Trapped for 41 hrs: What Would you Do?

Basically, about 9 years ago, this guy (Nicholas White) left his office at about 11pm on a Friday night to take a quick smoke break and unfortunately got trapped in the elevator. No one came to his calls and then everyone left for the weekend. It wasn't until 41 hrs later, he was rescued. Now, 9 years later (and after a lawsuit he won), the elevator surveillance video has been released.

It's a time lapsed video of the 41 hours he was trapped, condensed to less than 2 minutes. "Edited to a soundtrack of classical piano music, the video shows him pacing, trying to climb the walls, lying down, curled up in a fetal position, prying apart the doors." - video website

"After a certain period of time I knew that I was in pretty big trouble because it was the weekend..." "I relieved myself down the shaft when the doors were open." - White

Click on this link to watch the video: New Yorker trapped in elevator for over 40 hours.
__________________
I saw this while reviewing the news this morning and it sparked my interest... What would I have done if trapped in an elevator for 41 hours on my way back to my office?

First things first: What would I have on me coming back to my office?

I don't smoke, but let's make it across the board as close as possible to his situation. He went down to burn a quick one, not bringing anything additional back with him. So, perhaps he had a lighter - if you're thinking what I am thinking, we'd set the alarm off. However, we can't tell from the video that he had a lighter - and in some big places like that where there is a common smoking area/main street, it's not uncommon for people to just carry a cigarette or two down and light off someone else...(keep from getting bumbed off of all the time). So, for the sake of being conservative, let's say no lighter or any other cigarettes on you and, you didn't take your cell phone or purse to just burn a quick one - you're in a hurry so you can finish up your job and get home for the weekend...

So, you basically have on you what you have in your pockets or on your belt (minus a phone), etc while you are at work... And no one comes looking for you. And you can't figure/maneuver your way out - you're stuck for 41 hours.

Me: I have a couple of sticks of gum in my pocket and I have an ID card clipped to my belt. What am I going to do for 41 hours?

Initially, I would probably try to recall all the MacGyver episodes I ever watched as a kid in the 80's. "Did he ever escape out of an elevator with gum and a shoestring?" Then I'd crack a joke to myself like, "What would Brian Boitano do?" (for all you SouthPark fans) to relieve the sudden stress - and making fun of myself for thinking what MacGyver would do. "What about that Survivor board game I have? Man, why haven't I ever opened that?" And after several hours of trying to logically figure my way out of there to no avail, I think I would consider the fact that no one will find me until about 7 or 8 am on Monday morning - and I can live that long without food/drink, assuming the A/C or heat was still on since it's a large NY office building.

So then, after I threw a little tantrum kicking the door, for the next 30-something hours I think I would try to sleep as much as possible - that's how I normally try to pass time when I am really anxious about boring stuff like really long car rides/flights. (If you sleep until you get to your destination, then you're magically there in no time!) Then I would obsessively check the door to see if the elevator moved while I was asleep - every time I woke up.

Other than that, I'd probably pray and sing a bit, think about what I might want to do in the future - career and travel wise, count ceiling tiles/holes, do some stationary exercises (b/c I cannot be confined that long), vow to take the stairs, stretch, continuously monitor my watch - count down to Monday morning, plan a blog about it, try to sleep some more...think of a really good one-liner for why I will not be at work Monday morning, when I'm already there.

What about you guys? What do you think you would have done?

Top 10 Reasons We Don't Let Mammy Cook Anymore...

There are many reasons and stories behind why Mammy isn't allowed to cook at family functions anymore. I'll condense it for you to the top ten reasons and perhaps a few pictures to make it all make sense.

Reason # 10: Everyone starved to death or ate on the way there - and then had to collectively play pretend. It got too risky when everyone did it and nothing got eaten.

Reason #09: We got tired of having the rotating "bring your dog" schedule and the sickness that ensued on the way home.

Reason #08: My father still ate it anyway - and then we had to make 15 stops on the way home and cordon off one bathroom at home for 3 days...

Reason #07: "School of Hard Knocks." After the first food poisoning, you learn.

Reason #06: If you are going to can stuff yourself, you should probably label it and perhaps seal it...

Reason #05: What is the annual pink/green/white gelatin with carrots anyway?

Reason #04: Expiration dates aren't there to remind you for what occassion you bought it, nor are they just good ideas...

Reason #03: Buying the dented cans on sale is not always a bargain...even if it was during the Great Depression.

Reason #02: Leaving things to sit in the oven for 3 days does not constitute refrigeration nor does leaving things to cool down on top of the stove overnight...

Reason #01: Because the old family saying says it all: "If you loved the turkey at Thanksgiving, you're really going to love it at Christmas." You can't keep refreezing it and recooking it - over and over and over...

Here are some garage pantry pictures for good measure:

(Note the BBQ on the top shelf from a previous post - 1987 baby!)

(And the marshmallow creme - top and bottom shelf. Anyone up for coffee?)

(Exploding cans - Here's a science lesson for you kids...Can anyone say "Botulism?")

bot·u·lism / Pronunciation[boch-uh-liz-uhm] –noun
a sometimes fatal disease of the nervous system acquired from spoiled foods in which botulin is present, esp. improperly canned or marinated foods.

So one may ask, "What do you guys do now that Mammy doesn't cook and how did you institute that?" Well, glad you asked. It was "painful" but as Mammy aged (and so did the grandkids) we convinced Mammy that everyone would like to participate in cooking and help her out, but didn't have time to come over all day and do it at her house - (that was her solution). Mammy conceded after many concerted efforts of cooking everything before we got there anyway, thinking we'd just stop bringing stuff....

So now my father, the only male left in the family older than my cousins/siblings, is responsible for bringing the meat (usually a turkey or brisket, etc). Everyone else brings side dishes, etc - pretty much whatever they want - we have a lot of great cooks in the family - thank goodness! Mammy still makes lots of side dishes - to include the annual gelatin...

And we've formulated and orchestrated this plan that no one in particular started; it just kinda happened and morphed into this brilliant system that naturally works like clockwork:

Everyone puts their stuff on the dining room table - it's like a buffet and we all go eat in the addition/kitchen. We place all of Mammy's items in a line down the center of the table, "the place of honor" - then everyone else puts their stuff around the outside of the table. All guests/boyfriends/girlfriends, etc are briefed on the table arrangement prior to the prayer - and everyone makes sure any new member/guest got the brief/understands (ask Kris).

We let Mammy go first - she makes her plate and leaves. Then someone, usually my father "Uncle Andra," (Mammy didn't know how to spell "Andre," so she guessed...) makes a big plate of "Mammy food" (sometimes 2) and dissappears to trash it/feed the dog - looks like everyone ate some! (insert magical music here). Everyone else then makes their plate, making a circle around the outside of the table - avoiding the middle line of food. It's a fine-tuned machine and Mammy has yet to figure this out... It's entertaining to say the least -

Life...Happens

I've always been fascinated with the human body (any living thing for that matter) from the study of biology to the study of physiology. It was the only subject I liked in school and I even took Anatomy and Physiology in high school as an elective credit instead of the "fun" courses. I remember my first Life Science course in 7th grade and reading ahead in my textbook on chapters that really interested me, though I didn't even read most of the assigned material in my other classes.

In fact, it was a dead cat that convinced me there was a God, and in turn I completely gave my life to God while hovering over this dead feline. How strange that the cat didn't even know its purpose in life (and death) was to act as a tool to save mine, in a sense? No one would have thought. Anyone in their right mind would say, "That cat's purpose was to teach students about anatomy."

I had grown up in church for the most part and felt God calling me at a very young age, about 2nd grade if I remember correctly. It was very clear to me, though I think many doubted it at my age - it was, and still is, very real to me. I remember it well. But over the course of time, I decided to live my own life under a "cheap grace" concept and eventually came to very much doubt a God I once knew to be calling me... Plagued by doubt through Jr. High and High School, I spent a lot of time researching - and stumbled across a lot of interesting things. I know, what Jr High/HS kid spends their time researching religion? Well, me. I've always been a seeker of truth and research minded. (I walked to the city library after school to wait for city league soccer practice to start across the street at 6pm) It was a passion within me - which I hid from most. Why? Because I didn't want to be swayed by bias evangelists who felt something, but had no proof they had the "right" answers - and got paid for it. I also really struggled with the fact that I didn't agree with a lot of teachings, compared to what I was studying in the Bible they claimed to be "infallible."

The summer after my freshman year of HS, I again felt God calling me...strongly, and by 16 was rededicating my life, but was still plagued by doubt regularly, and was tortured mentally over it. "Had I fallen for my own psychological games? Maybe I psyched myself into this?" "It's still too early to decide - There is still so much I have not read/visited!" "But what if it is real and I deny it?..." But it was this dead cat, my senior year of high school, just before graduation, that convinced me more than any (live) human could about God.

The cat didn't say or do anything (obviously). It just laid there like any dead cat would, but as I continued to study the inner workings of this cat, I found myself in tears, completely marveled. "This is not an accident...The probability is too small...There must be a creator...This is too intelligent for happenstance..." And after pouring through all my thoughts in this hour and half class, I was convinced beyond anyone's reasoning, there was intelligent design; there was a God.

Even through college, taking numerous Biology and A&P courses, nothing has reminded me of this moment so much as the "Our Body" exhibit I saw a couple of months ago (If you haven't been - it's a must see. I know, I'm a big nerd for going to stuff like this "for fun.") But I was in awe of our Creator... there are no words to express except that it brought tears to my eyes, again. A reminder of how much God loved me; that he knew it would take a dead cat to convince my ever-doubting mind, and he made it happen just for me.

Today I was reading up on the discovery and furthering of DNA - regardless of who you believe truly discovered DNA (there is a big controversy over who should be credited), I think the words of Prof. F. Crick (1950's) are thought-provoking and that perhaps he was a "Doubting Thomas" like me, who required a dead animal (microscopic slides) to convince him of a "creator."


Professor Francis Crick, awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA, wrote:

"An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going. The trouble is that there are about two thousand enzymes, and the chance of obtaining them all in a random trial is only one part in (1020)2,000=1040,000, an outrageously small probability that could not be faced even if the whole universe consisted of organic soup.

In terms of complexity, an individual cell is nothing when compared with a system like the mammalian brain. The human brain consists of about ten thousand million nerve cells. Each nerve cell puts out between ten thousand and one hundred thousand connecting fibers by which it makes contact with other nerve cells in the brain. Altogether the total number of connections in the human brain approaches 1015 or a thousand million million. Numbers in the order of 1015 are of course completely beyond comprehension. Imagine an area about half the size of the USA (one million square miles) covered in a forest of trees containing ten thousand trees per square mile. If each tree contained one hundred thousand leaves the total number of leaves in the forest would be 1015, equivalent to the number of connections in the human brain! Despite the enormity of the number of connections, the ramifying forest of fibers is not a chaotic random tangle but a highly organized network in which a high proportion of the fibers are unique adaptive communication channels following their own specially ordained pathway through the brain. Even if only one hundredth of the connections in the brain were specifically organized, this would still represent a system containing a much greater number of specific connections than in the entire communications network on Earth."


Unfortunately, Crick came to another conclusion (1970's) about "the Creator," summarized as follows:
Some extraterrestrial civilization of another solar system, because of the fear of extinction, decided to "seed" other planets with the essence of their live matter. So they sent frozen bacteria out into space, and eventually it reached earth. While on earth, it was these live bacteria from outer space that evolved into life as we see it now...

The sad thing is, Crick had confided to a fellow professor that he didn't really believe his own theory, and his purpose in espousing this theory was to get people to drop all previous theories that they held as true (such as the chemical soup theory, and the mutation theory, etc., all of them built on the idea that live matter can evolve from dead matter, which he held can't be true) and give them an idea which they can relate to, such as unmanned rockets with live bacteria in them, to hold on to. Not that he really believed his own crazy story (though many did/still do), but it was to help people understand that this world could only have developed from live matter. He just didn't want to admit to a "Creator" with no scientific theory/proof - so he went to this extreme instead.

And to me, that's very sad. I think we were standing at the very same crossroad, decades apart. Today, I'm again amazed God spoke to me through a dead cat...with "faith like a child."

Political Food for Thought - Iraq

"To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go
through it. Our country is now facing the most serious
threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced
in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).

The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the
fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly
lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really
means.

First, let's examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?

Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far
as the United States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to
September 2001, with the following attacks on us:
* Iran Embassy Hostages, 197 9;
* Beirut , Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut , Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
* Lockerbie , Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York
1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran , Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military
complex 1996;
* Nairobi , Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam , Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* A! den, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;* Pentagon 2001.

(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there
were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).

2. Why were we attacked?

Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms.
The attacks happened during the administrations of
Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. We
cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there
were no provocations by any of the presidents or their
immediate predecessor, President Ford.

3. Who were the attackers?

In each case, the attack s on the US were carried out
by Muslims.

4. What is the Muslim population of the World?

25%.

5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?

Hopefully, but that is really not material. There
is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of
Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership
of Hitler (who was also Christian (?)), that made no
difference. You either went along with the administration
or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million
Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons
(including
7,000 Polish priests).

(see http://www.Nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm)

Thus, almost the same number of Christians were
killed by the Nazis, as the six million holocaust Jews who
were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other
than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world
focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing
anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of
taking over the world - German, Christian or any others.

Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the
world on the US , but kill all in the way -- their own
people or the Spanish, British, French or anyone else. The
point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no
protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many
peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us
from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are
fanatically bent on doing -- by their own pronouncements
-- killing all of us "infidels." I don't blame the
peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut
up or die?

6. So who are we at war with?

There is no way we can honestly respond that it is
anyone other than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be
politically correct and avoid verbalizing this conclusion
can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't
clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.

So with that background, now to the two major
questions:

1. Can we lose this war?

2. What does losing really mean?

If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two
pivotal questions:

We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as
it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many
of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question
- What does losing mean?

It would appear that a great many of us think that
losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops
home and going on about our business, like post-Vietnam.
This is as far from the truth as one can get.

What losing really means is:

We would no longer be the premier country in the
world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will
steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us,
over the past 18 years. The plan was, clearly, for
terrorists to attack us until we were neutered and
submissive to them.

We would, of course, have no future support from
other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that
they would see; we are impotent and cannot help them.

They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one
at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They
already hold Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it
was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from
Iraq . Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed
their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything
else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.

The next will probably be France. Our one hope on
France is that they might see the light and realize that if
we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't
resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it may
already be too late for France . France is already 20%
Muslim and fading fast!

Without our support Great Britain will go too.
Recently I read that there are more mosques in England than
churches.

If we lose the war, our production, income, exports
and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us if they were threatened by
the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslim terrorists, how
could anyone else?

The radical Muslims fully know what is riding on
this war, and therefore are completely committed to winning,
at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise
committed to winning at any cost.

Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of
losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we
cannot unite and really put 100% of our thought s and efforts
into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to
win.

So, how can we lose the war?

Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by
"imploding." That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to
recognize the enemy and their purpose, and really digging in
and lending full support to the war effort. If we are
united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to
be divided, there is no way that we can win!

Let me give you a few examples of how we simply
don't comprehend the life and death seriousness of this
situation.

President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of
Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were
committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age,
Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that
sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war!
For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of
the civil rig hts we have become accustomed. We had better
be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or
we will most certainly lose all of them permanently.

And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We
gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII, and immediately
restored them after the victory and in fact added many more
since then.

Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton
before him?

No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain
all of our Political Correctness, and all of our civil
rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful,
honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them
out of your head.

Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war
and/or the Administration that it almost seems they would
literally like to see us lose.

I think some actually do, I hasten to add that this
isn't because they are disloyal. It is because they just
don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that
conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are
divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does
great damage to our cause.

Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the
politicians and media regarding the treatment of some
prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying.
We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a
few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our
military police. These are the type prisoners who just a
few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings,
cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and
otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing
with Saddam Hussein. !

And just a few years ago these same type prisoners
chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same
reason. They are also the same type of enemy fighters, who
recently were burning Americans, and dra gging their charred
corpses through the streets of Iraq . And still more
recently, the same type of enemy that was and is providing
videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading
of American prisoners they held.

Compare this with some of our press and politicians,
who for several days have thought and talked about nothing
else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners -- not
burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the
streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them.

Can they be for real?

The politicians and pundits have even talked of
impeachment of the Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't
show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of
the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and
death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of
losing this war, nothing can.

To bring our country to a virtual political
standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero
playing his fiddle as Rome burned -- totally oblivious to
what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any
other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media
people are disloyal. It simply means that they are
absolutely oblivious to the magnitude of the situation we
are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been
pushing us, for many years.

These people are a serious and dangerous liability
to the war effort. We must take note of who they are and
get them out of office. Remember, the Muslim terrorists
stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into
ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United States , but
throughout the world. We are the last bastion of defense.

We have been criticized for many years as being
'arrogant.' That charge is valid. We are arrogant in that
we believe that we are so good, powerful and smart, that we
can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and
that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat
anything bad in the world! We can't!

If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it
will not survive, and no other free country in the world
will survive if we are defeated.

And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout
the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought,
freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal rights for
anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or any status for
women, or that have been productive in one single way that
contributes to the good of the world.

This has been a long way of saying that we must be
united on this war or we will be equated in the history
books to the self- inflicted fall of the Roman Empire . If,
that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be
written or read.

If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye
on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or
less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population
of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the
established French traditions.

The French will be fighting among themselves, over
what should or should not be done, which will continue to
weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn't
that sound eerily familiar?

Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away
from them by some external military force. Instead, they
give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by
politically correct piece.

And they are giving those freedoms away to those who
have shown, worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not
apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in
power.

Muslims have universally shown that when they have
taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over
whom will be the few who control the masses.

What is happening in Iraq is a good example. Will
we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the
"peaceful Muslims"?

I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said
above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose.
I hope now, after the election, the factions in our country
will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and
will unite to save our country. It is your future we are
talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it. I
reiterate. A national election is months away.

After reading the above, we all must do this not
only for ourselves, but our children, our grandchildren, our
country and the world. Whether Democrat or Republican,
conservative or liberal and that includes the Politicians
and media of our country and the free world"

-Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General, USAF, Retired

Thoughts/Arguments anyone?

Shatze Wants to be a Chef...

Last night Kris and I got home after about 11pm and as we walked up to the door Kris said, "I think I'm gonna go straight to bed - I'm pretty tired." I replied, "Yeah, me too."

Little did we know that while we were gone (about 5 hours), Shatze decided to whip up a little something in the kitchen. She decided to use everything on the third shelf...2 boxes of hot chocolate mix, a couple of boxes of apple cider, a bag of brownie mix, some pasta shells and crackers... Unfortunately, we got home too late to take part in the majority of the festivities and just got the left overs - and she left the mess for us to clean up too...

(The view of the dining room as we walked in.)

(Shatze and Roxy ate most all of the chocolate, but apparantly didn't take too
well the the tart taste of the apple cider.)


(Roxy's bed covered in chocolate footprints and hot chocolate foil packaging.)


(Obviously knows she's in trouble, and yet still trying to hide some evidence.)


(The kitchen floor covered in chocolate, dog slobber, and dog prints.)


(You can imagine our thoughts at 11pm...)

(The clean up sweep - you can see none of the chocolate powder was left [or came off the floor] and she ate all the wheat thins. Isn't this like drinking a diet coke with a double cheeseburger and chili fries?)

(The survivors: a few crackers, apple cider, one brownie mix,
and lemon-poppy seed muffin mix...)

Shatze has not done this in a long time...and never this big. And Roxy - her whiskers were completely covered in chocolate. Yes, we know dogs are allergic to chocolate... Shatze probably lost a few braincells considering she ate an entire large bag of miniature Reese's PB Cups a couple of years ago and just left me the foil. Roxy spent the evening throwing it up and then slept in her kennel. Shatze was quite proud of herself but has been regretting it a bit today as she's been really thirsty and trying to take a solid dump...

And to make matters worse, Shatze ate a pair of underwear the previous day (why she was locked downstairs) - just because she was bored.


We can't give her toys because she destroys and eats them in record time - including Kongs... And now, she's sucking on her hip...(refer to previous pet post).

In the News

Today there was a murder-suicide at the AFB... It's all over the news, but the names have not been released...and will not until tomorrow evening, at the earliest, according to Air Force policy.

But I know who he is... This guy was crazy - absolutely crazy. I knew he was - I tried to tell people, but they wouldn't listen. They just shook their heads and said there was no way. He's too good of a guy...he couldn't do that. Leave him alone...

But he did - He waited until his wife left and then he killed them. In cold blood. He shot his own 8 year-old daughter and 4 year-old son. Then the coward shot himself.

He never faced justice for anything he did - people always let him off. And now when no one could save him from yet another situation he created, he shot himself. I'm sure to avoid justice.

You want my opinion why he didn't shoot the mom (but did the kids) even though he had access, was so mad at her, and wanted the kids in the divorce? Because he knew he couldn't have them and wanted her to suffer...

And tonight, she suffers... Not that listening to me now will do any good...

Tonight, I'm just beside myself - a multitude of emotions I don't quite have grasp of, currently summed up by, "angry, guilt-stricken, and broken." I wish I could interrogate him now...

Why can't people just listen to reason? And why do abused women keep coming back?
(These are rhetorical questions...please don't send me answer messages).

And this one goes out to Tonya... in Israel!

A few weeks ago, I was "chatting" with Tonya via yahoo messenger - Isn't technology great!??!?! As we were discussing future plans for her and Brent's return to Oklahoma after about 6 months away, I did not realize I knew something Tonya didn't know...

As I made a solemn vow to Tonya that Kris and I (and whomever else wanted to go) would take her to the new Chipotle in Edmond (OKC metro) upon her return, Tonya lost her mind... For those of you who don't know, there is a large Chipotle following in Oklahoma who go out of their way to go to Chipotle every time they are in Texas.... No one had told Tonya they built a Chipotle in Edmond while she was gone! Even during the months of building - no one told her!

So I not only promised to take Tonya to a Chipotle in the OKC metro area, but also to take pictures and send her an electronic Chipotle meal...

Well, we forgot to take the camera when we went for the first time - so we had to make a second trip this Saturday night after Shabbot. (Saturday's are my diet cheat days).

So Tonya - this one goes out to you! Proof there is a Santa Claus - I mean Chipotle...in Edmond.

(Arrival...Chipotle by night)

(See, we didn't pull this picture off the internet, we were there!)

(Kris sends you a fajita burrito...see chipotle cup? Not a fake chipotle burrito!)


(I send you steak tacos - they were out of chicken...again. See, I also have a chipotle cup and paper...)

(Leaving...the Edmond Chipotle sign - in Hampton Village [whatever that is])

There you go Tonya - tacos and a burrito send to you with love...via internet travel.