Keith Urban has Problems?

I was looking at Time today and saw an article about Keith Urban. It seems he has checked into rehab for alcohol abuse. There was much speculation about Nicole Kidman's reaction since it was assumed they had a prenupt that would restrict Urbam from getting anything if he fell off the wagon. Keith Urban was an admitting cocaine abuser who last seeked treatment in 1998.
Now I've got a question here. Someone that has it made like Keith Urban has a problem? Not to sound gay here (nothing wrong with being gay), but if I had half the looks of Keith Urban, I'd say I was blessed. Hell if I could look half as good as he does I'd French him. Looks and a hell of a singing talent. Hmmmmmmmmmm
This seems to be one hell of a coincidence. I was listening to my bud Dan Klass. I've never met him. But. ,after sharing his self examinations posted on his podcasts, I feel like I know him personally. His last podcast left an impression on me. By the time I finished listening to it, I knew I needed to look at my surroundings and be thankful. Just look at the world around me and "see the beauty". This time of year in West Virginia is full of color. I know it's an old cliche. But the fall colored mountains just bring to mind that winter is fast approaching.
So, do like I did this week. Take a look around you. If you look . You will see beauty. It's all around us.

My Childhood Collection Revisited

You know, I was a strange puppy growing up. Hell.... Ask people who know me now and they'll say I haven't changed. But I digress.

Everyone collects things when they are young. Girls may collect dolls or little artsy-fartsy stamps to make cute little designs in their diaries. And everyone knows they collect jewelry. In my sister's case it was boyfriends.

Boy’s collections, on the other hand, could vary substantially. (I not saying this isn't true for girls.......trying to be PC now) I knew some guys that collected baseball cards. Some collected bugs (a collection that didn't last long). Some of the smart ones collected comic books. A group in our neighborhood built a couple of forts in the woods. There they collected nudie books. These guys were cool!

For awhile it was marbles. (This is the first form of gambling addiction. You show up for a game and before you know it. You've lost your marbles.)

My brother collected beer cans. Of course he was a little older, but he made money doing this. Did you know a 1st generation Budweiser can, will sell for 100's of dollars?

Now, this brings me back to myself (My favorite subject.) I had a scrapbook. After years tucked away in an old box at my mother's house, I found it when we visited over the holidays. I'm sure it dates back to '71 or '72. I believe I was 7 or 8 at the time. I collected newspaper articles. I kept them in a photo album. They were articles (mostly pictures) of car crashes.

I remember this one picture to this day. It was a couple of late '60's passenger cars. In those days trucks were not as prevalent so you really never saw them involved in an accident. At least, I don't recall.

I can't remember if anyone died, and my curiosity does not include the blood and gore. I was once the first on the scene of a rollover in the Arizona dessert. The one occupant was still crumpled in the corner of the cab, head titled strangely from a broken neck. No, I don’t want to see the people involved. I'm fascinated by the physics involved to bend metal this way and that. To actually see metal that has torn like a piece of paper that contains a "Dear John" message. I can sit and stare at a wrecked car just imagining the forces that have worked on the structure and wondered which piece gave way first.

Back to my scrapbook. This one particular photo depicted an all too often familiar scène. You could tell it was a rainy night as the pavement glistened in the light. Two cars set facing one another only 15-20 feet apart. In front of a pitch-black background the work lights from the emergency equipment lit up the scene. The photographer's flash created sparkles on the wet pavement from the bits of glass sprinkled throughout the crash site.

On the right side of the photo was some kind of car (the make was impossible to tell).
The driver's side was facing the camera and the hood had landed against the back door and quarter panel. The front door was missing (presumably cut away by the rescue workers). The front wheel had melded into the metal that had once been the front end, frame, suspension, and radiator support. The firewall had been shoved back a couple of feet and also pushed in towards the middle. It didn’t seem if the driver’s compartment existed anymore. The car basically looked like a right-triangle shaped blob of metal with sharp edges. I can't recall the other car. It was facing the opposite direction and the damage looked minor from the passenger's side.

I looked at this picture for hours over the years each time running the details through my mind. Wondering, how can a car are destructed so completely, only in a matter of seconds. The scrapbook contained more spectacular accident scene photos. I must have collected these photos for a year.

The subjects of my scrapbook's picture changed from the accident scene photos to photos of the Mustang racecar my father partly owned. I soon added some family pictures, taken with the cheapest 110mm camera a kid's allowance could afford.

This morbid fascination continues to this day. Not only do I go looking on You Tube, but I work for a company that also owns a fleet of wreckers. Our town is connected to one of the busiest interstates on the east coast. The amount of traffic, both cars and 18 wheelers, leads to a substantial number of accidents. These accidents along with accidents on the winding country roads in our area supply a never-ending collection of wrecked cars temporally stored at our company's yard.

I only collect the images in my mind now. But, at times I wonder if this would be my dream job. Accident investigator.........................Kewl.

Will We All Just Get Along?

My parents were a product of the Jim Crow South of the 50’s and 60’s. When it came to race relations, they were the stereotypical white South Arkansan. I’m not saying they were “card carrying” and had hoods in the closet. (I did have a friend whose father owned a KKK “uniform”) But, I will say they didn’t trust black people.

Born in ’64, I grew up in a 70’s middle class neighborhood which was located on the “wrong side of the tracks”. It was isolated by wooded areas on all sides and it was 100% Caucasian. Needless to say, except for school, I was separated from most minorities for most of my formative years.

My first big realization of the depth of my prejudice happened when I was 22. I was an Asst. Manager of a local steak house. After a long, busy Friday night, I returned to the kitchen to find a disaster. I lost my temper, and yelled out. “Clean this damn place up, it looks like a bunch of “N’s” are working here”.

Now after saying this I didn’t think any more about it. Unknown to me, I was overheard by one of our best customer service employees. Less than an hour later this employee asks to speak to me. She explained how offended she was and she could no longer work for someone who thought like I did. What could I say? I was as guilty as I could be. This must rank as one of the most embarrassing moments in my life and it convinced me to do a little soul searching. .

I recently attended my brother’s wedding. His wife couldn’t be more charming. She is a beautiful woman and has a personality that brings out the best in people. But, my parents are not happy. No, not happy at all. It’s hard for them to see more than her color. Me…. Personally, I don’t care. As long as he is happy, does it matter?

Now……Before I go patting myself on the back, I have noticed a new outlook develop. Have I turned my prejudice from the color black to the color brown??

I can understand the desire to better one’s situation. There is something noble about leaving the comfort of one’s family to travel to a foreign land to better provide for one’s family. You know, “To seek out new life and new civilizations”……Wait a minute. That’s the Star Fleet credo.

Seriously, isn’t that one our fundamental beliefs? We as citizens of the US, have the freedom to pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness? We are encouraged to make the most of our resources. It should be our goal to prosper and become more productive.

This nation was founded by immigration. Our country is strengthened by the addition of people with the desire to improve their quality of life. The legal immigration policy is designed to help, us as a country, assimilate skilled workers into our labor pool.
Adding skilled or gifted individuals to our population makes us a stronger nation.

The recent highlighting of the rampant influx (some say invasion) of illegal aliens is bringing back those old feelings. I sympathize with their motives, but I don’t believe this country can support the millions of illegals here now and the millions that are waiting to come over the border.

There has to be a return on investment. If we are spending x amount of dollars to educate and provide medical care, what are we getting in return? It’s documented that a majority of the wages earned are sent back to Mexico. These are dollars taken out of our economy and redistributed to the economy of Mexico.

This brings me back to my dilemma. Am I being patriotic by wishing my government to address this problem? Or is this just the rationalization I need to hide my true feelings?

You can't just watch it once

I almost lost track of time checking out this website. Don't get hypnotized. So, put on the headphones and enjoy.

Good Deeds Do Pay

Homeless man finds best reward is honesty
Community rallies around man, gives him $4,000 for returning $21,000 bond

The Associated Press

DETROIT - A homeless man who returned $21,000 worth of saving bonds he found in a trash bin is finding out how much honesty can pay off.

Charles Moore, 59, had been searching for returnable bottles last week when he came across the 31 U.S. savings bonds. He turned them in to a homeless shelter, where a staff member tracked down the family of the man who had owned them.

For his good deed, the bond owner’s son gave Moore $100, but residents around Michigan and in other states decided his action merited a more generous reward.
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So far, Moore has received over $4,000.

One man sent him eight trash bags full of returnable bottles and a bowl of coins. Three others gave a combined $2,500, and two businessmen from Troy donated $1,200, a shopping spree and a lead on a job.

“I was thankful for it,” said Moore, who had lost his roofing job in Ohio and moved back to Michigan but couldn’t find work.

Moore said he plans to use the money to find an apartment.

David C. Smith, of Albuquerque, N.M., gave Moore $1,000. Smith said he and his fiancée wouldn’t have thought twice about what to do if the bonds had belonged to them.

“We would have given him the whole amount, period,” Smith said. “No questions asked.”

The Marboro Man Becomes a Midwife?

Hmmmm. Is this a new campaign by the tobacco companies? I would doubt it, just another example of today's youth led astray.


Pregnant teens take up smoking to avoid pain of childbirth
By JAMES CHAPMAN Last updated at 23:47pm on 3rd October 2006

Pregnant teenagers are taking up smoking in the hope of having smaller babies so that childbirth is less painful, a Government minister warned.

Labour's public health minister Caroline Flint made the extraordinary claim after discussions with health professionals and young mothers.

Miss Flint warned women that the practice was futile because the commonly-held idea that giving birth to a large baby is more painful is a myth.

"It is important that we understand what stops young women making healthy choices so we can provide the right answers to their concerns," she said.

"In this case, childbirth is no less painful if your baby is low weight. So smoking is not the answer, pain relief is."

The Health Department said Miss Flint has heard about the practice "anecdotally from health professionals and young women she has met".

Official advice is that women should not smoke at all during pregnancy.

It is known that babies of smokers are more likely to be miscarried or born underweight, and more likely to suffer future health problems.

Research suggests women who smoke are less likely to carry their babies to full term and there is a 26 per cent increased risk that they will miscarry or experience a stillbirth.

Babies of smoking mothers are an average 7 oz lighter at birth.

Despite years of anti-smoking initiatives targeting expectant mothers, the number of pregnant smokers has remained high.

Figures show that one in ten women continue to smoke when they are pregnant.

Around 400 babies a year die in the womb or shortly after being born directly because of their mother's nicotine habit.

Women aged 20 or under were more likely to smoke before or during pregnancy than those aged 35 and over.

Royal College of Midwives expert Gail Johnson said there was no evidence that having a smaller baby reduced pain in labour.

"Midwives are a vital key to advise women about smoking, diet and lifestyle - issues which are important for the health of the woman and her baby but also impact on the wider public health of families," she said.

"Many midwives offer classes designed specifically to meet the needs of teenagers and challenge their peer group chats about keeping down their weight by smoking rather than healthy eating and exercise.

"Midwives know how important it is to support pregnant women and they can link with other support agencies to provide advice on smoking cessation.

"It is vital that the risks associated with smoking are highlighted and that women are then supported to make changes to their lifestyle but the RCM is very clear that there is no evidence that the size of the baby relates to the amount of pain the woman may experience."

Baby charity Tommy's said any mother who smoked during pregnancy was putting her child at unnecessary risk.

Spokesman Charlotte Davies said: "Much research has shown that women who smoke during pregnancy give birth to babies on average 7oz lighter than those born to those who don't.

"Worryingly, many women are seeing this as a reason to smoke whilst pregnant, as they believe the myth that the lower the birth weight of the baby, the lower the pain level experienced during labour.

"However, there is no evidence to show that the level of pain during labour and the weight of the baby are related.

"Therefore women, not just teenagers, who continue to smoke during pregnancy are putting the health of their baby at unnecessary risk, as smoking is the biggest preventable cause of low birth weight babies in the UK.

"Much research has shown that mothers who smoke during pregnancy are at an increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth, and that low birth weight babies are more likely to suffer respiratory illness, which can often last into adulthood.

And They Say Blondes Are Dumb

This really does answer the question on who is smarter? The blonde or the brunette. Well........ Maybe it doesn't. You decide.