Whenever it is a full moon, odd things happen. This week has been no exception. Computers blowing up, logins not working for no apparent reason, monitors breaking down. It's just been bizarre. Almost as if a stray bolt of lightening hit the building. But, of course, there are no storms. No clouds. The moon is the closest it has ever been to the Earth right now. I suppose this has something to do with it.

The weather early this week was downright springlike. People were playing in the streets, taking walks, wearing tshirts outside. Of course, the last two days were cold and blustery. Even a little snow, but it didn't last. Today is on and off nice, then overcast. I saw a single deer walking in the woods behind my building. Summer will be here soon. Not soon enough.

So my boss made a trip up to see me. I asked him what was up with the job and this bad vibe I have been getting lately. I could tell that he wasn't telling me everything, but he gave me a few deliverables. So I am thinking this is a test. No problemo. If it were, I wish they'd tell me. Well, I'll get the stuff done. Hey, a job is a job. This isn't to say I won't stop looking.

Tomorrow I leave for vacation. I know I won't be updating from the ship. I am thinking about taking my pager along, since I can send a receive email with it. Just to see if I can.

This month's picture is my truck. I got it last year and love it. I don't know if I ever will be without one now. It's used, of course, a 1998. Sport trim, a V6 engine and 4 wheel drive. I bought the cap from a junk yard in Hyde Park, New York. New caps cost a grand, and I couldn't swing that. This one came off a wreck, and it is in cherry condition. Lockable, fiberglass and only 300 bucks. The truck has 4 wheel drive, and I am glad I got it. I had engine problems (again) with my jetboat last summer, and had to haul it out and put it in about 10 times. The wagon never would have been able to handle it. Oh yes, the wagon...It's gone. Car hell, I think. I got rid of it just in time. I still have the BMW, but I am thinking about selling it. Got some bills to pay. Anyone? Anyone?

Later!

Today is the 6 month anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America. Ani DiFranco wrote a poem about the events of September 11, 2001 and I think she captured it nicely. So I have posted her poem on this site. You can find it by clicking on the memorial picture of the towers on the right.

Like Tom Robbins, and more correctly his character Today is Tomorrow, expressed in his most recent book, "Fierce Aliens Home from Hot Climates," I truly believe that humans advanced because we are capable of humor. Simple laughter. Even in tragedy, we somehow find something to laugh about. I think it helps us to heal. Laughter helps us through the pain. We learn that, though saddened, we can still somehow deal with the workd around us, changed as it has. There is still hope for us in some way. As a nation, we needed the comedians and the skit writers, the animators and the politicians to stand up and keep going. Give us all something to laugh about. God bless them all, they did.

When I learned about the attacks on America, I wasn't even in the country. I was sitting on a beach in Juan Dolio, a small resort community near Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. I was on a week long vacation in one of those all-inclusive resorts, enjoying snorkeling, 80 degree ocean water, passable food, crappy drinks and teaching cribbage to German tourists. In fact, most of the people there were German tourists. The rest were Spanish speaking locals, who were only trying to sell me something or bead my hair. [Editor's note: My hair, at the time, was down to my mid back. I have since cut it and resemble an inductee to your chosen military unit] In fact, it was 4 in the afternoon before I really learned the severity of what had happened back home. It was crushing. Those first few days, as you recall, they played the videotape of the planes crashing into the towers, and the subsequent collapse, quite a bit. It was very hard to stay connected to America, even CNN with all the news bars at the bottom of the screen couldn't help that feeling. All the flights, as you know, were grounded. I didn't even know if I would be able to make it back. There was a woman and her boyfriend stuck there. They were actually in the air that Tuesday morning on their way home to Manhattan when their plane simply turned around and came back. The language barriers didn't make information gathering any easier. In fact, because I was from New York State, most people there (Germans and Dominicans alike) confused (or equated) New York State with New York City. My house may as well have been at ground zero itself. Humor to the rescue. What else to do but talk politics with German scientists? (Ok, ok, one of the guys sold cell phones, but the other was an honest to goodness scientist working on a terrific photon telescope experiement.) We played volleyball. We went snorkeling. We sang stupid songs ("Who let the dogs out?". They got very good at Cribbage. I gave them my old board. I read a Tom Clancy novel. Did you know that Tom Clancy ended one of his novels with a jet fuel laden 747 slamming into Congress, killing the President and most of our government? Story short, I was on an airplane and flying back four days after the attacks. Sobering, but still, there was laughter. And that helped. A lot.

This is where the helicopters came to take me away
This is where the children used to play
This is only half a mile away from the attack
This is where my life changed in a day,
And then it changed back
Buried in the din of rotor noise and close explosions
I do my best to synthesize the sounds and my emotions
This is where the allies bombed the school,
They say by mistake
Here nobody takes me for a fool, just for a fake
Later at the hotel bar, the journalists are waiting
I hurry back to my guitar while they're commiserating

And I'll be leaving soon
I'll be leaving soon
- Barenaked Ladies

I just bought Kurt Vonnegut's "God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian". It contains 30 short (ninety second radio interviews) sound bites of Vonnegut interviewing famous deceased persons. Vonnegut is our reporter, allowing himself to be strapped to a gurney and sent to the afterlife to glean these gems from the very mouths of those consecrated to life behind the pearly (and not so pearly) gates. You have to love this guy. I am a supporter of Dr. Kevorkian's work myself, and I was gladdened to hear that Mr. Vonnegut was, in his own indeterminable way, is also.

More war in Afghanistan this week. I am currently reading "Black Hawk Down," the novel. I plan to see the movie at some point and didn't plan to read the book, but the book was recommended to me as a good read. Riveting. I can almost imagine what the troops in Afghanistan are seeing and doing. There's not a lot of difference between the Al Qaeda and the Somalians of Mogadishu. Dirty fighters.

For reference, when I cut my hair it was 14 inches from neckline to the bottom. I donated it to Locks of Love

When Jack Benny's daughter Joan was married for the first time, the L. A. Times had a headline "Jack Benny's Daughter Married in $25,000 Affair."

The L. A. Examiner's headline was "Benny Spends $50,000 on Daughter's Wedding."

Eddie Cantor woke him up with a phone call to say "Did you read either of the morning papers yet?"

Jack said no. Cantor said "Well, do yourself a favor & just read The Times. You'll save $25,000."

[Eddie Cantor book "As I Remember Them," 1963]

Just went through the site with my not-so-fine-toothed comb again. I think I got all the internal links fixed to use the new structure. There are going to be broken links to stuff outside, that's for sure. The internet cannot stay the same. If you find any stuff that should be fixed, let me know, ok?

It's volleyball night. Got an early game, so I'll just go right from work. Afterwards, the team is supposed to be going out for a few beers. I haven't had a beer since last Monday. I had a Corona when the ship set sail.

More site updates. Got all the photo albums converted to the new page schema. Fixed some links. Some links are going to stay broken, since the sites are gone.

Here's some great news! Warren Zevon has a new album coming out! Warren Zevon is the only man to use the phrase "Regal Sobriquet" in a song. The album, 'My Ride's Here' will be out on May 7, 2002. Does that sound familiar to you? It should. Warren used the phrase "My ride is here" at the Valentine's Albany show on March 12, 2000. I was there. My friend Dave wrote a review about the show - read it here and I wrote a review in my entry of 3/13/2000, here. Makes one wonder, does it not? That would be very cool if the album title came from that show. In other nifty news: Hunter S. Thompson and WZ (that's press shorthand for Mr. Zevon) cowrote "You're a Whole Different Person when you're Scared" for the album. This is a must have!

An all animated flash web site that I used to go to quite a bit has downsized. They used to have wonderful flash rip offs of Sex and the City, Oz, Cheers, and NYPD Blue. They had one all-original deal called "Booty Call". Yeah, the idea is you play a player named Jake and you're supposed to help him out through a maze of challenges to, well, get his rocks off. The place is called Romp.Com. I visited there recently to see that they had removed all of the animations, except for the Booty Call series. In the last one, I noticed something funny in one of the frames. Take a look:

Do you see what I see? Let's take a closer look:

How about that? It's Jay and Silent Bob. Nice. Remember, you can catch up on all things Kevin Smith at View Askew.

In other news, got a performance review at work. Not good, not bad. I got a raise. Seems that I get to keep the job for awhile.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Ok, the well wishes are belated by a day, but the sentiment is there. I had corned beef and cabbage with my family on Sunday. While I was shopping recently, I wondered why we eat corned beef on St Paddy's Day, but never during the year. Weird, eh?

Visit Cornbread Music. This band is fronted by Keni Thomas, who was a member of Task Force Ranger, one of the teams that the movie "Black Hawk Down" is based on. It's good stuff - highly recommended. Shawn Mullins, another artist I love, produced and performed on some of the work.

In fact, right now I am watching a history channel special on the True Story of Black Hawk Down. It's great. I just finished the book on Sunday morning, and now, while it is fresh in my mind, I can see these guys faces and hear their voices. I guess the movie is next.

Another busy day at work. There must be something in the water. Or in the air. Wherever or whatever it is, I have been busier than a lion at the Roman colisuem on Sunday. Had to work on Saturday, pretty much all day. And I have had to attend a rehearsal for a play I am in, as well as go to two photo shoots for the advertisements.

Saw Monster's Ball on Saturday night at the Spectrum. Good movie. I think all the actors did a really nice job, including, dare I say it, Sean "Puffy" Combs.

Recently, one of my favorite local movie houses closed down due to foreclosure by the city. When I was driving home tonight from my second photo shoot, I noticed that the marquee of the cinema was lit up again. So I pulled over, and walked up. Turns out they are open again! Yahoo! It's nice to have choices other than the big corporate movie houses. 9 bucks for a movie. Snort.

Wo Bist Du?

Scooby-Doo movie on June 14th. Scooby is completely CGI, the rest of the crew are real actors. Velma is hot.

My parents never felt I was good-looking.
When they made home movies, they'd hire an actor to play me.
[Ed Bluestone, 4/25/78 the Melrose Improv]

Rush Reveal VAPOR TRAILS - Trio's First All-New Album in 5 Years Due May 14th

The wait is over! Rush have just announced details of their eagerly awaited new album, VAPOR TRAILS. The 13-track collection - produced by Rush with engineer Paul Northfield (Marilyn Manson, Hole) - is set for release on May 14th.

VAPOR TRAILS sees the legendary power trio - Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart - redefining their intensely individualistic music, blending their famously complex dynamics with driving melodic hooks and a passionate, personal lyrical approach. Tracks like the kinetic "How It Is," the emotive "Sweet Miracle," and the propulsive album-opening "One Little Victory" are angular, atmospheric and altogether extraordinary. With the visionary new VAPOR TRAILS, Rush has taken a bold step forward, making it clear that one of rock 'n' roll's all-time great bands are more than just back, they're better than ever.

The album will be heralded by the single, "One Little Victory," slated to ship to rock radio outlets nationwide on March 29th. The band is currently finalizing plans for a major North American tour. Tentatively set to kick off in late June, the trek will mark Rush’s first live performances since July 1997. The tour’s first leg will be announced shortly.

VAPOR TRAILS is Rush’s 17th studio recording, and their first all-new collection in over 5 years. The Canadian trio’s 22 albums have all been certified RIAA gold-or-better, with cumulative worldwide sales of over 35 million. Their most recent Anthem/Atlantic releases are 1996’s gold-certified TEST FOR ECHO, followed by 1998’s gold-certified multi-disc live set, DIFFERENT STAGES.

Rush: "VAPOR TRAILS" Track Listing 1. "One Little Victory" 2. "Peaceable Kingdom" 3. "Ghost Rider" 4. "Ceiling Unlimited" 5. "The Stars Look Down" 6. "How It Is" 7. "Vapor Trail" 8. "Out Of The Cradle" 9. "Earthshine" 10. "Sweet Miracle" 11. "Nocturne" 12. "Freeze (Part IV of 'Fear')" 13. "Secret Touch"

You know I had to share that.

Ok, you gotta hear this. It's Rush's The Spirit of Radio acapella.

Well, well. Happy first day of spring. Ok, technically spring begins at 2:16 this afternoon. Of course, you can't tell that Spring is here by the actual weather. It's snowing. A lot.

During my year away from this web site, I was still saving up links, planning to post them in the old Captain's Log. So, I had the best intentions. Interesting places to visit on the old Dub Dub Dub. Since today is just the perfect kind of day to stay inside, crack open a packet of hot chocolate and set the television on fire, I present them all, en masse, to you now. Sit back. Put your feet up. Start clicking.

I created a page for you Rush fans. Or perhaps it's a page just for me. Anyway, it's all about the membership of the group, with little bios and equipments lists. Enjoy!

The Linkfest

Busy week. I've been setting up a new laptop for a user at work. It's a nice machine. 1G MHz, 20G hard Drive, 256MB RAM, DVD/CD, NIC, Modem, IR, USB, 15" LCD panel, etc, etc. It screams. Nice box. What kills me, is that she will be using it to do email and surf web sites. Yep - it's for a marketing person. Ach, what a waste of a nice box. You can buy one for only $1700. I used a pretty cool piece of software to help me get her computer done. It's called VNC. I was able to VPN into my work LAN from home and then remote control her computer as if I was sitting at her desk. I can drive any of my servers, and my work PC, as well. Even with the extra time I spent at night, I still had to stay late on Friday and train her.

Then it was time to go out. After a couple stalled attempts to get money from ATMs (they were cashless), I got some cash from the world's slowest ATM. If you ever want to use it, go to the Mobil station on Madison and Lark. Met up with some friends and went to see Arc and WAG. Got home around 1:30AM.

And now I am up. I have to print out some set lists to use in my own band's gig tonight, and then hit the road. It's going to be a busy weekend. Tomorrow, I have a hash and a birthday party. Oooo - just remembered. I have to set the VCR. I watch "Six Feet Under" on HBO, as well as the Sunday Fox line up.

Created a page that will help me keep track of updates to the site.

I had my cat fixed.
He still goes out at night, but just as a consultant.
[Garrison Keillor 9/30/95]