I had to make comment on this before it slipped out of my head and things of greater consequence filled its place. Condi Rice considers George W Bush her husband. Here's the source: (for the actual link, click Here ) "A pressing issue of dinner-party etiquette is vexing Washington, according to a story now making the D.C. rounds: How should you react when your guest, in this case national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, makes a poignant faux pas? At a recent dinner party hosted ...

As imbroglio after imbroglio embroil the Bush Administration, from prisoner abuse scandals to mishandling of the economy, it gets me wondering about John Kerry. Now, I'm a Kerry supporter. I am firmly behind John Kerry's ascent into the White House come November, and hope and pray that it's going to happen. From what I have read of him, I believe he's a good man with strong principles and a desire to do what is right for the American people. The only thing that really worries me as the...

I have a huge problem here in Seattle. You can all let me know if there is any correlation with the rest of this fine country of the USA, but all I have experience with is in Seattle. Car manufacturers here could save buckets of money just by removing the indicators (blinkers, signals, whatever the hell you want to call them!) from vehicles here. No one uses them! Not to turn left, not to turn right. They plain do not use them. I feel like running broadside into them with my car just to te...

Here's the thing. My father is very overweight. I'm talking over 300. Nothing against him, he's just a big man. My mother is slim. Genetically, what can I rely on? I was always thin growing up. I've always been mostly fit, except for the asthma. Until I was 30, I could eat whatever I wanted and not put on weight. I was skinny. Too skinny sometimes (particularly when I was studying during my Honours year at University, and subsisting on ramen and coffee and coke...) but skinny. I never rea...

...on your friendly neighbourhood Jeopardy... "This is defined in Merriam-Webster as : 1 a : of or relating to centralized control by an autocratic leader or hierarchy : AUTHORITARIAN, DICTATORIAL; especially : DESPOTIC b : of or relating to a political regime based on subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation especially by coercive measures (as censorship and terrorism) 2 a : advocating or character...

I was forwarded this email today from a Republican friend. I'll refrain from posting the full text here, but let me give a quick synopsis. Fundamentally, it's saying that the media is distorting the 'real' picture in Iraq. That the real story is (and let me quote here): "...Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur. The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster. The country had its first 2 billio...

I find a level of passion about things hard to maintain. When I was younger (and I'm 36 now) I found it so easy to be passionate. I had a hard and fast opinion about just about everything, and made sure everyone around me knew what it was. Now, I wonder if it's worth the effort to have an opinion at all. The reason I bring this up is that I have a good friend. We'll call him Republican Al. Republican Al has opinions which are quite polar opposites to my own. He loves GWB. He doe...

I can't believe the quagmire that Iraq has turned into. Did anyone not foresee this exact thing happening? Country after country of the 'coalition' are abandoning Bush's ill-conceived invasion. Soon who will be left? The US, Britain, and Australia? Of course, Australia has an election this year and if we can remove W's puppy dog, John Howard, from power there is no guarantee that those troops would remain either. I live in Seattle, and just yesterday a soldier home on furlough from Ir...

I've got that Strong Bad Grammar song going through my head. Do you know the one? It's the one he sings during the "Local News" email, and you can play again and again and again at the end of the email when you click on the CD? By now you're in one of two camps: 1. Who or what the hell is Strong Bad? 2. What the hell is grammar? Let's take this one thing at a time. To view Strong Bad in all his glory, go to http://www.homestarrunner.com and click on "sb emails" at the bottom o...

By now you've all probably heard that Wonderfalls was cancelled by Fox. And I'm sure you're as shocked and appalled as I am. For those of you who don't know, Wonderfalls is a fantastic show where the main character, Jaye Tyler, is a disaffected 24-year old who works in a gift shop at Niagara Falls. She receives cryptic messages from stuffed animals, tchochkes and lawn ornaments telling her to do things like "Get her words out", "Find a penny, pick it up" and "Get off your ass". Needle...

So here's the history. Over the last few years we've had AT&T Wireless phones. The service has always sucked big time, especially at my home and at my office (Hello? Where am I the most often? At home or at my office...) Finally I decided, now that I can port my number across to kill two birds with one stone: - first, I can ditch AT&T Wireless and get a carrier who knows both about coverage and customer service - second, I can get a phone that is tri-band and I can use when I travel to...

So here we are. It's a great sunny day in Seattle on a Friday, I'm avoiding work and wishing I was back in Sydney in springtime. What do I do then? I start a blog. Short form: welcome. If you get interested in me and my life, that's great. If you don't, I'll still sleep easy. Here's some basic information about me that will get the ball rolling: * I'm 36 years old and an American/Australian dual citizen. I was born in New York (August 27) and my family moved to Australia when I ...