Good Luck, Amy

Amy's got her LAST EXAMS EVER this morning!

If you know anyone who needs a good marketing/advertising/sales employee, give her a call!

Good luck, Amy Beth. :)

Finally!

The Supreme Court finally made a ruling that was strictly based on the Constitution's original intent... in this case, the (individual's) right to bear arms.

I disagree with a lot of the Court's rulings, mostly because (whether I agree with the end result or not), in my opinion, they're often not founded on the Constitution. The whole purpose of the Supreme Court is to interpret the law and determine whether or not it conflicts with the fundamental rights given to us in our Constitution, not to decide (based on their own personal preference or politics) which laws are allowed to be enforced or not. But, I'm probably preaching to the choir here.

Anyway, it really bothered me that there were/are several places in this country that do not allow you to own a gun in your own home. Or, if you do own one, you have to have prior government approval, register the gun, keep it unloaded and disassembled or locked. In Washington D.C., if you unlocked your own gun in your own home, it instantly became illegal. How can you possibly defend your own home if you're not even allowed to unlock your gun?!

I believe that the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms - whether they're in the militia or not (this interpretation has been touted recently by some who want us to think that the founding fathers only intended for those in the military/militia to be able to bear arms). I believe there is good evidence to support that the intent of the Second Amendment was to allow individual citizens to protect themselves from intruders, including their own government. When you only allow the people with all of the governmental control the power to arm themselves, the rest of us are at the mercy of our officials.

I also think that some laws restricting citizens who've passed background checks and earned concealed carry permits to carry their guns in certain places have also proved to be deadly. Whenever we write laws restricting gun use by approved citizens, the only people who obey the rules are the law abiding citizens. If someone wants to go on a shooting rampage, do they care if there is a law barring them from carrying a gun on a school campus? No! But, as a result of the law, all of the potential victims are sitting ducks because no one else is able to defend themselves.

I understand that we do need some restrictions - obviously criminals convicted of violent crimes and the seriously mentally ill do not need access to guns, but that doesn't mean that any state or city has the right to use that as an excuse to keep law abiding citizens from exercising their second amendment rights.

I wish I could readily give you all of the current statistics on the number of crimes prevented by armed citizens. I know they are high. I had an economics professor in college who made us chant, "More guns, less crime!"

John Lott, author of a book with that title, said in an interview a few years ago, "For each additional year that a concealed handgun law is in effect the murder rate declines by 3 percent, rape by 2 percent, and robberies by over 2 percent.

"Concealed handgun laws reduce violent crime for two reasons. First, they reduce the number of attempted crimes because criminals are uncertain which potential victims can defend themselves. Second, victims who have guns are in a much better position to defend themselves."

Regardless of the controversy over carrying concealed guns in public, the Supreme Court's decision to uphold every American's right to protect their own home from intrusion is a major victory.

Honk for Anger with High Gas Prices

Did you see this article yesterday? After their mother had to cancel the cable TV (resulting in a loss of their cartoons) because of the higher prices at the pump, two sisters in Salt Lake City decided to do something about it.

They made their own signs on the back of old campaign signs and picketed the rising gas prices. One of the girls' signs read, "All of my mom's monny[sic] goes to the gas tank!"

They got a few honks and waves from supporters. I know these two really can't do anything about the global oil prices, but they sure are cute!

Maybe we should send them to Congress to protest the laws against drilling off of our own coasts (especially since other countries are starting to do it here themselves)!

Daytona

We had a great time on our trip to Daytona, Florida, last week. Matt's uncle, John, and his wife, Cathy, have retired to Daytona from Cincinnati and have a beautiful place right on the beach. It was nice to have no worries for a few days and to just be able to get to know his (our) family better.


This is the view of the river from the guest bedroom that we stayed in. The kitchen, den, and bar all face the beach with gorgeous views of the ocean.


Cathy is a professional hand engraver and engraves several of the Daytona NASCAR trophies. She scored us some free tickets to the museum, complete with a tour of the road track (which was really neat!). Here are Diane, Cathy, Matt, and Michael with one of the trophies that Cathy works on each year.


We're not big NASCAR fans, but I really enjoyed the museum and learning about the history of the sport. Matt was quite impressed with the old Beamers that used to race right on the beach before the super speedway was built.


Michael, Matt, Becca, Diane, John, and Cathy enjoying some fresh seafood. Yum!


John and Cathy have traveled more than anyone else I know. I'm jealous of the trips all over the world that they've been able to take. Here we are with the jade recreation of one of the famous terracotta soldiers that they purchased on their recent trip to China.

Interviews this Week

With my (lack of) singing talent, I could definitely do this.

I hate interviews. I get really nervous on most of them and tend to babble. I stress myself out beforehand wondering if I'm prepared enough, and afterwards as I replay the whole thing over and over while analyzing everything I said.

At least I have one down and only two more (this week anyway) to go.

I need a drink!

Back In Town

Matt and Michael with John and Cathy's jade Chinese warrior.

We got back into town last night from a nice (but not nearly long enough) trip to Daytona Beach Shores to visit Matt's uncle, John.

I'll get photos and stuff up soon.

Blue Angels Next Week

Matt and I are planning to watch the Blue Angels when they come to town. Is anyone else interested??

Matt said that we can find better places to watch it if we don't go to the airfield (I don't know where though... you'll have to ask him if you'd like to join us.)

Peaceful Ambitions?

My dad sent me this earlier this week, but I just hadn't gotten around to posting it yet. It's from a post on National Review.

I know Iran's nuclear ambitions aren't 100% (if at all) peaceful, but I don't really know what the best solution is. I don't, however, think that we can just talk our way through this. I know the U.S. still has nuclear capabilities, but we're also not calling for the complete destruction of the nation of Israel (among others) on a daily basis either.

I think the following sums it all up better than I could, so I'll just post the content and refrain from too much comment.

Khatami aide admits strategy of nuclear deception [Michael Rubin]
The former spokesman of the President Mohammed Khatami’s government (1997-2005) acknowledges in a debate that a goal of the reformism was to lull the West into a false confidence so that Iran could pursue illicit nuclear activities:

Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Khatami-era government spokesman, on a panel with Mehdi Faza'eli, general secretary of the Muslim Journalist Association: "We did our outmost to prevent the case of Iran being sent to the Security Council, whose judge is the United States.... During the confidence building-era, we entered the nuclear club, and despite the suspension [of uranium enrichment] we imported all the materials needed for our nuclear activities of the country...We were not subjected to sanctions regime during the reform era, but today, even our ophthalmologists are not allowed to import laser products [needed for operations]... If we pursue the right to nuclear energy for bombs, it is clear that the world does not want this, and if we want it for electricity, they say 'you don't have nuclear power plants, what do you want nuclear fuel for?' Just take a look at what the Russians have done to us in the Bushehr nuclear power plant.




With the current speed of enrichment, it will take us 25 years before we reach enrichment self-sufficiency. And who knows where we want to find nuclear fuel? And our reserves are unknown... The solution is to prove to the entire world that we want the power plants for electricity. Afterwards, we can proceed with other activities... The peak of our goal is an honorable life for the people. Do we want to become another North Korea…?




There are only two ways of coming through the current crisis. One is what Khatami did by winning the election of 1997, and the other what [he did] after September 11th, which both guarded the country against war. Today, the solution is to marginalize the Ahmadinejad government from political decision-making in the nuclear energy field, with decisions be taken elsewhere.




As long as we were not subjected to sanctions, and during our negotiations we could import technology. We should have negotiated for so long, and benefited from the atmosphere of negotiations to the extent that we could import all the technology needed. The adversary wanted the negotiations to come to a dead end and initiate a new phase. But we wanted to continue negotiations until the U.S. would be gone from the circle of negotiations. We had one overt policy, which was one of negotiation and confidence building, and a covert policy, which was continuation of the activities...




We consider access to all sciences and technologies of the humankind a necessity, but we also prioritize confidence building. Today, in the field of confidence building, Japan is the most advanced country in the world, but Japan can produce a nuclear bomb in less than a week...We achieved to divide the Europeans from the Americans, but today it has come to a point that the Europeans and the Ameicans have harmonized their policies.

Thanks to former Royal Danish Defence College analyst Ali Alfoneh for finding this story in his scan of the Iranian press and providing a pre-dawn translation.

Puzzle Apartment

Matt sent me this article last week. It's a long one, but really interesting and worth reading until the end.

In 2003, the Klinsky-Sherry family in NYC bought a fourteenth floor, 4,200 square foot apartment on Fifth Avenue. They decided to have the whole thing gutted and remodeled, but didn't want to go for a "cookie-cutterish" look. They hired architect Eric Clough to do the job and were pretty hands off during the remodel.

After Mr. Klinsky asked for a poem he'd written for his family to be hidden behind a wall somewhere, Clough began scheming and came up with an elaborate game/puzzle hidden throughout the apartment. Clues were hidden all over the apartment.

A radiator grate with what appeared to be random letters of the alphabet was really a code with a message. Seemingly pointless door knockers on opposite walls fitted together to make a crank, which when inserted into a panel in another part of the house, opened a secret compartment. Letters hidden in a secret drawer formed clues to a crossword puzzle. Over all, a system of nearly 20 clues lead to the panels in a bedroom that hid the poem Mr. Klinsky had written for his family.

"Behind the panels, large white letters laser-cut into teal blue acrylic spell out the words of a poem written years ago by Steven B. Klinsky."

The family first discovered that their apartment had more than they'd imagined when one of their children's friends cracked the code written on the radiator grate. A few months later, the architect mailed a riddled poem that lead them to a secret panel with a book written for them about the clues in their apartment. "The book led them on a scavenger hunt through their own apartment."

Framed photos of the original interior of the apartment had clues written on the back of them.

This is just the neatest remodel that I've ever heard of. Can you imagine having secret compartments and clues hidden all over your home, a book and musical score written all for you? My mother loves puzzles; she would have really loved this house!

Happy B'day Manda Panda

Happy Bird Day!

(yes, it's supposed to say "bird" instead of "birth"... it's from The Office)

The Hoax

Richard Gere as Clifford Irving in "The Hoax"

Matt and I had taken a break from our Netflix queue over the last couple of weeks and hadn't been able to sit still long enough to catch up on some of our movies. Last night, we found some time to watch The Hoax, a film loosely based on the false "autobiography" of Howard Hughes, written (made up) by Clifford Irving.

Matt is really interested in the life of Howard Hughes (probably due in large part to his huge influence on the design and manufacturing of several aircraft), and has read a lot about him. He thought I wouldn't like the movie, but it was actually very interesting.

There were several scenes in the movie that were completely fabricated, but the gist of the story was true. Clifford Irving fabricated a book and claimed it to be Hughes' autobiography. He relied on the fact that Hughes was widely thought to be a complete recluse and possible mental case who would either pay him off to stop the book from being published, or refuse to come into the public arena to discredit Irving.

Irving forged several letters that he claimed to have received from Hughes to secure a $765,000 book advance ($100,000 of it was to be written out to himself, the rest to H. R. Hughes), and had his wife deposit the Hughes money into a Swiss bank account under the false name of Helga R. Hughes (in the movie, this amount was inflated to $1 million). Irving invented elaborate tales of his meetings with Hughes, claiming to hold his interviews all over the world, when he was, instead, meeting with several of his mistresses.

This guy is a real jerk (in the movie and in real life), and a pretty worthless husband, friend, and employee. But, he still managed to pull off a huge hoax that fooled a lot of people until Hughes conferenced-called seven reporters who he'd had interactions with in the past, part of which was televised, to denounce the manuscript. Irving returned the book advance and ultimately served seventeen months in federal prison for fraud. He has since published several best sellers and now lives in Aspen, Colorado.

Fajitas and Margaritas

This past weekend, we celebrated at Amy and Ryan's first official engagement party with fajitas and margaritas in Guntersville.

Ole!

The best part of any party... presents. :)

The boys.
Seth looks like he feels a little left out. ;)

So, you may be asking, "What do you do after you have finished your fajitas and margaritas?" Well... you play frisbee!!

Amy's Auburn Crew teammate, friend, and bridesmaid, Corey, had a serious throw!

Most of the players didn't want to part with their drinks, so they had to catch and throw single handed!

I saw Isaac dive out in front and steal a few passes to his dad!

Amanda and Angie gave us a good version of the Mexican Hat Dance!

Auntie Amy with her future nephew, Chase.

Happy Late Father's Day

Happy Belated Father's Day!

I should have written this last week and scheduled it to post on time. Since I didn't, it will have to be a belated wish.

I feel really blessed to not only have such wonderful parents, but also several other parental figures that have loved and taught me over the years.

Barber Motorsports Park

Thanks for eating ice cream and drinking milk. If you’ve bought anything from Barber Dairies then you may have helped provide the venue for my weekend fun.

This past weekend Michael, Dad and I went to the NASA (National Auto Sport Association, not space ships and satellites) race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL. BMP is owned by George Barber, who made his fortune from cows. It’s an absolutely beautiful facility that is landscaped more like a golf course than a race track. There are large sculptures scattered around the grounds and it has the feel of a very nice park. The track itself is also incredible.


As at Road Atlanta in March, I was driving in group 2, of 4 levels, while slowly working my way (hopefully) to a competition license in a few years. This time Michael was also able to drive in his first weekend on track in group 1. My dad also flew out from California to help out and generally just be there. It also gave him a chance to see how different NASA regions do things as he usually drives in the Norcal region and this was a NASA Southeast event.

A general summary of the weekend: It was HOT! Temps were hanging somewhere around 95° in the shade with track temps above 120°. At one point while sitting on grid waiting to go out on track, my super snazzy on-board computer told me that it was reading 137°. I’ve now decided that no matter how much weight I could save, I’m not getting rid of my air conditioning until it’s 100% race car and I have another driver cooling system.


Michael and I both got 4 twenty minute track sessions each day. I actually sat out my last session on Saturday because I was way too hot and just worn out, but this still works out to almost 5 hours of track time on the car. The car again ran perfectly and actually rolled over 210,000 miles while out on track. I think that’s pretty impressive for an engine that still burns zero oil and can get over 30mpg.


For his first time on a real track, Michael did great. He had an instructor ride with him all of Saturday and for the first 2 sessions on Sunday. She said he was doing really well and signed him off to solo for the last two sessions. My dad then rode with him for one and he was all alone for the final session. He also accomplished his primary goal which was don’t break the car or hit anything.

Overall it was a very successful weekend. We had a great time, met some cool people, burned some gasoline, removed some of the rubber from my tires and I can’t wait to do it again. Hopefully I’ll get another chance in December back at Road Atlanta.

It has been said that the only way to make a small fortune in racing is to start with a large fortune. Would anyone care to sponsor a future race team?

Shirts or Skins?

One of the things that Matt is really good about is mowing the yard. I have only done it once or twice (and ended up destroying several items left in the lawn), and really appreciate that he doesn't seem to mind cutting the grass (aka I don't have to).

One thing I have asked him to do, though, is to at least wear a cotton tee shirt when he does the front yard. I would prefer he abstain from going shirtless wherever the neighbors can see him.

Part of the reason for my severe aversion to Matt showing some skin to the neighborhood comes from our experience at the old house we rented when we were still newlyweds. We had a neighbor across the street who insisted on sitting on his front porch, shirtless, with his big hairy belly on display for the whole world to see - even in the dead of winter! It was especially distracting because he was out there at what seemed like all hours of the day, never moving from his post. You only knew he was alive because he was constantly screaming at his kids, who often played in the front yard.

When it's hot outside and Matt wants to tone down his severe farmer's tan, that image of the shirtless neighbor burns my brain. I know Matt doesn't look like that man in any shape or form, but it's the idea that bothers me.

After MJ's past weekend at the track, though, his farmers tan has taken on a whole new level. I told him that I couldn't take him to the beach with me next week when we visit his uncle in Daytona Shores.

So - what do you think? Is it just too redneck to mow shirtless? Or, is it just contributing to a real red neck (and farmer's tan) to be forced to mow fully clothed?

Oldie But a Goodie

I found this while trying to clean out my computer at work a little. Someone emailed it to me a while back and I thought that the little kid in this Blue Cross Blue Shield commercial was so funny that I had to share it.

"He was injured. Injured bad."



Warning: Contains graphic language.

Operation Chaos?

I try to keep up with politics - not to a huge extent, but I do try to have a fairly general idea of what is going on with the people who represent me.

When I heard on the news last night that the opposing political party to the upcoming runoff between two congressional candidates is trying to throw the vote, I thought it was a little annoying.

One of the two candidates in the primary, Wayne Parker, scored just shy of the needed majority at 49% of the vote, and his runner up, Cheryl Baswell-Guthrie, (who got just 19%) is now set to face him in a runoff next month. The other party only had two candidates and the winner of their primary, Parker Griffith, easily won the nomination at 90% of the vote.

Now some in that party are trying to upset the runoff in July. As reported by several news outlets, a political email group sent out a message that read, in part: "Anybody up for a little med­dling in the runoff between Bas­well Guthrie and Parker? I be­lieve we can all agree on who would be the easiest to beat in November."

Voting in one primary and then in the opposing party's run off is apparently perfectly legal where we live, but I don't necessarily think it's necessarily 100% ethical.

When asked about the suggestion, Wayne Parker put it very well: "We've heard some of Dr. Griffith's supporters want to meddle in the primary and keep me off the ballot in November. People in North Alabama want honest and fair elections. This certainly undermines the spirit of that."

I may not necessarily have a horse in this race because I didn't vote for either of the candidates in the runoff, but I still think that they should have their fair chance. And, this party isn't without it's own blame too - the same situation came up in the presidential primaries (actually - on both sides: lots of Democrats voted for McCain and even more Republicans voted for Clinton!), but I do think that it undermines "the spirit of honest and fair elections" when you vote for the weaker candidate of the opposing party just to give a boost to your favorite candidate.

I guess that's just how politics work, but I don't have to agree with it.

Old House

When we first moved back to the area, we were in a hurry to find a place of our own (we were staying with my parents until we got our own place). We arrived in town on a Saturday evening, looked through the Sunday paper the next morning and found a rental that day... just in time to unload the moving truck before we had to drop it off the next morning.

It was an older bungalow with two bedrooms and one bath. It had been part of an old mill town and had an addition or two built onto it over time. In one of the rooms, you could place a ball and watch it roll across the sloped floor. A few of the door handles were missing and there were several little things around the house that were old or broken. We didn't mind it too much because it had character and was very affordable!

Well, we were in the neighborhood the other week and decided to drive past our old rental house. Someone has since bought the place and completely remodeled it.


The outside of the house still pretty much looks the same, but the inside is COMPLETELY different. It's also listed on valleymls at 3 times what the appraised value was (we got the appraisal in the mail while we were living there) just three and a half years ago.


It's a cute little house, but I'm not sure I'd pay that much for a 2 bedroom, 1 and 1/2 bath (they added a half bath in the remodel) on a teeny lot. I would, however, love to have that brand new open kitchen with the granite counter tops and bar!

Good Samaritans Still Exist

After watching a video of an elderly man struck last week in a hit and run while crossing the street in which several bystanders simply stared and walked away, I was feeling pretty down about the level of compassion among strangers.



Then I found this story about a group of vacationers in Europe who stopped and saved the life of a jogger having a heart attack in Rome. This group of German doctors stopped their travel bus, got off and "injected adrenaline directly into his heart, gave him CPR, applied a heart defibrillator, and inserted a breathing tube."

We all remember the parable of the good Samaritan and I just hope that if I found someone in the same situation, I would take the time to show some compassion and get help.

We Got on the River!

One of the first Harnation posts was about the secondary family that I grew up with at our old church, Community Pres. We finally got around to taking a group trip together last weekend- the first one in many many years.

I say "we" got on the river, but it it was really just the majority of the group. My mom, Aunt Angelia, and myself all made the huge sacrifice to go shopping with our recovering appendicitis victim, Amy, instead of hitting the river on Saturday. :)

The trip was a lot of fun, even without any paddling. We rented two condos for the whole group so that we could all stay together. It worked out really well and I think everyone had a very good time.

When we checked in, we had to sign their rental policy, which the manager informed us meant we weren't allowed to "jump on the beds or moon any of the other guests." Too bad. We didn't get to see the birthmark that is "Russia" come out this year. (Phew!)

Back at the house.

Jay, before the flip.

Ryan looks pretty good for a semi-newbie.

Mr. and Mrs. A

Scooter and Isaac.

Dad looks like he thinks the water is cold!

Amanda and Kary on the falls.

The Sunday re-run group.

Who's foot is that?

A friendly game of pool.

Thanks for a great trip, guys!