From a full-page advertisement in today's Washington Post...

Canadians share the loss of
loved ones and friends.

On Friday our nation mourned with
you for the victims of the terrorist
attacks. We share your outrage, grief,
compassion and resolve.

The people of Canada are with you
every step of the way.

As friends. As neighbors. As family.

Thank you Canada.

Today, while I tried to find something on television other than twenty-four-seven coverage of last week's tragedy, I stumbled upon The Cosby Show. I smiled because The Cosby Show is a celebration of innocence, and just what the shrink would have ordered. It was an episode from one of the later seasons. After Denise—returned from her failed stint as leading lady in A Different World—married the Navy guy who had a little girl, Olivia, from a previous marriage. Watching made me feel better.

As I was watching I wondered what the little girl who played Olivia did after the show. So I looked her up in the IMDb, and was suprised to see that she was the the actress who looked so familiar to me when I saw Dr. Dolittle 2 on the plane last week. Wow. Has she grown up.

I don't know what to feel or say—if anything. But I am going to try. Since Tuesday, like so many millions of others I have spent a lot of time watching this tragedy unfold on television and the Internet. I have also spent a good deal of time at MetaFilter reading a variety of threads approaching this tragedy from myriad angles; but I still find the whole thing so hard to wrap my head around. This is going to change many things in so many ways.

A few scattered thoughts:

Sympathies. First and foremost I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the families, and friends, who lost loved ones in this devastating act of terrorism. A coworker of mine lost his wife on the plane that hit the Pentagon. Another coworker's brother was on the same plane. A closer friend is still waiting to hear about a number of friends and relatives, and each bit of news is never good. My heartfelt condolences go out to all of these people, and the tens of thousands of other people around the world who are grieving their missing and dead.

Admiration. I am in awe of the men and women who are involved in the search and rescue efforts; and I am especially humbled by the bravery of those fire fighters who rushed into the towers. They couldn't have expected two 110-story buildings to collapse so suddenly—and so quickly—but these people don't think of such things. I thank them all for the long hours, and grim work they do to save people's lives—and unfortunately return the dead to their loved ones.

Hate and Bigotry. It is okay to be angry, but not to hate. The stories I am reading and watching of people who are taking their anger out on Arabs and Muslims make me sad. It is possibly the ugliest side of America. If people truly want to show our nation's unity, and strength, they should embrace these people and help ease their fears. Please do not blame these people for another's crime.

Helping. Sometimes the best way to deal with grief and anger is to make a difference. In the cities hit hardest people are pulling together to help anyway they can. They are bringing food and supplies to the fire houses, as well as to the rescue personnel on the scenes. Around the country, people are giving blood. These are only a few examples of actions that will bring people together, and hopefully help the healing.

I could go on and on.

When I first sat down to write this entry, I really thought I was going to comment on the things that have upset me about the media coverage; the calls for war and/or revenge; the commercialization of patriotism; threats to privacy; Internet security; hoax phone calls and bomb threats; conspiracy theories, or any number of other upsetting things that I have read, observed or contemplated. These things are important—at least to me—but right now I personally think we all need to focus our energy on comforting one another, healing, and striving toward understanding and peace.

"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."
—Mahatma Gandhi

Note: In the spirit of full disclosure; if I have not revealed it here before I am not a patriotic person. I love my country, but I have a problem with nationalism.

Home Sweet Home...
I had a grand time chillin' in Colorado, but it is good to be home. The trip back wasn't as bad as the one out even though—and perhaps because—I had to go through Houston. More than likely it was because the plane from Houston to Washington was only half full and I had a whole row to myself. In fact, I had my choice of a few rows to myself, and I took advantage of the ability to see things on both sides of the plane. Unfortunately, I forgot to sit on the left when we were in final approach and missed a lovely view of the National Cathedral. My eyes were too tired to read so I watched the in-flight movie, Dr. Dolittle 2, in the hopes of passing time, but I ended up enjoying it. It was cute, light-hearted, and the lines for the animals were occasionally very funny.

I've also decided that air travel is something that is more fun with a friend.

Inspired by—and using pictures from—my trip to Colorado, I have added eight new garden themes. They are: turtles, black-eyed susans (Maryland's state flower, and a favorite of mine), river, gems (which is technically a geode, I think, in this case), cactus, mountains, pinwheel (a bit out of place here, but whimsical nonetheless, no?), and falls. Now that I have a photograph of turtles, that I took myself, it will become the new default—replacing rear view. More pictures from the trip where you can see the original photos used to create the new themes.

While I was making these new themes I was wondering which theme(s) folks like best. So click on 'comments' and let me know which older and newer theme(s) you like best, dammit.

Join me in welcoming the one and only Ratbastard back! And there was much rejoicing.

The Bush Administration announced today that they will not seek to break-up Microsoft for the company's anti-competative practices. The reason? According to the Justice Department, the goal was to "obtain prompt, effective and certain relief for consumers." Isn't that the same thing the Bush Administration says about tax breaks?

Personally, I think the Administration is afraid that if they pursue a breakup, it will delay the release of Windows XP*, and make it even easier to blame the current administration for an even darker economic forecast. The tech sector is really hoping that XP will give the economy a much-needed boost. If XP is not released because of the suit, then that means people will not be forced to upgrade their PCs and PC hardware and software to work with the new operating system.

If you ask me I don't think a company should be able to hold a country hostage.

* The Microsoft site has a countdown until the software is released. As of this post it is 48 days and counting.

April has a thermometer in her Jeep that reports the outside temperature. When we left for our camping trip on Sunday afternoon it was around 92 degrees. When we arrived at our site an hour or so later it was in the mid-50s. Overnight it must have dipped below freezing, and we were not prepared.

After a wonderful evening exploring the forest around us and then sitting around a lovely campfire roasting hotdogs on a stick and s'mores for dessert, April and Brad retired to the tent, and I volunteered to monitor the fire which was still raging. I sat staring into the dancing flames—while the trees shone by the light of the full moon—occasionally hearing noises, which made me wonder what was watching me. The more the flames died—and the coals shimmered—the more sounds I heard, and I thought about how the tent reminded me of being a scared child who's bedcovers could ward off monsters, and so I decided to hurry the fire along and retire to the safety of the tent.

I hadn't really paid attention to any of the packing, as I was busy being Prometheus, so I didn't know what to expect when I unzipped the tent flaps. What I found was that April and Brad were in the middle of the tent and I didn't see an extra pillow or blanket. Kyra—April's beautiful Husky—then startled me, and proceeded to walk around in circles in the tent making it even more difficult to pick a spot.

By now, I was beginning to realize just how cold it had gotten. I closed up the tent and sat on a log wondering what I was going to do for bed space. Finally I decided that perhaps the Jeep was the next best alternative. But where were the keys? Did April have them? Did Brad? I returned to the tent and felt around near the entrance and found the keys. *whew* So I quietly opened the Jeep, and climbed into the back seat to curl up for a night's sleep.

Yeah, right.

It didn't take me long to realize that my jeans, t-shirt and fleece were not going to be enough to keep me warm. But it was only 3 a.m., and what else could I do? I rummaged through the back of the Jeep, but found only one of Brad's sweatshirts. I wrapped it around my head, pulled myself into a ball and tried to blow warm air into my hands to stay warm. It was a losing battle. My toes began to tingle and ache.

After a few hours I couldn't feel my toes, and I was shivering so I got out of the Jeep and high-tailed it to the fire ring hoping that there was still enough wood and embers to get it started again. When I got to the ring there was no sign of anything still burning and I was ready to cry. Then I noticed one little glowing area where I had buried the final log. I felt around in the dark and was able to locate a little bit of the paper bag I had used earlier to start the fire, and a few twigs. I put the paper bag scraps and the twigs on the fire, and bent down to blow on them. About this time Brad came out of the tent and ran to the ring. He too had found it too cold to sleep, so when he heard me stirring he hoped there was a fire. The two of us wandered off into the cold dark to find things to burn, and were finally able to get the fire roaring.

After warming ourselves for a little while we packed up the truck and noticed that the thermometer in April's truck read 34 degrees, so it must have been well below freezing while the sun was down. One the way back April pulled the Jeep over to take a picture of Cameron Pass and as she walked across the road she looked back and said, "Are those real?" When we looked we saw two huge male moose grazing in the frost-covered meadow!

Despite the freezing temperatures and the lack of sleep I had the time of my life!