January 2, 2004 | A few pictures left over from other stories or that aren't enough for a story of their own. more
A sordid soirée
January 2, 2004 | At dinner last Sunday night, it developed in the conversation that Jim and Angela had not yet seen the movie Sordid Lives. Such cultural deprivation could not be tolerated. "Let's have a Sordid Lives movie night," I said. "I'll make tuna noodle casserole with Lays potato chips." This offer was enthusiastically accepted by everyone at the table, save Zona and Nancy who had to go back the next morning to whence they came. more
Homeland insecurity
January 7, 2004 | Americans have always been a confident, optimistic people. But the Bush administration and television — particularly cable and local news — seem hell-bent on making us fearful and suspicious. more
Loop de Palm Springs
January 11, 2004 | Yesterday I got out the bike to work off some excess carbs I had loaded the night before. Rather than aimless wheeling about, I decided I would follow the city-wide loop bike path to see where it would take me. It was very educational. more
Liberty and justice for all
January 14, 2004 | The Fastows, Andrew and Lea, are supposed to enter their pleas in court today, the culmination of long negotiations. Fastow is, of course, the ex-chief financial officer of bankrupt Enron. The deal nearly came apart at the last minute when the judge for Lea Fastow's case said he wasn't sure the terms were right. more
Oh the irony!
January 15, 2004 | Bush wants to go to the moon, and the ACLU defends Rush Limbaugh. Is this a great country, or what? more
The case of the missing Mrs
January 16, 2004 | Although it has been going on for months — it only seems like years — the Democratic presidential primary season is about to start for real next week with the Iowa caucuses. And won't we all be happier when they're over? There's no lack of issues: health care, jobs, leadership, Iraq, and so forth. Amazingly, another issue has become top of mind for some, among them Fox News and the New York Times (and when did you think those two would agree on anything?). Yes, the burning issue which has swept the continent is: Where's Mrs. Dean? more
National yenta corps
January 16, 2004 | The Shrub has proposed spending $1.5B to form a National Yenta Corp. The money would go for training to help couples, especially low-income couples, learn interpersonal skills to sustain "healthy marriages." What will the man think of next? more
More etcetera
January 18, 2004 | Odds and ends from the past week. more
Caucus cacophony
January 20, 2004 | If you tuned into any of the cable news networks yesterday, you would have sworn that Iowa was the center of the United States (which it pretty much is, geographically), the world, and the universe. more
Rose colored union
January 21, 2004 | Last night George W Bush, aka The Shrub, gave us his view of the state of the union in a televised prime time speech before Congress. more
Selling Sonicare
January 22, 2004 | A few years ago my dentist persuaded me to switch to a Sonicare® toothbrush as a way to combat incipient periodontal disease. These basically consist of a charging unit, a battery, a motor, and a brush. more
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic
January 25, 2004 | There is a 7am meeting for all marshals. Leaving time to drive to Indian Wells, park, shuttle to the golf course, I get up at the crack of stupid. more
Innovation Chez Paul
January 26, 2004 | Breaking news! This just in! more
Palm Springs street names
January 27, 2004 | When I observed that Palm Springs streets aren't named Street, that served as a signal for nit-pickers everywhere to pore over the Palm Springs map looking nits named Street. more
Worm attack
January 29, 2004 | I have managed to avoid previous attacks by internet worms and viruses. Apparently it's true, you can't hide — at least not forever. more
March?
March 1, 2004 | The earth must have gone all wobbly on its axis. This are happening all out of sequence. more
Free Martha
March 8, 2004 | The jury found Martha Stewart guilty of conspiracy, making false statements, and obstruction of justice. This is so wrong. This is a terrible miscarriage of justice. more
Ambassador plenipotentiary
March 11, 2004 | Long, long ago in a house by the sea, my friends and I were taking the measure of a bottle of Makers Mark "sippin' whiskey" during Super Bowl weekend. I saved a tag from the bottle, offering a free shot glass dipped in trademark red wax in return for signing up on the Makers Mark website as an ambassador of the brand. more
Spring is in the air
March 13, 2004 | It's hard to imagine a more perfect time than spring in the desert. The days are warm. The sky is clear and blue. The winter rains have brought the plants on the mountainsides to life and the hills are tinged with green while, at the same time, snow is still visible on the peaks. The birds are busy flitting about gathering nestiing material. Everything is blooming, and the scent of citrus blossoms wafts through the air. more
Rice-a-roni
March 15, 2004 | "Beware the Ides of March," said the soothsayer to Caesar (William Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2). more
Chez Paul needs a face lift
March 17, 2004 | Chez Paul's exterior has gotten to the point where it needs a bit of work (and don't all our exteriors?). It is starting to look a little scruffy. more
One's appeasement
March 19, 2004 | Spaniards voted out the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and they are now being villified by some as appeasers to terrorists. more
Bugbears and flimflam
March 20, 2004 | The military has quietly dropped spying charges against James Yee, Muslim chaplain at the Guantanamo prison camp. This is another example — as if any more were needed — of how badly served we have been by the Bush administration. more
Prickly proliferation
March 21, 2004 | With the warmer weather of spring, the trees and flowers began to blooom and one of my cactus plants is having a growth spurt that almost has to be seen to be believed. more
Painters are done
March 23, 2004 | The painters arrived yesterday before dawn even thought of cracking to set up for the actual painting, having finished most of the prep work on Friday. All that remained was to shroud the shrubbery, mask the door, and start spraying paint. Spraying could not begin until 7am because of the noise curfew. more
Cutting the wire
March 26, 2004 | For the first time in 35 years, I do not have a wired telephone in my house. more
Who let the dogs out?
March 27, 2004 | Hell hath no fury like a White House dissed. Richard Clarke's new book, Against All Enemies, hit the bookstores this week, and the White House unleashed the attack dogs against him. more
The domino falls
April 1, 2004 | Since williamsonpsp.com went online in 2002, I have hosted the site with company called Bluedomino. more
Press three to cancel
April 1, 2004 | Now that I have my new cell phone, I called AT&T Wireless to cancel my old cell phone account. Now that shouldn't be too hard, should it? more
Crunching the numbers
April 2, 2004 | I thought I would look one last time to see if Bluedomino had come up with the logfiles for March, even though I had heard nothing from them. more
Fabulous Las Vegas
April 4, 2004 | I spent the weekend in Las Vegas with Jim Schrempp, Jim's Angela, Jim's cousin Pete, and Pete's Kim. more
A taxing time
April 7, 2004 | These are the times that tax one's belief in capitalism. more
Condi's story
April 9, 2004 | Almost two weeks after the explosive charges leveled by former Bush White House counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke made it inevitable, Condoleezza Rice finally appeared before the 9-11 commission in public and under oath to give her testimony. more
Behold the Easter bonnet
April 12, 2004 | Yesterday was Easter, and in Palm Springs at least three things happened: the religious went to church, including those who took the tram to the top of Mt San Jacinto at 4am for sunrise services; the sacrilegious (so considered by the first group) attended the White Party, an annual Palm Springs event for gays; and those who just wanted to play dress-up concocted a hat for the Easter bonnet contest at the Arenas Road street fair. more
Staying the course
April 15, 2004 | The president deigned to hold a press conference the other night. I was looking forward to it. I had my laptop open, ready to take notes. more
Frankencactus
April 15, 2004 | A few months ago, I bought a floppy-looking cactus because of its unusual shape and the fact that its surface was covered with little fuzzy-looking dots. It looked almost cuddly. more
Time and Time again
April 17, 2004 | About a year ago, I received a subscription to Time magazine as a "free gift" from one of my credit cards as a reward for being such a good customer. I fully anticipated that at some point, I would be besieged to renew the subscription for real money. And so I have been. more
Kerry's quagmire
April 19, 2004 | John Kerry won enough delegates in the Democratic primaries to become the nominee to face off against George Bush in the presidential election in November. Then Kerry went on vacation. This gave the Bushies an opening to crank up their attack machine and define their opponent the way they wanted to. more
Bandwidth bandits
April 21, 2004 | There's a crime wave of sorts on the internet, and it has nothing to do with unscrupulous scams to steal credit card numbers or sell drugs to enhance sexual prowess and stamina. No, this is grand theft bandwidth. more
News from the front lines
April 24, 2004 | Since I posted my article on bandwidth stealing, there have been some interesting developments. more
Bandwidth exceeded
April 25, 2004 | For a time on Sunday afternoon, people trying to access williamsonpsp.com saw a blunt message from my webhost that the site had been blocked. more
Rabbits on lawn
April 26, 2004 | While I was writing on the patio, rabbits, quails, and a lizard were out making their morning rounds. The quails and lizard were more camera shy than the rabbits. more
Under attack by worms
April 26, 2004 | The emails just keep coming. I'm talking here of the kind with an attachment harboring a worm, a nefarious specious of program that hijacks your address book to send itself on to everyone you know. more
TweedleGeorge and TweedleDick testify
April 29, 2004 | Able to avoid it no longer, George Bush and Dick Cheney will testify today before the 9/11 Commission (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States). more
Class action settlement
May 1, 2004 | Wanting to reassure myself that I had paid my American Express credit card bill I went online to check my account. I was surprised to see that I had received an award in a class action settlement. more
The X factor
June 1, 2004 | You may have noticed a slightly different "look" to the home page and this page. Behind the scenes, I am switching from plain old vanilla HTML to XHTML for my website. XHTML is supposed to be the standard markup language for web pages and will be the key to making web content available on additional display devices, such as cell phones. I have no delusions that anybody wants to use their cell phone minutes to read my website on a miniature screen, but I took up the challenge to keep the mind exercised in learning something new. It's the "use it or lose it" principle. more
Bloodletting
June 2, 2004 | I went to the phlebotomist this morning for my quarterly bloodletting. I was already cranky for not having gotten much sleep last night. And I was, of course, also hungry for being deprived of food until after the leeching. more
Super Size Me
June 4, 2004 | Suppose you ate every meal for 30 days at McDonalds. No exceptions. And suppose that everytime you were asked if you wanted to super size your order, you said yes. That's the premise of Super Size Me, the movie. more
Kerfuffle
June 5, 2004 | It's amazing how you can go through the first sixty years of your life and never once hear or see the word kerfuffle, but then it's everywhere. I heard the most recent instance of kerfuffle on the News Hour last night, when David Brooks, the conservative columnist from the New York Times, said that George Tenet's resignation from the CIA would avoid a kerfuffle later in the campaign. more
Repose
June 7, 2004 | Former president Ronald Reagan died yesterday after a long bout with Alzheimers. more
Stalking the roadrunner
June 10, 2004 | Early Sunday, while I was on the patio reading the papers, Rodney (Rhonda?) the Roadrunner came trotting across the patio, bold as brass. Of course I didn't have my camera. more
Into the sunset
June 12, 2004 | According to the Bible, it took God just a week to create heaven and earth and everything else. It took equally long to bury Ronald Reagan. What was that all about? more
Report for jury duty
June 14, 2004 | It was a plain white postcard with the California state seal on one side and a blunt message on the other: You did not report for jury duty when you were supposed to. Be there Monday. Or else. It was phrased in a more official way, but that's what it meant. more
Haircut time again
June 19, 2004 | About Memorial Day, the tradition of giving the palm trees a summer haircut begins all over town. The ritual was a bit delayed Chez Paul. It seems the "cutters" refused to cut without a guarantee they would be paid. And rightly so. Who would climb a palm tree carrying a big machete if there was a doubt about being paid for the effort? more
A different world
June 24, 2004 | The US viceroy of Iraq, Paul Bremer, transferred so-called sovereignty to Iraq two days early. If there was ever any doubt that the folks in the George Bush White House are living in their own fantasy world, there is no need to look any farther than how the White House described this event. more
Mixed grill
June 26, 2004 | It's hard to know where to start. There's the terrorist bust nobody heard about, the movie everybody's heard about but the right-wing doesn't want you to see, the pumped-up judge, the bleeping veep, the candidate who had to quit, and the torturing of the word torture. It has been a terrific week, full of scandal, profanity, sex, and potential violence. And that's before even getting into Clinton's book. more
Tale of the roadrunner
June 27, 2004 | I finally got a pretty decent picture of the cheeky little roadrunner. more
Customer service
June 30, 2004 | I had despaired of ever encountering real customer service. Eureka! I have found it. more
Let freedom reign
July 1, 2004 | The conventional wisdom is 9/11 changed everything, and that has been used as justification for everything from the Patriot Act to making travelers remove their shoes at airport security. Indeed, George W Bush has been acting as if 9/11 gives the president unlimited and unquestionable authority to do whatever he wants. more
It's a long way to Tipperary
July 3, 2004 | Drive! he said. With a full tank of gas, a mug of steaming hot coffee, and reckless optimism that the trip wouldn't be "too bad," I set out from Palm Springs yesterday for Twain Harte to observe the Fourth of July festivities at Bob and Carolyn's cabin with other friends from the Bay Area. more
Poor Uncle Sam
July 4, 2004 | It has come to this: Uncle Sam has gone from being the kindly, generous uncle everyone liked to one not so much respected as feared and resented in the world. And while he marches proudly about, wrapped in the flag, declaiming about Liberty and Freedom and Justice, others snicker and point out that the Uncle has no clothes. more
Curse of Twain Harte
July 4, 2004 | There is something about Twain Harte doesn't like a Mercury Sable. more
Breakfast at Sportsman's
July 5, 2004 | Yesterday Jim, Ray, Bob, and I set off for breakfast at the Twain Harte golf club, having failed to notice that breakfast was served only on weekends. Eventually the manager came over to our table and clarified that for us. So, we set out for that other Twain Harte mainstay, Sportsman's Cafe. more
Nothing Less
July 6, 2004 | While waiting at Enterprise Rent-a-car for my rental car to be vacuumed out (see "Curse of Twain Harte" for why this was necessary), I chatted with Tommy the customer service representative and found out that he was fresh out of college in Alaska and had come to the Sierra foothills to find fame and fortune with his band, Nothing Less. more
Scene in Twain Harte
July 6, 2004 | Here are some miscellaneous snaps from the weekend. There's no big story, just pictures. more
Soiree Chez Ray
July 7, 2004 | Charlie from the hills of Mendocino county was down for a concert at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, so Ray had a party. There was Charlie and Ray, of course, Bob and Carolyn, Jim and Angela, Kaye and Susan from New Zealand, and me. more
Taking the high road home
July 8, 2004 | The Sable was finally repaired, and I drove up to Sonora this morning from the Bay Area to pick it up. Rather than backtrack to I-5 again, I decided to go through Yosemite National Park on CA-120 and then follow US-395 south to the desert. more
Manzanar
July 10, 2004 | The Manzanar War Relocation Center opened as a national historic site in April of this year. What excellent timing! more
Missing photo recovered
July 11, 2004 | Shortly after posting my tale of taking the route home through Yosemite and of the sacrifice I made for my art, I received an email from my friend Tony, with the subject "Missing Photo": more
Wildfire
July 13, 2004 | For two days now, a fire has been burning just north west of Palm Springs near an area called Snow Creek. Estimates of its size range from 3000 acres to 5000 acres, and it is less than 50% contained. more
Bastille Day
July 14, 2004 | Perhaps the US will one day celebrate Capitol Day, in commemoration of when the people stormed Washington and threw the rascals out! more
Eilers Inn
July 20, 2004 | Combine the ambiance of New Orleans with the spirit of Aloha, and you've got Eiler's Inn in Laguna Beach. This was our first stay at Eiler's Inn, but it won't be the last! more
Lolligagging in Laguna Beach
July 20, 2004 | Last week my friends and I made our now annual pilgrimmage to Laguna Beach for the Pageant of the Masters and restorative lazing about. more
Macho Gov
July 20, 2004 | Frustrated over the legislature's failure to pass his budget, Governor Schwarzenegger (R-CA) has unleashed his Weapon of Mass Derision: He says they're nothing but a bunch of "girlie men." more
Out on a limb
July 23, 2004 | I make a bold prediction: the upcoming US presidential election will be a landslide, not the photo finish anticipated by the chattering classes. more
Pick a peck
July 29, 2004 | A few months ago when I was replacing some herbs that had not done well under my black thumb, I picked up a pepper plant as well. Self, I said to myself, you can grow some peppers to garnish your salads. Little did I suspect what I was starting. more
Kerry nominated
August 3, 2004 | Well, I'm glad that's settled! The suspense was becoming unbearable. more
Covered
August 4, 2004 | In the words of the immortal Vinnie Barbarino, "I'm so confused!" more
Turning the corner
August 8, 2004 | On Friday, the government released the latest employment report showing that only 32,000 new jobs were created during the month of July. This was about 150,000 fewer jobs than expected. more
The 'skip' button
August 12, 2004 | It all began a few weeks ago when KCET, the PBS station, changed the schedule. To that point, I had been a happy TV camper more
Etcetera
August 14, 2004 | When I recently wrote about President Bush's preposterous campaign assertion that the economy is "turning the corner, and we're not going back," I was forced to rely for illustration on bastardizing previously published editorial cartoons. Although I could see "in my mind's eye" a good image, I have no ability to draw it. In fact, I'm probably the only person ever to receive a rejection letter from the Matchbook School of Art. more
Desperation
August 18, 2004 | I received in this morning's mail a letter from Ed Gillespie, and it lifted my spirits tremendously. more
Damned spam
August 21, 2004 | When Google went public yesterday, the company got a check for $1.6 billion (that's billion with a B!), and a whole lot of 20-somethings and 30-somethings in Silicon Valley became instant millionaires. I don't begrudge them their good fortune. Google is a terrific search engine. But if a company could come up with a sure-fire way to stop email spam, it would be worth twice that! At least! more
Waiting for Mr Big
August 22, 2004 | Some folks in the Coachella Valley are all a-twitter over the prediction by a UCLA seismologist that an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 or greater will occur in the region by 5 September. The thing is, he's been right before — enough times to make one pay attention. more
Make way for advertising
August 25, 2004 | The Washington Post published a collection of photos from the recent Olympic Games. But naturally you could not look at them without first suffering through advertising. more
Maybe there is a god
August 30, 2004 | In the interest of maintaining at least an appearance of fairness, I thought I would tune in on the Republicans this afternoon in New York City to see what mischief they were up to and what lies they were telling. more
All hat
September 1, 2004 | This is the week that George W goes to New York City, the first capital of the United States, to be annointed Republican candidate for president. more
The broccoli campaign
September 5, 2004 | Pogo had it right: we are our own worst enemy. We are in the midst of a crucial presidential campaign, facing issues of war and peace, economic prosperity or ruin, staggering budget deficits, health care costs that soar unrestrained, and so on — things that affect the well-being and security of us all. more
Interlude in Twain Harte
September 8, 2004 | I went to Twain Harte to spend the Labor Day weekend with friends Bob and Carolyn, along with Dean who came up from San Jose. Unlike my earlier trip in July that cost a fortune in car repairs and the agony of a face-plant, I decided to fly up. Dean offered to give me a ride to Twain Harte with her. Good deal! No rental car. more
Busy as a bee
September 10, 2004 | The bees loved, just loved, the chives that I was growing on the patio. more
Making the right choice
September 13, 2004 | Last week, Vice President Cheney put into words what the Republican campaign machine has been implying all along: If you vote for Kerry, the terrorists are gonna git ya! more
Dan's big black eye
September 19, 2004 | When Dan Rather broadcast a story on CBS's 60 Minutes II last Wednesday about George W Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam era, he was sure he had scored a coup — he had documents to prove his case. Only problem is, the authenticity of the documents has been pretty convincingly questioned. Oops! more
Bush to UN: Get with the program!
September 22, 2004 | Yesterday, W addressed the United Nations at the opening of the General Assembly. His speech — crafted with care by the White House speechmeisters — soared with lofty idealism. more
Kerry ad kerfuffle
September 26, 2004 | During the Republican convention in New York, John Kerry went windsurfing, and photographers got pictures. This week the Republicans turned the pictures into an ad, set to the Blue Danube Waltz, to reinforce the "whichever way the wind blows" flip-flop theme they've hammered away at for the whole campaign. A genuine kerfuffle ensued. more
Krups ist kaput
October 1, 2004 | According to Paul, he first noticed something was wrong when he reached behind Krups to nudge him forward to facilitate filling the water reservoir, preparatory to making morning coffee. "Hello, what's this?" Paul remarked. "Krups is all warm." Thinking he had simply been unobservant heretofore, Paul proceeded to pour the water while the coffee beans were grinding. Much to his dismay, Krups began pumping hot water up to steep the coffee grounds which, of course, were still agrinding. Hot water flowed all over the kitchen counter. more
Timing is everything
October 1, 2004 | Before entering the House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, now majority whip, was an exterminator. A Texas good ol' boy, DeLay happily bore the moniker "The Bug Man." Late on the night of the first presidential debate, the House ethics committee rebuked him gently, hoping nobody would notice. more
Bah, humbug!
October 3, 2004 | I stopped at Ralph's supermarket on the way home from brunch to pick up some tonic water and limes for the cocktail hour this afternoon. They were playing Christmas music over the loudspeakers and staff were wearing little red Santa hats. It made me nauseous. more
Ooga-booga
October 5, 2004 | John Ashcroft emerged from his hidey-hole again yesterday to tout the indictment of another terrorist. Big deal — the terrorist has been in jail for almost a year! more
The "anti-" campaign
October 11, 2004 | Regrettably the presidential campaign this year is much more about being against somebody than being for somebody. Most election years there is a time at the beginning of the campaign, at least, when candidates promote themselves positively before turning to the task of tearing down the opponent as the campaign draws to a close. This year the positive window was remarkably short; it's not all that clear, indeed, that it even existed. more
Great concept, terrible execution
October 12, 2004 | There is something very disappointing, even infuriating, about seeing a really great idea executed badly. more
The triumph of Mr Coffee
October 13, 2004 | Mr Coffee today resumed his role as Head Coffee Brewer Chez Paul. He cannot hide his satisfaction over the ignominious end that came to the usurper Krups. more
Minnesota
October 20, 2004 | I made an unexpected trip to Minnesota last week to attend the funeral of my sister-in-law who died early Tuesday morning. more
So vote already!
October 24, 2004 | It would be nice to say that the presidential campaign was an uplifting and forthright discussion of the important issues facing the US. It would be nice, but it would be a lie. more
Sortation
October 25, 2004 | Only a government agency (OK, quasi-government agency) would come up with such a pretentious description as "sortation" center. I'm surprised they didn't spell it "centre" just to top things off! more
Why?
October 26, 2004 | I confess: I don't get it. Opinion polls consistently show that much less than half the country thinks it is on the right track. The Washington Post tracking poll published today puts the percentages at 55% who think the country is on the wrong track versus only 41% who think the country is on the right track. But the same polls show Kerry and Bush locked in a tie in the presidential race. more
High-roller
October 28, 2004 | It was such a simple plan: Drive to Ontario, catch a Southwest flight to Las Vegas, gamble a bit, see a show, have breakfast, fly back, collect another free ticket. more
More Money misery
October 30, 2004 | When the credit union rolled over its "core systems" in July, they took away temporarily the OFX server that lets you download transactions directly into Microsoft Money. A recent inquiry to the credit union elicited the information that the OFX server was to be back online by 28-Oct. This morning I thought I'd find out. more
Girlie men for Halloween
November 1, 2004 | Contrary to Governor Schwarzenegger's admonition, some of us were girlie men for Halloween. more
More Money woes
November 2, 2004 | There seems to be no end to the torment inflicted upon me by my upgrade to Microsoft Money 2005 Deluxe. The initial battles were ugly and demented. It has only gotten worse. more
Let them eat crow
November 3, 2004 | Some time ago I boldly predicted a landslide in the presidential race. This wasn't what I had in mind. more
Roadhouse revisited
November 16, 2004 | The morning after the election, Ray and I headed north to an undisclosed location in Mendocino county to spend a week at Ray's cabin. We would be joined later in the week by Jim, Angela, and Bob. It seems I was the only one who didn't know this was a work party! more
Election aftermath
November 18, 2004 | Well, the election is over, and I feel compelled to say a few words about it. Unfortunately, most of the words I'd like to say are unsuitable for polite company. more
Counter-top shake-up
November 21, 2004 | The morning coffee team Chez Paul has been thoroughly shaken up in a series of decisive and surprising moves. more
Mega-misery from MS Money
November 22, 2004 | It's a good thing I don't believe in Heaven nor Hell, because if I did believe, my experience with Microsoft Money would surely be a preview of what's to come in Hell. more
'Tis the season
November 22, 2004 | Over the years it has become painfully obvious that I am meant to pull the covers over my head and assume a fetal position from Halloween to Three Kings Day. more
It never ends
November 24, 2004 | I'm being punished for something. Since I've sinned and blasphemed so freely, it's impossible to know the precise reason, but the misery being inflicted on me by the latest release of Microsoft Money must be retribution for something. more
They're baaaack!
November 24, 2004 | On Sunday night, we drove to LA to see Leslie Jordan's one-man show, Like a Dog on Linoleum. It was fantastic. You will recognize Leslie Jordan, perhaps, from his recurring role on Will and Grace or from the cult classic Sordid Lives. more
No dongle
November 26, 2004 | I forgot my dongle. I would forget my dongle. Here I sit in my room at Bally's Las Vegas, ready to connect to the internet, only to discover that I left my dongle at home. more
Bette Midler
November 29, 2004 | The purpose of last week's visit to Las Vegas — when I forgot my dongle — was to see Bette Midler's latest show, Kiss My Brass, at the MGM Grand. more
Twain Harte gets the spirit
December 3, 2004 | The town of Twain Harte launched its Christmas festivities with the annual parade on Friday night. Mother Lode Internet provided streaming coverage over the internet. more
Shufflebored
December 12, 2004 | GWB is shuffling his cabinet around for his second term, and I'm bored with it. more
Medal of Freedom
December 15, 2004 | The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by President Truman to recognize service in the war. President Kennedy reintroduced the medal as an honor for civilian service in peacetime. George W Bush made a mockery of the medal with his last three awards. more
Ham and water product
December 17, 2004 | While at the market yesterday, I bought a packaged of sliced ham, thinking of a nice sandwich with mustard and a dill pickle. It was only when I got the package home that I realized I had purchased "ham and water product" instead. more
Joshua at two
December 18, 2004 | By popular request — OK, two people have asked — I'm happy to report that young Joshua is just shy of two years old: 1 year and 345 days to be precise. more
Grapefruit time
December 19, 2004 | It's that time again — when I can step outside and forage for breakfast from a tree. more
Drug safety
December 22, 2004 | Yesterday the administration issued reports from the departments of Health and Human Services and Commerce claiming that importing cheaper drugs from developed countries — like Canada — would be risky and expensive business. more
Merry humbug
December 23, 2004 | Christmas is no longer just an orgy of unbridled consumerism. It has become the latest front in the culture wars. more
Their own worst enemy
December 26, 2004 | I bought a new wireless internet video camera, the Linksys WVC54G. Setting it up was pretty straightforward. Making it usable for its intended purpose? That is something else entirely! more
A river runs through it
December 29, 2004 |
A studly goat riding in the rain
It has been raining steadily for nearly two days now, and all the washes and dry river beds are full of water. The Whitewater river that runs through the valley is normally dry; today it had water in it causing all the streets that normally cross through it to be closed. Traffic was a nightmare. more
More than a mouthful
December 30, 2004 | Friends Alan and Dale are here for the holidays, and we met for coffee this morning. One thing led to another and it was time for lunch. I suggested they try More Than A Mouthful, a new (to me) discovery downtown. more
