New Computer and Today's Vote

Don't really want to bore you with the details of my new computer purchase (which was probably unnecessary, but, oh, so nice. No, it was necessary, by God! I was previously operating with Windows 98). Suffice it to say, sometime last week I was unable to see secure pages and my blog did not display any of the functionality it had previously, i.e. links, bold, italics, etc. So, what does one do when the computer goes south? Well, you go out and buy a new one. So, I have neglected the site for some time. But, I'm back in business. (I got an HP m1170n, Media Center with so many bells and whistles it will take me a year to figure it out. Also got an HP pavilion f1703, 17" flat screen monitor.)

It snowed yesterday in Denver (about an inch). This morning it was only nineteen degrees when Melissa and I headed for the park for our run.

Dress in layers, is the key. Don't wear the bulky stuff. Layers. For every ten degrees below freezing, I put on another layer.

As we ran around the lake this morning, the ducks were all hunkered down amongst the reeds, the cattails ... no doubt keeping warm. The lake itself was as gray as I've ever seen it; as calm as ... well, as calm as any inland lake can be; no breeze, no wind. The egrets have left the lake. There were no geese this morning, either.

Interestingly, as we drove to the park this morning, a lovely, exquisitely lovely brown fox crossed the street in front of us ... as free as you please. We've known that foxes run free in our neighborhood, but, to that point, I'd never seen one so close; so out in the open in our little neighborhood.

Coming back from the park, there was a dead cat in the street which, obviously, had been gutted. Probably by a fox. Life's little, essential cycle.

Of course, I look for messages in what I see and hear and smell each morning as Melissa and I make our way to the park and circumnavigate the lake; me, huffing as I jog; Melissa just walking faster than she normally does ... barely working up a sweat. And, of course, the message I was looking for was some whisper, some insight into what this day holds for us all: Who will be our next President.

I saw nothing. The trees, the great and ancient trees in the park spoke not a word.

I guess, ultimately, what I would like to happen on this election day, 2004, is an acknowledgment, a universal acknowlegdment that we can do better; that we can be smarter; that we can be more human; that this war George W. has pursued is a disaster; is something that will haunt us as each new generation of Muslim is born and raised and shown the infidel -- us -- amongst them.

I guess, most of all, I would like to see peace in Iraq and amongst us all as a result of this election. But, then, am I really that naive.

God bless us all.