One Guess What I'm Doing Right Now . . . .

"I'm All Lit Up . . . Like A . . . Christmas Treeeeeeeeeee!"




Happy Damn New Year.

~~JD~~

Oh, THOSE Christmas Cards!

Another minor change for the 'blog: I've changed the sizing on the pictures slightly so that the pictures posted in the 'blog are larger; and if you want to see a larger version you can click on the photo itself. Try it on the photo below now; it's really quite spectacular.


Got a few more Christmas cards today, and was happy to hear from out old neighbors in several places, as well as my Aunt Mary Jayne & Uncle Mike. Ariane and Julian heard from my mom as well; and that small pile of Christmas Cards has become quite large, indeed.

So Ariane walks up to me with two boxes, the first one of which looks like this:




"What's this?, she asks? (In our house "What's this?" is code for "Why LOOK; I've found something obvious one or both of us has forgotten to take care of, my love!)

I replied, "Uhmmmmmm . . . our Christmas Cards."

"We have Christmas Cards?"

"Well, yeah -- looks like I forgot." This is something pretty unusual for me. I LOVE Christmas cards, and really enjoy the whole process of sending them out. Forgetting is a pretty big deal.

I have no idea what happened. Maybe I had a stroke and nobody noticed.

So the picture above was to be one of our Christmas Cards this year (and is sure to be next year, now that I've found them). It's the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio all decorated up for the Christmas season -- just gorgeously beautiful, really breathtaking in person. The one below is uniquely Texas; longhorn cattle and bluebonnets (the state flower that cover the state in springtime):





And perhaps the inspiration for the "vandalism" of Howie the Cow mentioned below in the previous post? Hmmmmmmm?????

~~JD~~

'Blog Miscellany and Vandalizing Santa Cow

A couple of brief things here. Two things on the 'blog, and a Christmas Cow.

First, I've re-enabled the Comments Section at the ends of each post. I originally turned these off a few months ago when the autobots discovered my blog and started leaving Spam Comments.

Fortunately, E-blogger (my site host) has developed a Word Verification protocol to defeat these Spam-bots. What it means for you is that when you choose to post a comment, you'll have to read the weird-looking word and type it into the box in able to post comments. A fair trade, I think.

Finally, I had some recognition for my little blog of some note that I want to share (or crow about; take your pick.) One of the 'blogs I list under the heading of "The News, As I See It Daily" is Brian Mulroney's Blog The Radio Equalizer. I've been a big fan of radio ever since my Grandma Glynn gave me an AM table radio for Christmas 1967. I used to listen to all the Chicago Radio Greats: Wally Phillips and Roy Leonard on WGN, Newsradio 78, WJJD, WIND -- I even discovered Rock-and-Roll on the great WLS at 890 on the dial. I remember drifting off to sleep many a year listening to WBBM Newsradio.

So you see why I have links to both Robert Feder'sChicago Sun-Times column on Chicago Radio as well as The Radio Equalizer. Radio's pretty much in my blood, if not my very DNA.

Anyway, about two nights ago I was scrolling down his list of favorite blogs to find Michelle Malkin's website (finally decided to link her on my own site; check it out on the left-hand side) when lo and behold; what to my wondering eye should appear but . . . Apocryphal EVIDENCE!!! -- my own little blog!. When I re-checked the next night, I'd been upgraded to a ~~Busy!~~ listing as well -- meaning Brian's reading my 'blog as I'm reading his.

Wow. I'm mildly famous, sort of.

Follow the links above or RIGHT HERE to confirm my delusional fantasies for yourself. I'm about 1/3rd of the way down on the right, under the listing Crank It Up To "11" -- way down past the ads.

How cool is that???



Finally, from the sublime to the absurd, the Vidette-Times back in my hometown of Valparaiso Indiana are reporting that Howie the Steer; the signpost and mascot for Kelsey's Steak House, was "vandalized" Christmas Eve.

As the photo above shows, one of the customers crafted a giant-steer-sized Santa Hat for Howie and stuck it on his head overnight. Howie is quite beloved in Valpo; the mayor of Valparaiso, my fellow classmate at Valpo High School Jon Costas, once (according to the TIMES "wrote a song in Howie's honor. Costas sang the tune at a Board of Zoning meeting, and at Saturday's move, after riding in on Howie's back.

You can read about that little adventure Right Here in the Northwest Indiana Times as well.

~~JD~~

Afterglow

This -- right here, right now -- is my very favorite time of the year.

I'm sitting here on the couch, watching my brand-new copy of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. Last year it was a different movie I'd received for Christmas; and the year before, a different on than that. It's early evening, and the tree is all lit up.

(And if I wasn't working night shift in a few hours, I might well be lit up myself right now.)

There are ornaments on that tree I've had for years, and ornaments I've seen all my life. A Christmas Tree is like a time capsule you open once a year -- the things on it rarely change and remain forever evergreen, you should pardon the pun. There's the first real ornament I ever bought; a ceramic tabby cat wearing a bowtie and green vest, that I bought at Macy's in Augusta Georgia in 1984. There's the craft ornaments (rabbits, bears, and wooden toys) Ariane and I made from the arts-and-crafts section of Wal-Mart in Waynesville Missouri our first Christmas in the States in 1990. There's the rabbit in the calico dress atop the tree we bought at the Popcorn Festival in Valparaiso Indiana in 1992 when Julian was just a baby. (We had to buy it -- he locked onto that bunny with his 23-month-old death grip that toddlers get when they see something they want.) There's the pixie ornament my grandmother (Nana) had on her tree from sometime in the 40's or 50's that I inherited when she died a few years ago; as well as the ceramic handmade bells Nana made herself that tinkle gently as a cat brushes by them.

I swear, had she had more money than Bill Gates -- if I'd gotten this ornament alone I'd be just as happy.

The tree is lit; the balcony is ablaze with lights; the rush and anticipation of pre-Christmas has given way to the satisfaction of a well-enjoyed holiday. That perfect time between Christmas and New year's -- nothing to be done right now but enjoy the glow of after-Christmas lights.

The Christmas Afterglow, if you will.

Joy to the world, indeed.

I wish everyone could see the grin on my face right now -- you'd understand.

~~JD~~

Confessions of a Mad Diabetic, Part II

Man, I just can't eat like I used to. And believe me, I surely used to.

I noticed early on in this process that eating too many sweets will give me a really strong head buzz and rush, so of course I've been modifying my diet in accordance with ADA (American Diabetic Association) guidelines -- more veggies and lean meats; less breads, peas, corn, and carbohydrates. Carefully, carefully with the sugars and fruits.

But the volume I can eat has decreased markedly as well; quantity as well as quality. As recently as last Christmas we put on our traditional Christmas Eve feast of chicken wings, roast beef, garlic bread, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, etc, etc . . . this year we were stuffed with just the garlic bread and wings. The chips, dips, peppermint ice cream, and shrimp scampi are all still in the refrigerator unopened (until tonight!)

Starting last night I'm working three midnight shifts in a row to fill in for our vacationing regular night shift nurse. These are the first night shifts I've worked regularly since becoming diabetic, and present some unusual problems. For Instance: After 8 months of trial, error, and accomodation to my new metabolism, I've managed to get my blood sugar under pretty good control (roughly 100-130 every morning.) That's primarily because I eat a certain controlled amount of food at three regular meals a day, and take my medicine twice a day.

So what happens when your nights become days and days become nights?

For starters, I wake up at 1pm after 3 hours of sleep shaking and doubled over in cramps. You guessed it -- took my medication before bed but forgot to eat. Had to make lunch, which took two hours out of my sleep cycle to do before I could sleep. Then when I woke up at 6pm, my blood sugar was sky-high.

And now I'm really missing that two hours of sleep at 10pm as I get ready for work.

It's amazing how much one little thing can upset your life. Lose that precious ability to regulate your blood sugar, and watch those dominoes come tumbling down.

~~JD~~

A Merry Christmas, Indeed

Squeaked this one in by the skin of my teeth,didn't I?

One of my favorite Christmas gifts was from my son Julian, who got me a tropical print scrub top (which I'm currently wearing at work as I type this) which features Curious George surfing the islands -- soon to be worn to a Convention near you!


And it looks like this.

The kicker is that my son's nickname has been the "little monkey" for years -- which he detests, usually. This was sly payback for years of good-natured torture; as well as a GREAT shirt, knowing my love for loud tropical prints (which some of my friends have encouraged far too much.)

My lovely and gracious wife actually did a spit-take with her coffee halfway across the living room when she saw it

/~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~/~~/~~~~~~~~~~~~~/

I got him back today, though. My back's been bothering me for a week or two now, and the apartment complex has a heated Jacuzzi, so I trotted out and soaked in the Jacuzzi for a half-hour before bed tonight.

I though Julian was going to have a stroke when he saw me dripping in his doorway. "You went SWIMMING, Dad?!?!?!!!

Heh-heh-heh. Good one. Also something I can't do in northwest Indiana, where the temperature as I write this is . . . . a lovely 32 degrees F 9versus 60 here, with a high today of 82.

Gotta love South Texas.

~~JD~~

Merry Christmas to All, And To All a Good Night . . . .

Great Christmas, Great Christmas. Ariane, Julian, and I had a nice night snacking away on buffalo wings, garlic bread, and various munchies with a very nice bottle of Merlot to wash it down. Opened present at midnight, and everyone got exactly what they wanted. (We had deliberately limited our purchases to one or two per person and not too extravagant -- so we had to get quality rather than quantity.) Filled the stockings with chocolates and little knick-nacky things, so it was quite memorable all in all.

Woke up this morning about quarter to ten, which is unusually late for me -- and very pleasant. Spent the day talking with Ariane's relatives in Belgium where the family had gathered. We're expecting another visit from Oriane this summer, who is 14 now and getting that teenage girl groove on -- so it should be fun. Didn't hear from my side of the family this year -- mainly because I'm almost always the one making the calls, and I thought I'd wait to see if anyone called me for a change. (Well, theory confirmed -- so much for that experiment.)

In our newest tradition (about 5 years old so far) we went to see a movie Christmas afternoon, and we went to see Ariane's pick Munich by Steven Spielberg. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but came away from the movie glad I'd seen it. Spielberg's point of view really doesn't come out until the very last shot of the file, when you see the Mossad agent walking away from his job and the camera focuses on . . . . .


. . . . The World Trade Center. Meaning, if you don't take care of a problem now, it'll come back to haunt you. Even the lovely and gracious Miss Mommy came out of the movie feeling very hawkish on terrorism.

The movie moved surprisingly quickly for an almost 3-hour flick -- faster than any in recent memory. Don't know if I'll buy this one, but I suspect we will; and may even see it twice -- it was that good. The movie may be a career-maker for Eric Bana, most recently known for the title role in last summer's The Incredible Hulk; and the last five minutes may put you off sex for a month. (You'll understand when you see it.)

And the weather? Well, I've got the porch doors open and the cats are all out on the balcony in beautiful 58 degree weather -- down from a high of 82 lovely degrees today. And gasoline hit $1.96 today -- down 3 cents from just yesterday.

Life is truly good; far better than I deserve.

~~JD~~

God of the Illogical

I've been following the "War on Christmas" thing very closely this year, in no small part due to John Gibson's wonderful book The War On Christmas. Plus Fox News has been giving it a lot of play to support the book as well.

So I've been trying to imagine the best way to respond to an atheist who debates the logic of it all (and lets be frank -- all atheists at some point or another will inevitably begin to debate the logic of there being a God or His actions.) Oddly enough, I can't even begin to frame that debate.

Broad Overview of God's Interactions with Humanity: God creates Man (an intelligent being with Free Will) as a "companion" to interact with. Man complains he's lonely, so God creates a "woman" to be Man's companion.

Okay, so far so good -- right?

Unfortunately, the humans rebel against God by doing the only thing they're forbidden to do -- eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Q: "So Why would God forbid humans to do anything if he loved them?" A: "Because Free Will is worth nothing if choice isn't involved.")

The entire resto of the Old Testament is the story of how God gave mankind rules to live by; Mankind screws up the rules; and God charges in to the rescue again by forgiveness of their sins. Cases in Point: (1) The Flood, (2) Deliverance from Egypt, (3) Conquering Canaan, (4) The Prophets, (5) Babylonian Captivity, etc., etc.

And that's just the BROAD strokes -- In the life of King David alone there's a TON of examples -- enough to fill this blog to capacity and crash the server, had I enough time and inclination to type my fingers to the bone today.

Fortunately for you, I don't.

So after mankind completely screws up Paradise in Eden, God makes the ultimate sacrifice -- literally -- for mankind. He comes down to earth -- physically -- and dies trying to rescue us all.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2: 8-14.

I'm sorry -- there is Absolutely No Logic to this event. To come to earth? To experience Pain? To be rejected by the very people who profess to love and revere you? To die a lonely, embarrassing, lingering painful death on a cross?

No-Logic-Whatsoever.


Really, it's all about keeping promises. Promises like "I will never forsake you." It's about trust -- it's about never losing Hope -- and most importantly . . .

It's about Love.

If you don't understand the logic of Love, there's no having a discussion with you about it.


Merry Christmas, everybody.

~~JD~~

Important Differences Between WordPerfect and MS Word that I've Discovered the past two Weeks . . .

Just some brief observations I've gleaned whilst programming my Merge Project into MS Word the past few days. I'm much more conversant with Corel's Wordperfect. I've been using Wordperfect since before Corel bought the Utah-based company about 10 years ago and folded it into their programming line -- since about Wordperfect 3.1, many, many iterations ago. So everything I'm learning about Word on the fly is a new revelation, which I'm contrasting with my knowledge of Wordperfect. And since I own the latest versions of both programs (Wordperfect 12 and Word 2003), I'm fairly well conversant with the latest features of both programs -- To Wit;

1.) Wordperfect allows you to reset margins and page orientation at any point in the document -- Word does not. If I want a multi-page document that has the odd pages Portrait formatted and the even pages Landscape format, you can do it in Wordperfect by resetting the Page Setup every page. In Word, you select the page orientation one time and it never changes -- unless you change it for ALL the pages in the document. Same with the margins, as Wordperfect allows you to change margins as often as you want.

2.) Word is much more simple and accurate to use a Scanner with. I suspect it's because of the above -- I've scanned similar documents into both WordPerfect and Word, and the results in Wordperfect are not only slow but usually result in so many bizarre variations or margin formats that they're almost unusable. I usually end up cutting and pasting the (badly mangled) text into a new sheet with clean margins, where I can start cleaning up the text errors.

Word, on the other hand, has NEVER given me a text error -- probably because the processor wasn't overloaded trying to figure out the bizarre margins.

3.) Word only allows importing pictures with simple re-sizing; WordPerfect allows multiple picture edit functions. In fact, the picture edit functions are so multi-faceted that they can frequently overwhelm the processor and slow the program to the point of standstill unless you have the latest version of whatever Pentium chip Intel's marketing now. Word forgoes the editing functions for simple re-sizing, which is plenty for most folks. The only time I needed the complex picture editing functions was when I did my Thesis five years ago -- and it was maddening waiting for the processor to catch up to what I'd just done.

4.) Word allows easy and simple import of MS Excel documents as cut-and-paste into Word. Wordperfect also has some or most of this function with Corel's Quattro, it's not nearly as easy or neat in execution.

5.) Imported Quattro documents can be edited easily in WordPerfect documents. In fact, all (if not most) Quattro functions are available even if the document has been cut and pasted into Wordperfect. However, Excel documents imported into Word have very limited editing capability -- mostly just re-sizing capabilities and pasting text in. This is some kind of Microsoft thing -- as I've pasted Excel documents into Wordperfect before and couldn't edit them worth a damn.

6.) WordPerfect is easily the cost-beater here by far. This one makes no sense to me; you'd think the program with the most function (WordPerfect) would cost more, but the opposite is true. WordPerfect is about $25.00 per copy cheaper than Word; and is easily only half the cost when you buy it bundled into your new computer purchase; which means lots of businesses buy it for their staffs. Yet Word is the program most people know, because it's given free to libraries, schools, univerities, and other educational and public service institutions.

So which do I prefer? Well, for standard run-of-the-mill word processing MS Word is substantially easier to use, and the word processor of choice at my work. But for big jobs, WordPerfect can't be beat in a pinch for price, utility, and function.

Just have a lot of time to do it in, or a big honkin' processor.

~~JD~~

Joy to The World; The BOB is Come!

Haven't received many Christmas cards this year, but I got a good one yesterdaMy old friend and mentor, Bob Sauber, has accepted a position with the Medina Children's home in Medina Texas -- about an hour north of San Antonio (which in Texas means "right-next-door", really.)

WOOOOOOO--HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I first met Bob when I was working at Shults-Lewis Children's Home just south of Valparaiso Indiana when he was a counselor there and I was one of the Childcare Workers in their experimental Intensive Treatment Program (a locked unti for runaways and emotional problems.) We did some pretty good work there, I thought, but a lack of support from the current (and former) administration shut the place down after less than a year.

Bob and I get along great -- mostly because we're both certified loons, viewing life and people generally from way, 'waaaaayyyyyy outside the box. Bob was the one who encouraged me to go back to school to get my bachelor's in Psychology, and has greatly influenced my worldview in the discipline (if "discipline" is actually a word you can mention in the same sentence with "Bob Sauber" in it as well.)

Should be fun. Hell, it should be a riot. Bob wrote at the bottom of the note "you can run, but you can't hide."

Terriffic. I've got a minor celebrity stalker. (Heh).

~~JD~~

Experiment Day Four; ~or~ Let's Just Say "Merry Christmas" and Get It Over With Already

Or are we allowed to say that here in America?

Just in case you were wondering, here's how you say "Merry Christmas" in a buncha different languages:


Afrikaans: Gesëende Kersfees
Afrikander: Een Plesierige Kerfees
African/ Eritrean/ Tigrinja: Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
Albanian:Gezur Krislinjden
Arabic: Milad Majid
Argentine: Feliz Navidad
Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Azeri: Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun
Bahasa Malaysia: Selamat Hari Natal
Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!
Bengali: Shuvo Naba Barsha
Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce
Brazilian: Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo
Breton: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat
Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo
Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!
Chile: Feliz Navidad
Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
(Catonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito
Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Corsian: Pace e salute
Crazanian: Rot Yikji Dol La Roo
Cree: Mitho Makosi Kesikansi
Croatian: Sretan Bozic
Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish: Glædelig Jul
Duri: Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
or Zalig Kerstfeast
English: Merry Christmas
Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon
Estonian: Ruumsaid juulup|hi
Faeroese: Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!
Farsi: Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad
Finnish: Hyvaa joulua
Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French: Joyeux Noel
Frisian: Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
Galician: Bo Nada
Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr! German: Froehliche Weihnachten
Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hindi: Shub Naya Baras
Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!
Hawaian: Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou!
Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Icelandic: Gledileg Jol
Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal
Iraqi: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah
Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat
Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay.
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Jiberish: Mithag Crithagsigathmithags
Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Latvian: Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!
Lausitzian:Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto
Lettish: Priecigus Ziemassvetkus
Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu
Low Saxon: Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar
Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik
Maltese: IL-Milied It-tajjeb
Manx: Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa
Maori: Meri Kirihimete
Marathi: Shub Naya Varsh
Navajo: Merry Keshmish
Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul
Occitan: Pulit nadal e bona annado
Papiamento: Bon Pasco
Papua New Guinea: Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu
Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!
Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Philipines: Maligayan Pasko!
Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie
Portuguese:Feliz Natal
Pushto: Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha
Rapa-Nui (Easter Island): Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua
Rhetian: Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn
Romanche: (sursilvan dialect): Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!
Rumanian: Sarbatori vesele
Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Sami: Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Sardinian: Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou
Serbian: Hristos se rodi
Slovakian: Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce
Sami: Buorrit Juovllat
Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou
Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh
Serb-Croatian: Sretam Bozic. Vesela Nova Godina
Serbian: Hristos se rodi. Singhalese: Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Slovak: Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok
Slovene: Vesele Bozicne. Screcno Novo Leto
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Tagalog: Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon
Tami: Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal
Trukeese: (Micronesian) Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!
Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym
Urdu: Naya Saal Mubarak Ho
Vietnamese: Chung Mung Giang Sinh
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen
Yugoslavian: Cestitamo Bozic
Yoruba: E ku odun, e ku iye'dun!


(I have no idea what "Yoruba" language is, myself. I'll just take it on faith that THIS WEBSITE HERE knows what it's talking about.)


Yet in America today it's almost blasphemy to wish people a "Merry Christmas" or even to show any kind of religious connotation related to Christmas. School and government officials live in fear of being sujed by some whack-job who is "offended" (god forbid!) by mention of the Almighty or the birth of his Son. Retailers emulate the schools and local governments, again to avoid "offending" someone.

Yet the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that celebrating Christmas in schoold is not only legal but permissable. Why all the fear?

The answer to this is found in the book The War On Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought by Fox News Anchor John Gibson. It's a thourough by avid read -- keeping me enthralled all through the book. I'm about halfway through the book but the story is essentially the same with every example Gibson gives. Nutjob threatens school board/government/etc with ACLU lawsuit and false "facts" about what is permissable -- ergo, the school board/government/etc folds to avoid threatened lawsuit.

Gibson's book is a godsend to the local school boards/governments/etc in that he details just what is and is not permissable in celebrating holidays. It makes buffoons of the Nutjobs who have brought these lawsuits by quoting interviews with them, and is a wonderful resource to anyone who wants to fight these nutjobs when they raise their ugly heads in whiny, mealy-mouthed protest.

And I promise you will be astonished with some of the crap they've gotten away with. There's actually a town here in Texas where it's not even permissable to wear the colors Red or Green at Christmastime.

Yeesh!

Highly Recommended. Click on the book to buy it at Amazon.com.

~~JD~~

The Experiment Continues . . . Day Three!

Been thinking about Christmas a lot lately. Today at noon is the Halfway point to Christmas in December; 12 pm on December 12th.

Makes me all tingly thinking about it. I just love it!

I've been listening a lot to a couple of Christmas albums at work. A new favorite I bought last year is Christmas with the Rat Pack, which features some great favorites from Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, and (of course) The Chairman of The Board himself. These guys are so obviously having a blast with this music it's just infectious; it's hard not to grin your head off whilst listening to it. Just Magic, baby -- just magic!

My other favorite is an old, old favorite -- the ever-popular Elvis Christmas Album, available in Wal-Marts and Target stores everywhere. Again, it's a case of Elvis and the Jordan-aires having an absolute blast with the material and being able to feel it in the music. I found this in my local Wal-Mart five or ten years ago for $5.00, and would've paid $50.00 for it. A monster favorite.

Finally, the one everyone -- and I **do** mean Everyone -- recognizes and smiles at -- is A Charlie Brown Christmas. I've heard all kinds of cuts from this album, including the "Dance Music" from the party scene and the famous "Linus & Lucy" theme you hear in every Peanuts Special. Vince Guaraldi really got into this music, and very much enjoyed making this album, and it shows.

Ariane's singing Elvis' "Blue Christmas" in the bedroom as i write this. That's mu cue . . . . !

~~JD~~

Writing Experiment, Day Two -- or, My own little personal Advent Calendar of sorts.

That Elvis and his wacky Christmas cards just crack me up! What ARE those things under the tree? Dolls? Monkeys in snowsuits? What?

Went to church today at Oak Hills; they're going to be open for business on Christmas Day with their regular hours and services for a Sunday. Max pointed out during the announcements that the San Antonio Express-News got the times wrong in their article about "Mega-churches" closing on Christmas, and corrected them. This kind of makes me wonder if the thing is something of a tempest in a teapot. It's no secret that newspapers and media organizations pick and run each others stories, and I can tell you from personal experience that they not only don't get their facts right sometimes -- they very frequently screw up the details and mangle the facts, espousing the first opinion they hear over what the truth of the matter may be.

So I wonder if this business of "Mega-churches" closing on Sunday Christmas has any truth to it at all. I saw in the Vidette-Times (and you can CLICK HERE to read that story as well) that Liberty Bible Church will be open for business on Christmas as well; only cancelling their 8:00am services to accomodate the choir members.

Seems reasonable, and probably not much of a story. Sounds a lot better if there's some silly-ass manufactured controversy to it, don't ya think?

This reminds me of a guy I knew who lived on my floor when I attented Indiana University. He was a journalism major, and I asked him why.

"Girls," he replied.

"Girls?," I asked?

"Yeah, man! The best babes are journalism majors -- and not a brain in the bunch."

"Let me get this straight," I asked. "You're going to the Ernie Pyle School of Journalism -- one of the best and most exclusive journalism schools in the country -- because the girls are beautiful and dumb?"

"And Easy -- journalism chicks will fall for just about any line, y'know."

I was thunderstruck. "You're kidding, right?"

"Naw, man!," he replied. "most people get into journalism because the pay's good, the chicks are easy, and it's not very hard to write stories all day."

I think of that guy a lot lately.

~~JD~~

An Experiment it Shall Be!

I was thinking about the nature of 'blogging. Sometimes I blog once a day; sometimes once a week, or once a month. The urge to blog seems to come and go in cycles. However, if I ever want to do some serious writing, it seems like I need to develop serious writing habits -- like writing a little every day.

So, as annoying as it may seem, I'm going to try writing something every day. I'm in awe of folks like Matt Drudge (The Drudge Report) or Brian Maloney (of the Radio Equalizer) who write literal pages and pages every day.

Just takes discipline, I suppose -- so here goes:

It's a gorgeous 68 degrees in beautiful South Texas today. We've got the balcony doors open and the Christmas lights on. That magnificent "silky" feel to the air here is very present today, so I did my errands riding around with the windows open. It felt great.

We put up our tree and did the Christmas decorating last weekend. I love looking at our little tree, filled with so many memories. The tree itself we bought for $30.00 (a 7-footer!) at the Valparaiso IN Menards the winter of 2001. That was right after the bankruptcy of the business, and we barely had enough cash for a real tree. On a wild hunch I found this one at Menards for less than the cost of a real tree -- a little Christmas miracle of our own.

We have lots of handmade ornaments; from the stuff Julian has made in school over the years (he's always a bit mortified when we put up the paper chain he made in kindergarten) to the things Ariane & I made from Wal-Mart crafts our first Christmas together. Then there's the ceramic cat with poseable limbs I bought in Augusta GA in 1984; the ornaments I inherited from my grandmother when she died that I've loved all my life; the Santa with his pack of toys and dangling skates one of my students gave me in Missouri in 1992. Topping the tree is a bunny in a granny dress we bought at the Valpo Popcorn Festival in 1991 because it reminded me of my Aunt Marilyn, who we loved and desperately miss.

TONS of memories -- all of them good. I just love this time of year.

~~~JD~~~

YEE-HAW!!! -- IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME, PARDNER!!!

Okay; It's officially Christmas Season here at Casa Largo when I start posting weird pictures like this. Apparently it's one of Elvis' actual Christmas cards from when he was alive, sent to Fan Club members or something like that.

You gotta admire the guy's chutzpah. He certainly lived life on the edge.

Speaking of the Edge, the new Narnia movie is coming out this Friday. I have yet to see anything like a bad review of this wonder. I'm sooooooo very ready to see this, I may bust. Can't wait, just can't wait. Looks to be a great movie there.

Speaking of which, if you get a chance to swing by the Video Rental Store or see it on Pay-per-View, you really need to see a vastly overlooked movie from this past summer called Secondhand Lions. Haley Joel Osment seems a bit odd at that in-between age (between cute child star and actual adult actor), but any movie with Micheal Caine **AND** Robert Duvall in it bears watching, at least once.

The plot is this: Osment's mom (the lovely and engaging Kyra Sedgwick) is a cheap fllozy looking for a place to dump teeenaged-son Osment while she runs off for the summer with slick boyfirend of the moment. She dumps him on her two crazy bachelor uncles (Duvall and Caine) whom everyone thinks are bank robbers, because they're loaded, money-wise. Osment also meets his cousins and Aunt/Uncle who are trying to steal the money, just to keep it interesting.

Caine and Duvall are at theiur peak as the curmodgeonly unlces who spend incredible amounts of money on incredily ridiculous things, but never seem to work out the way they planned. (They buy a plane but don't know how to fly -- so they teach themselves, much to Osment's terror. They buy a lion just to shoot it, but Osment keeps it as a pet, much to the cousin's and boyfriend's terror.)

The end of the movie is a startling vindication of the uncles, which I won't ruin for you -- you just have to see how the uncles eventually end. It makes me burst out laughing every time I see it -- I'm grinning like a chimpanzee thinking about it now.

Highest Recommendation -- go, rent this already. You'll thank me for it.

~~JD~~

Tales of the Grocery-Store Parking Lot!

Well, Ariane's had another birthday, and I was informed early on she wanted a new phone. And not just **ANY** phone; an new Motorola ROKR mp3-playing phone.

Why? To replace the one stolen when she was mugged.

I'd better start over, hadn't I?

***************************************************

Ariane works in the southeast part of San Antonio. It's not the best part of town; it's poor, but not exactly prime real estate territory. You know what I'm saying here?

Anyway, she somtimes goes to the local grocery store (called "H.E.B.") to pick up something from the deli for lunch. One day last August she did just that. She was on her way out through the parking lot when she saw this kid walking towards her in the parking lot. He was walking very slowly and eyeing her oddly, so she wondered if he was lost or something. About that time the little punk snatched her purse and ran like a bandit (which, in fact, he *was*.)

Much to his surprise, hot on his heels was the lovely and gracious Miss Ariane in heated pursuit; screaming bloody murder at the little shit who snatched her purse. He high-tailed it to a waiting car and Ariane just missed grabbing him, so she -- get this, now -- JUMPS IN FRONT OF THE GETAWAY CAR and slams her palms on the hood, telling the punks to give her the purse back, NOW!!!

Fortunately a bystander pulled her away right before the little bastards would've run her down to get away. The better news is that she caused such a commotion that they got good pictures on the the TV cameras in the parking lot and a dozen eyewitnesses for when they catch the little punks.

Coincidentally, that turned out to be not too very long afterwards. Turns out the punk slammed his hand in the door in his hurry to get away from Ariane. So he went to University Hospital (the local hospital of choice for indigents, punks, and folks who want to remain anonymous and skip out on their bills) and when told he needed ID to be treated, he pulled out his cellphoone to call his mom to bring his wallet.

But his new cellphone was turned off; most likely because I'd had Ariane's credit cards and phone deactivated when I found out about the mugging. He got so angry he threw the phone down the hallway and caused a scene cursing and screaming -- which attracted the attention of the cops always on duty at University Hospital ER. They checked the phone -- the screen said it was stolen (Thank You, Cingular!) -- he was arrested, and promptly ratted out his little friends -- and is currently awaiting trial.

So -- the finale of all that is that Ariane needed a new phone for her birthday. Got it?

As much as a technophobe as she is, Ariane wanted one of these new Motorola ROKR phones that besides being anifty little American-made phone is also an MP3 player of no small capacity. She immediately got herself a subscription to Napster and has been downloading lots of French singers and European music of her childhood that I've never heard of, certainly.

Plus her friends at work are completely in awe of the little gadget, which is roughly the same dimensions and weight as a pack of cigarettes, but plays for hours on a charge. (It's the same one pictured at the top of this post, if you're interested.)

So, now you know. Never mess with my wife -- she's mean when agitated.

~~JD~~

A Brief Aside to those who have Wondered . . .

I've had a comment or two about why I put so darn many links to other 'blogs and websites on my own weblog. The answer is ridiculously silly, actually.

When my last computer died early this year, I was stuck trying to recover all the Bookmarks from my last computer to transfer to the new one. As I struggled to pull them all together, I was struck by the fact that even if I did, I still wouldn't have them on the other computers I use (Julian's computer, my computer at work, etc.)

So it occurred to me that I could just as easily put my most-used bookmarks on my weblog and have them available through cyberspace, at whatever computer I may be at currently.

So don't just think of it as my 'blog -- it's also my cyberspace signpost to where I want to visit today.

So now you know.

~~JD~~

Intellectual Diversion for the Troubled Mind

I got some disturbing news on my health this week. So while I'm processing the news and waiting for more information, I'm going to indulge in an old human tradition of ignoring the elephant in the living room and focusing on something entirely irrelevant.

Human beings with wings.

No, really.

(When I have something more definitive, I'll let you all know. The good news is I do NOT have AIDS or any known form of hepatitis. More when I know it, okay?)

So, anyway . . . .

I have this small collection of human figures with wings on the wall of my bedroom which has grown over the years. As a psychiatric nurse I tend to skew towards a grounding with a Jungian bent. (For those who don't know, Carl Jung was one of Sigmund Freud's first adherents and greatest advocates. Freud and Jung differed, however, on the idea that all humanity is connected by a vast "colllective unconcious" through which we all share ideas, dreams, and universal representations, called "iconic themes.")

One of the most common "iconic themes" is the dream of flying, which Jung said represented the idea or desire for escape, for freedom. Almost everyone in all cultures has at one time dreamed of flight or flying, and almost all cutures have art forms representing this icon.

This statue above is of the bride of the Egyptian sun-god Ra. She has wings to carry Ra through the heavens and traverse their kingdom. (Ra is that nifty little golden circle on her head surrounded by the bulls' horns.) While not the earliest artistic representation of a human with wings, it's the earliest I could find to purchase for my collection

.
A representation of the Egyptian Hawk-god Horus, via DC Comics. Their character "Northwind" is a member of a race of bird-people associated with Hawkman. (By-the-bye, he really does have a head like a hawks' -- making polite conversation problematic at best.)


The classic judeo/christian/muslim representation of an angelic figure (i.e., "Angels".). Although scripture refers to angels as being masculine with male names (Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer, etc.) most modern representations are shown as female.


An early American folk art version of the traditional angel figure is also seen here. Note the finer detail available through painting versus the next figure, which was whittled.




A very primitive version of the angel motif is seen here, whittled from hardwood and colored with basic white and red. No detail is seen due to the primitiveness of the media. Such representations were common on the American frontier and are still found in third world countries today. This particular version has wire wings which are difficult to see against the darker background.


A modern ceramic representation of an angel, which almost always deals in colors of whites and pastels. This angel was sold during Easter season, so the reddish/maroon cloth is symbolic of Christ's blood being shed for mankind.


This modern concrete copy is of a medieval grotesque from a Parisian building. The cherub (second cousin to an angel) sits on top of the building warding off evil spirits. (A "grotesque" differs from a gargoyle in that gargoyles are waterspouts, while grotesques are statuary.)


This clay figurine of modern Mexican design showing a handless angel figurine. (The figure lost his hands due to the fragility of the clay medium; the hands loss was not intentional nor meant to signify anything.) The fine detail shows the feathered texture of the wings which are distinctly bird-like.


This is a traditional example of meso-american clay figurine art. The figure depicted is of a Peruvian Andes piper boy playing a pan flute. Whether the wings were present before the influence of Spanish Christian missionaries is debatable, but interesting nonetheless. The feathers are also those of an eagle, which is a native american symbol of power, strenght, and authority.


This is a representation (again via comic books, of course) of a Norse Valkyrie. As the Guardians of the Dead and Valhalla (the Norse version of the Afterlife), the are alternately shown as either winged or riding winged horses. Go figure. Either way, the wings as an analogy of supernatural swiftness works.

Here is an early Victorian sculpture of a fairy. While the ideas of fairies (which have wings) and pixies (which do not) predate Victorian England even to druid times, they enjoyed a brief resurgence of popularity during the late 1880's in England with the advent of the camera, as many citizens of the crown attempted to photograph these proto-humanoid forms. While fairies have humanoid figures, they are smaller than humans and often have insects wings (this young lady has a butterfly's or bees' wings.)


A more traditional representation of the pixie is shown here, with her garlands and belts of vines and dress made of petals. Her wings are more pointed and insectoid than most other representations of fairies, which almost always use more rounded wings.


The post-modern era fairy starts and (pretty much) ends with the world's most famous fairy, Tinkerbell (Clochette to my European relatives.) Seen here as a McDonald's give-away from a few years ago locked in Captain Hook's lantern, she glows in the dark, imparting a warm glow to our bedroom nightly.


Moving rapidly into the modern era, winged human forms are very much evident in both animation as well as graphic sequential literature forms, such as comic books. And in Europe, everybody loves a Smurf (thats Stroumpghs to my European relatives), and apparently Smurfs/Stroumpghs are fond of lighting out into the wild blue yonder as well. That we don't see many Smurfs flitting past our windows in probably a testament to the vicousness of the local purple martin population, I would guess. (Poor Smurfs!)


This one's the "Angel" character from Marvel comics' X-Men franchise. Although not seen in the first two movies, I have it on good authority he'll be in the third movie for sure. That should be quite a sight for the CGI guys to have nervous breakdowns working on.


Marvel comics also publishes a character called "The Falcon", a former partner/sidekick to Captain America who has these nifty little glider wings with which to fight crime. Not exactly wings per se, but still a form of winged human figure.

This is the "Hawkman" character currently published by DC Comics. Hawkman believes himself to be the reincarnation of an Egyptian pharaoh and wears wings and a mask mimicking Horus, the Hawk-god. (And flies, of course.)


This is a "ringer"; actually a second version of the Hawkman character as he first appeared in DC Comics in 1940. I just include him to show off the look; and to wonder aloud how he ever fought crime with pastel blue wings. (Perhaps the criminals laughed until they got stitches in their sides and were incapacitated?)


If you have kids that watch Cartoon Network or just love comics, you'll recognize the "Hawkgirl" character from Justice League Unlimited, currently seen there weekends. In the comics Hawkgirl is the paramour of Hawkman, and the deadlier of the species, certainly.


This is one of the characters from Kevin Smith's "Clerks" universe, who (I'm told) appeared in the movie "Dogma". He's a tough little nut; and representative of the disdain in which modern angels are held. And, yes, that's blood on his breastplate.


And finally, we come to Sparky the Dog; who, for some reason, has wings on this button. (Sparky is a cartoon character published by Pam Bliss of Valparaiso IN.)

And that is pretty much my collection, such as it is. I have my eye on a replica Mesopotamian piece I saw in the mall a month ago, and continue to search for a figure of Icarus and/or Daedalus. Yet strangely absent from my collection (and not for want of searching) are any kind of figures representing Africa or Asia. Apparently Africa and Asia (and possibly Australian aborigines as well) have no mythos of flying men. China is replete with legends of flying dragons, but no human flying forms.

Or maybe I just haven't looked hard enough. Anyway, now you know what to get me for Christmas.

~~~JD~~~

In Texas even the DOGS drive pickup Trucks . . .

In Texas, apparently Beagles can drive. How he gets those little stubby legs down to the pedals is a mystery to me. I laughed so hard when I saw this little guy toodling northbound on U.S. 281 I almost didn't get the picture. (He sure looks like he's having a ball, doesn't he?)


Had a small nightmare of a bureacratic tussle happen this afternoon. Julian has been getting nasty automated e-mails from the Northeast Independant School District (NEISD) reminding him he needed a new tetanus shot, so I picked him up from a school meeting and we went to the "Express Med" clinic at the main University Hospital branch. (Ariane works at Uiversity Hospital, so we have Insurance through them.) We signed in the clinic just after 12pm and waited.

After 40 minutes of being ignored by the three (3!) receptionists behind the desk -- apparently their cellphones and hospital gossip were more important than the patients -- a male nurse came out and told us that Julian needed the "TDP" vaccine, and that they didn't have it at that clinic. Now, as a nurse who has previously worked in an Immunizations clinic, I knew that the TDP vaccine (which protects against Tetanus, Diptheria, and Pertussis -- or whooping cough -- thus the acronym TDP) is for children under 12 years old, which I mentioned to him. He clarified this with the doctor, who insisted there was a new vaccine for adolescents that their clinic did not have, so we would have to go to the Downtown Clinic.

So off we went to the Downtown Clinic, known as "Brady Green". Brady Green is about the same age as my hometown hospital, Porter Memorial, and reminds me a lot of the 1960's version of Porter Memorial, so I usually enjoy a chance to go there. So we signed in about 1pm and waited.

And waited. And read the paper. Then we palyed computer solitaire on my Palm Pilot.

Then, -- we waited some more.

About 3:30pm -- 2-and-a-half hours later -- the receptionist (whose name was Esmerelda Zapatas) informed us that we had signed in on the wrong sheet -- so we would have to go to the Pediatric Waiting Room now. Mind you, there's been NOBODY at the desk of this clinic to direct us when we arrived or since -- and she's getting all bent out of shape with us because somebody knocked over the signs at the desk. So we sat down in the Pediatric Waiting area and began a game of musical chairs lasting another hour. First we had to do the paperwork to get Julian into the system. Then she called us back to explain that we were in "the wrong type of clinic." Apparently University Hospital has Free Clinics for the indigent (where we were currently) and other clinics for the employees -- so our Insurance wouldn't work here --and we would have to pay for his immunization! In a "Free Clinic."

Note to my family and friends: this is the point where I stopped speaking to this nut-job for fear I would raise my voice and call her a naughty name. So you can imagine how pissed I was by now.

Then there were subsequent trips about every five minutes to (a) sign a paper to have our $15.00 co-pay deducted from Ariane's paycheck -- (b) another to assume financial liability if our insurance wouldn't pay, and (c) finally to tell us they didn't actually have the vaccine Julian needed. All the while she's going on and on in acronyms and jargon that I wouldn't have understood if I hadn't worked at University Hospital myself for a year and been a nurse -- and I'm wondering how frustrated the poor schmucks who walk in off the street must be listening to this whine-bag make excuses and baffle them with b.s.

At this point I can physically taste the bile in my throat -- and the urge to strangle Ms. Esmerelda is becoming ever more difficult to override.

At this point a lovely older nurse named Dolores Nolan came out and took Julian back to give him the Tetanus shot. She had heard there was "an immunization needed doing" and took care of us quickly and efficiently. She explaine that there was, indeed, a new "Adolescent Tetanus Shot (called the "TDaP") which is why the doctor at the first clinic was confused -- but that the Health System has not actually RECEIVED the vaccine yet. She updated our shot records, gave us a copy of the Immunization form they send to the Health Department, and gave us a new shot record they use down here in South Texas.

A real gem, that Dolores. I'm writing a letter to the CEO of University Hospital demanding she get a raise.



So, to celebrate our freedom Julian and I had Dinner at P.F. Chang's chinese restaurant (I had the calamari and fried rice -- Julian had the lettuce wraps and corn fill), and we went to see the movie Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. It's funny, uplifting, and romantic -- but not your average chick-flick. At times it was laugh-out-loud funny as the foibles of family, dating, courtship, and facing your own mortality plays out in rapid succession on the screen. But it also has lots of moments guys will appreciate -- like Orlando Bloom's hilarious encounter with a drunken, over-the-top groom whilst he's trying to steal the groom's beer from a drunken per-wedding party. (The slogan "24/7" takes on new meaning after seeing theis bizarre wedding party at the Brown Hotel in Elizabethtown, which backdrops the Dunst/Bloom romance.) I went to see it because Kirsten Dunst is a babe and the plot looked good -- but this movie is so good it made even me like the much-hated Susan Sarandon.

Great movie. Very much recommended -- you should most definitely see it if you get the chance. In fact, make the time for it.

~~JD~~~

Saturday Musings and Fifteenth Birthdays

Julian turned fifteen years old Thursday, which was a great surprise to me. I'm astonished his mother or I didn't kill him long before this.

He actually had a surprise or two for his birthday this year. He wanted a figurine of the Starfire character from the Teen Titans, but the one he wanted was a $250.00 maquette statue that was a bit pricey after his Sony MP3 Player he received a week early.
(You can see the product description by clicking on the title of this post above.) He also loves to eat out and was fairly certain we'd do it again for his birthday, but his mother was determined to surprise him, saying "We are NOT going to go out for dinner this year!"

So his mother and I both arranged to be off on Thursday and after dropping him at school, we cleaned the house and went to Target (for a folding Papa-San chair for his room, a new hassock, and a wooden wall shelf), Wal-Mart (for new bed linens and decorations), Bob's Comics (for a smaller, less expensive paperweight version of Starfire), and a Chinese Restaurant for his favorite Take-Out. We cleaned his room thoroughly (no small task -- how the HECK did he get it so dirty since moving in 2 months ago???) and redecorated it with his new linens, chair, hassock, and Starfire prominently displayed on her new oak shelf on the wall. We also put Halloween lights up on the windows and had them all plugged in, ready to go when he came home.


The bed linens are particularly nice, made from a fabric called "Microfiber" that looks like suede, feels like silk, and is machine washable -- very nice and luxurious -- not to mention affordable.


His first words when he sat on the bed were "I feel like a Millionaire!" So, it was worth it, I guess. (Heh.) Well, he did make First Chair in Orchestra with his violin, so I expect he deserved some reward for the hard work.


Some small changes to the 'blog: I've added two links to the massive amount of Internet Debris on my 'blog. The First is "The Radio Equalizer" a blog on the server I post with also -- by Brian Maloney, a radio host out of Michigan, I believe. Brian is also one of the insiders in the radio industry and has some fascinating stories of the crap going on behind-the-scenes at various and sundry places, like Air America and the hardball tactics being used by ABC Radio Corporate with their local hosts. (Those of you from the Chicago area might remember how Garry Meier was forced off the air at WLS-AM through these same tactics two years ago while being half of the top-rated duo on Afternoon Drive in Chicago. Well, same stuff, different day -- just in San Francisco this time.) Fascinating and intelligent reading.

The second new link is "Protest Warriors.com," which teaches budding neo-conservatives how to use the Left's own tacticts against them. They cite using the ACLU's own website as a reference point for information (Love It!), how to sneak into Leftist demonstrations and disrupt them with counter protest (something the Left isn't used to doing or seeing -- with hilarious results); as well as first-person accounts of some of the Lefty forces of Indoctrination confronted by neo-cons with their own side of Free Speech. Love these folks. Scroll down the Left-Hand side to the "Favorite 'Blogs" section to find them.

And finally, I've stopped allowing comments to the postings. Apparently one of the new ways for advertising leeches to rip you off is a new variation of the e-mail "spam" theory -- they post bogus comments with links to their websites. I discovered they were bogus when (a) one of them was referencing something I hadn't even talked about, and (b) a comment turned up on a post I hadn't even completed yet! So, since they've ruined this for the bloggers as well now, I've just cut them off by eliminating the comments sections. E-mail me if you want to say "Hi!"


Oh, and my Cat says "Hello!"

Aftermath: life Slowly returns to "Normal" . . .

Hopefully you can read the wording on the sign; it reads "Delays on Routes to Houston." This alternated with "IH-10 closed at Baton Rouge Louisiana."

No Kidding? Texas Department of Transportation: Masters of the fine art of understatement.

The "Special Needs" Shelter I was working part-time at has closed as they continue to consolidate the remaining refugees at Kelly AFB. Governor Perry has made it quite clear that any and all refugees who want housing in Texas, however temporary, are damned well going to get an apartment, house, trailer, nursing home, or whatever they want, and right now! Probably less than a third of the original Katrina refugees are left at Kelly and the number of Rita refugees is markedly less.

An interesting vignette or two from the disaster zones: one of our elders at Northwest Church is originally from Mississippi. His home church had the roof torn off during Katrina, so we arranged to purchase all the materials to replace the roof and sent it on it's way the first week. When he got there they replaced the roof as congregation members cooordinated relief efforts from the parking lot; serving up barbecue on grills as meat markets donated their stocks that would've gone bad without electricity anyway. (Fortunately for us, God had seen fit for our congregation to pay off our mortgage last month, so we had the cash on hand to do that for them.)

Meanwhle, Max Lucado's Oak Hills Church has been quietly finding refugee families that want to stay in San Antonio and completely furnishing their new apartments/homes with furniture, kitchen items, clothing, and everything they need to start over. They've done it for an uncounted number of familes so far -- and I'm sure they'll try to continue to do it anonymously as long as loudmouths like me don't ruin it.

Two interesting things of a Nursing nature that tie into this as well. One of the reasons I cut back on my volunteering towards the end was the incredible inflexibility of my co-workers. The "Hospital Nurses" couldn't seem to get over the fact that the clinic would frequently shut down when there weren't enough nurses to cover 24/7. To me this seemed to be the logical outcome when (a) you're dealing with volunteer help, and (b) it's a First Aid Clinic -- not a hospital ward, for crying out loud.

The other was the attitude some of the evacuees displayed. One of the Nurses I work with told me that when she was distributing clothing to a 10-year-old-girl, the girl replied "I don't wear Levis, I wear Fubus.."

The nurse asked her, "Honey -- where's your suitcase?"

The girl replied, "I ain't got no suitcase."

The nurse said to her "That's right sugar -- and you ain't got no Fubus, either. These are brand-new Levis -- still got the tags on and everything-- that somebody paid good money so you wouldn't be walking around naked -- like you're about to be if you turn down these Levi's again." The girl took the Levis. When the girl's mother heard what happened she apologized profusely -- said the girl had never had a pair of Fubu jeans in her life.

So, more than a few frustrations, as you might imagine.

Meanwhile, our planned expedition to Galveston this weekend did not come off as planned, as you might guess. Instead we went north 40 miles to San Marcos Texas, which has no less than two huge outlet malls. Ariane and I got some new scrubs for work, and I found a Dickies outlet store (I always wear white Dickies pants with my scrub tops; looks professionally "Nurse-y", and doesn't feel as weird as scrub pants.) Ariane found a "Le Creuset" kitchenware store and dropped the appropriate hints so that I know where to shop for Christmas; a mere 83 days, 4 hours, 1 miute, and 29 seconds away as I write this.

The weather has returned to what passes for normal in South Texas this time of year: blue skies, 90+ degrees, and more sunshine than should be legal.

So, all is well -- if not peachy!

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part VI)

As the realization hits me that we really, truly dodged the bullet with Rita, I find myself overcome with unequal parts of disappointment and relief.

We drove to San Marcos (40 miles north) this afternoon to shop for Julian's birthday present. (Fifteen. Fifteen!!! Can you believe that?!?) On the way we stopped at Costco in San Antonio and witnessed a wonderful example of human compassion. One of the familes in line had a variety of household supples in their carts; pillows, clothing, blankets, linens, and a refrigerator. When they tried to pay with a white Visa card with a Red Cross on it (one of the cards they're handing out to Katrina Evacuees) the cashier called the manager. You could see the consternation and fear on their faces, wondering why the manager had to be there -- until the manager explained "We're not letting you pay retail price for these -- you only pay Wholesale when you have one of these Red Cross (or FEMA) cards."

So they walked out of Costo wiht $1,500.00 of goods for less than $750.00. Made me tear up right there and get the sniffies.

Meanwhile, the shelves of the stores are getting bare. (See the Link above). As the Katrina evacuees start setting up shop in their new homes in San Antone, the Rita evacuees are buying groceries for their host families whilst they're here; as well as groceries to take back to Houston/Corpus Christi/wherever with them. (With most of the stores closed where they came from, they're being cautious and taking stuff back with them.) So I think it'll be a very profitable and happy 4th quarter for San Antonio retailers, but a lot of fun shopping for groceries the next few days.

I'll probably be working more than a few shifts the next few days at the Baptist Church Shelter for Katrina Refugees. More than a few nurses evacuated San Antonio when Hurricane Rita seemed aimed at the city (or were federalized by FEMA or local Health Departments) which makes Shelter Help at a premium.

Isn't there some kind of Chinese curse that says "May you live in Interesting Times?" Heh-heh-heh.

Ah, who am I kidding? I'm loving this!

~~JD~~

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part V)

What a difference a day makes, indeed.

Pastor Al from Indiana called this morning. He, his wife Betty, and his brother are holed up in a hotel in Schulenburg Texas; halfway between Houston and San Antonio. They were kind of humbled to think God had found them somebody to offer their home to them this far from Indiana, and incredibly grateful. Well, we're all just servants, and i was glad to have been of (potential) service. So they're fine, and may head back to Corpus Christi tomorrow or Sunday, depending on what Rita does in the next 12 hours.

The clouds are again rotating above San Antonio like they did for Katrina; just a LOT closer this time. As the storm has shifted farther to the north the winds have started shifting to the northeast and coming in pretty quickly -- about 20-40 mph gusts. The clouds have filled the normally clear-blue cloudless South Texas skies; rotating counter clockwise overhead.

Awe-inspiring, really.

We're all watching this very warily of course. This damned storm could quite easily take a left turn when it makes landfall and still give San Antonio hell.

But, for now, we appear to have dodged the bullet.

The best part of all is: I'm facing a Saturday where all the shopping, laundry, cleaning, and chores have been done already. Plus I've got a case of chilled Coors in the refrigerator and 2 bags of chip and dip.

I feel a "Lord of the Rings" marathon coming on . . . .

~~JD~~

The View from I-10 Eastbound

The Westbound lanes of IH-10, usually empty during the morning commute, are full of refugees from Galveston/Houston area. The sun rises through a murky mass of impending cloudbank from Rita; still hundreds of miles away but whose cloudtops are easily visible from San Antonio. (Pardon the blurriness; shot on the fly during the morning commute.)

The View from Sam's Club in San Antonio

Thursday afternoon 9/22/2005: It doesn't look too unusual until you notice everyone has 2 or 3 cases of bottled water in their carts. Bottled Water! Also, due to the limitations of my camera, you can't see the lines -- 8-10 people long each.

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part IV)

It's 3am, and I can't sleep. I swear I can feel my ears pop with the lowering barometric pressure.

Spent yesterday doing laundry (if the power goes out you can't wash clothes -- and we usually do laundry in Casa Largo on Saturdays -- right when Rita should be coming ashore. See Previous Post "Hurricanes and Moral Quandries . . . still don't Help Me do the Laundry!")

About noon I went to get some shopping done -- same reason. Wal-Mart had Guards! on the bottled water!!! Apparently it went fast when Rita started aiming at South Texas, and one store had some kind of trouble when the water ran out. They were limiting customers to one case each; so i had to make a trip to Sam's Club to get another case. Wal-Mart was in short supply of bread, tuna, peanut butter, and cold remedies, as well as water.

Traffic was remarkably light. Really weird. Applied Rain-X to both cars' windsheilds. That stuff really works great; and it's too late to apply it when it starts to rain.

Got an e-mail from my former church in Indiana; our former pastor is in Corpus Christi with his brother and seeking shelter inland. I e-mailed them back to call us if they need anyhting. We'd be happy to put them up in our tiny apartment.

Picked up my weekly quota of comic books and extra Coors and chips. Gotta do something if the power goes out.

And I still can't sleep.

~~JD~~

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part III)

MSNBC'sw Website captioned this "Thousands of cars slowly make their way out of Houston, Texas, on Wednesday to escape Hurricane Rita." I'd say that's about right.

Rita is still a Cat-5 storm, and has started to shift to the Northwest. While that's something of a relief (since we won't be hit head-on) I'm feeling more than a little guilt as she sidles up towards already-devastated New Orleans and the bulk of the Katrina refugees in Houston.

So, that's a bad thing. Fotunately Texas has a no-nonsense governor in Rick Perry who started evacuating those refugees earlier this week to Arkansas and (sigh) San Antonio. And unlike New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin (who seems terrified that he'll lose his constituency and is trying to re-populate his city frantically) Perry has expedited placement of the refugees in permanent housing through Section 8 vouchers and Housing Loans for refugees. Lotta these folks are here to stay, whether Ray Nagin likes it or not.

The sun also rose this morning; with apologies to Hemingway. The high overcast is reflecting glare everywhere and makes the sky appear bright white. Governor Perry has ordered the Southbound Lanes of I-45 and I-10 to be turned around at 9am to double the flow of traffic outbound from Galveston; which means it's getting VERY serious.

And Fox News has just reported that draining groundwater from the aquifers und Houston has lowered the elevation of the city fifteen to twenty feet in the last century; which could be catastrophic if Cat-5 Rita comes ashore there.

An interesting aside for the Global Warming conspiracists lurking out there. Several years ago I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where they have the U-505 German U-boat on display. I asked the tour guide why there was so little German U-boat activity in the Caribbean during the war. He replied the Germans were terrified of hurricanes; that a U-boat could only stay submerged 12-16 hours, and if they had to surface in a hurricane, the crew would all be killed. This made little sense to me (Hurricanes? How often are there Hurricanes?) until I heard on the TV Joe Bastardi from Accu-Weather saying that his father (who was also a meteorologist) saying that there used to be a LOT more hurricanes in the gulf in the beginning of the 20th century. Houston/Galveston had hurricanes in 1900, 1909, 1918, 1926, 1935, 1946, and 1954 -- then no hurricanes until 1983.

Apparently the cycle has swung around again; and considering the sunspot cycle just completed a major upswing a year or two ago, it seems likely we're starting back toward that cycle again.

Just don't spout the pop-psych answer of "Global Warming, Dude!" I'm not in the mood right now.

~~JD~~

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part II)

Traffic was stop-and-go all the way home both ways tonight; a far cry from the usual San Antone commute. I'm glad I have the day off tomorrow; it's bound to be a cast-iron BEAR driving through town tomorrow.

Some interesting changes in the weather as Rita (I keep wanting to type "Katrina") has advanced to a solid Cat-5 storm. Already. The sky seemed grayer than usual on the drive home tonight, but nothing really unusual for late summer haze over South Texas. When night fell was when we noticed it was a solid high overcast. We've been watching the full moon for three days now; but there's no moon tonight, and the sky's reflecting the city lights in an errie glow.

Plus there's no wind with high humidity and high 80's -- a bit too warm and humid. The weather channel's radar is showing feeder bands bringing thunderstorms ashore in Corpus Christi already. Wow.

I have that weird little gut feeling I get when my predicitions are about to come true; and I still have it. Nothing but bad vibes coming from the near future and Rita.

I'm filling the cars' gas tanks tomorrow (just in case we lose power for a few days) and buying candles and lantern fuel. Also a couple of cases of bottled water, just in case. I'm pretty much counting on working all weekend; either in the Katrina Shelters or at work (in case somebody can't get in -- which is quite likely.)

My first real hurricane. I'd be excited if I wasn't full of foreboding. Frankly more than a bit scared, too.

~~JD~~

This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part I)

All computer models are predicting Hurricane Rita will hit somewhere between Galveston and Corpus Christi Texas Friday or Saturday. She should be a minimum Category 4 storm (like Katrina) and possibly a Category 5. Just a little Texas history here; in 1946 a Category 5 storm hit Victoria Texas (about the same place Rita will hit) and charged inland to San Antone, destroying much of the city.

Which is where I am.

And, being a nurse, I couldn't evacuate if I wanted to. The Interstates heading northbound out of San Antone (I-10 and I-37) were clogged wall-to-wall with traffic this morning; making rush hour very interesting, indeed. (I may have to take the surface streets home tonight to get home at all.)

And to make it even more interesting, San Antonio's full of Katrina refugees. as well as coatal refugees fleeing Rita. My place of business is accepting patients from Corpus Christi starting tomorrow.

I may be off the Internet for awhile. Gotta go buy some bottled water tonight, if there's any left.

The Invisible Storm: Texas Steps Up and Kicks Ass in the Aftermath of Katrina.

The city of San Antonio Texas. The obvious allusion is that there's a Storm brewing; but it's more like an earthquake.

The line to unload donated supplies to the warehouses at Kelly AFB. It took me less than 3 minutes to get to the front of this line -- they work really, Really fast! Several of the folks in line were singing hymns as they worked, and a lot of the group joined in on songs they knew.

The line of volunteers (over 50) waiting to undload your vehicle of donations. I saw SUVs, vans, cars, station wagons, buses, and the occaisional 18-wheeler unloaded in rapid fashion. Ants should be this efficient. No messin' around here, bubba. Welcome to Texas.