July 31, 2001
We watched Mission Impossible 2, and if you've not seen it and don't want it spoiled then best to skip today's entry, because I'll be talking about it at length.

MI2 is, in short, the most boring action flick I've ever seen. It routinely defies logic, gravity and physics, and your guess is as good as mine as to which is the worse crime. For all the convoluted plot twists and incomprehensibility of the original Mission Impossible movie, you could at least say that it wasn't boring. That MI2 had John Woo at the helm and was still incredibly tedious, well, I don't know what that says.

The film stars Tom Cruise (as secret agent Ethan Hunt) and some gorgeous Asian woman who's name I didn't catch. Let's face it: Other than Cruise everybody else is incidental anyway. It's just a shame that Cruise is so mediocre here. Some of it isn't his fault, but since he also co-produced this mess, a lot of it is.

I think my "favorite" scene occurs at the end when Hunt is about to get shot by the bad guy. He winks, flips a canister of antidote to a buddy, kicks a pistol up off the ground and out of the sand, grabs it, and spins to shoot some accurate and deadly rounds against his foe. He does all this before his opponent, who already has a weapon trained on Hunt, can simply pull the trigger. I'm sure this was meant to be heroic or impressive, but I thought it was the stupidest action sequence I'd seen in ages. I won't even go into the rest of the beach kick boxing scene.

Ultimately, much of the problem of the film is that it's explained not shown. Hannibal Lector (aka Anthony Hopkins) plays Hunt's boss, and early on gives a lengthy monologue on how the plot's going to work. Occasionally in the scene, Ethan Hunt interjects, and the result is some of the worst dialogue I've heard in ages.

Well, I won't continue to belabor the obvious. Other than an Asian beauty, this film has little to recommend it. The number of action flicks better than this one number in the hundreds. Do yourself a favor and watch one of them instead.

July 30, 2001
We bid adieu to Bernard and Liz this morning. Their help in improving our home never ceases to amaze me. The laundry list of things they've fixed or improved is a mile long. Many thanks to Bernard and Liz for their time and energy!

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We celebrated anniversary number seven today in typical low-key style. Just hung out and enjoyed being together. It's been seven years of married life (which is hard to believe really), and I still think I'm the luckiest guy on the planet.

I think Erin and I have done quite well in supporting one another in marriage. For us—and I'm typing this without consulting her directly because I'm pretty sure she'd agree—marriage has always been about helping the other person be the best person they can be. That encompasses a lot: dreams, attitudes, politics, civility, morality, etc.

Why we're so lucky in life when so many other people in the world have so little, I will never know. I remain convinced it's all undeserved. All I can do is express my thanks to God, family and friends for the on-going support. Erin and I remain deeply appreciative.

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We watched Gone with the Wind—which was excellent. It clocks in at about 4 hours and some of the special effects are clearly dated, but it's a very impressive achievement in many ways, and easily worth seeing at least once—for the cultural significance of the film if nothing else.

July 29, 2001
We shored up a cracked support beam in the garage attic by using a jack to push the beam back together then nailing in metal fasteners. There's more garage roof support work to be done, but this solves the most immediate and pressing issue.

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Erin's relatives George, Irene, and Adam joined us for dinner and the obligatory house tour. George was a state legislator years ago and Irene worked in the legislature so we also have interesting political discussions. I find talking with them about state politics to be very insightful. Adam is a recent graduate of the University of Oregon's architecture program, so we're hoping he'll give us lots of remodeling ideas next time he's in the neighborhood.

July 28, 2001
My dad has been on a week-long Lewis and Clark expedition adventure back in Montana and Idaho run by Lewis & Clark College (his Alma mater). We hooked up with him and Mom this morning for breakfast and got lots of great stories. It's almost immediately apparent that the Lewis and Clark expedition was an amazing achievement given the challenges they faced.

Our new Maytag was delivered, but wouldn't you know it? There's a problem. It makes a weird noise when run—something the delivery guys noted immediately. So we'll have a repair person out early next week to deal with it. Bernard's assessment was that it was probably a slipped pulley or something of the sort that moved out of place during shipping. Nobody thinks it's anything to be worried about (which is good).

Erin's relatives Warren and Martha-Ann joined us for dinner and a tour of the house. Martha-Ann's father was actually the precedent-setter as far as parents coming in and doing lots of house fix-its for their kids. (Of course he built bathrooms and did complete kitchen remodels and so on.) We're happy this trend continues!

July 26, 2001
Worked around the house a lot of today and started putting things back together. The living room looks substantially improved over its previous dark and shadowed self. The bookcases are now a cream color and the window coverings and sun shades have been removed entirely. The result is a living room that looks much more light, open and modern, and it's fair to say that Erin and I thrilled with the results.

Late afternoon we went up to Portland to see a long-lost (and somewhat distant) relative and to chat with her for a couple of hours. It was neat to compare stories and hear about her side of the family.

Afterward, we went to a downtown Portland restaurant/bar called Cassidy's. It's owned by Bob Cassidy, the son of some folks that Bernard and Liz know in Los Altos. Bob was good enough to take a picture with us behind his bar so that we've got proof of our brush with fame. =)

July 25, 2001
We bought a dryer at Kelly's this morning. It's a Maytag Atlantis 7600-something or other. Has some nifty features like automatic moisture sensors and such, so we're doing a features upgrade from the old Westinghouse model that burned up. The Maytag was $500, but I anticipate it will last a good 10 years or more, so amortized into that it's not so bad.

Kelly's also has this insane 12 month interest-free financing deal which in this case is like getting an extra $25 off. I don't like financing consumer purchases in general (and especially not on credit cards), but hey, interest-free is interest-free. They don't have to beat me about the head with a silly stick.

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I also bought a Stihl chain saw to replace the lame Black & Decker I had to return. This one is gas-powered, so it's louder, but other than that, it's more powerful, has great anti-vibration gear, comes with a raft of safety features (including a working kickback guard!), and looks to be a great machine. I've not had a chance to try it out yet, but I'm optimistic that the laurel bushes in back will soon be much shorter.

While I was out on that errand, I stopped by Sears to exchange a couple of Craftsman hand tools. Not only are they quality tools, but they come with a lifetime warranty. Screwdriver tip breaks? Just go Sears and exchange it for a new one. Now that's a return policy that rocks. (And that's one reason why I prefer Craftsman tools.)

July 24, 2001
A house work day for all except me, as I attempted to catch-up and half a dozen different projects. (I failed badly, too, but that's why we have tomorrows.) In the evening we drove to Eugene to see some of Liz's old haunts—she was born in Eugene and spent a few years as a child there. Afterward, we stopped by Jim and Terri's house and went out to Ring of Fire, a Thai restaurant, for dinner with them.

Jim and Terri have done some remarkable work in restoring their house and remaking both it and their yard into a vision of what they want it to be. Erin and I were very impressed. (I was also impressed that Jim has a new iBook.) It was very inspiring to see their progress.

July 23, 2001
We met up with some of Erin's relatives in Portland for dinner, and had a good old time shooting the breeze. We're hoping to return the favor for at least some of them next Sunday.

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We watched Gattica the other night, a slightly futuristic science fiction film starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Jude Law. Despite the skimpy 93 minute running time, the movie drags even from the outset. The voice-over-based exposition is remarkably tedious and should have been handled in the course of the action of the film, except that there is very little action to be had. Gattica makes the mistake of many science fiction films, which is that it is so enamored with the world and sets they've created that they forget they also need something happening in the world. In this respect, Star Wars was a model for how to do it right: Create a great, imaginative world and have your characters act like everything is normal. Gattica fails this crucial test badly.

The acting is hit or miss. Ethan Hawke swings wildly between confidence and fear, and one would have preferred that instead of the crunching of the gears we got, something a little more smooth. Uma Thurman looks good, but sadly that's about all that's required of her. Jude Law is excellent, for what that's worth.

On the whole, Gattica is a film that never lives up to the potential of its inspired science fiction premise (about a society where genetic discrimination is rampant and pre-programmed humans rule the day). It raises some interesting issues, but most of those come in the opening couple of minutes and the rest of the film sort of wearily drags toward its "do we really care?" conclusion. See it or don't.

July 22, 2001
We walked downtown to IHOP to turn in the coupons we received at the Volcanoes game. Four people, $20 meal, and all free (excluding tip, of course). My kinda deal.

In the afternoon, we began tearing the house apart. Erin and Liz hauled the living room bookshelves outside and are painting them a lighter color (to help brighten the living room). Bernard and I pulled down all the window coverings in the living room (which offered neither sun block nor privacy—which in fact only succeeded in obscuring our view of the park). We then removed the storm windows. We'll be cleaning and caulking those window over the next few days.

July 21, 2001
Erin and I went to Hillsboro in the late morning to join others in celebrating Dennis' birthday. (Happy Birthday!) We watched a little of the Tour de France, played extensively with Dennis' radio-controlled car, ate yummy BBQ, and played a fast-paced card game called Twitch. Works for me!

Erin's parents, Bernard and Liz, drove up from the Bay Area and arrived this evening. Before launching off on a week of house fix-its, we decided to take an evening and go to a Keizer Volcanoes baseball game (victory!). We were relegated to the General Admission cheap seats since the Reserved seats were sold out, but it hardly mattered. Minor league atmosphere (which is good) trumps poor seating.

July 20, 2001
When I said yesterday that I was still planning to buy a music recording system "this summer" despite the current economic woes, I probably should have been a little more specific. I meant "tomorrow."

For that's exactly what I did today, plopping down a whole pile of cash for Mark of the Unicorn's 24i, a pre-amp for vocal recording, some Sony Pro headphones, a portable rack for gear, some mic accessories and a cable or two. The guys at Kraft Music have a new best friend, I'm sure.

I could still use some reference monitors, another mic, and MOTU's Digital Performer software, but I'm wait at least a month or two for those items. Some time next year I'll probably look to upgrade from Zeke (a G3/300) to a G4/1 GHz or whatever silly speed they're running at. We'll see just how constrained I feel by Zeke's processor, RAM and/or hard drive space. At least initially, I think Zeke will do just fine.

I'm hoping to have my audio setup running smoothly in a few weeks time, and I'm looking forward to putting at least one or two MP3s online for ya'll who've been plenty patient waiting for me to get my musical act together. I'll try not to disappoint.

The thing I really like about the Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) products is that they're all expandable. I can add more recording cards or a faster computer or additional software plug-ins, and the benefits just accrue. With the 24i (which records at 44.1k or 48k), I can add a MOTU 2496 card down the road (which records at up to 96k), and they'll work together like best friends. Add a faster computer, more RAM and/or bigger hard drive, and I have more tracks and effects available to me. Additional software plug-ins allow me to shape the sound in so many ways that my head swims just thinking about it.

Today was a big step forward for the musical dream.

July 19, 2001
Several people have asked me in recent weeks about my view of the economy and just where I think we're heading. I'm no more qualified than the next fellow to answer queries of this nature—unless winning a Junior Achievement scholarship as a high school senior carries some kind of indefinite cache of which I'm still unaware. Nonetheless, without further ado I give you my admittedly iffy US economic forecast for the coming months: In short, we're headed into the dung heap.

I say this for several reasons. First, many companies continue to report lackluster earnings and slash jobs as a result. Long-term, you can't dump this many people into the job market without it being a bad thing. Second, historically recessions last at least 18 months and the market loses two-thirds of its value near the end of the slump. If this holds, we've got at least another year to go, and despite the painful bursting of the tech bubble, the worst lies ahead. Third, George Bush is president. His baffling and ill-considered $1.3 trillion tax package will prove an absolute disaster in the years to come. Short-term, an extra $300 or $600 of tax-rebate money—money better spent on education—will have only marginal impact at best.

In summary, I think the only investment worth pursuing right now is cash. Generally speaking I don't think people should be liquidating their stock portfolios (assuming one is properly diversified and has invested with a long-term focus), but neither would I be looking to buy a whole lot more at the moment. I do think there will come a time—probably early next year—when the recession will really hit full-force and the stock buying opportunities will be spectacular. But in the meantime, I'm faithfully plopping money into Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs) only, and hoarding investment cash like a miser.

[That said, I'm still planning on buying a music recording system this summer.]

July 18, 2001
Bret came down from Portland to get a little hair trim from Erin, but Bret I detoured into up hooping it up down in the park for an hour or so beforehand. We ended the game deadlocked 16-16 as darkness fell. We both disliked quitting before the game was won, but Bret didn't get out of our place until just after 11:30 PM as was, so it's a good thing we stopped when we did.

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Erin's been holding summer fundraising meetings for her summer 2002 France trip. We'll be working on a web site for the thing and should have it up within the next couple of days. I'll post a link when it's ready.

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I watched the MacWorld NY 2001 keynote via streaming QuickTime video, and you can find my comments about it in the Mac section.

July 16, 2001
Erin and I watched 12 Monkeys, a weird Bruce Willis science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame). This is a strangely engrossing movie, and well-done though it was a little abstract for my tastes. The confused perspective leads the picture to be less engaging than it could have been, and that's a shame since there's a lot to like about it. Ultimately, it's easy to recommend from a qualitative standpoint, but it's not a very likable picture. While that may sound somewhat contradictory, it sums up my experience.

July 14, 2001
Joe drove down from Battleground, and we set about figuring out what was wrong with his PowerBook's ethernet port. We found nothing wrong with it. He connected into the hub just fine. We tried various ethernet crossover cables and connected his machine directly to Trinity. Again, no problems. Ultimately, we never did ascertain the problem because everything we tried today worked like magic.

Speaking of magic, I had the chance to briefly show Joe Baldur's Gate and how everything worked. He seemed to grasp it pretty quickly and didn't seem opposed to giving it a go in a LAN setting. (We both bemoaned the lack of Internet success Dennis and I had experienced with the game.) Joe even got to see me take out a high-level magic user in a battle I'd heretofore lost repeatedly.

Finally, Joe and I headed down to the park for some basketball. I don't mind saying that I've not had this much hoop fun in years. We played game after game after game, and it was joyous to find someone who has the same unquenchable thirst for playing that I do. Heck, if Joe hadn't had to rendezvous with Carol in Portland, we'd probably have kept playing until our limbs fell off. We played some Horse for a cool down, and that was a gas too. Hearty thanks to Joe for making the trip down! I'm not sure that us mere mortals deserve to have such fun.

July 13, 2001
Erin and I watched Saving Private Ryan, 1998's top money-maker and a decent World War II picture. There's a violence a-plenty and it's quite gory, but war is hell so there you go. The action sequences are tension-filled and dynamic, but the slower bits after the D-Day invasion slowly cause the picture to lose a fair amount of momentum. The picture charges back up for the climax, but this film runs long and needed a little stricter editing.

Still, director Steven Spielberg deserves congratulations not only for painting a realistic picture of war but also for doing so without vilifying the Germans or resorting to jingoist nonsense. I don't know if this is the best war picture ever, but I'd place it somewhere in the top 5. That's true even though we get a little too much Spielbergian schmaltz at the end.

This isn't a perfect film, but it is one which does justice to the sacrifices made on that fateful day of June 6, 1944 and to all those who served in World War II. There are worse things for a movie to be. Recommended, assuming you can stomach the realistic violence of war.

July 11, 2001
Erin and I walked all the way downtown for a free Volunteer Recognition dinner and concert sponsored by the City of Salem. It was quite a distance to hoof, but we got to admire all kinds of houses along the way and the park itself is fantastic. They've really done an incredible job.

Earlier in the day I attended the Police Liaison Committee meeting downtown and had a chance to see the Salem PD's new bomb squad robot. When I say "new" I mean new to us, because the robot was built in 1977 and we got it from the Eugene PD for $25,000 when they purchased a new one for $140,000. Ours lacks a lot of features of today's high tech robots, but for a lot of the stuff out there it can replace a bomb squad officer having to suit up and to go pick up potential explosives. I think that's worth at least $25,000.

July 10, 2001
Carlotta's been staying with us the last few days. Like Erin, she's a teacher so she's off for the summer too. She's been kind enough to help us with some yard work, so the front yard is actually looking pretty good nowadays. We still need to do all that trenching stuff, but we'll enjoy the yard's beauty while we can.

Speaking of yard stuff, my Black & Decker chainsaw has gone belly-up. It's an extended, and relatively boring story so I shan't detail it here other than to say I've received my money back and I need to go buy another chainsaw.

* * * * *

I've been playing basketball down in the park a fair amount, and I'm finally getting a good motion for my shot. I don't mind missing as much as I do not having a smooth motion to my shot, to be honest. If the ball comes off my hand well, I'll make most of them anyway.

I'm not in top-form shape, but I'm now practiced enough to beat a lot of guys who play at the park which should tell you something about the level of competition I'm facing. Win or lose they've all been plenty friendly, and that's more important to me anyway.

We played some 3 x 3 today, which was fun. It's hard on the body, all that jumping up and down and everything, but so far I'm holding together. Don't be surprised if I take tomorrow off though.

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Briefly watched a infuriating 60 Minutes II report last night on credit card companies recruiting new card members on college campuses. It was 60 Minutes' contention that this practice (which I frankly see nothing wrong with) is like preying on innocent children because many college students, it turns out, don't have the financial commonsense of a turnip. Okay, the credit card companies give them free t-shirts and baseball hats for signing up, but so what? It's not like there's a gun to anybody's head. I'm pretty sure that in using a VISA, Discover, or American Express there is some degree of free will involved.

They interviewed one distraught mother whose son committed suicide purportedly because he had $14,000 in credit card debt. She blames the colleges. (Guess who I blame?) Not to sound thoroughly uncompassionate, but I strongly doubt that this is a case of a guy without a history of depression. And even if it is, if the guy's gonna kill himself over money, you'd think he'd value himself I little bit more highly. I wouldn't cut off one my fingers for $14k, let alone kill myself.

If there was any redemption to be had here, it was that the report put into sharp focus the gulf that exists between people who believe in personal responsibility and accountability and those who, like this self-righteous 60 minutes reporter, believe that the blame for whatever problems exist in society can be shifted to someone else. That's not much of a consolation prize to my way of thinking.

July 8, 2001
—Spoiler Warning for The Cider House Rules—
Do not read if you've not seen the movie and don't want it spoiled

We watched the well-acted, well-scored, well-edited, and morally deficient The Cider House Rules this evening. Perhaps it should have been subtitled "Moral Relativism: A Case Study" or "Denial of Personal Responsibility: Let Us Count the Ways."

There is so much I disagree with philosophically here that it's almost a shame the film is otherwise so well-made. One can legitimately quibble about Homer so successfully making his way in the world, given that his orphanage upbringing has left him the experiential equivalent of Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man, but why pick nits? A lot of the film is very well done.

No, ultimately, this is all about philosophy, and all I can say is that I fundamentally disagree with what the picture had to say in almost every respect. That doesn't mean it wasn't emotionally engaging—because it was—but I prefer good to triumph over evil not just in action but in thought as well, and that's not what we get here. Indeed, one could make the case that this movie isn't as much a coming of age story as it is the moral corruption of an innocent young man. That's not the life-affirming happy flick I signed up for.

So good filmmaking but a moral disaster. Whether that's worth seeing I'll leave it up to you to decide. I won't be being seeing it again.

July 7, 2001
Carlotta's in town for the weekend, so we rang up Matt and headed to a Keizer Volcanoes baseball game. Word to the wise: The $5 General Admission seats at the Volcanoes stadium are conclusively inferior to the $8 Reserved seating, so fans are well-advised to spend the extra three bucks. This evening's extracurricular entertainment was a bunch of "award-winning" frisbee dogs. That means a dude threw frisbees and his border collies retrieved them. It was actually pretty entertaining. The game was pretty good too (the Volcanoes beating Tri-City 14-4), though the quality of the pitching was a little suspect. Single A, so that's what you get. Good time, anyway.

Since the Volcanoes "erupted" for at least 5 runs, all patrons received a coupon for a free short stack of pancakes at IHOP. We were happily spared the humiliating experience of having to chant, as per the public address announcer's suggestion, "I-hop, I-hop" repeatedly if the Volcanoes got close to that magic 5 run number. I'm here to watch baseball and frisbee dogs, not be the corporate shill for a breakfast chain.

Well, after the game they handed out the coupons. I went into the line of the pretty blonde girl; Erin got in the line of some old guy. I got one coupon; Erin got eight. The blonde wasn't that pretty.

Figuring that there's no time like the present, Matt called up Ginger, we picked her up, and all headed to IHOP for free pancakes. I swear it reminded me of all those times in college I went to Denny's in the middle of the night. It was irrational exuberance of the non-economic kind, but it was also just about what I think summer night should be like. It was a great time.

July 6, 2001
Dave and Jake stopped by for some park time, and we even got to go out to Rockin' Rogers with them for lunch which was pretty cool. Jake continues to sprout (he's now three), but his interest in trains continues unabated.

I watched As Good As It Gets, a romantic comedy starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, and Cuba Gooding Jr. Although it has some very funny bits, it's messy work and should have been much more tightly written. You can almost feel everybody searching for this story as the plot moves along, and that's unfortunate given the quality of the acting is very good. (Nicholson and Hunt won Oscars and Kinnear was nominated; personally I thought Kinnear was the best of the lot, though they were all good.)

Ultimately, I came away with the feeling that there were simply too many cooks in the kitchen as everybody offered input on how to make this picture work, and while the results aren't unpalatable, they're not as tasty as they could have been. Recommend nonetheless.

July 4, 2001—Independence Day
We spent much of the day hangin' with Matt and Ginger at their place, and let me tell you that's my kinda holiday. I was really amazed how quickly they've unpacked everything and organized their home. I'm not sure that Erin and I are as far along, and we've had since October 1999.

After darkness fell, we all watched fireworks including some which lit a neighbor's yard on fire (quickly stomped out by the neighbor who set them off). When Erin and I returned home, there were plenty of illegal fireworks being set off in the park, but I didn't end up calling the police until after midnight. At that point, I figured it was about time for those in the neighborhood who wanted to sleep—like me—to be able to do so without an M-80 exploding us awake.

I'll be bringing all this up at the next Police Liaison Committee meeting, because frankly I don't think our July 4 law enforcement plan was very effective. Given that this is a drought year and that any out of control park fire would probably climb the hill to our house, I'm not terribly pleased.

July 3, 2001
On the whole this was a catch-up day for us as we tried to get back up to speed after a week's absence. Among other notable items: The stupid sugar ants have again invaded, and I'm sure we'll be spending the next few days whacking them back.

We watched L.A. Confidential, which is the best film noir movie I've ever seen. It's a little violent, as one might expect from the genre, but the acting is top-notch and the story is extraordinarily well-done. It doesn't get much better than this, especially out of Hollywood. Highly recommended.

July 2, 2001
After a slight snafu caused by me forgetting Trinity(!), Erin and I had a relatively uneventful 12 hour drive back to Salem. Many thanks to the Lillys for the hospitality during our trip to the Bay Area!

We returned in time for me to chase three separate groups of people out of the park for shooting off fireworks. (Salem City Ordinance 94.050: "It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge...fireworks of any kind, except by special permission from the director of community services....")

I'm sure I'll be doing it again tonight.

July 1, 2001—Los Altos, California
We went out to breakfast with Brian, Debbie, and "little" Erin this morning, and it was great to catch up all the details of the school year (both Brian and Debbie are teachers). Little Erin has grown a bit, but she remains as cute as ever.

[Brian and I got a chance to discuss the Living Wage issue that I've pestered some of ya'll about, and I'm happy to report that I've finally achieved the understanding of the issue for which I was looking. I hope to have an opinion piece on it in the not too distant future.]

In the afternoon we watched a dreadful game by the American side in a 1-0 loss to Mexico in World Cup qualifying. Goalie Kasey Keller was excellent, but that was about it for the US. We have a number of games left and are still in good shape be clinch a spot in the 2002 World Cup, but we'll have to play a lot better than this.

We joined a group of people at Max's Restaurant in San Jose to celebrate Heather's 30th birthday. (Welcome to the club, Heather!) Conversation at my end of the table ranged far and wide and was spellbindingly interesting for the most part. The food was really good too.