I have finally moved over to the new web site. As of today, I will no longer be posting here. Drop me a line and let me know how you like the new site. Don't worry; it's subject to change.

We arrived back from Notre Dame/Chicago safe and sound. We had a great time in Chi-town, highlighted by a wrong turn I made which planted us firmly in the middle of the south side of the City near 10pm on Saturday night. Doug (our resident Irish lad) took in the scene in silence. After we found our hotel and were walking around downtown, I was glad that he had caught a glimpse of the "bad" part of the city; it brings balance to someone new to our nation by showing that we, too, have problems.

I gained a new respect for Doug this weekend. He is intelligent, interesting and kind. He is also madly in love with my sister-in-law, which makes my heart glad. Megan was 7 when Kelli and I started dating, so seeing her grow up has made me miss not having younger siblings. I guess, in a way, I consider her my little sister just as much as if we were related biologically. I would not take it well if Doug were not the man he is. However, it looks like he's going to be OK. I am proud to be able to call him a friend.

I learned something else this weekend: The Great Lakes Naval Training Center (affectionately called "Great Mistakes") is now the only Navy boot camp. I went to boot camp in Orlando. At that time, San Diego was also open. Anyway, we saw many freshly-minted recruits walking around downtown. It brought back memories of my own victorious weekend so long ago. Boot camp is such a closed environment that you believe whatever you are told. The cynicism I would later develop had not formed yet. The future was bright. But, my God, those kids are young!!!

I know that I was supposed to be blogging on my own website by the first of September, but I haven't had time to mess with it. Thanks for your patience.

Speaking of computer/internet stuff---I visited the Apple Store in Chicago...wow. Apple does a great job of sellling "hip and cool".

The father of one of Jessica Lynch's fellow soldiers is angry about her book deal. As I mentioned a few days ago, this is why the Army doesn't keep "celebrities" on the payroll very often. I am truly, truly sorry that this man lost his child, but there is no force in the universe that will bring him back. Lynch's book deal is just a focus for his anger right now, and it's pretty understandable. But understand this: there are thousands upon thousands of men and women who have written books detailing others' pain and loss in war and other times of crisis. People want to read about trauma, loss, heroism, cruelty and all the other facets of human behavior. If all our books were about kindness and good times, no one would read.

Kelli and I are going to Chicago this weekend, so there probably won't be any posting until Tuesday. We are taking her younger sister and Doug, her boyfriend from Ireland. This is his first visit the the US, so it will be interesting to get his reaction to a large, midwestern city. I had the chance to spend some time with him last weekend and I found him to be very friendly and lacking in that phony-ass bravado that seems to permeate young American males. Unfortunately, some American males never outgrow this.

Battle of the Planets. Wow. I used to love this show. Fiery Phoenix, anyone?

Here's a great Wired magazine article about the technology behind new synthetic diamonds. According to the article, the market will soon be flooded with grown diamonds indistinguishable from the real thing.

I have mixed feelings about this, partly because I just spent a significant amount of money on two new diamonds for my wife for our upcoming fifth anniversary. The part of me that is my father says, "Damn, I got screwed". But the other part of me knows that I bought them for her because they are one of the few material items she has ever asked for and they bring her joy.

As most of you probably know, almost every diamond on the planet is mined and distributed to retailers by DeBeers. There have been rumors that they have started wars in Africa, bribed officials and made people disappear in pursuit of their monopoly. If any of this is true, perhaps lab-grown, perfect diamonds will end up being a good thing for humanity.

What kind of life are you living that Scientology is appealing? I have spoken long and loud about my disagreements with Catholicism and Fundamentalist Protestantism, but at least you can walk away anytime you want. Scientology seems more and more like brainwashing/slavery to me. What blows me away even more is that it was started by a science fiction author and its tenets are based upon a STORY he wrote. Wow.

Richard Miniter recently wrote a book, "Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror". The book is a fast-climber and promises to be swept under the rug as soon as the press gets the time to dig dirt on Miniter. So, before the world forgets, here's a quote:

"Mr. Woolsey's (former CIA director) personal account of the Clinton White House's repugnance for those in intelligence is jarring. Despite being handpicked by Mr. Clinton to head the CIA, the president did not meet even once with Mr. Woolsey privately about any security issues during his first two years in office. After Osama bin Laden's attack on hotels housing U.S. Marines in Yemen in December 1992 and the first World Trade Center bombing in February 1993, it was clear that the United States was being targeted by terrorists. Because of the new threat, Mr. Woolsey went out of his way to be accessible to the new president. In fact, he made the trip from CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to the White House every day for the president's intelligence briefing, for which Mr. Woolsey's staff had prepared detailed reports. It had been the habit of previous presidents to welcome the CIA director into the Oval Office for the briefings so that complex issues could be clarified and advice given. Mr. Clinton, however, left Mr. Woolsey cooling his heels outside in the hall each time.
The humiliating treatment of the nation's top intelligence expert reflected Mr. Clinton's cavalier lack of respect for the dangers facing the world's only superpower. The impertinence of the White House toward Mr. Woolsey reached the level of casting the CIA director as an object of ridicule. As Mr. Miniter reports: "When a small plane accidentally crashed on the White House lawn in 1994, West Wing staffers joked that it was Woolsey trying to see the president." The planes that crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 — and the fact that the attacks came as a total surprise to America's intelligence community — were made vastly more likely by Mr. Clinton's policy of neglect toward intelligence officers and their role in defending the nation"

What was it James Carville said? Oh yeah, that's right: "It's the economy, stupid."

Wow...no posts since Friday. I haven't had a break that large in a while. This weekend was busy, with a visit from my sister-in-law's boyfriend from Ireland. A great guy by all accounts. More later.

Drudge has a link to a story stating that Madonna kissed both Britney and Christina at the MTV VMA Award Show last night. I'm glad I didn't see it; I might've passed out and crushed our cat.

It looks like the number one suspect in the "MSBlaster" worm case is an 18-year old kid. Good...hopefully he'll get some serious prison time. Don't be fooled; this is terrorism and it hits all of us economically.

Han Solo has chimed in on America's foreign policy. Thank God we've finally heard his opinion! I knew there was a reason why I couldn't sleep. Harrison: memorizing a script and playing yourself in every film doesn't make you an expert on anything. In fact, it only means you're pretty and have good hair. Learn your place.

Jessica Lynch is out of the Army. The military doesn't often keep celebrities in its ranks as this can cause problems with unit cohesion and morale. In Lynch's case, her injuries would've kept her off duty for probably another year, so it's understandable. As the story mentioned, there is a book/movie deal in the works. While I don't begrudge her the 15 minutes, I can't help but wonder about the SEALS and other Special Forces men who rescued her. Will there be a big payoff for them? Of course not; it was just another job to do, something they train for. It bothers me on some level that a young private how was part of a unit that got lost in the desert becomes a household name while these SEALS (most of whom got pulled out of Afghanistan for Iraq) will never be known. That's the way they would have it, I know; there's just no cosmic justice in it.

Howard Stern is on vacation this week, so they're running "best of" shows. Stern did a great (and serious) interview with Mia Farrow when the news about Woody Allen and Soon-Yi first surfaced. I am amazed at how intelligent and compassionate she is. She has adopted nearly 14 children; all of them are from third-world countries and most of them have disabilities. She first got involved with children during the Vietnam War when she first came in contact with orphanages there. At first, she only raised money or collected supplies. Later, she actually began to go on visits to Vietnam. It was there she discovered that no one wanted to adopt the handicapped or older kids. These were the children she adopted. I have a new-found respect for her and a new loathing for Woody Allen for treating someone of her caliber so badly.

I stepped out this morning at 5:51AM and looked at Mars as it made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. I left the binoculars at home, so I had to use the ol' naked eye. If you're out tonight around 10pm, Mars will be up. From only 35 million miles, you can really tell it's a planet.

One of the things that frustrates me most in life is being far away from a situation involving people I care about and being able to do nothing about it. Kelli told me long ago that men and women are different in this; women just need to express how they feel about a situation whereas men need to fix it. I guess this is why men have fought wars throughout the ages. If we can go blow something/someone up to fix a problem, count us in.

The heartbreaking thing about this long-standing issue is that friendships will end over it before all is said and done. I have come to learn in my short life that friends should be measured by quality and not quantity. I do not have "friends of convienence" or networking buddies. If you are my friend, you have my love and loyalty. Thus, when friends fight, it hurts me deeply. The funny thing is, it is these friends who make me the most angry. I want to grab some of them and say "Do you know what you are throwing away? Do you know how rare this thing is?" But it wouldn't matter. They will have to lose those precious things before they realize how valuable they really were.


Speaking of losing things (like a brain), Boss left me a voice mail concerning some software problems we had last week. LAST WEEK---keep that part in mind. Anyway, the tone of his message implied that he was SURE I had done something that resulted in some double entries. I'm not even here during the day and I know what really happened. Am I going to tell him? No way. My answer will be something like, "Gosh, Boss, I don't know. I checked all the logs and everything here looks OK." Then I will laugh, knowing that it will take him hours to solve a very obvious problem. Look, I know what Jose Ferrer said in 'The Caine Mutiny'---"You're loyal because he's the Captain or you're no good." I'll take Captain Queeg any day.