Wasted Words

2007-06-22T17:35:00.000-05:00

More Pictures!

My wife has taken like 400 pictures of our daughter so far. Not that I can blame her. I got her a photo printer for Mother's Day too so now we're drowning in pictures in both the physical and virtual world. Here are some highlights (some pro, some us)...

Love this one...

My favorite outfit of hers!

But Papa, it hurts me to let you sleep...

Pay no attention to the man behind the flowers...

I love those eyes!

2007-05-25T14:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Star Wars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

30 years ago a movie came out that had as deep an impact on me as any tale, myth, story, movie, music, show or even book ever has.
I was three and half years old when it came out. I don't know when we saw it because it had such a long run in the theaters but seeing it was the 1st very vivid memory I have that I can place time wise. Being good Hispanics, we showed up late... very late. I threw a patented temper tantrum when the movie ended until my family agreed to stick around and catch the parts we missed. We left the second viewing as the gang was in the cockpit of the Falcon (hands down the coolest spaceship ever) taking off.
Regardless of whatever people like or dislike about SW, it clearly established a unique presence for its self in pop culture. As a kid, we played everything under the sun growing up but SW was always king. No toys were more coveted, no movies discussed more.
A little later in life, a lot of childish things were put away, but SW hung around. If you were talking about a teacher, you could do no better than calling them, "Darth (insert name)." "Use the force" could be used with geeks, jocks or adults and would always get a positive response.
That's one of things about SW that always stood out to me in my nerd mind too. It crossed bounds in a way nothing else 'geek' did. You could talk Star Trek or anything else w/in geekdom. Outside of it, you would be advised not to try.
Star Wars = Geek + Cool.
Way later in college SW was still common ground. I couldn't count how many conversations we Rock Stupid Students had about it. At UD we did an OT marathon in the lounge on a Thanksgiving weekend when the campus was pretty empty. As people we didn't know passed us on the stairs, we collected more and more viewers until it was absolutely packed. I wonder what other movies we could have had going in the VCR that would have had that effect, to that degree.
Now as a 30+ year old in corporate America, it still happens. One of my best friends is a guy I worked with downtown and although neither of us goes to conventions or lives 'in' geekdom, SW somehow came up and got the ball rolling.

So anyway, a big thanks to Lucas and the many, many people involved in the barely managed chaos and incredible fit of creativity that produced the greatest blockbuster/cult hit/B movie/Space Western/Reinvented-recycled myth/morality tale to come along in my lifetime. Happy Birthday to the Galaxy far, far away.

2007-05-04T17:57:00.000-05:00

I just sat thinking, "My teacher friends will love this":

I was forced to go to a 4 HOUR Business Writing course this week. Now I will grant you that I make my share of writing errors (this post included I'm sure. God knows you people are perfect for finding them), but I don't think this was the best use of my time...

Highlights from Kiki's notes:

According to the teacher, academic writing is long, dry and boring. Also, the only reason anyone ever reads it is because they will be tested on it. Needless to say, most of the class agreed.

Wikipedia is a great resource but you have to be careful because people have "hacked" into it before and put out bad information (LOL).

The WRITING TEACHER did not know the difference between "further" and "farther." Also, she had never heard of the words "novella" or "affable."

Other handy subjects covered...
-The differences between "their," "there" and "they're"
-The differences between "too," "two" and "to"
-The difference between "principal" and "principle"
-The difference between "capital" and "capitol"
-When trying to spell the word "together," think of it as "To get her." This was one of a page full of hints on how to spell properly. Other tips included, "Say it out loud" and "Mispronounce it to emphasize the proper spelling."
-Why we should always use short and simple words instead of long ones

Part II of the class is in a few weeks. Oh joy.

2007-04-19T18:33:00.000-05:00

Picture Time!
(Insert obligatory comment about this being woefully overdue)

At the hospital.

"Move over mom. This is my bed. You won't be sleeping anymore anyway... ever."

Reading The Hobbit. Its never too early to brainwash your child.

Deep thoughts... "What should I make the big slaves do next?"

"Let's review, you two won't ever sleep again so just give me the bed"

This would be a great spontaneous shot (note Daddy's asleep) if not for the mess in the background.

Brenda Gail meets baby (and takes real pictures that are forthcoming)!

Catching up after working for the man.

I admit, I got that blanket because I saw it on Angel years ago. Doesn't she look adorable in it?

"Enough pictures for now. Isabelle has spoken!"

2007-03-12T16:18:00.000-05:00

Baby Talk...

I sucked bad enough at updating this thing before we were parents so obviously this is a futile endeavor but I'm not giving up just yet.

Isabelle has arrived and everything is as absolutely wonderful, crazy and stressful as we could have imagined.

For posterity's sake (since just about no one reads this blog... my fault):
2/20/07- We plan on going to our 2/22 appt. for our weekly, "The baby will be here anytime" checkup. Up until this point things had gone wonderfully well. Pregnancy is most definitely one heck of a journey and adventure all by itself.
It's the first day of the work week and we get a call as I'm heading out the door for work...
1. They say they want to see us today instead. Uh, okay.
2. After the exam- The doctor says we need to have the baby later this week. We have to start dealing with the idea that we won't be able to let nature take the proverbial course.
3. She sends us downstairs to a specialist. He sends us straight to labor and delivery. Confusion sets in.
4. They start prepping Laura and we start freaking out. "Is the baby in danger?"
5. Doctor shows up and says we need to have this baby tonight or tomorrow morning, no arguments. We now have to start dealing with this change to the most recent change "E.g. Inducement later this week, no waiting for birth to start naturally."
6. The baby is big and the water is low. We can try inducement but there's a good chance it will turn into a C-section anyway. Time to start dealing with a decision the doctor leaves in our hands. She says she's right on the fence (e.g. no help). We didn't want a C-section if it could be avoided. I won't go into the complexity of the decision matrix because there were a lot of factors. Suffice it to say it was one of those perfect problems where for every reason to go one way, there was a counter. And a counter to the counter.
After a painful few hours I pick a time on the clock and say, "Let's just decide by then." We finally decide to go straight to C-section. Laura put it best when she suggested we take ourselves out of the equation and imagine we heard this same scenario about someone else. The solution is then obvious but a little painful. Giving up on something you've been building towards for so long (a vaginal delivery) is not easy.
7. A mostly sleepless night is spent watching the baby monitoring equipment and wondering if we made the right choice.
8. They wake us up at a horribly early hour and get started. The good news about a C-section, especially one that early is that there's not much time to get nervous. You're in the room before you know it and the baby comes out very quickly.

Before we even know what's happened, Isabelle is lifted out to a chorus of emphatic "Wow's" from the medical staff. It seems straight to C-section was the right choice. Isabelle looks like she's 3 weeks old. She isn't chubby, just big. She doesn't much look the part of the scrawny baby who will still flesh out some with feeding. She looks ready for her 1st pictures. She's calm, has beautiful skin and a very full head of hair.

Stats: 8 lbs 12 oz - 20 inches long - born at 7:11 AM - born on Ash Wednesday

In a flash we are done with the post op stuff and the three of us are in the room we'll spend a blissful four days in. Poor mommy is out of it. CS is major surgery indeed. But she's awake and able to enjoy our little girl. My advice- forget the visitors. Enjoy the time with the baby before you have to worry about all the stuff that being at home brings (laundry, supplies, etc.).
Despite the impossibly chaotic schedule, we really enjoyed our stay at the hospital and were a little sad to go. It was our first vacation as a family. One with a painful recovery for mommy, less sleep than you've ever had (forget school) and mountains of information to digest but still a vacation. Us in a room, away from it all.

Just like on holiday, we flew under the radar and stayed longer than we were supposed to (ha ha) but finally left on the day of the dust storm.
I will not forget walking out to a strange and wonderful landscape. Seeing the surreal pink light that covered everything and feeling the driving wind. Nature apparently took notice that our new life was beginning.

2007-01-11T14:34:00.000-06:00

The Stork Will Be Here Soon...
-Baby classes have been taken
-Some supplies have been bought
-Registration at the hospital complete
-Name chosen (Isabelle)
-Wood floors put in our bedroom (Isabelle's room is next)
-Sleep missed. God helps us, she's not even born yet
-"OMG, we're almost a month away" feeling setting in.

That is all.

2006-09-08T13:57:00.000-05:00

Modern Times Part I

A new Dylan album baby! As Abe Simpson’s friend said when he thawed out and saw a Moon Pie at the Quickie Mart, “What a time to be alive.” Modern Times is Dylan’s first new album in five years, which came five years after the last one.

The album is the latest step in a late career resurgence that, as many critics have pointed out, is unparalleled among his peers and possibly among all American music icons. People have come on strong at the end (Johnny Cash recently) but three brilliant, commercially successful (e.g. hit) and universally acclaimed albums in a row is something special for a 65 year old artist. Also during this run...
-Multiple Grammy’s, an Oscar and a Golden Globe
-The award winning Martin Scorsese documentary No Direction Home
-The best selling first installment of his autobiography, Chronicles Vol 1, which made most Top Ten Books of the Year lists and was nominated for a Book Critics Circle award.
-A movie, I'm Not There, by director Todd Haynes coming out next year.
-Modern Times debuting at #1 worldwide (English speaking and/or European nations) and in the U.S. He's the oldest person to have an album debut at #1 in the U.S. who wasn't dead at the album's release time(!).

Modern Times is awesome. Much like the last album, it is a sampling tour of pre-Elvis American song styles. Country waltz, golden age pop ballads, blues of varying sorts, 19th century folk, 50's rock etc. are all on here. As the title would imply, observations on today are present throughout the songs but there is no soap box under his feet. The fleeting, subtle references to current events (Katrina, 9-11, elections, the economy, etc.) are sprinkled lightly throughout the album and are subservient to the main themes...
-Love, lust (a lot of that one, the old horn dog), hate, bitterness and everything else under the sun regarding women
-His own mortality
-Morality (God, religion, the bible and especially the end of days)
-Violence

The very complicated mixture of all those ingredients is classic Dylan. He's always been obsessed with both the sacred and the profane and will often consider both in one line or couplet, much less one song.
The essence of the album is that these are all on the mind of the protagonist, who jauntily sets out in track 1 to see the world just as it is ending. He's taking notes on the greater happenings (current events), falling into and out of love and thinking about all the above ingredients until he gets to the true end. At the last track he's walking through a post apocalyptic world ("The cities of the plague") on a dark mission of revenge, thinking about those women from earlier and wondering if this actually is God’s plan or a meaningless end ("The Gardener's gone"). Once again it is classic Dylan for the epic closing track to assemble all the themes from the earlier songs and put them into context. How the hero's journey ends we never find out ("In the last outback, at the world's end"). It's an odd journey indeed. The Chaplin-esque figure at the start was carefree and footloose. He was sure that true love would be his salvation in these troubled times. Now he's dark and uncertain, love is gone and he and the world are left with nothing.
I was very impressed to find at least two reviews that actually picked up on this. By the way, don't take the metaphor too literally. Dylan does not do concept albums or rock operas. This is more of a loose structure that ties the songs together.

As mentioned, musically the album is beyond old school. Lyrically there is only one (startling) exception to the rule that all the people, places & things in the entire album couldn't be from a hundred year old song. There is no mention of the internet or anything like that. The idiom and the music are from the old, lost America that he’s pinning for, ironically using the obsolete tools to comment on today. So you realize all these complaints about modern times were just as relevant then as they are now (floods, war and the rest). And such completes the circular joke of the album title, its retro 1930’s cover and the overall theme.
‘Modern Times’ is also the title of a Charlie Chaplin movie that was a satire of modernity with its machines and complications.
And that’s Bob Dylan. There’s always another joke, level or connection to discover and that’s what keeps me coming back.

2006-08-30T17:18:00.000-05:00

Be Afraid...

I was listening to Brian Williams' interview of Bush in New Orleans. In one short conversation, the following nuggets came forth from The Decider:

BW- (Regarding reports that GWB had recently read a book by Camus). Can you tell us the back story of Camus?
GWB- “I was in Crawford. I was looking for a book to read and Laura said you ought to read Camus.”
Comment- Uh, he was asking for the story of the author or the book of his you read, not how you came upon him.

GWB- "I read three Shakespeares"
Comment- Wow, and I thought the world was lucky to have one.

GWB- “The key for me is to keep expectations low.”
Comment- You're doing a heck of job, Bushie.

GWB- “Did we fight the wrong war? And absolutely, I have no doubt”
Comment- Me neither.

GWB- “(Before 9-11) We had a foreign policy that said, 'Let’s hope calm works'”
Comment- So you decided to try the opposite?

GWB- ““I stood in Jackson Square. I said 'We’re going to help you' and we delivered”
Comment- Once again, mission accomplished.

2006-08-25T18:22:00.000-05:00

The Funniest Thing on TV in a Loooong Time...

The roast of William Shatner (on last weekend). If you didn't see it, watch it. I would imagine it's available on youtube or some similar site if you don't have Comedy Central.
Anyway, the house stopped down when this came on and it was worth it. They ripped Kirk from stem to stern but he, of course, just rolled with it. One word of warning, the jokes are beyond blue. If anybody, including Shatner, held back it was sure hard to tell! Politically incorrect does not begin to cover it.
I would like to recap some of my favorite lines but I can't come up with a way to even type them from a work computer. Instead how about some highlights:
-Andy Dick licking Carrie Fisher's face
-Betty White (yes, Betty White) making the 1st jaw dropping inappropriate joke of the night.
-Uhura (I have no idea how to spell that) pulling a good one on Kirk.
-A montage of Shatner's musical 'career' that includes the golden nugget of him singing a song with the refrain 'Keep it gay' on a God awful talk show from the drug addled seventies. How the hell has that never made the rounds on the internet before?!

2006-08-21T13:27:00.000-05:00

Laura is Pregnant...
I wish I could really describe what it feels like to repeat that in my mind. I think we've passed the news on to everyone but I think I'll enshrine it in the blog for good measure.
We've been waiting a long time to tell people and are now about half a year away. That seems like about 6 years away at the moment. I would give absolutely anything to skip straight to a healthy and happy mother and baby.
Since that isn't an option we'll just have to go with (im)patience. In the meantime there is a lot to do. We're working on the house and setting aside money for new AC. Cob and I had a fun filled day of wrestling with the upstairs toilet 'til we got the stupid thing working right. That saved a few hundred I'm sure since brining a guy in to work two bigger problems with the kitchen sink and shower valve cost plenty.
What else?
Names- no luck. Every time we think we've settled on one, we end up coming up with a reason to not like it. This is perhaps not the best way to go about settling on a baby name. I never knew it, but naming your child is more of an exercise in the process of elimination than anything else.
Gender- We don't know yet. Next ultrasound is in two months and by then it should be readily apparent.
Laura- is doing okay. The morning sickness has lasted longer than average but hasn't been too frequent. Her appetite and energy are almost back but speaking of backs, hers is starting to hurt.
Both families were thrilled to hear the news. My parents are the ones who have yet to be grandparents so they can't wait.
I don't know what else to say expect that prayers and positive thoughts are very welcome (more like shamelessly solicited).

2006-07-10T13:18:00.000-05:00

(Warning- Superman spoilers and rants galore)

Not So Superman...
We caught the daddy of all superheroes yesterday and I am shocked to report how disappointed I was. Understand that, unlike Cob, I was not secretly rooting against this movie in my heart of hearts (he denies it) because the great Bryan Singer left X-Men to to do this.
I was greatly looking forward to this flick. Singer, Superman, carte blanche on the budget and story. On top of that I err on the forgiving side when it comes to sci-fi fantasy movies. I'm usually happy to note the problems but not let it ruin the movie for me. So what could go wrong?
Well, nothing if your mission was to make an overly long chick flick with a clichéd plot about a troubled, self-obsessed female protagonist caught in a love triangle between the safe choice (who she's with now) and a more intriguing guy. Thank God THAT'S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE. Oh wait, it has been done a million times, including by Singer in his last two movies (Wolverine/Cyclops/Jean).
Seriously, that's what this movie is. It's The Adventures of Lois Lame. A boilerplate 'Girl is torn between boy 1 & 2' snooze fest. The only twist is boy 2 is from Krypton. If you've ever been unfortunate enough to watch an episode of Ally McBeal or Sex in the City, then you have already seen this movie. Now it's not that this device is evil in and of itself and it is 100% fine to use it in a Superman movie, but do not make it the main point of the movie for Zod's sake. Superman, the wonderful Lex Luthor and other big developments are all window dressing to the WB teen soap opera we're treated to.
The other problem with this being the thrust of the movie is that Kate whatserface is as interesting as a phone book- that has no words in it.
And one other thing. Let's talk casting. This movie takes place 5 years after the events of Superman II. So Superman and Lois were, what, 14 years old back then? Superman should be a full grown man, not someone that looks like he left his letterman jacket in the car. Granted, this kid does look like Reeve and does a damn good job of evoking the original portrayal of Superman and Kent. Sadly that's not enough. He and Lois are both so lifeless in their roles, you think they're sleepwalking. The only character with any life is Lex, saved by Kevin Spacey. No one else in this movie has any fun. He does homage to Hackman's comic turn with the character while adding just enough edge to make him a credible, 21st century villain.
Let's see, what else sucked donkey arse?
-Running length. Slower than a parked locomotive, the movie takes forever to get going and then goes a good half hour past it's natural conclusion. What makes up the entire extra half hour you might ask? The leaden love story of course! Because you can never have enough pensive looks and rehashed dialogue from the 1st act in a good fantasy flick. If the movie had ended on cue I might even have liked the damn thing.
-Super Stalker. Superman uses his powers to spy on his lost love and listen in on her conversations with her husband. At one point he does it while standing outside their house at night like a damn serial killer. Just for good measure, he also sneaks into her son's room and talks to the sleeping boy. Can you say creepy? But that's his son you say! Yes, and that leads us to...
-Super Boy. The big reveal. Superman and Lois had a fun baby that was born after he went on vacation to Krypton. Unfortunately you can see this surprise coming a mile away so it has no weight when finally revealed. Also, the super hero implications are all subservient to what this really is. A support structure for the love story. Poor Lois, with a good man who thinks that's his baby, but she's in love with the real father, whom she can never be with. Should she tell the husband, the child, etc.? Poor Superman, he knows he shouldn't break up the happy family and blah blah, vomit, blah, cough up lung, blah. All this needs is Ricky Lake or Jerry Springer for authenticiy. They even have a fu... freaking hospital scene with Lois looking on her true love as he lies in a coma, the little fun baby in tow. How Days of Our Lives can you get?! Speaking of surprises...
-There are no surprises in this movie because its not a surprise if you figure it out 40 minutes before they reaveal it. And I'm no good at seeing these things before the director reveals them. I didn't know Bruce Willis was dead in The Sixth Sense, I didn't know Ed Norton and Brad Pitt were the same guy in Fight Club, etc. etc. Yet there is not one surprise I didn't see coming and there are many of them, big and small.
Real quick- What was good? In addition to Lex, all the details. This is a very well crafted, well shot movie. From the costume to the set to the props, music, flashbacks (using Marlon Brando). The city and people are set in today's world yet there are undertones of 40's America all over. Also, the classic hero stuff is great. Hits just the right vibe between old classic Superman and new (just like the city). It's such a shame. There's no question a great movie is in here. An aggressive edit with a less rickety, less visible love story and I'd probably be praising it right now.
I've probably protested too much (ya think?). This is NOT a bad movie by any stretch but it is a big letdown.

2006-06-26T16:58:00.000-05:00

Funny Commercial...

Oh, did I say funny? I meant disgusting. I just heard an add for a new pill that attacks RLS - Restless Leg Syndrome! Here's yet another pill you can take every day for the rest of your life. And, yes, that's a very necessary measure because RLS is JUST THAT SERIOUS.
Now I'd like to solely blame the big, scummy, drug companies for this but it is just a byproduct of our society. Our national religion, making money, means even in the field of medicine you follow the greenbacks to the exclusion of all else. I don't know how many millions they spent coming up with a drug to combat the unholy terror of people shaking their legs as a habit, but I wonder if that money couldn't have been used for research on things that are, oh I don't know, killing people.
Anyway, our loving father in heaven (The Market) knows all, so keep waiting for that cancer cure. In the meantime, they've got a $100,000,000 pill that will stop you from yawning. Side effects include insanity and death.

2006-06-14T14:21:00.000-05:00

Intern...

My department got an intern this summer. He's a nice kid from a LA town so small it's technically a village. Great experience for him, a black hole of time for me. I like him plenty but there is just nothing I can really give him to do except make the odd appointment. So that leaves the classic "shadow" method where he watches me as I work and I describe what I'm doing.
That basically equals getting a hell of a lot less work done in a given day (no mean feat for me). The good news is he is as green as envy itself. He will walk away infinitely better prepared for the corporate game than he would have from all his fancy schmancy book learnin' (to use Davy Crockett's phrase).
Of course I'm typing this post while he sits in the next cube with nothing to do. Very negligent of me but my uncensored advice more than makes up for it. I consider myself no novice at the art of seeing through the pasteboard office world and understanding where it's really at.
I'm very much looking forward to being back on my own. However, it is fun to envision young Jesse years from now sitting in an office and saying to himself, "You know what? Mr. Escobar was right."

2006-05-10T16:20:00.000-05:00

Gotta have a J-O-B...
New job is the big news here. Been installed about three weeks and am liking it very much. I wasn't actually looking for a job. This one kind of came to me. Of course, once it did it then took months of interviewing and negotiating to get here. I haven't had time to really see how things roll here but it seems like a good, stable company. In my current position, I could actually see myself being content to not move (up or out) for many years. I haven't been in a spot like that since two companies ago. The last one was not bad at all, just not as good as this one. It was sad to say bye to those folks (my boss included) but it had to be done.
I'm back to managing projects on my own, got an office again (thank God), etc.
What else?
-I celebrated by seeing Dylan on two nights back to back. Great shows with the coolest lighting effects I've ever seen. Wish I had a picture. Deep red curtains open over a blue/black backdrop with a starry sky projection silhouetting Bob and the band. Very cool.
-I signed up a new martial arts place. 1st time in many years. Its right around the corner so I figured if I was ever gonna do it, this was the time.
-Lucasfilm and Fox have finally caved in and are going to release the original trilogy THE WAY GOD INTENDED! No changes, just the movies as they appeared back in the day. Oh yes.
-Got satellite radio (XM) and it is awesome! Dylan's show was the killer ap but it is totally worth it on its own. I'm catching up on so much music it is amazing.

2006-03-20T15:58:00.000-06:00

Update...

Ok, new New Year's resolution. I do want to post the occasional update. Sadly, work continues to be all consuming and when I get home the computer only reminds me of work.
So, here it is:
-Major shakeups in the corporate trenches. I seem to be in a stable position and have received assurances from my boss that me (and my team) are safe. The one saving grace at this job, other than the 5 mile drive, is that my boss is really great. She's exceptionally nice so I trust her about as much as I've ever trusted a 'superior.' Oh yeah, incidentally, never completely trust a superior. I came out of my last layoff smelling like a rose and I'm in even better shape this time given the economy and other factors so I'm not really sweating it.
-I will be catching Bob Dylan at three consecutive shows next month. I will be a temporary hippie, taking a little time off from work and following the Never-Ending Tour from San Antonio, through Dallas (Nokia Live) and to OKC. I will then return to the profitable, but excruciating, corporate salt mine. I am psyched. For those who suffer from the right genetic condition, catching Dylan is always a revelatory experience made all the more precious by the fact that you always wonder if this will be the last time you get to see him.
-Although I don't get to do as much political reading as I would like, I am enjoying the inevitable (and predicted by yours truly) consequences of hiring a fence post in a suit to be president. I'd list the incidents I find most amusing but that would crash the blog. Texas Tech just fell out of the running to be W's library so UD's odds just increased. Talk about an honor. I can already see the magnificently displayed coloring books.
-The house was the unofficial Cobvention crash site this last week. It was fun but it will also be great to have a nice, quiet place again. Cassandra (who was at Scott and Kathy's for the food slinging by drunken neighbors party) was back in town. We kept her busy when Cob and family had to leave town for a couple of days on a family emergency.
-Speaking of the event itself, we sang The Saga Begins with Captain Typho leading the group. If that's not geek cred of the highest (or lowest) order, I don't know what is. The 1st stay up drinking 'til almost dawn event for Lauki in some time equals two very tired employees today.
-Oh, and I gave up coffee for Lent so I'm a walking SOB. I always give up coffee plus one other thing but coffee is the worst. I may have to celebrate afterwards by going to Cafe Brazil and OD'ing on coffee when it's over. Wow, look how many times I used the word 'coffee' in that blurb- Definitely the sign of an addict.

2006-01-17T16:41:00.000-06:00

This is Why They Invented the Internet...

http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=437

Sound is a must.

2005-09-30T11:49:00.000-05:00

Vacation Part III...
The last part of the trip was, by far, the best. We caught a train back to Oslo. 6 comfortable hours sitting in the dinning car (much more room) where we got to see the mountain top route as opposed to the ground level (bus, boat) one we saw originally.
We get in late, catch another fast food dinner and crash in a new hotel. Next day we go to the airport to fly into the Arctic Circle. Our destination was the Lofoten Islands. Ranked by I forget who or what as the 2nd most beautiful islands in the world. I can only imagine what the winner looked like! The islands are at 68 degrees north. The southernmost point of Alaska is at 54.
We take a regular flight and connect to a prop plane the size of a bus with wings. That takes us for an hour and descends into a landscape that had me ready to jump out of the plane and get the touring started. Here's a shot from the plane.

We stayed in a traditional (and centuries old) fisherman cabin in a small island fishing village that's been converted to a bed and breakfast. The bedroom was a recess in the wall just big enough for the bed and a living room/kichenette about half the size of a dorm room. This was our headquarters for 4 glorious days of exploring the islands in our rental car.
This is the view from our hotel's dock.

The village (Henningsvar) main street.

Biggest misadventure here was trying to find the world's only permanent ice exhibit, a bar where everything (the bar, glasses, furniture and art) is made of ice. We went to a nice restaurant back at the main island on our anniversary and then proceeded to follow the very vague directions we received to the ice bar. No luck and we got seriously lost. Then the rain, the extremely cold rain mind you, began to fall. We got so lost we ended up lost after we gave up and were just trying to get back to the damn car! The one highlight was seeing a couple arctic foxes (more like their silhouettes) in the alleys.

Next night we found the freaking place. It was so empty (off season) that we met the owner and ended up getting a private tour. The sculptures are made by artists from around the world who come once a year to check on and maintain their creations. They love it because their other work always melts away so this is the only place they get to see how ice sculptures age. They also took us into the adjoining warehouse filled with whale meat. It was 30 below (celsius) in there. Despite multiple layers of clothing my body was ready drag itself out against my will if we'd stayed more than a minute.

One day was spent touring the whole archipelago by car. It was super cool day. We saw the world's largest viking building ever discovered (a chieftan's hall right out of Edoras), rolled up our pants and ran into the impossbly cold water at a beach, spent a few hours hiking up a fairy tale mountain above a tiny fishing village and arrived at the end of day at a village named after the last letter in the Norweigan alphabet. It was getting dark and cold but we walked out to the final point on the island where nothing but seabirds watch over the rocks that looked like a mountain fell over it's side into the sea. With the grey misty sky, the vanishing visibility and the cry of the birds, it really felt like you'd reached the end of the world. Nothing but a painfully long, dark drive down narrow as hell roads in pitch black awaited us now but it was worth it. The other activity we did while up there was kayaking the icy waters where killer whales hang out in the summer. Three fun hours, four tired arms. Especially since the calm wind and waves decided to get all biotchy on us for the retun leg. Still, it was an unbelievable view and a most unusual workout.

The biggest sidetrack of all happened when we tried to leave the islands. Our flight got cancelled due to bad weather so they raced us (all 8 passengers) to the only other airport (more like airfield) around. A very fast, very bumpy bus ride, followed by edge of your seat "Will we make the connection? If we don't, we'll miss our transatlantic flight tomorrow morning," fun followed by a late night train to crash in Oslo where we had no hotel reservations for one more night, wondering if the wakeup call could possibly be enough to get Lauki out of bed and to the airport in time wackiness. Oh yeah, and there was some "Bomb scare, no traffic being allowed out of the airport" thrown in for good measure.

All par for the course. Still, in case you couldn't tell (and I'm sure you can), we had an absolutely amazing time. Comic Book Guy voice, "Best Trip Ever"

Picture overload:

2005-09-26T16:56:00.000-05:00

Vacation Part II...

Back to the tale- After buying some extremely last minute tickets the night before, we headed off on the famed Norway in a Nutshell tour. What a day. A train, a bus and a boat took us through a Tolkein landscape that just got better and better as the day progressed.

It was a rock stupid adventure as bad weather the previous day forced several emergency changes in the itinerary. We were shoved into a bus full of Japanese tourists whom we had a great ride with for the middle leg. Lauki sat squished at the front of the bus (awesome view), with me in the jump seat of the stair well. At one point we were put on a ship and told, "There will be no bus for you to take at the next town. Thank You." Uh... ok? Rather than get stranded in that town, we had to run for a different ship that ended up taking us along the biggest fjord in the world. The pictures do not get across how mammoth the landscape was. It looked like a river 100 foot giants would live by. We hung out on the deck of the boat with a Japanese couple and a family from Minnesota. We were the only ones who toughed out the cold, very windy deck for the entire 6 hour ride.
At the end of it we were in Bergen with (drum roll) no hotel reservations. The first place I tried said, "There are no vacancies in Bergen."
Even better, it was raining cats and dogs as record rainfall swamped the city. As often, but not always, Lauki's luck held out and we got a room at a bay front hotel. Then the next day was bright and sunny.

2005-09-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

Vacation Part I...

First, a quick summary. 10 planes in 10 days. Not to mention two trains, a boat, a few buses, a rental car and two pairs of tired feet. That's what it took to see the East, West and North of the country.
Norway has the most amazing scenery I have ever seen. Nothing else (Andes, Alps, Canadian and American Rockies, Mediterranean or Caribbean) matches it. Something about the land up there just screams storybook more than reality. The pictures can't do it justice. Their were mountains with their roots in the ocean floor and their tops inside the clouds, lichen covered boulders, countless waterfalls, berries of all colors, mushrooms the size of your head and some of the worlds oldest rocks getting battered by crystal clear ocean water.
It was everything we hoped it would be, a lot of fun, a little adventurous and like a second honeymoon.

We set off at an ungodly morning hour to begin the 17 hours of airplanes and airports. I fell asleep during Kingdom of Heaven and am not entirely sure jet lag was the only reason. Stunning visuals but it couldn't hold my interest. Almost 5 hours at the Newark airport was as fun as it sounds. Laura took the opportunity to start the shopping early but made some great choices that came in handy later.

Oslo: We finally arrived in Oslo at about 10:00
AM. At this point we had two nights of hotel reservations for Oslo and plane tickets to islands in the Arctic. That was about it as far as set plans. I insisted we go out into the city to fight through jet lag right off the bat. Oslo is a cute, modest European capital (Half a million people) with a gorgeous harbor, bad weather, cute neighborhoods and a few stunning attractions. We walked Karl Johans Gate (the main drag) and ended up walking off the map to Vigeland Park, a park littered with art by Norway's most famous sculptor.

Next day was the must see stuff. On a bright, clear day we took the ferry to the penninsula that held the Viking Ship Museum (oh yes) and the open air folk museum littered with historic buildings you could walk into and around. The best was the 13th century stave church. The ships were the best part of the day though. I could have stayed in there all day in geek heaven.

During these days we also walked around the old fortress overlooking the harbor (see 1st picture above) and through parks around the royal palace. Our biggest misadventure at this phase was walking to that sculpture park. We ended up walking miles of residential neighborhoods and almost dying of hunger. We finally bought a pizza at a delivery type place that apparently had a 'You cannot sit in here' policy we didn't know about. With no other recourse, we sat down on a bench and enjoyed our pizza out of the box while locals passed us and gave us the 'Hello backpackers' look. It took so long that by the time we took the bus home that day (Day One) Laura was asleep and dreaming about two seconds after sitting down.

Our last day in Oslo was Willy Wonka Day. We'd met some Mormons on the bus who told us about the chocolate factory in town. Now the chocolate is great in Norway. I ate 2-3 extra large bars a day and lost weight. Needless to say we couldn't resist so set out on Day three to find it. After much walking through Oslo's ugliest neighborhood we got there. Turns out it's more of a working factory than tourist stop. In fact, they had no system of any kind for taking in tourists. The look on the security guard's face when Laura started speaking English was priceless. They had no idea what we were doing there. It was like two people from Japan trying to talk their way into a Mrs. Baird factory or something. Sadly, we were turned away at the gate. Luckily the Edward Munch Museum was somewhat nearby so we marched off and arrived an hour before they closed. How such a well managed country managed to let The Scream be stolen twice is beyond me. I hope they recover it but the employees weren't optimsitic. Here's my favorite variation of TS we saw there.

2005-09-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

Ready or Not...

Here we go. Lauki getting ready for a trip is always rock stupidity incarnate. We leave early tomorrow morning and haven't packed a thing. No problem though, since I don't have appropriate clothing to pack anyway (cold and intermittently raining up there), I'm in no hurry.
Our major accomplishment last night was resisting the urge to buy an 80 hour playback digital recorder at the mall. Imagine the movies you could load that up with! That would certainly have made the 17 hours of travel easier to handle but good sense prevailed.
Things I need to do today after work:
-Drop some stuff off at our safety deposit box
-Mow the lawn
-Finish paying bills
-Pack
-Go to a wake (coworker I didn't work with long but who was a very nice person)
-Call my family

No problemo.

2005-09-01T14:27:00.000-05:00

Art/Current Events/Starbucks/Dylan/Katrina...

Given the horrific images we're seeing on the news right now (thoughts and prayers for everyone affected), I couldn't help but be reminded of the eerie way art can sometimes hold Hamlet's mirror up to the times. This happened two days ago when I went into Starbucks to pick up the new, and of course controversial, Dylan CD they're exclusively offering.
Anyway, the 1st track on the CD is A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall. So at all Starbucks across the nation, this song was playing over their loudspeakers as people sipped their coffee and read the paper. Select lyrics:

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a white ladder all covered with water…
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children…

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world…

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
And the executioner's face is always well hidden...
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

2005-08-22T13:13:00.000-05:00

So We're Going to Norway...

Did I already mention that in some aside? Anyway, caution is being thrown to the wind in typical Lauki fashion. Just bought a new car, check. Still have summer travel bills, check. Going to one of the most expensive countries in the world, check.
Oh well, reckless spending is the backbone of our economy after all. Mainly though, this will probably be the last big trip we can take for a long time.
I'm really looking forward to it. We'll be there for our anniversary which will be pretty cool (no pun intended), the scenery is supposed to be as good as it gets anywhere and it's about the opposite of anyplace I've been before.
Things I hope to do there:
-Hiking/Biking
-Kayaking
-Whale Safari (hopefully)
-See real Viking ships and assorted artifacts
-See The Scream
-Buy a cool weapon of some sort
We'll be gone from the 10th of Sep to the 21st. This, of course, means we'll be packing our bags late, late at night on the 9th and barely making our flight the next morning.

2005-08-05T15:51:00.000-05:00

All Work and No Play Makes Kiki Very, Very Tired...

I have put in some serious hours in the last two weeks. Hours like I haven't put in since my big project at the last company (Feb, 2002- hard to forget). This has been very instrumental in reminding me that I am getting older. Today I'm just kind of looking at my computer as the drool drips out of my mouth which is bad not just because it's gross, but becuase I still have a lot of things to do. How did I ever do this on a regular basis back at my first place? It seems completely impossible now. Months on end of this kind of overtime (not that I get paid overtime) would kill me today. They'd have to bury me with keyboard marks still on my face. Vacation in September. One of my two big projects should be done by then. Will I last that long? I hope so because the tickets are non-refundable.

2005-07-31T16:08:00.000-05:00

Things I Hate...

Here I am working on a Sunday. Yes, a Sunday. I hate that. Been super busy recently. We're planning a trip in Sep and I hope I last that long.
Anyway, this whole hate thing got me thinking about other things I despise.
-Companies that assume you've never heard of the internet.
Annoying commercial: Iditot looking at different cars that MAGICALLY appear in front of them. "Now what you wish you could do in real life, you can do on Vehix.com"
Oh really?! You don't say! Wow, thank God Vehix is here to update me on these things after my 10 year sabbatical living in a cave. Now, what this in... ter... net thing you speak of?
-Salespeople/Repairmen. Our AC was giving us problems and we had a guy out. He cleaned out all this gunk on the side (no one ever told us you have to clean your outside AC once a month) and told us our compressor was dead and just pushing hot air through the house. We need a new one and really should just go ahead and get a whole new AC. Having half a brain I decided to actually see how the AC works after the repair before deciding. It's currently 73 degrees in here. Now we might well need a new compressor and/or AC (we'll see when the next power bill comes in), but if my AC is just pushing hot air, it must be pushing the hell out of it.
-People who get to 4 way stops well before you but refuse to go until you've come to a 100% complete stop. They sit they're like frightened bunnies glaring at your car like it's the grim specter of death. Go! If I'm steadily slowing down as I approach the intersection and am going about 5 mph, it is probably safe for you to go.

2005-07-18T16:46:00.000-05:00

March of the Penguins...

Last night, Lauki checked out this quirky little nature doc that is turning into the suprise movie of the summer. It is awesome. A feature length doc that is nothing but footage of penguins and narration by Morgan Freeman. As a lot of reviews have observed, what's so amazing about this movie is how it's humor and drama beat 90% of what Hollywood vomits out each year with entire teams of writers, actors, directors, etc.
Now I've always been a nature film fan so I am byassed. I love docs where they follow one animal or family over the course of a year. Really anything like that is fascinating to me. This one, however, really is special. You cannot help but be astounded at the outrageous lengths these little guys go through to keep the species alive in the most inhospitable of places. This is also a great movie to watch at the theater (I think it's only at The Magnolia) because it is a great group experience. There's one moment where you actually realize the whole crowd is on the edge of their seats as the penguin parents try to transfer an egg from one pair of feet to another without killing the chick inside. Genius.
I can only hope that, in typical Hollywood fashion, there will be a short lived bandwagon period where we get at least a few more gems like this one.

2005-07-05T13:57:00.000-05:00

Goodbye beloved Millennium Cherokee...

First off, a SW conversation in my very own blog and I miss it. Grrr! Been insanely busy. Too busy to even write complete sentences! We were in Miami for a week which I forgot to post about. Also, we saw Alanis at Bass Hall last week. Great show. Can one be manly and admit to really enjoying her concert? Then last night we saw Dylan at the Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnic. Awesome as always. I loved every second of it.
The audience... yikes! They made a NASCAR rally look like an opera crowd. Take one dusty bowl (literally), add 20,000 good ole boys and girls and simmer all day long.
Ok, the car. On top of everything else I have retired my first car, the MC. The new car is a little nicer. Nicer as in a fine wine compared to flat soda but those of you who remember my college drinking habits know I like flat soda! I'll miss the MC. That's the car that made the Miami-Dallas drive three times along with countless other trips. It's the car Lauki first discovered Dallas in. It was our only transportation for a period of years where we both had full time jobs. How did we ever manage that?!
Luckily I do loooove the new one. I went ahead and treated myself a bit. Economically I felt justified in that I'll drive it for many, many years after paying it off. Also, no one can accuse me of being soft. I must be the only nut in America in my income bracket who would accept driving an AC-less car in Dallas TX.
So, to make things official: "(Emperor voice) New car. Henceforth your name shall be... Stormtrooper."

2005-05-23T18:14:00.000-05:00

The Last New SW Movie

A momentous occasion for one, who like so many of his generation, was turned to the geek side by a low budget flick in 1977. First, a plain old review. I’ll have to post again on the whole, “The last vestige of childhood is gone” thing.

Sampling of ROTS reviews…
-The New York Times says it is better than the original SW
-USA Today says it might be the best SW movie of all time (it is)
-Ebert, who hated AOTC, gives ROTS 3.5/4 stars
-The Washington Post, “Revenge of the Sith is a brilliant consummation to a promise made a long time ago, far, far away, in a galaxy called 1977."
- The Film Journal, “Revenge of the Sith is his great Star Wars swan song. It is, and will likely remain, the best film of the year... a true masterpiece”
-Journalists at the snootiest of snoot fests… Cannes, applauded at the end.
Now I hate movie critics as much as the next guy. The point here is to consider what the odds were of ROTS getting a warm critical reception. Worse than the ones 3PO rattled off to Han in ESB, that’s what. Is ROTS that good then? Oh yes.
The goal: Make a movie that’s great on its own, turns around most of the critics who hated the previous two, ties together two trilogies, ends the overall saga and lives up to the sentimentally inflated standard of the originals (the most popular and beloved movie series of all time). That’s all.
This movie makes every other SW movie better. Its adds a depth to the originals and a symmetry to the saga that’s hard not to admire. We grew up with the old movies, and now every line means more. Random scenes from I & II turn out to be building blocks for Ep III, the big payoff. The intricacy is fine work indeed for those who care to trace it out.
The opening sequence (about 20 minutes) is classic SW swashbuckling on steroids. It also takes FX to a new level, in the grand SW tradition. After that there is some, yes, talking. Quite a bit in fact. But this time it’s tight. There’s no time to waste, we’ve got a tragedy to get to. The pieces are set and we move into the phenomenal third act because that is where it is at baby.
Holy Freaking Schwartz! Start with a monstrously good performance from the great Ian McDiarmid. He plays the galaxy like a fiddle and Anakin is his most prized string. The temptation is cleverly done. There’s a moral dilemma to be faced and a Faustian bargain to be made. And once hands shake, there’s no point waiting around. Let the killing and betrayal begin. Ewan McGregor is awesome in his role. The looks on his face will now be reflected in every line Alec Guinness speaks in the OT. Yoda joins the ‘Break my heart why don’t you?’ club, along with Padme (and, like Anakin, she's more comfortable in her skin this time). There’s real emotion here, as each learns their friend/pupil/husband has been a bad boy. Some nice symbolism accompanies some great fighting and dying. The music and surprisingly dark images work well. The editing (Lucas’ trump card in ‘77) is fantastic. Too many connections to name (you will miss many the first time) make this movie what one reviewer called the best bridge film ever made. As it ends you can just feel Ep IV starting up. If you didn’t think one more movie could possibly make the old and new trilogies feel whole, don’t even worry.
This is clearly the lynchpin, and best made episode, of the bunch and it ends the biggest movie series in film history on a high note. I saw it Friday in a theater with 300 people who thought they were going to attend a business meeting (my new company is cool!) and they were quiet as mice through the third act and applauded as the credits rolled.
Of course this IS a fan’s review. This is a SW movie through and through, with all that implies. Some have the enjoy it gene, some don’t. Nobody has to like it and some won’t like it before they see it. All I know is, if you ever did enjoy that galaxy far, far away, this one will make you do it again.

2005-05-05T14:23:00.000-05:00

Kiki's Dark Tower Review...

I promised to do this so here goes. This is more for people who read it and are wondering what I thought so beware if you're interested but have never checked these out.

My take:
-Seven books. That still wasn't a clue as to what King was shooting for (pun intended) here. This is a a sci-fi/fantasy/reality/This is Your Life genre mash up with cowboy knights errant, multiple worlds, time travel, monsters, robots and magic. That's a lot to take on but it wasn't enough. King also makes himself a central character of the books, incorporating real life events into the book and interacting with his characters. Are you kidding me?! In a way, *in* the story he made his life about the books and the books about his life. Then, just for good measure he incorporates characters from previous books and turns this story into a continuity that encompasses all of his writings. Zoinks would be an appropriate word.
-Take all these influences (Spaghetti Westerns, LOTR, Arthurian legend and on down the line) and mix up ‘em up. That’s one thing. It's another to keep it all coherent. To tell a story that you want to stay with to the end, with characters you care about. That's the hard part but he did it.
-Also, the book has a million pop culture references. Again this isn’t random. They serve a purpose. What they do is tie the books to our lives. They connect us to the story through our common experiences, our shared culture. You know the song playing in Pere's head; you know what the Claymation dinosaur looks like. You’ve seen the civil rights marches on TV (granted not live for us Gen X’ers). It’s like the story is ours in a way that other epics aren't and can't be because they're from another culture or time. It felt American, it felt late 20th century and I loved that.
-There were mistakes along the way, parts I hated or just didn't buy. Still, unlike many, I like to reward one thing above all else from my entertainers: selfishness.
If a guy sticks to *his* vision, not caring who he disappoints or pisses off along the way, then that's my guy (Lucas and Dylan both come to mind as I say that in fact). There are parts of this book, big parts, that King knew a lot of people wouldn't like. He just didn't care. This was written by and for him. We were just along for the ride, and it was well worth the ticket.

2005-04-20T13:24:00.000-05:00

Kiki Listening to a Lecture by an Oxford Professor (4/19/05)...

"Wow, this guy's like... smart and stuff."
"What did he just say? I totally missed that."
"Uh-oh, he's asking if we're with him. God I wish I wasn't in the second row. Just nod like everyone else"
"Man, I bet Oxford is like... hard"
Despite being overwhelmed by the rapid fire pace of a brilliant man referencing God knows how many things I've never heard of, the sit in was well worth it. Why? Because this is the aforementioned Christopher Ricks (Oxford Prof of Poetry) talking about our mutual geek fascination with Bob Dylan. It was heartwarming to see someone that ridiculously well educated utterly obsessed with something I myself am obsessed with.
Like a true geek, I got in line to get my book signed. He asked me what I wanted him to write. Not having planned for that question, my own very peculiar brand of rock stupid genius came into play.
Kiki: "You're an idiot, but you know good music"
Ricks: "(Pause... Laugh) You want me to write that... to you (more laughing)?"
It was awesome. He's been talking about word plays and double meanings for an hour and my stupid request plays right into the theme.

2005-04-15T14:29:00.000-05:00

In Case We Forgot...

The company dime and booze are a dangerous combination. I'm taking a three day class and the instructors (from Seattle) led us to a happy hour last night. As I've stated previously, economic theory demands that you drink heavily at these occasions because it would cost you so much to do so on your own. As I've also stated previously, the lack of dinner makes a formidable tag team partner for the free drinks. Together, they will leave you dead exhausted at work the next day. Oddly, I always feel really good the next morning. You've got that 2nd wind where your body tries to deny that you should be sleeping. Unfortunately that only lasts a couple of hours at most. After that you rest in your chair like a pool of jello. I'm sure you can imagine how a class on statistical analysis helps add thot that feeling.
When 4 o'clock hits I am oh so very out of here.

2005-04-12T16:41:00.000-05:00

Googlewhacking... Evil!

Okay, I'm probably behind the times but if you haven't heard, there's yet another way to waste time on the internet. Try to make Google come up with just one result. No proper nouns allowed. Once attempted, you will remain stuck on your computer like a drool sucking monkey until you find success. Reading the insane things that come up when you fail is half the fun.

Mine was 'Spoc/WAMU'

2005-04-05T14:27:00.000-05:00

For John Paul II...

The only leader I ever saw who wasn't a hypocrite and who really did care about people. I think these lines (written by you can probably guess who) describe his new phase of existence as well as how he got there:

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.

May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay...
forever young

2005-03-11T12:54:00.000-06:00

The New Star Wars Trailer is Bad with a Capital B...

I haven't had much time for posting or reading blogs recently. The dogs of work are upon me. Anyway, Cob and I (of course) caught the trailer, taped it and then rewatched it multiple times. It's a beauty alright. Even better than the last one. They just make it look like the intergallactic excrement really hits the fan. The emperor looks super cool with his evil, twisted face. Can't wait to see him get more screen time than in any movie since Return of the Jedi. Part silver tounged Lucifer, part hideous monster ready to dole out some deep hurting. As both nimrods running for president said last year, "Bring it on!"

2005-03-02T18:03:00.000-06:00

Another Death...

But this time closer to home. Many of you have heard a tale or two about the twins that grew up on my street. Two reckless, fun, insane kids that added infinite fun and havoc to my formative years. I found out from my mom that one of them died of a drug overdose recently. I can only imagine what it's like to lose a twin brother (or sister), especially at such a young age.
Anyway, The Twins (their eternal title) as such are no more and that's a sad thing.

The twins grew up in a house run by a playboy, porsche driving father and a, let's just say vivacious, mother. This was not Mr. and Mrs. Brady. They were born in the wrong age. They would have made a fine pirate team on the seas, or maybe a notorious bank robbing syndicate in the Old West. They caused much harm, but never meant any. They really were good kids at heart. They had the most innocent faces in the world and somehow, that said something about them even though they were anything but innocent.
Their first wave of terror consisted of running through the neighborhood naked as they could be, unbound by traffic or anything else. Two little lords of the flies with savage smiles, marking their territory (and enemies) in exactly the same manner a dog does a fire hydrant. Next they worked their charm on babysitters unfortunate enough to accept the job. I know of none that ever sat for them more than once. If an activity involved getting into trouble, they were always at the lead. Somebody decides to knock on the hated neighbor's door and ambush him with fire works... you knew who'd do the knocking. Poor a gallon of gasonline into a sewer and throw a match in? No problem. Of course he did almost burn his face off with that.
I had so much fun growing up with them. Memories fade and it's hard to remember exactly what was so funny in any given scene... I just remember us laughing and the spirit of mischief that was in the air whenever we got together. We started fires (many), fights and incidents that had the cops cruising up and down our street. It was all in good fun back then and I guess that's what really marks the end of childhood. Consequences, like taking too much of a drug and never waking up.
It's the sinners who need our prayers, not the saints. When it comes to my friend, I hope an innocent heart goes a long way towards absolving a lot done wrong.

2005-02-23T14:20:00.000-06:00

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Takes a Life...

Who would've thought it'd be his own?! This post is late but I am busy at work to a disgusting degree. I love HST. For me, he existed in an amazingly cool world. A world where you get paid to call swine 'swine,' then chat with your buddy Dylan or (until recently) Zevon. Could his loss be any more tragic than at a time when corporate media has fully castrated itself on the altar of greed and obedience? A time when mole reporters ask softball questions and "journalists" are actually on the government payroll. When a nation has seizures because of one bare breast but snoozes through countless deaths.
Aside from the obvious admiration for someone who called the PTB scum in a voice loud enough to be heard, I also admire that his outrage came from love. Love for a 'land of the free' that was becoming a place where you trade that freedom for convenience. If he had gone into suspended animation in '72, he wouldn't have been one bit surprised to see our nation today. He saw the real American Dream dying and a cardboard cutout of a dollar taking it's place.
There was something very American about this rebel with and without a cause.
I read that he wanted to have his ashes scattered from a cannon while Mr. Tambourine Man plays. Now that's a way to go.

2005-02-16T12:48:00.000-06:00

Vegas...

We started by taking advantage of the free first class upgrade, drinking the complimentary wine despite no real breakfast. It isn't often I'm having wine at 10:00 am.
The very first thing you see when you get off the plane in Vegas are slot machines.
We fought sleep depravation by touring the casinos after checking in. Gaudy to the nth degree? Yes, but still impressive. Vegas is one surreal place. It creates its own reality with the constant whirring of machines and neon lights. The place is a combination Disney World for adults and shrine to capitalism and greed unbridled. You can smell money in the air and sense the insatiable desire for it in both the tourists and employees. Look in any given direction and you will see money changing hands. Inside a casino there are no windows or clocks so they look exactly the same at any hour, day or night. You lose all sense of time and feel like a vampire when you actually see the sun.
That night we stopped in at the Tropicana just to get bus change. We stayed there all night. On our very first gamble of the trip, when I just put a dollar into a nickel slot for the change, we won $50. Then later Laura won $20, also on a nickel slot. We spent our winnings playing slots and blackjack, then catching the free show in the gambling area. Then a lady walks up to us and gives us show tickets she couldn't use. So, we catch a $100 show for free. Typical fare, showgirls with peacock headdresses, a comedian etc. It felt very old time Vegas. The complimentary drinks also played a small roll in our night at the Tropicana. I did my best imitation of a canteen filled with scotch.
Next night we actually took the bus and went to the Hilton and it's Star Trek wing. This was cool. Just general sci-fi geekiness is enough for you to really enjoy this. It's gigantic, with huge models of starships overhead, corridors, and bars right out of DS9, memorabilia and a show. The show was basically a 3D movie but there was a whole little skit leading up to it where you walk through spot on starship corridors while live borg chase you and your Starfleet guide. It was like being in the movie because there was no real life stuff around you to break the illusion. They really went to a lot of trouble. The borg even had the little red lights shooting out. We ate at Quark's restaurant where a Pherrengi (how the hell do you spell that?) engaged in some great shtick with our waiter.
The third day found us waking up understandably late and having to rush to the airport. Hence, the biggest gamble of the trip. We decided to eat at a nice, quaint (or should I say faux quaint?) chocolate shop we had seen. This meant seriously risking missing our flight. In classic Lauki fashion, we hauled ourselves and our luggage across three casinos (and they are freaking huge), wolfed down our chosen items, then ran like maniacs to find a cab. We made the flight and that was that.

2005-02-11T09:48:00.000-06:00

Won't You Help a Starving Ninja?

Most people don't know that ninjas have fallen on hard times. The demands of a regular job in modern American just don't leave them with the time they need for training. Just look at this tragic video. For just the price of a cup of coffee, you can help aspiring ninjas like this get the quality training they need.

http://dimmona.shackspace.com/castin.gif

2005-02-07T13:57:00.000-06:00

Tales From Dallas' First Cobvention...

It is not every weekend you hang out at an event that was primarily the brainchild of one Mr. Cob so I thought I'd do a recap. Let's go with a list type thingy.
Interesting highlights from the convention:
1) The Rocky Horror actress (playing Jane) choosing Laura's lap as the place to sit and curl up for her final lines.
2) Talking to the drugged (my guess) out of his mind comic writer who created the critically acclaimed Lost Boys of Sudan. He reminded me a little of Dylan ala '66 with his thin build, white skin, combed back/up hair and amphetamine speech. Despite his resemblance to the troubadour (emphasis on white skin), he continually insisted that he was, "Not a black man."
a) When Lauki tried to clear this up, with much merriment, we found out that the only thing he likes less than people thinking he's black is people thinking he's white. And on that point, who can blame him? Hence his protests of (shirt sleeve rolled up and arm pointed out for emphasis), "Look at me, do I look white?!"
3) Seeing stand up comic Barry Diamond's performance. This is a man who's been on Seinfeld, Friends and Curb Your Enthusiasm and has been in movies with Robert Deniro and Robin Williams. And here he is, at the not so glamorous Sterling Hotel. The Dallas hotel who's entire top floor (we learned) is a swinger's club, playing to a crowd of about thirty people, many whom looked like Comic Book Guy. It was hilarious! He made the most of it, ridiculing everything around him, but with just a touch of love. I cried my eyes out laughing at the absurdity of it all.
a) His best line, "Do any of you trekkies even know there's a big game in this country tomorrow (the Super Bowl)? God I hate you f***ing people."
4) Lauki's dance. There was a DJ spinning in a small ballroom with zero people in it (bad event planning there- they were all in the grand ballroom doing something else). So, Lauki made the most of it by dancing to a succession of our personal requests.
5) Bridgette of Madison County, the 6'5", muscular transvestite who played Nicole Kidman's character in Moulin Rouge for part of that show. As he/she performed up on stage, while being recorded by the documentary film crew that accompanied him/her to Dallas, I excitedly realized that this wasn't like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. No, this *was* Priscilla QOTD but in real life and with Lauki in the audience.
6) Feeling with it by being able to converse with the band from Austin about The Recliners (thanks Scott and Frank), the NY Deli on 6th street etc.

So that was about it, a surreal weekend with an odder cast of characters than Lauki has ever previously encountered.

2005-02-01T13:36:00.000-06:00

Lauki Participates in an American Tradition...

The impromptu trip to Vegas! We decided to get away from it all this Valentine's Day weekend so that is where we'll be. We ended up giving a lady at the airport (had to buy the tickets in person) a jump start and fate rewarded us with a free upgrade to first class on the flight there! The agenda will mainly consist of seeing the different casinos and letting other people lose their money while we enjoy the free drinks, free shows etc. We'll gamble a little just for fun but it will be strictly small time.
So here's to last minute plans and the joy of well earned, grown up escapism!

2005-01-26T15:52:00.000-06:00

To be Weird or Not to be Weird...

You know, many of us like to believe we stand out from the crowd somehow. That we're weird or unusual to a certain degree because of this or that (and maybe we are). Of course, you have to be part geek to suffer from this view. That's why I assume everyone here can relate. You have to be someone who embraced things throughout your life that would generally make one as popular as a shark in a swimming pool.
Isn't that odd in and of itself? There might only be two kinds of people in the world now that I think about it. Those that instinctively shy away from things that would tend to alienate them from the crowd and those that do the exact opposite.
Anyway, like I was saying, I realize I'm a pretty normal guy. Married suburban office worker, pretty standard values, watch lots of TV and all that jazz. Yet today as I was listening to the same William Shatner song on repeat for probably the 50th time in two days here at work, I realized, "This is so not normal."
I will probably listen to this song a hundred times this week at work. Is that a cry for help of some kind?

2005-01-24T14:19:00.000-06:00

Observation on the State of the Union...

It up and hit me at some point that no one's talking about our lack of military volunteers.
After 9-11, we understandably had a wave of recruits. That has dried up like a bleached bone in the sun. Our military is stretched very thin. We're calling up disabled veterans with grey hair. So where's the influx to get us out of this jam? I don' t see it. Since I completely disagree with the war, I feel no compulsion.
Still, tens of millions of people fervently support it. So, to resurrect a classic, where's the beef? If the war is such a great idea, and we need help (and we do), then where are the lines at the recruiter's office? I AM NOT saying you can't support the war without volunteering (I'm really, really not- I swear to you), but isn't it interesting that we don't see a corollary... somewhere?
And before you tell me that's all wars, let's look at WWII. Americans put their lives on hold to go fight. They sacrificed at home and abroad. Women (who can now volunteer) worked in factories. We bought bonds and drank crappy coffee. What sacrifice are we making this time? At least paying higher taxes... uh, no.

My point: Great, successful nations (including ours) have always had a link between citizenship and war(of at least some kind). Once they become disconnected, aren't leaders free to pursue military adventures that reward themselves and their friends under whatever guise they like (good and evil)? The politician gets glory, the businessman that contributed to his campaign gets lucrative contracts. The people, meanwhile, debate as if they actually matter.
Oh well, that's just more of my fanciful ramblings.

2005-01-19T14:28:00.000-06:00

The Funniest Thing I've Read in Ages...

10 worst album covers of all time

2005-01-14T13:39:00.000-06:00

Great Year End Article...

I'm a sucker for year wrap-up type stories and specials. Here's a funny one with many a fascinating tidbit in it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4134329.stm

2005-01-11T14:18:00.000-06:00

Food for Thought...

Deathsquads- Okay, so it is only a report (in Newsweek) that says the Pentagon is considering The Salvador Option in Iraq. Of course, the report is very likely true. Very likely as in bet whatever you want on it. Well, for those of you who might not be well acquainted with the grand things done at our prodding in Central America by the death squads we now want to emulate, let's review some highlights:
-mutilating the genitals of Catholic nuns
-murdering Catholic bishops
-raping women before torturing and killing them
-raping small girls while their fathers were forced to watch
-burning entire villages to the ground
-throwing childeren up in the air and catching them with the points of bayonets
-killing and torturing tens of thousands of non-combatants
Well, if that's the price of spreading freedom, so be it I guess. No hypocrisy here, no sir. Thank God that when we do it (or, in the case above... encourage, aid and whitewash), it isn't terrorism.
If it was, a moral person might have to ask themselves if we're any better than the people who flew planes into the World Trade Center. They, just maybe, would have to ask who's worse, the monster who thinks what he's doing is sanctioned by God, or the one who knows that what he's doing isn't.

2005-01-10T13:06:00.000-06:00

Napoleon Dynamite...

Has anyone else seen this? If so, I'd love to get your thoughts. It is one of those very rare movies (or books, albums etc.) that leaves you knowing two things:
a) You liked it.
b) You don't know why.
I mean, this is a comedy that made Lauki (both of us) laugh about two or three times total. Still, it was funny in a simmering beneath the surface sort of way. I would really like to know if you can make a movie like that on purpose or if it just happens. The movie also ridicules the geek protagonist while asking you to root for him. This very delicate balance actually works out and, once again, I'd like to know if that was by accident or on purpose.
Anyway, this addition to the I Was a Teenage Outcast mythology is the current cult phenom and worth checking out. Uh, I think.

2005-01-03T10:01:00.000-06:00

Getting Too Old for Three Party Weekends...

New Year's Eve:
Start in Justin, TX at a Fidelity related party. Justin, as in just in the middle of nowhere. That would be the p.m. party. From there, trek across the metroplex to Carrolton for the traditional celebration. That would be the a.m. party, as in back to our house at 6 a.m.
Sure it's hard to stay up that late nowadays but at least we had the customary spectacle of a plastered Cob to entertain us. One highlight would be the way he took out Brad and Karina's entire set up of patio furniture in one, not so smooth, move. You wouldn't think he could get the table and chairs all at once but he proved otherwise. Believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything.
My random act of kindness for the night? Removing the duct tape from the passed out so they wouldn't have to do it themselves later.
Then after an all too brief nap, it was off to a lunch date in McKinney, TX. As you can imagine, not much was accomplished yesterday.

2004-12-23T09:51:00.000-06:00

My Christmas Present to You...

Two official, bonafide, unaltered memos that we received here at work in the last two weeks:

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXX
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 10:17 AM
To: DL SFG NOC Everyone
Subject: Second Floor Women's Restroom

Due to a strong gas scent, please use the women’s restroom on the first floor. Also, please be advised that someone has been notified of the situation. Thanks in advance for your patience and cooperation.

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXX
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2004 11:10 AM
To: DL SFG NOC Everyone
Subject: Heat

Due to annual PMS, we are experiencing heat in some areas. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks in advance for your patience and cooperation.

2004-12-20T13:34:00.000-06:00

48 Hours, Two Plane Rides, One Birthday Party, One Lost Jacket and Not Much Sleep...

Why doesn't my family let me sleep? 3 nights in a row of way too little sleep. The first two were in a hotel with my dad. My dad who likes to sleep with the TV on, that is. The second night involved a party in the room next door. Loud music and louder behavior by the estimated 10 people in that damn room. Despite calling the hotel office (and I'm sure we weren't the only ones), I had to monitor my dad to make sure he didn't run out into the hallway to tell them to shut up. Night three was on a foam mattress at my family's house. That would be the house we prepped, partied in (Grandmother's birthday) and cleaned yesterday. The party went well, with my mom and sister ordering about five times the necessary amount of food for some reason. I guess the highlight was my mother and I abandoning my father and sister to run some errands. We were late getting back and, of course, my sister had to act like we had disappeared for three days, not three hours. Boo F***** Hoo, got get a prescription for some Prosac or something. The mall was very busy on this particular weekend so it took a little longer than expected, go figure! The other highlight was that my always dependable father went back to the hotel and found the leather jacket I had left there. This is one that I bought in Florence, on our honeymoon! You would not have envied me if my lot had been to tell Laura I had lost that.

2004-12-16T16:48:00.000-06:00

Big Ol' Jet Airliner...

Jumping over to Miami for a hastily drawn up holiday visit. My grandmother moved here from Colombia and is now at the house. Her 90th birthday is this weekend so away I go. It will be nice to see here. The last time was at the wedding.
Lauki will be splitting up forces because we've spent too much money this year to double the airfare for a two day visit. That's something we avoid at all costs but sometimes you just have to swallow the pill. Anyway, at least I'll have 48 hours access to real, Cuban Cafe con Leche.
This new diversion means that Lauki will go to San Antonio on Christmas weekend. Thank God we'll have New Year's for ourselves (and for getting drunk... we deserve it after this December).

2004-12-07T13:45:00.000-06:00

Random Shots...
#1) The Indian restaurant (Our Place... bad name) at the top of the MacArthur/635 hill is really good. I mean really, really good. Granted, if you don't like spicy, it is not for you. My plate was described on the menu as 'mild' and my nose was running by the end.
#2) Stephen King is looking more and more like mole-man with every passing year. I saw him on TV talking about the Red Sox book he wrote. He chronicles their year and it just happens to be the first time in like a century the ultimate cursed sports franchise wins the World Series! Ugh, must finish Dark Tower.
#3) We went to a wedding at a Grapevine winery in the old part of town. Very cool place. They make one red wine that is almost as sweet as mead. Very odd but good combination.
#4) It occurs to me that if you want to dress up and dance without spending any money, all you have to do is go to big hotels during December and join company Christmas parties. Laura and I ate at two on Saturday before we realized mine was in yet another ballroom.
#5) The incomptence of our war planning is pretty clear when disabled veterans with gray hair, who cannot even run, are being called up to active duty.
#6) Bob Dylan did his first TV interview in almost twenty years on Sunday! Fascinating bits (for me, forget you)...
On lying to the press: "The only two people you should think twice about lying to are God and yourself"
On being perceived as crazy/washed up: "Anything was better than being the Archbishop of Anarchy"
On why he still tours: "I have to keep up my end of the deal I made with Destiny"
On what deal that was: "To get where I am"
On who exactly he made that deal with (Up or down implied by the interviewer): "(Laughs) With the chief... commander, of this world and the one you can't see."

2004-11-24T09:38:00.000-06:00

JFK Proof for the Novices...
My own commenting on the last post got me all riled up, so here you go. This isn't the actual logical proof because that's too much typing.
Disclaimer: This is in brief and I'm both sick, tired and at work while I slam this out all from memory with no materials to look back at.
Premise #1: Every piece of evidence used for the below conclusions is universally accepted by all parties.
Premise #2: The 'you must' conclusions postulated are 100% logical necessities.

To believe the lone gunmen theory, you must believe that...
-A bullet entered JFK's back at a downward angle (5+ inches down from the top of the shirt collar), turned and traveled up, then turned down again so that it could exit between the Adam's apple and collar bones at a downward angle. It then went through a second man's torso, shattering a rib on its way out. Then it cracked the right wrist bone of that man, changing direction to pierce the opposite thigh.
-This bullet can then look like the magic bullet (no real deformation).
-A bullet of the same type, fired from the same gun through COTTON WADDING and never changing direction can be much more physically damaged than the one just described. -Same goes for ones fired though an assortment of gelatin like materials meant to simulate flesh.
-That same bullet rests in a thigh wound it created during the five minute ride to the hospital, but ends up with no blood on it.
-The famous backwards head snap of JFK is due to a 'rocket effect' of brains exiting his head despite that meaning a bullet had to enter the head at a downward angle (in the direction of the mouth, away from the knoll) then left one portion of itself exactly where it was, in perfect shape and position (it measures exactly the width of a fresh bullet on the X-Ray). Meanwhile, the other part of the bullet changed direction not just up, but towards the knoll (e away from the mouth) and took enough brains with it to create the rocket effect.
-That same bullet fragment(s) went on to crack the windshield on the OUTSIDE of the car, create a large dent on a chrome strip in the inside of the car, and deposit assorted pieces of itself on the car floor.
-The Zapruder film still sequence sent to the Warren Commission (they didn't get to see the actual footage) by the FBI had frames rearranged by *accident.* The new arrangement reversed the head movement so that it looked like it snapped to the front, not the back. When this was discovered, the FBI claimed it was a mistake and re-sequenced the frames.
-A young Dan Rather was either *completely* mistaken or lying when he said that on the Zapruder film JFK was turned around and facing the rear of the car when he was shot. He was one of the only people on earth to actually see the footage at the time and nobody thought it would ever be seen by the public. His statement has never been explained.
-The Dallas doctors mistook a bullet entrance wound (throat) for an exit wound despite the fact that they were infinitely (seriously) more experienced with bullet wounds than the men WHO PERFORMED THE PRESIDENT'S AUTOPSY.
-These same doctors were mistaken when they said the back of the president's head was blown out.
-Either the Secret Service lied about having agents on the ground that day or people were imitating Secret Service agents on the ground that day. If the former, why would they need to lie about that? If the latter, you've got conspiracy
-An unaffiliated nobody killed the president without any help but the gov't has to keep evidence hidden (admittedly) for "national security."
-The chief doctor at the autopsy burned all of his original notes in his fireplace and then rewrote the autopsy because... uh, there's actually no logical conclusion for that one.
-Lee Harvey Oswald pulled off a shooting feat that has never been duplicated with a rifle who's scope had to be readjusted with metal shims by the FBI *just* so they could hit a stationary target!
-He also got out of the snipers nest (which would have been directly in his path since it was designed to block anyone's view of him) ran from one side of a building to another, stashed the rifle, then went down four flights of stairs, into a break room, opened a Coke and sat down within 90 seconds.
-He chose to take his fist shot when his view of the president was completely obscured by trees. -Despite it being a simple crime, with the perpetrator, bullet, weapon and body found, you would not be able to convict Oswald in a court of law today (The American Bar Association held a mock trial in the 90's and came up with a hung jury).
-Oswald's fingerprints couldn't be found on the gun the first time they tested, but then could be when the FBI, instead of the Dallas police, tried.
I could actually keep going but that's enough I suppose. Wow, that was fun. I'm exhausted after typing that up.

2004-11-23T14:06:00.000-06:00

Another Year on the Grassy Knoll...

With some rock stupid planning, Jonathon and I made it to the spot and back despite crappy weather (the first either of us can recall on the anniversary) and a limited window.
Always a day for reflection.
-What does it say about our society when the painfully obvious truth about a hugely important event can be so easily obscured by a small group of powerful people?
To me it says one thing more than any other. Propaganda Rules. In the old days you needed a good goon squad to keep the peasants in line (or nowadays if you're a throwback like Saddam). Now it's much more subtle. You convince the masses of a certain point of view. Even better, you convince them to instantly dismiss anyone who says different. Isn't that the nature of power in an modern country like ours? Can that explain the political polarization that many a talking head is currently going on and on about?
Case in point: Last year was the 40th so there was a huge swell of media attention. Not surprisingly, it was by far the biggest year for lone gunmen theories I've ever seen. Peter Jennings stood on the knoll and said 'if after this unprecedented info, you still believe in conspiracy, you are crazy.' Then the special regurgitated all the same garbage I've seen before. Next day the morning DJ's were discussing how great that special was and how it debunked all the theories... right on cue. Crazy would be to think Jennings and the DJ's were in on it. Reality is that they're obliviously riding the historical tide. We live in a time and place where the people traded power for comfort and convenience. And it’s a non-refundable deal.

To the nuts and bolts:Saw the History Channel special last night. It was amusing to see the current hot forensic scientist (Dr. Lee) say, "I could solve this easily if I saw the original autopsy documents, the windshield, the interior of the car and the brain." Wow, too bad all those things are MISSING OR DESTROYED.Knock, knock History Channel. Who's there? Common F-ing sense, that's who!
To their credit they did pretty much admit that the official x-rays of JFK's head are obvious forgeries. Gee, I wonder what that could mean (rolls eyes). Like everything else, that one kernel is enough to conclude that clearly there was a cover-up. Would a cover-up be needed if the official story were remotely true? Uh, no. Ding Dong! Oh look, its Common F-ing sense again. Wow, he just won't leave, will he? Maybe Jennings will nicely escort him away.

2004-11-22T16:38:00.000-06:00

Belated Birthday Post...

(Conspiracy Post will be tomorrow after I see tonight's propaganda)
-First, thanks to everyone for coming by. I don't see friends nearly enough so thanks for braving the rain. I love my presents. Lots of fun goodies to keep me busy in all sorts of ways. I had a lot of fun. Plenty of talk, drink and even a little martial arts.
Hope everyone had a good time. I don't know how the hardcore's managed to drive home. I was in bed before you hit 635 in that pre-dawn fog. Sleep was immediately needed to fight off the impending headache that did plague me Sunday (but was well worth it).
Something cool happened on my birthday that I forgot to tell people about. Driving back from getting a birthday coffee, I see a large hawk sitting in the on ramp of 635 just before the merge. I end up coming to a dead stop as the silly bird (literally) did not move. Did I risk an accident? Kind of since there was small bus behind me but I just didn't feel like killing a magnificent creature like that on my birthday. Now, I want to help but don't want my eyes clawed out by this predator who's head would come up to mid-thigh. Finally another car stops to help. I divert traffic while he (bravely) wraps the thing up in a blanket. It must have been sick but looked alert and normal as it stared me in the eye while I talked with the guy on the side of the road. There's something almost mystical about being locked eye to eye with a wild creature. I cautiously petted him on the back (over the blanket). The guy drove away with the beast, at which point I felt really good about being able to save it on my BD. Kind of God's present to me. Incidentally, I was also super jealous that he got to take it instead of me now that I knew it wasn't going to rip the first person that walked up to it to shreds. How cool to have him at my house for a day before taking him to the vet! Oh well, at least Laura was saved a minor heart attack by not coming home and seeing it in the house.
-Added bonus. Despite their many faults, Rolling Stone magazine named Like a Rolling Stone the greatest rock song of all time. Now, I hate all these dumb 'best this, worst that' lists but all the positive press helped add to the day's festivities.

2004-11-19T13:33:00.000-06:00

To Be There or Not Be There, That is the... Something

Anyway, I think we're about set for Saturday. Just come on over and have a good time. I didn't clean like a freaking scullery maid for nothing you know. We'll likely go with a Mexican theme (but nothing spicy) for some grub. I wanted to have a fire in the backyard but it looks like Mother Nature didn't like that idea. The wetlands that make up our yard will probably still be watery tomorrow given this weather.
In some really strange way, I feel like this is my 30th birthday (12 months late). I can't really describe that but it's true. Very odd.

2004-11-15T13:56:00.000-06:00

I Hope You People Know How Much House Cleaning This Is Costing Me...

God, why can't stuff just... stay clean! F-ing dust. I thought dust was 75% dead skin and dust mites ate dead skin. If so, we need more dust mites, not less! We should be breeding them. And clutter, how does it manage to just form all by itself? I thought matter could neither be created nor destroyed. Another stupid myth. There's no way we bring home enough mail to account for all this crap. I shredded junk mail and ended up with a garbage bag full. A whole freaking garbage bag. Somewhere in all this (yuck) cleaning I also have to figure out what food to order now that cooking is rapidly vanishing as an option. This will be a hectic week as I have lots to do for my, what do you call those things again... ah yes, job (see previous post).

2004-11-11T14:25:00.000-06:00

Hunk A Hunk A Burnin' Procrastination...

The good thing about working for a bank (I'm finding) is that they have lots of holidays. Pretty cool. I actually prefer them to extra personal days because it forces you to take a breather every couple of months and you don't come back to work from a day off already in the e-mail/meeting hole. As lazy as I am, and I am lazy, days off aren't worth taking for me unless it's a big trip because I despise having to catch up upon returning.
Anyway, here I am at home working feverishly to do all those "I'm never home during business hours to do X, Y & Z" tasks. Going pretty well so far I must say although the time is going by much quicker than I'd like.
Ugh. The worst part is I have real work to do today. I have a legal agreement to read and understand so that I can give a Go/No Go verdict on it tomorrow. This is a brand new project so I know absolutely nothing about this crap ("Lockbox"... what the hell, is this an Al Gore project?).
Anyway, the thing is at least half a foot thick. The odds of me understanding everything I read are... let's say slim. Dammit Jim, I'm a procrastinator, not a lawyer!

2004-11-08T16:49:00.000-06:00

The Incredibles and the Star Wars Teaser Trailer are both Awesome...

First, the movie. Funny as all get out but what else do you expect from Pixar? It was the typical "Adults will laugh as hard as the kids" fare that Warner Bros. started all those years ago with the great Looney Tunes.
Perhaps best of all though, the Pixar folks went for a super cool, old school Retro-Super-Hero look and feel. IMO, that made for such a better product than if they'd just set it in today's world.
As for a great little bonus, the master of cool - Sam Jackson, is in it. He has the funniest part in the whole movie.
Now, for another great bonus:
The 1st trailer for Revenge of the Sith is attached to this flick and it rocks. If this trailer doesn't get you pumped, then YOU ARE DEAD ON THE INSIDE! Everything looks awesome. As always, proper credit will not be given to just how visually deep a Lucas movie is. Granted, it's nice when you can devote the gold standard in FX companies to slave away for your movie. The color palette is still far and away the richest you'll see in any movie.
There's a villain that gets all of a two second shot in this thing and he looks so cool (I'm spoiler free so I don't know who he is) that they must have spent a month just deciding on his look, much less creating it.
All in all, a good time at the old movie house.

p.s. Stonebriar Mall is one cool place. They have a movie theater, Dave and Busters, Cheesecake Factory and B&N's all in one area. That's one big wallet drain of a good time right there.

2004-11-03T14:01:00.000-06:00

Hope I'm Wrong...

I'm finding it hard to articulate what I want to in this post without sounding all "because I disagree, we're heading in the wrong direction."
Honest to God, I had a true sense of foreboding last night as I left work. One I haven't felt since just after 9-11 when I predicted things online that, in my opinion, came to pass (no, not this election). Bin Laden being free, us being bogged down militarily and no progress on fighting the cause of terrorism as opposed to it's effects. Not, "What if Bush wins" or anything like that. As you know, I thought they were two bad choices. It was more like the course we've been on was being set without the country ever really questioning it. We just fought over who got to be captain. The handle to the rudder is being lashed down and we'll know what's ahead when we get there.
My problem isn't that the incumbent won, it's that he won on "We've made no mistakes and we won't make any." That's a flatly dangerous mind-set.
Believe it or not, I really feel that...
Bin Laden was more honest and logical in one video taped address than either candidate has been in month's of campaigning. I find that very frightening. Bush with his "Iraq is great, everything's on the rebound" denial fest and Kerry with his "I can solve every problem facing our society and the world" fantasy. Most especially though, both of them with their complete refusal to see the cyclical nature of terrorism (as I see it anyway). Neither one offered one unique idea on dealing with a unique threat.
What I'm trying to say is that a critical time in our history, with choppy waters to face, we decided to sail forward convinced that there were only two choices, don't shift a degree or be directionless. At this point in our country's journey we should be capable of much, much more.

2004-11-01T13:57:00.000-06:00

New Lows By The Minute...

Sorry, it's hard to avoid political posts these weeks, even for me and I try to purposefully stay away from them. You don't know how lucky you were that I fought the urge for Polidori.
Anyway, this one will slant to the left, no attempt at 'equal' hating in this one.
Minority voters are being intimidated by some republicans (I'll refrain from blaming the party) in an effort to keep them from voting. I don't know how much simpler I can state it. Letters went out saying, "Be warned, if you show up to vote, we will challenge you." among many other dirty tricks.
Now, I understand the excuses:
-what do they have to fear if they're eligible anyway?
-we just want to make sure ineligible people don't vote, we're not targeting anyone
and don't buy them for a fucking heart beat. This is crass bullying of the lowest order. Let's make a wager... think rich, white neighborhoods will have lots of these 'concerned citizens' challenging everyone they see? Hmm, Probably not. Oh wait, make that DEFINITELY NOT.
If the issue doesn't seem like a big deal to you then it might come from not being overly familiar with what recent immigrant families can be like. There's a deep seated mistrust of authority, bordering on fear. Living south of the border, you try to avoid entanglements with the PTB at all costs, even when you did nothing wrong. That mind-set means the letters and warnings, from partisan politicos, are very likely to keep that person from going to the polls. If you don't think that's be design, I salute your faith in humanity. Cheating by fudging the numbers (which I expect on both sides) is less offensive somehow. Maybe because Johnny whitebread is as vulnerable to it as anyone else, maybe because there's no personal intimidation involved. More likely it's because I know people who would read one of those letters or face of one of those challengers and instantly feel a real fear in their heart. People who weren't afraid to risk life and limb to come here for the chance of doing better by their families. We can be such a banana republic under the hood.
In Central and South America, they do it on the street with bats. Here, we do it on fancy letter head with words. A little more civilized, but just as disgusting.

2004-10-26T17:45:00.000-05:00

Conspiracy Time Part II...

So, part I was about how the problems with out voting system were only made worse, not better, since 2000.
In addition to what I mentioned earlier we now have stories like the whole group of people who volunteered to help a county register new voters and then turned to be a team of moles trained to make sure only voters of their party got registered. The other applications went to the Great Heap.
What's part II then Kiki? I'm glad you didn't ask:
If: The gov't was well aware of the glaring problems in our election process (little thing called the 2000 Presidential Election).
And: They've done (in Ash's words) "Jack and Sh**" about it since
Then: There are only two explanations for this...
a) It was incompetence
b) It was intentional

I go with the latter. People make the mistake of thinking a conspiracy theory rests on a far flung network of folks working in concert. Not always. In fact, not usually. It's a few people or groups working independently towards the same goal, sometimes without even knowing it.
The two major parties don't want a fair, transparent system because then YOU CAN'T CHEAT. They've been cheating since before any of us were born (fact). Do you really think they want to stop now? So, when the chance comes to fix things (post 2000), they make sure to give the appearance of giving a damn while not doing a thing. It's not that the RNC and DNC have a secret phone line where they agree to bog down change, it's more like the poker player who doesn't point out the cards in the other guy's vest because that will bring up the ones in his own boots.
Could even politicians be that incompetent that they really tried to fix things and this is the result? How about campaign finance reform? McCain-Feingold made things worse for God's sake. Just look at the 527's. Whenever they try to fix something, it gets worse!!!
If our leaders are really that incompetent, we should start a revolution tomorrow (I would but I have work). That's where we're at friends. The fox watches the hen house while the farmer watches The O.C..
Good luck fixing all that.

2004-10-21T14:04:00.000-05:00

Conspiracy Time Part I...

No, not my rapidly approaching favorite holiday but the dreaded presidential 'election.'
At this point it's readily apparent that we will have absolutely no idea who really wins this election. Think about...
-the rampant fraud we've seen thus far (in FL they were busted trying to disenfranchise people who turned out not be felons, people have been caught paying homeless to regiter/vote)
-the fact that our election process wouldn't qualify under international standards of what a fair election is
-the opinion (e.g. fact) that our technological savior from another Florida scenario is even scarier than hanging chads (many without a paper trail and it's been proven you can change vote counts with a mouseclick if you have the right access... people who work for private corporations have that access and we know how trustworthy they are)
-the code behind many voting machines is proprietary so we, the people, have no verification that it works much less that it's fair.
Again, we will have no accurate idea how the populace voted in this election. I know that sounds like hyperbole but it's true. We'll know that a lot of people voted for the loser and that a lot of other people voted for the other loser. That's it. Biased lawyers, technocrats, judges and other assorted swine will pick the next president in a winner take all game of 'Play dirty, act pious.'
Welcome to America 2.0

2004-10-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

This Week Will Be Brimming With Procrastination High...

It's like runner's high, except it comes from putting things off so long that it all hits critical mass. Suddenly you're facing a tidal wave of work. The tidal wave you ignored while playing on the beach. The roar got louder and louder but you told yourself it was nothing. Now you're looking up a 90 ft wall of water and every single drop has your name on it.
So you jump into a flurry of activity in hopes that your wild flailing will keep you afloat. We'll see. I've got the rest of this week to get four temps and 7,000 legal documents over to another building without negatively impacting the business. Proper planning time = two weeks. Kiki planning time = 0 minutes and counting.

2004-10-13T08:52:00.000-05:00

The Bank I Work For Has A Job Officially Known As 'Tickler Officer'

As you can imagine, this is a little disconcerting. Why would a major corporation with 50,000 employees need some to be Tickler Officers? What type of training does that involve anyway? How would you make that look good on a resume? The questions just don't stop.

2004-10-11T17:22:00.000-05:00

There's A New Woman In My Life And Her Name Is Miss Packman...

Laura got me this wonderful, old fashioned, joystick and all video game. It has 5 old school games but the marquee one is Miss Packman.
This, for some reason, was THE game for quite sometime in the primitive 80's arcades. Maybe because it was the first sequel game of all time, who knows? Anyway, I've burned countless, and I do mean countless, hours sitting before this small, plastic idol.
I've taken long lunches, lost sleep and sat on the footstool until my back hurt. I almost threw it across the room today but it wouldn't survive such a trip.
She's been frustrating me of late but I got the 'current' last laugh today when I finally passed 70,000 points. 70,000 meaningless points. God I hope the batteries on this thing run out soon.

2004-10-07T10:53:00.000-05:00

Dick Cheney's Disasterpiece Theater...

Dick Cheney was a very impressive man Tuesday night. He wanted to give the 'you need someone as smart and in control of things as me during these times' vibe and he did. He was going against an expert trial lawyer (boo, hiss) but he came off as the winner of a relatively close slugfest according to the pundits.
Then the floor vanished:
1. His biggest attack of the night was telling Edwards he's never seen him before (hint, you don't show up much at the Senate). It left Edwards, the supposedly slick lawyer looking like a dear in the headlights.
Problem: The media is having a field day showing multiple pictures and video of the two of them together.
Result: You just handed the other side a bat with three free swings.
2. He denied ever linking 9-11 type terrorism with Saddam. Now this gets into tricky semantics but, once again, the media is having a field day throwing his own video clips back at him.
Problem: He's on the defensive, the place he did a solid job of keeping Edwards in during the debate.
Result: Paired with #1 and 3, it looks bad.
3. After Edwards' predictable Halliburton attack, he responds by telling people to go to factcheck.com, a non-partisan site that proves he's innocent.
Problem: He meant to say .org and inadvertently sent 100 hits a minute to a virulent anti-Bush/Cheney website (short version of the story).
Other Problem: The website he meant to send people to puts up an article saying "Cheney and Edwards malign facts," specifically mentioning that Cheney's wrong in saying they exonerated him and he didn't even get their name right. Ouch.

Somebody did not do their homework for that night. Edwards was, of course, full of crap too (stop smiling like a freaking idiot dude) but Cheney handed him a free pass with his over the tops gaffs. This (Bush on Thursday and now this) is classic "Winning team fumbles and now we've got a game on our hands."

2004-10-01T13:36:00.000-05:00

The (Not So) Great Debate...

A radio show caller had an excellent point. Can you imagine a job interview where the candidates themselves get to decide on the rules, boundaries and questions (essentially)? Also, the employer has no say *whatsoever* in those decisions.
As someone who interviewes and hires people, I can say that'd be a pretty ridiculous way to pick somebody. It goes against all common and business sense. ThankGod I don't have to hire people that way. Instead, I'm just supposed to PICK THE LEADER OF THE MOST POWERFUL NATION ON EARTH that way.
Does anyone else think our form of gov't, as intended, is now on the equivalent of life support?
Facts about the debate:
-It was sponsored by (drum roll) major corporations. As the ones ponying up the money, you better believe they had a say in things. But that's just conspiratorial craziness so don't let it bother you. The common sense definition of conflict of interest just doesn't apply here.
-The Commission on Presidential Debates is run by both major parties so the job applicants really are the ones setting the rules.
-Participants are forbidden from taking part in any other debates except those sanctioned by the CPD, because the two party strangle hold can never be tight enough.
-They can't ask each other questions because (both guys) "I'm strong enough to lead the free world, but not to take questions from my opponent"
-Candidates are forbidden from using notes, charts or other tools... Because we don't want to confuse the issues with facts!

Review of the Debate:
Kerry won, no question (although I didn't think by too much- pretty dull affair).
Kerry- Being a democrat, he was (of course) too wimpy. I thought there would be some real uppercuts and roundhouses in there but instead a few stiff jabs were the toughest he got. He plays scared even when he's on the attack. No fighter's instinct. I'm surprised the media is giving him the credit they are on aggressiveness.
Bush- There's a reason this man avoids unplanned questions and true press conferences like the plague. He took too long to answer, repeated himself way too much and looked almost Gore-like in his respones to Kerry's jabs. Worst of all though, he completely avoided answering some questions and would default to saying something he had said before (usually a Kerry quote).

So, one guy can't be aggressive enough for a debate, but he will be for a war?
The other can make real-time warfare decisions that affect millions, but not ones on how to answer a simple question?
Great.

2004-09-28T19:03:00.000-05:00

Nice To See The Big Cheeses Are Rock Stupid Too...

Here I sit at 7:00 PM with no chance of leaving yet. Not thanks to upper management deciding their should be a meeting of the Management Council (read, big cheeses) tomorrow morning. Nice timing there, really gives me plenty of time to prepare what I need (I'm facilitating).
My first question was, what's the agenda for the meeting? The answer was, "Uhhhhhhh"

Why do people arrange meetings when there is no clear objective? That is the perfect way to ensure that you'll all be sitting in a room looking at each other going "Uhhhhhh." As the thankless facilitator I get the special joy of being the scapegoat if the meeting goes poorly. That's like sending someone into a boxing ring with one glove, no mouthpiece, little warning and then being surprised when the fight doesn't go well. Yeesh.

2004-09-27T18:58:00.000-05:00

The Times They Are A-Great...

To be a Dylan fan(atic) that is. He's on the cover of Newsweek with a rare interview on the inside. The first volume of his autobiography comes out in October (Chronicles) and if you need something to tie you over, you have Dylan's Visions of Sin by Christopher Ricks (Oxford's Professor of Poetry).
The book's chapters are based on the 7 Deadly Sins, 4Cardinal Virtues and 3 Heavenly Graces. It may seem an odd choice for lyrics by the supposed counterculture prophet, but it makes a lot of sense when you know how crammed full of biblical references his songs are (both obvious and not).
Back to Chronicles- to get hundreds of pages of memoirs from the man who's spent 40+ years hiding from everyone is just a little exciting for the faithful. It's a life that was once called "Stranger than Elvis'"
Excerpt from the excerpt...
"...a folksinger friend had given me a couple of Colt repeater pistols... I also had a clip fed Winchester blasting rifle. But it was awful to think about what could be done with those things."

2004-09-23T16:49:00.000-05:00

Rock Stupid Greed and Rock Stupid Procrastination Do NOT Mix Well...

Bonus program rolls out here at work to encourage us lazy workers to help with a financial analysis project. Bottom line is get paid X dollars a week for 4 items completed (7 weeks total).
Well, as a coworker/amateur rapper said at a previous job, "If the money's callin', then I'm crawlin."
So here I crawl, and that is a very apt verb since it's taking me an eternity to finish one freaking item. This mind numbing task has so many dinky little twists and turns that it takes forever (being brand new to this kind of work). Worse still, I've put it off as much as possible (like posting right now!) so tonight I'm officially screwed. I have to finish two of these God forsaken things to get that dirty, dirty money. I was here until 8:00 last night getting as far along as I am (which isn't very far).
Hey, it's 5:00, let the drudgery commence!

2004-09-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

4 Years Can Go By Quickly...
We hit the mark last week. What can I say? Meeting Laura is still the best and most important thing that has ever or will ever happen to me. We celebrated on the actual day (Thursday) in true Lauki style.
We headed out the door with no idea of where we were going (I usually do reservations btw) but a few parameters... Old World feel and not a place we've been to before (or else the Old Warsaw would have done the trick).
It took hours but, as they usually do, things worked despite our best efforts. We toured Highland Park as the hunger got worse. Passed by a house that looked like a castle. Probably the coolest home we've ever seen in person. It reminded us of the pictures of knights, ladies, faries and such (Pre-Raphaelites especially) that have always played into our gift giving history.
From there, we ended up in Lower Greenville and walked into an exteriorly non-descript looking French restaurant built into a strip mall. Turns out to be St. Martin's, a place that's been around for 27 years and has been voted the most romantic spot in Dallas. Inside it's a tiny, dark, plush little oasis that fit the occasion and our initial notion perfectly. On the wall, of course, hung many of the exact images I spoke of above.
Seems it's often the little things, not the big ones, that can make you believe in Fate.

2004-09-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

Another Weekend, Another Trip...

Back to San Antonio. Only this time, Laura stayed for the week and I flew back last night. This resulted from the other half of Lauki having more vacation than me since I just started at WAMU.
I have set a personal record for plane rides this year, that's for sure. God willing I'm done (for now).
We'll see how non-rock-stupid I can be while she's gone. I'm always horribly bored without Laura and seem to cope by being as lazy and unproductive as possible. Wisely, she committed me to complete certain things while she's gone. These things are, of course, gathering dust while I surf the net and type this post. It's almost the time sane people go to bed though, so maybe I'll get started now...

2004-09-07T18:25:00.000-05:00

Who Knew You Could Have A Good Time In Oklahoma City?

Granted, it certainly wasn't a dream destination, but Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson were there. It was their closest stop on the tour that is being described as the surprise of the summer and one of the few bright spots in an otherwise blah concert season.
The tour... A unique, Americana kinda feel as two American music icons (great songwriters with wonderfully unconventional voices, both known as rebels in their musical worlds), tour for the first time together. Cool (thankfully) summer night, old fashioned ballpark and great music. It was really neat standing on the infield, watching the clouds light up with the last of the sunlight as we waited for Dylan to take the stage.
Willie, meanwhile, was great. You didn't have to be a country fan to enjoy his laid back, clap along, show. Dylan went louder and faster so the order (Bob always closes) works out well. Plus it helped us arrive on time since we had to work and race across the border.
My favorite moment was the only duet they played (Heartland). Months of watching another joke of an election campaign, of seeing people focus on clever one liners instead of real issues. Usually I can handle the useless, self-perpetuating nature of our system. At such a critical time though, it's different.
Made it seem just so right as two old men sang...
"This American Dream, fell apart at the seams
You tell me what it means, you tell me what it means"

The next day we saw everything OKC has to offer. It didn't take long.
The OKC bombing site, though, was impressive. Pretty weird seeing it and ground zero (NYC) in person. They're strangely similar.
Overall, a fun and sometimes touching excursion into the physical, mental and musical Heartland.

2004-09-02T12:42:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Frances, You Can Just Keep Heading North...

My mom and sister have steel shutters up on the house and bought appropriate supplies. The storm seems to be creeping further and further northward. That is good in my little world since Miami is slowly getting out of the line of fire (or the direct line, at least).
The biggest concern at this point is the damn thing making a sudden change of direction. That's not likely but it certainly can happen (just ask the West coast about Charley).

2004-08-31T17:58:00.000-05:00

Convention Season Always Reminds Me...

Why I have no respect for politics. First let's start with last night's message, which seemed to amount to:

If you don't like terrorists, vote for us
If 9-11 made you sad, vote for us
If you don't want to see the US disband the army and invite the terrorists to move into the White House, vote for us.
Also throw in...

Rudy G. throwing out the same unfair, out of context, quotes that have been in campaign commercials for months
John McCain kissing the king's ring when we know full well how he really feels.

Then you had the Democrats with:

John Kerry was in Vietnam
John Kerry was in Vietnam
Did we mention John Kerry was in Vietnam?
Also...

Dragging out the Clinton vampire
Dragging out Al (shudder) Sharpton

Is it impossible to get some kind of substantial dialogue going in this nation? Is this what we're supposed to choose between? This tells you what they think of the electorate (meaning us). For my entire life, I've always gotten the same feeling watching those people on the floor in goofy hats jumping and screaming for whatever prostitute their party trots out... "What planet are you from?"

2004-08-27T11:54:00.000-05:00

What Better Way To Rest Up after Last Weekend Than By...

going to San Antonio this weekend and helping people move! Ah yes, that's the ticket.
Today Lauki pulls the traditional 'work on Fri, head straight to S.A., return late Sun night' move that we have perfected over many a year.
One day I'll go through the sadistic exercise of adding up all the driving time we've spent doing this. Then, just for fun I'll add the extra driving that results from living on the North side of DFW (not that I'd ever want to live on the South side).

2004-08-23T17:22:00.000-05:00

4 Days, 47 Hours of work (31 labor, 16 office)

That disgusting mix was the Thursday to Sunday mix of regular job plus replacing the fence with our neighbor.
The 30 would be...
-going through lumber at Lowes, hand picking every slat and 2x4
-loading and unloading $900 worth of lumber and concrete
-digging 18 post holes with a heavy duty (250 lb monster) auger
-rounding out those holes with a good, old fashioned, shovel
-tearing down, loading and unloading 120 feet worth of old fence (thank you generic construction site with formerly empty dumpsters)
-pouring concrete, setting the posts
-putting up 2x4's
-putting up slats on the back part of the fence (40 feet)
-loading and returning all unused materials, which included 11 bags of that God awful concrete

Throw two days of office work in the mix and you get an unbelievably sore, tired and rock stupid Kiki. How I kept my eyes open today at work will forever be a mystery. When I closed my eyes this weekend I literally saw wood and concrete swirling around. Oh well, time to stare at the TV in an attempt to stay awake until dinner.

2004-08-10T20:43:00.000-05:00

(Wow, has it been that long since I posted?)
Call Me Unpatriotic But...

I'm already sick of the Olympics. Does anybody else get as tired of the obligatory marketing blitz as I do? I have nothing against the athletes of course. I just can't stand how every credit card company (and assorted other nasties) try to jump on this bandwagon.
"Well, I was going to buy my lunch at this place but now that I know you'll donate .00000001 cents to our Olympic team, I'm sold. How can I resist knowing that I've helped someone throw a heavy object?"
The other thing I hate about the Olympics (since you asked) is how they make third rate celebrities out of the contestants before they've even won anything. Remember Johnny Mosley? Of course you don't. He was the one that they made a super, duper big deal out of leading up to the Utah Olympics. He came in third. Remember Dan vs. Dan? They were going to decide who the best athlete in the world was... and they did... by letting someone else win their event. The list goes on. Oh well, I'm sure I'm being silly. My violent reaction to things shoved down our throats has become a preemptive gag reflex. The damn things haven't even started yet and I'm already ranting.

2004-07-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

Getting back to normal...

After a really crazy month (or two) I think we're getting back to regular life. I'm getting back to real work for the first time in probably half a year. The weirdo waiting for layoff phase is over and I'm finally doing some real work at my new job.
I have to hire four contractors and get them to do something-or-other by 8/31. I'm not sure what because I have no idea what they were talking about in that meeting. Luckily, I'm really good at pretending like I do get what people are talking about. Then, after they leave, I go "What the hell did they say?"
What else? Took part in the longest roleplaying session of my life past weekend. It was great though. Now that's a Geek badge of honor.
Got to go back to looking for the lost cook book. This is a four alarm fire here at the household so away I go.

2004-07-22T11:46:00.000-05:00

So, So Tired...

I just got back from the airport. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week. I've driven about 1,500 miles in the rental and now I'm off to work half a day. By work, I mean stare at the monitor until 4:00. I also have to arrange for the van to be picked up so I don't have to find my way to Garland with a wing(wo)man. That will cost an extra $25.
No big deal though. With the money we've spent this month, $25 is the equivalent of one brick in the great pyramid at Giza. God our credit cards must love us right now.
Oh well, here I go...

2004-07-20T17:36:00.000-05:00

Lot's of Family Time...
My new boss was cool and I'm off this week until Friday (Mom and Dad fly off Thursday). We've been running around all over town since getting back from San Antonio. It's nice to finally have my mom visit here (she's only ever been here for graduation and the wedding).
Tonight we're staying home to barbecue so I've got to venture out into that sweltering heat and get started.
The visit is giving me plenty of chances to experiment with our new camera (finally went digital). That plus the scanner I *acquired* means we can get a virtual album going. How did people ever get by with just film? We're 30ish and already have enough albums to stack up to my neck. Anyway, time to get crackin'...

2004-07-13T18:27:00.000-05:00

No Rest For The Rock Stupid

We were in San Antonio this weekend, my mom is flying in Saturday and we head back down again. Then we come back for a week long visit.
The real downside here is that I have to clean the house like the Pope is coming to visit. My mom bugs me about cleaning up around the house as it is and she's never even been here!
They're being cool at the new job about the time off. I have no idea what I need to claim it as. I've never even seen our time keeping system. Luckily my boss is new so he probably hasn't either. In fact, a similar situation worked out pretty well at the old place.
Side note... Since we got our new PC I can't get into comments on most blogs including my own. Don't see myself having the time to figure that out soon but that's why you won't see comments from me.

2004-07-06T17:57:00.000-05:00

Goodbye Crapville...

First American. I still hate them as much as I ever did. Only now the hatred is mixed with amusement. Sure it was fun to leave them the first time and screw 'em over a bit. This, however is a whole new level. After the paid month off I *talked* my way into, I have now picked up my last check (including the oft dreamt of severance package).
So, thank you and farewell to First American. Thanks for being the fetid collection of miserable human beings that you are. If it wasn't for that I probably wouldn't have left, taking with me all you that were forced to give.
Speaking of which, thanks for the Cancun vacation (which you not only paid for, but paid me through), the new bed, computer, digital camera etc.
So, c'mon people. Raise your glass to, as I said at Trinity Hall many years ago (some of you were there)... "Screwing over the Man!"

2004-06-28T13:56:00.000-05:00

(Quick post just to get back in the swing)

Messa Back, Yet Again

This time from Cancun! Lauki finally managed to squeeze out a real vacation amongst all the between job turmoil.
We were in sunny Mexico for a week and it was amazing.

Cancun is basically New Orleans (think Bourbon St.) meets the Florida Keys. On one side you have a stunning (and I've been to a lot) beach with lots of quiet and space. On the other you have the restaurants, clubs etc.
We split our time between the two, partying about every other night.
Other highlights included...
the last Mayan city, Tulum. It's also the only one overlooking the Ocean.
Xe-La, the most beautiful river I've ever seen. We snorkeled and floated on innertubes across it's length.
Jet Ski on the Ocean. A blast and very different from stillwater. We caught some serious air (for wimpy tourists), probably five feet at the highest.

Lot's of fun on a badly needed get away. That's all for now.

2004-06-14T15:10:00.000-05:00

Meesa Back
and meesa very tired so forgive any and all spelling/grammar errors.

First and foremost, Mom's fine now. She has to start taking insulin (type 2 diabetes) but with luck it won't be a permanent thing.
She had gotten very lazy recently and it cost her. She was only checking her blood sugar twice a week (as opposed to twice a day), hadn't seen her doctor in 2 years(!) and completely forgot her diet. That led to a blood sugar level of 1000, which should have put her in a coma. A healthy young person should have fallen in one, much less a 63 year old woman in a wheelchair.

With luck and prayers (which are welcome), she will be able to control it as before with just diet and simpler medication.

What else... Lauki was going to take a big, international trip to celebrate the whole job/severance thing but we're scrapping that in case anything else happens with the family. This month was the whole only a finite amount of happiness thing. Something had to go wrong in light of all the good job news.

Speaking of the airline industry, I took 7 flights in 2 weeks, one was one time!

2004-06-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

In Between Flights Update...

Well, Laura's birthday was yesterday. That was one day after getting back from Miami (why we missed Kashi's party). We went to White Rock Lake and just relaxed for many an hour.
I got her a chair she's wanted for a long time (hey, as long as there's a present I know she wants, I'm happy) plus assorted DVD's and CD's.
Back in Miami, my mom had a Diabetes episode and is in the hospital. I'll probably fly back down there this weekend. The outlook is generally good. It's just a matter of getting her blood sugar back to normal. She might be out by the weekend. I'll stay for a week or so to help with the transistion and relieve my sister (she's taken all this week off to be with her at the hospital... ah. living far from home guilt. It's times like this when it hits so sweetly). The worse part will likely be financial as she has no insurance. Time for that raise from the new job to come in handy.

Other than that, let's see. My old VP is now interviewing at my new company! That's good because she likes me. It's bad because I... well, let's just say I didn't exactly tell my former employer and my new one the same story. We'll leave it at that.

2004-05-27T14:08:00.000-05:00

The End Of The World Is Here

How do I know this? Simple...
David Hasselhoff is making a rap album.

That's right, let it sink in. A RAP album. A RAP album produced by Ice T. If this doesn't convince you that it's time to go to confession, stock up on canned goods and barricade yourself inside your house, then I can't help you.

The Hoff

2004-05-26T10:50:00.000-05:00

Finishing Up At The Ranch

This is my last week here at work so things are winding down pretty quickly. There's actually a bunch of administrative crap I have to get done towards the end so I've been pretty busy. Throw in our trip to Miami this weekend, trying to plan a quick vacation (possibly overseas) and Laura's birthday next week... well, it's a lot.

Back at work though it's just a pathetic landscape with many a goodbye to add a little sting. The goodbye's have a cumulative effect. At first it's no big deal but you start realizing that you're getting more and more sad. Sneaks up on you it does. Said goodbye to my mentor last Friday and that was tough.
Wanted to get a happy hour together for my departure but it seems so lame now. Half the people I liked are already gone anywya. Think I'll just visit some people one on one and that's it.
On the positive side, I tested the drive from my new job to the house. 7.6 miles from DOOR TO DOOR!!! Oh sweet Lord, how I have dreamt of such a scenario.

2004-05-24T15:14:00.000-05:00

Goodbye Angel

This is a little late, but goodbye to what might be my favorite TV show of all time. Why? Certainly the fact that it was a great show helps, but timing was very big as well.
Buffy (which Lauki loved and watched from day one) was about (somewhat generally) female teen problems/angst materialized through demons, vampires etc.
Angel, in turn, was about (again, somewhat generally) male, adult problems. As Joss said in response to "Why was Angel cancelled?"... "It was the only show on the WB about grown ups."
That's why the timing was so perfect, the issues on Angel hit very close to home for me. Responsibility, family, work, back-stabbing politics, trying to stay yourself while getting what you want out of life. All perfectly illustrated in a quirky world of demons, corporations and warriors.
Also, Angel had an extra dark edge that I loved (as James M. complained before he joined the cast "They get to have all the fun, someone's always cutting someone's head off on Angel").
Spoilers ahead...
The two part finale (we thought) was great. A lot characterization leading up to the finish (Spike's choice for a last outing... how great was that?). Overall, it really kept up the show's theme of gray spaces between right and wrong and how hard it is to deal with those (back-stabbing Lindsey, killing Drogan). It was also heavy on the melancholy sense of loss that the Buffyverse had throughout (Fred and Wesley, Eve and Lindsey, Angel and Connor).
Best moment... Lorne killing Lindsey. OMG was that unexpected.
Funniest moment... "I want you Lindsey"

So, bye bye Angel. Maybe in the long run it's not bad to see your favorite show go too early instead of too late (X-Files, Buffy etc.).

2004-05-19T14:35:00.000-05:00

Why I Love Conspiracy Theories (trying to contribute to the rant theme)

Recently, I had to scold myself over not being a vigilant enough crackpot. This comes from everyone's favorite, incredibly damaging prison scandal. At first I was outraged (still am) but, counter to my norm, assumed this was the work of a few bad seeds. How could I, who like to look for machinations in everything, have been so naive? I should have instantly assumed this wasn't an aberration by a few individuals who were now being 'properly handled.' Good God. Have I learned nothing? That's textbook conspirator's company line/cover our asses/let the fall guy (or guys and girls in this case), fall.
My default mode is to always suspect that the 'rouge/criminal/senseless' acts were part of a greater design... just one we didn't know about. Which brings us to the red hot New Yorker article that's causing the latest stir (see link). Now these are just allegations and they are, of course, being denied. While stock denials are flying out, so is disparagement of the whistleblower. This is also textbook.

That's what I love about CT's...
It's all about pattern recognition. When you see PTB's (in whatever realm) tell you
a) we knew nothing about this
b) we've got it handled
c) this was an aberration
d) anyone who says different is crazy

, you've got a probable conspiracy. To list documented examples from our history would be absurd because there's soooo many.

But Kiki (you're saying), when conditions a-d exist, that's still a wild assumption (CT). True, but the positive is that although outlandish, it's usually closer to the truth than the company line. Take the JFK assassination for instance (oh ya, you knew where I was going). There's a thousand insane theories, and a few good ones. But they're *all* better than the official story! That's the most outlandish one of all.
So, that is why I love CT's and why I recommend always assuming the worst about the organizations of men. They lie and spin so often, that you're actually taking the odds by assuming they are right off the bat.

New Yorker

2004-05-17T10:32:00.000-05:00

Another San Antonio Visit...

Another 10 hours of night driving
Another two nights of sleeping on a really, really hard futon (are the Japanese dwarf-like in their toughness or something?)
Another weary Monday of work after a midnight arrival.
Another bittersweet visit to an aging relative (who, thankfully, was in much better spirits this time... it was a big birthday weekend for her).
Another 100 miles of driving within city limits.
Another trip to the park (Mexican families are drawn to parks on Sundays like no other people on earth).
Another load of chocolate-peanut butter cookis from West, TX to reward myself (mmm, bakery). In fact, dinner last night consisted entirely of kolachies (sp?) and said cookies. I may be getting older, but Kiki's stomach can still handle it's share of bizzare food.
Thank God there's nothing to do at work but surf the net and read blogs. I could get used to this layoff atmosphere... come in late, leave early and do no work in between.

2004-05-14T13:19:00.000-05:00

Once Again...

I feel compelled to post something that will surely only interest me. So, apologies upfront.

On the other hand, if you find hunkering for an article by the Church of England that compares Bob Dylan to Jesus Christ, you're in luck!

Church Of England Newspaper

2004-05-12T15:06:00.000-05:00

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory It Ain't

Nope, no silly wonderland here at the office. More like Disasterpiece Theater. In the wake of all these layoffs, people seem to be falling apart.
-One poor guy (God rest his soul), committed suicide this week. Now, he had a lot going on in his life other than this but I'm sure the work stress didn't help. He came from the old company like myself and we'd chat about how glad we were to leave there. Very nice, positive guy. It's hard to believe some people can keep so much inside.
-Another guy, who I would talk to about Star Wars and video games, is in the hospital waiting to die. His body seems to be spontaneously shutting down and they've put him under to spare him the pain. He's a cool guy with a wife and child at home. I don't know if he was the sole wage earner or not.
Both of the above are under 40 btw.
-A VP went home with an anxiety attack. He's been home on doctor's orders since.
-Today, a lady who works for me found out her husband has cancer, again (he survived the first time). She was a mess on the verge of tears. Such a silly little old lady (I mean that affectionately). She insisted on staying until I was back from lunch to make sure she had permission to leave the office.

So, my wish (hell, let's make it prayer given the blogging theme) for them and everyone else in the world is... Don't let yourself give in to despair.

"It's alright ma, it's life and life only"

2004-05-10T11:23:00.000-05:00

Latest Sapening's (sic) In Rapid Fire

Will this never end? Still trying to talk to company A in order to nicely turn them down (and dreading it, let me tell you. Talk about uncomfortable). On the positive side, I'm swinging by company B to sign the offer letter today (aside- doesn't that sound like a kid's show on PBS? "It's time for Company B!"). It'll take leaving the office early but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Lauki did some presumptive celebrating this weekend. Maybe we'll do something at the house once all this is officially official. Who knows? Good God, they're playing Jessie's Girl in the office right now. Anyway, some 18 yr old scotch and 15 yr old whiskey was downed at Trinity Hall, along with a moderate shopping spree at the nearby Virgin Megastore. Needless to say, all my purchases were Dylan related. Speaking of Hunter S. Thompson (had to catch you're attention in case you were about to bail out), here's an excerpt from a recent interview...

Q. What kind of music are you listening to?
A. Let's see. I just got the new Bob Dylan box set from the Rolling Thunder tour from 1975. It's kind of a big package with a book and several CDs in there. It's maybe the best rock and roll album I've ever heard.
Q. You don't think that was after his peak?
A. Shit. You really are dumb. You have to listen to it and find out. If you think that, you really are ignorant. What do you want to talk about, Eminem?

2004-05-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

It Does Happen... Kiki Makes a Decision!

Well, that's it. After a grueling day of research and negotiation, I'm done. Verbally took a job with WAMU. Now I just have to nicely decline one external and one internal offer tomorrow. Some of my mentors here at work really helped me shift through the 10,000 factors and realize this is my best option. I feel so relieved.
Still have to work out a start date, which is much more complicated than it sounds. My prospective boss is going to her boss and, if they're willing to wait for me, I'll even get some time off in between.
Oh God, if that works out I'm even starting to consider a trip for Laura and I to celebrate. You know our honeymoon is only the second time in our dozen years together that we took a trip by ourselves?!
It took 8 years of hard work (4 of them being unmitigated hell) but I've learned I'm finally a marketable employee.
Best of all is the fact that, thanks to an unlikely twist of fate, it's the company I started with (and ran from) that now has to pay me a handsome sum to waltz off to a new job. Leaving them the first time was the best career move I ever made. Now doing it again is shaping up to be even better.

2004-05-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

A rare political rant (seriously consider not reading this if you can't handle views *some* would call unpatriotic)
In fact, I don't want any comments on this one. E-mail me if you want but it's neither sought nor encouraged.

I keep away from this on the blog and in life because...
although I enjoy debate and support the free exchange of ideas, I also don't think anyone ever convinces anyone else of anything. Also, I tend to shock people more than I'd like to when I really state my mind on such things.

Anyway, on to the rare rant...
I hate the Americans in those prisoner abuse photos more than I hate the terrorists.
That's right, I really do. Why? Because the terrorists don't know any better. They were brainwashed from an early age. My religion calls on me to forgive my enemies and I've done that in my heart. I forgive the 9-11 perpetrators for all their hate and misguided zeal. Did a long time ago in fact. I pity the young men in their ranks for never having a normal life, for being born into such conditions and for not having the perspective to have backed away from all this (if they ever had a chance to). Don't get me wrong, I also think they're dangerous and should be dealt with like any lethal threat (I'm no pacifist).
Now to our fellow citizens in those photos...
(Disclaimer- I know these were the actions of a very small minority of our armed forces)
They should know better, they did know better. They grew up in the U.S. Unless they are true sociopaths, they have to have known the immorality of their acts. Don't think I'm only talking about the pictures we've seen either, that's the Disney version from what I'm gathering.
What's their excuse? The pressures of combat, lack of leadership, the tragic loss of comrades, out and out orders from up top to do those things... too bad. The smiles on those photos don't lie. In those smiles I see a sadistic smugness that makes me ill. In their own psychotic way, the terrorists were fighting for their side, these soldiers fought against their own side. The side that is supposed to be about justice.
The effect of those photos is almost incalculable. You think the President of the U.S. jumps on Arab TV for something less than truly colossal damage? I hope they think it's still funny when a terrorist who decided to blow himself up after seeing those takes some of our citizens/soldiers with him, or horribly disfigures them for life.
They betrayed our country, endangering the lives they swore to protect and without ignorance as an excuse.
May God protect any foreign captives from retribution based on those pictures and may he give us the strength to wrestle with monsters without becoming them.

2004-05-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

STAY ON TARGET... STAY ON TARGET

Tomorrow should be a big day with big decisions. Ugh, too many decisions. I will most likely have competing offers from two outside places. Both are minutes away from the house, both are good companies. Never ask a RSS to make a decision. I have zero idea what I'll do.
Step 1 is definitely to see what this place (the 2nd) offers me. The tough part then is to go back to the other people with "Hey, can you match this?"
It's a delicate game. Push too hard and you'll get them to yank their cards back. Play it really poorly and you'll get both sides to do that, leaving you with 2 things (Jack and S***). Don't do it enough and you're robbing yourself of that green stuff we're all forced to live off. I feel like I'm on the freaking Apprentice. Too much pressure for such a simple man. Another night of light sleep awaits...

2004-05-04T09:11:00.000-05:00

Ta Da!
There, it took me a while to build up the resolve (e.g. to get bored enough here at work) but I finally added fellow blogger links to this little abode. Sorry for the delay, that's something I should have done at the start of this time waster.
On the plus side, I never realized a blog could be such a handy home base. Now I can start my surfing here and go to any of the places I normally frequent instead of typing in url's left and right. Pretty convenient.

2004-04-30T10:14:00.000-05:00

Kiki Gets The Axe. Welcome To The New Economy...

Now, as the few readers of this blog know, this is not a bad thing. I now cannot be denied the glorious severance package. I've got an internal offer on the table that I can consider without fear of being stuck between the rock and that other place.
As is proper, the captain went down with his ship. All 18 people that still worked for me got their notice in the same meeting. Luckily our new parent company is truly hate worthy so it's not a very bitter pill to swallow. Here's an example:
Previous layoff waves were done at the start of a new month so that your benefits would carry over for an extra 30 days. That was nice, except that they're not doing that anymore. They moved this wave up a few days without warning anyone. So anyone who takes a lot of expensive medication was rightfully planning on getting coverage until July 1. Now they can wonder about how they're going to pay for their pills that month. Oh wait, I remember our first benefits meeting with the new overlords in which they gave some handy advice to their new employees about such things... ASK FOR FREE SAMPLES.
Back to job search craziness...

2004-04-28T16:02:00.000-05:00

ATCWT, Part III
Whew. Busy week for yours truly. Interviewed with First Horizon yesterday at 5:00. The prospective boss was a little oriental lady who reminded me of Yoda to a certain extent.
This job falls under the "we can't find anyone qualified so we're willing to talk to people like you" banner. Again, they seemed to like me (used the word "impressed"). In fact, she even had a bad Freudian slip when she said "When I hire you" as opposed to "When I hire someone." She seemed pretty flustered by the gaff so hopefully it was a true psychological indicator and not simply a result of English being a second language for her.
The bad news is I was the first one interviewed so a decision is weeks away. Also, someone with the experience they want could come right along at anytime.
Today, I ate lunch with the boss of the friend who's trying to hire me. He turned out to be a really cool guy (extra cool for a VP), giving me a heartfelt pitch about how much they wanted me for the job. Urgh. This fog is intensifying, not lifting. Luckily he gave me an extra week (muhahaha). This gives me time, and time is all I need, well that plus direction, tangible job offers, the ability to make a decision etc. etc. etc.

2004-04-26T15:37:00.000-05:00

Kiki's Gift Becomes A Curse...

God knows my rock stupid ways have not changed since UD. What's saved me in the working world is; 1) I manage to get the job done, 2) (More importantly) I give off an air of competence and organization that far outstrips reality.
Now that I'm job searching, the downside of that turns out to be that my work image is a little too well kempt.
At the two interviews I've done (the second was today), people seem a little intimidated by me.
Hard to imagine, I know. Basically, they seem worried that the job won't be challenging enough or the environment structured enough for me. For me! Structure?! Clearly these people have never seen my house, or car, or desk.
Especially today's lady. She actually said I look like "there must be a place for everything and everything must be in it's place." She loved my skills etc. but was really hung up on warning me that they're informal and casual.
So, how shocked would she be to know that Sat night at 4:30 AM Lauki (both of us... let me be clear) was lying in a guest bed (trying to catch a nap), too tired to care that two nineteen year olds in nothing but their undergarments shared the other half of said bed?