For what it's worth, here's a list and mini-review of the books I read in 2007. The books are listed more or less in the order of my preference. The way the year started off, I would have thought I would read more books than I did, but my reading was intermittent and like a lot of other things in life (girlfriends and sex come to mind), it's either feast or famine.
2007 Books
10/15 On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
This is one of the best written books I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. It’s one of the few books I’ve read where I’ve gone back and re-read sentences or paragraphs for the sheer joy of it. The book is a short book, a novella really, about the wedding night of a young British couple in the pre-free-love days of the early 60’s. It’s not a feel-good book with a happy ending, but it’s so well written, I’ll be sure to read it again.
1/4 The Golden Spruce, John Valliant
I loved this book. It wove the history of logging the virgin forests of BC; the loggers who did the work; the environment and environmentalists; and the mental illness of an almost super-human logger turned environmentalist into a riveting story that I had a hard time putting down. If this book was written by an American and set in America, it would be a best-seller with a movie to open during the holiday season.
3/8 Bury The Chains, Adam Hochschild
This is the fascinating story of the personalities and their perseverance in ending the British slave trade. It should have been (but wasn't) the book that the movie Amazing Grace was based on. I had a hard time putting the book down, but I had a hard time staying awake at the movie.
11/16 The Death of Vishnu, Manil Suri
The first sentence of the book grabbed me, and never let go. (I’d quote it if I hadn’t lent the book to Marian) I’m a bit surprised that the story of the death of a homeless alcoholic on the steps of an apartment building in Bombay, and the lives of the people in the apartment building, would interest me and move me the way it did.
6/12 The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright
If you want to read just one well-researched and readable history of Bin Laden and his crowd up to 9/11, this is the book.
12/29 The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
This was a good book, and I’m sure will be a good movie. I did get a bit annoyed at some of the amazing coincidences that closed various loops in the book. Those plot devices are more at home in movies than in books. In spite of those annoyances, the book entertained and moved me. I guess “atonement” is a popular theme this year, because that’s what this book is all about.
1/29 Rising Tide, John M. Barry
This book, written years before Hurricane Katrina, recounts the story of the great Mississippi Flood of 1927. It’s one of those well-researched and readable non-fiction books that I love to read. As well as the flood itself, the book examines the role of government in disasters, and how this flood really changed the role of the federal government.
7/5 The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan
Generally speaking, this was a good book about the worst of the worst dustbowl areas in the US. Egan does a good job of recounting the history of the Great Plains from the Indian days to ranching to farming and the environmental catastrophe that resulted. The only disappointment was that the author seemed to run out of steam after he got through the depression. I would have liked a bit more of an epilogue.
9/15 Waxwings, Jonathan Raban
Raban disappointed me a bit with this book. It was a good book, but just not in the same league as Passage to Juneau and Bad Land. The book is set in Seattle, so I enjoyed the references to familiar places and neighborhoods.
11/8 1491, Charles C. Mann
This is another one of those well-researched and well-written non-fiction books that I usually like, but it could have been better. There was a bit too much of the romanticized “Noble Savage” element to this book, but it did make me look at the pre-Columbian history of the Americas in a new way.
1/5 Where the Mountain Casts its Shadow, Maria Coffey
This book looks at the lives of extreme mountain climbers and the effect of their lives and deaths on the people closest to them. I’ve never understood the motivation of extreme climbers and what drives them to push their lives to the limit. I still don’t understand their motivations, but this book gave me a few insights I hadn’t had before.
12/16 The Golden Compass, Paul Pullman
Fantasy books are not my usual cup of tea. I hadn’t read one since I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the depths of my misspent youth, and I’m not likely to read another one soon. I think this book is a pretty good example of the genre, but there’s so much other stuff out there to read, I don’t think I’ll expend a whole lot of my finite reading time on the rest of the series or any more fantasies.
5/26 To Live’s to Fly, John Kruth
The only reason I finished this book is that I’m a big fan of Townes Van Zandt’s music. I’m amazed that such great music came out of such a self-destructive character. The book was OK, but it was a bit too long, and well before I finished it, I was wishing it was over. There were too many anecdotes about the horrible things Van Zandt did to himself and others, and after a while, it got old.
2/25 Sailing Alone Around the World, Joshua Slocum
This is a classic sailing book, written 100 years ago by the first guy to sail around the world alone. But like many other “classics” I’ve read, it disappointed me. Slocum was definitely a better sailor than a writer, showing about as much imagination in writing the book as he did choosing the title. Unless you’re a hard-core sailor, don’t bother.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
The Year in Review
2007 was an interesting year politically. Until Benazir Bhutto was assassinated a couple of days ago, news from Iraq directly or indirectly dominated everything. Petraeus' Surge seems to be working.... kinda. To get a bit of stability, he's made deals with former insurgents, concentrated forces in Baghdad, let the Shia run the South, and the Kurds run the North. Whether or not he can hang on to that thread of stability remains to be seen. I think not. There aren't enough American troops left to support troop rotations in the spring; the insurgents will be "allies" only as long as it's in their interest (not the American's interest), and all hell could break loose in the north if Turkey invades Kurdistan. Shia theocrats and thugs running the south are the least of the American worries.
The assassination of Bhutto probably won't directly affect the war in Iraq, but it will affect the broader "War on Terror." Pakistan doesn't fit neatly into Bush's Manichean view of the world. Are they with us, or against us? On one hand, they are on the front lines of fighting Al Quaeda and the Taliban. On the other, they were one of three countries in the world that recognized the Taliban when they were in power in Afghanistan, and many analysts say that Pakistan's ISI created the Taliban. Bin Laden is supposedly in the northern territories of Pakistan, but Musharraf doesn't dare invade the area to find him for fear of igniting his own Islamic rebellion. And in spite of all of Bush's rhetoric about supporting democracy around the world, Musharraf is a military dictator. The US had put a lot of faith in Bhutto to put a more human face on Pakistan. Where are they going to put that faith now? I think that the last thing that Pakistan needs right now is American advice.
The sub-prime lending crisis is something that was lurking in the background for years until it finally reared its ugly head this year. These loans brought many otherwise unqualified buyers into the housting market and helped fuel the resulting boom, then the bubble, and now the collapse. Not only are homeowners hurt, but the big financial institutions that bought the sliced and diced pooled mortgage funds are writing off billions. I just read the other day that the big credit card companies are declaring record numbers of cardholders in default. The consumers can no longer get a home equity loan to pay off their credit cards, and they have no where else to turn. Real wages certainly aren't rising. What's the FED going to do? Are they going to lower interest rates in spite of the inflation risk and the already record low value of the US dollar? How can the consumer-spending-fueled US economy continue to grow if consumers don't have any money? And don't forget the record budget and trade deficits that the Bushies have run up. I don't see another boom of any kind coming to the rescue anytime soon. This mess will take years and probably a major recession to sort out.
By comparison, the godless-faggot-loving-commie-pinko-bastards in the Great White North seem to be doing pretty well. How about the loonie's run this year?
The presidential primaries are fun to follow. Until a couple of days ago, I was pretty sure that Obama and McCain would be the candidates, with Obama winning in the end. I think Bhutto's death has raised McCain's already surging candidacy, and has probably diminished Obama's. I hope that not too many people will buy Hillary's claims of experience over Obama's but even I have to admit that Hillary's response to Bhutto's assassination was more "presidential" than Obama's. I think that if Hillary does get the Democratic nomination, Mike Bloomberg will launch a third party campaign, possibly with someone like Chuck Hagel as the VP. Because her negatives are so high, Hillary couldn't possibly win a three way race, and it would be between McCain and Bloomberg. In any case, the first presidential election that I get to vote in will be an interesting one!
2007 could be the Year of the Environment, with Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize and Academy award. But I am getting tired of the arguments about whether or not people are causing global warming. In the final analysis, it doesn't matter. All of the things that we should be doing to reduce global warming will do everything from limiting our dependency on foreign oil (and fossil fuels, period) to reducing overall pollution. All good things, in my view.
I can't let 2007 pass without at least a partial listing of the scandals presided over by our Commander in Chief. By any measure, he is an uncommonly stupid but nonetheless dangerous, primate. In no particular order, here are just a few...
-the loss of habeus corpus
-the Iran NIE
-firing US Attorneys
-Plamegate
-New Orleans
-waterboarding and "enhanced interrogation techniques"
-extraordinary rendition
-warrantless wiretapping
-global warming
-Alberto Gonzales
-Jose Padilla
-Walter Reed
-destruction of CIA interrogation tapes
-David Vitter (he's the guy caught up in the Washington madam scandal. I loved the fact that his wife, commenting on Hillary's support of Bill in the 90's, said that if her husband was caught in a similar situation, she'd be more like Lorena Bobbit than Hillary Clinton)
-Larry Craig (I once saw a sign on a men's bathroom door warning that Republicans may be inside)
-Blackwater
I am pessimistic about the state of the world in 2008. Here are a few of things that I think will happen in 2008:
-Thousands will continue to die and billions will continue to be spent in Iraq.
-Nothing good will come out of Pakistan.
-Any gains made in Afghanistan in the last few years will be lost.
-The housing bubble will continue to deflate, and the US economy will be stagnate at best.
-Stock markets will drop precipitously once the repercussions of the sub-prime mess ripple though. Look for a DJA of 10,000.
-Nothing will be done about global warming.
It's easy to be a pessimist. You're usually right, and you're happy when you're wrong. Let's hope I'm wrong.
The assassination of Bhutto probably won't directly affect the war in Iraq, but it will affect the broader "War on Terror." Pakistan doesn't fit neatly into Bush's Manichean view of the world. Are they with us, or against us? On one hand, they are on the front lines of fighting Al Quaeda and the Taliban. On the other, they were one of three countries in the world that recognized the Taliban when they were in power in Afghanistan, and many analysts say that Pakistan's ISI created the Taliban. Bin Laden is supposedly in the northern territories of Pakistan, but Musharraf doesn't dare invade the area to find him for fear of igniting his own Islamic rebellion. And in spite of all of Bush's rhetoric about supporting democracy around the world, Musharraf is a military dictator. The US had put a lot of faith in Bhutto to put a more human face on Pakistan. Where are they going to put that faith now? I think that the last thing that Pakistan needs right now is American advice.
The sub-prime lending crisis is something that was lurking in the background for years until it finally reared its ugly head this year. These loans brought many otherwise unqualified buyers into the housting market and helped fuel the resulting boom, then the bubble, and now the collapse. Not only are homeowners hurt, but the big financial institutions that bought the sliced and diced pooled mortgage funds are writing off billions. I just read the other day that the big credit card companies are declaring record numbers of cardholders in default. The consumers can no longer get a home equity loan to pay off their credit cards, and they have no where else to turn. Real wages certainly aren't rising. What's the FED going to do? Are they going to lower interest rates in spite of the inflation risk and the already record low value of the US dollar? How can the consumer-spending-fueled US economy continue to grow if consumers don't have any money? And don't forget the record budget and trade deficits that the Bushies have run up. I don't see another boom of any kind coming to the rescue anytime soon. This mess will take years and probably a major recession to sort out.
By comparison, the godless-faggot-loving-commie-pinko-bastards in the Great White North seem to be doing pretty well. How about the loonie's run this year?
The presidential primaries are fun to follow. Until a couple of days ago, I was pretty sure that Obama and McCain would be the candidates, with Obama winning in the end. I think Bhutto's death has raised McCain's already surging candidacy, and has probably diminished Obama's. I hope that not too many people will buy Hillary's claims of experience over Obama's but even I have to admit that Hillary's response to Bhutto's assassination was more "presidential" than Obama's. I think that if Hillary does get the Democratic nomination, Mike Bloomberg will launch a third party campaign, possibly with someone like Chuck Hagel as the VP. Because her negatives are so high, Hillary couldn't possibly win a three way race, and it would be between McCain and Bloomberg. In any case, the first presidential election that I get to vote in will be an interesting one!
2007 could be the Year of the Environment, with Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize and Academy award. But I am getting tired of the arguments about whether or not people are causing global warming. In the final analysis, it doesn't matter. All of the things that we should be doing to reduce global warming will do everything from limiting our dependency on foreign oil (and fossil fuels, period) to reducing overall pollution. All good things, in my view.
I can't let 2007 pass without at least a partial listing of the scandals presided over by our Commander in Chief. By any measure, he is an uncommonly stupid but nonetheless dangerous, primate. In no particular order, here are just a few...
-the loss of habeus corpus
-the Iran NIE
-firing US Attorneys
-Plamegate
-New Orleans
-waterboarding and "enhanced interrogation techniques"
-extraordinary rendition
-warrantless wiretapping
-global warming
-Alberto Gonzales
-Jose Padilla
-Walter Reed
-destruction of CIA interrogation tapes
-David Vitter (he's the guy caught up in the Washington madam scandal. I loved the fact that his wife, commenting on Hillary's support of Bill in the 90's, said that if her husband was caught in a similar situation, she'd be more like Lorena Bobbit than Hillary Clinton)
-Larry Craig (I once saw a sign on a men's bathroom door warning that Republicans may be inside)
-Blackwater
I am pessimistic about the state of the world in 2008. Here are a few of things that I think will happen in 2008:
-Thousands will continue to die and billions will continue to be spent in Iraq.
-Nothing good will come out of Pakistan.
-Any gains made in Afghanistan in the last few years will be lost.
-The housing bubble will continue to deflate, and the US economy will be stagnate at best.
-Stock markets will drop precipitously once the repercussions of the sub-prime mess ripple though. Look for a DJA of 10,000.
-Nothing will be done about global warming.
It's easy to be a pessimist. You're usually right, and you're happy when you're wrong. Let's hope I'm wrong.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Season's Greetings and all That!
Here's a local Fremont landmark in his holiday garb. Makes you want to join the revolutions, doesn't it?Lenin must be rolling around in his sarcophagus or mausoleum or whatever he's in.
I pulled the garbage bag off my artificial Charlie Brown Christmas tree, straightened the limbs, plugged it in, and voila!
Now all I need are some gifts under the tree to truly get into the Holiday Spirit!
I wasn't as sore as I expected to be after my first workout with Cliff. I survived my second workout today, but I expect to be hurting tomorrow. I'm not letting off for the holidays. I'm scheduled to work out on Monday and then again next Thursday. The pool at the club is closed for another week or two for renovations. In the New Year, I'll start swimming once a week, play racquetball once or twice a week, and work out with Cliff another couple of times a week. Like I did last year, I'll also quit drinking for the month of January. I'll soon be so buff that I might have to change my name to Friesennegger. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
I'm Alive
Barely. After an hour of working out with my personal trainer (I had ordered a sweet young thing with perky boobs and a too-tight halter top, but I got a 30-something kick-boxer named Cliff instead), I wasn't so sure. The way the workout started out, I thought today would be relatively easy. He took some flexiblity measurements, and had me walk for three minutes on a treadmill. He showed me around the club a bit, and then took me into what could have been a room out of the Spanish Inquisition (or Guantanamo). The room was filled with various pieces of equipment that could have been racks and slanted benches that could have been used for waterboarding. He took me around to each piece of equipment, each of which was used to work on a different set of muscles. He showed me how to use the equipment, and then when I was in position, he had me do whatever particular exercise the equipment was designed for. He increased the weights until I reached my limit, which he called the "one rep max." He would then take 70% of that weight, and I would do 15 more reps. After every 2 or 3 machines, when my muscles were burning, he would put me on the treadmill to do a little "cardio." Then it was back to the machines. My proudest moment (well OK, my only proud moment) came when I maxed out the squat machine at 400#. Us Friesens' must have tough legs! My PT was somewhat amazed, saying the most he himself had ever done was 320#. The last three minutes on the treadmill damn near killed me. I expect to be quite sore tomorrow, but will probably recover in time for my next workout on Thursday.
I got some good news in the mail today. My Immigration interview has been set for Feb. 4th. I'm not sure if I take the citizenship test at the same time or whether that comes at a later date. I'll have to dig around in the paperwork I have to see what's involved. The letter says the procedure will take two hours, so I hope it's more than just the interview. I'd like to get it all over and done with at one time. Then I'll have my citizenship and won't have to deal with that insane bureaucracy ever again.
On Sunday I went to see Atonement, not The Golden Compass as originally planned. I liked the movie, even though it was anything but uplifting. Some would call it depressing. It was a story of love, betrayal, lost love, and eventually atonement. Had I seen it on DVD at home, it would have passed the Friesen Horizontal Viewing Test. In other words, it kept my interest, and would have kept me awake even if I was lying on the couch while watching it. That's worth at least three stars in my book.
I got some good news in the mail today. My Immigration interview has been set for Feb. 4th. I'm not sure if I take the citizenship test at the same time or whether that comes at a later date. I'll have to dig around in the paperwork I have to see what's involved. The letter says the procedure will take two hours, so I hope it's more than just the interview. I'd like to get it all over and done with at one time. Then I'll have my citizenship and won't have to deal with that insane bureaucracy ever again.
On Sunday I went to see Atonement, not The Golden Compass as originally planned. I liked the movie, even though it was anything but uplifting. Some would call it depressing. It was a story of love, betrayal, lost love, and eventually atonement. Had I seen it on DVD at home, it would have passed the Friesen Horizontal Viewing Test. In other words, it kept my interest, and would have kept me awake even if I was lying on the couch while watching it. That's worth at least three stars in my book.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Keg for a Six-Pack
Well, I took a leap today and did something I've been thinking about and talking about for months. I've felt like a slug for quite some time, and it's not because I'm at an all time high in weight or anything like that. I'm just not getting enough exercise. Since I dropped out of university a couple of years ago, I haven't been riding my bike much, and since Angus died, I haven't even walked as much as I used to. I have do something before my muscles atrophy totally.
So today, I went to the Olympic Health Club, signed up for a year, and paid for 10 sessions with a Personal Trainer. I know myself well enough to know that I don't have the self-discipline to do it on my own, but if I've paid the money, and have the appointments made, I'll keep them. The Olympic Club is a pretty good facility in Ballard, with all the weights and machines, as well as a swimming pool and racquetball courts. My plan is to work out a couple of times a week with the Personal Trainer, play in a racquetball league, and go swimming once in awhile. And the club is within bicycling distance, so if it's not raining, I'll take my bike.
So my plan is to trade the current keg I have around my middle for a set of sixpack abs. I'll keep you posted.
So today, I went to the Olympic Health Club, signed up for a year, and paid for 10 sessions with a Personal Trainer. I know myself well enough to know that I don't have the self-discipline to do it on my own, but if I've paid the money, and have the appointments made, I'll keep them. The Olympic Club is a pretty good facility in Ballard, with all the weights and machines, as well as a swimming pool and racquetball courts. My plan is to work out a couple of times a week with the Personal Trainer, play in a racquetball league, and go swimming once in awhile. And the club is within bicycling distance, so if it's not raining, I'll take my bike.
So my plan is to trade the current keg I have around my middle for a set of sixpack abs. I'll keep you posted.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
This and That
As predicted in my last entry, I did not receive an email from the MS OneCare Help center. Bastards! Another annoying thing that OneCare did when in the restore mode was to restore dozens of files I'd deleted months ago. It didn't restore the files I wanted, but it did clutter up my desktop and a bunch of other files. So I had to spend more time going through and re-deleting garbage files. If I would have just manually entered the 150 names and addresses in my Contacts file, I would have saved a lot of time, effort, and aggravation.
I'm going to see The Golden Compass this afternoon. I just finished reading the book yesterday, and as fantasies go, it was pretty good. The book is set in something like an alternative Edwardian England, where zeppelins fly and gaslights are common, and where people's souls are visible companions in animal forms. The heroine, predictably, is a noble-born orphan girl with special powers who is destined to save the world in a battle with the forces of evil. I missed the whole Harry Potter frenzy, and I hadn't read a fantasy since I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy way back when in my misspent youth, so this was something new to me. I'm not sure it was good enough to make me want to read the other two books in the series, but maybe the movie will inspire me. I'll report back after I see the show.
Occasionally, when I feel the urge to get some exercise, or if I need a fix of Spam or some other pseudo-food not found at my local PCC, I take the 25 minute walk up to the QFC grocery store in Wallingford. The store is a couple of blocks away from a high school, so at noon or after school, the store is jammed with high school kids getting lunch or junk food or whatever. I was there around noon a couple of days ago, and was struck by the high percentage of African-Americans there. Generally speaking, there aren't a lot of blacks in this area, so I guess they get bussed in. The guys were all in their hoodies and baggy pants with the crotches down to their knees, which isn't surprising. What was surprising was that a lot of the guys were East-African immigrants who spoke the language of the streets but called their friends Abdul or Mohammed. (I assume they were East-African because they had that fine-featured look of Somalis or Ethiopians.) Those who study assimilation of immigrants might find something interesting going on here. Good or bad, I don't know, but certainly interesting.
The presidential primary races are interesting as well. Especially the Republican one. There is no clear front-runner. Guiliani is imploding; Romney is distrusted by all, and Thompson's high point in the polls was the day before he announced. Huckabee is rising, and though loved by the evangelical crowd, isn't going to make it because he doesn't have enough money to get past Iowa and New Hampshire. He is also loathed by the Republican establishment. That leaves McCain. He is loved by no one, but may be the least-disliked of them all. I'd put my money on McCain. On the Democratic side, it sure looks like Obama is surging, Hillary is fading, and Edwards is holding on. I'd put my money on Obama, but I wouldn't count Edwards out. I'm in Obama's camp, but I'd be happy with Edwards.
I'm going to see The Golden Compass this afternoon. I just finished reading the book yesterday, and as fantasies go, it was pretty good. The book is set in something like an alternative Edwardian England, where zeppelins fly and gaslights are common, and where people's souls are visible companions in animal forms. The heroine, predictably, is a noble-born orphan girl with special powers who is destined to save the world in a battle with the forces of evil. I missed the whole Harry Potter frenzy, and I hadn't read a fantasy since I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy way back when in my misspent youth, so this was something new to me. I'm not sure it was good enough to make me want to read the other two books in the series, but maybe the movie will inspire me. I'll report back after I see the show.
Occasionally, when I feel the urge to get some exercise, or if I need a fix of Spam or some other pseudo-food not found at my local PCC, I take the 25 minute walk up to the QFC grocery store in Wallingford. The store is a couple of blocks away from a high school, so at noon or after school, the store is jammed with high school kids getting lunch or junk food or whatever. I was there around noon a couple of days ago, and was struck by the high percentage of African-Americans there. Generally speaking, there aren't a lot of blacks in this area, so I guess they get bussed in. The guys were all in their hoodies and baggy pants with the crotches down to their knees, which isn't surprising. What was surprising was that a lot of the guys were East-African immigrants who spoke the language of the streets but called their friends Abdul or Mohammed. (I assume they were East-African because they had that fine-featured look of Somalis or Ethiopians.) Those who study assimilation of immigrants might find something interesting going on here. Good or bad, I don't know, but certainly interesting.
The presidential primary races are interesting as well. Especially the Republican one. There is no clear front-runner. Guiliani is imploding; Romney is distrusted by all, and Thompson's high point in the polls was the day before he announced. Huckabee is rising, and though loved by the evangelical crowd, isn't going to make it because he doesn't have enough money to get past Iowa and New Hampshire. He is also loathed by the Republican establishment. That leaves McCain. He is loved by no one, but may be the least-disliked of them all. I'd put my money on McCain. On the Democratic side, it sure looks like Obama is surging, Hillary is fading, and Edwards is holding on. I'd put my money on Obama, but I wouldn't count Edwards out. I'm in Obama's camp, but I'd be happy with Edwards.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
God, I hate computers
Earlier this evening, I tried to import a bunch of email addresses from a spreadsheet into my Outlook contacts file. It should have been easy. There was even a menu selection in Outlook to do exactly that. Well, it didn't work as planned, but I'm a smart guy, so I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how to do it, having to name ranges in the spreadsheet and all sorts of esoteric geeky stuff to try to avoid manually typing in 100 new contacts. When I finally found the combination to make this happen without error messages, I pushed the "continue" button, even though there was a warning that the process couldn't be stopped once started. I panicked when I saw my Outlook contacts disappear before my eyes, replaced by 58,000+ new blank contacts. I rebooted the computer to stop the process, thinking this was probably easily repairable since I have Microsoft OneCare, a virus, tuneup, backup program. Well, I tried to restore the files three or four times, using both Express and Custom settings, and every time the program told me that the files already existed. Well, they might exist, but I couldn't find them. I figured my 200+ contacts were just lost in the 58,000+ contacts, and I just couldn't find them. So I selected the whole Contact file, and then deleted it, making sure my contacts weren't there before trying to restore them again. OneCare came back after the restore process, and once again told me the files were already there!!! OK, I gave up. I tried to contact OneCare Help, and spent the next effing hour trying to figure out how to sign in for help!!! In the process, I did read a few postings in the forums about how the so-called Help Center was apparently designed to do anything but help. One reply from Microsoft agreed with some of the points that were made, but tried to justify it by saying that each help call cost an average of $10, so it wouldn't take long to eat up the profits on a $50 program. Well, a couple of points in response....if Microsift designed the program properly in the first place, so much help wouldn't be needed. The next point is that Microsoft has something like $50B in the cash on hand, so I don't have much sympathy for them crying poor. In any case, I finally did get an email off to the Help Center, and they've told me that I'll have an email reply within 24 hours. I'll believe it when I see it.
So including this rant, I've pissed away the entire evening screwing around with my computer when I had planned on curling up with The Golden Compass.
My next computer will definitely be a Mac. They might not be a whole lot better, but they've sure got great commercials.
So including this rant, I've pissed away the entire evening screwing around with my computer when I had planned on curling up with The Golden Compass.
My next computer will definitely be a Mac. They might not be a whole lot better, but they've sure got great commercials.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Mormons
Mitt Romney gave his speech yesterday about religion and Mormons and politics and why he shouldn't be rejected because of his faith. As a result, it was really easy to find all kinds of videos showing how nutty these folks really are. I guess in the final analysis, Mormonism isn't much nuttier than most other religions, but it's well out of the mainstream religious nuttiness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy0d1HbItOo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur_xV9ztFvg&eurl=http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/
I especially got a chuckle out of this Aussie dude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXOh4g_FLIM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV-a1vmZ6y8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsXzHLiHTOU&feature=related
There are lots more out there that are easy to find. Enjoy yourselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy0d1HbItOo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur_xV9ztFvg&eurl=http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/
I especially got a chuckle out of this Aussie dude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXOh4g_FLIM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV-a1vmZ6y8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsXzHLiHTOU&feature=related
There are lots more out there that are easy to find. Enjoy yourselves.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Guns and Germs and Whatever
Yesterday, I spent a rather enjoyable afternoon with one of my right-wing-whacko-gun-nut friends. We loaded up a couple of packsacks with guns and ammo and headed over to a shooting range where we proceeded to liberate a few hundred rounds of lead from their casings. Lee had everything from 22's to 45's in those packsacks, and like sampling wine, we worked our way up from the 22's to the more serious stuff. I was pretty pleased with my performance considering I hadn't fired a handgun in over 20 years, and even then it was only a few rounds. Lee was rather impressed with my performance considering the fact that I'm a godless-faggot-loving-commie-pinko-gun-hating bastard. And on top of all that, I'm Canadian! I told him that all Canadians can shoot like me, so if the US ever decides to invade Canada, they better not misunderestimate their foes. After the range, we went over to his place where we proceeded to liberate a couple of liters of wine from their bottles. How's that for an All-American afternoon of guns and booze?!
My travel plans have changed. The Caribbean adventure has been cancelled, replaced with two weeks in Croatia at the end of May and beginning of June. It's actually two separate charters, with one out of Kremik (near Split) and the following week out of Dubrovnik. I booked the second of two boats that will be traveling together. I think we can put together a great itinerary out of the two bases. From Kremik, we can head north to a bunch of desert or near desert islands, and from Dubrovnik we can stop at several medieval island towns. I loved the last trip to Croatia, and wished I could have stayed longer and seen more. It's a totally different experience than the BVI. The BVI is like Disneyland for sailors, with great winds, warm blue waters, great snorkelling, lovely beaches, and night clubs and restaurants at every stop. But don't expect to take in any local cultural experiences, because as near as I can tell, there are none. In Croatia, you can sail in gorgeous waters and lovely scenery, but at night you tie up at a 1000 year-old sea wall in a town with real people actually living and working there. There are Roman ruins everywhere. The Croats are actually interlopers who only showed up some hundreds of years ago. Before that, the area was under Venetian influence, and before that was very much Roman. Marco Polo was born in Korcula, a lovely town that I visited the last time I was there, and will be sure to do it again next year. Another thing I'll be looking for are spotted dogs. The last time I was on the Dalmation Coast, I was quite disappointed not seeing any Dalmations.
Today I sent a letter to the immigration folks trying to get my citizenship interview date of January 14th back. I wish this was all over with and that I wouldn't have to deal with that bureaucracy any more. Getting any answers or changes out of them is next to impossible. Oh well.
My travel plans have changed. The Caribbean adventure has been cancelled, replaced with two weeks in Croatia at the end of May and beginning of June. It's actually two separate charters, with one out of Kremik (near Split) and the following week out of Dubrovnik. I booked the second of two boats that will be traveling together. I think we can put together a great itinerary out of the two bases. From Kremik, we can head north to a bunch of desert or near desert islands, and from Dubrovnik we can stop at several medieval island towns. I loved the last trip to Croatia, and wished I could have stayed longer and seen more. It's a totally different experience than the BVI. The BVI is like Disneyland for sailors, with great winds, warm blue waters, great snorkelling, lovely beaches, and night clubs and restaurants at every stop. But don't expect to take in any local cultural experiences, because as near as I can tell, there are none. In Croatia, you can sail in gorgeous waters and lovely scenery, but at night you tie up at a 1000 year-old sea wall in a town with real people actually living and working there. There are Roman ruins everywhere. The Croats are actually interlopers who only showed up some hundreds of years ago. Before that, the area was under Venetian influence, and before that was very much Roman. Marco Polo was born in Korcula, a lovely town that I visited the last time I was there, and will be sure to do it again next year. Another thing I'll be looking for are spotted dogs. The last time I was on the Dalmation Coast, I was quite disappointed not seeing any Dalmations.
Today I sent a letter to the immigration folks trying to get my citizenship interview date of January 14th back. I wish this was all over with and that I wouldn't have to deal with that bureaucracy any more. Getting any answers or changes out of them is next to impossible. Oh well.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Holy Cow!!
I've been playing crib for something like 45 years, but yesterday I had a hand that I'd never seen before. No, it wasn't a perfect hand, but it was awfully close. 28 points!!! Caroline was my unlucky victim, and even though she fought back strongly, she couldn't overcome a 28 point hand, and ended up losing what turned out to be a very close game. Very cool!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Happy 60th Jerry!
Last night a whole bunch of friends and family celebrated Jerry's 60th. Now that he's a responsible senior citizen of 60, he'll have to refrain from the behavior he exhibited in the BVI earlier this year. He said it was sea sickness, but we all knew it was really the multiple Wrecks on the Rocks that he consumed so happily the night before. For those of you who don't know, a Wreck on the Rocks consists of 2 shots of rum (preferrably Pusser's), 1 shot of coconut Malibu rum, 1 shot of pineapple Malibu rum, and a 1/2 shot of lime cordial. I was going to have these blown up to life-size photos (you can click on them for a larger view), frame them, and give them to Jerry as a gift, but on second thought, I decided to give them to the whole world via the internet.
Happy Birthday Jerry!!
Have any of you been following the presidential primaries? I especially love the Republican battles and the reactions of my right-wing-whacko friends trying to defend any of the candidates. Giuliani is a three times married, East Coast almost liberal (at least in his social views), estranged from his kids, and has all sorts of skeletons in his closet. Today I heard a great description of him. Not that he's like Bush, but more like a cross between Cheney and Nixon. Romney is the biggest flipflopper of all time, making John Kerry look like a piker. McCain sold his soul to the devil, i.e., Bush, long ago to keep himself a viable conservative candidate. I liked him in 2000, but he's long past his best-before date. Huckabee is an interesting candidate. He's non-threatening and funny, and comes across as the compassionate conservative that Bush said he wanted to be. But I have an innate fear of any Bible-thumper who dismisses evolution and feels that big cities would be safer if everyone were carrying handguns. And yes, I heard him actually say that. Ron Paul is a bit of a monkey wrench who's thrown himself into the works. He gets lots of support from the younger libertarian crowd, but unfortuately, I don't think he has much of a chance. He at least is authentic, even when he espouses some of his whacko views, like wanting to go back to the gold standard.
I'm glad to see that Obama is finally moving up in the polls against Hillary. This morning he was leading her in Iowa and catching up with her in New Hampshire. I wonder why it took so long, but maybe he was smart enough not to peak too early. Now throw Oprah into the mix, and Hillary's inevitability is no longer so inevitable. I also like Edwards, who has the most populist campaign, but I don't think he's got much of a chance. Like McCain on the Republican side, I think he's had his one shot a the presidency. In terms of experience and qualifications, Richardson is head and shoulders above the candidates in either party, but his candidacy has never taken off. If he could somehow convince the 20 million Hispanics in the country that, in spite of his name and lack of an accent, he really is Hispanic, he might have a chance. I think he'd make a great VP, maybe with Obama.
No one can energize the GOP like Hillary, so I really hope that the first time I vote for a president, I don't have to hold my nose and vote for her. Just as Bush senior in '92 reminded a lot of women voters of their first husband, I think Hillary reminds a lot of men of their first wife. Hectoring, lecturing, humorless, power-hungry and conniving are all words that come to mind when I think about her. I really hope that Obama kicks her somewhat oversized butt!
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