Abulafia






						m M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 0 3 A horrible evening All around n M A R C H 3 0 , 2 0 0 3 Canticle of Praise John Ness Beck Choir anthem; very free-form, very 60s. Flat tire Very very. I hate cars, I hate tires. s M A R C H 2 9 , 2 0 0 3 Cold. Compared to Florida, and to last week's (reported) local temperatures. M & D drastically cut back the spirea in front of the house. The bushes had grown out of control as I watched in despair -- I considered cutting them back to the ground, but this is a much better solution. And if they are still too big, I can always take them out. The daffodils are out inforce and beautiful. The hyacinths are starting also. And so is the not-candytuft. (This plant, along with a patch of candytuft, came with the house. I apparently have only brain cells enough for the name of one of the two, as I am chronically unable to recal the name of both. I believe that I have settled which one is candytuft and which one is not-candytuft, however -- that was challenging itself.) f M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 0 3 Dinner with Carey At Washington National. Cellphones are great things -- I would never have found change for a pay phone, found the phone number, etc.,. To Columbus Hopping about Sarasota-Bradenton to Charlotte to Washington National to Columbus. Takes a long time to do it this way. But the vacation was well worth it. First Watch Breakfast. They have restaurants in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, Florida, California, ... an odd assortment. r M A R C H 2 7 , 2 0 0 3 My Big Fat Greek Wedding Yes, I finally saw it. No, I don't understand what all the fuss was about. Soda Shop in Venice Strawberry bannana -- very good. Unfortunately they didn't have marshmallow, so the chocolate-marshmallow was out. (Not a problem for me, of course). Beach Twice, in between rainstorms. On one of those times we retreated to the boardwalk to wait out a brief shower. Very windy in the morning, much calmer in the afternoon. w M A R C H 2 6 , 2 0 0 3 Tuck Everlasting Watched as I finished Bradlee's autobiography. Not bad. Pelican Alley The crab cakes did not disappoint. The flying fish attempting to mount the dock was a lure thrown from a boat anchored not far away. Sunset at the beach Meyer lemons Are quite good, I discovered. They smell of pine and are not so "lemony" as usual lemons. Beach t M A R C H 2 5 , 2 0 0 3 Beach A Good Life Ben Bradlee. Nothing like it to make me want to get back to Washington. m M A R C H 2 4 , 2 0 0 3 Broadway showtunes At the community center. Beach n M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 0 3 Columbus ... Philadelphia ... Philadephia ... still Philadelpia The flight to Tampa was three hours late. As usual, the airline (U.S. Airways, this time) refused to disclose why. It seems strange that the U.S. airlines insist upon treating their passengers like annoying children -- to be (barely) tolerated and ordered around peremptorily with no explanation. US Airways is trying to emerge from bankruptcy, United is in bankruptcy, American is expected to fall into bankruptcy in weeks if not days, ... Southwest doesn't seem in such dire straits. Does that have anything to do with treating their passengers like people? Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh To Florida s M A R C H 2 2 , 2 0 0 3 Prepared for departure. Anti-war demonstration Watched it go past ... f M A R C H 2 1 , 2 0 0 3 Best Practices supplement Finished and sent it out the door. Managed to stretch a 17" story with two headshots to fill the entire center spread. And it doesn't look half bad. r M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 0 3 Choir rehearsal Home in Bexley afterward. M and D turned in the Chevrolet Blazer and have decided to stick with just the Cadillac for now. Columbus Brewing Company Appetizers on Brian (who won a drawing from the restuarant) and drinks on Dominic (Business First). Wished Gale well at her new job near Newark. w M A R C H 1 9, 2 0 0 3 Cleaned up the front (of the house) this morning Two more bags of leaves; still considering what to do with the (over)large spirea bushes across the front of the house that I have been lax at pruning the last couple years t M A R C H 1 8, 2 0 0 3 Communications Committee meeting There needs to be more communications, I think was the conclusion. So shouldn't we be trying to do more? Being the communications committee and all. Made friends with a cat In the back yard Tried to convince it to chase the squirrels; not sure we communicated on that part of the conversation Pete on Washington Post Online (Washington Post) m M A R C H 1 7, 2 0 0 3 Not trying very hard, are we? "In 1990, [then-Secretary of State James A.] Baker made three trips to Turkey in five months. Bush's father called the Turkish leader 55 to 60 times... "This time ... Turkish officials made one trip to Washington, but Powell didn't visit Turkey once during this period. Bush had three calls or meetings with Turkish leaders, according to White House records." Washington Post n M A R C H 1 6, 2 0 0 3 Sang at the 8:30 service Good to have both pastors at the service -- never happens at the 11:00 when one has to be downstairs at the contemporary service. Dinner in Bexley Evening dinner, with Stephanie there also Liz and John bought a new (old, of course) house In Sioux Falls, across from a park Three story Lots of room, and an attic for a studio s M A R C H 1 5, 2 0 0 3 Beautiful day outside First one since January -- bagged eight containers of leaves, cleared the back garden, and (apparently) invited in the squirrels. Cleaned out the pond, removed the fish which did not make it through the (admittedly long, cold, long, very long) winter, and prepared to get some new goldfish for this summer. Maybe I'll try taking them inside next winter. Didn't get the front cleaned up -- the neighborhood kids were too helpful (in spite of my not producing up the cell phone the one child erroneously insists (since last fall) that he gave me to "make work"). f M A R C H 1 4, 2 0 0 3 A restful evening. Things best left out of the "Upcoming Events" column ... "Serb police detained the owner of a small weekly publication that ran a headline about the planned assassination of Djindjic the day before he was gunned down, one of its journalists said Friday." CNN r M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 0 3 Blue Jackets game Lost 5-1 to the Avalanche Went with Don, Rick, Kevin, and Bill Martin from Add Inc. w M A R C H 1 2, 2 0 0 3 - - t M A R C H 1 1 , 2 0 0 3 Tour meeting Not long, yet didn't make it to the blockwatch afterward -- I tried, but the door was locked and I didn't feel like making a spectacle of myself. m M A R C H 1 0 , 2 0 0 3 Revenue is money that comes in. Expense is money that goes out. Total revenue is the sum of all revenue that comes in. Total expense is the sum of all expense that goes out. Really, this works for nonprofits also (despite the troubles we seem to be having in applying it). Unless utilizing Howard Hughes' income plan, they rarely equal each other to the penny. As the sole shareholder of the fabulously successful Hughes Tool Co., Howard Hughes spent whatever he spent throughout the year. At the end of the year, his accountants added it all up, and the Hughes Tool Co. declared a dividend in that amount to its, well, shareholder. No need to pay income tax on income you didn't need. n M A R C H 9 , 2 0 0 3 Supper in Bexley French toast. The cleaning of the house. How much salt can there be in one kitchen? Jesus Paid it All Choir anthem. To Columbus s M A R C H 8 , 2 0 0 3 Chicago Much fun. f M A R C H 7 , 2 0 0 3 To Akron Lunch at O'Shaughnessey's With Dominic and Rick. Stopped by the new office building Still want the racks in the same place as we wanted them last month. They have now decided the building needs a new roof and are removing the old one; the holes through to the sky were disconcerting. r M A R C H 6 , 2 0 0 3 Choir rehearsal In Bexley afterwards. w M A R C H 5 , 2 0 0 3 Asleep by 8 It was a long deadline day at the paper. t M A R C H 4 , 2 0 0 3 OTENA Trustees meeting Safety troubles on Parsons Ave. m M A R C H 3 , 2 0 0 3 White Noise Got hung up. I was enjoying the relatively plot-free story-telling, but the Dylar intruded. Now the characters all seem hung up on it, and I just wish it would go away so we could get back to the characters. On the Home(land) Front The public relation guru in charge of promoting the United States to Muslims resigned. (NYTimes) The White House implemented a "leapfrog strategy." They will no longer discuss whether Saddam Hussein should be removed from power, but will publicly comment only on what the new Iraqi regime will look like. (NYTimes) The nascent Department of Homeland Security was challenged when a heavily armed Cuban patrol boat landed in Florida, and four Cubans armed with AK-47s and much ammunition stalked the streets undetected by a nearby Coast Guard station. Fortunately, they were only looking for a friendly parking enforcment officer to surrender to, but Homeland Security is aware that they can't count on that motive every time enemy forces hit the shores. (NYTimes) [No, I don't read the New York Times exclusively. Not even preponderantly (?). They just had an interesting day.] Thomas Friedman finds that Bush is the only leader who could have conceived of instilling democracy in Iraq as the way to overcome the radical Islamists. And yet Bush may be incapable of realizing his (truly astonishing) vision. Yep. (NYTimes) Also to keep in mind -- G.W. Bush (in speech), and Condolezza Rice (in many academic papers) came into office opposed to nation-building. That Bush now makes not only nation-building but democracy-seeding a cornerstone of his Iraq plans is a true about-face. Or it will be, if there is follow-through. The decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power seems to have been taken even before September 11 for reasons that are not clear. From the United Nations resolution 1441 (which was always presented as unnecessary) to the inconclusive ties to terrorist organizations to the vow to rebuild Baghdad as a democratic beacon to the Arab nations, the admninistration searches ever-onward for something that will line up public opinion behind its (already determined) plans. Removing Hussein from power is not a world-changing action. Building a functioning, economically sound, democratic Iraq would be. The administration is not yet sold. Hamid Karzai was in Washington this week, begging for a little more help -- there is as yet none in the budget. Afghanistan cannot now be considered a stable, functioning country, and the United States' wonderment at being asked to provide more assistance (we gave last year, after all), cannot be considered a good omen for the ongoing challenge to be faced in Iraq. It's not yet too late in Afghanistan. And a real commitment to that nation would bolster President Bush's claims to be ready to invest in Iraq. Nation-building is a far larger and greater challenge than war. If we go forward with the war, we must hope that President Bush remains interested afterwards. The difficulty the United States has faced in the middle east is not dissimilar to that faced in southeast Asia in the 1960s and 70s. Clearly oppressive governments that the U.S. supports for global (and not invalid) reasons understandably generate internal opposition. In VietNam, that opposition found support in the Communist world and led the U.S. into a war it couldn't win -- communists versus oppressors is a poor choice. In the Arab world, we support governments with little popular support. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Kuwait. They are unable to offer their citizens a worthwhile life -- literacy is appallingly low, women are not accorded basic rights, unemployment is high, and the jobs that exist are often unappealing. The opposition to these ineffective governments has found its only support among radical Islamists. They have established schools, they provide causes and work. Once again, the United States is tethered to oppressive regimes and is driving the very people who should be most interested in democracy and capitalism into the hands of a dangerous opponent -- in this case, radical Islam. This is why rebuilding Iraq presents such a world-changing opportunity. The United States needs to reject the dilemma it was faced with in VietNam and never overcame: support oppression or support communism. The United States needs to make democracy and capitalism an available and realistic choice. n M A R C H 2 , 2 0 0 3 Amy to Akron Bad conditions -- freezing rain/snow for last part of the drive Made it home safely Dinner in Bexley Charlie and Rascal did not become fast friends -- she hissed, took a swipe at hime (with clawless front paws), and then just tried to hide when he was still undeterred. Peppermint stick, strawberry, mint chocolate chip (more ice creams) Communion Meditation Choir anthem Denny Asp preached Frank Runyeon's arrival delayed, program pushed back to 3 p.m. s M A R C H 1 , 2 0 0 3 Weekend of ice creams Chocolate truffle explosion, banana split Dinner at Mike & Jen's Haven't seen them since December Allison has words Charlie did far more resting than in previous visits Orchid show At Franklin Park Conservatory Blooms seemed huge this year Passed on the used orchid sale, though they were very tempting > FEBRUARY
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