:: Ray's Periodic Rantings ::

:: Sunday, June 30, 2002 ::

Hey, I didn't do bad today (see 6/29/02 list of things to do). The house cleansing went well (happy to talk about it if anyone asks). It was too blazing hot to mow the lawn, but I got some pruning and weeding done, repressurized Betty's plumbing, and found the leak, but the hardware stores were closed by the time I got there, so I will have to wait until tomorrow to try to fix it, for want of a hose clamp. But the good news is that other than that, I have running water, without being hooked up to a city water feed. Yeah! Oh, and I got the microbrews: New Glarus Spotted Cow and Bell's Oberon. Mmmm.

I am listening to Le Show, Harry Shearer's Sunday night show on NPR. He raises cynicism about current events to new highs. Fun.
:: Ray 11:15 PM [+] ::
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Yesterday afternoon, I picked gooseberries in the yard and baked a gooseberry pie, in anticipation of lunch today with Raul & Carolyn & Bill, and dinner with Brian & Sann. The pie went over pretty well, and was very tasty. The recipe came from Carolyn's grandmother's cookbook, and I am happy to pass it along, if anyone asks. The hardest part is coming by the gooseberries, which I have never seen in a store. Note to self, next time keep the flour in the filling to 4 heaping or 8 level tablespoons.

Tasks for tomorrow: house cleansing with Chuck, buy microbrews for family reunion in SF, repressurize plumbing in Betty and investigate toilet water supply leak, mow lawn, prune and weed a bit... Wow, this list is getting long for a Sunday. We will see how much gets done.
:: Ray 11:30 PM [+] ::
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This week's Doonesbury started with Mike's daughter reading the "crime pages" in the newspaper, which turn out to be the business section. Then in the real world, ironically, we started hearing about WorldCom, and some of the largest fraud ever committed. I intend to keep my retirement money in the market, responsibly spread across several types of mutual funds, but I am a bit more nervous about this commitment than I used to be. I maintain long term confidence that the economy and the market will come back, but this is hard to do in the face of fraud and deception on a massive scale like this. I have to scratch my head and ask, "who put the foxes in charge of watching the chicken coop?" Could any of this be attributable to the Republican push for deregulation toward the end of the last century? Put this under the category of things that make you go, "hmmmm."
:: Ray 2:11 PM [+] ::
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Summer is here (has been for a couple of days now). In the medicine work that I do, this signals a shift in energy from a time for new life and beginnings to a time for looking at the details of life, among other things. Summer has always been the season that I least understood. This year I have a different perspective, and it makes sense to me that this Summer is a time to follow through and complete things. Mary and I had planned to fix up Betty (the Airstream) and go to Burning Man again, and that is exactly what I intend to do, mourning and celebrating her at the same time.

Toward that end, over the past few days I have managed to (with great help from Mike K and Molly) get most of Betty's plumbing happy again, give her a new floor (Morocco Slate linoleum tile!), and test some of the actual hardware for the planned neon project. I am happy with the progress we made.

Now I am tired and it is time for sleep. Bucky agrees, and I think Tess will come around.
:: Ray 12:29 AM [+] ::
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Hey! According to my 2002 Airstream wall calendar, the Wally Byam Caravan Club was incorporated on this day in 1957. Go Airstream. Wheeee!

On a somber note, I really wish that both the Israelis and Palestinians would figure it out that killing each other isn't going to gain anything for either side. I don't believe in an otherworldly place called Hell, but rather that hell is right here on Earth, and we make it ourselves. Tragically and ironically, both peoples are doing a really good job of it in a place traditionally thought of as the Holy Land.
:: Ray 11:08 AM [+] ::
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Dear Bill Gates:

Your products might be dear to the hearts of ultranerds who love the intricacies of drivers and registries and arcania, but they are a bane to those of us who actually want to use our computers to get something done (imagine that...getting computer work done without the computer getting in the way)! How corporate America has accepted your shoddy workmanship as a de facto standard is completely beyond me. Not only is your software bloated and lame, it doesn't even work!

I just killed two hours on a multiple catch-22 situation, with no progress to show for it. I need to download a file (to big for a floppy) from the internet to an IBM ThinkPad, running Windows 98, 2nd ed. I have a NetGear ethernet card and 802.11b card for it. Both have worked in the past, but bloody Windows somehow fouled up their drivers, and now neither works. I can't find the CD to reinstall one of them, and the one I do have the CD for, the hardware wizard first asks for the Windows disk, which I also have, but Windows can't find the file it is looking for on it. Nice.

Of course I could probably burn the file onto a CD or segment it so it will fit onto two floppies, but it is absurd that I should have to, and I absolutely resent the runaround that your software just gave me. Now, before you go telling me that Windows XP will solve all my problems, tell me this: will it run on my old ThinkPad without oodles of RAM, and will it run after 30 days if I don't want to tell you lots of details about who I am and where I live? I didn't think so.

Your products suck, Mr Gates, and I consider myself fortunate that I have to use them as little as I do.

Sincerely,

Ray Koltys
Happy Macintosh User
:: Ray 1:31 AM [+] ::
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In the United States, we live in a republic with an elected government that serves us, guided by the Constitution, or so we hope. There have been times when government has lost sight of what is and what is not acceptable in the pursuit of its aims. The Nixon administration and Ford administrations were chock full of men who operated in an atmosphere of secrecy and stonewalling, apparently not believing that they should be subject to oversight or accountability for their actions, despite the fact that they are supposed to be working for the people. Among these were, surprise, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld! In a fascinating Salon article, Bruce Shapiro compares the current administration to the infamous one. And, in his funny but scary way, Tom Tomorrow lampoons John Ashcroft's role in the eroding of our civil rights in today's This Modern World.
:: Ray 11:15 AM [+] ::
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I just watched the movie Tombstone (1993) on cable. I am usually a sucker for a western, but this was unbelievably bad. It was also one of those movies that makes it so hard to play the seven degrees game with movie actors. It had everyone in it, from oldsters like Charlton Heston to middle agers like Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer to a young Brendan Frasier, with Dana Delaney thrown in for bad measure (I sure miss the China Beach days). Sam Elliott, Billy Zane, Bill Paxton, Jason Priestly, Michael Biehn, Harry Caray Jr, Billy Bob Thornton, narration by Robert Mitchum, it goes on ad nauseum. Only one writer is credited, but it feels like there were a dozen or so, because the script is almost completely incomprehensible. Highly disrecommended.

I have been reevaluating paying for premium channels, and this helped tip the scales against keeping them, even if it means I miss out on The Sopranos.
:: Ray 9:29 PM [+] ::
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Yesterday the Senate Republicans failed to make permanent Prez Bush's rollback of the Estate Tax. The measure would have violated the Senate's budget rules, so 60 votes were required. They only got 54, and I am happy for it.

There is no right to property after you die written into the Constitution, as I understand it. The Framers did this on purpose. America was intended as a meritocracy, where everyone starts out on roughly equal footing and has to pull his own weight, not an aristocracy, where an elite class is maintained by the inheritance of vast fortunes. Of all people, even William Gates Sr. (Bill's dad) and Warren Buffett agree that this is a good idea.

The Republicans plan to try to use this vote against the Democrats in the fall elections. If you start to hear this rhetoric, ask yourself why they are so passionate about repealing a tax that affects only the very wealthiest of Americans and that is so important to our country's fiscal health. Just whom do they represent, and what do they stand for? On this issue it looks like the answer is rich folks, crippling deficits, and the corresponding high interest rates. I think I will vote Democratic.
:: Ray 1:48 PM [+] ::
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I had a nice dinner with Molly and her neighbor, Tom, tonight. Beer can chicken. Good bird. Good conversation.

I took the train home. While waiting on the platform, a guy tried to engage me in conversation, implying that he was glad other people were around because he would be nervous about being there alone. I tried to be as nice about it as possible, but all I could think was how much of a suburban pansy he must be (and simultaneously how I hope I never get like that). The platform was a Metra platform (that’s our mellow suburban commuter train service here in Chicago) in my old neighborhood, Bucktown, which these days is yuppie fantasyland. I have never felt threatened there, and almost can’t imagine it happening. As I walked away, looking around at one of my favorite things -- old railroad stuff -- I wondered if I was being anti-social. The guy seemed nice enough and I didn’t get that he was interested in anything other than an innocent chat. I just didn’t feel like talking. He ended up getting his chat with the next guy on the platform. I got to be introspective, something entirely appropriate for me, where I am in life at the moment.

Near me on the train was a couple, heading way out to the far ‘burbs. It looked like she had had quite a few too many and was not feeling well at all. He was trying to keep her shushed and steady on her seat. It looked like this was not an uncommon occurrence.

As raw a deal as I can believe I have gotten -- Mary died just over six months ago -- in some respects I have nothing to complain about and lots of things to celebrate. I have loved, been loved in return, and I like my life.

Oh yeah, and this morning I noticed roses had already opened in the back yard, and there are already red strawberries. They will be ready to pick in another day or two. Yeah!
:: Ray 11:31 PM [+] ::
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I just got back from the catalog industry show, at McCormick Place here in Chicago. There were not a lot of happy faces. There is a bit of a pall over the industry, what with the economy the way it is and the threat of more terrorism and all. The only people smiling were the folks at UPS, salivating over all the new business they will get as a result of the coming USPS rate hikes.

I haven't finished stripping Betty's floor yet, but last night I did successfully test some components of my various neon projects for Burning Man this year. Weather permitting, I will do some more stripping and/or testing tonight. I have to hustle on the floor project. I was hoping to have it done before Mike K gets in town next week, but I will be camping with the Boy Scouts this weekend. Hmmmm.
:: Ray 3:46 PM [+] ::
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Cold is almost kicked, but Biomom can still hear it in my voice, a week and a half later. Ack.

I had a quiet weekend. Mowed the lawn. Napped with kitties. Worked on stripping the floor in Betty, to prepare her for new linoleum tile. And went to a political barbecue for Paul Wellstone at Jan Schakowsky's in Evanston.

Paul is the progressive democratic senator from Minnesota who is targeted in the next election by Prez Bush and the Republicans. They have hand picked his opponent and are feeding him obscene amounts of money. If they retake the Senate, the next two years will be hell, and it will take a decade or more to undo the damage. Needless to say, I intend to support Paul any way I can.
:: Ray 12:27 PM [+] ::
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I am still trying to kick the cold.

Life can feel overwhelming at times. There is so much to get done, so much to learn first. Where does the time go? With all this constantly changing web technology, how does anyone keep up?

Time for bed.
:: Ray 11:26 PM [+] ::
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This is not an auspicious beginning to my foray into blogging, but here it is. I am home sick today with a cold/touch of food poisoning, or something. Ack. I don't have a lot to say that seems profound at the moment, so I will leave it at that.
:: Ray 3:20 PM [+] ::
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