Gloria looked at me and said, ‘no one ever uses my name, its always girl or hey you.’ I always try to use a name if I see it, and her response made me realize this wasn’t the first time I had gotten such a response. Another time I said hello to a young black woman working at a store and as she smiled she said, ‘you are the first white person to ever say my name right.’ We both laughed.

Its not hard to treat someone like you would want to be treated so take a second and put forth a little effort. Say hi, use their name, smile… it might be worth your while

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Generally, we (my family) eat pretty well, although we are still working with Hannah, but like most people we could do better. With this is mind, and being my normal sarcastic self I said, ‘we could always move to Colorado. They are the thinnest state.’

Without missing a beat, my wife said, ‘no, we can just stay here where we appear thinner than most people.’

I guess I can’t argue with that.

He wrote a nice note and thanked me, so over the next few days I checked back at his blog just to see how it went.

Well, this morning I checked and one of his friends had referred to me as a ‘creepy old man’ or something like that. Not that it really matters much, I have been called much worse by people whose opinions I actually respect and they didn’t bother me either, but it prompted me to check out what other words of wisdom this youngster had to say on their ‘space.’

Needless to say, it was pretty much what you would expect. ‘I can’t wait to move out’ (of the parents house), ‘play my music as loud as I want’ without ‘my parents droning in my ear about how they understand’ or words to that effect.

I have no issue with people voicing their opinions, in fact my 20 something years in the Navy and Reserve have helped (in some small way) protect the rights of people who want to express their opinions, but I do have an issue with people who ‘drone on’ to use this particular persons words about ‘whatever’ without complete consideration for everything impacting ‘whatever.’

While this young person waits impatiently to move out and bitches about their parents, they are enjoying the comforts of a nice home and warm meals. They probably have almost everything they ever asked for (an assumption on my part) and have access to a computer so they can post these rants. I wonder how they manage at this young (still in high school) age to afford all this (can you hear the sarcasm dripping from that last comment). Oh, my guess is the parents are funding it.

OK, maybe I should get down off my soapbox, but before I do I just have to say that before you (and I am speaking in general here) can say your parents don’t understand you, you oughta make sure you understand them, and not in some superficial ‘I’m in high school I know everything’ way. Unfortunately, this kind of understanding is not easily achieved and I find that even at my ‘old’ age, I am still learning.

This post will probably never reach the eyes of the particular person I am speaking about, but, it might find its way to someone who just might get it. ‘Creepy old’ people, OK so maybe not creepy, but old people (and by the way, 44 is NOT old) and parents in particular have a lot of wisdom that only years of experience can give you. Maybe sometimes you should turn down the music and listen to the drone.

“I have never been to Starbucks before.”

My immediate thought, where the hell has this guy been? Never been to Starbucks, jeez. Even my kids like Starbucks. Sure they always go for the fun cold drinks or the hot chocolate, although given the chance I am sure Noah would try something with coffee in it, but they have still been to Starbucks.

And then it kinda hit me. Who the hell am I to judge anyone who hasn’t been to Starbucks? What makes me so great? The fact that I pay $5 for a coffee doesn’t make me any better than anyone else, in fact, since there are plenty of great coffees for less than $2 a cup out there it makes me wonder who the ‘loser’ really is.

All this went through my head kind of quick and when I came back to reality, I realized I was looking at the guy, kind of staring past him, and he was looking back at me. I just smiled and said, ‘I remember my first time.”

Maybe he didn’t like the coffee, he’d probably be better off.

So anyway, just about every other day of the year I display an American flag and a US Navy flag on the front of my house. But on this one special day, I break out my ‘heritage flags,’ the flag of Ireland and a Green and Red County flag for Mayo, the county of my Mum’s birth.

Well last year I had shared a picture of the Green and Red flying at my house with Mike Baynes from the Tweed Centre in Castlebar, Ireland. Although Mike and I have never met, we have exchanged emails after he saw my Ireland movie and I was actually in his store the last time I was in Ireland. Mike figured that my Green and Red may be a bit tattered so he sent me a new Mayo flag. Even though it came to the States via my Uncle Peter, to my Mum in Florida, and then through the US Postal Service, it arrived just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, and I was so excited I decided to put the flags out a day earlier this year.

To Mike B., thanks so much for your kindness. Your gift is a truly welcome addition to my annual heritage celebration! I only wish I could be over in Ireland tomorrow so that I might buy you a pint to return the kindness.

To everyone else, have a wonderful holiday! No matter who you are or where you’re from, we all share this holiday. Be careful out there.

Slainte!

Vice President Shoots Fellow Hunter

OK, so what? I mean it was a hunting accident, happens all the time and it barely makes the news everywhere else, but the fact that the VP did it and it is headline news. And then some people (democrats and journalists) turn the fact that he didn’t tell anyone right away into some big conspiracy. I mean did anyone think that maybe getting his friend to the hospital and making sure he was ok was more important than alerting the media. I mean Cheney wasn’t hiding behind some grassy knoll for cripes sake… shit happens, even to the Vice President.

On the lighter side of this story, every time I hear about Cheney’s accident while quail hunting I think about Cheney Quayle hunting. Oh come on, you probably thought it too.

Saddam Hussein goes on hunger strike

Good!

He is on a hunger strike to protest his treatment. I think he is probably still WAY better off than he was in the hole they found him in. I mean he allegedly killed thousands of people during his dictatorship so what does he expect, tea, crumpets and fluffy pillows.

Mr. Hussein, you made your own bed and now you have to lay in it, or go hungry in it as the case may be.

RES v.2006 (6.5) – Weight (+5) | Exercise (-) | Eating Out (80%)

Tonight I saw that WordPress 2.0 had been released and I had had just enought beer to say to myself, “hey, I should upgrade!” If I hadn’t had the beer I would have known not to try it, but you know what, followed the instructions and was running WordPress 2.0 on my site in about 15 minutes.

Great job WordPress!