September 2001




Friday 9.28.01

What an incredible day! I'm thinking about playing hooky, but, wait...I'm already working at home! It's sort of like playing hooky AND getting paid for it. Is this a great life or what??


Thursday 9.27.01

I'm hoping to be able to make some changes in the next week or so. The more I work on this site, the more I'm becoming dissatisfied with the way it looks. In a word, it's lame, and I need to make some improvements. I guess that's what I get for using a free server to host the site...lame, lame, lame.

I've been simplifying things over the past few days, deleting pages and excess content. A lot of the stuff was "cute" at first, and now it just seems overdone and tiresome. Accordingly, I'm going to focus on my writing as much as possible. While I improve my HTML and design skills, I'll likely have an interim solution up soon to replace this layout. It's tough to work with this template, and I can do better on my own. Stay tuned....


Monday 9.24.01

Would Jesus wear a Rolex on his television show??


Friday 9.21.01

"The pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians...the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say 'You helped this happen.'"

- Jerry Falwell

I suppose it should go without saying that ignorance transcends religion. So does bigotry. Why is it that someone who calls himself a "man of God" feels he has the right to judge and categorize others in such narrow-minded, mean-spirited, bigoted terms? Since when is religion exclusive? What happened to the inclusive, "love thy neighbor as thyself" philosophy that is at the root of Christianity?

Crawl back to your swamp, Mr. Falwell. You are an embarrassment to all who do their utmost to live their beliefs.


Wednesday 9.19.01

I've been working at home this week, and I'm finding that there is something strangely liberating about showing up for work in your underwear. Of course, the commute's not so bad either....

It's nice to be able to be here when Eric comes home from school. I sometimes forget how little time I have to actually talk to him. Honestly, though, when he comes through the door, talking isn't usually what is on his mind. Teenagers can be so self-absorbed at times, but then they are training to be adults. One normally doesn't equate "adult" with "self-effacing", does one??


Tuesday 9.18.01

It's official, we're a nation in mourning. Dan Rather and David Letterman break down on national television. Jerry Falwell, during and interview on the "700 Club" (that noted forum for reasoned, moderate social commentary....) that liberals and homosexuals (among others, no doubt) were responsible for creating a climate in which last weeks attacks were possible.


Monday 9.17.01

After almost a week of dealing with the shock and the sadness, today was a day for most of us to try and get back to "normal", whatever that may be. I'm not sure how that can be done, but life has to go on. What is the other option? I've found it comforting that people outside our own borders seem to have been deeply affected by the attacks of last Tuesday.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Major League Baseball goes back to work tonight. Will people care? Who knows? Speaking for myself, I can say that I'm not sure how I would react, but I do know that it's going to be some time before luxuries like sports stops feeling frivolous.


Saturday 9.15.01

I've been sick for the past two days, so my writing (not to mention my frame of mind) is not what it could be. I've spent the day at home by myself. This wouldn't be so bad if there were at least a few football games on TV. Understandably, television is still occupied with the attacks on Tuesday. I just wish I felt up to doing something productive.

Eric is at a debate tournament, and apparently is doing quite well. I will say this: the kid can argue.


Friday 9.14.01


On my way to work this morning, I was listening to Susan Stamberg from National Public Radio discuss the nature of grief. She discussed how the grieving process tends to move from shock to numbness to denial to anger and finally to action. Speaking for myself, I think helplessness has a part somewhere in that process. It's difficult to feel anything but powerless at the moment. I am grateful that neither I nor my family were in midst of this horrible tragedy. Nonetheless, I want to be able to do something to materially improve the situation. As an individual, however, I realize I am tremendously limited.

The shock and the anger are still there. Every time I see a video clip of the second plane flying into the building, I feel as if I'm watching a movie. When I realize that I'm not, that someone did that deliberately, I feel an anger that wells up from a place I did not even know existed.


Thursday 9.13.01

Eventually, life goes on. It must, for there is really no other alternative. It has been difficult for me to tear myself away from the television, and I imagine the same is true for most us. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the magnitude of events in New York City, not to mention at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

Imagine the terror of wandering around trying to determine where your loved one is, or even if they are alive. Can you? Can any of us? Personally, I am thankful that I know where my wife and family are at this moment. Of course, anyone whose loved one headed off to work at the Pentagon or World Trade Center on Tuesday morning could have said the same thing.


Wednesday 9.12.01

"For Americans, September 11, 2001, will go down in history as a day the world changed. Like December 7, 1941, "the day that will live in infamy", the attacks on targets in New York and Washington will resonate throughout the nation.... In 1941, the Japanese air force launched itself against military targets on an island not yet a state in the middle of the Pacific. This morning's terrorism was directed at civilians, in perhaps the most densely inhabited chunk of real state in the nation's largest city."

- Michael Elliott
Time.com

Sadly, we live in a much different world than we did just 24 hours ago. Who would have thought that a day that unfolded in glorious autumnal splendor would be shattered before 10am Central Time? The mind boggles at what has transpired in New York. It's as if I saw a Tom Clancy novel unfolding before my eyes. The reality was almost too much to comprehend. I'm at work this morning, but I'm not here. I'm still numb, still trying to sort out and comprehend what has happened. I'm not sure that I can this soon.

I fear that we have gone to war....

Thank you to Rune Gabrielsen and his friend Mike Raab for forwarding the following article to me via email this afternoon. It apparently is from a Canadian newspaper, though I have not been able to determine the exact source. Whoever should be credited for writing this, the sentiments are well-put and greatly appreciated.

America: The Good Neighbor.

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not once, but several times - and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them,unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those.

Stand proud, America!


Tuesday 9.11.01

Swedish hockey. Need I say more?

After what feels like a millenium of hot, steamy weather, it appears autumn may (cross my fingers) be upon us. Yesterday was warm, but dry, and the evening and this morning were very comfortable- in the mid-60s this morning. I love this time of year.

When I lived in Minneapolis, I always loved the day at winter's end when it was warm enough to grab a baseball and go outside to play catch. It was almost as if you could watch an entire city crawl out from under a rock. Suddenly, instead of parkas and scarves, you saw bikinis and shorts. Of course, given that there were still snowdrifts about, you didn't see skimpy clothing for long, but just being able to wear them outside seemed like a moral victory.

I learned enough HTML yesterday to begin to make some improvements on the site. It's a slow process, but I know more today than I did at this time yesterday. It's nice to be able to begin to undestand how all of it works, and then to begin putting that knowledge to practical use. Soon, hopefully, this site will be a bit more visually attractive.


Monday 9.10.01

Greetings from the Stagnant Water Capitol of the Entire Free World! If you're allergic to mosquito repellant (as I am), you'd be best served to wrap yourself in Saran Wrap and wait until about January.

Yesterday was the first weekend of the NFL season, which can mean only one thing. Yep, you guessed it: hockey season is just around the corner!!

I've decided to try some of my new-found HTML knowledge on the code for this website. Despite Adam's (not unjustified)lack of confidence in my abilities, I have not as yet destroyed anything irreparably. It's still early, though. over the next few days, I'm going to experiement with the layout to see if I can make it a bit more visually agreeable. At the moment, it's OK for being horribly generic, but it definitely needs some work. It should prove to be a good learning experience for me.


Saturday 9.8.01

I heard this joke on "A Prairie Home Companion" this afternoon. I thought it was hilarious...

"Ole won the door prize at the Sons of Norway meeting- a toilet brush. He took it home with him, and it worked very well for him. Before long, though, being a creature of habit, he went back to using paper."

Susan asked me today if this was my mid-life crisis. Well, I told her, if I were to have a mid-life crisis, I'd buy a Camaro and find myself a cheerleader. This is just me having fun....

With all the rain we had over Labor Day weekend (around 8-10 inches), the mosquitoes are out in force, and they are ravenous. I'd like to go play golf, but the mosquitoes here seem to like white meat.


Friday 9.7.01

I should begin by offering an expression of profuse gratitude to my stepson, Adam. There is something disconcertingly humbling about realizing that you know far less about a particular topic than an 18-year-old. Adam happens to be a seemingly boundless fount of knowledge in anything HTML- or internet-related. He has been tremendously patient with me as I try to teach myself HTML and work on my website. I would imagine that it can be rather amusing watching your stepfather f*ck things up (his words), but I'm learning to be humble. Someday (hopefully) soon, I'll be able to keep up with him.

So far, this site is almost unbelievably child-like. Still, one must learn to slither before one can crawl, no?? I'm looking forward to the time when I can do something original. For now, I imagine people will be checking this out for the writing and witty, incisive opinioneering and not the graphics.

Learning how to set up this website has been an exercise in trial and error- well, actually more error than trial so far. I've been experimenting with things, hoping that I don't totally screw things up, and not sure what I'd do if I actually did. If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, no knowledge is hurtling down the black diamond slope with your skis on backwards.

A mind is a terrible thing....

Who says these folks lack a sense of humor? I found this on Radio B92's website:
Weapons and watermelons surrendered in Macedonia

RADUSA, Friday - Ethnic Albanian rebels handed over a captured Macedonian army tank to NATO troops as Operation Essential Harvest resumed today.

Some 200 guerrilla soldiers handed in arms in the northwestern village of Radusa today. As well as the tank, they surrendered a seized armoured personnel carrier.

A NATO spokesman said that most of the weapons were AK-47 assault rifles, although some anti-tank weapons were also surrendered. He could not confirm figures.

The mission had resumed today after being put on hold pending the vote in the Macedonian parliament on the Ohrid peace deal. Parliament yesterday voted in favour of accepting the accord.Skopje satire

However, the effectiveness or otherwise of the entire NATO mission was brought into the spotlight today by a protest organised by local media in Skopje. Several hundred Macedonians staged a parody of the operation in which they handed over toy weapons and fruit.

The charade was dubbed "We harvest water melons", but a variety of non-offensive objects was handed in.

Organisers playing the part of NATO soldiers noted down every one, then delivered the lot to NATO headquarters in Skopje.



Thursday 9.6.01

I've been thinking a lot about reparations lately. I just finished an essay on it which pretty much sums up my feelings, but I can't help but be incredulous at the whole concept. How long can one justifiably claim victimhood?

If anyone is a fan of thesmokinggun.com, they have a semi-regular rant running about those fine citizens who see it as their civic duty to complain about the personalized license plates of other drives. I fail to see how a plate reading URAPUTZ or A55 is a threat to national security. If you want to argue about whether something like that is in poor taste, we can talk. Obviously, the line has to be drawn somewhere (we're decent folk, after all, and we have standards, damnit!!). Do you really want it to be drawn by the a##%* behind you in rush-hour traffic? Don't we all have better things to worry about, like why Johnny can't read but he can smoke crack and take a gun to school? Get over yourself....


Wednesday 9.5.01

Morning comes awfully early around here. It's 6.15am, and I'm already in the office. Damn, it's darkout there. I need coffee before someone gets hurt....

I found a couple pictures from the wedding last October, and I almost put them up on the site until I took a closer look. Both of us have lost a ton of weight in the past 11 months (almost 70 pounds between us- that's a Backstreet Boy). I can only speak for myself, but I'm not at all sure that I want to post a picture that makes me look like the Pillsbury Doughboy. I imagine Susan would feel much the same. Yikes....


Tuesday 9.4.01

After spending a relaxing weekend in Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island, we came home to find out that our home is falling apart. Well, not literally, but it sure felt that way. Welcome back to reality, eh?

The refrigerator and freezer stopped working while we were away, so we encountered a large pool of water on the kitchen floor. Most all of the food had been ruined; thank God I was able to salvage the frozen pizza (yeah, it wasn't a TOTAL disaster).

Apparently, it costs a lot of me to be me. At least it feels that way. It feels as if something is constantly in need of repair. Whether it's a thing, a person, or a pet, we always seems to be paying for something to be fixed. Who called this a disposable society, anyway??

I'm finally getting this thing to the point where it's something resembling presentable. I wonder if anyone will even both to look at it??


Monday 9.3.01

I spent a good part of the evening working on getting this website together. Most of the time I've devoted to wondering if I am only doing this for my own gratification. I decided that I probably am, and that it really doesn't matter what the reason is. So, onward and upward....