hugs!

have you been hugged today? have you hugged someone you love?

GO DO IT - - - RIGHT NOW! i guarantee you'll feel better immediately.....

chicago, chicago.......

i must say - this was a much nicer trip than last weeks! no problems at the airport, nice flight, friendly taxi driver in chicago....should end up being a good week...

i've noticed as i surf around the blogs and read all the comments (sometimes the comments are the best part!) that there are some really negative people out there! sometimes i just want to leave a note and say 'get a life' or 'go outside and look at the sunshine' - - - i mean seriously, life is not all that bad!

my neighbor has a beautiful garden of tulips - - all different colors - really pretty. just up the street is another house with really pretty flowers and bushes around their place - - i stopped down at the town hall the other day to pay the water/sewage bill, really pretty flowers out all around the building. i took some time and wandered around just to look.

today, here in chicago, i'm staying right downtown, corner of Michigan Ave and Whacker - - its a beautiful day, sunshine, blue skies - - headed out for my morning walk, lots of people out, sailboats on the lake, yachts warming up their engines to head out into the lake - - life's good.

even with all the war, politics, crime and other bad stuff that we all blog about, there is a lot of really wonderful stuff out in this world. along with all the challenges we're presented, God's given us lots and lots of blessings. we should all be out there enjoying them!

no title

so the trip home was rather uneventful.

i don't leave again until tomorrow (saturday) afternoon. Chicago for a week. whoopee!

not a lot of excitement around. i'm already tired of the political race and it's still 2007! appears to me that the Dems new word is "accountability" - - must have heard it used a hundred times in the debate and int buzzclips of pelosi, clinton and barack....sure wish we had some way of holding them accountable - - - sure HOPE we have some way of holding them accountable come 2, 3,5 years from now or when the next terrorist attack hits inside our borders....

interesting that scientists think there is anothe planet out there possibly capable of sustaining life. of course, it's like 17 trillion miles away - - but hey - - one day we can step on the platform and be beamed there in a heartbeat!

since it's friday - - here's a joke....

A Catholic Priest and a Jewish Rabbi were chatting one day when the conversation turned to a discussion of job descriptions and the future.

"What position do you see yourself in a couple years from now?" asked the Rabbi to the Priest.

"Well, actually, I’m next in line for the Monsignor’s job," replied the Priest.

"Yes, and then what?" ask the Rabbi.

"Well, I could become Arch-Bishop," said the Priest.

"Yes, and then?" asked the Rabbi.

"Well, if I work real hard and do a good job as Arch-Bishop, it’s possible to become a full Bishop" said the Priest.

"Okay, then what?" continued the Rabbi.

The Priest, beginning to be a bit exasperated replied, "With some luck and real hard work, maybe I can become a Cardinal."

"And then?" continued the Rabbi.

The Priest is really starting to get frustrated, but replies, "With lots and lots of luck and some real difficult work and if I’m in the right place at the right time and play my political games just right, maybe, just maybe, I can get elected Pope."

"Yes, Yes, and then what?" continued the Rabbi.

"Good grief!" shouted the Priest, "What do you expect me to become, God?"

"Well," said the Rabbi, "One of our boys made it!"

ever have one of those days?

sheesh! let me tell you about my day! started out nicely - weather is just beautiful in southern maryland - and most of the eastern part of the country....

so i left for the airport about 1030 or so this morning. i had a 1:15 flight and it takes about an hour or so to get to the airport. no problem getting there - - but when i do the fun starts!

my favorite long term parking lot is closed. hmmmm eh, no biggie i can park at the other long term. park the truck and wait for the shuttle to the terminals. climb on and there's like three supervisors with this rookie driver who's on his first trip. it's like three backseat driver's tormenting this poor guy - - turn here, swing out, stop! not so fast, easy, turn turn, use the mirrors....it was terrible! i didn't think we'd make it out of the lot! this guy had to stop at most every turn and back up to complete the turn. just couldn't get the hang of turning a bus in a parking lot! and everytime he had to stop to back up, one of the supervisors had to get out and direct him as he backed up!!! "you ain't allowed to backup without someone outside the bus to watch!" (supervisor quote) lol

there was about 8 or 10 of us on this bus - - we were all kind snickering but trying to be semi-polite about it just for the poor driver's sake....but it was tough....

then when we finally made it through the 16 bus stops in the parking lot and out the gate to head for the terminals, this guy used his lead foot! we musta been doing 80 up the road!! lol lol then one of the supervisors musta noticed - - panic - - stop stop slow down lol lol it was hilarious....dangerous i suppose, but hilarious nonetheless....

sure would seem to me that these folks would not train their new drivers with passengers in the bus! seems to me they shouldn't be allowed to have passengers on training runs! dunno - - i could be wrong here.....

then when i get into the terminal and to the terrorist verification and validation search process - - musta been a bad shift or something - - talk about rude! absolutely rotten - - those folks must have all been in rotten moods - - even more rude and arrogant than they usually are.....((so of course, i was smiley, happy and overly courteous!))

anyway - - say hello to alexandria, louisiana. man, the deep south humidity kick me just as soon as i stepped off the aeroplane....whew....sticky humid....seems to me i was happy to move away from pensacola, florida for just that reason!

of course the hotel that my wonderful travel folks got me, has only smoking rooms! no non smoking rooms available at all - - so i'm gonna end up smelling like a smokestack after 3 days here.....we called the other two hotels in town - - same story - - nothing but smoking rooms....sure wish there was a national no smoking law! imagine - a completely no smoking country! talk about improving the environment! might even make sheryl crow happy !! might even reverse global warming! (not!!)

guilty guilty!

so the verdict is in - - the preacher's wife did it - - guilty as charged. interesting - - it appears that the jury didn't buy off on all the perversion and abuse charges that she made - - it is strange, i mean why didn't she just take the kids and leave him - long time ago... lots of interesting stuff in that one...

but hey - - - it's friday! got the boat sitting out front - batteries are charging and the plan is set to head for the lake in the morning......might even do it again on sunday.....

cuz i leave on monday and will pretty much be gone for the next three weeks! let's see - - ft polk, louisiana - - chicago, illinois - - hurlburt afb, florida oh well pays the bills...... such is the life of the govt contractor! lol

what a sad day....

what a sad day in our history....33 dead students/faculty at virginia tech. just horrible.

and of course the media idiots spent the day (and continuing this morning) point fingers and trying to assign blame to the campus security, college president. what absolute morons the media people are. geraldo rivera is simply disgusting - don't understand why foxnews is leaving him on the air. his attitude and reporting is contrary to anything worthwhile or informative...

sheppard smith just had his camera person spin a 360 and show what the campus looks like. hundreds (literally) of satellite trucks, thousands of reporters hunting down and following any students that show themselves - - shep is probably the most sensible of any of the media idiots i've heard on this tragic story.

would be fitting if the college president was to now shut down the campus and toss all the media off.

i think gayle over at dragonlady has made an excellent point about the 24/7 news coverage atmosphere that we live in today. it's difficult at best to investigate something like this - but even worse when it's already been diagnosed by the media and blame has been assigned. lawyers are standing in line to represent students. the first lawsuits will be filed within the next day or two.

i'm going to have to turn off the tv/radio - - the questions being asked by the media idiots are insulting - - i admire the temperment of the college representatives dealing with said idiots. i'm afraid i'd walk away.

rain, rain, go away!

lots and lots of rain today - - creeks are way up....doesn't help this silly storm passed through with high tides too.....gonna be lots of flooding around here for tonight and tomorrow..

gotta get away from the imus story - - i find it really grates on me. and the nonsense i've been hearing on the msm is just driving me nuts....people analyzing this story to death...it cuts to our core - - it's going to affect our future communications with each other - - argh.........enough....

60 years ago - - jackie robinson walked on to a baseball field as the first black man to play as a professional ball player in what was at that time a white sport! what a feat! considering the times and the circumstances and the sport of baseball itself, it was an absolutely amazing feat! all he ever wanted to do was play baseball - - just be one of the guys, was how he said. boy, did he....was he.....one of the great players of the game...

absolutely amazing....

i am just simply stunned by the news that don imus was fired as the result of all this. the precendence that's just been set is scary.... i hope people realize that now the rev sharpton and his gang of word police have total control over the employment of anyone! all they have to do is decide you've said something not pc correct and you're done - - no recourse - no amount of groveling or apologizing or anything will help - - your career is over at the whim of these people. and to make it worse - if you happen to be caucasian - there are no chances - you're finished...put those words in a rap and toss in a bunch of semi-naked girls and you're fine - - put those words in a comedy routine - shoot, you're a headliner...

i'm still not saying that what don imus said was in any way nice. it was terrible - it was bigotry at its best - he certainly deserves the fine and maybe even the two week suspension, but the reactions of the black community and the media slime is way way overboard! and resulted in the man totally losing his lifestyle. he is unemployable.

and even worse, this scenario can be applied to most anyone - - anyone who might be offended by something you say can now demand you lose you job - and you will. don't even bother being sorry - you're outta here.

touchy touchy

UPDATE: as i scanned the news this morning, this story caught my eye. Click here to read.


for me this is a touchy post....

i want to comment on the don imus thing that has some people all upset. this probably kicks back to a few other "incidents" that i can think of too - - like the guy on Grey's Anatomy who made disparaging comments about gays or the comedian from sienfield who insulted a couple guys in his comedy club audience.....

i just don't understand the double standard that exists today - - go to a comedy club - listen to the comedians, of all races - - for the most part they're filthy - but they also make some really nasty remarks about their own race and other races. and people just laugh at them! why? for the most part, i don't find that type of humor funny. i realize i'm probably alone there - - but such is life...

so why do guys like don imus and the black doctor from Grey's Anatomy get in so much trouble for remarks that comedians make in every show? why is it ok that the young black comedian i watched on cinemax or hbo the other night did a 30 minute bit about "ho s" from his "n word" neighborhood? what makes that ok? why isn't the reverend sharpton call for his hide? then there was the black female comedian i watched (same show) who did an hour on the sexual differences in dating white men or black men. i didn't see foxnews running clips of her on "breaking news". nobody has said she should be banned from the comedic stage. i've seen korean comics making fun of koreans and asians in general, refering to them as ch**** and other names that if even uttered would put me in the racist category.

i just don't get it. please take note - i am not condoning this stuff from anyone. i am not saying anyone is right or wrong. i'm just saying that i see no equality in the protesting of such speech. if it's wrong for caucasian comedians then it's wrong for black comedians and korean comedians and asian comedians and middle eastern comedians in my opinion.....and likewise, if we're going to tolerate it and laugh at some comedians then we should tolerate and laugh at all of them, if that's the type of humor you enjoy.

don imus rose a few points on my list by spending two hours on the rev sharpton show today. what a circus. there was no rhyme nor reason for him to have to justify anything to rev sharpton. and, if you watched the clips from don's appearance on the show, he was treated poorly - can you say reverse discrimination? so this is sharpton's idea of making things ok? just come down and let me make fun of you for a few hours and we'll call it ok?

as i said - - i just don't get it.......................

just......

hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! we woke up saturday morning to about an inch or so of snow that fell overnight! and it's been very un-april cold all weekend - barely out of the 40's and in the 20's at night...and of course the wind is blowing 15-20mph so it's especially cold.... the snow didn't last long, was actually melted by the end of the day even though it's cold.... temp was above freezing...

i've kinda been staying away from the news all week-end....although, i must say that gayle has an excellent video clip over on My Republican Blog from a fellow name Bob Parks. really good words - - if you read through this, i highly recommend you click and go check out the video. i think she was going to leave that post on top for a few days - - so go watch it and listen to what he says...


i forget what we were doing just yesterday, but heard a story about a 102 year woman who hit a hole in one on the golf course. wonderful story!

if you haven't checked out Fred Thompson yet -- please do! there are links in the post just below this one....go learn about him - sign the petition. i really hope he'll run....

It's Good Friday!

i don't think Old Soldier will mind if i link over to his page. his post of April 5 is excellent reading. ms pelosi is in way over her head - even the washington post is critizing her latest escapade to syria... i'm not going to copy the post here, but please click here and go check this out.

it's cold here! sheesh - it's april 6th and we have hard freeze warnings up for tonite and are expecting snow this afternoon and tonite! my sister tells me last night that they have nearly two inches on the ground in eastern ohio! i saw video on the news this morning about 3 feet in michigan and minnesota and up that way..winter's last hurrah i guess.....

since he indicated an interest in being President, I have expressed my support for fred thompson. he's a real, honest-to-goodness republican conservative in a field of republican wannabes. here are a few links to sites where you can learn about fred thompson and some of his views. Draft Fred Thompson ///// this is a short Congressional biography ///// and this is a Washington Post article that makes a case for Thompson candidacy

away...

this is one of my least favorite kind of trips - - fly to LAX on Tuesday, have meetings all day on Wednesday, and fly home on Thursday. Tuesday and Thursday are pretty much wasted days because it takes all day to travel from the east coast to the west coast and back again. the time difference will screw me all up, so i figure friday will be a wasted day.....sheesh....hopefully the meetings on wednesday will be productive!

something about the fast pace out here is different anyway - - don't know how these folks do it....plus the smog is terrible!

flying on united generally isn't bad - - today after we left baltimore, i was sitting in seat 6 - right behind first class seating. i had to use the restroom. i waited until the seat belt sign went off, then walked up and went into the restroom. didn't pay much attention. boy when i came out - the flight attendant was standing by my seat! she had pulled the curtains to the first class area and told me in no uncertain terms that i was supposed to use the restroom in the back of the airplane - not the first class restroom.

wow...i was properly chastized - sat down - went back to my book. not ten minutes later a lady sitting just behind me gets up and walks up to the first class restroom!!! does her thing, comes out the door, chats with the flight attendant (same one who gave me hell), and meanders back to her seat!!! i couldn't believe it - almost said something - - thought better of it....probably good i didn't...