This blog was written on 11/6, edited on 11/10 & 11/14, and finally published on 11/14.

November 4th, 2008 was going to be a history night no matter of the results - A black President or a female Vice President. HFCIT! As the results were announced it quickly became clear that Barack Obama was soon to be the President elect.

Tears were flowing, not my own surprising, but on the faces of so many others. America would never be the same. 40 years ago a man said some bold words:

“`There’s no question about it,’ the attorney general said. `In the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has.’ … Kennedy said that prejudice exists and probably will continue to … `But we have tried to make progress and we are making progress. We are not going to accept the status quo.

- Robert F. Kennedy, Washington Post May 27, 1968

40 years and a few months have passed. What an amazing country I live in. During the past 8 years, change took place peacefully through a process established by the founding fathers. We elected representatives because the previous representatives weren’t doing their job the way we wanted.

Now, a man with a new agenda and a new approach will have his chance to prove himself. A key difference between the present and the future administration is the world. The world awaits the new White House ‘Overload.’ Bit of techy web-terminology sneaking in there.

Now what does this mean to ME?

It means I’ve had an opportunity to learn about myself and my friends and family.

“Um, how so G?”

Funny you should ask fearless reader. I have learned who is willing to debate with facts (numbers, documented proof, etc.) Who likes talking points. Oh boy those are fun - Socialist! Terrorist! etc. Who is afraid. Yep. After 7+ years of being told to be afraid and to think about “terrorism” it’s hard to throw off the weight.

But there can and I believe, one could say hope, that things will be different very soon, one could say change. The new president elect is a man of faith and yet will make decisions based on fact(s). He is very intelligent and yet he has proven that he will surround himself with people smarter than himself to make sound decisions. People are told they have a say in their Gov.T yet he is one of the first politicians to reach out to the national voice with new technologies. Cchecck out change.gov. We’re in for a wild ride.

The little that has come out of the transition camp already is proof enough.

Science, reason, and discourse will live in the White House again. Welcome back/home!

This, to some, is awful. The ‘religious right’ has led the USA for so long and people that followed their lead are blinded by traditional politics and faith based agendas. Tit for tat. Enough already. It’s time to open our eyes and see our country for what it is. We are a secular nation. Our laws and legislation are NOT meant to be based on religious morals anything. Enough already.

Soon, I hope, Michael Newdow’s case regarding the phrase “under God” will be decided and we can get back to “…one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”  Oh yea, and that Constitution thing. A president elect that is a Constitutional scholar. HFCIT!

There is nothing to be afraid of peeps (that voted for McCain/Palin). This man is not going to take away your soul. He is not going to spread your money around to other people. In fact, most of you will get more money BACK because of him. Then it is up to you to decide if you want to use it or save it.

On a last point… Minorities were lifted up and torn down on November 4th. A minority saw a man rise to the highest position in the USA while another minority saw their right to marry disappear in the blink of an eye. I’m very happy Question 1 failed in CT. What would/will my friends and family say about the Question if prompted? It saddens me to think there isn’t one answer.

THEFT TIME-LINE:

• 11/14/08 11:32pm: It is now officially over. RIP SEIMEI.
• 11/14/08 11:30pm: posted the video of the car being stolen to the Facebook Group.
• 11/14/08 8:55am: received the car appraisal and the settlement check. It was a bit surreal to hold a check that represented my car.
• 11/07/08 11:00am-ish: spoke with Mark from the insurance company and was advised of the appraisal numbers. Based on the NADA numbers and market sale averages… I’m pretty happy with the number and was told to expect a check soon.
• 10/16 6:00pm-ish: received two voice mails about the car. The first was a Copart rep trying to locate my car at Walgreens. The second was from the insurance rep handling the claim advising me that a sticker has been put on the car and would be picked up and crushed by the city because it is over 8 years old.
• 10/16 11:50am: spoke with the appraiser when he inspected the car. “Engine is gone. It’s totaled.”
• 10/15 9:29am: spoke with a rep at Copart and was advised that the car would be picked up tomorrow.
• 10/15 9:16am: received a VM from Copart on behalf of my insurance company. Called and got a busy signal.
• 10/14 3:00-ish: spoke with the rep handling my case and verified that the car should be inspected tomorrow.
• 10/11 10-12ish: on Tiemann Ave (under the tree on the right hand side of the page) my car, rather, the shell of my car was positively identified. The insurance company will pick it up on Monday because it was stripped. Tires, wheels, transmission, engine, seats, wing, etc. Left in the car were personal belongings. A woman stopped and told us she called 311 on Monday or Tuesday stating that the car was on the road. She stated that it was facing the correct way but was then moved down the road a bit but turned it to face the other direction. NYPD stated that no finger prints would be taken.  Pictures are available on the Facebook Group.
• 10/11 9:25pm: It appears that my car has been located by a SLC security guard behind Walgreens off of Tiemann Ave between 222 Street and Boston Road Bronx, NY. We’re heading out to verify it now.
• 10/10 1:00pm: uploaded two pictures of the thieves. The third completely concealed his face. (see below)
• 10/9 3:00pm: spoke with Captain Bruno, he’s handling the case, and discussed posting the images of the thieves online. He said I could do what I wanted but added that the images are very grainy. Regarding the grainy images he said that they have tools that may enhance the images which will aide the case.
• 10/8 1:00pm: spoke with Mike from my insurance company. He reviewed the process with me and stated that 80% of stolen cars are recovered. The status of the recovery is of course situational.
• 10/6 11:15am: the video footage and pictures of the thieves that stole my car were, in fact, given to the Yonkers Police Detective and Surveillance Departments on 10/3.
  
• 10/3 4:00pm: video footage and screen grabs of the thieves were provided on a CD to the Yonkers Police Department.
• 10/3 3:15pm: email announcement, with an image of my car, was sent to the Sarah Lawrence Community.
• 10/3 12:05pm: the theft took place at 4:00am on 10/1. The three (3) thieves, all male, were caught on camera. Two (2) were caught facing the camera the other had a hoodie on covering his head.
• 10/3 1253am: posted to LiveJournal, Craigs List, and wrote a blog (to centralize all the resources)
• 10/2 830pm: filed claim with insurance
• 10/2 800pm: report filed with Yonkers police
• 10/2 545pm: car identified as missing

Running away with a screwdriver in hand.

Reaching for the seatbelt as he drives off in my car.

My car, a 1998 Acura Integra GS-R, was stolen from a well lit parking lot that has visible cameras. How could this happen? I don’t know. Why this would happen? I have a number of feelings and ideas on that one.

People, generally, do not respect… Well, other people. Step back for a brief moment and think about it. It’s sadly true.

Make it easier… Put them in an urban environment where it is it easy to ‘disappear’ and voila. You’ve got yourself a great way to do what you want and get away with lots. Try something similar in a small community - POOF - you’re caught and you don’t even know how.

Extreme generalized statements but the sentiment, I believe, is more true than not.

So, yea, )sigh( my car was stolen.

I have done a number of things to reclaim it:

• A police report has been filed.
• My insurance company has been notified.
• I created a Facebook Group to help spread the word and get more eyes a’lookin.
• I posted a note on the Sarah Lawrence College Group wall.
• I posted on the Sarah Lawrence LiveJournal Community to get even more eyes a’lookin.
• I posted to craigslist in the NY/Westchester section. Post will expire in 7 days.
• I’ve posting this blog on my page to get centralize the effort.
• Alex B posted info and pix to a Lotus forum. Thanks Alex.

In utter honesty. If someone stole it and went for a joy ride I don’t care if you puked in the car and broke windows, etc. If you are the person that has my car… Return it to me with no questions asked. Walk away and go about your day like you never even saw me or my car.

Fortunately this happened when I was not in my car. I have no idea how I would react if I, or emma, or someone else I cared about was in the car or in the area of the car when someone was attempting to take it. It’s just a car. Yup yup yup. It’s just an item. It doesn’t define me in any way whatsoever.

To me the car represents a number of things and it feels like those memories have been lessened because of someone else’s action. In a few days I’ll feel differently and maybe even officially acknowledge the theft of my car in some way.

Right now though, I’m willing to put energy into finding it. It’s out there. At least, that’s what I’m hoping.

If you are in the Yonkers, NY or Bronxville, NY area please contact 911 if you see the car and alert them to your location and the direction my car was heading. Thanks.

North suburban park district say strong racial language in the musical “Ragtime” prompted their decision Wednesday to cancel the show two weeks before it was set to open.

I have not written about a news piece in a long time. This I find unacceptable. To that end I wrote the following to the Park District Executive Director Tom Grisamore the following email.

Good morning Mr. Grisamore

I am writing to express my concern regarding the decision to cancel ‘Ragtime’. As an actor and a patron of the arts it deeply saddens me to know there is someone/something out there censoring art. Especially art that has been around for a considerable length of time. So much information is available about ‘Ragtime’ I found it sad and insulting to read “This is something we very honestly should have known about and hopefully we could have acted on this sooner, but we did as soon as we found out what was there.” Once again, the information is available and secondly art reflects humanity.

For that, a well known bard put it best “…the purpose of playing, whose
end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as ’twere the
mirror up to nature: to show virtue her feature, scorn her own
image, and the very age and body of the time his form and
pressure.
Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 17–24″

We may not agree with the past, but it is what it is. Reflecting it and the present times is the part of playing (acting). The damage has been done, in that the show has been canceled, but it can be re-instated. Please consider this based on the responses of not only the director of the show but the community (poll posted below).

Thank you for your time.

Gary Ploski

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Last week my ring returned from the Niwaka in Kyoto, Nippon looking brand spanking new. In a couple years emma and I will venture into the city again with my ring and ship it back out to be touched up again. Sure it looks great worn but the refresh kicks it up a notch or 6 or was that 4? Never you mind.

With my ring back on my finger I am now wearing all my bling again: 1 Livestrong band, 1 hoop earing, and 1 ring. It feels good. the band has been off since the end of Red Cross (February), the earing has been off for over  a month and my ring, well, just under a month. Ahhhh. Life is resetting.

Update: Wow.  It has been in place for so long I completely forgot about it: my tongue stud. I couldn’t speak very well in May of 2006 for a week. I only remove the stud when performing (or speaking in front of many people) due to the possiblity of it, the stud, slapping against my teeth. It’s an ouch. Right. End of update. — 05/22/08 6:45am

Tonight I was given a piece of clothing I can only wear to extremely specific occassions - aka graduation(s) - a hood. It’s awkward. The design is rediculous. I walked home with it on top of my coat. I looked… Odd.

I was presented my hood during the Graduate Dinner with the department heads and faculty. Dave McRee announced our names and John Dillon hooded each of us. It was a wonderful moment. I actually felt like I was graduating. With all the stress that befell my life the past week I’d forgotten the joy and glee of this accomplishment. A number of faculty I’ve worked with congratulated me. Some said ‘I didn’t know you were in the program.’

Yes. I’ll be ‘back’ in the fall. Yes. I’ll be ‘around’. SLC and I have a number of roads left to travel.

On a completely different note. Katie at Geezeo sent me a message about the new features rolled out today on Geezeo. I was given a brief (read 5-10 minutes) heads up, per an former co-worker from DSL.net, Josh, about the “HAWT!” new dashboard. It is. HAWT.

I am constantly impressed by the personal interaction of the Geezeo folk. They’re all professional, funny, kind, and understanding. I send them updates and suggestions often. My hat of to you GZ peeps. I’m honored and humbled that you’d even kid around with a title that included my name. Seriously - honored. For complete details on my humbled’ness check on their latest blog entry here - introducing the “Gary Ploski” features

Now, keep up the rockin and I’ll keep on keepin on!

Okay. I’ve pissed off a number of people over the years. It’s bound to happen in 31 years and 364 days on this tiny little planet we call home. I had no idea my actions were as far reaching as they appear to be. President Bush (pic to the right) wants me gone. Thanks for the story link BT.

I may not agree with the W but icing me? Come on man. Let’s talk this out a bit first huh? Next thing I know I’ll be forced to chang aof vi;b HB ie yfbeiot ekbegGGBEIB E>KabbGwam, (muffles manage to slip through the screen your reading… then… silence. a moment later)

<deep voice> Sorry about that my peeps. (whispers - though loud enough for everyone in Arizona to hear) does he write like that? (from off screen) just wrap it up and make it look like everything is normal alright?

Yea. Sorry about that my peeps. I’m going. To. Get… to work. And don’t click the read more thing below. TTFN. more…