So far this is just a few of the introductory screeds from the index page in 2002 and 2003. I'll try to locate the others and add them in the future. This isn't like the most important "weblog" in the world, but I was a historian in college and I like completeness of the record. It's my little thing. Anyway, enjoy.
June 14, 2002: Welcome to my humble e-abode... First off, regular visitors will note that this page is a little different now. Yes, things have brightened up here. I'm also working on a revision of the photo sections. The goal is to put up some new pics, retire some older ones, and rearrange them some. The photos are among the most-visited pages on my site, which gives me that odd feeling of being proud and sheepish at the same time. (That's frequent with me, in case you didn't know.) The new photo section should go live by the end of June, 2002.
As far as real life goes, there isn't much news. I have way too many projects both in progress and waiting for some attention -- I believe that's a common thing; probably has a name like "modernitis" or some such. I'm planning a couple of long weekend escapes Up North in the next few weeks, but a longer road trip will have to wait until October or so. Gives me time to plan, at any rate.
July 10, 2002: As promised in June, the new photo section is now "live," even though it's still a work in progress. The old pages still exist for the moment, but they're going to go away at some point. Most of the photos will be reused elsewhere, although some will be retired. There are a few never-before-seen pix that you might be interested in.
Life continues to be busy, especially where the ol' day job is concerned. I'm trying to get back to being a regular at the gym. If weighing more than I ever did isn't enough incentive, then maybe the people-watching will be.
Please write to me if you're so inclined. I'm not the best at prompt replies, but I'll do my best, especially if you have suggestions for improvements to the website or you have nice things to say about me.
August 30, 2002: Social commentary: It's a damn good thing the baseball players union didn't go on strike. No way can I accept that they're oppressed enough by the owners that they should resort to a strike to get what they want. My whole family makes less than one rookie baseball player. They think they've got problems, they should sit in my cubicle all day long. Mind you, the owners aren't exactly innocent of being greedy S.O.B.s....
Well, now that I've got that off my chest... and believe it or not, I like baseball, I really do....
I was checking the site statistics and I'm gratified to find out that people are coming to my web site. Especially the loincloth page. Wow. Thanks for visiting and exploring. It makes my small exhibitionist streak seem worthwhile.
I know I'm not doing very well in replying to e-mails lately. It's nothing personal against anyone who's written. I'm just a lazy bum, or a procrastinator, or something like that. If you've written and haven't gotten the reply you should, I'm sorry. I'll try to catch up soon. I really do appreciate the comments. Especially the positive comments with naughty thoughts behind them.
October 14, 2002: The hot thing in websites these days is weblogs, or "blogs." Actually it's been hot for a while; I'm just slow to acknowledge these things. I've been thinking about going to blogger.com and setting up my own weblog. But then I realize two things. One is that it's not terribly difficult to do the same thing on my own, the way I've been kind of doing it here for the last five years. The second is ... well, I don't always have something to say. Not like, for instance, Crazylady, who I know by her real name (and no, it's not "George"). She's funny.
In other news, I'm tinkering with the layout again, thanks to my buddy Wolf Pendleton, who suggested putting space on the right side of the page so that Yahoo's helpful little ad square doesn't obscure any of the content. That and another tip from the intranet editor at work, about setting the text in a table so the background can be anything and not obscure the content, have made this front page what it is today. Nifty, eh?
And finally, I'm on vacation - three weeks! It's like I died and went to Heaven. Well, not yet, but that comes next week when I go up north. Trees, lakes, no people, no bugs, fall colors, and maybe snow if I'm lucky. Ahh. Then it's off to visit ol' Wolf to compare coin collections. Don't envy me, I just live right.
October 21, 2002: O frabjous day! Calooh, callay! There are new photos of Songdog for the morbidly curious.
November 19, 2002: For the first time in my life, I'm hoping that Ohio State wins a football game - over Michigan, at that. What am I coming to? Well, here's the short answer: The Buckeyes are 12-0 at the moment, U-M 9-2. The Buckeyes have a chance at the (still-mythical) national championship. And any time some school that's not from Florida can win the national championship, I'm for 'em. (Note to Florida: Y'all do well at football. Maybe you should elect your football coaches to state office, and elections would run smoother, eh?) Anyway, my real favorite, Northern Michigan University's Wildcats, aren't in the running for anyone's national championship, so ultimately, who cares?
So much for the sports report. I'm back from vacation -- had a wonderful time, up till the time I had to come back home. There was snow in the Upper Peninsula but lots of sunshine and not very cold. There was no snow in Louisville, quite a bit of sunshine. I saw two of my cousins for the first time in over 13 years, and we went to the best record store in the whole world, Ear-X-Tacy. And Wolfie was a very gracious host as per usual. What could be better, other than not having to go back to work on a Monday morning?
Not much new on the website lately. The photo update on Oct. 21 took a lot out of me. Whew!
November 26, 2002: So Ohio State won the game and the fans rioted in Columbus. OK, I take it back. I don't want them to have won. The team should be forced to forfeit the game. If the fans can't handle it, then they don't deserve it. Yes, I'm a harsh fucker when I want to be. But I'm just tired of people acting like idiots because their sports team won a game. Remember, I'm from DETROIT, where in 1984 we celebrated the Tigers winning the World Series by setting police cars on fire. I was disgusted then, and I'm disgusted now. I can't even write eloquently about this - I'm just tired of the stupidity. Find something better to do, idiots!
December 20, 2002: I'm totally behind on anything Christmas related again this year. OK, I have my tree up, and it looks nice (although it seems to have developed a touch of scoliosis; I've been told that artificial trees do that after a few years). But shopping? I practically haven't started yet. And cards? Forget it. I'm shooting for New Year's cards now, if that.
Part of the problem has been that we've had a whole lot of cloudy gray weather this month. We got a reasonably good snow fall early on, but it turned ugly and then finally melted. It's been raining for most of the last day and a half, which is never a boost to anyone's morale this time of year. We MAY have a White Christmas, but I'm not rushing out to buy a new pair of snow boots in anticipation.
Another issue has been that I've been stuck at work while my co-workers have taken extended vacations. What's up with THAT? I guess I'm just stoopid or something.
There are other issues, but they're too lengthy to go into on the front page and maybe too personal to want to splash all over the web anyway. (Yes, the guy with the loincloth pics actually does have things he wants to hide.) So, as we go into the homestretch for the big shopping holiday (Jesus would be so proud - and I'm not even Christian, mind you...), please be gentle to your fellow man, because that might just be me out there who you're fighting for the last decent gifts.
January 10, 2003: Happy New Year! OK, I'm either late for the Gregorian calendar or early for the Chinese calendar. Remember, I didn't get Christmas cards out this time, either. My timing's all off. But not my sincerity. I hope 2003 turns out to be way way better for all concerned than 2002. Last year was kind of a hard year for a lot of people I know. We all deserve better.
We had a couple of somewhat warm days this week, when temperatures got into the 40s (or upper single digits, if you speak Celsius). But as this is Detroit in January, it's getting cold again even as I type. Not terribly cold - highs in the mid 20s for the next week, lows in the low teens. Yet the media is going into a frenzy, calling it an "arctic blast." The way the slightest whiff of weather gets turned into an Event of Major Proportions really bugs me. What would we do if we actually had a cold winter here, like they're having in northern Europe?
New stuff: I brought a couple of links lists over from another website this week (Jan. 8, 2003). Check out Reenactor and Living History Bookmarks and Comics, Comix and Such.
February 19, 2003: I've been experiencing kind of an activity spurt lately. Songs are being written, decorating and cleaning is being done around the house, and things are being planned. It's been feeling pretty good around my neck of the woods lately. OK, it hasn't spread as far as this website yet, but it might, so watch this space.
I've been showing up a lot more regularly at the gym in the last month. I'm shooting for getting there four days a week and that has been working pretty well. So far I'm concentrating on cardio, figuring that'll help me develop more stamina so I can do other things later. My overall goals are to get more fit for activities like hiking, to look better, and to get my doctor to stop complaining so much about my blood pressure and cholesterol.
Meanwhile it has been cold but not very snowy here. I know there are a lot of folks in the East who wish they had what we have in Detroit right now instead of all the snow and ice they got. Good luck with the dig-out.
March 20, 2003: I don't really know what to say right now. It's kind of unsettling when your country goes to war and you know that no one in charge is listening to any who disagree. Oh, they say they are listening, and they say they respect the dissenting opinions... but that and a dollar will buy the dissenter a cup of coffee. There was probably never any serious hope for avoiding military action in Iraq. I think They in Washington just wanted it too badly.
Yes, believe it or not, I didn't agree that war was the necessary option. (What, little ol' liberal me?) Most of my friends didn't want the U.S. to go to war. But I've had the conversation with some of them that we must not know many people, because we don't know many people who support the war, and supposedly there are lots who do in the U.S. of A. Maybe my copy of the memo just got lost in the mail. Missed the bandwagon again.
So now it seems that the best thing I can do is just watch TV or listen to the radio (searching for unbiased reports, like a modern-day Diogenes I suppose), see what happens, and hope for the best, whatever that really is.
April 2, 2003: As if I needed another project, I've embarked on a new project to re-digitize my photo collection. See, I figure if I have a lot of projects going, then it's like job security and I won't be able to die. I'm not sure it'll work, but hey. I've started with self-pics, since it's a smaller job than working on my scenics, nature, and landmark pics. Already the project has paid off for the intrepid web-surfer, for it has yielded three new loincloth pics. Yes, I know the world was waiting nervously for the unveiling of such a thing. And there may be other new photos to come. And you're probably saying "Will he continue? Is the web truly in danger now?" Well, watch this space bwa-hahahahahahahaha.......
July 8, 2003: This has been, well, an interesting summer so far. I guess that if I was a baseball team, I could say that I was in a slump. Given that I'm from Detroit, that's a bit scary (see any Tigers box score for the latest woes). It's no reflection on anyone who's come through my life in the last little while, either. It's just turning into one of those seasons, I guess.
But I'm trying to work through it. Going on vacation this month will help immensely. I'm going up north for 11 days. "Up north" to me means Michigan's Upper Peninsula with a stop first at a music festival about a half hour (on slow roads) from the Mackinac Bridge. No half measures for me - gotta go all the way to the land of pine trees and really big skeeters. If I'm lucky, I'll get kidnapped by either a bear or a bluegrass band and I won't be able to come home. (Ah, those pesky fantasies....)
There may be some new photos soon. I'm still trying to decide. I really should put a new photo on this page, at least. My beard is pretty long by now. Long enough to where I am really tired already of being called ZZ Top. People are just so... well, you know.
Hope slightly cooler weather comes your way soon. Some of those temperatures sound really scary out there. Remember how a few months ago we actually wanted summer to come? What were we thinking?
September 24, 2003-- Happy Fall to you, or spring if you're in the southern hemisphere. We're in one of those rain patterns here where it rains one day and gets sunny the next and then rains again. Good thing I don't mind rain a whole lot, except for the SAD when it goes on too long.
I could write at length about the exciting life I've been leading in the last couple of months. But then you'd all think I was pathetic for thinking that what has been happening was "exciting." I mean, half my state isn't running for governor - how dull, huh? We did get brushed by a hurricane last week, which is pretty unusual for latitude 42 degrees north, longitude 80-something west. But by "brushed" I mean very very lightly, compared to places like North Carolina and Virginia. OK, excitement like THAT, no one needs.
I have some new photos I will probably load soon, because I had the fortune of being in close proximity of not one but two good photographers this summer in interesting settings. And I have a couple of ideas for new musings - maybe even a newsletter kind of thing. Yeah, I know I've promised this sort of thing before. But don't give up on me or my website yet.
I might even change the photo on this page. My beard has gotten really long. Beards do that when they haven't been trimmed for 15 or 16 months.
Finally, I've been really bad about e-mail correspondence in the last couple of months. If you're reading this and wondering if I'm still alive, I apologize. Not for the being alive part, but for making it so you think there's some question. I'll try to write soon. Promise.
October 8, 2003--
The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz
I have no idea if this is good or not. I saw it on a Live Journal page. It was interesting for a few minutes when I really should've been getting out into traffic and driving home.
Isn't it better being a robotic dog than an INTJ? Much less cryptic and more trendy, I would think.
October 13, 2003-- I've decided to go back to the gym yet again. Bet you didn't even know I had a membership, huh? I've had one for, gawsh, over 6 years. (And before that, I belonged to the YMCA that was replaced by the new football stadium downtown.) But like so many, I'm not terribly consistent. The guy behind the counter at the gym on Saturday took a look in his computer at the date of my last check-in and said "It's been six months? What's with that?" Announce it to the whole place, why don'tcha.... Well, I figure as long as you start one more time than you stop, that's a step in the right direction.
So why go back? (I knew you were going to ask.) Two reasons. One, I've been having lots of aches and pains for a while. I figured I could become a pain pill junkie -- but that's so conservative, isn't it? -- or I could try being more active. The latter sounded like much more fun. I believe that being physically active is good for a body and a mind in a lot of ways, even though I haven't always practiced that belief. You don't have to be a pro athlete, but just moving is good for the ol' bones and joints.
The other thing is, even though I look like a mild-mannered intellectual type (particularly when I'm asleep and drooling on my pillow), there's a part of me that wants to be a little more, er, hard-bodied than I am now. I've been told by a couple of weight-lifter types over the years that I could be "scary." Something to do with genetics, a little, I guess. I have to admit that's a little flattering in an odd way, and I start thinking about how it might be to have a big, solid, muscley body that looks real good and intimidating in shorts or a loincloth.
Not that my goal is to become Mr. Olympia or anything. Hell, I'd settle for fitting into size 40 jeans again, at least initially. But I'll admit it's not just because my doctor keeps nagging me about losing weight. There's a little vain streak in me. That's not really the best motivation for a fitness program. It just happens that in this case, I can be a little vain and narcissistic while still doing myself some good in a medical and even emotional way.
OK, so it's only been one day so far this time around, which is kind of like "Oh that was fun. We should do it again sometime." But I do have my gym bag packed and in the car so I can go back after work today. I'll let you know how it goes.
October 22, 2003--The Detroit Free Press reports today that the city manager of Sterling Heights has been fired for falsely stating he had attended universities that he actually hadn't. Now, I'm not ordinarily a supporter of such actions. And if he had been city manager for 16 weeks, I'd say a publicly humiliating termination at a city council meeting would be justified. But the man had been city manager for 16 years. Whatever he did or did not learn in college would've been superseded by his experience in the past 16 years anyway. So why did is it now an issue, when no one seemed able to take the time to check it out when he made the statements on his resume? Presumably he had done a good job or else he would've been out on his ear long ago. But in the end his job performance didn't matter. So what sort of politics reared its ugly head this time? The Freep article doesn't say.
Gah. If I was a Sterling Heights resident, I'd be upset with more than just the former city manager. But I'm a resident of the next suburb to the south, where we have plenty of our own city government stuff to shake our heads over.
© 2002, 2003 Charlie