Sunday, February 27, 2005

Due Date

If the doctor's calculator had been correct, today would have been Veronica's birthday. Thankfully, we've had these past 12 days with her, and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Ferliemom and I decided to celebrate our upcoming anniversary tonight, and ended up settling for Ruth's Chris after we couldn't get reservations at our first choice. The dinner was quite good, and the company was the best. We want to say thank you to Veronica's paternal grandparents for watching her for us, so we could do this.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Thank You, Ferliemom, For Our Beautiful Baby

To show our appreciation for all that Ferliemom accomplished one week ago today, Papa and Veronica made Mama dinner. Mama dined on Wild Sockeye Salmon, served on a bed of, and draped with, sauteed spinach, surrounded by steamed zucchini and yellow squash. The Salmon was served with a cilantro-cream sauce, and garnished with cashews, almonds, and macademia nuts. The meal was accompanied with bread sticks (made using Ninong Rogers's homemade medieval English bread) served with Papa's handmade maple butter. No amount of clever cookery could tell Ferliemom how much she means to us, but we certainly did our best to tell her we love her.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Veronica's Very Own Blog!!!!!

Ferliemom and I decided to give Rani her very own blog. You can view it here.
New Veronica Pictures on Our Flickr Photo Page

Check out the link on the far side of the page.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Mother and Child Doing Well


Hello Big World!

Veronica Grace Clemmons has arrived, just a few days earlier than expected. She will share a birthday with our good buddy Rogers "ain't got time to bleed" Alley, every year on February 15th. She weighs in at 6lbs 11.4oz. Baby and Mama are both doing great, and all is well with the world. More pictures to follow.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Democracy in Saudi Arabia?

Well, there have been some local elections in Saudi Arabia. What, if anything, they mean remains to be seen. Story from the "Green Truth" can be found here.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Hurray for You, Chucky! Ya Shoulda Done it Long Ago.

Everybody's favorite mama's boy, Prince Charles of England, is finally marrying his long-time squeeze Camilla "the Rottweiller" Parker-Bowles. Story here. Personally, I always thought he should've married her long ago, as I imagine that he must've been relatively miserable married to Diana (as I'm sure Diana was, as well). Think about it--she's educated, unlike Diana, travelled and cultured, unlike Diana, and he and Camilla shared several common interests and frames of reference, which he and Diana did not. Now, I won't excuse Chuck's or Di's infidelities, but I do think that their whole marriage was a ridiculous farce, played out as part of Enland's pathetic royal soap-opera. I know I'll get hate mail over this, but the truth must be told. Oddly enough, they will share the same anniversary as my beloved sister and brother-in-law. Good luck Chuck


Welcome Piper Soon!

Our friends Brett and Josephine welcomed their new daughter (and sister to Rutger) Piper Soon Tadlock into the world yesterday. Piper weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces, at a height of 20 inches. Baby and mother are doing great. Congratulations, guys!

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Deny it with a scream, Akeem

Apparently, some of the former Houston Rocket center's money ended up supporting terrorist organizations. Story here. I really hope that Olajawon is as innocent as he claims. When I was a kid, he was one of my favorite basketball players as part of "Phi Slamma Jamma" at the University of Houston, and later with the Rockets, both times playing with Clyde "the Glide" Drexler, another favorite of mine. Just for the record, Akeem is from Nigeria, is an observant Muslim, and his fasting when Ramadan conflicted with the NBA playoffs made him a hero to Muslim kids all over the world. He always came across as a very nice guy, and I never heard stories of him misbehaving in the manner that seems to be expected of NBA players. Say it ain't so, Joe.
Happy Chinese New Year! (Kung hei fat choy!)

If I understand correctly, today begins the year of the Rooster, according to those infallible Chinese restaurant placemats. Ferlie is now contented for Veronica to be born, as she didn't want her to be an Alfalfa Sprout, or whatever last year's symbol was. Of course, we'll celebrate by dining at our favorite local Chinese food trough. Chinese Zodiac info here. Correct Chinese Zodiac Sign Calculation (based on their traditional lunar calendar) here, which indicates that our little bundle of joy will be a sheep, not a monkey like her papa or a dog like her dear ole ma.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

You Tell'em Victor...

This column, by VDH, was lifted from C.Link's Chronicles of Tobermory, our favorite newsblog. VDH (or Victor Davis Hanson), has his own website called "Private Papers".

Monday, February 07, 2005

More News From Everybody's Favorite "Religion of Peace"

A group of intolerant Muslims in the U.K. has decided to take the control of what is acceptable and what is not into their own hands. Story here, and here. The group MAAD, had a website up encouraging Muslims to deface and vandalize over adverts that they found offensive, even giving instructions as to how to best accomplish. The website was pulled down, but here's the cached version from google.

Well, some of the liberal folks, who used the same tactic for their pet interests, are not happy about MAAD's activities. Here (scroll down to "Poppy's" reply) one writer claims that these tactics were okay when used by "secular, pro-tolerance campaigners", but not when used as part of a "distinctly reactionary agenda".

Man, there's sooooo many people to despise today....

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Hang the Bastard

Twelve years ago, a good friend of mine named Marty Dixon was stabbed to death. There was a lot of speculation about who actually did the killing, but there were no arrests. Well, that changed on Friday, and if this son of bitch is truly Marty's killer, then I wish him all the worst, whether it come in Tennessee's electric chair or an unending prison term. Story here.

The tip that led to the arrest came from an estranged friend of the accused. Heff, just in case Hatch has something similarly bad on you, you'd best make amends in a hurry, as I'm predicting a truly vicious reprisal.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Another Trek Bites the Dust

It looks like the current Star Trek tv series, Enterprise, is being cancelled. The show's run is slated to end in May, though I'd not be surprised if this is just a publicity stunt. Supposedly, the show is doing better than ever in the ratings (which isn't saying a whole lot, though), and it may yet get renewed.

We have only watched a few episodes, but it seems better than the awful "Voyager" was. This season, we've seen 2 or 3 episodes, and they were ok. Bakula is doing better than I had expected, and several other actors were also good. I wonder what the cult of Roddenberry will come up with next. Whatever it is, it will not be as good as Firefly, which certainly shouldn't have gotten the axe.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Trouble in Nepal

Nepal, one of my favorite mixed-up pseudo-democracies, seems to be in the midst of a coup, led by Gyanedra, their king. During our 2001 honeymoon, his brother, King Birendra was gunned down, along with 9 other members of the royal family, by his son, Dipendra (of adult diaper fame) who went on to shoot himself. We were in Thailand, watching live sex shows and getting dysentery while the drama unfolded. The developing story was the obsession of the locals, and I followed right along. Thailand has a wide assortment of variants of Hindu faiths mixed in with their Buddhism, and a great many Thai people believed that the Saha dynasty of Nepal are direct descendants of the Hindu god Vishnu, plus relations were said to be very close between King Birendra and the Thai Monarchy. The new king was crowned while lingering on life support (I bet it was hard to get the crown to stay on with all those tubes). His rule was a short one. His uncle, who had been named regent, ascended to the throne, and by the time our honeymoon trip ended, it appeared all was well in Nepal.

I had a few Nepalese buddies when we lived in Saudi, and they were part of the Nepalese majority that revered old King Birendra (he wasn't quite a god to them, but he was definitely "number one with a bullet"....oops, sorry). Birendra introduced democracy to Nepal and, while his detractors say that all of his reforms were only attempt to undercut the Maoist movement, his death has been followed by a reversal of previous advances in individual freedom for the Nepalese.

Another Nepal info page here, and here.