Back in Memphis...

All right it has been a little while since the last entry...but, hey we moved from Hong Kong back to Memphis, Tennessee...I think a little slack is deserved.

So...I will hit the key points of the last 60 days or so.

Randi, Henry, and I successfully moved from Hong Kong to Memphis. The trip was a little easier this time on Henry...as we flew direct from Hong Kong to Newark. We then drove from Newark to Washington D.C. and hung out with the family for a few days as that wicked early March snow storm moved through the country. I think Henry was a little shocked to go from Hong Kong to snow. Albeit he had a grand old time playing in the snow at my parents house. We eventually made it back to Memphis after a little bit of car trouble...my Dad's Mercedes Benz died on us 45 minutes into our trip...compliments of a faulty crankshaft sensor.

Once in Memphis we hung out at our friends' house until our household goods arrived from Hong Kong. That took a little longer than anticipated but David and Andrea were awesome and did not mind us staying for a few extra days. Our stuff finally arrived around the 18th of March and honestly since then we have been getting things settled. It is a heck of an event getting everything moved in, sorting through things that were put in storage, and of course getting things just the way you like them. I think there are still a few things left to be accomplished.

On the political front...I am shocked...well actually I am not shocked at the "mess" that President Obama is creating of our country. Sure, I will get lambasted by a few folks out there...but, seriously folks did anyone really think that an incredibly liberal State Senator turned U.S. Senator who ended up in the White House would be anything but liberal? Let's see what he has done thus far to really create a mess:

1. Bowing to the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would be a great place to start. Did anyone not tell him that he and specifically the United States is not subject to the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? This is beyond belief...and quite frankly it doesn't surprise me...President Obama has kissed so much foreign ass since he stepped into office that Joe Biden needs to kick him squarely in the ass.
2. Giving Gordon Brown DVD's in the wrong format...priceless.
3. Let's get to some serious stuff...how about forcing the President of GM to step down...since when did anyone in the U.S. government get to make decisions about private industry.
4. Apologizing to Europe for the arrogance of America. I don't call it arrogance...I and most American's call it leading. Leading the world in relief work, leading the world in charitable giving, leading the world in defending those that cannot defend themselves (WWI and WWII ring a bell here), and too many numerous deeds done on the world stage to count...from saving South Korea to kicking Saddam's sadistic ass out of power in Iraq.
5. Nominating apparently every individual in politics who is either too stupid to figure their taxes out correctly, too arrogant to pay their proper taxes, or lacking the morals required to pay their proper taxes. For an administration that is all about "paying taxes" they sure don't take their own advice.
6. Nominating some truly left-wing nut jobs to important offices...Harold Koh as a prime example.
7. Creating some dangerous ethical grounds with "stem-cell" research changes...although the Dickey-Water amendment signed two days after by President Obama (probably without his knowledge) put many of the Bush-era restrictions right back in place.
8. Releasing state secrets (CIA interrogation memos) to satisfy the ACLU. Why don't we just broadcast all of our tricks of the trade to the terrorist organizations out there...that way they know what we are capable of...which will make them play fair...right?

Now I am not going to arbitrarily bash President Obama...I will give him kudos for few things:

1. Going to Iraq after his "European vacation" was a good move as the troops always need and want to hear from the Commander-In-Chief.
2. Not pulling troops out of Iraq precariously fast and actually listening to the commanders on the ground is a sound move.
3. Taking the fight to the Taliban and putting more troops on the ground is a solid move.
4. My personal favorite though has to be letting the special operations guys do their thing and kill three terrorists...I mean...pirates off the coast of Somalia to save a U.S. citizen.
5. I am also a fan of him telling Mexico's President Calderon that the U.S. is not going to enact a new "assault weapons ban" just to put a band-aid on the growing drug war in Mexico. Let's be honest if Mexico was securing their border...the guns would not be getting into the country and if we were securing our border...drugs would not be getting into our country...problem solved...secure the bloody border.

Now...let's move onto some lighter subjects. Where oh where do you think FedEx is sending me on my first project since arriving back in the States...you guessed it Asia...you have to love the irony of the situation. Moving all the way back to the United States just to get sent back to Asia.

I understand it though...expatriates are not cheap...and we are all in cost saving mode...even FedEx.

Randi is working hard trying to figure out what she is going to do...school...job...both. All the options are on the table. She had a second interview today at one company and I think she is pretty excited about her prospects there. It looks like it would be a good company to work for and it would provide a challenging environment for Randi to work in.

Lastly, when did humans drop down on the food chain. Today I was walking on the FedEx campus where we have some particularly hostile geese and noticed that several individuals were walking around the geese at the slightest hint of aggression from them. As I strolled closer to one particularly aggressive goose...he/she lifted his/her head and hissed at me. Now on any other day and particularly in any other location this particular goose would have ended up on the wrong end of a Benelli shotgun. However, being at work I suppose there were only two options...walk around this goose and let him/her think just for an instant that they were the apex animal on the block. Not a good option in my opinion...or number two charge said goose and make him move his aggressive ass out of my way. I chose option two and clapped and charged said goose and watched him get out of the way in a hurry. Hey folks...humans are apex predators in case you missed the latest addition of National Geographic. In order to stay that way...animals need to know their place...you can also check your bible for this...we are at the top of the food chain. There is not an animal on earth that we cannot hunt and kill. So...why would we as humans let some arrogant goose think that they are at the top of the food chain? All I have to say is that is one lucky goose...he/she should have been on my plate this evening.

Walk-About

So, I had the day off today so I had lunch with the wife at Wooloomooloo on Wyndham Street and then I went on a walk-about taking pictures. I just purchased my replacement DSLR (I sold my 20D to my brother) and I am loving the 40D. It shoots really nice pictures and controlling the different aspects of the exposure is a breeze. So, I walked around Lan Kwai Fong and Central and shot close to 400 pictures. I have put a few up on the flickr site and I will add more in the coming days.

The weather has been really rainy for the last few weeks and everything is damp. Take a second and do a search on the web for "Hong Kong Flooding" and see what you get for June 7, 2008. I think this has to be some of the worse flooding Hong Kong has had in awhile...it was bad...Black Rain.

Anyway, all is well in Hong Kong land...Randi was in Bangkok over the weekend with some of her girlfriends and Henry and I held down the fort. Randi will be posting some pictures of her adventures with the girls in Thailand...they had a good time and they have the pictures to prove it.

Keep the people of Kansas, Iowa, and California in your prayers as they are experiencing some poor weather (storms and wild fires). I am extremely saddened to hear of the murders of the two young girls in Oklahoma. It is sad when people resort to killing young innocent children...I think it speaks to us all that something must be done about this senseless violence. I am sure you have all heard that Memphis again posted top scores for being a violent city with more than 500,000 residents. Ah...good old Memphis...when are the citizens of the city going to learn that crime does not pay?

I hope you all have a great weekend...and remember to buckle-up and don't drink and drive.

Tennessee...

Randi and I have noticed that living in Hong Kong whenever news comes out regarding Tennessee or Memphis in particular it is always bad...we have yet to hear any good news come from our former home. For instance, the recent Memphis murders made international headlines and it appears that the Memphis Police Department (MPD) have no leads to go on.

I want to believe that there are some very good detectives in the MPD but, I have serious doubts about the professionalism of the MPD. First, they have lowered their recruiting standards, you can now become a police officer with little or no college education and they are lowering their psychological requirements. The following informative piece of information is available on the MPD website: "Individuals who were disqualified for the position of Police Officer on the basis of their psychological evaluation for the period of 1996-2001 will be allowed to reactivate their application of employment with the Memphis Police Department." Now, I don't know about you but, I really don't want my police department accepting people who were previously disqualified based on psychological factors...even if they have to undergo another psychological evaluation.

Memphis is notorious for having unsolved crimes, basically if they don't catch them in the first 48 hours they are not going to get caught - or the odds greatly decrease. In fact, the MPD was involved in a TV series called the "The First 48". I'll just say this - I watched a few of the shows when the MPD was involved and I was not exactly filled with confidence. I even had lunch with a few of the "crew" members from the show (the actual production people) at Cafe Ole one day when they were filming in Memphis - and they said that they were very unimpressed with the MPD. So, we will see how this plays out but, I would hope that whomever committed this atrocious crime is brought to swift justice.

Now, back to the point of Tennessee and the fact that all the stories coming out of there are usually bad. I opened up foxnews.com this morning and see this heading: "Man Dies When Wind Flips Mattress He Was Moving". So, I immediately have the following thought, "I bet this was in Tennessee." Sure, enough I open it up and find out that of course it was from Tennessee. So, this poor guy was riding in the back of a truck sitting on top of the mattress he was helping move when the principal of "lift" ruined his day. Now, I am sure this guy was having a blast right up until the end. I can just picture this guy in the back of the truck hooting and hollering as his friend was driving and he was riding the "magic carpet" in the back of the truck. Then, a little too much lift was created and the mattress probably just flipped right over and out of the truck with this guy holding on for dear life. Not the way I want to go out...moving a mattress. My thoughts and prayers are with this man and his family and I hope that we all learn a lesson from this one. You do not "ride" a mattress in the back of a truck. There are these neat inventions called tie-down straps...please use them to prevent this sort of tragedy from happening again. Less, Tennessee get more negative press.