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There went the Bride

Well, it’s over. Sarah got married! She is now Mrs. Hartman. It was a grand occasion, and everything went beautifully and smoothly. My impression, looking back the next week after we got home was, “Gee, that was only a blip on the radar screen! It seems as if it should have made a bigger impression. Maybe the Jewish folks, and others who celebrate for a week have the right idea after all!”

So many people asked me if I was stressed over wedding preparations. The answer is, no, Sarah and Rainey did most of the planning and preparation down there (in GA). I ordered her wedding gown, which fit perfectly so that I didn’t have to alter it. I had to find a mother-of-the-bride dress to match some jewelry I already possessed — a deal, but not a big deal. Hey, I got to shop, didn’t I? I went down 2 weeks before the wedding to take them 2 chest-of-drawers, alter Sarah’s reception dress, and help her with a little bit of shopping. I helped set up the church and arrange a few flowers and bows the day before the wedding. The most stressful part of the whole affair was fixing 3 people’s hair the morning of the wedding. And the best part was hearing Sarah say, after I finished her hair, “That’s perfect, Mom; it’s exactly what I wanted!”

I’ll put in a picture that I took of Sarah when she was all dressed and ready. Ted will fuss over the way I do it and go back and edit the post! If anyone is interested enough to want more pictures, go to this website: http://bbandcompany.zenfolio.com/p1038900398 . The password is “thomas0816” There are over 400 pictures there, but only a fraction of those actually taken. It takes 15 or 20 minutes to view as a slide show.  To order pictures as prints, please contact Brenda Brooks at BB & Company.

waiting-bride-reduced.JPG

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War & judgment

The title itself makes you want to skip this one, but– hold on a sec.  This is actually about your financial future, how your government spends your tax dollars to educate children, whether your brother dies in the nuclear attack on the city where he lives and whether the Supreme Court becomes a tool of oppression for anyone who might be a moral conservative.

In this article, Noemie Emery makes the point that Iraq news is so good now that both McCain and Obama have a problem.  For McCain, who staked his career on the success of the surge in 2007, it is that Continue reading “War & judgment”

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Indian Winter and the Brontosaurus in our yard.

“Indian winter” is a term just coined by Lydia. It refers to the fact that, in all the 20 years we have lived here, this is the first time Ted on the BrontosaurusI have been cold in August. (Since Indian summer is when you have summer-like warm weather in the fall, then Indian winter is when you have cold weather in the summer, right?) Our weather all this week is incredible! Good incredible! While usually this time of year we are suffering under temps. in the 90’s with high humidity, our weather this week is topping at 85 or less, and getting down to the low 60’s at night. I just wish I could take it with me to Chattanooga for the weekend, where Sarah will be getting married. Her reception is outside, and the high that day is supposed to be 89. Oh, well, anything for a daughter getting married!

In other news, there has been a giant brontosaurus in our yard for the last few days. (I know, there was really no such thing as a brontosaurus. It’s more properly called an apatasaurus, but the b- word sounds better!) This brontosaurus was big, orange, metal, and weighed approximately 10 tons. It didn’t exactly eat tree branches, but it carried Ted and his chain saw on its long neck 60 feet in the air to trim the giant oak trees whose limbs were encroaching on the roof. The only catch to this mechanized brontosaurus was the short in its wiring that sometimes caused Ted to get stuck 60 feet off the ground! It took a little persuasion with a hammer to get it going again. Here’s Ted at his work.

We’re off day after tomorrow to attend Sarah’s wedding festivities. My next post will likely be pictures from the wedding!

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Brutal Dictatorship in action…

are you surprised?

Here is one man’s description of his anguish:

Before sunset on Monday, Mr. Yu walked along a river running past the eastern wall of the school compound. Peering over the wall, one could see piles of bricks and concrete all over the ground. He pointed out the few standing ruins of the main building. His daughter’s classroom had been on the fourth floor.

He said she had lived for two days after being buried alive, like some other students. She had even called out to him.

“We could hear them under the rubble,” he said. “We passed them milk and water, but it was no use.”

He smoked and stared at the debris.

If you are a parent, you should be tearing up right now…

Next month, as you watch the Olympics, remember what Mr. Yu has discovered about corruption in a dictatorship.

Democracy– the worst form of government on earth…

except for all the others.

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Un-Freakin-Believable!

Go here, and watch this video commercial about the Apple App Store.

OK… did you do it?  Did the video work??  [Send me a note if it didn’t, or post a comment with your e-mail– maybe I can help you fix it…]

ANYWAY- this is the most amazing commercial– I watched it once, it was so entertaining that I wanted to watch it over and over instead of going back to work.  How many commercials do that for you??  Microsoft is … toast, unless they can learn to market and promote their products as effectively as this company.  On top of that, the iPhone is simply the most amazing handheld computer I have ever seen ( …umm – it’s a phone as well.  Almost forgot… :-0)

I think I want one.  But I don’t want the dreaded Bellsouth (currently lurking behind a cloaking device deployed by AT&T) as my phone company.

Patience…

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Weirder education

Some of our friends send their children to the University of Louisville.  You may have heard of it; they won the Orange Bowl recently.  It seems that the students there can also get top scholarship input on black drag queens… courtesy of my tax dollars.

SO here’s my problem with this. Although I find gay drag disgusting, and wonder why it needs to be studied at U of L, I also have to wonder where all this is going:

  1. Will there eventually be a School of Drag funded by taxpayers, where students learn to be drag queens (AIDs and STDs included)?
  2. How does promoting the gay lifestyle, which this definitely does, fit with the overall mandate of a publicly supported university?
  3. Is it my imagination, or is there a double standard here?  No doubt riots would ensure should the KY Senate propose taxpayer funding of research on using 4D ultrasound machines to reduce abortions.  After all, this could be easily justified as a means of increasing the native-born proportion of KY citizens, with all the benefits of lower education costs (no English as a 2nd language), increased tax base (gays can’t help us there) and a reduction of mental health issues among women.
  4. Finally, is it really true that a majority of KY taxpayers wish to spend their tax dollars this way?  If so, why is there a KY constitutional provision which clearly limits the benefits and privileges of marriage to one actual man + one actual woman?

I am the father of a teenager

Continue reading “Weirder education”

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Windows Vista? This guy loves it…

Direct quote from here:

Darryl4207 2008-06-30 09:34:49   flag as inappropriate

I am a computer repair business owner and LOVE VISTA!!! I get calls all the time from customers to resolve the litany of compatibility issues and glitches with it … so I make big $$$$ from these calls. THANKS MICROSOFT!!!!!!

Umm…

There are definitely people out there who love Vista– they tend to have brand new hardware.

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Fear and loathing on the seacoast

Recently there has been much made of an alleged “pregnancy pact” at a Gloucester, Mass. high school among a number of 16 and under students.  The school nurse reported “high fives” when pregnancy tests came in positive, and great disappointment when they didn’t; the Time magazine reporter who broke the story says that a recent graduate confirmed the basis for the pact (if it actually existed– there is some dispute about this) by noting that, “…They’re so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally.”

Indeed.  Unconditional love is a need we all have, and a baby does provide it, at least for awhile.  Nevertheless, in the wider world, and specifically in the world of liberated women, there has been much Continue reading “Fear and loathing on the seacoast”