After watching the debate I know everyone was interested in how President Obama answered the Libya question. I know I was, especially since the moderator Candy Crowley said she that President Obama was absolutely correct that he did indeed call the Libya attack an "act of terror" the day after 4 Americans were killed. I must have missed the part about the moderator in a Presidential debate being a commentator as well. Interestingly I found this article written by Alana Goodman at Commentary Magazine on 9/30/12. Interesting to note how Candy Crowley does her fact checking, she gets it straight from David Axelrod. That's right, the impartial moderator of the Presidential debate gets her information straight from Obama's master of spin.
Alana Goodman's Article
Now that the Obama administration’s initial narrative that the Benghazi assault was a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam film has collapsed, the new spin from the White House is that President Obama has actually called it a terrorist attack all along.
“Well, first of all, Candy, as you know, the President called it an act of terror the day after it happened,” David Axelrod told CNN’s Candy Crowley this morning, referring to a speech Obama made in the Rose Garden on Sept. 12.
Axelrod’s claim has been pushed by journalists over the past few days, most notably Josh Gerstein at Politico, in a blog post headlined “Obama talked of Libya attack as ‘terror’ 2 weeks ago”:
Despite a drumbeat from the right and even independent fact-checkers that President Barack Obama has been unwilling to label as terrorism the attack on a United States diplomatic mission in Libya, the president indicated just a day after the killing of the American ambassador there that the assault was part of a series of “acts of terror” the U.S. has faced.
Mark Landler made the same claim in an otherwise solid article at the New York Times:
The White House maintains that its account changed as intelligence agencies gathered more details about the attack, not from any desire to diminish its gravity. Mr. Obama, his aides point out, labeled the assault an “act of terror” in his first public response, in the Rose Garden, a day after it happened.
Gerstein and Landler are simply wrong on this.
Obama said during the speech that “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation” — but at no point was it clear that he was using that term to describe the attack in Benghazi. He’d also spent the previous two paragraphs discussing the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath. “Acts of terror” could have just as easily been a reference to that. Or maybe it wasn’t a direct reference to anything, just a generic, reassuring line he’d added into a speech which did take place, after all, the day after the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Here’s the line with some additional context:
Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks. We mourned with the families who were lost on that day. I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed. And then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi.
As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it. Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe.
No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.
If Obama wanted to call the Benghazi assault a terrorist attack in that speech, he had plenty of opportunities to do so. Instead, he described it as a “terrible act,” a “brutal” act, “senseless violence,” and called the attackers “killers,” not terrorists. It’s also important to consider the context. For a week after this speech, the White House would not call it a terrorist attack. The official position was that Libya was a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam film, not a premeditated or preplanned act.
Some may wonder why it even matters. Maybe Obama really was referring to Benghazi as an “act of terror” in the speech, and he just failed to make that clear enough — so what?
Actually, this is much more than an issue of semantics. Calling it a terrorist attack would have given Obama powers under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF) to use military action, including drone warfare, against the perpetrators. If he were serious about “bring[ing] to justice the killers,” which he vowed to do in the speech, then labeling this incident a terrorist attack (if he believed that’s what it was) would have been critical. Instead, we now have the FBI sitting with its hands bound in Tripoli, unable to move forward with a serious investigation.
MH
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
3 Years For That?
Let me start this entry by saying I love pizza and Domino's has great pizza, but when I saw their latest commercial I was struck by something that I just can't get out of my head so I had to share.
At the 8 second mark of the commercial Patrick Doyle tells the audience that Domino's has spent 3 years developing their fresh pan pizza dough. 3 years they spent working on a way to to be different from most pizza joints. Most pizza places use *gasp* frozen dough for their pan pizza crusts!!! Oh the humanity! But not Domino's. No, no...they are so dedicated to delivering fresh pan pizza to their customers that they spent 3 years developing this process.
Now, go back and take a look starting at the 11 second mark where Roxane (the pizza chef) tells you just how they did it. "first we hand press it into the pan, then we top it with not one but two layers of cheese." I will wait for just a moment and let that soak in. *insert elevator music here* Has it soaked in yet? For those that are still confused, let me explain what took Domino's 3 years to develop.
1. Take the pizza dough and press it into the pan.
2. Cover with cheese.
Really? I'm not Mario the professional pizza maker, but 3 years for put the pizza dough in the pan and cover with cheese? Did I miss where the federal government took over Domino's? That's the only legitimate excuse for that process to take more than 3 seconds let alone 3 years!
Still avoiding the Noid and Prime Time Pizza...MH
At the 8 second mark of the commercial Patrick Doyle tells the audience that Domino's has spent 3 years developing their fresh pan pizza dough. 3 years they spent working on a way to to be different from most pizza joints. Most pizza places use *gasp* frozen dough for their pan pizza crusts!!! Oh the humanity! But not Domino's. No, no...they are so dedicated to delivering fresh pan pizza to their customers that they spent 3 years developing this process.
Now, go back and take a look starting at the 11 second mark where Roxane (the pizza chef) tells you just how they did it. "first we hand press it into the pan, then we top it with not one but two layers of cheese." I will wait for just a moment and let that soak in. *insert elevator music here* Has it soaked in yet? For those that are still confused, let me explain what took Domino's 3 years to develop.
1. Take the pizza dough and press it into the pan.
2. Cover with cheese.
Really? I'm not Mario the professional pizza maker, but 3 years for put the pizza dough in the pan and cover with cheese? Did I miss where the federal government took over Domino's? That's the only legitimate excuse for that process to take more than 3 seconds let alone 3 years!
Still avoiding the Noid and Prime Time Pizza...MH
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Life Lessons
Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it I have had more than my share of situations in which I had the opportunity to learn a valuable life lesson. In many of these situations I had the opportunity to turn these into multiple life lessons. Some I learned easily, others, I'm still working on.
One such opportunity occurred in 1996. JM and I were returning home from Lollapalooza in Indiana. We were traveling home in one car with two other guys that went with us to the concert and were being followed by our friend Paul and 3 other friends in another car. At some point we noticed a quaint, but professional looking fireworks store off to the side of the interstate. Now JM and I were already known in our area for producing one of the most exciting and substantial July 4th home fireworks productions, but we were always looking to expand our display.
Typically we got most of our fireworks in MO at one of those "big box" fireworks stores, but this place looked different. We had talked before about needing to do something different to keep up our exciting displays that always had the neighbors talking. We both happened to see it at the same time and immediately knew we had to stop.
One issue though, we had already passed the exit and I was running late getting home. I was supposed to be at work at 2 and after 14 hours in the sun the day before and a very long night we had overslept, so there was no time for goofing around. There wasn't time to go up to the next exit and turn around. No, a quick and decisive decision was needed and I made it.
I saw one of those "authorized vehicles only" turnarounds quickly approaching. So quickly in fact that there wasn't any time to get to the inside lane or even slow down. I immediately turned the steering wheel, throwing the car into a slide, tires squealing and smoke rolling. JM was holding on to the dash, yelling and one of the guys in the back seat who had been sleeping up until this point was now wide awake with his eyes as large as Christina Ricci's. I knew this because I was looking in my rear view mirror to see not only how many cars I had cut off, but also to see if Paul was able to get slowed down in time to make the same turn. He did not.
It was still early in the cell phone days, but Paul and I both had one and it didn't take long for him to call and let JM and I know what he was thinking. What were we doing? Why didn't we tell him we were stopping? He wanted fireworks. And, most importantly, wow what a stop and turn!
After the excitement of the turn, we still didn't have time to waste. We had to get going and head back to the store, we had fireworks to buy! We pulled into the store and began our quest to find something new and different. I knew when we entered this little red barn we had found exactly what we had hoped.
Because space was limited this place hadn't wasted a lot of floor with "smalls," which was good, because we weren't interested in sparklers and smoke bombs. No, we wanted big, loud and spectacular and there was wall to wall big, loud and spectacular. We had found the fireworks sweet spot. In addition there was only one main worker and he was also the owner and he was passionate about what he was selling. We quickly explained to him that we didn't have much time and why we were there. Big was good, but we wanted quality too. Something to set ourselves apart. Like a machine he began methodically showing us what we needed. Like a fat kid in a free cake store we were giddy with excitement.
Once we had what we needed, we added a couple of extra items just in case. JM and I had learned in the last 5 years that there was no such thing as too many fireworks. Now we had to checkout and go. Time was slipping away from me and I knew I was already late for work. As the owner began ringing up the stuff I reached for my wallet. Now this wasn't a planned purchase, so I knew I didn't have enough cash. I turned to JM and although we always took extra cash to these outings, we had far exceeded our emergency cash stash with this purchase. So there was only one thing to do, we couldn't let this magnificent haul get away from us.
I reached into my wallet and pulled out a credit card. The owner finally got finished ringing each of our items up and gave me the total. I handed over my Visa and JM started organizing things so we could quickly get moving. Now, everyone knows that feeling when it starts taking a second or two longer than it should for the clerk to give your credit card back. One second turned into two, two turned into three and I quickly realized that something wasn't right. I started thinking of everything it might be. Over the credit limit? No, can't be. Missed payment? No, I distinctly remember sending it in. What could this possibly be?
The owner looks at the card reader and then looks at me. I will never forget what he says next. "I need you to stay right here." I was like, no kidding dude, I need my credit card back before I go anywhere. But the way he said it didn't give me any comfort and I was starting to panic. He goes over to a little doorway and I see that he's using the phone. Ok, good. He's calling someone to either fix his machine or straighten out any confusion about my credit card. I had plenty of credit line and hadn't ever missed a payment. This would soon be straightened out and we would be on our way. Which was desperately needed because I was way late now.
He comes back and tells me, just be patient and this will all be handled. Patience is something I was quickly running out of at this point. I asked him pointedly, "what's the problem?" No answer. I looked at the card reader and it read "Pick Up Card." I wasn't sure what that meant at the time, but it didn't seem promising. At that point he asked, "can I see your driver's license?" Ok, now we are getting somewhere. I'm obviously me and that's my card, so sure, here it is and now we can get going. Thankfully he seemed satisfied that I was who I said I was, but apparently he had ulterior motives, "your credit card is reading that it's stolen." He explained that he couldn't give it back to me and that the police had been called and were on their way. He further explained that he now had all my information, so it would be best if I didn't try to run.
At this point I was beyond freaking out. JM was looking at me all confused. He knew there had to be a huge mistake, but what were we going to do now? At this instant, I remembered that I had lost one of my credit cards and had reported it lost or stolen a couple of weeks before. I had looked for weeks for it prior to reporting it, but now I knew immediately that I had found my lost credit card...unfortunately for me, this was not how I wanted to find it. I explained the situation to the owner and calmly asked him if he would look at the back of the card and give me the phone number off of it. Surprisingly he did.
I called customer service and explained what had happened, gave them my information and convinced them that I wasn't some hardened credit card thief. I was able to give them enough identifiable information that they confirmed that although I was moron and in error about my credit card being lost, I wasn't a thief and hadn't stolen my own card. It was at this point the police were pulling up and I knew I needed to get the owner on my side quickly. I gave him the phone and asked the customer service rep to help clear things up. If they rescinded the notice that this was a stolen card then I could pay for the fireworks with another card and we could be on our way. Finally when he hung up the phone, he smiled, handed me back my card and said "you might want to go ahead and cut that up." Crisis averted! The police came in the store, the owner quickly waved them off and told them that it had been handled. Finally we had our fireworks and were on our way.
I finally made it to work that night and a couple of nights later JM and I put on one of our best fireworks displays ever.
The life lessons learned? 1. The best fireworks are never found in the "big box" stores. 2. Always use a turn signal when turning. 3. Always have a spare credit card. 4. Make sure your credit card is lost before reporting it. 5. Tell your friends where you are going. But the most important life lesson learned? When looking for things, they are always in the last place you look!
That's nice...MH
One such opportunity occurred in 1996. JM and I were returning home from Lollapalooza in Indiana. We were traveling home in one car with two other guys that went with us to the concert and were being followed by our friend Paul and 3 other friends in another car. At some point we noticed a quaint, but professional looking fireworks store off to the side of the interstate. Now JM and I were already known in our area for producing one of the most exciting and substantial July 4th home fireworks productions, but we were always looking to expand our display.
Typically we got most of our fireworks in MO at one of those "big box" fireworks stores, but this place looked different. We had talked before about needing to do something different to keep up our exciting displays that always had the neighbors talking. We both happened to see it at the same time and immediately knew we had to stop.
One issue though, we had already passed the exit and I was running late getting home. I was supposed to be at work at 2 and after 14 hours in the sun the day before and a very long night we had overslept, so there was no time for goofing around. There wasn't time to go up to the next exit and turn around. No, a quick and decisive decision was needed and I made it.
I saw one of those "authorized vehicles only" turnarounds quickly approaching. So quickly in fact that there wasn't any time to get to the inside lane or even slow down. I immediately turned the steering wheel, throwing the car into a slide, tires squealing and smoke rolling. JM was holding on to the dash, yelling and one of the guys in the back seat who had been sleeping up until this point was now wide awake with his eyes as large as Christina Ricci's. I knew this because I was looking in my rear view mirror to see not only how many cars I had cut off, but also to see if Paul was able to get slowed down in time to make the same turn. He did not.
It was still early in the cell phone days, but Paul and I both had one and it didn't take long for him to call and let JM and I know what he was thinking. What were we doing? Why didn't we tell him we were stopping? He wanted fireworks. And, most importantly, wow what a stop and turn!
After the excitement of the turn, we still didn't have time to waste. We had to get going and head back to the store, we had fireworks to buy! We pulled into the store and began our quest to find something new and different. I knew when we entered this little red barn we had found exactly what we had hoped.
Because space was limited this place hadn't wasted a lot of floor with "smalls," which was good, because we weren't interested in sparklers and smoke bombs. No, we wanted big, loud and spectacular and there was wall to wall big, loud and spectacular. We had found the fireworks sweet spot. In addition there was only one main worker and he was also the owner and he was passionate about what he was selling. We quickly explained to him that we didn't have much time and why we were there. Big was good, but we wanted quality too. Something to set ourselves apart. Like a machine he began methodically showing us what we needed. Like a fat kid in a free cake store we were giddy with excitement.
Once we had what we needed, we added a couple of extra items just in case. JM and I had learned in the last 5 years that there was no such thing as too many fireworks. Now we had to checkout and go. Time was slipping away from me and I knew I was already late for work. As the owner began ringing up the stuff I reached for my wallet. Now this wasn't a planned purchase, so I knew I didn't have enough cash. I turned to JM and although we always took extra cash to these outings, we had far exceeded our emergency cash stash with this purchase. So there was only one thing to do, we couldn't let this magnificent haul get away from us.
I reached into my wallet and pulled out a credit card. The owner finally got finished ringing each of our items up and gave me the total. I handed over my Visa and JM started organizing things so we could quickly get moving. Now, everyone knows that feeling when it starts taking a second or two longer than it should for the clerk to give your credit card back. One second turned into two, two turned into three and I quickly realized that something wasn't right. I started thinking of everything it might be. Over the credit limit? No, can't be. Missed payment? No, I distinctly remember sending it in. What could this possibly be?
The owner looks at the card reader and then looks at me. I will never forget what he says next. "I need you to stay right here." I was like, no kidding dude, I need my credit card back before I go anywhere. But the way he said it didn't give me any comfort and I was starting to panic. He goes over to a little doorway and I see that he's using the phone. Ok, good. He's calling someone to either fix his machine or straighten out any confusion about my credit card. I had plenty of credit line and hadn't ever missed a payment. This would soon be straightened out and we would be on our way. Which was desperately needed because I was way late now.
He comes back and tells me, just be patient and this will all be handled. Patience is something I was quickly running out of at this point. I asked him pointedly, "what's the problem?" No answer. I looked at the card reader and it read "Pick Up Card." I wasn't sure what that meant at the time, but it didn't seem promising. At that point he asked, "can I see your driver's license?" Ok, now we are getting somewhere. I'm obviously me and that's my card, so sure, here it is and now we can get going. Thankfully he seemed satisfied that I was who I said I was, but apparently he had ulterior motives, "your credit card is reading that it's stolen." He explained that he couldn't give it back to me and that the police had been called and were on their way. He further explained that he now had all my information, so it would be best if I didn't try to run.
At this point I was beyond freaking out. JM was looking at me all confused. He knew there had to be a huge mistake, but what were we going to do now? At this instant, I remembered that I had lost one of my credit cards and had reported it lost or stolen a couple of weeks before. I had looked for weeks for it prior to reporting it, but now I knew immediately that I had found my lost credit card...unfortunately for me, this was not how I wanted to find it. I explained the situation to the owner and calmly asked him if he would look at the back of the card and give me the phone number off of it. Surprisingly he did.
I called customer service and explained what had happened, gave them my information and convinced them that I wasn't some hardened credit card thief. I was able to give them enough identifiable information that they confirmed that although I was moron and in error about my credit card being lost, I wasn't a thief and hadn't stolen my own card. It was at this point the police were pulling up and I knew I needed to get the owner on my side quickly. I gave him the phone and asked the customer service rep to help clear things up. If they rescinded the notice that this was a stolen card then I could pay for the fireworks with another card and we could be on our way. Finally when he hung up the phone, he smiled, handed me back my card and said "you might want to go ahead and cut that up." Crisis averted! The police came in the store, the owner quickly waved them off and told them that it had been handled. Finally we had our fireworks and were on our way.
I finally made it to work that night and a couple of nights later JM and I put on one of our best fireworks displays ever.
The life lessons learned? 1. The best fireworks are never found in the "big box" stores. 2. Always use a turn signal when turning. 3. Always have a spare credit card. 4. Make sure your credit card is lost before reporting it. 5. Tell your friends where you are going. But the most important life lesson learned? When looking for things, they are always in the last place you look!
That's nice...MH
Saturday, October 13, 2012
SOTD - Take A Look At Yourself
This song was recently suggested for a SOTD and I couldn't agree more.
Can't you see why I want you and nobody else...MH
Can't you see why I want you and nobody else...MH
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Chapter 5.3: BIRD!!!
The next place on Matt’s list of adventures was the legendary Violin Girl of Centralia. She was located within the confinements of a cemetery and basically she was a statue of a little girl over a grave site. The story was if you went to the cemetery, there was a chance of hearing her play. We went there with the video camera and actually found the tombstone rather easily. But to our disappointment, no violin playing. No ghost girl. End of case.
We did, however, find a cool mausoleum behind the tomb area of the little girl. It was enormous in size and appeared to be the dimensions of a small home. It pretty much reminded me of the size of my first home that I purchased right after moving out of my mom and dad’s home. The home was only about 800 square feet and had only two bedrooms. You could stand in the kitchen and see the entire home. This had its advantages later on when I started having children. It was easy to keep an eye on them and locate them when needed with little to no effort. But it did run into problems later when I had two kids, one boy and one girl and did not have separate bedrooms to put them in. This mausoleum reminded me of the size of my first home.
What was really disturbing about the building was the fact all of the entrance areas had been bricked up and sealed. When Matt and I went over to get a closer look at the building itself, one of the bricks in one of the window areas had been cracked and removed from the area it held shut. We shined a flashlight in and you could make out what appeared to be some sort of sliding lock mechanism. The freaky thing was that the lock could only be opened and locked from the inside. How was this done?
Also, while Matt and I were shinning the light around into the opening, Matt swore he saw something move inside. He jerked his arm back and nearly dropped the flashlight inside the building. I wanted to go back and get a closer look, but Matt refused and we not only left the area of the mausoleum, but the cemetery itself.
Matt and I went to some other cool haunted locations during our times together. One of the funniest that was supposed to be the scariest was an area we called the Bird House. The home was out in the country in the area that we lived and grew up in. It was down an old field road and you had to travel nearly a mile down a beat up uneven driveway before you reached the location. Once you got there, there were two buildings present. One house and two storage barns. There had been a rumor circulating for years that the upstairs area of the home housed some sort of safe which contained a large sum of money. Matt and I had heard of this story before, but it had never crossed our minds to check the place out for ourselves. That was until we started doing some paranormal investigations in areas.
We took the video camera as usual and went around the back side of the house. The front door had been boarded up years before in what appeared to be a futile attempt at keeping out any trespassers that they possibly could keep out. Normally, people will check the front door and if it is locked, they will assume that someone is living within the establishment. However, the other small proportion of individuals will see that this point of entry is not accessibly and they will do whatever they can to seek another point of entry, enter Matt and I. We knew that the front door was locked, but the side of the house had a door that was wide open and allowed easy access to the home. It was this door that we went to seek entrance into the location.
As we approached the door, Matt stepped ahead of me as I held the camera. I knew he really did not want to be the individual to go first, but he also did not want to limit his view of his surroundings by putting himself behind the camera. We entered the home to find pretty much nothing but trash and dirt. There was an old sofa sitting in the front room area that was located directly behind the entrance door that was locked. Matt made some sort of comment about the couch being the perfect make out couch. I made a wisecrack about being my guest at bringing someone there to make out. He laughed as did I.
As we proceeded further into the home, we located a small door that seemed to lead upwards. I moved towards it keeping my sight clear with the camera and was about to open the door. That’s when Matt called my attention to something. An odd noise was filling the air and coming from the direction of a side room.
“What is that noise?” Matt asked darting his head from side to side. I could tell at that moment he was a little uneasy. Seeing him this way also made me feel uneasy as well.
“I don’t know.” I said. I began to pan the camera from side to side. That’s when it happened. The reason we called the house the Bird House.
As I panned the camera from the right and then back left, a flapping sound caught my attention. I jerked the camera back in the direction the sound was coming from. That’s when something hit the front lens of the camera sending the camera flying right into my eye and jamming my head backwards in an arc formation.
“What the heck was that?” I screamed as I pulled the camera down rubbing my eye. Matt was now no longer in front of me, but had crouched in a defensive formation behind me. I was not sure if he had done that in order to protect himself or whether or not he had went into this position because he thought it was an easier position to help protect me.
“I think it was a …” Before he could finish the statement, the thing that had come the first time had come again. It darted from the top of the ceiling and dove at us. At first I thought it was a bat of some kind, seeking out our human blood wanting to quench its thirst. Then I got a closer look and realized what it was.
“Bird!” I yelled covering my head as the beast came back for another swoop.
For a moment we were both relieved that that was just what it was, a bird. Then as the bird continued to attack us with swoop after swoop, I knew that it probably would have been better for us had the thing been paranormal. At least that way it would not have been solid and if it did make contact with us in any way it would not hurt us. This bird had a solid beak. If it made contact with our bodies in some way it was going to hurt. I knew by the way this bird was acting that it probably had a nest somewhere with young birds in it. It was acting as if Matt and I were predators. I knew the best way to resolve the situation would be to remove ourselves from the location. However, I was not done searching the house for the legendary safe and legendary treasure just yet.
“Follow me!” I yelled to Matt as if I was some sort of military sergeant barking orders to his private. I stuck my arms up around my eyes to shield myself the best that I could. Matt did not argue with my command, he watched the area that I was moving toward and followed blindly, his arms near his eyes as well trying to defend himself. Even thought the bird was way smaller than either one of us, we both feared this animal tremendously.
I knew where I was leading us. I was leading us to a place of safety. At least a place of safety from our fine flying feathered friend. I was also leading us to the place that we were needing to go. The real reason why we had made the attempt at the Bird House. I was leading us to the place of legends, where the safe in the location holding the buried treasure was suppose to be. Had Matt known exactly where I was leading him, he probably would have just stayed where he was at dealing with the killer bird. I was leading us up.
I was leading us to the attic!
We did, however, find a cool mausoleum behind the tomb area of the little girl. It was enormous in size and appeared to be the dimensions of a small home. It pretty much reminded me of the size of my first home that I purchased right after moving out of my mom and dad’s home. The home was only about 800 square feet and had only two bedrooms. You could stand in the kitchen and see the entire home. This had its advantages later on when I started having children. It was easy to keep an eye on them and locate them when needed with little to no effort. But it did run into problems later when I had two kids, one boy and one girl and did not have separate bedrooms to put them in. This mausoleum reminded me of the size of my first home.
What was really disturbing about the building was the fact all of the entrance areas had been bricked up and sealed. When Matt and I went over to get a closer look at the building itself, one of the bricks in one of the window areas had been cracked and removed from the area it held shut. We shined a flashlight in and you could make out what appeared to be some sort of sliding lock mechanism. The freaky thing was that the lock could only be opened and locked from the inside. How was this done?
Also, while Matt and I were shinning the light around into the opening, Matt swore he saw something move inside. He jerked his arm back and nearly dropped the flashlight inside the building. I wanted to go back and get a closer look, but Matt refused and we not only left the area of the mausoleum, but the cemetery itself.
Matt and I went to some other cool haunted locations during our times together. One of the funniest that was supposed to be the scariest was an area we called the Bird House. The home was out in the country in the area that we lived and grew up in. It was down an old field road and you had to travel nearly a mile down a beat up uneven driveway before you reached the location. Once you got there, there were two buildings present. One house and two storage barns. There had been a rumor circulating for years that the upstairs area of the home housed some sort of safe which contained a large sum of money. Matt and I had heard of this story before, but it had never crossed our minds to check the place out for ourselves. That was until we started doing some paranormal investigations in areas.
We took the video camera as usual and went around the back side of the house. The front door had been boarded up years before in what appeared to be a futile attempt at keeping out any trespassers that they possibly could keep out. Normally, people will check the front door and if it is locked, they will assume that someone is living within the establishment. However, the other small proportion of individuals will see that this point of entry is not accessibly and they will do whatever they can to seek another point of entry, enter Matt and I. We knew that the front door was locked, but the side of the house had a door that was wide open and allowed easy access to the home. It was this door that we went to seek entrance into the location.
As we approached the door, Matt stepped ahead of me as I held the camera. I knew he really did not want to be the individual to go first, but he also did not want to limit his view of his surroundings by putting himself behind the camera. We entered the home to find pretty much nothing but trash and dirt. There was an old sofa sitting in the front room area that was located directly behind the entrance door that was locked. Matt made some sort of comment about the couch being the perfect make out couch. I made a wisecrack about being my guest at bringing someone there to make out. He laughed as did I.
As we proceeded further into the home, we located a small door that seemed to lead upwards. I moved towards it keeping my sight clear with the camera and was about to open the door. That’s when Matt called my attention to something. An odd noise was filling the air and coming from the direction of a side room.
“What is that noise?” Matt asked darting his head from side to side. I could tell at that moment he was a little uneasy. Seeing him this way also made me feel uneasy as well.
“I don’t know.” I said. I began to pan the camera from side to side. That’s when it happened. The reason we called the house the Bird House.
As I panned the camera from the right and then back left, a flapping sound caught my attention. I jerked the camera back in the direction the sound was coming from. That’s when something hit the front lens of the camera sending the camera flying right into my eye and jamming my head backwards in an arc formation.
“What the heck was that?” I screamed as I pulled the camera down rubbing my eye. Matt was now no longer in front of me, but had crouched in a defensive formation behind me. I was not sure if he had done that in order to protect himself or whether or not he had went into this position because he thought it was an easier position to help protect me.
“I think it was a …” Before he could finish the statement, the thing that had come the first time had come again. It darted from the top of the ceiling and dove at us. At first I thought it was a bat of some kind, seeking out our human blood wanting to quench its thirst. Then I got a closer look and realized what it was.
“Bird!” I yelled covering my head as the beast came back for another swoop.
For a moment we were both relieved that that was just what it was, a bird. Then as the bird continued to attack us with swoop after swoop, I knew that it probably would have been better for us had the thing been paranormal. At least that way it would not have been solid and if it did make contact with us in any way it would not hurt us. This bird had a solid beak. If it made contact with our bodies in some way it was going to hurt. I knew by the way this bird was acting that it probably had a nest somewhere with young birds in it. It was acting as if Matt and I were predators. I knew the best way to resolve the situation would be to remove ourselves from the location. However, I was not done searching the house for the legendary safe and legendary treasure just yet.
“Follow me!” I yelled to Matt as if I was some sort of military sergeant barking orders to his private. I stuck my arms up around my eyes to shield myself the best that I could. Matt did not argue with my command, he watched the area that I was moving toward and followed blindly, his arms near his eyes as well trying to defend himself. Even thought the bird was way smaller than either one of us, we both feared this animal tremendously.
I knew where I was leading us. I was leading us to a place of safety. At least a place of safety from our fine flying feathered friend. I was also leading us to the place that we were needing to go. The real reason why we had made the attempt at the Bird House. I was leading us to the place of legends, where the safe in the location holding the buried treasure was suppose to be. Had Matt known exactly where I was leading him, he probably would have just stayed where he was at dealing with the killer bird. I was leading us up.
I was leading us to the attic!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
A MetalliReflection...
While on Facebook tonight, a friend of mine made a comment about "When Metallica didn't suck." Well, after much reflection, I have come to terms with the fact that METALLICA HAS NEVER SUCKED! My best friend, Matt Hails, and I have seen Metallica numerous times and are experts in their dominance of the rock and roll world. After much reflection, I decided to share my top five Metallica moments:
5. Seeing Metallica in Indianapolis and having Waylon Jennings come out as the surprise guest. Once he started singing the rioting began. It was all fun and games...dirt flying...coolers flying...chairs flying...until people started flying. Scary moment, but awesome nonetheless.
4. Metallica at Riverport and being involved in our first official moshpit. This too was very frightening but exhilarating. We decided to get out when Matt got knocked down and started to get stepped on. I pulled him out and he had muddy footprints on his back! I still have his shirt to this day with the prints!
3. Metallica at Riverport...our rumble. A boy kept bumping into our friend Opie. He asked us if we would back him up if he punched the guy when he bumped into him again. We said sure, not really thinking he would do it. Next thing I knew I was getting hit with fists, legs, feet, elbows, and other body parts. A huge shout out to Mark Trotter who saw the action and decided it was time to take a bathroom break. Way to support your brothers my man! He never went to a concert with us again.
2. Metallica at Carbondale...my first Metallica concert...my first concert period. We decided that day to go. Did not have tickets. Had no clue who Metallica really was. We showed up at the door and paid $15 and got front row seats. They played four hours! I could not hear for three days after that. It was incredible and a life changing event. That Christmas I asked for all of the Metallica CDs. It was a MetalliChristmas!
1. Metallica at Savvis Center...we got to meet the band backstage! Matt had been paralyzed in his car accident a few months before and refused to go to the concert. They sent us backstage passes as extra motivation for him to attend. They are truly great guys.
Metallica SUCK? Really now? You must not know the band that we do!
I'm thinking...
JM
5. Seeing Metallica in Indianapolis and having Waylon Jennings come out as the surprise guest. Once he started singing the rioting began. It was all fun and games...dirt flying...coolers flying...chairs flying...until people started flying. Scary moment, but awesome nonetheless.
4. Metallica at Riverport and being involved in our first official moshpit. This too was very frightening but exhilarating. We decided to get out when Matt got knocked down and started to get stepped on. I pulled him out and he had muddy footprints on his back! I still have his shirt to this day with the prints!
3. Metallica at Riverport...our rumble. A boy kept bumping into our friend Opie. He asked us if we would back him up if he punched the guy when he bumped into him again. We said sure, not really thinking he would do it. Next thing I knew I was getting hit with fists, legs, feet, elbows, and other body parts. A huge shout out to Mark Trotter who saw the action and decided it was time to take a bathroom break. Way to support your brothers my man! He never went to a concert with us again.
2. Metallica at Carbondale...my first Metallica concert...my first concert period. We decided that day to go. Did not have tickets. Had no clue who Metallica really was. We showed up at the door and paid $15 and got front row seats. They played four hours! I could not hear for three days after that. It was incredible and a life changing event. That Christmas I asked for all of the Metallica CDs. It was a MetalliChristmas!
1. Metallica at Savvis Center...we got to meet the band backstage! Matt had been paralyzed in his car accident a few months before and refused to go to the concert. They sent us backstage passes as extra motivation for him to attend. They are truly great guys.
Metallica SUCK? Really now? You must not know the band that we do!
I'm thinking...
JM
Friday, October 5, 2012
Astronaut Screams for Nine Minutes
Of course I looked on YouTube for the 9 minute clip of Howard screaming. There were no less than 12 different clips titled "astronaut screams for nine minutes." Glad to know I wasn't the only one that looked. Literally thousands of people looked.
Seriously...if it had happened to you, you would've screamed for nine minutes too!
MH
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