No Shirt, No shoes

One of the idiotic stories showing up this week is that Andrew Card, former Bush Chief of Staff has been criticizing Obama for doing work in the oval office without his suit coat on. One of the much-hyped "rules" of the Bush White House was that anyone entering the Oval Office had to have a suit on. There are stories of him locking the door and ejecting people who did not follow this rule.

You know, to properly respect the office or some such nonesense. Card is claiming that Obama is somehow denigrating the office or not taking it seriously or something equally as ridiculous. Apparently, for Republicans, it's more important to look like you're doing something, than atually doing it. And Card keeps popping up on the new talking about it, like a broken record.

It's a stupid rule, and one that Bush (and others) broke on many occassions. To make an issue out of it is just ..weird. What's important is what's done in the Oval office, not how people look doing it. It's not a photo op, it's a working government. One respects the office by honoring its place in a constitutional system, not by wearing a suit. I (and everyone else, apparently) find nothing wrong with the president settling down to actuall get work done with his tie loosened and his jacket off. He's not meeting foreign dignitaries in a t-shirt, people. Get a grip.

Evidence of Evil

If you ever doubted that the Catholic church values women only as instruments for producing more catholics, all you need to do is look at the recent legal hoopla in Italy about a case involving a brain-dead woman and efforts to allow her family to let her die with dignity. The high court agreed, but politics and religious agendas again has to get involved - and it's disgusting.

But in an extraordinary turn of events, the country's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, after consultation with the Vatican, has issued an emergency decree stating that food and water cannot be suspended for any patient depending upon them, reversing the earlier court ruling. On issuing the emergency decree, Berlusconi declared: "This is murder. I would be failing to rescue her. I'm not a Pontius Pilate."

Justifying his campaign to save Englaro's life, the prime minister added that, physically at least, she was "in the condition to have babies", a remark described by La Stampa newspaper as "shocking". Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's president, has refused to sign the decree, but if it is ratified by the Italian parliament doctors may be obliged to resume the feeding of Eluana early this week.

So, the Vatican apparently advised that this woman -- or this woman's body, let's face it, she's brain dead and is merely an animated corpse at this point -- is still "alive" because she could gestate children. That's just...evil. So the government can step in and make that sort of valuation, and argue that it's reason enough to perpetuate this macabre and painful circus.

First off, I find consulting the Vatican about anything to be a perilous and stupid choice -- there doesn't appear to be a group on the planet less in touch with reality lately (see: holocaust denier bishop hoopla). And it surely is reassuring to me that the Catholic church values women based on her ability to procreate, rather than any other criteria. Yep, that's thinking right out of the Dark Ages. Makes me feell all warm and fuzzy inside -- and very, very glad that I can't have children any longer, so if I'm ever in a vegatative state, some asshole politician isn't going to step in and argue that I still should be kept alive becuase I could be an insensate incubator.

Wii Woe

My sister has a Wii, and for Christmas (well, a little late) we got her a Wii Fit. Those things are very, very popular and hard to find. (They love the Wii, btw -- she says the boxing game, played with Peter, is extremely cathartic.)

Apparently, when you stand on the little board thing for the Wii Fit the first time and start it up, there are all sorts of measurements and it asks you questions and determines your BMI, "real" age, and all sorts of things.

So Nin calls up and is quite upset at the stupid machine. It pegs her "real" age much older than she is, and the chirpy little happy voice announces, "Oh! You're Obese!" when it completes its analysis. The worst part is the happy chirpy voice. It's supposed to be motivating, I guess, but stating the obvious and being happy about it is not very nice! Believe me, anyone getting on this thing and getting their ass kicked by the hula hoop activity knows they aren't in shape. No one needs reminding. And Nin is far from obese, if you ask me!

Then again, the "rules" say that the Adorable Husband is overweight, too -- for his height, he's supposed to weigh less than 200 pounds, they say. No way -- he'd be a stick-skinny little beanpole person if he was that skinny. Even at his "best" weight, in the Army when he was really, really in shape, he was between 220 and 230. I think the BMI rules are not very realistic in many cases.

I'm not making any claims that I'm "big boned", of course. I just don't need constant reminders that I'm fat if I'm really trying to do something to change that. Maybe the Wii Fit should have a "positive-only" switch, so it says, "You're doing so much better than last week! Yeah, you! You've lost a pound! Wooot!" instead of reminding you that you have so far to go.

We don't have a Wii, although with the huge screen downstairs, we really should consider it. I'll let you know if we get a Wii Fit and then throw it out in the front yard when it starts to insult us.

Weird? Me? Naaah..

And I present to you two of the 104 pages of Scotland maps that I have laboriously covered with dots marking the locations of all known castles, castle ruins, and stray piles of rocks. And a few distilleries. The maps are 2 miles per inch.

Mock away.

Fourteen is enough

I really wish people would stop referring to the recent birth of a litter of 8 children as "a miracle".

It's not a miracle. It's a travesty of medical ethics and idiot parents and irresponsible treatment. This family already had SIX children, and opted to have eight embryos implanted during IVF and apparently they don't agree with selective reduction of the implanted embryos because they oppose abortion.

This is so damned unethical all around. How does a woman with 6 kids even GET fertility treatment at all, let alone implantation of EIGHT embryos? I'm sure that TLC will have a new show in the works immediately, but who on earth is paying for the several months of NICU for these eight preemies and how are they going to raise all these children? It was "too painful" to consider aborting some of the fetuses to avoid having a fekking litter, so it's better to let these kids suffer the very common and very serious problems associated with being a low-weight preemie -- developmental delays, health problems, the works.

Miracle my ass. It's not "god's will", which has also been bandied about. No, sorry, your deity has nothing do to with this. Bad medicine, bad decisions, and morons all around.

School

I'm in Milwaukee, teaching class this week.

There's a used bookstore in the airport. Why don't ALL airports have one of these?

When they're wrong, they're REALLY wrong

The 10 Most Embarrassing Award Winners in Automotive history.

You have to love any article that describes a 2002 Thunderbird as:

The result was an overweight, softly sprung roadster that looked great outside, was agonizingly boring inside, and dreary to drive. And at about $40,000, it was stupidly expensive. If anyone was going to drive this T-Bird, it was platinum-haired women prone to carrying small dogs wherever they go

Deserves at least a quick read!

Medical Care is a perk?

Ok, I'm a bit irked. The doctor that the Adorable Husband and I have been seeing for almost 20 years now is leaving private practice and is no longer going to directly see patients as a primary care physician. He is handing over all his patients to his partner in the practice -- a guy we like well enough, but really haven't seen very often. We're pretty low-maintenance patients, I think. Maybe one appointment a year?

Anyway, so we weren't too terribly happy with seeing the new guy -- but today we got a note in the mail that he's changing his practive to 'premier medicine": i.e., he's going to charge patients a yearly fee to be included in his patient list. This "private doctor" model was floated a few years ago and is apparently pretty popular. THe doctor has fewer patients (200 vs 2000) and you have a more personalized experience, longer appointments, less wait time, etc. They still bil your insurance for any services, of course, the extra fee is just to buy into the club. He will no longer see any patients who do not pay his service fee. They can be seen by the nurse practictioner in the office, or they can go find another primary care physician. So sorry, buh-bye!

Well, thank-you-very-much, Doctor. If it was our original doctor doing this, we probably would seriously consider the 3K+ yearly fee. We like him, he has our whole history. But a new doc? Bah. I guess I didn't realize that medical coverage was now a super-secret club avaialble only to those with an extra couple of grand to spend. He could have at least waited a year or so, so the patients got to know him and might consider this sort of thing.

We're going to be out looking for a new PCP, I guess.

The Plague Returns

I was feeling fine. I was still nursing a wee bit of a cough, but feeling fine.

No longer. The cough and sore throat have returned, and I feel like I have a head full of cotton. Ugh. I slept in this morning, dragged my butt out of bed and slumped downstairs to try to work. I don't think it's going to last long.

Waaah. I want to go back to bed. With a woobie and a good book and warm socks.

Swearing In

With all the discussion over what book is used in the swearing in, I have a humble suggestion:

Swearing in the president, an affirmation to uphold the Constitution, should be done on a copy of the Constitution itself.

Better yet, the inaugural ritual of the Presidential oath should be done at the National Archives on the original Constitution.

I think that would correctly represent the intentions of the Founders, don't you?

Equality and Freedom

I am reminded how thankful I am that I have choices, that I have options in my life that previous generations did not. That I can expect fair treatment and honest medical care. That I can choose when and how (or if) to have a family.

"On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose.

While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.

On this anniversary, we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams. That is what I want for women everywhere."

...and on we go

President Obama re-took the oath of office with Justice Roberts yesterday, in private. I can only assume it was to avoid any kerfuffle about the 'wrong oath' and to fulfil the ritual requirements of inaguration for personal reasons. Just to get it right (and to silence the critics who say it wasn't valid).

And you know what? A few of the nutjobs are back -- now they are claiming that the oath wasn't valid because he didn't take it with his hand on a bible.

Let's get a little clarification here. First off, they argue that by saying 'execute faithfully' vs 'faithfully execute' (with a split infinitive no less), he didn't take the oath as specified in the Constitution, and thus it is not valid and he's not rightfully president. They are apparently ignorant of the fact that Obama is president, legally and lawfully whether he says the words or not, whether he says the right words or not. His term began as 12:00, when the previous president's term ends. Period. He was elected. Everything that he has done since that time is valid, legal, and permitted. (See Amendment 20: The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January...; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.) There is no need, as some news people have suggested, that he needs to RE-validate what he's done up until the point when he retook the oath.

But there is another issue here, that they are ignorning (and which falls in line with the new complaint of no bible at the oath). Wait, I thought the argument was that he hadn't been a stickler for the rules as set forth in the Constitution. Right? Shouldn't they be arguing that the oath, as administered, is still wrong?

Here you will find a copy of The Constitution of the United States, in it you will find that the oath taken by Obama is not the oath contained in said Constitution.

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States."

You will notice that the words "So help me God" are not there. They are not part of the "official oath". So, even if he repeated the oath word for word from Roberts, Obama still hasn't said the 'right oath" -- don't hear the wingnuts complaining about that. Can you imagine the hysterics if a President ommitted them?

The National Archives says George Washington added the words "so help me God" when he took the oath at his 1789 inaugural, and most presidents have used it since. However, some have argued that the first eyewitness account of a president using those words came at President Chester Arthur's inauguration in 1881. I have no problem with adding it -- a devout person affirming or swearing on their belief in god is fine. It is meaningful to them, regardless of how meaningless it is to me.

But now to freak out about the fact that no bible was used in the repeat of the oath starts to stray into different territory. If they're so concerned with being 'true' to the contitution (and for some of them, I wonder if they are familiar with it at all), then they should know that there is no mention of the bible for the oath in the constitution. They should drop the 'so help m god', and be done with it. If they want to be consitutionally accurate, that is.

They should reacquaint themselves with the fact that the only real mention of religion in the Constitution is this:

Article VI, 3: ...but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

I thind the whole thing is a non-issue, really. Bible, no bible, split infinitive or no split infinitive. It makes no difference except to fill airtime on the hundreds of news shows. My real interest is the swirl of conjecture, conspiracy theory, and nutty ideas that are being floated out there. It's fascinating and irrational and amusing.

Subgenres

Whilst browsing around looking for a booklist from one of my favorite authors, I discovered that many of the authors that I like write a specific version of scifi/fantasy novels that are called 'manner punk', or 'fantasy of manners'.

I've always enjoyed scifi/fantasy/paranormal sorts of novels for fluff reading - the creation of new worlds and new societies and the details of how things go together has always interested me. Some of my favorite books have complex social rules and vast, detailed histories developed by the author. I've never liked space opera or technological sci-fi, nor unicorns-and-dragon types of fantasy (well, with a few exceptions) and discovered today that there's an actual name for the style of writing that I like. Who'd a thunk?

Imagine my surprise to realize that I have books by all the authors listed by the Wiki site, and my all-time favorite fantasy author, Emma Bull, is among them.

Of course, I wasted two hours today reading all about the various subgenres of fantasy and sci-fi books. Elfpunk, Cyberpunk, Spy-Fi, Time travel, New Wave, Pulp. Cool!

Well, it IS Fox nerws

Yesterday's inaguration was a grand success, according to everyone. Millions of people, great performances, great speech, generally a good time. No one was arrested, Ted Kennedy is back on his feet, it certainly looked like everyone had a great time.

The only hiccup in the formalities was the boofed swearing in -- Justice Roberts stumbled the wording of the oath (and Obama was apparently excited enough to jump in a little early) and so this little rite was not smooth sailing, as the two men played a version of 'What's my line'. They both chuckled about it later, and it was a small (almost amusing) interlude.

But almost immediately online, came the question of "is he really president? The oath was screwed up!". I would expect this from knuckle-dragging conspiracy theorists, hunkering down with their new guns in their mother's basements (oh, sorry, their fortified bunkers), but to hear an anchor on the news asking that question?

Chris Wallace of FOX News wondered if, due to the fumbled oath, Obama really was president.

By law, Obama became president at noon Eastern, regardless of the ceremonial oath of office. But that didn't stop some from speculating and others from kidding.

Was he joking? I really can't tell.

But the fact is that some forums on the web are abuzz with complex "legal discussions" as to whether that invalidates the assumption of the presidency. Really? It would be really funny if it didn't follow hard on the heels of the whole "he's not really a citizen! His birth certificate is fake!" and "He's a secret muslim!" nonsense over the last few weeks.

Get a grip, people. It was an embarrassing, if amusing, flub. Let's get on with business!

Gloating, just a little

It's over 70 degrees here today. Blue skies, faint breeze, and SEVENTY DEGREES.

Neener, neener to the cold Minnesota winter!

Change!

Watched the inauguration of the President Obama this morning -- did you SEE the millions of people crowded into Washington DC? Wow.

A couple of things I noticed:

1) I heard nothing about "Free speech zones" and segregating protesters. In fact, I really didn't hear anything about protesters at all except in vague references from the Secret Service about white supremacist group threats. I'm sure there were some protesters, but they apparently weren't segregated somewhere out of sight.

2) Obama gives a very good speech. The fact that it was a subtle smackdown of the policies, behavior, and beliefs of the previous administration was an added bonus (for those of us that believe we've been going in the wrong direction). I actually feel excited and patriotic. And everyone was still and silent during his speech - that was stirring, too.

3) I was just listening and couldn't understand a single word of Aretha's song. I had to actually check what it was supposed to be! Plus, a string trio was an odd choice for music, but quite stirring. And the Marine choir has sopranos.

4) The crowd was singing 'Na na na, Hey Hey, good bye" as the helicopter took off. You could hear it faintly.

5) The new White House website is really nice.

And another thing! We non-believers actually got mentioned in the inaugural speech! We were included. I don't think that's ever happened before.

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."

Yes. That is change I can support. I'm sure the hand-wringing will start soon that he's "not really christian" (along with the wingnut assertion that he's not even american) and religious groups will decry his inclusion of those other religions, but I can only hope that this is a sign that the goverment will have a more secular bent. Tolerance of other views has been lacking lately. I appreciate that Obama, up front, recognized that there are many different and valid views. Yeah!

More Sun!

Having just returned from a fabulous vacation in the sun on the Ruby Princess, my Dad and Pat have already planned for the trip next year on the sister ship, the Emerald.

Peter apparently was very enthusiastic about the trip, and so my parents have already made reservations for next year. We have the same cabin.

It's worth a chuckle or two, to get reservations a year in advance, but it's awfully sweet. We had such a good time and I'm glad that my Dad did, too. It's harder for him lately, and I'm glad he enjoyed spending time with us.

Social Dud

I have succumbed to social networking peer pressure. I joined Facebook. (mostly to keep track of what's going on in my sister's life). Sigh. I have two friends. Two. I am obviously not a social butterfly.



I am on linkedIn, too. Next thing you know, I'll be publishing rude pictures on MySpace and never leave my house.

Oh, wait, I already don't leave my house. I should be embarrassed, I know.

The Joys of Old House Ownership

I no longer live in an old house - I spent almost 12 years in a centengenarian brick Victorian with just about every old-house problem you could imagine, and loved every minute of it. We loved the fixer-upper-opportunity-dream-home aspect of the house, and learned to live with its quirks and foibles. Things dripped, or creaked, or leaned; windows squeaked and stuck, doors swung open or shut depending on the weather, a breeze blew through most rooms on a windy day. There weren't any doorknobs in the house for six months.

We were lucky. The Adorable Husband is a handy husband. I really recommend them for any house owner - it's so much cheaper to have a genuinely adept fixit person who can repair the sprinkler system or change a light switch or fix a leaky faucet or build cabinets or refinish floors.

My sister is not so lucky. Not only does is she not the handiest person around, she doesn't really have a staff of handy people to help her. And she has an old house which was even less well-cared-for than ours was, I think.

So, in the frigidly cold weather in Minnesota this week (37 below, anyone?) she has had a host of problems. The kitchen faucet froze. The furnace starting making weird clicking and popping noises. The main water supply pipe to the house froze and burst. If it could go wrong, it did, and luckily she had Christmas$ to pay for the repairs.

She still is not listening to my (less subtle) urging to move to Colorado (where it was a balmy 40 degrees today and will be near 60 by next week), but I do sympathize with the Money-Pit Aspects of owning a house.

Perfect (Water) Landing

A US Airways jet apparently took a goose to one engine on takeoff from LaGuardia, and the pilot made a perfect water landing in the Hudson River -- no one was hurt, everyone was pulled off the slowly sinking aircraft by local ferries that arrive in less than 3 minutes (the people were standing on the wings) and the pilot had enough time to walk through the plane two times to ensure that no one was left on board before left the plane. Pictures here.

Bravo! Talk about calm, cool, collected thinking in a crisis.

Apparently the landing was perfect enough that some bystanders thought that they were filming a movie or something. Wow.

Good Riddance

From Bush's going-away address:

As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.

Might I point something out, dimwit? You received those briefings before 911 too. You just didn't pay any attention to them.

Rare occurrence

The Adorable Husband stayed home sick from work today. He NEVER does this. I'm actually a wee bit worried about him!

It's just the horrible chest-cold/flu stuff that's going around, but he's miserable.

TILT: Silver Spoons

Everyone understands the saying, "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" -- used rather pejoratively as a reference to inherited wealth and all the perks that come with it. Someone born to wealth but not having worked for it, for example. It's a silver spoon vs anything else because spoons are heavy and most households had many of them -- hence they represented a large portion of the wealth in a family (don't you just love Wiki?)

What I didn't know was that it also has some reference to health. Children fed with silver spoons tended to be healthier than those fed with other kinds of spoons, since silver has antibacterial properties.

Thinks I learned today while watching History Channel.

No Skiing for Us

We cut short the TUSC Ski weekend trip by driving home on Saturday night -- both of us are still sick, and being up in the mountains with a wheezy cough is not pleasant.

We drove up Friday night and had a lovely dinner with our friends -- very good seafood -- and spent our Saturday alternately napping and hitting the local outlet mall looking for Harry and David pears and a new leather belt. We were quite successful!

The Adorable Husband decided that since he's still a) sick and b) new on beta-blockers, that skiing was probably not a good idea. I feel rather bad that he missed an opportunity to ski -- he has so few of them. We thought he might take a snowboard lesson so that he can go with Peter when they come out for Spring break, but that would have been too much activity, too, I think.

My company sponsored dinner at the Keystone lodge, and afterwards, we headed home instead of spending another night. I wanted to go home and sleep in my own bed.

It was a lovely weekend, really. Relaxing and a chance to catch up with everyone.

Not-quite but Pretty Close

Some new Ford cars are being marketed as "Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles".

Partial Zero Emissions?

Uh, either you are ZERO emissions, or you are NOT. Zero is a binary option here -- ZERO or NOT-ZERO. If you are not zero, you have some.

A Partial Zero Emissions vehicle is just a very low emissions vehicles, but it still has emissions. You are just "almost zero", or "just about zero" or "still some teensy bit", but calling it a Partial Zero Emissions vehicle sounds like marketing hoo-ha.

And it is, technically. All of this is being driven by the CA statute requiring zero-emissions vehicles and this was a bone tossed to the automobile industry to allow them to show progress towards the goal, even if they aren't actually there yet. They can't claim 0, so they made a new category of extra/ultra low emissions and called it "partial zero" to make everyone feel good, apparently.

This vehicle category was created as part of a bargain with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), so that the automobile manufacturers could postpone producing mandated zero emission vehicles (ZEVs), which will require the production of electric vehicles or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. - from Wiki.

I'm not arguing with the progress (yeah for low emissions vehicles), but with the nomenclature. It's just stupid and silly and misleading. Call it "Almost Zero", if you have to, to add to the confusing maze of acronyms related to car emissions, but "Partial Zero?"

Friendless

I actually joined MySpace in order to see pictures of my sister's new washer and dryer (her ancient machines died right after Christmas and she got a fabulous deal on new front-load GE machines that have steam and forty-leven programmable settings.)

Anyway, I signed up, put the rather meager information for public consumption out on MySpace, and sent a friend-request to my sister. She accepted.

And then commented on my wall: "Awwww...am I your only friend?"

I can just imagine her voice, and I'm still giggling about it.

WiseDecor

Wisedecor.com has put up photos of our "Welcomes" in the foyer. Cool! We're sort-of-famous for a week or so!

We're even linked off the front page.

Post-vacation sickness

It's absolutely predictable. Vacation...then Deathly Sickness.

Both of us are absolutely floored by some sort of respiratory thing that has us coughing, hacking, snot, and sore throat.

Ugh. This had better clear up soon. Going back to work is bad enough. Going back to work sick is not fair!

Cruise: Homeward Bound

We never saw Jenna and Michael, or Nin and Peter this morning -- they were off the boat and to the airport long before we even got up, I think.

Everyone has to be out of their stateroom by 8am (and remember that we've already given our luggage to the porters) so we rushed up to get breakfast in the buffet before we met our disembarkation group at 9:15. We ran into my Dad and Pat at breakfast. They are Elite members, so they have a special lounge to wait in, and since their flight is later in the day from Miami, they had an hour or so to kill.

We were off the boat at 9:15, picked up our luggage (which has already been screened or xrayed or whatever it is they do to it) and sailed through customs and out into the terminal to find a taxi.

What a MADHOUSE. Busses from the airlines, busses from the cruiseline, five thousand people trying to get off the boat and to the airports -- and another ship on the other side of the pier heading our direction, too. We waited in a taxi-rank, which supposedly would let five or six taxis line up -- but they were being hailed long before they got to the taxi line, so they never actually arrived. People were just walking up past the ranks and flagging down a taxi on their own (it seems to be every man for himself when you get off!). It was very frustrating. Next time, we'll hire one of the private cars -- can't be more expensive than a transfer, I imagine, and having someone specifically waiting would be useful.

Well, it wasn't really necessary this time -- our flight doesn't leave until late afternoon, so all this foofaraw right now is just to get out of the way. We did finally get a cab to the airport, checked in our luggage, and then stared at each other for awhile....yeah, I want to spend seven hours in the airport. Hmph. We got in a taxi and went to a nearby mall, had lunch, wandered around a bit, and didn't come back until about 2:30.

Our flight is delayed about an hour (others were delayed 2-4 hours, depending on where they were going) and it was absolutely packed. Once in Atlanta, we had a bit of dinner and went off to wait for our flight back to Denver. It, too, was late. But - it also had upgrades available so we have about a microsecond of discussion and upgraded to first class, figuring we could sleep better on the way out. We got on the plane...and then sat for almost two hours at the gate while they got more fuel (because of weather conditions), let on more passengers, etc. We just enjoyed the free drinks and settled in to sleep once we finally took off.

Home at 1am. And to bed.

Cruise VII

Another day at sea, which is actually kind of a relief after the shore excursions and activities this week. We all have spa appointments for manicures and pedicures this morning, while 'the guys' hang out (probably watching football). It was very relaxing and I managed to snag a cancelled appointment for a facial later on in the day. Score!

The Adorable Husband felt a bit under the weather this mroning -- he's trying to catch a cold, I guess, so he slept in and just joined us for lunch. I was so relaxed and noodly after my facial that I joined him for a nap afterwards. We did take in a bit of the football game on the giant screen, but mostly we just lumped around and relaxed.

And packed. In order for disembarkation to work smoothly, they want to collect everyone's luggage around dinner time the previous day. So we had to pack just about everything up and set it outside our stateroom. This is not such a big deal for us - I'm perfectly happy to wear what I did to dinner on the plan tomorrow, and use the shampoo and stuff provided by the ship...but poor Nin has about forty different bottles of "product" that she is not willing to give up. Luckily, you are reunited with your luggage at customs in the morning, so she just put everything in a tote bag. Oh, the perils of good skin care!

Since it was our last night, the three of us pooled together to tip our room steward. Tipping is technically included in the room fees (they charge 11 dollars per person that is pooled and divvied up among the waiters, stewards, etc.). But Piotrek was extremely helpful and we were pretty demanding (everyone got locked out of their room at least once except us, and needed extra towels and such!) so we added a bit. It seemed fair, at any rate. They get about a two bucks a day per stateroom otherwise. It's probably not necessary, but we're notorious over-tippers anyways.

At dinner, there was the traditional Parade of the Baked Alaska -- Pat mentioend it as being very common on cruises, and lo-and-behold, they did. It was, I'll admit, a tad cheesy: there are no open flames allowed on ships any more, so the traditional Baked Alaska still on fire being paraded through the dining room was not allowed: they had, instead, little electric lights on top. Kind of like slightly-browned UFOs. It was rather odd. Tasty, though.

They had escargot at dinner, too. I can't eat them. I mean, eeeeuuuu! Snails. But that doesn't stop me from soaking up the garilc butter with bread and eating that, of course. Peter tried on (they were done perfectly, according to everyone who ate them) and declared them, "ok". He also ate an appetizer of chicken, mushrooms, and sweetbreads. After much conference around the table, we decided to tell him that it was braaaiiiiiiiinnnnnns. That was pretty funny.

We all adjourned to the casino after dinner. My Dad loves to hit the craps table with his sons-in-law. They have no idea how the game works, really, but it's always exciting. Everyone went back to their rooms early, though. They put everyone in groups (based on their flights, their rooms, and whether they have transfers to the airport, etc) and have specific times for those groups to meet and get off the boat. I think everyone except us had to be off the boat by 7:45am.

Cruise VI

We swam with Dolphins today! Got in the water and had rides and pushes, and got to swim in the lagoon with three dolphins. It was a lot of fun! More interactive than the "dolphin touch" that they did in Ochos Rios, and definitely a cool experience. The dolphins seem to enjoy it, too.

The dolphin we had in our group, Marina, was quite young, and she sometimes decided she didn't want to do what the trainer asked, so she'd do something else and then circle around. I think if dolphins could actually laugh, she would have.

Peter was great - he swam out to get a belly ride, held his arms just like he was supposed to, and laughed the whole way in as she pulled him along. It was really fun. I snorted a bunch of seawater trying to get my mask on. I'd totally do this again if I had the chance! Nin didn't come on this one (she went to get a massage instead), since she finds the rubbery skin of dolphins kind of squicky.

We all went back to the boat for lunch -- it rained on the way back up the pier. It's pretty funny to see people who are already wet, already in swim suits, squealing and running in the rain. It came down in sheets, but c'mon, you're already wet! Jenna and Nin went shopping in Cozumel and we met them after lunch. The two nurses in the group - the Adorable Husband and Nin -- were alternately horrified and intrigued by the vast array of drugs available in the drugstore. Heart meds, serious antibiotics and antidepressants -- the sorts of things that would be dangerous if taken incorrectly! Serious stuff.

My SIL commented on an earlier Cruise post that she'd always imagined that a cruise was kind of cheesy -- more like Love Boat with people playing shuffleboard and a perky cruise-director and that sort of thing. I have to admit I had much the same thought. Our vacations are 180 degrees from this planned, organized, well-run sort of tourist trap that I imagined a cruise would be. But it was very liberating not to have to plan everything, and to know that there was any one of a dozen activities going on at any time that I could join, or a hundred others that I could do on my own. Hang out with family when you want to, hang out alone when you want to - plenty for everyone to do and enough that interests everyone that it's a lot of fun. There was a fully staffed Kids program (three, actually, for kids 2-7, 8-12, and 13 and older) that had activities just for them, pools to swim in, movies to watch, live entertainment (jugglers and magicians and comedians) in the plaza, and about a dozen different venues to sit and have a nice glass of wine and enjoy something tasty (sushi, anyone? lovely little plates from the international cafe, cheese plates, etc).

While there actually was a shuffleboard area, it was dwarfed by the electronic golf, the spa, the daily Wii-competitions on the big screen, and cooking demos. If you wanted an active vacation, there were a hundred different hikes and walks, and zip-line tours, and watercraft to rent in every port; on board there was a full-sized gym and even fitness classes. If you wanted a lazy, lump-about vacation, there was the balcony, the pool, the beach, the theater. Punctuate that with excellent meals, and it's pretty nice.

We wandered down to find gelato and little munchies after a quick walk through town. It was too humid after the rain, I was actually getting tired just trying to breathe it! We listened to the violinist in the plaza, enjoyed a cookie and a glass of wine, and just relaxed for the rest of the day. It was a great day!

Cruise V

New Years Eve! The ship has tons of parties planned, and lots of things going on for the New Year. We have dinner reservations at the steak restaurant on board (in addition to the two main dining halls, which have a set menu, there are two speciality restaurants on board, a steak house and an italian restaurant).

But first, off to Grand Cayman. Our ship got the short straw, and had the furthest out anchor point, but they started transferring people to shore by 7:15. We were up and out the door not much after, and caught a taxi to the public beach access on Seven Mile Beach -- a long strip of soft, white sand beach on the western part of the island. IT's lined with hotels and resorts, but there are still lovely public beach areas. We snapped up beach chairs and umbrellas (which can be a bit spendy!) and sprayed each other down with sunscreen.

The water is warm and so clear that you can snorkel in really deep water and still see the fish and rocks below. We hung a little closer to shore, just floating aimlessly in the water and watching Peter do his fish impressions. Jenna even clambered down into the water (although we had to give her a hand getting back up into the beach).


We spent maybe four and a half hours on the beach, but then the Adorable Husband had a massage appointment, so we all stuck together and headed back to the tenders and back to the boat. Jenna and Nin wanted to shop a bit, but with all the sun we couldn't summon enough energy to even try. It was enough to just walk back to the pier and we were dozing off on the ride back.

We all got dressed up in our fancy clothes and met in Dad and Pat's suite for champagne before heading down to dinner. Which was fantastic. The scalloped potatoes were addictive and dangerous, and followed great steaks and wine and a lovely bottle of Veuve Clicquot. But it was the chocolate dessert that nearly did us in. We fairly waddled from the restaurant. The Adorable Husband had five desserts. Well, bits of five of them. Even he couldn't finish!

We surrendered and were in bed before midnight. Hah!

Cruise IV

Jamaica is lovely -- green and hilly and beautiful. And touristy, of course. The ship docks at the main port in Ochos Rios and once we get off the ship, it's tourist city. Quite literally -- they have built a "village shopping" area just off the pier that is geared towards tourists shopping and effectively buffers you from the actual people and city. Jenna and Michael hired a cab for a ride around town, and headed off immediately while the rest of us waited for one of the excursions to go off and meet dolphins and see Dunn's Falls. This is one of the most popular things to do while onshore for the day. Pat and Mark and Nicole and Peter got into the water to learn about dolphins and get a kiss and touch them (although they didn't get to swim with the dolphins on this outing - Pat started out with the most conservative option, since Peter is often a bit anxious about these things. It was a lot of fun, if a bit disorganized. My dad came along, but it was too much walking through the nature park to the beach, and he and Pat went back to the boat after they were done.

We stayed back with Nin and Peter and had lunch, then took the shuttle to the waterfall. One of the options is to climb the falls -- everyone links hands and snakes their way up the 700 foot falls, scrambling up the rocks and through the different terraces. It's not as easy as it is made out to be, actually -- we were a bit boggled that it was allowed, actually. There is no way that anything like this would be allowed in the states, period. But, if you have a good group and everyone works together, it's easy enough to get up the rocks. I, however, am a klutz, and after slipping once and falling on my butt (because the guy in front of me let go when I tried to scramble up, and then bashing my head not once, but twice, on the concrete bridge, I bailed out about halfway up, along with a bunch of other people. They said that the hard part was already done, but I'm still sporting a half-dozen bruises from the climb, so I'm not so sure! Mark and Peter, though, toughed it out and made it all the way up! Nin was very concerned that Peter had been scared or freaked out, but he was just fine with Mark and did a great job. You really, really need good, solid, rubber-soled shoes for this one. And a waterproof camera!


We were all soaked and sunburned and ready to go back to the ship, and we caught one of the last busses back to the pier. I have a goose-egg on my forehead, which is sunburned. Wah!

There is a huge age range on this cruise - lots of kids (600!), lots of older people. Apparently the average age of the cruise goes up dramatically after the holidays. Princess is not a "party" cruise, like some of the other cruise lines, and the passengers tend to be older. There are tons of activities for kids, though. One thing thatI have noticed, though, is that there is a (hopefully) small group of cruise passengers who are just rude. They don't say please or thank you, they don't even make eye contact with the many staff on board, they just order them around as if they are somehow beneath notice. It's kind of weird. Yes, I know the staff is there to serve, but barking, "water!" at a waiter without bothering to look up and just shaking your glass while continuing your conversation with someone else is just rude. Snapping orders at people, or expecting them to read minds to bring what you wanted, and not what you asked for, is out of line in my book. I was raised to ask for things, not demand them, even when they will be delivered without question. "Yes, please, if you could bring me a glass of diet coke, that'd be great!" is a much nicer answer to 'can I get you a drink?' than "diet coke!" accompanied by an airy wave of the hand.

I wonder if it's the "all inclusive" part of the cruise concept that breeds this. You pay quite a bit of money to be waited on hand and foot, perhaps some few people take it a bit too seriously and think that they are entitled to instant, complete gratification of all their demands. I don't know.

The cruise also has a pretty loose dress code, too. Some cruises have many "formal" nights, and the rest of the time everyone still dresses in snazzy clothes. We have two formal nights -- which means that suits and dresses are worn to dinner, but the rest of the time is casual. Dinner is always a bit more dressy than daytime, but a pair of khakis is more than enough. YOu can't wear your bathing suit into the dining halls, and they frown on jeans or shorts. But everything else is fair game. The Adorable Husband complained that hti sis the first time he's been on vacation where he had to bring a suit. But it was fun to see all the people dress up (and some people really dressed up, in sequined evening dresses. Or, in the case of some of the Japanese tour group, in full, formal kimono!

I think I'll limit the days I have to wear high heels on vacation to one or two.

I thought that I packed pretty lightly (at least compared to my sisters -- and after seeing some of the luggage being hauled onto the ship, I am even more boggled). But I realized that I could have packed half what I did and had plenty of clothes to wear. I wish I had another bathing suit -- putting on the suit this mornign was a wee bit clammy -- but could have managed with a couple of t-shirts, a beach coverup, one medium dressy outfit (khakhis and polo shirt) and one dressy outfit (dress). I pretty much wore the same thing every day, and the Adorable Husband wore a swimsuit and t-shirt most days, too. I spent 90% of my waking time in a t-shirt and bathing suit and flip-flops.

Cruise III

A day at sea, after yesterday's lovely beach-lounging. We're heading to Jamaica, so we have a day to explore the ship and laze about at one of the many pools. We slept in a bit (we didn't get to bed until 2am after the infirmary excitement), and met everyone at the main pool for drinks and lounging at lunchtime.

The boat is huge. 950 feet long, 165 feet wide, carries up to 4000 passengers and 1200 crew. The Ruby Princess is a new ship (Oct 2008), and it's very comfortable. There is a huge theater (where they have live shows and movies), an enormous video screen on the top deck that shows movies, four pools, three dining rooms, a wine bar and international cafe, library, pub, a couple of nightclubs, a casino, spa, the works. We wandered around poking our noses into things and just enjoying the breeze from the deck. It's nigh on impossible to get a lounger around the pool, but there are plenty of other places to relax and enjoy the sun.

Our room steward is Polish -- his name is Piotrek, and he got everyone's last name right the first time (which is not common if you're not actually polish, too). The crew of the boat hail from all over -- we saw a ton of people from England, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, Greece, Thailand, the Phillipines, China. Apparently, the jobs on cruise ships are contract gigs, and there is fierce competition to get the slots. Some of the people we talked to were on their sixth or seventh contract - each one is six months long, and they work 12+ hour days most of the time. We often saw the wait staff from one restaurant working elsewhere later in the day -- enough so that we asked if they were just locked in the hold for the few hours they weren't on duty! They have their own quarters and lounges (and even a pool) belowdecks, since htey aren't really allowed to mix with the passengers in their off hours. They have their own crew mess, too, so they don't really get the same food, either. But everyone seemed to really like it (and going for four years at a stretch adds some credence to that claim). Me? Well, I'd be hard pressed to be that pleasant to everyone all the time!

We stopped and got a "soda stamp" -- food is always included on the boat (except for some speciality cafes), but soda, coffee, and any alcohol will cost you. You can buy a stamp up front for 25 bucks that lets you drink soda for free all week. For us, it was a great deal. We drink a lot of diet soda, so it was worthwhile to get. THey have a coffee stamp, too, but that's less of an issue since coffee is included with meals. and you only pay for coffee at other times.

Dinner was excellent - seafood and lamb and steaks. The menu changes every day, and it's worth it to wait for dessert. Michael, my BIL, has it down: order two or three desserts up front to save time!

Despite the number of people on the boat (I think we were near capacity), it never really felt crowded in most places. The pool was always crowded, of course, but we never waited in line or got caught in crowds going to any of the other parts of the ship. Intellectually I know there are some 5000 people on the boat, but it doesn't really seem possible. Dinners are not crowded, the theater was rarely full, even the main plaza seemed open and airy. There are simply so many places for everyone to go that they rarely end up in the same one, I guess. We only aborted our plans once when too many poeple showed up and that was to the movie showing on the upper desk with the huge outdoor screen -- we were a little late and couldn't find a lounge chair free.

The boat rocks a little when underway, but it's almost soothing. I can't imagine that anyone gets seasick on a boat this big, but the doctor last night assured me that many people do. I find the gentle rocking very pleasant, actually.

Cruise II

I should point out that I'm posting these retroactively - there was little or no connectivity on the cruise itself, so bear with me!

Sailed all night and by the time we all got up and had breakfast, we were moored outside of Princess Cays - the little island of Elutheria (which is owned by Princess, I am led to understand). A little island with nothing but beaches, watersports, and a little cafe. The tenders to the island started by 8am, and we were on the beach in a couple of sun chairs by 9am and floating serenely in the water a few minutes after that.

I bought a new swim suit for this trip (which I've posted before was quite a fretful and fraught experience), and I was really self-conscious about it. I shouldn't have been. Once I was in the water, we just lounged about and watched everyone else as they basked in the sun or paddled in the water. It was lovely.

My pale, pale, pasty family had to be reminded to reapply sunscreen every hour or so, but most of us managed to avoid getting too much sun on the first day! My dad doesn't do so hot in the sun - he tends to dehydrate quickly, so we spent some time with him up in the cafe so he could get some water while the Husband, Pat, and Jenna rented a little catamaran and went sailing. They were the only boat that didn't have to be towed back in to shore -- everyone else had problems, but the Adorable Husband got the boat back by himself.

We all headed back to nap (again). However, getting up for dinner, the Adorable Husband felt really crappy, and after a few minutes contemplation, realized that he was having another episode of A-Fib and off to the ship's emergency room we went. He's had this this twice before, so he recognized it right away, and the solution is to once again cardiovert him (i.e., shock his heart back into normal rhythm, for the non-medcal among us). They tried to do it with beta blockers first, but when that didn't work, they sedated him and zapped him again. Voila! Eight hours in the ER on the boat, and then he was back to normal. He was fine, although tired, and the next morning was up and going like normal. Way to spend a day of vacation, though! Eek.

I have to comment on dinner, though -- everyone always talks up the food on cruises (all the time! food everywhere! five-star dining!) and they are pretty accurate. Dinner is a lavish and tasty affair, the buffets (which are open 24 hours) are pretty good, if not of the same calibre as dinner service, and there are snack and other yummy things available all over the place. I'm glad I brought stretchy pants.

Cruise I

Well, we flew all night, slept fitfully in airports, and arrived in plenty of time to be sequestered in the Princess Cruise Gulag (i.e., the Terminal building, waiting for boarding).

But, we followed the hordes, got our room keys and had our passports checked, and went up to our room to nap until the rest of my family showed up. The room is really nice, and a lot larger than I thought it would be, we aren't cramped at all, and even have tons of closet space! Who knew? We have a lovely balcony and are on the furthest "out" deck on the ship, right over the lifeboats. Nice!

The porters on the pier laughed at us about our luggage when we got it out of the taxi -- I packed a small carry-on-sized LandsEnd bag, and Mark had a suit bag. That's it. We plopped the bags down and the porters sort of squinted at it. "That's your luggage?" Nod. "All your luggage?" Another nod. "Are you sure?" We giggled about it all the way onto the boat.

I crashed like a big crashy thing and slept for two hours or so, before the Adorable Husband returned with ice cream and diet cokes to wake me up so we could see if anyone else had arrived.

We've been trying to fix the flight situation for Nin and Peter for almost two weeks, and have had no luck at all getting different flights -- the cruise line booked her to land at 3:15, and also says that they have to be on the boat by 4. Ridiculous! But - the boat did wait for a bunch of people that were running late because of weather, and she ran up the gangplank at 5:05 and was still there with an hour to spare! One of the security guys at the chekpoint radioed to the terminal to see if they were there yet and the terminal personnel reported taht they had a "couple dozen" people in taxis and on busses on their way to the boat!

So, she made it on time, we all got together in time for dinner, and we're off!

We're Off!

We're off on our vacation to the sunny Caribbean on the ginormous boat!

Actually, we're off in about five hours to the airport for our redeye flight, to arrive in Florida tomorrow morning and boat the Ruby Princess for a seven day cruise.

Should be fun! I'll try to fill in this week, if I have any internet access at all.

Tastes like Chicken

And I shall eat a little crow.

My first attempt to pack for this trip - taking into account the need to swim, cover from the sun, dress up for dinner, and really dress up for at least one night - resulted in a pile of clothing far too large to fit into my rolly carry-on.

Despite my claims that I could pack for months in a carry on, I had to work pretty hard to get the pile down to a reasonable size. And then I remembered that I had to pack a pair of dress shoes. As you may have experienced, these don't squash down much.

Aaargh!

So, I abjectly apologize to my sister for picking on her for packing like a Victorian steamer-trunk traveler. Eek!

Steamer Trunks

Only four days (well, for us, three, since we leave at 1am) until our vacation cruise with my family! We're still trying to resolve issues with my youngest sister's airline ticket, and I'm starting to think about what to pack.

Seven days in the Caribbean. I had to buy a swim suit. I haven't bought a swim suit in twenty years. Do you know how hard it is to find a swim suit that doesn't expose the pale and pasty parts of me that never see the sun? Eek!

At any rate, since YS (Youngest Sister) has a late flight in to the port city, one of the suggestions from the more experienced cruisers is to not check luggage. That is, pack everything in a carry on.

I mentioned this to The Adorable Husband, who laughed uproariously. "Are you kidding? There is NO WAY that she can just pack a carry on. I'm worried that she'll be able to pack in one suitcase!" WHich is exactly the response I got from my sister when I suggested it as a way to save time.

She laughed. And snorted. And laughed again, a little nervously.

There is no way on earth that she can pack for a week in a carry on. Now me? I can pack for a MONTH in a carry one (well, carry-on sized, although I usually check it for long trips). She can't. No one in my family can. These are people who pack three suitcases for a long weekend. She'll pack six pairs of shoes to go to the beach. These are full-size toiletry packing type people. My family would have fit right in with Victorian traveller with four steamer trunks and a host of servants to haul everything around.

No amount of cajoling works. No amount of quite reasonable arguing that she doesn't need forty-leven different outfits works. This is a woman who normally changes clothes a couple of times as day. I suggested that, just perhaps, she could wear the same pair of pants for more than one day, since we weren't doing anything but lounging around.

The Adorable Husband noted wryly that she doesn't wear one pair of pants for even a whole day!

I shouldn't pick on her, really. She's the only one of us that has any sense of style at all, and I have to admit that she does dress well and looks awfully cute. But when travelling, cute and stylish take a back seat to light, easy to pack, and washable! We're on a cruise ship, people -- we can do laundry (or get people to do laundry for us!)

So I propose a wager: she can pack like she usually does, but at the end of the trip, we will publically air out all the things that she hasn't even touched in the suitcase. She's not allowed to make an extra effort to wear everything, but I bet that she doesn't even touch half of what she packs. Hah!

Amateur Hour

With 'It's a Wonderful Life' showing nonstop on some cable channel or the other, reruns of every single Santa clay-mation show, and whole channels of choirs and carols -- it's easy to track the countdown to Christmas.

Easy, too, to identify the season by the variety of "documentaries" that show up on the various history and science channels. Most are interesting, if a bit predictable, and I won't go off on a tangent here on the false basic premise of most of them*. No, My ire here is directed at one specific show: "The Naked Archeologist', with Simcha Jacobovici traveling around the middle east in search of evidence that supports the bible.

Well, not quite. What he's doing is accepting the basic truth of the biblical stories without question and adding a dollop of politics and his opinion that "regular archaeology" is populated by fascists and anti-semites, and that he is fighting the good fight for "biblical archaeology". Archeologists in general treat the bible as fiction, not fact. This is the view supported by the evidence, and represents the view of most scholars. If evidence arises that supports specific stories, then archeologists incorporate that into their theory. But they do not accept the bible as historical fact, preferring to apply actual facts to their work.

No, Jacobovici says, that is just fascism and anti-semitism, and a political attempt to denigrate Judaism and the truth. He compares archeologists who view the bible as literature, not history, as akin to holocaust deniers. "Biblical archeologists", he says, are entirely wrong -- ignoring, of course, that his definition of "biblical archaeology" is completely backwards. He still classifies modern archaeologists who don't accept the historicity of the bible as "biblical archeologists" (a definition that fits his agenda). Wrong. That term belongs to the people who go digging "with the bible in one hand and a spade in the other". i.e., his own approach.

"From a historical aspect, I take the Bible as history, unless someone demonstrates it's not. I have no reason to believe the stories in the Bible didn't happen. He paused, asserting, If you don't think it's true, prove it!"

He argues that some biblical archeologists are motivated by crass politics and a dislike of Jews.

And so he sets off to the primary archaeological sites in the middle east, cheerfully explaining how it all fits together with his somewhat oddball theories. He has further filmed a multi-part show on the Exodus (wherein he argues that it wasn't the Red sea that was parted, but the Reed sea, in a particularly egregious mangling of interpretation, to make his "theory" fit). Scientific findings often challenge religious dogma. He doesn't seem to understand that it's the role of the scientist, the role of the archeologist, to view with a critical eye any claims and view the evidence *before* generating the conclusions. An honest scientist gathers the evidence and sees what the evidence says, a dishonest one interprets the evidence to fit their conclusion. Presenting the latter as equivalent to the actual practice of archeology is simply wrong.

How completely backwards - the goal of archeology is not to "prove false" the bible any more than it is to "prove true" the stories. The two are really unrelated, no matter how much the television shows try to link them this time of year. If the evidence shows that a particular story is plausible or true, so be it. But cherry picking and misusing evidence is the purview of bad science.

I am frustrated that the history channel airs such a show, which is based firmly on the unchallenged premise that the bible is historically accurate and every further assertion simply accepts this as true.

I am further frustrated to realize that Jacobovici is NOT a biblical scholar, he is NOT a historian, he is NOT even an archaeologist. He's a filmmaker.

If it wasn't so ridiculous and dangerous, it would be funny - he's the sort who starts off his "exploration" by saying that the bible is true, and seems to be one of those people who is determined to believe that this is so, just because the bible says it. His methodology is a joke, even if he is personable and seems credible enough to the uninformed. Therein lies the danger - this man has a specific agenda that is at odds with science and history, and yet his theories are presented as if they are supported and generally valid. They are not.

This is not an issue of religious vs non-religious, of belief vs non-belief. It doesn't matter which side of those issues you are on: you should demand basic adherence to the proper methodology from anyone proposing to know "the truth". Accepting an idea because we want to believe it, quickly undermines any scientific inquiry (regardless of which conclusion you support). Archeologists are, understandably, frustrated.. This is amateur hour, and it is deeply flawed, no matter how attractive.

The ideas might be interesting, they might even have some kernel of real evidence, and Jacobovici's obvious enthusiasm and charm make for a good show, but that's all it is: a show by a filmmaker with a specific message to get across. Each show starts off with his conclusion, which is heavily biased to his own political and religious views (and I find it quite interesting that many Christian sites are equally critical about his show as I am). He has weighed in on recent finds (the Ossuary of Josephus, Jesus' tomb, etc) as if he actually has the qualifications to do so, as if the bald assertion that "this is true" suddenly makes it so.

The show is sensationalist, makes unsupported claims, ignores current scholarly research, and yet it airs without any explanation that the producer of the show is presenting his own opinions as fact without any real support or evidence. It's entertainment presented as truth, and as we all know, a plausible "explanation" is often better accepted than the truth, because it is simpler and doesn't require much thought.

It would be an interesting show if he actually approached the topic with some sense of impartial and unprejudiced curiosity. Since he can't, the honest thing to do is to be up front about your biases and explain how he comes to his opinions and views. If any show requires a disclaimer, this one does.

* Ok, one tiny tangent - how can you have a show on the possibility that Jesus had a brother, if you haven't proven (even slightly) that the Jesus you are talking about existed? Or that God punished the builders of the Tower of Babel, if you haven't a shred of evidence that the god you are describing existed, or the tower itself? Sigh.

Whoops

Wow. Apparently a Continental 737 slid off the runway at takeoff and burst into flames! A dozen or so people were injured and released from local hospitals, and the NTSB is starting the investigation into what happend.

Eek. I hate flying anyways. I don't think they've had an incident at DIA before!

Allergies

The poor weasel is allergic to a TON of stuff.

Berit has had ongoing problems with itching and losing hair on her feet, and all sorts of problems associated with allergies. We've been taking her to the veterinary allergist down in Denver and our first try to get things settled was to try a limited diet (which lasted three months, and there was no change when we went back to the regular food), and finally scratch tests to find out what she's allergic to.

So, just like humans, they do the grid scratch test for 60-some things and then make up allergy serum based on that. Berit is allergic to a half-dozen types of trees, weeds, insect bites, timothy grass, household dust, ragweed, and all sorts of other things. I took her in today for the test and they shaved a big spot on her side, did the poking and scratching, and sent us home with vials of allergy shots and a spiffy blue t-shirt. Poor beastie.

As soon as she wakes up (they sedated her to do the test and she's pretty groggy), I'll flip her over and show you the nifty pink grid she has.


So, allergy shots for the next year or so. At least we can do those at home!

Mutant Teeth

In to the dentist today, to have a little mutant wisdom tooth pulled -- not a whole tooth, just a teeny-weeny little tooth that came in way behind my last molar. The dentist called it a microtooth (and laughed that I was a mutant). It wasn't causing any problems, really, but he wanted it pulled anyway, just in case. It moved a little bit, and that was just asking for problems down the line.

Removing it was pretty uneventful, and it didn't even hurt much. Took a bit of work to get out, though, since the root was hooked. But I came home and went back to work, since it didn't bother me at all.

Well, that was before the novocaine wore off. I feel like a chipmunk today and my jaw hurts. Waah!

Visa Requirements

Always on the lookout for a useful website -- when travelling, countries require different documentation and visas. We're going on a 7-day cruise with my family to the Caribbean over New Years, and I found this very helpful website for which countries require what:

Visa HQ.

Luxury or idiocy?

Dubai is planning to build a 'refrigerated beach', to appeal to the 'top people' who apparently don't want want to lie on hot sand. They're going to artificially cool the sand so it's comfortable and attractive to people who have more money than sense, apparently.

A system of heat-absorbing pipes and giant wind blowers will “keep tourists cool in the searing 40-50C heat.” Soheil Abedian, president of Palazzo Versace hotel that will be home to the refrigerated beach, said: “We will suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool enough to lie on. This is the kind of luxury that top people want.”

Dubai is the reductio ad absurdum of consumer culture.

So what?

From ABC news, after Bush was in Iraq for a quick grip-and-grin.

BUSH: One of the major theaters against al Qaeda turns out to have been Iraq. This is where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand. This is where al Qaeda was hoping to take–

RADDATZ: But not until after the U.S. invaded.

BUSH: Yeah, that’s right. So what? The point is that al Qaeda said they’re going to take a stand. Well, first of all in the post-9/11 environment Saddam Hussein posed a threat. And then upon removal, al Qaeda decides to take a stand.

Seriously? Well, I guess it doesn't matter that the leader of the free world is a) out of touch with reality and b) so condescendingly dismissive of truth.

Replacement Policy

If you have dogs, you need Lupine Collars -- their replacement policy is absolutely fabulous. Basically, if the collar is damaged for any reason, including puppies chewing on them, they replace them, no questions asked.

I think we're on our 10th or 12th collar for Berit, and at least three for Rowan.


For some reason, they seem to like to grab hold of them and chew them off when they play (including once when Rowan got his jaw stuck under Berit's collar and scared the living crap out of me -- she was turning blue by the time I caught them and unclipped her collar!).

Eventually, they're going to have to cut us off. But so far, we show up at our vet's office about once a month with a mangled collar and bring home a spiffy new one.

Beautiful Cakes

I'm a huge fan of the Cakewreck blog - it gives me a smile when I check it every morning. Every once in a while, the blogger has a post on a fabulous cake, and I actually spent a half hour or so looking at the absolutely stunning cakes at Cake Nouveau and wishing that I had some occassion to order one of them.

Pretty cool.

Bottomless Puppy Pits

We realized today (after the Adorable Husband bought three enormous bags of dogfood) that the Phouka household is going through about 120 pounds of dog food in a month.

Obviously, the puppies are in a growth spurt (which is scary enough in itself, since they are 100 pounds apiece), and it's getting cold outside. They need more food, but I hadn't realized just how much. Since we free-feed, we just leave a full bowl of food out (a 2 gallon bucket-full) and they eat as much as they want/need. Since they aren't Labs (who will eat until they burst), we have always done this. They are snarfing down more than bowl a day, I think!

We have a dogfood bin attached to the wall in the laundry room that holds a forty pound bag of food. We're filling it every 10 days, or less.

Yikes!

Travel Karma Averted

For once, my Certifiably Awful Travel Karma seems to have been averted.

Spending two days in Milwaukee (well, really Saukville) WI sounded like a good idea -- until we got 6-8" of snow here in Denver, and the client told me that they were expecting a foot of snow in Milwaukee. On the day I was supposed to arrive.

Oh, great. That sounds like fun. And pretty typical, for me. If there's a way to be delayed, lost, snowed on, tornadoed, or otherwise suffer travel trauma while traveling for work, I'll figure it out. Land at the wrong airport and sit on the tarmac for four hours? Check. Land seven hours late? Check. Get the last seat in the last row of the plane? Check. No cars available at the checkout desk except a full-size, rear-wheel-drive cargo van? Oh, yeah.

But this time? Not a hitch. Well, a nearly white-out raging snowstorm, but the plane landed on time, I had a whole row to myself, the roads were plowed, and my directions were good. Coming back, an exit row seat and an early arrival. Can't complain too much about that.

I'm not quite ready to celebrate the passing of the Bad Travel Baton, but it was a nice change.

First Snow

Last year we had a dry, dry winter, with barely any snow here at all. The mountains got hundreds of inches of snow, but we only got a dusting once in a while.

Our first snow is late this year - usually we have a flurry or two in October, but we've barely had any precip at all. So when we woke up to tons of soft, fluffy snow it was a surprise.

But isn't it lovely?

Holiday Baking Frenzy

The Adorable Husband was up at 5am, baking. Yes, FIVE. Oy.

He didn't feel well last night, and so he was in bed by 7, so he did get a decent night's sleep. I got to wake up to the lovely smell of baking bread and he made six loaves of Cardamom Bread, and big double batches of both spice cookies and sugar cookies.

The Holiday Baking Frenzy has begun!

And we are not dead!

Nope, didn't fall of the face of the earth, didn't disappear into the ether -- just busy, and taking a break after the nail-biting stress of the political elections. Sigh. Much calmer now. Much.

At any rate - Let's see, catching up: I'm still at my current client, on an extension until the end of the year, at least; spent a couple of days if fabulous Wichita, KS teaching class, back working in my office. The commute is still horrid - I usually have to step over dogs to get to work!

We're coming up on the Yearly Turkey Feast - we'll have a houseful of people over and eat until we cannot move, when watch movies or something. The Adorable Husband isn't on call for Thanksgiving, but he is at Christmas this year.

I finished putting up the 'welcomes' in the entry -- 20 different languages (there's a cheat sheet in the closet!). It was really hard to take pictures, but hopefully these give you some idea:


Fun, eh? The words are all from WiseDecor, and are vinyl letters. It's a pain in the butt to burnish them onto the not-quite-smooth walls, but the effect is actually very nice - they look painted on.

Quick Thinking

A Chino Valley, Arizona woman was jogging on a trail near Granite Mountain Monday when a fox attacked her. The animal bit her foot, and when she tried to grab it, bit her arm and held on. She ran a mile back to her car with the fox still attached. The jogger then pried the fox’s jaws open, threw it in her trunk, and drove to a hospital. The fox also bit the animal control officer who removed it from the trunk. The animal tested positive for rabies, and both the woman and the animal control officer are being treated.

Can you imagine what would happen if someone tried to mug her? They'd probably end up in teh trunk, too!

Double Standard?

As the results of the election continue to trickle in (there are still some senate races where the final numbers are either too close to call or not complete), it's rather fun to watch the conservative pundits still try to spin this as a "conservative victory". Um, no. Obama won by such a wide margin that this is definitely a sea-chnage in the way the American public views politics.

Apparently the pundits don't quite get the picture.

Robert Novak is trying to argue that a 7 million vote margin in the popular vote, an increase of six (and possible more) senate seats, and a startlingly disproportional electroral college vote are not a mandate for Obama. "He neither received a broad mandate from the public nor the needed large congressional majorities."

Compare this to his comments about Bush's win in 2004, where Bush had 3.5 million vote margin in the popular vote, an increase of four senate seats, and 63 fewer electoral votes than Obama: "Of course it is [really a mandate]." The compartatively narrow victory for Bush was a clear sign of a Conservative Mandate, while the twice-as-large victory for Obama is not?

Spin if you want, but the facts are pretty obvious and the double-standard even more so. It's apparently going to take a while for things to sink in.

America is not necessarily a conservative country, as the Republican contigent want us to believe, want desperately for us to believe.
As a matter of fact, if you look at the voting trends in the last few years, more counties are swinging to the democratic side than are becoming progressively more Republican. The Republican part is still strong in certain areas of the country, but those areas appear to be shrinking and becoming less strongly Republican then they have been. Look at this map of the voting trends -- the darker the color, the more dramatic the change in voter trends; redder is more republican than 2004, bluer is more democratic than in 2004. The GOP is really becoming a regional party - there is no nation-wide conservative movement that has impact across the country.

That's going to change the way things are done. Whether you think that the changes are going to be good or bad is irrelevant - the facts are clear. It's fun to watch the spin and obstinate adherence to the talking points when they so clearly contradict reality.

Yes We Can!

John McCain's concession speech was gracious and uniting, and I was struck by how much better he sounded tonight than he has in any of the recent rallies. For the first time in weeks, I think McCain really felt strongly about what he was saying. Barack Obama's speech was inspiring. A good night. Watching the local races and local referendum, I am gratified to see that calm, rational thinking won the day.

If tonight was not a heartfelt "up yours" to politics as usual, I don't know what is. "Change" has been the watchword of both campaigns (ironic or not), and the voters spoke overwhelmingly, loudly, clearly for a different path. At my last check, 338 electoral college votes, probably 370 if the close races are accurate. 52% of the popular vote. That's almost unprecendented.

A mandate for change - I hope that the president-elect is up to the challenge, and I am very hopeful. It will be a relief to have a president who is intelligent, thoughtful, and capable of seeing nuance in the world. One who understands and can comprehend the complex issues that face us today, and (so far) seems capable of listening to other opinions and accepting guidance from all parties. What a change.

Oh, yeah, and a president who can pronounce the world 'nuclear'. I am thrilled!

Election Day

Tomorrow is Election Day. No matter who you believe in, who you support -

GO VOTE.

This is our contribution to the workings of Government. Don't miss out.

Misplaced Priorities

I'm a gamer (or, well, I have been serious gamer in the past and would continue to be one if I had any spare time!) and have found those involved in D&D and the various other table-top RPG games to be a fine and generous group.

But D&D has always been viewed as "suspect" by the Christianist movement - all that talk of monsters and demons and such in a game are obviously a sign of satan worship or other depraved deeds. That's all just ridiculous, of course (why is it that most people can differentiate between a game and reality without a problem, but that fact eludes so many?).

But it did lead to a very unfortunate decision by the Christian Children's Fund - a favorite charity of D&D creator Gary Gygax -- to REFUSE a donation from the GenCon group because they are associated with and accept D&D players' donations.

As has been reported by a few other gaming blogs and news sites, the Charity Auction at this year's GenCon Indianapolis was held to benefit Gary Gygax's favorite charity, which I will not name here for reasons that will soon become obvious. The fine folks at GenCon raised over $17,000 for this charity, which helps starving children in impovershed areas of the world--only to have that money actually turned down by the charity. The charity refused due to the fact that the money was raised partly by the sales of Dungeons and Dragons materials, which as we all know, puts an irrevocable taint of evil on the filthy lucre that us demon-worshipping gamers might want to use to, say, donate to starving children. Not only is this a slap in the face to every gamer, but it is especially insulting to Mr. Gygax himself, who I understand donated to their cause many times over the years. Plus, I'm sure the children who would have gotten food or clean drinking water with that money would be sort of upset, too.

Letting medieval superstition overshadow the modern world, and who suffers? The very people who should be protected and aided. Not only do they not get the benefit of the money donated by those horrible gamers, but the Christian Children's Fund has revealed that they have a very different agenda than, you know, actually helping people.Misplaced priorities, displayed at their very best.