For What It's Worth

Anti-aging secret discovered.... for me at least.

2011-06-14T09:12:00.003-05:00

In the last few weeks, I have come to one of those realizations in life that should be so obvious that when you finally wake up to it, it is a "duh" moment. And that moment was when I discovered what I think for me is the secret to never getting old. Oh yeah, we have to grow "older" in a chronological sense, but we don't really have to grow old in a mental and to a large extent, physical, sense. Sure, regular exercise, both physical and mental is key, but there is more to that. The secret, I think, is never, ever, give up doing the things you love to do. And to add to that, keep adding to those things you love to do. Find your passions and keep them alive. Even if those passions were things that you found when you were a kid, keep doing them.

At a recent graduation party, I was talking with a young man who said to me the best thing I could ever hear. He said, "You are my hero. I want to live my life the same way you do. I never want to stop doing what I love to do, no matter what age I am." Wow. Yeah, I might be his hero, but that guy is my inspiration! It was then that I began to look around at myself and others, and came to the realization that so many of us have passions that we hold dear, but all too often, those passions get squelched by the responsibilities of life, work, and family. I came to realize that, while unnoticed before, so many people I know say the words, "I used to love to do...., but I don't/can't/won't anymore." Why? I am sure there are many good reasons why they don't do those things they are passionate about. But it seems to me that those reasons become excuses and those people seem to get old really fast. Lose your passions, lose your youth is what it says to me. A great friend of mine, one of my best, is going down this road. Gone from being someone who was always up for doing what he enjoyed to being someone who can find any easy excuse to not to. And I can see age creeping in on him and it makes me sad. And I see it in many people I know. They sit around and talk about their passions rather than act on or live them. They talk of them in the past tense. I will not be one of them.

I fully expect to be running through the woods shooting my grandchildren with paint-ball guns. I fully expect to be gaming with the next 2 or 3 generations of gamers. I will continue to involve myself in historical reenacting and still taking my wife out on the dance floor while others only watch. My wife and I will continue to ride our motorcycles until we need new ones, and then we will ride them some more! Someday I will know more about wine than anyone else I know. And I will find new passions. I will keep all of my passions alive and encourage my family to do the same, for to do any different would be to give up and become old.

I will not give up. I will get older, but I will not get old.

Later!

I shot a Frenchman at Agincourt!

2011-06-07T09:50:00.001-05:00

Quick as a quiver, an arrow is in his liver!!!

This was too good not to share.

later!

I thought Aussies had more sense....

2011-05-31T08:40:00.000-05:00

The following are copies of letters of concern from people in Austrailia who are righting about a new (proposed?) law that would greatly increase their limits on weapon ownership and use in their nation. Apparently it will be so limiting that even re-enactors will be affected in their hobby. What I noticed in the first letter was the mention that knives cannot even be used in camping situations? How does something like that get passed? Anyway, I am just putting their concerns here as an example of what can happen when knee-jerk reactions are made into laws. This is from THE RE-ENACTOR issue 30.

More Publicity Needed.

criminal defending your own life, or have your guns etc taken from you for ever because you used these implements to defend your family. Even police officers have lost their jobs & their families because they shot & killed someone defending their lives in the course of their duties. We need some common sense here; we need the government to stop pandering to grieving families calling for a ban on this & that. Ask a gun owner who has just lost a family member in an accidental shooting if he would like to see guns banned. We know that it is not the gun; it is the person using that gun. Take our guns, swords, knives, bows, crossbows, catapults & everything else off us & we the good guys will be the only ones without them, the bad guys will always find a way of getting them because they are NOT law abiding citizens! They don‟t need a licence, they don‟t need permission.

But she won‟t be all right mate. We are talking about our right to seek a better life, our right to enjoyment & fun, and yes if that means to the expense of some poor chap who happens to get killed with a compound bow, then so be it. We cannot be held responsible for all the nutters out there who want to kill people, nor should we be held responsible because some kid gets hold of a gun, tomahawk, bow, crossbow, spear, javelin, boomerang or anything else & accidently kills or injures someone. It is NOT our fault. No matter what they ban, there will always be something that someone will use for some activity that with misuse will cause injury or death.

The sporting community, living historians, historical trekkers, historical reenactors, hunters, we all need our tools of choice to be able to enjoy our pastime/hobbies/lifestyles. It simply does not make sense to keep banning things at our expense, & it just confirms what I have always thought, that these government bodies simply don‟t give a dam. They play to the ordinary citizen who knows absolutely nothing of what we do & who we are. These people simply cannot see what it is that we like so much about sporting shooting, camping, living history & a host of other interests that involve the use of these banned tools.

Knee jerk reactions by the government in response to injuries & death involving sporting tools/weapons appears to be standard procedure & the whole thing is getting ridiculous. The banning of certain guns, a proposal to ban sporting black powder, tomahawks need a permit in Victoria, crossbows are on the dangerous weapons list in NSW, & now crossbows are banned in West Australia. Knives can no longer be carried for camping purposes in public areas. Pocket knives can no longer be carried in public areas. Even Catapults are banned! At one time flintlock muzzle-loading guns enjoyed the freedom of registration & licence in NSW. Which I thought was a good move, I mean who would bother holding up a bank these days with a flintlock, let alone use one to exterminate one‟s family. I thought of it as throwing us some crumbs, & it made sense. But it was not to last, now flintlocks are all bundled in together with modern firearms which does not make any sense, nor do I consider it fair.

The more submissions, the better, from as many different groups and states as possible

Vic 3000

GPO Box 4306

Legislative and Regulatory Branch

The address to send submissions to is

Keith H. Burgess.

I trust you will do all you can to help us & all other black powder gun clubs, historical re-enactment clubs, & living history clubs & groups in Australia. The consequences of this legislation are far reaching beyond the closure of these clubs & groups.

This is a precursor for the "National Harmonized Explosive Laws" that are currently in the pipeline for 2013. What is decided in Victoria, will not only affect Victorians, visitors into Victoria, but will impact on all states.

Yours sincerely.

1.3C or creating a sub-category that has the same requirements and storage quantities as the 1.3C classified explosives. With the adoption of the above proposal, this would have a minimal disruptive effect upon each member and our respective clubs. We hope you will view these suggestions in a positive way.

powder would be expended in their pursuit of their sport or interest per day. Hence the participants would not have sufficient quantities to be able to participate for the duration of the event due to the now proposed storage quantities and proposed transportable quantities. A majority of the firearms used by the above are ONLY designed for Black Propellant Shooting Powders. Most black powder shooting clubs are only accredited for use of Black Propellant Shooting powders. With the restrictive supply due to the transportation restrictions in the availability of compliant transport companies, transportable quantities and point of supply availability, there future becomes very unsure.

Black Propellant Shooting Powders have been classed as 1.1D Blasting Explosives. These powders are specifically used as shooting powders only as the name suggests. In accordance with the draft RIS, all black powder shooters and re-enactors will be required to obtain a blasting explosive licence to store and use their propellants in the pursuit of the sport or interest. The maximum amount they will be able to store will be 5kg as proposed. This amount penalizes them as most of these shooters would hold /store in excess of this proposed quantity. There are 8 grades of these shooting powders of which most users would possess. They are only supplied in 1Kg compliant containers so to continue shooting as they do they would need to either relinquish some of their firearms or move to a large magazine storage facility. Hence there is the potential for in excess of 2200 large scalestorage facilities to be built.

To whom it may concern

This is so good, it has to be shared...

2011-05-25T08:31:00.002-05:00

The movie "Downfall" about the last three days of Hitler's life is a fantastic movie. In fact you should watch it just to get an idea of the emotion portrayed in this parody and it will make this all the more fun to watch. The best line in this... the line referring to all the 4th Edition players to get out of the room.

Here it is... Hilter's D&D character dies

Memorial Day...

2011-05-23T12:32:00.004-05:00

On May 31st, 2011 I will be the guest speaker for the Paxton Memoiral Day Service at Glen Cemetary in Paxton. I was asked by the PBL band director and former commander of Prairie Post Legion 150. I am honored to be thought of as someone who can do this for such a special day. I have worried over this for along time but have finally come up with a finished speech. I will present it here for those that may not be able to make it to the ceremony. I don't know if it is good or bad, but it was written from the heart.

NOTE; I will also be marching in the parade to the cemetary in the uniform of a Revolutionary War soldier. Hence the reference to this in the speech.

What is Memorial Day and why do we still observe it? For far too many it is merely a day off from work or school, a day to get great deals at the stores, a day to grill outdoors and gather with friends and family with little thought to the true meaning of the day. To do so without regard for the real meaning of Memorial Day, belittles it and those it is meant to honor. But for others such as all of us gathered here, it is a day to reflect, honor and mourn those that have given their lives in the line of military duty for the security of our country.

Memorial Day, established on May 5th, 1868, was originally called Decoration Day. It was a set aside from all others to adorn and decorate the graves of fallen Union and Confederate soldiers of the Civil War. From General Orders #11 General John Logan, Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, it reads;
Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.”
Since then, Memorial Day has come to memorialize and remember all American Soldiers who have fallen in combat from any war. I stand before you today in the garb of a soldier of the American Revolution so that you will remember those soldiers that gave their lives so that a new nation would be born on this continent. A nation forged in the blood of patriots that would grow to be unlike any seen before. Beside me stands the Darrel Foster family, dressed in the uniforms of soldiers from the Civil war. They too are here to remind you of those soldiers that fought and died in a conflict that threatened to rip this country apart. Those soldiers gave their lives in order that the Union of the United States would endure.
Look around you in this cemetery. Each American flag designates the grave of a person who was an American serviceman or woman. Regardless of whether they died in conflict, or went to their eternal rest, comfortably abed, they made the commitment to stand and defend this country. We may not know their stories. We may not know if they served in times of war or peace, but we know that they were ready to serve when needed.

Walt Whitman, commenting on the horrors of the Civil War, said” Future years will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background of…the …War. The real war will never get in the books.” This could be said of any war, from any time.
Earlier this year, the United States lost its last WWI veteran. His story and experiences are now part of history, part of legend. Out of 16 million men and women who served during WWII there are fewer than 2 million still alive today. There are many with us still that have served in Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East. They all have a story to tell.
I challenge the young people in this gathering, learn about the history of our nation’s wars and to reach out to those service men and women who fought in them, engage them if they are willing, and learn their story. Learn of their experiences. From them you will find out what it is that makes an American soldier stand out from all others. From them you will find out what it is to be a real patriot; to be a hero; to be a true American.

When I was first asked to speak at the Memorial Day Ceremony I was a bit reluctant. Normally, as I have observed in the past, the guest speaker was usually a talented PBL high school student or a member of the Paxton Legion. What would I, your average Paxton citizen, and someone who has never served in the armed forces have to say about Memorial Day? But I am a student of history and I decided to look at Memorial Day from a historical aspect. I read about history, I have written about it, and I involve myself in the historical re-enactments of certain periods of history. The one thing that is revealed to me in all this is how the American serviceman, the American warrior, stands head and shoulders above all others in American History. America, for all that it is, for all that it stands for, and for all that it gives to each of us, has all come from the efforts of those who have fought and died in the service of the United States Armed forces.

Albert Einstein said that, “As long as there are people, there will be wars.” This can be taken further to state, that as long as there are governments there will be people willing to make wars. And wars cannot be fought without warriors who are willing to give their all for their government and their country. The nineteenth century German military officer and philosopher, Karl Von Clausewitz, stated in his book “On War”, that “War is regarded as the continuation of state policy by other means.” In other words, when diplomacy fails a government, soldiers, sailors and guns usually solve the matter.

Look at the history of our nation. It was born in the blood of patriots during the American War for Independence as we struggled to break free from the tyrannical rule of another nation.

The War of 1812 assured the world, that despite being a fledgling nation, Americans would continue to fight and die for our independence and sovereignty.

During the Mexican-American War, our soldiers fought and died to ensure that America could continue to grow and not be unduly constrained in its boundaries.

In that most terrible of wars, the American Civil War, where American fought American, more lives were lost in this war than all other American wars combined. The soldiers and sailors on both sides fought for a cause they believed in, but in the end it was a fight to save the union of the United States, and in the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
During the Spanish American war, America’s warrior stepped up to defend against aggression and incursions from world powers, only to defeat them and put the United States on an equal footing with the rest of the world.

American warriors entered into the conflicts of World Wars I and II and shed their blood so that not only American’s freedom would be assured but also the freedom of other nations by defeating oppression and tyranny around the world.

And while the wars of Korea and Vietnam were not popularly supported by American citizens, those American Service men and women committed themselves to the fight, and many died to defend what was considered a threat to our democratic ideology.

Most recently, America finds itself fighting a war, not only for our national safety, but also our ideals, and our way of life. Young men and women of the United States Armed Forces are deployed around the world, in places that most people could not find on a map. They are fighting a war like no other. Not only are they soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, but they are also diplomats, teachers, and ambassadors representing the country they serve. They not only have to win a combat operation, but they have to win the hearts and minds of those they are fighting against, thereby trying to make friends of our enemies.
No matter what time period, no matter what historical event, no matter whether a decision to send American men and women to fight is right or wrong, popular or unpopular, there have always been those that will step up, commit themselves to the fight and defend with their lives our country, our ideals, our way of life, and our freedoms. Over 1 million, 300 thousand combat related deaths of US service men and women throughout American history attests to that.

Once more I would like to take a passage from the orders of General Logan on that first Memorial Day in 1868, for I think it sums up nicely why it was first celebrated and why we observe it still.
“What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

In closing, I ask again. What is Memorial Day? Simply put, it is a day that the living can dedicate
“To those who died securing peace and freedom; to those who served in conflict to protect our land, and sacrificed their dreams of the day to preserve the hope of our nation, keeping
America the land of the free for over two and a half centuries, we owe our thanks and our honor. It is important to not only recognize their service but to respect their devotion to duty and to ensure that the purpose for which they fought will never be forgotten.” – www.usmemorialday.org

God Bless you all, God Bless Paxton, God Bless America and God Bless our Service men and women.
Thank you all very much,

This must be shared!!!

2011-04-05T12:43:00.001-05:00

"We few, we happy few."

Get ready to LOL and Cry out loud...

2011-03-07T14:32:00.002-06:00

Thanks to my wife for finding this site. Be sure to check the archives!!!!

OMG... tears are rolling down my cheeks!

Later.

I am stealing this and posting it here...

2011-02-23T09:18:00.001-06:00

'cause, well, dammit, they said it first and probably better, but it is a good article!

GAME-DAR

Glowball....

2011-02-22T21:15:00.005-06:00

Glowball. Mention glowball to any of my friends from my childhood and you will see a huge grin appear on their face. Glowball was an invented game that took place only on certain nights. My parents had to be gone obviously, but it had to be dark, and had to be at my parents house. Why? First because my parents house had a floor plan that allowed you to run from one room to another without having to open any doors or stopping to turn sharp corners. And it was filled with all kinds of things to hide behind. Secondly, our house had very few outside lights to shine into the windows, therefore making it very dark if you turned out all the lights inside the house. It was required that you play Glowball in as dark an environment as possible and well, my parents house fit the bill perfectly.

What was Glowball? Think hide and seek and tag mixed together but you tagged a person who was hiding by hitting them (as hard as you could) with a small, hard plastic ball that could only be found in the box of cereal called QUISP. (Anyone remember QUISP?!?!) It was a molded glow in the dark ball that was actually a replica of the moon, and if you held it under a light long enough it would glow for like 10 minutes. Longer than any other glow in the dark object we had ever seen. And since it was a solid ball, it would not break apart if it hit anything hard. (Bodies, including heads, are not hard, by the way)

What you did was you got a bunch of bored grade and high school boys together and picked someone to be the "robot" who held possession of the glowball. No one else could touch it, or you would be "it". The rest of the boys would turn off all the lights and go hide around the house. Any place in the house, excluding the basement and attic, was considered a legal place to hide. The "robot" would then place himself in the bathroom and "charge and blind" himself by placing the glowball on a light bulb thereby "charging" it, and at the same time, staring at the light buld in order to "blind" the "robot" once he left the bathroom in search of hiding victims.

The robot would go out in search of victims, usually stumbling around for about a minute as his eyes would re-adjust, all the while making silly robot or creepy noises to put the hiders on edge. Often, it was so dark that the robot would walk within inches of the person hiding, so the tension level was quite high and sometimes would result in normally "tough" boys squealing and laughing like little girls! The robot would go about the house looking for his victims by searching in all places with eyes and hands and feet.

Hiding spots were quite creative. I know of boys hiding on top of the stove, refrigerator, under couches (not just cushions, but the whole damned couch)and standing on the top of chair backs while balancing against a wall. No place was unrestricted unless it would not hold your weight.

Once the victim was found, one of two things happened.
CIRCUMSTANCE ONE: If a victim was found and said victim was out of arms reach, the glowball was thrown at the victim in an attempt to hit the victim with it and thereby making it the next robot. Often though, the throw would go wide and the would be victim would scream in terror, jump up (or down)from the hiding spot and flee around the house, slamming into, falling over, and climbing up things around the house, all while the robot tried to retrieve the glowball and follow in pursuit. The pursuit usually flushed out a few other hiding victims and so the robot would numerous possible targets, all running this way and that in hopes of avoiding the smack of a plastic glowball in the back, the legs, the head or nut sack.
CIRCUMSTANCE TWO: If a victim was found and said victim was within arms reach, the robot would, in an attempt increase his odds of hitting the victim with the glowball, deliver a mighty blow to the hiding victim. This was usually delivered to the gut or legs in an attempt to stun and immobilize them so that the glowball could be delivered with full force to the stunned victim, thereby making him the next Glowball Robot!

(Imagine the feeling of a hard plastic ball connecting with your body from a distance of about five feet, after it leaves the hand of an adrenaline crazed teenage boy, who finds a helpless victim to throw it at. Add to it that there is no recourse for the victim. He signed up for this game. Take the hit like a man, or leave the house. If you can imagine this, then you can understand the level of pain involved.)

For me, the best memory was one of my times as the robot. I came out of the bathroom, blind as a bat, looking for someone to throw this ball at. I circled the house at least once, and came back to the main living room. Still slightly blind, I did manage to perceive what I though was someones head sticking out from behind a chair back. Rather than check further, I chucked the ball at the "head" and was rewarded with a loud "THWOK!" and the glowball bounceing directly back at me as if it had hit a brick wall. I also heard a body hitting the floor and a moan of pain come from my buddy Mike, and a string of curses from him, followed by hoots and howls of laughter from everyone else hidden in the room. I admit I am not a great thrower of objects, but in the low light conditions and diminished eyesight, I must have let instinct and luck have free reign and I tagged him square in the forehead and nearly knocked him out. Someone turned the lights came on and we made sure he wasn't dead, and then proceeded to laugh ourselves silly for the next 15 minutes over his pain and my grand effort!

Thinking back on these games, I am amazed that nothing got broken in my parents house. Or nothing got broken to the point where it could not be fixed and made to look whole again. We always cleaned up after these games and it seemed as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened in the house. We must have done well, because my parents never said anything about it. Ever. We got lucky.

I found the glowball many years ago while attending college. Looking at it, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia that this little piece of plastic produced. I don't know what ever happened to it since then, but I am glad I have lost it. If not, I would be sorely tempted to have shown it to my kids and explained what glowball was. And then, glowball would be played in my house. And that would not be good. This is one game I think that is best left in the past and resurrected in story form only.

Snow Days

2011-01-31T12:44:00.004-06:00

At the time of this writing, there is all kinds of warnings about heavy snowfall, freezing rain, and wicked wind speeds predicted to settle into our area and shut things down for a day or two. People are preparing by buying up milk and eggs, calling off meetings or already making notice that they might not be at work the next day. All this reminds me of those days back in grade school and high school when we had snow days. Not only did we get out of school, which was a GOOD THING, but it meant that my friends and I would have an extra day to hang out together and have all sorts of fun.

Should a snow day be declared, on the night before, phone calls would go out to make plans for the following day to meet somewhere (despite road conditions)and make the most of the frozen landscape with snowmobiles, ATV's or shovels. (We could build snow forts like no one's business)

But what I really enjoyed the most were those days when, either it was way to cold to be outside, or the idea of working that hard was not appealing, we would stay inside and play games. Classic 1970's board games geared towards boys. Games like Carrier Strike, Stratego, Chopper Strike, Tank Battle, Battleship!, Sub Search and of course, RISK. There were others too, but these are the ones that stick in my mind as the ones that made it to the game table more often than not.

We would break these games out and play for hours. If someone lost, there would be a rematch and the games would go on until satisfaction was won, or we got bored and moved on to a different game. RISK was a game that could go on for hours at a time, for as you know, there is no domination like total world domination in the classic game of RISK! Never surrender, never give up.

This was the time before video games. It was also before I discovered Dungeons & Dragons. I think this is why I love board games so much. It was such a part of my childhood that it was imprinted on my psyche that quality time equaled gaming time. There was no stigma connected to being a "gamer" at this point and we were never embarrassed to say we played games for hours on end and called it fun! We even bragged about it at school.

I know that snow days now are a high point in the school year, and kids get together to play games to celebrate it, but now they join online games connected via their computer or game console. No need to risk life and limb to get together anymore on a heavy snow day. I find it kind of sad, but it is part of the new world of technology that our kids live in. I embrace it too, but I would like to see my kids and their friends participate in a few more snow days like I used. Probably because I would like to join them...

The Steel Wheeled Chariot of Death!

2011-01-19T12:14:00.004-06:00

At some point in my childhood, near about the time when most of my friends and I had learned to ride and drive mini-bikes and small motorcycles, our feelings of immortality were reaching their peak. After all, we had just conquered learning to ride motorcycles even before stepping in to a Driver's Education course to learn to drive cars. And as was the nature with those friends of mine, riding a motorcycle was just not enough. Riding by yourself was boring, unless you were in a race, or trying to run over one of your "ground-bound" friends with said motorcycle. (I should stop right here. We did not use motorcycles exclusively for this task. We found that hitting a person had a tendency to make the motorcycle unstable, so we quickly switched over to three-wheeled ATV's for this purpose)

Anyway, at some point, it was just more fun to have your friends come along for the ride and even though you could get one person on the back, having everyone in the group come along for the ride was even better. But how do you do this with a motorcycle that you can fit only one person on? You turn to the Steel Wheeled Chariot of Death.

The S.W.C of D. was a contraption that we created out of a old steel frame of some 1910 or 20's wagon that the wood components had long ago rotted away, leaving only the skeleton of welded and bolted metal to work with. I am not sure how it got there, but one day it appeared in the back part of my dad's yard, near the burn/trash pile. It was like a God-send to us boys and we immediately put it to good use!

We slapped a wooden door down on the frame, secured a back board to that and constructed a hitch of sorts that would attach to the back end of a motorcycle with out restricting the way a bike leans when turning. It all looked good in our minds and the best way to find out was to throw some people on and take it for a spin. Lo! and Behold! The damned thing worked perfectly. It took a bit of effort for the motorcycle operator to maintain an upright position on the bike due to the drag caused by the S.W.C of D. but it was not impossible to clip along at about 10 miles an hour over grass and fields with a few boys happily bouncing along behind in contraption that would eventually start to bend, bruise and almost break a number of boys in very short order.

Riding about on the Steel Wheeled Chariot of Death was fine if you were on soil, but once you hit paved or gravel roads, the ride became almost unbearable. Almost. We discovered that if you were riding in the S. W. C. of D. while on a road, you had to keep your mouth tightly shut or you might bite your tongue or crack your teeth due to the jackhammering that was a result of the bare steel wheels making contact with a hard surface like the road. Some riders preferred to stand, but this made the entire balance of the cart go wonky, so seated was the only way to be able to ride. The exception was standing on the very back of the cart, holding on to the backboard and standing on part of the frame. It was a prime position and one that allowed for quick exit from the cart once the ride was over. So we would jockey for position every time we used the cart and it was a useful contraption for about, oh, a week.

I remember it being a cool fall or spring day. The grass was still green, but it was very wet, and there were no crops in the fields, so it is hard to remember was season it was. Not that it matters. What matters is that a number of us had gathered from some reason in Claytonville. Probably a game day, or a bb gun fight, or something along those lines. Those present that I can remember, were Denver, Mike, Tom, Jeff, myself and I think my brother. We had all found ourselves at the bridge that crossed over the crick (Whiskey Creek) that passed by town. We had all arrived there via motorcycle and the Steel Wheeled Chariot of Death. But it was time to call it a day so we gathered up and headed back to town. (Which is only about a 40-50 second ride) On the motorcycle was Tom. On the S. W. C. of D. was Denver, Jeff, Mike, myself, and again, I think my brother. Everyone was on the cart, with Mike having secured the comfy position on the back. And off we went.

However, something went terribly wrong. Somewhere in the short time it took to get from the starting position to up to speed, someone or something caused the front of the cart to lift up, taking a good deal of ground traction off of the rear tire of the motorcycle and causing Tom to lose control of the bike. At this point, Mike saw what was coming and proceeded to jump off the back of the cart, which not only brought the front end down, but also propelled the cart frame into the back of the motorcycle tire and fender, catching up underneath the fender. Tom sped up immediately to attempt to unlock the motorcycle from the frame, which it did, but it in turned jerked the remaining riders back onto the backboard, causing us to clamber for secure positions.

The rest of this story is what I remember actually happening to me, and what I remember Mike telling us all what he saw after he exited the cart.

Mike said he saw the motorcycle and cart veer off of the road and down into the ditch, which had about a 10-12 foot drop. He said that Jeff tried to jump off the cart, got caught by the wheel as he left and fell onto the road as motorcycle and all were heading down into the ditch. He said, Denver and I had grabbed on to one another like two lovers in a full hug embrace, bouncing up and down on the cart, trying desperately to stay on board. And then the cart started to roll and proceeded to throw everyone, including Tom on the motorcycle, from their seated postions, out into the ditch and accompanying field.

From my perspective, all I remember was seeing the motorcycle in front of me start to fishtail horribly, someone screaming and jumping off the cart, and noticing the cart was no longer behind, but above the motorcycle that was supposed to be pulling it! I suppose this was because the motorcycle was headed down into the ditch, with the S.W.C. of D. in full pursuit. As the cart began to tilt and roll, I attempted to jump out, but the shoulder of my army jacket got caught in the spokes of the steel wheels and it pulled me down and around, my arm actually ripping out the 2x4 that was used to support the backboard to the wood door we used as a floor. I remember seeing things upside down as I rolled on the grass, the Steel Wheeled Chariot of Death flipping over, and Tom and the motorcycle also falling to the ground, to stop at the bottom of the soggy edge of the field. And I remember laughter.

Mike was laughing his ass off. He was standing up on the road, looking down at us and laughing as hard as he ever had. We all stood up, looked to make sure nothing was broken on us, and once assured of that, began the excited retelling of surviving the trip of death on our now bent and broken Steel Wheeled Chariot of Death. My shoulder hurt like hell. Jeff was kind of banged up from landing on the road, and Tom was pissed because something had broken on his motorcycle. I don't recall what happened to Denver, but he survived realatively unscathed.

We limped back home to my house and my friends went their own ways, but the next day at school we had a story to tell! I don't recall was happended to the S.W.C.of D. but we never used it again. I don't even think we pulled it out of the ditch. I supposed someone drug it out and used it for scrap metal, but it, like so many other things from my childhood, was one of those things I will never forget.

Story time...

2011-01-10T11:06:00.008-06:00

This year I am going to spend more time on the old blog with stories from my childhood. And by "childhood" I mean that period of time when I was between the years of 8 and 17. I seem to recall that most of my memorable childhood stories come from that age range, but don't expect me to be able to nail down exactly how old I was in some of these stories. My childhood was a ton of fun and it all seemed to run together in terms of years. The best I might be able to do is say I was on the older range or the younger range of my childhood. I hope you enjoy these stories and maybe even share this with your child and tell he or she, "Do not do stuff like this!" Maybe someone can learn from my mistakes... but then again, I survived and still have all my parts.... almost. Over time you will come to know my best buddies and members of my family, and maybe figure out just how I managed to survive my childhood and some of what makes me tick.

OF GRILLS AND MUSHROOM CLOUDS

Life as a kid in Claytonville, Il. was one of making your own fun, because let's face it, living in town that consists of 50-60 people, of which 90% were hard working adults, could get pretty boring. And a small town located in east central Illinois,in the late 70's and early 80's, saying that modernity and "civilization" had arrived there, was stretching the truth a bit. Sure, we had heat (downstairs) in the winter, but no air conditioning in the summer. (My parents waited until every kid was out of the house before getting that.) We even had indoor running water, flush toilets and all that, so don't get the idea that it was like living on the frontier, but many modern conveniences that those living in the big cities of Paxton or Champaign took for granted, we did not have. Movie theaters, colored TV or more than three channels to watch, parks, and so forth So, as kids we made our own fun. Usually with things that exploded. Or burnt. Or melted. Or went fast or shot things. You get the idea. Here is one that everyone in my family knows about and for the most part, several members of the families of those involved.

Summers in Claytonville were fun. Jobs were easy to find if you were willing to work on a farm or outside, but work was work and that was not fun. Most of my friends and I worked only in the morning of the summer to avoid the heat of the day, leaving the rest of the day to use as we saw fit. One one particular day, we decided to beat the heat by holing up in a small copse of trees that lined a cornfield. It was your typical hedge row, with tangled Osage orange trees, horse-weeds, wild raspberry bushes and tall grasses all growing in the same small condensed area. It was located just a few hundred yards from my house, right near the railroad tracks that cut Claytonville in half, running east and west. (Debate still rages as to who lived on the right side of the tracks and who did not)

The little hedgerow had served as hideout, enemy territory, hunting ground, and a myriad of other purposes, depending on the mood and ideas of the boys using it. At this particular time, we (Tom, Mike, my brother Darryl, and myself) were using it as shade from the heat and as a private men's club, complete with manufactured luxuries, including a brick fireplace and grill. Despite the heat of summer, we stoked a fire in the tiny fireplace and were enjoying the idea of being men among men, having constructed our own man-cave where we could eat, sleep, and drink anytime we liked. Not that we slept there or ate there, but we did drink there. Soda. And lots of it! Especially root beer and Pepsi.

Empty bottles were scattered about in every direction. Neatness was not something that was high on our club's priorities. Suffice it to say that there were a number of them sitting around and eventually one of these empty bottles must have caught the attention of one of us. I am not sure who started it, but I recall that someone had acquired a bottle, filled it half full of water from a nearby mud-puddle, and had corked it with a mixture of mud and dried corncob, firmly shoved down the neck of the bottle. Said bottle was soon placed on the fireplace/grill and the fire increased until the water began to boil within the bottle, creating immense pressure that would finally result in the makeshift cork to fail and the water to fountain out of the bottle, much to the delight of those present in the little hedgerow. About 4 or 5 bottles were sacrificed in this manner before someone would take our idea on a wicked turn.

Most of the ideas that we came up with to avoid boredom were usually good at first, but then, some idiot, (always one of the usual suspects) would decide to escalate the idea to its most illogical ___________. (fill in the blank with words anything like; conclusion, explosion, concussion, piercing, collision, etc, etc.) Without fail, this is indeed what happened. The idiot in this case (or at the time and age, genius)was my best buddy, Mike.

Mike lived across the tracks and if there is someone who you will meet in these stories more often than not, it will be Mike. Mike was a good friend for me to have. He knew (as all best buddies do) how to push my buttons and made me stretch myself as a person. He dared (and sometimes forced) me to do things I probably would not have done. He was very outgoing and everyone liked him, but I got to call him my best friend.

Mike had stepped out of the hedgerow and had come back with a bottle filled to the top and well stoppered with not just mud and corncob but a hefty amount of clay, which could be found just about anywhere in Claytonville. (There used to be a brick factory that was housed on the ground were my house and outbuildings were located) He came back with almost a wild look in his eye, as he placed the bottle on the grill and added more wood and fuel to the fire. Looking back now, it was obvious what he had done, but at that time, it just did not seem like anything was wrong, at least at first. But then, we noticed, as the bottle started to show the first bubbles of boiling, that the liquid in the bottle was two toned, and that Mike was very cautiously, yet very deliberately, inching backwards AWAY from the fireplace and the bottle set upon the tiny grill plate. Normally, we would get close to things that were flaming or on otherwise about to flame up, but this time, it was different.

Call it some unseen or unspoken signal, some smell of fear, or maybe we were all realizing what might just be in that bottle that we all began moving back to a safe distance of, oh, say, 5 to 10 feet, but at the same time, still give us front row viewing for the upcoming show. And what a show it was!

At some point, the level of heat had made the "water" in the bottle reach the point where it would shoot the cork off. However, Mike had done a marvelous job at securing the cork in the bottle. So much so, that instead of shooting out the corncob cork, the bottle instead burst apart and released what, to our eyes, was essentially the god of HellFire! (There was much rejoicing.) When that bottle exploded, the water, and what ever else was mixed into it, combined with the air and created (Okay, now remember, I am trying to remember this with my child's eye and memory.) a column of fire about 6 feet around, and a resulting mushroom ball of fire and smoke that belched up through the trees (full grown) and out of the canopy for about five feet. After a cursory glance about to see if anyone was dead or bleeding, we all jumped up to survey the damage to our little club and congratulate each other on being present for such a show, much less on simply being alive and in one piece. Our fireplace and grill, and the fire within were snuffed out of existence. Dried grass on the ground and small leaves on the trees above us were still smoking, but for the most part there was little damage done. Once again, God had looked out for us and kept us safe, despite our best efforts.

It seems that Mike had traveled outside of the realm of regular mud-puddles and went to where there was a fuel refilling station that carried, home heating fuel, gas, diesel, and kerosene. This station was, like so many things, just about 150 yards from my house and about 25 yards (certainly more than safe enough distance) from where we were having our little experiment using fire and water. In huge tanks that were suspended horizontally on steel trusses, there was somewhere close to 500,000 gallons of fuel. These resided in a retaining pit, surrounded by only a grass berm, in which was an ever present pond of water that even on a good day, was about 2/3 water and 1/3 fuel mix. It was here that Mike apparently went to fill his bottle. (Thinking back on this, it is a good damned thing none of us ever took up smoking, because had we, eventually, especially with as much time as we spent in, on, or around this place, we would have dropped a lit match or cigarette in this pond of fuel mixture)

While we were excited talking about our most recent venture in to explosive experimentation, and discussing what it would take to rebuild the fireplace so we could do it again, we all heard the one thing that would make us freeze in fear, or annoyance. My mother, who normally worked during the day in the summer, happened to be home and was washing dishes in the kitchen. There is a window right next to the sink and unfortunately, that window looks right out in the direction of the fuel tanks and the hedgerow where the god of Hellfire had just appeared moments ago.

There is not a single friend of mine that will ever forget the shrill voice of my mother calling for me or my brother or any of their names from across the yard or tracks. Normally it was to call us home. This time however, it had a particular "shrillness" that conveyed both anger, fright, and concern. It only took one call from my mother for Tom and Mike to high-tail it across the track to his house to hide out and leave my brother and I to our fates.

For my brother and I, we had the unfortunate luck to have to go home after a parent had seen what had just happened and at the same time, have a the one person also in the house that for some reason, scared us more than our father. My older brother, David. He came charging out of the house and met us as we were coming back and proceeded to chew us out for doing some so dangerous and crazy. And looking back, I think he was more worried (and maybe rightly so) about the fact that we could have ignited over 500,000 gallons of fuel and in a blink of an eye, remove an entire town from the map. I would not be surprised if he didn't think that if we killed ourselves, he would have two less problems in the world to deal with.

But in the end, I cannot really recall what our punishment was for being part of the fireball incident, probably because I was so incredibly psyched up about being so close to something so cool. I think my brother and I got grounded, but being grounded in a small town is not really much of a punishment so it was kind of a wash and I as you will find out, no lesson was learned, except on how to make bigger fireball.

Face the Facts.

2010-12-03T10:13:00.002-06:00

Face the facts. Then act on them. It's the only mantra I know, the only doctrine I have to offer you, and it's harder than you'd think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don't pray, don't wish, don't buy into centuries-old dogma and dead rhetoric. Don't give in to your conditioning or your visions or your fucked-up sense of...whatever. Face the facts. Then act.
-Quellcrist Falconer, Speech before the assault on Millsport.
(from the book, "Broken Angels" by Richard K. Morgan)

An interesting way of dealing with life. For a sci-fi book, it has alot of philosphical ideas in it from a character you never meet, but is only mentioned in a historical context, and is quoted at the beginning of new chapters.

My Friends, The Things That Do Attain.

2010-12-02T09:08:00.001-06:00

MY friend, the things that do attain
The happy life be these, I find:
The riches left, not got with pain;
The fruitful ground; the quiet mind;

The equal friend; no grudge; no strife;
No charge of rule, nor governance;
Without disease, the healthy life;
The household of continuance;

The mean diet, no dainty fare;
Wisdom joined with simpleness;
The night discharged of all care,
Where wine the wit may not oppress:

The faithful wife, without debate;
Such sleeps as may beguile the night;
Content thyself with thine estate,
Neither wish death, nor fear his might.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Encountered on episode 4 of season 4 of "The Tudors." A series definately worth the time to watch. Netflix, baby.

later.

Growing up...

2010-11-10T09:09:00.002-06:00

Very recently, I asked my son to clear out some space in his bookshelf to put some other items that were kind of looking for a home. Seeing that those item without a stable home were GUNS, he jumped at the chore with a gusto that I have not seen in a long time. He got things reorganized and set up very nicely, but in the course of clearing out space, he put in a pile, a small collection of items that were part of his childhood. Some were things to sell on a garage sale, and some were thing to save, but they were all big parts of his childhood, and he had decided that they no longer had a place in his room. It made me kind of sad. I remembered buying those items, or helping him make them, or remember something associated with them. Like the little HALO video game figurines. I remember the time we spent together playing that video game for hours and then he would play with the figurines in his room later. Or the models of vehicles. We would make some of them in the basement in my tool room and then paint them, spending many hours together doing this. And very recently, I noticed that his bike tire was flat, and I asked him if he would take it up to the tire repairman to get it fixed, but he said, "I don't think I am going to ride it anymore. You can sell it on the garage sale." I was kind of heartbroken. At one time, that bike was his main form of transportation and he selected it out of all the other kinds of bikes, and now it is no more than something that is taking up room in the garage.

All of these things are most likely destined for the garage sale or storage box, but I am reluctant to let them go away. So many of those things have memories that I have associated with them, and I know he has memories attached to them too, so I am reluctant to let them go, thinking that at some point, he might want them in the future. I have many things that I have kept from my childhood, and while I do not use them or play with them, I will at times, bring them out, look them over and let the nostalgia and memories wash over me. And that is what I don't want him to miss out on. Moments like that are important and I would hate for him to someday be thinking about something and remember that he USED to have an item that relates to that memory. Not that he (or my daughter for that matter) needs to keep everything they have, but I would hate for them to get rid of things that really meant alot to them, just for the sake of making room for something else.

Maybe I will just hold on to them for him.

later!

Why Steampunk? And why now?

2010-10-27T13:21:00.005-05:00

For a short while now, a larger part of my attention and imagination has been focused on the idea of the Steampunk Culture, both in what (and when or where) it is, how it looks, what has been written about it, and how it is written. Steampunk is a fairly new cultural phenomena, coming out of the grunge and goth late 1990's (although the term has been around in literature since 1987) and making it's way in to becoming it's own style and subculture. Here is what some, more learned than I have to say about it.

What is Steampunk?
More what is it?
And one more, with pictures!

For me, I find it very intersting and intriguing, for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, it looks really cool, and I guess that somewhere deep down inside of me, I must have some sort of fashionista struggling to get out. I have always liked the fashions of past time periods. (With the exception of the late 1990's and anything from the late 1960's through the 1970's... holy crap. That is like 22/3rds of the time I have been alive!) The Victorian time period was a great time for fashion and design. It is simply very cool to look at and to wear. But Steampunk fashion is only based in the Victorian time period. It appears Victorian for the most part, but look closer and you can see all that little extras that come from a "history that never was." I like the look of the mix of industrial parts added on to simple (or elegant) clothing, and if done right, some of the clothing can be worn everyday without much notice. (Try wearing a 14th Century European article of clothing and see what kind of looks and questions you get!)

Another big aspect about it, is the history. in the second half of the 19th Century, human events and history was moving forward so fast that it can only be compared to what we are experiencing today. I really enjoy learning about all different aspects of history and this is no exception. That is why I love to do historical re-enacting. And I am starting to understand more about the late 19th Century as I look deeper in the steampunk culture. So maybe it is for me, another possible form of re-enacting. Except that unlike in true re-enacting, you don't have to limit yourself to "what they would have had", or "how they would have done it," to get your personal re-enacting impression down correctly.

For so very long I have been part of groups were you could not have this or that or do this or that because it is not "period correct." Don't get me wrong. I am one of the biggest "accuracy/authenticity nazi's" out there in the re-enacting world. If you are attempting to re-create or retell a period of history, you better do it right or don't do it at all! And maybe that is why steampunk is so appealing to me right now. I don't have to stay within a certain historical time-frame limit with steampunk. Yeah, it is Victorian based, but it is also Science-fiction and fantasy and is really more about portraying a "future-past that never was." It is embracing a love of the past, while at the same time bringing in all the cool technology that we can come to love in our own time period. After all, who wants to be without their smartphone, laptops or MP3 players. In steampunk, you can have them all, but you attempt to bring them back to the 19th century as how "they might have been" had the current 19th Century technology and sciences been able to do all they had hope and theorized it could do. (Think Jules Verne, or HG Wells)

Lately, I have been getting a bit disappointed with my re-eancting hobby. I still love it to death, but as in the case of medieval re-eancting, the events are to few and far between. Most options available to myself and those in my living history troupe are Renaissance faires, and to be honest with you, the attempts at re-creating history most of the people who attend them, is fair to middling at best. So much of it is "farby," a term used to describe something in re-enacting that is not period accurate, or just plain wrong, but used anyway. My 18th Century re-eancting does a much better job of portraying history correctly, but again, the events are often time very far away, usually involves me packing and hauling a great deal of large gear for four people to set up a camp, and lately the events have become rather routine in how an event passes over a weekend. (Set up camp, drill, morning colors, drill, morning battle, shop, drill, morning battle, evening colors. Yes, I know it is a military camp, and so it should be routine, but this is my hobby and I want my hobbies to be fun!) This is all well and good for the presentation of history, but it can get a bit stale at times. There is a movement afoot in the 18th Century re-eancting world to change this up and make events more free flowing and I find those events to be much more refreshing, but alas, they are the minority.

Another aspect of the Steampunk culture is that it seems to be a very social thing. Parties and social events, rather than re-enactments are more the norm, and the whole thing seems to flow well within events such as gaming conventions and the like. (GenCon has a very active steampunk following. I need to look into that for next year.) This year there is the TeslaCon in Madison WI. that looks to be quite an event, but attending it is not in the cards for me this year. Maybe next year!

So, I have begun to dip my toe into the Steampunk pool. I want to bring my wife along but I want to see if it is something we will enjoy. I think we will. (It seems to be a more "adult-oriented" activity and doing something just with her is very appealing to me.) I know for a fact that she would look "smokin-HAWT!" in some of the Steampunk styled victorian clothing. I am looking around for pointers on fashion ideas, gear, and socializing in our area, or at least within a reasonable distance. Hopefully it will be a fun and rewarding experience. If you hear of anything, please tell me! If and when things start to happen, I will let you know and maybe post some photos. Until then, 'Carry on!"

Later!

Thinking back on a great weekend.

2010-10-19T15:05:00.002-05:00

11 days ago from this writing was my 45th birthday. And while I don't always deserve it, my wife and kids spoil me on my special day. I spoil myself by taking the day off from work each year, but my family spoils me in a different way. They go out of their way to make the day fun, stress free, and simply a great day. Last year, my wife blew the top off of all other birthdays with presenting me with not only a homemade red velvet cake, compliments of my mother, but she also arranged to somehow talk my friends to buy me a bottle of some the best port wine there is, and then she manipulates, plans, begs, borrows and steals her way clear to get into her possession, (and subsequently mine) a Ruger Redhawk, .44 Magnum pistol for my 44th birthday. Talk about a fantastic birthday! This year, I was not really looking for anything, money is damned tight, and I did not want them to go overboard, so I kind of just layed low with ideas. The only thing I really wanted to do was go to Turkey Run and have some fun on my birthday. They had other plans. As expected, I got to sleep in just a bit longer than usual. (Dogs have no concept of birthdays...) I got a nice breakfast made for me, and then the kids and my wife gave me my gifts. I had mentioned that I would like a certificate for a pedicure (Yes, a pedicure. Don't frakking knock it until you have experienced one for yourself!) and indeed I got one, compliments of my wife and daughter. And then my wife gives me essentially a picture of what the rest of my gift was. Due to mailing problems, I would not receive the gift until the next day, she wanted me to see it. It was a Mossberg, 702 Plinkster .22 Long rifle AR-15 styled rifle and it was sweet!! It is a really nice looking gun and I was thinking of getting this for my son for his birthday, which is why it came on her radar. Now I thought that she bought it for me, but I was wrong. Boy was I wrong. Come to find out, my son bought it for me with the first two paychecks from his new job! And he was actually the one who forwarded the idea of buying it for me. The whole idea was enough to bring tears to my eyes! I was floored and really humbled by their actions. Especially those of my son.

After getting over the emotion of the morning, we set out for Turkey Run with the dogs and had a wonderful time walking the trails, enjoying the fall weather and scenery and simply having a good time. We even hit a few flea markets while visiting in Indiana. And to follow that up, we later had a meal at my favorite restaurant in Gibson City, the Bayern Stube, serving up Oktoberfest goodies!

Throughout this whole day, and for that matter, the whole weekend, I was cognizant to stop for a few moments throughout the day and just drink in the feeling of being alive and healthy, surrounded by my family and friends, and knowing that it is days like this that make life worth living. I want to thank my family for making it a great weekend and I hope I can do the same for them in return. They are the best, and I am lucky to have them.

Whew... It has been a long time...

2010-10-13T07:53:00.002-05:00

Sorry folks... i just have not had the muse to write anything. I blame it on Facebook. Anytime I want to talk about something, I post a tiny status update and it seems to satisfy my need to write about it and hence the old blog gets ignored. NOT that I have anything to say now. But I will start small. Here is a link to me in ANOTHER blog that I follow. Kind of weird seeing my name somewhere else.

Anyway. I promise to write more in the blog. Just let me get my writing juices going again.

Thanks!

Later!

Tooting my own horn..

2010-09-07T10:50:00.002-05:00

My job is neither glamourous or high paying but it is rewarding and worthwhile. Here are a couple of links about it!

Video

Article

Post GenCon report

2010-08-11T13:42:00.004-05:00

What can I say about Gen Con 2010? FRAKKING AWSOME!!! Yeah. That pretty much sums it up for me. I had hyped myself up for it for about 4 months so anything less than AWESOME would have been a major let down. However, I was not disappointed and I had an AWESOME time at Gen Con 2010! Have I mentioned how AWESOME it was?

Like I said, I was really, really geeked to go to Gen Con 2010 this year. Why so much more than in years past? I don't really know. Some of it may have been that some of my best gamer buddies were gonna be there with me, and despite a shortened trip, my wife and kids would be there too. Added to that, the Gen Con Indy Facebook page kept beating me about the head and shoulders with AWESOME things that were going to be happening at the convention almost everyday with status updates on its FB page. Combined with the fact that I am a true gamer geek, I was primed and ready to go!

I had signed up for 6 games to play over the weekend, and that, my friend, is a paltry amount to sign up for, but I have reasons for limiting my game time, which I will explain later. I love all games, except for collectible card games, and word based games. What I love about Gen Con is that you can play your favorite games and try out some you have heard about, or simply take a shot in the dark and try something "completely different."
I played Poo the Card game, a game based on the unsavory habit of monkeys throwing poo around at each other; Are You A Werewolf?, a fun social game that invovles no board or dice, but simple persuasion and logical reasoning; Conflict of Heroes, a WWII strategy based game that is the game that everyone who has ever played Squad Leader in the past, wishes this game came out alot earlier. And the final three games were Battlestar Galactica, (one of the top three games I have ever played), Memoir '44 (right up there with Battlestar) and Dawn Patrol- Fight in the Skies, a WWI aerial combat simulation game. Of all of these games, I had the most fun playing Battlestar, learned the most from Dawn Patrol, and had the most excitement with Memoir '44. And what really rocked about all the games is that I did not lose a single game I played!!! (In some of these games, simply surviving to the end is being a winner.)

As an aside, I do not play D&D at Gen Con. I did it once, and that was enough to: 1. Say I played at Gen Con, and: 2. Playing styles are so different from group to group; you have no idea what you might get into. As one of my friends found out, playing D&D at Gen Con can be risky, so I don’t risk it. I would rather spend my time playing other games and broadening my gaming horizons…

So, you might ask, if you are having so much fun, then why not play more games? Because half of going to Gen Con, is exploring Indianapolis, or at least the center of the city. If you have not been to Indy in a while, then get yourself over there! It is a happening place! But what makes the time in the city so much fun, is that just about every business there, throws open their doors to 30,000 gamers and doesn't look back. These welcome the gamers, with all their weird, loveable quirks, their out of style (or out of the ordinary)fashions, and there random times of dining and drinking. (It has to fit around their gaming schedule, you know...) Many of the buisnesses change theri decor and menu to fit into the convention better. Take for instance the bar Scotty's or The Ram, where they have a menu completely reworked to appeal to a D&D or Magic the Gathering gamer. Ordering a plate of fried goblin ears is not out of the ordinary at a Gen Con friendly eating establisment! My friend, family and I, go out on the town, we eat at dfferently places and we visit new merchants. And we spend some good money. Our waiter at a wonderful bar called "Tastings",

If you have never been to the convention, it is kind of hard to explain what it is like. My family, friends and I, we do the convention to death! We play games, we shop, we eat, we play games, do some people watching, we eat, we shop, and occasionally try to get 5 hours of sleep in each night. (Weak, I know, but I have kids, and they need their rest) If possible, I would stay up around the clock playing games. My daughter is starting to become a big gamer, already stretching her abilities to play games that are out of the ordinary, or simply just wanting to try a new game to see what it is like. My son, he is comfortable with games that are tried and true for him. To get him to try something new is a bit more challenging, but once tried, he usually will come backt to the table to play it again. My wife, while not a hard core gamer, is one of those gamers that, if a game "clicks" with her, you better watch out, cause she will beat your ass in that game. I don't think she got to play as many games as she wanted but I am sure she enjoyed the convention all the same.

Courtesy of Wil Wheaton

2010-08-04T14:27:00.003-05:00

This was suppose to be posted to the blog BEFORE I went to Gen Con, but apparently, Blogger was not cooperating... so I post it now...

From the introduction of his "gaming Chapbook" which will be on sale at GENCON this weekend. I hope to get one. (and I did)

It sums up alot about what is good about gaming and why I do it. Thank goodness there is someone like Wil, (whose character I really did not like on Star Trek the Next Generation, but I really like as a person in real life.) who is a advocate for gamers and can put into words, those things the rest of us gamers feel.

"Of all the things that make me a geek, nothing brings me more joy, or is more important to me, than gaming. I am the person I am today because of the games I played and the people I played them with as I came of age in the 80s.
This is a small collection of stories about gaming in its various forms, from cards to dice to computers to our beloved tabletop RPGs. Most of these stories were originally published in 2009, when my son Ryan was away at college, and my son Nolan was 17.

Keep playing games. Games are important. Games matter. When you play a game - any game - you’re using your imagination to bring a world to life, and that’s truly special, because while all destruction is essentially the same, when you create something, it’s different every single time. When you create something together, you’re building bonds with your fellow gamers that could last for your entire lives. The Venn Diagram of my best friends, my gaming group, and people from high school I still hang out with is one perfect circle. I suspect that for many gamers of my generation, that’s equally true ... and I know that my kids will be saying the same thing in 20 years about people they’ve never met face to face, but interact with almost every day in an online game that will make Call of Duty look then like Pong looks today."

Roll 20s,
Wil Wheaton
August 3, 2010

Later... Game on! Coming soon, pictures and review from GenCon!

Time to play... a game!

2010-07-28T13:46:00.001-05:00

You all know I am a big gamer, but often it can be a struggle to get others interested in games and gaming in general. Here is a great idea to try and break open the barriers to getting more people into gaming.

Check it out HERE

I like guns...

2010-07-23T09:04:00.002-05:00

Here are some videos that I was recently turned on to. This bloke is from Australia and it seems that he has some of the same desires (and problems) as many American gun owners. Check out his first video, "I like Guns."

His second video is actually even better. If it were not for the accent, this guy could be talking about America.

Enjoy the show!

Later!

Conan: The Musical

2010-07-13T10:10:00.001-05:00

Yep. They made one. A short one, but here it is.

Gamer Gurl...

2010-07-12T08:17:00.003-05:00

As many of you might know, my family and I are big gamers. We play games of all sorts and attend a few gaming conventions throughout the year, GenCon being the biggest and the best. I love it. I love having a family that games with me and yesterday was no exception, EXCEPT, that yesterday my daughter joined a D&D game that was a trip back to the past for me, and a new experience for the rest of the group. The adventure, or module as it was called in the 80's was White Plume Mountain, probably one of the best D&D adventures ever created. It was a killer adventure in the 80's when I played it, but it has been toned down a bit for the current version of the game, but it is still a very lethal bit of imaginative gaming. But this is not about the adventure, this is about my little girl, who will be 12 soon, playing in a game that I was so excited to host, and then to find out, that despite having never read the core rule books, and having only played one other time before, she nails this portion of the adventure with original ideas, useful and helpful comments and a real desire to be part of the group.
With her help, the first part of this adventure went a little more easily on the players than I remember it from the past, but it was still fun and I think that my players really had to think and act smartly in order to be successful. I was proud of her and how she comported herself during the game. I have both of my kids playing the game I grew up with and they certainly seem to like playing with me, or at least I hope so! But I was really proud of her. She says she had a lot of fun, and I hope she did. She still has alot to learn about the game, and so far, no one seems to mind helping her with some of the more intricate rules and methods of game play. And, in time, I hope she will be able to stand on her own in a game where she is kind of an outsider, but for right now, I like having her as part of my gaming group.
Say what you will about the game Dungeons & Dragons, but in my experience, this game has been nothing more than a positive experience for me, and I hope to be able to make it the same for my kids and the rest of my gaming group. I know what it did for me, and I am interested to see what it will do for my kids.

later!

1+1=7....

2010-06-15T08:33:00.004-05:00

This...

will get you this!!!

Astrid had her first litter of pups on the 4th of June at 11:45pm and the last one was born on the 5th of June at 2:15am. Everything went perfectly and the pups are thriving. We have only one left to find a home for. All the rest are reserved and will be going to good homes sometime in early August. This has been some of the most fun I have had in a long time. Hard work with lots of worry, but worth it all!

Enjoy the photos!

Later!

Had to share this!!!!

2010-06-04T08:25:00.000-05:00

WWII on Facebook

You learn something new everyday....

2010-05-28T11:20:00.002-05:00

Check out this article about how an archer's arrow might have had an effect in the outcome of history during the lifetime of King Henry V. The article is part of the ezine called "The Reenactor". The article I am placing here is very long but well worth the read. Enjoy!

ANOTHER ARROW WHICH CHANGED HISTORY?
By
Kevin Goodman M.Sc.
http://bowsbladesandbattles.tripod.com
King Henry V of England (c.1387–1422) The hero of Agincourt; the man who broke the French; the ideal knight - the epitome of piety and chivalry. He tends to be regarded as a medieval superman, applauded for his genius and dynamism, yet, his shortcomings overlooked. To Mortimer (2009):
“He was an extraordinary man, in that he demonstrated phenomenal organisational skills, focus, determination, resilience, leadership and – above all else – religious conviction; but…he was a deeply flawed individual. He lacked the simpler qualities of compassion, warmth, and the understanding of human frailty that one naturally looks for in all men – yeomen and paupers as well as kings.” (Seward 198, p1-2)

Such aspects of Henry’s personality have proved something of a conundrum for many historians and chroniclers of his life: his sudden transformation from a wild, brawling, drinking, womanising youth to a fervently pious King upon the death of his father Henry IV in 1413; his devout religious beliefs - a contrast to the atrocities he commited: the ordering of the slaughter of noble prisoners at Agincourt in 1415 which defied the chivalric law; his treatment of the inhabitants and defenders of towns he besieged and his persecution of the Lollard sect, (Barker 2005, 2009, Curry 2000, 2005, Dockray 2007, McGlynn, 2008, Mortimer 2009).
According to legend, and to Shakespeare in his play “Henry V”, (written in 1599), Henry, the wild prince who enjoyed taverns and carousing turned into a pious overnight. As a youth, the anonymous “Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti” (Hearne 1727) describes him as:
“Passing the bounds of modesty he was the fervent soldier of venus as well as mars; youthlike he was fired by her torches, in the midst of his brave deeds as a soldier, he also found leisure for the excesses of untamed youth” (p.21, Dockray 2007).
However, upon ascending the throne as King Henry V on April 9th 1413 following the death of his father Henry IV:
“…[He] suddenly changed into a new man and henceforth devoted himself single-mindedly to live as virtuously as maintaining Holy Church, destroying heretics, keeping justice and defending his realm and subjects” (Anonymous English Chronicler in Dockray 2007, p. 96)
“[He] reformed and amended his life and manners…all his acts were suddenly changed into gravity and discretion” (Tito Livio in the Vita Henrici Quinti in Dockray 2007, p.96);
“…as soon as he was made King he was changed suddenly into another man, zealous for honesty, modesty and gravity, there being no sort of virtue that he was not anxious to display” (Thomas Walshingham, in Dockray 2007, p.23)
This was, and has been, interpreted as Henry having a religious conversion (Seward 1987).
A number of his personal characteristics and behaviours have been seen as admirable in the past and today: his piety; his passion for justice; his bravery and courage; his skills as an administrator and manager who recognised talent and rewarded loyalty; his honesty; his decisiveness in planning and effectiveness in delivering policy. As a military commander he has been admired for: his gift of command: planning and masterminding of strategies and sieges; diplomatic negotiations; maintaining firm control over deployment of manpower; enforcement of discipline and the redistribution of conquered territories, (Barker 2005, 2009; Curry 2000, 2005; Dockray 2007 ; Mortimer 2009; Seward 1987).
In contrast, he is also described as: severe; cold; humourless; aloof; domineering; ruthless; bad tempered vindictive and inhumane. He was intolerant of dissent and prepared to punish, even remove those whose loyalty he suspected. Men feared his anger and avoided questioning the wisdom of his judgements or the rightness of his decisions - when his honour was impugned he could suddenly become very angry (Dockray 2007; Mortimer 2009; Seward 1987):
“*Henry was+ much feared and dreaded by his princes, knights and captains and by people of every degree because all those who disobeyed his orders or infringed his edicts he would put to death without mercy.” (Waurin: Hardy 1868, p.429)
Many of his behaviours have been viewed as excessive. His religious behaviour was extreme, even for the time (Mortimer 2009). He constantly went on pilgrimage to the shrines of saints, heard several masses a day, (refusing to be interrupted while at prayer). The Gesta states:
“*Henry was+ devoted to the hearing of divine praises and to his own private prayers that, once he had begun them there was not anyone, even from amongst his nobles and magnates, who was able, by conversation however brief, at anytime to interrupt them. There cannot, therefore, be denied by the Prince of princes to a prince also, in the judgement of all men, is of such goodness and obedience, whatever he may justly ask of them.”
(p.155, Taylor and Roskell 1975)
He founded monasteries for the most zealous orders: Celestines, Bridgettines and Carthusians (Dockray 2007; Seward 1987; Taylor and Roskell 1975). He has been described as “Messianic”, (Dockray 2007; Mortimer 2009), believing he was divinely ordained as the servant of God, with full divine approval for his actions, (Dockray 2007). Thus, his every deed was moved by God: his will was God’s will and his war against the French was God’s war and the ensuing victories were God’s victory. So fervent was his belief that he had been blessed by God he fought in the front line at Agincourt because God protected him (Mortimer 2009) As he stated:
“I am the scourge of God sent to punish the people of God for their sins” (Dockray 2007, p.222).
This may also explains the atrocities he commited. His persecution of the Lollards, who followed the teachings of John Wycliffe (Hudson 1988; Lutton 2006; Rex 2002), resulted from his intolerance of religious dissent (Dockray 2007). His slaughter of the prisoners at Agincourt (1415) and the savage reprisals against the inhabitants and defenders of Caen (1417), Rouen, (1418), Pontoise (1419), Rougement (1421) and Meaux (1422) were punishments authorised by God. Henry cited the “Law of Deuteronomy”, as justification for his behaviour towards besieged towns in his own correspondence (Taylor and Roskell 1975):
“When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.
If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labour and shall work for you.
If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.
When the lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.
As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.”
(Deuteronomy 20:10-14)
His acquired chasteness has also been linked to his religious fervour. His friends claimed he never took a mistress or slept with a woman after becoming King until he married Catherine of Valois in June 1420 and fathered only one child, Henry, (1421-1471), taking no mistresses or siring any illegitimate children, (Dockray 2007; Kingsford 1911; Mortimer 2009).
Mortimer (2009) attributes these contrasts and the enigmas of Henry’s character to his upbringing; however, they may result from the injury he suffered at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.
THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY (1403) AND THE WOUNDING OF PRINCE HENRY
On Saturday 21 July 1403 the armies of King Henry IV and the rebel Henry Percy met in battle just north of the town of Shrewsbury. The royal forces were victorious, (Priestley 1979), but during the battle Prince Henry was wounded in the face by an arrow while leading a cavalry charge. Despite the severity of the wound, he continued to fight on refusing to leave, demanding, according to one of his chroniclers, Tito Livio: “Lead me, thus wounded, to the front line so that I may, as a prince should, kindle our fighting men with deeds not words” (Dockray 2007 p.85).
Henry IV’s surgeon, John Bradmore, treated the wound. He described it as:
“…smetyn in the face be syd the nose on the lefte syd with an arrow the wyche sayd arrow entryd overwharte and after the schafte was takyn owt and the hede ther of a bod styll in the hyndyr parte of a bone of the hede after the mesur of vj ynche” (p.129, Lang 2003)
Cole and Lang (2003) translate this as:
“…[the arrow] struck in the face with an arrow beside the nose on the left side, which arrow entered from the side , and the said arrow, after the arrow was extracted, remained in the back part of the bone of the head six inches deep.” (Cole and Lang 2003, p.95).
Strickland and Hardy (2005) as:
“…[the arrow] entered at an angle (ex traverso), and after the arrow shaft was extracted, the head of the aforesaid arrow remained in the furthermost part of the bone of the skull for the depth of six inches.(p.284)
To Cole and Lang (2003) the arrow was embedded in the interior bone of the skulls posterior.
Pollard and Oliver (2002) describe the arrow as being “lodged in a bone behind the nose” (p.45), although this differs from Bradmore’s description.
The arrowhead was left imbedded in the skull and Bradmore invented a set of tongs to remove the arrowhead, (recreated by Hector Cole: Cole and Lang 2003) (below)
(Photograph by Jo Homfray)
According to Cole and Lang (2003):
“…it is just possible for an arrow to enter beside the nose and lodge at the back of the head without causing immediate death or lasting disability, but the margin of error either way is extremely small, and the Prince was clearly very fortunate indeed to survive the wound.” (Cole and Lang 2003 p.96)
THE WOUND:
The injury Henry received would be classed today as a “penetrating head trauma caused by a missile”. This is a wound in which a projectile breaches the skull but does not exit it, (an injury in which the projectile passes entirely though the head, leaving both entrance and exit wounds, is described as “perforating”), (Vinas and Pilitsis 2006). Patients with penetrating wounds have a greater survival rate than those with perforating wounds, (Aarabi 1999).
In a missile wound, the amount of damage to the brain depends on numerous factors including:
The kinetic energy imparted
The trajectory of the missile and bone fragments through the brain
Intracranial pressure changes at the moment of impact
Secondary mechanisms of injury, (infection caused by the penetrating missile or shards of bone)
(Vinas and Pilitsis 2009)
injury is related to:
The direct crush injury produced by the missile
The cavitation produced by the centrifugal effects of the missile on organ tissue
The shock waves produced
(Vinas and Pilitsis 2009)
Due to Bradmore’s account we know that Henry was struck in the face some where beside the nose on the left side, the arrow entering from the side with the arrowhead remaining in the posterior interior of the skull at a depth of six inches (Cole and Lang 2003; Lang 2003; Strickland and Hardy 2005). Unfortunately, there are number of unknown variables:
The rate the arrow was travelling at when it struck Henry.
The trajectory of the arrow when it struck, (did it come from the left or right side?)
The exact location where the arrow penetrated Henry’s face.
The trajectory of the arrow through the skull.
The exact location where the arrowhead was imbedded in the skull’s interior.
The length of time before the arrowhead was removed, (Henry was transported to Kenilworth Castle after the battle, yet how long it was before the arrow was removed is unknown and Bradmore was not the first physician to attempt to remove the arrow, Lang 2003).
A variety of arrowheads were in use during this period, (Jessop 1996), but Bradmore refers to the arrow as a “bod” (p.129, Lang 2003) or bodkin. This was an arrow head used to penetrate armour and maille, (Strickland and Hardy 2005). The remains of bodkin arrowheads have been found at the site of the battle (Pollard and Oliver 2002).
The rate the arrow was travelling at when it struck Henry is unknown. Stretton (2006) found when shot from a yew war-bow with a draw weight of 144 pounds (65.3 kg), an arrow with a bodkin head weighing 86 grams (1,324 grains), travelling at 47.9 m (157 ft) per second has a kinetic energy of 99 joules. The draw weight is defined as the amount of force, expressed as a weight, which needs to be applied to the string in order to bend the strung bow to its full extent. The formula for calculating kinetic energy: 1/2mv2 = Mass (kg) x Velocity2
2
A fragment or missile striking a vital area with a kinetic energy of 80 joules or more is considered a fatal blow, (Health and Safety Executive 2002).
An arrowhead travelling at this rate is capable of penetrating armour 1.6mm thick to a depth of 7.62cm (3 in), (Stretton 2006). Should the target be moving towards the archer, as in the case of a mounted knight, then the bodkin can penetrate a further 2.54 -5.08 cm (1-2 in), (Stretton 2006). However, the caviation and shock wave damage would be far less than those caused by bullets, (Davies and Harbinson 2002). The injuries inflicted by medieval arrow wounds have been documented (Fiorato et al 2000; Karger et al 2001; Thordeman 2001).
It is not recorded whether Henry lost consciousness. It appears he did not as he was able to continue fighting, (Dockray 2007). This may indicate that the penetrating arrow had ricocheted and its speed and kinetic energy had substantially decreased. There is also no record of any impairment immediately or after treatment.
He was also fortunate in the medical care he received. The arrow head was left in place, patients in whom the penetrating object is left in place have a significantly lower mortality than those in whom the objects are inserted and then removed (26% versus 11% respectively), (Vinas and Pilitsis 2009). The wound was also treated with honey. Research has shown that honey has antibacterial properties and promotes tissue healing and blood vessel formation, (Dunford et al 2000ab; Dunford 2005; Simon et al 2009).
However, despite Cole and Lang’s (2003) assertion that Henry was fortunate to have escaped without lasting disability, Henry may not have escaped entirely unscathed, as his later behaviours are indicative of temporal lobe impairment.
PERSONALITY CHANGES AS RESULT OF LEFT TEMPORAL LOBE DAMAGE
The temporal lobes are areas of he cerebral cortex, located on both the left and right hemispheres of the brain, (below).
Impairment affecting temporal areas tends to leave intellectual functions intact while causing alterations in personality (Blumer and Benson 1975). Left temporal lobe damage produces a number of effects:
Altered sexual behaviour: Increase or decrease in libido (Blumer, 1975; Blumer and Walker, 1975; Geschwind ,1975, 1979; Kolb & Wishaw, 1990)
Extreme, heightened sense of religiosity with augmented sense of personal destiny (Bear and Fedio, 1977; Blumer, 1975; Geschwind 1975, 1979)
Extreme morality and ethical concerns: Bear and Fedio, 1977; Blumer, 1975; Geschwind 1975, 1979)
Paranoia and aggressive rages (Blumer and Benson 1975; Geschwind ,1975, 1979; Kolb & Wishaw, 1990)
Sudden Mood Changes (Bear and Fedio, 1977; Blumer, 1975; Geschwind 1975, 1979)
Deepened Emotional Response: (Bear and Fedio, 1977; Geschwind 1975, 1979)
Humourlessness (Bear and Fedio, 1977; Blumer, 1975)
All of these are prominent in Henry’s character and behaviour: the disinterest in sex; the extreme religious and messianic beliefs and behaviours; the deeply held moral and ethical beliefs; the cold, severe humourlessness; the feared aggressive and violent rages which would swiftly appear. It may explain his change from a “…fervent soldier of venus” (p.21, Dockray 2007) into“… another man, zealous for honesty, modesty and gravity” (Thomas Walshingham in Dockray 2007, p.23). However, it is unlikely such a transformation occurred as soon as he was crowned as believed by his chroniclers.
The observable impairments may have commenced several years earlier. In 1408, an Oxford academic, Richard Ullerston, noted Henry’s desire for spiritual study and knowledge of the scriptures, (Dockray 2007). By 1409, there were problems developing between Henry and his father, King Henry IV, as Prince Henry launched an attempted coup and in 1412 when Prince Henry had to be restrained from seizing his father’s throne by force, (Dockray 2007; Mortimer 2007; Seward, 1987).
While there appeared to be no immediate impairment after being wounded, it is possible that an abscess on the left temporal lobe may have caused such impairment.
Patients who survive penetrating head injuries are at risk of experiencing multiple complications, including infections and abscesses from bone or missile fragments imbedded in the brain, (Vinas and Pilitsis 2006). Brain abscess can occur after a long period of silent infection. Hida et al (1978) reported a case of delayed brain abscess following a penetrating gunshot injury 38 years after the injury; Pencek and Burchiel (1986), 15 years after an injury and Lee and Kim (2000) 47 years after. Thus it is feasible that Henry could also have experienced similar damage either from a fragment from the arrow or fragment of bone.
This also may indicate a possible trajectory through the skull: not coming in contact with the brain, but passing close to the left temporal lobe from the entry point in the left half of the face.
There are obvious problems in formulating a hypothesis concerning the personality and behaviour of a major historical figure. In this instance, not only is there a lack of archaeological evidence but there is also a deficit of contemporary accounts regarding Henry’s life.
The only contemporary accounts of Henry’s life which survive are the anonymous “Gesta Henrici Quinti” (c.1416) (Taylor and Roskell 1975), Thomas of Elham’s “Liber Meticus de Henrico Quinto” (“Memorials of Henry V”) (Cole 1858) and Thomas Walsingham’s "Ypodigma Neustriae”(Riley 1876). Later works copied them and modern historians place their own interpretations upon them. Further, such original works can be regarded as being propaganda as can later works, which created a medieval superman much removed from reality: “…the ideal Englishman: plucky and persevering, austere and audacious, cool-headed, stiff-lipped and effortlessly superior: simply the greatest man, ever to rule England” (Fernandez-Armesto 2009).
For example, stories of Henry’s wild, misspent youth and his dramatic conversion at his coronation into a sober and righteous King were written long after his reign was over and have become accepted as historical because of Shakespeare, (Barker 2005). Dockray (2007) concludes that there is no evidence of wild behaviour, or at least for a sudden change when he was crowned, although to Curry (2005) “The stories of a misspent youth have never been proven, but neither have they been disproved” (p.30).
The aim of this article has been an attempt to forward a possible explanation for the puzzles surrounding Henry’s character and behaviour, albeit based on the limited information possessed. However, while such information is limited and the conclusion controversial, is it merely coincidence that many of his behaviours match the characteristics that are symptomatic of injuries to the left temporal lobe?
References
-Aarabi B. (1999) History of the management of craniocerebral wounds. In: Aarabi B, Kaufman HH, Dagi TF, George ED, Levy ML, (eds.) Missile Wounds of the Head and Neck. Vol 1. Park Ridge, Ill: American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
-Barker, J. (2005) Agincourt: The King, the campaign, the battle. London: Little Brown.
--- (2009) Conquest: The English Kingdom of France 1417-1450. London: Little Brown.
- Bear, D. and Fedio, P. (1977) Quantitative analysis of interictal behaviour in temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of Neurology, 34, 454-67
- Blumer, D. (1975) Temporal lobe epilepsy and its psychiatric significance. In: In D. Benson and D. Blumer, eds. Psychiatric Aspects of Neurologic Disease. New York: Grune & Stratton.
- Blumer, D., & Benson, D.( 1975) Personality changes with frontal and temporal lobe lesions. In D. Benson and D. Blumer, (eds.) Psychiatric Aspects of Neurologic Disease. New York: Grune & Stratton.
- Cole, C. A.(ed.) (1858) Thomas,of Elmham ,Memorials of Henry the Fifth, King of England. London : Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts
- Cole H and Lang T. (2003) "The Treating of Prince Henry's Arrow Wound, 1403" in Journal of the Society of Archer Antiquaries, 46, 95-101.
- Curry A. (2000) Henry V: A life and reign. In A. Curry (ed.) Agincourt 1415. Tempus: Gloucestershire
- --. (2005) Agincourt – a new history. Tempus: Gloucestershire
de Viriville, V. (ed) (1858) Chronique de Charles VII, roi de France. Paris.
- Davies, J. and Harbinson, M. (2002) Military Surgery 1300-1600. Bristol: Stuart Press.
- Dockray, K. (2007) Warrior King: The life of Henry V. Gloucestershire: Tempus
- Dunford C (2005) The use of honey-derived dressings to promote effective wound management. Professional Nurse, 20(8): 35-8
- Dunford C, Cooper R, Molan P(2000a) Using honey as a dressing for infected skin lesions, Nursing Times. 96(14 Suppl):7-9.
- Dunford C, Cooper R, Molan P, White R., (2000b) The use of honey in wound management. Nursing Standard. 15(11) 63-8.
- Fernandez-Armesto,F. (2009) The Myth of Henry V (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/henry_v_01.shtml)
- Fiorato, V, Boylston, A., and Knusel, C. (2000) Blood Red Roses: The Archaeology of a Mass Grave from the Battle of Towton, AD 1461. London: Oxbow Books
- Geschwind, N. (1975) The clinical setting of aggression in temporal lobe epilepsy in Fields, W.S and Sweet W.H. (eds.) The Neurobiology of Violence. St. Louis, Warren H. Green
- -- (1979) Behavioural Changes in temporal lobe epilepsy. Psychological Medicine, 9, 217-19
-Hardy, W, (ed) (1868) Jehan de Waurin Recueil des croniques et anchiennes istories de la Grant Bretaigne, a present nomme Engleterre.1399 to 1422. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer.
-Health and Safety Executive (2002) Controlling risks around explosives stores. London: HMSO
- Hearne, T. (ed.) (1727) Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti . Kessinger Publishing
- Hida K, Tsuda E, and Sato H. (1978) Brain abscess discovered 38 years after head injury. No Shinkei Geka, 6(8), 811-3.
- Hudson, Anne. (1988) The Premature Reformation: Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
- Jessop, O. (1996) A new artefact typology for the study of medieval arrowheads. Medieval Archaeology, 40, 192-205.
- June-Ho Lee, and Dong Gyu Kim (2000) Brain abscess related to metal fragments 47 years after head injury. Journal of Neurosurgery, 93(3), 477-479
- Karger B, Sudhues H, Brinkmann B,(2001) "Arrow Wounds: Major Stimulus in the History of Surgery" In World Journal of Surgery, 25, pp.1550-1555.
-Kingsford, C. L. (ed)( 1911) The first English life of King Henry the Fifth, written in 1513 by an anonymous author . Oxford : Clarendon Press.
-Lang, S.J. (1992) John Bradmore and His book Philomena, Social History of Medicine, 5(1), 121-30.
- Lutton, R. (2006) Lollardy and Orthodox Religion in Pre-Reformation England Woodbridge and Suffolk, U.K.: Boydell and Brewer.
- McFarlane, K.N.(1936) “England : The Lancastrian Kings 1399-1461: Cambridge Medieval History Vol.III. Cambridge.
- McGlynn, S. (2008) By Sword and Fire: Cruelty and Attrocity in Medieval Warfare. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
- Mortimer, I. (2007) The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-Made King. London: Cape.
-- (2009) 1415: Henry V’s year of Glory. London: Bodley Head.
- Pencek, T.L. and Burchiel, K.J. (1986) Delayed brain abscess related to a retained foreign body with culture of Clostridium bifermentans. Journal of Neurosurgery, 64(5), 813-815
- Pollard, T. and Oliver ,N. (2002) Two Men in a Trench. London: Michael Joseph
- Priestly, E.J. (1979) Battle of Shrewsbury, 1403. Shrewsbury: Shrewsbury Museums Service.
- Riley, H.T, (ed.) (1876), Ypodigma neustriae a Thoma Walsingham, quondam monacho monasterii S. Albani conscriptum. London : Longman
- Richard, R (2002) The Lollards: Social History in Perspective. New York: Palgrave
- Seward, D. (1987) Henry V as Warlord. London: Penguin
- Shakespeare, W. (2010) Henry V. London: Penguin Classics.
- Simon A, Traynor K, Santos K, Blaser G, Bode U, Molan P. (2009) Medical honey for wound care--still the 'latest resort'? Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 6(2):165-73
- Stretton, M. (2006) Experimental tests with different types of medieval arrowheads. In D.H.Soar (ed.) Secrets of the English Warbow. Yardley: Westholme.
- Strickland S and Hardy R, The Great Warbow, Sutton, 2005, pp 284-5.
- Taylor, F. and Roskell, J.S. (eds) (1975) Gesta Henrici Quinti : the deeds of Henry the Fifth Oxford : Clarendon Press,
- Thordeman, B. (2001) Armour from the Battle of Wisby. Chivalry Bookshelf
- Vinas, F.C. and Pilitsis,J. (2009) Penetrating Head Trauma. (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/247664-overview)
(Biography: Re-enactor and academic by nature, Kevin Goodman appears regularly at venues across the country delivering presentations and demonstrations on Medieval Medicine and Surgery. His article on Historic aspects of medicine can be found in “Adventures in Archaeology: Past Horizons Magazine”: http://calameo.com/books/0000627296b9a5eb2153b)
………………………………………………...

WOW!!!

2010-05-25T08:05:00.001-05:00

WHEN I go to Germany, I WILL go HERE!!!

What the Frak???!!!

2010-05-20T08:50:00.002-05:00

While looking for bible verses to place on the wall of the High School Sunday School/Youth group my wife and I lead, I find this verse:

2 Kings 2:23 NIV

Elisha Is Jeered

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

Sounds like the moral of this story is don't mess around with the messengers of God or you get what's coming to you. I must say, to me, it smacks of a random wandering Monster encounter from the Dungeons and Dragons game. But that must be the geek in me interpreting the verse. Oh well.

Later!

So Say We All... at least those of us that feel similarly.

2010-05-11T08:36:00.002-05:00

From the Daily Herald newspaper of Chicago, published 5/11/10 in the Letters to the Editor.

"After hearing the news that consideration was being given to National Guard troops being dispatched to the city of Chicago to quell violence, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank Mayor Daley and Governor Quinn.

Mayor, Governor, congratulations. Your pathological efforts to disarm the honest law-abiding citizens of the state of Illinois have finally paid off in a most graphic way. By making Illinois one of only two states in the United States that denies its citizens the rights granted under the Second Amendment, you have succeeded in turning the city of Chicago into a war zone. Since the beginning of 2010, there have been more Americans killed in Chicago than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. Congratulations, great job, I hope you're proud."

Frank Ladonne

Buffalo Grove

Ain't she cute?

2010-05-06T13:07:00.002-05:00

Here's my little girl, Astrid. I call her my little defective dog... not that she is really defective, but she just acts so silly most of the time that she must have a screw loose. She is quite intelligent and very social. She is about 55 lbs right now in this photo and is almost a full year old!

Okay... this is really geeky....

2010-04-29T09:01:00.003-05:00

As you all know, I am a big fan of the author, Robert E. Howard and especially his Conan character. As you also know, I am a big D&D gamer. Well, now, if I wanted to, the two different things can come together. Someone has done the work for me and mashed the two together and has come up with interpretations of how Conan would be as a D&D character at different points in his life, according to the stories written by R.E. Howard. If you are at all interested, the site is HERE

And if that were not enough, he went on to make character stats for other Characters from the Conan stories. With imagination and time, a enterprising DM could come up with an entire adventure campaign devoted to the world of R.E. Howard's Conan for D&D! Not gonna happen with me.... I got to much other stuff going on...

Anyway. Enjoy if you are geeky enough!

Later!

Things that make you go, hmmmmm....

2010-04-23T09:09:00.003-05:00

I am not a regular, or even a sometime watcher of the Daily Show or The Colbert Report, but I was made aware of this via a Facebook friend. It is a quote by Stephen Colbert while appearing on the Daily Show. "Atheism: The religion devoted to the worship of one's own smug sense of superiority."

I don't know why it struck me so resoundlingly. I don't think about Atheism. It is not something I waste brainpower on. I know a number of atheists and they are perfectly fine people and it is not something we discuss. In my understanding, I would think that atheists would prefer that. If they do not acknowledge a "supreme being" then that is what I call their "religion" and I am not about to denigrate or question their belief system. I have mine, they have theirs, and we can agree to disagree.

But something about this statement just made me smile. I think it is because recently, those clerics of atheism have been much more vocal in their fight to change the "freedom of religion" to that of "freedom FROM religion" and that I cannot stomach. After all, isn't a lack of a faith in a supreme being a religion of sorts in itself, much like the quote alludes to? And many of those that are making the rounds on the media shows, do seem to have a smug sense of superiority about them. (I will admit, there are a number of "believers" (Christian, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise) out there who are just as smug...)

Well there I go... thinking too much on this subject. Any thoughts out there on this?

Getting set for the Con Season!!!

2010-04-19T08:19:00.001-05:00

When packing for gaming conventions, make sure you pack soap.... especially THIS SOAP!!!

Don't Touch My DICE!!!!

2010-04-02T09:34:00.001-05:00

Many gamers are said to not bathe, brush, or follow regular hygene routines.... but not anymore!!

DICE WIPES!!!

Gamers and Gunners

2010-03-19T09:12:00.002-05:00

This is from one of my favorite gaming websites... if you are a gunner, or a FPS gamer, or both, you really need to read this. Even if you are not, it is an excellent piece on the discussion behing the theory of video games affecting how people act in the real world.

The article is HERE

Facebook Familiarity.

2010-03-16T12:33:00.002-05:00

Two things happened to me recently that I think are of note enough to put on the blog. They both related to friends I have on Facebook. When I say "friends" I have to admit that these are people I have never met before, but are in my friends list due to various connections with other IRL friends. (I should also state that these people are the sort I would probably be friends with without Facebook) I would guess that I have "known" these people via their's and my FB status updates for about 2 yesrs now.

So anyway... One day at work, I get a phone call on my cell (and I have never given my cell number to this person specifically) from one of my FB friends whom I have never met, never spoken to other than on FB, and probably will not likely meet anytime soon. The reason for the phone call is completely irrelevant for this blog, but what was so interesting about it was that our conversation, (with real voices) was as if it was between two people who had known and spoken to each other for years. The was none of the uncomfortable chit chat to get the conversation up to speed, and no awkwardness that comes with the unfamiliarity of speaking to a stranger. It was as if I was talking to someone I work with on a regular basis. And it was totally normal! It was not until the conversation was over that it struck me, just how "un-normal" it was. Almost a little scary. I was really floored by how familiar we were with each other, us being total strangers and all.

The second case was with a young man who attends the same school as my son, but yet they have never truly gotten to know each other, and again, I have never met him personally myself. I have had small conversations with him on Facebook, usually discussion games and gaming in general, but nothing too deep. As time and events would have it, he eventually was set to come to my house for a gaming session, and we would meet for the first time. When he arrived at the door, I greeted him, (and so did Gunnar in his own particularly LOUD way) and said. "Hi D*****, I feel I know you, but in a Facebook sort of way." He agreed, and our period of "meeting and greeting" was over and we set to gaming and had a very enjoyable time. I didn't need to ask him questions about his gaming experience or school experience or where he lived or what he like or stuff like that, cause for the most part, I already knew it.

Facebook is pretty old hat anymore and I am becoming slightly bored with it, but I must say that in many many ways, this application has really changed the social scene in my circle of "friends." I feel far more connected with my close friends and closer with my distant friends and maybe they feel the same way too. Who knows what this form social interaction will eventually lead to in the bigger picture, but it really has made a big difference in my socializing in the outside world. I kind of like it. I will however, try to keep the big surprises I might have off of Facebook because nothing spoils telling a big story to someone and they already know about it from your status updates!

later!

Old Friends, meet the new friends.

2010-03-09T10:48:00.004-06:00

It has been a while without much to say in this blog but I think the drought is over.

Recently I have been reading some memoirs of gamers, most notably "Gamer Geeks and Fantasy Freaks" and "The Elfish Gene: Dungeons and Dragons and growing up strange." In these books, the authors recall their experiences with D&D and gaming and how it affected their lives. Both authors seem to, if not regret their gaming experiences in their younger years, they certainly don't look back on them with great fondness. They seemed to have a love/hate relationship with gaming and what it did for them, or maybe too them as an adolesent or teenager.

That is not the case for me. My gaming days have served me well. They fed my need and hunger for a fantasy world that I could partake in, not just read about. It fired my interest in western mediaeval history which in turn led me to long love affair with re-enacting. And I think it made me a better and more voracious reader, and in many ways, a bit more outgoing when I finally got into college. All together, I am fond of, and proud of my gaming days as a kid. Hell, I am still a gamer, and have brought my whole family and many friends into the gaming world because of my love of gaming.

Recently I was upstairs in the attic of the house looking for something and just for kicks I decided to look in the big blue tub that has been sitting there for years and years. I knew it contained all my old D&D stuff from years gone by, but I never really bothered to open it up because I was now involved in a whole new version of the game and the "first edition" is now obsolete in the gaming world. But I opened it upanyway and there, neatly stacked away were my old friends, the D&D books, modules,(now called pre-made adventures)characters, miniatures and gaming suppliments. It was a wave of nostalgia that washed over me. All the time spent as a kid with my buds playing the game and all the hours spent designing adventures and characters and simply living inside my head within the fantasy world. It was a great time and nice to remember all those things.

What I was most excited to find were the old modules that have recently been updated to the current version that I am playing. I can now play those old modules that gave me such joy with my new set of D&D players, of which one is my own son. I think this is great. The good old killer mod - White Plume Mountian - will soon be on the table and doing its damnedest to kill off every character in the group. It will be good to share these old favorites of mine with everyone. I hope they will enjoy them as much as I did all those years ago. (which really don't seem that long ago)

later!

D-I-V-O-R-C-E

2010-02-18T10:55:00.002-06:00

I found this while in a discussion about Concealed Carry in Illinois.

Right Vs. Left Divorce settlement:

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up this country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore, and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We’ll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeboys, hippies, and illegal aliens. We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s, and rednecks. We’ll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N., but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We’ll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks, and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Volkswagon you can find.

We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the national anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya, or We Are the World.

We’ll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name, and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with you.

Don't know Jack Shit? You do now...

2010-02-17T09:41:00.002-06:00

For some time many of us have wondered who is Jack Shit? We find ourselves at a loss when someone says, "You don't know Jack Shit!" Well, thanks to my efforts, you can now respond in an intellectual way. Jack Shit is the only sone of Awe shit who married No Shit. Inturn, Jack Shit married No shit. The couple had six children: holy shit, Giva Shit, Fulla Shit, Bull Shit, and the twins, Deep Shit and Dip Shit. Deep shit married Dumb Shit, a high school dropout. After 15 years, Jack and No Shit got divorced and she married Ted Sherlock, and became No Shit Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Dip Shit married Lotta Shit and had child with a rather nervous disposition named Chicken Shit. Fulla Shit and Giva Shit married the Happens brothers in a double wedding. Bull Shit traveled the world and returned home with an Italian bride; Pisa Shit.

So from now on, no one can tell YOU that you Don't Know Jack Shit!

Zoom Zoom

2010-02-05T10:22:00.001-06:00

Take a look at these babies! I think they might actually have a real market if the price were dropped!

This is why you should be reading Joe Abercrombie...

2010-02-03T11:45:00.002-06:00

Just a snippet from the Joe Abercrombie book: Best Served Cold. The entire book is just one good snappy paragraph after another and the action scenes are even better!

"How's watching your men fall off a wall going to help?" asked Shivers.

Cosca shrugged. "It will wear down the defenders, deny them rest, keep them guessing and distract them from any other efforts we might make."

"Lot of corpses for a distraction."

"Wouldn't be much of a distraction without them."

How do you get men to climb the ladders for that?"

"Sazine's old method."

"Eh?"

Monza remembered Sazine displaying the money to the new boys, all laid out in sparkling stacks. "If the wall falls, a thousand scales to the first man on the battlements, hundred each to the next ten who follow him."

"Provided they survive to collect the bounty." Cosca added. "If the task's impossible, they'll never collect, and if they do, well, you achieved the impossible for two thousand scales. It ensures a steady flow of willing bodies up the ladders, and has the added benefit of weeding the bravest men out of the company to boot."

Shivers looked even more baffled. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Bravery is the dead man's virtue," Monza muttered. "the wise commnder never trusts it."

"Verturio!" Cosca slapped one leg. " I do love an author who can make death funny! Brave men have their uses but they're damned unpredictable. Worrying to the herd. Dangerous to bystanders."

"Not to mention potential rivals for command."

"Altogether safest to cream them off." and Cosca mimed the action with a careless flick of two fingers. "The moderately cowardly make infinitely better soldiers."

Shivers shook his head in disgust. "You people got a pretty fucking way of making war."

Winter War Convention 37

2010-02-01T10:05:00.003-06:00

This last weekend, I had the fortunate opportunity to spend time with friends and family at the gaming convention called Winter War. It has been going on for 37 years now, and it has come along way from the rough and tumble con that was held in the Foreign Languages Building on the U of I campus. Currently it is held in the Hawthorne Suites in Champaign, IL. and it is a terrifically run convention. Granted, it is not a huge convention, with only about 300 people attending, but it is one of the best. The goal of the convention organizers is to allow people to play games, and it succeeds in that exceedingly well. There is a smattering of dealers, enough to handle your desires, should you find yourself absolutely needing the game you just played. They have a incredible auction of used games that you can get just about anything at a terrific price, but what they do best, is offer a huge number of various games that you can sign up for and play all weekend long. It is a gamers game convention. Unlike the bigger ones, you will not find a library of games to play or test, but you will find those games that really hold a place in the hearts of the gamers that come every year. Unfortunately, that can make the con a bit harder to enjoy for the casual gamers, like my wife, but I think that things are changing and more and more people are bringing more "user-friendly" games to the con for people to play. (Not that she doesn't enjoy it!)
But what I really found this weekend, was that the con is not so much a time to play games or check out something that interests me, it is more of a chance to reconnect with those people I dont' see enough of, or face off against the people I only see at the con, across the field of battle called the gaming table. My kids are now part of this con. My son is familiar with many of the people at the con, and my daugther is eagerly embracing the whole gamer girl persona. (Hopefully without the bad hair, awkward social behavior, and poor clothing choices.) It is a time to socialize while competeing with other gamer friends, and make connections that, oddly, have helped me in my non-gaming world. What are games when you take the competition element out of them? They are a simply reason to get together and socialize. Some people claim that gamers are non-social creatures, but I disagree. They are very social. How else can a real gamer who is not social, ever manage to bring themself to interact with total strangers for an entire weekend? I hold, that those people that don't socialize well in groups, but yet are gamers and somehow have been held up as the model for gamers, are probably not social in general, gamer or not. But, I digress...
The weekend was great, I had a great time with my family, (although I would like it to have some of those games my wife enjoys more) and I made some new friends, reconnected with old ones, and strengthened the bond with current friends. Maybe that is why I like gaming so much. I am a very social creature and I love to play games.
Anyway, I ramble on. I have provided some photos from the con for you to enjoy.

This is the opening move (albeit blurry) of the game Circus Maximus, a chariot racing game. As you can see, it is quite crowded and the end result is abstract bloodshed!

Here I am, late at night with two of my favorite gaming partners! We were playing Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game.

The game Battlestar Galactica is one of the best games I have ever encountered. It looks complicated, and maybe at first it is, but it makes for one of the best unintentional role playing board games ever! Ask me later what that means.

Just one of the massive miniature games going on at the convention. This one represented the D-Day landings of June 1944. The game started at 9am and finished sometime after 8pm.

One of my new gaming buddies. During the Kobolds Ate My Baby game, he found the spoon of Cthulu! He was a happy man. What a silly game.

Just more of the silliness that is Kobolds Ate My baby. Chickens, Goats and Kobolds! Oh My!!

Hollywood history...

2010-01-13T10:38:00.002-06:00

Maybe Hollyoood is not the place to learn your history, (leave that to us professional living historians) but it sure makes history alot more fun to watch.

Check out the link to Hollywood History!

Later!

If a liberal....

2010-01-12T09:49:00.001-06:00

I was looking for something to post to blog and then my wife send me this....

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn`t buy one.

If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn`t eat meat.

If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat
his enemy.

A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.

If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a black man or Hispanic are conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.

Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.

A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.

Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.

A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced, (unless it's a foreign religion of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.

A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed.

If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he's in labor and then sues.

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it, so his friends can have a good laugh.

A liberal will delete it because he is "offended."

End of the year vacation!

2010-01-05T09:36:00.002-06:00

I just had one of the best end of the year vacations! I normally take the last two weeks of the year off on vacation and spend it at home with family. During the last two weeks of the year I celebrate my wedding anniversary, two Christmas parties, New Years Eve, and my wife's birthday. We do alot of partying the last two weeks of the year. But in addition to that, this year we had alot of fun just watching movies and playing games. At best count, we watched something like 11 movies, both currently on the theaters or on DVD. Talk about couch potatos! And in addition that I got to game like 8 different times over the break. RPG, video or board gaming. It was great!

If only I could have two more weeks like that!

Later!

The New Year!

2010-01-05T09:20:00.002-06:00

Well now, the new year is upon us and that means resolutions! I like to make resolutions because I like to have some goals. I don't always stick with them, but I do think about them throughout the year. My resolutions for 2010 are:

- Sticking with the exercise routine I started in 2009. It is working out well for me and I am still enjoying it! While many people might not think I need an exercise program, I say wrong. Everyone needs one, especially if like me, you spend most of your time on your butt in front of a computer! I am currently using a program P90X which is a pretty high intesity workout and not for the faint of heart... literally.

- Learn to play at least two songs, completely and without mistakes, on my hammered dulcimer. I love my dulcimer but life gets in the way and the fact that I can't read music might have something to do with that. I really hope to accomplish this one.

- Play more paintball than I did last year... this should be easy. I didn't play ANY last year!

- Become really good with my two new pistols, a Taurus 9mm, and a Ruger .44 magnum. Shooting a rifle with skill, takes talent, but shooting a pistol with skill takes time and talent. I am really good with a rifle, I need to be great with a pistol.

That is all for resolutions. I will let you know how they go!

Later!

The bad and the good of 2009.

2009-12-07T09:52:00.005-06:00

Here is why 2009 sucked. (in order of importance)

1. My father passed away in 2009 and suffered horribly for the first two months of this year.
2. Obama was sworn in as President of the United States of America.
3. An evil act was perpetrated upon a very good friend of mine for the simple reason of destroying him, financially, emotionally, and career-wise.
4. The marriages of some good people ended or otherwise turned upside-down.
5. Many of my friends lost their jobs this year.
6. A girl from my town died at far too young of an age.
7. The economy has almost literally broken me and many of my friends.
8. Did not play paintball once... grr.
9. Guns and Ammo prices went through the roof!
10. Obama is still president at the end of the year.
11. New was received of the end of the Jubilee Olde English Faire.

Here is how 2009 tried to redeem itself. (in order of importance)

1. My birthday, thanks to family and friends, ROCKED!
2. My family added a new puppy to the pack!
3. My wife got baptized this year!
4. My wife and I took over as leaders of the Youth Group at our church. (one of the best decisions I have ever made)
5. Attended the Youth Gathering in New Orleans with 32,000 other Lutheran youths for a week of amazing experiences!
6. My knowledge of wine and wine making has improved!
7. My daughter has embraced school rather than fight it!
8. I attended Gen Con again, and had a blast... and my gaming time with friends and family has increased!
9. I got new windows installed in my house!
10. My wife got a new car at no added cost per payment!
11. After way too many years, I finally had a successful deer hunting season with my son!
12. I have my concealed carry permits from both Pennsylvania and Florida!

The Buck stopped here.

2009-11-23T15:26:00.007-06:00

After far too long of a time between deer kills, I finally managed to outwit, outplan and outsit one of God's most excellent game animals. The deer season started on the 20th of November and my son and I went south to Effingham to join up with a really nice guy I met last year. Both he and I are scout leaders and I think our desire to see boys take deer made for a common bond between us. He set us up in a deer stand that we had been in last year for one day and after some talking, we managed to arrange to get the stand moved to a new spot, lined up differently, and readied for the new season. The first day was a disappointment, a feeling that we have gotten to know far too well. Both my son and I sat in the "buddy" stand waiting and waiting. There was shooting all around us, but we saw no indication of deer anywhere near us. So after 10 hours of sitting, we hauled our exhausted butts back to where we were staying and crashed early. We decided that the next day, my son would go out on his own in hopes of seeing something in another part of the woods. (He did, but it was too far off to shoot at comfortably.)

That following day was warmer and I had moved into the buddy stand with out my buddy. The morning was quiet with little gunfire coming from around us and I thought to myself that it was going to be a repeat of the previous day. I was talking to my son on the 2-way radio telling him that our host saw a few doe moving in his direction, when not more than about a minute later I heard a sound unlike all the others I had tuned my ears for. Turning 180 degrees in my stand I see a deer, which I thought was a doe, heading up a hill, but it had slipped on the wet leaves and mud. Had it not been for that slip, I do not think I would have noticed it at all. I could not believe it. After all the years of getting skunked, a chance was now presented to me! I stood and turned, leveled the gun that I had not shot at a target in a number of years, (I still trust the sighting I put on it.) and, hesitated. Was my shot going to be clean, and merciful? I knew I would not miss, but I was worried I would make a wounding shot instead of a killing one. The distance was 80 yards out and below me. Would I need to compensate? All this went through my head in about a second when I knew I had to pull the trigger. Using a magnum load with a hollow point sabot, any hit was going to be devastating. The gun roared and echoed in the woods, and almost instantaneously, the deer falls and slides down the hill, front paws clawing at the air and dirt. I had hit it in the spine and lungs... a killing shot, but not a quick kill as I hoped. I radioed my son, something about a mercy shot, started down the ladder and jumped the last ten feet or so. I could still see the deer pawing and moving so I ran across the distance but stopped about 25 yards out as it was over on the other side of the stream. Wanting to wait no longer to end it's pain, I raised my gun up again and sent a slug through the right side of the deer's head. It was over.

I walked over to the deer and as has been my way ever since I began to thinking about the act of hunting, I said a prayer of thanks and respect to the creature that just gave me his life. It was then that I noticed it was a buck rather than a doe, so I felt better that a doe might carry on to this spring to bring another deer into the world. I would normally have attempted to drag the deer out from where he lay but it was more than I could have done by myself. I contacted my host about the kill and he said he would be around soon, but to sit tight as he spotted some deer in his area. I went back to my stand to keep an eye on things and when I got settled back in, I was surprised that I was suddenly overcome with emotion. Excitement, joy, adrenaline, and yes, saddness and sorrow all came up at the same time. I will have to admit, I am glad no one was around to see me.

Soon, when everyone was around to help haul the deer out, I gathered up my son and we headed back to dress out the deer. I insisted on having him be an active part of the cleaning of the deer and he went to it with very little hesitation. He even decided that instead of wasting portions of the deer, he would keep certain parts like the hide, the hooves and the tail to use for various purposes. I like that. I wanted him to go back out and sit in the event that he could get a deer, but he was just happy that we got one together, so instead we ate a bite of lunch, and headed home. Soon we will be eating our prize and reveling in the knowledge that we took this meat and it did not come from a grocery store.

At some point I will have to blog about why I hunt and why I think hunting is important, but not right now. Instead, my thanks for hanging in there and reading and sharing my story with me.

Later!

Noise... coming to a close...

2009-11-13T12:51:00.002-06:00

In another full day, my experiment with being without a cellphone will be over. I have traveled without it, gone to work without it and simply done without it. It is kind of a relief in many ways. I don't worry about answering the phone immediately, I am not tempted to use it at all times, especially when becoming bored, and I have found that I can still communicate with others just fine, and immediate response is not really that big of a deal. The nicest thing was that I learned I don't have to respond to work email when I am not at work! (I was getting bad at that.) But what I find the most interesting is the expectation that others have of you. They EXPECT you to have a cell phone and have it on you. Much like I expect that when I call someone, I will call them on the cell phone I expect them to be carrying. They and I expect that the phone will be answered on the first few rings or if not, respond immediately to a text message.

The young lady who is doing this experiment with me says it sucks for her, but she is learning to plan ahead, make detailed arrangements in advance, and doing other things rather than disappearing into the cell phone. I will be excited to hear what other insight she has had.

I don't know if this had made my or her life easier but it was fun to try and I suggest that some of you try it yourself if you think you spend too much time with you phone attached to your ear or fingers attached to the key pad. You might be surprised at the experience.

Noise... day 2

2009-11-11T09:02:00.002-06:00

I have been without my cell phone for two days now and so far the biggest hurdle I have had to face is trying to remember phone numbers that are stored on the phone. At one time, I used to pride myself that I could recall hundreds of different phone numbers for many different people, but now, I only seem to recall those that I don't have listed in my phone! (weird!) I still carry a paper sheet with all kinds of numbers listed on it, but it is so badly out of date that it is of little use anymore. I should update it. The other tricky thing is letting people know where you will be when they expect you to pick them up or meet them. However, it is not impossible to communicate with other if you don't have a cell phone, just a bit trickier.

Later!

Noise....

2009-11-10T10:00:00.002-06:00

As a result of watching a video during my High School Sunday School class, I challenged the kids to go without their cell phone for one week. Only one student stepped up to the challenge. So far, it has not been a big deal, but it is a challenge. The young lady who is doing this challenge with me says that it sucks so far, but she has made the effort and is well into her 2nd day as of this writing. I will keep you informed as to hers, and my progress and feelings on this. One thing I can comment on right now, is that I have lived with out cell phones for longer than I have had one, but it is very hard to remember when I did not have one. It has become such a part of my everyday existence, almost like the pocketknife I carry everyday. It is funny how something that I did not have for so long, is now such a part of me.

Anyway, as the week goes along, I will give some thought to what it is like not having it.

Later!

A thoughtful barbarian

2009-11-05T11:45:00.004-06:00

While surfing around, I found this passage from one of the best of the Conan stories written by Robert E. Howard.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."
Robert E. Howard - Queen of the Black Coast

This is why no fantasy character can compare to Conan.. If some other writer had written this, it would be considered high prose, but since it was only a pulp fiction writer who created bloody characters it was pretty much ignored. Thankfully, R.E. Howard is being rediscovered thanks to the fact that geeks are now ruling the entertainment industry. It is about time! Now get out there and read some Howard!

Unforeseen design problems?

2009-11-02T14:27:00.004-06:00

The clover design is a very nice accent idea in most construction, but if you don't take into account the angle of the sun as it moves across the sky.... you get a very happy walk way!

Because you always wanted to know...

2009-10-27T13:06:00.002-05:00

Timeline of Middle Ages Kings of England
Timeline of the Norman Kings of England in the Middle Ages: 1066 -1154

1066-1087 King William the Conqueror
1087-1100 King William Rufus (son of William)
1100-1135 King Henry I (William Rufus brother)
1135-1154 King Stephen (nephew of Henry I)

Timeline of the The Plantagenet Kings of England (Angevin Line) in the Middle Ages:1154 - 1377

1154-1189 King Henry II (grandson of Henry I)
1189-1199 King Richard I (third son of Henry II)
1199-1216 King John (fifth son of Henry II)
1216-1272 King Henry III (son of John)
1272-1307 King Edward I (son of Henry III)
1307-1327 King Edward II (son of Edward I)
1327-1377 King Edward III (son of Edward II)

Timeline of the Royal Houses of Lancaster and York - Kings of England in the Middle Ages: 1377 - 1485

1377-1399 King Richard II (grandson of Edward III, son of the Black Prince)
1399-1413 King Henry IV (grandson of Edward III, son of John of Gaunt)
1413-1422 King Henry V (son of Henry IV)
1422-1461 King Henry VI (son of Henry V)
1461-1483 King Edward IV ( youngest son of Edward III )
1483-1485 King Richard III (uncle of Edward V)

And the Ranks of English Nobility: From greatest to least
(titled)
King - Queen
Prince - Princess
Duke - Duchess
Marguess - Marchioness
Earl - Countess
Viscount - Viscountess
Baron - Baroness

(untitled)
Baronet
Knight

Shootin' with Queenie

2009-10-19T08:53:00.003-05:00

At the Fishers Rennaisance Faire, the Queen herself came to our encampment and had a go at shooting at the running Frenchman on our target line. Here are a few shots of the event for your viewing pleasure. I guess it was a good thing I wore my good cotehardie!

One of the best ever!

2009-10-09T08:50:00.008-05:00

On Thursday the 8th of October, I celebrated my 44th birthday and I must say it was one of the best ever. I have, hands down, the best wife and kids of all the people I know. And I have friends that rock to the nth degree. And to top it off, my 83 year old mom can still make desserts with the best of them. I love birthdays. They are God's gift to you. It is your day and it should be celebrated. You don't have to share it with anyone. It is your very own holiday that celebrates you: not Martin Luther, Columbus, or any number of presidents. It is all about you. So go out and celebrate it! I usually take the day off and if possible, like to have a small fire outside for cooking hot dogs and brats on but this year it was raining pretty much from 8am to 8pm. But still! It was one of the best birthdays ever.

To start off, my mom was making for me, as requested, a red velvet cake. If you have never had a homemade red velvet cake, then I feel sorry for you. It is one of the most delicious, rich, and filling cakes you have ever had. (For the love of God, there is a pound of butter in it) My mother even made it with homemade cream cheese icing.... O.M.G.

And to make things even better, my wife purchased a gift for me that truly had alot of thought behind it. For my 44th birthday, my wonderful wife bought me a .44 magnum revolver.... yeah, like Dirty Harry .44 magnum. A Ruger Red Hawk, .44 mag. with 7.5 inch brushed stainless steel barrel with rosewood handle. Just frakkin sweet... I love that girl. Apparently my kids and some friends pitched in to make it happen too. My kids and friends are just the best.

And finally, while having dessert of red velvet cake, one of my best buddies pulls out a 20 year aged bottle of Taylor Fladgate Tawny Port. Talk about a match made in heaven... red velvet and tawny port. Yeah buddy, can you say orgasm for your mouth?

Anyway, I highly doubt I will get a .45 caliber anything for my 45th birthday, and they don't make guns in 46-49 caliber but I can see 50 from here! Makes you wonder what kind of gun goes with 50?

This is a birthday I will always remember.

Thanks!

Later!

Doing more with less...

2009-09-30T11:33:00.005-05:00

The CiderHaus at the Jubilee Colonial Faire. Simple idea, simple set up.

Fellow re-enactors enjoying time at the tavern and getting ready for a skit.

The CiderHaus in full swing.

About two years ago I came across a new 18th century event being held at one of my favoritest places, the Jubilee College State Park, site of the Jubilee Olde English Fazire. Now it has another event! The Jubilee Colonial Faire! When friend Jenn and my daughter Cora went to visit the event for it's inaugural year, we discovered an event that was trying very hard to be an education/demonstation focused event rather than an event where entertainment, ceremonies, and shopping was the focus. This was my kind of event. In addition to that, it was very light on scheduled activities. No up for colors, stand around for roll call of the dead, stand around for more ceremony, be on ready for battle, go eat in 20 minutes and come back for more ceremony.... nope. Pretty loose schedule at the Jubilee Colonial Faire.

Well, I decided I wanted to do this event and last year made plans to attend with my cider press to demo how to make apple cider. Long story short, life got in the way and I was unable to attend in 2008. This year, however, I made some arrangements and despite life trying to get back in my face, I persevered and attended the faire. It was really quite fun and I have always wanted to do something that had real involvement with the other reenactors. The tavern was a natural choice and it seemed to be a good one.

Now here is the point of my posting. Ever since I have attended this event, I have been amazed at how enjoyable it was to do this event and I have given alot of thought as to why.

First and foremost, I was not packing for an entire group of people, nor was I thinking for them, or handling issues for them that should have been handled weeks, if not months before the event.

Everything I took could have fit in the back of my truck, but I took a small trailer to spread things out.

Set up was even easier. Two tents, a table, my press and some fixings and everything was done in about an hour, and without alot of struggle or people standing around wondering what needs to be done.

I could have done this entire thing by myself, but what fun is that, so with my family and friend Jenn, we entertained and educated people and enjoyed ourselves for two whole days with very little stress. Rain not withstanding, it was a very nice weekend.

I have been involved in re-enacting for well over 20 years now and still enjoy it, but of late I have been thinking about what could I do with less stuff and having to depend on fewer people. Currently, (at least with my medieval living history group) I need to have at least 15 people (of which 85% need to be older than 14 years of age) to commit to a weekend event for which we will get paid. As people and children grow older, thing get busier and event get harder to committ to. I am a victim of that myself! Also, everything seems to be far more expensive and that makes comitting to an event a real financial throwdown. So when I decide to do an event for with the medieval group, it requires not just my commitment, but the commitment of a whole bunch of other people. And over the years we have developed a show/demo that is quite good, but it also requires a ton of equipment to haul and set up. And it usually befalls on me to maintain, care for and clean the equipment.

All of this was put into perspective this last weekend when I saw that I can still do living history events without all the baggage and still get as much out of it as I do with a 1.5 ton trailer hooked to my truck and a set up that takes 4 hours or more and 8 people to do it. This coming weekend is another medieval event and the group is working with fewer numbers but with more expectation from the faire organizers.

As the winter goes along I am going to consider ways to cut baggage and how to do more, or the same, with less. I don't expect to cut out huge chunks of my re-enacting life and demonstration, but it seems that I might need to lighten my load a bit as it is becoming more and more difficult to carry on as it is.

All I Needed to Know, I Learned From My Dog

2009-09-29T13:48:00.003-05:00

If only more people acted like dogs, this might be a better world.

If you stare at someone long enough, eventually you'll get what you want.
If at first you don't succeed, beg.
Don't go out without I.D.
Be direct with people; let them know exactly how you feel by peeing on their shoes.
Be aware of when to hold your tongue, and when to use it.
Leave room in your schedule for a good nap.
Always give people a friendly greeting.
When you do something wrong, always take responsibility for it (as soon as you're dragged out from under the bed).
If it's not wet and sloppy, it's not a real kiss.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.
Let others know when they've invaded your territory.
Take naps and stretch before rising.
Run, romp and play daily.
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout...run right back and make friends.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Nuns with Guns....

2009-09-22T09:25:00.004-05:00

Forwarded to me by a good pal of mine...

(We can only hope!)

Ohh... I want one of these so badly!

2009-09-14T07:59:00.001-05:00

An AK-47 styled .410 gauge shotgun! I want one so, so bad...

Go here to see it: The Firearm Blog

Irons in the fire....

2009-09-11T09:13:00.002-05:00

Just a list of things coming up that excite me:

A BBQ 7 course meal reservation.... what could be better than 7 courses of BBQ?

An LYO trip to the reindeer ranch! Corn maze at night! I am sure to lose at least a few students!

A colonial trade faire where I will be setting up a "Tavern" to serve "cider" to the participants. Will be making homemade cider for this!

High School reunion photo shoot. While I don't like to do the job so much, it is really good money! Money, Money, Money... need some right now...

14th Century demo/ren faire in Fishers Ind. It is alot of work, but it is soooo much fun!

My BIRTHDAY! I love my birthday... even if I don't have a party or anything like that. This time I think I would like to have friends over and do some gaming. Never done that.... after a wiener roast of course...

The JagerFest at the Bayern Stube. Nominally to celebrate my birthday, but I don't need an excuse to go there to eat good German Food!

Camping with the family and dogs. We are going to a new place not far from home but one that looks like it could be hours away! Camping with my kids in the same trailer I camped in as a kid give me a special thrill for some reason. It is like sharing my childhood with them.

Being about 1/2 gallon away from having my house completely repainted... now of I could only get the time to do it!

Well, with this much stuff in the fire, I better get busy getting all the boring stuff out of the way!

Later!

And more from Wired!

2009-08-27T11:50:00.001-05:00

10 gaming gadgets that will make us hurt ourselves....

OUCH!!!!

Leave to the Germans!

2009-08-27T11:46:00.003-05:00

They have conquered the world of gaming and made it their own. All because of a little game called "The Settlers of Catan." It is a lengthy article but if you are a gamer, then you should read it!

Read about it here: CATAN

Thanks to Henry for bringing this to my attention!

L8r!

I would like one of these...

2009-08-26T09:48:00.005-05:00

but fortunately, my neighbors have no problems with guns...

They work for us?!!?!?

2009-08-26T08:59:00.004-05:00

This was sent to me via a friend. It is quite an eye opener. I truly don't know if all of it is true but I think, and am afraid it is. WARNING! The language is rough!

THE GUY FROM BOSTON

What rocked about Gen Con this year...

2009-08-20T08:17:00.002-05:00

Gen Con Indy, 2009 was, as always, a great time for the family, friends and I. This year was maybe slightly better than other years.

For one, I paid nothing for hotel accomodations, even though we had to pack and unpack each night so we could go to our reserved hotel, find it a disaster, and with no room for us to stay there. Then we would head 4 miles west and stay at a swanky new hotel that would cost something like 150-200 bucks a night, but yet it cost us nothing. It was on the house so to speak from the hotel we were supposed to stay at. Seeing that they never had rooms for us, they sent us to the other hotel at their expense and still let us park in their parking garage which was only 5 city blocks from the convention center. Yeah we had to move around alot and didn't have a place to go to for a break, but what the heck! It was free!

Secondly, registration and scheduling was a snap! Due to a new system, I got into all the games I wanted and so did the family. AND we discovered the game room where you can just go rent a game for $2 or $4 and play to your hearts content! We spent alot of time in good old room 500! Discovered REDNECK LIFE too! Great game!

Third, and most importantly, I had a blast in each and every game I played. My first game was Tigris and Euphrates, a new game just learned a few weeks ago. My wife and I were to play this with two other people, but they never showed so we went at it by ourselves and found it to be a cutthroat sort of game when played with two people. While she did not stomp me in the game, my wife did defeat me soundly. She would say she trashed me. Another game I played and enjoyed, but would probably not purchase it, is Age of Conan: the Board Game. A good game, but it didn't hold my attention and there were too many small mechanics in the game to make it easily playable. I did enjoy the game, especially because of the theme, but it would not make it to my top 20 list in fun games.

The games I did enjoy the most were Memoir '44 and Battlestar Galactica the board game. Both of these games gave me an adrenaline rush and were hours well spent playing. The Memoir game is a tradition for the group I attend GenCon with. Four years now we have played the Overlord games and come out victorious! This year was my turn at the role of overall commander and we beat an experienced team with a "world champion" of strategy board gaming. Never seen a champion retreat in a battle strategy game before! Anyway, as a team we worked really well and I was happy that we all contributed our best to win the game. It was a hard slog but it was worth it! The other game, Battlestar Galactica, while not a game for everyone, is rapidly becomeing one of my favorites. The premise is that exactly as the show... Humans trying to survive Cylon attacks and plots. In the game, you don't know who is human and who is cylon and it makes for a very interesting game especially with the mechanics of skill checks coming in from everyone, and not everyone is playing to win for the humans! I did not win in this game but I got to play with my daughter and can see she is starting to become a gamer. She has a good grasp of complicated game concepts when she pays attention. Now only if she could translate that into grasping concepts in school.

The only complaint I have about this year's con was our visit to the Ram. The service sucked, the food tore me up inside, and they discontinued their sale of Taylor Fladgate 40 year port. For that alone, I will not return.

It was a great time and I can't wait for next year.
Later!

The truth-o-meter....

2009-08-13T10:43:00.002-05:00

For anyone wanting the truth in politics, check out this site from the St. Petersburg Times!

The home of the OBAMA-meter!

Cool things lately...

2009-08-11T13:19:00.003-05:00

Rather than join the cacophony of voices screaming and complaining and general negative voices on the Internet, radio and tv... I am gonna just list a lot of great things happening in my life. If you think negatively, which I am guilty of, you will create negative outcomes. Like I tell my son and daughter, "You make your own hell." Life is good and here is why it is for me....

My wife got her motorcycle license and now rides (even long distance) with me and friends! It really is cool to see her riding in the two wheeled brother-(sister) hood.

I have been on two great vacations. One to the Wisconsin Dell and one to New Orleans

I actually was able to witness really good thing happening in New Orleans when people come together with a conscious effort to change a place. In turn, they are changed themselves. Also, out of the blue, I actually got a phone call from a resident of New Orleans, calling me to simply thank us for coming to her town and making a difference. Never met her and probably never will, but we talked like old friends. One of the things I learned there is to listen to people, and really hear them. You will be amazed what you will discover if you shut up and listen instead of yammering on about yourself.

I got to see the WWII D-day Museum in New Orleans.and even met some vets from Omaha beach.

I have a new puppy. What can get better than that? Her name is Astrid Gudrun von Geiken and she is a AKC German Shepard. She is a beauty and very sweet and smart.

I am almost done with repainting my entire house.

All of my bills get paid on time. (thanks to my wife)

I have been able to game about a dozen times in the last month or two. Very Cool!

My daughter has joined the Cross Country team and seems (so far) to enjoy it! That also means she is in Jr. High now... which scares me a little but is still pretty cool in my book. She works hard to get decent grades. I hope we can keep it up in 6th grade.

My son is playing the bass drum in marching band - something that he really wanted to do! This makes me happy that he was excited about getting it. All to often he takes what is left over.

I took the Concealed Carry License for the State of Florida and passed. Now to get the Concealed Carry passed in Illinois. From what I hear, it is close to happening. That makes me really happy!

My wife loves me and I love her. So many couples around me are self destructing and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. Don't people talk anymore in relationships?

My wife and I are planning a wine and dine weekend. Vineyards and nice restaurants...

Speaking of wine, I made another 3 gallons of port for the church and private consumption.

And finally, as the last big blast of Summer, the family and I are heading to GENCON! Gaming and geeky heaven!!! I can't wait!

Dang, just writing this has made me feel better!

Later!

Have a great day!

Top of my head ramblings....

2009-08-04T13:12:00.003-05:00

Much like the end of the year, the middle of the year (particularly August) is a very, very expensive time for my wife and I. Due to two particularly good Halloween parties we hosted, (15 and 11 years ago) both of our kids were born in the latter part of July and the early part of August, making their birthdays about 10 days apart on the calendar. Both my wife and I are huge proponents of celebrating birthdays and giving gifts to kids and making the most of their special days. Not quite like Christmas, but we do try to make the day special and memoriable. So we purchase gifts, make cakes, host a party or two, and generally shell out a decent amount of cash for the kids. We love them and they deserve it and everyone has a good time! But now, as the kids get older, and they advance in to higher grades, their activities in the school increase and with that, so do the school fees. So, to put the kids in school, get supplies, clothes, sport shoes and clothing, band equipement, medical checkups, and all those other things, and throw in the birthdays, it can be a bit tight in the home of the Longbowman. And because I am a geek and I must feed my inner geek, I bring the family along to GenCon in Indianapolis so that they can be my geek family at the biggest gaming convention in the US. (nothing is sadder than a single geek at a gaming convention.... maybe.) And then you have the hometown celebration (Old Settlers) that I have attended for every year I have been alive the following weekend and you have one very very broke family!

What to do, what to do? To be honest, I have no idea. Cut back on birthdays!? Hell no! God gives each of us a special day and it deserves to be celebrated! Keep the kids from doing so much in school. No way... bad idea. I didn't involve myself in much during my school years and regret it. Skip Gen Con? Possibly, but it is soo much fun and we all have a great time attending it as the last hurrah before school starts. Miss the old hometown celebration that I have never missed? Are you frakkin kidding? That would probably cause the end of the world...

So what to do? You know what... nothing... Do what we want to do. Suck it up, cut in other places or make money elsewhere to help things out. For those that complain about not having money, I feel for you, but if you spending your money and having fun and still complaining about not having money... stop. IF You are not having fun with your money, then you have a MIGHT have a right to complain. But that is your fault. But if you spend it on fun stuff and are still paying your bills, supporting your family, and making ends meet but with nothing left over like just about everyone else, then good for you! You can't take the money with you so use it to live and life will work itself out. God provides for those that make the effort.

August and the beginning of school will be over and then things will be more fluid in the cash department for my family. And we will have had a fun summer despite the fact we will be flat broke. Money is worth nothing if it is not used.

(inspired by a conversation with and unemployed friend who has really good attitude about money and how to use it.)

Later..

So True, So True, So True...

2009-07-30T13:06:00.001-05:00

If they cats and dogs could write, it would look something like this-----

DOG DIARY
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 PM - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY
Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe.

For now...

The Cat!

The Potholes...

2009-07-28T10:29:00.003-05:00

Ever heard of the potholes? I bet you have not. The Potholes are a natural feature in the creek bed of a small Indiana water way that over time, has eroded and cut out depressions in the creek bed to create "potholes". While walking along the bed you will find holes of icey cold water swirling about in a 3-5 deep hole that is just asking for you to dip into it. You have no choice.. if you want to work your way to the falls, or work your way back to the entry point, some of the potholes you must hit! It is a secret little place that only a few people at a time go to. It looks like Turkey Run State park, but only about half a mile long and not nearly as crowded or big. But special just the same. Two weekends ago I went there with family and friends. It was great! Sometime I will have to take you there, but until then, enjoy the photos!

later!

hideyho... off I go!

2009-07-20T13:44:00.002-05:00

For those that care, I will be off on a Mission trip to New Orleans with the youth group from my church. I will not be doing much blogging here, (not that I have been lately anyway..) but I will be doing some from the LYO blog if you care to follow. The LYO blog is here.

One thing I really want to do, outside of the Youth Conference is visit the D-Day Museum, which I will then blog about on this site!

Later!

Does this scare you?

2009-07-17T12:45:00.002-05:00

Take of look at this. This is happening, not in Saudi Arbia, Kuwait, or Iran or anyplace like that, but in Bridgeview IL, at the Hilton Hotel conference center!

here is the video

I find it interesting that the music used seems to be very warlike and ominous, as though it was a monster rising to the attack.

And if this is what is happening in the US, then why the frak don't the "moderate" muslims speak out about this? Why, because there is, in my opinion, no such thing as a moderate muslim. Until I start hearing them speak out about this, I will not believe that there is such an animal.

I have only a very few people I know that are muslim, and I think they are very intelligent people, but I have never heard them speak out about the rise of radical Islam. "If you aren't against them, you are with them." is a phrase that comes to mind.

Beware!

Never in my life....

2009-07-13T12:38:00.002-05:00

have I ever heard a sermon that based on a decision I made concerning my faith and belief system. But my wife has. Just ask her about it. (If you know her.) She may not think it was, but oh yes, it was.

I think it was a sort of wake up call or a breath of fresh air for the Pastor.

Interesting what the question, "So now what?" can cause.

Later!

I viewed it first...

2009-06-28T22:09:00.002-05:00

Just in case someone cares... I was reading Der Spiegel before Rachel Lucas commented on it! She recently commented on her blog, but I have been reading it for months! It took her moving to England to find out about it!

HA!

Later!

The Hunt for Gollum.

2009-06-22T10:59:00.002-05:00

What could be better than finding a "prequel" to the Lord of the Rings movie on a day that promised to be kind of boring!

I was flipping through a number of entries on a blog I follow and found this little blurb... The Hunt for Gollum

So I followed the link and found the 40 minute movie, which for an indie film is fantastic and really captures the look and feel of the Peter Jackson movies!

Go check it out! It is worth 40 minutes of your time if you are an LOTR fan!

Later

Dungeons and Dragons post...

2009-06-22T09:19:00.002-05:00

I don't normally post about D&D too much, be recently, there have been a few good blog links about the game.

Here they are:

20 Celebrities who play D&D

Everything I know, I learned from D&D

Later!

A great article.... "Why do liberals bleed?"

2009-06-19T10:30:00.001-05:00

From a posting on Facebook. I had to post it here. This article makes so much sense!

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/why_do_liberals_bleed.html

Never say that again...

2009-06-16T08:43:00.002-05:00

At a local 18th Century/American War for Independance re-enactment, some said in passing that re-enacting is the ultimate in LARPing.. (Live Action Role Playing) In a small way, maybe that is true, but simple, innocent comment was enough to almost shake to the core, mine and my wife's desire to continue re-enacting! LARPing is strictly in the realm of fantasy role playing games, and from my understanding, has nothing what-so-ever to do with education, history, or personal development and learning.

I mentioned that and I think it was enough to salve over the idea that all us re-enactors might be doing nothing more than LARPing. Knowing that LARPing has nothing to do with public education and the passing on of knowledge and history and re-enacting does, then that is good enough for me!

Otherwise, I am gonna start yelling "Fireball, Fireball, Fireball!" and throwing nerfballs and such at the 42nd Highland regiment next time I am doing a battle re-enactment. Maybe then they will fall down... cause cannon and volley fire doesn't seem to work.

I am not a LARPer...

Later

Back to the basics of the game...

2009-06-10T09:34:00.005-05:00

In three days, I will once again join my gaming group in the fantasy world of D&D. I have not played this game in quite a while and that is sad because I love the game. I played the snot out of this game while in grade school and high school and the memories of those gaming days will be with me forever. Now I am hopefully making some good memories for my son and some of his friends. But yet, I find I do not enjoy the game as much as I used to. I am not sure why, but I think it is because in this day and age of video games where saving character information is done at the push of a button, I have become the defacto record keeper of the charcter information. When the game is over, the characters go with me, I record the upgrades and advancements and then give them back when a new game starts. I don't really mind that because I know that my players, at least the younger ones, will never pick up the Core Rulebooks and read them. When I was their age, I had committed the rules to memory. Now, I find myself having to tell them what to look for, what to do and what to roll. I would love to have them be able to look through the books, find ideas, weapons, spells and tricks that would make the game more imaginative for them. They do well enough with the role playing but I think they really don't know the game deeply enough to make it more fun for me to be the Game Master... I think this time I am going to let some of that responsibility fall to them and see how it goes. We will see how it turns out and if it becomes more fun for me as the DM to test their ability to survive. If not, I guess I will just have to kill them.

Later...

It doesn't matter who won WWII, all it matters is that the good guys did.

2009-06-05T09:17:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy France during WWII. As you might have read, the Queen of England was not invited to a anniversary event in France and that opened up a whole can of worms about the very biased question as to what country won the war. I have my opinions as to who won the war and for the most part, I feel it was the combined efforts of the US, British, and French forces during Campaign Overlord, or the D-Day invasion and ensuing months. But to be fair it would be really hard to ignore the efforts of the Russians, but that was more of a grudge match that would have happened regardless of what else was planned. If it had not been for the need of the German OKW to divert more forces from the East to the West, because of the D-Day invastion, it might have been likely that Russia would not have prevailed as they did.

Any way, I am linking a small blog comment that has some humour related to the recent gaff by the Frenchies. It is here

And finally, my thanks to all those people that were involved in the monumental effort on June 6th, 1944.

Later!

Gimme back my bullets!

2009-05-29T09:16:00.002-05:00

Maybe here is an explanation as to why I cannot afford to even plink around with my low caliber firearms!

AMMO SHORTAGE

But at least there is the hope that the tight squeeze will be loosening soon.

Later!

Ken Brannagh doing....Thor?!?!

2009-05-28T08:36:00.002-05:00

Ken Brannagh, one of my favorite actor/directors and someone that people say I have a passing resemblance to is at the helm of a movie about THOR, the comic book hero. Huh? Brannagh branching out into the geek world? Whatever... I suppose it will be a good action flick, but I wonder what he is planning. It seems so unlike him to try his hand at this sort of film. I guess we will just have to wait and see. If you want more info, go to this article on the new THOR movie. In the article it alludes to Brannaghs experience with Shakespearean battle movies... who knows!? I think it is cool.

Later!

Gun owners are getting prettier...

2009-05-22T09:17:00.002-05:00

It's quickly becoming a gun toting nation and that's alright with me...

BANG!

This reminds me that I need to look into buying another handgun.

Later!

reSTARTreked

2009-05-21T11:27:00.004-05:00

I think enough time has passed that I can comfortably talk about the new Star Trek film, helmed by JJ Abrams of "Lost" fame. I am a Star Trek fan from years ago. The Original Series! (TOS) I have seen every episode dozens of times, have read all the related books, watched all the subsequent spin off series.. TNG, DS9, VOY, and Enterprise. Of all of those I was still a TOS fan. The Enterprise series was good too. I enjoyed the idea of what happened before the famed crew of the Original Enterprise took her out into the final frontier for her first five year mission.

But when the new Star Trek became a blip on my sensors, I was excited, happy, and very apprehensive. It was going to be a younger Kirk, Spock, McCoy and all of the Enterprise crew. And it was going to be a story of how they all came together on the Enterprise... but wait. I already knew how they came together. It had all be laid out for us in countless episodic background stories and together it became Star Trek canon law. How in the world would Abrams be able to retell all that again without screwing it up and giving new audiences something they can grab onto, especially if they are younger, like my kids and only have a smattering of exposure to the Original Trek history.

Well, he did it. And he, or his writers, did it well. By starting off with James T. Kirk's father and changing history from there, he was able to completely make a whole new history with changing the history I am many others have come to know and love. I will not tell you how he did it or the story line or anything like that, except that instead of fixing the timeline like has been done in so many other Star Trek episodes, Abrams let the "broken" time line become the norm and no attempt to fix it was made. The new time line would now be the norm and it is this that makes me so excited! There is now the opportunity for a whole "new" history and new adventures for Star Trek using the characters that made it the cult classic it is! Kirk, Spock, McCoy and all the belvoed characters have a new lease on life. It is great! I am excited again about Star Trek! There are even Star Trek action figures back on the toy shelves!

If you have not seen the new movie, you should. Some of you out there probably won't just because it is Star Trek, or you don't want to have to think about new characters and time lines, but that is your failing. Give it a chance. I will say, the new Trek is better appreciated if you know the history, but even if you haven't been a fan or even seen much of it, you will like this movie.

The only nit-pick think I have about the show is; 1.) Kirk was supposed to be born in Riverside, Iowa, not in space. 2.) Vulcan ships don't have weapons.

Other than that, I can live with it and embrace it fully!

Live Long and Prosper!

Album covers... I have had enough...

2009-05-07T10:35:00.002-05:00

Without getting into too much detail, I am organizing a huge LP record sale as a fundraiser for my office. Since March 16th, I have been up to my eyeballs in musty, dusty records, tapes, and CD's. I have seen way more than my share of album covers for one person. And believe me, some of them are just downright awful. Thankfully, someone has gone to the trouble of compiling a bunch of them in one wonderful website.

That website is Worst Album Covers, and I present it to you for you viewing pleasure.

What is really bad is that I have seen most of what you will see on this site.

Enjoy!

Quotes... Big Bang Theory Style!

2009-05-01T09:33:00.003-05:00

If you are such a sorry excuse for a human that you have not yet managed to see at least one episode of the TV sitcom the "The Big Bang Theory", then shame on you.

It truly is one of the best shows on TV and it is treat for the geek crowd. So much is written for the geeks and nerds of the world, and if you are into sci-fi pop culture, then you will laugh yourself silly.

I present to you just a smattering of the quotes and lines from this very well written and witty show. You can find them just about anywhere on the web, but here are some to get you thinking about watching this show. Read them all.. there are so many more.... Enjoy!

Leonard: Why are you learning Chinese?
Sheldon: I believe the Szechuan Palace has been passing off orange chicken as tangerine chicken, and I intend to confront them.
Leonard: If I were you, I'd be more concerned about what they're passing off as chicken

Penny: Why can't all guys be like you?
Leonard: Because if all guys were like me the human race couldn't survive.

Penny: I need some guinea pigs.
Sheldon: Okay, there's a lab animal supply company in Reseda you can try. But if your research is going to have human applications, may I suggest white mice? Their brain chemistry is far closer to ours.
Penny: I swear to God, Sheldon, one day I'm going to get the hang of talking to you.
Leonard: His mom's been saying that for years.

Sheldon: Ah, gravity - thou art a heartless bitch.

Penny: Yes, I know men can't fly.
Sheldon: No, no let's assume that they can. Lois Lane is falling, accelerating at an initial rate of 32ft per second, per second. Superman swoops down to save her by reaching out two arms of steel. Ms. Lane, who is now traveling at approximately 120 miles per hour, hits them, and is immediately sliced into three equal pieces.

Sheldon: I'm sorry but I'm not going to watch the Clone Wars TV Series until I've seen the Clone Wars movie. I prefer to let George Lucas disappoint me in the order he intended.

Sheldon: All I need is a healthy ovum and I can grow my own Leonard Nimoy!

Sheldon: How often does one see a beloved fictional character come to life?
Wolowitz: Every year at ComiCon. Every day at Disneyland. You can hire Snow White to come to your house. Of course they prefer if you have a kid.

*Discussing Paintball Strategy*
Raj: We need a plan. How about Operation Hammer of the Gods?
Leonard: I forget, which one is Hammer of the Gods?
Raj: We hide behind the Dumpsters in the parking lot and ambush people when they come to pee.

Leonard: How can 5 not be worse than 1?
Rajesh: Yeah, Star Trek 5 worse than 1.
Sheldon: Ok, first of all that is a comparison of quality not intensity. Secondly, Star Trek 1 is orders of magnatude worse than Star Trek 5.
Rajesh: Are you joking? Star Trek 5 is the standard against which all badness is measured!

(Arguing ov
er the name for their team after having jointly decided to take part in the University Physics Bowl:)
Sheldon: Teams are traditionally named after fierce creatures thus intimidating one's opponent.
Raj: Then we could be the Bengal tigers.
Sheldon: Poor choice. You know, gram for gram no animal exceeds the relative fighting strength of the army ant.
Raj: Maybe so, but you can't incinerate a Bengal tiger with a magnifying glass.

Raj: Hold on a second. Kreplach??
Howard: Yeah.
Raj: That isn't Klingon. It's yiddish for meat-filled dumpling!
Howard: Well, as it turns out it's also a Klingon word.
Leonard: Really? Define it.
Howard: Kreplach a hearty Klingon.....dumpling.

Wolowitz: Sheldon, I'd kill my Rabbi with a pork chop to be with your sister.

Penny: (Barges into apartment) Hey, guys! My friends and I got tired of dancing so we came over to have sex with you.
(The guys continue to play Halo).
Penny: Told ya.
(Penny and her friends leave).
Sheldon: Why did you hit pause?
Leonard: I thought I heard something.
Rajesh: What?
Leonard: No, never mind.

Cool dog sayings...

2009-04-21T08:32:00.002-05:00

"The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too." Samuel Bulter

"The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for 50 years and then died, what would become of me?" Sir Walter Scott.

Thoughts to brighten you day on a gloomy, cold, rainy Illinios Tuesday.

Later!

I WILL be back...

2009-04-20T15:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not blogging for a while. I have been extremely busy as of late and no time for anything else. I will be back. With thoughts motorcycles and things like that. I know you can't wait...

Re-enacting in the future.

2009-04-07T09:02:00.003-05:00

As many of you know, I and my friends and family are involved in historical re-enacting. We find it educational, challenging and fun. And for the most part, we focus on the daily aspects of life in the time periods we set our re-enacted personas in. Today, while driving to work, I noticed a skateboarder zipping down the block and thought to myself, "Two-hundred years from now, will anybody re-enact the late 20th and early 21st century?" If if they do, will they get it right? Do you think there will be skateboarding re-enactors? Will they have replica cell phones that they will spend their time on? What about laptops? Just what would future re-enactors do if they decided to revisit our time period? Will they focus mainly on the military events of the time, like most re-enactment groups do, or will there be some focus on the civilian population like some groups are doing now? Many re-enactment groups are forming civilian representations rather than focusing on just the military. Who knows. It was just something I was thinking about. Is there anything worth re-enacting in the late 20th and early 21st century?

Later!

Well, I can't use that excuse anymore....

2009-03-30T11:40:00.002-05:00

According to THIS article, I cannot tell my kids to stop playing video games because it will hurt their eyes. I guess instead I should start playing them more! If I could only get my kids to let me get on the XBOX, I could cancel me eye doctor appointments. I hate going to the eye doctor. They stick things on your eyes!

Ode to my dad...

2009-03-25T11:17:00.003-05:00

Prior to my father passing away more than two weeks ago, I had it in mind to write something about him and his life and what he meant to me and my family. I never got around to it, and when we knew his time in this realm was limited, I really tried to put something down. But try as I might, I could not come up with anything. Not that he didn't have a huge impact on all of us, but probably because I had already said it to many people as they asked me about him. I had told them simply, "My Dad is(was) my Hero." I told this to one collegue of mine and she sent me this poem about three days later.

SUCCESS
by Martin Buxbaum

You can use most any measure
When you're speaking of success.
You can measure it in fancy home,
Expensive car or dress.
But the measure of your real success
Is the one you cannot spend.
It's the way your kids describe you
When they're talking to a friend.

Friends, I tell you again. "My Dad was my Hero."

That life story did get written, but in two different ways. Two people, one a blood relative and the other just as close as one, told my dad's story in wonderful ways. One was in a endearing, touching, and funny video montage of family photos, and the other was in a letter written to him about how much he meant to all of us. So I am happy that the story of my dad got told in the way it did. It was far better than anything I could have ever done on my own.

Later!

And so it begins?

2009-03-23T11:34:00.002-05:00

Check this out!

Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Obamaism. It is just the same old socialist attempt to control us and our lives. What you do, what you think, what you own.

Bet I am on a list like this now...

More Music to get fired up with...

2009-03-20T08:44:00.004-05:00

I was browsing the site, Playlist.com and found a whole bunch of tracks from the Battlestar Galactica TV series soundtrack. If you have never watched this show, too bad for you. If you have, then you know what I am saying when I say is has to be the best Sci-Fi drama/action series ever produced.

I was going to post links to a number of the tracks that I think are the best but apparently that is not going to work from the blog site, so I suggest you go to my playlist and give it a listen. My faves are the Main Title, Prelude to War, Storming New Caprica, Dirty Hands, The Dance and Wander my Friends. And finally, you have to listen to the remake of Bob Dylan's Along the Watchtower, which fits so well into the series.

You know you are a Trekkie if....

2009-03-16T11:17:00.002-05:00

You own Star Trek Cologne...

There are two other Trek related colognes that will send your personal ensign in to warp drive! Buy them all and be the envy of all the other trekkies at the convention. The Orion Slave girls will fall all over you!

Thoughts on leashed dogs.

2009-02-26T11:42:00.004-06:00

I have been reading the book, "Merle's Door" by Ted Kerasote and am at the chapter called Looser Leash. In it, he details the need for looser leash laws or at least areas where leash free dogs can roam and play. The San Fransico SPCA advocates loose leash laws in its area, stating that:
"Off leash areas are essential to the well being of dogs. Regular off leash play makes for healthy, well adjusted dogs. It burns off pent up energy, builds confidence, improves a dog's social skills, and helps prevent aggressive behavior. Conversely, limiting dog play results in under-socialized, under excersized, under stimulated dogs and often leads to behavior porblem." (could this be talking about people too?) The New York dog advocacy group FIDO states pretty much the same thing. Kerasote even challenges the reader to this thought experiment.
"Put a collar around your neck, attached to a six foot lead. At the other end of the lead is a dog who is at least twice and perhaps four to thirty times your size. Now go to a party, and try to talk with an other human being while your dog pulls at you, barks at you, and, through the leash that connects the two of you, transmits its annoyance, impatience, hurry, and concern, Is it any wonder that there are so many neurotic dogs?

But yet, there were 4.7 million dog bites occuring in the US in 1994 alone. So where is the logic of having more dogs off leash?

Of those bites, 75 percent of the dog bites did not occur between an off leash dog and a pedestrian. As a matter of fact, only 1.1% of the dog bites occured in the outdoors where a off leash dog might be met. Rather, the majority of the bites were in the family home were the bitee knew the biter!! You run a better chance of going to the ER for cutting off your toe with your own lawn mower than you do from getting bit by a dog, leashed or unleashed.

The threat to the public from dogs comes not from supervised free-roaming dogs but from solitary, caged or chained dogs that spend their entire life in what is a red-zone that they call their territory. Cross that red-zone line and you have trouble. Living like this makes a dog depressed and aggressive. What is needed is an area that dogs can be leash free for hours at a time and release this anxiety and spend time with their own. Kerasote claims they need four things. Green space, safety from cars, exercize, and conversation with their own kind. And if you think about it, so do humans. As these criteria decrease in availability, you get stress, depression and psychosis sets in. In humans, we treat it with drugs and what not and wring our hands on how to deal with it. With dogs, we sequester them so that they are virtual prisoners in solitary confinement or we "euthanize" them.

Whether by instinct or accident, I have allowed my dog Gunnar to have a very loose leash from the beginning. I have taken him on as many family vacations as I can, I play with him EVERY day in an open space where he can run, jump and go silly. And while I have worked very hard to teach him to walk on a leash properly, I have let the leash go more and more and now he walks, under my command with out a leash. He is still a dog and has his territory (house and yard), but both in and out of that territory, he is a very well socialized dog with many friends and he has very polite manners. Maybe if more humans got off of their leash, went to a green space that was safe from cars, got a bit of exercize, and conversed with more of their own kind, maybe we would not bite each other so much.

And the next time your local park district is going to make another bare open field into another baseball diamond, step up and suggest a leash free dog park.

TAKE OFF YOUR LEASH!

Later!

The season of Lent.

2009-02-24T15:18:00.003-06:00

I am a Lutheran and by most accounts, have never really observed the tradition of giving up something for Lent. But after a discussion with my Pastor a few years ago, I saw the reasoning, logic and devotion that takes place in the practice of giving up something for Lent. The first year I did it, I gave up soda pop... not things like Brisk ice tea or things like that, but soda pop proper. Fizzy caffinated soft drinks. Made it through without too much trouble and discovered that when I could have it again, I really didn't miss it. The next year, I gave up soft drinks, and potato based meals. Again, no problem and really didn't miss it. This year, I will add one more. Candy. I have a sweet tooth that you cannot imagine! I love candy. It is my premium gas for my high octane engine! Any thing that comes in a wrapper, or in a box will be verboten for the next 40 days. This will be tough. Hopefully I will find another fuel to use keep the metabolism up! The sacrifice and challenge will be good for me. I will keep you up to date.

Later!

Shut the frak up...

2009-02-24T15:00:00.002-06:00

I have not really had much initiative to blog about anything because frankly, everything I can think about blogging about would just be about ranting or whining and I don't like to do either. There are way too many people bitching and moaning about useless stuff on the web, so I won't add to it. Instead I will remain silent until I find something useful to blog about. I will comment on some things that I could bitch about but will instead will find something positive about them.

I have to pay taxes this year again... but at least it is about 600 buck less than last year!

I continue to lose money in the stocks that I invest in... but I still contribute and have hope.

Winter just doesn't seem to want to let go of my neck of the woods... but at least it is not summer.

See.. this is pointless. Unless you have something really horrible to bitch about, quit being so fraking negative and trying smiling once in a while.

I am tired of all the drama that people are making for themselves. I often tell my son, "You make your own Hell." If you don't like your situation, change it and quit bitching about it. Right now I know so many people that are just doing their damnedest to make their own lives miserable. Try dealing with a dying parent, a mass of close friends losing jobs, and other close friends who are having their marriage exploding in their faces. These are things that can't be controlled. These are real problems.

Despite real troubles that are affecting me, I am going to refuse to bitch. I will handle it and look to the future and smile. I refuse to be unhappy. Life is way to short to mope about and complain... no one is listening anyway.

later!