Blogging in Oz

Public Market Parking Garage at 1531 Western Avenue:
1) Shop-and-go within 60 minutes for free.
2) Park after 5:00 p.m. for just $1 for the evening.
3) Park before 9:30 a.m. and get the "Early Bird" all-day rate of $6.

(December 4, 2002) You never know how those parental decisions will turn out. It could be worse, she could have turned into a cat lady with cats proliferating like fleas on a camel.

(11/28/02) So I don’t get it. How does this evangelism thing work? He collects money from whom? Then he rents a motel room somewhere (where?) that boasts hot tubs, free HBO, complimentary continental breakfast and morning newspaper, and he baptizes the newly faithful in the roiling chlorinated waters? So do they arrive as a group or do they knock on the door day and night? A steady stream of believers headed for the murky waters of what religious affiliation, exactly?

(February 28, 2004) I just don’t think you understand the point I’m trying to get across. And you’re certainly not the only one. I don’t want you to “shut up”, but I do want you to look at the logic of applying that particular piece of scientific research to the problem of isolation. How does getting dressed and ignoring the dishes help with a lack of human social interaction? It simply doesn’t. There’s no relationship whatsoever. I don’t doubt that doing those things helps facilitate the telecommuting experience in other ways (motivation and productivity come to mind), but it doesn’t address the isolation issue. The only way to address the problem of isolation is to bring people together. You can bring people together with various modes of communication, with varying degrees of success. Yes, it will help to have webcams and email and phone calls. Those things are the only lifesavers I have right now. But nothing beats face-to-face interaction and the time to pursue an ongoing relationship in which you both have something in common. That is what is missing in the telecommuting experience. It is why part-time telecommuters have a higher satisfaction rate than full-time telecommuters.

(June 19, 2003) It does keep the blood pressure down, but occasionally firing off a warning shot in the direction of an unsuspecting malcontent gives a certain gratifying jolt to the system too.

(February 24, 2003) Leave the guilt with the nuns. You made the best decision you could make at the time, for very good reasons. You can’t know how it might have turned out if you’d made another decision, and you can’t change what did happen as a result of this decision. All you can know is that you did what you did out of love.

(September 2, 2003) I’m sitting here contemplating recent events and thinking about your question today, “So what else is happening?” To which I responded, “There is nothing else.” I am so tired and frazzled and stressed and anxious. Like much of my life, I don’t know why I put myself through this...What good does it do me to put my own life aside and rescue someone else from their impending “mistakes”? Like I know the difference between a mistake and a good decision, anyway. I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting for her and I’m tired of fighting against her.

johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway. Be sure to read it. It may use a little more profanity than you're comfortable with (or it may not), but the message is important.

"A PEACEFUL RALLY; NOT TO SHOUT! NOT TO SCREAM! BUT TO HOLD POSTERS AND BANNERS AS A COMMUNITY IN SILENCE; WHICH WILL CREATE EMPATHY AND SYMPATHY IN THE MINDS OF OUR FELLOW CITIZENS!

So whose voices will we be hearing?

Here's an article well worth reading.

My wisteria vine appears to be eating my neighbor's house and they're doing nothing to fight it. It looks like they have to duck under it to get in their kitchen door. I don't know why they haven't cut it back...maybe I need to go tell them that it's okay to do so?

Folks I used to work with, years ago. It was great to see them, but strange to realize that we haven't gotten together for almost a year and a half. Is that true? Really? We sure tried harder than that to get together...until recently anyway. Then we all seem to have given up the fight to get 4, 5, 6 people together from all ends of the city and beyond.

My boss sent me a link to Google's new blogger site today. I'd heard about it of course, but hadn't visited yet. So far I like the format. I'm hopeful that it works out, because this means you can all post comments -- which could be good or bad, depending upon which one of you characters comments. Now I just have to figure out how to get rid of that header up there.