Summer Plans

O.K. People. It is time to get our plan making hienies in gear.

Josh and Jannell, are you guys thinking about going back to Michigan this summer?

Mom and Dad and Abby and Elise, you guys are going to try to make a trip out here sometime, right?

Matt, yes, you want to fly out there and see everyone.

Ready.....PLAN

Worth 1000 words...

Firefox Tips

Here are some great Firefox tips.






***UPDATE***
One of my favs is Space-Bar = Page Down

Ranger Josh (Harrison)

Lt. Harrison arrives in Afghanistan today, I believe, and, according to John, this WSJ article focuses on his destination and the work he will be involved in. You simply must read the article because it is incredible. What makes it even more unbelievable is that there already is a Lt. Harrison assigned there:

First Lt. Michael Harrison, a platoon leader in the battalion's Dog Company, studied law and nuclear engineering at West Point, where he was a minor troublemaker, doing punishment marches for such offenses as keeping a rice cooker in his room. But along the Pech River, the 25-year-old has a fan club of neighborhood urchins -- a counterweight to insurgent propaganda that, the military says, claims the Americans are here to convert Muslims to Christianity and eat their children.

When the lieutenant approaches Patrol Base California, he lowers the bullet-proof window on his Humvee, reaches out and slaps high-fives with the children. "Michael!" they shout as he passes, mimicking his two-finger peace sign.

"Whassup, Hussein? Haircut!" Lt. Harrison says to a close-shaved orphan boy in a dirty-white jersey and loose trousers. He gives a set of baby bottles to a boy whose sister died after giving birth.

When he isn't patrolling, the lieutenant spends much of his time sounding out the locals, listening to their troubles and trying to arrange solutions.

Pretty amazing stuff. You've got to read the whole thing.

I'm sure that Josh would appreciate our prayers, that God would use him to spread the love of Christ in this part of the world.

Hamster-powered Paper Shredder

Way cool!

Edwards

Dad, that picture of Edwards kinda looks like you when he's got the short hair.

Its creeping me out.

Spatula Mundani

In a WSJ article on the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the early English settlement, author Mark Yost makes a reference that makes me sit up and take notice, literally. The Jamestown museum houses an invention by a local surgeon, James Woodall, called the Spatula Mundani.

"It was a long metal rod with a flat scooper at one end and a sharp probe at the other, Yost explains." What was this surgical invention for, you ask? I'll tell you. In Dr. Woodall's own words, it was to treat "severe constipation," a disease that "killeth many."












A scooper?
No WAY!

File under "DUH!"

This from the Glenn Falls, NY, PostStar:

A man was hospitalized Saturday after he accidentally discharged a round of ammunition into his abdomen...Damion M. Mosher, 18, had been discharging .223-caliber rounds by placing them in a steel vice, putting a screwdriver on the primer, and striking the screwdriver with a hammer, police said...Police said Mosher told them he was trying to empty the rounds so he could return the brass casings for scrap.

thanks to Ace for the link

A reverberating **SMACK** was heard...

Perhaps you've heard that the famous Oscar-winning film-maker Michael Moore has challenged Republican presidential non-candidate Fred Thompson to a debate. Watch Fred smack Moore...




thanks to HH for the video

"all by myself"...

ABM.mp3

Ol' Geezer Geyser

***UPDATE***
You are supposed to click on the photo...

All by myself...

I'm starting my first week alone since getting married......the house will be impeccably clean ;)

Mama's Day

Happy day after Mother's Day, mother.

You are the best mother a son could ask for!

Today's Tune

Chindia and the information age

thanks to HH for the link...

W MBA

As we near the end of the Bush reign we will probably see a lot more of the kind of W-analizations that appears in The American Thinker today, titled, A Theory of W. While this one has what could be characterized as some overstatements, those parts that aren't exaggerated seem to make pretty good sense.

For instance, the author credits Bush with intentionally shunning the east-coast Yale elitists by

to finish....

maintaining his Texas accent and anti-narcisstic life-style:

He was smart enough for Yale and Harvard Business School, and learned to despise (and be despised by) slick Eastern Establishment kids (yes, like John Kerry again). Afterwards he went back to Midland, TX, the last place any ambitious Yalie would want to live. And he made it work. He was the anti-Yalie in the family. (That's of course why he says "Noo-kyoo-lrr". 'Cause that's how they say it in Texas. He could pronounce it like William F. Buckley, but he'll be damned if he's gonna give them the satisfaction. Compare that to Hillary's or Gore's phony preacher accents.)...So W ignored DC Society, and just got to sleep by 9:00 pm every night. Being ignored by the President drove naturally them to eight years of unrelenting collective fury.

One of Bush's characteristics not mentioned in the article is his loyalty, which has gotten him in lots of "trouble" around Washington but which helps to rate him very high on my list of respected people. He is steadfastly unwilling to throw a collegue under the bus as a way to placate those who would criticize his policy. He understands, I think, that offering up a co-worker in his administration as a sacrifice to his enemies and critics is not only corrosive to morale, but also slowly and insidiously weakens his leadership and long-term effectiveness.

The author touches on something that will be much further discussed in Bush's aftermath, I think: that he leads as a CEO, because of his MBA training. He is really the anti-politician in many ways, or perhaps the uber-politician, in that he has learned how to manage and motivate his staff, and relies on them to implement the vision without the need to politicize the process.

A good, thought-provoking read.

Like This?

13 spiritual - cha...

btw, it's Dadeo to you. Smack!!

learn how I did it (smack!)

**updated with non-lame song....

The new face of France

So I am curious about everyone's thoughts regarding the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as the new President of France.


Considering that his opponent was a crazy communist, I am sure he is the best of the two... but I am intrigued by his comments that suggest he will be much more pro-America than his predecessor.

... and discuss! :)

Music

Dad,

Is there a way that we can embed or share a song on this blog, much like we can embed a video or picture? Could be fun!

More Baby Pics...

Technology wasn't what it is today when Elise was in utero, so we didn't know better than to be thrilled when we saw this picture of her.

Baby pictures

I love the link to the baby pictures! Good think you don't have any of me...he he he. (Now that I've said this they will start appearing)

Global warming scientist...

this guy has some interesting things to say. You can clearly tell that he is a scientist and not a politician because of the attention to detail and facts. Refreshing, really. He clearly states what we know and dont know. No cover-ups, no deception.


It is a long read, but well worth it. And it is full of ideas to think about and learn about. I challenge you all to research any terms or concepts that you dont understand so that you can make a well-educated analysis of his arguments.

**UPDATE** Ancient Church Code

HotAir posted the audio of the ancient church song I wrote about earlier. Its quite tranquil and nice! 600 years old...

http://www.mediaplayer.telegraph.co.uk/?item=20C8F3FC-19CA-4807-9FD3-4301577D6A11

Dangerous Book for Boys

Looks like a fantastic thing for the average chubby little guy to get ahold of to get him running around again...

I remember I had something like this... cant remember the name, but it was in pretty ratty shape, but it was AWESOME

Filed under: Huh?

Please tell me this is a joke!

Warning: ladies, this link is not meant for you. Link at your own risk, and don't complain about what you find.

Tough Joe

Senator and presidential candidate Joe Biden is a serial foot-in-mouther. I've been waiting for him to make the presidential run enjoyable; unfortunately he's kind of disappointed me with this one (and this might eventually be his undoing). Tough Joe is going to shove the recently-vetoed war funding bill down the President's throat.
Just do a google search on "cowboy politics" to see how the left derides the "tough talk" of our Texan President, whose cowboy accent, mannerisms and colloquialisms apparently embarrass us in front of the whole world (France, especially...). Don't hold your breath waiting for the east coast liberal elitist Senator Biden to receive equal criticism.
The really funny thing is President Bush is totally believable; Biden, on the otherhand, is a windbag.

UPDATE: Yes, this is the same Joe Biden who, as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in Januaray, the he and his collegues were trying to keep their committee "a place of sanity and civility in a polarized and partisan time." Apparently bragging that he would shove a bill down the President's throat is both sane and civil in Joe's world.

Ancient Church Code

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A Scottish church which featured in the bestselling novel "The Da Vinci Code" has revealed another mystery hidden in secret code for almost 600 years.
A father and son who became fascinated by symbols carved into the chapel's arches say they have deciphered a musical score encrypted in them.
Thomas Mitchell, a 75-year-old musician and ex-Royal Air Force code breaker, and his composer and pianist son Stuart, described the piece as "frozen music". Stuart Mitchell said he and his father were intrigued by 13 intricately carved angel musicians on the arches of the chapel and by 213 carved cubes depicting geometric-type patterns.
"They are of such exquisite detail and so beautiful that we thought there must be a message here," he told Reuters.
Years of research led the Mitchells to an ancient musical system called cymatics, or Chladni patterns, which are formed by sound waves at specific pitches.

This is such a cool story. That some church-founder all those years ago decided to put hidden codes into the artwork! Now, notice, the codes were music, not secrets about Jesus's children. But cool, nonetheless. Hats off to the first person that can find the preformance on youtube or the internet!

Scrappy, R.I.P

Poor little beastie... she had a tumor and was sick and in pain.

So we had to put her to sleep.


*sniff*