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February 28, 2003

Springtime in Afghanistan

Something you don't hear about. Afghanistan commerce is starting to blossom. Now that the bombs are gone [it's] Business That Booms:
In a city that had a handful of shopworn eating places two years ago, a new Chinese or Italian or American hamburger restaurant opens almost weekly, as well as kebab shops by the score. Small hotels have sprung up, and a $40 million Hyatt is on the way. The food bazaars are bustling and there are downtown blocks filled almost entirely with bridal shops. Rebuilt homes are rising from the ruins, and every little storefront seems to be stuffed with bathtubs or fans or with men building and carving things to be sold.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:37 AM | | Comments (0)

On trial

Not much gets by Katherine. She wakes me up in the morning, after going downstairs on her own, and quizzes me on the contents of the refrigerator.

Katherine: Daddy, who bought the strawberries and the blueberries?

Me: I did Katherine.

Katherine: What was in the empty bag on the counter?

Me: Frozen yogurt.

Katherine: Did you save me any?

Me: (thinking on the spot) No Katherine. Frozen yogurt doesn't keep, you have to eat it right away.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:14 AM | | Comments (0)

Vincent's inverted

Vincent is 9 months old. Strangley, he's inverted his height and weight stats. At birth, he ranked in the 95% for weight, and 50% for height. Now, he's the 90% for height and 40% for weight. Tall and skinny. Katherine's always tended toward the upper end on both heigth and weight. Check out the growth chart for a graph and numbers (press the Katherine or Vincent button at the bottom of the chart and the numbers will magically fill in).

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:08 AM | | Comments (0)

February 26, 2003

Lt. Smash

Lt. Smash is a weblog written by a lieutenant in the reserves from Kuwait(?). Talks a lot about smallpox and sand. Pretty interesting to hear the stories first-hand, without the media filter. That's the next phase of the internet, the next wave of journalism.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:26 AM | | Comments (0)

February 25, 2003

No pizza for you

It's a cliche to say that all of Europe is anti-American. Danish pizzeria bans French and Germans:
A Danish pizzeria has banned French and Germans from dining there because of their country's stance on a war with Iraq.

Aage Bjerre, who owns Aage's Pizza on the island of Fanoe, said he's tired of French and German attitudes toward the United States.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step :-)

Posted by Steven Spencer at 11:36 PM | | Comments (0)

February 20, 2003

e-liberal

Anti-war actors, now there's something new. So committed to the cause, they're willing to make commercials. Too lazy to march. Too lazy to fly first class to Washington. Instead, they're asking for a virtual fax and e-mail campaign. Limousine liberal no more. Think e-liberal is the appropriate term.

In a radio interview Wednesday with the BBC, in fact, Garofalo asked that she not be introduced as an actor or celebrity but as a member of the U.S. antiwar movement.

"It's such a divisive thing," she said. "The term 'celebrity' makes my skin crawl."

If you weren't a celebrity, they wouldn't be talking to you anyway. Can't have it both ways, Janeane.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 2:19 PM | | Comments (0)

February 19, 2003

Circus in town


Send in the clowns. The circus is in town (Click for larger photo)

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:42 AM | | Comments (0)

February 18, 2003

Rip and Tear?

After a few days of rest, I don't think I tore a muscle. While there is some pain in certain weight bearing postions, I pretty much have a full range of motion. It's going to be hard to start bench pressing again, remembering that sound, but I'll hopefully be ready to try again next week.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 9:54 PM | | Comments (0)

Ouch!

After a few days of rest, I don't think I tore a muscle. While there is some pain in certain weight bearing postions, I pretty much have a full range of motion. It's going to be hard to start bench pressing again, remembering that sound, but I'll hopefully be ready to try again next week.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 9:54 PM | | Comments (0)

Valentine's Chicks

Last Friday was Valentine's day. Ordered Suzy flowers per usual, but thought I'd show some personal touch this time. Stopped by the Wherehouse, and bought a couple country music cds for her -- Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks. Now here's the kicker. After listening to the Dixie Chicks (they cover Fleetwood Mac's Landslide on this album), it turns out I really like them. Not the typical whiney country (or is that Western??), slide guitar crap. Instead, more fiddle, guitar and bango in the bluegrass vain. There's some really impressive, fast finger-picking bango playing on a few of the tracks. Check it out.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 9:18 PM | | Comments (0)

Cheese Eating Surrender Mokeys

We forgive you this time... The Guardian admits they don't know their Simpson's trivia:
The description of the French as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" was not coined by Bart Simpson, as we suggested in Wimps, weasels and monkeys - the US media view of "perfidious France", page 3, February 11. It comes from the Simpsons character Groundskeeper Willie, the Scottish immigrant who takes care of custodial matters at the elementary school.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 9:00 PM | | Comments (0)

February 17, 2003

Three Arms


This photo freaked me out at first; Katherine has 3 arms. Upon closer examination, it's the sock and leg from another baby.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 11:40 PM | | Comments (0)

Oh crap

Katherine's three new phrases from this weekend:
  1. oh my goodness
  2. goodness gracious
  3. oh crap (won't mention who's responsible, but she hails from New York ;-))

Posted by Steven Spencer at 9:36 PM | | Comments (0)

Crawl space


Katherine crawls into the photo, joining 8 "1/2" month old Vincent.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 7:50 PM | | Comments (0)

Quality Control (not)

New couch was delivered this week. Gee, aren't those colors different? The store didn't believe us at first. Now, they're making an all new couch.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 9:56 AM | | Comments (0)

February 16, 2003

That doesn't sound right

Goal of 300lb bench delayed... There's something to be said for youth. I was working up to besting my personal record of 285lbs (at 17 years of age). Now 34, it turns out the muscles aren't quite so pliant. Today, I heard a popping sound in my left shoulder, as strand by strand of muscle ripped. Like rubber bands under too much strain snapping, my muscles gave way. Don't have full range of motion now, and it hurts to use for most anything, though I can still type ":-)". The full pain is supposed to come tomorrow morning.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 6:43 PM | | Comments (0)

February 14, 2003

Cheery Thought

A cheery thought for Valentine's Day:

This planet has been around for 4 billion years, intelligent life for perhaps 200,000, weapons of mass destruction for less than 100. A hundred -- in the eye of the universe, less than a blink. And yet we already find ourselves on the brink. What are the odds that our species will manage to contain this awful knowledge without self-destruction -- not for a billion years or a million or even a thousand, but just through the lifetime of our children?

Posted by Steven Spencer at 11:52 PM | | Comments (0)

February 12, 2003

Journalism 101 (lbs)

So you're a journalist assigned to a cover a war with a Marine division. How should you act and what should you pack? It's an impressive list. Hope the Geraldo's of the world are in shape.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:52 AM | | Comments (0)

February 11, 2003

Don't know much about history

From Elliotte Rusty Harold at Cafe au Lait:
It just keeps getting worse. First, the 2000 elections revealed that getting the most votes was not really connected to winning in U.S. elections, even when the voting machines accurately counted the votes, which, it turns out, they don't.

Unless you were sleeping, the 2000 elections shouldn't have taught you that; your high school teacher should have. It's called the Electoral College.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 7:10 PM | | Comments (0)

February 10, 2003

Lobster Fish

More artwork from Katherine. Notice the fish, octopus and lobster on the upper right-hand side (shown below). This adds to her previous body of work.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 11:23 PM | | Comments (0)

Banana a day

Vincent tries his first banana, February 7th. As of last week, he sits himself up and crawls (albeit on his elbows). Still working on the first tooth, though.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 11:16 PM | | Comments (0)

Too posh to push

Celebrities harvest early to keep in shape. National Post:

The pictures in tabloids and glossy magazines show a stream of celebrities slimmed down and toned within mere months of giving birth -- the result of rigid pilates routines, personal trainers, strict diets and even, it is rumoured, babies delivered about a month early by Caesarean section.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 10:37 PM | | Comments (0)

No blood for chocolate

After much debate, I am now anti-war. No blood for chocolate. Keep those French neo-imperialists out of Ivory Coast.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 9:06 PM | | Comments (0)

February 6, 2003

Houston Passes

Houston, you were the world's sweetest dog. We'll miss you.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 11:55 PM | | Comments (0)

Ugly Americans

Is this what they mean by ugly Americans?

Posted by Steven Spencer at 11:37 PM | | Comments (0)

February 3, 2003

Rolling blackouts

John Bono analyzes the free Rolling Stones concert to fight global warming:
So if you are a rock star, want to fight global warming, and show the world that you care, it takes 88,260.2 gallons of petroleum products and 4.8 Mwatts+ of nuclear power. Gee, and I thought Barbara Streisand was a hypocrite.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 10:27 PM | | Comments (0)

Dream a big dream

Charles Krauthammer says it time to dream higher:
The risk of catastrophe for a commercial jet is 1 in 2 million. For a fighter jet, it is 1 in 20,000. NASA's best estimate for the shuttle was 1 in 240. Our experience now tells us that it is about 1 in 50.

That is a fantastic risk. It can be justified -- but only for fantastic journeys.

Posted by Steven Spencer at 10:15 PM | | Comments (0)

February 1, 2003

Yo yo yo! It's the G-man.

MTV apologizes to India after parodying Ghandi (a.k.a. G-Man) in the new Clone High series. The idea of the show is that 16 of the most celebrated people were all cloned and are now in high school together.

Shout Outs: Yo yo yo! G-man here givin' a shizout out to my peeps and my boyz! Lincoln Continental: You my main man! JFK-Dog: catch ya in gym class! Joan: remember that time you threw up into your locker in Clone Junior High and everyone saw you and called you Barf for a month?! That was hilarious!!! Marie 'Dance Freak' Curie: you know I meant 'freak' in the good way, right?? G-Dub Carver: give it up for the bruthas, am I right?! Peace out, see u next year, playaz!!!

Posted by Steven Spencer at 12:13 AM | | Comments (0)