Finally some new posts!

I am finally done with the semester! Well, almost. We still have to finish up the group project in one class but my part is done and the other class is completely over for the semester. Yaay!

Below are about 3 new posts that I've been able to write just lately now that I've had more time. Enjoy

Cat's Cristmas Party

My housemate Cat (sort for Catherine) invited me to her company Christmas party last week. It was held at the Omni, this really luxurious hotel in San Francisco. We even got a room there for overnight because the party was expected to go late, and they thought it would rain too. Really comfortable room with all the appointments, including 2 TVs in the bedroom, one for each bed. We also had a desk and a full length mirror and a huge bathroom with marble and window dressing around the shower. So nice.

We had fun at the party too. Cat works for this law firm that highly values teamwork, dedication and what they call "Customer Service." That last one seemed to me to denote people who went the extra mile to help others in the law firm, and were just all around nice people. They gave out awards for it and so many worthy people were nominated it ended in a tie with about 10 runners up. Cat says it is true, everyone is so friendly and she loves working there.

We had a a lovely cocktails (juice for me) and appetizer hour (coconut shrimp, scrumptious) followed by a divine dinner. Cat and I both had the fish which was so moist it just melted in your mouth--really yummy. Then came dancing and we both cut a rug with the best of them.

Below are some pictures from the night. I meant to get one with her boss but it slipped my mind when we were chatting with her. Oh well.



Here are Cat and me at the start of the evening.



Cat is posing with her co-worker Trina, who sat next to me and was great to talk to.



Trina's Shoes, which had such a heel and were the exact shade of her dress. Notice the cute roses. She won't tell us where she got them, just that it was online somewhere. Such fun shoes.



Cat and I in our full length glory.

It was such an enjoyable evening. Thanks Cat for inviting me!

Goulies

This is a poem I wrote back in high school. It is still my favorite poem of the ones I've written and I felt like putting it on here. Blogger may change the formatting so I'll do it like they sometimes do when reprinting and I'll put a / between lines. It has four stanzas of 2 lines each and an epilogue. The epilogue will have no /s as the lines are very short. Here goes:

The Goulies come to get me in the dark and sinful night/With dreadful squawks and screeches they announce my coming plight

Evil drips forth from their fingers, swirls around their toady knees/A bubbling, seething cauldron of hatred and disease.

You cannot hide in corners; they'll find you even there/With searching claws and rotting paws and wretched, screaming hair

Your only hope is Northward, fly to the promised land/ Where dreaming goodness dwells building castles in the sand.

Or stay with me
and we shall see
if Goulies act
so terribly.

The End

Living not Documenting

I have been too busy living my life to document it. November and December (so far) have been busy months. Ricardo came to Thanksgiving and met some more of my family. Always a nerve-wracking proposition, but it ended up great. They all loved him and his pictures (he has two websites of his work, which as I've mentioned is excellent), and he said he had a good time too. So that hurdle was successfully jumped. His parents and one sister are coming to visit at the end of the month so I'll have go through the same anxiety he no doubt went through. Wish me luck!

Here are two links to his photo sites: This one is his personal site and this is his travel site.

The day after Thanksgiving we met with my friends Elisa and Eric. Elisa was my roommate at UC Santa Cruz. We took a hike at Hidden Villa, which was lots of fun. Once again everyone got along great. Yeah, things have been going really well lately just in general. Yaaay!

Here are two pictures from Hidden Villa. Hidden Villa is a combination open space and working farm in the hills in Los Altos. Elisa's aunt and uncle run the hostel there.

The sow had a litter of piglets when we went there and here's a picture of them. They were running around so fast it was hard to compose the photo but at least you can see how little and cute they were:



Here's a picture of all four of us at the hostel. Left to right: Ricardo, Joni, Elisa and Eric. Such a beautiful setting.



Ricardo and I have also been to two opera's that I haven't mentioned. The first was back in October I think and was lots of fun. We saw Mozart's "The Magic Flute" then. The second was last week. We saw "Macbeth" by Verdi. Verdi is one of Ricardo's favorite composers, which is why I chose this one. It was for his birthday, which is actually not till December 13, but this is when I could get tickets. He likes opera even more than I do, which is lovely. Good to have some culture. Now we just have to find some good theater plays, which is my great love.

I hope all is well with you.

Carmel and Pacific Grove, Part One

Ricardo and I took just a little overnight trip down to Carmel and Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula. We had the best time. Day one was warm and sunny: perfect beach weather. We mostly spent it at Carmel at Ocean Beach and Carmel State Beach by the river. Oh, and looking at the shops. I bought I hat, which I haven't for a year. I was seriously overdue. It is a 20s style, cloche I think they call it. Real cute. But on to the pictures.



Ocean Beach in Carmel. A kind dog posed for me. Lots of dogs running free on the beach. Gorgeous views.



Some surfers were catching waves off Ocean Beach. If you can see I caught this guy just in the middle of his ride.



This is Carmel State Beach by the River in Carmel. Very rough seas here, but brilliant blue.



We also stopped at the Carmel Mission. This is the larger of the two towers I believe.

Scroll down for Day Two and more pictures.

Carmel and Pacific Grove, Part Two

We spent the second day in Pacific Grove. Still on the Monterey peninsula, we continued to enjoy gorgeous weather, though it was a smidge cooler and a fog bank hung ominously off the coast. He ran into that fog bank later in the day as we drove north along the coast. Everything from Elkhorn Slough north was socked in.

Here are my favorite pictures from day 2:



Well this was actually sunset the night before on Asilomar State Beach. Gorgeous.



The two of us at Lover's Point Park, Pacific Grove. I loved the blue of the water off these beaches.



Dramatic rocky coastline.



I believe there are at least two and possibly three seals on this rock with the cormorants. We say 21 seals on one walk.



I just loved this stretch of coastline and the circling birds really added some interest.

So that was our trip! We both had a wonderful time and wished we had more time than overnight. Maybe next time.

The Nobel Luareate

Al Gore recently received the Nobel peace prize. Though it may seem dissonant to give a prize for peace to a man whose passion and focus is global climate change, it actually makes perfect sense. Global Climate Change causes wars. It already has, and will cause more in the future.

Parenthetically, global climate change is a better term than global warming because the rise in temperature causes more extreme weather of all types, not hotter all the time all over. The name confuses people.

Back to Gore: this man has been passionately involved with global climate change for decades, almost since it was first detected. Like I believe I heard the Nobel Committee say, he has probably done more than any other single individual to make solving global climate change a priority for the governments and people of the Earth. So his credentials are sound on that point.

But why give the Nobel Peace Prize to him? As we all remember, Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, the UN panel that came to the conclusion that the already measured increase in temperature was due to human activity, shared the prize. What does climate change have to do with peace?

The reason lies in the destruction wrought by climate change. With increasing temperature come disruption of ecosystems and habitats. Old ways of using the land become impossible. The water balance is thrown off kilter, resulting in either floods or scarcity. People start to compete more for resources. Vast numbers of people become environmental refugees, looking for a fertile place to live. This strains other countries. Soon the competition for resources blows up into full scale war.

Some argue this has already begun in Sudan. As I understand it, the fight in simplistic terms is between two sets of tribes, one that farms and one that herds. As the area became drier the farmers started to fence their land, so as not to share their resources with anyone. This left the herders with nowhere to go and without access to their traditional sources of water. Before too long the tensions caused armed conflict which evolved into the bloodshed and genocide we see now. The war is more complicated now of course, but I've heard it said it may not have become a fire-fight without the initial push from global climate change.

For another perspective see this article in the East African. It looks like the author agrees that global climate change can start wars, and so in that sense agrees with the award. However, this author believes the committee lately has strayed from Mr. Nobel's original narrow vision for the prize. He wanted it to be more for people who have directly worked to decrease the size of military forces, according to that author.

Deserve Liberty

A federal judge struck down part of the Patriot Act, calling it the "legislative equivalent of breaking and entering." Mainly he declared it unconstitutional because it ignored the separation of powers doctrine.

When will this administration realize (if they ever do) that we have 3 equal branches that are charged with governing this nation? At issue here were the National Security Letters the Patriot Act gave the FBI expanded power to send out. They are sent to Internet Service Providers and telephone companies to demand all records relating to someone the FBI has declared a terror suspect. They can demand all phone records and emails, not only of the suspect but of everyone the suspect has called or sent email to. There are no subpoena, no warrants, no judicial oversight of any kind. The FBI could send these with impunity. And according to a recent internal review the FBI violated privacy laws and its own rules more than 1,000 times in sending out these letters. They are drunk with power and now send out 50,000 a year.

You want to know the worst part? It is a crime to tell anybody you have received a National Security Letter! You can't go to the courts to dispute it because that in itself is a crime! (The plaintiff in this lawsuit was a John Doe.) The arrogance of these people. I'm all for fighting terror but I don't want to surrender all my freedoms and liberties in the name of perfect safety. Democracy is messy and not all attacks can be prevented in a free society, but that freedom is worth it.

As Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."

Here is one article about it.

R&J Together

Yes, our initials are the same as Romeo and Juliet. We have all the romance without the early death, thank you very much. ;-)

All the pictures of Ricardo and I together from Seattle were from his camera. He has finished processing them in photoshop (he is a very serious photographer so his pictures (and camera) and much better (and take longer) than mine.) But now he has gotten them to where he likes them and I think they are really good. His ones of us together turned out especially well.

Here are my favorite three plus one from the beach in Monterey that is still my favorite. Sunset lighting is always the best.



This is us outside our train with Kathleen in the background.



Here we are with the Space Needle behind us and the light reflecting off the metallic surfaces of the Experimental Music Project in our faces.



This shows us on top of the Space Needle with downtown behind us. One of my favorites from the trip.



Ah, 4th of July at the beach at Sunset. The fireworks ended up right over us. We came really early and picked a random spot and it turned out to be perfect.

I think that's the last of Seattle. Excellent trip, and I even got over my traveler's cold in record time. Now it is back to the grind of school. Three more semesters and I have a masters! After a BA in Neuroscience I'll have an MS in Journalism. A BA in science and an MS in humanities - backward but cool.

Rove Gone, Problems Remain

It has been observed that I did not comment on the departure of Karl Rove this past week. I was, as you recall, on vacation. (more about that below - Pictures!) I am back now and thought I would take a stab at it.

It is good that he is gone, as many have declared. He was the "architect". But the building he created remains. The administration did not crumble with his departure. He probably had a hand in filling every appointment. Have those people all left too? No. We are still faced with the most corrupt, partisan, dangerous administration we have been forced to endure in my lifetime, and possibly in my grandparent's lifetime. I long for a parliamentary democracy so we could have a vote of "no confidence" and get Bush out now. Then we could have a full scale change in the executive administration. He still has time to do more damage.

As a letter writer said today in the paper, now Rove is free to work for the Republican National Committee, with no accountability at all. He'll try to "swift-boat" the next Democratic nominee. He's twice as dangerous now.

Rove's departure means one less voice for insanity in the administration. There remains a chorus. We have much work still to do.

Write all your elected officials, especially your congressional representative and your Senators, about what is important to you. They all have web pages with email forms that make it easy. I write my Congresswoman, Rep. Eshoo, so much that she now sends me letters by postal mail when an issue comes up that she thinks would interest me, based on what I've written her. She's always spot on. I get her general newsletter too.

Know the legislation in Congress by signing up with One.org (for humanitarian causes), HRC.org (for gay rights) or whatever issues matter to you. Pick one or two and stay informed. They do the hard work for you by keeping tabs on Congress and the Administration. Use their knowledge and sign up for legislation email bulletins. Then write your email to Congress or the President. Or write a general position email so they know what side their constituency favors. Just write. They work for you.

We can all participate in our Democracy. Otherwise we have no Democracy.

We must look to ourselves.

Home Triumphant

I'm home again and a little sad that the trip is over. Back to the grind now!

Before I go though I thought I'd share some pictures. First though, the train ride back was lovely. We ate our meals with 2 additional interesting couples. Three meals, yes, but two with the same couple by happy coincidence, so that was nice. I slept on the bottom bunk for the first time ever and found it so much more roomy and comfortable. I think I'm a top bunk person really though. The element of danger and all that. True, there is the net, but it is still more dare-devil I think.

But I said pictures, didn't I? Let's see if I can get this to work....



Ah, there it goes! This is a gorgeous lake from the train on the way up. We passed several.



This is me and Kathleen, our fabulous attendant on the way up I mentioned.



Pike Place celebrating its 100th Anniversary by recreating the arrival of the produce carts in 1907.



Real roses dyed blue and rainbow colors.



The old ships docked on the left were used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. This was taken from the Space Needle.



Me in the mirror of the DUCW on the Duck Tour. We are on Lake Union.



The second butterfly that landed on me in the Butterfly Atrium at the Pacific Science Center.



The Space Needle with the cathedral sculptures at the Pacific Science Center.

Wonderful trip! I'm done for now. I'll send out another notify when there is something to read. Thanks all!

It Doesn't Rain Indoors

Today was a slightly rainy Seattle day so it was good we had planned on spending it at the Pacific Science Center near the Space Needle. I loved it.

The Pacific Science center is made up of four exhibit halls, two IMAX theaters and a planetarium set up around an involved water feature that is part fountains, part sculptures rising from the water and mostly walkways and stairs connecting the buildings, with three tall complicated gothic box arches that, from a distance, make it look like the skeleton of a cathedral.

Inside it is mostly small hands on exhibits around themes and the kids love it. My favorite was the insect wing. Everything you wanted to know about insects. Six legs, three body segments was the main thing I got out of it. The best part though was the Butterfly Atrium. Tropical butterflies flitting about in a flowering jungle. Two of them landed on me when I sat very still. This one time it wouldn't fly away for the longest time, even when I was ready to go and shook my clothes. He was my new best friend. It fascinated this little girl who sat down on her haunches and stared at this black butterfly with parallel bright spots. He was resting on my ankle. We both just started at this little guy forever. He had no fear. Finally he released me (though I liked being visited by a butterfly) and I could go. They check you for stowaways on the way out, make you spin around and everything. My guy was trying to escape. Though why he would want to leave the jungle for rainy Seattle I don't know.

We saw two IMAX movies, both in 3D. One was an absorbing look at all the new information about dinosaurs since I was a kid. It focused on the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, and the Badlands in the Southwest USA. They talked a lot about life assemblages, fossils that catch the dinosaurs in the act of living their lives, and so show us behavior. One was of a baby Triceratops type dinosaur and a small Velociraptor type one that were entangled, fighting to the death. They were buried alive somehow as the fought and we can now see predatory and defensive tactics.

The second IMAX we saw was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It looked great since it was a flat screen (not a dome) and the final showdown was in 3D! They give you these goggles that look like weak sunglasses (we think it works through oppositely polarized lenses) and it does an amazing job. If you've seen that movie you know how cool that final fight would look reaching out at you and you are right.

Well we must leave tomorrow (sniff) and early. Good night!

Science Fiction Inside a Smashed Guitar

Today we saw a slice of popular science fiction inside a building that is supposed to resemble a smashed Jimi Hendrix guitar but doesn't. Not unless his guitar was painted 6 colors in six discrete areas, made of metal, smashed to six pieces which were then heated till they were floppy and left to cool over six sphere's so the ends curled in fantastic ways, and then all the pieces were arranged in the vague dimensions of a guitar. With those stipulations then yes, it does look like a smashed guitar.

I am speaking of course of the Science Fiction museum housed in the Experimental Music Project Building near the Space Needle. Jimi Hendrix, a Seattle native son, is much revered here, especially by local resident and billionaire Paul Allen, of Microsoft fame. Paul Allen likes music and science fiction, so he got famous architect Frank Gehry to design a building to house two museums about those two subjects. Most of the exhibits are on loan from "The Paul Allen Family Collection." Including all the phasers from various Star Trek series and costumes from everything from Ghostbusters to Star Wars to Indiana Jones to Red Dwarf (look it up.) Hey, if you've got a billion dollars, do what ya love, right?

As you can imagine I was in Heaven in the Sci Fi museum, which, as you know, is a great love of mine. The exhibits traced the development of the genre, it's affect on reality (first cell phones = flip phones = Star Trek original communicators) and displayed all manner of minutia used in Sci Fi TV and Movies. They even had a special exhibit on actual costumes from Sci Fi shows and movies. Did you know Jeri Ryan is short? 7 of 9? The Borg? Star Trek: Voyager? (Look it up.) She was! They never look short of TV.

Ricardo was not as in to Sci Fi as I was but he graciously let me go real slow and read everything. We were faster in the Experimental Music Project (EMP) which sadly, wasn't as good. Hard to have a museum that visually represents music. More to the point, hard to enjoy a music museum when you don't play a rock instrument and a lot of it is based on offering opportunities for "Your Very Own Recording Session!" meaning, rock band. They did have have an excellent exhibit about Walt Disney and his legacy in changing the way music appeared in animation and movies in general. Go watch - no go LISTEN - to Bambi, that's all I've got to say.

We started the day with a Duck Tour abroad a DUCW World War II Amphibious landing vehicle. We could make 40 mph on the expressway and 5 knots in the water (Lake Union.) So much fun! They make it really goofy and silly and play lots of cheesy 70s music when you are stuck in traffic. We went all around central Seattle, mainly the waterfront and downtown, near Pike's Place Market. Then we drove a spell to Lake Union and drove right into that. The vehicles look like boats with wheels sticking out of the hull, and somehow it works.

We learned lots of fun facts. Did you know that Starbucks is the only chain store allowed in Pike Place Market? That is because it started right there before it became a multi-national chain, so they grandfathered it in. Cool, Huh? The entire downtown burnt to the ground in 12 hours in 1899. Or was it 1897? One of the two. They rebuilt with stone and brick. Doesn't burn, see?

I got to be first mate in the brief water ride. That meant I got to sit up front while Ricardo leaned out the window and took pictures and had a better view than my previous interior seat. She needed a comic foil and I did my best. Our captain was this young woman and she was so funny. We went under this big elevated freeway, and she pointed out we were going under the viaduct via Duck. Get it! I love bad puns! I had a blast. Ricardo got some great pictures too.

Well now it is late and I will go to bed. Pacific Science Center tomorrow!

Sunny Seattle

It's a gorgeous day in Seattle. I don't know why they say it rains. ;-)

We spent the (early) morning at Pike's Place Market, celebrating their 100 aniversary with Balloons and Cake and Horse-drawn Carriages. This farmer's market was formed because middle-men drove up the price of onions for the public 10 fold in a week. Plus they were forcing down the amount they paid farmers. So everyone on all sides rebelled and they officially opened the market August 17, 1907. I gather it had been a furtive reality for a little while already, but people need their onions I tell you. And Pike's Place Market was born.

Tons of people at the festivities, and the funky shops were in full swing. So gorgeous, the displays of fresh produce and flower boquets and glistening sea-food. Pike's Place is always fun and never more so than during a human parade, that's for sure.

Our day on the train was delightful, Thank you. Go Amtrak! We were on the correct side to see all the rivers and lakes and peaks in the Cascade Range. Every meal we ate with a different couple and they all shared fascinating stories from all over the West Pacific Coast and Hawai'i. Ah, the train! So much fun. It was Ricardo's first overnight train experience and he said he had fun so that's good.

Now we're off to hang out at The Space Needle and environs a while, then dinner with Mom's friend Kathy, where I get my middle name. So a funfilled start to the vacation.

Off to Seattle!

My boyfriend Ricardo and I are heading up to Seattle for a "mini-break" as Bridget Jones says. We'll take the train tonight and all tomorrow, and arrive in Seattle tomorrow night. We'll stay for three days and catch the return train on Monday morning and arrive back home Tuesday morning.

Ricardo is this really amazing guy I met on Match.com. We've been going out almost 4 months now. He is of Chinese descent but grew up in Indonesia and now lives in the Bay Area. He was named by the part of his family that immigrated to Brazil in the 1950s, so that's how he acquired a Latin name. Like lots of guys around here he works in the computer field. We get along great and are looking forward to this trip.

Well I gotta go catch my train. Talk to y'all from Seattle!

Done with an Incomplete!

I can finally tell you truly that I have finished one of my incompletes! I turned in the last paper for my MComm 270 Media Law class yesterday. It feel so exhilarating to have that weight off my shoulders. Yippee! One down, one to go. I plan to finish up that last one during the summer, so I don't have to do it in the fall when I will be taking classes again.

But that is last semester's classes. This semester's are almost over. I just have one four page paper due next week, and then a presentation in the other class and I'm done! The presentation should go smoothly. It is for my English 107 Technical Writing class. My group will present the document we created for the Santa Clara County Camellia Society. We wrote an officer's handbook, which finally got all the oral history into written form. Now all their procedures and duties and bylaws and everything are contained in one handsome binder. We will give them 5 copies, one for each officer and a floater, plus the 4 for us in the group and one for the teacher. So 10 copies total. But it didn't cost as much as you would expect, because we did it at Maple Press, which is really economical. it is just a local independent print shop, but they turn out really professional work. It looks amazing. We found this great binder for it, a faux leather one with a front clear sleeve that holds our cover. We all did excellent work if I say so myself.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

The Queen and President Bush

I love the Queen. It has been so much fun to follow her trip to America. I especially love her hats, as I'm a confirmed hat lover. She always wears these beautiful creations. And a new one every day. Did you see the Kentucky Derby? There has always been a tradition of wearing hats to that event, and with the Queen and her entourage (do they still call them ladies in waiting?) also wearing since fine hats it was such a sight to see.

Our dear President hosted several events for Her Majesty. A Laura Bush's suggestion he will hold a white tie dinner for the Queen and other dignitaries tonight on Monday. Did you know that once the queen is done with her meal, everyone is done and the dinner is over? Royalty waits for no one. I think she eats slowly on purpose because of that rule.

Already, Bush has formally welcomed her to the White House and has given a little speech about the ties between our two countries. He remarked to the Queen, "After all you've dined with 10 U.S. presidents. You've helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 -- in 1976." The article goes on to say that the Queen, "peered back at him from beneath her black and white hat," as Bush looked at her sheepishly.

He did catch himself and I appreciate that. I still find it amusing though. Check out the full article to see how Bush characterized this look. Very funny.

Reuters full article

Home Sweet Home

Sorry I didn't write just as soon as I got home. It has been so busy with the end of the semester speeding towards us.

I got home on that Thursday, and felt progressively better day by day till I was pretty much well on Sunday. So about a solid week of the flu, which is about right. I wish I'd had some Tamiflu right as it started. I might have been able to keep my original plane. Good medicine.

Now it is work work work till semester's end. I have two four-page papers, a PowerPoint presentation, a huge document that has to be printed by a local press shop, and several more Tech writing documents. It sounds like a lot but I think it is doable. Just have to work solidly and consistently from now till May 14.

Here we go! Wish me luck!

The Invalid House

I'm coming home later than expected (Thursday instead of Tuesday) because I am quite ill. I think I caught Donna's cold, Elisa's other friend who stayed the weekend. Now Elisa and I are both sick, though Eric has escaped so far. It is a bad cold with head congestion, a violent cough that makes my throat raw, and a fever that for me is 100.6. Plus I feel so weak and I sleep a lot. I changed my flight reservation from 11 today to 6:45 am Thursday, which is way too early but the only one they had, since I couldn't go today. The thought of transferring at Dallas/Fort Worth, that huge airport, it just felt impossible for me in this condition. I hope I improve real fast so I can go Thursday. I think I will. Don't want to overstay my welcome.

Read below for an account of my escapades with Aunt Jean and CUJ.

Aunt Jean and CUJ

I saw Aunt Jean and CUJ yesterday. They were kind enough to drive all the way from West Virginia to see me, braving the noreaster that was blowing through. We went out to lunch at this very nice restaurant called Sunset. Since we were in Baltimore I had crab soup and crab sandwiches. The crab appears to be the symbol of Baltimore, you see. It's on all the touristy magnets. Very cute.

Then we drove to the inner harbor where we felt the power of the noreaster. According to the news it was gusting up to 30 or 40 mph. It whipped the rain into my face as I struggled against the wind. Sometimes I walked backward so my better protected back took the brunt. I feel really bad for suggesting we go out there; it was more blustery than I expected.

We didn't stay long. We soon realized the error of our ways and got back in the car. Then we drove past all the homes my Aunt and Uncle had lived in during their time in Baltimore. It was fun to see some neighborhoods in Baltimore that I hadn't seen. They lived in the suburb of Severn when I was born, and only recently moved to West Virginia. So now I know all the history.

Thanks Aunt Jean and CUJ!

Judy and Timo's wedding

The wedding, the reason for this trip, was today. It was fabulous. Such a great party. And a lovely ceremony too. It included the planting of a seedling tree in this big clay pot. The are going to take it wherever they go and watch it grow, just like their relationship. When they get settled they will plant it and sit beneath its shade together. Isn't that romantic. They had a friend read a beautiful Lakota wedding blessing too, which was about how they should support each other. The whole thing just made you believe they would truly be together forever. At the question, "Will you always love and cherish the other, and will you always be faithful?" they both said yes so emphatically the crowd laughed. They are the perfect couple.

Saw lots of my high school friend's there, as that was where I knew Timo best. Abe was there, my prom date senior year, and Josh, who was in tons of plays with me. Such good people. Great to catch up with everyone. We danced till 10 at night, all these great old songs the bridal couple chose personally. Good food, open bar, great music. What a party.

Baltimore Bound

Or I guess more accurately "Baltimore Here" as I arrived yesterday night after a long day of travel. I came through Dallas/Fort Worth and had no trouble transferring. That is a lovely airport. Plenty of elbow room in five huge terminals connected by an elevated tram. All quite effortless to navigate too. American Airlines, my carrier, told us where all the connections were as we taxied to the gate and where the nearest entrance to the tram was located. The train was there as I came up and took me right to my destination, because I was lucky and the access there was close to my gate. I had a parfait and an egg roll for lunch (a yummier combination than you would expect) and took the flight out right after. That flight left almost 20 minutes late but got in on time because, as the captain explained, he "flew really fast." Oh, and he mentioned something about a huge tail wind.

I'm staying here with my friends Elisa and Eric. The wife half of the couple is my college rommate, though I met the husband half years before he was the husband. They are both so cool and have a beautiful home, with lots of color of the walls and white trim and crown moldings. For those of you who know the area they are in Catonsville, a suburb of Baltimore. The yellow bushes of forsythia in the backyard are running riot, and the tulips are coming up too.

I'm here for the wedding of Timo, my high school friend, to his fiance Judy. That's tomorrow. I'll keep you posted. It is at the museum of industry which should be interesting. I'm told they have a lovely spot overlooking the water or something. Should be nice.

That depends on your definition of "discussion"

Gonzales is starting to sound like Clinton. We impeached Clinton, as I recall (though true he wasn't convicted). So maybe Gonzales should resign, seeing as he is in the same boat. Only logical.

Gonzales went on live TV and claimed he was not involved in any "discussions" about the plan to fire the federal prosecutors, and he "did not see any memos." Now we have an email that proves he attended at least one meeting, an hour long meeting no less, devoted to nothing but that very topic. Gonzales says he didn't lie in his statement before because he didn't really participate in the meeting. Oh really. Not only would that make him an ineffective leader if true, but it sounds like a lie on top of the first lie he told about not being involved in discussions. He is digging himself a hole and should resign before he reaches China.

I found a great blog entry over at CBS that explains this all better than I could. Here it is:

Cool CBS Blog

Enjoy!

PS Oh, and about Clinton firing all 93 attorneys: he did it at the beginning of his term, which I'm told is common, and without regard to what they were investigating. Plus he had Congressional oversight. Bush fired attorneys that he himself had appointed, in the middle of his term, without Congressional oversight and to stop particular investigations they were doing (specifically into corrupt Republican politicians), all of which is unprecedented and all of which is creepy. We need to shine the harsh light of day onto the dealings of this administration and we need to do it now.

Just Testify for Gosh Sakes!

Karl Rove should testify under oath and with a transcript. That is what testify means. This is nonsense that it ought to be behind closed doors and with no record. What is Bush thinking? Doesn't he remember that 47 Clinton advisors, including one in Rove's exact job, testified before Congress? And under oath and with transcripts too. I am getting so sick of this out-of-control, secretive, deceptive and devious administration that ignores the will of the people. The think they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, without the checks and balances that were built into the system by our Founding Fathers. It makes me ill.

Good on Pelosi by the way for passing a bill that starts the process of reigning in this administration and introducing them to reality. This simply can't go on.

I know this is my third political one but a lot has happened.

Maybe Gonzales will be Next

I am glad Libby got punished for his part in the administration's scandals, as noted below. Maybe Gonzales will be next. He has been Bush's lap dog ever since he was the governor of Texas. Bush keeps promoting him to positions of greater and greater power as he himself has been elevated. And what does Bush value above all else? Loyalty. Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty. Not intelligence or competence or ability, but loyalty, pure and simple. That is what got us into the Katrina Mess, the fact that he placed loyal people in charge rather than people who could actually do the job.

And Gonzales has proven his loyalty time and time again. As White House counsel he twisted the Constitution within an inch of its life in order to justify warrantless wiretapping on American citizens. In my opinion he violated the Constitution. His first act as Attorney General, according to the New York Times, was to bring over to the Justice Department two White House aides and elevate a third that had recently moved to the Justice Department. The Attorney General is supposed to work for the American People, not the White House. Though he claims to see the distinction Gonzales proved he was just paying lip service to it with the politically motivated dismissal of federal prosecutors who weren't "loyal" enough. The loyalty thing again. They are obsessed with it. They fired these prosecutors because they were investigating the corruption of Republicans. The firing plan was initiated by Harriet Miers, at that time White House Counsel (at least she has some sense and dignity and resigned from this mess). The entire idea came from the White House. For that reason alone it should never have touched the Justice Department. True, Clinton fired prosecutors, but back then we had Senate oversight. Thanks to the Patriot Act, the President now has sole power. The Senate will soon vote to possibly bring back that oversight, as they should. This country was founded on checks and balances, not a monarchy.

But back to Gonzales. Gonzales took on the plan from the White House as his own and, doing the President's bidding, fired the prosecutors, who were fine and able prosecutors, because Bush didn't like them. Gonzales ought to Resign.

Don't Pardon Libby

Scooter Libby has finally been convicted for his crimes. Yes, he's the fall guy for the administration, but he still did the crime and should do the time. Cheney and Rove played him for a fool, it is true, but he was willing participant. I'm glad he was convicted. It is high time someone from this administration was held liable for the crimes against the constitution they have committed, this being just a minor example. Larger examples include the lies that brought us the failed Iraq war, the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, and the firing of US attorneys for political purposes. Yet another example is the cronyism that led to the Katrina Debacle. They still don't have basic services down there. They also retake documents that had been declassified and reclassify them. Some of these documents have been used in publications, and yet they feel the need to make them classified. The are the most secretive, deceitful, incompetent administration in a long time, if not ever. I'll be glad when they are gone. Even another Republican would be better I am sure, though I hope we get a Democrat. Maybe with this next election we'll get a Democrat. At least we have a Democratic Congress. Maybe now we'll get something done rather than fall into lobbyist and page boy scandals.

Bush should recuse himself from the proceedings and refuse to pardon him, since he is a former aide of his administration and a conflict of interest.

Starting Anew

I am doing fine.  School has started back up, and my two classes promise to be fascinating and challenging.  I'm taking Professional and Technical Writing and New Media Technologies, which is about how the internet is changing the world and learning how to do do amazing things on PowerPoint and other software.  The first is about writing employee guidebooks, training manuals and other manuals.  It is more interesting than it sounds, and a good source of income.  Good to have in your back pocket.  And one of the closest things they have here to science writing, which is my real passion.  There is one true science writing course which I will take next semester.

I have yet to finish any incompletes, but I have finished the research and half of the actual writing for/of my Law paper, so I'm feeling good about that. Should be done soon. I look forward to writing the "Finished One Incomplete" entry. Having to tell you keeps me honest.

Happy Valentine's Day!

OK, so I was overly ambitious

I admit it, I didn't finish my classes before Christmas. I didn't finish even one class. So that's sad. The good news is that I did finish a law brief portfolio, which consisted of about 60 pages of work. I had to email it so I know it was over 500 MB, which is TONS of work. A good portion had been done before, but some I had to clean up and a lot I had to write from scratch. So it felt good to turn that in.

My new goal is to finish the Media Law class by the commencement of Spring Semester on January 24th. As the remainder consists of a 20 page paper (with 35 sources!! That's what's holding me up. All that reading!), I think it will be possible to get that done. I've made some good progress already.

In my History and Theory of Media class I also have a 35 source, 20 page paper, but I did some good work on that already so I think I could finish that in the first month of the semester, when the new classes should still be fairly quiet. Let's hope. Like I said I have a year but I don't want to take long. At least my new classes are electives and hopefully not as hard core. Besides the paper, it is a just a few 500 word essays, so that shouldn't take too long, hopefully. It always takes longer than you think.

On another note, Christmas was fun. I always enjoy getting together with the family for food, conversation and Christmas Carols. We didn't do presents this year as we are all old and have too much stuff already, but we did exchange cards. Mainly I just enjoyed hanging out with everyone, seeing some relatives I don't see often enough, and listening to Christmas albums, which I do all year but it feels special on Christmas. Happy Holidays everyone.