7/22/03: 3:01 am There've been times over the past week that I've thought to myself, "either Buddy's going to kill me, or I'm going to kill him."

I love the little guy... really, I do. But over the ten days, he's gotten out of the yard seven or eight times. Every time we thought we'd gotten a hole plugged, we'd go off to an audition or rehearsal and come back to find him gone again. It's gotten to the point where people open conversations with us by saying, "Oh, by the way, where's Buddy?"

If there's a good side to his getting out and touring the neighborhood, it's that we've gotten to know some of our neighbors. Almost every time he's pulled his houdini routine someone has picked him up and called the phone number on his ID tag (I knew there was a reason we spent $8.00 at Petco for that silly thing...). We've really got some good folks living in this neighborhood, and they've been very kind and understanding about the little *($%*@%'s getting out so often.

So... we've spent the past week working non-stop to try and dog-proof the fence. This evening we may have finished... but where there's a hole, there's a way, and Buddy seems completely adept at finding his way out. I think of him like a "hacker;" one of those snot-nosed little punks who break into your computer to "show you how unsecure it is." The difference is that Buddy is breaking out of the back yard to show us all the flaws in our fence's security. How high-minded of him...

Anyhoo... just a quick note to let you all know that we're still (barely) alive... You may have noticed the time-stamp on this entry; we've been spending so much time working in the back yard that I'm horribly behind on my web site stuff for Mt. Hood Rep. I stayed up tonight to work on "The Aside," our monthly e-newsletter. If you haven't subscribed, get on over to the web site and sign-up. I promise I won't send out the newsletters too often...

Oh, speaking of Mt. Hood Rep stuff, Trish is going to be on TV Wednesday night. Multnomah Community Television (cable channel 21) is going to do a half-hour spot on Mt. Hood Rep's American Classics Festival. Trish will be interviewed and her cast will do a scene from the first part of Talley's Folly. So, if you're in the area and you want to tune in, you'll get a little preview of what's coming this summer.

Ok... much more I could write about moving into the new house, work, renovating the guest-bathroom, etc... but it's late and I'm tired. Hope you're all doing well...

7/14/03: 11:55pm Happy birthday, Trish!

And hey, happy birthday to all of you! Haven't been able to post much... as you might expect our days have been filled with trying to get the house organized and TRYING to work and continue on in our normal lives despite the move :).

We're in the process of renovating the guest bathroom... you've probably seen the pictures of the old configuration (orange counter over the toilet, white tile on the walls). Unfortunately the tub was shot and leaking into the crawlspace, so we had to do a little renovation anyway. Trish is taking the opportunity to do something a little more dramatic this time... I'll post photos when it's done!

Of course, we haven't been able to work on it over the past couple of days; our darling buddy has been keeping us busy patching holes in the back fence. He really loves the new neighborhood... he always comes back from his wanderings a little fatter, so there must be something out there worth loving, right? Grrrrrrr... At this point we THINK we've got the fence dog-proofed. He'll let us know, however, if there's another soft spot that can be exploited.

For those of you paying attention, I wanted to let you know a couple of things: first, Trish is starting rehearsals for Talley's Folly out at Mt. Hood Repertory Theatre. She's got a great cast and, of course, the play is amazing (it did win a Pulitzer Prize, after all...), so we're very excited to get going on it. For those of you who aren't signed up for the Mt. Hood Rep e-newsletter "The Aside," head over to the web site and sign up. We only send things out once a month, so your inbox won't get too clogged, and it's a good way to keep up with what's happening at The Rep.

Also, we're both going to be appearing in a staged reading of a new play by local playwright Francesca Sanders on Friday, July 18th. Radiant Theatre is mounting a Portland Women's Playwright Festival, and Francesca's play Rising From The Sugar Bowl was selected to be featured during the festival. It's an interesting little play, full of secrets and surprises. Come on out if you've got your Friday night free; the reading will be at Performance Works Northwest, and admissions are free (though a $5 or $10 donation would be greatly appreciated). Always good to see new work!

Well, I've got to get to bed... had a lovely evening with our friend Lori celebrating Trish's birthday. Now I'm socked. Hope you're all doing well...

6/21/03: 9:45pm So, how many of you know your Greek Mythology?

During his travels, Hercules met up with Atlas, the titan who's fated to carry the world upon his shoulders. Seeing that Atlas is looking a little "piqued," our boy Hercules offers to take the load on his own shoulders for a little bit.

Can you imagine how Atlas must have felt once the weight of the world was removed from his shoulders? The overwhelming sense of relief? Centuries of carrying around this mushy blue-and-green ball that weighs... how many metric tons? That's pretty-much what Trish and I are feeling right now! We just signed our closing papers on the new house yesterday afternoon!

This comes after a nightmarish week. We had a gig at OHSU all week. This is kind of like our other Standardized Patient gigs; we portray patients with a set of symptoms and some set answers to commonly asked questions. The medical students interview us, do an exam, and are graded on their performance. The difference here, however, is that these were the med students' final exams. We had an extra-long training process and had to be there from 8 until 5 every day of the week.

Now I know that you folks who usually work 8-5 are saying to yourselves "So, what's the big deal?" We're theatre folk, y'see... we're not built to go to bed early and get up early. Our usual work hours are from 5-10 or 12 at night; this was pretty tough on us. Add to that the fact that we're in the process of packing up the house, and you've got a pretty tiring week.

Then the BIG storm hit: the day before we're supposed to sign our closing papers, the title company called to say the lender wouldn't release the funds unless we could show that the debt on an old account had been settled. The only problem was, we had no recrod of ever having the account they were referring to. About 12 hours worth of phone calls ensued, between here, Baltimore, Texas, Wyoming... pretty much all over the country. We ended up solving things by getting up at 4 am on Friday and calling constantly until about 8:30. We finally got it resolved (via cel phone on the way to OHSU) at 8:30 that morning... and then, at 4:30 or so, it was over. The papers were signed, and we were done.

Pretty heady stuff... so raise a glass with us. We feel like we've run about three marathons. Of course, we still have to pack up the house (that's what we've been doing today), take posession of the new house, move, get set up in the new house, and all the rest of it... but hey, even Atlas had to take the world back on his shoulders after a while.

Hey, other news: you should really check out www.mthoodrep.org! We've got a heck of a summer season planned, and things are really starting to heat up!

Hope you're all doing well...

6/17/03: 10:35pm In the immortal words of Popeye, "Woah! Blow me down!"

Been a long time since we posted anything here, huh? Well, I've got a good excuse, which I'll get to a little further down. When last we left our heroes, however, they were exhausted at 1:30 in the morning and promised to tell you of the evening's adventures.

Suffice it to say that in hindsight, it wasn't much of an adventure. If you really want to hear about it, click here.

In other news, Breaking Legs has FINALLY closed! Ugh! A fun show, and I'm not going to complain about the paycheck... but 12 weeks is a loooooooong run! I got some good stuff out of it, though. Met some good people, had a great time stretching my comedic muscles (haven't done a broad comedy like that in quite a while!), and proved to myself that I could survive a run that long.

The big news in our life, however, is that WE'RE MOVING!!!! Yeah, I know it sounds crazy. I mean, we JUST moved into this house two-and-a-half years ago. What the HELL are we thinking?

Here's the deal: around tax-time (like... around the time I stopped regularly updating the weblog... interesting coincidence, no?) we met with our financial advisor. He did some number crunching, and told us that with the interest rates so low, we'd actually make more money if we rented the side of the duplex we're currently living in out, and got another place. This sounded pretty good to us; we'd always sort of thought that we'd have both sides rented eventually, and to be frank, being a live-in landlord isn't all it's cracked up to be.

So, we spent the month of May looking for a house. We probably looked at 50 or 75 of them... they all had the their good points and their bad points. Then, we found THE house. Trish fell in love with it the moment she walked in. It's about four miles south of where we are now, in SE Portland, with large vaulted ceilings, skylights, a hot tub, a two-car garage, no stairs... and a nice big yard for the doggies! Wanna see some pictures? Thought you would... take a look. While you're at it, check out the floor plan we mocked-up using a cheap architectural program.

So, of course, June was taken up with negotiations on the sale. Never a fun process, but we had David Meyers on our side. Best actor/ realtor in the business, if you ask us (sorry, Mr. Fisher-Welsh, but we've never worked with you so we can't really recommend you :) ) ; can't recommend him highly enough. If you're ever looking for property in the Portland-Area, we've got a good team we can recommend.

And here it is, the end of June... and we're in the throes of pre-packing. We're supposed to close on the house on the 25th, and then we're spending the rest of the week and the weekend moving. Wow... you wouldn't think that in only 2.5 years we could have accumlated so much stuff. It doesn't help that all this week we're workign the OHSU standardized patient program (acting as patients for the third-year medical students to examine... a lot harder than it sounds, actually. You have to remember all the details about whichever affliction you're portraying, you have set answers to questions that students are supposed to - and often don't - ask, and you HAVE TO DO IT THE SAME EACH TIME!!! Ugh...). Leaves precious little time to pack.

The good news, however, is that we've got lots of help. Our friend Lori is actually going to rent the side of the duplex that we're vacating, and is moving in the same weekend we're moving out. So, we're helping her and she's helping us... plus, our friend Marnice is coming down from Seattle to help before she flies moves off to Hawaii.

So... you can see that things have been busy. Hope that counts as a decent excuse for not updating the weblog... hopefully, once we get moved in I'll get into a more regular routine, and I'll be able to fill you in more. Oh, incidentally... our phone number isn't going to change; we'll be taking it with us. Likewise, our mailing address (the post office box) is still the same, so you can still get mail to us.

Well, that's it for now... I have to be up at 6am all week this week for the OHSU thing, so I guess I'd better get to bed. Hope you're all doing well... Be sure to use the Page Monitor at the top of the page, so you'll know about the next time I update the page.

Pax vobiscum and that

4/23/03: 6:53pm Hey everybody, happy Shakespeare's Birthday! Well, as near as we can figure to Shakespeare's birthday, anyway... most sources figure he was born today in 1584. Now, whether the guy who was born today is the guy who wrote the plays or not, I'll leave to the stuffy intellectuals who haven't got anything better to talk about (sorry Steffen)... in my opinion, it's as good an excuse as any to drink a toast to fine drama.

So... I don't know what life's been like for you this past week, but Trish and I have been pushing right along--

(if this was a production of Treasure Island, this is the part in the log-book where the writing inexplicably grows frantic and runs off the end of the page... I have an adventure to tell you all about tonight's events, but it's now 1:30 in the morning and I have to meet my friend Dawson at the Airport at 5 am! I have to get to bed... watch this space for tomorrow's entry! OOOOOOOOOO am I steamed!)

Oh, by the way, there's no show tomorrow night, so if you were planning on "dropping by" to see Breaking Legs... we won't be there. Low ticket sales... whatcha gonna do?

4/16/03: 8:15am So, is everyone's wallet feeling a little lighter today? Trish and I didn't come out too badly yesterday on our taxes... though we did end up running around a lot trying to get the forms signed. Our accountant had some computer problems, so we pushed it right up to the wire... got the returns in the mail by 5, though, so we're ok for another year!

I'm sure that the day after tax-day isn't he best day to be pointing this out, but did you Oregonian's see this article in last week's Oregonian? Oregon now ranks 53rd in the nation in arts funding! What's that you say? How can we rank 53rd in a country with only 50 states? It's simple... the study took the PROTECTORATES into account. That's right, folks... even Samoa spends more than this state on its arts and culture! Puerto Rico spends more! We're at the bottom of the barrell!

So, when I found out about this little factoid I started ranting in the dressing room over at Sylvia's. My good friend Mark Friendly, one of the actors who doubles as our stage manager, brought up the age-old question, "Why do the arts need public money? Why can't they be 'self-supporting?'" The conversation that ensued was pretty deep, long, and involved, and I won't go into it here... but it did remind me of a conversation that was posted on Theatre Vertigo's message board a few months ago. I'll let the wisdom of local actor Devon McCoy speak for me... take a look.

4/12/03: 4:55pm My, what a busy week! Been so full, I haven't had time to post any updates (oh, perish the thought!) :) Here's the lowdown:

Well, that's been my week so far... as always, lots of things going on. I'm off to put more grey in my hair now... (in the words of Roy Sheider, "It's SHOWTIME!"). Double-show tomorow... a matinee at 1pm and an evening show at 7, so this is the last time I've got to relax around the house for a while.

Hope you're all doing well...

4/6/03: 1:15pm My brother James asked me to post the photos of my cousin David and his fiancee from earlier this year... Here ya go, James.

4/5/03: 2:00am Aaahhh... the coffee's wearing off now, so I have to stop working (yes, I'm under a deadline so I'm working on Saturday night. Who says that being self-employed means you get to work whenever you want to? HA!!!). Thought I'd post a quick note up here, though, to let you know I'm thinking of you all.

Did you remember to set your clocks ahead? Go to Time.gov for the correct time in your area according to the US Naval Observatory.

Not much new going on in our lives... Trish did a staged reading yesterday of A View From The Bridge for Profile Theatre Project. There's a new opera based on the play that the Portland Opera is presenting; Profile did the reading in conjunction with the opera. Not a big money job by any means, and not much stage time for Trish (she had no lines, if you can believe it). But she got to work with some great people on a great play, and sometimes that's enough.

Oh, speakin of new work, we've heard from several friends that Tundra at Stark Raving Theatre is amazingly good! If you're in Portland and are looking for something to see, at least three of our friends would highly recommend it. A couple other people have made a point of telling us to go see Man and Superman at Portland Center Stage as well. Of course, with my show running another nine weeks, the likelihood of me getting out to see anything is pretty remote.

My show is progressing... three weeks in feels like we should be closing instead of just getting started in the run(most plays in Portland run for three-four weeks). Needless to say, my out of town travel plans are most definitely on hold. This is especially hard, since my cousin David Bitner is getting married on May 17. Would have loved to have been there for the wedding (he actually came all the way from California for mine... the least I could do was return the favor, eh? What a horrible relative I am!).

OO! And I just got a new Soulstice cd yesterday... lovin' it! Want to hear some of it? Go to this Amazon.com page and scroll down... you'll be able to hear some sound clips from the first few tracks. It's great stuff... haunting vocals and an innovative beat. Can't beat that!

Speaking of beat... I've gotta go to bed. See you all later...

3/29/03: 1:25pmOh my god, what a week!! Been too busy to post anything for the past couple of days, and I'm off to yet another understudy rehearsal with Lea, but I thought I'd update you guys on a couple of quick items.

We finally got our tax info into the tax planner and off to the accountant! Hallelujah! It was a long, hard push, I have to tell you. Pretty much every waking moment not spent at work or rehearsal or on stage was spent getting these numbers together; but it would have been a LOT harder if we didn't use Quickbooks to track our finances. If you guys are going through the same tax-season hell that we were going through, do yourselves a favor: get Quicken Home and Small Business or, depending on the scope of your business-life, Quickbooks. I won't lie to you: it's a pain to get started with these programs, and you have to be really dilligent about putting all your information into them. When tax season comes, though, you won't be searching through quite so many shoeboxes and file folders to get your numbers together. All you do is print a report out and go (Added bonus: if you use the Intuit tax program, TurboTax, you don't even need to print a report. The two programs talk to each other, so the information just flows from one to the other. Makes taxes a hell of a lot easier).

In show news, we're back in the saddle again. We've had a couple of rough nights getting back into the swing of things with Elizabeth, but the audiences are happy and we're getting the laughs. It's funny how losing a weekend after opening can throw off your rhythm... we're still searching for some of the timing we used to have. We'll get there, though. As I mentioned above, we're still rehearsing with Lea just in case (and, in fact, Lea will probably do at least one weekend so that she can be paid for this extra work she's put in), but it seems that Elizabeth is here to stay. Makes us all a lot happier!

Ok, gotta go to rehearsal... hope you're all doing well...

3/26/03: 1:00am Ok. Really. The bumper sticker is right.

IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED, YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, guys, I know you're tired of us faggy artist-types saying this ("How dare them elitist Hollywood types tell us what to think," the vacant-staring Fox News Channel watcher exlaimed. "That's Ari Fleischer's job, Damn it! Now quick, tune back into American Idol!")
Sorry, that parenthetical just got waaaay too long. Let's try this again: I know you're tired of us limp-wristed entertainment industry socialists saying this, but if this administration isn't fired out of the White House like a patriot missle in the next election, I'm giving severe consideration to immigrating to Canada. What the hell, at least I might have a snowball's chance of getting some TV work up there. (That's right folks... check out where USA Network's upcoming movie about Rudolph Guliani was filmed... ugh. Don't even get me started on that one...)

So what's fomented this current froth of anti-Bushiness? Why it's the news that the government's started to award contracts to corporations for the "rebuilding" of Iraq after the war. Who does one of the biggest contracts go to? Why, it's Mr. Cheney's old, dear friend HALLIBURTON!!!!!!

And where, you might wonder, did I hear about this monumental example of questionable governmental ethics? Did the Woodward and Bernstein who broke this story come from CNN? Perhaps they were employed by my favorite source for "fair and balanced" (... again, don't get me started) news, the Fox News Channel. No folks, I saw this breaking news story on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. That's right, that silly little "parody" news program that Comedy Central runs late at night.

I have to tell you, it's enough to make you want to hang your head in shame... I mean, come on!!! They're not even bothering to try and hide it! What's next? Is Enron going to take over constructing a new oil pipeline out of Iraq as part of their bankruptcy restructuring? Maybe the Houston Astro's will get a government contract to bring the great American game of Baseball to them poor, war ravaged Iraqi's. That's it... from now on I'm getting all of my news from Whitehouse.org.

File's getting pretty thick, isn't it Mr. Ashcroft? Well, that's ok... the gps device in my cell phone will tell you where to find me when the time comes.

Well, my political rant has almost taken the steam out of my post-rehearsal caffeine-induced bounciness, so I guess I have to get the more personal stuff out of the way and get to bed.

To begin with, Trish is sick. Lame, lame lame... she seems to have caught some sort of bug; a little fever, some nausea and a general feeling of utter yuchiness.

In the Breaking Legs news, we're definitely going to have a show this weekend! I'm just not sure if we're going to have one with Elizabeth playing the role of Angie. Last the director heard she was unsure as to whether or not she'd be able to perform this weekend, so tonight we rehearsed with an understudy named Leah Cole. She's a very nice lady and I'm looking forward to getting to know her... but she's at such a freakin' disadvantage. I mean, there's a reason why we rehearse so long. It takes time to get to know the script and the cast members. She's being sort of thrown-in at the last minute, and that's hard on anyone. I'm sure she'll do great, but it's gonna be quite a fight for her to get her legs under her if they need her to go on Thursday night.

Means a lot of late night rehearsals and meeting with her early to go over lines.. but we'll get it there.

Anyway, it's late enough. The caffeine is spent. I must shamble off to bed. Good night you princes, you masters of... ah, who am I kiddin'? I never saw Cider House Rules....

Stay safe everyone

3/23/03: 11:20am No show again today... but the good news is that Elizabeth's out of the hospital. We're hoping that she's going to be able to continue the run; when Edward, the director, talked to her this morning she was pretty doped up.

So this is kind of interesting: I've been prowling around EBay lately looking for old theatre posters; Trish and I are in the process of finally getting some stuff up on our walls (it's only taken us 2 years...). Did you know that Lionel Barrymore, the actor from the 30's and 40's, was also a painter? Check out this Foil painting and this etching. The things you find out, huh?

3/22/03: 6:29pm Still trying to avoid the drudgery of getting my tax info together for my meeting next week with my accountant (yes, I have an accountant. You're right, Dawson... I am far too adult for my own good!), here I am posting yet another update. Bet you guys are sorry you signed up for that "page monitor" at the top of the page, aren't you? Don't worry... once the novelty has worn off I'm sure I'll go months between postings.

Anyhoo, I've got great news!!! We just heard that Elizabeth, the lady I'm in Breaking Legs with, is doing much better. We had to cancel the show again tonight, but word from the hospital is that she's able to keep food down now and is getting to be a little steadier on her feet. The doc's are still confused as to the cause of this little episode (they're thinking it's something going on in her inner ear), but it sounds like we might just have a show tomorrow night. Keep those fingers crossed for her!

I also got some news that sent me into anime-geek heaven: the Cowboy Bebop movie which was released in Japan as "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is going to be released in the US with English dubbing on April 4th (under the inspired title "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie." Hollywood... go figure)!

Ok, so I should probably elaborate a little. I'm not a hardcore Manga nut. Giant robots don't give me thrills and shivers, but I do like good story telling and characters no matter what the venue. Whether it's The West Wing, The Shield, or even MASH, a good story is a good story. Ever since Cartoon Network began running Cowboy Bebop, I was hooked. The music, the art, the overall style of the show is impeccable. It's easy to see why it was the highest rated show in Japan when its first twelve episodes were run (Trivia note: Only the first 12 episodes were run in Japan. It was all a marketing ploy: after the show went off the air, the producers marketed a DVD set with the complete 26-episode series which, of course, disappeared off the shelves. Sneaky marketeers, those Japanese television producers...).

Anyway, it won't be too big a shock to most of you that I totally geek out on some things, and this show is one of them. As my brother, James "thanks-for-the-four-dvd-set-of-some-show-YOU-like" Phillips will attest, I go a little off the edge over this show. If you can get Cartoon Network in your area, check it out sometime at 1:30 weeknights. You'll see what a total dweeb I really am.

Remind me sometime to talk about how much I love my new BeeGees Greatest Hits album. You think the anime thing is bad? Ooooooooo... none of you are ever going to have any respect for me ever again!

If it helps redeem my musical taste at all, I'm currently listening to my new Soulstice album. Great stuff... check them out when you get a chance if you like smooth, trip-hoppy beats.

Here's some real good cinema news: the 2003 Razzie winners have been announced and it's official: Madonna is the worst actress of all time (or at least she holds the record for the most Razzies won by a single actress). Here's the AP Wire story if you don't feel like reading through the whole Razzie site. I always KNEW Sean Penn got a bad rap for Shanghai Surprise...

Ok, Ok... enough procrastination. I guess I've really GOT to get my tax info together. Hope you're all doing well...

3/22/03: 12:00pm Got some bad news last night: Elizabeth Baxter, the woman I'm in Breaking Legs with who was feeling sick on opening is IN THE HOSPITAL!!! Don't know anything at this point... we had to cancel last night's show, and we haven't heard from her yet. I'm hoping that we'll have a show tonight, but it's kind of hard to say.

All that being said, it was kind of nice to have a night off! for those of you who don't know, the last week of rehearsals through opening weekend is laughingly referred to as "hell week" by us theatrical practicioners. You end up rehearsing every night of the final week, and because you're busily integrating lights, sound, costumes and makeup the rehearsals can go a lot later than they did during the regular period. Once the run begins, you've got an entire weekend to go through before you get a night off.... it gets pretty draining. This wasn't exactly the best way to get a night off, but at least I feel a lot more rested for tonight's show (if we have a show).

I did use a little time last night to put up a couple more Theatrical Photos in the photos section. We're up to three pages of them now; hopefully we'll have a few more to post eventually.

Change of subject: is it amazing to live in the 21st century or what? You've probably been reading about the "mystery pneumonia" that's been crawling its way around the world for the past three weeks or so. Well, they've already isolated the virus! I find this totally amazing... in years previous, a lot more people would have gotten sick before doctors would have any clue where to look. Wild, huh?

Sigh... ok, I guess I have to get to work on my taxes. Yuch! Stay safe, everyone...

3/21/03: 12:00pm Well, we opened Breaking Legs last night... and it wasn't a bad show, all in all. The audience was great; very attentive and generous with the laughs. We had our rocky points, but we got through it without any major problems. This is really kind of amazing, considering Elizabeth Baxter, the woman playing Angie, is violently ill. She spent most of her time offstage in the bathroom throwing up! Wouldn't have known it when she hit the stage, though... she's a real pro!

Of course, she's also the one I make smoochy-face with during the show... so my turn in the bathroom is probably coming soon! What fun!

Hope you're all doing well... try and stay out of downtown Portland if you can. From what I hear, the protests aren't supposed to be as raucus as they were yesterday, but it's still possible you might get snarled in interupted traffic.

3/20/03: 2:19pm OH-MY-GOD! I was prowling around some search engines hunting for some stuff for a client when I came across Craig Mullins' web site. This stuff is incredible!! Mullins does a lot of work for film, video games and television. You should really do yourself a favor and check out the images he's posted on his site!

I've got me some new desktop wall paper... which is good, since the Cowboy Bebop wallpaper has been on my screen for weeks now!

3/20/03: 9:58am Remember those halcion days of the 1980's? The Regan era? When our beloved then-president thought his microphone was off at a press conference and joked, "My fellow americans, I've signed legislation that outlaws Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." (You don't remember? Click here to hear an audio clip of the gaff).

It created quite a stir at the time... but even those condemning Regan had to chuckle a little at the sheer absurdity of the joke.

Last night the United States started firing missles at Iraq to "protect the 'world' from the possibility that Saddam Husein might attack someone with the 'weapons of mass destruction' (and just where the hell did THAT term come from?) that we think he has.

No one seems to be laughing at Reagan's joke today.

Even though I don't agree that the current "conflict" is just (and damned if we didn't not-declare-war AGAIN this time... you realize that the US hasn't formally declared war since World War II? I'm not sure if the spin doctors will call this one a "Police Action" like Viet Nam, or a "Conflict" like Korea, or what... but they'll have some fancy not-really-a-war name for it by the time we're done), I was raised in a military family. I fear for the troops in the mid-east doing their jobs and following orders. Whether I support the man with his finger on the button or not, those men and women are doing their best to carry out their orders and come home safely. I have to respect and admire that. The call to "support the troops" even if you don't support the war is just as valid today as it was 12 years ago.

Stay safe...

P.S. Yes Mr. Ashcroft, I'll report to the Homeland Security Compound for questioning about my nonhomogenous views and for a 12 hour course of Fox News Chanel "Re-education" right away.

3/19/03 Woooof! After what, seven weeks of rehearsals, we're opening "Breaking Legs" tomorrow night at Sylvia's Class Act Dinner Theatre.

No pressure.

Actually, we're not in bad shape... we had a rough dress rehearsal last night, and tonight we'll have our first full preview audience. In a lot of cases, that's all it takes: that magical spark of a live audience watching you work seems to make the whole show come alive.

It's a pretty funny show... I posted some publicity photos in the photo gallery if you'd like to see them. Essentially, I play a college professor who's written a play and is looking for financing. I meet with the father of one of my ex-students to try and get money from him, and he turns out to be a mobster. Now I have to deal with him, his mobster partners, and the ex-student who has the hots for me.

Tough to be me, huh? Anyway... the play runs until June 7, so if any of you want to see it you've got plenty of time (come on down! It'll help take your mind off the fact that we're about to bomb Iraq!).

Oh, yes, the photo's are correct... once again I'm putting white into my hair to play a character older than me. If there was ever a running joke about my theatrical career, it's that I can never seem to play someone my own age. Ah well...

Hope you're all doing well!

3/16/03 So, we've got this "blog" thingee... maybe I should actually give you guys a snapshot of what life is like for us these days, huh?

Well, as you might expect, it's got its share of craziness.

For my own part, I'm in rehearsals for a silly little mobster play called "Breaking Legs" at Sylvia's Class Act Dinner Theatre. It's a fun little comedy with a verrrrrrry long run; we open this Thursday the 20th and run until June 7. That's right, I'm talking 12 weeks. My dance card is pretty full.

Too full, unfortunately, for much else in the theatrical realm. I spent much of the past year helping to build up a new theatre company here in Portland, Bump In The Road Theatre. I helped them get to the point of mounting their first production, but with the Sylvia's show and Trish and I hardly ever seeing each other, I was forced to resign my board membership. The company's in good heands, though. Between the Artistic Director Carmela Lanza-Weil and the current board of directors, there are a lot of talented people at the helm. I'm still doing some volunteer work with them (mostly updating their web site), however... I can't remove myself entirely, after all. It's my baby too!!!!

Otherwise, my life is taken up with my computer business, Munin Enterprises. Don't let the "we's" and "ours" on the web site fool you- Munin is just me. On any given day I'm on the road somewhere in the Portland area headed to some lawyer's office to fix his/her computer. Not a bad way to make a living, though... I have some scheduling flexibility, so I'm not completely locked out of doing matinee shows or daytime auditions.

But enough about me... lets talk about the important person: Trish! She's been busy as well... many of you know that after the success of last year's production of Inherit The Wind, Trish was named Associate Artistic Director at Mt. Hood Repertory Theatre Company. It's a pretty big job; thankfully the other Artistic Director, Tobias Andersen, has been doing this for seven years. Between him and a very enthusiastic and energetic board of directors, she's in good hands.

Currently, Trish is working on building Mt. Hood Rep's Education Comittee (funders REALLY like seeing educational components when they look at giving your company a grant), putting together next season's Readers Theatre season, and gearing up for her part in the annual American Classics Festival. Her plate's pretty full as well.

Otherwise, she's been doing a bit of work here and there... she recently did a voiceover job for a video on "Aging Concerns" that's going to be used to train home caregivers, and she's got another one lined up for later in the month. Things are going so well in the voice field that she's in the process of getting materials together to cut an audition CD (kind of like an auditory headshot).

Of course, that's after she recovers from the latest round of NCNM duty... she just got done administering their Standardized Patient program, where graduating students "assess" actors and come up with treatment plans. Very educational for the students, and a great way to help some of our local actors get a little extra work.

Well, that's pretty much the gist of what's going on... as usual, I've stayed up waaay too late writing it. I'm going to hit the sack. Hope you're all doing well...

3/12/03 Hey, I'm off to rehearsal, but I figured I'd post a link to our our friend Jill ("dat's Jelly Sandwich to yooze!!!" Long story...) Sandars web site. She posted some photos of our trip to New Orleans last year. Wanna see what kind of goofy stuff we were doing? Click Here!

3/10/03 Hey there everyone. We know as well as anyone how bad we are at communication... heck, there are still people out there who don't know we've moved to a new house here in Portland (still have our old address in Lake Oswego? Send us an email and we'll give you the new address).

We figure this will be a good way for people to keep track of us... you'll be able to find out what projects we're working on, and what's happening in our lives. As you can see on the left, we're going to be posting some of our favorite links, and we've got an MSN photo site set up for our "online photo album." We'll add stuff to those pages periodically. I'm even teaching Trish how to update the page, so you won't have to wait for my schedule to open up in order to get an update.

Put your email address in the little box at the top of the page and click the "Ok" button... that way you'll be sent an email whenever we post an update to the page. Easier than trying to remember to check the page regularly (what, you mean you wouldn't check the page daily? Just for us? Really? I'm shocked... :) )

That's it for now... I'll post more now (or maybe Trish will). Hope you're all doing well...