Strange day. Xerox sends photographers to our shop for a photo layout for a marketing program. We are being annointed as "Xerox Heroes". Ironinc!...In one stroke they kiss our ass, and screw us up the ass. Go figure.

This weekend, we were invaded by kids... little ones... a couple of 1 yr old twins, and a 4 year old (not to mention, mike, illene and geri). The kids kept us on our toes. You can't take your eyes off them for a second. They see something, they'll pick it up and throw it, or put it in their mouth. See some wires... they'll unplug em. Cats had tails pulled, legs stretched, lifted by their hind quarters.... They are very good kids... just regular 1 year olds. After less than 24 hours of this, claire and I are beat! It was fun though... just tiring!

I have got to see Planet of the Apes this weekend. Hopefully it will make up for the dissapointing AI.

We'll have a house full of people this weekend. Gerri, Mike & Illene, and the kids Christian and the twins. Should be fun. Glad they are coming.

Today, work ended on a very depressing note. I am just glad its friday, and I have a couple of days to get my mind off it.

Had a big discussion with friends at a bar last night about today's music. What I object to in much of hip-hop and punk is the glorification of gangsta-ism, pimpin', street violence, gay bashing, mysogeny, guns... etc. I understand that a lot of this is the expression of rebellion of today's youth. Music has been the platform for that for generations. BUT, how about rebellion for positive social change. Remember the songs of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, U2 and others? Unfortunately, the discussion got ugly, and one person made the accusation that he was being attacked thereby making himself the "victim", diverting the discussion away from the issue, and making it personal. Anyway, it was never meant as an attack against any individual at the table... only against the music makers.

Speaking of music - My mp3 player is way cool! Hopped to a couple of libraries to borrow CD's, rip em to mp3's, so I have plenty of tunes to load up on my player.

Ouch! Doc cut me a second belly button. Now all kinds of wierd goo is seaping out of the drainage canal now installed. I am waiting for a scene from Aliens where some creature will soon explode from my abdomen.

Got my new mp3 player. Putzed with it and my computer all night, much to the dismay of wifey... with whom I ingored all evening.

In a somber mood. Last night, learned that my sis, Laura's cancer has returned. After many months of optimism that it had not progressed, a new tumor has been found. She will undergo treatment immediatly. I am not one that puts much stock in prayer. But prayers or positive thoughts and energies are in order today.

I am also off to the Doctors today. I have had a cyst of some kind on my stomach that recently has been changing and irritating me. Sure its nothing.

Weekend recap
SAT
- Mom & Dad over for lunch (they look great - but tired).
- Bought a beautiful piece of furniture (more on that later).
- Dinner with Amy and Gordon. They are great friends. Good and generous people. Been our best friends for nearly 15 years. Sushi was great... and they picked up the check (thank U gift for coaching the kids in softball). We'll get 'em next time.
SUN
- Drove Rach to Providence College for BBall camp. Spoke with Carla Berube (one of our favorite UCONN players and ABL Blizzard too).
- Set up our new hutch (buffet), enclosing all our stereo equipment, CD's, and printer in the living room.
- Ripped a bunch of old Vinyl records to MP3. Need to retire my turntable and records. Weather Report, Shakti, Pat Methany are first to go.

There are hundreds of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts stores in the US. There are none in Connecticut, Massachusettes or Rhode Island. Bummer!

Another pilgrimage to Macworld Expo NY. Always a great time. New OS X 10.1 is shaping up nicely. Lots of new apps and stuff for it. Getting anxious to try it. New iBook is hot! Saw some great software, printers, cameras, MP3 Players...bought one!. A great day in NYC with David. Best of all... had a Krispy Kreme!!! WOW!! Took some pics. Maybe I'll put em up this weekend.

Time to weigh in on the Chandra Levy matter. This IS a legitimate news story. Rep. Condit's affair with a 20 year old intern, while not illegal (in fact, now seems commonplace), is still not appropriate for a high ranking government official. That in itself, however is not newsworthy. What is... is the witholding of information from the police, and conspiring with his staff and others to withold and even lie to officials about his affair. What is amaizing to me is that other members of congress are not clamoring for his resignation or censure. Tom DeLey actually comes to his defense. That is despicable.

On the other hand, while this is a story worth reporting it is obviously being blown way out of proportion. FOXNews in particular is just playing this to no end... trying to make another OJ story out of this. Every news cast starts with an opening screen, VANISHED: CHANDRA LEVY, and sound track that has the feel of an afternoon soap opera. Now, they are playing up this incident where a Condit staffer spoke of Chandra's "one night stands". Its bad enough that a staffer made such accusations, but the manner in which Fox News has been exploiting this, makes them (Fox) just as guilty of being slime balls.

Wish me LUCK!...
and Claire too

Weekend in review. Went berry pickin'. Neat place. No pesticides... uses netting to keep out birds. Lotsa blueberry in the house. Sunday went to a Daylilly farm. Just someones house in Somers. Beautiful garden of all daylillies. Bought some, planted 'em. There huge. Went to see FINAL FANTASY : THE SPIRITS WITHIN with kids and Gagne kids. Visuals are stunning and awsome. Story, though complex was a little weak. You have to like this movie, though just for the animation.

Week ahead should be an eventful one. On Tuesday... opportunity knocks... Thursday, MacWorld expo... one of my favorite days of the year.

It looks like both parties of Congress have worked in concert to prevent a vote on campaign reform. The most important legislation regarding cleaning up our election system is being squashed by a system that feeds on influence pedling through campaign contributions. Of course, this issue is hardly reported at all and is completely overshadowed by the Chandra Levy story. Are our priorities screwed up or what!

Celebrated David's 17th birthday yesterday. Went out as a complete family unit to dinner at Dave's venue of choice... Outback Steakhouse. Except for the cheese fries, dinner was unexceptional... but never mind that.

David is exceptional. I know I constantly give him a lot of shit, and am awfully critical at times... but this kid is extremely bright, hard working (except school), and has very good judgement. Basically, he is one teenager that has his head screwed on correctly, and for that, I am grateful and proud of him. Love ya Dave!

Oh, yeah... It was an absolute pleasure having Dave and Rach with us for dinner last night. These are great kids with great personalities, that are just fun to have around. Had some good laughs, which is just what was needed.

My company's web hosting service, BiznessOnline blew off our DNS entry, thereby making miller-johnson.com dissapear from the Internet. Why this happened, I will not say... but, it made my day a living hell. No email, no FTP, no Web site - since yesterday morning. OK, so someone here messed up... but they were real fuckers about it. BiznessOnline may go to hell.

Testified in a hearing in front of the Dept. of Public Utilities. At issue, is AT&T's breach of contract, by not providing cable internet access to the Vernon, CT region. The point I tried to make is that AT&T has lied... they have acted in bad faith time and time again, and therefore should have the cable franchise revoked and given to another cable company. Only three people showed up to testify from the community, myself, a school teacher and someone from the Economic Development Committee. Not a great showing. I was not very happy with my own presentation... just couldn't hit my public speaking stride. Oh well. On the way home, I kept thinking... what in hell am I doing? There is world hunger, threat of nuclear war, an AIDS crisis... and I have chosen Broadband Internet access as my BIG ISSUE to make a stand on... What a geek!

The All-Star game helps me reflect on why I am so enthralled with baseball. I will be the first to admit... the game can be boring. It is not the fast paced excitement of this MTV age (like basketball). Its a pastoral game, ever so rich in tradition. Its a game of summer, played on grass in the sun or on a warm summer night. It develops throughout the season, or over many seasons, like a good novel.

This year we have many great stories unfolding. Will Bonds break McGuire's HR record? Cal Ripkin... the Ironman, homers in his last All-Star Game. The Red Sox, once again will make a run for the World Series after being denied for nearly 100 years. Great Japanese players like Ichiro are taking the US Major Leagues by storm. Baseball is a game to be savored.

UGGHHH! I'm a little spaced today after last nights MJBL Fantasy Baseball trade meeting and all-star game at Rookies sports bar. A good time had by all. The suds were flowing, the hot wings were HOT!!!, and the trades were goin down fast and furious. I was really hurting last night and the AM.

Just realized that I never made an entry about our Softball party. Last weekend (july 1), good friend Amy P had all the softball team over for swimming and pizza. then I presented them with trophies, and a "Year In Review" sheet that had all our scores, stats, etc. It was a great ending to a great fun season. Its also the end of my Softball Coaching career.

Nice day at the beach at LI Sound yesterday. Connecticut beaches are not the prettiest, or cleanest... But the sun was out, the sand was warm beneath the feet, and the company was great to be with. A great day with pressmans, gagne's, and folks. Thanks Barb.

Spent a few hours doing a minor revision to my home page. Changed the pic, to one of my favorite shots of dave's sillohette in front of the Pollack painting at the MOMA. Any change to my home page is a challenge because I code it entirely by hand to keep it W3C compliant, and to make iCab smile!

Lately, there has been a lot of traffic to my movie review page. Although it was intended for mostly the Laster family's viewing pleasure, I have had a few submissions from net surfers everywhere. Pretty cool! I should really do something to spiff up the page, and enhance its functionality.

Its been a real nice holiday week. Starting with a BBQ at our house last weekend with the Gagne's. Fireworks Monday night in Vernon, another nice BBQ at Diana's with Barb and Rog showing up. Bought a recliner at RandF. Experimented with recipes for some kick-ass Marqueritas. Relaxed a lot with some great weather.

Once again... I have that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that all is not well. I have no tolerance for others... just in one of those grumpy moods. Maybe it has to do with the funeral that I will attend tonite. Anyway, a day off tomorrow for 4 JUL. Hope to go to the beach or something. I already know that Thursday will be a ball-buster day at work.

This review of the movie AI sums up my feelings. Reviewer Mary Pols also did not like the ending, but says..."A.I. should be seen and judged individually. I didn't love it, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, either." ... me too!