2009 in Review/2010 in Prediction

Again, I’m going with dubious grammar choices for the title, but I believe it fits.  Instead of just reviewing the low and highlights of 2009, I figure I’ll go through a list of my greatest hits ’cause for nearly all of them I have goals of faster and more intense for 2010.  So, when you start seeing Facebook statuses (stati?) about how bored I am, you can just send me a link to this page to light a fire under me towards something.  Maybe.  I don’t often admit to being bored in Facebook because it actually doesn’t happen too much.  What’s more likely is that you’ll see statuses (stat–oh, forget it) about me wasting time on something completely inconsequential.  Which is essentially what this blog post is.  Anyways, moving on, in an order where I presume the most interesting to the most number of people is at the top, I present the list:

So that the World Could Be Free

As an American and a reenactor, my point-of-view of D-Day has been shaped largely by two things: media and our collective legacy as liberators in WWII.  When I watch Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers or The Big Red One or The Longest Day, I’m identifying with the paratroopers and ground pounders who floated down or waded onto Fortress Europe.  They’re the heroes in this tale and their accomplishment is nothing less than epic.  But on the drive into work yesterday I got to thinking of a certain picture that’s been in my mind since I saw it a few weeks ago.  It’s a picture of a stained glass window in the town church of Ste.-Mere-Eglise.  If you’ve seen The Longest Day you’re probably familiar with the church.  It’s the one where an American paratrooper gets his parachute caught on the steeple while his comrades are engaging the Germans in the town below.  That was an actual incident and if you visit Ste.-Mere-Elgise today, there is a mannequin still hanging from the spire in the same way that paratrooper did on the night of June 5th/6th, 1944.  Anyways here’s shot of the stained glass:

The Satan Face-Off: My Take

I really did try to come up with a more pretentious title but didn’t get anywhere.  Anyways, last night ABC’s Nightline hosted a debate on the existence of Satan which, if you missed it, can be found here.  If you do watch it online, be prepared to tear your hair out because halfway through each of the 9 clips it’ll reset itself back to the first clip and you’ll have to sit through the advertising over and over and over again before reloading the right clip and waiting for the cache to catch up to where you had made it before you were interrupted.  Some commenters have quite correctly attributed this to the work of the devil and have therefore proved his existence.  Anyways, check it out and try not to to get too frustrated.

“I Haven’t Missed It!”

It’s been one of those weeks.  Blame it on 2 hours of sleep on Friday night or maybe the time change throwing off my schedule. Or the paper version of being drawn and quartered (i.e. buying a house).  But every morning I have woken up surly and angry and looking for a fight.  I drag myself through the workday and come home ready to be frustrated by any and everything.  The smallest things are setting me off to the point where the dogs slink past me with sideways glances (it doesn’t help that one of them took a massive dump all over the living room today either).  Something is missing, something is out of place, something is sitting awkwardly in the wrong position.  The answer has become painfully obvious that the “something” is my bathroom.