Category: Dear Dad

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Laugh through Animations

 

Follow the leader! 
Animations are fun and make us laugh and take serious subjects and make them fun!

Karla's Football Rivalry animation -- Florida Gators and Arkansas
My daughter Karla has always made me smile with her charming animations…. her simple understanding of the basic humor and the emotion we all find in everyday life is impressive.

Karen writes a web based newsletter that literally goes all over the world… and Karla has faithfully produced everything Karen has asked…. including this poor Arkansas Razorback getting kicked through the goal posts by a Florida Gator.

Famous Trojan Poodle with a fanKarla has drawn Arroyo Grande high School Eagles, San Luis Obispo High School Tigers, SMU Mustangs ( Paruna), Florida Gators and USC Trojans for Karen… Here’s a few of the ‘Mascot Battles of the SEC.’

 

Some of my favorite of Karla’s drawings are what she has done for my alma mater…USC.

Karen of Troy!

 Thanks Karla…. You always make us smile.

Love,

Dad

 

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For Successful Marriages… the Courtship Never Ends

a kiss on the cheek may be grand... but weren't we married before?WOMAN MAKES PLAY FOR HER EX WHEN WIFE LEAVES THE ROOM rang out the headline of one of Dear Abby’s latest columns. It all sounded a bit funny to this ol boy. I think ‘Dear Dad’ needs to offer another view.

If you have already read the advice column from the attached link above, you may or may not agree with Abby’s assessment of the ‘problem’. I don’t.

1) Here’s the first piece of the puzzle…. and although there are plenty of questions, I think we can figure out what is gong on at the funeral:

“On the way home, my hubby told me she waited until I left the room, then kissed him on the cheek in front of the whole family and told him she still loves him.”

2) Here’s another juicy piece:

“That’s not all. I asked him if, for one minute, he was sorry he had married me. He said, and I quote, “No, but if I had known she still loved me, I would have never remarried.” I was crushed.”

3) Here’s the key section of Abby’s advice:

DEAR BROKENHEARTED: Your husband appears to lack sensitivity, good judgment and empathy for the feelings of others. He also appears to lack common sense, if he expected you would not take his comments personally.

What a mess… Where does ‘Dear Dad’ begin?

In part 1, the husband ( read fairly honest guy) is upfront with his current wife and informs her of ‘the kiss’. I am sure that if it really rang his chimes, he may not have been so forthcoming. In any event, he’s not responsible for his ex’s actions.

Part 2 is not as clear to me. I can visualize wife number 2 relentlessly asking for ‘proof’ of his love until … annoyed… he toys with her and gives the regrettable,”if I had known… I would never have remarried.” Well, either way, she has to deal with it. I give him full credit for honesty.

Lastly comes Abby’s Advice. Abby, the woman isn’t always right.  I think wife #2 is greatly responsible for her own misery, it is largely self-inflicted. The husband informed her of what the world largely witnessed… and she reacted poorly. She needs to remember that wife number 1 wasn’t always his ex and feelings may continue, even in the bitterest of departures. Wife number 2 needs to remind her husband why he ‘remarried’ in the first place… courtship goes both ways…. and in successful relationships, courtship never stops.

If wife number 2 has forgotten him, he will soon forget why he married her.

Roger Freberg

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September 11th… never forget and never forgive

Never Forgive... Never Forget
Tomorrow will be about speeches and posturing… but hopefully we’ll hear more. Where do we go from here… what will we be doing September 12th?

Part of the challenge we face is the natural reserve we have in the west to facing a proven enemy. Many of our past presidents from Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman and Clinton were not immune to the revulsion of the use of force, except in some cases on Americans. Here’s a quote that sums up our internal challenge in dealing effectively with terrorism:

 President John F. Kennedy is quoted as saying: “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”  This is a nice sentiment…. except for the forgiveness part.

As Tucumseh Sherman once said, “war is hell.” We can’t expect to fight terrorism without getting our hands dirty. Our success in beating back the threat is recognizing from where it evolves and taking effective action. We do speak of this in our culture…. in surprising ways.

There’s a line in ‘Pirates of the Carribbean’ that goes to the heart of decisive action and it’s goes something like this…” Jack, this is how you lost the ‘Pearl’ in the first place. People are easier to search when they are dead.” I would add: Dead Terrorists tell no tales.    

Something occurred to me the other day…that sounded very ‘unWestern’ of me… but we are in a new era and a new kind of war. I’ve noticed that none of the families of the terrorists have ever paid a price. No fear, shame or embarrassment… they even get a payoff! When a bomb goes off by a suicide bomber… the families of the terrorists always get a handsome ‘payout’ from their terrorist masters… somehow, this ‘incentive’ needs to be taken away. It is clear that families of terrorists need to live under the same fear as their family member’s victims. This will take some changes in thinking…. or we could face the problems of ‘Eurabia’ or ‘Canadistan’.

One can go after the source of money… but something more immediate and direct needs to happen. Any ideas?

Roger Freberg

I have included some blogs that I have found interesting… not all I agree with … but I presented them for your amusement. To me, the important message of nine eleven is that we still have the freedom to speak and to be heard… but if we don’t meet the challanges ahead… we will lose even that.

other Blogs:

Five Years Ago the World Stopped
MySpace Providing an outlet for Terrorism
Good Coming from war on Terrorism
compassionate words from a liberal
Abu Ghraib … not a nice place anymore
the Reality Show

Nutty Blogs:

The Tao Of Politics
Drinkin’ too much Brandy
Disappointment

Nutty Theologians

what do you think our response to 9/11 should be?

 

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ASPARTAME? There has to be a PRIZE for playing this game!

Are you the WOMAN enough? Feelin' frisky are ye?

Some of you know that I am a diabetic… and that I lost a great deal of weight  by changing my diet and my life style some 6 years ago. However, one of the things I realized from the beginning was the need to continue to make changes along the way… or I might find myself in the same spot I was when this sleigh ride all began.

I used to rely on “diet Soda’ to not only introduce a jolt of caffeine but a measure of sweetness in an already fatless, skinless almost tasteless diet. I do ‘spice it up’ with various seasonings… but I’ll get into this later.

Back to ASPARTAME. I guess it all depends on how healthy your immune system is to start with…. most diabetics have a compromised immune system and it doesn’t take much to bring on ‘neuropathy’ and some of the other fun stuff. 6 years ago, I actually read that aspartane was GOOD for diabetics! We know more now.

Here’s a couple of articles WITH EXERPTS to think about:

DIABETES AND ASPARTAME

“Unfortunately, many patients in my practice, and others seen in consultation, developed serious metabolic, neurologic and other complications that could be specifically attributed to using aspartame products.”

A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

“The author traces the nonscientific basis and political machinations that led to FDA’s unwise approval of aspartame, The sweetener now permeates many processed foods and beverages, and is used by two-thirds of the American population.”

ASPARTAME CONSUMPTION

“Potentially more worrisome is the 10 percent of aspartame that is absorbed into the bloodstream as methanol (wood alcohol). The Environmental Protection Agency defines safe consumption as no more than 7.8 milligrams per day of this dangerous substance. A one-liter beverage, sweetened with aspartame, contains about 56 milligrams of wood alcohol, or eight times the EPA limit!”

HAVE I SCARED YOU TO DEATH, YET?

Well, needless to say… I have substituted more coffee and V-8 Juice ( has some sugar) for the unreasonable amount of diet cola I was consuming… it appeared to be affectnig Laura’s eyes… but when she got off the aspartane wagon… her vision recovered. Coincidence? Probably not… and it is amazing how my recurring neuropathy has retreated.

So what else have I learned in the 6 years of being needle/drug free? Obviously, I can still control much of my diabetic issues with diet. Although I have made some modifications… I have toned down the amount of vegetables I eat ( although I consume most of the broccoli from Greenfield, California myself).. I no longer measure the consumption by the trailer.

I have also added some of the so-called ‘good fats’…. like… avocado! For lunch I will sometimes have and toasted open faced seasoned avocado sandwich with a ‘dolup’ of sour cream!

At dinner, I will usually have more chicken that I did in the past…. but the rest is fairly much the same.

So, the key in any diet conscious person’s mind has to be… to stay flexible and alter your behavior to reflect the new realities.

Here’s a BLOG on Diabetic diets:

Diabete’s info Blog

DiabetesBeaten.com

 

Roger Freberg

 

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Sports: it’s a guy thing!

A true fanatic... but NOT a cute guy... sorry ladiesWell, we’re talking about ‘sports’ again… so you gals can head out to the mall. heh heh

Not that any of us guys didn’t know this… but guys like sports and many women don’t. There really is a science behind male fanatic behavior.  Ah ha! you say…. that means SOME women like sports? Yep, the women who like sports are just about the most beautiful creatures that God has ever placed on this earth…. I know… I married one and produced daughters who love sports too… especially football.

If you don’t believe me that women who love sports are a RARE commodity… I have PROOF! This past weekend, while my daughters and my wife and I were all watching football (down boys… only two of those females are single), we watched an ad for eharmony.com.

A Football Loving Couple brought too you by eharmony.comWhat was so unusual about the ad you ask? Well, this is kind of an ‘advanced dating’ site that delves deep into your personality and looks to see if you can share the housework and if she can watch football while giving you a sensual backrub.

 The eharmony man said that he was looking for a woman who liked to watch football… and the only thing they now apparently fight about is the fact that she is a Brown fan and he is a Steeler. Holy , drop the remote, Batman! I could just see millions of guys logging on to eharmony…. while their girlfriends/whatever were out at the mall.

Go get a good one this time, guys! The guy pictured on the left FOUND his football loving fiance’! Continue reading “Sports: it’s a guy thing!”