Perri Nelson's Website 

Happy Thanksgiving.

Have a happy Thanksgiving holiday everyone.

I'm thankful for the life that God has given me.

I'm thankful for the love of my wife and family, even though there's no way I could deserve it.

I'm thankful that I live in a great country that was conceived by great men inspired by God. I'm thankful for the military that defends that country and helps to spread the ideals of freedom throughout the world.

I'm thankful that I live in today's world instead of the past. Despite the many things that are wrong in the world I honestly believe that there was no time in the past when men and women could be as free to live their lives in the way that they choose than today.

I'm thankful for the prosperity that our world has seen. Despite the continued presence of poverty and misery in the world more people are living in greater prosperity than at any time in history.

I'm thankful for modern technologies. They've made life easier for us all and they've made it easier for us to communicate and share ideas and ideals.

I'm thankful for the many opportunities I've had in life despite the horrible mistakes I've made.

Most of all I'm thankful that while I live there's always hope that I can become a better person and that I can live and love and learn.

I hope that you have a wonderful holiday and that you too have things to be thankful for.

Cross posted at NWBloggers.com.

Linked at Basil's Blog, The Random Yak.

Have you ever???

I saw this at DragonLady's World and figured I'd give it a try.

HAVE YOU EVER???

If you want to play it’s easy.
Put the entire list on your blog and if you’ve ever done any of the following things, BOLD THE ONES YOU’VE DONE.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (all three)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

China building up anti-U.S. arsenal

Last Monday I remarked upon a Washington Times article about a surprise encounter between a Chinese submarine and a U.S. aircraft carrier. Today the Washington Times has another article, this one about China's military buildup targeted at our navy.

China's military buildup includes new missiles and naval weapons designed to sink U.S. aircraft carriers and deny U.S. forces access to the Asia-Pacific region, a congressional commission official said yesterday.

Daniel Blumenthal, a former Pentagon defense policy-maker and now a member of the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission, said China's military is building up forces to "deny the United States the use of the commons -- the sea, the air, cyber and space."

...

The comments followed disclosure last week that a Chinese submarine sailed undetected to within five miles of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk near Okinawa, Japan, and surfaced close enough to fire wake-homing torpedos or anti-ship cruise missiles, according to U.S. defense officials.

...

"This is a very concerted and sophisticated, diversified effort to build up a military whose goal is the United States and its ability to meet its own commitments and interests," he said.

Communist China is not really our friend. This should serve as a clear reminder of that fact. We need to make sure that our navy is ready for the threat, because the Red Chinese are certainly going to be ready for us.

Part of getting ready for the potential threat raised by the Chinese would be to clean house. The United States should immediately suspend any and all programs where we exchange technology with the Chinese. We should also suspend Adm. Fallon's "ambitious military exchange program with China aimed at improving relations between the two nations militaries."

The Chinese aren't interested in improving relations. They want the upper hand. We shouldn't give it to them.

Linked at The Bullwinkle Blog, Iowa Voice, Sister Toldjah, Basil's Blog.

Parking Ticket? Challenge It?

The city of Seattle collected parking revenue on at least eight days when parking should have been free. If you didn't pay, you got a ticket. What's the city's answer to that? Challenge it or pay it.

The Seattle Times covers the case... 

Colette Turner, of Bellevue, claims in the lawsuit that she was ticketed in Seattle on Friday, Dec. 31, 2004, even though according to city law, she should have been allowed to park free that New Year's Eve day. "We're going to try to get the city to refund the money it made from the parking-meter revenue, reimburse people for the parking tickets they were forced to pay and reimburse them for any towing fees," said Turner's attorney, Dewelle Ellsworth.

According to the law at the time, people could park free on city streets the day after Thanksgiving, the Friday before a holiday that fell on a Saturday, and the Monday after a holiday that fell on a Sunday. Meters and signs did not list those days as free even though they were, and the city issued tickets, Ellsworth said.

...

City Attorney Tom Carr said as he understands it, the city had the authority to issue the tickets. He added, "When you get a parking ticket, you get a hearing and you can either challenge it or not. If people had challenged it, the court might have waived the payment."

That's not really good enough. The court "might have waived the payment"? When the ticket shouldn't have been issued in the first place?

Challenging a ticket that should not have been issued in the first place is inconvenient enough. Even if the ticket is waived, will the city also reimburse you for towing fees? How about for the lost time the challenge requires?

Will they reimburse you for the time your car was unavailable to you because it was impounded? How about damage caused to your car by the tow vehicle? Or when it's on the impound lot?

It seems to me that the city's attitude is to gouge the people any way they can. If they fight back well maybe the city has to give them a little money back, maybe not. And who cares about the ill will and inconvenience to the "little people" that's generated when Seattle gets it wrong.