We encountered a bit of a bump in the road on R.'s surgery today. The hospital called and told us that the surgeon had a death in the family and the operation was being delayed until the 16th.

It's not that this is a great disaster, but we were all focused on going in tomorrow and getting this done. Delaying it just gives us two more weeks to think about it and it pushes her recovery further into the spring.

There's nothing we can do about it, though, and it's not anyone's fault. Just a case of poor timing. So we roll with the punches and get ready for the 16th.

UPN announced that Star Trek: Enterprise was being cancelled at the end of this season. It's hardly a surprise, given that the ratings have been very low since the series premiered. In a way, it's too bad since I thought the show had greatly improved the last two seasons. The Xindi arc was very enjoyable (except for that dumb space Nazis thing at the end), and I thought the mini-arcs they have been doing this year were well done also.

That said, I have been saying since Voyager ended that Star Trek needs a rest. Since 1987, there have been 25 seasons of Star Trek produced (7 each of Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, plus four of Enterprise, in addition to six movies). Rick Berman, who has headed up the Star Trek franchise since Gene Roddenberry's death, ran out of fresh ideas a long time ago. A few years off to build up demand for Trek again and a new creative team could really revitalize Star Trek and maybe get fans interested again.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to salute the people of Iraq for going out to vote in that country's first election. These people voted in the face fo death threats from the insurgent groups. When you consider that barely half of eligible Americans vote in a presidential election, the accomplishment was even more impressive.

I still don't think that the US should be in Iraq. The CIA admitted that Iraq didn't have a chemical weapons program; it was dismantled in 1991. Iraq simply wasn't a threat to the United States and, in my opinion, we shouldn't be attacking countries that don't present a clear and present danger to us.