That wasn't suppose to send...
I remember while I was living in California, one time when my oldest son came to visit. He was at camp Penelton for desert warfare training...
He opened my refrigerator and remarked that it must be a guy thing cause I only had beer and meat in my fridge.
Made me laugh, makes me smile now.
He's a good kid, they're both great. I love them... love you both.
In a fit of melencolly tonight, I've decided to record here some random things as they com to me. The melincolly was about my memory. I feel likke I'm loosing it. Names escape me often, I even forget the names of some of co-workers in mid sentence. Maybe it's just old age and everyone goes thru this, right?
Wonder if I can keep these numbered...
Called my dad for father's day. Granted it was a day late. He didn't seem to mind. My kids didn't call me. They texted. Nick texted "it's too loud where I am, or I'd call", Aaron was reminded by my wife.
I don't think me and my dad talked for 5 minutes. He interrupted me talking about what I was into and where I was traveling to this week (Chicago and Minneapolis for work) to ask me to do him a favor. I was almost giddy. 'Anything dad, what do you need' ran through my head.
He told me to lose weight. Said at my age I was risking a heart attack and he didn't want to have to bury me. Said it isn't supposed to happen that way. I felt like was hit in the gut with a basketball. I was stunned, angry, offended. Still am. (I hope writing this will help me calm down. My heart is still pounding.) All I could say was "ok, tell you what, you work on bringing up your sugar up and I'll work on losing weight". He said it didn't work that way, said I was too heavy, told me to have a nice day, said good bye and hung up.
. . . . . BUT THAT'S THE WAY YOU FUCKING RAISED ME!!!
Clean your plate
There are starving kids in China
You're such a big boy, eating 2 plates
You want to grow big and strong don't you?
Sigh
I know. I know. He cares, right?
Still, we don't talk except for once or twice a year. After his sugar episode in Atlanta, I thought I'd go visit him for father's day. Be a good son. Kinda glad I didn't now, knowing this was going to be on his agenda.
Yes, I'll feel like crap if something happens.
I've been traveling a little lately. Being the quite person that I am, I watch and listen to people. A lot. How they react and act around each other amazes me.
On my most recent trip to Vegas, I heard a mother the seat behind me reading a story to her child. The line that caught me and made my internal jaw drop was about a bad mean wolf chasing something. May have been children. She used her best evil menacing voice to bring the point home for the child.
All this traveling means I've been reading. Recently I read a short... summary on taoism. (is there really such a thing?) The blank state being of Tao is reckoned to the blank unassumingness of an infant. If a child has no knowledge or understanding, then everything they know, everything we know, is taught.
Looking back, I've long had this desire to raise my sons to be free thinkers. At one point, I wanted to teach them the color orange was called green and vice versa. The wife would not allow this. In hind site, I know she was right. I did however teach them to say ' bless you' to someone that burps and 'excuse you' to someone that sneezes. Even now, they are very aware I've taught them backwards, they still use my way.
A point... yea, right....
If childrens books taught children to be aware of the skills a wolf has, the job rats and bugs and flys and maggots preform... How different would we, as humans be? I can't help but wonder if we would have less bigotry in the world, less of people jumping to assume that what they don't understand is evil. Or more basically, wrong.
Looking back, I'm not sure what I expected... Charles Dickens, a turn of the century country maybe.
It's not stereotypical. The germans work hard, like their beer and like things just so. So do many of the bikers I know. The French are no more rude than 99% of NYC residents. They have places to be. The Italians love what they do but again, no more than many of the people I know. Everyone complains about traffic, taxes and road conditions. Most everyone is kind and curious. They would like to talk to you, tell you with pride about their area and listen to you talk about America. Them be amazed at how not stereotypical you are.
The food.... was different. It was good but I think I actually lost some weight. Pork, not unlike an American BBQ except none of it was chopped up. Everything was served on the bone, you had to work and dig for the good bits.
I had fun. Hope to go back. Only time will tell.
In the end, we all are human. We're born, we learn, we make friends, we grow old, we die.
I've made some new friends, seen some new things. Life is good.
I haven't looked at this thing in a year, I'll bet. Except for a godamn troll.
I don't know what it's thinking. I DO get email copies of all comments, so I can see all the dumbass links. Then a couple clicks and, POOF, all gone troll comment.
Actually, now its post are automaticaly gone. Put it in the spam filter.
Iif you rad this, say hi. I can't help but wonder if anyone is still out there.
So many times, you visit the movies and you’re not moved at all. The movie has characters that mean nothing to you. On other occasions, the movie makes you feel good and proud to be American. Here’s a selection of those movies.
In the most unlikely of stories and one which stirs the heartstrings, Harrison Ford is as proud as any American in any movie he is in. However, he’s also President and in Air Force One, and he personally chases down a group of terrorists who have taken over his airplane. The movie takes you back to when the Soviets were the enemy. He’s tough talking and waves his gun at anyone who looks at him the wrong way. He will win through whatever the cost as his country’s future is at stake.
True stories add even more shine. This movie goes back to the Civil War and features African-Americans\' first fighting strength. The team collected from the North are slaves who fight to earn their freedom and be allowed to fight. Who would have thought it would take another 150+ years before we saw a black US President?
Having Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman in the cast raises the level as the movie shows how the all black company of soldiers led to 180,000 black people joining the US to fight for the North against the southern states. Powerful stuff.
Defending the country’s rights yet again is the theme for this movie. A group of Soviet soldiers and allies start an invasion of a small American town. The people of the town bind together to stave off the invasion using the expertise they have such as natural bravery and outdoor hunting skills. They’re not military trained, but they’ll do their best to stand together against evil.
Movies that are based around being patriotic and also military always contain a lot of characters who struggle to find their feet, but then climb mountains. Top Gun is no exception. By the end of the movie you are almost in the cockpit with Tom Cruise and firing the weapons to take out the enemy. The love interest for Kelly McGillis and the song –Take my Breath Away – make this an extremely memorable movie. Experts have said the flying looked extremely life-like.
This movie uses artifacts from America’s history to prove a point – that America is great. Nicolas Cage is wonderful even if using the Declaration of Independence to stop bullets may be taking matters a little too far.
The story is unbelievable, but since when did that matter? A treasure hunter is seeking a war chest. His map is written with invisible ink. It’s on the actual document that helped the pioneers break free from the English. A full cast list takes you on a roller coaster ride, but don’t bother checking out the follow-up movie covering Abraham Lincoln’s assassination – nowhere near this movie’s five stars.
Legally Blond: Red, White and Blue
After the military and conflict movies, this doesn’t instantly have the same ring to it, but Elle Woods played by Reece Witherspoon – excellent in Legally Blond – returns to lead an animal rights battle against government; and wins. She shows that no matter how small, any one person can confront American law and if right is on their side, they can win through.
The title is enough to give you a clue as to the movie’s theme. Mel Gibson who takes on the British army during the onslaught of the American revolution and defeats them almost single handedly. Who would have thought they’d end up as one of two countries who are still our best friends?
You knew this movie would be included in the most patriotic list. This is the fall back position that even if one of our brothers goes down, whatever the risks, we’ll go in and bring him back alive. It’s a natural instinct.
With information that a mother is to be told that three of her sons were killed the same day, in action, the army decides they won’t allow the fourth son to go missing.
Here, fighting during the Second World War, a soldier goes missing behind enemy lines. His company searches for him and loses more of their team, but they won’t be driven off course. You can guess the end, but the sight of the flag will move anyone.
You probably wondered where this movie was. It has to appear on everyone’s patriotic movie choice list. The sight of Americans defending the country on Independence Day takes some beating. The enemy comes from another planet. What better enemy to be beaten in one last battle?
There are many other movies that demand recognition that you will be watching from your sectional sofa. Forrest Gump and Mr Smith Goes to Washington will have to wait their day to raise the flag, once more. Which movie would you include to complete the top ten?
Once again, Obama and the White House have shown themselves to be interested only in press and politics and not taking any real action. Although Obama recently made an announcement of the importance of the government supporting military families the White House failed to actually meet the deadline to implement a program that was supposed to provide comprehensive support of thousands of American families caring for veterans. The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act was signed into law over nine months ago in May 2010, and had a clear deadline for the program to begin- January 31st, 2010.
However, nearly a month after the deadline has come and gone the Administration is still yet to implement the program, aimed at expanding benefits for the caregivers of wounded veterans. The VA pushed for the plan because of the increasing number of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who are receiving continued care from their spouses and families. Often times caring for a wounded veteran forces a loved one to give up their career and put their own life on hold to be a full-time caregiver and can cause significant financial burden.
The huge increases of veterans with long-term ailments such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and mesothelioma has been extremely difficult for Veterans Affairs to keep up with. Both PTSD and TBI can take years of therapy to fully recover from, and although the mesothelioma life expectancy is only a little over a year it requires a large amount of care.
With ailments affecting veterans of all ages (most PTSD and TBI diagnoses are from the current wars, while mesothelioma symptoms usually don’t occur until in patients are in their 60’s and 70’s) it’s an epidemic that’s straining the VA and many veterans’ families to the brink. However, it appears as though Obama’s current charge that his Administration is doing everything it can for veterans is just more hot air from a White House that has no qualms with blatantly lying to the media.
Several programs for veterans such as the Wounded Warrior Project have put pressure on the White House and the VA to get the programs running as quickly as possible but it’s unsure what affect they will have. It’s time for the Obama administration to realize that people are going to demand that they follow through on their actions.
Heard on the news that sobriety check points in California process 800-900 cars when set up. They also boast removing 8-10 impaired drivers.
My math tells me that is about 1%.
Can it really be that many? In a city of over 14 million, that's a bunch of drunk drivers.
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Ok... July 4th weekend. Spending it alone in Long Beach, CA. Thought I'd see a movie or two.
I spent $21 bucks. 9 on the movie (thank God for matenés) and 12 on popcorn and a drink.
The special effects were ok.
The water effects reminds me of The Abyss and that was how long ago? But then again how much can you improve on water effects.
The fire was nothing exceptional either. Except when the uncle made fire on his hands. The close up was cool.
3D... am I missing something? You can't watch the movie without the glasses, so I don't know but it really doesn't seem all that spectacular. Maybe it is because the movie was transferred to 3D and not shot in 3D. Time will have to tell.
The not so special effects... The benders tattoo seemed to move. Anything from the bridge of his nose to almost a half inch above his eyebrows. I would think since his tattoo was a major part of his identity, everyone would be on making sure it DIDN'T MOVE! Sheesh!
'We have to go' was the drinking phrase of the movie. And a big part of the mellow drama/over acting.
Do yourself a favor. Wait for the DVD. A buck on Red Box and 20 on you favorite cocktail will make a better evening than what I did.
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WOW!!!
Not really. Figuratively.
All my life, I always hated the fact that 'old' people resisted change.
"why do you need to be in the internet so much?","why do you have to have a pager", "I'll never use a cell phone and you don't need one" were just some of the jewels I grew up with.
Sometime there in my past I swore I'd always embrace new things… I've had a SLR digital camera for years. Cell phone, got it. Get a new one every time I can and always use the early upgrade. Camera phones, blackberry, full internet access. DVD recorder, got 2. Blue-ray, got it. 2-terra byte external storage hard drive, got one!
Today, I was asking for assistance in Word… 2007. I hate it, it's different, why did they mess with my WORD?! I could use MS Office products like nobody's business. Linking OLE objects, nesting data and graphs in Word then linking that to P-Point.
I was a Pro.
As I was grumbling about damn MS and changing the software, someone here quipped, 'damn MS for evolving!'
- - SMACK - -
*ouch*
I'm getting old . . . time to accept the new MS Office and stop resisting change.
A friend died last weekend. I am sadden by the loss and heartbroken that I could not return to Indiana for the funeral. The funeral was today.
I was there in spirit...
I've been thinking about him and his family all day.
I first met Bill in the summer of 2006. Memorial Day weekend. A 'come one, come all' invite had gone out to all Indiana Patriot Guard Riders to come on down to Speedway for a BBQ. For those that don't know, the Indianapolis 500 is actually not held in Indianapolis. It is in a small land locked town inside Indianapolis city limits called Speedway.
Bill and his family have lived there many years, 15 if I remember correctly. As I rode in on my '83 Shovel, making enough noise to wake the dead, Bill took notice and smiled. I walked over and introduced myself and immediately I was welcomed. "There's the food, the hog will be done about 6. The beer is in that cooler, soda in that one. Pull up a chair. Welcome." The same welcome happened several times and many new friendships were started.
We sat and chatted, under a checkerboard sign that read "Welcome Scuzy Mucks". A nick name given to the regulars that attended Bill's BBQs. I still smile when I say that name. I don't know that I ever fully became a 'Scuzzy Muck' to the other guys but to Bill, I was one of them.
Bill Mummert a.k.a. SpeedwayBill, was laid to rest today. His smile and selfless service for veterans and the Indiana Patriot Guard (IPG) will be greatly missed. Bill's family honored the IPG and invited us to attend his viewing and memorial service.
Rest in peace Bill and God's peace be with the family.
Shell fish specifically.
I can eat and do love fish and chips.
Tonight I had the halibut and chips at El Segundo Fish Co. In, go figure, El Segundo, CA.
If you should find yourself in the area, give them a try. Portions are good, service was friendly and the price was reasonable.
Including a beer, my dinner was $21.
El Segundo Fish Co. I will be back!
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I do not really assume myself to be a writer. I do however appreciate good writing and do get rather irked when credit is not expressed correctly. I often spend hours looking for proof of authorship to articles and emails I am sent. I do this usually hoping to find other articles written by the claimed author but sometimes I find that the email has been mis-attributed. The below was emailed to me and "Why The Gun Is Civilization" is one of those ‘mis-attributed’ works. In my feeble effort to have those that may search for Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret) find the correct author, Marko Kloos, I have posted both names here. And reposted the full article... AND links back to the original and a discussion on plagiarism and attribution.
Respect,
DNR
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Written by Marko Kloos 23MAR07 link
NOT Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret) link
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.
In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat–it has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed. People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.
Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weightlifter. It simply wouldn’t work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.
When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation…and that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act.
I had the privilege of dinner with my boss and his son this evening. We went to watch the Lakers play and as fate would have it the game was a blowout. For me, being one of the first times I actually went someplace to watch a basketball game, it was kinda boring.
Now, just for the record, this was not a baby sitting father and young son night out. Mark and Michael are both adults. They are co-managing the company as the elder imparts years of wisdom in the younger. Their conversations are varied and often passionate.
I can't help but smile at the struggle I know they have as the wisdom doesn't quite hit home for the younger and the unbridled passion to jump in with both feet escapes the conservative nature of the elder. I know my sons and I had these same struggles and I wonder who in my life was watching and smiling as I do now.
As the three of us sat half not watching the game the conservation took many paths, work, the people there, LA, the mid-west... politics.
The younger says to me "my dad wants to ask Obama a question. Has he told you? Dad, tell DNR what you want to ask President Obama."
The elder says to me, "Why do you want to change this country? I hate communism [socialism]. He is trying to make this country into a social state. Take my money and give it to people that have never worked. Not poor. Never tried. This is a wonderful country, you can be anything you want, you want a lot of money, you can make it. You want to be President, YOU can be President. When I left my country they were bringing about change. We were a strong country. Our currency was accepted all around the world... now &%€@ [cursing in another language]. My question for my Obama is this, 'what did you have when you were eleven?' [looking at me with great passion in his eyes] What did Mr Obama have when he was eleven?"
"Nothing." I replied. Half expecting an 'ah-ha' gotcha. But he simply asked "what does he have now...? He is President. Why does he want to change this country?"
So, Mr Obama, we have a question. After nearly 50 years, you have gone from (by all accounts) nothing to President. If it worked for you, Why do you want to change this country?
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Not 1,200 or 2,400 like it used to be.
Life finds me now living one and two tenths miles from the beach. Today is my second or third trip to the place where sand meats water. Since the kayaus that was my life recently has subsided I took time this visit to look, to see.
Remember back in the 70s, there was a PSA commercial where an American Indian would stand someplace and observe the trash blowing up at his feet and we would see a tear fall down his cheek?
Today I watched the tattered remains of a gallon milk jug wrestle with the surf. Ten feet out, two feet, stuck in he sand, lifted back up and taken another six feet out. Ultimately is settled on the shore, partly stuck in the sand. I'm guessing it will stay there till next high tide, then be pushed further up on shore.
Where I sit right now, maybe 20 feet from the water, there are cigarette filters galore, packing peanuts, foam coffee cup scraps, a literal plethora of plastic bits and pieces AND too many other things to mention. I know on the coasts they don't necessarily use landfills as much as us inlanders do. They use ocean dumps. Now, I don't know if the stuff here on the beach with me is just trash from last years beach crowd or if it is the ocean returning to us what is truly ours but I do know it's shameful.
I know why coastal living folks are so pro recycle. This 'stuff' is literally in their back yard.
As conservative as I am, I, personally, need to do a better job reusing the stuff that I have.
As for the milk jug...
I put it in a trash can but I can't help but wonder, will it be back?
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Sitting in a LA area Starbucks, some things occur to me.
I couldn't help but smile at a young Asian couple with their very young daughter. Speaking Chinese (I'm guessing) they chatted. Mom would giggle and chatter something while pointing at the little girl. Dad would smile and look at her in his lap and she would beam with a child's innocent smile. Absolutely the most precious thing I've seen in days.
This are has a lot of Asians. LA is the new mixing pot of America.
Four young men are sitting. outside chatting in their language. I can only imagine it is politics. Heh, maybe they are talking about the fat white guy typing frantically in his BB. LOL!
Outside there is blazing sunshine, palm trees, snow capped mountains, and thunderstorm clouds hugging some of the lower peaks. Truly an amazing place.
I could learn to like LA.
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I have a fan!
Nice post, in a drunk, profound way. You're posting less and less these days. You hate California, and your life there, right? You left everything behind, the Barn, your friends, your family, the PGR...
At least, try to post more often. You have a good, direct and amusing, straightforward style, that its not that easy to find. In 4 words, you're fun to read. Despite all our differences.
Cheers from Europe/Portugal
I never thought my troll would be the one that comes back regularly to read my posts.
So, sincere or a smart ass jab? meh, who cares.
Everyone can stop reading here except "Europe/Portugal"
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Yes, I'm posting less and less. I'm on face book daily... or more. I must admit, I do kinda miss your ranting and posting here in a more anonymous manner.
No, I don' hate California, the weather is great and I'm meeting some really great people. I do miss the Barn, my friends, family, the PGR... There are PGR here and like i said, I'm making friends.
And thanks for the complement.
