This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do.

11/5/2008

A Letter to My Children,

I know it will be a few years before I meet you from this moment right now. It will be several more before you will be old enough to read this letter and comprehend the overwhelming feeling that has been blanketing my every movement all day. So before that feeling recedes back into he drudgery of everyday life, I want to take a moment to try and articulate what has just happened to me and to America, and most importantly to your future. Only history will verify what has just transpired in your country, but from where it stands today something amazing is welling.

When you study the great moments in American history you will surly read about Washington and Adams, The Revolution & Address at Gettysburg. You will learn about FDR, & Kennedy and “I have a Dream….” From the pages you turn the stories of Man walking on the Moon and women gaining the right to vote will fill your head with wonder.

Soon you will be assigned the task as most children are to memorize and recite some famous lines from the Declaration of Independence beginning with, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” not until last night when Barack Obama was elected to the Presidency of the United States of America, had that profound line ever been proven true. The most unlikely of candidates, the black son of a Muslim man was elected by an overwhelming amount to the highest office in the land. Americans young and old, black and white, Asian and Hispanic, educated and invigorated all came together to vote for a man who has the potential to become one of our great leaders.

He didn’t win because he was black, he didn’t run as a black man or a white man, he ran with an idea and a vision, he ran with the message of hope and optimism. In the end hope beat out the politics of fear that far too many people subscribed to for far too long.

At this moment in the narrative of America things are really tough. We are facing one of the great financial crises of our history. We are fighting in two wars simultaneously against a faceless enemy. We are faced with deep questions about the direction we as a people want to take the soul of this country. So I voted for not only my future but also yours. Here is my hope for you as I sit here the day after America made history.

I hope for you a country that’s beautiful landscape mirrors the one I have seen. Where rivers flow clean and the air blown in the wind is clean and crisp. Where the snow falls in the winter and the sun still blazes in the summer.

I hope for you a country that for many years has held firm a belief that talking and resolving, meeting and reconciling is a far better option than violence and war. A country that is still the beacon of light in the world, the awe of the onlooker and the sanctuary of the oppressed. I hope for you an America that rushes to the aid of the needy and helps better the lives of the stable.

I hope for you to grow up in a country where the color of your skin or the affection of your heart will never hold you back, no title thrust upon you will ever keep you down, no words will ever seek to hurt you and no narrow mind will ever touch you.

I hope for you a country where an idea can become a reality, where imagination is allowed to flourish and the progression of science is as important as the arts. I wish for you an education that puts you at the forefront of the world, with teachings that will allow you to travel and explore this planet and help those whose life you touch. Where life is cherished but choice is embraced. Where bigotry is a word that you will have to ask me the definition of and racism is a concept you will never understand. I wish for you a country where at long last, everyone is created equal.

All of these things I hope for you and more, and as of last night the possibility for the world I want for you is far more possible than is ever was before. The road to that world will be tough. There will be many defeats and setbacks, but I will never from this moment on stop fighting for it, I will never stop fighting for you. My vote yesterday for hope, for the idea of a better America was only the first step.There are many more that must follow for us to succeed.That first step only proved that there is a place in this world where anything is possible, a place so wonderful that an idea can endure the strain of strife and change. So I will stop writing now and go embrace that place called America and work to keep that idea alive for you.

Your Father,

Shawn Grindle

How many Skills out of the Pop-Mac 100 Skill Every Guy should Know, do I know?

Automotive
1. Handle a blowout - I hope so, but it has never happened.
2. Drive in snow - Thanks Maine
3. Check trouble codes - No.
4. Replace fan belt - With a little research, yes.
5. Wax a car - Of course.
6. Conquer an off-road obstacle - Thanks Maine.
7. Use a stick welder - Nope.
8. Hitch up a trailer - EACA Come on back Jesse, you have plenty of room.
9. Jump start a car - Yes, many many times.


Handling Emergencies
10. Perform the Heimlich - Yup
11. Reverse hypothermia - The two dudes in a sleeping bag naked trick. Thanks Voyage of the Mimi! Episode Shipwrecked!
12. Perform hands-only CPR - My certification ran out but I still remember the process.
13. Escape a sinking car - Yes.


Home
14. Carve a turkey - Like Lecter.
15. Use a sewing machine -Sure, at the intermediate level.
16. Put out a fire - Depends how big.
17. Home brew beer - Thanks Dad.
18. Remove bloodstains from fabric - Thanks OJ
19. Move heavy stuff - Yeah, buy beer - invite friends. Thanks Chad.
20. Grow food - Yes
21. Read an electric meter - Yes
22. Shovel the right way - Thanks Maine
23. Solder wire - Yes
24. Tape drywall - Yes
25. Split firewood -Thanks Maine/Parents slave labor
26. Replace a faucet washer -Yup.
27. Mix concrete -Yes.
28. Paint a straight line -Never tried.
29. Use a French knife - What?
30. Prune bushes and small trees -Yes.
31. Iron a shirt - I iron everything. But I prefer Cousin Tim's method of permanent press.
32. Fix a toilet tank flapper - Yes, I lived in two old apartments.
33. Change a single-pole switch - don't know what that is
34. Fell a tree - Yes.
35. Replace a broken windowpane - Never had to.
36. Set up a ladder, safely - Thanks Bangor Hydro "Don't Touch this" PSA video.
37. Fix a faucet cartridge - No
38. Sweat copper tubing - Thanks Uncle Tom
39. Change a diaper - Yes.
40. Grill with charcoal - Yes, thanks Kevin Daly.
41. Sew a button on a shirt - Yes.
42. Fold a flag -Eagle Scout...enough said.


Medical Myths
43. Treat frostbite - Cool water gradually rising the temperature.
44. Treat a burn - Yes. Thanks Potato gun.
45. Help a seizure victim - Yes
46. Treat a snakebite - Yes
47. Remove a tick - Yes, thanks Alli.


Military Know-How
48. Shine shoes - Yes
49. Make a drum-tight bed - No
50. Drop and give the perfect pushup - Just 1? Yes.


Outdoors
51. Run rapids in a canoe - Yes. Thanks Penobscot River. No thanks East Machias.
52. Hang food in the wild - Rope.
53. Skipper a boat - Yes, "coming about."
54. Shoot straight - Thanks Maine
55. Tackle steep drops on a mountain bike - Sure
56. Escape a rip current - Thanks Whitewater Merit Badge.


Primitive Skills
57. Build a fire in the wilderness - Eagle Scout....
58. Build a shelter - Again
59. Find potable water - Again


Surviving Extremes
60. Floods - I know the basics but I am sure every situation is different.
61. Tornadoes - Bathtub
62. Cold - Go inside
63. Heat - Drink water, find shade.
64. Lightning - Don't golf.


Teach Your Kids
65. Cast a line - Thanks Dad
66. Lend a hand - Do a good turn daily.
67. Change a tire - Thanks Shayna....
68. Throw a spiral - I know how to, but I still can't.
69. Fly a stunt kite - what?
70. Drive a stick shift - Yes
71. Parallel park - Yes
72. Tie a bowline - Yes
73. Tie a necktie - Thanks Dad
74. Whittle - Thanks Cub Scouts
75. Ride a bike - Sure.


Technology
76. Install a graphics card - Thanks Chad.
77. Take the perfect portrait - Thanks 120K Media Production Degree
78. Calibrate HDTV settings - No I can't afford a HDTV
79. Shoot a home movie - See #77
80. Ditch your hard drive - Erase? Yes.


Master Key Workshop Tools
81. Drill driver - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
82. Grease gun - No
83. Coolant hydrometer - Never had one.
84. Socket wrench - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
85. Test light - ?
86. Brick trowel - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
87. Framing hammer - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
88. Wood chisel - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
89. Spade bit - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
90. Circular saw - Thanks Dad/Bellows Woodworks
91. Sledge hammer - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
92. Hacksaw - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
93. Torque wrench - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
94. Air wrench - No
95. Infrared thermometer - Too hi-tech for our family.
96. Sand blaster - Again too hi-tech
97. Crosscut saw - Uhhh
98. Hand plane - Thanks Woodshop and Dad & Grandfathers & handy Uncles
99. Multimeter - ?
100. Feeler gauges - ?
Via Popular Mechanics


I am happy to say I know probably 90% of the skills needed to be a MAN. Thanks Popular Mechanics, I feel great about myself. Now I will go home drink a 6 pack (Thanks Sarah Palin & all the Joe Six-packs all over America) watch some football and bask in my manliness.

I have always prided myself in being an amateur political junkie, one of my favorite pastimes, much to my girlfriends chagrin is to devour the Sunday morning news shows and the primetime talking heads. While most of them are probably self riotous and slanted as all hell, I love my Chris Matthews, Tim Russert and George Stephanopoulos types. It all really began with my unnatural interest in the news at a young age, with my devotion to Tom Brokaw, even to today if I could I would take on a Midwestern accent and work my way up the NBC news ladder to the seat at the top, but that is and always was just a dream of a child who never wanted to be an astronaut.

My point is that things are heating up in the 08 election and my interest is starting to simmer as well. I haven’t watched many of the, what it is now 30, democratic debates, but I have seen the highlights and sound bytes. Recently in an Iowa debate the other candidates took turns lambasting Barack Obama, my early choice for candidate. I understand that they are afraid of him, what politician wouldn’t be, he’s dangerous. Dangerous, you say? Think about it Washington is full of incest, my daddy got me this job, and I got my cousin a job that once belonged to this senators daughter who slept with this lobbyist and he is married to this senators chief of staff, and she once worked for the law firm that handles the case of the ex presidents cheating scandal and the head of that firm is married to the AG’s second hand man etc. etc. The names of Washington are archaic and getting rapidly obsolete in this political world. Obama is a fresh new face who is threatening to take away the job security of many of DC’s pillars, the Roves, the Cheney’s, all of the Regan/Bush era republicans and lobbyist who have made millions off that horrible era in politics. It’s no wonder they are all pissing their pants, their livelihood of hosing American is almost at an end. Well, we can hope that it is anyways. And that goes for the fossils in the democratic camp who have shriveled up into minds that might as well be in a jar on a shelf somewhere at the rate they are helping change this country into what it has/d the potential to be.

The question of Obama’s work experience to me is a sad attempt to discredit someone with huge potential to change the face of American politics. Think about how much experience W had in 2000 and over half, or not quite half depending on how you argue it, of America voted for him. How much world experience did Regan have? It is apparent that Obama has the passion and the panache to be a leader so what would be so wrong to give him a chance? I am speaking as a 25 year old kid her, who has a strong and growing stronger distaste for elected officials. It is time for a change a new guard to come into Washington and make a difference. I love my parents and my grandparents, but the elders of the country really need to realize that the decision that were make in the middle of this past century have done more harm than good in the world, and it is starting to affect my generation severely. Melting glaciers, tornadoes in NYC, debt up the wazoo and overall an unacceptably poor quality of life for a majority of American. It is time for a change, the young are the future of this country and we need a break for Christ sake. You had your turn, don’t be afraid we can’t fuck things up any more that you have.

So here we are bubba, smack in the middle of Manhattan at long last. The planning really was the worst part, the anxiety of the move the logistics were what sent me over the edge on several occasions. Not to mention being immersed in the second run of Gathering Shells in the middle of the whole goddamn process. But alas we are here, and settling into our Hobbit Hole on the upper east side, the family came down for the day to help us move into the place and with their help it went rather smoothly. The only offense was the damn heat, but welcome to New York where when it's hot you feel like fleeing into the hills. Due to the humidity and the smell of urine and dying dreams.

We are here, the commute to work has become nothing more than a 40min train ride each way, and with that I can read, people watch and catch up on the idiocy of this nations foreign policy long before I get to work to long onto my computer. It's swell right?

The unpacking will be a process, finding places for everything to fit, and depleting our stock of useless shit that we held onto for no reason other than the gluttony for a horde of possessions for comfort and familiarity, but this is New York and nothing to familiar it's all alien, but it is all beautiful, yes bubba we will like it here, our youth is back in full force and we have nothing but possibility ahead of us.

My recation, reflections on this morning after......

For me The Sopranos has always been first and foremost, a family drama. The American family, yes at many times not the typical American family but one with a dream where the parents give the children a better life than their parents gave them. That leads to the second major theme of the series IMO, the American dream. Last weeks episode aptly named, The Blue Comet, after a train from the heyday of America that brought as the model store owner puts it, A better class of People, to Atlantic city. David Chase like Tony Soprano yearns for the days when America was being built, days that his father and Uncle Jr shared. This theme was apparent in so many instances this season, Tony hesitant to sell the poultry store a fixture of the old neighborhood, to make way for yet more urban sprawl, Tony never watching anything but old movies and the history channel, the last rotary phone on the wall in Carmela's new spec house on the shore. Has America seen the last of it's glory, are we losing our identity more rapidly than we would like to admit?

This weeks episode was named, Made In America. No doubt a pun on being a made man in America today, but also a metaphor of who we the audience, the family, the characters are. A product of those who came before us. Our dreadful mothers, out loving uncles, our children our friends. We all wanted to see the series end with some sort of resolution, but why should we be granted that, why do we yearn to be spoon fed with convince? It's who we are, it's our society today.

The series ends with a juggle of the bells on the door or an American fast food joint, where an American family sits down for a family dinner. Tony, Carm and the kids could be anyone, they at that final moment are just another family. BUT, Tony will forever be looking up at the sound of the door opening, he will always be on the run, looking over his shoulder, unsure of his decisions, unsure of who is coming, or not coming for him. That is his fate, that is his punishment, and because of the terror filled world, and our leaders like Blair and Bush, if now also our fate. We are being filled with a constant sense of tension, of unease in the affairs of the world. Where will the next terrorist attack be, is my Muslim neighbor a threat, or just as Agent Harris says, "A pistachio salesmen." We are all Tony.

But like the songs said, "Don't stop. Don't stop believing." Not in your family, not in the American dream. But always look at who is coming....

Sorry it has been so long since my last update, I was boycotting the blogger to "new blogger" transition for awhile. So a lot has happened in life since the beginning of the year, I for one did complete the 5K in record setting time, a PR anyways, which was not hard since that the race was the first time in my life I ran 3.2 miles. 32:39 (<---- My Race Time) 10:31K splits, all in all not to bad for 3 months of training. I felt really good for most of the race I hit the wall on one of the bigger hills on the course at about mile 2 but I toughed it out and finished. I think I could have broken the 30min mark if not for Bellows buying me one too many beers the night before. Races and St. Patrick's Day celebrating don't mix too well. So from here I am continuing on a light training schedule maybe a late May 5K or 10K somewhere, we'll see. My real and still in my heart tangible goal is to run in the MDI Marathon in the fall. I couldn't think of a better place in the world to run my first marathon.

The other exciting news it that Alli has been accepted to the graduate program at NYU, so we will be making the move down to the 5 boroughs on Aug 1st. So for all my friends in the NYC area we will have a moving in party to celebrate. It will be a fun and fullfilling move, LJ and Jack are coming along too to take the city head on.

There has been a lot in the news recently that I would normally have commented on but have not. I won't look back and comment on the Imus issue except to say that I have been listening to him since I was in middle school and if not for him I would not be nearly as into the news and politics as I am, he is a good guy who slipped up but "he who cast the first stone" as the story goes Mr. Sharpton, I can't think of a more disgraceful self indulgent person in this country. Imus will always have my support and my thanks for helping turn me onto the world or important issues and causes in the world today.

For the first time ever in my life I am keeping my New Years resolution. After watching the NYC marathon whilst sitting at my desk at work, sedentary for the 5th hour in a row, my genetically given belly just starting to scrape the desk edge in front of me, I said to myself, I can do that. I returned home and told Alli and Lou that I was going to train in the coming months to run a 5k by May 1st my birthday, and perhaps a marathon in the late fall somewhere. I am by no means overweight, but I cold bare to lose 10-15 pounds and get back in the shape I was while in high school. So I found a running plan called couch (read: office chair all day) to 5k in 9 weeks. Perfect! This was my gradual return to the world of physical fitness.

Currently I am on week three, 20 min of running, three days a week, during each workout there is 3 min of running and 3 min of fast walking. This allows my body to acclimate to the strain of the pavement that it has for 5 years become unused to. There are good days and some bad days but I find myself waiting urgently to get home to lace up my sneakers and head out. Last night for example was just such a night. It was snowing and 23 degrees outside, but I could not wait to get out there and get running. I think I may have passed the thin line between running being a work, to running being a necessity, and that is a very crucial and exciting line to cross over. I love the peace of running at 9pm in the dark and cold, it gives me a feeling of mild superiority over all of the suckers who are just sitting watching tv. It is just me outside in the still of nature running to complete a goal. I think i might be driven.

So my first 5k will come on March 17th in Somersville Mass. My sister will run with me, she ran in this St. Paddy's day race last year and had a blast. So in just a month and a half I will hit goal/resolution #1 and to me that is pretty cool.

I didn't disappear if you thought I did. I don't really have any excuse for being absent from this platform for 6 months. I don't know if my desire to write and or blog was there for quite some time, well until now actually. I haven't felt very creative of late, that may have something to do with the monotony of my job and the rut I have found myself in for the past few weeks (the lull is concerning my job and commute only, my other self if very happy with the renaissance that is occurring right now). It is not that I am unhappy, I don't think that I was for long amounts of time in the past half year. Sure the occasional blue day or week hit me, but I have never been one to drag a down mood out for long amounts of time, I just never saw the point. As I ramble my point is that, I don't know the reason why I haven't posted in so long. But I am back for who knows howl ong and who knows at what frequency, but I'm back and thats that.

I don't have the energy right now to give you all a day by day or even month by month synopsis of the past 6 months so the highlights include days spend at camp in the summer, the cool days of fall, learning from the guys at the VA, talking and visiting with old friends and new alike. And of course the Dem's taking back the senate after a long hiatus. Let's hope they can get something done in the next few years.

So it is 2007 and as I have told those closest to me the air is right for a good year, but who really knows about these things. I hope to make a career move in the next 4-6 months maybe up in this company or outside the walls of the archive. I want to keep my resolution to run a 5k by March 17th and a marathon by the late fall. I want to save money and have something set aside in case of an emergency. I want to feel creative again like I was when I was 19. I don't want my brain to be on a constant rotational scan of fuzzy static like it too often seems to be. I want to continue to learn and investigate the art of love with Allison. I want to visit someplace I never thought of going. I want to breath and smile and be content in life, it is not that I wasn't this past year, it's just I want to do it better in 07.

Do you think this little girl was the one who kidnapped those two Israeli soldiers? She was one of the many who has paid the price for it.




"Our revenge will be the laughter of ourchildren."
Bobby Sands

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.