The much anticipated.... WEEKEND SUMMARY
(imagine a tele-magazine "entry" jingle in your head.... Imagine it.... Imagine it...... fading... fading....fainter still, silence.. and now the news!)
This weekend I initiated the final countdown of what is to be the sunset of my third decade on earth. It was fitting that as the anniversary of my birth passed, the touches of autumn were leaving evident brush strokes on the perpetually changing environment in which I persist.
On the eve of my birthday, Mike Caprio, Tim Hayes, and myself convened for a nice meal at the Texas Roadhouse in Revere. (It's a real classy joint for those that haven't been....) While we consumed copious amounts of various meats, one must not forget the decadence that are the moist rolls provided as a complimentary garnish to the quintessential American servings. Provided with these intoxicating appetizers was creamed butter, heavily flavored with cinnamon. Tim at first commented that it would be nice to just have ten rolls... various scenario's rolled off of our tongues until the pinnacle suggestion by Tim. "Could I just have a vat of butter to roll around in while I eat this roll?"
Perhaps it was being over tired, maybe it was the influence of beer, but this source of self amusement had amounted to to a crescendo at this point. We were red in the face with laughter and snorting like dorks at the high-school lunch table. I think more than anything it was glimpse back to our past college years. It was though within the confines of the moment no time had past and we were still in the midst of those formative years. A taste of the pat-on-the back friendships that we cherished which were filled with camaraderie and optimism of the road ahead.
Speaking of this... Hey Scotty... when are we going to do good on that "rain check" for the nostalgic Chinese dinner?
My girlfriend, K ate was there to bring warmth and contentment into what was to be a pleasant weekend for my memories.
When we met up on late Friday night it is safe to say that we were both quite haggard, a little weary of the world. My mind was firing with an asynchronous nature, like a four cylinder engine with a bad spark plug. I was not intoxicated by any stretch of the imagination, but every part of me needed to recharge. When I walked it was with a random saunter, and at times I narrowly missed posts, of feared I would accidentally stumble and knock poor Kate into a bush.
Kate and I babbled semi-coherently about our week, and had those priceless conversations about anything and everything which. You know the type of conversation. They are those conversations that make Seinfeld so relevant, bringing legitimacy to the absurd. We may have been talking about nothing at times, but regardless, the discourse was a joy.
On Saturday Kate presented me with a lovely assortment of gifts, that had a lot of thought put into them. She gave me a great card and the gifts were carefully wrapped with bows and placed on my coffee table. (I finally have my own "therapeutic" copy of Office Space, oh and a half-eaten can of cashews... that's just a sample of the gift basket, thanks Kate!) Greater than all of the gifts Kate could give me was just the time that we spent together, walking through Boston & Cambridge and talking.
Kate treated me to a loaded large pan pizza from Pizza-Hut. Why Pizza-Hut? one might ask, well I think it is a little out the ordinary in our Papa Gino's and Greek Pizza dominated Greater Boston "pizza-scape". The main reason is that Pizza Hut is definitely a taste of fun childhood memories. It reminds me of the "Book-it" reading incentive plans of elementary school, or simply pizza with movie rentals on a Friday or Saturday night with my folks. So it is comfort food... but also I think the cheese breadsticks are to die for, I don't care what anyone says.
On Sunday Kate and I took a trip to visit the new L.L. Bean store in Burlington. It's a nice looking store in a brand new plaza. It is an interesting shopping experience of mostly high-end stores. It was creatively landscaped with gazebos and benches sprinkled in the parking lot near the mall side walk. It almost invokes a park experience in what would otherwise be a barren expanse of asphalt.
Well... The week ahead is sure to be a busy one. I'm hoping to go to the gym a few times. Kate and I are supposed to try out a Thai place she read about in the "Improper Bostonian" on Wednesday, so I look forward to that. Of course there is always the next weekend to anticipate :D !!
(imagine a tele-magazine "entry" jingle in your head.... Imagine it.... Imagine it...... fading... fading....fainter still, silence.. and now the news!)
This weekend I initiated the final countdown of what is to be the sunset of my third decade on earth. It was fitting that as the anniversary of my birth passed, the touches of autumn were leaving evident brush strokes on the perpetually changing environment in which I persist.
On the eve of my birthday, Mike Caprio, Tim Hayes, and myself convened for a nice meal at the Texas Roadhouse in Revere. (It's a real classy joint for those that haven't been....) While we consumed copious amounts of various meats, one must not forget the decadence that are the moist rolls provided as a complimentary garnish to the quintessential American servings. Provided with these intoxicating appetizers was creamed butter, heavily flavored with cinnamon. Tim at first commented that it would be nice to just have ten rolls... various scenario's rolled off of our tongues until the pinnacle suggestion by Tim. "Could I just have a vat of butter to roll around in while I eat this roll?"
Perhaps it was being over tired, maybe it was the influence of beer, but this source of self amusement had amounted to to a crescendo at this point. We were red in the face with laughter and snorting like dorks at the high-school lunch table. I think more than anything it was glimpse back to our past college years. It was though within the confines of the moment no time had past and we were still in the midst of those formative years. A taste of the pat-on-the back friendships that we cherished which were filled with camaraderie and optimism of the road ahead.
Speaking of this... Hey Scotty... when are we going to do good on that "rain check" for the nostalgic Chinese dinner?
My girlfriend, K ate was there to bring warmth and contentment into what was to be a pleasant weekend for my memories.
When we met up on late Friday night it is safe to say that we were both quite haggard, a little weary of the world. My mind was firing with an asynchronous nature, like a four cylinder engine with a bad spark plug. I was not intoxicated by any stretch of the imagination, but every part of me needed to recharge. When I walked it was with a random saunter, and at times I narrowly missed posts, of feared I would accidentally stumble and knock poor Kate into a bush.
Kate and I babbled semi-coherently about our week, and had those priceless conversations about anything and everything which. You know the type of conversation. They are those conversations that make Seinfeld so relevant, bringing legitimacy to the absurd. We may have been talking about nothing at times, but regardless, the discourse was a joy.
On Saturday Kate presented me with a lovely assortment of gifts, that had a lot of thought put into them. She gave me a great card and the gifts were carefully wrapped with bows and placed on my coffee table. (I finally have my own "therapeutic" copy of Office Space, oh and a half-eaten can of cashews... that's just a sample of the gift basket, thanks Kate!) Greater than all of the gifts Kate could give me was just the time that we spent together, walking through Boston & Cambridge and talking.
Kate treated me to a loaded large pan pizza from Pizza-Hut. Why Pizza-Hut? one might ask, well I think it is a little out the ordinary in our Papa Gino's and Greek Pizza dominated Greater Boston "pizza-scape". The main reason is that Pizza Hut is definitely a taste of fun childhood memories. It reminds me of the "Book-it" reading incentive plans of elementary school, or simply pizza with movie rentals on a Friday or Saturday night with my folks. So it is comfort food... but also I think the cheese breadsticks are to die for, I don't care what anyone says.
On Sunday Kate and I took a trip to visit the new L.L. Bean store in Burlington. It's a nice looking store in a brand new plaza. It is an interesting shopping experience of mostly high-end stores. It was creatively landscaped with gazebos and benches sprinkled in the parking lot near the mall side walk. It almost invokes a park experience in what would otherwise be a barren expanse of asphalt.
Well... The week ahead is sure to be a busy one. I'm hoping to go to the gym a few times. Kate and I are supposed to try out a Thai place she read about in the "Improper Bostonian" on Wednesday, so I look forward to that. Of course there is always the next weekend to anticipate :D !!
NEWS & COMMENTARY, by yours truly
In an excellent paring by CNN under the "Politics" section check out the first one, about one of our most notable lying creeps attempting to justify the realization of the administration's pipe-dream which has become a Nation's and perhaps the world's nightmare. It is collage of horrors that should have never been created, but now that it has, we have no choice but to try and fix it, crossing our fingers that our leaders won't make things worse.
The second article in the paring (really, kudos to the CNN editors on the placement) an article about how the CIA dismissed the very B.S. later utilized by the crusaders.
From the first article: Cheney disputed polls suggesting that a majority of people in the United States do not believe the Bush administration's claim that the war in Iraq is the central front in the fight against terrorism.
There are major problems with both the polls and Cheney's assertion. First the question: Is the War in Iraq the central front against the war on terrorism?
My answer: Well that all depends...
The war in Iraq was promoted as something it was not. Even as the administration tried to justify ties to Al Qaeda, an overwhelming amount of evidence suggested otherwise. As we now know, the Administration did not have any solid plans on how to stabilize Iraq and was very-very short sighted on it... or were they?
One could argue that politicians, often students of Machiavelli could have crafted a scenario that they knew would disintegrate into anarchy. Why would they want this? Well, they can say, "See I told you they were terrorists" even though prior to our negative influence, certain outside contaminants were not tainted Iraq. It is complex, and to simple red-blooded Christian Americans, the simplistic "Us and Them" mentality is a lot easier to promote. Good vs. Evil is a time honored motivation tool that the terrorists themselves use for control. Ill informed and often bitter individuals are constantly looking for some scapegoat to drag to the gallows, and politicians salivate at this simple truth.
So back to the question, is the war in Iraq the central front on the war on terrorism? My conditional answer: Yes... But it should not have been. The administration chose to ignore information that almost liberated Saddam of the very things it attempted to accuse him of. If this were a trial, we could not say that Saddam was guilty "Beyond reasonable doubt", and therefore could not have convicted him. Investigative teams were in place, and controlling efforts were at the time proceeding with success. Bush and team used the emotional state of our nation to support a morally questionable gamble, that has proven to be a loss. The front should have been primarily Afghanistan's nation building, & homeland security, not creating new problems were there needn't be any.
So the real question that should be asked in the polls isn't "Is Iraq the front on the war on terrorism?" but "Was the decision to attack Iraq the right one?". Iraq is the front.... and unfortunately it is something we need to face.
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