Budwiser 9/11 tribute

I'm gonna go wipe my tears now, please excuse me

Made in America - Toby Keith

Life is a Movie

Life is a Movie Quiz

Ok, imagine your life is a movie - what songs would be in it? To find out, here’s how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Media Player, iPod, etc)

2. Put it on shuffle

3. Press play

4. For every question, type the song that’s playing

5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…
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Trailer: The Fields of Atherny - The Irish Rovers

Opening Credits: Weigh hey and up she rises - The Irish Rovers

Waking Up: Reflections - Diana Ross and the Supremes 

First Day of School: Star of the country down - The Irish Rovers (?)

First Love: Every other Weekend - Reba and Kenny Chesney (Sort of, thank god there was no kids…)

First Heartbreak: You’re nobody till somebody loves you - The Rat pack

Fight Song: Why don’t we just Dance - Josh Turner (WTF?)

Prom: If I die young - The band Perry (again WTF?)

Life: If I could be like Xena - Marilyn Rucker (oka….y)

Mental Breakdown:  Over the Ocean - The Irish Rovers

Driving: My kind of Town - Frank Sinatra 

Flashback: My Girl - The Temptations 

Getting Back Together: The battle of new orleans - Johnny Horton (What?… I’m confused….)

Losing Your Virginity: Jesus take the wheel - Carrie Underwood (*whimper*….)

Wedding: Mary was the Marrying Kind - Kip Moore 

Birth of Child: The Unicorn - Irish Rovers 

Final Battle: Spanish Eyes - Al Martino 

Death Scene: The beat goes on - Sonny and Cher 

Funeral: Me and God - Josh Turner

Bloopers: Knock on Wood - The Pointer Sisters

America's Got Talent - America Tribute

I've been watching this years America's got Talent and was amazed by this performance by the Silhouettes. Amazing stuff. I will be watching you in the semi-finals. Can't wait

It's getting Closer, and I know my fiance can't wait

I just had to share this - Six boys 13 Hands

I was on Facebook just a bit ago and read this note a friend posted. After reading it, I just had to share.

SIX BOYS AND 13 HANDS

Each year I am hired to go to Washington , DC , with the eighth grade class from Clinton , WI . where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our nation's capitol, and each year I take some special memories back with me. This fall's trip was especially memorable.

On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the most famous photographs in history -- that of the six brave soldiers raising the American Flag at the top of a rocky hill on the island of Iwo Jima , Japan , during WW II.

Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue, and as I got closer he asked, 'Where are you guys from?'

I told him that we were from Wisconsin . 'Hey, I'm a cheese head, too! Come gather around, Cheese heads, and I will tell you a story.'

(It was James Bradley who just happened to be in Washington , DC , to speak at the memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good night to his dad, who had passed away. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington , DC , but it is quite another to get the kind of insight we received that night.)

When all had gathered around, he reverently began to speak. (Here are his words that night.)

'My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin . My dad is on that statue, and I just wrote a book called 'Flags of Our Fathers' which is #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six boys you see behind me.

'Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team.. They were off to play another type of game. A game called 'War.' But it didn't turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of 21, died with his intestines in his hands. I don't say that to gross you out, I say that because there are people who stand in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were 17, 18, and 19 years old - and it was so hard that the ones who did make it home never even would talk to their families about it.

(He pointed to the statue) 'You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon fromNew Hampshire. If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo was taken and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph...a photograph of his girlfriend Rene put that in there for protection because he was scared. He was 18 years old. It was just boys who won the battle of Iwo Jima . Boys. Not old men.

'The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank.. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the 'old man' because he was so old. He was already 24. When Mike would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn't say, 'Let's go kill some Japanese' or 'Let's die for our country' He knew he was talking to little boys.. Instead he would say, 'You do what I say, and I'll get you home to your mothers.'

'The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona . Ira Hayes was one of them who lived to walk off Iwo Jima . He went into the White House with my dad. President Truman told him, 'You're a hero' He told reporters, 'How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only 27 of us walked off alive?'

So you take your class at school, 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only 27 of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes. He had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes carried the pain home with him and eventually died dead drunk, face down, drowned in a very shallow puddle, at the age of 32 (ten years after this picture was taken).

'The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop, Kentucky . A fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told me, 'Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn't get down. Then we fed them Epsom salts. Those cows crapped all night.' Yes, he was a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of 19. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother's farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into the morning. Those neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.

'The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John Bradley, from Antigo, Wisconsin , where I was raised. My dad lived until 1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Cronkite's producers or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say 'No, I'm sorry, sir, my dad's not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don't know when he is coming back..' My dad never fished or even went to Canada .. Usually, he was sitting there right at the table eating his Campbell 's soup. But we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn't want to talk to the press.

'You see, like Ira Hayes, my dad didn't see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys are heroes, 'cause they are in a photo and on a monument. My dad knew better. He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a combat caregiver. On Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died on Iwo Jima , they writhed and screamed, without any medication or help with the pain.

'When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said, 'I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did not come back. Did NOT come back.'

'So that's the story about six nice young boys.. Three died on Iwo Jima , and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7,000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out, so I will end here. Thank you for your time.'

Suddenly, the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe not a hero for the reasons most people would believe, but a hero nonetheless.

We need to remember that God created this vast and glorious world for us to live in, freely, but also at great sacrifice

Let us never forget from the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terrorism and all the wars in-between that sacrifice was made for our freedom...please pray for our troops.

Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also ...please pray for our troops still in murderous places around the world.

STOP and thank God for being alive and being free due to someone else's sacrifice.

God Bless You and God Bless America .

REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day.

One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in DC that is not mentioned here is . . that if you look at the statue very closely and count the number of 'hands' raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th hand was the hand of God.

Great story - worth your time - worth every American's time. Please pass it on.

God bless America, our troops serving overseas, our troops here at home, Veterans and those who died for our freedom. Thank you all for securing our right to be free and remain free 

Major frowny face

For almost a year now, I've been running a Dungeons and Dragons 4e game on Saturdays for my friends and fellow gamers. It takes place in my own world. well for a while now, I've been feeling a bit off on the game, and it feels like DM burnout. Also I don't get a feeling like my players are enjoying the game. I mean something that's been going on for this long and if the players enjoyed it, then one wouldn't forget the game over some other thing like WOW. It's not the first time said player has pulled stunts like this. I'm getting to the point that I don't know if my game's worth continuing.

I didn't want this to be my hundredth post, but there it is, I'm frustrated with my players and I don't know how to deal with it

Musings

While checking my email the other day, I came across a notification from a fan fiction website I used to post at. Someone had liked me as a favorite author and had like my story as a favorite story. Usually I skip them, but for some reason I clicked to see which of my stories ended up on this person's favorite list. 

It turned out to be my story "Pine, Roses and Lavender." I thought cool, this is awesome that my story, even after three years of touching it, people still enjoy reading it. Still curious, I followed the link to the reviews. I wondered if anyone still reviewed it, and I was pleasantly surprised that people did, AND wanted the next chapter. 

Inspired, I turned on my old laptop to see if I had Chapter 20 done or partially done. No such luck. I re-read the last couple of chapters to remember where exactly I left off and to strike inspiration.  And I realized that I have forgotten where I wanted to go with the story. *hangs head* Guess that's what I get for not writing for 3 years. 

Tonight just proves that Justice, no matter how long it takes, will be served

I remember where I was when I heard the planes crashed into the twin towers and it still fills me with cold dread, watching the footage over again



Now Justice has been served. God bless the USA and her troops.

I think I'm going to be sick...

I don't say that very often when I read news articles, but this one foots the bill. Literally.

A friend on facebook posted a story from CNN involving a man from Canada.

Title of the story? After mass dog slaughter, Stressed man files for workman's comp.

Seriously people, after killing over a hundred dogs, he filed for workman's comp. And I'm not talking about taking them in to be put down. over the span of 2 days, this....man shot and knifed PEFECTLY Healthy animals, then dumping their bodies in a mass grave.

the man is claiming PTSD for doing this and in the report he filed (he got compensated by the way)  that the company he worked for ordered the killings.

I...don't know what else to say about this, other than when I go home tonight I'm giving my dogs a big hug. Stories like this just make my blood boil and turn cold at the same time

Republican Wins District 1 State Senate Seat - News Story - KRCR Redding

Republican Wins District 1 State Senate Seat - News Story - KRCR Redding

Gaines leads in Senate race - Roseville Press-Tribune

Gaines leads in Senate race - Roseville Press-Tribune

Today, we had a special election in Placer county (not all, i believe only 29% of the county actually was apart of this election due to the district lines)

Above is a link to a story off of the Roseville Press Tribune website, projecting the results. At the precinct I worked at, Gaines was leading the vote.

I am a firm believer that "If you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain". My parents taught it to me, as their parents did them. I can understand some of the frustration of the voters (And precinct officers) of the costs behind this special election, some of the anger directed at Gaines (being a Conservative, and wanting to limit government, cutting costs, and help get California's economy back on track)

but come on, is it really Gaines fault? Special Elections are held all the time, I mean I remember several in the last few years alone, and I don't remember a blip about how much it was costing the county. And as a citizen of the United States you are given the right to vote and share in the Democratic office. Since July, the District 1 Senate seat has been vacated due to death of the previous state senator, Gaines had the opprotunity to run for his assembly seat AND the Senate seat in November.

In November it was too close to call, hence the special election today. If Gaines is named winner, his assembly seat vacancy will be cause for another special election later this spring.

I guess what I'm trying to say, yes I do understand the fustration of the costs, but at the same time, it is part of our democratic proccess. Without the Democratic process, we have no voice.

Did You?

Parents don't know what is right for their own kids, and passing down 'saving yourself till marriage' is a bad thing

I was just on facebook and M.O.M for America, Inc. posted an article about Planned Parenthood. Being interested, I read it to see what the organization is planning to do.

You can read the article here.

I am not a parent yet, but I have close friends that have a 15 month old and this will be something they will have to deal with, and when the time comes, something I'll have to deal with, I'm sure.

the first things that started to put my hackles up is "Social Change Initiative". over the last few years, Social and Change have become dirty words.

After reading the article on how Planned Parenthood wants to teach you the right way to teach your kids about sex, masturbation, contraceptives and homosexuality, I felt the urge to blog about it. Children as young as the day they were born are wanting to know what sex is? give me a break.

Hypothetically, if we promoted our children to have sex younger, who would they have sex with? Are we going to lower the age limit on going into Strip clubs or to buy and watch porn? Not to mention, its like handing a free pass to child sex predators to prey on children because 'they are sexually experementing'

And so much for 'saving yourself for marriage' 'it's a sacred act' and all that chastity stuff I was taught and am still living by today. What ever happened to those values?

I've have talked to some female friends of mine, the ones that didn't save themselves till marriage, and they've told me that they wished they would have, and that the respect me for holding out till the wedding night. I, personally don't think sex is shameful, as the article refers to it, I think it's sacred and should be shared with the one you are going to spend the rest of your life with.

So what do you think?

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Update: My fiance also posted a blog post about the same article, if you wanted to read his take on this 'inititive' here.

Wishings

I'd like to wish everyone a happy safe and sane new year. May it bring many blessings for you and yours.