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November 30, 2002

What a rout! The University of Georgia Bulldogs pounded the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 51–17 today in Athens, Georgia. In the pre-game show on WSB radio in Atlanta, I learned that today’s game marked the thirty-seventh time Larry Munson has called the game between the Dawgs and Jackets. My wife had her picture taken with Mr Munson at another game between the hedges earlier this season.


Holland America isn’t the only cruise line to be affected by the Norwalk virus. Disney Cruise Line’s Majesty is sitting out on this week’s cruise for another disinfection. On Majesty’s last cruise, 187 people reportedly were ill with symptoms of the Norwalk virus. On the cruise the week before, Majesty saw over two hundred of her passengers fall ill. The Norwalk virus is a gastrointestinal infection that causes vomiting and diarrhea. Earlier news reports claim that the virus is contracted from the ingestion of food or water that’s been in contact with feces.

This isn’t a very pleasant topic, but it worries me because my wife I love cruising but we certainly don’t want to do the Norwalk waltz.


I’ve been using Mac OS X as my primary operating system for over a month now and just can’t believe how solid it is. It hasn’t crashed once, and hasn’t even thought about it, even though I’m using two or three system components that are in their alpha or beta stages of development.


My wife is in the process of creating a little Web site as part of the coursework for her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. She sits in a chair beside me and tells me what she wants. According to her professor, she’s doing a marvelous job and should have her degree next month.

November 18, 2002 I think I’d die if the only Internet connection available to me were based on a dial-up modem. For purposes other than email, a dial-up-modem is mostly useless.
November 14, 2002
Perhaps Amsterdam’s crew needed more time to sanitize the ship. Eight more passengers have contracted the Norwalk virus. I don’t believe I’d want to sail on the Amsterdam even if Holland America were giving away the tickets.
November 11, 2002

Aw, man! This tastes like s#!t! A hundred and sixty-three passengers aboard Holland America’s Amsterdam fell ill after consuming food on the ship. The affected passengers fell victim to the Norwalk virus, which is supposedly spread through poo-poo. Apparently, food and/or water on the ship came into contact with tainted waste. Crew members spent today sanitizing the ship.

I don’t know which would be worse, actually being a victim of the Norwalk virus or just knowing I somehow ingested shoo-shoo.

Yuck!
November 4, 2002

What’s the point of harassing Wynona Ryder? Who cares whether she’s telling the truth when she says that she was actually preparing for a film role when she was videotaped while taking merchandise from a Saks Fifth Avenue department store, or that she understood that her personal assistant had already paid for the merchandise? This is Wynona Ryder, the movie star. I’m not saying that Ryder should be able to take merchandise without paying for it, but what’s the point of prosecuting Winona Ryder? To teach Hollywood some sort of lesson?

So she was caught taking merchandise without paying for it. How about gently confronting her about it as she leaves the store and asking her for some contact information so she can be billed for the merchandise? What does Saks Fifth Avenue have to gain by prosecuting a woman who’s likely worth over a hundred million bucks? Obviously, if Saks had Ryder on tape and if she’s even semi-reasonable, the whole situation could have been handled in private, as Ryder can certainly afford anything Saks has for sale. Ryder’s prosecution only makes me want to avoid Saks Fifth Avenue.

November 3, 2002
My father-in-law, an industrial electronics salesman for R.L. Matus & Associates, visited York, Pennsylvania, last week and visited the Harley-Davidson factory while he was there. He said that Harley had a nine-month waiting list for delivering new bikes. The typical Harley sells for US$15,000-25,000. Boy, there must be a lot of folks in this world who have a lot of loot to shell out for American-built scooters! I wish I had my Honda Nighthawk back. That was a great all-around bike and didn’t break the bank at around US$4500 in 1994.
October 25, 2002

Today I made the move to Mac OS X. It feels like a new life.


Yesterday would have been our beloved Geraldine’s twelfth birthday. Geraldine was our Miniature Dachshund who became ours when she was about six weeks old. Geraldine had cancer, something her oncologist referred to as “a very aggressive fibrosarcoma.” She was shivering and panting from pain, so we ushered her into a more peaceful existence on June 13 of this year. We really miss Geraldine.


The beltway snipers were apprehended yesterday. John Allen Muhammad, forty-one, and Lee Boyd Malvo, seventeen, were found at a Frederick, Maryland, rest area and arrested without incident at 3:19 am. The pair allegedly killed ten people and seriously injured three more. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty. What’s unknown now, though, is whether the death penalty will be sought against Malvo. Evidence against Muhammad and Malvo looks airtight. It’s my hope that the victims’ families get to decide their fates. Muhammad, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is reported to have converted to Islam approximately seventeen years ago and is sympathetic towards the September 11 hijackers. Muslim or not, Muhammad and Malvo, if guilty, are American terrorists, just like Timothy McVeigh. I hate to think that in these trying times some of our own people would commit such unwarranted acts of violence against us.

October 21, 2002
Why do some people say “I could care less” when they really mean “I couldn’t care less”? I don’t understand. The two statements are logical opposites, yet they’re used as if they were interchangeable.
October 16, 2002

Becky, some friends, and I went to the Georgia vs Tennessee football game last Saturday in Athens, Georgia. Our Bulldogs won 18-13 and we held Tennessee scoreless until the fourth quarter. In contrast to the Dawgs’ first three games of the season, they’re really looking like a solid team now. I hope they continue to look as good as they looked when they played Alabama and Tennessee. Tennessee has a freshman quarterback who isn’t afraid to run the ball and he gave us a hard time all through last Saturday’s game. Tennessee also has Jabari Davis as a runningback. Davis, a native of Tucker, Georgia, was very tough to stop. He reminded me of the Dawgs’ legendary runningback Hershel Walker.

To top off the day, Becky had her picture made with UGA play-by-play announcer Larry Munson. We saw the Official Voice of the Dawgs leaving the press box and Becky asked me to ask Mr Munson if he would stop for a photo with her. I told Becky that I couldn’t ask him to stop. Becky didn’t take no for an answer and she asked Mr Munson if he’d stop for a picture. Mr Munson obliged and they posed together as I took the photo. ’Twas a great day!

October 10, 2002

Sometimes there’s no justice. So we catch the Maryland/DC/Virginia sniper and execute him or keep in jail for the rest of his life. So what? Keeping the sniper alive while inserting a metal pole in his mouth and having it exit his posterior, and then making a public urinal out of the man-pole for decades would not completely fulfill the requirements of justice. It’s the best thing I can imagine now, though. The sniper probably will sheath himself in infinite peace before we ever get the chance to exercise justice.


Neal Boortz stated on his morning talkshow that Georgia Governor Roy Barnes was opposed to Georgia’s HOPE scholarship fund and the lottery that pays for it, at least before Barnes was elected. Now Barnes is letting his campaign ride on his support for HOPE scholarships. HOPE guarantees that good high school students who remain good students in college will have their tuition paid for by the State of Georgia. HOPE is a one-hundred-percent good thing!

October 8, 2002
Bon Jovi’s new CD Bounce is now available and the band will kick off a twice-around-the-world tour in December. I bought the CD (at Best Buy for under US$11) and have listened to it end to end more than a dozen times. What I don’t understand is why the first single is “Everyday.” In my opinion, over half the tracks on the CD have more groove than “Everyday.”
October 4, 2002
Swimfan was more entertaining than Red Dragon but still not realistic.
October 3, 2002
Today would have been my late father’s seventy-first birthday.