What a Day

It's been a day. I've had worse but this one hasn't been fun. Mostly it's just been a series of little annoyances. It starts with the whole 9/11 anniversary. It's all over the place. You can't get away from it. Annoyance number one. I get my daughter off to the bus and I'm off to get my coffee. I have errands to run so I'm not able to stop in to Caribou for my hour or so of writing, coffee and peace. Instead I have to go to Starbucks where they're out of the stuff they need to make my coffee. Annoyance number two. I order an alternative. The woman making my coffee is weeping all over the place. She's having a bad day. I assure her that the coffee issue is no big deal. No, that's not it, she lost three of her friends during 9/11 and is just having a "bad day". Call me heartless but didn't we all? (FYI - I lived in the DC area during that time. My wife nearly lost her boss, I nearly lost my wife and a coworker at the time lost the entire household that lived next to him). Just keep your tears outta my coffee lady. Annoyance number three. The coffee I ordered sucked. Annoyance number four. I go to the VW dealership because my new Jetta has an issue. They can't see me until friday. Annoyance number five. Later, I try to get my printers shared through my wireless network so I can use them from my laptop. No dice. Annoyance number six. My wife annoys me via events that will go undiscussed and we get into a minor pissing match. Luckily, minor pissing matches are as far as we ever go but I still wound up in the front yard smoking and trying to calm down. I'm looking forward to bed.

In regards to 9/11, something should probably be said about it. I can't do any better than this guy so I'll leave you with this piece written by Ron Gunzburger from politics1.com that I ran across this morning.

"A bit of editorializing on this fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I have some questions for you to ponder. Has Osama Bin Laden been captured yet? Are the Taliban and their war lord allies in Afghanistan again resurgent? Does the US-backed, Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai effectively control anything outside the Kabul region? Is Iraq more stable and less of a threat to western interests now versus five years ago? Is Iran closer to being a nuclear threat now versus five years ago? Are US relations, in general, with foreign nations better or worse than five years ago? As Americans, have our civil liberties been incrementally reduced over the past five years? So ... is all of this the new definition of "we're winning" the War on Terrorism?"