7.4.2007 Epcot Center Fireworks...

Here is a link to Epcot Center Fireworks display that we saw on July 4, 2007. It was AMAZING!!!

This is just a preview...


http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmstringer/sets/72157600693693226/


What is your opinion?

Well, i am home!!!

I have lots to talk about over the next few days. here are a few pics from my cam phone. I could not get it to work over the trip...

What is your opinion?

Picture Pages...

Posted as I watch a Twilight Zone marathon on SciFi, just randoms I've run across today. Enjoy.



via bldgblog




via warren ellis



via boingboing



What is your opinion?

Cloverfield. Here's what we know so far...

Here's a bootleg trailer. It showed up before some Transformers screenings. Click!



Here's the youtube vs - not as easy to follow. You can hear someone say, "It's alive! It's huge!":


Here's the wiki article: Paramount is denying the movie even exists. Click!

It's all shot on consumer cameras from the perspective of the people running from the monster (or whatever it is) on the street. Might be a secret Godzilla movie, not sure.

This is the first thing I've been excited about in a year or more. Good job, other JJ, my interest is peaked (and that's hard to do)!



What is your opinion?

Scooter does a lot less time than Paris did...

What is your opinion?

Art Bell Retires...again (sigh)!

from wiki:

Art Bell announced his retirement from weekend hosting on July 1, 2007. Art stated that the reason for this latest retirement is his desire to spend time with his wife and new daughter born in May, 2007. Art Bell stated he will host occasional shows in the future but will no longer host regularly on weekends. Art also said that unlike his other "retirements", this one will stand.



***

I don't know how many of you have ever listened to Coast to Coast AM. To me, and all of us freaks who find themselves up late at night and want to pass the time listening to stories of bigfoot, Area 51 and shadow people, it's the best. The weekend is when it really shines for me though - I just like listening to Art.

Yeah, I'm depressed.






What is your opinion?

Music Industry RIP - via Rolling Stone .com

The major labels are struggling to reinvent their business models, even as some wonder whether it's too late. "The record business is over," says music attorney Peter Paterno, who represents Metallica and Dr. Dre. "The labels have wonderful assets -- they just can't make any money off them." One senior music-industry source who requested anonymity went further: "Here we have a business that's dying. There won't be any major labels pretty soon."

In 2000, U.S. consumers bought 785.1 million albums; last year, they bought 588.2 million (a figure that includes both CDs and downloaded albums), according to Nielsen SoundScan. In 2000, the ten top-selling albums in the U.S. sold a combined 60 million copies; in 2006, the top ten sold just 25 million.



(source: Rolling Stone)


What is your opinion?

My Blog...

AS of tonight at 23:00hrs EST, i will be on VACATION!!!   My co-contributor Jimmy Freeman will be tacking the leads. I will post some photographs this week from Vacation.  Have a good weekend and a Happy 4th of July!!

--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights

Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights from outer space. I hope to be able some day to go far enough North to see them in real life, not from a picture.

What is your opinion?

Why of course... it's a Zorse??

SOMETHING’S not quite white about this animal. It has two bizarre patches of stripes on its head and flank thanks to a strange parentage.

Dad was a zebra stallion, mum was a horse . . . so their odd-looking offspring is known as a zorse.

The animal, called Eclyse, can be seen at a safari park in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, Germany.
Trust us, it’s not an April Foal.

It is Real!!! Looks Fake, but it is REAL!!

What is your opinion?

The BLOG...

You have heard it correctly!  I have broken the 5000 hit mark on my Blog.

 

Thankx to everyone and lets try to hit 10000 by years end!!!
--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

The BLOG...

I need 13 people to put me past the 5000 hits mark!!!!

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood

over questions of reality and illusion.

I know this: if life is an 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 I am content.

(Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast, Weird Tales, May 1934)

 

WiFi Dangers!!!

This is FUNNY!!!!!

What is your opinion?

RIAA and MediaSentry...

MediaSentry is a company that specializes in the stopping on P2P networks and Copyrighted material being swapped on the internet. They are budded up with the XXAA in their plight to help save Hollywood and the Recording Industry.

Acording to the MediaSentry website:

"SafeNet offers a tightly integrated suite of anti-piracy and digital distribution solutions through its MediaSentry Services™ offering. Leveraging the MediaSentry Services platform, SafeNet helps clients detect and deter unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content and prosecute those who engage in media and software piracy online. SafeNet also offers a full suite of solutions that provide enabling infrastructure to support the successful growth of digital promotion and distribution. All of our services can be deployed as individual components or bundled together for use in an integrated solution"


According to The Wired Magazine article:
They are caught up in the counter suit that was filed by Tanya Andersen, who had been defending herself against a debilitating RIAA lawsuit for about two years before the RIAA dropped its case, has launched a big time offensive against her former accusers, filing suit today against Atlantic Recording Corporation, Priority Records, Capitol Records, UMG Recordings, and BMG Music, the RIAA, MediaSentry, and Settlement Support Center.

Andersen's Complaint (on Internet Law and Regulation ) calls out the labels, their legal prosecution/lobbying arm (the RIAA), and the oft-maligned software it uses to find alleged infringers (MediaSentry). It claims the RIAA's methods are criminal, and that their lawyers are needlessly vicious in pursuing defendants.

From Andersen's Complaint:

"Recently it has been discovered that as a part of this secret enterprise MediaSentry has for years conducted illegal, flawed and negligent investigations of many thousands of private United States citizens. These illegal investigations are then used as the sole basis for pursuit of tens of thousands of lawsuits throughout the US."

Andersen has counter-sued the RIAA before, but this seems to be more about the RIAA's alleged infringer identification tactics being illegal from the get-go. It remains to be seen whether a company posing as a user to monitor data shared by other users on a network is breaking the law, but the RIAA's cookie could be about to crumble. Andersen seems prepared to take her case as far as she can.

I say more power to her!! It is far time that someone stands up to their organization. They have used scare tactics and mob antics for long enough!

Immigration...

For many years we have been lax and complacent on immigration and illegal people crossing our borders. I know what the Statute Of Liberty says:

"Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Most of the people that came to the USA in the early days wanted a better life for themselves and their family. Most came here with little or nothing and that was ok. Now, people come here with nothing and send it all back to where they come from. Illegal Immigration has got to be fixed or worked on. We have hungry and starving people that live here in America and with wave after wave of illegal’s coming here; it places a great strain on a system that is already strained. I am all for people that want to come here and live legally! If you want to be an American Citizen, please feel free to do it the correct way and go through the process. Do not slip over a fence by way of the Rio Grande under cover of night. Come here and help make a difference and help make a better life for your self. It is after all, The American Way!

It is the great melting pot that makes America what it is today. Were are a country that is made up of many different nationalities and we are the better for it. But now, our national unity is being dissolved by many of the groups that want to be a nation within a nation. With many cultures stating that they are _______Americans, not simple AMERICANS or AMERICAN. You can fill in the blank as to what ethnicity you are. When we all try to be separate but equal, that only weakens the whole lot of us. We saw that back in the 1950s and 1960s with the racial violence. That got us no where. With so many people wanting their “separate but equal” country, how can the whole of America remain cohesive? We have to be unified or we will surely fall as Great Rome did.

Ethnic diversity is what made the country great! In my opinion, that is also what can tear it apart. I fear that no nation can stand with its parts not being cohesive. For if we all do not pull together and become one voice again, Civil War can occur.

I put stories on my blog for people to read. I hope that it helps people understand the issues from different points of view. If it comes from some else, I state who it is from.I welcome different opinions and views on this bog and have from the start. That is one thing that makes America so great, The Freedom Of Speech. We have laws that govern this ability as a right for my voice to be heard.



What is your opinion?

Tomatoes & Cheap Labor

Thanks to LCDC Mike Sieverson for sending me this.

 

CHEAP TOMATOES?  This should make everyone think, be
you Democrat, Republican or Independent  The following
is from a Southern California, LA area school
teacher...

"As you listen to the news about the student protests
over illegal immigration, there are some things that
you should be  aware of:  I am in charge of the
English - as - a - second - language department at a
large southern California high school which is
designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students
average lower socioleconomic and income levels.

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate
High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc., where these
students  are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.
Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free
lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not
talking a glass of  milk and roll -- but a full
breakfast AND cereal bar with fruits and juices that
would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this  food
is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped
in the trash uneaten. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)    I
estimate that well over 50% of these student s are
obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or
more DO have  cell phones. The school also provides
day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls
(some as young as 13) so they can attend  class
without the inconvenience of having to arrange for
babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR
TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or
risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though
there was  little need for anything; my budget was
already substantial.. I ended up buying new computers
for the computer learning center,  half of which, one
month later, have been carved with graffiti by the
appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and
grateful  to have a free education in America. (OUR
TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)  I have had to intervene several
times for young and substitute teachers whose classes
consist of many illegal immigrant  students here in
the country less then 3 months who caused so many
problems with the female teachers, calling them
"Putas" whores and  throwing things that the teachers
were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, day care
etc., etc, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to
not only be in  this country but to demand rights,
privileges and entitlements?    To those who want to
point out how much these illegal immigrants
'contribute' to our society because they LIKE their
gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for
tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal
immigration and see  the TRUE costs.    Higher
insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical
costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our
schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc, etc, etc.
For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.

We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a
disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it.
Does anyone in their right mind really think they
will voluntarily leave and return?    There are many
hardworking Hispanic/American citizens that contribute
to our country and many that I consider my true
friends. We should encourage and accept those
Hispanics who have done it the right and legal way.
It does, however, have everything to do with culture:
A third-world culture that does not value education,
that accepts  children getting pregnant and dropping
out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate,
and an American culture that has become  so weak and
worried about "politically correctness" that we don't
have the will to do anything about it."
 

Skull Candy - Ear Buds

So far, i am blown away by them!! They totally go into my ear and are very comfortable. I purchased them at Best Buy.

When all you want to hear is your music, Skullcandy’s exclusive noise eliminating sleeve makes it happen. Smokin’ Buds deliver the frequency range and fast response found in full-size headphones in a direct-to-ear package all the while isolating you from external haze:
9mm driver
Ear fitting noise reduction sleeve
Direct-to-ear high fidelity acoustic
In-line volume control
Travel case


I am very impressed with them so far. i got them for the vaca i am going on.





I also have a pair fo these:
I like them, they are just to big for my ear cannal.

Philips - Ear-Bud Headphones with Virtual Surround Sound
HE592 Reflected-speaker design;
flexi-grip connection;
15mm neodymium speakers;
asymmetric cabling system






























What is your opinion?

Mack: Chariots Afire

 

 

 

Thanks to Mack Hall for giving me this.

Chariots Afire

 

An unknown functionary at the Vatican has published a fifty-page book on how to drive in a Christian fashion.  I do hope this will enjoy wide circulation in the streets around the Vatican, where, I am told by an accurate observer, motorists customarily speed down the crowded streets with one hand on the horn and the other displaying a single-digit sign of, oh, Christian greeting.

 

Vatican documents are never brief; indeed, no ecclesiastical scrivener employs five or ten words when six hundred and sixty-six will do (oh, I'll bet that sends 'em to the latest bishop's letter, calculator in hand...).  However, this document is summed up as (I wish I were making this up) "The Drivers' Ten Commandments."  Having taken two terms of Latin, I humbly submit a translation following each item:

 

1. You shall not kill. Translation:  Put down the cell phone, the coffee, the baby, the plate of ribs, the beer, and the makeup, and put both hands on the wheel.

 

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.  Translation:  Hey!  I said put down the cell phone, the coffee, the baby, the hamburger, the sody, and the makeup, and put both hands on the wheel.

 

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.  Translation: Hey, are you deaf or something?  Put down the cell phone, the coffee, the baby, the basket of fried chicken, the cigarette, and the makeup, and put both hands on the wheel.

 

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.  Translation: Except in Austin, where thou shalt be beaten to death by a mob for doing so.

 

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.  Translation:  Oh, yeah, an old man in an almost-paid-for Ford Escape is definitely an alpha-male-hot-time-on-wheels.

 

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.  Translation: The young? Man, when you see how their parents drive you marvel that teens drive as well as they do!

 

7. Support the families of accident victims.  Translation:  Oh, gosh, we dumb people would never have thought of that!  Thank you, anonymous Vatican functionary, for enlightening us! 

 

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.  Translation:  They tried that in Austin.
 
9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.  Translation:  When you're around a chip-truck driver, that's you. 

 

10. Feel responsible toward others.  Translation: Don't actually do anything responsible, just feel that way.

 

I wonder what sort of document on driving Osama Bin Laden's staff would turn out.

 

-30-

 

 

 

---

Finally, jetpacks!!!

I'm a big fan of retro-futurism, ie the future we were promised but never got (jetsons, flying cars, jetpacks, hotels on mars, robot butlers, etc).
A lifelong dream of mine gets that much closer to reality!

Read on:

To some extent, everyone's in the market for a jet pack. But since Bell Labs built the first rocket belt (the correct, if less exciting, name) in 1953, potential buyers have been stymied by two problems: Rocket belts aren't for sale, and even prototypes run on modern-day fuel (as opposed to whatever the Jetsons use) — which means rocket belts can weigh upwards of 100 pounds, with only enough fuel to stay aloft for under a minute. Now, a pair of companies have solved one of these problems — rocket belts are for sale.

Mexican start-up Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana (TAM) offers its custom-built TAM Rocket Belt for $250,000, which includes flight and maintenance training. On a full tank of hydrogen peroxide the belt weighs 124 to 139 pounds (the bigger the pilot, the bigger the belt), and provides 30 seconds of flight. TAM's sole competitor is Jetpack Inter­national, a Colorado-based company that sells what it calls "the world's longest-flying jet pack." Technically speaking, it's true — the hydrogen-peroxide-burning Jet Pack H202 can stay in the air for 33 seconds, 3 seconds longer than TAM's model. The H202 weighs 139 pounds, and is competitively priced at $155,000, flight classes and all.

Jetpack International founder Troy Widgery is the first to point out the drawbacks of current short-flight rocket belts. "If something goes wrong, you can get killed," Widgery says. "Thirty-three seconds of fuel makes an inexperienced pilot twitchy." The solution? Ditch the rocket belt, and build a bona fide jet pack (okay, jet belt). Widgery plans to release the T73 Turbine by the end of the year; it's a $200,000 model that will burn jet fuel, allowing it to stay airborne for 19 minutes. Not to be outdone, TAM is working on a propane-burning jet belt, though it hasn't said when it will be available. While swapping inert hydrogen peroxide for propane or Jet-A fuel has obvious drawbacks, jet belts would be, for many, a childhood dream come true. "With 19 minutes you can take things slower," Widgery says. "You aren't spending the whole flight thinking about where to land." We'll take his word for it.



Also, this is a GREAT BLOG to check out:

Paleo-Future. Click it!

What is your opinion?

Hello Bob's Readers!

As stated by Bob himself, I am JJ. Bob and I went to high school together and have been friends for years now. We used to terrorize spanish class (where I think Bob's name was Ramone?) & Band & we were in typing together I think.

I will not bore you with a bio of me.

I will update for you here, live and direct, as the mood strikes me.




What is your opinion?

The Blog...

I will be on Vaca starting on the 29th of June and returning on July5th. I have invited a very good friend of mine to guest host my blog and do several posts for me while i am gone. His name is Jimmy Freeman and you will get to know him during that week. I have also set up mobile blogging with the use of my cell phone. So i will post a few pics hear and there during the week as well. Have a good evening and i will get a few posts out this week before i leave...

Thankx.


What is your opinion?

Test

Some Interesting Pics...

You know that i like to post some interesting pics that i find on the net every now and again. Here are some more for your viewing pleasure...

What is your opinion?

Real Tallent...

That must hurt her hands...
Very useful skill...



These people have what it takes to make it to the top of my Dumbass of the week posting...


What is your opinion?

A Modern Parable...

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company( Ford )decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decidedto investigatethe reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had eight people steering and one person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing. Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to four steering supervisors, three area steering superintendents and one assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the one person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower.

There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India .

Sadly, The End. Sad, but oh so true!

Here's something else to thinkabout: Ford hasspent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages. Toyota has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US .

The last quarter's results: Toyota makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses. Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

IF THIS WASN'T SO SAD IT MIGHT BE FUNNY !!!!

Thanks to LCDC Mike Sieverson for this little story.

What is your opinion?

Today’s Corporate World…

It appears that in today’s corporate world that there is not more stability in friends, and family, or community. In today’s market where the little fish get eaten up by the big fish and then everything has to be restructured, one looses the idea of community. With corporate acquisitions that occur yearly, one cannot even begin to think that a city or town can be called home. The big companies want to give their employees the perception that where they live for practical purposes is “home" even if it is a fleeting notion at best.

When a company moves from one town to another there are all types of repercussions that happen. When I lived in Indiana, the company I worked for relocated me from Texas to Merryville. They came to where I was living and packed all of my belongings and placed them on a big truck and shipped them to my new address. I got there about a week before my stuff got there. I was given some money to help with getting things set up, lights, water, cable, phone, and electricity and had some left over to make a savings account.

I was up there for about three months and then the economy went south (Took a down turn) several of the steel mills closed their doors and the whole area was in jeopardy as well as my new job. I was the last one hired because they could not make up their minds about me. I would have been better off if they had not made a job offer in the first place and I would have been ok with that.

Anyway, I made friends up there and tried to make a life there as well. In three short months, my life was gone. I got released from all obligations from the company and was on my own. So with what money I had left, I had to pack up a few belongings and race back to Texas ahead of The Blizzard of 2000 in the Mid West. When I got home, thanks to my Grandmother, we flew back to Indiana after the snow storm and I sold a few items and moved the bare essentials back home with me. I was a little wiser for having been through that ordeal. It only prepared me for what was to come later in my life…


What is your opinion?

Vacation....

Next week…

We leave for vacation to Florida. I am eagerly awaiting this as I have never been to MGM Studios. I want to go and see this at night. Illuminations: Reflections of Earth as it looks wonderful and this. The Wishes™ Nighttime Spectacular. I have always loved fireworks! Pleasure Island sounds like fun for us adults!!

All in all, it looks like we are going to have a very fun and good time!! I have been to Disney in Florida before with my High School Band (jasper) and also with my family 2 other times. This will be my first time with my family. What comes around goes around as the saying goes.

Spaceship Earth Pavilion is one of my favorite rides at Epcot in Disney. I remember it well as a child. Step into the world-renowned geosphere to witness milestones in communications vital to man's survival. Ride Spaceship Earth to the further reaches of the solar system, and then visits a post-show to see your photo on the digital branches of the Network Tree.



What is your opinion?

Pocahontas State Park Trails.

Here is the new GPS of Lake View 1&2 that i promised you today.
We rode on these trails on Sunday morning and we did 9 miles
with 970 feet of elevation chages.



This is the old data. It is off the Qalla Road entrance.
It shows the Red, Blue, and 2xRed trails.






This is a FlickR link to us to see all the pics and stuff.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmstringer/sets/72157600393338093/




What is your opinion?

Bush Gardens Rides for Big Kids...

Griffon carries riders up 205 feet, then hurtles them 90 degrees straight down at 70 mph.It is a good ride, not up to the Hype like they say.

Experience the world's tallest, most twisted inverted roller coaster. Alpengeist reaches a height of 195 feet and a speed of 67 mph. Alpine "skiers" are launched on the most chilling ride of their lives as this snowbeast twists an innocent ski lift into six staggering inversions and a 170-foot drop. I do not think that it isw still the tallest. It was a very good ride!!

at speeds approaching 50 mph. The "Wolf" rambles through natural terrain and dense forest, suddenly dropping a sheer 99 feet to nearly skim the Rhine River below. It reminded me of XLR8 at Astro World in Houston texas. Not really that fast, and it looks dated. The big drop was nice.

The pulse-quickening journey plummets passengers a total of 825 feet. Apollo's Chariot boasts nine drops, the first of which plunges passengers down 210 feet of steel track. You will experience periods of weightlessness, or "air time," as you race up and down the camelback humps at 73 mph. Very good ride!! I was surprised. Very compareable to "Super Man" at Six Flags New England in Massachusetts.

Reaching 13 stories into the air with a 114-foot drop, this "creature" offers a spine-tingling, breathtaking ride at speeds up to 60 mph. Very good roller coaster in the classic sense and a good one to start off your day.

Bush Gardens in Williamsburg Virginia.

There are some neat 4-D rides like Corkscrew Hill and Pirates there with motion and animation to make the experience better. My only gripe about the park is that there were not enough food places to eat. In the different regions they had about 1 major restaurant with several treats & sweets places. In most other parks I gone to, they have several places to eat. The lines were very long to get food. That was the only downside that I can see.
What is your opinion?

God's Will...

This has been bothering me a lot lately. People always talk about God's Will. I know from my own life and that of 12-Setep you are supposed to submit to God's Will. How do you know what that is? Me, My Wife and Daughter have been together this coming December 5 years (married) we have been together a total of 7 this summer and have known for over 20 years. We went to the same high school.

Over the last 5 years, we have moved 5 times to different stated for her company. We always hoped that the "next" move would be the one that would bring us happiness. We moved from Houston to Austin, Then to Highlands Ranch Colorado. From there we moved to Gardner Massachusetts; she worked in Boston. From then we moved to Midlothian Virginia. We made up our minds to stay here until our daughter got out of high school. Now, with things so up in the air, we are perplexed.

We try to go to church and to follow God's Will, but it is hard. When we lived in Colorado, we were members of St Andrews United Methodist Church Were really in tune I think and we loved going to the church because of the worship and the church itself. It was very wonderful but like all things, we moved to Massachusetts and it was very hard to get back into church because of the size of the church there. We so longed for St. Andrews that we, I guess, missed out on a very small church that we could have helped bring life back into had we just given it a chance. For you see, St. Andrews set the bar very high.

Well, Midlothian in my mind has some very good churches. Some would I dare say compare to St. Andrew in my mind. They have lots to offer and have a very progressive message in tune with today. It has been hard for my wife as they are not St. Andrews. I hold no fault against her for this as I miss it also, but we have to move on.

When she accepted her promotions, was that the Will of God? We made friends in Colorado and in Massachusetts but we left them. Our lives a little better for knowing them and theirs also for knowing us. My brother whom I talk about a lot is a Man of God, a Preacher in the Methodist Church. Even though he is 10 years younger then me, I rely on his wisdom to help guide me and he is more than ready and willing to be up to the challenge when I ask. I know that I do not pray as often as I should and as for what His Will is and what we should do. It is a hard practice to get into and when you do it, if you stop it is really easy to no continue.

Are all of these trials and tribulations part of God's Will for us? And if so, what is His Will to be for us on the next leg of our journey? How do some of you deal with this subject? Or do you even think about it.


What is your opinion?

A few more pics...

Me and Jeff all banged up!!

Mark on the trail!!

Mark in the creek crossing!

What is your opinion?

Fathers Day...

I just wanted to wish all the fathers around the world, Have a Happy Fathers Day!!



What is your opinion?

Our Ride This Morning...

So this morning we went on a bike ride to Pocahontas Park. It was Jeff, Mark and I. We had to do an early ride as I have to work tonight. We got there around 8.15am and proceeded to go to the trail. We went down some nice trails that lead us to the main trailhead. On the way, I was going fast down one of the hills and I tried to scratch my nose. Boy was that a mistake!!

My wheel turned to the left and I kept on flying down the hill. It was almost like I was sliding into home plate!! My right forearm is all scratched and my left knee is all torn up. I was bleeding and had a trail of blood all the way to my sock. The bad part about all of this is that I was not trying to do an obstacle! It was just a wide open road. I am sore, but my pride was hurt more than anything. We decided to continue with the ride as planed. I was not going to let a wreck keep me from getting my exercise and fun for the day.

Mark and Jeff both now have Clip-Ins and Egg Beaters for their bikes; so needless to say, I was not the only one that had a few accidents today. Mark was the next one and Jeff followed in wrecking. Jeff’s knee was as bad as mine. Mark did not get bumped as bad as we did, but he did take a few spills.



That is a pic of me going in a little creek that runs across the trail that we were riding today. We rode on Lake View 1 and 2. Mark and I did these before and we did about 12 miles but we got lost and had to ride over the dirt roads in the park to get back. We were a bit smarter this morning and found our way to the car.

All in all, it was a very good morning ride with us doing 9 miles and 970 feet of elevation changes. We did the ride in a total of about 2.5 hours.


This pic is me going over what would be considered a normal obstacle in the parks that we ride in. These are present in all of the parks that we ride. Some of them a re bigger than this, but most are about this size. I will post on Tuesday all the GPS data of these new trails that we rode today.



I went home and cleaned up, doctored myself and then got some much needed rest!

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Today...

I took the night off and we are away to Bush Gardens!!!



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Another Recovery Memory...

It was back in 2002 when I first tried to get clean. I remember going to several NA meetings and I thought that I liked them. So after a month or so, I asked a person to be my sponsor. His name was Wes or Officer Wes as he is known.

We decided to meet on the next after at a local cafe to discuss The 12 Steps and how I was going to go threw them with him. He gave me his number and told me that if I needed to talk or call him in a weak moment for me to do so no matter what time it was. That is what a sponsor is supposed to do for your information.

I thought that I was doing well and he and I proceeded to work me through the first 3 steps and we would meet regularly at his house or at the cafe. Then came that dreadful day after I had 3 months of sobriety that I had the dreaded "R" word...Relapse! For you see, that can happen if you do not totally put you whole body into the program of recovery. It happened because I still thought that I could drink and get away with it. I could not. For I thought that even though I new alcohol was not my problem, I could still drink like I was ok. For just placing one altering chemical into my body restarted the mental, physical craving that happened to me when I would ingest and use cocaine. Even though alcohol is legal, it is still a drug, plain and simple.

So if you are out there in Recovery land, do not delude yourself by think that you can drink but no do drugs. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN.

Also so as to not piss anyone off about the anonymity issue, I called him to ask if I could use his name in this blog post. He was most grateful to let me do it...


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