12:47 am - War? Work? Volleyball? Vacation.

I'm frustrated with the war plans. I'm bitter. I'm pissed off.

Powell made the case in front of the UN that Saddam and his cadre are lying, cheating militants. But my dad had already convinced me of that. I don't want to be part of the deaths of hundreds (thousands? more?) of Iraqi civilians. I don't want my tax money going to support a military bent on preemptive nuclear strike. I don't want my military spending money that we don't have bombarding Iraq with more artillery on Day 1 of a war than the country saw in the entire Gulf War. Not in my name! The response to Powell's speech by International ANSWER is worth a read.

Work has taken a turn for the more interesting lately. Getting the hang of the ASP.NET / C# stuff. Getting an introduction to the fascinating world of television I.T., too.

Week 2 of our volleyball season was rough. We dominated our first game, and then got crushed in games 2 and 3. It was fairly demoralizing. After some soul-searching and strategizing, we won two out of three in Week 3's games. We should end up some where in the top three when the standings come out Monday.

On the sand volleyball front, I had one of my best nights last Tuesday. I stepped onto the court with the attitude that I was going to play my best game, no matter who I am playing with or up against. My level of play was perhaps the highest it's been, and my jump serves and hits we're coming in hard and reliably. I enjoying playing sand even when I have a bad day, but when it all works, it's pure joy!

I'm on hiatus from those parts of my life though. I'm officially on vacation, and will fly tomorrow to Denver with Jeanhee. We're visiting her friend there and doing some snowboarding/skiing/wiping out on the slopes there. Woo-whee!

12:46 am - Around the Web

The most fun web project to launch in a while is Anthony and Liz's Travelin' Van. Be sure to dig into the stats and gimmicks. I'm going to enjoy following this. Direct from Anthony.

What magazines are Americans reading? Ad Age has the Top 200. Hat tip Jen Leo.

The New Scientist article on hiccups made for a fascinating bus ride discussion yesterday. Via Slashdot. Note: I can no longer think about hiccups with out hiccuping. [hic]

Backpack Nation's goal is to send backpackers out with $10K to find someone in a developing country in need of another $10K. Dad called with the URL and encouragement to apply and quit my job.

I cringed in recognition several times as I read the W3C's Common HTTP Implementation Problems. Hat tip: Wes Felter.

Semi-famous people whose blogs I've just discovered: William Gibson ... Dave Barry ... Jeremy Allaire

Ripped Off

I thought it highly unlikely when it arrived in my inbox today, but then it started appearing on CNN, ABC, The NY Times. Britain plagiarized the majority of its dossier on Iraq's tactics of weapon concealment.

It wasn't long ago that Condoleeza Rice disdainfully charged Iraq with plagiarism (4th paragraph down). The British case is not even one of good information unethically presented. The grad student who wrote the copied article, said "I am surprised, flattered as well .... Had they consulted me, I could have provided them with more updated information."

I thought this sort of incompetence was the province of party-school undergrads and corporations...