Halloween 2008

When I was a kid we didn't think of putting anything other than faces on our Halloween pumpkins. This year we tried something new. It took several hours to complete but it was worth the effort. It turned out pretty cool.
We got this design out of a book the had several templates at various difficulty levels. I suggest if you choose to do one of these more detailed pumpkin carvings that you get a good sturdy small saw. The small saw we go in the packet barely made it to the end of this project. We still had fun carving the pumpkin.

Jimmie Johnson 3 Time NASCAR Champion

Johnson wins third title in a row to match Yarborough
Edwards wins race at Homestead, falls 69 points short
By Sporting News Wire ServiceNovember 17, 200803:33 PM EST

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Carl Edwards did everything he could, but Jimmie Johnson made sure Edwards' best wasn't good enough.
Edwards led the most laps and won Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to score his series-best ninth victory of the season, but Johnson claimed the big prize -- his record-tying third consecutive Cup Series title -- with a 15th-place finish that gave him a 69-point advantage over Edwards in the final standings (watch video).

King of the Hill

Last night I was watching my favorite cartoon "King of the Hill" and once again it disappoint in the humor department. I think it's great that a person can relate to these characters. I love Hank Hill. He like a lot of older traditional, non-technical, and homophobic people in our society. He represents the part of society that is resisting the use of the Internet in today's business world. One of the story lines in the episode was the use of "MySpace" in advertising. It was interesting to see that even in cartoonland that use of the Internet is a valuable tool for both good and evil.

What happened was that all the employees at Strickland Propane, where Hank is the assistant manager, were to create a profile for the company's MySpace page. Hank didn't want to do it so the secretary, who was also the person responsible for updating the company's MySpace page, sent out word for a flash mob to appear at Strickland Propane at a particular time. Well the flash mob ended beating up Strickland's owner by mistake and the secretary was fired. She went on a MySpace rampage and said the company was evil and don't by their products. Well, Hank (along with his co-workers) found her and convinced her to take the company's MySpace page down and the company went back to dealing with their customers face to face.

I guess the moral of the story is probably either to have more than one person in the company responsible for the webpage or use a firm offers this type of service.

Veteran's Day 2008

November 11, 2008 is Veteran's Day. This day should be important to all. This is the day the US government set aside to honor all our veterans. Thousands of young men and women have sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom.

I've attached a photo that I found of Navajo Code Talkers. The Navajo Code Talkers were a very important weapon in the United States military. The Navajo don't have words for bombs, tanks or other war-type words so they used their words in their language to pass messages along on the battle field. The enemy didn't understand the language and were unable to crack the code. The Code Talkers were very valuable to the US Military and were eventually assigned body guards. The US government had to protect itself against the enemy capturing one of the Code Talkers and gave orders to the body guards that the Code Talkers shouldn't be taken by the enemy. The Code Talkers were a huge asset to the military and are finally being recognized by the US government for their sacrifice and contribution in WWII.

If you know a Veteran, call and tell them "thank you" and let them know that their service to this country is greatly appreciated.

A Christmas Story

A Christmas Story's target audience is older children and adults. A Christmas Story came out in 1983. This is a movie to see if you are tired of the same old holiday special. It's made to poke fun at some of our holiday traditions and disasters. Just about all who watch this movie can relate to one of the characters. The story is narrated by one of the kids as a grown up. He reminices about one particular Christmas when a lot of unusual things happened. Things like Dad winning an award, mom's struggle to make sure the little one stays warm and eats and Ralphy's (the main character) Christmastime anxieties and anticipations. Grab your family and friends and watch as Ralphy and his family get through another family Chrismas.