May, 2005

2005.05.30 — Alfred, Ohio. Memorial Day. A U.S. holiday that is celebrated with backyard barbecues, outdoor picnics, and parades. Originally meant to honor civil war veterns. We have performed in and enjoyed many of these activities over the years.

Joe and Angie stopped by this afternoon for a visit. It is always nice to see them. Steve sent a note with a few pics of his new BBQ. Except for the hot dog, it looks pretty good to me. Nick spent the day working.

2005.05.29 — Cincinnati, Ohio. We pulled up two of the aluminum poles that Dad had placed to hold up grandma’s flowers. They were burried some four feet in clay. It was an adventure.

Dennis and Samwise should have a big weekend working a Taste of Cincinnati. They blow up balloons for tips and this particular event is usually a real money maker for them. They call themselves Windweavers.

2005.05.28 — Cincinnati, Ohio. Happy Birthday Kate!

Jeanie and I headed to Cincinnati today to visit with my Dad.

2005.05.27 — Alfred, Ohio. Hiatus noted. Nicer weather and having to compete with Nick for the computer in the evenings has left Frogtails in a shambles. Please excuse the lapse. That is probably a good thing really. I need to get out and finish planting the garden, mow the grass, or visit with my Dad anyway.

2005.05.23 — Alfred, Ohio. Blue lasers have a smaller wavelength than red. Implication? Better recording density on optical devices. You may expect to see 15-25 GB optical devices (similar to CD’s and DVD’s) hitting the stores in the next year or two. The manufacturers have not come to a standard format yet. I would hold off buying until the winner becomes apparent so you don't end up owning a “beta”. DVD’s should become commodity items as the new wavelengths become popular.

2005.05.22 — Alfred, Ohio. 18:45 P.M. Attempted to synchronize our home computer with the atomic clock at NIST. I do that every so often. The program is set to automatically lookup the atomic clock at the Naval Observatory if for some reason NIST if offline. If the both NIST and the Naval Observatory are offline it is set to check NASA. Would you believe that all three appear to be offline at the same time tonight? Seems pretty odd to me. Perhaps my local ISP is having difficulties. That seems more reasonable. Perhaps I just hit upon a chink in time.

Fast forward 100 years. What will be? How about…

That was really far more difficult to imagine that I thought it would be. I don’t expect to be around to see any of it but do think that my grandchildren may. You would think that I’d have a better grasp of what they may encounter. Try it yourself and send me your top 10 list.

2005.05.21 — Alfred, Ohio. We saw Star Wars last night. It was fun and leads perfectly into the series. 28 years in the making. For perspective, that is longer than my children have been alive. Longer than I have known Jeanie. Not so long as I have worked with computers or lived in Athens.

2005.05.20 — Alfred, Ohio. Jim Heikkinen remembers Iraq in a couple of emails we exchanged yesterday.

2005.05.18 — Alfred, Ohio. Star Wars is making news. Is filmmaker George Lucas is comparing President Bush and the Iraq war to the Dark Side of the Force? George tries to steer clear of the questions and merely point out that throughout history many people have been willing to give up freedoms whenever trouble appears lurking about. Of course our founding fathers made famous the line that those who who are willing to give up freedom for security deserve neither. Our own Senate today appears to be taking a troublesome path.

Nick Fram in the Standford Daily wrote this about the debate going on over the filibuster rules.

“…a short history lesson: The Senate doesn’t really have many written rules; therefore, there is no great precedent concerning how to change these rules. The Founders envisioned the Senate as a consensus-based gentleman’s club, where respected elder-statesmen, elected by the legislatures of the various states, would sit around, have a good cigar or two and discuss the merits of different bills.

At first, almost everything in the Senate was done on a consensus basis. Most importantly, to stop debate on a mattSer, every single member would have had to agree that enough debate had occurred. This changed at the beginning of the last century when, at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, the Senate adopted a rule that set the threshold for stopping debate at two-thirds. Thirty years ago, the threshold was reduced to three-fifths.…”

Does anyone happen to recall what trouble was lurking about when President Woodrow Wilson was in office?

Reading the Lord of the Rings in the 60’s I recall being able to condense it into two words even back then as a youth. Power Corrupts. Thinking over all of the Star Wars movies, I can see how some may come to the conclusion that some have drawn that giving away freedoms in search of security is an invitation to the dark side. A thought to ponder.

2005.05.17 — Alfred, Ohio. Here is a dialog you won’t hear everyday on the subway. It came about because of a posting Russel had on his site.

2005.05.16 — Alfred, Ohio. My thoughts have only hardened against the Bolton nomination. One article I read suggested that Bolton may be confirmed by the Senate not so much because our Senators believe he is a good choice. Many may be willing to give him a chance and most just want to put the Democrats in their place. That would be tragic given that Mr. Bush has shown he has loyalty beyond common sense (think of Donald Rumsfield). Once Bolton is in, even if he turns out to be a miserable mistake, Mr. Bush would not likely be willing to admit his mistake, particularly after all the flap this nomination has stirred up.

2005.05.15 — Alfred, Ohio. Update: 4:30 P.M. Nick is home.

As of 12:45 P.M. we have not seen the doctor so do not know when Nick is coming home. He has been able to get up and walk around a little though he is still on very strong pain medication.

2005.05.14 — Alfred, Ohio. Nick had his appendix removed this evening. The surgery went well. Three small incisions is all that was required. He is expected to be discharged either Sunday or Monday.

I feel compelled to say more about the Bolton nomination. More than one published news report has describe him with words similar to these:“Bolton — a State Department official who has long been an outspoken critic of the United Nations — is arrogant and undiplomatic and has tried to force intelligence analysts to twist their findings to suit his preconceived conclusions.” Mr. Bush thinks that this type of personality is exactly what is needed at the United Nations. I do not. It is a little lengthy and probably not for everyone, but here is why I think Mr. Bolton should NOT be our representative to the United Nations.

2005.05.13 — Alfred, Ohio. A new spamless version of WordPress is back online. The upgrade worked like a charm and all of the old stories are still present.

Senator George V. Voinovich didn’t make a big impression on me when he was governor of Ohio. Speaking out against the nomination of Bolton however, strikes me as a real act of courage. Well done Senator. We elected you to vote your conscience, not the party line. You work for us… not Mr. Bush. He will be back in Texas when the next election comes around. We will still be here, in Ohio voting booths. Continue doing what you truly believe is helpful (what we sent you to do in the first place) and you can count on my vote next time around.

2005.05.11 — Alfred, Ohio. Planted the garden this evening. Rain is in the forecast. Watching dry seeds come to life is fascinating.

I gave blood today. The questions they ask… Normally, this is a pretty routine event that I wouldn’t mention. However, over a year has passed since they refused to accept my blood for donation and the good people at the American Red Cross are still real worried about how exactly to write up the cruise information, particularly Roatan. I recall being there for maybe half a day, eighteen months ago, in a resort area, on the beach. What would they think if you spent the night?

2005.05.08 — Alfred, Ohio. Happy Mother’s Day! Jeanie is already up at at the fire station for the annual chicken dinner.

Nick and Kate stopped in for lunch and then headed back to Morehead. We went to visit Jeanie’s Mom and Dad. Joe and Angie stopped by this evening and we planted azaleas. Steve just got off the phone with mom. The weather was perfect, we were busy all day, but I think Jeanie had a nice one. Thanks everyone!

2005.05.07 — Alfred, Ohio. Graduation at Rio was outdoors. Rain threatened but didn’t materialize. In fact, the clouds kept it cool and bearable. A live chorus and band kept us entertained. The main commencement speaker was dreadful of course. Otherwise, everything was very pleasant and went off without a hitch. Later, we attended a reception for Angie at the old Tuppers Plains elementary to help celebrate Angie’s accomplishment.

Angie and Matt will both graduate from the 129th anniversary commencement of the University of Rio Grande in a couple of hours. Angie will receive a BS from the School of Education. Matt will receive a BS from the Emerson E. Evans School of Business Management. Congratulations to both!

PDF documents. Ugh! Nobody likes them, but anyone who has every worked on different operating systems knows that they are useful. Yesterday I finally downloaded the latest Acrobat 7.0 reader. It is a large download for a dialup so you have to get it going and then walk away from it. I had to disable Norton and reboot in order to install it (they don’t tell you this, it will just hang if you don’t… trust me). After all that, I got it to install. WOW! It is great! The PDF documents come up nearly as quickly as though it were a text file and everything works as you would expect. E.G. the mouse wheel scrolls beyond a page boundary, etc. If you ever open PDF files, I recommend that you make the effort and upgrade to the latest version of the Acrobat Reader.

2005.05.06 — Alfred, Ohio. Nick and Kate arrived from Morehead to visit this weekend and help celebrate Angie’s graduation.

Steve wrote and said he had a pretty good time in Texas. In a note to Jeanie he complained of feeling stiff, sore, and generally beat up after he got home. I wouldn’t know why. ==⇒

Finally, I have a day off without too many chores to do. The weather looks like it is going to be agreeable as well. Who knows what mischief I’ll get into before the day is over.

2005.05.05 — Alfred, Ohio. Happy Cinco de Mayo to those who celebrate this day! I ate lunch at Don Emilio’s. The place was packed.

2005.05.04 — Alfred, Ohio. Finished mowing the lawn this evening. It was bright sunny and warm today but it looks like the frost got to our grapes. Each of the Ginko tree leaves are damaged at the tips. Last year, all of the leaves fell off the tree due to a frost that nearly killed it. We have thousands of little pears on the tree that still appear to be OK. The apple tree is still in blossom. Tonight? A chance of frost.

2005.05.03 — Alfred, Ohio. Lisa has come through with another Nascar race recap from Talladega. My Sunday was spent mowing grass… all day. How do you suppose it would go if I said something like “I’d love to get the lawn mowed, but today is race day. I’ll put it on my schedule for tomorrow…” That is a pretty funny thought isn’t it.

2005.05.02 — Alfred, Ohio. Al headed off to Florida. Before he left, he made sure to send me this months edition of Thru the Peephole: Musings on the Strange, Interesting, and Maddening Characters We Meet “On the Road”. Here is Chapter 8: Tickle-Naked in Vermont–Lobsters, LongNecks, and “Miss Burlington” for your reading enjoyment.

2005.05.01 — Alfred, Ohio. Sunshine today. That means I was able to mow my grass. It is looking much better than it did this morning though I won't be able to get it all trimmed today. Maybe tomorrow.

Steve and Dennis are both in Dallas, Texas. Dennis will be there for two weeks, Steve for a few days. They are both within 30 miles of each other but both quite busy with their respective employers so unable to see each other. That seems a pity. I’ve always enjoyed seeing people I know in strange places.

Happy 1 year anniversary to the European Union! €

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