Ralph Hogaboom's Weblog
My name is Ralph Hogaboom, and I live and work in Port Townsend WA. I write about my family, computers, and a few other things.
2008-05-19
2007-09-18
I'm sitting in a small library in Ilwaco. My wife and I have been on vacation for two nights now, and the weather gets better each day. Sadly, I'm getting sicker each day. And less together, mentally. Just when I wrote that, I thought I should make a logo for sickr, all flickr/web 2.0 like.
Doesn't take away from yesterday, though. I took my bike out for a bit. Turns out that my Cannondale Super V700 bike - which I'd picked up for a mere $200 from a retired assasin with a steel rod and morphine pump in his body, no shit - excels at camp trails. It pulled me into them, asking me to do all sorts of crazy stuff. Try to ride over rocks that were way to big, ride up steep hills, ride down lumpy beach trails with narrow passages and barely jumpable logs.
I ride up the hill, to the light house and some remains of fort canby; on the way back, it feels so good to glide down and have the breeze in my face that I let go, and put my arms out Kate-Winslett-Titanic-style while flying through the first of the fall leaves, weaving down from their branches to the ground.
Earlier, I'd been out to the north jetty. It was smooth, so the bike and I ventured out. We got further, and further, and the rocks got bigger and sharper. Soon, I had to carry the bike - it's a real lightweight frame - until, again, the rocks were so sharp and large I put the bike down. I needed all four limbs to proceed.
The further out I got, the more hostile it became. The rocks were wet, and I slipped a few times. Then, even further out past the straggling fishers, I got to a part where I surprised the seagulls, who appeared to eat more fish and less McDonald's fry wrappers out here. At least, the fishy guano was plentiful.
Finally, I reached the end of the jetty and snapped a picture. The mist of the waves was constant here, and I was getting wet. I briefly celebrated my victory over the jetty, reaching a place where not many tourists would have the patience to reach. Seriously, this was like 5 seconds. "Okay I made it's getting wet hooray for me now I'm getting outta here" or something.
Three steps later, and a belligerent wave crashed, over the jetty, and into my back. It was cold and mean, but felt exhilarating. I scrambled the rest of the way, feeling more fear of the water than I had previously. I had sweat dripping off my nose when I reached my bike, and I hoisted it on my back while I made my way toward more bikable terrain.
By the time I made it back, Kelly had woken from her nap and made coffee. My sickness was beaten back a bit by the air, and I felt delightful. Here's to hoping for a bike ride with Kelly later today.
Labels: biking, ihatebeingsick, kellyhogaboom, mymood=jovial, ramblings
2007-08-20
instant nuntius elite lingua
I have my own accept/reject list of instant message abbreviations. I currently accept otoh (on the other hand), fwiw (for what it's worth), wtf (what the fuck?). In addition to that, a few others that I'd previously banned have made it in. This is like the ironic teeshirt, I use these with sarcasm:
O RLY?
LOL
ROTFLMFAO
Add to the above any ridiculous one-off abbreviations: IAGTTCFAB (I am going to the cafeteria for a bit), CIFTGGTM (crap! I forgot to get gas this morning), etc. But today I used one that seems odd at first, but in retrospect I think is brilliant.
eg (latin; "for example")
Using old latin abbreviations seems like such a good idea. The academic Latin abbreviations stand in stark contrast to the slang-iness of IM. So, to promote this idea I'm going to point you to the Wikipedia article on Latin abbreviations, and suggest a few of my own immediately.
c. = "around, about, or approximately"
d.v. = "God willing"
ia = "among other things"
s.o.s. / si opus sit = "if necessary"
v.s. = see above
I never really thought of Latin and slacker together, but they sure made lots of abbreviations official in order to save chiseling a few more letters in stone.
Labels: imadork, itsanexperiment, ramblings, technology
2007-07-20
Bikechapsafragilisticexpialiocious
Alright, freaks with Instructables accounts - now is the time to go visit Kelly's entry in the Etsy/Sew Useful contest and drop a comment or give her a rating.
http://www.instructables.com/id/EJEX7YKF46WOGP3/
She worked hard on the gore-tex bike chaps, so you don't have to. So please, go pitch in a vote.
Labels: design, family, graysharbor, maybethiscanhelp, ramblings
2007-07-12
lirdy, lirdy, look who's thirty #2
Update: IM conversation -
(08:23:03) cynthiakoan
Any special plans for today?
(08:23:08) ralphhogaboom:
Yes, take the bus home!
(08:23:13) cynthiakoan:
Riding to work a special way?
(08:23:15) cynthiakoan:
hahahahaah
(08:23:23) ralphhogaboom:
Nope, I ran over a nail this morning.
(08:23:29) cynthiakoan:
Maybe everyone on the bus could sing to you.
(08:23:29) ralphhogaboom:
I'm sure I'll have a flat by go home time.
(08:23:33) ralphhogaboom:
I'll try it.
(08:23:34) cynthiakoan:
bummer!
(08:23:49) cynthiakoan:
Is the nail still in the tire?
(08:24:11) ralphhogaboom:
Yes.
(08:24:37) cynthiakoan:
;~(
(08:25:13) cynthiakoan:
Nail in the tire.
(08:26:06) ralphhogaboom:
Like a nail in my coffin.
(08:26:14) cynthiakoan:
yes.
(08:26:19) ralphhogaboom:
I'm closer to 40 now than I am to 20.
(08:26:30) cynthiakoan:
Yes.
Labels: ivefinallyhit30, ramblings, thatsjustawesome
lirdy, lirdy, look who's thirty
I did it! I turned thirty.
Listen, now that I'm here, I have some wisdom to share. Television and glossy magazines are busy telling me that I'm officially old. That I'm no longer a rising anything, I've changed from a mischievous and prowling sex-panther fueled by booze and spontaneity, to an old man with loose, gray underwear who wakes up, sits on the end of the bed, and has to have a good cough before he can get up.
Turns out it's totally true. I coughed for about 4 1/2 minutes and thought about this one Matlock I watched about some nurse accused of murder, and this engagement ring. It was a really good episode.
Just yesterday, I was telling someone about my old band Nob streater. I uploaded all our music to last.fm. Today that music seems loud, and I tried to tell this college girl about my old band. I swear, she just thought I was some creepy/stinky old man. Sheesh! Does anybody remember that band? No, seriously, help me remember - these things start slipping. I know - I'm 30.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
========================================================
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Update: I just got an IM'ed happy birthday sang to me! That's one. I'm going to keep mum on it and see what happens.
Update: I'm going to track these, for posterity.
Happy B'days in person: 11 (6 belated); thanks James!
Happy B'days by IM: 8 !
Happy B'days by email: 1; from TEH ANAMONK
Happy B'day songs by IM: 1
Just mentioned the b'day: 1
Labels: holy shit, imscared, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-06-25
Dedicated to Providing Performance
I don't have to work today. It's either my Union contractually offered Personal Day, or my Union contractually offered Private Holiday; I don't really know the difference. Kelly says one is where I don't have to tell my coworkers what I did that day, and the other is where I come into work either hungover or still drunk.
I'm planning on heading out this afternoon to go see my sister Sheri, and let the kids play about with their cousin Avery. If someone was to point me out on the street and yell "You're a sick freak about extended family!" I wouldn't fight back. I'd just hold my head in shame.
I've lived here for four months, and only recently dialed up my sister, who lives a town or so over. I call my parents reluctantly, although I'm always happy when I do. It's like I shed my family of origin in 1997, when I left home/community college to move to Olympia. I didn't look back.
Even now, I write this without much regret. I don't know why. I was happy at home, growing up, with my parents and sister (and brother, for as long as he was alive). We had a good time. So when I realize I treat my family of origin like this, I'm somewhat ashamed. But my behavior doesn't change. I don't know why. In my mind, I like the idea of being close to them. In real live, I don't buy birthday or Christmas presents for them anymore. I call infrequently, haphazardly.
So I'm going to hang out with my sister today. I don't have illusions that it's going to be some grand reunification; I just want to know how she's doing in that way you don't get over a "everything's great! How are you?" phone call.
It'll be good, I'm sure. I'm just unclear on what else it's supposed to be, really.
Labels: family, graysharbor, kids, mymood=apprehensive, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-06-22
Early AM Homocide
Well, it's 4:54 AM. Nels wet the bed, I got up and stripped the bed, carrying the large laundry load to the laundry room. Of course, the cat was on to me from the start - this was all an elaborate ploy: she realized I'd finally flipped and was trying to kill her.
Labels: family, parenting, ramblings, thatdamncat
2007-06-20
DCDIAG /TEST:DNS gives "no rpc connectivity" errors
This is another post where I'm just putting my solution out in a searchable way. Hopefully, this will help someone in the future.
I recently installed DNS on the second Windows 2003 domain controller. Previously, there was DNS on only one machine, the Exchange/DC/everything machine that was installed waaaaaaaaaaaaaay before I started working here.
After installing it, I noticed that I could not open the DNS snap-in for the initial DNS server; I just got a red X. Oh, or either "The server you tried to contact is not a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 family DNS server. This DNS Management Console can administer only Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 family DNS servers.. Would you like to add it anyway?"
Running DCDIAG /test:dns on the server yielded "Error: No DS RPC connectivity" for DEL (Delegation) records. Troubleshooting RPC connectivity seemed fine, however. AD was replicating DNS records (yes, it was AD-integrated). I tried DCDIAG /FIX, plus many of the obscure things I could find online. Nothing was changing.
As a throwaway effort, I opened Add or Remove Programs > Add or Remove Windows Components and scrolled down to Networking Services. I unchecked DNS, went through the uninstall. It takes about one minute, it's painless. Then I closed it, and verified with NSLOOKUP. Sure enough, no DNS resolution was coming from this server. Then, in the same spot, I just added DNS back in to install it. Again, very quick and no reboot or anything.
This immediately fixed my problem.
I could access the machine by netbios name, et al, all I needed. The DNS snap-in opened perfectly. The whole process was over in about 4 minutes.
Anyway, if this helps you out please drop me a line at ralph at hogaboom.org. I'd love to hear from you.
Labels: maybethiscanhelp, ramblings, technology, work
2007-06-14
iPod "SYS"? WTF?
This is a post about how I solved an obscure iTunes/iPod problem; I'm only writing it so it's hopefully googleable and can help someone else. And cripes - I should've taken a screen shot. Anywhatski, this is the message I'd been getting, periodically, when trying to sync my new-ish iPod Shuffle (the 1 GB gen 2 one):"The iPod 'sys' cannot be used with iTunes because it is not formatted properly."
This was on Windows XP, SP2 all the patches blah blah with the latest version of iTunes, 7.2. I tried reformatting it, several times. I tried it on my wife's Intel iMac, also with latest version of iTunes. Works good. Back to Windows? Same error message. Just like sunshine_mel.
So I rolled back to iTunes 6.0, courtesy of oldversion.com. The I got the message that I needed at least 7.0.2 to work with this iPod. Fair enough. Back to oldversion for 7.0.2. Installed, rebooted, and it worked. Whew. Obviously, I'm sticking at 7.0.2 for now.
Labels: apple, music, ramblings, technology
2007-06-08
My buddies, the network effect
When I was younger, I'd had this idea that people that work in offices had to schmooze, network, grease the wheels (Where TF did that come from?) or whatever. That they had to be aware of social ladders, both to climb up and go around or under as necessary. That it was semi-formal employee parties on weekends, just to help you get your job done better.
Now that I'm in an office, I'm much happier with the actual result: the buddy list.
According to silicon.com, 16% of companies prohibit IM. And less than half of those that do allow it permit non-corporate instant messaging, compared with the allowance of non-corporate email (at 68%). This is really dumb. I know companies are warming to IM, but it is vital to stay involved in your industry. To participate, to share ideas, links, et al. Wouldn't it be great if you could get all the networking/schmoosing benefits of an industry conference, without the expense of the industry conference, and on a rolling basis? What if that came with access to specialist tech people, and every keystroke was recorded and archived?
The buddy list is my network of people that help me get my job done. And I help my buddies with theirs, as well. It's not all heartless resource aggregation; these are people that I care about. People that I have an actual connection with, and have genuine interest in their lives and well being. Still, when I left my last job, I made sure to back up my .gaim* folder to take with me.
The value in the list comes from the people, tech people, that are on it. Looking at who's signed in right now yields an successful independent tech consultant, a document imaging implementation expert, the floor production manager for a $31M Seattle technology company, the network engineer at Harrison Hospital in Bremerton, the IT manager for a string of car dealerships, a help desk tech at my last company, an application developer in Chicagoland, a banking-industry .Net programmer (plus indie musician), and a production manager / designer for photography giant Corbis who's also secretly launching a web 2.0 startup.
Just this morning, I asked (and received) dedicated assistance with a programming question. In the past week, I've answered questions about SSL site certs, DNS records, and Simple File Sharing in Windows XP domain machines on home networks.
Do you realize how much a company would have to pay in support fees to retain this type of knowledge base? Instead, in true Internet/'social networking' form, the knowledge is distributed and the workload is shared in this give and take of information. Combined with the instant nature of, um, Instant Messaging, and you've got a tremendous resource available to technology people all across the world.
And yet, there are still corporations that want to curb IM. Yes, people will chat unrelated to work, on work time; but people already do that in halls, and at water coolers. But point out one example where an employee heads to the water cooler because they need to know how to configure forms-based authentication for Exchange 2003's Outlook Web Access. Just one.
* .gaim folder:
Labels: mymood=grateful, ramblings, work
2007-05-27
Tacos, verde, ketchup
I had a fun interaction at a local taqueria last night. I went to purchase dinner consisting of 5 tacos, and two tostadas. While waiting for my to-go order, Nels started naming the colors of some chili lights in the restaurant. Which was fine, but boring for me.
Three teenage-ish boys walk in, swaggering and laughing as Spanish flowed out of them. After ordering, they sat down nearby. I asked: "What's 'green' in Spanish? In Espanol?"
"Chile!" came the reply.
"No, no - verde? Green?"
An excited recognition. "Si! Verde."
We went through red and yellow, too, so Nels could know Spanish for all three colors. The boy who was helping the translation was stoked. Me too.
We got the tacos home and dived in.
Labels: family, graysharbor, kids, nels, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-05-25
Theatre 2.0
I've been working on replacing the 7th Street Theatre's site for a few weeks now.
 |  |
| The old site; my redesign. | |
2007-05-18
MTA Stacks gotcha down? You need a higher cost MX record!!
So I've spent various amounts of time over the last several days working on two things: my 14 page implementation plan for migrating GHC to a new mail server; and installing, configuring, and tweaking the new mail server according to my evolving Implementation Plan. Which incidentally contains absolutely no gannt charts.
You'll often see gannt charts associated with project management: actually, I credit sales of Microsoft Project with project managers thinking gannt charts save the world. Gannt charts do serve a purpose, which is to get the stuff done that you can get done. If other stuff needs prerequisites, well, you'll have to wait on that.
But gannt charts aren't the only way to accomplish this efficiency. I've been a fan of the Action Plan, which turns into the Implementation Plan. It's a multipage document that goes over risks, expectations, goals, steps to reach those goals, and recovery situations for problems in those steps. It's meant to make you think through the whole process or project, and - functionally - it does the same thing as the gannt chart.
Somewhere on step/goal 2 of my plan for the Exchange upgrade, I have updating our MX records from
Domain Type Cost Destination
ghc.edu. MX 10 exchange.ghc.edu
to
Domain Type Cost Destination
ghc.edu. MX 10 exchange.ghc.edu
ghc.edu. MX 20 mail.ghc.edu
The idea was that this eases migration; Exchange will decide for itself what server has what mailbox and the servers deliver amongst themselves. It eases migration considerably. But it also, and here's the nice part, allows a failover server. The one with the cost of 20.
So last night, when our primary mail server didn't start up quite right after a scheduled outage, it was unavailable between 11 pm and 7:25 am when I logged in for a routine checkup. I saw that, due to a timing issue, the MTA Stacks failed to start while waiting for the System Attendant service. Which had, of course, started RIGHT AFTER THAT failure of the MTA Stacks. So then the Information Store wouldn't load. A few quick service starts later, and mail started flowing in. It took me a while to realize that it was being held on my unready secondary Exchange server with the higher cost.
Due to the order in which I was performing my steps, in this migration project, I had a backup server that saved 8 1/2 hours of mail from being lost. Your gannt chart can do that, but it's far less thorough than my Action Plan.
For those wanting to use it, the Word Template is attached. This comes, originally, from the CIO at my previous employer (Skookum). I've embellished or made pithy where appropriate. I hope it helps you somehow.
Get your IT Action Plan Word Template
Labels: ramblings, technology, work
2007-05-11
Al Salaam a'alaykum
I'm still on the Olympians for Peace mailing list, despite having joined SOLELY to get updated information on activist rallies in Grays Harbor. Here's a little gem from today, and note that you need to sign your emails with some new-age bullshit to participate:
I like Mike’s idea.
It can be personally (and spiritually and politically) refreshing and empowering to “fast” from oil-powered and electronic technologies. Spend a day (or a major chunk of the day) in quiet without radio or TV, without computers, without racing around in traffic. Focus awhile on meditation or prayer. Enjoy nature. Read a book that is not “required reading” or anxiety-producing. Slow down. Cook real food, and eat it mindfully.
Whether we do it this coming Tuesday the 15th or on some other day, it’s helpful to block out the time (a full day or a significant part of a day) on our calendars to practice mindfulness and get back in touch with our humanity and our lives apart from the rushings and artificialities of technology.
Shalom.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Coday [mailto:*****@*****.***]
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 6:43 AM
To: olympiansforpeace@lists.riseup.net
Subject: [OMJP] Don't drive and No gas on May 15th
If the push to avoid purchasing gas on the 15th was "driven" by leaving our cars parked for the day, that would be more meaningful. If we arbitrarily decided to park our cars and lived our lives without pulling out car keys on a regular basis, it would have the potential to change our habits and that could really hurt the profit margins of the petrol companies.
Gandhi did that sort of thing with his call for a day of prayer and meditation. Some thought that was convenient political cover for organizing a political strike day, but Gandhi was a guy who did practice a bit of prayer and meditation and may have thought a day of prayer and meditation might be good for the country
Combine the "day of parked cars" with a day when we turn off our air conditioners, televisions, stereos, even the ipods, and computers, turn off all the power-consuming items that could be turned off and commit the day to community organizing and you begin to develop a more powerful model. You could even squeeze in a little prayer and meditation time if you were so inclined.
Namaste,
Mike
Glen Anderson wrote:
I'm not on the PMR listserv, so perhaps an OMJP person can forward this response to the
May 15 gas message to those folks.
People feel frustrated and want to do something. Unfortunately, this is utterly
meaningless. If we don't buy gas on the 15th, we'll buy it on the 14th or 16th.
Corporations don't calculate profits on a day-to-day basis. They calculate on quarterly
and annual bases.
If we want to have a campaign urging us to reduce our driving by 1/3 or 1/2 or 2/3, that
would be good for the planet in several ways.
If we want to punish the oil companies, let's go after their corporate benefactors --
the Republican and Democratic parties, which are forcing the Iraqi government to give
sweetheart deals to Western oil companies instead of letting Iraq control its own oil.
(The Bush regime has been promoting this imperialistic plan, but the Democrats have
adopted it also and placed it in the supplemental appropriation bill that is supported
by the vast majority of Congressional Democrats, including those who say they want
peace.
For that matter, the Iraq war itself is a major user of petroleum. All of the
military's vehicles -- airplanes, ships, humvees, stryker vehicles, trucks, etc. -- are
horrible gas guzzlers. They are driving up the demand, which -- according to the laws
of supply and demand -- are driving up gasoline prices for us.
Furthermore, when the U.S. attacked Iraq in March 2003 the U.S. interfered with Iraq's
oil production. Now four years later Iraq is still producing only a fraction of the oil
it was producing before Bush attacked. Because of the laws of supply and demand,
cutting the supply increases the price.
The best ways to reduce oil prices are: (1) Sharply reduce the amount of oil we use;
and (2) Stop the Iraq war.
-----Original Message-----
From: josh elliott [mailto:*****@*****.***]
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 9:02 PM
To: olympiansforpeace@lists.riseup.net; olypmr@lists.riseup.net
Subject: [OMJP] FW: Rv: FW: Fwd: No gas on May 15th
From: Elizabeth Velasuquez <*****@*****.***>
To: Ruth Velasuquez <*****@*****.***>
Subject: Rv: FW: Fwd: No gas on May 15th
Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 16:35:44 -0500 (CDT)
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 11:53 AM
Subject: No gas on May 15th
WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!
NO GAS...On May 15th 2007 , THEN no gas on June 15th and 16th...July 15th
16th and 17th, etc...
Don't pump gas on May 15th.
In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas
prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.
On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas station in
protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00(3.59 in Bellingham,
washington on may 4th) a gallon in most places. There are 73,000,000+
American members currently on the internet network, and the average car
takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up. If all users did not go to the
pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION)
out of the oil companies' pockets for just one day. So please do not
go to the gas station on May 15th and let's try to put a dent in the Middle
Eastern oil industry for at least one day.
If you agree (which I can't see why you wouldn't) resend this to all your
contact list.
Labels: graysharbor, localnews, politics, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-05-09
Security at Washingon Ports to increase by $18M
Interesting article in the Puget Sound Business Journal mentioning all the ports that have recently been used to ship warcraft will be getting security upgrades. Grays Harbor does well, with over a quarter million dollars for complicity.
From TFA:
"... the funds will be used to buy chemical detectors, cameras, security gates, access controls, training and exercise programs."You can go read the full article.
Labels: graysharbor, localnews, politics, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-05-07
Cosmopolis: Demon-ridden metropolis
Friend, musician, and programmer Ira Merrill pointed me to this particular comic book called Lucifer Fawkes: The Blind Ones.
"Cosmopolis, WA is one of the most demon-ridden metropolises on earth. It even has its own devil walking the sphere of man.
Lucifer Fawkes has been fighting and looking for that devil for some time. His interest is set ablaze when the devil Gooseberry spellbinds the catholic priests that effected his anointment to the Mantle of Keeper over ten years ago.
Now, only one thing stands between Lucifer Fawkes and Mr. Gooseberry: the entire clan of demonic eye-thieves known as The Blind Ones."
Labels: graysharbor, ramblings, thatsjustawesome
2007-05-04
Protests in Aberdeen
The Department of Defense needs a port to ship out tanks, choppers, etc. For the war in Iraq, obviously. Fort Lewis deployments have previously been moving out from Tacoma, and Olympia, but a few groups - notably United For Peace of Pierce County and Olympians For Peace - have successfully protested. The army set their sights on something close enough, but less resistive.
And they've been making moves and activities in Aberdeen's port. El Mundo Diario quotes blowhard port commissioner Caldwell:
“We don’t have to agree with where it’s going, but I surely think we would want to support all of our troops,” he added. “We can’t cut off their support, regardless of how we feel about it.”And the Olympian vaguely hints that something is going to happen in this article. Of course, what's worrisome is the recent record of law enforcement and dealing with protesters. In Tacoma in April and in Los Angeles on May day. Everyone wants to avoid that, of course.
What's incredible is the respect taken by the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance. In emails sent to members (yes, I'm one), they continually references cutting DOWN violence, not justifying it. It's cool. Real cool.
If you're coming down, see http://ufppc.org/ for the fastest coordination information on the protests. I'll be there for some of them.
Labels: graysharbor, holy shit, localnews, mymood=anxious, politics, ramblings, theHQX, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-04-26
Windows Live @ Edu and No One is Home
I'm not really sure how to put this, but the 'technicians' at Microsoft's Windows Live @ Edu are awesome. See, I'm trying to troubleshoot connectivity from one of my servers to one of theirs. And they want me to login to the server, and go to whatismyip.com to verify my IP address. I am not making this up.
Labels: holy shit, imscared, ramblings, technology, work
2007-04-16
re: hqx
BrumBrum: the true location abbreviation is HQM. Using HQX as an IATA code for Hoquiam appears to only have two references, Kelly & I.
Labels: graysharbor, mymood=smug, ramblings, theHQX
Indy Non-Commericial Radio
Early last week, I was startled and surprised when I heard Hoquiam-based Indy Radio on the dial while driving from Aberdeen to HQX. I'm double surprised, because I don't even like the radio - it's rare for me to poke around there for something worth listening.
What was striking about the station was the full-frontal amateur nature of it. The volume levels went from too low, to distorted - somebody had the trim waaaaay up. And the dialog was unabashedly left; I really liked it. It was joyous, and enthusiastic, and even though it was talking about Iraq and death, it was the only talk show I've ever heard that sounded fun.
El Mundo Diario had an article on the station a few days later. I'm encouraged because it seems to take a community approach to the station:
Murrell said the Harbor was in dire need of a station like Indy Radio. “I intend to bring local issues onto the radio station, news that’s of interest to this area. I want to do book reviews, and bring all kinds of people into the station that have never been on talk radio around here before,” he said.Read the full article; then visit Northwest Indy Radio.
2007-04-12
Grow your giraffe ears, dickweed
We've been reading about non-violent communication in our family. It doesn't go down that way, though. Better read it, or none of the following will make any sense.
(8:14:14 AM) Kelly Hogaboom: Ralph. You need to grow your giraffe ears and open yourself up.
(8:14:39 AM) me: Kelly, that kind of thinking leads to self-fulfilling prophecies.
(8:17:47 AM) Kelly Hogaboom: I am going to TEAR YOUR FUCKING THROAT OUT LIKE A LION!!!!
(8:17:50 AM) Kelly Hogaboom: you're on NOTICE
(8:18:43 AM) me: When you tell me you're going to rip out my throat, I feel exhausted and agitated, because I need more politeness in my dialog with other adults.
(8:19:04 AM) me: Would you be willing to put away the tuff talk and communicate more non-violently?
(8:24:05 AM) Kelly Hogaboom: Let me put it this way. When you tell me not to tell you I'm going to rip out your throat, I feel angry and hungry because I really want to feel your hot blood in my gullet, as a savannah predator. Would you be willing to come over here and put some gravy on your neck?
(8:25:46 AM) me: Am I hearing that you're a savannah predator, who needs hot raw meat to eat immediately? Maybe, for us to decide together who gets eaten or what food chain order gets established?
(8:26:55 AM) Kelly Hogaboom: Look. Just come over here. I have some nice gravy. It will feel good, I promise.
(8:29:25 AM) me: (Switching from empathy to expression) Well, now I am feeling really frustrated. I go to work, work hard, and provide a living for all four of us. But when I come home and see members of my family salivating at the thought of eating me, I just want to run across the plains. Maybe dodge and dart a little, but mostly run. As I told you before, I get to feeling exhausted and agitated because I need less predation in my environment. (Sigh) I think it would help me to know that I've been understood and won't be eaten.
2007-04-11
My Cafepress Store is Not Worthwhile
I so totally forgot that I had a Cafepress store. Until I got a message about the updated terms of service. My favorite is the "We're All Waiting ..." T shirt.
Labels: itsanexperiment, mymood=notworthwhile, ramblings
2007-04-06
Here Comes some Money
My RSS alert for 'Grays Harbor' picked up an interesting story today - Jordan Kline's Many Harbor projects in Senate budget. Apparently, Grays Harbor is the recipient of some funding in the latest budget. Among the highlights to me is over ½ million for the 7th St. Theatre in Hoquiam. That's fabulous, but my employer scored almost 2M ($1856246) for a child care building, roof repairs, and more. This is in addition to the campus' new Jewell C. Manspeaker building, which I must say, is a fabtastic structure.
My point? Dropping some good news about a place that gets bad advertising. That's all.
Labels: graysharbor, politics, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor, work, yes
2007-04-05
Two is the smallest and first prime number
There are parts of me that absolutely hate it here in HQX. I'm going to give you two examples.
Disclaimer: This is my blog. It's part journal, private thoughts, exhibitionism, egotism, arrogance, all sorts of nasty stuff. Although I promise not to name names, I will talk very plainly about things from any of 100 of my points of view. I'm OK with this - if you are, too, you can keep reading. If you're the type to take things personally, I don't want to hear about it. You're HERE, reading MY stuff. Do so at your own risk.Ejemplo Uno: Hummus. So, like two weeks ago, I skipped breakfast. No big deal, about 9 am I left work and cruised the local grocery store. A little hummus and pita bread would hit the spot. But wait - a redneck town like Aberdeen isn't likely to stock hummus. Being kind hearted, I vowed to give them a chance.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for hummus," I asked the grandmotherly stock clerk. "Hummus? Let's try the deli!" She knew what it was! Hooray. I wasn't in some backwater; no, this was a proper response to a reasonable question. In my mind, I was fielding all sorts of questions. I imagined everything from "Hummus? That hippie crap?" to "Get out now, commie dirtbag." I was pleased she not only knew what it was, but was taking me right to where it was.
Well, I was disappointed. They were out. She made favorable recommendations, most of which were nothing like hummus: cream cheese, that peanut butter & jam in the same jar thing, and bean dip. I declined, and she asked "Hummus, huh? What do you use it for?"
Umm. I eat it.
Ejemplo Dos: My son's playschool. This place is miles away from the sincere and pretentious (and thriving, I might add) Port Townsend Cooperative Preschool from our past. Let's talk snack.
Snack time, one parent brings a snack. Different parent each week. So, past weeks have included Hi-C Fruit Drink (clearly not legally able to label it juice), cheetos, and grapes. The grapes are like some ironic wink, like "See? We're into healthy stuff." So there I am, I bring my snack tonight.
* Adam's fancy-ass peanutbutter quarter sandwiches on locally made, fresh bread from Nancy's (purchased at the year-round farmer's market, bitches);
* fresh, hand-cut carrot sticks;
* Northwest Delights dried cranberries;
* and yes: fresh, seedless green grapes.
Nobody ate anything other than the grapes. Well, not true: Nels hasn't been conditioned to salty cheetos snacks 9 times a week, so he was into it. He ate it all up like the fucking champ he is. I'm wondering where down here I fit in. I believe there is someplace like that for me down here, but until I find it, it sucks.
Labels: graysharbor, mymood=frustrated, nels, ramblines, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-03-30
Update: edited out text that was in progress; posted when I should have hit Save Draft. Sorry.
I bumped into my friend Shannon Weidman, through thoroughly uninteresting ways. Turns out he's living in his dad's old house in Aberdeen. Last November, on an annual hunting trip to Montana with his brother and his dad, they found the first evidence of what proved to be dramatic illness: his dad has three brain tumors. He's deteriorated rather alarmingly, and doctors estimate a quick death.
I still remember Wally as that dad you wish everyone had; always offering to order you pizza, interested in whatever friggin' video game you were playing, laughing and making jokes on the same level as the kids. He was a great role model for parenting, and happened to be a single dad.
He can talk, apparently, but not much else. Shannon reveals some frustration in a drunken MySpace post, that's as embarrassing as it is sad. And really, what do you do? What do you actually do, when you dad is in pain, and dying, and you're in pain being around him, and it's not going to get better - it's just not. What do you do, how to do develop a concept for processing that situation?
Our conversation wandered to less dramatic things. Music; we were in a terrible techno band 10 years ago. We talked movie making, jobs, Grays Harbor. Hopefully, we'll see each other Sunday night (wives permitting) to get together and talk.
Labels: graysharbor, music, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-03-27
Aberdeen photos & the kids are "Ok"
Note: The Bird talks about this here."Hey, take our picture!" yelled some kids across the street. I'd just gotten out of the van, engine still idling with family impatiently inside, to snap a shot of the sweet Nothings coffee house After asking if I were a tourist, did I live in Olympia, & why would I take pictures of such an ugly, ugly place, they led me about to the alley, and bequeathed Legal Tag Alley.
It was nice to take some pictures again; I'd forgotten how delicious it is with a camera.
Sweet Nothings coffee house, Aberdeen
Untitled, Legal Tag Alley, Aberdeen
The kids are alright
Looking for more? There's some in one of my collections on Flickr.
Labels: graysharbor, itsanexperiment, pictures, ramblings, timesaretoughontheharbor
2007-03-20
Stupid banking
My bank just implemented a slew of worthless 'security features' that irritate and annoy. This is a test of the captcha - I want to see if they do URL filtering to foil attempted phishing.
If you can see this image, my bank's online antiphishing measures are broken.
They also have you set up five security questions, and you need to correctly answer a random one before you can get in. My pal CK pointed out the assumptions made by two of the questions:
- Your high school (not everyone has one)
- Your spouse's middle name (sorry, I have to be married to bank here?)
The image above is a captcha, which I'm sure you're familiar with the idea if not the name. The idea of it is to test a human, who can read it, against a computer (or a script), which would have a much harder time deciphering. This is typically used to prevent automated programs from bulk-creating accounts, such as new free web email accounts.
It'd make sense, against a brute force attack. A brute force attack is where something tries every possible combination of user name and password, and it's all automated to try to get in. But brute force attacks are easily stopped soon by account lock outs. An account lockout occurs when a predetermined number of incorrect logins is reached - five, for the bank in question - the account is locked and NO access will be granted until you call them.
The captcha, in this case, is redundant. It does not increase security. Look, the only thing a captcha is going to stop is a script. So, a script fails the login. After five attempts, the account is locked out anyway. And unless your password was 123ABC, MONEY, or your birthdate, your account will get locked out very quickly. Which is all the security you need to keep scripts out.
Add the captcha, and now you're irritating users. Users who, like the CK example, go on to defy the very security you're attempting to add.
Big brown trophies all around for the staff at the bank. Did somebody write this plan down in human shit and present it to the bank managers, who were also writing in their own shit?
Labels: maybe, no, ramblings, technology, yes
2007-03-09
From Skulls to Wierd Al to Urine
A few times now I've let my daughter wander about Wikipedia, letting her click on the blue links to go where she may. She invariably stays near the anatomy and physiology sections - she likes "in the body stuff".
So imagine my surprise when I returned to find my computer seat vacant, and the page on Human Urine. Delightful little sample, hm? Working our way backwards through the links, we find her path:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_blood_cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosimian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Washington_University
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Categories
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic
(not sure how she made the next jump - the back button?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_anatomy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excretory_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Urine
2007-02-27
New Site Live
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| I just did this. Serious. |
Which isn't the point at all.
The point is the design; graceful blue and emphasis on being pithy. I wanted to convey a confidence, since what's being sold is split 50-50 between these pumps, and the guy who knows installing them on site.
What works really well with this design is the strong blue, vs. the white space. When you look closer, the blue gets more interesting; subtle gradients that are easy on your eyes. The first page, however, is all blue. The darker color makes the images and text pop up off the page, and feels crisp and shiny. Clicking on anything gets you through to a more readable page with the white space, and - well, just take a look at the CSS file (I know it's a little untidy, but this was a speedy project):
.PlainText {
font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 12px;
color: #333333;
text-align: justify;
}I used a dark gray, not a black, on the main text. Which also makes it easier on the eyes.I did have to tinker with some of the CSS settings, to get it to display correctly in both Firefox and MSIE6/7. So it's more of a hybrid of CSS and table based layout.
I'm very happy with the end result.
Labels: design, ramblings, technology
2007-02-18
Happy Birthday, Ellen
My last night living in Port Townsend was spent at a party (my ex-HR Director's 50th, with live music at the Elks). I feel a bit guilty, here I am, kidless, out dancing. But I worked hard to pack and clean; it's another chance to say goodbye.
It was good. I danced, had both my beers bought for me, said my goodbye's again. One telling difference: the new guy who heads IT at Skookum shook my hand sincerely and said "If you need anything, give me a call." This was significant; it signaled a validation of me that I'd not previously had from him. And it was very welcome.
Headed home and played some GTA:SA while my mini-pizza burned in the oven; I smelled the stink too late to save it. Another loss to the scourge of Grand Theft Auto.
Labels: ramblings
Test for Echo
I'm doing cleaning today. All of my family's posessions are lodged firmly in a UHaul, out in front of my house. I've put a cabinet door back on, screwed down some panels that have been on my todo list for ages, and started sweeping.
The echo is huge. Such and empty house with hardwood floors makes every movement seem like a Significant Event. Shutting a door resounds through the house, adding to the finality that is already penetrating my feelings as I look around.
I'm making coffee using my own grounds and thermos, and my neighbor's water, stove, and filter. I plan to be driving south in two hours. It feels like the shortest and longest time imaginable.
Labels: graysharbor, mymood=sad, ramblings
2007-02-16
So long, and thanks for all the fish
My last day of work, and my life has boiled down to a list.
* Pick up bicycle from shop
* Find vehicle to gather boxes from grocery stores for last minute packing
* Pick up cigarette butts from yard
* Take excess stuff to freestore
* ... and so on.
My office feels like it's pouting - my pictures and stuff cleared out, all that's left are the dings and staples in the wall. Not even the familiarity of my Pandora stations (which clearly think I'm gay) to listen to, as my nice speakers have been given to Alysa, Skookum's admin assistant.
My stomach is empty, fueling my anxiety as I keep coming back to my list. I'm jittery from the coffee I can't stop drinking. I'm excited about the move - to finally get rid of all these boxes, get settled in somewhere. But there's also the fact that I've been shutting things down for the last two weeks. Shuttering relationships, mentally withdrawing from everything I've come to love. The reverse of that is setting up new systems and relationships, and I am looking forward to that. A little growth will be quite welcome.
Labels: graysharbor, mymood=anxious, ramblings
2007-02-14
countdown to hqx - why indeed
I was earlier working backwards through a 5 point list explaining why we're moving to Grays Harbor. It wasn't going where I wanted it to go, probably because I'm a distracted and anxious person. Permit me an alternate explanation.
1) Family. My in-laws live there, and my father-in-law has cancer. He may have 10 years left, or 10 weeks. But my kids love him, and all seven of us benefit from being around each other.
2) Career development. The job is a promotion, title- and management-wise.
3) Equity. I never wanted to be that guy paying too much for a mortgage, and telling my wife she can't buy a friggin' americano. A $100,000 house is only $733 a month, even at 8%. And $100,000 buys a nice home in that county. I like the idea of building up some equity while working a good job, and being around family.
So that's it. There's quite a few more reasons, but they're all minor.
* Close to Olympia, and St Martin's college should any birds want to peck at credits;
* Close to friends, like Geoff Cotton. Geoff was the drummer for my band back in college;
* The YMCA down there is frigtastic;
* Lower cost of living;
* Making a difference; getting involved in a community that needs some involvement;
* Ethnic diversity; no, seriously.
So there you have it. I have a few more days here, then we're moved.
Labels: graysharbor, imscared, porttownsend, ramblings, work
2007-02-11
2007-02-08
Sprint's New Cure
Looks like Sprint Business is just fine hinting about, you know, the business. Check out the flash ad on the top of their business site. Then refresh it, and shake your head in embarrassment for the company. Finally, refresh the page a third time, and now laugh that the company is dumb enough to think this is a good idea.
http://www.sprint.com/business
Labels: ramblings
2007-02-05
I'm OK - The Beer Is Gone
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I've been a fan of I'm OK - The Bull Is Dead style information communication for about three years now. If you don't want to read the article (you should, though), it's summarized as starting with the punchline. Whatever has the most significance, state it first. Then each sentence should in declining order of significance.
I'm OK. The beer is gone. We have put two more out there. There are nine left in the case.
Backstory? Ok, what happened is a coworker and her boyfriend visited my office mate Mark. They brought a 12 pack of Keystone Ice. Mark said "You're not drinking that in my house! Come in and have one of my Alaskan Ambers." And they drank all Mark's good beer, and left the Keystone Ice in his fridge.
Last week, we put four cans outside our office. We were beginning to lose hope, but this morning they've disappeared. So two more cans went out. Somebody came by once, and hopefully will come again.
I wonder if it was the coworker's boyfriend.
Labels: itsanexperiment, porttownsend, ramblings, work
2007-01-24
Hi, we love you, we're moving
I've been struggling with deciding our future for about a month and a half now. When I say struggling, it's no trivial thing. After accepting a position as Systems Administrator for Grays Harbor College this morning, I arrived home in tears. It's been tearing me up.
I've gone over several different phrasings of For and Against, and it boils down to this:
Skookum, based in PT or Bremerton, doesn't offer me a future.
GHC, which I've applied for, is a bird in the hand.
I've heard a few different remarks as I've talked to my peeps about this situation. "Where would you live as a dream destination?" "Get into a housing market however you can, as early as you can." "This is an investment."
As I drove home today, I felt entirely homesick. If there's one thing I'm critically susceptible, it's nostalgia. I cried the whole way driving home. This isn't easy. I remembered that both my children were born in PT, one in this very house. My neighbors, people I bump on the street, the guy who runs La Isla and is fond of me, Nancy who teaches swimming lessons at the pool, our close friends the Creccas.
It breaks my heart.
I'm going to probably cry some more. I'll cry for the sunsets, for the g&t's on the beach, for Fort Worden and Old Fort, for Pizza Factory (not Waterfront! Bastards.), for Quimper Sound. For my continuing clients, New Found Metals and Fleet Marine, Peter Hiatt, and Trudy Rousch. For Bonnie Masi.
In a way, I feel that failure anyone would feel returning to their hometown. But I'm not forced to return, it's a choice. That's significant. I'm not retreating.
It breaks my heart, I told you earlier. I'm making a choice. I'm building myself, my career, some equity, and making a specifically intentional choice.
If there's one word that defines Kelly and I in the past year, it's intentional. Everything from furniture to what defines home needs to be intentional. Moving to Grays Harbor has been a difficult, difficult decision.
There's no way I can think of to communicate to you how difficult it's been.
But it's intentional. It's part of our plan.
Wish the best for us.
2006-12-07
Curse the man who discovered helium - curse Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen
I was talking with a friend earlier this week. "It's been a tough year," she said. I remember last time I bumped in to her, she'd just found out she has a spinal fluid leak behind her ear. The surgery required is to remove part of her skull above the ear, lift up the brain, patch her up and put the chunk of skull back with some steel plates. She'd be in intensive care for 24 to 48 hours afterwards. Either that, or meningitis.
Well, since that bad news, both her cats have been eaten by coyotes, and her 64 year-old father died suddenly of a heart attack. "I'm not really feeling the Christmas spirit this year. I am trying not to be a Scrooge, though." she says.
I told her she should go down to a stationary store after work. "Pick out the nicest journal and pen you can find," I said. "Then just start writing down how you're doing weekly or so. Then, a month from now you can look back and say It Really Has Gotten Better, or No I'm Getting More Depressed. It gives you a sense of measurement for your mental health."
I wasn't just pulling reasonable advice spontaneously. A few days earlier, I was reflecting on my three years of ralph.hogaboom.org. It's nice to go over, get a feel for where you've been.
We talked a little more about making personal time to write, and how it's better to put those thoughts and feelings somewhere as opposed to stewing in them. I really do think she's going to start journaling. And I hope she writes a novel.
Labels: ramblings
2006-11-07
Listen. Seriously. I TRIED. No - really!
I've seen the trailers for "Out of the Woods", the latest from Sony in the ever-lengthening line of Pixar knock-off mofos. It looked like simple crap to me, but as Dorothy Woodend succinctly writes in AlterNet:
Just another assembly line movie that kids drag their parents to after having been seduced by one too many toy tie-ins at Burger King. It's a product, made and marketed to children, imminently forgettable, with nary one genuine moment or original idea. So, what's the problem? Pay your money, take your chances and quit your bellyaching.She goes deep, though, into a serious analyzation of the movie.
But have you ever wondered why so many films made for children take as their fundamental subject the difficult lives of animals in the first place? Obviously there is the historical literary tradition from which to draw upon, as well as a sense of disenfranchisement, a feeling of being other, subject to the all-powerful whims of adult society.From this she cuts to racism, and on - it's a good read and the last paragraph gave me nostalgia.
It made me think of a long lost feeling from my own childhood, of coming home after a day in the woods: dirty, cold, and hungry. Night had closed around you, but still you lingered outside in the dark and the cold, feral, wild, your eyes shining like lanterns, unable to go into the warmth of the house, to be tamed once more. It was better to be outside, alive and free, even if you knew eventually, you'd have to come slinking into the light, nervous and twitchy as a fox, the huge darkness of the night beyond, still calling out to you.The description makes me wonder if Sophie or Nels will know how that feels. Does our sprawl-laden society have any room for that wild woods? I hope you saw that article last week: Seafood will run out in 2050, say scientists. The Telegraph isn't alone, of course. National Geographic has a split optimistic/alarmist article. I know, I know - I need to see the bright side. But I keep thinking about it. How in North America we're using 10 times the natural resources (per capita) at an alarming rate. We're all killing butterflies and bees with our plastic Safeway bags.
Still, the Great Lakes used to be pretty messsed up, but focused human effort has done much. Similar deal with Lake Washington, as I recall. So there's hope.
But what can I do right now? What can I do today? How can tell my daughter that I tried?
2006-10-31
Nothing Could Possiblie Go Wrong
I once worked as an alarm monitoring agent, about 10 years ago. When someone's home alarm goes off, and that person is paying for monitoring, someone calls the house. I was one of those.
A security company tends to attract customers who have an above average amount of paranoia. One woman, in particular, has been standing out in my mind. She would call, asking if the alarm had been tripped. She asked because she knew that her ex-husband had sneaked in and cut holes in her carpet. She'd find that he had also unscrewed most of her lightbulbs, just enough so that they didn't work. She'd screw them all back in, and examine every inch of her apartment.
When she'd call, she was almost sobbing with fear. It was really hard, and some of those phone calls were really long calls. I'd end them by gently suggesting either significantly better security, or mental health treatment.
I do think America has a fascination with violence that leads to fear. And I've been thinking of this woman, and the current halloween trends of safe trick or treating. You know what I'm talking about - either kids would get jumped for their candy if they were out alone, or they wind up with some razorblades or needles in their candy or popcorn balls.
So the herding instinct comes out, and you get a 'community trick or treat'. Like this one here in PT. Which is fine, I'm not criticizing it. In fact, I even made a costume this year specifically for the parade.
If your area is like mine, you've experienced less kids each year coming to the door. The NY Times calls it the retail trend. As the article points out, it's one less chance for real community to get together and trust each other.
Which is why this year I'll specifically be fighting that trend. We're going to walk around my immediate neighborhood and trick or treat. And introduce ourselves, and where we live.
Happy Halloween.
Labels: ramblings
2006-10-16
Congressman Norm Dicks, The Robot Emailer
I wrote my congressman, via email and post.
Congressman Dicks,
I am writing to ask that you help introduce impeachment for George W. Bush. As a lying, lawbreaking president, he endangers this country domestically and internationally. Please help us, the people you are supposed to represent, to restore democracy to our country.
Sincerely,
Ralph Hogaboom
US Citizen
I also printed it out, and addressed an envelop (haven't found a stamp just yet). This is the email reply I got back in minutes.
------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Congressman Norm Dicks
To: ralphNOSPAMPLEASE@hoga.boom.123.removemessagedotandnumbers.org
Date: Oct 13, 2006 1:51 PM
Subject: Response from Congressman Norm Dicks
Dear Mr. Hogaboom:
Thank you for contacting me to comment about Congressional oversight of actions of President Bush and officials from his Administration. I appreciate your interest in this important national issue.
In recent years, many issues have arisen in our country that required a serious and thoughtful review by Congress using the legitimate and appropriate authority outlined in the U.S. Constitution. In many cases, thorough investigation of the actions of the Administration is required so that problems could be identified and corrected, and so that questions of malfeasance can be resolved. In the aftermath of the September 11 th attacks, for example, I believe Congress acted properly, empanelling an independent, non-partisan commission to comprehensively investigate the events leading up to the terrorist attacks, followed by a thoughtful debate over the commission's subsequent recommendations.
But in most other cases in which there has been an obvious and compelling need for Congress to exercise its constitutional oversight responsibility, very little oversight has actually taken place. Our nation's experience with Iraq - both the mishandling of the intelligence used to justify military action by the President and administration officials leading up to the war and the prosecution of the war after the success of the initial invasion - demonstrates the need for Congress to be much more aggressive in its legitimate oversight function. The failed federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina also merits action by Congress, in my judgment, but almost a year after the event, the House has yet to advance a proposal to address even the most obvious problems.
The admission by President Bush that he authorized the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps of American citizens on U.S. soil - without obtaining a court order - represents the most recent instance of Executive Branch actions that should be subjected to thorough congressional review. But, again, the Republican-controlled Congress has expressed little interest in a serious investigation that might challenge the Administration's views.
I believe it is clear that the legislative branch has abdicated its legitimate oversight responsibilities, largely because the one political party in control of Congress and the White House has attempted to avoid any controversy that might reflect poorly on the President's abilities. Constitutionally, this is a serious mistake, damaging the necessary balance of power that distinguishes our system of government. Ultimately, I am confident that either Congress or the voters will correct this shortsighted policy; I only regret that we are unable to do the legitimate work of Congress until that time.
As a member of the minority party in the House, it is obviously our responsibility to point out where the majority is failing in its duties, and it is my intention to continue doing so. However, I remain interested and willing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put aside party loyalties and better address the serious issues that confront us every day in the House of Representatives.
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It's disappointi