“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”       -Plato Register to vote now by downloading the national voter registration form (pdf file) now. Or help register others to vote through one of these great organizations - America Coming Together and Driving Votes.

This is a photo into the mirror in my office. It's kinda cool except for the celing tiles and poor quality. ;-)

I have been incredibly, increasingly tired this week. When I got home last night Benjamin thought I had makeup smears under my eyes because the circles are so dark. Not that you can tell in this crappy cell pic...

When I went to physical therapy today they informed my that my PT wasn't there due to an emergency. But they managed to fit me in with someone else. =)

Have I mentioned how hilarious The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is? It's required television during these trouble times. A nice counterpart to The West Wing to help Democrats maintain their sanity.

Weeks late, our "Regime change party pack" did eventually arrive, though I have no idea what do do with the crap now. Here's the "pants on fire" Bush doll, now in our front window.

This is the beautiful hanging flower basket my mom & Rich gave me for my birthday.

This is a cool old photo of Benjamin's grandfather.

This is a bug on the frame of my bathroom medicine cabinet from last night. No idea what kind it is.

New TV mini-series on terrorism

Last night I watched the first episode of a new TV mini series on TNT called The Grid (that I had recorded previously). It's a show about terrorism and the main characters are from the FBI, CIA, NSC, MI6, etc. and in the show there is a new Al Queda-related cell being developed in Egypt and Nigeria. I was emailing my friend who recently returned from Cairo about the show so I searched on Google and found this glowing article about the series (warning - toward the bottom of the first page they start giving away content of the first episode). It also turns out that it is directed by the guy who did Band of Brothers, which was a very impressive mini-series on HBO (available on video now). I have no idea if The Grid is at all politically or culturally realistic, but I found the first episode to be really compelling and I am looking forward to the next episode, airing tomorrow.

After we finished up at Magnolia, the three of us went to an early dinner at Copper Sky in Northgate, then briefly to Gamespot. Trying to prolong our time in air conditioned spaces, we also went to see a movie - I, Robot. It was actually suprisingly good.

It was so hot today. After finally dragging myself out of bed and showering, Benjamin and I went to Magnolia Hi-Fi to meet Brian and buy a replacement stereo for my car. I selected another Pioneer Premier deck, this one has MP3 and WMA support and it's scheduled to be installed tomorrow afternoon.

The first Six Feet Under night happened to fall on a ~95 degree day here in Seattle. Most of the evening was spent having a BBQ on the back porch. By the end of the second SFU episode only 4 guests remained. ;-)

Piper and I went to dinner at Casa d'Italia last night. She is an engaged woman now!

This is my webcam. :)

Cancer free!

Benjamin's mole was benign. Yea!

Singer Linda Ronstadt removed for praising Fahrenheit 9/11

You may have already heard about the incident with Linda Ronstadt in Las Vegas. Apparently she dedicated a song to Michael Moore, praising him, and encouraged her audience members to see his new movie Fahrenheit 9/11. In response Michael Moore wrote a letter to the President of Aladdin condemning his actions and offering to sing America the Beautiful with Linda Ronstadt at the Aladdin if he would apologize and invite her back. Although the president, Mr. Timmins, says he will never let Ronstadt perform at the Aladdin again while he is in control, this isn't going to last long. Prior to this fiasco the Aladdin was already in the process of being sold to a partnership including Planet Hollywood. The CEO of Planet Hollywood, Robert Earl, says he would love for Ronstadt to return and to take Michael Moore up on his offer to sing America the Beautiful with her. He says this may happen as early as August, after the purchase of the Aladdin is complete. (full article)

Selling weapons to Iraq

Did you know that President Bush signed a declaration yesterday that stating that "furnishing of defense articles and services to Iraq will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace"? What a good idea - let's sell them weapons again that they can use against us in a few years.
See the white house press release for this declaration.

Carpooling to work this morning as usual. La la la.

Benjamin had minor surgery on Monday to remove a potentially cancerous mole on his arm.

Benjamin shaved for me last night! :-)

My car was broken into and my stereo stolen some time between Sunday at 11:00pm and Tuesday at 6:40pm. It was parked right in front of my house at the time and of course the losses are just about the same as my insurance deductible.

Adobe's customer service is a big, stinky ball of doo

Apparently Adobe, in their infinite wisdom, has decided that Customer Support really isn't a high priority. As of March 2004 they only support "installation issues and product defects" free of charge; all other support is for a fee. And get this - they can't tell you whether or not it's a product defect until after they give you support, at which point you can't undo the service. So of course you have to provide a pre-approved credit card number prior to get support of any kind. Now wait. What's the advantage of actually paying for a licensed copy again?

Sick as a dog

Sunday night I was sick as a dog; I barely made it into the house before I started throwing up. Sorry to be so graphic. It was a horrid experience and lasted about 3.5 hours before I finally fell asleep. Since I was not sick anymore when I woke up I'm assuming it was some sort of food problem. Icky.

Sunday I went to Tacoma to hang out with my mom & Rich and play with Carol. Carol is really into tug-of-war.

My dad brought us some of his famous cookie dough last week as a belated birthday present. I still don't have the cookie time quite right yet.

Our new phones finally arrived yesterday. Here's a photo taken by my phone.

We've just had another "reorg" and this is my new manager (picture not from today).

I bought a couple of webcams for my step-dad for his birthday and I never imagined how cool it would be. Now I can watch my mom & step-dad's adorable pug live online. I am obsessed with this cute dog.

Local student gets harassed by police & Homeland Security officers

A very distressing article came out in The Seattle Times today about a local photography student who has been repeatedly harassed by the Seattle Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security. It makes me sad and tired to see this crap still happening around us. When is America going to wake up? If Bush wins the election in November I don't know what I will do. Read today's article Photo student draws attention of authorities or visit the harassed student's web site.

This is my new (current) office.

Federal Marriage Amendment narrowly defeated in senate

Today the senate voted 50 to 48 against amending the constitution to ban gay marriage in any state. I am really glad this passed, but it is shocking how little margin there was in defeating it. As long as the Reblicans are in the majority we are going to have to remain vigilent on this issue. See the NOW press release for more info.

My friend Meghan H., who is an awesome massage therapist as well as cool friend, gave me a beautiful bouquet as a belated birthday gift.

Bush Nader '04

An article in next week's Newsweek - Try to Guess Who's Backing Nader - talks about the fact that Republicans are financially supporting Nader's campaign. If Republicans are that confident that Nader will erode support for Kerry then you damn well should be, too. The fact that this is happening so blatently yet Nader and his cheerleaders storm on claiming righteousness turns my stomache. Buy your own Bush Nader '04 sticker online today.

Benjamin and I took a tour through the Vashon Island Strawberry Festival today and saw Irene's Tiles booth and Harve Bergman Photography booth. We also saw my aunt & uncle Pam & Jerry there. We ate gyros and shaved ice and made our way back to the ferry.

It was a beautiful day on Vashon today.

Saturday night after Benjamin & Aaron worked on our Ethernet taps all afternoon, Benjamin and I drove to Vashon to light off fireworks. My Dad & Benjamin lit off Benjamin's huge and beautiful fireworks while Mimi & I oohed and aahed. Then the King County police showed up. At that point we had to stop. ;-)

Saturday we had brunch with Miller, Nathan & Minette at the Portage Bay cafe. We stayed chatting for a long time (even about babies!) after eating our yummy brunch.

With Miller back from Egypt, Miller & Nathan hosted their annual post-independence day party. Nathan put on his tux for part of the evening, reputedly for Meghan N.

Thoughts of death increase support for Bush, new studies show

Recent studies conducted by Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College and colleagues finds a correlation between fear of death and support for George W. Bush. It's really pretty fascinating.

I thought you said...

My sister-in-law and her family just gave me a copy of David Sedaris’ new book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim on tape. I just started listening to it and one of the first things said was “written and read by David Sedaris” but I heard “written in red by David Sedaris.” I thought that was pretty quirky and neat until I realized my mistake. ;)

 

Register voters this Sunday by phone!!!

The MoveOn PAC is sponsoring a huge voter registration phone banking effort this Sunday, July 11th. Visit the MoveOn PAC voter registration phone-banking site to find a party near you or to host one of your own. If you don't feel like being around others or leaving your house you can sign up to "host" a party for just you or you and your wife/kids/etc. They do all the work and provide you with names and phone numbers, a script, instructions, and forms. C'mon and do it!

I'm so lucky to have Harvey in my life to capture moments with such clarity and insight. He, of course, was a guest at my birthday BBQ and as always had his (new Nikon D70) camera onhand. Check out all the great photos.

Harvey took some beautiful photos of my mom's garden this weekend. Look, he even caught a bee in this one! He is amazing.

Benjamin couldn't resist lighting off a few things himself. 

This was the view of the Seattle fireworks last night from our front porch. 

Good intentions, bad service

In the last year or so many organizations have sprung up that are dedicated to getting Bush out of office, electing Democrats to Congress and other positions, and generally fighting the conservatism that is taking over our country. I applaud these organization. Hell, I even support them. But I have to say that their customer service sucks. I think that are all understated and probably lacking in the kind of organization that a corporation would have. I don't take issue with this as a strategy, but I have first hand experience that tell me that this isn't as effective as it could be. For example, I recently wanted to order a Regime Change Party Pack from the True Majority ACTION PAC (at ShowGeorgeTheDoor.org). When I tried to purchase my party pack True Majority's web site tried to charge me nearly double the amount I should've been charged. It even said "Price $34.50, quantity 1, total $69.50". Now that's some creative math! Okay, well everyone experiences bugs. The problem came when I tried to get in touch with them. I looked for ways to contact them and the only method I could find was to email their 'info' email alias. I did and never got a response. In the meantime, they sold out of the Pants on Fire Bush doll! I was devastated (okay, disappointed). I emailed them again. Eventually I got a response which basically said "That's weird, try again". After multiple attempts and some monkeying I somehow got it to work and ordered the party pack (with no assistance from True Majority). They promised delivery in time for the 4th of July. They later sent mail saying the party packs were being sent out a little late, but would still arrive "in plenty of time", about a week before the 4th. It is now the 3rd of July and I haven't heard a peep from them and haven't seen any party packs in the mail. I sure hope it shows up today. I don't mean to pick on them. I think they have good intentions and are doing a great thing. But some basic organizational changes could help. For example, don't just have one email address for every kind of inquiry from "the sky is falling" to "gosh, you guys are neat". Second, consider a simple email form to help sort through your inquiries by putting them into buckets so you can prioritize your responses. Third, and I know this is a risky one, include a phone number for people with real issues. I think once you start doing e-commerce on your web site you have to take on some responsibility and can no longer just be a casual fly-by-night operation. But as I mentioned earlier, there are many of these new organizations doing great things with bad customer service. Not to pick on True Majority unduly; I had a very similar experience with the MoveOn PAC. They offered a great deal on some clever bumper stickers so I went ahead and placed an order for 10 for $3.00. Just like True Majority, the MoveOn PAC's web site charged me double for my order (though their system didn't tell me this until it was too late to cancel the order). I contacted MoveOn PAC through the form on their web site and never heard back. I searched and found an email address for them (I think I resorted to searching their code for this) and email them again. Never heard back. It has now been over a month and although I received my 10 stickers, I have never received a response from them on my being overcharged. And all I asked was that they send me an additional 10 stickers rather than refunding my $3. Perhaps there is a rogue coder out there selling bad e-commerce scripts to well-meaning Democratic organizations. Maybe that coder is an angry Republican. Either than or a less-than-competent coder. Okay, so that is my little rant. I should say one more thing as a caviat. If I were to tell you the story of ordering my new phone and service from AT&T Wireless (and perhaps I will one day soon) then you would likely say to me "clearly the corporations don't have good customer service, either." Well, you would be right. Though the cynical part of me says that for-profit entities have a lot more incentive to get customer service right than not-for-profit groups focused on other things entirely. Regardless, let's kick ass and send Bush back to Texas where he belongs!

I worked in the garden for about 4 hours today. This little flower bed is the most notable change. I forgot how exhausting gardening is!

The available ways to post to one’s blog are quite amazing. I can do it through a web interface, a photo sharing program, a button on my Google toolbar, email, email from a mobile phone, email a photo from a mobile phone, record an audio post by telephone, and probably other ways I don’t know of yet. Pretty freakin’ crazy.

I gave mom & Rich a couple of webcams for Rich's birthday. Here are a couple of pictures from the PuppyCam (TM).

Tonight we saw the new Spider-Man 2 movie with Alan & Jon. Then Benjamin convinced Alan to stay at our house for "steak and cigars". We hung out on the porch by candlelight talking about existentialism, sex, alcoholism, and whatnot.