9:28 PM PDT — Spent a couple of hours on the floor of the Seybold expo today. Odd atmosphere. If it hadn't been for Apple and Adobe, the place would have shut down I believe. Strangest sight though was in the south hall, off to one side, a Mercedes-Benz display off all things. Guess someone forgot to tell them about the dot com bubble bursting and all.

11:25 PM PDT — Final OS 10.1 note for now, the DVD player seems to be worth waiting for, kids. I know I hardly have to prove I'm a geek but having a Toy Story play seamlessly in the background while I chat on AIM is just too cool.

10:32 PM PDT — Oh yeah, I also downloaded the Word 10 beta. In a word, slick. High praise indeed for a Microsoft product. And on a (minor) design note, the Office 10 packaging looks pretty hip, too.

10:18 PM PDT — Apple announced Mac OS 10.1 this morning. And my pal Shari snagged a copy of the update CD at Seybold for me. So yay. For the other Mac-boys (and girls) out there, it's everything Steve J. promised. Fast, smooth, stable. The most annoying aspects of the initial release seem tamed. Keep in mind though that I've only been using it for about 90 minutes. However, I am traipsing back and forth between 10.1 and 9.2.1 without a problem. Or much delay. All this in an iBook. A G4 must scream.

Yes, I'm happy.

10:44 PM PDT — It's Monday. And that means a new MP3. Aren't you excited? This time, something a little different. Last One Singin' The Blues from Karen Carpenter's posthumously released solo album. The song isn't great but it's noteworthy because it's unmixed. Meaning it doesn't feature any of the overdubbing tricks that typically marked her work.

The track was never finished undoubtedly because it didn't make the original cut for the LP. Of course by the time Richard Carpenter got around to releasing the album in 1996, CDs offered significantly more playing time so he and producer Phil Ramone culled this track from the session tapes and tacked it on as an as-is bonus track.

Even if you're not a Carpenters fan, it's worth taking a listen. Karen had an undeniably great voice and it's a treat to hear just her singing with a band. Simple and unadorned.

11:57 AM PDT — I love to travel. And for distances beyond a couple of hundred miles (about three hours in a car), I prefer jets. The attacks on New York and Washington haven't changed that preference. In fact, I'm starting to be sorely tempted by the sales that have sprung up. Southwest offering coast-to-coast one ways for $89 with few restrictions, for example. The only aspect of air travel these days that does give me pause is the airport experience. I don't mix well with long lines. All of which is a long set up for a first-hand report at Fortune describing a Sept 18 JFK-SFO flight. The most interesting and unexpected event was this exchange:

A few minutes after our scheduled [boarding] time, the plane's captain, Jim Meeker, emerged from the jetway and came up to the ticket podium. Summoning the passengers to gather around him, he began to speak. "Can you all hear me? Can you all see me? I'm Jim Meeker, the captain. Look at my face and recognize my voice. Don't take orders from anybody but me."

That simple act strikes me as one of the more effective and logical anti-terrorist moves. I'm surprised the airlines aren't publicizing such steps rather than the inane acts of removing corkscrews and butter knives from galleys.

10:38 PM PDT — Anatomy of my day: Woke up. Showered. Dressed. Bought oatmeal-banana muffin on way to work. Worked. Lunched. Worked. Came home. Drove car to stores. Brought home five bags of mostly unneeded stuffs. Ate leftover pasta. Took out trash. Operated camera. Typed.

Jealous yet?

10:34 AM PDT — Break the cycle. This simple Flash piece chrystalizes my thoughts on the current war posturing more eloquently than I have managed so far. The link from it also allows you to send the following message to the President. (Thanks to Shari.)

Dear President Bush:

In this time of unparalleled tribulation, I know you are doing all you can to console the survivors, provide generous assistance to the victims, and pursue the criminals who killed thousands of innocent people.

You have asked for, and Congress has provided you with, essentially unlimited power to use our military might to respond. This is an awesome responsibility, and one rarely provided to presidents except in time of actual war between countries.

I urge you to act with sober restraint, choosing justice over rapid vengeance, and setting a high standard of moral certainty before engaging in any military response. Our track record of military responses all too often leads to the deaths of innocent victims elsewhere, and the spiral of death continues.

Sincerely,

Mark Edwards

9:37 AM PDT — What a surprise. The country is facing a war and suddenly the military stops its witch hunt against gays and lesbians. So let's get this straight: When the country is at peace and people just need to earn a living, the military can't tolerate fags. However during wartime, it's okay for the queers to die.

Glad we got that figured out. You may resume your flag waving.

10:33 PM PDT — Note the new Music of the Monday selection: Clampdown by The Clash. The song just seems right for the moment. Not to mention that it comes from London Calling, an arguably perfect record.

10:25 PM PDT — Tonight, I discovered that Mr. Mailman brought us a special issue of Entertainment Weekly devoted entirely to that monolith of quality television, Friends.

Please tell me this is one of those magazine parody deals. Please.

10:13 PM PDT — I seem to have successfully fought off a cold this weekend. The sore throat I felt coming on late Friday was vanquished by the prodigious bed rest I got Saturday and Sunday. Helped along by generous doses of NyQuil also, of course. So yay me.

Good thing I'm healthy too since we had a dinner date with that always cute couple Chris and Jesse tonight. Even though the occasion ostensibly marked Chris's return to school four hours away, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll make the four-way dinner a regular occurrence.

Yes, you can correctly interpret that to mean I had a fun time.

8:26 PM PDT — Michael T. Klare writing at Salon makes more sense than our pea-brained President.

I know that the calls for military action will grow in volume. And I share a sense of outrage against those who killed so many of our countrymen and women. But I want the campaign against bin Laden to succeed -- both in a practical and a moral sense. Battle cries like that of Sen. Zell Miller, who called on the U.S. Thursday to "bomb the hell out of Afghanistan" for harboring bin Laden, may make us feel momentarily elated. But in the long run, it is only the pursuit of justice that can secure a peaceful world. The best way to accomplish this is for the U.S. to treat bin Laden as a criminal fugitive, not an enemy of war.

7:44 PM PDT — Representative Barbara Lee is likely the most courageous politician in the country right now. Please read the full text of her statement on the House floor.

4:02 PM PDT — Jonno as usual has uncovered decent links to put things in perspective. Don't let anyone tell you the attack wasn't provoked. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it was justified. Far from it. But let us as a nation take our collective heads out of the sand.

History is filled with plenty of cause/effect examples. Hitler rose to power primarily because the Treaty of Versailles punished Germany far too harshly. If European nations had not been so vindictive or if the United States had not withdrawn into isolationism, the world might have been spared the holocaust and a second world war.

I see parallels to the current situation. We're paying for our policies in the Middle East, for giving Israel virtual carte blanche and for cold war posturings. If we had not felt the need to counter the USSR's moves in Afghanistan, the Taliban might not exist, for example.

And it's the notion of future cause/effects not the prospect of further terrorist acts that make me uneasy today.

3:17 PM PDT — Yesterday's lunch made me feel so much better. A group of six or so of us had left the building in search of a simple sandwich and sunlight. I had a nice smoked whitefish salad on marble rye in hand and was leading our band to a patch of grass on the edge of Justin Herman Plaza. Turning the corner at the big hotel, I was mildly disturbed to see a giant ring of people holding hands around the plaza steps. A quick check of the watch showed that the publicly-sanctioned 12:30 moment of silence should have ended nine minutes earlier. Then almost on que, people dropped hands and started dissipating. Close call I thought.

Without thinking twice, we plopped onto the grass not far from another group of a dozen or so also sitting in a circle. No sooner had we unwrapped our sandwiches than this other group started singing Amazing Grace.

I did my best to ignore the song and concentrate on the first half of my sandwich. Fortunately, they stopped after the first verse and I breathed again. Two beats later though they started again, this time with God Bless America. And to make it worse, I noticed a TV news cameraman waddling their way.

My gut instinct was to beat a hasty retreat but I didn't want to come off as callous in front of my co-workers. Luckily Jake had no such qualms. He said something to the effect of not being able to take it and got up to go. Within a second, the rest of us were scrambling to our feet and making our way well out of earshot.

In talking about it afterwards, I discovered that the others didn't necessarily share my knee-jerk reaction against organized religion, jingoism and group think but, the women especially, simply needed to protect their emotions that had been rubbed dangerously raw over the past four days. Regardless of individual reasons why, all of us desperately needed (and need) a return to some semblance of normal.

Even if it's just a few minutes on a sunny patch of slightly damp grass with friends.

10:21 PM PDT — Crappy news on the personal level: Dan "Sparky" had to call off his Seybold SF boondoggle because of his employer's ban on travel. Bah.

10:19 PM PDT — Reluctant tourist no more: Brittany made it to Houston on the planned flight. Only two reschedules since the original Tuesday flight. Not bad considering.

1:37 PM PDT — Why bother with facts, let's rush to judgement. (Thanks Chris). If you have a site, spread the link.

10:52 PM PDT — In case you're keeping score, Brittany is confirmed on a flight for tomorrow morning and even was audacious enough to schedule a SuperShuttle pickup.

10:38 PM PDT — Interesting day at the office. I was out with some other folks this morning looking at new locations (our lease is up at year's end) and noticed tons of people on the street. Turns out the Embarcadero Center was emptied because of a bomb scare. Our office is a block away from the complex and wasn't threatened but still a number of folks decide it was a good opportunity to leave. Even better, some didn't come back. A small fact I discover upon my return several hours later. Turns out that clients don't care about the false alarms and still expect deadlines to be met. Imagine. So I wind up working until 8 handling other peoples work.

I'm trying not to be cranky. Really I am.

All turned out well though. Found a bit of normality when I finally got home. Rich was watching Private Benjamin then suggested we go out for a tasty dinner.

Yes, that's exactly how he said it.

9:34 PM PDT — Dan, Mark Allen and Choire continue to provide riveting first-person accounts of the trauma in Manhattan. This shot in particular hits home for me personally because it was taken in front of our former building on Fourth Avenue.

8:32 PM PDT — I can't be anything more than an observer with an occasional witty quip at this point. Thankfully.

To my eyes though Guiliani is amazing through this. Bush is a cardboard cut out, at best.

1:47 PM PDT — I'm angry. Though not at some stereotypical, presumably Arabic bogeymen. No, in between the long periods sadness, shock and disbelief, I find that I'm developing a rage at our so-called President.

Where the fuck is George?

One video tape of a badly-delivered lame statement. Please.

My attitude has nothing to do with politics either. I usually disagree with the positions of John McCain and Rudolph Guiliani yet both have been on live tv repeatedly today providing information and rational reassurance.

Yes, I understand that the chain of command must be protected. But given the communication abilities available to ordinary people today, it seems that a leader belongs in front of cameras and microphones providing reassurance and direction. How can we feel safe when our leadership disappears behind a veil of security?

Thanks to Dan (Sparky) who summed up the situation with his quote of the day:

Man, I bet they couldn't get Colin Powell on the phone fast enough this morning.

1:10 PM PDT — Woken this morning by a phone call from a friend, Jim H, who works five blocks from the former World Trade Center. He's okay but had a harrowing description of the second plane flying into tower. Haven't turned off the TV all day.

Still waiting to hear from other NYC friends. Calls result only in a circuits busy signal.

My pal Dan at ultrasparky has highly personal reports. Nice antidote to the mainstream coverage. Also Mark Allen has large, clear photos along with his graphic personal account.

Comic relief provided by my mother who suggested that we get into the car and drive to her location in Texas. Sure mom, with chaos and uncertainty on the rise, I want to be in the middle of the desert searching for water, food and/or gasoline.

2:58 PM PDT — Lance and I are seeing Tony Bennett with k.d. lang on Thursday. In honor of this momentous occasion, enjoy the You're Easy To Dance With/Change Partners/Cheek To Cheek medley.

11:43 AM PDT — The Bay Blog Day happened yesterday as planned. I was there and I've got the pictures to prove it.

8:52 AM PDT — Had a truly frightening experience this morning. While looking for the Jennifer Convertibles website, I came across the horror that is Jennifer. If you need an idea of what my own personal hell might be like, look no farther than the flash intro.

And before I leave this subject, I have to ask: What is wrong with people who go to Branson, Missouri that makes them consider going to not just this show but any show at 9:30 AM?

9:46 PM PDT — The email's out to get me. Seriously. I spent a good 45 minutes on the office iMac yesterday morning cleaning out my inbox. Got it down to a manageable 24 or so read messages that needed action or followup. Fast forward to 5 o'clock today and I'm looking at a box with 119 messages including 49 of the unread variety. If you haven't heard from me lately (and you know I like you), not to worry. I'll get there eventually. Promise. Mean it.

9:03 PM PDT — You can call me Mister. Or so Philo assumes. We'll have to discuss at Sunday's SF Bay Gay Blog Summit. I'm excited. No really. In the span of a mere seven days, I will have experienced Madonna twice, the restored Funny Girl and now this momentous gathering.

Wait. Read that list again. Go on, I'll be here till you get back.

Okay now I have to ask, could I make myself sound like a bigger fag?

11:52 PM PDT — Saw Funny Girl tonight at the Castro Theater. Beautiful print. Restored Technicolor Process Number Four (the famed three-strip version) to be precise. Great film. I'd exort you to go see it also but we were at the last showing of the engagement. Oh well.

11:59 PM PDT — Funniest thing I've seen on TV lately: Letterman had a guy balancing an electric lawn mower on his chin while a lovely assistant tossed heads of iceberg lettuce at the blade. Now that's something.

7:15 PM PDT — Long weekend means a chance for a getaway and what better place for an intense experience than Vegas. The fact that we also have a pair of concert tickets helps.

Previously