Princess Casey!

Here's a picture of my beautiful, beloved Chow mix, Casey, with her new best friend, Santa Claus! Casey is a rescue dog who adopted us 5 years ago after we lost our 15-year cockapoo, Conrad.
Casey was rescued by the humane society back home in Jacksonville, N.C. after she had been beaten up and thrown out of a car. She had two surgeries before we got her, and is today a happy, healthy and spoiled little girl!

Say goodbye 2008 and hello 2009

Well, there's only a few hours left in 2008, and I for one am itching to bid this year adieu. If I hear the words "bailout," "maverick," or "go green" one more time, I think I'll hurl!
No doubt about it, 2008 has been challenging --- constant chatter about the collapse of the economy, failed ponzi schemes, continuing worries about terrorism, and political scandals can make even normally positive people feel anxious about the future. But the dawning of a new year brings with it a clean slate, limitless possibilites and the chance to start over.
My resolutions for the new year -- exercise more (that is a definite), eat better, and laugh more!
I hope we all take advantage of the good that 2009 will offer.

This that and the other

As Christmas draws near and the year comes to a close, it's always fun to take a look back and a glance forward.
Here are some highlights from my 2008:

1) Attending the Papal Mass at National's Stadium in Washington, D.C. Only one way to describe it: Holy Awesome!

2) Hanging out with the President: I'm a reporter at a suburban newspaper just outside D.C., about 20 miles or so from the nation's capital, so its always a cool thing to get to report on the President. Got to do that a couple of times this year -- on Sept. 11 for the memorial service at the Pentagon and at the final T-Ball on the South Lawn fame of President Bush's administration.

3) Still on the reporting front: Seeing families reunited after their loved ones returned from serving oversees was joyful. Tearful were the departure ceremonies that I reported on.

4) Hanging out with family and friends at the beach, dinners out, conversation, reading good books -- the little things that we forget that make life meaningful.

Much to be thankful for

Thanksgiving is behind us and the mad dash to Christmas is underway! It is hard to imagine that in a scant four weeks we'll be celebrating the Lord's birth and then ushering out 2008 and welcoming in 2009.
Our family had a joyous Thanksgiving, although it got off to a rough start. Mom, Princess Casey (my much loved and much spoiled Chow Mix) and I headed out last Tuesday morning on the 4 1/2 hour trek down Interstate 95 on the way to my sister's house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I know -- its so tough to spend Thanksgiving at the beach! BTW on Thanksgiving morning, Casey and I were on the beach enjoying the sand and surf. She was wearing her "fur" coat. I was in short sleeves, soaking up the sun!
Anyway, back to Tuesday. We're all comfortably ensconed in my Honda Pilot and were less than seven miles into our trip, near Exit 148 just outside Woodbridge, Va., when I noticed that a STOOPID driver was coming up WAY fast behind us. I no sooner had mentioned that to Mom when aforementioned STOOPID driver darts into the far left lane lane and speeds by. There were cars in front of us -- natch, we're talking an interstate -- but everyone else was actually giving everyone else plenty of room and not tailgating. As I watched STOOPID driver, he swerved back into my lane and hit a car that was about four or so car lenghts in front of us. Both of their vehicles then spun out, with the car that got hit by STOOPID driver spinning into the far right lane nearest the shoulder and then hitting a car that was traveling there. All three vehicles ended up in the embankment. I certainly do hope no one was seriously injured. What a way to begin Thanksgiving.
The rest of the trip to OBX passed uneventfully. All the family gathered at my sister's house and we had a marvelous time, eating too much turkey, watching the parade, and doing a little shopping. So much to be thankful for -- our faith, our health, this wonderful country, our freedom, and the marvelous men and women who defend all the above.

The country spoke, now what?

Last week's presidential election was historic, no matter which candidate you supported. Had John McCain and Sarah Palin prevailed, the United States would have elected its first-ever female vice president.
As it turned out, we elected our first black president. As far as making history goes, that isn't too shabby.
Now, Barack Obama has some pretty big shoes to fill.
His own.
Durng the long campaign season, he quire simply promised to be all things to all people. He pandered to the hard left wing of his party by promising to get our troops out of Iraq post haste, to close Gitmo, and to bring universal healthcare to the nation. He promised 20 million illegals a way to citizenship.
He promised to not raise taxes on 95 percent of all Americans. -- But demurred from repeating this promise during one of his first post-election appearances.
All those promises had one Obama supporter, Peggy Johnson, famously declaring on a You Tube video that she didn't have to worry anymore because he would pay her mortage and her car payment.
Problem is -- who's going to pay for all of Obama's promises and what are his millions of supporters going to do when they discover he can't deliver on them.
I for one am going to sit back, smile and say "I told you so."

SEMINAL ELECTION

After nearly two years of campaigning, innumerable ads and polls the only thing that matters come tomorrow is YOU.
And what you decide when you head to your polling place. Are we really going to elect someone whose own running mate says will be "tested" by our enemies within 6 months of taking office?
Do you want lower taxes and the ability to decide about health care yourself?
Do you want activist Supreme Court judges?
How about your 401K? Do you want the government to take it over? Gee, not me.

Been a while

Wow! Has it really been over a month since I've blogged? Guess so! Well, a lot has happened in the past 30 days or so -- a $750 million bailout by our government for the financial industry (and now everybody, including cities, states and the auto industry) wants "their" share of the pie. All I know is if Uncle Sam keeps sticking his hand in my wallet for more money, pretty soon I'm not going to have any money for anything else.



And, we're continually told that nobody's shopping or spending money unnecessarily. Here's what I've observed over the past few days. Went out to eat at a popular chain steakhouse here in NOVA that's known for its "Down Under" flavor. Waited 40 minutes for a table because the place was so packed.



Spent the day at Busch Gardens last Saturday with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. The place was packed. When we left for the night at around 8 p.m. the gate folks told us there were 15,000 people in the park and more were coming in.



I know this may be anecdotal information, but, I don't seriously believe these two places are the only spots raking in the cash.



Don't forget to vote on Tuesday.

My first blog

I've finally taken the plunge and joined the blogging world. Let me say that first step is a hard one to take. There are literally millions of voices in cyberspace vying for everyone's attention, so I thank you for stopping by. As the days go by, I'll be adding longer posts and more fun stuff to the blog, so stand by!