Happy Birthday He-He

If you have read my tag line above you know I have a ‘Green Navy Corpsman’ brother. For those that don’t know, a ‘Green Corpsman’ means he has chosen to serve with the Marines. I think the worst part (best part for him) was he had to do through Marine boot camp right after Navy boot camp. So, he was in boot camp for like 25 weeks.

Anyway, today is his birthday. He’s 41 today. He is here, (on MySpace) stop by and wish him a happy day. If you don't have a MySpace account say it here, I'll be sure he sees it.

These pictures are of him in Iraq in 2005, he was there in Ramadi for a year. The 3rd pic is of him and my son at Nick’s MCRD graduation last year.

Rally 1 - 2nd Annual Indiana Patriot Guard Rally

Link1 Link2 are to pictures some of the attendees have posted. I’ll bet after reading this and looking at the pics any of you can figure out who Chief, Russ, Curley and John and Carrie are. Enjoy!! I sure did!! Can’t wait for the 3rd Annual IPGR Rally!! Oh yeah, before I forget, for another take on the festivities, check this out.

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After the funeral for Cpl. Shawn D. Hensel, about 20 of us headed for Silver Lake for the 2nd Annual Indiana Patriot Guard Rally at Russ’ Barn and Grill.

It was kinda late in the afternoon when we got there and our host had burgers hotdogs and chips galore. It is amazing how good some things taste after an hour or so on the road.

Curly promised some home made apple pie and broke it out right after the late lunch. I’d guess it was about 4 pm. Just to set the record straight, Curly’s ‘apple pie’ is a drink, served in a Mason jar. Home made ingredients mixed with apple juice and cinnamon sticks. Smoooooth. I had 4 or 5 glasses all night. He brought 2.5 gallons, it was gone before dark.

There was a small program on a stage Russ had built out back of the barn. We heard Tim talk about the good he has seen in Iraq and how they would try to follow insurgents to their hide outs to catch the whole group but before the insurgent could get back to his hide out, the local farmers would catch them and bring them in. In his words, half a dozen guys with shovels would go after one guy with an AK. And they would win. Without fail, the captured men always had Syrian money in their pockets.

One of the absolutely most memorable parts was when a man named Rick Fields got up and thanked us for everything we do. He went on about how much he appreciated us and how we had helped him and that he was, as soon as he could get on a computer, going to join the PGR. He is Ricky Jones’ father. He said because of the divorce he had not seen Ricky for 16 years and the best day of his life was when Ricky came home from boot camp and walked into this back yard and re-introduced himself. After that they talked every day, through his special training, to his first tour in Iraq. Then the worst day of his life was about 2 years later when the Army came to his house to tell him Ricky had died. In a crowd of 60 biker types there wasn’t a dry eye to be found.

At some point in the activities, Curly ended up on stage. He was making some reference to that curly teddy bear tongue twister (fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair...) and flipped his hat off. That must have been a que to John that it was his turn to come up on stage. He goes up and grabs a teddy bear off of a stool in the back and starts in with ‘dating for 6 months’, ‘they say I’m too old and she’s too young’ followed by ‘Carrie will you come up here’. By now Carrie is covering her face with her hands and headed for the stage. When she gets up on stage John says he loves her and drops to one knee and some how the teddy bear has a ring in it’s paws, she’s crying, they’re trying to get the ring off the bear (it didn’t want to let go), Curly is still holding the mic and asking her repeatedly ‘Is that a yes, you have to say something girl’. Finally she says ‘YES’, they hug and everyone cheered. Heh, I got the whole moment on video on my phone... just can’t find the mini-micro adapter to let me download it off the chip...

Russ announced that the hog was done about 8 and we dug in to slow roasted pork BBQ, baked beans, coleslaw... all the fix’ens. At some point Russ announced that this was his 17th hog this season!!! That’s a lot of pork! After sufficiently stuffing our selves a karaoke band took the stage and entertained everyone... not my cup of tea, but some really seamed to like it.

Chief, DC and myself had our way with a 1.75 liter bottle of Jack. Between the 3 of us we drank it all. Chief is the party animal in the shots.

Some time around 3 am Russ and the last of us late nighters decided to call it quits. The Jack was gone, the Crown had a big dent in it and the aluminum can recycle tub was full. I knew we were heading out at about 8 am in the morning for the Support The Troops Rally in Indy so I had skipped setting up my tent so I wouldn’t have to take it down and could sleep as long as possible... but where to sleep. I staggered around the barn and saw that big empty stage. It has some carpet on it so it wouldn’t be too bad, besides, I thought, I should be able to fall right to sleep considering all of the alcohol. Crash, I’m sound asleep, then I wake up after what seems like seconds. Did you know a flock of mosquitoes could wake you out of a drunken slumber? Me neither, but they sure did. I still have a dozen or so welts on my arms. I had to unroll the sleeping bag and cover up with it, completely. Little BASTARDS!!

I want to end this with a quote. Russ sat on the stage during the program part and read this. I want to re-state it here because;
1 - it’s true,
2 - maybe there are some of you reading this that have not heard it yet.
Russ believes (as do I and many, if not everyone there Saturday) very strongly in what the PGR does. Russ is a Vietnam Vet and can read this with more feeling and sincerity than you can imagine.

I wish you all the best and remember, our freedoms have been bought with a price.

We are...

...the grandparents, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, aunts, uncles, boy/girlfriends, nieces, nephews, friends and total strangers of our Fallen Hero's.
... the workers that in the first week of May have used all our vacation time for the year and have yet to have a vacation.
... the men and women whose paycheck is a little short this week because a priority caused us to take a day off unpaid.
... the active duty, reserve, retired, discharged, disabled vets and their friends, family and relatives.
... the neighbor who wakes you up at 5AM on a freezing morning as we depart for yet another mission, hours away, we would wish we were not making.
... your CEO and your janitor, your police, firefighter, grocer, mechanic, secretary and everyone in between.
... the people that drive minutes to hundreds of miles to ensure that no Hero is forgotten nor family disturbed in their time of grief.
... the men and women that give up time with our own families to show respect, love and support to families who are still grieving at their loss and wondering WHY??
... the men and women of the Patriot Guard Riders.
And why do we do all this...because it's the Right Thing To Do
Love and Respect, Your Indiana Brothers and Sisters of the Patriot Guard Riders

Saturday - Side Bar

I had the distinct honor to stand with Jerry’s wife, Carol, Saturday. As hard as it was, it was great to see her. (Good-by Jerry, Today is Jerry’s funeral)

As I walked by heading inside the church, I saw here standing there off to the side, not going in. I know these missions are hard for her. I believe Jerry thought of us as family. She comes because he would have and she loves this family too. In my innocence, I asked her if she was going in. She said she would, with me. Needless to say, when Shawn’s wife spoke, saying what she said, it hit a cord with her. We bawled like babies.

Carol has made a promise, she is getting her motorcycle license and will be riding with us... on Jerry’s trike (click on the links, there are pics back there). She told me, “I’ve sat on it, in ‘his’ seat...” (good God, I’m such a fluff ball, I’m tearing up writing this). She had to stop and wipe away more tears. “That’s not where I belong”, she said. But he would be so proud of you, I thought... I should have said it. Don’t worry, I will next time.

Can I Get Some Help Over Here?

A very dear friend of mine could use some encouragement. She’s going through some rough times with a bastard of an EX. Please stop by and cheer her up.

Thanks!!

God NO, Please, No

She cried.

Saturday morning took us to the funeral services for Cpl. Shawn D. Hensel. We road up in the rain. It was fitting.

We stood our flag line out front of the church for about 90 minutes. The old knees not being what they used to be, I was looking forward to the dismissal so I could take a break. At about 5 minutes after the service started a couple of the ushers came out and told us the family had requested we line the inside of the church with our flags... I am not one to refuse a families request. So, inside I went, inside we went, about 40 of us. What an honor...

We found a place and stood again for about an hour. Funny thing was, I forgot about my knees. Mrs. Hensel, a bride of 8 months, had come up to speak by the time we got situated. During her elegy she confessed to still checking her e-mail with anticipation of a message from Shawn and the crushing dismay as once again the reality of these days hit her with renewed force.

As the service was ending we quietly filed out and resumed out positions outside. The family filed out and the Army Honor Guard came with the flag draped casket. Through the hushed silence a womans voice could be heard, “God NO, Please, no...”. Disbelief and denial instantly turn to harsh reality and a grieving mother cries. I am not as eloquent a writer as many of you, expressing in words the gravity and harshness of the moment escapes me. Suffice it to say, if you were there, seeing and hearing, you would have cried. God knows I did.

We again were honored to be invited to ride in the procession, through the city of Logansport, IN. The citizens of Logansport lined the streets, holding flags, holding “Thank You” signs and signs that said “God Bless the Hensel family”. Our numbers were just over 100, they numbered in the thousands. Walmart, Home Depot, Pizza Hut and others must have closed their doors for the procession. The streets in front of their stores were lined with employees, holing flags and signs.

The Logansport Fire Department honored Cpl. Hensel with 2 ladder trucks and a huge flag hanging over the street.

I remember riding by a woman standing with her husband, he holding a flag and her, leaning on him, hand over her mouth, visibly crying.

At the cemetery, words were said, rifles were fired, a flag was folded. A life has ended.

However true that may be, Cpl. Shawn D. Hensel will not be forgotten.

A Story
Faces of The Fallen

A Rally-Full Weekend

It’s gonna be a busy weekend.

Cpl. Hensel’s mission and funeral Saturday morning; the state wide ‘Gathering of The Guard’, the 2nd annual; then Sunday is the 3rd annual Support Our Troops Rally in downtown Indianapolis.

The mission is below.

The state rally (on the 25th) - there is gonna be a band, a bonfire, camping, a hog, a fund raising ride and lots of food and fun!!! DC and I are splitting a half gallon of Jack!!! (you can call me shit faced). Dc and Officer Baby are making eggs and biscuits with sausage gravy for breakfast. Then we (a lot of us) are heading to Indy for the Support Our Troops Rally.



Should be a great time. As always, if you are in the Indy area and have respect for the families and our soldiers, please join us.

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Pfc. Shawn D. Hensel, 20, of Logansport, Ind., died Aug. 14 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds during an enemy attack. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
The circumstances surrounding the death are under investigation.
For more information related to this release, the media may contact the Fort Lewis public affairs office at (253) 967-0152, (253) 967-0148, or after hours at (253) 967-0015 (ask for the public affairs officer on call).

Tomorrow the Indiana Patriot Guard Riders gather in Logansport Indiana to honor the family and remember the sacrifice made by Cpl Shawn D. Hensel. He was promoted posthumously.

It is our honor.

This mission has three parts;
* Part one, yesterday, was an escort detail. Cpl Hensel was flown into Lafayette Regional Airport. I had to work, but it is my understanding that over 50 bikes were present for the escort form Lafayette to Logansport.
* Part two, today, is an honor guard at the church. Some of our members will stand for an hour or two with flags, honoring the family, honoring the man.
* Part three, tomorrow (Saturday), is the funeral. I will be there for this part.

If you will be in or near the Logansport Indiana area Saturday, please join us.

Some of the guys that were there yesterday posted some of their thoughts on the PGR page, I think you should read them.

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I just returned home from the escort for CPL Hensel and all I can say is WOW. We had 59 bikes at the last count, great turn out, thanks to all who came for this escort. I talked with Shawn's father after the escourt and he was amazed with what he saw and wished to thank each and every one of you all for showing up on such a HOT day. I was very impressed with the turn out of citizens along the entire route but most especially with the small town of Delphi. I think everyone in town was on the street as we came through. I nearly couldn't see to drive going through there with all the tears in my eyes. THANK YOU DELPHI and thank all the members of PGR you were great.

I am sooooo proud to be a PGR member,
Terry M.

**********************

What an HONOR to ride for this American HERO in the first stage of this mission. Shawn was taken home with all the dignity, respect and HONOR he so richly deserved.

As Terry said above, it is hard to ride with so many other bikes when your eyes keep running over. The out pour of people in the town of Delphi was outstanding. Makes it real hard to swallow let alone even talk. When we passed that Catholic school and all those little girls were pressed against that fence, some with their little hands over their GREAT BIG HEARTS, it was overwhelming. The bike got washed again. It was an outstanding mission from the start. Being invited by the family inside the hanger to be a part of them in this sad hour was very very humbling. Even Kalitta's pilots were right there showing the respect they always do. I had to go over and tell them so and how much it means to the family and we as PGR's, for them to display the respect they always do. I did thank them for us. I thought the one pilot was going to lose it and if he did, I would have too. Very emotional.

Ray

Zen Summary IV

Words may express it, words cannot hold it: the way of letters leaves no trace, Yet the teaching is revealed. - Dogen

Think sideways! - Edward De Bono

The meadows were a-drinking at their leisure; the frogs sat meditating, all Sabbath thoughts, summing up their week, with one eye out on the golden sun, and one toe upon a reed, eyeing the wondrous universe in which they act their part; the fishes swam more staid and soberly, as maidens go to church. - Henry David Thoreau

The fruit drips when it is ripe. - Zen Saying

The frog rises to the surface by the strength of its non-attachment. - Joso

One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. - Andre Gide

.

Come Home Soon

For the wives and families of our soldiers. CavMom posted this.

To those here, thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for supporting your soldier.

Loop For Life - Ride Report

A little over 3,000 motorcycles and about $102,000!! It was a great time. We got spit on by some big black clouds, nothing major.

It was a blast!! Riding with so many bikes is always cool. We went a little slow for my taste but hey, can’t have 3,000 bikes going 80 mph around Indianapolis, can they? LOL!

DC and I bought a sign from one of the vendors, Looks like a “No Parking” sign and is real heavy steel (18ga for you hands on types). Real nice for a novelty, it says “You think SHIT happens? <-----> Park Here”.

We left The Loop after eating and went up to Russ’ (if you click here, give it a minute to load, there is a cool song that will play once everything loads) wedding party. He (Russ) and Lisa got married Saturday morning. The sign was a wedding present!! They loved it and stuck it on the wall in his barn.

The red, white and blue bike is a ‘Boss Hoss’. This one has a 502 (yes, five hundred and two) cubic inch big block V-8 in it. AND nitrous injection (see the cans near the back shocks?).

...

Loop For Life

Imagine, if you will..

You are walking on what seem to be a rather crowed a bridge that crosses the interstate loop around your city. For some reason, although you can’t put your finger on it, something just doesn’t look right... Then it hits you, there is no traffic in the counter clock wise direction, nothing, nada. As you look around trying to gather some reason for this oddity, lights begin to appear in the distance, breaking the heat induced water mirage with an alarming quantity. First a couple, then a dozen, hundred... thousands? Can’t be that many, you whisper to yourself. Then there is the ‘sound’, a low rumble as the first lights come into view. Again increasing in volume with the lights to a thunderous level that seems to be coming from everywhere. The thunder is broken only by the louder shriek of the occasional truck horn.

A sea of color, from black to white and every color of the rainbow and many with flags, American Flags. Waiving, fluttering, popping with the speed of their approaching and departing. The people around you are cheering, some are waving flags or their own, the riders below wave back and cheer, as those around you cheer even louder. Taken up in the moment, you wave and smile with civic pride. At that moment you step back from the edge, a small boy in a wheel chair has approached and holding a small American flag, asks you if he can see in front of you. As you turn to leave you hear, “Moma, look at all of them!! Are they the ones that helped us buy me this new chair?” “Yes dear, those are the ones”.

As quickly as they came, they leave. Thousands (yes thousands) of men and women on steel horses. The sparkle of the chrome, the shine of the colors, the pride in their flags, disappear into the distance and for a brief second there is a silence that is more deafening than any horn blast.

This is the Loop For Life, a one day, once a year event in Indianapolis when they actually close the inner, counter wise lanes of Interstate 465 to car and truck traffic and only motor cycles are allowed, the police block all of the ramps and escort us from the Marion County Fair Grounds around the 60+ miles back to the Fair Grounds. As a participant there is a free lunch, there are also vendor booths and a band plays for the rest of the day. It is a good time. Last year we raised about $100,000. This year the goal is $150,000.

If you have some time Saturday and are in Indy, stop by a I-465 bridge a little after noon and watch as the steel horses and their riders break the silence with a roar of thunder. And remember the children, the sick and the needy we ride to help.

Gorilla Story

A local home owner calls animal control complaining he has a gorilla on his roof. “The gorilla is jumping all around, making all kinds of noises and scaring the children. Send someone out here before he hurts someone”, he pleads.

Animal control sends their gorilla expert out, a very old guy that looks like his better days are long past. He gets out of the truck and shuffles up to the house with a bat, a shotgun and a dog. The old guy asks the home owner “would you mind helping me out with your gorilla?”

The home owner says “Sure, It’s not my gorilla but what do you want me to do?”

“Well,” says the old timer, “I’m going up on the roof with this bat and try to scare the gorilla down here. When that happens, the dog is trained to bite his balls and hold him until we can get him caged.”

The old timer hands the shot gun to the home owner. The home owner, now rather confused, asks, “What do you want me to do with this shot gun?”

The old timer says, “If I fall of the roof first, shoot the dog.”

28 More Years

Found this at Sparrows. Looks like I have 28 more years... that doesn’t seem very long.

You Will Die at Age 73

You're pretty average when it comes to how you live... And how you'll die as well.

What Age Will You Die?

Vote Damn It!!

I hijacked someone else’s post last time. This time I'll just link (HERE). K said it so much better than I could even dream.

It's a long read, but well worth it.

And don't forget to vote!!

Blog Back-Up

Does any one but me think about backing up their Blog? It seems any post I write these days doesn’t show up on my blog for some time and I am reading that a bunch of you are experiencing the same trouble. Blogs disappearing, post hiding then coming back. WTF

The last couple posts had me flipping back through the page of my blog and re-reading so of that shit. Some post are good, some... well, it’s a wonder you understand what I’m typing sometimes.

All of that got me thinking, what if Bloger has a major melt down?? They don’t promise to keep anything and loosing it is not their fault, right? How can I back-up my blog??

A year or so ago I friend showed me an application called wget. It goes to a webpage and copies everything... kinda cool for looking into the bowels of a competitors web site. Anyway, I tried it on my blog and wha-la. It worked!! I now have a complete backup copy of every post and comment on my C drive.

Cool!!


The 'How to...’ thing on Bloger sounds way like too much work. Hope this works for you!!

He's Gonna Be OK!!!

The missus and I rode up to Elkhart, Indiana Saturday. I had to see Dirtbike. He looked good, good color, big smile, hugs all around. DB’s wife is putting him under house arrest for something around a week once he gets out (should have been out Saturday afternoon). I know he’s gonna go stir crazy but it will be good for him. He needs to rest. He says he had a ‘very’ accelerated (over 200) heart rate for a couple days (I so wanted to smack the shit outta him) before he called his daughter to drive him to the hospital.

I cannot tell you how much good it did my spirit to see him, to see him hop up out of the bed and greet us. Not knowing what to expect gave me an incredible lump in my throat as we approached his room. It was great to see him.

I offered to keep the oil warm in his bike... he said there was a half dozen other guys that were in front of me and several that had offered to take the custom flamed fairing and saddle bags off his hands if the Dr’s said he couldn’t ride anymore. LOL!! I think he is actually worried about his bike getting miles without him.

All in all it was a good ride. We stopped in Kokomo and had a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel on the way up. Covered the 120+/- miles in a little over 2 hours. The ride home was a little more relaxed, took about 3 hours. All together we covered 300 miles.

I’m so glad he’s gonna be ok.

Zen Summary III

More from my Daily Zen Canander. See the first collection here and the second here. then if your realy feeling the Zen, biker Zen is here.

How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude! - Emily Dickinson

The knife does not cut itself, the finger does not touch itself, the mind does not know itself the eye does not see itself. - Zen Saying

What is to give light must endure burning. - Viktor Frankl

We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men... trees are travelers, in the ordinary sense. They make journeys, not very extensive one, it is true; but our own little comings and goings are only little more that tree-wavings - many of them not so much. - John Muir

The universe came into being with us together’ with us, all things are one. - Chuang-Tzu

A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows even though we do not love it. - Dogen

Photo of the...

Some time ago I tried posting some pictures and thought I’d do a ‘pic of the week’ or something kinda regular. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

I did, however, start this. Add it to your RSS feed. I’d hate to have you check for weeks when I may not get out with the camera for weeks. I’ll post over there sporadically at best. Right now I’m catching up a lot of old pics I have sitting around on various computers.

All Right, Everybody, Just STOP!!!

I used to marvel at ‘older’ people when they would comment ‘I’ve been to the funeral of 4 friends this year’ and wonder naively, wow, four friends die in less than a year. What happened to them? I know what happened, they got old!!

With the PGR I’ve made many friends, most older than me. We go to these missions (PGR word for funeral) and see each other, we hug and cry (yes, damn it, bikers cry) seeing the sacrifice a family has made. Some people you get close to, others you know by site only.

A friend’s husband died a little over a year ago, another friend I’ve blogged about here and here is fighting cancer, one PGR member and friend got killed riding his bike in Tennessee, another died in his sleep the first of the year and my blodfather got me started doing this by having a heart attack.

Now I find out almost a week after the fact, Dirtbike, (a.k.a Dirtbag, or Douchebag) has had a ‘heart event’ (his words) and has been in the hospital for about a week. He lives near the Michigan line and not seeing him for weeks is not uncommon but to find out he has been in the hospital for a week was like getting hit by a truck.

I want to leave work NOW and go kick his motherfuckingass for not telling me. I swear to God if that little shit says anything like “I didn’t want to bother you’... as soon as he is better, I’m gonna fucking kill him!!!

DirtBag and Me

So what am I saying... Everybody (PGR friends, work frineds, and bloging friends) just stop!! No more getting older, no more ‘heart events’ no more cancer, no more making me feel like there’s a bike parked on my chest. My heart can’t take it.

My Turn To Beg

The Indiana Patriot Guard Riders are having their 2nd annual calendar sales fund raiser. Last year we sold about 1000 calendars. The neat part and the part we are doing right now is selling the ad spaces in the calendar.

Last year we sold 72 spaces, this year we are selling 144, 12 spaces per month. This link takes you to an order form and this link to a sample page from the 2007 calendar. Please take a look. If you have any questions post them here and I’ll answer them, that way everyone will know. Buying an ad gets you one free calendar, so wish that favorite person happy birthday, say ‘hi’ to a solder, remember a fallen hero or advertise you business.

On the sample page the first 4 ads are the $50 variety (basic B&W text), the 5th is $75 (text - 50, logo - 15, color - 10) and the 6th is $65 (text - 50, logo - 15)

Edit - I have a Word copy of the order form if you'd like to type your ad/thanks out and e-mail it to me.

You Need to See This

Trust me.

Click here.

Damn Me

Have I mentioned I don’t like heat... How about the red/blonde hair, fair skin and being easily sun burnt??

I went to today’s PGR mission fully knowing of my short comings. I ate twice my normal breakfast (two pop-tarts), before noon I had drunk 4 bottles of water and I ate a power bar around noon. As the service ended around 1300 hours, I got light headed... I had to sit down or I was going to fall down. Now trying to ride a bike with no real sence of balance isn’t a good thing. So, I rested for a few minutes and tried to get up and about fell down again... the procession to the cemetery left without me. I laid in the grass behind the church for about 30 minutes and made it north about 1 mile to a gas station where I got some Gatorade and some cheese crackers. Sat there for about 30 minutes. Took this pic of a thermometer under the canopy at the gas station.

I’m just glad no one from the family saw me about passed out.

I know it is hard to see, but the needle is pointing at 100... in the shade...

DoD Identifies..

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died July 31 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle. They were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.

Killed were:

Spc. Zachariah J. Gonzalez, 23, of Indiana.

Pfc. Charles T. Heinlein Jr., 23, of Hemlock, Mich.

Pfc. Alfred H. Jairala, 29, of Hialeah, Fla.

For more information related to this release, the media may contact the Fort Lewis public affairs office at (253) 967-0152, (253) 967-0148, or after hours at (253) 967-0015 (ask for the public affairs officer on call


And the end begins... a family has closure. But does it ever end? I think not.

Tomorrow, the Indiana Patriot Guard Riders will honor the family of SPC. Zachariah J. Gonzalez. Please pray for the family, please pray for the friends.

SPC. Zachariah J. Gonzalez - Your service and sacrifice will not be forgotten. Thank you for my freedom. Rest in peace solder, rest in peace.

RE: Yesterday

Just in case you thought I was kidding, todays task bar...

Clicky for biggie.

Gawd Damned Microsoft

OK, I’m just a user, some say a power user. I have my software, I expect it to work. It worked last week, now this week it doesn’t... WTF!!??!!

I know enough bout networks, IP and Active Directory to be dangerous. But software, I can make it sing. My most joy comes from asking our crack IT staff a question about how to do something and they have to go research it for days.

Any of you computer hardware geeks out there, tell me if I’m expecting too much. I have a 3.3Mghz HP with 1Gb of RAM and I am typically running:

Word - 2-4 documents
Excel - 2-4 sheets
Outlook - calendar and as many as 10 messages open at once.
Adobe Pro PDF Editor - 3-6 documents
BaaN - our MRP software, usually 4 screens
IE - 3-4 sessions
AutoCAD 2006 - 2 - 4 small (100kb to 250kb) drawings
AGI32 - Light Rendering software usually just one

Is this too much? Should I cut back? Like I said, it was ok last week... probably auto loaded a ‘patch’ that fucked things up!!!

Fuck’n Microsoft!!

A Request...

I blatantly copied this post from Sparrow. She said it better than I could and said everything that needs saying.

LL from Chromed Curses is one of the most giving people I know. She spent hours, days and weeks putting my blog together, and she has more recently been giving a boatload of her precious free time to help a charity called America’s Wounded Heroes get their website up and running. This is a very special charity, and in case you are too lazy to click on a Sunday night, here is their mission statement:

America’s Wounded Heroes exists to:

• Provide financial assistance to military personnel, policemen, firefighters, and EMTs wounded in service who have put their lives at risk to protect and serve American citizens.


• Enable such persons to obtain relief in the area of special adaptive mobility equipment such as motorized wheelchairs, golf carts, segways, and other mobility devices not provided for by the government and private insurance.


• Give such persons monetary grants for the transition from hospitals or rehabilitation facilities back to active service or monetary grants needed for the transition from hospitals or rehabilitation facilities back to civilian life.

Since this is a brand new charity, they are desperately in need of funds. Here is something you can do to help them even if you can’t spare the quid to send them any actual real-life moolah. LL says:

I’m asking you to go to VA Joe’s and vote for us. You have to join (free) and all you do is provide a username, a password, and an email address. On the next page you can fill in name and stuff, but at the bottom, you can choose to not get any email notifications and NOT fill in the personal data.

THEN YOU CAN VOTE FOR US!!

VA Joe’s will give $2,000 to the charities that get the most votes. LL asks for so little, and it’s never for her. When she asks me to jump, I say how high, how many times and where do you want me to land, MA’AM?? Take three minutes and do it.

Because LL said so. And she can beat the crap out of you.

But also because it’s the right thing to do.

Anti Vick

Too bad he isn't wearing it.

WTF...?!

I’m by no stretch of the imagination a ‘texting expert’.

I’m listening to Yahoo Launch, the free streaming music thing, and there is the commercial about GM/Chevy translating text messages. You know the basic LOL etc. Then there is the weird string that is for their commercial. At the end the voice says ‘WTF - Wow, That’s Fantastic’... ROTFLMFAO!!!!!

Aaaarrrrgghhh!!!!

Hi...

I’ve bee through almost 200 e-mails and there are about a dozen fires that need my attention (I’m not drinking enough for this) So, enjoy a joke. Sorry, it's all I've got right now. I have posts in the works, promise. Ya know, coming back to this much ‘work’ could make one not want to go on vacation...

*************************

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables; and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze. When he heard nothing more after a bit, he shook his head, promised himself a vacation after the next big score, then clicked the light on and began searching for more valuables.

Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, Clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you." Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice.

Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

“Did you say that?" he hissed at the parrot.

"Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"

"Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed, "What kind of people would name a bird Moses?"

"The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler Jesus."