Arghh! Plumbing debacle in the works

I usually try to do most household repairs on my own, as a way to save dough and also just because I really enjoy fixing things around the house. My dad and I installed a new (used) dishwasher last week, for example.

But for some jobs, you simply have to call in the big guns. Take, if you will, a corroded, leaking bathtub trap. Now that's a replacement job in need of specialized tools and specialized skills. Unfortunately for us, those things cost a lot of specialized money.

We've been using the downstairs bathroom for showering for the last couple of weeks, and it looks like this will continue until we get the second estimate for replacing the upstairs bathtub trap. I'm not looking forward to the hole in my downstairs ceiling or the hole in my bank account. Ugh.

Grandparent madness!

Sylvie is currently in hog heaven, with grandma and grandpa in town for the weekend. She's also starting to do "babble talking" more and more. It's really funny because she uses correct intonation, but the words are all jibberish. Kind of like her daddy before coffee in the morning.

Moth-eaten cardigan sweaters are on aisle 7

So I was in Lowe's in Bowie Md yesterday buying a new showerhead for our downstairs bathroom. I had on standard November weekend attire, which for me is a boggin, flannel shirt, blue jeans (modern stylish ones that Jenny bought me), Vans, and my Carhardtt black jacket. Also I was unshaven and suitibly scruffy.

Apparently my wardrobe brought a flashback upon the girl who checked me out (in both senses of the phrase). As she finished scanning my items she blurted out, apropos of nothing, "I really like grunge. I wish I wouldn't have thrown out all those albums I had in college. I was looking for them the other day." I replied in the most delicate manner I could muster that MY WIFE and I also had regrets about some long lost CDs. She grinned sheepishly and I left, flattered yet somehow troubled.

Grunge is not the look I usually shoot for these days. I guess it's better than being confused for a gay man, which is what usually happens.

Kicking Ass!

What can I say? Other than SWEET!!!!!!

Now if we can solidify the wins in VA and MT all will be seriously good. I'm very happy this morning!

Great job Mr. Dean!

More, and different, board member madness

Well, guess who is the newest member of the M_ontgomery C_ounty A_nimal M_atters H_earing B_oard? That's right, M_e. (If I keep doing stuff I don't want Googled, this site is going to need an Enigma machine.)

The deal is this: I'm trying to become more active in the community and also strenghen my resume without resorting to grad school. I figured being on a board or two couldn't hurt, so I started applying to several county board openings that I thought would be interesting and fulfilling. I had a couple interviews, and ended up getting nominated to be on the A_nimal M_atters H_earing B_oard. Pretty cool!

What does the board do? Well think of the show Animal Cops. The board members are the ones who get to work after the cops do their thing to rule on disputes involving animals. So let's say your neighbor's mutt won't shut up. You file a complaint with the county. The board decides who's right and who's wrong. Or...let's say you keep your horse tied up with no food or water. We decide whether or not you get a hefty fine. Same for dangerous animals in the neighborhood, enforcing leash laws, etc.

The cool thing about this gig is that I'll (one hopes) be in the postion to be able to actually do some real good in the community. I hope that I'll be able to play a part in keeping people and animals in the county safe and happy. I'm looking forward to getting started with it. Wish me luck!

Travel mania

Went to Chicago for a conference last week and this week I'm in NYC for another one! Whew! Jenny's mom came in to stay with her and the baby while I'm away, so that's good.

Last night I went down to the Lower East Side to get some dinner and see some bands, both of which were very good. Silo, in particular, was fantastic. I went with a good buddy of mine from D.C., Keith. Neither of us knew the other was coming to the show, so it's a good thing we ran into each other on the exhibit hall floor. Strange how those types of things work out.

I really love NYC. I'm not sure living here would be all it was cracked up to be if you didn't pull in at least $500K/year, though. It would be torture to have to scrape by on PB&J with all these good restaurants just sitting there taunting you every night.

Long time, no blog. Sorry.

Sorry all for the long time between blogs. We've been really busy lately, for several reasons--not the least of which is that I've accepted a new job: A_ctuarial S_tandards B_oard P_rogram M_anager (underlines inserted to prevent Googling eyes).

It's still the same company, but I'll be doing new, different, and exciting things. Plus I get a bigger office with a bank of windows overlooking scenic L Street. Schweet.

There are certain aspects of the job that I have definite reservations about (taking minutes at board meetings, doing on-the-fly editing on a big screen projected in front of the board), but I feel that I'll be up to the challenge!

I'll be editing A_ctuarial S_tandards of P_ractice and a newsletter, as well as doing the print buying for said publications, so I've got that going for me. Gunga Ga-...Gunga Galunga.

Movin' on up, just like the Jeffersons.

Book published!

My mom's cousins' book is going to be available at the end of October.
This is SO exciting!
Please check it out as my Grandma Ida's recipes should be in there.
I am so proud.

Follow-up on my eye surgery

Well, that certainly sucked. The procedure only lasted about 10 minutes, but I've got to tell you, that crap that they inject into your face to numb it freaking kills. It must have the viscosity of maple syrup, because it seemed like he was slowly squeezing a pound of acid into my eye socket. It really hurt.

They then clamped my eye open with a device straight out of "A Clockwork Orange" and removed a small amber pellet out of my eyelid. Sorry if this is TMI, by the way. Turns out a sty had gone evil and decided to crystalize and stay a while. Not fun.

Pretty much back to normal now, though, thank goodness.

Dread

I have to go into the opthamologist today to have minor eyelid surgery. I'm really dreading it, as it involves several sharp objects being inserted into my face. I'm not good with needles in the best of circumstances, and having someone poke one into my eyelid is not the most fun thing I can think of to do this afternoon. Wish me luck.

Election Day Fiasco

Well, here in MD, it's primary election day. I usually never miss the chance to vote, so I made my way first thing this morning to the neighborhood elementary school that doubles as my polling place. Unfortunately, I was unable to cast my vote.

Here in decently upscale Montgomery County, we apparently have trouble getting voter authorization cards to the electronic voting machines on time. So, I was informed upon my arrival that I would not be able to vote electronically, but I could wait 30 minutes and cast a provisional ballot. I didn't have 30 minutes. Like most folks, I had to go to work. So I left.

The volunteer told me that the polls will remain open until 8pm, and possibly later, and I will trek back after work. But I wonder how many folks won't bother to make the second effort. Probably most of them.

Why, oh why, is it so freaking difficult to vote (and have your vote actually counted) in this country? It's high time that America gets its collective sh!t together on this issue.

Coal keeps WV poor

This weekend, West Virginia University played Marshall in the first annual "Friends of Coal" Bowl in Morgantown. WVU predictibly whooped Marshall, but for me, the game was marred by the near-constant pro-coal industry sales pitch by the announcers, commercials, and "special guests" in the booth. Former Marshall coach Bob Pruett and former WVU coach Don Nehlen, both on the pro-industry lobby group's payroll as spokespeople, told about all the glories of the coal industry and the massive force of good it is for our humble state.

Let me say that my family have been heavily involved in coal mining going back several generations. Coal miners are not the problem. In fact, my grandfathers on both sides and my great-grandfather on my dad's side were all miners. My dad was a federal mine inspector for 35+ years. My dad and mom do not share my views on mining, and point out, rightly, that money from mining and, in my case, inspecting mines, put me through college and gave us a nice place to live. This is true.

Several thousand people in WV make a damn good living by being coal miners, with salaries averaging around $65,000, well above the norm in the state. The "Friends of Coal" group makes much hay about how many jobs in WV mining produces. They act as if the whole state would collapse should mining go away, or god forbid, be regulated and properly taxed. But just how many miners are actually working in WV?

16,455 miners. That's it. That means that coal mining employs 0.9% of the state's population. (My numbers come from the 2002 Census, if you're wondering.)

Do you know what Don Blankenship, CEO of WV's biggest coal company, Massey Energy, made in 2003? $6,105,714 (according to salary.com). That's per year.

McDowell county, which has produced more coal than any other county in the state, has a per capita income of $17,622 (as of 2005). That means it would take the average citizen of McDowell county 347 years to make what Dandy Don makes in a single year. In fact, Don makes in a single day about what our average Joe in Welch takes a whole year to earn. If he has a job, that is. The unemployment rate in McDowell county is 8.6%. Ouch. Seen in that light, coal doesn't look so good for McDowell county, after all.

Coal (and more recently, timber) have made up the lion's share of West Virginia's industrial base since the state broke away from VA during the Civil War. Through all those years, coal has been the engine that drove West Virginia's economy. It's given thousands upon thousands of workers jobs throughout those years (and it gave a lot of them black lung, too, but we'll ignore that for now). I won't dispute that. So what has been the end result of all those great years of mining? Surely, such a fantastic industry would have turned West Virginia into one of the richest, most progressive places in the nation, right? Wrong.

After 150 years of coal mining, WV is

50th in Median Income: $24,880
Number 8 in amount of persons below poverty level: 16.7%
3rd in unemployment: 7.5%
50th in persons 25 or older with a bachelor's degree: 15.3%
40th in teacher's salaries: $38,461
5th in infant mortality: 9.1/1000 births

No matter how you slice it, that sucks. My point is that for all the snowjobs put forth by ex-football coaches and bass pros, the hard facts are that WV has never done all that well under the coal regime, even in the best of times--the '50s--when coal companies still actually employed people to mine coal instead of giant mechanical draglines.

And speaking of giant, mechanical draglines, those monstrosities gouge out huge chunks of the Appalachian skyline day after day, enriching guys like Blankenship and other out-of-state corporations (Massey, for example, is located in Richmond, VA--well away from the horrors it inflicts on our mountainsides.)

On Saturday, FOC spokesman Nehlen said to the announcer "Some people don't like us because we sometimes make a little bit of a mess." Count me as some people Don. WV is a great place. I just hope that the people living there wake up to the fact that "coal = jobs" is a myth before it's too late and they are living on a landscape that looks more like the moon than the lush paradise they grew up with.

Japanese TV is truly weird...and hilarious!

This is apparently an instructional video for young women on vacation to the U.S. who are expecting to be robbed by a dude with a bandana tied upside down on his bald head. The looks on the dancers' faces don't quite seem to match the phrases they chant... "spare me my life...spare me my life..."

Very bizarre.

Almost like a sick joke on all of us

According to this article in today's Washington Post, a plane from Britain to Dulles was diverted to Logan Intl. in Boston due to a claustrophobic woman going a tad nutso in the cabin.

According to the story (bold added by me for emphasis), "Her behavior was reported to the pilot, who diverted the plane to Boston. The woman did not have a screwdriver, the officials said, but she did have matches of a type that are allowed on flights. She also had hand cream, which should not have made it through security at Heathrow under the new rules formulated last week."

Come again? Certainly it did not just say that you could bring FREAKING MATCHES onto a plane, but hand cream was verboten?

Certainly the Post made an error here, right? Nope. According to the Transportation Security Administration Web site, "You may not bring matches in your checked baggage because of safety regulations. You may, however, bring up to four books of safety (non-strike anywhere) matches in your carry-on baggage or on your person. For safety reasons, you may not bring “strike anywhere” matches at all."

Oh, and incidentally, my swiss army knife with a 2 1/2" blade? Not allowed. Metal, sharp-pointed scissors with a 4" blade? Allowed. Does this make sense to anyone???

This just goes to show how much of a farce this whole airline security show really is. Unreal.

The terrorists have already won

Some would argue that we scored a major victory in the battle against terrorism yesterday when British authorities arrested a score of home-grown religious wackos bend on blowing up airplanes. And in the short term, we did. Undoubtedly, lives have been saved by good police work and diplomatic work between UK and Pakistani government intelligence agencies. My kudos go out to all officers involved in breaking up this admittedly nefarious plot.

Still, I can't help shaking my head at the reaction to this somber news. Instead of taking a logical, methodical approach to this new threat (which isn't really new, btw, it's been done by al Queda before), we, in typical fashion for the Bush regime, throw the baby out with the bathwater and ban all liquids, pastes, gels (even Speed Stick-type deodorants), and electronics from flights. Passengers are made to dump all of these potentially dangerous items into common trash receptacles at airport security posts. Soon, presumably, we will all be forced to fly naked.

Meanwhile, the terrorists have gotten what they wanted all along. The object of terrorism is, logically, to instill terror in a population. You would be hard-pressed to show that this objective has not been achieved here in the U.S. We are a nation engulfed in irrational fear, which is propagated at all turns by the media and, especially, our own government. The latter, in despicable fashion, uses it to further their own political gains, The former uses it to sell papers, laundry detergent, and cars.

You have a MUCH higher likelihood of being killed in a car wreck on your way home tonight than of being killed in a terror attack. In fact the likelihood is so small as to be almost nonexistent. So people, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, QUIT BEING SO AFRAID!

Vacationing in West Virginia

Sorry for not posting in a while, we were away for a few days on vacation in WV, and I'm still catching up on work and stuff.

Like I said, we took 5 days to go have some well-deserved r and r down on the Greenbrier River with my folks. The weather cooperated nicely and fun was had by all, especially Sylvia, who was the happy recipient of a new, under-porch swing from Grandma and Granpa (see photo).

I fished a lot, and caught more bass in three days than I've caught in three years. It was amazing! A fish per cast, basically.

I was sad to have to come home and go back to work.

12 Galaxies Protestor

If you've ever been to downtown San Francisco, you might have noticed a Chinese-American man in sunglasses and a suit ambling down the sidewalk with a protest sign reading "Impeach Clinton 12 Galaxies Conspiracy Mind Altering" or some other seemingly random statement.

An Internet filmmaker, James Dirschberger, has produced an excellent 15 minute documentary about the protester, whose name is Frank Chu, that includes a lunchtime interview in which Frank explains the sign and his reason for protesting.

Frank lives across the Bay in Oakland and makes his way into The City each day to walk up and down Market Street, trying to inform the world of his plight. He believes that the Clinton administration, in league with the CIA and the mysterious "12 Galaxies," used hi-tech invisible cameras to make a movie about him and his family that was subsequently aired in the 12 Galaxies, generating considerable income. Frank's daily protests aim to get his fair share of those movie profits: $12 billion or so.

While we may be tempted to laugh at Frank and his crazy theories, there is an underlying sadness to the film. It's obvious that Frank needs psychiatric help, but his paranoia and fears of government control keep him from taking his medication.

Good luck Frank, I hope you get satisfaction someday.

Senator Andrew Moore, aka Grandpa

I'm in the midst of reading Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick (very gripping, btw), and it's gotten me interested in my own colonial family history.

Many of us have colonial ancestory stories, to be sure, although most are not historically proven. One of forebearers that is pretty well documented is my great-great-great-great-grandfather, General Andrew Moore (1752 - 1821). He was my maternal grandmother's grandfather's grandfather, and was one of the first House reps for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He went on to serve as a U.S. Senator from Virginia between 1799-1804 (though not concurrently), and finally served as the U.S. marshall for Virginia until his death in 1821.

He was a captain in the American Revolution, and served alongside George Washington, who subsequently granted Moore a bunch of land in southwestern Virginia (and what later became West Virginia). Unfortunately, that land is not mine now. Not that I'm bitter. Grrr....

Anywho, as a young man he went on an expedition to the West Indies and was shipwrecked. He and his companions survived on a diet of lizard until their rescue. (This is documented in some history books, and really, could I make something that bizarre up?)

His gravestone, in Lexington, Virginia, reads: "A soldier of the Revolution. A member of the first U. S. Congress. The first senator west of the Blue Ridge. A member of the convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States, and a marshall of Virginia for twenty years."

You can check out his Congressional biography here.

Pretty cool stuff. Do you have any famous (or infamous) relatives?

Blech news/good weekend

Well it looks like the world is seriously going to hell in a handbasket these days. There seems to be no end to the ways that people can find to kill other people, mostly in the name of religion. Bah.

Well, in spite of the depressing news from the Middle East, we had a great, if warm, weekend. Sylvie, Jenny, and I putzed around the house most of the time trying to stay cool, and we also made a trip to the pool yesterday for some much-deserved cooling off.

My band let go of our singer, so we're back to being a trio. I'm singing most of the songs, and the drummer, Stuart, is picking up a couple, Phil Collins style. Honestly, I think we'll be able to move much faster now. I've joked with the guys that our first CD has to be called "Glacial Speed." That or we change the name of the band from My Life On Hold to My Band On Hold. :-)

What the hell? Zidane loses his mind.

Whoa. I DID NOT see that one coming. I don't think anyone did. Honestly, I was actually holding my nose and rooting for France in the final (the lesser of two evils, I guess, and I didn't want another Euro team to have more than three Cup titles). I thought the game was well played with substantially less Italiodiving than previous matches, and Zidane looked particularly good for the French side.

The French were starting to really take control of the game and the Italians were looking like they were dreading another disasterous PK scenario. Then, out of nowhere, Zidane BLASTS Materazzi with the most vicious head butt I've ever seen. He literally took the unawares defender off his feet, and Materazzi didn't look to be faking the ensuing pain. Look at it this way: Zidane makes his living using his head to strike a soccer ball at speeds approaching 30mph. That is some serious force, and when that type of force is applied directly to someone's sternum, that has got to hurt.

Of course France went on to blow the game on Trez's botched PK and the rest is history. I'm still dying to know what was said that could make such an experienced, normally calm player fly so completely off the handle in the middle of the biggest game of his career. It's gotta be better than "yo mamma wears combat boots," certainly. (Early press reports were along the lines of "your sister is a whore.") Time, and one hopes, Zidane, will tell.