Hopeless Geek

Ever since Texas passed Prop 2 in 2005, I’ve been idly pondering how on earth to challenge this insanity. To be fair, I haven’t been pondering it the whole time, otherwise the last three years would be a considerable waste.

The trouble with Prop 2 is that it is indeed a state constitutional amendment, meaning there’s very limited avenues to challenge it. The most straightforward would be a new proposition to repeal the first, but given this amendment’s shameful public support, that seems absurdly unlikely. Judicial review would be the other avenue, but there’s two problems. First, being embedded in the state constitution, state courts can’t touch it. Second, federal courts are loath to intervene in what is widely considered a state’s issue. The right thing to do would be to challenge it federally on equal protection and civil rights grounds, but again, the feds are unlikely to go along.

I suggest a nuclear option. Let’s look at the wording of the amendment.

SECTION 1. Article I, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 32 to read as follows:
Sec. 32. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. (b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.

Subsection (b) is very curiously worded. This state … may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage. In other words, this state may not recognize marriage as a legal status. Therefore, any and all laws that pertain to marriage and now null and void, as the state can’t recognize the marriages in order to enforce said laws. Standing might be an issue, because most of these laws are simple definitions. You’d be hard pressed to prove you were harmed and, thus, had standing.

Unless you were going through a divorce. The judge is going to have to recognize your marriage in order to sever it. It’d be fun to see someone in the middle of a messy divorce make a motion…

Your honor, as you’ll see from Section 32(b) of the State Constitution, the state may not recognize this as a “marriage.” As such, divorce law doesn’t apply here… or anywhere.

If the judge refused, and things didn’t go their way, they could appeal up through the ranks and, possibly, have purchase to go federal with it. Sadly, this wouldn’t challenge the amendment directly, and even if all this transpired, the end-game probably wouldn’t be to toss out the amendment. However, it would force the state organizers to quickly repeal or revise said amendment, which would take time. A lot of time. In the mean time, divorce law has been stood completely on end, and they’ve actually done more factual damage to the concept of marriage than even they claim would be done by gay marriage. The hope would be that the movement would be dealt such a significant PR blow that they would have trouble passing a properly worded replacement.

This is, however, Texas. Even if the organizers are dealt such a blow, the replacement might still pass. Probably overwhelmingly. And then we’d be back at square one. But time will have passed, a victory will have been won, and maybe, just maybe, the cultural landscape will have continued its inexorable slide forward, and saner heads will prevail either here or elsewhere.

Think I should have this minor Adam Ant hit memorized? Go ahead, at least click it for the title. 
 
Today my VW decided to leak oil profusely. According to Somara, it had started trickling a little yesterday when she saw the trail my car left…three hours after I went to work [her shift is around 11 AM]. I figured it would hold at least a couple more days, long enough to take it to Underground on Monday. No dice. The alarm went off a few blocks from my job which meant the oil was practically gone. As a comedian I once saw said [paraphrased], why is the oil indicator shaped like Aladdin's lamp? To me, it doesn't mean my oil is low. It says I have a wish coming and the genie must be arriving due to all the smoke coming out from under the hood. Thankfully, there was only a little burning smell and smoke. 
 
I didn't want to be stranded at work so I had to juggle my schedule, probably lose some vacation hours and cajole my wife into following, should the car die on the way. Somara bought a couple quarts of oil for the trip to assist. It leaked out of the vehicle in two miles! So this process had to be repeated several more times as I scored oil at a gas station and an HEB on Lamar. When it was over and done, alarm blaring in the home stretch from Airport to Underground, my poor ol' Golf leaked three gallons of motor oil to hobble there [11.3 litres for my Metric-using friends]. What started as a trickle on Monday was now a gushing wound, I could even see it already working its way out at the HEB while I was refilling it. 
 
There is a [relative] silver lining to this tale of car trouble. The mechanic on it called me at work pretty quickly. Due to all the mess covering the front of the engine by then, he found the source…the oil cooler's seal, a three-dollar part. What a relief since I know how much labor is at an hour and then I just need five quarts to put it all back to normal. There was some coolant mixed in but he said it wasn't serious. 
 
Now I must wait for the part to come in, the repair and then coordinate a lift to retrieve the ol' money pit on wheels which remains cheaper than a new or "new" used car. 

Current captain Mike Richards holding up Reebok's latest
money-making scam. Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia InquirerEverything old is new again thanks to Reebok being the company to make the "new" NHL jerseys. Personally, I have yet to see this overpriced shoe company do anything to actually promote hockey in America. Ya' know, commercials, product lines and other forms of advertising. I still prefer CCM or Koho [Canadian made too] over Reebok's overpriced crap made in Asia. 
 
I'm guessing the unveiling of these "alternate" home jerseys coincides with the traditional Black Friday game my Flyers will be playing next week. These current orange ones are definitely reminiscent of how the team looked in the Seventies. Blech! People complained over the previous alternates with the 3-D logo? I just wish the Flyers would return to orange as their home color which is unique. Black is overused with so many others. But it's all about selling clothes to kids in the suburbs who think they're gangsta's [aka morons] yet they don't know much about the sport or team. 

…or more likely, you may see prototypes, experiments and anything else of what may be its future. 
 
My friend Jeremy has had little to no success getting the successor site to work due to problems with 10.4's implementation of SQL [or MySQL] via WordPress. I was more biased toward Drupul from all the other sites I'd seen but I have to get my assistance where I can get it since I cannot dedicate much technical time to it. 
 
So Picayune's server will have an external FireWire drive running it while it's booted up in 10.5 Server allowing Jeremy to make the alterations. 
 
If all goes according to plan, checking out my site won't be pokey from the Java nonsense carrying out the functions HTML, PHP and SQL do. Plus no more Java processes exploding and taking up all the CPU power, forcing me to kill it. Lastly, I may be able to incorporate movies, fancier HTML layouts and more. Jeremy has even entertained a Wiki which I'm still trying to figure out what exactly it is and if it really solves anything outside the context of Wikipedia. 

Sunday night Miette decided to give us a nice scare but first let’s set the Wayback Machine to Halloween to explain why the Tension-o-Meter jumped to 11. 
 
I came home from the Blue Marble to see Somara in the neighbors’ front yard throwing objects into their bushes. Before I was completely out of my car, she gives me this, “get over here and help me!” Kuroneko bum rushed the door on Somara and decided to go exploring the area. Smart move for a black cat on Halloween. We succeeded in catching her as Kuroneko’s thoughts were, “what a great game we played!” 
 
As for Sunday, our initial guess was that Miette somehow escaped. We weren’t clear on the details and I know I was puzzled because she had been sleeping on my lap an hour earlier. No one had opened the garage or front doors. So while the other three were eating, we turned the house upside down in search of Miette, namely the various closets or rooms she might have been trapped in. Not one sign of her. 
 
Resigned to her wandering the streets, I went outside and combed the nearby blocks; cats don’t really stay too far, especially when they’re off in unfamiliar turf. By the time I was walking up DeMaret, one of the many streets inhabited by roosters and dogs, Somara called. Miette was found…hiding in the bedroom, waiting for Molly to finish eating. She was busted by my wife who heard eating yet saw Molly sitting on the bed. Seems my little thief [Miette is named after the girl from a French movie I can explain if you care] was experimenting on how diligent we were on keeping the expensive out of reach. 

Details are still in transition plus it cannot all be disclosed due to confidentiality matters. 
 
What I can tell you is that it involves Somara. She was allowed to tell me and I was thrilled. When we receive clearance, I will either amend this post or make a new one. 
 
Certainly makes up for Quantum of Solace being sold out last night; how I was really looking forward to seeing it too. 
 
1195 

I picked this one up from BustedTees.com to go with my Obama victory shirt. The main joke of this is ridiculing Amy Winehouse and/or the stereotype of British people’s teeth. Anyone who has been to London will recognize the red-blue symbol from the city’s subway system. In the Austin area, the symbol is frequently used with local businesses which have Waterloo in their name: Waterloo Icehouse and Waterloo Records quickly come to mind. Why? Before 1839, this city [really a village back then] was called Waterloo and the Republic renamed it after Stephen F. Austin. Anglophilia for London and the Beatles is my guess why the symbol is used around here. 
 
Anyway, I think this is funny and I’m grateful Winehouse’s ongoing drama prevented her from doing the theme to the new James Bond movie. Hopefully, this shirt won’t turn into another humor test at work and/or a concert at Stubb’s. 
 
Now judging by my gut and recent weight gain [228-9, or obese as per Wii Fit], maybe I should be wearing a shirt saying "Mind the Glut." 

Why You Should Never Try to Steal a Law Student’s Laptop
A thief learned the mistake of trying to steal a law student’s laptop last week after after becoming a punching bag for an Arizona State student he tried to rip off.

After dealing with a great many law students needing data recovery, I can totally believe it…

The following is courtesy of Keith Martin, provided here only for purposes of posterity. The original was found here.

A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope

Reconsidering Star Wars IV in the light of I-III

If we accept all the Star Wars films as the same canon, then a lot that happens in the original films has to be reinterpreted in the light of the prequels. As we now know, the rebel Alliance was founded by Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa. What can readily be deduced is that their first recruit, who soon became their top field agent, was R2-D2.

Consider: at the end of RotS, Bail Organan orders 3PO’s memory wiped but not R2′s. He wouldn’t make the distinction casually. Both droids know that Yoda and Obi-Wan are alive and are plotting sedition with the Senator from Alderaan. They know that Amidala survived long enough to have twins and could easily deduce where they went. However, R2 must make an impassioned speech to the effect that he is far more use to them with his mind intact: he has observed Palpatine and Anakin at close quarters for many years, knows much that is useful and is one of the galaxy’s top experts at hacking into other people’s systems. Also he can lie through his teeth with a straight face. Organa, in immediate need of espionage resources, agrees.

For the next 20 years, as far as 3PO knows, he is the property of Captain Antilles, doing protocol duties on a diplomatic transport. He is vaguely aware of the existence of the princess but doesn’t know much about her. Wherever 3PO goes, being as loud and obvious as he always is, his unobtrusive little counterpart goes with him. 3PO is R2′s front man. Wherever they land, R2 is passing messages between rebel sympathisers and sizing up governments as potential rebel recruits - both by personal contact and by hacking into their networks. He passes his recommendations on to Organa.

Yoda is out of the picture by this stage, using the Force-infused swamps of Dagobah to hide himself from Vader and the Emperor. Or something. He is meditating on the future and keeping in touch with Obi-Wan via the ghost of Qui-Gon Jin, which as comm systems go has the virtue of being untappable. Obi-Wan, on Tattoine, keeps in touch with Bail Organa and the other Rebel leaders by courier, of which more later.

As Star Wars opens, R2 is rushing the Death Star plans to the Rebellion. R2, not Leia. The plans are always in R2. What Leia puts into him in the early scene is only her own holographic message to Kenobi. Leia’s own mission, as she says in the holographic message, is to pick up Obi-Wan and take him to Alderaan - or so she thinks. Actually, her father just wants her to meet Kenobi, which up to this point she never has. There’s a reason for that.

Obi-Wan has spent the last 20 years in the Tattoine desert, keeping watch over Luke Skywalker and trying to decide on one of the three available options:
A) If Luke shows no significant access to the Force, then leave him alone in obscurity
B) If Luke shows real Force ability, then consider recruiting him as a Jedi. The rebellion needs Jedi. Now.
But, if Luke shows any signs of turning out like his father, then C) sneak into his house one fine night and chop his head off. With great regret but it’ll save a lot of trouble later on.
Knowing this to be the case, Bail Organa (perhaps at the insistence of his wife) has found excuses not to send Leia to Ben for assessment of Jedi potential, largely for fear of option C.

To be fair to all concerned, Leia has shown no overt signs of a link to the Force. Luke on the other hand has. In his home-built hotrod aircraft, with no formal fighter pilot training and no decent instrumentation, Luke can regularly score centre-hits on 2-metre targets in complicated zero-altitude maneouvres. Until he attends the briefing on Yavin, Luke has no way of knowing that hardened combat pilots would consider that nearly impossible. To him it’s easy. Obi-Wan, who saw Anakin’s performance in the Pod Race, is nervous.

Much of Obi-Wan’s behaviour in this film, and Yoda’s in the next, can best be understood if they are frankly scared to death of what Luke might become. (Ben is also scared that he himself will make all the same mistakes he made with Anakin.)

Now, with the existence of the rebellion at stake, Bail Organa has finally told Leia to go see Obi-Wan and has sent her along with R2. The original plan would then be for Obi-Wan (with optional Luke and/or Leia in tow) to leave his exile and take the Death Star plans to Yavin, where they can be put to use. R2 (with Leia if Ben doesn’t want to take her) would then carry on to Alderaan to maintain the cover story. The original plan does not survive contact with a large Imperial Star Destroyer.

R2 and 3PO bail out in an escape pod, landing in vaguely the right area of Tattoine, where R2′s first priority is transport. He arranges to be captured by a group of Jawas and, once on board their transport, he makes a deal with them (possibly using emergency funds stored about his person) to take him where he wants to go. The Jawas refuse to go directly to Kenobi for fear of marauding Sandpeople but they agree to R2′s second request : transport to the Skywalker farm. They even get to keep the purchase price if they can sell R2 and 3PO there. The Jawas shake on it and go through with the plan.

Seeing 3PO fail to recognise the farm where he worked for 10 years gives r2 a moment’s amusement but, as soon as possible, he gets away and heads for Kenobi. Luke and 3PO follow, which may or may not have been part of the plan.

On first seeing R2, Obi-Wan has a twinkle in his eye and calls him “my little friend”. Well, he is. However, when Luke wakes up and says that R2 claimed to be owned by an Obi-Wan Kenobi, he blandly says “I don’t seem to remember ever owning a droid.” Ben has in fact owned several but the remark is aimed at R2 and translates as “You keep quiet. I’m not about to tell him everything just yet.” Obi-Wan thinks fast and tells Luke a version of his past that does not involve a father who became a dark lord of the Sith. He wants to examine Luke a lot more closely before he risks telling him the real truth.

Although the Death Star plans need to get to Yavin as soon as possible, Obi-Wan needs to make one more diversion first. If the Empire knows that Leia is a Rebel leader, then they also know about her father and the whole Organa family may need immediate evacuation. Fortunately, before coming to Tattoine, R2 had already arranged transport, which is waiting at Mos Eisley, under the command of the Rebellion’s other chief field agent and espionage asset. Chewbacca.

20 years earlier, Chewbacca was second in command of the defence of his planet. He’s there in the tactical conferences and there on the front lines and is a personal friend of Yoda’s. When he needed reliable people to join the embryonic Alliance, who else would Yoda turn to but his old friend from Kashykk? Given his background, there is no way that Chewie would spend the crucial years of the rebellion as the second-in-command to (sorry Han) a low-level smuggler. Unless it’s his cover. In fact, Chewie is a top-line spy and flies what is in many ways the Rebellion’s best ship.

The Millenium Falcon may look like a beat-up old freighter but it can outrun any Imperial ship in normal space or hyperspace, hang in a firefight with a Star Destroyer or outmaneouvre a dozen top-of-the-line TIE fighters. It’s a remarkable feat of engineering and must have cost a colossal fortune to build. How does Han come to own a ship like that? He only thinks he does, actually it’s Chewie’s. Half-way through RotS, we see the Falcon landing at the Senate building on Coruscant. If it’s the same ship (which of course it is) then it was the personal transport of one of the senatorial delegations - a much more likely source to commission its design. That delegatino must have later joined the Rebellion and given it the use of the Falcon. In fact, if the delegation is the one from Kashykk, then the ship may have belonged to Chewbacca as early as RotS.

Han is Chewie’s front man. It’s much better, and safer for him, if he doesn’t know what’s really going on. Chewie used to work with Lando Calrissian in a similar way but Lando wanted to settle down, so Chewie arranged for him to lose the Falcon in a card game to Han Solo, an even better choice as partner. Han and Chewie’s working method is pretty much what we see in the cantina scene: Chewie make the contacts and sets up the deals, then turns them over to Han who haggles over the price and gives the final yea or nay. This lets Chewie wander the seamy underside of the galaxy pretty much at will, making contacts, gathering and passing information with no-one was the wiser, especially not Han.

Chewie persuaded Han to do business with Jabba the Hutt so he could make regular runs to Tattoine, where Chewie could pass messages between Kenobi and Organa. When R2′s urgent message came through only days before, the only way for Chewie to get back to Tattoine in time was to make the “mistake” that forced Han to dump his cargo to avoid capture. As a down side, this led to Solo’s getting a death mark out on him from Jabba the Hutt. Chewie was a bit upset about the need for that but figured they weren’t going to be dealing with Tattoine for much longer.

En route to Alderaan, R2 and Chewie play stop-motion chess. This is the latest in a series of games they’ve played over the year in the back rooms of space stations and cantinas across the galaxy, but this is the first time they’ve done it in front of their respective straight men, so they put on a big show.

Then it all goes wrong again. Alderaan is gone and the Falcon is caught and brought aboard the Death Star. Only Han, Luke and 3PO don’t know just how much trouble they’re in but Obi-Wan has a plan and seems confident (but Jedi always do). Soon afterwards, R2 finds Leia in the detention cells and shouts that they have to rescue her, to which Chewie can only agree. If Vader learns he has a daughter, then they’re all in deep trouble, so Chewie does his bit to persuade Han to go along with Luke’s plan.

Then, on the verge of escape, Vader himself turns up only yards from both of his children, one of whom is leaking Force all over the place. Obi-Wan stages a distraction by letting himself die and go into the Force while the others escape. At this point, Chewie suddenly realises that he’s been left in charge, not only of the Death Star Plans and the survival of the Rebellion but of the secret son and daughter of Darth Vader. With the Organas and Kenobi all dead, only Chewie, R2 and Yoda know who Luke and Leia are. And only Ob-Wan knew where Yoda has been hiding. Chewie is stressed out by the responsibility and R2 (who keeps making crude jokes about the whole affair) is being no help at all.

Chewie’s first problem is what is happening between Luke and Leia. With a psychic link they can feel but don’t understand, thrown together in a life-or-death escape, they are looking at each other with a sparky intensity that Chewie gradually recognises as Romantic Tension. He’s no expert on human relationships but Chewie is fairly sure that that’s Wrong, so he does the only thing he can under the circumstances - he throws Han at her. Han is at first not interested but after a while starts to warm to the idea with an intensity that gives Chewie new worries.

When they reach Yavin, Han decides to take the money and run and Chewie decides to go with him. Looked at in cold light, it’s for the good of the Rebellion. Even if Yavin is destroyed, there’ll be one agent who knows what’s going on who can try and put something back together, but he doesn’t feel good about it. When Han decides to turn around and join the attack, Chewie is all for it.

Han and Luke get medals but Chewie doesn’t. Actually, Leia offers him one but Chewie turns it down. He got one of those things from Yoda about 20 years ago, but there’s no way he can tell her that.

As the film ends, the three founders of the Rebellion are all gone. Bail Organa is dead, Yoda is out of contact and Obi-Wan’s ghost can only talk to other Jedi. (So that would be Yoda then.) Thus, the field leadership of the rebellion has just been turned over to the daughter of Darth Vader. Chewie is really hoping that someone with an official rank greater than hers will get here real soon before he has to think really seriously about option C.

© Keith Martin 2005

I’m not sure whose idea it was to initially use the “ball of flaming rocket fuel” wording, but that’s a horrendously poor choice of words…

How amusing it was to see the headline of Barry Melrose's firing from the Lightning this morning on my "alarm clock's" ESPN widget. It's a bummer Cap'n Mullet has gone down in flames after a mere 16 games at the helm but he did say that [professional] hockey had no place in Florida some years ago. I think the fans in Tampa feel it's the other way around and there is probably much rejoicing at my cousin Denise's house. 
 
I do wish him good luck on finding something else because it's doubtful ESPN will take him back due to their lack of coverage on the sport. The Texas Stars probably need a head coach, real estate is cheaper here than CT or FL and a new team always could use a boost of fame to get rolling. I don't always agree with the guy yet the upcoming Stars could be what he needs. No one expects them to win the Calder Cup, let alone be in the playoffs in their first season so Barry can climb back up the food chain this way. He just can't stay at my house until he closes on a nice place in Cedar Park or the lake country. 

Picayune underwent its first major makeover around this time. While I was un-/underemployed, I ratcheted up making more of them but they still had the amateurish appearance of a newsletter or mock newspaper. By mid 1993 they were shrouded in the ghosts of GDW's horrendous, drab style without the 1000-words-per-page density. I tried to punch them up with all the free clip art DG had and I think my friends still enjoyed the effort in their mail boxes; e-mail was a rare commodity. 
 
Then Adobe Illustrator 5 appeared and one of its biggest enhancements was instant drop shadows [as shown in the cover above]. Even I could do those easily by using layers but this feature sped it up significantly. While playing with it, I was hit by a bolt of inspiration to make Picayune resemble a magazine instead of a newspaper, namely Entertainment Weekly. It must’ve been the angle or colors with the text I doodle with in the software. 
 
Jose was my first victim and I had a ton to share with him since the Silder wedding, namely the car accident, the TSR lawsuit and my possible plans to relocate to Austin. 
 
This led to finding magazines lying around to model others’ letters after: Newsweek for the Baedkes, Sports Illustrated for Paul and the novel Generation X for Cindy. 
 
Too bad I wasn’t smart enough to just centralize the stories into one giant pool. It would’ve saved me a ton of time and effort, especially when I lacked the time and money in Austin the following year. I did finally do this briefly from 1996-1998 as I consolidated the issue numbers to create a “sense” of continuity. 
 
Still, it was a big step forward in my Macintosh-using skills and it helped me keep my sanity together for next few weeks until I left for Texas. I think it was a large enough change to merit this to be Version 2.0. 

eBay Find of the Day: 1963 LeMans Tempest sells for $226,521 - Autoblog
When the virtual gavel fell, eBayer ccsi2000 had bought a very rare, if a little rusty, LeMans for $226,521.

Wow.

Obama supporters told not to take Holy Communion
COLUMBIA, SC (AP) - A priest at a South Carolina Roman Catholic church says his parishioners shouldn’t take Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because of the Democrat’s stance on abortion.

sigh.

Rants: Consider This…The Stupidest Exercise Machine You’ll Ever See
Sometimes you come upon something so ridiculous, so on-its-face laughably stupid, you just want to stop everything and enjoy. That’s what we did when we first saw this investors-demo video of SpeedFit, a new concept in exercise technology:The Mobile Treadmill…a treadmill designed specially to move/walk down the street while you’re treading.
( burbia.com )

Easily the stupidest thing I think I’ve ever seen.

In the wake of the absolutely disgraceful passage of Prop 8 in California, there’s been a lot of talk around the airwaves, internet, and water coolers about how to fix the situation. A popular solution I’ve seen is to banish legal “marriage” altogether, give everyone “civil unions,” and let churches decide what to bless as a “marriage” outside the legal forum. This sounds reasonable at first glance, but something about this bothers me quite a bit. First, it feels like a word game. Second, if we’re going to play word games, I have a much more interesting game to consider.

Words can have multiple meanings based on context. In this very realm of discussion, we already have a very good example: divorce. The word is used to refer to similar concepts in the legal and religious namespaces, but each actually treats them quite differently. Legally speaking, a “divorce” is the dissolution and resolution of a union between two married people. Once complete, from a legal perspective, the two are disentwined and more or less allowed to go on their merry - or marry - ways. Of course, there may be conditions tied to custody of children or continued joint ownership of assets that cannot be cleanly divided, but the root message here is that for most intents and purposes, the two are now considered individuals again, not a couple. And that’s it. Issues of moral impairment may play a role in how the divorce proceeds, but not really whether.

In the religious sphere, divorce can have a longer lasting effect on your personhood. In some faiths, divorce is outright disallowed and, even if one is legally divorced, the church may not recognize you as such. In others, they may recognize the divorce but not afford you all of the rights and privileges due other members of their community; they may not allow you to remarry, they may require you to undergo various rites before you are allowed sacraments of the faith, or have other penalties altogether. Ultimately, these factors are simply matters between you, your church, and your god.

So there, in this very sphere of discussion, we already have one term that means one thing in a legal context, yet something far different in a religious context.

The term “marriage” should work exactly the same. Whether you believe homosexuality is a mortal sin or a small fact of life, from the law’s perspective we are talking about two people who wish to pledge their lives, burdens, and bounties to each other. The law already makes no allowance for the race, religion, or creed of the applicants, it should make no allowance for the sex or sexuality of them either. And, just like some religions enforce different meanings for the term “divorce,” they should make their distinction about “marriage” the same way - internally, among their followers.

Another big [financial] pat on the back for us because today is the final payment of Somara's second-smallest student loan! Not bad work. This one took only a year to kill off despite the set-back of her surgery, a smaller escrow refund and the IRS dragging ass on our Economic Hail Mary. The bigger boost was refinancing the house to re-allocate a substantial amount. 
 
This now puts us over the 20 percent mark on paying off Somara's education. Even I'm amazed how well we've managed this in less than two and a half years. I only wish the remaining pair of loans were equally as small but sadly, they're not but don't fret for us, we're still way to ahead of most Americans. I'm not terribly worried due to the strategy I mapped out. My friend Bryant probably would give the credit to Dave Ramsey yet I recall my parents giving me the same advice back in 1992, too bad I didn't take it until 1996. 
 
All the money allocated to loan number two [code name John Glenn] will be put into loan number three [code name James Lovell] after our puny Citibank balance is killed. Then, according to my calculations, we may be left with nothing but the monstrous loan [code name Neil Armstrong] in 17 months; sooner should there be a decent financial windfall in our favor. 
 
My favorite part about this final payment mainly deals with Sallie Mae's horrible customer service. When I worked with them in the Nineties on my student-loan debt, they were great. Now they're a stressful chore. Firstly, their web site cannot separate the payments correctly for our strategy. I used to be able to get this corrected via e-mail until April. Secondly, should you need to call them on the phone, you get this Bangalore-based call center where you're talking to "Jenny" or "Bob," yeah right. Not only are their accents very thick, half of them lecture you about something they know nothing about since Somara's account is in great standing. 

The recent news on Nortel makes me want to quote the overused expression from Yogi Berra, "This is like deja vu all over again." Ten years ago, something similar happened with those clods after I left and back then the economy was in decent shape. I remember being so relieved over being a temp at Apple since I'm sure I would've been a recipient of a pink slip due to my dissatisfaction there. My former co-worker Bion sent me an e-mail about it. Seems a couple of my critics were shoved out the door too. 
 
I still have no idea what Nortel makes anyway. I only know they exceed at illogical bookkeeping and laying off hundreds of employees. 

Astros expect LF Lee to be ready for spring training
The fractured left little finger that sidelined Houston Astros left fielder Carlos Lee for the final seven weeks of the season has healed, the team announced Tuesday.

Lee has to be part of the formula for any success next year. This is great news.

Design your own muppet.