A little busier than normal...

So...

I know it's been a little while since my fair readers have last heard from me...I'll get straight to the point. I've been busy. There you have it. The weathers finally decided to come around (and stay around), the endless studying, blah blah blah.

I was able to make some contact with a guy who happened to catch some excellent pictures of the Mt. Pleasant St. fire the other night. Mr. Brandon Wu is to be commended, for catching an historic event.

I'll be back infrequently, over the next week or two...but like MacArthur to the Philipines, I will be back.

But of course, this should come as no surprise...

Get a Cash Advance

Land of the Rising Sun...

My initial reservations concerning loading two kids under the age of 5 onto a 600 mph tin can for 16 hours were not wholly unfounded- my apologies to the passengers on United Airlines 891, especially those seated in Row 30,32 seats D, E, F; and Shinkansen Hikari Rail Star 393, Express service to Osaka and Hakata Terminal. Other than that, I was glad to have returned to the land of my youth, and felt fortunate that I could achieve a lifelong goal of escorting my aged parents there for what will probably be their last trip there.

Lessons learned:

1. the Japanese transit system (JR Group) is light years ahead of the rest of us here on the big blue marble

2. 300 Kilometers per hour is pretty damn fast. Faster than I can run, swim, or legally drive anything.

3.The Japanese can turn just about anything they touch into art, and pretty much everything has this "we thought about this for a long time before we built/manufactured/grew it" feel to it...

Some of my favorite places 'over there':

I'll give you raised eyebrows extra credit for being a smart person and figuring out where some of these places are...

SCUMBAG!

I just cannot believe that someone would do something like THIS


If they catch the person(s), they ought to be tarred-and-feathered...and then immolated.

Regardless of your personal viewpoints or political stance on things related to the military, what are people thinking when they set out to consciously desecrate a national memorial?

Why not just go out and burn the Declaration of Independence? Or the Constitution of the United States of America?

For those of you reading this outside the DC Metro area, the protests and counter-protests have been heating up here as of late.

This one act, however, stoops to a new all time low. I commend the person responsible for this- you have ruined the memorial for approximately 2-3000 visitors expected there next week, including:

1. Gold Star Mothers, making their once a year trek
2. School children, visiting Washington, D.C. for their first time.
3. Vets who are living paycheck to paycheck, unable to visit during 'peak tourism' months
4. Just about anyone who hadn't been there, and seen it in its unmolested state.

sigh...

Ok...on another completely unrelated note...today seemed to be a day of "down-up-down again"...

Down: awoke to the news that my favorite all time FIA World Rally driver, Colin McRae, was killed with along with his 5 year old son, Jonny, when the helicopter he was piloting, crashed a few hundred meters from their house...to make things worse, the investigators wouldn't confirm the number of crash victims until much much later. This is usually Public Safety Code Language for " the crash-trauma was very severe, we're not sure how many bodies we have, until we put them all back together..."

Colin and Jonny McRae


Up: Dad and I went out to the range and blasted a few hundred rounds of ammunition, and with the help of a very skilled co-worker (read: former military sniper/excellent mentor), were able to get my rifle re-zeroed, and end the usable life span of some very thick pieces of steel silhouette targets out at the 400M mark...great day for shooting in general...high 60's, sunny, and a very mild breeze...

Down: Now this thing pops up about someone vandalizing memorials...crikey. I'm still disappointed in some people...

Its September again...

I was going to post my recount of september 11th in DC, but I just couldn't find the words for it yet...

others have, however, made a very nice digital archive, located here:

September 11th 2001

I still haven't figured out how insert links into this blog, so, just bear with me, and copy and paste.

On a positive note- I've nearly finished painting my house...well, at least the outside.
And, I'm off to Japan in two short weeks...I didn't think I would ever get the chance to get my
parents back there, but it looks like I'll finally be able to pull it off... it oughtta be a hoot:

My wife, 4 year old, 2 year old, my 70+ year old father, and 60+ year old mother, all cooped up in a tin can
hurtling towards a California-sized island chain in the middle of the ocean for 16 hours. WTF was I thinking?

oh well...

til next time...

thanks to Cravey for pointing out that I only have approximately 46 years left in this mortal coil:

some various work pics...

for once, it was actually hotter outside, than it was inside...I think this was July of '05


My God...it was cold that night...


Don't let the snow fool you- It was a kajillion degrees inside this joint...



Never, ever, fall asleep, while I am still awake (especially at 3 o' clock, and in the TV room)


A couple a' ham sandwiches.


enjoy...
-tc

Godspeed, jakes...

Man...this tears me up.

Heroes.

I can't seem to get my links to show up in my post, so...I dead-linked it...copy and paste if you want to read...


-tc

An Ode to Wal-Mart paint...

In the spirit of my fifth as-of-yet unfinished household project, I bring you my first-born honest to god web-log posted on something other than the Pee-Chee folder of blogs(Myspace). Half-way through my adventures in urban tinting, I was reminded of a poem by my late mentor/friend/educational terrorist, Mark W. Craver, about painting a house:

An Ode to Wal-Mart paint

Behold! You splendid cannister, of half mixed

dyes!  Foe to the man foolish enough to heed your economy

minded pricetags.

Not one to be outdone by your Grade 'A' peers,

You ensure our quality time spent together by 

requiring THREE coats for best coverage, instead of the usual

two.

Your sagging skin, smooth as lichen covered oak bark,

beautiful hue, consistent as the heat lightning on a

sticky August afternoon, hides nothing underneath, plainly displaying fad colors of days of yore- behold the Harvest Gold!

the Burnt Umber! the Avocado Green! the Swingin' 70's!

Your mossy tinted drops bring a tear to my eye, 

and a forever stripe to me favorite white T-shirt!

Foolish be the man who ignores your environmental

warning label, daring to create his own domestic

future Super-fund site!

And I, the simpleton you were intended for, will need to

return to your place of heritage, alas if only for THREE

more gallons...and possibly, a book of matches.

Thanks again, Mark, for the memories, and his switchblade sister, Jenny, for taking me to task, on this 'blog' thingy...

Wal-Mart - 1

Me       - 0

-tc