Personal Update
I just wanted to leave a few words to explain my absence from the blogosphere.
Over the last couple months, I've been working with an editor in an attempt to get my manuscript ready to submit to a publisher. This has been extremely time intensive as it was only about half done when I started meeting with her. Things are approaching the point where I will be sending her the next draft and then I will have a few weeks downtime to relax and try to get back into my old routine. Hopefully, this will be no later than mid-October.
Between the writing and trying to squeeze in photoshoots when I can, life has become a cycle of work, different work, other different work, eat and sleep and start over again. I am not reading or commenting on other blogs, though I do read those that have RSS feeds (Powerline, Captain's Quarters, etc) or e-mail summaries (Dr. Sanity) when I am winding down at the end of the night.
One thing I did make some time for today was to play with a new satellite imaging system that I found at this site. It was sad to see that both my childhood homes on Mare Island in California have apparently been bulldozed, though I think the house we lived in when my family first moved to Vallejo appears to be the same one (it's hard to tell from satellite images and thirty years of separation). Our house in Hawaii is still there as is our house in Memphis.
It's a fun tool to play with. Check it out if you have a new-ish computer.
There is so much going on right now that I wish I had time to comment on but I will have to just drop a few lines and then get back to work.
1. The load of responsibility for the Katrina debacle has to work it's way up from the bottom. Mayor Ray Nagin is first and foremost on the list, with local police and fire departments following closely. It was their job to ensure that the people of New Orleans were safe. Governor Kathleen Blanco (and all the state level politicians over the last 35 years) deserve their lumps as well for not only lack of action prior to the hurricane but for rampant corruption which plagued the levee redesign projects. Michael Brown deserves some share of the blame if for no other reason than the fact that since the buck stops with President Bush, he's got to reach in the bucket and grab his share of shit. That being said, if you consider that the day after the hurricane New Orleans looked fairly well off, you can't really blame the feds for not rushing resources in when they were better used in Mississippi and Alabama.
2. IF global warming caused the hurricane, you still can't blame Bush because anything we could have done in the last five years wouldn't have mattered a hill of beans to the temperature in the Atlantic and the Gulf.
3. IF global warming exists, I feel confident in assigning blame to Central America. Not the people, industries, or governments of Central America, but the mere existence of Central America. Look forward to my essay on global changes caused by the rise of this isthmus.
4. John Roberts kicked ass in his confirmation hearings. It makes you wonder if some Democrats have even read the Constitution.
5. Hamas learned (maybe) a valuable lesson. When you are no longer occupied, it doesn't pay to launch missiles at your neighbor. Their pleas to the US to "make them stop hitting us" reminds me of the story of the little girl who cries "Bobby hit me back!"
6. If you want good Iraq news that is more than just body counts collected from the comfort of a hotel in Baghdad, read Michael Yon's blog.
7. Dan Rather still doesn't get it. If you have an hour, listen to his appearance on The Kalb Report on 9/26/05 here. If somebody else doesn't beat me to it, I'll dissect it sometime in October.
Until then, take care. I'll be back soon I hope.
Over the last couple months, I've been working with an editor in an attempt to get my manuscript ready to submit to a publisher. This has been extremely time intensive as it was only about half done when I started meeting with her. Things are approaching the point where I will be sending her the next draft and then I will have a few weeks downtime to relax and try to get back into my old routine. Hopefully, this will be no later than mid-October.
Between the writing and trying to squeeze in photoshoots when I can, life has become a cycle of work, different work, other different work, eat and sleep and start over again. I am not reading or commenting on other blogs, though I do read those that have RSS feeds (Powerline, Captain's Quarters, etc) or e-mail summaries (Dr. Sanity) when I am winding down at the end of the night.
One thing I did make some time for today was to play with a new satellite imaging system that I found at this site. It was sad to see that both my childhood homes on Mare Island in California have apparently been bulldozed, though I think the house we lived in when my family first moved to Vallejo appears to be the same one (it's hard to tell from satellite images and thirty years of separation). Our house in Hawaii is still there as is our house in Memphis.
It's a fun tool to play with. Check it out if you have a new-ish computer.
There is so much going on right now that I wish I had time to comment on but I will have to just drop a few lines and then get back to work.
1. The load of responsibility for the Katrina debacle has to work it's way up from the bottom. Mayor Ray Nagin is first and foremost on the list, with local police and fire departments following closely. It was their job to ensure that the people of New Orleans were safe. Governor Kathleen Blanco (and all the state level politicians over the last 35 years) deserve their lumps as well for not only lack of action prior to the hurricane but for rampant corruption which plagued the levee redesign projects. Michael Brown deserves some share of the blame if for no other reason than the fact that since the buck stops with President Bush, he's got to reach in the bucket and grab his share of shit. That being said, if you consider that the day after the hurricane New Orleans looked fairly well off, you can't really blame the feds for not rushing resources in when they were better used in Mississippi and Alabama.
2. IF global warming caused the hurricane, you still can't blame Bush because anything we could have done in the last five years wouldn't have mattered a hill of beans to the temperature in the Atlantic and the Gulf.
3. IF global warming exists, I feel confident in assigning blame to Central America. Not the people, industries, or governments of Central America, but the mere existence of Central America. Look forward to my essay on global changes caused by the rise of this isthmus.
4. John Roberts kicked ass in his confirmation hearings. It makes you wonder if some Democrats have even read the Constitution.
5. Hamas learned (maybe) a valuable lesson. When you are no longer occupied, it doesn't pay to launch missiles at your neighbor. Their pleas to the US to "make them stop hitting us" reminds me of the story of the little girl who cries "Bobby hit me back!"
6. If you want good Iraq news that is more than just body counts collected from the comfort of a hotel in Baghdad, read Michael Yon's blog.
7. Dan Rather still doesn't get it. If you have an hour, listen to his appearance on The Kalb Report on 9/26/05 here. If somebody else doesn't beat me to it, I'll dissect it sometime in October.
Until then, take care. I'll be back soon I hope.
posted by Bryan at 5:55 PM
3 comments
