There are tons of traditions that are associated with Christmas.  Few people know why they do them.  For that reason, my wife and I have come up with a few of our own.  One that I want to share is Christmas diner.

     I'm part Italian, and she's part Scottish.  We have decided to start our own traditions for diner.  I am going to make ravioli from scratch.  That included making the pasta dough, the filling, making and cooking the finished product.  This is a pretty involved process.  If you have never made your own pasta, look it up.  It's a lot of hands on work.  I'm going to use two diffrent typed of filling.  One cheese and the other beef.  Instead of boiling the ravioli, I coat it in bread crumbs and deep fry it.  This is known as St. Louis style.  It's very good.  I serve it with sour cream and tomato sauce.  My wife is going to make a Scottish bread that is almost like a pancake. 

     We figure that if we make our own tradition and continue to do it with our kids, Christmas will ... Read more ...

     Hello all.  Sorry that I haven't been on much lately.  Life at home and work has been quite a trip lately.  I was listening to the radio on my way to work the other day.  They were asking people to send in Christmas Memories.  It made me think of Christmas past.  I want to share with you all one that stands out most in my mind.

  The Christmas Memory that stands out most in my mind is Christmas of 2003.  I was  a platoon leader in Iraq.  It also was the first Christmas of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  We received intell reports that all of the base camps in Baghdad would be attacked at sunrise Christmas day.  We had orders to wake up at 4am and get ready.  I walked through my platoon and wished everyone a merry Christmas.  I also gave them all stockings that a friend had sent.  Everyone placed their gift on their bunks and pulled on their body armor.  After making my final preparations, I ensured that everyone of my Soldiers had enough ammo and medical supplies.  Then we waited.    As we sat in wait, ... Read more ...

That's right folks, I met the President of the United States.  This past Thursday, Obama stopped off at my base to refuel Air Force One.  He took that time to give a speech at my base.  It was a typical canned speech by any politician.  Before I say any more about his speech, I will tell you how the day started.

First, I went to one formation at 0615 (6:15am for the civilians).  Then we had another at 0645, followed by a march through the snow to the next location.  At 0745, we loaded up on busses and were taken to a holding area.  We sat there for hours.  Finally we were taken to the hanger where Obama would give his speech.  We went through a series of security checks before being granted access to the building.

As I walked in, I noticed that the Air Force guys had gotten there first.  They took up all the space at the front.  I met up with some of my soldiers and we just stood there.  There were two hours until the expected start time.  Then an Air Force Lie ... Read more ...

I read an article that ran on both FoxNews and MSNBC, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,573174,00.html and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33777070/ns/us_news-tragedy_at_fort_hood/ respectfully.  It appears that MAJ Hasan, the Ft. Hood shooter, attended the same mosque when he lived in Virginia.  Anwar al Awlaki, one of the imams from that religious center now lives in Yemen.  Awlaki has posted a message on his website praising Hasan.  Awlaki went on to say:

The posting Monday on the Web site for Anwar al Awlaki, who was a spiritual leader at two mosques where three 9/11 hijackers worshipped, said American Muslims who condemned the attacks on the Texas military base last week are hypocrites who have committed treason against their religion.

And: Anwar said the only way a Muslim can justify serving in the U.S. military is if he intends to "follow in the footsteps of men like Nidal."

I got ... Read more ...

I really haven't posted much lately.  I have popped in to check out things and leave comments though.  Still needed an outlet to escape for a few minutes.  Things have been tough lately.  It has been a very tiring and emotionally taxing few weeks.  Read on if you want.  Parts may be graphic.

My wife was pregnant.  We went in at what we thought was nine weeks for an ultrasound.  We went to the midwife center.  We both like it there better than at a traditional hospital.  The midwives seem to take a more gentle approach to the whole birth process.  Most of them are also qualified nurses.

The one that performed the ultrasound has issues finding the baby.  She saw the birth sac, but not the little baby.  The midwife recommended that my wife get a more thorough sonogram.  She called another ultrasound center a few blocks away and asked if and when they could fit us in.  They had an opening right then and there.

My wife and I traveled to the other ... Read more ...