The Lakers, Back where they belong The NBA Finals

All I can say today is: Go Lakers!!

And.. I hope the East goes to Game 7 so they can be too tired to play..

(picture courtesy of: this website)

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Finally, a Memorial for all victims of the Holocaust

During World War II the German Nazi's tortured many different sects of society. Those that did not fit into their "Nazi mold" were shunned, discriminated against, and sometimes even killed. Everyone knows the stories of the Jews in Nazi Germany and how they were sent to concentration camps, and were made to have the Star of David on their clothes and their shops, to differentiate and let people know they were Jewish. However, the story of another group is never heard as loud. It is the story of the homosexuals that the Nazis went after. 50,000 men were deemed criminals by the German state, because Nazi Germany saw homosexuality as an arbitration to society. Some 10,000 to 15,000 people were sent to concentration camps for this, and many did not survive.

After World War II there have been many monuments and things built to remember what the Nazi's did, and so that we do not let such things ever happen again. Nevertheless, nothing has ever really been built to recognize the plite of the gays in Nazi Germany. The end is now over. There is now a new Memorial for gay victims in the Tiergarten, in Berlin.

"We stand stunned before the brutality with which the Nazis threatened, persecuted and destroyed all those who did not correspond to their inhuman ideology," Neumann said. (from CNN.com article: link below) Neumann is Germany's Cultural Minister.

I think it's about time!
Read more at: Memorial for gay victims of Nazis unveiled

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The Ballad of Hillary Clinton..

Oh, how I wish it was over..

Can you feel the tension?

On May 31st of this month the Democratic National Committee will meet together and decide what they are going to do about Florida & Michigan. These states that have broken the rules. The DNC is now turning back around and putting them right where they wanted to be originally: in an all important race. They wanted to have the spotlight. They wanted to have the fame. And unfortunately, they are going to get it. However, if the DNC gives all of the votes to Hillary, helping her clinch a nomination she has not really won, I might just stay in Germany. Forever.

And then there is Bill.. OH, BILL..! He is now claiming that his wife has been mistreated, by basically everyone. By the Super delegates, that rightfully want her to drop out so that the party can reunite and defeat John McCain. The media who passed their math tests in Elementary, apparently they teach different math in Clinton ville?

I really did used to have a lot of respect for Bill Clinton. I still do. I love his Clinton Global Initiative work. I love that he paid attention to New Orleans after Katrina when the present monkey for a President did not. But I do not love that he is so passionately confused about his wife's run for President, that he is messing up his own legacy. C'mon Hillary, drop out for Bill.

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Rock-N-Roll Thrills

Anyone that knows me, knows that
I love Roller coasters.. and I love Music. So when I read about the new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I couldn't help but get excited!

This is a new theme park where each roller coaster has it's own theme music! They even have a Firework show every night set to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. How cool is that?!


This is all brought to us by the Hard Rock corporation, who usually brings us Hard Rock Cafes.. where I love the club sandwich, and not rides. "We realized everybody had done movie parks," said Steven Goodwin, the park's chief executive officer. "Why do something everyone else has done in Orlando and Paramount parks around the country? We just thought rock 'n' roll was a natural." Count me in!

Read more at: New Hard Rock Park features rock 'n' roller coasters
or here HardRockCafe.com

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Happy Birthday Grandpa

Today is my Grandpa's Birthday. Shirley Glen Harding. He would have been 75 years old. He died 7 years ago.

For his birthday, I thought I would write of things that made him awesome.

1. He LOVED flowers: he always had flower ideas, and wanted to plant new things. Even if he did pronounce perennials, "pre-annuals" which I never understood. Before yearly? But he was my Grandpa Shirl, and he was good at flowers. When I was younger, whenever we would have weeds in our flowers he would say "When ya gonna pull these weeds, youngin'?" (yep.. he said "youngin" .. I love it, I still think of him every time I hear anyone say that). He'd always "bite" me with snap dragons too. I like snap dragons, and I think I got my obsession with flowers from him.

2. He also had Enormous Gardens. With fruits and vegetables, and somehow it grew bigger and bigger and BIGGER every year. We would eat strawberries, radishes, carrots, and the best tomatoes. The tomatoes were for yummy fresh salsa, of course.

3. He always had a story.. especially when he was getting older. Sometimes we got frustrated, because he would end up telling us the same story over and over and over again, but I'd be okay with hearing one of those stories now. Maybe the one about how he was the only 8th grader in his tiny class in Tremonton (that only went up to the 8th grade..). Or how he had to walk up hill both ways, in the snow, and only the oldest got the shoes, and he wasn't the oldest. I really believed that one for a long time. Silly Man..

4. He had the best handwriting. He was very, very much proud of his "penmanship" and would tell you if he thought yours wasn't good enough. I still remember when he told me I wrote the number 8 wrong.

5. He always made me feel smart. He was so into learning, and helping me to learn. He had me rattling off multiplication tables when I was 7. I could never remember 8 x 7, so every time he saw me he'd just say "Okay, 8 x 7?!" and make me answer. Let's just say I know the answer to that one is 56 much faster than any other now. Once when I was little, he had me tell him how to make a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich, and me, being the gullible one thought he really didn't know how to make one. So when I knew step-by-step how to tell him to make one, it made me feel so smart, and like I had helped him make his lunch. Me, a 5 year old "youngin".. always making me feel smart.

6. He had a girly name.. Shirley, but that never got him down.

7. When he was sick once, he came and stayed with us at my parents house. I was in High School, I think about 16 years old, and I would sit in the front room and wait for my friend to come pick me up for school. He would already be up, sitting there in the dark, thinking, or looking outside. I was never sure what we were going to talk about, as we sat there, waiting. But it was never dull. I am glad I had those conversations with him now, just me and Grandpa. He'd tell me about the book he was reading, ask about school of course, and want to know "where I was going in life".

8. He was so cute with my brother. I wish my brother had known him longer. My grandpa had diabetes, and had gotten gangrene in his feet, so he was missing some of his toes. He used to make it a joke with my brother, where he would grab onto my brothers little toes, when he was tiny and ask him if he could have his toes. Timmy would squeal and run away, he wasn't about to share his toes with Grandpa. Tim was so little, but he still remembers Grandpa Shirl pulling his toes.

9. When I was little, he always let me pick the Christmas Tree for his house. Even if I always wanted it flocked..

10. He instilled in me an appreciation for John Wayne, popcorn and ice-cold pepsi.

So here's to you Grandpa, I love ya.

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Goethe

I have always liked the poem Found, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I have only ever heard it in English though, so I thought I would look it up and read the German version. The way that he wrote it; not a translated one. So here it is... For those of you that don't speak any German, there is English down below. Because, either way, it's a good poem.

Gefunden

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ich ging im Walde
So für mich hin,
Und nichts zu suchen,
Das war mein Sinn.

Im Schatten sah ich
Ein Blümchen stehn,
Wie Sterne leuchtend
Wie Äuglein schön.

Ich wollt es brechen,
Da sagt' es fein:
Soll ich zum Welken,
Gebrochen sein?

Ich grubs mit allen
Den Würzeln aus,
Zum Garten trug ichs
Am hübschen Haus.

Und pflanzt es wieder
Am stillen Ort;
Nun zweigt es immer
Und blüht so fort.

Translated...

Found

I was walking in the woods
Just on a whim of mine,
And seeking nothing
That was my intention.

In the shade I saw
A little flower standing
Like stars glittering
Like beautiful little eyes.

I wanted to pick it
When it said delicately:
Should I just to wilt
Be picked?

I dug it out with all
Its little roots.
To the garden
I carried it

By the lovely house.
And replanted it
In this quiet spot;
Now it keeps branching out

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And the winner of American Idol is... DAVID COOK!!!

I love him, I love him.. When does his CD come out?!

Dream Big

When I was a little boy
I swore that I would change the world
when I grew up
nothing else would be enough
back then it all seemed black and white
but these days
I just can't seemed to find
the child in me
who always believed

I see it every day
We settle for safe
And lose ourselves along the way

But if we don't Dream Big
What's the use in dreaming
If you don't have faith
there's nothing worth believing
It takes one hope
To make the stars worth reaching for
So reach out for something more

Took a while to perfect a plan
for me to finally understand
that it's not me
faith is something you can't see
I loose the reins
and let them go
I broke the chains of fear
that had their hold on me too long
when all I felt was wrong

I've wiped my tears away
now it's time for a change
No, I can't waste another day

But if we don't Dream Big
What's the use in dreaming
If you don't have faith
there's nothing worth believing
It takes one hope
To make the stars worth reaching for
So close your eyes
and tell me what you see
between what's real
and make believe
here's the path
we've all been searching for
so reach out for something more

than you could ever imagine
then move
don't wait for it to happen
life's too short
for not taking chances
the stars aren't as far as they seem

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Ethiopia is Starving

I just finished reading this article on CNN: Starvation Claiming Ethiopia's tiniest. It makes me want to cry. The picture above is also taken from that article, it is of a little Ethiopian girl, Bizunesh, who is 3 years old and weighs ten pounds. This is not okay!

'The U.N. children's agency said in a statement Tuesday an estimated 126,000 Ethiopian children urgently need food and medical care because of severe malnutrition -- and called the crisis "the worst since the major humanitarian crisis of 2003." '

According to the article on CNN.com, what is happening there, as many are aware, unfortunately is not the first time, and sadly will not be the last. In Ethiopia, if they go through a drought, they do not have a "back up plan", instead they starve. The World Charity organizations do not have all the resources they need to give them such a back up plan, and so instead they are always providing Emergency Assistance, in times such as now. The worst part is, it's not like if they do get millions of pounds of food it solves the problem. These children, all 2.7 million of them, are sick because of their starvation and malnutrition. They have to be slowly reintroduced to food and eating what could be considered "normal portions." And for some, the Emergency Assistance comes far too late.

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Majority Rules: and it goes to Barack Obama

Barack Obama obtained enough votes today to achieve "majority status", and as far as I am concerned, majority rules. Right?

"First of all I would like to say Thank you"
~ Barack Obama, May 20, 2008.

Gotta Love him.. let's keep it going!!

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Ode to Obama

" We all know what’s at stake. This is a defining moment in our history. Our nation is at war. The planet is in peril. The dream that so many generations fought for feels as if it’s slowly slipping away. We’ve never paid more for health care or for college. It’s harder to save and retire. And most of all, we’ve lost faith that our leaders can or will do anything about it. "

~ Barack Obama

I have always really cared about politics and had many opinons.. However, no one has ever got me as excited as Barack Obama has. He is exactly what this country needs. And that is why I voted for him in my state's primary on Super Tuesday; and why I believe that after he gets the majority of votes after tonight's primaries, his opponent, Hillary Clinton, needs to step aside and show her support for the party. The Democratic Party needs to show Unity, and it will be behind Barack Obama that we can find that.

To read more about Obama's plan for this country, click here; to read his Blueprint for Change.

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Good Ol' Tommy Jefferson

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

~ Thomas Jefferson

Smart Man.. And he is completely right. This is why everyone should vote. This is why everyone should have a voice. Because without a voice, and without your opinion being heard, why not just move to a communist country? At least there the government makes decisions for you.. instead of no one making decisions because no one wants to share their voice or vision.

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When it's time to give up..

Sometimes it really would be more graceful to just step aside.. I don't think anyone doing any kind of math thinks that Hillary can win. Maybe we need to find her Elementary Math Teacher and have them break it to her..

You'd think a woman would want to have a graceful exit.

Read more about my opinion.. and others at http://whereistand.com/Opinions/42298

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Sunny Saturday

Ashley & I decided to spend all day outside.. we couldn't not bring our camera on our adventure.

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Very Funny..

Hilarious post about how English can be funny ,or at least learning it and trying to translate it might get a little bit confusing. It's hilarious! Check it out!!

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Amazement & Frustration

Americans produce enough Styrofoam cups

each year to circle the earth 426 times. That’s

one hundred cups per person per year.

I am amazed.
I am frustrated.

What kind of world do we really live in?!?

Let me explain why I am frustrated.

Styrofoam; which, is actually the common term for what is really called "Polystyrene"; which is made from petroleum. Yes, ladies & gentleman petroleum. But I'm not going to go into my feelings on petroleum, and this countries addiction to oil.

Back to styrofoam.. Let me first explain that I am a recycling freak. I hate throwing anything away. Hate it. So, when I goto a restaurant and they put my leftover food in a Styrofoam box for me to take home, or this morning when I went to Chik-fil-A and they put my drink in a Styrofoam cup I get a little frustrated. Apparently, Styrofoam is supposed to be good at insulation, keeping things cold, etc. However, is that really a good enough excuse? To use something that cannot be recycled just because you want your drink to stay cold?

Explain that one to me..

And this tidbit is why I love San Francisco: Restaurants in San Francisco are now required to use recyclable, biodegradable or compostable containers instead of Styrofoam, see link from SFGov.com, for yourself here.

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