Totem Animal

Yep, another quiz! I'm actually pleased with this result, as I've always felt a deep connection with the wolf.


You are the wolf. You are intensly loyal, loving,
and nurturing.

What's your totem animal?
brought to you by Quizilla

Too Fast?

My wife says I drive too fast.. I don't know what she's talking about!

Music Soothes the Savage Me...

I've been sitting here organizing my music files on my media player today, and boy has it been a hassle. I really didn't know I had that much music on my computer. I got to figuring, and if I had saved all the money I've spent at Wal-Mart buying gift cards to download music, I'd have close to $200 in my pocket, and that's just my half, not to mention what my wife has downloaded! But the more I thought about it, I decided, what better to spend the money on than music.

Music is such a vital part of not only my life, but the lives of so many others. Music is something that is understood by people no matter what culture they are. It has so many aspects. No matter how I'm feeling, there's a type of music to accompany it. If I'm down and don't want to feel better, I put in the Blues, but if I'm sad and want some cheering up, a little 80's hair metal always lifts me out of any depression. I use music as background noise while working on the computer, while playing my playstation, even when going to sleep I usually have music playing in the background. My music has become such a big part of my life that I cannot actually imagine living without music. So after thinking about it, I've decided, yeah, the $200 would be great, but let's face it, if I had it, I'd just go out and spend it on more music!

Rock On!

PowWow Pics

The top pic is me, my staff and a Mountain Man. The middle pic is me, my mom, my wife and Corky, one of the dancers, and the last pic is some of this years dancers.

PowWow Day 3

Today was the last day of Richmond's annual Native American PowWow, and it was great. The dancing was again awsome, and today they held a special ceremony involving an eagle bone whistle and a sacred drum for another Native American who usually came to the PowWows who died. The story telling was good and the shopping was great too. As it was the last day, some of the merchants marked their items down. I bought a second eagle feather for my staff, and a imitation red tailed hawk feather. Pics will be up as soon as I can scan them.

PowWow Day 2

Another great day at the PowWow. The dancing today was awesome, and the flute playing and storytelling were great. I also did quite a lot of shopping. Bought some dried cedar, Oklahoma sage, and an abalone shell for smudging; some buffalo fur and a deer foot and toe bone for a medicine bag I'm making; an imitation eagle feather and a small deer antler I'm going to add to my walking stick I bought yesterday; a deer leg bone toothpick; and a bag of wolf fur. I'm extremely happy with the wolf fur, as the wolf is my personal totem! I've also got some great pictures. We're going back tomorrow for the last day and the closing ceremonies, so I'll try to finish up the roll then, and hopefully I'll have pics soon thereafter!

Richmond Annual PowWow

If you're in shock, wondering, "what, it's the weekend, what's he doing updating tonight?", well, tonight was the first night of Richmond's annual Native American PowWow, and me, my wife and my mom decided to attend. It was fun. A very entertaining performance by a musician named Arvel Bird, who played the native flute and the fiddle. Most people don't think of the fiddle when they think of Native American music, but it was good. After his performance was the grand entry when all of the dancers entered and then the vetrans dance. After the dancing we hit the vendors area. Very wide selection of merchandise ranging from feathers, to war clubs, to walking sticks, to smudging supplies. I bought a walking stick with a leather handle to use tonight and tomorrow. We're gonna go back tomorrow to see more of the dancing and to check out more of the vendors. Hopefully I'll get some pics tomorrow and get them up either tomorrow night or maybe Sunday. Expect another entry after tomorrows all day PowWow.

Clinton Condoms...

Condoms Are Named for Clinton, Lewinsky
Wed Sep 21, 7:00 AM ET

BEIJING - A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America's 42nd president. Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.

He said that after the promotion ends, the Clinton condoms will go on sale in southern China for 29.8 Yuan ($3.72) for a box of 12, while the Lewinsky model will be priced at 18.8 Yuan ($2.35) for the same quantity.

"The Clinton condom will be the top of our line," he said. "The Lewinsky condom is not quite as good."

Read the whole thing over at Yahoo!News

Rant:

Ok, I've got to get this out of my system. Just bear with me and I'll post something funny later on tonight to make up for it.

Driving on the campus where I live is re-fricking-diculous! People blatantly ignore Don't Walk signs, they cross the street wherever they want, even within sight of clearly marked crosswalks. They will stand out in the middle of the road and talk to their friends who are driving by. It's horrible. Surely there's got to be some solution to this I thought to myself. Then it hit me: Natural Selection. Thanks to opposable thumbs, higher brain functions and advanced technology, humanity has basically over-ruled natural selection for itself. It's no longer only the strong survive, now it's everyone survives if we can help them. Well, I say it's time that changes. Let's bring back natural selection! If you cross a street outside of a crosswalk, drivers should not only have the right, but should be encouraged to hit you. If you decide to walk when the sign says Don't Walk, you should be taking your life in your own hands. Now I'm not advocating total anarchy. If you hit someone in a crosswalk or when the sign says walk, then you should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, but if the other person is too stupid to know what a crosswalk is or what Don't Walk means, then by all means let's take them out of the gene pool. Weed out the slow and the stupid. Maybe then things will get better.

Ok, I'm coming down off my soapbox now. Sorry, but I had to get that off my chest.

More quizzes

Yeah, I've been taking more web quizzes. They're just way too addictive. So here's the results of another one:

Your Blog Should Be Yellow

You're a cheerful, upbeat blogger who tends to make everyone laugh. You are a great storyteller, and the first to post the latest funny link. You're also friendly and welcoming to everyone who comments on your blog.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

10 Things...

I want to do before I die, in no particular order:

1. Go to Egypt and see the Pyramids
2. Go on safari in Africa
3. See Jimmy Buffett live in concert
4. Play harmonica in a blues band
5. Learn to play the guitar
6. Write a best selling book
7. Backpack through Europe
8. Visit Mexico for Dia de los Muertos
9. Go on a cruise (this will be checked off in Jan.)
10. Make a million dollars

I've already done, again, in no particular order:

1. Visit New Orleans
2. Go to Hawaii
3. Go fishing in Canada
4. Get married
5. Learn to cook
6. Investigated a haunted location
7. Seen the sun rise over the ocean
8. Stayed up ALL night drinking with my best friends
9. Tried sushi (it's become one of my favorite foods)
10. Start a blog!

Had to do it...

Ok, I've been pretty good. Even with everything that's going on, I haven't let my political views slip into my blog. Until now. Saw this over at Attu Sees All and just had to post it. Honestly, I think the news bar speaks for itself!

Thanks to Attu for today's post. Head over and check out his blog, great stuff.

Playstation Therapy

Been going through a rough time the past couple of days, but I'm actually feeling pretty good now. I seem to have discovered that Spyro the Dragon is a good, and cheap, replacement for therapy! Think about it, you can either go to a doc, lay on a couch, tell him your problems, have him say you're depressed or crazy, and pay him $500. OR, you could pop in a playstation (or X box, ps2, whatever) game you enjoy, and lose yourself for a few hours in the simple pleasure of playing. It's better if you pick a game that you not only enjoy, but that you can win at. After all, nobody wants to be feeling down and then lose a game on top of it! Add some nachoes, popcorn, or other fun snack food and some ice cold soda or beer, and you've got something that'll make you feel much better, and you're only out like $20 for food and beverages! Well, I'm off for some more of my new home found therapy, level 3 is giving me a bit of trouble!

Rare White Giraffe

"Thar She Blows! The White Giraffe!

What do an African researcher and the fictional character Captain Ahab have in common? Both were searching for a legendary white beast, and whereas Ahab searched for his white whale, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) researcher Charles Foley sought--and finally found--his white giraffe.

Foley first heard the tale of a white giraffe in 1993, when he began working in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park, where he conducts long-term research on the park’s savanna elephant populations.

"Despite intensive searching, I never saw the giraffe," recalls Foley. "And by 1994, the sightings stopped coming in, so I assumed it had died, either at the hand of man or beast. I never stopped looking though."

Twelve years later, Foley was rewarded for his search. While conducting an aerial survey of the park’s sub-population of elephants, a distant white reflection caught his eye. "I looked…blinked…looked again… and it was still there," said Foley.

Not content with a mere sighting, Foley told his pilot--fellow WCS researcher David Moyer--to make another pass over the spot, just over the trees. Traveling some 100 kilometers per hour, with his camera pointing out of the window, Foley captured an image of the white giraffe on film, ending a 12-year quest to find the apparition.

"The resulting photo reflects a slight juggling of the camera, yet the proof is there to see-a mostly white giraffe with small dark blotches on its body. Only the bottom half of its legs were the more traditional brown color," he added.

On a scientific note, Foley doubts that this white giraffe is the same one that others reported seeing in 1993, and is probably not a pure albino animal, but a leucistic animal, which means the animal is lighter than normal. Nevertheless, he feels his more idealistic motive for sighting the white giraffe has now been satisfied. And unlike Ahab, he lived to tell the tale. "

From: Wildlife Conservation Society


This is way too cool. Nature can be amazing at times.

Time Well Wasted

Well, I wasted way more time than I should have doing some little quizzes I found over at TV's Lucas' LiveJournal. So here's the results:


You Are The Love Mummy

The Ultimate Aqua Teen Hunger Force Quiz
brought to you by Quizilla

You Are a Margarita

You aren't just the life of the party, you are the party! You mix a good drink, bust out some great music, and know how to get down.

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Your Blogging Type Is Thoughtful and Considerate

You're a well liked, though underrated, blogger. You have a heart of gold, and are likely to blog for a cause. You're a peaceful blogger - no drama for you! A good listener and friend, you tend to leave thoughtful comments for others.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Squirrels

And now for something completely different, here's a couple of pics of some squirrels. The white one was just way too cute. I think I want a white squirrel for a pet now! The second one was just way too funny! Hope you enjoy them.

Comment Verification

I didn't want to have to do it, but I've had to turn on comment verification. If I got one more spam comment, I was gonna scream and probably throw something through my monitor. Again, sorry to do it, but it had to be done.

FEMA Refugee Camp

I was looking around last night, bouncing from link to link, when I came across this over at abovetopsecret.com. I couldn't believe it. This sounds more like something you'd hear about in Iraq or some third world country, not here in America. Not in a country built on the concepts of equality, freedom and democracy. I'm sickened and outraged to think that this is happening here, that these people are being treated as if they weren't even full humans. They're not POWs or something, they're American citizens, they deserve the same rights and respect as everybody else. As a matter of fact, at this time, I think they may deserve a little more. Some of these people lost everything they owned; their homes, their cars, their possessions, their families. We should be treating them better. We should be offering our hands and saying "I know you've fallen, but let me help you up!" Ugh, I can't write anymore, it just makes me way too angry. Just head on over and check it out. Make sure you read the rebuttal, if it wasn't such a serious situation, it'd almost be funny.

I just got back from a FEMA Detainment Camp

I regret...

I guess I'm a pretty lucky guy, there's not really a lot in my life I regret. Oh sure, there's some things I would have done different if I had the chance, but as for real, deep regrets, I can probably count them on the fingers of one hand.

My first real regret was back in grade school. There was this girl, Angie, who I had the biggest crush on, and I think she had a crush on me too. She used to call me almost every day, hang out with me at school, and used to invite me up her house to hang out and ride her 4-wheeler. Unfortunately, I was really shy, so I never got up the nerve to ask her out. And to this day I reget that. I always wonder what would have happened if I had been a little more confident. Oh well, life goes on. I still see her pretty regularly, and we're still friends to this day.

My next real regret involves a girl too (seems to be a pattern, doesn't it!) This one's a little bit personal even for an anonymous online blog! Let's just say it comes down to that lack of confidence thing again.

Another real regret involves college. Early on I made a couple of bad decisions and really messed up a semester of college. Hopefully things are now better, but I still regret not doing my best and trying harder.

My final regret involves my best friend Chris, who recently passed away from cancer. Chris was in many ways my hero. I always looked up to him and admired him. He was confident, noble, trustworthy, the true epitomy of chivalry. Unfortunately, I never told him how much I valued our friendship and how much I admired him. I learned a valuable lesson about letting the people who mean something to you know just what they mean, before it's too late.

Well, as far as I can remember right now, that's really my only major regrets. As I said, I've led a pretty good life, and there's not really a lot for me to regret

Two for the price of one...

Hey, just found a great site for bloggers. It creates random writing prompts and ideas for bloggers and journalers. That means no more sitting there wondering, "what am I gonna write about today?" Just go to the site, and in a few clicks, you have a choice of writing topics and prompts to choose from! Check it out...http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/writing/writing.prompts.html

And as a bonus, you get two posts from me tonight, this one, and the next one is a prompt from the site.

Dragons Spotted Over Tibet

Dragons in the Tibet Sky
The Epoch Times Aug 07, 2005


A photo of two peculiar dragon-shaped objects taken from a plane flying over Tibet’s Himalayas piqued many users’ interest when displayed on a Chinese website. The photographer is an amateur.

Click above for the full story.

Smudging

Well, had a good day yesterday. Thursday is my wife's day off from class, so we get to just hang out all day, go shopping, and just do nothing. Well, since we had some free time, I decided to go out to the local New Age shop and pick up some smudging supplies for our apartment. For those who don't know, smudging is a Native American cleansing and purification ritual where the smoke from burning herbs (usually white sage, cedar, sweetgrass, or any combination there of) is passed over the object, person or area being cleansed. It's supposed to dispel any negative energy or influences from the thing being smudged. I have to admit, it works. I recently smudged our new trailer we're moving into, and afterwards, it actually felt like it had been cleansed, and I was rejuvenated and feeling better afterwards too. So I decided if it worked on the trailer, maybe it'll work on the apartment, because after all the people living here and going to school here, some emotional baggage has definitely built up, and not all of it positive. So tomorrow (or actually later today I guess) I'm going to do a smudging of the apartment and see if it can't lighten the mood here too. Time will tell.

Katrina's Furry Survivors

Flood waters are still covering huge parts of the gulf coast, and many people are still without homes or shelter. But let's not forget at this time that there are also those who cannot take care of themselves. Too often after a disaster, we forget about the toll taken on the pets of the affected area. I'm a diehard animal lover, so I can't help but be moved by the plight of these poor creatures. The North Shore Animal League America is an organization dedicated to helping rescue and care for these poor pets. I urge anyone to donate to help these poor pets.

Inner Turmoil

Well, it's September, school is back in session, and Autumn is clearly on its way. So what does this have to do with an inner turmoil you might ask? Autumn and Summer have long warred to be my favorite season, and this year is no different.

Summer is a season of freedom; a season of bare feet, swimming, grilling out, vacations, and just hanging out with friends. There's bright sunshine, sudden showers of rain, and powerful thunderstorms. School is out, and responsibilities just seem to be lighter during the summer. The days are longer and there's so much to do to fill them up.

Then there's Autumn. Autumn is a time of Fall carnivals, bonfires, pumpkin pies and hayrides. There's a subtle kind of magic to a gray overcast October sky, with the smoky smell of a bonfire carrying on the wind. The thrill of sitting inside reading a book and sipping a cup of hot tea as a chill wind echoes outside. And then there's Halloween, my favorite holiday. A time of tricks, ghouls, ghosts, caramel apples and haunted houses.

If you're wondering what brought this conflict on, it's been a combination of factors. It's actually been a little on the cool side as the storm front from Katrina moves through, I've been reading Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, most of the stores have their Halloween merchandise out now, and I just drunk my first cup of hot tea in 6 months tonight. I guess I'm just doomed to be mixed up all my life, depressed to see Summer go, and anxious for Autumn to arrive.