First and Last....

My first rose..and hopefully the last ice!

Certified....

Consulting for and assisting with my old Infantry Division in Iraq has been an honor, a privelage, economically rewarding, more than a little interesting and hey.....it's alway nice to receive a Certificate of Appreciation.

Interesting Tidbit...

Those who have been around the Internet for 10 years or more will remember the "search engine turf wars" before Google and Yahoo became the main games in town. There were many contenders but 4 or 5 were probably dominant, including Lycos. Like modern day Yahoo, players in the search engine game were also trying to grab business by doing the whole gamut of web related business. As Google won the lead share many of the contenders evolved, or perhaps devolved, into mainly web portal and web service companies as has Lycos today. Lycos is still around and a viable company in such areas as purchasing and hosting domains.

So here's the interesting part. The founder of Lycos, Michael Mauldin is a Midland High School grad. Not only a grad, but he was the Valedictorian in 1977. Midland High, it turns out, has spawned a few noted scholars who have made good; too bad I'm not one of them.

Fifteen years.....

It was fifteen years ago today that I stopped drinking. I don't take much credit for myself, but defer the kudo's for that to a few good friends and family who never gave up hope, to AA and to the kindness of God. Though there have been some tough times, even sober, I'm grateful for every day I've been given in the last fifteen years. By all accounts I shouldn't be here today, one doctor had given me one more year to live if I didn't stop drinking.

When I think of that I think of my good friend Rufe, as I often do, who in fact did drink himself to death five years after I quit. As they say, "but for the grace of God.....there go I".

Fifteen years. That's a long time between cold beers, but frankly, given the options, I don't miss them. Thanks to all..

Build a high tech car..

There are Bubba's in Canada too! If you've never seen the Red Green Show, here's a preview with Red building his own high tech car on the cheap.

The Power of the Internet...

For me, probably the greatest miracle of the Internet has been connecting with people, both meeting new folks and connecting with friends from the past. I met one of my best friends, author Joe Galloway online in 1999. We communicate almost every day now, usually by email but also on the phone. And I have been put back in contact with a good many people whom I never would have found otherwise.

Back in June of last year I wrote an article about the passing of my old friend and outrigger canoe mentor Sam Steamboat in Hawaii. Yesterday I received this note from his daughter Samantha.

I appreciate your comments about my Dad. He certainly was proud of your crew accomplishment. He shared that particular story with us on a regular basis at home around the dinner table. I am sorry that you were not contacted with the communication of his death. I wish that I could have done more to reach all those who would have wanted to know. Please contact me so that I can get your mailing address and send you something that you might want to see.

Mahalo,
Samantha Mokuahi Moikeha,
Sam Steamboat's daughter

What a nice present to hear from a member of Sam's family after all these years. And as I reminded Samantha, I had actually met her at a number of canoe functions when she was a very young girl hanging around her Dad at the beach at Waikiki.

Paul Harvey....

I was saddened to note in Sunday's paper, the passing of Paul Harvey. He seemed like a gentleman and a gentle man too. He was also a link to my dim past.

When I was in the 6th grade at Bowie Elementary in Midland, our legendary teacher, Lucia Pearl Penney, had us listen to the Paul Harvey news each day before we went to eat at the school cafeteria. We weren't dismissed for lunch until Paul was through. This was back in the days when talking or whispering among the students was not tolerated, and so we listened with rapt attention to the radio. At any other time of the day we would have thought listening to the radio in class was a cool deal, but the length of Paul's news affected our lunch period so I think we were all anxious for Paul to wrap things up as quickly as possible.

Paul's newscast was full of pregnant pauses, so when he would come to what we percieved as the end, Paul would pause and utter those unwelcomed words......"and now.....page 2". Damn. But Paul usually had a personal interest story about some common citizen doing something uncommon at the end of the news and I think that made it all worthwhile to the sixth grade class. Something must have made a great impression on me, to remember this all so clearly all these many years later. I was in the sixth grade, many.....many years ago and Paul Harvey just quite broadcasting last year. Amazing.

And now....you know the rest of the story.

Life in Dogville..

This didn't win any Academy Awards, but it should have. Like "Best Dog in a Dramatic Role". From the 1930 "Dogville" serials.

Google Maps...360

I've always loved maps and aerial photos, so I go to Google Maps frequently to look and see what I can find in the way of interesting aerial views. I've looked at my old house in Dallas before, at 6266 Town Hill Lane, for there are usually updated, clearer photos on each visit.

But tonight when I went there, I was blown away. Not only by the fact that my old home has been torn down [burned?], and a new structure is under construction, but by the fact that now Google Maps allows me a ground level view of the whole street. By using my mouse, I found that I could switch from the standard aerial view, to a street level 360 degree movable panoramic view. It's simply astounding! Click on the photo above for a larger view....and if you have some familiar place to look at in Dallas give this a try! Or go to Google Maps, type in 6266 Town Hill Ln, Dallas, TX enter "search" and then use the pop up box to go to the "street view" shot. You can move the little yellow "man" in the lower right box to move around the street. Too cool.

And I have to say, that from the ground, except for the trees being larger, the street and homes look remarkably the same as when I left it almost 18 years ago. The tree next to the "porta potty" is a big magnolia tree that stood outside the guest room window of the old house. 18 years...where does the time go!

Later, update: I found that Midland Texas has been video mapped too, showing a wintery 360 degree view around 1207 Bedford Midland Texas.

Where are the frogs.....?

I'm not an alarmist, nor a believer in quack science but sometimes you have to listen to the evidence and be very concerned. While global warming gets all the media attention, there are probably more pressing issues. Tonight I attended a live webcast lecture by noted biologist Tyrone Hayes which we at the Sibley Nature Center sponsored with The University of Texas. Dr. Hayes is a noted amphibian researcher, who was hired as a consultant to the Swiss chemical company Syngenta to verify that it's fertilizer component atrazine was not a problem to the environment. What he found was quite the opposite.

It turns out that frogs, like the canaries in the old coal mine, are good predictors for health issues in humans. And what he noted is that frogs species all over the world are dying off and mutating at an alarming rate. As he noted, there are many causes, but his involvement with the chemical company showed that pesticide runoff from agricultural lands was one of the leading causes. And atrazine is one of the worst offenders as it does not easily naturally decompose.

As he noted. Atrazine has been totally banned in Europe, even in Switzerland home of atrazine. Angola, with it's decades long history of civil war induced death and violence, has banned atrazine as too dangerous to use! One part per billion in water has been shown to be life threatening to frogs...in the USA we use 80 million pounds a year. Dangerous levels of atrazine are now commonly found in natural rain water in heavily agricultural areas of the US midwest.

Poor frogs......poor humans, atrazine travels up the food chain to what we eat, and it is now commonly found in most water sources. The hormonal actions from atrazine which causes mutation and abnormal sex changes in frogs are the same ones that cause breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

Dr Hayes has been noted in National Geographic and you can read more here about the story of his findings. Or read his website, to learn more.

Friends drop in....

Good friends Bruce and Arlene Crandall stop in Midland on their way back from the inauguration and annual Medal of Honor Ball in Washington. The very same function in the news for it's "non-attendee", the new president. Bruce is a Vietnam Medal of Honor recepient.

Bruce and Arlene travel across the country in a rather large RV and used to park their wheeled home in my driveway when they would stop in to visit. On one occasion some years ago, they deposited almost the entire load of the vehicle's hydraulic fluid on my driveway...and on the next visit Bruce adeptly knocked part of my brick wall down while parking. So...feeling some remorse, on their recent visits they've stayed at the RV campgrounds near the Interstate and the Warfield Truck Stop. Being worn out from their long RV drive from Dallas, they asked if I could drive out to meet them for some fine dining at the Truck Stop; a high end truck stop with some decent food and "interesting" dining companions. But, being outside the city limits they still allow the dining partons to smoke where ever they wish.....which being truckers is everywhere. I have forgotten what a foul experience dining ala smoke is!

Homecoming welcome..

It was an amazing event, seeing 30,000 of your townsfolk out for a singular event....the homecoming celebration for George and Laura Bush. Truly magical and best said by me in some of my photos taken from one of the best seats in the house thanks to a "White House Press Pool" pass!
Bush Homecoming Slideshow

Presidential Event..

If you are planning on attending the welcome home for President Bush next Tuesday, just a quick reminder. Please leave your ammunition and mace at home.

[from ticket reverse side]

Basketball......!

Three full days of basketball at the Byron Johnston Tournament in Midland, yielded great results. The MHS Lady Dawgs won the tournament and the MHS men's team were runner's up behind a very good Midland Lee team. Lot's of fun, good crowds and I got to see a lot of folks I hadn't seen in quite awhile. And as always interesting photos.

Lady Dawgs Photos
Bulldog Men's Photos

Thanks....CBS7

Christmas For OUR Troops, our organization sending gift boxes to our troops overseas, relies heavily on volunteers and donations. To get large numbers of volunteers and donated items, we have to rely on good media coverage. Probably no media source has been more helpful in the last years as has CBS7, going so far as to send a news crew to San Antonio last May to cover our event at Brooke Army Medical Center.

So it didn't surprise me at all when earlier this week my friend, CBS7 anchor, Catherine Collins called saying they wanted to do a follow up story about the troops receiving our packages. And so the next day we taped a spot which aired on Christmas Day.

So thanks and Merry Christmas to Catherine, Jose, Eddie, Jordan, Beau, Stephanie and all the other folks at CBS7 who help us out!

Remembering my Dad...

My Dad has been gone a little over two years now, the last day of November to be exact. I, of course, thought about the event on that day this year but sometimes, with other events happening at that time, it seems so sad that I'd rather not mention it in public. But tonight for some odd reason I was looking back over old posts on "Streams" and came across what I had written about him on Father's Day of 2002. It is still appropriate even now with him gone......

I'm making meat loaf, for Fathers Day with My Dad, Mom and xxxxx.

I am blessed that my Dad is still here, and living with my Mom only 4 blocks away...in the house I mostly grew up in. My Dad, a child of the "depression", worked from age 12 to help support his family because that's just what people did and he didn't consider himself special, but his Mom and Sister did.

My Dad, the soldier, left for WWII and didn't come home for 3 years. His best Army buddy was killed right beside him on their first day of combat in Italy. My Dad who endured many months of hard combat, and was evacuated only after his feet had frozen in the Vosge Mountains of France. My Dad who came home, and didn't talk about it all for the next 50 years, because it was too hard, and because as an American it was simply his duty to perform.....and that's what everyone did, so he didn't consider himself special. But we do.

My Dad who really worked way too hard to send three sometimes ungrateful kids to the best colleges while forgoing things he had dreamed of all his life. I only suspect this because he never mentioned it and didn't consider himself special....but we do.

My Dad who watched a son descend into the hellish pit of alcohol, but never had a harsh word, only good advice. And had the patience to wait years for this advise to sink in and didn't consider himself special......but I do.

My Dad who has always been there for everyone in the whole family, put everyone else first and always did the very best he could because that's what Dad's do and didn't consider himself special........but we do!!

Letters from Iraq....

Mailed just one week ago, amazingly enough, our gift boxes to Our Troops overseas are starting to arrive! We've received emails of thanks all day long from Iraq. The note below from a contact made through the 25th Infantry Divsion says it all....

Dear Friends,
It is hard to describe the feeling of warmth I have felt the whole day from deep inside. Your packages arrived at our Medical Facility here in COB Speicher today.

As our Soldiers started coming in, our Mail detail urged everyone to pick up their boxes. You should have seen the look of sheer pleasure in our kid's eyes when they saw the big boxes with their names on them. Their broad smiles, the way they wrapped their arms around the packages and showed to each other in amazement the good things you sent us made me realize how young and impressionable they still are.

I want you to know that your extraordinary act of kindness to our brave kids was well received and cannot be thanked enough.

People like you are the reason why we fight with pride. We fight for patriots like you. We fight for those who love and remember their young Troops who serve all around the world.

It has been a good busy day of work in this strange, troubled land. Seeing the progress made by those who go outside the wire risking their lives for a better Iraq and peace in America gives me hope for the future. In many ways you have been here side by side with us. You have reached out and touched our hearts. My prayers tonight will be for you and your loved ones to receive all the blessings you deserve.

May God keep you and your families in his loving hands. Thank you, dear friends. Thank you for giving our Troops a very Merry Christmas.

v/r,

Miguel Benzor-Anaya
CAPT, MS
25th Infantry Division

Smart or Stoopid....?

Hey, I've been trying to tell you!! Take the test yourself

Mission complete....

Over 100 volunteers packed 1,285 Christmas gift boxes for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan today. A truly amazing group of people for whom I have the highest respect and admiration. Special kudos go to a great group of kids, the Midland High cheerleaders, who came over after school, got right to work and quickly packed over 100 boxes. This in addition to making Christmas For OUR Troops their official non-profit organization and donating the proceeds from their poster sales to our cause. And not an insignificant amount either! Thanks to all. Here are a few images from the day. CFOT Photos

Santa's final push.

A quick reminder that this Wednesday, Dec 3rd, we will be packing Christmas gift boxes to be sent to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have a warehouse full of donated items to be packed into almost 1,300 boxes, so we can use a lot of help! If you would like to come for all afternoon, or just an hour or so, we'd love to have you. Santa's elves will be working at the Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church on W. Texas Ave. in Midland starting at about 1 p.m. on Wed.

Here are some photos of last years workers and also some from a couple of the recepients. CFOT photos