Happy Birthday!

As of tomorrow my Toyota Echo will be10 years old!  It has a little over 126k miles on and all but one of them has been under my ownership.  It has been a great little car and i am hoping it goes for at least another ten years.  When i bought it i had considered the Prius, but went with the Echo because it has a timing chain instead of a belt, it gets over 40mpg at times, and the battery technology was still too new for me to feel comfortable over the long haul at the time.  If i were making the choice today i would probably side with the Prius though ~ even with all of the troubles in the media of late.

Last night i had to do some work at the "widget factory".  it was the 4th time in the past two weeks i've had to come in at midnight, and it is wearing on the mind and body.  But that is not really what i want to talk about.  The season is moving on towards summer and last night was a beautiful demonstration of this.  I have grown up, and really lived most of my four plus decades, in the Washington D.C. area (this region is pretty big stretching from almost the Baltimore beltway down South to Fredericksburg, and from Annapolis all the way out to the foothills of the Blueridge Mountains).  I have many memories of Washington summers, hot, sticky, and powerful thunderstorms growing up.  Last night the air was still, but heavy with humidity.  The air had not cooled off all that much as of midnight so it felt really thick.  As i got ready to come in i could see the flashes of "heat lightning", even though the sky looked clear with the almost full moon in radiant display.  As i got into my car i could see the line of clouds that the lightning was flashing throughout.  While it didn't rain while i was on my way to and from work it was a magnificent display of the incredible power of summertime Thunderstorms.  I love thunderstorms.  I found myself missing being out in the wood line at night, sitting in a field chair, with my rain gear on of course, and just watching a storm come through.  Especially at night when the lightning flashes subtlety.

For whatever reason, it made me think of how man has learned to capture and use that power to some degree.  Some might claim we have mastered it, but i will not.  However, we can light up cities like Los Angeles or we can make pulses so fast and yet subtle (the power level equivilant of a barely noticable static shock) that we can use computers to display little characters and pictures on a screen from anywhere to anywhere ~ that has an internet connection ~ in the world.  And then we can turn these "virtual" images, into "hard copies" in print.  Amazing.

My Beloved and COWGIRL were coming through a thunderstorm from Johns Hopkins yesterday.  High winds, hail, all that.  She said that when they broke through the other side of the storm is was beautiful.  While i did not get the sense that this was a sign from God or anything, it is a beautiful real world representation of how our walk through this world is - even for those of us who do not face sever trials like cancer.  Our time here on Earth is but a poor reflection of what those who have their names in the Lamb's Book of Life will experience.  For whatever reason Tunnel by Third Day has been playing over and over in my mind today, so i thought i would share.

I hope everyone who comes by to visit the "dojo" has a restful, thoughtful, and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.  God Bless.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

I don't know why it is... but i actually enjoy weather that most people complain about. I remember as a child i would love to go out and play in the rain. I seriously would stand in the middle of a field and hold my face up to the sky, close my eyes and just let the rain or snow cover me. When thunderstorms came i would often open up my bedroom window and listen to the rain and thunder while i either sat there to watch or just kept on with whatever i was doing. Some of the strongest memories i have of my twenty two years in the National Guard are weather related. When i joined the Guard i enlisted as an Infantryman. With the exception of the first two weeks, and the last half of a week, we marched out range road to the field on Monday mornings and went in on Friday night/Saturday mornings. Many a morning brought a rain that we had to go ahead and do our PT and whatever else that was on the training schedule. Some examples... One night we had just made our bivouac and got to bed late (around midnight). I had fire watch from 00:30 until 01:00. At 02:30 my tent mate woke me up to tell me we were flooded out. I was still dry as my sleeping mat had formed a bowl, *lol*, but that didn't last long. For about 30 minutes we are running around digging out our drainage ditch, trying to keep all of our gear dry. It was a lost cause. Eventually our entire company, about 150 men, were all huddled around this little shack about the size of a phone booth (it was used to store the milk crates we used to form up the chow line) taking turns around a little can of sterno. That morning i remember my french toast was floating in the tray. *lol* The Drill Sergeants took us in to get dry clothes, etc. the next day, but we went right back out the following morning. Another early morning it was just pouring down the rain, and it was cold... about 45 degrees. Up and at 'em. PT's on running until the steam started coming off our sweats. The day we had to do a 20 mile ruck march it was raining (again). The entire company was up in our ponchos and all packed up. Right in the center there was one pup tent still standing and the two guys within refusing to come out. I thought the mob that had formed was going to rip those guys out because they feared the retribution from the Drill Sergeants. There was no need to fear as the Senior Drill Sergeant stepped up, assessed the situation and proceeded to grab the top seam of the two shelter halves and pull the snaps apart exposing the men and all of their unpacked gear to the elements. Out final field training exercise was cold! The first night those of us trained on the TOW system were slated to be the aggressors while the rest of the company would be the defenders. The first night i remember waking to a good coat of frost on my sleeping bag. When we went to chow the Company Commander and the Senior Drill Sergeant announced, "I need to volunteers... you... and you!" I was one of the two 'volunteers'. Me and my new 'friend' became the radio watch guys for the CO. Four hours on, four hours off, 24x7 for the week. But we had it made there... the CO had a stove in his GP small. 8) So we took turns cutting up firewood and monitoring the radio. But when you are in the combat arms weather becomes your friend. You train to live and maneuver in it. My first drill we had a 'fly away' to the Florida panhandle. I still remember my platoon mates telling me to not bother packing my sleeping bag... it's Florida. Yea, but it was January! I had never been so cold in my life as i had been that weekend. Crisp clear nights... i can still see in my minds eye the Milky Way. Awesome... I could go on and on. Serving on Flood Duty... severe snow storms... Hurricane Katrina. Some of the times i was cold, or wet, or both. Sometimes i was physically miserable... but i enjoyed the experiences - especially in hind sight. 8) The other night we had a surprise thunderstorm roll through and i was downstairs after we had all gone to bed... and the lightning lit up the room (we have a lot of windows). I would love to have a decent sized gazebo that i could just go and sit in during such storms... Sorry this is such a meandering rambling mess... but it is pouring down rain here... and my mind has wandered...

Music Monday - Wednesday Edition

Today is getting off to a pretty good start. Around Midnight last night my beloved woke me up (i hadn't been asleep all that long). She needed to communicate something that was important to her, and i am glad that she did. I know i need to work on my communication skills and fortunately this was not one of those "intense times of fellowship". Afterwards there was a 'gentle' thunderstorm rolling through our area... which was really cool. After she fell asleep i stared out the window, prayed a little, until i fell asleep. Then this morning i dragged my sorry fore-quarter-contact out of the sack and headed over to the gym. Now, i haven't been in over six months (sarcastic comments welcome, and expected), but it feels great. I've added ten minutes on the elliptical to replace running because this old soldier's knees can't take the pounding, and there may actually be some old "war" wounds in there. For example, i have no problem with the leg press and knee bends (where the resistance is bending the knee), but on the leg extentions i can only do about 10-15 pounds... and on the leg press and the leg extension i have to do each leg individually. But to end this portion with an ADD moment... i got to work and started a pitcher of ice-tea... only i failed to remember to put the tea bags in as i was distracted because i was refilling ice trays. LOL Ok, on to the music portion of my Wednesday edition of music Monday... I think i may have found a new music group to slip into my top ten, maybe top five, favorite bands ~ Gaelic Storm. Yesterday, while i was listening to Pandora (only the greatest thing since sliced bread) an instrumental "duel" between a fiddle (violin) and bagpipes came on and grabbed my attention. The title of the song? Samurai Set! I mean come on! Gaelic (Irish Folk Music) Storm (i love thunderstorms!) - Samurai Set (Really? Do i need to explain this one?) - Fiddle Playin', Bag Pipes, Irish Whistle... can it get any better!?! Well, at least for me. 8) Here is a You Tube video of the song i am mentioning here... I am still checking out their other songs to see if i will really move these guys into my Fave 5. *chuckle*, but so far i like their music. Oh, and on a side note... they performed some of the songs for the movie Titanic. Ok, some past due venting here... The Unit was canceled! What's the deal with that! I know all shows eventually come to an end, but i thought the shows wrapped up fairly well. Well, except for Molly Leaving Jonas! Major bummer there, but then i've heard that the divorce rate in spec-ops units is pretty high. There is a joke that you can't get promoted beyond a certain pay grade unless you've been divorced at least once. Well, that's all i put down to ramble about for today. God bless...

I got nothing important to say today

Ok, I have no idea what to write about today. I was going to do a review of the movie 'Good Soil' (picture and link on the right bar), but I wanted to watch it one more time and take some notes first - and with VBS this week - that didn't happen, so... I guess I will just talk about my flair. While I was growing up I loved Grover and Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, and I saw this piece of flair while I was just browsing looking for some thing to send to other Facebook friends. I almost had Dr Pepper coming out my nose when I saw this one! So of course it is now in my 'collection'. Anyone who has had to call a help desk about some web page that you are having to access, but can't, I am sure has had to delete the 'cookies' from the web browser. :) Currently I have 44 pieces of flair on Facebook. I won't share them all here, but these are some of my favorites... The piece here on the right was one I picked out for myself. I felt that it captured the passion I have for my beloved. I know that might sound weird, but hey... if I was perfectly normal would I be blogging about mundane things, and collecting flair on Facebook, and then blogging about it? ;-) When growing up 'Wolverine' was one of my all time favorite comic book heros. I felt like I could relate to him - anger issues, doesn't really know his past or where he's going, and I really wanted to be a kick @$% kind of guy (that never happened, but hey). Well, my beloved has gorgeous red hair, which I love. I saw this button and added it immediately. This piece of flair was added (by me) because I really like Jethro Tull's music. As I have matured as a Christian I have become more... selective... in the pieces I listen to regularly from this band, but I love the flute being incorporated into their music. Their Album, "A", had a lot of more classical instruments. I especially remember a synthesized violin in one of the videos. I have no idea if it was real, but it sounded terrific. The very first piece of flair I ever had was a gift from one of my Facebook friends - it is also what got me hooked on that App! She sent it to me as an encouragement because I like to write (blog, and short stories). Besides, who doesn't like Snoopy writing about a "...dark and stormy night..."? :-) The same friend sent this piece... it's a little fuzzy so in case anyone else has eyes like mine it says, "you're a great friend but if the zombies chase us I'm tripping you"! LOL Wow... at least I know where I stand with her. I'm just glad there are no such things as zombies. ;-) I hope 8/ I love the Carolina Panthers Blue "alternate" jerseys. When a good friend's wife, who is also a football fan (Washington Redskins, but she's nice so...), sent this to me it went up on my flair board immediately. My recurring birthday and Christmas gift request is one of the custom jerseys in Carolina Blue with John Kasay's number and name on it. Over time I have received a couple of Autism buttons. I picked this one because it was from a friend who has not been directly affected by Autism, but has been a good friend and supporter. It has been frustrating, and rewarding, trying to be there for my son (DS2). Just this week one of the VBS volunteers asked, "is there something wrong with him". :-( 'No, he just processes things differently than you do' is what I thought. I don't do well in crowds (not even NFL stadiums), especially loud noisy situations, but I try and volunteer with his classes at church because I know that one of us (his parents) needs to be as close as possible to help him. This piece was sent to me by a friend who we've known since my beloved was in college. We have a lot in common... be both enjoy Petra, we both have children with Autism, we both love American football, etc. He had seen me add a Thomas J. Jackson button and sent this to me. This young man, along with the husband of the Panthers button giver above, and I all have a desire to learn more about the Civil War. We are planning on a week(end) getaway up to Gettysburg for just us guys - some day. All we need now is the money saved up. :) Ok, the last one I am going to share with you all today - before I totally bore you all and lose you - is another one that I added for my own enjoyment. One of the call signs I had for a time during my twenty two years of National Guard service was "Thunder". I have always LOVED thunderstorms. There is something about the coolness of it, the refreshing nature of the rain, the rumble of thunder, and the impressive display of power in the lightning. There are times when I feel so close to God that I could almost 'touch' him - and it is almost always in the midst of a Thunderstorm. If I was to ever come across a large some of money for a painting it would be one of such a thing. Verse for today: Mark 4 : 37-41, ESV And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”