Thursday, June 28, 2007

Rodney's new ride....my biker babe!

This is my husband, Rodney's, motorcycle. It is a Honda Shadow Ace 1100 American Classic Edition.

He has done everything but dip it in chrome! I tell him he has definitely "pimped his ride!"
He loves it and is currently on a solo road trip to Florida to visit his uncle.
I took a picture of him before he left with it loaded for camping on the road and for the 10 day trip.
Last summer he bought a new boat. He was in it every single day almost. Since he got this bike, I don't think he has taken the boat out a single day. Of course, it has been raining non stop this entire spring and summer so far! Not stopping him from riding though!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Are there any Einsteins left in the World?

Albert Einstein said:



"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."

and......

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

No question about the brilliance of this man....and what if he is right? We certainly are headed in the right direction to make his prediction true.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Bush's job approval rating drops to 26%

June 22nd, 2007 2:37 pm
Bush's job approval rating drops to 26%


By Kenneth R. Bazinet / New York Daily News

WASHINGTON - President Bush's job approval rating has sunk so low that he could end up south of Richard Nixon's worst Watergate numbers.

Bush's approval rating dipped to a dismal 26% in the latest Newsweek poll released yesterday.

The handling of the Iraq war and uncertainty about the economy are the biggest drains for Bush, who could break all records for the worst presidential job-approval rating.

Bush has plummeted beneath his father George H.W. Bush's lowest approval rating of 29%, which came amid economic recession. Dubya even rates worse than Jimmy Carter did during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1980, when his support fell to 28%.

If the slide continues, Bush could challenge Nixon's lowest job rating of 23%, which came amid the Watergate scandal.

Bush peaked in early 2002, when his job approval rating in the Newsweek poll hit 83%, attributed to his handling of the early aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

He's not the only pol with failing grades in Washington: Congress as a whole is faring even worse, with a 25% job approval rating, according to Newsweek.

Monday, June 18, 2007

SHINEDOWN performs for the troops in Iraq

This is a great video of SHINEDOWN performing for the troops in Iraq. SHINEDOWN is one of my very favorite bands. You may think the video is over, but hang on - one of the guys does a song with the soldiers as the video fades out. I had trouble getting it to play correctly on this page, so...

Just click on the above title which will take you to my MY SPACE page and the video is there. Look for the video called "SHED SOME LIGHT" Click and play.

Definitely worth the watch to see the troops in their environment and it is a beautiful song.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

I Took This Online Survey - you can too...




You Are 76% Open Minded



You are so open minded that your brain may have fallen out!

Well, not really. But you may be confused on where you stand.

You don't have a judgemental bone in your body, and you're very accepting.

You enjoy the best of every life philosophy, even if you sometimes contradict yourself.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Cruising away.....

Susan, Greg, and Rodney leave for their Saturday ride

Terrell Nedrow rode from near OKC and back to our house for the weekend.

A WEEKEND IN THE RECORDING STUDIO


TERRELL NEDROW - singer/songwriter
southern rock/ with a "melloncamp" edge
Oklahoma has always produced tons of great musicians!

Friday night, our friends, Greg and Susan Nedrow, and their son, Terrell Nedrow, arrived, and the next day, while Rodney, Greg, and Susan took about a 7 hour bike ride through northeastern Oklahoma and the Lake Tenkiller area, me and Terrell worked in the recording studio laying down tracks and shooting videos and a periodically working on a photo shoot. A great deal was accomplished and much was learning by everybody in the process, but watch for a link to Terrell Nedrow, the musician, that will be coming soon.

Personally, I thought if we got 2 decent recordings to work with that it would be a productive studio weekend, but Terrell was relentless and worked 14 hours in the studio on Saturday alone, and layed down the tracks for 8 mp3s, and did the photo shoots during breaks. Rodney spent many hours with him working on mixing and recording Saturday night and Sunday, and I shot 4 different videos of him performing different songs.

Neither Terrell nor I are really happy with the videos yet, but for different reasons. I think I could shoot the videos better and he thinks he could sing the songs better, so we will keep on keepin' on until we get it where we are both happy with them. Neither of us really want to "settle" on anything but his best. And his best is really, really good as both a singer and as a guitarist.

We are never too old to learn new things, but sometimes we can be too young to appreciate certain things, so it was great to see how dedicated Terrell is to his music and that he is not just goofing around. His natural talent will pull him through as he learns more and more about the "music business" as he has always just been "all about the music." I also enjoyed having the company of really old friends - not saying THEY are old - well, we are all the same age, so I guess we are old. Depends on your perspective. But Greg and Susan are so easy to be around that the visits are entirely stress free and relaxing. (Well, except for the Terrell working me like a dog part....lol) I did manage to slip out of the studio about midnight when he and Rodney were jamming together on a few songs and go to bed. I believe they worked about 2 more hours in the studio before they shut it down for the night.

Rodney had a great time out on the road trip, spending time with Greg, his friend of 39 years, and with Susan, and I managed to get quite a few cool pictures that I hope to add to the website soon. Watch for more postings in the future about Terrell.

Friday, June 8, 2007

My Rant for June - LIARS

There is probably nothing I hate worse than liars. All my life I have been plagued by them. It amazes me what people will lie about – from the smallest things to the most important things. People will lie when the truth would actually be more beneficial to them. I have been lied to and lied about all my life. You would think that, by now, I would expect it, or at the very least, not be so surprised by it when it happens. I am not sure which is worse either – being lied to, or being lied about. Probably the hardest thing to deal with is when you are lied to by people who you love, like family members, or by people who you think love you. Those hurt the worse.

But then there are people in the world who will lie ABOUT you due to some inferiority complex of their own. Those people really puzzle me. What is it they hope to gain? They know the truth. They know they are lying. They are the ones who have to live with the fact that they are simply outright liars. Do they find it easy to sleep at night knowing that they have lied about someone and possibly hurt them in some way?

Then there is the “white” lie. This is the one I am guilty of committing. It is hard to tell someone the truth if it will hurt them and does not matter in the long run. For example, if you have a friend who has been dieting for some time but you cannot tell that they have lost weight, but they ask you, “Can you tell I have lost 5 pounds?” Well, I may not be able to tell it but I will say, “yes” because they are excited about the loss, and though I may not see it, to be truthful and say that no, I cannot tell that they have lost weight, is just mean and discouraging. Another example would be if you are having dinner at someone’s home, and you do not really care for what they have served. If asked, I will lie and say it is delicious rather than tell them that I don’t like their cooking. Again, this is a white lie and is intended to avoid hurting someone over something trivial. It does not give me personal gain and it does not hurt them either.

But there is a HUGE difference between white lies and lies that are intended to cause harm to another person, and those are the kinds of lies I tend to have to endure. Some people will tell you they will always be there for you if you need them, but when you need them, they are no where to be found. Others will lie about you to a third party and sometimes that third party will believe them without gathering all the facts first. Of course, this is an error in reasoning called “jumping to conclusions” which is one of the most basic problems in critical thinking abilities. Some people will lie about you to cover up their own screw-ups or as a “red herring” in order to escape their underlying problem – whatever it may be. Sometimes, very immature people will band together to lie about someone, believing that there is safety in numbers. Their lies might even work for them, but then they have to deal with Karma.

One thing I do know is this: eventually liars are uncovered and pay the price, usually in a much more costly way than they ever imagined. No, the world is not a “fair” place, but I do believe that eventually the bad Karma they have created for themselves will return to them in some way. The problem is that many people are not smart enough to figure out why suddenly all these bad things are happening to them. All they really have to do is think back over their lives and ask themselves this question: did I lie about someone to such an extent that I caused them harm? If the answer is yes, then they might discover that it is time to learn the value of honesty. It is never fun to have to admit that you have not done the best you could, or that you were wrong, or that you made a bad decision, but sometimes you just have to own your own mistakes, admit them, and move on. But for some people, this is never an option. They would rather lie than tell the truth.

Hopefully, this will be my one and only rant of the month! I prefer the light hearted blog entries myself.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Holy Moly! He's cleaning up the shop!

Generally, I am not much of a nag. However, when it comes to our 40x60 shop, I have, periodically, "suggested" that Rodney clean that place up! It is full to the brim with all his toys, a complete carpentry shop, machine shop, tractor, riding lawn mower, push mower, a variety of trimmers, his boat, trailer.....I think you get the picture. Had I known that buying a new motorcycle would motivate him to do this in order to make a whole new area just for bike parts and his mechanical toolbox and supplies, I would have told him to buy one much sooner!

He has been diligently at work on it for the past 3 days and the changes are already considerable. We have been storing things for family members for years and years which I really don't think they will ever come and get, so out they go! Looks like we will be having a garage sale soon too, as we have quite a few things of value which we do not want, but seem silly to just throw out.

Actually, I think he is cleaning out the shop right now because he is waiting for the MANY new items for his bike that he has ordered that should come in some time this week, and he is killing time while waiting by getting all of this done so that when they do come in, he can justifiably spend every extra hour working on his bike. Friends coming in next weekend with their bikes will be staying at the lake house when not out on rides and I am glad to see him getting this done.

Today, it's kudos to HR! Hope he doesn't run out of steam! Should I go help him?
Nahhhhhh..........

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Bikers are Hot!

Well, after all these years, and partially due to my personal attraction to bikers anyway, Rodney bought himself his first motorcycle in many, many years. Although he had always had them since about the age of 13, he had not for a really long time. Last week he bought a Honda Shadow Ace 1100 and he has been decking it out ever since. It is a beautiful bike and I will post pictures after he gets it "just so" as he is adding so many things and chrome wherever possible. We did take some before pictures which I will show with the NOW pictures once that is done.

So, why my reluctance when I generally like bikers, prefer biker bars when I go to cool towns like Eureka Springs or Bandera? It's all those idiots on cars who scare me. Not the bikers. My fears have nothing to do with his ability to ride. My fears are all about those people in automobiles who pull out in front of bikers and who tailgate bikers and who are too blind to even SEE bikers! He rides pretty much every day already and it is looking like some of our biker friends will be here next weekend and I am sure they will do at least a day trip if not an overnighter. For me, personally, after my motorcycle wreck with my brother-in-law, Steve, I am not up for this at this time. I don't mind him doing his thing and I like the people, but I will stick to automobiles....

Rodney "claims" he will be getting my name tattooed on his arm, but I will believe it when I see it! And if he does....I will definitely take a picture of it and post it on my site and my blog!