The Intergalactic Cowboy

The BBC has just reported that a flaming Jeep has crashed into the main terminal building at the airport in Glasgow, Scotland. One of the people inside the jeep was reportedly on fire as the vehicle sped toward the terminal building, which was full of summer vacationers. These are the only facts that I know at this time. Krimson News now has two reporters in the U.K. risking extreme danger in order to give first hand reports of this cataclysmic situation which will not doubtedly have worldwide repercussions. Many thanks to S.P. and Zoidberg for their courageous reporting on yesterday’s events. Please see their comments on my yesterday’s diary entry.
More later.
I.C.
12:21 pm Sketchy details keep coming in about this possible act of terrorism in Scotland. Three people have been arrested in connection with this, one of whom was seen carrying a gas cannister from the vehicle and then fighting with the police and civilians. Was this gas container a coincidence or a connection with the London car bomb conspirators ? Stay tuned for more facts as they come in.
2:53 pm Scottish authorities have now confirmed that they believe that this is a terroristic incident. I guess that they had to confirm that these people were not sports enthusiasts, late for their flight to a soccer game… Anyway, the suspect who was on fire has been taken to a hospital and the hospital has been evacuated. Your guess is as good as mine as to why they have to evacuate a hospital to treat a terrorist. The city of New York has added increased security to Time Square and LaGuardia Airport, as has Los Angeles International Airport on the west coast. As of now, the terror threat level in the U.S. has not been officially increased. The entire United Kingdom is on pins and needles right now I’m sure. Queen Elizabeth was in Scotland today, attending the inauguration of the new Scottish Parliament. Mr. Gordon Brown, the new English prime minister, is originally from Scotland. So what’s next ?
5:07 pm Hells Bells !!! Gordon Brown has raised the terror alert level to Critical, meaning that another terror attack is imminent ! This, amid all kinds of contradictory reports about what the facts really are, for instance, this morning it was reported that there were three people in the car, but that only two were arrested. A Scottish constable just reported that he can’t say for sure how many people were in the car because the car is still too dangerous to be approached, even at this late hour. The constable also reported that the burned suspect did NOT die in the hospital even though CNN reported that he did die about an hour ago. Also earlier, CNN reported that the hospital was not evacuated because they had personally talked to a patient in the hospital. The constable reported that the hospital had been indeed evacuated because a suspicious device had been found attached to the body of the burn victim. I will ask my readers to forgive any innaccuracies that I report to you during this ever expanding conspiratorial attack. By the way, one of the Mercedes in the London incident has been confirmed as having originated in Glasgow. Another witness at the airport reported to ITV that one of the suspects was seen removing a cannister of gas from the car before the car caught on fire. The word on the street is that the Liverpool airport has been shut down as a precautionary measure. Please see Zoidberg’s live, on the scene report from London in the comment section of this diary entry.

Hats off to London police for disarming the car bomb before the bomb squad reached the scene. These are the facts as I currently understand them. Police found a smoking Mercedes; broke in; and, I guess, unplugged the wires that were attached to fifty gallons of gasoline, nuts and bolts. This was an act of heroism that saved lives. The car bomb was parked in the neighborhood of Haymarket which, I believe, is adjacent to Piccadilly Circus, a congested tourist spot. The car was parked outside a multi-level nightclub called Tiger Tiger.
Is this a message to the new Prime Minister ? How sad that this would happen at a time when the IRA has cooled its jets and de-escalated their own bombings. This diary entry is I’m sure old news to my European readers, but now at 7:52 am in the states, I thought that I should get the word out. I have two friends traveling to England next week. I hope that their trip is not ruined by the repercussions of this event.
Safety to all,
I.C.
10:05 am More details are coming out about this car bomb. The media is now saying that the bomb squad actually disabled the bomb, not the regular police officers. The shrapnel (sp?) was composed of nails rather than nuts and bolts. More later.
10:26 am Now the British police have closed off the Park Lane neighborhood of London. This area is close to the U.S. embassy. The police are not answering questions about why automobiles and pedestrians are not being allowed through. Office workers are not even being allowed back into their office buildings. Taxis are reporting that it is taking two hours to drive across town in that city.
11:34 am A police robot is now probing a vehicle on Park Lane near Hyde Park. The media is now reporting that the explosive in the earlier car was propane; not gasoline.
1:59 pm I am away from the television now and don’t know what has happened in the last two hours. Until my next report, I suggest that the authorities should shut down the Northern Line.
5:08 pm Now a second Mercedes has been found with a bomb inside of it ! The car was being towed away by a tow truck for being illegally parked near Trafalgar Square when the tow truck driver smelled gas and called the police. Please view the comment on this diary entry from our reporter, S.P., reporting live on the scene from ground zero at the very heart of this fast moving story. In light of these new developments, I suggest that the Northern, Circle and Central Lines be closed for ‘repairs’ until the situation stabilizes.
6:49 pm British authorities now confirm that two calls were made to the cell phone inside the first automobile that was discovered today. The intent was to ignite the explosive inside the car. President Bush is monitoring the situation from Kennebunkport, Maine. I will be monitoring the situation from The Rusty Buzzard in Thomaston, Georgia until 9pm tonight.

My friend D was moved from Warm Springs today to a nursing home in Thomaston. This nursing home is a bare bones nursing home with no physical therapy or recreation on property; basically just a blank room like you might find in a college dorm circa 1970. She shares a bathroom with whoever is in the room next door. Warm Springs sent her over here because they cannot do any therapy on her leg until it heals enough for her to put some weight on it. So her job is to wait it out until the leg can bear some weight.
The visit that my Mom and I paid to her this afternoon was like all of the horrible nursing home stories that you have all heard. As we enter the nursing home I shout out a cheery ‘hello’ to all of the residents that are sitting in chairs, lining the sterile linoleum hallway with flourescent lighting. Regretably, this salutation did not improve anyone’s state of consciousness. As I approach the nurses station to enquire as to the location of D’s room, a wheelchair bound woman starts psychobabbling to me about nothing that I can understand. I politely say ” uh huh ” and “yes,” while asking the nurse about D’s room number. The nurse gives me the number and then calls me back telling me that the room number is wrong. My Mom and I finally find D in fairly good spirits in a room that does not yet have a roomate in it with her. At this point a man in a nearby room starts moaning and crying in a falsetto voice. The words that he is moaning are unintelligable. The volume of his crying increases while the male nursing home workers shout out ” he’s alright, he’s alright.” The falsetto crying morphs into high pitched warbling with a vibrato added to the sustained atonal notes.This atomosphere makes it difficult to reassure D that she is in a good situation where she will be taken care of. Although you can’t blame an elderly person for having a psychotic episode in a sterile, isolated environment like that, you do have to worry about the situation that your family friend is located in. Mom and I chit chatted with D for a few minutes, pretending that nothing was wrong, and eventually left, passing the room of the crying, moaning man who was tossing from left to right in his bed. I noticed what appeared to be two spider bites on my right arm which were itching and swelling. I do not know how long D can exist in this environment without losing some of her grip on reality herself. I should add that this is the only nursing home in Thomaston with an available bed for her to sleep in. All that I know to do is to visit her and bring her news of the outside world.
With concern,
I.C.

The world of disappointment continued to manifest itself today, but I refused to participate in it. I watched other people engage in and actually become disappointment. At the health club today, one woman walked out because she refused to work out in a location where the song “Crazy Bitch” was playing on the stereo. The owner turned the stereo off as she was walking out. I told the woman next to me that I could understand how that song could be offensive to women. I did not mention to her that the CD version of the song uses the F word about a dozen times. I enjoy having loud rock playing while I work out. Since every rock station in Georgia is still playing that song, I fear that some kind of low energy music will be on from now on.
I acquired my new cell phone today with the 1000 extra minutes. For five extra dollars a month I get access to news headlines and stock market quotes. I tested the phone before I left the store. My Apple computer stock had gone down two dollars a share for some reason ! Quickly driving to the library computer lab, I discovered that several journalists had been given advance copies of the phone and were elaborating on its faults in their newspaper columns. Despite these bad reviews, people are already camping out in front of Apple Stores and AT+T stores in anticipation of the I-Phone’s release at 6pm on Friday. It is predicted that not everyone in line on Friday will be able to get one before the stores sell out. I can’t seem to remember how many phones will be shipped to the stores on that day; perhaps 200,000 ? If you need a new phone, check and see if your current cell phone provider will give you a new one to keep you from buying an I-Phone. This new phone of mine is totally cool !
’til tomorrow,
I.C.

My day began before I even got out of bed with help from afar. I don’t know who sent it but I do thank you very much. My disappointment lifted a little, making my Job For The Day a little easier.
Today I mailed a donation to the American Cancer Society; did some yardwork and housework; made a point of looking down on the world of interacting disappointments and assumed the virtue of cheerfullnes. Occasionally throughout this day I remembered to keep the presence of life flowing through me, by paying attention to my posture and bodily usage. I am still thankful to S.B.C. for quoting the definition of health in one of her final journal entries. All of this helped me to rise above the world of disappointment and to realize once again that there are other worlds to exist in.
Escape from Hell without dispair.
I.C.

It looks like tomorrow is going to be one of those disappointing birthdays. You know; when you think about the aspects of your relationships that are not what you need them to be, and then one of the relationships that you’re thinking of gets worse when they try to stand in the way of your happiness on a day that you are vulnerable. Maybe you don’t know…
The secret way out of this is to realize that you are not the disappointment itself. You are the person feeling the disappointment. It is so easy to become the disappointment rather than transcending it.
My job for the day tomorrow (Monday) is to transcend the disappointment rather than become it.
Happy effing birthday,
I.C.

I woke up at 2:30 am this morning and did not get back to sleep until 4:30. Despite this fact I had to be at the church at 9:30 to prepare for and 11 am funeral. Things went mostly smoothly at the funeral despite have to play a CD in the middle of it. I do not understand this trend in modern southern funerals of playing recordings of sentimental, country ballads with tear jerky pedal steel guitar parts in them. It has happened at almost every funeral that I have attended since I moved back here three years ago. Music at funerals should be played by live musicians or not at all. It should be dignified as well.
After a quick lunch and a quick nap, I drove my Mom over to Warm Springs to see D, who is doing ok today despite the clinical circumstances of her confinement. Her blood sugar was up to 195 today, which is high, but she was mostly alert and able to talk to us. I gave her some photographs that I had taken of her yard, her Sunday school class, her church and also of the buildings there at the rehabilitation facility. I left out the commentary on how dismal they look. D can now view these pictures of her world instead of the four walls of her hospital room. She seemed please to receive them.
Today I occassionally brought my attention to the living presence inside of me. Right now, however, I feel as though energy has been taken from me and not replaced. But that is alright; I don’t mind suffering for the sake of friends, especially friends who are in a helpless situation.
I need to crash,
I.C.

Goodbye G.C.Js; Hello G.C.I.o.R.a.P.
My current strategy for generating income is a small purchase of Apple Computer stock. If any of you own a television, ( I didn’t for ten years ) you know all about their new I-Phone that is coming out on June 29th. My strategy is to sell my current holdings of this stock on June 28th while the anticipation is at its peak. I predict that the negative reviews of the product will begin on the evening of the 29th and last throughout the weekend. We will all hear complaints such as ” the touch screen keyboard is too small ” or perhaps ” the monthly AT+T charges are too high.” So on Monday the 2nd of July, the stock will sell off, creating a good buying opportunity during the first week of July. I will then repurchase the stock at a low price and hold onto it until the next market crash. The only complication that I see would be if the market crash occurs within the next two weeks. A couple of hedge funds are going out of business as a result of the sub-prime market crises that was the hot business news item last month. These two hedge funds were managed by Bear Stearns, which is a well run company that just doesn’t make mistakes like this. The fear is that many more hedge funds will go down and bring the entire stock market down with it. These hedge funds will have to sell their billions of shares of stock at the market price, increasing the number of shares on the market; devaluing the price of these shares due to the increase of supply of these shares. No one knows exactly what companies or investment vehicles these hedge funds own because hedge funds are not heavily regulated by the Securtiy and Exchange Commission. So everyone could start selling every stock in fear of their own particular stock(s) being liquidated by the unknown hedge funds that might be in trouble.
Anyway, back to Apple Computer. Apple not only makes good computers and devices that let you view your computer screen on your t.v. set, but it has benefited from the devaluing of the U.S. currency against foreign currencies. When Apple sells a million computers in Europe or Asia, the increased value of the currency in those countries is translated into increased dollars in profit, once the profits are exchanged into U.S. currency. This increase in profits for Apple and other U.S. companies that are multinational, has occurred even if sales have not increased recently. A million Euros of profit is now worth more in American dollars that it was last year because of the exchange rate. Whether this new I Phone is any good or not, it is going to sell regardless. It is the most trendy, must have, graduation / going off to college gift available. There is a whole cell phone culture in this world where people compare each other’s cell phones and judge each other on what kind of cell phone they have, rather than what kind of person they are or what the quality of their presence is. My own cell phone company has offered me a new cell phone with 1000 free minutes if I sign a new two year contract with them by June 28th, the day before the I Phone is released. I hope to generate income from Apple stock and get a free cell phone out of the deal ! I will share this income with certain charities of my choice.
I will also earn income from another new guitar student, beginning next week.
With excitement,
I.C.

This is the front of the hospital in Warm Springs; not quite as dismal as the other surroundings.
D’s room is at the back of this building. Today her blood sugar is back to normal and she was given her first tub bath since her accident two weeks ago. She even felt like dining with the other patients in the dining hall today.
With optimism,
I.C.

These two wooden framed buildings are two of the rehabilitation buildings at the facility in Warm Springs. So which of you readers will be the first to sign up for physical rehabilitation here ? When I had physical rehabilitation in Atlanta, it was at a modern facility on beautifully landscaped grounds. Now, you can’t judge a book by its cover, but these two buildings look like a dog training acadamy to me, not a world renowned rehabilitation center. There are about half a dozen other wooden framed buildings like this on the property. These structures are at the end of the path in the previous photo.
Good wishes to D.,
I.C.