How Spike Fits In With This Day In History

March 18th

1766 - American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, which had been very unpopular in the British colonies.

1850 - American Express is founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo.

1893 - Former Governor General Lord Stanley pledges to donate a silver challenge cup, later named after him, as an award for the best hockey team in Canada; originally presented to amateur champions, the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the top pro team since 1910, and since 1926, only to National Hockey League teams.

2003 - The Iraq War begins. Just hours before the United States begins bombing Iraq, about $1 billion is taken from Iraq's Central Bank by Saddam Hussein and his family, possibly causing the biggest bank robbery in history.[1]



Thank you Wikipedia. However you failed to include the watershed moment in 1977 when I graced this world...but you will.

In This Post Spike Will Attempt To Sort Out The Random Thoughts In His Jumbled Mind

It's been a long with out a real post. I apologize to you, gentle readers, and also to myself. It's been a funky few months for the brain of Spike, all disordered and unfocused. But I think I'm getting back in form now, so it's time for some of those random thoughts to be expressed.

I'll be 31 tomorrow; cause for celebration? I celebrate another year with my family, a new daughter, loved ones coming through illness, the continuing adventures of marriage, the joys of fatherhood, the joys of fanhood (Go Sox!)...there are a lot of people and events to celebrate this past year, and I am greatful that they touched my life.

I had to put a second mortgage on my house to pay for gas at the pump. It's a chicken race between alternate fuels and the end of the middle class.

Client Number 9...you were a rising star...why?

Lost is as good as ever.

March Madness! March Madness! Best time of the year!

I love The Pogues.

Which brings me to...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountainside.
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling.
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,
'Tis I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow.
Oh Danny Boy, Oh Danny Boy, I love you so.
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying
If I'm dead, as dead I well may be.
Ye'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an Ave there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And o'er my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me

--Frederick Wheatherly

Spike Has Been Intending To post

...but like they say...even the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Spike Has An Opinion

They say Blonds have more fun, but the way I see it, Redheads make it fun for every one else.

;)

Spike Dedicates This To His Dad

We had some news about my father last week. It could have been worse, but it really could have been a lot better. I don't feel that the specifics of the problem are that important to you gentle reader, but when faced with a loved-one's mortality it gives many a moment of pause. I've questioned many of the actions, deeds, and beliefs that make up my life until this point. Thank you for that moment of intospection, Dad...I'm sorry for what brought it about.

Anyhow, Dylan Thomas sums up my thoughts.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that
good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage
against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is
right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle
into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against
the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into
that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the
dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle
into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


-- Dylan Thomas

When Posting Gets Tough --- Spike Posts A Quote

"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm
mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come
here."

Lewis Carroll -- Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Welcome to Spike's Mad Hatter page.

Spike Wishes He Had Crystal Ball

It's really hard to make a big decision when there are so many pros and cons for either side. I guess that's the purpose of a time machine...

Is there some way to mystically fortell the future course of both paths to see which way they lead? Which way is better? Dammit! They both are good yet could both really suck.

I really should be concentrating on making a choice. Of course not being a big-risk taker by nature doesn't help either...

I'd better go; my destiny awaits.

Spike Strikes Back

I don't care what you said! The Silver Surfer rocks! Renaissance Fests suck! AND NO, they are no anywhere near the same thing. No fairies whistling at you from a tree at my house...but Chester knows who Norrin Radd is...'cause he kicks a**! Yeah!

Spike Does Not Like Long Posts

...So I err on the side of caution. I sometimes think that my post are too short, too soundbytish, too as the french say I don't know what. However, I feel that if I can only find the time to write a brief (That's what they call it!) entry into my blog it is because I and also very many in this busy world are just that, busy, involved, overwhelmed, or as the french say...whatever it is that they say. So when I add my current circumstance of the busy life of the average working man with my current strive to positivity I come up with the conclusion that I like short posts better. Look at it. Many people check the blog lines daily, so isn't getting posts regularly or even daily better than waiting around for a week or two for some lengthy windbaggery which could have been broken up into several smaller statements, messages, or post? Keeps people interested?

Now I know I haven't been doing this very long at all, but this just sort of came to me lately. The only thing I really have to go by is this brief experience, though, and I my experience when I set out to write some manifesto I stall out after so long and then loose the passion about the subject and then lose interest altogether. For me short post are better, and short post I shall.

Spike Read A Transcript

...of a speech by Barack Obama which he made almost a year ago. I'm still undecided on him as a Presidential Candidate, but jeez...the man can orate.

Barack Obama on Reconciling Faith and Politics Below is only an exerpt but the whole speech is well worth the read.

For some time now, there has been plenty of talk among pundits and pollsters that the political divide in this country has fallen sharply along religious lines. Indeed, the single biggest "gap" in party affiliation among white Americans today is not between men and women, or those who reside in so-called Red States and those who reside in Blue, but between those who attend church regularly and those who don't.
Conservative leaders have been all too happy to exploit this gap, consistently reminding evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their Church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage; school prayer and intelligent design.
Democrats, for the most part, have taken the bait. At best, we may try to avoid the conversation about religious values altogether, fearful of offending anyone and claiming that - regardless of our personal beliefs - constitutional principles tie our hands. At worst, there are some liberals who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant, insisting on a caricature of religious Americans that paints them as fanatical, or thinking that the very word "Christian" describes one's political opponents, not people of faith.