pbfft
another year has gone bye, and i am still in the same old rut. it's getting old.

Posted at: 22:13 on 26/12/2004   [ /diary ] #

US Military Eliminates Innocent Witnesses
I'm not up to editing this to put it online. It's just a continuing bit of the sickness that's going on. The original link is at the guardian.

Posted at: 22:09 on 05/12/2004   [ /essays ] #

exhaustion
that's the word for today. it's how i feel. i woke up this morning and had a hard time breathing.

it took 15 minutes just to get the energy together to get out of bed this morning. been running on overdrive for months now, and i'm feeling weary.

hopefully i'll be able to take a few days off and rest during the holidays. 20 hours of sleep would probably do a body good.

too much to do -- too much work. too much school. too many demands for my time. too many social events. too much reading. too much of everything.

Posted at: 13:39 on 01/12/2004   [ /diary ] #

Apologies
To the world, I apologize, for we have let you down.

It now looks like the usurper to the throne may appear to finally have legitimacy. The only answer I can come up with to explain this is that my fellow countrymen are scared, and Bushco has played upon those fears and insecurities well.

When the vice-president of the United States runs around and says "we're all going to die if John Kerry is elected president" I think it has increased the sense of fear that the people feel.

And, although I am hesitent to make public accusations, I'm not entirely positive the Diebold election machines in Florida reported an accurate ballot count. I've already heard stories from people in South Florida who said they saw ballots being invalidated for being "incomplete." If that's true, then those votes were discarded contrary to Florida law. I'm not sure that I'm willing to shout that the thing was rigged just yet...

Where do we go from here?

I don't know.

Obviously, the Democratic Party has failed in two elections, 2002 and today. Being a libertarian, I'm OK with that. However, I feel that there is a large group of people within both the Republican and Democrat parties that neither group truly represents. I'm talking about the moderate, fiscally conservative, secular, anti-nation building, population.

I'm sure there are people that feel the Democrat party is too liberal, too disorganized, and doesn't accurately represent them. There are probably a large number of people in the Republican party that feel their party is allying itself too closely with the religious right; they might be fiscally conservative, but also against nation building and theocratic mandates in government.

Perhaps it's time to form a third party, one that reaches out to the Clinton democrats and the Reagan republicans?

And if not, there's always Canada...

Posted at: 11:41 on 03/11/2004   [ /diary ] #

Game On!
Wow, it's election day.

It's my opinion that a lot is at stake this year. I think that Bush has been an awful president, and that we need to remove him from office.

Sandy, our friend Sheard, and I will be working at one of the Jacksonville polls today to keep an eye out for any monkey business. It's part of the Americans Coming Together Election Protection& we had training last night and today we go to work at the scene of the crime in 2000.

Come on America, let's take our country back!

Posted at: 13:11 on 02/11/2004   [ /diary ] #

More Horros from the Eastern Front
More disturbing reports from overseas. It's really no wonder why the whole world hates us.

Posted at: 13:01 on 22/09/2004   [ /essays ] #

Life with Frances
This is going to be pretty quick, mostly because I'm supposed to be somewhere else in about 30 minutes, but I wanted to put something on the 'ole blog to make it official.

On Sunday, September 5th, 2004, at 12:30PM, Hurricane Frances knocked the power out of the house. Power was restored today, September 10th, around 2PM.

As far as hurricanes go, Frances caused very little wind damage. Where Frances was devastating was that it kept raining on Gainesville for 36 hours. We received somewhere between 20 and 24 inches of rain between Sunday and Tuesday morning.

The water weakened the soil, and so, so many trees fell. Giant Laurel Oaks, giants up to 100' tall, fell as if they were a bunch of tin soldiers pushed over by an angry toddler.

We lost half of a pine tree. The top, snapped off like a toothpick, hurtled towards the earth in front of our very eyes.

It missed Sandy's car by less than a foot.

After Frances left our tiny village, the restoration began. Life started to renew itself, people started to move about, activity started to flourish. Although 70,000 people were out of power, or had their homes destroyed by felled giants, or found that their living room had been returned to a primordial swamp, we persevered.

Neighbors helped neighbors. Paula brought us a bag of ice, so that we may try to salvage the food in our freezer. The gesture was nice, but it was for naught. We had to toss all of the food as it had gone rancid and sour.

Ruth and Craig were the first ones to offer us a bed at night. They knew the sweltering heat must have been intolerable, and we took them up on their offer this past Wednesday.

On Thursday, Philip and Susan offered up their daughters bed so that we may sleep in comfort. They moved Kate in with their son Thomas for the evening. We shared with them a fine microbrew, Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale. We figured it was a fitting beer given the circumstances of our lodging.

Here's a copy of a letter I wrote to several dear friends around the world. Those of you who did not receive it, I apologize, but I didn't have access to my complete address book.

Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 09:55:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ken Sallot 
To: Ken Sallot 
Subject: Living in Florida update

Hi there,

This is just a generic update on how things are going in Gainesville.

We're going on Day 5 without power at Casa Sallots.  The latest word I
heard is that we'll get power by Monday, which would be about 8 days.
Life wasn't so bad until the skies cleared and warmed up the city --
it was 98F yesterday, and life without A/C or ceiling fans was pretty
miserable.  Camping gear (thank you Coleman) allowed us to cook
indoors on Sunday and Monday, by Tuesday we were able to go to
restaurants.

We've also been coming up with ways to keep ourselves entertained and
busy; Sunday and Monday night we entertained ourselves by watching
DVD's on my powerbook, Tuesday we went to a friends place to watch a
movie, and last night we decided to spend the night over at another
friends.

Several sections of Gainesville are going to require a complete
rebuild of the electrical infrastructure.  There were so many trees
that fell that it is impossible to just patch the electrical lines in
these areas.  One fairly expensive neighborhood has been plagued with
sewage backing up into the houses because the lift stations have been
down; at least we don't have to contend with that.

The University re-opened for business yesterday, even though several
buildings on campus were flooded and shut down.  My opinion was that
it was reckless to re-open when the major traffic intersections
feeding into the campus were without stop lights (power).  At the very
least, it should have been University Police directing traffic rather
than City of Gainesville police.

Aside from that, it looks like Florida is about to get hit by another
hurricane.  I find it amazing that in the nearly 30 years I've lived
here, I've never been through a hurricane.  I can count the major
hurricanes that I remember hitting Florida on one hand (David, Andrew,
Opal), and now in a span of four weeks Florida will have been
devastated by 3 hurricanes.  6 of 8 computer models project a hit by
Ivan for Florida, 3 of which project landfall near the
Ft. Myers/Naples area; I suspect the crews are still reeling from
Charlie cleanup, it's just going to be ugly.

Here's a link with projections from the 8 different models:

  http://www.sfwmd.gov/org/omd/ops/weather/plots/storm_09.gif

As a computer nerd, I'm impressed with the relative accuracy that the
models are displaying these days.  Even just five years ago, the
hurricane models seemed to be no more accurate than throwing a dart at
a map, but the projections for Charlie and Frances were reasonably
accurate up to five days before, this has impressed me.

Well, that's about it.  Our home phone is out, so if you need to reach
either of us, you can try me at work or on our cell phones:

  Ken work - xxx-xxx-xxxx x xxx
  Ken cell - xxx-xxx-xxxx
  Sandy cell - xxx-xxx-xxxx

Take care,

Ken & Sandy

Posted at: 20:55 on 10/09/2004   [ /diary ] #

One-Two
I was going to go camping this weekend, but Bonnie and Charley have made me change my mind. We had a tropical storm hit us today, they say we're going to be hit by a hurricane tomorrow.

Posted at: 22:13 on 12/08/2004   [ /diary ] #

Hospitals..
I've been visiting a lot of hospitals lately.

I'm not really a big fan of hospitals; their cold, antiseptic environment makes my skin crawl. The smell of iodine makes me ill, but that is just a psychological reaction.

The first one was last month when my grandmother had a stroke. She was left partially paralyzed, and unable to eat or speak. She passed away peacefully in her sleep on a dreary rainy afternoon.

Sandy's aunt is now in the hospital. Sandy's in Toronto visiting Anne Hart, and I'll go visit Eloise. The doctors think she has pneumonia, which is not a good thing to have when you're in your 80's.

Posted at: 12:52 on 05/08/2004   [ /diary ] #

Alfalfa dreams
It's 5:50AM, I've just woken up from a dream I haven't had for years.

It's summertime. My father and I are driving through the countryside, somewhere in Alberta. The landscape is covered with fields of Alfalfa, their green stalks waving hypnotically in the gentle breeze.

It's a warm happy dream.

Posted at: 10:00 on 05/08/2004   [ /diary ] #

More wonderful news from around the world..
It's not just prisoners that have been mistreated in Abu-Gharab, but also children. The Norwegians are pissed at us, and German TV is running the spots.

Of course, the guys we put in power in Iraq are all good men, especially Dr. Allawi.

Meanwhile, back in the good ole U.S. of A, the Repubs are trying their damndest to stage another Coup D'Etat. If they can't win it by hook, maybe by crook. Be sure to read the new republic articles linked in the next section after the German TV article.

And finally, don't forget what Bush says. John Kerry hates pregnant women, so if you like to protect fetuses, you should vote for Bush. When I first saw this strip I laughed hysterically, and then I saw the commercial mentioned in this article and I felt sick to my stomache.

Posted at: 03:28 on 17/07/2004   [ /essays ] #

Who gassed the Kurds?
It looks like Saddam may be innocent of gassing the kurds..

Saddam Could Call CIA in His Defence

LONDON, Jul 2 (IPS) Evidence offered by a top CIA (news - web sites) man could confirm the testimony given by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) at the opening of his trial in Baghdad Thursday that he knew of the Halabja massacre only from the newspapers.

Thousands were reported killed in the gassing of Iraqi Kurds in Halabja in the north of Iraq (news - web sites) in March 1988 towards the end of Iraq's eight-year war with Iran. The gassing of the Kurds has long been held to be the work of Ali Hassan al-Majid, named in the West because of that association as 'Chemical Ali'. Saddam Hussein is widely alleged to have ordered Ali to carry out the chemical attack.

The Halabja massacre is now prominent among the charges read out against Saddam in the Baghdad court. When that charge was read out, Saddam replied that he had read about the massacre in a newspaper. Saddam has denied these allegations ever since they were made. But now with a trial on, he could summon a witness in his defence with the potential to blow apart the charge and create one of the greatest diplomatic disasters the United States has ever known.

A report prepared by the top CIA official handling the matter says Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the massacre, and indicates that it was the work of Iranians. Further, the Scott inquiry on the role of the British government has gathered evidence that following the massacre the United States in fact armed Saddam Hussein to counter the Iranians chemicals for chemicals.

Few believe that a CIA man would attend a court hearing in Baghdad in defence of Saddam. But in this case the CIA boss has gone public with his evidence, and this evidence has been in the public domain for more than a year.

The CIA officer Stephen C. Pelletiere was the agency's senior political analyst on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. As professor at the Army War College from 1988 to 2000, he says he was privy to much of the classified material that flowed through Washington having to do with the Persian Gulf.

In addition, he says he headed a 1991 Army investigation into how the Iraqis would fight a war against the United States, and the classified version of the report went into great detail on the Halabja affair.

Pelletiere went public with his information on no less a platform than The New York Times in an article on January 31 last year titled 'A War Crime or an Act of War?' The article which challenged the case for war quoted U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) as saying: "The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages, leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind or disfigured."

Pelletiere says the United States Defence Intelligence Agency investigated and produced a classified report following the Halabja gassing, which it circulated within the intelligence community on a need-to-know basis. "That study asserted that it was Iranian gas that killed the Kurds, not Iraqi gas," he wrote in The New York Times.

The agency did find that each side used gas against the other in the battle around Halabja, he said. "The condition of the dead Kurds' bodies, however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent -- that is, a cyanide-based gas -- which Iran was known to use. "The Iraqis, who are thought to have used mustard gas in the battle, are not known to have possessed blood agents at the time."

Pelletiere write that these facts have "long been in the public domain but, extraordinarily, as often as the Halabja affair is cited, they are rarely mentioned."

Pelletiere wrote that Saddam Hussein has much to answer for in the area of human rights abuses. "But accusing him of gassing his own people at Halabja as an act of genocide is not correct, because as far as the information we have goes, all of the cases where gas was used involved battles. These were tragedies of war. There may be justifications for invading Iraq, but Halabja is not one of them."

Pelletiere has maintained his position. All Saddam would have to do in court now is to cite The New York Times article even if the court would not summon Pelletiere. The issues raised in the article would themselves be sufficient to raise serious questions about the charges filed against Saddam and in turn the justifications offered last year for invading Iraq.

The Halabja killings were cited not just by Bush but by British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) to justify his case for going along with a U.S. invasion of Iraq. A British government dossier released to justify the war on Iraq says that "Saddam has used chemical weapons, not only against an enemy state, but against his own people."

An inquiry report in 1996 by Lord Justice Scott in what came to be known as the arms-to-Iraq affair gave dramatic pointers to what followed after Halabja. After the use of poison gas in 1988 both the United States and Britain began to supply Saddam Hussein with even more chemical weapons.

The Scott inquiry had been set up in 1992 following the collapse of the trial in the case of Matrix Churchill, a British firm exporting equipment to Iraq that could be put to military use.

Three senior executives of Matrix Churchill said the government knew what Matrix Churchill was doing, and that its managing director Paul Henderson had been supplying information about Iraq to the British intelligence agencies on a regular basis.

The inquiry revealed details of the British government's secret decision to supply Saddam with even more weapons-related equipment after the Halabja killings.

Former British foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe was found to have written that the end of the Iraq-Iran war could mean "major opportunities for British industry" in military exports, but he wanted to keep that proposal quiet.

"It could look very cynical if so soon after expressing outrage about the treatment of the Kurds, we adopt a more flexible approach to arms sales," one of his officials told the Scott inquiry. Lord Scott condemned the government's decision to change its policy, while keeping MPs and the public in the dark.

Soon after the attack, the United States approved the export to Iraq of virus cultures and a billion-dollar contract to design and build a petrochemical plant the Iraqis planned to use to produce mustard gas.

Saddam Hussein has appeared so far without a lawyer to defend him. A Jordanian firm is reported to be speaking up for him. But the real defence for him could be waiting for him in Washington and London.

Posted at: 01:29 on 07/07/2004   [ /essays ] #

US Smuggles Nuclear Materials into Iraq
This just in from The Tehran Times.

U.S. Trucks Carrying Radioactive Materials Intercepted In Iraq-Kuwait Border

TEHRAN (MNA) -Ð The UAE-based daily Al-Khaleej reported on Monday that Kuwaiti tariff officials have intercepted a truck loaded with radioactive materials in the Iraq-Kuwait border.

The daily quoted informed sources as saying that the radioactive control team from KuwaitÕs Health Ministry discovered that one of the trucks belonging to the U.S.-led coalition forces was carrying heavy radioactive materials trucks. The trucks were headed for Iraq.

The daily said that such materials could only enter a country when there is permission from related bodies while the materials were secretly being carried to Iraq.

Security forces stressed that no contamination had been caused by the material.

The MNA reported for the first time the coalition forcesÕ suspicious transfer of WMD parts from Kuwait to Southern Iraq by trucks.

The possible presence of WMD in Iraq and its likely nuclear programs were the main U.S. pretext for attacking the country.

However, their failure to find weapons of mass destruction in the country and the continuing turmoil in Iraq questioned the legitimacy of the U.S. war against Iraq and their presence in the country.

Posted at: 21:53 on 17/06/2004   [ /diary ] #

war
iraq, gaza, palestine, spain, israel.

i watch the news and i cry. the whole world has gone insane.

Rodney King was the philosophical voice we should have listened to.

Posted at: 22:41 on 19/05/2004   [ /diary ] #

So what if I have stigmata?
I might have mentioned this, but maybe I didn't. I'm training for my fourth marathon. I had trained for a fourth one years ago, but had a flu right before so only did a half-marathon...

Wednesday I ran 11 miles. It was a poorly thought out route and I had a complete crash because of low blood sugar. The type of crash that leaves you throwing up and feeling dizzy. I guess that teaches me to stop more than once for water in the middle of an 11 mile run in 73F weather.

Oh yeah, and I got bloody nipples.

Like the kind that run blood down the front of your shirt and make you look like you're the victim of a gunshot wound. The kind that make people turn away in horror when they see you standing there dripping in sweat with an endorphin filled grin on your face looking like some wretched ghoul that could only be created in the darkest minds of hollywood slasher flicks.

That's me, mr. stigmata.

Today I ran somewhere between fourteen and fifteen miles. I'm calling it fifteen, but it was probably closer to 14.5. If anyone wants to complain they're welcome to join me next Saturday.

Iain and Drake joined me for ten miles of the run. After the run, we all enjoyed a nice breakfast at Mi Apa Latin Cafe.

I had a colada, guava y queso pastelito, jugo de mango, y pan con juevos. Since I was bumming a ride from Iain and Drake, and I had put them through a ten mile run (they're not training for anything, they just felt sympathy for me and kept me company), I figured the least I could do is pay for their breakfast.

When I went in to pay, that's when I realized that not only was I drenched in sweat (but of course, I already knew this), but I also realized the stigmata was back. It must have happened while we were eating, because I had not noticed it before. But by the time breakfast was over, I had two distinct blood stains on my shirt.

I guess it's a good thing that everyone at the latin cafe is Catholic, otherwise they might have been grossed out by a guy dripping blood from his body. Instead, they could just look at me as an affirmation of their faith and a holy miracle.

Posted at: 16:50 on 07/02/2004   [ /diary ] #

Wilson, revisited
Taken from http://www.insightmag.com/news/2004/02/17/National/Cheneys.Staff.Focus.Of.Probe-598606.shtml

Cheney's Staff Focus of Probe
By Richard Sale

Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney's office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer's identity last year. The investigation, which is continuing, could lead to indictments, a Justice Department official said.

According to these sources, John Hannah and Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were the two Cheney employees. "We believe that Hannah was the major player in this," one federal law-enforcement officer said. Calls to the vice president's office were not returned, nor did Hannah and Libby return calls.

The strategy of the FBI is to make clear to Hannah "that he faces a real possibility of doing jail time" as a way to pressure him to name superiors, one federal law-enforcement official said.

The case centers on Valerie Plame, a CIA operative then working for the weapons of mass destruction division, and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who served as ambassador to Gabon and as a senior U.S. diplomat in Baghdad in the early 1990s. Under President Bill Clinton, he was head of African affairs until he retired in 1998, according to press accounts.

Wilson was sent by the Bush administration in March 2002 to check on an allegation made by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address the previous winter that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from the nation of Niger. Wilson returned with a report that said the claim was "highly doubtful."

On June 12, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus revealed that an unnamed diplomat had "given a negative report" on the claim and then, on July 6, as the Bush administration was widely accused of manipulating intelligence to get American public opinion behind a war with Iraq, Wilson published an op-ed piece in the Post in which he accused the Bush administration of "misrepresenting the facts." His piece also asked, "What else are they lying about?"

According to one administration official, "The White House was really pissed, and began to contact six journalists in order to plant stories to discredit Wilson," according to the New York Times and other accounts.

As Pincus said in a Sept. 29 radio broadcast, "The reason for putting out the story about Wilson's wife working for the CIA was to undermine the credibility of [Wilson's] mission for the agency in Niger. Wilson, as the last top diplomat in Iraq at the time of the Gulf War, had credibility beyond his knowledge of Africa, which was his specialty. So his going to Niger to check the allegation that Iraq had sought uranium there and returning to say he had no confirmation was considered very credible."

Eight days later, columnist Robert Novak wrote a column in which he named Wilson's wife and revealed she was "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." Since Plame was working undercover, it exposed her and, in the opinion of some, ruined her usefulness and her career. It also violated a 1982 law that prohibits revealing the identity of U.S. intelligence agents.

On Oct. 7, Bush said that unauthorized disclosure of an undercover CIA officer's identity was "a criminal matter" and the Justice Department had begun its investigation into the source of the leak.

Richard Sale is an intelligence correspondent for UPI, a sister wire service of Insight magazine.

Posted at: 21:48 on 05/02/2004   [ /essays ] #

My trip to the Florida Keys
Since I've got Bloggorhea today, I figured I'd go ahead and write about my trip to Key West.

About 20 people from Gainesville headed down to Key West last weekend to run the Half Shell - Half Marathon in Key West. It's a pretty serious race you know, it starts and finishes at the Half-Shell bar.

Because I knew Ad was sick, I wanted to get down to Miami on Thursday evening so that I could spend some time at his place Friday. Sandy, Drake, and I piled up into the car and headed down to Miami on Thursday after work. We made pretty good time and arrived at Geordan's house around midnight. Drake and I had a nightcap of Jameson's, then went to bed.

We got up the next morning and headed out for breakfast. While at breakfast, Brian called me to tell me they had to go to a doctors appointment at 10:45. So, we hoofed it over to Ad's place to visit. We were there for about an hour, but then they had to go to the doctors, so we headed down to the keys.

Since Drake had never been to Miami before, I decided to take him through some of the more scenic parts of the city. We took Sunset out to Le June Road, at which point we hopped on Old Cutler. We followed Old Cutler down through Saga Bay to Goulds, and eventually popped out on US 1 around S.W. 230th Street.

I had wanted to visit the Knaus Berry Farm, but I was not sure of their address. However, luck was in my court and I saw a sign from US 1 pointing the way (248th street). We headed to the farm for some yummy strawberries, whole grain bread, and sweet rolls. Oh yeah, and a signature raspberry shake (yumm!).

After the trip to Knaus, we continued south to Florida City. A quick stop for gas and water, and we were headed into the keys.

It's been four or five years since I had been to the keys, and I had forgotten how pretty the area by the biscayne national park is. The glades were teaming with life, the sky was blue and clear, and the temperature was in the mid-70's. A truly better day could not be found.

When we made it to Holiday Isle we stopped at the World Famous Tiki Bar for one of their rum runners. Well, we really had two (one for Drake, one for me). Just as I remembered, they turned my face and extremities numb..

Continuing south, we stopped for lunch and pictures in Marathon. After lunch we finished the trek to Key West.

We spent the weekend in the Seascape Inn which is half a block south of Duval Street on Olivia. It's a nice B&B, but a bit pricey. What the heck though, we were on holiday.

Drake and I stretched our legs by going for a quick two mile run. We ran to the Southernmost point, then headed to Mallory Square. I think the actual total is 2.6 miles and we did it in 21 minutes, not too shabby. After the run it was time for debauchery of the highest order.

We picked up Sandy, Tim, and Rebecca, then headed down to Mallory Square to catch the sunset. The freak show was in full force ("Helloooo Osciiir?"), but amusing. We grabbed a few beers as the sun set and just hung around for awhile.

After sunset we headed to dinner at Mangoes. We picked up Bill and Colleen and their two children, which brought our party up to 9. Mangoes was "OK" but it was probably the worse meal of the trip (Denny's excluded), and it wasn't cheap. If you're going to Key West anytime soon I'd say skip Mangoes and go to Blue Heaven instead..

After dinner it was time for the Duval Street Pub Crawl. We hit a few bars that I don't remember the names of, and some I do. We stopped at the Hogs Breath Saloon long enough to do a couple of shots of Jim Beam, before we finally wound up at Sloppy Joes. SJ's used to be the favored stomping grounds of Ernest Hemmingway, but I imagine the atomosphere has changed since his day.

There was a house band that was tearing up the place. We drank and danced well past 2:00 A.M. when Sandy started to pumpkin.

We headed back to the Seascape to drop Sandy off. On the way back we ran into some street musicians that weren't any good. Drake asked if he could join their band, and then proceed to give them guitar lessons; I have to admit I was pretty impressed with how good he was.

After dropping Sandy at the hotel, we had a comedy of errors trying to find Drake's place. Everyone kept telling us that the address for his hotel was "706 Truman, just like Leonardo's 706" but there was no Truman 706. It turned out his hotel was 709 Truman but we didn't find that out until Saturday...

After giving up on finding his hotel, we managed to lock ourselves out of the Seascape. Sandy, as usual, had her cell phone off, so every effort we made to call her was a complete failure. We tried banging on the windows for the room, but she slept through it. Whoops, we made her dance too hard.

After much consideration, we decided to camp in her car until the morning when I could call the B&B owners and get let into the hotel. We finally crashed around 4:00am, but were back up by 7:15am when the rooseters woke us up.

Saturday I was pretty much a complete wreck. Having only had about 4 hours total of sleep, I was pretty exhausted. However, I persevered and we did some stuff. Drake took off to find his hotel (and he did), and he crashed until 12:30. Sandy had other plans for me, including a scooter rental and riding around the island.

Since we were there to run a race, I thought it might be nice to have a look at the course. We took the scooter and followed the course for most of the 13.1 miles. The course, and island, were scenic and we had fun on the scooter. After the rental we headed over to a crafts fair that was going on, but it wasn't very good. I have to admit I would have thought a crafts fair in Key West would have been better than it was..

Sandy finally agreed to let me catch a quick cat-nap, so I got in an hour of Zzzzz's. After that it was time to go to the half-shell bar and do packet pickup. While there we met up with most of the other Gainesville Running Crew and we made plans for dinner. We went to Blue Heaven, which was, well trying to avoid the pun, heavenly. The atmosphere is great, the food was fantastic, and the prices were reasonable.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to go to bed. We had to get up early in the morning for the race, so off to bed we went.

Sunday morning I woke up at 5am to get ready for the race. The start time was 7, and being anally punctual, I had to be at the starting line by 6:30am. We drove Rebecca and Colleen to the starting line, so they had to deal with my temporal management capabilities. Sorry guys.

Right before the race Iain and Drake finally showed up. They were both wearing 1:45 pace bands, which I thought was a little silly. Iain had never run a race, and in training he wasn't as fast as Drake. Although Drake can run a 1:45 pace, he'd been drinking pretty heavily for two days, and I didn't think it was likely he'd be able to pull it off. At any rate, I decided to ignore their pace bands and do my own run.

Two miles into the run, I was on the east side of the island and the sun was coming up. I had hit the pace I wanted to maintain (9:00) for the first two miles and was feeling good about it. I stopped and stretched out for a minute, figuring the minute I spent stretching at mile two would be worth five minutes worth of cramping at mile 8. Even with the stretching, my third mile was still run in 9:11, so I was still keeping my target pace.

Right after the third mile I saw a lady chasing her dog. The dog had gotten off leash and was "being cute" and playing the I'll put my leash on if you can catch me game.

About 30 seconds after I stopped paying attention to the dog I heard the dog screaming and I turned. Some lady driving an SUV had hit the dog and was dragging it under her front bumper. After about 20 feet, the dog slid under the car and she ran over it with her right rear tire.

I don't know what came over me, but I ran out to her car and made her stop. She was going to leave, and I just started cussing her out. When I say I was cussing her out, I mean I was really cussing her out. I'm still not sure if she deserved _ALL_ of the shit I gave her, but she definately deserved some of it because she was planning on splitting..

I screamed at her for about a minute or two, and finally another runner pulled me off her car. As I said, I was a bit wound up. But, when I was pulled off, she wound up turning around and at least stopping for the lady with the dog. I still feel for that poor woman who saw her dog get run over by some idiot that wasn't paying attention..

After the dog, I went back to the race. It was hard to focus on running, but I tried. I wound up meeting a guy from Rhode Island that had run the same race the year before. He told me that it was much cooler in 2003 because it had been overcast, and so he convinced about a dozen friends of his to come down and run it by promising it wouldn't be soo hot (hahahahaha).

The joke was on him I guess because the warm air felt like someone was blowing you with a hair dryer.

I continued making my target pace of around 9:00-9:10. At the six mile mark I saw Iain and Drake running together about 50 yards in front of me. The story of the Tortois and the Hare came to mind as I watched Drake take off.. Iain was starting to slow down and I passed him right after the half-way split. My split time was 1:01.23.

I asked Iain how he was doing, and he said fine but tired. I told him he was doing well, and continued past him. I kept hitting my marks and felt strong the whole way. At mile 8 I started passing several people that had previously passed me when I was holding back at the beginning. George, you'd be proud!

After mile 9 I was starting to feel a little tired. It was H-O-T, hot. I decided to walk through all of the water stops but do no other walking. I also decided to start dumping water on my head at every water stop. A nice gorilla gave me gatoraid at the 9.5 mile water stop, and I didn't even stop to ask why she would wear a gorilla suit in hot as hell weather..

I kept running strong, mile 10 was in 9:29, mile 11 in 9:03, mile 12 in 9:22, and the last 1.1 miles went by in 10:23. I finished the race feeling strong in 2:02.49 -- almost exactly the same time I ran in the 1999 MCM (2:02.19) with almost two identical split times.

After the race, everyone was concerned about Drake. He ran a 1:55, which is pretty damn incredible since the first half took him an hour. However, he wasn't doing so good -- his face was numb and he couldn't move his mouth. We eventually determined it was probably a mineral imbalance (Dr. Rios thought maybe a potassium imbalance), but we were a little worried. After all, it was hot and they had to call an ambulance for one other runner.

Overall, everyone did well. Rebecca ran a 1:45 and won her age group, Drake ran a 1:55 and scared everyone, Curtis ran a 1:55 and did well, I ran a 2:02 and was happy, Iain ran a 2:11 which was awesome considering he had never ran a race of any distance before, Colleen ran a 2:21, Thor and Jaime finished in 2:46, Janet Galvez also finished in 2:47, and Ginnie racewalked it in 2:56. Fantastic!

After the race we went to Colleen and Bills for Margaritas, and they were great! When the pitchers were gone we went for brunch and mmmmm the food was yummy. If you're headed to Key West, add Cafe Sole to your brunch menu.

When we were done with brunch, it was time to bid several of our friends farewell. Iain, Lynn, Drake, Thor, and Jaime headed back to Gainesville. The rest of us decided to go to the Hemmingway house and play with the kitties.

We did the tour, then went back to the hotel. I sat outside and read for an hour or so, re-reading For Whom The Bell Tolls. We finally decided to go to dinner and took off trying to find a place.

The first restaurant was full, so we moved on to Alice's Restaurant. Although you can't get everything you want at Alice's Restaurant, you can get quite a bit of delicious food there. Sandy and I each had the passion fruit salad, and we split a tuna roll and slice of key lime pie. As good as the food is at Alice's (and it is good), the place is a bit expensive so if you go to Alice's, take your visa.

After dinner, we went back and packed up for the long drive. Sandy and I left Key West at 6:30am and made it home by 3:00pm.

Posted at: 03:32 on 31/01/2004   [ /travel ] #

Boy do I have bloggorhea..
So I don't write much for a long time, then I get chatty. That's what happens when you have a wild night on the town planned in Gainesville..

Ad's sick. He was diagnosed with colon cancer about two weeks ago and had 2/3rd of his large intestine removed last week.

I got the chance to see him and Brian last Friday on my way to Key West and he looked like shit. He'd lost probably close to forty pounds and just looked bad.

Brian convinced him to come out to California, but as soon as he got there, he had to go back into the hospital. He spent a day and night in there, and was finally checked out. He's staying at Paul's house, and Paul, myself, and my mom have been in fairly regular email.

It doesn't sound very promising. I may go out there next month, and I'll definately be out there at the end of April.

I've been pretty surprised by my reaction over this, but in many respects he was more of a father to me than my biological dad -- living in someone's house for a dozen years while you're growing up will have that affect. Although I hadn't really seen that much of Ad after my mom moved out in 1989, I still managed to see him every year or so (whenever I was down in Miami).

The only good that has come of this is that I've been back in contact with Brian, Paul and Frank, who were like older brothers to me when I was a kid.

Posted at: 02:41 on 31/01/2004   [ /diary ] #

Another Friday night in the big city...
So it's Friday night and I'm sitting at home surfing the internet. Boy, ain't this an exciting way to spend a Friday..

Sandy took off for Temple, and I went and grabbed dinner with Philip, Susan, and their kids at La Fiesta. They're moving (la fiesta, not the Chases).

Lee went to Joe and Nicoles to watch a film. Josh is working at Gleim.

Geoff's off doing something with Kathy.

I didn't try to track down anyone else. All I'd really like to do is go dancing, but none of the other crew would be up for that.

Maybe I can get Sandy to go out tomorrow night

Posted at: 02:31 on 31/01/2004   [ /diary ] #

The State of the Union
Unashamedly taken from http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=482947.

George W Bush and the real state of the Union
Today the President gives his annual address. As the election battle begins, how does his first term add up?

232: Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004

501: Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war - so far

0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945

0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed

0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq

100: Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003

13: Number of meetings between Bush and Tony Blair since he became President

10 million: Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, setting an all-time record for simultaneous protest

2: Number of nations that Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into the White House

9.2: Average number of American soldiers wounded in Iraq each day since the invasion in March last year

1.6: Average number of American soldiers killed in Iraq per day since hostilities began

16,000: Approximate number of Iraqis killed since the start of war

10,000: Approximate number of Iraqi civilians killed since the beginning of the conflict

$100 billion: Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to American citizens by the end of 2003

$13 billion: Amount other countries have committed towards rebuilding Iraq (much of it in loans) as of 24 October

36%: Increase in the number of desertions from the US army since 1999

92%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that had access to drinkable water a year ago

60%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that have access to drinkable water today

32%: Percentage of the bombs dropped on Iraq this year that were not precision-guided

1983: The year in which Donald Rumsfeld gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs

45%: Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US

$127 billion: Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001

$374 billion: Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003

1st: This year's deficit is on course to be the biggest in United States history

$1.58 billion: Average amount by which the US national debt increases each day

$23,920: Amount of each US citizen's share of the national debt as of 19 January 2004

1st: The record for the most bankruptcies filed in a single year (1.57 million) was set in 2002

10: Number of solo press conferences that Bush has held since beginning his term. His father had managed 61 at this point in his administration, and Bill Clinton 33

1st: Rank of the US worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per capita

$113 million: Total sum raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, setting a record in American electoral history

$130 million: Amount raised for Bush's re-election campaign so far

$200m: Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004

$40m: Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003

28: Number of days holiday that Bush took last August, the second longest holiday of any president in US history (Recordholder: Richard Nixon)

13: Number of vacation days the average American worker receives each year

3: Number of children convicted of capital offences executed in the US in 2002. America is only country openly to acknowledge executing children

1st: As Governor of Texas, George Bush executed more prisoners (152) than any governor in modern US history

2.4 million: Number of Americans who have lost their jobs during the three years of the Bush administration

221,000: Number of jobs per month created since Bush's tax cuts took effect. He promised the measure would add 306,000

1,000: Number of new jobs created in the entire country in December. Analysts had expected a gain of 130,000

1st: This administration is on its way to becoming the first since 1929 (Herbert Hoover) to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office

9 million: Number of US workers unemployed in September 2003

80%: Percentage of the Iraqi workforce now unemployed

55%: Percentage of the Iraqi workforce unemployed before the war

43.6 million: Number of Americans without health insurance in 2002

130: Number of countries (out of total of 191 recognised by the United Nations) with an American military presence

40%: Percentage of the world's military spending for which the US is responsible

$10.9 million: Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person cabinet

88%: Percentage of American citizens who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of 2003 cut in capital gains and dividends taxes

$42,000: Average savings members of Bush's cabinet are expected to enjoy this year as a result in the cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes

$42,228: Median household income in the US in 2001

$116,000: Amount Vice-President Cheney is expected to save each year in taxes

44%: Percentage of Americans who believe the President's economic growth plan will mostly benefit the wealthy

700: Number of people from around the world the US has incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

1st: George W Bush became the first American president to ignore the Geneva Conventions by refusing to allow inspectors access to US-held prisoners of war

+6%: Percentage change since 2001 in the number of US families in poverty

1951: Last year in which a quarterly rise in US military spending was greater than the one the previous spring

54%: Percentage of US citizens who believe Bush was legitimately elected to his post

1st: First president to execute a federal prisoner in the past 40 years. Executions are typically ordered by separate states and not at federal level

9: Number of members of Bush's defence policy board who also sit on the corporate board of, or advise, at least one defence contractor

35: Number of countries to which US has suspended military assistance after they failed to sign agreements giving Americans immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court

$300 million: Amount cut from the federal programme that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes

$1 billion: Amount of new US military aid promised Israel in April 2003 to offset the "burdens" of the US war on Iraq

58 million: Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building, logging and drilling

200: Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has attempted to downgrade or weaken

29,000: Number of American troops - which is close to the total of a whole army division - to have either been killed, wounded, injured or become so ill as to require evacuation from Iraq, according to the Pentagon

90%: Percentage of American citizens who said they approved of the way George Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 26 September, 2001

53%: Percentage of American citizens who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 16 January, 2004

Sources: Vanity Fair magazine, Harper's Index, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Army (Washington), US Department of Defence, Iraqbodycount.net, Citizens for Tax Justice, Bureau of Economic Analysis (Washington), New York Times/CBS News Poll (NYC), US Department of Commerce, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (NYC), Coalition Provisional Authority (Baghdad), World Health Organisation (Geneva), Office of Management and Budget (Washington), Centre for Responsive Politics (Washington), Bush-Cheney '04, Inc (Arlington, Va), Election Systems & Software (Omaha), United States Central Command (Tampa)

Posted at: 15:24 on 21/01/2004   [ /essays ] #

How to lose your job in talk radio...
Taken from: http://www.amconmag.com/1_19_04/article3.html

February 2, 2004 issue
Copyright © 2004 The American Conservative

How to Lose Your Job in Talk Radio

Clear Channel gags an antiwar conservative.

Or how about an equally disconcerting World War II headline from the European theater: ÒGerman Army Not Found in France, Poland, Admits President; Rumsfeld: ÔOops!Õ, Powell Silent; ÔBring ÕEm On,Õ Says Defiant FDR.Ó

It seems to me that when there is reason to go to war, it should be self-evident. The Secretary of State should not need to convince a skeptical world with satellite photos of a couple of Toyota pickups and a dumpster. And faced with a legitimate casus belli, it should not be hard to muster an actual constitutional declaration of war. Now in the absence of a meaningful Iraqi role in the 9/11 attack and the mysterious disappearance of those fearsome Weapons of Mass Destruction, there might be some psychic satisfaction to be had in saying, ÒI told you so!Ó But it sure isnÕt doing my career as a talk-show host any good.

The criterion of self-evidence was only one of dozens of objections I raised before the elective war in Iraq on my afternoon drive-time talk show on KFYI in Phoenix. Many of the other arguments are familiar to readers of The American Conservative.

But the case for war was a shape-shifter, skillfully morphing into a new rationale as quickly as the old one failed to withstand scrutiny. For a year before the war, I scrambled to keep up with the latest incarnations of the neocon case. Most were pitifully transparent and readily exposed. (Besides the aluminum tubes and the trailers that had Bush saying, ÒGotcha,Ó does anyone remember those death-dealing drones? Never have third-world, wind-up, rubber-band, balsa-wood airplanes instilled so much fear in so many people.) Still, my management didnÕt like my being out of step with the presidentÕs parade of national hysteria, and the war-fevered spectators didnÕt care to be told they were suffering illusions. So after three years, I was replaced on my primetime talk show by the Frick and Frack of Bushophiles, two giggling guys who think everything our tongue-tied president does is ÒMost excellent, dude!Ó I have been relegated to the later 7Ð10 p.m. slot, when most people, even in a congested commuting market like Phoenix, are already home watching TV.

Why did this happen? Why only a couple of months after my company picked up the option on my contract for another year in the fifth-largest city in the United States, did it suddenly decide to relegate me to radio Outer Darkness? The answer lies hidden in the oil-and-water incompatibility of these two seemingly disconnected phrases: ÒCriticizing BushÓ and ÒClear Channel.Ó

Criticizing Bush? Well then, must I be some sort of rug-chewing liberal? Not even close. As a boy, I stood on the grass in a small Arizona town square when Barry Goldwater officially began his 1964 presidential run. And I was there for the last official event of the Goldwater campaign. My job was to recruit and manage my fellow junior-high and high-school conservatives in a phone bank operation, calling supporters to fill up as many buses as possible to help pack the stadiumÑa show of strength for the nationÕs television viewers. Of course thatÕs an insignificant role to play in a presidential campaign, but it was pretty heady stuff for a 14-year-old kid from Flagstaff.

I broke with Goldwater in 1976 over his decision to back Gerald Ford instead of Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination. Ford was a perfectly decent, if ordinary, Republican (who could have taught the big-spending W. Bush a thing or two about the use of the veto!). But I took my conservatism seriously. Reagan was clearly the champion of the conservative cause.

Perhaps IÕm just anti-military? No. I am proud of my honorable service and of the Army Commendation Medal I was awarded. I also spent a good deal of time in the 1980s as a member of the Speakers Bureau of High Frontier, promoting ReaganÕs Strategic Defense Initiative, a defense policy unlike todayÕs in that it was actually designed to defend the American people.

I have been a Republican precinct committeeman; my county Republican Party elected me its ÒMan of the YearÓ in 1988; I have written speeches for conservative candidates and office holders; and I have been employed by statewide and national political organizations and campaigns, including the National Conservative Political Action Committee. Despite my disappointment in Goldwater for not supporting Reagan, I was there when a small band of the faithfulÑno more than four or five of usÑgathered for a potluck dinner to support the creation of a brand-new public-policy think tank named after ÒMr. Conservative.Ó The enterprise blossomed, and I was honored several months ago to serve as Master of Ceremonies for the Goldwater InstituteÕs 15th Anniversary Gala.

I can assure you then that my criticism of Bush has been on the basis of long-held conservative principles. It begins with respect for the wisdom of the Founders and the ConstitutionÕs division of power and delegation of authority, and extends to an adherence to the principles of governmental restraint and fiscal prudence. It proved to be a message that was more than a little inconvenient for my employer.

Clear Channel Communications, the 800-pound gorilla of the radio business, owns an astonishing 1,200 stations in 50 states, including Newstalk 550 KFYI in Phoenix, where I do the afternoon program É or did until last summer. The principals of Clear Channel, a Texas-based company, have been substantial contributors to George W. BushÕs fortunes since before he became president. In fact, Texas billionaire Tom Hicks can be said to be the man who made Bush a millionaire when he purchased the future presidentÕs baseball team, the Texas Rangers. Tom Hicks is now vice chairman of Clear Channel. Clear Channel stations were unusually visible during the war with what corporate flacks now call Òpro-troop rallies.Ó In tone and substance, they were virtually indistinguishable from pro-Bush rallies. IÕm sure the administration, which faced a host of regulatory issues affecting Clear Channel, was not displeased.

Criticism of Bush and his ever-shifting pretext for a first-strike war (what exactly was it we were pre-empting anyway?) has proved so serious a violation of Clear ChannelÕs cultural taboo that only a good contract has kept me from being fired outright. Roxanne Cordonier, a radio personality at Clear ChannelÕs WMYI 102.5 in Greenville, S.C., didnÕt have it as good. Cordonier, who worked under the name Roxanne Walker, was the South Carolina Broadcasters AssociationÕs 2002 Radio Personality of the Year. That apparently wasnÕt enough for Clear Channel. Her lawsuit against the company alleges that she was belittled on the air and reprimanded by her station for opposing the invasion of Iraq. Then she was fired.

They couldnÕt really fire me, at least without paying me a substantial sum of money, but I was certainly belittled on the air for opposing the war. The other KFYI talk-show hostsÑso bloodthirsty that they made Bush apologists and superhawks Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity sound moderateÑvilified me almost daily. As a former radio-station owner myself, it was a little hard to believe management would allow one of their key hosts to be trashed day in and day out on their own airwaves. After all, we sell radio time on the basis of its ability to influence peopleÕs behavior. A wiser programming approach would have been to showcase me as an object of curiosity, with a challenge to listeners to see if they could discover where I had gone wrong or how I was missing the imminent threat Iraq posed to the American people. No doubt the constant vilification I received and my heterodoxy on the war cost me audience during the interlude. It was certainly enough to get pictures of me morphing into those of the French president posted on the Free Republic Web site during the Òfreedom friesÓ silliness. A banner there read, ÒBoycott Charles Chirac Goyette at KFYI radio Phoenix, AZ! Protest against the Charles Goyette Show from 4-7pm at KFYI for his leftist subervsive [sic] Bush-bashing rants. Turn off KFYI radio for the Charles Goyette Show! No liberal scum talk shows on KFYI!Ó Radio does provoke people, doesnÕt it?

One Clear Channel executive had me take an unexpected day off for the sin of reporting the breaking news on March 27, 2003, that neocon hawk Richard Perle, of the Defense Policy Board, had relinquished his chairmanship under scrutiny of his business dealings and for blaspheming that Donald Rumsfeld was the worst Secretary of Defense since Robert McNamara. So great were these transgressions that the radio gods themselves must have been aghast at my impiety. I explained in conference-room confrontations that both positions were completely respectable points of view. The comparison with McNamara had been made repeatedly in subsequent days in the mainstream media. I specifically cited ÒThe McLaughlin GroupÓ the following Friday and the New York Times the following Monday, and in describing the Perle resignation, I relied upon details from both Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker and from syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington. ÒWell, then,Ó they explained, the problem was Òthe emotionalismÓ of my remarks. Imagine that, emotionalism in talk radio? I reminded them that for years we had run promotions identifying KFYI as Òthe Place with More Passion,Ó where the Charles Goyette Show was positioned as ÒFearless Talk Radio!Ó

Clear Channel made it clearÑÒWith you, I feel like IÕm managing the Dixie Chicks,Ó said my program directorÑthat they would have liked to fire me anyway. While a well-drafted contract made that difficult, it did not prevent them from tucking me away outside prime time.

So IÕm a talk-show war casualty. My contract expires in a few more months andÑmy iconoclasm being notedÑit is not likely it will be renewed. Among the survivors at my station: one host who wanted to nuke Afghanistan (he bills himself as Òyour voice of reason and moderationÓ) and another who upon learning that 23-year-old Mideast peace activist Rachel Corrie had been run over by an Israeli bulldozer shouted, ÒBack up and run over her again!Ó As he doesnÕt quite get some of the important distinctions in these debates, such as that Iranians should not be called Arabs, we would hope that heÕs not taken too seriously. Likewise my replacements in the afternoon drive slot, brought in for glamorizing the war and billed as ÒThe Comedy Channel meets Talk Radio.Ó If you remember the ÒSaturday Night LiveÓ skit ÒSuperfansÓ with Mike Myers and Chris FarleyÑÒWhoÕs stronger, God or da Bulls?Ó ÒDa Bulls!ÓÑthen you get the idea. Only instead of Òda Bulls,Ó itÕs three hours every afternoon of Òda Bush!Ó Expect to hear more insightful topics like ÒSo WhoÕs Tougher: Michael Jordan or Donald Rumsfeld?Ó

IÕve seen how war fever infects a people. And I was in a no-win situation, with an audience pre-screened by virtue of 11 hours a day of screaming war frenzyÑunlistenable for the uninfectedÑthat surrounded my time slot. So I knew there would be a personal price for opposing the war, and I was prepared to pay it. But as a lover of the rough and tumble of public debate and the contest of ideas, I am disappointed at what is happening in my industry. At least at Clear Channel, thereÕs only one word for the belief that talk radio is still a fair and fearless search for the truth: ÒUn-Bull-ieveable!Ó

Posted at: 18:35 on 12/01/2004   [ /essays ] #

My country, in 30 seconds..
The leader of my country was not elected to office. He became the leader because his brother, who is in charge of one of our states, prevented people from getting to the polls. The leader of my country is not interested in the welfare of his people. He is being led by religious extremists and greedy men that are only interested in lining their own pockets. Citizens are siezed, and being held in jails without ever being charged with a crime. My country is the United States of America.

Sad, but true..

Posted at: 22:54 on 07/01/2004   [ /essays ] #

So a wierd thing happened to me last night..
This won't be your average tale of what happens on new years.. Monkey and I went and ran 11 miles. The course we ran was part of a 10 mile route I used to run, basically from my house down to N.W. 39th Avenue, then west towards Santa Fe. We just tacked on an extra mile to the course. We left Casa Sallots at 5:15pm.

It's a pretty nice run, about 4 miles into the run you hit a nice stretch of hills which keep you working, which is always a good thing when doing a longer training run. As I mentioned, I used to run 10 miles of this stretch 2 to 3 times a week. I also used to run it quite a bit faster (80 minutes as opposed to 95 minutes)...

While running yesterday, my blood pressure dropped pretty low. I have no idea what caused this physiological response, but I nearly passed out taking a shower right after the run. Thinking the worst had passed, I went to meet up with Monkey for dinner. But, because the place was closed, I just headed to Schlotzky's to pick up a drive-thru sandwich.

Still feeling like crap, I continued home. By the time I pulled into the driveway at the house I knew I was going to throw up, and I quickly made my way into the bathroom where I emptied the contents of my stomach.

So, I'm not entirely sure what happened to me. It's possible the BP drop was in response to a blood sugar drop -- I had only eaten a piece of toast and a whopper junior without mayo throughout the course of the day, and during the run I only drank a little bit of water. It's also possible the drop was due to dehydration -- before the run I had only drunk about 0.5l of water for the entire day, and during the run I drank an additional 0.5l of water. Probably not enough fluids for running 1:45 minutes on a warm (60's) Florida evening.

After throwing up, I drank some water, ate my sandwich and went to bed. I woke up 6 hours later and feel much better.

Posted at: 07:47 on 02/01/2004   [ /diary ] #

Sprague Fuell Cell Mod
David Sprague was kind enough to send me his web-page on adding a fuell cell to the K12RS.

Posted at: 14:47 on 01/01/2004   [ /diary ] #