We're Back

Had a great time with the in-laws but VERY glad to be back in the U.S.A. !

Tamales for Breakfast

The fireworks explosions lasted until after 3am last night. Somehow i find lying in the dark in a strange country, listening to the whine and report of rockets and the ¨BOOM¨ of homemade explosives a tad unsettling. Tonight will probably be more of the same, despite the fact that some of these folks have to go to work tomorrow.

Our Christmas celebration was really good - chock full of all the cheesy stuff holidays are supposed to be about - family friends and good food. i was even able to make the acquaintance of several people that i had previously only known from photographs.

As part of my own celebration, i took my dear sweet time getting out of bed. Then i had real, honest to goodness, homemade by my Mexican mother-in-law tamales for breakfast. Seriously, you are SO jealous.

Fireworks for Christmas

My family is staying in the front room of the building my in-laws live in and my in-law´s dear lovely sweet darling precious wonderful neighbors are REALLY starting to get on my nerve with their tradition of exploding fireworks in the street on the wee hours of any holiday.

At least i don´t have to work in the morning.

Feliz Navi-blog!

i just want to take this opportunity to wish everybody MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR and throw in a quick THANK GOD FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT!

Where i am right now its ¡FELIZ NAVIDAD y PROSPERO AÑO NUEVO!....

In case you didn´t know, here in Mexico personal ownership of a firearm is VERY RESTRICTED and is, for all intents and purposes, illegal. Interestingly enough, the national murder rate here is about double the national murder rate of the United States. Go figure.

We Made It

DESPITE the hassle with obtaining visas to travel and a permit for the car (the rules are different every year - no joke) we were FINALLY able to get everything in order, pick up my brother-in-law and drive to my in-laws in Monterrey, Mexico.

All of us are watching a Trace Bundy DVD so my brother-in-laws showed me this on You Tube. (its in Spanish but you´ll get the idea)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78WikcTWe4M Tony Melendez

In-Laws

Wow! This month has been a blur! Its been really good, though. Lots of good important stuff - time spent with friends, time spent with family and in a few hours we will make the trek to spend some quality time with my in-laws. (My mother-in-law is an awesome cook - trust me, you're jealous!)

More details tomorrow. :-)

Domestic Electric

And now for the very mundane. I love my electric company. Yes, you read that right. But, you see, I have a very good reason.

Previously we lived in a small house where the electricity was provided by CP&L. (They service much of Oklahoma and Texas) When we moved into our current home, we almost doubled our living space. I was bracing myself for horrendous electric bills because, like our last house, this is an "All-Electric". When the first bill came, I read it over and over. It was almost the same amount that we were paying monthly in the tiny house. There is one key difference between that house and this house.

Now we get our electric from an electrical co-operative. Magic Valley Electric Cooperative. And the service is better, too.

I told you it was mundane.

Corn Maze

This Friday we'll be going with a group of students to a local corn maze. They say that it can take 3 to 4 hours to go through. I may have to buy a digital camera for this. This should be a good week.

Where did this year go?

More Chavez

Early election results tonight (73% of votes counted) show Hugo Chavez being re-elected as president of Venezuela by an almost 2-1 margin.

i guess that means that we can settle in for another several years of Chavez-esque U.S. bashing.

Posada

All in all, this was a good week. Tonight we went with my dad to the local Posada. (Pop was just in town to chauffer a friend down into Mexico)

The Posada is an interesting Christmas season Hispanic tradition. I am told that the Posada originated in the Catholic church as a procession to celebrate the Holy Family. I have no idea if that is true or not but I have seen the local Posada held in the downtown park a couple different years now. This has evolved into parade, county fair-type food booths, pictures with Santa, big stage, small stage, little rides for kiddos.

I didn't get to see the whole parade (we went to see my daughter in a hand bell choir) but i did see a couple of the floats leaving the area after the parade. This was probably more entertaining than seeing the actual parade. On one float was a "shepherd" smoking a cigarette like it was his last meal and another had guys in kilts with swords and longarms. I have no idea what that has to do with Christmas but made me want to yell "Huzzah!".

Colder than a brass...euphemism

Well a cold front blew in today and its colder than .... you know. It was a stiff wind that came out of the north. This front blew in hard this afternoon and before i got home my wife sent me this picture.

Darn. I liked that tree (sorta).
Later i took a shot of it laying on the fence. I was just about to fix that fence, too. Now I'm glad that I hadn't fixed it yet.

I know what I'll be doing on Saturday.

Biden not worried about Hispanic vote

Some might call it "Biden's Bid for the Beltway" or "Political Posturing for Possible Presidency" (make your grammar teacher proud - make up your own headline). But it was obvious from watching the news in Spanish this evening that Senator Joe Biden isn't worried about kowtowing to the Hispanic audience.

Seems to me like this is a fairly balanced article. After the newscast, i had to "google" Joe Biden because the ONLY thing getting play in Spanish was "Joe Biden said Mexico is corrupt." and the newscasters were acting like "Mexico is still corrupt" was some kind of slam instead of a fact.

Politically Incorrect News

Politically incorrect sources of news.

Free Republic
townhall.com
Instapundit
Jihad Watch
and one of my favorites NewsMax

And just in case you might be sexist enough to think that all Muslim terrorists are young men, check this out.

Our neighbors to the South

Where i live, we hear quite a bit about Mexican and Latin American politics. I will leave Hugo Chavez for a while and tell you about a problem closer to home.

For those of us that watch Spanish language television, the biggest show that we've seen lately is the Mexican presidential elections - held in July and contested ever since. If you think the Bush elections were divisive, you haven't been paying attention to Mexico's recent political fray. Despite the fact that Mexico is a multi party system, the two big contenders this time were Felipe Calderon of PAN and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of PRD. Lopez Obrador had resigned as mayor of Mexico City to run for the presidency.

There was much complaining and grandstanding during and after the whole thing but when Calderon was officially declared the winner (by a very thin margin), then the fun REALLY got started.

Lopez Obrador urged his supporters to shut down industry by blocking major roadways in Mexico City. [On more than one occassion, they were rather successful in bringing traffic to a standstill and business leaders claim that his actions have cost them approximately US$35 million]

Now, in a self-important move reminiscent of fellow Leftists Chavez and Castro; Lopez Obrador has declared himself "Legitimate President" of Mexico and has called for the institution of a parallel government and cabinet.

Can Mexico ever hope to be taken seriously (and leave behind its 3rd world problems) while unhappy political candidates are setting up their own governments? This will only serve to complicate EVERY serious diplomatic matter because Lopez Obrador will insist that the USA meet with his government, as well. Knowing a little of the recent history of Mexican politics, I fear this will not end well for Lopez Obrador.

Happy Thanksgiving

Whatever your traditions around this holiday, i hope that all who see this enjoy a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And if you have no Thanksgiving traditions, start some!

Fun stuff from the 'Net

Is it true that Nancy Pelosi stinks? It must be - there is a website by that name -NancyPelosiStinks.com (why didn't i think of this?)

This advice from wikiHow might be useful in protecting our valuables from an ever-expanding government (some things are the same no matter which party is in power) How to Make a Hollow Book

And here are three interesting articles that come up when you search wikiHow for "politics"
How to Choose a Political Party (nice graph)
How to Get a Job with the U.N.
How to Shoot a Handgun (as always, this article has links to much other wikiHow fun!)

Finally, according to NumbersUSA , while members of Congress that were recently ousted didn't get the boot because of their stance on immigration, the 2006 shakeup will make actual effective immigration legislation more difficult to pass. According to analysis by NumbersUSA, 9.5% (nine point five percent) of incumbent Congress members with a good rating (strong on border security, etc) lost their jobs while over 25% (twenty five percent) of incumbent Congress members with a poor rating (favoring amnesty, etc) were defeated.

In short, we will be picking apart the results of the fall 2006 election for years to come.

Crazy World

Yesterday morning i heard about comedian Michael Richards going totally racial on a heckler. It was ugly. Actually it was worse than ugly. Yesterday evening i was watching Hannity and Colmes with my folks (i'm too cheap to pay for cable - i have youtube :-) and two black comedians were being interviewed about what they felt about all this. Not even these two guys could agree what would have been the best way to handle it (pretend it was all an act or go on BET and *really* apologize) but there seems to be a pretty wide consensus that Michael Richards' public career is over.

Why am i mentioning this in the middle of everything else that is going on in the world? This incident just demonstrates again that we (humans) will never solve the big problems by ourselves. How long have we been working to eliminate racism in this country? Can anybody say "Emancipation Proclamation"?

I don't want to seem overly pessimistic but the reality is that we will always have reasons to disagree. I've even read comments from atheists that feel that "The source of all the world's problems is religion and as soon as we get rid of it, we'll all get along." . No, there will be something else (race, class, etc) to cause divisions and tensions. Or to borrow another argument, "When all the guns are taken away, then we will bludgeon each other to death."

Are we inherently evil? How is it that this horrible behavior is learned over and over, generation after generation? Maybe the comedian in the studio with Hannity and Colmes was right when he said that we are all racists and Richards only said what we are all thinking. I hope, for our sakes, that he is wrong.

Draft???

Now I hear that a leading Democrat wants to re-instate the draft? Is this what we have to look forward to for the next two years?

Give me escapist fantasy anyday.

Save the cheerleader. Save the world.

Learning Curve

Today was our second service using our new projector system at church. We're using MediaShout (i've never used this program before) and it has a fairly steep learning curve on the front end but it really seems like it is flexible enough that we will be able to do almost anything with it!

Last week we immediately saw a change in worship - I think everybody really liked being able to look up and see each other and look at the worship team instead of having to look down at song sheets.

We're still continuing on the learning curve but things are looking good.

Too Much Government

Yesterday I flew home from a software training and company meeting. While its good to see co-workers that I haven't seen in a while, travel is getting to be more and more of a hassle. This is the first time that I have flown without checking luggage.

Now its: show your I.D., wear slip on shoes, take the laptop out of the case, 3-1-1 , empty your pockets, "Bag Search!". More than once I have wondered what our founding fathers would think of our measures to keep ourselves "safe". Sometimes I think they would be quite bothered with the fact that we are so abundantly comfortable with so much government interference in our lives while we tolerate disappearing liberties.

Thanks to some over zealous legislator, I cannot take a short lunch if I feel like it (and some days I feel like it). Federal law requires that any day that I work 6 hours or more, I must break for at least 30 minutes. I am no longer allowed to check email, take phone calls or handle anything even remotely "business related" on my lunch break.

I'm just about sick of government interference and the next two years aren't shaping up to be any better.

Merry Christmas

Honestly, my intent in setting up a blog was not to be "political" - but i guess that ship sailed when i chose the name for the blog.

But the truth is, we don't live in a vacuum. I honestly believe that the statement "The only thing that is necessary for Evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing." is a valid statement.

Here is a suggestion of something fun that you can do this Christmas (i stole the idea from my friend Lily)

Want to have some fun this CHRISTMAS ? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD!
As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this holiday, we should all send them a nice, CHRISTIAN, card to brighten up their nasty, dark, sad, little world.
Make sure it says "Merry Christmas" on it.
Here's the Address, just don't be rude or crude.
(It's Not the Christian Way.)
ACLU125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004
Two tons of Christmas cards will freeze their operations because they won't know if any are regular mail containing contributions. So spend 39 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone. Also tell them that there is no such thing as a Holiday Tree. . . . It's a Christmas Tree even in the fields!!
And pass this on to your email lists. We really want to communicate with the ACLU ! They really DESERVE us!!

I'm planning on sending more than one :-)

One Country Voice

i was checking out the comments that people have left on different entries and saw that another blog has added us to their blogroll. i checked 'em out and now you can find One Country Voice listed in the "Found on the Blogosphere" section. You should check it out.

Faultline USA

i want to send a big "Thank You" to our friends at Faultline USA. On Monday, Peace Through Superior Firepower was added to their blogroll. We will keep a link to them here on our "Found In the Blogosphere" section.

If you haven't checked it out yet, you definitely should. In my humble opinion we will have to increase our vigilance against the tactics of the far left after Tuesday's fiasco, and Faultline is a recent addition to the blogosphere that seems to be keeping an eye on issues of interest.

This is what I'm talking about !

I found reference to these articles (armed women #1 & armed women #2) while reading Mallard Fillmore today.

The November 5, 2006 comic will be archived here until Dec 4, 06. Mallard Fillmore has to be one of my favorites - he never ceases to point up the foibles of the media. For instance today's comic says "The part of the handgun in this cartoon is, as always, played by a banana due to newspaper editors reactions to previous depictions of handguns in this comic strip."

In his strip today, Mr Tinsley/Mallard is depicting an elderly woman defending herself against a mugger armed with a knife. (Apparently "newspaper editors" have no problem with the depiction of a criminal armed with a knife - interesting double standard)

Tinsley states "*See Mary Katherine Ham's column about real women who've foiled violent predators because those women were armed at townhall.com, because you won't hear about 'em from the mainstream media..." so i decided to look 'em up and put a link to them, too.

Ya' gotta love a woman who can defend herself.

Choose Your News

We don't have cable TV here but between Google, CNN, YouTube and the recently launched Texas Border Watch , i've got a solid case of "choose your news".

And for my friends who are crazy about YouTube, here's some stuff i like:
Airport Security
Bill Clinton's Terrorism Failures
Nixon Defends Secrecy (really, you gotta see this one)
Fun in the Office (Rube Goldberg style)

i have to agree, YouTube is *cool*

I'm Behinder Than I Thought

Today I had coffee with a good friend and, in the course of conversation, I mentioned that my habit of reading 3 books at a time wasn't working right now. I told him that there were like 6 books that I have only partly read. When I got home I started looking around and counting these partially finished books because I thought that I might have mis-guessed (you know, give or take one or two)

Oy!! My list of unfinished books is an even dozen!! (This isn't even counting the two comic series that I started reading this summer - Marvel's Civil War and DC's 52 )

The only "book" that I have actually been reading is Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. And it looks like I'll finish it. After that its back to Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern.

Pardon My Rant

i haven't posted in a couple days because i have been using all my "blogging energies" to "rant". Well, actually i've been involved in engaging political discourse in my second language under a second blogger account.

I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!!

Get Involved!!

Whether you're for something or against it, you have to get involved in the process. If you do nothing, then you forfeit your right to complain.

Will Fred Phelps PLEASE SHUT UP!

Why in the world does Fred Phelps feel SO compelled to spread his hatred of the whole world? That clown is bending over backwards to give all Christians a black eye.

This lady is much more gracious about the whole Westboro Church thing than I am.

The only funny (?) thing about all this is that Fred Phelp's own actions prove that his [ultra-Calvanist] doctrine is incorrect.

But is the Beta really "betta" ?

i would hardly consider myself a "technophobe" but Blogger recently has been challenging me.

i'm rather hesitant to try the Blogger "Beta". It has always seemed to me that every time that i've been "encouraged" to use a "Beta" version of some software it was because the software was "not ready for primetime" and they needed a few more guinea pigs before going with full release.

i'm not really in a hurry to try this. i must be getting old...

Some people will never understand

Range time: $12
Box of 5.56x45mm ammo: $5.95
Firearm rental: $8

Having the privilege as a citizen of the Greatest Nation on Earth to walk into a gun range, spend some time firing an AR-15 and enjoy some good conversation: Priceless

Caffeine is my friend ... sorta

too much of a good thing.

Good Breakfast

The hotel had a nice "continental breakfast". I had cold cereal with milk, orange juice, "mocha" coffee, a bagel and a bowl of fruit. Its 10:30 in the morning and I'm going back to bed.

Better

So far today is going better than yesterday.
1) Rainbow Sherbet for breakfast.
2) Don't need to be in the office until around 3pm.
3) Hotel is located close to Half Price Books.

cool.

From the Inbox

I have neglected my email. It was just chock full of goodies. Here are a few that I like.

"Did you know that convicted foreign child molesters are eligible to immigrate to America? Well, you will after watching this devastating new television ad from [Vernon Robinson] campaign's ad team."
No joke - watch the ad.

Here is the latest news on important immigration bills from NumbersUSA.

You never can tell what John McCain is gonna do next when it comes to national security but yesterday on Face the Nation he was asked about John Bolton (US Ambassador to the UN) and he said "He's smart, he's tough, he will respond to these guys. And he could talk back to these two-bit dictators who have the airfare to New York." Read it yourself here or here.

An interesting article from Melanie Morgan, chairman of pro-troop Move America Forward.

Dr James Dobson says "We're at War with Muslims" but please Don't take his word for it - Ask the Muslims.

And apparently the old line the Democratic party used to throw at the Republican party has come home to roost. It seems that the Democratic party has been sold to the highest bidder.

The truth will set you free, but it will make you miserable first.

An American Classic

Its been a really L-O-N-G day today for me. Tomorrow should be better... we'll see what happens.

Right now I'm looking to enjoy a bratwurst hot dog with relish and spicy brown mustard, a Sobe Liz Blizz, Snickers and maybe an ice cream sandwich. I'm listening to the show "Blue Monday" on kut.org (you gotta love college radio stations). Our hometown college radio station used to have a show called "The 90 Minute Blues Hour" - naturally, the show was 45 minutes long :-)

Good hot dog. Do I even want to check the news?

Days 'Til Christmas

just for fun, click here for the current Days 'Til Christmas. (don't panic)

The only thing that I have planned for this year's holiday season is that late in November we'll probably see Santa Clause 3. (I'm looking forwared to this one)

So far I haven't bought a single gift but I am closer to selling stuff on ebay.

Parental Bribery

Previously Daughter had been having a problem with talking in class. Actually, I should say the problem was that she had *no problem* with talking in class. The teacher, however, found it a little distracting. :-)
The lovely way that genetics works, apparently Daughter got her "gab gene" from me. Fortunately, as she grows, it obvious that she got her "good looks gene" from Mommy. (and we're all quite relieved :-)

The good news is that Daughter is learning to only gab at the appropriate times and so her behaviour marks in school have improved drastically lately. This is due (in no small part) to a bribe that I came up with. She had been good all week - not a single time called down by her teacher - so last Friday (9-15) the 3 of us piled into the car and set off for a "surprise" destination. When we pulled into the local first run movie theater, she was elated. And I told her "Every week that you are on all green, we'll go see a movie.".

We saw "Everybody's Hero". Its a G-rated animated film that Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana worked on before their deaths. No plot spoiler here. Daughter liked it so much (and she was "all green" again this week) that it looks like we're gonna see it again tomorrow (9-23)

Seriously Ya'll

I am happy to report that, according to this dictionary.com article, [3rd entry from the top under 'Regional Note'] the word "ya'll" is not only "The single most famous feature of Southern United States dialects" but it also "functions with perfect grammatical regularity". Wow, I wouldn't have believed that "grammatical" was a word if I hadn't seen it on dictionary.com. :-)

I can hold my head high knowing that by using "ya'll" I am defending the "distinction between singular and plural" forms of you; a distinction that "began to blur as early as the 13th century" in the English language.

What's more, I'm not even gonna be snooty about it. If you druther use "y'all" over "ya'll", well I won't even hold it against you.

Home on the Range

This evening a good friend and i went here and wasted a little ammo and sent a couple of paper targets to their final reward.

Yeah, buddy.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the Second Amendment protects ALL our other freedoms. (Peace Through Superior Firepower :-)

Generation 9-11

"Generation 9-11" was the title of the cover article of the "Weekend" magazine in our local Sunday paper. It was an article about 6 kids that were born 9-11-01. The article wasn't really heavy reading but it got me to thinking - is this how the latest generation will be named?

The good news is that these kids (and other kids born since then) probably won't be hung with such a morbid moniker. I'm pretty sure that future journalists will find a fitting catch phrase for these youngsters. My father's generation is not called the "Pearl Harbor Kids" and my generation isn't known as the "KDD's" (Kennedy Dead in Dallas), despite the fact that those were earth-shattering events.

Even though it is still larger than life right now, we will overcome this national tragedy just as we have overcome other national tragedies in the past.

The best news is that some good friends of ours had a baby today! And it happened on day 150 of my blog - I couldn't have planned it better myself. :-)

M.O. [Muslim Operandi?]

According to this article, "a Christian member of [Iraqi] parliament, criticised both the Pope for making his comments and Muslim leaders for responding with words that could enflame passions." (emphasis mine)

Well, I guess it is slightly refreshing that some responsibility for a bad situation is given to Muslim leaders. The problem is that this article is like most of the news coverage that I've heard about the Pope's comments. Most reporters seem to act as if the whole of the Islamic community are completely unable to stop themselves from committing atrocities at the slightest hint of "provocation".

Give me a break! This is like making excuses for a bad child. This is completely typical of our "blame somebody else for your mistakes" tendency these days.

If you think that I am exaggerating, let me review:
Salman Rushdie published "The Satanic Verses" = Iran's leader Ayatollah Khomeni issued a decree for his death (incidentally in Feb 2006 the Iranian state news agency reported that this decree will remain in place permanently);
Cartoons of Mohammed were published in a Danish newspaper = Muslims rioting around the globe (check the article for the box titled "Wikinews has previous reports related to this article");
Two men peacefully stand by a Muslim march in Paris = the Police have to take the men away for their own safety (you have to watch the video if you haven't already);
The Pope includes a quote about the violence of Mohammed in a speech = a nun is killed in Somalia and churches are firebombed by Muslim extremists ;
Jews are trying to secure their ancient homeland = the Iranian president calls for the complete destruction of Israel.

I wasn't even looking for it and found this list. And now Hamas is a recognized political party?!?

Is all this overreacting getting old to anyone else, or am I the only one?

Updated Template, Added Links

i updated the blog template. Rearranged several of the blog links. Rearranged a couple of the sidebar categories. Added the category "Miscellaneous Useful Links" - check out the new links.

i've run across quite a few blogs that i would like to link to but it would make the sidebar really long. more later.

President Bush press conference

Check the transcript of yesterday's press conference here at washingtonpost.com - it isn't perfect, but I think he did a good job.

Diesiseis de Septiembre

Things I have learned about Mexican Independence Day (Deisiseis de Septiembre - 16th of September) while living in south Texas (Hidalgo county):
There are 17 verses to the Mexican National Anthem.
Truth:There are 10 verses, 2 of which are no longer sung because they refer to politically unpopular people.
The Mexican National Anthem was written by a Frenchman.
Truth:He was Mexican but his father was Spanish.
Also (no disrespect indented) every time that I have asked any Mexican friend of mine (including my wife) "Do you know every verse to the Mexican National Anthem?" the response has been universally the same - "Are you kidding ?!?"
Truth:I wrote this then went and asked my wife to see if she would sing it and she said "The whole thing?!?" (She still doesn't believe that it only has 10 verses :-)
A good friend of ours was born on this day.

While it can be argued that the American Revolution was fought because of "taxation without representation", the Mexican War for Independence (1810-1821) was fought over the right to own land. This should not be confused with the Mexican Revolution (1910 -1920) sometimes also called the Mexican Civil War.

Incidentally, Cinco de Mayo celebrates a Mexican victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla (1862) and has no direct connection to either Mexico's War for Independence or Revolution/Civil War.

It is interesting to note that 4 men (Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Jose Maria Morelos and Miguel Hidalgo) are often pictured together as "Heroes of the Nation" even though they were not comtemporaries of each other (much like the North American Mount Rushmore, I suppose) . Miguel Hidalgo started the War for Independence with his Grito de Dolores, so he is considered the "Father of the Revolution" and the "Father of the Nation". This is also sort of a play on words because Miguel Hidalgo was a priest.

So I said to my (Mexican) wife, "Tell me something that I don't know about diesiseis de Septiembre". And she told me "Well, the Mexicans were fighting for their independence from Spain and the war lasted over 10 years." (Good grief - somehow I never got that factoid before)

My wife's grandmother was born during the Mexican Revolution, however records are sketchy as to the exact year of her birth. She passed away in 1999.

On one other fun note, these guys tried to start another revolution in Mexico Jan 1, 1994. Shooting stopped on Jan 12, 1994 but the group remains active. And, if things "happen in threes" and the cycle remains the same, then Mexico is scheduled for a revolution in 2010. (yikes!)

Life Imitates Art

I recently ran across these. Struck me so funny that I had to pass them along.

How to Dissuade Yourself From Becoming a Blogger

How to Write A Famous Blog

How to Defeat A Myspace Addiction Remember, real friends don't let friends be MySpace addicts.

How to Lie Wow. I just can't believe that we actually need to tell people how to lie in this culture. I'm pretty sure that everybody that I've ever met knows how to lie. (We're such perfectionists in this culture :-)

Loss, etc.

Well I resisted the temptation to rant yesterday. I watched several different commerative services and some of my favorite websites had special tributes, too. I was pleasantly surprised that, for the most part, the politicians left the politics out of the memorials.

Like every American, I feel a great sense of loss touching the events of September 11, 2001.

Even though I did not know anyone that died that day, for some reason, every year on September 11, I am also reminded of my own personal losses. It has become "Memorial Day" for me.

Most of my current friends know of the death of one of my very best friends from advanced stage lung cancer on Sunday, June 29, 2003; however, he was not the first friend that I have lost to disease.

About 1991, while I was living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a good friend from college died from leukemia. Both of these friends were, at the times of their deaths, younger than I am now. Both were married with children.

Recently, in a rather short period of time, I found out that at least four of my friends will be moving. Some sooner, some later, some sorta far away and some really far away but all moving away. Change is the only constant. Progress is optional.

The battle continues. The American Embassy in Damascus, Syria was (unsuccessfully) attacked today. Life goes on.

Post Number 50 [insert fanfare]

A Retrospective [with subtitles because I'm so self-important]

No, I didn't actually go back and count every single entry that i've posted. i'm just "trusting the machine" on this one. When i logged in today it said that i had 49 posts. So this would be #50. And there was much rejoicing... (nod to Monty Python)

As i'm writing this the "Count Up" has just passed 139 days, 2 hours. What have i learned in this time blogging? Probably not much that will contribute to the sum total of human knowledge but lets give it a shot.

i like to do things right but my neurosis is sort of "Lazy" meets "OCD". So that would be my estimation of right when it comes to hobbies. For instance, if you're paying any attention at all, you'll notice that i don't follow the rules of English 1201. (You know, the spelling, grammar and punctuation class - whatever the number is...) But i'm not here to make the world a more "Grammatically Sound" place. i'm still trying to figure out where this whole "blogging" thing fits into my life. My cell phone that takes pictures and using downtime in airports with wireless internet have helped. But i digress... (nod to Peter David)

A few days ago it occured to me that the 150 day mark for the blog is coming up. i'm still deciding if that is significant and/or what i want to do for that occassion and/or other "milestones". So far i've only noticed people mentioning annual milestones but comics are measured by issue # and not year and the whole "blogosphere" impresses me as a lot of "episodes" more than dates. You can read old blogs so isn't that more like syndicated TV?

MAKE IT COOL
i won't repeat my personal blog chronology but i will say this. i'm still experimenting with the internet (aren't we all?) and so far, blogging is the most "fluid" thing that i've found. Okay, Wikipedia probably makes it a tie for first. The other day, i actually edited this article - i told you this was gonna be self-important :-)

Every time that i see a blog where somebody has, on each entry, things like "Listening to [CD photo] right now" i am secretly envious. Right now i am "Listening to" the white noise of fans - a desktop oscillating fan and the fan in my laptop. Seriously, i hear so much noise every day at work that, given an opportunity, i tune everything out. If you ever see me sitting in an airport typing on this machine while i'm waiting for my flight, don't assume that i will see you or hear you.

Recently, a couple of my friends have been encouraging me to get a myspace page. One actually told me "Man, you have to get a myspace page." While i really wanted to say "i don't have to do anything of the sort!" i decided to humor my friend so i said "oh really...why?" Now keep in mind this friend is under 30 (no disrespect intended to anyone) so the word "cool" got thrown around a lot and i'm human, i like cool, so i said that i would check into it.

The funny thing is, i think what i meant when i said that and what my friend heard were two different things. i believe this is true because the next time i saw my friend, the conversation started with "Dude, i can't find your myspace page."

Like i told my friend that i would do, i did check into myspace. But not by checking out myspace. i went for what is known as "third party research".
The good news is that after much searching, i found a GREAT article that eloquently expresses the shortcomings of myspace.
The bad news is that the author feels so strongly about myspace that he uses the occassional colorful phrase (to put it mildly). So now i'm left with an ethical quandry: i want to link to the article but i can't in good conscience link to an article with so much profanity. Copying and "censoring" his article would be plagarism. But if you send me an email i will send you a link to it.

And btw, unless drastic changes happen, there is NO WAY i'm getting a myspace page.

I really hope posting this icon doesn't violate anybody's copyright.

Pictures from Austin

Okay, FINALLY, as promised... my pictures from Austin. The big thing that I was worried about on my trip to Austin was a presentation that I was scheduled to give on Wednesday afternoon.

Even when traveling for business I am a tourist, and I told the audience "I've never been here before so if ya'll would help me out for just a minute and smile..." and I took out my cell phone and took this picture. (this is, without a doubt, the absolute worst picture that I have ever taken - but its significant to me :-)

In my haste, I apparently hit the "zoom" feature on the cell phone. Its a pretty useless feature because it just takes a smaller picture that is not obviously "zoomed". You can sort of see how big the room is (note lady waving her arms in the back) but all the seats aren't full. I know many of the people that were at the meeting but, from this photograph, I can't recognize a soul.

As I explained in the blog post of Aug 23, the size of the presentation grew quite a bit after I arrived in Austin. Much of the information had previously been distributed to various committees (by email) but this information had never been formally presented.

Those of you that know me know that my posture is not normally the best. I was determined that I would not be caught slouching during this presentation so I consciously stood up to my full height all day long and by the time of my presentation I wasn't even thinking about it.

Caught with my mouth open (naturally) and a little red eye.

Congress Avenue Bridge - home to "the largest urban bat colony" (over a million strong)

The signs says "CAUTION Never Touch Grounded Bats" (words to live by - really)

My good friend Emmanuel, myself and one of our co-workers (in the mirror) at Chuy's Mexican restaurant. Since the day that Emmanuel was hired, one of our supervisors has (repeatedly) confused our names. This gives us a great deal of fun, because, just as sure as God made little green apples, all we have to do is be in the same building and she will call one of us by the other's name. Emmanuel and I have told her "Monte is the tall one" but it doesn't help - she still confuses our names. It just makes me laugh and, unfortunately, that embarrasses her. This lady really is one of the sweetest people I know and the whole thing just demonstrates that she has a LOT on her mind.

The "promotional" shot of our hotel. This is a view of the hotel's north face, over "Town Lake" (its actually a river running through a city but somehow "City River" just doesn't have the same ring to it). Through some mysterious clerical error, Emmanuel and I were stuck on the very non-picturesque south face of the hotel. We got to see a billboard that rotated ads for Shiner's Beer, Bacardi and a local news station that uses an iguana in their ads - you gotta love Austin.

The view from the 17th floor of our hotel. Looking to the north. I took this shot while we were waiting for our luncheon to start. Here you can see downtown Austin, the Congress Avenue bridge (from the top) and Town Lake.

Downtown Austin, at night, from the ground. In the foreground is one of the "guano barges" (my friends and I came up with this term). These are tourist boats that, for a fee, you can board and ride under the bridge to see the bats as they set out on their evening trek. Even though the roofs of the tourist boats have been decorated by pigeons - you know "guano barge" is just more colorful than "tourist boat".

Shots from inside the hotel.

The ceiling during the day. Cool.

The interior of the hotel is open with a "triangular" sort of set up. This is a view down into the right angle part of the triangle.

This is a view up into the tight angle of the triangle. Notice the bright light coming from the translucent ceiling.

Looking down the tight angle from the 16th floor.

Looking down from the 11th floor. In this shot you can see the triangle pretty good. Just as a point of reference, our room was in the row of rooms on the left. I'm standing in the tight angle. The three corner are a right angle, a tight angle and the elevators.

Looking down from our room. (5th floor)

This is a shot of the elevators coming straight out of our room.

Then one day I took the stairs and I knew there was a photograph there - even in this most non-descript part of a beautiful hotel. This is looking down the stairwell from the 17th floor.

This is as high as you could go on the stairs. There was a door (with a loud noise on the other side) that said "NO ROOF ACCESS". I did not open this door. Emmanuel tells me that not opening that door was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Good Brit / Bad Brit

Today I was reminded of why my forebears left England.

While I was checking the net for news this morning, I was reading the Washington Post online and found this pic on washingtonpost.com - check out the blurb explaining it.

This frame grab provided and digitally manipulated by the British television company Channel 4, released Friday, Sept. 1, 2006, is taken from the upcoming drama "Death of a President." In the film, shot in the style of a retrospective documentary, President George W. Bush is assassinated by a sniper. The program uses actors and digital manipulation of real footage to show a fictional account of Bush being gunned down after delivering a speech in Chicago. Channel 4 plans to show the program on Oct. 9 and it is also scheduled to be shown at the Toronto Film Festival in September. (AP Photo/Channel 4/ho)
Photo Credit: AP Photo

[Bad Brit]

Look, I'm all for free speech and supporting anybody's right to have a bad idea but give me a break - there is a reason that we don't yell "Fire" in a crowded theater. There are limits. Making a movie about the assassination of a US president is one thing. Even "West Wing", the show that took veiled "shots" at the sitting president at least had some decency about it.

But I really think this one crosses the line.

Now if you want to cheer up a bit and see my idea of Good Brit then check out my friend Lily's blog and the Monty Python clip of the "Argument Clinic" http://philosophy4christians.blogspot.com/2006/08/argument-clinic-what-are-definitions.html

And before anybody misunderstands what I am saying, I am not claiming that the British have the market cornered on bad taste. We've got plenty of that here, ourselves.

Random Thoughts on a Plane, etc.

my mind wanders on plane rides so i write down notes - no need to fool with "approved electronic devices" because i would just have to turn them off and sit for 10 - 20 minutes while we get ready to unload.

I had the tomato juice again :-) The conference was in Austin but they flew me way out of the way (to get a good ticket price? because I asked for "American"? who knows?)

Literally as I was boarding the plane Tuesday morning, the headline "Terror in the Air" was flashed on the TV screen - what perfect timing. I never found out what the news story was.

While I was waiting in an airport Friday afternoon a story was playing on TV of a plane that had to make an emergency landing because of an "unruly passenger". I didn't get to hear the whole story so, naturally, I made one up for myself.
Passenger #1 starts getting loud and won't listen to flight attendants. Passenger #2 (a muscular man, but scared of flying nonetheless) gets nervous that Passenger #1 is "trying to do something" (other than just being a jerk) and Passenger 2 punches Passenger 1 to shut him up (b/c #2 is really getting to be a Nervous Nellie by now). #1 is a bleeder & the plane has to make an emergency landing.

Who needs CNN when you have an overactive imagination? At least I amuse myself.

Every time we go to these educational conferences we come back with tons of promotional crap. This time was no different. I went prepared with a second carry-on bag stashed in my suitcase. I'm glad I took it. I was able to bring back the two-inch binder with the conference materials and another 2 inch binder & 1 inch binder that another conference attendee decided they didn't have room to take. I was also given a wall clock, a desk clock, a coffee mug (with arrows that I think are supposed to change colors when you add hot coffee), a costume jewelry necklace (the central registry was celebrating hitting "gold standard"), 2 "puzzle" desk clocks, a coffee mug with my company's logo, a personal fan (also with my company's logo), several assorted tote bags, a nice star-shaped paper weight (for chairing a committee), a nice Quill pen (as a thank you from my boss), and a pink "Cancer Sucks" hat that I won in a vendor drawing.

For wifey I bought: a special tote bag, a cookbook (she is an awesome cook) and a shirt from "Chuy's". For daughter I bought a notepad and cool pencil and a "Chuy's" t-shirt with a Dr. Suess-ish look to it. I also gave daughter the costume jewelry necklace. For me I bought two [bright yellow] luggage tags, a "Cancer Sucks" vinyl stick on for my car, several humorous buttons and a "Chuy's" t-shirt. I got the one that says "Our Gas Is Cheaper" for me.

My boss is a big fan of Chuy's so anytime we're in Austin, its a given that we'll be at Chuy's one night for dinner. At least the food is good.

It was easy to stay awake during the conference because it was a good conference. But as an added "perk", during some of the breaks "Starbucks" coffee was available (it was free but it was self-serve so don't be too envious ;-)

Thursday was too long because of a roundtable discussion (and an interesting story...)

During a layover Friday evening I stopped at T G I Fridays and split an appetizer with my good buddy from work. (He has moved his wedding from October 2006 to February 2007 so thats one less thing I'll be worrying about this year.) After the appetizer we each ordered some fudge dessert and I was too tired to eat! I spent most of Saturday and part of today just sacked out.

Super Long Week

Its been a L-O-N-G week. Stressful. Pictures and details later.

Austin

First of all - Tuesday's presentation went great (long, but great) and this afternoon went great, too. I want to send a HUGE Thank You to all my friends and family that were praying for me.

The powerpoint presentation that I gave this afternoon had 88 slides !!! Last night, after the first presentation, my boss asked me to include some other info that I had in today's presentation. So 4 powerpoint presentations (that had been distributed to a few people months ago) were combined into one HUGE presentation. Before I started we were 30 minutes ahead of schedule. My presentation took so long that it got us back on schedule.

The hotel is Super!

We are right next to the bridge where over a million Mexican free tail bats live - watching them come out in the evening is really neat. Pictures will be posted soon. According to the information plaques at the bat watching park, these flying rodents eat 10,000 - 30,000 pounds of insects every night !

More later...

Time Travel and Tomato Juice

A clock on the top of a high mountain ticks slower than a clock at sea level. Therefore, when I am in a plane at 37,000 feet I am aging slower than I do on the ground. However, I believe that, between the security checks and the added "G" forces of takeoff (etc, etc...); in the end it probably all works itself out and air travel is not actually causing me to age more slowly.

Shucks.

So is time travel possible? That depends on what you mean by "time travel".
We are all traveling through time at a rate of one second per second. Therefore, the assumption is that "time travel" would have to be something other than being irresistably dragged through linear time. I already know how to do that.

Is the Star Trek slingshot past the sun type "time travel" possible?... maybe.
Is the Superman spinning the planet backwards type "time travel" possible?...not a chance.

Why one and not the other? Simply this - the difference is in what is being moved and the speeds. The first is playing with the idea that once a body (the Starship Enterprise in this case) reaches light speed nobody really knows for certain what will happen. Since the regular "engines" on Enterprise exceed this speed on a regular basis, the gravity of a star (Sol) was thrown in to the mix to give "plausibility" (smile) to this unusual effect.

The second scenario has Superman flying around Earth at such ferocious speeds (but not near light speed, mind you) that his velocity causes the rotation of the planet to reverse and by doing so he reverses time, undoing Lois Lane's death. If Superman were to accomplish the spinning the planet part it would - at best - cause several dozen catastrophes and - at worst - liquefy the planet. The essential flaw of the Superman scenario is it's assumption that time is "caused" by the rotation of a planet, when in fact, time operates with or without planetary bodies. But of course, gravity does have some effect on it - ergo the different clock speeds.

While flying here I realized that every time I fly I ask for tomato juice AND almost the only time that I drink tomato juice is when I am flying. How weird is that?

(i'm just visiting this planet)

Public Speaking

Tuesday afternoon I will be giving a presentation to my state professional organization's Board of Directors. Then Wednesday afternoon I will be giving a similiar presentation at my state professional organization's Annual Educational Conference. Guesstimates are that there will be in the neighborhood of a couple hundred people at the second presentation.

Weird thing is, I'm not nervous. Not any more than any other time I travel for business. I am always a little apprehensive until I am physically on the plane. Then, after that, if I'm late its not my fault. :-)

My Trip to Paris, etc.

Well, first of all, the date on this post is a little deceptive. I started working on this as a draft on Aug 12 and then I got a little busy and wasn't able to finish it for posting until Aug 17. (not to mention that sometimes I am kinda OCD)

I told you on July 25 that I was "away from home". The entire truth is that I was traveling for work. What I didn't say on the blog was where I went. My employer sent me on a business trip to (insert fanfare) world famous Paris!!

Thats right, folks. I spent 5 days and 4 nights practically in the shadow of that world famous tower. I even took pictures with my cellphone to prove it!


(Thats a piece of one of my digits there in the bottom right of the photograph. I had to get in the picture somehow :-)
I realize that some of you have probably only seen the famed tower in movies but now you can say that you have a friend that has walked right underneath that most famous edifice of all - "The Tower in Paris Texas".

(I'll give you a minute to recover from the "celebrity shock" )

On the afternoon of Friday, July 28, I told you that my mom contacted me earlier that morning to tell me of the death of my Uncle.
This sad news also necessitated travel, as the funeral was several hundred miles from my home.

My parents left Saturday morning and my wife and daughter and I set out Sunday morning after church. On the advice of a good friend, instead of taking the big interstate highways we stuck to a smaller, older road that wound through small towns. This turned out to be really good advice because by missing the traffic in the larger metropolitan areas, we saved a good bit of time on the trip. Not to mention the fact that the scenery was nicer and we got to see some cool places that none of us had ever seen before.

I even saw this guy while I was waiting in line at a gas station.

When we arrived at our destination, pop already had a nice room for us.

The funeral was scheduled for Monday afternoon so we did some "family tree" sightseeing Monday morning during these few hours that we had so far away from home.

We went back to the house where my dad grew up - because of its "out of the way" location it hasn't been torn down and now it sits completely empty and unused. But don't get the picture in your head of some 'storybook cottage' tucked away just waiting to be swooped up. The house was being used as a storage barn in the mid eighties and the only thing that remains "structurally sound" is the chimney. That chimney will probably be standing long after I'm gone.

Anyway, pop took us to see his old school, too. Actually, he took us to see where his old school used to be.

Now all thats left is a pasture, a marker and the steps into the "schoolyard".

Daughter with marker. (Pasture in background)







Steps.
Pop grew up here because my grandfather was a "yard boss" for Total.

Total Pipeline Corporation has named one of their pumping stations for him.

Here is pop, daughter and me. (I can't remember if mom or wife took the picture but they were both there)

If you count the sign as proxy for grandpa then this would be a picture of four generations of Bivens.

I "painted out" the emergency contact number before posting the picture. (my friends are such comedians that I don't want to give them any ideas) The actual sign is in great shape.

Wife and I came back alone, (leaving daughter with granny and abuelo for a day or two) and, after seeing all the remaining family in the area, we started our return trip Monday evening.

South of Fort Worth, Texas I was excited to see a sign that said "Glen Rose". I didn't have any idea that we were gonna be that close to Glen Rose. I have wanted to visit the Creation Evidence Museum ever since I first heard of it (many) years ago. It was worth the admission fee for wife and I ($2 each).
Here I am sporting my "Young Life February Fling" t-shirt.

This intriguied me. It says
The Petrified Rose
Description: This is a man-made rose manufactured out of paper. The rose was then immersed in natural water from the hot-springs in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) for about 14 days. As a result, a layer of "rock", called aragonite, has built up on the rose. True petrification results when all of the original material of a once living organism has been replaced with minerals. Petrified wood is true petrification. This rose, however, demonstrates that rock formation can happen rapidly. The next time someone says it takes millions of years for rocks and fossils to form, show them your "petrified" rose.

hm.... who do I know that believes in old rocks....

Two Brave Men

You just have to see this video for yourself. Long live Free Speech! Even though:
1) their signs are on their chests [not waving around in the air on sticks] and
2) the men are not chanting or shouting,
the large crowd [mostly men between 18-45] finds it impossible to ignore them!

I originally thought that this was video of a couple brave Frenchmen. But, according to the English text under the video, one is Danish-American and (while it is possible that the other man might be French) he too has a Nordic surname.

The two bravest men in France aren't French - go figure :-)

Long Week

Saturday, after traveling last week for work, I turned on the laptop and got the dreaded "Blue Screen" and going through setup to the "Return to last known good configuration" (or something like that) did not help.

Sunday, my family traveled roughly 12 hours to attend my uncle´s funeral. I was able to see my brother for about a half hour on the way up. He wasn´t able to go to the funeral - he was really bummed out that he couldn´t go. The funeral was Monday. We took two days to make the drive back and on the way back I stopped at a museum that I have always wanted to see.

I will return to work tomorrow and I´ll also try to get the laptop fixed tomorrow - today I am accessing the net from my brother-in-law´s cyber cafe.
That reminds me, I´m hungry - more later...

Bad News

At 10:45 this morning my mother called me. My dad's younger brother, Tinker, died in his sleep at the age of 57.

Waxing Eloquent ... or not

Well I was really counting on my camera phone for a couple interesting pics of this trip but it seems that I am in a "dark spot" - very weak signal for phone calls and there is added roaming charges and no support for picture or text messaging. So much for emailing myself pics from my phone & then posting them on the blog. So the post about the trip (with the pics) will have to wait until I return to "civilization" ;-)

WARNING:The rest of this post might bring you down, so if you're already bummed out, you can bail now and nobody's feelings will be hurt. (Black ball on the flag - enter at your own risk)

Reading Sophie's World has not been going nearly as quickly as I thought it would. Its not because the book is obtuse or anything (or whatever fancy word you want to use for "hard to read") because it isn't hard to read. This book is very easy to read. Its very engaging. That is precisely the problem. Its so fascinating that, even though I was quite a few chapters in to the book, I started over and started taking notes. This shouldn't have surprised me - after all, the main character is engaged in a "study" of sorts. The thing that surprised me is how well the simple questions offered to the main character got me to thinking about "life, the universe and everything" (hey, that would make a good book title ... i know, i know - i'm kidding :-)

This afternoon I was talking with two friends. About an hour before the conversation, one of them had Tragedy slap her right in the face. Since both of these friends are a few years older than me, I took advantage of the opportunity to keep my mouth shut and just listen. (don't anybody faint - i can shutup on occasion :-)

Because of the particular shock that my friend received today, the conversation quickly turned to death, dying and how we deal with it. In the course of conversation she said "...its not that I'm afraid of dying - I'm Not! It's just that I'm not ready to die yet - there are still things that I want to do."

Naturally this got me thinking. (remember, i was keeping my mouth shut) Does anybody ever say "Okay, I got the last thing on the list done. Now I'm ready to die."? I know we use the hackneyed phrase "now I can die a happy man" after we get some nice thing or accomplish a goal but I seriously don't think anybody actually means it.

My own opinion is that each person's final curtain rings down in one of two ways. Either you live your life full of expectations (ironically, these would be the folks who are said to be "living each day as if it were their last") or you just mark time. From what I know of people, I think that everybody, with One noteable exception, has gone through periods of "marking time" in their life. I know that I have. This whole line of thinking gets into Fate, etc because someone will say "Suicides decided they were done, so they left" (in my nonprofessional opinion I believe that is Grossly Incorrect, but I have heard that argument made). I can't speak much to this subject, but I know of no suicide that left earth in their right mind (I don't believe that hemlock affects that statement but I won't argue that now). All of this is because of my belief that, no matter how grim the situation appears, while there is life there is still hope and suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. But I digress...

Dying is a natural consequence of conception. We live in what I like to call a "hundred year universe". A hundred years from now you and most likely everybody that you know, will be dead. Life is for the living... (I'm still looking for that "special" bookcase but, even if I can find it, my wife probably won't let me bring it into the house :-)

Now it seems strange to me that yesterday, on a lark, my friends and I toured the local cemetery to look at the old gravestones. Of course we could not know what would happen today. Odd, isn't it, how sometimes the juxtaposition of events makes for morbidly comic moments?

more later,
B B

On the road again...

Right now I'm a few miles from home - I hope to have pictures and be able to post an update tonight or Wednesday.

Also, to better educate myself on "things philosophical" I am currently reading Sophie's World - A Novel About the History of Philosophy. Its very easy to read but despite this, it looks to be just full of useful information. By the time I finish it, I bet I'll know so much about philosophy that I'll be insufferable. (That last part is just a joke - all the philosophers that I know are really cool people :-)

The Stupidest Thing I Ever Heard

Friday I finished my week early and, as I was driving home, I was listening to the local talk radio station. Sean Hannity was on the radio and it was his annual show to raise money for a college scholarship fund for orphans of fallen soldiers. This, in my opinion, is a very admirable idea and I am glad that they have been able to raise so much money.

So I was glibly driving along, feeling all patriotic when it happened.

The Stupidest Thing I Ever Heard was broadcast on radios across the United States.

Sean Hannity was talking with one of his guests at this fund-raising concert and Hannity says "What is it with this soccer?" and starts to rant about how soccer is such a foolish game and a waste of time and its just the perfect game for "our friends the French", etc, etc. Then his guest, being completely serious, says "if we had more Americans like my dad then we wouldn't be in this mess we're in right now". So I'm thinking "which 'mess' is he talking about?" and he goes on to say "I can remember when I was a kid my dad said 'Soccer is a Communistic Plot' and, since he was the athletic director, he refused to allow soccer to be played. We need more Americans like my dad." So this guy "refused to allow soccer to be played" - yeah, thats democratic.

Holy cow. I sent an email to Sean Hannity telling him that if this were true then we're screwed because Democracy is dead except for a few hold-outs in the USA. Also, the most popular sport in Cuba is baseball - even Fidel Castro is smart enough to realize that sport does not equal politics.

It galls me to hear conservative commentators make stupid remarks because it gives ammunition to the left. If Sean Hannity doesn't like soccer, so what? Nobody is forcing him to watch it. Dear Sean Hannity, eat a bug. (But at least I'm not bitter :-)

The Annual Haircut - After

Okay, so I put down some canvas to catch the hair and then, using my chosen implements of destruction, I kneel over the canvas and shave my head and beard.

Since the whole point of this little exercise is to remember, I brought my turntable and some LP's over next to the bathroom where I was cutting my hair.



I think I missed a spot.


My friend would get a kick out of this head-shaving business I think. He died from advanced stage lung cancer and at the time he died he was completely bald from chemotherapy.

I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then...




Yeah, I definitely missed...

This has been a good day. Today, in the space of a few hours, I've laughed, I've cried and I got to spend time talking with a good friend.

Here is the aftermath with my clippers and my electric razor.

(See why I put down the canvas?)

While I was cutting my hair I played a few records that he and I both liked.

Good grief! I haven't eaten anything but a blueberry muffin all day! I'm gonna eat and go to bed.

Check out the glare on that gourd.

The Annual Haircut - Before

My best friend of 13 years died June 29, 2003 and his birthday was July 16th. While trying to find some way to grieve I cut off my hair and beard July 16, 2003. For some reason I had felt that I should be able to "grieve" then have some "closure" and then "get on with life" but now I no longer claim to know what those phrases mean. All I know is that I am here and a man that was closer to me than anyone else in the world is not here.

I am very fortunate in that I have a GREAT wife who is also a good friend to me. I have a larger circle of friends now than some people will ever have in their entire life. This afternoon I had coffee with a really good friend (he is a great listener) and then I went and got measured for a tux for Emmanuel's wedding. (The lady didn't take my hat size, so I guess we don't all get matching hats - I miss Oklahoma weddings :-)

Okay, here are a couple "before" pictures.

Yes, my hairline continues to (slowly) recede. Right now I have the same hairstyle that my paternal grandfather had when he died at age 69. If things keep going according to family history, I will get the infamous "Male Pattern Baldness" (from my maternal grandfather) about the time I turn 40. Its only hair, right?

To date, I have made three attempts to read C.S. Lewis' book A Grief Observed and have been unable to finish it. Someday I will read that book but not today.

Today, I will cut my hair. Then I will shave my beard. Then I will shave my head.

I blacked out the eyes because I just look morose in this picture.

This year June 29 came and went (on a Thursday) and I didn't even realize what day it was. This isn't because I'm "coping so well" or anything - I was just swamped at work. When I realized (on July 3) that I just been working all day on the 29th and had never given my fallen friend a thought - well that hit me pretty hard.

Here is a shot of my soon to be "neck - ed" neck. Trust me on the black box here - from this angle my nose is... well, lets just say this is not my best side.

And, no, my nose is not (quite) that wide but I took the opportunity to cover my eyes as well.

What I'm reading right now. No joke.

Today has been an interesting day so far. Before coffee I stopped in at a comic shop that I had never seen before - they've been there about a year and a half the man behind the counter told me. I picked up a few more issues of Marvel's "Civil War" - a fairly good read.

Various and sundry implements of destruction.

The pink bottle is "Hair Removal Gel Cream". In the past, I have cut my hair very short - this year I'm toying with the idea of being as bald as a cue ball.

It says "DO NOT use on face or ears" and I have to "patch test" a spot and wait 24 hours before I can use it on my head. Scary.

More later (or "less later" if you mean hair :-)

Trekkie Maze, etc

You have to love the British. Its a Maze Jim, but not as we know it

Saw a cool bumper sticker. It says "The Second Amendment Makes All The Others Possible". (thats what i'm talking about)

Recently I saw the movie Fidel . This is a really good film. It is so rare to find a film that entertains and informs while remaining true to facts. And more than that, it does not lack respect for the principal characters. It seems to me that it is much easier for a movie to parody a "bad guy" than to treat him as a real three dimensional person. I actually rented the movie thinking "lets see how ridiculous this gets" - I am pleasantly surprised to have been wrong in my expectations. Castro's metamorphosis from idealistic revolutionary to paranoid dictator is done very well. High marks to Victor Huggo Martin in his first English-language film.

not fun

Doing:
Job (too many hours)
Website Committee (i volunteered for this?!)
Renovating House (little by little)
Church Board
Sunday School Board

Not Doing:
Eating Right
Sleeping Enough
Reading Enough
Exercising
Vacation

yup, its official. i'm crazy.

ITALIA!!

So for those of you who (for whatever excuse) are not aware of what happened; ITALY WON THE WORLD CUP 2006!

It was tied 1-1 after 90 minutes of regular play and two 15 minute overtimes, so the game was decided by penalty kicks. A man who [was] arguably one of the best players in soccer knocked himself out of the game with a red card. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then check out this clip from youtube: Zidane Owned . The clip is in German but you'll get the gist of it. The main referee didn't see what happened but the rest of the world did. The guy is basically a living legend - thats why a camera was constantly on him. One of the assistant referees told the head ref what went down and - well, when the ref reaches for his back pocket somebody's goin' home.

Good call.

I got so excited about the World Cup that i started a new blog http://waitingfor2010.blogspot.com/ to track the play leading to the next Cup in 2010. Its set up to accept anonymous comments. (English or Spanish)

Now i can quit obsessing about soccer on this blog :-)

Germany 3 - 1 Portugal

It was a good game. It was played well, the officiating was unobtrusive without being lax and there were a couple of "beauty" goals. There was even a bit of comic relief. Portugal had a lot of corner kicks and on one of them they managed to have three men in front of the German goal each jump for and completely miss the ball. The ball was "textbook" where you want a corner kick to be. The funniest thing was that none of the Germans touched it either.

The one goal that Portugal scored on Germany was really nice to see and both goals that Germany scored on Portugal were poetry in motion. The other goal into the Portugese net was off the foot of a Portugese defender [ouch]

I got to see the pre-game show and the entire game then went with some friends to see the pixar movie Cars. Its pretty funny.

World Cup history

I was doing a little research on the World Cup and found http://www.worldcup-history.com/ Hey that sounds cool - then when i clicked on the link i got this:

We've been shut down due to HEAVY traffic!
We will try to get the page online again as soon as possible. bummer.

But this site is working well. Leave it to the Brits. The British have a passion for soccer that is... well, lets just say that you'll never catch me in the stands at an English soccer match :-)

And I was wrong (write it down, it doesn't happen very often) when I said that the USA is getting involved in the World Cup kinda "late in the game". It turns out that the Inaugural Cup was in 1930, and it involved 13 countries including the USA. The USA went 40 yrs without appearing. (We made it in 1950 and did not reach the World Cup again until 1990). The original "Team USA" won their group but was defeated by Argentina in the semi-finals. The first World Cup had only 3 "rounds" of play: Group, Semi-finals and the Championship game. This year's Cup has had 5 "rounds" of play: Groups (A-H, 32 teams), the "Round of 16", the Quarter Finals, the Semi Finals and the Final round with the two games which determine 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th places.

A quick history with the winners and the hosts. 1930:Uruguay, 1934:Italy, 1938:Italy France (starting in 1938 the title defender & the host country qualified automatically - this privilege has continued to the present) 1950:Uruguay Brazil, 1954:West Germany Switzerland (this year saw the record for number of goals scored in a World Cup game [12] with Austria over Switzerland 7-5 in the quarterfinals), 1958:Brazil Sweden (the first Cup of Pele - age 17), 1962:Brazil Chile, 1966:England (the English striker remains the only man to score 3 goals in a World Cup final), 1970:Brazil Mexico (Pele's final Cup appearance), 1974:West Germany, 1978:Argentina, 1982:Italy Spain, 1986:Argentina Mexico (Maradona & the infamous 'Hand of God' goal), 1990:West Germany Italy (arguably the worst World Cup final ever), 1994:Brazil USA, 1998:France, 2002:Brazil South Korea/Japan.

As you may have noticied, the World Cup fell victim to world politics in 1942 and 1946. Thankfully, it has continued uninterrupted since that time.

France & Italy have played against each other several times but they have never before met in a World Cup final. This year Italy defeated host Germany and France defeated title defender Brazil.

If I had my way at this point, this year's Cup would shake down as Italy 1st, France 2nd, Germany 3rd, Portugal 4th. I really don't like the lack of sportmanship that Portugal has shown this tournament. (more later)

More Fun Stuff

Brace yourselves, sports fans! Only two chances left to see a live World Cup Soccer game in 2006! Saturday July 8 at 2pm (CST) Germany and Portugal battle it out for 3rd place. Then at 1pm (CST) Sunday July 9 2006 is The Championship Game between Italy and France. I know that for some of you (okay, many of you) watching The Game would mean missing your standard Sunday afternoon nap but you're not going to get another chance to see live World Cup Soccer for another four years. Let me help you out a little bit.

Interesting (whether you're a newbie or a veteran at "fut") is the Bilingual Soccer Blog (it might take a few seconds to load). Then you can check out a link to the World Cup bracket and read an article on How to Appreciate a soccer game on TV (this wikiHow article links to several other useful soccer articles like How to Understand Soccer Strategy)

One of the things the TV article mentions is to watch the game on a Spanish language channel (plenty of those in my area) because the announcers are better, you might not understand a word but it won’t matter – you’ll know when something exciting is happening. When i was a kid my dad would watch basketball games on TV with the sound off and he would listen to the game on the radio - naturally the radio announcer was better.

This World Cup has been the cause of quite a bit of off the wall humor (i think its funny but the English DON'T :-) and quite a bit of carping. see here and here. And even i (as cynical as i am) didn't see this (political) complaint coming.

i had the day off Monday - no soccer. i'm taking off tomorrow to help my folks with a yard sale and guess what - no futbal (soccer). But i have been listening to the commentators (even when there are no games - you can still get opinions and highlights - you gotta love Spanish TV) and they are being uncharacteristically reserved in their predictions of the final outcome of this Cup. Once the "safe bets" had been eliminated, the commentary got a lot less emotional and a lot more cerebral (works for me) or maybe they're just trying to fill the time between games with factoids.

i love democracy and that is one reason that i love soccer. The whole world plays soccer (the US is getting in on this kinda late) and out of all the countries in the world, only 32 make the tournament. But this is the great thing, out of those 32 countries almost nobody would have guessed that this year the championship would be between Italy and France. Safe money would have bet on Brazil (i'm glad that i don't bet on this game - i would have lost that bet!)

The Italian defense has been "mythical" to quote the commentators. They have not allowed any team to score against them in this tournament. In fact, the only goal against Italy in this World Cup was "put in the box" by the Italians themselves in their 1-1 tie against ... Team USA.

Is that cool or what? If Italy wins this one (ihopeihopeihope) and is able to hold France scoreless (i would LOVE that) then the only goal against the 2006 World Cup champs would have come in a game against Team USA. Its kind of a sneaky way into the history books but what do you want? This is the closest chance that "USA" has of being in the same sentence as "World Cup Champion" for quite some time. Of course, we can't count our chickens before they are hatched - France has beaten Italy as recently as 2000. Saturday and Sunday should be great games.

More later.

Isn't Technology Cool?

This is just some random stuff that I've run across recently.

"You cannot invade America. There is a rifle behind every blade of grass." Admiral Yamamoto

Web users to 'patrol' US border

wikiHow: How to Dumpster Dive

the Gematriculator (a fun bit of pseudo-science :-)

Clean Jokes and Funny Pictures

My favorite pointless website :-)

tons of political cartoons sorted by artist

guitar workshop webcam in Germany (even during the World Cup, people still have to work)

220 Dates for the end of the World i don't agree with everything on the website but this page is food for thought

See some official NASA TV

now i like to think that i have a really well developed sense of humor but i honestly think that this guy actually takes himself seriously! (alien abduction silliness)

More from the World Wide Random Web later,
Enjoy the 4th of July safely!

Contentment

If you're thinking "Oh, his team lost and he's gonna try to cover his displeasure by ranting about contentment" then you would be wrong. I never entertained any fantasies that Team USA would "Win the Cup". No serious soccer fan would. But I have been (more or less) following the progress of the remaining teams.

Unlike our "World Series" of baseball, the World Cup is actually something that the planet at large takes an interest in (and so it deserves the title). It may make some people angry, but the World Cup is much more "Super" than any "Super Bowl" could ever hope to be. Despite this worldwide consensus of enthusiasm (which reaches an apex with the tournament once every four years) there still exists a great deal of discontentedness.

Look, for example, as some results of this poll: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/WorldCup/News/2006/06/26/1654621-ap.html


Thats our only choices? Instead of "Bad" our fourth option is "Abysmal"? The "ca" in the URL stands for "Canada" - I didn't even know that the Canadians were paying attention (I mean, haven't they all been busy watching the Stanley Cup? :-)

I wouldn't have said that the officiating has been "abysmal" but it has been "interesting". Check this out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5511358
(World Cup Red Card Record passed - and there were still 12 games left to play!)

Don't let your eyes glaze over yet - for those that don't realize it, the red card is very important for at least two reasons: the player "carded" is ejected from the game leaving his team to play minus one man for the remainder of the game AND when red carded, that player is also out for any of his team's other tournament games. The team can field a full squad in future games but that particular player is barred for the remainder of the tournament. So a red card becomes a huge penalty against a team and against the player.

But I'm digressing... I want to talk about contentment. It is my honest opinion that the great amount of discontentment that is so easy to find and the current "victim culture" (with it's abdication of personal responsibility) are intrinsically connected.

Think about it like this; If I'm not happy with my lot in life, I have two choices. I can take responsibility for my situation and try to do something to change it or I can choose to be a "victim" and blame somebody else. If somebody else gets blamed (my boss, God, an old lover, the government, whatever) then I am released from responsibility for my own actions and, by extension, the consequences of those actions. This frees me up to be quite lazy (or worse).

The reason that I feel that discontentment and the "victim culture" are so tied together is for one reason. It is a practical impossibility to dwell on contentment (counting your blessings) and actively pursue the life of a "victim". If you don't believe me then try this experiment: Try to get yourself all mad at something somebody did to you (or some lousy situation) and then try to count your blessings at the same time. It just won't work. Why? Because these involve two diametrically opposed thought processes - gratitude and resentment. Just owing to human nature, somebody is gonna read this and think "oh, I can do that" - okay wiseguy go ahead - try it! (and may you be overwhelmed by your blessings!)