Thunder Snow...

I have an enormous work load in school right now.

So I apologize for being too busy to stop by and visit with you guys.


It's late and I am just going to have to shut my computer down and go on to bed.

But I felt that I needed to "touch base" with you guys first.


Yesterday was a beautiful day...

75 degrees, sunshine, not too much wind.


Well today...

The temperature has been falling all day and hasn't stopped yet. It's currently 27 degrees (-3 c for my metric friends), high winds, and 1/2 of a foot of snow is expected to be on the ground by morning.

A cold front has slammed us with bitter cold Arctic air.

About an hour or so ago there was thunder and lightning, which was followed by sleet. It is still sleeting right now.

I've experienced "thunder snow" one time before, about 11 or 12 years ago. It's really weird to have thunder and lightning accompanied with frozen precipitation.

Around here thunder and lightning are usually associated with springtime storms.


I really, really don't like cold weather. The forecast says that we won't be above freezing until Friday afternoon. If we get a large amount of snow, it's possible that we won't get above the 32 degree mark until Saturday.

**brrrr**

I want to be back to our average November temperatures of the mid and upper 50's!

But I guess that I will have to concede to the fact that December is just a day or so away.

And with that comes the cold, gray days of winter.


I'm praying that all of you guys are safe and warm.


As for myself...


I'm praying for some warm sunshine!


;+ )


later...

We're Back in Oklahoma...

We're back home now.

Tired...

But safe and sound.


We had a great Thanksgiving.

And I was able to get a lot of studying completed too.




Carrie and Parker helped Nana and Pa with the chores.

I did a little bit, but for the most part...

I was working on my schoolwork.


I had access to the internet, but it is dial-up and moves really...

really...

slow.



However, I did do a little browsing and...

I was so ecstatic about my "Black Friday Sales" at my ~online store~...

That I was able to find some time to take just a few photographs while we were there in the Hill Country of Texas.

*wink*

I pray that all of you had a great Thanksgiving...

And I hope that you were able to spend time with your family and friends.




later...

Happy Thanksgiving...

We made it to Nana and Pa's last night.

And it seems that all is well in the Hill Country of Texas.

Plus, the weather is absolutely perfect!

The Boer goat nannies are kidding right now, and the pasture is filling up with newborn kid goats.

They are really cute!


I pray that everyone has a great Thanksgiving.


later...

Today's Mailbag...

I have just finished reading a chapter in my textbook.

It's late, and I need to get to bed...

But I am just about to burst with my news, and I can't go to bed without sharing it first.


Several weeks ago I had received a letter from the university asking for a resume`. It seems that I had been nominated for an ~award~, along with many other students, and a resume` was needed for the final selection process.


So I sent them a resume`.


Today...

I received a letter in the mail from Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.


The letter states in part:

Oklahoma City University has nominated 151 students to be included in the 2007 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. It is my great pleasure to let you know that you are part of this elite group.

I'm really surprised by this...

And honored at the same time.


In fact, it's quite humbling.


To be on a nationally recognized list with all of those young college students.


Maybe when I listed my classification as a senior I should have put...

"pre-senior citizen" instead.


It could be that I just submitted the longest resume` they've ever seen.


What university professor on earth can turn down pages upon pages of typed text?


All of my professors love 20+ page papers...

With three pages full of typed references.


But it's too late now for anyone to change their minds because of my...

*ahem* age.

At least I think it is.


They can't take the award back...

Can they?

later...

Operation Wii...

I started the car, turned on the headlights, and backed out of the driveway. It wasn't long before Carrie and Parker's excited and nervous chatter began to overtake the hum of the tires on the cold hard pavement.

"It's so dark tonight", I thought to myself. "There must not be a moon."

There were a few details of "The Plan" that I went over once again with the kids. But they weren't really listening to me. At least to me it didn't seem like they were.

My mind went back to my own thoughts. It felt so bitter cold. The temperature guage for the engine moved up a notch, so I turned the heater fan on full blast.

I pulled in to the parking lot about 1130 p.m. It looked like an eery light-filled island that had been oddly placed in the darkness.

"Right mom, there's nobody here", Parker said with that superior condescending male tone that he tends to get. Even at 14 he's beginning to exhibit the typical behavior of a male who feels accomplished. Accomplished at what, I don't really know. He's still a kid. But this trait seems to be genetically implanted in all of the males in my family.

Parker didn't quite believe me that he really needed to be there before midnight.

Was my Re-con Report (which was already 20 minutes old) from Calais 'bad information'?

We pull up a little closer and can see a few figures sitting on the ground, huddled against the wall and next to each other.

The kids get out of the car. Armed with blankets, bottled water, and my cell phone, they were ready to set out on their mission - The Midnight Seige of Target.

I watch them walk towards the line that had begun to form.

"What am I thinking? How can I leave them out here like this - alone?"

I took a long circle around, taking the opportunity to eyeball the faces that were stationed out there. A man came out of an RV and exchanged places with another who was in line.

"That was smart."

Watch television in relatively warm comfort while you're waiting for your next turn at holding a spot in the line. Oh how I wish I had an RV right about now.

I felt fairly good about my assessment of the crowd. They were quiet and bundled up; some in chairs and others on the cement.

I drove back home with the heater still blasting hot air at me.

"They have the cell phone. If they want to come home they'll call", I reassured myself.


I decided to lay down on my bed and nap with my clothes on. I did not want to spend any time getting dressed if the telephone rang.

I dozed off, but I didn't sleep. The phone rang and I glanced at the clock. It's just after 6.

"Mom?"

"Yes."

"Could you bring us some food?"


I should have known that it would be the stomach of a teenaged boy that would break the pre-dawn silence.

I got up and put on my jacket.

"Geez... It's cold out here!"

I go through the all night window at McDonald's, and actually had to wait in line.


The kids were so glad to see me that they almost broke ranks. They both started to head for the car when they realized that one had to stay behind.

Relief was in Carrie's eyes. The excitement was over, the thrill gone. She was cold, hungry, and tired.

However, Parker was still wired.

He had worked and saved, and saved and worked for this memorable day in history.

Parker has been following the release of the Wii since last year.

He knew how many Wii's each store was going to get. and the day they were going to release them to the public. And that is all I've heard about for weeks now.

And he had missed the pre-order event, which was a devastating blow for him.

He was not going to let this 1 in 24 chance get away from him.


At 7:03, a Target employee came out and passed out cups of hot chocolate. And then there was a round of donuts.



Finally, there was the security guard and the employee who had the tickets.


The store opened at 8 a.m., and everyone was ushered in, single-file to the electronics section of the store.

I kept my silence during this solemn event, fearing that I would break the intense concentration that crossed Parker's face.

I knew that in the back of Parker's mind there was a very real fear that he was not going to leave the store's property with a Wii.



After this whole night long ordeal, my biggest fear was that he was going to be short on cash at the register.

I wasn't there because he needed me physically, or even emotionally. I was there for "back-up funding".

Parker got his Wii, controllers, and one game. The cashier said, "$390.11".


Parker counted out the money that had taken him months to save.


My eyes counted with him in silence.


I left Target this morning with a can of coffee (I was almost out at the house)...

Oh yeah, and one more item...

And also with the happiest boy in the world this morning.

Parker even has a few dollars left over.


By the way...

Carrie says that she will never, ever do something like this again.

"Well", she says, "maybe not *never*."

later...

Hi T.J. This is Billye... A Voice from Your Past...

I was home from work this evening quite a bit later than usual.

I sure did talk to a lot of people this evening on the telephone.


I was talking on my cell phone on my way home...

And then there was a beep in.

I talked some more on the phone...

And got back with the first caller.


I ate my dinner (a sandwich) while I was talking on the telephone.

I hung up.

The phone rang again...

And I talked some more.


I was off of the telephone...

And then Parker told me that I had a message on the recorder.

I returned that phone call...

And the cell phone rang again.


I finished that phone call and five minutes later...

Then the house phone rang, again.


I don't know if I have accurately kept count of the telephone calls...


But either way, all the phone calls ended up being ~right with the world~.



Whew...



The one phone message that I returned was different than all the others though.


It really was a "voice from my past".


Billye is the grandmother of one of the children that I "helped raise".


I hadn't spoken with anyone in that family for several years...

Probably about six or seven years.


She said that they, her and her daughter, had been thinking about me lately...

And they were wondering how I was doing.


*wow*


Her grandson is doing really well she said. She's very proud of him for what he has overcome, as well as what he has accomplished.

He's 19 years old now...

The last time I saw him he was ten.


It was a really nice conversation...

And it made me *very happy*.



My brother sends me quite a few forwarded e-mails.

This one had a very unusual video attached to it.


While I cannot verify the text, the source, or the validity of the e-mail's claims...

(Believe me, I tried!)

I still have enjoyed the little two minute video.

It makes me smile.


I found that it is posted on YouTube...

That amazing and crazy video website.


While I can't share everything about my telephone conversations with you guys tonight...

Hopefully, I can still share the smile.

later...



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

**UPDATE**

Leave it to a blogger to uncover the mystery of the video!

Iowa Greyhound has discovered that the e-mail is a hoax.

But not only that, he discovered where the video orginated from.

Good Job!

Go here and you will find that this video, and others, are available on DVD and VHS.

I think I might buy a DVD as a Christmas present for my little nephew.

I like it so much surely he would too!


Here's what the text of the e-mail said:

This is almost unbelievable!

This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between The Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa . Amazingly, 97% of the machines components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of
Bancroft Iowa , yes farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment,calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it was WELL worth the effort.

It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

Glenn Beck's Special Report is on YouTube...

I found Glenn Beck's CNN special report, Exposed: The Extremist Agenda on YouTube.




"Americans must realize the danger..." ~ Nonie Darwish, Mideast Expert


"Political Correctness is a disease... political correctness is killing us..." ~ Brigitte Gabriel

Meet Secret Squirrel...

A fellow oklahoma blogger visited me and had some very nice things to say...

About me.


*wow*



She has introduced me to her blogging friends...

And so I thought that I would introduce her to you guys!


Go visit Secret Squirrel and tell her "hi".


Once again, Squirrel, thank you for your kind comments.


later...

Please Watch Tonight...

**UPDATE**

I've located the special on YouTube:





Tonight Glenn Beck's special, Exposed: The Extremist's Agenda, will air on CNN's Headline News.

I have talked about this subject many times...

Given you definitions (see sidebar)...

Tried to explain that we face a very real danger.


Something that most of us find hard to even imagine.


While we live in a "global society"...

Americans are very sheltered from the realities that are found in other parts of the world.


I have complained incessantly about the MSM (mainstream media) and their propensity to mold the American's political point of views...

As well as how they view themselves, their family, their community, and their country.


Now, it seems that there is a champion who has broken through the glass ceiling...

Glenn Beck will be able to air the truth tonight.


I do not have cable television, but I know that many of you do.


Please watch the program.


later...

It Just Looks Funny...

There's a few folks out there having birthdays.

Great celebrations...

People recognizing their day.


Fun stuff.


Well...

My birthday is still a ways off.


But I was typing this evening. (I do tons of that you know.)


And when I was typing I wrote the number ~49~ down.

I mean I typed the number ~49~.


And I thought to myself...

That number just looks funny to me.


Kind of like...

That number just ain't right.


Now 48 1/2, or 48.5, looks a lot better.

And is a reasonable looking number in and of itself.


But I don't think 49 is at all..


later...

How About a Coffee Mug...

I have had a busy day today...

And I got a lot of things accomplished.


My schoolwork for the week is completed!

For the first time in months I will be able to "take a day" off from schoolwork tomorrow.

*smile*


My professor was also ~gracious~ today.

I had gotten a question wrong on my test and I felt that the way the question was asked...

That my answer was right.


I e-mailed my professor and asked her about it.

Gave her my reasoning and a page number in the text.

The text that she wrote.


She e-mailed me back early this evening and said that she would give me the question.

*hooray*

So I also have a perfect grade now on my test.


I have made a few sales on my online store too.

This makes me **insanely** happy.


This afternoon I worked on some new designs to add to my store's collection.



And I have added them to t-shirts, BBQ aprons, postage stamps, coffee mugs, and a bunch of other stuff too.

It has been a very fruitful day today.


I'm thankful for the bounty.


later...

What Do You Think...

I was at the university this afternoon signing up for the next semester's classes.

*whew*

It will be a quite a work load for me too.


And I have a question to pose to you.


There is a great possibility that I could graduate with two degrees, a BS as well as a BA.

It would require about 18 additional hours of school to accomplish this.


If it were you...

Would you go ahead and get the extra bachelor's degree?

In the long run, would it even be beneficial to have the two degrees?


There are some ~folks~ that I will need to talk to about this next Monday.


In the meantime, tell me what you guys think.


later...

Always Remember...

This is the last post of my series that chronicles our day in New York City.

Times Square and Grand Central Station...

The Empire State Building...

The American Museum of Natural History...

New York City Streets...

The Statue of Liberty...

We were only able to spend one day there.

We spent a total of 15 hours seeing the sites, which included our train ride into NYC and the ride back to Mount Kisco which is where we were staying.




Of all the things that were on my list to see...

Probably the most emotional one was to go to where the World Trade Center's twin towers once stood.


When I was asking the kids about our "Top Three" list of things to see...

I was surprised, and yet so glad, when Carrie said that she wanted to go to "Ground Zero".


The picture was taken on October 27th, and it shows the progress that has been made up to that date in the construction of the memorial for the site.


I remember the day of September 11th so vividly...

And the kids do as well.


They were greatly affected by the events of that day.

A sudden loss in their sense of security had stripped away some of their childhood innocence.


I remember wanting to lock myself and the kids inside of our house...

Wishing that I could create a wall of protection between ourselves and the outside world.





Tomorrow is an election day.

A time to exercise one of our freedoms.

A freedom that so many of us take for granted.





I want to encourage all Americans to go to the polls tomorrow and vote.


I want you to try and imagine what it would be like if you did not have this constitutional right.


I want you to think what this country might be like without it.


What if the United States of America was not a 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people'?


And when you find yourself complaining...

Unhappy...

Or are otherwise disillusioned with what you may feel are 'political ills'...


I would like for you to remember...


To always remember...


That thousands of people gave up a whole lot more than the little bit of time and effort that it takes to go to the polls...

Just so that we would continue to have a constitution that guarantees us freedom and the right to vote.

"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." ~ Abraham Lincoln

later...

Times Square and Grand Central Station...

One of our stops in New York City was Times Square.

It is an amazingly busy place!



And the lights of the electronic billboards are so bright!

We knew that we were getting close to it long before we even got there.


It was like a glowing and pulsating organism...

Similar to something that you might see in an old sci-fi movie.


*smile*


Even McDonald's was there competing with the darkness with its own brilliant wattage.

When I saw the familiar "golden arches" I laughed to myself and thought...


"Only in America."





The animated billboards were the most intriguing of them all.




New York City is a complex combination of the old and the new.

Modernism and antiquity rolled into one.


I think that it is a very unique blend...

With an unusual but intriguing harmony.



Grand Central Station is...

well...

*Grand*.


There's no other way to describe it.


I had similar feelings as Sicilian when she said,

TJ. . . I could not believe Grand Central Station. . . I felt like a little bug in a big world. . . it was so Grand. . .

I could not believe how beautiful Grand Central Station was.

I tried to absorb all of the details that I could...


Consciously trying to imprint the memory of this place forever into my mind.




It all but took my breath away.


To walk in those great halls gave one a sense of being a part of something larger than life.


Being an American means that we are a part of something that is larger than life.


But I suppose that sometimes...

We just need to be reminded of it.


later...

The Empire State Building...

There are a lot of things to see in New York City after dark.

But the things that I wanted to see were only open during business hours.


And as you know...

We had "closed" the The American Museum of Natural History at 5 p.m.



Before we had left Pattie had given us a hot tip.

She had told us that the Empire State Building stayed open late.



What better time to stand on top of the world...



And view a legendary city than at night?



A storm was moving in and it was beginning to rain.



The clouds provided a dark blanket...

Which dampened the glare of the city lights.



Allowing for the alien visitor a magnificent view of millions of lights...



As well as the ability to appreciate each brilliant orb for its individual beauty.


later...

The American Museum of Natural History...

We had very little time to spend in New York City. Which meant we couldn't see everything that there is to see there.


And there's a *lot* of stuff to see and do!


One of the things that I wanted to do was to go to the world famous museum in New York City, the American Museum of Natural History.

I could only imagine how big this place could be...

And the amount of time that it would take to see it all.


So my goal was to at least see the dinosaur exhibit.


A lot of time was spent in visiting the Statue of Liberty...

And we were running out of time.


We caught the subway that would take us to the museum and got off at the ~correct~ station.

*whew*

When we got out of the train and headed for the steps, I thought that we were going to come out on the street.

And then walk to the museum.

But to my surprise, the entry at the top of the steps lead us straight into the museum!


Is that cool or what?


We had arrived at the museum an hour before it closed.

Well, actually...

We got there an hour and two minutes before it was due to close at 5 pm.


The lady at the ticket counter said, "If you'll wait a minute, as soon as I leave my station you can go in at no charge."


What the heck?!


It wasn't very long before she had gathered her receipts and belongings, had stepped through her little swinging door and left.

The security guard gave us a little nod...

And off we went!


That building is huge!


We made it up the elevator to the fourth floor...

Where all the dinosaurs live.


Well, actually...


Where all the dinosaur *remains* are kept.


*smile*


And it took us about an hour to see the entire exhibit.


It was time to leave and we kind of meandered our way out of the building.


While we were "leaving" the building, I got to thinking...

If I lived in NYC...

I would make it a point to always come an hour before closing.


That way you could savor the exhibits...

One by one.


For free!!





It is a great place.

We're truly blessed to have gotten to visit there.


later...

New York City Streets...

One of the things that we really enjoyed while we were in New York City was people watching.

The street vendors and performers were of great interest to us.


It seems weird to me that there are people who support themselves by performing on the streets and in the subways of New York City. We even saw a mime in the subway!


I'm quite proud of this photo that I took with my little 'point and shoot' camera.


I was able to catch this guy, who was actually part of an acrobatic team, in mid-air as he somersaulted over the backs of his "volunteers".

Can you believe that?

I can only imagine the pounding that their bodies take landing on concrete and asphalt day after day.


~Ahhh... The days of youth...~


New York City was like being in an entirely different country to us.


So different...

And odd in an interesting way.


It was quite the adventure for us!


later...