eVan

The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc

2010-06-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

It was a quiet Memorial Day and D-Day remembrance out there, I saw a speech by Ronald Regan from 1984. Even thought it was many years ago that said a lot to me and invite you to take a belated moment to memorialize those who have and who still do risk all to defend freedom.

Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought -- or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4:00 am., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.

May we never forget: The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc

Slight Figure of Speech

2010-01-04T05:41:00.000-08:00

Funny Music Video for the Avett Brothers. I was treated to see them on the first of the year at the Fabulous Fox as a Christmas Present! Thanks Scott and Krista!

Food

2009-12-31T08:37:00.000-08:00

We've recently been discussing food and how it relates to our health, community and society as a whole and I want to share some films that make some great points. Maybe they will help with resolutions or something... enjoy!

The Future of Food:
http://www.thefutureoffood.com/ http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878/the-future-of-food

SuperSize Me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me http://www.hulu.com/watch/63283/super-size-me

Food Inc. (trailer):
http://www.foodincmovie.com/

The Inter-web has strange thumbs

2009-12-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

I am an internet professional and these guys know what they are talking about!

fight back

2008-09-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

We all knew Yoda was going to die...

2008-06-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

Yoda, not the green jedi master, but our old, wrinkled Saab 900. We named it Yoda because receiving it a few years ago, the car was already wizened well beyond it's years. 1991 after all, wasn't that long ago. My sister Carlie drove it, my sister Emily drove it (over an ice patch and rolled it off the side of the rockies), my brother Garrett drove it and then gave it to me when he left for his mission. I immediately changed the oil (knowing Garrett's reputation =) )... finding it dark and thick with sludge... But since Yoda has treated me well. We attribute its's long life mostly to the midichloreans... I'd sneak some in every time we change to oil or fill up the tank. Everything worked fine, just a couple old sores and stiff joints. Nothing duct tape wouldn't fix!

Well, let's be honest, there were a few problems...

Even before the sludge oil my brother left to us, was the countless McDonald's and Chick-fil-a wrappings filling the back and passenger seats and floor! A little mold never hurt anyone, right!

The turn signal lever was actually broken... or loose, you could twist it around twice, kinda like a loose tooth. Therefore I had no turn signal capability, which was scary sometimes, but I'm sure that anyone tailing me was watching carefully for falling parts, the brake lights worked, and after a while I figured it was worth the security to use my hazards every time I turned (even though I could see the confused looks on all the other drivers faces).

The side view mirror, which I guess is still in the Idaho rockies somewhere, was replaced with a hand held mirror, held in place with crumpled wal-mart bags and duct-tape. It was pretty slick though, a very easy way to adjust the mirror, to move it up, just more your head down. And every once in a while the duct tape would actually wear itself loose and flap in the wind like a streamer, which was nice, but it made a noise like blowing on a blade of grass, only much much louder, especially once I hit, oh- anything close to 45 mph.

Once the sunroof of the car was reshaped by impact with the Rocky Mountains, it didn't really open, or close. I forced it closed as far as I could physically manage, which would appear closed, until it rained of course. It's shape was that of a 3 foot wide bowl, so it would collect the spontaneous torrential rains we get here in Georgia, and any right turn would pour it into my lap! While Georgia has been in bad drought the past year or so, when driving Yoda, I didn't mind so much. Another result of the gap in the sunroof is the extreme wind noise Yoda got, after a few drenching experiences and long loud drives, I consulted my nearest duct tape (which I faithfully kept in the glove compartment). Patching the gap around all four sides of the sunroof I was able to minimize the waterfall and even reduce the noise!

Of course, the noise didn't matter too much, it never disturbed any conversations, because no one could ever ride with me, the passenger seatbelt refused to work and more annoying was the seat actually leaned about 10 degrees to the center and back of the car.

Reducing the noise was good though, because then I could hear the static in the radio better, having a damaged antenna does have it's perks. I could hear crystal clear static in the left rear speaker, which was the only one that actually worked most of the time. The others would come and go as they pleased.
Yoda had a certain musty smell, probably because all the upholstery in the ceiling sagged so much I finally ripped it all out. A small fuzzy layer remained though, constantly smelling. But every time I filled the tank the car smelled like gasoline for a few days, so I never had to suffer long from the musty smells.

We all knew it wasn't a matter of if but more a matter of when. We discussed regularly what we thought it would that did him in. We hoped it wouldn't be any belts, water pump, starter, fuel pump... because we'd replaced all that! As with any jedi master, there are many moving parts. The actual details about the demise of
Yoda will have to wait for another day.

How about we let you guess! Guess in the comments and we'll get to writing the post once we're back from our beach trip and the story is a bit further back in our memory, and less painful...

The first correct guesser gets... the rest of my midichloreans.

For now we'll just say, rest in peace little friend. We'll always believe.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

From me and Mr T

M O T H E R, treat her right!

Radiohead - National Anthem (live)

2008-05-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite songs of one of my all time favorite bands!

Krista and I went to Radiohead last night. I'm sure we'll put a post with some pictures and stuff, but I wanted to claim this video here! Thanks for recording it Krista! =)

It was a dream to see this song live!
And the light show here is amaz-az-ing!

2008-02-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

from dylanwinter1
An amazing thing to see - Near Oxford - England. It is an RSPB reserve called Ot Moor. It is the most remarkable thing I have ever seen - and as a video camerman I have seen an awful lot.

The road from the village to the car park is closed from jan 7th to march so beware - you can still see the starlings but it is a long walk

February Update.

2008-02-12T17:39:00.000-08:00

I have had a lot of fun lately with Thatcher and Lucie. They are both so silly.
Thatcher is getting big enough that Lucie actually recognizes that he exists! I think it is mainly because he is now eating food and getting so dirty he needs some loving cleaning.
We sure have a good time.
The grass is always greener on the other side... But really we're watching for squirrels!

And Lucie is good at keeping our ears clean.

Happy Times

Good Night comes pretty suddenly sometimes.

everywhere like such as maps

2008-01-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

Here's Miss Teen South Carolina:

And Here's her entrepreneur brother, Mr Teen South Carolina:

The funny thing is, he makes more sense than she does!

Family Resemblance

2007-11-30T20:53:00.000-08:00

People have been commenting lately about how much Thatcher looks like his dad.
Which makes me even more proud to show him off, but I hadn't fully agreed with this until I saw some photos to show it...

Life is Good.

2007-09-24T18:24:00.000-07:00