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April 29 Signs of SpringIt almost makes the winter months worth it.
Love those tulips in front of the house.
A Lot Of Catching Up to do...MSN is up to the same old crap. I can't upload pictures AGAIN. Oh well, at least Photobucket has it together....
Last week Swing City did a benefit concert for the Lorain County Free Clinic. We were joined with a fantastic vocal group. Had a good time. We have several videos on the Swing City Big Band web site. Check them out...
OK, I'm the web master, one of the reasons why my blog has been taking "second chair"... November 26 Blog House CleaningI've wanted to do this for awhile, I finally placed all of my entries by category. This means, when you choose the "Swing City Big Band" category, all of the entries related to this band are list, going back to the start of my blog in March, 2005.
Other categories examples are:
Going thru all of this, I've seen the changes in my blog style and revisited some of my past thoughts, very interesting.....
August 31 Where am I?Today's a good time to reflect on where I'm at.
July 11 GuestMapWhere's your Living Room? Go ahead and "stick" a pin in the map. Click "View my Guestmap" to start...
July 05 Please Enjoy The Comforts....take off your shoes, relax and enjoy the fire. You're in my living room now..... July 04 Happy Birthday USACheck out the nice post card link to Uncle Sam...
Also, stop a minute and visit the spaces of two troopers serving our country and an outstanding photo story.
June 22 Google Hit...
Very interesting GOOGLE search. I wonder if my blog had what he/she was looking for... June 20 Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.Ben Stein's Last Column... ============================================ How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World? As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again. Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world. A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him. A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad. The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists. We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die. I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject. There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards. Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them. But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms. This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human. Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will. By Ben Stein May 29 A Memorial Day TributeThanks to all who are serving our country. Thanks to all who served our country. Thanks to all who will serve our country.
We all owe you our continued freedoms. Please visit Jerry's space (click on "Striving for Freedom"). I've included a quote from his blog.
THANKS for your sacrifice...
May 22 Talking about Google Search: sample living room picturesGoogle hit me... I think this person was surprise to get my site when searching for living room pictures... Quote
May 20 Talking about Feedster RSS Search : toyota priusMy blog comments on Toyota made in a Feedster RSS Search Quote Feedster RSS Search : toyota prius A Plea for Us ALLDARRELL SCOTT TESTIMONY Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm?
On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript: "Since the dawn of creation there has been both good &evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers. "The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death.
Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy-it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves.
"I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:
Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and reek havoc.
Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation?
We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties.
We do not need more restrictive laws. "Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.
"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes-He did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain.
Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!" Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can May 16 Talking about ScienceDaily Magazine: Your Source for the Latest Research News in Science, Health & Medicine, the EThe weather is very funny this year. Maybe it'll get worse... Quote
May 01 FriendshipA clip from Erin's Space...
April 22 Education BlogI found a blog from a teacher that is using his space for classroom communication. WOW! After I talked about Amanda using this tool for her classroom. I wish I would have copied the address for future reference. April 15 Pizza is lifeI eat pizza in the plant lunch room almost everyday. I hope that Cleveland Engine has a good pizza. I never checked it out before I excepted the job offer. You would think I'd get tired of it, but I just can't stop... April 12 Keep the FAITHI've been wanting to try "trackbacks" for a while. I found a very nice Blog with a quote that hit home for me. Plus, the baby pictures were great.... I did my "trackback" OK. but the originating "space address" doesn't show on my space. Yes, me space address is recorded onto the originating space. I guess thats the point. At this point, I don't see the value in the "trackback"...
April 03 Google picked up the blogI guess it is a small world. I did a search for "North Coast Syncopation", which is the duo Becky & I have together, on google. It hit on this "space". I have a specific web page, and it doesn't show up. But this space has the power. I wonder if I reference "Clay Aiken", my daughters true "American Idol", in my space, will I get a Google hit? I've been wanting to bring this subject up, my daughter, wife and most of there friends are "Clay Mates." I could write a book on all of the stuff they have done for ticket, pictures, signings, etc. But he is a great guy, so I support the "girls" 100%.
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