Chris Horry's Journal

( Snip )

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die. —
That strain again; it had a dying fall:
O, it came oer my ear, like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing, and giving odour! Enough! No more.
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
--Twelfth Night, Act I scene 1

I hope everyone who reads this has a great Christmas. Or whatever you celebrate :)

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world [sic] should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." --St. Luke's Gospel Ch.1:7-14.

Isabella started saying "Da-da" constantly this week. Very very cute! She said "Ma-ma" on Friday for the first time on Friday also!

Paid less than $2 for a gallon of gasoline for the first time in (and I looked it up) - 4 years. Now less than $1.80 and speculators are claiming it could fall further. I'm just enjoying it whilst it lasts!

Went to what turned out to be a fall festival kind of affair only with guns. Danny asked us if we wanted to shoot turkeys to help Firefighters. Not real Turkeys he assured us (which is actually something I'd like to do some day, but anyway). The "turkeys" turned out to be paper targets, but we got to shoot real shotguns. I'd forgotten how much fun shooting a shotgun was :) Didn't win anything (naturally the prizes were real frozen turkeys) but came 4th in one of the rounds. Not bad I guess. Also had good food, a bonfire and got to meet some very interesting individuals. All in a good cause, they raised several thousand for fallen Firefighter's families. There are plans to do the same thing in December only for Ham instead of turkey (most Americans eat ham at Christmas) and there's talk they'll set up a rifle competition also which is my preferred firearm to shoot.

News: Obama named Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state (tentatively) - that's great news I was hoping he'd put her in the cabinet somewhere. She would have been completely wasted as a vice president. Some kid in Miami killed himself online which is generating some more unfortunate publicity for Florida. Very sad, apparently the kid had been depressed for some time :( My thoughts are with the family. I feel bad for the site operators who are getting a bunch of grief, I really don't see how they could have helped in this situation.

This story made me sick. Ford's bosses are lobbying congress for $25 Billion in tax payer's money for a bail out plan. They decided to fly to Washington in a private jet! A cost of $20,000, in a $36 Million jet. I'm sure the 51,000 employees that got laid off are happy to hear that. I did some rough working out in my head and the fleet of 8 jets that Ford owns would pay the salary of 100 workers for the next 8 years, assuming they all make about $35,000 a year (which seems reasonable to me for a skilled production line worker). Disgraceful.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
-- Laurence Binyon

Please spare a thought today for the soldiers and their families of countries currently involved in military action. Spare a thought also for the innocent civilians placed in harms way. In spite of all our differences, in the end we are all part of one human family and grieve just as hard for those we have lost. Afghanistan, Algeria, Angolia, Burma, China, Colombia, Congo, Cyprus, France, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Italy, The Ivory Coast, Korea, Laos, Moldova, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Peru, The Phillippines, Russia, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, The United States, The United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen... and any countries I've forgotten.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot,
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason,
Should ever be forgot.


Oh, and congratulations to Barack Obama and Joe Biden :)

There are times when you just step back in amazement and wonder about what's wrong with the world. Nobody in their right mind would let an 8 year old shoot a 9mm gun of any description, let alone an Uzi 9mm which is well documented as having severe recoil. Experienced firearms handlers are nervous about shooting these weapons, let alone allowing a child to do it. An 8 year old has no business being around a firearm of any description. I hope the idiot who allowed this to happen is charged with manslaughter.

( Meme )

Only real news to report this month is that I now have about a 3" scar on the back of my neck due to having a 1" cyst removed. The actual surgery was quite uneventful, after they numbed me I didn't feel a thing. Hurt like hell afterwards and still fairly sore 6 days later. Stitches come out on the 30th, I'm guessing I"ll get my biopsy results around the same time. They're very confident it's nothing serious, just a pimple that got out of hand (!).

Main reason I've not been updating this thing is because I've been working 7 days a week for the last month. Got placed on a strike team for PureDisk alongside my normal duties so that's adding a LOT of work.

Last game to be played at the old Yankee Stadium today. Hope we give it a good send off (a win would be nice). Hopefully the new stadium will bring us better luck next year. It'll take a miracle to see the playoffs now.

Well, I'm now officially in my thirties. Eek! And, stuff. Had a fun weekend, actually spent my birthday spring cleaning and doing yard work (go figure) but we had a party at the house on Sunday for Eric and I since it was his birthday also. His sister knows a professional DJ from New York who came to do the music, he was OK but I'm not really into Hip-Hop. Nice guy though.

We're going to be hit by Tropical Storm (or maybe Hurricane, they can't seem to decide) Fay at some point tomorrow. The people who've lived in Florida for a while are basically considering it a non event and laughing at the idiots panicking and buying as many supplies as they can. Get a grip people! At least I get to work from home tomorrow.