Friday, February 12, 2010

Guide for Forwarding Political E-mail

Recently, a friend of mine was berated for forwarding an email criticizing the President for his apparently lack of respect to the flag. The berater cited TruthOrFiction.com to delineate the falsehood.

My friend was chagrined. He stated:
"Sorry! I realize I'm often too gullible, and I'm not prone to check authenticity. Best I just stop forwarding anything derogatory about anyone, or even praising anyone, unless I know first hand it is true."

This a problem we all face: what to do with all the e-mail we receive, some of which resonates so strongly that we want to send it on RIGHT NOW!!!

Here's an easy guide that I try to follow re forwarding politically oriented e-mail:

If the message is about me, and it's laudatory, I forward it to everyone I know.

If it is about Joe Biden, and it seems ridiculous, I always forward to Sarah Palin so she will be cheered. E.g.: Did you hear that Iraq will be considered one of the great achievements of this Administration?

If it is about Nancy Pelosi, I forward it to Harry Reid and Joe Biden so they will feel better about themselves.

If it is about President Obama, I weep quietly for a few minutes, then check the calendar to gauge the time until the next national election cycle.

I find that I am beginning to understand the hard-over positions of the "Bush-haters" from just a year or two ago. Immediately following the election, I was hopeful for the country. Now when I hear Obama say, "I am not an Ideologue" it resonates in my head with Nixon saying "I am not a Crook."

Now I find myself grateful that the Democrats hold a strong majority in both Houses plus hold the Presidency to clarify the source of the actual achievements - i.e., the abject failures and deficits of this administration. I am so grateful that this President inherited Pelosi and Reid - I shudder to consider how much farther down this path we would be if Obama had competent leaders in the House and Senate, e.g., a Steny Hoyer and a Tom Daschle.

If not grateful for, I am at least amazed at the cold partisanship of Pelosi ("We won, we write the bill") and the divisiveness of someone elected to be President of all the people ("...waving their little teabags...").

Excuse me, I'm going to go check my calendar again. Every day it looks better.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Sixth Candle Is Lit ....



The Sixth Candle Is Lit ....

David and Tricia invited Bonnie and Mike over to participate in the Family Chanukah celebration on Tuesday, 15 December 2009, which included the lighting of Candle #6 on the menorah. We found Tricia cooking the traditional fare of latkes, which are potato pancakes, eaten to symbolize the central theme of the holiday, the miracle of oil. Tricia told me that many of the foods are cooked with oil to carry on this theme - Tricia used Omega Light Oil made with Canola oil, soybean (vegetable) oil, and olive oil. There is a custom of eating foods fried or baked in oil (preferably olive oil), as the original miracle of the Hanukkah menorah involved the discovery of a small flask of pure olive oil used by the Jewish High Priest, the Kohen Gadol. This small batch of olive oil was only supposed to last one day, and instead it lasted eight.

Accordingly, potato pancakes, known as latkes in Yiddish, are traditionally associated with Hanukkah, as they are prepared by frying in oil. Latkes are an incredibly versatile food because, depending on the recipe, they can be an appetizer, side dish, entree, vegetable, dessert or snack. Tricia served hers with applesauce, or alternatively, with horseradish.

Similarly, many Israeli families have the custom of eating all kinds of jam-filled doughnuts (Yiddish: פאנטשקעס pontshkes), (sufganiyot) which are deep-fried in oil. Ours were the quick-fry type of sufganiyot, and thus were more like donut holes. The kids are shown in the picture shaking the still hot sufganiyot in either powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Yummy!

Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights celebrated in countries all over the world. In 165 B.C. there was a great battle between the Maccabees and the Syrians. The Jews won the battle and when they went to their temple, they found that the Syrians had allowed their sacred light to go out. They only had oil for one day. The miracle of Hanukkah is that the oil lasted 8 days until a messenger could return with more. There are nine candles in the menorah. One of the candles is used to light the other candles and the other eight stand for the eight days that the oil kept burning. You put the candles in the menorah right to left, and light them left to right so the oldest candle is put in first, and the newest candle is lit first. The last night, nine candles, counting the server candle, will glow. Hanukkah lights should burn for at least one half hour after it gets dark.

David reminded me that there are many spellings of this Hebrew holiday, because the English is transliterated from Hebrew. You'll see H-a-n-u-k-k-a-h a lot because that is the Associated Press spelling.

Christmas is always on 25 December however Chanukah falls on a different date each year in relationship to the common calendar, because it's a lunar calendar that loses time yearly. To compensate, a leap year adds a 13th month every few years. That leap month is called Adar II. In truth, Chanukah falls on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which was Dec. 12 this year and will be Dec. 2 in 2010.

Parents give their kids Chanukah gelt (gold-wrapped chocolate coins) and other trinkets for eight nights to enhance their enjoyment of the holiday. On this 6th night, Bonnie and Mike, and Ian and Charlene, were instructed to close our eyes, and when we opened them, we each found before us Hanukkah cookies and both gold and silver-wrapped coins. A miracle indeed! Bonnie and Mike fought over theirs. The kids were pretty good.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Texas and Nephews






Texas and Nephews

Bonnie and Mike traveled to Houston during 13-15 November 2009 for Mike’s 50th High School Reunion (see Lamar59.org for the details and photos on this gala gathering). During two events of the Reunion, we went by the old 2307 Gramercy homestead to ensure it was still in existence, and not looming as large in life as in memory.

Post-reunion we made two family related visits. On Sunday afternoon we went to the Nottingham area, Kellywood Lane in Houston, to visit with Eric and Kristen and 3-year old David. This is a beautiful residence in a beautiful residential area, and we enjoyed meeting David: he’s cute and bright-eyed, and actually behaved better in the restaurant than we did! (see photos). We went to Escalante’s for Mexican food – next time we may try Nirvana for Indian food… well, maybe not Bonnie!

Eric’s job with Decision Strategies Inc keeps him busy as he is ‘farmed out’ to Energy companies for his decision analysis skills – he is a methodologist in this area, as opposed to an oil and gas specialist, so his role is special. Kristen has begun working again, part time – not the job she wants or is challenged by, but conveniently located right across the street from David’s pre-school, and it gives her 20 hours a week.

On Monday morning, we checked out of our Hilton Garden Inn Galleria (Reunion hotel) and headed Southwest on 59 to Sugar Land. There we received a good/not so good surprise: Sarah Grace was there with Anne and Andy – great as we had expected that she would be in school/not so great as she was home because she was feeling punk. Sarah Grace was still gracious however, so we did get a few photos of her, before we took Andy out to lunch at Salt Grass Steakhouse (and send home a cheeseburger for Anne who had stayed home with her 3-year old patient.)

Andy commutes about 15-20 minutes each Tuesday and Thursday to teach his 15 hours (5 three-hour classes!) in biblical studies at the College of Biblical Studies. (Note: one of the reasons CBS was so eager to hire Andy was to strengthen their accreditation efforts - this has recently been successful! Yea, Andy!) Andy also travels to different locales for churches that want him to come talk at their venue. For several years, Andy and Anne have talked about creating a text book for Andy. We also talked about creating a web site for a non-profit that the team is building. So much to do!

Summary: much energy in Houston! Great visits! We need to return before our next 50th Reunion!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Ranch Roundup

Ranch Roundup

Every decade or so, the family gets together for a Reunion of sorts. This July we had a great visit to Alma New Mexico.

Billy loaned us his Polaris Ranger – plenty good for running around between ranches however not for long distance or high speeds. We made it down to Hugh B’s (about 2 miles) fairly easily on Friday night for the hot dogs and hamburger cook-out. Hugh B and the grandkids were already in swimming. What a place for a reunion for all ages: swimming, horse shoes, tennis court, horses, and they even had El Fuego for a photo op – who is willing to climb up on El Fuego?

At the end of the evening, there were fireworks – Bonnie kept saying, “We don’t want to ride home on the highway after dark, do we?” Well, there is a back route – don’t have to go on the highway, just follow the old County road around the back between the two Alma areas. So off we went – there was actually a little light when we started – Rusty had said “stay to the left” and apparently I took that way too seriously – I took the first left, ended up on the levee, and after about a mile we were thoroughly lost … no road, no way out, headlights tht showed about 10 feet ahead – and Bonnie worred about snakes. I had to get out and walk around looking for the road and while I was gone, Bonnie started looking for what we had to save us – all she found was two lollipops and a flashlight with no batteries. Bonnie was wondering if she could make it through to daylight by eating just one of the lollipops – but then was worried that one of the bears would smell the candy and we'd be goners ...

Well, Rusty saw our headlights in the wrong area - we weren't supposed to be along the levee - and came out and rescued us. Bonnie said, "I've got a new boyfriend!" However, she kept calling him "Dusty" so I think that won't last.

Then the next day was the Tractor Pull. If you haven't attended a Tractor Pull, you haven't lived! Well ... maybe you've lived, but you haven't seen it all. Now we have.

What a great Ranch Roundup! We need to do this more often!

More Photos

See my Facebook page here for more photos of the Ranch Roundup as selected from Suzanne's collection on Picasa.com

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Doo Doo Doo Lookin' Out My Back Door

Just got home from Illinois - Lock the front door oh boy!
Got to sit down take a rest on the porch.
Imagination sets in pretty soon I'm singin'
[CHORUS:]
Doo doo doo Lookin' out my back door.

There's a giant doing cartwheels a statue wearin' high heels.
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.
A dinosaur Victrola list'ning to Buck Owens.
CHORUS

Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band.
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon?
Doo, doo doo.
Wond'rous apparition provided by magician.
CHORUS
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band.
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon?
Doo, doo doo.
Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows.
CHORUS

Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Day At The Races




"Legends" are 80 mph, precisely-responding, sophisticated racing machines. Conceived about 10 years ago, they are designed from the ground up like a NASCAR Cup car, with coil-over shocks, weightjackers and tube-frame steel construction covered with fiberglass bodies resembling the original "legendary" NASCAR stock cars of the 30s and 40s. They are powered by four-cylinder, 1250 cc, 125 hp Yamaha air-cooled engines with 5-speed sequential transmissions. And personalized with slick-looking professional paint jobs.

The 2009 Oval Schedule is in full swing at Sandia Motor Speedway, New Mexico's premier racing facility. Bonnie and Mike were provided a Pit Pass by Katy on Saturday 9 May and were witness to "The Miracle of Duct Tape." The 10-lap heat started well for the Legends however in the back stretch it was Cardenas on Cardenas as Car #7 (Matthew) spun out while trying to pass and Car #23 (Tony Jr.) ran up over him.

Then it was truly a race against time as Tony Sr. and crew attempted to put Car #7 back into racing condition in time for the 25-lap main event. Many hands working with many tools (and significant duct tape) helping made it happen and Matthew was out racing again - and spun out again - but finished in good shape. An excellent adventure all around!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Jiking the Jemez










Bonnie planned a wonderful Valentine's surprise for me - a ride into the country to parts unknown (to me). Unfortunately, or rather, as it happened, we had an early Valentine's Dinner at Cervantes where we split a Silver Margarita. We were both wiped out after that, so the trip was postponed until Sunday 15 February.

Wonderful adventure, any of you readers can repeat it: Head toward Bernalillo and take Route 4 West. Then look for 485, and take it about two miles into the Jemez Recreational Area of the Santa Fe National Forest. The last three miles (through the tunnels) are on 367.

What great photos! The originals are of course larger and thus more spectacular. Perhaps we should make this "from our house to yours" for 2009?