My thoughts turned out only a better understanding of my actions. My conclusion has three parts.

1. Share all that I can (as much as possible) with children first, family second, friends third, community....et cetera. To quote the dude from the book "Way of the peaceful warrior"....."Service to others".

2. Know when those,out towards the end of the list, are more or less deserving and act accordingly with my actions.

3. Save the bourbon in the freezer for the evening after the hunt. Not the early morning before.

This weekend, I plan to spend the most time away from my family and stressed-out lifestyle in the last two years. I will hunt for deer with bow and arrow, and eat backwoods gourmet. I will also stair at the forest floor a lot and contemplate. For those....or should I say THAT of you, who read my blog (like some study koran and stir couscous}.....I WILL POST MY MOST CURRENT TAKE ON "THE MEANING OF LIFE", MONDAY! Stay tuned!

Ever thought about the origin of the word RECREATION?

Excuse me if I'm generalizing, but I bet you can also relate to my extreme disappointment in the "Baby Boom" generation.

As I sit here, a bunch of white polo shirt wearing, "aaaaaah I remember when Joan and I were first married." assholes, have made a real estate decision about their deceased Mother's house.

This beautiful home, next to my old home place, where they were also raised has lain vacant for months. Their Mother (think of your mother here) wished on her death-bed, would first be bid on by my wife and I. "First Right of Refusal" is the term for said "old fasion" business dealings. If they don't like our offer...they make a counter. They refuse us....well, they tried.

Even though at the time I would have never considered living there, this wonderful lady expressed that my family be given a chance to make the first bid on this home. She was pleased to know that my family might be raised there.

The strange twist in this story is that I have never heard mention of their decision, even though they have heard my offer (TWICE), and read my pre-approval letter.

No, I've heard nothing! This would be fine, since our offer was a bit lower than the “listed” price, as long as the winning bidder had not already started telling all in town that they are closing soon.

It may be important to remember also that I just returned home from "OPEN HOUSE" night at the High School where I teach College Prep Biology and Earth Science. Tonight's attendance................2 parents (out of 73 students)!

Two parents came to find out about their child's last step before UVM, Northeastern, or UCLA tonight. When I asked other parents (jokingly) in the hall "why the low turn-out?" They would respond, "Lotta games tonight!" with a "you did not think of that?" attitude.

You know what, Baby Boomer Mom who thought FIELD HOCKEY was more important than school...FUCK YOU!!

You know what, baby boomer Son who was able to get an extra $2,000 out of a fellow Baby Boomer (against your Mother's wishes).......FUCK YOU!!

I have officially given up on my parents' generation as a whole and will never trust a one of them until I'm proven wrong!

“Talkin' 'bout my ga ga ga generation…".... FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From WCAX.com

Vermont has won the first round in its legal battle against the auto industry to set its own standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The ruling means that Vermont and a dozen other states can impose greenhouse emissions below federal standards and the auto industry must manufacture cars and trucks that comply with the law.

Environmentalists and political leaders are savoring Vermont's David versus Goliath victory over the auto industry.

But in this case, Goliath is not dead, and the legal battle may have only begun.

"I'm very pleased that the District Court has approved the state of Vermont's auto emission standards," said Gov. Jim Douglas, R-Vermont, who Wednesday afternoon was relishing the state's legal victory over the auto industry.

"We care deeply about the quality of our air and because most of the greenhouse gas emissions in Vermont come from motor vehicles that's where we have to concentrate our efforts," said Douglas.

"The automakers came after us rather than California. Maybe they thought it'd be an easier case to make but we showed that the law and the rides and the facts are on our side," he concluded.

Full Article Here

Tomorrow I must lead my class in the Pledge of Allegiance. These young men and women were in third grade that morning.

I intend to ask them if they realize what The Pledge of Allegiance means to them, and then explain what it should mean to them! Not what America was. Not what it is....but what it could be. Where do we take it?

Tomorrow will not be easy....but I will put my heart into my morning ritual more than I ever have, and then spend the rest of class teaching the Metric System instead of Earth Science so students can hopefully compete with the rest of the world.

I will never forget! I will always wonder! I will always believe!

Lets get on with our Nation’s future, why don’t we?!

Let us Remember the Men, Women, and Families, whose lives were crushed on September Eleventh....that bluebird Tuesday....how many years ago?

SUPPORT A TRUE RIDER - For Details Click Here

As Van Hazinga put it in an interview just days before his accident, “If I wanted to be rich, I wouldn’t own a skate shop. But I want to live a rich life, so that’s why I’m in it.”

I met JVH, better known as Big John, while I was in high school. He moved to my small town a few miles from my house. He would swim out to my boat through the muck and weeds of Lake Champlain for the chance to wakeboard. We spent many hours on the lake, hanging out, enjoying life. I grew to know John as one of the single nicest, most caring people I have ever met. Through out the years, I would run into him at random events or on the mountain. It was always as if we had never lost touch, he was always the best of friends regardless of how many years it had been.

He committed himself to the board sports, opened a skate shop in Burlington, and always he has done it his way. I was just talking with LJJ about how disenchanted I became with the industry when I owned a shop. JVH is the opposite of all that nonsense, he is in the game for the love it and is not caught up in the politics or the quest to have the latest gear. He is a role model for all of us.

Last weekend, I was at a wedding for one of my friends from home. I was completely caught off guard to find out that JVH had suffered a tremendous accident while longboarding on Smuggler's Notch. As I am currently living under a rock in West Virginia, I was clueless and shocked to say the least. Seven Days ran an article on his condition, here and his family is maintaining a daily blog on his condition, here.

He is currently in a coma but has stabilized. As would be expected, he is fighting through. I urge all the Vermonters to head out to Higher Ground on 8.13.07 for a benefit concert. For Details Click Here. If you can't make it to the show or are out of state but still want to help, you can donate on his shop's site, www.rdnhigh.com

Hey guys
Apologies for the lack of posts but I'm truely a lazy person after all of this travelling.

Basically, after 24 hours in Perth airport which is one of the most souless places on the planet I jumped onto the plane set for Jo Burg. Have to say I was ever so slightly nervous as we landed in a city I had heard so much about. It seemed everyone I spoke to had some sort of horror story for me just to boost the old confidence, and it seemed apt that we would land in fog so the whole city looked ridiculasly eerie as we approached the airport.

Anyway after arriving and having saying hello to Bob Geldoff (one of the biggest people behind african aid and organiser of live 8 etc) I met my dad and we heading out to the Kruger National park. This was pretty uneventful although my dad did managed to get pulled over for speeding IN the park itself which I thought was quite a feat.

After seeing all the big animals and getting shouted at by a guide for leaving the car (for about a second) we headed towards Namibia. On our way we were passing little towns which looked very sinister in the dark, as most of Africa does and had not found anywhere to stay. After we had consinded ourselves to driving through the night we managed to stumble across a knackered old sign which advertised a bed and breakfast and exploring 3 miles down a dirt track found the weirdest place I have stayed in my life.

Looking around it appeared as though there was nobody there and through the living room window we could see the heads of every african animal you could think of on the walls. We would later find that the owner was the most stereotypical south african you could hope to meet, sporting the camoflage gear and even the stupid mustache and racist outlook on life and had shot them all. That night we slept wondering which one of us would be the newest addition to the wall.

After being caught for speeding and running a red light the next day and managing to talk our way out of it we headed for the border. Unfortunately or foolishly as it should be, we used our remaining money to buy fuel before heading the 130 km from the nearest town to the border. Of course there was a fee to bring a car across, of course. The border guard looked seriously worried and even took us to the next town to see if we could change some cash. Then after about an hour of trying to find a solution my dad came across the money in his wallet. I began to worry about my travelling companion. The border guard would later confide in me that if my dad could lose 100 Rand he had too much money, with 100 rand being less than $20, how little he really knew!!

We visited fish river canyon which was impressive but was down roads those who have been on the rally would appreciate. We headed further north to the Dune fields of Namibia and went quad biking on them which was amazing fun. Not sure the conservationists would agree.

From there we headed to Victoria falls which were again impressive but I feel I might be becoming battle hardened to all these sights as I could only feel that they werent as impressive as Iguazu in Argentina.
A more impressive feat was being catted up by one of the very few gay african guys in the place, not pleasant.

We then had to ditch our hire car and take on the thrill and danger that is public transport. We got off to a good start as the bus we were travelling on took an hour for the mechanic to get started, that was followed by the driver asking if anyone would like to lead the prayer before we set off. Turned out we needed it as it was an interesting trip though involving dodging lorries that had crashed off the road, crusing around corners at around 85mph and of course the standard potholes! We passed one lorry which was full of maize and had about 6 guys unloading it, yet they still had time to stop work and come over to our window and ask for money as we drove past. We met a really interesting guy from the american peace corps who explained we were on one of the safer buses as one company had been shut down after 6 fatal crashes in one month!

We then arrived in Malawi which is my favourite African country now without a doubt. Stunningly beautiful and whilst you still get hasselled by some locals most are so friendly and generous despite having so little themselves. We decided to slow our travels as we were travelling so much but not seeing alot or meeting many people and Malawi was the first place I feel we have really seen in depth. I was a little concerned about a blood paracite you can catch swimming in lake Malawi which can cause organ failure amoungst several other unappealing conditions I wont go into, but it was a hot day and it was way to appealing to worry about death so I got right in.

So the plan of action involves a flight to Tanzania and on to Zanibar island for a week or two and from there who knows.

Apologies for the lack of pictures but as most places here only have electricity generated by solar panels you can see what I'm up against asking whether anyone has internet access.

Hope your all well
Andy

P.S. To the ironsides, enjoy Kazakhstan, its just about to get interesting!

Was also gutted to find out that I missed meeting Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman by a day as they are doing the long way down from John O'Groates in Scotland to Cape Town. Would have been nice to talk about the travels but it was not to be.