Wow...

Wow, post something about religion and the nutcases come crawling out of the
woodwork. I especially love it when religious fanatics spout hate messages
as the only defense against their ignorance. It gets even better when their
response contains "facts" that are not only unsubstantiated, but are
outright wrong. The last time I checked, Muslims worshipped Allah (God), not
Shaytan (Satan). The definition of Muslim: "a person who submits to Allah
and finding peace". Gee, this sounds an awful lot like the definition of
Christian, doesn't it? I suppose this ignorant, uneducated "Christian" will
come back and spout more hate messages at me, or better yet spout mis-quoted
or out of context bible verses at me. Do some research into a topic before
you talk about it.

I hate smokers

Smokers seem to be the biggest litterbugs on the planet. Just this morning I saw a girl stick her hand out the window and drop a lit cigarette on the road while she was driving. What makes smokers think that it is alright to throw their trash on the ground anyway? I just want to pick the cigarette butt up and toss it right back in their car.

RE: Don't buy the new Christmas stamp

I got the following email sent to me today:

 

 

CHRISTMAS STAMP How ironic is this ?? !! They don't even believe in Christ and they're getting their own Christmas stamp, but don't dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property? USPS New Stamp This one is impossible to believe. Scroll down for the text. If there is only one thing you forward today.....let it be this! pdF REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon ! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks in Saudi Arabia ! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa ! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE! REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on 9/11/2001! REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks! Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class holiday postage stamp. REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp when purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors. REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN

 

 

Here is my reply:

 

First off, this is NOT a Christmas stamp!!!!! Why is it that Christians seem to think that all holidays must center around their religion? This country was founded on religious FREEDOM. Muslims have as much right to have stamps issued for their holidays as Christians have to get stamps for Christmas.

 

Read the article here to get the facts on this stamp, and it has been issued every year since BEFORE 9/11/01: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/eidstamp.asp

 

Get the facts straight before you go protesting a postage stamp!

 

If you want to protest terrorist acts, remember these also:

 

Remember the Westboro Baptist Church (www.godhatesfags.com). These are the CHRISTIANS who praise the killing of our troops by IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan and protest at the funerals of our troops! These "Christians" are protesting at soldier's funerals weekly! I have shown up to show these nuts that their terroristic acts are unwanted in this country, have any of you?

 

Remember all the children who were molested by CATHOLIC priests!

 

October 2, 2004 - Christian terrorist group kills 44 Hindus, wounds 118 in Northeast India.

 

January 16, 1997 - Christian Identity terrorist Eric Robert Rudolph bombs a gay nightclub

 

July 27, 1996 - Christian Identity terrorist Eric Robert Rudolph bombs Centennial Olympic Park. Kills 1, wounds 111.

 

1969-2001 - over 3000 people are killed in Ireland and the United Kingdom as a result of bombings and other violent acts between the predominently Roman Catholic Irish nationalists on one side, and the predominently Protestant Unionists and secular British Crown forces on the other. More than 1800 of those killed in "The Troubles" are civilians, many the victims of sectarian attacks.

 

In the United States, arson, firebombing and vandalism of abortion clinics, along with harassment of clinic employees and patrons have been cited as examples of terror tactics employed by anti-abortion extremists. Occasionally the perpetrators have been self-proclaimed Christians.

 

Want to read more about Christian terrorist acts? Look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism

 

Keep one thing in mind. These acts of terrorism, etc. are being carried out by EXTREMISTS. 99% of the Muslims in the world have the same values as Christians in the world. Much of the Muslim belief is rooted in the same place as the Christian faith, and they believe in many of the same occurences historically.

 

If you are going to protest something, protest terrorism! Leave the Muslims alone, they are not the problem!

Conversations with a 4 year old

Some days I think it is funny the things that my daughter comes up with.

K: Do you want to go to Pennsic?
J: Yes I do, but Pennsic isn't until this summer.
K: Did you go to Pennsic when you were a kid?
J: No, grandma & grandpa never went to Pennsic.
K: Do they know where Pennsic is?
J: No, they don't.
K: We need to show them where Pennsic is. I know where Pennsic is. You know where Pennsic is. Momma knows where Pennsic is.

Nuts at work

Wow, this week has been absolutely nuts at work. We have been having software glitches, server glitches, you name it.. It has just been insane!

Just some thoughts

Rain's new job seems to be working out real well for her. I can see a noticeable diffrence in her stress level since she started the new job. It looks like mom is getting a new car so I think we will inherit her car. This is a good thing since Rain's car has 206,000 miles on it. So far Rain's car is reliable, but it is a matter of time before it needs some major work that just won't be worth doing to it.

What a weekend

Well, we buried Tut on Monday, that was kind of sad. Katya wanted to help dig his grave and put him in it so I let her help me. She even carried him outside. This was entirely her idea, by the way.

 

It is interesting to observe the feline social structure in action. Gizmo and Zoomba went around the house together most of the day looking in every little crack & crevice for Tut. Since Thursday, Lovey is much more social and we are seeing him much more in the living room than before. Zoomba is my new breakfast lap cat. Tut used to hop in my lap a few days a week while I eat breakfast, and on a rare occasion Zoomba would, but since Thursday she has been in my lap every morning.

 

Katya has handled it very well. Rain slept on the couch Thursday morning because she got up real early worrying about tut. Katya brought her all of her stuffed animals while she slept and covered her with them so she wouldn't be lonely. At one point Rain was crying and Katya went and sat on the couch. She patted the couch next to her and said "Sit here Momma, don't cry." When Rain sat next to her Katya gave her a big hug and told her it was alright, and not to be sad. I am amazed att he amount of compassion that this 4 1/2 year old shows.

 

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful for the most part.

Test

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

RIP Tut

We'll miss him.

What a thanksgiving

It looks like Tut won't make it until morning. He was a good cat. He will be
missed.

I'm appalled

To think that you can enter this country by any means nd not show a passport is, to say the leaast a shock to me. I can't believe that it would not be a requirement, especially after 9/11/01. Passports are easy to obtain and are not expensive.

East Valley Tribune Daily Arizona news for Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale

Poor Tut

Well, it looks as if Tut (one of our cats) is dying. He's 21 so nobody can complain really. He has lived a very long life for a cat. Tut will definitely be missed when he is gone. He was my morning lap-warmer when I eat breakfast. For the last day he hasn't eaten anything or gotten up really and I can see that he is on his last day or 2.

Our little girl is growing up

Katya is definitely growing up. We just got her school pictures back and wow, what a difference even from last year to this year. She's potty trained now and the other day told Rain that she didn't need her pull-ups anymore. Now I am working on desigining a loft bed for her that incorporates a fish tank under it. I made a deal with her that she couldn't get her big girl loft bed until she stopped peeing the bed. It took her a few months but she is at that point now. I was hopin gto work soem cubbies into a set of steps to go up to the bed but it would take up too much of her room if I did. I can always add that on later if I figure out how to make it work better.

FW: THE LORD AND THE BIKER

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="Watchguard Replacement.txt"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Watchguard Replacement.txt"
Return-Path: <virgoventures@webtv.net>
Received: from rly-yc05.mail.aol.com (rly-yc05.mail.aol.com [172.18.205.148]) by air-yc02.mail.aol.com (v113.6) with ESMTP id MAILINYC21-1dc454fa436ad; Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:08:50 -0500
Received: from bay0-omc2-s31.bay0.hotmail.com (bay0-omc2-s31.bay0.hotmail.com [65.54.246.167]) by rly-yc05.mail.aol.com (v113.6) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINYC56-1dc454fa436ad; Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:08:06 -0500
Received: from hotmail.com ([207.46.9.151]) by bay0-omc2-s31.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.1830);
Mon, 6 Nov 2006 13:07:37 -0800
Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC;
Mon, 6 Nov 2006 13:07:37 -0800
Message-ID: <BAY120-DAV133B97558DAC1838E94D2CA4F30@phx.gbl>
Received: from 209.240.207.114 by BAY120-DAV13.phx.gbl with DAV;
Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:07:32 +0000
X-Originating-IP: [209.240.207.114]
X-Originating-Email: [virgoventures@webtv.net]
X-Sender: virgoventures@webtv.net
From: VIRGOVENTURES@webtv.net (Bud)
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 16:07:32 -0500
To: EvoHorace@aol.com, BERNIELBI@aol.com, BIGS853@yahoo.com,
jrpetrak@hotmail.com
Subject: Fwd: THE LORD AND THE BIKER
Message-ID: <16307-454FA414-17835@storefull-3134.bay.webtv.net>
Content-Type: Multipart/Mixed; Boundary=WebTV-Mail-12085-8850
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit
MIME-Version: 1.0 (WebTV)
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 06 Nov 2006 21:07:37.0426 (UTC) FILETIME=[96503320:01C701E7]
X-AOL-IP: 65.54.246.167
X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version)

[Attachment denied by WatchGuard SMTP proxy (type "message/rfc822", filename "Fwd_ THE LORD AND THE BIKER.eml")]

--WebTV-Mail-12085-8850
Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit

--WebTV-Mail-12085-8850
Content-Disposition: Inline
Content-Type: Message/RFC822
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit

Content-Disposition: Inline
Content-Type: Message/RFC822
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit
X-Message-Status: n:0
X-SID-PRA: StrikeEagle75@aol.com
X-SID-Result: TempError
X-Message-Info: txF49lGdW40m0vMPQAK/wpaUia8y1YacXIc0TQdpHos=
Received: from smtppipe-3302.bay.webtv.net ([209.240.205.172]) by
bay0-pamc1-f8.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2444);
Mon, 6 Nov 2006 00:50:48 -0800
Received: from smtpinvite-3302.bay.webtv.net (smtpinvite-3302.bay.webtv.net
[209.240.205.170]) by smtppipe-3302.bay.webtv.net (WebTV_Postfix+bmi)
with ESMTP id E7DB3E11E for <virgoventures@hotmail.webtv.net>; Mon,
6 Nov 2006 00:50:47 -0800 (PST)
Received: from imo-m20.mx.aol.com (imo-m20.mx.aol.com [64.12.137.1]) by
smtpinvite-3302.bay.webtv.net (WebTV_Postfix+sws) with ESMTP id
8D36160E0A for <VIRGOVENTURES@webtv.net>; Mon, 6 Nov 2006 00:50:47
-0800 (PST)
Received: from StrikeEagle75@aol.com by imo-m20.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v38_r7.6.)
id 2.456.953280d (57293) for <VIRGOVENTURES@webtv.net>; Mon, 6 Nov
2006 03:50:38 -0500 (EST)
From: StrikeEagle75@aol.com
Message-ID: <456.953280d.3280515e@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 03:50:38 EST
Subject: Fwd: THE LORD AND THE BIKER
To: VIRGOVENTURES@webtv.net
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="part1_456.953280d.3280515e_boundary"
X-Mailer: 9.0 Security Edition for Windows sub 5324
X-Spam-Flag: NO
Return-Path: StrikeEagle75@aol.com
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 06 Nov 2006 08:50:48.0124 (UTC)
FILETIME=[A7840FC0:01C70180]

--part1_456.953280d.3280515e_boundary
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="-----------------------------1162803038"

-------------------------------1162803038
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

-------------------------------1162803038
Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charset=3DUS-ASCII">
<META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2900.2963" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=3Drole_body style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY:=20=
Arial" bottomMargin=3D7 leftMargin=3D7 topMargin=3D7 rightMargin=3D7><FONT=20=
id=3Drole_document face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>

-------------------------------1162803038--

--part1_456.953280d.3280515e_boundary
Content-Type: message/rfc822
Content-Disposition: inline

Content-Type: message/rfc822
Content-Disposition: inline
Return-Path: <parawood@comcast.net>
Received: from rly-xn01.mx.aol.com (rly-xn01.mail.aol.com [172.20.83.114]) by air-xn01.mail.aol.com (v113.6) with ESMTP id MAILINXN11-628454e9a762e9; Sun, 05 Nov 2006 21:14:17 -0500
Received: from alnrmhc14.comcast.net (alnrmhc14.comcast.net [206.18.177.54]) by rly-xn01.mx.aol.com (v113.6) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXN16-628454e9a762e9; Sun, 05 Nov 2006 21:14:15 -0500
Received: from [127.0.0.1] (c-69-253-146-10.hsd1.nj.comcast.net[69.253.146.10])
by comcast.net (alnrmhc14) with ESMTP
id <20061106021411b1400cssrfe>; Mon, 6 Nov 2006 02:14:12 +0000
Message-ID: <454E9A6E.6020101@comcast.net>
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 21:14:06 -0500
From: Karl <parawood@comcast.net>
X-Accept-Language: en-us, en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Eric Blair <eric.blair@faa.gov>, Anna Caulk <Harleyanna@msn.com>,
Robyn Caulk <byrd76@msn.com>, James Corcoran <corcoran47@msn.com>,
Rick Esposito <cte486@aol.com>, Bob Fisher <StrikeEagle75@aol.com>,
Steve Friedrich <STE_FRI@msn.com>, Karl Geary <parawood@comcast.net>,
Steve Hodsdon <acmedic@comcast.net>,
James Hulsizer <HulsizerJ@comcast.net>, Ron Klien <smokah@aol.com>,
Albert Lacle <KEYALBERT@aol.com>, Stu Maxwell <maxw6s@aol.com>,
Grant Means <Meansg3@aol.com>, Ben Risley <bfrisley@hotmail.com>,
Rick Santoro <rattrap504@aol.com>,
Jerry Schwartz <jschwartz@ransome.com>
Subject: THE LORD AND THE BIKER
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-AOL-IP: 206.18.177.54
X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version)

A biker was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky
opened above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because
you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish"

The biker pulled over and said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can
ride over anytime I want."

The Lord said, "Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous
challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach
the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would take! It
will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it
is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little
more time and think of something that would honor and glorify me."

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "Lord, I
wish that I could understand my wife. I want to know how she feels
inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why
she cries, what she means when she says nothings wrong, and how I can
make a woman truly happy."

The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"

--part1_456.953280d.3280515e_boundary--

--WebTV-Mail-12085-8850--

A biker was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky
opened above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because
you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish"

   The biker pulled over and said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can
ride over anytime I want."

The Lord said, "Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous
challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach
the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would  take! It
will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it
is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little
more time and think of something that would honor and glorify me."

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "Lord, I
wish that I could understand my wife. I want to know how she feels
inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why
she cries, what she means when she says nothings wrong, and how I can
make a woman truly happy."

The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"

Menus are fixed

I got the menus fixed. Now to continue adding new galleries to the system.

Galleries messed up

The gallery menuing is mangled right now. I'll have it fixed soon.

Galleries messed up

The gallery menuing is mangled right now. I'll have it fixed soon.

New pages added

I added some new galleries to the site. I am up to Feb 2003 on the
galleries. I am re-doing all of the galleries in date order so I can be sure
that I got all of the pictures.

I was hacked....

It seems that a new software package that I was running on my server had a security hole and my server was hacked. For about 6 hours our site was replaced by an ebay password stealing site. Now for the funny part. One of the zillion people that were emailed as part of the scam clicked the link (foolish mortal) got our actual website because I had already fixed the issue. It turns out she is a part of the Irvine clan in Scotland. Their crest is an archer. Is that weird or what?

Happy hands

I bought a set of hippohands (www.hippohands.com) for the bike. THese things are great. They install on the handlebars over the controls and basically enclose your hands in a pocket of still air, eliminating the wind chill. This morning I rode to work it was 50 degrees and I had my perforated summer gloves on and my hands were WARM. I can't wait to see how they perform when it is really cold out, but th eidea is that it will be as warm inside these as it would be if you were standing still. At 35 degrees and 55MPH the windchill is 2 degrees. It is hard to keep the fingertips warm at these temps. I might be able to get by with a lighter set of gloves all winter.