Floater Follow-ups & Singing Sinkers

First up, a follow-up to Snowmaggeden; Part Deux.

Been there, done that! Snow, ice, and speed is a deadly combination! The fortunate learn the hard way and survive, the unfortunate don't.

1. Snowmaggeden
2. Snowmaggeden; Part Deux
3. Follow-up

Adopt a Soldier:

Support or brave men and women fighting abroad who keep us safe!

And finally, if you're a fan of Nascar or the Daytona 500 and missed the big race, it was a fantastic finish.

ciao

A Day Of Rest

I have nothing for today except God bless everyone and I'll be back tomorrow!

ciao

Love/Hate and Bill Gates

Bill Gates, love him or hate him, you have to give the guy credit for what he has accomplished and the investment in the clean energy research fields. Here is a guy who is rich beyond my wildest dreams and is always thinking about ways to do things different. He doesn't believe it can't be done or is impossible, but instead, thinks outside the box about what can be done differently or be improved to achieve his goals. Thinking outside the box means removing the things that make it easier and convenient, rolling up your sleeves, and attacking it from all angles, not just the convenient or easy ones. One of my favorite quotes by Bill is one we all could/should learn from. "We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction." While I am sure this was most likely about profit and sustainability, it most definitely could be applied to everyday life and how we live it. However, my point is, you can love or hate the guy but, you have to respect what he has accomplished and his investment in the future of the world. After all, he could have chose to do nothing with his wisdom and wealth, leaving the world would a poorer place w/o it.
Thank you Bill Gates! Even though your products have caused me great aggravation and substantial hair loss at times, I respect your analytical and philosophical views to improve the world for the next generations. Investing in the future brings rewards unending.

ciao

Support Our Servicemen and Women Everywhere

I got this in my e-mail and had to share. Support our armed service members for all they do so that we can be free and sleep without fear each and every night and day!

Just Stay ...

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.

"Your son is here," she said to the old man.

She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words.. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.


Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.
"Who was that man?" he asked.
The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.

"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here.

When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son,
knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

"I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey.
His Son was Killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him.
What was this Gentleman's Name?"

The Nurse with Tears in Her Eyes Answered, Mr. William Grey........

Snowmaggedon Part Deux

So, what happens when Atlanta, Georgia gets 6 inches of the festive white stuff? Well, let me tell you, it isn't pretty! I was working in an Atlanta suburb back in '88 or '89 when they got a measly 6" of Santa's festive frost. When I walked out of the motel we were staying at I thought nothing of 6" of snow, why would I, back in Northern Minnesota it would be a mere dusting barely worth shoveling. Time to head out and get to work. I was driving my old '65 Dodge Polara with bias ply tires at the time and the job site was about 2.5 miles down the snow dusted freeway. As I turned out of the motel lot I got my first clue that this wasn't going to be an ordinary drive to the job site. The first car I observed went whistling by me at 40 mph and skidded right on through the stop light barely missing a cross bound truck. Wow! What the Hell was that? These people are crazy, I thought to myself. I was totally unprepared for what I encountered next! As I merged on to the freeway at 45 mph I felt the ass end of my car wanting to have a little fun with me but I was in no mood for fishtails this fine frosty morning. I got up to 50 mph and then backed it down to 45 because my ride was getting quite squirrely at anything above that. That's when the entertainment began. I had to be in one of the middle lanes because of an exit that was also a driving lane and cars were speeding by me at 70+ mph on the snow covered freeway. Everywhere I looked there were cars and trucks in the median and ditches. The cars that were passing me like a wedge were wrecking out faster than I could count. I couldn't believe my eyes! These people had no clue that stuff was slippery, never mind dangerous at high speeds! I continued on my merry way at 45 mph while trying not to get caught up in the wreck-um rodeo that was going on around me and made it to the job site in one piece. There literally had to be a 100 cars or more in the ditch and median in just the short 2.5 miles it took to get there. When I arrived and told my boss who lived in Atlanta at the time but was originally from Michigan, he laughed at me and told me most of the people here had never seen snow, much less driven in it. I just shook my head and went to work! I guess 6" of snow is "Snowmaggedon to people that have never seen it. By lunch that day there wasn't any trace of the snow and it was a cool 60 degrees in the sun. Go figure!
The end.

ciao

A Poem for Thursday

Today I have no insightful words of wisdom, just a poem I stumbled across this morning in the course of cruising the information highway. You just never know where it is going to take you! :-)

The Victor
Poet: C.W. Longenecker

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t
If you like to win but think you can’t,
It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win the prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

Props to this author for a great poem!

ciao

Whoa, Can I see that again?

Instant Replay. I almost didn't read this article because it appeared to be about the Superbowl and I am tired of hearing about it already. As it turned out though, it is a very interesting article about the birth of instant replay and every day life. And, how true it is. Never before has a person had so many devices available to capture "the moment" as they do today. Almost all cell phones come standard with high res cameras and the ability to instantly post them to any number of social networking sites. Hold on, Click, you have got to see what I just saw! And, with a couple clicks of the buttons, what you saw, is available for all your connected friends to see. I often wondered what would seem ancient to me when I got to be "old" like my grandparents. As I read the article and began writing this post it hit me, privacy, that is what is going to be the thing that is obsolete when I am in my golden years reminiscing about the good old days. We now live in a digitally instant era where instant replay is a fact of life. The average person is recorded many times just in the course of a normal trip to the bank and grocery store. The freeways are loaded with cameras and advances in facial recognition technology have made identification from these cameras instantly possible. Banks, hospitals, all major stores, ATM's, airports, bus terminals, convenience stores, etc, etc, etc. They all have cameras and technology that records your activities there for at least 30 days or more until it is recorded over. Allen Fundt coined the phrase and it has never been truer than the present, "Smile, you're on candid camera!" For my part, I prefer the phrase; "Everywhere I go, there I am" because in this day and age there's no denying it, instant replay can prove there I am!