Andrew Wallace's Poem

I've written 'most everything
in all my stories;
I've written tragedies,
and I've written glories.
I've made up fables
and put them in my poems.
I've sung my songs out loud,
and I'm sure you all know 'em.
I've told fairy tales,
I've written about real life,
I've given examples,
of failures and triumph,
glory and strife.
I've got my story,
as all of us do,
I've got stories of love,
just like all of you.
I've been through
what no one else has;
you know that thing, that same,
different story we all have.
Many of our friends have disappeared into thin air.
But if the air's so thin, why's breathing so hard
without them there?
There are so many stories,
and we all share them in a way
we've all been through the same things,
we've all had struggles from day to day.
the stories we've all written
whether invented and put on paper
or the stories that we've written
with our real lives full of labor
none of them are as great
as the story of a lonely man
none of them shine more
than that of an empty hand
our hands have never been empty
there's always been someone there
maybe they've just been hiding
in the thickness of the air
any man who feels alone
doesn't realize what he can have
if he looks around at the rest of the world
and reaches out his own hand.
because you're never the only one who feels lonely
there's always someone else
reach out and pull them up
because shared loneliness is never loneliness in itself.
but now that we know about loneliness
and we realize the forgotten have a story
there's still one that's greater
one lost in our search for glory.
the story that no one tells,
or at least no one can get quite right
because in this story there's no morning
and in this story, there's no night.
this is the story of the air
the air we all share together
it's where all our friends are
when we can't find each other.
it's the story i don't quite know
the one i can't get a hold of
it's the one i haven't even grasped
and for some reason I feel like
it's the one I can't let go of
our friends are always there
though we always search for them
somewhere in this air
the story will always support them

My Bucket List

What they said...and what we did

According to the story, after every Quantas Airlines flight the pilots complete a 'gripe sheet' report, which conveys to the ground crew engineers any mechanical problems on the aircraft during the flight. The engineer reads the form, corrects the problem, and then writes details of action taken on the lower section of the form for the pilot to review before the next flight. It is clear from the examples below that ground crew engineers have a keen sense of humor - these are supposedly real extracts from gripe forms completed by pilots with the solution responses by the engineers. Incidentally, Quantas has the best safety record of all the world's major airlines.
(1 = The problem logged by the pilot.) (2 = The solution and action taken by the mechanics.)
1) Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
2) Almost replaced left inside main tire.
1) Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
2) Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
1) Something loose in cockpit.
2) Something tightened in cockpit.
1) Dead bugs on windshield.
2) Live bugs on back-order.
1) Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
2) Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
1) Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
2) Evidence removed.
1) DME volume unbelievably loud.
2) DME volume set to more believable level.
1) Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
2) That's what they're there for.
1) IFF inoperative.
2) IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
1) Suspected crack in windshield.
2) Suspect you're right.
1) Number 3 engine missing.
2) Engine found on right wing after brief search.
1) Aircraft handles funny.
2) Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
1) Target radar hums.
2) Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
1) Mouse in cockpit.
2) Cat installed.

The Wisdom of Albert Einstein

All these are his quotes:
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."
"I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
"The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."
And my favorite:"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

Trick or Treat!

COUNTDOWN TO TWILIGHT!!!

50 DAYS, 13 HOURS, 34 MINUTES, AND 47 SECONDS TILL TWILIGHT!!!

Pretty Piano Music

Fall Festival, Oct. 25, 2008 - Megan performed two pieces by memory: "Album Leaf" and "La Petite Negre," both by Debussy.