New Year's Eve post.

G'day everyone.

As 2007 is just about heading to the dustbin of history, a lot has happened in the last several months. I'm not going to do any recapping on it.

A lot has to be said for the coming year. Some times I'm hope and pray that things are going to happen in a very positive way for our country. But given the state of things? I'd rather stay concerned and be watchful.

I have a lot of hopes for Gallaudet University's 2nd half of the 2007-2008 academic year. The first half of this year has been "quiet" save for a nice homecoming weekend I've heard about! But what does the future hold? I hope in good things.

As I create this post, I'm posting it a few days early due to a "busy" weekend. So, I am wishing all my readers a VERY HAPPY AND JOYOUS NEW YEAR AND A PEACEFUL YEAR FOR OUR WORLD!! If you go out and party, drink responsible. Let someone else drive for you. (which what I'm doing for me).

So have a Joyous SEMPER FI in 2008! See ya then!

Christmas 2007

To many of my readers:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! May all your wishes come true!

Normally, I write my blog on the eve of Christmas. But I did not have a chance this year as I've spend doing lots of last minute shopping and decorating the outside of the house. An evil necessity of the action this year. But none the less, it proves that there are things that work for the greater good.

Today, my big wish would be sitting by the fireplace and drinking my daily java while letting the Christmas carols play. Unfortunately, only 2 out of 3 will happen. Thus, maybe in 2008 I will have a fireplace in my home. (ah big wish!). The past Christmas years, you'd find me every time by a fireplace and putting on a big yule log. I had some big ones long ago and enjoy them. But the only way to burn them? Soak the wood in a little gas outside, overnight. Next morning, put on some gloves.. and carefully, GET IT IN THE FIRE PLACE JUST AS FAST! *dramatic whummpa!*.

Anyhow, some of you are spending time with your family this year. Some take the time to spend with lovers and live-in friends. But whatever be the case, spend the time with the person you love. This may just be our wonderful year we ever have.

Last night, I took my traditional drive to the Bastress Valley and saw my family's old church. I was representing as the original family that settled in that valley long ago. Many memories came flooding back in me. The church service was not bad, but an improvement after they replaced pastors this year.

As I drove back home, Williamsport finally has a NEW BRIDGE!!! According to my mom, the market street bridge replacement is AHEAD of schedule. Both lanes now open! It was amazing. But gotta take a daytime drive to see it better. They're doing a cosmetic clean up now. Lotta folks are happy!!

So, in the matter of a week, the year will close out and 2008 will ring in. While it's a important political year (ah Micah, that's yer job for sure!), many of us have a lot of hopes and dreams. I have one big hope for our country. All of our military people come home!!

As I close this post, I hope all my readers will have gotten what they wished for Christmas. (except Ridor. He might be feeling all the coals Santa left for him. Hope enough coal to heat Ridor's house. :-) )

Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas.

Semper FI to you all..and to all a good post!

The holiday (Politically Correct) season 2007

G'day and Happy Holidays everyone!

Now why say that? Because political correctness has already run crazy out there. You can't say "Merry Christmas" with out offending all the other major religious people out there who start yelling: "Hey, you got to start respecting my religious, my holiday..etc.. etc..". So, does it make sense to say "Happy Holidays"? nope. (my door starts to shake a bit here. I don't like where this is going. But on I write).

How about Christmas trees? *WHAM!* A CEO of a major store breaks down my door and whaps me on the head and says "In the political correctness world, we prefer to remain independent of endorsement of religion. We do not call pine trees a "Christmas trees". We prefer to call them "FAMILY TREES". So endorse that on your blog and we'll send you a nice gift.

I shot back at the CEO and say "If you are single and live alone, do you sell a "Family Tree" to single people? The CEO says "No. We sell "the Charlie Brown special". That is: a skinny flinty tree that nobody wants buy and only sell to single people".

So I promptly pick up the CEO and throw the nasty person out of my room, making sure the door hits the CEO's butt on the way out. I notice my door's broken a bit, but not bad. I make sure to lock it.

What about the famous manger display? That is Mary, Joesph, baby Jesus along with the shepherds, animals, and angels in a barn?
Suddenly, I find someone busting down my door next and it's the infamous American Civil Liberties Union (that's ACLU for short, folks)!! The person hands me a notice of a cease and stop order saying "You can't endorse the famous manger display because it implies the endorsement of one religion and you must endorse and display ALL RELIGIOUS FAITHS! " . The person promptly destroys my favorite display on my coffee table.

By this time, I'm getting angry. I promptly shove the ACLU out of my room and slam the door in their face, which my door is now pretty much battered, and yelling "Be thankful ye unmerry person that God doesn't kill ye!!".

I'm still wondering if my door's security is going to hold. It's looking bad...

So just as I'm about to sit and write about Santa Claus, another person crashes in my door in to bits and demands that I endorse an alternative "Santa Claus". Specifically one that is FEMALE because this person believes Santa is gay and should be phased out in favor of female holiday spirit representative.

By now I'm looking pretty over come with much anger and I stand up and roar "THOU SHALT FIND THY STOCKING FULL OF COAL AND RATS IF YOU DON'T GET THE HECK OUT OF MY HOUSE!!". The person takes one look at me and says.. "can you endorse Pam Anderson to be Ms. Santa clause, the 2nd?". He doesn't stand a chance as he's flying out my window into a waiting ambulance.

When I get back my desk, I find that some one's stolen the TV, monitor, keyboard and etc...

So I sigh and finish this post and just as the cell's dying by saying...

If you really want a political correct Joyous Season, do yourself a favor, We can always ask congress to declare December 26 as England's Boxing day as an official American holiday.

So happy Boxing day everyone.. and just hope there's peace.. Ooops.. dove is dead, Good will towards men (if you can find it in their heart) and Mercy.. If any is left.

I wish this world luck beyond this holiday of political correctness run amok. I'll take scrooge and Jacob Marley any day. Bah humbug!

Dustinland..LIVE AT THE RIT DORM!

A friend of mine passed on a site link today and I'm giving PJ a "SEMPER FI SALUTE" for his contribution!

Now, why did I say "Dustinland..LIVE AT THE RIT DORM". Well this poor son of a bitch comic artist decided to draw the experiences of some one living among the deaf (and hearing) in the fine institution dorms of RIT. (that's Rochester Institute of Technology.) For some of you that didn't know his site well enough, Ladies and Gentlemen, today, you get to see for yourself of what DUSTIN wrote about us, NTID (National Technical Institute of the Deaf) DORM RESIDENTS of RIT!

Yes sir! I said that LOUD and CLEAR! RIT/NTID Dorm Residents. Do you think RIT and NTID will be pleased with his comic strip today? I doubt that very much when the very word gets out about this comic strip.

So, with out anymore of a wait time :

click on link: http://www.dustinland.com/archives/archives319.html and see for yourself.

God help the hearing residents of RIT who want to defend their deaf dorm mates! This will not be a good moment for us all (deaf and hearing alike).

Hey.. better yet, Dustin, you should have told your friend that he should have transferred to Gallaudet University and lived in the Gallaudet dorm for a little while among the total deaf dorm community as a Hearing Under Graduate!! (that is "HUGs"). There's a HUGE difference when you live in a total deaf dorm! :-)

So from the heart to all my former NTID/RIT former Deaf Dorm mates : I say a BIG Semper FI to you all!!

Baseball Big Arms?

G'day Everyone!



When I heard the Mitchell Report saying of which MLB player takes drugs to increase performance powers, there is bound to be a major fall-out that's going to happen. Lawyers are going to be called in. Woe to the powers of Major League Baseball when it happens.

But the Mitchell Report should not have focused on baseball alone. It should have focused on ALL SPORTS players. Football players use drugs to increase their speed and hitting powers. That's why you see MORE players hurt! (You think Buffalo's former QB Jim Kelly wasn't hurt from a drug stuffed player? Think again!). Tennis players use the drugs to increase hitting the ball harder. Cycling sport use drugs to increase performance to their legs so that they can ride harder and faster. Hockey players? Oh they brawl (fight) harder when they are pumped up on illegal drugs too! Don't forget basketball players too!

The Mitchell Report could not have come at a worse time in our lives. We are less than a year out to the 2008 Summer Olympic games. How much time will it take for every player to flush their bodies of the illegal drugs they taken? Not enough time.

So when I saw the Mitchell Report on baseball, every lawyer is going to come out and start representing the players. They know a major payday for themselves when they see it. It's also going to be a major Public Relations war for MLB too. Fans won't be coming back. You can bet that the shock wave will also hit and impact on all the other sports too.

You know, when I was young, I was taught that the best way to win the game was diet, eat the right foods, exercise, faith, and perseverance. Honesty in the game also wins the day. Cheaters never prosper as well.

Today? I feel a huge sadness for those young people getting involved in the sport. Times have changed. The drugs (illegal or legal) have no place in sports. The only thing that should remain to be in the game is Honesty and Honor. If Honesty and Honor are gone from every game, it's no wonder the stink of the locker rooms is drifting all over the playing field. So is dirty money as well.

I hope every young person will enjoy to play in high school and college games, but fore-go the professional games until the professional leagues clean up themselves. Will the professional league clean up their drug filled act? I will doubt that. But if they do, then it better snow in hell first.

My advice to the Mitchell report: Next time, investigate all the sports and not just MLB. Ya missed the big ones.

Uncle Joe Needs a job.

G'd day everyone!

Want to know what happens after NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) does to American jobs? Here you go, read on:

Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6am. While his coffeepot ( MADE IN CHINA ) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor ( MADE IN HONG KONG ). He put on a dress shirt ( MADE IN SRI LANKA ), designer jeans ( MADE IN SINGAPORE ) and tennis shoes ( MADE IN KOREA ). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA ) he sat down with his calculator ( MADE IN MEXICO ) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch ( MADE IN TAIWAN ) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA ) he got in his car ( MADE IN GERMANY ) filled it with GAS ( from Saudi Arabia) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB. At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer (Made In Malaysia ), Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL ) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE ) and turned on his TV ( MADE IN INDONESIA ), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in AMERICA .

Y'all gotta Keep this one circulating, please.!

Kissing the pavement of I-66

G'day!


I knew this day was going to come. I knew it down in myself some weeks ago. The day became the moment I had heard from my temporary agency representative say that she wasn't sure if I was going to be hired permanently by the company that I was working for, as it was stated in the contract we had. So..


I told her this: "I worked my butt off for 6 months on a "promise" that was written in the contract. Now that it has not happened and two more months have flown by, I have made a difficult decision. I am resigning.".

It was a picture perfect, hallmark moment to see her shocked of what I said. I knew the agency was losing a major contract with me and a company I was working for. But the bigger picture is, if you don't make a NEW contract with a said time table of when, where and goals, then I'm outta here. Even though I asked for a new or revised contract, she said "the old one is just as good".

Yeah, right, and I'm Henry Nixon. (being sarcastic).

So, she said she would later call my boss and deliver the awful news of my resignation. It was a day later after my normal boss had gone on an IT training session that she tried to call him. My sub-boss had picked up the call. Guess what? He asked to speak to me alone.

Once he closed the door, he asked me point blank " Are you REALLY resigning?".

I looked at him and had been very prepared for this other 'hallmark moment' confrontation.

I had him RIGHT where I wanted this person, who made my days in HELL here while I worked with him.

It was then I told him: "Yes. I'm leaving. Without a sure sign that that this company is going to fulfill my old contract (IE: hire me full-time permanent as per contract terms), then I rather not stay and waste my time when I could be working for a real company that wants to hire me permanently. ".

Right there and then as well, my sub-boss looked like he had just lost someone he loved to push around and cruelly do some bad jokes right in front of me and others. So were there any firm hand-shakes? nope. Just a "Fine.. we'll plan on the next few days and get things taken care of.".

Know what surprises me more? My normal boss hasn't even called me in for a meeting to discuss why I'm leaving. He thinks he knows my reasons why. But I doubt he understands it.
So, he lost an opportunity to meet with me.

Same time, there's a hiring freeze going on. Now that saddens me.

There only one thing that I hate and have tried to get out of it. A farewell party. I feel I do not deserve a party for me. Sure, it' s to honor all the hard work I done for this company. But no. There are some situations, that have been going on for a long while and that I can't comment on, that prevent me from enjoying a farewell party.


But, as it comes to the final day, when the last hour of my work ticks away, I will have everything squared away and accounted for. For the best, I hope.

When the last minute expires, I will dump my badge at the guard's desk and tell him "give my regards to whomever gets it. This place ought to get coal from Santa".

The last night of where I'm staying, I'll be packing up my things and square away in my car. But the very next morning, I'll be driving down I-66 to a certain spot where I will symbolically kiss the pavement "good-bye". (ya didn't think I'd kiss this freeway for real, did ya?).

Once I look around that pavement, I will prolly feel for ever poor commuter doomed to drive his precious car among the anger filled mass of motorists during the work week days. It gets worse every day. Rules of the roads seem to have flown out the window in this DC area. Police can only do so much. But the problems will only increase. It will NOT get better. Just hope your last will and testament is made out before hitting these DC roads. You have been warned.

By the time I finish looking around, one heavy *sigh* will have me point my car north and to home. The snow filled mountains await to soothe my feelings. The warmth of the fire will be a balm. The Christmas tree will shine brighter than I see it now.

God help those left behind in the DC. They're gonna need it. I see Santa bringing an awful lot of coal. *phew* (Hopefully, all for just Bush and Cheney! But then again.. some people need to have coal dumped on them for sure!).

So.. I say a small "Semper FI" to DC. Yer going to need it.

Farewall to my beary friend!

G'day!

I was happy for the day until a friend of mine alerted me that a good old deaf friend of mine of who I knew from NTID, James Sharer, had passed away recently. I was shocked. I only saw him at the last NTID reunion and had hoped to run into him next year.

http://www.bearycleanservices.com/

Click on the link and you'll see how James' life as a window cleaner was. Seeing his picture again was worth to cry about.

I'm not sure on the cause of his death, so I will not write about it. But, hearing of his passing, I can only tell you that he will be sadly missed.

If I hear any more info on James Sharer, I will post an update.

James, you are my friend. I always said that. So, Friends Forever, James, till we meet again!

Update: I have found that it is indeed true that James Sharer has passed on. Details of his funeral, set for this coming Saturday, will soon be posted if I get them. Some of us in the NTID alumni communty are crying our eyes out. He was a wonderful friend to a lot of people.
___________________________________________________________________
update 2: this is coming out of James' family:

James Thomas Sharer On Monday 12-10-07 at 12:55 pm: James T. Sharer Finally was reunited with his brothers and mother. 43,. He was born Sept. 24, 1964 in Dallas to the late Polly Jean Pringle Sharer and Jack B. Sharer. He was a lifelong Dallas resident. Jim attended the National Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, NY. He worked for the Sorenson Company as a regional specialist.

Jim was preceded in death by his mother, Polly Sharer; and by his three brothers, Tommy, Jack Jr., and Robert Sharer. His is survived by his father, Jack B. Sharer of Dallas; uncle, David Sharer of Texarkana; nephew, Eryk Sharer and wife, Michelle; and two great-nephews.

Burial will be at 1:30 P.M. On Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007, in Restland Memorial Park, followed by a Memorial Service at 2:30 P.M. At John Calvin Presbyterian Church, 4151 Royal Lane, Dallas, Tx.

If you can come you are more than welcome if you have questions feel free to e-mail me at reryks@sbcglobal.net
Thanks and much love

ERYK SHARER

tidbitting around.

G'day everyone!

It has become unfortunate for me at work lately. I'm not going to say what's been happening except to say I'm NOT happy. It's been one of those days for me.

My friends have been zapping out jokes on me to make me laugh (which is the best FREE medicine that money can buy) and it's been a balm of a tonic.

The latest one had me cracked up. Just one warning. If you go on a bus like I have, you'd hear the weird things young kids say, even if it's their first swear word: http://bash.org/?12547 . The poor kid will prolly get his first lesson in mouth soap. Yick!

Lately, I'm at home in Williamsport. It's been a balm to be here. Unfortunately, the Christmas decoration competition is going on. I'm behind time and don't have enough time to do it. That is, putting up all the lights and etc. Plan to on December 22nd. There's one guy on another street not far from my house and has decked out his entire house. I was going "whoa, Tim Allen meet Mr Christmas!". Wondering what his poor electric bill will be?

Some people have commented to me that Ridor's site has been down for more than two weeks now. That is, still parked on Dreamhost.com. Some people people "know" what's going on, but won't say it because they have tight lips and closed hands .
I say that's fine. Everyone else in the blogsphere has been happy that Ridor has gone on "vacation" for a while. We breath a lot better without a Deaf shock-jock like Ridor.

Except, for some of us who hear and listen to the radio, Don Imus is back on it. *aaiiieee*. I heard some women are trying to protest him and get him fired again. I say: good luck. Imus is here to stay, just as Howard Stern is.

So, get out there and get your Christmas shopping done. Plenty of time left, but it will soon get crowded with last minute people. Which reminds me, since there's been mall shootings lately, I know the police in my local mall have shown up to patrol more often. According to my source in the mall, the police are decked out in a gear that looks so menacing, one of the employees quipped to me and said "They looked so much like Storm troopers for the death star. Can Darth Vader be close by?". I quipped back and said "You better hope "Lord Cheney" isn't around to hear you say that!!"

Be careful out there! Have a great Semper FI day!

Another Taser INCIDENT!

G'day Everyone!

Just fresh out in the news. A friend of mine, JIM, has found information of another such incident of a Police/deaf/taser incident!
Here is the link: http://www.kwch.com/global/story.asp?s=7446220

I am more surprised and angry that police departments are NOT FOLLOWING the ADA law and police officers should be taking a course to recognize sign language (apart from gang signs) in the deaf community.

Donnell Williams is one lucky man. Wet and wearing only a towel after getting out of a tub when he got tasered. I hope Williams retains a lawyer and seeks compensation from the Wichita, KS police department.

It's time for the deaf community to rise up and start to complain to every police department. Don't taser first and ask questions later. Police departments better start getting their act together. If they don't.. multi-million dollar lawsuits will not only just cripple the police departments, but the city as well.

Semper FI to Jim for his tip!

Strange but TRUE!

G'day everyone!

I'm having some sad moments in my days after a very adventuresome weekend. I can't talk about that yet.

But, I have some well meaning friends who are cheering me up with various *GAGS* found on the 'net and it is making me LAUGHING like crazy.

Here's one I was told to look at:
http://www.switched.com/2007/12/04/typewriter-mistaken-for-bomb-shuts-down-street/?ncid=NWS00010000000001

If you look at that, yer going to wonder how those cops in Florida feel really stupid right now! Me thinks they should have tasered the typewriter for scaring people!

Stupidity lives. As always.

Semper fi to the typewriter! What's next? scare by old dial phones? ppppffftttt!