It hurts to hear...

My friend Eileen thinks I've been spending too much time with C-Span watching the world of politics. Sorry Eileen... I can't help it. And to everyone else hoping for a humurous, upbeat post -- skip this one.

Anyway, I'll keep it short... The Downing Street Minutes which were printed in the London Times nearly a month ago clearly prove that President Bush had planned to attack and invade Iraq well before the start of talk of weapons of mass destruction and such.

This country was forced to sit through two terms of Independent Counsel investigating President Clinton's love life. The argument was that he was the President and if he lied about having an affair maybe he was lying about other things. Now the right wing wants to gloss over a Republican President lying to the Congress and the American people for the sole reason of going to war to gain political capital.

It's disgusting and any argument otherwise is spurious, shallow and hypocritical...

Go to AfterDowningStreet.org or to Congressman John Conyers' site.

Power of a couple small words...

I was on the phone yesterday when I got a reminder of just how seldom we're actually kind to other people and how much of an impact it makes when we are.

I had already talked to what felt like half the interns in Washington, D.C. so I was feeling a bit tired of the whole phone thing, but that's a whole different story. Anyway, I called the FEC (Federal Elections blah blah blah) to find some information on PACs and the woman on the line was being very professional but she sounded a bit tired. So during a pause, I asked her how her day was going.

I've been known to embellish when I tell stories, but I kid you not even a little when I say that I could hear her smile.

"Wow... thank you for asking," she answered. "It's going pretty good. Can I say that it's going better now? How's your day going?"

Anyway, she got me some information and then she needed to transfer me to someone else. Right before she transfered my call over she paused and said, "Before I let you go, I have to thank you for asking about my day. No one's ever done that before. I hope you have a great day sir."

This woman answers phones at an agency in Washington, D.C. so you have to imagine she fields a lot of calls every day... and yet no one had ever asked her about her day. That amazes me.

My challenge to anyone reading this is to go out and just be nice to at least one person -- a bank teller, a grocery clerk, your dentist... whoever. I would be curious to hear how many people you can make smile in one day.

Like a spoiled child...

Lucky me... I have the honor of being 'represented' by Congressman James Sensenbrenner. He's one of the guys behind the misnamed Patriot Act. He chairs the House Judiciary Committee.

The other day he cut short testimony and generally acted like an ass -- banging his gavel down and shutting off the microphones in the middle of testimony. Clearly, a man out of control and out of touch.

Here's the highlight reel of the Congressman's latest loss of composure. If you think he's out of line, please call his office and leave a message at 202-225-5101 or email him at sensenbrenner@mail.house.gov If you want, you can cut and paste the following simple statement:

Congressman Sensenbrenner,

Your recent behavior as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee requires an apology. Your actions were out of line and your statements were uncalled for.

Respectfully

Sushi rocks

Good Sushi is good eatin'... I had some pretty good stuff last night. They even had Uni, which was bit of surprise. Uni is sea urchin if you're curious. It's not for the faint of heart.

Anyway, in the great scheme of things... why is it that Sushi always takes so long to make? I've never had fast service at any Sushi place I've ever been too.

Maybe this is just one of life's little mysteries...

Dog people

There really are cat people and dog people and they have different world views. Oh sure, sometimes they overlap but you can usually tell a cat person from a dog person. Sometimes people are both, but it's usually safe to say that they're more one than the other.

There are other kinds of people out there too... bird people, horse people, reptile people, and no animals of any sort people ... Mostly though, people fall into one of the big two.

Yesterday, I met two dog people at seperate times. It really made me think about how there are a lot of subgroups within the dog people category.

The first lady had a little poodle. Cute enough, but totally lacking in any obedience qualities. That's not a slam on the dog, but rather the person. The dog is a dog... he's only gonna act like a dog does.

In the pack world, there's an alpha and then there's everyone else and they fall into a pecking order. Clearly... this was a pack without an alpha dog. The little poodle wasn't in charge of anything, but then again, neither was this woman... Maybe the husband is the alpha dog in this household? I doubt it. When I met him on the way in, I seriously thought he was mentally challenged. (And no, I'm not making this up or exagerating for effect... I really thought that.)

I'm not even going to make a joke about the Bush/Cheney bumper sticker on their car, but it did sort of seem fitting.

The second dog lady had a bigger dog, regular size really... It was kind of a hunting, bird dog, mutt looking thing. His name was Emmett and he was both nice and well behaved... His owner -- Nicole, if you're wondering -- just told him to come and sit and he did. No voice raising or anything. She even sort of apologized when he came over and sniffed my out which was really no big deal at all.

Anyway,(drumroll...there is a point to this...) what I'm wondering is why is it that people with poorly behaved dogs always have this sort of dopey, oh-golly-he-sure-is-a handful-but-isn't-he-a-great-dog attitude? I'm pretty sure that if they have kids... it's sort of the same thing. And conversely, why is it that people with well-behaved dogs tend to be more concerned with whether their dog is annoying anyone?

Okay... now that I'm looking at this, I realize there actually isn't much of a point after all. Oh well -- win some, lose some...

Whoever you are, I hope you're having a great Saturday.

Thank you mall girls...

I came of age in the decadent, golden-era of the American mall. I still love all the stuff you can find while wandering aimlessly. Shiny objects everywhere... oh yeah, cute girls too.

And nothing says summer like time at the mall. When you don't have a beach, the only other place with that concentrated summer vibe is the mall. So today, after a job out near the Mayfair Mall, I decided to make a stop. It wasn't all about slacking though. I had to return a book at Barnes and Noble. The great book returning adventure is a good tale, but it's going to have to wait to be told.

Anyway, I returned the book and headed out into the mall. It was glorious... It was bliss... I grabbed a Frappucino from Starbucks and then walked back to the book store. That's it. That's all I did. It was enough to just bask in the presence of the mall girls. I'm sure there were plenty of mall guys too, but who cares? The only mall guy that entered my consciousness was some cel phone dude at one of the random cel phone kiosks. He broke my revery, but I quickly shook it off and was soon back in my happy place, surrounded by beautiful mall girls.

They made me happy just because they were there. For one bright, shining, afternoon moment all was right with the world. Thank you mall girls... thank you...

Books to read...

My friend Eileen has some book recommendations on her blog. Since I don't have any to recommend off the top of my head, I think you should just use hers. She's pretty smart. Go see her blog...

I'm a nerd now...

Okay... not just now, but this just proves it.

Today's big project? I installed SUSE Linux on my second computer. This was more of a chore than you might imagine since it came on DVD instead of CDs so I had to plug in a hard drive, install it, pull out the hard drive and move it over to the other computer. The great joy was that it fired right up. Minor miracle! In the process, I found that it even fired up my first computer, auto-detected all my hardware and got me on the internet... See what I mean? Total dorkmeister.

The funny thing is that I don't even really like computer stuff that much, I just feel like I should keep on learning it. That was the whole reason for creating a website too. Just to learn how to do it.

On a separate -- but yet sort of the same -- note, it's kind of cool to keep on learning stuff. Maybe that's part of why I don't feel that old. I think learning new things helps to keep you young -- so does having copious amounts of sex, but that's not happening so I'm stuck with learning stuff.

Anyway, in keeping with that philosophy, I've been listening to some German podcasts. I can only understand a little... very little... but it's sort of cool to have a different language going in the background. Almost like travelling.

Some things I learned today...

It's all in a word... so they say.

Today, I learned that the North Koreans are "committed" to the six-party nuclear talks. I learned this because the White House announced it. I'm still not sure what it means and apparently I'm not alone. From what I can tell... "committed" doesn't mean that the N. Koreans have given a time frame on when they might return to the talks they walked out on. It also doesn't mean that they are even actually saying they will return to the table. Maybe it's another way of saying that they think these talks are a nifty idea...

The other thing I learned today is that President Bush is willing to concede that global warming is real... as long as we change the name to something else. In case you were wondering, it's no longer "global warming"... it's now a worldwide "climate change" that's going on and we should maybe look into it. Don't worry though, the solution is apparently quite simple... it's "clean nuclear power." Oh yeah, and maybe some of them hydrogen cel technology cars and that bio-diesel stuff where we run cars on soy beans.

It's 62 pages...

Here's a link to a story I've been working on. It's sitting at 62 pages right now. It's saved as a PDF document, so you'll need Acrobat Reader to check it out... Me and Grim.

Since it could be a while before I sit down and update my website, I decided to post a link here. Thanks for lighting a fire under me Laurie.

If you need Acrobat Reader, it's free and you can download it by following this link. It's also likely that you can do the same thing by just trying to open the document. I'm not sure about that though. Most people already have it on their computer.

Who knows...

There's a bit of that ominous, still feeling in the air. The kind that hangs thicker than the grey clouds filling the sky. It's like the weather hasn't decided which way to go, but it's seriously considering letting loose a downpour.

I've got some videos to watch tonight. I don't really feel like heading out on the town. (And remember, this is West Bend, WI, so I use the word 'town' very loosely.) Do you ever get that way? You know, where you don't want to stay at home, but you don't want to go out and face people? At what point does it change from feeling a bit blah to actually being depressed?

I have been thinking that I would feel much better if I took some of the crap laying around here to the dump. I'm too lazy to have a garage sale and I don't even really feel like seperating out stuff to take down to Goodwill. What I really feel like is a clean sweep. How about that one? You ever get that way? My problem is that I don't get that way enough... stuff starts to accumulate and then it turns into a big task. Well, I do have all weekend...

Not enough people have African masks in their homes. Did you know that some of these are being used to this day. Granted, it's getting very hard to find masks that haven't been made for the tourist trade, but they're still out there.

This one is from the Igboo tribe. Not to worry... it's not a 'power' mask. It's not new, but it's also not that old and if it was used, it would have likely been for a public type celebration or ceremony.

Yes, I'm still trying to fight off boredom. Hopefully, I'll be able to ratchet my mood up a bit as we head into the weekend. We'll see... 

Some stuff on or around my desk...

Some of the stuff I have sitting within an arm's length of my computer...

• A talisman I received from a Tibetan Buddhist monk
• An SD card
• An 1814 copy of "The History of Prince Lee Boo, a Native of the Palew Islands" by Captain Wilson
• Foreign coins
• A parrot feather
• Shell necklace
• Buddhist prayer chant

This is by no means all I have scattered around my little office room... but this stuff fit on a flatbed scanner and I was a bit bored. That happens from time to time. Maybe I should do some more pictures... I haven't gone through that phase yet.

What do you see when you look around? Why are those things near you? I don't know, maybe the stuff we keep around ourselves says something about who we are. Then again, maybe it doesn't. The majority of the things I own could disappear tomorrow and, frankly, I would probably be relieved.

Patriot Act... my ass

Since I've been finding myself bitching about things like the Patriot Act lately, I thought maybe I should practice what I preach and read the thing. I learned several things and was reminded of others...

First off, reading laws is pretty boring. No, it's really boring. I knew this before, but now it's been refreshed for me. It's hard to believe that half a bill that was signed into law did nothing more than ammend a previous law with things like, "Section 2516(1)(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking `and section 1341 (relating to mail fraud),' and inserting `section 1341 (relating to mail fraud), a felony violation of section 1030 (relating to computer fraud and abuse),'" and "CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Rule 6(e)(3)(D) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is amended by striking `(e)(3)(C)(i)' and inserting `(e)(3)(C)(i)(I)'." Hard to believe but true.

Also, it's amazing that it is often the smallest of words or phrases that can have the farthest reaching effects on our society. The perfect example is Title IX, that little add on to a big ole bill that changed the face of college sports, but that's another subject. Anyway, if you were to read the Patriot Act and not fall asleep, you might not even notice some of the small things that make it so nefarious. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean they aren't there.

Suffice it to say that since I have now read the whole damn thing, I'm still convinced that this Act is pretty far from patriotic and it needs to be put to sleep.

If you believe that the FBI should be able to enter your home, take items and not have to tell you -- all without ever having to acquire a warrant through normal channels, then you should support renewing the Patriot Act. Also, if you think that a librarian should be sent to prison for telling her husband over dinner that the weirdest thing happened at work today, the FBI came in and ordered her to turn over a list of all the books someone had checked out -- then the Patriot Act is for you.

If you don't believe that both of those things can happen, then you should read the law. If you are wondering what you can do about it, go to checksandbalances.org and see if you agree. And for all my Conservative friends... it's actually a Conservative organization supported by some pretty Conservative folk... Trust me, it won't hurt you. There's also a link to the actual Act if you've been having trouble sleeping and the pills aren't working, or if you just happen to be curious.

Positive baggage...

Since bright spots should be pointed out too, I should relay that yesterday I stopped at Target. My checker was really cute, but that's another story. I bought an armful of products:

• Pack of razors
• Two bottles o' Pepsi
• Two DVDs
• Two packs o' batteries
• one 3 lbs bag o' birdseed

My cute checker placed these items into two most-excellent, high-quality, plastic bags and told me - while smiling - to have a good day. I thought this was awesome and smiled back. When I got to the truck, I saw that she had double bagged the bird seed. I love you Target checker girl!