Conservative Musings

Ike's Aftermath II

This morning I feel like one of the lucky ones.  Our power came on sometime before 9am today.

The latest figures say that 75% of the Louisville area was without power sometime yesterday.  Teams that were sent out from here to help Gustav and Ike affected areas have been recalled to rebuild the Louisville area.  Because of the stretched resources, it may be up to 10-14 days before our area is totally operational again.

-Colonel Steve

Ike's Aftermath

Ike has made his effects known to the Louisville area.  As of now, Red, Lady Colonel, and I are all part of the 60% of Louisville without power.  Right now, I'm borrowing a friends wireless connection to post this (one of the other "lucky" 40%).

It's looks like it will be days before we get power back.  LG&E is expecting areas to be out for as long as a week.  OUCH!

So until power comes back on, we'll see ya later.

-Colonel Steve

I'm Baaaacccck!

I'm back......to the colder, wetter home of Louisville.  Just missing, by about 3 hours, the mess Kentucky fans lived through down in Atlanta.  One time I'm glad all I saw was rain.

-Colonel Steve

The Truth Project

Tomorrow night at our church, I will be attending the 1st in a 12 part series entitled The Truth Project.  Being the intellectual I am, the "teaser" trailers shown recently during our services intrigued me.

I think of that word a lot when I think of modern life and politics.  Truth.  It seems to mean something different to everyone I meet.  Like people parsing the meaning of what "is" is, different people seem to describe a different meaning of truth for themselves.

Truth.  What does it mean?  And what is it?  Can it really be different things to different people?  Sure, people are free to believe in different things, but does that really change what truth really is?

So maybe I should have been a philosophy major rather than an engineering major.  But in the major I chose for my life, truth was something that most definitely had to be defined.  It couldn't change from one engineer or scientist to another.  Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level, always.  Not just when someone believes it.

I truly think (and yes, this is a belief) that those around us are really searching for truth.  Truth in the people they meet.  Truth in politics.  Truth in everything around them.  Sadly, they are not finding those answers in many places today.

What about you?  Have you seen truth anywhere in your daily life?

-Colonel Steve

Dream Technology Job

There's a lot of places I'd love to practice my technology job.  Most of those locations are south.  Maybe even offshore (can you say Caribbean island?).

I'm real sure my dream job is not this far south.  For Henry Malmgren, the dream has been to work at the South Pole.

I had never traveled out of the U.S. at all until after I'd graduated from college. I had dated a girl who was an exchange student to Europe, and after hearing all of her stories, I knew I wanted to get a job out of the U.S. Somehow, the Antarctic job popped up on a job search, and I latched onto it as the perfect ticket to be able to travel for a while.

So that's his idea of a dream job for now.  But I'm sure there'd be no waiting list.  Right?

We usually have a high number of applicants -- it took me four years of applying before I was hired. But there are some times when we just don't have enough candidates. It fluctuates with the state of the economy. Right now I'm in a huge competition for satellite communications guys with contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those guys are able to pay so much more than we can. Of course the advantage down here is that nobody is shooting at you.

I must admit, after reading everything, there's part of me that found a challenge like Antarctica interesting.  That part found in many guys, myself included, liking the thrill of an exciting and risky challenge.  For me, though, I'm not sure it's in way-sub-zero temperatures.

-Colonel Steve

 

Train, Planes, and....OK, Just Trains

As a kid, our family made a trip through Pennsylvania, where one of our stops was at Roadside America train layout in Shartlesville, PA.  You can see one guys pictures of this layout here.

Today, Lileks brings up another train layout up in Minnie-so-cold.  (Watch the video in this second link.)   Cool!

-Colonel Steve

Accent Quizzes

Saw these quizzes and had to try them.

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Southern People used to hate Southern accents but now everyone wants one.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent."  You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas.  You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
North Central
Boston
The South
The Inland North
The Northeast
Philadelphia
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I guess living close but south of southern Indiana (2nd quiz) makes me southern in the first?  What da' ya'all think?

(HT: Conservathink)

-Colonel Steve

Deflated Hot Air

Real bummer.  Today's winds aloft blew our chances of going up in the balloon that I mentioned earlier.

Maybe another weekend, before it turns too cold.  Brrrr.

-Colonel Steve

Lots of Hot Air

This time I'm actually not even talking about politics.

Back last August I attended a fund raising silent auction for the service dog organization Paws with Purpose.  One of the items donated by the folks at Ashley Furniture was a ride in their hot air balloon.  I and another guy pooled our money and won.

So tomorrow, at 6:45, we lift off for a sunrise balloon ride.  Brrrrrr.  But still fun!

Hopefully, we'll have some good pictures to post later.

-Colonel Steve

Hod Rods Invade, Then Leave, Louisville

By now I'm sure you've seen the hot rods around Louisville since Thursday.  Today, many of them left town the same time I left for vacation.

I think today I ended up will a good feel for where at least some of them drive in from.  Tonight, I am in Allentown, PA.  Through just about the whole trip, including time on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I saw and passed many a hot rod heading away from Louisville. Too bad I wasn't counting, but I'd bet I saw upwards of 50 to 75 heading this way.

This year was the 10th consecutive year the event was held in Louisville.  I'm not sure at all about their continuing in Louisville, but I'd love it if they hung around for a few more years.

-Colonel Steve