Tips On How To Practice Safe Cell

Before you get on the


with your



or your


be sure to visit

Safe Travel at U.S.A. D.O.T.

(Tell them Dan sent you)

Ta Da!! We DID It!!!

Virginia Traffic Fees Challenged in Court - Update

While I don't condone Anthony Price for amassing his 5th violation for driving on a suspended license, I do support the lawyers who have taken his conviction and are using it to challenge the legality of Virginia's newly enacted "Civil Remedial Fee" law and who are expecting a verdict on August 2nd.

Don't forget, you can make your own displeasure known by signing your name here.


In other, unrelated legal news, in less then 7 hours I'll finally become a law-abiding citizen of Virginia.

In other words, I'm that close to marriage in one of only a small handful of states remaining which still legally prohibits unmarried people from cohabitating with one another.

54 and Counting

Ok....it's 54 hours and 10 minutes away!!!

Repeat after me "I do" "I do" "I do"

Things to do in between reciting the above mantra:

Don't lose the rings between now and then.

Don't freak out.

Buy new underwear.

Paint nails - fingers AND toes.

Buy nylon stockings.

Don't freak out.

Drive to Montgomery County to get a copy of Dan's divorce papers.

Don't yell at Dan because he insisted he had a copy of his divorce papers even though it turns out he didn't.

Don't freak out.

Repeat after me: "I do" "I do" "I do"

Note to self: Don't ever do this again.

Sunset Storm Clouds

Women of the Ages

This is marvelous

This Is the Date

July 27, 2007

Someone called this old poem to my attention this morning.

It reminded of what a volatile 7 years it's sometimes been and how far we've come since this conversation took place in a Pittsburgh hotel room.

What a long strange trip it's been.

Seeking Definition

You tell me love is more
than moments spent
too artlessly entwined.
You tell me "Love is Fire."
I say that hell is hell
because it's kept
too goddamn hot.
You tell me hell
does not exist
and pull away in ire.

I tell you "Love is gentle heat --
The smallest embers
will survive."
We agree to disagree
and love's left undefined.
These, I think
are moments.
You brush the hair
back from my eyes.
We settle back more cautiously
and watch the clock unwind.

The Hypertexts

These Are the Rings

This is the story behind the rings:

The Now Ring

Nothing is worth more than this day!

The present ring contains one of the secrets of happiness. Most human suffering is caused by focusing our thoughts on the past and on the future. Yearning for the past and thinking about what has already happened as well as fearing the future and what may happen, results in a state of "non-existence". We exist in the present which is, in fact, the only reality that exists for us.

Our failure to recognize the present results in our being in a continuing state of fear and suffering. This ring consists of 4 states of awareness that were created to protect us from illusion and to bring us happiness.

The first word - "present" directs us to the only time that exists - now. Focus on the present, causes us to be aware of everything that is happening around us. When we are in the present we have a "presence" and we reach the state of "the present" - Ha-Nimtza (Hebrew word for is here). Ha-Nimtza hints to us the first stages that cause us to "awaken" and "find ourselves" - and in this way to reach a place where we can truly experience our own existence.

The release of false thoughts and trepidations, such as fear and anger, can bring us to a place of clarity and a sense of living a real life, free of suffering.


For me, marriage is acknowledging the past for what it was, accepting today for what it is and not fearing the future for what it might be. I am committing to the "now" and to each today that we share - and trusting that all of our tomorrows will become todays that continue to bring the laughter and the hope, the joy and the peace that I find within myself when we are together.

Ask Not For Whom The Bells Toll

Figure it out for yourself.

Petition to Repeal Va. "Remedial Fee"

Thanks to a fellow blogger whom I do not know but one whom took the time to send me A Petition to Repeal Va. Traffic Fees we now have a way to make our displeasure known - if not appreciated.

If you're a Virginia resident, I suggest you sign it. You can ignore the request from Pay Pal to support I-Petitions if you like (I have to admit, I did) and your signature still counts.

Meet Elizabeth

Poetry Revolt has seen fit to include my second accepted poem on their "preview" issue.

Heeeereee's Elizabeth (Must scroll down)

I have to admit, there's something about seeing your own name in print that just makes you wiggle - even when it's only Tuesday morning, the temperature is already 80+ degrees outside, your water pressure is nil, your electricity keeps flickering on and off and you've just discovered a huge mound of cat puke on the dining room table.

In other news, I see from Shann Palmer's blog that The State of Virginia is offering four fellowships worth $5,000.00 each to poets and/or music composers for the 2007-2008 year. Hmmmmmmm.

Nah. There's a better chance the cat puke will magically disappear before I go back downstairs to clean it up.

Step-Cats

Visit "I Can Has Cheezburgers" - NOW!!

I Can Has Cheezburger

Balcony Sunset - West End Alexandria

The New Yorker, Poetry and The Atlantic Monthly

Why is it that I long to see
a poem by me in Poetry
or find one tucked away inside
the magazine New Yorkers pride?

Atlantic Monthly Magazine?
I'd kill to see my poem between
the pages numbered eight and nine.
I'd puff my chest and crow "That's mine!"

So every year I resubmit
and six weeks later I get hit
with notes that say "I wish we could
print everything you think we should.

Perhaps you do not comprehend.
We've cardinal rules we cannot bend.
The highest standards must be met.
And you, you've mixed your hex with tet.

Poem Two's too short for our milieu
Perhaps you tried to write Haiku?
And Number Three's so goddamn long,
has no one told you long is wrong?

Regretfully we must reject
these poems you hoped we would select.
I know that this sounds awfully rough -
but frankly, they're not good enough."

And so I tuck my tail and whine
how I don't find their stuff so fine.
And I declare that I don't care
if I get published over there

'cuz I've been published lots of times
by editors that like my rhyme
and people who appreciate
the very poems the big boys hate.

And still I act like such a twit
and still I faithfully submit
whatever poems I think are best.
God, let one pass the Wiman test.

Oh Yeah - Happy Independence Day!!

More on Virginia's Civil Remedial Fees

Why are the new Virginia Resident Traffic Fees discriminatory?

Well, besides the obvious - the fact that it's just not fair to charge a resident of one state thousands of dollars more than you charge a resident of another state for the exact same infraction, there's this:

Suppose this is you
and you are sitting on the side of I-395 or behind a bush somewhere alongside of The Beltway and you see two cars, one in the 2nd lane and one in the 3rd lane - Both cars are
and they are being driven by middle aged
moms and both vehicles are, oddly enough, the same color, the same make, the same model and the same year and both are going exactly 22 miles over the posted speed limit - but because it is late and you are alone you can only pull over and ticket one of these vehicles. Will you choose Vehicle # 1

which will net your employeers a grand total of $100.00
regardless of this soccer mom's previous driving record?



Or will you choose Vehicle # 2


which is now magically worth a minimum of $1,050.00 even if the driver of this vehicle has a perfectly clean driving record to date and a maximum fee of over than $3,500 if this careless Soccer Mom's already accumulated previous points on his/her license?

A gold-mine for the State of Virginia? Sure, but a gold-mine for


and for someone else as well.

Peace, Poetry and Traffic Tickets in Va.

Interesting new poetry blog.
This one's on Poetry and Peace and it's maintained by
Philip Metres. The title of it is, appropriately, Behind the Lines, Poetry and Peacemaking.

In other news, one of the two poems I had accepted for the Inaugural issue of Poetry Revolt is prematurely up already on the Fall 2007 Preview Page.

I have no other news worth sharing.

I will add this, however. I am totally pissed off at the State of Virginia for this little bit of resident discrimination. Makes me really happy to be a citizen here, yanno? I'm not sure it's fair to hold me to a higher standard of responsibility than a resident of Maryland or DC who happens to be speeding through The Lover's State on their way to work or whatever. In fact, I'm pretty sure it isn't. I certainly hope someone challenges this one in court. I certainly hope they win and everyone who ended up paying $3500.00 for a speeding ticket gets their money back - and I most certainly hope it's returned with an apology - and interest - not only from the state iteslf, but also from the main sponsor of the bill, one David Albo a part-time legislator from Fairfax County and a full time partner in the law firm of Albo and Oblon where he handles, you guessed it, mostly traffic cases.

God, it's enough to make you want to puke. Or at least un-elect someone.