer of tinfoil there…”, let me explain that my Dad use to chase UFO’s when he worked for a research branch of the Navy. Now, that wasn’t his ONLY job - they did highly classified scientific research that happened to bring them to remote, rather desolate areas of the country. It just so happens that on a couple of different occasions, unidentified flying objects (that’s UFO’s, folks) - strange cigar shaped vessels - would appear in the sky and they would pursue them - only to have the UFO’s speed off at a high rate of speed - so high that they couldn’t keep up in their Cessna’s or Piper Cub’s.

If my Dad, who I always deemed to be a sensible, intelligent and hard-working man with tremendous integrity could believe in the existence of extraterrestrial beings, well, so can I.

According to this article, President Bush recently granted a year-long exemption from environmental laws that risked disclosure of classified information regarding the super-secret Air Force base operations at Groom Lake, Nevada (a.k.a., Area 51).

According to the article, President Bush judged that “it is in the paramount interest of the United States” to prevent disclosure of information about Groom Lake. Hmmm, “paramount” - of chief concern or importance. What exactly are they hiding there?

Quite honestly, the mystery surrounding Area 51 has gone on long enough. While I think that I would be bored serving in any political office, I am strongly considering throwing my hat into the ring and announcing my run for the office of the President in 2004. I want to know what it is that they’re hiding in the Nevada desert….

Oh, I know, it’s nothing more than next-generation fighter technology.

But I still like the idea of life from other planets.

Jan 01 0 comments
Brain Matter

Resolutions for the New Year

Another year is here, pounds still need to be shed, projects still need to be completed, budgets still need to be made and love still needs to be found.

I won’t kid anybody… I’m not going to list any of my resolutions for 2003 on this site… ;-)
Actually, the only resolution that I will admit to is that I plan to blog at least one entry a day… Oh, sure, it might just be a lame entry (like THIS one), but I’ll at least do SOMETHING.

It’s the close of the first day of the New Year. I’m still trying to figure out where LAST year went. (Jees, I must be getting old - and I am since I’ll be hitting the big 4-0 later this year. No, it’s NOT bothering me, why do you ask?!?)

This holiday in the middle-of-the-week thing bites. Tomorrow is just another work day. Actually, it’s the second to the last day of the Fiscal Year at work - which wouldn’t be such a big thing except that since the company got sold, this represents a shift from our former FY schedule (May to April) to a new “calendar-year” schedule. Yep, that’s right… change. I’m still in the process of updating all of my reports to accurately report the CY data. For a company that’s followed this pattern for 20+ years, this is actually a big thing. Should be a hoot to watch senior management try to recalculate the monthly trends and the seasonality of our business - and come up with excuses for why our sales have tanked. Should be an interesting year… that’s all I can say.

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I signed up for two free courses through Barnes and Noble. I haven’t taken a course in ages, so signing up for TWO courses may be a bit more than I’ll be able to keep up with. I figure that I’ll start out strong, then fade once the novelty wears off…. Just like college.

Classes start January 13th and 15th. I’m sure that I’ll have comments to make about each of them… Stay tuned.