All Business

Here's a post that's completely different from most that I put up here. It's about my business and a few things I want to do with it next year. It's a rough outline of an emerging plan for 2008 to grow my business and get new clients that are especially well-suited to the way I want to operate my company. I'd like feedback...things you suggest I might want to do differently, things I should add to the plan, caveats about pitfalls to avoid...anything that might be helpful and enable me to be successful in this endeavor.

• Create New Company Website


• Include new photos of staff and client-related events and activities


• Add blog, with weekly posts on client service topics, alternately staff members to post, so everyone posts once every six weeks


• Promote availability of public speaking engagement


• Create and add to website a promotional YouTube video


• Add resource center for clients and prospective clients


• Prominently include corporate mission, vision, and values statements


• Formalize mission and vision statement


• Craft values statements, to include issues such as diversity; environmental awareness; compassion for less fortunate; family; work ethic; integrity; loyalty to clients and loyalty to and from staff


• Write and promote content articles for ezines


• Target securing at least one public speaking engagement quarterly, speaking on topics relevant to business development


• Engage support to develop and create and publish corporate promotional video, in first quarter


• During January and February, complete resource center information content


• Target delivery of at least one proposal quarterly


That's all for now. I may add more later.

Wake Up and Steal the Coffee

I received an email from Office Depot this morning that immediately made me think their marketing people had been stealing images from a blog I read regularly. A closer inspection made me realize that was not the case...but they may have stolen the concept:

From the Blog:


From the Office Depot Email:

Herbs and Astrology, All For You...

Things can be bumping along relatively peacefully and then, whack! A couple of board members of one of our client groups are being unprofessional pigs, engaging in back-stabbing skullduggery, and being genuinely annoying, along with horrifically problematic.

I'm trying to work through a complete, but absolutely surreptitious, overhaul of my company's image, operating processes, business objectives, target clients, etc., etc. This has been underway for some time, with launch to be shortly after the first of the year and full implementation to be done by May. These maddening clients make me want to either accelerate the implementation process dramatically or become a intinerate herb peddler and professional astrologist. (I can't help wanting to take money from people who might believe I can predict their futures by analyzing the positions of planets in the night sky.)

What he meant to say...

Thanks to Gary at withinsight for leading me to this interesting bit of editing. No, George did not say this...not specifically...but I often think it's exactly what he meant.

Photoshoppery

I've had Adobe Photoshop in my office for years, but have used it only as a last resort when I've had to do something I couldn't get a graphic artist to do cheap enough or fast enough. My Photoshop knowledge has been deep, deep in the dungeon. I've often wanted to know more, but have not had the patience to learn nor the willingness to sit through a course.

Of late, I have opted to ignore more pressing matters (hoping clients won't notice) and have been trying to teach myself a bit more about the software. So far, I've done very basic stuff...the Bush banner to the upper right, the blog headline, and such stuff. I've done a few other things...and have left posts on other bloggers' sites. Other bloggers will probably ask me, politely or not, to leave them alone. I will apppreciate that. In the interim, here are a couple of my attempts at Photoshoppery.

This one was inspired by a post by the Drugmonkey at Your Pharmacist May Hate You.



This one was inspired by seeing all the little symbols Photoshop allows me to select and place into an image.

(from the bottom left of this blog...scroll down to see)

BIG NEW THING?

Who among you has heard about/read about Indian/Chinese fusion food? I'm trying to learn more. We tried to have lunch at two Japanese restaurants today, thanks to my reading about various Japanese foods in some blogs I was reading. Neither Japanese restaurant was open. So, we tried an Indian/Chinese fusion place. Not as good as the other similar place we go to regularly, but it brought up the question: is this a popular fusion food these days? Where? There are only two places we know of in the Dallas area. Where else are they? Is this a BIG NEW THING on the gastronomic landcape?

Follow Up

What Retirement Means to Mexicans

I'm posting, verbatim, an article from the Guadalajara Reporter, about the problems facing older, "retired" workers in the Mexican state of Jalisco. I don't know whether a link will work for long, hence my decision to post the article in total. I don't quite know why, but when I read it I felt that it's the sort of story people in the U.S. should read and think about.

Story by : ALEX GESHEVA

At 8 a.m. on a weekday morning, business is booming at the intersection of Lazaro Cardenas and Guadalupe in Guadalajara. Horns honk, motorists wave and a stately gentleman, well into his 70s, escalates to a jogging shuffle and weaves among the cars selling gum and candy. A few missing teeth have not dimmed his radiant smile.

“It doesn’t matter what you do, it’s how you do it,” he says, as coins exchange hands. “I’m useful, I have a job, I’m alive. I’m very lucky.”

Asked for a name, he responds only with a slightly creaky bow and a “Dios le bendiga” and rushes off again. His right hand is elevated, curiously evoking a ballet position, left hand supporting his small tray of Trident gum.

It may not be most people’s idea of retirement. Then again, retirement is not always an option. As the state government reaches this year’s goal of handing out 500 pesos a month to 10,000 impoverished senior citizens, many of Jalisco’s oldest and wisest workers are asking for opportunities, not handouts.

“The support checks from the government are a wonderful thing,” says Carmen Raquel Acero, a sprightly 70-year-old who attends activities organized for seniors by the family development agency DIF. “There were two or three people in my group who participated in the program. A friend’s mother is 90 and bed-ridden and the youngest in the family is 60 and working as a secretary – four of them live on 3,800 pesos a month. Five hundred pesos isn’t much, but when you have nothing, it’s monumental.”
The controversial program, the brain-child of Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez, parallels similar Mexico City initiatives by the leftist PRD. Both efforts are recognition that Mexico’s aging population faces a crisis. In Jalisco, the state government has already distributed 25.5 million pesos to seniors over 70 who lack a pension and the ability to work, pay rent, or cover medicine. The amount, some seniors say, is a tiny drop in an endless sea.

“If they opened a little service window where impoverished senior citizens could go, the line would be never ending,” says Acero. “We need research, personal caring research quantifying the problem. Ask us to help: we can go door to door and find those of us who are most needy.”

What’s lacking is more information and more teamwork. “There are a lot of available programs through the government,” says Maria Guadalupe Elizondo, another struggling senior in her 70s, who says that DIF assistance programs saved her sanity. “But people don’t know about them, unless a friend passes on the information. With more communication and participation, more lonely, isolated seniors could be helped to meet people, exercise a little, maybe learn how to earn some extra money.”

Earning money is a tricky proposition in a country where a 42-year-old accountant is sometimes considered over the hill.

“There are no opportunities,” says Elizondo. “At our age, the only places that let us work are the large supermarkets, to bag groceries. Even there, they often ask for your DIF identification to check if you’re trustworthy.”

Senior citizens who bag groceries aren’t paid, only tipped by customers. On a good day, they may earn around 30 pesos. The stories are endlessly heart-breaking and government money woefully finite. Jalisco is aging. And, if you ask its senior citizens, all that experience and wisdom is going to waste.

“I’ve taught classes, I worked construction, I can tell young guys the best ways to lay brick or create road drainage and teach them all kinds of things like that,” says Ramon Solano, a diminutive 76-year-old bagging groceries at Gigante in Plaza Tepeyac. “But I guess nobody wants to look at me anymore or think that I can do something better than they can.”

“Many of us like handicrafts and we’re good at them,” adds Elizondo. “Maybe the government could lend us a plaza or a vending booth somewhere, so we can at least recover our investments and sell our work. We’re hard-working people. Let us work. Give us something to do.”

Next year, Jalisco’s state government hopes to extend its program to 42,000 poverty-stricken seniors in Jalisco who lack a pension and health insurance and have fallen through the cracks of all other federal and local support programs.
“Yes, many of them obviously need the help and I don’t begrudge it,” says Solano. “But you know, the rest of us aren’t doing so well either, not when pensions can be a minimum wage or less.”

For Teresa Perez, a worker at DIF Jalisco’s center for senior citizens in Bugambilias, handing out money is the kind of short-term solution that misses the point.

“It’s well-intentioned, but much like putting a band-aid on a large infected cut,” says Perez. “It doesn’t tackle the underlying healing process.”

A Revolution of Pharmacists

Thanks to Where the HELL are my Penguins?, I stumbled upon a wonderful blog today called Your Pharmacist May Hate You.

There's one post, in particular, that I think is fabulous. After explaining that some pharmacy giants have opted to withhold the results of a clinical trial of two drugs, the blogger notes that Merck and Schering-Plough said a panel of esteemed scientists (who they would not name) recommended a change in the protocol.

The blogger expresses righteous indignation that...

a panel that for all we know could consist of Santa Claus, The Unabomber, and the president of The National Association for The Promotion of Heart Attacks says it's OK to make a "highly unusual" move......and we're supposed to feel better about that? Sigh. How the fuck stupid do they think we are?

I love it...The National Association for the Promotion of Heart Attacks. Maybe I could get them as a client!

Really Random Stuff

Australian Politics
Let's hope Australia's decision to turn out John Howard in favor of Kevin Rudd is a precursor to our own decision to turn out Republicans in favor of...anyone.

Yesterday's Lunch
My wife picked the place for lunch yesterday, La Duni, a Latin-American-inspired restaurant that has been, for some time, a chic-chic place to be seen. I had a Choripan torta, a sandwich of Argentine sausage. My wife had Cuadril Tacos. From the price tag on the latter, you'd think we were eating the flesh of one of the owner's children. I also had a mojito...it was very good. I'd be most likely to go back if we'd focus on the less expensive tortas or if someone else was picking up the tab.

Christmas Gift Ideas
In case you're just not sure what to get that special someone, how about one of these ideas? I'm not recommending them, understand, just offering them as options. I'd only want a couple or three of them:

• Sausage-Making Equipment
• Membership in Bat Conservation International
• A VHS tape of The Shout, with Alan Bates and Susanah York
• Bamboo flooring for the house...or garage...or as a wallcovering
• A used car
• A little time with an escort in Las Vegas
• Motorized pool lounger with built-in cup-holder
• A trip to Puenta Arenas, Chile
• 10 seeds of Holland marijuana

Weather Resources
I have decided to share with you, dear reader, some of my most private weather resources. So, here they are:

Weather in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico
Weather in Santa Rosa, California
Weather in Revere, Massachusetts
Weather in Midway, Texas

How to Survive a Tsunami
This is something that everyone who lives at or near sea-level an in proximity to a large body of water should know. I have not tested it, but assuming it's correct, you should know how to survive a tsunami.

That's all for now. Go about your lives.

Turkey Tacos

I have a plan. If successful, it could launch a new career for me. It could bring me fame and fortune in the blink of an eye. It could change the way the world (or parts of it) eats.

I'm taking about turkey tacos. Yes, turkey tacos. I was looking longingly at the massive amount of meat that I had stripped off the carcass of the turkey my wife roasted yesterday. There are two large freezer bags (in the refrigerator now, not yet in the freezer) full of meat, one filled with large slices of white meat and the other jam-packed with smaller pieces of dark meat. (My wife prefers white; I like dark.)

As I gazed into the freezer bags, a thought struck me: why not make turkey tacos? I envision shredding or dicing the dark meat and adding to it a slurry of spicy roasted pepper salsa, sharing with the turkey a smoky flavor and giving it some heat that will make one's tongue come to attention. I'll add some ground cumin, come ground ancho pepper, some ground quajillo pepper, and some salt, mix it all together, and let is simmer for awhile to get the flavors to mix.

Then, I'll put a spoonful of the turkey mixture onto a fresh, hot corn tortilla, add some fresh chopped cilantro, some onion, and a bit of salsa verde made with fresh tomatillos. Roll it up and eat it.

After playing with the recipe and getting it perfect, I'll open a taco stand outside my office building during lunch. People will try the turkey tacos, fall in love with them, and come back the next day, bringing their friends. Soon, the demand will far exceed my ability to meet it. I will have to open several more stands, then those will morph into full restaurants. As the call for take-out grows, I'll have to create a version to sell in grocery stores. The money will flood in. I will have to outsource the work of making the food, giving my wife and I time to count the money. One day, and it won't be long, we'll look at our bank accounts and realize we have literally millions of dollars. We'll sell the business to a huge conglomerate, which will pay us even more millions, and we'll move away, finding the ideal place to retire.

We'll take our turkey taco recipe with us, though, because the conglomerate that buys the business will wreck the flavor and the appeal of the taco during the process of making it a "corporate" money-maker.

As we sit in our new home, overlooking the Pacific, we'll make our own turkey tacos from scratch, and each one of us will hold one taco high in salute to the brilliance of our little plan that was launched in November 2007.

I'll write later about how much of this becomes reality.

Just LIke the Movies

Last night, as I was sitting in front of my television, trying to find something of even modest interest, I stumbled across a mindless piece of drivel entitled Independence Day, whose premise is that alien beings are setting upon the earth with the intent to destroy it. Somehow, all of mankind comes together to fight the common enemy, with the United States and its fighter-pilot President, assisted by a drunk cowboy flyer and a hot-shot ace pilot and a brilliant scientist, leading the charge. I did not watch it, as I'd suffered through it before, but I recalled it very well.

As one would expect, the U.S. team wins the day at the end of the movie, and the world rejoices.

This is uncannily similar to the scenario in Iraq, isn't it?

Osama bin Laden and his crew of evil scum have set upon the earth, launching their biggest effort to date from Afghanistan. All of mankind has come together, pursuing him and his followers from Afghanistan to Pakistan and then to Iraq, where he cunningly has hidden his weapons of mass destruction so that not only can't we find them, neither can he. Six years later, our cowboy President, assisted by people whose irrational behavior makes them look like they are drunk and/or suffering from religious delusions, is leading the charge against bin Laden.

As one would expect, the U.S. team won the day after only months on the ground, when cowboy declared, "Mission Accomplished."

Now we are recognized the world over as glorious and a friend and protector to good people everywhere.

TD Report

The remaining dishes from last night's dinner have been washed, leaving the kitchen almost free of signs that a massive cooking event took place there last night.

My wife cooked turkey and dressing, along with two types of cranberries (congealed out of a can for her...from her childhood...and real berries cooked on top of the stove for me), and fresh green beans.

This is the first Thanksgiving of this semi-traditional sort we've had in awhile. She did not use our old-style recipes for the turkey and dressing, though. She used recipes for both that she got from the Food Network or its website. The dressing had no cornmeal (a first for us) and used various other things we'd not used in dressing before, including dried cranberries. Oh, and it had enormous amounts of leeks.

The turkey was stuffed not with that dressing, but with apples and oranges and onions and assorted other "stuff." She painstakingly placed a melange of several fresh herbs under the skin of the turkey breast before baking it.

All in all, it was good, but we both agree that, despite our love of things new and different, we prefer our old traditional recipes, handed down to us by our respective mothers and modified to fit reality today's preferences.

When we bought the turkey, it looked tiny in comparison to the 20 and 30 pound monsters around it in the huge freezer case in the grocery store. But, an eleven pound turkey that has been carved to serve just enough for two looks like it's the size of a small automobile when it's put in the refrigerator. There's no doubt that it will provide meals for us for a while to come. If history is any guide, we'll be having turkey soup before too long...a good thing, since the weather turned downright cold yesterday. It snowed a bit just west of us and the forecast is for much colder weather.

Speaking of meals, the turkey dinner was in stark contrast to our much earlier meal of the day, dim sum at a Chinese dim sum spot. We looked rather out of place among the sea of Asians, but that's part of the reason we like the place. We never had a clue what we're getting, because the people who push the dim sum carts around the place speak either no English or very limited and heavily-accented English. We can always count on having an unusual meal there...usually very good, but occasionally a bit too far from even our very broad comfort levels. One of the most pleasant aspects of going to the place is watching the people. Anyway, yesterday was good.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Here is classic Thanksgiving television...I remember something from the show that does not appear on the video: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"

A Post Worth Reading and Sharing

Read this post, all the way to the end. Pass the link along to everyone you know. You'll know why I ask you to do this after you read it.

Linguistic Jewels Abound

This morning, I wandered over the my piece of real estate at NaBloPoMo and found that someone had left a comment with a link to her site. As I was reading her information, I found that she'd posted an interesting question, one I've never been able to answer as well as I'd like. Essentially, her question was this: how does one explain the appropriate usage of "bring" and "take" to people who apparently did not have that usage implanted in their genes by their English-teacher mother?

I decided to take on the challenge. In no time, I had found the answer, and it was presented so well by John Lawler, a cunning linguist from the University of Michigan that I thought I would leave it virtually intact for you to read here:

...bring and take are semantically derived verbs; that is, their meaning and use depends on some other verbs and their meaning and use, the way kill depends on on the meaning of die and dead, or sell depends on possess and give.

In this case, the basic verbs are come and go, respectively. That is, bring is the causative transitive form of come, and take is the causative transitive form of go. Test: find a normal use of take and substitute cause to go or some other causative phrase (e.g, make __ go) and see if it means the same thing; ditto bring and come.

I took the garbage out. = I caused the garbage to go out.
I brought the paper in. = I caused the paper to come in.

After looking at Lawler's strutting posts and his strident comments about how disturbed he is that English speakers do not understand their language better, I've decided that most of what he has written is as self-serving as it is informative. His ego is bigger than a breadbox, to be sure. But, the information he presents is valuable, so I'll forgive him for being a self-congratulatory pedant.

Here's a link to his diatribe on bring/take and here is a link to to some interesting FAQs on English grammar.

More Mellow

It has only been a couple of hours since I danced wildly on the edge of the precipice. I'm still furious at Symantec, but am able to communicate almost rationally now. Bastards. I want to boil them and their offspring in molten lava. Ahh, but back to my more mellow self.

Symantec...You Pissed Off the Wrong Nutcase!

It's now 8:55 pm. I have been sitting patiently (not so much, actually) at my wife's computer since before 4:30 pm, trying to get the upgrades of Norton Internet Security 2008 and Norton Systemworks to work. This after she tried for two days.

I've communicated with people who work for Symantec in faraway places and they have given me directions...multiple times, the SAME directions...that don't work. The last guy with whom I communicated took control of the computer, with my permission, and got it to the point of downloading and running the removal tool for Norton, after which he rebooted the computer. When the computer came back up, a helpful little pop-up told me the analysts who had been helping me were not available...and asked me whether I wanted to chat with someone else. Yes. That was just after 7:00 pm. I was appalled to see that there were nine people ahead of me in the queue, but my two previous communications had come quicky after I requested help, so I expected there would be a delay....but not two hours!

Here is what I am seeing appear on the little "wait for us" screen:

We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.
We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.

I'm losing all semblance of patience. I'm plotting a massive public relations nightmare for Symantec. I've copied the little interchanges I've had with the Norton gurus and I'll have the reproduced in billboard size and placed all along the major freeways of America, blocking out Symantec's own advertising. I'll hire an army of hot-shot programmers to create a far superior set of products and will give those products away, along with free lifetime support. I will run for national office on a platform promising just one thing: "We will make it illegal for any Symantec product to be sold in North America and, indeed, anywhere in the world." I will make friends with unethical senior-level IRS employees so I can give all senior-level Symantec executives an opportunity to undergo what the truly power-hungry Washington crowd calls "audits on steroids and speed."

OK, it's 9:12 pm and still I'm number 4 in the queue. I'm about done. I don't have a gun, but I'm about to stab this computer repeatedly in the face with my pocket knife. I highly recommend switching to Macs or doing business exclusively with Symantec's competitors...ANY of their competitors.

Limelight

I suspect there are several times in one's youth that, with sufficient reflection and adequate memory, every one of us would recognize as pivotal in shaping who we became in adulthood. There must be times when our growing awareness of our world and our place in it connected in ways that would forever inform our beliefs, the way we make decisions, and how we feel about this life we live.

Those times visit me from time to time, but I've never been able to understand what they meant until tonight. Maybe I still don't understand. But tonight I was listening to the words of a photographer who, recorded for a television program, was able to articulate exactly what I've often felt must be just beneath the surface of my conscious memory. He explained that there was something in the way he learned about woodworking from his father that made him understand his deep connection with the land and the life the land supports, including trees. I cannot recreate the mood nor the setting that brought about this epiphany; I just know I was struck with a sense of understanding that was absent before.

When did it "click" with me that killing is wrong? How did that sense of morality get so thoroughly disconnected from religion, for me? How did I come to understand and believe that there is no god, but that many of the principles established by religions should, nonetheless, dictate the ways in which we interact with one another?

It would probably bring me to tears to understand those precise moments in my development that caused me to believe and to think and to become what I am. But, then, I'm easily moved to tears. Ultimately, though, what does it matter?

Such conflicted emotions. Is anything important? Only what's perceived as important for the moment. Everything else simply fills space...or waits for its time in the limelight.

Nuts for the Holidays

Thanksgiving is around the corner. It's too bad that so many people use it as their annual excuse to be decent human beings for a week...if that. It's too bad, too, that the masses don't revolt against the incursion of the Christmas holidays on Thanksgiving. Trees are already up, cash registers are already ringing.

My wife and I tend not to engage in any of traditional activities of the season. We don't see the point. I'd be more engaged if we all dropped the traditional holidays and created our own. We could celebrate the Season of Sanity every November as the electorate throws the worst of politicians out on their ears. We could celebrate the Humanity Holidays six or eight times each year...these would be holidays designed to promote man's humanity toward mankind (and womankind...I would rather create a gender-neutral term....how about humkind?) and give people time off. We need a summertime celebration and holiday, so we could create Watermeloncholy, a time to lounge around by the lake, eating watermelons and talking about the good old days with Uncle Davindra and Aunt Salamonica.

On an entirely different subject, someone close to me suggested that breaking a certain someone's knees and sinking his yacht was an appropriate response to what might have been an act of brazen thievery. As devoted as I am to pacificism [:)], that sounded like an appealing way of dealing with the matter at hand. Do unto others...maybe I should become a real believer, after all.

I've Been Tagged...

OK, I'll give the meme a chance...but with some trepidation. Having had limited experience with memes, I'm suspicious and wary of them. I was tagged twice with the same meme, first by Mrs. R at Tealtownand then by Idle Musings. I'm too lazy to respond separately to both, so I'm treating them as a joint request. So, here goes:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.


2. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.


3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.


4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my random and wierd things:

1. My first car was a brand new 1971 Ford Pinto that I owned for 7 years without being burned to death as a result a rear-end collision;


2. I considered pursuing degrees (from B.A. to Ph.D.) in linguistics during my first two years in college, but discovered that my academic interests did not match my lack of discipline.


3. I would love to own and operate a tractor in an agricultural setting


4. I've written quite alot that I've never allowed another human being to lay eyes on...for reasons I'm still not quite sure of


5. The older I get, the more liberal my politics and sense of social justice...if I live to be 112, I will work to overthrow all governments and form a commune in another galaxy.


6. I have a very, very hard time liking or even tolerating people I consider stupid, notwithstanding my liberalism...which makes me suspicious of myself.


7. I'm 54 years old but am not nearly "mature" enough for most 54-year-olds with whom I associate to think of me as a responsible adult. I think.

So, there you have it. I'm somewhat randomly selecting the following to tag:

Brethren Priestess Online
Everybody Knows
The Fat Lady Sings
Indian Food Rocks
Withinsight
Bay of Fundy Blog
Letters from the Moon

Self-Satifaction or Self-Loathing...You Be The Judge

I was feeling so self-satisfied yesterday after I figured out how to load a feed onto my blog, allowing visitors to my blog to see headlines of several other blogs I read regularly. Hah! Apparently, I haven't quite figured it out. Unless something has changed, if you read the list of titles to the right, you'll see the same titles that were there when I first loaded the feed. That leads me back to another post from the weekend, to which I add:

• You have a greater-than-average propensity to think you've accomplished something remarkable than you have a right to think.
  
• You have the tendency to practice random acts of stupidity, unintentionally.
  
• When you grow up, you should be shackled to a massive piece of stone and both of you should be dropped into the Gulf of Tonkin.
  
• When you grow up, do not try to become proficient with technology...you are incapable of it.

If you know what I've done wrong, tell me. But be gentle.

Glad to Accommodate

My wife and I just watched Iron Chef on The Food Network. The theme tonight, as one might expect, was Thanksgiving. I've shifted my attitude about the Thanksgiving meal from "who cares?" to "my God, I've got to get some fresh venison and make an over-the-top Thanksgiving feast!"

But none of this moves me as much as I was moved to tears (and rage) today when we tried to take my brother's Mercedes convertible out for a drive with the top down. The top doesn't work. Shit, with a capital 'S'! I cannot believe I have not tried to take the top down for the past umpteen weeks. Today, I tried. Followed the instructions in the owner's manual, and it failed. I'm pissed. It may not be that the guy who sold it to my brother knew...but he may have. When I picked it up, he made a point of telling me I must follow the owner's manual, because if I did not, it could screw up the works. Yet he never opened the convertible.

I need to buy a brand-new BMW convertible, just to check it out to see if it works. If you agree, please send me money....as much as you can spare. Twenty-dollar bills will be gratefully accepted. If you don't have my address, just ask...I'll be glad to accommodate you.

Image Isn't Everything...But What the Hell

I've spent the morning futzing around with my blog...adding a Google feed of some of the blogs I read most frequently, changing the order of various pieces, etc. I think my blog is in for a complete overhaul before long. I'm going to map the entire process before I begin the overhaul so that I have a vision in my mind's eye of what the thing will look like after I'm finished. Heretofore, I've simply taken a stab here and there at adding pieces, changing colors, etc.

I'd really like to create a coherent new image for this blog...for no particular reason, other than I want to do it. So I'm asking all my readers...all three of you...to send any photos you'd like me to consider making a permanent part of the blog. Or, if there are no photos you'd like to share, I'll happily accept your brief phrases you believe should be memorialized on the blog.

When I Grow Up...

KathyR alerted me to this one. Great. They say I should be a doctor when I grow up. Now they tell me.

You Should Be a Doctor

You are practical, sharp, and very intuitive. Optimistic and energetic, you are a problem solver who doesn't get discouraged easily. You are also quite compassionate and caring. You make people feel hopeful. You're highly adaptable and capable. You do well with almost any curve ball life throws at you. You do best when you: - Are always learning new subjects - Use your knowledge to solve problems You would also be a good therapist or detective.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

Back when I was a child, this is the advice I got from psychologists:

You Should Be a Career Criminal

You are impractical, blunt, and counterproductive. Pessimistic and sullen, you are a problem who doesn't get easily solved. While you are compassionate and caring, others believe you are the incarnation of evil. On the upside, though, you make people feel superior. You're highly annoying and utterly ineffective. You do poorly with almost any opportunity that comes your way, even with intense personal coaching. You do poorly even when you: - Are given easy problems to solve - Have access to support by the best and the brightest You might be an almost adequate solid waste collector, with sufficient training. You would make a superior United States Senator.

NaBloPoMo and Mo

I had nothing more pressing to do this morning, so after reading about Manisha's experience with NaBloPoMo on Indian Food Rocks, I decided to check it out...to see if I get any more traffic as a result. Of course, I don't know what I would do with more traffic.

I'm sitting at my computer this morning, drinking a very, very strong cup of excellent coffee. There's a market near our house that sells a variety of coffee beans; I chose what they call Lola Superior Ultra Dark French Roast. It's obscenely expensive, which I tend to avoid. But, in this case, I'm relaxing my loathing of the signs of conspicuous consumption and am enjoying one of the finer things in life. After the coffee, I'll wander outdoors to meet a guy who's coming by to give me an estimate of what it will cost to reduce the jungle-like overgrowth in my yard, near the house.

Back to NaBloPoMo. I'm not much of an online social networker, which is what NaBloPoMo is all about at its core. I write my blog, of course, but heretofore have not actively sought out "friends" online. I probably will stick to that M.O., but will find the experiment with a social networking site at least mildly interesting. Unless, of course, I am accosted by hordes of women (or men) who find my picture irrestible...any such people would definitely be dangerous and worthy of giving a wide berth.

Let's see, what else is on today? I'll be on the lookout for something interesting for tonight's dinner. My wife has informed me that tonight she would like something from the grill, so it will be my task today to identify what that will be and to prepare it to her liking. I also have to take my brother's 1995 Mercedes Benz convertible, which is taking shelter in my garage, out for a spin. Today's not the day to put the top down (I could, but I would uncomfortably chilly doing so), but it needs its exercise while it's waiting to determine where its permanent home will be.

I'll probably head up to my office for awhile after the jungle has been cleared, the food tracked down and prepared for the grill, and the car has been adequately exercised. This latter task, going to the office, has no appeal to me, none whatsoever, but I am getting buried deeper and deeper in paperwork that I have been steadfastly procrastinating about...so, it's time to pay the piper.

OK, since I'm feeling fundamentally lazy today, I think I'll cross post this little diatribe on NaBloPoMo as my first post over there.

Hard Memories

This morning, as my wife and I were driving to work, we listened to StoryCorps on NPR. Two sisters were remembering their mother, who died of breast cancer in 2003. My wife's breast cancer was discovered in 2003 and she had a total mastectomy and underwent chemotherapy. It was godawful hard on her.

Listening to the two sisters speaking of their mother's courageous fight against the disease was very emotional for me. The daughters remembered little things, but very important things, their mother said and did during her battle with cancer. Listening to them brought back memories of lots of things my wife and I dealt with during her very hard but successful battle against breast cancer. Whenever I think about that time, a new memory surfaces that drives home how incredibly hard it is for a person to cope with a disease that threatens to kill them. The disease is hard on the family, too, but the person who has to deal with the disease personally goes through hell. Those people need and deserve every bit of support their families and friends can possibly muster.

Personality

Already, the bloggers who presume to "really understand" the debates and the extent to which participants did well or poorly...they have announced the results. Some of the comments are thought-provoking. Most of them are absolutely horse-shit. Would that I could figure out how to get people to send me money for professing to be an "expert" on such matters.

Hillary Clinton did, in my opinion, clean up. She was articulate, not too combative, and generall presented herself as intelligent. Others...no so much. For me, Hillary was too 'canned.' But I may be unusual. Even Kucinich, whose politics are closer to mine than any of the others, offended me tonight. Obama fucked it up big time. He presented himself no better than I would have done. Not a good sign. Edwards is beginning to annoy me; I thought he had more meat, more merit.

After tonight, I'm thinking they were right: Hillary is the candidate to beat. She presents herself better than most of them.

But, I'm still favoring an independent I have yet to identify. This country doesn't need a new direction; it needs an new direction, driven by a new personality.

Debates

Listening, tonight, to the Democratic Presidential Debates in Las Vegas gives me both hope for the future and despair. I believe we should be able to merge several candidates' positions into one single, cohesive, intelligent character that deserves to be President. I'm still listening to them in the background. Kucinich is the one who I want to prevail tonight...just because he is a bulldog about wanting to impeach!

No Pride for Me Tonight

Tonight, my wife and I worked late and then had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant we hadn't been to before. The early evening was uneventful. The food was adequate, the restaurant was OK, but it was just a place for acceptable food. We then went to the grocery store. We bought a few items and headed to the car. That's when our evening got a bit ugly.

As we pushed the cart toward our car, I saw out in the parking lot, well beyhond our car, a fairly large Black guy screaming and pushing at a much smaller guy whose ethnicity I couldn't determine. As we got closer to our car, the Black guy's words become clearer...he was screaming obsenities at the smaller guy and repeatedly yelling out "Nigger" to the guy (though the guy did not appear Black to me...but I may be wrong). My wife was very distressed by this and wanted to get the the hell out of there.

But I was concerned that the big Black guy was intimidating the smaller guy. I heard the smaller guy say nothing and he was obviously backing away, trying to get out of the situation. I wanted to do something, but my wife made it obvious that she wanted me NOT to do something...she just wanted out of there.

I don't know if it was my wife's fear that kept me from intervening or if it was my own fear. The big guy was big, much bigger than I. And he was obviously incensed about something. And maybe it wasn't my business.

The big guy walked away from the smaller guy just about the time we got the groceries in the car. I was no longer in a position of deciding whether to come to someone's aid. So I didn't have to face it any longer. I watched as the big guy went inside the grocery store. He had a red apron and put it on as he was entering. Through the window, I could see him talking to someone in the store.

After we got home, I called the store to express my concern, but was essentially brushed off by the manager. The description of the guy was all wrong and they use green aprons, not red. So, it wasn't their problem.

But it wasn't mine either, was it? I always think I'm the sort of guy who would intervene if I saw something like that happening. I could blame my wife's fear, but that would be too easy. I could blame my own fear. That would be too easy, too. My failure to come to the little guy's aid...to at least interfere with what appeared to be an escalating situation in which someone could have been badly hurt...was inexcusable. I didn't have to bluster in and grab anyone. I could have called out from a distance...I could have interrupted. But I didn't.

That disturbs me. I'm not proud of the fact that I apparently don't have the courage to intervene in a situation that is screaming out for intervention.

No pride here tonight.

12 Angry Men

I wish I were more of a classic movie buff than I am. If I were, I'd feel more refined, more cosmopolitan, and more intelligent. But there are only a few movie "classics" that really stick to my ribs. 12 Angry Men, it turns out, is one of them.

The story line is inexcusably predictable. The movie pays tribute to progressive social and political values. It is unabashedly trite in some ways. But it is one of the finest Sidney Lumet films I've ever seen. I don't recall whether I've ever watched it through and through; tonight, I did.

I just stumbled across it as I was searching for something to watch after the Newshour with Jim Lehrer. And I got lucky. If you haven't viewed it...either, ever or in a long time, I recommend you find it and watch it. Here's a link to details about the film.

Entire Counties....Everyone Could Have Died...

3890: The number of American deaths in the war in Iraq as of today.

The number of American soldiers who have died in the war in Iraq is greater than the population of each of the following Texas counties. I got a list of Texas counties, by population, from the U.S. Census Bureau and sorted it. Every one of the counties in the list below has a population of fewer than 3,890. Among the towns with fewer than 3,890: City of Anna, Archer City, Angus, Anahuac, Aubrey, Austwell, Dripping Springs, Fulshear, Hallettsville, Itasca, Karnes City, Kemah, Llano, Magnolia, Marfa, Parker, Pantego, Quitman, Schulenburg, Taft, Three Rivers, Van Alstyne, and Zavalla. There are dozens and dozens more.

How is it that this nation is not absolutely horrified at having sent the equivalent of the population of several counties and towns to be killed in Iraq?

.Armstrong County
.Borden County
.Briscoe County
.Cochran County
.Coke County
.Collingsworth County
.Concho County
.Cottle County
.Culberson County
.Dickens County
.Edwards County
.Foard County
.Glasscock County
.Hall County
.Hemphill County
.Hudspeth County
.Irion County
.Jeff Davis County
.Kenedy County
.Kent County
.King County
.Kinney County
.Knox County
.Lipscomb County
.Loving County
.McMullen County
.Menard County
.Motley County
.Oldham County
.Reagan County
.Real County
.Roberts County
.Schleicher County
.Shackelford County
.Sherman County
.Sterling County
.Stonewall County
.Terrell County
.Throckmorton County
.Upton County

Dimwit Deciders

My second post of the day! I quote from an article in the November 2 Texas Observer:

Indulge in a brief hypothetical with us. Waiting to board a plane, you notice a cluster of men and women engaged in an obviously spirited conversation. Listening in, you discover they are airline mechanics. Almost every one of them believes that the plane you are about to get on is dangerous; that its wings will fall off if it is allowed to take to the air. But the lead mechanic, the one who gets to decide such things, argues there’s no absolute proof that disaster is imminent, and he clears the plane for flight.

What manner of idiot would you have to be to get on that plane?

The editors go on to lambast George Bush, Rick Perry, et al for insisting that global warning is only a theory. And they challenge us to ask every candidate for every office in every state, city, town, and village what they plan to do to address it.

I've talked about subscribing to the Texas Observer for a long time. Today, I'm signing up! A few well-placed copies in view of "reachable" Republicans might just turn the tide in Texas one day.

Random Comments

I'm listening to Weekend Edition this morning and have just enjoyed a piece on the music of Tinariwen, a musical group composed of members of the Tuareg people of West Africa. The Tuareg people are decendants of nomads who roamed the Sahara desert. In their struggle to find a homeland, they have been embroiled in a battle with Mali for years. Tinariwen decided to relinquish their weapons in the battle and turned to music, instead. What's very interesting to me is that they combine the traditional music and instruments from the Tuareg people with electric guitars.

When I first heard the music, and before I heard Scott Simon's explanation of the group, I thought it sounded like Indian music...but I've never been particularly gifted in assessing music. It turns out this group has just released its third album. If you're interested, you can read more about the group and its music here

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We're in the midst of the Indian Festival of Lights, Diwali. I shall celebrate by having Indian food sometime this weekend, whether of my own making or at one of the dozens of Indian restaurants within a relatively small radius of our house.

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Norman Mailer has died at 84. In case you didn't know.

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A BBC poll, reported by The Santiago Times, says that a full 90 percent of Chileans agree that individuals will have to make lifestyle changes to address global climate change. If the poll is accurate, that's good; I wonder what percentage of Americans recognize the same thing?

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There's talk of making the highland wetlands of the state of Jalisco in Mexico into growing arease for cranberries. The Mexican Rural Development Agency believes such an effort could cushion growers from the fluctuations of the pricing of corn.

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Millions of Mexicans have come to the aid of their fellow countrymen who have been so devastated by the floods in the state of Tabasco. I found it heartening to read that, at one collection point in Guadalajara, "The line of people carrying canned goods, clothing and medicine stretched for nearly two blocks over the weekend, and on Monday morning a Fletes Oriente truck shipped more than 60 tons of goods to flood victims."

Family and Friends

Sometimes things are sweet when you least expect them to be sweet or memorable. Tonight, I sat on the sofa next to my wife, watching Rachel Ray demonstrate how to make a wonderful Thanksgiving meal in only 60 minutes. I don't know exactly what it was, but I felt particularly good about sitting there, listening to Rachel Ray explain how to make a marvelous quick-meal for a special occasion. I'm not into celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas...I'm not a "believer" who finds deep meaning in those holidays. But tonight, listening to Rachel talk about how to have quick, enjoyable, tasty feast with family and friends, I felt glad to be able to hear her suggestions. Getting together with family and friends is meaningful. It matters. So I'm thinking good things about it tonight.

Business Breakfast

I'm having breakfast on Friday morning with a woman who has thousands of entrepreneurial ideas. She has built a successful small company that does lots of web page designs/online database system architecture creations, though she personally knows little about doing the work...she lets staff do the nuts & bolts. She and I will throw ideas at one another and see what sticks. She's recently married, for the second time, and is anxious to develop a rousing international businesss that will allow her to travel to and from Eastern Europe reguarly. Why she has decided I am a good partner I have yet to determine, but that will be an objective of the breakfast meeting.

I can see myself involved in some very nontraditional business dealings in the near term. I'm looking forward to breakfast. A trip to Europe may be in the offing. Another trip to Stockholm and Helsinki sounds particuarly interesting, but if I got an offer to go to Dubrovnic I'd take it in a heartbeat.

This Is It

My wife and I visited Helsinki, Finland for one day a couple of years ago. We took an overnight cruise ship from Stockholm to Helsinki, arriving early in the morning. We returned to Stockholm on the same ship, leaving late in the day and arriving back in Stockholm in the morning.

We were impressed with Helsinki (and with Stockholm). The city seemed, in many ways, more sophisticated that U.S. cities. It seemed less concerned with material things and more concerned with people and the way they experienced the world. Helsinki was not a place we would ever have expected to hear about a student murdering other students.

The plague of insanity is crossing the globe. It got Bush. Now, the crazy young Finn named Pekka Eric Auvinen has engaged in mindless attacks and has, himself, died in the process. Insanity. I'm appalled. I'm disgusted. I'm coming to grips with the fact that this is the world today. I'm not happy about it. But I know this is it.

End of Year Road Trip

We close our office between Christmas and New Year's day, so we have quite a bit of downtime, during which we can try to unwind from a year that affords little time for relaxation. The last two years, we spent most of our break enjoying the hospitality of my brother and his wife, who live in Mexico. As much as we love going down there, we've decided this year to do something different...but we're hoping to go down to Mexico sometime after the first of the year.

We've not yet confirmed our plans, and probably won't until we get in the car to drive off, but we're narrowing it down and, for now, we're leaning heavily toward making a trip along the Texas coast. We like wandering along deserted beaches and spying water birds as they enjoy the relative lack of human company along the salt marshes that sit along long stretches of coastline. We'll probably drive to Aransas Pass to visit the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where we expect to see whooping cranes, a real treat. The last time we were there, we came across a small alligator on an overgrown roadway. After I got out of the car to take pictures, I walked closer and closer to it to get better shots and learned, when I was about ten feet away from it, that alligators are incredibly swift creatures. Suddenly, it flipped its body around 180 degrees and sped away in a flash. Had it been heading toward me instead of away from me, it could have reached me before I could have turned to run.

The last time we were in South Texas, I got an itch to look into what I could do to buy a small commercial building in Refugio and build a publishing house in that tiny town. I got as far as talking to the Director of Economic Development, who was very happy to be talking to someone considering starting a business that could, ultimately, employ up to four or five people! I vaguely recall that I was also interested in trying to buy, or buy into, the local newspaper, the Refugio County Press. Of course, nothing ever came of it.

If you don't know Refugio, it's a very, very small town that's probably less than an hour's drive from the coastal city of Corpus Christi...about 7,600 people in the county, about 2,900 in the town. Until the late 1960s, it was in a growth mode, but after the oil and gas industries that were supporting its growth began the falter, so did its growth. Today, the growth industry, if there is one, is eco-tourism. Its proximity to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and its place smack in the middle of one of the more popular South Texas birding trails makes it attractive to visitors, but apparently it has never really taken off. Not that I'd want it to, if I were to live there. I'd be happy to have the solitude and desolate beaches to myself.

As I said, this is only being talked about, but I rather expect this will be what we do over the holidays this year. Several times on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, my wife and I have found ourselves with no place to go for dinner...we're in a small town where we know no one and the restaurants are not open...only a few 7-11 stores are open in some of these places! So, on a couple of occasions we've resorted to buying chips or a snack machine burrito that was then heated in a microwave. My wife has told me plainly this year: if we are out and about on Christmas, we're going to be prepared with the ingredients for decent meals in case we can't find a restaurant.

I Want to Sell My Body...Now

For sale, 1953 model Human Being, fully-loaded, relatively low mileage. Sale includes ears, feet, legs, hands, elbows, head, neck, and well-endowed torso, all immaculately clean; humorous obituary available upon request, at no additional charge. Priced at $4,500,000, firm, with 50% deposit payable in cash upon acceptance of offer. Balance financed at 8.75% for five years, beginning upon acceptance of offer. Buyer must arrange delivery, at buyer's expense, to take place within 36 hours of seller's demise. Delivery will not take place until payment in full has been documented and delivered to seller or seller's agent. If interested, contact seller.

The Answer We've All Been Seeking

I learned this afternoon that a comet called Comet 17P/Holmes has, within the last several days, exploded. It will, ostensibly, be visible in the northeast sky for the next several nights...maybe weeks.

When I first heard of it, I felt a little tinge of excitement: "I will be able to see an exploding comet!"

A split second later, I questioned why I was excited by that. Even if I see it, no one will care, not today, not tomorrow, not for the rest of time. It won't change me. And then I thought of a young woman in northern California, a woman I don't know, a woman who fancies herself a folk singer, but who in reality will never make it to stardom. It doesn't matter if she sees the comet, either. No one will remember her, or me, in a hundred years. We will be as important, in 100 years, to the universe as will be the grizzly bear that died in the middle of Yellowstone last night. That is, we not only won't we matter, we won't be remembered. We'll have had no lasting impact on the earth. And that won't matter any more then than it does today.

What a strange series of thoughts. But how informative, too. The answer we've all been seeking: No, we don't matter, after all.

Back to Bush: Impeach the Bastard

I don't care if you've heard it before. I want Bush and Cheney impeached. They only have just over a year left, I know, but I want the bastards removed from office and jailed. They and their entire corrupt, vile, miserable administration should be impeached and imprisoned. Ask your congressman in the House of Repesentatives to enter articles of impeachment. Encourage your Senators to vote to impeach when the articles are brought to them for vote. Ask your neighbors to help you get rid of these pigs; these people have ruined the United States' reputation. They have acted in ways that have killed thousands of U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of others. They are the worst forms of repulsive scum.

If the U.S. had spent the money it has spent so far in Iraq, instead, in the United States and to improve the lot of people south of our border, our part of the world would be a better place. We'd probably have been able to improve huge swaths of the rest of the world, as well. Of course, we'd still be in a catastrophically bad financial situation, but at least the world would have been made better, instead of being made more dangerous and deadly.

Lately, I've tried to hold back on how much I loathe Bush and his cronies who are destroying this country. Tonight, I'm not holding back. The bastard deserves to be impeached, then tried for the worst crimes against humanity. I'm not much of a fan of the death penalty, but if he's convicted of the crimes I think he's perpetrated, I might make an exception if the courts were to rule that were the appropriate punishment. Oh, for the return of Richard Nixon!

Help is on the Way

Thanks to an anonymous commenter, there's more information on how to help the Tabasco flood victims. Read the commenter's post here. Yesterday, I ended up finding a link on the American Red Cross website, where I was able to make a donation specific to the Tabasco flood victims. I'm moved at how many people have visited my blog since yesterday after doing Internet searches for terms like "help Tabasco flood" and the like. There really are a lot of people who consider it an obligation to help people in such circumstances. I feel better about people today. I hope it lasts.

Grilled Cheese, Soup, and Exercize

I've been in the mood lately to cook or, rather, to experiment with food. Yesterday, I got the idea to make grilled cheese sandwiches, thanks in no small part to a post on another blogger's site. Once the idea entered my mind, it would not depart. So, I went grocery shopping. My visit to Fiesta Market was only modestly satisfactory; I left with a few calabacitas, some poblano peppers, several cans of diced tomatoes, a jicama root, and a loaf of plain wheat bread (not to worry: not everything was for the grilled cheese sandwiches). I could find no cheese that screamed my name, so I went to another grocery store, where I got some sliced havarti cheese, some soft goat cheese, some sliced smoked turkey, some American cheese slices (I'm lazy...it melts easily), some fresh basil, and other odds and ends unrelated to my grilled cheese sandwich mission.

Once I got home, I decided to get the poblano peppers ready for use, so I broiled them, turning them until their skin turned black and bubbled away from the body of the pepper all the way around. I peeled them and set them aside. I felt sure I would use them later, either on my sandwiches or something else that needed a bit of a kick.

Often, when I'm in the mood to create something edible, I wander aimlessly through a grocery store, buying things that may or may not be intended for immediate use. What I'm looking for, I've decided, is inspiration. I do not know whether I found inspiration yesterday, but here's what I ended up doing last night:

• Buttered one side of two pieces of wheat bread and put them in skillet, butter side down
  
• Placed a slice of American cheese on each slice of bread
  
  • On one side of the bread, placed the following:
    
  • A thin slice of tomato
    
  • A thin slice of red onion
    
  • A slab of poblano pepper
    
  • A thin slice of turkey
    
  • Several leaves of fresh basil
    
  • A sprinkling of toasted cumin seeds
    
  • A slice of havarti
    
• When the cheese on both sided had melted sufficiently, I flipped one piece of bread (the one with only the melted cheese) onto the other, then gently pushed down with a spatula until the two pieces had been sealed together by the melted cheese.

To my way of thinking, the grilled cheese sandwiches were wonderful...very spicy, incredibly flavorful, and absolutely satisfying. However, the cheese was insufficient to adequately seal the two piece of bread together. In future, I think I'll try Swiss cheese instead of American and will either use dilled havarti or will add dill seeds to the sandwich. Also, I'd remember that I had intended to use the goat cheese...I forgot I had it. And, if I'd owned a panini (more properly panino, but I'll go with the American flow) press, I'd use it. But I don't.

This morning, after I'd made a very strong pot of very good coffee, I decided to prepare some more Indian soup that can serve as our dinner for a couple of nights this week. My decision was not made entirely this morning; yesterday, I soaked two cups of dried garbanzo beans in six cups of water all day, so they were ready to cook. I heated the garbanzos and water, boiling until the garbanzos were perfect. I won't go into any more detail here; if you are interested in what I made, go here.

Tomorrow is the day for my periodic "fasting labs," wherein I starve myself for at least ten hours prior to having blood taken. It's not that easy, though. My doctor insists on seing me, so I will have to deal with his complaints about my lack of exercize, my lack of weight loss, my high triglyceride levels, etc. Bastard! Can't he just give me a painless injection or a simple pill that will cause me to modify my behavior so that I will quickly become tall, thin, well-muscled, and über-healthy? I suppose not. I must get back to consummating my fascination with bicycles.

Nature Says...

Thanks to Gary for directions to this telling photo.

Justice for a Little Girl

I'm a cynic. I recognize that the world's a hard place to be and a harder place in which to last. I wish it were not so, but I recognize it as it is. But sometimes I think the world is getting tougher every day. It's getting to the point, though, that even cynical geezers get choked up with the incomprehensible brutality this world sometimes inflicts on its creatures.

Tonight, I read a piece on the CNN website about the body of a 2 or 3 year old girl, in a plastic box, that washed up on an island in Galveston Bay. The medical examiner said she had been dead for about two weeks; from what they can tell so far, her death was related to her fractured skull. I've never had kids. But I cannot fathom, in the darkest corners of my mind, how someone could kill a child like that. It's inhuman. It's horrifying and wretched and miserable and makes me think there's something fundamentally wrong with humans that would allow such a thing to happen. Here is a composite sketch of the little girl. May the bastard who killed her be found, quickly, and may whatever justice this country still has to deliver be given to the little girl's killer:

Help for the People of Tabasco State in Mexico

Late Update: The American Red Cross now has a spot on their website to donate directly to help the victims of the floods in the State of Tabasco in Mexico!

The news of 900,000 people suffering through the devastating floods in the Mexican State of Tabasco on the Gulf Coast is gut-wrenching. The scenes are reminiscent of the floods in New Orleans after Katrina. Here is a quote from the American Red Cross website about the current situation in Tabasco, which is at the southern tip of the Gulf of Mexico:

"Thousands of families are still cut off from assistance due to rising water and the most urgent needs are providing people with shelter, food, drinking water and first aid," says Guillermo Garcia, Regional Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for the American Red Cross. "We will continue to monitor the situation with our colleagues at the Mexican Red Cross to see what further assistance is needed and how we can further support their emergency response."

The Mexican Red Cross mobilized 2,500 emergency relief workers, scuba rescue divers and volunteers. In addition, the Mexican Red Cross sent two helicopters from nearby states to help increase relief distributions to affected communities. The Mexican Red Cross plans to immediately distribute emergency food parcels to 9,000 families and will assist affected communities with emergency food assistance and relief supplies in the coming days.

I hope the people who were so generous after Katrina will be equally as generous now. Donations can be made to the American Red Cross for the International Relief Fund (click on the appropriate button) or you can donation to the The Mexican Red Cross by making bank transfers if you are proficient in Spanish. Ideally, the American Red Cross would set up a mechanism for people to donate directly to Tabasco relief via their website.

The Mexican Red Cross came forward, at the request of the American Red Cross, during the recent wildfires in California with help in the form of people willing to translate for Spanish speakers who were impacted by the fires.

Animated GIF, If I'm Lucky (but I'm not)

If this works as I hope, the images in this GIF file will change every 1-2 seconds. These are all photos I've taken at events my company has been responsible for creating and managing over the years. The purpose of the post? Just to see if I got the animated GIF file created and posted so it will actuall work.

Late news...I'm not lucky. Apparently, blogspot.com doesn't like animated GIF files. BUT, if you click on the photo and look at the resulting image, you'll see it change every second or two. Well, it works on a regular HTML page...but not on blogspot!

Linguasophoristic Is Not A Word

Oh, this is really important. It's equivalent to the SAT and GRE and LSAT all rolled into one...or maybe not. And the title is apropos of nothing, by the way.

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Tonight, it's Austrian food with a small group of neighbors! Complete with live music! And I'm wearing jeans! Oh boy, it doesn't take much to impress me, does it?

November 1

Today was an abberation, I hope. I had a bit of a late start, almost everything and everyone at the office was less productive than would be expected and acceptable, I had a late-int-the-day conference call, I got the third or fourth notice that my proposals for new business had not been accepted...and it went on. The best part of the day was the chana dal/garbanzo/tomato soup (I finally got around to finishing it off for dinner) and the results of the "wing it" approach I took to making Gobi Manchurian. The food was good. All I need is more good food...right.

Yesterday (the deadline), I submitted the renewal for my certification for my profession. I hope it actually went through (via fax) and that my barely sufficient continuing education points will be judged acceptable. I'm almost at the point of not caring about the certification...it really does me no good, at least not that I can measure. Oh, well.

Tomorrow, November 2, is the birthday of one of my sisters. Happy birthday, sister number one!

What else. Ummm. Can't think of much.