Anniversary.....
If today is December 30th, and I think it is, then that means it is our 1st wedding anniverary. One year of mostly all fun and joy with Julie...and Jack. We've all had some rough lessons to learn about each other, but love does overcome and so today we are all closer than we have ever been, genuinely close.
But what a let down once again this week for a major holiday. The happy couple's [plus one] big day of the year felled by my recovery from the major surgery. And unfortunately I didn't even feel as good today as I did yesterday. Not hurting, so much, as just feeling rather ill and perhaps with a touch of fever. I finally even had to ask Julie to go and purchase my Christmas gift to her, the romantic Dyson Vacuum cleaner. One happy spot of the day though....I can tell she really loves it, she put it together and is now vacuuming each room in the house, stopping by the office to show the amazing amount of dirt and dog hair it has picked up in excess of our old Hoover. Glad to she likes it, but sad that our big day is so dull. We'll let loose on our second anniversary.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Home again.....!
Never did one piece of real estate look so good as did 1207 Bedford when we pulled up to the house before noon today....my weeklong ordeal at the hospital complete.
Considering that my chest was ripped open and my heart rearranged with pieces hewn from 5 large slits cut deep into my left leg......I feel remarkably good. I do need to rest though so I just wanted to stop by and thank all those friends who supported us in this unexpected time of trouble. Friends from the Army, from high school, from college, from AA, from the business world and those close friends of the digital world, who, in fact, I have never really met in person at all. Julie printed each and every comment and email and brought them in a large stack to me in the hospital. I read them all several times. Thank you so much.
And, of course, the largest thank you is to Julie for keeping all my/our friends abreast of my situation. I guarantee you that she had more than enough to do in running the house, looking after Jack and two dogs and then trying to spend hours with me. I will write more on the experience however now Julie is giving me the "Quit what you're doing and rest" look, so I'm out of here
Never did one piece of real estate look so good as did 1207 Bedford when we pulled up to the house before noon today....my weeklong ordeal at the hospital complete.
Considering that my chest was ripped open and my heart rearranged with pieces hewn from 5 large slits cut deep into my left leg......I feel remarkably good. I do need to rest though so I just wanted to stop by and thank all those friends who supported us in this unexpected time of trouble. Friends from the Army, from high school, from college, from AA, from the business world and those close friends of the digital world, who, in fact, I have never really met in person at all. Julie printed each and every comment and email and brought them in a large stack to me in the hospital. I read them all several times. Thank you so much.
And, of course, the largest thank you is to Julie for keeping all my/our friends abreast of my situation. I guarantee you that she had more than enough to do in running the house, looking after Jack and two dogs and then trying to spend hours with me. I will write more on the experience however now Julie is giving me the "Quit what you're doing and rest" look, so I'm out of here
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
DRAINAGE, THE LACK THEREOF...
Unfortunately, the big needle was brought out today. About a quart or so of liquid was drained from the casing on the left side of W's chest, not the lung, via the big needle and even though it was a bit stressful, Wallace is feeling better. I'm continually amazed at his resiliance (I'd be in a massive heap under the covers with the shades drawn). The human body is amazing, it truly is. He's convinced he will come home tomorrow and he may be right this time. As of Wednesday, he will have been in the hospital a week. For someone who won't even take an aspirin, a week in the hospital is a life time. There's only so much History Channel to watch, you know? Keep your fingers crossed that the next post you read will be from the Blogmaster himself.
Unfortunately, the big needle was brought out today. About a quart or so of liquid was drained from the casing on the left side of W's chest, not the lung, via the big needle and even though it was a bit stressful, Wallace is feeling better. I'm continually amazed at his resiliance (I'd be in a massive heap under the covers with the shades drawn). The human body is amazing, it truly is. He's convinced he will come home tomorrow and he may be right this time. As of Wednesday, he will have been in the hospital a week. For someone who won't even take an aspirin, a week in the hospital is a life time. There's only so much History Channel to watch, you know? Keep your fingers crossed that the next post you read will be from the Blogmaster himself.
Monday, December 27, 2004
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME...
Our Big Guy is ready to come home. He's up and walking the fourth floor of Midland Memorial, threatening to stroll over to the Walgreen's across the street. He wants a bowl of chili (not from Walgreen's) and is bored. Dr. Brown, the cardiologist took an x-ray of his lungs today as one of them still sounds like it isn't getting a lot of oxygen, but as of 9:30 tonight, we didn't know what the result was of that x-ray. He thinks he might come home tomorrow. That's his professional opinion though, not the doctor's. We'll see. His color is good, his left leg is healing well. If he can just get those last few bags of anti-biotics finished and walk more, I think he'll be able to head home in the next few days. Am I ready for that? I kept the arm restraints Nurse Helen used on him last Thursday night. Let's hope I don't have to use them any time soon.
Our Big Guy is ready to come home. He's up and walking the fourth floor of Midland Memorial, threatening to stroll over to the Walgreen's across the street. He wants a bowl of chili (not from Walgreen's) and is bored. Dr. Brown, the cardiologist took an x-ray of his lungs today as one of them still sounds like it isn't getting a lot of oxygen, but as of 9:30 tonight, we didn't know what the result was of that x-ray. He thinks he might come home tomorrow. That's his professional opinion though, not the doctor's. We'll see. His color is good, his left leg is healing well. If he can just get those last few bags of anti-biotics finished and walk more, I think he'll be able to head home in the next few days. Am I ready for that? I kept the arm restraints Nurse Helen used on him last Thursday night. Let's hope I don't have to use them any time soon.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
SITTIN' PRETTY...
When I got to the hospital today, Wallace was sitting in a chair! That's progress folks. He stayed there a while and was helped back to the bed and tucked in all snuggly by saucy Shelia, who's warmed up a bit, it being Christmas and all. He's trying his hardest to do the breathing exercises, they're tough right now, but he's being very obedient. If his breathing levels get too low, Shelia bursts through the door and puts a big oxygen mask on him and makes him "take a treatment", so he has plenty of incentive to breathe and cough, even if it is rather unpleasant.
The shift changed this evening and Helen is at the helm again. She is Wallace's favorite nurse. She dotes on him and he loves it. He feels comfortable telling her his troubles and letting her tend to all those unfortunate things that come up when you're unable to go to the bathroom on your own. I draw the line at the bodily function stuff. I didn't even like changing diapers, so, I'm grateful Helen will handle all that for him.
He'll be moved to a real room tomorrow...One that has a telephone, so everyone be prepared. He's got a big story brewing and since he hasn't been able to post here at Streams, he could get windy.
He's doing just fine, really.
When I got to the hospital today, Wallace was sitting in a chair! That's progress folks. He stayed there a while and was helped back to the bed and tucked in all snuggly by saucy Shelia, who's warmed up a bit, it being Christmas and all. He's trying his hardest to do the breathing exercises, they're tough right now, but he's being very obedient. If his breathing levels get too low, Shelia bursts through the door and puts a big oxygen mask on him and makes him "take a treatment", so he has plenty of incentive to breathe and cough, even if it is rather unpleasant.
The shift changed this evening and Helen is at the helm again. She is Wallace's favorite nurse. She dotes on him and he loves it. He feels comfortable telling her his troubles and letting her tend to all those unfortunate things that come up when you're unable to go to the bathroom on your own. I draw the line at the bodily function stuff. I didn't even like changing diapers, so, I'm grateful Helen will handle all that for him.
He'll be moved to a real room tomorrow...One that has a telephone, so everyone be prepared. He's got a big story brewing and since he hasn't been able to post here at Streams, he could get windy.
He's doing just fine, really.
Friday, December 24, 2004
SHOW'S OVER...
Nurse Helen had to restrain Wallace last night. I knew if he figured out what had happened he'd be mad. She had to use the arm restraints. She said it was minor. Yeah, right. Oh, and...he did figure it out.
The real surgery began at 6:30 this morning. Upon opening the chest, one of the arteries blocked off completely, so Dr. Patel got right to work. The blood clot is believed to be by-passed now...thank goodness. I'm happy to report all three grafts were successful. The vein used for the grafting was taken from his left leg. There's a big I.V. in his neck and a monstrous chest tube I haven't had the courage to look at yet. I haven't seen the incision either. I'll be looking at that for a while, no need to get up close and personal just yet. His breathing tube was removed around 4 this afternoon and not 60 seconds ticked off the clock when Mr. Impatient Patient started giving Shelia the business...Shelia being the CCU recovery nurse. She looks tough. I think she smiled once today, at least I think that was a smile. I'm scared shitless of her, so I haven't made much eye contact. When I left, Wallace had a temperature of 101 and Shelia was about to get even with His Royal Highness. In her left hand she held an injection of sleep...in her right hand was a suppository. I thought it best to vacate room 109 for a couple of hours.
This isn't how we wanted to spend Christmas, but I'll take it. Thank you all for your calls, e-mail, visits and mostly, your prayers. I'm forever grateful for your friendships and Wallace will be extremely touched when I let him know you've been thinking of him. Merry Christmas!
Keep reading for updates.
Nurse Helen had to restrain Wallace last night. I knew if he figured out what had happened he'd be mad. She had to use the arm restraints. She said it was minor. Yeah, right. Oh, and...he did figure it out.
The real surgery began at 6:30 this morning. Upon opening the chest, one of the arteries blocked off completely, so Dr. Patel got right to work. The blood clot is believed to be by-passed now...thank goodness. I'm happy to report all three grafts were successful. The vein used for the grafting was taken from his left leg. There's a big I.V. in his neck and a monstrous chest tube I haven't had the courage to look at yet. I haven't seen the incision either. I'll be looking at that for a while, no need to get up close and personal just yet. His breathing tube was removed around 4 this afternoon and not 60 seconds ticked off the clock when Mr. Impatient Patient started giving Shelia the business...Shelia being the CCU recovery nurse. She looks tough. I think she smiled once today, at least I think that was a smile. I'm scared shitless of her, so I haven't made much eye contact. When I left, Wallace had a temperature of 101 and Shelia was about to get even with His Royal Highness. In her left hand she held an injection of sleep...in her right hand was a suppository. I thought it best to vacate room 109 for a couple of hours.
This isn't how we wanted to spend Christmas, but I'll take it. Thank you all for your calls, e-mail, visits and mostly, your prayers. I'm forever grateful for your friendships and Wallace will be extremely touched when I let him know you've been thinking of him. Merry Christmas!
Keep reading for updates.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
GROUNDHOG DAY, PART 2...
Where do I begin?
Surgery at noon got bumped to surgery at 2 because Wallace's bag of platelets that were ready to go to the OR at 12 had to be given to someone else today. A new bag was ordered from Lubbock. The platelets couldn't be delivered by noon due to bad weather up north, so Dr. Patel had to rearrange his schedule, which meant he worked on someone else at 2. We were told the the surgery would begin at 4. At 4:30 we went to the OR. I kissed Wallace good-bye and went to the waiting room. At 5:10 the assistant surgeon (for lack of better word) came to the door and informed me Dr. Patel couldn't get to Midland because he was involved in a life-threatening surgery in Odessa. Wallace is on the table, unconscious, betadyne painted and catheterized with a breathing tube in place. An incision had not been made. What to do?
As I type this, my husband is in the CCU still under anesthesia. Surgery will take place in the morning at 6 or shortly thereafter. He's not going to wake up until after that's over. The tube stays, the catheter stays, they will have to re-paint him. I'm told he won't remember anything about this situation. I asked the staff to re-set the clocks and don't change the calendars. I don't want to be present when he figures it all out.
Stay tuned...
Where do I begin?
Surgery at noon got bumped to surgery at 2 because Wallace's bag of platelets that were ready to go to the OR at 12 had to be given to someone else today. A new bag was ordered from Lubbock. The platelets couldn't be delivered by noon due to bad weather up north, so Dr. Patel had to rearrange his schedule, which meant he worked on someone else at 2. We were told the the surgery would begin at 4. At 4:30 we went to the OR. I kissed Wallace good-bye and went to the waiting room. At 5:10 the assistant surgeon (for lack of better word) came to the door and informed me Dr. Patel couldn't get to Midland because he was involved in a life-threatening surgery in Odessa. Wallace is on the table, unconscious, betadyne painted and catheterized with a breathing tube in place. An incision had not been made. What to do?
As I type this, my husband is in the CCU still under anesthesia. Surgery will take place in the morning at 6 or shortly thereafter. He's not going to wake up until after that's over. The tube stays, the catheter stays, they will have to re-paint him. I'm told he won't remember anything about this situation. I asked the staff to re-set the clocks and don't change the calendars. I don't want to be present when he figures it all out.
Stay tuned...
ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE...
The Mrs. here, reporting on the health and well-being of the owner of this blog.
There will be a triple by-pass performed at noon (or thereabouts) which should last 3-5 hours, Thursday the 23rd.
Wallace felt awful this morning - not with chest pain, but shoulder and neck pain and some shortness of breath. He was also extremely grumpy. We got to the hospital around 9. He had bloodwork done along with 2 EKG's. After looking at the results of the first EKG, a cardiologist was alerted and W had an angiogram at 4.
WOW...when Dr. Brown flipped on the screen to show us the results of the angiogram, it was easy to see the blockage in three different places, plus a dangerous blood clot, I believe the doctor referred to it as a "time bomb". We're very fortunate we got to the hospital this morning. Wallace did not have a heart attack. He was on the verge. Left unattended, the result would've been a situation that would not have included survival.
We'll be celebrating Christmas at the hospital. I'll update you as soon as I can, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
The Mrs. here, reporting on the health and well-being of the owner of this blog.
There will be a triple by-pass performed at noon (or thereabouts) which should last 3-5 hours, Thursday the 23rd.
Wallace felt awful this morning - not with chest pain, but shoulder and neck pain and some shortness of breath. He was also extremely grumpy. We got to the hospital around 9. He had bloodwork done along with 2 EKG's. After looking at the results of the first EKG, a cardiologist was alerted and W had an angiogram at 4.
WOW...when Dr. Brown flipped on the screen to show us the results of the angiogram, it was easy to see the blockage in three different places, plus a dangerous blood clot, I believe the doctor referred to it as a "time bomb". We're very fortunate we got to the hospital this morning. Wallace did not have a heart attack. He was on the verge. Left unattended, the result would've been a situation that would not have included survival.
We'll be celebrating Christmas at the hospital. I'll update you as soon as I can, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Fa La La....
It's getting to seem a lot like Christmas. Which means I better get stated with my gift selections. For at least the last 10 years I have made an, apparently, not to solemn vow to start purchasing Christmas gifts at least by October. I have failed miserably in this vow. Why I make the vow is beyond me, knowing full well that I'll be stuck in the same frantic shopping spree come the last days preceeding Christmas. As many know, I have been a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous for well over a decade and one key concept we have is this. "Acceptance is the key to my serenity". Acceptance of the way the world is and the way people are. This is coupled with the serenity prayer, a pearl of wisdom, that also states that you should try and change the things you can.
Apparently I will never change my last minute Christmas gift buying so I might as well accept this fact, lose the stress and just get used to buying gifts for the family in a mad dash. Maybe it has something to do with living on the edge..the challenge of getting it all done in two days. More likely it's just plain sloth.
Gratitude is another key concept I have learned in AA. I'm grateful that Christmas this year is on a Saturday giving me five full days to get it all done. But what I'm really grateful for this year is a bride who really does, I think, like to shop and knowing me well has already started buying gifts for some of my family. Two nieces done today and she always seems to know what little Jack wants and gets it for me, leaving me free to get him a little something extra.
And this year she spoke right up telling me what she really would like. A romantic and memorable gift from me that says......"I love you". A vacuum cleaner. We have two already, but what she wants is one of the new high tech Dyson's with root cyclone technology. The ones that generate 100,000 G's of suction, or so they say. Coincidentally, we read an article about them in the Southwest Airlines magazine on the way to Houston last week and they did sound very intersting. Anything that can generate a 100,000 G's of suction is interesting to me and it should suck the dog smell right out of the carpet and frankly will be good for my allergies. This kind of gift, though, takes me back to my childhood when I used to give my Mother pots and pans for Christmas, useful but somehow not to giftlike. I'll probably be getting her some other little token of my affection also.
It's getting to seem a lot like Christmas. Which means I better get stated with my gift selections. For at least the last 10 years I have made an, apparently, not to solemn vow to start purchasing Christmas gifts at least by October. I have failed miserably in this vow. Why I make the vow is beyond me, knowing full well that I'll be stuck in the same frantic shopping spree come the last days preceeding Christmas. As many know, I have been a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous for well over a decade and one key concept we have is this. "Acceptance is the key to my serenity". Acceptance of the way the world is and the way people are. This is coupled with the serenity prayer, a pearl of wisdom, that also states that you should try and change the things you can.
Apparently I will never change my last minute Christmas gift buying so I might as well accept this fact, lose the stress and just get used to buying gifts for the family in a mad dash. Maybe it has something to do with living on the edge..the challenge of getting it all done in two days. More likely it's just plain sloth.
Gratitude is another key concept I have learned in AA. I'm grateful that Christmas this year is on a Saturday giving me five full days to get it all done. But what I'm really grateful for this year is a bride who really does, I think, like to shop and knowing me well has already started buying gifts for some of my family. Two nieces done today and she always seems to know what little Jack wants and gets it for me, leaving me free to get him a little something extra.
And this year she spoke right up telling me what she really would like. A romantic and memorable gift from me that says......"I love you". A vacuum cleaner. We have two already, but what she wants is one of the new high tech Dyson's with root cyclone technology. The ones that generate 100,000 G's of suction, or so they say. Coincidentally, we read an article about them in the Southwest Airlines magazine on the way to Houston last week and they did sound very intersting. Anything that can generate a 100,000 G's of suction is interesting to me and it should suck the dog smell right out of the carpet and frankly will be good for my allergies. This kind of gift, though, takes me back to my childhood when I used to give my Mother pots and pans for Christmas, useful but somehow not to giftlike. I'll probably be getting her some other little token of my affection also.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
KOFI.COM .......
While over at Roger Simon's place I picked up this tidbit of cheery news. Seems that Kofi Annan wants the U.N. to start taking a more active role in controlling the Internet by forming a heady little International body known as the World Summit on the Information Society.
Kofi has appointed a 40 member panel selected from countries with a history of free thought like Cuba, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe and Tunisia. At a meeting of the WSIS last month the members outlined their goals to include "Internet governance". If the thought of the U.N. having any form of governance over the Internet doesn't scare you then probably you also believe that the "Iraqi oil for food" program was an outstanding work of benevolence. My personal thought is that before the U.N. jumps right into actually governing the Internet perhaps they just ought to get their feet wet with a Blog and see how they like it. Read the whole article at the FrontPage Magazine
And if you haven't read Roger Simons work often you should. An interesting panoply of thought on a variety of topics and Roger is a nice and proactive Blog owner. I received a nice email from him last week concerning several comments I've left on his website.
While over at Roger Simon's place I picked up this tidbit of cheery news. Seems that Kofi Annan wants the U.N. to start taking a more active role in controlling the Internet by forming a heady little International body known as the World Summit on the Information Society.
Kofi has appointed a 40 member panel selected from countries with a history of free thought like Cuba, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe and Tunisia. At a meeting of the WSIS last month the members outlined their goals to include "Internet governance". If the thought of the U.N. having any form of governance over the Internet doesn't scare you then probably you also believe that the "Iraqi oil for food" program was an outstanding work of benevolence. My personal thought is that before the U.N. jumps right into actually governing the Internet perhaps they just ought to get their feet wet with a Blog and see how they like it. Read the whole article at the FrontPage Magazine
And if you haven't read Roger Simons work often you should. An interesting panoply of thought on a variety of topics and Roger is a nice and proactive Blog owner. I received a nice email from him last week concerning several comments I've left on his website.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Back from the big city...
and wifes side and accomplished our mission of taking Jack to a major sporting event for his birthday as depicted above. And no..that's not photoshopped [although it looks like it to me too]. We were in the shade at Reliant Stadium with bright lights behind, I had to use a low level flash to get Jack and his friend Mackey's faces to be more visible.
We stayed at the very nice Omni Hotel Riverway, which very coincidentally is in the same parklike office complex with the bank where one of my old friends and fraternity brothers is the president. Being rerouted due to traffic on our trip from the airport, we were not sure of our approach into the complex from the maze of freeways and so I called "Mac" on my cellphone to confirm that we were on the correct route to the hotel. I told him where we were and he told us to take the next left and look for a surprise. We took a left and the surprise was "Mac" standing out in front of his bank building pointing the way to the hotel. Nice in a megalopolis to see a friendly face to give directions. And...we were invited to come to the banks Christmas party the next morning being held at our hotel. I did go and had a nice visit with him and his wife.
The trip was full of coincidences for me. Since Julie was off to The Woodlands on Saturday yet another fraternity brother who lives in the West University area, fairly close to the hotel, came out to escort me around for the day. This fraternity brother, an engineer with the Bechtel Corp., was good friends and workmates with the contact that I am presently negotiating our large gas/electrical project with. The frat brother, John, and my contact Ken, used to race their sports cars around the Bechtel parking lot several decades ago.
John and I toured around areas of Houston I have not visited since the '80's and I got to see John's home which houses the sports car that use to race with Ken. A 1973 Maserati that John bought from Dr. Michael DeBakey. Knowing that John would want to meet my brother the NASA engineer we then drove to his house, which coincidentally is only about a mile away. When we arrived and introductions were made both my brother, Mark, and John each said that the other looked very familiar. John is working on a project out of Pasadena Ca. and lives at the Marriott Hotel there for much of the month. My brother, a Deputy Director of NASA, is at the Jet Propulsion Labratory in Pasadena several times a month and also stays at the Marriott. And you guessed it, they were sure that they had seen each other there very recently. Strange how small the world is.
With all the elegant living, seeing my family and friend as well as Julies old Midland friends and her brother and his family, the main purpose of the trip was a day at the Texan's football game with Jack. We would have paid to get in, of course, but if the old friends from Midland have season tickets with a close in parking pass all the better. And we had a great time, just the guys, Me, Jack and his long time friend Mackey and Mackey's dad Robert, a great guy who has been battling cancer for years but hasn't let this setback stop him one bit from living a full and active life. And thank God, the prognosis is very good for him now. A lesson in a positive attitude overcoming a deadly disease. Even though the Texans lost, I was impressed with the engineering wonders of Reliant Stadium and we got to see Peyton Manning in action. His arm and instincts are amazing. The stadium is one jumbo gigantic colossal piece of work but from where we were the field was very close and so the feeling is of a smaller place. Until, that is, you look up at the small specks that are the poor schmucks setting in the upper tiers. Small dots of humanity seemingly resting miles above the firmament. An impressive place. I was most impressed with how easily we got in and out by car, having endured the parking misery of the old days at Texas Stadium in Dallas.
All in all we had a great trip, enjoyed seeing friends and family, living the life of luxury at the hotel and eating beau cuisine in the big city. But, Toto, there is no place like home. Especially a home where you can drive down the uncrowded streets without feeling like every turn of the steering wheel just might be your last.
 | We're back from the perils of the big city of Houston. The main peril being driving anywhere. Although we had a rental car from the airport, luckily we had friends, family and a hotel limo to negotiate most of the driving dangers for us. Houston is an interesting place, but we're glad we live in Midland, smallish town, Texas. That said, we had a good time, got to see family and friends from both the husband |
We stayed at the very nice Omni Hotel Riverway, which very coincidentally is in the same parklike office complex with the bank where one of my old friends and fraternity brothers is the president. Being rerouted due to traffic on our trip from the airport, we were not sure of our approach into the complex from the maze of freeways and so I called "Mac" on my cellphone to confirm that we were on the correct route to the hotel. I told him where we were and he told us to take the next left and look for a surprise. We took a left and the surprise was "Mac" standing out in front of his bank building pointing the way to the hotel. Nice in a megalopolis to see a friendly face to give directions. And...we were invited to come to the banks Christmas party the next morning being held at our hotel. I did go and had a nice visit with him and his wife.
The trip was full of coincidences for me. Since Julie was off to The Woodlands on Saturday yet another fraternity brother who lives in the West University area, fairly close to the hotel, came out to escort me around for the day. This fraternity brother, an engineer with the Bechtel Corp., was good friends and workmates with the contact that I am presently negotiating our large gas/electrical project with. The frat brother, John, and my contact Ken, used to race their sports cars around the Bechtel parking lot several decades ago.
John and I toured around areas of Houston I have not visited since the '80's and I got to see John's home which houses the sports car that use to race with Ken. A 1973 Maserati that John bought from Dr. Michael DeBakey. Knowing that John would want to meet my brother the NASA engineer we then drove to his house, which coincidentally is only about a mile away. When we arrived and introductions were made both my brother, Mark, and John each said that the other looked very familiar. John is working on a project out of Pasadena Ca. and lives at the Marriott Hotel there for much of the month. My brother, a Deputy Director of NASA, is at the Jet Propulsion Labratory in Pasadena several times a month and also stays at the Marriott. And you guessed it, they were sure that they had seen each other there very recently. Strange how small the world is.
With all the elegant living, seeing my family and friend as well as Julies old Midland friends and her brother and his family, the main purpose of the trip was a day at the Texan's football game with Jack. We would have paid to get in, of course, but if the old friends from Midland have season tickets with a close in parking pass all the better. And we had a great time, just the guys, Me, Jack and his long time friend Mackey and Mackey's dad Robert, a great guy who has been battling cancer for years but hasn't let this setback stop him one bit from living a full and active life. And thank God, the prognosis is very good for him now. A lesson in a positive attitude overcoming a deadly disease. Even though the Texans lost, I was impressed with the engineering wonders of Reliant Stadium and we got to see Peyton Manning in action. His arm and instincts are amazing. The stadium is one jumbo gigantic colossal piece of work but from where we were the field was very close and so the feeling is of a smaller place. Until, that is, you look up at the small specks that are the poor schmucks setting in the upper tiers. Small dots of humanity seemingly resting miles above the firmament. An impressive place. I was most impressed with how easily we got in and out by car, having endured the parking misery of the old days at Texas Stadium in Dallas.
All in all we had a great trip, enjoyed seeing friends and family, living the life of luxury at the hotel and eating beau cuisine in the big city. But, Toto, there is no place like home. Especially a home where you can drive down the uncrowded streets without feeling like every turn of the steering wheel just might be your last.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Gone....
The family will be on a short hiatus over the weekend....gone to Houston. It's young Jack's 11th birthday next week and he wanted to see a HoustonOilers Texans game. So off we go. We'll be visiting with friends of Julies and some of mine. Old friends of Julies from Midland and a fraternity brother or two and my actual brother.
While we're gone catch up on the latest edition of The Coober Pedy News hot off the digital press.
The family will be on a short hiatus over the weekend....gone to Houston. It's young Jack's 11th birthday next week and he wanted to see a Houston
While we're gone catch up on the latest edition of The Coober Pedy News hot off the digital press.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
The Grinch steals Christmas....
Last evening I watched a small portion of the ABC news while catching a snack before going to Jack's fifth grade Christmas play. The segment was one of a multi-part series that they are apparently running to explain to us peons the difference between the "Blue" and the "Red" states. Last night's topic was religion in public places and how this affected Christmas. We were told that some people are offended by the mention of God and/or Christ in public displays of the Christmas season. We were shown a high school band in Indiana that could not play standard Christmas carols, even an instrumental version, as part of their holiday concert because Christ or God was mentioned in the songs. Another elementary school choir somewhere in the Northeast had to substitute "Happy Holidays" into each and every song that should have a reference to Merry Christmas. We were taken to malls and other public buildings where heated debate was ongoing concerning the installation of Merry Christmas signs and banners. Peter Jennings was good enough to tell us that many people disagree and think that it's OK to mention Christmas during the Christmas season.
Thanks Peter, but here's the take from Bedford Drive, Midland Texas. Christmas is a Christian holiday, always has been. If you don't like the mention of Christmas or if Christ or God offends you.....we'll then don't celebrate Christmas. Don't put up a Christmas tree which symbolizes the renewal of life and don't give presents which reminds us of the gifts of the Magi. Or better yet, get your own stinkin' holiday to celebrate the way you like. The majority, the vast majority, of Americans are Christians or at least come from the Christian ethic. The majority rules and we celebrate Christmas, not "happy holidays".
And by the way, Jack was stunning in his acting debut starring as the TV anchor who was reporting the story of the birth of Christ. And you know at the St. Ann's School we get to say Merry Christmas, we get to sing the standard carols completely unedited and the play got to actually mention God!
So Merry Christmas....or Happy Kwanza.
Last evening I watched a small portion of the ABC news while catching a snack before going to Jack's fifth grade Christmas play. The segment was one of a multi-part series that they are apparently running to explain to us peons the difference between the "Blue" and the "Red" states. Last night's topic was religion in public places and how this affected Christmas. We were told that some people are offended by the mention of God and/or Christ in public displays of the Christmas season. We were shown a high school band in Indiana that could not play standard Christmas carols, even an instrumental version, as part of their holiday concert because Christ or God was mentioned in the songs. Another elementary school choir somewhere in the Northeast had to substitute "Happy Holidays" into each and every song that should have a reference to Merry Christmas. We were taken to malls and other public buildings where heated debate was ongoing concerning the installation of Merry Christmas signs and banners. Peter Jennings was good enough to tell us that many people disagree and think that it's OK to mention Christmas during the Christmas season.
Thanks Peter, but here's the take from Bedford Drive, Midland Texas. Christmas is a Christian holiday, always has been. If you don't like the mention of Christmas or if Christ or God offends you.....we'll then don't celebrate Christmas. Don't put up a Christmas tree which symbolizes the renewal of life and don't give presents which reminds us of the gifts of the Magi. Or better yet, get your own stinkin' holiday to celebrate the way you like. The majority, the vast majority, of Americans are Christians or at least come from the Christian ethic. The majority rules and we celebrate Christmas, not "happy holidays".
And by the way, Jack was stunning in his acting debut starring as the TV anchor who was reporting the story of the birth of Christ. And you know at the St. Ann's School we get to say Merry Christmas, we get to sing the standard carols completely unedited and the play got to actually mention God!
So Merry Christmas....or Happy Kwanza.
Monday, December 06, 2004
An optimist soured....
Concerning my year end leaf cleaning chores yesterday I wrote..."The, hopefully, last cleanup of leafy debris from the yard". What a sucker I am to have had so much hope. At approximately 10 o'clock this morning a thin wisp of a line of thunderstorms accompanied by 45 mph winds rolled through the estate tearing every dangling participle of a remaining leaf and twig loose from it's arboreal connection and depositing them on the lawn. Not to mention the accumulated pile of leaves and pine needles from the roof that was added to the melee.
The situation makes me pine for the good old days of my youth. The days in Missouri when we used to push all the leaves and debris into the street, wait for a damp wet day and just set fire to the whole mess. There was something rather charming about this method of leaf disposal and often times now when I smell fireplace smoke on a cold damp day I remember back to those years when the whole town of Cape Girardeau smelled somewhat like the fragrance of pinon pine smoke. I suppose it's against the law now to burn big piles of flammable organic material in the streets. Sure was fun though.
Concerning my year end leaf cleaning chores yesterday I wrote..."The, hopefully, last cleanup of leafy debris from the yard". What a sucker I am to have had so much hope. At approximately 10 o'clock this morning a thin wisp of a line of thunderstorms accompanied by 45 mph winds rolled through the estate tearing every dangling participle of a remaining leaf and twig loose from it's arboreal connection and depositing them on the lawn. Not to mention the accumulated pile of leaves and pine needles from the roof that was added to the melee.
The situation makes me pine for the good old days of my youth. The days in Missouri when we used to push all the leaves and debris into the street, wait for a damp wet day and just set fire to the whole mess. There was something rather charming about this method of leaf disposal and often times now when I smell fireplace smoke on a cold damp day I remember back to those years when the whole town of Cape Girardeau smelled somewhat like the fragrance of pinon pine smoke. I suppose it's against the law now to burn big piles of flammable organic material in the streets. Sure was fun though.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Leave it at that......
We are blessed here on Bedford Drive, Midland Texas, the desert, to have an overabundance of large trees. If you've ever lived in West Texas you'll know that gratitude. We have 3 large pecan trees, 4 big live oaks and a mimosa tree near the house. Lining the fence in the rear we have a line of tall and stately cypress trees and beneath these on all sides of the yard probably 20 cherry laurels. The centerpiece of the rear fenceline is a 35 foot tall mulberry. The highlight of the grounds is a very large pine tree of a species peculiar to our neighborhood that stands at the corner of the front of the estate. The circumferance of the trunk is probably 9-10 feet around while the tree stands a good 35 feet tall.
I love all these trees but to be honest they are a royal pain in the ass. Except the cherry laurels and perhaps the mulberry. The oaks and the pecans are not happy unless they are dropping some sort of debris 12 months of the year. Green acorns or pecans, ripe acorns or pecans, dead leaves and twigs. The oaks don't shed their leaves in the Fall, but they make up for it in April when I should be relaxing from yard work. About the same time of year, the pecans are dropping "lint"...little green streamers of fluff that disintergrate into green dust when the dogs track them into the house on their fur. Sometimes the pecan tree next to the patio drops it's green fruit unripe in the early summer. Sometimes it waits until fall when the nuts are ripe. All the pecan debris on the patio emits a dark brown stain when it gets wet, the stain readily absorbed by the Mexican tile. The pine tree, God love it, deposits a constant stream of dry needles in the flower beds, the front yard and on the rooftop.
The cherry laurels are very considerate trees.... and prolific. They drop virtually nothing on the ground but do have a tendency to be short lived trees, but more arise to replace them so they are considerate trees even in death. The mulberry does it's best to be a good neighbor of a tree. It's very broad leaves provide some great shade, they are beautiful fall color and the tree waits until the first hard freeze when quite amazingly it drops all of it's foliage in almost one day.
Which brings me to my afternoon's work. The, hopefully, last cleanup of leafy debris from the yard. The pecans have been shedding now for a month, slow death cleanup, and now with a hard freeze last week, the mulberry has finally dumped it's full load over the weekend. The first year I lived at the estate I carefully raked all the leaves and pine needles into piles and carted them to the alley. I am a quick learner. Since that first years raking torture I have purchased a lawnmower with mulching abilities. What took me a whole day 4 years ago now takes less than an hour and I'm making a contribution to being an environmentally conscious estate owner. The dead leaves are great fertilizer and help keep moisture in the soil over the winter. The pine needles I mulch separately and they make a great and attractive ground cover in the flower beds.
Additionally I've learned that picking up poop after two dogs is a full time job, one that we had primed young Jack for...but he quit. So now in an eco friendly manner I just get the high pressure hose and simply squirt the poop into the soil....again great fertilizer. I've also learned that, while mulching, dark brown dog poop is awfuly hard to detect when scattered among dark brown dead leaves. I have an environmentally friendly solution for that too. I squirt it off my shoes with the high pressure hose.
We are blessed here on Bedford Drive, Midland Texas, the desert, to have an overabundance of large trees. If you've ever lived in West Texas you'll know that gratitude. We have 3 large pecan trees, 4 big live oaks and a mimosa tree near the house. Lining the fence in the rear we have a line of tall and stately cypress trees and beneath these on all sides of the yard probably 20 cherry laurels. The centerpiece of the rear fenceline is a 35 foot tall mulberry. The highlight of the grounds is a very large pine tree of a species peculiar to our neighborhood that stands at the corner of the front of the estate. The circumferance of the trunk is probably 9-10 feet around while the tree stands a good 35 feet tall.
I love all these trees but to be honest they are a royal pain in the ass. Except the cherry laurels and perhaps the mulberry. The oaks and the pecans are not happy unless they are dropping some sort of debris 12 months of the year. Green acorns or pecans, ripe acorns or pecans, dead leaves and twigs. The oaks don't shed their leaves in the Fall, but they make up for it in April when I should be relaxing from yard work. About the same time of year, the pecans are dropping "lint"...little green streamers of fluff that disintergrate into green dust when the dogs track them into the house on their fur. Sometimes the pecan tree next to the patio drops it's green fruit unripe in the early summer. Sometimes it waits until fall when the nuts are ripe. All the pecan debris on the patio emits a dark brown stain when it gets wet, the stain readily absorbed by the Mexican tile. The pine tree, God love it, deposits a constant stream of dry needles in the flower beds, the front yard and on the rooftop.
The cherry laurels are very considerate trees.... and prolific. They drop virtually nothing on the ground but do have a tendency to be short lived trees, but more arise to replace them so they are considerate trees even in death. The mulberry does it's best to be a good neighbor of a tree. It's very broad leaves provide some great shade, they are beautiful fall color and the tree waits until the first hard freeze when quite amazingly it drops all of it's foliage in almost one day.
Which brings me to my afternoon's work. The, hopefully, last cleanup of leafy debris from the yard. The pecans have been shedding now for a month, slow death cleanup, and now with a hard freeze last week, the mulberry has finally dumped it's full load over the weekend. The first year I lived at the estate I carefully raked all the leaves and pine needles into piles and carted them to the alley. I am a quick learner. Since that first years raking torture I have purchased a lawnmower with mulching abilities. What took me a whole day 4 years ago now takes less than an hour and I'm making a contribution to being an environmentally conscious estate owner. The dead leaves are great fertilizer and help keep moisture in the soil over the winter. The pine needles I mulch separately and they make a great and attractive ground cover in the flower beds.
Additionally I've learned that picking up poop after two dogs is a full time job, one that we had primed young Jack for...but he quit. So now in an eco friendly manner I just get the high pressure hose and simply squirt the poop into the soil....again great fertilizer. I've also learned that, while mulching, dark brown dog poop is awfuly hard to detect when scattered among dark brown dead leaves. I have an environmentally friendly solution for that too. I squirt it off my shoes with the high pressure hose.
Friday, December 03, 2004
Techno Talk....
May I direct your attention to the right column of the page. Perhaps you've noticed that I now have a news feed link in place. I've been meaning to look into this technology for some time now but was slothful in my efforts. The reason that it's there now is that I was shamed into it. Shame ranks right after fear as a very powerful motivator.
Cross town blogger and techno buddy Eric at The FireAnt Gazette had made a complimentary mention of the fact that I had changed my Streams format. He also added a comment about installing an RSS feed. I could tell by the tone of his font exactly what he meant. That without a news feed I was becoming a second rate technorati, a disgrace to Blogging. Everyone who is anyone in the Blog O'Sphere has a news feed. If I wanted to maintain my social position I'd better get with it.
And so the very moment I read his post I did get with it. I enabled my "feed" on Blogger and then started researching the best systems to make it all work. Within an hour I had discovered and installed FeedBurner© an interface which allows browsers to read feeds seamlessly whether they are coming from .rdf or .xml files. Got it hooked up and it ran like a champ right out of the bag. Then to keep track of all my fellow Bloggers I signed up with the newsreader service NewsGator© and I was ready to go. Living in shame no more.
So now hopefully I can look my fellow Bloggers right in the monitor and stand tall and proud. One of the few, the proud, the news readable! Syndicate Me!!
And stop by the bride's site, The Yellow Bug News where we have her news feed hooked up too.
And an update: while working with Gary in the Outback at The Coober Pedy News he decided that as a learning experience he would like to set up his own new blog template for his Coober Pedy News Blog. He's learned quickly and has it up and running. I'm proud to be the subject of his first post, well actually my car is proud to be the subject of his first post. Hope you check in with him at The Coober Pedy Blog
May I direct your attention to the right column of the page. Perhaps you've noticed that I now have a news feed link in place. I've been meaning to look into this technology for some time now but was slothful in my efforts. The reason that it's there now is that I was shamed into it. Shame ranks right after fear as a very powerful motivator.
Cross town blogger and techno buddy Eric at The FireAnt Gazette had made a complimentary mention of the fact that I had changed my Streams format. He also added a comment about installing an RSS feed. I could tell by the tone of his font exactly what he meant. That without a news feed I was becoming a second rate technorati, a disgrace to Blogging. Everyone who is anyone in the Blog O'Sphere has a news feed. If I wanted to maintain my social position I'd better get with it.
And so the very moment I read his post I did get with it. I enabled my "feed" on Blogger and then started researching the best systems to make it all work. Within an hour I had discovered and installed FeedBurner© an interface which allows browsers to read feeds seamlessly whether they are coming from .rdf or .xml files. Got it hooked up and it ran like a champ right out of the bag. Then to keep track of all my fellow Bloggers I signed up with the newsreader service NewsGator© and I was ready to go. Living in shame no more.
So now hopefully I can look my fellow Bloggers right in the monitor and stand tall and proud. One of the few, the proud, the news readable! Syndicate Me!!
And stop by the bride's site, The Yellow Bug News where we have her news feed hooked up too.
And an update: while working with Gary in the Outback at The Coober Pedy News he decided that as a learning experience he would like to set up his own new blog template for his Coober Pedy News Blog. He's learned quickly and has it up and running. I'm proud to be the subject of his first post, well actually my car is proud to be the subject of his first post. Hope you check in with him at The Coober Pedy Blog
Thursday, December 02, 2004
It was a Grand Jury...!
The truth can finally be revealed. For the last six months I have been serving on the Grand Jury of the 142nd District Court of Texas. While actively serving we are sworn to a vow of secrecy to protect the innocent...namely us the jurors. My term expired yesterday with our final meeting so now I am free to speak of my judicial journey. If you ever are nominated to serve on a Grand Jury do so, it's an enlightening experience not to mention pretty damn entertaining at times. The ultimate reality show.
The Grand Jury is an important part of the legal process as it serves as the first buffer between a, possibly, overzealous police force or district attorney and the always pure naive citizenry. Twelve average citizens of good repute [well, eleven in our case] who hear the evidence in all felony cases and decide if there is enough merit to indict the recalcitrants and send them forward to a full blown trial. We saw it all, vehicular manslaughter, child abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, retaliation, armed robbery, organized criminal activity, drug possession and the ever popular DWI and "forgery by passing" i.e. hot checks. The last two categories making up the majority of the cases. We saw DWI movies, heard from expert witnesses, questioned suspects and had the power to subpoena anyone we saw fit. That was the best part...."Uncle Festus was there when the crime was allegedly commited? Bring him in we want to talk him.....!!"
I learned several things from my time on the Grand Jury. First, even in a mild mannered medium sized town such as ours, there is a lot of stuff going down, stuff that never makes the papers or is known by the average citizen. Secondly a large portion of the petty criminal activity is perpetrated by morons. We heard it all but here are some highlights.
The Case of the Pizza Pirate, a young man who while at a friend's party stole his VisaCard. Having gotten away with the act and gone unnoticed the Perp decided to start using his newly borrowed card. What does any good criminal do with a stolen card.....we'll he starts ordering pizza every night from the same Pizza Hut and having it delivered to his home. Not once, but at least 12 times. When the charges hit, the local sleuths had very little trouble tracking this criminal mastermind down.
The Case of The Discount Daddy, another young man who took a purse and it's contents from a parked car owned by an elderly woman, "Mrs. Smith". Within 20 minutes this Perp was on a shopping spree at one of the trendy hipster clothing stores at The Mall. The young criminal buys several hundred dollars worth of 20-ish style clothing with "Mrs. Smiths" MasterCard. In fact the clerk thinks that he's such a good customer she asks him if he wants to join their "Preferred Shopper" program to receive a bonus discount. Only a heartbeat from walking out the door scott free, The Perp can't miss a bargain so he signs up.....using his real name and address. The alert clerk notices that his name is not related to "Mrs. Smith" and calls the cops, who are at the Perps address before he gets home.
The Case of the Range Rustlers, two young men who broke into a local OffRoad Vehicle dealer on the edge of town late one night and stole two rather expensive Honda ATV's. Instead of driving down the asphalt road to freedom, they thought they would deter detection by going out the back through the adjoining ranchland. As you might know, the range land here is generally rather sandy. The cops had no problem at all when they brought their own ATV out and simply followed the trail several miles to the young criminals luxurious mobile home with two brand new ATV's out back.
I could could go on about the folks who steal checks and then write them to themselves using their real names and showing their real drivers licenses with addresses but you get my drift.
The truth can finally be revealed. For the last six months I have been serving on the Grand Jury of the 142nd District Court of Texas. While actively serving we are sworn to a vow of secrecy to protect the innocent...namely us the jurors. My term expired yesterday with our final meeting so now I am free to speak of my judicial journey. If you ever are nominated to serve on a Grand Jury do so, it's an enlightening experience not to mention pretty damn entertaining at times. The ultimate reality show.
The Grand Jury is an important part of the legal process as it serves as the first buffer between a, possibly, overzealous police force or district attorney and the always pure naive citizenry. Twelve average citizens of good repute [well, eleven in our case] who hear the evidence in all felony cases and decide if there is enough merit to indict the recalcitrants and send them forward to a full blown trial. We saw it all, vehicular manslaughter, child abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, retaliation, armed robbery, organized criminal activity, drug possession and the ever popular DWI and "forgery by passing" i.e. hot checks. The last two categories making up the majority of the cases. We saw DWI movies, heard from expert witnesses, questioned suspects and had the power to subpoena anyone we saw fit. That was the best part...."Uncle Festus was there when the crime was allegedly commited? Bring him in we want to talk him.....!!"
I learned several things from my time on the Grand Jury. First, even in a mild mannered medium sized town such as ours, there is a lot of stuff going down, stuff that never makes the papers or is known by the average citizen. Secondly a large portion of the petty criminal activity is perpetrated by morons. We heard it all but here are some highlights.
The Case of the Pizza Pirate, a young man who while at a friend's party stole his VisaCard. Having gotten away with the act and gone unnoticed the Perp decided to start using his newly borrowed card. What does any good criminal do with a stolen card.....we'll he starts ordering pizza every night from the same Pizza Hut and having it delivered to his home. Not once, but at least 12 times. When the charges hit, the local sleuths had very little trouble tracking this criminal mastermind down.
The Case of The Discount Daddy, another young man who took a purse and it's contents from a parked car owned by an elderly woman, "Mrs. Smith". Within 20 minutes this Perp was on a shopping spree at one of the trendy hipster clothing stores at The Mall. The young criminal buys several hundred dollars worth of 20-ish style clothing with "Mrs. Smiths" MasterCard. In fact the clerk thinks that he's such a good customer she asks him if he wants to join their "Preferred Shopper" program to receive a bonus discount. Only a heartbeat from walking out the door scott free, The Perp can't miss a bargain so he signs up.....using his real name and address. The alert clerk notices that his name is not related to "Mrs. Smith" and calls the cops, who are at the Perps address before he gets home.
The Case of the Range Rustlers, two young men who broke into a local OffRoad Vehicle dealer on the edge of town late one night and stole two rather expensive Honda ATV's. Instead of driving down the asphalt road to freedom, they thought they would deter detection by going out the back through the adjoining ranchland. As you might know, the range land here is generally rather sandy. The cops had no problem at all when they brought their own ATV out and simply followed the trail several miles to the young criminals luxurious mobile home with two brand new ATV's out back.
I could could go on about the folks who steal checks and then write them to themselves using their real names and showing their real drivers licenses with addresses but you get my drift.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Mission Accomplished.....
I received an email and some great photos today from Major Gabriella Pasek at the 1st Cavalry Division's forward base in Taji, Iraq. As you recall I sent some of Joe Galloway's We Were Soldiers images to Major Pasek who wanted to use them as a backdrop for their Thanksgiving Day celebration. The theme was the 1st Cav's history in combat and the Ia Drang campaign was highlighted for the Vietnam segment of the display.
What they did using one of the photos is truly remarkable. A living history diorama, that as you'll see in the photos, is almost museum quality. Major Pasek has also promised to name a local military landmark for me, as is my usual qratuity for photographic assistance. She warns me though that there are very few permanent structures at their base so I may have to settle for the "Captain Wallace H. Craig Porta-Potty". Good enough.
Take a look at the photos: 1st Cav Thanksgiving
I received an email and some great photos today from Major Gabriella Pasek at the 1st Cavalry Division's forward base in Taji, Iraq. As you recall I sent some of Joe Galloway's We Were Soldiers images to Major Pasek who wanted to use them as a backdrop for their Thanksgiving Day celebration. The theme was the 1st Cav's history in combat and the Ia Drang campaign was highlighted for the Vietnam segment of the display.
What they did using one of the photos is truly remarkable. A living history diorama, that as you'll see in the photos, is almost museum quality. Major Pasek has also promised to name a local military landmark for me, as is my usual qratuity for photographic assistance. She warns me though that there are very few permanent structures at their base so I may have to settle for the "Captain Wallace H. Craig Porta-Potty". Good enough.
Take a look at the photos: 1st Cav Thanksgiving
Sunday, November 28, 2004
AWOL.......
I'm beginning to wonder if there wasn't some terminal turkey consumption on Thanksgiving three days ago. Many of my usual reading suspects seemed to have not made it through the feast. Crosstown blogger Eric at The Fireant Gazette has not reported in. Nor has Todd at The Steiner Aid up in Michigan. The usually punctual and prolific sage The Discerning Texan is MIA also. And that downunder wit and bon vivante Professor Bunyip has gone missing since the last days of October.
We miss you....if you need assistance please fire up one [1] green star cluster.
Update 10 P.M.: The Discerning Texan has come back to life, probably just out celebrating another shallow victory by the U.of Texas. And a miracle has occured in Australia....Professor Bunyip has reemerged, apparently after been being held captive by the Women's Studies Dept. at Sydney Orr University for over one month.
I'm beginning to wonder if there wasn't some terminal turkey consumption on Thanksgiving three days ago. Many of my usual reading suspects seemed to have not made it through the feast. Crosstown blogger Eric at The Fireant Gazette has not reported in. Nor has Todd at The Steiner Aid up in Michigan. The usually punctual and prolific sage The Discerning Texan is MIA also. And that downunder wit and bon vivante Professor Bunyip has gone missing since the last days of October.
We miss you....if you need assistance please fire up one [1] green star cluster.
Update 10 P.M.: The Discerning Texan has come back to life, probably just out celebrating another shallow victory by the U.of Texas. And a miracle has occured in Australia....Professor Bunyip has reemerged, apparently after been being held captive by the Women's Studies Dept. at Sydney Orr University for over one month.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Coober Pedy Update.....
How long has it been since you've heard the latest news from Coober Pedy? Well pardner, that's to long.
Coober Pedy, Australia is my official sister city so I keep up with their goings on, but perhaps you haven't. Big things are brewing in CP. Gary has just posted the current edition of The Coober Pedy News where you can peruse the latest. But the big issue facing the citizens there is the referendum to ban "pokies" from the city. Pokies are the government registered poker gambling machines. Gary has outlined how the local folks have always had a game of chance going somewhere but it was usually a friendly poker game at some local gathering spot such as the Italian Club. But now, it seems, the federal government has taken over the action with the pokies. In other words most of the gambling money is now leaving town. The Coober Pedians would rather their gambling money recirculate within the community so a movement has formed to ban the pokies. Stay tuned!
In other news of the week worth reading school board elections were held, not without some voter irregularity and distraction by cell phones [happens even in the Outback], and the dog population of the city is being reined in. In a private converstion, Gary tells me that besides his opal mining operation he has also started a freight handling business. I questioned him about how freight comes to Coober Pedy and he tells me that it is all by truck....about 8 semi loads a week. Seems the new Australian Trans-Continental Railroad bypasses Coober by about 20 miles and a decent siding was not located there.
For those of us that can't wait the week or two between Gary's online edition of the Coober Pedy News, I have set up The Coober Pedy Blog for Gary and he tells me that he'll give it a go shortly. Can't wait!
How long has it been since you've heard the latest news from Coober Pedy? Well pardner, that's to long.
Coober Pedy, Australia is my official sister city so I keep up with their goings on, but perhaps you haven't. Big things are brewing in CP. Gary has just posted the current edition of The Coober Pedy News where you can peruse the latest. But the big issue facing the citizens there is the referendum to ban "pokies" from the city. Pokies are the government registered poker gambling machines. Gary has outlined how the local folks have always had a game of chance going somewhere but it was usually a friendly poker game at some local gathering spot such as the Italian Club. But now, it seems, the federal government has taken over the action with the pokies. In other words most of the gambling money is now leaving town. The Coober Pedians would rather their gambling money recirculate within the community so a movement has formed to ban the pokies. Stay tuned!
In other news of the week worth reading school board elections were held, not without some voter irregularity and distraction by cell phones [happens even in the Outback], and the dog population of the city is being reined in. In a private converstion, Gary tells me that besides his opal mining operation he has also started a freight handling business. I questioned him about how freight comes to Coober Pedy and he tells me that it is all by truck....about 8 semi loads a week. Seems the new Australian Trans-Continental Railroad bypasses Coober by about 20 miles and a decent siding was not located there.
For those of us that can't wait the week or two between Gary's online edition of the Coober Pedy News, I have set up The Coober Pedy Blog for Gary and he tells me that he'll give it a go shortly. Can't wait!
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Another year gone by....
You take it from there. But I'm told that I look younger than I am and I feel that way, though maybe I'm just deluding myself. I suppose that I would not be totally responsible for that delusion, however, because I live in somewhat of a time warp.
We live about 5 blocks from the house I grew up in and some of the same folks I knew in the 1960's still live in the neighborhood and I see them constantly. I drive by my elementary school and my junior and senior high schools almost daily and run into old High School classmates quite regularly. I had a nice chat with my sixth grade music teacher last year.....she said she remembered me as quite talented. She lied, but how kind and how nice to see someone that knew me as a young lad. Though Midland has in many ways certainly grown and changed in the five decades my family has called it home, in more ways it is still the same. And now though physically I'm xx years old, it's not hard to imagine myself cruising the streets as a teenager. I sometimes get that feeling quite literally when a Beach Boys tune airs in the car.
But tonight I was officially xx years old. It was a great way to spend one's xxth birthday, with only close family nearby. Julie and Jack, my older brother his wife and their two young girls [girls 5 and 8 years old, and he's older than me....but that's another story] and my folks. A combination birthday celebration for me, one of my niece's whose birthday is Friday and Thanksgiving since my brothers family departs for home tomorrow. A fine turkey dinner and entertaining conversation chiefly provided by three young kids. And then there was my surprise present....a complete Sporting Kilt Set provided by my trend setting bride. As reported previously, the Craig family has a strong Scottish heritage which she wishes to accentuate. And lest you think that she sees me as a new metrosexual go to the previous link and notice who is wearing this latest fashion statement.
And here's a hint that comes with the experience that being xx years old brings. Under no circumstances do you ever want to get a birthday cake with large amounts of blue icing involved. Don't ever do this. Kids and adults alike dove into the delicious cake that had large amounts of dark blue ornamental frosting. Then we all nearly choked with laughter when we looked at each other with blue stained lips and tongues. Semi permanently stained I might add. This frosting had all the best properties of India Ink.....I still have some on my hands as I type. Jack's tongue above doesn't do the totality of the blue frosting episode justice.
 | Today was my birthday, my xxth. I'm not ashamed of my age, but it rather scares me to know that all of a sudden I'm xx. As one gets older, it takes more time for the actual number of the years of your existance to sink in. I will tell you that I graduated from High School in 1967....and I was one of the youngest in my graduating class. |
We live about 5 blocks from the house I grew up in and some of the same folks I knew in the 1960's still live in the neighborhood and I see them constantly. I drive by my elementary school and my junior and senior high schools almost daily and run into old High School classmates quite regularly. I had a nice chat with my sixth grade music teacher last year.....she said she remembered me as quite talented. She lied, but how kind and how nice to see someone that knew me as a young lad. Though Midland has in many ways certainly grown and changed in the five decades my family has called it home, in more ways it is still the same. And now though physically I'm xx years old, it's not hard to imagine myself cruising the streets as a teenager. I sometimes get that feeling quite literally when a Beach Boys tune airs in the car.
But tonight I was officially xx years old. It was a great way to spend one's xxth birthday, with only close family nearby. Julie and Jack, my older brother his wife and their two young girls [girls 5 and 8 years old, and he's older than me....but that's another story] and my folks. A combination birthday celebration for me, one of my niece's whose birthday is Friday and Thanksgiving since my brothers family departs for home tomorrow. A fine turkey dinner and entertaining conversation chiefly provided by three young kids. And then there was my surprise present....a complete Sporting Kilt Set provided by my trend setting bride. As reported previously, the Craig family has a strong Scottish heritage which she wishes to accentuate. And lest you think that she sees me as a new metrosexual go to the previous link and notice who is wearing this latest fashion statement.
And here's a hint that comes with the experience that being xx years old brings. Under no circumstances do you ever want to get a birthday cake with large amounts of blue icing involved. Don't ever do this. Kids and adults alike dove into the delicious cake that had large amounts of dark blue ornamental frosting. Then we all nearly choked with laughter when we looked at each other with blue stained lips and tongues. Semi permanently stained I might add. This frosting had all the best properties of India Ink.....I still have some on my hands as I type. Jack's tongue above doesn't do the totality of the blue frosting episode justice.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Remember election night? Remember several of the major television networks refusing to give President Bush a win in Ohio? Remember the Democratic pundits smuggly telling the major television networks that when the final tally of all the votes came in John Kerry would win in Ohio? Remember the "provisional votes" that these folks were hanging their hats on?
Well it seems these provisional votes are about all counted. And remember this...the President did even better in these votes than he did from the polling places.
Bush, George W. Republican 76,631 55.92%
Kerry, John F. Democratic 59,710 43.57%
Well it seems these provisional votes are about all counted. And remember this...the President did even better in these votes than he did from the polling places.
Bush, George W. Republican 76,631 55.92%
Kerry, John F. Democratic 59,710 43.57%
Saturday, November 20, 2004
NBA Brawl...
I've never been much interested in professional basketball so I haven't been glued to my nearest media outlet concerning the Detroit Brawl. I did, however, catch a story on the subject via FoxNews on their wrap-up show this evening. The commentator was shocked by the brawl. The coaches were shocked. The NBA commissioner was shocked. Were You?
I wasn't. What do you expect from players whose alternate career choice is "criminal" and when half the fans make pro sports their reason for living. I also won't be shocked when the NBA spins a story about an indepth investigation, "changes to be made" and then the players involved receive a short suspension and a fine amounting to about 1% of their annual income. What would really shock me is if the NBA would make a short inspection of the situation and tell the players involved that their services are no longer required and that they should plan on using their sub par high school skills in another career field.
I've never been much interested in professional basketball so I haven't been glued to my nearest media outlet concerning the Detroit Brawl. I did, however, catch a story on the subject via FoxNews on their wrap-up show this evening. The commentator was shocked by the brawl. The coaches were shocked. The NBA commissioner was shocked. Were You?
I wasn't. What do you expect from players whose alternate career choice is "criminal" and when half the fans make pro sports their reason for living. I also won't be shocked when the NBA spins a story about an indepth investigation, "changes to be made" and then the players involved receive a short suspension and a fine amounting to about 1% of their annual income. What would really shock me is if the NBA would make a short inspection of the situation and tell the players involved that their services are no longer required and that they should plan on using their sub par high school skills in another career field.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Global Warming: Fact or Fiction....
That was the topic of a fascinating lecture I attended last night. The speaker was Dr. David Dallmeyer, geologist and climatologist, from the University of Georgia. David started off his hour and a half talk with the statement, "There is global warming, fact. We are polluting the atmosphere, fact." This had the mostly conservative oil business crowd nervous about the remainder of the talk, until Dr. Dallmeyer continued, "these are facts, but we still have no real idea whether or how much the two are related".
David has studied the global warming trend with the eye of a geologist's big picture ...long term. He had some fascinating data that put earth's climatological history in perspective. The amount of data put together over the last decade is staggering and largely glossed over by the more rabid of environmental movement whose view is that man alone is causing negative climate change.
As most people realize the earth's climate has seen drastic changes before man appeared on the scene. These wanderings of the climate are caused by such things as continental drift, the wobbling of the earth, sunspots and the earth's varying orbital path around the sun. They have profound implications for our climate. What David brought home to me however was that, except probably for continental drift, the other major variables are well documented and fairly predictable.
The data that has been gleaned from deep well ice cores in Greenland and the Antarctic, which are based on carbon dioxide, methane and heat values, are remarkably similar in showing that for at least the last half million years a cycle of cooling and warming has occured regularly on about a 140,000 year time period. Based on this data we are approaching the warmest period of that cycle. So, indeed, there is global warming, but given the record David suggests that perhaps we should be more concerned about global cooling.
I was somewhat disappointed that David did not delve into data on how man's recent [geologically speaking] activities will affect the natural cycle. However I don't fault him for this, he's a scientist and this speculation would be out of the scope of his expertise. He did comment though that carbon dioxide levels are currently higher than at any period he had studied and this concerned him. I enjoyed hearing from an impartial scientist and being updated on the facts some of which are summarized here.
That was the topic of a fascinating lecture I attended last night. The speaker was Dr. David Dallmeyer, geologist and climatologist, from the University of Georgia. David started off his hour and a half talk with the statement, "There is global warming, fact. We are polluting the atmosphere, fact." This had the mostly conservative oil business crowd nervous about the remainder of the talk, until Dr. Dallmeyer continued, "these are facts, but we still have no real idea whether or how much the two are related".
David has studied the global warming trend with the eye of a geologist's big picture ...long term. He had some fascinating data that put earth's climatological history in perspective. The amount of data put together over the last decade is staggering and largely glossed over by the more rabid of environmental movement whose view is that man alone is causing negative climate change.
As most people realize the earth's climate has seen drastic changes before man appeared on the scene. These wanderings of the climate are caused by such things as continental drift, the wobbling of the earth, sunspots and the earth's varying orbital path around the sun. They have profound implications for our climate. What David brought home to me however was that, except probably for continental drift, the other major variables are well documented and fairly predictable.
The data that has been gleaned from deep well ice cores in Greenland and the Antarctic, which are based on carbon dioxide, methane and heat values, are remarkably similar in showing that for at least the last half million years a cycle of cooling and warming has occured regularly on about a 140,000 year time period. Based on this data we are approaching the warmest period of that cycle. So, indeed, there is global warming, but given the record David suggests that perhaps we should be more concerned about global cooling.
I was somewhat disappointed that David did not delve into data on how man's recent [geologically speaking] activities will affect the natural cycle. However I don't fault him for this, he's a scientist and this speculation would be out of the scope of his expertise. He did comment though that carbon dioxide levels are currently higher than at any period he had studied and this concerned him. I enjoyed hearing from an impartial scientist and being updated on the facts some of which are summarized here.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
What the.....?
Your eyes are not out of adjustment [as far as I know]. I made a few changes to Streams. Been meaning to for a long time primarily to make it more readable and to organize the links. I have some more to do and like most artistes I reserve the right to change much more. I'll have to let the new scheme sink in. Or perhaps I'll scrap the whole thing and concentrate on non-digital reality.
And over at Powerline you'll find pictures of some of my best friends at the Ia Drang Survivors Reunion held last weekend in D.C. Joe Galloway, Bruce Crandall, Chip and Vicki Parker. Wish we could have been there, but business and home life kept us away this year.
Your eyes are not out of adjustment [as far as I know]. I made a few changes to Streams. Been meaning to for a long time primarily to make it more readable and to organize the links. I have some more to do and like most artistes I reserve the right to change much more. I'll have to let the new scheme sink in. Or perhaps I'll scrap the whole thing and concentrate on non-digital reality.
And over at Powerline you'll find pictures of some of my best friends at the Ia Drang Survivors Reunion held last weekend in D.C. Joe Galloway, Bruce Crandall, Chip and Vicki Parker. Wish we could have been there, but business and home life kept us away this year.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
My Fitting Tribute....
As I mention here from time to time, and not to long ago in fact, I do a lot of digital imaging work using Joe Galloway's Vietnam photographs. Many months ago I supplied images per the request of SFC Morton a senior drill sergeant at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was in the process of decorating his barracks with historical photos of the infantry in action and wanted to portray the events in the Ia Drang for his section on the Vietnam War. Having almost forgotten this, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to receive an email from SFC Morton containing his thanks and pictures of the project which turned out very nicely. But to my delight he also took the time to honor me, and my service, by dedicating a portion of the barracks to me personally. Read his note below to see if you agree that his gesture was a fitting tribute!
It brings a tear to my eyes.....
As I mention here from time to time, and not to long ago in fact, I do a lot of digital imaging work using Joe Galloway's Vietnam photographs. Many months ago I supplied images per the request of SFC Morton a senior drill sergeant at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was in the process of decorating his barracks with historical photos of the infantry in action and wanted to portray the events in the Ia Drang for his section on the Vietnam War. Having almost forgotten this, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to receive an email from SFC Morton containing his thanks and pictures of the project which turned out very nicely. But to my delight he also took the time to honor me, and my service, by dedicating a portion of the barracks to me personally. Read his note below to see if you agree that his gesture was a fitting tribute!
"Sir, SFC Michael Morton here, Senior Drill SGT. Aco 30th AG, Ft. Benning, Ga. I just wanted to again thank you for all of your help in reguards to my barracks project "LZ XRAY". The barracks is now finished and I thought I would show you some of the results. I wish I could do more but I am limited on the amount of things they (command) will let me do. We dedicated the barracks yesterday on the anniversary of the battle. All of the soldiers who stay there and took part in the construction are overjoyed in the results. Everyone around the area loves the barracks and the soldiers can't stop talking about it. I believe the end result was met, teach the soldiers about our Army's history, and instill pride in our veterns efforts in Vietnam. I again thank you very much for all of your help, If your ever in Ft. Benning, please stop by and check out the barracks, I know the soldiers who stay there would love to meet you. After all, the CPT. Wallace Craig Latrine needs an offical dedication (I took your picture and made a tribute at the entrance way of the latrine like suggested) All of the soldiers ask who you are? The dedication reads: This Latrine is dedicated to CPT. Wallace Craig, US Army, 25th Infantry Division, Vietnam. For his service and dedication while gallantly fighting in the worst Latrine in history!
Thanks again, SFC Michael Morton"
It brings a tear to my eyes.....
Monday, November 15, 2004
Gonzo Weather....
My family has lived in these here parts since 19 and 60 and we don't think that we've ever seen it rain like it has in the last four days. It's been non-stop. Sure we've had spells over the years where rain falls over a long period, but it stops occasionally and then restarts. This has been one long constant rainfall since late Friday night. Drizzle and mist Saturday turning Sunday to periodic half inch toad floaters morning, noon and night. I'm closing in on 5 inches in our tasteful asiatic fish rain gauge. Two years ago we were in the midst of probably the worst drought on record.
In Midland during the last 10 years we have had the hottest summer temperature ever recorded at 119° [August 1994] and the coolest high on record for a mid summer day, 65° [July 2004]. Weather patterns are cyclical and influenced by a staggering number of variables, but I do have my thoughts about what part man's influence on the atmosphere might be. I don't like the term "global warming", I think it has taken on to much political meaning and I think that much of the science behind it's Ultra Eco backers has been lacking. But...it does seem to me that the premise behind the theories may have some merit.
So, this Wednesday I'm going to hear Dr. David Dallmeyer from the University of Georgia department of ecology who'll be in town to address the subject. His topic will be Global Warming: Fact or Fiction. Should be interesting, if I can get there through the flooded desert.
By the way, if you haven't visited my highly acclaimed international weather website WeatherTalk© do so now and tell us how the weather is where you be's stayin'.
My family has lived in these here parts since 19 and 60 and we don't think that we've ever seen it rain like it has in the last four days. It's been non-stop. Sure we've had spells over the years where rain falls over a long period, but it stops occasionally and then restarts. This has been one long constant rainfall since late Friday night. Drizzle and mist Saturday turning Sunday to periodic half inch toad floaters morning, noon and night. I'm closing in on 5 inches in our tasteful asiatic fish rain gauge. Two years ago we were in the midst of probably the worst drought on record.
In Midland during the last 10 years we have had the hottest summer temperature ever recorded at 119° [August 1994] and the coolest high on record for a mid summer day, 65° [July 2004]. Weather patterns are cyclical and influenced by a staggering number of variables, but I do have my thoughts about what part man's influence on the atmosphere might be. I don't like the term "global warming", I think it has taken on to much political meaning and I think that much of the science behind it's Ultra Eco backers has been lacking. But...it does seem to me that the premise behind the theories may have some merit.
So, this Wednesday I'm going to hear Dr. David Dallmeyer from the University of Georgia department of ecology who'll be in town to address the subject. His topic will be Global Warming: Fact or Fiction. Should be interesting, if I can get there through the flooded desert.
By the way, if you haven't visited my highly acclaimed international weather website WeatherTalk© do so now and tell us how the weather is where you be's stayin'.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Friday, November 05, 2004
No Fake Turkey Here....
I've talked before about some of the interesting people I've met and worked with through my association with author Joe Galloway and because I keep his Vietnam digital image files for distribution to different veterans, media and scholarly organizations. Thought you'd like to see a request I'm working on now.....perhaps one of the most important uses of Joe's photos that I've handled.
We are, of course, honored to be able to help the 1st Cav in Iraq.
I've talked before about some of the interesting people I've met and worked with through my association with author Joe Galloway and because I keep his Vietnam digital image files for distribution to different veterans, media and scholarly organizations. Thought you'd like to see a request I'm working on now.....perhaps one of the most important uses of Joe's photos that I've handled.
"My name is MAJ Gabriella Pasek. I am assigned as the Executive Officer of the 27th Main Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division currently deployed to Taji, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.
I am writing to you today to request your assistance. My unit has very recently been tasked to put together a living history display for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We have started putting together several vignettes and historical scenes starting with the 1st Thanksgiving and then moving into "The Evolution of the Cavalry through History." For this latter piece, we will be depicting a Civil War scene (horse cav), Vietnam scene (air cav), and modern conflict with a static display of one of our M1114s and gun crew in full battle rattle.
As part of our living history, we are creating backdrops to set the mood for our stages. I found Mr. Galloway's photograph "Resupply at LZ X-ray" on your website and it would be the perfect backdrop for our Air Cav display - it is particularly suitable for us, as mine is the primary logistics support unit for the division.
Because the photograph has been copyrighted, we are requesting your gallery's and Mr. Galloway's permission to have this photograph enlarged by the Kellog Brown & Root Sign Shop onto an 8' X 12' metal display sign to be hung on a frame behind our soldiers (in period uniform) and stage scene, complete with sandbagged fighting position and ammunition crates......
If needed, I would be more than happy to send you a photograph of our display once it is set up to show you that we have done justice and honor to the soldiers that served before us in "The Cav."
This holiday display will be seen by the over 6000 soldiers serving here on Camp Cooke in Taji, Iraq as well as several dignitaries and senior officers that have committed to attending our Thanksgiving meal - and will be an immense morale boost for everyone in addition to reminding everyone of the Division's illustrious beginnings.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter. Request a response as early as possible to facilitate our backdrop construction prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Respectfully,
MAJ Gabriella Pasek"
We are, of course, honored to be able to help the 1st Cav in Iraq.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Victory.....!
It was a great victory, for GW Bush and our country. Democrats would disagree, but they should be used to being wrong. I am not, however, going to gloat. The President is not gloating, he and I are just glad that the elections are over. And before I move on I do have to thank John Kerry and/or those at the Democratic Party who had the sound thinking to not protest the results in several close states. Perhaps, just perhaps, this is the turning point in becoming a more civilized nation as pertains to our politics. I can only hope, and ask that the Republican Party try to answer in kind. This election is over.
I saw the USA Today map above referenced at Bunker Mulligan's Place and it really gave me pause. I'm interested in maps anyway and this one really caught my attention. It's a county-by-county breakdown of the voting, showing counties where the lead was more than 5% for Bush [Red] and Kerry [Blue] and illustrates graphically the divide, great and small, that we have geopolitically in this country. Looking at the MSM TV maps where the states are either Red or Blue in totality doesn't give the same effect, no sense of how much power the relatively small urban areas wield.
I've pondered awhile about the people, thinking and culture in the Blue areas. Some are obvious. On the West Coast you have the actors, "wing nuts", ex-hippies and new age practitioners i.e. California and the people who have moved to Oregon because California is to crowded. In the Seattle Bay area, it rains constantly and so people are depressed, perfect fodder for the Democrats. Anarchists are from here also.
On the North East Coast reside our betters, the cultural elite, Ivy League scholars, the old families, old money. i.e. those who think that we who live west of Pennsylvania are the great mass of unwashed peasants and farm hands. It's the other assorted Blue's that make me wonder what is going on in these scattered and diverse areas that would cause them to vote for John Kerry.
Except for the upper MidWest, which is an anomoly, I have to conclude that the driving force behind most of the "Blue" counties is economics. Wealth or mainly the lack of it. Wealth on the far East and West Coasts.....lack of it in between. Take a look starting in the east. You'll notice areas in Virginia, North and South Carolina ....the tidelands and Appalachia. Some of the worst poverty in the country and I'm sorry to say a population still waiting for government to bail them out of their misery. A little further Northwest you'll find blue areas in West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Coal mining country, a depressed area for decades. In conjunction with Appalachia you'll see blue stretching into Northern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The dead remnants of the Old South that have never really caught up. Further west, running north and south, you can outline the lower Mississippi River and the poverty that follows that waterway. I honestly don't know what is the matter there....it's just poor. Finally, one last look in the Eastern U.S. around the Great Lakes and you'll notice the outline that was once, and probably still is, known as the "Rust Belt". No wonder they'd be bitter about jobs going overseas.
As stated above, the upper Mid West is hard to understand. A bundle of blue that is not, I think, related to poor economic standing. I know many people from this area, and most are hard working patriotic Americans. Why they continue to vote with a liberal bent I think is more related to their heritage. Germanic and Scandanavian stock who somehow, I'll wager, have a touch of socialism programed in. My Grandmother's father came from Germany, she went to the University of Wisconsin. The one time she worked in her life, she was a social aide worker. She was a liberal.
In my home state of Texas there are five blue zones. No questions about those. Three along the Rio Grande River are El Paso, Presidio and the lower Rio Grande Valley. Hispanic and dirt poor. A fourth is around the Beaumont/Port Arthur area. Sorry that I'm not versed enough to know exactly why with a fairly vibrant Texas economy that these folks are not doing well, but they never seem to. To close to Louisiana I suppose. The fifth small blue outpost towards the center of the state is Austin, which has always been a magnet for.....well see California above.
The Blue tracts in the vast majority of the great West are large but spread thinly. One has to ponder a little more deeply to concieve of the answer for their existance. Pardner that's Indian country. Many of the large Democratic areas are Indian reservations particularly in Northern New Mexico and Arizona. I have great admiration and sympathy for American Indians, their poverty is by and large a product of Government ineptidude and failure. To bad they vote Democratic, perhaps they don't connect the two.
Lastly, the remaining areas in the West are not born of poverty but of the Democrats new found friend, wealth. Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Aspen and Whitefish Lake Montana.....blue all. But of course these too are inhabited by ordinary common folk. Common millionaires.
Hope you enjoyed the tour, please leave any observations that you might have. And rest easy tonight, the country is in good hands for four more years.
It was a great victory, for GW Bush and our country. Democrats would disagree, but they should be used to being wrong. I am not, however, going to gloat. The President is not gloating, he and I are just glad that the elections are over. And before I move on I do have to thank John Kerry and/or those at the Democratic Party who had the sound thinking to not protest the results in several close states. Perhaps, just perhaps, this is the turning point in becoming a more civilized nation as pertains to our politics. I can only hope, and ask that the Republican Party try to answer in kind. This election is over.
I saw the USA Today map above referenced at Bunker Mulligan's Place and it really gave me pause. I'm interested in maps anyway and this one really caught my attention. It's a county-by-county breakdown of the voting, showing counties where the lead was more than 5% for Bush [Red] and Kerry [Blue] and illustrates graphically the divide, great and small, that we have geopolitically in this country. Looking at the MSM TV maps where the states are either Red or Blue in totality doesn't give the same effect, no sense of how much power the relatively small urban areas wield.
I've pondered awhile about the people, thinking and culture in the Blue areas. Some are obvious. On the West Coast you have the actors, "wing nuts", ex-hippies and new age practitioners i.e. California and the people who have moved to Oregon because California is to crowded. In the Seattle Bay area, it rains constantly and so people are depressed, perfect fodder for the Democrats. Anarchists are from here also.
On the North East Coast reside our betters, the cultural elite, Ivy League scholars, the old families, old money. i.e. those who think that we who live west of Pennsylvania are the great mass of unwashed peasants and farm hands. It's the other assorted Blue's that make me wonder what is going on in these scattered and diverse areas that would cause them to vote for John Kerry.
Except for the upper MidWest, which is an anomoly, I have to conclude that the driving force behind most of the "Blue" counties is economics. Wealth or mainly the lack of it. Wealth on the far East and West Coasts.....lack of it in between. Take a look starting in the east. You'll notice areas in Virginia, North and South Carolina ....the tidelands and Appalachia. Some of the worst poverty in the country and I'm sorry to say a population still waiting for government to bail them out of their misery. A little further Northwest you'll find blue areas in West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Coal mining country, a depressed area for decades. In conjunction with Appalachia you'll see blue stretching into Northern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The dead remnants of the Old South that have never really caught up. Further west, running north and south, you can outline the lower Mississippi River and the poverty that follows that waterway. I honestly don't know what is the matter there....it's just poor. Finally, one last look in the Eastern U.S. around the Great Lakes and you'll notice the outline that was once, and probably still is, known as the "Rust Belt". No wonder they'd be bitter about jobs going overseas.
As stated above, the upper Mid West is hard to understand. A bundle of blue that is not, I think, related to poor economic standing. I know many people from this area, and most are hard working patriotic Americans. Why they continue to vote with a liberal bent I think is more related to their heritage. Germanic and Scandanavian stock who somehow, I'll wager, have a touch of socialism programed in. My Grandmother's father came from Germany, she went to the University of Wisconsin. The one time she worked in her life, she was a social aide worker. She was a liberal.
In my home state of Texas there are five blue zones. No questions about those. Three along the Rio Grande River are El Paso, Presidio and the lower Rio Grande Valley. Hispanic and dirt poor. A fourth is around the Beaumont/Port Arthur area. Sorry that I'm not versed enough to know exactly why with a fairly vibrant Texas economy that these folks are not doing well, but they never seem to. To close to Louisiana I suppose. The fifth small blue outpost towards the center of the state is Austin, which has always been a magnet for.....well see California above.
The Blue tracts in the vast majority of the great West are large but spread thinly. One has to ponder a little more deeply to concieve of the answer for their existance. Pardner that's Indian country. Many of the large Democratic areas are Indian reservations particularly in Northern New Mexico and Arizona. I have great admiration and sympathy for American Indians, their poverty is by and large a product of Government ineptidude and failure. To bad they vote Democratic, perhaps they don't connect the two.
Lastly, the remaining areas in the West are not born of poverty but of the Democrats new found friend, wealth. Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Aspen and Whitefish Lake Montana.....blue all. But of course these too are inhabited by ordinary common folk. Common millionaires.
Hope you enjoyed the tour, please leave any observations that you might have. And rest easy tonight, the country is in good hands for four more years.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Twick or Tweat.....!
Truco O Convite! We're right in the middle of Halloween as I write. Don't know about your neighborhood, but we get very few "local" kids. We mainly have kids from more disadvantaged neighborhoods whose parents truck them over [literally] for their trick or treat goodies. Some of our neighbors leave their lights off and don't participate....and I have to say that occasionally I think that it's a tad to much when 6 or 8 kids get out of the back of a pickup and show up at the door.
But Julie always buys lot's of goodies for these folks who have less than we do. And I'll have to brag, that these kids who show up at our door in Midland Texas are supremely well behaved, are generally cute as a bug and always say "thank you". If they don't, their Mom or Dad who is standing behind them reminds them, sometimes in broken English, to do so.
The only problem we had was a cute little companêro who showed up sporting a Kerry/Edwards button. I told him that he was an evil little boy and would get no candy. And I also took his picture and said that I was sending it to Santa Claus so he would also get no Christmas presents.
OK, he got candy too, but hope he remembered what we were wearing [above]. By the way the picture will stay at the masthead until Tuesday. It's a busy week for us and don't know if I'll have time to post any passing thoughts, so just want visitors to be reminded of the right thinking way to vote.
Truco O Convite! We're right in the middle of Halloween as I write. Don't know about your neighborhood, but we get very few "local" kids. We mainly have kids from more disadvantaged neighborhoods whose parents truck them over [literally] for their trick or treat goodies. Some of our neighbors leave their lights off and don't participate....and I have to say that occasionally I think that it's a tad to much when 6 or 8 kids get out of the back of a pickup and show up at the door.
But Julie always buys lot's of goodies for these folks who have less than we do. And I'll have to brag, that these kids who show up at our door in Midland Texas are supremely well behaved, are generally cute as a bug and always say "thank you". If they don't, their Mom or Dad who is standing behind them reminds them, sometimes in broken English, to do so.
The only problem we had was a cute little companêro who showed up sporting a Kerry/Edwards button. I told him that he was an evil little boy and would get no candy. And I also took his picture and said that I was sending it to Santa Claus so he would also get no Christmas presents.
OK, he got candy too, but hope he remembered what we were wearing [above]. By the way the picture will stay at the masthead until Tuesday. It's a busy week for us and don't know if I'll have time to post any passing thoughts, so just want visitors to be reminded of the right thinking way to vote.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Ramblin' Thoughts....
I've been a little flumoxed this week.....so decided to just pass on a few thoughts. Flumoxed, I've always liked that word. It should be used more. I'm flumoxed for several reasons.
My partners and I have been working on a big project in the gas business for over two years and next Thursday we give our presentation to the board of directors of a major NYSE utility company who, if all goes well, will partner with us in the effort. The fate of the free world depends on this meeting. We'll, OK, the fate of creating a permanently endowed income for my family rests on this meeting. A really good income. So I've been creating a PowerPoint™ show of epic proportions for the event. Love PowerPoint™ and I've pulled out all the stops on this one. I've loaded it on my server so that executives in New Jersey who can't physically be at our meeting in Odessa will be able to follow along via the Internet during the teleconference we are running in conjunction with the meeting. Oh, and in addition to the meeting on Thursday, the managing director/energy of a rather large German bank will be coming on Tuesday to see about financing the project. We've been working on Word© creating a paper presentation for him. So....I'm rather computered out for the moment.
My second area of flumoxation, and one that has stuck in my craw all week, was our semi-usual political conversation with my Mother at lunch on Sunday. To summarize: she's a liberal.......she's gotten worse. In a nutshell I think that she still identifies the Democratic Party with FDR, something that I have not blamed her for. She lived thru the depression and he was her President for all those years. Her thought is that the DEM's help poor people. Nice thought from a rich lady. But, truthfully, her support of Kerry has gone beyond that. Like many of the sort, she really has no positive things to say about his plans or even about him personally. She just dislikes Bush. In fact on Sunday, she made her "liberalness" complete. While Julie and I were pointing out the many, shall we say, "discrepencies" in Kerry's career, my Mother got flumoxed herself and just blurted out...."I don't care I just don't like Bush, he's stupid". My Mother is not a stupid person herself, I suppose just brainwashed. Go to the links at right and click on "Dissceting Leftism" by John Ray. You'll probably find my dear Mother's picture there. Textbook case.
So much for areas of flumoxation. Here's a thought. Osama Bin Laden. This week I was almost ready to write an article stating that I had revised my thoughts and now believed that there was a fair chance that OBL was, in fact, dead or captured. We hadn't heard anything crediblly ascribed to him in a very long time. Being a media egotist of some high degree I thought his absence from the airwaves was a good sign.
But today Osama would have made me look foolish.....he's back. Ossie just couldn't let the U.S. elections go by without giving us his thoughts. Something, however, did seem different about his rhetoric. The bits and pieces of his screed that I caught didn't seem like the Osama of old. He talked about his corps being "freedom fighters" instead of Jihadists. He seemed to indicate that if the West would leave the Arab World alone the terror problem would be eased. That's a major shift from previous rants about the decadent West and killing all the infidels. It makes me wonder what's going on with Osama. Perhaps living under a rock for two years has made him rethink his religous fervor. Maybe he's getting anger management counseling in Pakistan. Who knows.....I'm just glad that he reminded us he's there. It helps in the President's campaign.
I've been a little flumoxed this week.....so decided to just pass on a few thoughts. Flumoxed, I've always liked that word. It should be used more. I'm flumoxed for several reasons.
My partners and I have been working on a big project in the gas business for over two years and next Thursday we give our presentation to the board of directors of a major NYSE utility company who, if all goes well, will partner with us in the effort. The fate of the free world depends on this meeting. We'll, OK, the fate of creating a permanently endowed income for my family rests on this meeting. A really good income. So I've been creating a PowerPoint™ show of epic proportions for the event. Love PowerPoint™ and I've pulled out all the stops on this one. I've loaded it on my server so that executives in New Jersey who can't physically be at our meeting in Odessa will be able to follow along via the Internet during the teleconference we are running in conjunction with the meeting. Oh, and in addition to the meeting on Thursday, the managing director/energy of a rather large German bank will be coming on Tuesday to see about financing the project. We've been working on Word© creating a paper presentation for him. So....I'm rather computered out for the moment.
My second area of flumoxation, and one that has stuck in my craw all week, was our semi-usual political conversation with my Mother at lunch on Sunday. To summarize: she's a liberal.......she's gotten worse. In a nutshell I think that she still identifies the Democratic Party with FDR, something that I have not blamed her for. She lived thru the depression and he was her President for all those years. Her thought is that the DEM's help poor people. Nice thought from a rich lady. But, truthfully, her support of Kerry has gone beyond that. Like many of the sort, she really has no positive things to say about his plans or even about him personally. She just dislikes Bush. In fact on Sunday, she made her "liberalness" complete. While Julie and I were pointing out the many, shall we say, "discrepencies" in Kerry's career, my Mother got flumoxed herself and just blurted out...."I don't care I just don't like Bush, he's stupid". My Mother is not a stupid person herself, I suppose just brainwashed. Go to the links at right and click on "Dissceting Leftism" by John Ray. You'll probably find my dear Mother's picture there. Textbook case.
So much for areas of flumoxation. Here's a thought. Osama Bin Laden. This week I was almost ready to write an article stating that I had revised my thoughts and now believed that there was a fair chance that OBL was, in fact, dead or captured. We hadn't heard anything crediblly ascribed to him in a very long time. Being a media egotist of some high degree I thought his absence from the airwaves was a good sign.
But today Osama would have made me look foolish.....he's back. Ossie just couldn't let the U.S. elections go by without giving us his thoughts. Something, however, did seem different about his rhetoric. The bits and pieces of his screed that I caught didn't seem like the Osama of old. He talked about his corps being "freedom fighters" instead of Jihadists. He seemed to indicate that if the West would leave the Arab World alone the terror problem would be eased. That's a major shift from previous rants about the decadent West and killing all the infidels. It makes me wonder what's going on with Osama. Perhaps living under a rock for two years has made him rethink his religous fervor. Maybe he's getting anger management counseling in Pakistan. Who knows.....I'm just glad that he reminded us he's there. It helps in the President's campaign.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Eclipsing all.....!
What a stroke of fate. For the last several days the usually clear skies of West Texas have been obscured by clouds. Knowing that there would be a full lunar eclipse tonight, I didn't have much hope that we would see any of it.
But at about 9:45 the clouds gave way to a fully clear sky revealing the moon already passing through the earth's shadow. A grand sight...and one that I'm sure gave many ancient, native people quite a worry.
A total eclipse one might ask, well how come I can still see the moon in a faint red hue? The answer is thus. During an eclipse, when the Moon is in the Earth's shadow, there is a little bit of sunlight that passes through our atmosphere and is deflected by the Earth's gravity. White light from the sun is composed of all the colors of the rainbow, but our atmosphere treats different colors differently. Blue-colored light is scattered in all directions by airborne molecules. This is the same phenomenon that causes the sky to be blue. Red-colored light, on the other hand, is scattered very little. However, it is refracted inward toward the Moon. Red light that hits the Moon is reflected back toward Earth, so that we see the Moon glowing red during totality. If the Earth did not have an atmosphere, the Moon would be nearly black during a total lunar eclipse.
So now you know the rest of the story and I hope it was a cloudless night at your home.
What a stroke of fate. For the last several days the usually clear skies of West Texas have been obscured by clouds. Knowing that there would be a full lunar eclipse tonight, I didn't have much hope that we would see any of it.
But at about 9:45 the clouds gave way to a fully clear sky revealing the moon already passing through the earth's shadow. A grand sight...and one that I'm sure gave many ancient, native people quite a worry.
A total eclipse one might ask, well how come I can still see the moon in a faint red hue? The answer is thus. During an eclipse, when the Moon is in the Earth's shadow, there is a little bit of sunlight that passes through our atmosphere and is deflected by the Earth's gravity. White light from the sun is composed of all the colors of the rainbow, but our atmosphere treats different colors differently. Blue-colored light is scattered in all directions by airborne molecules. This is the same phenomenon that causes the sky to be blue. Red-colored light, on the other hand, is scattered very little. However, it is refracted inward toward the Moon. Red light that hits the Moon is reflected back toward Earth, so that we see the Moon glowing red during totality. If the Earth did not have an atmosphere, the Moon would be nearly black during a total lunar eclipse.
So now you know the rest of the story and I hope it was a cloudless night at your home.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Monday, October 25, 2004
Condiment of Choice....
Now you have a choice in your ketchup. Heinz 57 Vagaries or American made......
W Ketchup is America’s Ketchup™
Now you have a choice in your ketchup. Heinz 57 Vagaries or American made......
W Ketchup is America’s Ketchup™
Friday, October 22, 2004
Letter from Kabul......
I stay in touch with many people from my days of service in the Army. One of those is my old company commander in the 25th Infantry Division, Bill Schofield. In one of the strangest coincidences of my life I first ran into Bill in civilian life in mid town Manhattan four years after I resigned from the army. I was waiting for an elevator in a very large office building. When the elevator door opened, there was Bill, the only person getting off, while I was the only one getting on. I think it shocked us both. Since that time Bill has been with the U.S. State Deptartment and has advanced to Senior Attache, now stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan for a two year tour. While in Santa Fe, I got an email from him. I thought you might like to read excerpts.
-----------------------====Letter from Kabul=====--------------------------
"I have been in Afghanistan just over two months now and wanted to say hello and pass along some observations you might find interesting.
I arrived August 29 on a flight from Baku. Once we passed over the Caspian Sea, the landscape turned brown and we flew over one ridgeline after another until we reached Kabul. Mountains surround the city. There is almost no greenery. Dust covers everything. On a clear day, the mountains are spectacular, even a little snow on top of some. When it is dusty, however, you cannot see all of them and the sun is dim.
The embassy is a construction site inside of a firebase. We work in the old embassy building. Next to it, we are building a new, six-story embassy and an apartment building. They are scheduled to open summer 2005. A wall topped by concertina surrounds everything and there are guard towers on the corners. A Marine rifle company secures the embassy. We also have some civilian “shooters” and Ghurkas. Most people now live in CAFÉ (compound across from embassy) across the street. It is several rows of white “houches” - renovated shipping containers, a dining facility, and a few offices surrounded by a wall with wire on top. It looks like an upscale POW camp or prison.
Living is much better than I had anticipated. Some people have even started to wear ties to work. The work-week is Thursday through Sunday. The “hooches” are comfortable; there is TV, a gym, and a track. There is time to read or study Dari. The food is good, but aimed at a 19-year old Marine. In the dining room next to the Marine barracks you can get all the meat and fries you want. The troops lean their weapons against the wall and watch sports or action movies on a big screen TV during meals.
Kabul is a congested, bustling city. It suffered a lot of damage in the fighting after 1989. The streets are torn up and buildings damaged. About 2m refugees and displaced persons came here in the past two years, so the infrastructure is over-taxed. The city is full of little shops with good-looking fruit and vegetables. There are quite a few brick office buildings and blocks of six-story Soviet-style apartments. Some large, luxurious homes are springing up, allegedly owned by drug dealers. Most smaller houses and shops are made from mud bricks. They cover the sides of the hills, as well as downtown. Traffic is heavy, a combination of little yellow and black taxis, Toyota Landcruisers that the foreigners drive, big, brightly painted trucks and buses, military vehicles, horses, little donkeys, and the occasional camel. Since Ramadan started, it has gotten worse as people often go home around noon
Security is an overriding concern. ISAF, the NATO-led force, patrols in and around Kabul. The day I arrived, a car bomb exploded at an office in downtown Kabul and killed a dozen people, including three Americans. Since then, we have not been able to go to stores or restaurants. We can go to work-related meetings and there are bazaars on Friday at military compounds. In Kabul, you can drive without protection. If you go outside the city, military or civilian “shooters” must accompany you and you wear a flak jacket in some places. Occasionally, the Taliban or their associates fire rockets at the city. These old, inaccurate Soviet weapons have not hit near the embassy or, fortunately, populated areas of the city. You can hear the explosions, then sirens sound and you go to the bunker until the all clear. The bunker is a building protected with sandbags and other barriers.
I get out almost every day and have had the chance to travel outside of Kabul. A few weeks ago, a couple of us went to Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan toward the border with Pakistan. We flew in a small Beechcraft over the mountains and then down a green valley to the airstrip. We stayed with a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), a military unit composed of a civil affairs team, a security force, and representatives of State, USAID, and sometimes the Agriculture Department. A PRT is designed to strengthen security in the countryside and do some civic action work. This PRT had a company from the Iowa National Guard, some elements from Utah, and a Marine company. Within the city – Jbad to the troops – a couple of soldiers went with us. When we drove an hour east of the city, we traveled in five Humvees with 20 Marines.
The drive along the main east-west road was fascinating. It was a combination of new truck stops and scenes right out of the Bible: brown desert broken up by green areas; small donkeys carrying wood or pulling carts; mud huts surrounded by walls; a group of Kuchi nomads and their camels in the distance. On the way back after our meetings, we ran into a stand off over land between two families. They had faced off about one hundred yards apart, blocking the road. One man was wounded and evacuated in a new, silver taxi. We dismounted and waited until this ended. Everyone along the road was friendly and resigned to the delay.
A few weeks later, we went to Parwan, north of Kabul, for a DDR (disarm/demobilize/reintegrate) meeting with the governor and local militia commanders, the polite word for warlord. This group was part of the Northern Alliance that had fought the Soviets and then the Taliban. They had recently agreed to turn in their weapons and return to civilian life. After the meeting, the commander invited about 50 of us to lunch at his headquarters in an old Soviet base. He had a few hundred mujahideen (fighters) in formation for a ceremony. Someone sang a few verses from the Koran, the commander gave a speech, and then we had lunch of rice, lamb, chicken, and nan (bread). There were forks for the foreigners, but most ate with their fingers and nan.
The elections October 9 had been our focus for a couple of months. I went to Peshawar in the Frontier Province in Pakistan to observe voting in the refugee camps. I do not want to seem too much of a Pollyanna, but it was very impressive. There was a good turn out and everything was organized. A lot of young men, old men right out of central casting, and quite a few women voted. There were separate polling stations for men and women. Some women did not want people to know they had voted and asked the poll workers to put the ink they used to mark the fingers of voters only on the inside of their thumbs. It took courage for women in some places to vote. There were problems with the election, as the media reported, but overall I think it was a major success. We all expected some efforts by the Taliban to disrupt the voting, but they did nothing. Still a long way to go in stabilizing Afghanistan, but this was a good step.
A few of the addressees on this message served 30+ years ago in the 35th. Infantry, 25th. Infantry Division. TF CACTI, 2/35 Infantry, now operates in Paktika Province south of Kabul. MG Olson, CG, 25th Div, commands TF 76, the US force that chases the Taliban. I sat in on his briefing a week or so ago on security for the elections. The soldiers still refer to the “Tropic Lightening” patch as the “Electric Strawberry.” It was odd to see that patch on desert camouflage rather than the old green jungle uniform. These soldiers and Marines are a bunch of good young men and women doing a sometimes dangerous job a long way from home.
I hope this message finds you well. I look forward to seeing you when I get home.
Bill"
I stay in touch with many people from my days of service in the Army. One of those is my old company commander in the 25th Infantry Division, Bill Schofield. In one of the strangest coincidences of my life I first ran into Bill in civilian life in mid town Manhattan four years after I resigned from the army. I was waiting for an elevator in a very large office building. When the elevator door opened, there was Bill, the only person getting off, while I was the only one getting on. I think it shocked us both. Since that time Bill has been with the U.S. State Deptartment and has advanced to Senior Attache, now stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan for a two year tour. While in Santa Fe, I got an email from him. I thought you might like to read excerpts.
-----------------------====Letter from Kabul=====--------------------------
"I have been in Afghanistan just over two months now and wanted to say hello and pass along some observations you might find interesting.
I arrived August 29 on a flight from Baku. Once we passed over the Caspian Sea, the landscape turned brown and we flew over one ridgeline after another until we reached Kabul. Mountains surround the city. There is almost no greenery. Dust covers everything. On a clear day, the mountains are spectacular, even a little snow on top of some. When it is dusty, however, you cannot see all of them and the sun is dim.
The embassy is a construction site inside of a firebase. We work in the old embassy building. Next to it, we are building a new, six-story embassy and an apartment building. They are scheduled to open summer 2005. A wall topped by concertina surrounds everything and there are guard towers on the corners. A Marine rifle company secures the embassy. We also have some civilian “shooters” and Ghurkas. Most people now live in CAFÉ (compound across from embassy) across the street. It is several rows of white “houches” - renovated shipping containers, a dining facility, and a few offices surrounded by a wall with wire on top. It looks like an upscale POW camp or prison.
Living is much better than I had anticipated. Some people have even started to wear ties to work. The work-week is Thursday through Sunday. The “hooches” are comfortable; there is TV, a gym, and a track. There is time to read or study Dari. The food is good, but aimed at a 19-year old Marine. In the dining room next to the Marine barracks you can get all the meat and fries you want. The troops lean their weapons against the wall and watch sports or action movies on a big screen TV during meals.
Kabul is a congested, bustling city. It suffered a lot of damage in the fighting after 1989. The streets are torn up and buildings damaged. About 2m refugees and displaced persons came here in the past two years, so the infrastructure is over-taxed. The city is full of little shops with good-looking fruit and vegetables. There are quite a few brick office buildings and blocks of six-story Soviet-style apartments. Some large, luxurious homes are springing up, allegedly owned by drug dealers. Most smaller houses and shops are made from mud bricks. They cover the sides of the hills, as well as downtown. Traffic is heavy, a combination of little yellow and black taxis, Toyota Landcruisers that the foreigners drive, big, brightly painted trucks and buses, military vehicles, horses, little donkeys, and the occasional camel. Since Ramadan started, it has gotten worse as people often go home around noon
Security is an overriding concern. ISAF, the NATO-led force, patrols in and around Kabul. The day I arrived, a car bomb exploded at an office in downtown Kabul and killed a dozen people, including three Americans. Since then, we have not been able to go to stores or restaurants. We can go to work-related meetings and there are bazaars on Friday at military compounds. In Kabul, you can drive without protection. If you go outside the city, military or civilian “shooters” must accompany you and you wear a flak jacket in some places. Occasionally, the Taliban or their associates fire rockets at the city. These old, inaccurate Soviet weapons have not hit near the embassy or, fortunately, populated areas of the city. You can hear the explosions, then sirens sound and you go to the bunker until the all clear. The bunker is a building protected with sandbags and other barriers.
I get out almost every day and have had the chance to travel outside of Kabul. A few weeks ago, a couple of us went to Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan toward the border with Pakistan. We flew in a small Beechcraft over the mountains and then down a green valley to the airstrip. We stayed with a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), a military unit composed of a civil affairs team, a security force, and representatives of State, USAID, and sometimes the Agriculture Department. A PRT is designed to strengthen security in the countryside and do some civic action work. This PRT had a company from the Iowa National Guard, some elements from Utah, and a Marine company. Within the city – Jbad to the troops – a couple of soldiers went with us. When we drove an hour east of the city, we traveled in five Humvees with 20 Marines.
The drive along the main east-west road was fascinating. It was a combination of new truck stops and scenes right out of the Bible: brown desert broken up by green areas; small donkeys carrying wood or pulling carts; mud huts surrounded by walls; a group of Kuchi nomads and their camels in the distance. On the way back after our meetings, we ran into a stand off over land between two families. They had faced off about one hundred yards apart, blocking the road. One man was wounded and evacuated in a new, silver taxi. We dismounted and waited until this ended. Everyone along the road was friendly and resigned to the delay.
A few weeks later, we went to Parwan, north of Kabul, for a DDR (disarm/demobilize/reintegrate) meeting with the governor and local militia commanders, the polite word for warlord. This group was part of the Northern Alliance that had fought the Soviets and then the Taliban. They had recently agreed to turn in their weapons and return to civilian life. After the meeting, the commander invited about 50 of us to lunch at his headquarters in an old Soviet base. He had a few hundred mujahideen (fighters) in formation for a ceremony. Someone sang a few verses from the Koran, the commander gave a speech, and then we had lunch of rice, lamb, chicken, and nan (bread). There were forks for the foreigners, but most ate with their fingers and nan.
The elections October 9 had been our focus for a couple of months. I went to Peshawar in the Frontier Province in Pakistan to observe voting in the refugee camps. I do not want to seem too much of a Pollyanna, but it was very impressive. There was a good turn out and everything was organized. A lot of young men, old men right out of central casting, and quite a few women voted. There were separate polling stations for men and women. Some women did not want people to know they had voted and asked the poll workers to put the ink they used to mark the fingers of voters only on the inside of their thumbs. It took courage for women in some places to vote. There were problems with the election, as the media reported, but overall I think it was a major success. We all expected some efforts by the Taliban to disrupt the voting, but they did nothing. Still a long way to go in stabilizing Afghanistan, but this was a good step.
A few of the addressees on this message served 30+ years ago in the 35th. Infantry, 25th. Infantry Division. TF CACTI, 2/35 Infantry, now operates in Paktika Province south of Kabul. MG Olson, CG, 25th Div, commands TF 76, the US force that chases the Taliban. I sat in on his briefing a week or so ago on security for the elections. The soldiers still refer to the “Tropic Lightening” patch as the “Electric Strawberry.” It was odd to see that patch on desert camouflage rather than the old green jungle uniform. These soldiers and Marines are a bunch of good young men and women doing a sometimes dangerous job a long way from home.
I hope this message finds you well. I look forward to seeing you when I get home.
Bill"
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Go Cardinals......!
 | Rooting for the Cardinals, I was not a popular fan in my home. But what was I to do with an autographed picture of Stan Musial hanging over my desk? My parents are from St. Louis, my grandparents are from St. Louis. The first time I ever went to a ballgame was at the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis, when I was 5 years old. Need I say more? |
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
We're back........!
We arrived back in the flatlands of West Texas yesterday evening and have spent the last 24 hours getting resettled in the humdrum of daily life. It's tough doing that when you've been to a place so wonderful as Northern New Mexico. I'd love to write a prosaic essay about the trip but I'm not enough of a master of prose to do that. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words" so I'll let some photo images do the talking for me.
New Mexico photos that speak for me
I do have much to say about the trip and will start off by firstly thanking my bride for arranging it for us. We both love New Mexico, but she knows I don't like to go to long without a trip to the Santa Fe area and this time she made that possible. Secondly we met some great folks at all the spots we hit. In Galisteo I got to talk at length with three excellent photographers and have corresponded with two of them since we got back. As suberb as these men are, they were interested in my ability to use the Internet to sell photos online on my We Were Soldiers website. They want to learn how to do it. Besides these artists and by pure serendipity the fellow who sat next to me on the train trip from Chama was a Vietnam combat photographer. The photo of me via the link above was taken by him. Who could have asked for a more interesting person for us to travel along with. He is already helping me with a project I'm working on to display combat photography at our museum.
Thirdly and the theme of my short essay tonight is the politics we encountered. Coming from downtown Bushville, we were in cultural shock being around so many Kerry/Edwards stickers, banners and pins. Now we're not naive, we know that Santa Fe and places like it tend to be more liberal. What got to us was who was sporting these little Kerry mementoes. Well of course it was the middle class. Middle class if you consider people roaming Canyon Road in tweed, turtlenecks and silk sports coats to be middle class. Middle class people who were having a hard time finding parking spaces for their Lexus's, Jaguars and Mercedes. For those not familiar with Canyon Road, it's the trendy art gallery area of Santa Fe. And not art ala velvet Elvis. Were talking five figure art.
These people are middle class to someone like John Kerry I suppose. With a family net worth of $800 million or so, these people who may only have several million, might as well be common laborers. I don't think that the real middle class would identify with these people either. The real middle or lower class can barely afford to eat on Canyon Road, much less buy art there. And that's the secret to why so many silk sports coats wearers driving Mercedess like enclaves such as Santa Fe, Sedona or Boulder. They don't have to deal with the little people of America at these place...except to wait on them in a fashionable gallery or restaurant. That's why there are so many Kerry pins and buttons on Canyon Road.
The other observation I have is the unusually large number of groups of single slightly past middle aged women I see traveling together in Santa Fe. Not the dolled up Texas style "girl weekend" sort that go to Dallas to hit all the stores. These groups in Santa Fe look like they have escaped from a nunnery. [no offense to nuns meant]. They wear no makeup, usually have short hair or their slightly graying hair pulled back and the clothing, though expensive and trendy, is definetly understated. Not lesbians I think. No, from overhearing their conversations from time to time I suspect that these types are PhD's in humanities at eastern universities or work without pay for some UN organization. They were wearing Kerry pins and buttons too.
We arrived back in the flatlands of West Texas yesterday evening and have spent the last 24 hours getting resettled in the humdrum of daily life. It's tough doing that when you've been to a place so wonderful as Northern New Mexico. I'd love to write a prosaic essay about the trip but I'm not enough of a master of prose to do that. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words" so I'll let some photo images do the talking for me.
New Mexico photos that speak for me
I do have much to say about the trip and will start off by firstly thanking my bride for arranging it for us. We both love New Mexico, but she knows I don't like to go to long without a trip to the Santa Fe area and this time she made that possible. Secondly we met some great folks at all the spots we hit. In Galisteo I got to talk at length with three excellent photographers and have corresponded with two of them since we got back. As suberb as these men are, they were interested in my ability to use the Internet to sell photos online on my We Were Soldiers website. They want to learn how to do it. Besides these artists and by pure serendipity the fellow who sat next to me on the train trip from Chama was a Vietnam combat photographer. The photo of me via the link above was taken by him. Who could have asked for a more interesting person for us to travel along with. He is already helping me with a project I'm working on to display combat photography at our museum.
Thirdly and the theme of my short essay tonight is the politics we encountered. Coming from downtown Bushville, we were in cultural shock being around so many Kerry/Edwards stickers, banners and pins. Now we're not naive, we know that Santa Fe and places like it tend to be more liberal. What got to us was who was sporting these little Kerry mementoes. Well of course it was the middle class. Middle class if you consider people roaming Canyon Road in tweed, turtlenecks and silk sports coats to be middle class. Middle class people who were having a hard time finding parking spaces for their Lexus's, Jaguars and Mercedes. For those not familiar with Canyon Road, it's the trendy art gallery area of Santa Fe. And not art ala velvet Elvis. Were talking five figure art.
These people are middle class to someone like John Kerry I suppose. With a family net worth of $800 million or so, these people who may only have several million, might as well be common laborers. I don't think that the real middle class would identify with these people either. The real middle or lower class can barely afford to eat on Canyon Road, much less buy art there. And that's the secret to why so many silk sports coats wearers driving Mercedess like enclaves such as Santa Fe, Sedona or Boulder. They don't have to deal with the little people of America at these place...except to wait on them in a fashionable gallery or restaurant. That's why there are so many Kerry pins and buttons on Canyon Road.
The other observation I have is the unusually large number of groups of single slightly past middle aged women I see traveling together in Santa Fe. Not the dolled up Texas style "girl weekend" sort that go to Dallas to hit all the stores. These groups in Santa Fe look like they have escaped from a nunnery. [no offense to nuns meant]. They wear no makeup, usually have short hair or their slightly graying hair pulled back and the clothing, though expensive and trendy, is definetly understated. Not lesbians I think. No, from overhearing their conversations from time to time I suspect that these types are PhD's in humanities at eastern universities or work without pay for some UN organization. They were wearing Kerry pins and buttons too.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Riding the rails...
The day was unbelievable. We arose before dawn to start our 100 mile journey north to Chama and the Cumbres and Toltec Railway. This is a trip that Julie had planned for me some time ago and I was not disappointed. If you've never ridden a steam locomotive high into the Rockies, it's something you need to do during your time here on earth.
The 64 mile trip starts in Chama at an elevation of 7200 ft. and wends and winds it's way through New Mexico and Colorado [crossing the border 15 times!] ending up in Antonito Colorado after passing through mountain passes at over 10,000 ft. Early clouds broke as we started out and the sun was magnificent on the golden shades of the aspens. The blue of the sky at that altitude is stunning and made for great photography. The first half of the trip tranverses canyons so tightly that the faint of heart will swoon. The grades are steep allowing a maximum speed of only 5-6 mph so there is plenty of time to enjoy the sights.
At the half way point of the trip the train stops at a high mountain station for a really great homemade lunch prepared by folks who have to drive 17 miles through dirt roads to get there. All the folks on the train eat together and so we got a chance to get to know some of our fellow travelers including, to my liking, a former Vietnam Army combat photographer. As the train stopped for lunch we noticed low clouds gathering again and at that altitude this meant snow.
And snow it did. The 1920's coaches were a bit cool as we started out again, but my prefered place had been on the open flatcar and so back I went. What an experience photographing the canyons, tunnels, trees and mountain peaks thru a blinding snowstorm! The snow did not stop until we reached the lower areas around Antonito when once again the sun burst through upon a grazing herd of antelope and mountain ranges across the valley of southern Colorado.
In Antonito a plush tourist bus takes the travelers back to their cars in Chama. And there the dramatic part of the tour unfolded as we crossed the pass at 10,200 feet in a blizzard. We all tipped our driver Joe for getting us through safely. Slippery roads with 300 ft drop offs can get even the most stalwart a bit nervous. But arrive back we did and started our trip back in the gorgeous New Mexico twilight.
I can't wait for you to see the pictures! Back home Monday night.
The day was unbelievable. We arose before dawn to start our 100 mile journey north to Chama and the Cumbres and Toltec Railway. This is a trip that Julie had planned for me some time ago and I was not disappointed. If you've never ridden a steam locomotive high into the Rockies, it's something you need to do during your time here on earth.
The 64 mile trip starts in Chama at an elevation of 7200 ft. and wends and winds it's way through New Mexico and Colorado [crossing the border 15 times!] ending up in Antonito Colorado after passing through mountain passes at over 10,000 ft. Early clouds broke as we started out and the sun was magnificent on the golden shades of the aspens. The blue of the sky at that altitude is stunning and made for great photography. The first half of the trip tranverses canyons so tightly that the faint of heart will swoon. The grades are steep allowing a maximum speed of only 5-6 mph so there is plenty of time to enjoy the sights.
At the half way point of the trip the train stops at a high mountain station for a really great homemade lunch prepared by folks who have to drive 17 miles through dirt roads to get there. All the folks on the train eat together and so we got a chance to get to know some of our fellow travelers including, to my liking, a former Vietnam Army combat photographer. As the train stopped for lunch we noticed low clouds gathering again and at that altitude this meant snow.
And snow it did. The 1920's coaches were a bit cool as we started out again, but my prefered place had been on the open flatcar and so back I went. What an experience photographing the canyons, tunnels, trees and mountain peaks thru a blinding snowstorm! The snow did not stop until we reached the lower areas around Antonito when once again the sun burst through upon a grazing herd of antelope and mountain ranges across the valley of southern Colorado.
In Antonito a plush tourist bus takes the travelers back to their cars in Chama. And there the dramatic part of the tour unfolded as we crossed the pass at 10,200 feet in a blizzard. We all tipped our driver Joe for getting us through safely. Slippery roads with 300 ft drop offs can get even the most stalwart a bit nervous. But arrive back we did and started our trip back in the gorgeous New Mexico twilight.
I can't wait for you to see the pictures! Back home Monday night.
Riding the rails...
The day was unbelievable. We arose before dawn to start our 100 mile journey north to Chama and theCumbres and Toltec Railway . This is a trip that Julie had planned for me some time ago and I was not disappointed. If you've never ridden a steam locomotive high into the Rockies, it's something you need to do during your time here on earth.
The 64 mile trip starts in Chama at an elevation of 7200 ft. and wends and winds it's way through New Mexico and Colorado [crossing the border 15 times!] ending up in Antonito Colorado after passing through mountain passes at over 10,000 ft. Early clouds broke as we started out and the sun was magnificent on the golden shades of the aspens. The blue of the sky at that altitude is stunning and made for great photography. The first half of the trip tranverses canyons so tightly that the faint of heart will swoon. The grades are steep allowing a maximum speed of only 5-6 mph so there is plenty of time to enjoy the sights.
At the half way point of the trip the train stops at a high mountain station for a really great homemade lunch prepared by folks who have to drive 17 miles through dirt roads to get there. All the folks on the train eat together and so we got a chance to get to know some of our fellow travelers including, to my liking, a former Vietnam Army combat photographer. As the train stopped for lunch we noticed low clouds gathering again and at that altitude this meant snow.
And snow it did. The 1920's coaches were a bit cool as we started out again, but my prefered place had been on the open flatcar and so back I went. What an experience photographing the canyons, tunnels, trees and mountain peaks thru a blinding snowstorm! The snow did not stop until we reached the lower areas around Antonito when once again the sun burst through upon a grazing herd of antelope and mountain ranges across the valley of southern Colorado.
In Antonito a plush tourist bus takes the travelers back to their cars in Chama. And there the dramatic part of the tour unfolded as we crossed the pass at 10,200 feet in a blizzard. We all tipped our driver Joe for getting us through safely. Slippery roads with 300 ft drop offs can get even the most stalwart a bit nervous. But arrive back we did and started our trip back in the gorgeous New Mexico twilight.
I can't wait for you to see the pictures! Back home Monday night.
The day was unbelievable. We arose before dawn to start our 100 mile journey north to Chama and theCumbres and Toltec Railway . This is a trip that Julie had planned for me some time ago and I was not disappointed. If you've never ridden a steam locomotive high into the Rockies, it's something you need to do during your time here on earth.
The 64 mile trip starts in Chama at an elevation of 7200 ft. and wends and winds it's way through New Mexico and Colorado [crossing the border 15 times!] ending up in Antonito Colorado after passing through mountain passes at over 10,000 ft. Early clouds broke as we started out and the sun was magnificent on the golden shades of the aspens. The blue of the sky at that altitude is stunning and made for great photography. The first half of the trip tranverses canyons so tightly that the faint of heart will swoon. The grades are steep allowing a maximum speed of only 5-6 mph so there is plenty of time to enjoy the sights.
At the half way point of the trip the train stops at a high mountain station for a really great homemade lunch prepared by folks who have to drive 17 miles through dirt roads to get there. All the folks on the train eat together and so we got a chance to get to know some of our fellow travelers including, to my liking, a former Vietnam Army combat photographer. As the train stopped for lunch we noticed low clouds gathering again and at that altitude this meant snow.
And snow it did. The 1920's coaches were a bit cool as we started out again, but my prefered place had been on the open flatcar and so back I went. What an experience photographing the canyons, tunnels, trees and mountain peaks thru a blinding snowstorm! The snow did not stop until we reached the lower areas around Antonito when once again the sun burst through upon a grazing herd of antelope and mountain ranges across the valley of southern Colorado.
In Antonito a plush tourist bus takes the travelers back to their cars in Chama. And there the dramatic part of the tour unfolded as we crossed the pass at 10,200 feet in a blizzard. We all tipped our driver Joe for getting us through safely. Slippery roads with 300 ft drop offs can get even the most stalwart a bit nervous. But arrive back we did and started our trip back in the gorgeous New Mexico twilight.
I can't wait for you to see the pictures! Back home Monday night.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
A great day in Galisteo....
This morning, from Santa Fe, we drove the 25 miles down to the small town of Galisteo an historic town and for decades an artists mecca. Today was the "Studio Tour" where one was invited in to the aritsts studios to few there work. As an added attraction since most arists work at their residences, we had the opportunity to walk through some fabulous homes.
We spent the bulk of our time talking with the photographers on the tour. There are some world class photographers working out of Galisteo and their hospitality was second to none. Several of them had homes with views of the distant Ortiz Mountains that could only be called stunning. I bought one landscape image from Richard Shuff, but could have come home with 20 or 30 more...easily. I'm sure we'll be purchasing more soon and I'll have the web links to their sites when we return home.
We had a great visit with noted Midland artist Woody Gwyn who took time out from preparing for a New York showing of his works to show us his new works and give us a short history of Galisteo and his historic home. The house was built in 1703 and through the years has seen some notable historic visitors including Civil War era generals Sibley and Kearney. Woody also gave up signed limited edition copies of the book concerning his work and a new portfolio just out for a showing he had in Santa Fe recently.
Time now to go rest for a moment before our trip back into Santa Fe and dinner at the ever popular Pink Adobe restaurant. It never disappoints. Before I go, I have to say that if you have never been in Northern New Mexico in October, you have to come soon. The cottonwood trees are the most golden yellow allowed by nature and against the supremely blue sky and distant snow capped peaks it's a sight you just can't believe.
This morning, from Santa Fe, we drove the 25 miles down to the small town of Galisteo an historic town and for decades an artists mecca. Today was the "Studio Tour" where one was invited in to the aritsts studios to few there work. As an added attraction since most arists work at their residences, we had the opportunity to walk through some fabulous homes.
We spent the bulk of our time talking with the photographers on the tour. There are some world class photographers working out of Galisteo and their hospitality was second to none. Several of them had homes with views of the distant Ortiz Mountains that could only be called stunning. I bought one landscape image from Richard Shuff, but could have come home with 20 or 30 more...easily. I'm sure we'll be purchasing more soon and I'll have the web links to their sites when we return home.
We had a great visit with noted Midland artist Woody Gwyn who took time out from preparing for a New York showing of his works to show us his new works and give us a short history of Galisteo and his historic home. The house was built in 1703 and through the years has seen some notable historic visitors including Civil War era generals Sibley and Kearney. Woody also gave up signed limited edition copies of the book concerning his work and a new portfolio just out for a showing he had in Santa Fe recently.
Time now to go rest for a moment before our trip back into Santa Fe and dinner at the ever popular Pink Adobe restaurant. It never disappoints. Before I go, I have to say that if you have never been in Northern New Mexico in October, you have to come soon. The cottonwood trees are the most golden yellow allowed by nature and against the supremely blue sky and distant snow capped peaks it's a sight you just can't believe.
Friday, October 15, 2004
Friday evening in Santa Fe....
A beautiful cool crisp evening in Santa Fe with just a sliver of a moon diving behind the mountains in the western skies as we ventured up Canyon Drive in search of a light meal. And what better spot than the El Farol and it's Spanish chef with his tapas treats.
The El Farol has been a restaurant in Santa Fe since 1835 and in approximately the same location as it is today. The food is excellent though since we didn't have reservations we had to sit on the veranda overlooking the road. A little cool in the mountains once the sun goes down, but well worth the taste treat. I like the tapas concept....a miniature sized portion with extreme flavor. Julie had chared filet on a skewer with small sweet onions and flavored with an herb that was unidentifiable yet pleasantly sweet.I had a small chicken breast with chipolte peppers and the same sweet onions. Due to the chill in the air we both had a delightful strong coffee with raspberry flan for a sweet small dessert.
We are now back to the comfort of the El Rey with a fire going in the kiva fireplace in our room. More tomorrow from Galisteo.
A beautiful cool crisp evening in Santa Fe with just a sliver of a moon diving behind the mountains in the western skies as we ventured up Canyon Drive in search of a light meal. And what better spot than the El Farol and it's Spanish chef with his tapas treats.
The El Farol has been a restaurant in Santa Fe since 1835 and in approximately the same location as it is today. The food is excellent though since we didn't have reservations we had to sit on the veranda overlooking the road. A little cool in the mountains once the sun goes down, but well worth the taste treat. I like the tapas concept....a miniature sized portion with extreme flavor. Julie had chared filet on a skewer with small sweet onions and flavored with an herb that was unidentifiable yet pleasantly sweet.I had a small chicken breast with chipolte peppers and the same sweet onions. Due to the chill in the air we both had a delightful strong coffee with raspberry flan for a sweet small dessert.
We are now back to the comfort of the El Rey with a fire going in the kiva fireplace in our room. More tomorrow from Galisteo.
Howdy from Santa Fe..
Miracle of miracles, nowadays even hotels originally built in the 1930's have high speed internet access. And so I'm sitting in the lobby of the El Rey Hotel, overlooking what was once Route 66, writing to you from the beauty of Santa Fe.
We arrived in Santa Fe about noonish local time after an easy trip from Midland via SouthWest Airlines. The weather is gorgeous, really warmer than we had anticipated. However the mountains behind Santa Fe have a beautiful crown of snow, which when accentuated by the golden glow of the turning leaves on the cottonwood trees makes the scenery all that we hoped for.
Our room wouldn't be ready until 3 p.m. so we drove the short way into the heart of town near the plaza and had a leisurely lunch in one of our favorite eateries, The Plaza Cafe. I had a regular sirloin burger while Julie had some scrumptuous quesidilla's with fresh squash, onions, "pulled" chicken, corn, sauteed mushrooms and a heavy dose of fresh garlic. A treat for which she is paying. She's down the road purchasing some Pepto as I relate these facts to you. We browsed some of the shops and galleries near the plaza and had a nice chat with my friends at Andrew Smith's photography gallery.
Santa Fe seems more crowded than usual so, after the late lunch, we may not "do" any of our regular restaurants tonight, but dine on some lighter fair. We'll be up early tomorrow for our trip down the road to Galisteo. I'm looking forward to some great photo op's!! Hopefully more reporting from the road tomorrow.
Miracle of miracles, nowadays even hotels originally built in the 1930's have high speed internet access. And so I'm sitting in the lobby of the El Rey Hotel, overlooking what was once Route 66, writing to you from the beauty of Santa Fe.
We arrived in Santa Fe about noonish local time after an easy trip from Midland via SouthWest Airlines. The weather is gorgeous, really warmer than we had anticipated. However the mountains behind Santa Fe have a beautiful crown of snow, which when accentuated by the golden glow of the turning leaves on the cottonwood trees makes the scenery all that we hoped for.
Our room wouldn't be ready until 3 p.m. so we drove the short way into the heart of town near the plaza and had a leisurely lunch in one of our favorite eateries, The Plaza Cafe. I had a regular sirloin burger while Julie had some scrumptuous quesidilla's with fresh squash, onions, "pulled" chicken, corn, sauteed mushrooms and a heavy dose of fresh garlic. A treat for which she is paying. She's down the road purchasing some Pepto as I relate these facts to you. We browsed some of the shops and galleries near the plaza and had a nice chat with my friends at Andrew Smith's photography gallery.
Santa Fe seems more crowded than usual so, after the late lunch, we may not "do" any of our regular restaurants tonight, but dine on some lighter fair. We'll be up early tomorrow for our trip down the road to Galisteo. I'm looking forward to some great photo op's!! Hopefully more reporting from the road tomorrow.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Gone away.....
We'll be gone and blogless for several days. We're heading to Santa Fe for our annual fall get away in that region. It's about time.
I imagine we'll hit some of the galleries Friday afternoon including one of my favorites the Andrew Smith Gallery. Andrew has one of the premier photographic galleries in the country, I'm in awe everytime we browse there. And by chance, one of their chief buyers will be at our museum in Midland next week to give a lecture on buying photographic images. I wish I could afford an Ansel Adams.
Saturday we are heading down the road to Galisteo home of 270 friendly souls including our friend, noted artist Woody Gwyn. Woody is an affable artiste and we look forward to touring his historic home and studio, the Ortiz Hacienda, which was built in 1703.
On Sunday Julie has arranged another railroad treat for us...a trip on the scenic Cumbres&Toltec Railroad near Chama N.M. Photo opportunities abound on this trip and the fall foliage, cool crisp atmosphere and mountain scenery should make my life a busy one processing images upon our return. See you on Tuesday, in the meantime talk amongst yourselves.
We'll be gone and blogless for several days. We're heading to Santa Fe for our annual fall get away in that region. It's about time.
I imagine we'll hit some of the galleries Friday afternoon including one of my favorites the Andrew Smith Gallery. Andrew has one of the premier photographic galleries in the country, I'm in awe everytime we browse there. And by chance, one of their chief buyers will be at our museum in Midland next week to give a lecture on buying photographic images. I wish I could afford an Ansel Adams.
Saturday we are heading down the road to Galisteo home of 270 friendly souls including our friend, noted artist Woody Gwyn. Woody is an affable artiste and we look forward to touring his historic home and studio, the Ortiz Hacienda, which was built in 1703.
On Sunday Julie has arranged another railroad treat for us...a trip on the scenic Cumbres&Toltec Railroad near Chama N.M. Photo opportunities abound on this trip and the fall foliage, cool crisp atmosphere and mountain scenery should make my life a busy one processing images upon our return. See you on Tuesday, in the meantime talk amongst yourselves.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
The Third Man......
I don't comment on entertainment or films very often and for good reason. You wouldn't be much interested. I admit to having eclectic tastes in the cinematic arts area and I am not much of a current run movie goer. I like what I like....and there's not much of what I like coming out of Hollywood these days.
I stayed up much to late last night watching a movie I've only seen snippets of over the years. I've never seen the whole movie, but I've always been enthralled by the films background music and have heard it since childhood. It's zither music. Like I said...eclectic.
I had gone to turn the TeeVee off at about 11 p.m. and as the Mrs. and I are wont to do I flipped over to one of our "default" channels, Turner Classic Movies for one last look. [as an aside, TCM is Ted Turner's one saving grace..24 hours of classic flicks with no commercials. It's like he's repenting for CNN!] The host, the congenial Robert Osborne, was just introducing the film, "The Third Man" English version.. as opposed to the American version. I didn't know there were two. IMDB.com, the authoritative online film database lists it as the 40th best film ever as voted by their knowledgable readers and I've read where it was also voted the best British film ever made. I'll wager it's the least famous "famous" film in existance.
Based on a Graham Greene story, "The Third Man" is of the film noire genre, both in philosphy and in fact....much of it is filmed at night or very darkly. The story is a mystery and is good, but what makes the film for me is the photography and in fact the cinematographer won an Oscar for his work. The odd low angles, the sharp oversizesd shadows and contrasts of the shots suit my style as a photographer. Set in post WWII Vienna, the filming in 1949 was done mostly on site in Austria amid the still very much visible rubble remaining after the war and adds to the character of the images.
Only four actors among the myriad in the cast were recognizable to me. Joseph Cotten, a young Trevor Howard, Orson Welles and Bernard Lee, who later played "M" in the James Bond series. The rest of the ensemble are European character actors who make the movie all at once dark, artsy and quirky. I think quirky by design. Any film that features a continual light backdrop of the same theme played by a zither virtuoso has to be termed quirky. Especially the almost comical loud flat notes when anything suspenseful happens.
The closing scene is, in my opinion, one of the best in filmdom, both as a photographic image and as an unclosed romantic mystery. Try "The Third Man", you might like it. I can't wait to see it again to catch more of the nuances.
I don't comment on entertainment or films very often and for good reason. You wouldn't be much interested. I admit to having eclectic tastes in the cinematic arts area and I am not much of a current run movie goer. I like what I like....and there's not much of what I like coming out of Hollywood these days.
I stayed up much to late last night watching a movie I've only seen snippets of over the years. I've never seen the whole movie, but I've always been enthralled by the films background music and have heard it since childhood. It's zither music. Like I said...eclectic.
I had gone to turn the TeeVee off at about 11 p.m. and as the Mrs. and I are wont to do I flipped over to one of our "default" channels, Turner Classic Movies for one last look. [as an aside, TCM is Ted Turner's one saving grace..24 hours of classic flicks with no commercials. It's like he's repenting for CNN!] The host, the congenial Robert Osborne, was just introducing the film, "The Third Man" English version.. as opposed to the American version. I didn't know there were two. IMDB.com, the authoritative online film database lists it as the 40th best film ever as voted by their knowledgable readers and I've read where it was also voted the best British film ever made. I'll wager it's the least famous "famous" film in existance.
Based on a Graham Greene story, "The Third Man" is of the film noire genre, both in philosphy and in fact....much of it is filmed at night or very darkly. The story is a mystery and is good, but what makes the film for me is the photography and in fact the cinematographer won an Oscar for his work. The odd low angles, the sharp oversizesd shadows and contrasts of the shots suit my style as a photographer. Set in post WWII Vienna, the filming in 1949 was done mostly on site in Austria amid the still very much visible rubble remaining after the war and adds to the character of the images.
Only four actors among the myriad in the cast were recognizable to me. Joseph Cotten, a young Trevor Howard, Orson Welles and Bernard Lee, who later played "M" in the James Bond series. The rest of the ensemble are European character actors who make the movie all at once dark, artsy and quirky. I think quirky by design. Any film that features a continual light backdrop of the same theme played by a zither virtuoso has to be termed quirky. Especially the almost comical loud flat notes when anything suspenseful happens.
The closing scene is, in my opinion, one of the best in filmdom, both as a photographic image and as an unclosed romantic mystery. Try "The Third Man", you might like it. I can't wait to see it again to catch more of the nuances.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Now showing on Dutch TeeVee...
The Mrs. has launched her film career in the Netherlands. Dutch news producer Sander sent me a nice note of thanks for his visit here in Midland and directed my attention to this link to his online journal to view a short clip of his Midland interviews. To view the story use the link and then go to the, "Op zoek naar de wortels van president Bush" video link at the right.
I hope you have better luck than I have had viewing this on our two computers. I can hear the audio but haven't been able to pull up the video portion yet. I'll keep trying and we'll be ready to travel to Holland for the Dutch Emmy awards.
The Mrs. has launched her film career in the Netherlands. Dutch news producer Sander sent me a nice note of thanks for his visit here in Midland and directed my attention to this link to his online journal to view a short clip of his Midland interviews. To view the story use the link and then go to the, "Op zoek naar de wortels van president Bush" video link at the right.
I hope you have better luck than I have had viewing this on our two computers. I can hear the audio but haven't been able to pull up the video portion yet. I'll keep trying and we'll be ready to travel to Holland for the Dutch Emmy awards.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Newsworthy.......
Once again Julie is a hot international news commodity. As you may know she was President G.W. Bush's secretary for four years back in the good old days when Dubya was a lowly independent oilman. Over the last year or so we have hosted news and documentary film crews from the BBC in Britain and the Arte Television Channel of France and Germany wanting to learn the inside scoop on George and how Midland has made the man.
Today, through our agent Natalie at Jessica's Well we filmed with a crew from Dutch public television. We met at the site of the President's boyhood home, not far from our estate, which is now being transformed into a tourist destination. I wasn't privy to Julie's interview but knowing her it went well. She looked lovely and I'm sure the audience in Holland will be impressed with her wit and wisdom. Producer Sander Warmerdam is a genial fellow as were his interviewer and cameraman and we enjoyed spending part of an afternoon with them. I think this also tells us something about the state and direction of the US media. Three seperate European news organizations have sent reporters out here to the hinterlands to find out more of what makes President Bush who he is and as far as I know, not one single American reporter has bothered to show up. Go figure.
Sander and crew are in the US to chronicle the last days of the election process by visiting small town America, starting out in Midland and driving cross country to Boston....from Bush to Kerryland as they described it. You can catch his journey at his weblog Amerika Kiest. I suspect we'll be mentioned tomorrow. Hope your Flemish is better than mine.
Once again Julie is a hot international news commodity. As you may know she was President G.W. Bush's secretary for four years back in the good old days when Dubya was a lowly independent oilman. Over the last year or so we have hosted news and documentary film crews from the BBC in Britain and the Arte Television Channel of France and Germany wanting to learn the inside scoop on George and how Midland has made the man.
Today, through our agent Natalie at Jessica's Well we filmed with a crew from Dutch public television. We met at the site of the President's boyhood home, not far from our estate, which is now being transformed into a tourist destination. I wasn't privy to Julie's interview but knowing her it went well. She looked lovely and I'm sure the audience in Holland will be impressed with her wit and wisdom. Producer Sander Warmerdam is a genial fellow as were his interviewer and cameraman and we enjoyed spending part of an afternoon with them. I think this also tells us something about the state and direction of the US media. Three seperate European news organizations have sent reporters out here to the hinterlands to find out more of what makes President Bush who he is and as far as I know, not one single American reporter has bothered to show up. Go figure.
Sander and crew are in the US to chronicle the last days of the election process by visiting small town America, starting out in Midland and driving cross country to Boston....from Bush to Kerryland as they described it. You can catch his journey at his weblog Amerika Kiest. I suspect we'll be mentioned tomorrow. Hope your Flemish is better than mine.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
 |
As the old saying goes, "be careful what you ask for...you just might get it" With a prolonged drought in West Texas what we had been asking for was rain. And this year, this month we have gotten it. If your eyes are on the downhill side, the rain gauge at left reads over 2.5 inches. And that was just in the last two days. More specifically the last two nights. I hesitate to say it, but enough is enough. I'll rue this statement some months from now, because the commonly held community ethos in West Texas says that you can never have enough rain. But for now we've had more than enough to suit me, the |
In spite of my best efforts, or probably because of them, the roof over the den has a leak. Several years ago I noticed the beginnings of the leak around the fireplace and set about fixing it. There was some fairly obvious decay in the flashing where the chimney enters the roofline. Some synthetic tar seemed to do the job during the next year of light rains. But now with gushers arriving every night, the devious water has found another route to drain down through the roof, into the interior canned lighting and thence to the floor. Not a good situation. It has been raining for the last three weeks and the house is beginning to smell moldy like a Louisiana fishing cabin.
The dogs are none to happy either. And thusly the woman of the house is not happy and ergo, I'm not happy. The Big Gold Dog has always been thunderstorm averse, the condition manifesting itself by putting him into a catatonic state...with panting. Lot's of panting. And since he needs comfort during this crisis, he desires to be right next to the nearest human being...while panting. Three weeks of this can get on the nerves of even the best friend of a dog....or his wife. When the storms start Daphne, the outdoor dog, gives up all claims to a life outdoors and tries her best to become an indoor dog. Whining, barking, running crazily, peering in the back door with a frenzied look that says, "I'm dying out here, Pleeease let me in...now"! This approach works on me until I let her in and the frenzied running continues, except now it's frenzied running with muddy paws all over our tasteful pale tan Berber carpet. This makes the wife start her own frenzied running...after me.
With 2 months to go in the year, we are about 3 inches over our yearly average. We have been under flash flood watches and warnings continuously now for 5 days..with a tornado alert thrown in every now and then just to keep us on our toes. Five inches of rain fell in an afternoon in Andrews County to the north of us...causing all work to cease in the oil fields. Our Spanish tile patio has brown algae and scum growing on it. But as I peer out the window at the office this afternoon, the sun is blazing brightly so perhaps we're over the worst. Maybe. This is what I thought the last two afternoons as I peered out the window to see the sun blazing brightly. But it's OK, you know in West Texas you can never get enough rain!
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Air Sho..fog, storms and disappointment
In the decade and some years of the CAF being headquartered in Midland, we've never even come close to a rainout of the Air Sho. But all good things must end and today was the day. Dawn broke with low clouds, fog and drizzle but the forecast called for the weather to change. And it did, with thunderstorms and more low clouds.
At the pilot's briefing the prediction was for all the weather to lift between eleven and one o'clock, so we knew we might have to adjust things in the show to some degree. But the "lifting" never came, only a few breaks that served to falsely raise our hopes. By 1:30 the main event, the Tora Tora Tora reenactment of Pearl Harbor, was scrapped and we never got anything else significant off the ground. Most of our loyal fans stuck with us, however, and we did have all planes do a powered run down the taxiway in front of the crowd.
The crowd did get an extraordinary thrill however from our explosives teams. The charges that make up the explosions for the show are laid early in the morning and so were ready to go for this afternoons show. Not to disappoint, the decision was made to fire off this significant amount of ordnance in rapid fire fashion. To say the least it was impressive.
Later in the afternoon, with a thunderstorm on it's way a few entrepid aviators did take to the skies including the Masters of Disaster Aerobatics team. I would term them "The Three Stooges take to the air". Some exceptional flying and at very low level below the clouds. The Jet Truck is also part of their act...zooming along at 400 mph on the runway while the three biplanes try to run into each other in the air. I have to admit, their aerobatics are the closest I've seen to pilots having a mid-air and getting away with it. We also had a low level demonstration of the F-16. F-16's normally use airspace upwards in altitude of 15,000 feet in their shows. This was all below 4000 feet, mostly high speed passes, which suited the crowd just fine.
I feel a great disappointment about the situation today, mainly for the many 1000's of people who come to the airshow. A great many come every single year..and look forward to it each and every time. Many more are first time visitors who are there to see what I consider to be one of the best entertainment and historical events in the country. Like one couple with two small children. They looked and sounded to be Eastern Europeans. They stopped me and asked in broken English..."will there be flying today"? I had just heard an announcement from the "Show Boss" over my radio that the Tora Pearl Harbor event was scrapped so I had to tell these nice people that "flying didn't look good today". I've never seen four people look so crestfallen. I hope they had a good time anyway and that they'll come back next year.
Today's amazing pictures: Sunday Air Sho Pictures
In the decade and some years of the CAF being headquartered in Midland, we've never even come close to a rainout of the Air Sho. But all good things must end and today was the day. Dawn broke with low clouds, fog and drizzle but the forecast called for the weather to change. And it did, with thunderstorms and more low clouds.
At the pilot's briefing the prediction was for all the weather to lift between eleven and one o'clock, so we knew we might have to adjust things in the show to some degree. But the "lifting" never came, only a few breaks that served to falsely raise our hopes. By 1:30 the main event, the Tora Tora Tora reenactment of Pearl Harbor, was scrapped and we never got anything else significant off the ground. Most of our loyal fans stuck with us, however, and we did have all planes do a powered run down the taxiway in front of the crowd.
The crowd did get an extraordinary thrill however from our explosives teams. The charges that make up the explosions for the show are laid early in the morning and so were ready to go for this afternoons show. Not to disappoint, the decision was made to fire off this significant amount of ordnance in rapid fire fashion. To say the least it was impressive.
Later in the afternoon, with a thunderstorm on it's way a few entrepid aviators did take to the skies including the Masters of Disaster Aerobatics team. I would term them "The Three Stooges take to the air". Some exceptional flying and at very low level below the clouds. The Jet Truck is also part of their act...zooming along at 400 mph on the runway while the three biplanes try to run into each other in the air. I have to admit, their aerobatics are the closest I've seen to pilots having a mid-air and getting away with it. We also had a low level demonstration of the F-16. F-16's normally use airspace upwards in altitude of 15,000 feet in their shows. This was all below 4000 feet, mostly high speed passes, which suited the crowd just fine.
I feel a great disappointment about the situation today, mainly for the many 1000's of people who come to the airshow. A great many come every single year..and look forward to it each and every time. Many more are first time visitors who are there to see what I consider to be one of the best entertainment and historical events in the country. Like one couple with two small children. They looked and sounded to be Eastern Europeans. They stopped me and asked in broken English..."will there be flying today"? I had just heard an announcement from the "Show Boss" over my radio that the Tora Pearl Harbor event was scrapped so I had to tell these nice people that "flying didn't look good today". I've never seen four people look so crestfallen. I hope they had a good time anyway and that they'll come back next year.
Today's amazing pictures: Sunday Air Sho Pictures
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