I have to admit I'm impressed with what the president has done so far, the statements at a Muslim mosque, explaining that terrorists who call themselves Muslims, are not. The speech last night before Congress. Right on the mark. The motives he gave to the terrorists were designed for local consumption and not to be taken seriously, of course - "they hate our freedoms" - but overall, it hit the right chord. We're not after Muslims and Arabs as a group, we're not after the innocent, we're not after revenge, we're after terrorists and we're going to do it as a coalition of like minded counties who have buildings with people inside them of their own.

Still, we have to see what it means when the boots hit the ground.

The coalition part I like. When Bush came to power and talked about withdrawing from the Middle East and Europe, hell, from the world, I thought maybe he was nuts. I'm not aware of anything that gets done without talking. When things go wrong in a business, it's generally because the individual groups that make up the business stopped talking. Maybe pressing the analogy, perhaps, world as a business, but I'm for more diplomacy than less. You can get a lot done with consensus and an automatic weapon.

Those of you who have read my journal (all four of you, including the lady in Belgium) probably understand I'm something of a loner, and I guess I am, but I go out of my way to talk with people to get things done. I dance and do jigs and make faces and do whatever else I need to do to get people on board. People say hello in the halls. I say hello in the halls. (We're talking techie conviviality, here, you understand, not actual stand up in front of a crowd big time gymnastics like they do in sales and marketing, but still, you know, open... convivial... more words, than silence....)

Let's see, today I got the results of the biopsies on the two moles that were removed last week and had another removed as well. I could tell from his voice and his demeanor when he took the first two that he wasn't happy with what he saw. I have no idea what he saw, these were hiding on my back. About my back I know little. He said they were clean. There were three levels of concern between melanoma on one side and no sweat, looks perfectly innocent on the other, and mine was the lowest level of those three. We'll hear about the one he took today in ten days when he takes two more. This is my third biopsy in a month. You can't dodge the bullet forever, I suppose, but I'd kind of like to see another decade or two before I'm clipped. September 11th, my uncle Vic dying, a prostate biopsy that had me puckered up, a couple of moles that needed analysis and now I've been kind of wondering if these aches and pains I'm attributing to my mattress aren't really something else. So I'll go in next week and check out something else.

"Whadda you got to say, Wuss?" (Wuss is lying on my lap as I type.) Wuss has no comment. Guys are supposed to grit their teeth and keep their mouths shut.

They're letting us come into the building through all of the doors now. There is still a guard at the underground parking lot entrance checking the people in against a list. I don't think they're opening trunks or checking underneath with mirrors, but they're obviously not slacking off. The dermatologist I saw today mentioned that he had lived in New York City, as I once lived just outside of New York City, and he hadn't really been able to focus this last week. That seemed right. I got some things done today, started a new project and felt good about it, but other than that, I haven't done squat. I can make up for squat.

The weekend coming. Good. I'm ready. Have to think about how I'm going to move. Pack some boxes. Sleep in late. The important stuff.

I learned today they're changing "INFINITE JUSTICE". It seems in the Muslin religion that only God delivers "infinite justice" and the average Muslim Joe, hearing we were coming over with "infinite" justice, might not understand. So we're changing it to something else. "Eventual justice", "Just in Time Justice", "Marshall Dillon Justice", who cares? We're coming and we're armed and we'll call it whatever you like. (I still don't like the "branding" aspect, the same thing the news organizations are doing. Logos up behind the talking heads. Pick the one that sounds the best to you and go with whatever is said. It won't be the news, but what the hell, it hasn't been news for years.