Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Ok, it's a bit early but I wanted to get this out as the next few days are going to be busy for me. I no longer dream of candy and presents, though women have been pleasant guests in my dreams lately. No, for Christmas, I just enjoy being with family and friends, eating good and special foods, drinking some beer, and catching up on my people's lives. I have an aunt and uncle (married pair) who are both terminally ill, and all of my other aunts and uncles are getting toward the end of their lives. So this year is special. These people have been important to me as I have grown up. I am enjoying their company so long as they are here, and I will have a few more good memories of them when they are gone.

I am hoping that everyone has someone to be with this season. It's not the season to be alone in, even more so than Valentines Day, I think anyway. Get some good memories and tuck them away. Forget the rough parts, set aside your frustrations and the complications and mistakes, hold those dear to you closely and forgivingly, and keep the special memories for when you have nothing else. In our busy lives, sometimes we forget that age is creeping up on us. The only other tricks I would advise is that you learn to spread Christmas out to every day of the year. Giving a Christmas present in May, July, or whenever a need or little want is there makes the whole thing a lot better. And to know too, it's not the gift, it is the consideration and act of sharing that makes it all good.

Once again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Don't trust doctors.

After a few good years in college, part time but good, my blood pressure became an issue. After discussing options with my doctor, a doctor I like and have worked with for years mind you, we decided to try a pharmaceutical approach. The next year and a half, we tried 6 different hbp regimens. The last two worked to lower my blood pressure, however, they also completely exhausted me. I would sleep 14 to 18 hours a day. We settled on a the 6th regimen, but tried to find an anti-depressant that might help with the exhaustion. Oddly, that only made the condition worse. With each anti-depressant I tried, the exhaustion continued and increased no matter which anti-depressant I tried. On both types of medication I could not stay awake more than 2 to 4 hours at a time and lost the ability to concentrate altogether, needless to say, that put a crimp in engineering college which is now on a hold until I am up to speed again. I wasn't actually depressed in the classical sense, I was just perpetually tired, so perhaps that is why they didn't work. I stuck with this group of meds for 2 years hoping that I could work my way up and out of the side effects. Finally, I just dropped the meds cold turkey (don't do this at home, leave this to professional bonehead stubborn guys like me). The withdrawal was much more sever than I had anticipated, but I kept with it and have made it back to a semblance of normalcy.

I had packed on weight on these meds, getting up to a high of 340. Even at 6'4" that is really big, though not as fat as it sounds (about half was fat from inactivity, half was water weight (didn't matter that I went to the bathroom every few hours even during sleep periods). After 5 months, the weight had only dropped to 320 and I was afraid I would be stuck there. Then, to my great joy, I lost another 50 pounds in the last month and a half! I am down to 270, and I think I am still dropping. As well, I have found a few hobbies that get me up and out, and I am energetic enough to participate. I have also started working out again, as energy that was sapped by meds is returning.

Now, I really like my doc, I think he has my best health in mind from a professional standpoint, yet he would have let me roll on in that condition indefinitely. I don't know what they teach doctors in med school, but I don't trust that it has a common sense aspect in many cases. Yea, I should have dropped the meds before. I suppose I can be a victim of sheep mentality too, which combined with my stubborn resistance to quitting can lead to gullibility. *sighs* I guess the moral of the story is watch out for yourselves, the medical community has not, does not, and will not in the future. You are a guinea pig and they will use you up if you let them. Every surgery, pharmaceutical regimen, and treatment plan is just and truly a biology experiment (which they track with paper work and statistics just as good as any NAZI camp doctor). I do have faith that they care in their way and I think they have some significant knowledge, I just think they really have a moral or humanity gap that comes with their doctorate. Word of warning. Don't do anything that isn't truly important to you or isn't absolutely vital to your next breath.

An Ode to Joy?

A woman I am interested in took a test, so I thought I would take it so we could compare our things. Well, here it is.

You scored as Anarchism. <'Imunimaginative's Deviantart Page'> Anarchism 92% Republican 92% Socialist 25% Nazi 17% Fascism 17% Democrat 0% Green 0% Communism 0% What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In? created with QuizFarm.com

As for me, I am not uncertain what it means. Now that I've taken it, I will go over to her page and see if I can't say something interesting.

He Who Hunts By The Gun... Eats.

I had my gun sighted in as well as my means allowed on short notice. My clothes were warm, my boots waterproofed as best I could, my knife sharp, and everything looked good. My highschool friend came by this morning and he had a hunch. We drove, from my mother's house, just a few miles south and then a few miles west. There it was, laying down near a fence line. A buck was watching us as we looked him over. We drove in closer, Chad offered an idea or two about what I might do next, and added in a few aspects of the hunting law here in Iowa.

My first hunt started at that point. With 250 to 300 yards between me and the deer, I began my approach. The deer wasn't interested at first. The wind was taking my scent and sound away from the deer, and though there was no cover the deer just wasn't interested in moving until I was 75 to 85 yards away. I had been slowing as I approached, but this didn't seem to matter. The deer started moving off quickly. The first shot was a bit long for me but I took it hoping to prevent a complete flight. I tagged it a bit high and forward along it's back, too high to cripple the deer. Another shot and then I put on the gun's safety and began a much quicker approach. Though I can walk for many miles on flat surfaces, this area was hilly with 6" to 8" deep crunchy snow making the going exhausting. At 320 pounds, surface walking just doesn't happen almost no matter how hard the surface gets.

I noticed the deer was moving using only three legs. I didn't think I had hit the leg, but couldn't be sure unless I took him down. He made it to a draw and kept me from being able to get a good shot. I then ducked, got closer to the ridge line so I could at least track the deer and move forward with it until I felt the distance was good enough to rise and shoot. The wind was inconstant but solid and high when it gusted, no help there. I trudged on, and finally got a chance for another shot. The deer was nearing a farm house. No one seemed to be there, still, I had to stop and just escort the deer out the other side of the little homestead. Just past the home, fenced yard, sheds, and anything man made, the deer went down. He still wasn't done, but he was in rough shape. I finally eased up on him, and at about 60 yards and the best shot I would get, I targeted him well, and squeezed off the final round. He dropped instantly.

Chad brought the truck up, and in his dry manner, asked me how my I was doing while raising an eyebrow. I was wheezing like a 2 pack a day 20+ year smoker. Out of shape, but not out of luck, I just grinned... and wheezed some more. We finally got up close to the buck, after a bit more air had filled my lungs. It's right hind leg had been damaged before my hunt. The leg itself was in very bad shape though fresh enough it wasn't festering, the deer couldn't have been using it. The animal would have had a sorry, painful, and slow death had I not taken it in spite of the fact that it was moving quite fast. I was kind of glad to have taken it down, in spite of my newly found fear that it's meat might not be so good.

The only way to know if the meat was good was to gut it and have a look. Gutting it so close to this neighbors house would have been a truly rude thing, but moving it elsewhere to gut it would require tagging it, which would cost the tag and make the deer claimed regardless of the meat quality. I chose to tag it. It was my first big game kill, and I just decided to own it, good or bad. So, we put on the tag, Chad adds a few more points about law and hunting ethics. Telling me to make sure to look at what is near my shoot. Though I was through heavily wheezing, I was still a bit exhausted, but he helped a lot. We drove with the tagged deer to a nearby field, and he continued the lessons. He uses my hunting knife to show me how he guts and pre-works a deer. Though he does things a bit different from my pre-conceived study about cleaning, I just watch and listen. I learn by seeing the primary things that need to be done, how to do them, and in what order. Though I may do a thing or two differently, I do now know what I will be looking at, I now have an order of operation roughly worked out, and I had a great first hunting day.

As is my first deer, a 6 point buck, is cleaned, stretched, and hung on a tree in my Mom's front yard. In a week to 10 days I will begin to process the buck. A few steaks, maybe a roast or two, and the rest of the meat will go into summer sausage and deer sticks, perhaps some jerky. The deer I took was a little one, but his meat is good and he needed to be taken. As a hunter and as a man I feel happy with this new avenue I have chosen. I hope you enjoyed an inside look at a beginners deer hunt in winter hinterland Iowa.

Hunting In My Prime

Today, I will be working with my cousin. We will be sighting in my shotgun in preparation for deer hunting later this week. I have a Remington 870 Express Combo, a new fangled hunting parka, a really good set of binoculars, and a couple of other odds and ends. Money was a little tight this year, so I wasn't able to get a few other odds and ends I would have liked, wicking scent locking long underwear sets, a sidearm (I'm looking at a double action revolver in a .357 magnum, a .44 magnum, or a Smith and Wesson 460XVR, perhaps in time one of each, with the .357 magnum I will also have a decent home defense side arm while the others are a little heavy (unless I use .45 ammo in the 460XVR... Hmmm (then again, at $1400 or more for the 460XVR set-up of choice, the .357 will probably be my first, and not bad, sidearm))).

I am excited. This will be my first deer hunt. I am very familiar with long and short arms, I have just never used them for hunting game. Might not have gotten on board with hunting at all, but a few months ago, a friend asked me to hunt with him this season. (part of the reason money was short, two months to get a gun, ammo, side equipment, licenses, tags, and everything else is just a shy short. Add on that it's Christmas time, and things can get nigh on crazy financially. Still, I'm here, about to sight my gun in, raring to go, and there are a LOT of deer. My mom lives at the top of a hill, at the edge of a very small town, and we have deer right here in her yard. I'm not talking about a shy stray occasional visiting deer, I'm talking about a small heard. The first night I was here, I went outside to feed my mom's dog and saw a half dozen deer, at least. I yelled out, "He Yaaah, move on little doggies". They just looked at me like the librarian looks at a loud child, then went back to eating. I can't wait to express my unhappiness with a 1 to 1 1/4 oz. lead slug, and a ho, ho, ho, to you too mister buck. And, for all you who oppose hunting because deer are beautiful... we all know beauty can be only skin deep, hopefully I'll be able to let you know if they are pretty clean on to the bone or not. Ho, ho, ho...

Looking For a Wife

I have been looking for a wife type, but just haven't found her yet. While reading one of my favorite blogs, I came across a test. The test is to find more about oneself in the romance world. I took the test, and answered honestly since I wasn't worried about anyone seeing it if I didn't want them to see it. Although some of it is a bit embarrassing, aren't some aspects of all the things that define us as individuals?

At least this gives me some minor hope that I might be able to get a goodwife before I am too old to walk, ahem, among other things. If you know of a Maid of Honor or are one, send me an email. Long distance doesn't work, but it would be good to exchange notes. Then again, one never knows. You might end up with a retired knight. Then, it would just be goodknight, MaryLue, off to happily ever after for you. (It said nothing about me being a poet, and for good reason.)

The Gentleman Deliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLMm) Steady & mature. You are The Gentleman. For anyone looking for an even-keeled, considerate lover, you're their man. You're sophisticated. You know what you want both in a relationship and outside of it. You have a substantial romantic side, and you're experienced enough sexually to handle yourself in that arena, too. Your future relationships will be long-lasting; you're classic "marrying material," a prize in the eyes of many. It's possible that behind it all, you're a bit of a male slut. Your best friends know that in relationships you're fundamentally sex-driven. You're a safe, reliable guy, who does get laid. In a lot of ways, you're like a well-worn, comfortable pair of socks. Did you ever jack off into one of those? All the time. Your exact opposite: The Last Man on Earth Random Brutal Sex Dreamer Your ideal mate is NOT a nut-job. She is giving and loving, like you, but also experienced. Avoid the The Battleaxe at all fucking costs. CONSIDER: The Maid of Honor, someone just like you. Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating. My profile name: Doomedforever

Modern Public Schools and Why Not

I thought I would add a few reasons to homeschool. Sure, but aren't examples just exceptions? No, not if it is your child. This article was interesting, this one got my attention, there was this one, this one makes me angry, and there are many others. Sure, I see were CNN and it's fellow travelers write articles indicating that crime has halved in schools in the last decade or so, among other pro-public school articles. What I also note is that when a news agency reports, it quite often lies.

The obesity "plague" is an example of media lies. There was a change in how the CDC manipulated it's statistics regarding whether an individual is overweight, obese, or grossly obese. Overnight, the overweight and up crowd boomed with no actual changes in actual waist sizes or masses. Agencies, like CNN, went on a rampage. They told of how the number of overweight people had jumped drastically, and how the government agencies needed to get involved. They didn't discuss the fact the the old and new numbers used in showing an increase were simply due to a new statistical manipulation method. They wanted you to believe that increasing government control in our lives was necessary so strongly that they just lied. Do you think they wouldn't change how they report crime statistics in order to have you believe that public schools are good and safe places? Believe at your children's risk. One might even include, believe at your own risk, some of that crime comes home. As well, being taught socialism almost automatically sets you, as a parent, as a part of the enemy class.

Who Does That Guy Think He Is?

Beside deciding to post a blog, air my views, and become involved in the public discourse of political, educational, religious, and other issues, I do enjoy debate and logic brought to these topics by people who really work hard at delving into these areas. I have been reading some of these people's blogs and articles for years, having enjoyed their work, agreeing and disagreeing with their material (rightly and wrongly sometimes), and becoming a participant in their thinking by emailing or commenting. So, I will occasionally include my analysis and links to these active, interesting, and thought provoking individuals. Call it sharing the joy.

As I see it, I have a blogfather and a blogmother. My blogfather was the first online blog personality I became aware of, though initially it was through his articles. I used to frequently applaud or debate his positions via email. Sometimes he laughed, sometimes (I am sure) he cried, he might respond if what I wrote struck a chord or he thought a response was called for, and other times he just enjoyed the fan mail. I do respect his intense digging, his logic, and his views in spite of the fact that I am not 100% in his corner. Oh, I hope that doesn't make me mutlicultural? ack... His name is Vox Day, well, his blog name anyway.

I will write a bit about my perspective on Vox, and let you all judge my accuracy. Vox, a Libertarian Christian writer and thinker, provides very clear cut views on morality, ethics, religion in practice, legal matters, and even drifts into the world of sports (he actually likes soccer, hehehe). His views aren't just strong opinions or ideas and ideals he has been taught, but are self-manufactured principles based in logic, faith, a philosophical education of significant depth, and a few other sources. Occasionally he gets in over my head, as I am not as well read (nor quite so interested in so much of a depth of analyses in my reading). Still, I generally get his points and understand where he is coming from and going to with his notions. His writing seems to be both well conceived and original to him at some impressive levels. Do I still disagree with him? Heck yes. Just because he is a bright light doesn't mean he can't be a dull bulb to my way of thinking at times. As well, he will accept well placed criticisms with a good defense or clarification and barring that can agree to disagree or accept that he might be wrong rather gracefully. Vox's place, Vox Popoli, is a pleasure to read and you can access his articles from that site as well. He is a good guy, (a favorite part of mine as well) an entrepreneur, and author.

Now, for my blogmother. Kiwi the Geek is rather new to blogging. She started just a short bit before I did, and has really started working with it. With a bit of help from her, and some pushing, I am now online. I like to stop by her site because she offers some interesting thoughts and commentary, often from a woman's perspective specifically. Having written her some number of emails and having become familiar with her, I realize she has some significant depth as a real woman. She is rather bright, she is well educated in technology, she has good Christian leanings, and her ideas about womanhood and motherhood make this conservative man a bit more hopeful in the fairer sex. She is just starting, like myself, but I am thinking when she gets her feet solidly planted, she has the potential to be a really dynamic independent writer.

How Has Big Government Become so Big?

As I rattle on about big government, I realize there must be a reason for it's existence and a way to change it. When I started looking for the root causes for the socialization of America I was quickly led to a few root causes. When I started narrowing the causes, I then sorted them chronologically. Eventually, I arrived at a primary factor. With what I have written, what you know, and with a few moments of thought, you may easily find the same answer. To quicken the flow of thought, I will give a few hints now: What is something that nearly every child and adult is or has been exposed to?; What government agency has become less effective at it's stated goals while expanding in power, wealth, and size (more so than other agencies) and involves children and young adults automatically?; What organization is run exclusively by bureaucrats, unions, and academics?

Not so many years back, I read about a Vietnamese official giving a speech regarding the education system in his country. He was the top bureaucrat in his country regarding education, the equivalent to our Department of Education's chief. He had indicated that through his hard work and his governments policies, Vietnam had increased it's illiteracy rate. A Western journalist, after the speech, asked the official if he had misspoken. He wanted to know if the words illiteracy and literacy had been mistakenly interchanged due to language misunderstandings or just a clerical or oral error. The official rebuffed the reporter, assuring him that illiteracy is exactly what was meant in the speech and what was being sought by both himself, his agency, and his government. I was furious at this, then I realized his country was not the only one on this destructive path.

Our country, spending vast and ever increasing sums, on an education system that went from satisfactory to unsatisfactory in a period of decades is hot on the Vietnamese educational trail. With the lowering of standards and expectations paralleled and equaled by the increases in spending, it is obvious that this too, is no mistake given the obvious nature of the correlation and the time span involved. Our government is spending more in a seemingly purposeful manner so as to lower educational quality! All one needs to do is look at real data in both areas and compare the two for the last 40 years. Which leads to the question, what then are schools geared to offer? They are instilling socialist views, and surrounding those views with teachings and practices that support them. American children are being averaged, not educated, socialized, not exposed to society.

Knowing this root causes leads easily to a solution. In this case, homeschooling is the answer. Is it easy? Who ever said necessity was easy? Is getting out of bed and off to work an easy thing every day? Is staying moral and choosing the right choice easy? Is eating correctly easy? Maybe not always, or even often, is the answer to all of these. Yet these are done every day by many if not most people. Why do people try to take care of themselves, dress warm, go to work, and try to do necessary and good things in spite of the difficulties? Whatever your personal answers, the answer for homeschooling should be really simple. By homeschooling you ensure your real future, in and through your children, who would then be taught morality, citizenship in a free not socialized country, the history of why this country and that citizenship really transcend simple sports like nationalism, and receive a really true and rounded education. As well, you would be planting seeds for a continued free America, for the continued American dominance in marketing, technology, industry, and medicine. Freedom isn't cheap or easy. As well, you cannot rely on a government agency or any government for these things in whole. Our government, as it was supposed to be, relies on you to keep it in check by being an active part in it's affairs.

This is a book which caught my eye and helped inspire me to write this article. It is written for adults, specifically for those considering this "radical new approach to education" (which has been practiced for most of time in human history, then again I don't think the NYTs realizes history exists). Even if you are past having children, or are only now considering having children, this book looks to offer some really good reading and thoughts. And, no, I will receive not a dime should you decide to buy this book.

For You Gamers...

I am putting this out for a friend. I hope you find it entertaining!

Dec 2, 2005: Slingdot.com goes live!
SlingDot is a gaming community built around on-line casual gaming, chat, contests, cash and prizes. SlingDot features a Free Games section open to unlimited play for all gamers over the age of 12 and a members-only gaming area called the DotSpot. DotSpot membership is available Dec 15th and is only $4.95 a month or $29.95 a year. Full membership benefits include access to exclusive games, member contests, enhanced chat features, no advertising, and greater opportunities to win cash and prizes.

All levels of gamers earn Dots for their play. The better you are, the more you'll earn, and DotSpot members earn triple the Dots of free account players. Beginning Feb 1, 2006 Dots can be used to enter daily drawings for cold hard cash. In coming months SlingDot will unveil many other benefits and personalization items that players can access using their Dots. And as the old saying goes - he who dies with the most Dots wins! How many Dots you got?

Dec 2 is a soft launch for the site with more features and games being added every day. Visit us, check the news area for upcoming additions, and share your thoughts with us. This is a gaming community, and the players will drive the look, feel, and feature set as this community grows. Our goal is to make your gaming experience the best it can be!

As a special introductory offer, all players get a 14 day free trial membership to the DotSpot, giving everyone access to the members-only games. Play them all, rack up Dots, and save them for the future.

Typical Excuses for Enlarging the Government

This article is interesting in itself (click on blog title), but it goes to several levels of the bigger picture. The first level of the 'zoom out' feature exemplified by this article is that it gives one of many examples of how "environmentalists" in particular are trying to enlarge our government's control. I have "environmentalists" in quotes because any group which chooses to expand government into the corporate is no true environmentalist group. Centralized government controlled economies have been some of the worst environmentalist agencies the world has ever seen. Some of these countries remain toxic waste sites. Many of the natural environments in these countries may never recover so long as men live there, as there would be no way to clean up under people and where they live. These groups, ignorantly or not, are only pushing for a greater problem, not a solution. Government control and government regulation only tend to separate people from owning and controlling property which they would tend to care for in order to maintain or increase property value. The second, and perhaps even more problematic and next step in the "zoom out" feature shows these people trying to go beyond expanding our governments control, but linking that control with international controls which we as citizens would have even less to say about. Ask Britons what they think when they vote for something and some European Union court or bureaucracy says no. In this case, the United Nations is the entity in which "environmentalists" are placing their hopes of uber governance.

This is one of many examples of one of many groups who are trying to give away your right to representative government, property rights, and even the right to contest issues (The U.N. agrees with all the rights of our constitution, basically, with the caveat that these rights do not extend to anything against the U.N. itself). I am just hoping that before people pop a check in the mail to the soft and cuddly organization, they really look at what that group is doing. Do people really want to send some of their finite resources to a group that is trying to take away their rights? It seems insane to me, in spite of the understanding emotional pull has on people. Once again, just look past what they are selling and see what your money would be buying. It really is that easy.

Is the government mine, or am I owned?

I realize I live in one of the freer nations on the planet. I understand that I have certain freedoms, which despite my occasional protests, that I take for granted. Yet I can't shake the feeling that those freedoms are threatened. So, what is a man to do about it? This man decided to take a closer look at the threats. As well, I decided to reach out to others in an attempt to support those with similar understandings, open the minds of those who can be reached, and allows those who want those rights removed to expose themselves.

The threat isn't as easily viewed as one would think, it's not just a single person, single group of people, a single government entity or the entire government itself, and it keeps to the shadows. Unlike the One Ring, in Lord of the Rings, it doesn't want to be found. The threat seems to be an intentional and unintentional collaboration of individuals, groups, government agencies, and to some degree the government as a whole.

The individuals, like Soros, Ted Kennedy, and Ted turner, use their power, money, and fame (infamy) toward the end of enlarging the U.S. government. Oddly, these are some of the very people you will hear decrying the inadequacies of the government. The groups, like the ACLU and NOW, have political agendas. NOW for example, wants to replace fathers with an Uncle, among other things governmentcentric. The agencies, like the Department of Education, seem only interested in promoting a broken system that socializes rather than educates students at all levels. And then there is the government as a whole. It is an industry that only seeks to grow, even when all other industries may shrink. The departments with the government find clever ways to spend all of their income in order to apply for more funding in the next budget year, rather than spending only as is truly needed.

All of these have combined to produce a quickly appearing socialist nation out of the nearly dead carcass of a once free land. The American people have bought this by getting a little out of it. It puts me to mind of how Native American's sold land for little or nothing. I'm pretty sure that selling rights for a prescription drug program is the worst of the two. Watching an ad in which this old woman describes how now with the program, she will have more money to spend on her grandchildren. If she really thought about it, she would realize she is placing a tax burden on them that they not only won't easily be able to support, but won't be willing to support. The only way for that tax scheme to work is for the government to grant itself enough power to force them to pay. She's selling her grandkids into slavery for a few years of life at best. And either her grandkids will rebel and she will be thrown to the wolves, or they will become slaves and never know the good life she seems to know.

In any case, that's my first installment on the price of my freedoms. Yes, exercise does a body good, why should it not do a real right good?