Republican National Convention Starts Off With a BANG!

WOW... I am IMPRESSED by the first day of the Republican National Convention! Let me be honest here... I have not historically considered myself a Republican, and certainly not a die-hard Republican... I am a Conservative, though, through and through... and naturally I align myself with the Republican Party in most elections because of their strong conservative tendencies... that being said, if the rest of the RNC continues in the same spirit and with the same strength as what I observed yesterday, I will unashamedly call myself a Proud Republican!

The first speaker that I caught was Senator John McCain... let me tell you what, WHAT AN AMAZING AND INSPIRED SPEAKER!!! I didn't know Sen. McCain before last night, and I admit that I dismissed him during the Primaries... but after seeing him speak last night... WOW... he is the man that the RNC should nominate in 2008! He came across with such strong conviction, such clarity of thought... and so completely POSITIVE and UPLIFTING... amidst a sea of 'negatives', in a world of non-God doctrines and a lack of morals and moral courage, Sen. McCain rose above it all last night and made my heart sing... if it wasn't for all the decorations, the cheering, and the fact that it was a political speech on CNN... I'd swear I was in a Church! Not a Church of one religion, but a Church of all... it was absolutely uplifting and positive!

"America's Mayor", Rudolph Giuliani also spoke... he did an outstanding job! In response to Pres. Bush's leadership after 9/11, Mayor Giuliani said, "At the time, we believed that we would be attacked many more times that day and in the days that followed. Without really thinking, based on just emotion, spontaneous, I grabbed the arm of then-Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and I said to him, 'Bernie, thank God George Bush is our president.' I say it again tonight. I say it again tonight: Thank God that George Bush is our president, and thank God that Dick Cheney, a man with his experience and his knowledge and his strength and his background, is our vice president."

There was a rather humourous moment when Sen. McCain, speaking about the bad press that is given to the decision to go to war with Irag, he said "Our choice wasn't between a benign status quo and the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not our political opponents. And certainly -- and certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker who would have us believe..." and at that moment, the crowd began to cheer him... and the cheers quickly turned to 'boos'... loud, bellous, energetic 'boos'... apparently, Michael Moore was "in the house", as the cameras quickly swung to him... I have to admit that he played it off very well and despite the fact that I hate his ideology and his 'documentaries'... oh yeah, and his 'slobbishness'... he does seem like he is probably a very nice guy... the moment was very funny and you got the distinct impression that he was also enjoying himself... after a while, the 'boos' switched to "4 more years" chants from the crowd...

Now, to be fair... I have to state that I watched the Democratic National Convention a few weeks back... in fact, I had the TV on pretty much 24/7 except when I was at work... even while I slept it was on... and there were some OUTSTANDING speeches given, and some positive ones too... that being said, I walked away from it with the overall observation of hate and enmity.

Not so with the RNC, so far. As I have said, it was AWESOME yesterday! If you want to read a politically and religiously uplifting piece, I highly recommend taking the time to read Sen. McCain's speech. I guarantee you will walk away with a reinvigorated view on life!

For Those Who Wait...

For Those Who Wait...

Written by Karen Ferrell

It's up before dawn and coffee to go.

"Will you be home tonight?" "Well, I don't really know."

It's holding back dinner because he'll be late,

Then, he comes home and tells you he altready ate.

It's gear laid out everywhere, upstairs and down,

And "I'm not really sure when I'll be back in town."

It's missions and ops and "I can't really say."

And, "I think I can call, but I don't know which day."

It's time on the road, when you miss him a lot,

And, it seems like he's gone more than he's not.

It's phone calls at three a.m., it's love and it's hate,

And, it's times when it seems you do nothing but wait.

You forget what he looks like - - you try to recall,

And, you stare at his photograph up on the wall.

It's deployments when months seem to turn into years,

And, it's living with hope and living with fear.

But, it's also the women whose lives are the same;

The ones that you call when you're sick of the game.

You lean on each other when nights seem too long,

And, you're there for each other, and that makes you strong.

It's trips ending early by two days or three,

When he's home, and you didn't expect him to be.

It's letters and postcards from far distant shores,

And, it's hearing the sound of his keys in the door.

It's making it through when the going gets tough,

And, the time that you do have is somehow enough.

It's pride in a life that's not easy to live

That can ask of a man more than many can give.

The price and the love seem to outweigh the doubts,

And, you'd rather live with him than ever without.

For no matter the miles, or the time you're apart,

He is never too far, for he's there in your heart.

My 4 Year Anniversary

This day 4 years ago I moved to San Diego. It's pretty amazing. It doesn't seem like that long.
I love San Diego and I'm glad that I came here.

Soon, it will be my 4 year anniversary at my work. Pretty cool!

The economy votes for Bush!

In respect to the big election this year, quite a few people seem all upset about the state of the economy and are calling for a change of leadership... they are calling to vote out Bush and vote in Kerry despite all of the many lies and horrible voting record that Kerry carries in his basket. However, numbers do not lie. The economy is apparently doing pretty well, overall. Sure, certain aspects are still wanting, such as jobs. However, the economy when taken as a whole is indicated as doing well and growing. There is a group of economists that have developed a presidential election model based on the status of the economy... and their current model indicates that Pres. Bush will win the vote with over 58% of the vote!

Remember, their model is based entirely off of economic factors, mainly the GDP... and another similar model that also combines Presidential Approval ratings predict Pres. Bush still winning with 52% of the vote... a close race, to be sure... but one thing it does show us: the economy, more than anything else, is carrying Pres. Bush in this election... even though his enemies are stating that as one of his primary weaknesses!

Hiking with Dog gets both in shape!

Turns out, hiking with your dog is a good exercise... gee, guess we were on to something when we took Tazzy up Cowles' Mountain last month! :)

John Kerry: "You mean, my name isn't BOB???"

Well, it turns out that Sen. John Kerry FLIP-FLOPS so much that he "accidentally" flip-flopped ON HIS OWN NAME!!! Until just recently his website was touting that he had served as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence... oops, he later found out... that wasn't HIM; turns out it was Sen. BOB Kerry that had held that position! Sen. JOHN Kerry had in fact been a member of the committee but did not hold the seniority required to hold the position of Vice Chairman... gee, I guess if he had ACTUALLY ATTENDED THE MEETINGS, HE WOULD HAVE KNOWN HIS POSITION IN THE PECKING ORDER!

Click HERE for more info.

Heather with black hair

Our First Live WebCam Chat!!!

Well, we finally got both of our webcams working!!! It works "ok"... kind of crappy a little, I think it has a lot to do with the low-quality cams we bought... oh well, they work well enough and it's just kewl to see each other and talk! And seeing Heather and Tazzy playing is really fun too!



For those in the know and who care... Heather's machine is a WinXP box... mine is Mandrake Linux 10.0 Official, running a Creative Labs Video Blaster Webcam GO Plus on an ECS DeskNote i-Buddie A929 via an aDSL connection...

Welcome to Naples, Italy!

Click on the title of this blog to visit the homepage of NSA Naples, Italy.

Clean up your old 1973 Ford...

... and take it out of the garage for more than a spin around the block... you can now drive it to work every day if you like, GUILT-FREE!!! Turns out all the bunk about CO2 emissions and "global warming" now appears to be exactly that: PURE, UNADULTERATED BUNK! I don't know, I'm no scientist... read the article yourself... something to do with new research or blah blah blah...

Google celebrates the Olympics!

I thought this Google-pic was really kewl!

Rio de Janeiro and 'The Christ'

Here's a BEAUTIFUL photo of Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) and 'The Christ'... for those of you that don't know, I lived in Rio for 2 years while I was on my mission... I got the chance to visit the site twice while I lived there... we were too poor to get a cab ride up, so we had to walk up it both times... it was rough, but as you can tell, well worth it! Hope you enjoy!






[EDIT: For clarification, I did not take this photo... some other guy did... ]

Wow... this is so sad and wrong!

[Read the article by clicking on the title of this post, then come back here...]

I think this is just wrong... this guy is watching a DVD while driving, bends down to grab a soda and strays into oncoming traffic thus causing a huge wreck and killing another person... and he is HAPPY because he was acquitted of all charges (murder)... and here's why he was acquitted: No law on the books in Alaska prevents a driver from watching a DVD player while driving! What is this, a MOVIE THEATER??? Honestly, where was his popcorn and nachos???!!!

This brings up a serious point... do we really have to write a law for every possible thing that a person could do wrong just in order to make sure that it is considered 'wrong'??? As if it's not illegal or wrong so long as no one thought to write a law against it??? WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!!!

So this guy kills someone and gets off scott-free??? THAT IS CRAP! His family should find out if he can sue both the Judge *AND* the Jury on that one!!!

...how sad... you can really tell that morality is PLUMMETING in this country when you see stories like this come up...

For clarification, I don't think he should have gotten charged with 'murder'... it was clearly an accident... but definitely he should have gotten charged with 'man slaughter'... well, I should say that he WAS ALSO charged with man slaughter, but was also acquitted for the same reason...

Very very sad...

Your first name is the key to your 'sex appeal'...

According to this research as reported by CNN... the key to your 'sexiness' is based on what type of vowels are present in your name... 'front' vowels are those made with your tongue at the front of your mouth (i.e.: Dan) while 'back' vowels are the opposite: vowels formed with your tongue at the back of your mouth (i.e.: Paul). Now here's the key: Men are perceived as 'sexier' if their names are predominantly made of 'front' vowels, and women are the opposite: 'sexier' if their names are predominantly made of 'back' vowels... you can read more about it by clicking of the title of this post...

So, I guess I must be pretty sexy, after all 'Brandon' has 2 front vowels...

Sorry, Heather, your name is also all front vowels!!! :D

The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands

I just finished reading "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
What an awesome book!!! It goes to back all the basics of how a wife should treat her husband. The basic teaching in this book is that if we show our husbands respect and love and caring then they will give us the same back. I think every wife should read this book no matter how perfect you think your marriage is. It never hurts to make it better. Right?!?
It's a very simple and easy to read book and keeps you wanting to read more through the whole book. I highly suggest it!

A *VERY* Brief History of Sen. Kerry

Before you vote with your heart and possibly make a *HUGE* error that will affect the U.S. and the World for at least a few generations... READ THIS and do your homework... you can see this article along with more information at the website linked with the title of this post...

* * * * *

On January 31, 1971, members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) met in a Detroit hotel to document war crimes that they had participated in or witnessed during their combat tours in Vietnam. During the next three days, more than 100 Vietnam veterans and 16 civilians gave anguished, emotional testimony describing hundreds of atrocities against innocent civilians in South Vietnam, including rape, arson, torture, murder, and the shelling or napalming of entire villages. The witnesses stated that these acts were being committed casually and routinely, under orders, as a matter of policy.

In April, the VVAW stormed Washington in a week-long protest. At the height of it, spokesman John Kerry went before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to accuse the United States military of committing massive numbers of war crimes in Vietnam. The appearance launched Kerry's political career. The charges he made shocked and sickened a nation, changed the course of a war and stained the reputation of the American military for decades.

But the mass murder of civilians was never American policy in Vietnam. War crimes were the exception, not the rule. And the Winter Soldier tribunal itself -- which John Kerry had helped moderate -- turned out to be, in the words of historian Guenter Lewy, "packed with pretenders and liars."

Massachusetts elected John Kerry to the U.S. Senate in 1984. Now he is seeking the most powerful job in the world.

New firepower for Low-Carb Advocates!

New findings seem to indicate that women who focus on High-Carb diets have greater rates of developing breast cancer. Check out the article at CNN.

As most who know me probably know by now, I have been following a fairly Low-Carb diet for some time now... sure, I "cheat" on weekends... and when I'm underway for more than a few days I find the ship's Low-Carb options just aren't there to support me so I have but little choice to eat the mainstream High-Carb, High-Crap diet... but when I'm home for any length of time I generally focus on eating Low-Carb...

Anyways, just found this article very interesting... what I found particularly noteworth is this statement: "Breast cancer rates in the United States are among the highest in the world. Nearly 132 cases are diagnosed for every 100,000 women." It's a bit of an interesting statement because along with the U.S. being "among" the highest rates of Breast Cancer in the world, the U.S. is also the highest consumer of High-Carb diets in the world... not that one is necessarily a direct relation to the other... but I just found the correlation interesting.

On an educational sidenote: It seems that a lot of people get the impression that the Low-Carb diets are "fad" diets... that they encourage unhealthy eating... that they encourage one to eat a lot of low-carb "snack food"... that is a product of improper advertising, and of incorrect education... every Low-Carb diet I've read about advocates as the main staples of a diet the eating of a meat item and a generous helping of vegatables. The Low-Carb "snacks" are exactly that: *SNACKS* to help you put a little variety in your routine. So what's so unhealthy about eating a cut of turkey and a robust salad??? What's so unhealthy about having a piece of salmon with a few sides of vegetables??? That's the prescription... it can be hard to follow day in and day out for those just starting out... the body's want for doughnuts and candy bars is pretty great and very hard to overcome. That is one reason for the "snacks". So before we all go jumping at this article with the idea that Low-Carb equates to Low-Health... think about it for a minute... there is plenty of science that is starting to back up Low-Carb... IGNORE THE COMMERCIALS STATING OTHERWISE (such as the apparent need for a new multi-vitamin for Low-Carbers... what a bunch of BUNK!) Meats, vegetables, and fats have always been considered rich in nutrients... and while most Low-Carbers cut out most fruits, a few are still eaten from time to time just not every day. And you can't convince me that the eating of pastries and breads is essential to getting enough vitamins! Heck, they even have low-carb whole-wheat bread out now which I eat... so really that means a good creative Low-Carber just doesn't eat junk food and pastries, and crap that isn't rich in vitamins... how's that for unhealthy???

P.S.: These are just *MY* rants and raves... YOUR mileage may vary! ;)

BLOG REDESIGNED!!!

As you can see, we have just overhauled and redesigned our webpage... we hope you find it more aesthetically pleasing!

Also, as part of this redesign, we have enabled a new COMMENTS feature... at the end of every post you will notice a link stating how many comments have been made on that post... click on that link and you will be able to read all of the comments... at the bottom of the comments there is a link for you to leave us YOUR COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS ON THAT POST! Feel free to post and give us your input too! :)

UPDATE:We found a 'glitch' in our new page that makes IE browsers display the page funny where the side bar is at the bottom... I will fix that later today!

YEAH!! It finally came....

Today Tazzy and I got a really cool package in the mail that we have been waiting quite a while for from Norm and Dawna (Brandon's parents). It was my birthday gift and a special gift for Tazzy. I got the new Norah Jones cd and a cool bag with all sorts of compartments to put my temple clothes in.
Tazzy got 2 pillows with covers that Dawna made to go in her "room". Also, Dawna made 2 covers to go over Tazzy's "room". They have cute little doggy patches sewn on them. Dawna did an awesome job!!!

Thank you from Tazzy and I!!!

Look at her cute purple flower bed. Doesn't it look comfy?!
This is one of the new covers Dawna made for Tazzy's room. It fits it perfectly.
These are the little doggy patches that are sewn onto the covers.


Tazzy all wrapped up in one of the room covers.