Gobble Gobble

I know, I haven't posted in a while, and I know everybody and their pet hampster is posting about Turkey day. I'm sharing pictures, so quit whining. ;)

Thanksgiving checklist:

x Go kayaking
x Return wet, cold, unhappy child to grandma on the beach
x Paddle back out in rough seas
x Drink several quarts of seawater while in the front seat of boat (see above)
x Contemplate not paddling in the front seat again
x Catch air paddling over swells
x Surf large (6' face?) waves on the return trip
x Capsize Kayak while surfing over reef
x Practice Perform hasty reentry
x Attempt not to freak out as Kayak grounds on reef (in rough seas)
x Paddle back to shore
x Capsize boat 6' from shore to repay SuperMom for her phenomenal skills in "Known underwater hazards avoidance." >:-)
xx Eat massive turkey
x Watch "Finding Nemo" (Goldfish daddy!!!!!!)
xxx Eat pumpkin cheesecake
x Turkey Coma

Party like a Rock Star

Enjoy your weekend!

Oregon Donor

I've been meaning to post this one for a while. I came across this while walking down the street in Kailua-Kona this summer on vacation. I ride occasionally, although I haven't in quite a while. It sums it up for a lot of people though, especially since Hawaii has no helmet law...

I had several things to say...

But forgot them all by the time I got home. D'oh!!

What are you people looking for here?

Here's a rundown on my October stats. They're fun to look at sometimes.

The most popular search strings for my website(s):

Top 20 of 39 Total Search Strings
#	Hits		Search String
1	3	6.67%	turtle mail
2	2	4.44%	build turtle pond
3	2	4.44%	rebturtle.com
4	2	4.44%	so-
5	2	4.44%	vizsla breeder in alpine CA
6	1	2.22%	My Computer Turtle buy
7	1	2.22%	Turtle torture device
8	1	2.22%	above ground pond turtles
9	1	2.22%	above ground turtle pond
10	1	2.22%	above ground turtle ponds
11	1	2.22%	baby vizsla
12	1	2.22%	computer detox
13	1	2.22%	device backs of turtle
14	1	2.22%	how to set up a turtle pond
15	1	2.22%	http://rebturtle.com/
16	1	2.22%	hungarian pointer puppies san diego
17	1	2.22%	loghead turtles
18	1	2.22%	mid evil partisan
19	1	2.22%	midevil torture devices
20	1	2.22%	midevil toture

And my international following:

Top 30 of 36 Total Countries
#	Hits		Files		KBytes		Country
1	9623	61.29%	3740	48.67%	104221	47.87%	US Commercial
2	2837	18.07%	1645	21.41%	41859	19.23%	Unresolved/Unknown
3	2638	16.80%	1932	25.14%	56981	26.17%	Network
4	78	0.50%	42	0.55%	754	0.35%	Canada
5	69	0.44%	38	0.49%	2721	1.25%	US Military
6	63	0.40%	45	0.59%	1797	0.83%	Non-Profit Organization
7	42	0.27%	42	0.55%	1991	0.91%	Indonesia
8	35	0.22%	35	0.46%	1276	0.59%	Belgium
9	34	0.22%	22	0.29%	671	0.31%	Netherlands
10	33	0.21%	21	0.27%	685	0.31%	Italy
11	25	0.16%	10	0.13%	70	0.03%	Ukraine
12	23	0.15%	22	0.29%	966	0.44%	US Educational
13	23	0.15%	23	0.30%	494	0.23%	Brazil
14	22	0.14%	18	0.23%	1027	0.47%	Germany
15	18	0.11%	5	0.07%	119	0.05%	Czech Republic
16	16	0.10%	8	0.10%	73	0.03%	Seychelles
17	15	0.10%	15	0.20%	358	0.16%	Portugal
18	14	0.09%	14	0.18%	278	0.13%	Malaysia
19	14	0.09%	10	0.13%	224	0.10%	United Kingdom
20	10	0.06%	3	0.04%	37	0.02%	China
21	10	0.06%	6	0.08%	52	0.02%	Russian Federation
22	9	0.06%	9	0.12%	93	0.04%	New Zealand (Aotearoa)
23	8	0.05%	8	0.10%	89	0.04%	Australia
24	8	0.05%	8	0.10%	179	0.08%	United States
25	7	0.04%	6	0.08%	133	0.06%	Denmark
26	6	0.04%	6	0.08%	371	0.17%	Japan
27	4	0.03%	4	0.05%	65	0.03%	Estonia
28	4	0.03%	3	0.04%	26	0.01%	India
29	3	0.02%	0	0.00%	1	0.00%	Hungary
30	2	0.01%	1	0.01%	37	0.02%	Moldova

I bet I can make Hungary jump 20 places this month by typing this:

Magyar Vizsla

Four Score and biometric monitoring

My daughter was born and lives only 30 miles or so from where Abraham Lincoln was born almost 200 years ago. It seems every state that the man stepped foot in attempts to take some credit for his greatness, but the fact is that he was born in a small cabin in rural central Kentucky to two uneducated farmers.
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Today was an interesting day. Due to our location here in the Pacific Ocean, I was able to watch the complete election and still get to bed by 10:00, so this morning was the same for me as most. I tried not to talk politics at work too much, since others had voted differently on several things and it was not worth interjecting into our day that I "won" on practically every thing/person I voted for.

I was surprised at how some McCain supporters took the news though. Today I saw an American flag flying upside down. It made me almost physically ill. Had I not been at work, I think I might have knocked on their door and told them how incredibly disrespectful and unpatriotic they actually were, after asking what the emergency was.

In other parts of the country, it was certainly much worse. Today I called my daughter (10) in Kentucky to see how she was doing after bruising her wrist yesterday. She grumbled a little, but was otherwise OK. Suddenly I get;

"So you got what you wanted, didn't you?"

"You mean Obama? Yeah, I guess so."

She then asked If I had seen Obama's speech, stating that she liked it -especially that Sasha and Malia would be, "getting that puppy."

Then came the concerns again. Actually it was less concerns than anger. My 10 year-old daughter indignant that kids had been bringing their parents' hate and idiocy to school.

"Like now that Obama's president all the white people are going to have tracking devices implanted in them."

It's considered impolite to scream, "WTF?!!!" into your daughter's ear over the phone, so I refrained. That's certainly is what was resonating in my head though. How do people get duped into such ridiculous obvious steaming piles of bulls**t?

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

145 years after those words, and 232 years after Thomas Jefferson first penned, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness," rural Kentuckians are still prone to ignorance, racism, bigotry, and stupidity. But there is evidence that from the depths of dumbness greatness can emerge. It will be a long, uphill fight, but there is still hope for my daughter.



*As an aside, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln, all well respected American icons. All Atheists, or at the very least, admittedly not Christian.

"My earlier views at the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them."

[Abraham Lincoln, letter to Judge J.S. Wakefield, after the death of Willie Lincoln]

"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies."

[Benjamin Franklin, in _Toward The Mystery_]

"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."

[Thomas Jefferson]

Woodland Turtles, part II

On day 5 we left the Smokey Mountains and drove North until we hit the Tennessee/Virginia/Kentucky border. Our next stop was Wilderness Campground in Virginia, within the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. The park was first-come-first-choose, and we had arrived on Thursday. It was practically empty. We took out time cruising the park and inspecting most of the sites, weighing the pros and cons of each, before finally choosing one out of the way and near the bathroom, with a nice level area for the tent. After a quick trip to Middlesboro, KY to do some laundry, we checked out the visitor's center and Pinnacle Overlook, where you can see Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee at the same time. We were greeted that night by a faulty water heater at the bathroom closest to us, resulting in a hike to the next one for well-deserved hot showers. It rained lightly most of the night, but our tent managed to keep us dry.

Day 6 we awoke to a cold, cloudy morning. We did our best to warm up and then headed out hiking again. I was nervous about the wet conditions and temperamental weather, but everything went well. We hit Gap Cave, which was a very short hike to a very small, but historical cave. Back at the campground, we struck out to Skylight cave, which was large and much more fascinating.

--Mental note: Hand powered flashlights are great for finding your keys in the dark or lighting the path to a restroom at midnight during a half-moon. They're crap for caving. I made it back about 150 feet before the struggle to overcome irrational paranoia was too much and I decided to head back. I might as well have been carrying a Bic lighter. Next time I will not forget my Mag Lite. Guaranteed.--

Next was lunch, and then a problem: We had used half the day and all of the short trails. On top of that, Twerp was getting bored with hiking. I couldn't blame her, and wasn't about to push our luck. We packed up and took off on what ended up being a great drive way too far. We were headed to Martin's Station at the Wilderness Road State Park. Unfortunately, the website doesn't give the best pictures or description, so the first time we drove up, decided it wasn't the right place, and kept going.

That turned out to be an interesting twist of fate. As we cruised down the highway with no real schedule, my 10 year old daughter started asking me about politics. Not just simple questions, but real, inquisitive, intelligent, questions and concerns not just about politics in general, but the way people around her had been reacting to it. She knew there was something less than genius about adults saying things like, "If Obama wins, the white people are gonna be in trouble," etc. (and for the record it sounds like her mom had been pretty fair and was not contributing to the ridiculous comments, either). I did my very best to give her my most objective views on politics, race, the campaign process, primaries, the electoral college, and both of the presidential candidates. It was harder than I thought it would be not to interject more of my opinion, but I think I came across fairly balanced. The number one point that I did try to drive home, was that for the rest of her life I wanted her to question everything. I want her to be a thinker, not a follower, and that every big decision in live should be truly hers. She should feel confident that she has investigated an argument from every angle before committing to a side, and that the majority isn't always right. The most encouraging part was that it appeared she was already mostly there. It was in her, emblazoned in her DNA, and she was merely seeking validation that it was okay to feel differently from everyone else. That she wasn't crazy.

I don't think I've ever been more proud of her than right then (and she consistently brings home straight A's). We were cruising down the road, partially lost, and I was answering her questions about politics and philosophy. And all I could think was, "Keep asking questions - forever."

So eventually we found Martin's Station. It's very small. Being the history buff I am, I thought it was very interesting and engaging. After about 40 minutes, you've seen it all though. That left us with plenty of daylight. So I gave her another chance to blow me away with her maturity. We found a nice wide dead-end back road, and I let her drive the $31,000+ full sized truck. You know, blow off the rental agency, my insurance company, and surely several state laws among other things for a father-daughter bonding session. This was not a new event though. We have had several sit-on-my-lap-and-steer-while-I-drive sessions over the years, and this summer I had her shift my truck while we drove Now if you head to the California desert and you'll see kids driving dune buggies, 4 wheelers, motorcycles, and anything else off-road. There are few limits in off-road driving or boating, and even no minimum age for pilot training (16 for the actual license though), so I shouldn't be so surprised that she did such a great job and was fairly capable. I wouldn't turn her loose anywhere with traffic, pedestrians, parked cars, or witnesses though. ;) We practiced starting, stopping, accelerating to 25 MPH, gentle turns, and backing onto a driveway. All-in-all it was fun for us both and there were no flashing lights or damage to wayward yard gnomes.

Day 7 marked the end of camping, and we reluctantly packed everything and headed back to central KY. Thanks to my neurotic GPS which is much better for hiking trails than freeways, we went about 50 miles out of our way on backroads instead of back along the parkway we should have. By now I should know to always double-check it's routing suggestions. I actually prefer good-old paper maps, but that stupid contraption is so pretty and shiny that I'm compelled to use it. My daughter knows how to navigate with the paper road maps. I brought a navigator and used a gadget instead. Sound familiar, anyone?

Identity crisis

I'm trying something new out. Something small, but significant. I'm going by Turtle. I hope that doesn't confuse too many people. Turtle was a fun and short-lived nickname I had while I was in the Army. Everyone in the military has a nickname of some sort, and that was mine. It was also my CB handle, in the days before everyone discovered how cool the internet was.

Since the said coolness, I have resorted to going by rebturtle, or RebTurtle -whatever. My initials + turtle. It's unique, and I can use it on damn near any website without conflict.

But it sounds funny.

I dunno, what do you think, interwebs?