Wednesday, February 28, 2007

News from the Neutral Zone...

It is official! Star Trek XI is off the ground and looking for a landing in Christmas of 2008! And the best part, it will focus on the ORIGINAL Star Trek story and characters! Don't get me wrong, Next Gen, DS9 and Enterprise were great shows, (notice I left out Voyager) but they can't hold a candle to the original shows.

Check out the link below for more info!

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=b3ea9976-ddad-47f6-b0e8-f8f599de18e3

Later!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

If you want...

If you want what you have, then you have what you want.


Given to me in a Valentine's card. Think about it. It makes great sense.

This beastly body...

"We are constantly confronted with the limitations of the body. My body seems a mere encumbrance to me; an imbecilic wagon, hitched to horses of desire, which is the soul. Without my body, I feel I could spurn the earth and mount to those vast, sapphiric peaks of accomplishment and soluble mystery which by reason of my lumbering and utterly useless body, I can but catch brief glimpses, across the uninteresting and monotonous expanses of worldly life.
Yet, it may be that this beastly body of mine has a purpose. Perhaps abstract desire must take concrete form ere any step can be made toward accomplishment and knowledge."

Robert E. Howard, letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, Jr.
Aug. 28, 1925
(Robert E. Howard, Selected Letters, 1923-1930. Necronomicon Press, 1989)

Why did I post this? Any number of reasons but mainly two... First off I thought it would be an interesting and thought provoking statement, especially when some discover that it was written by the creator of the pulp fiction Conan the Barbarian character. Most who have never read the stories by Robert E. Howard, think of him only as a superficial fantasy writer that deals only in blood and gore. Again, that is because they have never read the Howard stories.

Secondly, I love the analogy of the soul, being compared to a team of horses. The horses of desire. It clicks with my feelings that a soul, while an incorporeal and intangible thing, is still a part of the human body and life, just as much as the heart, lungs or any other internal organ is. Without a soul, I don't think that we would be anything more than just another animal. A soul to me is God's fingerprint on us all, being made in his likeness. And it always seems to me, looking for a way out of the body to soar to a higher peak. And this is why I think humans always strive to attain and accomplish more than what they have. The soul is looking for a better place, a better life, a place where the soul can soar.

Enjoy...

Later!

Monday, February 26, 2007

It's almost time...

Last week, after suffering through a blinding blizzard and some really damned cold temperatures in my part of Illinois, the state did what it does best and flip flopped completely in the weather department. We had some really nice temperatures last week, sometimes topping out in to the 50's. It was nice and gave those of us who have motorcylces a tast of what is to come and made some of us consider getting the beasties out of hibernation. At the same time, one of my favorite motorcycle accessory producers; Kuryakyn, sent me the new 2007 catalog of things to spend my money on. But what was really neat was their philosophy behind making all the cool products that they make. From the letter in the catalog:

"Our ideas are products of creative minds that realize a motorcycle isn't simply a means of transportation, but ratehr a representation of a person's very identity. We firmly believe that a motorcycle adventure isn't just a destination, but also the quality and enjoyment of the excursion and the pride of making your motorcycle a tourist attraction at every stop along the way."

This should be called the "Way Cool Philosophy of the Two Wheeled Brotherhood."

Here's to hoping for warmer weather... it is almost time!

later!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Gunnar - King of the Hill


Gunnar - King of the Hill
Originally uploaded by cgeiken.
A great photo of Gunnar. he literally could not wait to get out into the drifts and snow. By the end of the day he was one pooped puppy!

My wife just discovered that I can post photos directly to my blog from "flickr.com." So, you will probably see alot more photos on the postings! Cool for you and easy for me!

As you can see, Gunnar is at the top of a 4.5 foot snow drift. This was before the snow plow made it another 1 or more taller. I have not seen snow like this around here for maybe 12 years or more. This is kind of reminisent of the snow fall I remember as a kid.

Later!

Later

The Valentine's day Birthday Boy

Here is a photo of Gunnar and the kids with his birthday cake. Notice how intently Gunnar is focused on the cake. That is because it was made with a can of dog food, two eggs, a cup of flour and some milk. It looked just like a cake but smelled like something much different. He absolutely loved it. He is even so well behaved as to not eat until he is given permission!

Valentine's day is OK again...

Okay again you ask? What could I possibly mean? Hasn't Valentine's Day always been okay and a good day? Well, as a matter of fact, for my wife and I, it has not always been the best of days to express our love and affection for one another. To begin with, in the past, we always seemed to try too hard, or were too poor, or something got in the way of making it a nice day to enjoy. My wife had one of her favorite cats die on Valentine's day. One of our biggest and nastiest fights came on Valentine's day. Eventually, we just stopped recognizing Valentine's day and things seemed to be much better on that day. Nothing big, just a card and a small treat and it was all good. Sometimes when you try to put too much into a particular day, be it Valentine's or a birthday, or maybe even a big holiday, you can include too much stress and a day that is supposed to be special, instead turns out to be a big mistake and a disaster.

My wife and I have only casually observed Valentine's Day for the last umpteen years or so and it has been good for us, but we never really acknowledged the day as "Valentine's Day." It was just another day. But I think that all of that has changed for us now. We have another reason to celebrate the big "V" day.

Our wonderfully loveable, well behaved, handsome, protective, and incredibly smart dog, GUNNAR was born on Valentine's day of 2006. This year, we got to celebrate his birthday in addition to doing all the regular Valentine type of stuff. We did not go all out for the Valentine stuff... cards for each other and the kids, some treats and a nice meal out was the order of the day. I liked it. Nothing big, nothing outlandish. (I did get some "Sharries Berries" in the mail from my wife... gourmet choclate covered strawberries... oh. my. God. Yum.) And, along with the Valentine day stuff, we got to lavish attention and love on our pooch. We even made a dog food based birthday cake for him. (We have entered into that realm of crazy dog owners, I know...) He loved the cake! We even shared it with some of his doggie buddies. It didn't hurt that we had a huge snow storm that socked us in for two days and the kids were out of school, we were off work, and he could have us to himself for as much as he wanted. He loves playing in the snow! It was a good day for him and for us.

So... Valentine's day is back on the calendar for me. I will never again make it a huge day, because after all, it is just a Hallmark Holiday, but now it is more for my family and I.

Happy Birthday to Gunnar Valentin Von Geiken (yes, there is no "e" on the end of his middle name, the "i" is pronounced as an "ee")


Later!