September 11

Today marks the 6th anniversary of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the failed attempt with flight 93. It was a terribly sad event both for the reason of the lose of life and the realization that we could be attacked at home. Today we should all take a moment and really appreciate what we have here. We Never Forget, and I don't think we should either. I will always remember that day, like it was last week. It was a Tuesday, like today, and on the way to work I remember the radio saying it was national 9-1-1 day because of the date, and I thought that was funny because today would probably be the least used day of the year for 9-1-1, but boy was I wrong. I remember hearing about the first plane when I was setting in a QS9000 meeting and one of the people from the other plant who had come for a prep meeting got a phone call from his Mom saying that we were under attack. We kind of blew it off at first because we didn't have all of the details. Then she called back and said both of the World Trade Centers had been hit. It didn't really sink in and what happened next was kind of a blur until I walked into my trailer/office and saw the TV set up and it showed the towers falling and I said 'Oh my God they fell'. And there were two people in there watching and they just kind of nodded, because they had already seen the footage several times. My heart kind of sunk because you knew it wasn't a real 'accident' but you didn't know what kind of attack it was going to be. I remember standing in the desulf control room at about 2:30 PM and the lights went out and I said 'we are under attack', and I really thought a power plant or lines or something had been taken out. Unfortunately we just had an inconsistent power supply at the coke plant, and within a few minutes or seconds the power was back on, and we were trying to sort out what happened. I don't remember exactly what failed, but I remember being there late that night and checking on the coverage that was playing in the conference room and later they showed bombs being set off in Afghanistan. I remember seeing them show the people in that general geographic location celebrating what had happened on American soil earlier in the day and I was anxious to see us retaliate because I didn't really know the extent of the attack on us, but it did kind of feel like we should be fighting. I hate that our children will never know what it was like living in a world before 9/11, you know going through the security at the airport with your family and them staying at the gate with you watching your plane take off, but after 6 years I'm not sure I really remember what it was like myself. I think people will always give up some personal freedom or time to feel safe, but I don't know that anyone will ever be totally free and totally safe ever again.

Another Bathroom Update Again

Finished.

NFL Pick 'em Week 2

Did I say the Browns would go 9-7, I meant 7-9. Yeah that's it. Ok last week I was way off about the Rams and now Orlando Pace is out for the season so they probably won't be as good as I thought. Good news though for the Browns as they play the Rams in week 8. Last Week's record was 3-2, not bad for the 1st week, especially with the redskins winning in overtime and Denver winning on literally a last second field goal. Here we go week 2:

Cincinnati over the Browns. What I'm realistic. I hope the Browns will win, and if they do then I could pick them to lose every week and they will win. Bwah hah hah (evil laugh).
New England over San Diego.
Tennessee over Indianapolis - (Upset)
Bears over the Chiefs
Dallas over Miami
Carolina over Houston

Bathroom Update Again

The toilet is installed, but the water line was a little short. I'll pick one up tomorrow after work. I decided to use an extra large wax ring to make up the difference of the tile rather than use one of the kits that has the gasket system because when I put it in and set the toilet on it I didn't really feel like I could trust it. I talked to my brother today and he said the same thing. The rubber can wear and breakdown later, but wax, well wax lasts forever.

Family Tree

Spent some time with my Aunt at the Cemetery today. She told me a lot about my family and I now know who my Great Grandparents are.

Mom's side: Lucetta (Claus) and Charles Mann
Racheal (Matz) and Jacob John Christman
Dad's side: Jane (Pittman) and Sedrick Smith
Sevilla (Headley) and Leon Mobley

We all have 8 Great Grandparents do you know who your's are?

'Fantasy' Football

The Browns win their opener, barely. After surviving an early 17-0 deficit the Browns turned to their future star Brady Quinn to lead them on 3 scoring straight scoring drives opening up the second half. The Steelers managed to score again putting them up 24-21 mid way through the last quarter. On the next drive, Quinn led the Browns down the field and on the strong legs of Jamal Lewis, the Browns were able to score from 2 yards out with less than 2 minutes remaining. On the subsequent drive the Steelers' QB Ben Rothilesberger threw a pick to Leigh Bodden and Quinn was able to assume his first victory formation, as the Brown secured their first victory of year. . . .

Whoa, what happened there, I dozed off at the keyboard for a second. No No No the Browns didn't really win, but honestly how long do you have to be loyal to QB's that have guided you to a 4-13 record over the last 17 games. I mean really your best shot is with the unproven rookie that other teams haven't prepared for. And he is the best mix of the talent you have anyway. Frye is mobile, although he took six sacks, and Anderson can throw, but Quinn can do both and better. For Romeo's sake he needs to be good, if he plays early. If he waits to play him, then he needs to stink too, so Romeo can say he really didn't have much of a choice. I mean between Frye and Anderson they have 2 years experience, and most of those weren't meaningful games. Just put the rookie in, let him hand off a lot and make throws when he needs to, and let him get some experience so you can win games in two or 3 years. This isn't like Green Bay where they draft that Cal quarterback and he is still on the bench because Favre, a 3-time league MVP, is still there. Frye and Anderson haven't even been in the league for 3 years. I think Quinn is mentally strong enough to take losing if he is gaining experience. He QB'd at Notre Dame for 4 years, so he is not a one-shot draft-cash-in like Ryan Leaf (that will be Jamarcus Russell) instead Quinn is more like Manning. I'm not saying that he has the talent of Manning, but he is more of that mold, especially more than Frye and Anderson.

NFL Pick 'em Week 1

Ok, gonna try my hand at sports for a bit. I thought the Browns could go 9-7 without even looking at their schedule and after looking at the schedule I still think they can go 9-7. The Gurus at the sporting News say 3-13, so we will see who is right. If I hit it right on, I am canceling my subscription. They were so close to winning 4 or 5 more games last year and I think they have up graded at enough positions to put themselves over the top. So I'll be like a lot of other sports folks pick 4-5 cake games and then an upset. Alright here we go;

- Browns over the Steelers. (upset) although mild since Tomlin makes his debut for the Steelers. Do you realize that Brian Bilick is now the lone white coach in the AFC Central. Just an observation. L
- Denver over Buffalo W
- Washington over Miami W
- Green Bay over Phili W
- Rams over Panthers (could be another mild upset, but the rams could score more points than any team in the NFL this year.) L

Bathroom Update Again

No I'm still not done. The toilet will get attached Saturday. Have been busy at work with the DCS install. Siemens is here this week and they are configuring the control room. So far so good. I told Sophie not to wait to make dinner for me until the install is done. Yeah, that's the kind of week it has been.

Bathroom Update

Just a note Sophie finished the grout on the floor, YEAH!!!! So I cut the trim behind the toilet with my Father's Day gift, a miter saw, so she could stain it. Tomorrow the toilet goes on. If I am lucky. Also thinking of starting a family tree in Excel. I'll let you know how that goes.

Number 14 Finish

Finished my two weeks of finishing things. Ha. Bet you weren't expecting that. Oh well, this 'labor day' weekend has likened to killed me. You are supposed to be taking the weekend easy, celebrating the fact that you are normally laboring, but no, not this weekend I swear my arms hurt so bad Saturday night I could barely get to sleep. It reminded me of what my arms felt like after setting carbon for about a week straight, and all I did was try and remove the linoleum. Feeling better now, hey just in time to head back to work. There are still some things to finish in the bathroom. Sophie laid the tile today, she'll grout tomorrow or Wednesday (Oh yes, Sophie does the tiling), and then I get to try and put the toilet back on. Home depot says expect to take about two hours for toilet install. Ha. The Home Depot's got nothing on me. If they knew me they'd say you better take the day off work or plan on a Saturday for install. We'll see Home Depot, we'll see...

Number 13 Finish

Hey, Finished laying the cement board floor in the bathroom yesterday.

Historic Start for The Big Ten Network

Doh! That is the sound heard from the people running the Big Ten Network today. It looked like a good idea on paper, let your preseason top 5 team start the season out on your network to showcase the true powerhouse capability of the Big Ten as Michigan pounds away on poor 1-AA Appalachian State. Except you know Michigan gets beat... at home... by the 2-time defending 1-AA National Champion Mountaineers of App. State. Did I mention that Michigan had a chance to put the game away twice in the last 3 minutes, but both field goal attempts were BLOCKED. Missed I could understand, but how do you give up two blocks in less than 5 minutes. That was terrible, and oh by the way this was the first time a team from the division formally known as 1-AA (it is the Bowl Sub Division now) has ever beaten a team in the AP top 5. Congratulations Big Ten Network on making history, I can't wait to sign up and watch the highly competitive Big Ten lose to non-conference foes. 'Next week on the Big Ten Network Wisconsin takes on a Pee-wee football team from Eastern Wisconsin.' I'll have to record that, I don't want to miss history again.

Number 11 & 12 Finishes

Finished taking the toilet off yesterday so we could tile the floor (#11). Finished taking off the linoleum today (#12). Hopefully I'll get the backer board down soon. This was a lot harder than I thought. I kind of knew it was going to suck going in, but remember those Old Milwaukee ads where they said 'It doesn't get any better than this'. Well I found the opposite, 'It doesn't get any crappier than trying to redo your bathroom' (pun intended). Alright well I gotta get back to it. Did I mention this is the first Saturday of the College Football season? What was I thinking doing this stuff this weekend? Oh well, it is months that are really busy that make you appreciate the slow months when you can relax.

Something For Sophie

Sophie had me reserve a book for her at the Library, "I was a really good mom before I had kids". I told her she had to write a review when she was done. That reminds me I can write a review for "Harry Potter: and the Deathly Hallows" now. Not tonight though, NCAA football start, big brother is on, and so is "Who wants to be a Super Hero" on the Sci-Fi channel. I think that show will be hilarious, I'll let you know.

Number 10 Finish

Finished the testing on unit 3 sprays today. No short accomplishment. Now it's up to Dr. J. Irvin to analyze the data. He is a Ph.D. from Atlanta, so no worries. I might look at the data if I get a chance between now and the DCS installation.

Number 9 Finish

Finished testing the spray tip for unit 4 at work. Also made Sophie spit milk out of her nose. That has absolutely nothing to do with finishing anything, but when someone is brought to spitting milk out of their nose that is funny. I was tickling Samson while he had a Reese's Cup in his mouth and Sophie could she it, she though it was going to come out of his mouth and make a chocolaty mess on me, but it didn't. Disaster averted. Except for the milk.

Sophie Says

Greetings. Just wanted you to know that Sophie said that last blog had 'tool' written all over it. I don't know what she is talking about, I didn't even mention tools. Some people just don't appreciate good blogin'.

A little Math

Hi all. Just did a little math to project my potential earnings at the current rate of return for the old AdSense. At the rate I am currently raking in the dough, I will reach a Million dollars in about 26 years. Oh wait I forgot to carry the 7 ... 200 years... oops forgot that four there, let's see ... 2,000 years, oh wait decimal is in the wrong spot ... 200,000 years. What!?! That's terrible. Crap a remainder... 260,416 years! Comm'on people I don't think I can hold on that long. Please...click... ads... fading... fast... dreams ... hope....

2007 Miss Teen USA

Apparently in the pageant the contestant from South Carolina was asked 'Why one-fifth American couldn't find the United States on a map?'. Her incoherent rambling reminded me of Billy Madison, but at the end of her rambling the moderator, Mario Lopez, said 'good answer' instead of 'May God have mercy on your soul', or 'we are all now dumber for having listened to your incoherent ramblings'. I mean I have done some dumb stuff, but not like that. She said, "I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so, because, is that some people out there, in our nation, don't have maps, and I believe that our education, such as South Africa, and the Iraq, everywhere like, such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here, in the US should help the US, or um should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children." Apparently the reason 1/5th of America can't find the United States is because they spend too much time getting ready for beauty pageants. I don't normally bet (see my gambling entry), but I would bet this girl couldn't find the U.S. if you spotted her North America. The real answer may be that as a specicies we are de-volving at least on the outside. I'll leave it at that for now, but look at all the people who are surviving things that they never would have been able to before thanks to medicine. Some of the effects of diseases or even the drugs/medicine could have long lasting effects that haven't been accoutned for. Perhaps some people are impared from being able to even just remeber things, not necessarily that they are stupid, but if they pass that along to their children and the effect is magnified imagine the effects on generations to come.

Number 8 Finish

Finished attaching my downspouts via a screw. Man this is a weak one, but today was pretty hectic at work. There are two people up from Atlanta and one wants to work on the DCS system, Siemens APACS w/ PCS7, and the other one wants to work on yield. I felt like a guy on two different dates at the same restaurant. You spend time with one in the morning, then you'd go and see the other one 'til lunch, then try and split time in the afternoon. We did get a lot done with yield, set up the new test stand with an air flow meter and did some hard core testing in the afternoon. Good news, only 2 more days of that.

Mike Vick and Sno-Biz

OK. I know what you are thinking, how could something so bad end up in the same blog as something so good. (Good = Sno-Biz) I know there have been a bunch of articles written lately on Mike Vick and him killing dogs, but I guarantee this is the only one that mentions him and Sno-Biz. Go ahead look it up at http://www.google.com/ or something. Anyway I feel I should talk about this matter even though I am not sure where I stand. Oh of course I think it is deplorable to kill animals, especially by drowning or electrocuting the poor things, but honestly what do people think happens to all of the animals that end up in the pound and never get adopted. They end up meeting a similar fate although not as gruesome, still the same end. What is most disappointing is that someone who is set to make $130 million dollars over 10 years, feels compelled to do something like this. I mean for one your Mike Vick, so who wouldn't want to buy the dogs off of you. For two your going to make ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS. Just let that sink in for a moment. That is more than some people win in a lottery and this is payable over a ten year period not 20, plus a $22 million signing bonus. All you have to do is not be stupid and end up in jail or something. And this doesn't even touch his endorsement money. This whole story is just sad, dogs get killed, $130 million+ is taken away, and Mike ends up in jail. It all could have been avoided if he DIDN'T DO something. Just DON'T get into illegal competitive dog fighting and DON'T go directly to jail. How hard is that? But this isn't the first time Vick has had trouble saying 'no'. Remember when he got caught at the Miami airport with weed in his water bottle. SNL did a funny skit on the news called 'Really!?!' when it came to this matter. "Didn't think to throw the weed in the trash before going through security, Really? Didn't realize you couldn't have a bottle larger than 3 oz. on the plane anyway, Really? Didn't realize weed was illegal or something? Really!? ...." Let me tell you what the solution to this problem is - Sno-Biz. Sure it sounds simple, but if all that money that was spent on the dog kennel, the fights, the betting, the lawyers to fight the incarceration was used to buy kids or even adults, let not rip the adults off here, sno-biz, think of the possibilities. If you have never experienced sno-biz then go to http://www.snobiz.com/ and check out a local vendor. I recommend the peach cobbler with cream, just ask for it even if it is not on the menu. Trust me the last thing on your mind will be killing dogs. And as far as the Falcons go, Bobby Petrino should send Mike a gift basket for making his job so much easier, now Petrino won't have to worry about Vick costing him his job like his two predecessors. Hey Bobby, why not put a couple of gift certificates to sno-biz in that basket while you're at it. Trust me.

Oh look, Joey Harrington has thrown 2 touchdown passes already in the first half of the preseason game tonight. Maybe he should send a basket too.

Number 7 Finish

Finished hooking up my DVD player to my TV today. What? It's hard coming up with stuff everyday. It was disconnected for a while and I just never got around to hooking it back up. Plus I had to get a different cable than the one I was using before. If you are wondering why it was out of action I place the blame squarely on Peach and Samson. You just can't have anything nice with kids, and then when they get to an age where you could have something nice you don't have the money cause they gotta go to college or need shoes or a prom dress or something. Oh well.

Momma Helfensfelder

So my mom checked out the old blog today. Said she liked it, but she didn't click on any of the ads. I was like what!?! Come on Mom, the old ads are what give me a little kick back, and here I thought I was your favorite. After all that she asked me to give her an alias. Sure mom right after you click on one of those ads.

Number 6 Finish

Finished chopping the logs by where the old shed used to be today. There maybe a few straggler logs on the top flat part of the hill, but other than those nothing left but the really big stuff.

Vital Stats Clock

Check out the new vital stats clock that I put on from http://www.poodwaddle.com/. I don't know if that is supposed to be pood-waddle.com or poo-dwaddle.com. Oh well it is still pretty neat. I may add some of their other cool flash stuff later. If you like it just click on the link and it will take you there. If you really like it then click on one of the adds and that help me out.
Thanks.

Number 5 Finish

Finished my left over yard work today. Finished trimming the grass (problem with this is the trimming will never really be done) for this week, put wood up that I had cut earlier, and put my fallen rocks back up that were next to the street. They weren't in the street they had just kind of fallen over, but at least they are back up for now. For the future, I would like to tear that whole stupid wall out, but that project will have to wait for capital fundage.

referral Ads

I signed up for a referral ad with Sony, because everything I own is pretty much Sony. Sony TV, computer etc... so I thought it would be a good idea to pimp them a little on my blog. But apparently the code I put in there is going to some other stupid links. thanks a lot adsense.

I am also going to try and get the world clock on my blog from Poodwaddle.com I think I know how to do it now.

Number 4 Finish

Finished updated the links on my grade summary sheet at work. Somebody move all the files into a different folder when I was on vacation. I was going to do it eventually, but now it is done.

Number 3 Finish

Finished filling in a hole in the backyard from this summer's French drain project. Oh well it is done now. We are going to use the area next year for Sophie's garden. She is going to see if she can get 20 tomato plants in in a 4 x 4 area.

Mining Accidents

There was a mining accident in Utah on August the 6th. In the United States this accident received much coverage and probably many prayers. It looked hopeful at first, digging through the old access, drilling holes to find the miners, air in the mine was quite life sustaining. Then things started to change. Last week the rescue effort to go through the mine was stopped because the mine collapsed again, this time killing 3 and injuring 9. From then no more effort would be taken to reenter the mine in the same manner. Slowly the air in the mine itself was now not livable and somewhere around the two and a half week period hope was beginning to fade. At the service for the brave miners who died during the rescue effort, the owner of the mine Mr. Murray was confronted by an unnamed gentlemen and the man shoved a dollar in Murray's face saying that here was some more money that should be spent on the rescue effort. Murray allowed the dollar to fall to the ground where his son retrieved it saying instead in would be donated to church. Unfortunately the miners likely will never be retrieved from the mine, most likely they never survived the initial collapse, but most regrettably we will probably never know. The mine where they went to work that Monday in all likelihood will become their final resting place. There is still hope right now, but eventually there will be a period where hope will be lost. Lord I pray for those miners and their families that they will have closure.

Now let's look at how a similar situation is taken care of in China. Over the past weekend a mine was flooded in China due to very heavy rains and a levy that broke. The result was 172 miners being trapped. That's right 172. It would have taken 9 accidents and rescue efforts of the US event to be close to this number. The coverage by the state run news service was minimal at best. The men have not been declared lost yet but it could take weeks to remove the water. The fault of the event was not given to natural disaster - no under those condition the families of the dead miners would receive no compensation. This way the families can at least receive something for their loss, 2 and a half months wages. That's about $265 each, for a total of $45,580. Due to them because the mine should not have been operated under such rainy conditions. I wonder which country will do more to revise their laws, inspections, safety practices and recovery capability after these respective accidents. The US or China. Realistically the ceiling for mine safety in the US probably can't go much higher. After the Sago accident where 12 miners were killed and one badly injured major changes were made. In China on a daily basis they lose 13 miners. That is 13 a day, essentially 6 would be a major improvement. For the U.S. most likely the results from this latest accident will probably be to end any type of retreat mining or mining in any mine where retreat mining has been practiced. It probably is the safest thing to do, but there will always be inherent danger in mining. My father and 3 of my brothers were miners, and I really count myself lucky now for everyday that they were able to come home. Everyday there is risk in that job, probably more than policemen or firefighters who may not have to face death every singly day, but there is no escape for the miner. They venture into the dark abyss, check fear at the gate when they punch in, and have to function in a manner that will keep them from losing their job and most importantly their life. They are completely dependant on everyone who enters with them and those who have entered before, that they have not or will not do anything that will put them in harms way. But they also have to depend on nature, on the Earth, that what they have taken out will not cause hundreds of feet of Earth to come rushing in upon them or that water will not trap them deep below the surface. No, I do not envy the life of a miner, but I do admire what the are able to do and have done for so many years. I admire their strength, courage, resolve, ability and am proud to say that I am the son of a coal miner. God bless Coal Miners and their families!

Number 2 Finish

Finished Motor Storm for the PS3. I only had two races left, but now it is done.

Purpose

I wanted this blog to be for my children and their children at least, but anyone of course is welcome to read it (and click on the ads). I just wanted to document my feelings as things unfolded in my world. Sometimes it is hard to look back and remember exactly how you were feeling, this way I won't have to. It should be an interesting Journey.

Number 1 Finish

I finished reading Miles Levin's blog on care pages today. I started yesterday and from my previous posts you can see that it has had quit an impact on me. I would recommend to anyone to read his blog from the beginning as it is extremely well written and just very emotionally driven. I challenge anyone to read what was written by Miles and his family and not truly feel for them, even shed a tear if you will.

Two Weeks

In honor of the memory of Miles Levin, I will attempt to finish something everyday for the next two weeks. No real connection to what he went through just felt I should do something to honor what he did.

Miles Levin

(this is my response #7893 on Levinstory on carepages. This is posted 2 days after cancer victim Miles Levin finally ended his struggle with Rhabdomyosarcoma cancer.)

Dear Miles and family,
Thank you for sharing your journey with us. You did not really know where it would end 26 short months ago. Actually all of our ends are the same, it is the journeys that make us unique, and your journey came to end much to quickly. Two days ago I had no idea who you were, but tonight I finished reading every word you so gracefully and kindly shared with the rest of the world. Thank you for sharing your wonderful gift of the written word, I wonder if it was only the gift or more the purpose that seemed to give your words and thoughts such meaning. The roller coaster that was the last two years for you and your family was truly inspiring to read. I want to be a better person for my family and for my children. The letter from your father was especially touching, because I have shared moments like that in the morning with my 5 year old. I had to stop reading there last night because of the emotion that overcame me. That level that your family shared, that was open for us all to see was ... there are no words to describe the impact. We ask 'why' but G-d uses us for His glory not for ours. I will remember your story and share it with my children when they are ready. I compare it to 'Tuesdays with Maurie', but he had lived, and seen many things and gave us a glimpse into his struggle, but your courage for someone so young really is incredible. To your mother I would say continue this blog, after all it is Levinstory, not milesstory. I think he knew that all along. 80% of mother's with children, who have this horrible cancer, will come to the same place you are and they will need to know day to day how to deal with their grieving. My gift (as Miles asked what we were good at) is seeing what others are good at doing. You are stronger than most, the strength you prayed for shows, I will continue to pray for you and your family. Though Miles journey is complete here, yours are not, it is important for you to continue onward as people look to his story for strength they will want to see it most in the people who were closest to him. May G-d bless you in the rest of your days.
Thank you,
Cecil Smith

Global Warming

OK here it is my thoughts on global warming. Eventually the Earth is going to crash into the surface of the Sun when the Sun turns into a red giant so it will probably get pretty warm here then. Don't worry though, that probably won't happen for another 4 billion years or so. In the mean time is the Earth really warming up? Well yeah, probably, but does this mean we are in some rapid heat up stage? I don't think so. At least not to the point that we can curb or reverse the very mild warming trend that "Experts" are expecting. Even the models that are being put forward are suggesting 1°C increases by the end of the century. So in a little less than 100 years the average temperature will rise by a little over 2°F. Is that really all that bad. All this global warming hysteria is political. It is just a scare tactic to try and get people to vote for those "who are going to do something about it". But what exactly are they going to do - Fly around in there private jet telling people they need to conserve, recycle, buy carbon credits. There is a whole litany of problems with these types of people. Should we recycle. Yes, I do it, it isn't that hard. Instead of just throwing all of your cans in the trash you put them in a different bag. The energy used in recycling aluminum is about half of the amount of energy it takes to create new aluminum from ore. This is due to the fact the Al2O3 -Alumina-is converted to aluminum by the Hall-Heroult process at about 1700°F, while aluminum can be remelted at about 1220°F. Anyway recycling saves us energy, being smart about using electricity and natural gas saves us energy, but is not doing this what is leading to the trend called "Human induced global warming". To fight "Human induced global warming" we are supposed to do something to become carbon neutral so that the amount of carbon we burn into CO2 gas will be reconverted into regular old C and O2. In order to be "carbon neutral" you are supposed to buy credits according to how much fossil fuel you are responsible for burning. But only when it comes to your car and electricity in your house. What about the energy used to make the tires for the car, or the plastic used in your water bottles, or the trees that had to be cut down to make your house, apparently you don't have to account that. And the people willing to take your money are completely unregulated, so you can pay $5 a day to be "neutral" or $50/day depending on who you go to buy credits. Al Gore has taken the liberty of setting up a carbon credit store, which he pays himself for flying in his jet or using $20,000 worth of electricity at his house. So if he pays himself $80,000 a year he'll be carbon neutral, yeah that makes sense. Then he can plant some trees or flowers and feel good about himself. I mean everyone on the planet puts out CO2 when the breath, maybe if we stop breathing so much the earth will cool off. Well maybe if people like Al quite putting so much hot air out there too. Yes, you could send me $1 a day and I will hold my breath 1 minute of every hour so that you can feel good about driving your SUV or turning your A/C down to 65°F. Anyway I think that the "human induce global warming idea" is junk. If the Earth is heating up maybe we should look to what is heating the Earth, no not Al, the Sun. You see one of the problems with global warming is that the Earth is very dynamic, it has been around a while and adapted to different things, and the data set of temperature that we are looking at is from the last 100 years or so. Do you think they had all of these fancy trending and recording devices back in 1900. Hmmm, probably not. All they had then was some guy who would go and look at a thermometer every hour or once a day. Anyway the point is 100 years ago they didn't have the same capabilities as what we have now to measure the temperature accurately and using data from before that point is even less accurate. Not comparing apples to apples so to speak. The Sun accounts for roughly 99.999999% of the Earth's heat. Take it away and we will all meet a quick end. Now if we want to see if what we are doing is the problem we should be able to look at other planets and see if their temperature is heating or cooling. We have probes on Mars and satellites and I am sure that we can infer temperatures on some of the other planets. Let's just agree that in 20 years we aren't going to be that much worse off, and lets monitor these temperatures on different planets and determine exactly what the effect is so we know if the Sun is getting hotter. If the Sun is the major factor then it won't matter how many carbon credits you buy because we will all be in trouble. In the mean time, lets be better stewards of the Earth, do a little more recycling, a little more conserving, and maybe plant a tree or two on your own. Just don't hold your breath waiting for people to quit talking about global warming, I'll be holding my breath for everyone, you can just go ahead and click on the old adds.

A Profoundly Emotional Dance

Greetings. I was moved to write tonight because of the Mia Michaels' dance on So You Think You Can Dance. It was supposed to be a dance of her and her father or at least what it would be like if she could dance with him again since he died of lung cancer. I thought it was very emotional because I have lost my father, almost 10 years ago to colon cancer. I thought it was extremely brave and something you just don't see people do, remembering there lost parents like that especially someone in that position. I normally don't get her dances, but I understood this one. The reaction of the kids afterwards though you could kind of tell that even though they did a great job of telling the story I don't think they fully understood exactly what they were saying. It would be difficult to understand if you hadn't lost someone, but if it had be me dancing after I performed I think I would have had to go and give Mia a hug. Thank you Mia you did a great job. Your father would be very proud.

Back in the driver's seat

Hi everybody. Yeah I'll use the default greeting. Well, we're back from vacation in Florida, and I might be ready to go back. No I am glad to be home I just need another week to recover. Took about two hundred picture and over 2 hours of video. We hit the Zoo, Ripley's Believe it or Not, the Treasure Ship Restaurant, went snorkeling and swam with the dolphins, and even went through a human size maze. No cheese at the end though. I mean if you are going to have a giant maze you should at least have a little piece of cheese at the end, am I right? I thought that was a neat attraction as apparently they are pretty popular in Japan and Europe and the one in Panama City was the largest Maze in the U.S. Actually it might be the only maze in the U.S. Oh yeah, did I mention my niece got married. They didn't ask if anyone objected though, smart very smart. Anyway congratulations Amanda and Rich hope you have a long, healthy life together. That was kind of the reason for the whole trip, Samson got to be in the wedding, he was the ring bearer, although technically all he did was hold a pillow, actually drop a pillow, twice. Wow that was way too many commas for one sentence. Next month is Peach's birthday, she'll be two. Seems like she's been in the terrible 2's for about a year and half already. Some day I will post on important matters like global warming, health care and the like, but in the mean time if go to Panama City check out the maze and let me know what you think.

Also click on some adds.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - A review

2.5 out of 5. The adaption of the book was terrible. I would say about 40% of the book is left out, and not the normal no ghosts and stuff. I mean no quidditch, no mention of the prefects, not Rita Skeeter and the quibbler, but other than that. It was a lot of flash, smoke and mirrors if you will. The battle at the end was well done and there were a lot of effects throughout the movie, but I thought the plot was really thin. Having read the book and remembering how much I had hated Umbridge, I didn't have the same feeling during the movie. Yeah she was played well, and I thought the acting was well done over all, just short on what they were acting towards. The plot didn't really build around the viewer absolutely hating Umbridge for about 3/4 of the movie like the book did. At best it was moderate dislike. There was no real connection to the past books or movies, no Dooby, no real explanation as to what an auror was or did (the group of people that come to get Harry in the beginning of the movie are aurors - they are like the Marshalls of the wizarding community) and Harry didn't even get to express his interest in becoming one. The other things I didn't like about it were the way Harry came to start taking occlumency, completely different from the book, and (SPOILER ALERT) the way the prophesy was done. In the book Harry never heard the whole prophesy while at the ministry he heard it through Dumbledore's memory, and it was Treelawney's prediction which is never mentioned in the movie. Also Harry had to break the prophecy to hear it at the ministry in book. I blame the problems with this movie on the director and the screenwriters. It was silly to try and cram the longest book thus far in the series into a 2 hour movie. This movie should have been at least 3 hours and it would have been worth it. People that just follow the movies will think it is OK or GOOD but the folks that read the books will score this movie much lower. Especially after seeing what all was crammed into the last movie the Goblet of Fire and it was excellent. Also I think if you only follow the movies you will be missing out on certain details that will be important down the road. So for a full break down

Adaption of the book 1 out of 5
Effects 4.5 out of 5
Acting 4 out of 5
Story and Plot 2.5 out of 5
Rank in the Series 5th best

Advice: If you really must, see it in the theatre. If you can wait, I'd wait 'til the DVD comes out.

Good Day, Bad Day or Neither

Surprisingly Friday was neither a great day or a bad day. It seemed like something would happen and then it would get canceled out. First we went to the doctor's office, but we were at the wrong one. We didn't know he had multiple offices, so we spent 20 minutes driving to the other office. Get there and the Doctor is tied up in emergency surgery so he won't be in until 10:00, the appointment was 8:30. That's OK we ended up finding out that the stuff in Sofie's neck didn't grow, so that's great, but it still isn't enough to justify a PET scan and just to be on the safe side he wants her to get another MRI in 6 months to make sure it doesn't change. Went to work, it was all right. I jammed as much into 5 hours as I could. Changed oil transfer, GC on N650H, ran the results for it and the N660 from yesterday, input the daily daily data and did 2 run summaries, made the July yield report and checked out the government web site for saving energy in industrial plants. Whew. So only 5 hours, but tiring. Then we went to the Harry Potter Movie, and it wasn't that good. So we were hyped up for the movie and then a little disappointed afterward. Then we went to eat afterwards at a wing place, which I like wings, and the wings were good, but the honey BBQ was stinging the crap out of my lips. Mango habanero, no problem, spicy garlic good too, but dang honey BBQ was kicking my butt. Oh well still better than being a bad day. Thanks for the Prayers and please keep praying.

Need Some Prayers

Tomorrow will either be a very good day or a very bad day. Sofie goes to the nuerosurgeon to see if the stuff in her neck has grown. If it has grown it might be the "C" word. So if you get a chance we would appreciate a prayer.

Thanks.

Also HP Movie tomorrow, 1/2 day of work, common it has to be good, right. Fingers crossed, hands pointed towards the Lord, I pray it is a good day.

A Lil' Thursday night Reality

So you think you can dance:

1. Cat Deeley - English not French. Some dancer on the show kind of hit on her last night and called her French. English people hate being called French. I think pretty much everyone in Western Europe hates being mistaken for French people... except maybe Belgians.

2. Mary - She is more anoying than Paula Abdul and no where near as good looking. Not that Paula and her drinking or non-drinking problem are that good looking, but regardless Mary is very unnattractive. There is absolutely no reason for her to be on every week. Except I guess she does do something dumber every week.

"Just when I think you couldn't get any dumber, You go and do something like this. And TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF"
-From Dumb and Dumber

Prediction - Cedric gone, and I can't seem to remember any of the girl's names. Wait is there a Jessica, oh no she already went. Onya then.

Big Brother 8

I called it, Carol went home. Oh wait I didn't post that. Son of a.. I say Nick and Joe go on the block. Either way Jen is safe for a week. So no Jenviction this week, because she won the HOH.

Procrastination

Hey, I was going to write on the subject of procrastination, but I think I'll wait to do that...

But don't you procrastinate on clickin' those adds....

Seriously. Go ahead and click on the old adds. Seriously.

Rules for Gambling

Here are some rules for gambling that I thought were useful and should be passed on.

1. Don't Gamble. Seriously it is called gambling for a reason, and that reason is there is a good chance you will lose.
2. They didn't build all those fancy casinos in Las Vegas because they were giving money away. Casinos and gambling establishments will always, ALWAYS take in more money than the give out. They have to or else they will go out of business.
3. Never gamble with more than you are willing to lose. Gotta give props to Marty W. on that one. One of the wisest pieces of gambling advice anyone can give.
4. When someone asks if you want to bet, always say no. If they are asking you to bet, then they know something you don't and that always puts you behind in the percentages.
5. If you know something that someone else doesn't always ask them for a bet. (Bwaah hah, hah, hah) {Evil Laugh}
6. Lotteries are a joke. I heard one person refer to it as a dumb people tax, sounds about right. If you spent $5 dollars a week for 20 years on the lottery you would spend $5,200 dollars. And, statistically speaking, your chances of winning would never change unless they add more numbers to pick from, then your odds would go way down. Think about it, if the government wasn't making money on the lottery they wouldn't do it. Well maybe the government isn't the best example when it comes to losing money. Hey, wait a minute. I'll finish this up later I am gonna go buy some lottery tickets!!! Whoo Wee. Dang I should have bought some on 7/7/07, I know I would have won then.

Slots rumor

I heard that on July 7, 2007, slot machines were supposed to double their pay out percentages due to some creative and funny programming. 7/7/7. Hope you were able to cash in.

NASCAR Fun Fact

On July seventh, 2007, Clint Bowyer drove his car to seventh place at Daytona in the Pepsi 400. Which means the '07' finshed 7th on 7/7/07. O lucky day.

Transformers the movie - A review

Took Samson to see the movie "Transformers" with my brother-in-laws and nephew. AWESOME AWESOME movie. This is what movies are supposed to be like. It takes the wonder from the cartoon and puts it into live action, or CG, whatever. Either way it looked great and it was funny. The comment that Shia said to that Megan Fox when she asked if he thought she was shallow, "No, I think there is more to you than meets the eye." Hilarious. Also the action and capabilities of the robots were spot on, except for Megatron not being a gun. That was a little disappointing, but would have been difficult to work into the movie. Much easier to write it in if he is a jet. It was also surprisingly fast for 2.5 hours of movie. Some people would say that the plot was thin or the connection between Sam and whatever the girl's name was, wasn't that strong, but this isn't a romantic comedy it is freaking TRANSFORMERS!!! You go to this movie to see robots tearing stuff up, turning into sweet cars and flying. In the first 5 minutes I knew I wanted the video game, just because the weapons and abilities are going to be like nothing before. I am going to wait though until I get back from FL. So wait for the game review, plus you don't want to pay $60 for that just yet. Anyway awesome movie, awesome effects, if your a "story/romance" person probably not for you, if you like crap getting blowed up and huge robot fights definitely the movie for you. I would rate this movie in the epic category, because it isn't like anything before. This is original in the way it was taken from the TV series to the big screen. Very unique for the type of content in it. Any time a helicopter turns into a giant robot and annihilates an army base that is epic. 10 out of 10.

Return of a Champion

Props to my bro returning from Afgan. However, he owes me a shot at the title. The hoops title he has held since he left the first time. 25 free throws, best of seven series I lead in all time victories like 750 to one, but the one was the last time. I don't know if will ever give me a shot at it again, probably not. I think he just wants to know that he held the title for the longest period. But we could do threes or something until you know, he wins in some fluky event and then refuses to play again. Oh well.

4 mouths and 1 ear

Yo Yo Yo, been a while since I posted. No I wasn't going to try and break my previous record, at least not intentionally. I was trying to teach my son an important lesson the other day. I told that he needs to not talk while others are talking. I said "You have 2 ears and 1 mouth which means you should listen twice as much as you talk." Instead he acts like he has 4 mouths and 1 ear. Maybe 3 1/2. Except when cartoon are on TV then he has no mouth and 0.5 ears. Oooh Ninja Turtles are on, well I better go see what he is into... Common' that was one of the reasons to have kids, remember.

American Idol Final 3 - 2007

Turns out I'm not really interested in AI enough to do a blog like Chan's. Also I wish they would quit calling Melinda Doolittle Tina Tuner, it is not Tina Turner it is Nell Carter. I'm telling you Nell Carter.

And what is the deal with the sweater vests. I mean what's next pegging your pants will come back? Well now hold on, would that really be that bad. Sofie says yes. She says she will help put together a list of fashion trends that should never come back.

Ohhh, Elliot Yamin is on. Wait a second that doesn't look anything like Elliot. Where's the funky teeth, and what is up with that hair? Looks like it is ripe for a little pony-hawk action. And is he wearing a sweater vest? Elliot, Elliot, Elliot. Coincidentally I hear that is the name of his album - "Elliot Yamin". Creative. I wonder how long it took to come up with that name. Sadly probably a while.

The Yau-man takes one on Network TV - right up the ying yang

Sunday 5/13/2007, a date that will live in... oh wait it wasn't quite that bad. It was the first time on network TV that a black man violated a Chinese man. If you know not of that which I speak I am referring to the Survivor season finale. Yau-man had made one of the greatest single moves in the game of survivor when he offered the car reward to "Dreamz" in exchange for immunity at the final four if "Dreamz" won the immunity challenge. It was a great move for several reasons. One - Yau already had one hidden immunity idol, which he played at the very next tribal council, and it paid off since the tribe would have voted him out 4 to 2. Second - It kind of sets the stage for the vote at 5, because Yau has declared his allegiance to "Dreamz", so he is not voting for "Dreamz" if Yau wins immunity, which he did. So Yau has the final four he wants and a 50% chance at immunity, plus if "Dreamz" lives up to his end of the deal he becomes the one voted off at the final four. Brilliant. Except for the fact that "Dreamz" is the greediest, most deceptive, dishonest person to ever play the game and after he won immunity he didn't give to Yau, but instead voted Yau out. So in the final 3 it was "Dreamz", Earl, and Casandra. "Dreamz" had already screwed over 3 people in the jury, plus the newest jury member Yau, plus Stacy hated him, and I don't think Boo, Lisi or Rocky liked him. That leaves Michelle who never had the extreme displeasure of being on a tribe with him. Needless to say "Dreamz" got Zero votes in the finals. Which he should have realized he had absolutely no chance to win and the only purpose his greed served was to make himself look extremely bad and at the same time screw one of the best players ever, out of 1 million dollars. The other thing that makes me mad is that the whole time he was saying how he "couldn't wait to win immunity and give it to Yau," because he "wanted his son to see him keep his word and do the right thing". Except he didn't. So now his offspring will never have to live up to their word? What a dumb ass. I hope "Dreamz" gets how he gave in the "real world" because I don't buy his "it's just a game excuse". For one this is not just a game. It takes six weeks of your life, you're completely exiled from the rest of the civilized world, you have no communication with your family, and no food. Yeah, eventually it will be over, but it isn't like playing monopoly or cards against some friends at your house one evening. This is a significant part of someone's life and you should respect that going in. If someone is a better player than you and you give them your word for a brand new truck, then you should at least keep your word. I would never trust "Dreamz" in any capacity in the real world given what he did during the "game". If he can justify not respecting Yau's sacrifice and ability in the "game" imagine what "Dreamz" could do in real life. More like a nightmare if you ask me. Probably if you ask Yau too.

Barnyard Review

This isn't a real review, I was just mad that they made the boy bovines have udders! I mean I had to do a little research on the web just to make sure that it wasn't possible, but I found it in like 15 minutes. (I wasted about 10 minutes on Wikipedia). No male bovines do not have udders, they have other equipment. Sure I saw the previews, but I knew the premise was the cows were funny, so I thought the boy cow was just wearing it as a joke. Except the udder NEVER came off, and his dad had an udder. The whole time I was like 'why even draw the udder on the cow', just don't draw anything or do some research. I mean it only took me 15 minutes to figure out that little tid bit, if I were to spend millions on a major motion picture I think I would at least know what looks right. But you know what...maybe they did. Maybe, just maybe they did some research and found out that udders = funny and funny *1.05 = Profit. Of course, mo' udder mo' money. That is exactly what my web site is lacking - UDDERS. Just imagine the possibilities I plop a few more udders up there and people start clicking the ads like crazy. Alright well, I'll get to work on the udder's you go ahead and click the old ads. Thanks.

Self-Un-Aggrandizement

It turns out I will not be able to do the fill in stuff for Prof Chan. Sorry I will be taking in some local theater that evening with Sofie and Peach. Yes, local theatre. Something with large fluffy creatures from you know, Sesame Street.

What she's little she likes that stuff, maybe I'll do my own final 3 analysis though since I promised to sub.

A List of People Tony Stewart Owes!!

1. Kurt Busch
2. Jimmie J.
3. Juan Pablo Montoya *Note-On the lists of many drivers (i.e. Scott Pruitt, Bobby Labonte, pretty much at least one new driver every race).
4. David Gilliland
5. Bill France - Deceased June 4, 2007, probably don't need to pay him back now.
6. Sofie - Trust me.
7. Kyle Busch - for wrecking Jr. when Tony spun out at Texas, I think, and then people got mad at Tony. Tony didn't wreck Jr., they like each other. But NOT LIKE THAT SOFIE.
8. Ryan Newman - repaid during Darlington Busch race 5/11/07
9. Dave Blaney, Ricky Rudd, and whoever it was that tried to pull of that 3 wide pass with less than 20 laps to go at Richmond, because Tony got caught up in their junk.
10. Sterlin Marlin - for causing above incident.
11. Maybe not Ricky Rudd, but definitely Blaney, he should have gotten 4 tires instead of 2.
12.Denny Hamlin - I am sort of reluctant to put this up since they are teammates, but he needs to learn to get out of the way.
That should do for now, I will update as needed or as folks are re-paid!!

Abortion

A woman had just been told that she had terminal cancer, so she decided to pray. She asked God to send a cure for her cancer. God replied he did, but it was aborted.

Some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and other have greatness thrust upon them.

How would you like some greatness thrust up on you?

Self-Aggrandizement

Check it out, I have decided that since prof Chan is going to be off celebratin' his honeymoon (I assume with his wife) next week, I will fill in here on my blog. So check back next Wednesday or so (sorry I got a job) and I will grade the idols.

Oh happy day.

An awesome draft and some weak Drafting

Greetings. (voice over loud speaker, David Gilliland please turn your license into the nearest NASCAR official, then exit the track and never come back. Thanks.) Just can't get enough of those slightly less talented drivers who finally get a chance to run near the front with the talented drivers at the restrictor plate tracks and then run out of talent at the end of the race and wreck someone who had a legit shot to win it. And for those Jimmy fans remember what happened last year when Jr. and Jimmy got wrecked by Brian Vickers at ... where was that track... oh yeah Talladega. Look I know Smoke has taken a beating over the wrestling comment, but common if Dale Earnhardt was still around he would be saying the same stuff and people would be eating it up. Tony Stewart is not unstraight either Sofie, so quit saying that him Jr. are "buddies". Anyway on to some good news.

How 'bout them Brownies. Two picks in the first round Top 5 quality and oh yeah I can't wait 'til Oct. 14, when we play the Dolphins. They apparently felt they could pass on Quinn at 9 and take Ginn. Hey hope that works out for ya. They also got the CB they wanted even though he has some off field issues, but they should get at least one good year out of him before he "Pacman's" it his second year. So this is going to be the year, or else. Probably 9-7, depending on the development of Quinn if he plays or not, but coming out of Charlie Weiss' system to Romeo's should be about as easy a transition as any ever could be. I look for them to make the playoffs, but lose in the first round. Sorry. Surprise of the season - they will beat Baltimore Twice!!! Next year will probably hurt a little, because of the draft pick we gave up this year, but there is a ton of time to make up for that. I really like what they did going after linemen this off season, and drafting Joe Thomas will keep that guard they got from Cincinnati at the guard position. Now all that is left is to win some games. Go Browns!

Oh man, does that Doolittle on American Idol sound like Nell Carter. They keep comparing her to Tina Turner, but its Nell definitely Nell.

VFTW Screwing

Vote For The Worst what have you done? Dumb Dumb Dumb. I like the site, I do. I started keeping up with it during the Carrie Underwood season. For those who aren't familiar VFTW is the group that tries to pick the "worst" contestant on American Idol and drums up as much support as they can for them. It is kind of funny when you know about it and other people don't and they are like," Why is that sucky person still on the show, they couldn't carry a tune in a bucket." Ahh why indeed. But that is the funny thing about VFTW. They can get someone into the top 6 from the top 12, but that is about it. Unless they blow it somehow... like by going on David Letterman and bragging about. It is like watching someone's head grow larger and larger until their body collapses under the enormous weight. "Hey we are screwing American Idol, look at us." Now I know it sounds like a good idea to go after the publicity and maybe drum up a little business for the old web site in the process (you know have some people click on the old ads, nothing wrong with that), but wait until you actually accomplish something. See the thing that bothers me about VFTW is that they think they pick the winner in the end, but that is only after their real guy was eliminated six weeks earlier. Once the first choice is eliminated in kind of makes the site irrelevant, although professor Chan's weekly deal on grading the idols is always a good read. See if you take the top 5 plus the 12th place person in the top six there is a good bit of difference between talent level. But once that 12th place person is finally eliminated, your just picking between who America thought was the real top 5. If you follow AI and VFTW you know that once the lesser talent is gone VFTW just kind of leeches on to the next lowest person, which still goes pretty quick, then someone else and so on and so on. Until you get to a legit final two between Bo and Carrie and then you pick the "worst" out of those two. Common, they are too talented at that point to say VFTW had any real influence on the show. It's like saying that a Ferrari is worse than that Lamborghini, yeah maybe so but it is still a hell of lot better than a Prius. Anyway, when VFTW came out saying how it would be great if Sanjaya won on David Letterman, it rubbed people the wrong way. He had a good shot of making it far on that show maybe top 4, but ultimately they screwed him and themselves. You see when you have this inside joke that people don't know about and then you let everyone in, the joke is over. VFTW operated on the premise that they were screwing AI, but you can't just throw that in peoples faces. That is like telling everyone you are trying to fix the World Series, peoples is gonna get mad at you. That is precisely what happened here, people got mad at VFTW and then they started there own little inside joke to screw VFTW and pretty much vote off whoever VFTW was supporting. So even though Sanjaya had never been in the bottom 3 and Phil Stacey had been for like the last 6 weeks, old Sanjaya went home. There were so many more votes than there ever had been so it was pretty obvious that they really struck a nerve. But hey look on the bright side, maybe it will work next year because more people will be in on the "joke". Either that or there will be another website called www.screwVFTW.com and they will try to get people to vote for anyone, but who VFTW does and that site will work until you know, someone from that site goes on Letterman and starts the whole cycle over.

Gun Control

Well, it was pretty much inevitable that once a shooting like this happens people start calling for more gun control. Take a minute and listen while I explain how this doesn't make any sense. Number one - in this instance at Virginia Tech the shooter knew what he was going to do months in advance and there was no time restriction on not getting weapons that was going to stop him. He completely followed the law in Virginia and obtained the guns legally, which took 5 weeks to accomplish. That should be more than enough time for any impulse killing to pass, but since he stuck with it you know this is what he had in mind from the beginning. Number two - he had no intention to live past that morning, and I believe that, whether he had killed himself or the police had. When someone has already committed to killing themselves it doesn't matter what the punishment is for carrying weapons onto a campus. Think about it, he has no intention of living until Tuesday, let alone graduation, so what good is the threat of expulsion - ABSOLUTELY ZERO. The only way this crime could have been stopped is if one of the students or teachers in the buildings he attacked had a gun of their own and could have returned fire. Gun laws mean nothing to criminals. Think about it, who is going to break a gun law? - Someone who doesn't want to get expelled from school or fired from their job, NO. The people who break the laws are the ones that would break any laws because they either don't care about the repercussions or they are not expecting to live to see them. The current laws - like keeping guns 1000 ft. from schools, and having to wait certain periods before getting a firearm - are (I believe) intended to keep people from doing something rash or completely on impulse, that under normal circumstances they would never do and after having a reasonable amount of time to think about it would come to their senses. The laws also allow someone who really really wants a gun to still get one. If you are just going along thinking "gosh, I think I would like to own a gun." and you do the research and find the gun you want, you'll jump through the necessary hoops to get it. Or if you are premeditating murder for months or years you will also be able to wait. The problem with gun laws are that the more areas you "protect" by not allowing "law abiding" people to have guns, the easier it will be for criminals to kill in those areas because they don't have to fear that anyone will fight back while they are attacking.

Now the solution. What needs to happen is teachers, professors or the deans of the individual colleges within a university have to be given the ability to carry concealed weapons on campus. If you don't want to allow any students then that is fine, but I would almost make it mandatory for at least one administration personnel in each building on campus be required to carry a weapon. This also needs to be done in the most secretive of manners, so that if some crazed gunman decides to attack the school he will have no idea which rooms to avoid. Call it the Virginia Tech exemption and then pray that we have already witnessed the worst school shooting in American History.

4/16/7 - Virginia Tech Massacre

What a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families that lost someone yesterday. Where to start? This is one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog, to record my thoughts and feelings at the moment I was witnessing history. I felt sick today. Not from this story, but just light headed and extremely tired. My family has been battling the roto-virus for the last 3 weeks and I guess in finally caught up with me. Anyway it allowed my to see some of the coverage of the scene at VT. I watched the ceremony at 2 PM, the president, governor, various others offering condolences and kind words. Nothing really stand outish. The real tragedy is not knowing if part of this could have been prevented. I suppose there will be a lot of second guessing in the weeks to come and eventually there will be some "standard" set forth to deal with this kind of incident. This was by far the the worst college shooting in the history of America. The other one of note was in Texas in 1966, when an ex-marine opened up fire from a clock tower before being gunned down by police. In Virginia the situation was a little different, the gunman had two separate targets that Monday. Cho Seung Hui, was a Korean by birth and lived in the US legally since 1992. He was set to graduate next month with an English degree, but instead decided to end his life taking 32 others in the process. The second guessing starts with the administration. He went to a dorm with an ex-girlfriend or acquaintance or something and shot her and the RA. The an hour and a half later opened fire in Norris hall killing 30 others. My thoughts are that with a shooting happening in a dormitory, you lock down the dorms and cancel the classes and post armed police at the entry of each building, because you have a responsibility to keep the students SAFE first and when a shooter is running loose on campus that is not safe. Second there were reports that this guy had written plays or stories about shooting up teachers and classmates. I know there is a certain creativity that schools try to foster, but eventually you get to a point where it is no longer "creativity" and it becomes foreshadowing. People really need to take a hard look at exactly what people are telling them and err on the side of caution. To the people at VT now, it is going to be hard but you will make it through. You have to, for all of the people that won't have a chance now. Remember God won't give you more than you can handle. You can only look at the past, and you can only go forward from here.

Not So Good Reasons to Procreate

All right, let's start the list for "Not so Good Reasons to Have Kids". Sofie has graciously volunteered to give her input. Amazingly without me even asking. Note: there is some adult content, so be advised.

1. "Oooo, there's a cute maternity outfit."
Note: Pregnant women know that there is no such thing.
2. Hello tax deduction.
3. I need someone to blame, for losing/ruining all my stuff.
(i.e. remote controls, DVD players, computer screens... this part can pretty much go on and on and on...)
4. Need someone to blame gaseous releases on, if you know what I mean.
5. If your pregnant you can eat whatever you want.
Note: Sofie says,"You can but it won't come off when the baby comes."
6. Don't ever call your pregnant or post pregnant wife fat. This doesn't have anything to do with kids it is just sound advice.
Note: Sofie says,"You should never call your wife fat anyway!" Ouch. Cause watch out if you do.
7. I wish I knew more people that don't listen to anything I have to say.
8. I wish I could shop at the baby gap, cause they always seem to be having such good deals in there.
9. I have way to much free time/money to just be hoarding it all for myself.
10. To keep a man. Bad very Bad.
11. If you get pregnant we can have as much unprotected loving as we want.
Note: Yeah, until it gets weird. Plus in the 3rd trimester it can induce labor. Then you gotta cross that six week love desert cowboy.
12. Well I got the minivan. Might as well fill 'er up.
13. Dale Jr. needs another fan.
14. I've just been getting way too much sleep at night.
15. If you have kids, no one can criticize you about watching cartoons all day. Hey it's for them.
16. "I really like that name".

Well that will do for now. I'll start working on that list for reasons to have kids shortly.

Hey click on an add. Thanks.

New Remote

Ordered a new remote for my TV today. Apparently my daughter after she found out about the how the trash can works, promptly went around "cleaning" up. I mean I really can't yell at her for it, because I really can't prove it. However, it is really easy to blame kids for stuff when you can't find something. I think I'll put a list together for good reasons to have kids and not so good reasons to have kids. Stay tuned....

Also in that 2.48 year gap me and Sofie had another kid, Peach.

Motivation

Yo Yo Yo Everybody. In case you were wondering about the math it was 2.48 years between posts. That might be a record. Oh yeah, and I just signed for the old adsense from Google, so now I can set back and watch the money rollllllll in.

Any time.

Just waiting on that money to start rolling in...

Just give one of the ads the old clickty click click and I collect a little cash. Ah sweet capitalism. Go ahead, give it try. Did I mention you was my BFF. Come on just click on an add.

Are you still reading???!? Come on click the ads already, I'd do it for you. I mean I need that cash to help pay for the old Regional Income Tax my local government insist on screwing me with.

Oh by the way, Thank you for your support.

Imus

whoosh...cough cough. Ugh well I guess it is time to knock the dust off this sucker. Well it sure has been a while. If you're wondering I did forget my password... and login name... and well that's all.

Figured Imus might be a good subject to come back on the blog seen with. A little background. Don Imus - radio host at CBS, simulcast on MSNBC in the morning considered a bit of a "shock jock", liberal, experience ~30 years or so. On Monday or Tuesday 4/09 or 10/2007 he says the Rutgers women's basketball teams has a bunch of tattoos and they look a little rough then he drops the BOMB - "they are some nappy-headed hoes." OOPS. How can 2.5 seconds ruin 30 years of work you may ask, pow right there. It seems like every woman and or black person has jumped on the "I hate Imus" bandwagon as though he raped and shot the Rutgers basketball team. Depending on when you read this it may not seem that way, but let's recap. First CBS and MSNBC give a 2 week suspension. Not overly harsh you may say. Outrage from Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Barak Hussein (sp?) Obama, Oprah, and well pretty much everyone. (Self not excluded. Don't get mad, keep reading.) All of the big sponsors decide to pull advertising on MSNBC, so he gets fired from there. No worries still got the radio. Thursday, CBS decides to fire him. Yikes. Also 3 hours later he meets with the Rutgers team at the New Jersey governor's mansion.

(Funny thing happens on the way to mediating the meeting ... The governor is in a car accident, but he is not wearing a seat belt. Uh Oh! A $46 fine under New Jersey law, but no probs he was being driven by a STATE PATROL OFFICER. What, he didn't notice the guy next to him doesn't have a seat belt. I'm sorry but no one in the state of New Jersey should ever get a ticket for not wearing a seat belt again. can i get an amen. Anyway the governor got punished by God - broken leg, six broken ribs on each side, broken sternum ... oh yeah, Buckle up New Jersey it's the law and you will be severely hurt if you don't.)

Overall I would say Imus 'lost' this week, along with the governor of New Jersey. But there are a few things that worry about this episode.
(1) Imus has said a lot of hurtful things through out his career. At one point he called someone a boner-nosed, beanie wearing Jew boy. At another point he called for the Iranians to be nuked at a funeral. Then this latest statement. But when no one has stood up before, why wouldn't he just say whatever he wanted to without fear of repercussions. There is something special about this situation I guess. He targeted more than just one person, so it wasn't a completely singular insult, and it wasn't against some generic group of people. This was specific enough and yet general enough to garner severe attention, but the guy really should have been jumped on beforehand. ...Something here about enough rope...
(2)The backlash from every nook and cranny is very disturbing. Jesse and Al, the NAACP, women's groups and it seemed to happen even before the Rutger girls had a chance to respond. I am sure none of them were listening at the time it was said, I know I never heard of the guy before, but it seems so odd that people were willing to jump on him because of the "great insults" he hurled at the girls. -2.5 SECONDS- and he probably spent less time thinking about the comment before he made it. Something here doesn't add up, but I am not sure what it is. What would have happened if the girls said, "Imus, never heard of him. Whatever some sad little man had to say is far less significant than what we were able to accomplish this year. It doesn't bother us, because he has no influence on what we think or do and definitely not on the people that really support us. Clearly he doesn't know us." End of story. Kudos to the Rutgers' women's team for being the bigger people... but that never happened.
(3) The first amendment. I know this is "hate" speech and all, but when someone is allowed to act in a certain manner for 30 years and he gets paid to do so, it is not exactly grounds to recondition his behavior. ... something about Pavlov here... Someone on the radio said this was retribution for him ripping a congressman the previous week, maybe. But we can't let ourselves forfeit our rights, because of ... well other people? I don't know, it seems like if Imus can go because of this, then really no one is off limits, but where does it end? Will it end? Will all of the free speech on the radio be silenced because some group or person will find it offensive? Maybe. And that is really the sad thing. Probably 90% of whatever is said anywhere is useless, but the 10% that matters is only said at the encouragement of what is said in the 90%. By being free to communicate as much worthless nonsense as possible we also create ideas that further the society. And I believe that is what the 1st amendment is for. Yes people will say things you disagree with, but that is your opportunity to truly further your cause and put your ideas out there. You really can't be afraid that people will hate you and you shouldn't hate others for what they say no matter how bad it is. What if Martin Luther King Jr. had been afraid to speak? What if Abe Lincoln didn't want to talk at Gettysburg? Or Kennedy never spoke out about serving the country? All words are not great, but it can't be up to "groups" to stop ideas because you never know what could inspire greatness. Censorship can't be the way. People have to make up there own minds and in the end if you want people to really live the "right" way then you have to give them the better ideas, the better way to live so they choose what truly is right.

(disengage Soap Box)

The Election of 2004 pt. 2

{Note this draft was started in October 2004, but its contents are still relevent}

(Take position on top of soap box)

I really hate to do this, but to all of the Christian followers out there when John Kerry was quoting the bible didn't that just ring wrong. He could quote carefully rehersed material, but when the matter of homosexual marriage came up he seemed to abandon "his faith". Perhaps he wouldn't be able to name the exact book (1st Corinthians) or the chapter (chapter 6) or the verse (verse 9), but the bible does mention in no uncertain terms its stand on homosexuallity.
-"(9) Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders (10) nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (11) And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God"
He said we have to understand how God made each of us different and we need to be understanding of each other. NO. The Christian God would not MAKE people homosexual. That is like saying God makes people commit sin. If people aren't religious then the don't care about the religious stand on this topic which is fine. But when it is "good" for someone to use religion as a talking point in their campaign they had better know on what side their God stands, because trust me God won't flip-flop. Are there homosexuals -Yes, did God make them that way - No, why - because God allows us to face temptation. Everyone starts in basically the same position as two cells come together to begin forming what will be at our future state. Along the way we are faced with decisions that will ultimately determine our fate. Our we religious or not? Are we straight or not? We make the decisions that shape our lives with or without God's help. Be very clear though I do not think that God "hates" homosexuals, but it is up to them to reconcile with God and make nice.

Presidential Race 2004

A little incite into the battle that has become the presidential race of 2004. I have watched all three presidential debates and the VP debate and the score is pretty much 2 to 2 or maybe 2 to 1 and 1 draw. I give Kerry the advantage in the 2 regular debates (except for maybe the 3rd see below), but the town hall and VP debate to Bush and Cheney. The third debate was probably the most telling of any of the debates and anyone who thinks that John Kerry is an upstanding presidential figure must not have watched. The comment that drug one of the children of the opponent's into the debate was completely uncalled for and anyone that thinks different is entitled to their own wrong opinion. It was Dukakis-esque. The single moment that alienated a decent group of voters because of the sheer emotion attached to the statement. If you are not familiar, in the 1988 debates between Dukakis and VP Bush, Dukakis was asked if he would seek the death penalty for someone who raped and murder his wife Kitty. The short of it is he said 'no' because he has held a certain view of capital punishment and blah blah blah. The problem is, people can identify with their loved ones and when you can put a face on a certain situation it makes talking about it completely different regardless of the substance of the answer. Back to the 2004 race, Kerry put a name (well not specifically Mary Cheney, but 'VP Cheney's daughter') strongly linked to the Republicans in a answer that was completely out of line. If he wanted to put a real person in the situation who has struggled with homosexuality, then use a specific person, BUT NOT SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW. Especially not someone who is in the other camp. I know he was just trying to draw attention to hard core republicans or some independents that there was a homosexual in one of the high ranking republican families. "OH NO", the republicans are supposed to say, but then what. Not vote for the "homo" family. I think this ill-conceived plan to bring up Dick Cheney's daughter in this format is going to backfire and actually generate some amount of sympathy for the Republicans. Or at least damage the character or lack of character on John Kerry's part to an irreconcilable amount.

The other thing that will damage Kerry's "Character" is when the host Bob Schieffer asked the candidates to say basically something nice about how their wives and daughter's have helped in this campaign. Bush's response was to say how he and Laura met and how lucky he was to have her out campaigning for her and also how he appreciated his daughter work. Kerry's response was to compliment the president and first lady, then mention how he had married up (which I take as a statement of "thanks to my wife I have a lot of money to run for president"), then started talking about his mother. That's right his mother. Didn't mention his wife for the rest of the 90 seconds he could have talked. Nothing about the fact that the African-born woman was on his side as a show of world interest or how the "shove-it" comment to a reporter in her "home" US city of Pittsburgh really showed her support for the free speech part of the bill of rights. No people, if you want one good reason to not vote for John Kerry let it be his wife who John Kerry himself can not even speak positively of, for one minute. I know the first lady doesn't represent any real issues for the candidates, but is this really the person you would want as an ambassador for the USA.

A good second reason would be John Edwards. Besides being extremely inexperienced in anything political or really anything not having to do with being a trial lawyer, he would be second in command. I have to assume that he was chosen strictly on looks and what he could bring to the ticket in the form of women voters looking for someone to represent the US in some type of modeling competition for world leaders. That currently doesn't exist, so that wouldn't be a good reason to vote for him. Also he hasn't done much in the senate, like show up even. The funny thing is in the VP debate Dick Cheney said he had not met Edwards before that night, and the media stations are like, 'both of you were at a prayer breakfast once, and the when Mrs. Dole was being sworn in once', but no mention of them running into each other AT THE SENATE, WHERE HE "WORKS", FOR THE PEOPLE. The other sad point is that he couldn't even defend Cheney's comment at the time it was issued, not until his wife informed him of one of their meetings could Edwards respond at a rally after the debate. Boy, looks like those two meetings left a real impression on both men.

Bush is not with out fault either. But people seem to want to forget about the impact of 9/11 and what it did to the country. Everyone wants to focus on the war in Iraq and how it wasn't it self-defense or about going after terrorist because Afghanistan was the only country that has terrorist and they were the only ones we can hold responsibility some how for 9/11. But I can explain the war in Iraq in one word that no one in congress or the white house will admit to and that is "paranoia". Now that maybe a little too simple for most and rightly so, but the underlying idea that we went to war in Iraq was to "Prevent" another attack, which could be biological or nuclear and do much more damage than the original 9/11. If everyone in the world has the same intelligence and they all point to Iraq as having WMD then how can the president sit by and wait. If we had been struck on 9/11/03 by nuclear weapons out of Iraq, everyone would have said why didn't we act on this intelligence before we were hit, "It's like we didn't know it would happen again?" Right. By going to Iraq we ended 12 years of UN resolutions that Iraq had not complied with by not demonstrating that it destroyed it's weapons after the first Gulf War. We are setting here after 9/11 going where are the weapons and Saddam is like we don't have 'em, but there is no evidence they were destroyed either. I have to agree that I don't believe it was worth the chance to sit back on our hands and wait and 'hope' that Saddam was telling the truth. And I think that is why there hasn't been a greater backlash from the World Community because they understand this conflict in the same manner. That and some of the countries were on the take in the old "oil-for-food" program.

The economic effect of 9/11 was also huge. Not only did we lose 3,000+ contributing members of the society on 9/11, but we lost 200 floors of world changing businesses. That type loss is not replaced in one day or one year, but closer to 2 years. An economic revival has occurred in the last year or so, but it is still very fragile. One reason is the world market, which makes it difficult to increase good paying manufacturing jobs in the states, because items can be produced much more cheaply in other areas of the world. If we could have transferred the loss of the high end business on 9/11 to the lower manufacturing sector the effect would not have been as great, but due to the change in world trade capabilities that was not possible. Second a lot of the business that have been used to right the economic ship have been service sector businesses. Service businesses are nice, but not when one service serves another service which serves another service.... Eventually it all leads back to servicing the manufacturing sector when raw materials are changed into marketable goods and revenue is generated to pay the service sector. In order to keep the growth going we have to reinvest in the manufacturing sector in order to support the service sector. It is like the manufacturing sector is the legs of the table and the service sector is the food placed on the table. We can't keep placing food on the table and keep yanking the legs off and expect the whole situation to be stable. Right now we need to put legs on the table.

Well that is enough time on the soap box for tonight.

The NBA Finals

People say this should be a one sided affair, but what happened in game one may not be a fluke. These teams are actually pretty well matched and the one team that could like to play half-court more than the Lakers is the Pistons. I give the run and gun advantage to the Lakers as well as Center, but you can only have one. If the Lakers run no Shaq in the half, but if they settle for using shaq then no fast breaks. For individual match-ups I think Shaq is the most dominate player and his dominance transcends skill. Lakers win at center. 2 guard - this is also a victory for the Lakers (narrowly), but unlike some other teams in the playoffs Rip Hamilton will make Kobe work on the defensive end. The rest of the match-ups go to the Pistons. Billups is better than the aging Payton, and more talented than Fisher and more experienced than Rush. For the overall backcourt of Rip and Billups I give them the advantage. If Payton were 2-3 years younger that goes the other way, but he is an aging superstar on the down hill side of his career. The same thing can be said for Malone. He WAS a great power forward, but at this point in their careers Rasheed is better. He can score from deep and will be able to help on defense with the lack of offensive 'punch' (sorry for the pun Wolves fans) provided by Malone. Small forward Prince. His defensive stops are why they are still playing. George can stretch the D, which will stop Prince from being able to help, but that is about it.
Look for the Lakers to run the triangle with Kobe and Shaq and Payton, and run screens across the lane to free up Shaq and let him catch the ball in the deep post. Also look for Larry Brown to gamble with subs and match-ups in game two to try and gain an advantage going home. I look for game two to go to a fired up Laker team, but the Pistons have got to keep it close. It will be hard for moral to be down after this game, what with the big win in game one, but if the Lakers blow out the Pistons they could lose faith. Especially if the Lakers dominate in the half-court. The Pistons are going to need to score at least 90 tonight to win.

Love

To not love is to perish, but to find love is to live.