Friday, January 30, 2009

Not All Super-Bowl Commercials are Equal

Some get ignored on the way to political correctness

NBC should realize who is watching

You won't see this during the game, unless NBC changes their mind. Give them a piece of yours. Go ahead and e-mail your favorite NBC official. Don't have a favorite? Then send to this one:

victoria.morgan@nbc.com after watching this ... they've turned it down and will not allow the owners to buy time to show it during the game [or any other time, either].

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Pray all pregnant women will make the same choice.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Friday, January 23, 2009

Monday, January 19, 2009

Soccer Fantacies

I never knew much about soccer

then I went to the
National Soccer Coaches Association
convention in St. Louis

This past weekend I spent 2 - 1/2 days in St. Louis with my soccer coach twin brother. He brought two of the other coaches with him from St. Benedict at Auburndale High School in Cordova, TN [eastern suburb of Memphis].

COACHES: brother Jack - Julie - Andy
[my picture is at top center of blog]

While my brother has been attending these events for many, many, years, this was a first for Julie and Andy.

Some of the highlights included the national draft for both the men's and women's professional soccer leagues. Additionally there were the awards banquets for the high-school and college All-American selections.

We had a good time confusing people who met us for the first time. Of the thousands in attendance, I think half of them knew my brother. While I had many coming up to me and talking to me, thinking they were talking to 'Coach' Jack Schenkel, we managed to keep them laughing at themselves when we presented ourselves together.

And a good time was had by all. I now know a little about a lot of different topics [combinations, 4-4-2, 3-4-2-1 and other formations, backs and forwards and wings and strikers and keepers, set-plays, counters, corner kicks, crossing, support, dribbling, heading, add-time, touches, etc.].

Always good to be home.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Pre-Presidential Election Cartoon

What do you think ... or do you?

Too Harsh?
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Clarification regarding this post:
Material below is from the site JFB and is not my own.
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This cartoon appeared just days before last November's election. It appears here, on the eve of what threatens to be the inauguration of unprecedented human slaughter, as a reminder of the sway evil has over so many Americans-- even those who've received the most precious and salutary of gifts, the Catholic faith.

JFB

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Legacy

does what appears behind the comma after our name matter?

Eulogies

I knew him as Homer. Many called him Dewaine, his middle name. Maybe I didn't know him long enough, or closely enough to merit that familiarity.

We worked together off-and-on for probably 10 of the past 13 years. He was tough and strong - a real mule [yes, besides being strong, mules can be stubborn] and a workhorse. He could work at very physical things and run circles around men half his age. He was a 'steel fist in a thick velvet glove'. He'd do almost anything for someone else in need ... and he'd go toe-to-toe with almost anyone if he disagreed with them.

He died last week end at the young old-age of 69.

During the last 5 or 6 or 7 years he's been battling cancer. They'd beat it out of him in one part of his body, and then a year or so later it would show-up somewhere else. When he was able, he continued to work.

'Retirement age' meant nothing to him - he needed to be productive. When he wasn't working for a paycheck, he was working for free ... always helping others who had less [and many would look at him and his life-style and think he was the one who could have used the help].
He raised his family on very modest means.

He graduated from High School in 1957. At a time when post-high school education was not as common as today, his education served him well. He'd admit that he wasn't the best reader around, but teach him, show him, and once he learned how something was done, he owned that knowledge.

I was blessed to have been in-the-loop with his illnesses. Whenever he was doing poorly, or something else was diagnosed, or when he was hospitalized, or he just needed prayer, he or someone in his family would call me. Sometimes he would come by where I was working and see me personally - and I'd pray for him right then and there. I'd visit him in the hospital and find a noisy room full of family and friends. When it was time for me to depart I would tell him I'd like to pray with him before I left ... and the room would go dead-silent. They'd all bow their heads and honor the time for prayer - and when I was finished, the noise level went right back to where it was before. He kept the nursing staff in stitches with his jokes and funny stories.

At his funeral, I saw many pictures of a younger man with a full head of dark hair and full, long beard; now the hair was gone and the beard was mostly white. His wife, and adult children [2 daughters and a son], and grandchildren [half a dozen or so] were given the opportunity to say something about him if they would like. to The option was to write something - they all wrote something.

The preachers doing the service [one who had recently left that congregation and the other who had recently replaced him] read many of these remembrances. Any of us would love to have been remembered in such wonderful terms ... and there were more than a few references to his ability to have his say when he disagreed.

The words his family and friends wrote about him gave me another whole view of him as a person. I am truly honored to have been considered a friend. May our God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, greet him as he enters their presence and he hears the words, "Well done!"

Oh ... and behind the comma - Homer, Beloved Husband and Father

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

New Years Revolutions

Change something ... for the better

one day at a time

I try to think in terms of being able to make a difference. A lot of it is a matter of attitude ... and gratitude. It is the old story of throwing one star-fish from the beach back into the water ... then another ... then another ... then another ...

Compared to the millions of dehydrated star-fish that die every year, my efforts may seem fruitless ... but it is not. My efforts make a difference to each of those star-fish I pick-up and throw back to the water.


looking forward to the past

22 out of 23 isn't too bad

ring them bells

The Christmas holidays are all but past. I hope they are not soon forgotten.

Our concern for others seems to grow during this season. We can all look around and see someone who is worse off than I. For a short time some of us are able to look beyond our own needs and be willing to share some of what we have to benefit those who have not.

This was the 22nd year (out of the last 23) that I was a Salvation Army Volunteer bell-ringer. I saw a lot of generous people pass by my kettle station - I say generous because they were stopping and depositing money into the kettle.

That was then ... this is now. The needs are still there. More people than normal are out of work. More people than normal are depending on others to help them make it day to day. More people than normal have lost their home and need someplace to stay out of he cold. They still need our help.

Salvation Army isn't the only show in town. Check with your local church or other philanthropic organizations ... ask how you can help. The 12 Days of Christmas still leaves 353 days of need. Get involved - help!

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Sunday, January 4, 2009

new life

fresh camera batteries make the difference

you shoulda seen it before

May I present a few 'after' shots [sorry - I didn't take any 'befores']:




























































T
hank you for your patien
ce. For those of our family and friends who have wandered in at anytime during the past 6-1/2 months, the mess was almost intolerable at times - just ask Rozann. And those who have wandered in anytime in the past few days, you have seen the transformation - the epiphany of our efforts.

In Review: the room is approximately 11' x 22'; the area where the TV and cabinets is now located was an enclosed closet and storage area - all of which was ripped out; the area in the corner of the room where the stacked washer-dryer units set had bad flooring which I had to rip up and repair and replace; drywall was installed all the way around; new exterior door and accompanying storm-door; new door to kitchen area; 6 new windows and accompanying storm-windows; new Pergo laminated flooring; new ceiling; new cabinets at both ends; new stackable washer and dryer; new 37-inch LCD-HD 1080p flat-panel television; 2 new electrical outlets and 1 new TV cable hook-up plug-in; new area rug; new 3-seat couch [both ends of which are recliners]; new 2-seat rocker-recliner with center drink-holders and storage.

All-in-all, not too bad for a week-end do-it-yourselfer - and the best part of all is ... ROZANN likes it and is happy [now that the mess is cleaned-up]!
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Saturday, January 3, 2009

now is the time to speak

consummatum est
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say feenee
[ c'est finis ]
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IT IS FINISHED !

Tomorrow will be a day of rest ... as it should be. A handful of miscellaneous odds and ends - touch-up, clean-up, put-up - and the room is now in use.

ALLELUIA - thanks be to God - Amen!

[batteries dead in camera - hope to correct that tomorrow and then I'll try to post a few pix.]