Just a couple of more days...

Friday we get on a big plane and travel to Colorado for out vacation. Should be an adventure. In the very least we will be able to have a couple of weeks of relatively stress free living, no alarm clocks to wake us up, no boom-booms from the army training we always hear from our house. Plus we shall have the mountains to enjoy. And good friends. I just hope the travel goes well, I hate going through airports, waiting for trains, ect. I am hopeful we wont get made fun of too much for our backward german ways. And I hope we dont get hit by a car on the road if we get to ride bikes. My wife can be a bit of a road hog...when she believes she has the right of way. And Wyoming, we are going there for fun. 2 more states I have never been to, marked off the map. More to come....

A fun picture to look at.

Just a happy thought, miss you honey!!!

Me lazy man? NoOOOO, me busy man.

Too darn busy to sit and write down stuff in my own blog. Mostly I 'troll through all my normal blogs to see what happenin, maybe slip in a rude comment or 2 when its appropriate, or inappropriate even. I am not doing much, our boring lives just trudge on, but soon we shall be visiting Colorado and Montana, even just for shits and grins. Oh, yeah, visit the kids along the way, talk to some of the yocals, see whats up. Seems my wife now has it in her head we should buy a home there to live out the remaining decades of our lives. O.K., sounds like a plan, but I like town. I dont want to live in the middle of the woods, all dark and scary. Plus, I enjoy being able to walk to WALK to a store to buy a loaf of bread or whatever and NOT have to drive 10 miles, ya know what I mean? Not New York, just not the boonies, o.k.? I am sure we will work something out, I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way. We love the mountains, though...wide open spaces, hiking, biking, that sort of thing; clean air. Just as long as we dont get A) attacked and eaten by bears, or other wild animals, or B) have to explain to people why we dont like skinheads, nazis, bikers, gun lovers, preverts or other assorted nut cases that believe that freedom means freedom to get in my face. Please, please DONT. Thanks. Happy trails, see you all in 2 weeks.

JEEZ

Cant a guy just go somewhere and not have to put up with b.s.??? I guess not.... heres the situation: I live and work here in Germany for the american government, basically, and right now there is some discussion in the op-ed section of the paper here about how much "news" time is given to Fox news, the "fair and balanced" stars and stripes yeah for (conservative) America and all that vs. the time given to CNN, NBC, ABC, and so on. (These latter news organizations being considered part of the liberal left wing elitist media that helped put McCain in as the republican candidate, thereby insuring Obama would win-or at least thats the story they are telling us these days, if you believe that stuff.) I dont know if there is more time given to Fox, but I guess it has come out that, indeed they do get quite a bit but thats because (we are told) most of us in the military are "conservative" therefore afn(armed forces network) is only catering to its audience. What a bunch of b.s.!

I didnt hink much of it, but now that I started to observe the news programs more closely, I am begining to think there might be something to this bias stuff, wondering why? I mean, lets face facts...Fox is fair and balanced, as long as they get out and report the views of both the ultra-conservatives, the moderate conservatives, and the middle of the road conservatives. Reminds me of that line from the Blues Brothers, when they were booked a gig at a red neck bar and Elwood ask the waitress what kind of music do you play here, and she answers "Oh, we like both kinds, country AND western! I mean, Fox makes no bones about the fact that they are the hunters and Obama and the democrats are like deer....shoot em on the spot! Health care reform? Furgetaboutit! Taking responsibility for the war in Iran, torture, Gitmo, illegal wire taps, ect? Why thats just un-American! (Texas drawl accent here) Why, anything we did after 9-11 was justified cause them arabs terrorized us, and the great George W made sure they had it commin! Bottom line, Fox is a joke.

Today I went to the gym to get in a workout, and the t.v.'s were on, one had the sports channel, the other the news channel. On the news was Fox's own Sean Hannity discussing the Health Care reform bill. His main point for the 40 seconds or so that I caught was that it was too "heavy". He had a copy of the bill in a binder and kept picking it up and slamming it down on the table, saying this is the bill congress will never read....I guess his point is the politicians are too stupid to read such a book, it has too many pages, too many big words, and its just too doggone long! He did have a guest on who gave us some of the "low-lights" of the bill, meaning she had time to read it and find some bad things in it...but congress wouldnt. Funny we think so little of our congressional members. I dont know if the health care plan is good or not, but judging from Fox's reaction to it, I am thinking it is good for the poorer people, but not so good for the rich as it might cost them money. Wouldnt that be a shame? I am all for it!

Whats my point? I dont know, I just started rambling on about Fox after being subjected to its news programming. I switched over to the sports, though I hate baseball. I cannot wait until my Ipod is working again.

A perfect illustration as to why torture is wrong.

A young soldier of ours, one Pfc Bergdahl, captured by the taliban is shown on a video making remarks about "how he wished we could all go home and stop wasting our lives in Afganistan" has been on the news lately. He is obviously expressing messages his captures want him to say, using him as a propaganda tool, which is against the Geneva convention and international law of some sort. Not that they care, I doubt they (the taliban) signed it or even really know much about it. I hope this young man is released and soon, but I have my doubts. What strikes me as funny is how we go back to our rightious Geneva convention when it is convenient when it suits our purpose. Now can people understand that our use of torture techniques such as waterboarding was wrong for so many reasons other that just plain useless? I wonder if this young man were waterboarded, would we consider it to be acceptable treatment of captured prisoners? This whole episode reminds me of the recent Oprah show which featured Ted Haggard, the preacher who was paying young men for sex and doing drugs express outrage over homosexuals. Let those without sin cast the first stone....and let those who sin, or condone it shut the hell up.

Did you know???

You can go into google map, type in an address and a picture of the place may show up on the result...I did so, and found a piture of the house where my brother and I grew up. : http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=3131+w+18+place+cleveland+ohio+map&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&ei=JxZfSozLAcTz-Qbc-uTmAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1 Just in case you are interested...Its the one on the lest, with a porch and bricks in front with holes to peak through. The old neighborhood is looking pretty rough, but there it is. Isnt modern technology great!!! Now if we could just go back in time....

Changes

Modern technology has changed the world, so ways for the better, some ways not...I was reading a blog today : http://www.notyetawino.com/ where she talks about putting together a scrapbook with her mom after her father passed away, going through some old pictures. It suddenly occurred to me how in the future these kind of moments will not be possible, as we have gone totally digital, unless of course we take the memory card in and make prints, which we dont do...There was always something exciting about going to the store and picking up pictures processed not knowing what the results might be. Pictures are snapshots that capture moments in our lives, friends we have made, people we like(or dont like) things we do, places we visit. I want to be able to look back at those someday, remember things I had forgotten...old loves, old friends, people who I knew. You forget things, ya know...I know I do, but I want to remember.

UUHHH.....

Isnt Michael Jackson been dead now, for like a couple of weeks? Can we please just move on? I know some people are still upset over the "king of pop's" demise, but lets face it...HE'S DEAD already, let him go in peace. We only get cnn here at work, and they are still yacking about it. And dont even get me started about Larry King....thats all he has been talking about for the last 2 weeks +. I mean its not like he was Elvis or something.

Well, I am now just trying to get through another happy class, it looks like th co. wont pay for anymore until next year...damn. So, I find myself slowing down because there are financial considerations. And we want to go to Colorado in Sept., and have a break. Honestly, sometimes I wish I hadnt wasted so much of my youth on foolish pleasures, thinking that my job would last forever. Actually, I could still have my old secure job if it werent for my wife and her moves. But, I love her and I could live without her, even if she thinks differently. There was some guy on afn a week ago talking about something military-like, I took it he was a german civilian and worked for the army. At the end of the interview he tells the lady about his wife, how much he loved her and if it were not for her he would probably be a drunk somewhere huddled in a corner...maybe he was joking and maybe not, but there are times when I feel the exact same way. I owe her my life, my sanity. I cannot imagine where I would be without her....so heres to you, baby...I love you, yesterday today and forever.

I dont do weights...

Because every time I try I end up with problems: back muscle problems, soreness, that sort of thing. So none of this stuff like you see below for me. I used to like to do aerobic classes, though. But right now they do not offer any here, perhaps in the fall I will get back to spinning classes when the instructor comes back from vacation. She is pretty hard-charging and her workouts leave you soaked with sweat, satisfied and tired. Right now I stick to the elipticles and running short distances, like under 3 miles. I guess my workout habits are not that interesting, but it keeps me happy and I have some aquintences at the gym, sort of a social thing. Gotta replace hanging out at a club or bowling alley. My class is going real well, though the money is hurting us and I hope that this will get me somewhere. So many people are out of jobs, it is tough to think we should make any moves or changes. We both have jobs and we want to keep them. I do worry about the future and money a bit, but I think God will provide and show us the way. Oh well, this weekend is work for both of us, I have to come in on Sunday, so no chapel. Hope all is well with you reading this and if not....feel free to yell, kick or repond to tell me about it, yell at me or just plain to get things off your chest if you need to. I had a co-worker do that to me this morning, and I think it helped her to vent. Even if I wasnt that interested, she seemed happy to vent. I thinks you need to do that once in a while, ya know? Happy trails.

Too much for me...you see what I mean....

I just am not this way...even when I was younger and "in shape" I NEVER looked like this! Of course, being a guy, I would not look like this anyway, but you get the idea; I was never even as buff as these chicks, though.

My speed: old-fashioned aerobics w/Denise Austin

And, of course the lovely beach in the background...would love to be there.

Denise

Oh the joys of growing old

Is it arthritis, rheumatism, sore muscles or wharever it is I have been having a hard time waking up and getting out of the bed in the mornings. Here is a typical morning for me: the alarm clock goes off at 5 a.m., and depending on what time we are in bed asleep, I will hit it once or four times; then I will go down stairs, start the coffee and then lay back down on the couch and turn on the t.v. to check either the news or sports just to see whats going on(my eyes do not need to be open for the majority of this time.) The trip down the stairs is the real adventure for me as my joints in my feet and knees often feel as if they had hardened over night and I had to break each and every one for the first time. So it is ouch-ouch-ouch all the way. I also sometimes watch either of those exercise shows on, "Flex appeal" and "Denise Austin". The flex appeal one is more like eye candy, I just do not know who the heck does stuff they do...all of them look like body builders, and they work out in short shorts, and the gals are showing off what expensive breast implants look like these days. There is no way I can do that, though I have on occasion gotten up and moved with Denise Austin, she is more my speed at that time of the day. ANYWAY, then after the coffee is made and I have woke up sufficiently enough to move, I will pour a cup for the wifey-pooh, take it up (again ouch-ouch-ouch) and then kiss her to waken her from her slumber, sing a song, or just rudely say "get up mama"...or not. Then its out to walk the dog and see what goodies the world has to offer. This morning, 8 July, 2009 it was cold and I froze because I put shorts on...duh! Sometimes I wonder if all this working-out gym time is really helping me or killing me...I do like the feeling I have after a good workout and sweat, though. I hope you all had a good morning this fine day and get out and enjoy what good things are coming your way. God Bless!!!

I wish I could say I had a wonderful weekend;

But, alas, I cannot say this to be true. We are boring, stay at home people who dont get out much because we seem to always anchor ourselves down with things...like school or church and other such things. So, for our loooong two-day weekend we did find this town about 10 Km or so from Hohnefels that looked interesting enough to stop by and see. It had this castle up on the hill you could see from the road, we stopped and found that the town was hosting a sort of arts-and-crafts festival, we bought a couple of things to decorate the house and had a pretty good time up to the point where they shot off guns, which scared the heck out of the dog to the point where he was hyperventalating. Worse than having a damn kid. So, we abruptly left. My wife did get her homework done and is looking at another A, which is very satisfying. I am about half way thru my class which is going pretty well, but I am now worried about funding from these folks so things might have to slow down or stop altogether. At least until January. I am going to put in a letter of exceptiopn to policy, but I do not expect the best. So far these folks have been a major disappointment. MAJOR disappointment. Oh well, I guess I should count my blessings. But still. Things have got to change. I have to change them, and thats all there is to that. On the bright side, we have plans to go to Colorado in September for a little visit, we shall see what adventures this will bring.

Stalkers and stalking

I deleted my other blog because I kept seeing something that make me think I was being stalked...I dont like that. I come from a long line of stalkers, both the one who stalk and the ones being stalked...I guess that would make them the stalk-ees...so, anywho, I was just wondering why a certain someone from my past would be stalking little old ME. I mean, I am just trying to be good, mind my own business, not bothering nobody, so why? Its NOT like a sex-dude-thing, either its just annoying, stupid. Well, anyway, it turns out that it was not the case. I made a mistake...a boo-boo, as I like to call it. So, thats a load off and I am better for now, but then up pops another stinking problem. Seems my company (whose name should be the suckass company that doesnt pay enough and screws up you pay every chance they get) is NOT going to pay for all my classes, because they have a 4 class per year limit. FOUR. I mean, the cash limit is $6000., so what kind of classes can I take with just 4? Do they not realize I am almost 52? I will be dead by the time I get my degree at that rate!! Never mind passing. And the class I got now I have a 99.73%. Just burst my bubble all to hell today. I gotta get another job just to be able to be able to sustain the lifestyle we have grown accustom to. Bad new to start out the weekend. Maybe I will find financing somewhere else. There has to be something out there for old dudes trying to reinvent themselves into something different because the old way sucks, right? I need a good, sweaty workout and I know just the place...hope ya all have a happy fourth, dont drink too much beer and play with the boom-booms, alright? Have fun though and be safe. Take care of yer kids. Kiss your spouse. Go to church and/or thank God for all your blessing. You'll be alright. I know I will.

Me. This is me in all my foolish glory. And my trusty cross-country ski, taking it in to get an autograph from the Wee-man, but the line was too long...so I was just going to leave when a nice old friend said she would get it signed (her rowdy rugrats were at the front, 2 boys destined to become doctors, or else do time, I havent figured out which yet.) Not that big a fan of MTV Jackass or skateboarders for that matter, but like I said, you take what you can get here in Graf, so we do apreciate it when someone does come around. Anyhow, Thanks Miko and kids. Peace to all this week, safe travels and a safe 4th to everyone! (BTW these are my skater pants, bought them in the thrift shop for like, $3.00, originaly priced at 69.95, they are pretty baggy, and make me look phat!)

Michael Jackson

Sad, really. I mean, one does not really know what else to make of him. It, the whole thing. I mean, he certainly was weird...no matter how you slice or dice it he was "Off the Wall" out there. I am by no means a HUGE fan, though I did like some of his songs, Thriller, Billy Jean, We Are The World, Man in the Mirror...songs that were good and meant something...Black and White. But some of it was just alright and really not my cup of tea. Certainly dont own any of his cd's or have any songs downloaded on my ipod. Its just so sad, I dont think he was allowed to live a normal life, ever...from the age of like 6 or whatever on he was a star, never got to go to the mall, walk amongst us normal folks. But he had money, so who cares, right? And that sleeping with the kids thing. I never wanted to beleive he was a molester, but no one know for sure. But a guy on t.v. yesterday broke it down pretty basically: a 40-something man does not sleep in the same bed as kids...unless they are his own. PERIOD. I hope it was just false accusations, a scam to get some money; I hope for the best out of everyone. Maybe I am naive that way, I dont know. But I have always been that way...I was hoping that O. J. didnt really kill his wife, but thats how I am. SOMEBODY did though.
Anyway, you know what I really think killed him? His inability to deal with his own mortality. I think he couldnt handle the fact that he was human just like the rest of us and it scared him to death. Or maybe he WAS a molester and just couldnt live with the guilt. In any event, if the reports of drug and alcohol abuse is true, then he killed himself...just like Elvis...he used drugs to sooth his pain, his fears or whatever, and it killed him. Let that be a lesson to you, boys and girls: alcohol and drugs are BAD!!!
Too bad about Farrah, too, she trully was a beauty. Wish I still had that poster.

more weeman stuff

signing autographs for the kids...

Wee-man in Graf

Hey folks! THE Wee-man in da house!! In Grafenwoehr, no less! Crazy. Went to get an autograph, the line was so long and I just wanted to hit the gym, and was about to leave when an old friend, Miko came up and told me her boys were in line and she would get my ski autographed for me!!! How great! I went back and they were all gone, but, indeed, I got my cross-country sli with the signature on it. I am not that big of a fan of MTV Jackass, but when you are in Graf, you take what you can get...we dont get many "celebs" that do not have titles like "General" in front of them here. Besides, he is cool, born in Pisa, Italy, so I am thinking he has family associated with the military. Anyway, thats whats going on around here today...have a great weekend, and pray for the family of Farrah and MJ...they are with God now. Peace!

Not just another beautiful day here in Graf

Certainly not. Rain, again as usual. It is getting so old. No summer yet thus far, and its making me depressed...maybe I have some sort of no-sun depression sydrome...I know there is such a thing, too heard about it before. Anyway, its almost the weekend, and a guy by the name of Wee-Man is in Graf...a friggin celebrity of t.v. and the movies, no less...gunna run over and try and get an autograph and pics, too. Not much happens here in Graf, so one takes what one can gets. Classes are alright, gettin all A's; not bad for and old man. Wrote my nephew on facebook yesterday, seems some of the others dont even know how to use a computer. I dont get it. I mean, they are my age, maybe a little older, but still...I cant imagine not using the internet every day. I am hoping to get back in touch with my half-brother, have not spoken to him in many years.

Yes, we will have to do something here soon, perhaps a trip to Poland again soon, out basement is pretty full of donations, its getting quite out of hand. I will have to take pics and do a photo set called "My Polish Summer Vacation". It is pretty nice there, really, though the beaches are not much to write home about. I live to write another day...Peace to all..