June 2002 Archives
Rain, rain and more glorious rain. It's almost July and the temperature is in the seventies - I love it.
We didn't have too many chores planned for this weekend. We managed to do some wedding stuff (and I finally added more info to the wedding site).
This morning, we had a nice hike in the Walnut Creek park - partly to make up for the fact that Jennifer didn't get to go on her bike ride due to the rain. The water was too high for us to cross the creek, but Homer had fun swimming close to the shore. And the rain stopped for the couple of hours we were out.
This weekend we also saw two movies, Undercover Brother and the Bourne Identity. I really enjoyed Undercover Brother - it's a mix of Shaft and Austin Powers and, well, very amusing. I even got to learn about some stereotypes I was not aware of (mayonnaise). I liked Bourne Identity, too - fast paced and in places I've been to and in languages I understand. I noticed a couple of inconsistencies, though. Like a TGV train in Switzerland and a shop sign in Czech in Zurich - they shot parts of it in Prague, although none of the movie takes place there.
Slate has a well researched and informative article on banana peeling. Should it be done from the tip or from the stem? I am happy to report that my method (from the tip) is more economical than the "traditional" (at least in America) method.
Next, how to properly install a roll of toilet paper...
So I get back from lunch with Addie and he notices a gift basket on the reception table. As we're passing by, he takes a look at the card and says it's for me. Yeah right, I figure, but then sure enough, the card has my name on it. So my first reaction is that I've missed some sort of anniversary and that it's from Jennifer. But all I can think of is that we started dating in February and got engaged in October and it's June, so I don't think I have missed anything.
I open the card an it says "100 Days and Counting. Love, Jfer". Yup, that's my little lady allright - is she cool or what!?!
Of course, if I end up looking fat in the wedding pictures it's going to be her fault, 'cause this is one big gift basket :-)
When I drive to work, I make a U-turn over the Steck overpass to get to my office. Invariably I get to wait at the Steck light, although traffic usually moves fairly briskly. Almost always there is a panhandler trying to score some money - they tend to hang out there for a week and then someone else takes over.
Today was different. As I was approaching, I noticed a bespectacled, graying, portly gentleman in slacks, a blue button down shirt (slightly damp on the back), and a tie walking by the cars with a picket sign. Was he protesting? Campaigning? Predicting approaching doom or proclaiming grace? As I got close enough I read his sign: "Certified Unix Administrator, Experienced with Windows, etc."
Has it really come down to this? Unix Admins looking for jobs on street corners? It looked legit, although in my life I have never seen a Unix admin wearing a tie before - so maybe it was a sign of the apocalypse, after all.
We had another swim lesson this morning - 7:15 AM on saturday is harsh! We went over "sculling" which is what you do with your hands during your free style stroken. I can now understand how freestylers can make so much progress with their strokes. Now I only need to reproduce it and get my fitness up, right?
As we were leaving, Dan's (our coach) school students arrived for their workout. Their "warm up" laps are about the same distance as what I'm supposed to be swimming in the triathlon...
We recently learned that Shari is back in town from California so ve invited her over for dinner last night since we had not seen her in such a long time - and were hoping to get her as a DJ for our wedding. We also wanted to meet her six month old, Lucy.
The dinner turned out well, although I put too much seasoning on the blackened fish, and it was nice to be catching up. Shari is back at the same company she was lawyering before she and Sean moved to California (I never thought about the fact that being licenced as a attorney in one state does not mean you can practice law in another state). Lucy is one happy little baby - all bright eyes and big smiles. She reminds me of a little female Nolan -we should hook them up early :-)
Shari is going to DJ our wedding - and she's even going to do it as a wedding present to us! We now need to come up with some good thank you gift for her - maybe Jennifer can give her a book of baby sitting coupons?
I have started training for the swim portion of the Dilloman Triathlon. I think it's going to be 800 meters of pain and suffering.
Jennifer signed us up for semi-private training which consists of eight 45 minute sessions. We've been to one already and the other people in the class are women triathletes. The teacher is the swim coach from St. Stephen's. Needless to say, most of the other participants swim better than me and they all are definitely in much better shape. Still, the first lesson was very helpful and I'm looking forward to the coming ones as well. I have also discovered that there are muscles (lacking) that I apparently never used. Like in my shoulders.
I have also been to the Northwest Pool a couple of time and I'll probably end up swimming three times a week (including the lessons). So far I have a hard time doing freestyle for a measly 50 m length without running out of breath (I can do it OK with breast stroke). I'm envious watching the other people cruising by without any obvious effort. So I flounder and choke and pant and hope that things will improve.
I use a modified version of DotComments for my blog's comments and it sends me an email, along with a link to the archived post, whenever someone adds a commnent. Usually it's friends and family commenting on recent posts, but there are exceptions. A comment to my Pearls Before Swine post, for example, came from the (ego surfing?) author of the comic strip that I was lauding; this particular comment came about a week after my post.
The most bizzare long-after-the-fact comments, though, are to a couple of posts I wrote over a year ago. The first one was about planing to go visit a dog trainer and commenting on their web site. The other was about my visit to the trainer and deciding it wasn't a good match for us. Someone (the website's designer) posted a comment more than six months after I wrote the original posts. And then yesterday, another person wrote a (unintentionally) funny and defensive comment to one of the posts.
I'm sure that they found that page because Google brings it up if you search for the trainer's company. But I find it weird that they'd bother with old stuff that noone was every going to read. Of course, now that I've brought it up again...
We had a very nice weekend in Ft. Worth. We left Austin after noon on Saturday and didn't make it to Jennifer's dad's until after six. Still, that gave us enough time to enjoy his wonderful pool. Homer had a blast playing with Duke and both of them joined us in the water. It reminded me that Homer needs his nails trimmed - his dog paddling left numerous scratch marks on my back. Sure, it garners impressed stares at the public pool, but who needs that kind of stuff?
On Sunday we had a very nice late lunch at which Danny and Joanna joined in as well. I enjoyed talking with them and picking at Danny and his political ambitions. I must say I really like Joanna - she'd make a great pupeteer if Danny were to get elected and her policies would make more sense to me, too :-)
On the way back from Ft. Worth we went through wedding planning and nailed down the caterer. We also finished comparing our Marriage Prep Scantrons (the portion that we have filled out so far) and matched up pretty much on every question.
It was Luciana's birthday yesterday and Doug wanted to take her Salsa dancing. It started off at the on 6th Street, where we met to hear Bakin's Brownies since the lead singer is a friend of the Chris/Bekki/Doug Georgetown group. They also had some more old highschool friends with them, including another musician, Beth Wood, although she did not perform.
The music was pretty good, although we were a bit too close to the speakers and I thought the instruments were too loud for the vocals (but I usually feel that instruments are overamplified). The service, hower, sucked big time. It took at least half an hour before we even got a glass of water and food took even longer. And it wasn't like the place was packed.
Afterwards we went for a stroll around 6th Street, which I haven't done in ages. I don't know, maybe it's because it's summer and UT's out or maybe everyone now hangs out in the Warehouse District, but it seemed like all the "beautiful people" were gone and 6th Street felt tired and passe.
We ended up at Miguel's and I got to do a couple of Salsas and a Maringue with Jennifer. I actually outlasted Jennifer - it must be because I'm a triathlete in training :-) The crowd at Miguel's is always fun to watch and there always some amazing dancers there. Apparently JenBen now teaches there, too, since here name was on the Powerpoint slides that they projected when the band was not on.
On my way home from work yesterday, I got to experience the cliche of being a bicyclist chased by a dog. Some guy was walking his blue heeler and the dog slipped the leash and went after me. He actually bit my shoe and had he been able to keep up with me, I most certainly would have to have kick him away.
As it was, no harm was done. Still that's yet another antisocial blue heeler that I've met. Our neighbors have a nice pair, but their pups turned out to be a bunch of mean punks. It's too bad when people don't invest the time to train and socialize their dogs.
After finishing their Danskin, Jennifer and Meredith now decided to do the Dilloman Triathlon in July. Good for them, I say. Well, then they decided that it would be great if their SOs participated, too! So now under duress Michael and I, along with Doug, signed up as the triathlon relay team "Flab". I'm doing the swim, Doug is biking and Michael's is doing the run.
I don't know if I've ever swam 800m at once (that's half a mile for the metrically challenged). For me it's a long distance and currently I can only do freestyle for short distances. I could swim doing the breast stroke, but it sure sound like a lot of work. So in the coming weeks, I'll be likely training for my swim and hopefully getting some coaching to be able to do it using the crawl.
War, n. - Miriam Webster has two main definitions
- a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations
- a struggle or competition between opposing forces or for a particular end
So now we are waging war against terrorism and I wonder whether it is figurative or literal. Obviously it does not fit the first definition above, since it is not an "armed or hostile conflict between states or nations". The second definition seems more fitting, but that's not how it's being sold to us. Bush is touting himself as a "war president" (almost always a bonus at the polls), questioning the administration is unpatriotic and civil liberties are being taken away because "we're at war".
It's the last one that I really find disturbing. It's one thing to be shuttling Taliban prisoners of to Guantanamo - although it may seem hypocritical and may violate the Geneva Convention, I don't think the US constitutional rights apply to foreign nationals. What bothers me is when American citizens' constitutional rights are vicariously taken away under the guise of "war".
A couple of days ago, Ashcroft announced during a press conference in Moscow (?!?) that a month ago the US had arrested and alleged al Quaida terrorist who plotted to build and detonate a radiological "dirty" bomb. The man, Al Mujahir, born as Jose Padilla, is an American citizen with a shady past and apparent contacts in Pakistan. The US constitution gives it's citizens habeas corpus and the right to a speedy trial (something that Ashcroft does not have to bother with when it comes to the likes of Zacarias Moussaoui, even though he is in the federal court system). But the government apparently did not have sufficient evidence to indict Padilla, so he was scuttled from the civilian court system to the military. As it stands, Bush's military tribunal order does not apply, after all Padilla is still a US citizen and Bush's order currently only applies to foreigners, but by calling him an "enemy combatant" the authorities managed to transfer him without charging him with anything except being an "enemy combatant" to the military where he's facing indefinite detention, with limited access to legal council.
The "enemy combatant" clause stems from WWII where it was used a few times to detain people that collaborated with the Germans. I don't think it was intended to maroon people without a trial because the justice department doesn't have any legal grounds to detain them.
So here's the answer about what war is good for: If you have somebody who you can't legally detain because of lack of evidence or because, as in the case of Padilla, they apparently only committed a "thought crime", simply call them an "enemy combatant" and you can lock them up indefinitely in a military jail. You don't have to charge them with anything or prove they did anything wrong, you don't have to allow them to see a lawyer and you can keep them there for as long as you want to. What a sweet deal! And it worked so well for Stalin, Pinochet and many other freedom loving leaders.
As an aside, I find it interesting how the administration manages to do a front page press release whenever something that might reflect poorly on them is might show up in the paper - such as 9-11 survivors marching on the capitol demanding answers and the Phoenix FBI agent testifying before Congress about the agency's incompetence.
Speaking of the FBI. What kind of brain damaged investigation was going on with this Padilla guy, anyway? Instead of bugging and tailing him in the US and finding something about his plans and connections they arrest him as soon as he steps of the plane? And now they're probably surprised that they don't have anything to hold him on and that he's not telling them anything.
We also saw the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood with Kathleen and Courtney. We were going to see Bad Company but it got hammered in the reviews so we decided for Ya-Ya. It's a chick flick, if there ever was one, but it's well written and I enjoyed all the performances. My mom love would watching (and bawling to) it. I have been meaning to send her the book before, but I need to read it first to make sure it's not too "southern" for her English.
Jennifer was all gaga over Sandra Bullock's character's Scottish fiance - I apparently need to work on a different accent now. She also said that she can't "cry at the movies when I'm with her because she can't trust me not to make fun of her". As if I would ever do that!
Jennifer did her third annual Danskin Triathlon today. She did a great job and bettered her time by over six minutes and significantly moved up in the ranks. The relay team consisting of Jennifer's mom, Rita, and her cousins Elizabeth and Courtney did really well, too, although, I'm proud to say, they did not match Jennifer's time. Meredith O. almost did, with a very impressive first-time triathlon performance.
For me it was mostly standing around in the sun or running from place to place to take one of very many pictures. Every half hour or so I went back to the lake and made Homer fetch sticks out of the water to cool him down.
It was a very pleasant weekend. Jennifer hat a lot of her family in town which is always entertaining, if a bit exhausting.
After work I went to Northwest Park where Meredith had a birthday party for Logan. Somehow I got watch duty for Nolan, their two year old and it was an educational experience. Nolan is independent, curious and fast, which is a lethal combination. I had to keep my eyes on him all the time, since he can disappear and cover long distances at the blink of an eye. Still, we had fun together and he didn't get hurt or drown or anything. I can only imagine what it is when you have to keep watch over a bunch of them at the same time.
When I take Homer for his walk, we either take the "long walk" through the park behind my house. This walk crosses a street and goes into another park where Homer sometimes meets some of his buddies. However, if there are no dogs, he stays on his leash there, since he has the tendency to wander off into some side streets.
The "short walk" is into the park across the street. Homer actually prefers that one, since he gets to splash in the creek that runs through it. That's great when the water is fresh, which, during the summer, is not very often. So sometimes he gets to splash through pond scum and mud - he doesn't seem to mind though.
The creek is banked with beautiful huge willow trees. I don't think willows have very strong wood, since after every storm there are branches on the ground and occasionally one gets blown over. This spring they cleaned up a lot of the dead would and cut some of the broken limbs off. I was amazing how quickly the "dead" trees sprouted new twigs and branches and how much greenery they produced.
There is one tree trunk that got cut off and that grows at an angle. Somebody used a flat are on it to put out food for squirrels or birds and Homer discovered it and started climbing to the spot (it's only 5 or 6 feet high). So I picked up on it and now every time we pass I get Homer to climb up there. Since the stump is now covered with branches, it doesn't look as cool anymore - still, it's fun to see a dog in a tree.
During most of the year, my yard is a waste land. In the spring it turns green with weeds and then brown during the hot summer months, since I don't believe in watering the "lawn". In the fall it then fills up with burrs and other seeds that cling to you like Velcro. Jennifer would love to have lush soft grass to frolic in and it might happen eventually, but right now it's our very own nature preserve.
The cause of the saf state of my lawn is the fact that I don't like to mow, conside watering a waste, and really, have been rather passive when it comes to the grass. The great benefit (well, beside not mowing as much) are the wild flowers.
When I first moved into my house, I noticed that sometime there would be a few wite flowers in the back yard. These are, I've been told, Rain Lilies. And sure enough, during the spring and summer, whenever we receive some good rain, they pop up a couple of days later.
Through my inaction, the few flowers have managed to multiply and spread through most of my back yard. So now, after rains, my back yard turns into a flowering sea consisting of beautiful, simple white flowers. They never last more than a week and then we try to either avoid them when moving (which is getting more difficult) or to give them the next couple of weeks to seed before we mow.
I should try to pick some of the seed pods and spread them in the grass along the side walk by the street - they'd look pretty there, too. They also work great as a backdrop for pictures - since Blue Bonnets are so overdone.
