No rental cars or westbound trains as Jimmy Buffett sings about, but a summer that I will never forget.
Not having kids, summer is just another season to me, albeit my favorite season because I like warm/hot weather and summer clothes. Well, I like pretty much all types of clothes. Back to summer, I generally do most of my vacationing in months other than the summer months in order to avoid the summertime crowds. So, I generally go to work everyday, attend local concerts, attend a Birmingham Barons baseball game, and go to a Jimmy Buffett concert, depending on his tour schedule. This summer was a little different, though.
In June I attended a high school reunion, the first one I’ve attended since I graduated. Like a lot of folks are, I was a bit apprehensive about attending; but after much deliberation, I decided to go. My decision was probably the best decision I have ever made in my life. I now have a bunch of new friends and acquaintances. I’m facebook friends with people I thought I would never cross paths with after leaving high school. I’m even planning to attend my school’s homecoming this fall. Are we talking about the same Nancy Graham? I really think my high school graduating class is great, and not very many people will say that. They’re really just good people and I’m proud to be one of them. There’s a few, of course, that I never cared for and still don’t; but we’re talking very few. And who knows; maybe if I had gotten to talk to them a little more at the reunion, I would have changed my mind. Anyway you look at it, going to this reunion has changed my life forever and for the better. Again, are we talking about the same Nancy Graham?
About a month after the reunion, I attended the event of a lifetime. My favorite singer in my favorite place…Jimmy Buffett in Gulf Shores. Getting everything together to get there took some doing, but we made it and ended up in a VIP section for the concert. Jimmy and his Coral Reefer band performed for free in an effort to get folks to visit the Alabama Gulf Coast following the oil spill caused by the explosion of a BP oil rig in the Gulf. The concert was broadcast on CMT with some of my friends and I actually getting on TV. The concert was great and the beaches were beautiful. There was a little bit of oil on the beach in front of the condos where we stayed. In fact, I picked a little up and squished it between my fingers. If my four friends had scoops and garbage bags, we could have cleaned it up in no time. But, of course that would have been strictly forbidden by the third Reich, I mean the USEPA.
Between 42,000 and 45,000 attended the concert and it was a site to behold. I’m so happy that I got the chance to be a part of such a historic event.
I’ve always acknowledged that summer is my favorite season and that I could easily live in an all year round warm weather climate. The summer of 2010 was long and hot, and made me realize I probably should stick to living in a place where the climate is seasonal. With actual temperatures in the high 90s/low 100s and heat indexes in the 110 to 115 degree range, I experienced a lot of migraine headaches and generally felt bad. Once the temps got back into the mid-90s, the headaches went away and I felt much better.
As a result of the oppressive heat here in central Alabama, I stayed inside a lot. However, friends and I did make one trip during these oppressive days. We traveled to Florence, Alabama to see Mac McAnally in concert. Mac has been named CMA Musician of the Year for two years in a row. He’s also the guy with the red hair and beard that stands just behind Jimmy and to his right while the band if performing. The concert, of course, was wonderful and we were able to meet Coral Reefer band members Roger Guth and Jim Mayer. Now, there are very few Coral Reefers that I haven’t met. Mac also remembered us from some of his previous concerts.
To most people, my summer would be considered a very “dorky” summer; but to me it was one that has changed my life for the better, making “old/new” friends and attending events that were not only fun, but made some lifetime memories.
Football season has now started and while Alabama certainly looked good in its opening game; the team has a grueling season ahead. Can we repeat? I’m not making any predictions. Life goes on.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Global Warming Rebuked Again
In an article linked by the Drudge Report to the New York Post online, the global-warming establishment took a body blow this week, as the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change received a stunning rebuke from a top-notch independent investigation. For two decades, the IPCC has spearheaded efforts to convince the world's governments that man-made carbon emissions pose a threat to the global temperature equilibrium -- and to civilization itself. IPCC reports, collated from the work of hundreds of climate scientists and bureaucrats, are widely cited as evidence for the urgent need for drastic action to "save the planet".
But the prestigious InterAcademy Council, an independent association of "the best scientists and engineers worldwide" (as the group's own Web site puts it) formed in 2000 to give "high-quality advice to international bodies," has finished a thorough review of IPCC practices and found them badly wanting.
In this article, several examples were cited such as the IPCC's claim in 2007 that Himalayan glaciers were rapidly melting, and would possibly be gone by the year 2035.
Global warming, now referred to as climate change in a lot of circles is probably the biggest hoax on mankind in the history of the planet. Al Gore and many other alarmists have insisted that "the debate is over," that the science was "settled." That claim is now in shreds -- though the grants are still flowing, and advocates still hope Congress will pass some version of the economically disastrous "Cap and Trade" bill.
About a year ago I was at some function or club meeting and commented that I would love to drive a Hummer...gas guzzling and environmentally challenged... just to spite the climate change alarmists. One of the folks that I was talking to said, "you're bad, you're bad". She was being good natured about it, though. I went on and she kept saying, "you're bad". Finally, I said, "I'm not bad, I'm good", and let loose about climate change and some other things. This lady then kept saying, "I didn't know that." She assumed without a doubt that the planet was warming and drastic measures had to be taken to save civilization. I told her to read my blog and do some research because there is definitely a strong credible other side; and she said she would.
This is Birmingham, Alabama, not Palo Alto, California, and still folks are duped about climate change. The mainstream media says it exists and so it must. I've run into a few other people who definitely believe there is climate change those that don't buy into it are somehow self-centered and think only of themselves.
Well, maybe this time we can "put a sock" in climate change and stop this viscious assault against the middle class that regulations to lessen the emmission of greenhouse gasses will surely bring. We have a long ways to go to get our country and our way of life back. Can we do it?
But the prestigious InterAcademy Council, an independent association of "the best scientists and engineers worldwide" (as the group's own Web site puts it) formed in 2000 to give "high-quality advice to international bodies," has finished a thorough review of IPCC practices and found them badly wanting.
In this article, several examples were cited such as the IPCC's claim in 2007 that Himalayan glaciers were rapidly melting, and would possibly be gone by the year 2035.
Global warming, now referred to as climate change in a lot of circles is probably the biggest hoax on mankind in the history of the planet. Al Gore and many other alarmists have insisted that "the debate is over," that the science was "settled." That claim is now in shreds -- though the grants are still flowing, and advocates still hope Congress will pass some version of the economically disastrous "Cap and Trade" bill.
About a year ago I was at some function or club meeting and commented that I would love to drive a Hummer...gas guzzling and environmentally challenged... just to spite the climate change alarmists. One of the folks that I was talking to said, "you're bad, you're bad". She was being good natured about it, though. I went on and she kept saying, "you're bad". Finally, I said, "I'm not bad, I'm good", and let loose about climate change and some other things. This lady then kept saying, "I didn't know that." She assumed without a doubt that the planet was warming and drastic measures had to be taken to save civilization. I told her to read my blog and do some research because there is definitely a strong credible other side; and she said she would.
This is Birmingham, Alabama, not Palo Alto, California, and still folks are duped about climate change. The mainstream media says it exists and so it must. I've run into a few other people who definitely believe there is climate change those that don't buy into it are somehow self-centered and think only of themselves.
Well, maybe this time we can "put a sock" in climate change and stop this viscious assault against the middle class that regulations to lessen the emmission of greenhouse gasses will surely bring. We have a long ways to go to get our country and our way of life back. Can we do it?
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