buried in the work that never ends

I've decided that this journal is pretty much going to be dedicated from now on to the uninteresting personal details of my uninteresting life. (Did I mention that this journal will be uninteresting?) If you want to read interesting things--and this does include my two cents on graphics and web-design, for those who know me through gnomicons--please hasten to my blog, where interesting-ness awaits you... without nasty, pointed teeth... And besides, the blog has pretty pictures.

If you feel the need to follow things via LJ, trygve has been cool enough to set up gnomeblog.

According to a July 2002 memo leaked by the British press, President Bush and his administration planned, even then, to invade Iraq and were working to fix intelligence to support their actions. The site linked to above contains the memo, a catalog of quotes from the administration as measured against the memo, and information on what actions members of the public can take.

Congress has sent a letter (PDF) signed by 89 members to the White House, asking for an investigation into the validity of the document. The British government has declared the memo "nothing new" and said nothing to deny its validity. There doesn't seem to have been a conclusive statement from the White House at this time.

My House representative was one of the members to sign the letter sent to Bush, but I felt that it was appropriate to send her my thanks and encourage her to keep at the issue.

( My Letter to My Representative )

I urge all of you, especially those who are American registered voters, to look at this memo and consider taking action. There has been little media coverage of this issue, and that needs to change before more of our men and women--and more Iraqi men and women--lose their lives.

In case those of you with connections to Case have not heard, the good people at Blog@Case have set up a dedicated blog in honor of Doc Oc where students, alumni, faculty, and staff can share their memories about Doc and brainstorm ways of preserving his memory on campus.

For those of you who don't know Case, Ignacio Ocasio--better known as Doc Oc--was an extraordinary professor who taught pretty much all of the introductory chemistry classes to undergraduates. He was famous for knowing the names and faces of all of his students on the first day of class. In class and out of class, he was a wonderfully cheerful man who went out of his way for each and every student, showing more concern for them--both as students and as people--than one ever expects from a man with 150-200 people attending each of his lectures.

Even though I never had the pleasure of being in one of his classes, Doc Oc defined part of the undergraduate experience at Case for me, and he represented the very best of Case with the welcoming and supportive atmosphere he helped to create. We will all miss him sorely.

Dear Olympic Games:

Welcome home.

Dear Athens:

The pregnant firefly lady was a bit freaky, but you guys are wonderful anyway. Keep it up. Congratulations to you!

Dear Olympic Athletes:

May you realize the immense opportunities that lay before you. May you live up to your own dreams and those of the ones who cheer you. May you carry yourselves with pride and bring honor to the countries you represent. May you realize the true purpose of these Games and work to unite our world in peace outside these few weeks.

And above all: may you have the time of your lives. Good luck to you all.

Dear World:

We may not all have a chance to be in Athens or even to see all that happens there. But let these Games remind us that dreams can, in fact, become reality, and that we really aren't all that different. We can overcome the boundaries between us and be united in peace and happiness. Even if only for these few weeks, let go of your hatreds and prejudice, look past the color of skin or the gender or religion of the person. Look past all of that and see a fellow human. Rejoice in our similarities and seek to understand our differences.

Let the Games begin.
gnomeofsol

I saw Troy today. And I couldn't resist beating a dead wooden horse.

( Troy Revisited; Includes Spoilers )

I might have been prompted to write more if my hands weren't already tired from typing all that. So good night, folks. Tomorrow's my flight back to Cleveland.

It's impossible for me to say how much many of you effect me, even if I don't use your icons. I have to send out major appreciation to the following icon makers: grass_stained, amazingrando, enigel, stepliana, crackshot, sadako_chan, shinken, duncatra, tristmasjedi, snidgety, gegenschein, saranoh, iconalias, dawnnamira, ethereal_icons, sirendream, etoilepb, and syndarys.

I don't doubt that I've left someone out by accident, but, as you can probably guess from that list, there are so many of you that I appreciate that it's next to impossible to set you all down by name. In any case, I raise a toast in honor of you all!

I'm sort of following the New Year's fad of friends list cleaning. I really don't like cutting people, but I also don't like having tons of entries to try and wade through, particularly when I feel that there are a number of people who don't seem to be wading through mine. Maybe we're just not clicking. In any case, I want you all to know that it's not that I have anything personally against you, and I'm not completely set against adding you back on, but I would ask you to comment here and give me some reasons why I should. If not, then I hope we part ways without hard feelings. I wish you all the best in life!

Also, there are a number of people who have added this journal who have never commented to me at all, which I find a bit bizarre. I really like getting to know the people I have as friends. Please, comment if you're really interested. Look at my user info, find some stuff we have in common. Start a conversation with me. Give me some way of remembering you out of the crowd of people I encounter!

Those currently on the list will remain there.