Georgieboy Bush is a moron,
who doesn't know Play-Doh from boron.
And soon he will show,
what some of us know.
He's really the Dark Lord named Sauron

Away with you bad evil-doer's
I must rout your kind from the sewers.
I'll torture and kill,
regardless the bill.
I'm loved by oil's entrepreneurs.

If you're against me you're a traitor,
to this country and my creator.
the world can go jump,
cause I've got to pump,
more oil into Chaney's freighters.

So screw off you dumb stupid sheep,
It's rich people's business to reap
I don't really care,
how you and yours fare
as long as we own you, and cheap.

Just finished watching Little Lord Fauntleroy give his State of the Union Address..
Here are a few of the low lites.....

War on..whomever?..he is winning..

No taxes on the rich?....he is winning..

Placating with false promises?....he is winning..

Sucking more resources from our lands
to hell with the environment?....he is winning..

Evil doers?....he is winning..

Limiting your civil rights?....he is winning..

Convincing us that he is going to kick some serious ass, right or wrong, no matter who's disenfranchised sons get killed. ?....he is winning..

Allowing big business and powerful people do anything to anybody
without the Damaclesian fear of liability..he is winning....

Eliminating your freedom of choice?...he is winning..

Ameliorating with platitudes....he is winning..

Cynically using people patriotism and fear of terrorism for political gain and muscle and personal aggrandizement..he is winning

Brutalizing the English language repeatedly i.e. nukaler (nuclear) 4 times
in a State of the Union Address..(see below)..he is winning

Number of his old school teachers contemplating suicide..7...he is winning..

Playing on "the people's" real fears and uncertainties?....he is winning..

Weapons of mass destruction should not be allowed in anyone's hands but ours, because we are morally superior?....he is winning..

Might makes Right?....he is winning..

Forefather's rolling over in their graves?....he is winning..

Scaring the shit out of free and reasonable people everywhere?...he is winning..

Governing by the lowest common denominator?....he is winning..

Lining big business pocket's with war profits?...he is winning..

Number of references by name to Osama Bin Laden, as yet the only foreign person in the history of the United States to actually be the cause of catastrophic physical damage to us on our own shores..Zero....he is winning..

Characterize his actions as endorsed by God?....he is winning..

Zombie-ize the entire Republican Congress to leap to their feet and applaud like Pavlovian sycophants at his slightest spit bubble....he is winning..

Filling the federal bench with more of the above,
only MORE rabid, more right wing and more spit bubbles..he is winning..

Marrying one of the original Stepford Wives..he is winning

Making the only allowable medical deduction be for those, (now federally required by law), rose colored glasses with blinders....he is winning..

Suggest almost 500 BILLION (with a B!!) in new spending,
while reducing the tax debt of the nations richest one percent...he is winning..

.................
..............
Completely SCREW the average (and majority of) Americans in a myriad of categories, and still maintain a high popularity rating from those same retarded sheep getting shafted?...he is winning

See what I mean by "The Emperor who wears no clothes"???...
Does no one see who the REAL Evil Doer is???
.......
...
.
Cause at least one American to consider moving to ANYWHERE ELSE in the world, in a fit of sorrow shame and disgust?? he is winning........

I watched Joseph Biden on Charlie Rose tonight.
WHY IS THIS MAN NOT OUR PRESIDENT???????
He spoke for an hour on various subjects, mostly about the building tension in Iraq. But also about N. Korea, Bosnia, and a host of other topics. He is wicked smart, verbal and clearly as erudite as ANY in Washington. Furthermore he managed to go the whole hour without once using the words "Evil Doers", or " weapons of mass destruction", or " sumblimbumbumbullble".

There was so little rhetoric..... he completely eschewed the jingoistic testosterone driven bulls**t that passes for our current foriegn policy. He gave reasoned and impassioned suggestions for thoughtful solutions to the problems we are facing.
He was talking about trying; intelligent options, and strategically driven opportunities, and subtlety...

Wow, there is a something new for "Dubya" to try, multi-syllabic words.

Yes, I know Biden can be long winded, and he clearly likes the sound of his own voice. But, even in a coma, with his frontal lobe tied behind his back, he has got to be 100 times smarter than our current POTUS Little Lord Fauntleroy.

Don't believe me?http://slate.msn.com/default.aspx?id=76886 Check that out.

In the meantime has anyone else noticed that we have a Dick, a Bush, and a Colin in the White House? ...And don't even get me started on John Ass-croft.

Got to go to bed one of these months, I need to get some sleep.

Erotic poetry slam???? Wheeeee!! How do I sign up for that?

He is sleeping now....
I quietly sit down and wait for him to waken.

My folks went to see the musical Camelot at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater the night before last. My mom said it was one of the best musical theater productions she has ever seen and that is saying a lot.

Both my Mom and Step-Dad are professional musicians. Dad played trumpet in the Minneapolis Symphony and taught music privately and in the public schools. My Mom played professionally, taught privately and was a highly successful high school band director. They are maybe the most active 84 and 74 (respectively) year old people I have ever known. They are members of numerous bands and orchestras, and still play as many as 5 or 6 times a week.
They are both playing with the Minnesota State Band which is scheduled to be going on tour to England in March.

But I digress....
On the way home from the show, my Dad started feeling poorly and this soon devolved into a very serious case of either, food poisoning or a very fast acting virus. His body went into overdrive trying to get rid of whatever was ailing him and it was all he could do to get home and into bed. (with the obligatory 37 trips to the bathroom all the way home) Mom woke up at 5AM to discover he was not in bed..called out to see if he was ok, got no response and so got up to see what was up. She found him collapsed on the floor of the bathroom. Dizzy, he had apparently fallen, and hit his head hard enough to knock himself unconscious and bloody. Two 911's later, (he wouldn't go to the hospital the first time the ambulance came, but later, yesterday when he couldn't get up out of bed, he finally acquiesced.) he is now in the hospital getting fluids and waiting for a CAT scan to make sure he didn't do more damage when he hit his head.

Looking at him in his hospital gown, pale and whiter than usual, I suddenly realize that he is .........not all powerful anymore.

In my head, I know this. He is after all 84. But his aging has been graceful for the most part, and both my folks are still so darn active it is sometimes hard to remember they are old. Besides, weak or frail are not words I have associated with this once vigorous and vital man.......

And yet, here he is. As I look this gentle, loving man over, I am struck by the inexorable entropy of our lives.

This is a man that used to pick up major symphony orchestra's on his back, and carry them on the strength of his heart and talent. This man had an international reputation. He was recognized and highly admired by prestigious peers. Plainly put, this guy was a super stud in an industry of studs. There are professional trumpet players in this town, in their prime at half his age, that he could still bury. And yet he turns work away because he does not play up to HIS standards anymore.

I can shut my eyes and remember sitting with the audiences of a lifetime of concerts. I can still hear his unmistakable sound rising up out of the teaming musical maelstrom, emotionally picking up an entire orchestra like some kind of Jedi Master soaring higher and louder till finally leading them exactly where the conductor wanted them to end up. ("That is", as my dad used to say, " if the conductor has a clue what he wants".)

Sitting here in this hospital room, I still get goose bumps from my memories of how gloriously he played.
I remember thinking when I was young, that this was what God would sound like if he played the trumpet. I was regularly moved not only by his talent, but by the sheer will, physical strength and soul it took for him to do that. To say that my heart was/is filled with love and pride for him would be an understatement. .....

But, watching him sleep now at 84, and in the hospital...I wonder ........when did he get...old?

This man, ..who married a divorced mother with 5 young kids..... Did I mention my Mom had cancer at this time? And was going through all the surgery/chemo/radiation choices back at a time when the odds were that she would NOT see 5 years?...Still he wanted into our family... not part time...not "let's see how you are doing in a year then decide" (Though that IS what my mom suggested. She did not want to tie him to her/us, knowing her cancer future, was at best, unclear.) ........."No" he says, "I'm in if you will have me" (DUH!!! Mom was gaga.) ................how many guys would do that??

Still sleeping...He looks so much smaller tucked under his hospital blanket than I have ever imagined him. The doc says he is doing better and can probably go home on Monday. Visitor hours are over tonight, and he needs his sleep more than he needs to see me or know that I stopped by so I'll call him in the morning to say hi and see how he is doing.

He has always said, "I know and love 2 things in this world,
My Family and the Trumpet."
I close his room door, go down the elevator and outside into the dark.
I am struck by something as I leave the hospital..."My Family and the Trumpet."
He considers the trumpet, literally a part of his soul....
Walking through the lightly falling snow to my car, the snowflakes are not the only thing wetting my cheeks as I realize, he ALWAYS says us first.......

She explodes overhead.
Spiraling
down
astral fragments,
that sear with arctic screams.
Frosted in
shimmering nebulae
I drown
in
stardust ecstasy.
And then,
I am
Reborn

Singing noiselessly,
a voice of
possibilities
spreads seeds to grow the flowers of you.
Limitless, and sublime every one.
The song of truth,
wrung from love's garden.

I just finished re-reading a wonderful novel, The Optimist’s Daughter"
by one of my favorite authors, Eudora Welty.
You may or may not know that the e-mail program of the same name, was indeed coined "Eudora" in her honor.

This is a woman who’s words opened worlds to me when I was young. You could read anything Eudora wrote, and she would amaze you ...she was one of my first loves when it came to authors.

I can remember the first thing of hers I read, a short story called "Powerhouse". It was a about a musician. I was 8 and I was at the library. ( Oh I loved the library ..the muffled sound of it, the excitement of what I might find, even the smell of books ....it is still a most evocative perfume to me.)
I picked this book off of a table, opened it up, And the title "POWERHOUSE" jumped out and begged me to keep reading....so I started to read. It was like being frozen in place by this woman so that I would concentrate on every word she wanted to tell me.

I remember that I was shocked that she used the words "nigger" and "jew" and "monkey" in referring to characters in her story. I was more than shocked. I had been taught that those were worse than swear words, that only terrible people called other people by those kinds of names. (Sometimes 8 year olds can be naive and sadly, wordly all at the same time.)

My first thought in the opening pages was that she was nasty for using these
names. That she hated these people, that she was prejudiced. I was
confused, and a bit scared I was reading something I shouldn’t be
reading. Yet I didn’t want to ask anyone. I was afraid whoever I asked
would take the book away and tell me I shouldn’t be reading this. So I found a hidden corner to sit down, (I had been frozen, standing up till then) and I started the story over to see if I had misunderstood what she had written or if she really was that mean, or if it maybe WAS "too old for me" (I hated those words).

And you know, after a bit it I figured it out.

It didn’t seem like she disliked or hated these people at all, but instead loved them. I mean, how could anyone write so beautifully about someone or something that she hated. She was making a point by using this language........
(....I remember this so clearly, thinking about her tonight , that it seems like last weeks movie.)

I remember it so well because this was a pivotal moment of my understanding things about books and people and writing stories. How words could mean lots of things, sometimes many things all at the same time. I didn’t know it at that moment, but I had just figured out at a much subtler level than I had understood before, writing in metaphor and analogue.I remember thinking I had discovered a secret code that she had written, and I had just broken. I could see it most clearly in my "ghost voice". (that’s what I called reading or thinking to myself silently ... wow I haven’t thought of that phrase in years and years. ) This whole thing was pivotal for me in a lot of ways. I always seemed to know this voice connected me to music but I soon realized that it was integral to every part of me. The who and how and why of me, ALL the time.

When I was young I loved two things, music and reading. When I opened my
mouth to sing love poured out of every part of me and I would float surrounded in it’s awesomeness. When I opened a book I could curl up right into the very pages and the words and my imagination would take me into a universe that was so incredible, everything was possible.

I was too young to conceive that everyone did not feel this way about something in their lives. I was also too young to appreciate how lucky I was too have been given these gifts.Thinking about Eudora, who just recently passed away, reminds me that I always need to listen to my "invisible voice", so that I may find those rarest of gifts that are out there, like secret code to be found.

Tucked in among the pretty houses and quiet, leafy streets of Minneapolis, a stone’s throw from Excelsior Street, my companion for the evening, (The always lovely Michelle) and I were on the hunt for what restaurant afficianado's in this town are starting to call "The place to eat"
We hunt for the now infamous "RED DOOR" that marks the spot for Ristorante Del Jeremiah .

In order for the management to keep the crowds from overwhelming Master Chef Jeremiah, the actual location of this restaurant is a mystery, and all who do find it are sworn to keep it's address secret or risk not being allowed back.

Anxious for the eating experience of a lifetime Michelle and I met up and left Friday and spend till Sunday searching for the "Red Door".
Up and down the streets, we searched endlessly for the only visible external clue that you have found gastric valhalla.
As we neared the end of our 3rd day looking, we thought we caught the faint aroma of some unidentifiable piquant sauce and we followed our noses. suddenly ...there it was! The RED DOOR.

We parked the car and as we approached the door, we appeared to be walking up the sidewalk of what looked like someone’s ordinary house. When you open the door however, you know that is where the fiction ends.

We are met at the door by Master Chef Jeremiah, who has won acclaim by routinely doing the extraordinary. He is smartly dressed in traditional white and he ushers us in with charm and open hospitality...He was so cordial and inviting, it almost felt as though he was having us over to his own home for dinner.
The decor was simple, yet elegant. And at a place where you have talent in the kitchen like this, you of course allow the Chef to choose the menu.

It was as follows:

- Insalate -
Fruited Spinach with Currant Vinaigrette
a spinach salad with green onions, fresh strawberries, currant jelly, mandarin orange slices and a zesty vinaigrette
- Pane -
Rosemary Olive Oil Focaccia
- Pasta -
Furious Shrimp Linguine
fresh shrimp sauteed in an olive oil and clam juice broth full of red pepper flake and garlic served over cracked black pepper pasta
- Dolcé -
Butter Pecan Non-Dairy Ice Cream
- Digestive -
chilled Becherovka

The salad was sumptuous. Remember that sharp piquant smell that led us, finally, Pied Piper like to the door? It was none other than Master Chef Jeremiah's vinaigrette dressing. A perfect offset for the mandarin oranges and the (where did you find them perfect) strawberries.
Our Focaccia was warm and fragrant and exactly what was needed to partner the main course.
And that brings us to a Chef Jeremiah original, the toweringly excellent Furious Shrimp Linguine. The Pasta was just the right amount of al dente, firm but not undercooked. (something too many chefs get wrong), and the shrimp and sauce were a gracious yet adventurous melange of contrasting flavors and textures.

BRAVO !!! Chef, BRAVO!!!!

We finished with a rare and fascinating Czechoslovakian Liqueur.
Warm and zingy, it hinted of cinnamon, anise and cloves and recalled a European history of Dukes and nobility.

We then were invited to a personal audience with Master Chef Jeremiah. The three of us repaired to his private movie theatre to watch a charming Italian (what else) film called "Pane e Tulipani"............(Bread and Tulips)
Afterword we finished with delightful bowls of healthy and delicious Butter Pecan Ice Cream.

I could not think of a more delightful evening with more enjoyable company.
(Except for adding Bill..... who is in, if you can believe it, Italy ...even as I write this...sorry buddy, but you missed one....)

Many thanks go to the chef and host of this most entertaining and memorable evening.

There is this photograph of her that is so in my head.......

i stare...
i wait
colors bleeding.....
wondering what she will
reveal to me next.
and still,
her bashful veil
keeps eyes imploring.........
patience!
frozen forever by the God's,
murmur me your mystery.
i'll wait.....
as virgin vellum whispers blush.
colors melting in glorious passion.
i'll stare....
more beautiful even than mind's eye.
Laughing!
Spilling heart's glow everywhere.
i'll stare,
till i see....
all....
of...
her.

To Jeremy King of the scooters.
He's also a whiz on computers.
A heck of a guy,
and you can see why.
He's geekdom's all time best recruiter!

There once was a pyro named Billy
Who's hobby prevented the chillies
If he keeps using gas
I know what will pass
Someday he will burn off his willy

dating is so hard
she will not say she wants me
but i think she might

goddess is her name
past life as a courtesan
her friends call her cat

twelve on a ten scale
my dreams won't stop using her
she laughs with her eyes

said she needs her space
stood back and gave her a year
still no sign of yes

should I stop fishing
say it was not meant to be
or kiss her then ask

hai ku can be hard
no leeway for dirty rhymes
limmericks next time

;-)

Rise soft through layers of purple black to blossom into faintest sight
The heat of dreams still buttering warm the cocoon of your last journey.
Yesternight heroes still lingering for last embrace.

Small shivers race your skin alive stretching limb long and catlike.
Vibrating up from the deepest of somnus cave, the feeling arrives before you hear it, a hum calling you, pulling you up,up ... caressing you tenderly, a love filled voice gently kissing your eyes open

... Awaken Oh goddess of morning and sing to me.
Wind to still, birds to wing, moon to sleep. Now, set fire to the day by raising your torch of new light and birth. Call forth your glory. It is morning.

I am already aware of how I'll feel when she is absent.
I ponder words to write to her, for I have promised them.
but I cannot conjure poets from a distracted heart.
It whispers in my head ..... I will miss her.
I anguish that the sound of this will ring with the color of excess to her,
for surely so short a time over the clock of days could not matter so.
But I stand before my heart's mirror and echo it's reflection....There are no words, for being this lonely.

I wrote this awhile ago for someone that I love. On nights like the last couple, when my house seems emptier than usual and I have not been able to sleep, I wish she were here.

Life's light, arcs down to orange black, teasing moonspirits rise.
Hard day turned soft night in ancient planet dance.
Starfire winks twilight alive, as evening's music lulls the world serene.
Goddess of sleep! Pour forth the wine of dreams brother,
soothing head to pillow and eyes to close.
Drifting inward toward souls sanctuary, your hearts desire awaits.

I decided one of my first tasks on this site was to come up with a Mission Statement.

Big mistake ... big.

My interests and skill sets are so varied it is ridiculous to try to amalgamize it. I was stymied. Plus it is amazingly arrogant to think I should be trying to define the world and my place in it.
But, after a bit of soul searching I determined that there was a problem. The problem was, saying outloud, what I think I am about in this play of life. It is scary to try to distill yourself to some words on a page, to define your philosophy ....it even sounds self centered and egotistical as I re-read this, so skip it if you want to..or not.. this site is going to be reflective of what's in my head and heart..good and bad.

Obviously this is not "all" there is to me, (heck I can't even figure out who I am on a day to day basis much less my entire life) but here goes anyway.

I believe my journey on this planet is to inspire passion in people. To communicate with music or language or art, or any tool, the full range of experiences in our existence as human beings.

(Nothing like setting small goals!)

Since human's first stepped from the primordial ooze, we have sought ways to inspire ourselves and each other. We first drew on cave walls and banged on hollowed logs and danced in frenzied passions. Then, as we evolved so did our tools to inspire.
We developed spoken language, acted out, painted, carved, refined music and invented tools to express it, and then it got REALLY interesting, we invented the written word.
Remember, all this was done with the goal being to communicate ideas and feelings and to express ourselves and the passions we all share. ....In other words, we worked and invented to find better ways to improve the tools we use to inspire. It is in our chromosomes. We crave inspiration like we crave air.
Study after study show us that we are at our best when we feel like our lives have value, that we have meaning, and that our being here means something. In life we are more productive, healthier, (and oh by the way) more profitable when we are fulfilled in our lives.

We work and make money to live and to support ourselves certainly, but after that, we spend our money in search of moments that move us. Music that makes you shout and dance, words that inspire, films that show us ourselves at our best and at our worst, images that sear the soul, paintings that make us cry..........

I crave those things that connect us to ourselves and each other at our cores. to touch souls and share our human spirit and immortality. To partake of the divine in each of us.......
My family ...My friends..
As a musician, actor, filmmaker, artist and human I have dedicated my life to creating and appreciating these moments.
Finding ways to communicate emotions, ideas, concepts and feelings to people, is the highest calling I know.
this is my life.

I had a great weekend. I saw 2 movies,(Adaptation and About Schmitt) spent time with my best friends, worked 12 hours on a script for a show I am producing/directing, goofed around(a lot) with this new Blog and it's software, gave 4 music lessons, helped my mom tweak a Photoshop thing for her New Years card,gave an acting lesson, watched some football, finished reading Tom Clancy's new book Red Rabbit that I got for Christmas, did some laundry, spent more time with my best friends, ate out at restaurants....twice, ranted on this blog, cancelled a music lesson............... I get a lot more done when I don't sleep(I'm still up from the last rant) Although I have to admit I am dragging now.
I think there is something inherently sexy about sleep. I don't know what it is exactly.

More about that later..plus as promised, a mission statement or some such thing is also forthcoming..

I leave you with a poem...... about inspiration..I used to have it in spades, then I lost it for a long long time. Recently, I have found myself writing again and this is in response to my thinking about where the tug of creation comes from....

the artist cannot name his muse, it's whispered by the heart.
creations lightning bolt to fuse, the elemental parts
For in that seething moment of divine frustrations.
mind and spirit and marrow well up, and yearn for
inspiration.....a kiss ... an ache ... a dream ... a soul .....
a something so intense that it is painful to behold, ....
he waits for his muse
to take him.

It is time for a Jack Rant...

This will be a common occurrence here. You will find that I have a tendency to froth at the mouth about lots of things. However I usually get cranked up about politics, or public policy or social issues and the like.

I saw an article on personal information security and data theft before Christmas and I thought it was worth talking about. This has been something that has been on my mind to mention to everyone, and this article was just the catalyst I needed to pull the trigger on this Rant.

How long has it been since you all changed ALL your passwords??? Are you diligent about keeping your personal information private ??? Are you aware of the consequences regarding the loss or theft of your personal info and identity?

There has never been a time in our history, when we are more at risk of having our identities and personal data/security illegally AND legally scanned, recorded, hacked, used, abused, tracked, stolen, traded and sold. Mostly without our knowledge OR permission.

If it has been more than a year since you have changed your codes, you are at considerable risk. According to CONSERVATIVE statistics, last year you had 3 or more of your bank or stock accounts or credit card numbers acquired and someone tried to crack it or hack it. This is a shockingly high number. But to me, the place where we should be more concerned, is in our personal privacy and the issues raised by the said piracy of that information.

We are at the front end of the explosive growth of data acquisition as practiced both legally and illegally by "legitimate " Big Business. You should be taking measures to prevent it from happening. I'll show you why later after I work up a good lather.

Many computer attacks of this kind are done by amateur's and if that is the case you probably will have (or have had ) no breach ......unless you are dumb enough to have used a spouse or child's name or your own name, or a street address or 123, or asdfg or something similar as a code .... even moron hackers will try these passwords. When the unskilled fail to gain entry with those common passwords, they generally will not have the intelligence or patience to stick with it and try other combo's. This will cause them to go off looking for someone that IS that dumb.WooWoo you win round 1.

If some one really wants in and has the skills and the patience, you HAVE TO HAVE a higher level of security on your passwords or your information WILL get hijacked

When, after reading this you decide to change your passwords, ( ........ Notice I do not say IF you decide ........ you should do it today) There are some basic rules about passwords and security codes that you should follow. Make sure you use a combination of letters (upper and lower case) and numbers. It should also be at least 6 characters long. And for God's sake don't use the same password for everything.

But if you are clever you can come up with a letter/number combo that makes sense sort of and this will do 2 things. 1. It will fit all the criteria for a complex, secure code .... and 2. It will be MUCH easier to remember . For example, a code I used last winter..... EyEh8c0Ld I hate cold ... do you see it? The 8 and the O in cold are numbers. It is very hard to break this kind of pass. (Harder still if it is completely gibberish..like ..... HgtY75tgj9 but these are very hard to remember.) You should NEVER write them down where they can be easily found. Not inside the desk drawer or on the bottom of the keyboard. Don't write them on a card that you carry around in your purse or wallet unless you encode them somehow. If you do need or want to carry passwords around with you, write them down only try just rolling the digits up by 1. (If we use " EyEh8c0Ld" as an example .. roll the digits up by 1 and you get FzFi9d1Me...E become F, 8 becomes 9...do you see it? This will work very well for all but the most ingenious hackers and as long as you remember up 1 digit you can carry your #'s much more securely.

You do need to figure out a place that you can write them down though, because if you forget which series of passwords you are on it will be a MAJOR bummer to get back on track. Don't use combos of your kids names or your name, use something obscure from the past that is easy to remember but not common knowledge. For instance; for a while, I used the password 8iG8Us. This is bigbus, do you see it? the 8's are b's then small big, big small are the letters with upper/lower case info ..... easy to remember ..... and from the past ...... the name of the my band's greyhound tour bus 10 years ago... Who would make the connection?

Identity fraud and theft are really spooling up. I am seeing so much hacker traffic these days that I am changing my passwords, (and I mean all of them email, ebay, bank card credit cards etc.) every 6 months. I know it is a pain but I think the danger and our exposure to it, has increased exponentially in the last year.

And it only takes one time. Once your information is in a database, it is EXTREMELY hard to get it out or keep it from being traded or sold. Along the same lines, you should NEVER give out your SS # to ANYONE.... By LAW you are NOT required to disclose that number except to the government or for setting up a bank account or the like.

I freelanced for years at a fortune 500 company that was in the banking industry ...they worked VERY hard to gain access to your SS#. Call center operators were taught to ask for it and coached to subtly imply that it was a "requirement". They had no need to know, they just WANTED to know so they could use it to gain information about you. ... for themselves and to sell in the open market. (Do you remember the flap about 2 years ago when Norwest Bank got caught buying all that personal info that by law, they weren't supposed to have??? Guess who sold it to them....the guys I was working for. It is all quasi legal too, because our super uninformed legislature doesn't understand all the implications ...and hasn't written good laws restricting what can be done with your personal info.

In fact there are many morons in the Congress and indeed our very own retarded(I'm being kind you will have to admit) President, that think it would be better if the government did have all your personal data INCLUDING YOUR DNA!!!! What then?? Let's put it all on a National ID card for you to carry around. (They "of course" assure us the data would be encrypted and used ethically at all times.)

You would be appalled at the amount of information that can be gleaned without your permission or knowledge with an SS# and some computer skills or money.

Information like bank records, tax stuff, employment records, insurance info, health care info, medical records, (yeah I know med info is legally supposed to be private, but banks are now owners of insurance companies and vice versa and if their data just "accidentally happens" to be commingled in the merger, well, whoops! ) mortgage, credit card debt, and buying habits...yes buying habits. They can track what you purchase with any credit card.

As a for instance, say a bank was looking to decide whether or not to do a mortgage on your house but it "just happened" to find out that you are undergoing chemo for cancer from the insurance company that owned the mortgaging bank ... oops loan denied. This is illegal but it happens I have seen this policy executed personally ...Can't do that you say? ..........how would you prove it was even done? ..

Want more? Let's say you are applying for a job ..... your prospective employer figures out that you are pregnant by accessing a database that tells him that you have been buying prenatal vitamins at the local WallMart .... Result?? Sorry we went with a more "qualified" applicant.

See?? It is important to keep as low a data profile as you can. I am not trying to freak you all out or make you super paranoid, but being diligent about keeping your own personal information private has become much more important than it used to be. Your exposure to this kind of crap is so much higher than it ever has been, and the ensuing damage can be greater as well. And until our political morons figure out how important this is, it is up to us to keep the barn door closed as much as possible.

End of Rant

It is 5:30AM.. do you know where your geeks are??

Anyone that happens on this site with any regularity, is going to discover by paying attention to my posting times that I don't sleep. However I especially don't sleep when I get new books or cool new toys to play with..toys like Movable Type for instance. This software is really REALLY nice. It is deep but not uncomprehendingly so. The interface is clean and simple and completely belies the mojo under the hood. I give this wonder ****** (6 out of a possible 4 stars). Needless to say I have been reading the manual and tweaking around with it on and off today. I havn't tried too many mods ...yet........mostly cause I don't wanna gork it up ...but I have been switching around some stuff and learning about scripting. I don't figure on becoming a geek with MT, but I can certainly see myself wanting to become, at least conversant with it.

Now I know that there are some of you out there (I can hear you), cynical, mocking, that say.."Jack, it is late, late on a Saturday night and you are not only still awake at 5 AM from reading about software, but woman-less AND typing in your web log....... Doesn't this pretty much already just scream out geek?

HAHAHA!!!!!
Ah but that is what I want you all to think!!!!

That is where the beauty of my supersecret plan lies!!!
(In reality, if I publish it on this blog it is likely to STAY supersecret...sigh)

While I lull all you unsuspecting yoyo"s out there into thinking I am a mild mannered fellow with the libdo of a spool of 20lbs test fishing line, I am secretly writing and publishing on this blog, prose and poetry with inaudible sub-harmonic desire mnemonics that I have designed to drive women into a wild sexual frenzy.....Bwahahahaha
(well, it IS actually designed for one particular woman, but I have yet to get her to log on .....DAMN!!.......HOWEVER, in the meantime, if women do read any of this "special poetry" of mine and find themselves in need of slaking certain "appetites", call me 24 hours a day at 1-800-Mac-GEEK)

Bwahahahahaha! supergeek or superfreak?????

(No animals were harmed in the posting of this blog)

Okeyday...
Today I logged into my mail and what should I find awaiting me but my very own Web Log courtesy of my friend Jeremy.

Jeremy is a multi-talented friend, filmmaker, Mac grokker and Lord and King of all the Vespa's.

I am not sure if his motivation for setting this up for me was more about getting me to stop spamming his site, (as If I would ever stop doing that). Or, because he is just a good guy. Either way I get to play blog master on my own, so thanks Jeremy...Thai Express is on me for the forseeable future.

It IS the New Year and all that, but I don't much believe in New Year's Resolutions sooooooo............. I won't be posting any of that kinda crap......

I suppose I should have a credo or a mission statement for this site, (something other than "To boldly go where no man has gone" or " I accept this Academy Award in the name of all the little people who's names I never bothered to learn."etc, etc), but I'll have to cogitate on it for a while before I declare it to the world. (or at least to the couple of people I think might actually be reading this.)

All I can tell you, is that the list of characters and stories that will make up the future content here, both real and imagined, will be ....

"SPECTACULAR, SPECTACULAR!!.

(or my name is not Harold Heckubah)