The Gift of Compassion

inspired by Jay's "All I Want for Christmas" post.  

When I was in 4th grade, my family was poor.  My mom was on Maternity leave and the family’s sole income was from my step-dad.  He was a tree surgeon and work isn’t great in the winter time especially the messy Tennessee winters.  As a child, I didn’t realize just how poor we were.  I mean, I knew we didn’t have the things that other people had, but I was used to our standard of living.  I am sure that I had no idea about my family’s economic situation, but now I know and I know that it was way more screwed up than being out of work. 

 My mother, knowing that she was not going to be able to buy us much of anything for Christmas, gave our names to the Salvation Army for the Angel Tree.  The only toy I had asked for was a Transformer named Slingshot.  I wanted it so bad.

 On Christmas morning I woke up and under the tree was the only present I remember getting that year or for some of the years around it.  I had Slingshot.  I opened him, transformed him a few times, and then put him on my dresser.  I don’t think I ever played with him again.  I didn’t want him to get broken, and I didn’t want my then 6 year old brother getting a hold of it. 

 I believe my mom told me that it was an Angel Tree gift when I got it.  I don’t think I fully appreciated it at the time.  I recognized it as nice and was happy to get what I wanted.  As the years passed and I was faced with other small Christmases, I grew to realize just how nice the gesture was.  I have since bought items for Angel Trees, Toys for Tots, Book Trees, and for poorer children that I knew personally.  That one Christmas twenty-one years ago has inspired a need in me to want to help people at this time in year.  The person that picked my Angel gave the gift of compassion as well as a simple transformer.  It is something I will never forget and something that I will never be able to repay. 

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Budd Reviews the World

Transformers- I finally saw it.  It was very good.  I walked out of the theate with a huge smile on my face; so did my

Fox

wife; so did my daughter.  Could it have been better?  Sure, but the movie was great.  attached are my list of complaints:  I really couldn't tell what was going on in any of the fight scenes.  I am sure if I looked at it frame by frame it would be obvious but it all just blurred together at full speed.  The transforming process seemed overly complicated and too nanotechnology inspired.  The story was a little silly.  When did Bumble-Bee's voice box get repaired? 

On to the good:  Megan Fox is hot! Bite your arm while she is not looking hot.  "One shall stand, One shall fall," is the best Prime line from the '84 movie and I like how they recycled it.  Vehicles tranforming into robots.  Shia is a really good actor and was hillarious.  I am not sure Megan Fox can act or not I was too busy paying attention to how hot she was.  This may be a reason to go out and get an HDDVD or Blue Ray player.  In fact, the format that this movie is released on will likely gain dominance.

Red Box-  Have you noticed a movie rental kiosk outside of your local McDonalds?  Have you tried it yet?  Maybe you should.  I did and was happy with my experience.  The computer will only show you movie that they have in stock or that are coming out soon.  The charges for the movies are $1 a day.  You get a seperate transaction for each movie, but you only have to scan your card once.  You can search by Alphabetical order or by release date.  You can reserve movies online so they are there when you get there.  Returning movies was a breeze. 

Dr. Who- I have seen the Christmas Special and the First episode for the season.  I like the new companion.  She is smoking and a Doctor (almost) as well.  My children love the show.  It is just scary enough to be fun for them.  Fun TV for the whole family.

Meadowlands-  This show took a little time for me to warm up to, but it did keep me interested enough to keep tuning in.  I am finally hooked.  Everytime they seem to wrap something up it actually unwraps another level of mystery on the show. 

Diet Pepsi Max-  I saw this and thought I would try the new diet pepsi without knowing that it had more caffine.  I don't like it.  It tastes like flat diet pepsi.  I am not a huge fan of caffine so I will stick with the Caffine Free Diet Pepsi.  I also tried the Jazz caramel diet pepsi.  I didn't like it at first, but if you cool it to almost freezing and drink it that way it is pretty good.  You can't just add Ice.  The soda itself must be cold.  That, or maybe I am a little crazy.

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The Duality of Man

 

 

Transduel

The above picture is my current wallpaper at work.  We have dual monitors and the image splits so that the Autobots are on one side and the Deceptacons are on the other.  I like this.  It represents the duality of man and to a further extent the duality of my soul. 

Conrad stated that every man has a heart of darkness.  I believe that this is entirely true.  I also believe that man has a conscience.  Both forces battle for mans soul and every person has aspects of darkness and light in their personality.

This battle is referenced in allegory in almost every great story.  My wallpaper above uses the Autobots and Deceptacons, Harry Potter has Voldemort, Gandalf has Sauron, and He-Man has Skelator.  In some stories the dark wins out, just as in some lives. 

Anyway that is what caught my attention about my wallpaper.  I didn't just want Autobots, and I didn't just want Deceptacons.  I had to have both, because both are a part of me.

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Transformers and Spidey 3

Saw both the trailers this week and it looks like they are both going to rock.  I did not think that Topher Grace would make a good Eddie Brock, but based on the teaser, I could have been wrong.

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