Hot Damn! I'm on a roll now!

The kilt project proceeds apace. (I've always wanted to use that word.) I found the center point of the fabric, and began laying out the pleats, pinning the into place. I got all of that done this morning, so it was time to top stitch each pleat. But I had an Oktoberfest meeting this afternoon, and I had to run to the hospital to visit Dad. I got half the pleats stitched tonight. More tomorrow!

Speaking of Dad, he's doing a lot better. He has some fluid in his lungs, and they have to put in chest tubes to drain them. Otherwise, he's stronger and more alert than when he went in.

Yesterday, I posted a picture of Lydia (from my comic). Today, I am posting a picture of Natalie.

Wow, two days in a row!

Since there's a Renewable Energy Roundup going on in Fredericksburg right now, I have been thinking about energy and politics. What got me started on this was an announcement that International was releasing a new SUV called the CXT. According to the news report, they are making this truck because Soccer moms drive Hummers now. The Hummer gets about 10 miles per gallon. Not to be out done, the CXT gets 7 miles per gallon of diesel.

At about the same time as this announcement, the BBC printed a story on their web site about the depletion of the world's oil reserves, and CNN ran a story that said oil production would peak in 2010.

While driving to work one day, I was thinking about these stories and the current fighting in the Middle East, and thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be great if this country had an actual energy policy dedicated to reducing our dependence on foreign oil?"

California, under Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, has made some impressive strides in this regard. First, they opened up the HOV lanes on the freeways to single occupant cars that get more than 40 MPG. Detroit was outraged. They said it showed an alarming preference for Japanese cars. Well, Duh! The only cars on the market that meet that criteria are Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid. Maybe if the Big Three made a car that got great gas mileage . . . Other states are following suit.

Next, the Governator signed a bill into law that could affect the entire country. If the regulations survive legal challenges from the auto industry, it would require the companies to reduce emissions by 30% by 2016. Detroit claims that there is no technology that can be put into place to meet these limits. However a recent study has found just the opposite.

Look, the long and short of it is, we are in Iraq to get oil. If we want to be free of the muddled Middle East tangle, we need to become independent from oil, and that means converting to alternative energy sources. In other words, vote for the candidate that promises to do just that. And don't think that Kerry will do it--he has already met with Detroit automakers to put their minds at ease about his presidency. (I wish I could find the article. It was in the Detroit Free Press a month or two ago.)

The Year From Hell rolls on!

My promise keeps getting shattered more and more. We had to put Dad back into the hospital Thursday night. Apparently, sometimes after pancreatitis, the organ develops something like an abscess. He'd been getting weaker and weaker, and had lost 14 pounds in a week. So . . .

I did a drawing of Lydia (you know, from my comic, Chasing the Sun) and thought I would post it here. Let me know what you think.

Okay, to get the giggling out of the way, I need to tell you that I am going to try and make a kilt. Yes, I bought one, but Utilikilts no longer makes them in urban camouflage. And I want one in urban camouflage. So, I've started to work. Here's a photo of the first step:

I'm going to start with the bottom hem, and then, I want to find the center of the length, and start pleating. See this spot for updates.

The Year From Hell

Well, I have broken my promise to my late Aunt Johnnie to update the site more regularly. I must say, though, it has been the Summer from Hell.

First, my uncle Bob Turner had a heart attack and had heart bypass surgery. Then Johnnie died. Then, Dad comes down with a severe case of pancreatitis, and spent 21 days in intensive care in San Antonio. We've had him home for a few weeks, but he seems to take two steps forward and one step back.

Friday, Grandmother Wilson had a minor stroke, and was taken to the hospital by EMS called by my aunt Nelda. Saturday, Mom went to Brownwood to see what was going on, and discovered that Grandmother had lost her mind from Alzheimer's Disease. ('Course, we'd known that for a while.) So Mom's been in Brownwood for the last couple of days.

I had started smoking again back in December. I quit in August, but then Dad went back into the hospital four days later. So much for a non-smoking lifestyle. I had intended to quit again tomorrow. Then Mom tells me Grandmother is going to be living with us for a couple of weeks, after she spends a couple of weeks with Sue.

Looks like I picked the wrong month to quit smoking. Again. (Ten imaginary points for anyone who can tell me where that line came from!)

I am also trying to sew a kilt of my own. I found a pattern
online, but want to use an urban camouflage pattern (at $7/yard) to recreate the Utilikilt style I like. I think I have enough fabric to try a prototype and then one I might actually wear. If this works, I want to make another one in the official State of Texas tartan, Texas Bluebonnet (at $32/yard). That kilt will be a more traditional style kilt, the pleats depending on the width of the pattern. But since Mom's out of town, my sewing lessons can't begin.

I hate Clear Channel Communications, too

Clear Channel Communications is flexing its deregulated muscles. It seems that a Tennessee radio station had trademarked the phrase "BUZZ" for its radio station, and is a bit perturbed by Clear Channel registering the domain name www.1021thebuzz.net for a station in Dallas. The Tennessee station is demanding that Clear Channel release the domain name, while Clear Channel is counter charging that the Tennessee station was not entitled to the trademark and that they stop using it. Ain't deregulation wonderful?

The Simpsons are Simp-tastic!

(18) Did anyone see "The Simpsons" tonight? What a great show!

Bart gets an inoculation and loses his hearing, and tries to moon a donkey at a donkey basketball game. However, he doesn't hear the national anthem and the flag drops between him and the donkey, and he is photographed mooning the flag. He's accused of being un-American, and Congress determines that December 25 is "Hate Springfield Day." Mayor Quimby renames the city Liberty-ville. When Lisa stands up in church and says that freedom of speech is guaranteed by the First Amendment, a SWAT team swings through the stained glass windows and arrests the family for violating "The Government know Better Act."

Welcome to Donald Rumsfeld's America!

The Simpsons wind up in prison and escape after a talent show. They go to France, where they "hate America, too!" They realize that they miss America, and immigrate home. The show ends on the song "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond, as their ship sails past the Statue of Liberty.

Who says satire is dead?

You can call me Al

(16) I am starting to feel like Al Bundy from "Married With Children." Everyday after work, Al would enter the living room and say, "A fat lady came into the shoe store today . . ."

On Wednesday, a guy calls the office to make a reservation for his wife and mother-in-law. I give him three choices, and he picks the cheapest one. Today, the wife comes in and looks at the pictures of the house and asks if she can move. One of the gals tells her that she is responsible for the reservation, so no, she can't move. She calls back shortly after arriving at the house saying it's dirty. The gal asks, "How is it dirty?" The lady says the tub is dirty. The gal argues for a second, then asks me. I tell her to let the lady come back and choose something else.

The lady comes in and I give her her choice (her husband had asked for something with two beds, and the most expensive choice I gave him had been booked). She asks for more options. So I give her four one bedroom guesthouse and one four bedroom cottage that was three times the price of the one she didn't like. She takes the only option, and I explain that it will cost $20 more per night. The Lady sighs loudly and says okay.

The lady's mom starts bitching. The house that her son-in-law booked provided coupons for a continental breakfast. I told that, yes, it did. I explained that to the lady's husband. So the lady pays the difference. The mom asks if we do math the same way she does. I ask her what she means and she says, "How can $260 become $290?" I explain taxes to her. The lady gets my name and the gals name and asks who she can talk to to complain. (She had muttered something about everyone being sarcastic.

So, let's see, she's mad at me because her husband picked something she doesn't like?

I hate customers.

[Note: The next day, I spoke to the homeowner whom I had called when the guest said they hated the house. She said that when she arrived to ask them what was wrong, the mom had picked up the two coupons left for breakfast, and tried to stealthily put them back where she found them. No wonder Mom was so interested in the taxes! She got busted trying to steal from a homeowner.]

Open Office

I have been watching G4TechTV and subscribing to a few computer newsletters, and have collected a few free programs that I use and recommend. So every week or so, I will introduce you to some software that you cannot live without.

First, you need to get Open Office. Open Office is a free office suite of software that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software. It is a completely free alternative to Microsoft Office. It can open MS Office documents and you can save your work as MS Office documents.

I had some really big Office files, and Open Office has a bit of a problem opening them, but I love this program! If they would only come out with a Web design module, this would be a perfect suite.

It's a big download, but well worth it!

The Blame Game

(11) I found an article on the Pravda web site that perfectly describes life in these United States. I did not write it, but am reprinting it here for your enjoyment. I have reformatted it to make it easier to read:

"If a woman puts a cup of hot coffee on the car seat between her legs when she is driving and talking on mobile phone at the same time, and the coffee gets spilt and burns her thighs, she blames the restaurant for this.

"If your son commits suicide, you blame rock-''-roll or his favorite musician.

"If you smoke 3 packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years and finally die of lung cancer, your family accuses the tobacco company.

"If your daughter gets pregnant from the captain of the school football team, you blame school for bad sexual education.

"If your neighbor crashed the car onto the tree when he was drunk and was driving home - the barman is guilty.

"If your relative got AIDS when he injected drugs to himself with the dirty syringe - the government is guilty as it did not provide him with the sterile syringe.

"If your grandchildren are bullies - television is guilty.

"If some psycho killed your friend - the weapons producer is guilty.

"If some other psycho breaks in the airplane cabin and tries to kill the pilot when the plane is high in the sky, and the passengers kill him instead, the mother of the killed guy accuses the air company.

"I have lived long enough to understand what the world is about. If I die when sitting at this computer, I want you to accuse Bill Gates."

I was surfing Fark this afternoon when I ran across this news story. McDonalds is being sued by a California woman for not replacing the oil they fry in with a healthier alternative, as they said they would do. The story dispassionately details the events leading up to the suit, including that McDonalds had announced earlier this year that the transition would be longer than they anticipated.

But it's the last paragraph that got me. I am reprinting here:

"Heart-clogging trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil — a process called hydrogenation."

Nowhere in the story did the Associated Press write in the article that trans fat clogged the heart. This sentence is unsubstantiated by the rest of the article! Gee, I wonder where the writer stands on the issue?

A better sentence would have begun, "Trans fat, which has been linked to heart disease, . . ." That way the article wouldn't sound so biased.

But, on the upside, at least they avoided the cliche "artery clogging" which seems to belong to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which with the phrase "equivalent to [some amount] of Big Macs" a common measure of how bad food is for you.

You want to eliminate trans fats? Stop using margarine and artificial oils! Use butter and olive oil, where possible.

That's just my two cents.

My Uncle Bill, My Hero

(3)Our family moved to Fredericksburg when I was about four and my brother, Rodney, was about three. We moved into this house on Plum Street, just a couple of blocks from Main Street. Up until then, we had been living in Brady, close to all of our family in Coleman and Brownwood. (Actually, before that we lived in Santa Anna, even closer, but I was too young to remember anything about those days.)

One day, Rodney and I decided we would write a letter to our Uncle Bill. He had married my mom's second younger sister, Johnnie Belle (It wasn't until I was in my teens that I began to call her Johnnie, which she preferred over the more, shall we say, Southern-sounding name.) Rodney and I must have been afraid that Uncle Bill wouldn't find us after we moved, because we wrote to tell him that we missed him and hoped he would come to see us.

Now, a four year old has absolutely no clue how to send a letter, so we left our house, and walked up to Main Street, and into a gas station. We handed to letter to the guy behind a desk and asked him to mail it to our Uncle William. By the time we got home, Mom and Dad were, naturally, livid. We got the worst spanking of our lives that day.

Uncle Bill was our hero, and we wanted to make sure, I guess, that he wouldn't forget us.

Yesterday, we attended Johnnie's funeral. She died of cancer at 55 years of age. From the day she discovered that she had cancer to the end, William was by her side. And when she died at home last week, he was there. He worked from home so he wouldn't have to leave her side.

After the service, they led the family out first. And when the friends left the church auditorium, William greeted every one of them, thanked them for coming, all without batting an eye. After the graveside service, we went back to William and Johnnie's house (it still seems odd to call it William's house). He spoke with everyone and played with his granddaughters. I don't know that I would have had his composure. I would probably have been curled into a little ball somewhere crying my eyes out.

Tonight, I realized that, after thirty-odd years, my Uncle Bill is still my hero.

My Aunt Johnnie was such a wonderful person. She would often email me and tell me to update this web site more often. In May, when I saw her for the last time, before she knew about the cancer that would kill her, she teased me about my kilt, and wondered why I didn't wear it. When my Dad's brother came to visit (after we heard the sad news) I wore it, and I forgot to have someone take a picture of me wearing the kilt. I wanted Mom to take it up to show her. (I have added a picture below, under the entry for June 17.) That's the only regret I have concerning Johnnie. I told her I loved her when we left the lake to come home, so I have that covered.

Well, actually, I have one other regret.

After the reunion at the lake, Johnnie had all the families get together for family photos. As everyone was leaving, Johnnie remembered that no one had taken a picture of her family. But the granddaughters were asleep, so we didn't get a picture of them all together. A week or so later, Johnnie sent everyone a picture of her family. I am posting it here.

From Left to right, and top to bottom: back row: Amy, Clay; middle row: Jana, Brianna, Lily, Tammy, Abby Grace, Johnnie; Front row: Uncle Bill and Ray.

I will update the site more regularly, as Johnnie requested. And if you can, please send a donation to The American Cancer Society in the name of Johnnie Thomas. My Uncle Bill and I would appreciate it.

A Nearly Naked Girl!

(29) I have been working on my comic. The other day, I drew a picture from the climactic scene of the latest chapter. Here it is:

Too Many Commercials

Well, this is interesting. Several Wall Street brokerages have downgraded the larger radio stocks (excluding Clear Channel Communications). The reason for the downgrade is the glut of advertising on commercial radio stations, up to 25 minutes per hour on some networks.

I'm sure that the RIAA will blame the music pirates for the devaluation of these radio stocks, and the resulting decrease in ad revenues.

When will advertising people realize that there is a limit to the number of ads we will listen to, or watch on TV?

Advertising companies revolted against the TiVo because it allowed people to skip over commercials, which was one of the selling points of the units. They made the same complaint about VCRs.

Last year, when the Hallmark cable network got the rights to broadcast M*A*S*H, they broadcast the entire series once with all deleted scenes (the scenes were deleted to create more time for ads), and those 30 minutes episodes lasted 45 minutes. When the Science Fiction Network broadcast the digitally remastered Star Trek episodes, the one hour shows from the 60s expanded to 90 minutes, and the network still interrupted the show in the middle of acts to sell commercials. The Original Series was done in four acts, but SciFi made the show an 8 act show. Now SciFi broadcast the Original Series with the same deleted scenes that were broadcast on the local stations. Same with Hallmark and M*A*S*H.

We don't want spam in our email inbox, and we don't want it on our TVs either.

A Holt mini-reunion

Donn and Ann came for a visit while Sean was here. Bob and Ann came down to wish our little leatherneck a good trip to Japan. We had barbecue, drank beer, and shot the shit. Here are the photos:

Jeanne's knees, Rodney and Sean

Mom, Ann and Donn

Rodney, Sean, Jeanne, Dad, Mom, Ann and Donn

A fat, drinking slob in a kilt

I Hate the RIAA

(13) First there was AM radio. Then there was stereo FM radio. The next incarnation of terrestrial radio is Digital. Digital radio promises CD quality sound, and it will be free!

Naturally, the RIAA is pissed. They insist that there needs to be some sort of copy protection so that we can't record songs off the air on our digital radio/CD recorder set. We will be able to record a block of songs, but not an individual song.

It's hard enough to record an individual song off the radio, what with the DJs' inability to keep their mouths shut when a song starts and one song fading out when another fades in. What makes the RIAA think somebody is going to go to all that trouble?

Regardless, I don't think the RIAA will be happy until radio stations pay them every time a song is played. Currently, the record labels don't get money from radio stations. Radio stations pay royalties to the song publishers of every song they play. When Internet radio came along, Congress required that Internet broadcaster pay the record labels. When that law went into effect, thousands of radio stations, including my favorite, KFAN, stopped simulcasting their shows because they would lose money. Internet radio is now exclusively in the hands of large companies, and the small companies are shut out.

So, if you agree with me that the RIAA is overstepping its bounds, contact your favorite radio station. Ask them to consider "A Day Without Music." If enough stations participate, music publishers will see a drop in their income, and maybe they can pressure the labels to relax a bit.

And stop buying CDs from the companies that support the RIAA.

Thank you for listening to my rant. Please continue surfing.

Reagan's Funeral

I just finished watching Ronald Reagan's funeral. I don't know if it's because Aunt Audrey died from Alzheimer's Disease, but this presidential funeral was more moving than the other presidential funerals.

I started watching the ABC report, but Peter Jennings said something about no one is talking about "his relationship with the black community," and that his critics have largely been silent. I switched over to Fox news, who, at least, kept quiet until the funeral was over.

Wilson Girls Reunion

What a week!

Last weekend, Mom, Dad and I went to Gun Barrel City for a Wilson Girls' reunion. Practically everyone showed up at Johnnie and William's lake house. We spent all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday there, getting sunburned and visiting.

The Spring Without Sun

(22) The Spring Without Sun continues into its third week. Every single day, the skies have been gray and dreary, broken only by occasional showers, and by 4 or 5 pm, the sun comes out long enough to set. During the night, the clouds come back for another round.

It wouldn't be so bad if we could get a day of sunshine once in a while. The forecast doesn't look too promising either. Maybe by the 29th we could have a day of sunshine. But the first back to back days of sunshine are in May.

Other than that, things are going well. Dad and I have been working in the garden, and we should have a pretty good crop of peppers this year. I think Dad's looking forward to a huge crop of okra. He said he's not sharing any of it this year.

Cyclists are assholes

(8) I got my kilt and I wore it to work today. Very comfortable.

But I have something else to say.

I would take up cycling, but apparently you have to be an asshole.

The last few weekends, cyclists have descended on Fredericksburg, and they all wanted guest houses. Today, five of them tried to check in before 2 pm. From their reactions, you would think they had never heard of a check-in time. All of them said, "But we have a 1 pm ride scheduled!" We explained that Easter, combined with wildflower time, is a busy time, and the homeowners hadn't had the time to clean after their previous guests. They sniffed in disgust and stormed out to start their bike rides. Another group arrived yesterday. Granted, they have stayed with us for the last several years, but this year, they negotiated a special rate with the homeowner for one night, and told us there would be 8 people for three nights. When they came in to pay, they told us that, no, there were four people tonight, six tomorrow and eight the next day. This required several minutes of recalculation. An hour later, the representative of the group arrived to ask us if they could check out at 1 pm or 2 pm (2-3 hours later than regular check out time). I referred them to the homeowner, and said that if she didn't mind, we didn't. Not an appropriate answer, I guess, since she sniffed and left the office.

I theorize that extensive cycling drives the spine into the part of the brain that controls polite behavior.

I explained my theory to the office. Then we had a guy who was staying at a country home who wanted us to deliver the key. He said he didn't want to come into town. I wanted to ask where the Hell he was going to eat, since there isn't a kitchen at the house, but I refrained. When he got to the office to pick up the key, he complained that since he was coming in from "that side of town" we should have delivered the key. We tried to explain that the homeowner asked us to distribute the keys, but he said that he would speak to the homeowner, because he didn't want to be bothered by it. I wanted to ask him if he brought his bicycle.

I suggested a $50 rural key delivery fee, and a $50 rural key retrieval fee, a $50 early check in fee, and a $50 late check-out fee, payable in cash, no receipt, to the others in the office. Someone said they would do it for $20, but they were roundly poo poo'ed.

The boss was in the office today and noticed that we had a larger than usual supply of assholes. But she wouldn't go so far as to authorize my fee idea.

So, if I ever tell you that I want to start cycling, remind me that they are all assholes.

Maybe today?

I didn't get my kilt on Friday. I should have known better. Our packages always go through San Antonio before arriving here. The information on the UPS web site changed, and my kilt spent sixteen (!) hours hanging out in Austin before leaving for San Antonio. It traveled an hour and 16 minutes and arrived at 10:50 pm.

So the question for today is: will the kilt arrive on time, as UPS hopes?

All our packages go from San Antonio to Kerrville, where they are distributed for delivery. Keep your fingers crossed.

Gary came down on Saturday and we played a perfectly dismal round of golf. The sky was gray and overcast, and a chilling breeze was blowing. I decided to wear jeans. We'd just teed off when the sun came out and the temperature soared! I was miserable. I should have just worn my shorts. I won't bore you with the scores, or embarrass myself for that matter. We did have a great time, though.

Maybe today?

My kilt continues is journey across the US. It spent 24 hours making its way from Commerce City , Colorado to Dallas, arriving there at 11:17 pm. It left Dallas for Austin at 1:16 am this morning. It arrived in Austin at 5:15 am (just an hour a 25 minutes ago as I write this.) Then twenty minutes ago it left Austin.

I might get my kilt today!

I'm celebrating by replacing the image on the front page. What do you think of me and my kilt?

My Kilt

(31) Well, I finally broke down and ordered a kilt from Utilikilts. I saw Patrick Norton wear one on The Screensavers a year or so ago and ordered a catalog. I hemmed and hawed about for a year. Then, last week, I ordered it. It was shipped from Seattle on Monday.

The folks at Utilikilts gave me a UPS tracking number for it, and I have been watching my kilt's progress across the country. It was given to UPS at 9:10 pm Monday, and left Seattle at 11:24 pm. On Tuesday at 5:05 am it arrived at Hermiston, Oregon, and left there at 7:42 am. It reached Salt Lake City at 12:23 am Wednesday, and at 3:48 am left for its next stop.

It arrived at Commerce City, Colorado at 1:23 pm, and spent 10 hours lounging around, and smoking cigarettes in the UPS waiting room before leaving at 11:49 pm.

I bring all this up because I am amazed that someone actually thought about where to put UPS shipping centers! Except for Seattle and Salt Lake City, and eventually San Antonio, the centers are in places I've never heard of. It's fun, in an insane kind of way, to watch your package make its way to you.

Lord, save us from the New Puritans!

(19) Time for Jeff to go ballistic! Here's the link.

The Colorado Legislature is considering a law that would make it a crime to show any material with sexual content to anyone under 18. The proposed bill -- House Bill 1078 -- will make it a criminal offense for any "play, dance or exhibition displaying pictures, drawings, video recordings, films, books or magazines to depict nudity or sexual activity to a person who is younger than eighteen years of age." The law requires establishments -- including bookstores, museums, libraries and theaters -- who sell or merely display any "real or perceived depictions of sexuality or sexual activity" to require identification before showing such materials to any patron, to ensure that the viewer is 18 or older.

Has anyone in the Colorado legislature read the bible?

Adam knew Eve. My pastor explained in church one Sunday morning what that sentence meant. For those who weren't in church that day, it means Adam and Eve had sexual intercourse. After Noah landed his ark, his daughters got him drunk and had their way with him and became pregnant. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to have sex with the male angels who were visiting Lot. Lot offered them his virgin daughters. And should I even mention The Song of Solomon? That whole book is nothing but a hot love letter to Solomon's girlfriend. "Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies./ Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense." (chapter 4, verses 5-6.) (This is why the Old Testament is much more interesting than the New.)

High School students will not be taught about the Renaissance, or at the very least, will only be told it happened and shown the Mona Lisa. Da Vinci's nudes, and Michelangelo's David are illegal under this law. (Nudity.)

"National Lampoon's Animal House" will have to be sent to the back of the video stores. Any movie that makes a reference to sex is illegal. Say goodbye to "Look Who's Talking." And can you imagine what would happen should a child under 18 watch daytime TV? Not only would "Jerry Springer" be gone, so would any soap opera.

Sounds to me like someone in Colorado is deathly afraid that someone, somewhere might be having fun. But it fits right in with our nation's attorney general has ordered the statue of Justice, in the department of the same name, covered with drapes, so that we are not exposed to an errant breast.

Unless we're watching the Super Bowl.

Lord, save us from Puritans!

More on Chasing the Sun

(11) I am currently working on chapter nine of Chasing the Sun. It is the part I have been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. It's the chapter about the Nagasaki Okunchi festival. I wasn't sure I would be able to draw the Dragon Dance which is the inspiration for the title. Here is a sample for you to judge how I did.

Snow!

(14) It has been cold here for a week or so, with gray overcast skies. We haven't seen the sun in so long, I swear I had forgotten what it looked like. Last night and early this morning, the temperature dropped and we got snow!

By the time I got up and thought about taking a picture, the snow was pretty much gone. But here's a photo of the cedar tree in the back yard.

It seems that the home of falling prices causes other prices to fall. In a UK study reported by the Guardian, large retailers are requiring their suppliers to cut prices. And to do that, suppliers are cutting wages, and increasing overtime, and causing. It seems that for every dollar spent in a Wal-Mart or Tesco, two of Britain's largest retailers, $42 is kept by the chain. Farmers are paid four cents and farm workers get five cents.

Here are some examples from the article:

-At one US-owned factory in Kenya where jeans are made for Wal-Mart, price pressure has led to hourly production targets that are almost impossible to reach. The factory rules allow unions, but in April 2003, when workers went on strike to demand decent pay, most union members were fired.

-In Chile 75% of women fruit-pickers worked 60 hours a week during the season but one in three was paid the minimum wage or less.

-In China, several factory managers admitted to researchers to using an array of tools to pass inspections even though they were violating the codes set by retailers. Factories supplying Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Tommy Hilfiger were found to have false documents on hours and wages and to coach workers on how to answer inspectors' questions.

Wal-Mart has gone on record saying they have a fair trade policy in place at every step of the trade chain. They also added that prices will continue to fall at their stores! (They didn't. I made that part up. But I saw it on an ad on TV.)

The American public hounded Cathy Lee Gifford to tears because her line was using sweatshop labor. When are they going to do it to Wal-Mart?

You weren't indicted! You were sued! There's a difference!

I have now seen the latest Pepsi ad about fifty times. You know, the one where a girls tells you she was one of the kids "prosecuted" for downloading songs from the Internet. A point of clarification here, she was not prosecuted! She was sued by the RIAA! Only the State can prosecute. To date no one has been prosecuted for downloading songs of the Internet. Get it right, Pepsi.

It's just a boob!

The uproar over Janet Jackson's tit flash during the Super Bowl half time event is starting to irritate me.

The first lawsuit has been filed against Jackson, Justin Timberlake, CBS, Viacom, MTV, and the NFL because the "sexually explicit conduct" by the performers caused millions of people to "suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury." It is a class action lawsuit which will no doubt ask for billions of dollars in damages, so we might all get a ten spot out of it. I'll look at a boobie for $10 any day!

CBS has instituted a five second delay in its upcoming broadcast of the Grammy Awards. In related news, Jackson has been uninvited, while Timberlake, who actually revealed the breast to the world, will still perform.

The NFL cancelled a half time appearance by Timberlake's 'N Sync bandmates, JC Chasez, planned for Sunday's Pro Bowl in Honolulu, because Chasez's song contained the words "horny" and "naughty." He'll be replaced by hula dancers and local singers.

ABC said it would add a delay for its Feb. 29 broadcast of the Academy Awards. TNT also said it was considering a delay for the entertainment portion of the NBA All-Star Game, featuring Beyonce, OutKast and Christina Aguilera.

NBC cut a scene from Thursday's "ER" that showed an elderly patient's breast, saying the current atmosphere made it too difficult for affiliates to air the segment.

AOL is rumored to be asking CBS for a refund of their $7.5 million they spent sponsoring the half time show.

The FCC is about to tighten broadcast standards and increase the fines for violating them.

All this over a one second boobie flash.

Don't get me wrong. It was a senseless, tasteless, and self serving act. And the boobie wasn't all that impressive. Janet's hot, and all, but it could have been bigger. (We might have gotten $20 out of the class action lawsuit then.) But was it that bad?

Let's see, we had a flatulent horse burn the hair of a woman. (Someone told me, "A horse doesn't have a conscience,"
when I brought this up. Apparently neither do advertisers.) We saw a chimpanzee ask a woman to go to the bed room for a little "ooo ooo ooo, aaa aaa aaa, eee, eee, eee." We saw a kid start to say "Holy Sh--!" We saw ads for erectile dysfunction. We saw Kid Rock wearing a flag as a poncho. And we saw the Panthers squib kick a ball to the Patriots with seconds left in the game, setting up the winning field goal! (Can you tell I was rooting for the Panthers?) Out of all of that, the only thing people seem to be worked up about is a boobie? Our kids can ask us "What is erectile dysfunction?" but they can't ask "What did I just see?"

Sheesh. Sounds like the only winners are all the TiVo owners, and Michael Jackson, who now can bask in obscurity.

Mars Needs Women

We're going to Mars! Not just robots, but men! President Bush has set out a plan to get us there. I encourage everyone to support this plan, regardless of politics. I believe we need to go to Mars, and beyond.

My Two Cents

What with the current attention on the current presidential campaign, I thought it would be my turn to rant.

I have long said that there isn't a lot of difference between our two political parties. I found a site that agreed with me!

John Ashcroft scares me. But nothing Ashcroft has done, yet, compares to FDR. This Democrat signed the order that sent thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent to prison camps during WWII. Not one citizen of German descent was imprisoned in the same way.

Truman, a Democrat, used the Bomb on Japan. Reagan was castigated for joking about using the bomb.

JFK started to invade Cuba. LBJ sent troops into Vietnam. It took a Republican to get us out, yet every Republican since Johnson has been accused of trying to create another Vietnam.

Carter denied Haitian refugees entry to the United States, while he escalated the violence in East Timor. Carter also earned his Nobel Prize for his work in Southeast Asia while he helped prop up the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Even though the Khmer Rouge has dropped off the media's radar, their legacy still affects Cambodia to this day. It was Carter's administration the recruited Osama Bin Laden to combat communists in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

Texas' congresswoman, the celebrated Barbara Jordan, came out in favor of a national ID card.

Clinton abandoned his pledge to allow Haitian refugees (and his promise of a tax cut) almost as soon as he completed his inaugural address. He reneged on his promise to allow gays in the military (which he should have followed through on), his health care plan (which was a bit scary). He bombed Iraq and the Balkans, invaded Haiti, tightened restrictions against Cuba (as well as Iran and Libya), and signed a Welfare repeal bill. He also signed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act that laid the ground work for the Patriot Act. He also began dismantling environmental laws that, today, we lay at Bush's doorstep.

As Gore Vidal said, "Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic." And as Rush Limbaugh said, "Hold your nose and vote."

Me? I'll be supporting the Libertarian party.

Wal-Mart Stories

I have been hearing a lot about Wal-Mart lately that is disturbing.

One of the first things I read was that seven cents out of every dollar spent in the US goes to Bentonville, Arkansas, the home of Wal-Mart. That's a staggering figure! Take my weekly paycheck, say, about $250. That means about $17 a week of my hard earned dough goes to Wal-mart. (I'm thinking that's low! There the only place in Fredericksburg that sells video games. :)

Then I read about the folks at Vlasic, the pickle people, have had to create a special package for Wal-Mart, a gallon jar. Vlasic had never put pickles into a gallon jar until Wal-Mart demanded it a year or so ago. Then, because Wal-Mart requires its suppliers to reduce prices every year, it had to make the product cheaper than smaller jars available in the supermarket down the street.

For years, Vlasic has been advertising heavily to get consumers to spend more for their pickles that other brands. In one fell swoop, Wal-Mart has undercut decades of brand building. Vlasic is now a "bargain" brand in Wal-Mart.

Also as a result of their "Falling Prices" program, more and more suppliers are having to move their production facilities overseas to keep lowering their prices. Wal-Mart used to be the home of the "Made in America" items. Now, very little of what they sell is made here. While Congress complains about the exportation of jobs from this country, Wal-Mart keeps slashing their prices!

I have heard stories about how Wal-Mart treats its employees. For instance, I had heard that Wal-Mart did not have any full time employees, apart from the store managers. I had even heard about one Wal-Mart manager instructing his employees how to apply for food stamps rather than giving them a raise. I had always taken these stories with a couple of grains of salt. Lately, though, news stories have come out that have made me reconsider.

On January 9, Wal-Mart settled a lawsuit over its practice of taking out life insurance on employees and making itself the beneficiary. Wal-Mart never told workers about the life insurance policies. According the the Associated Press article, "Wal-Mart is one of many large U.S. companies in recent years that have taken out policies on the lives of employees, ranging from executives to workers on the bottom rungs of the pay ladder, with the goal of collecting benefits when the employees die. Companies term the policies corporate-owned life insurance, or COLIs. Critics call them dead-peasant policies. Wal-Mart set up a trust in 1993 and named itself as beneficiary on policies for 355,000 employees." In 2000, the IRS took away tax advantages of the program and Wal-Mart discontinued the program.

On January 13, Reuters ran a story that revealed Wal-Mart had conducted an internal audit of their labor policies. The report indicated that employee records at 128 stores showed extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations. According to the story, "The audit -- now under court seal [my emphasis] -- of one week's time-clock records for about 25,000 employees found 1,371 instances in which minors worked too late at night, worked during school hours or worked too many hours in a day, the paper said. It also found 60,767 apparent instances of workers not taking breaks, and 15,705 apparent instances of employees working through meal times." There are currently 40 lawsuits charging Wal-Mart with making employees work without pay through lunch and rest breaks.

Just this week, I read about another group of employees suing Wal-Mart for locking them inside the stores at night while they stock. The only way the employees can leave are through the emergency fire doors, and unless there is a fire, they can be reprimanded or dismissed for using them. Wal-mart instituted this policy to reduce shrink. (Shrink is a retailing term for losses as a result of employee theft.) In one instance, a worker was pinned under some fallen machinery, and had to wait three hours for someone with a key to come down and let EMS in. (I wish I could find that article.) A Wal-Mart spokesman did say that it was common practice in high crime areas, but blamed most of the excesses on "rogue managers."

Before Christmas of 2002, one of these rogue managers removed all the donated toys from a "Toys for Tots" bin in the lobby of his store because it was full. He put the toys back on the shelves for resale. (That means that the store is going to sell some of the toys twice!) When the organization arrived to collect the toys, there were none, even though the organizer of the event had been in the store a couple of days earlier and seen the overflowing bin. The manager explained that he thought the bin was too full and he didn't know when they were going to be picked up. The organizer explained that a full bin makes people donate more, and that the pick up date was on the "freakin' sign, for crying out loud!" (Actually, I made that quote up. She had spoken to one of the minimum wage slaves at the customer service counter and told them she would be back in a couple of days.)

In a related story, Wal-Mart is being sued by a group of illegal aliens arrested at 60 Wal-Marts in 21 states. They were not Wal-Mart employees, but worked for outside cleaning contractors hired by Wal-Mart. The aliens claim they worked for below minimum wage (imagine my surprise at illegal aliens being paid below minimum wage) and worked up to 56 hours a week and did not receive any overtime pay (ditto). They are suing Wal-Mart because they say Wal-Mart had to know that they were illegals and that they were being paid below minimum wage. Wal-Mart says that they hired a contractor to do the work, and he was the lowest bidder. (In Wal-Mart's defense, they are not required to check the work status of contractors' employees. But it wouldn't surprise me if Wal-Mart knew, and actually looked for, these contractors.)

As Wal-Mart continues is inexorable spread across the retailing landscape, destroying countless mom and pop stores, smaller chains and entire downtowns and Main Streets, we'll see more of these stories. With fark.com's help (That's where I found links to these stories.), I'll bring as many of them to you as I can.

The Turners Came a'calling

Bob and Ann stopped by for a visit yesterday. Bob had a presentation to a contractors convention, so Ann stayed with us to visit. We chatted about the families and agreed we were all excited about Gary coming home soon.

The Miniature White House

Happy New Year!

Today, Mom, Dad and I went to Austin to see the much ballyhooed White House in Miniature at the LBJ library at the University of Texas. We arrived about 10:30 am, and spent about an hour in line, then about twenty minutes looking at the model.

'Kay. The model is at a 1 inch equals one foot scale. It measures over 60 feet long, and, on its display table, is about six feet tall. The display location at the library did not allow us to look at both sides of the model, which is a disservice, I imagine.

After the museum, we stopped at Matt's Famous El Rancho Cafe, home of the "Best Mexican Food in the World." Trust me. It is. Go there!

During the last couple of years, I have been living in my past as I write Chasing the Sun, fictionalizing my time in Japan. Today, I learned something that took me even further back in time.

One of the benefits of living in a small town is knowing a lot of people.

When I was elementary school there was a lady in the lunch room who, to me, was the symbol of lunch. Mrs. Kuhlman was one of the cooks in the lunch room. I learned today that she passed away.

She lived around the corner from us, and when I would go back to work from lunch, I would often see her watering her yard. Every time I saw her, I was reminded of those elementary school days.

I hope she is working in the cafeteria in the sky, and having a great time.

The New Prohibition

And so it begins! The Toronto Star recently ran an article report the high cost of drinking to business. "Estimates suggest sick time related to drinking costs the British economy about $4.4 billion, the Australian economy $5 billion and the American economy a staggering $197 billion (all figures Canadian) — roughly equivalent to the previous night's bar tab."

This is the same argument they used about smoking.

The war on alcohol has begun!

I really don't want to do this

The Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce recently redid their website. Some B&B owners have complained that their hits have fallen because of the redesign. Donna, my boss, suggested I be involved in the process of fixing the problem. So I am on a Chamber committee looking into the concerns. Yee ha.

BATF and RIAA

(10) Here's something to darken your day. From the people who brought you Ruby Ridge and Waco, the director of the ATF is stepping down to become head of the anti-piracy unit of the RIAA. Expect the tanks to roll soon!

Revenge!

BWAH! HA! HA! HA! HA!

Revenge is so sweet!

I once got into an arguement with a NORML geek once about the effects of smoking. His position was that marijuana smoking was not harmful and therfore should be legalized; but tobacco smoking was harmful and should be banned. He didn't want to suffer through second hand smoke. My position was that if smoking one dried leaf was harmful then smoking another dried leaf was harmful as well. I pointed out that cigarette smoke, according to the Surgeon General's warning said "Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide." I suggested that marijuana smoke contained carbon monoxide, since carbon monoxide is a by product of combustion. His response, "There are no studies that show that marijuana smoking is harmful!"

BWAH! HA! HA! HA!

Here's why I'm laughing. A study has concluded that moderate pot smokers have reduced lung capacity, and have fewer cancer preventing antioxidant levels.

Now all those pot smoking anti-tobacco zealots have to quit smoking! BWAH! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

No. I am not bitter and I don't hold a grudge.

Why Excise Taxes to Stop Behavior are a Bad Idea

A news story out of Austin reveals that a public policy wonk has decided that raising the excise taxes on cigarettes in Texas to $1.41 per pack (from $.41 per pack) will "reduce smokers, cut health care costs and help finance public schools" by generating $986 million in new revenues.

Bull! It will reduce smokers. Sure there will be a short-term gain in revenues, but if the number of smokers decrease, then the revenues will too.

The Centers for Disease Control released a study that concluded a 10% increase in excise taxes results in a corresponding 10% decrease in consumption.

Meanwhile, the State of Texas has been using its share of the tobacco settlement to fund anti-smoking programs, and these programs have been fairly successful. According to the State of Texas Fiscal Size Up 2002-2003 in 1998 the State collected $623.6 million in excise taxes. In 2003, the expected revenues are $562.6 million. That is a 10% decrease in revenues. A new study by the CDC, trumpets the fact that anti-smoking programs work!

The CDC recommends stiff tax increases, and increased funding for anti-smoking programs.

So here we have a guy that says raising cigarette taxes will reduce public health care costs and fund public schools! Wow! What a great tax!

There is a group called Trust for a Smoke Free Texas who advocate this plan to raise revenue, even though they want this revenue source to dry up! On the page that has a report on this latest tax proposal they show a woman carrying a tray with a bottle of beer and an empty glass. What are they going to go after next, I wonder?

The only way this tax increase will work is if every Texas resident is required to buy a pack of cigarettes every month!

I Hate the RIAA Part 2

A Federal judge has approved a settlement in a case against several record companies for price gouging. Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Distribution, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Corp., Universal Music Group and Bertelsmann Music Group, plus a couple of retailers, settled the suit without admitting fault. The same judge had earlier approved a $143 million settlement in a related lawsuit that found these companies conspired to fix music prices! And the RIAA wants me to believe that the recording industry is an innocent victim of crime? After their members colluded to fix prices? HA!

I haven't been able to find out the amount of this settlement. But I bet I know how they intend to pay for it!

The RIAA has just unleashed their latest wave of lawsuits, including an elderly couple who don't even own or operate a computer. (Their son-in-law added internet access to their cable bill while living with them to avoid a surcharge for another bill to the same address.) The RIAA has settled with about 220 users, at about $5000 each (on average by my math), for a total of $110,000. Anything to keep that cash stream flowing, I guess.

My Latest Great Idea

Okay. You people reading this regularly (both of you) have not been doing your jobs! I asked for donations to my PayPal Account and no one has responded. I even provided you with a list of worthy examples I am following and still nothing!

Today, inspired by the story Lynn Wagner, I am announcing that I will be collecting pennies! Not any specific pennies, mind you, but any penny I can get my grubby mitts on. I want to collect one million pennies. That's right! You read correctly. One million pennies! (I thought about collecting quarters, but I didn't think you guys would help me with that.)

Here's all you need to do: Give me your pennies! Box 'em up and ship 'em to me. Hell! Send 'em COD if you want! I don't care. I want your pennies! I will add a graphic to help you track my progress.

Thanks in advance!

Thanksgiving with the Turners

Yesterday, we went to Voss and visited the Turners in their house. Sam and Mary Jo and Darrell and Leslie were there, with all five kids.

I have to go on record and say that the new house is very nice. Compared to their old house, which was 800 square feet, Darrell said, this is a monster.

Sam, Darrell, Rodney and I went for a short walk across the back of the property, reminiscing about all the fun the five of us (including Gary) had. As we neared the fenceline, in a pile of wood, Darrell, a trained law enforcement officer, discovered a little plastic leg.

He quickly went into investigative mode, strung up some yellow tape, and found more plastic body parts. We collected the peices together and were shocked to learn the fate of Darrell's Six Million Dollar Man action figure. On his chest were three or four .22 caliber bullet holes in what Darrell called a very tight pattern. After he was shot, he had been dismembered in a hideous fashion. The body parts were stashed where someone else had stashed the head of a Depression-era doll, complete with painted face. Darrell concluded that the culprit was either him, Sam, or Gary. Investigations are still pending.

Sam and Grant, and Darrell and Cassidy. When's lunch?

Katie's shoulder, Bailey, Garrett, and Amanda

The Problem with the Left and with the Right

Why does the Left act so much like the Right when it comes to smoking (and alcohol ads, and fast food, and Christmas decorations)?

A recent article in the New York Post reported that the city's health department searched Players Club and found, in the manager's office, three stacked, clean ashtrays. That's it. No cigar or cigarette butts. No matches. No lighters. And no ashes, either.

The club removed all the ashtrays when New York passed its smoking ban in public places. The health department had received a tip that "smoking was occurring in that office." The club now faces a fine from $200 to $2000 as a result of these clean ashtrays simply being on the property. In New York City, ashtrays are like WMDs (see below).

In a related story, Rich Lowry, a conservative columnist, defended beer ads in his latest column. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (Who have also gone after Chinese food, movie theater popcorn, and ice cream. They also created the scale where food is rated on artery clogging fat in Big Mac units.) is backing a sports advertising ban because beer ads are aimed a college students, causing them to binge drink. They reached this conclusion despite the results of a study that said college students rank their parents' and friends' influence over TV ads, and that Neilsen rating data indicates that 87% of college sports veiwers are over the age of 21.

They have also sued the Smithsonian Institute to have Bud Light logos removed from a famous aerobatic plane (hanging in the museum) that was actually sponsered by Anheuser-Busch! Apparently, every kid who sees that plane will then rush out to buy a case of Bud Light.

They are also behind KFC's recent actions in pulling their most recent ads for their chicken, suggesting that eating their chicken, as part of a balanced diet, was nutritious. (Admittedly, when I saw those ads, I wondered if KFC was pulling my leg.) Their hook? Listing the carbs in KFC chicken. Apparently, only beer companies can compete in the carb category; fast food places can't. But I would be willing to bet that eating at KFC is better for you than eating at McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's.

The Right, meanwhile, is doing everything it can to stop gay marriages. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has introduced the Federal Marriage Amendment which would define marriage as something that only a man and woman can do, and eliminate "domestic partner" benefits, like insurance.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court recently ruled: "The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens." Unsurprisingly, the Right is having apoplexy.

The Left cannot understand why they Right is thinking about boycotting Massachussets, the same way the Left boycotted Arizona for not creating a holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr., and Colorado for not recognizing Gay marriages.

Apparently, only the Left can boycott states.

In the Early 90s, Rush Limbaugh did some ads for Florida Orange juice. The Left went into full body spasms of rage, and mounted a protest that eventually resulted in Rush being fired from the ad campaign. In the early days of the Iraq war, Danny Glover was doing ads for MCI's Neighborhood. When his views opposing the war were made public, the Right deluged MCI with their righteous indignation, and Glover was replaced. Some Leftist pundit mourned, "So much for Freedom of Speech."

Apparently, only the Left can shill someone's products without their political opinions being a factor.

My conclusion, the Left and the Right are equally intolerant. They both seem the be afraid that someone, somewhere, might be having fun, and it must be stopped. H. L. Mencken called that Puritanism.

Welcome to the new Puritan Age!

Steve's Response

I tweaked the site a bit. I looked at it in Netscape, and the outer frames had overlapped the center frame, rendering it unreadable. I found a template that I could adapt that worked in Netscape. I asked Steve to check out the site, and he disagreed with my view of the conflict in Iraq. He wrote a great letter that I am reposting here, with his permission. I have edited it a bit, again with Steve's permission.

--Uh...no disrespect, Everyone has the right to their opinion and here is mine.

I completely disagree on Iraq. I guess the world was going to wait until Saddam got Nukes or until it was too late. Of course the rebuilding isn't going well, but [he] had to go, by any means necessary. I won't see it otherwise and yes I will go over there, say the word, when do I leave? Live in fear or take out an asshole?

Yeah, Yeah, we created him, we funded him in the Afghan war blah, blah....but are we going to do something about it or let him torture people/genocide and pretend it wasn't going on?

I look at it like we are cleaning up our own mess. I wanted to have a party when I heard about Usay and Uday, [the] assholes got what they deserved!

My company's travel agent has a husband over there, in the same hotel that was recently bombed. He is a General and I told her this, (she is against the war too): "Ok, you don't have to agree, but what is the best thing now? 'Ooops sorry we made a mistake, bye' or exactly what Dubya said, 'WE ARE NOT LEAVING!'

I would much rather have a President make a decision and stick with it than change his mind like he did ugly . . .interns. I voted for him and I agree.

Fuck Al Gore, I worked on the last Clinton/Gore Whore campaign and was not a Republican until after I saw how the Democrats run things. I base my opinion on experience with liberal politicians (Carville, Steponafugus, Morris etc. yup I met and spoke to all of them) and the fact that this is STILL the most efficient war campaign in modern history.

Oh yeah one more thing, FUCK FRANCE! Worthless, cowards, almost German speaking bastards! --

Like Steve, I voted for Bush. (Actually I voted against Tipper Gore, who started the whole censorship thing on records.) Steve said we could argue the case all month and our boys won't come home. He's right, of course.

Yeah, we'll disagree on Iraq. But that's cool. If everyone thought the same way, we'd be living in the Middle East and enlisting in Al Qaeda.

The War in Iraq is Wrong

Before you read any further, I want you all to know that I am down with supporting the troops. 'Kay? But I disagree that going into Iraq was the right thing to do.

A perfect example of why it was wrong occured on Wednesday in Goose Creek, South Carolina. The Pricipal of Stratford High school, George McCrackin, called in a police raid on Friday because of continual problems. On Wednesday November 7, members of the Goose Creek Police entered the schoool and held students at gunpoint while they checked for drugs.

They found nothing.

The ACLU is furious, and is threatening to sue.

Principal McCrackin did exactly what Dubya did in Irag: He had reports of illegal activity. He sent on armed forces. He found nothing.

McCrackin needs to study President Bush's actions after the Iraq war ended and learn the proper way to handle the press.

In related news, FBI agents successfully used the Patriot Act to close a strip club. No terrorists were suspected, just naked breasts. Welcome to Ashcroft's America.

Also, US occupying forces in Iraq have set a deadline for the provisional government to come up with a constitution. I respectfully submit that we send them our constitution. We aren't using it anymore.

Bible Study

I took this picture while Dad was reading the bible before going to bed. I used a lot of zoom, a tripod and the night setting on my digicam.

(3) I have compiled the first five chapters of my comic "Chasing the Sun" into an Adobe Acrobat file for those folks who would like an ebook version of my online comic. I am selling it for $9.95, including shipping. If you, for whatever reason, would like a copy, I will send it to you on a CD-Rom, if you click on this link. Christmas is coming!

I saw Becky Sloan (nee Holt) today. She had been at one of the B&Bs Gästehaus Schmidt represents. When she came in I knew she looked familiar, but when she asked if I was Jeff Holt I got scared. The bill collectors had found me! Then she told me who she was and it was like a light switch being turned on in my head! The Sloan family had a long weekend and took a trip to Fredericksburg, and were on their way back home, via Pedernales Falls State Park.

She had me go out to their car and say hello to Jon, her husband, and her two kids. Great family. We should see them more often!

Oktoberfest 2003

Well, Oktoberfest is over, and I think I have finally caught up on my sleep. I don't know what's worse: working all weekend, or just getting a day off on weekends.

We sure missed Gary. I drafted Rodney to take over his supervisor shifts, but we all still had to work from 10 am to midnight on Saturday night.

This year, I vowed that I would not serve one customer, what with the severity of the DWI and liability laws, but on a couple of shifts, we didn't have enough people show up. Plus, we had a hell of a time keeping the volunteers from serving more than two beers per customer. I had to tell one guy five freaking times!

I tried working on Chasing the Sun, but it has been raining all day. I can't seem to draw when the sky is gray and dreary. It only seems to work when it's a nice day outside. I'll try to work on it tomorrow.

Nick Benneck, one of the Oktoberfest beer supervisors. He and Gary compared motorcycle stories.

I am a degenerate. She was hot. My camera had a zoom lens. Voila!

Larry Garner and "Spriggles" Enderlin enjoy Sunday afternoon. It's

almost over!

Spriggles thought he would send Gary a message!

How not to make Gumbo

I am burning the last of my vacation days. Smell the smoke?

You probably can. This morning, dad strolled by and mentioned that he had okra ready for gumbo. I had told him I would cook some gumbo for him. Anyway, as he strolled back through my room, he mentioned that I needed to make hot sauce, since we had so many peppers.

So my first vacation day had been planned. I made hot sauce before lunch, and after lunch, I tried gumbo.

I used our smallest cast iron skillet. It's about 10 inches, with so much baked onto the sides that it looks like my face in high school. Bumps everywhere!

After getting all the ingredients together, I prepared to make my roux. "Time to start bouncing on the bed!" I announced. (only Rodney and Donn will get that. And anyone else who has attended the New Orleans Cooking School. If you ever get a chance to visit N'awlins, take the class and say hello to Kevin!)

So I started my roux. As I started stiring the flour and oil, I started wondering why I ever let Rodney make the roux when we make gumbo together. I quickly learned that I make a better gumbo sous chef than a gumbo chef.

As the roux assumed the proper color, all hell broke loose. The pimply outsides of the skillet caught fire!

As I tried to put the outside fire out, I noticed the roux was beginning to burn! Oh! Shit!

With one hand I dumped the veggies into the soup pot, and quickly dumped the rapidly burning roux on top. Then, the inside of the skillet caught on fire. Now the smoke alarm was demanding my attention.

I put the skillet in the sink and splashed water around it, then put the water in it. Congratulating myself for my quick thinking, I stirred my gumbo, and noticed that the brown roux was STILL COOKING itself so I stirred frantically, then, prematurely dumped the stock into the pot, and wisked like my life depended on it.

I spent the next hour scooping out the big black nuggets of charred flour.

Next time gumbo is made in this house, I'm gonna be the sous chef.

I Hate the RIAA

The RIAA just settled one of its lawsuits with a 12 year-old girl they accused of being an egregious file swapper. Her mom paid $2000, apologized and was made to stand in the corner for an hour to have the lawsuit dropped.

The RIAA is a lobbying organization that keeps Congress from looking at the price fixing that the record companies engage in. Now, however, they have become a de facto law enforcement organization. Only this organization is not restrained by the Bill of Rights. But that's okay, if the Patriot Act II is passed, we won't be using that anyway.

The RIAA says that file swappers are causing a slump in record sales. This slump apparently began long before Napster, but has gotten steadly worse over the last few years. They are convinced that if KaZaa and Napster weren't around, you and I would be shelling good money after bad for standardized pop rock the industry has been churning out for years.

Another reason for the decline in record sales in the consolidation of the broadcasting industry under the roof of Clear Channel Communications. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, deregulated the industry a few years ago. Apparently, companies could only own one radio station in any market. Today, Clear Channel can, and often does, own all the radio stations in any market. All of their programming comes from headquarters, no local DJs anymore to play songs popular in the region. Instead, it's the same playlist all across the country for each radio station in any genre.

"Last year, the Future of Music Coalition, or FMC, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that studies the impact of technology and politics on musicians and popular culture, found that two corporations alone, Clear Channel and Viacom, earn 45 percent of the industry�s revenues and control stations that draw 42 percent of listeners.

"In June, the Federal Communications Commission opened the way for further consolidation, voting to let a media company own up to eight radio stations in a single listening area," says an article on MSNBC News.

Two companies control almost 50% of the market! Teddy Roosevelt must be spinning in his grave.

Since Internet radio was killed by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Only big companies can create Internet Radio stations.

Combine centralized playlists and bland record company output and you have stagnant sales.

Sure, some people use KaZaa to get free music. But a lot of swappers I know downloaded albumns and listened to them. If they didn't like it they deleted it. If they liked it, they would go and buy the CD. KaZaa and Napster were ways to find out if an album only had one good song. I've got a thousand cassettes with only one good song.

The RIAA doesn't get it. People want to download songs, and they will pay for it. ITunes recently downloaded its ten millionth song at 99 cents a pop! But the RIAA, and the recording industry, doesn't like that business model. They would rather you drop $20 for the latest Britany/Christina/Jessica/J Lo/Madonna CD than let you download what songs you like. How many do they want us to buy? (Now if they could get Britany, Madonna and Christia to do the nasty and put it on a CD, well. . .) It would be okay if the money went to the artist, but it doesn't. The money goes tot he record company. I read somewhere that an artist receives less than buck from every CD sold. That's why they tour. To make money there. The recording industry has never been on the artist's side. If they were, why did so many top selling 50s artist die broke?

So i am boycotting the RIAA and the record companies that support them. I won't use KaZaa either. I'll get my music from the people who need the money: the artists. I'll go to the artists' websites and purchase the CDs directly from them.

Join me. The water's fine! And besides, you'll discover a wider variety of music than is being released by the big guys and played on the radio.

Read Orson Scott Card's take on this whole thing.

Leo LaPorte of Tech TV chimes in.

And here's how NOT to get sued by the RIAA from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Another redesign

I am doing another redesign. I thought I would do this page in the style of the front page. I will be incorporating the photos into the column on the right. Let me know what you think.

I'm not sure how long the redesign will last, since it looks like I'm going to have to hand coded everything on the page. Hmm. I got some thinking to do.

I did a minor redesign of the page. I have uploaded so many pictures that I was running out of space on my Yahoo! server. So I resized some pictures to fit the column on the left, and deleted the larger pictures. If you want copies of them, just let me know. I also deleted my photo page, and put in some of the photos on the archive page.

The Virginia Holts

Sean, who is stationed in Norfolk, VA, had Steve and Donn pick him up for a Labor Day visit. Steve wrote me and said that Sean suggested they meet at Hooters, and Steve marvelled at how great minds think alike. I reminded Steve that he was fond of telling stories about Hooters, so Sean probably thought that was the only restaurant Steve was familiar with.

Steve also told me that once Donn found out where they were meeting, Donn asked to come along.

Steve had Brazillian ju jitsu tournament that weekend. Sean got to watch for a while. Click here to see the results. Scroll down the list a bit.

Donn called on Tuesday to tell us they had a good time and to let us know that they were amazed at how well behaved Sean was. He even made a good impression on Rachel, Steve's fiancee. I hate to tell her that he's better behaved than Rodney and me.

Sean and Rachel inspect the work in Donn's new home. Photo by Donn Holt.

Trip to Dallas

Over the weekend we went to Denton and Frisco to see family. Mom, Dad and I went up there on highway 16. Dad drove until Comanche. Then I drove to Sam's house in Denton. It took about 4 1/2 hours, and was a pleasant drive until we got to Granbury.

It's not Granbury's fault exactly, it's just that we passed several dozen Home Depots, and Super Wal-Marts. Between these huge islands of commerce were twice as many strip centers with Barnes and Nobles, pain-free dentists, insurance agents, Chinese restaurants and liquor stores and the back of large parking lots. Along the road were Chilis, Outback Steakhouse, McDonalds, Whataburgers, Arbys, KFCs, and convenience stores.

Honestly, you can't tell Granbury apart from the outskirts of San Antonio. The stores and the layouts are the same.

*sigh*

Anyway, we had a good time visiting with Sam and MJ and their kids, (see pictures at left) and Bob and Ann who had come up to visit too.

Sam and Garret at play



Samantha



Grant on Ann's lap

Since there isn't a lot of room at Sam's house, we spent the night at a Best Western around the corner. What a great motel! They had big beds, big rooms and were easy to get to.

Sunday, we went to see Johnny and William in Frisco. The area between Frisco and Denton is subdivision land, with each development trying to build a bigger club house. What was really funny was that the first development advertised homes from the 90s. The second from the $100s, the next from the $110s. We wondered how high the bidding would go. "Live here! We're more expensive than them!" It's a perfect symbol of the way we Americans like to consume conspicuously.

Frisco reminded me of Wells Branch Parkway in Austin, where I lived a few years ago. The housing developments were shrouded in tall fences, and sat conveniently behind all the commercial lots that lined the main street. As Bill Bryson wrote, "We used to build civilization. Now we build shopping malls." Behind the strip centers, the houses had brick fronts, shallow front yards, wood siding in the back with shallow backyards, and chimneys encased in wood. It also looked like the subdivisions going up around Nueva Vista golf course in Midland. Or like the ones going up on the outskirts of Austin. Or the ones I have seen in Virginia. It's like there is no more originality in home design.

*sigh*

Actually, William and Johnny's house was all brick, and larger than some of the ones I had been looking at from the street. As we drove through the neighborhood, watching the weekend yard warriors working over their lawns, I was reminded of the Monkees song "Pleasant Valley Sunday."

Pleasant Valley Sunday Lyrics:

The local rock group down the street

Is trying hard to learn their song

To serenade the weekend squire, who just came out to mow his lawn

Another pleasant valley sunday

Charcoal burning everywhere

Rows of houses that are all the same

And no one seems to care

See Mrs. Gray she’s proud today

because her roses are in bloom

See Mr. Green he’s so serene,

he’s got a t.v. in every room

Another pleasant valley sunday

Here in status symbol land

Mothers complain about how hard life is

And the kids just don’t understand

Creature comfort goals

They only numb my soul and make it hard for me to see

My thoughts all seem to stray, to places far away

I need a change of scenery

Ta ta ta...

Another pleasant valley sunday

Charcoal burning everywhere

Another pleasant valley sunday

Here in status symbol land

Another pleasant valley sunday...

You know, when I brought that up, I was thinking about the line of people mowing lawns, tending gardens and barbecueing. Reading the lyrics, I realize it perfectly describes my feelings about the Urban Sprawl that is threatening to make Texas one big city. And here I thought the Monkees were a kids' band.

We left Johnnie's at 2:30 pm and headed home down I-35. Travel was fine through Dallas. But once we got out of town, I realized I-35 was nothing more that a long ribbon of cars heading south. A couple of times we crested hills and could see miles down the road. There was no break in the traffic.

There were brake lights, though. Seven or eight times between Hillsboro and Temple, traffic would come to a complete stop for no reason. Then everyone would race off at 75 mph until the next time traffic stopped. I had originally planned to go to Georgetown and cut across through Burnet to get home, but by the time we got to Temple, I altered the plan and we cut across to Lampasas.

We stopped at Rodney's house at about 6:30 pm. I'm sure they are insulted by how little time we spent there. But we knew if we went in, we would use the bathrooms, have something to drink, watch some TV and we wouldn't have left until much later. So we chatted in the yard for a minute, then jumped back into the car and hauled ass home. We got in at about 8 pm.

I made myself a promise as I drifted off to sleep Sunday night. I would NEVER drive I-35 again!

NIOF

Last night, dad and I worked at Night in Old Fredericksburg. It is July's excuse for the city to fleece the tourists on Market Square. We had fun, since we only had to work for three hours. Then we came home and got under the air conditioning. I won't have that option come Oktoberfest.

I am officialy pissed off, now. I just got off the phone with Chevron. They told me I was behind on my bill. Patiently, I explained to the lady who all but called me a deadbeat that two weeks ago, a gentleman from Chevron called and told me the same thing. I told him that I had paid online. I said I don't remember getting an online confirmation, and asked him if the payment went through. He said, "Well, now that your mention it, it has. I don't know why you are on this list. Never mind. You next payment is due July 25th." I asked him five times if he was sure. Absolutely, he said. You are caught up.

Now this little chickee is saying the guy lied. I told her I would send her the payment, but she better damn well get her f-ing website fixed because I made the payment on the 20th and it was confirmed on the 6th or so. She then informed me that because I was late, they had put a temporary hold on my account. I replied, "Well naturally they did. I did exactly what the last caller said and now I am being punished for it. Well, you've taught me one thing! Never beleive what anyone from Chevron says." Then I hung up as she was saying something else. Bitch!

Woe is me

My van is starting to get old. It's lost it's voice. There's a short in the power switch on the radio, so it doesn't turn on. The power windows on the driver's side is slowly going out. And every once in a while, the air conditioning decides to stop. So my thoughts are, reluctantly, turning to buying a new car

I have a couple of problems, however. First, I cannot save money. If I have it, I have to spend it. And second, if I don't have it, I have to borrow it. As a consequence, I have no money now, and I will have no money in the future. As Gary says, "C,mon, Lotto!"

One whole month crammed into one entry

My computer has developed this nasty habit of crashing every few minutes. I have had it since 1997 or 1998, and I am afraid it is getting old. I bought an MP3 player on Ebay and I installed the software to load the player. Everytime I started it, the program would lock up and I had to use the old "three finger salute" (CTRL+ALT+DEL)! Followed up with a more traditional, and appropriate, single finger salute. (I HATE Windows. A pox on Bill Gates for releasing the most bug ridden, fragile, piece of crap software!)

Today I wandered over to the Dell website and started looking around. I found a few computers I liked. Now all I got to do is come up with the money. C'mon Lotto!

Sean will be coming home on leave this week, and will stop by over theweekend for some golf.

And I will close today's installment with another request that you check out my Chasing the Sun website. I have just finished drawing the 100th page! I have never had a comic project go past 40 pages, much less 100. Four chapters down! Only 20 to go!

Memorial Day

We finally finished the too breif family reunion that we had when Sean came home for a visit. I have created an album of photos here. The pictures have been saved for the Web, so the quality ain't so great. If you want the "good" pictures, let me know.

Sorry, Pete!

I owe an apology to Pete Townsend. I have made a lot of jokes at his expense the last few months. And then I went to Wal-Mart today.

I got in line behind a gorgeous brunette who was a head shorter than me. She was wearing a black top, white shorts, and who cares what else. Let me tell you that her legs were fabulous! Her quads curved seductively to her knees, while her calf muscle delicatly sloped to her ankles.

As she opened her wallet to pay for her purchase, I spotted her driver's license. (It was below her breasts. I couldn't help but notice.) Dammit! She was under 21! As Jimmy Carter said, I lusted in my heart, and that's why I must apologze to Pete Townsend. Of course, I didn't give her my credit card and call it research.

Purchases

I bought a smoker pit today. I tried to buy it at Wal-Mart, but they only had one that they had put on lay away for someone else. So dad and I drove to Kerrville and stopped at Lowe's and bought one.

We spent the early afternoon putting it together, and then we turned to Dad's latest toy, a 7 foot tall windmill. I don't know why he got one. The only time the wind blows around here is when a storm blows in.

GDT's

Luckenbach is having a motorcycle rally this weekend. Don't get your hopes up. It's not going to be real bikers. Just lawyers and doctors from Houston and Dallas who trailer their bikes down. Poser bikers, really.

Poser bikers are really annoying. They spend thousands of dollars on the proper outfits: Harley jeans, Harley boots, Harley socks, Harley wallets, Harley belts, Harley shirts, Harley dew rags, and, no doubt, Harley motorcycle trailers to go behind their SUVs. I bet they even have Harley cell phones, pagers, and answering machines. Then, they come to Fredericksburg, demand the nicest place for the cheapest price and bitch because we don't do cartwheels for them.

Bah! Tourists!

Golf day

Dad and I played golf today. We went to Buckhorn in Comfort. The course was really well-kept, and was beautiful. This is what Texas Golf should be; fairly cool weather, lush greens, smooth fairways and a great course.

I am thinking about starting yet another website: my golf experiences, photos and scores. But I am not sure revealing my scores would be flattering. Something to think about.

Proof that the golf gods don't like me. To be honest, I had aimed to the left of the hole, but c'mon!

Sue came down this weekend with her grandkids, Kelsey and Kyle. I had to work, so they had to do all their stuff without me. They went to a drive-through zoo and to some park near the river. Didn't ask too much.

I am proud of myself. I have managed to draw two pages of my comic book every day off I have had since February. I am about to finish chapter three and I can barely wait to get on to chapters four. Keep checking for more updates!

Gary and Amy

Yet another quick cold front and yet another bout of allergies. I think I'm allergic to Northers.

Gary came for a visit before he shipped out to the Middle East. Dad and I picked him up in San Antonio where he announced that he and Amy were getting married on Saturday. Amy had arranged everything, and so about 4 pm on Saturday afternoon, they were married at the Gillespie County Court House. Gary wore his desert uniform, and the JP was so choked up he told Gary that the wedding was on him. Mom decided to make them a wedding cake and have a little celebration when they got back.

The nest day, we drove on the Willow City Loop to see the bluebonnets.

Gary and Amy's Wedding cake.



Cutting the cake.

Beer Speech

I gave my speech at Los Patios today. I hope I didn't bore the poor guys. There was just so much to talk about and so little time.

Spring Break Trip

We just got back from a quick trip to Houston. Our first stop was in Shiner, were we toured the brewery. It was quite interesting, and like other factory tours taken in the last few years, included only a couple of stops: the brewing room and a gallery above the bottling line. No photos were allowed inside, darnnit!

Proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. The Shiner Brewery.

Then we drove to Katy and visited Forbidden
Gardens. Texas Highways did an article about them recently, and I thought it would be fun to see. I never expected we would make it the goal of a trip.

On Saturday, we went to La Grange and stopped at Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Park. From there we went to the Bob Bullock Museum in Austin, and then, finally, home. Once again, there are photos.

The old Kreische Brewery.