It Snot Right
First, in the spirit of the holiday, Thanksgiving, let me state that it was a very good day spent with family and dog. A visit to my folks with Julie, and then dinner with Julie's folks, her kids and her brother and sister-in-law. Very pleasant and low keyed, the way I prefer. And I am one for giving thanks, or more as I term it "an attitude of gratitude" for all that I am privelaged to have and enjoy. I truly try and practice this every day, for I have for more in my life than I deserve.

And I have gratitude that one day soon I will feel better. Future gratitude for things to come if you will, for I have felt lousy for the last several days thanks to the Common Cold. Uncommon for me, however, and I have to admit I'm a weinie about colds because I have them so rarely. I would rather be really sick, with gut wrenching puking and bedridden with nausea than to have a cold like this one. With gut wrenching puking, at least it's over for awhile until the next attack. This cold is unrelenting. My nose is 95% ineffective in sucking in air, and thanks be to God that he gave us an alternative for obtaining air with our mouths or else I would be suffocated and dead. It has given me panic attacks as it reminds me of the time I almost drowned...not a good experience.

I've had so much "snot" [scientific name: mucouso malignantitis] that when I blow it all out in a gigantic glob, within 3 minutes, tops, my nose is completely full of it again. This is not a pretty picture I grant you, but it is true, and is added, hopefully, to generate some sympathy for my plight. I do feel that it is breaking slightly, as I have moments now when my nose is approximately 45% effective in sucking in air, and Julie has given me Mentholatum, which eases the snot factor. So if I wake up suffocated it's not her fault.

The Visit..
The Dulin family from Richmond, Texas is visiting for the holidays...more later.
It is now later...or later now, whatever. After meeting Julie's brother Don at my office [computer talk], he and his lovely bride Leslie, Julie and I went to lunch at Julie's absolutely most favorite cafe, Johnny's Bar-b-Que. Julie's most encouraging comment about Johnny's is.....I hate it, it's disgusting, they drop cigarette ashes in the food!!. Well what do you want, "clean food", it's a West Texas Bar-b-que joint for gosh sakes. It's not the best in the world, but it is an institution in our town, having been in operation since the 1950's and many of the patron's there are one's who were there when I first graced it's doors in 19 and 61. But that's part of the charm....seeing old geezers whom you've known for 40+ years, since when they were young geezers. But the smoke was not too bad, and we had a lovely time.
PS: Interesting advantage of downloading Explorer 6.1: my old browser, with unending regularity used to "freeze" and give me an alert pop up warning KERNEL 32 ERROR with an annoying BOING sound. Fine, except that when you'd hit the "close" button, it would BOING again, hit it BOING, BOING, but do nothing. To get rid of the ERROR pop up, the computer would have to be restarted.
Well I just had the KERNEL 32 ERROR once again.....and lo and behold when I hit the "close" button....well it closed. Whoopee.

Exploring......6.1
Well I finally got around to downloading Explorer 6.1 today. I'd been meaning to do it for a long time.....mainly because I like the colored scroll bars it allows. I have it on my office machine, and have been designing for it in my web work almost since I started using CSS. I have been delaying it on the home machine because I feared the long download time on a dialup modem. But, like most things in life, the dread didn't live up to the reality. It only took 45 minutes or so, and installed easily. Perhaps because I did the custom download, instead of the full install. Of course, I'm missing things like the Vietnamese and Korean language capabililties, but I did get VBS scripting and a new Media Player.
Excuse me while I go and check on some new color scroll bar possibilities......

Me and..Me

They say it's your Birthday....
In all modesty, I announce that it is my birthday today. Modestly because I wouldn't have made it this far without the help and love of many people...too many to recite here. But you know who you are.....and I am grateful for your assistance. The picture above is me today....and me some &*^@#$ years ago, when I was one. The photos new and old were merged, the common point being the chair, which my family had then, and sits in my dining room still today.

Seems like yesterday....
It was 39 years ago today, but I still recall it like it happened yesterday. I was in Coach Nixon's home room class, ninth grade, Midland High School. Bonnie Craddick, as she did for four years, was sitting in front of me in the row next to the wall. The old loud speaker came on with the special announcement.....President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas and was dead. Eveyone was silent, too silent. How, at 13 years of age do you react to this news. We didn't know, nor did the teachers. We went on for another half hour in this neverland of silence with some small talk, till school was dismissed for the day. It was the 22nd of November, which happened to be the day before my birthday. I will always relate the two for the rest of my life.

It was start of my teen years, and the end of my real innocence about life. I remember it was the time that Yo-Yo's were the "fad". I spent my birthday with my best friend, Ronnie [now Ron] Hunt, who by coincidence was born several hours apart from me. I remember he and I spent some time with our new birthday Duncan Yo-Yo's, but mostly I remember watching events, and the funeral, unfold on our old black and white TV. Days of it, wondering just how and why these things could happen. What a birthday.

Home again....
It was sad to leave Santa Fe, it being one of the best places on earth to be. It must do my karma well being there. From the golden light, to the smell of piñon pine smoke in the air, to the feeling of just being somewhere where people appreciate the finer things in life...like piñon smoke and golden light. And oh yes, the art. Santa Fe is truly one of the art capitals of the world. Not so much in museums [though there are those], but rather in just plain art for sale. There are 100's if not in the 1000's of art galleries and shops. And I dare say more photo galleries per capita than any other city. Great photos too. Ansel Adams, Steiglitz, Weston, Curtiss to name a few.

We had a great time, highlighted by our train trip from Santa Fe to Lamy, a nice leisurely jaunt riding in our choice of a 1950's Domeliner, a 1928 mahogany encased coach, or my personnal favorite, the flatcar. It was a might cool riding outside in 40° weather but worth every minute to get some great photos of my own.

But it is good to get back home, especially to see the Big Gold Dog. I have to be honest, the Dog is one reason I don't travel more. It's easier to leave a child at home than a Dog. Children understand that you'll be back, Dog's don't have that concept. And the Dog is more than grateful to be back in his familiar surroundings. So glad that he is back to sleeping in the bed, something that he hasn't done for a year.
A glimpse of the trip can be viewed at: The Santa Fe trip.

Hey from Santa Fe
This is being written from the exclusive Kinko's in Santa Fe. Having a great time, just got back from an exciting trainride to Lamy NM, and tonite dinner at the Pink Adobe. Wish you were here. Well, no I don't.

Missing Persons.....
The management and staff of Streams will be on a corporate retreat in Santa Fe, New Mexico from Nov. 15-17th. Please talk among yourselves while we are away.

Tranquility....
Well there certainly is much to be spleenful and angrily vociferous about in the world. After all it's occupied by a great big boat load full of too many morons and idiots. But I really couldn't pick one particular topic to be angrily vociferous about today so I decided to do a Seinfeld blog and write about really nothing. Except tranquility. I read too many BLogs on the web, half of them are really good, because they agree with my viewpoints. The other half are written by lame-brained half wits, no actually more like quarter wit dumbwads....these don't agree with my viewpoint.
I get really upset with these, putting me in a bad mood. I don't want to be in a bad mood, so I'm going to lay off them for awhile and meditate.

OOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM
OOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM

There I feel better. So now I can think better thoughts. Today is my good friend, Famous Author, Joe Galloway's birthday. After winding down from the big yearlong We Were Soldiers movie experience, Joe was looking for something meaningful to do, but not looking too hard. Like so often when we're not looking for anything, too hard, something finds us. Joe is now heading up the "in case of war" news desk for Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Right up his War Correspondant alley. And he doesn't have to actually go this time. Which is good, because his wife told him that if he went to another war, if the bad guys didn't kill him......she would.

Joe is heading down next week to interview our hometown Midland, Texas boy, Gen. Tommy Franks. Then in December he's going to South America with one of my other best long time friends Gen. Tom Hill, who commands all forces in that hemisphere. I wish I were going. Life is full of coincidence and this is one of them. I know Joe and Tom from completely different times in my life, then they meet n Iraq in 1991 and become friendly and find out from each other that they both know me. So how come I'm not invited to South America? Oh well, I'm going to Santa Fe with a young blonde babe Friday, and they're not. It equals out.....I'm tranquil.

Veteran's Day
Didn't I make you proud,
go and lay my life down,
when they called my name.

I thought I stood for something,
thought I was doing the right thing,
when I went away.

Why do folks sit in judgement,
when they ain't seen the things I've seen,
ain't done the things I've done.

Didn't I burn,
didn't I bleed enough for you,
I faced your fears, I felt your pain,
so you wouldn't have to,
Didn't I do my best

-Montgomery Gentry-
-We Were Soldiers-

Veteran's Day is, unfortunately for many, just another chance to get a day off from work. It shouldn't be. If you are thankful for your freedom thank a Veteran. Whether the Vet saw combat or not, he gave up part of his life so that we can live in freedom. He stood tall to protect all the things that we hold dear. I have been blessed to know Veteran's stretching from World War I to the new War on Terrorism. I served with soldiers in the Vietnam era, they are still among my closest friends. They are America's best.

I attend occasional reunions of Army Veteran's, including the reunion of the survivors of one of the most vicious battles in American history, the Ia Drang in Vietnam, upon which the recent film We Were Soldiers was based. Mainly just ordinary guys who performed extraordinary deeds. As would be expected there is some "war talk" about how tough it was and, of course, about the friends lost. But, frankly, much of the conversation is about families, jobs, and how good life is today, which is the way it should be....that's what we were fighting and giving our lives for. Whenever he meets a Veteran, a man who I am proud to call a friend, General Hal Moore who was played by Mel Gibson in the film, always has one thing he say's without fail. "Thank you for your service". A good idea for all Americans. Freedom is not free!

You might like to watch this Tribute to our service personnel.

The Sick O'Clock News..
As age, gravity, and abuse take it's toll on my mortal body, I'm forced to think more about the healthcare mess in the US of A. It's hard to avoid if you watch the evening news with Walter Cronkite. Er, well that dates me.....I guess it's Peter Jennings now. Each evening there is a piece on healthcare, usually involving the increasing cost thereof. It is a mess. My parents are requiring a few more medications these days, for various ills, which they can afford but, while at the pharmacy yesterday my Mother reported that the bill for the lady ahead of her came to a staggering $1500. For one month's worth of prescriptions. And that the lady looked like she could barely afford to buy a new pair of socks, much less pay this sum.
The real dichotomy of the evening news, the lunacy, if you have noticed, is that the evening news is brought to you almost entirely by the drug industry.
Peter Jennings: "it's shocking to most Americans, the cost of prescription drugs! While a recent report by Cornell University says Americans visit doctors far too often and take many medications they don't need. And when we come back...prices are going higher and Doctors are quitting."
TeeVee Ad: "Have you heard about the Purple Pill?"
I'm going to need medication if I hear anymore about the Purple Pill, or Claritin or Allegra, or Mrs. Smith's Bowel Cleaner and Breath Freshener. In the main I have to believe that the drug industry and TeeVee have talked too many people into being sick. When I was a child, we had Aspirin and Mentholatum. If you had allergies and your head hurt, you took an aspirin and then went out back and blew snot out of your nose. That took care of that. Now, you have your choice of a plethora of prescriptions for allergies. I have allergies, I know how much these TeeVee drugs costs. The cheapest is around $50 per prescription..which might last a month. Back in the good ol' days, if you had the first signs of arthiritis, you smeared the joint with mentholatum, took aspirin and you moaned alot. Now..well some of the arthritis drugs cost hundreds of dollars a month...and you still have to moan at your own expense.

I bring this subject up because it's important, but not because it applies to me. Me, I go to the Veteran's Administration and get any prescription for $7 bucks. A benefit of military service. And I deserve it, I contracted Jungle Rot under my toenails, while in unclean foreign lands. My self worth has suffered all these years, I drank too much because of it. Now, with a $7 Jungle Rot prescription, I can feel much better about myself and I am clean and sober. I learned that I was a worthless wretch after seeing a Jungle Rot medication ad on TeeVee.

{Editors Note: If the Armed Services are smart, they'll stop advertising things like the educational and training benefits offered by military service and hit the $7 per prescription benefit really hard. If you are a forward thinking young person with allergies, toe nail rot, arthritis or a bad stomach this could be worth millions to you in the future.}

Help me......Please!
I am used to the kids in my neighborhood stopping by and asking me to buy something to help their school activities. I have purchased raffle tickets, five dollar chocolate bars, and chances to win boom boxes. I have only turned down one kid, which I did with remorse, as he was in Boy Scouts and I [he says proudly] was an Eagle Scout. However I really didn't want $20 popcorn. I hope the Scouts come back again with something more economical that I like.

So, when the door bell ring late Tuesday afternoon I wasn't surprised to see a young man of about 14 standing there. In fact, when I looked at him I remembered I had bought school grapefruit from him last year. No sooner had I opened the door than, with a look of great disgust and some anger he said, "I'm from St. Ann's Catholic School, would you like to buy Christmas Poinsettia's they're making me sell them." I said, "What do you mean making you"? "Yes" he said, almost tearily, "we were ordered to sell 20 each." I asked him what would happen if he didn't sell his quota. He said that knowing the school big trouble would brew.

This was starting to sound serious. I wondered, whether I should I take him in and declare asylum? Would he be excommunicated? Was there a nun outside with a ruler ready to smack us both? Well, not wanting to delve into clergical affairs, I did the only thing I could do. I ordered poinsettias. As I filled out the form I noticed that almost to a home every single one of my neighbors are getting poinsettias too. As he truned to go, with more of a sly smile, I started to wonder, is this the greatest sales pitch ever? Have I been snookered? Have I played into the hands of guilt? Well, I can always use the poinsettias.

Before he left the porch I asked him, "When can I expect these?" "Well" he said, "I can't guarantee the date, but we'll try to have them here this winter". Gee Thanks.......

Senator Elect Cornyn and Pancho

Senator [elect] Cornyn
The Democrats were crowing that things would change in this election, that the mandate for George W. Bush was over. Things did indeed change, the swing to more moderate right values stunned even the Republicans themselves. I think that the election results confirm that the American people want the war on terrorism prosecuted swiftly and vigourously. It shows that the American people, despite the loss of confidence in the business sector, still trust Republican capitalist values to lead the way to a better economy. More than anything I believe it shows that despite the ever growing plethora of "talking heads", media experts and analysts, that the American public can make up it's own mind about the course of their country.

And I'm proud to say that my old college acquaintance John Cornyn will help to lead the way. John doesn't come from a rich family of political lineage. He comes from a modest military family, who taught him that with hard work and honest straight forward values you can become a United States Senator. Congratulations John!

Afternoon Blurb update
The afternoon CNN poll on the question "Who will win the senate?" is:
Republicans: 53%
Democrats: 42%
No One: 6%
Thank you CNN, and there we have it, 101% of the American people have spoken.

Morning News Blurbs....
The current CNN online poll asks, "Who will win control of the Senate". The morning results are:
Republicans: 54%
Democrats: 41%
No One: 6%
I'm rooting for the No Ones. I like their platform.

Yesterday's CNN poll, in response to the robot warrior blowing hell out of Al Queda members, asks: "Is it correct to assasinate "suspected" terrorists without due process?"
I missed the results, but the question shows some people [the press and morons...oh yeah, one and the same] still don't get it. We have declared war on terrorism. Apparently the info on the deceased was excellent, so if it looks like a duck*, quacks like a duck and drives a dune buggy thru the back roads of Yemen like a duck, we blow hell out of the duck. Where ever the duck happens to be. And the dead duck was confirmed as the suspected duck by Yemeni intelligence, using his dog tags. Or rather by the scar on his leg which was the only thing left.

*[the reference to ducks is a literary device. I like ducks, I like ducks a lot, please do not send duck hater mail].

Protest ideas...
A possible war with Iraq, of course, is a very debatable subject in the Web Blog world. This is good, we need debate. But the one point I see repeated which still confounds me is that any action against Iraq is the work of, or in the interest of "Big Oil". I recently made a point on
The Weblog Action Center about Europe, Oil, and the Mid East. Shortly anon and sure enough, here comes replies about "Big Oil".....Evil "Big Oil". I wonder if this person has missed the news for say, the last two years. How many bombings and deaths do we have to have before someone understands that we are under attack and that the best defense is a good offense.

Well, I do admire people of conviction. So if anyone who reads this really thinks "Big Oil" is behind our intentions with Iraq, I have an idea about protesting "Big Oil". Stop using petroleum products. Here's how: stop driving, don't use your heater or air conditioning, don't buy or use any plastic products, don't buy refrigerated foods [coolants come from petroleum you know], and finally stop using your damn computer to spew out moronic ideas about "Big Oil".

Never too late to vote.....

DURHAM, North Carolina (AP) -- Funeral homes in Durham are giving voters no excuse to be deadbeats on election day: They're offering free rides to the polls in limousines.
The Durham Voter Coalition has enlisted Ellis D. Jones Funeral Home and Burthey Funeral Services to ferry voters between homes and balloting stations on November 5.

This story does not surprise me and I think it seems only natural. Dead people have been voting in much of the South since reconstruction. President Lyndon B. Johnson was very popular with dead people and spent much of his early career cultivating their vote. It does seem, though, that this tactic in North Carolina is purely Republican with the use of limousines. In Texas most dead voters, who tend to be Democrats, travel to the polls in pickup trucks. And in Minnesota where a large percentage of voters appear to have brain damage, psychiatric hospitals are offering rides.

Spicey News.......
This just in from "the continent". A plot to kidnap Posh Spice, of The Spice Girls, has been foiled by Scotland Yard. The would be kidnappers reportedly were going to ask for a seven figure ransom. The criminals were apparently delusional as most people would pay that much for them to keep her.