I got a good chuckle out of this cartoon as I pounded away on my keyboard today.Denial of Service (DoS) Attack Resource Page

A few of us have started up a writing circle. You can find the forum here. Some of these people are very good writers and in all honesty, much better than myself. I'll take solace in being the person running the board.

EntropyHed:: <---green with envy Astenar:: offers him an olive branch EntropyHed:: coos like a dove at the sweet offering Astenar:: eh? (can't see the forest for the trees) EntropyHed:: nope hills are to greece-y Astenar:: hehe...I'm doing colors, you're doing geography. Pun madness EntropyHed:: wish i could have posted that part-anon Astenar:: you could publish a column EntropyHed:: nah i want to urn it Urda:: Don't be a doric EntropyHed:: lol Urda:: EntropyHed:: bust-ed!!! Urda:: I've lost my marble EntropyHed:: so if i was a flower removed from a vase in athens, could you say i was "ode to a grecian urn"? Urda:: oy...my aching temple Astenar:: gads...the humor in here is pretty spartan Urda:: it's practically ionic EntropyHed:: *watches flea grab her persius and leave, disgusted* Astenar:: and what of Dirk? Though puns have always been his Achilles heal Urda:: he's hunting his golden fleece Astenar:: off on some odyssey? EntropyHed:: hey dirk! what's up homer! Urda:: Hey E...did you ever clear up that electra-cal issue? Urda:: I understand it was a clash of the titans EntropyHed:: yeah it was the car-man (obscure off topic pun) Urda:: you better get a kraken EntropyHed:: oooooo Urda:: (studied ancient greek mythos in college.../snicker) Astenar:: wow, you sure are roman all over the spectrum of puns Urda:: it's all greek to me Astenar:: chews on a mars bar Urda:: Troy that one on for size Astenar:: moves on to a caesar salad Urda:: et tu steve? Astenar:: tries to make a Plato scultpture, but ends up eating all the blue Urda:: Astenar:: rolls down a trojan Urda:: :P Urda:: take it to the arena EntropyHed:: about those lions, I'm pretty gladiator, she was not useful anyway Astenar:: they should send those damn lions back to their respective zeus Urda:: I hear they have a rare species of aquaduck there Astenar:: Hera-sy! Urda:: punning is often hit or myth

hey. yeah you. come here. underneath my clothes... i'm completely NEKKID!!. think about it.

there now stands a youthful citadel in my backyard, and there was much rejoicing. today as i sit here thinking back over the weekend it strikes me as a qualified statement of hope. (for those of you i didn't recruit to help build it, a little background may be useful. conrad received one of the wooden playsets that have become fairly common. it has 3 swings monkey bars, a climbing wall, and a bumpy slide, not to mention the wooden roof, a hundred thousand lag bolts and millions of wood screws. and now it stands shading the setting sun. ) hope. hope for the future is a complicated emotion for me now after losing connor. for 5 years now, the future is something that i have avoided, well, almost pathologically. why? when i imagine the future with my family it's always tagged by the words "if they don't die". those of you that haven't walked down this particular path may find that an odd feeling to have resonating like a tone in the background of your life. but it will sound familiar to some of you. like i said, it's sort of complicated. now, i have this structure in the back half of my yard. wooden, tall, splintery, still unsanded and un-waterproofed, brand new. with no real memories, but future ones. friday play days with his play group, bare feet and summer heat, perhaps broken arms, or legs, the inevitable structural modification, dirt clod and orange wars - a future filled with the stuff of life. hopefully. bleh. complicated. and here i am, standing in my head looking at it and thinking it's not built with wood and metal, but emotions. and not just this plaything but everything. all things colored through "me-colored glasses". painted with hope, love...and fear. painted by my past. is there another way to see it? not that I've found. inside the house there is another wooden thing that i built with my hands. smooth and cool, painted from a palette of rage, confusion, sadness and love. but i'm not ready to talk about that one yet. maybe tomorrow. maybe never. e.

Many, many thanks to everyone who came over last weekend to help build Conrad's playset. He absolutely loves it and I couldn't have done it without y'all. I've posted some pics. If anyone else has any they'd like to see, e-mail me and I'll link 'em. Love you guys. *sniff* Playset creation

These guys have some great t-shirts. I think the best one is the infant t-shirt that says " My IQ is higher than the presidents". Make sure you check out the wrapping paper too! T-Shirt Hell: Funny t-shirts, Funny shirts, cool t-shirts, Cool shirts

See now I find this stuff cool. I was wondering about the rain fall levels in Death Valley and how the flowers where going to be this Spring and I stumbled upon this series of pages that walks you through the geologic history of the Death Valley. Next time I go there I'll be looking at a very living desert breathing through time. Death Valley's geologic history: Middle Precambrian

Their is some hope that the bush mysticism is finally starting to organize the secularists into some form of political action and force. Although the article is a little dated, it is new to me. I found it here.

Conrad poses with his cousin Berlynn for one of the many papparazzi. Conrad stands amid a sea of presents. Poor kid. How will he survive. Many of you know I'm working with a local craftsman (Perry Karlsson) to make a wooden box to hold many of Connor's things. These are the first two pictures that show off the hand chiseled dove tailing. Another view of the whole box. Conrad enjoys his brief moments of weightlessness.

Here it is another new years day. These kind of days put me into a form of internal conflict. I mean, why should January 1st be treated any differently that August 14th? The human animal, other than being violent, self-delusional, heroic, and beautiful is an odd animal with a genetic pre-disposition toward generalizing. We impose order on things, lay a pattern on chaos in an attempt to bring a sense of security to our worlds and dimly lit caves. Today, I'm not going to fight millions of years of genetic programming and make some new years resolutions. I'll be brief: 1. Love more. That's it. Seems simple doesn't it. Now to bring it down to real world application excuse me if I over simplify, I am a homo spapien sapien, it's what we do. 1. Love more ....A. Self ........1) Exercise ............a. Daily ................1. 7:30 - Pushups ................2. 10:00 - Arms (Biceps, Triceps) ................3. 12:00 - Shoulders ................4. 2:00 - Sit-ups, back ............b. Weekly ................1. Cardio - 3 times (Bike, Jog, Jog) ........2) Financial ............a. Establish a budget and stick to it ................1. Love my future by not selling it, and take it back from the banks. ............b. Give more to Conrad's college fund ........3) Diet ............a. Lose weight ................1. 155 pound target weight, + additional muscle weight. ............b. Eat as well as I can while still enjoying life. Forgive myself for indulgences. ........4) Misc ............a. Take an emotional inventory everyday ................1. Be an active participant in my life. ............b. Be calm ................1. 7:30 - 5 minutes of mediation ................2. 10:00 - 5 minutes of meditation ................3. 2:00 - 5 minutes of meditation ....B. Wife ........1) Listen ........2) Listen ........3) Do something nice for her every day ....C. Conrad ........1) Listen (I've found a theme) ........2) Spend 10 minutes everyday, being completely goofy with him. ........3) This stolen from Adrienne's list: Protect his memories of childhood as precious. ....D. Friends and Family ........1) Get together at least once a month as a group and do something, anything. ............a. Build the community our modern lives have torn from us. ............b. Do something nice and completely silly for a friend or family member at least once a month, anonomously if possible. I of course reserve the right to deviate from this list at any given time for any given reason and retain all applicable rights to forgive myself f I do. Happy new year everyone. Hope it is full of memories. e.