Warthogs game

Well it seems it is time for me to sing the National Anthem again at tonight's game with Myrtle Beach. It is an honor for me to sing this song so near and dear to our hearts, and for those of you that don't know, I'll let you know the last words of the song are NOT, "PLAY BALL." In eight grade I was supposed to memorize all four verses of the song. (Normally it is just the first verse that is sung at ballgames.) We won't discuss that subject any further. I suppose if we asked everyone to wait for someone to sing all four they would grow impatient, and there would be complaining. Maybe the singers would have to study up to learn all four verses. Just in case you would like to know, here are the words to the entire song:

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream: T'is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And here is a bit of history of the song:

History: In 1814, about a week after the city of Washington had been badly burned, British troops moved up to the primary port at Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. Frances Scott Key visited the British fleet in the Harbor on September 13th to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes who had been captured during the Washington raid. The two were detained on the ship so as not to warn the Americans while the Royal Navy attempted to bombard Fort McHenry. At dawn on the 14th, Key noted that the huge American flag, which now hangs in the Smithsonian's American History Museum, was still waving and had not been removed in defeat. The sight inspired him to write a poem entitled Defense of Fort McHenry; later the poem was set to music that had been previously composed by a Mr. Smith. The song was immediately noted as an inspiring song that should be the national anthem of the United States of America. It was accepted as such by public demand for the next century or so, but became even more accepted as the national anthem during the World Series of Baseball in 1917 when it was sung in honor of the brave armed forces fighting in the Great War. The World Series performance moved everyone in attendance, and after that it was repeated for every game. Finally, on March 3, 1931, the American Congress proclaimed it as the national anthem, 116 years after it was first written.

If you get the chance when you are in DC, to view the restoration process for THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER, (the one that inspired the song) then you should do so. In the mean time, you can learn a bit more about it here: http://americanhistory.si.edu/ssb/2_home/fs2.html

ALIAS AGAIN

Here I have posted a few pics from the beginning of the show, as well as some more current shots. Now really, does the red hair really help an agent to blend in to the surroundings, or to fool anyone for that matter? What were they thinking? Oh well, that was in the early days. Live and learn. Sydney is happy at home with her family when Dixon comes to make a request--to get Syd to go back into action, of course. Notice that Isabelle is able to complete the same test that Sydney did as a child, but no one notices except the very alert TV viewer.

We will miss you Sydney Bristow!

We will miss Sydney Bristow, and all of the other good characters of Alias. It is good that we won't have Sloane to worry about any more. I suppose we can go back and watch all five seasons again if we were really good fans, wouldn't we? Hmmm, maybe not.

ALIAS FINALE

Well it will all come to a conclusion this Monday at 9 PM with a 2-hour show. If you forget, remember, you can watch streaming video of any epi up til June 30. It's been a blast!

ALIAS--I SEE DEAD PEOPLE

This shot (no pun intended) can be a little unsettling if you haven't seen this epi, and if you haven't, you should stop reading HERE. As we who have seen last week's epi know, this is not Sydney Bristow, but her nemisis Anna, who doubles as her doppleganger. She is not a clone, in that she wasn't created from Syd's DNA, but Anna was transformed, if you will, into an exact copy of Syd. But there is a lot of info that Anna was lacking, and Michael was able to tell that she was not Syd. Poor Anna, went to all that trouble and all for nothing. There is a lesson to be learned here: Don't try to become someone else; just be yourself. Don't forget Alias fans, if you are unable to watch, tape or TiVo the show each week, you can catch it at abc.com on streaming video.

Skype

Most of you know I don't do too much advertising here, but this is one thing that you guys need to do, at least if you have a reasonably fast internet connection. You need to download Skype and get a user ID. It is all free. Talk to anyone else in the world pc to pc (or mac to mac, imac to imac etc.) The connection is clearer than any telephone or cell phone that you have ever tried. Downloading it is free. Talking is free. If you have a pc, you can even see each other through your webcam. (They still don't have that for a mac yet, but we can use Yahoo! Messenger at the same time with no loss of speed.) Of course, I wouldn't know about any of this if it weren't for our son who works in the software industry: http://www.larw.com/ Enjoy talking to your friends and relatives at no charge!!

Sidney Lowe, NC State Basketball Coach

We finally have a basketball coach at NC State, and I am happy that it is Sidney Lowe. Several coaches turned down the offer, and you can't blame them, knowing the disgruntled alumni and fans with Herb Sendek. I wish Herb all the best, and welcome Sidney as the Wolfpack Basketball Coach. I am also happy that Monty Towe will be coming with Sidney.

ALIAS!!

Well, what do think of Syd as a blonde? That deep Southern accent she had there really got to me. Good to have Nadia alive and well, well at least for a spell. And I believe that it will take some weird sort of spell to undo what her daddy did in that last epi. What's up with the two Syds? Is that really Syd in that last shot? Be careful out there. You can never tell for sure. I was just thinking the other day about the different kinds of blogs that are out there. There are those who write about things they do, say like the people who fly helicopters. Then there are those who write about books they have read. And then there are those who write about the TV shows they watch, ie yours truly. Kinda reminds me of the saying there are three types of people out there: the ones who make things happen, the ones who watch things happen, and then the ones who wonder what happened!! I really am cutting back on my TV (and TiVo) watching this summer. Just a few more epis of Alias, and it will be all over.