Just thinking....

I watched the Ken Burns' documentary "The War" recently and I was thinking about the differences and commonalities that with our soldier then and now. For some reason, I focused on the differences in technology. I looked back at the Revolutionary War and how they fought and what they fought with... then the Civil War--men lined up walking INTO oncoming musket and cannon fire, then World War I and World War II. Finally, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars...

All philosophical discussion aside, I think the most effective or should I say devastating advancement has been arial warfare. The technology in airial warfare has been exponential and mind-boggling. From the single-engine biplanes made of wood and canvas to the multi-billion dollar titanium alloy jets that require computers to interpret what the pilot wants to do has encompassed a time frame of less than 100 years. Men stood in lines and took shots at each other on this continent from at least 1700's-1880's. World War I still had some of that mentality as you look at the trenches... one line against another.

Enter the airplane.








Flying these planes today would be considered a daring feat, if not a crazy one. The men that flew these invented air to air combat as it never existed before them. There were no parachutes, no pressurized cabins, no protection from the elements--landing strips were pot hole strewn dirt and gravel lanes.


Then the second World War came around. If you think about it, in regards to technology the planes from WW2 were eons of years beyond the WW1 planes. These planes are my favorites. They are mean looking and powerful... and could still do incredible damage today...

Kerry Turned 40

Kerry turned 40 on Saturday. I am a lucky guy....

It started on Thursday when two of her friends flew in... Andrea from Alaska, and Jessica from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan...

When the girls came out from around the corner of the room, my lovely bride cried in happiness... It was a tough surprise to pull off (as Kerry has a way of upsetting the secrets I plan).

The next day, the girls went up to Jerome for some art shopping, then in the evening they went to Leeann's for a little get together... Ahhhhhh, but the limo/van I ordered came by at 6:30pm and the whole gang went to a local wine and cheese bar on Central Avenue....

Saturday was more shopping, and her parents came down. Her mom, chef extrordonaire, made wonderful meatballs, ham, dips.... yum, yum, yum.... Kerry's birthday cake was from Tammie Coe Cakes. .. WOW!

Friends came over from all over....

What did she get? Well, a new MacBook (black), a Griffin iPod Amplifi, a Dooney & Bourke bag, a bunch of books and maps of France (our next trip), bath salts, and more....

Sunday our friends Jerry and Andrea took us to dinner at Sassi.
Great wine, so so steak, not so good dessert, and wonderful gnocchi.

I'm still tired... but it seemed to go off very well!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KERRY!!!!

Hello 2008

Okay...

The new year snuck in during a rousing game of Scrabble (I won 3 out of 3--which really means something if you know my wife--the genius reading machine known as Kerry).

While sipping mimosas, rearranging letter tiles, and shooting vicious verbal barbs towards our friend Brent, 2007 quietly died, and 2008 rolled over and turned on the light.

What does 2008 hold for the world? Hell, what does it hold for me? Why not be selfish about the future? Maybe it's not selfish, but there is definitely curiosity.

I know what we have planned. There's Kerry's 40th birthday this month... there's the trip to Paris and Markdorf this spring... there's Kerry's trip to Hawaii in the spring and my business trip to Hawaii in early summer...

So, who knows. There are plans, then there is what happens...

Then there are the resolutions...

As always there is "losing weight". The perennial mantra of "getting in shape". I had a physical on the 24th and everything was fine: finger waggle-good, turn and cough-good, EKG-good, fat-yes... and so on. But, I feel like the sand is running out of my lucky hourglass and soon, the diabetes will drop a nasty bomb on my dome of invincibility. My LMT (a spiritual Buddhist kind of chick) says that if I put it out into the universe, then it will happen.

I want to read a lot more and watch less TV. Simple enough, right? We'll see.

I want to break 90 in golf. Why? It's shows that I have actually worked and improved on something as an individual.

I want to find some satisfaction in my work. I'll leave it at that. (Yo, Universe... got that?)

Write more than ever before. (Hear that Universe?)

Finally, I guess, just be happy. I'm a pretty miserable guy most of the time, and well, I think I'd like to be less that and enjoy, accept and like who and what I am...

Six Million Dollar Man

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Patton

Out in the Nether Lands

Ever on, Dan.

I got the news from my sister.  She called me at home.  I was just on the internet the week before looking to find any news about your condition and hopefully news about improvement of your health.  

Maybe there would be a note about a new album coming out, or a brief appearance on satellite radio or television.

I started playing the guitar in high school. While most of my friends were focused on Black Flag, AC/DC, and Zeppelin (mind you, I also listened to this music), I was "discovering" your music.  Your genius with the guitar and composition.

My first Fogelberg album was Phoenix.  Face the Fire grabbed me and I learned to play it.  Through high school and college I had your music within reach to comfort me and my ever changing moods.

My go to album?  Souvenirs.

To me, every song on that album is crafted with perfection.  I still am trying to learn all these tunes.  I doubt I ever will, but it is fun to try.

My sister and I used to listen to The Innocent Age. 

It is something that the two of us can share.  We don't have a lot of stuff that we both really like, but listening to that album was something special for us.

I went to see you at the Celebrity Theater with a buddy of mine.  The Celebrity is such small venue, and watching you work the guitar was incredible.

I made lots of mix tapes, and inevitably, your tunes made it into every one of them.  I had your music as the soundtrack of my life all through college in my now ancient Walkman. During college I had three artists that molded my thoughts and moods: Dan Fogelberg, Jimmy Buffett, and James Taylor.  After college, your music was there too.  I even wrote you a fan letter once.

Greetings from the West is fantastic.  

I took the liner notes and taped them up to the shelves above my desk.  I was working as an assistant buyer.  I stared at a green DOS OS screen all day.  I could look up and see the liner notes and the album cover, and I could travel in my mind to the prairies and mountains of Colorado.

 

You came to Sun City and performed acoustically. You had just gotten married and you mentioned that your new wedding ring kept hitting the neck of your guitar.  The girls in the audience all "awwwwed" that you were married, and the men laughed that your ring clicked on the neck as you played.  I took my mom to that show, and it was the last concert that she and I went to together.  She passed away this year. It's a memory I'll cherish forever.

 

The entire buying office was laid off after another store bought ours.  So, there I was, unemployed and depressed.  What did I do?  I drove to Colorado to visit one of my best friends, Tom.  I hooked up my boom box to a couple of bookshelf speakers.  I placed the speakers on the floor boards of my little Ford Ranger.  I had a great sound system that played nothing but your tunes--especially Greetings from the West . I drove non-stop to Colorado, and after a week or so there, a camping trip in the Rockies, a little giardia I drove home non-stop.

Well, now you're gone.  The music you left behind will be  the only memories we will have, and what memories they are.

Dear 2007

Dear 2007,

You have been quite a year, and one that I will be happy to see go.  Why the animosity?  Simple, you took away too many of my family and friends.  I know it wasn't you, but it was under your watch.  You are a year, for the most part, that I want to forget.

You started in January.  My wife's grandfather passed away, then a friend of mine lost her unborn child.  February was when my mom passed away, followed in a week by the father of my childhood best friend and my Great Aunt.  

The next couple of months were pretty good.  You tossed me a bone or two with the trip to the Redwoods and the trip to the Bahamas, but then when I thought that things were going pretty good, Murphy (our 11 year old lab) got sick and we had to put her to sleep.

My weight increased, my depression increased, the house started to fall apart (foundation cracks), but the frustration and anxiety was alleviated  by the addition of Roxy (a 5 year old rescue lab). She was just what we needed. She's a little yellow lab that lives for snuggling.

I went to New Jersey for a training class, and I was told that I was the only one that failed it.  This after winning the top sales award with my company (my second) and after 15 years of successful sales.  Bottom line: I was judged by a training manager who was just hired and did not complete the class herself, and a manager who hates my manager. Could I have done better?  Sure...

I have been able to play golf A LOT more than I EVER have in MY LIFE.  That has been one of the best things about you're tenure.  

So, here it is. You're reign is nearly over and a couple more things have happened that hit me emotionally.  An old friend from my early work days died suddenly on the 16th. She was 8 days short of her 42nd birthday.  She left behind her husband, and two children (an 11 year old boy and an 8 year old girl).  Also on the 16th Dan Fogelberg passed away-a man whose music has influenced my life since the age of 14.  

Now it's the 20th of December.  I hesitate to write this as you have 11 more days to cause misery and mischief, but I'll take my chances.

Do me a favor.  Go away.

Art Collectors?

Well, it seems we have become art collectors. Over the last couple of years we have been purchasing original art from local artists.  Example, the painting of David Bowie by Clay Elliot. It 's called "Something in the Air Tonight" .  We found his art at (of all places) Pita Jungle.

Another artist we found and liked very much is Don Smiley. He has an abstract style and suffered a stroke  a few years ago.

Kerry found Phillip Grainger's art in Cave Creek.  She bought the painting to the right... "James Lone Elk".... Vibrant colors...

Our current favorite is Mark Hemleben.  

His is a Plein-air artist from Jerome.  We purchased "Old Dusty" last weekend (my birthday weekend).  His work is below...

Today we bought a piece by Judy Darbyshire. It's a Bull Terrier... very fun.

Whose to know what's next? Sculpture, carving...

Mid-Life Crisis

Sure.  I admit it.  I am more than likely in a mid-life crisis.  I just turned 43. I am overweight, slow, bald, and well... just like most of the men my age.

When I was 16/17 one of my best friends, Walker had a Jeep Golden Eagle. It was the coolest thing!  I don't remember him having a top for it.  If he did, he never used it.  He welded the speakers to the roll bar. On the hood was a stylized decal of an eagle.  Very nice.

During the summer, we would pile in it and go camping.  Rush or Springsteen would be blaring out of the speakers. Without the top, I can remember one trip that was severely frigid (even in the summer).  We had socks on our hands and the heater all the way up.

So- now I long for my youth again.  And I can remember as far back as those times that I wanted a Jeep.  I have a massive pickup now--a beauty of a thing--but we only use it for trips to the storage unit or Home Depot.  It could probably go anywhere, as long as it was in a straight line.

What I want now, and since a motorcycle and flying lessons have been vetoed by my wife (see picture below), is a Jeep.  A newer, lifted, mean looking, great turning radius, youth inducing Jeep.  I ain't picky.

Will it happen?  Who knows.  I'm betting not.

Mrs.

Thank You

New Olympic Sport

I've been traveling for business with the same company for almost 15 years.

During that time I thought that this might make a fine Olympic event. Travelatholon.



First, there's the parking place competition. Find a space as close as you can to the entrance/elevator. Watch your time! You don't want to be late for your flight. By the time you find a really close space, you could have parked farther away and walked in. Take notice of the cars that are the closest to the doors: Mercedes, BMWs, Hummers, and other high end makes.



The next event on the list is the security line shuffle. Not too difficult, but essential to get to next event. As you shuffle, you have to mentally prepare and visualize all the items that you must take out for inspection. That's where it gets tense. It's a timed event. You must pick the best line (if allowed), shuffle sideways, pull out all potentially dangerous items like computers, 3oz. liquids, phones, jackets, shoes, belts, coins, etc. Remember, there are others behind you who are trying to get as close to you as possible--you can feel their evil thoughts as they curse the amount of stuff you're passing through the x-ray machine. Points are taken off if you set off the metal detector. Once you get through the check point, you still have to gather up all your possessions, replace them in your carefully packed bags, and put your shoes and clothes back on. If you forget an item, you're disqualified.



After getting it all together, make your way to the gate. Check the overhead monitors because your departure gate may have been changed. Going to the wrong gate adds precious minutes to your time. You have to avoid other passengers, electric carts, credit card kiosks (get more frequent flier miles so you can go through all of this for free!).

Always check in online and don't check bags...you'll never be in medal contention if you do!

Once you get to your gate, you must stake out a strategically advantageous space where you can hear the gate agent announce the pre-boarding message; your cue to stand in line, even if you're group is the last one to board. It is imperative to get on the plane early. It's not so you can sit in those ultra-comfy seats, it's so you can claim the very limited and rare overhead bin space.



The competition is only about a quarter completed. Once you land, you have to get your stuff, get into the aisle and find your way to the rental car area, taxi stand, shuttles... whatever. Don't forget the return portion of the trip.

Kurt

Self Deprecation or irony

I love golf... but I suck at it. Shot 117 today, 106 yesterday...110, 109, 107... you get the picture.

I love to write...but not to read (and I'm not good at either).

I'm sarcastic about fat and ugly people...yet I am one.

I need to exercise, but I'm too lazy and my endurance sucks.

I hate Phoenix, yet I moved back here and won't leave.

Favorite Things: GUITARS.1

This 12 string above is my other.... (not this one exactly)
Fender Santa Maria 12-string

this one on the bottom here, is mine...

4ourth of July

It's Independence Day. The only human contact I've had today is on the phone. My father-in-law called me to check in and I called my dad. The rest of the day was filled with working on a business plan for an upcoming, and hopefully rewarding, training class.

I swam a few laps in the pool before dinner. For dinner, I had a frozen lasagna dinner (something like a Weight Watchers meal) and a salad. I'm drinking a 2003 Freemark Abbey Syrah. Nice.

On the tube, is Star Trek: Emterprise.

It's me and the dogs... happy 4ourth of July....