Saddam's Birthday
Today is Saddam Husain's birthday. He is 67 years old. Normally I listen to NPR on the way in to work. They talk about birthdays. It is usually some relic I've never heard of. Today was different. This guy survived an early life as a hired killer. He rose to power in a political system where rivals kill each other to advance. He survived as a despot over a country of armed tribes. He survived taking that country to a couple of wars with his neighbors. He survived losing to the number one military power on Earth twice. This guy is going to out live me.

Bad Dreams
I had a bunch of violent dreams last night. People were trying to hit me with golf clubs and bats. My neck hurts this morning and I wander if I ducked allot while I was sleeping.
One of the guys up here said they had a disturbing dream about shooting people in the head a couple of weeks ago. I've had those dreams, but mostly after playing first person shooters. It is extra creepy because I go to the range every so often. In the dreams I smell the gun powder and feel the gun kick. I know it's a dream because my ears don't hurt after I shoot.
I've had friends tell me about stabbing some one with a sword and feeling the resistance as the blade plunged into flesh. I ask, did you smell the blood? They said no. I think there will always be some incomplete part of dreams. That is because the rational part of the brain only contributes random sense to dreams.

Gmail review
Cynthia decided to take Blogger up on their offer and beta test Google's new Gmail. I couldn't let her out geek me, so I had to give it a shot. the address is zhsy00001 at gmail.com. I'm not putting a direct link because of web page sniffers used by spam bots.
It is very beta. The address book is lacking. There is no Pop3 support (yet). I can't find a signature setting anywhere. It won't let you select multiple people for one email from your address book (I haven't figured it out yet). It does let you delete old mail, even after you have archived it. It has a category system for labeling your email. There is a nice feature for reporting an email as spam. If this does what I hope, as people report a particular email (and hopefully similar emails) as spam, gmail will toss them out before they hit every one's inbox.

Aunt and Uncle
My aunt and uncle are in town this week. They are on my dad's side. They have a sail boat and sail around looking for adventure. Yes, they are retired. My aunt is a school teacher. My uncle is a military man (air force). I'm not sure what he did in the military exactly.
For a while he drove a limousine. I remember a story about him driving the whole family down to Wall-Mart in the Limo and letting them out at the front door while warring the outfit and all. I just can't picture my family pimping at Wall-Mart like that. I'm sorry I missed it.