Friday, August 24, 2007

Crabs

In anticipation of the upcoming crabfeast, we decided to hit the water late in the afternoon on this past Friday. By "we", I mean myself, my son Ethan, my buddy Eric and an 18 pack of Miller Lite. Got on the water around 3pm and by 7pm we had over a bushel of crabs and the 18 pack gone.

Now, I've been crabbing the same stretch of water (Nanjemoy Creek) for over 11 years. In those 11 years, I have to say that I've grown somewhat complacent to the rules and regulations that govern boating. For 11 years, I have never seen the police on that creek. I know they're around but for some reason they never seem to venture into Nanjemoy Creek. I've never really understood why because a Natural Resource Police (NRP) Officer could have a banner day on Saturday mornings in July and August because of all the illegal crabbers on the water at that time.

Around 7 pm, as we're getting ready to run one of the lines for the last time, who should happen to roll up into the creek? It's none other than a NRP officer. At this time of the evening, we were the only ones left on the water and by the time we noticed he had us in his sights its was far too late to do anything about the 18 empty beer cans laying on the floor of the boat. He comes up next to us and asks us the obligatory "how you all doing?" the whole time he's sizing up our catch, the boat, my kid, and the 18 empty beer cans.

He asks me how many beers I have had. Unless I wanted to blame half of the empty beer cans on my five year old, I knew he had dead to rights on at least a six pack. So I answered 6 or 7 (more like 8 or 9 but I had to give myself some wiggle room). He asks me to recite the alphabet "a to z" without singing it, which I ace. He then asks me to count backward from 66 to 53. I proudly ace that one as well or at least thought I had aced but I aced it from 66 to 57. In the heat of the nervousness combined with a good buzz I missed the part about counting backward to 53. At that point, I thought he had me. He then makes me do it again to 53 which I this time do as requested.

Thank goodness, I decided to let Ethan come with us because I truly believe he was our saving grace. I mean I had passed the sobriety tests basically and Ethan did have his life jacket on which we always make him wear even if it wasn't the law. But, if this officer felt like being hard on me, he could have taken me in for a breathalyzer which I'm sure I would have failed. In Md a DWI on the water counts as a DWI on your driver's license so I really dodged a bullet on that one.

Here is where I didn't dodge any bullets and the years of complacency finally caught up with me.

Did I have my registration? No
Did I have a fire extinguisher? No (I truly didn't know I needed one on that boat)
Did I have a throwable life preserver? No
Did I have a sound device, i.e. a whistle or air horn? No
Did I have at least two life preservers, one for me and Eric? Technically yes, but one was so ratty that if I had to chose between it and a beach towel to stay afloat I would probably chose the beach towel. So the answer inevitably to the NRP Officer was no.

All told $175.00 worth of tickets and warnings. If I hadn't been drinking, I would have been pretty mad, the fact that I knew I just got off real easy made me want to kiss the officer's shoes after getting a handful of citations.

Good thing Eric didn't bring a 30 pack.

Needless to say, when we crabbed again on Saturday morning, I had all the stuff I was missing the day before and this time; no beer.

For as bad of a year as it is, we still ended up with close to 4 bushels total. Out of the 4, there was at least 1 bushel of number ones (beautiful big crabs).

So Friday marked the end of an era of reckless abandon and complacency on the water. Crabbing, for us, has always been one of the last true free from worry get aways left. We never had to look over our shoulders to see if "the man" was watching us. Crabbing will always be fun but something about it just won't be the same.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Cooper's First Helicopter Ride

Last Wednesday evening Cooper started some seizure activity that would not quit. This seizure activity was highly unusual as the majority of his seizures occur morning time and usually involve some muscle spasms of the right leg. On this night, it began as some tingling in his right hand and progressed upwards causing his speech to be slurred, drooling and then some vomit, all lasting a few minutes. After which he snapped out of it and told us he was fine. This, as he called it, fine state lasted a few minutes then he began to slur his speech again, vomit some more and started to get incoherent.

I called the neurologist on call at Children's Hospital to get his assessment on Cooper's situation and whether we should administer Diastat, an emergency seizure medication to be used for seizure lasting more than 5 minutes. But because Cooper wasn't flailing about having the typical what is known as grand mal seizure, we, including the neurologist, weren't sure whether we should give the medication. He felt our best course of action was to take him to the local ER as Children's Hospital was too far of a drive in his current state.

Thinking it would take too long for an ambulance to arrive; we put him in the car and drove 15 minutes to Civista Hospital in La Plata. An ER Crew of about 6 met us in the parking lot and whisked us into the ER and began administering a series of anti-seizure meds, basically sedating Cooper and shutting down all electrical activity within the brain.

Once they stabilized him they informed us they would transfer him to Children's via helicopter. Then they came back and said due to the storms in the area, the helicopter could not fly and Children's was sending a ground crew to get Cooper. The ambulance (ground crew) arrived after about an hour and began prepping him for transport. Due to the length of the ride and the fact that seizure sufferers can possibly have their airway restricted, they decided to intabate him; whereby they put a tube down his throat and let a ventilator do his breathing.

The ground crew said one of us could ride in the ambulance with Cooper and that they would be leaving in "two minutes". Sheri would ride in the ambulance, I would go home get us some clothes and coffee (it was approximately one am at this point). I left for home, got clothes, food and coffee and started heading for the hospital thinking I needed to get there to help Sheri as they should already be at the hospital or close to it.

About 25 minutes into my drive and still 20 minutes from the hospital, Sheri calls me on my cell and says they are STILL at Civista and they now decided they would use the helicopter to transport him but Sheri would still have to ride in the ambulance as there is not enough room on the helicopter. If they had left when they said they were going to they would have already been there, I was really confused. As it turns out the ambulance crew needed way more than two minutes to prep Cooper for transport and by the time they got him ready the helicopter was available.

About 230, as I'm getting ready to make a left onto Michigan Ave with the hospital in sight, I hear the distinct whirring of a helicopter. I make the turn onto Michigan and pull into the hospital parking lot while I'm watching the helicopter land. I went up to the ER and said I think my son was just brought in by helicopter. They said he was and took me right back to where about 12 people were just beginning to work on Cooper. They immediately assured me he was in no danger and they were prepping him for ICU.

Sheri arrived a half hour or so later just as they were taking Cooper up to radiology for a CT scan. Nothing against Civista in fact all of their ER people were top notch. Dr Brown from Civista even called us Friday to check on Cooper. They just don't have the means to treat children neurologically. There is something definitely reassuring about being back at Children's. I don't know if it's because we spent so much time there or the fact that these folks work with kids all the time and they know what to say to us parents but we feel better when we're there.

They did the CT which came back negative and moved us into the ICU where at Children's it's called the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit as opposed to the NICU, for all the preemies and newborns). At around 4:30 am Thursday morning, Sheri and I were able to sit down.

At this point Thursday isn't much more than a blur but I think I can piece it together.

0530 Spinal Tap (now called lumbar puncture or LP I guess they are trying not to scare people with the old term) results: negative
0630 Sheri's mom arrives
0830 EEG tech hooks up for a 30 minute EEG, Results: Cooper is not having seizures
1030 Cooper starts to awake and choke on the breathing tube
1045 Respitory people arrive and remove tube, Cooper is back to sleep
1100 Uncle Will and Aunt Janet arrive bearing much needed food
1300 My folks arrive, Cooper is still asleep due to the heavy sedation
1400 Cooper starts to wake up but is in and out of sleep.
1600 Sheri and her mom go home to get some sleep and to see Ethan and Isabel and relieve Lucianna
1900 Dad leaves to go stay at Aunt Janets
Cooper I believe is awake some and watches some tv ( I really don't remember much that evening. I was starting to drift in and out myself). I remember NOT getting to the cafeteria before it closed and had to eat chicken strips from a vending machine. I think Cooper was awake because I do remember trying to get him to eat some of my chicken.
2230 Sheri comes back to stay the night, my mom stays as well to help Sheri
2300 I leave for home

Friday morning I return and Cooper is awake and very combative about being bed ridden. He keeps telling us he is better and wants to go home. He has an MRI scheduled at 2 pm. They sedate him for the MRI and results come back negative. Cooper didn't awake from his MRI until almost 5pm. At this point they are ready to move him out of the PICU up to the neurology ward on the 4th floor. However, they want to run a 24 hour EEG on him. So before he even wakes up they attach 20 some electrodes to his head and enough wire to power a small city keeping his movements limited.

We get transferred up to the fourth floor about 1830. Once Cooper was settled, Sheri, my mom and my dad leave to go home and see the kids. I will stay with him Friday night. He ate a lot of junk and we watched a lot of junk on tv and he was out by 2200 and me by 2300. We also had a surprise visit, which really brightened Cooper's spirits, by Mrs Zito and Mrs Caroseli from Cooper's school. We had a good night as far as hospital nights go. The alarms, the intrusions by roommates and nurses checking vital were all minimal and Cooper had a good night sleep. Me I slept some, but hospital sleep for me tends to come in blocks, no more than three hours at a time.

It's now Saturday and Sheri, Ethan and my folks get back to the hospital around 1130. Cooper is still hooked to the EEG machine but the Doctors let us know that when that is finished he will be discharged. They came and removed the EEG leads around 1300 and when I was comfortable that he would be discharged, I and Ethan head for home. Cooper was discharged and got home around 1600 Saturday afternoon.

As it turns out, thankfully, all the tests came back negative. No tumor re-growth or signs of hydrocephalous (fluid pressure on the brain). The doctors believe that Cooper's anti-seizure medicine is not at the right level. We have now increased the dosage and basically live on egg shells wondering what may come next.

At this juncture, I start to second guess myself wondering that maybe we should have just let Cooper sleep it off at home Wednesday night. One of the after effects of a seizure is extreme tiredness. We have seen it before from him after a nighttime seizure. He was tired Wednesday evening as it was past his bed time and couple that with a seizure, it's no wonder he became incoherent. I think his body and his brain basically said "I'm tired and I just had a seizure, I'll see you tomorrow."

If these seizures are the worst that has come out of the whole brain tumor ordeal, we consider ourselves pretty lucky.

Sorry to anyone who was aware of Cooper being in the hospital but wasn't aware of the results.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Web Designer

I have plunged into the realm of website design. Let me know what you think and while you're at it, you may as well go ahead and register:

www.ansrace.org

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Global Smarming

While I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people nowadays who would dispute global warming, the real debate is what effect does man have on said temperature change. Some people would have us believe that if we all cut down on our jet setting across the country or quit powering our mansions with green energy, that it would have some effect on global temperature. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It's been estimated and documented that if we completely stopped using fossil fuels tomorrow we would only reduce global CO2 levels by a scant 23 percent. Some might argue that a 23 percent reduction would be worth it. Maybe, I tend to think that if we stopped using fossil fuels this planet would descend into chaos, in a matter of weeks. Anarchy would reign supreme, tens of millions; perhaps even billions will die in the transformation back to natural man. Deforestation of the planet of biblical proportions will occur, in a matter of a few years, as people choose survival over extinction or green T shirts. Entire regions will become uninhabitable by humans.
Food production will plummet.

Think about it; marginal change is pointless. Massive change would be catastrophic.

The only meaningful efficient substitute for fossil fuels is the environmentalist bane, "nuclear technology". Lets face it folks, solar energy and windmills are feel good science projects, I mean a windmill produces what? Science has had over 30 years to perfect solar and wind power, what's the best they've come up? A windmill that provides enough electricity to power...a windmill.

In conclusion, the argument that we can even do anything rational or effective about man made global warming is a non-starter. The only sane idea to get us away from fossil fuels and start us moving towards a replacement is to use them all up. So I developed this 10 point plan for all of us to adopt to do our part;

1. Leave your lights on, all of them.
2. Only buy SUVS, the bigger the better.
3. Leave your refrigerator open and use it as a reading light
4. Use your oven to provide extra heat.
5. Aim a hairdryer at your thermostat in the summer to keep your house extra cold (Refer to number 4 if you get too cold). NO BLANKETS!!
6. Washers and dryers are to be used for one garment at a time.
7. Get a shower installed that has internet capabilities so you can surf the net or write your blog while you shower.
8. Water your grass, often.
9. a. Get a big house like John and Al.
b. No sharing of limos, get your own.
10. Get a private jet.

Al says the "earth is sick and getting sicker" and many say what can I do to help?

I say show me your license.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Au Pair? Au Contraire!

Never overestimate the interpretation skills of someone who speaks English as a second language. English, with all its contradictions,
dialects, slang, idioms and nuances, takes way more than 9 months to figure out. Sometimes we, especially me, tend to forget that.

It was kind of funny, back in December we had informed Asmira that we needed to know if she planned on staying for her second year. We needed to know by mid January because if she didn't plan on staying, we needed to start the interview process again. I guess we never stressed the staying "where" part. When my folks were at our house over Christmas, my mother had told me that Asmira told her that she was planning on staying. I had also heard the same from my brother in-law and mother in-law. After nine months of living with someone for whom English was a second language, I had learned that a lot gets lost in translation. So when my family would tell me these things I started asking them, what exactly did you ask her? Did you ask; are you planning on staying for your second year or did you ask; are planning on staying with us for the second year? Anyone who talked to Asmira always forgot the latter half of the question which... is really the most important part. I'm just as guilty. About two weeks before the deadline, I asked her do you plan on staying a second year? She replied I think so, I really like it here. I was so relieved but it was only after I was telling Sheri later that evening that I realized I did the same thing, I didn't ask "where". Fast forward two weeks to the deadline and we're all sitting at the dinner table and I ask again. Asmira, do you plan on staying a second year? She said "Oh yes, I love it here, I don't want to leave, I plan on staying the full two years."

I was relieved for about 15 seconds when it dawned on me that hey idiotself you still have not asked "where". By now, after listening her to rave about how much she loved it "here", I thought the "where" part was pretty moot at this point. I remember thinking "She loves it here, she's not going anywhere". But because it was the deadline I felt I better make sure there were no misunderstandings. I asked do you plan on staying "with us" for your second year? Without hesitation she said "No - I move in with a family in Baltimore for my second year". I knew it!

It's down to the wire now. Asmira officially has 14 days left at our house. It's been a wonderful year for me, Sheri and the kids. We can't say enough about Asmira and the program in general. Sheri and I were disappointed that she decided to complete her second year with a different family. However, we understand that if we were in Bosnia and had an opportunity to live within walking distance of a lifelong friend, we ourselves would probably jump on it as well. Asmira's best friend is in Baltimore and she is moving into a host family down the street from Almira. We can't say we blame her.

Asmira was excited about the move back in January/February, these last few weeks the realization of change has set in. The aforementioned excitement has turned to anxiety as she will be starting over with a new family in a new location with new rules. Sheri and I are confident she will do well.

What have I learned?

1. Bosnians are mentally tough and work hard.
2. Bosnia reminds me of Pa, I would like to visit.
3. I'm far more paternal than I thought even though Asmira is 24 and I'm th...not.
4. By Bosnian standards, I baby my two boys.
5. Not all Muslim women wear veils, in fact when going out; some of them wear very little clothing and a lot of makeup.
6. Bosnians are not confined by time; at least they act that way - an enviable trait for many Americans.
- For Asmira's birthday we bought her a very nice watch because we noticed she didn't have one. As it turns out, in Bosnian Culture, watches are never given as gifts. In fact, it is an insult.
- We gave her an alarm clock when she first got to our house and I don't think it has even been plugged in yet.
7. My family's life was positively influenced by Asmira. I hope we were to her.


We are looking forward to our new au pair that will be at our house on Good Friday. Her name is Lucianna and she is 21 year old from Brazil. She speaks English pretty well and Portuguese is her native language.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Tribute Trends

Am I the only one to notice a disturbing new trend in death memorials? As if roadside memorials weren't enough, I'm starting to see more and more homage being displayed on rear car windows.

If you haven't seen one of these rolling tombstones yet, trust me you will. I haven't really been keeping track but I would venture to say I have seen no less than 5 different ones over the last year. I really need to keep a camera handy with me because I want to get a picture of one. I was coming out of the Starbucks the other day and tried to take a picture of one on the back of minivan with my camera phone but of course that didn't work. I'll keep trying.

Call me old school but I tend to think the best place to memorialize our loved ones is at a cemetery not on a vehicle. Look, if I'm dead, use your car for what it's meant for and come visit me dammit! Don’t be parading around announcing to a bunch of people I don't know that I'm dead. I mean, nothing says impermanence like a decal plastered on the back of losing investment.

I hereby give authorization to anyone who wants to, that upon my passing they may place the following (using my name of course) on the back of a 1991 Nissan Sentra;
To complete the trifecta of annoyance hang a set of fake testicles from the bumper (talk about having issues) and drive around doing 10 mph under the speed limit.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Guilty

Is it possible that the MSM could have misled the public anymore on the trial of Scooter Libby? Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to defend Libby; I believe he perjured himself and obstructed justice and should have to do some jail time. I, unlike the left, believe felonious perjury and obstruction are serious crimes no matter what the circumstances, i.e. lies relating to non-crimes (such as this case) or about sex. We are however talking about the Democratic Party, the party that introduced us to "hate crimes" and believe that violence against one minority group warrants you more punishment than violence against another group.

One thing that has to be made perfectly clear is and was made known by the investigation is; Libby was NOT the one to out Valerie Plame as a CIA OP. It was then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. If this is news to you, well you certainly haven't been following the case well enough. If you think that's news, how about this? Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald won't be bringing charges against Armitage. Why? (Hmmm, what's the best way I can put this?)

IT WAS NOT A CRIME!

Do you think you'll hear that interesting tidbit in the news? Don't bet on it.

Color me partisan all you want but here is what I have learned from the 3+ year investigation;

1. Libby lied and obstructed justice into the investigation of how Valerie Plame and her classified job at the CIA was leaked to reporters.

2. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the source of the leak.

3. Armitage will not be charged as the leak does not constitute a crime.

4. Armitage is a real piece of work. He could have nipped this in the bud early on by saying he was the source of the leak. Instead he chose to let Libby twist in the wind and trip himself up to the grand jury. Libby made his bed however and he has to lie in it.

5. The person most responsible for the demise of his wife's CIA career was Joe Wilson. Mr Wilson chose to go public with the false accusation that his report debunked the claims that Iraqis had gone shopping for uranium in Niger and it had been circulated to senior administration officials. He had to know that these officials and reporters were going to question why a retired ambassador to Niger was sent on this mission by the CIA. The answer most certainly pointed to his wife and to divert attention from himself he concocted a conspiracy theory to implicate the President's closest aides. It's sad so many took and still take this buffoon seriously;

Red Flag #1. Wilson had long been a bitter critic of the Bush Administration, writing in such left-wing publications as The Nation that under President Bush, "America has entered one of it periods of historical madness" and had "imperial ambitions."

Red Flag #2. He was affiliated with the pro-Saudi Middle East Institute and he had recently been the keynote speaker for the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, a far-Left group that opposed not only the U.S. military intervention in Iraq but also the sanctions and the no-fly zones that protected Iraqi Kurds and Shias from being slaughtered by Saddam.

Red Flag #3. Mr. Wilson has said that he opposed military action in Iraq because he didn't believe Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and he foresaw the possibility of a difficult occupation. In fact, prior to the U.S. invasion, Mr. Wilson told ABC's Dave Marash that if American troops were sent into Iraq, Saddam might "use a biological weapon in a battle that we might have.

Red Flag #4. Mr. Wilson had no apparent background or skill as an investigator. As Mr. Wilson himself acknowledged, his so-called investigation was nothing more than "eight days drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people" at the U.S. embassy in Niger. Based on those conversations, he concluded that "it was highly doubtful that any [sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq] had ever taken place."

So to wrap up, the CIA sends a retired Bush-bashing diplomat with no investigative skills on a mission so sensitive to National Security and no one is supposed to question who directed it? Everyone knew the Iraqis were buying yellowcake but that actually gave creedence to the War in Iraq. Justifying the war in Iraq means more votes for the right and the left will do anything in their power to stop that from happening.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Not so Bright

Madeline Albright has come out and said that she thinks that Iraq is going to go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy. I guess if I had any doubts about what we were doing in Iraq, Ms Albright has just affirmed that we must be on the right track in Iraq. You see, in my world it was Ms Albright and the Carter Administration whose failed foreign policies got us where we are now. Lest we forget that Madeline Albright served on Carter's National Security Council.

Those that forget history, are bound to repeat it and no matter how many times that gets said, the left just continue to turn a deaf ear to the past. Somehow, liberals have a way of elevating their proven failures to Hollywood status and trotting them out as "experts" in a topic they've completely botched up. Carter in his four years as president, four years that begat the term "misery index", was a foreign policy nightmare. His whole human rights and his unwillingness to use disproportionate measures illustrated the folly of pursuing a policy of understanding in a world replete with dictators and despots. He lectured Americans on the foolishness of their "fear of communism", and the Soviets responded by invading Afghanistan. He tried to appease the mullahs in Iran, and they responded by holding dozens of Americans hostage, releasing them the moment Ronald Reagan was inaugurated (someone not unwilling to use disproportionate measures, just ask Libya). Instead of declaring war on Iran and taking them out, we sat wringing our hands for over a year, lost eight military men in a bungled attempt at a rescue, and kicked perhaps the worst president of the 20th Century out of office in the fall of 1980.

Fast forward to 1993 and the 8 years of foreign policy ineptitude (four of which Madeline Albright served as Secretary of State) that directly resulted in the American slaughter on 9/11. What if the first attack on the World Trade Center had accomplished its goal of bringing down the building and killing thousands? What would our reaction been then? Just because 6 people died we did nothing? How about the USS Cole? What would we have done if the magazine had been breached and killed all aboard? Why didn’t we act? How about the US Embassies? What would we have done if the building had been blown up as intended and killed all US personnel instead of 250 locals?

You want to know what the greatest disaster in American Foreign Policy is? Liberal influence.

The fact that Madeline Albright can sit back and criticize someone else is reprehensible. How soon we forget.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Random thoughts on Superbowl XLI

I will never eat another Snicker bar, ever!

Rain makes for slippery foot balls. Someone forgot to tell both teams.

Venue should rotate every year to all cities not just ones with domes or warm climates.

How old is Prince? Somehow I surpassed him.

Anyone on Indianapolis' offensive line could have been MVP.

Peyton's hand wringing after his receivers get folded like cardboard is annoying.

Jim Nantz is annoying.

Phil Simms is not.

I liked JB better on Fox.

Blockbuster mouse made me laugh.

Coca Cola and Doritos did not.

Paper, Rock, Scissors can be hazardous to ones health.

Black coaches winning superbowls is a trend I can live with.

183 days until training camp.

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Ah Leah!

Now there's a song you don't hear on the radio everyday or every decade for that matter. Say what you want about the "jack " music format but they do play a wide variety. You're certainly not going to hear Donnie Iris on DC101 or the classic rock station 94.7.

Back in the day, specifically my Washington Park Ice Rink Day, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers had a couple of big hits, well at least on Pittsburgh Radio; Ah Leah!, Love is like a rock, My Girl and the criminally ignored and personal favorite Sweet Merrilee.

Turns out Donnie is still in the Pittsburgh area, still tours, got himself a new album and a website.

Check it out here (for nostalgic value I might just get myself a shirt):

http://www.donnieiris.com

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Start Running

And that goes for me as well. I've been doing a weight training regimen that emphasizes squats and dead lifts, thus my running has fallen to the wayside.

Forget about the aesthetic benefits of running and concentrate on trying to find the spiritual side of running, almost like Zen running or something. It's kind of a hard thing to envision until you've actually experienced it and you won't know you've experienced it until you find yourself being drawn to it. This attraction is what will become your motivation. You have to trust that it is there, because you're certainly not going to feel it for awhile, when you're dragging yourself out for a run and your shins feel like they'll explode and you think your quads could double as banjo strings. It's more about freeing yourself from your surroundings and being able to focus on where your mind's going. Running not only is capable of clearing your mind at the end of a day, but I think it assists is problem solving, goal attainment (as far as where you want to be and what direction to take to get there), and a variety of benefits only obtained by reaching into the depths of your mind where only running can take you.

You don't have to believe all that but once you've been there, running (and exercise in general) will become as much a part of your life as waking up in the morning.

Here is what the run schedule for spring is looking like;

April 21, 2007 - 9:00 am - Run For Hospice 10k/5K - Leonardtown, Md
www.runforhospice.org


Great local race, I like it because: 1) its on a Saturday and 2) starts at 9:00.

May 6, 2007 - 8:00 am - Bay Bridge Run 10k - Sandy Point Park
www.annapolisstriders.org

One must register early for this one as it is usually closed by the end of March/beginning of April.

I like all the Annapolis Striders Races as they always serve beer after the race. If you've never run 6 miles or 10 miles and then downed a couple of beers all before 10 am, you're really missing out.

June 3, 2007 - 8:30 am - ANS 10k & 5k Run\Walk - La Plata Md
Registration details and link to website to follow.

I expect everyone within a 100 mile radius of La Plata to register for this one as Sheri and I are the Co-Chairs for the event. Proceeds from the race go to the building of new athletic fields as we currently have none.

Last year's event brought out 100 participants to run the 5k course and corporate contributions netted $13,000 to the school. We hope that with the success of last year's event and the addition of the 10k that we can beat those numbers.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Sandy "Burglar" (name is almost cliche at this point)

So you're former President Clinton's National Security Advisor and you're called before the 9/11 Commission to testify. What do you do?

Do you go the National Archives to refresh your memory and maybe get rid of some of those embarrassing non-job related emails you were sending around to your colleagues? I seriously doubt it. It wasn't like his title was assistant to the regional Security Advisor or Secretary of the Security to the national advisor, it was NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR.

So just what was Sandy Berger removing from the Archives? If you're up on the story, you'd know that several Archive employees were suspicious of Berger removing documents and it was only after witnessing him stealing did they initiate an investigation; an investigation that caught him hiding documents under a construction trailer. My question is what was it and how much did he actually remove before they even started the investigation? What was his motivation? Common sense would indicate to me he was removing items that may have been damaging to himself and the Clinton Administration. Am I too partisan to see that Berger's actions were inconsequential to the 9/11 Commission? Does anyone actually believe the pilfered documents were no big deal? Didn't his actions compromise national security?

This is the kind of stuff movies are made of. Someone from the archives should have called Bob Woodward at the Post. I'm sure he would have exposed this for the egregious abuse of power it was.

Yeah right.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Never Admit Defeat

Your president is lying to you
This war is illegal
You cannot win this war

What's the first thing that comes to mind? Sound familiar? Probably does, but I wonder if it's because you recognized the mantra that was spouted at American GIs by the infamous broadcaster Tokyo Rose during WWII. Perhaps, but more likely it is familiar because it's what we see and hear in the news media everyday. Isn’t this the message delivered by the mouthpieces of the Democratic Party? Granted they preface their message with a "we support our troops" but then belie that statement by saying;

Our president is lying to us
This war is illegal
We cannot win this war.

I'm always left wondering how people continue to say we are "losing the War in Iraq. From a militaristic standpoint, nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, are our cities be taken over by the enemy, are our bases being taken over and occupied, are we losing more men than they? No, not even close.

General Patton once said "You're never beaten until you admit it." No war is ever won by killing every member of the enemy. Wars are won by destroying your enemy's will to fight. How can we do this when almost every major news outlet and most democrats are out "Tokyo Rosing" the war in Iraq wanting us to admit defeat?

I thought the main objectives of going into Iraq were;

1. Impose our will in the region to find out once and for all if Iraq had WMDs. Mission accomplished.

2. Depose an evil egomaniac who wanted to control the entire region and threatened our way of life. Mission accomplished (if you don’t believe Saddam threatened our way of life, maybe you’d enjoy driving some overpriced hybrid to the grocery store to get $10 loaf of bread or $15 gallon of milk while our economy would slip into the worst recession we probably ever would see.)

3. Instill a western style democracy much like we did in post WWII Europe, a modern day Marshall Plan if you will. The idea was\is; that western style freedom, once rooted, would be the cure-all for 30 years of Middle East Mayhem. Mission Accomplished? Not even close.

No one ever said number 3 would be easy or occur in a short period of time. Somehow Americans forgot, even know that it was said repeatedly, that the liberation of Iraq would be a long arduous journey (how liberals can be against liberation is beyond logic but that is for another blog). Think about all the places we have intervened militarily, last I checked we were still in Japan, South Korea, Germany, all over the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Cuba, for crying out loud.

To leave Iraq now means the modern day Tokyo Roses have won, American and Iraqi lives lost were in vain, and anyone who would seek to do harm to the United States would have a free pass to inflict mayhem upon us.