What Are You Doing For Excitement Today?

[Diane Amberg]

I'm also watching all the coverage on the active troops leaving Iraq. There will surely be some very happy wives, kids, parents and friends celebrating.I know I am. Hopefully that means a few of our guys from here will be out of there soon. How about out there?

[Ms Bear]

They can't get them home soon enough.  I don't have any over there now but still have one grandson in the active military and prayer everyday he won't have to go back over.

[larryJ]

This is more of a "what I did for excitement today"----------

My son and his wife toured the world last year for eight months.  At one point they volunteered time in an orphanage in Nepal.  Prior to leaving on this trip, they established a charity called "Little Bit of Sunshine" and they are the sole organizers of it.  On occasion they do something to raise some funds for those orphans and other children in need.  Today, my son did a solo bike ride from his home in Orange County to almost Camp Pendleton Marine Base, a distance of some 40 miles.  People had pledged to donate for how many miles he road.  Tomorrow he will do the second half which will end in San Diego.  And, tomorrow he will have two friends ride with him.  It is too bad that it had to be the hottest day we have had this summer, so it was tough, but he did it.  We drove to Mission Viejo to the Starbucks and waited for him.  We waved American flags and held up signs encouraging him.  We then traded our van for one of their cars so that tomorrow they can load the bikes in the van to get to the starting point.  We are really proud of him and his wife for the effort they put out for their charity.  They will be welcoming their own child into the world in a few weeks and we are all excited about that. 

Larryj

[kshillbillys]

You all sound wonderful Larry! I love reading your posts!

[Roma Jean Turner]

Awesome Larry.  IF i was there I d ride with them.  They could do that every year and probably get a huge ride out of it for charity.

[larryJ]

I forgot to mention that the day started off in a bad way.  He rode about the first five miles before having a flat tire.  But us (my wife and GD and his wife) the support group was there to help.  He had stopped in front of the Toshiba building where a friend works (not there yesterday) to take pictures.  He and his wife had blown up pictures of the guy's face and designed so it looked like a face mask.  The guy's pledge was $10 for every picture that was taken somewhere prominent with his face in it.  There was also a cut out mask of my nephew who is dying from pancreatic cancer and we all wore the mask for pictures to let him know we were thinking of him.  Back to the flat tire, it so happened there was a bike store just down the street.  (This is SoCal, there is always whatever you need, just down the street) and he was able to get the tire fixed.  After that no more mechanical problems.  The next stop was at the famous San Juan Capistrano Mission or actually at Pedro's tacos across the street.  That is where we traded cars and he rode on to finish the first leg.  We would go today for the second leg, but we have a meeting to attend this morning.  His total mileage yesterday was about 40 miles and todays will be about 48.  Then he and friends will spend the night in San Diego and come home tomorrow.  And, Roma Jean, I am sure that it would be a great pleasure if you could be here to ride with them.

Larryj

[Judy Harder]

I think the most exciting thing I will do today is attend our monthly card party at the Senior Center
tonight. Thought about walking this morning, but the lazy's has hit and I think today will be a laid back day

Larry, I haven't read your introductory post, are you related to the Jordans from Moline?
My second husband had a grandaughter married to a Paul Jordan. Just being nosy.

[srkruzich]

I'm also watching all the coverage on the active troops leaving Iraq. There will surely be some very happy wives, kids, parents and friends celebrating.I know I am. Hopefully that means a few of our guys from here will be out of there soon. How about out there?

Well, unfortunately many of our guys are leaving the military because they think they have done nothing.  My son is supposed to leave this october and he is so disillusioned with the military now he thinks his time was wasted.  with the policies now in place it has caused a major problem.

He's been on all kinds of missions, peace keeping, he trained the Georgian military to be a military, taught them that its not about dying but making the other bastards die, got a commendation and a promotion for it, done special ops, been behind enemy lines ect....   Now he wants out cause he sees absolutely no future in it anymore and nothing good at what is coming.   

I think he sees  what happened in vietnam coming to hit us again with afghanistan.

[Roma Jean Turner]

Yesterday I spent all day in bed with a fever.  So today it will be exciting to just leave house.

[larryJ]

Judy, no, there are no Jordan relatives in that area.  My father married there once and had four children, which he and all of them left the area and have all passed on.  He married a second time to my mother and had three more children of which I am the last surviving one.  Both of my brothers were born in Kansas, but a different county, and moved on.  So there are no Jordan relatives left in Kansas.

Steve, history repeats itself.  During the Revolutionary War, the British fought European style by getting into formations to attack or defend, and the patriots learned to fight like the Indians, from behind cover.  Today, while American troops are well trained in fighting and defending, it is hard to win against a terrorist group.  We saw it in Vietnam and adjusted our style of fighting to that, but it is just really hard to defeat that kind of fighter.  This is not to say we didn't make a difference in the Middle East, but it is frustrating, in that, it is not considered a total victory, because those terrorist b.....ds are still around.  I can understand why our guys feel less than satisfied with their efforts.

Larryj