some days you win, some days you lose, some days it rains

Supposed to go to the baseball game in Greenville last night, but got rained out. gotta go on Monday, it seems...lets hope the Thunderstorms hold off for one afternoon then...

Well... this weekend saw another soccer match.The Harwoods came over to the match and we got to meet their new son, then went to lunch together. Following that, Jessica introduced Ryles to softball as far as catching. Jessica was a pretty good player back in the day so she was giving Ryles somestarter pointers in softball. Then I-man got to toss some baseball with her as well as me, before I tore my rotator cuff and went on the D/L retroactive to April 28th.... we then went over to Brandy and AJ's house for dinner. Pretty busy day overall...

"Talkin' bout yo mud flap
Six pack, beer crack
Over-taxed, flag-wavin', fun-lovin' crowd
They're heart is in the music
And they love to play it loud
There's no forms or applications
There's no red tape administrations
It's the American Honky-Tonk Bar Association"

As I mentioned before, I was working on getting this Baritone up to speed for I-Man and Ryles to putz around on... i got valves 1 and 2 oiled fine but simply could not unscrew valve 3 to oil it. I could not remember having this sorta issue with the tuba. A quick Email to Brown enlightened me to simply put oil in that little hole on the bottom. That worked like a charm, which is amusing cause I kept looking at that hole, but never put 16 and 16 together.... Now i gotta aquire a tuner and get going getting my chops back (like I ever had any)

Bolt has this song with John Travolta singin' on it. Kinda cool to here him give a solid shot at singing with Miley Cyrus. Of course, I am so up to speed on all the Disney flicks it is insane, as well as all the tween stuff that Ryles likes. At least I-Man is still all about The Clone Wars right now...

As I-Man's soccer season is slowly winding down with a few matches left, I am evaluating if this is something I wanna start pushing with him beyond the "Its just a game ...let's have fun... everybody wins, not keep score" phase. I think I wanna go into the Fall and see how he plays as a veteran at his U-8 level... I think he is not destined for Goalie now. I think my original prediction of defender/fullback is more on point

Today I had a person in a convenience store ask me where Dunder Mifflin ( I had my work shirt on) is located..."I never heard of that paper company before" she said... I told her it was located in a warehouse downtown. She seemed to actually believe me...

Time is moving quickly...

The past weekend saw Ryles have her dance and baton recital... It is somewhat strange to now see her performing on a stage I had the opportunity to perform on countless times... then to watch I-Man play the same piano his mother used to play in Jazz ensemble... weird... Tonight as I watch the Celtics, I am oiling the valves for a Baritone that we have aquired. I-Man was able to produce a solid tone right off the bat. More on this as it develops....

Hiatus over...

Ok... I have been researching some options as to whether or not I wanted to change hosts for my blog. I decided to stay put and keep diggin. I had thought I might wanna start posting vids or something, but have decided against.... So I'll resume a somewhat random, almost daily posting here...

"I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah"

As always, it seems that so much good for me revolves around music, as I was taken to so many places by all the songs at Ryles dance recital the other day. I always seem to lose my way a little when I forget about music and how it changes my mood... for the better.

Family stuff

Bunch of people from Jessica's father side O' the family got together today. The major occasion was Jessica's grandmothers 90th birthday celebration. A secondary reason seemed to be ato get the various brothers and familiam cousins together for a meet and greet.... The kids also did a couple of Easter Egg hunts... I took a photo of the group gathered. It was fine except for one person moved their head and covered one of the group, and their seemed to be a smudge on my lens, which blurred a very small part of the photo... It is always interesting with family get togethers becasue their are so many person, hidden and old agendas that seem to creep up, even for gatherings that are only 4 or 5 hours old. Its like the Frat. Politics are always in play and alliances are alwasy being struck. You have the core family...then the people who have married in...then...you have the kids, who immediately find their age buddies and strike up their own friendships. And then you have the old arguments and grudges from misunderstandings, slights, mistakes and hurt feelings of the past. Interesting, though... And plans are already in place to do this again next year. And I think I will be prepared to make this type of photo more "interesting" next year.... outside of the one person half blocked, which one person looks not like the others, which one of these things is not quite the same?.... just kidding...but amused.... notice the kid with the Easter Bunny ears?

over on facebook... amusing...

"Which Transformer are you?" with the result Ultra Magnus.

"You are one of the strongest and most noble Autobots that Optimus Prime has the privilege to command! Although you have the talent, courage, and power to become a great leader, you have devoted your life to being a soldier for the greater good. Insecure in your own judgement and leadership skills (even though you are the only one with that opinion), you are loyal to your commander to the end. In the battlefield, your fellow Autobots know that you can turn the tide in any fight and so do the Decepticons."

wow..a week just up and flew by... went to SED convention, Crached with Aunt Ellen... sat thru Frat elections and started another work week, caught a quick plane to London for a few hours, then voila, here we are a whole week later.

I have taken the time to ponder if it was just me feeling "sour" grapes or if other friends of mine thought the same way in regards to the Divine Prophet of Hope and Change who can do no wrong and certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt with any experience or track record for us to go on, according to those who say I should just "get over it" Well, today surfaces the video that Obama goes and bows before the Saudi King. Um... our supposed leader BOWS BEFORE ANOTHER LEADER OF A COUNTRY? Well...I have heard from TJ, Patrick, John and Mark who all piped up that they felt the same way. That it is simply getting ridiculous...so I know it isnt just me. I am not just going to sit and just say nothing. If others want to be naive and keep their head in the sand and Hope that Obama will Change, so be it. I am going to speak up. At least I will have spoken my mind and stood for something, even if I am proven wrong in the end. I am not going to stand in the shadows with my fingers crossed that the policies that have failed over and over in the past are suddenly going to magically work...this time. If they do... well...miracles do happen. And it would be a good thing.

I have often said that Brown and I are basically standing on the opposite edges of the same coin. He took a position and has backed up his position with reasoned thought and discussion. I can respect that and am willing to allow that at least he has researched why he believes what he believes. I have done the same thing as I dont want to go out on a limb and not be able to speak coherently on all these topics. (i guess Brown is my Obama... dude, when you going to run for Alderman or something?....)

At any rate..in short...Obama?...really, dude?... you are going to represent me and bow to the Saudi King? You dont see the Saudi king bowing to Obama, do you? Does Obama really want to show us as being that weak?

On deck... Aunt Ellen, Uncle Wes, Aunt Ashley and cousin Madison coming into town Friday for a birthday gig, reunion sorta thing on Saturday. people crashin on the floor and stuff at the house. Cable people supposed to coming on Saturday morn at 7am (yeah...right...) for the THIRD HD cable box... Direct TV telling me I got to cut down this huge tree by the creek in order for them to put a dish right by the road on a pole in our front yard, looking back over the house... RESET the Direct TV idea for the moment and more reseach is coming on that for the moment. I will sluff by on the 2 and a half HD channels soon to be bankrupt Charter is driveling to my flatscreen.

Braves start off good, then bullpen implodes in 3rd game....sigh...

headin' to the road again...

Whirlwind weekend coming up... headin' tomorrow to Cola for the Southeast District Convention. Will stay with Aunt Ellen and get a chance to visit with her. Saturday will see meetings in Cola for the Frat (I'm advising a committee) before getting back home last Saturday night, then back to work on Sunday with KB electing officers on Sunday night.

It"s been a trying year for the Kappa Beta chapter. Some internal issues have hung a dark cloud over the chapter for most of the year. I think that the cloud is slowly lifting and I am looking forward to pressing forward with the new brothers and a fresh, POSITIVE attitude toward service to bands.

Finally...baseball is back. My favorite sport and favorite team of my childhood (notice a theme here), the Braves, starts anew on Sunday. Let's cross the fingers and hope the pitching holds up this year and lets get to September in contention and see where the chips fall. The Mets, Phillies and Fightin' Fish will all be good so the Braves might improve again (as they did do last year) and still finish 4th.

amusing... wonder if MSNBC,NBC,ABC,CBS will mention this...

WASHINGTON (AP) - One of President Barack Obama's campaign pledges on taxes went up in puffs of smoke Wednesday.

The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama's promise not to raise taxes of any kind on families earning under $250,000 or individuals under $200,000. This is one tax that disproportionately affects the poor, who are more likely to smoke than the rich.

To be sure, Obama's tax promises in last year's campaign were most often made in the context of income taxes. Not always.

"I can make a firm pledge," he said in Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12. "Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." He repeatedly vowed "you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime."

Now in office, Obama, who stopped smoking but has admitted he slips now and then, signed a law raising the tobacco tax nearly 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes, to $1.01. Other tobacco products saw similarly steep increases.

Since no one could tell me where all the bailout/stimulus money was coming from, I found my answer... huh?

By the way... we give GM all this bailout money months ago because we couldn't let GM go to bankruptcy. now...It's OK to let them go to a "soft" bankruptcy once the Government has taken over. So we basically wasted that previous money?

And since we have fired a CEO, why havent the CEO's of banks gotten pink slips? or the heads of the Labor Unions? I'm guessing that the campaign money they donated put them into a TOO BIG TO FAIL status, huh?

Well..it was Tuesday...so...wait for it...wait for it....wait...here it comes..... ANOTHER OBAMA NOMINEE WHO HASNT PAID TAXES!!!!! wow... I wonder what will happen to me if I havent paid $7,000 in taxes. Even if I claim it was an "innocent mistake". Yet this is cool with Obama and the Dems, right? Yep...all that tough vetting. Hmmm....

If its Monday... well...nah...it can't possibly be true, can it?

the past weekend was a tad busy..but was made less frantic when the weather took I-man out of soccer duties....however, he would find solace in a visit to Grandma and the usual jackpot of some sorta Speedracer/Hotwheel/Transformer/whatever action figure... the Frat had their new class join the circle. After what i can only describe as a year of dramatic license within the chapter, they have finally reached the end of the year with SED coming up this weekend in Columbia then Formal in Greenville....Ryles had her Baton and Dance photos taken...I'll post those later... we then had some people over on Saturday night and dodged the rain around the firebowl. Jessica was celebratin a birthday and I went to bed around 12:30. The Harwoods stayed way into the night and...well...whadya know...looks like they will be announcing a new arrival soon... it was indeed interesting to spark up some interesting conversation with Shannon Faulkner, who was in attendence to celebrate with Jessica. Yes...this is THAT Shannon Faulkner, if you are old enough to remember.... It was interesting to talk to her a little about that experience, but I must admit that talking to her left me impressed that there is far more to her than that experience. I hope she becomes a regular visitor....

if its Monday, it must mean another stimulus!!!!

Let me see if I understand this correctly.... you mean to tell me Obama is announcing ANOTHER stimulus package for 1 Trillion dollars today? can anyone tell me that this is even remotely sane? wow...I cannot beleive that people are simply going along with all of this like sheep...

for Brown....

hera ya go...is this blue or purple... I am actually things about staging this for a high key photo of sorts... not like this, but in some similar form.... click on the photo for a larger print... note the aged letters... definitely not something the youngsters would throw on for a early fall tailgate, would they?

"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

Last Episode of BSG tonight. ER winding down... wont be long till all that's left is The Office, Law And Order and various sportin events

As of this moment, I am officially pondering a moratorium on wearing any of my Clemson gear (except for hats) until a time as which I see ANY Clemson Athletic team actually show up for a game that matters... this goes for my cool heavyweight sideline grey football sweat, purple sweat with sewn on letters, grey hoodie with sewn on letters, Athletic Dept t-shirts, various sideline gear T's and and one of 43 band t-shirts i might still have floating around. It also includes the cool Clemson A & M t-shirt I have been holding in reserve... I am swaying heaviliy to the moratorium...maybe even giving some stuff away....

I have been struck by the tragic event locally of a young boy (2 years old) whos mother went inside for a couple of minutes and left him outside in the yard, she came back out and he was gone. After a frantic search, she called the authorities and after about 24 hours of searching, they found the body a mile away in the river. I cant begin to even think what that must feel like for that family. Those of you with children who read this already know just thinking about losing your kids puts a knot in your stomach. And I am confident those of you without kids have no clue. I just hope that no one ever has to go through that and it is my kids that makes me get so angry with the current direction of things with our government. As I have alluded to before, I am not overtly religious... but when i heard that news yesterday I said a brief prayer for that family and for all my friends families.

I have often mentioned that I wonder what will happen when the twins get older and their relationship changes. Obviously, they are "best friends" right now. I think I see a sliver of the future when I see Ryles reading a book to I-Man in the backseat on the way home from dance. Then they get to a point, and Ryles starts reading a line, then I-Man reads another line with her correcting him when necessary. While I-Man isnt dumb and seems to be doing well in schoool, she is obviously ahead of him and it is amusing to see her go out of her way to help him learn, even at this age.

Headlines today...

Watchin' the Dog and Pony show today on MSNBC with the hearings with the AIG CEO... My feelings about the bonuses are listed below. I find it amusing that this little Headline below comes out today, conveniently snowed under by the coverage of the crap today...

Fannie Mae plans bonuses of up to $611,000 for 4 executives; Freddie Mac has similar plans

Oh...and the Treasury also slipped in that they are going to be printing a trillion more dollars. Look at the 20 in your wallet. It isnt worth 20 anymore.

Oh...and wait...Chris Dodd is actually kinda sorta almost meekly stating that it is someone elses fault that he maneuvered the clauses in the stimulus/bailout/whatever plans that would allow these very bonuses.

Wonder how much tax money is it going to cost to fly Obama and his hangers on, the Press, Secret Service, etc to LA for this Campaign..oh ... sorry... Presidential trip that just so happens to include a stop over with Jay Leno? Noticed that so far, whenever there has been a bruhaha with hearings, etc, Obama conveniently gets on his plane and is out on the campaign trail...oh sorry ... holding town meetings ... with teleprompters...

I think the reason I like Battlestar Galactica so much isnt because of the Sci Fi stuff (it isnt that groundbreaking)or the pretty women (lots of) but because of the way music has been woven into the story sometimes suble, sometimes overt. Since most of the people reading this have some sorta tie to band, you understand the profound effect it can have on your life and the direction your life takes. It is an everyday occurence in mine and I listen constantly at work to about 1000 songs over and over and over. BSG also has struck a chord with me because the characters have never been totally typecast into certain "roles" and that all of the characters had flaws. You gotta take the good with the bad, I have heard people say....

If its Tuesday, it must mean another bailout...no...wait...Nevermind.... Now we see this Administration telling Military Veterans that they will have to get insurance to pay for their medical bills for injuries incurred during service to the USA. Ummmmm....am I reading this right. You mean to tell me that Obama expects a soldier, if he is wounded in combat, comes back to the States, and has to have further treatment... that he expects them to pony up a deductible and cross their fingers that good ole Blue Cross will foot the bill? Wow..I knew his inner circle was arrogant, but...WOW!!!! If this becomes true, there goes that segment of vote for good. Does Obama think that he can just go running way off into Liberal Kool Aid land wacky left , Commie Land and think he will be able to keep that swing vote that got him elected?

Now I must agree that the indignation over the AIG bonuses is justified for the most part. But what of Chris Dodd? He and Geitner KNEW that this would happen and manouvered so it would remain so. For them to be standing up jumping up and down is hypocritical, isnt it?

And of course the "Politics of Change" sees the DNC attacking South Carolina's Governor for trying to use the bailout money to pay off debt... which is what virtually anybody who gets a windfall of money would do, right. Pay off the bills, then look at what"s left to spend. But...Obama doesnt want the stimuls to go anywhere they don't control. This is starting to seem more and more about...Control. Control this stimulus and bailout crap and be able to control power and...votes. Far be it to let the money go to pay off debt. doing that would mean that Obama and the administration would not have...wait...here it...comes... Control over you.

...and Pelosi is clamoring for the Newspapers to be bailed out. Whatever happened to the market deciding that Newspapers are no longer needed? Oh...I get it...The newspapers would then be beholden to her, wouldnt they?