In a truck stop in the Texas Panhandle, Fox News was on (shocking!). On the crawl it said something like, "Why is Sarah Palin winning over evangelicals?"
I walked by and asked the question allowed as I read it. A gentleman took the the bait and said, "'Cause she's hot!"
I asked, in all seriousness, "It's not a problem that she has a 17-year-old unwed pregnant daughter?"
Now, I was raised in a Protestant religious family who taught me that one qualification for elected office is moral character and judgment. A classic example of this is, although my parents met while campaigning for John F. Kennedy, my father said he could never vote for Ted Kennedy for elected office, because of the incident at Chappaquiddick (sp?). He felt this incident demonstrated a lack of moral character that is necessary for elected office. (The fact that JFK himself might have been as bad never came up, and since my father has been dead for almost 20 years, I'll never really know if he knew about JFK's own shortcomings or if he felt they were as bad as Teddy's).
So one window into moral character, in my opinion, is the ability to keep your teenage daughter from getting pregnant. I feel that this is one of a parent's top priority: don't let your daughter get pregnant before she is ready, even if she thinks she is.
And if a person can't accomplish this, then that doesn't make them a bad person. But it does show that that person can't juggle all of the responsibilities he/she has, now does it? And a President must be able to effectively juggle responsibilities.
I'm not saying this is an automatic disqualification for me, but it's a very, very, serious problem. Some people may think I set the bar too high, but, how and under what circumstances a girl gets pregnant can determine the course of her entire life. It's a very, very, serious matter.
So my question to the gentleman was very serious. As far as I can tell, the evangelical "morality" is all about furthering agendas but that somehow the personal morality of the candidate who makes decisions on our behalf is not an issue.
His answer: "At least she's not a Muslim."
I had finally met one. Met a person who was willing to admit he thought Barack Obama was a Muslim. At first I thought he was kidding, but he was dead serious. College educated with sources and everything. Redneck colleges, sure, but he was confident Hillary had said he was a Muslim. (He was sure I hadn't attended college because I didn't know these things.)
Hillary has never said Barack's a Muslim, of course.
It's a real shame this country has not come far enough to elect a Muslim as President. It's unclear the country could have elected a Mormon this time around as well.
And it's unclear to me that it's ready to elect anyone of dark skin, but at least it might take making everyone believe he's a Muslim to make it happen. One step at a time, I suppose.
The gentleman said that of course he wasn't going to vote for Obama anyway because, "he's the anti-Christ."
Now that's just silly. Doesn't he know the anti-Christ is supposed to be born in Europe?
Anyway, we can take this one solace: evangelical Christians are on board with electing a woman President. (well, VP, but the same qualifications to each apply because all the VP is is the person who would become President without another election).
Seriously, if you think about it, it's a big accomplishment.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Albuquerque
As I write this, I am sitting in a Midas in a bad section of Albuquerque (I'm quickly realizing there are no good sections) at 7:40 AM (Tuesday, September 9) , hoping that I won't be ripped off because my brakes are screeching like the Devil. They screech even when I'm not depressing the brake pedal, suggesting it's the brake pads that I just had replaced around a year ago.
They probably got dirty from Burning Man, but after a rain actually made them worse (that's right, water falling from the sky, haven't seen that happen since Missouri on August 20), I decided to take no chances and bring the truck in to the Midas.
I haven't blogged for a while because driving across the country has become exhausting. Now that I'm the only one driving, it seems to be exponentially more difficult. 7 hours straight seems much harder than 7 hours within 14 hours. So I suppose regular breaks are better, but who wants to hang out at a truck stop for 2 hours?
In Moab, we spent a day seeing Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I now remember that I really wanted to spend an entire week in each – off-roading and hiking. Arches is a lot of hiking to see all of the arches.
There seem to be a lot of great restaurants in Moab. We ate twice at Pasta Jay's. Very good gourmet pizza. From there, we drove to Albuquerque via Four Corners.
Four Corners is actually not what you would expect because it's in the Navajo Nation. It's just as cheesy as you'd expect, but it's very low tech and “only” costs $3 per person for the privilege of saying your body was in four states at once. If this were run by the U.S. Government, I'm sure it would be about half the size of Mt. Rushmore, with a cafeteria, an admission of around $12 (that seems to be the magical value that a parent can't refuse on the basis of being too expensive), and a place where you can stand to get your picture taken for a 6x9 glossy that will cost you $25. The cafeteria would have bad food, but you wouldn't mind because you were starving when you got there.
In the Navajo version, there is no cafeteria, the bathrooms are portos (mine was very clean), and there are huts where they're selling...wait for it...jewelry.
Any retail store owner will tell you jewelry is where it's at. It takes up very little floor space and the margins are ridiculous. Jewelry, figurines and such. That's where the money is. Books...no one except Barnes & Nobles and Amazon make any money from books. Retail is really a hard business to make money at if you're not Navajo with no rent or labor costs. Your margins have to be at least 50% to have a chance. This is why Amazon does so well. Retail shops are extremely inefficient.
Anyway, we spent an entire day (Monday) in Albuquerque. Not because Albuquerque is especially interesting, but because I simply needed the break. I did, however, think that I'd find some live jazz as I heard this was a good town for that. But I couldn't find any last night. I did find a really good restaurant, The Standard Diner, on old route 66. The décor and atmosphere was elegant, and the food was really good. There were very few people there, though. They must have lost money last night. We didn't spend much more than we would have at Uno's.
As I was trying to find jazz clubs and restaurants, I encountered a LOT of “the number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer is service...”. I was told that Albuquerque was hurting in this economy but I had no idea. No wonder this state is rapidly moving from “swing state” status to solidly for Obama for this election, even while McCain is gaining lots of momentum elsewhere.
Today, if I get out of this Midas in a decent amount of time, we will drive to Oklahoma City, stopping at the Big Kettle National Grasslands on the way.
Why Big Kettle? Well, it's where one of the scenes from my novel takes place. How this scene came to take place there reveals a lot of my personal creative process. One day I had a vision of a hunting scene from a character's childhood. This scene would have taken place in the mid 1940's. It was a strong character-developing scene, and it took place in a grassy, swampy area. I then looked for an area that looks like that that is near where I knew the character grew up, and I found this park. Hunting was allowed there back then as it wasn't a National Grasslands. In my scene, they are hunting rabbits, and although I can change that, I recall there are rabbits in this park. I am going to take pictures there and simply take in the atmosphere so that I can more richly and accurately describe the surroundings.
Also, another scene takes place at a bank in Oklahoma City, and so I want to scope out a couple of those, also. That scene takes place in 1998, so it's more recent. The trick here is to make the scene appear to be as realistic as possible while making it still a ficticious bank. OK, so I don't have to travel to Oklahoma City to describe a bank realistically, but while I'm here, I might as well spend the extra half hour to get it as right as it can be.
My belief is that in order to help the reader suspend disbelief, the writer needs to go way beyond what seems to him/her to be enough in making it realistic. Why is that? Because there are lots of people who know more than you do about most things. Sure, for someone who hasn't been to Oklahoma City, I could make it appear to be very realistic, but for someone who lives there, you have to do more.
They probably got dirty from Burning Man, but after a rain actually made them worse (that's right, water falling from the sky, haven't seen that happen since Missouri on August 20), I decided to take no chances and bring the truck in to the Midas.
I haven't blogged for a while because driving across the country has become exhausting. Now that I'm the only one driving, it seems to be exponentially more difficult. 7 hours straight seems much harder than 7 hours within 14 hours. So I suppose regular breaks are better, but who wants to hang out at a truck stop for 2 hours?
In Moab, we spent a day seeing Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I now remember that I really wanted to spend an entire week in each – off-roading and hiking. Arches is a lot of hiking to see all of the arches.
There seem to be a lot of great restaurants in Moab. We ate twice at Pasta Jay's. Very good gourmet pizza. From there, we drove to Albuquerque via Four Corners.
Four Corners is actually not what you would expect because it's in the Navajo Nation. It's just as cheesy as you'd expect, but it's very low tech and “only” costs $3 per person for the privilege of saying your body was in four states at once. If this were run by the U.S. Government, I'm sure it would be about half the size of Mt. Rushmore, with a cafeteria, an admission of around $12 (that seems to be the magical value that a parent can't refuse on the basis of being too expensive), and a place where you can stand to get your picture taken for a 6x9 glossy that will cost you $25. The cafeteria would have bad food, but you wouldn't mind because you were starving when you got there.
In the Navajo version, there is no cafeteria, the bathrooms are portos (mine was very clean), and there are huts where they're selling...wait for it...jewelry.
Any retail store owner will tell you jewelry is where it's at. It takes up very little floor space and the margins are ridiculous. Jewelry, figurines and such. That's where the money is. Books...no one except Barnes & Nobles and Amazon make any money from books. Retail is really a hard business to make money at if you're not Navajo with no rent or labor costs. Your margins have to be at least 50% to have a chance. This is why Amazon does so well. Retail shops are extremely inefficient.
Anyway, we spent an entire day (Monday) in Albuquerque. Not because Albuquerque is especially interesting, but because I simply needed the break. I did, however, think that I'd find some live jazz as I heard this was a good town for that. But I couldn't find any last night. I did find a really good restaurant, The Standard Diner, on old route 66. The décor and atmosphere was elegant, and the food was really good. There were very few people there, though. They must have lost money last night. We didn't spend much more than we would have at Uno's.
As I was trying to find jazz clubs and restaurants, I encountered a LOT of “the number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer is service...”. I was told that Albuquerque was hurting in this economy but I had no idea. No wonder this state is rapidly moving from “swing state” status to solidly for Obama for this election, even while McCain is gaining lots of momentum elsewhere.
Today, if I get out of this Midas in a decent amount of time, we will drive to Oklahoma City, stopping at the Big Kettle National Grasslands on the way.
Why Big Kettle? Well, it's where one of the scenes from my novel takes place. How this scene came to take place there reveals a lot of my personal creative process. One day I had a vision of a hunting scene from a character's childhood. This scene would have taken place in the mid 1940's. It was a strong character-developing scene, and it took place in a grassy, swampy area. I then looked for an area that looks like that that is near where I knew the character grew up, and I found this park. Hunting was allowed there back then as it wasn't a National Grasslands. In my scene, they are hunting rabbits, and although I can change that, I recall there are rabbits in this park. I am going to take pictures there and simply take in the atmosphere so that I can more richly and accurately describe the surroundings.
Also, another scene takes place at a bank in Oklahoma City, and so I want to scope out a couple of those, also. That scene takes place in 1998, so it's more recent. The trick here is to make the scene appear to be as realistic as possible while making it still a ficticious bank. OK, so I don't have to travel to Oklahoma City to describe a bank realistically, but while I'm here, I might as well spend the extra half hour to get it as right as it can be.
My belief is that in order to help the reader suspend disbelief, the writer needs to go way beyond what seems to him/her to be enough in making it realistic. Why is that? Because there are lots of people who know more than you do about most things. Sure, for someone who hasn't been to Oklahoma City, I could make it appear to be very realistic, but for someone who lives there, you have to do more.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Done With Burning Man
I'm officially done with Burning Man. Until I'm not :).
It's become blase, and it burns (pun intended) way too much of my energy and vacation time to at all be worth it.
Everyone seems to work really hard for little benefit. I feel like we're all in a work camp where we are fed propaganda, trance-like alterations from watching various important symbols burn, and a variety of substances, which we ourselves are convinced to pay for, to make us work as hard as we can. OK, so the last part (at lease illegally) doesn't apply to me, but the point is valid in general.
Well, it's either a work camp or a grand experiment to see how much time, money, and hard work can be extracted from people who are otherwise in general very well off and don't work as hard at their real jobs.
Imagine if that kind of energy can be harnessed for the cause of *good*.
Burning Man "jumped the shark" for me when I heard the story (over BMIR - Burning Man Informational Radio) of how a woman had lost her camera, and another person looked through the photos, and from those photos deduced the camp that woman was in, found them and handed it back to her. This woman who got her camera back recounted this story and ended with, "Only here would such kindness happen."
First of all, I don't think it's kindness to look through someone's personal photos, and, second, I hear such stories of kindness every day in the "outer world". I'm sure for every one I hear, there's about 100,000 such acts of kindness that go on without my knowledge.
Seriously, only at Burning Man would someone think that kindness only happens at Burning Man. Since most burners are from the Bay Area, I wonder if any acts of kindness happen there at all.
No more Burning Man for me. Perhaps I'll go in 2012, with the sole purpose of working as little as possible. That'll show "The Man".
It's become blase, and it burns (pun intended) way too much of my energy and vacation time to at all be worth it.
Everyone seems to work really hard for little benefit. I feel like we're all in a work camp where we are fed propaganda, trance-like alterations from watching various important symbols burn, and a variety of substances, which we ourselves are convinced to pay for, to make us work as hard as we can. OK, so the last part (at lease illegally) doesn't apply to me, but the point is valid in general.
Well, it's either a work camp or a grand experiment to see how much time, money, and hard work can be extracted from people who are otherwise in general very well off and don't work as hard at their real jobs.
Imagine if that kind of energy can be harnessed for the cause of *good*.
Burning Man "jumped the shark" for me when I heard the story (over BMIR - Burning Man Informational Radio) of how a woman had lost her camera, and another person looked through the photos, and from those photos deduced the camp that woman was in, found them and handed it back to her. This woman who got her camera back recounted this story and ended with, "Only here would such kindness happen."
First of all, I don't think it's kindness to look through someone's personal photos, and, second, I hear such stories of kindness every day in the "outer world". I'm sure for every one I hear, there's about 100,000 such acts of kindness that go on without my knowledge.
Seriously, only at Burning Man would someone think that kindness only happens at Burning Man. Since most burners are from the Bay Area, I wonder if any acts of kindness happen there at all.
No more Burning Man for me. Perhaps I'll go in 2012, with the sole purpose of working as little as possible. That'll show "The Man".
Bryce Canyon (September 4, 2008)
Woo-hoo! I got an image to upload!
Well, two full days now and my mother and I are getting along. Someone must have hypnotized my mother, because I haven't changed one bit for the trip. Does that make me a bad son? No, but a less good one.
Today we drove through the painted desert and took in Bryce Canyon before sunset. As you can see from that photo, it was beautiful, but it gets better.
On to Moab and the most beautiful stretch of interstate highway in America.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Vegas, Grand Canyon, Route 66 and Sedona (September 3, 2008)
Yesterday my mother arrived in Vegas, and today I said goodbye to Heidi and my sister.
Vegas is simply a cluster-fuck. Perhaps literally. Everything is fake. I mean, I saw lots of fake things. Obviously fake.
I just don't understand gambling with games of chance at all. My idea of gambling on a game of chance is a one-shot deal. I bet $1,000 with the 1 in 2,000 chance of winning $1,000,000. I know if I did this 1,000 times, the odds of coming out ahead are small, and the odds of losing a million dollars is much higher than that. But if I did this only one time, sure I'd most likely lose $1,000, but, hey, I still have a decent chance of becoming a millionaire.
Of course, going to a casino is like doing this 1,000 times. There's really no way to win, unless you stop as soon as you've won significantly. But instead, you won't stop when you're ahead, instead you'll stop when you have a plane to catch.
Also, why is sitting in front of a slot machine so much fun?
Now Poker...Poker I understand because it's a game of skill, but, only if you're good at it. Most people aren't, yet they play anyway. I guess, though, it has to be this way. *Some people* have to lose, and so I guess they will always be considered the ones who are not good at it.
I didn't gamble one cent while I was in Vegas. I didn't see a show. And I didn't do anything that is supposed to be "left in Vegas."
I really don't like Vegas.
...
My mother and I went to Grand Canyon West where we went on the sky bridge. It was pretty cool, but it's really not ready for prime-time. Still, the views were very good. I'd never seen the Grand Canyon before, except one time when it was fogged in, so that doesn't really count. We drove on old route 66 in Arizona and ended up in Sedona.
...
Seriously, I'm having real trouble uploading images and gps tracks. Sigh.
Vegas is simply a cluster-fuck. Perhaps literally. Everything is fake. I mean, I saw lots of fake things. Obviously fake.
I just don't understand gambling with games of chance at all. My idea of gambling on a game of chance is a one-shot deal. I bet $1,000 with the 1 in 2,000 chance of winning $1,000,000. I know if I did this 1,000 times, the odds of coming out ahead are small, and the odds of losing a million dollars is much higher than that. But if I did this only one time, sure I'd most likely lose $1,000, but, hey, I still have a decent chance of becoming a millionaire.
Of course, going to a casino is like doing this 1,000 times. There's really no way to win, unless you stop as soon as you've won significantly. But instead, you won't stop when you're ahead, instead you'll stop when you have a plane to catch.
Also, why is sitting in front of a slot machine so much fun?
Now Poker...Poker I understand because it's a game of skill, but, only if you're good at it. Most people aren't, yet they play anyway. I guess, though, it has to be this way. *Some people* have to lose, and so I guess they will always be considered the ones who are not good at it.
I didn't gamble one cent while I was in Vegas. I didn't see a show. And I didn't do anything that is supposed to be "left in Vegas."
I really don't like Vegas.
...
My mother and I went to Grand Canyon West where we went on the sky bridge. It was pretty cool, but it's really not ready for prime-time. Still, the views were very good. I'd never seen the Grand Canyon before, except one time when it was fogged in, so that doesn't really count. We drove on old route 66 in Arizona and ended up in Sedona.
...
Seriously, I'm having real trouble uploading images and gps tracks. Sigh.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Greeting from Burning Man
Well, I finally got net connection by the day of the burn. I haven't sorted through photos yet, but Heidi and I got some really good ones.
OK, so I have to say it. The best dance club on the planet is The Root Society at Burning Man. It's located at 10:00 and Esplanade. However, when I told some people at camp that it was run by the founder of Monster.com, I was told by two people, "he doesn't want anyone to know that." Hmmm....I learned because it was in an article in the Boston Phoenix. He was interviewed. Not keeping his own secret very well, is he?
Anyway, his dance club is great.
...
Vegas was *hot*. I know what I said in a previous post, but it was *hot*, *hot*, *hot*. The temp hit 109 when we were driving to Vegas from Zion. It was 106 in Vegas. It even felt uncomfortably hot when walking around just before dawn.
...
The trailer's cover has holes/tears (but was OK), two sky domes are busted (were already), the sewer drain valve is broken (was already), the toilet is busted and unusable (new). And a few other random annoyances. Par for the course. I hope to engage someone out here to fix them over the next two years (we will most likely not go to Burning Man next year).
OK, so I have to say it. The best dance club on the planet is The Root Society at Burning Man. It's located at 10:00 and Esplanade. However, when I told some people at camp that it was run by the founder of Monster.com, I was told by two people, "he doesn't want anyone to know that." Hmmm....I learned because it was in an article in the Boston Phoenix. He was interviewed. Not keeping his own secret very well, is he?
Anyway, his dance club is great.
...
Vegas was *hot*. I know what I said in a previous post, but it was *hot*, *hot*, *hot*. The temp hit 109 when we were driving to Vegas from Zion. It was 106 in Vegas. It even felt uncomfortably hot when walking around just before dawn.
...
The trailer's cover has holes/tears (but was OK), two sky domes are busted (were already), the sewer drain valve is broken (was already), the toilet is busted and unusable (new). And a few other random annoyances. Par for the course. I hope to engage someone out here to fix them over the next two years (we will most likely not go to Burning Man next year).
Monday, August 25, 2008
Zion to Burning Man (August 23-25, 2008)
I haven't had any time to blog, things have been so hectic. I'm sitting in the back of a Super 8 in Fernley stealing their wi-fi. It would be fun if someone called them and ratted me out, but I'll most likely be gone :).
We hiked up 2000 feet at Zion Canyon National Park when we took the wrong trail. We didn't have any water with us, but it was fun nonetheless.
We met up with my sister Carrie in Vegas Saturday night, then drove up here to Fernely yesterday. We'll be heading on up to Burning Man (just north of Gerlach, NV), where I most likely will not be able to blog.
All of my gps tracks and photos will have to wait until I get back from Burning Man next week, unless I'm lucky. I lost the gps track from Zion to Vegas, but I have everything else.
See ya on the other side (unless my messages can penetrate the Burning Man veil).
We hiked up 2000 feet at Zion Canyon National Park when we took the wrong trail. We didn't have any water with us, but it was fun nonetheless.
We met up with my sister Carrie in Vegas Saturday night, then drove up here to Fernely yesterday. We'll be heading on up to Burning Man (just north of Gerlach, NV), where I most likely will not be able to blog.
All of my gps tracks and photos will have to wait until I get back from Burning Man next week, unless I'm lucky. I lost the gps track from Zion to Vegas, but I have everything else.
See ya on the other side (unless my messages can penetrate the Burning Man veil).
Saturday, August 23, 2008
11,011 feet (August 22, 2008)
I don't have long to blog, so I'll update my detailed travels in later blogs.
Yesterday we drove from sunup to sundown from Limon, CO to Zion Canyon National Park, via Colorado Springs.
I saw more than a dozen pro-life protesters in Colorado Springs with the most disgusting signs of aborted fetuses. Seriously, no matter what side of the issue you're on, that's just disgusting. Of course, these protesters would be the first to admit that, because that was their point. But I don't believe this belongs on a street corner.
Western Colorado and southern Utah is probably the most beautiful landscape on the planet. I had never seen Colorado outside of the I-25 corridor and the four corners area. I'm glad I finally got to see it. I'd also never been at such a high elevation (11,011 feet) in my life.
We're just about to leave for Zion Canyon at dawn, and then finish up in Las Vegas. Hopefully, we'll get into Las Vegas early afternoon, so I can catch up on my sleep while it's 104 degrees.
But it's a dry heat :).
Seriously, you can knock off 10 degrees from the temperature here to compare to what it feels like in Boston. Still, the equivalent of 94 in Boston is still hot.
Yesterday we drove from sunup to sundown from Limon, CO to Zion Canyon National Park, via Colorado Springs.
I saw more than a dozen pro-life protesters in Colorado Springs with the most disgusting signs of aborted fetuses. Seriously, no matter what side of the issue you're on, that's just disgusting. Of course, these protesters would be the first to admit that, because that was their point. But I don't believe this belongs on a street corner.
Western Colorado and southern Utah is probably the most beautiful landscape on the planet. I had never seen Colorado outside of the I-25 corridor and the four corners area. I'm glad I finally got to see it. I'd also never been at such a high elevation (11,011 feet) in my life.
We're just about to leave for Zion Canyon at dawn, and then finish up in Las Vegas. Hopefully, we'll get into Las Vegas early afternoon, so I can catch up on my sleep while it's 104 degrees.
But it's a dry heat :).
Seriously, you can knock off 10 degrees from the temperature here to compare to what it feels like in Boston. Still, the equivalent of 94 in Boston is still hot.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Corn Farming (August 21, 2008)
I mentioned in my previous post that I never tire of looking at corn farms with farmhouses. Heidi suggested that I was a corn farmer in a previous life. Then I remembered that two of my most favorite movies are Signs and Field of Dreams, both of which take place on corn farms for which the protagonist is the farmer of. Perhaps she's onto something. Or, perhaps, I love corn farms because I loved those movies so much. Signs was mainly about Alien Invasion, while Field of Dreams was mainly about Baseball. Hmmm...
As you can see in the picture, there are windmills in Western Kansas. Other than farms, there's nothing else. There was one large batch of windmills that were not moving when we drove by. There were around 30, and none of them were moving. I wondered what the point of having all those windmills were if they all would be turned off.
The "Page Up" key broke on my laptop. I do use it, but it's not used by normal typing, but a one-off. Still, I probably should have bought a tougher laptop for driving across the country with. Oh, well.
I just had a really great prime rib. It was at Oscar's Bar and Grill in Limon, CO. Colorado is definitely more upscale than Kansas. Even so, I encountered one guy with a Kansas accent with a Red Sox cap on. He was complaining about yesterday's game. You know, Hank Steinbrenner says that the Yankees are America's team, and that it's the Yankees swag you see everywhere. But I see Red Sox swag far more often in my travels. When I go to Disney World, Red Sox swag outnumbers Yankees swag better than 2 to 1. I know because I count them. It's a hobby.
I'm having trouble with the mapping site I use, so I don't have the route mapped yet. But it wasn't anything special. We traveled from Bridgeton/St. Louis, MO to Limon, CO on I-70. Ho-hum.
Tomorrow should be a really great day. Almost the entire drive is scenic, and we hope to finish near Zion Canyon National Park.
Amish (August 20, 2008)
We ran into a dozen or so Amish in a Flying J truck stop in Berkshire, Ohio. You could tell they were Amish by their wearing traditional clothes and speaking German. I've always admired the Amish. They live the way they want to live, they don't care how others live, and all they ask for is to be left alone with the little bit of land they own.
But what were they doing in a truck stop? I looked around and couldn't find a horse and buggy. Then Heidi told me they had come in a white E-based Ford van driven by someone else. Sure enough, I saw some emerging from the van.
Isn't that cheating?
I don't get tired of looking at farmhouses. Particularly among fields of corn. I wondered aloud why that is, and Heidi said, "Perhaps you were a corn farmer in a past life." I answered, "Stop reading my mind!"
But what were they doing in a truck stop? I looked around and couldn't find a horse and buggy. Then Heidi told me they had come in a white E-based Ford van driven by someone else. Sure enough, I saw some emerging from the van.
Isn't that cheating?
I don't get tired of looking at farmhouses. Particularly among fields of corn. I wondered aloud why that is, and Heidi said, "Perhaps you were a corn farmer in a past life." I answered, "Stop reading my mind!"
DF US 20080820
Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS GeotaggingWednesday, August 20, 2008
GPS Crack-headedness (August 19, 2008)
Yesterday's travel was surprisingly eventful.
Running into traffic on I-84 from Hartford to the New York border was expected.
But the highlight was the Prius from South Carolina with around 50 bumper stickers placed all over it. It traveled the speed limit in the fast lane, and then as I approached, it would drift over to the right lane without signaling. Then, straddling the dashed line, it would then put on its left turn signal and go back into the left lane. It did this several times, until finally moving over to the right to let me pass. Then it proceeded to speed up and match our speed. We both got up to around 85-90, until it finally decided to slow down. They were also drifting a bit at other times, as if the driver was high. I'd have thought they were going to Burning Man, but there were no bicycles. Hippies!
What's the point of driving a Prius if you drive at 85 mph?
Then there was the van that was almost completely burned. It was still smoldering, with about a half-dozen emergency vehicles and two other passenger vehicles, around it. The horrible smoke smell filled our truck. The van was already reduced to a metal shell, everything else had already combusted.
The lowlight was the crack-headedness of GPS. You would think that, having three GPS devices in the truck, we wouldn't be sent too astray. But there was the guided trip to the Wal-Mart that got us on a gravel road in buttfudge PA. We finally found the Wal-Mart about half a mile from where the mapping software said it was. THEN there was the GPS route that sent us astray onto exurban roads in State College, PA, trying to get to the Motel 6 at 11pm. When we finally got there, it was sold out, although at 2pm the Motel 6 web site said there was a rooom available. So we had to drive until almost 1am to the Super 8 in Brookville, PA (where I'm typing this now). This GPS crack-headedness, plus the Motel 6 being sold out, probably cost us more than an hour, because the Motel 6 was about 20 miles off of I-80.
Other than that, the trip was uneventful. Here's our route from yesterday:
DF US
Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS GeotaggingTuesday, August 19, 2008
Hitting The Road
We got a reasonable prognosis about Zoe, and we feel comfortable with her care situation, so we're hitting the road!
Check here daily (hopefully), and we'll update you on our progress and sight-seeing. This will include our progress and a map of the route we took (hopefully, if the GPS tracking all woks correctly).
Note that I'm not going to start at home as I don't want to advertise my home address here, but will start at a rest stop.
Check here daily (hopefully), and we'll update you on our progress and sight-seeing. This will include our progress and a map of the route we took (hopefully, if the GPS tracking all woks correctly).
Note that I'm not going to start at home as I don't want to advertise my home address here, but will start at a rest stop.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Zoe
This is Zoe:
Zoe was born in a shelter in February of 1995, and when we arrived at the shelter in September of that year, we fell in love. By "we" I mean, Heidi and I fell in love with Zoe, and Zoe fell in love with us.
I remember Zoe was in one of three rooms, all of which were filled with cats. I'd say a dozen or so in each room. Heidi and I went into each room trying to pick out a cat. Man, was that hard. We love cats, and there are lots to choose from.
Eventually, I was tired and I sat down in one of the rooms, not sure what to do to pick a cat.
And then Zoe chose me.
Before I knew what was happening, she had started to sit on my lap. And she stayed there. It was as if she was saying, "mine!" She had claimed me. I was her human, and she would go home with me.
When a childless couple like Heidi and me have cats, usually a special bond forms with one cat for each person. Zoe and I bonded instantly.
When we first brought her home, she had enormous paws compared to the rest of her body. She really did look funny. But she also looked so very, very cute. You may think that all cats look cute, and you'd be right, but Zoe is the cutest cat that I've ever seen.
She grew into her paws of course. She learned the wonders of Christmas ornaments hanging low from the tree, the cool space behind the drawers in the dresser, and, of course, the choice real estate of empty boxes.
While we lived in an exurb, she would go outside and have fun. She would love to play with bugs. One time she was playing with a bug, and her older sister walked nonchalantly and without breaking stride scooped up the bug in her mouth, right in front of Zoe. I can't recall for sure, but I think Zoe then found another bug to play with.
Zoe always wanted to cuddle and snuggle. She was afraid of strangers, but once she got to know someone, she would always come over and ask to be snuggled.
And by ask, she would meow and then jump up onto the person's lap. At night, she would routinely sleep in our bed, snuggling one or the other of us. More often than not, I would wake up in the middle of the night, and Zoe would be sleeping with Heidi's arm around her.
Zoe is extremely talkative. When I come home, she says "meow" and I say "hi." Then she says "meow" and I say "hi" again. This goes on through several interations. Any time she sees us again, she says "meow" as if she's saying "hi". Any thing she wants to communicate to us, she'll communicate with a meow or two. Or three. Or four...
Zoe is, quite simply, the cat with the most love that I've ever known. Her vet said in a note, "Zoe is a sweet little girl." And that's Zoe. She's a sweet, little girl.
And she's my little girl. I've been caring for her and looking after her as if she was my own daughter. She really does mean a lot to me, and she's brought a lot of joy and love into my heart.
Zoe was born with a heart murmur. Heidi calls her, "poor little heart murmur girl." We've been monitoring this heart murmur for her whole life.
Her doctors told us Monday morning, suddenly, without warning, that her heart condition is finally going to end her life. They estimate two months, but at this point they really don't know. Her death could be imminent. I think when they say two months, they mean a really good scenario. With my last cat, when they said that, she died a week later.
I've loved this girl so much, my own heart broke when I heard the news. I'm not ashamed to say I've broken down in tears several times. I don't think anyone other than Heidi fully appreciates what this little girl means to me.
We were due to leave on our big trip tomorrow morning. I was looking forward to this as a trip of a lifetime. I mean I was really looking forward to it. Last week I was simply giddy thinking about this trip. Driving around the country with Heidi, going to Burning Man, seeing friends I haven't seen in a while, traveling with my Mother and my sister, traveling with Heidi's parents (until they had to cancel). And my employer had given me five and a half weeks for it. I've only taken more than a week and a half off three times, twice two weeks, and once three weeks. For me, it can't get any better than this trip. If I could do this for my entire life, I'd be extremely happy.
And then my little girl, the one I love so much, needed me more than she ever has before. I'm in tears just thinking about leaving her to fight this alone. The doctors have suggested "medical boarding," and while every other cat I've had would have loved it, Zoe would be distressed to no end. She even gets distressed when we're away. She hides and it takes an hour to coax her out of hiding when we're gone for more than a day.
We're going to see how she is later next week and then start our trip a week late, if Heidi and I can feel comfortable enough to leave her alone (meaning that her doctors think she's healthy enough to be unlikely to go into heart failure while we're gone). Perhaps I can feel comfortable with her with Heidi at home, and I go on the trip with just my sister and my mother. However, without Heidi this won't be near as much fun. I certainly can't go to Burning Man without her.
I'm simply devastated. Zoe is NOT just another cat. Anyone who knows her will tell you that. She needs her mother and her daddy, a LOT more than any other cat I've ever known. She has a big heart, literally and figuratively, and she's a sweet little girl.
And she won't be around much longer.
Zoe was born in a shelter in February of 1995, and when we arrived at the shelter in September of that year, we fell in love. By "we" I mean, Heidi and I fell in love with Zoe, and Zoe fell in love with us.
I remember Zoe was in one of three rooms, all of which were filled with cats. I'd say a dozen or so in each room. Heidi and I went into each room trying to pick out a cat. Man, was that hard. We love cats, and there are lots to choose from.
Eventually, I was tired and I sat down in one of the rooms, not sure what to do to pick a cat.
And then Zoe chose me.
Before I knew what was happening, she had started to sit on my lap. And she stayed there. It was as if she was saying, "mine!" She had claimed me. I was her human, and she would go home with me.
When a childless couple like Heidi and me have cats, usually a special bond forms with one cat for each person. Zoe and I bonded instantly.
When we first brought her home, she had enormous paws compared to the rest of her body. She really did look funny. But she also looked so very, very cute. You may think that all cats look cute, and you'd be right, but Zoe is the cutest cat that I've ever seen.
She grew into her paws of course. She learned the wonders of Christmas ornaments hanging low from the tree, the cool space behind the drawers in the dresser, and, of course, the choice real estate of empty boxes.
While we lived in an exurb, she would go outside and have fun. She would love to play with bugs. One time she was playing with a bug, and her older sister walked nonchalantly and without breaking stride scooped up the bug in her mouth, right in front of Zoe. I can't recall for sure, but I think Zoe then found another bug to play with.
Zoe always wanted to cuddle and snuggle. She was afraid of strangers, but once she got to know someone, she would always come over and ask to be snuggled.
And by ask, she would meow and then jump up onto the person's lap. At night, she would routinely sleep in our bed, snuggling one or the other of us. More often than not, I would wake up in the middle of the night, and Zoe would be sleeping with Heidi's arm around her.
Zoe is extremely talkative. When I come home, she says "meow" and I say "hi." Then she says "meow" and I say "hi" again. This goes on through several interations. Any time she sees us again, she says "meow" as if she's saying "hi". Any thing she wants to communicate to us, she'll communicate with a meow or two. Or three. Or four...
Zoe is, quite simply, the cat with the most love that I've ever known. Her vet said in a note, "Zoe is a sweet little girl." And that's Zoe. She's a sweet, little girl.
And she's my little girl. I've been caring for her and looking after her as if she was my own daughter. She really does mean a lot to me, and she's brought a lot of joy and love into my heart.
Zoe was born with a heart murmur. Heidi calls her, "poor little heart murmur girl." We've been monitoring this heart murmur for her whole life.
Her doctors told us Monday morning, suddenly, without warning, that her heart condition is finally going to end her life. They estimate two months, but at this point they really don't know. Her death could be imminent. I think when they say two months, they mean a really good scenario. With my last cat, when they said that, she died a week later.
I've loved this girl so much, my own heart broke when I heard the news. I'm not ashamed to say I've broken down in tears several times. I don't think anyone other than Heidi fully appreciates what this little girl means to me.
We were due to leave on our big trip tomorrow morning. I was looking forward to this as a trip of a lifetime. I mean I was really looking forward to it. Last week I was simply giddy thinking about this trip. Driving around the country with Heidi, going to Burning Man, seeing friends I haven't seen in a while, traveling with my Mother and my sister, traveling with Heidi's parents (until they had to cancel). And my employer had given me five and a half weeks for it. I've only taken more than a week and a half off three times, twice two weeks, and once three weeks. For me, it can't get any better than this trip. If I could do this for my entire life, I'd be extremely happy.
And then my little girl, the one I love so much, needed me more than she ever has before. I'm in tears just thinking about leaving her to fight this alone. The doctors have suggested "medical boarding," and while every other cat I've had would have loved it, Zoe would be distressed to no end. She even gets distressed when we're away. She hides and it takes an hour to coax her out of hiding when we're gone for more than a day.
We're going to see how she is later next week and then start our trip a week late, if Heidi and I can feel comfortable enough to leave her alone (meaning that her doctors think she's healthy enough to be unlikely to go into heart failure while we're gone). Perhaps I can feel comfortable with her with Heidi at home, and I go on the trip with just my sister and my mother. However, without Heidi this won't be near as much fun. I certainly can't go to Burning Man without her.
I'm simply devastated. Zoe is NOT just another cat. Anyone who knows her will tell you that. She needs her mother and her daddy, a LOT more than any other cat I've ever known. She has a big heart, literally and figuratively, and she's a sweet little girl.
And she won't be around much longer.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
I'm at Tanglewood in the Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts. This is where the Boston Symphony Orchestra play on summer weekends.
Yesterday, Friday night, we saw Joshua Bell (violin) perform. He was excellent. He's clearly younger than I am.
I'm old.
The program:
Peter Oundjian conducter
Ravel - Alborada del Gracioso
(My rating: 7/10)
Chausson - Poeme for violin and Orchestra, Opus 25
Joshua Bell
(My rating: 8/10)
Saint-Saens - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor for violin and orchestra, Opus 28
Joshua Bell
(My rating: 9/10)
Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel) - Pictures at an Exhibition
(My rating: 9/10)
Here are two pictures from the Tanglewood grounds.
Yesterday, Friday night, we saw Joshua Bell (violin) perform. He was excellent. He's clearly younger than I am.
I'm old.
The program:
Peter Oundjian conducter
Ravel - Alborada del Gracioso
(My rating: 7/10)
Chausson - Poeme for violin and Orchestra, Opus 25
Joshua Bell
(My rating: 8/10)
Saint-Saens - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor for violin and orchestra, Opus 28
Joshua Bell
(My rating: 9/10)
Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel) - Pictures at an Exhibition
(My rating: 9/10)
Here are two pictures from the Tanglewood grounds.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Spongebob
I have anthropomorphized my truck. I named him "Spongebob" because he's "square and cute." Plus his grille looks like a sponge. I'll amend this post with a picture of him once I get a round toit.
I keep a Spongebob Squarepants doll in my console. My truck likes the doll there, so I've kept it there.
Spongebob loves to go on long trips. The summer after I bought him, we took him across the country from my home in New England to the Field of Dreams Movie Site to Yellowstone National Park to Burning Man and back again. Man, did he have fun. His running board on the right side got dented when we (Heidi, my wife, and I) got a little carried away off-roading in Wyoming. He really loved it. He cried, "Again!"
We've driven him across the country and back three times now, and we're doing it again this year (hopefully I'll be able to blog the trip). He's had to do it sometimes while hauling our 29-foot travel trailer. He doesn't like that so much, but he does realize it's his duty as that's primarily what we bought him for. Now the trailer is being kept in Nevada, dedicated for Burning Man, and now he's happier. I'm happier because without the trailer he gives me 17 mpg, but with it it's 4-7 depending on grades.
Last year his fan clutch went out when we crossed from Utah into Nevada. He started complaining while climbing hills, but then stopped complaining on the way down. At high speeds, he was fine, but at low speeds, there just wasn't any air flow. It was also 100 degrees in NW Nevada, which is actually much higher than average in early September. I had to come home a day late because he was sick :(, but eventually we found a place that could diagnose and fix his problem. One day late was actually lucky.
He gets scared when I talk about trading him in, so I've stopped doing that. I don't really want to anyway.
Spongebob is the only vehicle I've owned that I've named, let alone treated like an animal/person. I really can't explain why I've anthropomorphized that truck.
Most of you reading this will think I'm crazy. Some will think I'm just very imaginative. But a very small set of you who have also anthropomorphized a vehicle (probably many boat owners) will truly understand. And by that I mean, we're just...weird.
I keep a Spongebob Squarepants doll in my console. My truck likes the doll there, so I've kept it there.
Spongebob loves to go on long trips. The summer after I bought him, we took him across the country from my home in New England to the Field of Dreams Movie Site to Yellowstone National Park to Burning Man and back again. Man, did he have fun. His running board on the right side got dented when we (Heidi, my wife, and I) got a little carried away off-roading in Wyoming. He really loved it. He cried, "Again!"
We've driven him across the country and back three times now, and we're doing it again this year (hopefully I'll be able to blog the trip). He's had to do it sometimes while hauling our 29-foot travel trailer. He doesn't like that so much, but he does realize it's his duty as that's primarily what we bought him for. Now the trailer is being kept in Nevada, dedicated for Burning Man, and now he's happier. I'm happier because without the trailer he gives me 17 mpg, but with it it's 4-7 depending on grades.
Last year his fan clutch went out when we crossed from Utah into Nevada. He started complaining while climbing hills, but then stopped complaining on the way down. At high speeds, he was fine, but at low speeds, there just wasn't any air flow. It was also 100 degrees in NW Nevada, which is actually much higher than average in early September. I had to come home a day late because he was sick :(, but eventually we found a place that could diagnose and fix his problem. One day late was actually lucky.
He gets scared when I talk about trading him in, so I've stopped doing that. I don't really want to anyway.
Spongebob is the only vehicle I've owned that I've named, let alone treated like an animal/person. I really can't explain why I've anthropomorphized that truck.
Most of you reading this will think I'm crazy. Some will think I'm just very imaginative. But a very small set of you who have also anthropomorphized a vehicle (probably many boat owners) will truly understand. And by that I mean, we're just...weird.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
I Give Up
Apparently I hear Phil Gramm is back to advising John McCain (see my previous posts). Some right wing sources are saying that he may get a cabinet position.
Why, oh why, do I continue to be surprised at such things?
Why, oh why, do I continue to be surprised at such things?
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Voters are employers, not employees
Exerpt from: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080719/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_gramm
[Phil] Gramm said in a statement late Friday that he is stepping down [as a member of John McCain's campaign] to "end this distraction."
"It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country," Gramm said.
--------------
In my last post, I say this guy is a piece of shit. Now it's clear he is missing the point of the outrage (and now he's a stupid fucking piece of shit).
He seems to think that people are asking him to retract his opinion, but no one is asking him to do that. Hence his backtrack that he was talking about "our leaders," and hence the flood of conservative "analysts" stating that what he said was true. But no one is asking him to state an opinion he doesn't hold.
Instead of acknowledging that he shouldn't have said what he said, he merely apologizes for the "distraction" to the McCain campaign. My only wonder is why McCain didn't get rid of this asshole sooner.
He seems to think that the controversy is about the veracity of what he stated. But to a certain extent we all know he's somewhat correct. In many ways, we do like to whine.
But whether or not he's correct, or that he's entitled to his opinion, or that he's entitled to state his opinion, is not my issue, and I sense it's not the issue for the American voter as well.
In this Presidential campaign, the top issue on voter's minds is the economy. I personally disagree (I think it should be foreign policy), but that's not my call. It's the voters' call. And most voters have judged that Barack Obama will steward the economy better than John McCain. So it's in the McCain campaign's best interest to convince those voters that the economy is not that bad after all.
The issue, that won't penetrate Phil Gramm's thick head, is that he is not giving a reasoned and cogent explanation of why we don't want to vote for the President based on the current state of the economy. Instead, he talks down to us and insults us by calling us "whiners." He forgets, as many politicians do, that HE WORKS FOR US. We're not "whining." We're simply complaining that Bush and advisors like Phil Gramm are DOING A LOUSY JOB.
What if your manager, or his/her manager, on up to the CEO, what if one of them told you that you weren't working hard enough, or you weren't focused on a particular aspect of your job that they wanted you to focus on. Would you try to convince such person that they are wrong, that you are in fact working hard on the project they are talking about? Would that argument be well thought out, cogent, and respectful of their position? Yes, if you wanted to keep your job. Would you think him/her a whiner? Perhaps. Would you call him/her a whiner? Not if you wanted to keep your job.
And so Phil Gramm doesn't get to keep his job. Not because he was wrong, but because he was disrespectful of our right to decide who to vote for and why. You can convince us that John McCain is a better person for the job. Just like an employer, we expect confidence and a persuasive argument. Just don't call us "whiners" and expect us to think you have respect for what we want when we ask for it. It's clear to me he doesn't give a fuck for the voters. They're just "distractions."
While I may disagree with the final judgement of the voters, it is their right to judge, just like my CEO gets to judge whether I am adding value to his/her company.
And the voters are not as powerful as a typical employer, who can fire at will. So the voter has to be even more careful in granting John McCain or Barack Obama a four-year contract that cannot be bought out.
And it doesn't matter if either of these guys, or the people in their campaign, believe the voters to be "whiners." Just don't call them that.
[Phil] Gramm said in a statement late Friday that he is stepping down [as a member of John McCain's campaign] to "end this distraction."
"It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country," Gramm said.
--------------
In my last post, I say this guy is a piece of shit. Now it's clear he is missing the point of the outrage (and now he's a stupid fucking piece of shit).
He seems to think that people are asking him to retract his opinion, but no one is asking him to do that. Hence his backtrack that he was talking about "our leaders," and hence the flood of conservative "analysts" stating that what he said was true. But no one is asking him to state an opinion he doesn't hold.
Instead of acknowledging that he shouldn't have said what he said, he merely apologizes for the "distraction" to the McCain campaign. My only wonder is why McCain didn't get rid of this asshole sooner.
He seems to think that the controversy is about the veracity of what he stated. But to a certain extent we all know he's somewhat correct. In many ways, we do like to whine.
But whether or not he's correct, or that he's entitled to his opinion, or that he's entitled to state his opinion, is not my issue, and I sense it's not the issue for the American voter as well.
In this Presidential campaign, the top issue on voter's minds is the economy. I personally disagree (I think it should be foreign policy), but that's not my call. It's the voters' call. And most voters have judged that Barack Obama will steward the economy better than John McCain. So it's in the McCain campaign's best interest to convince those voters that the economy is not that bad after all.
The issue, that won't penetrate Phil Gramm's thick head, is that he is not giving a reasoned and cogent explanation of why we don't want to vote for the President based on the current state of the economy. Instead, he talks down to us and insults us by calling us "whiners." He forgets, as many politicians do, that HE WORKS FOR US. We're not "whining." We're simply complaining that Bush and advisors like Phil Gramm are DOING A LOUSY JOB.
What if your manager, or his/her manager, on up to the CEO, what if one of them told you that you weren't working hard enough, or you weren't focused on a particular aspect of your job that they wanted you to focus on. Would you try to convince such person that they are wrong, that you are in fact working hard on the project they are talking about? Would that argument be well thought out, cogent, and respectful of their position? Yes, if you wanted to keep your job. Would you think him/her a whiner? Perhaps. Would you call him/her a whiner? Not if you wanted to keep your job.
And so Phil Gramm doesn't get to keep his job. Not because he was wrong, but because he was disrespectful of our right to decide who to vote for and why. You can convince us that John McCain is a better person for the job. Just like an employer, we expect confidence and a persuasive argument. Just don't call us "whiners" and expect us to think you have respect for what we want when we ask for it. It's clear to me he doesn't give a fuck for the voters. They're just "distractions."
While I may disagree with the final judgement of the voters, it is their right to judge, just like my CEO gets to judge whether I am adding value to his/her company.
And the voters are not as powerful as a typical employer, who can fire at will. So the voter has to be even more careful in granting John McCain or Barack Obama a four-year contract that cannot be bought out.
And it doesn't matter if either of these guys, or the people in their campaign, believe the voters to be "whiners." Just don't call them that.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I am not a Weiner!
Phil Gramm is a piece of shit.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/phil-gramm-may-be-gone-bu_b_112781.html
While I don't believe the President has a lot of power over the economy, the President certainly can fuck things up.
The libertarian in me is sickened by politicians like Phil Gramm, because he's completely disingenuous. One side of his mouth claims to be libertarian towards the economy, but the other side meddles with it, passing laws that make it easier for his buddies to make money at the expense of others.
You know who those others are. You and me. The "whiners."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/Phil_Gramm_to_Americans_Suck_it_up.html
(Side note: Notice how he also kicked those with mental illness into the gutter by implying that people who are diagnosed with depression are also whiners? That's a digression though...)
This wouldn't be news, really, except that Phil Gramm was, at the time he made those comments, John McCain's top economic advisor. Only after these comments was his role int the campaign reduced. That's right. He's still advising McCain on economics, but, I suppose we're to believe he's whispering in his ear fewer times each day.
Don't be fooled into believing John McCain is anything close to a libertarian on economics. To simply correlate libertarianism to tax rates is absurd on its face. For politicians to claim they are libertarian just because they want lower tax rates is completely disingenuous, or, worse, reflects a complete lack of understanding of both economics and libertarianism.
The people getting fleeced by politicians that line the pockets of themselves and their buddies, while destroying the economy for the long-term, are not whiners.
And it's an insult to say that the "official" definition of a recession (I won't bore you with it) tells us we're not in one. Quite frankly, I don't care what you call it, but I call it a "train wreck." There, that's better. Is Phil Gramm happy now that I don't call it a "recession"?
How dare such people talk down to the ones who have a constitutional right to accept or reject politicians. We have a right to judge the performance of politicians, or have those politicians forgotten that?
American voters, collectively, are smart. It seems to me that they get it wrong when they're lazy. And that's, I believe, what is annoying Phil Gramm. Us voters are supposed to be lazy, and when we're not, we're whiners.
We are not whiners. We are voters. And, intuitively, we see the train wreck. The train wreck that people like Phil Gramm helped set in motion, to their benefit and to our detriment.
No, we are voters. And we're fighting back.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/phil-gramm-may-be-gone-bu_b_112781.html
While I don't believe the President has a lot of power over the economy, the President certainly can fuck things up.
The libertarian in me is sickened by politicians like Phil Gramm, because he's completely disingenuous. One side of his mouth claims to be libertarian towards the economy, but the other side meddles with it, passing laws that make it easier for his buddies to make money at the expense of others.
You know who those others are. You and me. The "whiners."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/Phil_Gramm_to_Americans_Suck_it_up.html
(Side note: Notice how he also kicked those with mental illness into the gutter by implying that people who are diagnosed with depression are also whiners? That's a digression though...)
This wouldn't be news, really, except that Phil Gramm was, at the time he made those comments, John McCain's top economic advisor. Only after these comments was his role int the campaign reduced. That's right. He's still advising McCain on economics, but, I suppose we're to believe he's whispering in his ear fewer times each day.
Don't be fooled into believing John McCain is anything close to a libertarian on economics. To simply correlate libertarianism to tax rates is absurd on its face. For politicians to claim they are libertarian just because they want lower tax rates is completely disingenuous, or, worse, reflects a complete lack of understanding of both economics and libertarianism.
The people getting fleeced by politicians that line the pockets of themselves and their buddies, while destroying the economy for the long-term, are not whiners.
And it's an insult to say that the "official" definition of a recession (I won't bore you with it) tells us we're not in one. Quite frankly, I don't care what you call it, but I call it a "train wreck." There, that's better. Is Phil Gramm happy now that I don't call it a "recession"?
How dare such people talk down to the ones who have a constitutional right to accept or reject politicians. We have a right to judge the performance of politicians, or have those politicians forgotten that?
American voters, collectively, are smart. It seems to me that they get it wrong when they're lazy. And that's, I believe, what is annoying Phil Gramm. Us voters are supposed to be lazy, and when we're not, we're whiners.
We are not whiners. We are voters. And, intuitively, we see the train wreck. The train wreck that people like Phil Gramm helped set in motion, to their benefit and to our detriment.
No, we are voters. And we're fighting back.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Motel 6 and High-Speed Internet
During this big driving trip I'm planning, I want to keep up a daily blog with pictures. This requires high-speed Internet. When I'm at Burning Man, I'm pretty sure I won't have that, but I can write the blogs there, and them post them afterwards.
Anyway, one of the problems I have is that planning a five-week trip is very time-consuming. Lately I've used up a lot of time looking for motels in popular areas that have rooms available and high-speed Internet. Most of the places, I'm simply finding Motel 6's along the way. I'm not looking for reservations. Instead, if there aren't rooms available, I'll either drive to the next Motel 6, or deal with what's available. I want to have high-speed Internet in order to keep up the blog every day, but that's not always available.
For instance, there's no Motel 6 in Sedona, and there's none at Bryce Canyon either. The last time I was at Bryce Canyon was 10 years ago. There I was able to get reservations at Ruby's Inn (at exactly the same week of the year), the Best Western, which is the only hotel actually inside the park. This time, it was booked, and to get high-speed internet access, I had to book a place much further away.
Last time I was at Bryce, Heidi (my wife) and I ran into a lot of Germans. And when we got back to the hotel, Baywatch was on the T.V. I wonder if I'll see a lot of Germans this time.
Anyway, the point is this is further proof that Germans love David Hasselhoff.
Anyway, one of the problems I have is that planning a five-week trip is very time-consuming. Lately I've used up a lot of time looking for motels in popular areas that have rooms available and high-speed Internet. Most of the places, I'm simply finding Motel 6's along the way. I'm not looking for reservations. Instead, if there aren't rooms available, I'll either drive to the next Motel 6, or deal with what's available. I want to have high-speed Internet in order to keep up the blog every day, but that's not always available.
For instance, there's no Motel 6 in Sedona, and there's none at Bryce Canyon either. The last time I was at Bryce Canyon was 10 years ago. There I was able to get reservations at Ruby's Inn (at exactly the same week of the year), the Best Western, which is the only hotel actually inside the park. This time, it was booked, and to get high-speed internet access, I had to book a place much further away.
Last time I was at Bryce, Heidi (my wife) and I ran into a lot of Germans. And when we got back to the hotel, Baywatch was on the T.V. I wonder if I'll see a lot of Germans this time.
Anyway, the point is this is further proof that Germans love David Hasselhoff.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
On Writing
You would think that writing a novel while working full time as a software engineer would be difficult. At least, I hope you think that, because, for me, it is very difficult.
I want to write a certain amount each day (Stephen King says 2,000 words), but I find that plotting and character development take up a lot of time--time I'd have plenty of if I wasn't working at a job.
I've discovered this leads to large periods in which I do no writing, which I now realize is derived from an insidious form of writer's block. Although I have lots of ideas to write, I find I'm not writing any of them. At first I was baffled by this, but now I know that I'm not writing them because I don't like any of the ideas I have at the time.
I'm not fully blocked. I have ideas that I can write about. But something below my conscious level, my muse, doesn't like it and prevents me from writing. Again, Stephen King thinks that writing junk every day is fine, that the important part is to get in the habit of writing every day. But not me. Not my muse.
And I think it all goes back to my limited time. If I'm not writing something good, then why should I spend the time writing junk? I need that time for other things I'm doing in my life.
It's easy to come up with ideas. Ideas are in the ether, and they're all over the place. But good ideas...
I've titled this post On Writing because I found a lot of inspiration in Stephen King's book of that title. It is invaluable, and I suggest every writer, aspiring or best-selling, read it.
And in this post I wanted to contrast my experience with his. I think it works best to write 2,000 words every day when you are writing a "what if?" book--the kind he writes. Man, is he good at it. I think it's much easier for ideas to flow in a linear fashion.
But for me I need to spend a lot of time developing my ideas, making sure they're impactful and dramatic enough for a reader to be interested, and making sure the entire work is self-consistent.
Perhaps it's because I am writing a non-linear novel. It has time-travel in it. I know, it's done all the time, but there's a reason it's done all the time.
Perhaps it's because I'm just not as good at coming up with good ideas as I write on the fly. Stephen King always says he has no idea where his ideas come from. I say, "my muse" but that's equivalent to "no idea" to most people.
Of course, I think it's both.
Why did I choose to write a novel with time-travel as my first novel?
I want to write a certain amount each day (Stephen King says 2,000 words), but I find that plotting and character development take up a lot of time--time I'd have plenty of if I wasn't working at a job.
I've discovered this leads to large periods in which I do no writing, which I now realize is derived from an insidious form of writer's block. Although I have lots of ideas to write, I find I'm not writing any of them. At first I was baffled by this, but now I know that I'm not writing them because I don't like any of the ideas I have at the time.
I'm not fully blocked. I have ideas that I can write about. But something below my conscious level, my muse, doesn't like it and prevents me from writing. Again, Stephen King thinks that writing junk every day is fine, that the important part is to get in the habit of writing every day. But not me. Not my muse.
And I think it all goes back to my limited time. If I'm not writing something good, then why should I spend the time writing junk? I need that time for other things I'm doing in my life.
It's easy to come up with ideas. Ideas are in the ether, and they're all over the place. But good ideas...
I've titled this post On Writing because I found a lot of inspiration in Stephen King's book of that title. It is invaluable, and I suggest every writer, aspiring or best-selling, read it.
And in this post I wanted to contrast my experience with his. I think it works best to write 2,000 words every day when you are writing a "what if?" book--the kind he writes. Man, is he good at it. I think it's much easier for ideas to flow in a linear fashion.
But for me I need to spend a lot of time developing my ideas, making sure they're impactful and dramatic enough for a reader to be interested, and making sure the entire work is self-consistent.
Perhaps it's because I am writing a non-linear novel. It has time-travel in it. I know, it's done all the time, but there's a reason it's done all the time.
Perhaps it's because I'm just not as good at coming up with good ideas as I write on the fly. Stephen King always says he has no idea where his ideas come from. I say, "my muse" but that's equivalent to "no idea" to most people.
Of course, I think it's both.
Why did I choose to write a novel with time-travel as my first novel?
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