Reflections on My Anniversary

Today is the anniversary of the day my wife, Jennifer, and I were joined together in wedded bliss. While that statement may seem contrived or corny, it really is neither. Bliss is what we have - really.

Though many of you who read this do not know her, those who do know Jen is a wonderful lady. She is a faithful, faith-filled, loving and kind person. Those who take the time to get to know her quickly find she is a gem among women. I could not be more pleased that she is a part of my life.

Some people find it surprising we met via eHarmony.com. We find that fact to be a great part of our story together. Perhaps one day I will regale it to you here. When we married we filled out a survey on eHarmony and received a very nice crystal candy dish as a wedding gift. It sits on our entertainment center and holds plug adapters for our various electronics.

This is the first year we haven't gone on an "Annual Honeymoon" as I call them. We decided to cut back on our travel a little so we could pay off debt as part of our Total Money Makeover. Next week, though, we're going to see Dave Ramsey live in Houston. I think that will make up for it. Hopefully we'll be able to resume our honeymoon tradition back up next year.

What a great time we've had together. We still smooch and hug often throughout the day. Sometimes people tell us we're "disgusting" and that we need to "get a room." We don't care, because we're "In Luuuuuuv."

So, on this day I declare that I love my wife tremendously and I don't regret one single second of our life together. I am very grateful she's here.

Book Review: "The White Horse King" by Benjamin Merkle

"The White Horse King - The Life of Alfred The Great" is an excellent biography of the Anglo-Saxon King of Wessex and Mercia. Alfred is the only English king be called "The Great" and the title is well earned.


Alfred was a wise man who took education and learning quite seriously. He became king during a tumultuous time for his country and led his people in success and excellence. His ascent to the throne coincided with terrible war against Danish Viking invaders bent on conquest and pillage. Although unable to completely drive the Danes from the British Isles, his military reforms set the stage so that his grandson, King Aethelstan, would be finally able to do so.


Alfred was a bit of a Renaissance man, valuing education not only for himself, but also for his people. His efforts to encourage literacy was quite progressive for 9th century Europe. He was also responsible for a renewed interest in literature, leadership development and Christian studies. He commissioned the translation of many great works of the time from Latin into the Anglo-Saxon tongue and was even personally responsible for translating part of the Bible's Book of Psalms into his native language; this being hundreds of years before The Protestant Reformers or King James would create their translations.


But it was Alfred's military campaigns against the Danes which really set him apart. The book tells the story of a man who studied his enemies and looked for weaknesses to exploit. He learned from his mistakes and sought not to repeat them. He also was not afraid to look at his own forces to look for ways to improve how they functioned. His ability to gather people around him and inspire them to loyalty and greatness makes him an example excellence in leadership.


If you have an interest in history, English history in particular, then this book is for you. Benjamin Merkle does an excellent job of bringing to life one of the great kings of history. He makes the story interesting and compelling while keeping it factual and not a piece of "hero worship."


Disclaimer: I am a member of Thomas Nelson's Book Review Blogger program. Although Thomas Nelson Publishing provided the book at no cost to me, this review is my honest opinion of the work

Desert Storm/Desert Shield 20th Anniversary

2010 Marks the 20th Anniversary of the beginning of the war in the Persian Gulf which was known as Desert Storm. On August 2, 1990 Iraqi forces commanded by Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, an action which brought the world against them and me on a free trip to the Middle East courtesy of Uncle Sam.

I've been regaling you with stories from my military career in this space for some time now. This year I will focus on some of the stories, some humorous and some not, which happened during that time.

To kick things off, I refer you to the story of someone else, Mark Murphy - someone I've never met. He put some of his Desert Shield/Desert Storm experiences on line back in 2007. Please check out "Eye Of The Desert Storm." I found his stories interesting and I suspect you will, too.

The Inspection

For a time during my Army career I was assigned to the 66th MI Company, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. At that time, the 3rd ACR was at Ft Bliss, TX, just outside El Paso.

My roommate Jim and I were both from the Detroit area. We tried to bring as much Motor City culture as well as creature comforts with us into our barracks room. When the First Sergeant said we could have cable TV, we had it hooked up within days so we could watch hockey. When we asked for a phone, he gave permission for that as well, provided we paid the bill.

We had things set up very nicely. At the time ESPN carried the NHL nationally, so we had "Hockey Night in Texas" on whatever evening they had a game. That was a night for pizza and beer.

And, not just any beer. I've always been a bit of a beer snob (much so since living in Europe, too), so we weren't drinking just any crappy beer. No, we had to have Molson Canadian. We found one store on the west side of El Paso who would see us Molson Canadian - but he had to special order it and would only sell it to us by the case.

That wouldn't have been a problem, except that the rules our unit had was that there could be only one six-pack of beer per person in a barracks room at any given time. With 24 bottles in a case, that meant two six-packs per person. We felt it was worth the risk, though. After all, what were we to do about it?

Over one Christmas holiday Jim and I both went to Michigan on leave. When we returned, we headed out to our favorite store to purchase our Molson beer. The proprietor informed us that he was closing up for a couple of weeks to go on vacation, so he got us two cases of Molson in case we wanted extra while he was gone. Of course, we took him up on his kind offer.

I had a small dorm refrigerator in which we kept our beer. In good military fashion, all the bottles were lined up neatly inside with the maple leaves on the caps pointed upwards; neat and orderly. Since I just came back from Michigan, I also had the extra room in the refrigerator stuffed with Vernors Ginger Ale, a soft drink which was not available in El Paso at the time.

The Monday we went down and outside for our first morning formation. When we assembled together, we were told the barracks people were going to have a Health And Welfare Inspection. During a "Health And Welfare" the people would go inside and stand outside their rooms until the Commander and First Sergeant came in. Then they went inside their rooms, opened their wall lockers and stood by while the Command, First Sergeant, Platoon Sergeant, and just about anyone else with stripes or bars who cared to would go through all their stuff looking for contraband and checking for cleanliness.

When we got upstairs, Jim and I took our team sergeants aside and let them know we had more than the permissible amounts of beer in our rooms. While in the middle of explaining why we had the extra beer, the Commander and his entourage arrived to check our room. They already weren't too happy as they found more than a few two-liter bottles of pee in the locker of one person who lived in the room across the hall. Apparently he was too lazy to walk down the hall to the latrine when he needed to pee in the middle of the night. I'm glad he wasn't my roommate.

As the people went through our stuff, Jim and I were summoned into the room. The C.O. queried me, "Specialist, why do you have a case of beer in your wall locker? I'm sure you're well aware of the rules about how much beer you can have in your room."

"Um, well, Sir, it's like this; we like to drink Molson Canadian beer. Only one store in town will sell it to us and the guy who runs the place special orders it for us, so we have to buy it by the case."

"Oh, I think we can let that go. What do you say, First Sergeant?" I don't recall what he said, but I assume he agreed.

They made their way to Jim's locker and found two more six-packs in his locker. "I understand one case, but there's another two six-packs in here. What's going on with that."

Jim responded to this one. "Well, Sir, the guy who runs the store we purchase the beer from closed his store for two week to go on vacation. Since we're regular customers, he was nice enough to buy two cases so we wouldn't run out while he's gone. He was so nice about taking care of us, we didn't want to refuse."

"Oh. Well, I guess that's OK."

Then he went to the refrigerator.

"More beer?"

"Yes, Sir," Jim responded. "We have to buy by the case, so we have two cases total."

"Oh, I see," the C.O. replied as he looked back into the refrigerator. "Hey, you've got Vernors in here."

"Yes, Sir," I responded. "I just came back from Michigan, so I stocked up on some while I was up there."

"Wow, I haven't seen that in years. I grew up in Ohio and we drank that all the time."

"Would you like one?"

"Oh, I couldn't."

"Please," I said, "I've got plenty. Help yourself."

"Well, Thank you. I won't drink it now, it's a bit early. I'll have it with lunch."

Then the phone rang.

Neither Jim nor I answered since we were in the middle of an inspection. After four or five rings the C.O. finally asked, "You've got a phone in here, too? Are one of you guys going to answer it?"

I picked up the receiver. It was my mom.

"Hi. Oh, hi mom."

"Oh, I'm fine. Things are going well."

"Yes. Hey, mom. We're in the middle of an inspection. Can I call you back later?"

"No, it's OK. You didn't know. Yes, I'll call you later."

"OK. Love you, too. Bye."

"You guys are living the 'Life of Reilly' up here, aren't  you? Well, everything looks OK here." And with that the entourage left.

In Memory: Richard Flick

I just found out that one of the men I served with during Desert Storm/Desert Shield was killed in an auto accident in 2006. I was informed of his passing by a mutual friend. Although I'd not had any contact with him since 1992, news of his death still struck me.

Rich Flick was a friendly, funny guy. When I met him he was full of youthful exuberance and excellent at what he put his hands to. He was a quick learner and eager to participate in whatever tasks were going on. He was quick with a joke and often made me laugh out loud.

• If I recall correctly, he was the one who nicknamed me "Uncle B."
• I, and the others in the platoon, called him "Flickster."
• Also, if I recall correctly, he was the guy I was told who barfed on Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Supposedly, he was on a training flight and got air sick, and, rather than barf inside the cabin (a big "no-no") he opted to open the door and let loose over a parking lot in the town.
• He and another guy were party animals for a time when we returned from the Middle East. Like I mentioned above, he was full of youthful exuberance when I knew him. There was no way I could have kept up with the pace those two guys maintained.
• At a bar-b-que held at another of our platoon member's home, he and three other guys tossed me into the pool. I remember it scared my, then, 2-year-old son because he thought they were hurting me. Far from it, though. We all had a good laugh over it. At least the host of the party was kind enough to empty my pockets before they tossed me in so my stuff didn't get ruined.
• He could also be very quiet and contemplative. He was very generous, too.

It was nice to read about the accomplishments he made since the time we served together. I would rather have read them under very different circumstances, though. 

He was a good man.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?n=richard-edward-flick&pid=17397994

Fun With the IRS - A Year Later

Last year (November of 2008) I wrote my first piece describing the humorous events which transpired when my wife and I made a mistake on our taxes (see Fun With the IRS).

In the end, I left the experience feeling the government owed me $2.00. Of course, I wasn't going to make a fuss over two bucks. It's hardly worth the time and effort on my part, nor worth the waste of over $2.00 of someone's time to get the money. Although my wife and I would joke around about "Where's my two bucks?" from time to time, we pretty much forgot about it. Until yesterday, that is.

Yesterday we received a check in the mail from the U.S. Government for $2.10. No letter of explanation was enclosed, just a check. Maybe they read my blog post from last year and decided to make right their error - along with interest?

Who knows? I just had to laugh, though. And, we'll need to remember to claim that ten cents as interest on this year's income tax - you know they'll be looking for it.

Windsheld Wonder

I hate dirty windshields on my cars. This is especially true in the Autumn and Winter mornings and evenings when the sun blazes through the front window and shows every tiny bit of smudge and fog.

I also hate washing the inside of the windshields. Which can be a problem if you hate dirty ones.

I saw the Telebrands Windshield Wonder on TV many times and thought that if it really worked it would be a great product for me. I normally don't order things off TV ads, but when I saw this item at the checkout of our local big box retailer, I decided to buy one and give it a try.

It really does work quite well. All one does is spray a little water from the small spray bottle included with the kit onto the cleaning pad and then rub the pad on the window. The pad is attached to a handle which makes it quite easy to use.

I think this is a great product. I'm glad I picked one up.

Disclaimer: I purchased the product and review it here because I like it. The above link goes to Amazon. If you purchase after clicking that link I will get a small percentage of the sale.

The Stuttgart Death Ride

During one of my Army tours in Germany, I found myself on a temporary duty stint outside of Stuttgart on a small airfield. While there, I found out a friend of mine was stationed at a barracks a few miles away. One Saturday I made arrangements to meet him.

In planning my visit, I misjudged the distance to where he lived. Instead of it taking about an hour, it ended up taking 2 1/2 hours to walk there. That put my visit time in a bit of a crunch. After meeting some of his new coworkers he suggested we all head out to a local haunt where the folks in his unit generally hung out. This turned out to be a 30 minute walk - in the opposite the direction I'd just come from.

We ate, drank some beers and told lies for a few hours. I had to work the next morning, so about 9 pm I decided to catch a taxi and head home. The place we were was in a small shopping center, so I figured there would be a cab stand outside (at the time it was illegal to hail a cab on the street). Not seeing one, I looked for a phone booth since there was usually a taxi ad with a number to call inside the booth. There was no phone booth.

I went back inside and asked the bartender if he would please call me a cab. He told me taxis didn't run near the bar's location. I was rather shocked to hear that. I couldn't imagine a place in a relatively built up area near a large city in Germany would have no taxi service.

I returned to the group at the table and told them my transportation dilemma. I had to ask them how to get back to the main road so I could hike it back to the airfield. One of the guys pointed out a group at a nearby table where someone in their unit was sitting with his girlfriend and her roommate. The ladies just happened to work on the airfield where I needed to go. He led me over and introduced me. I asked for a lift and they agreed to take me back when they were ready to go.

When they were ready to leave they signaled me to come with them. The boyfriend eyed me suspiciously as we walked out to their car. I guess he was the jealous type, though I was no threat to his relationship. I just needed a ride. We hopped in the car, the ladies in the front seat and me in the back with their baskets of clean laundry.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, the driver announced to me: "I just got my driver's license yesterday and bought this car this morning. Isn't that cool?" I didn't think much of it, since everyone needed to get a special "U.S. Army, Europe" drivers license to drive civilian vehicles in Germany. Then she added, "I've never driven before. I'm completely new at this."

That made me a little nervous, but she seemed to be handling herself well enough. I started to relax, but just for a minute.

Those who have lived in Europe know how the fog can be in the Fall and Winter. You can be driving along one minute in clear sky and clear air with visibility going on for miles and the next minute you're in a very thick fog through which you can barely see to the end of the hood of your car. This fog is THICK - and I mean THICK. The only place I've ever seen fog that comes close to this is on the coast of California.

We ran into one of those fog banks going along the Autobahn at about 120 "clicks" (kilometers per hour - about 70 MPH). It's really quite like hitting a wall, only you go through it while not being able to see through it. The only way I could tell we were moving was to look up out the window where I could barely make out the street lights going by.

One of the first mistakes rookie drivers make in a fog is to turn their brights on - even though every teaching manual and class informs not to do it. This young driver clicked on the brights, enveloping us in a shroud of light which even obscured the street lights I could see beforehand.

Panic started welling up inside me. Here we were, going about 70 MPH down the Autobahn totally blind. There was no way this young lady could see where we were going. I wanted to say something, but I didn't want to offend because she might stop and kick me out of the car, leaving me stranded not knowing where I was. "Think," I said to myself, "Think!"

I fished around in the dark back seat for the seat belts while I frantically tried to come up with some way to communicate to the driver to turn the bright lights off without offending her. As I found the seat belt, it came to me. I said to her, forcing my voice to sound calm and matter-of-fact, "You know, I once read in Reader's Digest that it's a bad idea to use the brights in fog because it makes it  harder to see where you're going."

"Good," I thought to myself, "that was good." Reader's Digest, I reasoned, was a non-threatening source of conventional wisdom which wouldn't offend the young lady.

"Really," she said, "I never heard of that." She clicked off the brights. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, turned the lights off. Completely off. Bright lights, regular lights, running lights; they were all off.

Admittedly, with the street lights peering their way through the fog from above, I could actually see the road better; even better than when the regular lights were on. Still, in a dark colored car, at night, with no lights on, no one could see us. This was still very dangerous.

At this point, I wasn't too worried about offending because I was more worried about getting hit by another vehicle rather than running off the road. I said, "Well, you can see better, but with your lights off no one can see you. You really should turn the lights back on."

She turned the parking lights on and said, "There. Now we can see and others can see us." This wasn't optimal, but I reasoned on the Autobahn, with everyone going in the same direction, at least we probably wouldn't be hit by another vehicle.

We exited the Autobahn and took the short road up to the gate of the air field. Normally, one would dim the headlights as they approach the gate. In this case, the headlights were dimmed as we turned onto the road. The guard at the gate mentioned this to the driver when we stopped so he could check our ID cards. He said something like, "You're not supposed to dim your lights that far back, just when you approach the gate." When she told him she turned off the lights so she could see better in the fog, the guard told her that was dangerous and looked at me like I had something to do with her decision to turn the things off. I guess his attitude was that since I was "The Man of the Car" I should have done something about it. Gender, of course, had nothing to do with this - she was a new driver and didn't know how to drive in the fog and that was it. At this point, I was just grateful to be one piece.

As we pulled up to the building I was staying, the ladies invited me to go partying with them the following evening. I politely declined as I quickly made my way to my room, thankful I'd survived what would be known as "The Stuttgart Death Ride."

Book Review: "Everyday Greatness" by Stephen R. Covey & Reader's Digest

"Everyday Greatness" is a collection of short stories gathered from the archives of Reader's Digest, compiled by David K. Hatch with commentary and insights by Stephen R. Covey.

It's an inspirational volume with stories by personalities including Alex Haley, Betty Ford, and Ed McMahon; but, also from people you may have never heard of. Some stories tell of triumph over adversity and long odds, some of gathering inspiration, and all have a life lesson. Each story is followed by the insights and commentaries of Covey, who expounds on the lessons and sometimes offers suggestions for application in everyday life.

The stories are divided into seven main categories:

• Searching For Meaning
• Taking Charge
• Creating The Dream
• Teaming With Others
• Overcoming Adversity
• Blending The Pieces. 

Each main category is further divide into three sub-categories, each containing three stories. In between are hundreds of quotes reinforcing the main point of that section.

All in all it's a great read. It's easy to read a section and pause to think about the life lessons presented in that section. It's also a great conversation piece as the morals and points of the stories are easily applied in many situations of life. Some of the stories are just plain interesting, too.

"Everyday Greatness" is a great book and I highly recommend it.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Thomas Nelson's Book Review Blogger program. Although Thomas Nelson Publishing provided the book at no cost to me, this review is my honest opinion of the work

Hospice Care After-Care Bear

A friend of mine from work recently lost her father after an extended illness. As you can well imagine, this put quite a bit of stress on her and her family.

The other day, I went into her office and saw a teddy bear. A golf-themed teddy bear. Knowing she doesn't play golf, I had to ask her about it. She told me the bear was made from a shirt which belonged to her father. Someone from the hospice care group called after her father passed and asked her for a shirt which she felt was special to him. Volunteers with the hospice organization made the bear from that shirt as a way to help her go through the grieving process.

As she relayed the story to me, I got a bit misty myself. What a great way to lend a hand to someone during a troubled time.

Hats off to the volunteers who do this kind of thing for people - you are doing a great thing. Thank you.


Photo credit: Eric Lucas

Hilarious Monty Python Joke in Church

While it is true that most churches would never have a funny Python moment, I'm glad I go to one where it's possible.

I live tweet during our Sunday services at church. For those unfamiliar with "live tweet," that means I get on twitter under our church's account and tweet selected highlights of the service. We find it's an interesting way to reach out to the world. Most of the time it's rather routine, me tweeting and every so often we get a message or a retweet.

Today, however, there was a very funny surprise. During the service I tweeted this:

2nd of 3 kinds of faith: Jehovah Jirah faith: "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ." Phil. 4:19

A few minutes later, this appeared in the church's twitter stream by a user called "StoningBot:"

@vcftemple has been found guilty of uttering the name of our Lord, and so, as a blasphemer, is to be stoned to death. *throws a stone*

This is a reference to a part of Monty Python's "Life of Brian" movie. Here's a clip of the scene from YouTube:

I went to check out the profile for "StoningBot" and found that it is, as the name implies, a bot. It's purpose is to search for tweets which include the word "Jehovah" and automatically responds with the reply as above, substituting the name of the tweeter each time. As of this writing, the count is 201 tweets since the bot started on October 8th at 6:58pm (central time).

Does someone have too much time on their hands? Or, is this a way to bring a bit more humor to the world? Perhaps it's a little of both.

Either way, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing during the middle of the service as I thought about that scene from the movie. Thanks, "StoningBot" for giving me a good laugh today.

Temple Civic Theatre Production of "The Arkansaw Bear"

The Temple Civic Theatre is presenting a Youth Production of Aurand Harris' "The Arkansaw Bear." This is going to be a great performance (and I'm not just saying that because one of my boys is in it, either). I highly encourage you to attend a showing.

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, September 22nd and cost $8.00 for adults and $5 for youth under 13. The box office is open from 9:30am to 1:30pm.

Performances are scheduled as follows:

• Friday, September 25th at 7:30pm
• Saturday, September 26th at 7:30pm
• Sunday, September 27th at 2:30pm

The Theatre is located at 2413 South 13th St, off HK Dodgen Loop behind the Summit Recreation Center:

View Larger Map

Professor Slavitsky's English Lesson

Warning: This story makes many references to the "F-word." Although I will make this as family-friendly as possible, some might be offended.

While I learned Czech at the Defense Language Institute, one of our teachers was a linguistics professor in (at the time) Czechoslovakia, Dr. Slavitsky.

One day, Dr. Slavitsky came into class and announced to us: "I just watched 'Eddie Murphy: Raw' and I have a number of questions about this word F***. He uses it as a noun, a verb, an adjective, and adverb, an exclamation and in many other ways I simply do not understand. Will you please explain this 'f***' to me?" He held up the video as he said this.

Of course, being rough and tough young soldiers, all of us in the class were well-versed in the use of the F-word. Because all of us were from different parts of the country, we also had knowledge of the unique way the f-word is used in different parts of the US. It was natural for us to be able to fully explain to Dr. Slavitsky the proper (or, more appropriately, improper) use of it in colloquial speech.

Also, most of us having seen "Eddie Murphy: Raw" we knew what the good doctor was referring to when he mentioned the different parts of speech in which the f-word was used. Being rather current and fresh in our minds, we were more than able to discuss this as an intellectual pursuit.

Each of us, in turn, went to the chalk board and wrote down a sentence or two using the f-word which we either remembered from the video or from our own vast experience using the word. We would go over our sentence, explaining in detail what the sentence meant, and answer any questions Dr. Slavitsky might have. Of course, each question led to a different sentence, which led to more explanation, which led to even more instances of the f-word being written on the board.

Over the course of the hour, as we talked, Dr. Slavitsky took copious notes in the composition notebook he always carried. He wrote furiously, diagramming sentences and making arrows and underlining things he wrote as we emphasized certain points of "grammar." All in all I think he learned more English slang that day than a normal student of American English might learn in a month. He took it all in, occasionally looking up and saying, "Yes, yes, go on."

At the end of the hour, he thanked us for helping him better understand the f-word and left us to our next teacher. Our next teacher just happened to be our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Lang.

Mrs. Lang was a wonderful lady, who I describe as being "grandmotherly." Indeed, she was old enough to be a grandmother to most of us in the class. She was a proper lady who came from a family of means (at least they were of means before the Communists took over after World War II).

We came into class and sat at our desks, never thinking about the verbal carnage we'd left on the chalk board during the previous hour. Nor had any of us erased what was there. I don't think we did this deliberately, I think we just didn't think about it.

Mrs. Lang came into the class a few minutes late. As she turned toward the front of the class from closing the door, her eyes fell upon the, perhaps, hundreds of sentences on the chalk board - each containing one form of the f-word or another. I distinctly remember the color draining from her face and the audible gasp she made as she read some of the filth we'd managed to conjure up.

In a very un-grandmotherly fashion, she sprinted across the room, lunged over the desk and managed to grab the eraser from the chalk board's ledge and erase a good portion of the board before she almost toppled over the desk head first. She managed to complete her lunge over the desk, plant both her feet in front of the board and continue erasing in almost one motion. She spoke with each stroke of the eraser, in much the same fashion as one might speak to a child with each swing during a spanking: "I ... don't ... know ... what ... Professor ... Slavitsky ... was ... thinking ... having ... you ... talk ... about ... such ... filth ... instead of ... training ... your ... lesson ... from ... the ... book!"

After the board was erased, Mrs. Lang took a deep breath and composed herself again. She picked up her book and started the lesson as if nothing had happened. Flappable, but only for a short time.

Fest Call!

In one of my previous lives I was in the Army stationed in Augsburg, Germany. During my time there, it seemed like there was a beer fest every couple of months. A beer fest is something Bavarians do very well. The organizers will erect a huge tent, place a stage at one end and along one side will be station food and beverage vendors. While the fest is going, there will be an "Oompah" band playing, people sitting at long tables drinking beer and eating.

The food at one of these events is to amazing. 1/2 chickens cooked on rotisseries, giant pretzels, bread with salmon and onions - all truly, amazingly good. (The beer isn't bad either, as I was known to imbibe during my misspent youth).

The ladies who carry the beers and food back and forth are a sight to watch. Some will carry up to 12 mugs (Biermass) of beer at a time as they make their rounds through the tent. These mugs aren't what we're used to seeing in the States, either. Each mug is made of glass, holds a liter of beer and is stout enough to handle clanking together as is tradition in that part of the world. Empty they weigh, probably, four or five pounds. The ladies rush about, wearing the traditional dirndl dress, toting those mugs. Some of them had arms like Popeye - no exaggeration.

On one occasion, some friends and I were enjoying the food and music at the Augsburg German-American Fest. At the next table there were two groups: a bunch of soldiers and a bunch of German youths who looked to be about college age. Neither group interacted with the other until... The Incident.

One of the beer ladies came and deposited a few beers in front of the soldiers at the next table. Now, when beer or food is delivered, these ladies expect prompt payment and get rather terse when payment is not forthcoming. One of the soldiers in the group protested that they hadn't ordered the beers. There was somewhat of a language gap because he wasn't speaking German and the lady wasn't speaking English - but I think the disagreement was understood. After a few minutes of back and forth the soldier stood up quite suddenly. The lady, wanting no trouble from a potentially drunk American soldier took a huge swing at him, hit him square in the chin and knocked him out cold on the ground. I mean, she cold-cocked him and flattened him right there.

All of the sudden, all the Germans at the table stood up and faced towards the Americans - who also stood up to face the Germans. I elbowed my friends, thinking a fight was about to ensue and that we should beat a hasty retreat. A few tense moments went by, after which both groups turned to look at the kid on the ground, pointed at him and started laughing.

Afterwards both groups bought each other rounds, "prosting" and high-fiving.

German-American relations were just a little bit better that evening.

I've Given Up TV

Yes, it's true - I've given up TV.

I've been a TV junkie pretty much all my life. Other than short periods where I was denied TV because of my location or situation I've not gone without TV for very long. On those rare occasions, too, the decision was made for me.

This time, it's different. I needed an adjustment in my life. My wonderful wife had the inspiration to give up TV for 40 days. We started on Friday. Basically, anything that involves using our television receiver is taboo, including: cable television, movies on the DVD player or streamed via Netflix, games on the xBox360, etc.

So far I've done more blog posts on those days than I've probably done in a month. She and I have played games together, read and caught up on things that TV "just got in the way" of.

I joke around that I've got a "TV jones" going. Really, though, it's not bad at all. I think I feel my brain's recent atrophy clearing up. Perhaps this will lead to a greatly reduced "tube time" in our lives. I shudder to think of what I could accomplish if I just spent less time in front of that thing.

I Broke the Drill Sergeant's Nose

There I was, a young private in the Army at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, daily thinking to myself, "What did I get myself into?" It was quite a transformational experience for the long-haired, non-conformist I was prior to enlisting.

The scariest experiences of my young life happened there. One was climbing that giant ladder and sliding down the rope at the confidence course. That thing was a hundred feet tall if it was an inch. And, this was no ordinary ladder - the "rungs" were about 5 1/2 feet apart and one had to really climb to get to the top. "Confidence course" was right - I was confident I never wanted to climb anything that high like that again!

The second scary experience was when I broke the drill sergeant's nose.

My platoon was at the hand grenade range running through a scenario where we would practice running from place to place, shoot covering fire, and throwing a practice hand grenade at an enemy bunker. We walked through the task a number of times, practicing throwing the grenade into a bunker situated the end of the course. Then, in pairs, we ran down the course "for real" to be tested and evaluated by a group of drill sergeants.

There was on particular sergeant who didn't like the way I threw the grenade. Each time we walked through it, he was highly critical that I did not lock my left knee when I leaned back to throw. Try as I could, my left knee wouldn't quite straighten out all the way. Though I was able to toss the grenade with a fair amount of accuracy, he was still not satisfied with my performance.

When it was my turn to run down the course my partner and I were "moving and shooting" (which consisted of us taking turns yelling "moving" and running while the other yelled "shooting" and "bang, bang, bang" until the other person ducked behind something and yelled "shooting"). We were in lock, teamwork going between us. There was no enemy to stand against us - except the ones in the bunker at the end of the course.

I was the designated grenade thrower on our team. I got into position, pulled the pin, released the safety and counted. When my counting was complete, I yelled "GRENADE!" at the top of my lungs and let my arm fly to loose the instrument of death onto our hapless foe. But, our enemy was not vanquished - the only casualty of our mock battle was the sergeant who didn't like my left knee.

Just as I was letting loose with my throw, he ran to me, bent over to yell at me about my knee and caught my closed fist with grenade inside it right on the side of his nose.

He fell to the ground yelling and holding his face. I stood, transfixed, probably with my eyes wider than wide open and my mouth gaping. He stood with the assistance of the other drill sergeants, holding his nose while blood gushed out.

The only thought going through my head was, "Oh man, I'm going to jail." I took out the obligatory handkerchief we all carried and offered it to him stammering, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there." Anger showed in his eyes as he was led away to seek medical attention. His nose was broken, he had two black eyes coming and I was scared to death.

Our platoon's drill sergeant took me by the arm and led me behind a nearby shack. I don't remember the conversation too well other than I remember he told me not to worry because it wasn't my fault and to stay there and collect my thoughts for a few minutes before joining the rest of my group.

When I did emerge from behind the shack, I remember all of my fellow platoon members looking at me as I imagine one might look at a condemned man getting ready to go to the gallows. It seemed they were all afraid for me just as I was afraid for myself.

Thankfully, it really wasn't my fault. It was an accident, nothing more. Nothing more was ever said about it.

Still, it remains as one of the scariest things I ever experienced.

Crater of Diamonds State Park, Arkansas

The Crater of Diamonds State Park is a fun place to take a trip with the family. It's located just outside of Murfreesboro, AR - about 45 minutes north of Hope off I-30.

The crater is actually the site of an old commercial diamond mining operation. There aren't enough diamonds to make commercial mining profitable, but there are enough there to let tourists dig them up. According to their web site, just about a diamond a day is found there.

To search for diamonds, you can simply walk around the site. People (often children - perhaps because they're lower to the ground) find stones that way. You may also bring tools to dig with and search through the dirt and clay. The people working there are very helpful and will assist you in determining whether your find is a diamond or just a pretty rock. Their web site also has a lot of good information.
There is a restaurant, small water park and camping on site. The fee to the search area is just $7.00.

I recommend checking it out.

And just when you think the geek takes a vacation from technology:

Heading home we had some fun with Google Maps and the GPS unit on my phone. We used Google maps to plot our trip home and it found us the most direct route: down the dirt roads between the park and Hope, AR. It may not have been the most "modern" road, but it did get us where we wanted to go:

At one point we forded a low water crossing. While I could complain about the route, it was a nice, little adventure. What impressed me most was the comprehensiveness of Google Maps. I would think you'd have to purchase a pretty detailed map in order to see these roads.

Review: The Queen of Diamonds Inn, Murfreesboro, AR

I recently went to the Crater of Diamonds State Park outside of Murfreesboro, AR. On this trip, as on my trip this past January, I stayed at the Queen of Diamonds Inn in Murfreesboro.

It's not the fanciest place to stay, but it's clean, comfortable and the people who run it are very friendly.

There are nice, flat-panel TVs, microwaves, refrigerators and coffee pots in the rooms. The beds are comfortable. What more do you need?

I highly recommend this hotel if you happen to be in Murfreesboro.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way for this post. I'm just a satisfied customer.

Space Center Houston - Great For Kids, Short on the Nerd Factor

On July 20, 2009 I took a trip to Space Center Houston. I thought it appropriate to go this day, the 40th anniversary of Man's first walk on the Moon; a great day to go.

The highlight of the tour was visiting the historic mission control room where U.S. space flight was ran from the very beginning of NASA until 1996. It was in this room where the first words from the surface of the Moon were spoken, "Houston, Tranquility Base, the Eagle has landed."

Another highlight of the day was visiting "Rocket Park," which includes large building housing an Atlas V rocket and displays showing all the Apollo missions from 1 through 17. It was quite fascinating to me.

On the whole, though, the day was a bit of a disappointment. The Space Center Houston building itself is rather lacking in real science "stuff" and was mostly filled with displays which would appeal to grade-school-aged children. To be sure, the kids were having a great time, but I expected a lot more "Nerd Factor."

I was also disappointed that there was precious little shown regarding Apollo 11. There was a small display of tools and other artifacts from the mission, but only enough to occupy 10 minutes of my time. According to the web site the official celebration was to be held on July 24th, and perhaps there would be more on that day. Still, I expected a bit more.

To satisfy my geek urge, next time I go I plan to do the "Level 9" tour. This tour goes behind the scenes and takes you to places where the average visitor will not get to go. Reservations are required and I understand from what one of our tour guides mentioned that only 12 people are allowed for each of the 2 daily tours. The cost is almost $84.95, but looks to be well worth it. Lunch in the astronauts cafeteria is even included.

If you're going to go for the regular tours, visit the web site and purchase tickets on line for a $3.00 discount. The extra audio tour was worth the price and I recommend getting it, too. Parking is $5.00. If you have younger kids and you want to try to get them interested in science, this is a great place to go. If you have older kids or are going with just adults, though, you may want to pass.

Forty-One and Eight Years Gone - 2001: A Space Odyssey

My wife and #3 son had never seen Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," and thus we decided to watch it on Netflix streaming service.

It's interesting to me to watch or read science fiction which shows someone's vision of our future on Earth. In this case, the movie was set in 2001, now eight years past. I don't know what Kubrick's vision was in 1965 (when the movie was made), but looking at it from 2009 there are some interesting things I noted.

Clothes: All the clothes worn by those on the space station and moon station sequences are of the style popular in the 1960s. Ladies wore skirts to the knees and men wore business suits with thin ties. Even the "futuristic" look of the flight attendant uniforms in the space shuttle were very much based on late-60s styles. The turban-like hats, I think, were created to help show how one might deal with long hair in the microgravity of Earth orbit.

Technology: I could go on for a long time about how much technology, even that in 2001, differs from what is portrayed in the movie. However, here are the points which struck me the most:

• Communications - The video phone in the space station sequence stuck me as the oddest. Even in 2001, it seems it would have been more natural for someone to pull a cell phone out of their pocket and make a quick call. The video phone is also quite interesting to me. The sheer size of the booth along with the analog video screen is quite different from what we have today with a notebook PC doing streaming video over an instant messaging link on the web. It's also interesting that Dave's parents would send him a delayed video message instead of a video embedded in an email - which, to me, would be the most efficient way to communicate with a seven minute delay in travel.
• Space Food - I'm sure today's astronauts are quite pleased that all the food served on the space shuttle and International Space Station is not in liquid or gel form as was served on the shuttle to the space station. At least on the moon they had sandwiches, albeit with artificially processed ingredients. The food served on the trip to Jupiter is still, perhaps, a realistic vision. How does one store enough food for two people to last the 2-year trip (minimum estimated time, depending on where the two planets are in relation to each other on launch)? The colored "glop" eaten by the Jupiter-bound astronauts may still be a good guess, though I speculate the food would be more like the modern military MRE.
• Computers - Of course, there is no way Kubrick or Clarke could have imagined the massive miniaturization of electronics which has taken place in the years since 1968. The HAL 9000 computer is shown to be a massive complex of equipment on the spacecraft. One would have to think it would be quite bit smaller if a similar computer is developed. The fact of HAL's failure made me laugh and comment, "It's a Microsoft product, it just needs to be rebooted."
• Credit Cards - Although not a technology in itself, paying with plastic is something we take for granted today. In the 1960s, though, this was not the case. In those days only a few carried the cards, and then probably only used them while traveling. The use of the card to pay for a phone call probably would have been considered very futuristic at the time. A future cashless society has long been a hallmark of science fiction. We're getting very close to that.

Product Placement: There were a few interesting references to companies operating during that time, seemingly predicting they will have an impact on the world in 2001. I don't know if companies paid for product placement in movies when "2001" was made as they do now. Still, it's interesting to see how these brands are portrayed "in the future."

• Pan American Airlines - Having gone bankrupt in 1991, Pan Am is now gone. When the movie was made, however, Pan Am was an airline force to be reckoned with. It was quite natural to assume given their dominance at the time, that they would be on the forefront of commercial space travel in future. The dream of commercial space travel is close today, but we've still a bit further to go.
• The Bell System - The monopoly phone company in the 1960s, I doubt anyone would have predicted its breakup into the "Baby Bells" during the 1980s and its eventual, almost total, recombination in recent years as AT&T. It's interesting to me that Kubrick didn't invent a whole new telephone company to provide service for his video phones, or at least try to make a futuristic logo for the Bell System.
• Hilton Hotels - Still here after all these years. Hilton still enjoys the good reputation of luxury accommodations which I'm sure it had in the 60s. It makes sense that Kubrick would have included them as the hotel of choice in Earth orbit.
• Whirlpool - Another company which is still quite successful today. Whirlpool was the brand on the meal preparation stations on the space shuttle. I have a Whirlpool dryer in my laundry room which I'm quite happy with.

These are just a few things I noted in my viewing of "2001: A Space Odyssey." What are yours?