Month: January 2009

Tonight we attended the Olympia Family Theater‘s performance of Korczak’s Children. Synopsis for those unfamiliar with the story: World War Two. The Nazi Occupation of Poland. Dr. Janusz Korczak — writer, educator, physician, and passionate advocate for children — tries to keep the 400 Jewish boys and girls of his famed Warsaw orphanage alive and…

Subtitle: Call for the End of the Most of the Federal Government Quote, direct from the speech: The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is…

Today the United States will inaugurate our first African-American President. For that, I am proud. But I am also a bit cynical. We are also inaugurating the first President-elect that rather than hold to the precedent of being in the background between Election Day and the Inauguration, has instead decided to co-opt the presidency, while…

Former Secretary of Education and Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Bill Bennett serves up another feel-good collection of stories and anecdotes, similar in style but differing in focus from his 1993 book The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories. The American Patriot’s Almanac: Daily Readings on America is…

9 years ago today my life changed forever. Actually, my life had been trying to change for the three days prior as we endured (JoAnn more than me, obviously) quite a long labor. But in the end, it was more than worth it. We love you! Help us wish her a great big happy birthday…

With Windows 7 coming at us full-bore later this year….yes, this year, I thought it would be time to get the beta installed and check it out. Installed via VirtualBox on my laptop: a Lenovo Thinkpad R61, Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz), 2GB RAM. First surprise: installed quickly, despite the virtual environment. 13 minutes to…

I realize it must have been devastating when you were recently shaved off. You must feel humiliated. For that, I am sorry. Kinda. Sorta. Ok…not really. But if you recall, it’s not like this is the first time…19.5 years ago, those nice folks down in Orlando did the same thing, and then some. And you…

With the inauguration coming up, and with the 80’s in mind, somehow I don’t think even Obama The Glorious One can match these words both in eloquence AND content: “It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive…

..not in the snow that we had just before, during, and after Christmas. …not deep in thought and unable to articulate it in words other than “ummmm….yeah”. …no, I’ve been stuck deep inside the 80’s. Yes, that decade so long ago, that decade of seeming decadence and wealth (if you believe the pundits), that decade…

Here’s the City of Tacoma’s explanation for the most antiquated, convoluted, and business-unfriendly tax in history, our beloved B&O; (Business and Occupation Tax–even the name is bad).Services and Other: apportioned to a city by multiplying service income by a payroll factor (based on the payroll within the jurisdiction), plus the service-income factor (based on the…