Say What?

Good movie alert:  Amazing Grace. I haven't been much for watching movies lately. The Prednisone left me feeling all sorts of fidgety and unable to sit still for very long. I'm better now; more about that later. About the film...Amazing Grace is a very good movie about an antislavery pioneer from the 18th century named William Wilberforce. Wilberforce spent over 20 years trying to change the hearts and minds of the ruling class in Britain who believed it was their right to trade and own slaves. The movie gets its name from the 18th-century hymn, Amazing Grace, which was written by John Newton, the captain of a ship used for transporting slaves from Africa to Europe. Newton nearly lost his life in a storm at sea and prayed to God that if he survived the storm he would change the direction of his life. He would later become a confidant of Wilberforce. While watching the movie I couldn't help but see similarities between the people of a more ignorant time who supported sla...

I've got a couple of the sweetest pups you could imagine in my lap as I type. I think dogs should be one of the 7 wonders of the world for the unconditional love they have for us. I was talking with Rachel last week about her noticeable lack of texting and I said I didn't mean to pry but I was wondering if everything was okay between her and Grant? I mentioned that it seemed things had cooled a bit since Homecoming . She said their relationship was a bit rocky and she wasn't sure what to make of it. She planned to see a movie with him last Friday night and get a better feel for which way the wind was blowing. I was curious to see how the night would go. She phoned when the show was over and I drove to go pick her up. I waited in the truck out front and when she got in the tears began to flow. I felt so bad for her. She said the entire night was awkward. She tried to make small talk but he had nothing to say. She wanted to tell him that maybe they should break it off bu...

There's an old farmhouse I pass on the way to work on the southeast corner of Cedar Ave and Hwy 50. It's tucked back in off the road but it occasionally catches my eye. It's tattered and has loads character and could make for some interesting photos. It probably hasn't seen an occupant in over 30 years. Rachel mentioned a few weeks ago that she'd like to get some b&w film and shoot some pictures of it. Great idea. We talked about it again yesterday and I told her we should try and get out there this week. Tammy said she was worried that maybe it would be bulldozed if we waited too long. Not to worry, it's been there this long, it'll be there for a while longer. I couldn't shake the feeling that Tammy was right and that we should make some definite plans to get out there more sooner than later. I tossed my Panasonic Lumix in my truck today and set out to see what I could get of the old house. Rachel and I would come back later in the week. I had a...

I was flipping through stations on the radio while driving to work a couple weeks ago. I paused on WCCO and listened as they filled some time chatting while leading up to the weather. Mike Lynch, the weather guy, was talking about his old neighborhood where he grew up in Richfield and about one of his neighbors there -- a beautiful girl several years older with the last name of Falen. The neighborhood he was talking about was my neighborhood, too, for one year in 1965. We lived next door to Falens', and Mike lived on the other side of them and yes, the neighbor girl he was referring to was very pretty and I suppose in high school at the time. We rented a home there as my dad's job had our family moving back and forth between Minneapolis and Detroit several times in the span of as many years. We never seemed to stay anywhere very long and when we'd move back it would always be to a different neighborhood and school district. It was never fun being the new kid in class but ...

Tammy spent a good part of the last month reupholstering our sofa, love seat, and ottoman. I didn't realize how badly they needed to be redone but the sun had definitely taken its toll on them. She'd mentioned a while back that she'd like to do it and I know she's done that sort of thing before but to be honest, I wasn't sure she could pull it off. Was I wrong! We've got a microfiber material on our sofa in the basement and we're really impressed with its resilience. Tammy was able to find the same fabric in a different shade for this job. She did the ottoman first to practice her skills and make sure she wasn't getting in over her head. She had it done in a day. She began work on the love seat next and was careful to note how the fabric was spread across it. She took photos in case she got lost during the reupholstering phase. She never had to refer to them. She's a natural at this sort of thing. I joked with her that when we retire and open o...

I cut my ride short today as my legs were feeling tired. I was in the shower when I heard the phone ring. I figured it was Tammy on her way home from work but she'd have to wait as I was all soaped up. A few seconds later Tammy is in the bathroom telling me that John Kline  (our Congressman and neighbor) is on the phone. The soap will have to wait. I'd written John a few nights ago to express my frustration with FAA management and apparently he'd read my email. I routinely see him when I'm out walking Toby and Allie as he lives just down the street. I suppose I could have approached him and introduced myself then gone into the laundry list of complaints I have but that's not me. I outlined a brief description of my concerns then gave him a link to a recent post in my blog hoping he'd follow the link to learn more. He did. He said he supported Natca's (Air Traffic Controllers' union) attempts to require the FAA to enter into binding arbitration but tha...

Politically speaking, for better or worse as long as I can remember I've had a conservative tilt. I can recall voting for Nixon in my 6th-grade classroom's pretend election. I don't have any idea what it was about the man which had me pulling for him. Maybe I considered him an underdog as he was running against Hubert Humphrey from my home state and most everyone was rooting for the local guy. Humphrey lost the popular vote by only a few hundred thousand but the Electoral College results gave a clear victory to Nixon. Nixon would eventually leave the office in disgrace while my eyes were opened to the world of politics and corruption. Politics is seldom win-win. There's always a price to be paid as you trade away one thing for another. Should I vote for the guy who will place conservative judges to the Supreme Court or do I vote for who I know will be the better choice for my job? In the last election, it came down to that. I got my conservative judges appointed with ...