Chris Magazine

High prices for oil and natural gas in recent months have propelled Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell to their best quarterly results ever. Exxon is the first U-S company ever to ring up quarterly sales of $100 billion dollars. It's revenue for July through September was more than the full-year gross domestic product of some of the world's largest oil-producing nations.

Thanks to some clever marketing folks I am now no longer a blogger, but rather a citizen journalist. Not that my stories will be any more accurate or my facts more factual or my stories devoid of slant from my personal perspective, nor will I not make me the main story at every opportunity, but then again, neither do regular "journalists" these days either.

Sad day. Rosa Parks died at 92 today. Yet another important thread to the past is now severed....how are our memories of that which has past holding together...frayed at best I would say. We dare not forget the struggles that have built us into what we are and yet we seem distracted these days. Damn XBox.

As wrong as it clearly is, it may well be true:
That the only people who can really be said to get their money from all-you-can eat buffets are bulimics.

It's up to about $300 million. I'm hoping I won. I could use a new tv. Though, if I win, I'm not sure I'll be back. I'll probably be way too good for you little people. I guess I could have my assistant hop on and do this for me. That's probably what I'll do. That way it won't seem like I've lost touch with my roots.

Coolest thing ever today. Met a cheetah...got to hang out and pet and play with a cheetah. Incredible face and eyes. Intimidating purr. If ever you get the chance, you should go meet a cheetah. Makes me want to go on a safari.

Got an offer to get an American Express Business Card today. It was addressed to Chris Magazine. I was thinking to myself, finally, someone recognizes that this site is worth giving a $30 to $50-thousand dolllar line of credit to....then a very good friend of mine pointed out that sometimes dogs get similar offers addressed to them. She was right, of course, but then I thought to myself, "Maybe that's true, but I'll take the line of credit either way". The really scary thing about this is, I haven't, to the best of my knowledge, ever posted my full name (and who's to say that Chris is my real name to begin with) nor my home address on this blog...so how'd the wonderful marketing department of American Express get it? I gotta go, I think I hear a black helicopter coming.

Turns out I was lying...I looked at today's puzzle...looks like a bitch to do and I don't understand it at all. It seems that it would be a lot of math. I really can't handle math. Oh well.

Yes, I'm back again and loving it. How are y'all? After some long soul searching I've decided to become more exciting. I just feel like it's time I do something different. So, starting tomorrow I'm going to begin doing that soduku thing in the paper.

If it's broken and it doesn't work anymore than it's probably best thrown out and forgotten.

Might also be an allegory. Works either way.

Missed yesterday. Had another prevailing obligation, but hey, I'm back today. That should count for something, don't you think?

The darkness

The darkness fell
It was a stark, desolate look
Covering all of his features
It was audible
The endless chatter
The meaningless scatological banter
Had ceased, leaving silence
Every movement was deliberate
Made from well practiced actions
Rather than any sense of desire
Even the smile he wore
Betrayed the arctic frost
Growing beneath
There was no joy in that smile
Merely a fulfillment of an expected action
He’d known,
Expected anyway, the result
The cards he’d played were poor from the start
And the dealer never seemed to deal his way
But it seemed so real
So tangible to him
He had embraced it
But he should have seen
It was a roller coaster
While you are on it, you own that feeling
That elation of your stomach dropping into your feet
Then jumping into your throat
But it’s ride and it’s not yours
It will end and the determination of that end
Won’t be his to make
It’s in the hands of others
And when it does he’ll find
That feeling, the one that seemed so strong
That seemed to make everything else fall away
Wasn’t his, it was on loan
And rightfully taken back
So the darkness stays
And he
No longer seeks
The light

I keep meaning to, but life keeps getting in the way. I plan on doing at least one post a day, every day this week. We'll check and see the response and perhaps I'll try harder. Odds are, since I'm lazy as all get out that I won't.

I would like to comment on the wonderful people here in the United States who criticized world response to Katrina and who are now doing their best to ignore a tragedy that is somewhere between 10 and 30-fold worse in Asia. Is it because they don't speak our language or share our culture or because we're selfish and believe the world revolves only around us. Our lives, are they worth more than others, it certainly seems that way.

When Katrina struck and even as Rita was on the way, every news channel devoted all day every day to that coverage, the earthquake in Asia, which has killed an estimated 30-thousand people, doesn't seem to warrant that same coverage and I can't figure out why.

In the Oregonian today (that would be Portland's only daily newspaper for those of you not of this place) the big, top story that took up much of the front page of the paper was about possibly moving Saturday Market down the street in 2007. The earthquake only managed a small write up in the bottom corner.

The Christian right, who seem to dominate much of politics these days should be at the forefront of demanding that our attention be turned to those in need. Isn't that a Christian value? Maybe it's just more Christian rhetoric.

Perhaps things will change as we get into the week, but I doubt it. Earthquakes aren't as cool and dramatic as tsunamis and when was the last time you saw a follow up story on that in the news?
meaning to, but life keeps getting in the way. I plan on doing at least one post a day, every day this week. We'll check and see the response and perhaps I'll try harder. Odds are, since I'm lazy as all get out that I won't.

I would like to comment on the wonderful people here in the United States who criticized world response to Katrina and who are now doing their best to ignore a tragedy that is somewhere between 10 and 30-fold worse in Asia. Is it because they don't speak our langauge or share our culture or because we're selfish and believe the world revolves only around us. Our lives, are they worth more than others, it certainly seems that way.

When Katrina struck and even as Rita was on the way, every news channel devoted all day every day to that coverage, the earthquake in Asia, which has killed an estimated 30-thousand people, doesn't seem to warrent that same coverage and I can't figure out why.

In the Oregonian today (that would be Portland's only daily newspaper for those of you not of this place) the big, top story that took up much of the front page of the paper was about possibly moving Saturday Market down the street in 2007. The earthquake only managed a small write up in the bottom corner.

The Christian right, who seem to dominate much of politics these days should be at the forefront of demanding that our attention be turned to those in need. Isn't that a christian value? Maybe it's just more Christian rhetoric.

Perhaps things will change as we get into the week, but I doubt it. Earthquakes aren't as cool and dramatic as tsunamis and when was the last time you saw a follow up story on that in the news?