The Tobacco Story

It's that time of year again. Broad Leaf tobacco is ripe and ready to be cut. Spent the weekend on the family farm with all sorts of walks of life helping to harvest the crop.

mi papa es en mexico

check out this good lookin' guy!

my pop is headed south of the border this week. he joined the local church group for a mission trip to chiapas, mexico. i think they are going to build a church, or something selfless like that. my dad is pretty good at the church building skills: last week he helped rebuild my hometown church, which was destroyed last fall in a tornado. this week he takes his skills to our southerly neighbor.


his humanitarian resume thus far:
- red cross meal kitchen in louisiana after katrina
- red cross chain(saw) gang to help clean up after tornadoes
- rebuilding bethlehem baptist church in crosstown, mo
- building una iglesias en mexico


i'm sure i missed a few things, but that's a start. he and my mom have decided that retirement is better spent traveling the country, playing with grandkids, and volunteering to help others.

um yea, and what have you done lately to help someone out?

Maybe I should take that Aviophobia class....

Uggh. I shouldn't have wrote that blogpost about flying yesterday. Last summer my wife, my in-laws, and myself took a somewhat similiar flight in Alaska that didn't work out so well for the five poor souls that crashed yesterday. Goooobers......

Are you a Rebel or a Yankee?

To find out how much Southern blood your speech shows, take a look at this. I personally have 25% Dixie in me and the rest is “Dandy Yankee Doodle blood.” For those that check out this site, let me know what you are. I am taking a poll as to see how many Dixies compared to Yankees check out this site......

Not quite aviophobia but there's still no love...

Phew. The chance of multiple engine failure on a plane is next to none. And here I thought it was at least a 20 percent chance. Anyways, for those that have little love for flying, the New York Times put out a great article today about the Fear of Flying. While I’ll freely admit that I’d rather take a fishing trawler to South America rather than flying, I am not nearly as bad as the people described in the article. While a lot of people will poke fun at my fear, my traumatic experience on an American Eagle flight from Bradley CT to Kennedy NY during an ice storm scared the living hell out of me when I was a 10 year old kid. A few years later, another instance in the Pacific when the plane hit wind shear and did what felt like a 6 mile nose dive rather firmed up my belief that flying is for people other than myself. Despite my anxiety, I’ll get on a plane as I know it is more practical as well as safer than driving (unless you are driving with me) or taking the fishing trawler I mentioned earlier. Besides, I landed on a glacier uphill out in the middle of nowhere in a small plane that ended up getting stuck in the snow and we had to push it out. I can fly anywhere now without fear – right??

A blast from the past

I know that most of you folks probably think I am crazy for even mentioning this stuff, but seriously, who does this anymore? The cold war is over correct? First the Russians send over an assassin to knock off a political dissident living in the U.K by using radiation poison (seriously, they just couldn’t have used a knife or a shooting umbrella?) The Brits obviously then get a little annoyed that this happened both on their turf and under their noses. So after they figured out who did it they ask to extradite the killer from Russia so they can put him up on charges. The Russians refuse for various political reasons. To retaliate, the Brits PNG (persona non grata) a few Russian diplomats out of the U.K. and ask them to not come back. In return, and becuase they have to have the last say in the matter, the Russians do the same to British diplomats in Moscow and to add to the action, they send a few Russian bombers to cross over into British airspace to prove a point that they won’t be intimidated. Good lord. Kids, lets play nice. The focus is on the Islamic nut jobs that want to kill us remember?

Safest Seat on a Plane

So a good friend of ours flew out to Paraguay for the week to conduct official state business. We won't go into how he defines "official," but nonetheless he's representing our good Commonwealth down in the sultry city of Asuncion. Anyways, he was nervous about his travels down south as he was going to be flying TAM airlines. (Exactly, the airline that had a little braking problem last week.) So after a quick search, I found the following link to help him out. Not sure if he'll see this until he comes back (last we heard he made it to Brazil) but if he does, change your ticket to be seated at the back of the plane!

adventures on ice and snow

i made it to the summit of mt rainier (elev 14,410ft). the trip was a blast. here is a picture that i was able to snap on the descent.

The Pesky Russian's are at it again.....

How I wish for the old days when one knew their enemy. This simple act would have made world news across the america heartland back in the old days. Now its just a hidden article in Time Magazine.

Geopolitically speaking, this is a smart move on Russia's part. How the U.S. will act to this will be interesting. And this concludes your International Relations moment of the week.

Book of the Month

If one enjoys reading about Ideological warfare and the role of Religion within the future of conflict, as well as reading about anything to do with the British, then the book Londonistan by Melanie Phillips is highly recommended. Ms. Phillips provides a controversial look as to how British society has succumbed to Islamic fundamentalism and how the appeasement of militant Islam by British officials during the 1980s and 90s has fostered Islamic extremist groups on British soil. A simply brilliant book that makes one think about the Ideological crisis that the West finds itself currently embroiled within but does not fully comprehend or take seriously.

Sniffle sniffle....

My wife left me for a mountain. This is how I feel right now....

The time has come......

i leave tomorrow morning for seattle to attempt to summit mt rainier.

The Mother Of All Let Downs.......

It is amazing how quickly one may become greatly disappointed if access to the internet is readily available. While checking my email I noticed a section on upcoming movie trailers and decided to click on the section and preview the various upcoming movies for the year. One of the trailers that I watched was for the movie I AM LEGEND with Will Smith. Before you read any farther take a moment to watch the trailer here.

Looks interesting huh? Another end of the world movie that has a science fiction plot that sort of loosely reminded me of the old 1985 Dennis Quade movie ENEMY MINE. Or at least that’s how I interpreted the trailer and secretly wished the movie to be like. After watching, I was pretty excited. Despite my excitement, and the fact that Will Smith would be in the movie, I had that nagging feeling that it would be very similar to Independence Day. Nevertheless, I thought that this movie had the potential to be that movie which I eagerly await all year for. So, I looked it up on the internet to learn more as the name "Robert Neville" was familiar to me.

And boy was I hugely disappointed (disappointed just like when I found out that the trailer for THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW was not accurate.)

The movie is actually based off of the 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson and will be another adaptation of the book much like THE OMEGA MAN with good ole Charlton Heston was. (Who can ever forget that toothy laugh of his in the movie?) Oh well. It’ll be a vampire movie that takes place in down town Manhattan. I’ll still watch it – but it won’t be that movie that I count down the days for.

Oh and sorry for all the Dennis Quade references.

Happy Fourth of July!