Edward Klink

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

This morning as I got off the ferry a pair of Chinook helicopters thumped past the World Financial Center. As it turns out Bush made a surprise visit to the NY Stock Exchange today. Walking over by Wall Street I met a heavy police presence and watched the presidential motorcade roar past in a blur of black armored SUV's and flashing blue lights. Of course, you never know which vehicle he's in, but it was the closest I've ever been to a president. I wondered if it was the safest day to be here...or the most risky. But top people are all over that, right?

{ Posted By edward } { 11:58 AM }

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

"When you have loved three things all your life, from the earliest you can remember; to fish, to shoot and, later, to read; and when, all your life, the necessity to write had been your master, you learn to remember and, when you think back you remember more fishing and shooting and reading than anything else that is a pleasure."

--Ernest Hemingway June, 1942, American Rifleman

{ Posted By edward } { 1:32 PM }

Thursday, January 25, 2007

We're in the process of shipping out a $999 multimedia training product we produced consisting of a book, manual, CD set, membership to an exclusive study group, and access to premium online resources. We've got to send these packages out today via Fed Ex to clients as far away as Singapore.

{ Posted By edward } { 9:07 AM }

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Right now, the mighty Norwegian Spirit is steaming past my window.

{ Posted By edward } { 2:02 PM }

I've been on the Linky Dinky mailing list for years. Their weekly email has links to all kinds of zany, intriguing, unconventional stuff. (So naturally they were happy to advertise my book.)

{ Posted By edward } { 9:42 AM }

Monday, January 22, 2007

Martial arts boot camp weekend!

Two days of intense training; Brazilian jiu-jitsu, conditioning, self defense tactics, and weapons. We worked on using--and defending against--the club and the knife, and also learned how to disarm a knife or handgun-wielding opponent. This morning I feel sore in a good way. (To top it off I earned my green belt. Next up, red, brown, then black.)

Of course, there is still a LOT more to be learned, and you never know how you are going to react if someone really wants to deliver some serious harm. I recall a humbling exchange between a black belt holder and his master while watching a cocky new student.

Black belt: Master, is there anything more irritating than a new student who thinks he is proficient in martial arts?

Master: Yes, a black belt who thinks he is proficient in martial arts.

{ Posted By edward } { 8:10 AM }

Friday, January 19, 2007

Here is the view today out of my downtown office window. Across the Hudson is Jersey City; the flat top Goldman Sachs building is the tallest in the Garden State.

{ Posted By edward } { 12:48 PM }

First of all I dismembered the corpse.

Today is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday. This evening I will continue my personal tradition of enjoying a glass of cognac by the fire whilst reading a Poe tale from my leatherbound collection.

And I'm always glad to read that the mysterious Poe Toaster has made his appointed rounds!

{ Posted By edward } { 12:25 PM }

Snowfall at the train station.

{ Posted By edward } { 7:33 AM }

Thursday, January 18, 2007

The resourcefulness of children is not be underestimated. In a story you'd think would be right out of the National Enquirer, this girl apparently survived alone in the jungle for 19 years....

{ Posted By edward } { 12:55 PM }

Satipo-"The Hovitos are near. The poison is still fresh, three days. They're following us."

Barranca- "If they knew we were here, they would've killed us already."

Ah, who could forget the memorable scene of the hordes of bow-wielding South American tribal warriors pursuing Indiana Jones through the jungle. Those were the days, right? When you could still find indigenous peoples not wearing Nike shoes and drinking Pepsi or talking on cell phones.

But it seems the world is not as small as we keep thinking it is. At least 67 uncontacted tribes still exist in the rainforests of Brazil. And even better, they still hunt with bows and poison darts.

{ Posted By edward } { 8:22 AM }

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Walking up Broadway on my way to grab a book at Borders I encountered this nice young lady and her friends offering "free hugs." It's funny how most people passed them by, probably figuring there must be a catch. Or maybe they think they don't need hugs. But it turns out there wasn't any catch at all--these hug warriors weren't selling anything; no marketing handouts; no tip requested. Just free hugs. Can you beat that?

I feel better already.

{ Posted By edward } { 12:10 PM }

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year!

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year."

--John Foster Dulles, American statesman

{ Posted By edward } { 12:34 PM }