Mystical Predictions

Because I honestly don't know who reads this blog, I hesitate to post this. I really don't want to offend anyone (though taking offense seems to have become the new national pastime), and I figure that since not everyone who reads it will agree with me, I am sure that someone will take offense at what I have to say. That is not my intention, and that is largely why I have tried, with one or two exceptions, to steer clear of politics. But I wanted to post this in the hopes that, if these things do come to pass, I will be lauded as a brilliant visionary, and I will receive lots of money.

Let me preface my few predictions by qualifying them. I think that these things will happen only if two conditions are met. First, Barack Obama (B.O. for short) must win the presidential election next week. Second, the Democrat Party must gain enough seats in Congress to be filibuster proof. I make no predictions about the likelihood of those things happening; I'm only saying what I think will happen if those two things are accomplished. Feel free to start sending me money in anticipation of my being correct.

So here I go with my predictions:

• The decade preceding WWII will become known as "The First Depression."
• Congress will pass laws restricting the exercise of free speech. So-called "Hate Speech" will be a punishable criminal offense. The government will begin to regulate what the press can tell the public, saying that it is for the good of the public.
• The government will begin confiscating privately (and perfectly legally) owned firearms. They will begin with semi-automatic handguns and so-called "assault rifles" ("Assault rifle" is a meaningless political buzzword used to intimidate the general public, but which essentially refers to any rifle that is even vaguely military-like. These "assault rifles" are no more dangerous, lethal, or otherwise bad for people to own than non-military-style firearms; they just look different. It's all about cosmetics). They will first tell people that they are only taking "a few dangerous guns," and leaving the rest. They will shortly come for the rest. The rate of violent crime will climb dramatically.
• There will be a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, and in response, President B.O. will appeal to the U.N. In order to assist the United States in defending itself, and further the cause of justice globally, the U.N. will pass a resolution.

I realize that I have not offered any supporting evidence for my prognostications, and though I think it would be nice, it is after 9:00 pm, and I would like to play a game or get some knitting done or something, so I don't really have the time to do it right now. Maybe in another blog. But by the time I get around to it, it may be too late, so maybe not. Anyhoo...

There are two more predictions I would like to make, the first of which some of you may have heard about. Look it up. These two I am separating from the list of others, since I have less faith that they will occur, but I include them because I have, I don't know... a feeling? I can't explain it; I just think they might be right.

• It will be proved that President B.O. is not a natural born citizen, as required by the constitution for him to be President.

My final prediction is strictly a gut feeling, and I have absolutely zero evidence to back it up. If it's wrong, well, send less money. This has been attempted in the past (most notably by F.D.R.), and with B.O. in charge, I almost expect it will be tried again.

• Two additional justices will be appointed to the Supreme Court, giving it 11 justices total, and handing the liberal wing of the Court an almost insurmountable advantage.

So there you have it. If you don't agree with me, that's fine. If you love Obama, that's fine too, though I cannot understand why. Just please don't try to convince me that he is the greatest thing since chili-cheese Fritos. Now start sending me money, because I'll have to have lots of it to bail myself out of jail after being arrested for hate speech.

Our Recent Ramblings

In case any of you have failed to read Carlene's blog recently, I'll just inform you that we spent a long weekend at the beach. Since Carlene covers all the big important stuff, I'll let you read her account of it. I'll also put up a couple more photos for you to admire.



Aren't they lovely? The common element among many of my beach photos is seagulls. I'm not sure why I like taking pictures of seagulls so much, but I really get a kick out of it. Perhaps it is that they add some life and character to a photo that would otherwise be filled with sand, rocks, and water. Those are nice enough, but I really dig the seagulls.

There's the view from our hotel room. Not too shabby!

Anyway, enough about that. Carlene mentioned that we went to the yarn shop (twice, actually) to get some supplies for new projects. I thought of something I wanted to make, so I picked up some nice wool yarn. I would have loved some of the alpaca/silk yarn they had, but the wool was plenty expensive enough! I don't need to knit myself a $100 scarf. And a scarf is what I'm making. I've been knitting dishcloths for a couple years now, and I got pretty tired of it, so I'm trying something new. Except that it isn't. I'm essentially using the dishcloth pattern and stretching it to the length I want. Sounds silly, but it looks nice so far. I'd put a photo of it up, but I don't have one yet.

In case you didn't know that I knit, well... I knit. Before I changed departments at work, I was downstairs in the machine shop running huge multimillion dollar milling machines, making parts that cost more than I could ever afford to buy. It was a very stressful job, and it started to take its toll. What was left of my hairs started fleeing like rats from a sinking ship, and I felt sick a lot. So I asked Mom to teach me how to knit, and I used it as a way to relax. I didn't knit at work, since it's a machine shop, and I do have some pride. I was afraid the other boys would beat me up and take my lunch money. Since then, Carlene and I have been making dishcloths together, many of which we have given away as gifts. They are the best dishcloths money can't buy. But now it's on to something slightly different.

Knitting with Carlene has really been relaxing and pleasant (doing anything with Carlene is generally pleasant), and it's been a great way to spend time together, relaxing. Pleasantly. Since relaxation was our goal for our beach trip, it is also a good way to bring some of those feelings home. So if you need to relax some, try some knitting. Come on, all the cool kids are doing it!

So Much Has Changed!

Hello again everyone! These last couple weeks have been really crazy for me, and I thought you all might be interested to know what has been going on.

About 5 weeks ago, I was called to be an Assistant Den Leader for our ward's Cub Scout pack. I was pretty apprehensive, since I was a terrible Boy Scout, and I don't think I know how to deal with kids very well. But I accepted anyway, because it seemed like something I should be doing. About 3 weeks later, on a Saturday, I finally got around to buying my scout uniform shirt, which cost over $60. For a shirt. The very next day, we had a stake meeting to discuss the moving of some of the ward boundaries. You guessed it; Carlene and I were moved from the Hillsboro Ward to the Brookwood Ward. We had only spent 6 months in our old ward, and then this. So Carlene called up the shirt shop on Monday to ask them not to sew the patches on yet, because I needed to return it. Luckily, they were very nice and understanding. If any of you need a scout shirt, I will happily recommend a place for you. Those were three of the big changes recently; first my calling, then our ward change, then me loosing my calling. What a ride.

The Boeing Machinist's Union is on strike, which has put a big dent in our production at work. A lot of jobs that we have in process have been put on hold, and work has slowed almost to a trickle. I am actually kind of glad for it, though, since I have been working overtime almost non-stop for about 6 months. It is really nice to be able to stay up past 8:30 and do some fun stuff with Carlene after work. Yea, it means less money, but right now that is okay.

I'm still getting over the sinus infection that kept me in bed last week. I lost two days of work which really stinks because I don't have much vacation time to spare, and that used up most of it. Carlene often has to pester, and sometimes bribe, me to stay in bed and get some rest when I'm sick. Not this time. I spent two solid days in bed because I didn't have the energy to do anything else. I'm still a little under the weather, but not feeling great yet.

Two weeks ago I got my Technician class Amateur Radio License. That's a Ham radio license, in case you were wondering. My call sign is KE7WGJ. I have a little 5 watt handheld radio, and tonight was my first time transmitting on it. Our stake has a Thursday night radio net (kind of an on-air meeting of radio operators), and I took my first baby steps into Ham radio. It was pretty exciting. So exciting that I almost forgot my call sign. Luckily, I had sort of anticipated that, and I had it written down in front of me to refer to. I really got a kick out of it, which is really strange if you know me. I'm not really a people person, and I really hate talking on the phone, so it surprises even me that I would enjoy talking to people on the radio. If you scan through the frequencies, you can find some pretty entertaining conversations. I heard some Multnomah County police officers talking about looking for a suspect in a park, and I've heard some random stations discussing the finer points of toilet design. Anyway, Ham radio is something I would like to get into a little more deeply, and I would like some practice. So if you also have a license and a radio, give me a call.

There was something else, too, but now I can't remember. Oh yea, I turned 30. That's it. When I was a kid, 30 was ancient, and I never thought I would be that old. Yet here I am, 30, mostly bald, graying, and all grown up. Wow. When kids are young, they want to be things. They want to be an astronaut, or a baseball player or a computational fluid dynamics engineer. I don't know if they realize that eventually they will have to do things. Go to work, fix the leaky toilet, mow the grass, go grocery shopping, go to work some more and try not to complain about it too much when they get home. Actually, it is probably a very good thing that kids don't think about that kind of thing. Most of them would probably run away to join the circus.

So I guess that is about it. There may have been more, but my aged mind is now too old and enfeebled to remember much else. Though things may have changed, I am glad that some things are just the way I like them; my terrific family, my nice house, and, above all, my beautiful wife, who gives me hugs when I get home from work and tucks me in bed when I'm sick. I can't name anything more important to me than that, and I hope it never changes.