Preakness 2007 - Running of the Urinals

Quite possibly the dumbest thing I have seen this year.

I cant think of anything snarky to say.

speechless...

Greater Love has no man

Than to lay down his life for his friends...

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

"Henry V", William Shakespeare

I can add little to these fine stirring words other than "Thank You" to the men and women who have given their lives for our freedom.

Memorial Day 2007

Empathy for the birds (or subtitled The Tiger's BLACK eye)

You know that commercial for Window cleaner with the two birds who trick the guy into walking into the glass door? You know how you think, " Oh man THAT would hurt!" when he walks into the glass?







Well, it really DOES HURT!







It feels like a glass baseball bat hitting you in the forehead.



I walked into an all glass door at the Aveda School at Castleton Mall just like on that commercial.


I give you exhibit "A" taken at the emergency room at St. Vincent's Hospital by my loving daughter who was saying, "Dad, that really looks like it hurts!"
It's about an inch long although it has a little curve in it that should make a really cool scar.
BTW - those stories about head wounds bleeding like nothing else. They're all true. In about 30 seconds there was blood all over my face, my hands, my shirt, my shorts, my SHOES! and the floor. Needless to say that the folks there were pretty freaked out. Fortunately there was an operating room nurse and a cardiologist standing each side of me who caught me and went into emergency mode immediately. They probably saved me from passing out and really hurting myself. I wish I got their names so I could say thanks. Thanks Guys, you did a marvelous job of prepping me for the emergency room. The Aveda people were pretty good too considering that a middle aged guy was bleeding all over their school foyer.



( I look all constipated because it really did hurt and my feet were higher than my head (first aid training) and I was swelling.)














Here is the wound all stitched up








I'm guessing I will get a black eye by tomorrow at the race. Stitches come out the day we leave for vacation.

5 days and counting!

--Sidebar--

This is a response to a comment made by James in a previous posting.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/kingtiger/3032563003893416770/


You know James I could choose to be offended by your offhand drive-by attack but instead I thought I would attempt a different tack.

Over the span of a number of comments you seem to have latched onto a meme that I am filled with hate.
What a difference one’s view on the world makes.
As you have convinced yourself that I am some kind of fire spewing , short panted, mismatched socks type of street evangelist who “hates them queers!”, I can only respond by stating that I don’t see myself that way.

You see the one thing that most of my friends would certainly not characterize me as is “hate filled”.
I will admit that while I am a sinner and certainly in need of Jesus’ salvific grace but I am not filled with hate.

What is most intriguing to me is that a person such as yourself, a man who would be utterly offended if he suspected that I were characterizing him as simply part of a group, some sort of straw man simply set up to conveniently knock down at my whim would do the same of me.

You have never met me.

Our entire conversation has been a series of short terse sentences over the net usually on Rob’s website and now on mine when I choose to respond. This is a pretty poor excuse for real conversation.
I am sure if we took the time to meet over coffee or drinks we could find some sort of common ground. Granted you and I differ vastly on any number of topics but I pride myself in having a truly eclectic group of acquaintances all of whom find me a pretty nice guy who genuinely cares for their well being.

To that end I propose a solution.

If you are ever in Indianapolis and wish to meet for coffee at a neutral Starbucks or some other venue, I will buy the first round. Just post a comment here or pop me an email on my Hotmail address and I will respond.
I don't really believe that hate is very useful. It consumes one like a fire and once all the available fuel is spent it moves on to destroy others.

I'm pretty easy to find and get along with, Just ask Rob.

Pop Quiz

OK Class,
Put down your pencils and close your books.
Its time for a pop quiz.

One Question:

"What is the main reason that the Democrats took both the House and Senate last fall?

Bonus Question:

Explain in detail how Speaker Pelosi is going to clean up the House and make it "the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history"?

As always please provide support for your thesis.

What WAS listed as "take your pick"

I had a much longer post that I was working on but the more I typed the less I liked what I wrote. Then I read Al at Cold Fury (caution there is profanity contained within) "...Most modern Greens are simply collectivists, or trendy dirt worshiping idiots. The fact that humans evolved eyes on the front of their faces and teeth that are both grind-y and sharp (making us predatory omnivores) is horrifying to them. The fact that the Earth is something generally beyond our control, is also horrifying to them; witness the nightmare they suffer if you mention that maybe global warming, er, GLOBAL WARMING (!) may not be anthropogenic, and even if it is, perhaps current temperatures are not ideal. In short, Being Green in the popular sense of the term is a half-baked secular religion that serves in place of a belief in God, or failing that in place of a viable Los Angeles football franchise. " -http://coldfury.com/index.php/?p=8154

I like his stereotyping but I also have been heard to mutter, "tree hugging, Gaia worshipping, simpletons" when discussing the greens.
I'm not sure which is more discriptive.
Have at it.

More of what I'm talkin 'bout
http://mostlycajun.com/wordpress/?p=2334

UPDATE:

Now even 15 year old High School students are getting in on the act. Talk about piling on!
http://home.earthlink.net/~ponderthemaunder/index.html

Her conclusion:
"...It’s easy to see why Al gore’s movie should not be shown in schools. An Inconvenient Truth is a political commercial that misrepresents a whole area of science. He admittedly uses scare tactics to get people to listen then shows them a professional slide show that blames every thing bad on so called man made global warming..."

Pet peeve No. 656

People who add "please" at the end of a command expecting it to convert it into a nice polite question.
As in: "Bring the Jalapeno potato chips! please?"

For some reason, as I get older this one really turns my dials to 11.

Life's like Sancrit read to a pony...

I know it violates one of the sacred tenets of blogging “When in doubt POST A VIDEO” but this one is extraordinarily special to me.
A number of years ago my best friend died shortly after a bout with cancer. It happened shortly after Lou Reed had also experienced loss in 2 friends from cancer.
His response was to write a brilliant album “Magic and Loss” which told of his dealing with life, death and our universal quandary of how to make sense of it all. I do not share much philosophy with Lou but I agree with his last statement in this song.
“What’s good? Life’s good, but not fair at all”.
This song got me thru much pain and hurt.

Friendship

You know the funny thing about having friends is that you get surprises when you least expect them.

I get home from work today and there in my mailbox is a package from Rob Westcott.
What is it I wonder?
I get inside to open it and lo and behold there is a set of concert CD's from a show that last month I was contemplating traveling across country to hear but could not due to my being a responsible middle aged kind of guy.

Thanks buddy, I owe you.

TURN IT UP!

An interesting comment

Mr. Ross has an interesting pro vs. con debate on the political situation in our Government.
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2007/05/frivolous-vs-magnanimous-political-game.html

I was especially struck by the differences in the venues of the first two debates. Perhaps the Democrats had other reasons for not utilizing FoxNews' offer of sponsorship but it certainly appeared to this observer as a fearful knee jerk response to their outspoken left wing.
Whereas; as Mr. Ross points out, the Republicans were on a network that is not a friend of the Right and both Matthews and Olberman are not known for their support of this administration.

Step over there an have a look.