Kraken Kronicles

A friend of mine just recently lost an old school-mate in Afghanistan. She wrote what I thought was a very moving piece about her friend and remembering all who have served when our country is involved in conflict. Some of us have been involved in or have been touched in some way by the current crisis and I thought I would share this with you.


I wanted to share some sad news. My mom called me a few days ago telling me about a soldier from PA who was killed in the service. She said she thought I knew him. She was right. He was a friend of mine from high school. Though I haven't had contact with him for many years, as soon as she said his name, I could see his face and remembered many of our conversations.

It is so easy to forget about the soldiers who are still fighting in the war. We get so distracted with our every day life and the challenges we face each day in our daily activities. I used to watch the news all of the time, listening intently to any news on the war and dreading hearing the names of the fallen soldiers.. But when my brother returned safely from Baghdad, I slowly stopped listening and watching.. I was so thankful he returned safely and I slowly allowed myself to almost forget about the other soldiers, risking their lives each day. Well, I am reminded now.

The war continues and each day, wonderful people, loving brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, and friends, die, sacrificing themselves for freedom.

Please take a minute to remember all of the soldiers who have fallen and who continue to fight.

Thank you Nicci for allowing me to share your thoughtful words-

Hello Everyone!
I finally made it to Blog Technology. Thank you John.
(Now, how do I get out of here?!)

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day- and we are all looking for ward to the busy birthday weekend coming up!

Here is Hannah about when she turned two, and Thomas right after he turned Zero.
Bye for now, Joe

Nothing like being married to a mathematician...

It has its pluses and minuses....
Postives and negatives....
Real and imaginary issues...
Greater than days and less than days....
Sometimes we go in parallel and sometimes we intersect...

We do know how to multiply though!!!

Eric and Patti, By Eric:

The resemblence is remarkable!!!

What make you feel panic or makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up???

For me, it has become Connor coming up to me and saying:

"Dad, I have a question...."

or

"Dad, just one thing...."


Whooo, just gives me the willies imagining it.

Brains:

Battle:
"There is something that can happen to every athlete and every human being;
the instinct to slack off, to give in to pain, to give less than your best;
the instinct to hope you can win through luck or through your opponent not
doing his best, instead of going to the limit and past your limit where
victory is always found. Defeating those negative instincts that are out
to defeat us, is the difference between winning and losing — and we all
face that battle every day."
-- Jessie Owens, winner of four gold medals at 1936 Berlin Olympics

Beauty:
People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun
is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only
if there is a light from within.
-- Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

Being:


Buoyancy:
Most of us have experienced the buoyancy and satisfaction that positive
emotional states can create in our lives. At such moments of buoyancy, our
effectiveness at big tasks and small improves almost effortlessly. Positive
emotional states produce that effect because of the coherence they create
within the human system.
-- The HeartMath Solution, by Doc Childre and Howard Martin

The mouse is the most common mammal in the United States.

Trivia is the Roman goddess of sorcery, hounds and the crossroads.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the metal detector in 1881.

According to medical experts, babies dream in the womb.

Walt Disney World generates about 56 tons of trash every day.

Ninety-five percent of the U.S. currency notes produced each year are used to replace bills already in circulation.

Men are four times more likely to sleep in the nude than women.

All of the following have been sold in vending machines: emu jerky, poached eggs, holy water, beetles and live shrimp.

According to surveys, 17 percent of Americans sing in the shower.

One out of five men in America propose marriage on their knee.

Parsley is the most widely used herb in the world.

The odds of being killed by falling out of bed are one in two million.

Canola oil is actually called rapeseed oil, but the name was changed for marketing reasons.

The term "hooch" for liquor comes from the Hoochinoo Indians, known for their ability to make liquor so strong it could knock someone out.

The average housefly lives for one month.

Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than the rest of the day.

On average, Italians get 42 vacation days every year.

The first car with air-conditioning was the Packard.

A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.

Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

There are 293 different ways to make change for a dollar.

The fortune cookie was invented in 1916 by George Jung, a Los Angeles noodlemaker.

Benjamin Franklin invented the rocking chair.

Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of the blue whale.

Butter was the first food product allowed by law to have artificial coloring. (It's actually white.)

-- ARISE --
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to
be alive -- to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."
-- Marcus Aureliu, 121-80 AD

-- APPRECIATION --
"Appreciation is a powerful tool to shift perspective. Finding something to appreciate during a difficult situation quickly moves the perspective to the big picture from the little picture. "
-Doc Childre and Bruce Cryer

--ATTITUDE --
"The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude
we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change
the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the
inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and
that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me
and 90% how I react to it."
-- Charles Swindoll