Holiday Time Again...

It's time to decorate... to visit family... to eat lots of food... buy and give gifts... and if you are lucky it's also time to celebrate! December is a busy month. Everyone is trying to do something special. Work is having a holiday party, families are having get togethers, and reunions, organizations are having banquets and parties. Who has time to decorate?

Ok I admit it, I am making excuses... I could decorate, but I just don't enjoy it. Now I enjoy looking at other people's decorations, but I just don't enjoy doing the decorating myself. I know what you are thinking... I am a Grinch, or a Scrooge... Far from it... I enjoy the Christmas Holiday a lot... I give lots of gifts, I attend the parties, I even help host some of them. But I just don't enjoy decorating... Is that bad? I mean there is a new movie all about a couple of guys (Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito) who have a competition about the decorating. I have heard stories on the news about unbelievable light shows in the local Pittsburgh area. The local department stores are running out of inflatable yard decorations. But what's the thrill? I would rather spend the time and money on gifts and stuff for family and friends. Maybe I am a "hum-bug"... Oh well... I have been called worse! Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my oldest's birthday. She is 21 today, and I am very proud of her.

Of course as I was recently reminded, the older she gets the older that makes me!

I still remember the day she was born, and even though it was a generation ago, it seems like it was a blink of the eye. As her mother was being carted out of the delivery room she asked "How soon can we have another?!". We stopped 3 kids later.

My daughter is now well on her way of building her own life. She is engaged to a nice guy, she has a good job, and her own place. Did I mention I was proud of her!

Blogging... Cool?

I haven't blogged (written) anything for quite some time... I originally started blogging because I thought it was cool, and I would enjoy writing about myself. Now I find that while blogging is still cool... Writing about myself isn't as much. I guess I don't find my life interesting enough for anyone to read about. The things that are interesting, I find I can't write about because they usually involve other people who may not want published for the whole world to read. Then I find that I censor myself because I don't want to offend anyone by expressing my thoughts about them... I mean I often find that in order to "get along" in certain circumstances I must suppress my true feelings. I don't think this is unique to me. So I am left with talking about my feelings about general topics such as current events, movies, TV, books, etc. Things which everyone else talks about... Things which aren't unique to me, and as such are boring and mundain. So I have to decide... To put myself fully into this blogging and truly express myself, continue on as I have, or stop all together. Even though the last option seems like what I have been doing lately, it's not really the option I relish the most. I want to do something, be something or someone, that is unique. I want to find something I enjoy and spend the time being the best at that one thing... so that I am better than most people at that thing. I don't want to be just one of many, I want to stand out. Then I will have something worth blogging about. Today I am one of many... Tomorrow I want to be one of few!

Celebration!!!

My youngest daughter who will be 11 tomorrow, has wanted a "two wheel" bike for quite some time, but has been absolutely petrified to ride one. I had been offering to buy a bike and teach her for years, but she has absolutely refused to allow me... This past week, I took her up to my girlfriends house, where her son has a small bike that he no longer rides. I strapped on a few training wheels and got her on the bike. The bike and the training wheels are designed for much smaller children, but they gave her the sense of security she needed. However they didn't really prevent her from falling or getting frustrated when she couldn't turn or move the bike the way she wanted. Well it's been a week... I have been raising the training wheels further and further up, so they didn't touch the ground, until she was riding the bike without the training wheels touching at all... I had her stop, and I took of the training wheels... She immediately when into panic mode, and told me she couldn't ride without the wheels... I explained to her that she has been riding the bike with the wheels so far up they didn't touch, and she didn't need them.... I tried to explain to her it was like Dumbo and the Magic Feather... She could do it on her own, and she didn't need the feather any longer. I was surprised that neither her or my girlfriend's son got the reference... I thought these kids watched Disney movies! :-) Anyway, she was nervous, but did it... The look on her face when she realized she could do it without any help was priceless!!! She was proud of herself, and I was even more proud of her. She overcame a huge fear in her life, and succeeded! It was a great day! My girlfriend gave her a ice cream bar to celebrate, her son offered his old bike to her as a reward, and she went to bed later happy and content!

No Golf

Well, it looks like I am not going to be playing golf this weekend... The golf course is safe!... for now.. :-) I will be traveling once again to Heritage Reservation to visit with my son tomorrow. His mother was supposed to be going, but she isn't able to go, and I don't want to leave him up there for two weeks straight without a visit. Especially after his injury the previous week... Oh well, at least I can be back in time to play cards at my brother's house in the evening. My mother just celebrated her birthday yesterday... Yep it's official, she is still older than me! We went to Fire Mountain buffet restaurant, and then visited for awhile. I really should visit with her more often. We had a good time. There are quite a few other birthdays in the family coming up. My youngest is going to be 11 in a few days, and the middle girl will be 15 a couple of weeks after that. Some where between the two my brother, Rick, celebrates a birthday... It might be possible that he has finally gotten older than me. :-) My niece in Ohio has a birthday the day after my middle daughter... I believe she is having her sweet sixteen! So I better go get some more birthday cards and presents! I wonder if they will accept an I.O.U.?

Stop Driving...

Ok... ok... I have heard the pleas... I have parked the car, put on the parking brake... for a few minutes... While I sip my tea, I will make a post! Not much to tell, except what everyone has guessed, and that is that I have been out driving my car too much. I have already put over 2,500 miles on it, which is about 130 miles a day since I bought it. I better slow down, or I will have almost 50,000 miles on it within a year. Yeah, I like my car! Most of my trips have been to visit my son at camp. He is spending the summer at Heritage Reservation's Camp Freedom. This Boy Scout camp is 10 weeks long, and he is living on camp as a paid staff member. The drive is about 115 miles one way, which takes a little over 2 hours to drive. I have been to the camp (up and back) seven times in the 4 weeks that he has been there. This upcoming weekend will be the first weekend that I will not be going to visit. Enough about him, you can read about his adventures in his own blog: "A Little Deeper". This past weekend I got to spend time with my girlfriend, Marianne. She called me at work Friday afternoon and told me she had three free VIP tickets to a concert at Post Gazette Pavillion, our local "outdoor" ampitheater. She told me who was playing, and even though I had never heard of them, I said "Yeah, by all means, let's go!". I was thinking "free tickets... cheap date!". She wanted to find a third person to go so we wouldn't waste any of the free tickets, and after a few minutes, she found a co-worker that had never been to the Pavillion, and was interested... I left work a little early to pick Marianne and her co-worker friend up and away we went to the concert. The Pavillion is a nice 30-45 minute drive depending on the traffic, and which "short cut" you decided to take, so we all talked and joked along the way, and enjoyed the trip. About 2 miles from the Pavillion I asked Marianne how we got into the concert... She said we just had to call her friend that gave her the tickets, and she would meet us and in we go. The VIP tickets gave us free parking, access to the VIP tent with free food and drink, and great seats for the concert, so we were all excited and couldn't wait to get to the VIP tent and start chowing down, and drinking. Marianne called her friend and asked if they were still serving food, even though it was still a whole hour before the concert started, which of course they still were. Her friend said they had no trouble getting in, the food was great, they were having a great time, and couldn't wait for us to get there. Marianne told them the three of us were just getting ready to pull in to the Pavillion. All of a sudden Marianne's tone changed from excitement to concern, and was saying "really", "Are you sure?", "oh my", and "I don't believe it", into the cell phone. She hung up and said "We have to turn around"! I was shocked... Everything seemed to be going great. We were just about ready to pull in, why would we have to turn around now? About this time I recalled something I had said to my brother earlier in the evening. He had invited Marianne and I to go watch "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" with him and his family. I told him, "I can't go. My luck's changing, and I got free VIP tickets to tonight's concert!". This is probably what "stirred up my bad luck pot". If you need a refresher about my bad luck read my post from April 2004 about luck. Anyway, back to the story... As she hung up the phone, she explained that her friend did not have 3 tickets, instead, she only had 2. There were three of us in the car, so we had to choose to either not go, only two of us go, or the third person would have to buy a ticket (if available) and sit in a different section, and miss out on the VIP tent and food... To not avoid a scene and hurt feelings she decided, and rightly so, that we shouldn't go, and instead go get a dinner together. So we drove to Chester, WV, and visited "Connie's Corner Kitchen" (I think that's the name), after passing the "World's Largest Teapot". We had a wonderul, and delicious dinner there. So even though we missed the concert we had a great time. The following day, we were driving once again to the camp, but this time to take Marianne's son with the rest of his troop to stay for the week. We brought my son back from camp so he could go for a doctor's appointment today (Monday). Marianne's Dad rode with us to see the camp and enjoy the sites along the way. He said he had never been to Uniontown, or to the camp, so he got to enjoy our tour of the area, and he also go to wish his grandson a pleasant goodbye at camp. Next weekend I am thinking about digging up a golf course in an attempt to play on a Par 3 course... I hope someone has warned them I am coming! :-)

New Car

For the first time in my life, I purchased a brand new car. For some of you this may be a regular occurrence every few years, but for me this has been a once in a lifetime thing (so far!). Almost a year ago, I walked into a Chevrolet dealer near where I work sign some paperwork for my ex-wife. She finally traded in the car we had when we were married, and she needed my signature on the title. As I was walking through the show room I saw a cool looking car, and since I had a few moments, I stopped to admire it. Of course the first thing I looked at was the sticker price, which I found was very reasonable. After a very few moments, I realize I must have been drooling, because it didn't take very long at all for a salesperson to stop and talk to me. I told him I had never seen a car like this, and I asked him if it was new? He said "Yep, brand new, we just got it in, and we haven't even sold one yet." Well, I was more than intrigued, so I asked a bunch of questions, and I liked all of the answers. I finally asked if I could take it for a test drive. He arranged it, and away I went. I have never been one of those people who "love" a car... To me it's always been just a piece of machinery to get me places. But car was different, I really liked this car... I wanted it. Spurred on by the fact that my ex-wife just got a new vehicle, and that I hated my current car, I started the process of purchasing the car. I was excited when the salesperson told me that I could trade in my current car, purchase this new one, without much difference in my monthly payments! I was in heaven. Well, the pull of gravity from my credit history brought be back down to Earth. After he did the credit check, he found he could not get me in the car for the price I wanted, it would cost me much more a month, well out of my price range... (sob)... I left the dealership with a sad feeling, but hopeful that some day soon, I would be able to "turn that frown upside down"... (My Stuart Smalley quip of the day) I talked with people at work, friends, and family, and most of them had never heard of the car. I looked it up on the Internet, and found a few sites about it, and one that had setup a "Fan club" for the car. Now, before I reveal the car, let me just say, this isn't a sports car, or some other "power-mobile" like a Mustang GT or a Hummer. In otherwords it's not the "must have" car of 2006/07, but it has become one for me. It's been available for almost year since I first spotted it in the dealership showroom. You have most likely seen one or two of them on the road. You might even think it is a PT Cruiser at first glance. When I point it out to my girlfriend says it reminds her of a "hearse". I am not sure how she gets that.... I mean I know the car is long, and it is a station wagon, but do you think it looks like a hearse?

Well, this past Tuesday, after many months of waiting for the right time, I was finally able to do it. I now own a 2006 Chevrolet HHR LS model. Actually, I share ownership with the bank, but I get to drive it! Because it has a retro Chevy Suburban body style, it reminds people of the PT Cruiser. It's bigger than the PT, but not it's not a full SUV size. I got the 5-speed stick shift with the "sport red" body. To keep the costs down, I did not get any of the addons (spoiler, luggage rack, running boards, foglights). I drove it off the lot with the odometer reading "000005", and when the odometer read "000006" it's value had gone down by about $3,000 according to Edmunds.

I won't be able to eat lunch for the next 5 years, but I can go outside instead and enjoy my new car. It's one way to go on a diet.

Nail Clipping

I know this particular topic has been discussed in other blogs, and forums... I know this because I actually looked for it. But if you would be so kind, please let me vent a little here on this topic... Besides, it is MY blog afterall right? I work at a small branch office of a pretty good sized company. The my desk is in a closed room, that holds 7 cubicles, of which, 5 are in use. The sound is muffled slightly by the cubicle walls, but there is still quite a bit of sound that carries throughout the room. Most of that sound is usually one person talking to another over the cube walls... Which is usually ok, but sometimes it gets a little lengthy and loud, and distracting to those who are trying to work... However that's not the topic at hand. The sound that carries the most (my opinion), and is the most annoying (again my opinion) is the little repeative "clip", "clip", "clip" sounds of a fellow co-working chopping his fingernails with a little metal fingernail clipper! Now I know it's not as bad as if he was passing gas all day, belching, or sniffling, but that sound is absolutely horrid. To me, it's like fingernails on a chalk board. What's worse is that it's not one or two clips, it's about 20 to 30 clips... He must clip each nail 2 or 3 times! Or he is doing his toe nails as well.

I have to give the guy credit, at least he is clipping his nails instead of sitting in meetings with us, and biting them off, which to me is even more disgusting to watch, but quieter! It's the sound that gets me, not the fact that little bits of nail are flying all around his cube. (I expect he aims for the trash can)

Of course, I could just go over and politely tell him to QUIT! However, to keep the peace, I just grit my teeth, silently, and leave the room for 10 minutes!

Loss...

My great aunt, Mary Carnegie Thompson passed away yesterday after a lengthy illness. She had been staying in a local nursing home since January. She was a "constant" at the farm where I grew up. She grew up on the same farm and lived in the same house her entire life. When I was young her and my grandfather shared an office in her home, where they ran an insurance agency. The agency still named after my grandfather, is now being run by my cousin in his home. I enjoyed going to visit Aunt Mary when I was young because her house was always nice, cool, and full of cool "old" things. She also had an old upright piano that was out of tune, but we still loved to sit in front of and poke at the keys. She had a ton of old photos on the shelves and walls and as you walked by the eyes followed... I found an interest in postage stamps from hanging out at the office at my aunt's place, and looking at all of the mail that went in and out of the office. I used to save the old envelopes from the trash can, and I learned how to remove the stamps without damaging them. And as my interest in stamps moved beyond the occassional new stamp that came in the office mail, Aunt Mary invited me upstairs to her attic to look through some old letters and postcards she had kept. She let me have the stamps from her "memories".

Aunt Mary was my typist before I learned to type. When I was just starting high school, she would help me create a newsletter for my church youth group. I remember she got quite a kick out of typing something other than work correspondence, especially when my newsletter contained the words "zip", "zap", "zoom", "zowie", and other words she didn't get to type often! :-) Her electric typewriter had the ability to type in either red or black ink at the shift of a key. She used to make little rows "army" men by combining letters, and symbols on top of one another, and shifted slightly... Before there were ASCII drawings, she was doing art with her typewriter. I never did learn how she did that . When we worked on the farm during the hot summer days bailing the hay, she would always show up with her large red and white jug full of delicious ice cold water. Drinking from the little metal spout from the thermos was the highlight of the day when we were hot and tired. Her yard had a large pear tree, and a decent sized grape vine of which I snuck fruit off of every year. The grapes were sour, and the pears a little hard, but we always thought it was delicious because we were sneaking the forbidden fruit! ;-) We used to throw the really hard pears at an old "spring house", trying to get the pears through the window. When I graduated from high school I moved away from home, and I didn't come back very often, and when I did, I didn't stop and visit my aunt. We saw each other only once or twice a year when our family would get together for a holiday such as Memorial day and we would go to the farm, and have a cookout, or a hayride. My last visit with her was at the nursing home. Before I left, I told her I loved her, and I kissed her on her cheek. Even though she was very ill and drifting in and out of sleep, when I kissed, her eyes cleared, and she looked right at me with recognition and smiled... Peace Aunt Mary... Peace and Rest... You will be missed.

Just a book... movie... ?

Memorial Day is past, the weekend is over. I went to the drive-in Sunday night and watched X3 (official title is "X-Men: The Last Stand"). My girlfriend wasn't really interested in watching X3, but she went with me anyways. Isn't she sweet! Anyway, on the next screen over from X3, The Da Vinci Code was playing at the same time. From our car we could see both screens, so she used a portable radio and a headset, and with a new found joy from the fact that she didn't have to watch X3, she relaxed and watched The Da Vinci Code. While I watched X3, I would glance over every now and again at her movie, because to be honest, I wasn't really enjoying my movie. I noticed that both our movies had the same actor, Ian McKellen. He plays the super bad guy, Magneto in X3, and she told me that he plays the bad guy in her movie as well. I thought that was kinda funny, as I could hear his distinctive voice from her headset while I was listening to my movie. As she was watching she would occasionally jump at some unexpected event, and occasionally she would gasp or click her tongue. These are usually signs that she is following the movie, and presumably enjoying it. X3 ended about 15 minutes or so before Da Vinci Code, so I watched the ending with her, and thought it was a very "slow" ending... not very climatic... but I didn't see the rest of the movie, so who am I to judge. When her movie was over she said she didn't enjoy it. She said it was hard to understand and confusing, and not very enjoyable. She then asked the gentleman sitting in front of his car (remember... "drive-in") next to us, and he said he didn't understand or enjoy it either... Now neither of them are critics, but rather the "every day person", and tons of other "every day people" said they enjoyed it. Tonight she told me that her cousins had all watched the movie, and enjoyed it, so it must have some appeal. Josh commented on my last blog entry that, to him The Da Vinci Code "... seems like a good book, and that's all, a BOOK" (I added the underlining). Vicky also commented... (Thanks for the comments by the way!) about the protests happening at the theathers around her area agains the move. She said, "Its supposed to be art and art should remain free". I agree with both Josh and Vicky... The Da Vinci Code IS just a book (now a movie as well), and art MUST remain free and uncensored, and people MUST be allowed to read/watch or not read/watch whatever they choose. That is as long as your are an adult, if not then parents should decide for their children. HOWEVER... Just a book doesn't mean it's not influential. I mean there are tons of books that have influenced society and history... Let me name one for example: The book of John from the Bible. I could also site any of the the other 65 books found within the Bible... Those books often contain fiction, but those fictional stories (often refered to as parables) have messages, and taught lessons. The books are also repleat with fact... and put together, the fiction and fact produce a work of truth, in the instance of the Bible divine truth. The Da Vinci Code is just a book, and it is a work of fiction, but that doesn't mean it's not sending a message, or trying to teach what the author thinks is truth. I will refer you to my previous post where I have a link to the audio of Dan Brown stating that he feels that everything in the book is true, except for the character Robert Langdon. I also agree with Vicky that a strong Christian, that is well grounded in their faith will not be shaken by this or any other book, but a person who is on the fence may find themselves pulled away from the truth, which is why many Christians are protesting. Anyway, I have "Rambled Along" way too much... Thanks again Vicky and Josh for the comments, and also for the compliment on the title of my blog... It was very kind!... So until next time... Keep reading, and keep watching...

Memorial Day Weekend

So it's a three day weekend. I went to a skating party for my girlfriend's son. He just became a teenager. I am going to watch the movie X3 tonight. Tomorrow I am going to Hookstown to watch the Memorial Day Parade and gather with lots of fellow Laughlins at my uncle's home. I think I may be able to squeeze in a nap, but it will have to be a short one... Maybe they should make Memorial day a four day weekend, so there is time for rest and relaxation! :-) Thanks to all the soldiers and vets who have put their lives at risk to help our country and this world be free!

Movies

Hey it's getting close to the Summer Movie extravaganza, where there is at least one good movie every weekend, sometimes more than one. I really enjoy going to the movies, but I don't like the cost, but then again, who does! Anyway, I post my opinions about movies I have recently watched here on my blog (in the column on the right, near the bottom), so I won't rehash those opinions here. What I wanted to talk about is the media play that some movies get, especially the current top seller "The Da Vinci Code". Is this movie that much better than many of the other movies playing or going to play this summer? Is it getting the publicity because of the well known actor, Tom Hanks, the respected director Ron Howard, because the movie production and marketing has spent tons of money advertising the move, or because of all of the controversy over the content? The story is a work of fiction and it states as much in the inside cover the of the book:

"This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental."

However the author, Dan Brown, has built the story around, actual people, places, items, and events which completely goes against the "fiction" disclaimer, and which blurs the lines between fiction and reality. I read a review of another of Dan Brown's books called "Deception Point" on Amazon by Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" where she said:

"... After completing each of Dan Brown's books, the reader usually comes away from the experience having learned much more than a storyline."

This is the part that creates the controversy, people who read his books believe he is teaching them facts about the real world we live in. What blurs the lines even more are statements by Dan Brown himself. When asked in an interview broadcast on the Today Show on 6/9/2003, "How much of this [The Da Vinici Code] is based on reality?" He says "Absolutely all of it. Obviously Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact." So it's no wonder people who have studied history, who have spent their lives researching the topic of Christian beliefs are so up in arms. What I don't understand is why our culture, of which the majority of people claim to be Christian, are reading the book, and watching the movie. Is it because they honestly believe this is a complete work of fiction, even against the author's own statements? Is it because they like the intrigue of secret organizations? Is it because they want to "learn something" in the context of an enjoyable story? What is it? Personally I can't seem to get away from all of the publicity and media hype of this story. My kids are asking me about it. My coworkers are reading the book, attending the movie, discussing it at lunch. Even my girlfriend is now reading the book. I listen to talk radio, even Christian talk, and it seems the movie is all everyone seems to be talking about. The magazine, Newsweek, has had the movie/book as a cover story twice already this year, and this year has only had 21 weeks. (That's almost 10% of the time!) So am I missing out? Am I missing something? How can I avoid it? Should I? Too many questions, not enough answers, so I am going to just go along with the tide, and read the book. Yeah, I bought a copy, and I even though I disagree with the author, I paid $4.99 and I am going to give up some of my time to read it. I will let you know what I think when (or if) I finish it. If I like it I might watch the movie when it comes out on DVD!

360°

I haven't posted here in like... forever... Ok, so, forever is a little longer than 2 months. But no matter how you define "forever", it's been too long for me to not write something here. I am sure that like many other 100's of 1000's of people I get discouraged when no one seems to be reading my Blog. The fun of a Blog though is realizing that you aren't really writing it for someone else to read, but for you to write, and express yourself. But blogging is not the same as a diary, or a journal, which you would keep private, because you know other people can and hopefully will read it. So I don't share very personal, private thoughts and feelings here, because if I did, I would probably embarrass my kids. However, I bet if I was to write about some of that stuff, I would probably attract a little more readers! So some sense of privacy, and descreetness lingers still for me... Anway to the point of today's post... Up until this week I haven't really spent a lot of time using "yahoo.com". I know it has a bunch of features, but I have for some unexplainable reason, just not really used it. I suppose you would say I am a "google.com" person. Anyway, I went to their site looking for something about a new "media center" that they aquired from another company (name escapes me a the moment) and I found this thing called "Yahoo!360°" This "Yahoo!360°" is an online blogging community much like MySpace.com, but it seemes to be a little more family friendly. Of course it still has a few people that breaks the rules, but for the most part it's pretty respectable. I tried another community based site called "tribe.net", but it wasn't as family friendly and if you typed "tribes.net" (with the s) things got a little graphic. So I sent out about 28 invitations to people I know to join "Yahoo!360°"... Hopefully I will get a little response. I already found two people I know that I haven't talked to for years from my high school. Maybe I will find a few others as well?

Spring

Well, it's Spring... Time for spring cleaning... Time to be perky and springy... However, I am still dealing with the winter blues, and I haven't been in the mood to post. I have been the cubmaster of a local cub scout pack for the past 5 years. For the last couple of years the pack has been struggling to stay together. We have been having a hard time getting volunteers to be leaders, and help plan activities. This year the pack was unable to get enough volunteers, and at the end of February sadly the pack's charter was not renewed. The pack doesn't offically exist any longer, but I have been continuing the meetings for the boys this month. I have to end the meetings, so his week will be the last meeting of the pack... The good news is there are other packs that are in the area to which the boys could transfer to, so they can still do scouting, and camping this summer. While this is comforting, I still feel bad and a little guilty, as if I should have done more to keep the pack going. I know it's not really my fault that the pack has folded, but knowing that doesn't ease the feeling that some how I failed. In two days I am going to have the last meeting and tell the boys that we won't be meeting any longer. I hope they won't be too disappointed.

Fossil Hunt

I thought I would post a few pictures of our Fossil Hunt last weekend. (Click on pictures for a better view)

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Here's the location of the limestone or sandstone fossils on the top of the hill

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The hike up the hill

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The rocks...

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A fossil in this rock. Look closely at the "bump" on the top of the rock at the bottom of the picture. Notice the ridges on the "bump".

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Fossil imprint...

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The sunset on the drive home after a full day of fossil hunting!

No excuses

Well I don't have any really good excuses this time for going almost a whole week without posting. For the last 2 days I was in bed sick, and I didn't even turn on my computer. The 2 days before that I was so wrapped up in a project at work that I didn't think of anything else The weekend before that, I was tromping around at a farm in Hookstown, PA where I grew up. My nephew, his father, and a few others decided to go on a fossil hunt. Not the kind of fossils you see at the local museum that stand 50-100 feet tall, although that would have been an impressive find. We were searching for old seashell fossils in limestone. On the top of a hill on the farm we grew up there is a bunch of limestone there with very easy to spot shells in them. Growing up on the farm it was always a mystery how those seashells got all the way on top of the hill... Apparently way back in prehistoric times that entire area was covered in water, and that particular hilltop was a shallow shelf in the water (i.e. higher up than the surrounding area), so it was perfect place for small shelled creatures to live. Of course now, there is no ocean nearby, and it's the top of the hill, but there is no mistaking the fossils. Anyway no real excuse for not posting, except I was busy doing other things. What have you been up to?

Changes

Everything changes... Everything... Including me. Today (actually over the last couple of days) I changed this blog. I changed the look, and the title. I thought it was kinda lame, and self centered having my name in the title of the blog. Then again blogs are mostly self-centered as the author is usually writing about themselves, or their opinions. I used to be this skinny geeky kid in high school, and now I am this geeky, not so skinny adult. I used to hate talking in front of a group, now I do it all the time. I used to be shy and socially backward, now I can and do talk to just about anyone (still a little afraid to talk to my boss, but that's another story). I used to exercise and be active, now I eat fast food, and sit all day in front of a computer... Not that I am fat or anything, just extremely out of shape! I used to be driven to do the best I could at whatever I was doing... Best at my job, school, life, whatever... Now after years of trying and not getting where I want, I don't try as hard... I have been worn down. Yep... The biggest change of all... I am getting old. Somewhere in the last decade I became middle aged. Which of course means I still have many, many years in front of me, but I guess I realized somewhere along the way, that I am not a kid any longer... (sigh).

SOOOO.... What do I do about it? Do I just keep on living this depressing life? Well I could... But NO!!!! I am going to change again... I am going to be better than I was yesterday... I am going to eat better, exercise, take the medication that the doctor told me to take (high cholesterol). I am going to drive my self to be the best computer programmer at my company. I am going to have a clean house, car, and life... And I am going to start.... Tomorrow... To tired today... Besides it's Friday...

Readers of Ramblings

Hey... Are you one of my few readers? Well if you are I have a special offer for you... No it's not a chance at the PowerBall (sorry)... No it's not a new car... Ok maybe it isn't an offer... It's a request... Yeah, that's the ticket. I added a new map hosted by frapper.com (part of Google I think), and it lets you add your own "mark" on the map. Check it out by clicking HERE or by looking for the map lower down on the blog. And if you are a winner you will get... The praise and thanks from a gracious host!

Critical Update

Well... I didn't make it. I didn't even last an hour! On Friday I said I would attempt to spend the day without criticizing, putting down, or otherwise showing 'negativity' towards other people... I would attempt the challenge I gave to one of my kids. This morning started like most others, hitting the snooze button a bazillion more times than I should, and finally crawling out of bed, much later than I should. The only good news is that the only one I could be critical of was myself, because there wasn't anyone else at home! So keeping the challenge during this time was pretty easy, and led me into a false sense of "this is going to be a piece of cake." The drive to work was also mostly uneventful, nobody to road rage against (BTW: You have to read Limpy's story), and no traffic tie ups. The only issue was the stupid idiot on the radio! Not the talk show host, he is his own special brand of idiot, the caller. So, less than 60 minutes into my 24 hour challenge I am screaming at the radio... After venting, I realized no one could really hear my criticism so does it count if no one hears it? I decided to not count that episode. I went to work and "hid" in my cube, trying hard to not talk to anyone. I immediately got into my work, and within minutes I am cursing myself, and the person before me that worked on this project... Of course it was under my breath, so that didn't count either... Right? I ate lunch alone. Lunch is usually the big "gripe" session of the day, as a bunch of us go out and whine about the boss, the company, fellow co-workers, or other work politics. So I had "officially" made it up to lunch time without actually criticizing anyone that could hear me. I made it until about 15 minutes before the end of day. My cubicle neighbor came over for a visit to grouse about his ex-wife, and that stirred the pot. Within minutes I am sharing stories, and telling him that his "ex" has got problems... Oops... I slipped... I criticized openly... Of course he wasn't aware of my challenge, so did it really count? The discussion continued until after the end of the work day, and the conversation lead to other situations besides my cube neighbor's ex... And each topic was quickly enhanced with my critical comments... I justified the whole colorful conversation because he didn't know about the challenge.... I went home, picked up my kids, and as soon as my son got in the car he asked... "How was your day?"... I could have lied and said "Great", but instead I changed the subject, so I avoided that one. Then my youngest came out with a stain above her upper lip... I told her that her face was dirty and that she needed to wash her face... Is it a criticism when you are being a parent and making sure your kids are clean? Justification? I took my youngest to the library for a Dr. Seuss Celebration, and started chatting with the librarian. She was mostly positive, but started complaining about the funding for the library, and her short staff... I agreed... Is agreeing with someone else's criticism, criticizing? Who am I kidding... I can't do it! I couldn't even make it 60 minutes, let alone 24 hours!

Critical

Are you a critical person? Are you a person that finds fault in a lot of things, or can't resist pointing out something that could be done better? I am, and I wonder if I am passing it along to my offspring. I was talking with one of my kids the other day about how they seem to "complain" a lot. I asked if they complain as much with other people, or just me. To their credit they said they do it the same with everyone. Of course, being critical myself, I probably noticed the complaining more than other people, but that's a side track. I read in some article in a magazine, or newspaper a long time ago, before the Internet that President Abraham Lincoln had a philosophy of not speaking or expressing criticism with those that worked for him, or with him. He would remain silent if he could not say something uplifting or positive. Of course, I am not sure if this is a truthful story, as I can't cite a source, but non-the-less it gave me an idea. I suggested to the younger Laughlin that they spend a 24 hour period of no criticism, negative comments or expressions. No rolling of the eyes, no put downs, no correcting another person, and no complaining. They accepted the challenge starting at 8AM the next day and going for 24 hours. Of course, I didn't take the challenge myself, because I am a parent, and as parents say "Do as I say, not as I do." :-) This of course is a way of justifying our hypocrisy! After the challenge period had been completed I decided to do a little followup and see how well they did. They said it was very, very hard, especially at school, but they thought they did a pretty good job. I asked if it made them smile more or if they enjoyed the day. The response was they spent most of the day quieter than normal, and attempted to be expressionless. Which of course was not what I wanted... I was hoping to remove the negative, and allow the positive to shine through... Instead I got no negative and no positive... So now it's my turn to take the challenge... Today is Friday the 3rd of March. To be fair, I am going to do it on a regular day of work, rather than a fun filled weekend. So starting this coming Monday the 6th for 24 hours starting at 8AM, I will not be critical, or at least not express it. Think I can do it? Think you can?

Web Host Changes

The web hosting provider I use, www.readyhosting.com, is updating their systems. In doing so it's caused a little disruption in our website, and our blogs, so I apologize for any problems. Hopefully these will be corrected by the end of the weekend. Thanks for your patience.

Fundraisers

Tonight I am going to a "Parent" meeting for my son's scout troop. The chairperson of the parent committee called last night to setup the meeting, and said that they wanted to put the final touches on a fundraiser they will be doing for the troop to raise money for summer camp. He explained that they were doing a hoagie (sub) sale, where the boys take orders, then the committee either buys the hoagies, or has the boys make the hoaiges, and then they are delivered to the customers. They usuaully have a couple different types of sandwiches such as Italian, Ham, Turkey and/or Roast Beef. In the past these hoagies have been a huge 18" in length, and sell for around $6.00. Where I work we have about 35-40 people who are in and out of the office throughout the day. Of these people a good portion of them have young people, so there is usually always some fundraiser form in the employee "kitchen" and of those fundraisers most of them are either candy or hoagies. To be honest, I am just a little tired of eating hoagies. Isn't there any other fundraisers any longer? Is that all groups can sell or do now a days is hoagies or candy? And why is it that the "kids" assume that the parents will take the order forms into work for their co-workers to buy... What ever happened to door to door in the neighborhood? Oh yeah, I forgot, we don't live in a safe society any longer... So I need a good idea for a fundraiser... Something other than selling something, or at least not selling the same old same old... Ideas?

Out of it...

To the few readers of this Blog, I must apologize for the lack of anything new since Feb. 22nd. I got a few new toys, and I was way too wrapped up in playing with them than just about anything else. As you know I got the new 30" Widescreen HDTV and the DVR to go with it. Well I also got a new DVD burner, and a new DVD player. I have been spending all my free time burning DVD's. I have already used just about 1/3 of the blanks I bought, and they came in a tube of 100 blanks! I am spending so much time creating the DVD's I don't have time to use them, so I decided I need to slow down a little bit. :-) Well believe it or not, but I did do a few other things this past week. My mom was in the hospital for a "near heart attack". She went in Saturday and got out on Thursday. She has had a kidney problem most of her life, so this heart thing was pretty serious. The good news is she appears to be doing much better. When she got out on Thursday I stopped over to her place, and helped her get her groceries. I haven't been shopping with my mom in years. I also visited my great-aunt Mary Thompson, who is in a local nursing home. She isn't doing as well as my mom, but she is keeping her spirits up. I was supposed to go see her again with my brother this past weekend, but I was out on a date with my girlfriend. I hope she is still hanging in there. My girlfriend took me out to see the show "Wicked". I don't get to go to the theater very often, so I was really looking forward to the show. We got there, and our seats were at the very back of the theater, but we could still see everything pretty good. The show was very, very good. I highly recommend it! It creates a whole new way to look at the classic movie "Wizard of Oz." Hopefully I brought you up to speed of the things going on in my world... Maybe the next post I will update you on the rest of western PA! :-)

Vannoy / Bronco Shirt update

Mr. Josh Vannoy has once again appeared in our local paper, Beaver County Times. This is the second time in the the last 3 days, and again with a new photograph. Mr. Vannoy has had at many different photos of himself published within the last 30 days, along with at least 16 separate articles in the local paper alone. Some of those articles are "letters to the editor", both supporting and not supporting Mr. Vannoy. Most of the "staff" articles have done their best to show the school and the teacher in a bad light, and Mr. Vannoy the victim. Who is Mr. Josh Vannoy? Let me refresh your memory. He is the student that was "humiliated" when he wore a Bronco's jersey to a "Steeler Country" school, right before the AFC Championship game at the end of January between the Steelers and the Broncos. Mr. Vannoy and his family have, according to this latest article, moved to a different school district. They left because he still felt harassed, and because he was getting the silent treatment at school. I suppose that's what a person would expect to happen when the school officials threatened the entire student body with expulsion if they were physical with him, spoke inappropriately to him, or even "gave him dirty looks". Yes that's right, not detention, not suspension... Kicked out of school forever! Heck, I would have been afraid to talk with him let alone look his way, if I was threatened to be kicked out of school against my will. Of course, regardless of the school's good intentions by attempting to protect Mr. Vannoy from being hurt or further harassed, and to prevent possible litigation, it only made matters worse. Mr. Vannoy was now being "treated differently", and he didn't like it. Personally, I think Mr. Vannoy missed the attention, and since he couldn't get it at school, he decided to use the newspaper! So maybe the family moving to another school district is for the best for everyone. He has placed our school on the national map in a negative light. He has created the perception that Beaver Falls High School is a school that will not "discipline" an obviously bad teachers, that it condones teachers to harass and humiliate students, and what may be worse, that it can't prevent students from harassing other students. Of course, that's not reality, only perception, but reality apparently doesn't matter when it comes to selling newspapers. Of those all of those local articles and countless other articles across the country (not including the opinion articles), only a few articles I saw actually gave the real story, and even then those articles were given negative headlines like: "BF teacher won't be disciplined". There doesn't appear to be a single journalist who is willing to spend the time to check the facts, ask the questions, or "search for the truth" before publishing... Instead they all seem to want to get the story to press as quickly as possible and make it sound as good or bad (depending on your point of view) as possible, regardless of facts. (Yeah, I know this is my perception, but it works for them, why not me?) The reason the teacher was not disciplined is because the teacher actually did not do anything wrong, except decide to allow Mr. Vannoy to attend his class. The class is an elective class, which requires parental approval before taking the class, because students in the class will be intentionally placed in situations that make them feel outcast, excluded, or segregated. The teacher states up front that he will use various activities, both planned and unplanned to teach the effects of discrimination in our culture. Is that not what happened to Mr. Vannoy? If you sign up for a class knowing you are going to be put in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable, why would you scream "foul" when it does? Mr. Vannoy apparently didn't learn the lesson being taught in that class. Instead he turned the tables, and taught the rest of us that if you are discriminated against, you should take your issue to the press, discretly forget a few facts, take a picture of yourself looking sad, and if you are white and have a little "influence"... You can get all kinds of public support... You can make a good teacher look like a moron. And if you are really lucky, you can even get national attention and a massage chair from a football legend. I am sure there are people facing daily discrimination in this world, my town, and even Mr. Vannoy's old and new schools, but they aren't getting the publicity he is. Why? Because, in my opinion, Mr. Vannoy and his family enjoy the publicity. Why else would you allow your "sad looking" face to be photographed and published in the newspaper so many times. What did he gain? Notoriety? Fame? Money? I don't know but he is still milking this as long as possible. I wonder if he is working on a book deal? Oh no... I just had a horrible thought... My son could be expelled because of my opinions, and apparent "harassment" of this glory seeking, media savvy family. Maybe I should move?

St. Valentine's Day

Today is the day "us guys" are expected to buy the flowers, give the chocolate, take her out to dinner, or buy her some jewelry. Of course being guys we need a holiday in order to remind us to do this at least once a year! So, if you haven't gotten the flowers, the chocolate, the jewelry or reservations for dinner out... You better hurry... The good news if you don't get it done by the end of the day, you have an entire year to apologize... Just don't do it again next year!

Addicted

I am addicted. I am addicted to my new DVR. I have spent way too much time watching TV this past week. One of my favorite television shows is Star Trek. Yeah, I know that’s geeky, but that’s me. Well it’s not on in the evenings so for years I haven’t been able to see it. Yeah, could have used my VCR to record the shows, but making sure that both the cable box, and the VCR were on the same channel was a pain in the rear. The good news is that I can watch a 60 minute show in less than 45 minutes when I bypass the commercials, but the bad news is I am watching 5 times more TV than before.

New TV

Before the Superbowl I ordered a Digital Video Recorder, or "DVR" from my cable company, Comcast. I was hoping it would be installed before the big game so I could pause the game if I had to go to the bathroom, or instant replay any wardrobe malfunctions that occurred when they panned across the Seahawk's cheerleaders. I was excited, and I couldn't wait. My income tax refund came in the Friday before the game, so I decided to splurge on myself and by that new TV set I have been wanting to get for the last 2 or 3 years. I had it all picked out I just needed a good deal. Circuit City near the Beaver Valley Mall was running a sale on TVs and the 30" Widescreen Sony HDTV that I wanted was reduced. I ordered it online, and picked it up that evening! As you have read (or at least I hope you have), I promised to help my girlfriend with her bathroom refinishing, so I decided I would set the TV up Sunday morning before the cable guy came to hook up my DVR.... However, my girlfriend came over to visit Friday evening, and seeing the big box in my living room, she suggested we postpone the bathroom and check out the set. So we built the stand, and struggled to get the set on the stand, and after about an hour, I powered it on for the first time... Wow... what a thing of beauty. I couldn't get the HD channels until the cable guy came, but just the change in the size of the screen and the clarity of the picture from what I had before was just awesome. Here's what I had:

Here's what I have now:

I am now addicted to the TV set, and my DVR is already almost full of saved TV programs. I imagine that a year from now, I will have gained about 30 lbs, from the lack of activity other than pressing the buttons on the remote control!

Keys

Here's a story.... But before I start, you must understand a few things.... I really enjoyed the Disney movie about that smart guy that couldn't remember anything..... I have tried really hard to be just like him throughout my life. This past weekend I planned to go over to to my girlfriends house to help her remodel her small bathroom. She had to work in the morning, and I was supposed to go to her house while she was working, and get things started. I started Saturday by sleeping in, and I got to her house in the early afternoon, instead of the early morning. After getting to her place I realized that in order to take the sink and fixtures out of the room, I would some tools that she didn't have at her place. Fortunately, she lives only a short distance from my place, so I drove back home to get what I needed. I went in the back door, turned on the lights in the garage, where I keep the tools. I set down the stuff in my hands (read keys) and started to dig out the appropriate tools . After rooting around a few minutes I decided just to take the entire tool box, and figure it out there. I also grabbed set of special "locking pliers" that I got for a present a few years back. So with my hands full of tools I exited the garage, and closed the door behind me. I have a bad habit (or good depending on your point of view, from my point of view at this point it's bad), of locking doors as I walk through them. So, when I entered the garage, I locked the door, but kept it open slightly so I could get back out. When I left the garage, I pulled the door shut with my foot, as my hands were full. Soooo... When I get to the car to put the tools in the back I fumble around looking for the car keys that should be in my pocket to unlock the trunk of the car. Now the truly bad habit I have is that I don't always put the keys into my pocket when I am not using them, and yet I still expect them to be there when I need them. In this particular case they were definitely not in my pocket. They were lying on the shelf near where the tool box just recently sat, behind a locked door I just pulled shut with my foot. I tried the "credit card" trick on both doors to my apartment. The front door was has a dead-bolt lock, which I had locked earlier, and the backdoor shuts very tight, and there is no room to get the card between the door and the frame. Needless to say, my place is pretty safe against the average criminal with plastic card. Since I am not a professional criminal, I resorted to the next best thing... No, I didn't break a window, but that would have been less humiliating... I called my oldest daughter and beg her to come open the door to her Dad's apartment because he is getting too old to remember to take the keys with him when he leaves the building. She groans, and reluctantly agrees to help. While I am waiting for her to arrive, I find that the car isn't locked. I can sit in the car, and get out of the cold weather and listen to the radio while she takes her time to get to my place. Boredom sets in very, very quickly, and looking around the car I see the keys to my girlfriends place that she loaned me to get into her place while she is gone. Unfortunately, none of those keys open my apartment, but they give me something to focus on for a few minutes. I start wondering what all of these keys are for. A few look like door keys, one looks like a car key, and a few others I couldn't really identify. While I am looking at the keys an unusual thought crosses my mind... I wonder if any of these keys would fit in my ignition and start my car... Yep, you are right, that idea is as dumb as it sounds, but it didn't stop me from trying. You see where as I have mastered the absent-mindedness of that Disney movie I mentioned earlier, I have not mastered the smart "professor" part. So anyways, back to the story... I found a key that actually slid into the ignition, but of course didn't turn. I was surprised, because the key doesn't look anything like my car key and I was amazed at how it went in to the ignition like it was the right type of key. So I decided to see if any other keys went into the ignition like that. Well, the only other one that would go in was the actual key to my girlfriend's place, which was marked with a "pink" ring around the key. That key however only went halfway into the ignition, and.... It wouldn't come back out! No matter want I did: twist, turn, wiggle, jiggle, push, pull, scream, or cry, the key refused to exit the steering column of the car. My daughter was going to arrive any minute which meant I could get my keys, but what good would it do? I would not be able to use the keys to drive back to my girlfriends house to work on the bathroom! More fidgeting, fiddling, or fumbling did not extricate the key. I thought I was humiliated by asking my daughter to help me get into my apartment there was no way I could bear to tell her what I did or anyone else for that matter. So when she got to the house and let me in I found the phone book and called a locksmith that has emergency services. A little over an hour later and $75.00 less the locksmith had removed the key, and the ignition and key suffered no damage. Since the locksmith never asked how the key got stuck, I never told him. I am hoping he doesn't think it was me! :-) So I learned that even though that professor on that Disney movie both forgetful and smart, in the real life being forgetful is a sign of costly stupidity.

Supreme Court Justice appointment

A young lad that I know (no names to protect the innocent), took a social studies test last week, and one of the questions on his test was:

"What qualifications should a President look for when appointing a new justice to the Supreme Court".

His response was very interesting, especially when I found out that he didn't realize that the President had recently appointed two new justices. The teacher didn't accept his answer, but based on what you hear on the news you would think this was the major qualification:

"If the President is Republican, he should pick a Republican. If he is a Democrat, then he should pick a Democrat."

Of course that' s not what the teacher was teaching him, but that's what he thought. I can only assume he "learned" that from listening to news / political commentary.?

Bathroom Upgrade - Progress Report

I have been told by my son that my posts are too long, so I will make this brief. I put the second coat of paint on the "powder room" last night. While it was drying we found a few blemishes in the paint, specifically in the wall underneath the paint... So I am going to attempt to spackle those spots again, and repaint them. I hope I can smooth the blemishes out. The next step is to install the new flooring. We got those 1' x 1' vinyl floor tiles. The existing flooring is just one large piece of vinyl. I have to figure out how to cut the tiles around the toilet without it looking like a "hack job". Any advice?

Politics

If you read through my posts you would see that I have attempted to avoid taking a side or even talking about politics. This topic creates quite a bit of hard feelings, and people get really wound up talking about it. My girlfriend, and her family have a different political view than I do, so when we gather together for a holiday or other special event I am definitely in the minority when politics are discussed, so I am pretty good at avoiding political discussions, however I do have political opinions. I base my opinions of the political events on what the President and other leaders say, and more importantly watch they do. I try to base my opinions on facts, rather than what someone else tells me I should think. When I listen/watch, I take in what is happening at face value, and I try not to add some hidden agenda. I listen to commentators of both sides of the political spectrum, because to be honest, that's the only way to get the "whole picture" of what's going on. I try to not dismiss people just because I don't agree with their point of view. However, from my point of view, people on the other side dismiss me and people like me as "dumb", "stupid", or "not worth listening to" because we disagree with their point of view. So... Often, I just keep my opinion to myself. Anyway, to the meat of the topic... Limpy99 suggested that President Bush was stupid because he stutters, and misspeaks. I commented on his blog and said that people who misspeak aren't necessarily stupid, and there are many eloquent people that are stupid. I said we should judge Bush and leaders based on their words, and actions. I also suggested if you can't stand to "listen" to Bush speak, to read his speeches. I know it pains me to listen to him because of his speech patterns, and the pauses for applause and whatnot. I also don't see how someone can become President of the United States by being stupid as I believe it requires quite a bit of intelligence or at least the smarts enough to surround oneself with people who are! Anyway, Limpy responded to me on my blog, saying that he "didn't trust him [Bush] as far as he could throw him". He said that Bush is "power hungry" and that he is "too confident". He also mentioned the "domestic spying" in his comments. When I hear/read things like this I wonder I live in a different world than everyone else, or if I am just blind. Maybe those on the other side of the political spectrum have are right and I am stupid. Maybe I just need someone to explain to me how Bush is gaining power, other than what he has by being President. President Bush has retaliated against terrorists who attacked our country, and countries that support them. He then helped the people of those countries build their own goverment. He could have taken them over and made them "Bushland", made them part of our country, or instituted a government run by him or by our standards. The facts are he didn't. He pushed two big pieces of ledgislation: "Patriot Act" and "Tax Cuts", however they are both temporary! The tax cuts may have given him slight popularity and given the economy a boost, but no additional power to him. I believe more taxes means more control, or more power, so what does "less taxes" mean? The Patriot Act does grant additional executive branch power but it's temporary and has congressional oversight. It is designed to help us against a real threat of terrorism from both international and national sources. From what I understand from the news recently the Patriot Act isn't (currently) being renewed by the Senate. If he was power hungry, why didn't he make it permanent in the first place? I could name about a dozen more things where Bush could have done things to "gain power", but hasn't. To be honest and frank with you, I think he has lost power, by not speaking more frequently about his policies and ideas. His lack of public speaking has distanced himself from the people that would give him strength and power, and his performance polls reflect this. I don't believe he is "rallying" people to his side, which is power, which is something President Clinton did very well. The comments about the "domestic spying" are exaggerated. Bush did authorize spying, as he should, but against known terrorists, and it was done with full disclosure to those government agencies that oversee that stuff. ''It's amazing that people say to me, 'Well, he's just breaking the law.' If I wanted to break the law, why was I briefing Congress?'' said Bush during an appearance at Kansas State University. It was "secret" so the people we were spying on wouldn't know we were spying on them, and we could continue to get inside information. This is now harder to do since this issue has become public! Who do you think that helps? Us or Them? And what's even more distrubing about people upset about this issue, is that our current President hasn't done anything that any other President before him hasn't done, and some MORE than he did... These previous presidents weren't categorized as "the bad guys" when they did it, and we weren't at war then! The only last comment I will make is, I would rather follow someone that is sure of himself because he will keep going until he gets there, even if he makes mistakes along the way. He doesn't have to apologize for the mistakes because he succeeds... Does Thomas Edison owe us 4,000 apologizes for failing 4,000 times attempting to create a lightbulb? Or do we thank him for having enough confidence for knowing he could do it, and never giving up until he did! I would not want to follow someone that is tentative, and unsure of where to go, because they will never succeed. Edison would have given up and said it's impossible if he didn't have the confidence that he could do it. If we allow our country, and our President give up now, we will lose, and we will have terrorists attacking our country, and many, many more innocent people will die. I choose to follow the confidence that we will prevail!

SuperBowl XL Champions

I have mentioned before that I am not the biggest sports fan of the world. But it’s hard to get away fromt the game here in the “outskirts” of Pittsburgh. Everyone at work was wearing their Championship shirts and hats, and discussing their opinions of the events of the game.

Today when I stopped at the deli to get a little lunch meat, the guy slicing the meat asked me if I watched the game. Of course, being here in Steeler’s country, I had to watch the game. I wouldn’t want to appear in the newspaper the next day like this guy:

The great news is that Pittsburgh Steelers did the unimaginable; they have come from behind, and beat the Seattle Seahawks 21 to 10 to win SuperBowl XL in a game that wasn’t decided until midway through the 4th quarter. This makes the discussion of the game much more enjoyable!

My Soul?

I followed a link I found on SoozieQ's Blog Memes O'Mine where she found she was a "Peacemaker Soul". Well the link (which is at the bottom of this posting) takes you to a site where you answer questions about yourself. I answered the questions and this what 'kind of soul' it determined I have:

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You Are a Dreaming Soul

Your vivid emotions and imagination takes you away from this world So much so that you tend to live in your head most of the time You have great dreams and ambitions that could be the envy of all... But for you, following through with your dreams is a bit difficult You are charming, endearing, and people tend to love you. Forgiving and tolerant, you see the world through rose colored glasses. Underneath it all, you have a ton of passion that you hide from others. Always hopeful, you tend to expect positive outcomes in your life. Souls you are most compatible with: Newborn Soul, Prophet Soul, and Traveler Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

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So here's the question... If you know me, does this sound right?

Bathroom Upgrade

My girlfriend has decided to remodel a small "powder room" in the master bedroom of her town home. It had flowering wallpaper, an old sink that was clogged, and a 60's looking medicine cabinet. She had recently had a new toilet installed because the old one was leaking. Well last weekend we stopped into Home Depot, and after about 3 hours of shopping, we picked out a new paint, a new flooring, a new sink, new medicine cabinet, new lighting, and new towel racks. We picked out everything necessary to remodel the powder room, except the toilet. The only decision left was whether or not to spend the money. Home Depot made this decision easier because they had a 6-month same as cash deal for purchases over $250.00. So this weekend before the "big game" we removed the sink, the medicine cabinet, and pulled off all of the wallpaper. We scraped and picked until all of the wallpaper was off. We then sanded off the remaining little pieces and hardened glue that we could not scrape. The walls had been painted a few times, and wall papered a few times, and so there were a few layers to remove to get back down to the bare walls. After cleaning up the walls, we spackled in the holes, ridges and gouges left from our scraping, and earlier "remodeling" projects. We had to wait until the next day for the spackling, so we decided to stop for the night. The next day, SuperBowl day, we sanded down the spackling, cleaned the walls, and put on the first coat of paint. The look of the room improved 100% just from the first coat. The project is not done yet, we still need to put the second coat of paint, and install the flooring. When that is done, we can put the sink, medicine cabinent, lighting, and towel racks in. We didn't get a picture of the bathroom before we started, but I took a few pictures of the room at the end of the first two days of work. I will upload them here later, if she doesn't mind. :-)

Groundhog Day

Today Phil saw his shadow, and according to legend that means the remaining days of winter will be harsh... in other words, it won't be an early spring. I don't know about you, but I haven't the foggiest clue why there is a "Groundhog's day" or why it's held on February 2nd, so I decided to research it. According to Stormfax® the holiday was brought from Germany and was originally called "Candlemas". It was held on February 2nd, because this is "mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox". Apparently before the groundhog was introduced to the date, it was determined that if the weather was nice (sunny and warm) on February 2nd, then the remaining 6 weeks would be harsh, and if it was bad (cold, cloudy, and yucky) on the 2nd, then the rest of the winter would be mild. When the tradition merged with the native American Indian beliefs of the Punxsutawney area, then all of the components were ready to create Groundhog's day. The celebration of Groundhog's day started in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in 1886, and it's been repeated every year since then. Today many people accross the country tune in to find out whether the groundhog named Phil from Punxsutawney will see his shadow when he comes out of his "home" on February 2nd. Today Phil came out wearing a Steelers Terrible Towel, but after seeing his shadow, he "peed" on the towel, in fright. I am hoping that isn't predicting a bad outcome to the upcoming SuperBowl... But that's another topic!

Vannoy (Update)

The scoop from Beaver Falls High School is that Mr. Vannoy returned to school Monday (1/30/2006) after national media attention for wearing a Bronco's jersey to his high school in "Steeler country". He apparently received a "massage chair" from John Elway, whose number was on the jersey Mr. Vannoy wore, which by the way is the same number that Ben Roethlisberger, current QB of the Steelers, wears. I wonder if that was on purpose or if it was coincidental? I heard from another source that the Mr. Vannoy's mother says the chair doesn't match the living room. :-) Anyway, the Friday before he returned to school the principal of the high school gathered all of the students in a group and explained that Mr. Vannoy would be returning on Monday. They were told to not to even "look at him funny", let alone touch him, or they would be expelled!... Not placed in detention, or suspended for a few days... Expelled... i.e. kicked out of the school! They were also told to not hold a protest or rally for Mr. Kelly (the teacher), or to wear shirts or buttons mentioning Mr. Kelly or anything like that. For the these last two days in school, Josh has been escorted by a police man through the school, and two teachers. During lunch they put extra staff (teachers) in the lunch room while Mr. Vannoy was eating. It sounded to me like the school officials feel our school is full of a bunch of hooligans that would want to hurt Mr. Vannoy... Which begs a very interesting question? If the teacher was the one who was wrong, and Mr. Vannoy is the victim, why are they protecting Josh from harm? Are they afraid that more paper would be thrown at him? I mean, if the teacher was truly as bad as the newspapers portrayed him, then Mr. Vannoy shouldn't have anything to fear, he should be respected for bringing to light a terrible problem within the school. Josh could be rallying the students, parents and school officials to be up in arms against this bad teacher... Instead the school had to quash a rally in support of Mr. Kelly because the students and I assume parents don't want to see Mr. Kelly let go... Reality often tells a better story than the newspapers!

Child Drowning

My youngest daughter attended a birthday party at a pool on Sunday. The party she attended was at a pool that is located indoors at our local Holiday Inn. She attended the party with other family members including, I believe, both of her older sisters, and her mother. After she came back from the party she told me that a little girl drowned at a pool party...

I tried to appear calm, but my ears perked up, and I paid a little more attention to her. She said that the girl was at a party at a different pool, and that she heard about it from the Beaver County Times, our local newspaper. My youngest is ten, so hearing that she heard it from the newspaper surprised me quite a bit. Her usual form of entertainment and news gathering are usually from the Nickelodeon, Disney, and Cartoon network channels. After a moment of surprise at my daughter's apparent maturity at reading the daily newspaper, she returned me to reality by telling me that her step-dad told her about it.

She told me that the kids thought she was just trying to see how long she could stay under water, so no one seemed to notice that she had been under the water for a long time. I did a quick search on the newspaper's website, and read the article. The coroner said she was probably under water for 10 minutes. The girl was only 5 years old, and couldn't swim. Her parents weren't at the party, they just dropped her off, and never expected any problems since there were lifeguards, and tons of adults at the party.

The article said the mother was called back to the pool when they found the girl, and she got there while they were trying to revive her. Unfortunately they couldn't bring her back. I can't imagine the agony those parents must be going through. I only had a nightmare about one of my kids drowning, and the feelings that dream brought to me were unbearable. I was able to wake up, but this poor mother and father will never have that.

I am not sure what the family is doing for arrangements, but my heart really goes out to this family. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers.

Today a second article came out that said they are investigating the security video to see if they can determine what happened. There is very little consolation in that tape for the parents, but hopefully it will relieve the guilt the lifeguards and other adults are most likely feeling. If it is someone's fault, then I hope the tape shows it so that person can be dealt with!

NOTE: Picture copied from the Beaver County Times website article.

Excited

Those that know me, know I am generally not much of a sports fan. I don't generally follow the teams, players or stats. I do enjoy going out and actually attending a game and I really enjoy a going to good baseball game. But for me, watching sports on TV just hasn't been as much fun. Last Sunday I was invited to watch the playoff game between the Steelers and the Broncos with someone I care about. Instead of my normal "ho-hum" attitude about the game, I actually "got into" the game. I was cheering the players on the TV, jumping up and down when a great play happened, and biting my nails on close calls. As you probably know, the Steelers won and have made it to the SuperBowl XL. This will be the first time in 10 years, and if they win, will have accomplished something they haven't done for 30 years (most of my life). Yes, I was ten years old the last time they won a SuperBowl. The playoff game was so exciting, that it really drew me in... Now I can't wait until the SuperBowl. Since the game, I have been wearing my only Steelers sweatshirt as often as possible, and I even found an old Steelers cap that I throw on to cover my hair that needs cut. :-) This week at work, we are having a SuperBowl bash (party) with wings, chili, nachos, and desserts. Everyone will be wearing their "Black and Gold", and tossing the pigskin around getting hyped for the game. I even scoured the Internet for every Steelers fight song I could find and made a CD for the party. BTW: Most of the good songs can be found at Steeler GridIron site. If you need a permission slip to wear the colors at work, school, or wherever, you can get one here! With all my newfound sports-related excitement I decided to throw caution to the wind, and without worrying (to much) about monthly costs, I ordered a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) from Comcast. After a quick call I have an free install for Sunday morning before the game! The DVR will allow me to pause the game if I need to go to the bathroom, or rewind live TV and get my own "instant replay". Of course it has many other features too, but that's not important for this Sunday, so I will save that for another story. I can't wait until Sunday, and the party at work on Friday will be, for me, the kickoff to the weekend. So don't call Sunday, Feb. 5 after 6 p.m. ET, as my TV, DVR, and attention will be on the network TV station ABC to watch the Steelers crush the Seahawks!

Happy Lunar New Year

Happy New Year - Well, Lunar New Year... Which is also called the "Chinese New Year". This is the "Year of the Dog", or the year 4703-4704 on the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar is based on the "lunar" or moon based cycle rather than the "solar" or sun based cycle that our calendar is based on. A lunar year is comprised of 12 cycles of the moon, or from "new moon" to "new moon". A pure lunar calendar uses 12 cycles of the moon, and each day of the month is a specific "phase" of the moon. This type of lunar calendar is not very practical because there are slightly more than 12 lunar cycles in an actual year. This means that from lunar year to lunar year the seasons shift and happen in different months, than they have in earlier years. As a matter of fact this shift requires the addition of another lunar month every 33 years in to keep the seasons in line. A calendar that uses this combination of lunar (phases of the moon) and solar (sun based seasons) activities is called a "lunisolar" calendar. The Chinese calendar is considered a lunisolar calendar. So get out your firecrackers, and red clothes to scare off the evil spirits, and celebrate the start of the new year!

BlogJet

I have been exploring different ways to post my blog postings.  I have tried a few different ones.  I am now using one called

 

It offers a nice editor, with a built in spell checker, smilies , and an easy way to add photos/graphics from my harddrive, as well as from Flickr.

It “integrates” with Blogger, so I can edit posts and publish without logging into and using the HTML editor on the Blogger website.

Other than the ability to link with Flickr, it doesn’t offer any other unique features that aren’t just as easily available with the Blogger site itself.

Later
Lou

Beaver Falls / Vannoy

I first heard about the Josh Vannoy Bronco's shirt "fiasco" on the radio while I was at work. I usually don't give much attention to the newscasts, but it caught my attention because it mentioned Beaver Falls High School. I live in Beaver Falls, and have two kids in that school, so my brain tuned in. I decided to do a quick web search and find out some more details. I was listening to KDKA radio at the time, so I looked there first. I found a really short "blurb" about it on that site, but today it has a little longer article. However, did I found a pretty lengthy article on the Denver Post. So I looked around some more and read a few more articles, and my first reaction (actually my second) was that this whole thing is blown out of proportion. I know the school, and a few of the teachers, not well, but I know them. I couldn't believe that a teacher could do that in my school. When I re-read the articles, I noticed a very 'down-played' comment. The teacher stated that the class was on diversity, and ethnicity, and that Josh "learned a lesson". I realized that while it was a harsh way to teach the lesson, that it was an important lesson... A lesson that I think that the media attention is washing away. Mr. Vannoy learned what it feels like to be discriminated against. I have been fortunate and I have never personally experienced it, and he has been given a special insight into how many people feel often! The problem is that in today's world we don't allow people to be "humiliated", to fail, or make mistakes. We are afraid of how these things may affect their self-esteem. Today our society does not get an opportunity to learn from our own hardships, because we are "helped" from experiencing them. I think this saps the strength from our culture, and creates a bunch of simpering weaklings. I talked with my son today, and he "heard" (meaning that this statement is all hearsay) from the school grapevine, that Mr. Vannoy doesn't really support the Broncos, and that he only wore it because he knew it would bother his teacher. I also heard that Mr. Vannoy is going to be interviewed on a few TV shows... It may have already happened. I wonder how many shows will give the teacher equal time? I bet Beaver Falls High School is going to lose a good teacher over what I am calling an over-reaction. It's sad because my kids may not get to experience a teacher that's willing to walk the line, push the envelope, and challenge them. Even if they never have this teacher, other teachers of the school will be much more leery in how they interact with the students.