This morning, we woke up in our favorite hotel in Avalon. We were having our continental breakfast on the balcony when this uninvited, but not unwelcome guest flew in for a bite.
September 2006
Anniversary Presents
Well, you already saw my other anniversary presents here and here, so now I would like to show you the one I got today (which is our actual anniversary): a hand-made antique gold and tourmaline bracelet — I love it!
Cap’n Bob’s present won’t be here until next week because of a stupid ten-day waiting period for firearms. More on that later, though.
Remembering Zep
Damsel and I are very proud to be able to honor Marc Scott Zeplin on the fifth anniversary of 9/11/2001 and to be part of the 2996 Project.
“Zep” is what his friends called him. Zep was one of the 2996 victims who perished in the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Marc Scott Zeplin, age 33.
Place killed: World Trade Center. Resident of Harrison, N.Y. (USA).
Marc Zeplin worked in the World Trade Center offices of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company. Reading what Marc’s friends and family have written about him, Marc was well-liked and respected by peers, friends and others who wrote words about him following his death.
The following is from Zep’s tribute at the memorial site that his company set up to remember their employees that were lost in the attack:
Date of Birth: January 12, 1968
Department: Equity Sales
A group of friends named and registered a star in the heavens in memory of Marc Zeplin. How fitting as he was a star in the eyes of so many.
Successful as an equity trader, he formed close relationships with his clients but he was foremost a family man. Marc was very caring and devoted to his wife Debra, sons Ryan (3 yrs old) and Ethan (10 months), parents, sister and in-laws. He adored his children and treasured the time he spent with them. Marc was very proud of the new home he and his wife built in Westchester and enjoyed the change from urban to suburban living.
Raised in Long Island, Marc attended Oceanside High School and the University of Michigan where he also continued to earn a master’s degree in the acclaimed business school. Marc’s first career calling was sports casting. He loved sports of all kinds and enjoyed broadcasting games in Michigan during his college years. However, when he returned to New York, he found immediate employment in the financial world and soon after started at Cantor Fitzgerald where he became a partner.
Marc was truly a “master of the word.” He knew how and what to say in order to put you at ease, make you laugh or help you resolve a problem. Marc loved people. He had many friends and demonstrated a zest for living life to the fullest. He was tops in every way. He even worked at the top. The right position for so many years unfortunately was wrong on only one day – September 11, 2001.
— Debra Zeplin and Leora Zeplin, Marc’s Wife and Mother.
The Other New Toy
As I alluded to yesterday, Damsel got another new toy. This is a smaller, lighter version of Remmington’s model 870 shotgun that she shot for the first time today.
Damsel takes aim after cleaning her new toy
Update: Video of the first outing to the indoor range. I think she likes it!
Lunch
This is how Damsel’s appetite goes: soup, sandwich and shooter.
She got a new toy this week and just loves it! Actually two new toys – more on that later . . .
Ralph “Bucky” Phillips in Custody
Live blogging the press conference:
Wayne Bennett, NY State Police Superintendent was asked by the press what the arresting officers said to the fugitive upon his capture. “They said, ‘Get on the ground!'” was the Superintendent’s answer.
The Fox affiliate reporter asked the Superintendent “What would you say to him if you could speak to him now?” “Nothing I can discuss with you here,” was the answer.
What great answers to those moron’s questions. Worse than a bunch of paparazzi – jeez!
CARROLL, N.Y. — Ralph “Bucky” Phillips suspected of shooting three New York state troopers — one of whom later died — was captured Friday night after more than five months on the run, New York State Police Inv. Gary Colon said.
Phillips surrendered to police around 8 p.m., walking out of a cornfield with his hands up. The end of the state’s largest manhunt came after a frantic day of searching that started with troopers firing at Phillips then squeezing him into a tighter and tighter hole just over the Pennsylvania state line.
Cheers went up at two state police barracks, one in Pennsylvania and one in New York, as news of Phillips surrender spread.
We’re glad to see this degenerate scumbag is in custody (apologies to bags with scum in them). God bless the cops — now I hope they go after the other scumbags that were helping Phillips hide.
Photo and story courtesy Fox News and Associated Press.
Kallyfoania Kyoto
How many times must I say to Arnold, “Tell me it ain’t true!?!?”
Last week, the Governor of California signed legislation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the state. What this means to businesses and taxpayers is an increasing burden amounting to hardship proportions. The Governator, who is running for reelection on a no new taxes plank, now imposes this burden on EVERY Californian — indirectly, it IS a new tax!
From World Climate Report, we get some objective analysis of the motivation behind this recently-signed, whacked-out, drive businesses-out-of-the-state Greenbat legislation:
For nearly 100 years, Californians have claimed to be the innovators that the rest of the United States and the world ultimately follow. Not so on global warming. Instead, the California Legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger have just passed and signed global warming legislation that is an awful lot like a watered-down version of the failed Kyoto Protocol. That’s sooo 1990s.
That Protocol was supposed to reduce our emissions of Carbon Dioxide, the main human-generated global warming gas, to 7% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. Nationally, emissions are up about 18% since then. Recognizing this failure, the California law merely cuts back California emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a 25% cut.
Why on earth did they do this, and what will it accomplish?
In a word, politics.