Up Next

Posted

1/20/2006

Updated

1/20/2006

Keywords

Blogging, Humor

Viewed 1121 times

Welcome To My Blog, James Frey

Okay. I've finally done it. Started a blog, that is. The name of this blog comes from a bit of current-event trivia that will undoubtedly be forgotten within six months. A Million Little Pieces is a book by James Frey that has gotten him and his publisher, Random House, into a bit of trouble. It was sold as non-fiction and picked up by Oprah's Book Club and so sold millions of copies. There was one little catch. It turns out it didn't really happen. It was a novel.

Posted

1/24/2006

Updated

1/24/2006

Keywords

Evolution, Intelligent Design, Personal History, Science

Viewed 1151 times

Wisdom Teeth and Intelligent Design

Yesterday afternoon I went to the dentist. More specifically, I went to the Arizona School of Dentistry, where I get cut-rate dental work done by students. This sounds scary, but I had an emergency tooth-pulling done there and it was a lot less painful than the teeth I had pulled when I was in Navy boot camp.

Posted

1/25/2006

Updated

1/25/2006

Keywords

Biography, Elizabeth Jane Cochran, Nelly Bly

Viewed 1142 times

Bring The Broom Along

1882 was far from the world of Lois Lane. It was considered "unseemly" for a woman to use her private name in public. Elizabeth Cochran's editor chose "Nelly Bly" from the Steven Foster song. We don't know if Elizabeth took her cue from her namesake's broom, but she got busy cleaning up Pittsburgh by inventing investigative reporting.

Posted

1/26/2006

Updated

1/26/2006

Keywords

Religious Politics

Viewed 1125 times

Thou Shalt Not Argue

Yesterday, the new Pope, Benedict, released his first encyclical.

Posted

1/28/2006

Updated

1/28/2006

Keywords

Historical Jesus, Religious Politics

Viewed 1117 times

Where Are The Photos?

An Italian court is about to decide whether Jesus of Nazareth is an historical character, or a fictional one. Italy has a law against "abusal of popular belief" and the plaintiff has accused his ex-friend, a priest, of conning the public. The trial has sparked the usual division of people into "believers" and "non-believers". The believers have faith on their side. The non-believers have facts. Unfortunately, faith usually trumps facts. Otherwise, why would fundamentalist Christians still believe that gay marriage would destroy the world as we know it?

Posted

1/31/2006

Updated

1/31/2006

Keywords

Gay Rights, Religious Politics

Viewed 1119 times

Shut Up About Human Rights!

The United Nations allows about 3000 groups to come before it and speak on subjects of concern. These groups include the International Red Cross, for example. Which groups can be heard by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is controlled by the NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations) committee. 18 nations are on this committee, including the United States.

Posted

2/2/2006

Updated

2/2/2006

Keywords

Freedom Of Speech, Patriot Act, Personal History, Sedition

Viewed 1129 times

Playground Bullies

I remember a kid from the schoolyard playground. Danny loved to play King of the Mountain. He loved it, because he always managed to be king. Our "mountain" was a one-foot high lump in the playground, and he would gleefully, and with excessive force, push anyone who tried to replace him there.

However, when one of the kids got hurt by this shoving and complained to the playground nun that he'd been pushed, Danny got very upset. "I did not!" he cried. "We were just playing!" And then, in a flash of brilliance, he added, "That kid just doesn't like me! He's trying to get me in trouble! He's always trying to get me in trouble!"

The teacher, whose only goal was to keep things quiet for three more minutes until the bell rang and these hellions would return to their classrooms and out of her hair, was neither convinced nor incensed by Danny's argument. But he learned plenty from it. And the next time we gathered for King of the Mountain, before we could play he made us all promise not to complain if we got pushed too hard—otherwise, we couldn't play.

Posted

2/3/2006

Updated

2/3/2006

Keywords

Abramhoff, Bob Ney, Humor, Republican Corruption

Viewed 1120 times

A Sign of the Times

Seriously, how many indicted Republicans will it take before the good Republican citizens of this country admit they've been had?

Posted

2/6/2006

Updated

2/6/2006

Keywords

9/11, Bush Crime Family, Conspiracy, Republican Corruption

Viewed 1145 times

Fear of Facts

As a nation, we are currently living in a shadow world where suspension of disbelief is the only ticket in. In this world, Muslim terrorists attacked the United States in 2001, leading to a justified "war on terror" and invasion of two sovereign nations to prevent their attacking us with weapons of mass destruction. Leading us in this fight is the brave and noble George W. Bush, winner of two elections and possessor of a mandate to right wrongs and bring safety to the American people, in spite of the best efforts of liberal scum to thwart him.

Posted

2/9/2006

Updated

2/9/2006

Keywords

Mohammed Cartoons

Viewed 1128 times

Bomb Hats Away!

Whenever I find the mass media monopolizing its airwaves and headlines with the same story, hammered over and over, it makes me wonder what they're trying to hide.

Posted

2/10/2006

Updated

2/10/2006

Keywords

Bush Crime Family, Conspiracy, Dick Cheney

Viewed 1120 times

Sleight of Hand

As most people know, magicians do their tricks by a technique called "misdirection." That is, if the magician's right hand is about to grasp a card or uncage a dove, the audience will have their attention riveted to the magician's left hand or foot or something, anything, but his or her right hand.

For almost six years, George W. Bush, fighting his ill-defined "war on terror," has made vague claims that this "war" is succeeding; that his tactics have saved American lives from attacks by terrorists.

Posted

2/12/2006

Updated

2/12/2006

Keywords

9/11, Conspiracy, Dick Cheney, Project For A New American Century

Viewed 1140 times

Strange and Amazing Coincidences

Conspiracy theorists are a strange bunch. They see what any normal person would identify as simple coincidence, and perceive a conspiracy. Here are some facts regarding the 9/11 attacks, and their simple explanations...

Posted

2/13/2006

Updated

2/13/2006

Keywords

Viewed 1123 times

Cheney's Got A Gun

Anyone can have an accident, right?

What separates the men from the boys is how quickly a man owns up to it.

Posted

2/15/2006

Updated

2/15/2006

Keywords

Metaphysics

Viewed 1128 times

Ghosts

There are several levels of ghostliness if you will. The shallowest level is merely a shadow of a tragic event, imposed upon space-time. Such a ghost is a loop, running over and over, like the apparitions you hear about of a woman falling downstairs. There is no intelligence to that kind of ghost, same as there's no intelligence in one's shadow.

At deeper levels, some ghosts really are the spirits of people who don't understand their own condition—they may not understand they have died, or may have refused to "go to the light" for whatever reason; may even have insisted on staying for revenge or devotion or babysitting or whatever. These entities do have intelligence, but are confused; and we can help them if we will.

Posted

2/16/2006

Updated

2/16/2006

Keywords

Metaphysics, Personal History, Spiritualism

Viewed 1153 times

Marguerite

It was 1970; I was nineteen and had maintained a friendship with Don and Margaret Speck since my high school days. Margaret had been a waitress at the restaurant at which I had been a busboy, and her husband, Don, a night clerk at a local motel. However, he had once been a professional hypnotist and the three of us shared mutual interests in UFOs, ghosts, and reincarnation. In fact, it was Margaret who had recommended and loaned me the first books I'd read on Edgar Cayce: There Is A River by Thomas Sugrue, and Many Mansions by Gina Cerminara.

Don and Margaret decided to join the Spiritualist Church officially, and to that end moved to a "Spiritualist camp" in the central Florida town of Cassadaga. There they got a 99-year lease on a great, old house, and I visited them there several times.

Posted

2/17/2006

Updated

2/17/2006

Keywords

Religious Politics, Spirituality

Viewed 1127 times

A Man Without A Country

"Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." A lot of people think Jesus said that, because it is so much the sort of thing Jesus liked to say. But it was actually said by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, five hundred years before there was that greatest and most humane of human beings, named Jesus Christ. The Chinese also gave us, via Marco Polo, pasta and the formula for gunpowder. The Chinese were so dumb they only used gunpowder for fireworks. And everybody was so dumb back then that nobody in either hemisphere even knew that there was another one.

Posted

2/21/2006

Updated

2/21/2006

Keywords

History, Marijuana

Viewed 1130 times

Reefer Sadness

In colonial America, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous and were grown as an ornamental plant called the "love apple." The odor of the leaves made people think it was poisonous. It wasn't until the 1800s that tomatoes made their way into American cookbooks, always with instructions that they be cooked for at least three hours or else they "will not lose their raw taste."

Personally, I am not a big fan of tomatoes. But considering that I recently co-authored a political thriller in which the major characters grow medical marijuana (and smoke a little, too), one might assume that I am an experienced user of this other, so-called, "poisonous" plant. I am not. But marijuana's press has been just as misleading as that of the tomato once was.

Posted

2/22/2006

Updated

2/22/2006

Keywords

Religious Politics

Viewed 1132 times

Religion and Politics

The reason we are told that religion and politics are topics to avoid, is obvious once one attains adulthood: Of everything one might discuss, these are the only two subjects on which people are so unreasoning, so illogical, as to come to blows over a disagreement.

Why is it that there should be such a fundamental difference between these two topics and any other—for example, the cross-pollination of roses or whether Canada should be sanctioned for exporting Celine Dion or whether Chevy trucks outperform Ford? That last example shows it isn't just because there are no clear answers. There's no clear answer to the question "Do we really need another reality show?" but people don't actually wrap their fingers around each others' throats and squeeze until the last vestige of life has evaporated over that, either.

Posted

2/24/2006

Updated

2/24/2006

Keywords

Current Events

Viewed 1134 times

Case of the Runaway Emotions

It was almost a year ago that Jennifer Wilbanks, a young woman who was about to get married, instead embarked on a cross-country journey on which she claimed to have been abducted, but in fact had merely freaked out over her impending wedding. Worse, she didn't do this on the spur of the moment; she had purchased a ticket to Las Vegas several days before and had even arranged for a friend to drive her to the bus station.

Most of us, when we heard the whole story, could have easily ticked off more rational solutions to the problem:

Posted

2/27/2006

Updated

2/27/2006

Keywords

Adolf Hitler, Conspiracy, History, Republican Corruption

Viewed 1153 times

Wolf In The Fold

In myth and in kids' cartoons we have all seen the image of the wolf who disguises himself as a sheep to infiltrate the flock and turn it into a fast-food buffet. We even use the phrase, "Wolf in sheep's clothing" to describe a person who presents himself as one thing but is, in fact, another. However, we think of this as a rare occurrence and one that is usually quickly recognized.

When that belief is held by the sheep it is almost always fatal...for the sheep.

Posted

3/1/2006

Updated

3/1/2006

Keywords

Diebold, Republican Corruption, Stolen Election

Viewed 1131 times

Stop, Thief!

Does this ever really happen? On a crowded sidewalk, a thief snatches a woman's purse and dashes away. "He stole my purse!" the woman cries, and some hero takes off in pursuit, tackles the would-be villain, and rescues the purse to the applause of onlookers who, despite not helping, are pleased the woman got her purse back.

Posted

3/2/2006

Updated

3/2/2006

Keywords

Religious Politics

Viewed 1120 times

Sea Change

As you drive from Miami to Key West, down around the swamps and cypress islands of Key Largo, there's a place where the road is a causeway with water on each side . The most stunning thing about this causeway is the difference between the east and west sides. Both sides are viewed through thickets of scrubby bushes; both bodies of water are dotted with palm tree-bearing islets and, if the wind is blowing, saucy little whitecaps. In fact, it is the same body of water, or should be; occasionally the causeway gives way to a drawbridge and the water flows freely between.

Posted

3/3/2006

Updated

3/3/2006

Keywords

Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Humor

Viewed 1152 times

Why Gay Marriage Should Be Illegal

Being gay is not natural.
Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

Posted

3/4/2006

Updated

3/4/2006

Keywords

Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Religious Politics, The Bible

Viewed 1142 times

Gays In The Bible

Take all this fuss over gay marriage. Christian extremists who want to impose their own lifestyle and beliefs on me insist the Bible defines marriage as being between "one man and one woman" and that is their basis for the oppressive laws they propose. Well, even if true, that shouldn't matter because the Constitution of the United States is the basis for our law, not the Boy Scout Handbook, Redbook, and certainly not the Bible.

Even so, they're still wrong. The Bible isn't nearly as clear-cut as fundamentalists would like to think on the subject of marriage. In fact, it describes eight different types!

Posted

3/6/2006

Updated

3/6/2006

Keywords

Conservatives, Humor, Republican Corruption

Viewed 1137 times

Banner Decade For Nitwits

When I was growing up, I learned to identify previous decades by the epithets that had been assigned to them by the Columbia Record Club. "The Gay Nineties", "The Roaring Twenties", "The Swinging Forties" and so on were both names of record collections and descriptions of life in those long-gone eras.

Posted

3/8/2006

Updated

3/8/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History, UFOs

Viewed 1235 times

A Novel Hobby

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

A Novel Hobby

Posted

3/9/2006

Updated

3/9/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History, UFOs

Viewed 1133 times

Bruises and Burns

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Bruises and Burns

Posted

3/10/2006

Updated

3/10/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1175 times

What Big Eyes You Have

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

What Big Eyes You Have

Posted

3/11/2006

Updated

3/11/2006

Keywords

Edna Mae Cilwa, Personal History

Viewed 1019 times

Goodbye, Edna Mae Brown Cilwa

This page has been permanently moved to

Goodbye, Edna Mae Brown Cilwa

Posted

3/13/2006

Updated

3/13/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1140 times

The Fifth Pill

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

The Fifth Pill

Posted

3/14/2006

Updated

3/14/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1158 times

Support Group

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Support Group

Posted

3/15/2006

Updated

3/15/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Missing Time, Personal History

Viewed 1173 times

Missing Time

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Missing Time

Posted

3/17/2006

Updated

3/17/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1144 times

What Are The Odds?

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

What Are The Odds?

Posted

3/20/2006

Updated

3/20/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Missing Time, UFOs

Viewed 1146 times

Awakening

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Awakening

Posted

3/21/2006

Updated

3/21/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1139 times

The Morning After

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

The Morning After

Posted

3/22/2006

Updated

3/22/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1124 times

Memories

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Memories

Posted

3/23/2006

Updated

3/23/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Computer Forums, Personal History

Viewed 1142 times

CyberDramas

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

CyberDramas

Posted

3/24/2006

Updated

3/24/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1189 times

Whistling Dixie

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Whistling Dixie

Posted

3/27/2006

Updated

3/27/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1147 times

Cast of Characters

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Cast of Characters

Posted

3/28/2006

Updated

3/28/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1223 times

Starry, Starry Night

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Starry, Starry Night

Posted

3/29/2006

Updated

3/29/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1154 times

A Strange Friend

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

A Strange Friend

Posted

3/30/2006

Updated

3/30/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Grand Canyon, Personal History, Whitewater Rafting

Viewed 1144 times

North Canyon Contact

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

North Canyon Contact

Posted

3/31/2006

Updated

3/31/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Grand Canyon, Personal History, Whitewater Rafting

Viewed 1133 times

Back In The Closet

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Back In The Closet

Posted

4/3/2006

Updated

4/3/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Grand Canyon, Personal History, Whitewater Rafting

Viewed 1144 times

Not All Aliens Come In Ships

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Not All Aliens Come In Ships

Posted

4/5/2006

Updated

4/5/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Grand Canyon, Personal History, Whitewater Rafting

Viewed 1148 times

Living in Illusion

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Living in Illusion

Posted

4/6/2006

Updated

4/6/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Grand Canyon, Personal History, Whitewater Rafting

Viewed 1168 times

Heart Attack

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Heart Attack

Posted

4/7/2006

Updated

4/7/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1166 times

Night School

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Night School

Posted

4/10/2006

Updated

4/10/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History

Viewed 1144 times

Parallel Earths

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Parallel Earths

Posted

4/11/2006

Updated

4/11/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History, Spirituality

Viewed 1154 times

Final Exam

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Final Exam

Posted

4/12/2006

Updated

4/12/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History, Spirituality

Viewed 1127 times

Chain of Coincidence

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Chain of Coincidence

Posted

4/13/2006

Updated

4/13/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Grand Canyon, Personal History

Viewed 1137 times

Standing Wave

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Standing Wave

Posted

4/14/2006

Updated

4/14/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Grand Canyon, Personal History

Viewed 1141 times

The Green Room

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

The Green Room

Posted

4/16/2006

Updated

4/16/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Michael Manion, Personal History

Viewed 1197 times

Michael's Smile

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Michael's Smile

Posted

4/17/2006

Updated

4/17/2006

Keywords

Constitution, Current Events, Virginia Tech Shootings

Viewed 1140 times

Unexpected

As you must have heard by now, yesterday's tragic shootings at Virginia Technical Institute claimed the lives of 33, including the shooter. Unsurprisingly, some mainstream media pundits were already calling this the "worst mass shooting" in the history of the United States, although a few of those outlets qualified it as the worst mass civilian shooting, which conveniently brushes aside various massacres of Native Americans such as those at Sand Creek, Wounded Knee, and Marias (and others). In those massacres, the shooters were Army soldiers and the victims were people of color, and the media tends to ignore the entire act of genocide of this nation's first inhabitants, except for the occasional blockbuster movie.

Posted

4/18/2006

Updated

4/18/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Nibiruans, Personal History, Sumerians, Zecharia Sitchin

Viewed 1153 times

Ancient Visitors

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Ancient Visitors

Posted

4/20/2006

Updated

4/20/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Nibiruans, Personal History

Viewed 1135 times

Knowledge and Belief

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Knowledge and Belief

Posted

4/27/2006

Updated

4/27/2006

Keywords

Civil Rights, Constitution, Freedom Of Speech, Politics

Viewed 1135 times

Loose Lips Sink Shitty Politicians

Arizona Republican Congressman Rick Renzi has introduced an amendment into the bill authorizing intelligence programs for the coming year, that makes it illegal to leak secret information to the press. The amendment is non-binding, but urges the White House to take "firm action" against government employees (and ex-employees) who leak secrets to the press.

Posted

4/28/2006

Updated

4/28/2006

Keywords

Immigration, Politics

Viewed 1128 times

Language of the Heart

Today's crisis is the fact that someone has sung the United States' National Anthem in Spanish.

Posted

5/1/2006

Updated

5/1/2006

Keywords

Celestine Prophecy, Metaphysics, Movies, Spirituality

Viewed 1131 times

The Celestine Prophecy

We watched the new movie, The Celestine Prophecy, yesterday. By "we" I mean Michael and I, my ex-wife Mary, daughter Karen, friends Barbara and Peter, and Michael's sister Surya. The movie is still in limited release, so we had to see it in Tempe; and afterwards we gathered at Islands, an adjacent restaurant, to have dinner and discuss the movie.

Posted

5/9/2006

Updated

5/9/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Personal History, UFOs

Viewed 1139 times

Crazy Abductees

This page has been permanently moved to Night Roads: Experiences with Alien Abduction.

Crazy Abductees

Posted

5/10/2006

Updated

5/10/2006

Keywords

Personal History, Politics

Viewed 1114 times

Big Mouths

It was a small class, with no more than 20 students. One of them was named Gerry. He was slightly older than the rest of us, probably 22 to our average of 18. He was very good at appearing cool and at being the center of attention. However, for some reason, he took an instant dislike to me—and I'm talking about, before I even met him. Moreover, he decided to do something about it.

Posted

5/11/2006

Updated

5/11/2006

Keywords

Civil Rights, Politics

Viewed 1133 times

How Big Is Too Big?

The human eye can perceive about 16,000,000 different shades, except for Martha Stewart, who can perceive over 24,000,000.

Posted

5/12/2006

Updated

5/12/2006

Keywords

Michael Manion, Personal History

Viewed 1113 times

Michael's Graduation

Michael just graduated from Glendale Community College ...for the second time.

Posted

5/16/2006

Updated

5/16/2006

Keywords

Movies, Religious Politics

Viewed 1117 times

Mining the Da Vinci Lode

It may be that the ordinary person is the most likely to cause mayhem on behalf of dearly-held religious principles; note that no Pope ever got on horseback to lead a crusade; and not only has President Bush not fired a gun in Iraq—or in any other war—not a single member of his extended family has, either.

Posted

5/17/2006

Updated

5/17/2006

Keywords

Civil Rights, Humor, Politics

Viewed 1119 times

Terrorists On The Line

So now that we know the NSA is building the "world's largest database" of all our phone calls—from all time, according to the source who leaked the story to USA Today (presumably not over the phone)—many of us are mentally reviewing every phone call we've ever made, wondering if one of them will eventually come back to haunt us.

Posted

5/22/2006

Updated

5/22/2006

Keywords

Personal History

Viewed 1122 times

Zachary's 7th Birthday Trip

We decided to celebrate my grandson Zachary's birthday with a trip. The original plan was to rent a motor home, drive it to California, spend Saturday at Disneyland, Sunday at McGrath State Beach, and return in time for work Monday morning. I did the math about six weeks ago, and started putting aside the money for it, paying in advance where possible.

Posted

5/24/2006

Updated

5/24/2006

Keywords

Politics

Viewed 1123 times

Identity Theft

A cute series of ads running on TV these days shows a regular person—a guy at the gym, or a barber, or a housewife—speaking in a voice that clearly doesn't belong to that person. A black guy at the gym will have the voice and accent of a Valley girl, or a white housewife will sound like a Japanese teenager. The ads are intended to raise awareness of the new phenomenon of "identity theft" and a particular credit card that claims to insulate its customers from such a crime.

Posted

6/5/2006

Updated

6/5/2006

Keywords

Spirituality

Viewed 1131 times

Beauty and Tragedy

To understand life to this depth does require a degree of spiritual enlightenment, I think. It's hard for me to picture an atheist who could put death into this perspective, which may be why my atheist friends include the most compassionate people I know. For them, death is always a tragedy, the end of a story with no postscript.

Posted

6/6/2006

Updated

6/6/2006

Keywords

Gay Rights, Humor, Politics

Viewed 1129 times

The Ex-Dem Movement

Is being a Democrat a result of nature or nurture? Tonight's guest is Richard Gone, founder of the Ex-Dem Reparative Therapy movement, which claims over twelve former Democrats as members. Mr. Gone, your therapy is controversial at best, and many psychologists say you are trying to cure a condition that isn't an illness."

Posted

6/7/2006

Updated

6/7/2006

Keywords

Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Personal History

Viewed 1123 times

The Fact of Difference

I saw black people for the very first time when I was about five years old. We lived in New Jersey, and once every few months my parents would go shopping at a department store called "Two Guys." I say my parents went shopping, because they always left my sisters and me in the car for the hour or two they spent inside.

Posted

6/20/2006

Updated

6/20/2006

Keywords

Personal History

Viewed 1128 times

The New Pool

My spouse, Michael, first started talking about getting an above-ground pool when we moved into the new house in April. Actually, he first started talking about an in-ground pool; but after I repeatedly pointed out how that wasn't practical when one rents one's home, he relented and began pricing above-ground units at Costco and Sam's Club.

Posted

6/23/2006

Updated

6/23/2006

Keywords

Personal History, Vermont

Viewed 1180 times

Vermont: 1958

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

Vermont: 1958

Posted

6/26/2006

Updated

6/26/2006

Keywords

Arizona, Personal History, Salt River

Viewed 1170 times

Salt River Weekend

This past Thursday, our daughter, Dottie (who prefers to be called Elizabeth but so far that hasn't happened at our house) came, with her five-year-old daughter Cailey, for a three-week visit. So, this weekend, we made two trips to the river.

Posted

6/27/2006

Updated

6/27/2006

Keywords

Gay Rights, History

Viewed 1133 times

Stonewall

In the 1950s and 1960s, in New York, there was an uneasy balance struck between gay people's need to socialize and the preference of straight society that there be no gay people. A result was the gay ghetto of Greenwich Village, with its multitude of gay bars, and periodic raids by the police of these bars. The feeling was not unlike that of a Russian Jew at the end of the 1800s, trying to live a normal life in a usually peaceful village, never knowing if this would be the night the Cossacks would come through and imprison or kill him and his family.

Posted

6/28/2006

Updated

6/28/2006

Keywords

Metaphysics, Prayer, Religious Politics, Spirituality

Viewed 1142 times

The Annoying Power of Prayer

In 1999, the prestigious journal Archives of Internal Medicine published the results of a double-blind study in which it was shown that coronary patients who had been prayed for—even though they didn’t know it—were more likely to recover than those who were not.

Posted

6/29/2006

Updated

6/29/2006

Keywords

Gay Rights, Personal History, Religious Politics

Viewed 1117 times

The Return of Prissy Patsy

One day, as I sat waiting for my piano lesson, my classmate Patsy, the most popular girl in the class (as she had described herself to me) came out from her lesson and had to sit with me on Mrs. Capella's porch to wait for her mom. And she wasn’t reticent to talk to me. She had a long list of my shortcomings, and was eager to share them. In other words, she spent the next twenty minutes telling me exactly why I was a creep.

Posted

6/30/2006

Updated

6/30/2006

Keywords

Civil Rights, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Personal History

Viewed 1114 times

Changing The World

A few days ago, Dear Abby printed a letter from a man who was about to be married, and who had asked his gay brother to be his best man. The brother refused, on the grounds that, since he couldn't legally get married, he couldn't in good conscience attend a wedding until the discriminatory laws are changed.

Posted

7/3/2006

Updated

7/3/2006

Keywords

Constitution, History

Viewed 1123 times

Freedom

Independence Day does not celebrate "God and Country." It celebrates "Independence," specifically, the independence from Great Britain declared by the American colonies in 1776.

Posted

7/10/2006

Updated

7/10/2006

Keywords

Arthur Fiedler, History, Metaphysics, Music, Personal History

Viewed 1126 times

Good Mourning

Whenever I mentioned to anyone that Fiedler was deceased, they would be surprised. Apparently, I was the only person who'd actually heard his obituary. But given that I was in my early twenties and my friends were the same age and also pest control technicians, this wasn't too surprising

Posted

7/11/2006

Updated

7/11/2006

Keywords

Gay Rights, History, Metaphysics, Movies, Personal History, Spirituality, Superman

Viewed 1134 times

Superman Returns

But sometimes, when we least expect it—the Superman inside us returns.

Posted

7/12/2006

Updated

7/12/2006

Keywords

Arizona, Sedona

Viewed 1123 times

A Week In Sedona

Although we live in the Phoenix area, some friends who are going to stay in Sedona soon have asked me to compile a list of things that might be fun to see and do while they are there. Since Sedona, and Arizona, are so awesome, I thought I'd share that list with everyone.

Posted

7/21/2006

Updated

7/21/2006

Keywords

Gay Rights, Humor

Viewed 1132 times

In Favor of Panic Defenses

Predictably, organizations that support gays and lesbians also support the idea of disallowing a defense plan that makes the victim's sexual orientation the centerpiece of the trial. But I disagree. I just don't think we have enough panic defenses. I would support keeping the Gay Panic Defense as long as we also pass a Federal law to allow these additional panic defenses:

Posted

7/24/2006

Updated

7/24/2006

Keywords

Religious Politics, Spirituality

Viewed 1132 times

The God I Don't Believe In

These people cannot think for themselves. As children, they were punished when they tried. Like Pavlov's dog salivating when a bell rings, these people cringe at the thought of thinking independently. They require the approval of a group, such as their church or a named political party or a charismatic president or a self-described "jealous god."

Posted

7/27/2006

Updated

7/27/2006

Keywords

Music, Paul Simon, Personal History

Viewed 1125 times

Still Breathing After All These Years

How did this happen? I've known quite a few old people through the years. They eat mild foods to avoid upsetting their ulcers; have screen doors on their homes so they can leave the solid doors open; they know the names of the parents of the Lennon Sisters and have opinions about the young men they married. They do not listen to, or understand, rock 'n' roll. So how can an official old person be Paul Simon, the writer of The Boxer, The Sounds of Silence, Mrs. Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water?

Posted

8/8/2006

Updated

8/8/2006

Keywords

History, Music, Science, Sound Recording

Viewed 1149 times

Say What?

We've been told for at least three decades, with increasing stridency, that "intellectual property" is entitled to government protection; that corporations are entitled to hoard ideas, and that promoting this concept is the only path to innovation and prosperity that can be enjoyed by all. However, the story of the invention of sound recording tells quite a different story.

Posted

8/9/2006

Updated

8/9/2006

Keywords

History, Music, Science, Sound Recording

Viewed 1134 times

The Electric Ear

Early phonograph records were certainly interesting, but as an artistic medium they left much to be desired—specifically, decent sound. Records played on the first Gramophones sounded as if someone were singing at the end of a long pipe, from inside a sealed box. And, as long as the recordings were made acoustically—that is, mechanically—there wasn't much to be done to improve the quality of the recordings.

Posted

8/30/2006

Updated

8/30/2006

Keywords

Astronomy, Conspiracy, History, Nibiruans, Pluto, Science, Sumerians, Zecharia Sitchin

Viewed 1126 times

One Of Our Planets Is Missing

My goodness, such a fuss they're making! It's been a week since Pluto was demoted from Planet to Dwarf Planet, and this morning while riding in to work NPR had yet another essay—this one linking Pluto's downgrade to unsuccessful sports teams.

Posted

9/1/2006

Updated

9/1/2006

Keywords

History, Music, Science, Sound Recording

Viewed 1144 times

Listen To The Music

The mid-thirties saw the introduction of improved record players. Although gramophones and Victrolas, which had been built to last, remained in use, new players were introduced that could play several discs sequentially, without user intervention. They were called "record changers" and suspended a stack of records—typically six or more—above the turntable on a tall spindle. When the user started playing a stack, the spindle would allow a single disk to drop to the turntable, where it would gently fall on a cushion of air created by the falling disk itself. A mechanism would then place the tone arm at the beginning of the record. When the record ended, the tone arm was guided by the record's groove into a center area that signaled the tone arm to rise and return itself to its resting place while the next disk dropped on its own cushion of air atop the disk below, and the process was repeated. The spindle was designed to sense when no records remained, at which point the record changer would turn itself off.

Posted

9/13/2006

Updated

9/13/2006

Keywords

Arizona, Civil Rights, Constitution, Diebold, Elections, Personal History

Viewed 1136 times

Voting At The Primary

But first, I had to be identified. Arizona recently passed a controversial "voter identification" bill, which means a voter registration card isn't enough. So much for the American Constitution's declaration that a "universal ID card" will not be required. "May I see your papers, Herr Citizen?"

Posted

9/15/2006

Updated

9/15/2006

Keywords

Arizona, Constitution, Kent Knudson, Politics, Snowflake

Viewed 1130 times

Cattle Free, People Caged

When people are caged so that hamburger can roam free, something is seriously amiss.

Posted

11/21/2006

Updated

11/21/2006

Keywords

Gay Rights, Personal History, Religious Politics, Sexuality

Viewed 1133 times

Loathing

On every side, we find evidence that suppressed sexuality erupts in perverted sexuality, just as people who starve themselves dieting usually wind up binging. What would you expect? As human appetites, neither will be denied. Yet powerful churches continue to demand such repression.

Posted

11/30/2006

Updated

11/30/2006

Keywords

Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Personal History, Religious Politics

Viewed 1136 times

Whattyacallit

However, the argument that “marriage” has always meant “a man and a woman” is false. In pre-Communist China’s Fujian province, up to the second century in Europe, in ancient Rome and Greece, among Native North Americans, and in several African tribes, male-male marriages were common enough to be ritualized and documented.

Posted

12/4/2006

Updated

12/4/2006

Keywords

Music, Personal History, Vermont

Viewed 1128 times

Crank Up The Victrola

Previous posts have described how mechanical recordings were made and played, and how I myself owned a hand-cranked Victrola when I was a kid in Vermont. In today's post I'd like to reminisce about some of my favorite 78 rpm records.

So that you can enjoy these, too, I am going to include links to MP3s (or, in a couple of cases, MIDI files). In most cases, the MP3 was made from the original record, following the laws in effect when they were pressed. In other words, listen and enjoy but you may not use these recordings for commercial purposes.

Prior to moving to Vermont, my Dad, a true music lover, had always made sure I had a working phonograph and a supply of records to play on it. One time, exploring the house in that way only a six-year-old can do, I discovered a stash of 78s in his bottom dresser drawer. I was very excited, but he told me he intended to dole them out a few at a time, to make sure I wasn't overwhelmed with too many new songs at once. To ease my disappointment, he gave me the album at the top: Act 1 of Verde's Aida.

Posted

12/5/2006

Updated

12/5/2006

Keywords

Christmas, Personal History

Viewed 1123 times

Christmas Wish List

I hate making out these lists. Frankly, it seems like anyone who knows me well enough to be giving me a gift, should know what I might like. However, everyone who does know me, says they need a list. I do have a wish list at Amazon.com:

Posted

12/8/2006

Updated

12/8/2006

Keywords

Gay Rights, Humor, Religious Politics

Viewed 1124 times

Chatty Extremist Christians

When I was a kid, Mattel sold these dolls called Chatty Cathy. You pulled a string in the doll's back, and it would say something, like "Would you play with me?" I think there were eleven phrases or so, played back randomly, in June Foray's voice. (June was also the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel.) You couldn't have a real conversation, of course, because it's "response" had nothing to do with what you said to it. Exchanges went something like this:

Posted

12/15/2006

Updated

12/15/2006

Keywords

History, Internet Piracy, Movies, Music, Science

Viewed 1128 times

Pirate Movies

As early as 1398, the word "royalty" was borrowed into English (from the French roialte) to refer to the "office or position of a sovereign". In those days, the King owned everything. If you wanted to live on a bit of property, or cut down a tree, or hunt for a rabbit—you had to pay that royalty for the privilege. As centuries passed, people accepted "paying the royalty" as a fact of life. By 1839, the word was used to refer to paying any landowner (not just a King) for the use of a mine, and by 1857, payment to an author or composer for the use of his work.

Posted

12/18/2006

Updated

12/18/2006

Keywords

Christmas, Personal History

Viewed 1132 times

Christmas Letter 2006!

It's time again for your yearly recap of the adventures of the Cilwa-Manions.

Posted

12/19/2006

Updated

12/19/2006

Keywords

Hiking, Mary's Rock, Personal History, Shenandoah Mountains, Virginia

Viewed 1128 times

Mary's Rock

Mary's Rock is a favorite hiking spot in the Shenandoah National Park. Its popularity is partly because it's a fairly easy hike, partly because it offers a spectacular view from its summit, but mostly, I think, because it's so easy to get to. The trail head begins at the parking lot of the concession right at the entrance to the park, where US 211 crosses the Skyline Drive.

In 1984, I took my then-wife Mary, our four kids, and my Mom on the hike. Mom was 72 at the time, in good health, but, let's face it—she was 72. Nevertheless, she completely the hike successfully. Actually, she seemed in less discomfort at the hike's conclusion than I was.

Posted

12/22/2006

Updated

12/22/2006

Keywords

Christmas, New Jersey, Personal History

Viewed 1138 times

1957: Christmas

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

1957: Christmas

Posted

12/23/2006

Updated

12/23/2006

Keywords

Alien Abductions, Evolution, Health Care, Humor, Metaphysics, Religious Politics, UFOs

Viewed 1152 times

Layers

Fundamentalists want a simple universe in which everything happens at a level of their understanding, or it doesn't happen at all. New Agers appreciate a more sophisticated view in which an underlying, immanent divinity gives rise to a Universe in which the mechanism of evolution is the action of that underlying divinity.

Posted

12/27/2006

Updated

12/27/2006

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cruise, Humor, Movies, Personal History, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1150 times

Peril's of Paul's Grandson

My oldest daughter, Dorothy, has informed us she's going to be married. (She got engaged two or three years ago—I've lost track.) And, she's going to be married on a cruise ship. Since I haven't yet won the lottery, I can't afford to load all her friends and our family on board the cruise ship. Not, that is, as anything but galley slaves. So we're each paying our own way and thanking our preferred deities that she decided to cruise to the Caribbean, and not around the world.

Posted

12/28/2006

Updated

12/28/2006

Keywords

Conspiracy, Health Care, Science

Viewed 1136 times

Cracking The Corporate Shell

Originally, based on studies of contemporary indigenous peoples, mankind lived in smallish groups in which each person contributed to the welfare of all. We know from fossilized burials that our cousins, Homo Neanderthalensis, as well as our own ancestors of 50,000 years ago and more, cared for sick and injured members of their tribes. (Some fossils show evidence of serious, but mended, injuries.) In other words, cavemen had access to free health care.

Posted

12/29/2006

Updated

3/18/2006

Keywords

Blogging, Frontpage, Microsoft

Viewed 1159 times

The Passing of a Friend

Why can't I just keep using the copy of FrontPage that I own, you ask? Because FrontPage isn't a stand-alone product. In order to use most of its features, the server that hosts the site must be running FrontPage Extensions. And with the death of FrontPage, so die the extensions. With no updates to the extensions, servers running them will become increasingly subject to hacker attacks as more vulnerabilities are discovered.

Posted

1/4/2007

Updated

1/4/2007

Keywords

Apache Trail, Arizona, Hiking

Viewed 1175 times

Apache Trail Hike

We celebrated New Years' Day by going on a short hike. Not only was the hike short, but also most of the hikers. Present were Zachary, my grandson, his friends Lane, Brittany, Ashley and Billy, and me. The youngest was Ashley (6); the oldest was her brother, Billy (11). I decided to head out along the Apache Trail into the Superstition mountains, which begins not far from our house.

Posted

1/12/2007

Updated

1/12/2007

Keywords

Conspiracy, Freemasons

Viewed 1158 times

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far, away, there was a world that turned in natural balance, its sustainable tool-using population fed, clothed and housed in a simple manner that left much time for contemplation, artistic pursuits, and the enjoyment of life.

As years passed, these people invented government as a way to build works for the common good, like roads and medical schools and hospitals. But then, to enforce the rulings of these governments, religions and police departments and judges came along. And banking and business was not long in following, taking advantage of the opportunities the new government presented.

Among these people, four came up with an idea. One of them happened to be a judge, and another was a businessman, and one was a doctor and the last was a priest. And, by chance, each of them had been born without a conscience.

Posted

1/30/2007

Updated

1/30/2007

Keywords

Karen Hope Cilwa, Personal History

Viewed 1252 times

Happy Birthday, Karen

33 years ago today, dawned with the air of expectation that marks a "special" day...because we knew, even as we awakened, that our second child would be born that day.

Posted

2/6/2007

Updated

2/6/2007

Keywords

Atkins Diet, Personal History

Viewed 1143 times

A Waist Is A Terrible Thing To Mind

Two. Hundred. Fifty. Six.

That's how many pounds I weighed Sunday night. That's about sixty pounds overweight for me. It's also the most I've ever weighed.

Posted

2/9/2007

Updated

2/9/2007

Keywords

Historical Jesus, Religious Politics, The Bible

Viewed 1142 times

People Will Believe Anything

As an evolving language, new words get added to English all the time. One of the more recent is glurge, defined by Wikipedia as "describing a certain kind of melodramatic, saccharine story. The defining characteristic of glurge is that, while its purpose is to make the reader happy, the feel-good aspect is so overdone that some readers are likely to be nauseated rather than inspired."

Posted

2/14/2007

Updated

2/14/2007

Keywords

Metaphysics, Personal History, Spirituality

Viewed 1142 times

Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

One night a number of years ago, I was driving along a New Hampshire highway and found myself behind another vehicle. I was just beginning to pass it, when from my vantage point slightly to the other driver's left I saw—something—in the road ahead of him, dimly lit by his headlights. It was a pair of raccoons crossing the road from right to left. One was safe, almost all the way to the shelter of the forest on the left. But the other was confused by the headlights of the oncoming car. The driver swerved, but so did the trailing raccoon, who was struck by the driver's left front tire, and then his back tire, bouncing lifelessly into the air and dropping into the space between his car and mine.

Posted

2/19/2007

Updated

2/19/2007

Keywords

Biography, Dorothy Elizabeth Cilwa, Personal History

Viewed 1243 times

Happy Birthday, Dottie

The weeks leading up to the birth of our first child can best be described as unsettled. Mary and I lived in a room rented in the home of an older widow, who had fixed up this room, with a lock on the inner door but access to the outside through its own exterior door, for the purpose of renting it to young couples like us. Or, so we presumed. Mary was gargantuanly pregnant, and it's possible I never actually said, "This is my wife, Mary, who is great with child." But it wasn't something a person could miss.

Posted

2/21/2007

Updated

2/21/2007

Keywords

Mark Twain, Metaphysics, Spirituality, Synchronicity, Telepathy

Viewed 1159 times

Mental Telegraphy Part 1

A few days ago I said: "It must be that Frank Millet doesn't know we are in Germany, or he would have written long before this. I have been on the point of dropping him a line at least a dozen times during the past six weeks, but I always decided to wait a day or two longer, and see if we shouldn't hear from him. But now I will write." And so I did. I directed the letter to Paris, and thought, "Now we shall hear from him before this letter is fifty miles from Heidelberg—it always happens so."

Posted

2/22/2007

Updated

2/22/2007

Keywords

Mark Twain, Metaphysics, Science, Spirituality, Synchronicity, Telepathy

Viewed 1139 times

Mental Telegraphy Part 2

Clemens talks about "accidents"—what we, today, call coincidences or synchronicity. The science of statistics wasn't well-established in Clemens' day, but today's statisticians try to tell us that "coincidences" are meaningless; that they are the result of the patterning human mind imposing seeming order on what is actually random chance.

Posted

2/23/2007

Updated

2/23/2007

Keywords

Mark Twain, Metaphysics, Personal History, Spirituality, Synchronicity, Telepathy

Viewed 1139 times

Mental Telegraphy Part 3

At the end of yesterday's guest blog, Sam Clemens described an odd circumstance which, while not exactly an example of his "mental telegraphy," nevertheless qualified as what we, today, would call "high strangeness." As he watched a stranger approach his house, the stranger seemed to disappear. When Clemens found the stranger had, in fact, rung and been admitted through the front door, he concluded that he must have unknowingly fallen asleep, or unconscious, for the sixty seconds (minimum) that it took the visitor to walk past him, ring the doorbell and be admitted.

Posted

2/28/2007

Updated

2/28/2007

Keywords

Conspiracy, Consumer Rights, Onrebate.com, Personal History, Tigerdirect.com

Viewed 1141 times

Hold That Tiger...Responsible

Rebates are a marketing gimmick that has spawned a mini-industry of its own. Like any marketing gimmick, they are designed to modify the behavior of consumers; and since they arise from the coordinated actions of manufacturer, retailer, and rebate fulfillment house, they are by definition a conspiracy. (Remember, the word "conspiracy" is morally neutral; it doesn't have to be for evil ends. If you and your pals plan a surprise party, that's a conspiracy whether you intend to kill the guest of honor there or just present her with gifts.)

Posted

3/6/2007

Updated

3/6/2007

Keywords

9/11, Conspiracy

Viewed 3937 times

And Now, Tomorrow's News

We know that all the TV networks, and virtually all radio stations and newspapers, are owned by the same, small number of global corporations—and these corporations own stock in each other, making them more inbred than any family of Ozark mountaineers. The same corporations also own major defense contractors (the guys who make money from war), major pharmaceuticals, and Big Oil. It's far more in their interest that they suppress a free press than risk exposing their own schemes.

Posted

3/13/2007

Updated

3/13/2007

Keywords

History, Native Americans, North America, Pre-Columbian America, South America

Viewed 1144 times

Beyond the Edges of the Map

I was in a Catholic school; so there was a vague understanding that, at the beginning of the world, there had first been Adam and Eve and sometime after that, Rome and Jesus (who hadn't gotten along well). But then there was Columbus, with an origin point of Spain, and the world suddenly blossomed into the United States and things really started happening. Yes sir, Americans invented everything worth inventing, and everyone else in the world wanted to be just like us.

Posted

3/14/2007

Updated

3/14/2007

Keywords

History, Personal History, Photography

Viewed 1152 times

The Treasured Past

It wasn't that long ago—two centuries or less—that ordinary people simply had to rely on their memories to recapture their pasts. Prior to 1790, anyone who wanted a visual representation of a person or event had to commission a painting of it—a relatively expensive proposition, and one which did not guarantee accuracy, if the artist had not been present at the event or did not personally know the subject.

Posted

3/15/2007

Updated

3/15/2007

Keywords

Digital Photography, Photography

Viewed 1135 times

Preserving the Past

Chances are, somewhere in your home, you have a row of photograph albums on a shelf containing photos of your childhood, the births of your children, your vacations and graduations and proms—and that haven't been opened in years. Or you may have box after box of color slides, carefully inserted into slide trays even though you couldn't put your hands on the slide projector if your life depended on it.

Posted

3/16/2007

Updated

3/16/2007

Keywords

Digital Photography, Photography

Viewed 1136 times

Through A Scanner, Clearly

Okay, so you've got piles of photos at one end of the table and a computer at the other. Today we're going to look at how to get your images from the one to the other.

Posted

3/20/2007

Updated

3/20/2007

Keywords

Devonian, Gay Rights, History, Iraq, Ordovician, Religious Politics, Science

Viewed 1146 times

Armor

The religious extremists who have appropriated the previously-respectable label of "conservative" insist that they are at war with the "Godless" remainder of humanity. It isn't unusual to hear their spokesperson, Ann Coulter, say that homosexuals or liberals or even Supreme Court judges should be killed. While she has not yet been convicted of one of these murders herself, one doesn't have to look far to see the results of such hate speech: Matthew Shepherd's murder was the tip of the iceberg; the FBI estimates that 15% of all murders are hate crimes committed against homosexuals, making gays the third-most-frequent victims of such crimes. Many more gay people are merely beaten; and many of those crimes go unreported because often the local police are disinterested in pursuing the perpetrators.

Posted

3/27/2007

Updated

3/27/2007

Keywords

Digital Photography

Viewed 1136 times

Resolution

Resolution refers to the number of pixels, or dots, into which your photo is broken. The more pixels, the smaller they are; the fewer, the larger. If you have large pixels, the resulting computer file will be smaller, because you will have fewer pixels to store. However, if you try to enlarge your photo, it will get blurry because bigger pixels mean fewer pixels, and that means less information to go around.

Posted

3/28/2007

Updated

3/28/2007

Keywords

Digital Photography

Viewed 1184 times

Form and Substance

In previous posts, I've vaguely described digital photographs (including scans of traditional photos) as being broken into a great many pieces, with a numeric color value assigned to each. That's the substance of a digitized photo. But since you are going to need to deal with computer files containing these photos, and there are several popular formats for these files, we're going to have to understand what forms these files take, at least, at a high level. I could simply list the file formats and ask you to trust me. But I think it's a lot more interesting if you know—at a high level—what's going on inside.

Posted

3/30/2007

Updated

3/30/2007

Keywords

Automatic Writing, Metaphysics, Spirituality

Viewed 1136 times

Automatic

Automatic writing gets interesting when the writing claims to come from some source other than the wielder of the pen. There is a long history of this. Over 125 years ago, a Boston dentist named John Newbrough found himself automatically writing "new revelations from God" on the newly-invented typewriter. Oahspe: A Kosmon Bible in the Words of Jehovih and his Angel Embassadors was published in 1882 and contains information remarkably consistent with today's New Age beliefs. In fact, whenever entities claiming to be "God" communicate via automatic writing, their teachings are amazingly consistent, especially considering the differing core beliefs of the persons holding the pen—William Moses, for example, was a respected priest and teacher who experimented with automatic writing. His beliefs were orthodox Christian, but the messages from his automatic writing took a more open, undogmatic view. And Edgar Cayce was a Christian fundamentalist who, when in trance, spoke of reincarnation and other beliefs that the waking Cayce wouldn't have been able to pronounce, much less promote.

Posted

4/6/2007

Updated

4/6/2007

Keywords

Conspiracy, Consumer Rights, Food, Health, Pets, Politics

Viewed 1137 times

...And Your Little Dog, Too!

A bill was passed before the 2006 elections to erect a 700-mile fence along our southern border, to keep out "illegal immigrants". The efficacy of such a fence aside (the Great Wall of China failed to keep out the Mongols, and it was almost 4000 miles long), we again see the parallel to the walled city that buys its groceries from outside. If we are so afraid of human immigrants we want to wall them out, how much more cautious we should be about the microscopic immigrants that we welcome, via a hundred interrelated multinational corporations, from overseas with open arms.

Posted

4/7/2007

Updated

4/7/2007

Keywords

Personal History

Viewed 1153 times

Easter Egg Hunt

Back when the kids were little, each Easter I would find some hopefully-photogenic place to take them on Easter, where they could hunt Easter eggs in their spiffy, new Easter outfits and I could take their pictures.

Posted

4/12/2007

Updated

4/12/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Grand Canyon, Personal History, Travel, Vermont

Viewed 1205 times

1961: Trip to Arizona

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

1961: Trip to Arizona

Posted

4/13/2007

Updated

4/13/2007

Keywords

Conspiracy, Health, Health Care, History

Viewed 1147 times

A Pox On Your House

When Benjamin Franklin invented lightning rods, it was the churchmen of Boston who protested that using lightning rods "thwarted the will of God" who presumably used lightning to mete out punishment to those who particularly annoyed Him. (And what a feeble god they must have worshipped, to think He would be unable to work around a lightning rod!) Lightning strikes were the primary cause of house fires, in those days, and so most people ignored the injunctions of their preachers and mounted lightning rods anyway. Soon, it was noticed that churches, with their high, pointed steeples and metal bells, were the only remaining targets of lightning; suddenly, lightning was no longer said to be the sign of God's wrath—and churches began mounting lightning rods of their own.

Posted

4/20/2007

Updated

4/20/2007

Keywords

Blogging, Gun Control, Humor

Viewed 1159 times

Aw, Shoot!

I find it interesting that the conservatives, who want the law to regulate pretty much every part of my behavior (especially my love life) want no government interference in their ownership of guns. I find it interesting that the liberals, who want people to be free to do what they want, insist the government interfere in that same ownership. Am I the only one who finds this odd?

Posted

4/23/2007

Updated

4/23/2007

Keywords

9/11, Conspiracy, Humor, Opera, Personal History

Viewed 1156 times

Oh, Susannah!

I am not really an opera fan. I love musical theatre in general, but I prefer happy endings so I favor musicals (like Oklahoma!) to operas (like, any of them). We have a friend named Willis who is single but doesn't like going to the opera alone. So, once a month, Michael and Willis make use of Willis' season pass and listen to mezzo-sopranos sing themselves to death.

Posted

4/24/2007

Updated

4/24/2007

Keywords

Evolution, Global Warming, Pleistocene, Pliocene, Science

Viewed 1201 times

Global Warning

A little over 1½ million years ago, when the continents of Earth had drifted to almost their present locations and the very first hominids (our oldest recognizable ancestors) had appeared, a group of bright stars called the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association, passed within 150 light-years of Earth. Although the sky appears to be the same night after night (with the exception of the locations of the Moon and planets), astronomers know this is not so.

Posted

4/27/2007

Updated

4/27/2007

Keywords

Personal History, Vermont

Viewed 1169 times

1959: Return to Victory

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

1959: Return to Victory

Posted

4/28/2007

Updated

4/28/2007

Keywords

Christmas, Personal History, Vermont

Viewed 1183 times

1959-1960: Our First Vermont Winter

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

1959-1960: Our First Vermont Winter

Posted

5/8/2007

Updated

4/7/2010

Keywords

Blogging, Website Design

Viewed 1143 times

A Web Site of Your Own

So, you're thinking of having your own web site? Good for you! Everyone deserves a voice and, thanks to the Internet, you are no longer limited to the "15 minutes of fame" promised by Andy Warhol.

Posted

5/11/2007

Updated

5/11/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Michael Manion, Personal History

Viewed 1137 times

If It's Spring, Michael Must Be Graduating

It seems like every spring, my husband Michael has a graduation. Actually, he's had them in the fall, too. He had one last year, and one the year before. Or a few months before, I forget. Two of them were for Associates' degrees, obtained from Glendale Community College. This was a bigger deal, his Bachelor's degree from Arizona State University.

Posted

5/12/2007

Updated

5/12/2007

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cruise, Personal History, Salt Lake City, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1164 times

The Flight To Tampa

If you count a "day" as being the time between two sleeps, our vacation started yesterday.

Posted

5/13/2007

Updated

5/13/2007

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cruise, Personal History, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1147 times

All Aboard!

The shuttle took us to the same little place at which we'd dined the night before. This time, however, there was something different: A huge ocean liner rose up behind the shops and restaurants and towered into the sky. Our ship: the Carnival Legend.

Posted

5/14/2007

Updated

5/14/2007

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cruise, Personal History, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1161 times

First Day at Sea

Karen has developed a taste for room service, and talked Michael into trying it, as though the one thing he needed was additional way of obtaining food.

Posted

5/15/2007

Updated

5/15/2007

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cruise, Grand Cayman, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1158 times

Grand Cayman

Our stay at Grand Cayman was destined to be a short one. To start with, Michael had pre-booked an excursion called the Trolley Roger which lasts an hour. But he didn't want to go alone, and I didn't want to go at all, since I used to give that sort of tour in St. Augustine. But I did think Mary would enjoy it, and she agreed—but she had neglected to pre-book it. Now, as we stopped by the concierge's desk in the morning, we learned that the Trolley Roger was booked up.

Posted

5/16/2007

Updated

5/16/2007

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cozumel, Cruise, Kayaking, Personal History, Snorkeling, Tulum, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1165 times

Cozumel

The ship arrived in Cozumel about an hour and a half later than planned, due to our having to return to Grand Cayman the night before with the suddenly stricken patient. That was okay with me, as we all had early excursions and, this way, we could sleep in a little longer.

Posted

5/17/2007

Updated

5/17/2007

Keywords

Belize, Carnival Legend, Cave Tubing, Cruise, Personal History, Western Caribbean, Xunantunich

Viewed 1171 times

Belize

Belize, which used to be called British Honduras, is the only English-speaking country in Central America. Actually, the people there call themselves trilingual, as all citizens grow up speaking English, Spanish, and a Creole that includes snatches of Mayan and other Indian tongues on an English base. Like all the places visited by the Carnival Legend, Belize City is a tourist-centric place with a gorgeous beach and crystal blue water.

Posted

5/18/2007

Updated

5/18/2007

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Chacchoben, Costa Maya, Cruise, Personal History, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1148 times

Costa Maya

Once upon a time, ocean voyages were prescribed to patients suffering from stress, because the pace was so slow, so relaxed. A cruise is now the last thing you'd want to do to relieve stress, because the pace is nothing short of frantic (except during mealtime) and it must take a special kind of person to say "No! Enough!" when a dozen things are competing for your attention. If you don't want to attend a karaoke show, you might instead swim in one of the ship's three swimming pools or soak in one of the five Jacuzzis; you could watch a movie in one theatre or a Vegas-style show with live orchestra, dancers, and awesome singers in other. You can gamble in the casino or have a professional portrait taken or get a massage (these three cost extra, but the other choices I described are included). There's also ping pong, tennis, jogging, basketball, and "gimmicky" entertainments like Hairy Chest contests and Survivor-type challenges.

Posted

5/18/2007 11:30:00 PM

Updated

5/18/2007 11:30:00 PM

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cruise, Food, Personal History, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1146 times

Grand Gala Buffet

I have no idea why the people who run Carnival Cruise Lines think its appropriate to stuff their passengers the way the witch stuffed Hansel and Gretel. I have no idea why people would want to be stuffed that way. And I have no idea why anyone would think it was cool to carve food into unlikely shapes and admire the sculptures before eating them. But I have to tell you, I was as admiring as anyone when the chefs on the Legend went all out and created a monster buffet with enough food to end hunger in Somalia once and for all.

Posted

5/19/2007

Updated

5/19/2007

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cruise, Personal History, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1149 times

Final Day at Sea

There was a break between "Jailhouse Rock" and the second song in the medley, "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog" during which the dancers were supposed to surround me and do the Twist. I was encouraged to join them. But now my torture shoes reminded me why I never wear them. Every time I tried to pivot my left leg, it felt like a hot screw was being driven into the knuckle of my big toe. Karen later said it looked like I was surprised the dancers were there, but actually I was surprised to find my left foot in an S&M device more suited to the Marquis de Sade than to Elvis Presley.

Posted

5/20/2007

Updated

5/20/2007

Keywords

Carnival Legend, Cruise, Personal History, Tampa, Western Caribbean

Viewed 1131 times

Return To Tampa

We were supposed to know what color our Carnival luggage tags were, because that would signify where our luggage was placed for pickup when we got off the ship. Unfortunately, no one ever actually told us this until we were in that warehouse, looking for the luggage. And the difference between the memory of brown, tan, gold, orange and yellow isn't actually as vivid as you'd think.

Posted

5/31/2007

Updated

5/31/2007

Keywords

Cat, Dog, Humor, Karen Hope Cilwa, Personal History

Viewed 1129 times

Yet Another Pet

The first I knew of it was when a parade entered the house: Karen carrying a kitty litter tray, Michael carrying a bag of kitty litter, Mary carrying a semi-enclosed, fleece-lined kitten bed, and finally Zachary carrying a cardboard box with a handle on the top and air holes on side, saying, "Guess what we got?!"

Posted

6/4/2007

Updated

6/4/2007

Keywords

Humor, Iraq, Politics, Trucking

Viewed 1139 times

Knowing When To Quit

Apparently he did not notice the sudden drop in speed as the top of his trailer contacted the roof of the tunnel. Apparently he didn't hear the tortured screams of metal-against-decorative ceiling tiles as the top of his trailer peeled off as he proceeded. The tunnel is a mile-and-a-half long. Surely in New York, someone in the tunnel tried blowing a car horn to warn him things were awry?

Posted

6/5/2007

Updated

6/5/2007

Keywords

Humor, Metaphysics, New Age, Personal History, Spirituality

Viewed 1118 times

Lunch with Sue and Maurean

However, when we arrived, Maurean was upset. Now, you'd have to know Maurean to understand that this utterly kind, capable, and powerful woman is never upset. She has a calming influence that could bring peace to the Middle East if only it could be bottled. So it was quite unusual to see that something had her frazzled.

Posted

6/13/2007

Updated

6/13/2007

Keywords

Activism, Adolf Hitler, Bush Crime Family, Current Events, Health Care, James W. Holsinger, Religious Politics, Republican Corruption, Sexuality

Viewed 1135 times

Just Say 'No' To Crazy Religious Freaks

There's an urban legend that, in the days of World War II when radar was first being developed as a defensive weapon, Hitler might have had it first. His scientists on both sides were working on it. But Hitler had a lot of strong metaphysical beliefs, largely influenced by Theosophy, that, besides the certainty that Germans comprised a superior form of humanity (which was used to justify the extermination of "inferior" forms), included the belief that the sky above us was, in fact, a star-studded dome suspended just a few miles above the surface of the Earth. When his scientists sought to demonstrate the power of radar to detect distant objects before they could be seen, Hitler had them direct their radar devices upwards, in order to determine exactly how far overhead the dome of sky was located. The radar, of course, detected nothing—no dome. To Hitler's mind, this proved that radar was useless. He therefore refused to make use of it, which gave the Allies a tactical advantage as we could detect the Nazi planes and ships at a distance, while he was unable to detect ours.

Posted

6/19/2007

Updated

6/19/2007

Keywords

Astronomy, Consumer Rights, Humor, Republican Corruption

Viewed 1127 times

Wish I'd Thought Of That!

Dennis Hope is a pretty happy guy these days. In 1980, it occurred to him that there were, literally, trillions of acres of unclaimed land in our solar system alone: On the Moon, on Mars, and on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, not to mention on the hundreds of thousands of asteroids whizzing around in orbit. And that's only in our solar system—hundreds of planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than our Sun.

Posted

6/22/2007

Updated

6/22/2007

Keywords

Viewed 1135 times

Lenses

Just before leaving on our historic Caribbean cruise, I realized I was just about out of contact lenses. So I ran to the store to pick up a pack of them—and ran smack dab into the government's latest foray into my personal business and none of theirs.

Posted

6/25/2007

Updated

6/25/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Photography, Salt River

Viewed 1042 times

Salt River Float

We made our third, weekly, Salt River float this past Saturday. Attendees were your blogger, your blogger's daughter Jenny, her son Zachary, and Zachary's friend Brittany.

Posted

7/2/2007

Updated

7/2/2007

Keywords

Dorothy Weems Brown, Florida, Photography

Viewed 1250 times

1970: Jacksonville International Airport

By 1970 the urge to fly was so commonplace that even my grandmother, Dorothy Weems Brown, was ready to go. She had been thinking of taking a trip to New Jersey to visit her friends up there but a journey by train/bus/car seemed just too tedious to consider. Now there was the opportunity to go by air, and no reason not to.

Posted

7/5/2007

Updated

7/5/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Personal History, Republican Corruption

Viewed 1166 times

Bang For A Buck

You won't be surprised to hear that I never intended to go to Tempe for fireworks again. But then Karen found herself spending the day there to work, and Zach wanted to watch the fireworks where she was, and besides even though it would be hot, they now have a splash park within the grounds and there would be inflatable kiddie bounce things and if we got there early enough, there shouldn't be an issue with parking.

Posted

7/6/2007

Updated

7/6/2007

Keywords

Florida, Joe McGrath, Personal History, Travel

Viewed 1176 times

Joe and Paul's Trip Through Central Florida

The summer of 1968, I had left high school a junior and would return a senior. We had moved from St. Augustine Beach to St. Augustine itself, into a house on Sevilla Street that, coincidentally, had previously belonged to my classmate Joe Oliveros and his family. (To further illustrate the coincidental nature of this relationship, the Oliveros family moved into a house two doors down from my girlfriend and future wife, Mary Steinberg. It is, as they say, a small world.)

Back at the beach was my sister Mary Joan's boyfriend, Joe McGrath. He was also my best friend for the year or so his family lived there. He and I thought it would be fun to make a summer trip for a few days, and to my amazement, Joe's parents made their Volkswagen microbus available for the purpose. I would have to drive, as Joe was a year younger than I and didn't yet have his license. But that was no problem; and we put our summer job money together and began pouring over maps.

Posted

7/9/2007

Updated

7/9/2007

Keywords

Fort Foster, Maine, Metaphysics, Personal History, SCUBA, Spirituality

Viewed 1200 times

Lost At Sea

On Saturday, June 8th, 1996, I got a call from a friend, Tim. This was a very unusual call, because Tim had never before initiated a phone conversation with me. I had no way of knowing that, by that time tomorrow, he would be dead.

Posted

7/10/2007

Updated

7/10/2007

Keywords

Bridey Murphy, Mass Media, Metaphysics, Reincarnation

Viewed 1160 times

The Spin On Bridey Murphy

There's a telling scene in the brilliant film Thank You For Smoking, where tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor, whom Newsweek has called "The Sultan of Spin", is trying to explain to his son, Joey, what he does for a living. As they sit having ice cream at a crowded carnival, there is this exchange...

Posted

7/12/2007

Updated

7/12/2007

Keywords

Bridey Murphy, Mass Media

Viewed 1153 times

Corporate Welfare

In my previous post I discussed Bridey Murphy and demonstrated that a huge and concerted effort was made by the media to discredit Bridey. Some might wonder how the various media outlets could get together to make a concerted effort over anything. After all, aren't they competitors?

Posted

7/13/2007

Updated

7/13/2007

Keywords

Humor

Viewed 1189 times

Keep An Open Mind

At the phenomenal web site WikiHow, which contains instructions for doing just about anything you can imagine, there's a page entitled "How To Keep An Open Mind." Basically, to keep one's mind facile, we are told to never stop doing things we've never done before: New crossword puzzles, listen to new kinds of music, watch TV shows we think we wouldn't like (or, if we love TV, turn it off!). The premise is that doing or learning anything new causes new neural pathways to form in the brain, which in turn enable one's mind to open to further new possibilities.

But what if you already have an open mind? If there are no TV shows left to watch, no music you haven't heard, no ethnic restaurants left to eat at, what then? Well, here's my contribution: Ten things you almost certainly haven't done or thought of doing, that, in the doing, will help form new pathways in your brain.

Posted

7/16/2007

Updated

7/16/2007

Keywords

Animal Rights, Language, Mass Media

Viewed 1213 times

Signs

In 1990, when I lived in Virginia and was still writing Midnight Harvest, I took the kids to the National Zoo in Washington. It was a drizzly Wednesday, and the place was almost deserted, with far more animals present than humans. The primate house has a great area in the middle surrounded by the glass-walled cages. The only visitor other than us, was a woman sitting on a bench, making odd motions with her arms. The orangutan on the other side of the glass watched her intently, then made gestures of his own. I had seen enough deaf people in Georgetown (Gallaudet University is there) to know I was watching two beings communicate in ASL (American Sign Language). I knew about the experiments with Washoe the chimp and Koko the gorilla, but this orang seemed to be an ordinary primate in an ordinary zoo.

Posted

7/16/2007 12:00:00 PM

Updated

7/16/2007 12:00:00 PM

Keywords

Metaphysics, New Age, Spirituality

Viewed 1155 times

Fire The Grid!

This is the first time I've posted twice in one day, and I apologize for the overload...but this post is time-critical. The bottom line is, set your alarm clock for Tuesday 11:11 AM GMT (which is tomorrow morning at 7:11 AM EDT, 6:11 AM CDT, 5:11 AM MDT, and 4:11 AM PDT (and here in Arizona, which doesn't do daylight savings time). When your clock goes off, spend the next 60 minutes doing whatever it is that means "being" to you: pray, meditate, sing, exercise at the gym...whatever. But do it with purpose...and the purpose is to re-energize the Earth with love.

I'll explain the back story below.

Posted

7/19/2007

Updated

7/19/2007

Keywords

Bridey Murphy, Health, Hypnosis, Morey Bernstein

Viewed 1160 times

Hypnosis In Medicine

The Search For Bridey Murphy by Morey Bernstein was originally published in 1956. The last time it saw print was almost 15 years ago, in 1993. The original is now out-of-copyright; and since copyright law was intended to protect the rights of a work's author, and not to suppress the work, I feel it is morally right to make at least parts of it available here.

Posted

7/20/2007

Updated

7/20/2007

Keywords

Bridey Murphy, Hypnosis, Mass Media, Morey Bernstein

Viewed 1154 times

Suppression of Hypnosis

This continues the e-presentation of The Search For Bridey Murphy appendices with this essay, originally titled "Why Isn't Hypnotism More Widely Used" and subtitled "A History of Misunderstanding and Prejudice". It was written by Morey Bernstein; the additional comments are mine.

Posted

7/21/2007

Updated

7/21/2007

Keywords

Personal History, St. Joseph Academy

Viewed 1186 times

1994: St. Joseph Academy Class of '69 25th Reunion

In 1994, shortly after the finalization of my divorce, I was invited to my 25th high school class reunion. So was my ex-wife, Mary, who graduated with me. It was a small class in a small school, with only about 40 students; and the fact that Mary was going to be there potentially made it a bit awkward. But, I thought, what the heck—I hadn't been popular in high school, anyway.

Posted

7/23/2007

Updated

7/23/2007

Keywords

Conservatives, Republicans

Viewed 1155 times

The Truth Has Sharp Edges

Liberals like to think that they have "truth" on our side, and can't understand why that isn't enough to make conservatives see the light. But the fact is, these people don't understand what truth is. To them, truth is agreeing with what they believe should be, not acknowledging what is. Conservatives cannot bear the thought of a reality with sharp edges, and they'll do anything—including lying to themselves and others—to avoid it.

Posted

7/25/2007

Updated

7/25/2007

Keywords

Florida, Humor, Personal History, Travel

Viewed 1215 times

1969: My First Plane Flight

How in 1969, I managed to embarrass myself and disgrace my family name for generations to come...all during a 20-minute jet flight from Jacksonville to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Posted

7/30/2007

Updated

7/30/2007

Keywords

Personal History, Travel, Vermont

Viewed 1180 times

1969 Trip to Vermont (Part 1)

In mid-September, 1969, in accordance with the plan we'd made during my visit to him, my friend John and I carefully saved our money until, in September, 1969, we were ready to make the journey of a lifetime: From Florida all the way up to Vermont.

Posted

7/31/2007

Updated

7/31/2007

Keywords

Personal History, Travel, Vermont

Viewed 1176 times

1969 Trip to Vermont (Part 2)

Today's posting concludes the tale of my 1969 trip from Florida to my childhood home in Vermont with my friend Chris Palmes.

Posted

8/7/2007

Updated

8/7/2007

Keywords

Biography, Edna Mae Brown, Edna Mae Cilwa

Viewed 1168 times

Mom's Photo Album

A couple of years before my Mom passed away, she and I spent some time rummaging through her old photographs. She'd lost a lot of them when we lived in Florida; despite the fact that she'd wintered there as a girl, she was unaware of the voracious and wide-ranging appetite of Florida cockroaches—especially as regards to paper. They literally ate hundreds of her precious photos before she discovered the damage. We were able to preserve some.

Posted

8/13/2007

Updated

8/13/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Sedona, Slide Rock, Slide Rock State Park

Viewed 1227 times

Slide Rock

My son's girlfriend, Rachel, is from Texas and wanted to see Sedona. So we arranged to make the expedition yesterday.

This was the day after Saturday, when daughters Jenny and Karen and grandson Zachary and I did a Salt River float that somehow resulted in my getting a sunburn on the top of my head and my chest and stomach. I used sunblock, too. Even Zach got a light burn on his back, and he never burns.

We intended to leave around 9 am for Sedona. We did, too—that was a surprise! But then we left half of what we intended to bring, including bottles of water and a dry towel and shorts for me. Because, we intended to swim.

Posted

8/17/2007

Updated

8/17/2007

Keywords

Ann Coulter, Conservatives, Health, Humor, Personal History

Viewed 1233 times

The Day I Mooned Ann Coulter

I have been thinking of getting a hydrocolonic for some time. (What the heck's that got to do with Ann Coulter, you ask? Read on...)

Posted

8/20/2007

Updated

8/20/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Cancer, Health, Salt River

Viewed 1203 times

The Mighty Sun

We managed to go on our almost-weekly float down the Salt River again this Sunday, despite a very busy weekend for all of us. But Jennifer really enjoys it; Zachary likes to bring his friend Chris, and of course, I love it. Michael's been a bit under the weather and hasn't gone all summer; Karen is somewhat indifferent but decided to go. And even Mary, who's only gone with us once (last year), decided she would go, too.

And wound up getting one heck of a sunburn.

Posted

8/21/2007

Updated

8/21/2007

Keywords

Baja California, Cruise, Ensenada, Monarch Of The Seas, Royal Caribbean

Viewed 1213 times

Our Next Cruise

Having had her appetite whetted by our cruise last May in the Western Caribbean, my daughter Karen has become a cruise aficionado and is already planning our follow-up cruise. As in, she's made reservations and put down a deposit.

Posted

8/22/2007

Updated

8/22/2007

Keywords

McCredie Hot Springs, Personal History, Travel

Viewed 1200 times

Reconnection

I'm one of those people—I assume not the only one!—who, every now and then, simply must return to a natural setting to reconnect and regain my balance. I was going to say, "recharge my batteries" but that would be an inappropriate metaphor, because for me to reconnect (another electrical term!) I have to get away from batteries, television, computers, cars, carbon monoxide, and the other trappings of our self-congratulatory, so-called "civilization."

Posted

8/24/2007

Updated

8/24/2007

Keywords

3 Most Beautiful Places, Blogging, Carnival Spirit, Hawaii, Humor

Viewed 1176 times

The Three Most Beautiful Places in Hawaii

I'm inaugurating a new series for this blog: The 3 Most Beautiful Places. In this series, we are going to take a fantasy tour of the United States, starting with the westernmost and working our way eastward. In each state we'll sample the three most beautiful or otherwise special places that that state has to offer. These will not be cities, commercial tourist attractions, or overcrowded parks (though we will be visiting some national and state parks that are not overcrowded). This will not be a don't-miss restaurant listing, a visit to the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, or a tour of Disneyland. It will be an armchair tour of the three places in each state you'd most like to photograph, meditate at, or hike through.

The assumption is that money and time do not constitute obstacles; we can travel in comfort and spend as long as we wish.

Since our westernmost states are Alaska and Hawaii, that's where we'll start: on our cruise of the Hawaiian Islands that will later take us to Alaska.

Posted

8/28/2007

Updated

8/28/2007

Keywords

Blogging, Humor, Republican Corruption

Viewed 1207 times

Love, Republican Style

Men, women, boys girls, cops, even mules—is there anything a Republican won't screw in between "defending marriage" and sending the sons of Democrats to die in Iraq for Bush's oil war?

Posted

8/29/2007

Updated

8/29/2007

Keywords

Humor, Politics

Viewed 1159 times

Political Humor

Given the past two weeks' excess of Republican hilarity, I thought it was time to present a few choice bits of political cartoons I've been saving.

Posted

8/30/2007

Updated

8/30/2007

Keywords

Fauxtography, Humor

Viewed 1169 times

Fauxtography

Here's an actual, retouched, photo of genuine Siamese cats.

Posted

9/4/2007

Updated

9/4/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Salt River

Viewed 1246 times

Wild Horses

I don't usually like to do anything far from home on "official" three-day weekends, because the traffic's usually too dense. But the section of the Salt River we like to float is only about twenty minutes from the house. And so we made (what is likely to be) our last float trip of the season on Sunday, and were rewarded by a rare and special visit from a herd of wild horses that lives near the river bank.

Posted

9/5/2007

Updated

9/6/2007 9:22:00 AM

Keywords

Jenny Cilwa, Personal History

Viewed 1258 times

Jenny's Birth Day

Today is the thirty-second anniversary of the birth of my third daughter, Jennifer Ann Cilwa. It's also the first time in a couple of decades that we truly have something to celebrate.

Posted

9/11/2007

Updated

9/13/2007 8:00:00 AM

Keywords

McCredie Hot Springs, Oregon, Personal History, Travel, Umpqua Hot Springs

Viewed 1269 times

Oregon Hot Springs

This page has been permanently moved to

Travel > North America > Oregon > Columbia River Gorges

Posted

9/12/2007

Updated

9/12/2007

Keywords

New Jersey, Personal History

Viewed 1177 times

1951-1958: And Then I Was Born

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler.

Old Roads: And Then I Was Born (1951-1958)

Posted

9/13/2007

Updated

9/13/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Photography, Zachary

Viewed 1185 times

Fair Weather, Foul Tires

A song in the forties used to begin, "It's always fair weather when hep cats get together." Here in Arizona, it's always fair weather even when storms approach, because they provide such beautifully spectacular examples of rainbows and sun-hearted clouds that there's just no element of depression about them. (As opposed to, say, Manchester, New Hampshire, where the entire winter is one gray mudball.)

This time of year, especially, yields some amazing photos, even when taken with no more than a cellphone camera.

Posted

9/14/2007

Updated

9/14/2007

Keywords

Christmas, New Jersey, Personal History

Viewed 1179 times

1958-1959: Winter in New Jersey

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler.

1958-1959: Winter in New Jersey

Posted

9/17/2007

Updated

9/17/2007

Keywords

12-Step Programs, Jenny Cilwa, Recovery, Substance Abuse

Viewed 1165 times

Recovery Walk

This past Saturday, the substance abuse recovery home at which my daughter, Jenny, is program manager, sponsored a Recovery Walk down Mesa's Center Street, accompanied by food, games, an inflatable bouncing thing and piñatas for the kids. Something that might be viewed as a somber and solemn occasion was instead a lighthearted and joyous one, thanks in part to Jenny's contribution to putting it on.

Posted

9/18/2007 6:00:00 PM

Updated

9/18/2007 6:00:00 PM

Keywords

Blogging, Humor, Internet, Personal History

Viewed 1133 times

Internet Friends

Last night we had dinner with a friend from back East (actually, it's Ohio which she thinks of as the "Midwest") and the topic turned to Internet dating. Is it possible, we discussed, to meet a quality person on the Internet, someone you'd want to be friends with if not married to?

Posted

9/21/2007

Updated

9/21/2007

Keywords

Dorothy Ann Zembruski, Obituary

Viewed 804 times

Dorothy Ann Hood Zembruski 1938-2007

One of my two sisters-in-law, Dorothy Ann Zembruski, died unexpectedly September 19. She was 68 years old, and should have had many more years ahead of her.

Posted

10/1/2007

Updated

10/1/2007

Keywords

Blogging, Humor, Personal History, Politics

Viewed 1124 times

I'm Sorry

Last year, I was so busy during the month of October that I didn't have a chance to blog at all. Near the end of the month, I began to receive emails from loyal readers I've never met, wondering if I was all right! Since this month promises to be as busy as October of last year was, I figured I would apologize in advance. But, this is October 1st; so at least, no matter how bad it gets, I will have blogged at least once in October! And the topic is, The Return From The Funeral.

Posted

10/3/2007

Updated

10/3/2007

Keywords

Personal History, Vermont

Viewed 1101 times

1960: Renovations

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler.

Old Roads: Renovations (1960)

Posted

10/4/2007

Updated

10/4/2007

Keywords

Circumcision, Personal History, Vermont

Viewed 1098 times

1960: Circumcision

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler.

Old Roads: Renovations (1960) [Circumcision]

Posted

10/5/2007

Updated

10/5/2007

Keywords

Photo Restoration, Photography

Viewed 1094 times

Rescuing A Photo

In working on the photos I had taken when I was nine years old, I had some real challenges trying to restore them. After all, it's been almost fifty years; for much of that time I had no idea how to store negatives safely and when I did learn, it was too late--they'd already been scratched. Add to that the fact that even black-and-white negatives deteriorate with age, and you can see that I would be lucky if I could even make out some of the images.

Posted

10/8/2007

Updated

10/8/2007

Keywords

Personal History, Zachary

Viewed 1100 times

B-Ball With Zach

After he'd spent four hours or so playing video games on a beautiful Saturday, and insisted there was "nothing to do" outside, the entire family was forced to rouse itself up off the sofa and go with Zachary to the neighborhood basketball court to shoot some hoops with him.

Posted

10/11/2007

Updated

10/11/2007

Keywords

Astronomy, History, Photography, Science

Viewed 1105 times

Shine On Harvest Moon

Shine on, shine on harvest moon
Up in the sky
I ain't had no lovin' since
January, February, June or July.

Pretty much everyone has heard that song. But what the heck is a "harvest moon"? And what, if anything, would it have to do with a lack of "lovin'"?

Posted

10/15/2007

Updated

10/15/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Biosphere 2, Personal History, Travel

Viewed 1151 times

Biosphere 2

For millennia, Arizona's Sonoran Desert has consisted of trackless miles of scrub, cactus, and bare patches of sand punctuated by the occasional upthrust of rocky crags like the Superstition Mountains and Mount Lemmon and, more recently, little towns with names like Globe and Oracle. However, between 1987 and 1991, a structure arose in the Sonoran so unusual in both appearance and purpose that over 100,000 visitors have come to see it, not to mention the hundreds and hundreds of researchers and students who have flocked to it for more extended study. This structure is known as Biosphere 2, and on this past Saturday I took the family to see it.

Posted

10/19/2007

Updated

10/19/2007

Keywords

Blogging, Bush Crime Family, Politics

Viewed 1067 times

Dude, Where's My Party?

Posted

10/22/2007

Updated

10/22/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, Cub Scouts, Personal History, Salt River, Zachary

Viewed 1125 times

Camping at Coon Bluff

This past weekend, Zach spent at his first-ever Cub Scout camping trip. Unlike Boy Scouts, where the members of a troop camp under the watchful eyes of a scoutmaster and maybe one or two assistants, younger Cub Scouts go to a common area and camp "with their families" but spend the days in activities with their pack. That leaves the parents free to do parent things...which, in my case, meant a planned weekend of sleeping.

Posted

10/25/2007

Updated

10/25/2007

Keywords

Humor, Politics

Viewed 1112 times

Meet Those Who Still Support George W. Bush

A British reporter came to our shores and located the final 24% of Americans who think George W. Bush is doing a good job. You've seen them (they can be spotted by the Bush/Cheney 2004 bumper stickers on their 4X4s); you know they exist; but you still haven't wrapped your head around the fact that anyone could truly be that ignorant.

This YouTube video will help. It begins when the reporter asks pedestrians to name a country whose name begins with "U".

Posted

10/25/2007 7:30:00 AM

Updated

10/25/2007 7:30:00 AM

Keywords

Family, Photography

Viewed 1138 times

Picture Day with Cailey

Because my grandson Zachary lives with me, he gets a lot more attention in my blog than my other two grandchildren. Max, unfortunately, lives in Europe with his mother and we never hear from either of them. But Cailey, though nearly 3000 miles away, lives with my lovely daughter Dottie and her daddy Frank, and I do get photos and frequent updates of how she is doing. So I thought I'd share a few today.

Posted

10/26/2007

Updated

10/26/2007

Keywords

Text Messaging

Viewed 1581 times

Email-to-Texting

If you "don't text," as Michael says, but have received a text message on your phone that you want to answer, what can you do? One possibility is to use your regular email service to reply.

Posted

10/29/2007

Updated

10/29/2007

Keywords

Barak Obama, Humor, Presidential Campaigns

Viewed 1130 times

Missing The Point

There's a hilarious new product coming soon to your Costco store shelves. It's called Batter Blaster^™; and, according to its web site, "it makes organic light and fluffy pancakes and light and crisp waffles in minutes!"

Posted

10/31/2007

Updated

10/31/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Personal History, Zachary

Viewed 1187 times

Do Unto Udders

We went to a farm!

Last night I took Zachary to the Superstition Farm, a local dairy farm that gives tours, on a Cub Scout function. I lived on a wannabe farm in Vermont when I was Zach's age, but since we never actually grew anything while I was there, or milked anything but Nanny the Goat, I found the workings of a real farm to be fascinating. And the best part was, the farm was no more than ten minutes from our house!

Posted

11/9/2007

Updated

11/9/2007

Keywords

Karate, Zachary

Viewed 1181 times

Karate Kids

No matter how busy things get, never miss an opportunity—or, if need be, make an opportunity—to take your grandson to karate class.

Posted

11/12/2007

Updated

11/12/2007

Keywords

John David Cilwa, Personal History

Viewed 1192 times

Happy Birthday, John

"An accident is something that you wouldn't do over again if you had the chance. A surprise is something you didn't even know you wanted until you got it." So said "Roseanne" to her youngest child and only son, "D. J." on her self-titled TV show.

The conception of my son, John, was certainly no accident, though it seemed like one at the time. It definitely proves, though, that humans cannot thwart the Will of God (no matter what the fundamentalists seem to believe). And, also, that our God-selves know far better what we need and want, than our Earth-selves.

Posted

11/13/2007

Updated

11/13/2007

Keywords

Edna Mae Brown, Edna Mae Cilwa, Humor, Poetry

Viewed 1134 times

A Weary Vessel

A few months ago, my sister Louise sent me a box of my mother's things, things Mom had saved for decades. Some things are merely of interest like the hand-written receipt for our property in Vermont, while others are real heart-tuggers, like the hand-drawn birthday and Mother's Day cards I had given her and which she had carted around the country since my childhood. Edna Mae Brown Among the treasures I've found—and I have not yet made it all the way through the box!—are a few of her poems, including some I'd never before read. Louise was considerate enough to type them up from Mom's faded and old-fashioned cursive.

Posted

11/14/2007

Updated

11/14/2007

Keywords

Arizona, Monument Valley, Photography

Viewed 1141 times

Monument Valley (1997)

This page has been permanently moved to

Travel > North America > Arizona > Monument Valley (1997)

Posted

11/20/2007

Updated

11/20/2007

Keywords

Music

Viewed 1135 times

The Open Window

I can't promise to have time to do any real blogging this week, except maybe for the day after Thanksgiving. So here to tide you over, is a piece of music I wrote in 1969, arranged in 2003 (while driving my big rig!) and finally orchestrated last week.

Posted

11/22/2007

Updated

11/22/2007

Keywords

Humor, Personal History

Viewed 1152 times

Thankful

In Luke 18:11, we read:

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this 'publican."

While I, too, am grateful to not be a Republican, the Pharisee's approach to thanksgiving is generally presented as being a poor one. Nevertheless, as an "attitude of gratitude" is supposed to be good for the soul, not to mention the blood pressure, I'm going to highlight just twelve of the many, many things for which I'm grateful and make them public right here.

Posted

11/26/2007

Updated

11/26/2007

Keywords

Humor

Viewed 1129 times

The Importance of Eating Ernest

Ernest was a young, somewhat overweight, turkey who was beloved of his few friends and whose death shortly before Thanksgiving of 2007, while not unexpected, was still a tragically beautiful footnote to the whole Circle of Life.

This is his story.

Posted

11/27/2007

Updated

11/27/2007

Keywords

Humor, Organized Religion

Viewed 1083 times

Turning The Other Checkbook

Muslims believe that it is a sin to take a life under any circumstances, which is why they never engage in terrorism or suicide bombings. Hindus believe we are all One in Brahman (and therefore of equal importance) which is why they never developed a caste system. Christians believe in forgiveness, which is why none of them ever sue a pedophilic priest or minister.

Oh, wait. Some Muslims do become suicide bombers. Hindus do have a caste system. Christians do sue their leaders, and not just for serious offenses like pedophilia. In October, one Chicago area Catholic has just sued his parish priest over a sermon he didn't like.

Posted

12/12/2007

Updated

12/12/2007

Keywords

Bush Crime Family, Humor, Video

Viewed 1094 times

New Bush Coins

Now that President Bush has declared martial law, it will be illegal to own precious metals after the first of the year. Here's a sneak peek at the newly proposed currency denomination...

Posted

12/13/2007

Updated

12/13/2007

Keywords

Global Warming

Viewed 1139 times

How Long Can You Tread Water?

Biblically speaking, nothing seems to piss God off more than members of the faithful who refuse to heed prophecies.

For example, the prophet Jeremiah, who continued to warn his fellow Israelites that God would punish them if they didn't "turn away from their sins" until he was completely ignored, predicted that if they didn't heed his warnings, the Jews would be scattered from their homeland and persecuted. As you must know, the Jews continued to ignore Jeremiah and, sure enough, they were scattered from their homeland and persecuted. Repeatedly.

Posted

12/14/2007

Updated

12/14/2007

Keywords

Travel

Viewed 1103 times

National Parks Trip Proposal

This coming May, my daughter Karen graduates from Arizona State University. As her graduation present, she wants to go on a trip. (Obviously, this is a young woman modeled after my own heart.) Moreover, she wants as many people to be a part of a this trip as possible. So here's an invitation to all the members of our extended family, including friends, to peruse the itinerary following and see if it sounds like something you'd like to do.

Posted

12/16/2007

Updated

12/16/2007

Keywords

Christmas, Family, Personal History

Viewed 1129 times

Christmas Letter 2007

For the second year in a row, my annual Christmas letter is being presented as part of my blog. Is this a trend?

Posted

12/21/2007

Updated

12/21/2007

Keywords

Canada, Personal History, Travel

Viewed 1137 times

Jasper National Park

In November, 1996, I helped some friends move from Connecticut to Washington state by driving one of their vehicles. When the job was done, I had to get back home to New Hampshire, which I decided to do by taking Canada's Via Rail home through the Canadian Rockies. I didn't make the trip straight through, however; I got off at Jasper, rented a car, and made my first visit to Banff by driving through the Jasper National Park and along the Promenade of Glaciers. Here are the photos of that breathtaking trip.

Posted

12/26/2007

Updated

12/26/2007

Keywords

Christmas, Personal History

Viewed 1174 times

How We Celebrated Christmas

Our house looks like a mall exploded in it, and our family has eaten itself into a stupor. That's right, it's the day after Christmas and all through the house we've all overeaten, including my spouse.

Posted

12/27/2007

Updated

12/27/2007

Keywords

Health, Humor

Viewed 1168 times

Kidney Punch

A week ago today (December 20), Michael went into the hospital to have a "procedure" done. That procedure is called a lithotripsy and its purpose was to blast, with ultra-sound, an unpleasantly large stone that had formed within his left kidney.

Posted

1/2/2008

Updated

1/2/2008

Keywords

Blogging, Cruise, Humor, Personal History

Viewed 1122 times

V Minus 1

We leave tomorrow for this year's vacation.

Is one day long enough to prepare for a cruise? —But I won't even have a day. I have to work and won't be able to pack until afterwards, maybe an hour. Is that long enough? Maybe it's too long...I wouldn't want to start stressing over it. After all, it's a vacation; which is supposed to be the antithesis of stress.

Posted

1/2/2008 6:00:00 PM

Updated

1/2/2008 6:00:00 PM

Keywords

Blogging, Cruise, Humor, Personal History

Viewed 1094 times

Packing List

For the most rabid Paul-o-phile only, my packing list for the cruise.

Posted

1/4/2008

Updated

1/4/2008

Keywords

Blogging, Humor, Personal History, Royal Caribbean, Travel

Viewed 1179 times

2008 Cruise, Day 1

Now that we have become accomplished cruisers (having just completed our second cruise) we find we cannot help compare the two cruise lines based on our admittedly meager experience. I also must admit that my judgment may have been colored by a couple of negative experiences on this latest vacation. Still...you are expecting a complete report and you shall have one!

Posted

1/5/2008

Updated

1/5/2008

Keywords

Ensenada, Personal History, Royal Caribbean, Travel

Viewed 1163 times

Ensenada In The Rain

Zachary woke us early, but then decided to remain in bed while Michael and I went to breakfast. At 8, Zach probably spends too much time closely supervised by one or more of the five adults he lives with; so it was a big deal for him to be left alone even for a half hour.

We ate in the casual buffet restaurant called Windjammers. I loved the decor. The restaurant is on Deck 11, all the way forward, and has full length windows all the way around. I had the "omelet of the day" (which was very much like the omelets of all the other days), a big mess of bacon, and some guava juice that was delicious. Michael had much the same, plus a generous sampling of the pastries. As we ate we watched the rain-shrouded hills of Ensenada slide into view.

Posted

1/6/2008

Updated

1/6/2008

Keywords

Personal History, Royal Caribbean, Travel

Viewed 1075 times

Day At Sea

When I woke in the morning, Michael was the perfect picture of misery. Again, he hadn't slept; he had a headache and a pain in his kidney (where he'd recently had surgery) and his sinuses were killing him. It seemed like we'd have to go to the infirmary.

Posted

1/7/2008

Updated

1/7/2008

Keywords

Blogging, Carnival, Cruise, Humor, Personal History, Royal Caribbean, Travel

Viewed 1186 times

Debarkation

Our ship docked at San Pedro before we woke up. When we did wake up, it was to a shocking surprise. Michael's infirmary bill, which the nurse had told us would run $108 dollars plus a little more for any medicine administered, was just shy of $1000...and it was going to hit my bank card, which didn't have a balance anywhere near that, as soon as we got off the boat.

Posted

1/8/2008

Updated

1/8/2008

Keywords

California, Cruise, Hollywood, Personal History, Royal Caribbean, Travel

Viewed 1053 times

Hooray for Hollywood!

Our cruise over, and Magic Mountain closed, we packed the rented van for the last time and headed back south for Hollywood. Mary wanted to see the homes of the stars, so Karen had spent an hour on the computer copying down addresses. With the GPS, all I had to do was enter in the destination address—the GPS "knew" our current position—and tell it to go. Almost instantly, it would display a map and recite directions, turn by turn. If I made a mistake, it would say, "Recalculating!" without a trace of frustration and gently prod us back onto the correct route.

Our first destination: Alfred Hitchcock's home in Bel Aire.

Posted

1/21/2008

Updated

1/21/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Hiking, Superstition Mountains, Zachary

Viewed 1084 times

Superstitions Hike

Today I found myself with an unexpected (and enforced) day off. Not every business closes shop for Martin Luther King's day, so I was surprised to find that mine did (especially since we'd just had both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off). Even so, I would have gone into work because, as a "temp", I do not get paid for holidays. But the building was closed.

And so, being that the day was exquisitely beautiful, the kind of Arizona winter day that we recall in the summer as why we continue to live here, I offered to take Zachary and his friend, Lane, for a hike in the nearby Superstition Mountains.

Posted

1/25/2008

Updated

1/25/2008

Keywords

Commercialism, Martin Luther King

Viewed 1129 times

I Have A Sale

The man who was martyred on April 4, 1968, for his activism in trying to end the de facto slavery of America's largest (at the time) minority couldn't be silenced by death. You might think that creating a national holiday in his honor would be proof of that; but it's quite the opposite. The man who once "had a dream" now is used as an excuse for three-day-weekend sales. Don't believe me? Here's a full-page ad from the L.A. Times:

Posted

1/27/2008

Updated

1/27/2008

Keywords

Karate, Zachary

Viewed 1054 times

It's Good To Be Yellow

More Zachary news: On Friday, Zach went to the central karate place to be tested for his yellow belt.

Instructors face off against students.

Posted

1/30/2008

Updated

1/30/2008

Keywords

Karen Hope Cilwa

Viewed 1047 times

Portrait of Karen

Today is Karen's 34th birthday! She is my second child, my second daughter, but her birthday comes first in the calendar year. (Her oldest sister, Dorothy Elizabeth, will have her birthday in three weeks.) Last year at this time, I wrote about Karen's birth. This year I would like to celebrate by presenting a living portrait of this lovely young lady as she has grown from infancy to adulthood.

Posted

2/2/2008

Updated

2/2/2008

Keywords

Cub Scouts, Zachary

Viewed 1127 times

Chasing Rockets

This weekend's adventure occurred Saturday when I drove Zachary to his Cub Scout pack's annual rocket launching.

The rockets were assembled from simple, inexpensive kits at the kids' Wednesday night meeting, two weeks ago. Last weekend, Michael guided Zach in painting his 12-inch rocket. And today, the rocket was launched, not once, but three times.

NASA can only dream of such durability in its fleet.

Here are pictures from the event.

Posted

2/5/2008

Updated

2/5/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Grand Canyon, Photography, Travel

Viewed 1131 times

AZ-64

One of the most beautiful stretches of road, and one of the most underappreciated, in Arizona is state road 64. This delightful ribbon of concrete runs from the end of US 180 right in Grand Canyon Village, and extends eastward, mostly following the South Rim of the Canyon, for just about 60 miles where it T-bones into US 89 at Cameron. From there you can head north to Tuba City or Page, or south to Flagstaff.

I was last on this road with my son, John, and his then-wife as a side trip while taking them to Minneapolis. It did not impact the trip length by more than two hours, and was well worth the small amount of extra time.

Posted

2/12/2008

Updated

2/12/2008

Keywords

Personal History

Viewed 1234 times

February, 1972: First Wedding

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

February, 1972: First Wedding

Posted

2/19/2008

Updated

2/19/2008

Keywords

Dorothy Elizabeth Cilwa

Viewed 1163 times

Portrait of Dorothy Elizabeth

Today is Dorothy Elizabeth's 35th birthday! She is my first child, my oldest daughter, though her birthday comes second in the calendar year. (Her younger sister, Karen, had her birthday three weeks ago.) Last year at this time, I wrote about Dottie's birth. This year I would like to celebrate by presenting a living portrait of this lovely young lady as she has grown from infancy to adulthood (and from baby Dottie to Dorothy to Elizabeth, as she now prefers to be called).

Posted

2/20/2008

Updated

2/20/2008

Keywords

Bush Crime Family, Conservatives, Humor, Politics

Viewed 1118 times

Look Out For Mr. Stork

The significance of the stork mythology to us is that it vividly portrays an example of eagerly well-meaning parents telling lies to their children on the assumption that the child doesn't need to know the truth. (How many Victorian girls found themselves pregnant, with no idea what was happening to them, since they hadn't been near a stork?) These same parents, of course, would vehemently deny the same kids the right to withhold truths from them on the basis that the parent didn't need to know! Yet we adults find ourselves living beneath a paternalistic government which believes we should be "protected" from truths we don't need to know. And, as with the stork, the consequences of living with false information are hard to gauge but should not be ignored.

Posted

2/22/2008

Updated

2/22/2008

Keywords

Bush Crime Family, Conspiracy, Health Care

Viewed 1154 times

A Little Bird Named Enza

On last night's American Idol, Simon Cowell mentioned not once but three times that we Americans are in the grip of the "worst flu season in history!" This had, apparently, come to his attention because a number of the contestants had come down with the flu that week and the sickness had affected their performances. He also claimed to have never heard the Spiral Starecase song, "More Today Than Yesterday", or, for that matter, of the group itself.

Posted

2/25/2008

Updated

2/25/2008

Keywords

Humor, Lake Massebesic, Michael Manion, New Hampshire, Washington D.C.

Viewed 1118 times

Meet The Cilwas

Today, February 25, is Michael's birthday. And since I have no stories of Michael's birth to share (those are his stories, not mine) I will use the occasion to describe our first day together, and how Michael met my family.

Posted

2/26/2008

Updated

2/26/2008

Keywords

Digital Music, Digital Recording, MP3s, Windows Media Player

Viewed 1136 times

Ripping MP3s

I am perhaps halfway through digitizing my rather large library of CDs, LPs and tapes and have gotten well past 10,000 MP3 files. When visitors see this, their first reaction is usually, "Oh...my...God!" Their second reaction is usually, "But how can you find what you want?" The answer, of course, is efficient organizing, just as it was when I kept all my CDs alphabetized in plastic racks mounted on the wall next to the CD player. But how to do that, you ask? Well, that's the subject of today's blog.

Posted

2/27/2008

Updated

2/27/2008

Keywords

Digital Music, Digital Recording, MP3s, Windows Media Player

Viewed 1115 times

Polishing MP3s

Yesterday I reported the basics of using Windows Media Player to rip MP3 tracks from your CDs. Today I'm going to cover ways of finessing your MP3 tracks so that you can get the most out of them.

Posted

2/28/2008

Updated

2/28/2008

Keywords

Digital Music, Digital Recording, MP3s, Windows Media Player

Viewed 1132 times

Organizing MP3s

Today I'll conclude my series on the basic care and feeding of MP3s with my suggestions as to how best to organize your MP3 files on your computer so you can find them!

Posted

2/29/2008

Updated

2/29/2008

Keywords

Cub Scouts, Zachary

Viewed 1150 times

Bear Cub

A quick last post for February: A couple of days ago, our Cub Scout, grandson Zachary, got his Bear patch at the monthly Pack meeting.

Posted

3/9/2008

Updated

3/9/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Payson, Personal History, Snow

Viewed 1142 times

Up The Bee Line Highway

Last Wednesday I bought a New Car. (New to me; not to the world. It's a 2004 Ford Expedition.) So, of course, we had to take it out to stretch its tires this weekend, even though simply owning it is enough to melt Greenland, not to mention actually driving it. Our destination: the snow I hoped was still lying on the ground at the top of the Mogollon Rim. Our purpose: to let Zach and his friend Chris play in the snow for a couple of hours. (Yes, there are pictures!)

Posted

3/20/2008

Updated

3/20/2008

Keywords

Humor

Viewed 1100 times

A Little Easter Humor

So with Easter almost upon us, I thought I would share my favorite Easter story.

Posted

3/25/2008

Updated

3/25/2008

Keywords

Health, Humor, Personal History

Viewed 1091 times

Michael and Paul Join A Gym

My last serious attempt at dieting was the Atkins Diet, two Januarys ago, in preparation for "looking good" (a lost cause at best) on our May cruise. I did lose some weight. But of course the diet ended when the ship left Tampa, because the real purpose of a cruise is to provide a venue for conspicuous overconsumption of food; and it never resumed.

I've been getting little hints that I need to do something about my weight. For one thing, Milton, our kitten, comes over to me while I'm watching TV and curls up on the shelf that has materialized between my solar plexus and my navel. I hate to make him move, even when it means I can't put my desert plate there.

Posted

4/1/2008

Updated

4/1/2008

Keywords

Current Events, Humor

Viewed 1082 times

April Fool's Day Challenge

I decided I couldn't let April Fool's Day pass without posting a blog entry, no matter how busy I've been. So I decided to list a number of bizarre current events, making one up, and you can decide which paragraph in this post is the one that isn't true. No fair Googling before you guess. I'll post the answers, and links, tomorrow. (And my little joke endings to each article don't count.)

Posted

4/2/2008

Updated

4/2/2008

Keywords

Blogging, Humor

Viewed 1075 times

Answers to my April Fool's Day Challenge

In yesterday's post, I present a number of news articles and challenged the reader to guess which paragraph in the post was not true. Here is the answer to that challenge.

Posted

4/10/2008

Updated

4/10/2008

Keywords

GPS, Humor, Personal History

Viewed 1186 times

Gym Clothes, Music, Book, GPS

So, my birthday has come and gone. We had a nice family dinner to punctuate the fact that I am now 57 years old. But it really was a nice celebration. I got a pair of gym shorts and an exercise shirt from Jenny (she really wants me to keep working out) and a GPS and mount from Michael, Karen, Mary, John and Rachel so I won't have any trouble finding the gym.

Posted

4/10/2008 4:00:00 PM

Updated

4/10/2008 4:00:00 PM

Keywords

Republican Corruption

Viewed 1761 times

Another Republican Bites The...Prostitute

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. When sex is forbidden, sex is hidden. Forbidding it only pushes it below the surface, where it frequently becomes perverted as it inevitably is expressed anyway.

Posted

4/11/2008

Updated

4/11/2008

Keywords

Contest, Writing

Viewed 1122 times

Cover Contest

Okay, here's the dealio. I'm still trying to decide on a name for my new novel. The problem is, its original title, Avatar, is already in use for dozens of books, games, and so on. So I've tried several others, going so far as to make covers for some of them just to see (for myself) how they would look on a book. I tried Joshua Rising (I liked it, but no one else really did), When Falls The Sky (even I didn't like it) and Hejira (which I really liked for about 48 hours, then hated). So I have a new title, and I'm trying it out on a cover but of course it has to have just the right font to sell the name. So below, please look at the five versions of the cover and let me know which you like best. (Or, if you hate them all, or think it's a dorky title for a book, that would be useful information as well.)

Posted

4/15/2008

Updated

4/15/2008

Keywords

Humor, Karate, Zachary

Viewed 1145 times

Zachary Gets His Orange Belt

They grow up so fast. This past weekend, Zachary graduated into his Orange Belt in Karate. (The progression is white-yellow-orange). At this stage, he is actually "tested" in class, with his classmates, as they go along and orange "tips" are added to their yellow belts. Then they have a graduation.

Posted

4/16/2008

Updated

4/16/2008

Keywords

Current Events, Humor

Viewed 1206 times

Things You Didn't Know To Worry About

Yeah. We all know the obvious things to worry about, like losing your house to foreclosure (up 57% since last year), being unable to afford the gas to drive to work so you can buy gas to drive to work (average price is now $3.50 a gallon), global warming raising sea levels so that your land in Florida will be underwater (even if it wasn't before). But that's just the tip of the melting iceberg. There's lots of things to worry about you may not have suspected. And as a public service, I'll let you know what a few of them are.

Posted

4/17/2008

Updated

4/17/2008

Keywords

Blogging, RSS

Viewed 1079 times

RSS, Second Try

I attempted to implement an RSS feed on my site once before. That "didn't take", as they say. I had to maintain the RSS file manually and it was just too much trouble. But now I've managed to automate the creation of this file so it should work with no problem to you or me.

Posted

4/22/2008

Updated

4/22/2008

Keywords

Desiderata, Immigration, Max Ehrmann, Spirituality

Viewed 1298 times

A Right To Be Here

One day in 1926, retired lawyer Max Ehrmann awoke in his quiet home in Terre Haute, Indiana, with the idea that he should do something, create something new, and yet not new. He had awakened with notions in his head that seemed ancient and true, yet forgotten; and it seemed he might be able to return them to the public consciousness if he only tried.

He was right.

Posted

4/23/2008

Updated

4/23/2008

Keywords

Personal History

Viewed 1100 times

February through April, 1972: The Honeymoon Is Over

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

February through April, 1972: The Honeymoon Is Over

Posted

4/28/2008

Updated

4/28/2008

Keywords

Cruise, Royal Caribbean

Viewed 1746 times

Family Thrown Off Royal Caribbean Ship

You might remember, gentle reader, that I and my family took a cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship this past January. During the trip, Michael became ill and we were charged $1000 for his medical care onboard ship. Supposedly the trip insurance was going to cover that, although we have yet to see a check. Now it looks like we were lucky to be kept on board. The Luis Cortes family of Orange County, Florida, wasn't so fortunate.

Posted

4/29/2008

Updated

4/29/2008

Keywords

Personal History

Viewed 1157 times

April through May, 1972: Palm Coast

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

April through May, 1972: Palm Coast

Posted

4/29/2008 6:00:00 PM

Updated

4/29/2008 6:00:00 PM

Keywords

Obituary

Viewed 1192 times

Astro: RIP

We lost one of our three dogs today. Astro, the runt of his litter, passed on after a couple of days of being "under the weather". He was over 10 years old.

Posted

4/30/2008

Updated

4/30/2008

Keywords

Personal History

Viewed 1173 times

June, 1972: On The Radio

This page has been permanently moved to Old Roads: The Autobiography of a Traveler:

June, 1972: On The Radio

Posted

5/2/2008

Updated

5/2/2008

Keywords

Cross and Sword, Florida, Personal History, The Cross and Sword, Timucuan Indians

Viewed 3304 times

1972, June through September: Cross & Sword

Previously, I described my main job in June of 1972, that of radio station disc jockey for WAOC radio. But I also mentioned that that was not quite a full-time job. And, in fact, I had another job that summer. I was an actor in Cross and Sword, Florida's "Official State Play." But to tell you that story, I have to backtrack and share with you the previous years I was also in the show.

Posted

5/5/2008

Updated

5/5/2008

Keywords

Camping, Salt River, Upper Salt River, Whitewater Rafting

Viewed 1288 times

Rafting the Upper Salt

For a guy who loves whitewater rafting, I sure haven't done much of it in the past few years. But I did get to go yesterday, on the Upper Salt River, and worked in a little camping with a new friend to boot.

Posted

5/9/2008

Updated

5/9/2008

Keywords

Karen Hope Cilwa, Personal History

Viewed 1221 times

Karen Graduates

It's May, so we have another graduation! This time it's my daughter, Karen, who got her bachelor's degree in Anthropology from Arizona State University this morning. Despite the fact that sitting in a sports stadium for three hours listening to unpronounceable names being, against all odds, pronounced as a thousand purple-robed graduates gavotte from chair to educator to educator and back to chair was considered too severe a torture for even Condoleezza Rice to order for Guantanamo Bay prisoners, it was a wonderful experience to be there for my little girl as she takes that magical step from childhood to employability.

Posted

5/10/2008

Updated

5/10/2008

Keywords

Dorothy Elizabeth Cilwa, Personal History, Wedding

Viewed 2651 times

Dorothy Elizabeth's Wedding

Today, May 10, my firstborn Dorothy Elizabeth Cilwa became married to Frank Lee Kinder, in a ceremony performed at Sedona's Red Rock Crossing. My granddaughter Cailey and grandson Zachary were ring-bearers. The ceremony was attended by immediate family members, and was followed by a short swim and then dinner at the Red Planet Diner.

Posted

5/21/2008

Updated

5/22/2008 4:00:00 AM

Keywords

Current Events, Health, Metaphysics, Politics, Reincarnation, Spirituality

Viewed 1110 times

Who Owns The Children?

There's a question that's been running through my mind for some time. A number of news articles have come along—a girl who died, untreated, for diabetic acidosis because her parents believed Jesus would heal her; the child brides of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; and more—suggesting that parents don't always know what's best for their children. But who's to say they don't? Does the government know better than the parents? Does the minister? Who owns our children?

Posted

5/23/2008

Updated

5/23/2008

Keywords

Zachary

Viewed 1074 times

Last Day of School!

Today was the last day of school for Zach, our only grade-schooler. That means he is now ready for fourth grade, which he will be entering in the fall. And he got an award!

Posted

5/24/2008

Updated

5/24/2008

Keywords

SunSplash, Zachary

Viewed 1087 times

Zach's Birthday Party

Zachary turned 9 on May 22, but we celebrated it today with a party for his friends at SunSplash.

Posted

5/30/2008

Updated

5/30/2008

Keywords

Equal Rights, Humor, Same Sex Marriage

Viewed 1137 times

Ban Fat Marriage!

Posted

6/1/2008

Updated

6/1/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Bear Canyon Lake, Camping, Cub Scouts, Zachary

Viewed 2728 times

Cub Scout Camping at Bear Canyon Lake

Zach wakes up at Bear Canyon Lake.

We're back from camping at Bear Canyon Lake up on the Mogollon Rim, a little northeast of Payson. By "we" I mean me, my grandson Zachary, and some 15 other Cub Scouts and their parents and families. And other than a little car trouble, the weekend went perfectly.

Posted

6/5/2008

Updated

6/5/2008

Keywords

Metaphysics, Mourning, Spirituality, Trucking

Viewed 1206 times

Keeping One's Lost Love Alive

I am frequently asked to repeat a technique that I first wrote about in my Truckin' Journal of May 20, 2003. It's how to minimize the feeling of devastating loss when a loved one has passed away by connecting with that person's spirit or essence. I'm not talking séance here; rather, this is about reaching into oneself to find the connection one had, and will always have, with another.

Rather than pull all the narrative out, though, I will simply repeat that part of the original essay, because I think it puts a face on it.

Posted

6/6/2008

Updated

6/6/2008

Keywords

Blogging, Fundamentalist Christians, Humor, Rapture

Viewed 1151 times

Caught Up In The Rapture

A new web service allows Fundamentalist Christians to annoy their non-Christian friends after they have been assumed into Heaven in the Rapture.

Posted

6/8/2008

Updated

6/8/2008

Keywords

Salt River

Viewed 1079 times

First Float of the Season

Today we went on our first Salt River float of the 2008 season. Participants were myself, daughter Jenny, and grandson Zachary. Also, half the population of Phoenix, as far as I can tell.

Posted

6/10/2008

Updated

6/10/2008

Keywords

Bridges

Viewed 1087 times

Bridges

Humans are not the only creatures on Earth that build bridges, but we are the only ones who build bridges intended for more than a single use. Bridges have become so ubiquitous in human culture that, in addition to being used as metaphors ("We'll build a bridge of love and kindness reaching to the other side" as Olivia Newton-John sang in "The River's Too Wide") they have spawned unique fears (gephyrophobia, the fear of bridges), a genre of photography and of course an engineering specialty.

Posted

6/14/2008

Updated

6/14/2008

Keywords

Blogging, Humor, Phon D. Sutton, Salt River, Zachary

Viewed 1124 times

Lower Salt Float

It's getting hard to continue being creative with names for Salt River float trip posts, since we do them so often. Yet, every one is unique and so are the photos!

Posted

6/17/2008

Updated

6/17/2008

Keywords

Gay Marriage, Humor, Marriage Equality

Viewed 1151 times

Marriage Equality

A video that's simply too funny not to share:

Posted

6/26/2008

Updated

6/26/2008

Keywords

Matt Harding, Travel, Video, Where The Hell Is Matt, World Travel

Viewed 1143 times

Where The Hell Is Matt?

I apologize for not posting in so long. I have been very busy (!) at work, with a major modification to an existing report, as well as at home with a side job web site.

However, I have something to share with you. It's a video by another blogger, a guy named Matt Harding, who posts at WhereTheHellIsMatt.com. Matt is a former video game designer who retired in his twenties to see the world. Of course, he shot video along the way; and a friend suggested, just before Matt left on his journey, that Matt do a little dancing in each place he videoed. He did so, and when he returned from his first year's trip in 2005, he strung together the dancing clips, added some cool music, and posted the result on YouTube.

The response was phenomenal.

Posted

6/27/2008

Updated

6/27/2008

Keywords

David Vitter, Gay Marriage, George W. Bush, Larry Craig, Republican Corruption, Word Clouds, Wordles

Viewed 1258 times

Wordles

Here's a cute one. A website, Wordle.com, exists solely to allow you to build "word clouds" in which the non-trivial words in a block of text are displayed with the most-frequently used words appearing larger than the less-frequently used words. The above, for example, is the Wordle version of my posting on the last Cub Scout camping trip I made with my grandson, Zach.

Posted

6/29/2008

Updated

6/29/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, Fossil Creek Road, Photography, Travel, Verde Hot Spring

Viewed 1861 times

Fossil Creek Road to Verde Hot Spring

This weekend's adventure was a solo camping trip to Verde Hot Spring, enhanced with a determined yet wrong-headed GPS, a new route, a car turned into a bedroom, a couple of treacherous trees, and a totally excellent digital camera.

Posted

7/3/2008

Updated

7/3/2008

Keywords

Freedom, Humor, Politics

Viewed 1242 times

Freedom

It's time to consider whether we really have independence. What are you truly free to do? Can you go where you want? Not in theory, but in reality. Can you do the work you want to, that you love? How many compromises have you had to make in your life in order to keep yourself fed, clothed and housed? If the answer is more than none, you are not truly free.

Posted

7/4/2008

Updated

7/4/2008

Keywords

Freedom, Humor

Viewed 1104 times

The Fantastic Founding Fathers

If the Founding Fathers had been super-heroes...

Posted

7/6/2008

Updated

7/6/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, Oak Creek, Photography, Sedona, Slide Rock State Park, Zachary

Viewed 1442 times

Splashing in Oak Creek

On July 4th, the members of our extended family were scattered. Michael and I attended a terrific pool party hosted by our friend, Jay, which included the most divine pasta dishes (which I shouldn't have eaten, but did). Zach and his Mom and grandmother went to Zach friend Chris' house for barbecue and to watch the fireworks (though Zach pooped out before the fireworks started). Karen continued to house sit.

The red walls of Oak Creek Canyon have turned Sedona into a Mecca for tourists. But, on July 5th, Michael and Jenny and Zach and I loaded up the Expedition and headed for Oak Creek Canyon.

Oak Creek Canyon runs from a few miles south of Flagstaff to Sedona. Lots of tourists visit Sedona for its famous red rocks walls and barely notice Oak Creek, which formed those walls. By the time the creek gets to Sedona, the walls are far apart and the canyon opens up. Further north, though, where the walls narrow, there are no T-shirt or crystal shops and true nature lovers like myself can better appreciate the rocks, the energy, and the scenery.

Posted

7/10/2008

Updated

7/10/2008

Keywords

Camping

Viewed 1318 times

Camping Checklist

What should be taken on a camping trip? What's essential, and what can be left out?

For my own convenience as much as anyone else's, in this post you will find a printable checklist of stuff I take when I intend to go out into the wilderness for an overnighter.

Posted

7/13/2008

Updated

7/13/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, Lake Roosevelt, Salt River, Sierra Ancha Wilderness

Viewed 1213 times

Sierra Ancha Wilderness and Bees

This weekend's camping trip was in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness, in the mountains east of Roosevelt Lake. I went with a new friend, Wade, who hadn't been camping since he was a kid and had asked to be taken some place isolated and quiet...which I completely understand, because I am so over the noise and crush and pollution of the city.

Posted

7/22/2008

Updated

7/22/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, UFOs, Verde Hot Spring

Viewed 1151 times

Return to Verde Hot Spring

It's inevitable that, as I travel to campsite after campsite and see each of Arizona's natural wonders, great and small, I develop some favorites to which I want to return. One of these is Verde Hot Spring. Almost any excuse will do, as when my friend and rafting buddy Frank wanted a place to unwind after one of his grueling multi-continent series of flights. And so, back to Verde I went with Frank in tow.

Posted

7/27/2008

Updated

7/27/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, UFOs, Verde Hot Spring

Viewed 1133 times

Son of Return to Verde Hot Spring

The reaction of my dear readers to my last post was, by and large, this: "Well, what happened after you left Verde Hot Spring? Did you spot another UFO? Whatever happened to Truck Guy?" But my readers were just echoing my own thoughts. And so, when I got off work Friday without having already planned a trip, and in fact I thought I'd just stay home and relax for a change, I felt a compulsion to return. Not to see a UFO, because I've already learned that they never show up when you're looking for them, but just because I had this nagging feeling of unfinished business. There was...something...going on at Verde Hot Spring, and I did want to figure out what it was.

Posted

7/30/2008

Updated

7/30/2008

Keywords

Bush Crime Family, Humor

Viewed 1137 times

Brains Being Rushed To Few Remaining Bush Supporters

As news of President George W. Bush's continued approval by fewer than one in five Americans makes its way around the world, an outpouring of generosity has resulted in the Brains For Americans campaign to donate unused brains to the 18% of the American population who have been doing without.

Posted

8/11/2008

Updated

8/11/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Blogging, Camping, Humor, Verde Hot Spring

Viewed 1095 times

Last Weekend In Verde

This past weekend marked my fourth time camping at Verde Hot Spring. Sadly, it will be the last weekend I do so. This gorgeous, remote spot has become a weekend party place for rowdy teenagers and twenty-somethings, to the point that no one else can enjoy the place on weekends. Too bad. Still, that didn't stop Michael and me from having a very nice campout with our new friends Eddie and Carl.

Posted

8/12/2008

Updated

8/12/2008

Keywords

Gay Marriage, Marriage Equality

Viewed 1180 times

Marriage Equality

Today is Michael's and my wedding anniversary. We've now been married for eight years.

What's that you say—how is it possible? Massachusetts, the first state to allow "gay marriage", only did so beginning in 2004. So how could we be married? Simple. We said, "Fuck the government. Marriage is a statement of commitment to ourselves and our friends and families." We got married in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Surprise, Arizona on August 12, 2000.

Posted

8/22/2008

Updated

8/22/2008

Keywords

Alexander Peloquin, Cathedral of St. Augustine, Florida, History, Personal History, St. Augustine

Viewed 1070 times

Festival Mass

The Cathedral of St. Augustine, now officially named the Basilica-Cathedral of St. Augustine, and informally known as Cathedral Parish, was, since its inception in 1565, the social and religious center of St. Augustine. It served the same purpose during most of my growing up there.

Posted

8/24/2008

Updated

8/24/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, Grand Canyon, Photography, Zachary

Viewed 3975 times

Camping at Grand Canyon

One of the things my grandson, Zachary, was most looking forward to about being in fourth grade, was the annual trip the local fourth graders traditionally make to Grand Canyon. This trip isn't just for fun. Grand Canyon is a living example of geology, ecology, the protection of endangered species, and more; and fourth grade is about the time most youngsters have grown aware enough to appreciate and understand it. Unfortunately, since our president has chosen to spend trillions of dollars fighting an un-winnable war against an enemy that didn't exist until he invaded their countries, there isn't enough left for the local schools to make the trip. And so, Michael and I took Zach and his friend, Chris, ourselves.

Posted

9/5/2008

Updated

9/5/2008

Keywords

Jenny Cilwa

Viewed 1201 times

Portrait of Jenny

Today is Jenny's 33rd birthday! She is my third child and my youngest daughter. Last year at this time, I wrote about Jenny's birth. This year I would like to celebrate by presenting a living portrait of this lovely young lady as she has grown from infancy to adulthood.

Posted

9/14/2008

Updated

9/14/2008

Keywords

Jenny, Jenny Cilwa, Recovery, WINR

Viewed 1085 times

Recovery Walk

Today the recovery home at which my daughter, Jenny, works, had their annual Recovery Walk and, of course, I attended.

Posted

9/16/2008

Updated

9/16/2008

Keywords

Humor, Medicine, Michael Manion

Viewed 1116 times

Have A Nice Lithotripsy

I spent today at the hospital with Michael as he got his third lithotripsy.

Posted

9/25/2008

Updated

9/25/2008

Keywords

Alexander Pope

Viewed 1076 times

A Pope I Like

I just finished Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's novel, The Gripping Hand, a sequel to the science fiction masterpiece they wrote 18 years ago, The Mote In God's Eye. Both books were very good (the first a little better) but today's blog post isn't about either book. It's about a short verse on The Gripping Hand's last page, from poet Alexander Pope's An Essay On Man.

Posted

9/30/2008

Updated

9/30/2008

Keywords

Economic Crisis, Michael Manion, Zachary

Viewed 1155 times

Dog Fight

Last night, Zachary informed us that he really wanted to take the dogs for a walk. His mother is very strict about adhering to his bedtime, so he had to elicit a promise from Michael and me that we would leave at exactly 8:00 pm. We agreed.

At 8 o'clock, we were able to put Cirrus' 24-foot spring-loaded leash on him, but could not find its mate for Amber. So, in order to adhere to our promised departure time, we had to settle for the six-foot leather leash that has been Amber's since she was a puppy.

Remember, there are no coincidences.

Posted

10/5/2008

Updated

10/5/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, Fossil Creek, Verde Hot Spring

Viewed 1133 times

Back Scratching

I really needed to get away and be by myself this weekend. Nothing was wrong; it's just that I had spent the four previous weekends at home with the family and needed some "me" time. I intended to go to Lockett Meadow on the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff; I've never been there, and it's supposed to be lovely and I thought the trees might even have turned color. But the weather forecast predicted rain and possibly snow up there; so by the time Saturday morning came around I had decided to visit my old favorite, Verde Hot Spring, where rain was less likely and the temperatures wouldn't be so low.

Posted

10/7/2008

Updated

10/7/2008

Keywords

Nibiruans, October 14th, UFOs

Viewed 1062 times

Independence Day

Unknown to most people, there is an undercurrent in the Internet in which very unusual people carry on very odd conversations. No, I'm not talking about mechaphiles or child porn devotees or anything else as unsavory as that. I'm talking about people who spend at least part of their time communing with non-Earthly beings and passing on what they say. And what they've been saying for the past few months is very interesting, because if it works out we'll all know about it. They've been saying Earth is about to be visited by a giant UFO that will be so undeniably present that the government will, at last, be forced to acknowledge the reality that other intelligent species exist, besides ours.

Posted

10/8/2008

Updated

10/8/2008

Keywords

October 14th, UFO

Viewed 1120 times

Look! Up In The Sky!

Many years ago, when I was married to Mary and we and the kids lived in Omaha, I was up late one night composing a song while everyone else was in bed. I finally got to the point where I figured I'd join them, and as I was packing my guitar back into its case, an odd thought crossed my mind. What if I got an obscene phone call?

I'd had never before gotten an obscene phone call, and in fact had never had such a thought pop into my head before. But, since it was there, I followed it through. What, in fact, would I say to an obscene phone caller that would immediately make him feel bad and me feel clever?

I crept into bed without waking Mary, closed my eyes, and was just about sound asleep when the phone rang. I picked it up and said, sleepily, "Hello?" I was immediately blasted by a stream of filth that would make a busted sewer look like it was gushing Evian.

Posted

10/9/2008

Updated

10/9/2008

Keywords

October 14th, UFO

Viewed 1061 times

The Ark Of Truth

"Channeling" is done by many different means. A simple one is called "automatic writing". You sit with a pen in hand (or hands on the keyboard, which works better for me), adopt an open attitude, and request that contact be made with whomever you want. You then ask questions and let your fingers type the answers as they arrive. You can recognize that you didn't "make it all up" by two means. First, the words come faster than you could have thought of them yourself, and they don't feel like your words. Second, they present information that you, yourself didn't know but can verify later.

Anyone can do this. If you think you can't, you're wrong. (Except that being sure you can't, is enough to prevent it! Fortunately you don't have to be certain you can in order to successfully try it out.)

So, with this prediction of an October 14th appearance of a giant UFO having originally come in the form of channeled information, I figured I would try to channel these same guys from the "Federation of Light" and get a little more information regarding the predicted event. After all, as I said...anyone can do it.

Posted

10/17/2008

Updated

10/17/2008

Keywords

October 14th, UFO

Viewed 1050 times

Now What?

Thousands of people around the world looked up to the skies October 14 and wondered...Where is the giant UFO that was predicted?

Where, indeed. The reaction was almost more interesting than the actual UFO would have been, ranging from a few "It'll be all right" to massive bitter retorts, swearing at the woman who made the prediction in the vilest of terms and denouncing her, basically, for getting their hopes up.

As an author myself, I had to laugh at the people who accused Ms. Goodchild of making "millions" from her books and the publicity and laughing all the way to the bank. If this had been a hoax of her making, she certainly hadn't planned it well—it's easy to figure that not predicting a particular date would have made much more money over the long haul than predicting a date that would fail.

Posted

10/26/2008

Updated

10/26/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, Verde Hot Spring

Viewed 1075 times

The Aristocrats

Another weekend, another trip to Verde Hot Spring. This time it was for the occasion of my friend Carl's birthday, even though his birthday was actually last week. Verde Hot Spring is also a favorite place of Carl and his partner Eddie. In fact, it's where we met. And spending five days there was Carl's birthday present to himself.

Of course, I couldn't take a whole week off from work; so I drove up on Saturday. Michael was supposed to come with me but backed out due to a sore knee. (The doctor told him to put hot compresses on it all weekend, which of course could not have been done in camp. And hiking to the spring itself would have been out of the question.)

Posted

10/31/2008

Updated

10/31/2008

Keywords

Halloween, Zachary

Viewed 1056 times

Halloween 2008

My, how the year flies! It's Halloween already. Michael has purchased enough candy to fill Fort Knox, got himself and Zachary outfitted with costumes and even bought me one, knowing that I don't usually have the time or energy to devote to the holiday, myself.

Posted

11/7/2008

Updated

11/7/2008

Keywords

Karate, Zachary

Viewed 1067 times

Zach Makes Blue Belt

This evening Zachary was tested for, and received, his Blue Belt in karate. I of course took pictures.

Posted

11/10/2008

Updated

11/10/2008

Keywords

Metaphysics, Spirituality

Viewed 1065 times

Spiritual Experiences

It's another beautiful day here in the Greater Phoenix "Valley". The air is cool and dry; the sun is shining, the smell of freshly cut grass fills the air. It's the kind of day that would spell "spring" most anywhere else in the country; but here in Central Arizona it's not only fall, but late fall. In the central portion of the country they are having sleet, snow, blizzard, and severe thunderstorms.

Glad I'm not there!

Posted

11/15/2008 1:30:00 AM

Updated

11/15/2008 1:30:00 AM

Keywords

Best Western, Dulles Airport, Free Flights, Humor, United Airlines, Virginia

Viewed 1097 times

Yes, Santa Claus, There Is A Virginia

Some months ago, my daughter, Karen, was accepted for training as a flight attendant for regional airline, Colgan Air. She passed at the top of her class and is now, indeed, a flight attendant. And, as you may know, this has a direct application to me: I can now make flights for (almost) free, as can Karen's mother, Mary.

There was a delay while Colgan made certain Karen wasn't going to quit in the first month of working. But that delay finally passed, and we then attempted to schedule our first flight. I wanted to make it an "easy" flight as a sort of test run. By "easy" I mean that:

Not too far; I would have to be able to go and return without taking more than a weekend
Not too complicated an itinerary
Not too important; if it didn't work out, I didn't want to be devastated by disappointment

I therefore settled on flying to Virginia, where Karen now works and her older sister, Dorothy Elizabeth, lives with her husband and their little girl, my only granddaughter. We started about three weeks ago trying to make the arrangements.

Posted

11/15/2008 10:30:00 PM

Updated

11/15/2008 10:30:00 PM

Keywords

Best Western, District of Columbia, Dorothy Elizabeth Cilwa, Gay Marriage, Smithsonian Institution, Washington

Viewed 1124 times

Marriage March and Museums

So now, less than eight hours after our arrival in Virginia, we are ready to start our mini-vacation, "we" being Mary, my ex-wife and present friend, and myself.

Posted

11/16/2008 10:30:00 PM

Updated

11/16/2008 10:30:00 PM

Keywords

Best Western, Karen Hope Cilwa, United Airlines, Virginia

Viewed 1095 times

The Return Home

Our short, low-cost mini-vacation in Virginia was about to come to a close.

The original plan was for us to have dinner with Frankie's parents, Joe and Kathy Kinder, and then to run back to the airport in time for our 5:30 flight back to Phoenix. But two things happened: First, yesterday Joe came down with a nasty infection that sent him to the emergency room. Although he was now back home, of course neither he nor Kathy, who'd sat with him all though hours in the ER, was quite up to entertaining. Besides, the doctors wanted him back in the ER to check how his antibiotic was working. Second, a change in Karen's schedule placed her unexpectedly in Dulles Airport for about three hours prior to our departure. So we would be able to visit her, after all!

Posted

11/17/2008

Updated

11/17/2008

Keywords

Karate, Zachary

Viewed 1046 times

Zachary's Trophy

While Mary and I were in Virginia and the District of Columbia, Zachary was home in Arizona winning a karate trophy.

Posted

11/18/2008

Updated

11/18/2008

Keywords

Metaphysics, Spirituality

Viewed 1077 times

Is That All There Is?

In perhaps the most depressing song ever written, "Is That All There Is?" written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and recorded in 1969 by Peggy Lee, the singer laments that the various events that should have defined her life, such as a house fire, going to the circus for the first time, or falling in love, instead left her feeling empty and disappointed. In the song, the singer announces that she won't kill herself, only because she's certain that even death will be "that final disappointment".

My initial reaction is, "Suck it up, lady!" But I do appreciate that many people do, indeed, feel that something is missing from their lives; and for all their attempts to fill that void with food, fashion, TV or religion, nothing they've tried seems to really bring them happiness.

And that, of course, is the key: Nothing they've tried. They've been following our culture's suggestions on how to find happiness; but our culture isn't in fact qualified to offer advice on that topic, based as it is entirely on moving money from the pockets of workers to the off-shore bank accounts of the very rich. (Which, by all accounts, doesn't even bring happiness to the very rich! —Though it probably doesn't make them miserable, either.)

Posted

11/21/2008

Updated

11/21/2008

Keywords

Metaphysics, Spirituality

Viewed 1100 times

God's Ringtone

Let's pick up where we left off, with people who are vaguely dissatisfied (or, possibly, absolutely miserable) with their lives but unable to figure out what's missing. Often, they've tried religion to no avail; they may have tried rampant materialism as well. They may even have given away all their earthly goods and tried asceticism! Yet, neither wealth nor poverty nor church has filled that inner void—and, what's worse, whichever path they've tried, doesn't support dissatisfaction very well. Other proponents always suggest an increase of whatever that path is: even more things (a newer car, a larger flat screen TV), even fewer things (try a 40-day fast), even more Jesus (a retreat where we talk about Jesus all weekend!).

The problem is, the thing that is missing, that void, is within your deepest being. You can't fill a void there with anything external. No round-the-world cruise, no bed of nails, no rosaries or festivals or contortioned postures can, of themselves, fill that innermost void. At best, they can only distract one from feeling that void for a short time. But when the cruise ends or one rises from that bed of nails, or, yes, one emerges from the Wednesday night prayer service, one finds the void is still there.

Posted

11/23/2008

Updated

11/23/2008

Keywords

Gilbert and Sullivan, Mikado, Opera

Viewed 1063 times

The Mikado

I am not the world's biggest opera fan. I love classical music, but I'm afraid I'm one of those Philistines who prefers his entertainment in English. When I see an opera in German or French or Italian, I keep reading the subtitles projected above the stage and miss most of the action. I know, I should just learn German and French and Italian. I'm always meaning to. But I've been busy.

Those TV shows won't just watch themselves, you know.

Posted

12/7/2008

Updated

12/7/2008

Keywords

Jeff Harnar, New York, Travel

Viewed 1103 times

A Day In New York

As regular readers of this blog know, my daughter, Karen, recently became a flight attendant which means I can fly for free (or nearly free) anywhere her airline or its partners go. So, this weekend, I decided to spend a day in New York City.

Posted

12/10/2008

Updated

12/10/2008

Keywords

2008, Christmas, Personal History

Viewed 1154 times

Merry Christmas, 2008

Oh, my, oh my...what an amazingly full year 2008 has been! Complete with cast changes and changes of scene, it seems appropriate at this time of year that I recap the doings of the residents of 10143 East Lobo Avenue and share them with you, our dear friends and extended family.

Posted

12/15/2008

Updated

12/15/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Bell Ringers, Christmas, Sun City

Viewed 1080 times

Ringing In Christmas

We all have certain minor rituals, I guess, which are incorporated into the whole of the rituals that are major holidays. Thanksgiving has its shopping for turkeys; Easter has the dyeing of eggs. For Michael and I, Christmas has come to include going to the Christmas concert of the Handbell Ringers of Sun City as guests of our friend, Willis, with dinner to follow.

Posted

12/21/2008

Updated

12/21/2008

Keywords

Arizona, Photography, Queen Creek, Queen Creek Gorge, Superior, Travel

Viewed 1087 times

Queen Creek Canyon

About 30 miles east of where we live, along US 60, lies the little mining town of Superior, Arizona. It's a relatively unremarkable place, but just a few miles past it US 60 winds its way into a gorge dug eons ago by Queen Creek, which eventually winds its way into the Valley and gives its name to a smaller housing development that is one of the dozens of Phoenix suburbs.

I've passed through Queen Creek Canyon probably a dozen times, and every time I wanted to take pictures. But either I didn't have a decent camera, or the light wasn't right, or I was in a hurry to get somewhere else. This morning I got up early for the express purpose of running out there in the SUV and getting a few shots of this exquisite bit of Arizona that is largely unknown to most people, other than those who live in the immediate area.

Posted

12/22/2008

Updated

12/22/2008

Keywords

Blogging, Christmas, Humor

Viewed 1035 times

Blogging Shepherds

May your holidays be notable!

Posted

12/23/2008

Updated

12/23/2008

Keywords

Blogging, Christmas, Humor

Viewed 1157 times

Christmas Tree 2008

People who know both me and my husband, Michael, know we are opposites in many ways. Anything he does, Michael does with precision and intention. If it doesn't come out the way he wanted, he'll do it again. I'm a lot more relaxed. Michael thinks I "settle" for less than perfect, but that's not it. Rather, I hold a looser view of the outcome and enjoy being surprised by whatever it turns out to be.

I imagine either approach could work with Christmas tree decorating. But I must say, when Michael decorates a Christmas tree (and he has done Christmas decorating professionally, as well as for his family) the result is never anything short of exquisite.

But this year, he has outdone even himself.

Posted

12/25/2008

Updated

12/25/2008

Keywords

Christmas, Santa Claus, Zachary

Viewed 1085 times

Zachary's Letter From Santa 2008

Each year on Christmas Eve, Zachary, who is nine-going-on-thirty, places a plate of Christmas cookies he's baked himself (under guidance, of course) and a glass of milk on a tray table near the tree for Santa. Since he's been able to write, he's also written Santa a note. Santa always leaves a reply. Zachary's note this year was so sweet and sincere, and Santa's reply so insightful, that I thought I should share them with you.

Posted

12/31/2008

Updated

12/31/2008

Keywords

Cailey, Chicago, Greyhound Bus Lines, Travel, Virginia

Viewed 1129 times

The Terminals

Here was my intention: To make a quick, overnight visit to Florida to visit my sisters, Joni and Louise, and their families at their post-Christmas get-togethers. Even my nephew, Tim, was flying in from California.

Now, the thing is, I had a feeling this wasn't going to work out. There was no rational reason for this feeling. I fly standby, because of my daughter, Karen, being a flight attendant. But I checked and there were plenty of empty seats. In fact, despite the storms of a couple of weeks ago, it seemed as if the planes were running fine. Still, I had this feeling, and I tried to postpone my trip. But the moment I called Louise and identified myself, she said, "Don't tell me you're not coming!" I have an issue with disappointing people—I can't stand doing it. So I replied, "Of course I'm coming!"

That turned out to be a lie.

Posted

1/1/2009

Updated

1/1/2009

Keywords

Arizona, Phoenix, Photography, Piestewa Peak, Zachary

Viewed 1079 times

A Walk Around Piestewa Peak

Hey, what better way to start off the New Year than with an easy hike? It sure beats hanging around all day nursing a hangover! This year, Michael, Mary, Zachary and I decided to challenge the Piestewa Peak Circumference Trail. We got the exercise, sunshine, and above-the-pollution-line fresh air; you get the photos.

Posted

1/5/2009

Updated

1/5/2009

Keywords

Metaphysics, Spirituality

Viewed 1117 times

The Twelve Biggest Lies

The entirety of human misery is built on a bed of twelve lies. These lies are disseminated so subtly that often they aren't even stated outright. Nevertheless, they so permeate our culture that they are almost universally believed by people who have never even given them a second thought.

And yet, these twelve lies have taken away from you the power your Creator intended you to have, to the benefit of a handful of obscenely rich men and to the detriment of the remainder of the human race.

Today I want to expose each of these lies, and show how, by simply seeing through them to the underlying Truths, you can instantly and pretty painlessly transform your life into one that is happy, uplifting, and on the road to Enlightenment.

Posted

1/12/2009

Updated

1/12/2009

Keywords

Baja California, Cabo San Lucas, Humor, Los Cabos, Mexico, Photography, Posada Chelaba, Travel

Viewed 1163 times

A Visit To Cabo

On Christmas Day, Michael opened his present from me, an oddly light-weight box. It contained a custom-made travel brochure that read, in part,

On Friday, January 16, 2009, you will be flown to the Mexican resort town of Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California Sur, where you will meet your husband (flying on a different flight), rent a car, and spend Friday and Saturday nights at the Posada Chabela bed and breakfast, with three days’ exploring, before returning on Sunday January 18, 2009, to Phoenix.

We have just returned from that trip.

Posted

1/29/2009

Updated

1/29/2009

Keywords

Cabo San Lucas, Cailey, Flat Stanley

Viewed 1075 times

Flat Stanley

The day before I left for Cabo San Lucas, I received in the mail a brown envelope from Virginia. Two of my daughters, and my only granddaughter, live in Virginia; but not at the address on the envelope. So I almost didn't open it until after my trip. But I did, and it turned out to contain Flat Stanley, a cutout character my granddaughter, Cailey, had made in school. Her teacher had sent Flat Stanley to me, along with a letter from Cailey asking that I allow Flat Stanley to accompany me for a week or so and then to respond by telling his adventures. This blog entry is for that purpose.

Posted

2/8/2009

Updated

2/8/2009

Keywords

Florida, Photography, St. Augustine, Travel

Viewed 1087 times

A Day In St. Augustine

This month's trip, just completed, was to St. Augustine, Florida, where I grew up. Unlike several previous trips, this one went without a hitch. Which means my story about it may be less fascinating! But I do have pictures.

Posted

2/10/2009

Updated

2/10/2009

Keywords

1961, Florida, Personal History, St. Augustine Beach, Travel

Viewed 1133 times

1961: The Beach House

In the 1920s, my Mom and her mother made several winter trips to St. Augustine, Florida (without her father, who remained in Bloomfield, New Jersey, to work his optometry practice). Mom liked it there, especially the mild winters and laid-back attitude common to many Southern towns of the period.

Posted

2/21/2009

Updated

2/21/2009

Keywords

Arizona, Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, Photography, Travel

Viewed 1093 times

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park

Saturday morning I set out to hike in Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, which is located about four miles west of Superior, Arizona, about 35 miles from my house. I had thought it would be a small place (I didn't realize it was an actual state park until I got there) but it wasn't; it contains many paths and trails and is suitable for anyone who wants to get out in the fresh air for a bit. It also happens to be breathtakingly beautiful. So, of course, I took a lot of photos.

Posted

2/23/2009

Updated

2/23/2009

Keywords

Humor, Personal History

Viewed 1110 times

25 Random Facts About Me, Paul S. Cilwa

It used to take a few weeks for a fad to sweep the nation. "Sorry about that, Chief!" needed at least three episodes of Get Smart! to air before everyone in the country was repeating it. (My mom was still saying it the day she died.)

But now, thanks to the Internet, a fad can sweep the nation in a day or less. For example, the "25 Random Facts" meme that urges people "tagged" to write down 25 facts about themselves that aren't generally known. I tend to resist these things—I was the last person I know to join Facebook—but since I now know more things about my friends than I ever wanted to, I feel compelled to get even by adding my own 25 facts to the mix.

Posted

2/27/2009

Updated

2/27/2009

Keywords

Camping, Hawaii, Maui, Photography, Travel

Viewed 1099 times

A Trip To Maui In Winter

Maui, like all of Hawai'i, has two seasons: Summer and Winter. Winter, which runs from October to April, is when most of the rain falls. But it's not a solid rain like some places get; it tends to come down in sudden light showers. And so, when I had a chance to fly to Maui, said by many to be the prettiest of the Hawaiian islands, even though it was in winter, I took it.

Posted

2/28/2009

Updated

2/28/2009

Keywords

Camping, Haleakala, Hawaii, Kipahulu, Maui, Photography, Travel

Viewed 1108 times

The Hana Coast

Every turn—and there were many—revealed some new wonder: A waterfall, a gorge, a flowering tree, a breathtaking seascape. The top speed limit was 20 mph and in many places was 10 mph; rather than holding me up sometimes I went slower for safety. There weren't many cars on the road but the ones that were there seemed to belong to tourists who were also looking more at scenery than for other cars. Fortunately, there were a lot of turnouts but if there had been more, I'd have taken more pictures.

The town of Hana is an artist colony and unspeakably laid back, nestled in this rain forest. It was like a cross between Bar Harbor and Jurassic Park. Someday I would like to spend more time there but today, I needed to keep moving to get to my campground before dark.

Posted

3/1/2009

Updated

3/1/2009

Keywords

Camping, Haleakala, Hawaii, Kipahulu, Maui, Photography, Travel

Viewed 1107 times

The Seven Sacred Pools of Hana and the Pi'ilani Highway

I had camped at the Haleakala National Park's Kipahulu campground on the Hana Coast, I of course had to visit the Seven Sacred Pools which is part of the park. There are, in fact, many more than seven pools; there are dozens of various sizes and in the summer are popular swimming spots. Because of the storm still raging atop the volcano, however, there was flash flood danger and so the pools were closed to swimmers. The trails leading to them were open, however, to photographers and non-swimming hikers.

Posted

3/2/2009

Updated

3/2/2009

Keywords

Camping, Hawaii, Maui, Photography, Travel

Viewed 1083 times

Last Morning In Maui

I awoke in my camper on the beach, to the first blush of sky and the soft rush of waves lapping the shore...and a handsome young man just outside the camper window. He wasn't looking in, but seem to be tugging something. I lifted myself up on one elbow and saw that he was pulling a sea kayak out of a trailer loaded up with them.

Posted

3/15/2009

Updated

3/15/2009

Keywords

California, Photography, Santa Catalina Island, Travel, Two Harbors

Viewed 1094 times

26 Miles Across The Sea

Twenty-six miles across the sea
Santa Catalina is a-waitin' for me
Santa Catalina, the island of romance, romance, romance, romance...

Posted

3/16/2009

Updated

3/16/2009

Keywords

California, Photography, Santa Catalina Island, Travel, Two Harbors

Viewed 1075 times

Catalina Kayaking

So here we are on Catalina Island, and I am hardly a novice camper, but last night was something out of a medieval torture manual.

The problem was that Michael and I didn't have any kind of padding for our sleeping bags. We had brought the air mattress that I keep in one of the pre-packed camping crates we brought; and it's a good one, too, one you'd be pleased to offer guests in your home to sleep on. In fact, to me it's more comfortable than our very expensive bed at home. But the pump for it runs on 12-volt electricity from the car, and we had neither car nor electricity at our campsite.

Posted

3/17/2009

Updated

3/17/2009

Keywords

California, Photography, Santa Catalina Island, Travel, Two Harbors

Viewed 1070 times

Planes, Buses and Helicopters

Today I reluctantly left Michael and the rest of the family on Catalina Island, as I made the journey back home so I could get to work tomorrow...a trip that involved almost every mode of transportation known to man except hot-air ballooning.

Posted

4/2/2009

Updated

4/2/2009

Keywords

Metaphysics

Viewed 1064 times

Recognizing God

There's an old story, attributed to Jesus, that "he"—that is, God—might show up in unexpected ways: as a beggar, or a lame person. The moral of the story is generally taken to mean that we should treat such people as we would treat a deity, should one drop by. However, I prefer to take the story literally.

Posted

4/11/2009

Updated

4/11/2009

Keywords

Colonoscopy, Humor

Viewed 1065 times

Going Where No Man Has Gone Before

Today I had my first colonoscopy. When Mom had her first one, maybe 20 years ago, it was a miserable experience for her, one which not only hurt as it was happening, but for weeks afterwards. People are supposed to have a colonoscopy performed at 50 years of age, which for me was 8 years ago. But Mom's experience caused me to hesitate. Still, we've had a number of family members succumb to colon cancer. So it seemed like I really shouldn't put it off any longer.

Posted

4/17/2009

Updated

4/17/2009

Keywords

Humor

Viewed 1055 times

Camera Tricks

My new Canon Powershot G10 camera that I got from my daughters Jenny and Karen for Christmas, has so many features that I haven't yet learned to use them all. But I am trying to pick up a new technique each week. And this week, I discovered a couple of features that I would never have guessed a camera has, or needs. They are called "Color Swap" and "Color Accent".

Posted

4/18/2009

Updated

4/18/2009

Keywords

Humor, Karate, Video, Zachary

Viewed 1064 times

Zachary, Sparring

Today was Gay Pride in Phoenix (we have it early because of the excessive June heat) but Michael and I didn't go. That's because we were at Grandpa Pride: Our grandson, Zachary, won First Place at a karate sparring competition, the East Valley Classic, and we were there.

Posted

4/19/2009

Updated

4/19/2009

Keywords

Photography, Willis Frye

Viewed 1059 times

Scattering Willis

About a week ago, our friend Willis Frye passed away. He was found in his apartment by cleaning people, having had a stroke, and taken to the hospital. The next day he was transferred to hospice, an MRI at the hospital having discovered that, in addition to his diabetes, Chronic Pulmonary Disease, and bad heart, he also had a massive brain tumor and another tumor in his liver. Michael was able to get over to see him, and though he couldn't speak or even open his eyes, he was able to let Michael know that he knew Michael was there.

Willis died that night.

Yet we weren't really sad. Not only because both Michael and I are well aware that "death" is an illusion and those who have passed on remain a part of our lives, but also because Willis should have died six years ago; and he spent those "extra" years living life on his own terms.

In the gamble of life, Willis had won.

Posted

4/21/2009

Updated

4/21/2009

Keywords

Fox Elipsus, Metaphysics, Music

Viewed 1114 times

Set Us Free

An ancient Chinese curse is said to translate, "May you live in interesting times." It says a lot about the people who thought such a fate would be undesirable, and a lot about the people through the centuries who have repeated the "curse" believing it was one. It also says a lot about us, that so many of us no longer think that "interesting" times must, necessarily, be bad.

And it also says a lot about our mass media, that its constant puking of what it finds "interesting" is, indeed, unpleasant, when so many wonderful things are happening that are even more interesting as well as joy-making.

This evening Michael and I attended a free show by a new friend, singer Fox Elipsus (his professional name). Fox is not from here. He is, in fact, from Britain though his home is currently in Buffalo, New York. But since January his home has been his car, as he has been touring the United States and Canada promoting his new, independent-label double-CD Momentum. Since Fox is not part of the mass media, he is free to write and perform songs of joy, of meaning, of political import, as well as of love. And so I was happy to open our home to him for the several days he will be in the Valley. I knew we weren't only supporting "indie art", but also the high frequency vibration of Love.

Posted

4/26/2009

Updated

4/26/2009

Keywords

Arizona, Camping, Verde Hot Spring

Viewed 1069 times

The Innocents Encamped

My friend, Jason, told me he used to go camping a lot but hadn't in years. So, of course, I invited him to accompany Michael and me to Verde Hot Spring. What I failed to consider is that Jason is a genteel young man who might not be ready for the free-wheeling hippies who camp out there. After all, camping in a genuinely remote area is a lot different than camping with one's parents at a KOA.

Posted

4/27/2009

Updated

4/27/2009

Keywords

Arizona, Upper Salt River, Whitewater Rafting

Viewed 1079 times

2nd Annual Upper Salt Rafting Trip

It's been a year since my friend Frank and I went whitewater rafting on the Upper Salt River. It was his first time, and apparently established a tradition, as he called me a few weeks ago to arrange for a second trip. That's okay with me; the Upper Salt is awesome and I am always up for a bit of river time.

Posted

4/30/2009

Updated

4/30/2009

Keywords

Music, Playing For Change, Spirituality, World Peace

Viewed 1089 times

Stand By Me

I very seldom post videos on my site, especially videos I didn't create. And anyone who knows me knows I am far too cynical to enjoy glurge. But this video doesn't fit into that category. It's genuinely uplifting and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. It's only 5½ minutes long; so put on your headphones or turn up your speakers and enjoy!

Posted

5/3/2009

Updated

5/3/2009

Keywords

Arizona, Metaphysics, Spirituality, Upper Salt River, Whitewater Rafting

Viewed 1093 times

Zach's First Raft Trip

My Grandson, Zachary, has been hearing me tell river tales all his life. That's because what happens on the river, seldom stays on the river—it's too interesting not to share! Consequently, Zach has asked to go rafting since he could talk. But you can't take babies on a raft unless you are trying to escape the sinking of a luxury liner. So we had to put it off. Until...today!

Posted

5/7/2009

Updated

5/7/2009

Keywords

Metaphysics, Photon Belt, Spirituality

Viewed 1884 times

Does This Photon Belt Make Me Look Fat?

I'm the kind of person strangers feel they can tell anything to. I base this on my experience: almost every time I enter a Wal-Mart, Target, or grocery store, some other customer will approach so they can keep me apprised of their drug problem, affair, kidney disease or crisis of faith. Other people get asked to buy Girl Scout cookies. I get told that by a middle-aged man that there's an injunction against his approaching within 100 feet of Girl Scouts.

But of course my friends also confide in me. I normally keep these confidences to myself. But recently I have heard the same thing from so many different people in the last couple of weeks that I can safely talk about it here without revealing any secrets. Seriously, if you, one of my personal friends, think I am blogging about just you, you are wrong. I've heard the same complaints about depression, loss of faith, and weird or bad dreams, from over a dozen people in the past few weeks. And so I am using this forum to discuss the issue with all of you, plus anyone else that somehow managed not to tell me, at once.

Posted

5/13/2009

Updated

5/13/2009

Keywords

Arizona State University, Barack Obama, Humor, Personal History

Viewed 1322 times

A Body Of Work

How I came to be invited to ASU to hear President Obama's speech, how I heard it, and how I left the Sun Devil Stadium afterwards: A blog post in three acts.

Posted

5/19/2009

Updated

5/19/2009

Keywords

Metaphysics, Spirituality

Viewed 1076 times

Effective Prayer

I've written before about the "annoying power of prayer". Annoying, because the studies that proved prayer works offended both atheists and Christians. Atheists, because the studies showed that something they couldn't put in a jar seemed to exist; and Christians because the studies showed it didn't matter to whom one prayed: Prayers to Jesus were neither more or less effective than prayers to Buddha or Ed McMahan.

However, once one accepts that prayers do work—something that billions of people take as a given without a need for studies—one them comes right up against this brick wall: They don't always seem to work. Science likes repeatable phenomena, like the way a magnet always attracts iron filings, or the way a slice of bread always falls butter-side down. While it's nice to know that praying for the health of a cardiac patient improves his or her chances of recovery by 11%, wouldn't it be even nicer if we could goose the odds a bit? I mean, if we are going to spend time praying for something, we'd like to achieve at least a 90% success ratio.

In today's post, I offer some suggestions for praying more effectively. While I can't promise 90% success, I do propose that considering these ideas may prove helpful to you.

Posted

5/30/2009

Updated

5/30/2009

Keywords

Alaska, Alaska Airlines, Anchorage, Denver, Frontier Airlines, Kennicott, Kennicott River Lodge, McCarthy, Photography, Travel

Viewed 1148 times

North To Alaska

It wasn't that complicated an idea: Travel to Alaska on an (almost) free ticket, stay at the lodge of a friend of a friend's, go whitewater rafting. My friend, Frank, had been urging me to join him in visiting his friend Brad's lodge for over a year; and we had been whitewater rafting together twice so it made sense to do an Alaskan raft trip while there. My husband, Michael, was adamant about going with us...he was not going to miss out on a trip to Alaska! I made detailed plans, made reservations and pre-bought various tickets. Frank, a flight attendant, used frequent flier miles to obtain his transportation and arrange our first night's stay in Anchorage and car rental. Michael bought his own ticket through Priceline for some 30% off (by bidding on it). It was my own ticket that nearly turned the trip into a disaster.

Posted

5/31/2009

Updated

5/31/2009

Keywords

Alaska, Kennicott River, McCarthy, Nizina River, Photography, Rafting, Travel

Viewed 1099 times

Northern Exposure

Some years ago, I visited Cicely, Alaska, the fictional town featured in the 1990s TV series Northern Exposure. I was able to do this without actually going to Alaska, because "Cicely" was actually a side street in the town of Roslyn, Washington. The TV series, however, had renewed my interest in visiting Alaska, which had become a state in 1959 when I was in 3rd grade. My visit to "Cicely" only strengthened my desire to visit the 49th state someday. Now I was here, not only in Alaska but over 300 miles from Anchorage in the little town of McCarthy, which could have served as the template for fictional Cicely. Remote, quaint, set amid pristine wilderness and populated by quirky yet friendly characters, I couldn't help but draw comparisons even as my husband, Michael, and our friend, Frank, and I prepared to go rafting down the Nizina River.

Posted

6/2/2009

Updated

6/2/2009

Keywords

Alaska, Anchorage, McCarthy, Spirituality, Travel, TSA

Viewed 1072 times

License To Fly

I didn't want to spoil what had been a terrific trip for Michael and Frank by openly freaking out, but I was freaking out, quietly, nevertheless. I had no wallet and therefore no identification and therefore would surely not be allowed through security at the airport and so wouldn't be able to go home at all. I might have to stay in Anchorage, but only as a homeless person as I wouldn't have the money for shelter and without an ID I wouldn't even be able to get a job.

Posted

6/16/2009

Updated

6/16/2009

Keywords

2012, Metaphysics, New Age, Spirituality

Viewed 1056 times

New Paradigms for the New Age

In these times of increased quantum vibration and resulting odd mental, physical and emotional ups and downs, many are turning to metaphysical sources for guidance. That's because, throughout Earth's history, we have always been taught to look outside ourselves for guidance. It doesn't even occur to most people to do otherwise.

Posted

6/26/2009

Updated

6/26/2009

Keywords

2012, Metaphysics

Viewed 1054 times

2012 Lightworkers

My friend, Chris, recently drew my attention to a new networking web site. I know, I know; MySpace and Facebook and Twitter, oh, my! Do we really need another one? But this new site, Scribd, specializes on "people who like to read". So, right there, instead of having another site that tries to be all things to all people, Scribd has eliminated all but the 12% of Americans who actually like to read. So, that's a plus. It also allows members to post documents like ebooks, and actually sell them. That's another plus. And it allows the creation of groups who can then share documents. That supports an idea I've had for some time: A way for Lightworkers to share thoughts, which tend to run for more words than the 120-character limit on Twitter allows.

Posted

7/4/2009

Updated

7/4/2009

Keywords

Arizona, Photography, Prescott, Willow Lake, Willow Lake Heritage Park

Viewed 1084 times

Prescott, AZ

When the 4th of July approaches, my thoughts turn to celebrating it anywhere but Phoenix. It's too hot, too crowded, and too expensive. So, this year, when Michael and I were invited by our friends Eddie and Carl to visit them in Prescott, we took them up on it.

We left for Prescott on Friday, which I had off from work. We did not take the shortest route there. Years ago, I drove north on State Road 89 to Prescott, on a very curvy, mountain road. I didn't get to see the view because it happened to be about 2 am at the time. I've always wanted to take that road in the daytime, and this trip we did. So our route went through Wickenberg and some impressive storm clouds that never actually rained on us. From door to door, the drive took us about 3½ hours.

Posted

7/16/2009

Updated

7/16/2009

Keywords

Florida, St. Augustine, Travel, Zachary Cilwa

Viewed 1084 times

Travel Is Broadening

Our first flight left early this afternoon, on US Air from Phoenix to Charlotte, North Carolina. Michael, Zach and I each crammed all our stuff into carry-ons, because our cheap tickets would require us to pay $20 for the first checked baggage for each passenger, and $25 for each additional bag. So I managed to fit into my soft travel bag, not only enough clothes for a week, but my camera, GPS, a 12v DC to 110v AC inverter, a laptop computer, a Pocket PC, and all my medicines. (Now that I am nearing 60, I find my medicines could just about require a suitcase of their own.)

Posted

7/17/2009 6:00:00 PM

Updated

7/17/2009 6:00:00 PM

Keywords

Alligator Farm, Florida, St. Augustine, Travel

Viewed 1080 times

Alligator Farm

For those of you who may be from other parts of the country, please note that it is considered good manners in Florida to greet visitors while shirtless. At least, if you are a man. Especially in the summer it is entirely too humid and hot to wear even a square inch of unnecessary cloth. Occasionally a man might don a shirt to go to church or a fancy restaurant. But he might not, and no one will give him a second look. Women are more modest, but two-piece bathing suits are seen pretty much everywhere. They are certainly not limited to the beach!

Posted

7/17/2009 11:30:00 PM

Updated

7/17/2009 11:30:00 PM

Keywords

Class Reunion, Florida, St. Augustine, St. Joseph Academy

Viewed 1121 times

Class Reunion Event #1

And then it was time to do the thing we'd come 3000 miles for: to attend my 40th high school class reunion, or at least the first of two events.

Posted

7/18/2009 2:00:00 PM

Updated

7/18/2009 2:00:00 PM

Keywords

Alexander Springs, Florida, Travel

Viewed 1106 times

Alexander Springs

Yesterday when we were visiting my sister, Mary Joan, I mentioned that today we planned to visit Alexander Springs and would she like to come with us? "Oh, we don't go to springs," she replied. "They have amoebas in them that get into your head through your nose and eat your brain."

When I pointed out that I've been to Alexander Springs, and other springs, many times before without my brain having yet been eaten, she added, "Well, anyway, there's a storm coming down from the north. It's not like our usual Florida storms that come from the south. It's going to rain all day. Hard. You'll have a terrible time."

Posted

7/18/2009 6:00:00 PM

Updated

7/18/2009 6:00:00 PM

Keywords

Class Reunion, Florida, Metaphysics, Spirituality, St. Augustine, St. Joseph Academy

Viewed 1092 times

Burial Plots

When San Lorenzo was opened in 1892, many families moved their deceased from the Mission to the new cemetery...because they didn't want their families to be separated in death! You would think that Catholics, of all people, would be aware that there is no separation in death and that it completely doesn't matter where the bodies are buried.

Posted

7/18/2009 11:30:00 PM

Updated

7/18/2009 11:30:00 PM

Keywords

Class Reunion, Florida, St. Augustine

Viewed 1107 times

A Class With Class

Leaving our grandson Zachary with his aunt and uncle, Michael and I went directly from the cemetery to the final event of my 40th high school class reunion, to be held at Zhanra's Arts and Eats, a bar sort-of-place on Anastasia Island just across the bridge from downtown. We'd been told there would be "heavy hors devours" which was pretty much exactly what I should not be eating. And they were to be served in a "cigar bar" which is apparently still legal in Florida. I assume the Orgy Room was already booked.

Posted

7/19/2009

Updated

7/19/2009

Keywords

Florida, Georgia, Humor, North Carolina, South Carolina, Travel, Virginia

Viewed 1083 times

Driving to Virginia

Today was a driving day, spent in the rental car driving from my sister's house in St. Augustine, Florida to our hotel in Herndon, Virginia. That's me, my husband Michael, and our 10-year-old grandson trapped in a car for twelve hours.

Posted

7/20/2009

Updated

7/20/2009

Keywords

Cailey, District of Columbia, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, Zachary

Viewed 1075 times

Visiting the Smithsonian

Today is the day Michael and I took two daughters and two grandchildren to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. The daughters and one grandchild live in Northern Virginia, so we took the Metro into town. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted

7/21/2009

Updated

7/21/2009

Keywords

Dark Hollow Falls, Photography, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Viewed 1087 times

Shenandoah National Park and Dark Hollow Falls

Whoever thought that waking up in a motel room with five people who all needed to shower and dress and have breakfast would allow for an early departure must have been clownishly naive. Oh, wait...that was me.

Posted

7/22/2009

Updated

7/22/2009

Keywords

Fireworks, Florida, Greenville, South Carolina, St. Augustine, Travel

Viewed 1068 times

Greenville and Fireworks

We arrived about 1 this morning at the home of my friends, Chris and Kim Renzi, and their daughter, Miranda, in Greenville, South Carolina. Chris and Kim had graciously offered to put us up for the night when they learned we would be passing through the area.

Posted

7/23/2009