I know it's been a while...

So I thought I'd slide this one in, just so my peeps know I'm still exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide at nominal levels.

Besides, it so fits.


What Is Your Animal Personality?
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What I did this weekend.

Names have been changed only because I didn't ask for permission to print them.
This was an email sent to a friend who wanted to be on the trip but couldn't be. I figured it was entertaining enough to put here to save and share.


H and S started out early on Friday, about 7 am, so they could get some hiking in at Clear Lake State Park before getting up to the campsite. I had to leave later so K and I drove up together. It was supposed to be all four of us in K's mom's Explorer but this way worked out better. I had some trepedation about it but it was really unfounded. We didn't really get on the road until almost 1pm, thanks to some really annoying Jackson traffic.

H and S got there around 4pm; K and I around 6pm. That evening was relegated to setting up camp (H & S set my tent up, bless them) and generally relaxing. The weather on Friday was very nice. Mid-70s and sunny.

Saturday started out very pleasantly. Very nice day, though I somehow put my back and knee out from just sleeping. Makes me wonder how long it'll be before I totally fall apart. Anyway, after a breakfast of cereal WITH milk (despite H's and S's derision for it) we all piled into the car to head south along 23 towards Alpena. We stopped at 40 Mile Point lighthouse which is a pretty but little-visited spot and then moved on to the Old Presque Isle light, some say it's haunted, and the New Presque Isle light. At the Old light we walked along the beach and relaxed in the warming and energy-sucking sun on the rocks. Most pleasant, though people were likely wondering what the walrus was doing sunning itself on the rock when I was lying there. At the New light we had a nice lunch and played on the swings for a while. The lighthouse there is closed most of the time because it's still functioning and operated by the Coast Guard. You can go up into the Old light, which I did, and see for quite a ways. I almost forgot I'm terrified of heights. Almost.

After deciding that we really couldn't make it all the way down to Alpena we went back to the campground to relax. K napped and studied(?) and H and S (aka the Happy Wanderers) went off on a hike and I went in to Cheboygan to acquire drugs which would either kill me or stop the back pain and let me sleep. I was willing to take either at that point. Fortunately, I found Tylenol PM and decided that I'd give them a whirl before opening up the rat poison. While out there I went down to the Lake and watched the boats in the marina and people watched and checked out the Cheboygan Crib Light. Of course I didn't think to bring my camera. So I eventually wandered back to the Park, along with a whole bunch of wood for a fire and settled in to do what I do best: Burn things.

H & S came back a little later and we started to get dinner ready. Simple dinner, pasta with turkey sausage and Prego sauce. By the time dinner was ready, the skies were getting progressively darker and ominous. By the time dinner was finished, the cook came on deck and said, 'Fellas, it's been good to know ya...' No, wait. Different storm. But we were starting to hear the rumbles of thunder in the distace. It was well to our north so we were hoping to at best avoid it; which we didn't. At worst, to get brushed minimally by it; which we did. Mostly. When we realized that we were going to get at least some of it, we started cleaning up and moving stuff into the tents. Fortunately, I have a tent which was described by all as being palatial so we were all able to get into it without becoming even better friends.

The rains came and they were pretty good, though not of hurricane quality. More like "pretty good rainfall, maybe .75" of rain per hour" quality. We were all in my tent, fretfully checking for leaks and puddles, staring at each other and played -- you guessed it -- Dirty Uno. That lasted for a while but the rains stopped after 30 or 40 minutes and we ventured out of the tent to discover that nothing had floated away. Even the fire was still going. I told you I burn things well. I started nodding off thanks to my drugs and went to bed sometime around 10 or so. The others trickled in soon after. Very shortly after we were all abed, there was a visit from the local chapter of the raccoon mafia. They were looking for their cut of the action. After all, as they say, "It would be a tragedy if something was to happen to that nice tent of yours, and all this nice food youse guys got here, if you don't share wit us. Capice?" Or at least that's what I'm told they say as I don't speak the northern dialect of Italian-accented Raccoon. They may have just been local thugs pretending to be Cosa Nostra. Either way, they got away with the left-over pasta and turkey sausage dinner and the pepperoni slices. (This is the reason, by the way, I tend to believe that they were authentic raccoon mafiosa.) They definately have good taste in camp food.

Sunday dawned a very nice morning and we began the onerous task of breaking camp and facing our trip back to "the world". It was decided after much discussion and commentary, mostly consisting of, "I don't care, what do you want to do?" that we would together follow US-23 (mostly) along the Lake Huron shore and have lunch at Tawas State Park. They, too, have
a fantastic lighthouse there. Unfortunately it was closed. Despite that, there was a good lunch of thin-sliced deli chicken and some cheese and my new favorite condiment, Harry & David's raspberry chipotle. After lunch the Happy Wanderers did their hiking thing and K and I headed south. The trip down 23 was totally uneventful and about as fast as I've ever done it. It's amazing what happens the weekend after Labor Day. It's like they turned off the "Vacation Here" sign and posted detours.

Got home around 8 and crashed into my comfy bed, exhausted from having so much relaxation.

Shhh.... It's a secret!!!

This is from an email list I subscribe to, www.misleader.org.

NEW REPORT SHOWS BUSH INCREASING GOVERNMENT SECRECY

President Bush has said that he wants to "create a culture of
transparency"[1] in government, but according to a new report to be released
today by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), his administration is going to
extraordinary lengths to increase government secrecy.

The Waxman report is consistent with earlier signs that the Bush
administration is doing everything it can to limit the amount of information
the public can get from its government. Last month, a coalition of 30
organizations issued a report saying "Secrecy has increased dramatically in
recent years under the policies of the current administration." The report
found that "the number of documents being classified has jumped 40 percent
from 2001" and that the number of documents declassified in 2003 was about
one fifth the amount declasssified in 1997. The result "is an increasing
backlog of requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act."[2]

To find Waxman's full report see both his personal office website,[3] and
the House Government Reform Committee's Minority website[4] today.


Sources:

1. "President Bush Remarks at Summit of the Americas Ceremony,"
WhiteHouse.gov, 1/12/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3138137&l=55435.
2. "White House takes secrecy to new levels, coalition reports," San
Francisco Chronicle, 8/27/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3138137&l=55436.
3. Website of Representative Henry Waxman, 9/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3138137&l=55437.
4. Government Reform Minority Office Website, 9/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3138137&l=55438.

Go read this article.

As it's all laid out there, Bush was right.

The unwinnable war