At some point in my life I’ve read The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings (6 books, sold as three books), the Simarillion, and 5 volumes of additional works culled from Tolkien’s notes and sketches by his oldest son, Christopher. (Btw, Christopher is not on the Movie bandwagon and will probably avoid the premier.) So to say I’m anxiously awaiting the debut of this movie is a slight understatement.

If you’re looking for a great read that will put you in the realm of Middle-Earth before seeing the movie I recommend checking out the Simarillion. It is like Edith Hamilton’s ‘Mythology’ for the backstory of Tolkien’s writings. Attempting to digest LOTR, FOTR in the time remaining before the movie debuts might be too much.

Indigo’s career move

Alright, I’ve been working since Sept 10th trying to sell advertising to a market that isn’t quite ready to believe there is a light at the end of this economic slowdown of a tunnel. Needless to say, I’ve made very few sales. Now, I think we’ve got a great product, a good team behind us, and that there is value in advertising with us. So eventually it will turn around.

In the meantime, I’m switching gears to selling web sites. The same company that produces the magazine has a web site hosting and design firm called ATWHost.com. Their prices are very reasonable and they don’t try and nickel and dime you to death for every feature you want. Most are built into the original package.

So, if you’re looking for a new place to host your web site, or design (or redesign) your web site, give me a call.

I may have told you about one of my latest fun side projects.... or I may have forgotten to mention it. In any event. My first two projects are completed and I hope you will check them out.

Well, we're off to Portland for a holiday feast or two. Really looking forward to this for sometime. We've packed all our winter clothes at it looks to be Stormy, so Stacey's mom will get a good introduction to the pacific northwest. I'll report back with how she likes the slow pace of coastal living.

Have a happy turkey day everyone.

***This is a nice story***

There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is just as bad as a physical one. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.

Show your friends how much you care.

The Power of Ten

I didn't realize it has been so long since I last posted. Mea Cupla. Don't have much to say today... just that I noticed some disturbing use of technology by TNT cable station. Remember last year when NBC got in trouble for posting their logo onto of other corporate logos in Times Square during live news broadcasts. The companies that had paid to have their billboards erected in Times Square precisely because it is broadcast world wide a couple times a year, were irate. Rightly so, IMHO. I have seen some good uses of that technology, particularly during auto races when the names and photos of drivers are pasted digitally onto the surface of the track or pit areas. Well, now TNT (owned by NBC, I believe) is using that Technology to digitally insert their logo into trailers for movies. This is not unusual in itself, except that they are planting their logo on the surface of some prop or scenic device so that it looks like it was there during the original version of the movie. Two examples of this include the ad for Rush Hour where the TNT logo was inserted on the long red banner that Jackie Chan slides down and during the ad for the Matrix where Neo is dodging bullets on the roof, they digitally inserted the logo underneath his feet. The first ad I noticed it in was the Rush Hour ad and I thought I had mis-seen something. Thinking, 'wow it's amazing how close that design on the red banner is to the TNT logo'. But then it was much more noticeable in the Matrix ad. I guess this is much like seeing the Fnords. Once you're initiated the rest start popping out everywhere. But it is further evidence how careful we as consumers of visual stimulus have to be when dealing with 'the real world' as mediated through any technology.

Does anyone else have other examples of this?

This is either a hoax on the scale of War of the Worlds, or it's very frightening how well thought out these 'messages' are. What do you think?

In the catagory of things I don't need for Christmas, but would have to wonder about if I got one.

In the interest of hearing all sides I've been listening to Ollie North and Rush Limbaugh off and on since the 11th. It is not difficult to pick out their alarmist right wing slant on news stories and the opinions of 'dittohead' followers that reflect minority opinions. However, I have found them to be good sources of non-alarmist information regarding the true facts of what we are facing here. So, ad to that list Andrew Sullivan. He has a personal website with a great list of interesting stories that, once you've factored in his conservative bent, are very enlightening.

I'm soooo happy the weekend is here. Worked long and hard at AllThatWork.com and made no $$$, worked for a bit on LaughingPlace.com and scored a 5 month committment that is at least a few hundred coming in steadily. Now, I just need 9 more of those a month. Oy! At least some companies out there aren't afraid to advertise.

Now, I'm ready to relax, do a little writing, perhaps some pumpkin carving, and try and earn some more dough.

As I surf around I'm still finding stories of peoples experiences on 911. Here's a moving one from the editor of TheModernWorld.com.

An interesting article by Umberto Eco in The Guardian. It goes to how we 'the forces allied against terrorism' know we're in the right. What gives us the right to persue these actions. What sort of preconceptions are we bringing with us in this action.

Some are saying this is a fight against Islam Fundamentalists and the ideals of the west. Eco posits that it is really part of a long string of battles between Pluralism and those who are intolarant of other ideas. WWII was fought along these same lines. Only this time the forces of the fundamentalist followers of extreme islam, have acted prematurely. Hitler waited until he had a force that could quite possibly bring down the allies, the Taliban and bin Laden have acted before they even had the infrastructure in place to build a force.

Instead, they will have to rely on terrorist activities. In the end, this will turn the masses who follow less extreme flavors of Islam against them. As has happened in Ireland and is happening in Palestine. There will never be an army of a billion muslims fighting the west. Only a few criminals who had dreams of world domination.

Some of you may recall that last halloween I carved a giant pumpkin for the first time. It was great fun and I look forward to carving more pumpkins in the future (the pumpkins might not be so happy). I've found a website with the most astounding carved giant pumpkin I've seen. You have to see this thing. Also, I was surprised to find a Giant Pumpkin Carving webring. But given the nature of the Internet, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at all.

Hey Howdy.

Ever listen to Rush Limbaugh? I never did. But in Las Vegas, the city with no 24hr news radio, sometimes you're forced to listen to him to gleam a bit of news. This has been especially true for me in the last few days since 9-11. Alas, that too may be coming to an end. Rush appears to have lost his hearing. This is sad, I don't wish this sort of thing on anybody. I wonder if he'll be able to continue on without the use of his hearing. Longtime listeners have written and said they've noticed his voice has changed, which he says is probably due to the fact that he can't hear himself anymore. He certainly won't be able to have heated discussions or in-studio guests. Seems like his options are limited.

Not that I'd put him in the same catagory, but Rush now shares the fate of one of my favorite people in American History-- Thomas Alva Edison.

Good friend Chuck is spending a few relaxing days with us right now. As it happens Good friend Terri is also in town, so what better cause than to go get some good food at Hush Puppy. It's near Rainbow on Charlston and has been there for 34 years. It's operating hours are 5pm to 10pm, and there are lines out the door that whole time, which tells you they must have something good going.

Had a great time story swapping and eating catfish and hushpuppies. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Also of note, I picked up a 25 pound block of WED clay and am now looking forward to sculpting it. My 3D skills are better than my 2D skills, so I'll try and document my process and keep you updated.

At work we have Wednesday sales meetings at 4:30. Usually they're in the office, but from time to time they like to go out to a bar and have a few drinks while discussing events of the week. This is great fun, but there is so much smoke in the air by the time I leave an hour later my throat is sore and I'm feeling wheezy. So, do I ask them to move these meetings to non-smoking areas? In Las Vegas, that generally means to a non-bar location. It also means that my boss won't be able to smoke during the meeting.

major grrr! Even with the accessibility of the internet, cableTV has become my window to the world following the horrible events of September 11th. And, as of right now, the cable is down. So I did the sensible thing, I called COX communications to find out what the deal-e-o was. Alas, they are even less informed and capable to do anything than the phone company is. Although they knew the system was down, and techs had been dispatched, they couldn't give me an ETA or even a phone call when my service came back up. They couldn't even verify for me that techs were actually on scene and not just planning to show up at some later point. These monopoly's should have mandated levels of customer service or be forced to refund a portion of their bills.

Last night we had a couple of visitors over. One brought an Ostrich egg she had done a relief carving of a sunflower on. She says the going market rate for a good egg is $500. I can see why, it was beautiful. She's getting her training at Two Cows studio, right here in Vegas.

Hey... the cable is back on!

Am back from CA with two days of work under my belt. Nothing to show for it, however. Stacey has been busy studying and decorating the house for Halloween. While we were gone one neighbor had decorated their home, so the pressure is on up and down the cul-de-sac to get into the spirit. Christmas decoration is going to get brutal. :-)

One of the e-lists I'm on has a wonderful collection of personalities, historians, political observers, etc.. Today someone posted a link to a story on their website. It has a unique view of the 'recovery' effort in NYC.

Another day another blogger...

The Fiance and I are taking off for a friends wedding in LA. So we'll be on the road in a few minutes. Even with all the great airfare discounts it is still cheaper to drive than to fly and rent a car. Not that I'm afraid of flying. If I had the dough, I'd be in the air to WDW or NYC right now. We still have our Tix to PDX in November and we plan to go.

The lack of tourists and, more so here, business travelers has hurt the travel and tourism industry. I don't know if Vegas will ever completely recover. This really sucks for me as I was days away from an interview at a strip property, and now they're not hiring at all.

Star Trek Enterprise
New show, with old plots, sounds good
First show a good start.

Saw the two hour pilot for ST:E last night. It's going to take some time to get used to the new faces and their personal story lines. I can barely remember the captain's name... Archer, I think. But, the plot was good. I'm just a little worried that it had too many in jokes for trekkers to see and not enough explanation for the new viewers (like all of today's youth). I was also impressed with the special effects. I'd like to see a few episodes shot in HD Widescreen (like ER has been doing). s

But mostly, I'm happy the show won't conflict with The West Wing. =)

Everyone has been saying how the Taliban has installed such a different world view in their people that there is no chance of reaching peace between us. In this interview a spokesman claims that in American supported countries "If someone follows the path of Islam, the government arrests him, tortures him or kills him." Well, this is true if the brand of Islam they follow calls for the murder of Americans and other innocents. This is true if it strips people of their basic human rights. But it is obviously not true if you follow the true peaceful path of Islam as there are millions of followers of Islam here in the USA. None of whom are tortured. None of whom are killed, unless convicted by a court of law.