Kirt A Harris Mystery Man

I am lucky enough to have the same initials KAH as this poor sap. I am constantly getting mail, all bills and mostly from collection agencies, phone calls all from lawyers and collection agencies, I have recieved suppeanos to court for lawsuits. Not to long ago at 3:00 AM my neighbor was shocked out of sleep when a repo company was looking in his garage by mistake for Kirt's 05 Dodge Intrepid. Today the county sherriff was waiting patiently in my driveway for Kirt to come home, I never found out exactly why but there was an outstanding warrant involved. If you were going to steal someones identity I would steer clear of old Kirt. They can't even give it away at least to me anyway. I'm sure this guy made some stupid mistakes somewhere along the way but I can't help but feel a little sorry for him, he is being hunted like osama, I picture hm hiding in some distant corner of West Va. eating dog food to survive. Of course he is probably living the life of Rielly in some resort town south of the boarder with a pocket full of fresh credit cards and a new car.

No politics just a smart guy

Guardian Unlimited The Guardian Edward Helmore meets Brian Schweitzer, the Democrats' green governor If you thought the Va. gov was interesting check this guy out. his background in sales hasn't hurt him any but I couldn't help but like this guy and his ideas. The whole coal gasification process always souded a little far fetched till I heard him explain it. He has the type of positive energy and action on good ideas that seem to elevate him above most politicians in my mind, of course when he finaly weighs in on "God, Guns and Gays" his stock will surely drop.

Worrying Always Helps

That's why - thank goodness - we have professional worriers, like Dr. David Nabarro, chief avian flu coordinator for the United Nations. He's the guy who estimated that if the H5N1 virus mutated to become transmissible to humans, we were looking at anywhere from 5 to 150 million deaths. Of course, only the 150 million was quoted. I thought this was an interesting article, made more interesting in that it mostly centers on the (IMO justifiably) "quite scared" Nabarro. In posting it, I was also amused that the International Herald Tribune called it worrier.php as a filename.

Water, Water Everywhere

I finally managed to mow the muddy weeds yesterday and am feeling sore for it today. Today it's raining again, and they say we're on track to break all records for the wettest March ever. Still, the irises are out in full force for the iris lady. Blub, blub.

Unraveling an Aruban Mystery

Sorry to have missed the big reunion and all the excitement in Charlottsville! I'm so excited for you and the rest of the team Kyla! Mike & I just got back from Aruba. As Dad suggested, we did not try to solve any mysteries except one... The mystery of Kite Surfing. I have unraveled this mystery enough to know I can now circumnavigate the globe if I go left only. Mike swears he has no balance where board sports are concerned, therefore no regular surfing, skateboarding or kite surfing. This does not seem to stop him from being my own personal resident kite expert. He has sat through enough of my lessons to know what I'm doing wrong but couldn't do it himself if he had to. It really is big fun but it's a bruising sport to learn. This time, only one bruise and a stubbed toe to show for my hours of hard work. I must really be on a role. Still no pictures as I'm too far out to see (up to 1 1/2 miles) so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Polo Groupie News

In case any of you Yale Women's Polo groupies are interested (relevant and potentially relevant games bolded):

• Game 1 -- Cornell vs. Yale, Monday April 3rd, 5PM
• Game 3 -- UCDavis vs. Oregon State, Tues April 4, 5PM
• Game 5 -- UVa vs. Colorado State Univ, Tues April 4th, 9PM
• Game 6 -- UConn vs. Winner Game 3, Wed April 5th, 5PM
• Semis -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 5, Thurs April 6th, 5PM
• Finals -- Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Semis, Sat April 8, 2PM

Fishing

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > North County -- Fish bones provide clues to climatic change When we saw Steve and Dara last week I mentioned our Niece Diane who is an anthropologist in San Diago. I have never been quite sure what subjects or studies she is engaged in till I got this E-Mail yesterday. When she was a kid and visited us I tried to take her fishing and she had no interest at all, apparantly she only likes really old fish.

Nope, Nothing Political Here

How can you not like this new one from the Dixie Chicks?

"This album was total therapy," says Natalie Maines. "I'm way more at peace now. Writing these songs and saying everything we had to say makes it possible to move on."

iTunes, here we come.

Asteroid Watch

Via BoingBoing again, I thought this story of someone using Google Earth to locate asteroid impact craters was pretty cool. It's also fun to see how excited he was to do it. Another way to waste time online!

Yale Polo Fan Club

Steve has already reported on the game quite acurately so I can't add much there but I can say how much we enjoyed seeing Steve, Dara, and Kyla. I can also say how impressed we were with Kyla's ability on the Polo field, she is certainly a hard charging player in an obviously tough sport. Kirsti Dan and I completely enjoyed the competition. It seemed to be an emotional loss for the Yale Women, understandably as I think they were all seniors. I was so happy to hear they did draw the wild card so they can continue play at the nationals. They were right there with UVA the whole game and it seemed the lose was more circumstance than skill. Good luck to Kyla as they continue to compete in the nationals. Please keep us posted on your progress.

Pony Tale

This has been an intense year on the polo front -- so intense that Kyla stayed at Yale for Spring break, just to be able to practice prior to regionals at UVa. Dara went out to keep her company and to watch the goings-on down at the Yale barn. Brrrrr. The coach was off in Ireland, so it was just the women's team practicing on their own. They played against the "club" players, and the UConn women came up and played against them one day. The week was not without a bit of pre-game drama as their star player re-injured the arm she had been nursing along in hopes of being at full strength for regionals. Nonetheless, they all piled in a car driven by Kyla and came down to Charlottesville. Dara took a plane and drove down from Dulles. To add to the drama earlier in the week, coach Jimmy's wife went into labor a month early. (All is well on that end, anyway.) So the Yale women were left without their coach, but more importantly perhaps, without their horses! UVa was left to scour up replacement ponies.

Meantime, back on the other side of the country, a plot to surprise Kyla was put in motion. I took a redeye out on Friday night, arrived at Dulles at 6AM Saturday, and drove down myself. I believe she was surprised :). Iva and Paige had come down Friday night from Alexandria (bearing GW sweatshirts for mother and daughter), so they got to witness the whole thing.

The first game was on Saturday against Michigan State. We picked up cousin Sarah on the way. In fine UVa freshman style, she was shaking off the after-effects of a tough St. Patrick's Day party. This was supposed to be an easy game, the pre-game plan being to let the injured Yale player start off, and when they were far ahead, to slide in another player. Alas, things were not so straightforward. The game was tight and hard-fought all four chukkers, with Yale coming out on top.

That evening we said goodbye to Iva, Paige, and Sarah. Then we went over to a UVa-hosted hoe-down out in their arena. There was a roast pig and the fixings, karaoke, and general socializing. Everyone had a good but very cold time.

Next day was the big match with UVa. Winner gets a seat at nationals in a few weeks. This was serious business, and the competition was brutal. Keith, Kirsti, and Dan showed up right in time for the start. It was tied up at the end of the first chukker, and Yale was behind by one at the half. The third chukker proved disastrous, as the UVa women pulled ahead through a series of lucky goals kicked in by the horses (or so went the Yale party line, and I am sticking to it!) The Yale women outscored UVa in the final chukker, but could not overcome the deficit in the end.

But, the story is not over yet. We heard today that Yale did get the "wild card" slot at Nationals. I have to say they deserved it. That was a hell of a game, and they didn't have the advantage of using their own horses. I have seen Kyla play in friendly competitions around here, where the skill levels vary widely. I have never seen any playing like went on in this game, though. Horses crashing into each other at a gallop, mallets, elbows, and sweat flying everywhere. I think we can safely say that it scared Dan off of polo forever.

Full complement of pictures on Flickr.

Good News, Bad News

Staffers at the SJ Mercury News breathed a sigh of relief as well-thought-of McClatchy snatched it up with a bunch of others in the Knight-Ridder stable.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based company boasts on its Web site that "quality journalism is the bedrock of a successful newspaper business." As such, the company is a favorite both among the journalism community and on Wall Street.

Until they found out their profit margins just weren't up to the standards of their new employer.

McClatchy said Monday it would sell the Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times and The Monterey County Herald, along with nine other Knight-Ridder publications, because the markets aren't growing fast enough.

It sucks being in print journalism right now. While we don't have a newspaper out here that compares to the WaPost or the NYTimes or the LATimes, the Mercury is as good as it gets in this neck of the woods.

UVa Schedule

I recently got the schedule for the regional tournament and wanted to share for all interested. The women will be playing Michigan State at noon on Saturday. We should easily beat this team, we played them earlier this semester and beat them by more than 20 points. This means we'll be in the finals against UVa which is at 11am on Sunday. Sunday's game will be brutal, fast and close, we'll need all the cheering we can get. Here are directions. I look forward to seeing those of you who can make it!

Early Warner Warning

Since I occasionally blog about California politics, I thought maybe those who are interested in politics (as opposed to political stances) might be interested in this NYTimes magazine article on former democratic Virginia governor Mark Warner and the way his presidential chances are lining up against Hillary at this very early stage of discussion. To get a flavor, here's a snippet describing his encounter with the raging Bay Area liberal mentality:

Warner may have glimpsed a piece of his future when he attended a dinner of wealthy Democrats last summer at the Bay Area home of Mark Buell and his wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, well-connected contributors and close friends of the Clintons. Warner made some introductory comments about "the Virginia story," but the first several questions were not about taxes or schools or health care, but about gay marriage (which he's against), the death penalty (which he's for) and abortion (he's in favor of parental notification but vetoed a bill banning all late-term abortions). Warner thought his liberal guests would be interested in his policies to improve Virginia schools and raise the standard of living in rural areas; instead, it seemed to him, they thought that they understood poverty and race in an intellectual way that he, as a red-state governor, could not. Like a lot of politicians, Warner can be snappish when he feels he isn't being heard, and the dialogue quickly grew testy.

At the end of the evening, according to people who were there, as some of the guests walked Warner to his car, one woman vowed to educate him on abortion rights. That was all he could take. "This is why America hates Democrats," a frustrated Warner blurted out before driving away. (Still piqued a month later, Warner, speaking to The Los Angeles Times, summarized the attitude of the assembled guests about their plans to save the country: "You little Virginia Democrat, how can you understand the great opportunities we have?")

Reminds me a bit of attending a Howard Dean house party early in the 2004 election cycle. The most common issue people had was that he was not liberal enough (for example: "I don't know if I can vote for him. He is for the death penalty [gasp>]!!!") Sigh. Me, I am for winning. Ooooh, nooo, I feel myself being pulled into a political rant. Must... sign... off.

To Mow or Not To Mow

Every year at the end of February or beginning of March, I get to choose between mowing about a half acre of weedy mud (or is it muddy weeds?) or waiting for it to dry out while knowing that more rain is on the way. Do it this weekend and it's too early and doesn't help. Wait until next weekend and it's too long and is a nightmare. Or it's too long and it's pouring rain. Yesterday looked like it was going to rain, but the afternoon was sunny and I figured I'd hit the mud this morning and things would be a little drier. Yesterday evening it poured, and this morning it was raining again. I'll just go have another cup of coffee and think about it some more. If only I had some bears rummaging around to use as an excuse.

Blogger's Block

Oscars and the Grouch

Normally I am pretty much anti-Oscars. I get the shivers when all those self-absorbed celebrities celebrate their celebrityness, and the fawning Hollywood press basks in it all. Drawn by the desire to see how Jon Stewart did, I actually sat through the whole thing this year and generally enjoyed it. Using Tivo to skip through the endless thank-yous to agents (and even lawyers fercryingoutloud) helped. I am pretty sure that last year I had not even seen a single movie that won an award. This year I did not fare quite so badly. Kyla and I saw Crash together and really liked it. Dara and I saw Good Night and Good Luck -- great story for those of you longing for a revival of the fourth estate as opposed to state-owned propaganda propagators. The Constant Gardener wasn't bad. I haven't had my Brokeback experience -- I mean seeing the movie, to be more explicit. Personally, on that subject, I enjoyed Larry David's piece that appeared originally in the NYTimes. Dara was not amused. Oh well, she never liked Seinfeld either.

More Blog Hackery

I found this cool Flickr Badge thingy I could put in the sidebar of the blog. Scroll down and you'll see it on the right side below the "Recent Comments" area. If you guys ever post any pictures on Flickr, I'll be able to keep the pointer to them in the sidebar so they don't get lost in the postings as time goes by.

Spring thing

With spring around the corner I am concentrating on the usual clean-up, brush removal, restore the driveway, ect. I took some old feed which was moldy and contaminated with rodent droppings and dumped it out back when I woke up every dog in the neighborhood was barking at 3 bears helping themselves to that pile 1 large bear and 2 smaller maybe a mother and 2 yearling cubs. We have all seen bears from time to time around here so its not unusual but always a thrill, and the sightings usualy occur in early spring when hunger in a barren forrest brings them closer to civilization in hopes of a cheap meal. It was a breif look for me and not much more than a snack for them as the dogs applied a little to much pressure they took off through a thicket behind the house.

It's All in How You Sell It

This NYTimes travel article on Chamonix concentrated on things we were not really into, such as the night scene and my lost chance at going headlong down a glacier. Having read it, though, I'm glad that Dara was not aware that Jon Krakauer (of Into Thin Air fame) called Chamonix the "death-sport capital of the world." That would have been a much harder sell than a romantic snowboarding trip.

Taliban at Yale

I think the fact that Yale has a former Taliban spokesperson as a freshman has received a lot of blathering from the right wing blogosphere. The article in the NY Times is worth reading, though, about his journey from Afghanistan, as part of the Taliban, and adjusting to Yale. Not your normal overachiever or legacy silver spooner from Andover.

Lost Career Opportunity

Back when I was beginning my first career, working on structural analysis, I worked with a guy whose Master's thesis at Cornell was "On the Stress and Deformation Analysis of a Cow's Teat Under Milking Loads." This is a tired, old story around our house. Still, the bounce-o-meter for sports bras (courtesy of BoingBoing) seems like a missed opportunity had I continued in that line of business. The Internet changes everything, eh.