~Master of My Domain~

The following contains x-rays of my broken leg. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:58:54 GMT

My Left Leg
A Pictorial Journey
By Alex Crabb

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FREEEEEDOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:00:29 GMT

I got my cast removed today so I can walk again. Limited mobility but still, WAALKIIIIIING! I get to return to work in about 6 weeks. Provided that I don't screw up my PT and/or re-aggravate my injury. In the end though, it still means one thing. I'ma bounce.

I am an ISTJ

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:23:13 GMT

Myers Briggs Type Indicator

My personality type is ISTJ.

Introverted (I) 100% Extraverted (E) 0%
Sensing (S) 59% Intuitive (N) 41%
Thinking (T) 60% Feeling (F) 40%
Judging (J) 100% Perceiving (P) 0%

The Duty Fulfiller

As an ISTJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things rationally and logically.

ISTJs are quiet and reserved individuals who are interested in security and peaceful living. They have a strongly-felt internal sense of duty, which lends them a serious air and the motivation to follow through on tasks. Organized and methodical in their approach, they can generally succeed at any task which they undertake.

ISTJs are very loyal, faithful, and dependable. They place great importance on honesty and integrity. They are "good citizens" who can be depended on to do the right thing for their families and communities. While they generally take things very seriously, they also usually have an offbeat sense of humor and can be a lot of fun - especially at family or work-related gatherings.

ISTJs tend to believe in laws and traditions, and expect the same from others. They're not comfortable with breaking laws or going against the rules. If they are able to see a good reason for stepping outside of the established mode of doing things, the ISTJ will support that effort. However, ISTJs more often tend to believe that things should be done according to procedures and plans. If an ISTJ has not developed their Intuitive side sufficiently, they may become overly obsessed with structure, and insist on doing everything "by the book".

The ISTJ is extremely dependable on following through with things which he or she has promised. For this reason, they sometimes get more and more work piled on them. Because the ISTJ has such a strong sense of duty, they may have a difficult time saying "no" when they are given more work than they can reasonably handle. For this reason, the ISTJ often works long hours, and may be unwittingly taken advantage of.

The ISTJ will work for long periods of time and put tremendous amounts of energy into doing any task which they see as important to fulfilling a goal. However, they will resist putting energy into things which don't make sense to them, or for which they can't see a practical application. They prefer to work alone, but work well in teams when the situation demands it. They like to be accountable for their actions, and enjoy being in positions of authority. The ISTJ has little use for theory or abstract thinking, unless the practical application is clear.

ISTJs have tremendous respect for facts. They hold a tremendous store of facts within themselves, which they have gathered through their Sensing preference. They may have difficulty understanding a theory or idea which is different from their own perspective. However, if they are shown the importance or relevance of the idea to someone who they respect or care about, the idea becomes a fact, which the ISTJ will internalize and support. Once the ISTJ supports a cause or idea, he or she will stop at no lengths to ensure that they are doing their duty of giving support where support is needed.

The ISTJ is not naturally in tune with their own feelings and the feelings of others. They may have difficulty picking up on emotional needs immediately, as they are presented. Being perfectionists themselves, they have a tendency to take other people's efforts for granted, like they take their own efforts for granted. They need to remember to pat people on the back once in a while.

ISTJs are likely to be uncomfortable expressing affection and emotion to others. However, their strong sense of duty and the ability to see what needs to be done in any situation usually allows them to overcome their natural reservations, and they are usually quite supporting and caring individuals with the people that they love. Once the ISTJ realizes the emotional needs of those who are close to them, they put forth effort to meet those needs.

The ISTJ is extremely faithful and loyal. Traditional and family-minded, they will put forth great amounts of effort at making their homes and families running smoothly. They are responsible parents, taking their parenting roles seriously. They are usually good and generous providers to their families. They care deeply about those close to them, although they usually are not comfortable with expressing their love. The ISTJ is likely to express their affection through actions, rather than through words.

ISTJs have an excellent ability to take any task and define it, organize it, plan it, and implement it through to completion. They are very hard workers, who do not allow obstacles to get in the way of performing their duties. They do not usually give themselves enough credit for their achievements, seeing their accomplishments simply as the natural fulfillment of their obligations.

ISTJs usually have a great sense of space and function, and artistic appreciation. Their homes are likely to be tastefully furnished and immaculately maintained. They are acutely aware of their senses, and want to be in surroundings which fit their need for structure, order, and beauty.

Under stress, ISTJs may fall into "catastrophe mode", where they see nothing but all of the possibilities of what could go wrong. They will berate themselves for things which they should have done differently, or duties which they failed to perform. They will lose their ability to see things calmly and reasonably, and will depress themselves with their visions of doom.

In general, the ISTJ has a tremendous amount of potential. Capable, logical, reasonable, and effective individuals with a deeply driven desire to promote security and peaceful living, the ISTJ has what it takes to be highly effective at achieving their chosen goals - whatever they may be.

She Smiled

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:48:11 GMT

She smiled at me
A winsome smile
With a twinkling eye
That means so much
Yet says so little

I was left uncertain
So I smiled back
And turned away
Unable to speak
Made mute by fear

She sat beside me
Two souls on a bus
Who shared a smile
But spoke not a word
Afraid to be foolish

Miles passed by
The silence deepened
My heart pounding
Couldn't she hear it
The thunder of my desire

Passion boils over
I turn but to late
The doors open
She disembarks
Alone I sit once more

My heart sinks
As sadness grows
But light dawns
As memories bloom
And the moment shines

She smiled at me
A winsome smile
With a twinkling eye
That means so much
Yet says so little

Unabashedly Patriotic

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:43:56 GMT

Thank you Katharine Lee Bates,

Samuel Augustus Ward

O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!

O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!

and Sir Ray Charles.

Thank you Francis Scott Key,

John Stafford Smith,

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam
of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected
now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save
the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight,
or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must,
for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto:
“In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Ms. Whitney Houston

and Mr. Jimi Hendrix.

Thank you Mr. Irving Berlin

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

Ms. Martina McBride

and Ms. Kate Smith

Thank you Mr. Woody Guthrie,

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While All around me a voice was sounding
Saying this land was made for you and me.

The sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
As the fog was lifting, A voice was chanting,
This land was made for you and me.

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

Mr. Arlo Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Taj Mahal, Emmylou Harris, Little Richard, Bono, John Mellencamp,

and the man in black, Mr. Johnny Cash.

Finally, thank you Mr. Lee Greenwood

Mr. Bruce Springsteen

and our founding fathers

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Unless

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:25:56 GMT

Shattered pieces
Scattered all around
Like bits of broken glass
Razor shards
Of my soul
Waiting for a loving hand
Take them up
And remold them
Into
A new whole
But there is only me
And the darkness

Gently
I gather what I may
But the darkness
Rips them from me
My hands
Turned to bloody tatters
As the pieces
Fall once more
And I reach for them again
But I find no purchase
And the stain
Of my despair grows

I fall to my knees
As tears
Begin to mingle
With the bloodied shards
And all I am left with
Is the memory
Of what was
And what could have been
But will never be
Unless
A hand reaches out
And saves me

Trust

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:20:48 GMT

I feel your voice caress me
Like satin on my skin
Urging me to heights untouched
Plunging me to depths unknown
Smothering me in tender notes
And setting my flesh aflame

I hear your words call me
Like the sirens of old
Holding me in pleasured grip
Rendering me lost in desire
Tearing me apart from within
And setting my soul free

I taste your passion for me
Like the purest honey
Opening me to possibilities
Teasing me with memories
Sundering me from pain
And the ache of my reality

I smell your perfume on me
Like flowers after rain
Bringing me to my knees
Keeping me in the moment
Leaving me breathless
And allowing my tears to flow

I see your hope in me
Like foundations of stone
Trusting me to be true
Giving me your heart
Knowing me to my core
And taking my love as yours

I Stand Alone

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:10:00 GMT

Rage unfettered
Chaos unrestrained
Conflagration ignites
The earth turns to ash
Death walks the earth
And I stand alone

Darkness unleashed
Evil awakened
Reality consumed
The earth a wasteland
Armageddon reigns
And I stand alone

Everything
That may be
Is done

Everything
That should be
Is ended

Everything
That must be
Is dead

All is nothing
And the world forgets
That it isn't
And never was
It never could be
And all is lost
For hope fades
And love dies

And yet
I stand alone

Offensive?

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:34:17 GMT

Apparently the Brits are just as homophobic as Americans.

I just don't see the problem. I thought it was funny and kind of clever.

George Carlin is Dead

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:31:54 GMT

George Carlin
Comedienne, Satirist, Actor, Author
(May 12th, 1937 - June 22nd, 2008)

Today we lost an amazing individual. George Carlin was one of the most influential performers of his generation. He was known for his willingness to target anything and anyone with his razor sharp intellectual humor. He was a giant and as such leaves a giant hole in the world. May his legacy live on in those whom he inspired. Goodnight George. Make him laugh, cause God knows he needs it.

Seven Words

*sniff

She Alone

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:26:38 GMT

Wandering through the shrouded wood
Lost amidst the trees of green
Looking for the one I love
Whose visage I have not yet seen

I’ve heard her voice in my dreams
It’s gentle lilt steals my breath
While tender words stop my heart
Yet save me from the realm of death

Her delicate scent floats all about me
A winsome perfume which I hold dear
The gentle scent leads me on
Telling me that she is near

I’ve felt her touch in the dark of night
Her tender flesh sets my soul afire
The delicate curves like gentle hills
Open my heart to mounting desire

I know her beyond limitations of sight
For she has oft been with me
Even in my darkest hours
She allows for all that I may be

I’ve known the pleasure of her gaze
Yet know not the depth of her eyes
But I have felt their terrible fire
And know she sees me as her prize

So I run among the scattered leaves
Seeking out my one true desire
To find the one with whom I must be
For she alone can quench my fire

Broken

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:00:28 GMT

The shards of my heart
Lie scattered across the floor
Like shattered illusions
Of promises broken
What could have been
What should have been
What would have been
Had my strength
Not faltered

The remnants of my soul
Fly high upon the wind
Like the tattered remains
Of shattered dreams
What hope had born
What desire had driven
What reality had destroyed
I tried to save
But failed

My body broken
My mind forgotten
I am the hollow
That screams unceasing
A shell without a soul
Where the void finds a home
And life is no more

So we come to the end
And I surrender

Touch Me

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:38:13 GMT

Passion ignites
Like a moth to a flame
I'm drawn to the fire of your desire
I reach out to feel
Reveling in the searing pain
Crying out for sweet release

Lust burns
Like an animal in a trap
I'm torn between want and need
I desperately cling to sanity
Intoxicated by the duality
Holding out against rapture

I feel the world open beneath me
Temptation beckons me to her breast
Do I stand against the pull
Doing what I know to be right
Or do I allow my emotions to be free
And give in to my heart
I long to hold her with true intent
To make her mine in all ways
To touch those places no other sees
To breathe life into the darkness
And allow our souls to meet

Hope torments
Like a mirage in the desert
I'm reaching for mere illusions
I want to feel your heart
Trembling in my hand

Love hurts
Like a pain that never ends
I'm lost without your presence
I need to know your touch
Easing my silent suffering

R.I.P. Mr. Russert

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:11:58 GMT

Goodnight, and Godspeed.

May 7th, 1950 - June 13th, 2008

Ragnarok

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:09:50 GMT

The time of judgment comes
When all things end
And darkness descends
When reality comes to a close

The sundering of souls
The rending of flesh
The passing of time
As the nothing finishes all

The war of ideology
Fought on the plane of forever
Armies of light
Armies of dark
The conflagration of perception
Bringing finality to the enduring

Time immemorial
Swallowed by the conflict
Of forces without reason
Striving for victory
Over concepts beyond understanding

Interpretations of visions
Understood by one
But meant for the masses
Leading to a truth
Lost by humanity
Whose frailty misleads
To an existence without hope

Left to our own
As the thunder of destruction
Roils across the skies
Of dimensions uncountable

Doom
DOOM
The drums sound
As the death knell rings
The voices of the lost
Cry out for forgiveness
The plaintive cries
Falling on deaf ears

The solution upon us
All things must know their fate
The now is here
Acceptance a must
We fall to our knees
We ask it be quick
And pray it be just

Sensory Journey

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:02:05 GMT

I swing happily through the trees
With a preternatural ease
Living each moment as I please
Changing direction with every breeze

I run joyously through the brush
Reveling in the adrenaline rush
Like a perpetual new love crush
Wild exhilaration making my face flush

I fly swiftly among the stars
Traveling beyond the realm of cars
No longer trapped by societal bars
Shedding remains of emotional scars

I swim gracefully through the oceans
Carried along by the rolling motions
Floating free among tidal notions
Untroubled by reality's commotion's

I walk softly through my dreams
Where all is seldom as it seems
And shadows flee from eldricht beams
Randomness the only true theme

I come back to the world once more
Having touched upon my core
And the wisdom of a lifetime of lore
Remembering what we live life for

Emotional Limbo

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:27:00 GMT

There's a raging fire where my heart should be
A conflagration of mythic degree
An inferno of emotion that cannot be defined
Emotions which refuse to be refined

I feel the tearing away at my soul
Like my destruction is the ultimate goal
The slow ripping which occupies my days
And leaves my spirit all tatters and frays

I just want to crawl into a little hole
A hiding place for my battered soul
To leave behind the oppression I feel
The mounting pressure that makes my head reel

I don't know whether to shed a tear or scream into the night
To wallow in the pain I feel or should I stand and fight
I just want to know what's going on
So I can figure out how to move on

Is there tragedy that I should be ready for
Or is it a sick cruel joke that hammers at my core
I want to cry but I don't know what about
The worst part is the feeling of unanswered doubt

At least if I knew what the truth was
It might find some relief from this emotional fuzz
I want to scream and rail against the sky
But what..s the point if I don't know why

I spend each day in a world without definition
My mind on a path of deteriorating condition
Becoming lost in the tumult that is emotional limbo
Until a direction is given and I can finally let it all go

Poetic Birth

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:16:51 GMT

My mind conspires against my heart
As creative juices fail to start
I feel my flow stall and stutter
Like a ship without a rudder

I break the chains of mental grip
Shooting words straight from the hip
Allowing the stream to ebb and flow
Where it takes me I never know

Floating where the current will
Every word another thrill
The floodgates release their wondrous prize
As I lay down prose for desirous eyes

I reach a climax in written phrase
The culmination of an emotional daze
A clever twist and well turned rhyme
The measured meter of space and time

As inspiration drives my fingers
It's root emotion never lingers
Finding expression through poetic truth
Bringing peace to my inner youth

Thus is born each delicate work
Whose origin within me does lurk
And finds a home upon electronic page
Unbound from my intellectual cage

On this day, let us not forget for whom it was created.

Mon, 26 May 2008 04:36:09 GMT

Let us remember those long forgotten...

Korean War Memorial

Those long remembered...

WW1 Memorial

WW2 Memorial

The Raising of the flag at Iwo Jima

Those long persecuted...

Vietnam War Memorial Statue

</a>
A Soldier Says Goodbye

and those who aided them...

Vietnam Women's (nurse's) Memorial Statue

Those who gave the greatest sacrifice...

Arlington National Cemetary

and those they left behind...

A Mother Remembers

A Family's Loss

The 2000th Iraq Casualty

Yet even as we remember those who are gone, let us not forget those who fight still...

A Brief Respite

Nightime in Iraq

and those whose fate is unknown...

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

POW / MIA Memorial

So, to everyone, I ask that you take a moment to reflect. Remember the importance of this day and pray for those who for whom this day was created. Thank you.

A brief history of the day

Redemption and Re-Birth

Fri, 23 May 2008 07:42:38 GMT

Staring out the window
At the gray sky dawning
Searching for a patch of blue
In the storm ravaged air
Ever reaching for the silver lining
Holding only emptiness in my hands

I wander through my mind
Stuck on a plane of subconscious
Blinded by the randomness of thought
Flashing across my vision
At velocities beyond comprehension

Lost in a world without end
A reality with no horizon
Surrounded by nothing
Stranded between everything
All is confusion
As i slowly drift into madness

Sudden litany of sound
Screaming voices rail against me
My ears bleed
My brain hemorrhages
As i collapse under the burden

The pressure builds within
Power beyond reckoning
Seeking release
I stand before the tempest
The immovable object
Against an unstoppable force

The rage within demands
Action must be taken
I cannot be stopped
My body no longer mine
Merely a vessel for the forces within

The strength of a thousand novas
Tearing into my soul
Stripping me of all cares
Rending my existence
Returning me to my innocence

I awake from my slumber
Cleansed of all sin
A newborn bereft of past
Knowing only love and curiosity
Cradled in the hands of god

I

Wed, 21 May 2008 23:43:33 GMT

I march to the beat of a cosmic drum
A rhythm born in ancient places
Where darkness is alive
And light is but an infant screaming

I walk a path that few can know
A meandering road that has no end
Where life is randomness
And order is a figment of curiosity

I swim in oceans that none have seen
A sea of tranquility among the stars
Where distance has no meaning
And time is rendered obsolete

I exist in a place beyond imagination
A reality devoid of constraint
Where dreams have substance
And my love cannot be contained

Music Video Time - A True Classic

Wed, 21 May 2008 05:26:50 GMT

In My Life
by The Beatles

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more

Sometimes

Tue, 20 May 2008 03:36:44 GMT

Sometimes you gotta push
Sometimes you gotta flow
Sometimes you gotta squeeze
Sometimes you gotta let go

Sometimes there's a spark
A sign of inspiration
Sometimes there is nothing
But the echoes of desolation

Sometimes you gotta struggle
Sometimes you gotta live
Sometimes you gotta fight
Sometimes you gotta give

Sometimes the darkness comes
To tear your world apart
Sometimes a moment dawns
That opens up your heart

Sometimes you gotta know
Sometimes you really don't
Sometimes you gotta feel
Sometimes you really won't

Sometimes love is you enemy
And you wonder how to cope
But oft times it's our truest friend
And mankind's greatest hope

Do, Not Try

Mon, 19 May 2008 02:16:40 GMT

Strike the power chord
Let the rhythm ride
Hear the thunder roll
Watch the fingers glide

Feel the music burn
Let the harmonies grow
Touch the cosmic tune
Trust in what you know

Hold the future near
Let the past go bye
Be the present time
Learn to do, not try

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Sun, 18 May 2008 00:03:41 GMT

I've said before that stupid should be painful.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_567451.html

...State police in Somerset said Basinger and Lytle tried to steal wire attached to a transformer and adjacent poles...