Wednesday, 01 January 2003

A little writing today--about 300 words on the new story I started yesterday.

Nothing big accomplished, although we did some small things. First thing in the morning I fiddled around with the web site to update the pages for 2003. I had never expected that I'd be keeping this journal for multiple years and the code that links the pages together requires hand tuning at year boundaries. After that, Jackie and I walked to the grocery store to get newspapers.

There's a great piece on the New York Times op-ed page by Leon Fuerth, "Outfoxed by North Korea", on how the Bush administration's bizarre fixation on Iraq (which threatens no one, except its own people) has put it in the position where it has to choose between either caving into North Korea's blackmail or else permitting a nuclear-armed North Korea, which would be a terrible threat to America's interests in Asia (not to mention all the people who live there).

Politicians give a lot of thought to how history will remember them. Unless he does something much more clever than I think him capable of, Bush is going to be remembered as the guy who let North Korea get nuclear weapons.

Jackie made lentil soup, which we had for lunch, thereby insuring prosperity in the new year. I renewed my membership in ELNA, the Esperanto League for North America.

Speaking of which, I got a phone call from an Esperantist who happened to be in town and just wanted to speak some Esperanto. It was a bit of a surprise--I don't speak Esperanto often enough to stay in practice--but I managed to hold up my end of the conversation.

So, it's back to work tomorrow, and that's it for holidays until, I guess, Memorial Day. Sigh.