Great piece of writing

To further add to my regret that he has passed, Vanity Fair has published an amazing essay that David Halberstam finished shortly before he died. You can read it here.

We've all got boobs, people



I love Bob Log.

Downtown Panorama

Yesterday I drove downtown and attempted a couple of panorama shots. I find a nice area by the Panthers' stadium where some construction was being done. Whenever a building is torn down downtown there is a chance it will open up a view that you haven't seen before. Yesterday I saw this

Fascist and fascister

I see Putin and Bush are still having some kind of debate over where to place the worthless missile defense system. This thing can barely hit a missile they know will be in the air. Not just in the air but its exact location and speed. What does it mean when two world leaders are publicly debating the placement of a weapons system that doesn't work? Even in the surreal bubble Bush lives in this is a little strange.

MP3 Blog

The last weekend of every July I go camping in the mountains. The reason I go is the Rhododendron Festival I have mentioned dozens of times over the years. I always meet new and interesting people up there and last year I met a guy who was a huge, huge fan of Guy Clark. I was familiar with Guy Clark but hadn't really gone out of my way to hear any of his albums from start to finish. A few months ago I purchased a CD that has his first two albums.

The one song that really has stood out to me is Desperados Waiting for a Train. It's the story about the relationship between and young an old man. It's a tribute to an old, long gone friend. It's a song my step Dad (an admirer of old men) would have loved. It's a song I played while driving north for my Grandfather's funeral that I almost had to turn off. I have never heard another song that even approaches this song in how it portrays the way a younger man feels about an older mentor, that first person that treats him like one of the guys and not some stupid kid.

I present Desperados Waiting for a Train by Guy Clark off his first album called Old No. 1. It came out in 1975.

Wendell and Lenny

For your viewing pleasure I offer this video from last night. It's Wendell singing with Lenny Federal. Nice back up vocal there, Wendell.

Cardinal Lovers

One of my favorite things about having a bird feeder in my last apartment was watching the male cardinal, from the pair that frequented my feeder for a few years, feed the female. The feeder was situated above a sunken window that had a brick border around it. The male would fly to the feeder, grab a seed and then fly down to the brick wall and drop it in his mate's open beak. It was touching. I found a picture of the act on Yahoo! news tonight.

Birthday Party

Yesterday my two neighbors Jordan and Lisa had a birthday party for Lisa's daughter. They fired up the grill, there was a cake, there was some beer and a big water balloon fight before we all adjourned to the pool.

Serious Kid Talk


Here's the birthday girl having some fun with an attendee


My other neighbor, Eric, brought out his pet tortoises


Here's most of the party


Birthday Girl's Mom, Lisa


A Barbie!


I think she got a little tired of the attention after a while


The Waterfight starts

I have the coolest friends

My buddy, Kevin, up in Michigan posted a great piece on his blog about how similar our Marine Corps experiences were. It's very well done and very funny.

Even though our paths only crossed once while we were in the Corps. We spent a night on the town in Okinawa. I think I showed him around since he was there on temporary duty and I had been there more than a year.

Fun link o' the day

Simpsons Theme song on two guitars. Everyone's a musical genius except me.

Michael Chabon

Last night I finished what will most likely be the most unique book I will read this year. I finished Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union. The novel is a murder mystery set in an alternate universe in which a temporary Jewish homeland has been set up in Alaska in 1948. It is set in present day and a down on his luck detective is attempting to solve the murder before the land reverts back to American control. Not only is it all that, it's also noir. And it's got gangsters. Real gangsters, tough gangsters. The kind of gangster that would kill ya just for lookin' at 'im cross eyed. Old school gangsters that have no fear of law enforcement or governments. Those are the kind of gangsters I like. Those that wield true power and don't have to concern themselves with the authorities. Those were the days.

To me as an overall novel this one held up much better that The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. That Pulitzer Prize winning novel seemed to lag at the end. This book didn't. It really held my attention to the very last page. This book is going to appear on a lot of year end lists and will be seriously considered for a lot of awards.

Gamers and their Avatars

A photo essay. It cracked me up. I love Metafilter.