Thank you...Thank you very much...

1st Inning.

Cool Videos...

Ashton Kutcher recently gave a speech at the Teen Choice awards.  I know, 'how is this of any interest to me?'.  Well, to the shock of many it was quite the inspirational speech for the right audience and really to anybody else that has had the chance to view it.  It has made the rounds on the 'Net since that night but I feel it is good enough to keep going and here you go.  Enjoy!


Another cool super power beat down from the folks at Bat in the Sun productions.  Two very cool characters going at it in the jungle.  Who would you pick--Wolverine or Predator???



2nd Inning.

Music...August 16th saw the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death 36 years ago.  Elvis Presley.  The King of Rock-n-Roll.  Everyone has heard of him and almost everyone loves him.  I grew up in a household where Elvis was played and loved therefore I came to love his music and everything about him.  My mom had old 45 records and 8-track tapes of his music that I would play when I had the chance.  As you might imagine I grew up with a fondness for his music and knowing the lyrics to many of his songs. 

 

 

Elvis receiving a plaque during his initiation.

When I headed off to college at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, I joined a fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon-Beta Psi Chapter.  Little did I know that the TKE Chapter at ASU was Elvis' chapter.  No, he didn't go to college which is well documented but you see TKE let's their chapters initiate honorary members which is how Elvis was initiated.  The story is recounted here.  A few months after I was initiated and took a leadership role in the chapter a few of the members mentioned that we were getting bank statements related to a safety deposit box and none of us knew what it was for and what it contained.  Well, in early January 1997 we decided to pay to have the bank drill it open.  We discovered in the box old membership scrolls going back to the chapter's founding in 1949 (and including the one Elvis signed), a set of pictures of members that had passed away while in school, and a set of pictures from the night the chapter initiated Elvis.  The university paper did a piece on the event as well as the local Jonesboro paper (which got picked up by the AP wire and went national).  You can read more about this here and here.  Once the story got out the chapter ended up getting a call from the Maury Povich show (before he started to doing the paternity shows fulltime).  Maury was doing a show on lost treasures and wanted us to be on the show.  Although I did not get to go, our Chapter President and Chapter Treasurer did go.

After college I moved to Memphis, Tennessee and was there during the 25th anniversary of Elvis' death.  If you have never been to Memphis during 'Death Week' then you are missing out on an interesting celebration.  Thousands of fans from around the world converge on the city.  There is usually a parade and a candlelight vigil at Graceland.  Living in Memphis I, of course, visited Elvis' former estate and museums.  Anyone that is a fan should make the pilgrimage to Graceland.  I recall while living there during the 26th anniversary watching the news that night and during a downpour of rain there was still hundreds of fans lined up outside the Graceland gates with candles waiting to walk by Elvis' grave. 

I tried to think of which songs are my favorites and well, they all are but the one I love listening to the most is captured in video below from his concert in Hawaii.  Enjoy!




3rd Inning.

Articles of the week...

• Batman is a conservative..."When the left finally completes its revolution in America, one of the final things to go will be comic books. The art form is just too conservative to survive once everything else has been banned. In fact, a Marxist did attempt to suppress comics once before, in the 1950s. (I know, I know liberals, I’m overreacting — the next thing you know I’ll claim they would ban a rodeo clown.)"  Three words--Comic Book Code.  Google it.
• Background checks? We don't need no stinkin' background checks..."Attorneys general across the country are fighting back against new Obama administration guidelines on businesses using criminal background checks for job applicants and two federal lawsuits that followed, calling both 'a quintessential example of gross federal overreach.' " Yeah, you don't need to know about the prison time your co-worker served.  It's none of your business or your employer's business. (Insert extreme sarcasm) 
• My fellow libertarians, we got problems... A good pictorial on the problems we libertarians face each day.
• Mr. President, We are sorry... A very apologetic letter to President Obama (Insert more sarcasm)
  
• Show me the money!!!... "In 1974, just 3% of retiring members of Congress became lobbyists. Today, 50% of retiring Senators and 42% of retiring House members stay in DC and become lobbyists. The more than 1,500% increase goes a long way towards explaining how an entrenched, permanent political class has risen in DC."  We have to fix this problem my fellow citizen patriots!
• Cattle mutilations? Yeah, I said cattle mutilations... "A Missouri woman just wants answers — answers to why three of her cattle were mutilated with organs cut off. Without clear clues as to who might have done it, the rancher has said she is not ruling out the possibility of aliens."  A very bizarre phenomenon that has no easy explanation except for little gray men.
  
• Time to call for Liberty...Amendments that is... "What I hope to do, at least in some small way, is begin a discussion among those of us who believe the Republic is unraveling, and find a way to re-establish the Constitution and reclaim our heritage."  An excellent idea and one that would hopefully correct the path this nation is on.
• "It's the end of the Internet as we know it..."  "When the U.S. government orders a communications company to give up its data, the firm has two basic choices: resist, and risk its leaders going to jail, or comply, and break faith with its customers. On Thursday, Aug. 8, however, two privacy-minded businesses chose a third and unprecedented option: They committed corporate suicide rather than bend to the surveillance state's wishes."  Like a page out of Atlas Shrugged.
• Happy, Happy, Happy... "Duck Dynasty didn’t spring from the head of some screenwriter in New York or Los Angeles. It isn’t dark or cynical or ironic. It’s earthy and optimistic and light-hearted and funny, like the Robertson family itself. Like America itself."  One of my new favorite shows and one the entire family can watch together.
  

4th Inning.

This ole...Senior picture.  To the left, you see one of my senior pictures.  Handsome, huh?  Well, this inning isn't so much about a picture as it is about my 20-year high school reunion.  Grandview Senior High Class of '93, baby!  Now I will say up front, my high school years were not pleasant.  I never really felt I fit in with any particular group so I tended to keep to myself or just a small group of friends.  So, the thought of going to a reunion gave me a bit of anxiety but deep down I really did look forward to it. 

Rewind to a year ago...a group of folks that organized the 5 and 10-year reunions (15-year was cancelled) put together a Facebook page for the class to try and get interest built up for the 20-year reunion (side note-I was not able to attend any of the previous reunions).  Many ideas were thrown around for the reunion.  One of the ideas was for us to have a gathering at a local bar where we would not have a private gathering but we could mix with other Grandview classes from 1979, 1986, 1991, 2003, etc. Oh, and classes from other schools and other years. You get what I'm saying.  The other option was for us to rent a banquet hall somewhere nice and have a pay-per-person ticket option for a meal with a cash bar. 

Class of 1993 in 1993

The latter option won out but not after some back-and-forth about a female classmate that was pushing for the bar option.  I may have instigated it a bit by asking her if she even graduated with our class.  You see she became very vocal about her suggestion and friends of hers began making snippy comments towards others that were leaning towards the banquet hall option.  The big problem for me and many others was that we didn't remember this gal from high school.  Now let me frank with you...I am not claiming that I remember every single last one of my classmates.  Hell, there are probably plenty of people that don't remember me.  But would I take offense if someone said, "Jeremy, did you go to Grandview and were you in my grade?" ?  No, I would not.  I would simply say, "Yes, I was a quiet guy and kept to myself so you probably don't remember me."  What I had did was post a picture of our graduation night program which had a list of everyone that was graduating as the 'Class of '93'.  The classmate in question was not listed and so I used that opportunity to point it out to everyone that maybe she didn't actually graduate with us. 

 



A group of us toured the old high school
during reunion weekend.

Well, after I posed that question it of course enraged her.  She explained that no she did not graduate with us and that she had graduated earlier during the December of our senior year and that she dated a fella from an earlier class and those were the people she hung around with during those years.  I then received private Facebook messages from her further explaining that she was part of the witness protection program as a child as her father was part of the New York mafia.  With the mafia reference she then began to go off on a tirade using just about every expletive to describe me and the gals wanting to have a more formal event for the reunion and continuously urging me to contact the U.S. Marshalls if I had anymore questions about her.

 

Fast forward to this summer and one of the gals pushing for the formal event took charge and booked a banquet hall at Unity Village here in the Kansas City area.  There was some mild anxiety over the event due to human procrastination on buying tickets for the event but many classmates helped out with spreading the word to make folks aware by promoting the event through Facebook and other avenues.  Last week was the big night and I must say it was a very enjoyable evening.  The wife and I arrived early even after getting a bit lost in the Unity Village complex.  Seeing classmates that you had not talked with in-person for 20 years (yes, we have Facebook and many of us are friends through that and see pictures and comments daily) was delightful.  There were many smiles, laughs, hugs, handshakes, and adult beverages throughout the banquet hall.  A few awards were given out for various reasons and I won one for being the first to arrive (a package of chocolates that I shared with the classmates at my table).  It was a good night spent visiting with old classmates.  I even discovered that one of my classmates and I had gone to school from Kindergarten through Graduation.  But the highlight of my evening was having an old classmate and fellow little league/summer league baseball player come up to me and say he reads this blog (Thanks, Paxton!)              

Partial Class of 1993 in 2013

 

5th Inning.

Random Facts about me from high school...As a sophomore (and only sophomore in the class of juniors & seniors) I took a computer class in BASIC code writing...As a junior I played on the junior varsity baseball team...I worked at Ponderosa Steakhouse...I owned an original pair of Reebok Pumps shoes during my sophomore year...My favorite teacher was Mrs.Ledbetter...Spent many Friday/Saturday nights at Capital Lanes or Red Bridge Lanes for Rock-n-Bowl...Had a crush on a different girl for my sophomore, junior, and senior years...

I was on a first name basis with Vice-Principal Temple for missing too many days of school...I spent the majority of my high school afternoons and weekends at the home of my good friend, David Peterman...

6th Inning.

American History Lesson...On August 16th, 1841 protesters outside the White House burned an effigy of President John Tyler.  Tyler was the first Vice-President to assume the office of President after William Henry Harrison died in office only one month into his term.  One of the major issues of the day in 1841 was currency fluctuations and economic problems.  His party, the Whigs, wanted to establish a central Bank of the United States (which had been opposed by several Presidents prior to him).  President Tyler vetoed the efforts of his own party in this instance and enraged them.  On the evening of August 16th, 1841 many Congressional members of the Whig party headed to the White House to protest.  During their protest, they hurled rocks and shot firearms into the air, and burned an effigy of Tyler.  The violent demonstration lead to the District of Columbia creating a police force. 

I picked this historical incident due to the recent event of the Missouri rodeo clown that wore an Obama mask.  We live in a country of elected leaders not royal tyrants.  We have a Bill of Rights that include freedom of speech.  The outcry over the rodeo clown was such that you would have thought there was a crowd out on Pennsylvania Avenue burning an effigy of President Obama.  That was obviously not the case yet we still have some suggesting the jester be thrown in the dungeon for mocking the king.

7th Inning.

Firearms Corner...Anyone that owns firearms should have a gun safe.  Either a handgun safe next to the bed or a large gun safe in one of your bedrooms or basement.  Firearms safety is important.  At one of the last gun shows I attended there was a vendor there selling fancy looking nightstands that served as mini-gun safes and mini-fridges. Well, the folks over at Heracles Research Corporation have jumped on that theme and have created the Sofa safe.  This safe will hold up to 30 rifles and other valuables.  It also has a 2-hour firewall.  In addition to the safe you can also order one of these sofas with bullet-proof cushions that can be used as shields.  Now, the price tag is a bit up there at around $7,000 and since these sofas weigh in at around 600-900 pounds I don't think you will find many friends willing to help you move but if they do they may request you move into a ranch-style house with no stairs. 

8th Inning.

FFL Factoid...Continuing with the 'Top 10 Frequently Asked Firearms Questions and Answers' per the ATF.

2. May I lawfully transfer a firearm to a friend who resides in a different State?

Under Federal law, an unlicensed individual is prohibited from transferring a firearm to an individual who does not reside in the State where the transferee resides. Generally, for a person to lawfully transfer a firearm to an unlicensed person who resides out of State, the firearm must be shipped to a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) within the recipient’s State of residence. He or she may then receive the firearm from the FFL upon completion of an ATF Form 4473 and a NICS background check. More information can be obtained on the ATF website at www.atf.gov and http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/unlicensed-persons.html. The GCA provides an exception from this prohibition for temporary loans or rentals of firearms for lawful sporting purposes. Thus, for example, a friend visiting you may borrow a firearm from you to go hunting. Another exception is provided for transfers of firearms to nonresidents to carry out a lawful bequest or acquisition by intestate succession. This exception would authorize the transfer of a firearm to a nonresident who inherits a firearm under the will of a decedent. See 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(5).

9th Inning.

Baseball video...Wild Thing!  With my recent high school reunion I began recalling memories from my youth.  One of those involves the movie Major League and how it affected my friends and me who played little league baseball.  I remember everyone wanting to pitch and when they did there were no curve balls being thrown, it was pure HEAT.  I don't know how we escaped without someone being seriously hurt.   Anyway, this scene is one of sports cinema's great moments (in my humble opinion).