Whoa, this Gaia (nee Zaadz) is getting a little crowded for me.  The page, I mean.  If I write something it is surrounded by ads on two sides and now the sidebar on the other. 

Today is October 2, 10-2.  That is CB radio lingo for "I'm outta here."  Well, I'm 10-2.

Close to 10:00 last night my wife and I looked out the window after hearing mysterious loud noises and saw the horizon aglow.  It was clearly a fire.  It was coming from the center of town.  We watched for a while and tried to get information without leaving home, but learned nothing.

It turns out it was the cheese factory in town.  All the sources I read about said the flames were "100 feet high."  WPTZ has an online report from today, however, that notes witnesses seeing flames "200 feet high."  Are they exaggerating?

When we lived in Bolton there were three major building fires on our block.  This is the second one since we have moved (the first was a house not far from here).  I haven't see the scene, but the photos make it look pretty bad.  No one was hurt, luckily, but it looks to be a whopper in terms of damage.  Messy stuff.  It still amazes me that such huge fires are still possible, despite fire prevention and protection. 

I am not looking forward to hearing about any other fires.  The house that burned a while back belonged to the folks who own the local hardware store.  We wondered last night if that were the source of the fire.  It was not, of course.  Hopefully the fire departments from across Chittenden County who responded will have had enough excitement for now, and they can keep their equipment clean for a while.

We got to sleep eventually, but we worried awake for a while.  There was little for us to do, however.  So we stayed where we were.  Safe in bed.

Buying Windmills

When they started pulling tainted milk products I thought
Oh crap, it's time to stop with the chocolate.
But then, thinking further, I thought
it's only a little milk and what
about dark chocolate, which is better for me anyway?
That is how I started spending a fortune
on expensive chocolate bars
and on expensive stock picks,
which really isn't that far a leap, as you know
if you have ever purchased either.

How far would you be willing to go
to justify doing what you want to do?
What if you were hooked on Sugar Babies?
Would you tell yourself they must be fine
because, really, they are so small
and there just is no substitute?
And what is one more online trade
when the price is so low? It has to go up soon
because, after all, the company sells windmills.

I ran across this poem recently and it really struck me:

They moved in unison
like dancers in a ballet,
the spider, twenty inches from my rifle,
the VC, twenty feet farther out, in line,
each slowly sliding a leg forward.
I let the man take one more step
so as not to kill the bug.

… Food for Thought: 3 A.M., by David Connolly

I think about these wars we are fighting every day and I can't shake the idea that as a nation we are so removed not only from the greater conflict and what it means but from the everyday experiences of the soldiers on both sides who are fighting.  This poem is from 30 years ago but still seems apt.

I read this on a recent posting on the Voices in Wartime Blog, which sprang from the Poets Against the War project. 

That is what I have been the past few days.  When this fever goes away I will be glad.  I feel a little better today, but whew, far from 100%.

A couple night ago I woke up sweating, my pajamas soaked through enough I could have wrung them out.  I did not.  But I did change.

I polished off one bottle of Tylenol and have been taking it throughout the day.  I would have napped today, as I did yesterday, if my little boy weren't home sick with me.  He wasn't up for napping.

I am hoping in the morning I will be back.  See you then.

Today is the, for some, much anticipated Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Where it started I couldn't tell you but for several years it has been a day to celebrate.  Why?  Why indeed?  But then again, why not?

This day has taken off it seems.  Just a few years ago it was hard to find anyone who knew about this.  Now I see it all over.  All this week, Doug Savage has posted pirate cartoons on his web site, Savage Chickens.  This is today's:


That Talk Like a Pirate Day has gone mainstream can be evidenced by an email my wife received today.  It was for Boden, the clothing company, promoting a sale for this day only.  It included this text:  "Ahoy there Bodenlubbers.  Cap'n Redbeard 'ere.  It be "INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY', and we've stashed our treasure chest with 8 pieces o' Boden gold."  It included a translation about how this sale would take place.

I talked with some colleagues about how they were celebrating the day, and they were sorry that they missed it, as the day was well underway by then.  My response was appropriate, I thought:  "Ah but matey, yer sun ain't set jist yet, now 'as it?"

'Ave yerself a fine one.

My sister recently mentioned to me that she is still waivering on who to vote for for president.  If you are in the same boat, take a peak at this interview that John McCain gave recently.  Then tell me you still might consider him.

My daughter hasn't been feeling quite right lately.  Yesterday she came home from school with a slightly swollen eye.  Pinkeye?  That would suck.  This morning it was almost swollen closed.  No school for her today.

The problem is that on Tuesdays both my wife and I depend on day care for both of our children.  We had no one to call on at the last minute this time, so I stayed home.  It is a bit of a hassle.  I had to cancel two big meetings and seven small meetings.  But I guess that is the way it goes, eh?  It seems like a load of stress in the short term but ends up working out fine in the long run.

She does have a poofy eye.  This afternoon she sits quietly looking at books and pretending to be teaching a class of children.  From her left side, no problem--just a slightly ragged kid in jammies.  But from the right side it looks like she got into a fight.  Except for the occasional tears, which is really just a nice way of saying eye seepage goo.

So the two of us chill at home, and I try to get some work done.  I have done a little and that has been good.  But I will have some catching up to do.  I have a booked calendar at this point so that may take a while.  But again, will I remember that in a few months?  Not really.  It will all work out just fine. 

No problem.  Except that eye goo.  Frankly, it kind of grosses me out.

I had another physical therapy appointment this afternoon and they gave me the new treatment.  This muscle of mine is really knotted up and, although it has been slowly improving, it still is mighty tight. 

Last time they tried ultrasound, which worked pretty well.  It loosened things somewhat and I felt sore afterward.  Today they tried something different.  Stacey put some kind of pad thing under my leg (it was warm, and felt great!) and then did the old ultrasound.

I asked her if it would hurt and she said that most people would not say it hurts, but more that it feels uncomfortable or just plain weird.  She had that right.  The idea is that it makes the muscle contract a whole bunch of times, tires it out and forces it to relax because it is too tired to stay tense. 

Let me tell you, it felt weird all right.  I was twitching like a freshly beheaded fish.  It made both my legs twitch.  My right leg was twitching in sympathy.  Dang it felt odd, sometimes hot, sometimes prickly, sometimes sharp.  Then she poked at it with her fingers.  She didn't use much pressure but daggone it felt painful. 

This could take a while.  It is, as it were, kind of a bummer.  It will heal, I am sure, and at least it doesn't hurt just to walk about and be.  And then I will get back into running.  This sure is taking a long time.  But I guess if I want to run and ultramarathon, it just simply is going to take a long time.  As Yoda would say, "patient you must be."  And I will be.

I keep all this talk about Sarah Palin.  Here is what I see:  people who call themselves Democrats do what they can to find fault, and people who call themselves Republicans do what they can to find virtue.  If she were a Democrat, the same people would have different opinions about her.

I heard a Vermont Republican say recently, "politics is not about family."  That was a good example of justifying what you want to see.  Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for what was, in essence, a family matter.  I know they said it was about lying but that is hypocritical bung.  If they cared so much about lying then our current president would have been impeached long ago.

Sarah Palin is far from perfect.  I think she is scary, in fact.  But those who have already decided to vote Republican will find her to be a saint.  They will claim that she represents average Americans, just like the wealthy John McKain who rails against what he calls the elite.  The elite in this country are mostly Republicans but you won't hear them talk about that.  Sarah Palin fits right into that crowd.

I will not vote for the McKain/Palin ticket.  Lots of people will.  If McKain gets elected, I may have to consider moving to Sweden.  I know Americans are not that bright, but sheesh, after Bush, how could you in good conscience vote Republican.  Unless you have already justified why their elitist policies benefit you.