Anniversaries and Milestones

I don't pay too close attention to various anniversaries, but I've passed a few lately:

• As of December 18, 2004, three years as a vegetarian.
• As of sometime recently, my longest stretch ever in a single job--over 4 1/2 years in my current job, surpassing the 4 1/2 years that I worked for the Alabama Historical Hysterical Commission.
• Perhaps the most difficult--as of tomorrow, four weeks without cookies, candy or other sweets.
• Perhaps the most depressing--yet another birthday, coming up this Sunday.
• And, as of February 3, three years of blogging! Here's a replay of my first ever blog post:
  

February 3, 2002

Bin Laden speaks
From that Al Jazeera interview CNN has been airing:

"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people and the West in general into an unbearable hell and a choking life." Can it be spelled out any more clearly? This isn't just about bringing down skyscrapers and murdering civilians and wreaking havoc and discord--it's about setting into motion a chain of events through which we end up doing irreperable damage to ourselves, to that part of our society which can only be destroyed from within, to the very ideals which define us.

The trap lies in wait before us, open and beckoning. And I have seen little evidence so far that we are wise enough to avoid it.

(Aargh! A spelling error in my very first post, and I just caught it! It should be "irreparable," not "irreperable.") A bit pompous for a first post, I guess, but the gist of it seems all too accurate in hindsight. Bush and his minions have done damage to our country that Osama could only dream of.