Hawaii Day 1
NOTE: The pics will be here in a day or two. Check back.
**
I hate flying. I hate airplanes. I hate flying. The French suck too. And they make
airplanes.
Somehow, this simple mantra is the only thing keeping me sane. My fiance, Wood Nymph, and I are 36,000 feet in the air, somewhere over New Mexico, about three hours into this eight and a half hour nightmare called a plane flight. It's Wednesday, October 13, 2004. We are going to Hawaii to be married at a private estate on a beach in Waikiki on Friday. It's going to be the most wonderful event ever, a beautiful joyous occasion filled with family, friends, and love. If we don't die in a fiery crash on the way there.
Nymph is happily enjoying the melodrama that is The Notebook, and eating whatever ridiculously nice food they serve up here in First Class. Me?
I hate flying. I hate airplanes. I hate flying.
Vampire Elf on 11.24.04 @ 02:28 PM EST [more..]
Thursday, November 18th
Geneva Convention
I posted a version of this yesterday for about 10 minutes, and then I decided that I was uncomfortable with what I had written, that I wasn't getting the point across, and that it pretty much sucked. Then I saw an article coming from the Republican viewpoint that made that same mistake I was pissed about yesterday, so I'm going to try again. And actually, I'm turning a statement into a question, because now I am somewhat unsure of the answer.
Are we fighting the current war in Iraq under the strict legal (not the ethical) terms of the Geneva Convention treaty? In essence, are we legally bound by this treaty during this conflict?
UPDATE: It's gotten murkier, see below for more.
Vampire Elf on 11.18.04 @ 09:02 AM EST [more..]
Wednesday, November 17th
Why Can't Michael Powell Resign Instead?
This whole FCC thing is starting to get pretty damn ridiculous. It was her back. Just her back. Has this guy ever seen any episode of any television show ever?
In unrelated news, it appears the wager will be resolved by special attachment of the bumper sticker, so as not to damage the finish of the Groom Subaru. Turns out, corduroy does not taste like chicken. I will be mailing the sticker as soon as I can actually find one - turns out they are somewhat hard to come by. A set of commemorative Rush golf clubs? Now those, I could have here tomorrow.
Also, my apologies for the lateness of both my post-election Bush article and the Hawaii write-up. I've actually had to meet honest-to-God real obligations this week. Like Work. They will appear soon, though possibly in reverse order, since everyone wants to hear about Hawaii and no one really gives a flying flip what I think about Bush's second term.
Vampire Elf on 11.17.04 @ 05:02 PM EST [link]
Friday, November 12th
The Question of the Wager
As some may know, and some may not, Raul Groom and I had a wager on the outcome of the National Election. It was made many months ago, before the Swiftboat people, if you can even remember such a time. If it wasn't obvious, Raul had Kerry and I had Bush. The loser would have to put a bumper sticker of the winner's choosing on their car for one month.
As the election drew closer, Raul chose a Cleveland Browns sticker and I chose a Rush (the band, not the windbag) sticker.
It's time to pay the piper. But a side issue has come up.
Vampire Elf on 11.12.04 @ 02:44 PM EST [more..]
Thursday, November 11th
Great News for Elizabeth Edwards
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041111-073128-1549r.htm
Fortunately, Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer has not spread. This means it was caught fairly early and her chances of recovery are vastly improved.
She has opted to go the chemotherapy route, followed by a lumpectomy and radiation therapy. This will allow her to avoid a full or partial mastectomy. Something important to note: It used to be considered safer to have a full-mastectomy - the thinking was that if you remove the entire breast, you have a good chance of catching all the cancer cells and there will be none left to spread. Well, recent studies have shown that the survival rate for full-mastectomy patients vs. chemo & lumpectomy patients is basically the same. So this method is now used more often in early-discovery cases because it allows the patient to keep her breast.
Vampire Elf on 11.11.04 @ 04:14 PM EST [link]
Tuesday, November 9th
Post-Election Roundup
Well, it's been a week, and I thought I'd finally peek my head out from behind the kevlar blanket I've been hiding under for the past week. Not because I'm upset at the outcome - obviously, the lesser of two evils walked away from it in a win that is still slightly surprising. I thought Kerry had it in the bag.
And in an attempt to be concillatory to my very upset Democratic friends over at Raul's place, I ended up stepping on some toes. Which is at least partially my fault. Mostly though, I should have known better than to interrupt some much needed venting on their part, even if my intentions were good. I'm certainly not here to gloat like some Republicans have been doing. Seriously, choosing Asshole Loser Candidate A over Asshole Loser Candidate B is not something to be proud of.
I will respond to some of the comments fired at me, though, and throw some other observations into the mix, for Raul's readers and mine. Hit the jump for the Vampire Elf post-election roundup.
Vampire Elf on 11.09.04 @ 03:30 PM EST [more..]
Friday, November 5th
One World
In the next few days, I'm going to write two major blog entries. The first one will be my reaction to some of the activity on Raul Groom's blog that occurred on the day after the election, as well as more general take on both the legitimate and illegitimate views of my Kerry supporting friends on several blogs that I read, in the wake of a rather suprising election.
The second will be my charge for President Bush in his second term. There will be demands for this President to stop saying he is a conservative and start acting like it. There will expectations laid out for true tax reform, not this "simplicity" crap he's been talking about. There will be strong words about the direction he has moved the Republican Party. If you're really lucky, there will be cheese analogies.
I was going to write the first of these entries today. Something much more important has come up.
Elizabeth Edwards learned on Wednesday that she has breast cancer.
Vampire Elf on 11.05.04 @ 10:10 AM EST [more..]
Wednesday, November 3rd
Hawaii (pronounced "how-ar-yah")
So Mrs. Elf and I have finally returned from our Honeymoon (actually, we've been back a week, but re-adjustment takes time, so no blogging). Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and our wedding was absolutely gorgeous. Snorkeling is my new favorite sport. I have mixed feelings about the North Shore. I will not talk about the wretched traffic.
I'll be back later with a pretty full write-up on the whole thing sometime next week. For now, I must enter the trenches and crank out serious amounts of JSP-based web application.
Vampire Elf on 11.03.04 @ 09:42 AM EST [link]
