Mostly True Tales

I don’t know about you, but I was a little cautious today. A little anxious. I woke up this morning in the Ozarks, and I doubt Al-Qaeda is planning to hit the Ozarks, but I was returning to St. Louis first thing. I was worried about St. Louis, I was worried about all of America.

This evening as I write this, it looks like America will escape attack today, on the sixth anniversary of the greatest attack ever on American soil. You might say we lucked out, but the reality is, an attack today would be, too predictable, they want to surprise us.

This morning, as I drove into St. Louis, I listened to the Laura Ingraham show. Her new book, Power to the People, was being released this morning to coincide with the anniversary of 9-11.

I’m disappointed in myself for not stopping on my way home to pickup a copy. I’m sure I enjoy it thoroughly.

One of the many topics on Laura’s agenda this morning, was how schools in America are handling 9-11 from a historical point of view. According to her research, most schools in America were down playing 9-11, placing it in “context,” or not even acknowledging the events that occurred six years ago today.

This afternoon, when the kids got home, I asked Sarah, (Grade 5), and Bonnie (Grade 10), about their day. Sadly, neither one had social studies today.

Sarah told me, nothing was said about 9-11 by any of the school staff, but the kids were talking about it.

Perhaps at these young ages that is best, but I’m surprised there wasn’t a kid that noticed the flags at half-mast and asked why. No explanation or acknowledgment was given. Little Sarah is a 5th grader now, in the final stretch of elementary school. I’m sure she doesn’t fully understand what happened that day, and I’m not sure I want her to, yet. Bonnie is a different story. She is a young women now, and I want her to realize ALL of the dangers she faces in our world, and the future.

Bonnie told me her school had a short video, with the morning announcements, honoring the people that died September 11th, 2001, then, a moment of silence. Better than nothing, I suppose. She went on to mention, last year, her school provided planner that had the event marked. In this years planner, it was not.

I am greatly concerned for America and the glossing over of 9-11. We are becoming complacent, and that is what the enemy wants. Complacency. We are weary. But, a weary opponent is a weak opponent.

We must not become complacent or weary, and we must never surrender. If we do, we will be destroyed from within.

Unfortunately, due mostly, to the lies and treasonous actions, of the self-serving, elite left, our country is being brainwashed and lied to. We are being beaten from within by those that are acting for self-serving political reasons, or just think, it will all just go away.

WHERE ARE THE PATRIOTS!

I am afraid things are going to get worse, before they get better. I am almost certain America will suffer another attack even if we do decided to stop arguing amongst ourselves, and concentrate on the safety and future of our children, citizens, and country.

I sincerely hope you thought about September 11th, 2001 today.

I hope you talked about it with your friends, your neighbors, your spouse, and your children.

I hope you remembered where you were, and what you were doing.

I did.

I’d been looking out for this picture for a while and ran across it today while uploading images to flickr. Will is holding a beer completely surrounded in ice. The ice is stuck to the beer. Never before in my beer drinking lifetime have I seen such a thing.

Since Willy was supposed to come visit me this weekend and hasn’t as of yet (you never know with Will), I thought it would be appropriate to post this picture and say a few words.

Will, you’re late.

The odds in Vegas are falling like a rock.

You missed dinner, steak and lobster.

I held a huge party in your honor, but you weren’t there.

The Bud-Light Girls were there, so was Willie Nelson, he says “Hello.”

It’s ok.

Don’t change, I like you the way you are.

I’ve had my new MacBook Pro about a week now and I thought it was time to make a few comments. Here are the reasons I love it.

Speed. I am absolutely blow away at the speed increase, I knew it would be faster than my old PowerBook, but what a difference. I process a lot of thumbnails and the MacBook Pro really shines at this task. When creating a batch of thumbnails the job is done in seconds verses minutes. Everything about the MacBook Pro seems fast, windows open and close faster, faster scrolling, faster application startup. I hardly ever see the beach ball. Even without 802.11N wireless in my home the new wireless seems faster as well.

Screen. I decided to get the new glossy screen. I was unsure about this initially, but am not now. I love it. It’s brighter, clearer, and easier to read than any laptop screen I have ever seen. The contrast and colors are fantastic and the surface seems quite durable.

Speakers. This is only the second Macintosh laptop I have owned, but on the PowerBook I would always have the volume at full blast. Since purchasing the MacBook Pro, I find myself turning the volume down. The sound is better with more amplification.

Trackpad. The surface of the trackpad is wider. But, what is quickly becoming a favorite feature of mine, is the double finger movement that allows you to quickly scroll windows without repositioning the cursor to the arrow controls on the right of a window. This can also be done horizontally. I find this to be incredibly handy, and addicting. Why move the pointer if you don’t have to?

iSight. Of course, all Mac’s with the exception of the MacMini, now come with an iSight built in. I don’t use it a lot, but it sure is handier than carrying around an external iSight, bracket, and cable. Photobooth is a lot of fun as well.

Apple Remote. Again, all Mac’s now come with these little remotes that almost look like a 1st generation iPod Shuffle. This is surprisingly fun, as well, as practical, due mostly to Apple’s Front Row interface. I often stream my music from my Mac to a stereo connected to an Airport express, and this little remote combined with Front Row leaves my guests in awe and speechless.

Battery. The battery is bigger and has been repositioned to the center of the notebook. I haven’t timed it’s staying power, but I would easily put it at twice the time a brand new battery would last in my old PowerBook.

802.11N. This new wireless networking protocol is fantastic. Keep in mind the only piece of 802.11N hardware I have, is this new laptop. But never the less, even when connecting to an 802.11G network, it seems faster. It’s probably just the faster processor and graphics, but the connection does seem faster. I have had the opportunity to connect to a couple of 802.11N networks with very impressive results. The data transfer rate is quite noticeably improved. I cannot wait to get a new AirPort Extreme.

MagSafe. A couple of years ago someone tripped over the power cable for my PowerBook. It almost dragged the laptop off the table and damaged the power cable connector in a way that it had to be twisted a little in order to work. The other day I tripped over my new MagSafe power cable and it broke free without even moving the MacBook Pro. Both the cable and the computer were unharmed. The magnets are so strong they almost guide the connector into place, yet will separate easily without harm in a jam. This is a great feature and I love it.

Size. My 15 inch MacBook Pro is the same size as my old PowerBook. This means I can use the same case!

That’s all for now, I’m sure I’ll think of more reasons to love my MacBook Pro as I continue to use it.

Yesterday was my 20th Anniversary, and the good news is, I made it home for it. I picked up flowers, a diamond anniversary ring, and a mink coat on the way home (partially true, take a guess), and all is well. The kids, of course, had a lot of homework, so it was a quiet night at home for the Amazings.

It’s been a great 20 years. Marcia has been a great companion and even better friend. She is a soldier, just like me. She does whatever it takes. She has also given me two chances to change the world whose names are Bonnie and Sarah. I’m proud of her, and I’m proud of them. I love her with all my heart.

Ironically, a good friend of mine, who, even more ironically, lives across the street, was also married on September 5th, only 14 years ago instead of 20. Each year on this day we talk and wish each other a happy anniversary. This year as we talked he said,

“We are awful lucky to have women that will put of with us.”

You’re right Joel. We are lucky.

Thanks Marcia, I love you.

Last night was the Big One. Essentially the last night of the regular season, and the biggest night this year at the Amazing Bar and Grill.

There was another special occasion marked last night, the 40th birthday of my trusted friend, Marty “Wild Man” Wild. That’s right, his last name is Wild, and the name says it all. Actually, he’s not wild at all, just a super nice guy that has become one of my closest friends.

It’s pretty hard to keep a secret in a close knit community of 200, but we did it. We held a surprise birthday party for Marty and I’m pretty sure, he was surprised. I had to cry wolf, and I feel bad I did, but I was told by those that know (the women), that’s what it would take to get him off the couch. So, about 8:30, I called him.

“Marty, it’s Brian, I’m in trouble. I need your help right now. I’m on the dock.” Click.

It didn’t take long. As I said, Marty is one of my closest friends. We knew he would have to cross through the pool to the dock, so we all crouched and cuddled in the only corner of the pool area that can’t be seen from Marty’s balcony. After the initial “Surprise!” we moved the gathering down to the AB&G.

It was a great night with a great turnout. Everyone here, that knows Marty, loves Marty. He’s a good person and a lot of people showed up to wish him their best.

No pun intended the evening was Amazing. I must be the luckiest guy in the world to have friends like this. It was great fun to be surrounded by them.

A long time ago when I was a teenager, my Father once told me,

“If you make one true friend in your whole life, your lucky.”

I must be the richest man in the world.

It’s relationships that make the lake very special. The water adds an urgency and seriousness to friendships built over time on the lake. You learn who you can really count on, and who you can’t. Life and death issues build very strong bonds. In the 10 years I’ve lived here, I have built many of the best friendships of my life.

It was a great time last night. A lot was said, and there was a lot of love in the room. Even though I was up late, I woke up early this morning, in absolute awe of the relationships, friendships, trust & loyalty I was surrounded with the night before.

Tonight, it is extraordinarily quiet and it will only get quieter. I have gone from the last big gathering of the year, to a vacuum. Marcia and the Kids left this morning and it’s lonely. I will most likely leave tomorrow, unless I get stuck in the zone, which is not only possible, but probable.

My 20th wedding anniversary is Wednesday. I probably should be home for that.