AAH! PLAGUE IN TEXAS!!! AAAAH!!! WHAT? WE DON’T KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT IT’S THE PLAGUE?!! WELL GOOD GOD ON A STICK, WHAT COULD BE IN THERE!!? AAAAHH!!!!

joined geoURL this morning . it’s a system setup to catalogue IP’s via their geographic longitude/latitude. (My ZIP code being 40220, my lat/long is 38.213693 N, 85.637118 W). You can find your own lat/long at the Census‘ handy Gazetteer site. Also, a handy tool is Acme.com’s Mapper, which allows you to see satellite shots of the US and you can supply and find exacting lat/long (I found and tagged my house with this link).

There is apparently only two other sites registered near thelocust[dot]org, so get hoppin’ youse Louisville lugs!

check out the New Years 2002 gallery! Plenty of arse-slapping fun!

well, at least the rumblings of who will run for president will probably start trickling in. already, we’ve heard that Al Gore won’t run in 2004, and with all this business surrounding Trent Lott there has been a bit of a shake-up in the Republican end of things as well. So who will be the candidates? I certainly hope John McCain is among them.

I watched a bit of the shout-fest that is “Hardball“, and attempted to choke back tears of laughter at the thought of Darrell Hammond as Chris Matthews while Senator John McCain was talking about this dividend tax absolution and foreign policy. McCain, even while being assailed with assinine questions from Matthews (i.e. after McCain repeatedly said that he would not state a position on a hypothetical bill – “If there was a compromise from Pres. Bush today that included a dissolution of the dividend tax, WOULD YOU SUPPORT IT?”), was cool under the verbal assault. I think his foreign policy is one that understands that we should act primarily as part of the concensus, and not always lead the way. His solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis, which he states is far graver a crisis than Iraq, is that North Korea’s neighbors (those within striking distance, i.e. Japan, China, S. Korea) should take a greater responsibility in the matter primarily, else the UN should be involved, and the US should act as part of the UN.

Yeah, he’s part of the political establishment, but he is less of a party-line-toter than most folks in Washington. Look at McCain-Feingold, for instance. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hated that bill (note well his connection with ‘gays helped 9/11‘ Jerry Fallwell) to the point of taking it to the Supreme Court. And any man who stands in opposition to McConnell is OK by me ;)

All I ask is someone who seems to think for himself, respects his constituency, and can pronouce “nuclear” as “new-clear”, not “new-cue-lahr”.

played racquetball with m@. it’s been a long time since I had last played, and it was pretty strenuous. as m@ stated, “I think we’re pretty evenly matched”. methinks he’s like, read a book on this whole “racquetball” thing, ’cause he was making kill shots like mad. damned books. anyway, good times were had by all.

2002 was marked with fear, uncertainty, change and promise for me. in august of 2001 i asked kelly to marry me. april 26, 2002 was the date we married. in between, i struggled to keep myself together, mentally and physically. work had hit a bit of a slide, and a number of folks that i counted as friends at work were let go, and for the first time i really felt vulnerable.

with my usual candor, i didn’t let myself (or the world) know of what was weighing on my mind. instead, it manifested itself into the physical, causing me to have strange stomach pains (not really pains, just pressure). that was early on in january — and even after it was diagnosed as gastritis in february, it continued on until after the wedding. my hypochondriacal ways would not let me believe that it was merely stress, and in those early winter days of january i fell into a walking catatonia of irrational, crippling fear. spring came, and with the ‘ok’ diagnosis, my spirits lifted.

in April, we were to be wed. Never before had I greeted a more confusing array of emotions, some of which still linger. I assumed I would feel anxious, worried, happy, exstatic. What I felt was fear. Fear of the future, fear of the past, fear of confusion of my own emotions. After all — I had just duped myself into believing I could die just because of a little stiff heartburn.

The honeymoon were quite possibly the two most liberating weeks of my life, and I shall never forget them. Kelly and I were free from the cares of the world, free from tomorrow and yesterday, no map and no plan. The beauty I beheld there lies ingrained in my heart.

Summer brought news that some people that I cared deeply for could be taking leave of this town for what to me seemed eternity. I rely upon my friends more than they may ever know, and knowing that some of them could be leaving town shook me to the core.

Summer also brought about a passion shared between friends in the form of baseball. It felt good to be on that field, under the fawning evening sun. So little can be said when playing catch, but so much can be understood. I felt as if an old bonds had been renewed, and new ones forged.

Fall came about with a new home, and Kelly and I leaving our now-beloved Highlands. Though with that sadness came an unexpected feeling of accomplishment and safety. I had found a vigor in this feat of building — building that I was instructed to continue by the wisest of counsel.

This winter has come in a fairer fashion that last years’ cold and looming silence. Kelly and I decorated our house together, and hosted our own holiday for the first time. It gave me great joy to do that with her. Our house felt like the home I had been away from for so long. The holidays did not stay long enough.

This year was the first year in many that all of our friends were not present for a New Years Eve celebration. Though I suppose that is the moral of this past year, as New Years Eve 2002 looks back upon a year where I learned much about change and the fear of it. Change makes the future different from the past, and the ability to discern that — and relish in it is uniquely human, I think. I have learned much, but am still ignorant in these parts.

Last year saw fear fade into promise, and I intend to continue on that path. My sole resolution this year is to be a better friend. That encompasses a great deal, I hope. The people I hold so dear, I hold at an arms length, and rely upon them at a strange distance that finds me alone in my thoughts too often.

So here is to a new year — I know not what it holds, but I shall endeavor to learn from what it offers.

oh, finally installed my playstation 2 network adapter (which I found at Sears, because no one goes there to buy that stuff).

The cavity on the back of that PS2 is in fact “large enough to live in in lean times” as Penny Arcade put it. Installation and setup was easy, though it does seem that the fun imagined by this thing is limited to the number of games you have. Hacking on this thing just hasn’t been invented yet, or my google-fu is weak, and we all know that isn’t the case :).

Aaaanyway, so this thing came with a networked demo of Frequency which is somewhere in between Dance Dance Revolution and Tempest. I have NO rhythm save for the beating of my own heart, but this game is fun fun fun! I also played Madden 2003 versus some chucklehut in gods-knows-where, and only thanks to my own ignorance of the game of football was he victorius. Best nickname seens amongst the throng playing last night — “Super Culo”. Yeah.

I knew there was something a-stirring as I watched Adult Swim last night — turns out that Adult Swim is Adding 4 Nights a Week to it’s roster, starting January 12th! Futurama! Harvey Birdman! Yay!

Also — Sugar Ray is seen more in the media than Sugar Bear. I thought they sucked, what happened?

turns out jackson was at the wake for my friend james (whom he knew as matt) eisenmeinger when he killed himself in february of 1997. this is the same jackson that was in the CIS program a UofL with me, grew up in a house a stones throw from our new home, and knows mike bucayu (sp?), who worked with geoff at ear x-tacy. geoff worked with me at Corvus… and so did Matt, who is all smoochy (tee-hee) with Sara, had a relationship of some sort with umm… Jessica?… who is now a fiance (i think) of John “Heywood” Erickson, who now lives in Texas. Heywood was very good friends with James, and with the rest of us. Now, I ask you — are there other towns out there that can compete on that level? I don’t think so.

How could I ever leave? I love this town.