This is sad. Very, very sad. It's bad enough that private pilots have to weather the insane amount of regulations that the FAA requires, but when cities like Chicago tear up a landmark airport, it makes me feel like flying in America is simply not worth the hassle. If it looks familiar, Meigs airport is the airport that everyone that has played Microsoft Flight Simulator starts out from.

What a great way to celebrate 100 years of flight. I'm sure Oliver & Wilbur would have been proud.

Fascinating.

A few news updates:

Stupid Bald Man Sticks Foot in Mouth up to left testicle:Peter Arnett appeared on Iraq's State-run news to accept the "Jane Fonda Comfort to the Enemy" award. In an unprecedented move, he was also awarded as part of the same ceremony the "Should've thought before I said anything and here comes my Pink Slip" award that was awarded to Michael Moore just last week. Said Moore when he heard the news, "I was under the impression that I was passing the torch to Peter, but apparently it's more of a club that you can't get out of, ever. Hanoi Jane is going to explain the rules of being a social pariah in our own country to us at next week's meeting. OJ is going to speak, as well.... I'm so excited."

Iraqi Soldiers get nasty surprise during ambush: I can't find the link, but the story struck me as terribly funny in that morbid "Wow, sucks to be you" kinda way. During the suicide pickup truck attacks (apparently Saddam has been learning to play AOE2 online from Todd: "Build big army, toss into meat grinder, lather, rinse, repeat.") Where was I? Oh yeah, during these attacks, the Allied tank troops found that if they were looking down a city street lined with hiding places for enemy soldiers, they could fire 120mm shells down the road. The passing of the shell creates a vacuum capable of pulling the hiding Iraqis out into the street where they are easy prey. "I have you in my sights as you near my hiding place, Yankee infidel.... What was that noise? ..... Hey!?! Oh S**T!!!"

Quote of the Week: "French's Mustard recently had to put out a press release explaining that they are not French nor associated with the French because people in America are boycotting them in retaliation for France's opposition to the Iraq war. Apparently some Americans are confused by the product name. Please people, I know we're upset with the French, but can we keep our how stupid we are a secret?" -Jimmy Kimmel-

Since we're being accosted by the pitiful excuses for music that come out of the overly-patriotic country music genre (except the fat little c*** from the Dixie Chunks) like that "Iraq and I Roll" song, or the friggin LEE GREENWOOD sonic abortion known as "Proud to be an American" (I almost went into a coma while they sang that f'ing song on American Idol... they used to torture us half to death by making us sing this song during boot camp, and I don't think I'll ever recover...) These songs suddenly coming out of the woodword during times of war is almost enough to turn me into a war protester... almost. ;-0

But I've lost focus. This was supposed to be about the good music I've heard recently...

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me. Just like Santana's "Supernatural" the grammy's got this one right. This is an amazing, perfect album. Great easy-listening from an incredibly talented musician.

Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk. Ever since "Little Earthquakes" I've bought every Tori album and hoped that it will be anywhere near as good as "LE" and been disappointed every time. Scarlet's Walk, while lacking the great memorable moments of Little Earthquakes, does contain almost all of the elements that made that album great. If you liked Little Earthquakes, you will like this album.

Linkin Park - Meteora. It's about HUGE FRIGGIN GUITAR RIFFS and Chester the "Little man with the Big Scream." Hybrid Theory was a pretty much flawless album, with the one problem of it being a bit over-produced, and way too short. Linkin Park seems to be a bit lacking on new ideas on this album, but the old ideas still work as well as they did the first time. This album lacks a "One Step Closer" song to stand out and really give the album something distinctive. For the most part, Linkin Park is a pleasant way to shake the pictures off the walls and annoy the neighbors, but they rarely achieve the bite of "Closer" in any other song. This is a small criticism, because the music is near perfect, even without that one little element that would push it over the edge into classic album status. It's still too short, too. 36 minutes? It's a CD guys, write some crappy music to fill in some space or something...

That's it, gotta wait for Limp Bizkit and Godsmack for something else new, high hopes waiting to be dashed on the rocks of reality, with those two....

Why haven't you sent a letter yet? There's no excuse, do it now!

What's really sad about this is the fact that our grandfathers would have probably gone down and kicked every town politicians ass if they enacted something ludicrious like this during World War II. Is anyone else as bothered as I am about how politically correct this war is? I don't care if they put a communication site in an archeological ruin; bomb the damn thing! I can't believe how a nation with our might acts like such a cry baby during times of stress. Get a backbone people! War is not pretty.

This really pisses me off. They should have just shot this reporter for giving away positions of our troops. I don't care how you feel about the war; giving away troop positions is right up there with treason in my book.

Truly interesting. It's hard to imagine life without the Internet.

Well its an end of an age. I have decided to sell one of my EQ accounts. Yes Im keeping one; The cleric. But Im selling the Ranger. I have found that my time is too taken up with Fitness and Real Life to keep up on 2 accounts much less pay for both. Now I relize that Im not completly over my addiction but Im better then I was. So What is your current game of choice?

Ah, sweet LAN parties...The stimulating scent of caffeine, the verbal jousting, the smell of pepperoni lingering in the air, the floor a tangled infestation of cat 5, the neon lights of case mods poking through the scene like lasers in fog. Nothing quite like it. And when the gaming starts, everybody becomes so intense. One frag leads to the next, emotions wax and wane as gibs amass and levels change, here an unnamed player, there an elite commando with uncanny aim. Over time, the LAN party itself, a single organism, breathing, hunting....

Someday we may actually do this again!

Okay, you have every right to speak your peace about the war. But can we be just a little bit more careful when we're dangling from a bridge that is several hundred feet above the ocean?

Onto better news. My pop was written up by his local newspaper for being a geek! Rock on Dad!

And I'll leave you with this quote: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." --The Friends of Voltaire, 1906. Cheers to all of those that have defended our freedoms in the past, and to the hard chargers staring down chemical weapons now. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are will them all. God speed.

I swear when I first opened this story, I fully expected the city to be Berkeley. La Habra? Really? While the cops sat their and watched. Whee.

I for one geneally trust the U.S. government when it comes to criminals and terrorists. I don't really care much about keeping my privacy, since I'm so mind blowingly boring that anyone who tries to investigate my life will lose interest in about 3 minutes. Anyway, this Echelon technology is very cool. It can triangulate a cell phone by using satellites. Rock on.

So what's the difference between the guy who plays the president on TV and the guy who really is the president?

Sure, they've both got teams of writers telling them what to say, and a little troop of image people making sure they don't appear on TV with a piece of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of their shoe. Some smartasses who refuse to acknowledge the electoral college will even claim that neither of them was elected. But there is a big difference--Accountability.

The real president is held responsible if something goes wrong. If everything he does turns out to be completely wrong, and he gets our army smacked around... AND we get 100 new terror attacks because of it... AND we get thrown out of the UN (oh the horror!!!)... if all that happens, George Bush will be held accountable. If Martin Sheen is wrong, he gets to go back to Malibu and enjoy his mansion and say "oh, well, guess I was wrong." He's not held liable for anything he was wrong about. If we don't go to war, and it turns out Iraq is affiliated with Al-Qaeda (is there a middle eastern country that isn't?) and another 3,000 people die in a terrorist attack, he gets to say "Wow, didn't see that coming. Everything always goes my way on the TV show. I didn't expect that I might be wrong."

There are valid points about whether or not we should go to war--and none of those points are coming from the bunch of ex-hippies paraded in front of us on the evening news who are hoping for a return to the glory days of the 60's and 70's when people gave a rats ass what they had to say, but I digress. I think we need to make sure it's done for the right reasons, but in the end, the real president needs to make the call... and the guy who pretends to be the president on TV needs to shut the hell up.

I went skiing yesterday at snow summit and it was warmer than Rich's place. Suicide is the only answer Rich. BTW the conditions are great and there are no lines.

Submarines? Back at Disneyland? I hope so!

Apparently I'm dangerous. I clicked Publish, and now my post has gone off to never-neverland.

Whatever. Here's the interesting link I included
Don't worry if you have not the least clue what that is. No sane person would.

So, this site is no longer just for my ramblings, but it has been opened up to a group of friends that I've had for more than half of my life. These folks are an eclectic bunch and we're always learning and sharing with each other via e-mail. If there's something that any one of these folks feels is appropriate for public consumption, then you'll see it here. Our buddy Rich moved last year to Ohio (he said he had a reason, and it sounded plausable, but I'm still not buying it). I'd be on the first plane out of anywhere that had a thermometer reading like that.

Of course, you shouldn't be reading this, you should be doing important things!

Yea Rob!

The only thing exciting that happens in my life is watching the thermometer (yes, this pic was taken last night. While taking it I broke the screen part of the sliding glass door because it was frozen shut):

If you hadn't noticed, and judging by the amount of traffic that this site gets, you most definitely did not notice that I had dropped out of sight for a few days. If you know me, then you know that when I have a test or some other event requiring a lot of focus and attention, that I pretty much become a giant stress ball. Anyway, I'm happy to report that on Saturday, March 1st, all of that stress paid off in the form of a Private Pilot certificate! Whoo damn hoo! Who wants to be my first victim, er, I mean passenger?!?