Friendship, the Next Generation (tm)

      I am a man blessed with many friends.  Some I have known for far too many years to count and others I have met only recently.  I have a very few friends that are as close to me as family and I have others that I am still learning about.  So because I have been so blessed, today I find myself pondering exactly how much the very way we judge friendship has changed in such a very short period of time. 
     Let me categorize three sets of friends as an example.  First are the friends that I made decades ago.  They are a unusual and dare I say (Dare dare) strange group of people.  In some cases, we spent most of our college career seeing just how much trouble we could get into.  In some cases I have literally fought alongside and bled with them.  (Look up the SCA and don't be fooled, Rattan wrapped in duct tape HURTS!)  I don't always agree with them and sometimes I question their sanity, but I love them all dearly (Yes even you, TC)
     The second set  is drawn from that same group, but the bonds go much deeper.  I have friends that are my family that I would gladly give my life for. People like my brother in all but blood, BB and his amazing wife SCB (I'd call her my sister, but that might sound a little odd since she married my Brother.)  It wasn't that long ago, we reconnected after decades not seeing each other through the miracle of the Interwebz?  The first day we met in person, it was like we had never been apart.  BB, Shag, PP and others are still my family after all these years.
     Then there is the third set.  I think I shall call them "Friends, the Next Generation(tm)"  Through the miracle of the Inerwebz, I connected with a huge number of people that now share my life.  I read about their lives, joys and sorrows every day.  I share their losses and their triumphs.  Now most of these people are only loosely defined as friends.   I enjoy seeing their comments and laugh at their posts, but it is only a tenuos connection.  This doesn't mean I don't care about them, just that our bond isn't as strong.
     Of this group, there are a couple that I have never met that I feel the same sort of friendship or kinship that I do with the first groups I mentioned.  People that seem to know me so well and that I know just as well.   People like the larconic and often times silly Kevin or the insanely creative and funny Ken W. make my day brighter and I appreciate every single one of them.
     Long ago, Penpals were a popular thing.  People would write and connect with other people around the world.  Later on, Ham Radios added voices to the words.  I am certain if you were to speak to the people who did these things, they would probably tell you that they felt a connection to these faceless people that they would probably never meet.  The modern Interwebz is a technological extension of those early versions of social media and things like Facebook, Twitter and others are changing the very way we define friendship.
     In the end, what exactly does it mean to be a friend?  If you speak to someone every day and share each others lives, does it really matter if you do it physically or online?  I think, as time moves on, we will come to understand that friendship and even love is spiritual not physical and that how we experience that friendship is completely unimportant.

Brew Long and Prosper

MAY 15th OR BUST!

Everyone has some special day or time. You know, where something amazing happened that makes the day truly stand out from all of the others you have been through. The most common ones I can think of are the birth of a child or finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. You remember these times and you think, “Holy Cow, did that really happen to me?” They make you give thanks to a kind and generous Universe for the gift it has given you.

May 15^th, 2000 at around Noonish time is that day for me. On that day, the most amazing woman who has ever lived finally (after many years of begging) stood beside me in a simple room surrounded by friends and family and said, “I do.” In slightly less than a month, we will celebrate our 14^th Anniversary and it is my goal to do several blogs to explain the impossible miracle that occurred when the woman who would become my Wife lost her bloody mind and decided she actually liked me enough to marry me.

My wife is 13 years younger than me, much more intelligent and has much better tastes so it always boggles my mind that she ever decided to be my friend. The idea that she somehow got it into her mind that she could possibly love a broken down old guy like myself still amazes me. There are many hilarious stories surrounding our friendship, my frustrations and our eventual courtship and if you are very lucky I might go into them during one or two of these little pieces.

I can honestly say that there are many people who see the two of us together and ponder out loud, “What could she possibly see in him?” To tell the truth, I sometimes look in the mirror and wonder the same thing. I can never really understand how she fell in love with me in the first place and really don't understand how she has managed to stay with me all of these years through all of the trials and tribulations we have been through.

So over the next few weeks, I am going to ramble on and on about all of the amazing things that make up my wonderful wife and all of the impossible situations we have been through together. If you don't want to read post after post of how incredible the woman I married is, please feel free to skip to posts starting after May 15^th. If you want to hear about how even the most broken down old reprobate can find love and happiness against all odds, please feel free to keep reading as the days go on. I promise you won't be bored or disappointed.

Brew long and prosper

I'm just saying...

Help the Animals and Get a Book!

Help the Animals and get a Book!

     I am working on a new project designed to help the numerous groups that help rescue and take care of all the animals that cannot take care of themselves and that have no home to call their own.  All proceeds from the sales of the books will be distributed to various animal rescue organizations around the world to help them do more to help.  Your help and support is always appreciated.

OH NOSE, CUTE KITTEN VIDEOS!

     Cute and Fuzzy VS Wet and Snowy!

     So since we moved to the DC area it has snowed quite a bit and the fuzzy critter you see in the video has done her level best to get out to see exactly what the heck was going on.  Today we had a rather unexpectedly heavy snowfall and I was snapping pictures of it when Lantanna managed to squeeze past me and get onto our upper deck.  Needless to say her reaction to snow for the first time was more than a wee bit amusing.  Since I was lucky enough to catch it on video, I decided to upload it to my YouTube page.  I include the link and the story behind it here for your amusement.  Please feel free to enjoy the video and even tell your friends.

Thank you, all of you for your Service both Past and Present.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgYLr_LfhLo

My Grandfather proudly served during WWI alongside his best friend Jay Worthington. They served during some of the bloodiest and dirtiest trench warfare and Jay lost his right foot and part of his leg to a landmine during this time. Both men served with honor and dignity coming home alive when so many didn't. After having done this, they could have easily rested on their laurels and never had to worry about serving our country again.

However, the story goes that right after the attack on Pearl Harbor, both of them and Jay's wooden leg marched right down to the local recruitment office. They were told by the Recruiter that they were too old to reenlist and supposedly the officer made a not to gentle comment about Jay only having one leg. My Grandfather swore till the day he died that Jay was so incensed by not being allowed to serve again that he threatened to take his leg off and beat the man with it.

I am proud to come from a family that has a strong Military history. As far as I know, a member of my family has served in every major and most lesser conflicts that our country has been involved in. My Father fought in WWII. Many of my other relatives served in Korea, Vietnam and my brother recently did a rotation in the Middle East even though he is well into his middle years. He said, “The Army has helped pay my bills for 30 years so it was only fair that I pay a little of it back.”

It feels that the US is forgetting just how much we owe our Military Personnel. In a way I can understand the feelings. After over a decade of fighting and the loss of so many with what seems to be very little results, it is easy to become angry or disillusioned. We see the Middle East slipping back into the anarchy and chaos that it was before we invaded and we shake our heads. We hear the hateful rhetoric coming from people who are supposed to be our allies and we weep. Being Human we need a target to vent our frustrations on and so we hit the most obvious targets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2L3skZ7FEw

Vietnam was one of the most strife filled periods in American History. We were fighting a war that most Americans wanted no part in. Our enemy wasn't some incredible colossus that threatened the entire world and the conflict wasn't played out on the Global Theater. Our forces were fighting a type of enemy they had never fought before in an environment that was unlike anything most had ever experienced. Public sentiment was against the War and the actions of a few painted the rest of the Armed Forces in a horrible light. The treatment these men and women received when they came home from Hell was shameful to say the least and dishonorable to say more. It wasn't until much later that they finally received some thanks for their service.

Having lived through that era, I can see some signs of the same sort of resentment and reactions floating around today. Our nation has spent literally Trillions of dollars fighting two wars that cost us far too many American Lives with no signs of true success. People need a place to vent their anger and frustration and as is human nature, they tend to vent it at the most visible targets. Sure we blame our elected officials, but they are distant. Men and Women proudly wearing their uniforms are much easier targets.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we have or even will reach the Vietnam Era levels of hate and resentment. I don't think our soldiers will have garbage or worse thrown at them. I am afraid that people will not give those who served their just due. It is far too easy to simply forget. As we grow more and more weary of war and all of its costs, it is easy to forget and gloss over the events. We forget because remembering is too painful. As we forget, anything that reminds us can become a target for our pain.

No matter how painful it is. No matter how much we want to forget the rage and frustration, we must never forget either the conflicts or the people who served in them. If we forget the first, we are doomed to forever repeat them and if we forget the second, we will have lost our humanity. Never forget.

Brew Long and Prosper

Aged wisdom from One so young or Strikin Confusion into the Geezers!

     "I have been reading some of the things that MA and BB posts about religion and atheism including the post about how Bill Nye shouldn't debate the Creationism Man and I was thinking that maybe the problem isn't God VS Science, but maybe it is Creationism VS Evolution. People are always saying that believing in God is dumb because Creationism is "debunked" by Evolution. I think this kind of makes sense because a lot of the stuff in any Creation Story does sound kind of like people made up stories to explain what was happening kind of like the way a caveman would make up some story if he ever saw a light bulb come on. Early people didn't have the science to understand all of the things that were happening to them so they answered it the best they could. So Creationism and Evolution are dumb comparisons.
      Atheists keep saying that Science has proven that God doesn't exist, but that is not really true. Science has proven how things happened and even when they happened, but proving that the Universe was created a Zillion years ago by some particles getting really excited to be around each other doesn't prove that God isn't real. It just kind of proves that something went BANG a long time ago. Religious people could argue that Science hasn't proven that God doesn't exist, just that Scientists haven't looking in the right places yet.
    RSM calls me a Kid and I am not very old or very smart. I think if I understand it all right I am probably a Deist because I don't follow any religion. I love science especially space science and really really want to go there one day. I think that one day, Scientists are finally ask the right questions and when they find the answers to those questions, someone is going to be waiting for them."
     These words of wisdom came from my very young but incredibly wise friend who we have given the nickname  Ma©T.  Her innocent but impossibly insightful comment sparked yet another brilliant discussion/conversation among my Geezer friends.  One of them happens to be a devout Atheist (Sorry couldn't resist) and the other happens to be an Ordained Minister, so you can imagine some of the commentary that ensued.  As is the norm for my friends, the discussions were polite and friendly.  They were also entertaining and informative.
     I leave you with her words of wisdom with very little commentary.  I hope they inspire in you the same amazement and thoughts it did with us.

Circles of kindness and ROAKs

http://www.wimp.com/kindnessboomerang/

I have seen the above video link posted and reposted a dozen times and every time I watch the video, I just grin and feel better about myself and the world around me. Sure the video is a staged production done by at least semi-professional actors and actresses and does not show a scene in what most people would consider the real world. However, that little fact doesn't matter in the least because it is quite literally the thoughts and emotions behind the video that are important.

I have mentioned a E-Friend who played on the once excellent website, NeoPets with me and my wife who's main Avatar was known as Grannyweatherwax. She also went under the heading of ROAK which stood for Random Acts Of Kindness and once a month or so, she would randomly pick the names of other players and do some good deed for them. It might be helping them get an item they needed for a quest or buying them some really expensive (Neopoints not dollars) gift from the Neo Market. All she did was do her best to make other peoples' days a little bit brighter. When I asked her about, she told me that all you ever hear about are RAOV (or Random Acts Of Violence.) She said you hardly ever heard about the people who are kind to others. She told me that ROAK was her way of making sure people understood that there were good people out there.

Ever since that talk, I have really tried to my best to live up that idea. I really don't believe that doing something nice for some random person on the street will change the world or even be noticed by any number of people. However I do believe that one single random act of kindness may change Someone's world, even if it is only briefly. I also don't believe that every kind act you do will be returned to in some way other than feeling better about yourself, but as the video illustrates, it might just come back to you in ways you can never imagine.

As anyone who knows me will tell you (Oftentimes in very loud words) I am a bit of a jerk and a bunch of an Ass. I speak my mind and tell what I feel no matter who it might annoy or peeve off. I have made a career spanning 30 years of being “that Guy” who always stirs the hornets nest. I am the guy most “normal” people hate.

That being said, I have always been a firm believer that it is the small acts of kindness that cost us little that make the biggest differences. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to make a person's life a little bit better. You don't have to give everything you have to brighten one person's day. Maybe if we all did a few Random Acts Of Kindness, then there might be just a few less RAOVs. What could it hurt to find out? A few seconds of your time? A few pennies out of your pocket? A little sweat off your brow? Give it a try, you might be surprised.

Brew Long and Prosper

Ohh fly like an eagle...to the sea!

(Author's note: Some of my readers might take this blog as some sort of commentary about the “Nanny State System” that many people claim exists and is perpetuated in many nations wherein the Government assumes responsibility for all forms of peoples' lives to keep them in a form of perpetual slavery or at least serfdom. WAVES AT TC! But this little missive has nothing to do with any of those controversial subjects, it is just a thought I recently had concerning man and nature. Don't try and read too much into it, kay? Anyways, onward and downward!)

So I recently had a seasonal job working at a Mall Kiosk in Fairfax, VA. Our kiosk was situated directly in the center of the mall on the main floor. From the booth you could literally see 80% of the mall. For a people watcher like me it was an incredible opportunity to observe dozens of different cultures and beliefs all interacting with each other by the hundreds. I observed enough to keep me in blogs for months. However, one of the things that amazed and inspired me the most were dozens of little birds that apparently live inside the mall.

In the past I have observed very large stores and such that occasionally have one or two birds flitting around them that have made their way inside from open doors or loading docks. However the mall I was working at had dozens of birds of at least two different species happily living in the light fixtures, roof ledges and signage. I am no avid birder, but I am certain there were at least two different types of birds in at least two separate flocks. Judging from the wide differences in size I would suspect there were multiple generations living there which means this has been going on for years at the very least.

Now this got me pondering these birds and their existence. You would imagine that the first few birds that made it inside and never left missed the wide open skies and the freedom to fly where ever they wished. They probably enjoyed the easy and continuous food offerings left on the food court tables or in the trash cans, but sure they missed being outside? It is in their very nature to fly free and far.

Now fast forward several generations to a new group of birds who have never seen the open sky or been free to fly for dozens of miles whenever they wish. All they have known is the (admittedly vast) open areas of the mall. They have never felt rain or snow and they have never had to dig in the dirt for their dinner. All they have ever known is the constant climate controlled environment of the mall and the leftovers on tables and in trash cans.

If behaviorists are to believed, most animals have within them a sort of genetic or “racial memory” that gives them certain abilities on a instinctual level. So if that is true, on some level these new birds “remember” the way things should be. Like their parents and grandparent, they know they are meant to fly the open skies unobstructed by walls and windows. Of course they also remember freezing cold, nasty storms and desperately trying to find food.

So you have to wonder, if they actually “remember” it all? More importantly, If they do remember, DO THEY MISS IT? Do they long from wide open spaces filled with bad weather and spotty food supply or do they look back on the things their folks suffered through while munching on a stale pretzel in a comfy 70 degrees and chuckle to themselves. Do they wish to experience the worlds of their ancestors or just nod quietly to the tales of ice and cold worms while giving thanks to Horus that they were born in a more enlightened age?

Hey if you were looking for some deep insightful musing to tie this all together, then I will have to disappoint you. Just something that tracked through my mind at 9am while trying to sell pears and apples to people. Does kind of make you wonder exactly what determines being “free” though. Keep em flying folks!

Brew Long and Prosper