website of the day

http://isbarackobamamuslim.com/

dream ticket

here's my current thinking:

Barack: President for the next 8 years
Hillary: Supreme Court Justice for the next 25 years

Remember, you heard it here first.

help fox news get the truth out!

This could be fun. Fox News has asked viewers to submit evidence of Voter Fraud (since the GOP efforts to prove it, to date, have been utterly disasterous).

Send an email to voterfraud@foxnews.com, reminding them that it is a matter of record that Ann Coulter committed voter fraud in Florida.

It's documented here: http://www.bradblog.com/CoulterFraud

worth a thousand words

this picture

back from camping

We got to Rock Creek Reservoir around 1:30 pm, after making our traditional stop at the annual Wamic Rummage sale. Alas, no outstanding bargains were to be found, although Karen, as always, managed to find a couple of odd treasures.

Incredibly, we were the first in our group to get to the campground, so we snagged the most-choice space that our group had reserved - right on the water, with a gorgeous view. We set up our camp and, one by one, our friends arrived. The traditional spectacular dinner (from Anne-Marie) followed: grilled chicken and sausages, potato salad, green salad, bread, tons of wine - did I leave anything out? Oh yes, there were also nibbles before and chocolate mousse for dessert.

Campfire with kids, of course - it was a little overcast, but a few stars appeared before we turned in for the night. Around 5 am, it started raining. And raining. And raining.

By the time people roused themselves, it was still coming down pretty steadily. We gathered under our blue tarps, made our coffee, oatmeal, and small talk. Someone came up with the notion of driving to Kah-Nee-Ta to soak in the hot springs pool. Most everyone eventually headed out to do that - only I stayed behind at the campground, mostly because I didn't feel like spending a couple of hours in a car, when I'd be happier lounging around, reading, taking the dog for walks, and thinking about dinner (which I was responsible for).

It turned out that the weather cleared a half-hour after everyone left. I had a wonderful, quiet day, doing camp chores, talking to and walking the dog, reading, and snoozing in the sun. It was so damn relaxing that I couldn't believe it.

Around 4, I started sauteeing the onions, celery, and red pepper, and building my fishy stew, with canned clams, smoked salmon, imitation crab, canned tomatoes, and canned diced green chilies. While all this was simmering, I peeled a couple of bags of frozen shrimp and added a big jar of cioppino sauce, a big shake of Old Bay seafood seasoning, and a big splash of white wine. It was looking pretty good when the gang got back from their expedition, which saw a lot of rain.

I cooked up a big pot of seasoned rice (Zatarain's jambalaya mix) and everybody plunged into dinner. It was proclaimed a success.

Another great campfire, with lots of singing, guitar playing, marshmallows, and Jiffy Pop. Around 11, we finally called it a night and headed off to our tents. Early this morning: rain, rain, rain.

Another damp breakfast under cover, then it was time to pack up and head home. By the time we were ready to leave, the rain had stopped but the trees were still dripping. We came back over Mt. Hood, which still had plenty of snow up at the passes. Slow holiday weekend traffic - seemed to take a long time.

Now we've been home for a few hours - most of the gear is either put away or hanging up in the shed to dry, before being put away. All in all, great fun - good crowd of friends. Many of them won't be seen again until the Labor Day camping trip!

Back to work tomorrow.

hillary's assassination remark

there's no story here - it was clear she was only using RFK as a reference point, to remind us that, in the past, the Democratic nominee was still uncertain in June. The Obama people should have jumped to her defense, after this trumped-up non-controversy was manufactured by a media machine that will do anything to avoid talking about John McCain's many weaknesses.

I'm no fan of the Bill and Hillary Show (current season) but this is pathetic.

On the other hand, talking about that stuff is sure a lot more fun than talking about this.

a billion here, a billion there

and pretty soon you are talking about real corruption.

another foot milestone last night: took the dog for a long walk around the neighborhood. Doesn't sound like much, but it's the first time in 3 months, and he sure appreciated it! The best part - no recriminations for having abandoned our evening rambles all these weeks.

my Left Foot - 3 months today!

I've been bothered by the continued swelling lately - last night I actually brought out the ice-pack again. I had my first physical therapy session today. The nice attendant started out by massaging the swollen areas, pushing the accumulated fluid up the foot. It felt pretty good.
Then, he attached the electrodes and turned on the electric stimulator. It was a gently-tingling sensation - not unpleasant. It was about 15 minutes of lying on the gurney, and then I was done. Five more therapy sessions over the next three weeks.

attention: Clinton supporters

hmm - if substantiated, it appears that a major Clinton donor was trying to bribe a political youth group with two superdelegates, to support Hillary.

seems sleazy and very sad.

OR primary day!

that's actually a misnomer - it's really the 'close of the OR Primary' day, since voting's been open for a couple of weeks.

Heard on the radio this morning that only 38% of the ballots had been received as of today, but they expect to hit 60% by tonight.

Good luck, Steve Novick! Wonder if David Wu is nervous?

Heading to my first physical therapy session this morning, then to client meetings this afternoon. Busy day.

typical sunday in Portland

Karen and I did yard-work for a few hours, then went to a play last night. Not much happens in Portland on Sundays. Oops - I almost forgot:

what's this? -- more info here.

Coverage from local TV stations here.

Even made the NY Times!

ya gotta love it.

dropping off my ballot this afternoon

I voted Obama - Karen is voting Hillary (even though she knows that the Math says 'no way').

Dylan voted Obama - Ben apparently registered as an independent, so his ballot didn't have a choice for President.

Minutes ago, I got a call from a local Obama volunteer who was following up on my ballot and mentioning the big rally planned for Sunday, at the Portland waterfront. It ought to be amazing - I expect it to be one of the largest outdoor crowds in Oregon history.

my Left Foot - a big milestone!

So, before today, only one of my shoes was wide enough to fit over my swollen toes. Today, I had to dress up, to play piano for a performance of the Jewish Home choir, for whom I play every Monday.

As I was getting dressed, I thought I'd try to get on a dress shoe, and, glory be:

Yes, it was a tight fit, but this is the first time I've worn a pair of matched shoes since February 20th, when I rode the bus to the outpatient Surgery Center. This is very good.

it's right there in the copy

It seems like an innocuous feel-good story about a professional successfully achieving something that others deemed impossible (i.e. recovering data from the hard-drive of a disintegrated Space Shuttle), but right there in the copy is the plain fact that the US Space Shuttle, in 2003, had an on-board computer that was running DOS on a 348 MB hard-drive.

There is much wrong with this picture.

my Left Foot - coming up on 3 months!

My last regularly-scheduled appointment was today. We took fresh x-rays:

...and my progress was pronounced very good. It's not time to say goodbye to The Boot just yet, but I am clearly walking more and more comfortably, in a shoe, every day.

I'm going to sign up for a couple of weeks of PT, and expect that everything will be back to being fully operational in another couple of relatively hassle-free months.

Yea!

yikes

not good. the ripple-effects of this are profound.

still here

It's been a busy few days.

Sunday was our 23rd anniversary, and, after many hours of back-breaking weeding, I got cleaned up, accompanied Karen to her afternoon tap-dance class, then we drove downtown to a fancy restaurant, had a nice too-expensive meal, and went to a play ("Streetcar Named Desire" - Stanley was good; Blanche was too tall).

The next morning, Monday, I got up early, drove to Astoria, and met my cousins at their cruise ship. I took them sight-seeing to my favorite places and the weather was very cooperative. I think they liked it. Got them back to the ship by 3 (they are headed to Alaska), and got myself back to Portland around 5 pm, having driven over 250 miles that day. What gas crisis?

Tuesday, got up early and drove (there's that word again) downtown to the Convention Center, to attend a Microsoft dog-and-pony (mostly to be able to claim the prize - CDs with Vista Ultimate, Microsoft Server 2008, and SQL Server 2008 (local readers - want any of these?) and (the real reason I went) Visual Studio 2008. Nice morning - good swag.

Last night, I attended my first training session at KBOO, our local community radio station. Next training Thursday night. Stay tuned for further details.

Finally able to get back to work today. Fighting a cold for a week now, and it has been winning.

Gotta run...