Blogma

2004-04-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

Zawahiri said in 1999 "The war has just started. The Americans should wait for the answer." So much for the "they were at war and we didn't know we were at war" answer by Condi

2004-03-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

Fake Firefighters in Bush's new ads? All I can say is wow

2004-01-27T18:20:00.000-08:00

2003-10-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

Going camping tomorrow...the weather is just too good to pass up. I really should be doing my billing, but I'll get to it Sunday. Blech. Will cut into my football watching, but it is worth it for a good camping trip.

I don't know why I've become such a late convert to camping. I guess I always liked it, but I was rather wimpy when it came to temperature fluctuations, humidity, and bugs. My blood is apparently a delicacy to mosquitos. When no one else is getting bitten, I'll have welts all over. But living in central Texas, I just have a connection with this land that I never felt in East Texas. I guess it is the humidity that I couldn't stand, I don't know. Something about camping in the swamp maybe that doesn't fit with me. But a nice lake in central texas? Baby, I'm home.

Actually had a pretty good week. Settled a very difficult case and the client is happy. That's always good. And the client said nice things about me in front of an equity partner, which didn't hurt, I suppose. Rush Limbaugh not only is out of my football watching now, he may be in jail or drug rehab soon, which is almost too sweet of a hypocrisy. Now I don't cheer for drug addiction on anyone, including Rush, but there is something of justice that makes someone who has made poor addicts before made to be such villains. On top of that, Wal-Mart decided not to move into my neighborhood. That works for me. On top of that, I'm going camping and it is 75 degrees and clear. Couldn't get much better.

Other than that, just chillin'. Been too long since I updated this. Needed to write something...

2003-08-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Back from Houston, what a ride. Actually, it went pretty well. I might have another large company to add to my client roster here shortly. That is very good news. So professionally things are moving along.

Dealing with some home stuff that is not so easy. I can't really get into it, but it is a very difficult situation and I hope it resolves itself by the end of this month. We'll see.

We did a lot of work this weekend on our house, which makes for a very tiring week this week. We had purchased a large HDTV in February, which necessitated us eliminating our old entertainment center (since our new huge tv wouldn't fit)...we just this past weekend got around to getting an entertainment center for the replacement tv. Of course, we had to put it together, and that was a pain. But it was relatively inexpensive and it is working quite well for our purposes. The bonus is that we finally have our surround sound stereo set up for our huge tv...I'm planning on playing with that a little more tonight. Also, we were able to figure out how to set up our Tivo to be connected to our VCR so we can dump recorded shows onto our VCR. The quality sucks a little, but it is nice for those items you want to keep and don't know what to do with. The cool thing is that our 80 hour Tivo has been plenty for our purposes. I'd love to have a larger hard drive, but it is cool to know that the 80 hour is plenty.

Getting a little nervous because I have to go see the doctor soon. I've been needing a hernia surgery for quite some time but I've been putting it off for one reason or another. I think the time is coming for me to have to face that reality. I hate doctors and doctor visits, and they always say the same thing to me (need to lose a few pounds, need to change your diet, etc.) Of course they are right, but I really don't like food that is "good" for me. I guess I just kept hoping I'd never have to deal with it. That, of course, is not true. I found it much easier to change my diet when I was single and on the prowl; but married, it is a little tougher to see the motivation. I mean, if I lose a ton of weight and start looking buff, what's my reward? Longer life? How much of a deal is that? At least when single I could see myself climb up the girl ladder by the better I looked. Sad to say, but the better I looked, the more play I could get with a better looking girl. Pretty sad that that's the way it was, but it was.

I always had problems with doctors, I think in part because I spent so much time with them as a child. I was the sick one all the time, allergic to everything, constantly with pneumonia and other lung related ailments. I was in fourth grade before they figured out I had asthma, and I suffered until that day. It is amazing I lived to junior high with the terrible health care I got growing up. From that time on, though, the quest began to find out the source of my allergies to try to remove me from that allergen. Turned out I was allergic to damn near everything, so my choice was suffer and be free, or live my life in a hypoallergenic bubble. I chose the former. Over time my allergies have lessened, but I still have a raging case of hay fever a couple of times a year, and I can't mow my lawn without serious consequences. The asthma is still a problem too. While in undergraduate school, I was prescribed a steroid to try to alleviate my breathing problems, but all that does is stop the attack after it starts. I've heard there are new and better treatments out there, and I guess I want to try those out too. I think the best cure for my asthma is to lose weight, and I'm sure I'll get that comment when I see the doctor.

I'm also concerned about blood pressure. My mother was just diagnosed with high blood pressure, and nearly everyone on her side of the family has the same problem now. I'm concerned about being diagnosed with the problem as that has severe problems for pre-existing conditions and life insurance once diagnosed. But I have little doubt that I have high blood pressure.

All this fun at the doctors, on top of my necessary surgery. Wee fun. Can we say that we love going to the doctor or what? Not looking forward to it. But I've been busting my hernia with this recent cough I've had and I think it is time to suck it up and deal with it. But I'm such a wuss when it comes to this stuff. Sux.

Maybe tomorrow I'll call and set up an appointment...yech.

2003-08-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the sun and sand of the Mayan Riviera. What a trip. It could have been a little better on the service end, but overall I really feel like we were stealing from them the price was so cheap. I could have done without the 6 hour airport stay in trying to leave Sunday, which was combined with the 4am wakeup call, but still I can't complain. I mean, $469 for airfare, 3 nights hotel (with very nice rooms), all food and all liquor included, plus transport to and from the airport? And free snorkel and kayak rental? It was a flipping steal.

I had another interesting discussion with a friend of mine about the past. I found I was discussing feelings I hadn't had in years and it felt good to feel those feelings again, even though they were unpleasant. I'm reminded of the movie Swingers where Jon Favreau is talking with Ron Livingston about how he misses his girlfriend and Livingston says (paraphrasing), "you know, at some point you are going to miss the pain just like you miss her. And you want to know why? Because you lived with that pain for so long, just like you were were her for so long." I think that is generally true. Sometimes I feel sentimental about feelings I once had, regardless of whether I really feel them today. Sometimes I enjoy making myself feel like I did years ago just to have, as she put it, a connection to the past. Somehow I feel alive and I feel like I've lived just by connecting to those old feelings. Sometimes I even trick myself into thinking that I still have those feelings, even though that is really impossible and rediculous.

But it was a good conversation, one of the more honest ones I've had in a while. It felt good to feel the connection with the past and realize that is exactly what it was.

On a lighter side, I did my roster cut downs in my fantasy league. The 2003 Austin Powers are Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James, Chris Chambers, Peerless Price, Jimmy Smith, Antwaan Randle El, and David Akers. Kordell was finally released after two disappointing seasons. Sure he's a starter in Chicago, but that is such a conservative offense I don't think it matters. Plus, I think there are so many equivalent QB's that I could get him back if I wanted. I don't think there will be a Kordell draft rush. I felt a little bad about releasing James Stewart, who was the last person out. It was a toss up between Chambers and Stewart, with Stewart having some edge since he is a starting RB and there just aren't that many out there. But Stewart ultimately lost due to that bad word, "upside". I know how NFL teams feel when they waste their team on "upside potential" instead of actual production. They are both backups, though, so it may not ever really matter. Where I'm real upset is the fact that late last year I released Trung Canidate, who was traded to the Redskins in the offseason to replace Stephen Davis. That just bites. I had Trung on my roster two years in a row and finally gave up when Lamar Gordon started getting all the backup roles to Faulk. Now he's a starter. What a deal.

Firm front things are going ok...had some issues today with my assistant failing to search properly for the name and address of the person that was the target of the cease and desist letter. So we send the demand to a channel partner by mistake, and apparently the new company president was a little less than thrilled. I hate looking stupid, particularly when it is someone else making me look stupid. It is actions like this that make me not want to have an assistant at all and do it all myself. Unfortunately, I have too much work to have that happen. But it is definitely getting close to that for me. Other than that, not much going on. I get my firm photo taken next Wednesday. Another day with a suit...weee fun.

Guess that's it...

2003-08-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

I am damn near done with billing and hours away from heading to the Mayan Riviera! Three more billing days to go, as of this writing, which is way early in the morning. Funny how I do my best work between the hours of 10p and 1 am. I think that is a holdover from college.

Tomorrow is cut down day in my fantasy football league and I haven't even looked at my last year's roster yet. I keep getting trade talk, but I just can't seem to get to it, with the preparation for leaving the country and all. I noticed that the government is issuing another alert. Yehaw. Nothing like having my digital camera poked and prodded. I hope that is the only thing poked and prodded. I mean, I did go to Germany in 1994, so I must be the 21 st hijacker, right?

Gonna keep it short tonight, as it is so late. But suffice it to say I had a really bad day today. Very busy, and had to cover a hearing for my "boss" (hard to really call someone you talk to once a month your boss), who was coming off of a vacation. Wouldn't have been a big deal but I wasn't asked to cover it until I had already come in, meaning I had to return to the house to change into a suit. Notice also that I've been at work for the last twelve hours in a suit, making me very happy.

I'm also a bit miffed because I helped a co-worker and got slammed by the managing partner for doing it. She approached me last week to provide an opinion letter for a client that seemed simple enough, and failed to tell me that she hadn't gone over this project with him before asking me to step in. I assumed it was either a) ok with him; or b) he was out of pocket and we were flying solo and following the client's wishes. Turns out that the client misrepresented some very important facts to me, and I presented an opinion letter to a financing institution that was patently misleading. I, of course, am furious that the client put me in that position, but the managing partner is furious that I didn't do some more digging around to make sure that the facts as presented by the client were correct. It is more complicated than that, but that is essentially it. I didn't question the client because, duh, he's the client and that seemed to be worse than the alternative. I also assumed that if we were representing the guy, he had to meet a relatively high standard of honesty if he's been around as long as was represented to me. But, I suppose I should have done more. But what frustrates me more than anything is the idea that I'm supposed to "learn" from these alleged mistakes, when I really feel like if I were presented with the same circumstance 50 times, I would do it the same way 49 times. That to me tells me that it is hind sight being 20/20, not really a life lesson. But he's the boss, so I took it like a man.

On the client development front, lots happening. Can't go into specifics due to confidentiality rules, but I am pretty excited about some prospects that may come into fruition very shortly. We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed.

Got my friend Sean into blogging...his site is http://sean432.blogspot.com . Should be interesting to see what the mad delivery driver has to blog about! Remember, he's on the road every day!

Guess that's it...hasta manana...

2003-08-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

Lots of interesting conversations today, but unfortunately, I'm still slow on the billing front. But it will be complete tomorrow, come hell or high water. Finally registered blogma.com, so that is the official name for this site.

I'm reading more about the U.S. political situation, and the more I read, the more distressed I become. I think the Republican agenda is clear: First, give tax breaks to those that need it least and provide desperate need for services for the poor; Second, cut the budgets on all of the public institutions so that only the truely un-employable are left in the public sector jobs; Three, complain about the inefficiencies of the public sector, failing to point out budget cuts made; Four, use these inefficiencies to hire private companies under private contracts, presumably on the basis that they are more efficient than the underfunded public institutions; Five, give those "private contracts" to the wealthy that were receiving the tax cuts to begin with; Six, hit those private companies up for campaign donations so they can do it all over again until the wealthy have everything, the poor are being serviced by corporations with the tax dollars of the middle and lower class. You have to give it to them, it is a brilliant strategy.

What's worse, the poor and middle class are particularly underrepresented in this form of tax and gift government structure. So the Democrats, who represent these poor and middle class constituencies, are forced to find corporate donors to continue to compete for the seats they do hold, a job done very well by the Democratic Leadership Council, of which Bill Clinton was a very prominent member. What this essentially does is create a rift between the "Democratic wing of the Democratic party", as Dean so artfully described, and the "money people" who can orchestrate and win a national presidential election. It is a very complex problem, and I'm not sure I have the answer to it, other than increasing the subsidization of elections through the government. Problem is, the Republicans like this system that benefits them terribly, and they control the government. I'm afraid that unless the Democrats win the Presidency, we are a one party system. Bring back Ross Perot. We sure could use him to take some right leaning "tweeners" out of the close election.

What's interesting is this dynamic is true even though the country, by voting public, is very evenly split between the Democrats and Republicans, in large part due the Democrats' understanding of the basic needs of women and the Republicans' sheer lack of any attention to those needs. So it is very possible that the democratic wing of the Democratic party could win a national election and change this tide. But if it doesn't happen, there is no check on the power of goverment, as the rest of the game has been fixed and is controlled by rich white males. I may not want to do this Blog any longer in that scenario.

I read in an article by none other than Molly Ivins that "fairness" under this administration has gone right out the window, which I think is true, in large part due to public apathy and fear. There used to be some justice in the world, some check on this power. But there aren't any checks. We have been asleep at the check wheel. I think whomever is the Democratic nominee, they need to forcefully state that the government needs a check on power, particularly during a time where national security is at stake. There NEEDS to be someone looking over Ashcroft, Rumsfeld and Rove's shoulders all the time.

I'm reminded of a person on MTV's Real World, I think, who was being interviewed about something or other in December of 2001 or so. Her reply was, "that's sooooo September 10". I'm convinced that this should be the new catch phrase. Freedom to associate? That's sooooo September 10th. Freedom of speech and ability to criticize your government? That's sooooo September 10th, and so on. The Democratic Party? That's soooooo September 10th. And so on.

What is most distressing about the current administration is the arrogance that it shows not only to the opposition in the opposition party, which is to be expected when you are Machiavellian, but to its own. Bush seemed shocked that Saddam "gassed his own people", but figuratively that is exactly what Bush is doing within his own party. The Bush administration is ruthless about attacking anyone within its organization that has its own viewpoint that differs from the party line, and they are vociferous in their objections to any defections. This has been shown time and time again, with lashings going out to Jeffords, Olympia Snowe and others. And these are not of the "we will not push your porkbelly" kinds of attacks. These are very public, very targeted and personal attacks on that persons' character and fitness for office. The Anit-Snowe ads run in Maine during the budget debates are a case in point. Far be it for a Republican Senator to insist that the tax cuts not exceed $350 billion at a time of running $450 billion deficits not including the war in Iraq.

Suddenly, this administration is praising Keynesian economics. How did that happen? Because the real deal is that Republicans were not upset that we were running deficits in the 1980s, they were upset with whom was receiving the checks. If deficit spending is going to defense contractors, insurance companies, doctors and pharmaceuticals, no problems, that's our base. If, however, we are running deficit spending to provide a safety net to the poor and disabled, or to enrich lives with art, forget it. Suddently Keynesian economics is an evil that only the Chicago School can fix. Trickle down, baby, trickle down.

It is very scary, indeed. But it is so simple it is scary.

2003-08-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

Procrastinating again from doing my billing. It is amazing how quickly I can get it done when I am under the gun, but I am not very good at doing it when I have the time to do it.

Apparently I thought I had blogma.com but enom's registration engine went down last night for hours. I didn't actually register it until today. Ah, the wonders of technology. I also registered nyblog.com, even though I'm not in NY...figure it would be a good NY blog portal or an interesting domain to sell some day, assuming the blogging fad continues.

Reading the news today has made me ornery. Every time I see W pretending to be a cowboy ranch hand I always get bent out of shape. I mean, this guy is a grandson of a northeastern US Senator back in the real uppidy times, and he is the son of a President. He was born in Connecticut and went to Yale, for gosh sakes. He is absolutely no ranch hand, but the press runs with it like it is not the publicity play that it is. As I was telling a friend of mine today, "I'm embarrassed to live in the state that the Dixie Chicks mistakenly said W was from..."

I got hit back with, "well, Hillary's not from NY, either"...but she constantly calls NY her "adopted home state", and no one voted for her from NY because she claimed to be a lifelong New Yorker. Two totally different situations. New Yorkers knew Hillary was a reverse carpet bagger, and really is a Chicagoan by nature.

I suppose the closest to W situation from the left really is Molly Ivins, who is repeatedly referred to as a Texas humorist, but she's only adopted Texas. She was born in California, did grow up in Houston, but she went to Smith College and got a masters from Columbia, not decidedly Texas schools. To be fair to Molly, though, what progressive wanted to be a Texan before air conditioners and the civil rights movement, anyway?

By the way, I'm reading a story on the Texas Senator walkout due to the DeLay, Bush and Perry powergrab...what ever happened to bipartisanship? Where is the press lashing out at Bush for promising that he would use compassionate conservatism? Where is the press callling hogwash W's claim to be able to work across the aisle, as he "did in Texas"? Nowhere. The fundamental truth is that the press is as scared of this administration as the rest of us are.

I think this next election could determine if we fall into a pre-war Germany state of hysteria or not. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I see a willingness to completely throw the rules out, to force constitutional amendments, and a general public apathy cause by fear of the unknown that makes me think Orwell may not have been that far off. One just hopes we have some books in print around in twenty years. Beware of the e-book: Those who control the present also control the past...

Guess that's it for now...

2003-08-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Testing this thing out...Interesting that I own Blogma.com but blogma.blogspot.com was taken...Guess someone doesn't think enough of their blogging site to register the domain name. Oh well, getting late...