Monday, September 18, 2006

Pissing me off

Ok so for a while I have tried to keep out of the political issues because I was tired of all the crap. But the Muslims are pissing me off.

First of all it is not a religion of peace. If they were a religious group of peace then when someone says something bad about them they would not riot, or throw fire bombs at churches on the West Bank, or shoot to death a nun in Somalia, or burn images in the streets of the pope.

You are a bunch of FLIPPIN Morons. All you want is an excuse to go on a rampage and blame it on someone hurting your feelings. Some of us here in America learn something when we are little kids...Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. (However the tree hugging hippie libs in this country are like you idiots and start crying and crap when people hurt their feelings.)

You don't see me getting all upset and calling for protest and riots because you are burning figures of the pope in streets. I not throwing fire bombs at mosques here in the US. You are doing exactly what the pope said, spreading violence and evil. You can call me whatever you want but I am still not going to strap 20 pounds of explosives to my chest and run into a school because you mad me "upset" !!!! Your religion and its leaders are full of evil and violence. Mohammed is a jackass and you can wage your little jihad all you want. But please stop crying you bunch of babies and stop blaming your need to blow shit up on how your feelings got hurt because someone told the truth about your crappy religion.

You want apologies...Well so do I for the following from the Muslim leaders.

1. The 3000+ dead on 9/11
2. The bombing of the USS Cole
3. The bombing of the US Embassies
4. The 168 dead in Madrid
5. The 54 dead in London
6. The Taliban destruction of centuries old Buddhist statues
7. The millions dead in Darfur
8. The declaration of war on Christianity
9. For making Jews wear stars of David on their sleeves in Tehran
10. For making Hindus wear symbols on their clothes in Iran
11. For threatening to behead a Christian in Afghanistan for converting to Christianity
12. For banning bibles in Saudi Arabia
13. For burning the American flag in your streets
14. For beheading US citizens in Iraq
15. For burning images of the pope in your streets
16. For threatening to wipe Israel off the map
17. For continuing to push your followers to protest this stupid situation
AND
18. For the 1.5 billion F'IN idiotic followers that are threatening world civilization !!!!!!!!

The list can still go on but I am tired of this crap. Maybe if your leaders come out with apologies for the above I might start to give a rat's ass about you, your religion, or your opinions. Until then go back to the shithole you call a home and stop trying to ruin the world. On second thought, not even an apology for the above would make think you are more than just a pack of crazy f'in idiots.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

So much to talk about

So I am still raising funds for my Lance Armstrong race. I have been training. This past Saturday I did almost 20 miles. The route in Austin will be much harder due to the hills compared with the flat roads I have been riding on. But I am determined to make it. See my other post for donation links or I will post it again in a day or so.

My wifey's doctors appointment went well. All is good and the baby is growing. I haven't felt it kick or anything yet. My wife has. Due date still January 15th.

I will update more as it comes

Thursday, September 07, 2006

About my Grandmother

Well, where do I begin. My brothers and I have had a tuff summer. My other grandmother passed away this past weekend. We have laid to rest all of the grandparents we knew. My grandfather on my Mom's side passed away before any of his grandchildren were born. Man I wish I would have met him. I wish I could sit down and listen to stories about my mom, aunts and uncle. But my grandmother is with him and my two aunts now. One day I will see them all again and get that chance to speak with my grandfather.
We called this grandmother Memaw as well (thanks to my older brother). Memaw was a wonderful grandmother. I remember always spending the night at her house when we were kids. Always great food and plenty of ice cream for desert. Memaw always loved having her grandchildren around. Many times it wouldn't just be me and my brothers but our cousins too. We all grew up like brothers. She had a great climbing tree in her back yard. When she would drive us to places she was always playing classical music in her car. She would wave her hand back and forth like she was conducting the orchestra. Back then we always use to make fun of how she did it. She never cared she just loved the music. Now remembering how she use to do it, it brings a smile to my face. Memaw use to come to soccer games, choir concerts or anything else we had going on. She would always be there in the seats support us. Holidays and get togethers were always a blast at her house. First there was always enough food to serve a small army and she always reminded us of that. Heck there were always so many people there that we probably could have invaded a small country. At Christmas she always had a cool tree. She had some very old ornaments and from what I have been told some of them from WWII era. I always thought those were the coolest. There was always a stocking for everyone there. And with the size of our family just imagine about 100 stockings by the fireplace. She always gave each of us a mushy birthday card about how we were the best grandchild in the world. I can tell my brothers and cousins now that she liked me the most but I swore never to tell anyone. Just kidding. She loved all of her grandchildren dearly. The first thing anyone had to do no matter how old you were was when you walked through the door you had to go give Memaw a kiss hello. And when you left you better give her a kiss good-bye. You don't want to mess with an Irish hex.
She always talked about Ireland and talked about going back to Oregon. But I think her most favorite place was Galveston, TX. Every year my family would rent a beach house in Galveston for a week. She loved to sit on the front porch facing the water and read and relax in the breeze. She would watch us play in the sand, go swimming and fishing in the surf. She would come down and swim with us and she would float on her back in the water while singing some of the most funny songs any young kid could imagine. And of course my mom, aunts, and uncle taught us a few gross ones of course. You all know what I am talking about....Great Green Globs.....Worms crawl in... you know the ones and are probably singing them to yourself now.....and now are laughing at yourself because you know I caught you doing it. Anyway we (brothers, cousins, uncle) would get up bright and early to go fishing out in the surf. We knew that once the sun came up we could always look back at the house and there Memaw would be on the porch reading her book and enjoying her morning coffee. She would always ask as we walked back under the house if we caught anything and was so excited when we did. That meant she got some fresh trout for lunch or dinner. When we would be arriving at Galveston and we would get the first sight of the Gulf she would always say "There's the Big Water!!!" Good times.
When I was able to drive and as she got older she use to ask me to come over and do some things around the house. Mostly gardening work. At her old house on Hazen she had a few rose bushes. I soon learned when the proper time to cut them back and feed them (Valentines day) and how to cut the flowers so that the plant would put out more. I always would like to think of myself as her "Rose Man". This is where I gained my love for roses. Memaw had some beautiful roses and loved to cut them and put them in the house. Every time I saw one in the house I knew I had a hand in it and knew that it made her happy.
My grandmother always talked highly about my parents. Even as a teenager when I thought they were totally unfair/not cool she would always remind me of how great my parents were. She would always say that my dad was a very good husband, my mom was a very good wife, and how they were excellent parents to me and my brothers. She was 100% right. She raised my mom, aunts and uncle to be great people and my other grandparents raised my dad, aunts, and uncle to be great too.
I would have to say that on both sides of my family I have had the greatest mom, dad, brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins any child could ever wish for.
I know that if I can be just half as good as my parents and grandparents are/were then my kids and grandchildren are going to be just fine.

I could go on and on about my grandparents but will save that for another time and place.

Memaw, we love and miss you. Say hi to Grandpa Flanagan, Memaw and Bepaw Morgan, Geeg, and Nanie for us.

Love
Tom and all of your grandchildren

My Grandmother


STELLA "Catherine" WEISS FLANAGAN, 82, of Houston, died Friday, September 1, 2006, surrounded by her family. Catherine was born August 20, 1924, in Houston, Texas, the youngest child of L. A. "Buster" and Anna Mae Weiss. Catherine attended Holy Rosary and St. Agnes schools prior to attending the University of Houston where she studied music. Shortly thereafter her adventures took her to Portland, Oregon, where she met her husband, James Flanagan. Jim and Catherine were married and had their first child in Portland before returning to Texas to settle in Houston. Everyone who knew Catherine knew she was a spirited person whose love of music, cooking, entertaining and being surrounded by those she loved could only be matched by her love of Galveston and the annual trips there with her family and friends. Her love of life and sense of adventure will be missed by all. Catherine is preceded in death by her parents, her brother Gorman Weiss, husband Jim, daughters Mary Ann Flanagan and Gerry Kopecky. She is survived by her children and their spouses, Margaret and Scott Morgan, Cathy and Matt Flannery, Elizabeth and Doug Brown, all of Houston, Patricia Flanagan of Austin and James and Tina Flanagan of Nichols, South Carolina; and grandchildren and great grandchildren: Daniel, Thomas and Kari, Nicholas and Kristin Morgan; Anthony, Frank, Tara and Leah, and Michael Flannery; Trey, Kevin, Colleen and Ja'Vien Kopecky; Benjamin Brown; Nicole and Cody Flanagan. Pallbearers will be her grandsons and honorary pallbearers will be Dr. Stuart Boren, Mr. F. R. McCauley, Mr. Lloyd Waguespack, Mr. Finis Lewellin and the Honorable Frank Rynd. The family wishes to express its gratitude to Vitas Hospice for the loving care they provided in Catherine's final hours and for the caregivers at Park Manor during her stay there. Visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. on Monday, September 4, 2006, with a Rosary at 8:00 p.m. at Klein Funeral Home at 16131 Champion Forest Drive, Spring. Funeral Mass will be held at Prince of Peace Catholic Community, 19222 Tomball Parkway (FM249), Houston on Tuesday, September 5, at 2pm. Interment will take place at Resthaven Cemetery, 13102 North Freeway (I-45N). Donations may be made to the charity of your choice.