- February 28, 2005 -

It was found that Small Fry's tumors are benign, which is the best news we could hope for. The vet has started on pregnazone, which will hopefully slow, stop or reverse the growth of the tumors.

Last week there were protests in Israel, Paris, London, and here in the US about UPN's decision to not renew Star Trek Enterprise for a fifth season. After intense pressure, UPN stated they would make an announcement today concerning Star Trek, but did not confirm that it would involve Enterprise, but said it would not involve a future movie of TV series, so many think it will be about Enterprise, I guess I'll see.

- February 27, 2005 -

The suspected BTK Killer was arrested yesterday, and Witchita, Kansas got in the national news, and on BBC world news for it. The police seemed very certain that they had the right person, though they hadn't really gone into, or released what it was that allowed them to identify him.

On Discovery there was a program about homicidal dolphins that have been killing harbor porpoises, and also other young dolphins, and they were able to use their sonar to look into thier victims to know just where to punch with their snout to harm the vital organs.

- February 24, 2005 -

Payday! After work I went over to Brent's to look at the computer his sister gave him that he will give to Sensei Nick. It's a Packard Bell, and since they went out of business a decade ago, it's pretty old, but it has ram dedicated to video, and TV capture capabilities... so it was like the monster of all computers back in the day, probably worth $2500 - 3000 back in the day. It was certainly interesting indeed.

This morning as I was cuddled in my fleece blanket pondering if I could stay in bed longer I ponder... "Fleece blankets are really nice." and then I thought that it'd be a nice thing for our country to do, to produce such a blanket to give to the poor around the world, how could anyone hate us then. And then I remembered.... "Hmmm.. I guess we tried that once before, cept the blankets were all diseased and were used to try to kill off the Indian population... perhaps people wouldn't like our blankees so much."

- February 24, 2005 -

Lots of Dogs... We have five foster dogs here now, four puppies and an older dog. There were six puppies (which were all dumped out in the country) but Mom found homes for a couple of them. The Sheriff called today and said that Small Fry was ours, and won't have to go back to the home she was taken from. Her condition is still somewhat inconclusive though, the vet was going to take a biopsy to see if the cancer was benign or malignant... if it was benign they have a new drug that's pretty successful in treating lymphoma, but if it is malignant, there probably won't be much we can do, as the Vet said that Chemo would probably only extend her life by a few months.

Today is Majel Barrett's birthday, and yesterday was Jeri Ryans.

- February 22, 2005 -

Today President Bush said that he had no plans on attacking Iran, and in the next sentence said that "all options are on the table." in dealing with Iran. I think he learned a few things from Kerry, cause it was very... "We're not gonna do it... but we just might!" Perhaps Bush means that there will just be no pre-planning for a war, but there just might be an unplanned one... like Iraq?

- February 21, 2005 -

It's Monday, and I guess I had a pretty good weekend, though it did go by quickly. Saturday after work Mary Lou, Bob, Teresa and I went out to eat at Sun's (The best Chinese food in the Northern Hemisphere since the Holton Chinese restaurant closed). After we ate Bob, Teresa & I went to the movie Constantine. It was an ok movie, I would not tell anyone that they had to go see it I guess, but I would not deem it a bad movie. Sunday and today I just worked on the computer in Photoshop doing site stuff and I played with Cascading Style Sheets.

- February 18, 2005 -

It came out yesterday that one of the reporters in the White House press core, wasn't really a journalist, wasn't using his real name, and that the White House knew, and continued to give him press access because he asked very easy questions.... It was actually his extremely easy questions of the White House Press Secretary, that led others reporters to investigate how he got there, and exactly why he was there. This in the wake of another scandal over political commentators being paid by the White House to talk favorably about certain policies does make one question how ethical the Bush administration is.

- February 16, 2005 -

Paula Zahn had an interesting story on tonight... she had a reporter go out and test what type of guns could be purchased legally with the new weakened gun laws, and the reporter was able to get, without any background checks, a fifty caliber riffle.. it was purchased over the internet, as were the bullets which were as long as the reporter's hand. In testing of what could be done with the weapon, it had a range of thousands of meters, and even at a great distance was able to penetrate a steal plate that was an inch thick. I ponder some think such weapons should be legal.

- February 16, 2005 -

It's LaVar Burton's Birthday today.

Today seems to be the day of new alliances and new divisions. Bush has made social security his main goal of his second term, he's been campaigning hard to win people over, but privatization is not winning any support, and with Democrats able to kill any bill they don't like, Bush conceded today that he would be willing to raise taxes on people making over $90,000 a year in order to save social security. Democrats are happy they were able to yank him to the center, and Conservative Republicans are vowing to vote against any increase in taxes. What is probably more surprising is that Christians and Muslims are now protesting in the streets of Lebanon together to try and force the Syrians out of their land due to the recent assassination there with suspected Syrian ties. The Lebanese are even calling for Bush to send in troops to force the Syrians out- "We want from President George W. Bush to free Lebanon, let him take an action," one man said on the news. So far we have pulled our ambassador to Syria, and the US and France in the security council co-sponsored a resolution demanding Syria leave. Iran today came forward and announced they formed an alliance with Syria against the US.

Small Fry is going to start chemotherapy I guess. Mom said it could cost up to a grand to have it done, and even if it goes into remission she could still be ordered back to the family that abused her... I'm going to hope for the best though, and I told Mom I'd help pay for her treatment.

- February 14, 2005 -

Saturday was a very long day, I worked at the Historical Society until 5, and then I met Teresa over at Lin's to paint her kitchen and sun room, we didn't think it'd take us that long but it took us twelve hours, and I didn't get home until 5:30am. For the rest of the weekend I've just spent on the computer and cleaned some.

- February 10, 2005 -

Mom told me this afternoon that the vet called earlier and that Small Fry, the little Chihuahua we are fostering, and that I hoped we'd keep, has lymphoma. She is just the nicest dog and has had just a miserable life.

Tonight was karate night- I got my Gi, so now I look very official as a karate person.

- February 9, 2005 -

Yesterday a cease-fire was declared by the Israelis & Palestinians, which is the most positive thing to happen there in a long time, and I guess we will have to wait and see because nothing has been set in writing yet, but it's a very good step none-the-less.

I guess my day wasn't as bad yesterday as Dad also had a mishap driving... A white cat ran out front of him and he couldn't avoid hitting with so little notice and the slick roads. I won't get into it graphically, but it did die. He knocked on a few doors in the neighborhood but couldn't find the owners, though it did have a collar on so it was a pet. I don't understand how people can let cats just run the neighborhood like that. My cat has never been loose outside since it was born... so many get hit by cars... or get in fights with other cats.

Bush's Medicare reform is under attack by congressional Republicans now... At first Bush promised them that spending on Medicare would not exceed $400 billion, and then there was some scandal as the Medicare actuary, whose job it is to inform congress of future costs of the Medicare system, came forward and stated the White House pressured him and threatened to fire him if he released the actual cost, which was $534 billion, which was only released a month after congress voted and passed the bill. Now it has come out that the plan will now cost $720 billion and some Republicans on the hill are beginning to feel as if they have been misled.

It has been requested by popular demand that I keep a flash animation of Teresa up so more people can see it, so if you would like to view Teresa's future child you can click the image to the right.

- February 8, 2005 -

Hmm, today when I woke up, my computer was off, but I told it to stay on, and record music videos, and to work on folding proteins, and then to record Deep Space Nine in the morning, but when I got up it was sound asleep.. So I pondered that perhaps I was sleepy and shut it off... but when I turned it on it presented me with music videos, and I scheduled it to capture those at 3am.

Today is Neelix's Birthday.

I didn't quite make it to work today... It was snowing when I left town, and it didn't seem slick at all, and it wasn't in Holton... The snow seemed really dry too, and as cars went down the highway it seemed to blow off the road, and as the snow blew off the cars in front of me it still wouldn't melt on the windshield, it'd just kinda blow off... so I merrily drove to work. In Topeka though it was getting pretty slick... and I guess I was just too use to the road conditions and I slid off the road into the guard rail. I actually missed the rail for my side of highway, though it probably would have been best if I hit the smooth metal barrier, but instead I hit the rail for the other side of the highway, so it wasn't as much the rail, as it was the wooden posts.. there were three in particular that did the most damage, and I pretty much slid into it with the full driver's side of the car... Right after the accident a patrol car was there within a minute, he was just at the right time and place I guess, so he filled out the report, and he even brought me home. He said he lived in town anyway, and this way he could get off a little early. So now I'm at home... and the car has been towed to our shop... so that's where I'm at now. Bruce Jones just came on TV with the weather report and said there were accidents all over the place, Oy, I ponder next time it's snowy outside I'll just call in and say I'm not going to be at work, that'd be a lot cheaper.

- February 7, 2005 -

I'm kinda slowing down in my blogging, but very little has been going on this weekend. My folding@home software has now completed one fold assignment and sent it in.

I hooked Carrie's camcorder up to my computer and played with it some last night, mostly because someone wanted to see the Chihuahua we are fostering, it's so small that's it's actual size... if your screen resolution is 320 by 240 perhaps.... of if you're viewing it on a projector.... but it's still really small.

- February 5, 2005 -

Saturday, I've feeling a lot better today having had a cold for the last few days. I never felt bad really, but I'm happy that my nose isn't runny and I'm not coughing anymore.

I watched Pompeii: The Last Day on the Discovery Channel today, Robert had told me he saw it this week, and I'd planned to watch it, but I forgot to look for when it would be on, but luckily they re-air the high budget things more. I read on the net the other day that Microsoft was working on ways to block to recording of digital broadcasts, so systems like Tivo and other DVR devices wouldn't be able to capture the program. It just seems wrong to me, just a ploy to get people to buy more DVDs.

- February 2, 2005 -

Last night as I was going through my old Maximum PC CDs looking for firewall software for Brent I saw that I had Folding@Home software. No, it's not related to origami or folding paper, but how proteins fold, and this software "farms" out folding questions to other computers, which work on the problems and then ship back their findings to the server, the results could lead to greater understand of, and a cure for: Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, and Parkinson's disease. You only really need to be online for a couple minutes to download the instructions, and once your computer starts working on it it will only use your extra CPU power, so if you're working on something difficult, your computer will only think about what you want it to. You can also enter a name, or alias so you can get recognized on their website, and you can also form a team based on a group of friends, organizations, states, or nations. If you'd like to participate, you can download the software from their website, or ask me and I'll give it to you.

Happy birthday Brent Spiner (Data)! It's however a dark day for Star Trek as the series Enterprise was cancelled today...

- February 1, 2005 -

Tonight on Paula Zahn Now on CNN there was a report on the state of the states, which focused on six midwest states, including Kansas. They interviewed Governor Sebelius concerning the conservative/liberal reb/blue divisions, and being a Democratic Governor in a very red state... She spoke of a need for moderates and that it is all the people in the middle that move government forward. They also had a short interview with Doug Mays for a counter perspective, and he was more of the opinion that a strong conservative was needed in office for any change to happen (though I really don't like any of the ways he would like to change the state). There was also a minor mention of the Kansas State Historical Society (pictured) where I work. If anyone would like to watch the show, I can put it on a CD.

My day in review: I still have my sore throat, but it seems a little better, I got Gumby (computer) off to Susan... and she wrote me a check for my trouble, and for an ad I did for the Journal. Work was ok, Lin seemed to like the Ancestry.com poster, and Sandy brought me an apple, so all in all, it was a pretty good day.

In funny news today, someone in Connecticut hit the wrong button, and the Emergency Broadcast System hijacked all the radio and TV broadcasts... the message it gave... That everyone should evacuate the state. I still ponder the usefulness of the entire system, since it never seems to be used where there are real emergencies, and they test it so frequently during programs I like. As a result of the evacuation order... no one seemed to be paying any attention... no one evacuated, or called in to question the error.