IYAAYAS Moderator's Blog

Who brings a knife to a gun fight?

2012-01-04T09:24:00.001-06:00

This was the question going through my mind this past Monday while a wise-ass was pulling a knife on me demanding my wallet. But wait, that's jumping right in the middle of my story. I need to back this train-wreck way up. First I need to tell you how I got to the point of wondering what I was wondering and why. For some reason I always like starting a story anywhere but the beginning for some reason. Go figure. So, let me start from a good point.

At my regular day job we were closed on Monday in observance of the New Year. Not unlike many businesses throughout the country. However, my part time employment was open and my manager calls me to offer me mega money to come in to work on what would normally be my day off. Since we didn't have any plans but to sit around the house, my wife said go for it, we could use some extra spending money. For those of you who do not already know, I bartend part time at "gentleman's club". The pay is normally good, I work about 20 hours a week for about $1500.00. Not bad when you consider my day job pays me the same for working 80 hours. Anyway, she wanted me to work 8 hours at double and a half pay. I will be right in was my reply.

Anyway, I get a shower and get dressed and I am on my way. The parking is usually pretty non existent there, so I rode my Goldwing like I normally do. I stopped for gas and cigarettes and away I went. I made pretty good time and made it in by 6 pm. It was dark already when I pulled in the parking lot to secure my bike. I got off my bike, took off my helmet, and here was this retard standing there waiving a little knife at me demanding I give him my wallet. Now, I am 6' 8" tall @ 285 lbs and this guy was all of 5' tall and maybe weighed in at 125 lbs. My brain works all situations in humor and I immediately was thinking what a cute little knife this little man was struggling to waive at me. I told him to let me get my wallet out and he free to have it and everything in it. He wants me to hurry! I wanted to ask if he was late for a date, but instead I proceeded reaching for my wallet. Oops, I couldn't provide my wallet, but I did produce my .50 cal Desert Eagle and put it right in his chest. I can't even explain the look of shock and horror that was on this man's face, use your imagination. A patron decided to walk by and talk, my guess is he wanted to talk about buying my bike, again, for the 100th time and realized what was going on. He went inside to alert my supervisor, who then called 911. There was a pretty quick response, 3 minutes tops, by HPD. One officer took the thug and the other proceeded to check me out. After my pat down, weapons check, and paperwork check, I was released. All of this happening with my boss watching, and she did not look very happy.

Once it all settled, we went into her office, where we sat and talked about my place of employment and how she could not allow me to work there any longer because I violated the rules, which I found out later, are posted on the front door. I never seen the sign that states there are now weapons allowed on the premises because I always used the back door. So, I was terminated. I didn't contest it. She paid me what she promised me and told me to come back in a few months to talk to her about re-employment opportunities. Wow, Happy New Year. This was definitely a turn of events from what was expected from the evening.

Let me introduce y'all to Frank. Frank is my Desert Eagle .50AE. I have had this weapon for many years. That day marks only the second time I had to bring it out in a threatening situation. This weapon is fired quite regularly out at my property, as well a my others. Does no good to own weapons if you are not a good shot and are not prepped to use it. I have possessed my concealed carry license for many years. I believe that I have the right to legally defend my family, myself, and what belongs to me. I am not a gun nut and I don't believe a gun is the right choice for many people. After my incident, I spent some time reflecting. Everything that occurred finally sunk in yesterday and really got me to thinking.

First, I verified my will was up to speed and current. It is. Second, I thought about what my wife and kids life would be like without me. And last, how lucky I was this dumbass was such a dumbass. I am very lucky he didn't stab me and then rob me while I bled out in the parking lot. Collectively, all went well. I will miss the money from my part time job. I did learn something about myself also, and that is I need to take life a bit more seriously. I am in full understanding that I could have been seriously injured or killed the other night. My wife was curious as to how much cash I actually had in my wallet that evening. It was a very disappointing $4.00 and a gas receipt. Pitiful that I had so little to offer this criminal.

Yes, I did press charges. He was charged with attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, illegal possession of a weapon, public intoxication, and failure to produce identification. The officer did mention he had a few outstanding felony warrants also. This guy will appear before the judge on Friday, I am seriously thinking about attending the hearing.

What did I learn from all of this? Its hard to say. I am glad I have had the training I have had, military and otherwise. I am glad I was able to contain the situation. Most of all, I am glad that my wife and kids still serve as this little voice in the back of my head that tells me they are waiting at home for me, don't be too long. The lesson I would like to pass on is that a prepared person still feels the presences of fear but uses it to control his emotions. Sure, I was humored then and as I write this I get a smile on my face simply because I remember the look on his face when I turned the table. When it is all said and done, I am very lucky he was not any good at what he does, very lucky.

As far as the title to this post, it came to me as I was reminded of a time playing with my son a few years ago. We were play sword fighting in the living room. After my son lost a few times, he went back to him room for a while. He came out and we had another sword fight, but it had a twist, he pulled out his Nerf pistol and shot me while my guard was down. He asked why I brought a sword to a gunfight. Good question son, real good question. Why indeed.

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Going Back In Time

2011-12-28T15:51:00.001-06:00

Recently, we (my wife and I) have been discussing what we would like to do with some property I acquired about 15 years ago. Why is this important to discuss now after having it for so long? Well, I wanted to sell it, it's 9.92 acres, I traded some work and $1000.00 dollars for it when I got it. This property is doing nothing. We had hoped to build a house with a pool and a workshop out there. Later we changed our minds, as it is too far for either of us to drive to work and we don't want to change jobs. I recently had an offer I am still kicking myself in the ass for from a development company who wanted to put up self storage buildings. Which, gave me an idea, why not do that myself. Why? Because it is too far from where I live, I don't want to commute there, and I already have a full time job and a part time job. So I should have sold it, right? I was talked out of it, I was told something better would come up. But, the only thing I can think of is I let $87,682.00 slip through my fingers. But, my wife has a great idea that I have been looking into. She asked, "why not build a drive in movie theatre?" Why not, right?

Sounds like a smashing idea. It made me think of being a kid again and us all going to see a movie at the drive in. My research has shown there are but a handful operational in this area which really makes me wonder if any one would be interested. Reminds me of the line, "build it and they will come". But would they? Is it still all about location, location, location? After the novelty wears off, then what? It really leaves me the question if we would be the only ones that would go to our drive in. We have a local one we like to go to out here where we live, but we go for the novelty of it. Sure, I do prefer the drive in versus the theatre. Mostly because of the price, one gets raped when they go to see a movie. Aha needs that? At the drive in one brings their own food, drinks, blankets, and whatever they want to bring. Sure, we would have a snack bar like the old ones would have, more like a high school football field concession stand.

So, I don't know. I am still kicking around the idea. I think I would almost need to do a website and blog exclusively for the drive in, I think it would help greatly. It looks like I have alot of thinking to do and alot of planning to do. There are so many what ifs that it could just about kill a grown man.

Anyone have any input? Ideas? I would love to hear y'alls opinions on this subject. Would you go to a drive in theatre? Do you go to one now? Do people even like them any longer? I just need to remember ................ build it and they will come. Perhaps. Maybe.

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O.M.F.G.W.T.F.?

2011-12-15T09:05:00.001-06:00

This actually belongs in my C.T.F.U.S.F., but since I am here and I started out this way, let me say that not only am I really pissed but disturbed and worried also. In just a moment, we are going to enter into my own personal Hello Kitty hell. But, before I begin, let find the roots of my rage, explore with me. In the early 90's I spent 5 great years in northern Japan. With one grotesque exception, Hello Kitty was everyfreakinwhere. The epidemic was so widespread it was even in their porn. I try not to hate, but I hate Hello Kitty, it makes my blood boil. I thought I got away from it all when I left Japan, but the Kitty followed me home. Recently I was in the marked to sell some of my rifles and since I had bought or sold anything in this realm in a a few years I was doing some price research. What I found horrified me to tears, it made me want to curl up in my bed and just die so it would all stop. I have formed my final conclusion and thoughts here and know I am going to share them with all of y'all. There are three very specific things no man wants to see anything remotely close to Hello Kitty anywhere near, fast vehicles, military vehicles, and tactical weapons. While combing the internet last night I found the following examples. Take caution from this point forward, the images you will see are obscene and very graphic and for that I will apologize.

These first examples are of a Ferrari, Porsche, and a crotch rocket. All of which where designed to travel well over 150 miles per hour. They are not supposed to be cute, they are pure, raw speed. When I see Hello Kitty, gag, I definitely don't think high performance and nose bleed speeds.

What happened here? Is this a joke? People did this? On purpose? Why? Why? Why? What artillery do you think the tank shoots, fluffy stuffed animals? Do these military vehicles strike fear into your heart and soul? Military vehicles are not supposed to be decorated and send the message that someone needs to give it a hug! They were designed to kill and protect its occupants, period. The people who did this to these vehicles should be hung for treason. When I see Hello Kitty, gag, I don't see death and destruction, I see pussification. How disgraceful.

I wish I was at a loss for words, but I am not. I wish I never set eyes on Hello Kitty tactical weapons, but I did. I have been to many ranges to fire my weapons, I hunt on a regular basis, I carry a pistol on my person everywhere I go, and I never, ever, have seen anyone packing a Hello Kitty weapon. But, they are available, you can buy them. Why? If I were to see a person holding one of these pink weapons I wouldn't fear them, I would only be able to laugh, I might even have to do a crotch check to see if he still has a pair of testosterone filled balls.

There has to be something wrong with a person upstairs to want to pussify what most men hold true and dear. Some will tell me it is a marketing tool to get products out to new buyers. Save it, I will already be holding up the bullshit flag before you hit the door. Both my daughters laughed in disgust at all of these pictures. Both are pretty girly girls. I will save their opinions for another day. I don't know why Hello Kitty must be on everything, nor do I really care. I do know the people who bastardize things I hold dear should have have the crap beat out of them and they need a field casterization before they can breed and speed this pussification seed to others. I close this in utter disgust.

Every single obscene, sick image of Hello Kitty pussification to testosterone was found on the internet. And now I must go puke. Hopefully these images are not burnt into your skull like they are mine. I might need therapy now.

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Family trees and how we relate with adoption

2011-12-13T20:53:00.001-06:00

I have a fairly complex family tree. I have tried to put it down on paper for my children as well as my self, but a traditional style family tree format is just not the right tool. When you leave here confused all I can say is shake it off and welcome to my world. Before I begin this little saga, lets give a little background history of me first. I am adopted. I have known this fact forever, it was never hidden from me nor was it spoke about in a shameful manner. My parents were very open on this subject to me and my older sister, also adopted. I spent my life up to my early 20's content with not knowing anything about anything other than my own family. I always had to fudge a little when filling out medical forms about family medical history, I was healthy so why the hell not. Let me tell you what changed all of that. In October 1990 my daughter was born. Again, we, my now ex-wife and I were given questionnaires about medical history. I became overwhelmed with guilt because my side was basically blank except for information about me. I didn't know what I had passed on to her genetically. How could I know? With that, I promised my hours old daughter that I would embark on the journey I said I would never take and find my biological parents. I never wanted to, my family was all I needed. I looked at it very simple, very black and white, they put me up for adoption, they made that choice, they washed their hands of it all.

This trek to gather needed information was a bit challenging in the beginning, partly because I lived in Japan and partly because my mother had zero information and my father was deceased (these being my adopted parents). On top of all of that, my adoption records were sealed permanently. Well, nothing is permanent, except death, and that can't be fixed. After a few years I got my adoption records unsealed. Many thanks to all the clerks and judges who made it happen, because all of it was done through international mail. To my surprise, there was very little useful information. The pages were blacked out like you see in the movies where all the pertinent information is censored out and you are left with gibberish and crap. The background "story" was an interesting read, years later I found out almost every detail was fiction. The useful information was I had my biological mothers full name, social security number, and last known address in 1968. Everything else was fiction. I did find out why it was supposed to be sealed for life, because she was a minor (16 to be exact) and the adoption was treated as an unwanted child due to rape. I spent many years believing what I had read. During the course of life I had become divorced and remarried in 2000. I hadn't given any adoption any further thought for some time, for good reasons, because I decided to bury my past, well, somebody's past, and continue to live my life. But, and this is a big but, after I re-married, we were unpacking, me in a room, my wife in another. Then all of a sudden she comes out balling and whimpering. What the hell? She had found my buried box and read everything I had. Oops, did I forget to mention I was adopted? Of course not, but it was a very short and simple conversation when we were dating. Talk about opening old wounds, because she wanted to talk about it all with me. Why? I think she watched to many stories on tv. Now, this gets real interesting from this point forward.

A few weeks later I get a phone call. I worked graveyard shift so my wife came in to wake me. It was a call from my biological mother. I would have liked to see the freaking look on my face. After I hang up I find out that my wife has been busy on the internet and had been taking some stabs in the dark hunting for information, behind my back. I had told her back when that it was all settled and done for me. Wrong. We got some limited information from her, basic stuff really, some I already knew. Over the course of the next several years, due to lack of time or lack of interest, or both, I would delve into the information, hit dead ends, stop, start again, until finally I got frustrated, especially when I discovered, by accident, that my biological mother was lieing to me this whole time. Angry, I phoned her and asked what kind of games she thought she was playing. She was trying to protect her family who knew absolutely nothing about me and she wanted to keep it that way. Fine, fuck you, I wont ever contact you ever again, have a nice life. Apparently she had a clearing of thought and mind, maybe a little guilt, who knows, but she called me out of the blue a few weeks later to lay it all down for me. Reasoning? We are all adults now so we must let the chips fall the way they will. I was given the real name of my biological father and she explained how everything was bunk to protect him and his family. So, you probably gathered, it wasn't a rape.

Now, now the story gets good. She was their babysitter. Gasp. What? Really? Anyway, they had a thing that was going nowhere because he was married and had kids and she was 16 and so on and so forth, you get the jist. But wait........... she gets pregnant, oops. Which leads us right back to the beginning. Now, I think I know it all. Wrong. Way way wrong. I did find the phone number for whom I was very confident was my biological father and a few of his sons. So, one day, after staring at this freaking number for about 6 months, I got a wild hair on my ass and just called. Probably one of the most screwed up phone calls I have ever been a part of. A man answered the phone. I asked if I could talk to bleep bleep and the man said that would be a doozey of a trick because bleep bleep was deceased. The only thing going thru my head was sooooonnnnnnn offffff aaaaaaa biiiiiiiittttttccccchhhhh. So, I asked if these names were his sons and were these still good numbers, he said yes, and we hung up. Now, this is 2008 when this conversation took place, my biological father died in 1996. I called one of the sons, no answer, had to leave a message. It was a strange message, I explained who I was and that I would like to speak with to see if he was who I was looking for, left my cell phone number. A few hours later, I get his call. I couldn't speak, I was afraid, so my wife spoke first. It is his son she explains, so I spoke with him. I gave him the details I knew and he confined them. He also filled in a few of the empty places for me. He said he needed some time to absorb all of this new information. As he explained to me that no-one ever knew and his dad died with the secret intact. I found out a few days later that the person I spoke to the first time was my deceased biological father's wife's new husband. The second person I called, the son, broke the news to his mother as gently as he could I guess. How do you start that conversation? Sooooo, I got this call from Texas today.....

Since all of this started, I have managed to meet all the children on my biological fathers side and spoke to the two boys on my biological mothers side. Let me see if I can work this out so everyone might understand. I have 2 step sisters (both younger), I have 6 half sisters (1 younger and 5 older), I have 7 half brothers (2 younger and 5 older) and 1 adopted sister (older). So, now I will explain how it all comes together. My parents adopted my older sister and I at birth. My parents divorced and both remarried, each having a daughter. My biological mother had 2 sons after me and the rest belong to my biological father. The only person I have not met or spoke to is my biological father because he has long been deceased by the time I got around to digging.

So, I challenge someone to make me a family tree. Don't forget my two daughters, one grand daughter and my wife. I can't pay anything to anyone, just do it for fun and see what a fine mess it creates. We can get to all the aunts and uncles and so forth later, it isn't really needed for this demonstration. This tale gets easier to tell when writing it all down. Usually I get very choked up and have a hard time finishing. Its dramatic to me, starts out with joy, moves to saneness and disappointment, joy, anger, let down, excitement, and then I can relax before I go finish sending out all my Christmas cards. That used to be a simple task, quick too. Anyway, thanks for listening and hope someone got something out of my real life tale.

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A Glorius Day

2011-12-10T13:40:00.002-06:00

It has been a long road to get to this point. These eggs were laid on 3 Dec 2011 and this has been the first opportunity I have had to take pictures. She has laid 11 eggs I believe, I will have to get a better count as days go by. We should be expecting birth in about 50 days or so. I expect about 5-7 survivors, that seems to be the magic numbers for what I have read.

I plan on giving out all of my details when it is all said and done. I have an entire diary I started mid last year that I plan to post here. But not yet, not until we have the babies to complete the story. For now, enjoy the picture, I may not get any more, she is pretty greedy with the photo ops.

Are we all not infidels?

2011-12-03T12:45:00.002-06:00

In·fi·del /infdel/ Noun: A person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than one's own. Based on the definition provided, however you choose to slice it or split hairs, aren't we all infidels? Because if you don't follow a religion or are not of the religion of someone else that makes Y.O.U. an infidel. So, why is that term so important? My answer is it is just another excuse to justify any religion and it cause.

So, lets begin. To make things absolutely crystal clear for all of you, this entire post is based on my opinion. I am not asking you to agree or disagree with me, I am just throwing some thoughts out there for y'all to chew on a bit. Those who know me, had dialog with me, read different things I have written, or any other way you may have come into contact with me, know I do not believe in god and think the bible and books like it from other religions are pure fairytale fluff. Don't leave yet, I am just getting wound up for the first pitch.

There is not one single person on planet Earth that is not an infidel. Disagree with me? Re-read the definition. We all on the same page now. Where am I going with this? I am not really sure, but you will know when we get there. Deep down inside my core I hope this pisses everybody off enough to start questioning the reasons why we have allowed stupid bullshit like faith, religion, or the lack of both, to be a reason to hate our neighbors, whether that be next door or next continent. I am, for the first time, very angry. Why? Good question. You will have your precious answer before you leave. Do not skip to the end. If you do, you wont get offended and then I have failed.

I find this very simple when it gets broken way down to the basics. We will work our way back up to global in a bit. People are stupid by nature, they need to compete for everything so they have an opportunity to lose and have someone to be pissed at so they can blame someone else for their failures as a human. That's bullshit, but all humans do it. Someone is better than you and beats you, so you have to hate them. Someone makes more money than you, so you have to hate them. Someone has something you don't, so you have to hate them. You are of a different religion or don't follow a religion, so you are hated. Too simple? People have been fighting wars for these reasons since the dawn of time. Why? What makes you better than me? Or......... what makes me better than you? I will tell you a secret, you need to have a seat with the rest of the bitches while you are waiting for me to actually give a fuck.

Does the topic of being considered an infidel piss me off? Yes, it does. Because it is a hypocritical statement made by people with no tolerance for anything except for what they have to say. I don't believe in god.................hate me. I don't believe in your god........ hate me. I don't care that you hate me............... hate me more. It goes way deeper than a country, a society, a community, it goes straight to the individual. I am lucky I live in a place where I think and believe what I want. But is it lucky? People from my own country hate me because I think god and the bible are fairytale. But, I think that about all religions and all gods. It is stupid for humans to put faith in nothing. I have said it in the past and I will say it again, if you need to hate me or kill me because I wont be a part of your little cult, then come on, don't be a pussy.

I spent way too much time in Iraq and Kuwait making sure that people of those nations knew they picked a fight with the wrong country. It gave me pride to know I was hated for being an American. Great. Be pissed at me because I have what you don't have. Your pissed because you aren't supposed to like the the things I do and the freedoms I have, but you do like them. But, we go back to a basic question, why do humans entertain the feeling of hate? Why is that a "need" that has to be fed? Are we not all different in one way or another for many different reasons? Isn't that what makes us individuals? I get aggravated on occassion for reasons beyond my knowledge about things that I really consider dumb reasons to do something stupid. I use that word, stupid, quite a bit. It isn't my judgement on someone, a group, or idea, its just how it appears. People will die for their beliefs and will kill fro their beliefs. I too would do the same, but not in the name of a god or a religion. I am not a sheeple, I don't need to be led anywhere. I don't have this empty void that needs to be filled by fantasy or fairytale. And, I surely don't hate someone just for being better than me or worse than me.

I find my self caring about things that are real, things I can touch, like my family, my job, and making sure that both are happy. That upsets many people, but I have a bad knee so it is hard for me to make the jump onto the bandwagon. Am I an infidel? Sure. Why not. I do fit the definition. You will never see me use my differences with people as a launching pad to hate them. Fuck that, I don't have time in my day for all of that. We work hard, we play hard, and we live our lives happy. If someone can't handle that the things in my life make me happy, step up and we can set you on your way with your tail between your legs. I have an extremely low bullshit tolerance and that has hardened the way I think about the petty shit that happens on our planet. I will not change.

I suppose I should close this entry. Before I go tho, I want you to have a final message. I am who I am, I am like many who fail to grasp the idea of hating someone for their beliefs. Religions around the globe teach intolerance. They say love thy neighbor, but act in a way that is different. It should be love thy neighbor only if they agree with you. Believing in a god does not make you better or worse than me, its your choice, as it is mine. When the war of infidels explodes just know this, I will fight by your side whether you choose to return the favor or not. I am not changing for anyone, but that doesn't make me your enemy.

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Ghosts of Christmas Past

2011-11-29T11:18:00.001-06:00

I know you are still stumped on wheat to get a few people who are hard to shop for. Have no fear my friends, I have found the perfect gift for you. Every person has the patience, time, and money for a certain kind of pet. Some people look for that pet who takes minimal care and find fish suit their passion. Other people choose cats, hamsters, birds, reptiles, dogs, insects, as well as a long list of other pets. But, some people are just Pet Rock people, its that simple. If you are thinking about a pet and you want a pet that has the simplest care, a Pet Rock is the pet for you.

Depending on what Pet Rock you choose, you will realize you have tons of options. If you just want something that you can take everywhere with you whether that's the movies, dinner, school, work, or shopping, you will probably want a Pet Rock that will fit in your pocket or purse. If you just want something you can come home and cuddle with, try something a little bigger. But, remember, the bigger your Pet Rock is, the heavier it will be.

Pet Rocks are really laid back and believe it or not they are the only pet that doesn't have the risk of obesity, so you don't have to worry about walkie them, playing fetch with them, or any other games, and you don't need to worry about any form of exercise for them. Pet Rocks have the perfect diet, they have a 24/7 diet of absolutely nothing at all. It makes feeding them super easy and real cheap. You never have to worry about making sure they get the perfect balance of nutrients. With this specialized, yet simple diet, you never have to worry about feeding them, ever. Pet Rocks are the healthiest pet that you will find on the surface of planet Earth. As added bonus, they never get sick so they never need to go to the veterinarian for anything, ever.

There are so many people who don't want the added responsibility of having a pet to take care of properly in terms of diet, exercise, enclosure, and overall health. Basically, the criteria for a person thinking about caring for a Pet Rock would include a person who:
1) Doesn't care what food goes into their pets mouth.
2) Doesn't want to take their pet to the veterinarian.
3) Doesn't want to do any research on owning this pet.
4) Doesn't want to spend time exercising their pet.
5) And a person who works all of the time and isn't quite sure if they will even have the time to make sure the pet is fed regularly, walked regularly, and is cared for in general.
Do you fit all this criteria? Then a Pet Rock is for you.

But, for the computer geeks out there, the USB Pet Rock is probably what you need. Simply plug in the USB cable into a free port on your computer and let the fun begin. The USB Pet Rock will instantly begin to work its awesome magic. People will stop by and ask what your USB Pet Rock does. Each time you can make up a new story, for no matter what you say, it will always be greater than the actual truth. Why? Because the USB Pet Rock doesn't do a dang thing except make you smile while confusing friends, family, and co-workers, which will make you smile even more.

Here is why you need the USB Pet Rock right now.
1) Same great features as a non USB Pet Rock.
2) They are a great gift for the computer geek in your life.
3) They won't chew on the connected computer.
4) They will make you instantly cool.
5) They will never disobey you.
6) They will love you like only a Pet Rock can.
7) They are the "greenest" USB product ever created.
8) They use absolutely no electricity.
9) No drivers needed, compatible with ALL operating systems.
What you get in the box:
1 unique Pet Rock (allow for natural variations).
Approximate size is 4" x 4" x 3".
Includes one 18" long USB cable.

So, there you go. Chalk this one off the list because I have given you two, count them, two, spectacular gifts for those on your list who are so hard to buy for. No need to thank me, I am just doing my part in societies to help my fellow human beings. Get out there and get one of these special pets. If you want, get yourself one too, nobody needs to know you bought it for yourself, it will be our little secret.

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Life will change your plans

2011-11-28T13:23:00.001-06:00

It's true, life has a way of making plans for you and changing your plans for you. As impossible as that sound or appear, it is very true. Let me give you just one simple example. Over a year ago I purchased a 1984 Honda Goldwing GL1200 Interstate. Why? Well, oddly enough, I wanted a project for my son and I to work on this last summer. Nice thought, but never have been able to find the time. So, after much thought, I have decided to sell it and give someone else the opportunity to do what I did not have the time or money to do.

Don't get me wrong, we have the skills to make this classic into the dream ride it once was in it's glory days. I encourage anyone looking to buy a used Goldwing to restore to look @ http://houston.craigslist.org/mcy/2721336088.html and see what it is I have to offer. It is a fair deal, less than what I paid for it.

One day, in the near future I hope, we will find another project to work on. Right now, it just doesn't seem to fit in the schedule or the budget. I think my son understands it is time to let go and move on, at least that is what he tells me. He assures me will will find something else in the time in front of us to work on, he always knows how to lay it on thick when he is re-assuring us both. That link again is http://houston.craigslist.org/mcy/2721336088.html and thanks for looking.

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Fun With Snowmen

2011-11-21T10:58:00.001-06:00

I envy people who live where it snows every year for one reason only. Y'all get to play in the snow and some even build really creative snowmen for others to admire. Other than that, you can keep the snow because I don't want anything to do with it, ever.

Sometimes, as I have seen time to time, people like to create other visions from the snow that represent real life and really shows off their talents.

Then there are those who create a snowman that tell a story, a story or horror and mishap. These horror versions are my true favorite. Go figure, right? So, these are about when a snowman goes bad and attacks.

Since we all don't have my sense of humor, some of those might be a little over the top. But, what happens when such a scene is captured and we see what snowmen do when we aren't looking.

I leave the best example for last. Some people can make anything about sex. Some people make snow people engaging in sexual acts. Why? Who cares, its funny. As with all of them, they are just funny, and a little sad.

None of the pictures in this post belong to me, nor do I know who to give credit to. All of the were sent to me via email and one can only assume they came from the internet somewhere. So, all I can do is thank everyone for sharing so I can share also.

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Diablo Scorpion Chlili

2011-11-17T20:53:00.003-06:00

I don’t know the exact Scoville heat factor for my chili. I know it’s freaking hot. This, ironically, is how the name Diablo Scorpion came about. It burns like hell going in and has a pretty wicked sting coming out as well. Why people like it is beyond me, but they do. I make chili year round, at least once a month, if not more because of the holidays. It’s my wife’s favorite dish that I make. She would eat it all the time if I would make it. These days, I have become smarter. I make roughly 3 gallons of chili at a time. She has a meal of it the first day, we keep out another meals worth in the fridge, and then I freeze the rest in two serving size bowls for her to pull out and heat up at her leisure. I have been making this version of my chili for about 25 years. I make others, inspired in part where I have lived in the past and the flavor influences of that region of the world.

So, what makes it hot? The ingredients, the slow simmering of the flavors, and the fact (my opinion) that I grow most of my ingredients and I have my own chili powder blend that I have mastered over the years. I will pass on the chili powder mix when I am unable to cook someday. The rest I am going to give to you as my way of giving back to so many people that have helped me over the years with great dish and meal ideas. It’s funny, I enter quite a few chili cook offs here locally in the Houston area. I have won a few over the years, but not all. I do get quite a few placements just for heat. The heat will numb your teeth, gums, tongue, inside of your mouth, and your throat within the first two bites, and then you can enjoy the flavor. So, if you don’t mind sweating while you eat, this is the perfect chili for you. I must give one absolute warning that always must be adhered to. Never, under any circumstances, get this chili in, near, or around your eyes because it has about the same effect as U.S. Military Grade Pepper Spray. As a personal warning, I do not recommend breathing, burping, farting, or any other expellation of gases in or around any open flame source.

So, you want to make my chili? First you will need the ingredients. As mentioned, almost everything I use is homegrown and fresh off the bush. Grown in my garden are Jalapeno Peppers, Serrano Peppers, Habanero Peppers, Tomatoes, Green Chiles, and Mushrooms. However, if you cannot provide fresh, I guess store bought or even canned/jarred will work also. Gives me the shudders just thinking that my chili would be made from a can. So, the ingredients list first, and then I will give instruction on preparation and cooking. This recipe is based on about a 3 gallon yield, so you might have to scale the portions if needed. For those of you who cook, there should be no problem.

Diablo Scorpion Chili

4 cup Jose Cuervo Silver Tequila
5 lbs Lean Ground Beef
2 cup Jalapeno Peppers, sliced and chopped
2 cup Serrano Peepers, sliced and chopped
½ cup Habanero Peppers, chopped finely
2 cup Green Chile Peppers, chopped finely
2 cup Mushrooms, sliced (optional)
2 cup Black Olives, sliced (optional)
2 cup Green Olives, sliced (optional)
3 can Red Kidney Beans (optional)
6 lrg Tomatoes diced to preference
¼ cup Tabasco Sauce (pick your own flavor, I use the Original)
¼ cup Salt
¼ cup Pepper (I use white ground)
3 cup Chili dry mix (my secret, see below for alternate dry ingredients that will be substituted)
5 pkg Chili Mix (found in the store with the gravy)
1 tbs Onion Powder (or Onion Salt)
1 tbs Garlic Powder (or Garlic Salt) 1 tbs Lemon and Herb mix spice
½ cup Chili Powder
½ cup Granulated Sugar (optional) (see note)
8 cup Water (tap or bottled, your choice) (add or decrease based on thickness desired.)
Note: You can add about 1/2 cup of sugar also, if you want, it helps take off some of the edge without messing up the flavor or making it sweet.

Preparations:

Chop/ slice/ dice everything that needs to have it done, be sure to keep all juices, seeds, and skins with it. Drain and rinse beans.

Brown ground beef, add in 2 cups of tequila, jalapeno peppers, Serrano peppers, Habanero peppers, and chiles. When ground beef is browned, do not drain.

Add everything else including the other two cups of tequila Use the amount of water you wish to get your desired thickness. Chili mix will thicken some as it cooks and blends under heat. Bring the entire chili mixture to a boil, stirring lightly. Let boil ten minutes then turn down the heat, cover, and let it simmer to stew and meld all the ingredients (stirring on occassion) for 1 ½ to 2 hours for best flavor results.

And now you have Diablo Scorpion Chili, enjoy.

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The Lonesome Dove Hotel

2011-11-14T09:31:00.001-06:00

One of the spare bedrooms of my parent's house was been dubbed the "Lonesome Dove Hotel" many years ago after I opened by big mouth while they still lived in Arizona. They wanted a theme for what is now what I call the transient travelers room. So, ten years or so I got this wild idea. Since they lived in the desert, making an old west themed room. Bad part was that I was joking, worse part is I contributed to the creation of this beast. Long story short, I build the bed, the sign, the dressers, and the saddle rack. Then, my mother decorated. Over the years, the room has evolved quite a bit. It still sees about 100 plus travelers a year, to include myself and my family on occassion, when there is a vacancy. I was there this weekend, them now living back in Texas east of Dallas and before you get to Tyler. Again, living in a rustic 1 stoplight town in the middle of nowhere. I was reminded of my work that I have done in this room when I put my back down on the leather and oak luggage stand and it creeled from age and use. I do love to work with wood and create something out of a pile. I appreciate the fact that I can take the ideas floating in my skull and turn them into something that someone wants. I get so busy in my own life it is good go there, to see my retired parents, and slow down some.

Unfortunately that was not one of these trips, its coming up on Christmas, and there is much work to be attended to. Not only do I need to help layout Christmas lights and all the yard stuff, I need to bring stuff from my storage unit that I collected this year to put into their yard. First things first I suppose. I had got all loaded up this past Thursday so we could leave right away Friday after work. Friday came and we loaded up two small bags, one for my son and one for me. We got our kisses and hugs, and off we set. Its right at 4 hours of a drive to get to my parents house. Other than it being a tad windy, which blows a trailer around a bit, it was an uneventful trip up there. We arrived about 11 pm, my dad was asleep already, but my mom was up waiting for us. After I backed the trailer into the back part of their yard, I pulled under the carport to unpack our bags. My son was tired, hard drive for him playing on his PSP, it wore him out I guess. My mom and I chewed the fat a bit and then it was time to get some sleep, 5 am start time has already been announced to me.

Indeed, 4 am came fast. I showered and got dressed, had a bowl of "cereal", I think it was cereal, it came out of a cereal box, tasted like what I imagine dry dog food tastes like, with a milk gravy. With both my parents chomping at the bit to see what I had in the trailer, cereal time was cut short. Everything I brought was broken or in pieces and as I explained it to them, I bought or found it all that way. It was for ideas, inspiration, and for patterns. I can't pull everything out of my ass like a magician pulling tricks from a hat, but I am getting better. We all unloaded the trailer, laid it all out to take a look. Now my son is out and about and digging with us. He found all the parks for 6 animated deer, the kind that are made of strips of wood, have lites woven in, and the head moves or goes up and down. He explained to papa (paw paw) that this was their project and that his daddy will do the rest. Really? Thanks. I had my own projects planned, making some cool things I saw but wouldn't pay the $200.00 they were asking. I have a bad habit of picking stuff up, handling it, and checking out how it is made to see if it is something I could make, better and cheaper. This is one example of what I made.

I made 15 of these for that same $200.00 that person wanted for one that was half the size. I will return with a couple, they will give another to my uncle down the street, and then sell the rest on the first of the month at a craft bazaar they have up there once a month. I made the pater's for christmas trees, candy canes, santas, elves, sleighs, reindeers, and a few other indoor things. My dad will reproduce more off the patterns and my mom will paint most of them. My son and dad worked on those deer all weekend, nobody has been allowed to see them. I was told I will get pictures when they are done, maybe this week sometime. My son was a little disappointed they didn't have the time to finish them together, but reminded me that I will find more stuff for projects when he is up there for the summer.

Unfortunately we left during daylight hours so I cannot provide you with the the lighting, because I didn't get a picture of it. Plus, we weren't done. So, my dad will take pictures probably next weekend and I will share those after I get them. After packing up, we said our goodbyes and headed back home. For 4 hours I talked and listened to my son get so excited about everything he is learning to do and how he knows one day he will be able to show me and my dad a few new tricks. I look forward to that day. As we drive I can't help to think that one day my parents will not be here and I will be the one responsible for going thru their belongings and deciding what happens to it based on their wishes. I was shown the list of stuff that is supposedly going to me and my family. What does a person say when having that conversation with his mother? Exactly my point. I wonder if the excitement I see in my own son's eyes is what I looked like as kid who was looking forward to doing stuff with my dad. I need to ask him one day soon.

In the end, my son and I had a good trip. We got alot done and even more plans for the next few trips. I look forward to any time I get to spend with my son. It is alway a plus when my dad, my son, and myself get together and work on stuff. Three generations in one room doing something they love to do, as family, as fathers and sons should share their time. I seem to get a bit nostalgic when I visit them, mostly because they still have furniture I made for them back in my teen years. When I see some of it that has been moved a few times or worn out from use I think to myself how I would like to restore it before it is too late and that turns into next time, then the next. Sometimes I wish they would sell it all or give it all away so I did not have memories sparked every time I walked in their house. Twisted I know. There will be more weekends as my son grows up for us to do everything we want to do with papa. I am lucky that the three of us have this bond, and I never want it broken.

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Suffering from C.R.S. is a bitch sometimes.

2011-11-10T16:09:00.001-06:00

Now I don't know when it happened exactly, I just know it happened. I wish there had been a sign in the road somewhere to let me know I was taking the wrong fork. C.R.S. is a bitch sometimes and she slaps me in the face on a real regular basis, ok, on a daily basis.

Maybe I can attribute some memory loss to the fact that I have been listening the heavy metal music my entire life. The older I get, the harder and louder I like it. Can heavy metal cook off brain cells? I will get back to you, if I remember later.

Or, maybe it was the 12 years I served in the United States Air Force. I spent most of my time around loud equipment and louder jet engines. I worked actively with the demolition of explosives also. Could this have been a factor also? You are thinking, this man should be deaf and have the brains of jelly by know. It could not have been all that kind to my brain.

Let's not forget I have most of my adult life in strip bars working part time or appreciating the scenery. But, you see, now we add in more ridiculously loud music and visual stimulation to boot. Can seeing naked women decrease memory brain cells as well? I will study this phenomenon some more and return one day with the results if I can ever get around to it.

Let's not forget the fact that I am Crown Royal's and Jose Cuervo's biggest fan. Again, for most of my adult life I have consumed more alcohol from those two companies than probably 20 regular drinkers would. While I was in the Air Force I would drink a 750ml bottle of Crown every 2 days and do shots of tequila the whole time. How I survived I will never know. These days, I don't drink much. By not much I mean I still have bottles of both that I bought for my 40th birthday 3 years ago.

Unfortunately I am also a 2 pack a day KOOL cigarette smoker. Picked up that stupid habit at 15 and never have been able to shake it. So, now for almost 30 years I have been killing off brain cells that way also. No wonder I can't remember shit.

It probably doesn't help matters when at the end of most days I take a handful of Fukitol pills and kiss the day away. After writing this little article of cleansing I realize I have lived a chemically induced gem of a life. And actually, I don't think I would trade a day of it away. I am just surprised I still have brain cells and am not a complete bumbling idiot yet. Is that coming? I go places and can't remember why. I go in rooms in my house and can't remember why. Yet, I can always find my glasses, my wallet, my keys, my cell phone, my kids, and I know it is my wife resting up against my back at night. Luckily, when I go into the bathroom I can still remember what I am there for in the first place.

C.R.S. is a bitch. C.R.S. is very sneaky. But, I live with it. Thanks boys and girls for this weeks therapy session. We will meet again in one month, if I can remember to meet again. One thing you should remember is to eat it every day!

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CAUTION: Your children will tell the truth

2011-11-08T10:47:00.001-06:00

I found out how true that statement is first thing this morning. A morning no different than most mornin in my particular neighborhood. But, I am getting ahead of myself, that all has changed.

This morning my son and I followed a pretty typical routine to drop him off for school on my way to work. His school is a mere 2 blocks from my house, but he likes to ride on my bright yellow Goldwing to get dropped off. He like making that entrance in the drop off line I think. He still thinks his dad is cool at age 10. But today, while waiting in line to turn into the school, a lady in a Lexus decided to roll into the back of my bike. She hit me hard enough to jar us pretty good but I was able to keep the bike in the upright position. When I looked back she had that..... "oh shit" ...... look on her face. I quickly check my son, he is fine. I get off my bike while my son remains on it and walk up to this woman who is dumbfounded sitting their. She all shook up. Meanwhile, the Constable sitting right in front of me is now walking back to see what happened. She claims not to have seen my sunshine yellow motorcycle at a complete stop. My blinker is still on while we sit there. Confused, I think, he asked her what she was doing when she struck my bike. He answer was she dropped her pen. Her daughter pops off and says ...."mommy, you were texting daddy, tell the truth". See the picture? We were parked in front of that sign. We proceed with the report and so forth I received no tickets. She admitted to being at fault. She received a wrecless driving ticket as well as a tick for cell phone use in a school zone. After taking a few pictures of my minor damage, I bent my fender out so I could ride my bike. After exchanging info, we parted ways. I dropped my son off and went home to park my bike and get my Pathfinder so I could go to work. My son told me when I dropped him off that the little girl was in his class and they sat next to each other. That's funny. I figured she was on her phone or something, but real glad her daughter sold her out.

A portion of the law reads as follows: "Use of mobile telephones prohibited in school zones. It shall be unlawful for a person to drive or operate a motor vehicle in a school zone or on official school property during the school day and when school zones are in effect and where signs prohibiting hand held mobile phones use are posted in place while using a hand held mobile telephone to engage in a call or to create, send, or receive messaging. An operator of a motor vehicle who holds a mobile telephone to or in the immediate vicinity of his/her ear while such a vehicle is in motion is presumed to be engaging in a call within the meaning of this designation. Immediate proximity shall mean that a distance that permits the operator to hear telecommunications transmitted over such a mobile telephone but shall not require physical contact with the operators ear." Simple enough to understand that NO use means NO exceptions.

Living in a neighborhood in very close proximity to an elementary school we became aware very fast that there are always children everywhere, each way you turn, children. I happen to live in a place where most of the people think they make so much money that their shit don't stink and speed limits, stop signs, and caution signs can't be expected to apply to them. A sad yet true mentality we see around here all the time. We have 2 deaf children who live on "my" street who play outside like all the rest of the kids around here. We fought tooth and nail to be able to post signs to identify that children play in this area. People didn't want to "ugly up" the street with an additional stop sign and caution signs. But, a few of us got our way.

I find it sad that people can't seem to find the time while driving thru neighborhoods to pay enough attention to the children who live and play in the area. Their "life" is not more important than our children's lives. My next goal is to get a sign similar to this one

displayed in the direct vicinity of the park we have near by. It's truly a sad day when 10 mph is too slow and a person can't be off of their cell phones until they are out of their cars.

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Statues behaving badly

2011-11-07T09:30:00.001-06:00

People I know and eve ones I don't know have found a way to make me smile. I enjoy getting e-mail that has pictures of unknown women of the world behaving badly with statues for the pure fun of it. I have quite a few, but I am only going to show the ones that are mildly suggestive since this is not an adult rated blog. Be warned tho, some may have to have a second look for a closer look. I would like to begin with a sign I found somewhere, every one of these statues or exhibits could have benefited from displaying it.

There is not a person on this planet that probably doesn't know exactly how I feel about Ronald McDonalds, he sucks. But, seems young ladies from around the world want to repay the favor.

Of all the dirty nasty things girls can choose to put in their mouth, they pick Ronald McDonald. I'm sure he's McLovin' It. Okay, now the rest are just girls around the world having fun with exhibits, statues, landmarks, and mother nature.

I am going to round out this collection with an innocent picture of my daughter kissing a triceratops which was taken on our recent trip to Utah. That happened all by her saying....... "daddy, daddy, look at me, i'm kissing a triceratops". So, I took the picture.

So, there we go boys and girls, there is a portion of my collection. I am always looking for more pictures of people behaving badly with things that they shouldn't be. Its all in good fun. If there is a picture here of you, I am sorry. Remember, got some? Email them to me and share.

With the exception of the last picture, my daughter and the dinosaur, which I took personally, all the rest were emailed to me or found on the internet somewhere. Other than mine, I have no idea who took the pictures or who deserves the credit. I do extend my hand in thanks, I got a real kick out them.

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Gene Simmons for a day

2011-11-02T13:46:00.001-05:00

Everyone has a "hero" per say. Some of us kids have a certain super hero that they like to pretend to be like. Gene Simmons is not a super-hero, he's a rock-n-roll icon. KISS has been touring the world for many years and the face that stands out as the face of the band is always Gene Simmons. To me, when I see him in full make up, he commands the attention of on-lookers. Although, alot of them go WTF am I looking at. So, after almost two years of searching, hunting, and being disappointed, I got the full costume I was looking for. I had bought a mask also, but I think my wife did an outstanding job with my makeup.

I have got to dress up as Gene Simmons 3 times for this Halloween. The first for our company Halloween party, I won second prize. I lost to a really hack job drag queen. The second time was for my wife's Halloween party, I won second prize. I lost to Jack the Ripper. The third and final time was for Halloween, to go trick or treating and be at my haunted yard. I took my 1, 2, and 10 y/o nieces along with my 10 y/o son, 15 y/o daughter, and my wife. My little niece were terrified at first, then they realized it was me and warmed right up. Trick or grating was fun, imagine Gene Simmons walking down your street with a bunch of ghouls. It was too much fun.

This year is over, it is time to press forward and think really big for next year. I am thinking maybe Santa Claws. My wife can be Mrs. Claws, and my kids can be the demonic elves. My wife asked me if I was going to sell my Gene Simmons costume and try to recoup some of my money. My answer was hell no because I never know when the occassion might rise again to be a rock-n-roll super hero.

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Let there be cake!

2011-11-01T08:25:00.002-05:00

Cake is the answer to all worries. Cake can change a frown to a smile in mere moments. Cake is the perfect desert. Cake makes for the best centerpiece on a table. These are all words to live by my mother once told me, when I was real young and asked why she baked cakes all the time. I still believe them as I have taken up her same "bad" habits. I never thought of baking cakes as an actual hobby, but as I think about it here, it really is. My middle daughter, now 15, asked me once if she could help me stir batter, and now she has my same bad habit as it was passed down to me. I have never had any formal training, just what I have read and watched people do, I taught Courtney the same way. Now, we just have fun doing it together, creating some really cool cakes while we are at it.

This first Halloween cake was for the party this past friday at my office. My ideas was to make a cake that would make the Tooth Fairy's teeth hurt, and "The Tooth Fairy's Toothache" was born. A minor creation weighing in at a mere 9 1/2 pounds. Everything is completely edible, except the tray of course. The cake is basically pure sugar, definitely not a diabetics cake. Starting out with the headstone. It is two layers of rice crispie treats sandwiched together with peanutbutter in the middle. Then it was frosted with chocolate frosting and the covered in marbled fondant. The cake was two layers, vanilla on the bottom and red velvet on the top. After digging an enormous hole in the middle of the top layer, about the size of 2/3 the top, it was filled with all the stuff from the centers of many Oreo cookies. On top of that was red raspberry jam. On top of the jam went skulls and bones shaped sweet tarts and some nerds. The cake was frosted with mint flavored frosting and then the entire cake was covered in crushed Oreo cookies.

Cake #2 was for my wife's office, no party, just for people to snack on. I call this one "Wintery Graveyard". This was a double layer cake of double dutch chocolate. Frosted with white chocolate. The headstones are Milano chocolate sandwich cookies. The graves are covered in crushed Oreo cookies. The fence is salted pretzel sticks. And, the little ghosts are made from modeling chocolate dipped in white chocolate.

The third and final Halloween cake is "Ghosts and Pumpkins", named by my son. As we were going to spend a part of the evening with my mother in law, we wanted to bring desert since she was making us dinner before we opened the haunted yard for the trick or treaters. This is a single layer cake made of marbled chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet. It was frosted with a cream cheese and white chocolate mix. The hay stack is rice crispie treats covered in modeling chocolate. The ghosts were made of modeling chocolate as well, then dipped in white chocolate. The jack o lanterns were made of modeling chocolate as well, then "carved".

We had a blast doing these cakes. We even got my wife and son involved, they liked playing with the modeling chocolate most. Well, that and dipping the ghosts in the white chocolate. Unfortunately our cakes are not very diabetic friendly, there were no sugar substitutes used. Another thing I wanted to mention, the only thing we used that came out of a box pre-made was the modeling chocolate. All the cakes and frostings were made from scratch, the old fashioned way, not from a freaking box.

I hope you enjoyed my story about these cakes. My wife reminded me last night that this is the reason my family, friends, and co-workers don't go to a bakery to get their cakes. I showed my daughter a picture of a "KISS" band cake I would like for my birthday this coming weekend. I am not making my own cake. We will see what happens with that. Oddly enough, I don't really care for cake. Have fun. Be safe.

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When a scorpion falls in love with a grasshopper.

2011-10-31T13:51:00.001-05:00

A short story about how a non-christian can co-exist in marriage and family who are christians. Recent happenings have given me reason to reflect and review how our religious beliefs actually give us good balance. The scorpion represents me and the grasshopper representing my wife. A scorpions nature is to preserve its own life first. Everything is treated as a threat that needs to be killed either to eat it or eliminate the threat. Boundaries are not known by the scorpion. The grasshopper is the mind of the collective, it is not good for one if it is not good for the whole. Self sacrifice is common to assure the continued livelihood of the other members. Two drastically different ways of doing business and living life.

When we met, I had been divorced for a little over a year and she had been divorced for about the same. How we met is not important, but if interested, look at some prior posts and it is explained in detail. But, when I met her, I was alot like that scorpion. As a Scorpio, everything is pretty self centered anyway. She immediately grabbed my heart. She tamed me in a way, I wanted her in my life. Oddly enough, she wanted to be in my life. We both had exes, big deal. Both divorced for very different reasons, again, big deal. But, we both bring a daughter with us. Very big deal in deed. Mine is almost 7 years older than hers. That will be the absolute last time you ever hear me reference either of them like that again. They are our daughters. One and the same. No step nothing here, never has been. Life goes on, a year more and we are married. We lived separately until that day, in fact we lived on opposite sides of Houston. We did not have a traditional church wedding, we both had been there and done that. We, in fact, were married in the very gazebo I built for my mother when I was in high school. It held 23 people with ease. Yes, a small wedding, immediate family only.

Time goes on and in the summer of 2001, our son was born. Up to this point, prior to his birth and now, I never attended church with my family. It was understood not to ask and not to want me to come, because I would not. However, that does not mean I was not involved with the church. (Huh). I still drive the bus every Sunday, I am still the handy man, and I still do the craft fairs, garage sales, and decorations for choir and holiday plays. Read about that in a prior post too if you want to, its down there somewhere. I support them in attending church, they seem to have found something they were all looking for.

We tend not to discus religion with me. They all know I think the bible is the grandest of all fairytale. But, on occassion, we do want to talk about my opinions or historical biblical facts I might know or ones I can help research. I have read both the old testament and the new testament from cover to cover many times over, looking for something I never lost, so they know that I will help them on their quest. My wife's views and mine differ greatly, but we leave it out of our daily lives, her choice more than mine I spose.

My son, for the most part seeks answers. He is what I like to call a knowledge whore. He wants to gather as much information about every subject he can until he feels he is an expert on the subject. In that regard, we are the same. When it come to christianity, religion, God, and even Jesus, he thought he a good grasp on it all. Until he got the chicken pox. That's all in a prior post below too in you want to read up on it. I received alot of backlash for how I handled the whole questioning God's divine work in the universe. I find it healthy to question the things you think you know. Should I have probably kept my mouth closed? I did not encourage the behavior, did I?

For the first time ever, my wife and I had an all out argument about my opinions versus the rest of the "sain" world. I lost or I quit. The peace in my house is more important than my religious views. We had to agree to disagree. This moment haunts me now because I don't want anyone to question their beliefs based on what I might think. For now, I guess you can say that it is done. I think it has been filed in the "to be continued file" personally.

And now life goes on. We are a happy family. Things have gone back to how they were before Jackson started asking why and how. My wife is no longer mad at me about this topic. So we are golden again. You see, a christian and non-christian can be married, raise a family, and have a good life together. I pick and choose my battles very carefully. I, for the most part, am selfish, I never fight unless I know the outcome. So, I don't fight, it wastes time, energy, and someones feeling always get hurt. Most people carry that with them for life.

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Chicken Pox and God

2011-10-24T09:10:00.001-05:00

Odd title isn't it? You are probably thinking to yourselves that you already know where this post os going, but I might just prove you wrong, so stick around and see. Before I actually begin, this is all based on conversations I have had with my son about conversations he has had with others while he has been down with chicken pox. For those of you who do not know, my son is 10, he is a bi-polar autistic. What does this matter? He thinks differently than you and I do to break it down to its simplest form. On the surface he appears as any other child, but when you get deeper into knowing him you realize he has some truly amazing gifts. So, the reasoning for this post is to convey messages my son has had to the world while having chicken pox.

It is a rare occasion when I see my son down and out. He has been out of school since last Wednesday and easily has another week out of school because of the chicken pox. Throughout last week and over the weekend, he has had a few visitors I never expected to see at my house. Fortunately, he is one of those children who have made a very positive impact on people's lives, more than I could have ever imagined. His 5th grade homeroom teacher was the first to visit, Jackson was excited..............she was bringing homework. Actually, it was a good will visit. She was bringing a get well card from the class and some of the teachers and staff. They sat and talked a bit and in the end she promised him she would come back by with homework, that made his day.

He was unable to attend our weekly Cub Scout meeting this past Thursday, but encouraged me to go because I am the leader and the other boys should not have to suffer by me missing. So, pretty unprepared, I went, had a meeting, and was surprised to find out how missed Jackson really was. His friends had prepared a get well card and basket for him and asked if I would give it all to him. Well, of course I will. I had to excuse myself for a few moments, couldn't let my boys see the tears in my eyes. When I stepped back in, it was time to end the meeting, we said our goodbyes and whatnot and everyone left. I cleaned up, locked up, loaded the car, and went home myself. When I got home, Jackson was sleeping, so his mom and I talked for a bit and then we went to bed. The next day, Friday, in the evening, a few friends brought pizzas over for everyone. They chatted with Jackson for a few minutes and then left us to eat.

Saturday is choir practice day at church. My son looks forward to this more than anything else in life. He was crushed when I explained he would not be going. I called his choir teacher and they were able to talk and she gave him encouraging words and wished him a speedy recovery. He spent the entire day signing, as if he were at practice, it was wonderful. Sunday rolled around and my wife, my 15 y/o daughter and I were up getting dressed to get them off to church and for me to go pick up the people I pick up to take to church. Now, here is the hard part. My son explained to me that he should be able to go to church because God accepts everyone into his house or worship, the old, the poor, the young, the rich, and the sick. He is right, but, as I explained to him, he is still considered infectious and wouldn't he feel bad if he got others sick. He agreed. The Sunday routine came and went, we all returned home, and I was just starting a brunch because we were all pretty hungry.

I answered the door after hearing the lite knocks. It was their pastor and his wife, coming to give Jackson some words of encouragement and to express how badly they had missed him. My wife, the pastor, his wife, and Jackson spoke quietly on the couch for about 30 minutes. They politely declined brunch with us, stating they had their own family waiting on them. Fair enough. My wife seems a bit distracted by the whole visit, so I asked her why. Apparently my son asked why God let him get sick and why God was not helping him to get better. He has been praying to God and his prayers were unanswered. When asked, the pater gave an answer that was not acceptable for some reason. He explained to the pastor that if he could not tell him who God is or why God has not come to help him, there must not be a God.

Now, it is my fault. It is my fault that my son is asking questions about God's existence because I do not believe in God. My wife knows I do not discuss my religious beliefs in our house, around her, my family, or to my children. I support them going to church, being christians, and their beliefs. My son and I had a long talk last night when everything settled for the evening. I asked where this all came from and was it because of me basically. The answer was no, that he has had alot of time to think about what he has learned in all of his years of be a christian. He said he never asked God for anything, ever. Until now, he wanted God to help him get past this period of misery and he feels let down. Ok, well, I am the wrong person for him to be talking to about this subject. He held my hand and tells me that he still believes in God, but knows now he doesn't make house calls, he supposes God is busy elsewhere. He knows that God is there, he just wanted God to make a moment or two for Jackson as Jackson takes the time to include God in his life.

After I tucked him in, I went outside to smoke, to think, and smoke some more. I finally went back inside, stopped by his bedroom, and watched him sleep for a few minutes. After taking a shower, I went to bed, unable to sleep, so I lay there thinking about our conversation. I must have fallen asleep at some point because I woke up this morning. My wife is taking off this week to be with him, they are still sleeping. I kissed both of them on the forehead and left for the day.

I just wanted to share my story with you, I hope you don't mind.

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Seeing the sights in Utah

2011-10-13T15:05:00.001-05:00

There are a limited amount of places to see in this area of Utah. This being a cold hard fact we have had to learn and live with. However, we found a place that we really would have been upset had we missed it for not paying attention. We stumbled upon the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park and are very happy we did.

As we found out, not only is it a park, but it also has a small museum with some really cool stuff to see, alot of the actual items were found in this area of Utah. So, enjoy a few of my favorite shots from our day at the park. All of the pictures were taken with my Droid phone.

Of course, my wife and younger daughter had to get in on the fun and they were all about making some super fun pictures. They always make trips so much fun, wish my son would have came along.

So, you can see, we were having a great time. No room here to post ALL the pictures we have, but will make it in due time. Next, a real interesting display they offered in the museum.

The food display was the best. It all looked so real. It is all natural stone formations as they were found. Just amazing how close it looked to genuine food. Funny thing is, we found Halloween here, well, the beginnings of it. Seems they will be having a haunted park here this coming weekend. I leave you with this parting shot.

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Happy Birthday Isabelle

2011-10-10T20:51:00.001-05:00

Today is my new baby granddaughters birthday, born 10 October 2011. She was welcomed into this world by all of her family.

Isabelle Malaya
Born @ 1:41 pm
18 inches long
6 lbs 1 oz

So, far, this is my favorite picture. I don't know why, it just says love, peace, and comfort to me. Maybe because I took a similar picture of Lauren in her mothers arms so many years ago.

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Journey to Layton Utah

2011-10-10T11:40:00.001-05:00

This is part one of a few, when it becomes the end, I will tell you. This journey we embark upon is because we had to come to Layton Utah to be with my daughter and to witness the birth of my first grand child, Isabella. Whom, we are waiting on. So I had some time and wanted to share a few pictures of our drive up here from Houston.

Yeah, I am one of "those" people who stop to take the cliche' picture that has been done a million times. This crossing into New Mexico, the sign is less than Enchanting now a days.

Then we cross into Colorado. I always forget how scenic Colorado is and how majestic it all looks.

The snow we saw was pretty far off into the distance, little did we know it was way closer than we thought. We hit our first snow in Colorado Springs, but it was a mere teaser for what mother nature had in mind for us.

This is a picture of the Colorado and Wyoming state line, I didn't want to stop because I figured the white out would not look any different at a stand still.

Crossing the mountains leaving Cheyenne Wyoming heading to Laramie Wyoming. I did pretty good in the snow even though I hadn't driven in it for 15 years or so.

Trying to get gas in Laramie Wyoming. The closed the road right when we got off the mountain, now it was deemed to dangerous.

It was a slow miserable drive to get to Utah. But, right before we got to the state line, the weather just stopped, nothing. So I woke everyone up, picture time. Damn it was cold at midnight. After that, it was clear sailing. Made it to Layton Utah, checked in, and went to sleep after 26 hours of driving thru 5 states, traveling a little over 1555 miles.

When we woke yesterday morning, Sunday, this was the view from my hotel room window. I miss Houston.

So, this will end part one. As it is Monday, now we wait. Soon, I will be a grandfather.

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Nyotaimori

2011-10-05T15:41:00.001-05:00

Nyotaimori is translated as "Female Body Presentation", but is also known as "Body Sushi", which is a service allowing restaurant customers to eat from the skin of a naked woman. The modesty of the model is very dependent on knowing the foods placement on her body is only temporary.

The Body Sushi phenomenon received alot of media attention in the West in the early 90's and this coverage massively exaggerated the popularity of Nyotaimori in Japan. In actuality these Nyotaimori restaurants are quite rare and not really too "mainstream".

Aside from the obvious attractions of salivating over a nubile young womans body, it is claimed that Nyotaimori warms the food to body temperature. Apparently this allows the diner to focus on the textures and tastes, rather than a chilled temperature. However, many people fail to see the advantage of sushi being lukewarm and slightly sweaty.

Jobs in Nyotaimori are not for the ticklish or fidgety. Models are trained to lie still for many hours straight. They must be able to endure unexpected cold slashes of water and constant prods from chopsticks. Her body must be completely shaved and washed with a specialty fragrance-free soap before each feast. Traditionally this feast is eaten directly from the skin of the model. According to Japanese custom and lore, the model must be a virgin, reports still vary if this custom is still observed today.

The spread of Nyotaimori outside Japan into the United States has been very limited and very few are still in existence today. Most started offering human platters only to have to withdraw them later after being faced with much moral backlash. But, I found a few Western restaurants that still offer body sushi.

If you ever find yourself visiting a Nyotaimori restaurant, remember that there are a handful of rules you must follow. Customers cannot talk the platter (model), customers will not touch the model inappropriately (molest her), or say anything offensive to or about her. She is there as the platter serving your sushi to you, but naked.

Remember boys and girls that ALL of the information contained within this post was found on the internet and then re-written and re-organized by me. ALL the visual aids (picture media) was also obtained from the internet. I give full credit to the original posters and claim no rights for myself.

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Guide for New Parents

2011-10-05T09:11:00.001-05:00

More often then not, new parents are left with many questions about the baby they just brought home. Most new parents were not prepared by their parents or family. Why? That question will never be able to be answered and therefore different companies in the world make millions of dollars helping newbie parents. So, where does this leave us? Uneducated? Unprepared?

When I saw this illustration I laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks. But, it isn't actually funny, its pretty sad. Personally, I will continue to teach my own children about sex, birth control, and how to take care of a baby. Fortunately, in my family, there seems to always be babies around. That is the best education ever. I tried to use it as birth control with my daughters, you know, screaming babies, puking, and poopie diapers. Well, wrong, seems both of their motherly instincts take over and they take it all right in stride.

When I first decided to make this post a while back, I didn't think I had enough information to make it worth the time to read much less the time to write it. No, this is not some form of PSA, just something I find grossly humorous as it effects each and every one of us as human beings. We are failing are children. It is severely sad that someone would even have to illustrate the above guide. But, wait, there is a story behind EVERY warning label. Someone did something stupid first, then a warning label was deem a necessity and he we are. But, our babies are not born with a care label, warning label, or kindness label. Why not? Is it the assumption that stupidity will eventually breed itself out of humans? It can't be breed out, we humans make it too easy to be stupid. We blame others for our failures and misfortunes.

So, here is my recommendations to the human race, yeah, the entire human race. First and foremost, answer your children's questions. Second, if needed, educate yourself so you can educate your children. Third, stop letting the daycares, schools, and churches raise your children, they are doing a poor job. A parent raises a child, that cycle has been repeating itself since the dawn of time. Stop being so busy and take the time to make sure your children are equipped with the tools to practice making babies and then eventually having to raise those babies properly.

I hope you enjoyed this post, it is serious, but it is funny at the same time. We humans rarely look at ourselves as imperfect.

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Volunteering, Time, and Fundraising Madness

2011-09-29T11:43:00.002-05:00

I like to think I am pretty involved in my community. I am a volunteer in PTA for a middle school and high school, Cub Scouts (Leader), Girl Scouts (Leader), Lions Club (Treasury Officer), and as a re-sale coordinator for my wife's church. Sometimes I don't know if I am coming or going, especially because I work a full time day job, a part time evening job, and trying to get a concrete contracting bossiness off the ground. Lately I have to wonder if the whole 168 hours I am allotted in a single week is actually enough. For those of you at home doing the math, yes that is the total hours available in a 7 day period. Wait.........I like to sleep a few hours of sleep in there every once in a while also. At bare minimum, 70 hours a week is dedicated to paying jobs, about 35 hours to sleep, which leaves me 63 hours a week to be with my family and contribute to the activities I am involved in. What brings this all up? I was forced to make a list, a schedule is more accurate, because my wife wants some of my time so I can get back to restoring her classic 1985 Honda Goldwing so she doesn't have to ride bitch all the time. So, I told her I would look into it and get back to her. Jokingly, she explained I am involved in everything I am by "choice". I pointed out the fact that not all of them were my "choice". She giggled and walked away.

It all started many years ago when I got involved with my local Lions Club. My in-laws were real active and needed some help and asked their new son-in-law if he could lend a hand. Why not? It is an organization which serves an awesome purpose around the world. First and foremost, we collect eyewear all year long which gets donated so they can be recycled for people who cannot afford glasses for one reason or another. We do bake sales, garage sales, chili cook offs (my favorite), bicycle fun run, and a "fill the boot" fundraiser twice a year. All donations go to support handicap children and their families and to support the Texas Lions Camp.

I have been a Girl Scout leader since my oldest started, so 16 years now. Of course now doing it with my younger daughter, 15. Your thinking, a man as a Girl Scout leader? Yes, i'm a leader. I do, however, get that reaction more often than not. But, I follow the rules to the letter and my wife is pretty involved so there is never any controversy. Now, of course, we are going to be selling cookies soon. Our troop, for the last few years are on the high side for selling cookies, we make alot of money, alot. Throughout the year, we do others fundraisers, camping, community work, and learn about life as a teenage girl. I may not be the best teacher for these young ladies, but I do care enough to give them a place to be a part of a great organization. I cook, sew, and craft better tun most of the moms, that must be why they get bitter every once in a while.

I am also a Cub Scout leader, this is my 5th year. This is great for my son. He enjoys all the activities, especially the popcorn fundraiser every year. With the boys its a bit different. Its all about camping and being in the great outdoors. Once, a parent told her son to watch out, he's learning new skills and didn't even know it. I thought I was ruined, she spilled on the secret. But, boys will be boys and tend to not have their fun ruined by thinking it is learning. Throughout the year we do other fundraisers, community work, camping, they learn a little bit about being a boy, and a little bit about life.

Since I am involved with the schools so much through Scouting, I became a PTA volunteer. Mostly what I do is help organize and distribute the goodies after the fundraisers. So, I get to be the labor most times.

Finally, I am a general purpose volunteer at the church my wife attends and where my son is in the choir. I drive the van every Sunday the pick up a few of the elderly who would not be able to attend church unless someone takes them there and back. I set up and break down the two yard sales they have a year. I help with the Halloween festivities every year, as well as be a body when ever they need me to be their to help out. They like me because I have a truck and trailer and I am free labor. I am sure it is deeper than that. I also build things for them when it is needed for the different holidays.

Now, I need to find the time to restore this 1985 Honda Goldwing Interstate back to its original glory. It runs great, the price was right, but cosmetically it is a real downer. I have the parts, I have the money, I have my son to help of course, now I just need to find the time.

Time, something I thought I always had. I do actually, have all the time in the world. Too bad none of it is "spare" time. I will make time, I always do. Who ever knew that trying to stay involved with my children and my community would become such a time hog. My wife is the best, she is by my side through most everything I am involved with, and twice on Sundays.

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McHating It

2011-09-26T10:15:00.005-05:00

Let me be the first to tell you that I have lost that loving feeling for Mcdonalds and Ronald McDonald. Why? Because, personally I think his food tastes terrible. I would say it tastes like shit, but I have never eaten shit before, so I can only guess that is what shit tastes like. No, I am not a fan of McAnything offered there.

As a kid, my parents considered going to McDonald's a "treat" and something to look forward to once or twice a month. I was trying to figure out why I had to be punished for them to have a treat.

As I got older, I found that people flocked to McDonalds like they needed to pray to Ronald himself. Don't get me wrong, I am well aware of the McFollowing that this fast food chain has. McDonalds are everywhere, one can drive down the road without seeing the golden arches as if it were a beacon leading you to the slaughter.

Speaking of slaughter, different groups throughout time have campaigned against McDonalds for the the way they raise, treat, and slaughter the animals they serve up to the public. I find those very humorous because they are attempting to change the minds of people who were raised eating McDonalds and have no desire to stop eating there. No, I am not a p.e.t.a. fan either, I consider them domestic terrorists, I will leave it there.

Over the years I have seen people re-arrange the letters on signs at McDonalds and have always seen great humor. In my opinion, they have never gone to far or stated to much. Plus, bonus, it is nice to know I am not the only one on the planet that can't stand McDonalds. Frankly, I could give a rat's ass how they treat animals, if the food makes people fat, or anything like that. Their food makes me sick to my stomach. I can't even walk into one without feeling the urge to puke.

I assure you, I am not puking rainbows either. I have seen some wonderful art and parodies over the years, I hope they keep up the good work. I have, figured out why ol' Ronald's food sucks, because this is what he knows, sucking. Maybe if he had his mind on good food instead of his next McHummer things would be different.

Ronald McDonald is such a role model that he is the poster child for pedophiles everywhere on the planet. A friend once told me that clowns are creepy. She says that some clowns are sick and need to get close to children, to touch and fantasize about the children. I don't know if this is Ronald's game or not, but it should make every parent wonder what is in the secret sauce he puts on his sandwiches. I have a final wish for my dear demented friend, Ronald McDonald.

A final note. I do not who created any of the images or took any of the pictures in this post, all were found on the internet. They all deserve full credits for their work. I remove my hat and extend a gracious bow to them all.

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Mountain Dew is a misused logo

2011-09-25T15:19:00.001-05:00

The proper Mountain Dew logo. This may not be the original, but it is the current version. The Mountain Dew logo is recognized worldwide. I have been to a place around the globe where they where not aware of what Mountain Dew is, never.

There are many items of clothing out there which bear the Mountain Dew logo or the words Mountain Dew. These shoes, for instance, were the result of an art contest, these are the winners.

Then there are the shirts out there which misrepresent the brand by using logo familiarization to make there point. However funny this may be, it is still quite wrong.

Then, we cannot forget getting some advertisement for Jesus. I find this the most tasteless of them all that I have seen.You can get one of these at most local gas stations. Where else your asking, right?

People need to just leave the Mountain Dew Logo alone. Mountain Dew needs no help being popular. Personally, I believe when others use the logo for their own needs just shows how they need to steal the thunder from the real thing.

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Longhorn Rod Run: Step back in time

2011-09-24T21:22:00.002-05:00

Here are a few of my personal favorites.

.......................See the Caboose..........The End..........................

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This Ain't Your Old Man's Pin Up Calendar

2011-09-23T09:51:00.001-05:00

Just when you thought calendar models couldn't get any skinnier, you get proved absolutely wrong. A manufacturer of medical imaging equipment needed a gimmick to promote the release of new equipment in 2010. They needed a new way to promote their brand to clients around the world.

Enter a Berlin based advertising firm who would dream up a pin up calendar in which the women truly do bare all to highlight the expertise in high precision displays. This display equipment is used for the diagnosis and examination of radiography. Why not? Now they have a calendar which shows absolutely every detail on the model. So, this saucy little calendar was produced to be able to show you parts of the models you never thought were possible to see.

The pin up calendar shows models in typical glamour poses. Since an x-ray was used instead of a traditional camera, the only things visible in the images are bone structure, the outline of their bodies, and the only clothing being worn......stiletto high heals. Initially, these calendars were only sent to doctors and other prospective clients, but have become a massive hit all around. No one can complain that this calendar promotes an unhealthy body type now can they?

I can recall the calendars hanging in my dad's shop, other mechanic shops, and different businesses, but I don't ever remember seeing a calendar in a waiting room of a doctor's office. This new style of radiographic calendar breaks that norm and exposes the models in proactive poses which demonstrates the quality and high precision this companies equipment delivers.

I don't know if you will be seeing this calendar in your local doctor's office, but if you do, just remember it is a calendar promoting medical equipment?

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So, my son decided he wants to be a cowboy

2011-09-21T09:19:00.001-05:00

Yes, you heard me, the official announcement has been made. It kind of threw me for a loop at first because it was so un-expected. Why? Well, sit back for a spell and I will share a tale with you that might just make you smile.

Let's start with my wife and I and begin a small history lesson. My wife, the petite little blond whom I cherish, she's all country. When not at work at the doctors office, she is comfortable in skin tight Rockies (jeans brand designed to look like they were painted on), a t-shirt, and her boots. She has been like this since the day I met her. All musical interests are country (or elevator music). Me? Somewhat different, I wear boots, jeans, t-shirt, and cowboy hat everyday, due to the work I do. In my off time, its flip flops, shorts, and possibly even a shirt. My musical interests, most genres of metal. I am not a fan of country music at all, hurt my ears. However, we make a good mix. We incorporate who we are into what we do. I go to country concerts and fit right in, except I have my Zune to drown out the music. Yes, she knows, and we have a good time dancing and carrying on, just to different tunes. She has gone to a few concerts with me, she looks like she feels out of place. But she is a good sport, breaks out the leather pants, stilettos, and does the make-up a little darker. I don't complain.

My eldest daughter will be 21 next month, she is the one due with my first grandchild next month. She took after me, 100% headbanger. She picked up on it at a very early age and she never let it go. We share new music, old music, and go out to the concerts we like, together. Don't get me wrong, she loves going to Monster Jam, going to the beach, and camping also, just like the rest of us.

My middle daughter, 15, is the girly girl in the house. Dresses very trendy and preppy keeping up with all the latest fashions. She's into the clothes, the hair, and the make up. She likes all the dance style and hip hop music and artists out there, well, most of them. She is very into keeping track of all the new music and getting it all before her friends. Her small group of friends have been dubbed the Barbie Girls, because that is what they remind me of.

My son, 10, is a different story altogether. I have mentioned before here that he is an autistic bi-polar, which in itself, gives him a very interesting personality. My boy is always with me. If I am working on cars, my motorcycles, or out in the yard. Which, I always have music going. He has never said anything either way whether he liked it or not, and I never asked either. He has always been a boots and jeans kid. Doesn't care for sneakers much. Unless he is the pool, then its just shorts.

Recently, my son made an announcement. He has made his decision and has had many years to think this over. He chooses country. He just wants country music. He just wants his boots, jeans, and hat. Interesting, as I think about what he said. We live a suburb outside Houston, there aren't that many (if any) cowboys here locally. But, I support my son's decision to go country.

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The "N" Word

2011-09-20T13:49:00.001-05:00

Before I get started let us make something clear so there is absolutely no confusion. When I refer to the "N" word I am revering to the word nigger. This word in this post does not reflect a person, people, a race, someones individuality, any place, or anything else you can dream up to associate the nigger with. Are we all crystal freaking clear? I hope so! From this point forward, the "N" word will be replaced with the word, nigger. This will be your last opportunity to turn back, from this point forward you may not like what I have to say. I will not apologize for the opinions contained below.

I grew up on the southwest side of Houston Texas. I was raised in a home where people were treated like humans and not animals. I was raised to respect everyone, no matter what, respect that person. As an example, I may hate what you say or what you stand for but I will respect you all the same. I did not grow up hearing friends and family refer to others as niggers. My first recollection of hearing it was in high school. I went thru high school in the mid 80's. Everybody attended this public high school, but everybody was not treated the same way, that had little to do with race, but more of economic status. I came from an average income family, where enough to pay bills and put food on the table and keep clothes on everyone was what we had. We were not at the top of the food chain, but not scaling on the bottom either. What's my point? To show that I came from a background where everyone had to work in order to survive.

As I got older, graduated high school, and attended college in northern Texas, the word nigger was commonly said, no matter what your race was, you said it. This is where I got my first dose of stomach churning racism. This is where I learned that nigger was a dirty word, this is the place I learned that "ALL" black people were niggers. New to me, I thought we were all Americans. I thought slavery and racism died long ago. Wrong, dead wrong. So far from being right that you all need a shovel to ever get back. I didn't care then what color skin my friends had. Should it have mattered? Why would it matter? I started to be treated a little different based on the fact I had friends that were not white. I used to separate myself from the racists, black and white, back then. It is still my rule of thumb now. It is what I teach my children. Your color does not matter, you are a human, period.

Moving on. While I was in college, I married my high school sweetheart. At our wedding, I found out that her dad is probably the most racist person I had ever met. When he found out "that we were having niggers attend the wedding" that he would not be attending. Really? Who will walk your daughter down the aisle? I guess, looking back, it was fortunate that he did walk her down the aisle and did stay for the ceremony. Our guest list did not change, he was convinced to deal with it by his wife if they were going to continue to be married. Shorty afterwards, I joined the United States Air Force (USAF) where I was taught yet another lesson in life, there is only one color in the military and it is GREEN. I like this concept. I still saw racism, I still heard black people called niggers, white people called crackers, and Hispanics called beans and wetbacks. The name references flew all ways some of the times, in the conceited little circles of friends who wanted to fit into a group. My group was green, everyone was welcome no matter what. Unless you started spewing your racist remarks, then we were done.

After I retired, I entered back into the "real" world, the world where nothing is sacred and everything is taken advantage of. I moved back to a town in northeast Houston and I thought life was going pretty good. I listen to a pretty select set of music, 99% of which consists of all types of metal. My oldest daughter fell into the same trend, my younger daughter fell in to the hip hop and dance kind of music, and my son went country on me somewhere. I always consider my self to be pretty open minded to the coarse language found in music and you really can't offend me in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Or so I thought.

I have always had a problem with different groups of people who feel the need to hyphenate another country with being an American. Two that are popular here are Mexican-American and African-American. People who do this are just plain stupid in my opinion, you live in America, you are an American. It is super simple and there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You are an American. Why they feel they need to hyphenate? The answer I get always is it preserves their heritage. Really? What a dumb excuse, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

And now, we will talk about the word nigger. It is a word. Because I am white does not mean I cannot use it. Nigger is just a word, a stupid word that should be buried somewhere deep and erased from the face of the planet. But wait. It can't go away, because black people have it so ingrained into their own language that it wont go away. It is in their daily use of language and also in their music. See this link for an example: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kanyewest/niggasinparis.html and tell me how great a song you think that is. That is mild, oh so mild compared to what you can find on your own, makes my stomach churn. It is not the white man calling black people niggers, it is the black people calling themselves niggers and telling the whites that they are not allowed to use the word because it offends blacks. What? At this rate, racism in the United States will never disappear, ever. Black people will not let racism fade into history. Why? We will never know.

Mt comments shotgun blasted all blacks and all whites. I do not refer to all of any group, the terms were used in general. You are who you are and think what you will think. Be grown up while not reading between the lines of what I say here today. I speak for me, for what I see, read, and hear. If any part of this offended you, good, that means you are thinking. In my world, in my house, in my family, we are Americans, period. Many of you disagree with me already, thinking to yourselves that its more complicated than what I have said, it just isn't that simple. Really? It is simple, the word nigger, in any form it is used, for whatever it may be used for, is being racist. I don't give a rat's ass who uses it, it is derogatory and demeaning. Think about it the next time you say it, read it, or hear it being said. Just take the time to think before you say nigger and ask yourself..................why do I need to say it?

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Giving thought to being a quitter

2011-09-19T08:55:00.001-05:00

A few nights ago I had a dream that I am going to have a hard time explaining. I don't know if it was exactly about quitting my smoking habit I have had since 1985. Some of it had to do with conversations my wife and I have been having about quitting. Why thinking of quitting now? Well, my wife was recently diagnosed with a degenerative heart valve disease that I wont even try to misspell here, I can't say it much less remember how to spell it. Anyway, part of the protocol is to quit smoking, part of it is now diet, and then of course medication. Surgery is inevitable and will be happening in a few months where they will open her up and replace 2 valves on her heart and repair what appears to be some stroke damage. Now, my wife is in her early 30's so this all comes as a pretty big surprise and deals a crushing blow to her and and to us.

So, since she is in the process of quitting, she thought it would be nice if I went ahead and quit smoking also. Really? I have never attempted to even think about quitting. Come to find out, it is a complex choice to make and I feel quite unmotivated. It was easy for my wife, she as been looking for a reason for years, now she has one with grand motivation. She has gone from a pack a day to just 2 cigarettes a day, sometimes 3. But, she has been doing it and is working on this last little bump. My family is not quiet about what they think about my quitting accomplishments, which are nil. Which makes me feel like shit, because I have pushed my wife hard to stick to her regiment on a daily basis. I was always the cook in the house, and that has not changed, I just cook differently for her now. Sadly, the rest of us have only given up a few things and she has given up everything she has ever known. I need her to succeed.

So, back to this dream. I had this dream and then found the picture above by accident while looking for something else. I died in my dream. I watched my own funeral. I watched as the the Air Force funeral detail discharged a 21 gun salute. I watched my children cry, my wife cry, and my family all cry. I listened to the kind words being said by my children. Then, my casket lowered as I watched, different flowers dropped on top, and finally they filled in the hole as everyone walked away. It was never stated what killed me, I only assume it was smoking. I was allowed to watch them for the remainder of the day, and then I started walking down a path in the woods somewhere, which is where I woke up.

I haven't talked with my wife about this dream, I don't think I plan on talking about it with her, I think it will be my secret. I fear her dying and leaving me alone, I have never looked at it the other way around. I am sure the doctors will get her heart fixed and she will move on from all of this, for this I hope and put my faith in the doctors to do their job and do it right. My dream deeply disturbed me. Maybe it was my brains way of giving me motivation. I have never dreamed of my own death, nor my own funeral, so after processing I will have to come to some form of conclusions.

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Is it possible to be this confused?

2011-09-15T09:42:00.003-05:00

Last night my son had choir practice at the church my wife and children attend. Not that it matters much, but it is billed as a non-denominational church. As we are pulling into the parking lot my son, out of the blue, asks "daddy, what is a christian atheist"? I asked him what would make him want to ask me such a question. So he pointed to the marquee sign where this particular church put upcoming events and so forth. He was right, there is was. It read "Christian? Atheist?..............Christian Atheist?" The sign was bewildering, I had this stuck in my head and couldn't shake it, I had to keep looking back at it, reading it, thinking, reading it. What's the deal, why am I thinking about this?

After a few minutes, my son reminds me that if we stay in the car, he will be late for choir practice. We get out of the car, I had to look back one more time, just to see if the sign still said what I thought it said when I first saw it. Indeed, it has not changed. I take him down to his classroom, make my way to the restroom, and finally make it to the auditorium where I wait for his class to come out and practice. Under normal conditions, this is the most enjoyable hour and a half known to a dad. Knowing all the "problems" associated with autism and being bi-polar, he makes it all go away with the beauty and power in his voice. His voice truly moves me when he sings, it often brings tears to my eyes because for a brief amount of time he is just Jackson, not the boy that no-one understands or wants to understand.

As I closed my eyes and singled my sons voice out of the crowd, flashes of that stupid sign kept interfering. What is the deal I keep asking myself. Just words? Just a sign? Hey, your son is pouring his heart out up there, pay attention! Could I really be this distracted? On the way home we talked about something, I feel horrible now because I can't remember what it was. I laid in bed last night, thinking, not being able to sleep, get up, go out to the porch, smoke a cigarette or three, and try to get my brain off the the words of that sign. Good luck with that, yea, I know.

I was a little surprised to find out exactly what a christian atheist really is. It seems it is an ideology in which the belief in the god of christianity is simply rejected or it is absent because the teachings of jesus are followed. Why? It is believed the stories of jesus relate to modern life but not to be taken literally. In this belief, god is nothing more than a symbol. Christian atheists have removed the fairy tale elements from their beliefs. They see christianity as non-realistic and see a need to believe in only what is considered factual or real. There are writings after writings about what is essential to this belief system. I do really like some of the principles followed and taught. Humanity is forced to take responsibility for everything. Human beings are very powerful and capable of doing things for themselves. No need to waste time trying to explain supernatural things. Religion is no longer the opposition to scientific process. Religion is a product of humanity for humanity.

Funny, until last night I had my life sorted out. I still do, I just re-examined why I believe the way I do. This little lesson was needed, I suppose, to clear the cobwebs and re-organize. I still believe it is impossible to know whether there is a god or not. Period. Humanity does not know the answer to that question, therefore the question can never be answered. I do not put faith in hope and a dream that maybe some answer will be shown to me after my death. I live on planet earth, I will be buried on planet earth, journey complete.

In the end, the sign made me think. It made me explore what was real to me. Of course, it was just a sign, set to made you think, and explore your beliefs. Good marketing, it works. I am not trying to make friends or enemies here, nor trying to split hairs. Just pointing out the power of words and how they get inside you and make you consume and digest them.

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What is the fascination with Starbucks Coffee?

2011-09-13T09:11:00.001-05:00

Yeah, you heard me, someone out there in the world needs to explain the fascination people have with Starbucks Coffee. I really don't understand it, really I don't. I watch these jitterheads cram into the little store or into the line for the drive thru, everyone so impatient and can't wait to get their fix. I drive by 6, yes, I said 6, Starbucks on my way to work in the morning, and I am only going 9 miles to get there. These jitterheads will practically run someone off the road to get over in the proper lane to hold up traffic. I always ask myself, why they can't get in the right lane before it is time to turn. Yet, as I pass all 6 of these places, I witness the same careless driving behavior. What's worse is when they are leaving, now that they have their crack-in-a-cup (yeah, you heard me) they have a even harder time paying attention to traffic. Now they need to exit the place, now they need to cross 4 lanes of traffic. Don't they know that right up the street less than half a mile, there is one on that side of the street. They drive right past it. I have seen so many wrecks around Starbucks from people trying to get in or get out.

Now, I must admit, my darling wife whom I adore and love, has a Starbucks addiction. Luckily, when we go to work, she goes the complete opposite direction. That direction she only has 3 options to stop. When we are out running around together and she says lets stop at Starbucks and get a "blah blah blah with a blah blah blah" and my mind freezes up and I stop listening because as soon as I heard Starbucks the trigger goes off to start blocking out the brainwashing. We go thru the drive thru, its fun for her to look at the entire menu and say she would like this or that but always orders the same cinnamon coffee she always gets. And then we get to the window and they rob you.

Speaking of getting robbed at Starbucks, my wife got what she thinks is the coolest thing next to Starbucks coffee, a Starbucks app for her Droid. Really? She goes on explaining...."blah blah blah yum blah". One can use the app to make their purchase at over 6,800 different location and at over 1,000 Target store locations. Wow, I feel my brain melting just because I know this garbage. Then, I asked the ultimate question. Being it is based on a re-loadable rewards card which is re-loaded at about $100.00 a pop from our checking account and the app is not password protected, what will happen when she loses her Droid? Does someone else get to rob me then also? I am still waiting for an answer. The answer is yes. I did a little reading and thieves target patrons exiting Starbucks, stealing only their smart-phones. I think the whole thing is just insane, but who am I to judge, I don't have a Starbucks addiction.

So. What is it? What draws people in to Starbucks and then sucks their wallet dry? Status? Addiction? The fancy cups with names I still can't pronounce? To promote coffee envy? I have had the coffee, so I know that is not the draw. Just thought I would ask because my wife does not have a an answer I am able to wrap my head around and comprehend. I have asked the people I work with also, same distorted answers. Can't I just accept that the answer is because its Starbucks? I refuse to accept that as reality.

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Career Option I Steer My Son Away From

2011-09-12T11:12:00.003-05:00

Living where we do in southeast Texas, roadkill is not an uncommon sight. My son has asked me more than once what happens to the roadkill on the side of the road. Well, a couple of things happen. Fresh kills attract a variety of scavengers who will risk becoming roadkill for a fresh and free meal. Then, if we are lucky, the "Roadkill Collection Technician" will scrape the remains off the side of the road for disposal. So far, he's pretty excited about growing up and being a collector. As his father, I feel it is my duty to steer him into career choices that might get him farther along in life. Okay, lets look at an example of the position opening for a collector.
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Roadkill Collection Technician (Full time position available)

Are you a person who loves being outdoors? Are you a person who would like to keep the countryside more attractive? Are you a thrill-seeker who enjoys working at a very fast pace? If you answered yes to these questions, then this position could be right up your highway.

As a Roadkill Collection Technician you will get to cruise the open roads of our highways looking for dead animals to dispose of. The carcasses will range in size and vary in stage of decay. On occasion it will require quite some effort to separate the carcass from the surface of the road. Smaller animals tend to disintegrate, so their is a little more effort getting all the pieces collected. A person applying for this position needs to be adept at avoiding fast, oncoming traffic.

The pay is minimum wage. However, perks of the job are getting to cruise the open roads and getting to work outdoors. Job security for this portion is excellent due to the never ending suppl of dead animals on the side of the roads. As a bonus, a person in this position often finds that they lose weight do to skipping meals and regular vomiting at incident sites.

You tasks and duties include: Driving along main highways. Locating dead animals to remove from roadways. Proper disposal of carcasses.

Your personal requirements are: Valid driver's license. Good physical fitness, strong stomach, and the strength to be able to remove larger animals and load them into the vehicle. Excellent traffic avoiding/dodging skills and abilities.

Persons interested in applying for this job can forward their resume to: fuckedupcareerchoices@gigglemail.com or feel free to contact us toll free at 1-555-555-RDKL
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Now, I hope no-one is taking me seriously. The e-mail and phone number are both fake, made up, and do not really exists. In all seriousness now, would this seem like a job you would want to take? My son and I reviewed a few different jobs that he might not want, this ended up being the top he will probably choose not to have.

I look back at some of the different jobs I have had and hope that my kids never ever have to have a couple of them, because they were beyond sucking. We will save that for another day. Have fun. Be safe. Enjoy the work you do, because you could always be a "Roadkill Collection Technician".

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Big Fat Handful of Fukitol Please!

2011-09-08T18:07:00.001-05:00

I have been told my whole entire life there are no "Do Overs". It is a very true statement, especially when my Do Over button seems to be malfunctioning. Way back when, in days gone forever behind me, a friend of mine told me it was my one chance to make things right after my divorce. He pinned a Do Over pin on my chest right before my bachelor party. I had completely forgot that precious little moment, until today, someone mentioned to me that this would be the perfect day to have a Do Over button. Really, I hadn't noticed. Yes, it has been an extremely long day and it will be 15 hours of my life I will never get back. Which is the point, I guess, that people always would say, that there are no Do Overs in life.

That suits me just dandy. It is great to know I don't have to ever repeat this day ever again as long as I live. Fantastic news that this won't get all Groundhog Day on me and keep repeating itself. No, I have the solution, I have found my answer, I know what I really need. I need a big fat handful of Fukitol! I don't need one or two, that will never do. Three or four? No, I really need more. I will take the whole handful of Fukitol and chew them up like Pez.

Yes, I realize there is not a magic pill or secret drink to make portions of my life go away and stay away. But, it would be really nice to be able to walk out on my porch, take a deep breath, and feel better when I am done. However, I tried walking out on the porch, but stepped on an acorn with bare feet. I took in a super deep breath of air, and then exhaled, inhale, exhale, repeat, until I realized I just smacked my very last cigarette in such a rush that I didn't even enjoy it. Once I got back from the gas station, I tried it again, this time with my shoes on. And so, here I sit, letting my day disappear into oblivion. I think a handful of Fukitol pills would have been faster, but I suppose this will do.

I think I will take my Do Over button down to the Goodwill. Maybe someone else will find a good use for it. Might make a fine paper weight since it is never going to ever possibly work again.

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Behind The Scenes Of Living In Misawa Japan

2011-09-06T10:19:00.001-05:00

My earliest traveling after joining the United States Air Force was to Misawa AB Japan. Take a moment and locate that there on the northern tip of Japan. Misawa was nicknamed "The Tip Of The Spear" for some reason, probably due to extreme northern location. My wife (now ex) and I arrived here on 24 December 1989 at 8ish in the morning after a 15 hour flight. After some very quick processing at the terminal, we grabbed our bags, a taxi, and headed to billeting (dorms the military call transient rooms). The first thing we noticed was how freaking cold it was and the second thing how deserted this part of the base looked. Have I ever mentioned I am from Houston Texas? Where the day I left I was swimming in the back yard with a temperature of low 80's, and now, here, in northern Japan, it was 8 degrees f.? We get to billeting and my sponsor (supervisor who was assigned to get us settled) was waiting to get us set up. We were rather tired, so we napped for a few hours and then walked across the street to Burger King for some dinner. After a delightful meal, we decided to get back to the room and get organized and whatnot.

The next morning, Christmas day, we woke to 41 inches of snow that fell over night in one of the heaviest snowstorms in 100 years. Vehicle movement on base was limited to emergency vehicles and snow removal equipment. No exploring today. However, the following day, my sponsor shows up at 7 am and greets us with some Burger King breakfast. We ate and then ventured out to find a car and a place to live. We found out, quickly, cash (Yen) is king in these parts. First, we got a car, a 2 y/o Honda Accord, $2000.00. Next, we went to a realtor and she rented us this cool 6 room condo style house for $800.00 a month. Both before noon, how cool was that. So, now life begins her at the tip of the spear, we got settled, and life was pretty good.

I was not aware of the vending machine population here. One can buy everything, yes everything, out of a vending machine. Anything from a drink to real estate and everything in between. Which was cool, I have a "bank" of vending machines 20 ft from my front door. Speaking of front doors, we had bowls just inside our front door where all your bills were paid. Couriers would leave a bill in one, you put your money out, and later he/she would come back to retrieve it. We never had to go anywhere to pay bills. Ok, we lived in a rafter large house for 2 people, we had a giant bathroom (1). But this bathroom had a tub about the size of a legal notepad, it was so small I never once attempted to get into it. At 6'8", I need just a little leg room. At that point, I realized I was in the land of the little people. I say that in a very kind way and not meant to be a bash on them as a people, but the Japanese in general are very small people, not trying to be derogatory by no means.

When we first moved in this house, I had noticed this business that operated 24/7 that was directly behind our house. We would see people walking in robes and slippers as well as getting out of their cars the same way. I was surprised and happy to find out it was a public bath house. In simple terms, it is a place to bath, relax, and get a steam. Afterwards, one could get a snack also. These ranged from very basic to the styling of a major resort. I lived in the country, so this one was rather large, but on the simple functional side of things. There were also ones for women, ones for men, coed, and family. The one behind my house was a family style one. Which means that both sexes bathed together, as a family unit. People of all ages, from infant to the elderly would be here. Plus, it was very cheap, about 75 cents a visit. I would normally go to bathe twice a day, no different a habit than being back in Texas. At first it was a little weird, but then became "normal" and part of the everyday way.

Even tho gambling isn't legal here, like many places, they found ways to get around all that. I stayed away from most of it, with the exception of pachinko parlors. The noisiest places on the face of the planet. Pachinko is an upright style pinball machine in the most basic of terms to describe it. Google it, then you will get it. Anyway, you put money in, and if you win, you get these steal bearings in return to collect. Collect for what? Prizes, cigarettes, coupons, food, and a whole slough of crap you don't want. Or, after a few times going and they don't think you are the law, you can make your way out back and give a code and the slot in the door opens. You give the guy your ticket, he gives you back a handful of cash. Always something to keep in mind.

There are many fine places to eat, even out here in the country. Being from the gulf coast, I really love seafood. I thought I had a grip on the whole seafood thing. Wrong, way wrong answer. I don't know jack about seafood. When you want seafood here, its a little bit different. I will eat almost anything. I do, however, draw the line when my food is looking back at me, then blinks. I have heard of fresh, but never so fresh they kill it at your table right in front of you. As cool as that seems boys and girls, the first time always makes you a little squeamish. I ate more unidentifiable things while in Japan than I had ever even known imaginable, and I have a very vivid imagination. Sushi bars were my favorite. I tried to go to a different one at least three times a week. The food was cheap, they prepared it in front of me, and it tasted fantastic!

Out where we lived, as well as allover Japan, there were establishments called "Love Motels". Not unlike the little motel on the edge of most towns where people thought they were getting away with something but the whole town knows, yea, that kind of place. A very popular destination for the married men of Japan. I don't know if I would call it socially acceptable, but it was common for the men to have mistresses and these motels are their meeting places. They are very business like places, not unlike driving up to a drive thru at McDonald's. There is a menu, mix and match, customize or go for the prepackaged deals, your choice. Select, pay, pull into your private stall/garage. My ex and I had to try it out, used the Texas room. In fact, my oldest daughter was conceived that very night. Do a little research on these for yourselves, to much to put right here, right now.

In Japan, we saw so many festivals that it would make some peoples head spin. There is a festival to celebrate just about any occasion you might be able to imagine. We went to so many festivals that they all started running together. I had my favorites that we would go to every year. Up north where I was, there are many local festivals. I will do a post or two another time with my favorites.

We had a great time in Japan. I saw so much that I never knew even knew existed, and now they are things I wish I could still be a part of today. Living in Japan is way different than being a tourist there. When one immerses oneself in the culture, we get to see the real side of where you really are. I highly recommend living in another country, it opens your eyes. I only touched on a few things here today, about 10% of what we actually did. Living there was cultural shock, but the shock helped us expand our minds and let us appreciate another culture.

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Does God Need A Copyright For The Bible?

2011-09-01T10:56:00.002-05:00

While doing some research with my daughter on copyright laws and copyright infringements, we came across something I found very interesting, the bible is copyrighted. Really? Why? Why does god need a copyright for something he gave to all mankind? Placing a copyright on such a historical text makes about as much sense as holding a patent on water and air.

Also pointed out to me was the bible is the best selling book of all-time, year after year. Which, now I can see why there is a copyright on the bible, it is for protection of the publishing business. Is the content of the bible that big of a commodity that it needs to be so closely guarded? Producing the bible is really about money? This might also explain why there is so many translations of the bible also. Just keep following the money. Christians have made these publishers very rich. You know, the bible was written as one complete book, but parts have been added and cut based on what was popular at that time, how convenient I would say. If the bible is the so-called word of god, wouldn't that make the bible sacred and above man's interpretations if it? If so, no-one should be allowed to re-write, paraphrase, alter, or insert their own interpretations. Yet, it happens every day, which brings it down to the level of the monthly magazine massed produced to fill up grocery check out lines.

I can fully understand that the world's greatest and longest lasting science fiction story is a big seller and everyone wants to capitalize on it's popularity, but where or when does it end? Is there an end in site? All humanity ever get back to the basics? Everything leads to the realization that there can be money made off of the bible since it is the ultimate way to control the masses of christians which flock to it and hang on it's every word. What better way to get people to cling to an artifact that has been a tool of man controlling the masses in the past than to just keep reproducing it. One would think it's value would decrease, not unlike the U.S. dollar, based on over production and flooding of the market.

To me, copyrighting the bible, all the related works, all the studies, and the use of the bible in general, is pure genius. If you have not read the bible, do it, read it from cover to cover, front to back, page by page, and see if you agree, disagree, or are left with more questions than answers. Anyone can quote the bible, but few, if anyone, actually know what the stories are supposed to be used for. Since christianity is a growing and successful business, and the word of god is a best seller, why would they change anything they are doing?

Go to death in ignorance by fearing your god or live your life for what it actually is.....................Life. Be a part of the life you have, the is nothing more, nothing less, and nothing after. Believe as you think you are driven to believe.

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When Artists Are Contraversial

2011-08-28T14:28:00.000-05:00

The painting above was done by Li Zhuang Ping, a chines artist. There are many paintings with the same young girl depicted in them, all in the nude. Okay, she is nude, big deal, right? Wrong, it should be a big deal. Why? She is his daughter. I have been trying to do some extensive research on this artist and his motivations to paint his own daughter in the nude, but the information is buried and often not in English. So, if anyone can point me in that direction, I would really like to see the written information so I can make sense of it. I spent way too many years in Japan and Korea and this is rather new to me. Does this go on alot you think?

I suppose my question would be to ask artists out there if they would consider painting their own daughter in the nude? Why or why not?

For everyone else, what is your opinion?

When do we know if music album art has gone too far?

2011-08-26T18:41:00.000-05:00

I will use this one as the illustration to my question. It is offered by the band "Extirpating the Infected" and the album is named "Vaginal Saw Entorturement". I wonder what the songs will be like? Actually, I do already know, but if you want to know, you need to find it and listen to it. It may not be your speed of music. Plus, this is not a review of any particular band, just a show of how graphic album art has become since I was a teenager.

Anyway, I was just curious as to where a line is drawn for artisic freedom.

Thoughts, Opinions.

Is Cannibalism Taboo?

2011-08-26T12:35:00.002-05:00

What is the modern definition of cannibalism? Has the definition changed over time and through history? Today, cannibalism is defined as the eating of human flesh by a human or the eating of the fleas of an animal by another animal of the same kind or species.

Cannibalism is as old as civilization It probably predates anything ever written or drawn, nobody really know when it began. However, there are many written references to cannibalism, one being about the Hebrews wandering the African desert resort to cannibalism, written in the Old Testament. Cannibalism is throughout ancient history, as well as our modern history as well. But, it hasn't always been taboo. There are some with the belief that it could be latent in every one of us that when the chips are down, even the most civilized humans will resort to cannibalism to survive. So, why then, do we, as humans, abandon the thought of other humans consuming human flesh or why do we refrain from entertaining the thought of the possibility of our own ability to cannibalize other humans? If history is any form of indicator, an actual end to cannibalism has not and will not ever come.

Cannibalism has been said to test the bounds of cultural relativism and it challenges us to think a moment so we can define what is or is not beyond acceptable behavior of human beings. In modern times, people who eat human flesh are usually charged with crimes like murder and desecration of o human body. A person can be convicted of the killing of a human, murder, but will not even be charged for the act of cannibalism. Why? Murder is illegal, while cannibalism exists somewhere beyond laws, and is just considered taboo.

You may have noticed the picture of the sculpture at the beginning of this post. Its called "Menschenfresserin" by Leonhard Kern, 1650. I saw this and found it was very unique. I thought about the appeal it might have when a person first glances at it, then when it is studied closer, what is depicted actually hits home. Again, throughout history, it is seen that the theme of cannibalism has been featured in religion, mythology, fairy tales, and as you can see above, in works of art.

There is a social stigma against cannibalism and many times it has been used as an aspect of propaganda, even for the reason of starting more than one war. So, what is it about eating human flesh? Human meat is said to be unsafe if eaten, especially if the human being eaten has any kind of diseases or infections. These could be passed on through the consumption. Our modern diet is so full of additives and chemicals that it would have to be consider a toxic feast to consume human flesh.

I will close this post by asking one simple question. Could you consume human flesh, under any conditions?

Most of this information can be found in a library or on the internet. I used both as a source of information when I originally researched this topic. As you can read, I have condensed the information and added my own commentary, questions, answers, and opinions.

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What is the purpose of Censorship?

2011-08-24T09:44:00.001-05:00

There is only one true purpose to any given form of censorship, to enforce ignorance. Think about it, if information on a topic, person, group, idea, or whatever is censored for any reason, then that knowledge is made impossible to obtain and the censor succeeds. Censorship undercuts the very possibility of the information being passed forward by breaking the relationship between our beliefs and the truth.

Plainly put, censorship is the appropriate to to aid and promote ignorance. This ignorance does not give aid to critical thinking. The ignorance of censorship is a poor foundation for development and served justice of the basic individual. Censorship degrades the respect of the idea in itself which has grown into the persistent growth of ignorance. Why are we being asked not to think or have expression?

The root motivation for censorship is fear that if these ideas and expressions are not curtailed they will do harm to our societies. Honestly, the real evil in the world does not come from disagreeable people and their ideas, but from those convinced of their absolute righteousness of their own opinions. The censors have made the choice to impose what they feel or think to force their opinions down our throat. What a great position to be in, you rarely see the censor being censored.

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Complaint Department

2011-08-24T06:52:00.001-05:00

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Are you a prisoner?

2011-08-23T12:53:00.001-05:00

Do you think or feel that you are a prisoner living in the United States of America? Personally, I do not. Personally, I know I have the freedom to leave at any given time I see fit for whatever the reason(s) could be. I bring this up only because it is a subject in life I hear alot about. People are fed up with the way this country is operated, yet can only offer bitching and whining as their personal solution. Well, they could always move to another country, just a thought. If they are so in-tune with what needs to happen why don't they position themselves to be able to make changes. Why? Bitching and whining is the easy way. But does it need to be the American way?

I look at it this way, its a simple way to look at it. I live in the United States. My wife and I work here and I pay taxes here. My kids go to school and we are raising them here. We have a mortgage and car payments. Some months are a struggle to make end meet but we don't have any credit card debt, so we don't get deeper in the hole. We make things work. We only have one choice and that is our survival. Inst this the American dream we all hoped to grow up and have?

I am not in a position where I can make political or governmental changes. I vote and every time I do it feels like I am pissing in the wind, but I still vote. Seems to me, and I am just speculating, that people want their handouts and everything handed to them. No matter how many times I have had the same conversation, my answer remains the same, and I ask one simple question. Are you a part of the problem or a part of the solution?

According to analysts, government officials, and private consultants, our economy is in the tank. I don't think this happened overnight, there has been issues with the economy well before I was ever born and will have the same problems well after I am dead and buried. So why the concern? Why the bitching and whining? Don't I care, you ask? I do, but the nations economy is not in my hands to make a difference. Could I make a difference? Probably not one bit, no clue how it can be fixed. I do know I do not watch the ticker on a daily basis watching our nations debt grow.

Will we implode? Probably not? Will it get worse? Probably so. When the politicians and government officials want to make effective changes, they will. Meanwhile, I wont be holding my breath waiting for any "Hope and Change" to come my way. We will continue to live our life, taking the good with the bad, and do the best job we can at raising our children. Oh, and yes, we will continue to listen to the bitchers and whiners because it is hard to get away from them. Hell, you just read my bitches about that very thing. Maybe, tho, people will feel free to pull their head out of their ass and listen to themselves. Can we the people make effective change? That question may never be answered.

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Remembering a day off

2011-08-19T10:35:00.001-05:00

How hard is it for you to take a day off? Do you need to ask permission in advance? Remember that when you ask for a day off that you could have it explained to you how it was once explained to me.

So you want the day off? Let's take a look at what you're asking for. There are 365 days per year available for work. There are 52 weeks per year in which you already get 2 days off per week, leaving 261 days available for work. Since you spend 16 hours a day away from work, you have used up 170 days, leaving only 91 days available for work. You spend 30 minutes each day on a coffee break and that accounts for 23 days each year, leaving only 68 days. With a 1 hour lunch break every day, you have used up another 46 days, leaving only 22 days left for work. You normally spend 2 days a year out sick. We are off for 5 holidays a year, so your available work days are down to 15. We generously give you 14 days a year for vacation, leaving only 1 day available for you to be at work, and I will be damned if you will be taking it off.

Seems pretty extreme to me. But I have worked for people who think just like this and wont even bat an eye to tell me no. Yes, I know it ends up being mathematically impossible that you are only available a whole 1 day and it really doesn't make sense unless you actually look at the amount of time you spend away from work.

All I really wanted was a day off, a Friday, to to camping at the beach one last time before school starts. I feel a cough coming on, could be hard to come to work, because I don't want to get everyone else sick.

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Halloween and the Jack-o-Lantern

2011-08-16T15:48:00.001-05:00

Halloween, in the United States, is an annual holiday observed on the 31st of October. It commonly includes many activities, but not limited to, trick-or-treating, costume parties, carving Jack-o-Lanterns, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, dressing up into costumes, and the telling of scary stories.

Historically, Halloween is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain. The name of the festival historically is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end". The word Halloween is first seen in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even, that is, the night before All-Hallows-Day.
Artifacts and related symbols associated with Halloween have evolved over time. The custom of carving Jack-o-Lanterns to remember the souls held in purgatory has simplified quite a bit over time as an example. Immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin because they were readily available and provided a much larger surface to carve. In time, the American tradition of carving pumpkins was generally associated with the fall and harvest time in general. Also in America, elements of the autumn season, like pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are very prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Imagery of Halloween is derived from many sources tho, including national customs, works of gothic and horror literature, and some classic horror films. Halloween imagery often includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters. Typically, black and orange are the colors of Halloween. Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after supernatural figures such as monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Also, very common, are different forms of haunted attractions that have been designed to thrill and scare visitors.

It would not be fair of me if I did not include how christianity plays its role in the Halloween tradition. Christian attitudes toward Halloween are very diverse. In the Anglican Church, some have chosen to emphasize the christian tradition of All Saints Day, while some Protestants celebrate the holiday as Reformation Day. Many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in church where children and adults can dress up, play games, and receive treats. Many christians ascribe that there is no negative significance to the holiday known as Halloween, treating it as a secular holiday devoted to celebrating imaginary spooks and handing out goodies. To these christians, Halloween holds no formal threat to the spiritual lives of their children. They believe being taught about death and mortality as well as the ways of their Celtic ancestors actually is a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners heritage. In the Roman Catholic church, Halloween is viewed as having a deep christian connection, and Halloween celebrations are very common throughout North America and Ireland. Some christians are concerned about Halloween and they therefore reject the holiday and its traditions because they feel it trivializes and celebrates paganism, the occult, or other practices. They find the cultural phenomena incompatible with christian beliefs.

So, there you go. Most, if not all, of this information is searchable on the internet or in real books. The purpose of this post? I am a Cub Scout leader and as October rolls around I have to prepare a sort of broad lesson to be approved by the Scouts, the school, and the parents. I thought this might be a good place to get feedback because this is what I am going to submit. Granted, I have left alot out of history and hit the broader points. My purpose to to impress upon these young boys minds an idea that Holidays and why we celebrate them have origins. And maybe, just maybe, they will want to learn something they didn't find in a video game. The cool thing is they are all invited, parents also, to attend and/or participate with my family and my haunted house (yard and garage mostly). Every year, some do and some don't. I am the crazy guy on the block, you know the one, the one who pushes the extreme end of the envelope at Halloween for a good scare. Hopefully, my essay passes inspection, I will let y'all know.

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Hostel and Strangeland

2011-08-15T10:50:00.001-05:00

I also enjoy watching the Hostel movies and one of my personal favorites of all time, Strangeland. These are not just hack and slash movies. These tell a story, each one unique of the other. But, the graphics of gore is very realistic and one can imagine the pure pain if real.

I am very picky about my horror movies, it takes alot to impress me or make me cringe with my own imaginary pain. I know a little about the pain of breaking bones at a joint, years ago I broke my knee so bad the surrounding bones were broke 5 times. I know that pain. So, it serves as a gage of sorts when watching how realistic they make these movies and the sound effects they choose to use. Breaking bones and ripping flesh make a specific noise, it is really hard to fake.

So, if you haven't seen these two movies, you need to add them to your future viewing list. And, if you have any suggestions, pass them on to me please. I am always looking for some good blood and gore!

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Halloween 2011 and Me

2011-08-15T09:52:00.001-05:00

Halloween at my house is always a grand event. It is my absolute, no holds barred, gloves off, favorite holiday. My little kid comes out and I get to do anything, and I mean anything, I want to. We have the standards, haunted house, graveyards, and things that like to grab you. But, this year, we are going themed. This years theme is....... "Impalement". I have collected some dummys over the years which served a good role of being gored for my entertainment.

This year, I am going to ramp it up a few notches. I am going for realism in my gore. I want you to be so scared and grossed out that you puke! It gets hard to top my self every year. Over the last past 20 years I have quite a collection, so much I had to rent a 10' x 10' storage unit, and it is packed, so is my attic. I haven't ever done a completely themed Halloween extravaganza, so this year will be the first. I have many ideas and plans. On Halloween night, my wife will resemble the picture above, impaled to the big tree out in the front yard to greet incoming victims. My daughter wants to get into it also, she wants a head impalement. My son just likes to go trick or treating, so he will give out candy in between all that. We usually shut down so we can walk around the neighborhoods all dressed up, it freaks the shit out of people. Then we come back and start it all up for the older kids, I like making high school boys cry.

I will come back to this entry as we time progresses and then give a whole new one with pictures and all after Halloween. I need more graphic pictures with details for me to copy, so if you have any, e-mail the to me or leave the info here for me. Thanks.

Have your own Halloween gig going on? Tell me about it.

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Final Destination 5 Review

2011-08-15T08:17:00.001-05:00

Normally, I would not give review to any particular movie because they spend plenty of money to hype it up and they don't pay me a cent. Quite the opposite, I usually pay dearly to go see it. However, I am a giant fan of the Final Destination movies. I actually get to pay twice, going and then buying the movie for at home.

I have seen every one of the Final Destination movies in the theater at least once, sometimes more, since 2000. My daughters, 19 and 15 now, have been with me for every one, except this latest version, my oldest was in Utah. However, the movie did not disappoint, not the least. From the moment the instructions came across the big screen to put on the 3-D glasses to the final credits it was an in your face movie. Just the way we like our 3-D gore!

I really hate detailing out movies to people who have not yet seen a movie. I will give you some heads up tho. It is bloody, gorey, gooey, graphic, and fantastically explosive. You should not be disappointed if you are a fan of 3-D gore!

And I will leave it there. Go see it, then come back and discus it with me. I can't wait for Final Destination 6!

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How far will we be taken by being forced to be Politically Correct?

2011-08-12T13:03:00.002-05:00

Political Correctness has seeped into our society through every pore and now it is generally not noticed. Or is it? There was a time when being politically correct meant speaking and acting in a considerate manner to others. Now it means speaking and acting in a manner acceptable to everyone because we are told we must do so. Have people appointed themselves as the arbitrators of what is proper and what is not?

I have learned that there are 3 basic rules/ lessons to being P.C.
1) Everything I do or say is offensive to someone somewhere.
2) I am to be humorless in order to be politically correct.
3) I must always be the one to apologize, even when I have done nothing wrong.

It has gone way over the top. We have renamed so many things that it is starting to become a burden to remember them all. Here are a few examples that stick out for me. An American Indian is now called a Native American. A deaf person is hearing impaired. A blind person is visually impaired. I have to wear glasses because of poor eyesight, does this make me lens dependant? A handicapped person is physically impaired. A person slow to learn is mentally challenged. An illegal alien is an undocumented immigrant. Does that make the illegal part harder to swallow? A terrorist is an insurgent. I think the definition needs to be rechecked there. And finally, not to leave out my friends, the Christians. Don't call God a he or him. Why? Because no one has actually seen God and therefore no one knows the gender of God. But wait, isn't gender a physical element? Americans? There is only one kind of an American, an American. Why does a persons ethnicity or nationality of peoples ancestors need to be hyphenated to being an American. My Americanism is not hyphenated, I am proud to be an American.

Political Correctness is fine to a point, but like anything else, take it too far and it becomes quite insane. Start thinking for yourself. Be kind, be polite, and have empathy for others. But stop letting others tell you what to do or say.

So what has political correctness taught you?

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The right to keep and bear arms

2011-08-08T11:36:00.001-05:00

Under normal circumstances I would never bore you with the fact that I whole heartedly believe in my rights under the 2nd Amendment. However, I had an occasion this morning which really annoyed and pissed me off.

Routinely, and I mean routinely, where I live, traffic is diverted from main lanes and routed into an area where DWI checks can be done. They also find people with state inspections out of date, vehicle registrations out of date, and lack of proper insurance, as well as seatbelt violations, just to name a few. I don't mind going through the process like a good little sheeple, I try very hard to stay legal.

Today, I minded. But it was what happened that I minded, not being herded through the line. Now, I am on my way to work and I see what is going on so I call my boss to explain why I am going to be late. He informs me he just passed through the check and will be running a few minutes late also and its all good. Yeah, after 40 minutes it is finally my turn. I checked all my stuff, I am golden, should be a quick wave by. Way wrong answer! As I am being asked to exit the vehicle so a random search can be done of me and the vehicle. Before I exit, I mention that I am carrying a weapon on my person and I posses a concealed carry license. Oops! Wrong thing to say to the wrong person? Now the officer draws his weapon, asks me to exit the vehicle with my hands on my head. I was quickly handcuffed and bent over the hood of my pathfinder. I explained my weapon was in a belt holster at my back. Ok, removed and laying by my head. I haven't ever been searched/ padded down, so this was new, a little ruff, but nothing violent. Once my pathfinder was found clean, all my vehicle paperwork was found to be in order, I provided my license to conceal carry. Oh wait, that was all in order also. After about 20 minute in cuffs, I was released, told to turn and face the officer, so I complied. He handed back my wallet, all my papers, and my still loaded 10mm Glock pistol. I had it explained to me that my weapon registration was up to date, as well as my permit. I can go now.

I can go now? Really? No speech? No apology for being treated like a criminal? Nothing? As I sat there, buckling my seat belt, lighting a cigarette, and fixing my mirror, the same officer asked if there was a problem because I am holing up the line. Nope, no problem. I then proceeded to drive to work.

So, the moral of the story is this boys and girls. If you do everything the right and legal way, you still get treated like a criminal. Before any of you defend this man for just doing his job, stop, and don't do it, because I did as I am supposed to and announced prior that there was a loaded weapon on my person. For you anti gun nuts, lets leave that alone too. You make your choices and I will make mine. We will both live with our decisions. Yes, I go everywhere with my Glock, it is always with me, no matter what, no matter when, always.

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Pawn Shops

2011-08-06T13:52:00.002-05:00

It has been many, many years since I have physically found myself in an actual pawn store. As is would be, my 15 year old daughter wanted to buy her baby brother, turning 10 today, a gold rope necklace. Well, retail is way out of her budget. So, while brainstorming I had the big fat idea to go to the local pawn stores thinking prices would be better than retail. I was wrong, way wrong, wronger than way wrong. We went to 11 places to be exact, leaving sticker shocked from every one of them. But, while browsing, we saw digital cameras and camcorders, and we got to thinking, and then we got to looking. Ends up, she got a $150.00 camera/camcorder combo for $25.02 and I got a new used SLR for a bit more. Mine retails for $2200.00, but only paid $399.89 and out the door we went.

I had been hunting a similar camera on eBay for some time now, but never wanted to pay what they were asking, so I never got one. Personally, I use eBay alot. I buy and sell alot on ebay and I make a fair share of money. I like to buy broke stuff, repair it, and resell it. Its been a hobby of sort. I wont buy jewelry on eBay tho, because there is no telling what you might get.

In the end, my daughter and I had fun, she got to do a little haggling and found something really cool for her brother. She like to shop eBay also, but tells me she has seen a new way to find used thing she never knew she needed, mostly wanting to come back and shop jewelry I think. So, the next chapter shall begin.

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AMMO (United States Air Force) IYAAYAS

2011-08-03T10:48:00.002-05:00

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.

Without AMMO there's no "Force" in the Air Force

Secrets from the Scrolls...

In an effort to look into the pride felt by us in the AMMO community, added below is an excerpt from an ancient and honorable scroll.

Thus it is written in the talismanic scroll concerning AMMO... in the beginning the universe was formless and void. Then was ordained the "Big Bang" and so AMMO was. Through antiquity even until today, the world has trembled at the roar of AMMO's power. The walked cities and the strong towers continue to fall beneath the onslaught of our awesome might. Moving like a mighty tidal wave across the world, AMMO conquered the unconquerable and brought low those weilding indiscriminate power. Our charge for the future is as it has been in the times past: supply those in the right with the power to protect and fight for the right. Until all live as brothers in the world where we have space and peace only, AMMO will live. So it was spoken...so it is written in the scroll...so shall it be...!

AMMO!

Interested in a career that makes an impact in the United States Air Force?

AMMO is also a commonly used abbreviation for ammunition.

The Munitions Systems Specialist career field(AFSC 2W0X1, previously 461X0), commonly referred to as AMMO, is the weapons and explosives branch of the U.S. Air Force.

Career field description

AMMO is responsible for maintaining the Air Force's entire munitions stockpile. Various duties include shipping and receiving, building, testing, operating, protecting, inspecting, storing and performing maintenance on all types of munition systems, both conventional and nuclear. AMMO personnel also operate and maintain a wide variety of equipment and electronic gear, from 40 foot tractor-trailer combination vehicles and all terrain 10,000 pound forklifts, to small arms weapons, to AGM-65 guidance testing units and computer databases. AMMO troops often work daily with many versions of F-4, F-15, F-16, F-22, F-117, B-1, B-2, B-52, A-10, and AC-130 aircraft, along with rarer opportunities to support aircraft from sister services, such as the A-6, F-14, F-18 and AV-8, as well as aircraft from foreign services.

Upon graduation from Air Force Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, airmen assigned to the field attend a 9 week tech school at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. Upon graduation from tech school, the new AMMO specialist is sent to their assigned duty station. Airmen assigned overseas may take a two week leave prior to departure.

Isolation
Due to security and obvious safety concerns with the possibility of millions of pounds of explosives accidentally cooking off and damaging a large portion of a base's facilities, the bomb dump is usually well isolated from the rest of base. At some bases, such as Andersen AFB in Guam, the ride to work can take as long as twenty minutes, compared to a 4 or 5 minute commute for people in most other career fields.

Specific jobs:

AMMO has nine separate and distinct working areas within the career field and these are:

Equipment Maintenance - "Trailer Shop" - the hub of all maintenance on the job-specific trailer equipment that is unique to AMMO, such as the MHU-141 and the MHU-110.

PGM - Precision Guided Munitions, or "Missile Shop" - maintenance of missiles and guided bomb packages.

Flightline Delivery - Line delivery drivers are dispatched by Munitions Control and are responsible for the safe and expedient handling and delivery of munitions to aircraft. Drivers are also held responsible for the accounting of their movements and their transactions via radio and paper logs. Personnel in this field are often referred to as "Line Swine".

Conventional Maintenance - This office is responsible for unguided munitions, dealing with everything that their base's aircraft can carry, from chaff and flares to cannon ammunition and regular unguided "dumb bombs".

Munitions Control - The nerve center. Nothing happens without the controllers knowing since they are the office that dispatches workorders to all other areas. Supervision relies heavily on good controllers to give them quick, efficient reports of what's happening. Controllers tend to be higher ranking and senior AMMO personnel, and have diverse backgrounds in AMMO.

Storage and Handling - Works closely with Inspection and Conventional to deliver large quantities of raw materials for both inspections and bomb build exercises. Storage troops will often be found driving 18-wheel tractor trailers and forklifts, ranging in capacity from 2 to 25 tons, transporting various munitions items for the respective clientele.

Inspection - All munitions items at various times need to be inspected for safety and compliance with technical instructions. Specialized NCOs and Airmen called Munitions Inspectors accomplish this. Inspectors attend an Inspector school, which lasts approximately 3 weeks and most times is conducted at the AMMO Schoolhouse, located at Sheppard AFB, Texas.

CAS/AFK - Sometimes labeled as separate areas, CAS stands for Combat Ammunition System. CAS troops (used to) perform inventories, keep storage plans, and update movements of munitions within the storage area. Since the implementation of CAS 1.0, which is an online program instead of a database, troops from all the shops now work with CAS directly. There is no longer a CAS shop.

Notes: Ammo troops are not limited to working in one shop their entire career. They move from shop to shop. In some cases a troop works all nine areas in a career, and sometimes may work only one or two.Sometimes these areas may be merged together in accordance with the mission of that base. Flightline delivery and Equipment Maintenance are sometimes one shop; and Conventional Maintenance and PGM are sometimes merged into one shop.Sometimes larger Munitions Flights have specialized shops like Plans and Training/Mobility.

Duty stations:
AMMO personnel can be assigned anywhere in the world.

All of this information and much more is available at airforce.com and AF.mil

Daily Prayer

2011-08-02T10:11:00.003-05:00

Please grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things
I can, and the wisdom to hide
the bodies of those people I had to
kill because they pissed me off.

And also, help me to be careful of the toes
I step on today as they may be connected to
the ass I might have to kiss tomorrow.

Always try to give 100%

12% on Monday
23% on Tuesday
40% on Wednesday
20% on Thursday
5% on Friday

And always remember......... when you are having
a bad day and it seems like people are trying to
piss you off, it takes 42 muscles to frown and
only 4 to extend your middle finger!

Truck Nutz Controversy

2011-07-28T08:22:00.001-05:00

I have had a pair of Truck Nutz hanging from my bumper for a very long time. Last night, while driving home from dinner, I got a ticket for....."Display of an Offensive Number Sticker" @ $175.75 and a written warning for having my windows limo tinted. Now, I wonder if it was because it was a female officer? She had pulled in behind me and rode behind me for about 6 miles on the feeder road before she threw on the lights and siren. I have had many officers of the law behind me before over the years and never nothing. Why now? What struck her at that particular moment to pull me over? "Sir, are you aware why I pulled you over? No m'am. I pulled you over because the gold testicals hanging from your number are in violation of the offensive laws in this county. Really? Yes sir." As I sat there thinking to myself, I mentioned....."that they were brass in color and that they were Nutz, not testicals." She made a note. "Sir, I need you to remove them from your vehicle. Sorry, m'am, I can't, they are bolted on to the number." So she asked, "are you refusing to remove the offensive material from your vehicle?" To which I replied yes m'am, I guess so". She proceded to the rear of the truck, leaned over, and cut them from my bumper with a rather large blade. She picked them up off the pavement and walked back to my window where she extended her hand and stated, "sir, here are you brass Nutz, have a nice day."

So there I sit, on the side of the feeder road, with my brass Nutz in my hand, trying to figure out what in the hell just happened. I suppose this will be one of the stories I tell my grandchildren one day.

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Blogging in the Military

2011-07-24T16:21:00.001-05:00

I departed the Air Force before the Internet was a big issue to be controlled. As time has progressed, 10 years now, people in the military wish to continue to use the technology they were raised on.

For a full size PDF version of this graph, click the title link or on the graphic itself.

Now, there is a study on "Social Software and National Security," written by Mark Drapeau and former Pentagon CIO Lin Wells. Listed below are the basic fundamentals found in the study.

We describe four broad government functions of social software that contribute to the national security missions of defense, diplomacy, and development.

The first function is Inward Sharing, or sharing information within agencies. This includes not only information sharing during military operations but also within offices for budgets, human resources, contracting, social, and other purposes, and coordination between offices and other units of an agency. Using social software as a platform for Inward Sharing, employees, contractors, and other trusted stakeholders could form ‘heterarchies’of decentralized, empowered individuals working on problems within a complex, hierarchical organization like DOD [Department of Defense].Trustworthy information, whether stored centrally or distributed, must be discoverable, accessible and understandable by anyone within the social network. Open sharing provides more ‘eyes on target’ and makes the discovery of weak signals in batches of noise more likely.

The second function is Outward Sharing, or sharing internal agency information with entities beyond the agency’s boundaries.Outward sharing includes coordination during the federal inter-agency process; sharing information with government, law enforcement, medical emergency, and other relevant entities at state, local, and tribal levels; and collaboration with partners such as corporations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or super-empowered individuals(billionaires, international CEOs, etc.) The 2005 natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina is now a textbook example of the need for multi-agency, multi-government, multi-media engagement in an ad hoc and constantly evolving manner. More recently, people using social software have been able to make useful contributions during real world events such as flooding in Bangladesh, the California wildfires, and Hurricane Gustav.

The third function is Inbound Sharing that allows government to obtain input from citizens, and other persons outside the government, more easily. Inbound Sharing includes gauging public sentiment on issues in real time (not unlike instant polling), allows government to receive input on current topics of interest, empowers the public to vote or otherwise give weight to other people’s opinions to reach some consensus or equilibrium about online discussions about government issues, and provides a mechanism for crowdsourcing, which is effectively outsourcing projects to a group of people whose membership is not predefined (not unlike a contest or challenge).

The fourth function is Outbound Sharing whose purpose is to communicate with and/or empower people outside the government. This includes a range of efforts such as focused use of information and communications technology (ICT) during stabilization and reconstruction missions, connecting persons in emergency or post-disaster situations, and communicating messages in foreign countries as part of public diplomacy efforts. It also includes functions like using multimedia and social media for better communication with citizens as part of public affairs.

I speak often with a few of my friends still in the Air Force. Why do I bring this up? Because when I send them this blog link in an e-mail, the blog is blocked by the content filters. When they asked what was up, the response was pretty military, you are here to work, not blog. I will have more on this subject, I've found that looking for information on this subject tends to run in circles while redirecting in an opposite direction which usually leads to making a full circle.

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When the unfortunate happens

2011-07-21T13:46:00.001-05:00

A few months ago, my boss, who is also my neighbor, he woke up to see this surprise. There were 11 trucks in a 2 block radius that all looked just like his. The bad thing is that all the trucks had the factory rim and tires. All the the trucks were left on landscape bricks from either the yard of the person or another neighbors. If you look at this picture close, they were very gracious and left all the lugnuts in one place. How nice.

All the similarities were pointed out by the police officer who was investigating the crimes. And of course, no-one saw or heard anything. There were 6 different sets of prints on each truck. None of them matched anyone in the databases. A criminal with a clean record? Surely it wasn't the first time, was it?

Now, some months later, my bosses rims were located on a stolen truck being driven away from a totally different crime. Great, right? They caught the guys, right? The police don't think so, but then again, they really don't know. His finger prints did not match any of the 6 collected. In fact, this guy they caught had no drivers license, no social security number, and an address that doesn't exist. I should leave it out, because it is really not important, but he a Hispanic man in his 30's. This man is currently waiting trial to be deports, not for any crimes.

In the end, nothing has been solved. My boss and the others all had their tires and rims replaced thru their insurances. In my eyes, this is another example of shit happens to good people. And unfortunately, there will never be a closed investigation.

And, for those of you who think I have some kind of "tone" in this short article, there is none. Just pointing out the facts. Just sharing a story.

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When illegal immigration hits home

2011-07-19T08:44:00.001-05:00

Back in February of this year, my wife was rear-ended at a stop light locally here where we live. Accidents happen, right? Wrong. She was hit by a 2011 Ford F250 pickup, driven by a non-English speaking man in his early 30's. With the aid of a bilingual police officer, information was exchanged. Our insurance company, USAA, was contacted and the ball began to roll. We picked up a copy of the accident report later in the day, my wife was not at fault, and the Hispanic man received 4 tickets for various violations. Ticket #1 was for having no drivers license, #2 was for failing to provide proof of insurance, #3 was for transporting people in the bed of his truck, and #4 was for not having a rear license plate affixed to the vehicle.

Upon picking up a copy of the report, I contacted my insurance company who had collected this information already. Due to the facts at hand, we were filing an un-insured motorist claim. USAA has worked with us diligently getting a rental car and getting repair work under way. The car came out good and since then have not heard anything back about anything, case closed. Right? Wrong.

After receiving a letter from USAA this past weekend, who is now disputing our claim, I promptly called to inquire WTF was going on. Here's where the story takes a dump in our lap. #1, I am being sued by Mr. Fernando Ruiz Hernandez for damages unpaid by my insurance done to his vehicle in this "mutual fault" accident. Mutual? Really? She was rear-ended because he didn't stop, my wife was not cited and at no fault. USAA quickly appointed us a lawyer, at their expense. We, since then, as of yesterday, were informed that he is an illegal immigrant, and this is his 3rd lawsuit of this nature in 4 years. This bastard could have killed my wife in the accident and all that would have happened to him was he would have been deported, to return again.

I will be doing follow up on this as it unfolds. Oh, I forgot to mention, we are being sued for $57,397.08. I will stop now, before I get into my real true blue, red blooded American feelings on the poor mistreated illegal immigrants here in the U.S.A. and here in southeast Texas.

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Extreme Gas Alert

2011-07-15T09:42:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time, there lived a man who had a terrible passion for baked beans. He loved them, but they always had an embarrassing and somewhat lively reaction on him. One day he met a girl and fell in love. When it was apparent that they would marry, he thought to himself, she would never carry on like that, so he made the supreme sacrifice and he gave up baked beans and shortly after, they got married.

Some months later on the way home from work, his car broke down and since they lived in the country, he called his wife and told her he would be late because he had to walk. On his way home, he passed a small cafe' and the odor of baked beens overwhelmed him and since he had several miles to walk, figured that he could work off ant ill effects before he got home. So he stopped and before leaving, had three extra large helpings of baked beans. all the way home, he putted and putt putted. He putted down one hill and putt-putt-putted up the next and after arriving home felt reasonably safe.

His wife met him at the door and seemed somewhat excited. She exclaimed, "Darling, I have the most wonderful surprise for you for dinner tonight". She blindfolded him and led him to the chair at the head of the table. Just as she was ready to remove the blindfold, the phone rang. She made him promise not to peek until she had returned and went to answer the phone. As soon as she was gone, he seized the opportunity, shifted his weight and let one go. It was not only loud, but as ripe as a rotten egg. He had a hard time breathing so he took his napkin and fanned the air about him. He had just started feeling better when he felt another urge. He raised his leg and rrriiippp!!! It sounded like a straight pipe hot rod and smelled so bad he began to gag. He fanned until his arms ached. Things had just began to get back to normal when he felt another urge coming. He shifted his weight to the other leg and let go. This one was the prize winner, the windows rattled, the dishes shook and a minute later, the flowers on the table were dead. While keeping his ear tuned in on the conversation in the hallway, he carried on like this for the next ten to fifteen minutes, farting and then fanning them with his napkin.

When the phone farewells indicated the end of his freedom, he neatly laid his napkin in his lap and folded his hands on top of it. Smiling contently, he was the picture of innocence when his wife waled in. Apologizing for taking so long, she asked if he had peeked. After assuring her he had not, she removed the blindfold and to his surprise, there sat twelve dinner guests seated around the table for a surprise birthday party for him.

How I met your mother

2011-07-15T08:57:00.001-05:00

Back in the late 90's I went a piety ugly divorce after being married for 11 years. Truth be told, I wasn't really interested in dating afterwards, because I didn't want to get lied to anymore, at least not at that point in time in history. Anyhow, needing money for various reasons like rent, car payment, and food, I got a job. I found one working in a redneck bar in north Houston called the Cadillac Ranch. I know what you are thinking, the metal head wanted to work in a redneck bar? Why? Two great reasons, the scenery was great and the money was awesome. With that being said, I will begin my tale. Please be advised that there might be "adult" talk ahead.

For a couple of weeks there was this young woman who came in with a group of her friends on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturday nights. They were a new crowd here at the bar, all of them were very pleasing on the eye, remember, I was the sober person, I was the bartender. They were not sippers, they all drank and they meant business. They tipped very good too also. And, when I would catch myself watching them dance, I bet I had to wipe drool from my mouth. There was one who stood out, flirted with me quite a bit, gave me friendly smiles, and she had to know I thought she had a fantastic ass, because she always made sure that is what I saw. She had a habit of kneeling in a barstool and reaching way across the bar to tuck her purse into a hiding spot. I never minded, ever. I know her now, a little better, can joke with her now, but I was still just the bartender.

One evening, I came into work to cover for someone who called in sick. So, I was feeling a bit feisty. I walk in, there she is, bent over the bar, way over, like she was trying to see if she could touch the floor on the other side or something. As I walked by, I told her, "hey Blondie, you better put your ass away before someone gets hurt!". Did I mention she was a size "0" and wore her Rockie Jeans so tight I could see goose bumps if she got chilled. In the beginning I called her Blondie because she wouldn't tell me her name, I was told to use my imagination. So, Blondie it was. After that night, I was suppose to be off, it was Saturday, and my daughter was turning 9, we had a date. Well, my boss called and asked me to come in, but late, at 11 pm. So I said yes. Wont you know it, Blondie was there. After about an hour of being there, I looked down to the other end of the bar and she was on my side of the bar, bent over it trying to get back out, seems she fell over, digging in her purse. She looked like she was in need of some help, so I felt obligated to help. I walked down there and gave her ass such a slap my hand stung so bad like it was on fire. Oh, what a loud "smack" that made, grabbed alot of attention. She very calmly turned bask to me and said that the next time I slap her ass, I better do it like I mean it and not be such a pussy. I guess she told me.

The next week came, there she is, ass up over the bar, so I got a running start and slapped her ass as hard as I would slap hoarse to get it moving. By the way, I broke two fingers in the palm area I hit her so hard. It startled her this time, she turned to me and slinked over to me, put her arms around my neck, climbed up, wrapped her legs around my waists, and shoved her tongue down my throat. After we both caught out breath, she whispered in my ear, something hard to forget, she told me yes, I accept your wedding proposal. Really? What just happened? Anyway, we started dating, for over a year, and we did indeed get married.

So, there you go boys and girls, the story of how I met your mother. Any questions?

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The blonde equestrian

2011-07-14T11:09:00.002-05:00

----"The Blonde Equestrian"----
A blonde decides to try horseback riding, even though she has had no lessons or prior experience. She mounts the horse unassisted and the horse immediately springs into motion. It gallops along at a steady and rhythmic pace, but the blonde begins to slip from the saddle. In terror, she grabs for the horse's mane, but cannot seem to get a firm grip. She tries to throw her arms around the horse's neck, but she slides down the side of the horse anyway. The horse gallops along impervious to it's slipping rider. Finally, giving up her frail grip, she leaps away from the horse to try to throw herself to safety. Unfortunately, her foot has become entangled in the stirrup and she is now at the mercy of the horse's pounding hooves as her head has struck against the ground again and again. As her head is battered against the ground, she is mere moments away from unconciousness when ................................................................

.....................the Wal-Mart manager runs out and un-plugs the coin operated horse.

---------------------Disclaimer-----------------------
As I am married to a blonde, and 2 out my 3 children are blonde, I am fully authorized to explain blonde adventures.

What is your Astrological Sign?

2011-07-14T08:46:00.002-05:00

Mine is Scorpio, kinda obvious.

This isn't really going to be an actual post, but more of a reference to a sub page of my home page about the Scorpio. Also listed are all the other Astrological Signs. You can click the title above or see the Scorpio link to the right. Sooner or later I will be doing a large post on Scorpio and Gemini and the mix that makes.

Living my life "Color Blind"

2011-07-13T17:56:00.000-05:00

As a color blind person, I often wonder what the world really looks like. Before I begin, I will remind everyone that color blindness is not “Color Blindness” at all. Many of us will make the word connection to the termanology of color blindness to blindness and color, that if one is color blind that one can only see black and white or maybe even grayscale. However, after talking to someone who really is colorblind or reading information about colorblindness, people find out they were wrong. Color blindness is just the most common term for describing different types of vision conditions relating to color deficientcy. A color blind person just sees less colors than a person not effected with color blindness. So, color blindness can be better described as color vision deficiency. It is considered a “handicap” by most, but I cant complain.

There are a few questions I hate being asked. If you can not tell why these are particulary annoying questions, then feel free to ask me and I can explain them to you one by one.

#1) What color is this then?
#2) What colors can you see?
#3) Does my wife buy my clothes or lay them out for me?
#4) How do you drive a car?
#5) How did you pass the color vision test at the DMV?

Now, a subject I like, asking questions. What is color? Does color even exist? Is color a sensation which has no material existance? Is color a product of the mind or an inherant property of objects? What particular psycological phenomena of color is imposed on to the visual signals sent to the mind? Why can’t the existance of color be proven by science?

At the top, there is a "typical" color test a pesron might see when having a vision exam. What do you see?

Simple Disclaimer: All the information found within this article/entry is from research i have done and from living my life. I took the picture from the internet to illustrate a point, i have no other use for it. I can not give credit to one specific person for some of the information I shared, I am positive there has been much research on this subject for many, many years. End of disclaimer.

Having a part time job

2011-07-13T10:51:00.001-05:00

I found myself looking for options to help increase our household income a few months ago. As a licensed bartender in the state of Texas, I decided to go and get re-certified, as a choices not a requirement. After my 80 hours of instruction, I used their placement service and found myself working at a local tavern a few block from where we live. I have worked there, part time, now for 3 months. The money is decent, the tips are fair, and most of the people are pretty great. I do not go over the top to asset people, i'm not a pushy bartender, but I do accommodate almost all peoples requests. Happens that they use customer review there as a partial basis for training and employee quarterly reviews.

I can hear you, where is he going with this monologue? Because of my service, I was given a raise and a bonus. Because I trust no one, I did question these actions. First, I don't want full time, I like the 10 hours a week I work. Second, what is the catch? And it was explained to me simple and straight, that they have experienced a 56% increase of repeat traffic in the past 90 days, with a 99% positive feedback with my name listed as a top reason they return. Still wondering where this is leading? I see myself as fortunate, I apply myself at both of my jobs and I see results. And I see others who are stagnant and seem to not care any more or their choices are limited. Success can happen, without a degree even.

I see so much junk here, on the news, in newspapers, on the internet, and from talking to people on how people are struggling financially. I have found personally that after applying myself and setting some goals, I was able to achieve those goals.

My message here is that we are in control of our lives. The more time we spend waiting for handouts or for someone else to do it for us is time wasted.

If you ever find yourself in my neighborhood, stop by and have a drink of your choice on me, we serve water and tea also.

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How Bullshit Becomes Policy

2011-07-11T11:06:00.001-05:00

----The Bullshit Disclaimer----
All individuals handling Bullshit information are required to wash their hands before serving food products or shaking hands with any other individuals not authorized to handle or disseminate Bullshit information. The handling, storage, or reproduction of Bullshit information without the proper level of authorization may result in the labeling as a Bullshitter.

With that being stated, a short story for all of you.

*** How Bullshit Becomes Policy ***

1) In the beginning there was some Bullshit and then followed the assumptions about said Bullshit. The assumptions of Bullshit were held without form and a great darkness covered the faces of the employees.
2) The employees discussed amongst themselves and concluded "it was indeed a crock of Bullshit, and it stinks".
3) The employees went to their Lead and explained "that this is a pail of Bullshit, and no-one can abide by it's order".
4) The Lead went to his Supervisor and explained "that this is a container of excrement, and it's smell is very strong, such that no-one may abide by it".
5) The Supervisor goes to the Manager and explains "that this is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide by it's strength".
6) The Managers the speak amongst themselves and said to one another "it contains that which aids in growth and is very strong".
7) The Managers go to HR and explained "this is very strong and promotes growth".
8) HR goes to the owner and explains "this new plan will actively promote growth and productivity within our organization, particularly in those areas where we need strength".
9) The Owner looked upon the plan and saw it was indeed good, and that is how the plan became Policy.

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Odd things you get in the mail

2011-07-08T14:32:00.001-05:00

In my current position, I receive samples from vendors who wish to show how customizable their products are. I present exhibit "A" pictured here. You might recognize it as a standard warning/hazard label found on a paint can for instance. I thought it was funny and wanted to share.

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4th of July 2011

2011-07-05T08:53:00.001-05:00

I would like to say that these were the sights my family and I saw this 4th of July. But, as it would be, is was not. Due to drought, wildfires, and very, very dry conditions, not only were the use of fireworks banned, but the sale of them were banned here in the Houston area. Now, I can only confirm for Harris county and Montgomery county.

As we sat back last night and looked into the night sky, we saw stars. In its own regard, very pleasant to look at. I wondered if anyone ever just looks up at the stars any more, just to look at the stars.

The big conversation with my son was how he missed my big shows that I do every year on the 4th of July for my family, friends and neighbors. A ridiculous habit started by a rumor many years ago because of me being an AMMO guy. Now, truth of the matter is, I love to put on the small shows. And yes, before we ask, I do build alot of my own. Might not be from scratch, but I do try to re-invent what they sell at the stands. Anyway...........my son was pretty distraught because he was going to miss all the fireworks because of the ban, so I promised him a show twice as big on New Years Eve.

I found my self thinking, daydreaming, trying to look back into our history of why this was a day to celebrate. When our conversations were over, my son of all of 9, leans in real tight and tells me that he is glad we declared our independence because he wouldn't want to speak a foreign language like we would have to if the British would have continued to rule the colonies. I asked what language, English? It made for a good laugh.

We all look forward to New Years Eve, should be a BIG BANG and grand light show!

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Education vs. Environment vs. Experience

2011-07-01T13:17:00.004-05:00

I can learn from Education
I can learn from my Environment
I can learn from my Experience

Has anyone else ever wondered if people who are paying for their education in our colleges are getting educated or brainwashed? I bring this up for a few reasons. People talk to me in my current working position and assume I'm undereducated. Which is a true statement and yet untrue at the same time. I have three Associates degrees in an area of study I won't list here. Let's just say they directly relate to the job I had while serving in the United States Air Force. However, on the outside world, in the real world as it tends to be called, they are worth very little because they are only Associates degrees and are in a field not desired by most employers.

I try to keep up with the things happening around the world. I take a very different perspective and have a different approach than most people do because I'm not real quick to form a positive or negative opinion. One thing I have noticed, as I get older, I spend more time watching the news, the weather, and reading different things on the internet, magazines, and newspapers. I don't always have the time, but I do try. Where I make my mistake, on occasion, is using the different discussion forums to get feedback and to get a feel for other opinions after I may put my opinions on a subject as an entry on my blog. I, still today, get very surprised at the amount of people who claim to have or speak as if they have such high education, while visiting these forums. The discussion sometimes turns into a link war or who can quote who. I can find my own links and quotes if I wanted to, I just wanted to have a discussion. Sometimes it is hard to form an opinion of our own and assistance is needed, fair enough, when discussion is still offered.

I've started a few discussions, here and there, about this or that, and even tho I have not come to any specific conclusions as of yet, I have found that as soon as you think you know it all, you are absolutely wrong, because someone always knows more. Also, when trying to learn, be careful of the source, I have no need to be brainwashed into thinking a certain way just because it happened to "you" and "you" think it is the right way to think altogether. Sometimes a "formal" education is way over-rated. For me, being people smart far out weighs a degree hanging in the hallway. I would probably blow all the extra money anyhow.

I leave y'all with this little tidbit. I am not a "sheeple", I tend to not follow the "crowd", my opinions tend to aggravate the masses, and I would rather work hard and earn my money rather than demand a high price because I have a degree and don't know crap. I can sleep at night now, I couldn't if I was a fraud like that.

Last Will and Testament

2011-07-01T09:02:00.002-05:00

Being of sound mind and memory, I do hereby publish this as my last will and testament.

First, although my surviving spouse will need all the financial help possible, I give my surviving wife only half of my possessions and I give my remaining half to my loving children.

Second, I appoint my surviving spouse as guardian of our children, but as a safeguard, despite utmost confidence in my spouse's judgement, I require that a report be given to the probate court each and every year and an accounting rendering how, why, and where money was spent for proper care of the children.

(A) As a further safegaurd, despite my utmost confidence in my spouse's integrity, I direct that the necessary time and money be spent to obtain a performance bond to guarantee to the probate court that proper judgement will be excercised in handling, investing, and spending the children's money.

(B) As a final safeguard, despite my desire to free my surviving spouse from undue burdens and potential harassments, when our children become of legal age, I give them the right to demmand and recieve a complete accounting of all financial actions taken with their money.

Third, Should my spouse re-marry and subsequently die having made no will, the new spouse shall be entitled to one half of everything my spouse possessed. Should my children need some of this share for food, clothes, or other support, the new spouse may simply, and quite legally, refuse to spend any of it on their behalf.

(A) At death, the second spouse shall also have sole right to decide who is to get his share, my children may be legally excluded.

Fourth, should my spouse pre-decease me or die while any of our children are minors, I do not wish to excercise my right to nominate the guardian of our children. Rather, I direct my relatives and friends to get together and argue about it. If they fail to agree on a guardian, I direct the probate court to make the selection. If the court decides to appoint a complete stranger, that will be fine with me.

Fifth, under existing law, there are certain ways to lower the ammount of federal taxes on my estate payable at my death. Although my spouse and children could put this tax savings to good use, I would rather give the money to the Internal Revenue Service.

I witness whereof, I have set my hand to this Last Will and Testament.

This day_____________20____

Witness: _______________________________

Witness: _______________________________

_______________________________ Signature

--Disclaimer--

A note to my readers. I hope that you could tell that this is not a legal document of any sorts, and should not be taken seriously, it was designed as a parody to demonstate the perils of not having a will. If I have got you to think about your own will, I have done my part, wills are a very important part of life and even our death.

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Problem or Solution

2011-06-29T17:01:00.001-05:00

I use terms alot in my life which I borrowed from my service in the Air Force. I use them with my children, with my Cub Scouts, and my co-workers. I am a firm believer there is nothing so impossible that one must give up. Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome are key elements to problem solving. I find myself asking people who have approached with a dilemma but do not offer a different result if, "they are a part of the problem, or are they a part of the solution?"

Before this gets really deep, I will explain this post. I work with people, who out of habit I guess, just give me things and tell me to fix it. They don't offer anything except a time limit. Number 1, that is not in my job description, number 2, I don't work for them. So it pisses me off a tad when demands are made out of friendship or as a co-worker and then the person walks off.

Let me define two terms, so we can answer the question at the end. Terms and definitions taken straight out of the Websters dictionary sitting on my desk in front of me.

Problem: A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome.

Solution: A means of solving a problem or dealing with a difficult situation.

After reading these simple definitions, which defines you better. Me? I am a fixer/solver by nature. Think about this for awhile, try to apply it on a regular basis. I don't mind people handing me they problems, but I do when they give me the condition unto which I need to find the solution. If they can figure all that out maybe they could solve their own problem.

So, are you a part of the problem or are you a part of the solution?

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Bandera de los Estados Unidos de America

2011-06-28T08:23:00.001-05:00

I know, you are thinking to yourself quietly, WTF? That was pretty close to my reaction last night when I was at a large well known chain store looking for miniature U.S. Flags to finish decoration my sons wagon for the upcoming 4th of July neighborhood parade. We were looking all around and then we finally found a whole collection of cheap plastic crap.

Normally, if something was made in Mexico, China, Japan, India, or overseas somewhere, it wouldn't bother me, because sometimes that is just the way it is. However, when I pick up a small box of plastic U.S. Flags and across the front of the box it says "Bandera de los Estados Unidos de America" it pissed me off a bit. Being from southeast Texas, I am used to seeing at least 50% of the written word in Spanish. I must draw the line with this one. This one actually made me really mad.

There is absolutely nothing sacred anymore. Nothing. Granted, these little flags were made in New Jersey, but every bit of writing on the box of U.S. Flags was written in Spanish. Why? Can someone explain to me WHY? Can someone explain why the most widely recognized Flag on the planet, needs a Spanish translation across the cover of the box? I cannot even write anymore right now because I might go off on a freaking tangent............. and no one needs to see that.

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Social Experiment

2011-06-27T11:49:00.003-05:00

So, I get bored at times when I am at the mall with my family. I usually pass the time monitoring what my 15 year old daughter is trying to spend money on while my wife tells me that I was asked if the outfit looked pretty, not if she could have the outfit. Two separate subjects apparently. The last time, I just decided to go off on my own, with my son of course, he doesn't need to be subjected to any of that yet.

I had an enormous lump of change in my pocket because I knew I would be in the game room with my son before the end of the outing. We always end up there, worse than a gambling habit. I noticed this little girl kept dropping her money, and a man was following her around picking up her money, but only returning a portion of it to her. I watched this happen about 7 or 8 times. We actually watched him do it to a couple of children. The change he kept he was giving to his own young daughter when she would come by with her hands out. First thought for me was that he was a douchebag and had a series problem. I found out for sure he was a douchebag when he was out he smacked his daughter for her keeping on asking and how she knows they don't have that money to blow. We had to leave. But, I left with an idea......

My son and I were a bit hungry, so we went to the food court, following the douchebag and his little girl. My son was in line at the pizza place, I gave him a wad of money and change I had left over and told him to grab what he wanted to eat. Behind him was the douchebag and his little girl. When it was close to time to pay, my son unloads his pocked and money went everywhere. The douchebag decided to help, but not returning all the money. My son knows how much he had, the exact amount. My son told him to give back his money, causing a small scene. I let it go for about a second, until he told my son to shut the f#@k up because he was stupid and didn't know what the hell he was talking about. When I ran over there the guy tried to bail, so I grabbed his arm and told him to stay and talk with us for a moment. He got loud and cussing so bad it happened to raise the attention of a sheriff that was up there with his son. The sheriff approached and asked what was going on. My son popped off and said he stole from him and he wanted the money back. The douchebag denied it, again calling me and my son vulgar names at the top of his lungs. The sheriff had had enough, especially when he reffered to the sheriff as a spook.

Now the douchebag gets backed up to a table and asked for ID and to empty his pockets. My son spotted his money real fast, he always dogears the corners. The sheriff returned my sons $3.00 and we were asked if we wanted to file a complaint, I declined. As we walk away, we saw over $500.00 on the table, 3 wallets, many credit cards, and a couple of rings. Damn.

As we walked away, I started thinking. Was he doing this to provide for his daughter? Was that his daughter? I still don't know, nor do I really care at this point. I did learn that people really don't pay attention to who is watching them, even in innocence. My son had a big story to tell his mom and sister, how helped catch a "bank robber". By the way, the answer is no, my kids don't go to the mall without their mom or me.

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At first glance, what is it?

2011-06-27T08:37:00.001-05:00

A little background for you. This is a drawing by my 9 year old niece. She drew it for me to be inside my fathers day card and made it so it pops up. After you drag your brain out of the gutter, what do you think it is? Now at second glance, what is it?

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Becoming a Grandparent

2011-06-24T09:34:00.001-05:00

I was not sure if I was ever going to put any kind of information about becoming a grandparent "down on paper" any time soon. But, after wrapping my head around the idea that the day was coming fast when my baby girl would be having her very own baby girl. Information like this makes you realize you age, 42 for me, and your new place in life.

Let me begin by taking a trip back in time. I was 20, married only 2 years, in the United States Air Force for a year, living halfway around the world in northern Japan, when I found out I was going to be a father. Late in 1990, my daughter was born. Quite possibly the most emotional moment in my life. She is very beautiful, I remember thinking as I held her in my arms for the first time. I thought of many things while I was holding her tightly. I thought about things like will I be a good dad to my new baby girl. That is all I wanted to do for her, was be a good dad. I promised her right then and there that I would do everything in my power to be the best dad to her possible. And so...........life begins.

Little did I know that her mother and I would get a divorce in early 1999. The one and only thing I worried about was how was I going to keep my promise to Lauren. Once divorced, we lived in different states, we have since then always lived in separate states, we still do. I could relate 100% to being a child of divorced parents, because I was one. Life pressed forward, as it tends to do, and we lived separate lives that were very intermingled. I remarried in late 2000. Lauren was a part of the wedding party, as well as my soon to be step daughter, Courtney. We leave off the step part forevermore because as we found out, I was considered her dad, and her biological father became Mike. Lauren and Courtney make great sisters, at a 5 year difference, they kept each other very entertained. In the summer of 2001, my son, Jackson was born. Our family has grown and still, life moves forward.

The years pass, Lauren now 20, Courtney at 15, and Jackson turning 10 here in a few short weeks. In my eyes, I have been a good dad to all three of them, each in their own individual way. Lauren lives in Utah, where she attends college and works full time. She also has a full time boyfriend. I remember,when Lauren was growing up that she didn't see herself as mommy material, she would rather raise animals.

One early Sunday morning a few short months ago, I get a phone call from Lauren. She says good morning grandpa. There was that awkward silence for a bit, then she asked if I was still there. She goes on to explain how she is pregnant and she has been trying to figure out a good way to break the news to her daddy. She decided shock humor. She was worried I would be judgmental because of her being in college and not being married. Am I? Absolutely not. No matter what I think or believe or even might want to say, it docent matter, facts are facts, my baby girl is going to have a baby. I am very happy, excited, and scared. She is 24 weeks now, going strong. She will be having a little girl soon enough. And again, life will keep moving forward. We had to tell all of her grandparents they were going to be great grandparents, interesting phone calls to say the least.

I love all my children, they are why I am a good dad. Lauren will make a good mom, because she is great mommy material. As for me, I will try to be a good grandfather to our new edition to the family. Funny, I am scared allover again.

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Signs in my life

2011-06-23T14:20:00.001-05:00

I think we live in a world where messages are lost for one reason or another. Where I work, I do inventory control. We have inventory control because we deal with alot of high $$$$ items in our manufacturing process. As a company, we have a problem with trust and integrity. And for the most part, people are in to big a hurry or they are two lazy to do things the right way. Granted, not everyone has a lack of integrity.

I placed these signs to deter co-workers from hanging out in my controlled area. This isn't a break room, nor is it the place you come to hide out for a while. My job requires me to be out of my area from time to time to pick up or deliver materials. Seems to be the green flag for people to enter when they do not have a work related purpose.

I have had discussions, meetings, and even some come to jesus talks with fellow employees and managers. For some reason, they see the problem I see. I explain, with full access at any time limits greatly my ability to have inventory control and security. One might say, lock it up when you are away. That is forbidden. On one hand we want inventory control and security, and on the other hand we want the freedom to come and go as we wish and taking what we want. Maybe I just need to have a bigger gun visible.

So, what's my point here you ask. Read the signs for me, see if you get the impression that you are welcome here in my cage. Can they be misinterpreted as welcoming signs? Give me any suggestions you might have. Thanks in advance.

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Wild fire in Walker County Tx

2011-06-20T11:06:00.001-05:00

I have seen wild fires on the news, read about them in the paper, seen them on the internet, but I saw one in person yesterday evening. It is a shocking event to witness first hand. My wife and I could not believe what we were seeing, it was just unreal.

We were traveling from the Dallas, Tx area back to Houston on Interstate 45, moving swiftly until we hit Madisonvile, Tx where, just south of there, we came to a dead stop behind hundreds of other vehicles. Until we made some phone calls and got online with www.kbtx.com to did out what was happening, because we were both thinking big wreck, its common out there. We were horrified that these events were showing up and unfolding mere miles ahead of us.

As the hours passed, we continued to creep forward. As it was, it is 104 degrees outside with a bright sun. As we drew closer, the sun was eclipsed by thick, hot, black smoke. What was amazing, was we were seeing deer and other animals making there way down the freeway against traffic and then moving north across the other side. Then, we were driving thru ground zero where we could see the fire had jumped the freeway. There were small fires we could see, burning trees still, and red hot embers falling all around us.

The destruction was bewildering to say the least. Reminds me how fast things can turn upside down. Did I mention how hot it was? Gage in the car was @ 104, mid fire area, it read 162. We had the windows down to take pictures and video, it was hot.

Which reminds me, as I get some time, I will ad more pictures and a link or two one I upload the videos to youtube.

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My first car

2011-06-08T09:48:00.001-05:00

I always hear that people did not care for their first car. I got my first car in 1983. It was a 1973 VW Thing, pictured above. It wasn't a bad car for a first car, 4 on the floor, 4 cylinder air cooled motor, rag top, removable window and doors. It was actually the perfect first car for me.

My now ex-wife and I dated all through high school and college, she called it the "Great Pumpkin". She never mined being seen in it or learning how to drive a stick in it. There was not another VW Thing anywhere in the area. That car holds alot of memories for me.

Now, in my 40's, I am looking for one again. Maybe one in bad shape that needs to be restored back to its original glory. Something for me and my son to occupy our time, then throw the top down and start cruising.

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Proof that pigs can not fly

2011-06-07T16:34:00.002-05:00

I sent this picture to my wife with the caption "I answered man's age old question if pigs really can fly". The answer of course being no.

It was a very innocent accident. My wife collects antique pigs. Pigs of all sorts, mostly glass or pottery of some sorts. The one pictured was 96 years old, you can't miss it, it is the red pieces.

As accidents go, this one was frustrating. I hate the pigs, all of them, everyone knows it too. So, of course I was accused of doing it on purpose and committing piggacide. And I explained they were displayed in a poor place. Anyhow, I knocked it off the antique buffet it was displayed on with a bag of merchandise from Wal-Mart.

Did I cry over it? No. Did I feel bad? Yes, because these pigs are valued by my wife. Did I see humor in it? Obviously.

Ever had an innocent accident?

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Reporting @ this Blog

2011-06-07T08:27:00.001-05:00

Please report to me bad or broken links. Please report to me if you believe there are inaccuracies in my post or comments. As I try to keep my blog as tasteful and family friendly, over-excitement comes across us all and we ispell, misspeak, and even leave words out or your Droid always try to spell things its way. Its a nice feature, but annoying.

As most if not all my posts will be from my phone and helpful applications, I am sure you will come across more than one typo, it is not being done to annoy you I promise.

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Lets talk about stalkers

2011-06-06T13:26:00.001-05:00

At our home, we are dealing with a very real problem. My 15 year old daughter is being terrorized by an 18 boy and his girlfriend, as a game. I will even go as far to say that this boy was likable to my wife and I in the beginning, he was too nice to be true. So,in the end, the school and the law said they were breaking no rules or laws because no threats of death, rape, bodily harm, or property damage had been made.

Which leads me to my question. As a parent, I am supposed to wait around for something bad to happen to my daughter before something can be done? Well, that's what we were told.

Parenting has changed much since I was growing up. Now we need a background check, credit check, sex offender check, and hope the school keeps accurate records. We learned valuable lessons, we hope we did not learn them too late.

So, I close with this warning. Watch what your children are doing, watch them on Facebook, Myspace, eBay, blogs, Xbox, Playstations, any and all internet activity, cell phones, texting, emails, who their friends are, and always know where they are when they are not home. They are our children, if something happens to them, they cannot be replaced. Think about it.

I have some recommendations and solutions I will put in future posts or as an addition to this one, these will come soon. Meanwhile, be safe.

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Storm 8 Game Codes and Information

2011-06-06T08:45:00.003-05:00

Welcome all Storm 8 Game players. See this link in my links section or just clicks the title of this post.

In this area you can find codes for your games and leave your code for the games also. Feel free to share the link with your game families so everyone can grow bigger and stronger.

Be sure you become a follower for good information exchange and updated information.

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Interesting Factoid

2011-06-05T16:30:00.001-05:00

Living in Southeast Texas not far inland from the gulfcoast, we see our fair share of rain. However, seems we have been super rain deficient for the last four plus months. Until today. I have been enjoying a blistering hot day in the pool with my kids, its 101 with 98% humidity, its hot. Then, out of the blue, dark and stormy clouds roll in, the thunder began softly, we could hear a few cracks of lightning, and finally, a rain drop landed on my face.

Protocol deems we clear the pool and retreat to the indoors. Which is where we sit, dark skies, and all the makings for a real turd floater. However, so far, just the one raindrop touching the skin of my face.

There's a 50-50 chance we will be going back in the pool at any time. I know my luck that well. We will just have to sit and wait to see if ol' Mother Nature can still produce a storm or not.

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New picture

2011-06-04T16:03:00.001-05:00

Please visit my profile for the link to view my first picture and commentary about Project Goldwing.

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Visiting my blog and what I offer.

2011-06-04T12:35:00.003-05:00

While visiting here, you can visit my profile section for now to see three more blogs I am putting together. As I get them up to par, I will hard link them in my links section. Be patient with me, I have a life also.

One is my take on cooking, there will be my own personal recipes that I have collected, created, or modified through out the years.

You can also witness the rebirth of a 1985 Honda Goldwing GL1200 Interstate as I plan to document her journey of restoration as I bring this classic cruiser back to life. There will be alot of pictures.

And the adoption blog is going to be a place to discuss my personal journey of being adopted and things I have experienced. Should be fun.

I am also kicking around the ideas for an AMMO, IYAAYAS, and USAF page. Will see how those go.

So relax................the ride is fixing to have some unexpected twists!

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Life will open your eyes !

2009-12-31T11:33:00.002-06:00

Before I begin, do not read this entry as a "woe is me" type of story. I don't feel sarry for me and neither should you. You may see how to do things in your life differently.

Family and some friends know we (me, my wife, and kids) are moving. I will not go into details here, but I will say that sometimes conditions in one's life become overwhelming and hard choices need to be made. With that being said, our house became a burden, then a nightmare, and then the storm cleared, leaving us in a better place than we began.

I would like to add that being "off" from work for a total of 5 months due to 2 surgeries this year, really puts a crimp in the bank account. Sometimes, as we found out, it is hard to see the situation you are in until it slaps you in the face, knocks you on your rear, and then proceeds to kick you in the face. However, once we got up, we were able to see the light.........and then we walked into it.

Where am I going with this, well, life is too short to be dreaded every day. I have my wife, my kids, and family. Nothing else really matters. I guess that is my true point, at the end of the day, I'm thankful they are in my life and we are a strong family. Whoever said "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" hit the nail right on the head.

So, as we role into the new year, we begin a new chapter in life. With that, I wish you a very Happy New Year and best wishes to you and yours'.

Welcome Back ! ! !

2009-12-31T09:23:00.004-06:00

It has been a while, a few months, since I have been posting or updating. Well, I'm changing that habit as of this morning. Also, I wanted to introduce my Facebook page, click the title of this blog. I need to do a little maintenance on this blog and my web page and we should be back in bussiness.

As a note to all my AMMO friends, new and old, plan on seeing more related material here, my web page http://www.angelfire.com/nm/EvilEyesPage/iyaayasmoderator.html , and on my Facebook page. I have alot of information to post, give me some time.

Going back in Time

2009-06-23T15:27:00.003-05:00

I can remember my dad showing me this picture in the summer of 1983, it was taken earlier that year. My dad belonged to an Ultralight club and was an avid amateur pilot. For the past two summers he had been teaching me to fly in the very Ultralight he is leaning on. This was a big summer for me, the summer of 1983, I was going to fly solo and get my amateur license.

After much practice, reading, training, and more practice, I was told I was ready for my solo. I was scared, all the what if's started hitting me. There was a crowd of about 80 people, friends, family, club members, people at the grass runway airport, and even the news. Local stories were big back in that time in small towns. There wasn't alot of preferred safety equipment back then, a helmet and maybe gloves. For me it was shorts, a tank top, tennis shoes with no socks, a helmet, my sunglasses, and a pair of gloves. I thought I was more than ready, and my dad thought so too.

I had a beautiful take off, soared into the setting sun as if I was meant to be there. About 10 minutes into the maneuvers, I entered an updraft in the air. This was bad new for me, I never got to practice for this kind of thing. I read about these conditions and was told about these conditions, but never got to experience them first hand. To make a long story short, I lost control at about 300 feet altitude. Everything else I tell you from here is what I was told afterwords. I was told that I was handling it great, looked as if I were going to get out of it in a classic text book move. And then................all hell broke loose, guide wires were breaking, the engine stalled, and I took a nose dive into the ground. Now for me, I remember none of that. I recall trying to get out of the pocket of air and the guide wires breaking, that's it until I hit the ground. I remember bracing for impact at the last second and how bad hitting the ground at about 75 mph feels. It hurts. I blacked out shortly afterwards. My dad told me he thought he was going to have to bury his only son. He said that with tears in his eyes. I know he was scared. Before that day I had never seen him cry before.

I woke up 4 days later in the hospital with 18 broken bones, to include having my jaw surgically wired shut because my jaw was shattered. I healed the rest of the summer. All I could do is think about that day, about what happened, and what went so horribly wrong. When the summer was over, I returned back to Texas, to my mom. I had a little limp, my legs were still quite sore after two very badly broken legs only three monthes prior.

Then, the day my mother received a phone call from my grandmother came. My mother then explained that my dad had died in an ultralight accident earlier that day. He was in a big state-wide fly in and show. Can disbelief even begin to describe what I was feeling. Not really, but we will leave it at that point for the time being. Within a day or so, I went to the funeral and buried my dad. This was a life changing experience for me. In retrospect, he died doing what he loved.

I had not been back to the cemetery where his was buried since that day. Until now. At the beginning of the month, I did visit him. It was harder than I thought. I suppose, looking back over my life, I've learned from most of my mistakes. I know I am not a big fan of flying and I know why. I've thought about if life would have been different had either of us not crashed that summer. It would have and I'm not willing to not have what I do have now. I was always taught that everything happens for a reason, even when people die. His death was a big impact on my life, on my search for my biological family, and even in the naming of my son. I lost a great man that day. But I will never forget what a great father he was to me.

I know this last weekend was Father's Day and I think that is why I wanted to share this story about my dad. Makes me wonder what he would be like today. Makes me wonder if he would think I was a good dad.

Reflections

2009-06-11T13:23:00.002-05:00

As I look at this picture I realize that if I decided to post it might give new understanding to who I am. Above my beliefs and opinions, I have another side. Until recently, I had never explored this side. I found that visiting my deceased father for the first time since 1983 was a great challenge for me. There had always been one reason or another that it has taken so long to go for the second time in my life to visit my dad. I say second time, the first was a few days after I buried him, I was 15 years old. I cannot begin to explain what I was thinking when this picture was taken. My wife actually took the picture without my knowledge. I thank her, it gives me a perspective I would not have had. I didn't know I would become as emotional as I did that day. I felt things I thought I resolved years ago. Was I ever wrong. I enjoyed my visit, it made me step back a few and hug those that mean the most to me.

Returning from South Dakota

2009-06-10T16:27:00.005-05:00

So, now I have returned from South Dakota. While there, I did a host of things, and for some it was a first time for me. I visited alot of people. This includes my 96 year old grandfather in Sioux City, Iowa, my deceased father in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a great deal of my biological family in Brookings, South Dakota, to include my deceased biological father, my step mother & step sister in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, whom I haven't seen since 1983, and finally, my 18 year old daughter in Rapid City, South Dakota, for her high school graduation. (I did mention I live in southeast Texas, right?) I also visited some landmarks, which I will discuss also, like The Corn Palace in Mitchel, South Dakota, Wall Drug and the Badlands in Wall, South Dakota, and of course, Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota.

I will discuss most of these here at this blog, but will go into much detail at my personal page about the things left out here. Don't be in suspense too long, for it will be tomorrow when I do both.

I did end up updating my personal page, @
http://www.angelfire.com/nm/EvilEyesPage/adoption.html where you can see the more complete story. Sorry, it was much too long to put here.

Going back to work

2009-05-26T15:31:00.004-05:00

I have never really taken a vacation for any extended period of time. Long times of not being at work equaled no job, like when I got out of the Air Force or when I was laid off a few years ago. When I had my knee surgery back on 24 Feb 2009, I knew that I would not be able to work for 8-12 weeks. This was my 5th knee surgery, so I knew what to expect for the most part as far as recovery. This past Monday, the 18th of May, I went back to the same job I have had for three years. The surprising part, I changed, the job didn't and the people didn't.

I work on a warehouse dock as a forklift operator. Not a real glorious or glamorous job, but it pays the bills and provides insurance for my family. Where I work, all characters are welcome. As long as you have a high b.s. tolerance level, a person will do fine. I think I lost my tolerance. However, without dismay, it was replaced with humor. Being able to see the humor within it all has really made going back a good change of pace for me. I have "work" friends, meaning we are friends at work, but don't associate outside of work. I've always wondered about that myself. It might have to do with being the token white guy for so long. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just always seems evident when I look around.

Getting back to going back. I never thought I would get as lazy as I did while I was laid up. I thought I was doing quite a bit while off. I exercised, I worked out, and I re-abilitated my knee. But being out on that dock is exhausting, maybe it's the heat and humidity. Now that I'm back, I find myself asking, why. Why am I putting myself through this. I have a fair boss, my job is not all that hard, and the people (employees and customers) always are up to something. Could I be bored? Could I be ready to move on? Did I really like being the "stay-at-home-mom"? Yes. Maybe, hard to tell. Yes. I enjoyed all the time I had with my kids and my wife. It was a re-awakening for me. It was a giant "look what is right here in front of you" and I wasn't noticing. Was I that complacent to my surroundings and family? I think I was, that's a scary place to be.

I did make some tentative plans while I was off. Alot of them depend on the results I get back from the Veteran's Affairs office. Depending on what my new rating will end up being will help decide what I end up doing in the long run. I did alot of research about what is involved in being an estate broker. I liked the idea. It's got me written all over it. Well, me, my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, and my wife, written all over it. I don't have real high hopes of any change any time soon. I will know more after 10 Jun 2009. When I know, you shall know. I know you await every word.

At the end of the week, I venture to South Dakota to see my eldest daughter graduate. I have mixed feelings about that one, but so does she I found out. I'm sure I will post a post about my little adventure.

Blogging in the military

2009-05-15T13:23:00.004-05:00

Enhanced Interrogation Techniques used by the United States

2009-05-14T11:39:00.002-05:00

The CIA described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" instituted in mid-March 2002. According to the CIA, only a handful of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use these techniques:

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.
3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

What would be other techniques that could be used if these are deemed harsh by the general public?

Are we to think our "enemies" take public concern into account while torturing and killing U.S. and allied forces?

Perhaps, just maybe, we should use these new techniques I had found. Just insert interrogators in place of teachers and parents, and detainee in place of children and kids.

Love and Logic is a philosophy founded by Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline, M.D., and is based on the experience of a combined total of over 75 years working with and raising kids. It provides simple and practical techniques to help teachers and parents have less stress and more fun. Love and Logic offers many useful techniques that teachers and parents can begin experimenting with immediately. Here are some examples:

1. Locking–in sadness or empathy before delivering consequences
2. Setting limits with enforceable statements
3. Sharing control through lots of small choices
4. Building relationships with the One Sentence Intervention
5. Neutralizing arguing with the Brain Dead technique
6. The Anticipatory Consequence

For more information on Love and Logic go to:
http://www.loveandlogic.com/

For more information on Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, just Google it.

Sugar Tax....................Really?

2009-05-13T08:27:00.002-05:00

"Food and drinks high in sugar should be taxed just like cigarettes, say economists who believe it is the only way to combat the global crisis in obesity." "The impact of taxes, subsidies and trade restrictions on consumption needs to be carefully looked at," agrees Boyd Swinburn of Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. This week he and colleagues argue in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity (vol 1, p 133) that the economic drive towards eating more and exercising less represents a failure of the free market that governments must act to reverse.

Could this really work? When two-thirds of the population of the United States are obese or overweight, you can't handle the problem with simple solutions like education. Instead, governments need to impose tariffs to replicate the success of tobacco taxes in reducing smoking. What am I missing? Through education it is taught that smoking is bad for your health and cigarettes are taxed at a very high rate. But there are still large numbers of smokers in the United States.

After hearing this on the radio while waiting to pick up my son from school yesterday, I needed to do some research and read up on this topic. Know what I found? The tax is to be used as a deterrent against consumption. The revenue will be used for obesity education and healthcare. What's next? Shall I be taxed for each letter I type right here and right now? They could use the revenue to help fund studies on carpal tunnel treatment. Give me a break.

Education vs Enviroment vs Experience

2009-05-12T15:40:00.003-05:00

Has anyone else ever wondered if people who are paying for their education in our colleges are getting educated or brainwashed? I bring this up for a few reasons. People talk to me and assume I'm uneducated. Which is true and untrue at the same time. I have three Associates degrees in an area of study I won't list here. Let's just say they directly relate to the job I had while serving in the United States Air Force. However, on the outside world here, they are worth very little because they are only Associates degrees.

I try to keep up with politics, religion, and the things happening around the world. I take a different perspective than most people do because I'm not real quick to form a positive or negative opinion. One thing I have noticed while being off work for the past eleven weeks is I spend more time watching the news, the weather, and reading different things on the Internet. I have the time, so why not. Where I make my mistake is using the discussion forums at blogcatalog to get a feel for other opinions. I, still today, get very surprised at the amount of people who have such high education, have the time to spend all day giving their opinion in forums.

I've started a few discussions, such as http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/can-the-democrats-stopreverse-global-warming , because I caught a piece of news on Fox that really got me to think. Now, I'm fully aware that the blogcatalog forum discussions are full of Bush hating Democrats. Maybe that is why I post my questions there, supposedly, the Democrats are better at controlling the aspects of my life than everyone else. I also started the discussion http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/can-the-democratic-party-save-the-united-states-from-imploding after I was told in my other threads that the Democratic party was here to save me and while doing so, save the United States. For fun, one day, I opened a can of worms with http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/overbreeding-a-species because you see alot everywhere how custom breeding is so wrong. I have bred ball pythons for some very specific traits, color being one of them. I didn't sell them, I was doing this for me. I had quite a nice collection of reptiles at one given time. Did you know, I was the devil, I'm the devil because I interfered with God's creatures. Plus, as I'm not a scientist of any sort, I probably created more problems for the animals than just changing their color. Ever wondered what people thought they might be remembered for, so I asked http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/what-will-you-be-remembered-for-after-your-death and it turned into a mess also. People get very disgusted with me because I asked if http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/should-the-united-states-remove-their-military-presence-from-around-the-world because I thought I could get a good cross section of information from the topic. I was wrong, they won't play nice with me because I like my country. After a post I did here in my blog about flag retirement, you can see that below, I did this one http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/is-patriotism-dead-in-the-united-states and now I'm wrong for having a flag and wanting my children to have respect for it while waiving in the air, or when it is time to retire it.

So, I suppose what I'm trying to say is that when you think you know it all, you are absolutely wrong. Also, when trying to learn, be careful of the source, I have no need to be brainwashed into thinking a certain way just because it happened to "you" and "you" think it is the right way to think altogether. I like who I am. Sometimes a "formal" education is way over-rated. For me, being people smart far out ways a degree hanging in the hallway.

I leave ya'll with this little tidbit. I would rather work hard and earn my money rather than demand a high price because I have a degree and don't know crap. I can sleep at night now, I couldn't if I was a fraud like that.

Can the Democrats stop/reverse global warming.

2009-05-11T12:19:00.002-05:00

I saw on Fox this weekend a report that was blaming the increased signs of global warming on the practices conducted by the Republicans and it was suggested that with this new administration that it could be stopped and possibly even reversed.

Can the Democrats really reverse or stop nature?

Below is a copy of the Democratic Agenda, I didn't see anything about the climate or global warming.

"Democrats have a special commitment to America. We believe that every American, whatever their background or station in life, should have the chance to get a good education, to work at a good job with good wages, to raise and provide for a family, to live in safe surroundings, and to retire with dignity and security. We believe that quality and affordable health care is a basic right. We believe that each succeeding generation should have the opportunity, through hard work, service and sacrifice, to enjoy a brighter future than the last."

Anyone who wants to can research all the Democratic hype sites and see nothing on plans or efforts to stop/change global warming. How can global warming be blamed on a particular party again, I missed the parts where some of us make no impact and others make all the impact on the environment, for better or worse.

My only thing here is how one side blames the other and then claims to fix it. Has there been no other presidents who wanted to do something about global warming until now? I bet if we follow the money, it will lead to the answers.

Can the Democratic party save the United States from imploding?

2009-05-08T15:38:00.002-05:00

1) Without quoting from the Democrat party agenda, (which is full of nice ideas to pretty much solve everything that ails us in the United States), how do you see our current administration "correcting" or "undoing" the nations problems?

2) Will the Democrats be able to do this without taking steps backwards even further than we are now?

3) Should I line up for all of the "promised" handouts?

4) Do you really want "socialized" medicine?

I keep getting told that the Democratic party is here to save the fate of the United States. I'm still waiting. "It takes time." Oh yeah, how much time? Give me a timeline, the Democrats are famous for time lines. They have a time line to get the United States out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The have a time line to ween us off oil. There is NO time line for when we switch over to socialized medicine. When will I be able to get all the fine things promised? Where's that time line?

As I read the newspapers, surf the Internet, and speak with family and friends, I have a hard time seeing what it is that the Democratic party is bringing me? Maybe, just maybe, we will wait for eight years, and that wasn't enough time, then another eight years. Think they could make this a better nation while I'm still alive? I would like to see these significant changes.

Before you start, I do not support either party or what they stand for. Because in everything I read or here, they don't stand for me.

Observations in New Orleans, LA USA

2009-05-07T15:21:00.003-05:00

I make regular trips to New Orleans, LA from Houston, TX, usually twice a week. Yesterday, while in New Orleans, I watched the police remove people from a condemned house. There was two elderly women, an elderly man, two women in their 20's and seven small children, some school aged. It was quite an ordeal to witness. These houses, condemned after the hurricane, are now being lived in still today with no electricity, no sewer, no water, no gas, and so on.

The dozers were there to remove the houses to get the site ready for new houses being built by Habitat for Humanity. There are 8 houses on this little street, all condemned. Looking from the street, one cannot tell or even imagine if anyone lives in them or how they live in them.

I know, because of working in the construction areas there, that the condemned properties are the sole property of the United States government. These properties were in turn sold to contractors to re-develop. Occupants/owners were not given the opportunity to re-aquire said properties. It is a Federal Crime to occupy a condemned house/building/facility.

This is not the first time I have witnessed a removal. I've seen it more than I care to remember. It is hard for a more fortunate person to look out onto these streets and imagine what it is like to be that family. I am thankful I have not had to endure these conditions with my family. Remembering back here to Ike last year, we did live in our house with no power or water for two and a half weeks in the dead of summer. Was is rough? For city folks like my family, it was easy to see their discomfort. I wasn't worried about me, I worried for their health and safety. We could have left and drove to Austin, TX to stay with my parents. But we worried of looting and things like that. We were lucky, we suffered no home destruction, and no damage. We did lose a big tree and alot of large branches. We made it. We camped out in our house, cooking on the grill or sharing food with neighbors.

Back to New Orleans. Every time I drive there it seems they are struggling to get back on their feet. There are neighborhoods that have yet to be touched. They are not cleaned up, the debris is still in the roads and yards, trees still lay on houses, and cars which had been flooded still litter the streets. I wish everybody the best. It would be nice if I had enough disposable capital to help and make a difference in their lives, but I don't have extra. I feel helpless, like my hands are tied behind my back with my eyes being held open so I am forced to watch.

Before it gets said, I will say it. Yes, I have the choice not to go. But I don't have the choice, it brings extra income into my household, so I would also be taking food off my table.

Talking about death

2009-05-05T08:31:00.002-05:00

Often, as parents, we get those simple questions in daily life which really boggle our minds. This happened to me last night after dinner. Before I start, let me tell you what a "thinker" my seven year old son is. He asked me, a couple of weeks ago, "Daddy, why is our galaxy (the Milky Way) named after a candy bar?" My immediate response was asking him to repeat the question so I made sure I heard him right. I did. This turned out to be a tougher question than it appears. At first, I chose to google it, because that is the easy way to get your information in a fast and timely manner. Was I ever wrong in thinking that.

I could not find a date when either the galaxy or the candy bar was given that name, or why to either one. We, my son and I, spent many ours looking for a suitable and understandable answer. I explained that the galaxy was named first and the candy bar was named after it because it had a taste bigger than our "galaxy". So far, so good.

Back to last night. He asked me what I will be remembered for after I'm dead. For the first time in my life, I really didn't know. There wasn't a book to explain it, I couldn't google it, and I was really stumped. Why? I don't know. In the end, I will be remembered for "Daddy" things most of all. I am, to say the least, the oldest and biggest kid in this house. I'm a hands on dad, I'm on the floor more than the couch. We do almost everything together as a family or just me and my kids. I'm lost without my children. Quite frankly, if they are not around for a while, it really brings me down. In the end of that conversation, I explained that I will not be famous in anyone's eyes except for my childrens'. He smiled at me, missing his two bottom front teeth, and said that he loved me and that I was his favorite Daddy. Good enough for me, I ask for nothing else, just to be loved by my family.

? Questions about who we really are ?

2009-05-01T11:51:00.004-05:00

I've been involved in a couple of discussions I started @ blogcatalog. They are http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/proper-us-flag-retirement and http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/is-patriotism-dead-in-the-united-states and I find that I have the wrong idea of what I am proud to be, an American. I like a little trash talking, it heats up the discussion and lets you get involved. My wish is not to strong arm people into loving their country or to even tolerate it. I pissed alot of people of with my love it or leave it" attitude and with my "are you a part of the problem or a part of the solution" attitude. There was alot of name calling, on both sides. Certain people got upset when definitions of patriotism differed from their own. We had history buffs, military enthisiasts, anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-America, a Canadian or two, and many other people from all walks of life all over the world, expressing their opininions and taking jabs at me. I did jab back also, I didn't need to, but I wanted to.

I fly the United States flag and Texas flag proudly in my front yard for the world to see. Why? Because I still think they stand for something. Most explained to me that the true meanings have been washed away by time, politics, goverments, and the general population. I live in a fairy tale world of sorts, because I choose to display my pride publically and defend my right to do so. It's easy to disregard what one believes in strongly. It's easy to make the choice of silence.

As I sit here, getting ready to go see my orthopedic surgeon, I smile, knowing that I have the opportunity to make that choice. I will add more to this post later.

Here we are a few days later. I went away for this weekend, not far, but far enough away where the only people I saw or heard were my family. While out on my camping trip, I reflected on why I started writing this post in the first place. Aggrevation. I did spend some time thinking about what people said and how they said it. Can I be that different than most people? Am I really as stupid as people think?

I went back over those threads this morning and found some interesting details about what everyone was saying. I did not realize that there were so many "quotes" from people quoting other people in history to specifically make their point. If you read them in that context, it proved their point directly. But, it you read the quotes as stand alone comments, not knowing the conversation that it was involved in, then it could mean something completely different. I realize, now, after the fact, that I didn't want to see that people could quote other people, I wanted to see that people could have a discussion on their own two feet. Don't get me wrong, there were people present that could speak on their own behalf. There were people interjecting their own agenda, such as Bush bashing, rants against politics and politicians, and so forth.

Have we, as a Nation, gone that far out of touch in the last two hundred years? Did it really happen over the last eight years, or even within the last one hundred years? Can it ever been straightened out? Is our Nation really that broken?

Wher has Pooh gone !?!?!?

2009-04-30T12:48:00.004-05:00

This is a question heard quite often in my house. It's usually because I "pooh-nap" my twelve year old's winnie the pooh on occassion, for fun of course. Really, it's a torture of sorts for her. I didn't know it wounded her so deeply as it has. In the end, I quite hiding her pooh.

Well, guess what question I was woke up hearing this morning. If you said, "daddy!!! where's my pooh at?", then you were exactly right on the money. Funny thing is that it wasn't me. You heard me, it wasn't me. She, of course, has a very hard time believing me because I have done it so many times in the past. I even help her look for it this morning. No sign of pooh.

After a fair amount of time, my seven year old son pulls me to him so he can wisper something in my ear that he wants me to keep a secret for him. He tells me he knows where pooh is, but he's not telling, we have to find it ourselves.

The things our young ones catch on to and try to immitate. Now it is time for me to take my son off to school, the second grade even. On our very short drive I tried to get the location of pooh out of him, he wasn't budging, he won't tell me. He tells me I can look for it while I am at home all day. Not one of my top priorities. I drop him off and head home.

When I come through the front door, my daughter is sitting on the couch talking on her cell phone. Guess what she found? POOH! Now guess who gets the blame. Me. Why? She found pooh in one of my old hiding spots, it's in my room, in the storage area under my waterbed. I tried to explain what really happened, but she isn't believing me. Now she leaves for school, leaving pooh on the couch in plain site. Can you guess what happens next?