Korea!

I am in Korea! And what better thing to do in Korea than to tell you my exciting adventures in Korea! I was flying through the mountains of Korea today and I wondered if there was any sort of civil aviation here. All I ever see is army helicopters flying every now and then. The person I was flying with showed me a small airport though where there is some sort of rotory club or something like that. There are a lot of places here where you cant fly so it doesn't surprise me that there are not too many private aviators. There is definitely a lot of things to tell about Korea so stay posted, I will try to keep you up to date on things here.

Bedtime story

I want to tell you a bed time story. Don't get to excited it is nothing special, it is a story about bed time. Saturday morning I woke up and talked with my girlfriend online for an hour before a scheduled power outage where I currently live. After hanging up with her I figured I would go back to bed and sleep through the power outage. As I lay in bed wanting to go to sleep but not doing so I decided to play a little game. With my eyes closed laying in my bed I started imagining myself in different beds/bedrooms I have slept in. Lying in a bed with your eye closed the room can be whatever room you imagine so I thought I get myself to feel like I was in one of those rooms from my memory. I started with the room I stayed in after my mission in my parents house. The room that has probably been through ever single brother at different periods. I imagined myself there, with blue walls and a green/blue carpet, my desk the window to my left looking out on the back lawn the door to my right leading into the upstairs hallway. I was there. I noted that my feet pointed North in that particular bed. So I decided to see if I could envision a bed from my life for each cardinal direction. The next bed to come to mind was the bed I slept in occasionally through flight school in Alabama. I often times did not care to sleep on a bed but was content with the floor. Eric, my roommate, and I made a guest bedroom there for when his parents or brother would come to visit and I on occasion slept in it. Off-white walls, a tan carpet. Green bed sheets with a green and white striped comforter. TV in the left corner and a nightstand to the right. That bed pointed West. Next was my bed in Utah when I was living with my Aunt and Uncle. I thought of that one because it pointed East. Makeshift basement room, large window on my left looking into the backyard and up at the Wasatch Front. Bookshelf above my head, desk at my feet and plenty of blankets and pillows to keep me warm. Again, I was there. My current bed points south but as I was envisioning other beds in my life and imagining myself there the next thing I realize is that it is 11:00am and I am waking up again. Some where in my envisioning I had fallen asleep without even knowing.

I stayed up late last night working on projects and when it was time to go to bed I again lay there wanting to go to sleep. Realizing the success of the mornings memory exercise i decided to reenact it. That is all I remember. I remember deciding that I was going to envision different bedrooms and that I started to but the next thing I know is that I am waking up Sunday morning wondering if I had actually done so.

Try it out. If you have trouble falling asleep at night see if you can recall to your memory different bedrooms you have lived in and the beds you have slept in throughout your life and try and place yourself in them. I think much of the reason we have trouble falling asleep at night is not because we aren't tired but because our minds are racing thinking of things to do or things done that you wish you had done better. The mind is so carried away in thought that. My exercise gets the mind off those lists and burdens and gets me thinking about beds and sleeping. It is a fun challenge to see how many beds I can recall and the details of the room and it helps me fall asleep.

Billboards and Carbon Monoxide

What is more polluting, Carbon Monoxide or billboards?

breaking the mold

It is time for some change in my life. I have been keeping this blog for 2 years now and that is a long time in computer years. Same computer, same site, same design, yadda, yadda...

I was going for consistent and it was working. but I am growing tired of consistent. I welcome change...I thrive off of change. When I was a kid I would move my furniture around in my room every now and then just for something different. It seems every time I would clean it some item would end up in a different corner or maybe the whole room would be rearranged. So I get bored easily. Is there any harm in that?

You may have noticed that I have not been as on top of my blog this year as in the previous year, and especially in the last few months. Perhaps some off that is because of boredom but much of it has been school. School has demanded a lot out of me in the last 3 or 4 months but that is drawing to a close. Yay!

To my readers: thank you for your interest in my ramblings. I appreciate you. There is change in the pipeline but I don't even know what it is. The world is changing. Circumstances are changing. I am changing. Whatever happens...keep reading; things can only get better. Some people fear change, but I say "bring it on." Change invites growth yet growth breeds change. It is a dynamic world that we live in and if we dont change to keep up what happens to us? There ARE a few things in life that should not change but as for the rest- welcome it, embrace it, cherish it.

The power comes in knowing what can change and what must remain constant.

oh say can you see

Most everyone knows the first verse but what about the second, third, and yep- fourth verse of the Star Spangled Banner. It is the anthem of this great country but what citizen of hers can recite it? Many don't know there is more than one verse. That is sad. I love the 4th verse above, it is my favorite.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

It has a new meaning to me this Independence Day. My brother is in the Army National Guard and his unit has just recently deployed to Iraq for a year. This country exists because of a few men who were willing to stand up to a government that was not treating its people with equality. It continues to exist because of free men who, despite the harsh piercing words of others choose to put their life on the line, sacrificing time, family, and pleasure to fight against those who would oppress and instill fear in those who what that same freedom.

There is plenty more to be said on this but it sufficeth me to stop here. I love this country. I love that flag. And I love those who are willing to stand up to defend the principles she was founded on.

I love you Bro. God bless you.

Father's Day

I love my dad, my father, my pops! Happy Father's Day.

unwelcome fix

"Getting your pet fixed makes them happier," that is what I heard on the radio anyway. Somehow I doubt that. How on earth did they come to that conclusion? The process can't be enjoyable for your pet and afterward... Afterward they will never be the same. Would it make you happier if you got 'fixed' Mr. Veteranarian person? I don't think so. So why would your pet be happy? That is a ridiculous supposition.

carnival rides

I had a thought at a county fair that I went to a while ago. There is something about roller-coasters and ferris-wheels that are meant to be temporary and mobile that make me question their safety and the logic in choosing to ride on one.

I was riding a ferris-wheel a little while back at a festival I went to where I saw the bolt holding the pod above us on the wheel was held on at the bottom by a cotter pin. The pod was suspended from the top with a pole running down the center and a heavy metal pin passing through the bottom to keep the pod attached. It was through this pin that the cotter pin was clipped. It was safe enough I suppose, but there is just a since of insecurity attached with a cotter pin.

And as a separate note, I don't know how much confidence I am willing to place in those people that operate those rides.

terrorizing the nation

Here's an idea, lets close all the national parks and cool places to visit, and see, in America because of terrorism. How much do terrorists really care about a sign that says trespassers will be liable per code 247455? If they really want to they will find a way, regardless of sign fence or security check point. As we have found out just recently with the man that tried to blow up an airplane landing in Detroit if there is a will there is a way, and they will find it. It is unfortunate but true.

In this world one person's bad decison causes ever so many others to suffer and endure greater toils in life. This is a principle that exists out of untarnished personal agency.

I understand agency but, I want my parks and historical sites back! I want to be able to visit with my kids the places I visited as a kid and learned from. Maybe some crazy person does want access to the same for evil reasons but he will find away to get that access if he wants it bad enough.

Maybe the reason is to prevent too many people from being in that vacenity, to lessen the attractiveness. I may agree with such an arguement but there again, we are not going to stop gathering at parks and sports events to prevent possible unfortunate events.

cooling or warming

I have heard that there is irrefutable scientific evidence of global warming. I would like to see this evidence or the scientists who determined it. I am no scientist but I don't think you have to be a scientist to know that snow is cold. Moreover, any fifth grader can tell you that for it to snow 5" in Southern Alabama requires it to be colder than normal. You might see snow fall in Lower Alabama on occasion but never stick or accumulate. Not like it did yesterday. No, that is definitely abnormal.

That is right, it snowed yesterday here in Alabama, and not just a little bit, a good 4 or 5 inches where I am; more elsewhere. To me that is some pretty solid evidence of a COOLING trend. I am thinking there is an agenda, or someone was holding the thermometer upside-down when they took the readings.

Or maybe, it is that law of conservation. The one that says that energy exists and cant be created or destroyed but only transfered. Yeah, maybe that is it, the world, the globe, is warming as Lower Alabama is cooling. That has got to be it. What was I thinking!

the american taco

I was eating at subway this week and decided that Subway is just an American taco. I remember when subway would cut down and into each side of the bread, take the top off, build the sandwich, and put the top back on. Now all they do is cut down one side and fold it over. Why the change? Now you have to eat it on its side to keep the stuff on the insides from spilling out. You end up with that same tilt in your head when you eat a taco. So, what is the difference? Tacos have a meat, and lettuce, and tomatoes, olives, cheese, and, if you want them, jalapenos. So, what is the difference? The shell you put it in, that's it.

A Subway sandwich is an American taco. Terrific!

state of the union

I watched the State of the Union last night. After two minutes of listening the applause got old. Every other sentence had to be confirmed or agreed to with applause. I am confident that the whole address could have probably been given in a half an hour if it weren't interrupted every 20 seconds with an outburst of applause. And if they really like what President Obama had to say they would stand and applause. It seemed that they all did more standing and sitting then is done at a Catholic wedding.

So they agree with what he was saying, I understand that. And it is nice that they agree and what everyone to see it but there has to be a better way to do it that doesn't distract so much causing sentences to be interrupted and proposals hacked into fragments separated but restless applause.

Why don't they just let the man talk and at the end give a nice long standing ovation. I am all for showing your agreeance with what is said, and it is nice for the President to know that the people agree with what he is saying when he says it but I think it was just annoying during his address yesterday. It was a bit too much agreeing. Here is an idea, instead of clapping they can show their agreeance by raising their hand in the air and rubbing their thumb back and forth across their fingers. Much quieter and less interrupting yet people can still see they agree.

ice = rock

Does anyone else find it ironic that many people call ice rocks and rocks ice? I have never ordered a drink at a bar but I do know enough about mixed drinks to know the meaning of the phrase "on the rocks." Anyone who has watched more than one James Bond movie knows that. So ice cubes are often called rocks.

"Ice" may not be used so commonly but we have all heard of it. It is common enough that there is a website ice.com that is devoted to its sale. Not all rocks are called ice but there is no denying a diamond is a rock.

So there it is. Ice is a rock and a rock, ice. Interesting.