A Wonderful Robinson Memory

I have been affiliated with the Robinson Family for almost three decades, and in that time I have collected boatloads of memories. Today, however, I am going to focus on one of those memories that seems to stand out among all of them like a dog-eared page in your favorite book. You get to that page and wonder "Why did I want to remember this page? What made it so special?" So you read it again and remember that it was one of those moments in literature that reminded you why you read. Another person may pick up the same book, read the same page and move on completely unaffected. This story is one of the dog-eared pages in the book of my life. I do not expect this story to affect all who read it, nor do I expect it to be something profound and moving. No. It is just a simple story that I always come back to as an example of why I love my family.

Many years ago in a land far, far away, The Philippines, the Robinson family lived next door to a volcano. In the four years that we lived in The Philippines, we experienced a lot of natural disasters: typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, and now volcanic eruption. The volcano next door to us was named Mt. Pinatubo and besides being the possible hiding spot for the man who stole our Amiga computer while my dad and I were seeing Lee Greenwood, it was the home of some noxious gas, hot molten rock, and hot ash that was ready to explode into the world. Because my father was in the Air Force, he was required to stay back at the base, to this day I'm still not sure what it was he did, but I know it was important --probably. My mother, however, was put in charge of ushering an 8 year old cantankerous hell-boy, a 5 year old space-headed girl, a 2 year old spiky headed baby girl, and a beautiful Husky dog down the long, dusty trail of evacuation from their home to many stops along the way. Now, my memory is somewhat foggy as to the exact details, but what I can do is give a few short snippets that should give a pretty accurate depiction of what happened.
My mother's birthday, June 15, was a dark day. It was a dark day that began with a mushroom cloud of ash that covered the sky like Manhattan Island and it ended with dark red lightning bolts.
I remember trying to fall asleep while the earth shook beneath me all night. All night long there were tremors and I was absolutely horrified and completely unable to sleep.
I remember spending the night in a movie theater, an old dance club, and another dance club inside an old plane.
I remember being in a day long traffic jam with my family and our dog. We had to pull over a half a dozen times for me to throw up because our dog was so covered in slobber that it made me sick to my stomach.
I remember seeing a woman faint from heat exhaustion.
I remember sleeping in a tent village with hundreds of other evacuees.
I remember collecting a dozen or so sticks that resembled swords, guns, and spears and keeping them on a weapon rack that was actually a fence. When one of my prized weapons fell through to the other side, I was forced to go around and retrieve it. What I didn't know was that the other side of the fence was off-limits and was guarded by a pack of German Shepherds as well as a bunch of Philippine soldiers with M-16s.
I remember having to give away my beautiful dog, Wolfy, before we got on board the biggest Aircraft Carrier in the world at the time, The USS Abraham Lincoln.
I remember seeing so many people board a ship that I didn't think I'd ever seen that many people at once in my whole life.
I remember going up on top of the deck with my family and watching my younger sister nearly get blown off of the ship due to the intense wind.
I remember getting a USS Abraham Lincoln t-shirt.
I remember throwing up on my first and only helicopter ride.
Then I remember it finally ending and being happy that we were moving to Hawaii.

Through all of these amazing memories and crazy situations we got into and through all the others that I don't remember or failed to list, I also remember one other thing. I remember that without the strength and courage of our outstanding mother we may not be here today. Our mother who schlepped us halfway around a foreign country all by herself, a mother who saved me from being shot by Philippine soldiers, a mother who pulled over half a dozen times to help me vomit, a mother who made the difficult decision to give away our dog, a mother who had to keep up with three children who would have been a challenge just by themselves, a mother who never receives the credit she is due and a mother who has given her life away for the sake of her children. That is why I remember this story. I remember my mother not giving up, and that I'll never forget.

Possible Secret Cod3s

What if everything that we have read, are reading, or ever will read is a code? What if it is all some triple secret code device set up by an underground government cabal with the intentions of secretly running not only the country but the entire world? And what if they are a successful cabal? What then? What could we do about it? How would we even know where to start? Who do we sequester first? Who do we subpoena? I have so many questions, but I don't know who to ask them to. Perhaps even this message is a code. What if as i am writing this post, someone out there is watching and has become aware that I am aware of what they did not want anyone to become aware of? What if he's sending a signal to my computer right now to blow me up? What if he's not far away? What if he's right behind me? What if he has his fiber wire out right now ready to strangle me until I soil myself and die? What if .
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The Office vs. Entourage

I don't have time for tv anymore. I always dreamed of this day when I would truly be too busy for trivial things like endless tv watching. The only two shows I have time for are The Office and Entourage. If these were the only two shows on tv, I'd be happy and I think the rest of the world would be good too. If only the rest of the world would give up the rest of tv, we'd all be better off. There isn't any form of entertainment we need that Michael Scott, Dwight, Jim, Pam, Vinny Chase, E, Drama, Turtle, and Ari can't provide. They're all I need. Why can't they be all you need?

I also like Gilmore Girls, but I forgot to mention it because it's off the air now.
Scrubs is good too.
How it's Made doesn't suck.
Simpsons are fantastic.
Hmm.. maybe I do still watch tv.
Whatever.

papers and pictures

I thought that because I am now paying for school myself, that I would be able to convince myself to avoid procrastination in regards to school-work, but it seems that I was wrong. It is currently Friday, and I have done next to no work on my leadership profile paper that is due on Sunday. I have, however put up some nice pictures in my office. Maybe I can turn that in. I wish I could turn in my own sense of self-accomplishment. Do you think Kinko's would print that?

Graduate Schooling

(to be sung to the tune of "three blind mice")
I love school
I love school
Though everyone may call me a fool
I really love school!

I do. It's really fun. When I was in simple, little college, if I had a thirteen page paper to turn it, I'd be pissed and adgitated, but in good ole grad school I'm as happy as a horse after a race. Granted, I did still have to cram all my work into two writing sessions much like simple, little college, but in good ole grad school fashion, I put out a pretty good paper that I'm almost proud of.

Now on to horrible, ugly, annoying, stupid, frustrating, boring, mind-numbing, kick-you-in-the-crotch, twist-your-nipples-off, rip-your-nose-hair-out, ropes training. I should have got a doctor's note.

All is Well

As you can see by my previous post, the mac I use at work is quite special to me. However, there is no more need to fear, for it is back to life and running as smooth as ever. Only God and Steve Jobs know what happened. Yesterday morning it was as dead as an ant colony in winter, and so I took it to the apple store in Dallas to have it's death confirmed by an apple genius. Perhaps this particular apple genius had recently received the Holy Spirit or had touched the cloak of Steve Jobs because once he turned it on, there was seemingly nothing wrong with it. No, not seemingly, there really wasn't anything wrong. He fiddled around with it; I think in order to make me feel like he was checking everything, but I believe that it was a simple touch from a simple man named Oliver. Thank you, Oliver. Thank you.

Ode to a Mac

My lovely and wonderful Macintosh Pro,
Where, oh where, oh where did you go?

Your body is here, but your spirit is gone.
You're lights have gone out like the setting of the sun.

What great times we had, you and I.
Every half hour you'd announce the time.

I'd sit and stare at your face, so bright
We never argued, nor did we fight.

When I was with you, my soul felt complete.
Now that you're gone, life isn't so sweet.

Where did you go? What happened to you?
Did you ever love me the way I loved you?

Was it ever real between you and me?
That's it, isn't it? You never loved me.
You played me, you tricked me,
You got what you wanted and left me.
And now you're free, free to be without me.
Why couldn't you tell me?

Why couldn't I see?
See between your keys.

Wake up, old friend, wake up Mac Pro.
There is so much to say, please don't go.

I'll never forget all the good times.
We worked together side by side.
But now you've gone out, like the rolling tides.