Gary
9/30/2002
Ah, I took that announcement to be something that the Bush White House was doing, as that's the actual White House number and no other sponsors were mentioned. If it's just about people calling the White House, then I'm sure the White House will pay attention -- or not. :-) I'm not aware of any other anti-war activist groups or actions to participate in because [whisper] I actually support a show of force in this situation. But I won't support GWB in anything, including especially this war he's drumming up as it is almost certainly politically motivated. As to Gallup, I didn't mean to get them involved! :-) I believe (correct me if I'm wrong, Donna!) that all their polling is done by contract -- for, say, CNN or Time Magazine. I imagine by now they've already polled this issue several times, but I haven't seen any results myself.

I didn't mean to say that calling was pointless. The results will tell the White House something, no matter what the results are, and those results may be used to guide their actions. All I meant to give was my gentle opinion that these guys are liars and are likely to lie about this too. Plus -- as Donna could explain -- this is a totally unscientific "poll," meaning only highly motivated people (on either side of the issue) will take the trouble to call (and pay for it, too, as Amanda points out). And if, say, I wanted to spend a couple of hundred bucks and skew the results by calling hundreds of times, nothing is preventing me. If the little man in the White House really wanted to know what people are thinking, he would commission a proper poll and get reliable results (which I am sure they have done already). Ask Donna how many Gallup polls are based on people calling Gallup. :-) --Gary

Oh, and the operator was pleasant.

Another thought on the comment line.. They must not want to know the American citizen's opinion TOO bad, since we are paying for the call. They could at least have it be a toll free call, we'd be paying for that anyway.

The "Who Am I" profiles will go up on Tuesday and you can all start making your guesses then. At this moment, everybody is on board except for John, Lori, Olivia, and Zachary, so if you four want in you've got today and tomorrow to answer ten easy questions! :-)

Sounds cool! Whatever happened to the "burrito bottle" (whatever that is!?) that was "gonna blast candy out"? :-) I kept meaning to ask. --Gary

It was! We had the same picture in our papers. When I saw the exposed foundation, I just assumed the house had been torn down; but obviously somebody picked it up and moved it. By the way everybody, see Emily's 8th grade picture on the recent photos page, and read Erika's essay on Erika's page. --Gary

Gibson's choice for the role of Jesus is a relatively unknown actor named Jim Caviezel. --Gary

That occurred to me, but the question got too clumsy if I set up two categories (riding or driving); and also, which category you chose might tell too much. I'm assuming people will think of a "typical" car trip and choose that way. --Gary

By the way, since the time when Marsha and Sam and Anna were visiting here last month, another landmark has disappeared. Just today I was driving out 27th Street and saw that Vern & Grace's old house, that big one on the hill that seemed to dominate the whole area, has been torn down. All that's left at the moment is the foundation. I know it was there a month ago because we all drove past it on our way to have brunch at Mahoney Park on the Platte. But it is gone now, and that hill looks very different without it.

Same here. Best Disney movie yet! Erika, give it another chance! :-) --Gary

They are now up on the projects page. Also, note that you can now get to the School Pages from the box above. Anybody else who wants their own page like Emily, Erika, Lindsey, and Tristen, just let me know! --Gary

Again, my apologies. Those pictures are all on my computer at work, not here at home. So I can't update the projects page until I'm in my office. And as it happens, we've got some big time-consuming projects going on right now, so it's hard for me to steal some time there. The combination of the projects at work and my computer upgrade meant the projects page got back-burnered. I'm hoping to get everything up tomorrow afternoon (Monday). --Gary

My apologies, but there's just no way around it. But except for the front page and the projects page, everything is up-to-date. For the past week, until tonight, I haven't had a computer at home -- meaning I'd have to do all the webpage updates at work. And as it happens, we've been unusually busy at work this past week. From my point of view, however, it's worth it! My upgraded computer is sooooo fun. But things should start to normalize now -- look for a new front page tomorrow morning. :-) --Gary

I was just looking at that old newsletter myself, and I do remember both of those. "Too little too late" was a picture of Yassir Arafat at a Red Cross thingy giving blood supposedly to aid the victims of 9-11. Maybe it was a sincere gesture, but.... "Having an effect on the world" was a news story unrelated to 9-11 -- it was about a school project in England to have all the grade school kids in the country go outside and jump up and down at the same time, and the effect was actually recorded on a seismograph. --Gary

Yes indeed! Go ahead and send me whatever you want for it, and I'll have your page (and Lindsey's page) up sometime tomorrow (Tuesday). --Gary

Gary, could I get my own page???

You sure can, but I don't think I can get it set up until like Tuesday. But go ahead and send me stuff for it, if you have anything ready. --Gary

Here you go! When you send me something, I will put it on Erika's Page. :-) --Gary

Thank you! Allow me to take this opportunity to explain what's going on with the page this weekend: I'm not connected to the internet at home yet (computer is still at the shop), so it is doubtful I'll be able to make updates til next week, after today. I'll put up a new "weekend" front page tonight around 5 pm and that will probably be it until next week. My apologies! But this cool new computer upgrade is my birthday present to myself. :-) --Gary

I just noticed from a previous newsletter that you've had Cocoa almost two years now -- September 17. --Gary

We could do the page-within-the-site idea right now, if y'all want. I could create individual pages, like this one, that the "owner" could control -- adding artwork, stories, pictures, etc. We'd have to keep the pictures to one or two at a time on any given page (because if this site gets much bigger they'll start charging me extra for it!) but that would be workable. Think of them as individual "refrigerator doors" that you can tape stuff to. Whaddaya think? --Gary

I do have a new "Who Am I" beginning to take shape, but it's not quite ready yet. But even if it was, I wouldn't want to get in the way of a Zoe/Mojo wedding! :-) --Gary

You're right, it was Wednesday -- a week ago today, in fact! I'm not sure what the "fireworks" are; I assumed they were trees, like palm trees...? --Gary

Later: On second thought, I believe they are low-hanging branches from a pine tree, just a few feet from the camera and illuminated by the flash. You can see the one branch pointing to eleven o'clock, leaving the frame. --Gary