In case any of you were wondering what my top stories for 2005 were, well here they are. I may or may not have blogged about them here, but I thought they were important enough to place in one of three categories. Let the debates begin!

NEWS
1. Election 2005: Iraq 3, Terrorists 0!
2. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
3. Chief Justice William Rehnquist dies, succeeded by John Roberts
4. John Bolton at UN
5. Iran’s Cheat & Retreat
6. Disintegration of the Democratic Party
7. 7/7 attacks in London
8. Pope John Paul II dies, Benedict XVI elected
9. Rejection of EU Constitution by French voters
10. Michael Jackson acquitted, skips to Bahrain.

SPORTS:
1. Another Curse Reversed: White Sox Win World Series
2. France to Lance: We Surrender!
3. Patriot-ic Football Dynasty
4. NHL Lockout
5. F1 Fiasco at Indy
6. Baseball returns to DC
7. Philly boots T.O. from Eagles
8. Tiger Woods wins the British Open
9. Bad Draw for USA in FIFA World Cup
10. Saints Play On The Road

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:
1. Sony XCP root kit fiasco
2. Tenth Planet discovered in Solar System
3. Wikipedia under attack
4. Apple/Intel alliance
5. Apple’s iPods leap forward with video
6. $100 “cranktop” computer for Third World
7. The rise of Firefox
8. 7 versions of Windows Vista
9. Planet with 3 suns
10. South Korean clone data fake

...and the worst thing about catching the flu is, it happens right at the end of the year! Lord knows, I went in today to try and work, I managed to get through more than half the day when, as I was coming back from lunch, my manager’s manager said “Maybe you should go home, I’ll tell your boss and you go get that Z-pack from your doctor.” Who am I to argue with that?
Got home, tried to call the doctor’s office at 1655...I get the message that the office is closed, hours are from 0700 to 1700. So that means I have to call first thing tomorrow to get in there.
[Shrugs shoulders] Hey, at least I gave it the old college try! Besides, there’s something else I must discuss with the doctor anyway....

As a result of the events which happened last month, I had to change my telephone number. Qwest neglected to tell me that in doing so, they changed the billing date, moving it forward five days. As a result, i find out today that they took my automatic payment yesterday...before my payday...leaving me overdrawn by sixty-some bucks.
I was not a happy camper. I requested Qwest to change my billing date back, and they refused, stating that the billing date is “based on the telephone number,” which I told them they were full of s**t. They also still billed me for changing the number and I told them to not bill me, which they credited to my account.
I still have to call these bastards tomorrow and cancel the ACH payment. From now on, they get my money when I am ready to send it to them! At least when payday hits tomorrow, I’ll only be twenty-some bucks in the hole instead of sixty.
And Kudos to my bank, who reversed the $38.00 in NSF fees due to Qwest’s sneaky little move. All together now:
QWEST SUCKS!

If any of you readers who are non-Arizonans are wondering...yes, there are cloudy days here, but they take place at this time of year or during the monsoon.
I just took this picture this morning (click on the thumbnail) and sure enough, I did not wake up to sunshine, which sucks. It was kinda cloudy yesterday in the Valley when I went on my grocery shopping errand, and I felt it then too. One reason why I moved here was because Arizona enjoys over 300 days of sunshine each year, and the reverse was true back east.
So, sunshine does make you feel happy!

I would have written about this two days ago, but I was kinda preoccupied tearing my hair out, trying to figure out what went wrong with Firefox 1.5. Now that the browser has been fixed, I can go ahead and do this.
This past Thursday was a significant anniversary in the annals of my life. It was on December 1, 1980, that I began to wear contact lenses. I was fitted with them at the University of Florida in Gainesville, which had the most advanced facilities on the planet to deal with patients who have keratoconus (the eye condition I had been diagnosed with at Great Lakes, Illinois in 1978 at Navy Basic Training). Mom, Dad, and I took a special trip from South Haven down to Gainesville in the RV just for this occasion, and we spent Thanksgiving at my aunt’s house; I was miserable at the time because, while I wore glasses for the first two years of the condition, my vision had progressed to the point where I couldn’t see worth s**t!
When I was in the doctor’s office, he asked me where I came from: when I told him, he was astonished and wondered why we didn’t go to the University of Michigan, where I ultimately had my corneal transplants done in 1984 (right eye) and in 1986 (left eye). He ultimately recommended my continuing treatment in Ann Arbor.
So, for the first few days, the process I had to undertake to get used to wearing the HARD (not the gas permeable) lenses was excruciating: one hour in, one hour out...two hours in, one hour out, etc....building my tolerance up until I could wear the contacts for the time needed to get through a normal working day. Even my dad, who smoked at the time, had to take his habit outdoors when I inserted my lenses in the morning, because the cigarette smoke bothered the hell out of me during this phase of getting used to the contacts.
It was also for the first time I learned how sensitive to light I was during this process, and so I adapted wearing sunglasses. Now you know one reason why I wear them all the time when I’m outside...and in nearly all the pictures you see on this site!
And yes, it ultimately was worth it.

“You...do not understand...but you will.”
Kosh Naranek, Babylon 5

Lately I’ve been finding a lot of my friends, who are my age, are going through the death throes of their marriages, and they are turning to me (of all people) for advice.
They mostly ask, “What’s it like? Do you get over it?” I have to tell them that each individual will recover differently, and I also tell them that it took me a very long time for me to recover, because for many years I was bitter about the whole experience and I wrongfully imparted that bitterness on other relationships (both romantic and otherwise). It took me a long time...and the move to AZ...to begin to recover. Now I can tell people “Yes, this happened, it was fifteen years ago, I made mistakes along the way that I wish I hadn’t made. I still hurt from it, but please let me go on.”
One thing I haven’t told them yet is this (well, they’ll see it now!): they must forgive their spouses, NOW, before they go through their divorces if that is what they choose to do. They had their families, they made their mistakes, but they are still human beings and unless that spouse has done something truly despicable (what I mean by this is something far worse than adultery or “irreconcilable differences"), then they must not deny their spouses the ability to continue loving relationships with their children. This is what my ex did to me, and it has hurt me terribly.
And then, let the former spouse go on. And then after that, THEY themselves must go on.

Or thereabouts. This is an update regarding my Thanksgiving experience.
I just got back from the dentist, he did a quick cursory exam of the tooth in question (Tooth #19, for those of you into dentistry) and sure enough, it’ll need the root canal.
How exciting. NOT. The procedure is to take place at 0700 hours MST on November 30, which gives me time to mentally prepare for it.
What I’m mentally preparing for is the actual shot, because everything is downhill from there. I, like millions of other Americans, have to deal with the stress of the dentist. So I’m not alone in that aspect. Thank God.

Since my family and most of my friends are back east, I was hoping I could go out of town for a quick photo jaunt in the mountains east of the Valley, but that ain’t gonna happen now. You see, I have this tooth that’s bothering me quite badly and I had to get up to call the dentist’s emergency number, and hope and pray I can get in today or tomorrow to get it fixed...and it’ll probably be another root canal! But at least I’m thankful this year for the ability to pay for it.
And before I forget...GO LIONS!

Two years ago, while I was still in Michigan, I wrote about this date in my history. Not much has changed, I’m afraid, when it comes to my son.
And not a lot has changed about another personal aspect in my life. Consider:

• In February, a broad from Wisconsin that I knew from 15 years ago lamented about not travelling. I thought I’d lighten her up a bit and I bought her a ticket to come to AZ, then I would take her to see the Grand Canyon. She reneged on the ticket. My bad.
• A girl from my past did visit me this summer. We spent 11 days together and I really thought it was the beginning of something real, then I visited with her and her family in August back in Michigan. Well, in October, she moved with her parents to Texas, and I haven’t heard a word from her, save for a letter her mother wrote and the girl signed, with no return address. Not my bad.
• I did date someone here in late October, someone I met on a local bus. She was a student at a local college, and I thought we were going to hit it off...until the day before my birthday when she started calling me and harassing me on the phone. I was pretty damned shocked, then upset, then pissed off at this little psycho b***h that I had to change my phone number. Yes, this is the little incident where I took some time off blogging.

I truly thought when I moved to AZ almost two years ago I’d have a fresh start with everything. That has not been the case. I’m still afraid to ask people out, because I’m afraid of getting hurt over and over and over again. I am tired of that. That’s why I’m seeking professional counseling again. The last time I went, about four years ago, I thought I had the relationship thing licked. Apparently not. It sucks being alone and I’m tired of it.

OK, I’m starting to open up a little bit again. Still nervous from what happened, but a little better nevertheless. Not much sleep last night, I’m kinda wound up from where I will be flying to today.
I’m going out of town for the weekend...to visit some friends back East whom I haven’t seen in twenty-plus years. They got married last month and they wanted me at their wedding, but as I was transitioning to a new position at my workplace, I wasn’t able to attend. So they are doing the next best thing.
And I am forever grateful for this. Thanks Teresa and Richard!
Oh yes...the additional occasion we will be celebrating is, Richard and I have the same birthday. Although he is two years younger than I am...we are Comrade Bolsheviks!
Yes, you Photo Gallery Fans will see some pix after I return! Flight leaves Sky Harbor at 0655 hours, will reach destination at 1241 hours, so it’s gonna be a long day.

Friends...something bad has happened. I need to take some time off from this blog so I can get this straightened out.

I went to my good friend John’s house tonight. He and his wife Kim were having a birthday party for their daughter who turned 6!
Anyway, to start things off John put a shot glass in front of me and poured in a half-shot of mezcal into the glass. Next, they sprinkled sea salt on my fist then handed me a lime. Next, Kim said to do (drink the) shot, lick (the salt), and (bite the) lime...in that order.
So I did it: shot, lick, lime! The mezcal went down very warmly! And I didn’t throw up. Which means I SURVIVED!
See, contrary to what my detractors (particularly the one in Chicago who just turned double nickels today) believe, you CAN teach a guy in his mid-40s new tricks!

Nothin’ like one of these right outside your bedroom window to make your night! I had been trying to get to sleep for about an hour and couldn’t, because some lady (and I use that term sparingly) is banging on the door of a parked car ”OPEN THE DOOR! OPEN THE F**KING DOOR! OPEN THE G*DD*MN DOOR!”
I was about to throw my window open and yell at her ”SHUT THE F**K UP OR I WILL CALL THE G*DD*MN COPS!” when I saw an Officer of The Law handcuff the lady and set her aside while the object of the disturbance, some guy, got out of the car. The cop asked the guy a few questions, then let the guy go. Last I checked, the lady is still cuffed.
Good thing someone else was also not a happy camper besides me. Maybe now I can go back to sleep.

So I’ve been called out. Very well. Here is where I stand.
I am a Christian. I am an American. I am straight. I am a Republican. I am a conservative. I am all those things. Does this mean because I am those things, I hate gays and lesbians and will attack their way of life? Absolutely not!
It is not for me to make the final call. That is between each of you and God. Does it mean that I will not make small conversations about life or whatever because of how my personal beliefs have shaped who I am? Absolutely not!
I work at a place where each individual’s skills and talents are paramount in furthering the accomplishments of the organization. I do not care if a person is black, white, male or female, straight or gay, as long as they can contribute to the team effort, that is what counts.
Whatever rights the GLBT community have won have come by changing public opinion, one person at a time, and that is how those who had to fight for civil rights did it forty years ago. It followed the bellweather decisions of Brown v. Board of Education, and so it must follow with Lawrence v. Texas.
But all those battles which were fought then, and are being fought now, pale in comparison to the darkness which we finally woke up to on 9/11. Christianity is NOT the enemy. Republicans are NOT the enemy. Democrats are NOT the enemy. Straight people are NOT the enemy. Gays and lesbians are NOT the enemy.
The enemy is that group of people who insist on spreading their religion by force around the world. They are the Islamofascists. They are even more dangerous than the Nazis and Communists were during World War II and the Cold War. To the Islamofascists, there is no such thing as free will. There is only submission. They want to take away the one thing God gave each and every one of us and I will not stand for that!
I was born at Gitmo. I lived overseas for five years; three in Naples, Italy, and two in Asmara, Ethiopia (now the capital of Eritrea). I saw for myself the despondent conditions which cause people to make choices which are terrible and extreme. It made me very grateful I was born an American.
So when 9/11 happened, I resolved right then and there to fight that fight against the Islamofascists FOR all of us. I don’t care who you are, where you come from, or whatever path your life has followed. I will use the talents God gave me, my writing and my speaking, to fight that darkness which is Islamofascism.
That is where I stand.

Allow me to preface this by thanking Cox and Forkum for providing the opportunity to rekindle an interest I’ve had for a long, long time. Thanks John and Allen!
The audio drama episode I read for a few weeks ago has been released to the public! Go Ye and check it out. The Macker Commands It!
Oh yes...I play the part of “The Guard.” I so enjoyed doing this, I hope to be doing more of it as time progresses. It’s so nice to have a life again!