Misappropriation

Amount of U.S. aid package to Tsunami victims: $350,000,000
Amount of U.K. aid package to Tsunami victims: $96,000,000
Total Cost to Date of U.S. War Operations in Iraq: $147,567,415,000 +

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower -- April 16, 1953

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The Day After

colopanorama
Originally uploaded by loomiswatoosi.

We leave today to return home. The weather the last two days was pretty crummy. Last night, after a day of wind and freezing rain, the storm that slammed the West Coast finally rolled in. We lit fires, listened to music and talked about family and food.

Dad got teary talking about how nice it was to spend time together, and I think he wants to adopt Ben, who has a new friend in Poncho. All in all, a good time was had by all.

For Those Scared to Marry

From The Telluride Marshal's Dept.

Dec. 16

FLATTENED STOP SIGN: A man was driving a tractor-trailer without a license, and he ran a stop sign. Not, like, he blew through the intersection. He ran over the actual sign with his truck. Let's consider this incident, ponder what it means:

Could it point to the limited influence of agreed-upon laws in the face of brute physical force, for the way in which laws are necessarily provisional when humans find a locomotion commensurate with their capacity for desire?

Could it mean the language failed? What are words anyway? What can the letters S-T-O-P do against 12 or 16 cylinders?

Could it mean legal conventions are ultimately useless? Might not the sign just as easily have read Geneva Convention? The Bill of Rights!? Civilization?!?

Or could it just mean that some biscuit-head was driving a big 'ol truck without having one clue how to do it. Here's a tip, turkeyspank: the gas is on the right, the brake is on the left, and S-T-O-P spells stop.

Colorado Redux

We arrived yesterday, flying into Montrose in the late afternoon. We drive through the deserted Christmas Day streets -- no food to eat and not a soul on the road. Even Walmart, "the necessary evil" was closed.

After a stop at the gas station in Ridgeway, where we stocked up on Milk for the Ben, Ray's Teriyaki Beef Jerky for the Men, and White Castle Microwaveable Cheeseburgers for everyone, we continued on to the house. Not much snow on the ground, but still cold.

The view from the back porch.

Merry Christmas

There's been a lot of talk lately about how people saying "Merry Christmas" to Jews is offensive. I think everybody's entitled to their opinion and I do agree that Jews get the short end of the stick around December, along with muslims and buddhists, but I don't understand how it can be offensive to wish someone good.

This morning, I woke up and walked outside to get the paper. The sun had not yet come up (have a kid and you'll understand) and the air had that fresh, crisp, 'get back in the sleeping bag' feel to it. Someone had a fire going down the street and the rich fragrance of the wood burning made me imagine kids and parents in their pajamas standing around a tree and opening presents, sipping coffee.

I walked back inside and gave my kid a mini-waffle. Made some espresso. I sat down in front of his high-chair and watched him eat, his eyes darting back and forth between me and the red-yellow sky outside. No words. Peace.

I do this almost everyday, but this day is different. I can't explain why. Maybe it's a feeling that in many places around the world, people just like me are thinking the same thing. The collective soul. That's something that exists above religion and tradition and culture.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good flight.

Tech Support in India

I received this email from a friend and client currently on holiday. I wonder if he'll be placed on hold and talk to a guy named Sari in Indiana?

__
"My backpack, containing my Ibook, among other crucial items, arrived at our
astonishingly lavish room here at the Oberoi Udaivilas
having obviously been dropped in and maybe even, given the look of the thing, dragged through the dust. Not the condition with which I'd left it, along with the rest of our luggage (the steamer trunk, the 23 hat boxes and the canary cage), in the temporary care of the bell staff. I commented to **** at the time, "What the hell happened to this?" Then, later, when I repaired to the hotel bar for a martini, with my camera and Ibook in tow so that I could download my 100+ photos from our first day in Udaipur into said Ibook, the effing thing wouldn't work. Busted, evidently, in whatever unfortunate event befell my bag. Dropped from atop a camel, maybe? Although I didn't see the bellmen using camels to take the bags from the entry to the rooms. Anyway, the Oh Boy Oberoi general manager was summoned and after much head scratching and apologizing and me doing my best to maintain a mannerly demeanor, while still registering my displeasure with this state of affairs (the second, by this time, martini helped me stay calm-ish), it was determined that perhaps their in-house tech wizard might be able to get the thing to work again. He's coming this morning, evidently. There WILL be hell to pay if, along with the fact that I can no longer download my daily dozens and dozens of photos into my computer so that I can review the day's haul, one of the great pleasures of vacationing, in my view, the HUNDREDS of photos I've already downloaded are irretrievable. And I WILL shoot myself."

Two lessons here:
1) Don't give your computer to bellmen in India.
2) You never really stop being a writer, even if you do something else for a living.

The Cost of Ownership

I was struck today by how stubborn some people can be. In particular, I was reminded of that great statistic where 41% of America thought Saddam Hussein had some hand in the 9/11 attacks, despite the fact that all reports indicated that there was no connection. Did people stick to this lie because they wanted to believe it, because it was easier to tuck away, or are they just lazy?

I don't believe people are that dumb. There's something far more manipulative going on, and it's getting out of control. I found this website which gives a general overview of Clear Channel Communications' political donations and other information. Now, everyone knows that Clear Channel is an altar boy to the conservative party (they flaunt it themselves and ally with others, like Fox's Newscorp) but as I scanned down page after page of radio stations they own (over 1,000) I thought about how many people were being fed the same story from a single voice.

It's not about conservative or liberal, republican or democrat. It's that our government and our people are becoming controlled by vast companies with their own directed agendas. Our definition and character as a nation is being packaged and sold, like soap or TV, by entities whose sole purpose is to make money. What's even more alarming is that these companies exist (on the surface) solely to entertain us -- to open our eyes and show us a good time. But all the while, they're telling the majority of people what to think and how to act. They're playing the parts our government used to take care of; producing instead a numbing, yet pleasurable, state of dependence.

How long can something like this go on before the show gets boring? Maybe Hitler was right when he said, "How fortunate for leaders that men do not think."

The Brave New World of HDTV

Now that I've got my bitchin' wicked Plasma set, I'm looking for HD service.

DirecTV has some pretty good offers going, but for their HD Tivo, they're asking $1,000 bucks. That's a bit ridiculous, don't ya think? I'm an early adopter and all, but the box probably costs them $100 to make and they're gonna dump Tivo next year and replace it with their own box, at which point my box would become antiquated.

This is the kind of manipulative, unethical business practices that lead people to hate corporations, and, at this point, I'm thinking really bad thoughts about an old Australian monopolist with conservative views.

That said, as I'm looking at the options and deciding whether or not I want to subject myself to the trials of installing it myself (the TV weighs 150lbs.), I've come across some very cool tools. this shows detailed info. about broadcast service within your area. Pretty interesting. The most curious thing I found was 12 applications for HD transmitters in Tijuana, Mexico. Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of TJ, I don't think of early adopters. Can you say DHS?

Stay tuned.

Slow Food

When you haven't seen someone in 8 years, probably the best thing to do is go to a comfortable restaurant, sit back and let the unbridled consumption of food melt the years away.

Such was the case last night when I visited with my old friends eric and bret. The restaurant was pretty good -- the warm glow of Christmas lights everywhere -- and despite these ghiardiac (new word) photos , the food is actually pretty good.

(People should know not to top-light raw fish. It gives it that certain slimey sheen). Eric and I split the TREASURE SHIP, an obscene amount of food consisting of:

Beef teriyaki, Chicken teriyaki, Sesame chicken, Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura, Salmon teriyaki, Snow crab, Seafood kushiyaki, Soup, Salad, Rice and Fruit. All served on a 2' wooden craft boat. Oh no, my friends, I did not say a CHOICE of some of the above -- I said ALL. This was no treasure dinghy.

After a short walk back to Bret and Paul's (his roommate, not his lover -- she came later and Bret had to "tidy up" HAH!), we get real nerdy and played a game of network Bolo, an old favorite. All was great until Eric decleared himself the winner and we simultaneously discovered that we were not actually playing each other. Please, please, please, someone fix this game and bring it into the modern age. It's too much fun.

And so is seeing old friends. It helps to remind you of what is really important.

The Changing Tide

This evening, I happened into my local Border's Music and Bookstore to join my fellow Americans in the time honered tradition of Holiday consumerism. It has been about 6 months since I've been to Borders, and boy has it changed. My main goal this evening was to pick up the last Johnny Cash album for my father and a Tito Puente CD for my brother. To my surprise, the CD section had neither. Zippo.

Now I know that piracy has taken a bite out of CD sales, but perhaps another reason retailers are doing so poorly is because their selections suck.

So I decided to browse, like the good targeted demographic male that I am, and picked up the headphones to play the new Leonard Cohen album. I waited...and waited...and waited.

Perhaps another reason retailers are doing so poorly is because they don't take care of their customers.

Although my experience at Borders was pretty bad, I was enthralled by a new addition. One section on the music store is now devoted to musical performance DVDs. In my book, this is going to be a big thing and it's good to see.

Frank Gehry

shell
Originally uploaded by loomiswatoosi.

I have mixed feelings about Frank Gehry.

I was in Chicago the last couple of days for some work and had a few hours to walk around the city. The beautiful old architecture of the downtown area, coupled with the fact that people actually work and live there (less so in L.A.) makes it one of the great cities in our country.

The old, rusted bridges, the monumental skyscrapers from the turn of the century, All give you that sit down and have a cigar and onion rings feeling.

Off of Michigan Avenue, they've built a wonderful outdoor performance space, designed by Frank Gehry. Now, I love Disney Hall, and I must admit that it's pretty incredible to walk into this park and see the floating ribbons of stainless steel set against the green, green grass; but, look across Michigan Ave. at the old Public Library and the marble statues and you've gotta feel like this is a bit out of place. Perhaps that's what makes his architecture so inviting.

Then again, when you're in his buildings, you do feel joy.

A Cold Weekend in L.A.

Ben Cold
Originally uploaded by loomiswatoosi.

Last weekend was quite cold in L.A. Needed to get out of the house. Took Ben on a stroll up Westridge Fire Road. Needless to say, he was not pleased.