Oh my is this funny!!!

For those of you who have ever called tech support, or currently work in tech support, you must watch this. It is somewhat crude in language and some content, but nothing really, really bad.

http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com

Enjoy!!

Something new for me to look forward too!

Coming up in September and early October, there are two new(er) reenactments that I will be involved in. The first is the Colonial Trade Fair at the Jubilee State Park in Brimfield Il, just outside of Peoria. It is a new event with only two years under its belt, but it seems to be growing and as it is new and not attached to some overall unbrella organization, it can do some things that usually are not or cannot be done as more established re-enactment. It has a much more interactive and educational aspect to it than most events I have been to in the past. As a matter of fact, it was those cut and dried, set peice events that caused me to get burned out on attending Colonial period events. Waiting around for colors, rushing to do two or more battles a day, racing through the sulter areas because you are supposed to be back in time for evening colors, and getting very little time to interact or role-play with the visiting public or fellow re-enactors was not what I was calling fun. As a matter of fact, other than school demos, I have not been to a 18th Century re-enacting event in almost two years other than visiting the Colonial Trade Fair at Jubilee. This year we have been juried in as acceptable and are going to set up a tavern of sorts with fresh apple cider that we will make on site and cool water or lemonade for the particpants. The organizer wants to use our site as a focal point of the market street and use it to plan some skits or senarios for the entertainment of the public and participants. I am really getting kind of excited about this. You can check out the colonial faire website out at www.colonialtradefair.com

The other event is the first weekend of October. It is the Fishers Renaissance Fair in Fishers, Indiana. Their website is http://www.fishersrenfaire.com/ The Order of St.Sebastian will there again this year. This event too is a new one with only two years of being in operation. Last year was our first time there and we drew a very large crowd with out shows. The problem with last year was that a freak heat wave came in and made temps in the afternoon in the mid 90's!!! This year we can only hope that the weather is more October like! We are being given a larger space to perform in and hopefull will draw crowds as well as last year.

I am really looking forward to these events and I will try to post what happens at them!

Later!

Trip to Tennessee... the last few days

One of the last experiences we had on the last day in Nashville is kind of hard to explain. The weather cleared up nicely, and turned very hot. To beat the heat we decided to hit the Opry Mills Mall which is probably one of the largest malls I have ever been too. It is right next to the Grand Ole Opry so we stopped by there and then spent a bit of time exploring the mall. Much of the other things we were planning on doing were in some way or another just not interesting us, so the kids agreed to hang out at the camp, order in some pizza and watch a movie while my wife and I would try a haunted tavern tour in downtown Nashville. We have never been on one but had always wanted to try. It was cheap and it would get it downtown Nashville with little trouble and into some of the bars that we would not normally pick to visit. We got to the meeting bar and met the other three couples. One set from Arkansas, one from Kentucky, and one recently moved from Ohio. We went on the tour, which truth be told was pretty cheesy, but it did get us to socialize with people we had never met before. They were all great couples and lots of fun to be with, but by the time we were done with the tour, some of them were harder drinkers than others. There were a couple of hard core bible thumpers, one of which tried to convert our aetheist tour guide, one was a psychic (who actually had ghost photos on her camera... cool!) and the rest had very interesting stories and backgrounds. Again it is hard to describe that night but suffice it too say that the picture (from Coyote Ugly) provided explains alot and that it was a fun and interesting night. We even had to call a taxi and pour one couple into so that they could go back home.. I highly suggest that given the opportunity, take one of these tours... you will be surprised what you get!

Did you know that Jesus had a hot air balloon team? I found this RV and matching trailer parked very near our campsite at the KOA in Nashville. Again the quest to find God has be curiouser and curiouser.

On leaving Nashville, my wife spotted a winery that was just a few miles off cource to Memphis, so we decided to visit it. It is the Arrington Vinyards and by chance it is own by Kix Brooks, the Brooks of the country western singing group Brooks and Dunn. I must say they make some very good wine, especially their Muscat and their Cabernet. We ended up with a case of different wines and an autographed vinyard poster by Kix Brooks which will go to my sister in Texas. As we moved on to Memphis, or more accurately, Millington, we were camping at the Meeman-Shebly state park, and about a mile outside of the entrance was the Shelby Forest General Store. I will talk more about this establishment in a later blog posting, but suffice it to say that this spot, was probably the best place I visited the entire trip. A general store was your favorite spot you say? Yep! As soon as you walk in, you get the instant feeling of being home and being completely welcome. Alot had to do with the staff, but I think there is something about the building too. Either way, I will write more about it in a later posting but if you are anywhere near this place, you need to visit it!

We spent our last two nights at the state park and on one evening took a (LONG) drive to see the Mississippi at sunset. As you can see, it is quite a beautiful sight, especially when there are no barges, docks or cities in the fore or background. The other side of the river was Arkansas and the sun was just going behind the tree line. We did spend most of our time at the state park which is a huge and beautiful place. The skeeters are kind of bad, but the trails are nice, the place is very quiet, and it does have a nice Olympic sized pool for cooling off in. I highly recommend the Meeman-Shelby State Park if you are looking for a nice place to camp. while there I also went on a geocache hike to find another hidden geocache. It was a long, strenuous hike but we did find it. It is always fun and reward to find the geocaches in new places.



The one tourist thing we did was Graceland. Graceland, is well, Graceland. It is kind of what you expect. We are not huge Elvis fans, but when in Memphis, you might as well go see the place. It is interesting to be in the home of such an American icon. I only provided the photo of the Jungle Room, one of the most famous rooms in America, due to space restraint on the blog. Graceland properties has done a very nice and respectful job of showing off Elvis' life and career and I would recommend it to all who go to Memphis. Go early, as the lines are smaller, and go before August (the anniversary of his death).

Well this is the end of the vacation blog. We spent a good eleven days on the road in Tenneesse and enjoyed ourselves. By the end of the trip though, we were tired of sleeping in the camper, eating out of a cooler or in restraunts, and frankly kind of tired of being away from home. It was a good trip. I wish gas was less expensive or I was richer as it was the most expensive thing we paid for on this trip. Most of our money was spend on fuel. I hope to do a vacation each year, but with the rising cost of gas and everything else, the vacation may be much closer to home. I think every family should do a vacation together each year. It makes a family closer, it educates everyone and regardless, you will meet some wonderful people that you would never meet by staying at home. Get out and travel with your family. You won't regret it.

Trip to Tennessee... Day 9

Well, the morning was a real soaker as I mentioned in the last update. So to stay out of the rain and avoid having to make soggy pancakes we went to Shoney's for a breakfast. I have not been to Shoney's in years and things have not changed much, expect for the price. Good place for breakfast. The rain started to let up so we decided to drive by and see the Grand Ole Opry House, which is the first photo. No shows are scheduled until the day we leave, which is unfortunate as Jewel, one of my favorite female performers, is playing. After that we came back to camp, dried things out some more and then headed out for the Hermitage, home to President Andrew Jackson. He was quite a character and the tour, both guided and audio was very informative. The photos are of his home, in the condition it was in after he left the presidency, and of he and his wife's tomb. The really cool thing about the home is that is almost all original, even down to where he left his slippers and bed jacket on the night before he died. All the furnishings, wallpaper, and household items are the same things used and owned by Jackson. I highly recommend a visit to the Hermitage. After coming back to camp, we were rewarded with clearing skies, lowering humidity and a drying camp. The kids went swimming and rented some bannana peel bikes and then we all went out for a dinner at COCK OF THE WALK, a catfish restaurant that does catfish very well. It has a riverboat/dock atmosphere and makes a very fine meal. As I write this, the sky is clear, stars are out and the temp is below 80. Maybe a really good night of sleep might be in store! More later!

Trip to Tennessee... Day 8.. and part of 9

The day started out quite nicely, being able to tear down and pack up with everything dry and all, but that is one of the few high points of the day. We headed out for Nashville and made good time, found the KOA to be a nice one, with lots of stuff to do while in camp. The kids went swimming, the dog played in the dog park for a while, Cora and I were in watermelon seed spitting contest, and then the heat hit. Man, did it hit. High humidity, and no moving air. It was easily close to 95 degrees. So as we had nothing planned, we decided to spend the afternoon at Opry Mills, trying to beat the heat. This is a huge mall with hundreds of stores, but many that are similar to what we have back home. We did spend some time at the Bass Pro shop and had a nice meal at the Rainforest Cafe. We left the dog in the car with 20 minute visits to start it up, run the AC and keep him cool. Then the rain hit, and it poured down and did not stop. (As I write this, it is still raining the following morning) So we huddled in the hot sticky camper, read some books, played around on the computer, and finally watch a couple of episodes for Battlestar Galactica. (Which I must say is a very fine SciFi series) I don't know what we will plan today (day 9)with the rain and all. We are hoping to get to Downtown Nashville at some point, but no need to hurry as it is STILL RAINING! It has only not rained on us for two days so far... I hope this stops soon. A real cramp on our fun and plans! Oh well. More later.

Trip to Tennessee... Day 7

Today was a nice, slow, relaxing day. And it did not rain... thank goodness. We got to take out time getting breakfast and starting the morning. I found some cedar wood and immediately set to burning it to get the smell in the air. I think I breathed in about a quart of cedar smoke. I love that stuff. Anyway, the only thing on the agenda was the Southern Belle river boat lunch cruise. It was the cheapest thing we have done all vacation so far and quite a nice time. The wheelhouse was open so I spent alot of time there talking to the pilot and getting the best view of the cruise. The lunch was quite filling and tasty. All in all it was a 90 minute cruise. Afterwords we thought about doing the Aquarium but decided against it as it was too hot to leave Gunnar in the car while we went there. Instead we went back to the campsite and just relaxed, swam and read books. We even got the kids to do the cooking. Later that night we,played a game, had a fire, (at least when Julian would leave it alone), set up the computer to listen to XM online and had a bottle of wine and chocolate cookies. A nice evening. Tomorrow we leave for Nashville. And it looks like a dry night!!!

Trip to Tennessee... Day 6

SEE ROCK CITY!!! SEE SEVEN STATES AT LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN!! SEE RUBY FALLS! And all those other things that are iconic signs that cover most of Tennesse. We saw them all and had a very nice day. We started out with more rain the night before we packed up from Gatlinburg, and can I say that I am tired of rain right now. Tennessee is supposedly having a drought, but I think we fixed that problem for them. Turn off the spigot.. we have enough water thank you. Okay, we headed out from eastern TN to head toward Chatanooga for sightseeing at Ruby Falls, Lookout Mountain and Rock City. We had to stop and set up camp at the KOA campground in Cleveland, TN. and then we headed into Chatanooga for sightseeing. First stop was Ruby falls as they had a kennel to keep Gunnar in while we did the cavern. Ruby Falls is not the best cavern system we have seen but the falls at the end are really fabulous to see. I got a good shot of the falls during the light show. After that we headed out to Rock City and Lover's Leap. Rock City is absolutely fabulous. A nice 3/4 mile walk in a beautiful natural setting that has been enhanced by plants and structures. It really is a must see point if you come this way. The swinging bridge is very nice to look out over the mountain and of course you have to see the 7 states from Lovers Leap. It did rain again so we got ponchos and made it stop raining. It was alot of fun and very relaxing. Back at camp we tried to dry out more stuff and then hit the sack. Tomorrow is the river boat ride and the aquarium.

I found God while on Vacation

It is the eternal quest of many to find God in their lives, and I would say I am on the same quest too. But while in Tennessee I think I may have moved a step closer to finishing that quest. I have found God. Maybe not him personally, but I found his corporate office (Gods World) and his get away spot (Gods Corner) when he is not on duty. Oddly, both are in Gatlinburg, Tennesse. I took photos of both places to show you all. He was not in at the time, so I could not ask him the age old question of whether he is Lutheran or Catholic. Enjoy the photos.

Trip to Tennessee... Day 5

The first thing that we did was try to dry out from a total soaking overnight. The entire campsite was soaked and just about everything was wet and dirty. However, we just accepted it and got ready for our trip to Gatlinburg. We ate a quick breakfast and got on the road to Gatlinburg which goes directly through the Smokie Mtn National Forest. The trip is only 18 miles long but the fastest you can go is about 30 miles an hour and the 18 mile trip takes you on a winding trip that last 40 minutes or so. We did get to Gatlinburg about 10am and found that most of the town was empty. The first order of the day was finding the GeoCache hidden in a small park on the edge of town. More successful than the Ohip GeoCache we found this one very quickly and left a few trackable items for other geocachers. Then off we went to the town. Our first stop was Ober Gatlinburg which is a skyway that takes you to the top of the mountain overlooking Gatlinburg. As you can see in one of the photos, my wife is not really smiling at the effect it is having on her. It was a fun ride and at the top there is a small amusement park for the family to partake in. Julian and I did the alpine slide car ride which was alot of fun. Next we came back down and had lunch at the Smokie Mtn. Brewery and had a very satisfying lunch. We then picked up Gunnar and headed out to explore the town.
We did a Olde Tyme Photo where were all dressed up in western clothes and got our photo taken with Gunnar. It was great but took like an hour to get done. I will post it if I get a chance.
After the photo we did some walking, sightseeing and shopping. The weather threatened to rain all day and finally it made good on it's promise and came down with gusto. We were without umbrellas or ponchos so we did our best to find cover when we could. Gunnar made his way into as many stores as he could to stay dry. Eventually we were forced to buy ponchos and as it would happen, it stopped raining. Just our luck, but oh well. After that we walked a bit more, I met a dancing bear, and we went to the Cars of the Stars museum. It was cool! The Munsters car was there, the Batmobile, the Beverly Hillbillies truck and whole bunch more. That was pretty much the end of the day so we headed back and saw the reason why they call the Smokies the Smokies. You can see the effect of humidity in the last photo. It really looks like a fire is burning. When we got back we found a much more soaked camp and did the best we could to get it ready for pack up in the morning. Tomorrow we head for Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain. Check back again. oh, and while walking Gunnar through Gatlinburg, people would part ways to let us through, stop to ask to pet him or say all kinds of things... such as: Oh look, a bear!, Wow what a big dog. Oh what a beautiful puppy. Oh big dog! Look out kids, big dog coming through!, Does he bite?, and any number of other things. I should have charged a buck each time someone wanted to pet him.... I could have paid for a tank of gas. And officially, it is very expensive to travel anymore... I might have to get a second job to pay for this vacation gas...

Trip to Tennessee... Day 4

Today was a busy, physical day. The morning was nice and cool and allowed us to cook up some nice campfire coffee and make some scrambled eggs for breakfast. After cleaning up we headed out to Davy Crockett's Riding Stables for an hour or so of horseback riding. We got some very nice horses by the name of Nugget, Nevada, Diesel, and Pet(short for Purgatory). The trail was quite nice and cool under the shade. After finishing that we headed back to camp to get a bite to eat and to rent the tubes for tubing down the Little River which is right next to the campsite. We got to enjoy some very clean, very cool mountain water with the whole family. Gunnar enjoyed the water too, following along the entire way and even making a show of himself in the rapids. People we just amazed to see him paddling along with us. Like they had never seen a dog swim before. I guess they just never thought to bring their dog with on vacation. We did the tubing twice and wer pretty much pooped out by that time. Supper time was close and we were all starting to fall asleep so we made spagehtti and then sat back to watch a movie on the laptop. It was a nice day and very tiring. We were very much ready to sleep by 10pm. Unfortunately it rained at night and kept us up for a few hours and soaked alot of the stuff we had outside... oh well. That is camping. Tomorrow is Gatlinburg!

Trip to Tennessee... Day 3

More photos and more vacation updates... I must first explain the first photo. This is Dave and his family saying goodbye as we pull out away from their home. They were soooo sad at our leaving that they needed hankies to dry the tears from their eyes... you can see that Dave's daughter Zadee (Madeline) was less than thrilled to be doing this... ah, teenagers. Anyway, after leave Cincinnati, we drove 5 hours to Townsend TN to sign in at the KOA campground just outside of Gatlinburg. The kids and Gunnar rode very comfortably as you can see and hardly a fight between the three of them! Once we got to the campsite and got set up, it was explore time. We are literally 50 yards from the river and the first thing the kids did was get in and start playing. Gunnar was very happy about this as he loves water. My wife and I a walk about to get a lay of the land and see what there is to do. The campground is very nice with very different levels of camping accomodations. From simple tent sight to sights with poured concrete pads for those afraid of dirt, to full fledged log cabins with tubs and air conditioning. As you can see, we have a pretty simple sight. Ther was not much time left in this day so we set about getting supper and getting settled in. Hamburgers and fry-pies were the order of the evening. Fry pies are a must when we go camping. They are as much a part of family tradition as our homemade ice cream. We got an idea of what we would try to accomplish tomorrow so check back again later!

Trip to Tennessee... Day 1 and 2

The time has finally arrived and we are off on our annual family vacation. Despite the high price of gas and food, we are taking this trip. We are taking 12 days to travel around all of Tennessee. We did not get a vacation last year as we instead sent Julian to England, Wales and Ireland. So this year instead of heading to the west or to Florida or New England, we decided to stay a little closer to home. After jamming in just about everything you can do on the 4th of July, we packed up on the 5th and headed east to Cinncinnati Ohio to visit on of my best all time buddies, Dave H. (BFShaman for those on XBOX LIVE) I have know Dave for almost 20 plus years and he and I are very good friends. Dave and I drove out motorcycles to Boston many years ago, spent way too many days and nights hanging out, waiting for the night clubs to open and basically feeding off of one another's energy. Time and life have taken us to different parts of the country but we try to remain in touch and close. So seeing that it would be inexcusable to not visit we dropped in for a two night stay. We did not plan much as we wanted to visit mainly. What we did do, is get spoiled rotten by Dave's girlfriend Lauren who was the consumate hostess and cook. We could not have had better hospitality if we had stayed at a 5 star hotel!! It was a great visit! We did some gaming on the XBOX and with some board games, we went looking for a geocache (unsuccessfully)at a town park that looked every bit like a Forest Preserve, and watched a movie. It was a great time to relax and visit and catch up. Unfortunately we had to leave on Monday to head to Gatlinburg for our stay at the KOA campground in Townsend. We arrived there to find a complete wooded and shaded camp site about 50 yards from the river. More to follow tomorrow.

What kind of D&D character are you?

Ever trying to promote gamer geekiness throughout the world, here comes a personality/character quiz from the New Trier Dungeons and Dragons club at that school system... wait.. a D&D club at a school? What has the world come to?!?!? Anyway, take the quiz is you want. Let us all know what you tested out as.

As it happens, I tested out pretty much like the characters I enjoy playing the most in the game. A neutral good Elf Ranger.

http://www.newtrier.k12.il.us/activities/d&d/cquiz.html


Later!

Talking about Patriotism in todays America...

As we close in on the Fourth of July, the celebration of the Birth of America and all things American, the idea of patriotism is on display everywhere you look. But just how patriotic are we as a nation. I know that in my small central Illinois town, being patriotic is pretty much a given. We love out country right or wrong and it would take you a while to find someone who is an "unpatriotic" person. Now, granted, I have talked with alot of kids in our town and many of them are woefully under-educated on the history of the US but I would not say that any of them are unpatriotic. That might have something to do with their education, their parents, or simply living in the town or area of the country they live in. But you do not have to travel far, say 30-40 miles in any direction to a larger town with a much different educational system and culture and you will find some out and out America haters. Maybe that is too strong of a classification. But they are certainly not patriotic. They are more likely to celebrate our shortcoming rather than what is good about America. (That has always intrigued me... celebrating and speaking out about our short comings, but never celebrating that they can do so without getting a bullet in the brain or whisked off to a "relocation" camp of some sort.)

Anyway, I think that patriotism starts at the home and is reinforced in our communities and schools and columnist Thomas Sowell has written a very good article on the importance of patriotism and why it matters. You can find it at http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell070208.php3 but as always I will include the full article here for your reading enjoyment. Enjoy and as always, comment on what you think.

Later!

Does Patriotism Matter?

By Thomas Sowell

The Fourth of July is a patriotic holiday but patriotism has long been viewed with suspicion or disdain by many of the intelligentsia. As far back as 1793, prominent British writer William Godwin called patriotism "high-sounding nonsense."

Internationalism has long been a competitor with patriotism, especially among the intelligentsia. H.G. Wells advocated replacing the idea of duty to one's country with "the idea of cosmopolitan duty."

Perhaps nowhere was patriotism so downplayed or deplored than among intellectuals in the Western democracies in the two decades after the horrors of the First World War, fought under various nations' banners of patriotism.

In France, after the First World War, the teachers' unions launched a systematic purge of textbooks, in order to promote internationalism and pacifism.

Books that depicted the courage and self-sacrifice of soldiers who had defended France against the German invaders were called "bellicose" books to be banished from the schools.

Textbook publishers caved in to the power of the teachers' unions, rather than lose a large market for their books. History books were sharply revised to conform to internationalism and pacifism.

The once epic story of the French soldiers' heroic defense against the German invaders at Verdun, despite the massive casualties suffered by the French, was now transformed into a story of horrible suffering by all soldiers at Verdun— French and German alike.

In short, soldiers once depicted as national heroes were now depicted as victims— and just like victims in other nations' armies.

Children were bombarded with stories on the horrors of war. In some schools, children whose fathers had been killed during the war were asked to speak to the class and many of these children— as well as some of their classmates and teachers— broke down in tears.

In Britain, Winston Churchill warned that a country "cannot avoid war by dilating upon its horrors." In France, Marshal Philippe Petain, the victor at Verdun, warned in 1934 that teachers were trying to "raise our sons in ignorance of or in contempt of the fatherland."

But they were voices drowned out by the pacifist and internationalist rhetoric of the 1920s and 1930s.

Did it matter? Does patriotism matter?

France, where pacifism and internationalism were strongest, became a classic example of how much it can matter.

During the First World War, France fought on against the German invaders for four long years, despite having more of its soldiers killed than all the American soldiers killed in all the wars in the history of the United States, put together.

But during the Second World War, France collapsed after just six weeks of fighting and surrendered to Nazi Germany. At the bitter moment of defeat the head of the French teachers' union was told, "You are partially responsible for the defeat."

Charles de Gaulle, Francois Mauriac, and other Frenchmen blamed a lack of national will or general moral decay, for the sudden and humiliating collapse of France in 1940.

At the outset of the invasion, both German and French generals assessed French military forces as more likely to gain victory, and virtually no one expected France to collapse like a house of cards — except Adolf Hitler, who had studied French society instead of French military forces.

Did patriotism matter? It mattered more than superior French tanks and planes.

Most Americans today are unaware of how much our schools have followed in the footsteps of the French schools of the 1920s and 1930s, or how much our intellectuals have become citizens of the world instead of American patriots.

Our media are busy verbally transforming American combat troops from heroes into victims, just as the French intelligentsia did— with the added twist of calling this "supporting the troops."

Will that matter? Time will tell.

Photos of the Past... Continued

Finally! A good friend of mine has posted a bunch of photos from Jubilee Olde English Fair 2008. Please go to this link to see photos from this year and last year!

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z270/Longbow_65/Jubilee/

We had a great year and had a ton of fun! There are too many to comment on, but I think you will get the idea from the photos.

Later!