Taking Chance

Recently, Dr. Charles recommended Taking Chance to us (read his review of the movie here).  We put it at the top of our Netflix list and watched it last week.

Taking Chance is an HBO film based on the true story of a marine leutenant colonel (Kevin Bacon) who escorts the body of a young soldier from his hometown who was killed in Iraq.

The story outlines what happens when an American soldier is killed overseas in combat.  His body is returned to the US where it is taken care of by a series of people before finally reaching his family and buried.

Such a high-ranking officer would not normally be an escort, but Lt. Col. Michael Strobl volunteers to escort 19 year-old Pfc. Chance Phelps as he is reading the daily casualty reports and sees that Phelps was originally from the same small hometown as he.  Through the journey, the Lt. Col. is taken aback by the honor shown the soldier by complete strangers, from the mortuary workers who take great pains to make his body presentable and uniform perfect to the people throughout all of the airports that take the time to pay their respects.

I was really struck by the people touched by the soldier being flown home, a soldier they'd never met, but still mourned for.  Do I appreciate and honor those who are fighting for the freedom that I so desperately love?  Do I appreciate the sacrifices they make in both life and death?  Freedom is not free and I am so thankful for those willing to serve our great nation.

Stolen Garden

I've heard of people stealing tv's, even lawn furniture, but not a whole garden.

This is so weird.

After they moved away and were preparing to put their house on the market, the Woods found out that their next-door neighbors had stolen their lawn shed, flower pots, and stonework and moved them into their own yard.

Can you imagine coming home to find all of your stuff in your neighbor's back yard?  I would throw a stinking fit!  

Auburn Campus Photos

A friend from work downloaded these from someone else several weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting them.  I can't believe how much the campus has changed (and we were just there in February). It's makes me a little sad to see all of the changes, but also excited for the students who will enjoy the new buildings and beautiful campus.

Hopefully we'll be able to visit for at least one home game this season.



These aren't my photos or captions.  I don't know who took them, but I hope you enjoy them (mouse over to pause or flip manually).  They don't call it the prettiest village on the plains for nothin'!

War Eagle!

New Week

So, last week I was too busy to breath, let alone blog.  But, I did think about a lot of things throughout the week that might've been decent blog topics.

Politics.  Wow.  So much going on in the political spectrum that would make a good blog post.  A Republican breaches protocol and calls out one of the President's carefully-worded political un-truths.  (Here's a good article about how BHO is very careful to avoid out-right lying - technically, but is still untruthful.) The Dems are calling it an unprecedented act, never before has someone been so rude to the President in chambers (of course, it is only "unprecedented" in the fact that you could pick out a single voice instead of a chorus of people calling the president a liar like we heard a few years ago, but who's keeping count?)  Did you notice that our representative voted with the herd of other lemmings to "rebuke" Joe Wilson for his outburst, never mind the fact that Wilson had already apologized to the President?

ACORN.  Gees, what a bunch of idiots.  Glad they finally got caught red-handed, even if the main stream media is still largely ignoring the story.  Enough people have seen the tapes that have been released (I'm sure there are more to come) where the federally-funded "community organizers" are advising a prostitute and pimp on how to avoid taxes and find loopholes to get federal assistance in running a brothel.  Both houses have voted to cut funding for ACORN (hopefully we can keep funding from going to any of their many subsidies as well).  Good riddance.

Then there's Jimmy Carter who feels the need to chime in and call anyone who ever disagrees with the president a racist.  I think people should stop interviewing the man since he's obviously not helping the Democratic Party's interests.  Of course, some people are loving it.  With Carter still injecting his opinion, it makes room for Mitt Romney to tease the Democrats about the current economical and political climate, saying "I'll bet you never dreamed you'd look back at Jimmy Carter as the good old days."

Kanye West is a capital Jerk.  I think the president summed it up pretty well. 

On a happier subject... football season is finally here.  There's nothing like getting together with friends to root on your alma mater.  I just love this time of year!

One thing I have noticed - what's up with all of the car banners throughout town all of the time now?  I mean, it's one thing to put up a school flag on the passenger window Saturday on the way to the game, but do you really need four of them, in addition to 84-point font school magnets, while driving around town all week long?  It seems to be an increasing (and tacky) trend.  I don't care what school you root for, it's still tacky.

Grad school is going well.  I'm really enjoying my class this semester, it's the foundational course for the area that I'm going to specialize in (radar) and is really interesting.  All of this "black magic" stuff is starting to make more sense and I've really been glad that I'm back in school.  I've been trying not to think about how long it's going to take me to finish at the rate I'm going...  for-ev-er!

Oh yeah, Ryan got promoted at work, so congrats to him!  We're really proud of him.  Just one of the many benefits of his promotion is that it frees up some time next year and we are seriously talking about taking a trip out to Japan together to visit where we lived for a stint back in '96.  Anyone got any travel trips?  We're gonna plan the whole trip ourselves and are trying to keep it as economical as we can (which may be hard for a country like Japan).  If we're lucky, we might get to swing by and say hi to one of the missionary families that our church supports.  I'm really excited about it!

So, last week was crazy.  Hopefully this week will be calmer (I always say that, but it never is).  Happy Monday!

Health Care Summed Up

"Obama's health care plan is written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it, sought to be passed by Congressmen who won't read it and want to be exempt from it, signed by a president who smokes, funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is overweight, and financed by a country that is broke. What could possibly go wrong?"

   - Mo Brooks


The best quote I've read on the proposed health care "overhaul".

New Cuz

Welcome Amy and Ryan's new addition, Molly.  I think she's a cutie!  Definitely a sweet (and calm) girl.

Spektor at the Tabernacle

Anyone wanna come see Manda's new favorite artist, Regina Spektor, at the Tabernacle in Atlanta next  month?

Lil' sis gave me a couple of cds of RS music and I really like it.  I'd heard several of her songs on the radio, but not this much of her stuff.  Love "Eet".  It makes me want to get up and dance.  (Don't laugh, even ((mostly)) white girls can dance and have fun).



Also love "Samson", even though the lyrics don't make much sense...

Dog Fair and Microchipping

 

(Click for higher res.)

If you're going to be near the Huntsville area this weekend, you should check out the Dog Fair at Monte Sano State Park.  Amy and I went last year and had a good time.  We got our dogs microchipped, saw lots of different types of dogs and owners, watched some of the agility, and checked out the various vendors. 

My two are fairly good about staying with me and don't really have a history of getting out of the yard, but I still went ahead and got them microchipped.  Microchipping is when a very small chip (about the size of a grain of rice) is inserted under the skin of your pet.  A scanner can pick up the chip and links your dog's chip ID to all of the pet's information.  Avid, the brand of our microchips, has a program that gives out free chip readers to all rescues if they promise to scan all of the dogs they receive (which might save your dog from being euthanized if he escapes, is stolen, or somehow winds up in a shelter).  There are constantly stories in the news about dogs being returned to their owners because they had a microchip.



I should also sing the praises of HOTC (Huntsville Obedience & Training Club), who is hosting the dog fair.  We took Ace and Tyson to obedience classes (although, they should not be considered the basis of whether you'd like to go there or not) and learned all kinds of things.   Their people really know their stuff.  They train you to train your dog.  They also have classes for dogs whose owners want them to become therapy dogs (visit nursing homes) and agility classes.  We got to do the agility courses on our last night of class and both dogs loved it.

Anyway, this sounds like fun.  Let me know if you want to meet up!

Battle Wound

Now, I know that health care is a contentious issue, but come on!  It's not worth throwing punches or biting off stranger's extremities.  Gees, people.  I think both of these guys are idiots. 



Just about everyone has an opinion on the health care debate.  Instead of fighting with others, why not research the issues, write your congressman, attend a town hall or protest (peacefully), you can even blog about it, but don't resort to physical violence.  Besides, you'll have a doctor's bill to boot.

(Hey, but look at the bright side... the guy got in and out of the hospital and didn't get wait listed or fight with rationed care...  The down side: he's now short and appendage)

Going to Venus

Ahahaha... this was a great laugh this morning. 

Is this the face of an alien abduction victim?

"Miyuki Hatoyama, wife of Japan's Prime Minister-elect, Yukio Hatoyama, is a lifestyle guru, a macrobiotics enthusiast, an author of cookery books, a retired actress, a divorcee, and a fearless clothes horse for garments of her own creation, including a skirt made from Hawaiian coffee sacks. But there is more, much more. She has travelled to the planet Venus. And she was once abducted by aliens.

"The 62-year-old also knew Tom Cruise in a former incarnation – when he was Japanese – and is now looking forward to making a Hollywood movie with him. "I believe he'd get it if I said to him, 'Long time no see', when we meet," she said in a recent interview. But it is her claim in a book entitled "Very Strange Things I've Encountered" that she was abducted by aliens

while she slept one night 20 years ago, that has suddenly drawn attention following last Sunday's poll."

Granddaddy

Gardening: learning early.

I never really got to know my paternal grandfather. Sadly, he passed away of a heart attack when I was just 4 1/2. I do have some very vivid memories of him that I greatly cherish and wish I'd gotten to know him better.

Norman Harvey Shipman was the eldest son of nine surviving children, descended from a long line of southern Presbyterian farmers, mostly Scottish. As a young adult, he took care of his widowed mother and younger siblings, living at home for a while and supporting them with his paycheck. He married my grandmother when she was very young, and they had three children together.

He was a tinkerer, engineer by trade, gardener, and avid reader. I don't remember him talking very much. I remember walking around with him in his garden (his back yard was completely incorporated into his garden...) where he'd pull out a dirty radish, shake it off, and hand it to me (yuck, but I ate it because he gave it to me). He doted on us (he lived just long enough to meet all 4 of his grandchildren) and we all loved him dearly.

My grandfather with Amanda, me, Grandmother, and Rachel.

I clearly remember when my dad came to tell Amanda and me that Granddaddy had died in his sleep. We were in the kitchen of our old house and he hugged us as he cried, probably the only time I've seen my father cry. The funeral was surreal; my great aunts were all weeping behind us in the pews while I wondered what was going on. It's funny the things you remember.

Growing up, I didn't think about Granddaddy too often, but there are some definite traits of his that influenced who I am today. He was one of the first "radar guys" in town, moving to the area when the arsenal was first being established. I used to say I'd never be an engineer like my parents, but whooops... I'm currently working on a master's degree in electrical engineering specializing in radar theory and now think that it's really neat that I'm kind of following in my grandfather and father's footsteps. Also, like my granddaddy and Aunt Terri, I too love to dig in the dirt. I don't know what it is, but I sure do love it!

For my birthday, my dad gave me what is probably the most sentimental gift I've ever received. He gave me Granddaddy's old "Simpson 260 Volt-Ohm-Millianmeter". It's not as flashy, or really as useful, as our modern voltometers, but it was his. And what a cool gift, too. Something that he used all of the time to fix radios and friends' electronics with.

A few months ago, my Aunt Sherri sweetly gave me my grandparents' wedding china. Before then, I didn't have anything that belonged to them, and until recently, I didn't even have a picture of my grandfather.

Growing up, I never asked too many questions about my relatives, but I've found that the older I get, the more interested I am in where I came from. One of my aunts has done some pretty incredible and extensive research into our family's genealogy and has been able to share some of the family's history with me. I have really enjoyed getting to hear about some of my ancestors and their every-day lives. It's also been neat to be able to recognize some of the traits that I've inherited from others and share with my parents/grandparents/aunts and uncles.