Keeping up with Bloggers

Thanks to Arianna Huffington

2008-10-03T16:42:53Z

on the Huffington Post quoting Martha Stewart about last night's Palin Performance:

The home-spun homilies have to go...And, oh my god, words do have ending consonants.

Back from Denver - Short Work Week

2007-05-29T23:58:21Z

Well, another square dance convention has come and gone. I've been enjoying the afterglow. Great Dancing...Wonderful Hotel...Nice City...

I sneaked a look at the under 35 specialty tip - 2 squares! Not enough in my opinion given that some 40+ dancers got their 10 year medallions! I was 28 or so when I went to my first convention...in order to get a specialty tip, I think they would have had to aim for the under 25 crowd. I think the medallion project has been a great success in keeping people coming back...not the deciding factor...but just one more thing to add to the ledger and I bet in some cases its been enough. Any body got any ideas on how to keep attracting the newbies? Spoke with another SF square dancer from one of the mainstream/plus clubs who spoke about how their board really had to spend time thinking about how to be welcoming to new dancers. It's probably something that all of us need to think about. I know I'm comfortable talking with the people I know and have known. ozdachs is much better at mingling than I am.

Thursday - I'm out of town for a family wedding. First of the next generation is getting married. (Hmmmm...is it just me or is the whole post about getting older?)

Happy Birthday, billeyler

2006-06-19T21:40:19Z

Glad I happened to check LJ today!

More than 4 months!

2006-02-12T23:12:40Z

Besides not posting, I haven't even been reading live journal. The thought process went something like this...oh, I don't have time to comment on anything, I better not even read it. Most everyone I've told that to, seems to think it a pretty lame excuse.

Looking back, I did get a lot accomplished over the last 4 months...

About the same time that fyellin posted about Sudoku, (probably the last post I read,) I discovered it too. Not being a C Programmer, I set up an Excel worksheet (yes, I am an accountant) to keep track of my pencil marks. Doesn't solve it but it definitely helps. I have discovered a couple of useful sites on the internet as well. As far as I'm concerned the best site to play Sudoku is WebSudoku and the most interesting solver site is Sudoku Solver

In mid-November, I selected ProSystem Document (it'll mean something to the accountants out there.) We have two offices and are constantly shuttling files back and forth. A good document management system should allow us to do this electronically and cut down on the paper that we use. The work we do is historically so paper intensive that this is a huge leap. The jury is out on how big an impact its going to have...but my sense, is that it will be huge!

About the same time we were beginning to get the hardware and infrastructure in place for the document management system, I finalized the purchase of an IP phone system. The agitation caused by replacing our 8 trunk lines with a PRI can't be understated. But the new system's been in for a while and still is getting glowing reviews. For those techies who want to know, it's Televantage by Vertical. It is an amazing system certainly compared to a 15 year old pbx. (Yeah, I expect that there'd be improvements in PBX's in that time but calling between offices is as seamless as calling down the hall - No big deal for those of you in big companies but for a small firm...its HUGE!)

Who know's where and if I'll ever be able to dance it...but the class is going well and its fun. Speaking of which, it's almost time to go sweep the garage for tonight's class.

If any of you are interested in more details, let me know. Needless to say, this is all exciting stuff for me but very worthy of LJ cuts.

Did you ever wonder?

2006-02-12T21:45:30Z

I didn't think this would be my first post after a long hiatus...but,

Does anyone have a clue about what happened to "that Amos Boy, Seth?" We know Sis killed Andy and her sister-in-law and that they hung the brother for Andy's murder. But, did Sis let Seth get away?

redozdachs @ 2005-10-07T08:20:00

2005-10-07T15:25:50Z

Happy Birthday to ozdachs! (There's also a private entry for him!)

Aunt Barbara

2005-10-02T17:21:13Z

I maintain that I have a very small family. (True ozdachs will point out those second cousins that jumped out at him after I convinced him of my small family...but how often do we see them anyway?) I met my father's half brothers (3 of 'em) a few times but since the youngest one of those was 11 years older than my dad, (and my dad would have been 93 this year) we were not close to any of them. My mother had one brother and he lives across the bay in Pt. Richmond. In the last few years, we visit some what regularly and have gotten to be much closer.

He celebrated his 86th birthday about 10 days ago and I tried to call twice to wish him a happy birthday...he was out both times and I left messages. (At 86, he really is getting around really well...still drives...is very active...no one would believe his age.) I didn't hear back from him, so on Friday night, thought I'd call to check in...after all, we really have gotten much closer over the years.

This time, he answered, said, I was gonna call you shortly. We chatted about how busy he had been. He talked about his recent driving trip to Canada (I didn't know about that,) kept mentioning the trip in terms of "We did this and We did that." My Uncle has been a widower since 2003 after about 60 years of marriage. But I know who "We" included, we met the other part of "We" about six months ago and found her very nice. She and her husband had been friends of my aunt and uncle for years and she'd been widowed for sometime. As I was thinking, I'm glad he's still seeing her...good for him to have company, my uncle say's "Did I tell you we got married?" "Congratulations!" and "When?" were my responses.

Turns out that I have had an "Aunt Barbara" since August 7. It's nice that my family has gotten closer over the years. I'll have to send a card.

redozdachs @ 2005-10-02T09:52:00

2005-10-02T16:57:29Z

Blame this one on bearhound.

You scored as Modernist. Modernism represents the thought that science and reason are all we need to carry on. Religion is unnecessary and any sort of spirituality halts progress. You believe everything has a rational explanation. 50% of Americans share your world-view.

</td>

Modernist

75%

Materialist

75%

Postmodernist

69%

Existentialist

69%

Idealist

63%

Romanticist

56%

Cultural Creative

50%

Fundamentalist

25%

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

LJ Picnic

2005-10-02T02:09:15Z

It was a nice day in Dolores Park! Perfect day for a picnic. Enjoyed meeting/re-meeting/catching up with all of everyone. Thanks fuzzygruf for putting together the list. Now on to the Castro Street fair...life is just a whirl of activity!

redozdachs @ 2005-09-28T10:42:00

2005-09-28T17:42:39Z

Welcome home double_ohsteven. Hope you start feeling better quickly. It's got to be good to be home. Look forward to hearing the lurid details when you are up to it.

And to fuzzygruf glad you've got him home...aren't you a trained professional? Up those dosages to whatever you both need!

And let us know if you need anything.

Time Management...

2005-09-22T19:03:03Z

Can time really ever be managed?

Work wise, we are beginning to get settled in after relocating our office last weekend. This was a move back into the office space we have occupied since 1986. A six week relocation was necessary beginning in April of 2004 to accommodate the ~~necessary~~ (one ceiling tile fell in '89 and the building was under construction in '06 and remained standing) required (probably a good idea - mandated by government, see below) earthquake retrofit. Funny how those six weeks stretched on and on. I felt under control enough last night to go squaredancing last night. Thanks, Richard for calling.

I also just took the time to complete this:

You are a
Social Liberal
(65% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(30% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Democrat

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

I certainly wasn't raised a Democrat. I'm glad a few of you out there maybe chuckling to yourself. I can only conclude, that San Francisco, ozdachs, growing older and the current administration are all having an effect.

Now this entry started is titled time management...obviously, I need help in this area from time to time.

Disaster Response?

2005-09-05T20:21:36Z

As the news continues to be grim and the constant drumbeat out of Washington is "Who could have anticipated this?" I thank my brother for finding this editorial on the LA Times site. Michael Hiltzik does a nice job of explaining what we are seeing is a deliberate and direct result of the Administrations policies...

Bush's Hurricane Response a Disaster

Michael Hiltzik
Golden State

September 5, 2005

Nearly five years ago, the Bush administration rode into office bearing its cynicism about government high, like a banner.

It promoted a massive tax cut as a way of "starving the beast" of federal government. President Bush traveled the country telling us that we were overdependent on the government for help with healthcare and retirement. To those wondering what resources might see them into old age, he advised: "a conservative mix of stocks and bonds."

New Orleans is, or should be, the graveyard of the conservative ideology that government is useless. An American city is reduced to Third World desperation as people who own nothing scrounge for necessities in a sea of waste and federal officials offer lame excuses about how their disaster plans would have worked fine had there not been, you know, a disaster. The president, at the head of a global power that can't get its own troops or supplies off their bases to reach the needful, whines, "The private sector needs to do its part."

This deplorable performance has deep roots. Joe M. Allbaugh, a Bush campaign hack without any crisis management experience who was named director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, disparaged federal disaster assistance as "an oversized entitlement program" before Congress in 2001. The public's expectations of government in a disaster situation, he said, "may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level." He advised stricken communities to rely for help on "faith-based organizations … like the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Disaster Service."

If Allbaugh were not an amateur, he would have known that communities, "faith-based organizations" and the private sector become overwhelmed by disasters more modest than this one. In a crisis the federal government should be the first responder, not the last, to take charge, not wait to be asked.

Cynicism on such a scale is self-perpetuating. Determined to portray government as little but an intrusion into people's lives, this gang made it irrelevant to hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina — thus giving them, and us, good reason to be cynical after all.

The federal officials assigned to New Orleans have displayed an appalling combination of arrogance and ignorance. Thursday evening on NPR, I heard Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees FEMA, dismiss reports of thousands of refugees trapped at the New Orleans convention center for days without sustenance. He called the reports, in so many words, "rumors and anecdotes."

Informed that an NPR reporter had been on the scene, he sniffed, "I can't argue with you about what your reporter tells you." Later, his staff called back to say that he had "received a report confirming the situation" and that he was now "working tirelessly" to get food to the location.

At a news conference that day, FEMA Director Michael Brown, Allbaugh's successor and college chum, attributed the death toll in New Orleans "to people who did not heed evacuation warnings." Insensitive to the truth that many of the stranded had no way of responding to the warnings — no money, no transport out of the city and nowhere to go — he blamed them for having failed to prepare any better than, well, the federal government.

He also described security in the city, where snipers were firing on rescue boats and a mob beat back police trying to impose order at the convention center, as "pretty darn good." The image of lawlessness, he said, was fomented by those willing to "stick a camera" in front of "bad people."

The Bush administration is not alone in having ignored pleas to improve the hurricane and flood defenses of New Orleans. But it bears sole responsibility for a crisis response that has been fairly labeled a national disgrace. FEMA drafted an action plan for a New Orleans flood: pre-position food, supplies and hospital ships for immediate deployment in the aftermath. Brown and Chertoff failed to implement it adequately, pleading that no one could have anticipated a disaster that had in fact been anticipated by engineers, geographers and political leaders for decades. As I write, the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort remains moored in Baltimore, not to arrive off New Orleans until the end of this week.

President Bush will surely feel the consequences of his dereliction. Every policy of his administration will be viewed through the prism of the debacle of New Orleans. The pursuit of a personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein, supported by manipulated intelligence, has sucked billions out of the treasury and removed more than 30% of Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard members from their homes, so they must watch the disaster unfold from half a world away instead of assisting their own communities. Tax cuts for the wealthy have been financed by budget cuts

for disaster preparedness and other crucial programs. Four years of anti-terrorism planning have failed to produce a competent system for mitigating a metropolitan cataclysm — one that, on the ground, is indistinguishable from the effects of the terrorist attack we've supposedly been girding for since 9/11.

Then there's Bush's sustained assault on social insurance programs such as Social Security, safety nets that are to be replaced by the slogan "You're on your own."

New Orleans is not a local calamity; it belongs to us all, not least because it signals what to expect from this administration. If a major earthquake strikes Los Angeles or San Francisco, will President Bush wait to respond until he can conclude his vacation, as he did last week? Will his appointees express surprise at an eventuality that "no one could have predicted"?

Probably. George W. Bush is known for never admitting his mistakes. Consequently, he never learns from his mistakes. The chances are dismal that he will learn from this one. We're on our own.

*

Golden State appears every Monday and Thursday. You can reach Michael Hiltzik at golden.state@latimes.com and read his previous columns at latimes.com/hiltzik.

LJ...Lots to Learn

2005-09-04T14:56:51Z

Thanks to fuzzygruf,sflonestar,allanh and of course ozdachs for the greetings and welcomes.

I've been reading the FAQ's, Ozdachs New User hints and browsing my way through the LJ Site Map. Lot's to learn...I guess that there is some advantage to starting out with a free account (a smaller universe of options.) I've downloaded Semagic even more to go through. None of this impresses the two Dachshunds next to me. (One is content...the other does not like my hands straying to the keyboard.)

Oh well, I guess there's little chance I'll be bored. Come to think of it, is there ever an opportunity to be bored anymore?

For now a free account...

2005-09-03T23:17:21Z

Well, after many months of reading various livejournal accounts, at least I now have a free account. I've been told that since I'm lurking here...it's better to actually set up an account. I will be curious to see what I do with it. I've enjoyed the various meme's that I've seen go by and I suppose I can participate in them publicly now as well. I may be motivated to post a rant or two of my own....who knows? Now where were all the useful tips, I've seen...