July 30, 2004
5:03PM
Winding down another week here. Finally got around to ordering broadband, at the rate of $60.00 per month. Well, it's just time to get fully connected (and maybe update this blog a little more often). I'll probably cancel my subscription to the Times, since now I'll be able to get the Times and any other news online. And I'll try to get my computer's DVD drive repaired before Thursday's installation. Ah yes, to be surfing the Internet at warp speed by next Thursday evening. We shall see...Put the Presidential endorsement poll to Unity this week, the day after the Dem convention (not that there were any surprises in Boston). We'll see who comes out on top next week (seriously-- right now the vote is tied), and we'll take it from there...
July 29, 2004
12:47 PM
Life's moving right along at a good clip (as always), but it's always good to take a step off the treadmill once in a while and reflect.Finished A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin the other night. An eerily-prescient classic that I somehow suspect none of the higher-ups in the current administration have read, and that I sincerely hope members of the next administration do read.
As Mark Twain once said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes." Once again, a warring Western power was tricked into delving into the quicksand that is Middle Eastern power politics, primarily because the trickster told the powers-that-be what they wanted to hear: that Arabs would unconditionally welcome their liberators with open arms. And once again, a Western power (this time with partners) invaded Mesopotamia, doing what it took to make the war but failing to commit the resources necessary to build the peace.
It's unfortunate that, having cried wolf and then botched the execution of its war effort, the Bush administration has seriously discredited the concept of pre-emptive war, a concept which will undoubtedly need to be tested more and more often as the world becomes a more dangerous place. But the American experience in Iraq has also shown that the making of peace (the creation of basic security, infrastructure, and democratic institutions) is just as important as the making of war, if not more so.
The European Union's ongoing success in remaking the nations of Eastern Europe and (one day) Turkey into peaceful and prosperous member states stands in stark contrast to America's current debacle. America would do well to heed this example, as well as that of ancient Rome. The Romans were conquerors certainly, but they built the forts to protect the roads that carried their civilization everywhere from the British Isles to...Mesopotamia. If, as Clausewitz once said, war is the extension of policy by other means, peacebuilding is the extension of war by other means.
July 28, 2004
11:24 AM
Very surprised to see that wrhammons.com continues to climb the search engine listings (an entry of "W.R. Hammons" [without the quotes] brought up a #2 spot vs. a #14 spot the day before). Good thing I posted these new photos when I did.And switched the stories "s.t.u.d." and "The Crevasse" on the fiction page. Always a good idea to show your best work first (not that "The Crevasse" is shabby, but "s.t.u.d." is better, if longer).
July 26, 2004
1:56 PM
Nice to see that I'm now beating Gerard Jones in the search engine wars (hmm...probably says more about the traffic on his site than it does about mine).Now that people are actually visiting this site, might be a good idea to keep up with the improvements. Added new photos to this and and fiction page (hey, that photo of me and my niece was great, and she's still a sweetheart, but she doesn't have much to do with the writing of this blog). And this new blog photo's a little off-center, but you get the picture.
So much to write, but so little time to write it. More this week. Ciao.
July 23, 2004
4:43 PM
Winding down another week here. Well, the first major party convention starts on Monday. Friday the 30th will be a good day to finally put a vote to the Unity discussion group as to who we'll endorse for the Presidency (yes, I know, World, the suspense is killing you).But that's next week. Yours truly has a 4-miler to race in the morning (no gummy bears tonight!). And exploring the option of getting broadband access at home...the world's getting to the point where one has to be connected at all times (or has the option to connect at all times... more than ever I'm realizing there's something to be said for unplugging and giving your mind the space to create its own imagery, not imagery created by others).
July 20, 2004
11:38 AM
Just thought I'd make a quick entry this morning on my early lunch break...my next-door neighbor told me this morning that blogs should be updated every three days (hey there, Gordon!). Don't know if I'll ever hit that frequency over any extended period of time, but maybe, now that I've put the descriptor "Blogger" in my metatags, I'll blog more frequently.Okay, enough blogging. Time to eat.
July 15, 2004
5:46 PM
Wrapping up another Thursday here, and thought I'd post something on the blog after doing a teeny bit of work on "Bill's List." Nice to see that Unity is starting to draw membership from off the Web...at this stage, it's just important that we continue to boost traffic to our site, and some day, perhaps not any day soon, we'll start hearing from contenders who want to run under our banner.But for now, yours truly will just keep expanding and improving this pair of sites and enjoying his life as another John Q. Public. Have a pleasant evening...
July 13, 2004
2:02 PM
Set another PR on Sunday, this one for the half-marathon distance. Improvement of forty seconds... nothing earth-shattering, but it's another step in the right direction and more remarkable when you consider my place among the 20-something men (27th out of 316).I'll think I'll just keep tacking on the speed work, miles, and new x-training programs til I'm over the hill sometime in the next decade, then start running ultras just to keep things fresh. And try to stay away from gummy bears the night before a race. The rest is in Someone else's hands, not mine.
July 8, 2004
12:46 PM
Was pleasantly surprised to see that "Bill's List" is suddenly on the Yahoo! map. Thought I'd throw in an entry here on the blog and update my photo on the "About" page to celebrate (it's amazing how addictive amateur photography can be with a new camera phone).Too bad the General didn't get the Veep nod. Waiting to see the GOP
commercials using footage of Kerry saying that Edwards wouldn't be able to win
his own state of North Carolina in the general election. Who says this ticket
won't be interesting?...