Food, flames and fun at Arigato Japanese Steakhouse

Last night Lisa and I joined my parents and my sister Anita for dinner at Arigato Japanese Steakhouse in Greensboro, to celebrate Anita's birthday. This was the second time we've been to Arigato and whenever we've gone there, we've beheld quite a show. Chef Nawh (shown at left during one of the evening's more spectacular moments) thrilled us not only with his outstanding cooking, but with his quick wit and displays of culinary acrobatics. The theatricality of the chefs is one of the things that I've come to look for most whenever I'm gauging a Japanese steakhouse, and at Arigato they do not disappoint. Indeed, I think that Arigato's chefs are among the most colorful in the entire area. That alone is worth a visit.

And the food is outstanding, too! Last night I ordered chicken, with all three kinds of sauce - white, mustard and ginger - to sample from. The first time I was at Arigato I ordered well-done steak. They are both to be recommended. But be warned: at Arigato they really pile on the food! In two times going there I haven't seen anyone who actually consumed everything on their plate. They give you lots of main entrée, lots of rice, lots of other vegetables... so much food that I don't think the waiter even bothered to ask us if we wanted boxes to take all this stuff home, he just brought them straight out (the service is terrific too).

If there's one thing that I would love to see the good folks at Arigato do that could be an improvement, it would be that they should offer some kind of dessert. There's one dish in particular that I've seen a lot of Japanese steakhouses feature for dessert, that is this bananas and cinnamon concoction and it's really tasty. I'm not suggesting that Arigato go that particular route for dessert, but something along those lines would be a wonderful way to wrap-up such a nice meal.

Arigato Japanese Steakhouse is located at 1200 S. Holden Road in Greensboro (practically smack at the midpoint between Holden's intersections with High Point Road and Wendover Avenue, if that helps any).

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TRANSFORMERS score CD news: ScoreNotes.com review, Amazon and store availability, and update on the signed copy eBay auction

There's not nearly as much news about Transformers: The Score as I wish I could relay to y'all tonight. But here 'tis...

First, word is that Warner Records is still "scrambling" to distribute the score CD. Someone told me that this past week was something of "a shock" regarding demand for this album.

Amazon is still reflecting the shortage. Earlier on Friday morning the site said that it would again be in stock on October 20th. Right now it's saying that the product "Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks" although some who ordered the CD this past week said on Friday that they received e-mails from Amazon stating that their orders are either about to ship or are already on their way. As of this writing according to Amazon's product page for Transformers: The Score it is holding strong at #35 in music sales and #4 in movie soundtracks. That category, for some reason or another, also includes the soundtracks for Halo 3 and Twin Peaks Season 2, and The Best of the Three Tenors(?!?).

None of the Best Buy stores within a hundred-mile radius have the score CD in stock. Ditto for Circuit City. I went to the Wal-Mart Supercenters in both Reidsville and Eden on Thursday night. At each location there was probably a dozen copies of the soundtrack to Ken Burns's new documentary The War, as well as the soundtrack from Tyler Perry's latest film Why Did I Get Married?... but not a sign anywhere of Transformers: The Score. However at the Eden Wal-Mart I wound up getting some new Star Wars figures: Darth Malak, the Animated Debut version of Boba Fett, and the Ralph McQuarrie Concept of the Starkiller Hero (AKA "Luke Skywalker is a girl!"). But alas: no Transformers score CD! And much to Lisa's chagrin, Friday afternoon I found the McQuarrie Concept figure of Darth Vader: I'm now forbidden from bringing any more Star Wars figures into the house for the rest of the month :-P

But anyhoo, I still can't find the CD either. So my self-imposed fast - that I will not listen to Transformers: The Score until I can purchase two copies at some store's cash register - is still in effect. That's more than 2 days now that I haven't played the soundtrack at all: not a single note from the thing. And I'm dying to have it playing on our stereo again.

But if most people can't listen to this album, then I can't either. Not from CD or an MP3 player, I will not enjoy it... 'Til all have one!

ScoreNotes.com has a great review of Transformers: The Score. It gives the album an 8 out of 10.

Finally, in my review of Transformers: The Score it was announced that we had a copy of this CD signed by composer Steve Jablonsky, and that it would soon be auctioned on eBay, with 100% of the proceeds going to support something relating to music education. And there was something very particular that it was always intended that this would be going to help with.

A few days ago I was told that the needs of this situation had been provided for and that we didn't have to worry about it any more.

Except that we still have this copy of Transformers: The Score signed by Steve Jablonsky, that was always meant to help with music education. And there's no way that I can retreat from that commitment. Somehow, we need to auction this CD so that it honors not just the spirit of the original intended purpose but also Mr. Jablonsky, who we are very thankful that he lent his support in this matter.

I'm still trying to figure some things out (and there are a few ideas that I'm looking into) but I can absolutely promise you, that we will have the eBay auction for this signed copy of the Transformers: The Score CD and that it will be soon. As soon as can be managed. And that every penny from this sale will go toward music education in some worthwhile capacity. It matters to me tremendously that this all be above-the-board and subject to scrutiny.

That's been the biggest thing worrying me about Transformers: The Score the past several days, truth be known. Lord willing, we will be able to move forward with this very quickly.

And hopefully sometime early next week I will have some concrete word about the distribution problems especially for y'all in Canada and elsewhere :-)

'Til next time...

"Transform and roll out... them CDs!!!"

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Interview with Jesse Brown on CBC Radio One's SEARCH ENGINE about the Viacom/YouTube mess

Search Engine hosted by Jesse Brown is a show on CBC Radio One ("CBC" being the Canadian Broadcasting Company). It's about issues pertaining to the Internet and it's heard by our good friends all across the Great White North. Last week Jesse phoned all the way down here to Reidsville, North Carolina and interviewed me about my recent situation with Viacom and the supposed "copyright infringement" on YouTube involving my first school board commercial. The segment is running on this week's installment of Search Engine and you can listen to it as an MP3 podcast here.

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Poignant report by Chad Austin on the 2007 Chicago Marathon

You may have heard about the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon that took place this past weekend. Unfortunately the race made very sad news because of the record-high temperature that resulted in the death of one runner and about 300 others having to be hospitalized for heat-related illnesses. Conditions became so severe that the marathon was ultimately canceled before everyone had a chance to finish.

My life-long friend Chad Austin was one of the participants. He was able to complete the race, but not before becoming an eyewitness to some of the heartbreak that happened during what should have been a triumphant event...

After plodding along for the final six miles, I finally turned the last corner and with the finish line in sight I heard a firefighter or police officer yelling to the runners, urging them to walk, saying "The race has been cancelled." What did that mean, I wondered? Did I hear him right? Well, stubbornly I told myself I didn't run 26 miles to walk the final two-tenths. That's if you consider the pace I was going at that point actually running. So I decided to finish what I started and run the rest of the way in. And making that final turn is when I saw my first runner collapsed on the ground. Medics were tending to him, giving him water.

Click here for the full report that Chad filed on his blog about this year's Chicago Marathon.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Chad Schieber and to the hundreds who were injured during this year's marathon.

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Countdown clock to LOST Season 4

Are you a fellow Lost fanatic for whom February 2008 just can't get here fast enough? Here's something to help you keep track of how long it will be before our beloved mythology returns: the "Countdown to the Next New Lost Episode"!

Notice that I've also embedded it in the left-hand column. If you want this for your own blog, crash down here! Thanks to Adam Feldman for the great find (and congratulations to Adam and his wife on the very-soon arrival of their first baby!).

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TRANSFORMERS 2 shaping up fast and my vow regarding TRANSFORMERS: THE SCORE

Tonight I'm still getting plenty of e-mails from folks telling me their tales of woe regarding their not being able to find Transformers: The Score anywhere.

How bad is this? Enough that I'm now feeling some regret at having some copies of the CD here, knowing that most people aren't getting it.

So here's my solemn vow, as an Eagle Scout...

Being that I cannot in good conscience listen to Transformers: The Score and feel right about that after knowing that most people cannot purchase it at all, I promise to no longer listen to Transformers: The Score until I have bought two copies of this CD at a traditional retail outlet. That will be an assurance to me that the CD is finally getting the distribution that it deserves.

Hey, I held off on kissing Lisa until our wedding ceremony. Abstaining from the Transformers score is an easy thing to do after that :-P

Here's hoping and praying that we'll get some official word about the score CD situation soon. In the meantime, there is some good news regarding Transformers 2 or whatever it's title will be:

- Steven Spielberg says that the story for Transformers 2 will be finished within the next two weeks and that if the writer's strike doesn't happen in November then production should begin "pretty quickly".

- Spielberg also says that a full-fledged script may be ready within a month and that Shia Le Beouf is on board for "multiple" sequels.

- Digital pre-visualizations are already well underway! Some of this includes designs that weren't used in the first film... which may be a good sign for those Transformers fans who wanted (but didn't get) to see Arcee: maybe in Part 2 they'll have her at last.

And yeah, I've been following some of the story about the "treatment" that may or may not have been generated somewhere among The Powers That Be (mash down here for an intriguing comment by the admin of Michael Bay's forums). Don't really think we should be reading too much into it right now, 'cuz this early on in a movie's planning stages there's all kinds of ideas and crazy notions that get jotted down, then rejected, sometimes picked up again and almost invariably leading to permutations far different than how they were originally conceived. In the very early drafts of George Lucas's "The Star Wars" there was a guy named Darth Vader but he was a pretty minor character, so anything can still happen.

Oh yeah, only five more days until Transformers is out on DVD, too! :-)

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Final poster for I AM LEGEND

Courtesy of Ain't It Cool News, here is the final theatrical poster for I Am Legend, which is now coming out in December...

I sooooo hope they've done this one right. I Am Legend is one of my all-time favorite horror stories. Unfortunately no film adaptation has really come close to nailing the loneliness and desperation of the original novel. Not even The Omega Man with Charlton Heston, which I've always loved ('specially that groovy 70s "get funky with the apocalypse" jive soundtrack by Ron Grainer). Am definitely looking forward to this, just to see what it's like.

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TRANSFORMERS score CD update: "'Till All Have One!"

Just because yesterday was the release date, doesn't mean that the struggle is over with. We won't stop demanding Transformers: The Score ...

Bigtime props to Mike Halverson for coming up with that awesome line!

(It's a paraphrase of the '"Til all are one!" final quote from the 1986 animated Transformers movie, in case ya didn't know :-)

Now, on to serious business regarding the problems still plaguing the release of the score CD...

Am still trying to get hold of someone at Warner Records about this, especially the Canadian distribution issue. It may take another day or so before I can come back with something definitive on that though, but will keep working on it. Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow 'cuz I hope to be able then to talk with someone who can provide some real skinny about what's going down.

Now about the orders placed through Amazon.com, which there have been all kinds of stories coming in about folks now getting e-mails from Amazon stating that their orders will be delayed. A source has said that "It's almost impossible!" right now to get Transformers: The Score shipped immediately from them because Amazon is running extremely low on stock. It is now being considered a "top priority" by Amazon to get more CDs sent to their warehouse (and Amazon is asking for "thousands!").

Unfortunately this means that anyone now ordering from Amazon will probably have to wait 1-3 weeks before their CD arrives!

Clearly, the demand for this was very unexpected. By everyone.

I am still looking for a couple of copies in the stores too, and went all over Greensboro (the biggest town around here) today and it's nowhere to be found. A dude in High Point has said he went looking for it to, but to no avail. Have also heard that Burlington is a complete bust.

Nothing much else to say at this point except...

"Transform and roll out... them CDs!!!" :-)

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Universal turning LAND OF THE LOST into a comedy starring Will Ferrell?!

This sucks donkeys balls to no end.

Yeah you read that right: I did dare to use my personal "worst epithet ever" for this. Because everything about this project (with the possible exception of Will Ferrell which I'll get to later) screams out "wrong" in every way possible.

I was 5 years old and in kindergarten when WFMY out of Greensboro started showing Land of the Lost on weekday afternoons at 3:30. Land of the Lost, even before I ever saw a Star Wars movie, was my first serious exposure to what I would come to appreciate as epic storytelling within a broad mythology. The weird landscape, the dinosaurs, the Sleestaks, the Lost City, the Pylons, the Civil War soldier, the ape dudes, the spaceship... and Rick Marshall and his two kids trying to get home: I ate it all up and wanted more. Here's the first season's opening title sequence if you've never seen it before...

Then they had to show the Season 3 episodes where Rick left and Uncle Jack showed up. By that time I was 6 years old and had realized, before the term had ever been coined, that Land of the Lost had "jumped the shark". Let's not even talk about the early Nineties remake.

Ain't It Cool News was where I first heard that Universal is about to spend $100 million dollars on a big-screen Land of the Lost feature starring Will Ferrell.

Universal's Land of the Lost is being billed as "an event comedy".

Ummmm... 'scuse me?

Land of the Lost is not a comedy. No doubt that there were some light-hearted moments in the original show, but for a children's series it was always dark and foreboding. What ABC's Lost is today, is what Land of the Lost was back then. And in the hands of people who understand Land of the Lost and "get" the whole concept, this could turn into a fantastic project. I think that Will Ferrell could do a fine job with this: it has the potential to move him out of the perception that he's mainly a comedy actor, if the material is treated seriously. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

Can't Sid and Marty Krofft maintain some creative control over this? The way things are going we can look forward to Chris Rock and Adam Sandler in the Far Out Space Nuts movie any day now.

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TRANSFORMERS Score CD Roundup: "Good first day!" at Warners but distribution problems plague Canada and elsewhere

Okay, let's try to make sense of this...

Earlier today reports came in that Transformers: The Score was being found at a number of stores across the United States. I'm wondering how many copies those places got though 'cuz I've been asking these same folks who wrote in then and they all said that they got the last or next-to-last copy on the shelves. So some went out. But were they enough?

Apparently not 'cuz the vast majority of people who've written me are saying that they can not find the CD anywhere where they live. Count me among those 'cuz I haven't been able to find it either. I'm going to Greensboro tomorrow (the "big city" south of us here in Reidsville) and will be checking out Best Buy, Target and other stores, to see if it turns up there.

Like I said before, I'm not going to be 100% satisfied until I see the CD on the shelves with my own two eyes, and can put a couple o' copies down on the counter at the cash register. This Knight's crusade is still on: everybody needs to be able to get the score.

Unfortunately, I am hearing nothing but bad news from our friends in Canada: nobody there at all has been able to find it. Or at least nobody in Canada who has either written in here or on any of the Transformers-related forums has reported being able to find the score. Oddly enough, I'm hearing that the CD is on sale in Europe.

I intend to contact Warner Bros. Records tomorrow to ask about this. And if they can tell me what might be going on with Canadian distribution, I'll pass that along to y'all.

In spite of this, I am hearing from a source at Warner Records that "we had a good first day!" regarding sales of Transformers: The Score. "The results are better than we imagined: the pre-orders which have been placed all over the world just shipped out today, and web stores like Amazon are asking for more and more CDs!" The source later added that these outlets "can't handle the large demand for score CDs of Transformers."

Since Amazon was mentioned, according to its product page on Amazon Transformers: The Score is currently #30 on the music sales rank and is #3 on the movie soundtracks, after High School Musical 2 at #1 and then Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus.

I am already hearing that the unexpectedly high sales may bode well for the chances of a 2-disc edition of the soundtrack.

And that's basically it right now for the first day of this album's release: some folks are getting it, but most aren't and that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Pray that the morrow brings better news :-)

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TRANSFORMERS score CD is selling out on first day!

Transformer World 2005 is hosting multiple reports that Transformers: The Score, which went on sale today, is selling out all over the place.

Among the accounts...

- "Checked three stores today. Best Buy - Got in several copies, set them out before opening, sold out in less than an hour. This from a hardcore Transformers fan who works there. She didn't even get her copy, as they were gone before she got to work. Target - They aren't even in their computers according to the cat I talked to. Not sure if that's legit or not. FYE - Got in several copies, sold out before eleven (when I was there)."

- "If you haven't yet, try the "mega-bookstores". Found the last copy at a local Borders. Didn't check Barnes and Noble or a Books-A-Million, but I assume they might be carrying it. At the very least, check a Borders if you have one nearby. Search high and low near the soundtracks section. My copy was actually in the Latin music selection next to it."

- "I think best buy is the only retailer that actually got it in. I called one of the ones in the area and got them to hold their final copy"

Meanwhile I'm hearing from a few of our friends north of the border (no not Virginia... I'm talking Canada!) who are having especially big problems finding the score there. Here's hoping that this CD can get some good distribution going 'cuz it's apparently in considerable demand (yah as if we didn't know that people really wanted this thing ;-).

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Marco van Bergen's review of TRANSFORMERS: THE SCORE

Here is Marco van Bergen's review of Transformers: The Score, which in some ways is considerably better than my own 'cuz Marco gets into a lot of detailed analysis of the score as a technical achievement. Well worth checking out if you've a good mind (and ear) with music appreciation and terminology :-)

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TRANSFORMERS: THE SCORE is on sale TODAY!

Just a friendly reminder that today, October 9th 2007, is the day that Transformers: The Score, the CD of Steve Jablonsky's beautiful orchestral soundtrack from the movie Transformers, goes on sale.

I had hoped to have photos of it on the sales rack, but the Wal-Mart here in Reidsville doesn't have it yet (they can be slow in putting new music and DVDs out anyway). But some reports have come in from Georgia, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Texas that the CD has been spotted at various Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target and Fye stores. So, it's out there. And it's also on sale via iTunes as a digital download. I'm still hoping that everyone will buy the physical CD though 'cuz it's a wonderful thing to hold and behold.

I won't be completely satisfied until I see it with my own two eyes and purchase a couple and see them ring up on the register. But if folks are able to get it now, then I'm a happy man :-)

THANK YOU, all of you, who have worked over the past few months by signing the petition and getting the word out that this score album was not only desired, but that we wanted a lot of care and attention to be given it. Here's my review of the soundtrack from a few days ago and just as I did then, I can attest that this CD is everything we hoped it would be.

Thank you also, to the good folks at Warner Bros. Records, who published this score and went all-out in its production. You guys did a great job. And I very much hope that you will pay attention to the sales figures for this CD and determine that it warrants that 2-disc set we have heard might be coming.

Thanks to Michael Bay and his crew for making such a kick-butt movie for this music to accompany!

Most of all, a most heartfelt thank you to Steve Jablonsky, and to his fellow musicians, for giving us this remarkable score. More than anyone else, I sincerely believe that you captured and presented the spirit and essence of the Transformers, in a way that hasn't been done in the entire 23-year history of the franchise. The score for the Transformers movie, more than you might realize, really did bring about a much-needed evolution for these characters: it helped to define and even re-define them, and grow into their own at long last. And even on its own it is an amazingly beautiful, epic and at times haunting score.

I can't wait to see what you have in store for Transformers 2.

Anyway, today is finally the day, and y'all should be able to buy Transformers: The Score most anywhere. What are you waiting for?! Go get it!! Do it now now now!!!

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So what do I believe about law enforcement?

Earlier today I received an e-mail from a fella named John, who is a law enforcement officer in a major metropolitan area. John has been a supporter of the Transformers score (out today!) but he mainly wrote to share some concerns he had with things I've written here lately about law officers abusing their power.

It was a very good letter that he wrote me. And I absolutely listened to him and took his words to heart. And it made me realize that maybe I haven't adequately shared my beliefs regarding law enforcement. So I wrote back to him, explaining more about my position. And I thought that maybe it would be well if I shared those thoughts here, also.

So here's my reply to John:

Please understand that at no time have I wanted to imply that I have "something against" law officers, because I don't. There are several who are very good friends of mine. Are family, even. I've never known any of them to have anything but a sober mind toward their profession. In that respect this entire county has been blessed: we really do seem to have the kind of police and sheriff's office personnel who hearken back to Andy and Barney of Mayberry: "peace officers", not "law enforcement officers", in that they try to create peace rather than impose it.

The stance that I write from is based on a long study of human history in general and human nature in particular. The biggest observation I have made is that given power and the authority to use it, all of us - absent the humility that comes with a never-ceasing seeking and chasing after God and fully understanding our place before Him - *will* abuse that power. I do believe we need law officers in our society. But just as they stand to counter the people being overwhelmed by a sense of power, so too do they require a counter... as does everything regarding our government.

It's a very delicate balance between too much power given individuals, and too much power given the government. One way leads to utter chaos, the other leads to imposed order. Anarchy or a statist government. I'd rather we not have either.

So a measure of constant vigilance is called for on the part of all individuals in a society: citizens and government alike.

This goes back to something that you referenced: Romans 13. Yes, we are to respect the authority of government. But here's the question: WHO exactly is in authority in America? Because we have two documents written by the Founding Fathers - the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - which clearly delineate that all government and authority in the United States derive from the people. It is not government for sake of government, but government of the people, by the people and for the people. If we believe that government is an authority unto itself and that dictates that authority and wields power on its own terms, then we have already become something far different than what the Founders envisioned and intended.

By the way, here's an interesting historical note: "the sword" that Paul writes about in verse 4 of that chapter was not something that Roman soldiers used in the line of duty like a pistol or a taser. It was actually a fairly small sword that all soldiers charged with keeping the peace were issued as a visible indication of their job: more like a badge than a serious weapon. These were rarely, if ever, actually used. But from these came the tradition that eventually gave you the badge that you wear in the line of duty.

Where do law officers fit in all of this?

If the people cannot live in the understanding that there is something above them (as with your beliefs, I hold that this is God) then it does fall to government to establish that, however inadequately it can do so. But that's still better than doing nothing at all. Law officers are a material, tangible reminder of something higher than man and if need be, they work to actively establish that fact. Along with not only the rest of our judicial system but everything of government that we have in our society, from the voting booth on up to the White House.

I think that at their best, law officers do remind is that this is still a government of our own making, and that each of us has a role in that, whether paid or unpaid. Police and sheriff's deputies have taken this a step further: it's not just a matter of personal responsibility but something that they have chosen to make a full-time profession of, and this is quite admirable. In a perfect society, every citizen would be just as serious about upholding the rule of law.

It's the rule of man that worries me though. And I've read too much of history to know what happens when man becomes too inebriated with power and authority.

John, I must run for now but I do thank you for taking the time to write to me about your concerns. Please know that I *have* taken what you have written to heart. And please know that at no time have I meant to encourage harm or anything other than respect to your and your fellows in your profession. I'm just trying to do right by *everyone* - law officers and citizens alike - per the big picture... 'cuz I'd rather like to have a country still worth passing down to my own children someday.

Remember folks: this government doesn't belong to itself. It belongs to you. And this country is what you choose to make of it, whether by your action or your apathy. I'd rather we take that responsibility seriously, so that good men and women like John who do serve in law enforcement (or as "peace officers" as I prefer to call them) won't have to shoulder that burden any more than they really should have to.

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NOT AGAIN! School uniforms come up at tonight's Board of Education meeting (and I try to get tasered!)

After everything that happened at the July meeting, you would think that Standard Mode Of Dress ("SMOD") aka school uniforms would not come up again anytime soon at the Rockingham County Board of Education. Or ever again for that matter.

Well, tonight it did.

Take a wild guess who brought it up.

Now to be fair, Ron Price did not outright suggest putting the SMOD issue back up for discussion as something to be immediately implemented (all hell would have broken loose on the far opposite side of the table if he had tried to). But the mere fact that Price spoke at length about wanting to have policies and guidelines already in place and ready for SMOD "in case" it is ever implemented, is troubling enough. I also happened to notice that Price spoke about SMOD as if it was something that the administrators and faculties of schools should decide upon, without any reference at all to soliciting input from the parents as to whether or not they and their children want uniforms.

Someone else told me during the meeting that it sure sounded like Price is trying to impose SMOD somewhere, that he's laying the groundwork down for it at least.

Talk about beating a dead horse!

In other Board of Education items, Gene Saunders - the drama teacher at Rockingham County Senior High and a longtime leader in area theatre - addressed the board about a new drama guild for high school students throughout the county that is now forming up. Saunders said that the plan right now is to have everything ready so that this summer the guild's first production will be Disney's High School Musical, which would no doubt be a big hit with the kids. The issue of where the wrestling team at Rockingham County Senior High also came up, 'cuz there's not any real room for them to practice on their own and it's a hassle - and a lot of wear and tear - to keep unrolling out the mats every afternoon. The biggest concern is not just room but having it stay warm over the winter without incurring too big a heating cost.

Oh yeah, and I tried my darndest to get tasered tonight! Superintendent Dr. Rodney Shotwell brought up the issue of tasers in high school and Rockingham County Sheriff's Deputy Clarence Cheshire gave a great impromptu discussion of tasers, how they work etc. I think it was board member Steve Smith who jovially asked for a demonstration and while everyone was laughing I spoke out "Hey Steve, I'll do it!" Steve told everyone "Hey we've got a volunteer!" and I think it must have horrified some folks especially board chair Elaine McCollum 'cuz she knows that I'd have done it, too! Unfortunately because of legal liabilities etc. Deputy Cheshire wasn't allowed to use the taser on me as a demonstration. But hey, I was willing to do it! I was hoping that Cheshire - who's a really good fella - would zap me so that I could start screaming "DON'T TASER ME BRO!" Woulda made for a great write-up in tomorrow's Reidsville Review :-P

All things considered, it was one of the quieter Bored meetings that I've been too.

But let the word go out to my brothers and sisters in the cause: beware and be aware, that we may have to fight this all over again...

"There is one SMOD, and Ron Price is its prophet!

P.O.T.S.M.O.D. ACKBAR!!!"

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Real-life X-Wing Fighter goes down in a blaze of glory

Remember the story a week ago about the X-Wing Fighter from Star Wars, that was an almost life-sized replica built by Polecat Aerospace? Well, a few days ago they actually launched the thing!

So how did it do? The X-Wing got off the launch pad and remained intact for about 3 seconds of flight before disintegrating spectacularly over the California desert.

Mash down here to watch 2 videos of the carnage. In spite of the destruction, this was still an awesome effort by the Polecat guys and it sounds like everyone had a great time!

EDIT 3:01 pm EST: Here's a YouTube video of the X-Wing taking flight...

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My upcoming sabbatical

Sometime soon I'm going to take a break from blogging. Maybe a long one.

Yeah, I've walked away from the blog before (like when I gave up blogging for Lent last year). But this time it's going to be different. I'll no doubt do the Christmas post that's become tradition for this site, but other than that - and unless something really serious happens - this is going to be a real sabbatical with no defined end, until I feel like I'm ready to return.

For over a year now I've been involved in one long continuous series of struggles. Some of those I've written about here, like the school board race. And giving hell to unscrupulous government officials and fighting schemes to impose school uniforms. There have also been a number of things that I haven't written about here: situations that you can't begin to imagine.

All this past year I've had to fight one battle after another: some political, some legal, and some that were extremely spiritual. With no time to really rest or reflect throughout the whole time. I'd be lying if I said that this hasn't taken a toll on me. It's certainly caused me to become more mature than I've ever been before. And I believe that I'm much wiser now for it.

But all the same: I've lost something. And I need to go and find it again.

That, and there are still projects that I would like to devote more personal time toward pursuing. Things that I like to believe will enrich my life and that of those I care about. One's time on this Earth shouldn't be entirely devoted to fighting the battles: there also needs to be time to create things.

So no, this Knight's crusade isn't finished yet. But the warrior needs a respite to go and discover again what he is fighting for, and just as importantly why he is fighting.

I expect to be posting for another week or so, long enough to launch the auction for the copy of the Transformers: The Score CD signed by Steve Jablonsky, and then take off for a spell. And then hopefully I'll be back sooner than later and with new things to write about :-)

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