I had a great day on the net.

We were able to discuss at length (38 comments) something and it was fun and not a drop of hatefulness was involved.

Also had a good discussion at my place with some cats from over here.

Grant is back to posting, so that is a good thing. I like what he has done with his place. He even has a topic called "The Destruction of Smiles." With the lan goodness that is comming up this weekend, hopefully he can fill that up. Right now he only has a post about hating cats in the category.

I called SBC today to ask a question about my bill. After answering my question the guy told me that I could upgrade my speed for only $3 dollars more a month. After grilling him with some questions I agreed to do the upgrade. My upload speeds will triple, which will great for my webserver. I may start hosting some more sites there. My download speeds increase by as much as 10 times. Not too shabby. Once it takes effect I'll do some benchmarking and post my actual before and after upload and download speeds. On a somewhat related note, if anyone wants to add a wireless router to their SBC DSL, I have a 2Wire Homeportal to sell. Someone cancelled their DSL and gave the equipment to me. SBC sells them for $50, but I'll give you a better deal than that.

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

The Arab Human Development Report 2004 (AHDR) cited the creation of the Jewish state as one of the roots of authoritarianism in the Middle East, along with the discovery of oil and the support for dictators by the superpowers during the Cold War.

Israel rebuffed the claims. "For too long too many people in the Arab world have used Israel as an excuse to justify behavior that cannot be justified," said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. "You can't have democratic elections because of Israel and you can't give equal rights to women in Saudi Arabia because of Israel. This is of course a cop out."

I think I'll post this in chaos too just to see if anyone has any good stories...

Do you have any recurring nightmares? If so, what are they?

Being the academic person I am, my one recurring nightmarish theme is that of being in my final semester in high school or college, about 1/2-2/3 through the semester, and realizing that I have forgotten about one of the classes I registered for and haven't been attending the class for the entire semester. I usually get mad at myself and tell myself to remember to start going to that class. I also realize that I have to start turning the homework in -- luckily, the professor is the kind that takes your work even if it's late, so long as you do it all before the semester ends (I think this is based off my Nature of Math class in real life, which was the only one where we could do this). So I start freaking out about making plans to spend all my life in the library for the rest of the semester, working on my homework.... But in the meantime, I keep forgetting to actually GO to the class. It's this neverending cycle of panic. Missing the class, remembering, freaking out, starting to do the work, and forgetting about the class again...

I can't even tell you how many variations I've had of this dream. I don't know if it's a subconscious desire to want to be back in school (which I can't imagine could be possible at this time in my life)..

Even though it says "this is not a check" since the money was direct-deposited, we are extremely excited. Ric finally got his profit sharing from 2004. Yes, so excited, we framed the non-check.

Looks like after tithing we'll still have a good amount to help us put a downpayment on another investment property. We're looking at North Carolina right now, near Duke U. We're thinking of doing a triplex or something similar. Most likely we'll be heading out there in a month or so to check things out.

God is blessing us in ways we've never dreamed of. And Ric deserves it for all the hard work he's been putting in at his job. The transition to the South Central job was a difficult one, and it's a very demanding job. I think right about now, he's not feeling as bad about the extra hours he's had to work lately when there were emergencies down at the plant. Even though it's a taxing job, it really has taught him a lot and given him a lot of managerial skills. I'm so proud!

And here is Ric, sleeping contentedly:

Iraqi Kurd Gets Key Post

I know one person, and perhaps one group of people who think is was very worth it. The people of Iraq are damn happy to see him go.

"After being liberated from the most horrific dictatorship in history, our aim now is to achieve the democratic goals that the Iraqi people have struggled for," Talabani, the new president of Iraq, told assembly members during the heavily guarded session.

"This is the new Iraq," said Hachim Hassani, the assembly's recently elected speaker, "where a Kurdish citizen is elected president of the country and a sitting Arab president will become his deputy. What more could the world want from us?"

Libery vs. Death? Is it worth it? A lot of Iraqi's think so.