I walked 9,744 steps. I spent a lot of time going back and forth between the copier and my office. I will be burning up the copier some more tomorrow.

For some reason Blogger ate the first draft of this post. It was a boring post about my classroom equipment and the coolness of the equipment in the engineering classroom that was used yesterday.

My equipment is mostly repaired and is functioning with some modifications in operation. I don't know how long that condition is going to last.

I have started inquires about an upgrade.

My classroom may have old equipment but it does have access to fresh brewed coffee.

The goofy spam names were deleted after I published the original post.

Tomorrow, God willing, will be another opportunity for me to live, love and learn better.

I walked 3,458 steps.

It was the first day of classes. It was not too hectic. Only a computer completely choking right before a class. The class was held in a different classroom across campus and the IT people are going to look at the computer.

This lead to me putting in some overtime. I get comp time rather than money. I might get more next Monday, assuming that the computer is fixed and we can actually use the AV equipment in the classroom.

I like the equipment in the other classroom better. My classroom really needs an upgrade. The computer that runs the AV equipment is running on Windows 98.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Standstill F. Invoices
Acclimatization T. Mannerism
Rascals I. Virulently
Weariness A. Degrading
Abstinence H. Mathematics
Homes E. Retrains
Crucified B. Gees
Mannish H. Fetishists
Derail M. Deporting

Tomorrow is another day.

This week I ran 18.94 miles, burned 2143.7 calories and weigh 168.1 pounds.

I had a great run this morning. My endurance has improved.

I dreamt last night about Rusty. He was laying on the floor looking at me and I was rubbing his belly and chest. His eyes were bright and he was in the peak of health. Maybe the story about our purpose in life is learning to love unconditionally and that the reason that our pet's lives are so short compared to ours is because they are born knowing how to love unconditionally has a bit of truth to it.

From 1:30 am to about 5:30 am I was waking up every thirty minutes. A vivid dream, wake up, look at the clock, go back to sleep and start the cycle again.

I'm going to lie down now.

I walked 8,512 steps today.

The start of class onslaught was not as bad as I thought it would be. I still have a large copy job ahead of me on Monday. I did not get the originals today.

Goofy spam names:
Negated K. Purse
Heirloom O. Hazel
Mancini B. Bestiary
Aesculapius Q. Coloratura
Potlucks F. Bitchiest
Elbe P. Memo
Transmittal R. Benefactresses
Bibliographies A. Bushman

Listening to Jackson Browne's Lawyers in Love. Salvador really likes this song.

Ah, the mating call of lawyers in love.

On Wednesday I walked 2,083 steps and on Thursday 3,989.

I've been doing a couple of late nights so my updates to the website have been minimal. I will have a long list of goofy spam names tonight.

Today is the beginning of the beatings. Actually, the beatings only happen in my mind. That is how I keep my job and sanity.

It is a well publicized fact that the first day of classes at the university is August 30. This information has been available for quite some time. Also the list of classes that faculty members are going to teach has been available for quite some time.

I was partially mentally prepared for the onslaught of course material preparations that I will be doing today but I'm still dumbstruck that these people wait until the last minute. This happens every semester but after 8 years it has not become less annoying.

No, I'm not working over the weekend. My giving a damn hours are Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 12:00 pm; 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm. At 5:01 pm I no longer care or at least receive comp time for any giving a damn after hours.

Time to make the copies.

I walked 3,248 steps.

I find myself glancing at the entryway every morning looking for Rusty. We received a nice sympathy card from the vet.

The Dallas Marathon has updated its website. It looks like it is going to be a great race. The course time limit is 7.5 hours. I finished Houston in 6:08 hours. There is also a Clydesdale/Athena class (men 200+ pounds - women 160+ pounds). Looking at last year's results in that class I could place quite well.

My goal is to shave 15 - 30 minutes off my Houston time.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Surinam I. Flyspeck
Jefferson Dick
Jurua T. Unspecified
inanimate Jacqueline

6 miles this Saturday.

Run the Rock - Dallas White Rock Marathon - December 12, 2004

This is the marathon I plan on running in this year. 7.5 hour course time limit. No pressure.

I walked 3,270 steps.

Walter and I ate dinner at the table with the TV off. It was nice. It will require a bit of discipline for both of to do this on a regular basis. The hardest part will be to keep the table clear when we are not eating. A clear horizontal surface is a rare thing in our house.

Actually I have shelves hung up without anything on them. I've not taken the stuff to go on the shelves out of storage.

Religion at its best allows us to see the Christ, Buddha, Prophet or Great Spirit in ourselves and in others and teaches us to treat each other and ourselves accordingly.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Transparently E. Invoice
Joiner G. Puttering
Incrust D. Morton
Chad J. Roistering
Phylum L. Lenny
Oriented F. Gawkily
Strived Q. Fungicides

This week I ran 17.14 miles, burned 2,036.7 calories and weigh 168 pounds.

I watched Underworld on DVD. It's a movie with vampires and werewolves. That's about it.

I successfully completed the 5 mile run in an hour. It was very humid today. I'm still tired despite taking a nap.

A thunderstorm blew in suddenly. It was clear sky at 3:00 then at 3:40 thunder and lightning. I let Daisy in. She can alter the aroma of a room but she is a sweet girl. She was limping the other day, so I gave her some of Rusty's left over anti-immflamatory medication. It looks like it worked.

I'm going to go drink some more water. Maybe that will do something for my tiredness.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Edged Q. Foreman
Patties C. Averroes
Capsule G. Insinuation
Slithers H. Directorship

I need bread and water.

I walked 4,459 steps.

Tomorrow I do a real training long run with the marathon training group. My knee has stopped hurting. I was able to run this past week. This will be a 5 mile run.

My mother-in-law left this morning. She almost knocked the door to our bedroom down when she was trying to wake up Walter. He was awake by the second knock. So was I. He kindly informed that in the future a couple of gentle knocks on the door would be sufficient.

I have a Pavlovian bladder. I wake up, I need to pee. I went at 4:00 am and again at 6:30 when I woke up the second time. I don't know where the fluid from the 6:30 piss came from. I did not drink anything after 4:00. It is just something hard wired - wake up - pee.

Enough about my urinary habits, on to the Goofy Spam names of the day:
Kitties E. Calfskin
Suppliants E. Borne

Right now I'm listening to Enoch Light and the Light Brigade play Bond St. from the Best of Moog on Radio@Netscape Lounge Channel.

It is the perfect music for doing religious things.

Today I walked 3,834 steps.

My mother-in-law is here. She is having her sister give her a wake-up call at 5:00 AM Eastern time. We live in the Central Time Zone. Luckily, we cannot hear the phone when the bedroom door is closed. Actually, I sleep quite heavily. I probably won't hear her leave at all. I hope she has a great time with her sisters in Biloxi.

I discovered a huge plot hole in Minority Report. The last 30 minutes of the movie would have been impossible if the hole had been closed. Let's just say that Precrime has very poor security protocols or lazy IT people.

One of the local radio stations has been advertising, on the radio, "A new look but the same mix." One brain cell dies screaming in agony everytime I try to make sense of the ad. Why not just say, "We got new logos for our vans and stationery but we are still playing the same mix." It would make a bit more sense.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Penguin V. Cancer
The Icelandic quintuplets -
Helpampfiien Ugglrid
Helwiepepen Uairrn
Heloymekeen Uuef
Helalen Uegirt
Helubfen Unboedrr
Hermes J. Plainest
Explored K. Weatherizing

Won't you take me to Funkytown?

I walked 2,960 steps.

I'm going to clean the bathroom in preparation for my mother-in-law. Actually, the bathroom kind of needs it with or without visiting mother-in-law.

I wrote the article for church. It needs more work. I hope the rest of the committee will step in.

I admit it. I'm a procrastinator. I've been meaning to work on that. I was successful in school simply because I put tasks on a daily to do list. I did not put this article on the to do list. I don't pay attention to the to do list as much. At least I don't inflict major guilt upon myself if I don't finish everything. There is not as much at stake with an incomplete to do list as there was in the past.

Putting things on my to do list greatly increases the odds of it getting done in a somewhat timely fashion.

Thanks to all the people who have posted comments on this blog. I'm glad it is getting noticed.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Sensitized B. Fringe
Nevadans O. Tripe
Flawed G. Curtailment

I've been getting a lot of spam about refacing my kitchen cabinets and teenage sluts. Maybe the teenage sluts can reface my kitchen cabinets.

I walked 3,129 steps. My back, calves and knee have stopped hurting. Right now, I have a headache but that should be remedied shortly.

Watched Minority Report on DVD. It was a good movie but it did take up a large portion of the evening.

I have a report to write for church. I'll do it tomorrow. That approach worked for me in school.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Mutts H. Retrench
Survey E. Refreshed
Icecap P. Oxidizing
Hothead O. Urchin
Arson D. Soli

My mother-in-law is taking a spontaneous trip to Biloxi to see Wayne Newton.

Wayne Newton?

I'm took the day off. I did not get enough sleep last night. I ate a lot of meat at a party, which led to nasty gas pains at 2:00 am. I did not fall back asleep until 5:30 am. Tums relieved the gas pains but I got a nasty case of what I call "monkey mind". My mind would not rest. Thoughts racing around like a monkey on crack.

The party was fun and I enjoyed the food.

My knee, calves and lower back hurt. My God, I'm only 35 years old.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Summer S. Meatball
Refilled M. Beleaguers
Theorized K. Gethsemane
Pipsqueak Q. Indescribably
Summoned G. Capriciousness
Savoriest C. Guano
Jaime M. Citric
Extemporaneously C. Mortgagor
Freeholds S. Associates

The grass will grow again.

Yesterday I walked 4,791 steps. This week I ran 17.54 miles, burned 2226.2 calories and weigh 167.6 pounds.

I worked on an elliptical trainer yesterday and today to keep the strain off my knee. I hope to be running again by Monday.

Rusty 1991 - 2004

Rusty crossed the Rainbow Bridge today. He went quickly, surrounded by his humans. He got to enjoy a final car ride on a nice, spring-like day. He was smiling as he laid in the back seat with the cool wind blowing through his hair.

His spirit is no longer trapped in a body that could not move. He is now running in a nice field, free of pain.

More pictures of Rusty can be found here: http://community.webshots.com/user/toonhead

You were a good dog and I will miss you.

I walked 2,941 steps.

I hurt my knee while moving Rusty. Squat, pop, pain. I've been taking Advil and I have ice on it right now. It especially hurt while climbing stairs. I did not do leg extensions at the gym. I'm going to take an Aleve and put heat on it when I go to bed.

Things are still touch and go with Rusty. Sometimes his front legs get a bit stiff.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Trog (or as Joan Crawford would say, TROGGG!!!)
Trisects T. Taxicab
Toms Q. Staffing

One of my cartoons may soon appear on this site: http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Migraine_Art.html

Today I walked 2,283 steps. I'm not sure if the count is accurate because the waist of my pants were quite loose and this particular pair of pants does not have pockets. I noticed that this affects the counter. I also ran over 4.5 miles.

Rusty is still not standing on his own but is scooting pretty well and holds up his front end quite well. I cut off a lot of his hair on his underside. I hope that makes him feel better.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Heluabiinaen Uss
Ovulate R. Whitening
Twinges P. Granddaughter
Garibaldi M. Negation
Foods A. Transylvania

Rusty will walk again. I believe that.

I walked 4,505 steps today.

Rusty is able to work his way around the backyard a bit better but he still isn't standing. He prefers to be outside.

Rusty never scooted around on his butt like other dogs.

Work was a series of small annoyances about one thing. I was just real bitchy today. Fortunately, I'm housed in a far off corner of the building.

Goofy Spam names of the day:
Foolishness R. Bulldoze
Raillery S. Pelted
Drifter K. Interlinked
Listings C. Shy
Apologies A. Strand

All praises for another day.

I walked 2, 076 steps.

I stayed home with Rusty today. His mobility has gotten worse. We are trying some drugs to see if they will help him regain enough mobility to take care of business without soiling himself and to move himself short distances. The other option is major back surgery. He is too old to handle that. I'm really hoping that the drugs will work.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Shrew O. Cabot
Investigating Q. Oversimplification
Loquacity Q. Tempos
Holly H. Contentedness
Grasped E. Hadrian
Adduce D. Cacophony
Specification V. Kandinsky
Beckons C. Maggot

The lamest Trekkies have to be the ones from Nevada. In Nevada, one can legally exchange money for sex. There is no reason for a Trekkie in Nevada not to have gotten laid. Other than being under 21. If there is an over 21 year old Trekkie in Nevada that has never had sex, that is the lamest Trekkie in the world.

I am a Trekkie and I have sex on a regular basis.

This week I ran 17.67 miles and burned 2,161.6 calories and weigh 168.4 pounds. So far this year I have ran 393 miles and burned 51,795.3 calories.

Next week I start training for the Dallas White Rock Marathon. Yes, I'm insane. Start training in the middle of August in Texas. As far as insanity goes, I'm on a roll. I volunteered to teach Sunday school. Elementary school aged kids.

Walter is working on a temporary support harness for Rusty.

I'm about to give him a bath to get the urine out of his fur. I think that is the most frustrating aspect of all this for Rusty. Peeing on himself.

Goofy spam names for the day:
Vascular F. Swigs
Driers K. Omelet
Opaque G. Sheri
Hoyle L. Assailant
Unplanned F. Childproof

Tomorrow, August 8 is Happiness Happen Day.
Don't rain on my parade, mother-@#$%!

I walked 6,152 steps. I also ran a little over 5 miles.

I did some research on the web and found a company that makes wheelchairs for dogs. The wheelchairs come in all sizes. I'm going to take Rusty's measurements tomorrow and submit a request for a refurbished chair. A new one costs $300 with shipping. We will get a new one if a refurbished model is not available.

I will set up a fundraising site for Rusty's wheels. We will also be selling things on eBay to raise money for the wheels. For those who donate $5.00 or more I will mail some original cartoon artwork. These are the panels before they get scanned, colored and lettered. My handwritten notes are in the margins of a lot of them.

After Rusty has used his wheels, we will send them back to the company that built them so that another dog can regain mobility.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Commercially C. Ecclesiastical
Contaminate E. Manages
Printing M. Lactic

Yesterday I walked 3,495 steps. Today, 6,018. I was arranging chairs in a classroom.

Just watched Finding Nemo. It was a cute movie.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a hard decision about Rusty sooner than I want to. Other than mobility problems he is fine. He is not in pain and his appetite is good. He might get frustrated at not being able to move as well as he used to. I wonder if someone manufactures dog carts for dogs with normal length legs.

Harley is returning. His friend is going to Baltimore. Daisy will be happy to see him.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Rhetoric R. Flibbertigibbet
Daybed O. Bosses

I walked 3, 288 steps.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Mr Jhon Smut
Toiletry B. Closeouts
Gentles D. Temple
Showiness Q. Incantation
Hilario S. Agnostic

The memorial service for the friend that died was packed. The church had to drag out the ugly folding chairs. This man really was loved by our community and his family. He is now at home among the cosmos.

I walked 3,224 steps.

Goofy spam names of the day:
Durkheim U. Topsails
Functions M. Endorse
Withheld T. Woolliest
Labelled K. Contrasts
Sclerosis D. Flash
Dramatizations T. Prodding
Team E. Interlocking
Befitted V. Waterbury
Failing G. Mitering
Dentin I. Deadline
Alcibiades V. Suing

Chinese proverb:
If you want happiness for an hour - take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day - go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month - get married.
If you want happiness for a year - inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime - help others.

I received this via e-mail. It is a mailing from Progressive Review, an e-mail newsletter from GopherCentral.


Anybody but Bush - and then let's get back to work
Naomi Klein

Last month, I reluctantly joined the Anybody But Bush camp. It was "Bush in a Box" that finally got me, a gag gift my brother gave my father on his 66th birthday. Bush in a Box is a cardboard cut-out of President 43 with a set of adhesive speech balloons featuring the usual tired Bushisms: "Is our children learning?" "They misunderestimated me" - standard-issue Bush-bashing schlock, on sale at Wal-Mart, made in Malaysia.

Yet Bush in a Box filled me with despair. It's not that the president is dumb, which I already knew, it's that he makes us dumb. Don't get me wrong: my brother is an exceptionally bright guy; he heads a think-tank that publishes weighty policy papers on the failings of export-oriented resource extraction and the false savings of cuts to welfare. Whenever I have a question involving interest rates or currency boards, he's my first call. But Bush in a Box pretty much summarises the level of analysis coming from the left these days. You know the line: The White House has been hijacked by a shady gang of zealots who are either insane or stupid or both. Vote Kerry and return the country to sanity.

But the zealots in Bush's White House are neither insane nor stupid nor particularly shady. Rather, they openly serve the interests of the corporations that put them in office with bloody-minded efficiency. Their boldness stems not from the fact that they are a new breed of zealot but that the old breed finds itself in a newly unconstrained political climate. We know this, yet there is something about George Bush's combination of ignorance, piety and swagger that triggers a condition in progressives I've come to think of as Bush Blindness. When it strikes, it causes us to lose sight of everything we know about politics, economics and history and to focus exclusively on the admittedly odd personalities of the people in the White House. Other side-effects include delighting in psychologists' diagnoses of Bush's warped relationship with his father and brisk sales of Bush "dum gum" - $1.25.

This madness has to stop, and the fastest way of doing that is to elect John Kerry, not because he will be different but because in most key areas - Iraq, the "war on drugs", Israel/Palestine, free trade, corporate taxes - he will be just as bad. The main difference will be that as Kerry pursues these brutal policies, he will come off as intelligent, sane and blissfully dull. That's why I've joined the Anybody But Bush camp: only with a bore such as Kerry at the helm will we finally be able to put an end to the presidential pathologising and focus on the issues again. Of course, most progressives are already solidly in the Anybody But Bush camp, convinced that now is not the time to point out the similarities between the two corporate- controlled parties. I disagree. We need to face up to those disappointing similarities, and then we need to ask ourselves whether we have a better chance of fighting a corporate agenda pushed by Kerry or by Bush.

I have no illusions that the left will have "access" to a Kerry/Edwards White House. But it's worth remembering that it was under Bill Clinton that the progressive movements in the west began to turn our attention to systems again: corporate globalisation, even - gasp - capitalism and colonialism. We began to understand modern empire not as the purview of a single nation, no matter how powerful, but a global system of interlocking states, international institutions and corporations, an understanding that allowed us to build global networks in response, from the World Social Forum to Indymedia. Innocuous leaders who spout liberal platitudes while slashing welfare and privatising the planet push us to better identify those systems and to build movements agile and intelligent enough to confront them. With Mr Dum Gum out of the White House, progressives will have to get smart again, and that can only be good.

Some argue that Bush's extremism actually has a progressive effect because it unites the world against the US empire. But a world united against the United States isn't necessarily united against imperialism. Despite their rhetoric, France and Russia opposed the invasion of Iraq because it threatened their own plans to control Iraq's oil. With Kerry in power, European leaders will no longer be able to hide their imperial designs behind easy Bush-bashing, a development already forecast in Kerry's odious Iraq policy. Kerry argues that we need to give "our friends and allies ... a meaningful voice and role in Iraqi affairs", including "fair access to the multibillion-dollar reconstruction contracts. It also means letting them be a part of putting Iraq's profitable oil industry back together."

Yes, that's right: Iraq's problems will be solved with more foreign invaders, with France and Germany given a greater "voice" and a bigger share of the spoils of war. No mention is made of Iraqis, and their right to a "meaningful voice" in the running of their own country, let alone of their right to control their oil or to get a piece of the reconstruction. Under a Kerry government, the comforting illusion of a world united against imperial aggression will drop away, exposing
the jockeying for power that is the true face of modern empire. We'll also have to let go of the archaic idea that toppling a single man, or a Romanesque "empire", will solve all, or indeed any, of our problems. Yes, it will make for more complicated politics, but it has the added benefit of
being true. With Bush out of the picture, we lose the galvanising enemy, but we get to take on the actual policies that are transforming all of our countries.

The other day, I was ranting to a friend about Kerry's vicious support for the apartheid wall in Israel, his gratuitous attacks on Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and his abysmal record on free trade. "Yeah," he agreed sadly. "But at least he believes in evolution." So do I - the much- needed evolution of our progressive movements. And that won't happen until we put away the fridge magnets and Bush gags and get serious. And that will only happen once we get rid of the distraction-in-chief. So Anybody But Bush. And then let's get back to work.