Archive for » October, 2008 «

Save the ta-ta’s…

I know this is not really NEW but I was amazed at how many women were wearing “Save the ta-ta’s” and “Nice Rack” t-shirts at the Army Ten Miler this past weekend. The first couple of times I saw the bumper sticker, I thought this was some sort of joke that a really sick person thought up but the more I saw them, the more I realized that this was for real. Being the kind of person who tries to solve every problem with humor, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I was talking to one of my female coworkers the other day and she said she found it funny. In fact, she’s convinced that a really smart woman worked this one out to get her husband more involved in Breast Cancer Awareness. Her theory is that the husband needed a little motivation and the enterprising wife came up with this slogan to help him along. Kind of a putting 2 and 2 together sort of thing, you know. I really thought that most women would be offended by this sort of humor and should expect men to support breast cancer research just because it’s the right thing to do! There I go showing how much I don’t know (there’s a lot more of that than there is stuff I do know, I’m finding out).

Save the Ta-Ta's

Save the Ta-Ta's

Anyway, this is just my way of putting a little (very little; judging from my hits) support behind the cause. If attitude is everything, then those who see the humor behind this should be just fine. Plus, I do love my wife’s ta-ta’s but I’m not supposed to talk about that in public so I’m only going to mention it here in my very private blog. God bless you all.

Hooah! I did it…

Army Ten Miler

Army Ten Miler

10 miles in 1:26:18. Woo Hoo! I’m rather happy because this is 36 minutes faster than last year. These results are, of course, unofficial; coming from my watch (the official results will be posted after 7:00 tonight.) It was such a beautiful day and other than the one bio-break that I had to take which cost me about a minute or so (yes, I used the Port-O-Let not the bushes) the race went great. I also completed over 30 decades of the Rosary while out on the track. I keep a small (1 decade) rope rosary in my hand while I run and I just pray the rosary the whole time I’m running. I used to listen to it on my iPod but knowing that they don’t allow electronic devices on the course, I decided to just start praying it instead. It’s a great way to stay focused and keep the same pace all the time.

I have to say that the most impressive thing about a race like this is seeing all of the amputees and wheelchair-bound folks who run it as well. I only passed three or four this year, last year most of them were passing me! I couldn’t help but slow down and personally thank a couple of these brave soldiers who have paid such a dear price for the sake of our freedom. I don’t really know if it helps them or not, it seemed almost awkward to just say ‘Thank You’ as I was running by but I couldn’t think of anything else. A lot of the supporters in the crowd clap and cheer as they go by but they do that for most of the runners and though it gets much louder and lasts longer for them, I just wanted to do something personal. Next year, I’m going to plan on staying until the end of the race and cheering on every person who crosses the finish line.

Debbie ran 10 miles in Islamabad this morning as well. We were supposed to run the ATM together this year (our times were within a minute of each other, though she had hills on her track) but the Air Force had other plans and needs. Oh well, maybe next year. I did get a flyer in my goodie bag that mentions another 10 mile race in April. I’m going to see if we can work that into our schedule.

Time to go have a beer and celebrate. God bless you all!

Palin rocks; and plays hard ball…

Palin-Biden VP Debate
Wow, say what you want; spin it if you like to but there is no way to say that Governor Palin didn’t hold her own against Senator Joe Biden. Even the Washington Post found it hard to criticize her performance in the debate; though they did manage to have the style department make derogatory comments about her clothing. I don’t think that Senator Biden did poorly, in fact he did quite well but he was supposed to do quite well, he’s been making political speeches and performing public debates for 35 years! Even a stupid fat hobbit could become proficient at something if he did it for 35 years.

I did love the way that Governor Palin would not allow Senator Biden to dictate what she was going to speak about in her rebuttals. If he even suggested that she hadn’t answered a question, she would purposely change the subject so that he knew he was not going to yank her chain. In fact the only time I think she slipped up was when Senator Biden stated that John McCain had voted against the same military funding bill that Senator Osama oops, Obama did. Her point, as I understood it, was that Senator Obama promised to support the bill and then changed his mind and did not. The question was not who voted for the bill, it was who flip-flopped on voting for the bill and that was Barack Obama.

I will say that some of the “Joe America” stuff (from both candidates) started getting to me after a while. I really don’t care if you identify with me or not, I’m good just knowing that you understand the current plight of working-class America and that you plan to do something about it.

I thought the most interesting comment of the night was when Senator Biden told Governor Palin that Osama bin Laden is hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan. This is the second or third time he’s mentioned this lately and he certainly made it sound like he’d just gotten back from a two week vacation at Osama’s secret retreat. Those are the kinds of statements that really irk me; a Senator from Delaware knows exactly where bin Laden is but nobody in the US Military does (or are they choosing not to kill him)? Last I heard, he was still ‘Undesirable #1′ and President Bush would love to mount his ghutrah on his wall in Crawford, TX. Maybe Senator Biden could march on in to Afghanistan and take care of business for us seeing as how he’s so knowledgeable about his whereabouts.

Oh well, I guess I better stop before I give away any hints as to who I’m voting for this year. I hope you all have a blessed day.

The most wonderful time of the year…

No, it’s not exactly what you would think. Though there is only 82 days until Christmas for those of you who are counting…No I’m really just referring to Fall in general. I love Spring for all of it’s new growth but you get Spring in every part of the country. Even South Texas has its version of Spring but Fall gets better and better the further North I go. I grew up in South Louisiana and though it has its beauty, you never really get to see the explosion of color that nature brings to this time of year. The tops of the trees are just starting to turn different colors here and it won’t be long until the trees look like they are on fire in every beautiful color God can create. The air is already turning crisp and clear. I got up to run this morning and it was 46 degrees outside (it was 4:45). I stuck my head out of the doorway and could see half a billion stars in the sky. As beautiful as it was, I quickly tucked my head back inside and got back into bed; I’m still smarter than I am committed to running, so I decided to run this afternoon. I truly wish that Debbie were here to share it with. She loves to go camping and this is the only time of the year when I sort of enjoy it. The cold, crisp air is so clear and the camping areas are usually far enough away from the light pollution to see forever in the night sky. We set up the telescope and look at some of the coolest things. That’s when it really pays to have a fully qualified navigator in the family; she knows all of the best stars to view and she used to know exactly when and where they would be out. We’d be making S’mores and having a good old time around the campfire right about now. Oh well, she’ll be back in January and hopefully it won’t be too cold to go out then. I hear that this is supposed to be one of the coldest, wettest Winters in a very long time so it might not be the best year for it but we do have a 32′ Fifth Wheel Camper so we can be comfortable no matter what the weather.

Then there is football and though I am not a true Redskins fan, they are doing well so far this year and that bodes well for the people in the area who are fans. It’s hard to believe that baseball season is almost over. I love baseball but my Braves had a really bad season, except Chipper Jones so I wasn’t really following it too close.
I’m trying to decide whether or not to dress up for Halloween and scare all the neighborhood kids. We didn’t live here last year but we did trick or treat here and the neighborhood really gets into it. There are a couple of haunted houses and almost everyone puts up some form of decoration. We’ve done different things in different years. Some years we put up Fall decorations and some years we have a Halloween party and decorate for that. I still haven’t decided and I probably won’t until next week. We have a very special guest visiting us next week and I know they’ll have some ideas as to what should be done with the house…At least I hope so.

Fuhgetaboudit…

Well, I tried about 16 different theme versions and I always came back to this one as my favorite. I guess I’m just going to have to learn how to create my own theme and then I’ll make something I like.

Thanks June for all of your, ahem, feedback…I’ll try to not be so girlie next time :-