weekly post from April 28, 2007

Hello friends & loved ones,

Another week is behind us and here in Western, NY it's a gray and dreary day. A good day for just staying in bed all day. I didn't but don't feel guilty if YOU do.

It's so nice waking up each morning to the chittering and tittering of the birds. Each bird has different songs and I will just lay in bed listening to their singing. Also when we go out and walk the dog we can hear them singing throughout the day and into the evening. It's as if they are just joyous all the time. They never seem to tire of singing even on a gray day like today. If only us humans could be like our feathered friends. We get tired, depressed, worn down and don't feel like talking let alone singing. We let outside things affect us; the weather, economy, war until we seem to have no more left to give of ourselves. We need to make sure we are taking care of ourselves and building ourselves up so we can share our songs with others who might never hear one; so we can share ourselves with others who may not have anyone else in their lives.

So as you go about your weekend make sure you sing your song. Sing loud and remember the person who hears you singing may be the person who needs to hear it the most.

And as always stay safe, stay happy, and stay healthy.

peace,

paul

A pic of my spouse feeding a pigeon during our recent trip to Boston's Public Gardens.

One with my spouse and the pigeon. I was surprised how into it he got.

Another one

Here's one with the pigeon just about to fly away with his food. He took the whole peanut in his mouth, as you can see here.

My spouse and I had a ball feeding peanuts to the pigeons. We couldn't break them fast enough.

Not real clear but this is a pic of one duck trying to mate? with another one.

A photo of one of the ducks eating a piece of bread. We were furiously throwing the bread in but the ducks were less than interested; we finally had a taker.

During a recent trip to Boston, my spouse and I caught up with some old friends and spent some time walking around the Public Gardens. We even rode the swan boats, a picture of which is shown here.

humor

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last...
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget

weekly post from April 20, 2007

Hello friends & loved ones,

It's an absolutely beautiful day in Western, NY with temps in the low 60's and the sun shining bright bright bright. There are still clumps of snow here and there that are trying to stay on the ground as long as possible. They won't last much longer at all.

Despite the sun in this part of the world, the sun isn't shining in Virginia this week. This past week our Virginia experienced something horrific. The tragedy that happened at Virginia Tech this past Monday is something most of us would never have imagined happening. All week long television has been flooded with stories about what happened. This is nothing new. Whenever something tragic like this happens, the news inundates us with the story dissected in more ways than we could possibly imagine. It's overkill times 100. It gets to the point to where the story produces a feeling of "UGH! Not again!" and I want to change the channel immediately.

The past week has had more than its share of finger pointing. Blaming (yes, that's the awful "B" word) is counter productive; it gets us nowhere. There are many arguments about this tragedy, however, those who say a lockdown would have been the best thing really need to think about that. There was a two hour lull between attacks at the campus and no one knows where the student was in those two hours. If the campus had been locked down, who's to say that the student would not have been in another building? Also VT is a 2,600 acre campus; I wouldn't want to be in charge of shutting down a facility that huge. Were mistakes made by the campus? Yes. Could they have handled things differently? Certainly. What other campuses around the nation need to be doing is focusing on how they can prevent this type of incident. Let's face it most campuses aren't safe the way they should be. Instead of beating a dead story we need to be proactive and prevent this from happening again. Our culture wants to talk about things 500 different ways from Sunday. My heart goes out to the families of the people who were killed and to the family of the gunman. While we are all healing let's remember that we are all united and blaming and pointing fingers will only prolong the pain.

To my friends & loved ones enjoy your weekend. As always be safe, be healthy and be happy.

love,

paul

weekly post from April 14, 2007

Hello friends & loved ones,

Another week has passed and another Friday the 13th is behind us. I'm not a believer in Friday the 13th bringing bad luck; I believe our reactions to life and what it throws us can be considered our luck. Some of us think the Gods are conspiring against us and some of us think that life is just a road with curveballs around every bend. I've no idea what the hell I'm saying except that life is what we make it.

I'm a firm believer in doing things that are outside our comfort zones and I did just that today. I was raised Missouri Synod Lutheran (feel free to look it up). It's more conservative than Evangelical Lutherans and they are definitely not gay friendly. Today I went to St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Hilton with Cathy (hey, Cathy) a friend of mine and my spouse. We had lunch with her today and she and my spouse were discussing the interim pastor at her church. I had no idea who the guy was and part of me wanted to see him and hear him preach. I'm also a firm believer in staying current (that includes knowing what other "closed" churches are doing) and I wanted to experience another Lutheran service. It had been a while since the last one. As soon as I walked in the doors the memories came flooding back from my childhood. The board that lists the hymn numbers, the lamp that indicates the presence of Jesus, the rote readings of scripture, the heavy perfume of the old ladies, the lack of a real community greeting and the solemnity of the parishioners. At the Open Arms church (where I go), we are sometimes quite raucous and we have no problem calling out as the spirit moves us. At the service today, I kept wanting to interject little things such as "yes", "praise", and "alright." Things that you might hear at a Pentecostal church. I had to reign myself in because it was not THAT kind of church. I was surprised that while reciting the Confession And Pronouncement Of Forgiveness and The Apostles Creed, I remembered (by heart) a line here and a line there. Not the whole thing but just enough to make me think, "Whoa!" I'm glad I did it but after being a part of an open and affirming church (a real one), there's no going back. What did you do that was uncomfortable this past week?

Until next week....Stay safe, stay happy, and stay healthy.

paul

youtube link

Anyone remember the My Humps song by the Black Eyed Peas? Well here's a spoof of the video done by Alanis Morissette. Who knew that she was funny as well as a talented singer? Enjoy!

paul

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W91sqAs-_-g

I-Mess

Keith Olbermann refers to the Don Imus brouhaha as I-Mess, so I've borrowed it from him. It's sad that this news item is still dominating the airwaves; he's been fired already, let it go. I understand that people want to debate the race issue, however, there are more important things to worry about in the world right now and the man is gone; he's no longer on the air. Do I think he should have been fired? No. I do realize this is not the first time he's made racist remarks, however, I truly believe that he is being made an example of. If I were Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter or gangsta rappers (all of whom have made their share of racist, homophobic, bigoted remarks) I would be quaking in my studio chair right about now and being extra careful of what is said. If I were Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, I would be focusing on these yahoos that continue to play on the airwaves and continue to make noxious remarks. Let's put this story to bed once and for all and stop beating a dead (or in this case fired) horse. And, by the way, a civil rights activist should stand up and speak out against ALL civil injustices. You can't call yourself a civil rights activist and then pick and choose which slurs to get riled up over. What about Isaiah Washington from Grey's Anatomy still being employed after using the word faggot? What about the Duke Lacrosse guys who are now deemed innocent and have to live with the title of rapist for the rest of their lives? What about Ann Coulter still being embraced by the Republican party after calling John Edwards a faggot? And speaking of Ann Coulter, she is much worse than 10 Don Imus's. I've heard it said that her vitriol is done for shock effect. I don't care what effect it's used for; it's hateful and disgusting.

peace,

paul

Here are some pics of our church decked out for Easter service. I've included some pictures of the flowers, the fellowship hall set up for the luncheon we had after service, a pic of some of the desserts, and a couple of pics of the mantilla (a headdress used by Spanish women that we used as a tablecloth) that features a picture of the last supper.

Enjoy,

paul