A British view from the Guardian Unlimited on How to Save the Brand America. Even our friends have some questions about our motives.

Interesting reports on the war in Iraq proported to be from the Russion GRU over at Venik's Aviation. I don't have a clue how real they are but they are more or less accurate and they provide a different view.

And Christopher Allbritton is in Turkey and trying to get into Iraq as an independent, "blog journalist". Check out his entries at Back to Iraq 2.0. If you're really keen at supporting the independence if the Internet (a opposed to it's slow assimilation by the Big Guys) support Christopher by sending money .

Another weekend filled with chores and stuff. You would think that after a week of work, one could have the weekend off, but, <SteveMartinVoice>nnnnnnoooooooo</SteveMartinVoice> the weekend fills up with all the stuff one has to do around the house and that couldn't be done while you were working.

Let's see, we start with a 3 mile run with our Portland Marathon training group, the kids have a concert and orchestra rehearsal and tonight, the wife and I have a play to go to. Tomorrow, I get to finish my taxes , move the house phone line so it's out of the way for the contractor on Monday (with the necessary trip to Frys ), pick up more of the house because of the mess of the remodel.

Sigh. That doesn't leave me much time to work on this web site, the picture pages (fun with XML and XSLT ) and writing more stuff here. Maybe next weekend.

We're being te Great Remodel Project. A few years ago we remodeled the kitchen and livingroom area. Now we're remodelling the otehr half of the house. This is a big project with moving walls and rearranging bathrooms. I will eventually have a remodle page up with plans and pictures. I may even move some of the cameras in the house so I can have "remodel cam".

The downside is that the whole family has to move into the basement for three months. I'm packing this weekend while the family is in Paris. That takes some of the stress off -- there is only myself to deal with -- but it also means I get to do all the work.

The contractor begins the demolition on Monday (March 24) so I'd better get packing.

It is just pouring rain this morning. The trees are coming out green. The grass is green and, with no music or noise in the house, I can hear te rain pounding on the roof. Such a wonderful sound on a Saturday morning.

This morning I put my family on a plane to Paris. We had arranged the trip many months ago through my son's school . I, being the bread-winner, get to stay home. Staying home is not too bad since I <a href="http"//pics.misterblue.com/20020-Paris/">went last year</a> .

But, we didn't plan for a war when spring break dates were set. And Bush would not change the date of his attack no matter how much money we pledged to the Republican Party. Sigh.

I'm sure they'll be all right. In fact, they will probably have a wonderful time since there won't be crowds in Paris. They will have the <a href="http"//pics.misterblue.com/20020-Paris/Louvre/">Louvre</a> to themselves.