Thor’s Hall

I love the martial arts. I have a great group that I get to work with, and enjoy myself a lot. But, two hours for a promotional exam is a killer.

I have got to get my cardio back where I can manage that high level of intensity for that long a period of time. This morning was a stone cold bitch of an experience. The exam was fine but trying to manage hoppy, skipping, spinning and whirling kicks of doom (tornado kicks) while being 90 minutes into the exam, and totally drained just sucks. No air on the jumps, no balance in landing, poor extension. Not my most shining moments.

Sorry for the light posting recently.  Closing out the quarter and all that so the blog has suffered.  I’ll try and get some content out here in the next couple of days but it still looks to be a busy period of time for the next couple of weeks.

In the interim I ran across a new (to me) blog recently that is really cool.  Go here to check it out, and catch the entire series of “Dark Arts for Good Guys”.

The good folks over at The Art of Manliness have taken the “motivator” comcept in a most acceptable direction.  There are a wide variety of them on their site with various historical characters, as well as some other great daily articles.  Go see their work.  In the interim enjoy.

I played hookie from work for a couple of hours this afternoon and got some much needed trigger time in.

I rounded out my handgun collection recently with a Sig Sauer 1911. I haven’t had nearly enough time with it yet but I do enjoy shooting it. I probably enjoy it more than any of my other handguns which is actually a bit disappointing since it was the last weapon I purchased. The XD’s are nice, the CZ 75 is good and I shoot it well. But that Sig with it’s really short stroke trigger, and quick reset is a dream to shoot.

Now that I have some quality trigger time under my belt, I am in a much happier frame of mind.

The good folks over at The Art of Manliness have taken the “motivator” comcept in a most acceptable direction.  There are a wide variety of them on their site with various historical characters, as well as some other great daily articles.  Go see their work.  In the interim enjoy.

Today is a special day for a very special group of Marines.

The Free Republic has nice recognition from a couple of years ago here.  Blackfive also has a nice piece up here.

So raise your glass, and offer a toast to those that were critical to our success in the Pacific theater during WWII.

Gentlemen, thank you and Semper Fi.

A guy traveling through Mexico on vacation lost his wallet and all of his identification. Cutting his trip short, he attempted to make his way home but was stopped by the U.S. Customs Agent at the border.

“May I see your identification, please?” asked the agent.

“I’m sorry, but I lost my wallet,” replied the guy.

“Sure buddy, I hear that every day. No ID, no entry,” said the agent.

“But I can prove I’m an American!” he exclaimed. “I have a picture of Ronald Reagan tattooed on one side of my butt and George Bush on the other.”

“This I gotta see,” replied the agent.

With that, the guy dropped his pants and showed the agent his behind.

“By golly, you’re right!” exclaimed the agent. “Have a safe trip back to Chicago ..”

“Thanks!” he said. “But how did you know I was from Chicago ?”

The agent replied, “I recognized Obama in the middle.”

We have an opportunity to change (reform) our health care approach in this country.  We have always had this opportunity but, now the National leadership of this country is in a position where they feel that they can mandate this change.  In doing so, effectively removing the concept of “free markets” and replacing it with Nationalization.

Below is a really interesting seven minute interview with a member of the European Parliment on the British NHS.  Some extremely interesting history of the program, and some of the issues that have evolved with it.

So tell me. Is this the kind of program that you want in place to take care of you, your family, your aging parents, etc? These are frightening facts. Yes there are always counter arguments but when I speak with folks in Canada or Britian or other European nations they are all saying the same thing that these facts illustrate. Quality of life and care under a socialized medical program is not good.

Do your research, and make your voices heard on this issue. Encourage your representatives to vote with your voice and do not make political deals on this bill. There are some bills that are too important for “politics as usual”. This is one of them

Well the Navy got another one right.  One thing that you have to appreciate about the Navy and the Marine Corps is the importance of tradition, and upholding the values, honor, and sacrifices of those that have gone before us.  There is no better way of reminding Marines and Sailors of that than this.

The folks over at Flopping Aces have an outstanding piece with all of the details of the ceremony, and of Corporal Dunham’s actions.  Take a few minutes to remind yourself of the heroes among us, and the sacrifices of those that serve.

Semper Fidelis