The snow continues! We must have had just under two feet here in Beverly. Haven’t heard any exact, updated readings yet, but there is a lot of it out there. I took a few more photos out of the doors and windows today, and added them to the ***Nor’easter|http://gallery.prwdot.org/noreaster?page=3*** gallery.
There’s supposed to be several more inches falling today… bring it on!
Today marked the annual Santa Parade, apparently a tradition on the North Shore. Since I had some time to kill while the laundry was going, I walked down a length of Cabot Street to observe and ***photograph|http://gallery.prwdot.org/santa_parade***. Apparently, a representative entourage from each locality’s fire department was on hand to generate as much noise as possible. The streets were lined with fairly large crowds, and it was actually a pretty decent day for it – clear and cool, but not so cold that you’d freeze without a hat. There was at least one drum and bugle corps that I saw, handfuls of local businesses and government officials, and other local groups. It reminded me of most of the parades I had seen when I was growing up in Mount Vernon. I think the biggest difference now is that I have little or nothing at stake in terms of local interest… I don’t follow any Beverly sports or politics, am not involved in any Beverly organizations, and really don’t know many people in the city at all. I do patronize some Beverly area businesses, but as far as I was aware, none of them were represented in the parade. So it was moderately engaging for the few minutes I spent walking up and down, and snapping photos… but for the most part I was content to head home and finish up the laundry.
Does war pay? CNN has an article:
Base pay scale for the armed forces
For information on ranks, insignia, and pay classes, visit these pages:
I really didn’t know much about the Kurds, or what part they play in the conflict in Iraq, so I looked around for some information. I found a good article here:
If you don’t know much about them, this is a good time to read up.
One of my biggest time killing hobbies lately has been ‘blogsurfing’. Basically I jump from one blog to another, reading what looks interesting and skipping over that which isn’t. It seems like every blog I’ve come across lately has somthing to say about the WAR.
I have been trying to decide if I want to throw my hat into the ring. It took me a couple days to figure out just what I wanted to say.
I have very complicated feelings on war. Deep in my heart I know that it is wrong and that nothing acomplished is worth the loss of lives and the pain that it puts us all through. But in my head I can understand the reasoning behind this WAR and I feel the need to support my country. I think I will forever be a fence sitter.
This WAR has affected me differently than other military engagements have in my short 24 years. I believe this is because this is the first time I have known someone that is involved.
I watch the news at night and the shots of Marines in the desert make me cry. I look at them and think that any one of those short haired, brown clad soldies could be David.
I don’t know if those of you who read this know any soldiers either here or abroad. If you do I’m sure you are praying for them. If you don’t I’d like to invite you to pray for SGT. David Lee in the US Marines. He’s 21 and we’d all like him to come home safely.
Just Pray for PEACE