The Marine and the Athiest

Okay, I don't know if its true or not, and I don't really care.
.........................................................................

God's Busy

If you don't know GOD, don't make stupid remarks!!!!!!!

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between
assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan . One of the courses had
a professor who was an avowed atheist and a member of the ACLU .

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in he looked to the
ceiling and flatly stated, 'God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me
off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes.' The lecture room fell
silent. You could hear a pin drop.

Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, 'Here I am God. I'm still
waiting.' It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out
of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him, knocking him off
the platform. The professor was out cold.

The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students
were shocked, stunned, and sat there looking on in silence. The professor
eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, 'What
the heck is the matter with you? Why did you do that?'

The Marine calmly replied, 'God was too busy today protecting American
soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot.
So, He sent me.'

Another cool thing from Christmas.

Okay, what do you get when  you combined these two items?


A reasonably priced substitute for a new car stereo system!

You see, my tape deck died about a year ago. No idea why, but it stopped singing the blues some time ago, so I now have about three hours a day where I can listen to 104.1fm, or listen to NPR. I'm not overly thrilled with either and I actually want to be able to catch up on my podcast listening. There are some excellent shows out there that I just don't have time to listen to when I am at work or home.

So, this year I took my Christmas money and got myself e Belkin Tunecast II FM transmitter. It wasn't quite as easy as just plugging it into my car and listening, however. It turns out that my radio antenna is in the back of my car, and my car was made back when they were using something call metal for the skin and frame, so reception between my little belkin and the antenna needed some help.

I stopped by RadioShack that night and grabbed about 6 bucks in metal wire and electrical tape. I ran a line from the base of my antenna, through the back door, around the door frame, and then to the front of my car. When i was done running it, rather than cut my antenna line, I just wrapped up the spool of wire and dropped it into the cup holder in the glove box door. After that, I just plug the Belkin in, and sit it right ontop of the spool.

Wouldn't you know, the reception is great!

And the belkin is actually a really cool little deal in its own right. It has a power sensor that detects if your sending a sound signal to it, so you don't have to turn it on or off, it just does it automatically when you fire up your player.

Word of caution, however, if it turns itself off, you had better have your radio turned down, because nothing sounds worse than one of those unused radio frequencies screaching as 95% volume.

But anyway, the Belkin can run on batteries, though I keep mine plugged into my car with the included adapter.

All together, not a bad little investment.

TomTom One

Okay, Christmas was good to me this year. More to the point my father in law as good to me, but that's a long story in and of itself.

One of the gifts I got was a TomTom One car navigation aid. While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the big boys out there, I must say, for someone who is constantly needing to travel to new addresses like I am (work, recreation, ect.), this little thing is just freaking awesome.



I would, quite literally, burn an extra half hour to forty five minutes on some trips trying to find roads or turns in the dark, not to mention that a lot of the activities I go to don't happen in the same place each month, so its not like I have the option of saying "how did I get there last time".

But in any event, this little thing just freaking rocks. One of the better presents I have gotten. Even with eh drop in gas prices, I am rather confident that it will pay for itself (in concept) by the end of the year with all the petrol that I am not spending on driving around.

followup

Okay...

First off, if you don't traditionally follow my blog, read this post about what I found at Walgreens the other day.

So, I am at my relative's house for Christmas week, and my brother in law, his fiance, my wife and I are all chatting. I decide to liven up the conversation and say the following.

"So... I'm at Walgreens the other day, in the contraceptive's section, and I see a selection of ... um... battery operated appliances."

My brother in law looks at me with eyes the size of saucers and, without even thinking about what he is about to say, replies with...

"Come again?"

At which point my wife, myself and his fiance all fall out of our chairs laughing uncontrollably.

You can't pay someone to write something that good.

More good writing.

One of the best written monologues I can recall for modern cinema, and delivered by one of the strongest male leads of the day.

(**language warning**)