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.