Prince Kūhiō Day
7 years ago
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Stare into the Abyss
"If you stare into the Abyss long enough the Abyss stares back at you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Hungry Child
The Great War / First World War. Refugees. Hungry child gets a piece of bread from a soldier. Weert, Holland / Netherlands, 1918.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Rough Night
I usually sleep pretty soundly, but I had one of those nights last night where I kept getting up. I would get too hot, too cold, etc. One of the things that happens to me is that I manage to trap air in my stomach which of course can lead to me being sick. I have this fear that I stop breathing and as a reaction, I will gulp air before I know what I'm doing. (Sleep Apnea) It horrifies me to think that I would stop breathing, but I can't help but think that this is what is going on.
After getting up last night, I did notice a light emanating from below the house (around the vent in the bathroom), but that was just my carelessness of leaving the light on underneath the house yesterday. When I went to turn it off this morning, I noticed a cat had managed to make its way underneath to keep itself warm. I'll have to fill in the hole he made and try to prevent it from happening again. I certainly don't want to have all kinds of animals living underneath the house in the winter. I'll see if I can provide a better place for this stray cat to keep warm without digging up the foundation.
After getting up last night, I did notice a light emanating from below the house (around the vent in the bathroom), but that was just my carelessness of leaving the light on underneath the house yesterday. When I went to turn it off this morning, I noticed a cat had managed to make its way underneath to keep itself warm. I'll have to fill in the hole he made and try to prevent it from happening again. I certainly don't want to have all kinds of animals living underneath the house in the winter. I'll see if I can provide a better place for this stray cat to keep warm without digging up the foundation.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
European Vacation
I'm very excited about my vacation. I'm flying over to Germany tonight and will meet my brother there. Currently, I'm trying to fit everything into one bag, but it looks like I will have to separate everything into two, using a small backpack for my carry-on. The large one is supposed to be within the limits of carry-on, but I've had airlines make me check bags before that were supposed to be within the guidelines.
I haven't flown since before 9/11, but I think I know what to expect as far as the extra security goes. I'm a little worried about getting an e-ticket, though. It feels very strange to not have a physical ticket with me. I hope they at least give me something when I check in at the airport.
The other thing that has me worried is that I have to make a connecting flight in Germany. I keep wondering if I will have to go through customs before catching my next flight. Also, since it is a different airline, I'm somewhat concerned over what I might have to go through before getting to the gate. Not sure if I will have to check-in again or what. I'm going to ask about all this when I check-in at my first flight though.
I haven't flown since before 9/11, but I think I know what to expect as far as the extra security goes. I'm a little worried about getting an e-ticket, though. It feels very strange to not have a physical ticket with me. I hope they at least give me something when I check in at the airport.
The other thing that has me worried is that I have to make a connecting flight in Germany. I keep wondering if I will have to go through customs before catching my next flight. Also, since it is a different airline, I'm somewhat concerned over what I might have to go through before getting to the gate. Not sure if I will have to check-in again or what. I'm going to ask about all this when I check-in at my first flight though.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Long Fall
Last night I dreamed...
... and then I woke up.
I watched a man fall from a great height (seemingly from an airplane) and he started spinning wildly in a clockwise pattern. He did not have a parachute, but did hit the ground. The impact broke both of his legs and severed his left right above the knee. I watched him start to pull himself along the ground using his arms obviously in great pain.
... and then I woke up.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
There Will Be... Oil!
Last night I dreamed...
and then I woke up. Naturally, this seems like a spin on the There Will Be Blood, even with the boy taking the spot of D.W.
I went out on a expedition to find oil in what seemed like the Appalachian mountains. My party came across a huge hole in the bottom of a valley which a stream was pouring into. It was determined that there was no more oil in the hole, but we should check and make sure. I was sent out with a rope a bucket to test the water. (If it was salty then there was oil mixed in with it.) It felt like we were trespassing, so I used as much cover as I could and approached the hole from downstream. It struck me as odd that the hole never filled up with water, and that it had to be going somewhere. I tossed the bucket over the edge and then proceeded to pull it back up. Inside the bucket was some orange dirt and murky looking water. I tasted it to see if it was salty, but it was fresh water.
We then made our way downstream and came across a sheer dirt cliff to the side of the valley. We sat down beside it for our lunch and then noticed that it was seeping oil. This made us very excited and we noticed just how much oil was seeping from the ground around us. Then a vehicle came driving up with a few rough looking characters inside who then proceeded to threaten us. After the exchange, they then left leaving us feeling concerned, but we decided to drive back into town and try to buy the oil drilling rights for that land.
We slowly made our way back towards town, but we were ambushed by the men that threatened us earlier. They attacked us as we made our way through a covered bridge using guns. Most of the party was shot down and I screamed at a boy who was with us to run. He stood there dumbfounded so I shoved him and shouted "Run!" as loud as I could. This time he acted and took off for the tree-line nearby. I was shot in the leg before I turned around...
and then I woke up. Naturally, this seems like a spin on the There Will Be Blood, even with the boy taking the spot of D.W.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Roof Walking
Last night I dreamed...
I've had quite a few dreams of climbing with the threat of falling. I've fell a few times and hit the ground which I've been told isn't supposed to happen.
My brother and I were walking around the edge of a church roof. It kept getting progressively harder throwing different obstacles at us. He would tell me what type of holds to use as if we were rock climbing. He even took out a pencil and wrote notes as if he were going to come back later. For a corner, he wrote, "Loose Step - Careful." I managed to get past some windows only holding on by pulling myself sideways. We rounded the corner and then saw that we wouldn't have any hand-holds for the next part.
I've had quite a few dreams of climbing with the threat of falling. I've fell a few times and hit the ground which I've been told isn't supposed to happen.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Beard options
I was discussing shaving my beard off yesterday with I. Last night I dreamed:
I shaved off my mustache, my chin, and the right side of my beard, leaving only the left cheek still fuzzy.
Topsy Turvy
I didn't have my camera with me (seems to always turn out that way), but there was a bad wreck that I came across on my way to work yesterday. Two vehicles had collided and the truck was upside down. This was the second time I've seen a vehicle this way, and it made me wonder how it happened.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Tsunami
Last night I dreamed....
I was at the beach in my hotel with DM. The beach front side had sliding glass doors as usual. The waves kept getting larger until they were crashing up against the glass doors. Nothing terrible happened, but the waves were quite large.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Der Ostwind
I found this short about a German WWI pilot and thought it was great. It is only 10 minutes total of running time so give it a shot.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Accident - For real this time
I was riding with a friend leaving the office parking lot. We turned right and up ahead saw a mass of cars braking with a police car in the turning lane with her blue lights on. Then a guy behind her driving a truck passed her on the left into oncoming traffic going around her. There was also an ambulance involved behind the police car and a car that appeared to be broken down in the far oncoming lane stopped with emergency lights on.
It was quite a sight to absorb and tell what was happening. At first, I thought that maybe the truck was trying to outrun the cops buy pulling a crazy maneuver around the cop who was trying to box him in, but that wasn't the case, as the truck then pulled in front of the cop in the turning lane and got out to walk back to her. The cop then walked back to the ambulance to check with them, and upon closer inspection, it appears that the ambulance rear-ended the police car. The ambulance didn't appear to be on an emergency call.
As far as I can tell, the broken down car was slowing traffic in the oncoming traffic lane, and the cop stopped to cross the road to help out the stranded driver, but stopped too suddenly causing the ambulance to rear end her vehicle. The truck swerved around the ambulance to avoid a collision and then had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid the police car which was then moving into the turning lane with her blue lights on.
By the time I got back from lunch an hour later, all of the same vehicles were still there.
It was quite a sight to absorb and tell what was happening. At first, I thought that maybe the truck was trying to outrun the cops buy pulling a crazy maneuver around the cop who was trying to box him in, but that wasn't the case, as the truck then pulled in front of the cop in the turning lane and got out to walk back to her. The cop then walked back to the ambulance to check with them, and upon closer inspection, it appears that the ambulance rear-ended the police car. The ambulance didn't appear to be on an emergency call.
As far as I can tell, the broken down car was slowing traffic in the oncoming traffic lane, and the cop stopped to cross the road to help out the stranded driver, but stopped too suddenly causing the ambulance to rear end her vehicle. The truck swerved around the ambulance to avoid a collision and then had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid the police car which was then moving into the turning lane with her blue lights on.
By the time I got back from lunch an hour later, all of the same vehicles were still there.
Driving
Almost saw a really bad accident this morning. Everyone was stopped at a red light and when it turned green, a truck in the right lane accelerated up to speed. However, the next light had already turned red, so I just coasted towards it. The other truck however, kept accelerating right up to it, until he noticed other cars crossing in front of him slamming on his brakes and sliding sideways. If he didn't hit his brakes, he would have t-boned them going about 55 mph. I'm sure he got shook up over it, but thankfully he didn't hit anyone.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Monuntain Road
Last night I dreamed...
I was riding up the mountain with Sara-Ann driving a Jeep. We came to a very steep part where the road ended and was just bare rock. She went up it but slowed and we started sliding backwards. We somehow came to a stop before flipping backwards off the mountain, and this time she gunned the engine until we raced up the rock face and jumped over the edge landing on top.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Line Rider
I'm sure a lot of you have seen Line Rider, but the following is easily the best one I've ever seen.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Classic Horror
I watched a couple of classic horror movies over the weekend with some friends. No, we aren't talking about the kind of classic where Bela Lugosi listening to music from children in the night or even something with the distinctive, low-pitched, atmospheric voice of Vincent Price. I'm talking about the classic stuff that they don't want the mainstream to find out about for fear that it will be banned for being simply too scary. I know if anyone under the age of 18 saw these, they would like awake at night wondering if seemingly innocent rodents might in fact chew through their bedroom wall and attack.
Ok, first off, I saw Dr. "Bones" McCoy star in Night of the Lepus. What is a "Lepus" you might ask? Some sort of crazy mutant werewolf that sprays poison from its fangs and flies around with leathery wings, the likes of which only the most demented soul could dream up? No, no, no, Lepus is a genus of which leporids belong, which you may know better as the wise-cracking cartoon character which asks, "What's up?". The rabbit, hare, or even coney is frightful enough, but what happens when some "good intentioned" scientists try to manipulate its DNA and create giant monster wabbits that run in slow motion and have the taste for human blood? The whole country wets their knickers, is what happens. Everyone knows that rabbits mate like... well, rabbits. One mutant freak and you have a whole down of hares to worry about. Thank god for Bones being around to, um, access the situation and assist the others scientists in whatever way he thought best. Of course, the only thing we really needed was him wearing a kerchief around his neck, which we thankfully got in the last half of the movie. Ok, so he really didn't do that much in the movie, but he was around for moral support at least.
You may be asking yourself, giant killer bunnies? Come on, that ain't the least bit scary. But what happens when a police officer announces to you "Attention please! A herd of giant killer rabbits is headed this way!", yeah, you better take heed and find a nice safe place to hide... preferably not under a giant carrot. Well, the makers of the film did stick to their guns and gave us the very real, very scary prospect of giant wabbits.
One thing that stands out to me is the single eye underneath Janet Leigh's name. Where did its matching other half go? Did it get poked out by that shovel?
One last thing about rabbits is that their eyes are on opposite sides of their head, they don't both suddenly face forward when it gets dark.
I'll try to make a comment on the other classic later. Could it be better than this?
Ok, first off, I saw Dr. "Bones" McCoy star in Night of the Lepus. What is a "Lepus" you might ask? Some sort of crazy mutant werewolf that sprays poison from its fangs and flies around with leathery wings, the likes of which only the most demented soul could dream up? No, no, no, Lepus is a genus of which leporids belong, which you may know better as the wise-cracking cartoon character which asks, "What's up?". The rabbit, hare, or even coney is frightful enough, but what happens when some "good intentioned" scientists try to manipulate its DNA and create giant monster wabbits that run in slow motion and have the taste for human blood? The whole country wets their knickers, is what happens. Everyone knows that rabbits mate like... well, rabbits. One mutant freak and you have a whole down of hares to worry about. Thank god for Bones being around to, um, access the situation and assist the others scientists in whatever way he thought best. Of course, the only thing we really needed was him wearing a kerchief around his neck, which we thankfully got in the last half of the movie. Ok, so he really didn't do that much in the movie, but he was around for moral support at least.
You may be asking yourself, giant killer bunnies? Come on, that ain't the least bit scary. But what happens when a police officer announces to you "Attention please! A herd of giant killer rabbits is headed this way!", yeah, you better take heed and find a nice safe place to hide... preferably not under a giant carrot. Well, the makers of the film did stick to their guns and gave us the very real, very scary prospect of giant wabbits.
One thing that stands out to me is the single eye underneath Janet Leigh's name. Where did its matching other half go? Did it get poked out by that shovel?
One last thing about rabbits is that their eyes are on opposite sides of their head, they don't both suddenly face forward when it gets dark.
I'll try to make a comment on the other classic later. Could it be better than this?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Pizza Hut Priazzo Roma
This was the best thing Pizza Hut ever made, and it makes my mouth water to see it again. Oh, how I wish they would bring it back.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
There Will Be Blood
Ok, I'll try to catch up because it is very easy for me to watch more movies than I post about. Might as well start with a recent movie that I caught in the theaters at the end of January.
There Will Be Blood
I had heard that this was a good movie, but I wasn't expecting it to be better than No Country For Old Men, and honestly I still haven't been able to decide which is better. Daniel Day-Lewis is just superb and delivered the oscar-winning performance of the year. (He won best actor recently.) The movie followed the life of an "oil man" as he basically starts with nothing and pursues more and more wealth in the form of oil. This movie was a lot more straightforward than NCFOM and the cinematography was amazing. Everything just totally pulls you in, there are lots of parts with minimal dialog and music, and I guess that it really is a character study of Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis). It even has a great line near the end that will likely be repeated quite often and most likely quoted incorrectly at some point. This is a violent movie (undertone and some scenes) and it shows off some of the darker aspects of man, but I highly recommend it.
There Will Be Blood
I had heard that this was a good movie, but I wasn't expecting it to be better than No Country For Old Men, and honestly I still haven't been able to decide which is better. Daniel Day-Lewis is just superb and delivered the oscar-winning performance of the year. (He won best actor recently.) The movie followed the life of an "oil man" as he basically starts with nothing and pursues more and more wealth in the form of oil. This movie was a lot more straightforward than NCFOM and the cinematography was amazing. Everything just totally pulls you in, there are lots of parts with minimal dialog and music, and I guess that it really is a character study of Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis). It even has a great line near the end that will likely be repeated quite often and most likely quoted incorrectly at some point. This is a violent movie (undertone and some scenes) and it shows off some of the darker aspects of man, but I highly recommend it.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Movies
I've really gotten into watching a lot of great movies over the past year and a half. It all started when I subscribed to Netflix. At first I made my choices by selecting more current movies, but I kept watching more and more classics. Seeing one film kind always seems to open up a few more to watch and my queue certainly grew. Well, my queue has been right below 500 for quite a while now, and well, that is all you can add. It doesn't help matters that they have quite a few movies that you can watch online now. I think I will attempt to review some of these and see how that goes.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
First of all
I have a blog that I started a few years ago at Mountainsmoke.
Occasionally, it comes up with some problems for me to fix, so I'm not sure how long I will keep my blog there as opposed to just posting here. I may look into transferring all of the old entries to this site, and hopefully that can be done without too much trouble.
Occasionally, it comes up with some problems for me to fix, so I'm not sure how long I will keep my blog there as opposed to just posting here. I may look into transferring all of the old entries to this site, and hopefully that can be done without too much trouble.
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