Time for a rant...

I know I'm entering this a little late... BUT I'm tired of the exagerated statements about Michael Jackson's value as a human being. He was, perhaps, one of the greatest entertainers we'll ever see. That's a very subjective statement, completely in the eye of the beholder. He has contributed tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars to charity. Having said that, I also must say he had significant problems in life. I'm not one to say everyone should "fit in", but the man admitted to sleeping with children; children that were not his own; children whose parents did not know he was sleeping with them; children that were helpless to say "no" to this icon. I'm not implying any sexual activity... but sharing a bed with another person's child, without the parents knowledge is simply wrong. And Michael Jackson admitted to doing that on several occasions.

I think we would all agree Michael Jackson was a unique individual. He was an extremely talented child who was subjected to parental abuse, sexual situations at an early age with his brothers in hotel rooms on the road while touring with the "Jackson Five." I don't think anyone could experience all that and NOT be negatively affected by it.

I don't pitty him; I don't hate him; and I don't believe he deserves the time and attention he's receiving in his death... because the way he lived his life was not nearly on par with so many other, more deserving people. People like President Ronald Reagan, Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, and so many others that never got the recognition for living their lives with honor, courage, dignity and integrity. I don't believe Michael Jackson's life was honorable, courageous or dignified. And most importantly he lacked the integrity required to defend himself of child molestation charges... but he din't lack the money to pay off the accuser and make the whole case collapse for lack of a witness.

My $.02.

It's been a long time since I rock and rolled...

It has been a long time since I've rock and rolled. Few people know this about me, but I once played in a band, professionally. Now, one MUST remember that "professionally" only means that I got paid for it, not that I was any good. I was decent, but not good enough to make a decent living. And when I "rocked", it wasn't rocking at all... more like playing cumbias and ranchettas; don't try looking up Ranchetta, it's not listed in Wikipedia... but it is a type of Mexican music, very popular in California, Texas and Mexico.

It's also been a long time since I've written. So, when I last posted I had done the dishes, but not the Carburator. Update: Carburator is rebuilt, engine sounds incredible (I'm very proud of my work on that engine), but the transmission was giving me problems. Latest update: Transmission is 90% rebuilt (not by me, but by some very good friends.) I've also done some more work on the Ghia's interior. It's been a good week for the Ghia. And I cooked dinner tonight; Grilled chicken, Hollandaise Sauce, rice and corn. Dishes are not done.

This is all the update I have in me tonight; I will write tomorrow and maybe, if I'm motivated enough, post some pics. G'night.

Took a few days off...

So I didn't roll too long. I'm pacing myself. I signed up for "FaceBook" tonight; looking for an old friend whom, I'm told, has an account. I'm amazed at the connectivity and number of data-bases that are at work to support finding SO MANY people. Having said all that... this website might be a good example of "too much" of a good thing. I'm really not comfortable having so much of my personal information open to the public. I did limit quite a bit of stuff... but still, I wonder how many hackers have invested their time "working" facebook.

This week has been brutal. I realized last night when I got home that I had put in 42 hours at work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm not complaining; I do enjoy my job, but I don't have the energy when I get home to do things I enjoy doing. And that sucks. So I didn't post anything, didn't check mail and I didn't do the dishes!

I did the dishes tonight. But I didn't re-build carburator on my Karmann Ghia



I miss driving this car... it's good for me; I'm a better driver when I'm in it because it forces to me to pay attention; I care about how I drive it and how hard I drive it... I can not say that about all my other cars. Speaking of the "others", I'm down to four now. The Bug convertible is gone... a distant and fond memory. Tha Cobalt is too... more distant and not nearly as fond.

On that note, it's time to go to bed and dream about driving the Ghia... with my lady. ;)

Surprise! I'm back again... following through.

Speaking of following through... I told a young man some time ago: "If you need help, give me a call and I'll do what I can." I've spoken those words to many people over the years but have rarely been called upon for help. Well I got a call from that young man and I managed to help him out after an hour or two and a few phone calls. Without going into too much detail, this young man has been an adult less than a year and he's (truly) on his own.

I've known many a kid, out of High School, living at home or living at school, still getting help from the parents and slowly easing their way into adulthood. AND I firmly believe that's the way it should be. Kids should not be in so much of a rush to be on their own. I have my 18 year old still living at home and I hope she stays put for a few more years, finishes college and THEN get married or pierce something other than her ears or whatever else she thinks she wants to do (at the time) to make herself feel like an adult.

College is a good milestone in life to pass before being on your own. I believe this to be true because of the educational value of college, as opposed to trade school, because college will/should develop critical thinking and should develop the student. I would bet my pay-check that most people graduating college have matured significantly... not because of the facts they've learned, but because of the way they've learned to think about things. Try explaining this to an 18 year old.

The problem with a kid right out of High School is that they don't know what they don't know... but believe they know enough. Dangerous combination. And often by the time they realize they are in extremis, the problem they have has been stewing for a while and is not easily solved. The young man's problem was solved today and more importantly, I think he learned from this experience. Experience is the best teacher, but it's not cheap.


Check back tomorrow... I'm on a roll.

I'm back! (again...)

Well, it's been awhile... life's been busy, when isn't it? But I have gotten back to the place where I want to write again. This is the place where I clearly know what I want to do with my life (for the moment anyway) and can see HOW to get there. The problem always is sticking with the plan. Isn't that the way with most things in life? Following through seems to be the hardest of things. And for another time in my life, I'm committed to following through. We'll see how long it lasts.

In order to keep this blog going and make it a routine; I've got to come up with some things to write about. I've decided to start out with the Presidential election. I've never watched elections too closely, but it seems to me that this one is a bit more emotional than previous elections. I firmly believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I must say that it irks me to no end when people pass off their opinion as superior. I've been especially iritated lately with the Palin and Obama comparisons. Most of these comparisons fall well short of anything meaningful. I stumbled accross the "Matt Damon interview", you may have seen it on youtube. And I couldn't help myself... I had to respond to some of the comments. the next day my e-mail was full of poorly written attacks on my character, intelligence and judgement. I love a good arguement. So I returned fire; concentrating my efforts on one particularly emotional person.

I've got to admit that I enjoy pushing people's buttons. I'm not proud of it and know it's not right, but it's something I picked up (and enjoy) during my time in the military. Anyone who has spent some time in the military knows that if someone in a: submarine, squadron, ship, etc. lets it be known that something bothers them, they will surely be bothered often. It's cheap entertainment. I rarely indulge anymore, having matured quite a bit over the years. But when the opportunity presents itself under the right circumstances, I must say I enjoy it.

Time to get on with the rest of my plan to follow through with doing what's important in life. For today that's getting my house organized, fixing a light on my Excursion that my wife has been putting up with for too long, mowing the lawn and finally: spendig some time with my girls.

I'll be back tomorrow...

It's been a while...

This is my 2nd attempt to write today. My first ended when I lost all I had written. My fingers seemed to move faster than my brain.

We got up this morning and headed down to the local Farmer's Market. It's a great way to spend a Saturday morning. We picked up some fresh corn, green beans, cucumber, pumpkins and home made suckers for the girls. Oh, and some salsa. I had reservations about the salsa... we make pretty good salsa (when I say "we" I mean Alisa, but "we" are a team...) but it was really good and was hungry.



After the market we went to the opening of a Sweet and Sassy. The girls had a blast; got their hair done, took a stroll on a cat walk, got a goody bag and took a ride in a very big pink limo! Fun was had by all...

I spent a good portion of Thursday and Friday going through old files trying to find something for a friend... no luck finding the file, but I did come accross some interesting pics...

This is me close to the end of my days on submarines... it's a different kind of place to work. A lot of people have asked me over the years what's it's like to be under water, how deep did we go, etc. The answers: It's like any other place with a lot of work and no windows, except it's a lot smaller. As for how deep we could go... All I can say is deeper than 400 feet. Four hundred feet is plenty deep and the only way you really know how deep you are is if you look a a depth gauge... so it really doesn't matter. As for all the other stuff? Trust me, you REALLY don't want to know.

Here's me returning my first salute. Look closely and you'll see my brother (the one wearing the blue business suit with all the awards...). This was the end of my commissioning ceremony. It's a naval tradition to have sideboys line up when officers arrive or depart the ship. The tradition has carried forward in ceremonies and my brother stood in as one of the sideboys that day. That meant a lot to me. I'm blessed to have a brother as good as him, I really don't deserve it.

One last pic today...
This is the love of my life. Again, I really don't deserve her and thank God each day for blessing me with her love and patience. We've been together nearly 25 years... started dating in November of 1982. I'm really looking forward to the next 25 years with her.

Life's good.

My bikes...

This is long over due (like so many things in my life), but here they are... a few pics of the bikes.

This first one is the RD. It is a very beautiful bike, as bikes go.





Here are a couple of the Katana. I also think this bike is gorgeous.

You really can't see the lines on this bike from this first pic, but trust me... they are nice.



This next pic (and the last I think) shows the lines a bit better. But going through the pics I have, I realize I'm not that happy with them and need more. But I'm posting the two that do the bike some justice.

The last pic here shows the License plate from my truck... BIG FUN. The truck lives up to its plate.


This last pic is my wife's car. I was a little apprehensive about buying any car with a bud vase. But it has turned out to be a good choice. It's a lot of fun. Not much else to say... I'll be posting more pics of my other cars soon. This week is going to be crazy, so it might be a while before I post again.


I'm learning to manage expectations. :)