Some of the 80 men who slept in at the church Monday night couldn't stay for the 6 am breakfast because they had to get to their early-starting jobs.And, it was uncomfortable to be thanked so profusely for serving toast, cold cereal, and oatmeal for breakfast.  (Maybe if we had eggs, pancakes, or French toast I would have felt better?) I don't understand why it's acceptable to perennially need the "Mayor's Winter Emergency Shelter".  Why people who are working to the best of their ability cannot have a place of their own. Why a collusion of oligarchs legitimizes the payment one [...]

"It's not really Shakespeare, it's more like Desparate Housewives" -- Tom Aminano.

We’re back! Disembarked at 10:30 this morning, and still unpacking and doing laundry. Wonderful trip. Here’s a quick log started on my notebook on board.  Over the next few days I’ll download pictures, make links, and add some impressions. […]

Before the long tax season starts for redozdachs, we need to decompress to give our systems a running start at the chasm of endless hours and frazzled nerves.  Our 2006 January relaxation in Ashland was just what we needed, and we wanted a repeat of that break from everyday commitments. Maybe it was a passing rainstorm, or maybe it was the reports on the various people lost in Western-state snows, but something diverted us from Oregon to thinking "warm".  Airfares to Puerto Vallarta looked reasonable, and we had a good place to stay lined up if we could find some folks [...]

After 3 trips to the vet in 2 days, Vector is comfortable and without signs of infection.  He still isn't himself. Moments of lively greetings are balanced by lots of time at the back of his kennel. Something simple and soon curable like doggie diverticulitis? Irritable bowel? Something awful like a cancerous tumor blocking his stomach? No one knows.  Time will tell.  Nothing to do. Our ueber-cautious vet told us to keep our vacation plans.  She'll make sure that he gets the treatment he needs while we're away.  If it turns out he needs anything.  Medical science is too much [...]

I wish the President had paid more attention to current events in his youth. It would have been better for him to have learned then the hollowness of "Vietnamization" rather than making the nation now relive the misery of that futile policy. Parents of future presidents, make them watch this chapter of President Bush's Iraq adventure unfold.

gethuman recently re-rated 500 companies on the quality of their telephone customer service.  The results are ugly: Grade - % of total number of companies A - 1.80% B - 4.01% C - 3.81% D - 6.01% F - 84.37% (from the gethuman blog) The results are no surprise.  Too many companies seemed determined to dissuade consumers from getting help and to make consumers understand their own corporate divisions and policies. The gethuman report card is getting a lot of press, including articles in the Washington Post.  While the media coverage of corporations being handed failing grades is satisfying to read, the real [...]

A choice part of Christmas is the slowing down and the taking of time to think about friends, family, and our comfortable life.   Yet, the holiday cards start arriving soon after Thanksgiving, well before our family has found the contemplative or even appreciative spirit.  For years, we would hurriedly rip open the cards along with the bills and come-ons that populated the daily mail. We would read the greetings, quick notes, and multi-page sagas en route to the chopping board with the dinner onions. The first-in, first-out rule controlled our mail box with efficiency. Then we stopped.  Instead of opening mail that had [...]