Never under estimate the American Public

From SNL via Lilah:
"A new poll shows that 66 percent of Americans think President Bush is doing a poor job of handling the war in Iraq. And the remaining 34 percent think Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to church."

Know your enemy

George W. Bush, 11/1/02

These people don't have tanks. They don't have ships. They hide in caves. They send suiciders out.

The Sundial Bridge

Molly, Mom and I went up to Redding on Saturday for Thanksgiving at Jay's. My sister, Lynne and her kids were there as well as all of Jay's wife's family. 20+ people.

Jay decided to experiment (with 20+ guests! How brave!) and deep-fryed his turkey. After dinner, my nephews cleaned my clock in Halo. I'm not all that good with the computer version and I have no experience with joy-sticks and it showed. The pool game went better - I beat my 12 year old niece. :-)

The next morning we checked out the Sundial Bridge. Follow the link; I won't try and explain it. tons-o-fun.

Santa Cruz is Eden?

Lilah came home from Santa Cruz tonight. She has (sort of) orange hair. She said that in Santa Cruz no one noticed, but at home here in Elk Grove, at the Bel Air, everyone was looking at her. Fortunately she has only been cast out of Santa Cruz for a few days.

A Cartridge in a Bare Tree

Dad sent me this Thanksgiving story three years ago.

A Christmas Tale

Way back in 1973, newly moved from Ohio, a young Lee Hinde tied an empty vintage WWII cartridge casing to a tree limb in the back yard of his new home. Left from among the belongings of his cousin Lee Grimm, it had now, for the family's first Christmas in California, become A Cartridge in a Bare Tree. (Of course, what else.)

Several times in past years his father had, while mowing the yard, noticed the the cartridge was missing from the tree. As a result of decaying string that held it, it had fallen to the ground. New string always replaced the old and the cartridge hung again, remaining there Christmas after Christmas.

In November of 2002, 29 years from it's first Christmas, it once again fell to the ground. This time, instead of being noted as missing from the tree, it lay on the ground covered with the Fall leaves. The cartridge was found there by the lawnmower, and first noticed by Lee's father as the mower hurled it 50 feet through the home's window and down the length of the family room. It was later found resting by father's easy chair. Unfortunately the fine old cartridge was cut, sliced and badly nicked. Having survived 60 years and World War II, it was now time to retire.

Not incidentally, Lee's dear old mother (poetic license) was watching TV in the family Room at the time the projectile came flying through. Luckily it missed her! And luckily also, while being sprayed with flying window glass she was uncut. To say she was startled and concerned would however be an understatement.

Glass covered much of the Family Room, and small pieces may well be found in odd places for months to come. On the positive side, other than the broken window, no actual harm was done.

Now the broken glass has been cleaned up, the yard mowed by father while mom a trip to the glazier made, the window replaced and the window screen left with it's hole as a reminder of the day the Cartridge in a Bare Tree made an early Christmas visit.

Happy Thanksgiving

I found another cartridge and dad wired it to the tree, so hopefully, this one is more permanent. I wonder if we can make its maintenance part of the deed. :-)

Eat this post

John is liking his 'upscale dining'. I myself was treated to a nice lamb stew today in a rather upscale locale. Today was hit-the-road-jack day. The morning in SF, where it was quite nice and then lunch in Menlo Park. Tomorrow is all in Sacto. A little this, a little that and some prep for Turkey day.

Lies, Damn Lies and Dick Cheney

Here's a nice summary of the veractiy of the Bush administration's current lie-fest.

KnightRidder
"ASSERTION: In his speech, Bush noted that 'more than a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate - who had access to the same intelligence - voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power.'

CONTEXT: This isn't true."

And, lord help me, the Democrats are actually fighting back. I wonder who woke them up.

I went back to Ohio

Last Thursday, at 12:30 a.m. (did I mention it was in the middle of the night?) Mom, Jay, Lynne and I went back to Ohio to bury dad. Laurie flew in from St. Louis and met us in Cleveland.

Thursday was get acclimated, get the hotel room, etc. Mom had originally reserved one room for the girls and one room for the boys. Lynne and I independently called to get our own room. Cranky aren't we.

Friday, Lynne and I went to Bowling Green and hooked up with Pat Dennis and his sister Mary. Growing up, Pat had been a friend of mine, from 3rd grade on, and Lynne and Mary were pals. Going into it, I figured Lynne and I would tool around BG, visit some of the historic sites and maybe meet Mary and Pat for lunch. Well, Mary turned into our chauffeur for the day (taking hourly breaks to adjust her kiln) and Pat was with it for most of it as well. Mary's husband Bob joined us for lunch. It was real nice to see all of them.

We got back Friday night in time to see some friends of the folks, for dinner at the local Outback.

After dinner we went over to see Jan and Arne Fortune. Jan is one of dad's three cousins. They aren't people we spent a lot of time with growing up and it was great connecting with them. Great humor, very warm. I felt like I had discovered a long lost family. I am guessing we really never visited them because their kids are quite a bit younger.

Saturday was the service. I almost over-slept. Just as well because I didn't have time to get terribly nervous. Lynne and I picked dad up at the funeral home to take him out to the grave-site. Talk about having the whole world in your hands. Holding his urn was quite something. "Special" is too trite a word, but it was that, at least.

The service was great. I moderated and opened by welcoming everyone and briefly summarized the memorial service we had here. Dad's best man told several funny stories about their time together. There was a contingent of high school friends, who had recently seen the folks at the 55th reunion, and one of them spoke. Jay and Lynne each said a few words and mom closed by thanking everyone for attending and she offered a brief prayer.

After the service we all went to the Merry-Go-Round museum in Sandusky where food was served, stories were told and catching up was done. I am currently of the opinion that people should give a month's notice that they intend to die so that they can hear all the great things their friends and family have to say about them.

Saturday night Lynne, Jay and I went to see Corpse Bride. Draw your own conclusions.

Sunday and Monday were spent trying to get the hell home. We missed our connection and ended up spending the night in Chicago. The upside (and there's always an upside) is that we got to see some cousins, one of whom I hadn't seen since his wedding 254 years ago (ok, not quite that long ago.)

Family and friends was the lesson of that trip.

So, here's a link to pictures of the trip Lynne and I did to BG. Mary is the woman with the longer hair, Lynne is the woman with the shorter hair. Pat is the man with the hair. The church is the one we attended as kids, Lynne is taking a drafting class and wanted to draw it. My dad and grandfather built the shed in 1960. The house (424 S. College) has housed students since we moved out. The brick house was the first off-campus place I lived. There's a picture somewhere of mom and dad holding me upside down, by the ankle when I was a todler (I looked like I was enjoying it... :-) )

The big boy is a joke. Mary was astonished that I'd asked to go visit. (She used to do restaurant inspections for the county, I think that figured into her astonishment). But, it was a hang-out for me and Pat during our mis-spent youth. Glory days.

Quotes of the Day

"They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings.
Steal a little and they throw you in jail,
Steal a lot and they make you king."

Bob Dylan: Sweetheart Like You.

"If you owe the bank $100, that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem."

J. Paul Getty

"We face a demographic tsunami" that "will never recede," David Walker tells a group of reporters.

Sadly, it's no laughing matter. To hear Walker, the nation's top auditor, tell it, the United States can be likened to Rome before the fall of the empire. Its financial condition is "worse than advertised," he says. It has a "broken business model." It faces deficits in its budget, its balance of payments, its savings - and its leadership.

Speaking of Rome...

The Army said on Tuesday it was looking into whether U.S. forces in Iraq put prisoners in a cage with lions in 2003, but Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the accusation by two Iraqi men "far-fetched."

Quotes of the Day

You have two choices for today's quote.

They rode against the railroads,
And they rode against the banks
And they rode against the governor
Never did they ask for a word of thanks

-Frank and Jesse James, Warren Zevon

Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.

- Susan Sontag

Creating Passionate Users

I really like this blog. It generally talks about doing such a great job in making software that your customers are passionate about what you do. Anyone who works at Apple, say, should understand that creating passionate users is a reasonable goal.

The current post proposes that creating sotware is like dating. So, I get tips for how to be during and after work.