No surprises here...


Artistic Viggo


What kind of Viggo Mortensen are you?
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Went to bed last night with a bit of a headache (nothing too odd...I usually get one like it, well, once a month).

Woke up at 3:00a.m. with a raging migraine. And I do mean raging. It was so awful, I couldn't go back to sleep and couldn't find a position that wasn't excruciating. About 4:15a.m., I got up and took 2 migraine formula tablets. No good. Got up and got the ice pack to see if putting it on the back of my neck might help (sometimes it does). This time, it seemed like it made it worse, so I was up again putting the ice pack back in the freezer and taking a third tablet.

Finally, a little after 5:20, I had beat back the migraine to just being a major headache. Of course, I haven't slept since a little after 3a.m., and the meds have my limbs feeling pretty rubbery.

And the poor furkids were wondering what the heck was going on. Billie was all excited that I was up around 4:30a.m., as that's when she usually is up and going (but she never bugs me to feed her that early...she's an angel about that!). And Simon didn't know if he should harass me for brekkies, or just quietly snuggle until it got closer to the usual breakfast time. Thankfully, he chose snuggling. :-)

So, I'm now left with trying to tip-toe the line between being medicated enough, yet not too limp, to go to my statistics class tonight.

Just...bleh.

Bob Keeshan, best known to generations of kids as "Captain Kangaroo", has died at age 76.

Captain Kangaroo was a huge part of my early childhood. His show was sweet and kind and gentle and just let us kids be kids, without the pressures to be hip or cool or feeling like we had to run around like mini-adults.

It's kind of surprising that he was so young. It seems like he's been around forever. Given the state of our world today, I find it incredibly sad when we lose a man who was the very definition of kindness.

Dick Cheney is truly delusional. He's asserting again that al Qaeda and Iraq were linked together...even though one of the masterminds of September 11 who is US custody, Kalid Shiekh Mohammed, has repeatedly told interrogators that al Qaeda refused to work with Saddam Hussein's regime because they viewed it as corrupt, and, even worse, secular.

Colin Powell himself has recently said that he's seen no "smoking gun evidence" of a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.

Yet, Cheney insists there is a link, based on the claims that Abdul Rachman Yasin, who was involved in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, was given a safe house in Iraq and allegedly put on the payroll. Well for crying out loud, Dick...by your logic, then you have to admit that there is a strong connection between the Bush family and al Qaeda AND the Bush family and Saddam Hussein, as Papa Bush had them both come through his CIA programs!

Regarding WMD's, here's a textbook example of murky-speak from Tricky Dicky: "We've found a couple of semi-trailers at this point which we believe were in fact part of (a WMD) program. I would deem that conclusive evidence, if you will, that he did in fact have programs for weapons of mass destruction." WTF? A tenuous at best connection to a program of WMD is not the same thing as those WMDs that Team Bush told us could easily reach targets on the US East Coast.

And, as I said, this is at best very flimsy evidence, especially since David Kay AND the late David Kelly have cast serious doubt on any sort of WMD/mobile WMD program.

Just because Team Bush implies a connection between Saddam and Osama bin Laden, it doesn't make it true. And just because Team Bush says a couple of flatbed trucks is conclusive evidence of a program of weapons of mass destruction, does not mean that Iraq has WMD's.

And the lies that Team Bush told Americans (and the world) have cost the lives of more than five hundred US soldiers and thousands of Iraqi citizens and untold numbers of wounded.

A British hiking magazine inadvertently edits out two very important bearings and prints a route that would lead hikers straight off the edge of Ben Nevis in Scotland.

No, not Munch's painting. Howard Dean's mad-as-hell-not-gonna-take-it-anymore-primal-scream.

Come on, America. Why is this still news? What is the big fat hairy deal here? So the guy honestly displays his emotion. Oh...it doesn't look presidential, is that it? Look, folks, Dean gets my respect because he's been the one honest candidate about one very important issue: The war on Iraq. The other candidates, who are now decrying US involvement in Iraq and how the US shouldn't have gone there, etc., etc....they all voted to go! Dean is one of the few Democrats who has not wavered--let alone flip-flopped--on the issue.

Memo to Dems: Rolling over and peeing yourself is NOT a "Patriotic" act.

How is it that Republicans have the reputation for being fiscally responsible and for small government? Because they just passed a very Big Government $373billion spending package.

Of course this package panders to Bush's Big Corporate special interests, by allowing companies to weasel out of paying their workers overtime. And he sweetens the deal for Conglomerate Media so they can own more television and radio stations.

And, true to form, the Democrats bared their teeth, then rolled over and peed on themselves (after all, they had to protect the bits that benefit THEIR constituencies, didn't they?).

The Mars Rover has stopped communicating with Earth. That's gotta be one hell of a bug ticket to be working on.

Ann Miller has left us. She succumbed to lung cancer today at the age of 81.

Most people think of her having a career mainly in musicals, but she did other interesting stuff, too. Like the wierd landlady in Mulholland Drive. And, one of my favourite old movies, Stage Door (with a very young Katherine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, and Ginger Rogers).

Years ago, I saw her when she toured with Mickey Rooney in the vaudeville tribute Sugar Babies. In person, I was really struck by what a vibrant, talented lady she is (was).

I would say, "Rest in Peace, Ann". But somehow, it doesn't seem that that would be her way. I suspect that wherever she is she's kicking up her heels. Ann, you will be missed...

Weak. Weak. WEAK.

The Democrats had the perfect opportunity to nail Bush to the wall on domestic affairs. Namely the economy and the realities of millions of Americans who are out of work (and have been for a very long time).

The Democrats had the perfect opportunity to nail Bush to the wall over the fact that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The Democrats had the perfect opportunity to nail Bush to the wall over the record deficit.

The Democrats had so many opportunities to nail Bush to the wall.

And they didn't.

The Democrats lost in 2000 because they didn't organise to make sure that there was no way Bush could be elected. The Democrats blew the California recall--TWICE--because they didn't take the threat seriously and didn't mobilise to defeat the effort before it got past the signature-gathering phase.

Have the Democrats just simply forgot how the game is played? Don't you think that if Newt Gingrich had the kind of information discrediting the Clinton Administration that Nancy Pelosi and Tom Daschle have against Team Bush, that Gingrich would have used it to beat Clinton's credibility to a bloody pulp?

If the Democrats don't get their shit together wit' a quickness, we're going to have four more years of Team Bush. That won't be good for Americans and it won't be good for the planet.

OK, let's be clear about this right off the hop: This was not SOTU address. This was a campaign speech. A campaign speech that he got aired in prime time and at no cost to the Republican Party (or their special interest groups).

"Defending America"
Ah, right out of the gate, he tries to sell the Americans on renewing the Patriot Act by trying to scare them. Understand this: There is absolutely nothing patriotic about allowing the US government spy on Americans who have nothing to do with terrorism or terrorists. And it completely un-American/anti-American to arrest American citizens and hold them indefinitely without charging them with a crime! (Actually, I extend that to arresting/holding anyone in this manner...it's wrong.)

"Regime Change"
What a masterful piece of revisionism! NOW, he's telling Americans that the reason the US invaded Iraq was to free the Iraqi people! I read a transcript of last year's SOTU address and it was all about how Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and was going to use them against the United States Any Time Now. So, because of that, we absolutely HAD to attack Iraq, ASAP! In last night's speech there was no mention of WMDs. No, wait! There was mention of WMDs. In Libya. And North Korea.

"Coalition of Nations"
Bush gave props to the "coalition of the billing"...those nations that gave military support to the US when Team Bush headed into Iraq. And he paid lip service to the men and women in the military...again, considering how his regime has tried to cut support to the families of military personnel serving in Iraq, how families of soldiers killed in Iraq get $12,000, while families of those killed at the World Trade Center get over $1 million, and on and on...just came across as more than a little cynical.

"Middle East Democracy"
Oh good grief! How flippin' presumptious of the Bush regime to go in and occupy Iraq (and Afghanistan), try to install his idea of a democracy (leaders beholden to Team Bush and therefore expected to do their bidding)...and to then turn around and call these people "free", or "liberated"! What if the people of Iraq or Afghanistan don't want a democracy? What if a western-style democratic government runs counter to the cultural beliefs of these people? As long as the US (and their coalition of the billing) occupy these countries, or hold the strings of the leaders Team Bush has installed there, these people are NOT liberated.

"The Economy"
Ah, the first place where he starts touting his tax cuts. You know, those cuts that, coupled with runaway spending on systems designed to obliterate the civil rights of Americans, have created trillions of dollars of deficit.

Oh, but people are spending those child credits and the average joe is spending those dollars and stimulating the economy. Uh...don't know what America he lives in, but my friends and neighbours have spent this "windfall" on rent and utilities and groceries. They're not buying "luxuries".

"Education"
His version of "No Child Left Behind", as it turns out, was not nearly as successful in Texas as he would have people believe. And, in fact, there is evidence of "cooking the books" in terms of dropout rates and scores. This program (on the national level) was rammed down the throats of school districts across America and almost immediately Team Bush renegged on the amount of funding they pledged to give to schools to implement the initiative. And teachers say, "no child left behind" is a misnomer because they're forced to educate to the tests, instead of to the child. That means that any child who has problems keeping up with her peers is just shit outta luck.

But Bush does want to provide more support to community colleges. That's nice, because the Governator is taking funding away with one hand, while shoving more students into our already overcrowded classrooms with the other hand.

"Tax Cuts"
Ah, but we knew he had to come back to this, didn't we? Well, disaster is about to happen to Americans all over because their tax cuts are about to expire. Well guess what? WE DON'T HAVE THE FECKIN' MONEY TO PAY FOR THESE TAX CUTS! And guess what else? Giving Corporate America tax breaks so they can outsource American jobs to India/China/Russia/some third-world nation does not help the US economy! When are these people going to figure it out that if they lay us all off--and our basic cost of living doesn't drop as significantly as our income does--we won't be able to afford the products these companies sell!

And his "illegal alien" initiative is a joke. It's Corporate pandering in alien amnesty clothing (but of course Bush insists this isn't amnesty of illegal aliens...just a bit of a reclassification). Bush gives flap-all about immigrants. This is yet another way for companies to hire people for unlivable wages. Let me be clear about this: Americans don't take those janitorial jobs or McDonalds jobs or such because they're "beneath" them. Americans don't take those jobs because they can't afford to work for minimum wage! California's minimum wage just went up to $8.50/hr. For a 40-hr work week that works out to $340/wk. and a bit over $1300/mo. Where in California can you raise a family on $1300 a month? I'm not sure I could even afford to live in my car for $1300/mo.

And Bush made no mention of his further assult on the American middle class (does it even exist anymore?)...by pushing labour legislation reclassifying who qualifies to be paid overtime. Bush's loosening of overtime rules means companies could make people work a virtually unlimited number of hours per week and not pay them for overtime. Yeah, that got left out of the SOTU...despite the fact that it is very fundamental to the state of Americans.

"Health Care"
This is where I gave up on the SOTU Drinking Game and hit the chocolate. His Medicare legislation will effectively cut off seniors from affordable health care. They'll only be allowed to purchase drugs from US companies (instead of buying them for much less money from Canada), and they won't be allowed to purchase supplementary health coverage to cover what Medicare won't.

And he decries universal (he calls it government-run) health care system...never mind that for millions of us, our "health plan" is praying to the diety of our choice every day that nothing goes wrong. Again, pretty damn cynical coming from someone who has "government" health care. Paid for by the tax payers. He doesn't ever have to worry about anything going wrong and having to choose between treating an illness or keeping a roof over his head. Thousands of Americans must make that decision every day.

"Drugs and Abstinence"
A.K.A. "Just Say No, the sequel". Of course we don't want our kids to do drugs, but what does an athlete on steroids have to do with little Poindexter becoming a crack head? Drug testing in schools...yes, little Poindexter. Big Brother has been watching you from a very young age (when you were a tiny tot, we called him Santa Claus...remember, he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been snorting coke, etc. etc.).

As for teen sex. Teens have been having sex since the beginning of human kind (of course in the beginning, the life expectancy wasn't much beyond the teens so time was of the essence). And, they're going to keep having sex. It is a nice idea that they don't have sex until they're "emotionally mature" enough. But, shit, I know 40+ year olds who haven't achieved that yet. Teach children sex education so they can make informed decisions about their lives and bodies. What kind of parent or teacher would just hide the drain cleaner in the cupboard and hope the kids don't find it and hurt themselves?

"Marriage"
Well, I went into this already a few days ago. After campaigning that states should be allowed to make decisions without federal interference, Bush now is pissed off at "Activist Judges" who are ruling in favour of gay marriage. And he tiptoed right up to the line of supporting a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.

"Church is State"
Bush wants to allow faith-based charities to have access to federal funding because they're being discriminated against...but they do so much for their communities. It sounds nice on its surface...but wait until the Buddhists or Wiccans or Pagans apply for federal grant money to help out in their communities.

At the end of his speech he trotted out the "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter. OK, I'm being a bit too cynical myself now. It was a very sweet letter from a 10-year-old girl from Rhode Island. But by this point in the speech, I was out of two-buck-chuck wine AND the chocolate, so I was more than a little cranky.

But I do take issue with Bush's assertion that The cause we serve is right, because it is the cause of all mankind. This cause, being freedom. Or, more accurately, Team Bush's definition of freedom (because, remember, while occupying Iraq, Bush insists that Iraqis are free).

~~~~~~~~
And there we have it. I want to give full props to BBC News, who had the transcript of the speech up on the web and easily located in Google long before I could find it on US websites. I've pretty much gone with their outline and headings (I'm assuming it was their headings and not included in the print out Dubya had of his speech).

Bella was returned to the Humane Society this afternoon and is now home with her family.

This is really great news, despite the fact that there's a 10-year-old girl who is likely feeling might low right now. And I hope that someone in the community comes through and makes sure she gets the companion that she supposedly had saved up her money to get.

Still, there are so many...gaps...in the Human Society's stories that I'm having trouble reconciling. Like Bella not being where her owners or their friends and neighbours could identify her. Although the president of the SVSPCA denies it, I've wondered since the story broke if the people who adopted Bella weren't somehow connected to the agency...either employees or friends of employees or something.

And the SVSPCA claims that the family who adopted Bella had been on vacation and just came home to the tidal wave of media attention and allegedly had no idea this was going on. Yet, a local talk show host spoke to the president of the SVSPCA yesterday and she told him she had spoken to the family and they had refused to return Bella. So, which is it?

And, if the family was so damn attached to Bella, why did they go on vacation and leave her (the story was they were on vacation and Bella had been sleeping on the little girl's bed for four days)?

There are just too many gaps here. But I am glad Bella is home where she belongs.

The story of Bella, the Golden Retriever, just breaks my heart.

Now, arguments can be made that the yard should have been more secure and that Bella should have been wearing her tags. But 1) Dogs are clever and persistent and can escape from the most secured yard. I know. I had Boston Terriers who, every so often, got the wanderlust and got out. And this was after my mom had built a 6ft fence...then poured concrete along the bottom so they couldn't dig their way out. They still found a way out...but we never could find their escape route. And 2) I don't know about Bella, but my dogs (and my cats) hated their collars and the tags. The tags would clank against their food and water bowls and drive them nuts. So the collars came off at home. Luckily, my dogs never wandered far and we found them, usually within an hour.

I'm not so sure I'm willing to let the Humane Society off the hook on this one. The owner and her husband and their neighbours and friends made trips to the SPCA and they claim that Bella was never "on display", or available for them to identify her. Also, this SPCA claims that it's a five-day maximum waiting period, per state law...but my understanding of this law is that five days is the minimum waiting period (I could be wrong on this, I need to research this more). Something just doesn't sound right, here.

But, the mother of the 10-year-old girl who got Bella for her birthday...my stars, what kinds of values is this woman instilling in her child? Bella's owner has offered to get the family another golden retriever, but this woman refuses, saying that her daughter has bonded with Bella. Well, if the little girl had bonded that quickly with Bella, surely she would bond as quickly with another dog. And I'll go one step further and say that this bonding could not have taken place if the mother had agreed to return Bella to her owner instead of taking her home (the original owner found Bella in a holding pen waiting to be spayed before going to the "new home"). This woman has the opportunity to teach her child about fairness and justice and compassion. Instead, her daughter is getting a lesson in cruelty and selfishness. The mother doesn't seem to care who gets hurt in this situation--and ultimately it's her daughter who will be hurt the most.

And, what about poor Bella? This dog has gone from wandering her neighbourhood, to being locked in a shelter, to being spayed (a very major operation for a girl dog), to being sent to a strange home! A series of traumas like this can do serious damage to a dog's psyche and personality.

There is a great likelihood that, if this goes to court (and it sure looks like that's exactly where it's headed), Bella will be returned to her original owner. And, if that happens, not only does this little girl lose her dog, but she and her family are "outed" (well, they probably will be outed soon, regardless) and will be subject to ridicule within the community (remember how cruel children can be to each other?).

So far, the mother of this little girl has behaved abominably. But, it's not too late for her to teach her daughter the value of fairness and justice and compassion...and the little girl would get a new dog that's all her own in the deal. Return Bella to her real home and everyone wins.

Let the issue wind up in the courts, and even if the little girl gets to keep Bella, she'll lose.

Of course, I brought out the bottle of Two Buck Chuck...no sense wasting the good stuff on Dubya.

It is my sincerest hope that this is the last year that this web page is needed.

Veggies are wilting
I know! I'll make lentil soup
Wish I had carrots

Today, he skated with his team for the first time since the car crash that beat him up pretty good both physically and emotionally.

It does my heart good to see how his teammates, the Atlanta Thrashers' fans, and hockey fans in general (not to mention Dan Snyder's family) are supporting Heatley.

His next, and likely most emotionally difficult, challenge will be pulling on the Thrashers sweater and taking the ice as a member of the Thrashers' lineup for the first time (which could be in a little less than a month from now). But, if he's made it this far, I think he'll be all right, given the support he has.

So Bush, in Atlanta for a $2 million fundraiser, commits a "drive-by wreathing", at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s tomb.

Considering how much his regime has done to demolish our Constitution, how much he's obliterated the civil rights of American citizens, how his regime has renegged on its pledge to introduce legislation to end racial profiling, how many more middle class Americans (a large percentage of which have dark skin) his economic policies have plunged into poverty...it's exceedingly cynical and a damned insult to the memory of Dr. King.

Now, before you Bush apologists complain that he'd be damned if he did and damned if he didn't, let me ask you...do you honestly (and I mean honestly) expect people to believe that he would have turned up at Dr. King's tomb if he hadn't been in town to raise money for his re-election? Especially considering he hasn't bothered to visit Dr. King's tomb the three previous years of his presidency.

And, I'm just guessing that, by stopping off at Dr. King's tomb, he can charge that fundraising trip to the American taxpayers, and the Republican party won't have to foot the bill for it.

Oh, and there were protesters there booing Bush and chanting at him to leave, that he wasn't welcome there. Not surprisingly--but in yet another kick in the balls to the memory of Dr. King--those protesters were shunted off into what is disgustingly called a "free-speech zone", where the president wouldn't have to see/hear them.

Here's the story in the UK's Guardian. Interestingly enough, there seems to be little coverage of it here on the "big" US news sites.

So Team Bush is flogging an initiative that allegedly promotes "healthy marriages". This election-year pandering to the fundamentalist religious right would cost tax payers $1.5 billion (yes, billion). Of course, the theme of this is "protecting the sanctity of marriage". Which means only "traditional" (man/woman) couples may apply. You know, Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Because gay marriage is an abomination, dont'cha know!

Now wait just a rock-pickin' minute!

Recently, Britney Spears went on a drunken binge in Vegas, married her childhood buddy (and they went to a great deal of trouble for this so-called spontaneous "joke" because they needed to get the paperwork sorted). Then immediately had the marriage anulled. Does that not fly in the face of the most solemn institution of marriage? Britney Spears and her little buddy treat marriage as a joke, and yet, the religious right is silent on the subject. Where is their moral outrage over this blatant disrespect for the institution of marriage?

And, don't look to prime time TV to show us how to respect marriage! Not when we have shows like, "The Bachelor", "The Bachelorette", "Joe Millionaire", "Who Wants to Marry A Millionaire" and on and on and on. Respecting the sanctity of marriage? They've turned marriage into a bloody game show! Where is the respect for the sanctity of marriage?!? And again, where is the outrage from the religious right?

And Team Bush? They give flap-all about this particularly demeaning treatment of the holy institution of marriage. FCC Chairman Michael Powell (a Bush appointee) is too busy trying to get the FCC to punish NBC for not bleeping out Bono's naughty word. It boggles the mind that letting the "f-word" slip out is considered obscene, but some totally lame show where a bunch of women whore themselves for a million dollars and a televised wedding is not?

The primary purposes of this $1.5 billion initiative (-cough-boondoggle-cough) are to find yet another way to remove single parents (primarily mothers) from the welfare rolls and to deny gays and lesbians the right to marry (or form legally-recognized unions). Team Bush gives flap-all about whether or not Americans live in "healthy marriages"...other than the fact that more marriages might help broaden the tax base (don't forget that "marriage penalty" that the IRS imposes). If Team Bush really had any interest whatsoever in healthy marriages/healthy families, that $1.5 billion would be invested in parenting education/support.

Woodland Park Hospital is closing down. At the time I was born, my mom was living at home with grandpa. He had gone in for knee surgery, then mom went in to have me. So our entire household was at Woodland Park at the same time! The staff would wheel me down to visit my mom, then wheel me down the other way to visit grandpa.

Kinda sad...

Three young men who went streaking through a Denny's restaurant in Spokane, WA watch as a thief steals their getaway car...with their clothes inside!

Well, the temp agency I signed up at on Monday really seem to like me. They have an admin and a techie wing and both sides have kept a steady dialogue with me this week. And I did so well on the Excel 2000 test that I got to take the Microsoft Office Specialst Certification exam. So, I'm now MS Certified (as opposed to Certifiable). So, hopefully, things are looking up on the job front. Now, if I could just track down some of those past supervisors of mine...

Unfortunately, Simon's little adventure to the vet's office yesterday set us back $63! Thirty-eight for the exam, then the vet wanted to do a test to make sure he didn't have parasites (he doesn't). She also wanted to do a blood screen (to see if there was any indication there as to why he suddenly wants to eat the Swheat Scoop), but I put the brakes on that. Those blood panels leap into the triple-digits really fast and I don't have that kind of money. The vet said I seemed to be doing everything right, in terms of trying to redirect is behaviour when he tries to eat the kitty litter (I know, I know...EWWWWW!). And she was very pleased that I got his weight down. He was nearly 16 lbs. last year...and we got the lecture and had to cut back on the kibbles. Yesterday he weighed in at a very svelte 11 pounds, 7 ounces.

So, school starts up again tomorrow, and...ROFLMAO! Right after I type how wonderful Simon's "diet" is working, he comes over and presents me with his kibble scoop! Sorry, pal...the kitchen is closed!

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah...tomorrow I start with the speech class, and I may pop my head in to the watercolour class to say "hi", even though the Hernandezes usually have us returning students show up a couple of weeks into the term. What I really need to take is their drawing classes. I know that I could avoid so many of the technical mistakes I make in my paintings if I could just get a handle on drawing.

I think the battery on my cell phone is packing it in. It doesn't seem to want to hold a charge for more than 8 hours. It's only six months old, too. Feh! A new battery costs nearly as much as a new cell phone, too. Grrrrrr!

Oy, I think someone needs a nap!

Forgive me if I'm a little weepy this evening. The Love of my Hockey Life, Cam Neely, had his #8 retired at the Fleet Center in Boston this evening.

I knew Cam was gonna be Something Special when he was a 17-year-old playing his junior hockey for the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL. A lot of the "hockey heads" in Portland touted Kenny Yaremchuk as the player to break out in the NHL, but when I saw Cam, I saw a player who was big, who actually could skate*, about as tough as they come, and he could score goals. (*Throughout Cam's career, I always could spot him on the ice without even seeing a sweater number...just looking at the way he skated, I could spot him.) And, he was a big, sweet, goofy kid that I was immediately smitten with!

The good news was Vancouver drafted him, so he'd be close to home (he's from Comox, B.C.). The bad news was, Vancouver drafted him. And didn't really know what to do with him. So he spent part of his rookie year back in Portland, then got called up to Vancouver, but still didn't play much. He was used mostly in that tough-guy role.

June 6, 1996: Cam's 21st birthday and he is traded to the Boston Bruins. June 7, 1996: I read the transactions in the newspaper and see that Cam Neely was traded from Vancouver to Boston and let out a whoop that was heard all over Portland! My favourite player (along with Ray Bourque), going to the team I love most in all of sport! And I knew that this was an organization that would know what to do with him (after all, they had the likes of Eddie Shore and Terry O'Reilly)!

At first, he played angry and fought...a lot. Who could blame him? His father was diagnosed with brain cancer not long after Cam went to Boston, and here he was a continent away (he lost both his parents to cancer shortly after he came to Boston). Part-way into Cam's first season with the "Broons", Terry O'Reilly was named head coach. He saw everything that Cam was and everything he could be. He convinced Cam that he was even more valuable to the team on the ice than he was in the penalty box. He basically told him, "be tough, but pick your battles". And when Mike Milbury became the Bruins next head coach, he gave Cam the same advice.

Cam took the advice to heart...and made himself into the prototypical "power forward" in hockey. He never backed down from a hit, or a fight, and managed a couple of 50-goal seasons, including one season where he scored 50 goals in just 44 games (a feat topped only by Wayne Gretzky who scored 50/39). At the height of his career, you just felt it--whenever Cam Neely took his shift, something BIG was going to happen on the ice. Big hit. Big fight. Big goal.

Then came the dirty hit by Ulf Samuelsson. The more "objective journalist" would call the hit "questionable", but there is no question in my mind. It was a damn, dirty hit. I won't say much more about Ulf Samuelsson because I have nothing good to say about him. Players like him cheapen the sport. It took the better part of two years for Cam to recover from Samuelsson's hit, but the damage was done and it was permanent. A deep thigh bruise turned into a calcification (roughly the size of a brick!), injuries that left the knees wonky, and the eventual career killer: the hip injury.

5 September, 1996: Cam Neely tearfully announces his retirement from hockey. But it wasn't the way he had planned to go out...and it hurt like hell. It hurt to see how much it was hurting him. He wasn't finished with hockey yet, and a couple years later tried to make a comeback. But the hip just wouldn't let him. And he announced his retirement again. Only this time, he was mostly at peace with it.

Cam Neely found life after hockey. He married and had two children. He opened the Cam Neely House, a place for families of cancer patients to stay during cancer treatments, opened in memory--and honour--of his parents.

He has earned his place in the rafters next to Eddie Shore, Dit Clapper, Phil Esposito, Terry O'Reilly, John Bucyk, Lionel Hitchman, Milt Schmidt, Bobby Orr and Raymond Bourque. And I'll even argue that he's earned a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

But, then, I'm biased... ;-)

I don't think there are many creatures on the Earth that can relax the way a cat can.

They sleep the way I imagine I would sleep, if I didn't have things to worry about. Like keeping a roof over our heads and kibbles in the dishes, or have I impressed this person because maybe they can hook me up with a job, or would the guy I like like me back if I was skinny, or can I get my car to run all right until I have a job and can afford to fix it up properly, or I need to take Simon to the vet but have no idea how I'll pay for it.

Ah, to be a cat with so light a conscience that "unconsciousness" could just envelop me, like the warmest, softest, blanket.

How is it that every administration that a member of the Bush family is involved in commits (and gets away with) such disgusting and horrible crimes? Under the guise of security, the current White House Regime captures people but can't be bothered to get around to actually charging them with a crime. They hold them in isolation--they just "disappear", leaving frantic families wondering where they are or if they're still alive.

Or, in Maher Arar's case, they are sent to foreign countries to be tortured.

I will never be ashamed of being an American...but this is the most shameful and disgusting administration I've ever seen.

Fall term grades:

Physical Geography: A
Physical Geography Lab: A
Anthropology: A (a nice surprise as I thought I'd slipped to a B here)
Algebra: A

This, from someone who was traditionally a straight-D student in maths and sciences (in fact, it took me three tries with algebra just to get out of high school).

Whew! Now to get ready for Spring term (spring?!?), which cranks up next week.

A guy in Olympia, WA goes away on a trip. He lets a friend use his apartment while he's away. The friend invites a few more friends over. They party...and wrap the guy's entire apartment in tin foil! Even the toilet paper! Unrolled it, foiled it, then re-rolled it.

This prank gets "10's" all across the board. Originality, degree of complexity, thoroughness, the guffaw factor...there is much I can learn from Luke Trerice (if he's accepting apprentices)!

Not surprisingly, a judge has ordered that Scott Peterson's murder trial be moved from Stanislaus County (where Modesto is) because of all the pre-trial publicity. Presumably, because of this pre-trial publicity, he wouldn't get a "fair trial" in Stanislaus County.

First: Scott Peterson is largely responsible for much of the publicity surrounding this case. He's been "vilified"? He seemed to have gone out of his way to make himself look guilty. From telling a not-very-believable story at the start, to appearing to be ready to leave the country--with a new hair colour and his brother's identification--when he was arrested. Oh, and messing around with another woman, or trading in his "missing" wife's car to buy himself a new truck...Of course, I couldn't vote to convict him just because I think he's a jerk.

Second: Here's the story about the trial relocation...from the Los Angeles Times! Folks, this is at the top of their website this afternoon...just below the "major" story of the Blackhawk helicopter crash in Fallujah. Los Angeles is a little over 300 miles from Modesto, as the crow flies. This story has been all over Fox, CNN, MSNBC, you name it. I communicate daily with people all over the world, most of whom are very familiar with this case. This story is everywhere!

So tell me, where isn't there going to be a great deal of publicity? Of course, the networks had fingers crossed it would be moved to LA...that would save them so much money in terms of not having to send teams to remote locales. Alas, it looks like their choices are all in the Bay Area: Santa Clara, San Mateo or Alameda counties. Thankfully, for Laci's family, it's a reasonable distance to Modesto, so attending the trial shouldn't be too much of a hardship for them (all things considered). Hopefully, the networks have fully-staffed bureaus in San Francisco. Hotel rates around here are a real beeyotch.

Personally, I can't wait to hear what Mark Gerragos comes up with next. He's so far tried everything except space aliens abducting and killing Laci and their unborn child. Bring the trial on, already! If for no other reason, because Laci's family needs to close this chapter and really let the healing begin.

OK, here's something I totally don't get. Why is it that whenever some people complain about their work conditions, other people immediately jump down their throat with, "At least YOU have a job!" As if, because times are tough, these people aren't allowed to complain about their work environment.

As I've mentioned a few times, I was laid off my job (that on many days, absolutely sucked) in March, 2002. Even now, when I'm really scratching for money, I would never try to silence someone who complained about their boss, or that a client was being a jerk, or a co-worker was being an idiot. I mean, what, it's only okay to complain about your work environment when we're ALL fat and happy? Sorry, but that's just really fucked up.

I have a very good friend who has a job that pays very well (and they get stock options and profit sharing too, I believe). To hear some of the stories about my friend's workplace (a Very Big Company in Silicon Valley), I have to wonder if they recruit whack-jobs...or create them. Because it sounds like my friend is one of a very small group of highly-functioning people there, sometimes.

Even talking to former co-workers at my old job...they complain about the same old stupidity and shenanigans that went on when I was still at the company...yet I've never even thought that these people should just be glad they still have their jobs and should shut up.

I had a job, briefly, at a place which shall not be named at this time. In this economy, it's called a "survival job," but I defy anyone to survive in the Bay Area on a part time job that pays $8/hr. Or at least survive with anything that resembles "quality of life." And there were days when it was damn hard to be there, but I put on that "Disney" charm, and gutted it out. Sometimes I felt really horrible about myself for selling myself--in terms of my skills and experience--out for an unlivable wage. Sometimes my co-workers were difficult to deal with (and I guarantee you, they felt the same way about me...because that's just the nature of the workplace).

Sometimes the owner bitched me and my co-workers out and got hysterical about things that just didn't require a hysterical reaction. In fact, I ended up quitting because in one of her fits of fire breathing, she accused me of theft (using company computers and work time to work on my own website). It was patently FALSE and I challenged her to provide the proof to support her claim. After all, she had monitoring software in the computer that would catch me out if I really was doing my own personal stuff on it. And she had five or six cameras in that tiny shop, so just about everywhere anyone went, they were on camera. She refused to provide any proof (because she had none...because I didn't do it, duh!) and she refused to apologise to me for making such a heinous--not to mention false--accusation. So I quit. And I'm not sorry that I did, because there are certain kinds of abuse I just will not tolerate...and that no one should ever feel that they must tolerate.

As for the customers at that job, most of them were awesome, but a few of them were real doozies! And if it were my shop, I'd invite those doozies to take their business elsewhere, because they were customers that actually cost the shop money!

And you know what? I had every right to complain about all that now that I had when the dot-com boom was happening and we all had steady work were well-fed on big paychecks (and some on stock options--which I never got, actually) and working 60-80 hour weeks. Just like my friends and co-workers have a right to complain about what's going on at their workplace.

Sometimes, work just sucks whether the economy is booming or bleeding. And if I've stuffed my empathy in the back of the freezer when my friends could use a good kvetch session, then I'm not much of a friend.

The times, they are mucho stressful. So tonight I made my ultimate comfort food: Risotto Milanese. Risotto is actually pretty easy to make--you just have to stand and stir for what starts to feel like an eternity (but it's only about 20 minutes). Luckily, I had a few precious saffron threads left in the pantry, and, funds being tight, I have a stash of rice (including a box of Abrorio that I was very happy to find) that I'm making my way through.

I ate two bowls of it, and I still have a vat of it left! I'll freeze some of it to have once school cranks up again (or...dare I hope...have it to take to work).

Pete Rose now admits that he gambled on baseball. I've been a fan of Rose for a long, long time, but I'm finding the timing of this admission a little tough to take.

In his autobiography, Pete Rose: My Story (1989), he denied betting on baseball. Now, in his new book, My Prison Without Bars, he says he did it. But never AGAINST his team...as if that somehow makes it all right (or at least less wrong). Understandably, baseball historian Roger Kahn (who co-wrote Pete Rose: My Story with Rose), is feeling like he was made a fool of by Rose. Kahn says he "must have asked Pete 20 times, 'Did you bet on baseball?' He would look at me, blink his eyes and say, 'I didn't bet baseball. I have too much respect for the game.' "

Rose indicates that he's wanted to come clean for years but couldn't find anyone to confess to that could "help" him. I'm guessing that by the word "help" he means "get (him) reinstated in baseball". And, to be honest, that's not the reason I was hoping to hear from him. I wish it didn't bother me so much that his apparently sole reason (or at least his main reason) for admitting to gambling is so that he can be reinstated...incidentally, he has one more shot at the Hall of Fame (at least on the writers' ballots) and that's in December 2005. But it does bother me.

I guess something else that bothers me is that he pretty much DID admit to it when he accepted his lifetime ban in 1989. Given that he has steadfastly denied gambling in the nearly 15 years since his ban, why would he have accepted such a punishment if they didn't have the goods on him? If the reason that he didn't admit to gambling was because he thought they'd ban him for life...well when they did ban him for life, why not just admit to it then? Why would anyone want to carry around that karmic burden for fifteen years?

And that's what it really comes down to, IMO. Pete Rose could have simply admitted to gambling, apologised to MLB and to the players and to the fans for gambling--and for lying about it for so long--and then he could have just said, "hey, I'd love to be reinstated back into baseball, but I'm just saying all of this now so I can put it all behind me. If they reinstate me, I'd be delighted because I feel I have something positive to contribute to baseball, but if they don't, I'll move on with my life."

Instead, he seems to be complaining that once he confessed to Commissioner Bud Selig, he thought he'd be reinstated, "within a reasonable period." He complains that he was told that if he would just admit betting on baseball then "all would be forgiven". But does he reject forgiveness, if that forgiveness doesn't come bundled with reinstatement (or at least reinstatement before the December 2005 HOF balloting)?

I've long called for Rose's reinstatement: To be quite honest, I've thought for a long time that the punishment was a bit too severe for the crime. I've talked to some baseball fans over the years who are very passionate about this and say that if Major League Baseball reinstates Pete Rose, they'll never watch another game. I try to think, given my passion for hockey, "what if they caught Wayne Gretzky betting on hockey, would I support a lifetime ban against him?" and I keep coming back to, "No". (And I don't particularly like Gretzky!) I think banning Rose from baseball for five or ten years would have gotten the message across (provided that ban came with an admission of betting on baseball). Then, let him back in and if he bets again, make it a lifetime ban.

Still, that said, I am greatly disappointed in his attitude at this point. I wish I could afford a copy of his book when it comes out this week, so I can see if he really is a bit more contrite and a little less, "baseball owes me" about the situation than recent interviews (and his book title, for that matter) indicate.

Aye! WetCanvas is down for a few days while they get it set for a re-launch! It's one of the best online communities going...and I'm missing it already.

Of course, maybe this means I'll actually get more work done. ;-)

Can't wait to see the "new" site!

It's been cold around here lately! (And this is coming from someone who doesn't get cold...) The report says it's 45 out now, but it feels colder than that to me. There's another freeze advisory out for the area, too. Crikey, if it's gonna be this cold, then it should just snow so at least it would be cold AND interesting!

The last couple of nights, it's gotten to the point where I've shut off the bedroom and, to the extent I can, the bathroom (the furkids litter box lives in the bathroom, so I can't cut off their access to it). And Simon and I have been kipping on the couch, much to Billie's displeasure.

But it just makes more sense to try to keep just the one room reasonably comfortable for sleeping. Speaking of which, I'm going to turn up the heat just a bit and try to take the chill off the living room before we retire for the night. (And have another cup of tea...)

For all you cat lovers out there, yes I am aware that chocolate/cocoa is very toxic for cats (and dogs). I did some reading on it last night and while at first it worked me into a major knot of worry, I ran the numbers (how many ounces v. weight of cat). Since Simon weighs anywhere from 13-16 pounds, a few slurps--especially of the cheap stuff I mix with water--shouldn't do any harm. At worst, I could expect him to have diarrhea, and that would have, ahem, shown up by now. In fact, it's been well over 24 hours and he's the same ol' Simon...no change at all.

Well, one change: I now enjoy my hot chocolate from my commuter mug (it's got a lid!).

...he sure knows how to seize an opportunity!

I was talking to Billie and giving her ear-scritchies. I left my mug of hot chocolate unattended for, oh, 15 seconds, then I heard, "slurp!slurp!slurp!slurp!" and turned around. Sure enough, there was Simon blissing out on hot chocolate! I just hope it doesn't make him sick. Chocolate isn't supposed to be good for cats...I'll keep an eye on him, but I suspect he's got a pretty hearty system that can handle a few slurps of cocoa.

Now, what I'd like to know is, how did I end up with a cat who is so much like ME?!?

It's a chilly, blustery, rainy start to 2004 here on Planet Vicster. Still better than the snow they've been getting at my old stomping grounds.

The cats let me have a bit of a sleep in this morning, but I could still do with a snooze. Must be the weather. When it's cold and dark and blech outside, it doesn't motivate me to do much more than that--or curl up with a book. Even Simon and Billie are happily snoring away.

I'm hoping my friends made it either safely to a nice hotel on the Oregon Coast to ring in the New Year, or that they made it safely home. Those roads in Oregon look like they're getting worse by the hour (except on the coast, which looks like it's just getting a lot of rain).

{{shudder}} Time for another cuppa--and another pair of socks!