Good times last night! The Rouse/Steen/Presler gathering was the event du jour; and what an event it was.
As always, the highlight for me was getting together with my favorite family of beautiful super-geniuses, the Preslers.

Bed and Ettie are the single most engaging couple I've met. My admiration for them is seemingly boundless and it is truly an honor to be in their presence.































Miles attended, bringing, as always, the raw humanness and "you-are-the-only-other-person-in-the-room-right-now" feeling that's earned him the coveted "Geoffrey's favorite Presler Kid" award. Big-time consultant now, he is.























The perpetually pulchritudinous Erin was there sans husband but toting her two ambulatory chillins and one still in the package but itchin' to get out. Lovely, grounded and truly enjoyable to be around, it was a pleasure to see her as well.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, Elizabeth made it as well, also without hubby but runnin' with her gang of offspring. Always entertaining, Elizabeth brings much needed mirth to every situation.

Conspicuously absent were Trevor and Paul Presler.

Retraction on earlier post....

Thank you to my second cousin (?) Patricia for the heads up and link to this piece:

Insolent Jackass Was Making It Up!

Thanks for crying wolf, you ass! Now the real victims will be ignored! You're a genius!!!

Happy Boxing Day everybody!!!
Also, today is the first day of Kwanzaa.

NGUZO SABA (The Seven Principles)

---

	Umoja (Unity) To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
	Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
	Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.
	Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
	Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
	Kuumba (Creativity) To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
	Imani (Faith) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
	­ Maulana Karenga

sieg heil, herr Cheney!!!!

And so it begins...your rights are all but gone....
The last bastion of freedom has been infiltrated and your name is on a list.
Look at this story and the original news item.

Keep one eye open....

Don't let your guard down kids, they're burning the Constitution to the ground. Take a look at these tidbits that are happenin' right under our noses whilst we watch the latest commercial for the next American Idol:

Pentagon scared of the Quaker Liberation Front!
Patriot Act is here....watch what you check out of the library!

A friend emailed me this prayer....I like it as much as I need it.

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic
last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing
home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few
precious moments with her children.
Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who
can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student,
balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his
student loans for next semester.
Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same
spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave
to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst
nightmares.
Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the
store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring
this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy

report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go
shopping together.
Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the
greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love
with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just
those that are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and
quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

25 years later....

I recall a buddy of mine back in 7th and 8th grade by the name of Eric Falstrom who, by the by, has become a successful multimedia star. On December 8 of 1982, I happened to notice that Eric was not in attendance at Sycamore Junior High. The next day, in (mandatory) shop class, I inquired as to his conspicuous and apparently healthy absence. He stated that he always takes that particular day off for reflection on the loss of John Lennon. It was his mourning, at the age of 11 or 12, that showed me just how deeply Lennon's death touched the world.
Eric's dedication and memorialization of this man prompted me to investigate the nature of the world's love for him.
I quickly found that, like so many millions then and since, John Lennon's music and life and passion and resolve spoke directly to so much of what I felt and experienced that I, too, fell in love with the legend.
I regret that I didn't know John Lennon better when he was alive, but I am thankful to have had my life touched so profoundly by the works and spirit of such an inspiring soul.
Thank you John, your legacy continues to change lives.

Why Geoffrey does NOT shop at WalMart (aka Starbucks or any other "Mart")

Look at what Starbucks has done to this hard-working woman. Article is here and Boing Boing piece is here.

Check out this trailer for Tom Yum Goong! Very cool stuntwork!

And speaking of being a hardcore warrior....

Scott Elliott, my last instructor, has put a couple of short highlight videos up at the Analytical Fighting Systems (Scott's school in Richmond, KY) site for download.
Check 'em out if you dig da combat training and some hardcore audio. The page is here.