The Wisdom of Jack Bauer

"And you, Sir, are weak. Unwilling and unable to look evil in the eye and deal with it"

Reminder

Just a reminder that most of my posting these days is over at my LiveJournal at http://stevekennedy.livejournal.com

Awesome video...Awesome God...

Today was a different story...

We had this:

 

and this:

 

Belated Happy Holidays from Achmed

Speaking of Rapid Deployment

Man opens fire at Omaha mall, killing 8

...20-year-old Robert A. Hawkins...killed eight people, then apparently killed himself...he was introverted, a troubled young man who was like a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted...Hawkins wrote that he was "sorry for everything," would not be a burden on his family anymore and "now I'll be famous,"...Police received a 911 call...By the time officers arrived six minutes later, the shooting was over..

That's why we need Immediate Action, Rapid Deployment. And that's why EVERY law enforcement officer should be carrying his weapon at all times. It can happen anywhere, at any time, and you'd better be ready or, as Lt. Col. Dave Grossman puts it, you won't be able to live with yourself if you get caught unarmed.

Funny

This is funny. That's all for today....move along....nothing else to see here.

Immediate Action , Rapid Deployment

Today I got to go to training rather than another typical day at work. The training for today was IARD (Immediate Action Rapid Deployment), which a is relatively new concept. IARD was developed in response to the Columbine school massacre and other suicidal attacker events of recent years. The basic concept is that if there is an "active shooter" (someone is in the process of killing innocents) law enforcement's old concept of "contain and wait for SWAT" doesn't work anymore because it plays into the hand of the suicidal shooter. The more time that is takes to formulate a response, the more time the bad guy has to perform his dastardly deeds.

IARD trains us to aggressively confront the active shooter, something that is totally contrary to what we've been taught in the past and totally contrary to one's concept of self-preservation. It takes a whole different mindset to go forth into the fray with bullets coming towards you. However, every bullet fired at you is one that is not being put into someone else. And that, at it's center, is what IARD is all about...being willing to go into harm's way and trade your life for someone else's. The difference is that the shooter has no plans to go home...and he's not. We have plans to go home....and we will.

IARD at Wikipedia

When I ask for "More Cowbell", THIS is what I'm talking about

Irresistible?

Lets101 - Free Online Dating

Wicked Awesome!

Sarah and I went up up to Hollywood last night courtesy of a very good friend who gave Sarah the tickets for her birthday. The show was awesome. Go see it if you have the chance. Save the money and go. There's a very good chance that I'll go again. It is that enjoyable.

I took off work early and we left about 4 pm for an 8 pm show. The plan was to get up to Hollywood to grab a bite to eat before the show. That didn't work out. Traffic was horrible. We drove for about 40 minutes and only got as far as Fountain Valley. Sarah had to make a nature call, so we got off the freeway and found a facility. Back on the freeway a couple minutes before 5...and then we drove for 2 hours and 45 minutes before arriving at the Pantages in Hollywood with 15 minutes to spare. I was really starting to worry whether we would make it or not at one point. 3 and a half hours to go 61 miles...that's 17 miles an hour on average. That sucked.

We parked just across the street from the theater and walked across. The Pantages is a beautiful old style Hollywood theater. I could have walked around that place for an hour or more just soaking up the history and inspecting the details. See some photos at this Flickr stream. From the moment I walked in until the lights went down, I was struck by the sheer beauty of the place.

The visible stage decorations were something to behold also. The only thing Sarah had to compare it to was the musical Rent, which we saw at the Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Sarah commented that Rent wasn't much compared to this. Actually, I'm glad she saw Rent first because I think it gave her a better appreciation for the spectacularosity of this event. (No, I'm not just making up words....if you've seen the show, you'll get it....if you haven't, you won't)

I was almost prepared to be disappointed. Three different people who knew that I was going told me how awesome the show was. The lights went down and the music and curtain went up. An hour and a half later it was intermission and I felt like I'd been there just a few minutes. After a quick intermission nearly another hour and a half passed and it was over seemingly minutes after it began. I was not disappointed.

The story was...well, awesome. I sat there (and still am) marveling at the ability of someone to write such a story. The music captivated me. The performances were spectacular. If you don't know the story of Wicked, it's basically the back story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Galinda (with a "Ga"), the Good Witch, from the Wizard of Oz. Here's a good overview of the story. I didn't know what the story was about except in the very general sense that it was about the wicked witch. I don't think knowing the story going in would be a spoiler, but I enjoyed watching the story unfold without knowing what was going to happen. I'll never see the Wizard of Oz the same way again.

Spend the money and go see the show. You won't regret it.

Pondering

Driving home from work this evening, the sky was angry. While the winds were blowing, the smoke was heavy but moving. It was being blown generally out to sea. This evening the wind had died down and the smoke is starting to hover in the sky. It was a eery brownish orange color, thick and dark and it blocked the sun. I couldn't help but think that I imagine that's what the sky would look like in hell.

It was so remarkable that I called Sarah and told her to go out in the balcony and look and she took this picture



That's the sun, not the moon.  46 years in OC and I've never seen anything like this.

"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places." Matthew 24:6-7

Interested in OC history?

Check out Chris Jepson's OC History Roundup blog. He's got lots of great links also.

Camping

Took a trip out to Joshua Tree for the long weekend last week. Had an awesome time. Did a lot of hiking and boulder hopping, some climbing, and some relaxing. See the photos here.

Squish your boobies

----------------
Now playing: Jimmy Buffett - Coast of Carolina
via FoxyTunes

All the kids are doing it...

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com/.
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top results:

Mine:

1. Multimedia Developer

2. Production Woodworker

3. Website Designer

4. Special Effects Technician

5. Industrial Designer

6. Animator

7. Desktop Publisher

8. Computer Programmer

9. Actor

10. Interior Designer

Very much on. I have done aspects of 1, 3, 7, and 8 as part time "fun" jobs. Woodworking has always interested me, but I've never had the trainer or training available to learn. 4, 5, and 6 all sound like a blast. 10 I actually considered as a career at one point. That leaves 9 (actor) which sounds cool but I've never tried it or really had an overwhelming desire to try.


----------------
Now playing: Erik Pietsch - Sandy Toed Beach Bum Life
via FoxyTunes

A Trip to the Viper Room

Last night I made a run up to the Viper Room in West Hollywood. Yes, the same Viper Room where River Phoenix did the speedball that killed him on the sidewalk outside the club.

I was there to see Sarah Kelly, who I had the chance to meet late last year when she performed at my church. She's an awesome lady with a killer voice. The first time I saw her in person I was surprised that big voice was coming out of that little girl (allright...woman). If you haven't heard her, go check her out. She put on a great, if short, show to cap off the European Tour that she just finished. I got a chance to talk to her for just a minute. Now she's taking some well deserved time off to go back home and put together a worship team. I wish her good luck.

The really weird part is that I've been to the Viper Room before and didn't even know it. I've lived with a memory of that joint (there's no better name for it) for many years and was never aware that it was the Viper Room until last night. I knew the place immediately.

It must have been nearly 25 years ago now. I had met a girl named Macy who lived in West Hollywood. I drove up one night to take her out. We went to dinner at a place on Sunset that's now known as Miyagi's, although I have no memory of what it was called back then. After dinner, Macy suggested that we go to a club. Then, as now, checking out a late night club in West Hollywood was an experience entirely foreign to me, but I wouldn't have passed it up for anything. I remember it like it was yesterday...well, maybe last week.

It was an open mike night for indie artists. I remember the place was full of smoke and Hollywood types...real Hollywood types...the type that live in Hollywood, not the movie stars...there's a big difference.

I think often of Macy and wonder how she is. She was a free spirit, and not the girl for me, nor me the guy for her at the time, but the short time I dated her lives well in my memory. I hope she is happy.

I'm out of the office

For the time being, I've abandoned this blog in favor of my LiveJournal. Please visit me at stevekennedy.livejournal.com .

Me at Joshua Tree

 

The Road to Damascus... part deux

Let's see . . . where was I?

Ah, yes. I spent a lot of time in that church. I spent some time in some other Catholic churches nearby also, depending on which had the convenient Mass schedule. I also spent a lot of time being indoctrinated into Catholicism. Looking back now, I spent a lot of wasted years feeling that religion was something to be tolerated. God was someone to be feared (if there was, in fact, a God). Jesus was the Son of God, a great role model, and the guy that hung from the cross above the altar who was covered in a purple sash during Lent. The "Holy Ghost", who became the "Holy Spirit" after Vatican II (I think that was the impetus for the change of name...I was a little young at the time, so I'm not positive about that) was like Casper, the friendly ghost.

All that Catholic education and time spent in church and my Bible knowledge consisted of:

John 3:16;

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him will not die but will have eternal life."

[Aside:] I also learned that he, him, and his, should always be Capitalized when referring to God, but that convention seems to have dropped by the wayside . . . or maybe it was a Catholic thing, or maybe I'm just missing something. I've already proven a propensity for missing things . . . like the way for my immortal soul to go to heaven.

Corinthinans 13:4-13;

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

[From Biblegateway.com]

and Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,

¹
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

[Again, from Biblegateway.com]

Although it's entirely possible that I learned the first one from the guy who holds that sign up at major sporting events, and the last one from the The Byrds.

[Aside again:] I never knew that Turn, Turn, Turn was written by Pete Seeger, who is a great American songwriter and, furthermore, I don't remember it being in the movie Forrest Gump, but the internet says so, so it must be true.
Note to self: Watch Forrest Gump again just to be sure.

I've also just learned that a knowledge of HTML is helpful in formatting this blog correctly, but I digress. . .

Now don't get me wrong. These are some great Bible verses, they hold a lot of wisdom. BUT...take John 3:16 for instance; I always thought that the part about

"whoever believes in Him will not die. . . "

referred to God the Father , but it seems clear to me now that it refers to God the Son . . . Jesus . . . the one who said:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. Whoever believes in me will not die but will have eternal life."

John 14:6

Where have we seen those words before?

Maybe I'm just slow on the uptake. All I know right now is that I'm tired. Good night friends.