Posts Tagged ‘life is good’

Mr. DaTechGuy goes to CPAC part 5

Posted: March 24, 2010 by datechguy in Uncategorized
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Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 if you missed them:

By the time I had got back to the main area I had managed to miss John Bolton but managed to see Ann Coulter. She is what you would call a real pip. Not shy about saying what she thinks and even less shy about going after liberals. It was a lot of fun to see what she was saying

Newt Followed up with a speech that was Very Catholic (and a presentation later in the day on Pope John Paul II and the Cold war that was even better).

I was starting to get a bit hungry and restless, the only internal party I had attended was the Smart Girl Politics reception (although I popped in and out of the Allen West Party) where I had the honor to meet the reader who put me over the top.

There was no way I was paying Hotel prices for food so I walked down toward McDonalds and found a line stretching out the door. The manager had said yesterday they were flat out but now they were REALLY flat out.

There was a small greek/meditarian place next to it. Jeff Quinton had mentioned they had a good burger and a Scott Brown special for CPAC. I figured the that was a good plan so I ordered the Scott Brown special.

I was a little confused when another person asked me what I wanted after I had already ordered, I was even more confused when the first lady brought over some kind of drink. It was then that I looked at the special board, apparently the “Scott Brown” was Godiva chocolate liqueur with vodka etc.

Now I’m a very frugal man I had paid for that drink, but it certainly wasn’t the fault of the girl that I didn’t read the board and I wasn’t going to throw the thing away without at least tasting it.

So I waited for the food, and skimmed the drink. Didn’t really care for it and when I left 90% of the drink was still sitting there.

When I got back I had missed Col West’s talk (a shame because he is REALLY good) but was back and ready when it came time for the straw poll results. Before the result I was ticked pink to hear from a young lady named Shana Jean Kluck that the Morning Joe people knew the blog and felt they were treated fairly by me. That statement was the second of the three great pleasures of CPAC.

I actually wasn’t all that surprised with the result. There was a lot of overlap in the selection and the Ron Paul people are were pretty much united. Scott Brown’s election helped Mitt’s vote a bit as well.

The Big event was of course Glenn Beck. Les Phillips came down and sat in the Bloggers Room between Barbara and me. I’m not a big Beck fan (although he is an excellent speech maker) so I spent my time coming and going and taking pictures of people outside the hall. Everybody watching the speech and was spellbound. I must have come and gone half a dozen times.

I noticed that suddenly security was a lot tighter, didn’t realize until later that it was because of Code Pink trying to pull a stunt and bloggers spotting it before it could be done. If only the rest of the party was so vigilant.

When the speech was over people started writing their essays and bodies started leaving. I found myself back at the Bar area where I began, talking and visiting since I didn’t know when I would see these people that I had grown so found of again.

Phillip Berg was still floating around passing out his sheets and being ignored. One of the myths of CPAC that the left holds is that it is full of a bunch of crazies. I noticed that nobody was giving Mr. Berg the time of day. When you went downstairs to the exhibitors area the impressive John Birch society display was also void of actual people wanting to talk to them.

At the bar people talked and visited, Stacy was heading off to the Reagan Pallozza but I wasn’t up to it. I ran into Miss Attila again and we talked for another hour before she left with the Bank of Kev crowd for dinner. She was the third great pleasure of CPAC and I was really sorry to see her go.

From that point I waited, I had an early flight out, Smitty had already headed home and Stacy was supposed to come back with my soft fedora. 10 became 11 and 11 became 12, by 12:30 it was just too late to wait any more. I said my goodbyes to those who were left and took the metro back. Smitty grabbed me at the station and I began packing for the morning.

Just before the plane left I gave Stacy a ring, he got in at 5 a.m. and was not going to be available. I said my goodbyes to Smitty and headed for check-in at Reagan one Fedora shy, but with a bunch of great memories, photos and people that went with me.

Life is very good!

Simply because laughter (and pie) are the best medicine

Posted: March 22, 2010 by datechguy in fun
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When my kids where younger I used to get paper plates and we’d have pie fights with shaving cream pies in the back yard just because. I think life needs more of that!

Just back from a walk…

Posted: March 21, 2010 by datechguy in personal
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Did 2 miles with the wife and then sat in the car talking for a half hour.

You know what the world didn’t end while I was gone. The speaker may do something nasty today or we may stop her but I’m not going to let it spoil my day.

What is manhood?

Posted: March 17, 2010 by datechguy in oddities
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A rather silly post concerning of all things a music video and an exchange concerning it really got me thinking about the subject of what it means to be a man and what manhood actually is.

Unlike most people my age my parents grew up in the depression, when times were much harder than they are now (and yes they were harder no matter what anyone tries to tell you) That in itself conveyed a particular side to manhood as did the tales of my grandfather and reading history. There were certain expectation of men, what it meant and how one proved oneself as a man.

Modern times has redefined the rules to a large degree, some of those rules changes are valid, others are not but no matter what society says there are certain things instinctive in men that are constant throughout history. All these things come into play when deciding what a man is and how a man should act.

Many different examples have come up through history, some concerning looks, some style, some strength, some ability, some vitality and the lot, but as I’ve thought hard about the matter particularly in my current situation I think it comes down to a basic premise:

The biggest part of manhood is the ability to face what life throws at you. Life is a cruel mistress, fickle and demanding. It doesn’t care what you’ve done so much in the past, you have to live in the now, and it will come after you and try to break you. The problems may come from work, from home, from illness, from tragedy. The source doesn’t matter, what matters is that life will come at you when you least expect and try to throw you to the ground, either physically, spiritually or emotionally or all of them put together.

The strength and dignity of manhood is the ability to take what life throws and you and still arise. It comes when you can experience hurt and pain, no matter what the source and decide that, you will stand up, brush yourself off and try again. From the bully in the schoolyard, to the trouble at the job, to the pains in the body, through rejection, fear and distress, dishonor and ridicule no matter how awful the source; to rise up and cry “I will not allow it to master me.” That is manhood.

That willingness to stand up to say to the world, I’m not beaten, to put on that brave face even if you are dying inside to inspire yourself and your family saying I will not submit! To stand tall and not let any adversity be used as an excuse to surrender my dignity as a person, my honor as a gentleman or my obligations of any type no matter what the temptation. That is manhood in its truest form.

It can be expressed in as small an act as greeting your wife and children lovingly after a tough day at work, or as intense as facing and IED on the battlefield. It can be holding as simple as holding a door or as annoying as taking an insult without striking back. It can be as certain as accepting the inevitability of death or striving to live a life to its fullest extent.

It is taking a complement without conceit or accepting critique without malice. It is in the offering of aid without request and the ability to accept help offered without embarrassment. It is the an easy rule that is the hardest thing you will ever do.

That is what being a man is, at least in my book. It’s a rough standard and you can spend your entire life striving for it, but in striving for it without surrender, it will be obtained.

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