i’m not keen to the fact that the ps3 isn’t compatible with ps2 games.

i’m not keen to the fact that the trade in value for the ps2 and its games are pennies on the dollar.

but somehow, the way the clerk said

“welcome to ps3 gaming”

as i left the store with my new purchase made it seem like i’d gotten a bargain and my life was about to get substantially better.

its a bit strong, but my father’s reception to a couple of door to door proselytizers certainly had the desired effect of letting them know their visit was not welcome.

“you are in exactly the wrong place.”

the smallest of obstacles in the path of attending the rally to restore sanity has been overcome.

we have lodging in dc that weekend. ok, its even refundable up til 10/29, but its still one step closer to getting there…

the obstacles that exist between me and this event are enormous – as is my desire to attend…

it will be interesting to see which wins out.

spending my “rest period” between jobs dealing with insurance companies, former employers and lazy contractors is a sure-fire way to make returning to work seem like a joy.

i remember hearing a story on the radio some time ago where a historian was commenting on the fact that the only constitutional amendment to be repealed (18th amendment – prohibition) was also the only amendment that increased restrictions on civil liberties instead of increasing or protecting them.

he went on to say that within reason, the restriction of civil liberties was an indication of bad legislation and that a society which desires equality for all its citizens would ultimately repeal such laws.

so, when the senate failed to pass a vote today because the bill included repealing don’t ask, don’t tell i was saddened that one half of our two party system is so determined to govern from the dark ages and that the “ultimately” on this unfortunate policy is still some time in the future.

i was supposed to start a new job today.

but after a summer of working my tail off, i was scratching my head wondering why i would leave that job to start another with only four days off. don’t i profess that quality of life is a priority?

so i’ve righted the intermission situation and instead of starting a new job today, i start a two week holiday. the work force will still be there when i rejoin it on october 4th…

over the weekend logan was playing with an equally precocious neighbor girl.

they had been upstairs for a while and our spidey-sense began tingling as we noticed how unusually quiet they had been.

a few minutes later, the neighbor girl came down stairs and exclaimed “logan is leading me to the dark side!”

i’m not sure if it was with relief or disappointment that i later learned logan wasn’t warping this young girl’s mind with dark force jedi mind tricks but was merely taking her in to our bedroom on the other side of the house where the lights were turned off…

last week natalie commented on the fact that i haven’t been posting very routinely.

yesterday i throw a little love her way, and hope she will see that and send me the link i didn’t have…

obviously, my clever plan didn’t shake out as expected, so either i have to go find the link myself or start writing about something else.

i’ll have to get the link from my wife but she was surprised to find that a study had been done to compare the blood pressure between married people with kids and married people without kids.

to me, the surprise is the result. i would have bet lots of money that my blood pressure was higher now than before kids.

to my wife, the surprise is that someone asked the question and then performed the study. granted, the result wasn’t what she expected either but her real point of interest was the inception and funding of the study.

one of the many reasons she continues to interest me to this day.

natalie turned forty on friday so the kids and i took her camping to mark this significant milestone in her life (i got a week on the south island of new zealand when i turned forty so you can tell who married well and who didn’t).

ethan went mountain biking with me on the single track trails behind our house for the first time (came back saying he “LOVED” it – also told me on the way back home how glad he was we got to have some time alone together since we hadn’t had much since california – i “LOVED” hearing that).

i beat my father in a game of chess (the standings are 23-3 since we started playing chess via email on january 1st, 2006 – sadly, my wins are represented by 3, not 23).

this weekend, not the last felt like a three day holiday.