H:
You had mentioned Doug Stanhope, the Libertarian Party and the 2008 Presidential Elections. That confused me a little: I thought it was a bit early for the LP to choose a 2008 prez candidate. So I went to the LP's blog, which seemed to say just that: Stanhope as LP prez candidate in '08. But when you read the comments, someone points out that at least a half-dozen other guys are also running as the 2008 LP presidential candidate.
Stanhope's own webpage entry from July 9 clears it up: ... solidified my decision to run for the nomination as the Libertarian candidate. A bit confusing, but it looks like the LP picks its nominee in 2008, like everybody else.

The Libertarian Party is a mess right now, anyway. They held their national convention this month, and the platform committee chair has a long account of what he called the "Perfect Storm", where the LP removed 56 planks from its platform. The environment was one where "The factions in the party refuse not simply to listen to each other, but to even consider that each is legitimate."
Ugh.
If you are interested in following the tides of libertarian thought, Reason.com, especially its pseudo-blog, Hit and Run, is useful...

Anyway, if I hadn't gone to Doug Stanhope's website, I never would have known he was quoted in The Star as saying "Irish women are too ugly to rape..." No wonder he was booed off the stage in Ireland, in front of a "bordering on violent" crowd. Funny stuff...

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 7/27/2006 03:40:00 PM

 
Hello all,

C, thanks for the update on the Roth stuff. Maybe we should switch to the Vanguard one. I read the financial commentary in Newsweek pretty regularly, and I have definitely heard them give that fund the thumbs up as well. Dad, we should discuss it.

Work is rapidly winding down and I am cleaning up my office area a bit. I went on my last trip for work this last Monday. Trip # 10 to Indy. Unfortunately, my plane came in late and I was unable to make it to the sushi place I really like there, so I had to settle for random, very salty Chinese food. boo hoo.

Kind of a funny side note - the "please come talk to me" sign on my forhead must be beaming out like crazy, because the elderly pilot of my plane out to Indy started up a conversation with me while we were sitting in the waiting area. We talked about history, and how communism has never worked because of the greed of humankind. We both agreed that we as a race keep getting caught in these cycles of rebirth (for example, the renaissance) that then slowly degrade to repression again. He ended the conversation when we were about to board and he had to get on the plane to, you know, prepare to fly it. He told me that he rarely found such wisdom in one so young. Ha!

Then on that flight I sat next to a guy who had been in AA for 13 years and was a systems analist for Eli Lilly pharmaceuticals. He was also a jazz enthusiast and an accomplished musician. Cool guy! He urged me to endulge in my creative side as well is the side of me that wants to study all the time.

I was punished though on the flight back to philly when I sat close to the front and had to suffer through the bostonian flight attendant's nasal-y horror of a voice, while she flirted with the businessman from Cali sitting in front of me. And this lasted literally for the entire 2 hour flight, plus all times taxiing in Indy and Philly. Their conversation was so innane, it drove me crazy. At one point, he said he had a cat named sushi, and she said that she loved sushi so much she might want to eat the cat. jeeeeeez.

C, hope you like the sandals! I hope you figured out how to tighten them. Dad, we will talk more about me coming to visit. JP, the sweatshirt came, and it is super cool, but some of the printing on the front is messed up, and I think we should return it and have it re-done.

love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 7/27/2006 11:19:00 AM

 
JP & H (and Dad!):
I keep forgetting to tell you guys about the mutual fund into which I think JP and H should put (all) their Roth IRA holdings (and any other retirement monies).
It's the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund, which has a ticker symbol of: VTIVX.
Why? Here's the VTIVX investment strategy: The fund invests in other Vanguard mutual funds using an asset allocation strategy designed for investors planning to retire between 2043 and 2047. The fund’s asset allocation will become more conservative over time.

What's so good about this? Well, it's a Vanguard product, so its fees are very, very low. It's also 'fire-and-forget' - you guys can put your money in and not think about it for the next 40 years. Over time, the fund adjusts its holdings, and becomes much more conservative as retirement draws near.
What does VTIVX invest in?
- the total U.S. bond market
- the total U.S. stock market
- 3 types of international stock funds: European, Pacific and Emerging Markets.

You can't get much more diversified than that. Right now, the fund is light on bonds (10%) and heavy on stocks (72% U.S. stocks), including the international ones (11% European stocks; 5% Pacific stocks; 2% Emerging Market stocks). This means higher risk (and higher returns) right now. 35 years from now, the fund will hold mostly bonds - steady income and low risk.

And like I said, Vanguard does all the necessary adjusting over the years...

(FYI - I am following a similar strategy - I'm in eight different funds which together do close to the same thing, plus I have a REIT (real estate) fund. The real powerhouses right now are the international funds, especially Emerging Markets.)

Let me know what you think!
C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 7/26/2006 04:50:00 PM

 
JP: I still need to call you with a couple of thoughts on your work adventures... Sorry to hear it's stagnating with the lady friend. Of course, it's L.A., so more people get off the bus every day than you could possibly ever meet... (in other words - fish, sea, etc.).

H: Congrats on Gavin's job! I did the math, and if you assume someone works 20 days in a 31-day-month, then his 32 days on, 23 days off works out to be the equivalent of 4.5 work days per 7-day-week, which is pretty sweet. I assume he is out of town, even abroad, for the 32 days? Maintaining the base station is probably just as vital as actually being in the plane, and it seems a bit safer, too.
Call me crazy, but I may have figured out the present, H!
I'll be coming out to Philly tomorrow (Saturday), H, and if I can leave pretty early on Sunday morning, will probably spend the night, if you have room! I'll call you tonight!

Dad: still trying to figure out a good time to come and visit. Courage!

(P.S. to everyone - Dan Rather has been hired to host a program on HDNet! If you haven't seen High Definition Television yet, HDNet, Discovery HD Theater, and PBS HD have programs so beautiful, they can make you cry. Sunrise Earth on Discovery HD is amazing. No dialogue, just one hour of the sun rising over some gorgeous part of the planet. HDTV is worth it for Sunrise Earth alone... And think about it: PBS... in high definition! That would be nirvana for some...)

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 7/21/2006 11:41:00 AM

 
Dear all,

C, thanks for the update. Sorry to hear about the death in the family. So you were thinking about AC for your birthday? There seems to be some kind of magnetism around AC and Roggenkamp birthdays - both this year's AND last year's birthday I spent some time in AC. Last year, we just went to the beach and gorged at a buffet on my actual bday, and then this year, the saturday before my birthday we went to the beach, gorged at a buffet, and saw Paul Simon at the Borgata. So I know my way around AC reasonably well. I would love to come out to hang and party! Getting some rooms would be cool too. Just let me know what you decide. I know the Borgata is nice, but it's not on the beach. The Showboat with the House of Blues music venue is cool too.

Regarding Gavin's attendance: he actually is flying back from Denver, Colorado as I am writing this, after being flown out for an interview with a company there. It's a map making company (name: Intermap) that uses radar imaging to map areas, not the aerial photography that he used to do. But he has experience with aerial imaging and they offered him a job. The logistics: he can obviously continue to live in philly. He will work 32 days and be off 23. He will be the 'base station' guy, so won't even have to fly in the planes, another added bonus. What he will be doing is maintaining the station on the ground that the guy in the plane overhead uses to make more precise measurements. Here's how it works. They pick a base camp of which they know the coordinates. They then use that camp as a reference when imaging the surrounding area, so they always know where they are in relation to the base camp. Pretty cool set up.

Apparently he might flying up to British Columbia for training as soon as this Sunday, and will then fly on to Indonesia, where they are currently doing imaging work. The pay is in the upper 40's and it's a good company with really nice benefits. He might not be back before the 21st of August, so his attendance is questionable.

He's going to do this for a while to get some cash flow, to be able to start his business. So who knows when Siobhan will get to meet him - I know she really wants to. We will have to arrange something else. Christoph, I already got you your birthday present. I don't want to give too much away, but basically, don't buy anything that I have been really urging you to buy, due to my satisfaction with the product. It was something that we discussed before your Italy/Germany twip. That's probably already giving away too much, but oh well.

Regarding LOST, I think my frustration with it was in knowing that it probably won't be another year until the 3rd season is done and I get to watch more episodes back to back commercial free the way I like it. If you think I'm bad, you should see Gavin: I have never seen him this 'aroused' about a show. He loves LOST. Dad and JP, we have to get you into it!

Dad, I am thinking of coming out for a visit Tuesday the 1st of August, because there is a show in Lancaster that night that I would like to attend. After the show I can just come out to Hanover. After that, you have me at your disposal for yard work, cooking, and companionship. Am not really sure how long I will stay, at least until Saturday the 5th.

JP, hope you are doing well. Read your blog. Moving. We will talk soon.

love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 7/20/2006 01:55:00 PM

 
Hey all,
Sorry I haven't been posting - S's aunt died on Saturday morning, and all I've been doing is going to work, sleeping, and going to Queens for funeral-related activities. The wake was on Monday and Tuesday nights, and the funeral was Wednesday morning.
The aunt, nicknamed Chris, married one of S's dad's older brothers. She was one of eight sisters, and I actually met their 88-year-old mother when we went to Ireland last September. A very cool old lady, that one. Joe (S's dad), the old lady and I sat and talked for a couple of hours - she would sit in her chair and hold onto the handle of her peat stove while she talked, for warmth and probably comfort...
Chris had an aneurysm almost 4 years ago and had been bed-ridden ever since. She also couldn't speak after the aneurysm. When Joe came to the U.S. in the 1970s, he lived with his brother and sister-in-law (Chris) for a while, so he was pretty close to her.

The viewing and funeral were in Astoria in Queens, and on Tuesday night, several transformers caught fire and caused power outages there. One was down the street from the funeral home, and people stood outside the funeral home, watching the electrical pole go up in flames. Later on, the manholes outside the funeral home started smoking, so we left in a hurry. Four of us drove around for hours, trying to find a place to eat (with electricity) that everyone could agree with, seeing fire trucks, smoking manholes and dark rows of houses everywhere. Finally there was a lightning storm and then heavy rain, which probably stopped all those manholes from smoking! (We ate in a diner...)

So it's finally back to normal, and I can try to post some more pictures. Tomorrow!

Cool about the phone service, Dad.

H: I actually liked the ending of Lost Season 2 - very cliff-hanger-ish. So what's up with Locke and Eko and the other guy? What is their fate? What effect will this (the magnetic "Event") have on the island, and the Others? What will happen to Our Heroes, in the Others' hands? And now that the other guy's rich girlfriend has located him (via those Portuguese-speaking guys in the snowy environment), what happenes next? I'm excited! (Also, I loved the Event - everything goes white and there's a crazy sound - I've been calling it the Voice of God...)

Also, I'm thinking of going down to Atlantic City for my birthday. I'll take Monday the 21st off. S works through Saturday night, so we might leave early Sunday and drive back Monday night or Tuesday a.m. So, if you are free, H, maybe you guys could join us! S's sister and her boyfriend might come along too. We could get 3 rooms next to each other in a hotel! It would be fun... (Of course, Dad and JP are invited as well!)

Pictures soon, I promise!
C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 7/20/2006 12:22:00 PM

 
Dear all,

C, nice pictures. I like the one of you and S with the 'gladiator.' It's all about taking silly pictures on trips. I can't wait to see the ring up close - check out all the little things you decided to put on it. Keep the pictures coming!

I have some good and weird news: Gavin and his band, Beaver Avenue (formerly Wally and the Sexy Time Explosions) have a gig on September 7th. But it's a special gig! Doug Stanhope, the comedian who hosted the party in death valley that we went to, is doing a stand up show on September 7th at this bar/music venue called "the khyber" in Philly. On myspace (that's the networking/friends/phedophile site that's been in the news so much lately, Dad) Doug Stanhope put out a bulletin that he was looking for a Philly band, preferably a weird one, to open for him at that show. Gavin sent him a message saying that Beaver Avenue would be interested, didn't hear for a while, and then got a message back a few days later that Doug had just booked another band, but would drop them to have Beaver Avenue play instead. So Gavin sent him a message back saying that they were still willing, and didn't hear back immediately, again. Then he goes to the "khyber" website last night, and sees "beaver avenue" listed as playing with Doug Stanhope on September 7th!!!!!!! Plus, there was a link to the Beaver Avenue's myspace page, where they have songs up for listening, and the page has been getting tons of hits ever since that was posted.

Just to put things into perspective, Doug Stanhope hosted the Man Show on Comedy Central after Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla left. The Man Show was one of the most popular shows on that channel for a long time.He has also hosted some of the "girls gone wild" videos, which are really popular among certain groups of people. He has a large underground following. He is a really funny guy, and is running for president in 2008 with the libertarian party (C, I thought you'd like that). And it's not really just a joke campaign (like the post-recall campaign in Cali with porn stars and Gary Coleman running for office), more like the real deal.

This is a big turn of events for the band. Technically it will be their first real gig. Who knows that could happen. It could also be nothing. I think I will be doing backup vocals for some of the songs. Cool, huh?

So good news.

C, Gavin and I just finished the 2nd season of LOST. WTF? what a weird ending. Very unfulfilling. But that is the nature of the show, to always keep you on the edge of your seat. I liked the 2nd season though, enjoyed Henry Gable, Desmond, and the tail end of the plane uniting with the mid section. I liked what happened to the hatch, too. But what's with the weird polar region station that is monitoring electromagnetic pulses?

Gavin and I are going to Atlantic City tomorrow for beach and a Paul Simon show that night. I can't wait! I have been wanting to see Paul Simon solo for a while, and the show's in a small venue, so it should be a good time.

all from me.

love,
H
- posted by H @ 7/14/2006 01:04:00 PM

 
(Some) Pictures from the Twip! (Note - click on the pic to see it full-sized)



The view from our hotel room in Rome. It's the original city wall, and that's a bust of an emperor. Our hotel said he was called Belasarius, but I can't find that name on a list of emperors...















Thumbs down!


















The view from our hotel room terrace in Sorrento.











Inside the Blue Grotto.


After the question was popped.


Outside the Blue Grotto. (Note, the ring is on the other hand...)

On the boat back to Capri harbor. (With a shot of the ring!)

More pictures to follow.
C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 7/11/2006 10:50:00 AM

 
Dear Family,

Am recuperating from the training week here at the homestead. Just watched two episodes of LOST. Gavin downloaded the entire 2nd season from bit torrent, so we have been watching them slowly. He jumped way ahead of me, episode-wise, while I was gone, so I am trying to catch up. I just watched #17, which was a doozey. Lots of good stuff in these episodes, and I am glad I don't have to watch it on TV with all the commercials and such.

C, I wear the green side of the sash out, the right side in. The significance of the sash colors is interesting: Instructors "Shifu" (pron. Sherfoo) wear black on one side purple on the other - they wear the black out. The black and purple signify night (being 'in the dark,' eh?) dawning slowly into morning - with purple being the hint of dawn. Senior Instructors "Shibo" (pron. Sherbow) wear dark green and dark red, with the green out. The green and red signify a fullblown sunrise, and the red especially signifies that the knowledge is "getting into the blood" and the person is starting to embody the knowledge, not just understand it theoretically. As far as the green goes, I can't remember exactly, but it has to do with nature - we are more than anything else a Taoist art, and Taoism is really the study of nature.

Masters "Shigung" (pron. shergong) wear red and gold - with red on the outside. those colors signify shining, glowing, the epidome of the art. Beyond that, there isn't much else. One becomes a grandmaster only after one has made someone else a master, but it's not necessarily a new level of achievement in an 'understanding' sort of way.

So that's the structure from instructor and beyond. Before instructor you go through the five animals, with associated sash colors:
1. tiger - yellow
2. praying mantis - green
3. crane - blue
4. snake - silver
5. dragon - black

For the students you will notice a progression in colors - from light to dark. So you go from beginner to black sash, and the colors go light (yellow) to dark (black). then the instructor colors go from dark to light.

My promotion boils down to this: I have more responsibility, and will be learning more cool stuff.
JP, glad to hear you are settling into your nest. we should talk soon! Dad, sorry our talk was so short last night. I was tired, and drained. We need to think about when I will come for a visit in august!

C, can't wait to see twip pictures.

love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 7/10/2006 09:23:00 PM

 
JP - good to hear from you! Glad things are going well.
Dad - you can't miss this Washington Post article: Cyber-Savvy Pastors Blog When the Spirit Moves Them.
Will post pics this week!
C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 7/10/2006 08:48:00 PM

 
H: Congratulations! Do you wear the red side of the sash out on some days, and the green side out on others?

Dad, JP & H: Regarding the World Cup final game Sunday (2 pm on ABC!), I have to cheer for France, as crazy as it sounds. Here's my logic: Right now, Brazil has the most World Cup wins, with 5. Germany and Italy are tied in second place, with 3 wins each. If Italy wins on Sunday, Italy has 4 wins and is alone in second place. Germany falls to third place, all time.
Therefore, I must root against the Cheating Bastards and for France. A win would give France 2 wins total.
However, if Italy does win, there is one consolation: the Cheating Bastards weren't able to beat the United States team. In fact, we won that game, 2-1, but our second goal was mysteriously called back. Whether the referee-bribing scandals going on in Italy right now have anything to do with that, we'll probably never know...

So, go France, but if Italy wins, at least they couldn't beat us!

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 7/07/2006 01:35:00 PM

 
Hi all,

I just wanted to let you all know that I am in Canada until Sunday (got here Saturday afternoon) with our kung fu system, so I am a bit out of commission communication wise. My phone is roaming here, so phone calls are very expensive.

Training has been going really well. I was promoted to "shibo" (pron. sherbow), which is senior instructor, roughly translated. I knew in advance, but when I got my new sash in front of everyone, it was certainly a big deal. My sash is green and red now (green on one side, red on the other).

I will be back in the USA Sunday afternoon.

love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 7/06/2006 06:31:00 PM