Oh, and my internet problem may or may not be resolved. Had no issues for a couple of weeks and then it went south for about a day. This happened like a day after I cut the UPC off the box that the modem came in and mailed it in for the rebate. I connected the modem directly to one PC rather than to the router and it started working. Went that way for about a week (was out of town actually but Susan used it) and then switched back to the router when I got back and it hasn't failed since. Maybe the latest was some unrelated issue that would have been resolved by simply restarting the modem and router.

Just checking in...

I started a diet on Sunday and have lost 4.5 pounds so far. This, of course, is the easy part.

We had a disaster where the rack of wine and martini glasses that hung over the bar in the family room dislodged from the ceiling, destroying all of the glasses and damaging the counter. We found a company that repairs Corian and they did a beautiful job of removing all of the cuts and scratches for $350. Have not replaced the glasses yet and Susan does not want to try another rack.

Mike started taking classes at the University of Phoenix. He plans to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Business Management(!).

I was pleased with the way the MLB Division Series came out. 3 of my 4 desired finishes happened with only the Houston/Atlanta matchup going the wrong way. Unfortunately I am 0 for 2 for the Championship Series, having favored the Angels and Cardinals. Definitely rooting for the White Sox in the World Series.

Talk about your field of dreams.

So tonight was the last night that a game was played at Bank One Ballpark. BOB is done. Tomorrow they will announce a new name, probably Chase Field. They stretched it out a little, beat the Dodgers in the bottom of the 12th on a 3 run walk off home run by Alex Cintrón.

Something else that is hopefully coming to an end is the ad campaign by Checker Auto in which they continuously congratulate themselves for contributing car seats to poor families with the first run scored at each Diamondbacks home game. The TV (and probably radio too) announcer mentions this each time it happens and they run an ad where Luis González gushes about how wonderful this is with his triplets running around. Think about it for a minute. Assuming (incorrectly) that the Diamondbacks score a run in each home game, that is 81 car seats. The most expensive car seat on Checker's website retails for just under $100. Assuming a markup of 50% that costs Checker $50. So Checker's wonderfully compassionate contribution is worth a little more than $4000 for the entire year. González, who appears to be so impressed with this, makes roughly $18,000 each time he steps to the plate.

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I have the internet connection problem from hell. I have had Cox's internet service since the @home days. About a month and a half ago it started going away on me. My connection would stop working sporadically. It is a bigger deal than it used to be because I have started working at home a couple of days a week. I finally got a Cox service guy out to the house. He couldn't find anything wrong. (Of course it was working then.) The only thing he could come up with was the fact that I had split off a line for my TV. Years ago, Cox put in a dedicated line to the cable modem. A year or two later I moved my desk to the opposite side of the room so I needed to add a connector and another cable. Some time after that I replaced the connector with a splitter and added a tv to the picture. None of that impacted my internet connection. But this moron tells me that they are gong to have to put in another line because that is the only thing that they can think of that might be wrong. And they are going to charge me $75 because I messed with the cable. So I figure that it would be worth $75 if it solved the problem. I call them up to schedule the work and it takes like two weeks to get an appointment. The person on the phone asks me if I had eliminated the router as a possible culprit. So I replace my router--wanted 802.11g anyway. No improvement. The guy comes to the house and suns a new wire. As he drives away the problem recurs. I call the dispatcher and they send him back. He replaces the line from the house that goes under the street. He replaces the connector thingamajig in the box across the street. He tells me that if this does not work the only thing left is the modem. As he drives away the problem recurs. I bought a new modem. Although it seems to have improved, I have seen two brief interruptions since Friday. I have 30 days in which to return the modem. The only thing left is AT&T DSL (cheaper than Qwest). Slower but hopefully more reliable.

I listened to dubyuh last night speaking from Jackson Square in New Orleans. Rarely have I heard more detestable utterances from this creep. He did not have one word of remorse or apology for the tragedy caused by the incompetence of his administration, either in ignoring the problems of the levees before the storm or failing to get help to the victims afterwards. He used the opportunity to try and sell me his religious views. He bragged on what a good job he thought he was doing. Mike said in his blog something about shock and awe, that he was shocked and awed that Bush had appeared to accept some blame in a previous speech. I heard neither shock nor awe, just Karl and Rove.

KTAR

"Detour" Dan needs a lesson in geography. Anything not in the East Valley is on the west side according to him. The 51 is a west side freeway. Even the 202 between Tempe and downtown is on the west side. Totally clueless.

"Have you still not refinanced your mortgage because you spent..." I never let this jerk get any farther than that.

I sure don't miss Preston Westmoreland. I liked Gaydos better than Heidi Foglesong. Paul Calvisi needs to lose the cutesy sound effects.

Just changed the template.

Thoughts about the Arizona Republic:

• The online poll at the bottom of the Valley section is sometimes interesting. They ask a question and provide the results of yesterday's poll
• The online poll at the bottom of the Sports section is a waste of space and an insult to the readers. They ask a question and direct you to their web page to find out the results, i.e. all it is is an ad for their web page
• "The Heat Index" on page 2 of the Sports section is just plain awful. It is supposed to be funny but rarely is. It is always mean spirited, though. It's a name-dropping gossip column with a bad attitude.
• I could not care less about the daily status of negotiations with some spoiled (soon to be) rich kid that the Diamondbacks drafted. Actually there is one thing that I do care less about, and that is the identity of the kid's agent, whose name is repeated in each article
• Bill Goodykoontz is a terrible TV critic. He has like 3 things to say and he repeats them over and over again. He should go back to sports.
• It is insulting that they are running Calvin and Hobbes reruns to help promote some book that is coming out. They bumped Peanuts to the classified section immediately when it went into reruns. Just what makes Calvin and Hobbes so important? Side note: neither Susan nor I have ever once read "Rose is Rose" which is the strip that replaced Peanuts

Just getting the hang of this, assumed that an URL would automatically be active. Wrong. Mike's blog is here.

John's last day of work is tomorrow, Monday he leaves for Austria. Mixed feelings. He drives me crazy but I am going to miss him. We are going to drive to Arcosanti on Saturday while Susan does something for work.

Working at home tomorrow.

Jesse Jackson is an idiot. "Refugee" is exactly what the "evacuees" are. It is not a racist term. There have been plenty of things to complain about, and racism does exist in the whole New Orleans disaster, but the usage of the term refugee is not something to complain about.

Rating the talking heads

Good:
Dee Dee Myers
Aaron Brown
Howard Fineman
Andrea Mitchell
Joe Scarborough

Bad:
Mo Roca
Willie Brown
Larry King

Ugly:
Sean Hannity

I am in Chicago.  Sitting in my hotel room I have had time to watch the Democratic National Convention coverage.

Observations:

There have been two really good speeches.   Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were great.

I have been switching between the 3 cable news outlets (CNN, MSNBC, Fox "News").   I much prefer MSNBC.  I enjoy Chris Matthews and their panelists seem the most interesting.  Fox is a joke, I have no idea why people (other than hard core right wing types) watch it.

Ben Afleck:  We tend to judge movie folk by their choices in roles and relationships.  By that yardstick, I assumed that he was a moron.  It turns out that he is quite intelligent and well spoken.  He could have a career in politics if he chose.

Ron Reagan:  He is best when he is being humorous.  It's hard to take him seriously when he talks about things he considers important, like the stem cell issue.

Michael Moore is way over-exposed at the convention.  I don't think that he is helping himself or the Democrats.  Did he really GO to Michigan State?  He used to rotate through different baseball caps.  Couldn't he wear a Michigan hat once in a while?

I really like Joe Trippi.

 

I voted for Wesley Clark

Still not sure who to vote for but will decide soon. Here are my thoughts:

Kerry: I like what he is saying. But here is my problem: My political views were heavily influenced by the war in Viet Nam. John Kerry was a heroic figure to me. He came back from Viet Nam decorated but disillusioned. He joined people like Ron Kovic (the Born of the Fourth of July guy) in organizing his fellow veterans to oppose the war. They camped out in the park next to the White House in protest. They were part of ending the war. Because of this, his vote to allow Bush to go to war seems almost traitorous and certainly an act of political self-serving. I have a much harder time forgiving him for this than I do somebody like Edwards, who doesn’t have that sort of history for me. Still, Kerry will probably be the nominee and he would be a lot better than Bush. He also seems the one most likely to be successful against Bush, if he can focus the debate on real issues, rather then spending his time deflecting the “Massachusetts liberal” label.

Dean: Other than Kucinich, I tend to agree with him the most. I admit that some of his record on things like gun control and the death penalty seem inconsistent, but for the most part he is right on. The problems are not policy, they are personality, I am afraid. Women don’t like him nearly as much as men do (an untenable position for a Democrat). He comes off as angry, testy, combative, etc. I *agree* with those emotions for the most part, but I think that they would prevent him from winning. 1/3 of the NH Primary voters, people who are notably more liberal than the average Americans, thought that Howard Dean lacked the temperament to be President. $250 million of GOP attack ads and enough people would be turned off that Bush would win in a landslide. Still, I find myself wanting him to beat John Kerry. If he looks like he might win Arizona, I might just vote for him. My fear is that he will continue to run, no matter what, even after it is a lost cause, and spend his energy and his millions attacking Kerry. That won’t be good for anyone. Update: I typed the above yesterday. Now I have heard that Dean has fired Joe Trippi, his campaign manager, and has also decided NOT to take Trippi’s advice which was to concentrate on Arizona. I don’t like either of those moves.

Clark: He was positioning himself as the candidate who was against the war, and was an alternative to Dean. After Iowa, there were plenty of alternatives to Dean and it became clear that the war was not a big issue with voters, coming after jobs, healthcare and electability. Clark seemed to suffer from foot in mouth disease in NH, making mistake after mistake and he dropped like a rock in the polls. Notably he has not been completely convincing in disputing what appears to have been his early support of the war effort. His inexperience in politics is both part of his appeal and part of his problem. I may just vote for him, though, because he has been putting a lot of effort into Arizona and he stands with Dean and Kucinich in his anti-Iraq-war statements.

Edwards: This guy has one speech and I just about have it memorized. He talks a lot about there being two Americas, one of privilege, one of needs. He continually mentions the 35 million Americans living below the poverty level. He makes a very good case for himself, he is charismatic and inspiring. His voting record in the Senate is quite liberal, he is a good campaigner, having won in the state that had Jesse Helms as an incumbent when he was elected. I’d consider him if he had a chance, but he is ignoring Arizona, concentrating on South Carolina and Oklahoma. Even if he were to win there, he would still be at best a regional candidate.

Lieberman: The Arizona Republic(an) endorsed this SOB this morning. He is just plain awful. One of my reasons for voting for someone with a chance in Arizona is to make sure that he doesn’t appear to do well here.

Kucinich: I voted for Ralph Nader last time and you can see how far that got me. Odd note: Kucinich voted consistently pro-life until around the time he started running for President.

Sharpton: He is on the ballot.

So, either Clark or Kerry. I gotta hit the mailbox within the next couple of hours.

I made our reservation for Berlin today. I had to buy 27,000 miles to cover the second ticket. The cost was roughly $780.

Date: 12 MAR 04 - FRIDAY
Flight : AMERICAN AIRLINES 650 MD-80
Departure: PHOENIX 4:28 PM TERMINAL 3 3HR 17MIN
Arrival: CHICAGO OHARE 8:45 PM TERMINAL 3 NON-STOP
Name: BENJAMIN/PAUL M FIRST CLASS FF#: AA-XXXXXXX DINNER

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 12 MAR 04 - FRIDAY
Flight : AMERICAN AIRLINES 98 BOEING 777
Departure: CHICAGO OHARE 10:00 PM TERMINAL 3 7HR 35MIN
Arrival: LONDON HEATHROW 11:35 AM TERMINAL 3 NON-STOP
Name: BENJAMIN/PAUL M BUSINESS FF#: AA-XXXXXXX MULTI MEALS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 13 MAR 04 - SATURDAY
Flight : BRITISH AIRWAYS 984 AIRBUS A320
Departure: LONDON HEATHROW 1:10 PM TERMINAL 1 1HR 45MIN
Arrival: BERLIN TEGEL 3:55 PM NON-STOP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 27 MAR 04 - SATURDAY
Flight : BRITISH AIRWAYS 991 AIRBUS A319
Departure: BERLIN TEGEL 10:40 AM 2HR 0MIN
Arrival: LONDON HEATHROW 11:40 AM TERMINAL 1 REF: XXXXXX NON-STOP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 27 MAR 04 - SATURDAY
Flight : AMERICAN AIRLINES 47 BOEING 777
Departure: LONDON HEATHROW 2:15 PM TERMINAL 3 8HR 35MIN
Arrival: CHICAGO OHARE 4:50 PM TERMINAL 5 NON-STOP
Name: BENJAMIN/PAUL M BUSINESS FF#: AA-XXXXXXX MULTI MEALS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 27 MAR 04 - SATURDAY
Flight : AMERICAN AIRLINES 1423 MD-80
Departure: CHICAGO OHARE 7:05 PM TERMINAL 3 3HR 52MIN
Arrival: PHOENIX 9:57 PM TERMINAL 3 NON-STOP
Name: BENJAMIN/PAUL M FIRST CLASS FF#: AA-XXXXXXX DINNER

The gas crisis appears over, we independently got gas for all 3 cars in the last 24 hours without waiting in any lines.

Here is a good place to find gas in and around Scottsdale. Scottsdale Gas Station Fuel Availability - HotLinkCity.Com

The Diamondbacks have had a crummy few days. losing 4 of their last 5. It took an eight inning, one hit, 12 K gem from Schilling to win the single game, and that one was in doubt until the last pitch.

The gasoline situation has gotten much worse. On Friday I noticed the empty light come on in my Jeep near PV Mall. I decided to stop at the next station, which was the Mobil at Tatum and Thunderbird. No gas. I figured that the Mobil a mile north of there would be out too but it wasn't so I filled up. The next morning I figured I'd better get a can of gas for the lawn mower. The Mobil was now out, the Safeway was still out, but the two stations at 64th Street and Greenway were pumping. John tried on Sunday afternoon, found nothing open, finally went out at 10:00 and waited in line to pay $1.95 for regular. This morning I passed 3 stations on the way to work and they were all out. I wrote a letter to the editor the Republic complaining about the lousy job that they have done in reporting this.