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On Deck Circle
ColdMarble Musings
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Saturday, June 16, 2001I stayed away from the hospice house intentionally until tonight. The public excuse was simple. With my wife gone all the time caring after her sister, someone had to stay here and mind the home, and the pets. But that wasn't the real reason. Internally I was uneasy. Hospice was exactly what I expected. It smells of death. The walls are stained with a million tears. The floors creak from the burden of sorrow and fear. It emotes pain and suffering, sadness and despair, grief and loss; it emotes giving up. Hospice isn't a place for someone with depression to hang out. I think at gut level I knew that going in. My intuition was confirmed. Lynn can lay guilt on me all she wants if it helps her feel stronger. Call me selfish; but I won't be going back. Others in a better state of mind than I are more suited to offering comfort in this time of family need. I will continue to sit at home and be the information hub. The phone has been ringing non-stop for the past week. I can handle that. Eventually there will be a wake, and there will
be a funeral. I will put on my black suit and place my hand on the shoulder of
those who have been stronger than me. It will be their turn to grieve and be sad,
and it will be my turn to carry the message of living. AORTAL Link of the Day: Logic-Bomb Add some lucid confusion. Your comments appreciated. Friday, June 15, 2001Yep, I'm #14 in the Webloggers Trivial Pursuit Game. One summer when I was in high school we enjoyed many feverish water battles using high-pressure fire extinguishers. It became quite the challenge driving all over town looking for opposing teams of friends to douse. Occasionally, we invited the citizenry into our little game. For instance ... the lady walking out of the beauty salon ... we flattened her neatly coifed hair. She was not amused. Witch. Hopped in her car, followed us up the street and took our license number. The police were waiting when we arrived home later in the day. I ended up paying a fine and restitution for a new hairdo, but it was worth it for the look on her face. The worst thing? The dang police confiscated our fire extinguishers. The days of basking in the sun in pursuit of the perfect tan are over. Today, we know the sun can do irreparable harm to the skin. To know just exactly what that shiny daytime star is doing to you, head on over to Sunprotection.org. It's filled with facts about ole Sol and sun exposure — and most importantly, ways you and your family can protect yourselves while still enjoying summer fun. Me? I try to avoid the sun. I much prefer that nice phosphor burn I get from my EV700. Man, my hiney is sore. I don't have a lot of meat there to cushion the puncture of hormone laden sharps administered by a nurse with a mischievous grin. Say, do any of you physicians or nurses out there have any idea how long before I might notice any effect from the testosterone injection? It sure would be nice if this helps solve my energy crisis. AORTAL Link of the Day: Realm of Redheads Add some lucid confusion. Your comments appreciated. Thursday, June 14, 2001
If you know of a government information technology project that is providing extraordinarily good service to the public or is exemplary in some other positive way, nominate the team that did it for one of the Government Technology Leadership Awards. For some reason, I was thinking of fairy tales, like this one from The Brothers Grimm: Rapunzel, Rapunzel. Let down your golden hair. As soon as she had let it down the Prince climbed up. At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man came in, for she had never seen one before; but the Prince spoke to her so kindly, and told her at once that his heart had been so touched by her singing, that he felt he should know no peace of mind till he had seen her. Very soon Rapunzel forgot her fear ... What makes you think about fairy tales? AORTAL Link of the Day: Freemonk Add some lucid confusion. Your comments appreciated. Wednesday, June 13, 2001The response to AORTAL has been encouraging, particularly this analysis by Joe Jenett. Complete understanding of web karma and what goes around comes around is a primary reason Joe's CoolSTOP has been so successful all these many years. Joe, here's hoping more will get it. Last chance to get in the Blogger Trivial Pursuit Game. As pleasant as the past couple days were, this one reminded me not to get comfortable. Have you ever prepared a last will and testament? How about in a race against the clock? It's no wonder lawyers get hundreds of bucks for these things. My wife's sister is facing imminent death from terminal cancer and doesn't have a will. So Lynn volunteered my services. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to do someone a favor, especially under trying circumstances, but this isn't the one that immediately comes to mind. After much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, it is complete. God willing, she will live long enough to sign it. Prayer graciously accepted. Got the most recent lab test results back and we have another discovery. My testosterone level is quite low and I will begin monthly injections immediately. Watch out ladies; I'll be supercharged now. Also have an appointment with an endocrinologist, but the earliest they could take me is October. Good thing nothing appears in danger of falling off. AORTAL Link of the Day: Able Muse Life's little instructions: Be there when people need you. Add some lucid confusion. Your comments appreciated. Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Life's little instructions: Count your blessings. Add some lucid confusion. Your comments appreciated. Monday, June 11, 2001I spent nearly half the day totally enjoying what I was doing, so this is all you get. Sorry. Funny is funny. Enjoy. AORTAL Link of the Day: Sebastien Chevrel Life's little instructions: Don't be afraid to say, "Thank you." Add some lucid confusion. Your comments appreciated. Sunday, June 10, 2001One mystery solved: it's jenáy. Joe may not say a whole lot, but he picks his topics carefully and when ready, watch out. For example, this foray into the latest browsing annoyance. "There’s something raw, young and refreshing about the Net," says 80 year old commentator Hugh Downs. "I see it as a great opportunity and challenge." He says he envisions a day when the Internet will overshadow television. "It will absorb everything" - that is, all media. Y'know, I always kinda liked that guy for some reason. Now I know why.
News last week that Four Sites Dominate Online Time saddened me. There are those who feel comfortable in their Internet cocoon. They allow others to tell them where to go and what to see. It's mindless devotion and doesn't require any work. Apparently some even go so far as to discourage personal development. They argue, if you haven't heard of it, then it's certainly not worthy. Why waste your time? Horse hockey. I'm of the view that more is better when it comes to online content. It may not all be top quality, but it's there for me to decide; for you to decide. I like to explore, to broaden my horizons and capacity for understanding. I do my little part trying to share what I find that may be of interest, and encourage others to do the same. Some happen to agree with that philosophy, including Lisa Whirrett, developer of Just Lisa. The other day, she came down hard on those who try to stifle the little guy. It's an ever expanding Web world and Lisa believes that opens a realm of possibilities. So do I. Here's a snippet or two from Lisa's mind: "Some people are just insistent that *they* own the web, *they* call the shots. How dare anyone do something fun without clearing it through the self-proclaimed big shots first ... to encourage you to read a little deeper than just the front page so you can learn about someone new." "Every single site appeals to somebody. Some sites have more admirers than others. Some just aren't well known yet. Some don't wish to be known. Even if a site gets one hit a day, that's one person who pays a monthly fee for access to the world wide web. People please, that's the whole point. It's world wide. There's a gazillion sites covering every topic available. No one owns it in its entirety. We all pay rent on our little piece of it and are therefore entitled to do what we want with our space. If you are too small-minded to grasp that concept, I'd appreciate it if you'd step off my portion." — Lisa Whirrett Life's little instructions: Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know." Add some lucid confusion. Your comments appreciated. |
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Copyright © 1997-2004 Internet Brothers. Not that you'd want any of it.
Sunday means Bluzz of the Week. Through this feature,
I'm searching for the brightest, funniest, most controversial or otherwise intriguing
comments from the previous week's forums, journals and blogs. As the world becomes a
smaller place through the magic of telecommunications, conversely the World Wide Web
is becoming much larger for the same reason. Individual creativity and the enabling
of personal publishing are exploding, but are some trying to stifle this online
expression? If you find a true treasure you'd like to nominate for future
Bluzz of the Week, even if you wrote it yourself,