100% of the profit from this shirt goes directly to Rissa Watkins, wife, mother, & writer, to support her fight against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Design courtesy of Kelly Spies. Copyright 2010 - theBarefoot
100% of the profit from this shirt goes directly to Rissa Watkins, wife, mother, & writer, to support her fight against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Design courtesy of Kelly Spies. Copyright 2010 - theBarefoot
On April 27, 2011, we were smack dab in the middle of the worst tornado outbreak in Alabama history. From what I gather, an EF1 hit my neighborhood. Later in the day and EF4 or 5 touched down only a couple of miles north of my house. You can’t image the destruction.
Before you say, “Oh, yes I can. I have a good imagination,” check out some Youtube videos. Here are a few to supplement your imagination:
Naturally, I documented in video my neighborhood. This video was taken after the EF1 tore down trees and threw them into houses throughout my locale.
Link to youtube.
Somehow, my house was untouched even though we have 14 huge pines in our backyard. Even my marigold pots where left sitting on the fence rail. Tornadoes are strange animals.
We lived without power for six days. For a coffee junkie like me, that’s not easy. I boiled water on a small charcoal grill every morning to fill the French press. Luckily, the post-storm weather was clear and very cool. It didn’t rain again until day six which was our return-to-power day.
Having no power was a minor inconvenience compared to the devastation some are still enduring. Hundreds of homes and business were destroyed. Enough new unemployment applications have been filed to jump the State figures by a tenth of a percent. Luckily, most of those will only be for a couple of weeks. The real loss is the 255 lives snuffed out by these ferocious winds. Buildings are being rebuilt, but some lives are permanently shattered.
If there is anything good that came from all this, it’s the feeling of community in the aftermath. There were no shortages of chainsaws. If you needed one, a neighbor was there. If you didn’t know how to use one, a neighbor was there. Food was shared. Reports of where to get the latest shipments of ice were broadcast. We all pulled together, each to his own abilities, to get through it. I have a better relationship with my neighbors because of it.
Two weeks later, I walked my streets. Hopefully, you can see the dedication to rebuilding we all have.
Yesterday, I posted how unhappy I was when I checked into the Embassy Suites in Dunwoody, GA. I must say, I’m a much happier camper today. After I posted my 4-point complaint on the Embassy Suites Facebook page last night, I got a call this morning from the hotel management asking if they could move me to a king-size room today instead of Wednesday. They also mentioned something about waiving the $10/day internet connection fees for the duration of my stay.
My wife called as we broke for lunch at noon and told me she was in a different room…a very clean room with a king-size bed as we had booked. I’m feeling much better today than yesterday. The pool is still green, but, meh, we’ll live. I wished it hadn’t taken a call from on high to light a fire under the local management, but it does show what a concise, well written, factual complaint can do when it reaches the right ears/eyes.
Did you ever have a day where the universe conspired to do you a favor? Yesterday was one for me. I spent the evening shooting and editing a video about the whole Cooks Source copyright infringement furor, but YouTube was having technical problems and I couldn’t upload it.
In hindsight, YouTube did me a favor. I wasn’t really pleased with the video. The main point got lost in the massive back-story. I wanted to reshoot it, but it was late…very late.
Because of the failed upload, I now have the opportunity, to reshoot it today. I vow to do a better job this time. I’ll get to the point and the video won’t be 8 minutes long. But honestly, Monica, I’ll only put it in for a minute.
This is a story with which I take great liberty in retelling, but the central message remains the same.
Ms. Sarah taught the toddler’s Sunday school class at church for forever. She had seen countless of her classes graduate for high school and start families of their own. She had taught the grand-children of her students. It goes without saying that Ms. Sarah was old. Some joked that the church building was built where it was because that is where Ms. Sarah was standing at the time.
Ms. Sarah’s curricula for toddlers had been the same for decades. She focused on teaching the children about the elements of the worship service in hopes it would help them behave during the main event. Each Sunday, the children looked forward to their juice and crackers. They learned to bow their heads and be quiet for prayers. They learned songs and joyously sang along. They each brought a fist full of change for the simulated collection.
Inevitably, Ms. Sarah passed. God chose a Saturday to take her home. The following Sunday, there was a rush to find a substitute. The young woman selected did her best, but inevitably didn’t cover all the lessons Ms. Sarah was so famous for teaching. In particular, she forget to take up the collection.
When class concluded, the children were escorted to the auditorium and returned to their parents for the service. Timmy’s mother noticed he was still clutching the fist full of coins he had been give for the class collection. “Why didn’t you give your money to Jesus today?” she inquired.
In a plain and simple voice that only a child of four can have, Timmy replied, “I couldn’t give my money to Jesus today. She wasn’t there.”
I seem to have exploded with creativity this week, at least relatively speaking. I’ve posted seven or eight new videos at YouTube including number 99. I feel like I’m supposed to do something special for number 100, but I can’t think of what. I welcome any and all suggestions. I’m not going to embed the videos here. You can always visit my YouTube Channel and catch up.
This Labor Day weekend should be busy. We’ll be moving my daughter’s stuff as much as possible to the trailer, sorry, mobile home. The water and electricity are on. The air conditioning installation is scheduled for Tuesday morning. If all goes according to plan, they will be able to spend their first official night in their new home then. They’re more excited to move than I am to have them go. I love them, but won’t love them any less when they are out of my house.
That’s the week in review and a little look ahead. I hope y’all have a great Labor Day weekend.
The house hauler moved our mobile home today from “the farm” in south Alabama to Huntsville. They will anchor it tomorrow morning and install the plumbing. Then all that’s left is to for us to get the electricity hooked up and turned on; get some steps for the front door; get the air conditioner re-installed; get all the furniture my daughter doesn’t want/need moved out; get all my daughter’s furniture moved in; buy a vacuum cleaner… and víola, we’re all done.
I’m tired just typing about it. I’m quickly discovering nothing on a mobile home is standard. You can’t just buy a door knob at Lowe’s, which I did and now must return. The current locks are pretty tricky. Oh well, that just adds to the charm. Besides, I’m not going to be living in it. My daughter and son-in-law will be the proud residents.
But God favors children and fools. We found some concrete steps that will work perfectly if we can move them. Some guy around the corner had some 32″ concrete steps just sitting beside his RV. We asked if he’d sell them to us. He said they weren’t his. They were there when he moved in. We could have them. Anyone got a Bobcat I can borrow? They must weigh 250 kilos. I’m so bent from clearing off a spot for the steps, I think I’ll let the son-in-law figure out the logistics of moving the steps. He has friends…young friends.
I’m going to take a muscle relaxer and cool off. Jumping repeatedly in & out of doorway that is 32 inches off the ground makes mush of a already-bad back and weak knees. I think my further contribution will be to pay the hauler and maybe power wash the outside of the trailer.
Home is not where the heart is. Home is where your bed is. Home is where your shower is. Home is where your stuff smells like your stuff.
I flew to San Diego on Monday. It’s a beautiful town with great weather, but it ain’t home. My return trip was the very, very, full, Thursday night 10:12 red-eye to D.C. Yes, I had to go to D.C. as my connection to Huntsville, AL. It was simply a miserable flight. Unfortunately, my legs decided they wanted to dance while I almost-slept. I’ve resigned myself to being able to say, “I have RLS (restless leg syndrome).” The lady next to me wasn’t too happy about it either.
Dulles airport is nightmarishly huge. I took a bus from one terminal to another. Then I walked and walked and took a M.C. Escher series of escalators to my connection gate. I swear, at one point, there was an escalator that went up one story only to have another go back down 30 feet later.
At the gate, I drank a large coffee and promptly fell asleep. I woke just in time to catch the drool from dripping on my shirt. Getting home to Alabama never felt so good. I promptly slept from noon until 6PM. I have to use the weekend to get my internal clock back on Central Time.
In the mean time, I shot some video of the U.S.S. Midway. It’s kind of long, but there’s a little something for history and military buffs. Enjoy.
It’s often ask how to keep sub-headings together with the text that follows. Many word processing programs automatically read a return (enter key) as a paragraph break. That separates the sub-heading from the text. Furthermore, paragraph breaks are used when the site decides to add a page break to your article. This often puts the sub-heading on one page and its text on another. Knowing all of this, here is how you can create sub-headings that stay with their text. It just takes a little HTML knowledge.
Instead of pressing the enter key, you simply put the <BR> tag between the sub-heading and the text.
Mary’s Inventory<br>Mary had a little lamb.
is rendered as:
Mary’s Inventory Mary had a little lamb.
It’s that simple. Since the site doesn’t see a return, it doesn’t add a paragraph break and the text stays with the sub-heading.
You can even combine this with other tags to make you sub-heading stand out. I like to use bold and underline.
<b><u>Jack’s Plan</u></b><br>Step one: go up the hill.<br>Step two: fetch water.
is rendered as: Jack’s Plan Step one: go up the hill. Step two: fetch water.
Italics are fair game, too.
<b><u><i>Jack’s Effort</i></u></b><br>Jack came tumbling down.
is rendered as: Jack’s Effort Jack came tumbling down.
You are now well-armed to create article submission whose final presentation is pleasing to both the web site and your readers. If you are using a code editor like TextPad or UltraEdit, this becomes easier because they add single returns as single returns and not paragraph breaks. You don’t even have to bother with the <BR>, but that’s a different topic for advanced users.
It sounds like a lame Alcoholics Anonymous promise, but I’m not one to spam the world. However, since teeBarefoot just launched, please indulge me while I explain what it’s all about.
It’s pretty simple. It’s a tee-shirt shop. There are other items like messenger bags, laptop sleeves, and hoodies, but it’s a little different than most shops. There’s no self-promotion here. All the merchandise at teeBarefoot is just fun. There are nerdy shirts, items for writers (especially Associated Content members), and even a charity section.
Here’s a 3-minute commercial video explaining why I opened the store.
Thanks for watching the video. Thanks for looking at the new store. Thanks even more for buying, especially the breast cancer shirts. $3 of each purchase of the breast cancer shirts goes to FORCE, a charity supporting breast cancer research. Check out the charity & causes department of the store.
If you want any item personalized or would like a discount for a large order, please email teebarefoot [at] gmail.com. (Obviously, fill in the [at] with @.)
That’s it for now. I promise I won’t be spamming the world with a constant barrage if “Buy a tee shirt.” I’m just a little excited about starting this new adventure. We now return you to our regularly scheduled program.
