Wednesday, July 23, 2003

 

Not that I believe in UFOs, but

It is interesting that the first North American sighting happened right here in Western Washington. In fact, as part of a documentary a film crew was recently in Chehalis getting footage of the Chehalis Airport as part of the story of Kenneth Arnold, the first person to see UFOs in modern times. Apparently one of his stops on his way to Yakima was the Chehalis Airport. The incident is a small part of the documentary, but hey, we are apparently on the UFO historical map.

posted by deborah 8:30 AM

 

How it all started

Kenneth Arnold, a recreational private pilot, was returning home from a flight in Wyoming when he received a radio signal requesting assistance in the Yakima, Washington area. It seems there was a missing troop transport and a aerial search party was being assembled.

At 3:00 p.m., flying at 9,000 feet, a bright flash of light caught Arnold's attention. Turning to look out of the side window of his airplane, Arnold was amazed to see nine saucer shaped objects flying in formation. Thinking they were some sort of military aircraft, he watched them intently as they bobbed, weaved, and darted about flying at an amazingly high rate of speed. What fascinated Arnold the most was the fact that the flying objects had no tail, but rather were round, saucer shaped, metallic and highly polished.

Arnold radioed in his sighting and the uproar began. When he landed he was surprised to find a news conference scheduled at the Pendleton field in Oregon. It was at this news conference that Arnold gave the world the first description of a saucer shaped object. The term 'flying saucers' was coined and the UFO craze began.

St. Louis Post Dispatch
June 26,1947

PILOT REPORTS SEEING WEIRD OBJECTS IN SKY

Pendleton, Ore., June26,-(AP)-Army and Civil Aeronautics Administration spokesman expressed skepticism today over a report of nine mysterious objects-as big as airplanes-whizzing over western Washington at 1,200 miles an hour.

But Kenneth Arnold, a flying Boise, Idaho, buisinessman who said he timed them by his plane clock, clung to his story of the shiny, flat objects, each as big as a DC-4 passenger plane, racing over the Cascade Mountains with a peculiar weaving motion "like the tail of a kite."

An Army spokesman commented: "As far as we know, nothing flies that fast except a V-2 rocket, which travels too fast to be seen."

posted by deborah 8:27 AM

 

Good News

My mom DOES NOT have a deadly skin disease! Praise God!

posted by deborah 8:25 AM

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

 

Gosh

I can no longer use the excuse that the reason I haven't been online is because the computer is broke down. It has worked beautifully since coming home from the PC hospital in South Dakota.

No, the only excuse reason I have is laziness.

Of course, we have been busy with the flea market, but that is only three days a week, discounting the time we spend looking for treasures. I have found some fairly nice stuff this week, mostly art. I do well selling that sort of thing. I found two very nice unicorn prints by K. Chin. (Double Gosh, I just saw that they may be worth a tad more than the 10 dollars I have on them for the set).

posted by deborah 10:05 PM

 

Quote of the Moment

"This is how you play Princess: You get a princess, or a Barbie. The you brush her hair for awhile. Then she gets married. That's it! You don't even need a Prince! Or, sometimes Winnie the Pooh is the Prince. It doesn't matter! It's not about the Prince. It is about the Princess." ~ Dave Barry (on being home alone with his 3-year-old.)

posted by deborah 9:50 PM

Monday, July 07, 2003

 

PromoGuy's Monday Mission 3.27

1. A theme you may notice in the MM more often than others is "the road not taken." It fascinates me to no end the way one single decision can change the course of one's life. To think, if I hadn't gone there that day I'd never met her, or if I had only waited for the phone call, or I am so glad I didn't get on that plane that day. Can you think of one single decision you made that changed the course of your life. A decision where if you had done something else, everything would be different now?

The major regret in my life is that I did not go on to college when I gratuated high school. I should have persued my writing. If I had done that, perhaps I would have been involved in the world of creative writing in a big way instead of self-publishing on the www.

2. Or maybe you think "the fates" have it all planned out for us. Do you think every life has a pre-determined course, that we will wind up at point X regardless of the decisions we make?

I don't think every life has a predetermined course. I think God has a plan for our lives, but it is up to me to make the decisions that will allow me to fulfill that purpose.

3. This train of thought leads, of course, to relationships. I personally do not believe in "soul mates," but many do. I can't deny that some people are just right for each other. However, there are plenty of other relationships that crash and burn because it is not a good fit. Do you think that it is that left up to us and random chance to decide who we are with? Are we are guided to the person we were meant to be with or could you be with the wrong person while "the one" is still somewhere out there?

Again, I think God has a purpose for our lives. That purpose may include a paticular individual as our life partner. However, it is still our decision to make if we take up with one person or another.

4. At the 4th of July parade, I saw this fella with a HUGE beer belly. That right there is enough to make me swear off beer! I am not a beer drinker. I've never liked the flavor. As a college kid I drank my share, but I had to learn to tolerate the flavor, and only could if the beer was icy cold. It was never refreshing, it was always a means to an end. It used to be fun, or what I thought was fun then. Things have changed a lot, and as I've aged my tolerance has lowered and it doesn't take much to make me drunk, so I just avoid it. Do you like to drink and get drunk? When was the last time you were drunk or hung over? What was the occasion? How did it feel at the time? How did it feel the next day?

The last time I was drunk was on my 24th birthday. I was so drunk it was frightening. I realized I was on the wide path to alcoholism and I did not want to go down that road because my father was an alcoholic and his life was a ruin. I quit drinking then.

5. On the same topic, have you ever done anything you regret while "under the influence?" What happened? Do you remember it or did you have to be told?

Yes, enough said. I remember, I wish I could forget.

6. I am guessing many out there won't have answers to the above two questions. I wish I could say the same, but I thought it was "cool" to drink and do all those things because all of my so-called "friends" were doing them too. Were you/are you able to resist peer pressure in school/college? How? If not, what did you do that you wish you hadn't?

I started drinking because my best friend started drinking. How's that for peer pressure. Of course, in the final analysis, the choice to start drinking was mine. I have to take the responibility for that.

7. What things are better left unsaid?

Anything that if said would ruin a valued relationship.

BONUS: Isn't this world a crazy place?

In fact, I have a book of poetry titled Crazy To Be Alive In Such a Strange World. It's a fun read.

Today's Comment Question: What can make you smile on a grumpy day?

The delighted laugh of a child when he/she discovers something crazy in this strange world

posted by deborah 8:42 AM

 

What Else Have I Been Up To?

In June, my husband and I rented a booth at a local flea market. The market actually takes place in a self-storage facility that the owner is turning into a flea market as the self-storage units are emptied. We rented a small unit. It's only eight feet by eight feet, but we can set a lot of stuff up outside (if it's not raining).

We have been having fun with the whole thing because we are avid garage sail-ers, but we don't have room in our cluttered home for anymore "collectibles." This flea market thing gives us an outlet for buying stuff we like when we find it at yard sales.

posted by deborah 8:10 AM

 

It Is Really, Really About Time

About the same time as I posted the previous blog, way back on May 18, my computer died! After several tries and a couple of in-home computer techs, Gateway decided to send my PC to the computer hospital over in South Dakota. That took about two weeks, but I got it back and it seems to be working fine again.

Gateway tech support was very good, the only complaint I have is that the process took such a LONG time. I might still be struggling except one tech I talked to told me to ask for a "case manager" if the computer was still giving me trouble. After I did that, it wasn't long until the problem was resolved. So, if you are using Gateway and keep having continual problems ask for the case manager.

posted by deborah 8:07 AM

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