DOAB Week of May 20, 2002

Disclaimer
The opinions and such expressed below are my own opinions. Feel free to agree or disagree as you wish, and I might publish e-mails to me that I like, and ignore those I don't. If you'd rather I didn't, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. And Thank You for stopping.

Here We Go Again
Well, the splatter is still flying off the fan from last week's anti-Bush rant.

I guess what has me most disappointed is that here we are, with a man who had every opportunity to learn from his father. His father, who had the opportunity to observe, close up, the implosion of another administration (Nixon's), and learn from those mistakes.

I'm not so much angry that he didn't do anything that prevented it. I'll admit "there might be hijackings" is pretty slim information to run with and accomplish much of anything (other than perhaps saying "you know, you folks in the airline industry need to tighten up your security".

I'm angry that we're sitting here, some 8 months after the most horrific peace-time attack this country's ever seen, and we find out the President and his staff had some warning.

Hell, if the man had come out in anguish in the weeks after this attack saying "I'm terribly sorry. We had warnings. We didn't know what they were about, and now we do. We're re-evaluating our entire list of 'warnings' in this new light." I'd feel a whole lot better.

But this "yeah, we knew, there was nothing we could do, so we did nothing" attitude is galling, to say the least. After all, I'm paying this fellow to sleep less well, so I can sleep better. That's his job. Not glad-handing and passing out the good jobs and rewriting government policy, though those also come along with the job, but doing the tough work.

I want to believe this president is looking out for our best interests. But with Enron, the Oil-Is-King energy plan, and now this, you have to wonder who is paying this fellow.

Sure, it's easy to say hindsight is 20/20. So is your corrected vision, if you're driving, or capable of.

I'm going to leave this topic alone, now, because I think what needs to be said has; but I'm not at all happy. I guess the best I can hope for is that they learn from their mistakes - and it seems like they have.

The legislature; the last with the current districting scheme, at any rate, rode out of town today ahead of the rail, and just behind the spanking they're going to get from Governor Goofy.

You see, on Saturday, the Governor did do the right thing in vetoing a "budget-balancing" bill the legislature passed. Please note that "budget-balancing" is in quotes because when the next bunch comes in to take over the checkbook, they'll be faced with a huge overdraft fee, and no more gimmicks.

Yup. That's right. After moving school funding to the general fund, reducing the money the transportation system gets by reducing license tab fees, and watching a fat budget go seriously negative, this legislature made the hard choices - use up the savings accounts, use accounting shifts, gimmicks, and make small cuts in services, staffing, and all the rest.

And then, after OVERRIDING Goofy's veto (which puts him well in the lead on veto-overrides), they pass a bonding bill without any support whatsoever for Goofy's pet project - Northstar light rail between my former hometown and the Twin Cities.

Sure, it's a project with limited regional benefit. It's going to benefit perhaps half of the fastest-growing region in the state - once that's proved, another spur running south to Rochester could connect St. Cloud to Rochester with a high-speed passenger rail service - that is could as in could have if the numbnuts in the legislature had included the state's portion of the cost - the Feds had already put up some money (contingent, of course, on the state getting it's crappola in a bundle), and now that's likely to go good-bye.

The bad news for those legislators heading home comes in two parts. Here in Minnesota, we've given the governor something called the Line Item Veto. The LIV, we'll call it, is something that, if I recall right, came out of frustration on behalf of the governors who saw these enormous conglomeration bills rolling out fo the house and senate late in the session with every boondoggle, wingnut, and claptrap-contraption stuck to them like overused flypaper, and the governor had to sign or veto the whole mess.

The second bit is the bonding bill. Passed late Saturday, it is the second-largest in State history. Just south of $1 BILLION's worth of projects included in this mess, and so far, the Governor's said that he's looking at projects which do not have the level of impact that Northstar does - those will get the dreaded LIV.

So far, $230 million in "I'm gonna teach you a lesson" expenses already circulated on the "gonna die" list. There's money for the new Guthrie Theater, plenty of buildings for the state college system, and other "necessary" projects in with the boondoggles.

Ah, but it's an election year. The Governor will LIV the stuff he doesn't like, the legislators will run on the campaign of "we didn't raise your taxes." The honest few (hereafter known as "bound to lose") will add "But next year, we have no choice". Goofy will run up against the house majority leader (a Republican), while the senate majority leader (A DFLer) will take a whack from the other side of the aisle.

The only good news, if you can call it that, is that the legislature passed a new ballpark plan for the Twins that puts the onus on them to get the job done - The Twins would pony up about $120 million, which the state would use as collateral for bonds. Bonds which would then be redeemed by the interest on that money, rent on the stadium, and payments from the host community.

Of course, the Twins are now shying away from this plan, as it requires THEM to pony up, rather than get a stadium for free.

And one of the other hidden riders in that bill was the chunk that requires planning to begin for a new Vikings stadium as well.

I suppose that, this November, after the Twins finish another season just out of the playoffs (or significantly worse, depending on injuries), we'll hear from the talking heads that the ballot initiatives in the host community (probably St. Paul) will be rejected. Shortly thereafter, we'll hear from Selig (he who has a daughter running his former franchise in a brand new stadium that's allegedly another $20,000,000 over budget after the Auditors finished with it - should have hired Anderson, Bud - they could be bought), who will announce in his creepy voice "baseball has decided to contract the Minnesota Twins and the World Champion Montreal Expos...".

Up early this morning (after a rough night. Apparently, I snore. Well, I'm told I do. The logical course, I submit, would be to go to sleep. Then you wouldn't hear me snore. Ahem), and slowly we plod our way to the places we need to be.

Slowly being the operative word, because it's the other season in Minnesota, now. No, not winter. Road destruction. Yes, I know. My wife's father worked in the other end of the line, in the "construction" business, but folks, they spend a whole heck of a lot more time DESTROYING than anything else. Like my sanity.

This morning, the quickest way to get between two points seemed to have been some five-dimensional construct.

1) Road construction on the main thoroughfare to one of the bigger state highways

2) Road construction on one of the main backup alternates

3) Major major accident on that state highway just past the point of no return, blocking BOTH east and west (or north and south, depending on your direction) traffic to a DEAD STOP - you know it's bad when you hop on the freeway to get around an accident.

4) More road construction on the return leg of the journey.

5) ending up, some 3/4 of a mile from home at the closest of three drop-off points,

6) and finally, the youngest, at the point farthest from my work... Argh.

The good news is that the shelving in the kid's toy closet is holding well, and I was able to find a poorly-done circuit for the phones, and avoid a long, useless cable run to nowhere, when a short, useless cable run to nowhere is preferable...

Some day we'll have intelligent folk, who will realize that it's pretty much like putting a flag in front of a bull to do that sort of thing. And the more complex their "protection schemes" get, the less difficult it will be to defeat them.

What we need is some sort of genetically engineered virus to infest and kill record executives. Or maybe just point it at the brainless, the work would be about the same. Sheesh.

Got an e-mail from a family friend late this afternoon. Someone apparently sent her the notice about the aforementioned program, and told her it was a virus. Delete delete delete was the suggestion...

In an aid to future deep linking, should I plan to do so, I've started inserting targets with the same names as the headlines in these posts, combined with the day's name (just in case I re-use a title).

I'm hoping some day to teach even Mrs. Beland the idea of putting in links for just the general days, so when she picks on me or says something snarky (he said, deliberately baiting the young lady), I can link back...

On another, less pleasant topic, tonight I tried chicken on the weber. Clearly, I need work. Lots of it.

End result, four thighs, mostly charcoal. Five legs, mostly charcoal. Three breasts. You got it. Mostly charcoal. Also, the back of one hand, mostly hairless.

Mental note - time to pick up a long-handled barbecue brush. And learn how to build fires with less than a third of a bag (yes, a twenty pound bag, I know) of charcoal.

Oh, great. Now the broadband's down. Again. Troubleshooting... You'll see this when you see it, I guess. What fun.

SQL Server Vulnerable
Yup. I think I mentioned last week that there were problems with SQL Server Security. If I didn't, I should have. About 10:30 this morning I started getting e-mail about an SQL worm in the wild. Ouch. And it's not even summer vacation, yet. Bother.

I Wonder
I wonder if the proliferation of 24-hour news channels, news organizations, news web sites, etc., means we get more crap in the news. Specifically, that story about the "stripper mom" who put her daughter into a school that then had a bit of an issue with her method of making a living. On the one hand, hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. On the other hand, well, she did sign an agreement. If said agreement hadn't been in place, then I think the school could have been told "tough". Unfortunately, the shoe (if it's worn at all in this case) is on the other foot.

But it begs the larger issue. Do we really need all of this "news"? It was convenient, if horrific, to be able to find out what was happening on September 11th. But it was also horrifying to try to find out what was going on a few weeks later when there was a report of some 30 people shot in a factory in Indiana - CNN first reported that it was west of chicago (doh!), and eventually it wound down to something like one person besides the gunman dead, two or three others injured, and the rest escaped alive. Well. Phew. Etc.

Even when I was a child, out in the "boondocks" of central Minnesota, we had radio, we had television (broadcast), and we had the newspaper. I remember a friend of mine had a father who insisted that the newspaper was fast enough for news. Anything else was too immediate. He wanted his news on his time.

Oh well. I guess this is where I say "yup, I'm an old codger" and start working on ways for the kids to filter, digest, and comprehend the firehose of information they get. Overwhelmed? Nah. In order to be "over" "whelmed" first I'd need to be "whelmed". I think we skipped that step.

Boneheads...
If you've got a Microsoft Hotmail Account (like I've had for years now, since before they were "Microsoft Hotmail"), you'd better go to the hotmail web site, log in, go to Options, then click on and check your Personal Information. Microsoft's added three new little lines to your profile, which allows them to share your address, your personal information, and your shoe size (or something like that). Good thing this article on CNN caught my eye, or I'd be wandering around with my e-mail address hanging out ...

Relatively Short
I did get some assistance/guidance on the barbecue thing from yesterday. My favorite was "bake in oven until done, then set on grill for a few minutes". SWMBO wouldn't let me get away with that, however. Not even worth trying. She'd burn me, instead. Anyway, yup. That's all there is today. I'm woefully behind on a bunch of projects, and they've got to have attention. Sorry, folks. You know how it goes.

But when I watched Rhiannon get out of the car this morning, I was reminded of a day some 24 years ago, last Saturday, come to think of it.

I was in eighth grade, and as a "reward" for our work, we got "The Field Trip." Now, growing up in a small town with lots of rural development, I can remember very, very few field trips. We went to the St. Cloud library once, and I think we went to a play at another grade school once. Annually we'd go across the street to the public grade school and listen to their beginning band and choir sing (they never came to visit us, though).

We got to school that morning and instead of going to shared-time classes (in seventh and eighth grades, we had the first two hours of each day at the high school - seventh grade was music, phy ed, art, and life science, while eighth grade was shop (or home ec), health, and phy ed), we went straight to church. We had a short mass, and then packed onto the bus for our trip to St. Paul.

We arrived, after about 90 minutes on the bus, at the State Capitol, where they were mercifully out of session. We were allowed up into the capital dome, and got to stand behind the horses on the balcony. As I remember, the skyline was a lot shorter in those days.

After a tour of the capital, we went to KSTP TV, where we got a tour of the TV station. I later lived about three miles from that place.

Then, the fun part came. We went to the newly-opened Valleyfair amusement park - I think the cost was something like $8 per kid for the entire day.

To this day, I've spent perhaps three days, total, at ValleyFair. It's one of those "pay up front and ride all you want" places, which meant normally long lines for most rides. But in the spring, if you're a school group, they open the park early for the school kids only during the week. We had the run of the place.

Of course, we turned around about 7 pm, and left the park, rode right back along Minnesota Highway 13 (which is now just over a mile from where I live), and onto the freeway for the trip home. We arrived home tired and sunburned and completely unprepared for class the next day...

Some two weeks later we ended the school year. 36 kids, four of which I'd known nine years, another twenty who had been there eight. It was a small, insulated, safe environment - sure, there were bullies - but they weren't intolerable. Sure, there were rough times. We survived them.

But when I think about all of the kids in that class, and how quickly we all scattered, it makes me wonder sometimes.

First of all was the Twins. Whining because they were being asked to pay for part of their ballpark (gee, can I get a car for free, Mr. Pohlad? Didn't think so), and they want a roof, too, damnit.

Might I remind Mr. Pohlad? We're laying off teachers. We're cutting back on services and hours for the state stuff like assistance on filling out your tax forms and the like. Getting a new ballpark out of the deal is a pretty good thing, all things considered.

Then "Red" McCombs weighs in. Not happy with the money the state set aside to fund the study of a new stadium for the Vikings, he's now whining that he's gonna sell or move, too.

I guess I just don't get it. Obviously, I didn't get the memo titled "Changing Pro Sports from Civic Pride to Profit Centers" - Yes, Babe Ruth got paid, too, no one does this for free. But come on, folks. I'm pretty sure I remember one of the Vikings (I don't know why the name Ron Yary comes to mind) worked in the off-season for a while at a car dealership, selling cars. Alan Page went to law school, became a lawyer, and now sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Many of these guys looked at sports they did for enjoyment, and yes, for some income, but it wasn't the be-all-end-all that most of today's players see it as.

But the players, the management, and all the rest are part of a bigger problem for Pro Sports. "Prevailing Wisdom" seems to indicate that the Twin Cities Metro (the 14th largest media market in the United States) is incapable of holding on to a pro football, pro baseball, pro basketball, pro hockey, pro women's basketball, and Division 1 college team slate of athletic delights.

Of course we can't. Not when players like Alex Rodriguez get $250,000,000 contracts. I'm sorry, but the only people worth that much are babies - if you're a pro athlete, you've already used up a significant portion of your life and your body's value.

The modern team-for-stadium trade is getting old. We're about to throw out a 25-year-old $50 million stadium that was built on-time, under budget, and replace it with not one but two stadiums (with the attendant parking ramps, "entertainment districts" and other assorted headaches that come from displacing existing people/businesses/traffic patterns with new ones - for a building which will be state of the art for perhaps 30 minutes and old hat the next year.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Whatever entity puts up the money to build a stadium for a team should own at least a part of the team. None of this "local owner" bull. If they want "local" ownership, it should be something too big to move out of the state. Like the state government or City or county, or something like that.

Put in charge of the team competent management. Not the halfwits out there today, but the more intelligent folk who will look at some kid who hasn't even finished college and is asking for $250,000,000 to work there for ten years and unless the guy's bringing in a truckload of industry, new, high-paying jobs, a cure for cancer, and several hundred million more dollars to give to the local populace, tell the punk to get real.

They say the NFL would never allow ownership arrangements such as Green Bay has now - why on earth not? Green Bay sells out every game, they've got a fan base which is fanatical, even in the bad years. Green Bay can STINK for years, and people will still line up to see them play. Must be something to do with the cheese curds and beer. Local fans frame their team stock certificates, tailgate outside the stadiums even without tickets, and enjoy the experience whether or not the team wins.

Bah. Of all the important things going on in the world, we've got people who want to get pissy. Sheesh.

Picnic Night
Yup. Last week's postponemenet of the end-of-year celebration (due to the death of one of Rhiannon's teachers last week). And the kids are especially excited by the prospect of playing in the park near our home.

Oh. I forgot. Of course, tonight being the only alternate night we have for the picnic, you know what's predicted for the first time in nearly a week. Yup. Liquid nightfall.

President Bush and Colin Powell are sitting in a bar. A guy walks in and asks the barman, "Isn't that Bush and Powell sitting over there?"

So the guy walks over and says, "Wow, this is a real honor. What are you guys doing in here?"

Bush says, "Well, we're going to kill 140 million Iraqis this time and one blonde with big boobs."

Bush turns to Powell, punches him on the shoulder and says, "See, smart ass?! I told you no one would worry about the 140 million Iraqis!"

Still Alive. Just busy. New, dysfunctional cell phones. Oy. What a pain in the ass.

Ah, Catholicism
When my father was doing some preliminary research into writing a history of Sartell (he never wrote one), I remember hearing he and another gentleman (since I can't spell his name we'll just leave it at that) talking about burning crosses in Sartell.

Since my arrival on this ball of mud post-dates the establishment of the first catholic church in Sartell, I can't really verify the veracity of such a statement.

Anti-Catholic sentiments aren't new. They're nowhere near as prevalent as anti-semitism, or racial discrimination, but there are some people out there who toss around the term Papists as an insult.

The Holy Father, in his infinite wisdom, has issued an edict. Not ex cathedra, which would mean he would be invoking his infallibility, but just your general run-of-the-mill press release from the pope. Does he complain about the priests who abuse children? Take advantage of their positions of authority and respect to steal innocence, or abuse trust? Does he take issue with the growing unrest in the catholic churches of America where these abuses occurred, or the growing disaffection many American Catholics feel for an out-of-touch pontiff, especially this one, who showed so much promise when he rose to the Holy See? A man of the people? A dynamic and energetic leader? What important issue is he taking a bold stand on now? Is he the leader we need for Catholicism in this new, troubled century?

Hell no. He's pissed about jewelry. You got it. JEWELRY. Come on, you know, that tool of the devil which has drawn so many into the clutches of Satan, evil, and illicit CD copying.

Good grief. I know the Pontiff is getting a little wobbly on his feet, but now it seems his mind has wobbled clear off as well. Should anyone see it (it's likely small, gray, and wearing one of those white beanies), call the Vatican - I'm thinking it's going to be a long, interesting, frustrating summer otherwise.

Certainly, we live in a world where intolerance, religious differences, and hatred is more prevalent than ever before. Nutballs and cowards, lacking enough courage in their convictions to attempt to convert us are willing to kill us, and die in the process. We're faced with so many difficult decisions and so many terrifying prospects that some times, it's difficult to get out of bed in the mornings. So, of course, in the midst of all of this, I'm sure Jewelry in the shape of a cross is the biggest threat out there.

Scuse me, but can someone let me know where the snack counter is? This has got to be a comedy in a movie theater, I swear. It's like watching a play written by a bunch of surrealists. "...and then, we'll have the pope complain about jewelry!"

But, just for fun, let's take a moment. Let's look at the issue the Holy Father raises. He's upset that celebrities wear crosses around their necks. Bejeweled, pretty, fancy crosses. Ostentatious crosses, that are obvious, beautiful, wonderful works of art. Seen around the necks of "beautiful people". Right.

Certainly, there are those who are starving, and those who go hungry. But come on - does he think he's going to gain donations by selectively pissing and moaning about a few celebrities? Does he really think that's gonna help?

I've worn a cross for much of my adult life. I don't flaunt it. It's not something I'm going to shove in someone's face. I don't see a problem with a beautiful woman placing a cross around her neck; especially one that people will look at and think "wow, that's pretty jewelry". Maybe they'll think of the symbolism a bit more.

But his complaints, about specific celebrities, has got to be one of the dumber things I've seen coming out of the Vatican in my lifetime. How does he know that this ISN'T a religious statement? Have he and God been kicking back over beers late on a Friday and saying "yah, you know, that shiksa there? She's a good pray-er - but that one over there? Not so much." Right. Talk about incomprehensible mania...

And if the Pope's so upset about the jeweled cross deal, then let's see him and every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop out there sell theirs for the money, go make a new one out of twigs found in the yard, and give the money to starving orphans world-wide.

There are some genuine hypocrites out there who really bother me. How does that saying go again?

Looks like old JP2 there had best get cracking on his bible study. Seem's he's got the entire Gospel yet to go and at least from this point, he's starting to look like he won't make it too much farther.

My Bad
Last night, I came home, realized I missed an errand, ran back out and back (a 15 minute round-trip), put the lunch bag on the hood of the car, pulled out the lawnmower, gassed it up, and started mowing (vertical stripes this time, not horizontal - then I'll do the diagonals). Did the entire front lawn in under an hour (including side yard and a strip running back to the main drag), and couldn't feel my finger tips.

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that, according to my neighbor, the previous owners did not do squat to the lawn. In fact, they ignored it altogether other than getting neighbor kids to cut it. Which explains why the dead grass from last year in my back yard was so long this spring. I talked to my neighbor, who said he hadn't had problems with damnedelions until they completely infested what is now my yard. Last year he started having problems. He's happy to see me laying down the law.

Meanwhile, while I was mowing, I found a few damnedelion stalks about the size of my finger, instead of the usual thin coffee straws. Sheesh. They're getting more brazen, stalking my home.

So tonight, I watered. With the evil concoction. I might grow that third eye, but damnit, I will be rid of damnedelions. I'd planned on making a run out behind the fence with the mower on the street-side of the side walk and kill more damnedelions there. What a mess. Of course, the temps dropped about 20 degrees from their high this afternoon when the cold front moved in about 5...

Came inside, checked the toilet, and decided to wait a few more days for a flash of insight. It seems to hold water most of the time, just occasionally not making a complete seal. I probably need to pick up the Home Depot 123 Guide to Plumbing next time I go there. Oh well.

After that, spoke to Mr. Vogt (I keep forgetting to tell him that his site's usually protected from my getting to it - permissions issues, I'd guess), and then dealt with the new phones. Programming the numbers back in took a lot longer than I thought, and I've only got about 25 numbers in my phone. I know the Verizon store has a little computer that would do it for me, but that would mean finding it (they keep moving), so there went that idea.

That (and dinner, and dinner cleanup) ate up about all the free time I had for the evening plus another 90 minutes. It also completely destroyed my hands. My new cell phone is, quite literally, the size of Snickers bars I remember from my youth. And my fingers aren't nearly as small (nor as sticky) as they were back then.

I'm telling you, it is the freakiest thing in the world to be doing something, then out of nowhere, the muscles under the heel of your hand running from your wrist to your thumb start twitching. You can watch the skin jerk, and everything. It's like a circus ride or something.

But I wonder just what the heck I'm doing to my poor hands with all of this abuse...

A researcher at NDSU has decided to remove the "fear factor" as it were, from bean-eating. Dr. Chang (I'm guessing on the Dr. part here) has managed to become an expert in flatulent science (hell, any college guy has a doctorate in that), but in doing so, he might just remove the home-made bubbles from my bubble bath.

We're going to try a simple experiment. You're all on your own here, it's on the honor system. I'm not going to check up on you. But if you dare, next time you're in a crowded room full of people you don't know well, think of what would happen if someone, anyone, let a loud fart fly.

I'll wager 95% of the men broke (sorry) into a grin just thinking about it, while amongst the women, we're probably looking at a 95% disapproval rating.

Try this - go into a daycare - any daycare. Find a room of four year olds. In a normal tone of voice, say the word "fart". At least half the boys will fall down laughing.

Fart is such a joyous word. It's funny. My son, when he lets fly, can't help it. He giggles. Most men do when they fart by themselves.

Oh well. As long as Dr. Chang stays away from beer and picante sauce, we'll be OK. Otherwise, I'll have to pay a visit to his lab. And if that means laying waste to the lands on either side of I-94 as I travel up there to be his bad example, so be it.

One does what one must to preserve a little fun in life. In the meantime, you'd best stay up-wind.

Yard Woes
The good news is that this weekend, we will, finally, lay in the seeds for the garden. We're going to hope that we don't immediately attract rabbits and other fauna (I did see a dead fox in the middle of the street about two weeks ago), and I can get my idea for a fence put into place shortly. The basics? I'm going to use cloth and lath - the lath will be driven into the ground, the cloth will go with it. The "gate" will consist of perhaps a 1x4 scrap and a piece of lath that would attach to it with hook-eyes or something simple. I've lost enough plants to the rabbits, etc., over the years - I'm not going to get into the habit of letting them win by default. They're going to have to work for it, same as me.

We'll take a look at the cloth outlet near here, and find the cheapest chunks I can get - then set the whole thing up - probably next weekend. I'm hoping to put this fence up for under $10.

Of course, if the cloth idea doesn't work, we'll look at that pre-made lattice stuff and hardware cloth to see if we can get it done cheap enough.

It's either that or set up a TV out there to get the bunnies and other critters watching cartoon network. Hey, it might work...

We've done little so far today other than order the children around to clean up, putzed a bit in the lawn with tree spikes and other fertilizer-like implements, and rejoiced as the Weed-Be-Gone treatment of last night seems to have at the very least turned the front yard damnedelions into the damnedelion equivalent of junior high AV-club nerds, all twisted and screwey-looking (I can say that - I was one of the people in my high school's "Light & Sound Department" - or "LSD") which makes me happy.

As does the return from the void of Mr. Lemmings - a man whose musings will fill a much-needed void in my life. You remember Mat? The cranky Brit? Yup. He's back. His brain, however, has been captured by aliens, but that's totally unsurprising. Mine's made a few trips through a blender over the years.

That's a shot out my front door at about 5:30 pm this evening. That van, with all the people around it, is the neighborhood ice cream truck. Yes, three times a week until Labor Day. That was his threat. Oh well. Door-step ice cream delivery. You don't get that in the country - nor apartments, I hasten to add.

And the other news... I finally figured out how to grill. At least tonight I did. I put the charcoal on in a small pile, and lit it. Then, when I decided that some 30 bricks of charcoal (think inch and a half square, inch thick, or roughly 4 cm by 4 cm by 3 cm) was too few, and I added about twenty more, that seemed about right. I kept most of the charcoal off to one side to give me a hot spot and a cool spot, and went to town. Took longer, but the results were much more edible. In fact, our guest took home a burger.

Actually, we went to St. Cloud. Stole some plants from my parents (well, OK, they put a gun to my head to take them. No? Well, how about my mother asked if we wanted any, as they've got two acres, and nearly ten of every plant. Well, thousands of things like lilies of the valley, etc, and tens of lilacs). Then headed over to some friends, who are working on turning the vast wasteland that is their side yard (they've got two acres, with their house bang-slam in the middle, and plenty of room to either side - not enough to sell off for another house or two, but big enough for a garden to die for, I'm told). My friend got suckered into building a trellis/shield area for the hiding of the mechanical connections, etc., to their house.

One piece of advice when using that lattice stuff you get at any home improvement store - NEVER measure it when it's laying flat. I had my suspicions, but kept my mouth shut. We measured with it flat. We measured with it on it's side. We measured with it on the end. Would you be surprised if it came up with a couple different measurements? Yeah, it flexes. About two inches each way. Eight feet one inch laying down turned into seven-eleven on end, and eight-three when sitting on the long edge. Gee, no wonder we had problems figuring how to make the thing fit into the 4x4 and 2x4 frame he'd built.

The really nasty part was that it was rather warm and muggy when we pulled out of the driveway. We drove through a couple of banks of ... well, crud, and on the north side of town, the temps were a full 20 degrees below what they were at home an hour before.

When we returned, it was painfully apparent that it had rained for most of the time we were gone, and the lawn was soggy-soaked. Of course, we did arrive home at nearly 2 am...

	Well, we could say "No pictures, please" but since he was trying to sleep, we'll cut him some slack.
	Of course, party girl, worried she might miss one, stays awake and perky with her clip-on sunglasses.
	This is one of many Jack date pictures. We'll pull it out and say "he was sooooo cute, but if he didn't get his medication, he was just a bit off..."
	For those of you who think I'm the talented one in the family, no, sorry. I'm probably the talentless hack each family is afflicted with - my sister Julie did this. I apologize for the quality of the image. Hey, I've got a .25 megapixel fixed-focus camera to work with here... Why is this so cool? Well, that picture to the left there isn't painted, or drawn, or colored with crayons. It's embroidered. My camera lacks the capability to deal with the subtle shifts in color as it comes down from the top. Let's put it this way; you can run your hand across it and it's smooth, the embroidery is that good. If you look close, you can see it's sewn. But you have to look close.

I'm working on a design for a real embroidery frame for her - not a quilting frame or an embroidery hoop. Truth to tell, if this thing works out like I think it will, I'm going to do some homework, and talk to a friend of a friend of mine who works in intellectual property law - if it works the way I think it will, I could have a patent on my hands...

Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 John P. Dominik. All rights reserved. No reproduction without express written permission. Opinions expressed herein are my own, and my fault. For further information, check out my other home page.


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