Peakah's Provocations...

It's safe to say that Hall of Fame Inductee Andre Reed isn't a Livin' on a Prayer.

In a feature piece published Tuesday by New York Magazine, Reed offered a strong opinion on the rock star who is part of a Toronto-based group that also includes Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum. 

"Man, f--- Bon Jovi!” Reed said. "You might as well just take this city, throw it in the river, and let it go down Niagara Falls."

When it comes to defending Buffalo, Andre says- I'll be there for you

As far as the Toronto Based group goes, should they wind up buying the Buffalo Bills and move them to Toronto, Bon Jovi better watch his back because he'll be Wanted Dead or Alive.  Bon Jovi responded- "It's my life, it's now or never, I ain't gonna live forever!"

Man do I get excited when College Basketball Season rolls around.  This is my alma mater's final year in the Big East and soon we'll be official card carrying members of the ACC.  While it took some time to absorb- the news broke while I was with the exemplary author of "God, Country, Boeheim" at USC for the Syracuse at USC football game in September of 2011-  I have now come to terms and am really looking forward to the new rivalries that Duke and UNC will bring to the campus on The Hill.

One thing is bothering me however, will the fan base at the Dome be able to Get Up for these games? Will the inherent hatred naturally incubated in the heart of each Orange fan when the Hoyas come to town be able to translate when the Tar Heels bounce balls on Jim Boeheim Court?  While I'm sure Coach K and Jimmy B have cultivated a wonderful relationship while coaching the Olympic team together, will the Orange fan have the heart to scream their brains out a'la the Cameron Crazies when the Blue Devils come to town?

While it may have been some time since I've been to a game (1996 in fact) I can't imagine the fan base has changed that much.  Yeah, we clap in unison until the Orange drops their first field goal.  Neato.  Whoopie.  Then it's usually quiet enough to work some calculus proofs.  That is until the last few minutes of a close game where most of the noise is directed at the Refs- Cue the Tim Higgins photo.

We are now in the midst of the "Branding Age", where branding your product is the most important marketing aspect to all that we do.  Do the Orange fans have a Brand?




We need to take advantage of our record setting attendance in such a way that ACC teams will be subliminally thinking about the intensity of the crowd that surrounds them 30,000+ strong.  The crowd in a basketball game can be one of the best advantages a team has, unless of course said crowd is sitting on its hands.

Speaking of hands-

Hand signs.

I say we steal the O hand sign of the Dopey Ducks of Oregon because Orange comes before Oregon in the dictionary giving us the rights to it if we so choose to steal it.  Displaying 30,000+ pairs of hands underneath the architectural O created by the roof of the Dome, could quite possibly have some psychological effect.  If turning a particular beer's label out toward a field goal kicker creates some parallel universe's draw, then imagine the draw of the O.  As the commercial touts, "It's only weird if it doesn't work".  To have the draw from parallel fields of energy harnessed in a proud O held over the head by two hands doesn't do the trick, well...  it's probably Higgins' fault.  Have you seen the dark cloud that follows that guy?

In order to propel the powers of the parallel universe, we also need a chant that the entire Dome can yell in unison to adopt the Drone like hum of the Cameron crazies while the O is strategically placed over one's head.  Why don't we all yell "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" while throwing up our CNY gang sign?  The reverberation off of the bottom of the Dome would be amazing.  As C.liesen remarked: "It could the the Drone of the Zone"
...with the reverb of the Dome.

Damn I'm smooth...

Is this not a bit more marketable than the rhythmic clap that only lasts until our first FG falls?  We all know that we have the power of energizing our team to victory if we only make it visible and audible!

And should we get blown out, we can all do what the Great Jimmy B does,  sit slumped over and clean out our right nostril.

Or we could just blame it on the refs.

Something tells me that this year's team will not be experiencing any blowouts.

LETS GO ORANGE!!

I began this blog 8 years ago (almost to the day) after I had performed an early vote in the Bush vs Kerry election in Albuquerque, NM.  I felt it was important to post to the internet my feelings regarding politics if not to persuade friends and family, then to at least hone my debating skills and get a better grasp on the political issues of the day.  I even named it Peakah's Provocations because of the provocative nature political discussions are bound to embroil themselves.

While I have not been the faithful blog poster the last several years due to no longer working from home, not to mention the ease of posting to Facebook, there is no way I can keep myself from stealing some time to express my feelings regarding this election.  I have friends and family who have communicated their interest in who I was voting for any why, not to mention having this nagging desire to express myself to those who intend to vote for Obama again.

I can understand how a neatly packaged marketing campaign and 8 years GWB was able to sweep a Marxist professor with an unknown background into office over a Vietnam war veteran.  Check that, I don't understand it, however four years ago saw record numbers of first time voters making their way to the polls to vote for the charismatic one with the belief that they were going to change the world.  I guess in a sense, they have...

Let us look at a few issues (of many) that, had a Republican president been the perpetrator, the mainstream media, as well as, the liberal cartel would have been screaming at the top of their lungs that our president is a dictator.  Interestingly enough, liberals have been remarkably quiet.  Here are only three of many issues.

The NDAA-  The National Defense Authorization Act.  How liberals aren't losing their minds over this Act as they did when Bush enacted the Patriot Act, has me bewildered.  This bill was signed as most people were getting hammered this past New Years Eve.  As the ball in NYC was getting ready to drop, the ink from lefty's hand was dropping a signature making this Act law.  We've recently seen this Act enforced on an Iraq War Veteran who dared to say disparaging things about our dear leader on Facebook.  Using the authority signed in this act, this veteran was dragged out of his house and put in a mental ward "for evaluation".  Did you catch that?  Because of FACEBOOK POSTS!  Why is there NO outcry from those who were tearing their hair out during the previous administration when they were claiming that GWB was a dictator?  Peace-out First Amendment.

Next we have the myth of Transparency and Open Government.  When Obama took office he vowed the most Transparent administration in history.  Inherently this is laughable when you do only an ounce of your own research into our president's own background.  It is almost all sealed!  You cannot see his actual birth certificate, only a long form re-creation.  You are not allowed to see any of his college applications, his grades, his papers, or ANYTHING from his college years.  Nor are you allowed to see his passport.  Trump called him  out on this earlier this week with his Five Million Dollar challenge.  Open up your background, receive a check for $5 million to give to any charity of your choice.  Seems like a no-brainer, unless there is something you're trying to hide.

Finally and most recently, the Benghazi disaster.  This has been especially disconcerting.  Obviously there is a lot more to this story than what has been made public.  It's finally coming out that we were supplying arms to the rebels around the middle east to overthrow their regimes.  We were doing it at a rate to make the Iran Contra scandal look like child's play.

This isn't what's eating at me about the Benghazi issue.  The middle east has always been a big Risk game between America and Russia.  Geopolitical positioning is nothing new.  What's making me crazy is how ignorant this administration assumes we the American people are when they come out and initially tell us in press conferences that the uprising is due to some obscure YouTube video defaming Muhammad.  Who the hell do they think they are kidding?  Ok, I can understand that there was some reasoning behind not going in and saving the Ambassador if there was fear over ambush issues, however WHY DO YOU LIE TO OUR FACE when asked about it?  Not just once, but OVER AND OVER AND OVER.  The icing on the cake and the true face of this administration is how they handled the meeting they had when meeting with the loved ones of the fallen.  Navy Seal Tyrone Woods defied orders to stand down to go help his fellow American, Ambassador Chris Smith.  Hear from the father of the fallen Navy Seal in his own words.  Absolutely Chilling.  Very telling of this administration's assumption regarding the average American's intelligence level.  If you are not offended, you get the administration you deserve.

Former presidents have been impeached for less than this.  What we have here is a criminal situation.  If no one goes to jail for Benghazi-gate, that will tell me all I need to know regarding the criminality of this administration.  Before going off half-cocked about the Bush administration's corruption, where you'll find no argument with me, are you going to let that justify more corruption?  Please think of these things before pulling the lever again for this president.

How will we know anything will change if Romney wins?  Can it honestly be worse than it is now?  If things don't change, I'll be the first in line to vote against him in four years.  I haven't even mentioned the insanity of Government run Healthcare, Supreme Court nominees, the ballooning deficit, nor the monitization of our debt by the Federal Reserve that will surely devalue our currency to Weimar Republic levels.  Just can't wait to take that wheelbarrow full of dollars to the store to buy a loaf of bread.  There are over a thousand reasons to not vote for this president.  The founding precepts of this great nation have been maliciously transformed and our founding fathers are rolling in their graves.  They knew a time like this would come and wrote extensively about it to warn us.  Opaque layers of dust seem to have completely obscured their words.

The re-election of Barack Obama simply paves the way for an even more charismatic leader to follow in his footsteps and finish us off as a republic if he doesn't do it himself in his second term, a'la the Weimar Republic.  We as a nation cannot afford this.  Otherwise, this commercial below will prove to be prophetic.  Please think before voting for another term for this president.  Our future truly depends on it.

I can understand that perhaps you may be voting for Obama purely for social issues.  Remember this, there are no social issues that matter if our country's future is jeopardized by suicidal fiscal policy and careless foreign policy.  If we're converted to a third world nation, social issues will no longer be dictated by us any longer...

Is there any doubt that WWIII is on the horizon?

We have another Neville Chamberlain holding office as the President of the United States in Barack Hussein Obama, however the appeasement isn't with a particular state, but with an entire religion in itself.

It's not that crazy anymore to notice that we're setting up another Holy War akin to the Crusades as we witness Islam's attempt at World Domination. This isn't my opinion, this is the self proclaimed aim of Islam itself. It only requires some intellectual honesty on the reader's part to understand it.

Our Middle East embassies burn; a direct result of our current administration's "hands off" policy of "protecting" our interests in the Middle East.  This has nothing to do with some obscure "film" regarding Islam produced by some nutty preacher, as the media has proudly proclaimed.  Rather this is a result of our President "spiking the football" regarding his assassination of Osama Bin Laden.  Radical factions of Islam are grabbing hold of power all over the ancient peninsula.  What else would the chant "Obama, Obama, we're all Osama!" mean??

Meanwhile the REAL "SuperPower" of the Economic Earth- China, contemplates taking down a Japan.  How does this scenario not read as a lead up to WWIII?



The only GOOD news I've been able to find regarding the Middle East was the story of the protester who died inhaling the smoke of a smoldering American Flag during an Anti-US rally led by Pakistani psychos.

We are setting up for the final dominos to fall my friends...  The outcome of this election on November 6th will be a clarion call regarding the future of our fragile political state.  Our Founding Fathers warned us of this.  Will we heed their warning?

Or is the onset of WWIII inevitable?  Please let me know what you think...

(There are so many other scenarios that play into this issue, please feel free to acknowledge and link those to this post)

What happens when you decide to freely express your opinion in a crowd of so called liberals?
(This is at a Barrett rally hosted by former President Bill Clinton in Milwaukee, WI on Friday June 1st)



When they realize they can't shut you down, in true fascist fashion, they get you arrested-


I became aware of this story through Chicks on the Right blog.

The story can also be seen at The Examiner.

If the insane screaming of "THROW HIM IN JAIL" by these unionized sheeple don't scare the crap out of you, you aren't paying attention.  So much for "liberalism" eh?

This Veteran has identified himself as David Willoughby and has released this statement as found on Chicks on the Right site-

My name is Dave Willoughby. I am the one in the video. Individual liberties are worth fighting for. Don’t sit idle. Share this story with everyone you know in America.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/06/01/Pro-Walker-Marine-Arrested-At-Dem-Rally

Without being told what I had done, I was handcuffed and escorted off premise. Placed in a squad car and taken to a police station. I asked if I should have my rights read to me and was told “You’re not being arrested.” My personal property was taken from me, I was fingerprinted, mug shot taken and locked in a dark jail cell (lights off) still handcuffed.

I sat in that jail cell, looking out of a meshed wire window, at a large American flag flying in the background. Where am I? How can this be happening? What did I do wrong? I prayed for strength.
When I swore the oath to protect and defend the Constitution, I never realized until recently, how vulnerable our precious freedoms actually are.

I did nothing wrong. There were literally hundreds of cameras at this event. I challenge all media to find one shred of evidence, which would support the actions of the Milwaukee PD officers.

Does Mayor Barrett approve?

Dave Willoughby
Milwaukee, WI

The Recall Election for Governor of Wisconsin is today and if these thugs get their way and throw WI back into debt, back into losing jobs, and back into a higher unemployment rate, we can expect the US to soon go the way of Greece.

Interestingly FOX News anchor Shepard Schmuck err Smith was lamenting the fact that Walker has pulled in so much contribution money from outside Wisconsin, and that this is inherently unfair.

Also inherently unfair and not noted by FOX News (that I have noticed anyway) is the claim that unions are busing people in from outside Wisconsin to vote for Barrett.  Not that this is anything new.

David Willoughby needs our support!

Defend his right to free speech just has he has defended yours through his service in the Marines.

GO SCOTT WALKER!!

I finally watched the movie "Courageous" for the first time this evening.  Honestly, I was pretty skeptical.  First of all, I'm not much of a movie guy.  A movie's writing better be good or I'm out.  Also, I found out that this was the same outfit that produced "Fireproof"; it wound up getting turned off about 30 minutes into the movie because the acting and writing was pretty nauseating.  (Sorry Mr. Cameron, I loved ya in Growing Pains tho)  To be fair, you need to be in the right mood for that type of dogmatism, for it takes a particular frame of mind to deal with.

Tonight, the stars were aligned and I was saying to myself as I cuddled up on the couch between my two favorite girls on this planet and my boys littered over the remaining living room furniture- Bring the Dogmatism On Baby!  I was not disappointed.  There is a soft spot in my heart for unapologetic movies that unashamedly proclaim our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the Son of God.  This was one of those, and tonight, I was looking forward to it.



This is the fourth movie produced by Sherwood Pictures, a Baptist ministry out of Albany, GA.  Considering their most recent release, they are improving by leaps and bounds.  This movie had all 7 of us simultaneously tearing up and laughing all together.  I had my 9 year old daughter hugging on my left side as my beautiful wife clutched my right hand.  That alone made the movie AWESOME.

There are many places you can read about the storyline of the movie but there was one particular aspect that really hit me where it was designed to, where it was meant to leave a mark-

"The Resolution" really hit home with me.

"The Resolution" was written by the main character "Adam" (who is also the producer- Alex Kendrick) when he has one of the worst tragedies that can befall a man.  I'll try not to spoil anything if you are reading this but have yet to see the film, but in the face of our biggest fears, when our deepest nightmares come true, we get a unvarnished glimpse directly into our own souls- particularly our shortcomings.  The glimmering veneer we place over aspects of our lives so that the reflection comes back the way we want to see them is completely stripped away and what we are left with is a psychologically nude snapshot of ourselves.  We realize exactly what we could have done better- what we may have missed out on.

There are many ways to handle a shock to one's system when these tragedies occur.  We can retreat into the dark recesses of drugs and alcohol, we can retreat into the hermit's life of isolation and depression, among many other horrible outcomes we tend to choose for ourselves.  Adam's choice in the movie was to draw up The Resolution.

In a moment of clarity, he tells his close friends about the resolution he is drawing up and they decide they're going to join him in his fight to better himself by bettering themselves along side him.  There's always strength in numbers.  To the point where they decide that this resolution is important enough to create a ceremony commemorating the signing of this resolution, this vow to not wait until the next tragedy strikes to decide to improve themselves.  They're going to begin today, and they're going to include those that they love the most.

The moment that scene ended, I knew I was going to do this as well.  I want to reproduce that scene in my own home.


I will create this document myself, hold a family meeting where we as a family will discuss the contents of this document, have a formal signing ceremony, and proudly place this on a wall in our home for all to see.  This I am going to do because it is the right thing to do and I am a proud Father of 5 incredible children and the husband of an amazing Angel from Heaven that deserves nothing less.

I want this to serve as a reminder for those times when I am at a loss or at wits end, of what is most important.  I also want to share it with those who I love and with those who may need a reminder that as a Father (and especially a Mother) we are tasked with one of the greatest responsibilities that can be granted us in this lifetime- the care, nurturing, loving, and the teaching of our children.

If you are a Father of children and you desire to Stand Up and say "I WILL", send me a message, an email, or a phone call to let me know.  There is power in numbers.  This is a message that needs to be spread, shared, and a fellowship will develop.  Where there is accountability, there is action.

Here is the final scene of the movie (and if you haven't seen it yet, watch the movie first!) and I couldn't have said it better myself:


If you have a facebook profile, like The Resolution For Fathers page.  I created it as I was writing this blog post.  It would be nice to create a community where this message can be disseminated through the country and through the world.  Who knows what this may lead to!?

Oh, and if you haven't seen "Courageous" yet, watch it as soon as you can, especially if you're a Father.

One of my best bloggin buddies is a Philadelphia detective and all around shoot from the hip with his opinion kind of guy. I love this about him and the fact that he's a Guinness pounding, ice-hockey playing, Irish toughguy makes him all the more loveable in my eyes. The world (especially Philly) can use a lot more men like him.

Like most bloggers, (including myself- when I'm not killing myself to secure a living for my own family of 7) Shawn has dreamed of becoming published. Through a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (and I mean that literally) he has achieved the dream of getting published even if it meant self-publishing. Self-publishing means self-promoting.

After reading the first two chapters on Amazon, I'm hooked. Much like the show "The First 48" on A&E, (which I'm addicted to) a good book has the First Two Chapters that will greatly increase the likelihood of one's reading of the entire book. In fact, the book reads as its own episode of "The First 48" in the beginning.  The first two chapters can be read here. I anxiously wait for the book to arrive to take the remainder of the ride through a Philadelphia murder investigation.

Thank You Shawn for putting in the time and effort to produce this, you've given aspiring writers like me hope that it can be done!

I am a DIEHARD Syracuse Basketball fan. I grew up "down the street" from Hall of Fame basketball coach Jim Boeheim in Lyons, NY. I ride the tumultuous wave that is Syracuse Basketball each and every March as they play Tournament ball since the days Pearl Washington was electrifying the Dome.

So this season we have Antonio "Scoop" Jardine and Kris Joseph leading the team as Seniors as they make this season's push. Scoop decided to show some senior leadership in the second round vs Kansas St as he nailed the 3 and served up some delicious dishes for Christmas under the basket all second half long. It was a thing of beauty.

It is only because I haven't been conned into video taping my reaction to Syracuse losing Scoop after this season that you don't see my tear streaked face in the following video, but believe me, this could have just as easily been my 37 year old face on YouTube (minus the 50,000 hits):



Why do I bring this up?

Because when the reaction to a silly video like this is to have Scoop get in touch with the kid's mom to give this kid a birthday present, I remember why I love being a Syracuse fan all over again. (Despite all the negative press that has been circulating lately)

Syracuse.com reports:

After defeating Kansas State in the NCAA Tournament, the Syracuse basketball team is headed to the Sweet 16. That means fans of Antonio "Scoop" Jardine will get to see the Philadelphia native play at least one more game in an Orange jersey.

One of Scoop's biggest fans is Shane Oliver of Mattydale, who turned 4 years old on Saturday. The little guy became slightly famous on the Internet this month as more than 50,000 people have watched the video of him crying on YouTube when he found out that this is the last season at SU for Jardine, a fifth-year graduate student.

The Syracuse point guard saw the video himself and reached out to the boy's mother, Audrey Barone, on Twitter and arranged to meet him. Scoop met with Shane on Sunday after the team returned from Pittsburgh and gave the boy a birthday gift.

"I just met that Lil boy that was crying about me graduating and leaving Syracuse. #happybdayshane," Jardine tweeted afterwards.

So despite the fact that I will be on an airplane from Dallas to Vegas as they tip off in Boston vs Wisconsin in round of Sweet 16- I will be screaming jumping up and down and pulling clumps of hair out of my head assuming the plane's wifi connection allows me to stream what I can; I will be rooting for Scoooooop to continue to lead this team all the way to the promised land of their last (and first) Championship- New Orleans.

I will also be dodging the tazer leads of any Federal air marshals who determine that I am too zealous of a fan. So assuming I land alive and get to the nearest DVR that I have programmed to record the game, I will be screaming SCOOOOOOOP a little harder now.


Go Orange.

After a sweet day of hiking with my kids around the beautiful Big Lake, AZ area- this song played on my way back home while my worn out kiddos were napping in the back of the Excursion. The song remained on my mind the rest of the evening and I just felt like posting it here for Sunday morning.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

This morning I turned 37 years old. I got up and hit the path to Fool Hollow Lake and absorbed the cool mountain air and light rain to start my day. I donned a sweatshirt to maintain a normal body temp of 37 degrees. (That would be in Celsius)

My body felt 37 years old during the walk but thankfully there was a Pandora app on my phone to get my blood pumping. The "Zac Brown Band Channel" was the perfect prescription for the shin splints.

So there seems to be something different about today. Something different about 37. After my walk I arrived at a very quiet home. The kids were off to school and my wife still relaxing in the bedroom. I decided to grab my pliers, retractable razor, and tie wire and turned over my sofa and tightened up the sagging springs to firm up the seats. Then I turned over my loveseat with dual recliners and repacked one of the sagging foam seats with some eggshell foam that has been gathering dust in my pile of camping equipment.

37 is the first irregular prime number and my behavior was irregular indeed.

Ok, so now my inner Cliff Clavin now beginning to yap in my ear.

Immediately my inner voice is in a slightly buzzed higher pitched New England accent.

--Did you know that the Green Monstah in Fenway Pahk is 37 feet tall?

-There are 37 bars in the digits of a digital watch.

-Spam was invented by George A. Hormel in 1937.

-Abraham Lincoln was elected to the House of Representatives at the age of 37.

-The only American President to resign from office was President #37. ("I am not a crook")

-The reign of Caligula (Emporer Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) began in A.D. 37.

-There are 37 genes in the mitochondrial genome.

-The number of the beast is 666. (37 x 18)

-All American Express cards begin with the number 37.

-There are 37 points in a the "perfect" bridge hand.

-If a fertile man and woman have sex every day for a month, there is a 37% chance of pregnancy.

-37% of pregnancies resulting from in-vitro fertilization are multiple.

-Tiger Woods had a string of 37 consecutive holes without a bogey at the 1997 Masters. (This should not have anything to do with the pregnancy stats above.)

-The record for most men's basketball victories in a season is 37.

-When NY Yankees pitcher David Wells pitched a perfect game against Minnesota, he had retired 37 consecutive batters.

-The 37th Pillsbury Bake-Off was won by contestant #37.

...really!

I've got a meeting in Las Vegas, NV on Tuesday morning. This presents the perfect opportunity to explore northern Arizona on the motorcycle (using I-40 as little as possible). Weather permitting, I plan on cruising through the Arizona hills taking pictures and adding them to the map below. Should be exciting! I sure hope my heiny can handle the 10 hour cruise!


View Scenic Route- Show Low, AZ to Las Vegas, NV in a larger map

Can you tell I'm looking forward to it?

I remember coming home from swimming practice in high school and eating an entire 1 lb box of spaghetti covered in my mom's amazing meat sauce and then going out to do some mountain biking along Bailey's hill only to come home later and eat an entire box of ritz crackers topped with two cans of cheese whiz. On A Daily Basis! I was a whopping 2% body fat and barely cracking the century mark in lbs at 16.

20 years later I'm 36 and by only walking by the deli in the supermarket, I'll net a 4 lb gain. (Damn you samples!!) I now weigh over twice what I did at 16! Granted I'm not swimming 3000 yards and going on mountain bike excursions through the woods in the dark on a daily basis, but my how things change. The extent of my physical activity currently consists of manhandling a computer mouse and holding my big fat head up with my other arm on the desk, or expertly working a remote control. Ok, don't get the wrong idea; I'm not a behemoth or anything, but I do have that prototypical spare tire around the midsection and some gelatinous new life form existing under my chin. My wife and I have decided it's time to go on a diet... for real this time.

We've done diets before. Shoot, my store associates and I won a Biggest Loser competition that was held town-wide. I really didn't do a whole lot except eat less and move more and I dropped approximately 25 lbs in 3 months. However, that was a few years ago. I've discovered that the more time that goes by the harder dieting is at an exponential rate.

Well I'm one week in to a new diet hating the crap out of it. However I have lost a few lbs so I'm not giving up. I think I'm just in a psychological transition period from enjoying a carefree (lazy) 'eat whatever' mindset to a more disciplined approach. I've gone on the hCG Diet which includes drops to curb the attack of the appetite and a 500 calorie a day diet that truthfully has gotten pretty boring considering I cannot eat poultry. I am allergic to bird. It's a fat juicy ribeye for me on Thanksgiving day.

The hardest part is giving up the anticipation of the preparation. Let me explain. All week long I look forward to Saturday afternoon and Sunday as a day where we are all together as a family and the cooking showcase begins. It involves all 5 senses- The sounds of sizzling bacon, the wafting smells of lasagna in the oven, the giddy glee that goes into firing up a grill, the sight of seared meat over a fire, touching all the textures that make up various parts of the meal, and finally the Taste! Then there's the rewarding relaxation mode of everyone lying around and watching America's Funniest Home Videos and belly laughing with each other.

Ok, I'm sounding a bit apocalyptic by suggesting that these things are no longer going to occur while dieting. But the anticipation of the preparation has definitely disappeared. I can no longer eat those things I've been looking forward to all week! This Sunday's meal is "Apple Day" on the diet for crying out loud! What sick individual thought of this? How's that lasagna kids? Off the deep end I go.

So I'm trying to put things in perspective. Yeah, it'll be great to lose weight and I want to support my wife by doing the diet with her- I'm going to stick it out. We'll feel better as we continue, particularly when that gelatinous form under my chin goes back to whatever sick realm it emerged.

I'm going to look back upon this post and think, "OMG, what a crybaby!" and I'm ok with that. Writing this out has allowed me to expel that angst that is probably keeping the lbs holding on to my midsection in the first place.

So, let the revealing begin- (btw I'm 5' 11" tall)

April 29th 2010 I weighed in at 215.0 lbs.

Today is May 8th and I weighed in at 210.6 lbs

I'm going to stick with this diet for a few more weeks just to spite myself and prove that I do still have that same discipline that got me through the swim practices and mountain biking rides when I was 16... it's just so sad that we all can't eat like we did when we were that age!

Broke my wrist a few weeks ago (throttle wrist even) and can't ride my new bike in this gorgeous weather. Here's a video I made a few months back going from Phoenix to Show Low, AZ. HURRY UP AND HEAL WRIST!

(Guest Article by Timothy Elliot)

Over nine months ago President Obama ceremoniously declared that his new bill, the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act was a “major step forward in America’s commitment to families and caregivers who tend to our wounded warriors every day.” But every day, including the January 31st deadline for the program to be implemented, those wounded warriors and their caregivers have been left high and dry on their own. Instead the Department of Veterans Affairs has been struggling to handle the extremely complex, bureaucratic program.

The Department of Veterans Affairs demanded new benefits and funding for veterans because of the increasing number of disabled veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The program is supposed to help caregivers of wounded veterans provide support, particularly because of the influx of victims of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The program was meant to benefit soldiers with PTSD especially, as it has recently lead to an average of 950 veteran suicides a month. Because traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, both of which are among the most common afflictions ailing soldiers and veterans of the current wars, are difficult to diagnosis and treat the VA was hoping for a bill that effectively allowed caregivers to request benefits on behalf of their injured spouses or relatives to provide support for soldiers and veterans who were not receiving care. However, officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs have complained about the extremely bureaucratic nature of the bill, saying that it’s made it overly difficult to establish who qualifies for the new benefits.

One of the problems with the bill is that it is unclear whether it applies only to veterans of the two current wars or to all veterans, as the Department of Veteran Affairs had lobbied for. The VA wanted the bill to apply to all veterans because of the increasing numbers of veterans with mesothelioma. LikeTBI and PTSD, mesothelioma can be extremely difficult to diagnosis because the symptoms of mesothelioma are similar to other, less serious disease. Mesothelioma symptoms, including trouble breathing and a fluid build-up in the chest are diagnosed in nearly 1,000 veterans a year, and goes undiagnosed in many more. The VA fought hard for the bill to apply for veterans with it because although the mesothelioma life expectancy is only a year or two after diagnosis, the steadily increasing number of diagnoses is making it difficult for the VA to handle under current regulations. Unfortunately it’s still unclear whether the bill will apply to these veterans as well.

Three weeks after the deadline he set for his bill and nine months after his premature celebration Obama has yet to take a single step forward in his commitment to our wounded warriors and caregivers who tend to them. It’s time to demand that he move forward with action, instead of just with useless rhetoric.

--Timothy Elliot

Story Here!

Activist Post: Martial Law, Economic Meltdown, and Executive Orders

With the Federal Reserve actually suggesting that inflation might be the cure to the weak economy, massive unemployment numbers and a crashing dollar, one has to stop and ponder. The chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, was a child prodigy, scored a near perfect SAT score, focused his studies around the Great Depression and is a statistical genius. So why is he so willing to abuse the Dollar and essentially sign the death warrant for America?

Read on, this article hits it on the bullseye...

And all through the town

Tempers were flaring

Emotions all up and down!

I, in my bathrobe

With a cat in my lap

Had cut off the TV

Tired of political crap.

When all of a sudden

There arose such a noise

I peered out of my window

Saw Obama and his boys

They had come for my wallet

They wanted my pay

To give to the others

Who had not worked a day!

He snatched up my money

And quick as a wink

Jumped back on his bandwagon

As I gagged from the stink

He then rallied his henchmen

Who were pulling his cart

I could tell they were out

To tear my country apart!

' On Fannie, on Freddie,

On Biden and Ayers!

On Acorn, On Pelosi'

He screamed at the pairs!

They took off for his cause

And as he flew out of sight

I heard him laugh at the nation

Who wouldn't stand up and fight!

So I leave you to think

On this one final note-

IF YOU DONT WANT SOCIALISM

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!

Link to video source here:
http://www.foxnewsinsider.com/2010/07/02/stossel-special-whats-great-about-america-2/

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
-John Stuart Mill

Gov. Brewer: 'Mr. President, Secretary Napolitano - Do Your Job!'