Monday, May 31, 2004

More random thoughts

They are especially random and very fuzzy this morning after a very sleepless night. Actually, after sleeping twelve hours Saturday night (I woke up at 12:30 PM Sunday.) which is unheard of for me, I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning and could not get back to sleep so I got up at 5:30 AM. Now I am working on my third cup of coffee, not to stay awake but to sweep out some of the mental cobwebs if possible.

Oh, just wondering if the religious fanatics who believe in the second coming of Christ would really be that pleased to see him. I somehow doubt that Catholic laity and clergy who deny communion to those wearing rainbow colored sashes would be too pleased with His response to such a matter. They would probably even deny that he was even Jesus since he obviously does not believe in the teachings of the church he supposedly founded. "Get behind thee Satan."

I wonder too if Bush's hole is now deep enough to keep him out of sight come this November. I am not greatly enthused about Kerry at this point but anybody but Bush - PLEASE.



Saturday, May 29, 2004

Back to the real world

Or, back to normal. Whichever is applicable. Having just returned from two weeks in Bangkok I am still trying to get back up to speed. There was a ton of mail and this has been complicated by the termination of my mailbox at the end of this month and instituting mail forwarding for the PO box plus the notification all of my vendors, accounts, and correspondents that my snail mail address will change in June. Well, I got through my checks and bank statement in good shape but I still have notify a lot of people about the address thingie.

The other big project will now be to sort through all of the photos and video clips I brought back with me. This includes re-sizing photos for my website but this seems to go much smoother these days with Paint Shop Pro 8 (Jasc).

Now I am worried about a correspondent from Manila who works for an oil company but is stationed in Saudia Arabia. He has been there about two months now and today I learned that there has been an attack on one of the facilities there which resulted in about 15 deaths and two of those were Filipino nationals. Now I don't know what to think. I do have a cell phone number and will try that early Sunday morning PDT which will be evening there. Hopefully I can get through to someone at that time.

I know this...Bush must go. I am not sure Kerry has the vision to carry on but can anyone be worse than Bush?

Oh, before I forget. About a month ago I said I should stop buying books until I have read what I already have. Well, I apparently did not pay attention to my own warning as I bought two books while in Bangkok. Actually, reading would go a lot faster if I weren't so adicted to this computer. Ha!

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

This is one of the most nervous days of the year for me. Actually, this occurs anytime I am getting ready to go on a journey somewhere. The details of trying to decide what to take with me are always difficult. They shouldn't be however. I am going to a major city (Bangkok) where I can obtain anything that I might have forgotten at home, and if my clothes get dirty, I can use the laundry service at the hotel, so why do I get nervous and worry about not taking enough? Ha! I usually take too much. The most important things are my passport and the airline tickets plus a few phone numbers as well as some other important papers. I just need to pack and forget it but I know that I will be packing and rearranging the suitcase all day. Even now my stomach growls in nervous anticipation.

At least the weather seems to be cooling somewhat although I doubt that my body could tell the difference between 98 and 92 degrees Fahrenheit especially with the same high humidity. Thunderstorms continue on a daily basis so I am taking my umbrella although I don't like the idea of holding onto a lightning rod during en electrical storm.

This time I will be going through Taipei which makes the second leg of the journey a bit shorter than the Tokyo to Bangkok run. The Taipei airport, however, is less interesting than the one in Narita/Tokyo. In fact, the gate area is a sterile concrete box with nothing but chairs and the counter for airline employees. There are one or two vending machines which is OK if you have coins of the Taiwanese New Dollar variety.
Last time coming through Narita, on the other hand, I found a small restaurant that accepted U.S. Dollars in addition to Yen. That was great.

I doubt that I will have time to post anything on these pages during the next two weeks, but who knows. I may or may not as circumstances and/or my mood dictate.

Monday, May 10, 2004

STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO GET OFF


Actually, since I am now retired and have so much time on my hands, maybe I can give Larry, Curly, and Moe a hand in helping to force Democracy down the throats of the Iraqi people. My god, how naive can these clowns in Washinton be? Iraq does not have a tradition of Democracy and they think that this war is going to convince them that it would be a better choice?? Give me a break!

Today someone told me that God must love stupid people as he made so many. Well, three biggest of them reside in the nation's capital. If it weren't for oil we would not be there and no amount of lies or whatever from that bunch will convince me otherwise.

The really scary thing however was a talk I had a short time ago with a fellow liberal who said he cannot vote for Kerry. I hope he votes for someone other than Bush as a "None of the above" approach would be a vote for Bush in what will be a close election.

Saturday, May 08, 2004

What is there to write about? Well, that is a good question. World and national news is sooooo depressing these days with those three clowns Moe, Larry, & Curly, oops, I meant Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld in Washington. How silly of me to get the six of them confused! Tsk - tsk. Unfortunately this is not a comedy. If it is it's the most perverse one of my lifetime. One can only hope that some good will come out of this mess by making the election of somebody other than Bush possible.

Well, this sure isn't Kosher...

" A California woman claimed she swallowed a live bullet and bit into a second round while eating a hotdog, and says she has the X-rays to prove it. Police said on Thursday they were investigating the bizarre incident the 31-year-old woman said happened at a Costco store in Irvine, California, about 47 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

"She said she had swallowed one bullet and felt another in her mouth," Irvine police Lt. Jeff Love said. "She showed us the bullet and we took it as evidence. We had them cut up all the other hot dogs and found nothing in the buns." A spokesman for Seattle-based Costco Wholesale Corp. COST.O> said the company had no comment on the incident, which occurred on Sunday and was still being investigated.

The woman showed local television news an X-ray of her stomach with a bullet lodged in it.

Love said the Hebrew National brand hotdogs served at Costco were prepared under Kosher laws with a high standard of cleanliness, and were X-rayed before leaving the factory.

He said it appeared "highly unlikely" that a hot dog would leave the factory with an undetected bullet in it."

Ouch...it's a wonder she didn't break a tooth on that one.

Then we have the case of man biting dog...

"A man fleeing police in the South African city of Durban bit the dog and police officer ordered to apprehend him, police said on Friday.
"The guy actually bit the dog... He was stupid because those dogs are trained not to let go," Superintendent Danelia Veldhuizen of Durban police told Reuters.

The man ran from a house where he is accused of raping a young mother at knife-point on Thursday. The police dog unit was alerted to give chase. The man is expected to be charged with rape and robbery.

Veldhuizen said the man bit the policeman's finger right through to the bone, but the dog was fine."




Thursday, May 06, 2004

"The effort to stabilize Iraq is out of control. It's time to face the facts squarely, and recognize that America, acting alone, is no longer capable of reaching the hearts and minds of Iraqis. We've got to transfer management authority over Iraq to the United Nations, to enable a real transition to peaceful Iraqi self-rule."

If you agree with the above statement and want to look into the matter a little more, go to Move On for further information.

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Beware of the furniture


Funny story tonight about Ikea at The Onion. Where do these people get their stories??
Time Travel?


No wonder the government is all screwed up. My new digital kitchen clock which "phones home" to a government run radio station which continually broadcasts the date and time, really startled me this morning. Whereas I went to bed on Monday night May 3, 2004, I woke up on Sat. Jan. 6, 2002. Huh? Well, that is what the clock said and I had not touched it. I wonder if this apartment has ghosts or was that government clock really that far off. If so, no wonder things are all messed up.

Saturday, May 01, 2004

Bush sees a brighter future in Irag? Good grief, what drug is he on? This only points out so well how deluded this man is!
I must simply stop buying books until I have read what I already have. Last night on the way to the symphony I bought The Gospel of Thomas (John Dart & Ray Riegert) and The Gnostic Gospels (Elaine Pagels). The Gospel of Thomas will probably be a quick read however I still am only halfway through The Messianic Legacy (Michael Baigent, Richard Leight & Henry Lincoln). In the world of fiction I still have not started Digital Fortress (Dan Brown) or Deception Point (Dan Brown). These two should be quick reads however. Dan's Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons were. I finally finished Holy Blood, Holy Grail which is now on loan to a friend.
Then there are weird stories in the news such as this one.


MIAMI (Reuters) - An Oklahoma woman drove around for days with her mother's decomposing body in the passenger seat of her car, Florida investigators said on Thursday.
Sheriff's deputies found the woman's body on Tuesday in a car parked outside a Wal-Mart store in the northeast Florida city of Palm Coast. The medical examiner ruled the 65-year-old woman had died of natural causes at least five days earlier.

The woman's daughter, in her mid-30s, was inside the 24-hour store, where she had been shopping since the night before. She was incoherent and unable to give a clear account of her journey to Florida, Flagler County Sheriff's investigators said.

Police went to investigate when other shoppers complained about the odor coming from the parked car.

They traced the auto registration and pieced together details of the trip from receipts found in the car.

The women had lived together in Covington, Oklahoma, and left there several weeks ago. They traveled through Texas and North Carolina on the 1,300-mile trip to Florida, the investigators said. It was not clear if the mother died at a stop-off or in the car.

The daughter was hospitalized for psychiatric examination. No charges were filed because the mother's death was from natural causes. No further details were available.