Travels and Images
WEEK 48 2003
Last Week-
Sun- Mon- Tue- Wed- Thur- Fri- Sat- Next Week
Picture of the Week
Lancaster
Weather
A Year
Ago, This
Week
Saturday 29
November 2003
Saturday - still feeling better. I resisted the urge
to go out and work, and shop, and all the rest. Next week is a work
week, as they all are until Christmas, and I hope to not get sick again!
I am listening to KFOG,
here in the desert! (Something acoustic by Natali Merchant, I think...)
It's their 'acoustic sunrise' program. I enjoy it when I am up in the
bay area, the "local" stations down here are pure top forty only, be
they country or rock. And one moldy oldie station - which is actually
the only "local" station, the rest being chains.
Of course, after a while you get tired of KFOG patting themselves on their own back. Sadly it seems that 'The voice of Clayton Valley High School'
is not yet streaming audio. My own high school was not cool enough to
have their own radio station, but the kids at Clayton would put a bunch
of LP's on to play between classes - no commercials, just music.
Anyway, an internet radio locator site is here. There are many others, of course.
Friday 28 November
2003
Friday - feeling a bit better. I actually went out
and tried to buy some new tennis shoes, but didn't find the kinds I
wanted at 'Big 5' sports, and wasn't really up to much shopping.
Stopped by my brothers and checked on his critters, cats and dogs,
again. Everyone is fine - the two kittens should be called "Curious and
Curiouser" I think. All he had was 'Vanilla Coke' to drink. Foul &
repulsive. Drank it anyway.
In lieu of actual posting, here is the text of the presidents speech this thanksgiving to the troops:
Thank you. I was just looking for a warm meal
somewhere. Thank you for inviting me to dinner. General Sanchez, thank
you, sir, for your kind invitation and your strong leadership.
Ambassador Bremer, thank you for your steadfast belief in freedom and
peace. I want to thank the members of the Governing Council who are
here, pleased you are joining us on our nation's great holiday, it's a
chance to give thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings we
receive.
I'm particularly proud to be with the 1st Armored
Division, the 2nd ACR, the 82nd Airborne. I can't think of a finer
group of folks to have Thanksgiving dinner with than you all. We're
proud of you. Today, Americans are gathering with their loved ones to
give thanks for the many blessings in our lives. And this year we are
especially thankful for the courage and the sacrifice of those who
defend us, the men and women of the United States military.
I bring a message on behalf of America: We thank you
for your service, we're proud of you, and America stands solidly behind
you. Together, you and I have taken an oath to defend our country.
You're honoring that oath. The United States military is doing a
fantastic job. You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq, so that
we don't have to face them in our own country. You're defeating
Saddam's henchmen, so that the people of Iraq can live in peace and
freedom.
By helping the Iraqi people become free, you're
helping change a troubled and violent part of the world. By helping to
build a peaceful and democratic country in the heart of the Middle
East, you are defending the American people from danger and we are
grateful.
You're engaged in a difficult mission. Those who
attack our coalition forces and kill innocent Iraqis are testing our
will. They hope we will run. We did not charge hundreds of miles into
the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost in casualties, defeat a brutal
dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band
of thugs and assassins.
We will prevail. We will win because our cause is
just. We will win because we will stay on the offensive. And we will
win because you're part of the finest military ever assembled. And we
will prevail because the Iraqis want their freedom.
Every day you see firsthand the commitment to
sacrifice that the Iraqi people are making to secure their own freedom.
I have a message for the Iraqi people: You have an opportunity to seize
the moment and rebuild your great country, based on human dignity and
freedom. The regime of Saddam Hussein is gone forever.
The United States and our coalition will help you,
help you build a peaceful country so that your children can have a
bright future. We'll help you find and bring to justice the people who
terrorized you for years and are still killing innocent Iraqis. We will
stay until the job is done. I'm confident we will succeed, because you,
the Iraqi people, will show the world that you're not only courageous,
but that you can govern yourself wisely and justly.
On this Thanksgiving, our nation remembers the men
and women of our military, your friends and comrades who paid the
ultimate price for our security and freedom. We ask for God's blessings
on their families, their loved ones and their friends, and we pray for
your safety and your strength, as you continue to defend America and to
spread freedom.
Each one of you has answered a great call,
participating in an historic moment in world history. You live by a
code of honor, of service to your nation, with the safety and the
security of your fellow citizens. Our military is full of the finest
people on the face of the earth. I'm proud to be your commander in
chief. I bring greetings from America. May God bless you all.
Thursday 27 November 2003
Thursday
- still sick. I went over to some friends, for a fine spread of turkey and various goodies. ( I informed them in advance of my cold, but they weren't worried...)
Wednesday 26 November 2003
Wednesday
- out sick.
Tuesday 25
November 2003
Tuesday
- yeah, definitely sick. Bah. I went to work but I probably shouldn't
have. I did call my Dad after getting home to tell him I wouldn't be
up. Bah. I have about four phone calls to make, but I think I'll just
'veg out' for now.
Titan A.E.
is on teevee, I might watch it. Not really much of a movie. I saw it
with someone on a first date, years ago. Afterwards I couldn't find my
car...wrong side of the parking lot. She thought that was funny, but eventually discovered a lot of things that she thought weren't funny about me. So it goes - that's why one dates.
There was a beautiful crescent new moon next to a bright Venus on the
way home. You could see a ghostly ring on the edge of the dark portion
- the old moon in the new moon's arms. The question is, why did the
dark limb seem bright? The bulk of the dark side is lit by 'earthglow',
but why the brighter edge? Certainly there was sunlight just a few
degrees around that edge of the moon, but unlike earth there is no
atmosphere to scatter that light around the edge. I'm guessing it is
the human eye, some physiological trick of vision. Our eyes and nerves
do a lot of processing before any image gets to the brain. We 'see' a lot of things that really aren't there, and miss a lot of things that are.
That seems to be true of life in general.
Monday 24 November 2003
Monday - I seem to be coming down with a
cold, or a flu. Bah. Runny nose, sore throat, mild fever this evening.
Not really enough to make me stay home, yet.
My friends OSX mac conked out, again, over the weekend. All the windows
and unix boxes stayed up. I'm not too impressed with what I've seen of
OSX so far.
Sunday 23
November 2003
Sunday
- cold, cold, cold. About 19 degree's, and the high was in the low
fifties. I took advantage to almost finish the painting - now
there is just touch up to be done on the upper front part of the house,
and just a bit more on the downstairs as well. I'm at that point where
as I paint with the green I drop onto the tan, requiring me get
overpaint that, at which point I drip tan on the green. Eventually my time, paint, or patience will come to an end and the painting will be officially
over! As for the rear eaves - if I get some good weather, and there
hasn't been a lot of rain, maybe. Otherwise it'll have to wait until
spring.
But it does look good.
Enterprise was weird.
Apparently in this episode (I missed the start) the chief engineer has
a brain injury, so they force grow a clone so that they can grind up
the clone's brain to save their engineer. That's....wrong. Ugh. The
clone didn't care for the idea and I can't say I blame him.
The 49er's looked bad, but it may be that they were just up against too
strong of a front line, defensively and offensively. The Green Bay
backs tore holes in the 49er's front line that you could drive a Humvee through, and defensively they repeatedly sacked Rattay. Hey, welcome to the show, smack!
I didn't see Oakland play, but it sounds almost as bad.
Picture of the Week
Photo Notes: The
city of Chester, in England, was one of my favorite places. I walked
all the way around the old town on it's wall. Here is a shot looking
down from gate through the old english wall, onto the foundations of
the much older Roman gatehouse! It's interesting how streets and
thoroughfares remain the same over millennia.
Last Week- Sun- Mon- Tue- Wed- Thur- Fri- Sat- Next Week
