Death by stingray

Certainly one of the most bizarre stories made the headlines this weekend in the Florida Keys. 57-year-old Judy Kay Zagorski of Pigeon, Michigan was enjoying the sunshine as she sat in the front of a boat traveling 25mph, when out of nowhere a 75-lb stingray jumped out of the water and struck this unfortunately woman. Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was quoted as saying "They actually jump out of the water quite frequently, but I've never seen or heard of one jumping out of the water, colliding with a human being" as he spoke to CBS news The Early Show. Reports have also stated that the Spotted Eagle Ray which struck Zagorski can weigh up to 500-lbs, and have as much as a 10 foot wing span. When I think of stories involving injured or killed swimmers or boaters, usually it’s a story involving a shark attack or maybe a jellyfish, which stung someone really bad; not flying stingrays! As we enter springtime I can only hope that events of these sorts will remain very few and far in between during these coming months.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/21/national/main3956597.shtml

The final days of winter

If you were to gaze upon this month’s calendar, it will tell you that we’re nearly half way through the month of March. But if you go by this season’s weather, you will feel that winter is planning to leave quite a lasting impression in early 2008. Many parts of the country have experienced snowfall amounts not seen in many years. Just take the previous weekend’s storm that dumped as much as 20’ inches of snow in Central Ohio, a tornado ripped through Prattville, Alabama damaging or destroying an estimated 200 homes and businesses, and let’s not forget the numerous airport delays from the east to the mid-west. Is this the final big storm in these final days of winter, or will there be another storm to remind us that winter is not yet finished this season? To go along with cold temps, falling snow, and icy driving conditions, we can’t forget the sickness that seems to always run rampant this time of the year. It seems to never fail that we’ll catch that ugly cold from a co-worker, classmate, or somebody in the family. What gets me is that despite all the attention given to the need to hand washing this time of year, there’s always that somebody who will sneeze in there hands and keep right on with what they were doing as if it’s no big deal! So pretty much it becomes inevitable that once one person begins sneezing and coughing, most of us will follow suit and experience the same whether we like it or not. But hey let’s look on the bright side; we only have to deal with winter and it’s unwelcome effects for only one season out of the year. I’m ready to ditch the heavy coat in favor of a T-shirt, drive with the windows rolled down again, and drink my favorite smoothie on a warm summer afternoon.

Star Wars

Star Wars! Whether you’re a fan or not, those two words will most likely conjure up images of famous light saber battles, unusual life forms in a diverse galaxy, and of course who can forget the force. I liked Star Wars growing up but it wasn’t until I got older that I really began to further understand the story much deeper, which allowed me to develop a greater appreciation for what George Lucas managed to accomplish with his sci-fi epic. But I must admit, for all it’s brilliance there’s been a few things about the six movies that just never quite made sense to me.
To begin with, the story started in 1977 with episode 4 A New Hope, which introduced us to a young man by the name of Luke Skywalker, who would later become the central figure of this epic. It would later end with episode 6 Return of the Jedi where Luke managed to escape the temptations of the dark side thus compelling Darth Vader (his father of course) to fulfill his destiny and bring balance back to the force by killing his master Darth Sidious. Fast forward to the summer of 1999 where a new trilogy was born starting with episode 1 Phantom Menace, and ended in the spring of 2005 with Revenge of the Sith. Many die-hard fans believe that the new films have put a stain on an otherwise great legacy that was created more than a decade earlier. So my biggest question is why did Lucas tell the story out of order starting with episodes 4 – 6, and later returning with the first three movies? To me it’s like reading a book from the middle to the end only to later start at the beginning to read everything that was missed from the beginning. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for this, and if you know please tell!

Another thing is that the number re-releases on DVD of the first trilogy has forced me to scratch my head many times over. I remember there was the boxed set that came either packaged in shiny gold or silver. Later came more re-issues of those classic films. I’m sure there’s a logic behind this; what that is exactly I just don’t know.
Finally this brings me to the other thing that I’m not sure of. This is actually more an observation of story telling than anything which has to do specifically with Anakin Skywalker himself. He grew up living a harsh life as a slave on Tatooine. As fate would have it, his saviours showed up and helped free him from his less than ideal life style. Unfortunately for him, his mother was not to share in his newfound freedom. She remained the property of her master Watto until he later sold her to a moister farmer by the name of Clieeg Lars. Young Skywalker would eventually become trained in the Jedi arts and along the way he showed remarkable talents in the various ways of the force. But largely through his own personal struggles, he slowly began his descent into the realm of the dark side which led to him transform into the galactic tyrant known as Darth Vader. In my view I just don’t see enough inner conflict in his life that would lead him to become such a menace to so many planetary systems. I can certainly see a person having some tough struggles starting life as a slave, being forced away from your only family only to later learn that his mom had undergone brutal torture from the sand people who captured her. Oh and I can’t forget his love interest in Padme Amidala which was very interesting considering that love and attachment were forbidden within the Jedi order. With all the strain put on his fragile emotions, it’s only reasonable to expect a person to go through all sorts of ups and downs, but I just find it a stretch that because of these events that someone could later become a galactic tyrant. Maybe I’m being overly critical, but these are just my observations.

Nostalgia

While at work one day, I began to think in retrospect about my life in general and some of the fond memories from days gone by. I remember when I was young, how much I looked forward to Christmas day. There was nothing like the anticipation of waking up the next morning to open up all sorts of goodies brought straight from the North Pole. My siblings and me would compare gifts to see who got the best stuff. And once the evening arrived, we would all gather up and travel to my grandparents to have one big dinner with the entire family. It was such a simple time in life having so few worries, no bills to pay, no job to go to, and all the time in the world to be a child. Then came my days as a competitive athlete. For the first time in life I really learned what it was like to set personal goals and to work really hard towards them. As a result of my time and efforts put forth, I became a city champion in track and field in the discuss competition my senior year. It was my favorite event to compete in because I knew that is where I had the most potential to excel. I must say that it was such a rewarding time knowing that I made so many strides both mentally and physically doing something that I really enjoyed. And of course there were my days off at college. Most of the time it truly sucked being one of those poor students, eating Ramen Noodles and borrowing money at seemingly every turn just to make it through till the end of the school quarter. Along the way I met some really great people (many of which I still keep in contact with) and I took advantage of different opportunities to travel and find new extra-curricular activities to help liven up my days as a student. Finally when all was said and done after 3 years, I earned my degree despite the trials and errors that college brought my way. Graduation day was pretty unique being able to walk across that stage with my parents watching in the audience knowing that I just completed my education. I knew I was on the path to good things from that point forward. Sigh... as you can clearly tell, my favorite emotion of all has to be nostalgia since it’s so priceless having those good ole’ days to reflect upon. At times I wish I could just momentarily be a kid on christmas, to throw the discus one more time, or just go to any of my favorite classes once again. Well… until someone patents the time machine and puts it into mass production, those times from yesteryear will always stay in memory. So now I’d like to hear from you; what’s your favorite emotion(s) and why?

Welcome!

Welcome everyone to my online blog. This is my first venture into the world of blogging and I’m looking forward to this being both very fun and educational as I hope to create interesting dialogue with all of you centered around a wide variety of subjects. As you can see, I chose the title Random Thoughts simply because I didn’t want to confine myself to any particular subject matter, so I hope this more general approach will work out in the long run. For a long time I was hesitant about jumping into blogging, but I’ve learned over time that a pretty large community exists for people like myself wishing to make their ideas available to people through the internet. So please don’t hesitate to reply if you too have something of substance on your mind that you wish to speak of, I look forward to your comments.