The Mutha of all gangstas . . shut yo' mouth!

I guess it runs in the family.

In a previous post I documented some of the other gang members that abide in Kingwood. I thought they were anomolies in this part of town.

Apparently I was wrong; gang membership may be bred, not learned.

Below are my wife and daughter thowing signs

 

Delicous DrunkenBatman at MacWorld

I am so wicked jealous.

DB sucks. :-)

Tommy the Cat by Primus

It had to be back in 1989 or '90 when I first heard of Primus. They were so very odd. And this song seems representitive.

Cat Herding

I think that this commercial illustrates what I do at work and what Susan does at the house. Except for her, the thrill of bringing in the herd is years away.

A Miriam photoshoot

It will be good to remember her cute [when she's being "impish"]


I see her in me . . . or is it me in her?


You would think she was able to listen . . but ask her to pick up her toys . . .. not so much


So very sweet.


And time ot have her sister Michelle, repaint her nails.

My Political standing (according to OK Cupid survey)

It seems like I haven't posted in forever. Life has been busy and blogging is never my first priority.

I'm easing into this then with who I am politically (based on 20 questions) from a site I barely know. It seemed to put me about where I thought I was though . . . so there you go.

You are a Social Moderate (55% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (71% permissive) You are best described as a: Capitalist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Gwendolyn's Christmas Recital - -

Notice who the other girls are looking to for direction . . and notice too who's throwing her hips around . .

After-dance photo op

Pink roses from Dad

She sure is beautiful . . . must get the from her mother.

Out in the Boondocks

I only read one comic strip these days; Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks. It's one of the highlights of my day.

The current story-line concerns Huey's grandfather wanting to see a "manly" movie and choosing "Brokeback Mountain" ". . . [a] story about a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys and their lives over the years."



Today's strip revealed the critical aspect of the plot to Grandad. It had been a week building and was worth it. Funny stuff. Check it out.

The Holiday season has (sorta) started here. We're still wearing shorts, but Santa has come to town and the town tree lighting was last night. Gwendolyn has started the prayers for snow.

Is there a rule about putting a drunken cow on a PC? I dual boot boot Ubuntu on it. And there's a Performa 578 next to it, and a Mac G4 below it . . .

More playing with the new camera . . . and my two youngest girls

Mad face

Scooby-snack face

Sharpened and tinted

Hide and seek

Walking the line. Soft focus, B&W

Done swinging

Sisters. :-)

Playing with video.google.com

I have no need to post video to Google. It's not like anyone outside my family wants to see anything I might film. There are probably the same people who regularly read this blog. But I like the technology. Some days that's enough.

My Christmas wish list

It's that time of year again. So if you're browsing the site and thinking to yoursefl, "Self, you've got disposable income and the desire to give. Here's your chance to do a little something."

• Double Standards by Lea Delaria
• The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3) by Neal Stephenson
• Sony DRU-800A Internal ATAPI/EIDE Double-Layer/Dual-Format DVD/CD Recorder
• Offered by TigerDirect by Sony
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• Anansi Boys : A Novel by Neil Gaiman
• Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America by Morgan Spurlock
• Star Wars - Clone Wars, Vol. 1 (Animated) by Corey Burton
• Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow
• Devils & Dust by Bruce Springsteen
• TX 5-Foot Giraffe Unicycle Offered by Magic Geek - Juggling Store by Torker
• Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow
• A Place So Foreign and Eight More by Cory Doctorow
• Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
• Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
• Band of Brothers by Kirk Acevedo
• Flashbacks: : Twenty-Five Years of Doonesbury (Trudeau, G. B., Doonesbury Book.) by G. Trudeau
• Star Wars - Clone Wars, Vol. 2 by Corey Burton
• Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen Edition) by Ahmed Best
• Power Strip Liberator II 1' "Y" Cable Offered by Cyberguys! by Cables Unlimited
• Liberator Combo Pack, Poly Bag Offered by Cyberguys! by ZIO TEK
• Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
• Scientific American by Scientific American
• Popular Science by Time4Media
• Computer Shopper by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
• PC Magazine by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
• PC World by PC World Communications, Inc.
• Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab/the Body Farm/Where the Dead Do Tell Tales by William M. Bass
• THX 1138 (The George Lucas Director's Cut Two-Disc Special Edition) by Robert Duvall
• Last Child in the Woods : Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
• Jazz for Kids: Sing, Clap, Wiggle and Shake by Various Artists
• Unnatural Death : Confessions of a Medical Examiner by Michael M. Baden
• Radical Fish Street Pro Club Red Offered by Magic Geek - Juggling Store by Beard Juggle
• How Would You Move Mount Fuji? : Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers by William Poundstone
• Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman
• The Best of Frank Deford: I'm Just Getting Started by Frank Deford
• The Sixth Sense (Vista Series) by Firdous Bamji
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
• PlusDeck 2c

List available via Amazon.

I made Literally!

I have a number of pet peeves with the use of English. One of them is the (incorrect) use of "literally." Literally (http://literally.barelyfitz.com) scratches that itch so I don't have to pound people.

Last night I made my first submission and it was posted. Bully for me!

For anyone here from Literally, "Welcome!" Take a look at my favorite posts over to the left . . . they have less to do with family stuff than the rest of this little blog and is more general in nature.

Eight wonderful years

Last week Susan and I celebrated our eighth anniversary. Dinner and a movie mostly. Talk about how we have changed, how our love has changed, how many more kids we have. -=sigh=-

Our wedding day is not the most important day of our pre-marriage life to me though. The most important day is when she accepted my proposal.

It went like this . . . .

The dryer at Susan's house was on the fritz and she didn't have money to
repair it. So she packed up the two kids (and me because I had nothing
better to do and loved being with her) and off to the Laundromat we went.

The kids and I were no help at all. It was hot out we were more
interested in goofing off than moving wet laundry. So there's Susan making trip
after trip with the clothes . . . back and forth . . . sweating and getting wet
and tired.

The kids and I, we're laughing and running and chasing,and having a great
time.

Susan finally loses it. She is hot and tired and frustrated and
getting no help and she is DONE.

She says she's going home. And if we want a ride home we better get in the
car NOW. And we better not talk to her on the way to her house.

There was silence in the car.

We pull into the driveway Susan is out the door and into the house before
any of us are out of the car. By the time we get into the house she's in
the bedroom with the door closed . . . with a slam.

The girls and I sit in the living room and pretend to watch TV for a while,
each of us in our own thoughts.

Finally I can't stand it anymore, I go into the room and kneel by the
bed. I whisper her name to wake her. "Susan. Wake up
honey."

She stirs . . . and looks at me with eyes filled with anger.

I take her hand an tell her that even with her being so mad at me, and
being so hard to deal with, I could not imagine my life without her in it.
And I told her that I wanted to be the one to make days like this better.
And I asked her to marry me.

She looked at me as if I were crazy. And said yes (with
conditions).

And here we are today; happily married.

Gwendolyn's Christmas list

I'll translate:

Floam
Polly Pocket Jewelry Maker
Light-up shoe laces
Hair-Dye Barbie
Baby Born
Amanda (doll)
Robots (movie)
Barbie Digital Camera
Barbie Pegasus
Real Real Oven Meal

She also enjoys arts and crafts

 

On a walk

At the start of a walk . . . Gwen needs a new bike . . .she'll be six next month.

She's growing up so quickly. It's hard to imagine, but it was eighty degrees today in Houston.

Miriam decided not to ride today . . feeling a bit lazy.

And to prove my point . . .

We stopped to move a beetle off the sidewalk.

Gwen kept riding ahead and then stopped to ask what was taking so long.

A brief stop on the way home.

And a picture of Miri and I . . .

Home again, home again.

Panama Canal Timelapse video

Gwendolyn at the dance clinic

Miriam at the Garage sale

 

Miriam's School Pictures

 

It was an accidental good day

Today I was in a car accident. Not too bad really. A lady in an Expedition had a green light at an intersection and so did I. There was construction going on and she and I both think that we the lights were to blame. She lost a license plate, I had the passenger side rear smashed. Drivable but smashed.

So we waited for a while for the police to show. When they didn't we went to a sub-station and tried to file a report. They gave us each a form. Thanks, thanks a lot.

Then I sat in traffic trying to get home. And I sat. And I thought about what a crappy day it was. And I sat some more.

"What the hell could be taking so long?" I thought to myself.

Then the radio does traffic. There was a five car pile-up. A semi hit a van that hit a retaining wall that hit . . . and so it goes.

So I said a quiet prayer to the families of those people who died or were hurt and thanked God for my accident. I was grateful for having a car that worked and the ability to go home to my wife and kids.

Today was a good day.

General update on life, Kingwood and stuff

Halloween's tonight. It rained so we didn't take the kids out far. Only to two neighbors. The bright side was that we were able to trick or treat at four bedrooms inside the house. Miriam was a princess and Gwendolyn was a witch. I think they had their costumes confused. I went to her storybook parade at school this morning. She was Princess Juliana and wore a shirt that Susan made for Sarah when she was the same age.

I recorded Gwendolyn describing her art this week at her blog. We both and fun and we'll keep it up. She sounded more professional than I do when I'm audioblogging from the car.

I introduced her to Cracker Jacks this week. It was a mixed bag. Her first box had no prize. All the hype singing "Take me out to the Ball game" and me telling her about tattoos and stickers and then . . . nothing.
We had more luck with the second box. It had an illusion of a young/old man depending on how you held it. This led to a discussion about illusions and brought us to Mr. Angry / Ms. Calm. A truly wicked cool illusion.

I'm reading a few books these days. Nothing too heavy though. I just finished "Somebody Comes to Town, Sombody Leaves Town" by Cory Doctorow. I really enjoyed his last two books, "Eastern Standard Tribe", and "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" and this one was no exception. Cory mixes fantastic and future in a way that blends well. All three books are released under the Creative Commons license. I read them all on my Handspring Visor.

I also converted "Monster Island" by David Wellington from iPod notes to a Palm doc. It's entertaining but hard to suspend belief sometimes. The characters make rookie mistakes and aren't always consistent with what has happened before. I like to blame that on being confused by all the zombies. Other times it seems that the cliff -hangers are more contrived than the Flash Gordon serials I watched on AFRTS in Panama

Susan and I are reading "The Automatic Millionaire" and "Financial Peace". We need to get more control of our "this and that" spending. Gas prices are just getting too high.

Minny has a boyfriend named Patrick. He appears to be a nice guy and a good friend. I wish her the best. I haven't heard from Sarah in a few weeks. I guess that means she's doing well. At Christmas break she's going to bring home her PC and I'll be upgrading her to Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger).

Work is good, home is good. The soccer team is doing great. What more could I ask?

Prop. 2 is wrong

I'm married to a woman. I have homosexual friends. I live in Texas and am of voting age. That makes me an expert when it comes to the proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

I believe that marriage has two aspects in America. There is a religious and a secular. We have the choice to do one, the other, or both. The interesting thing I think is that within a couple, there is the ability to have different aspects accepted within the couple.

Secular marriage in America is almost an undocumented contract. It's a legal agreement to share resources and responsibility. It is most beneficial for the children of a couple but has it's uses in the case of divorce too. Secular marriage also raises a little revenue for the state; always a good thing, right?

Of what benefit is marriage to the state? A more formal contract between the marrying contract would be more useful. Is it the function of the state to ensure that such a contract exists? If so, it should be enforced at the birth of every child, not at the beginning of a union.

Religious marriage stems from the desire (or requirement) to have the union blessed by a deity.

I fail to see how the sex of the partners in a union violate either of the aspects of marriage. If one's religion (or lack of) allows for same sex unions then it should be allowed. If the secular (legal) contract is valid then there is no need for any change of the existing system.

What this amendment does is sets a separate law for a specific class of people. My daughter Michelle asked the question last night if it was ok to say that a union between blacks was illegal. The difference is miniscule.

I'll be voting "No" to Prop. 2. Marry who you want. What's the harm?

Big Ideas come out of Big Pencils

I don't know how many rules of design this site breaks, but I enjoyed visiting. I almost never use pencils, I'm a pen guy, but I enjoy the concept of pencils. I think it's neat that there are "do-overs" with pencils.

Me, I like the commitment that goes along with pens. I like the fact that crossing out a mistake is a branding of yourself. I try not to show that I am human and make mistakes, so I am careful when I write with pen . . . I think a little more about it.

Also, and to be honest, the sound of graphite being rubbed away on paper is irratating to me and I avoid pencils for that too.

To sleep, perchance to dream.

There are lots of things I like doing. I'll read [almost*] anything and enjoy it. I like palying some computer games. I enjoy doing almost anything with my wife.

I enjoy juggling and walking. I like drinking scotch with friends (or alone).

Except for the scotch (and probably the juggling) I think I'm like most folks.

But one of my favorite things to do is sleep.

I like napping between naps. I like getting up, showering, and going back to bed. I like falling asleep while watching TV or reading.

I like napping with daughters and wives. I like after a family lunch finding a bed and knowing that everyone else is looking to curl up in the sun too.

I do like sleeping in the sun and with all the blinds shut tightly.

I'll nap on sunny days to escape teh heat and on cloudy days with the hope of rain.

I enjoy the process of falling asleep. Sometimes I'll pick a spot on my foot and try to fire off synapse all the way to my face in a continuos line. I like counting backwards from two-hundred. Sometimes I'll add numbers in patterns until I fall asleep. I like waking up and not knowing where I am and then falling asleep not knowing.

I like napping in my car or waiting in line.

Some people think sleeping is not doing something. I strongly disagree. Napping is a skill and a joy. Napping is my friend.

Silent Lucitity by Queensryche

* I have tried a few times but have never made it through "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance", Umberto Eco's "Island of the Day Before" and "The Body Farm". Sue me.

Who reads this and where are you?

A company called Rising Concepts has put out a tool/toy called Frapper (Friend Mapper) that allows a community group (in the virtual sense, not a real-space sense) to leverage Google Maps to shout out where you are.

I have always loved maps and atlases both real and digital. This is yet another toy that fits right in. So take a second and let me know where you are.

The Mighty Squirrels!

"ONE might squirrel might not strike fear into your heart, but add fourteen more
and you've got yourself a horror movie. GO SQUIRRELS!" - Ed Hrynowski

I'm coaching soccer again at the local YMCA. It is probably one of the most joyful things I do. Chasing 13 five-year-olds around for an hour twice a week is amazing fun. I'm blogging about them too.

What's Important

In my last post I mentioned that Susan found a journal of poems while preparing for hurricane Rita. It was on the bottom shelf in the Green room, a room prone to flooding if flooding was to be done.

I had forgotten it was there and was not too concerned about preserving it. I've never been tied to the past. Things happen . . . and then more things happen. Whole swathes of my youth I only remember through the stories my family tells. I don't remember them at all. I'm not bothered by it though. I find it interesting every once in a while when I see a photograph and some long unused synapse fires and I remember a piece of my history.

As we were preparing for the storm though Susan and I had to make judgments on what we wanted to spend time protecting and what we didn't.

I have boxes and boxes of Star Wars stuff. I spent most of my money before Susan and the girls on SW. I spent WAY too much money. I left it all in the garage as we prepared. I didn't move it up to a higher shelf. I didn't put it in plastic bags. I left it.

I did the same with all my juggling supplies. And I did the same with my library.

We took special care of three items (or types of items).

1. Susan's footlocker of memorabilia
2. My footlocker of same
3. Photographs of he family

We made sure that the house was safe. We made sure the girls would be safe. We stored up water and went shopping for non-perishable food. We bought gas and moved the van away from all the trees. We tested radios and flashlights. We took pictures of everything in the house and put them on a server in San Antonio. We put important paper in a water-proof, fire-proof box.

And then we were done.

Everything of value was taken care of. And everything of value turned out to be the things that made us family. The memories of who we are and where we have been, the place we call home, the means to get to family if needed were the things of value.

An old but very familiar friend

Susan found a journal last week while preparing for hurricane Rita that had poems in it that I had written more than a decade ago. Most of them were shit, still are in fact. Age has not seasoned them at all. But I remember them fondly. They are snapshots of who I was then and glimpses of who I was to become.

So here is "Cry Out the Joys of Life." It's one of the more positive things I wrote from that era. Almost everything else had a darker undertone or was teen love/angst drivel. I think this was written around Earth Day 1989.

Cry out the joys of life!
To Live
To Love
To merely see the beauty
To taste the air around you
This is Life!
Walk into the world
Look into it
See that twig?
Tomorrow it will be bursting with buds
CRY OUT THE JOYS OF LIVING!

Happiness is seeing the world
Seeing it as a living thing
To be cared for
To care for us

We are spawned from the Earth
Revel in the joy of seeing our mother live
CRY OUT THE JOYS OF LIFE!!

Gwen drew a picture of the Hurricane. The black swirls are the wind and the yellow are lightning bolts.

Back in business

Power is back on . . . cable is up . . . Minny is home. All is well.

Hurricane Rita AudioBlog

AudioBlog

Hurricane Rita AudioBlog

Hurricane Rita AudioBlog

Hurricane Rita AudioBlog

10:05 -- Where's the [Veggie] Beef?

There is no rain. There is no wind. There are plants in the house and canned meat in the pantry. I guess life is pretty good.

The little girls are asleep downstairs in our room in case the storm worsens. We plan on turning on the neighborhood walkie-talkies around midnight so we can help each other out if needed.

I'm hoping (sorta) that all our planning and work was good practice.

I feel badly for the folks in LA but I;m glad that my family should end up here at home; safe.

6:27: Here comes the (Rita) rain

We have had our first light sprinkles of rain. No big whoop. Just one more reminder. We also had an internet hiccup. Again, no big whoop.

Dinner is over. More waiting. But now we have cookies. Susan got in a mood, inventoried what we had in the pantry and came up with chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies. They are very yummy. Susan is in negotiations with the Oakleys across the street to trade cookies for chili.

Marion down the street had her minister come over and the block had a prayer service. Every house on the block had someone represent. Very cool.

The news is reporting that the storm is moving much farther north than expected. We are looking more at Louisiana around Lafayette than Houston (Kingwood). We may get as little as 3" of rain. [Insert "Praise God" here.]

We still have hours to go. We'll have to see.

5:22 PM: Enter Wind, stage left

The skies are darkening and the wind is starting to pick up. We were a little concerned about the van sitting in the Mormon parking lot. It was possible that the gas could be siphoned. So we moved it back to the house. I think now it's time to put it back. I'm going to drive over and unicycle back. I'd hate to do that in the rain.

The Calm before the Storm: Rita Approaches

It's Friday morning and there is still stuff to do. But lot's has been done already.

Thnigs to do: Load the van and move it to a parking lot away from all the trees. Pick up a percolator to make coffee with from Deborah Vaughn, an angel.

Things we have done: Moved in all the plants. Laundered clothes and dishes. Filled every receptacle we have with clean water. Picked up yard again for more loose stuff. Went to Kingwwod Bagel to get something nice for breakfast. Props to KW Bagel for being open when no one else is. There was a 1/2 dozen limit but that's OK. They rock.

My Sister and her family made it College Station last night so that's all good. My daughter Sarah is in Denton, TX and should be fine. My Daughter Michelle is in Conroe with her dad so that's all good too.

The wind is starting to pick up a bit. We will have hours before the storm. It makes a nice reminder though that time is passing and the storm is driving in.

We are all good here. We expect to stay good.

If you need to contact us during the storm, you can try to text page my phone. We learned in Katrina that text pages go through when voice calls fail. 832.372.2390.

Twelve hours and bread: Hurricane Rita

We now know the parameters for the 12 hour rule. That means that if you don't evacuate 12 hours before the storm hits, don't go.
9:00 AM is the magic hour. If we don't leave by then it is unsafe to leave. We are still planning on staying. We'll get by.

Things to do tomorrow: Pack a few bags and put them in the van. Load batteries into the flashlights. Get the walkie-talkies from the neighbors. Walk the yard again for anything that might get thrown.

When we went to the store yesterday we were unable to find any bread. So last night and tonight my very wonderful wife baked a total of four loaves of bread, two white and two oatmeal. They are delicious.

Susan has been great during this whole thing. I know she is scared. But she trusts my judgment and has been the logistical expert to make sure that everything has gone smoothly.

She is the best and is more than I deserve. I love her with all my heart.

Shout outs to my friends out there across Texas and the nation. Especially:

• All the Tredennicks and the Shipp connection
• The Sister, Jason, Thaddeus (Hope you catch your flight. Take care and don't die, OK?)
• the 'rents, and 'rent-in-laws (I'll take care of her)
• The Walters clan
• Cox and birds
• DrunkenBatman (It's cool buddy. Trust me.)
• Getronics eServices
• The good folks at wincustomize.com
• Melissa (Out in Plano I think. I appreciate your thoughts)
• Minny's girl scout troop
• The 'hood on Glade Springs
• The Mighty Squirrels

I want to give props to the Houston and Texas government. There have been issues with outgoing traffic, huge issues. But everyone here is doing an awesome job of keeping it local. I agree that the feds have a place but it's not their time yet. Great job Mayor White and Gov. Perry.

Rita Must be a Republican . . . She's moving to the Right

Thursday night brings good news to Houston. It looks like Rita is moving to the east heading towards the Texas-Louisiana border. That puts us on the "clean" side of the storm. Less wind and rain.

But we are still 36 hours out and no one knows what's going to happen.

We are very glad that we stayed. After seeing some of the pictures of folks trying to get out . . . it wasn't worth it before and it seems more so now.

Kingwood was closed by 5 PM. Nothing was open. All the gas stations were closed.

On another note, don't loot our neighborhood. Our block is loaded for bear. Lots of guns. No one sympathetic to looters.

Flickr photo set

Rita back to Cat 4

Not that it's going to make a huge amount of difference when it hits the house. We are still looking at 75 miles of hurricane winds away from the eye of Rita and tropical force winds for 160 miles.

That's the good news.

The bad news:

Category 4

• Winds of 131-155 mph
• Shrubs and trees down, all signs down
• Extensive damage to roofing, windows and doors
• Roof collapse
• Complete destruction of mobile homes
• Storm surge 13 to 18 feet above normal
• Flat terrain 10 feet or less above sea level flooded inland as far as six miles
• Major damage to lower floors of structure near shore due to flooding, waves and floating debris
• Low lying water three to five hours before hurricane center arrives
• Major erosion of beaches
• Massive evacuation of all residences within 500 yards of shore possibly required, and of single-story residences on low ground within two miles of shore

Once the storm hits the coast it's going to take a huge hit. If we are lucky we may only get hit with a Cat 1. At times like this . . . lucky is redefined.

Idiots on the road

The radio (Live on the web: 740 KTRH) is reporting that morons are driving north on the south-bound side of US 59. The state has NOT put contra-flow in effect on this highway.

I understand the desire . . . but how many more people are at risk because of this?

Idiots

So now we wait

So we think we are prepared. We have batteries, flashlights, matches, food, water.

It's odd. The day is so nice. Last night we went to the YMCA to swim with the little kids. I just sent Gwendolyn out to ride her bike. I think I'll take them to the park later.

Tomorrow should be a nice day too. (As long as you define nice as 100+ degrees.)

We are hearing stories from friends on the road that they are going single digit MPH trying to get out. Many are returning home. It may get better when the Man opens the highways to contra-flow traffic but I'm not holding my breath. The news is reporting that traffic is stopped for 125 miles outside of Houston.

I'm glad so many people learned some lessons from the tragedy in Katrina. Folks are leaving. Lots of them. And the government is taking a tough love approach to the stragglers; "Here are 100 ways to get out of Galveston/Houston. Call 311 if you need any help. And if you are in an evacuation zone and choose to stay behind, you are already dead and shouldn't expect rescue or support." [Most of the previous statement was paraphrased except the "already dead" line.]

Second Rita post

So I got gas for the van in case we need to bug out. It took four gas stations before I found one with anythnig and I ended up getting the Super. $2.89/gallon.

We would head towards my Mother's in San Antonio. The route would be 290 to 21E to San Marcos and then south on 35 to S. A.

Traffic on 290 is averaging 7.3 MPH right now. Not a fun drive.

Most of the neighbors are staying behind too. We'll bond over chainsaws.

I haven't heard from my sister. She was trying to get a flight out of town but I heard that it is going to be wicked tough.

My friends Owen and Lucie (late from New Orleans) are splitting town too. They are headed for family back in LA. The way storms follow them you have to wonder who they hate there.

So we have water, food, and each other. We need batteries, propane, matches, prayers, and gas for my car. Thank God we have time to prepare.

Hurricane Rita

It appears that my friends Owen and Lucie have brought their accursed luck with them from New Orleans. Hurricane Rita is bearing straight for us.

I took the day off to hang out with Susan but it looks like we may be doing prep work instead.

Last night I walked to the local grocery store with the little kids and saw gas lines and near-hysteria at the store.

Most indicators show that we shouldn't have to evacuate but there will be high winds and lots of rain. Flooding around us may be an issue. The house should be fine but we will very likely not be able to leave Kingwood.

Keep us in your thoughts.

Drunkenbatman Speaks

If you interested in things Macintosh but have not drank all the Apple Kool-ade you should look into going to Chicago to attend a roundtable with a good friend of mine and a host of Macintosh luminaries (at least cool developers).

Drunkenbatman (not his real name) has a gift for communicating that spans Mac newbies like myself and techies that speak a language all their own. He's funny, passionate, drunk . . . What more can you ask?

"We never conversate"

A while back, my eldest daughter complained that her mother, she, and I never conversated. The situation (conversation) was important enough that I didn't pursue the entomology of the word with her then. Truth is though, it gnawed at me.

Susan felt the same way(to a degree) as I did. We even conversed about it a few times with a wink and a nudge.

So . . . off to the internets!

From Langmaker:

Word: conversate
Part of Speech: v.
Other Forms: conversating
Etymology: [Backformation: The -ion suffix is removed from standard English conversation.]
Definition: To converse with another: We conversated about our plan, then decided to take the steamroller anyway.
Submitted By: Gracie
Date Submitted: Wednesday, August 18, 2004

So I guess this falls into the same category as irregardles and literally. Misused words that will migrate into use and become "real." No extreme harm. Communication remains possible. We just have one more instance of English being one crazy language.

Choose your own Adventure: Hamlet edition

There is a guy names Robin Johnson who has written a text adventure a la' Zork for Hamlet.

I have started it a few time and will someday finish. {Something I also said about Zork in 1981 or so . . . but this time I mean it.}.

From the game's opening:

It's so unfair! You're in trouble again, just because you called your uncle
- or rather, your new stepfather, Claudius - a usurping git. It's true, though.
Your real dad was SO much better than that guy. Too bad he was found
mysteriously dead in the orchard a couple of weeks back. Anyway, your mother
(who was, incidentally, looking quite something today in a sparse leather
number, er...) sent you to your room, and here you are. [game]

I used to really like the "Choose your own adventure" books. Although after playing one path I would usually read them cover to cover and try to guess the paths to and from each page. I had a few that you had to roll die for. They were like D&D for readers with no friends. That was me. :-)

I played D&D as a young teen but never had a good enough dungeon master to make me stick. I was too intellectual for them anyway . . . The guys I played with wanted to fight ogres, I was more interested in being a character different from myself. It never worked out.

A few months ago I ran into the designer of Adventure, Scott Adams online via chat. We were both trying to get an application called Multiplicity to work. He was looking to use it with EverQuest2 and I wanted it for my tablet PC . It was very cool just talking to a guy who had killed hours of my life reading and thinking and playing; all at the same time.

Who knew the levee would break?

I have a correction and some updates to the audio blog. Blame the mistakes on hearing the story in the car with Houston traffic distracting me. [should I admit that? Should it be reversed?].

The point of the blog is the same and I'm leaving it as it was originally recorded. It's not the federal government's job to fix problems at the state level. And before we talk about what the feds didn't do, let's look at the pork in Louisiana.

Correction: The person testifying was not the governor of LA, it was the Senior senator of same, Mary L. Landrieu (D).

Testimony: (mp3); text (I need to state here that the audio feed provided by the senator is significantly different from the Senate transcript. Take it for what it is worth.)
Mr. Bill skit referred to by Sen. Landrieu

WSJ: Blame Amid the Tragedy

My mother passed this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal on to me. While it specifically discusses the failures of local government during Katrina and the flooding that followed, it also speaks to the role of the federal government in situations like this.

Blame Amid the Tragedy by Bob Williams

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible--local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center. The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved. [more]

I'm a federalist at heart weighted towards the local levels. In fact, I think the feds should be as far away from my life as possible. It's job is to

". . . establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity. . ."

Government should work from the bottom up. It should start from my community association (rat bastards!), to mayor and city council, to Governor and state legislators, an THEN to the Federal government.
In fact, government should start at he family level . . . but then we'd have to define more than I want to define. (A co-dictatorship with my wife and I?)

Could FEMA have done better? Yes.
Should it have? Yes.
Do I have any faith that the Department of Homeland Security? No.
Is there enough blame to go around? Yes.
Will anything really change? That depends on how people vote at the local level and up from there.