As promised....

Here is part two (the remaining nine minutes). I have y'all click "read more" because I don't like having too much video and glitzy stuff right on the front page. So, if you want to check it out, go ahead and click "read more"...


Last 9 (or so) minutes of Art and Suzanne's wedding reception
12/19/1992
Weatherly Heights Baptist Church
Huntsville, AL

I've been swearing for years....

that I was going to get the 17 minute video of our wedding reception onto DVD so we would have less chance of losing it. Years later, I've finally done it. In addition, I've created a PC file-based version of it. Now the entire world can check it out by clicking "read more". That's only true if YouTube isn't blocked for you. The last half of the video will be coming soon. Talk about a blast from the past...


First 8 minutes of Art and Suzanne's wedding reception
12/19/1992
Weatherly Heights Baptist Church
Huntsville, AL

Yesterday, it was the invocation of Vietnam...

Today, the unclassified key findings of an updated National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraqi stability were released. This merited a prepared statement AND a press conference from the White House. Not long after the new NIE was making news, Senator John Warner (R.-VA) was discussing the need for at least a symbolic pullout of a small number of troops by Christmas. We have to start somewhere. That's had me thinking for a while. What metric will we use to judge whether the "war on terror" part of Iraq has been a success? The President often mentions that too early of a withdrawal from Iraq would "embolden the terrorists and provide a fertile recruiting ground". Seems to me that it's already a prime recruiting ground and (for those militants who don't get killed) an invaluable training ground. Unless the US intends on having forces in Iraq for a VERY long time, our adversaries will still declare their own victory when we get around to bringing our troops home. The new generation of Islamic militants will have the benefit of at least some battle-hardened leaders. I think we need to revamp SOME of the way we conduct business. I think there are a number of people who realize this and are trying to effect change, but inertia and bureaucracy hinder them.....

Well, I'll leave it there for now. I want to devote more attention to watching The China Syndrome. It's on Turner Classic Movies right now and it's much more interesting now that I'm in the nuke industry than it was when I was nine...

Today was a good day to....

grill. These burgers were meant for the grill at the neighborhood party the other night, but it was a little late after returning from Monte Sano...

I don't know what made me start thinking about my 20 year HS reunion (if the Butler High School c/o '88 has one), but it should be less than a year from now. Scary, eh? Here's the official alumni page from Butler's web site. As it is often noted, time flies...

Well, I think I'll end this for now. It's almost time for South Park followed by Lil' Bush. It should be a laugh-filled close to prime time....

One can't place the blame for most....

of the results of the newly declassified executive summary regarding CIA shortcomings leading up to 9/11 on the current administration. The .pdf file is linked from near the bottom of the page. Sure, there were probably things that Bush and Company could have done differently, but it seems that many of the failures (through the various branches of government) were political and systemic. Unfortunately, it often seems as if the will to change the political side of things doesn't exist because the two beasts of power in this country are more interested in longevity in office and partisan bickering than actually achieving much.

Glancing over the news today, I found it somewhat laughable that the President was pointing out the flaws of the Iraqi government (first question in the press availability). To be sure, there are flaws. It is (or should be) MUCH HARDER to correct the errors of the government of a sovereign country than it is to fix our own shortfalls. An admittedly cursory search for any remarks by the President on the GAO report comes up surprisingly empty. There are things that are going OK over there, but much of the lead-up to and follow-through in this war has been farcical.

Anyway, enough complaining....

Y'all have fun, now!

It just occurred to me that I forgot to mention something the other night...

Yes, Assemblage 23 will be in Nashville on September 24. And I'm ready to go right now. However, I noticed that the supporting act will be a band named Cryogen Second. After the shortest amount of looking around, I discovered that Cryogen Second is actually local to Nashville, TN. It's a little bit unusual to hear music like that come from a town so closely associated with country music. I know that when I heard the first track on Cryogen's myspace profile (Outside the Light), the first impression that popped into my head considering the distortion vocals, dark melodies, and pulsing beat was Funker Vogt...

Very nice! If you are able to tolerate the kind of music I listen to, check'em out....

Ahhhhh, weekend recap.....

It's been a nice weekend to just chill out....

We attended a friend's wedding up on Monte Sano mountain in Huntsville yesterday. The wedding was very nice albeit very HOT. Tracy and Ashley, if you read this, CONGRATULATIONS! Heck, congratulations anyway! After that, we came home and dressed down a bit so we could go to a little neighborhood party. We didn't get over there until about 7:30 PM. We had fun. I finally finished the rest of the Sparks Plus that's been in my fridge for at least a month (only 3). That was topped off by a few pints of Guinness (draft bottles). Tasty! Oh, and there were also a few jello shots that appeared out of nowhere. Anyway, we called it a night around 11:00 PM.

Having had that "energy beer", I couldn't get right to sleep. That wasn't necessarily good because I had to get up around 5AM this morning. I had planned to go out riding (bicycles) this morning around 6:30. 5AM sure came early. At least I had enough time to down a cup of coffee. Ric and I rode about 15 miles out here on the back-roads this morning. After we rode, we split up to shower so all of us could go eat breakfast. Over breakfast, we learned that one of the restaurants that we enjoy in Huntsville is closing at the end of this week. We made plans then and there to go to Qdoba this evening. After returning home, the bed was calling me to take a nap. Unfortunately, we got to Qdoba to eat and they had closed up for the day. There weren't enough employees to keep the place open for their normal hours. I'm just wondering if things will be like that the rest of this week. We went to the "alternative" down the street and had a big old time....

And here we are.....

I almost don't know if I'll know what to do with myself tomorrow. I'd love some rain, but I wouldn't mind going up and trudging around the trails on Monte Sano mountain. And there's a chance of having this for dinner tomorrow night. It doesn't matter what's for dinner because the food at Chez Terrell is always awesome! This does mean that I probably won't be going in if I get called for OT tomorrow. C'est la vie! I can't turn down some tasty vittles.....

Peace, y'all!