Had to bury Blondie, one of my two new kittens. Went to bed last night and kissed her and her brother good-night, woke this morning to find her lying beside her brother, peaceful, seemingly asleep. I went to scratch them, and she didn't move.

 

I buried her in the backyard, beneath the willow. I think that I will plant a pussy willow over her grave, to remind me of her soft breath on my cheek, when she used to nuzzle my chin.

 

Loved, for no matter how long we had to share.

Going up to EL to see Dan and Cri and the kids - it'll be nice to have some time off away from the city and work. Plus, when I return I am picking up the newest addition to the family - Precious and I are adding a new ball of fur to the house. Should provide incentive to clean the place up a bit.

 

Need to get some propane tomorrow - it's way past time for the first BBQ of the season. Note to self - drop by Upward Dog to check out their new place and see if it would be nice to go back...

If you're looking to find me, I spend most of my time on Flickr - here's the link to my stuff. See you there!

 

 

 

 

 

Hope that this year is filled with joy and love. Take care, Pats...

The fumes from the solvents were begining to get to him; that or the lack of oxygen and too much heat. Coughing irritably, Pat pulled the magnifying lens back in front of his face, crimping the snake-light to hover right above the table. The hot metal of the lampshade singed his stained fingers, and with a muffled curse he yanked them back, instinctively stuffing them in his mouth. The indescribable foulness of the various chemicals he had been using exploded violently across his tongue; retching and heaving in a spastic convulsion he bashed his knees into the worktable, stumbling back, hacking the foulness from his mouth, his chair shoved, spinning, across the room. Yowling in terror, the cat burst from where she had been sleeping in the corner of the room. Turning, Pat half walked, half staggered down the hall to the bathroom, trying to avoid the flash of fur that swpet under his feet; it took five good minutes of brushing before his mouth felt natural again. As he ran his hands under the steaming hot water, he chuckled to himself. Must have looked quite the fool there for a bit, he thought amusedly, dancing across the floor with my fingers in my mouth, furniture flying everywhere...Turning the taps off quickly, he hurried back to his workroom. It lay there, on the floor of the room beside the work table; paint splattered, dripping solvent, broken in two. Feeling the sharp edges in his hands as turned the pieces over, Pat sighed and reached for the paper towels.

 

"When are you flying out?" The tone of her voice cut through Pat's usual daytime reveries; turning away from his workstation he smiled and looked across his desk. "Late night of the 29th" he replied, "That gets me there for early morning on the 30th" Turning back to his computer, he clicked his mouse to open his calendar "Let's see...flight out at 11:00pm our time, arrival at 2:00am their time. Catch a cab from the airport and check in for the conference that afternoon..." Pat let his voice trail off as he turned back to face her "Busy schedule, but hey, it means that I don't have to spend too much time away from home" "When is your presentation?" she asked. Ducking his head sheepishly, he laughed softly to himself. "Noon on the 30th. I haven't even started working on it yet. I'm supposed to do a dry-run with the Director on the morning of the 29th" Tapping her fingers against his desk, she nodded in response; "Need a lift to the airport?" she asked off-handedly.  Looking back to his PC, Pat's attention was caught by something; letting his eyes flitter away from the screen, he nodded brusquely in reply. "Sorry hon, but I've got some things that just arrived that I need to take care of; coffee this afternoon?" Without waiting for her reply, he reached for his mouse to open the incoming e-mail. Stinging from the abrupt dismissal, she stood to go; letting her eyes walk over him, she felt the usual car crash within her. He could be so cold and distant, so unseeing or was it uncaring? Looking at the sharp angles of his face, the light that shone within those dark blue eyes, her heart was again buffeted by the memory of the feel of his arms around her, his soft skin, hot to her touch, his hands, strong and firm as they gripped her close...shaking her head slightly, she smiled wistfully. Walking back to her office, she wondered, and not for the first time, if he knew the conflict he created within.

 

"Dearest Pats, it's wonderful news that you are coming out West! I wrestled with writing back for a number of reasons, not the least of which was out last conversation. Part of me maintained that I was better off without you in my life; part of me still does. Part of me wonders why, after all the fights, after all the pain and after all the years I would re-visit this again; mainly I ask myself what good could come of this. As you stated though, life is change; to understand that, to know how different people can be, is why I decided to write back. With all that in mind, I look forward, with a bit of trepidation, to having a nice coffee with you and catching up on the past three years. Sadly, my schedule is somewhat constricted, so we would have to meet sometime on the 30th itself. Let me know if this works for you, OK? Looking forward until then! Kindest regards, E"

 

 

Fumbling for his keys as he approached the door, he anticipated more than felt the flurry of activity at his feet. Trying to peer around the grocery bags, he heard the petulant, demanding cries growing louder and more insistent; darting in and out from between his scissoring legs, the cat proved to more successful in her desire for attention than even she originally planned. As Pat went to step up to the front door she slid under his descending foot, squawking horribly as he stepped down on her paw; jerking up, Pat could feel his back foot start to slip on the icy walk. Foot slipping, arms windmilling, groceries spilling across the driveway, Pat started a curse as he felt his back and feet go horizontal, a curse abruptly terminated with a whiffling thud as he fell heavily to the pavement amidst the scattered produce. The lights exploded as he struggled to catch his breath, burning band tightening across his chest, shallow breaths ending in the back of his throat; "I wonder if this is what the fish feel when we pull them from the water?" he thought randomly as the night sky grew darker and the spots swam in front of his eyes. The cold against the back of his neck and the sound of the cat, still screaming to be let in, pulled him from his stunned musings. Gathering himself, he tried to calm his breathing; the pain grew sharper across his chest as it slowly returned to normal, calmer breaths punctuated by little yips of pain. Sitting up was fire, stabbed into his ribs and turned; breathing in short puffs, he gathered the food that had spilled when he fell. The cat had raised herself on her back feet and was clawing at the screen door, tearing it in her insistence; from where he knelt Pat stared daggers at her, muttering to himself as he stuffed his sodden and smushed groceries back into their bags. "Damn cat, almost killed me. I should teach you how to use the key maybe..." Finally gathering the last of his produce, Pat pulled himself to his feet, wincing at the effort; dragging his keys from his pocket, he pulled open the screen door and unlokced the front door. Bursting through, the cat dashed straight for her food bowl, utterly ignoring Pat; not finding anything there, she turned immediatly and began again to scream her discontent. Feeling his ribs burn at every breath, his head ache with each pulse of his heart, Pat couldn't help but smile to himself as the cat proceeded to let him know how unhappy she was; "Some things just never change" he thought wryly. 

 

 

I haven't blogged in a while - many thoughts have passed, but mainly due to the addiction I have to my camera. I have been expressing life through my lens rather than my words.

 

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's - best wishes for the road ahead. May your resolutions be realistic and your dreams just slightly our of reach.

 

I look to slide some sweetness back into what is becoming a bitter life - to enjoy the moments I try to capture rather than merely recording them.

 

To my friends, family and loved ones - may we all do this again next year, with more joy in our hearts and more laughter on our tongues.

 

As you wish.

As my Dolphins are 0-9 this year, so I had given up hope and was waiting for the draft. Then, out of the blue, after a year and a half suspension, they go and bring Ricky back.

 

Excellent! Redemption! The man who walked away from an enormous contract as one of the best running backs in the NFL to smoke herb is back.

 

Hope it works this time around...

Had a great meal with my folks on Saturday down at Sweetgrass, and then again last night at Mekong. Excellent food and wonderful company! Thanks to all who were there!

 

Back to the grind today - it's raining, but I think I'm still going to walk in. Need the time to think and clear my head...

 

Have a great week everyone!

Those of you who know, know what day approaches. Went out and got myself a new lens - 60mm Nikkor Nikon Macro lens. In the words of the immortal Cartman, hellaSWEET!!!

 

Head on over to the Flickr site to check out the latest shots - still getting used to the tricks of the lens, and I really need to get the battery fixed in my camera remote.

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Just had the chance to test out my new Nikon 50mm lens. Need to get a little more used to manual focus - still not a pro! :P

 

Ah well, just another excuse to take more shots!

Took me over eight hours to completely back-up my PC. Then, the fateful moment; after much hand-wringing, I finally made the leap and purchased a copy of Vista. Now I'm going to spend the next days or five trying to make all my files work again.

 

Could be worse. I like the new look of the OS (hey, I'm a Luddite at heart, so for me, this is a new look!) and the fact that I can network the Xbox 360 and the TV/Home Stereo through the PC is really interesting.

 

Will update as things progress. Looking at getting a D200 as well - tough choice between that and the D80. $500 price difference, but the 200 is an enormous leap forward in challenging me when it comes to learning how to properly use a dSLR. I would really have to look into a course so that I can appear somewhat less of a bumbler.

 

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! 

Spengler: In reading through the trove of your previous pieces, I came across your commentary of January 26, 2002, wherein you draw comparisons between option trading and geopolitics (Geopolitics in the light of option theory). While admittedly an exercise in simplification, I still feel there is value in the comparisons drawn. My question now is, with Chinese economic expansion occurring at the rate that it is, and with a newly rediscovered approach to dealings with the rest of the world (see recent dealings with Somalia for an example), would you still rate the United States as a long-option player? Do you remain convinced that "China shows little inclination to fish in stormy waters far from its shores. No power stands to gain from instability other than the United States itself"? If anything, the day-traders of the geopolitical world are stirring the waters, and the benefits to be gained from the resulting instability are not accruing to the US of A alone; if you are in the mood to revisit old writings (as with the recent justificative piece on genocide [In defense of genocide, redux, Jul 24]), please take another look at the way that the geopolitical markets fare today.
Patrick Kennedy
Ottawa, Ontario (Jul 25, '07)

Theta has been eating away at the US option for some time, and the unique American advantage is somewhat attenuated. I don't think China is a spoiler, but Russia might be, all the more so because America's idea of promoting stability conflicts sharply with perceived Russian interests in the near abroad. Then Iran wants to exploit a kind of instability, the sort that raises the poor Shi'ite masses against the Arab establishment. It has become a bit more complex. There is a parallel to the situation in Europe a century ago. In 1905, Germany was the potential beneficiary of the Russian Revolution and Russo-Chinese War, for it gave Berlin the opportunity to crush France quickly. Russia did not exercise the option, and by 1914, instability benefited no one. - Spengler 

 I love it when he takes the time to write back. Puts a smile on my face - plus, it's a good response! :)

 

 

 

All who know me, know why this editorial makes me smile - vindicative to see my thoughts expressed so well! 

 

 

 I don't know if I agree with this - I guess that North Korea qualifies, but I hate to put megalomaniac-ruled nations in the list; skews the scale of things when everything stems from one guy!

 

Without any further ado...(oh, well, some ado - please note - my all-time vote-getter for this category has once again shown strong - having restored their government, they now qualify for participation. Prior to this it was a running discussion if they should even be allowed to compete, seeing as how they were officially anarchic)