Tumblr.com

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Different type of site.

Here's what would be cool. A website that allowed users to blog, tweet, facebook, and play games. Ok, there you go, get to it, chop, chop.

Out and About - Omaha

My company shares a building with a sound and lighting company. The customers of the sound and lighting company love to park in front of our building. Normally it is no big deal, but last Saturday when I pulled into my parking lot this huge butt head was blocking my door. Get out the way dude!!! Give me some room man!!!

Out and About - Kansas City

Some of my favorite art is early Christian pre-1500s. This reliquary houses a finger from St. John the Baptist. Ok, no, I do not believe that is Jesus' cousin's finger bone. But it's old and I wonder who this finger belonged too. This piece of art is at the Nelson Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City. The Nelson-Atkins museum is one of my favorite art museums in the U.S. Though it is small compared to New York, Chicago and L.A., there are some very interesting pieces here. This is one of them.

Here is a link to a clearer picture of this piece:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeontheedge/2710704066/

Out and About - Seattle

I was in Seattle a few weeks ago and I arrived at the customer's site a little early. They weren't quite ready for me. So I drove down the street to a McDonald's for a cup of their fine gourmet coffee. While I sat in their parking lot contemplating my life I saw this image, grabbed my cell phone, and took a picture.

I love Canada

I'm becoming less and less fond of my government (U.S.) When I read stories like this, Canadians angered over Buy American, I am reminded of how inept my (U.S.) politicians really are. Bush 2 was a moron when it came to economics (see his anti-Canada and anti-capitalist policies) and it seems like the Democrats, under Madame Pelosi and Prez Obama, are no better.

Canada is a country of ~30 million people; roughly the same as California. We (U.S. Government) have disrespected them since our nation's founding and it is pathetic.

Solution: Absolute Free Trade. No restrictions on trade with Canada. Open our markets up to them with no strings attached. Treat them like our States trade with one another. Easy. Even if Canada continues to tax U.S. goods going into their country who cares. If we allow Canadian companies to ship whatever they want into the U.S. without tariffs or trade restrictions it would help all of us. It would lower the costs of goods that us middle class folks buy.

Reality: Our government is full of money grubbing retards. Don't look for my solution to come about any time soon.

It is definitely time for change. Real change. Not the fake crap we hear about on t.v. or the rhetoric coming out of Washington.

Book Of Love-Peter Gabriel

I heard this song last night on the Scrubs series finale.

"a fine day"

Every year or two I read a Willa Cather novel. She writes about a past that sheds light on the present.

I was reading in bed a few nights ago and I turned to my wife, "I really love Willa Cather. She is one of my favorite authors."

"Ok dear. You just like her because she's from Nebraska."

"Hey wait a sec. That's true, but she won a Pulitzer for this book, she was born in Virginia, grew up in Nebraska, lived in New York, traveled to Europe and besides, her writing style just connects with me." My defense was concrete.

"Ok babe. I'm going to sleep now."

Yeah, whatever, I thought.

I'm reading "One of Ours" by Willa Cather. Page four, "It was a fine day to go to the circus at Frankfort, a fine day to do anything; the sort of day that must, somehow, turn out well."

Ever had a day like that? Where you woke up and just knew it was going to be a good day?

I turned to sleeping wife after I read her this quote and said, "it has been a really long time since I've felt like that."

"Oh brother," she sighed, "you're so melodramatic sometimes. What about our vacation to North Carolina? You didn't wake up thinking that on any of those seven mornings?"

What am I supposed to say to that? It was trouble any way I looked at it.

Years Apart

When I downloaded the pictures from our trip to North Carolina in March I saw this picture of me and immediately thought of this picture of my grandfather. In some ways we weren't so different.

Airport Confessions

I was sitting in the Raleigh airport. It was early; maybe 6am or so. I read the USA Today, tossed it on the seat next to me, and checked facebook on my phone. You know, one of those phones you don't really want, but your coworker talks you into it. A phone that does everything.

A black guy was sitting not to far from me. He looked like an average guy. He had a red suitcase. I have a red suitcase. Ball cap, clean cut, pants sagging a bit, but not thuggish. After an hour or so it occurred to me that he was like the only black person within site. I got up to hit the head and when I came back I was looking around and he was still the only black person around.

My thought, what if I lived in a society and I was in a situation where nobody looked like me? It feels weird.

I wonder how the dude with the red suitcase feels.

Note to self

32. Back hurts since yesterday.

Gettin Bit

"Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday blamed the global economic crisis on 'white people with blue eyes' and said it was wrong that black and indigenous people should pay for white people’s mistakes."

This is a fairly ignorant accusation by the president of Brazil. Is he indigenous or did he come from Portuguese decent? All of us carry around biases about people. It might be race, but it also might be language, religion or a whole host of other reasons. So I'm not going to hold Prez Silva's ignorance against him. I know I say stupid and ignorant things sometimes.

But the thing that really bothers me about Prez Silva's statement is his lack of responsibility. Non-white people are just as much a part of the problem as white people. The current economic problem is due to a wide range of mistakes; i.e. greed. Greed has a tendency to affect whites, blacks, browns, half breeds, etc.

Since Prez Silva wants to lump me in with the term "white" I wonder if he would appreciate being called a derogatory term based on his skin color. I mean what's the difference? He calls me white, but what the heck does that mean? I come from at the very least five different nationalities. I'm not exactly a purebred.

If people do not want to take responsibility for their own predicament then I have little sympathy for them.

On a side note:
Sometimes the past has a habit of coming back and biting us.

Since the late 1400s the white man has been treating other races like crap. Things started to change with the European whites in the 1800s and then the US in the 1960s, but it wasn't soon enough apparently.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae4957e8-1a5f-11de-9f91-0000779fd2ac.html

My World is Coming to an End

I often wonder if I am headed in the right direction. Have I made the right decisions? I know I've made mistakes, but have I made the right "Big" decisions?

I have always been taught that if we believe in God and listen to his word, the Bible, then we will be okay. I sort of believe that and I definitely believe there is a higher power out there, but the Bible doesn't give me a full perspective on life. Maybe it's the time difference; the fact that the great book was written 2000+ years ago.

We visited Yorktown, VA. The last major battle of the US revolutionary war against the English. The Americans were outnumbered, out gunned, and running. Washington thought that the battle of New York City was the endgame. Then the French showed up and said, "hey, we'll help you out but we are only going to go to Virginia. We will not help you in New York." Four days later Washington scrapped his attack plans for New York and had plans to move the troops 400 miles south to Virginia.

The French and Americans laid siege to Yorktown and captured 5000 British troops. 1/3 of their army in the colonies. Game over for the British. Six months prior to this battle General George Washington wrote in letters to those closest to him that he didn't see any hope for the revolution.

We also visited the Wright Brothers memorial in Kitty Hawk, NC. Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first people to fly an airplane with an engine in 1903. In 1901-1902 their testing had failed. Wilbur turned to his brother and said something like this, "Not in 1000 years will man learn to fly." A year later they were flying.

These two examples in modern US history have taught me that sometimes things are not what they seem. Sometimes we give up too early. Sometimes I've been tempted to give up and these examples have given me a reason to rethink some of the doubts and worries I have been having over the last few weeks.

Lighthouses in OBX, NC

Drink'n and Cuss'n

On the last night of our vacation I can't sleep. Christa flies home tomorrow morning at 530 and I'm off to South Carolina and New York this week. In all honesty it was hard to stay focused on relaxing with all the crap going on in the 'real' world.



While on vacation we met John Gaskill. He is 93 years old, a WW2 Vet and his father was the last full-time care taker of this lighthouse in the Outer Banks, NC.

John is one cool guy. His stories are too many to tell here, but he wrote an autobiography which I hope to read real soon.



While taking the above picture he said, "I like getting me picture taken with young ladies like you. It's when I get my hugs."

Another quote from him:
"People often ask me how I've lived this long and I tell them there are two reasons. Drink'n and cuss'n."

To which my wife replied while pointing her finger at me, "Well that's great. That means this one is going to live a long time."

John was one of the great memories we will have while vacationing in the OBX, NC.

Oh Canada

This Jeep is located in an exhibit at the Ottawa Civilizations Museum on the history of the Canadian postal service. I snapped the quick pic mainly because I like Jeeps. We own one and I just thought it was cool.

This is a photo taken from the Civilizations Museum looking across the river at Parliament Hill. For those of you that don't know, Ottawa is the national capitol of Canada.

I find it interesting how little we (US citizens) know about Canada and their history. Fact: Canada is our largest trading partner. There is a lot in the news about China, but Canada is our #1 economic friend.

As I drove around Ottawa I noticed the English influences. From the narrow roads to their form of government to their road signs.

The drive from Ottawa to the western edge of Montreal was like a drive on rural interstates in the U.S. (The only difference were the Moose crossing road signs.)

The main thing I noticed while driving into Montreal was that the English disappeared. If my Canadian friend hadn't told me about the Montreal road rules I'm sure I would have broken a few. We met at a bookstore, grabbed a bite at a sports bar, and walked around a mall. It was almost like being at home. Except...the French.

Overall, I was reminded that we (world citizens) have a lot in common. We may be separated by boundaries and language but we all have some of the same issues and concerns. It makes the world seem a little bit smaller to me. This realization is one of the things I enjoy about traveling.