Friday, December 23, 2005

Rove Indicted!

From The Onion

WASHINGTON, DC—
The recent leak revealing Santa Claus to be "your mommy and daddy" has been linked to President Bush's senior political adviser and deputy chief of staff Karl Rove.

"If this devastating leak, which severely undermines the security of children everywhere and has compromised parent-child relations, came from the highest levels of the White House, that is an outrage," said former Bush counterterrorism adviser and outspoken Bush Administration critic Richard Clarke.

The identity of the mythical holiday gift-giver, previously known only in grown-up circles, was published in the popular Timbertoes cartoon in the December issue of Highlights For Children. Jean Abrams, a conservative firebrand known to have close ties to Bush appointees in the Department of Education, revealed "Santa" to be a code name for anonymous parental gift-giving.

Abrams and several other children's-magazine journalists, including Ranger Rick's Kristin Brittany and Cricket managing editor Shaina Belowitz, have testified before a federal grand jury on the source of the leak. Sources say that Randall Polk, Washington bureau chief for Weekly Reader, named Rove after serving eight days in jail for refusing to divulge his sources.

Federal investigators began to suspect a White House connection to the Santa leak when Abrams wrote in Timbertoes that the character of Pa had some "devastating information" on "very high authority."

"Did you know that Santa Claus is really just your mommy and daddy?" Pa's dialogue read. "It's true. Sometimes parents tell little white lies to their children to make them feel special."

Clarke criticized the leak as "foolhardy," saying it was "the kind of conduct you would expect from dangerous zealots who routinely confuse short-term political gain with the national interest."

"This leak compromises generations of undercover work on the part of U.S. parents," Clarke said. "Consider all the covers that will be blown, all the secret gift-hiding places that will be exposed."

The motivations behind the leak remain unclear, but some political observers have characterized it as a calculated act of retribution against Fairfax, VA second-grader Madison Harris. Harris, 7, wore an antiwar T-shirt to her elementary school during a Nov. 2 visit by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.

"The shirt, decorated with doves and the word 'peace,' angered White House ideologues, who felt that Harris had undermined a tightly orchestrated visit," independent political media watchdog Ellen Applebee said. "An aggressive attempt to hit Harris where she lived was set in motion."

On Nov. 3, Rove told reporters, "People shouldn't take too seriously the opinions of someone who still thinks a fat man slides down the chimney into her living room every December 25." On Nov. 6, he told several aides, "I don't consider it precocious to wear peace T-shirts and, from what I hear, read Highlights."

Applebee cited these comments as evidence of "Rove's deliberate campaign against Harris."

During that same week, Rove is also believed to have placed calls to several of the children's-magazine journalists who were later called before the grand jury.

If Rove is responsible for leaking Santa's identity to the world's children, it would not be his first political "dirty trick." In 1988, he was fired from George H. W. Bush's presidential campaign for sending an unsigned letter to the young daughter of a Dukakis campaign adviser. In the letter, he revealed the sad ending of the film Old Yeller.

On Capitol Hill, many say they believe that the damage has already been done. Clarke cited the absence of Santas from several department stores across the country as possible evidence that their compromised identities fatally damaged their credibility.

"I don't envy parents of young children right now," Clarke said. "Trust has been shattered. I wouldn't be surprised if some moms and dads are forced into hiding."

Thursday, December 22, 2005

My teeth are healthy

Good news today. The Peace Corps sent an email saying: "Peace Corps has completed your dental review. There are no dental holds on your account at this time." Yay! Now if only the medical portion of the application would take as quick. Here's for hoping...


Ok for the pic of the day. I took this photo a few weeks ago when I made a yogurt cake with raspberries.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Yo!

I love cinnamon buns.

In other news, I have decided to add a feature to this informative blog about moi. I want to show aspects of my life so I am gonna take pictures of regular things around me and I will try to post a picture every day to every few days, we will see.

A sunny winter day

The Genographic Project

National Geographic started a project in April 2005 compiling a database to track the genetics of all people and ethnic groups in the world and their diversity. Those who are lucky to be members of the 1st World can pay a $100 fee to get a kit in which you take a sample of your cheek cells and send it in to them. National Geographic then processed your DNA, the Y chromosome in men & mtDNA in women, and sends back the information that is in your DNA. Well, with the money that Mom gave me to Christmas, I decided to order this and find out. I just took the sample from my cheeks and sent in the packet. I think it will take around 8 weeks to process the data and then I will find out where I came from. Woohoo!

You can find out about this here.

get ready to gamble everything

Powerball is coming to North Carolina. I am sure that many many will spend plenty to "ensure our student's education" wink-wink.

On a total and opposite matter, I spend entirely too much money. After Christmas, I will my goal to cut spending to what i need, and not what I want. To save to things is my new mantra. We will see...

Monday, December 19, 2005

"Lazy Sunday" SNL Digital Short

Last night, Saturday Night Live had a hiliarious comedic bit featuring Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell. It has cupcakes, movie theatres, and the (Chronic)les of Naria.

Watch this and laugh.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

winter time update

Well, this morning I got some good news. The PC has received the packet. The website says that they are reviewing the medical and dental portions. From what I have read, this process can take from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. I hope it is the couple of weeks choice.

At the same time that I was working on my packet, the Peace Corps required me to do another thing. Since Mom decided to take on paying off my college loans until I come back, I had to assure the PC that this was actually happening. At first, all they told me to do is have mom write on a piece of paper that they was taking over the loan, have it stamped by a notary, and fax it to the PC. Haha, knowing that this was a federal bureaucracy should have alerted to me that this wasn't the end of it. A little later, I got an email saying that Mom needed to write the letter again, have it notarized and then MAIL it to the PC. Well , I did that at the same time as the medical packet, and today my Toolkit says that there are no legal holds on my application status. w00T!!

Ok, what else is happening?? I am bored to death of living at home. Here on Little Horse Creek, I am so remote from even the least little fun thing to do. There is no where to go out to and nothing to do even in the largest hamlet here, West Jefferson. I know I will miss home when I am gone, but as of right now, I can't wait to leave.

Since winter has unofficially begun here, we have been hit by a plague of mice. It has truely been crazy. Over the past month, our mouse-traps in the little hallway connected to the basement has caught 17 mice and 1 shrew lol. I think it is because there are entrances in the basement that they can get into to escape the cold and find food and then they decide to nibble the cheese to their ultimate demise. Who knows how many more we will catch??

Ok that is all of my thoughts. I am glad that there are people out there reading this, I can tell from using Google Analytics.

Peace

Friday, December 09, 2005

Medical Forms have been completed!!!!

After many tedious and time-consuming forms, I have completed all that I needed to fill out, wrote my name and SSN on every single form, and mailed the whole package in. I am relieved that I am healthy and that all of it in out of my hands. Hopefully, I will hear from the PC within a month and will get my nomination soon!!!

Today Mom and I waited at Polly's until Bailey had her little dance recital. She danced a total of 5 minutes but it was cute. The weather is nasty today due to freezing rain but there wasn't any major accumulation of ice on the roads so mom and I arrived back to here, the back of beyond called Horse Creek.

Ok that is all I have to say for now. Say a little prayer for me as I go through the process.

Ciao

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

:)

So, a quick update here. I went by the health department and got the results of the HIV & syphilis tests that I needed for the Peace Corps. I wasn't worried that I had the virus but it is always good to officially know that you have a clean bill of health. I am going to go to the doctor tomorrow so that they can take the information from the health dept. & the lab to them so they can officially sign off that I have healthy and then I am going to mail off the medical packet. I am slowly inching forward in my quest to be a PCV (peace corps volunteer).

Peace

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Random Thoughts

Hey out there to the few that read this site. I am well. Unfortunately, I am still waiting for my lab reports to come in and I have to go back to redo a test. Fun fun, I tell ya. We had Thanksgiving at the house this year, the last one for me in the States for quite a while... Everyone made some awesome food and we all had a successful potluck this year. I had a chai latte for the first time this week and I was pleasantly pleased. I will def drink more of this. I have noticed that I spend most of my time on the internet reading blogs. They range in style, from cooking and food blogs to environmental blogs to personal and political blogs. I love looking at pictures that people take and spend hours doing just that. On thesis news, I have a new and concrete timeframe. I am about 2/5ths done with my working draft and will continue to work on it until the beginning of the year. I will then form my thesis committee to go over my thesis (i.e. tear it apart) and hopefully I will have a final draft by the end of January or February. :) I have been reading a book by Ray Kurzweil called "The Singularity Is Near" and it is blowing my mind away. I have read some of his earlier works (he is a futurist and pretty successful at predicting patterns that manifest themselves over a space of time) and I am excited to be reading this one. I will be going down to visit my sister, Amy next week at her apartment in between Durham and Chapel Hill. They won't have an extra room come Feb. due to the fact that they are gonna move into a smaller (and cheaper) apartment in hopes that they will save money and be able to move up here when Amy finds a job.

Ok that is a sampling of the random thoughts that are in my head.

Stay tuned for more!

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Medical Forms and et al

This weekend was the last Homecoming that I will have here at App in a very long time. Went out this Friday to hang out with the old App South crew, got pretty drunk and had a good time. The next morning, my friends were tailgating at the Raley parking lot and had a blast there. My friend Jay was our PumpkinHead; he had carved a large pumpkin to resemble a football helmet. All day long ppl were pointing and laughing at him. Another guy, MT dressed up as a keg and even had a pump on his head that contained liquid. I can't believe that the police let him in but they did. All in all, I had a blast.

Today, I spent time going through my medical forms and getting ready for the dentist appointment. Any visit to a dentist is not viewed with pleasure and this was typical of this. I spent a long time holding my mouth open while the dental hygienst scraped and scraped on my teeth and gums. After all of that, the x-rays were done and the official PC dental form was filled out. It is a long and through process but it is all good since they are just making sure that I am healthy enough to go for a long time without adequate dental care on site. Tomorrow, I have an appointment to check out my eyes. This and the dental parts of these forms aren't the part that will take the longest. The forms that I have to take to a medical doctor require that I have lab tests, blood tests, and HIV tests will take a bit longer to process than the rest of what I have to do. Oh well.

I was talking to my friend Hattie about the possibility of going to Bulgaria and she got all excited. She spent some time in a study abroad program in a town in the southwest of Bulgaria called Blagoevgrad (sp?). It is a mountain town and a college town there and promised to tell me all about there and show me pics.

Ok, everyone have a happy Halloween and I will see you on the flipside.

Ciao

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Bailey contemplating...


Bailey contemplating...
Originally uploaded by ionntag.

Bailey


Bailey
Originally uploaded by ionntag.

Haha!


Haha!
Originally uploaded by ionntag.

:)


:)
Originally uploaded by ionntag.

Aww


Aww
Originally uploaded by ionntag.

Grr


Grr
Originally uploaded by ionntag.

Shhh

So I might have found out where I will be going to in the Peace Corps. I found a discussion group on Yahoo! that deals with what the trials and tribulations of applying to the program can be like. I posted a message asking where typically does the Peace Corps send ppl going to Eastern Europe/Central Asia go to. The next day I got an answer. In the past, the Peace Corps has sent future volunteers to.............

Bulgaria!

I am definitely fine with this choice. The majority of the populace speaks Bulgarian, a Cyrillic language that I can at least read, and the rest mainly speaks Turkish. I would be happy learning either. If I was in a Turkish speaking area, it would be really cool to learn the language and then go to Turkey, especially Istanbul, and work in international development there.

All of this is just wishful thinking on my part. I will officially not know where I will be going until after I finish medical clearance, which could take a fairly long time and I might not leave in April.


We will see.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

The Weather!

We have had out first snow! The weather has finally entered what we would consider "average" for this time of year. I am glad due to the fact that I get way too hot and even sweat when I am just sitting, which sucks. The weather site that I constantly check for this area is http://raysweather.com/. This is run by a professor at App State who, in my opinion, does the best for the mountain micrococms that we have in this area.

This weekend I spent all of it sleeping on a air mattress at by friend John's house. Adam and I went over to Boone on Friday night to have a little fun and games. Mabe wanted to suprise Adam with a visit up here so she and I colluded together so that she could suprise Adam here but it really didn't work since she really cannot lie and he figured it out. We had some tasty food at Dos Amigos (yum) and drank some Dos Equis (yum). We met Mabe and proceded to go out to our favorite hippie bar in Boone, Cafe Portofino. All I have to say is that drunk foozeball is one of my fav games of all time.

The next day we all had plans to go shoot some guns and all that good stuff but the weather wasn't going to have it. We all got ready to walk out the door when the rain started to come down. So instead we kinda piddled (is that a word?) around, got some pumpkins (I wanted to shoot them but other people had other ideas), and proceded to have a night in. We had some good drinks (thanks Mabe), watched the remake of The Amityville Horror (it is hard to see the guy who played Van Wilder in that type of role), and watched some television until we went to bed.

Sunday, a glorious day! The sky was blue and the sun warm. We introduced Mabe to Cici's Pizza (yum) and finally got to shoot. Kindal offered to have us up at her family's land in the northern part of Watauga Co. Shooting skeet (haha) is walys fun and I can be pretty good at it at times. After a fun afternoon of that, we decided to go see the movie Stay. I am still puzzled at the meaning of the movie and will postpone my judgement call on it. Afterwards had some good grub at the Library and finally made the trip back to good ol' Ashe. I was dead tired and went to bed at 10:30. Haha!

Today, I got up early to take my mom to the hospital. She had a out-patient sugery to remove a polyp from her colon. All is well and we were back here at 11ish. I decided to take a nap due to the fact that I rarely get up at 7 these days and had a bit of a headache. I was up later that afternoon so another fun chore which I will not mention but I had to get it to the lab within an hour, which I did and since I have been back, it has been tv/internet/conversation with mom.

I will be glad when my medical kit gets here. I hear that I takes a while to get all of the forms filled out and the sooner that I get that in, the sooner I get my final invitation into the Peace Corps.

Ok that is all for now

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Great News!

As of today, October 19th 2005, I am officially a Peace Corps nominee!!! Here is the email that I've received:

Hi Chris,

I just got back to office and received your student loan form. Your file is
now complete. I also just put through the nomination for the English
Teaching assignment in E. Europe that leaves in April. Congratulations!!!

You should receive a medical packet in the mail from medical services and a confirmation letter from we within the next two weeks.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

-Robyn

Now that all of that has happened, I am gonna seriously focus on my thesis. I want to have a draft of it by the end of the first week of November so that I can edit the volume until it is time to turn it in and defend it. So here's to finishing what I need to finish.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Closer to the goal...

I have finally sent in all the materials for the Peace Corps (exccept for a financial form that I am going to fax to Robyn, my recruiter tomorrow. Luckly mom decided to start paying off my student loans. :)

Here is the transcript of the email that Robyn sent me:

I have listed two assignments below that I think will be a good fit for you.
Please look these over and let me know which one you are most interested.
Once I hear back from you and receive the student loan form I will be able
to put the nomination through for you and move you along on the process.

1. Secondary Education English Teaching - E. Europe - departs March 2006 -
will be involved with teaching and teacher training; must be comfortable
working in rural, unstructured environment (there is only one spot left for
this assignment so please let me know ASAP if you are interested in this
one.

2. Secondary Education English Teaching - E. Europe - departs April 2006 -
volunteers teach English at the secondary level.

I am leaning toward to the second option due to the fact that I think I would be out of my depth in doing teacher training although I would be down for living in a rural setting and I would DEF be down for leaving in March but oh well. April will be good.

The good news is that Robyn said in the email, "Once I hear back from you and receive the student loan form I will be able
to put the nomination through for you and move you along on the process." I am pretty sure that means that I will get a nomination soon and that means that I will get the medical forms soon.

I can't wait to get out of here. Now while I love Ashe County, the beauty of the land and the hospitality of the ppl here, this is all that I have ever known. All that being said, now that a date has been tentatively set, I am already worrying about what I need to get done in the 5 or 6 months that I have left here. I guess all that needs to be done will be done.

Ok that all for now

Lata

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

The Day in a Life of a Sick Man

8:30 Woke up, took a shower, and rushed out the door to follow my mom to West Jefferson

9:00 Left my Ford Exploder at Dollar Tire to be fixed (there has been a very bad whining noise coming from front passenger tire

9:30 Ate breakfast at Hardee's with mom. Mmmm sausage and bacon, egg, n' cheese biscuits

10-11ish Wal-Mart (I hate waiting on ppl but oh well)

12 back home but starting to fill like shit

12:30-3:00 asleep because my lungs are congested and I can barely breathe

3-6 piddled around the house and read on the net

6-7 while I had cut up for chicken and started it to marinate, mom brought home some japanese, ohh well, the chicken will be great tomorrow

8-10 (now) watching silly tv shows and still filling like crap

I am better than I was yesterday but I still am in the weeds. Luckly I have some good medicine here :)

Take care, y'all

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Update

as of 9:30, I am feeling much better. Adam had a 24-hr bug so we know who the person on my list is. Here is for crossed fingers!

Monday, October 10, 2005

blah....

So I really feel like crap today, the stomach is churning and all the good stuff that goes along with that. Maybe, maybe, I will fill better later.

Adam and I took a suprise roadtrip down to Burlington to see his new girl. He called her from his cellphone to tell her that we where going in to see a movie and then a minute later she walked around the corner of her house and ran to give Adam the quite big hug. Let's just say that it made her very happy that we came down. ;)

We saw a mantinee of Waiting down in Burlington. It is hililiarous and I def suggest everyone that has been around restaurants to go see it. altered states are suggested as well. ;)

ok that is all from here

lata yo

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

I went to Boone yesterday to see the professor that is filling out my rec form and he said that he will def be done with the form by Friday. The other rec form has already been sent in; Emil at High Country Amigos had a bit of trouble in sending it but it is sent and received. Thank goodness for the instantness of the Internet. I mailed my App State transcript to the Peace Corps office in DC and should be there in a couple of days. It is took ENTIRELY too long to get all the application in, I sent the first part of the application in all the way back in the winter....

I hope to be nominated in about a month. I do worry that I might not be accepted into the program but I hope that is just me worrying. I am really really hoping that I will be sent to a country in Eastern Europe, or at least somewhere that gets cold sometimes. Here is a list of the countries that I would be happy to go to:
Ukraine
Moldova
Romania
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Albania
Georgia (Republic of)
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyz Republic
Mongolia

I would be quite okay if I was sent to Africa or any other warm place in the world but I am hoping to get sent to a place that speaks either Russian or some place in Eastern Europe so that I can get into development work with an NGO in the area.
We will see...

Later y'all

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

w00t

I have finally reached the 3 month point on volunteering pre-Peace Corps. That means that I gave the rec form to the head of High Country Amigos (at least the english teaching wing of it) and hopefully by this time next week, I will have the 3rd and final rec form and I will be able to send both of those and my transcript as soon as I can. :)

I went down and stayed with Amy and Shawn in Durham most of last week. The screen on the laptop that I am typing on was malfunctioning and I was concerned so I took it in to the Apple Store in the Southpoint Mall. Since I have AppleCare ( a rather expensive but well worth it), the cost without the warranty is almost $1000, but I didn't have to pay a thing. :)

The weather here is finally starting to cool down. Since I am just a good ol' mountain boy, hot weather and I do not agree. I am always warmer than the people around me and consequently, I stay hot a lot of the time. The perfect weather for me is in the low 60's. Also a plus for this time of the year, fall weather coincides with the beginning of football, especially App State. And least of all, I have a ton of cold weather clothes that I can wear. :)

Ok that is all from the home front.
This channel will be accessed soon

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Life and Tea

I have had some green tea in my cupboard for all summer since I read in Men's Health that drinking tea had many health benefits. Since then I have been ignoring it for some reason or another. Recently, I was reading on the internet about a tea company that makes a mixture of blueberries and green tea. The Republic of Tea makes it, it is called Man Kind Tea/Blueberry Green Tea. It sounded real good but alas, they do not sell the mixture here in Ashe but maybe they will sell it in Boone. Here is a picture:





After reading about all of this, I remembered that I had some here at home. I got it out and it was also made by Republic of Tea, it is called Organic USDA Dancing Leaves Green Tea. Here is a pic:





It tastes very good. The tea comes completely in leaf form instead of the normal paper packages that tea comes in the United States but I don't care. It is easy to strain out the leaves.


In other news, Bill (my Paw) is doing much better. He is walking faster and his color is coming back. A home health-care nurse came by today to set-up in-home sessions to keep his health going in a positive direction.

Amy and Shawn are up in the High Country for their vacation. They thought about going to the beach but really couldn't afford it, which is good since Hurricane Ophelia is bearing down on the Carolina coastline. Plus, on a down note, Shawn had a 80-lbs metal bar fall on his foot at his workplace, Fedex. So they are here and we are glad they are here.

Amy and I worked on an outline for my thesis today and I requested a few books through ILLiad which will come in a few days.. I am hoping to be done with the introduction and started on the 1st chapter by this time next week.



Ok that is all for now. Stay tuned for another episode of....


THE ADVENTURES OF AN INANE RAMBLER!!!!

Sunday, September 11, 2005

sup? lol

Hay hay, ppl of the internet. Yes, yes, it has been a while since I have been on here to update the goings on of my life. Paw (my adopted father, real grandfather) is doing much better. He is still weak but is steadly improving. :) There really is nothing else important going on in my life. I need to volunteer at High Country Amigos until the end of Sept. and then I can send in my final recommendation form to the Peace Corps. w00t If i wasn't working on my thesis, which I seriously need to work on next week, I think I would go down to the Gulf Coast and volunteer helping people recover but I need to stay here, I guess...

I miss being around people all the time, now that I am living in Ashe. Before, there would be plenty of opportunities to socialize with folk but now the numbers are much lower. Even though I am leaving for the Peace Corps early next year, I would like some females in my life...(I am a bit depressed tonight so that mood this time is blah)

Anyways, when things change and I have more to say. I will let you know


Ciao

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Hay Hay & Contact Info

Sorry for the lack of updates. I will tell the story of my life recently in a later post.

Here is my contact info for those out there for would be to be in said contact ;).

Christopher Alan Bennett
5178 E Little Horse Creek Rd
Lansing, NC 28643

Phone: (336) 384-3090
Cell: (336) 977-1843

Email: ionntag@gmail.com

IM: ionntag


See yas later!

Friday, August 19, 2005

Slow Day

Not much has happened on this fine day of August. I overslept until 11 AM, not bad but I would rather get up earlier. This will be something that I will work on in the future. Went by Isabel's and had the meatballs and flank steak, decent food. I took the leftovers to mom, thought about doing stuff around town, but in the end, I said fuck it and went back home. I then progressed to mess on the net a bit and arranged photos. I got a membership on Flickr, put the pics that you have already seen but it is good that the rest of the world witness my greatness ;). I got out the camera again and tried out some close shots. Here is what I created.


I really like this shot, it is a bit blurry but pretty good for a beginner shot



Another view




Ok that is all from the home front. I need to do more in my life so ppl CALL ME!

Hasta luego!

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

This truely is a photolog...

OK, after having lunch at Isabel's (had a Cuban sandwich and fries) and getting 2nd monster containers of transmission fluid, I decided to go back to the Long Meadow and take some pics. While clouds threatened on the way there and to some extent when I got there, the sunshine won the battle for the sky and became a glorious day. Ok without further ado, I give you my, average, pics:

Here is a panorama stich that I made looking toward Lansing and Phoenix Mtn


A view of where I went to take the pics today


Country Roads


Cow Field with a Fish Pond


Tree Field


Listening Rock


Cool barn

London Pics

Store St: where I lived at in London


The Royal family on the Queen's BD


Piccadilly Circus


Kensington

Haha more pics....

Drunk with BUNACers in London


Myself at Grandfather Mtn


Amy, Shawn, and Bailey at Grayson Highlands


A view from the back of the house


I will treasure this pic


I laughed so hard, Bailey is gonna kill us in 15 years


Entrance to the wilderness


A rock cairn on the way to Mount Rogers

Stardate whenever

So I just got back from trying to take some panorama pictures from this place called the Long Meadow but it was raining when I got there, I went back up when it quit raining and when I got to the gate, there were some ppl there in an olf Ford Festiva giving me the eye so I just kept on driving. I will go back because it is one of the most beautiful places that I know of here and the Shepherds are lucky to own it.

Mom called this morning and said that Paw's heart rate was back into the 70's and his lung functions are getting back to normal. So that is good. Amy called today and said that she drove down and he is doing much better. He is even grumbling about things and we take that as a good sign. Today almost everyone I talked to asked about him and I explained to everyone what is going on at the moment.

My car really needs to be fixed. It is going through a pint of transmission fluid like Jack Daniels and Killians. The whine that my tires are making screams to high heaven. You could smell the funk of the fliud burning when I came back up from the Flatwoods turning around, not good at all.

I would go up to the Long Meadow for a sunrise photo session but I am out of fluid and I don't want the chance of me fucking up my car and not being able to get in touch with someone. Luckly, it is one of the few places that my cell phone works :).


До свидания (good bye)

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Pics

Amy and Bailey at Grayson Highlands State Park in VA


Bailey and I rockin' out to my iPod

More Random Pics...

A Panorama of the backside of Grandfather Mtn


A cool rock


Bare tree on Junaluska Rd


Maw's House (my great-grandmother)


A cute one of Bailey at Amy's wedding


At a bar in DC


One of my favs...

Medical Update

As of 1:30 PM on Monday, the surgery was a success. I was out getting groceries but Mom left a message and Amy called later in the afternoon. They implanted a pace-maker under the skin near the heart and now the doctors are just waiting to see how his body reacts to the device. All in all, today has been a hopeful day.

Everything seems so quiet here without Mom and Paw here. I cooked for myself but I have a ton of food leftover. It was quite good however.

I ordered a new Russian language book to go over in the hopes that I will be sent somewhere in the Peace Corps that speaks Russian. Голоса (golasa) "Voices" seems like a pretty good book. There is a corresponding Интернет site (sound that out).

Ok to the sound of crickets outside, that is all from the Inane Rambler


Peace

Monday, August 15, 2005

The Ups and Downs of Life...

So, alot has happened in the past few days...

My father, who is really my grandfather but I have lived with them all of life, in at Carolina's Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. He has been in the local hospital here in Ashe for the past week because his heart-rate has dipped down into the 40's last week which led to him having weak lungs which led to his bronchitis and kidney trouble. After a week, the lungs and and kidneys were back to normal but his heart-rate was still very low and on Friday dipped down into the 30's. The doctors decided to go ahead and implant a pace-maker. The problem is that he has a mechanical valve in his heart, so he is in Charlotte being preped for the procedure. They should go ahead and do the surgery on either Monday or Tuesday. Today, they put him in the ICU ward but that is more of a precaution than anything else. If you are the praying type, say a small prayer for him and if you aren't, think really good thoughts.


On the good side of life, Adam and I went hiking this weekend on the Appalachian Trail up to Mount Rogers in VA. Mount Rogers is the highest peak in Virginia coming in at 5, 729 feet. From where we parked at, a place called Elk Garden, we figure that we hiked around 11-12 miles. Needless to say, I am quite sore today and I will be for some time.

Later that night, Adam and I went to eat at The Library in Boone. The "view" there was quite good, and the food was too. We hung out at John and Kindal's and then went to Cafe Portofino. All in all, it was a very good night ;-).

Here are some pics of the hike:


A field half-way to the summit


Some boulders there


Adam leading the way


Which way to go???


On the road again, aka the Appalachian Trail


A dead Fraser Fir due to acid rain


Almost to the car....



Ok that is what is going on in my life. I didn't go pick huckleberries this weekend but never-the-less, I have had a very good time and a sad one too.


More to come...

Friday, August 12, 2005

Thesis Topic and other stuff on my mind

I am writing my big paper on the concerns that the EU has on Turkey gaining accession to their club. I think it is an important topic, especially for the future of Europe and the Middle East over the next half-century. I hope to have a working draft finished by Oct.

My Ford "Exploder" isn't doing so well. My transmission fluid is leaking out, the front tires severely needs to be religned, and to top it off, I am pretty sure that I need new spark plugs and cables. Fun times! Attention to car buyers out there, DO NOT BUY ANY FORD EXPLORER MODEL!


That is all.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Random Pics I Like

Here are some of my fav pics that I have collected on my laptop, most of them are from my time living in London. Enjoy.

A cool abandoned barn in Watauga Co, North Carolina


One of my fav pics from my time living in London


The Eye and Big Ben


Stonehenge