Home is where the what now is?

Home: A place where one lives; a residence. The physical structure within which one lives, such as a house or apartment. A dwelling place together with the family or social unit that occupies it; a household; An environment offering security and happiness; A valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin; The place, such as a country or town, where one was born or has lived for a long period.

Home is an interesting concept. While driving from PA to Columbus with my boss today, he asked how I came to be in Ohio. When I mentioned that it was the longest I had really lived in one place he said, "Well, I suppose that it's home then..." I paused, and I'm still not sure how to answer.

What is home to you? I'm curious because the traditional model is where you grew up, but we kind of moved around. Mom and Dad are now in FL and that's certainly not home for me (although it one day might be). My brother and sis-in-law live in NC and that's not home to them or me - hopefully they will make their way North at some point as well. My birthplace of Huntington, WV was "home" for all intents and purposes for a while but now that Granny has moved away and we don't have family there, well that's not home either. I used to think of Lewisburg (where I spent my teens) as home but after my brief visit there this past summer I realize that's certainly not home.

Sigh...

Anyway, is home where you live at the time - where all of your shit resides? Not necesarily, as my shit is currently in a temporary locale. Is it where the preponderence of your family is? That makes a little sense, because that sense of togetherness that informs the concept of home can be found by being with them - as long as you like your family and enjoy their company.

Not to be too obtuse (stop laughing please), but I'm starting to think that "home" resides within the self. The saying, "Wherever you go, there you are" is a very factual and honest assesment. If you are unhappy at your physical 'home', then perhaps when you go to work it is that place where you feel most comfortable - but is work 'home'? However, I can't imagine that someone in Leavenworth thinks of their little 6 x 8 cell as 'home', but unless they are at peace with themselves internally can anything really be 'home' to them...or any of us?

Perhaps the concept of 'home' is similar to the concept of 'happiness' - both are rather vague in their true meaning and have a varied sense of power and satisfaction behind them...as in, "Is anyone ever truly happy?" I welcome your opinions, reader, as the shades of grey surrounding both terms are so subjective I think they might differ slightly for everyone - and for each of those people mean different things as they move through their lives. What once was home for me in both reality and concept is no longer - I feel that I carry my 'home' within my self.

Additionally, what once made me 'happy' no longer carries the power to do so to the same extent. Whether we become slightly numbed to those 'happy' catalysts through familiarity or repetition, we commonly seek new pathways for happiness throughout our lives. Its a common part of our personal growth and maturity. "For ye shall put away childish things..." as an example of the age-old nature of this phenomenon. The primary variance with the 'happiness' statement is the time I spend with my children and even that time spent has its highs and lows.

So what has all of this mental meandering accomplished? Not very much to be quite honest. However, I do hope its brought you to a brief pause to consider what 'home' and 'happiness' mean to you...in the past, present and future.

Can someone tell me what's so funny about this picture and caption?

Photo and caption from CNN.com. I'm from WV so I can make this comment and not be mean...


Arkansas flood damage
at $2 million and rising

Let's Go...Mountaineers!

Proof positive that WVU cheerleaders do, in fact, have teeth...

Duke Beats WVU?



Wee WAHHHH!



OK, enough picture goodness. The fact is, a very well coached WVU team put a normally very well coached Duke team to bed today. Coach K in all of his Blue Devil splendor couldn't hold off the sober, if puffy, Bobby Huggins. I am so proud of our boys - most of whom are from NJ and FL - as they managed to make a very strong second-half statement against a highly regarded Duke squad.

Next brings an Xavier team to the floor - a team that just flat out opened up a can of 'whup ass' on Perdue today. Methinks that this will be a fantastic game. Lay your money on WVU as they seem to be a team on a mission, playing above the rim both literally and figuartively. A potential Elite Eight matchup against UCLA would be promoted as the game of the tournament. I can see Beverly Hillbillies tie-ins already...

Come and listen to a story about a man named Bob
A poor Mountaineer, barely kept his team ahead,
Then one day his boys was a'shootin at some hoops,
And up through the ground came a bubblin blue.

Duke that is, blue n' white, NC team.

Well the first thing you know ol Bob's a millionaire,
Kinfolk said "Bob'll make 'em play up there"
Said "San Antony is the place you ought to be"
So they loaded up the truck and made the Final Four-a'yeee!

Finals, that is. bettin' pools, ESPN highlight reels.

Well now its time to say good by to Bob and all his kin.
And they would like to thank the balls fer kindly droppin in.
You're all invited back a-gain to this sports facility
To have a heapin helpin of their hospitality
Mountaineers that is. Final Four, Take your hats off.

Y'all win it all now, y'hear?

Why WVU Matches up Best with UCLA to get to Final Four

I Wanna Easter Egg!

Actually, I do - because then I could make egg salad. Those who know me well are quite conversant with my constant struggle with spirituality of all types. I'm convinced it was the four years of study in Marshall's Humanities program that literally flogged the religion out of me - well, that and common sense. I like to think now that as a pragmatic positivist that we offer the best of ourselves to the common good and it has a greater impact on the world. That which we call karma makes sense even if only as a balm for the soul to overcome internal guilt over sins past, present and future.

Without getting into a full-blown religious dialogue at this point, let's just chat a moment about our current holiday and how it came to be. Like nearly all major Christian holidays, Easter is the result of an absorption of several 'pagan' rites and rituals from many of the areas where the newfangled religion was being propagated. In order to co-opt the local populace, the early church mirrored the local customs and claimed a parallel vision of events - relational religion so to speak. With the patience of, well Job I suppose, they knew that over time the rites would merge and become one with the beliefs of the locals and they would eventually come into the church. Quite ingenious, really.

Easter's origins come from several streams of myth and faith - a'la Joseph Campbell - and all surrounding the Spring Equinox. As noted in the following excerpt, even the mythology surrounding the death and resurrection is a bit plagiarized:

"Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25. "About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection."

Even the name of the holiday is derived from the goddesses associated with the coming fecundity, such as:

The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos."

Such was the life of the early Christian leader and scholar - how shall we rewrite history and myth to grow our market space? Like the current ability of marketing executives to emulate their popular rivals and make their name a mainstream term representing the general concept to 'steal its mythological power', i.e. xerox, kleenex, etc. the Christian leadership followed an incredible campaign of growth and vision.

Kudos to the world's first marketing gurus! Happy Estrus!

Its March...and its MADNESS!!!

Can I tell you just how freaking awesome March Madness really is? Technically the dance hasn't even started and already the Conference Tournaments are ratcheting up the tension. Let's just all bask in the glory that is the next few weeks of awesome roundball.

That is all...

The Odyssey

View out the back porch window after the storm...

Having spent four days in San Fran for a conference where I basically stood in a booth and performed demonstrations until I was hoarse, I was ready to fly home. I was hoping the red-eye was not going to destroy me like they usually do, counting on being able to sleep some in my complementary upgraded seat. Oh, but the ghods had other things in mind.

Upon arriving at SFO I was informed that there was a problem with my Detroit-Cleveland leg - that being the ticket agents could see it but it had a 'mystery code'. After 45 minutes of sleuthing on the part of the ticket agent, they figured out it meant that the flight was cancelled. Lovely.

After further review, we determined there were no really good ways to get me home. Most would have me arriving Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. With so many cancellations due to the impending storm and very full flights all weekend there were no good options for empty seats. We finally settled on SFO to Newark with the logic that they had the most flights to CLE should the Newark - CLE leg go South. Foresight? Not.

After arriving in Newark from the flight from hell - bumpy, long and red-eye-ish - I managed to stumble to my connecting flight. Once again, getting the last minute complimentary upgrade and sitting in first with a (virgin) bloody mary and a nice seat I felt a surge of confidence as we taxied to the runway. Silly me! Once we arrived at runway 251s we were turned back to the gate - cancelled. Rebooking was a nightmare - no real options aside from MONDAY NIGHT!

Myself and four other intrepid adventurers opted to fly into Pittsburgh and drive the 1.5 hours home. That flight was an adventure in itself - with both flight attendants getting knocked to the floor with turbulence and the beverage cart crashing into the wall and spilling crap everywhere. At one point, as I was in the very back seat of the plane, myself and another guy were helping the hapless Stew stay on the floor while the plane tried its best to cast us all up to the ceiling. Nice.

Arriving in P-burgh was a relief, albeit a short-lived one. Snow began to spit from an angry sky as I drove out of the rental car lot in my nondescript, but all-wheel-drive, Saturn. With every mile it built itself into a real snowfall. At the Ohio border the snow went from being an annoyance to a real concern. The closer I came to Cleveland, the more hazardous things became - but stopping at this point was not an option.

After nearly three hours of driving I arrived home to find huge drifts blocking my driveway. After five attempts, forward and back, I was able to shove the rental car into the driveway. Opening the door of the car was an adventure as the snow was well above the doorwell. I stepped out of the car to accumulation above my knees and slogged into the house covered in heavy, wet snow.

The next morning was an adventure into itself with driving back up to CLE to get my redirected bags (one of which is destroyed) and my car. However, by this point the sun was shining and things were a little better on the roads.

Is there a lesson here? Not really. The only thing that I did note was that after years of traveling like this that I was able to not get stressed/pissed/angry. Grain of salt, baby. Grain of Salt...

Deck after the storm...

Looking out of the garage...

Down the street...

The last one...

It's Three AM - and the phone rings in the White House...

In a complete reversal of an earlier position I had regarding Sen. Clinton's re-emergence after the Texas debate two weeks ago, I am now declaring her to be in a state of dismal panic. Her performance in the CSU debate was heinous - she was shrill, defensive, and belligerent and overall appeared desperate.

What happened in those few short days between events? Well, she lost a couple of primaries for one. The press lauded the momentum factor of Obama and displayed an increasingly panicked Clinton for the nation to watch, cringing. Her husband made a gaffe or two along the way while Obama kept racking up key endorsements, including the all-mighty Teamsters’ Union which had always been in the (Male) Clinton camp.

It has been difficult to watch. No more so than what we all tuned into CNN this morning in the form of a story about Clinton’s most recent TV ad running in Texas. As shot after shot of sleeping children flashes on the screen, the narrator drones ominously:

“Its three AM and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone in the White House and its ringing. Something’s happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call. Whether its someone who already knows the worlds leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world…Etc, etc. Ad nauseum…”

In case you want to feel sick to your stomach, here is the ad:

Clinton's Ad

This is the worst sort of fearmongering and it is much more what we would expect out of a hawkish Republican campaign rather than a Democratic Party candidate. I was waiting for the child picking petals off a flower and the ensuing mushroom cloud to finish off the spot. Of course, it ends instead with a still of Hillary with the phone to her ear looking well made up, dressed and smiling for her hypothetical three AM call. It would have been more real had they shown her in bed with tousled hair, swollen unmade face, and the lump of Bill under the covers next to her. However, that was not to be…

Obama’s response actually references some of her ad’s visuals without the dire warnings attached.

Obama's Response

It reminds the viewers that Hillary actually supported the Iraq war, making the point that the ‘real threat’ of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan was ignored as a result. He makes the point that ‘…we have had a ‘red phone’ moment and it was the decision to invade Iraq’ and that Hillary made the wrong choice. He emphasizes that it’s not a matter of experience; it’s a matter of judgment. He’s right – she’s wrong…on this and more. He develops into a stronger candidate on a daily basis, and not just by his actions. Clinton’s negative posturing seems to be pushing more and more voters to his side. Get ready for McCain vs. Obama in November.