Morning Grey

The semi-gloom of morning-grey beckons to me calls to me sings a song of maudlin-joy Bring to me a world of woes Show me mountains of despair, Rivers of desire, Pillars of shame and I will make them mine I will mold them I will shape them I will sing to them songs of joyful form & shape and from a grey non-hope will spring a living, loving green.

On the Rocks - Acappella at the University of Oregon

On the Rocks - Acappella at the University of Oregon After some searching, I finally found this group. I heard them this morning, on KTCU, our local kick-butt college station and really enjoyed it. Enough so that I just went and purchased one of their CD's. I, likely, will purchase the other one soon. However, my pending trip to Scotland is soaking up the majority of my excess (hah!) income. Wastrel on.

Poisoned

I have been poisoned. Unknowingly, unwittingly I have drunk from the media well and been poisoned. I have, in moments, to go and interview a candidate for a position. Without meeting this person, solely by name and educational location, I am biased against hire. No reason for it, other than the taint that has been placed on this person and others from his(her) nation of India. Yes. An Indian is on the way to be interviewed. And I wish, based on that, to not even really consider this person for hire. I am sick. I have been inflicted with a societal ill for which there is no antidote nor neutralizer. This makes me abhorrant to myself. Is this person a bad person because of the accident of birth? Of course not. Then why do I dislike him (her)? There is nothing to make me feel this way other than the infectious, demeaning articles written by our illustrious press. According to so many articles I have read over the past year, ALL the good jobs are headed to India. And if the job hasn't gone there, the job has been taken by an Indian here in this country. Bah! It is nothing. I will go & interview this person based on the strengths of the resume and nothing more. I will leave the biases to our yellow journalists and propagandists. The education & will to choose based on what I see & touch & hear remains mine. Wastrel on.

Euro 2004 (powered by LiveScore.com)

Euro 2004 (powered by LiveScore.com) As of this moment, England is losing to Croatia by one goal. Scored in the 7th minute by N. Kovac, it threatens Englands continuing survival in Euro 2004. Touted frequently as the most exciting soccer league in the world, the English National team routinely performs poorly. Is it the number of French & Dutch players in the English Premier League that make it the most exciting? Certainly, with the recent form of the national team, we cannot assume that it is the English players that make it exciting. Faring poorly against second-tier teams like Croatia and Switzerland speak my arguments for me. Wastrel on.

Berecyntia & wine

Ok. Was sipping on wine last night, a nice little shiraz from "two-buck Chuck" out of California (that's Charles Shaw Vinyards) and I started to get a little low in my glass (which happens altogether too frequently). So, I bent down and asked my very smart Border Collie, Berecyntia ('Tia for short) to go fetch my bottle of wine for me. This dog, this 'tia-pet of mine had, of course, no idea what a "bottle of wine" was, so she went and got every bone & toy she owns and brought them to me one at a time. I love that dog. Keep wastreling!

Swing Dancing, Scots & Harry Potter

What a weekend. Went to Southside Preservation Hall Friday night and danced my feet off. I have blisters, even. Janet met me there where we spent some great time with the ladies of Queen Anne's Lace. Have I ever mentioned just how much I love them. Each of them individually & collectively. Bill escorted Kathleen, Rob came with Carrie and Dan even showed up with Katrina. Guess these girls have more than just me to love them. :-) The music started at 8pm, with Bubba's Big Brass Band playing live music. Janet & I danced a few dances and drank some wine. Then at 9pm, Queen Anne's Lace took the stage and sang Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy & Bei Mir Bist du Schoen. They sounded wonderful. I hope it was a good experience for them. Janet & then really took to the floor. I think we did not dance but one song. And the same was true of the third set. At midnight, I finally got in the car and drove home to sleep by myself. I picked Marita Beth up from the airport at just after 11:00 am Saturday morning. She was returning home from Baltimore, MD where she had attended the funeral of her Aunt Ada on Friday. Thanks to Terrill for getting her there & back in First Class. We drove to Waxahachie, picked up Mary at her mother's house, then back to Arlington for the Scottish Games. I purchased a new UtiliKilt, a book called "The Loch Ness Monster in Atlantis," a new dress sporran and dress belt to match, the new Jiggernaut CD, the 2nd and 3rd CD's frm Brother's 3 and far too much beer. Watched the Rogues, Jiggernaut & Brothers 3. Played with the dog. Walked a LOT. All that walking immediately following all that dancing...boy am I sore today! Sunday we went to watch Harry Potter's new flick. So much better than the previous 2. Darker, grittier and the actors are definitely coming into their roles, as are the animators. The hippogriff, Buckbeak, was so well-done, that you didn't even know if was all CGI. Now I'm back at work and the drudgery of the corporate world. I suppose everyone needs a break at some point. ;-) Keep wastreling!

Bosses

I have likely one of the oddest bosses around. Her habit of opening widening her eyes and raising her eyebrows in an effort to appear as though she cares does nothing to hide the blank glassiness that's readily apparent. That being said, she really is a nice enough lady. As a team-builder event last week we all went to a local park, drank beer & played frisbee golf. Can you beat that? That team-builder before that (January), she took us on the TRE (Trinity Railway Express) into downtown Dallas. We then had lunch at a barbeque joint and played miniature golf on the top floor of the West End Marketplace. As I said, weird. Keep on Wastreling.

Memegen 4.0

Memegen?
How interesting.
Try it.

Hot and Cool Test by quill18
First Name
Age
Zodiac Sign	Aries - March 21 - April 20Taurus - April 21 - May 21Gemini - May 22 - June 21Cancer - June 22 - July 22Leo - July 23 -August 21Virgo - August 22 - September 23Libra - September 24 - October 23Scorpio - October 24 - November 22Sagittarius - November 23 - December 22Capricorn - December 23 - January 20Aquarius - January 21 - February 19Pisces - February 20- March 20
Favorite Singer
Cool: 55%
Hot: 100%
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

Guilt?

I have no guilt. I suppose that's why I'm writing here instead of doing those things I should be doing. Like any number of the websites that I maintain. Or those that I'm supposed to design. How about the applications I should be programming? Or hey, the fact that I'm writing this while at work earning a paycheck? Nope. I feel no drive for them, nor do I feel any guilt at not having any drive.
I wonder what this says? Perhaps I can just blog my life away. memoirs? hah! I have a blog.
Tonight, I will be headed to the Southwest Preservation Hall to watch Queen Anne's Lace perform for maybe 10 minutes. I'll pay $10.00 to get in the door to watch them sing 3 songs. What am I thinking? Tomorrow, I will pick up Marita Beth at the airport then go pick up Mary at the faire (or maybe the other way around if MB gets delayed in Maryland). Then off to the Arlington Scottish Games. I'm looking forward to the day. It should be nice & fun provided it doesn't get overly muggy or hot. Perhaps I'll post a photo or two. Who knows. Wastrel On!

Yahoo! News - Legal Glitch Snarls Bush's Spot on Illinois Ballot

Yahoo! News - Legal Glitch Snarls Bush's Spot on Illinois Ballot Interesting story that. A case where state law supercedes national law? Wouldn't be excellent if Bush was indeed left off the November ballot in Illinois? Our political system, despite the best intentions & ideals of our forefathers, is hopelessly complex and top heavy. I doubt that there is any better solution, however. I look around at other country's governments and find myself appalled at the condition in which they have mired themselves. Our politicians are corrupt & power-hungry, but they don't kill people (at least not with any great obviousness). Not much better than many church officials which is why I shudder everytime Bush meets the Pope. ;-)

"launched" fwstrikers.com today. It's a soft launch, which means that only a few select folks actually know about it. And thus far, only one has even tried to use it. He immediately pointed out to me that perhaps a blog was more useful than a forum. I'll have to look at that, it just might be an option. Found a neat little tool that takes me to a Random Fresh Blog each time I use it. By doing this, I just discovered FredMiranda.com. Now, I don't know who the heck Fred Miranda is, but he's a helluva photographer. Additionally, he's established an online community of some 35000+ photographers and wannabe's. Lots of communication and photos. Miranda also puts out a weekly assignment and a monthly theme to stretch your creativity. This week's assignment is BLUE. Some of the photos already posted are astounding. His monthly theme is NIGHTIME. Again, we'll see what happens. I'm such a mediocre photographer at best that I'm not sure I can justify the raising and oft-times overwhelming cost of film & processing. Now, if I was digital it would be an entirely different story. All for now. Keep wastreling!

I find myself increasingly disgruntled. Everything I seem to try lately turns to mud in my grasp.

I had a think today. A good think it was. A fun think. I will buy 10 disposable cameras. I will create a form and distribute it... one with each camera. This way each camera will visit 24 different locations andt hen return to me. I will then have each camera processed and posted on a website where people can visit other photos taken by "their camera" fun.

Lots of meetings today. :-/ Makes for a very long day at work. But am about to leave and head to Bronco's Sports Bar. Looking forward to that. Working hard to "self-hypnotize" myself into a better person. Not an easy thing...but I am trying. Keep your fingers crossed for me. We're 16 days into 2004. Who'd have ever thought I'd live so long. i wish it weren't so. 1985 is what I want. I'd like the opportunity to relive it. Knowing, of course, what I know now. Cheers.

Who registers a domain called Hand Coding: Customizing Gallery Footers but offers no coding examples? ridiculous. I just sent an email to the Strikers list. I wonder how many "blow-offs" I'll get. Although I'm the coach, only the new players and those with little self-confidence, actually treat me as such. Aside from the tedium of composing practice schedules & play rosters, I get no assistance.

feeling delightfully sanguinary today. if it were but satiable. worked my arse off today in the office. lots of adhoc queries and the like for upper managment. I still, however, have yet to be paid through the end of the year. Financial responsibilities loom near and vulgar. I detest money.

My Intelligence

have you ever felt that perhaps your intelligence was diminishing? that your very grip on reality was slowly spiralling away from you? i fear it. i fear it greatly. i feel it. i feel it gripping me and pulling me under the rough seas of the world. my intelligence slips slowly into sweet & bitter nothingness