LittleJoe

I'm drinking tonight

OK, I'm only having one, but I am having a drink. Not to celebrate. We just returned from seeing Fahrenheit 9/11. You have to see this movie!

Even with our prior knowledge of the connection between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family and the Binladens, our knowledge of the Bushes and The Carlyle Group, Cheney and Halliburton, the lies about WMD and Iraq, the lies about Sadam and al Qaeda ties, ...all the stuff that has made us sick about the Iraq war all along ...This movie made our feelings stronger.

I've read books by Michael Moore, Molly Ivans, and other anti-Bush folks, and have been reading the British and other foreign press for a long time to try and get a slant on the news other than what is served up in the US mainstream media. But the footage in this film of real people (American, Iraqi, and other) and how the Bush policies have affected their lives...it leaves one wondering how the hell George W Bush can sleep at night. How the hell can his wife stay by him? How the hell can anyone who cares about this country and who cares about humanity conceivably support the policies of George W Bush and his ilk?

There were scenes in the movie of various folks involved in businesses that stand to make a lot of money from Iraq. It was especially sickening to hear one of the businessmen stating that the war is "...good for business - bad for people, but good for business". And he said this with a grin on his greedy little face.

Come on folks! Wake up!  How about a little - even a tiny bit of compassion!

Fact: There have been no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq.
Fact: There has been no connection found between Sadam and the events of Sept 11, 2001
Fact: Roughly 11,000 human lives have been lost in Iraq since we invaded
Fact: The Carlyle Group (George Bush Sr has worked for The Carlyle Group), Halliburton, and many other businesses are making millions of dollars from this war.

Halliburton runs an ad in which they talk about how they provide hot meals and communications services to the troops in Iraq. Yes, they do provide sell these services to the US government (to all of us who pay taxes). So what!?! If they want to make it sound like they are helping our troops, how about providing these services at cost, rather than making a profit from the war.

OK, I'm too angry and disgusted right now to write any more. Closing thoughts:

1. See this movie
2. Be responsible enough to educate yourself about what's going on in this country and in the world, and get your information from diverse sources. Remember, anyone can say anything (Bush does!), and it's even easier to spread falsehoods these days with the Internet. Do NOT believe everything you hear or read!
3. Vote

Jews and Christians believe in the 10 Commandments. The 6th one is usually stated as "Thou shalt not kill". It does not include a clause stating that it is OK to kill if you might get some oil out of the deal. Killing is killing, and killing is wrong.

Kickin' back on Father's Day

Here in the US, today is Father's Day. So that means that I slept in, walked over to the fitness center and did my time on the treadmill (man, I'm out of shape!), and then we went to Mimi's for breakfast. Mmmmm....

No, not that Mimi. Sheesh!

Mimi's is a chain of cafe's with a pretty cool atmosphere, awesome artwork from the late New Orleans artist Leo  Meiersdorff, and great food (at least breakfast - that's all we've tried there :-)

I figured Mimi's would be a fine joint to hit for breakfast, and that it wouldn't be that crowded, 'cause not that many folks go out for Father's Day breakfast, right? At least not compared to the masses that hit breakfast on Mother's Day. Wrong-o, morning-breath! We got there and were told there should be a table in about 35 minutes. OK, OK, where can I get an espresso? Oh, right over there at the bar? OK. Hey, there's 3 open stools at the bar -- and there's no smoking inside Florida restaurants :-) -- doesn't matter if you're at the bar or the dining area, there's no smoking. It's even in the constitution now (which is a whole 'nother topic, to talk about the whacked Florida constitution, but at least there's no smoking in the restaurants). ...So, anyway, we sat right down, ordered up a few espressos, and were done with breakfast shortly after we would have originally been seated.

Now doing some geeking and waiting 1/2 hour for the next broadcast match of Euro2004Euro2004. Life is good.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - Got my tickets!

Michael Moore's latest movie opens this next Friday, June 25. We've ordered our tickets. Now, I'm certainly not saying that I'm going to this movie and plan to immediately believe everything I hear and see. Neither would I ever immediately believe what George W Bush tries to tell us. I see this movie as a good opportunity to get another take on the events of the past few years. I've read a couple of Michael Moore's books, and have seen a number of his videos. Some of the conclusions he draws are a bit of a stretch. But many of the points he illustrates are far too real. Of course, I'll probably have to see the film at least a couple of times to soak it all in :-)

Why I support John Kerry - and not Bush

Iraq:
John Kerry's plan for Iraq calls for working to establish a NATO mission for Iraq, and the authorization of "an international High Commissioner" by the United Nations. The High Commissioner would oversee Iraq governance and reconstruction. This is how it should be - involving the family of nations in this critical endeavor. In contrast, Mr Bush has alienated much of the world, continuing to insist that the US control the reconstruction, even while trying to get other nations to contribute armed forces.

Regarding the whole war and the way it came about, I hold George W Bush personally responsible for the nearly 1000 coalition deaths and the approximately ten thousand civilian deaths that have taken place during this war. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about oral sex. George W Bush lied to get America into this war, 11,000 human lives have ended because of his lies, and yet some people can still support him. Amazing.

I have one nephew in the Marines in Iraq right now. Another nephew was among the first group of Marines to enter Iraq, suffered the death of his best friend - a fellow Marine - while there, and is now preparing to go back for a second tour. I have tremendous respect and admiration for these brave men and women who serve their country. Most of us will never fully comprehend the sacrifices they make for us.

War is far too serious to be taken lightly. Yet I can't help but feel that George W Bush thinks of the men and women in the military as little more than numbers. John Kerry knows first hand what war is like. George W Bush - at best - had an easy time of his military 'service', and possibly actually shirked his duty. I believe that John Kerry is far more capable than Bush of making reasoned decisions about matters as serious as war. Perhaps I'd feel more confident in Bush if his daughters were serving in Iraq.

Taxes and health care:
At the start of Bush's presidency, the country was operating on a balanced budget and even had a surplus. Less than 4 years later we have a record deficit. For heaven's sake, what kind of moron grants tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, at the same time that the economy is crumbling and the deficit is rising?! Come on, I'm no accountant, but I have run my own business and have managed to work and pay my bills for many years. Even a guy like me knows that you shouldn't spend more than you make, and if you do need, for some very serious reason, to incur debt, then it should be secured debt, and should be managed very carefully with a solid plan for repayment. Mr Bush, who apparently has an MBA (!), somehow thinks that it is OK to give money back to those who least need it, meanwhile saddling our children and their children with paying off the new debt.

John Kerry will work to repeal Bush's ridiculous tax cuts, and use that money to help finance health care. My dad went bankrupt when he and his wife both experienced serious health issues just after starting new jobs - before they were insured. This is not an uncommon situation in this country. John Kerry will use the funds recouped from the repealed tax cuts to help finance health care that will cover 95% of all Americans, including all children.

OK, enough for now. Time for my beauty rest. If you would like to help elect John Kerry, please consider making a donation or volunteering. Peace.

Space center; hurricanes prepare

Some friends are in Orlando on vacation from our former home town in Washington state. So yesterday we popped out there from Tampa, picked them up and drove over to Kennedy Space Center. It was a blast, and one day was really not enough to take it all in. But the most fun was this (click the image to see the full-size image):
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I'll post more details later. We've been rather busy (as always!). Today I've got some work stuff to do, but we've also been working on our hurricane preparedness kit, so I put up some shelves and we started building up some supplies. Tampa hasn't seen a hurricane in a while, so we're due. The hurricane season started June 1, and runs several months. Just like being prepared for earthquakes in Washington state, here in Florida it is recommended that one have a gallon of water per person for a week, along with several days' worth of canned food, extra batteries, first aid supplies, etc. Basically, one should be prepared to get by with no utilities of any kind for several days. We have more to do, but at least we've started.

Oh, and we finally had the blueprint review for our house this last week, so construction should be able to start once the permits come back in 4-12 weeks (sigh). OK, time to get back to the tasks at hand. Cheers.

Settled in the new apartment

It's Monday evening. On Saturday we went over to the old apartment and painted the walls white where we'd sponge painted. That was the last task before being done and being able to just enjoy the new apartment and wait for the house to be built.

Well now we are completely done with the old place. We are moved into the new apartment and loving it. It does take me longer to get to work now - about a half-hour commute each way. But that's not bad at all. And Shirley's much closer to her job, so that's good. We are also now on the 3rd floor, so we no longer have neighbors above us, and at this complex that also means that we have vaulted ceilings. I can't tell you (but I'll try) how wonderful it is to be in a place that is pleasant!

So it is now off to a celebretory dinner. For the curious, I've posted some pics of the old place and the new.

Oh yeah, and our blueprint review for the house is happening tomorrow, so we are finally through the permit process and might start moving forward a bit. Life is good :-)

Almost done with the old apartment

It's Saturday morning of a 3-day holiday weekend, and we were up at 6:30am. It's about 7:15am now and we're getting set to head back to the old, nasty apartment, and paint the walls white where we'd sponge painted just 3 months ago. And then we will be DONE baby! We will never have to go back there, and we can enjoy living in the new apartment until the house is done sometime late in the year. We've taken a number of pictures of the old place and the new place and will post those and more details later. Definitely good for a laugh at our expense -- and there was plenty of expense when you add up the cost of breaking the old lease, deposits and fees at the new place, cost to rent a truck and hire a couple of folks to help with the move, and time that could have been spent working (which means more income, since I'm paid by the hour).

By it is a good day. We have learned much, the sun is out, and we will soon be free of the old and embracing the new. Cheers :-)

Bush in 30 seconds ads

George W Bush is ruining America, and indeed seriously harming the planet and humanity. It is my goal to see John F Kerry elected this November (as opposed to simply selected) as the next President of the USA. Millions of Americans (and many more people around the planet) feel similarly. My gosh, I never in my worst nightmares thought that Bush could do so much harm so quickly. Sure, there's the recent scandal about the prison in Iraq. But what about the prison in Guantanamo? What about the genocide going on in Sudan, with the USA and rest of the world just sitting by (of course, there's no oil - as far as we know - in Sudan, so who cares, huh)? The tax breaks for the wealthiest folks, which contributed to giving us the largest deficit ever -- of course, the billions already spent are merely a start to what Bush's immoral war will eventually cost. There's a good editorial in the Washington Post today about Bush's deficit trap. And then there's the whole trail of lies that led to the US invasion of Iraq. OK, obviously I do not at all like what Bush has done.

Well MoveOn.org held a contest early this year for the best anti-Bush ads. Over 1,500 entries were submitted, and 150 of the best of those ads are now available for viewing:

In future posts I'll try to be more positive and discuss why I think John Kerry will be great for America. But every time I look at the newspaper I get mad at Mr Bush, and I had to vent.

OK, time for perspective:
"Breathing in, I calm myself. Breathing out, I smile"
"Breathing in, I calm myself. Breathing out, I smile"
From teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh

More beaches - Florida natural yard

Last weekend Shirley and I popped south just past Sarasota to check out Siesta Beach in Siesta Key. This is supposed to be one of the best beaches in the world, and it was definitely nice :-) ...Most beaches have sand comprised of crushed coral, shells, etc., and the sand can feel quite hot on a sunny summer day. At Siesta Beach, the sand is quartz-based. It is also extremely fine - like sifted flour. Because the quartz is so reflective, the sand always feels cool to the feet. We, of course, took some pictures which Shirley has posted with her own entertaining comments.

This weekend we decided to go see a certified Florida yard. Homes can be certified as having "Florida" yards if they are landscaped using plants native to the area, managing the yard in an environmentally-friendly manner. Ben didn't have to be to work until later in the day, so we were all able to go check out one of these yards, then hit the beach, and then later Shirley and I went down to St Pete Beach to catch the sunset and have dinner. It was a truly wonderful day. Pictures are here.

Sunset from St Pete Beach:

Disney blocking Michael Moore's new movie

The links I include on the left (appropriately :-) of this site include some news sources that offer news told from a different angle versus much of what one can get from the mainstream US media. I believe it is very important to seek out news from the foreign press and other sources. It's important not to believe everything you hear or read....including here. Question your sources. Investigate. Make informed decisions.

Well, love him or hate him, Michael Moore offers opinions and news that is definitely different from much of what one typically hears. It is important not to censor what Mr Moore and others with non-mainstream views might have to say. Here is the text from an editorial from the NY Times today.

---

May 6, 2004 – Editorial, New York Times

Disney's Craven Behavior

Give the Walt Disney Company a gold medal for cowardice for blocking its Miramax division from distributing a film that criticizes President Bush and his family. A company that ought to be championing free  expression has instead chosen to censor a documentary that clearly falls within the bounds of acceptable political commentary.

The documentary was prepared by Michael Moore, a controversial filmmaker who likes to skewer the rich and powerful. As described by Jim Rutenberg yesterday in The Times, the film, "Fahrenheit 9/11," links the Bush family with prominent Saudis, including the family of Osama bin Laden. It describes financial ties that go back three decades and explores the role of the government in evacuating relatives of Mr. bin Laden from the United States shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The film was financed by Miramax and was expected to be released this summer.

Mr. Moore's agent said that Michael Eisner, Disney's chief executive, had expressed concern that the film might jeopardize tax breaks granted to Disney for its theme park, hotels and other ventures in Florida, where Jeb Bush is governor. If that is the reason for Disney's move, it would underscore the dangers of allowing huge conglomerates to gobble up diverse media companies.

On the other hand, a senior Disney executive says the real reason is that Disney caters to families of all political stripes and that many of them might be alienated by the film. Those families, of course, would not have to watch the documentary.

It is hard to say which rationale for blocking distribution is more depressing. But it is clear that Disney loves its bottom line more than the freedom of political discourse.

Link to NY Times editorial on their site

Mai Tai

Continuing our research to perfect recipes for tropical adult beverages, we have, I believe, arrived at the optimal Mai Tai recipe. After first tasting a Mai Tai a few years ago when visiting the Hawaiian island of Kauai, we set forth on a selfless mission to develop a Mai Tai formula to endure the test of time. Here's a shot of the ingredients for these 2 recipes:

For the past few years, I'd been using a recipe based on pineapple juice. Here's a pic:

We did a little more research this weekend, and my new fave is slightly modified from the original Trader Vic recipe. Here's a pic of the new winner:

So...Here are the recipes for Mai Tai. The background picture one I took from the bridge over the Aitutaki lagoon when we visited the Cook Islands a few years ago. As mentioned above, my favorite Mai Tai recipe is the 2nd one listed on the web page - the modified Trader Vic recipe. But either drink is quite tasty and refreshing.

Cheers :-)

Sand Key Park, Clearwater FL

This afternoon we decided it was a good day to lay on the sand and take the occassional dip in the Gulf. So we popped over to Clearwater, to Sand Key Park (a half hour or so from here). Here's a few pics to show how awesome it was. This is what weekends are for - a few hours that feel like a mini-vacation. :-)

Florida sunsets

Here's a little more Florida eye candy. Friday evening we drove down to St Pete Beach for dinner at our fave sunset dinner joint, Hurricane Restaurant. On the way Shirley snapped a few pics of another awesome sunset (click on a thumbnail image to see the larger image):
   

Wilbur the cat

OK, I can't say that Wilbur is his name...yet. Shirley's not so sure about that name, and wants to see what the personality suggests. But I'm lobbying for "Wilbur".

Anyway...our last cat, Maggie, made the move from Washington state down here to Florida and seemed to be getting used to apartment life. But she'd always been an indoor/outdoor cat. By that I mean that she would sleep inside sometimes, but often would spend the night outside and liked to sit on the front porch or be curled up in the bushes out back. Several weeks ago, Maggie was given the opportunity to explore the outdoors here at the apartment complex. We haven't seen her since. We're guessing that she's either happily dining on cockroaches and geckos and sleeping under the boardwalk...or maybe she's been "taken in" by some other tenants, and not let out.

So today Shirley decided to give "Wilbur" a chance. He had been abandoned by some other tenants who were evicted, and after 10 days of the apartment management trying to find a home for him, he was about to be handed over to the kitty pound (or whatever they call the organization that takes these animals and tries to find them homes ... and maybe sometimes ends up putting the animals on death row).

We're guessing Wilbur is several months old, but definitely not full grown yet. We'll have to get him to a vet to see how soon he can be neutered. The last thing most towns need is more cats breeding.

Here's a pic of "Wilbur" under one of the beds:

And here's Shirley holding the new adoptee:

By the way, if you have any inspired names for this little critter, feel free to offer your suggestion ;-)

Another reason to vote for John Kerry

In the past I've stayed away from policital postings on my sites. But there is just way, way too much at stake to be silent any more. There are many very serious reasons why I am supporting John Kerry and will do what I can to see that Mr Bush does not spend a second term in the White House.

This is not a serious reason. But it is true:
John Kerry's web site works just fine with the Firefox web browser. I am running Firefox v0.8 on top of the Linspire operating system. The election site for George W Bush, however (it shouldn't really be called a RE-election site, since he was not elected) - does not function with Firefox. At least not with Firefox on top of Linspire. When I try to go to Mr. Bush's site, it crashes Firefox....everytime.

Just for the record, I am registered as a Democrat in Florida. But I have voted for Republicans, Democrats, and candidates from neither party. I vote for the person I believe would do the best job.

A link for a bruise

My sister Mo emailed me this pic of the awesome bruise she got the other night blocking a shot in soccer. She also mentioned that she can find this site from my tech blog, but I don't have a link from here back to the other blog. OK, Mo, just because you're hurt and shouldn't have to work so hard to get from here to there, I've added a link on the left that points from this site back over to JoeLitton.net.

Mojito

For an incredibly refreshing, light, cooling adult beverage, you have to try a Mojito ("moe-HEE-toe"). Mojito is a wonderful Cuban drink. The perfect drink on a hot day. So here's what we've decided (after some experimentation) is the recipe for a perfect mojito:

2 tablespoons sugar syrup (to make syrup, warm equal parts sugar and water until the sugar is disolved) 8-10 mint leaves juice of a 1/2 lime 2 shots light rum club soda ice (duh!)

Make the syrup if you don't have any. Put 8-10 mint leaves in a tall glass. Add the syrup. Crush the leaves against the edge of the glass with a spoon until the fragrance of the mint is wafting strong. Add the lime juice and rum and stir. Toss in several ice cubes, stir, and fill the rest of the glass with club soda. Garnish with some mint leaves for the full effect. 08/19/2005 - We've cut this back to "only" 2 shots of rum. I've also taken to using a mortar and pestle to really smash up the mint leaves. This works much better than a fork on the inside of the glass, and brings out a lot more mint flavor :) Warning: Note the 2 shots of rum. This is a strong drink, but I guarantee you won't taste the strength of the drink. One is plenty. Slow down and enjoy it.  :-)

Easter egg

Here's a great pic I just received of my niece coloring Easter eggs:

Neti Pot: sinus cleanse method

My alternative title for this post is "Joe Litton - party guy". I've got a very mild cold at present. I sort of suspect that maybe I've got (and have had for a while) a very low grade sinus infection. Anyway, I don't care too much for most treatments prescribed by MD's, preferring a more natural approach vs prescription drugs. Infections, however are an exception; if this treatment doesn't work, then I may visit an MD and see if I've got an infection and if so, then get some antibiotics.

So what do I mean by "this treatment"? What I mean is flushing the sinuses using a technique from yoga - the use of a neti pot (you can order one here and read more about the technique here). The idea is simply to use warm salt water to flush out the schnoz. Here's a pic of me earlier today, pouring warm salt water into one nostril using a neti pot, and letting the water drain out the other nostril, taking some extra gluck with it:

Shirley's used this technique for a while if she's stuffed up, but I never had. It looked too strange. Well, gosh, I've often done basically this same thing at the ocean, intentionally snorting up some salt water to flush out the sinuses (you may want to make a note to stay away from me when I first go in the water :-)

Well now after finally trying the neti pot, I am hooked. I'll continue to take echinacea, drink lots of warm liquids and citrus juice, etc., and I am going to use the neti pot several times a day for a week or so and see if the sinuses feel better.

So invite me to your next party if you need to thin the crowd a little. Demonstrations are free :-)

Eye Candy

My blog friend Jess posted about how it's important to always have something pretty in sight. Yup, I agree. I'm a very visual person, and it means so much to me when there are pleasant sights around. The picture here is of my view from my desk at work. Wow! How often does a contractor get a window cubicle, let alone one with such a sanity-inducing view!

Then when I get home (to our temporary quarters at Joe's apartment), I can pop out on the little balcony and have another little sanity view.

Thank God for things that grow and bloom and colors and...

Joe's Apartment

So I guess there are a few little bugs here and there in Florida. I popped in by the kitchen sink this eve to grab a glass of water and Shirley let out some strange noise that eventually somehow communicated that there was something on the fridge, and it was about the size of a Buick. We put the little guy under an overturned bowl (OK, I don't know that it's a 'he' - I am a bit new to entomological gender differentiation, afterall - but he's too ugly to be a 'she'):

...and my close-up Mr. DeMille:

On closer inspection, most Buicks are probably a little larger:

With the last one, we tossed him out on the stairs and the next morning there was a roach pancake on one of the steps. We actually see those fairly often. So we may toss this guy out there as well, unless we can think of a friend to whom we should ship him :-)

Anarchist Gnome

After a fruitless search to buy an existing house, we decided to buy a new home. We are very impressed with the quality in the homes we've seen built by this company, and we love the location. But I admit I'm a bit, um, conflicted about the Homeowners' Association. At one point I swore I'd never live in a gated community, or a neighborhood with landscaping police. OK, I'm exaggerating a little (only a little). But we did decide to build in a gated community with a Homeowners' Association. We do get to pick the house colors (which shade of beige do you prefer?), but there is actually an architectural review committee that ensures that no one gets too crazy with the appearance of their home.

So to help me with my inner conflict, I enlisted the aid of a small creature who will stand guard hidden in our front landscaping (click the image below to see the larger image):

For a little added effectiveness, I gave him one funky eye, and painted his hat black so the red emblem I gave him shows with better contrast :-)

Now there is still one remaining issue. You may notice that this little guy is carrying a book. I think the book needs a title on it, and I could use some ideas. Feel free to offer your suggestions. The idea would be the title of a real book that has something to do with freedom of expression, no censorship, etc.

We are really looking forward to the house being done and moving in (it will be ready many months from now). And I like knowing that everyone must maintain the appearance of their yards and homes. And I don't like knowing that everyone must maintain the appearance of their yards and homes. The classic inner struggle ;-)

Snorkeling with manatees

On Saturday Shirley and Ben and I went up to Bird's Underwater in Crystal River and went swimming with the manatees. Wow! These large, gentle mammals are incredibly friendly. They love to get scratched under their "arms" - under their flippers - and also seem to enjoy getting their bellies scratched :-)

Here's a few small pics from our snorkel trip:

If you have a high-speed connection (or some patience), here's a 20 second movie of swimming with manatees. The first person scratching the manatee is Ben, I pop in a little later. This is about the end of the manatee season until November; it's getting too warm and their heading out of the rivers now. We will definitely go back next season!

Officially Floridians

OK. We've now got the bank accounts opened at the local bank branch, we've got the Florida driver licenses, the voter registration (hold the jokes, please!!!), and we finally got the vehicles licensed. We've opted for a couple of the Florida specialty plates - one pays a higher fee for the license plate and the funds go to support whatever cause one selects. So we decided to help support some local critters. The Outback now sports a manatee license plate:

...and Shirley (who pretty much likes all cats, chose a panther plate:

Then this evening, for our weekly trip to catch the sunset at the Gulf of Mexico, we popped up to Tarpon Springs, had some souvlaki and baklava (yum, yum!) and didn't really see the sunset, since it was actually overcast! Yes, even in Florida the sun does not always shine :-)

Finally settling in

It's been a bit tiring the past few days. The movers arrived Wednesday morning, but the huge semi-truck couldn't get into the apartment complex - not enough room to manuever (just for the record, there were 4 households of stuff in the truck; our things were only a quarter of the load). So we used a smaller rented truck to shuttle things from the United Van Lines yard a couple of miles away. That took from about 8:30am until 3pm.

Next we signed all the papers saying we had our stuff, the moving crew took off, and now the real fun began. We had just over 3 hours to get a fully-packed 16-foot truck unloaded into a 10-foot by 10-foot storage unit. This was all the stuff that we knew we couldn't fit into a 2-bedroom apartment. The load included a very heavy upright piano, a washer and drier, a treadmill, a Bowflex, a dresser, a workbench, and countless boxes of books, record albums, etc., etc., etc. We didn't get it done :(

So...we hauled the rest of the stuff back to the apartment and unloaded it so I could get the truck returned, and we collapsed into bed.

But now (Sunday) after a weekend of toil, all but one or maybe two boxes are moved to storage, the rooms are pretty much in order, and we finally got to enjoy a Florida evening. Here are some pics.

A pic of Hurricane Restaurant, where we rewarded ourselves with dinner and a sunset:

Getting used to Florida

Well, we've got our Florida driver licenses now, we're all registered to vote (that may be interesting ;-) ...and in general we're settling in to life in the Sunshine State. Some aspects of the area, however, will take a little longer to accept:

Our Tampa home (for a while)

We had little luck finding anything to our liking in the house market here. More correctly, there was nothing in the existing home market in our price range that was up to our impossibly high standards. So we've decided to build. The permit process here takes a while, which means the house should be ready for move-in sometime in the October/November timeframe. So that means that an apartment lease was warranted.

I've signed a 9-month lease on the Tampa apartment where we'll live while the house is being built. It's small (1050 square feet), but has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, so it should serve us well - even in the summer when Ben is home from college. Here, then, are a couple of pictures looking out from the screened balcony. The little things that you see on the railing in one photo are not cockroaches! They are just little leaves :-)

Florida Roadkill

My boss and coworkers where I used to work in Portland, Oregon (until Friday, 22-Jan-2004) were kind enough to give me a series of books from author Tim Dorsey to help get me educated on the finer points of Florida. OK, well first off, the title of this first book denotes how I feel about now. Man, am I looking forward to getting some rest this weekend!

But the main topic of this brief post is the book, Florida Roadkill. What a hoot! ...quite irreverent (which I appreciate). Although, I must admit that this one even stretches the bounds for me ...and that takes a lot! OK, just as a teaser for anyone who might be considering Dorsey's writing, here are 2 rather priceless quotes:

...I need some more coke to handle this, she thought, and stuck a doctored spansule up her nose, snorting like a feral hog.

C'mon, this stuff is enough to make ya toss out the classics and get downright trashy :-)

...and my favorite quote so far:
...Obsessive-compulsive, manic-depressive, anal-retentive, paranoid-schizophrenic. He was believed to be the only self-inflicted case of shaken-baby syndrome.

I don't know why, but I'm suddenly feeling the urge to plant plastic pink flamingos in the yard.

Dyson vacuum cleaner ROCKS

OK, I guess this is a little pathetic that I'm excited and blogging about a freakin' vacuum cleaner! But man, in addition to the rather cool color scheme that definitely will wake you up, this baby is a seriously awesome tool.

We just bought a new Dyson DC07 Full Gear vacuum cleaner. Some friends had recently purchased a Dyson and were raving about it when we were at their house for dinner a little while back. Well, it's not too often that folks in our crowd get jazzed about vacuums, so this got our attention. We'd had a vacuum for about 20 years and had been limping it along for the past 5 or so years, so it was time for a replacement. Shirley researched a bit, found a great buy on this one, and ordered it. The day it arrived, she vacuumed one area of the house with our old vacuum, then went over the same area with th Dyson. Man, we wanted to puke when we saw all the junk that the Dyson pulled up from the "clean" floor!

OK, enough ranting on about this device. The bottom line is that it's a totally cool piece of engineering, and very much worth checking out if you are in the market.

 

Beautiful Portland sunrise

We're gearing up to move to Tampa. I start my new job there on 26-Jan-2004. So when we actually had enough cloud break on Tuesday for there to be an actual sunrise, it was an especially wonderful treat. I love the scenery in the Pacific Northwest, and literally every single day for decades I have taken joy in seeing the awesome fir trees, the hills, and the mountains (when the clouds are willing to share the view). With so much rain, we develop a very keen appreciation for the times when we are blessed with a dawn like this one:

Another power failure (10 hours)

OK, this is getting old :-) We were so happy this morning when the electicity was restored. The food in the refrigerator was still OK, I was able to make some morning espresso, and with the roads in bad shape, I began another day at the laptop working from home. Then around 10:30am a heavy, ice-encrusted branch from a neighbor's tree broke off and dropped onto some live power wires. The branch immediately began to smoke heavily, with little flames dancing here and there. After a minute or two one of the power wires snapped, with a second breaking a very short while later.

So after 10 hours, we thankfully have power again - in time for a warm night's sleep. We are so lucky, and I feel very grateful to the folks who work such long hours in pretty miserable conditions to restore the power when the storms do their worst.

Here's a couple of pictures from today's events.

Power failure (13 hours)

Yesterday the power went out around 3pm. We've had some snow and a LOT of freezing rain the past couple of days. There's about a one-inch coating on everything outside - I can walk on top of the snow and the ice crust does not break. Well I was working from home (since the office building was closed), and then at about 3pm ...BOOM! and the power went out.

Just before 4am this morning the power came back on, which was wonderful, because that meant not only could I fire up the PCs again, but I could also brew some morning espresso! :-)

So here's what we did after the power went out.

Good day for working at home

It's hard to tell from this picture (click on it for the full-size image) from earlier this morning, but it was - and is - snowing hard! Well, 'round these parts, we don't get too much snow. We're more used to rain, and showers, and drizzle, and sprinkles, and several others words that all equate to wet. So when we do get real snow, things kind of stop. And on days like today, when the snow is coupled with ice, well, then it's a real mess.

On most work days I drive to a Park-and-Ride lot (commuters park their cars and take mass transit), and ride the Portland TriMet MAX train into downtown Portland, Oregon to work. Not today. The electric train is able to push through some of the snow, but trains are getting stuck on a mild hill they need to climb just before a bridge that goes across the Willamette River downtown. Oh, and the switches on the tracks are frozen, so that's not really a good thing either.

OK, time to get back to the laptop. Good thing I work with Lotus Notes and can work with local replicas of all my needed databases, connecting every hour or so to get/send any updates. :-)

Dramatic reduction in Telemarketer calls

We have received ZERO telemarketer calls since Christmas. We are signed up on the Do Not Call Registry here in the US, and are registered with the Telephone Preference Service - as well as the other preference services from the Direct Marketing Association. Nontheless, we typically would receive at least a couple of solicitation calls each day. Well, my sister-in-law gave me a TeleZapper for Christmas, and I plugged it in as soon as I opened the package. We have noticed no solicitation calls since. I should mention here that we block anonymous calls, and we also use Caller ID to see who's calling before answering. If we don't see a name we know, we let it go to the answering machine. Well, now when the answering machine picks up (or when we pick up the receiver) a tone is played that makes predictive dialer machines think that our number is disconnected. We used to get a lot of "empty" messages on our machine - error tones when the solicitation caller hung up after our outgoing message. No more :-)

2004 - Beautiful start to the year

Update later in the afternoon - My son is home from college (going to school in Tampa), and was hoping to get some snow during his winter break. The wish has been granted. Here he is by the new snowman:

Here's a pic looking out our front door on the first morning of 2004: