One thing I found somewhat different, is that most people in Russia and the formers USSR celebrate Christmas on January 7th instead of December 25th.  I was told that December 25th is generally called "Catholic Christmas" in that part of the world.  This intrigued me enough to investigate further and here is what I found here:

Christmas is NOT celebrated in Russia on January 7th. It is celebrated on December 25th. Of course, the follow up question would be "When is December 25th?"

Pre-revolutionary Russia used the Julian calendar universally, i.e. for government, personal purposes and church purposes. When the Soviet government changed to the Gregorian calendar, the Russian Orthodox Church did not make the change. They continued using the Julian calendar, which is (currently) 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.

Since Christmas is a religious holiday, it was not celebrated as a Soviet state holiday (focus during the Soviet era was on New Year). As a religious holiday, it continued to be celebrated in churches and in homes, privately, on December 25 - but, the December 25 used by the Church. Even with the fall of the Soviet Union, the Church still uses the Julian calendar.

Think of it this way: Go to Moscow. Buy a newspaper on January 7. Look at the date - sure enough, it will say January 7. Walk into a Russian Orthodox church, carrying that newspaper. As soon as you enter the church, it is, for all practical purposes, December 25. (No, the newspaper will not change the printed date). Any announcements, bulletins, Gospel readings etc. will reflect that today is December 25. Turn around, walk out of the church and, as soon as you exit, it is January 7.

It should be plain to see, but this also means that the date for celebrating Russian Christmas is not connected to January 6 as Epiphany, as Julian January 6 falls on Gregorian January 19, which is Russian Epiphany (usually called "Theophany" in the Russian Church).

Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas in Eastern Europe on the 7th of January (Gregorian) or the 25th of December (Julian).

С Рождеством Христовым

About 4 months ago, the good folks at Charley's Greenhouse contacted me about a picture I took about two years earlier at Niagara Falls State Park in Canada.  The original picture is to the left.

They wanted to use the photo for the cover page of their Holiday Gift Catalog which you'll find below.  The finished product is below

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and upcoming New Year!

  The Finished Product

• General Labor for Reproduction Antique Furniture Shop – Summer & After School Job
• Youth Conservation Corp – Summer Job
• General Labor for Oil Field Manufacturing Company – Summer & After School Job
• Electrical Control Panel Assembly – Summer & After School Job
• Service Station Attendant / Flat Repair – Check the Oil?
• Electrical Control Panel Assembly – Fulltime / College Part Time
• Learning Resource Center Assistant – College Fulltime / Job Part Time
• Assembly Supervisor for Oil Field Equipment Co. in Tulsa/Kansas
• Manufacturing Manager for Oil Field Equip. Co. in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
• Manufacturing Coordinator for Oil Field Equip. Co. in Tulsa/Kansas
• Inside Sales/Calibration Specialist for Oil Field Equip. Co in Tulsa
• Electrical Mechanical Engineering Support in Tulsa
• Website Design & Real Estate Photography
• Automation Senior Controls Specialist based in Tulsa but working all over the world.

I've bolded the jobs that probably helped me the most in life.

So where has your career path taken you lately?

Help stomp out head bumps in your lifetime!

A trillion seconds is 31,688 years.

A trillion dollars is so large a number that only politicians can use the term in conversation. (Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Bro's.)

Trillion = 1,000,000,000,000.

The country has not existed for a trillion seconds.

Western civilization has not been around a trillion seconds.

Because of Washington, every member of your family now owes $37,667.

Remember good tax paying citizens, this is just the Federal Government.  It doesn't include what the City, County and State yanks away from you.

I guess we're going to have to start working harder to help pay for all the entitlement programs in play.  Hopefully your job doesn't get affected by the whiplash effect coming down the pike.  There might be a silver lining in all of this.  We could bring back the CCC and WPA for much needed public  projects like..... A new stadium downtown.  Heck maybe we could even throw a few out of work souls at fixing our streets.

If this doesn't cause your blood pressure to rise, then see a doctor.  I took some of my frustration out by writing our Senators and Congressman an email.  As their boss (that's right, they are employed by me, John Q. Citizen), I'm going to fire them on grounds of incompetence, unless some of my demands are realized.  Until then they should consider themselves on notice.

October 6, 2008

Dear [Insert Illustrious Name Here],

I am one who is fed up with the way Washington is being run. I demand an explanation on how this financial crisis happened and who was responsible for it.

If laws were broken, I want those responsible prosecuted. For those who acted unethically, I want to know who they are and what they did. I want hearings on this matter, and I demand that they be open, not behind closed doors.

I want to hear from you that you support open hearings. I hold Congress responsible to get to the bottom of this matter so that it will never happen again.

Today

HR1424
Aye    OK-1    Sullivan, John [R]
Aye    OK-2    Boren, Dan [D]
Nay    OK-3    Lucas, Frank [R]
Aye    OK-4    Cole, Tom [R]
Aye    OK-5    Fallin, Mary [R]

September 29

HR3997
Nay    OK-1    Sullivan, John [R]
Aye    OK-2    Boren, Dan [D]
Nay    OK-3    Lucas, Frank [R]
Aye    OK-4    Cole, Tom [R]
Nay    OK-5    Fallin, Mary [R]

The rest of the country:

Commentary by Charlie Reese

545 People

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of 300+ million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.

In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority.

They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.

I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.

No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget.

He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300+ million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation' or 'politics' that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible.

They and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

The friend that sent me this has the following added commentary:

This is one of the most "common sense" articles I have read to date.  Charlie Reese should be hugged...the rest of us should be slapped...we can't even agree long enough to regain control of these greedy degenerates.  By the way, if they (the gov't) keeps us confused over the issues, it's because they want it that way...we, the people, can NEVER unite if we can't agree on what the REAL problem is, and we can NEVER agree if we remain confused in the maze of politics.  THEY control US, and we let them.

I couldn't fail to disagree with him any less.

The above statement was shamelessly gleaned from the program handed out at Quik Trip's 50th Anniversary Birthday Bash.  Here's my "Top 10" list of entities that could use this advice:

1. Tulsa's very own TDA
2. Tulsa County Commissioners
3. Tulsa City Hall
4. TMAPC
5. Wall Street
6. Payday Loan Sharks
7. Subprime Mortgage Lenders
8. U.S. Senate
9. Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac
10. U.S. House

What's your list?

How Oklahoma voted:

Aye Coburn, Thomas [R]

Nay Inhofe, James [R]

<Soapbox mode ON>

The "Entitlement" dams are about to burst.

When did it become a "right" to own a home?  When did it become a "right" to have medical care?  In recent times this list could go on and on.

Now I agree that everyone should have an equal opportunity to own a home or receive medical care, but opportunity is NOT a right.  What is opportunity?  Opportunity is working towards something worthwhile.  It could be saving to make a down payment on a house, a car, or any other major purchase.  It is equal access to education to better oneself and to earn a decent wage to be able to support yourself.

Somewhere in the U.S.'s recent history our lawmakers, and some of the population, has crossed wires.  Instead of working hard to obtain a goal, the "entitlement" mentality has kicked in and immediate gratification is realized by certain segments of the population.  When traditional methods are "short circuited," sooner or later a breakdown will happen.  This is what we are witnessing first hand which is the proverbial fallout from short circuiting the traditional system.

My best friend has it pegged.  He told his teenage son that he had two choices.  He could either be an asset to society by getting a job and attempting to support himself, or continue to be a liability to society by remaining on the same course he was on.  If his choice was being a liability on society, my friend told his son he was going to take him out and it wasn't going to be on a date.  I'm happy to say his son got a job and is beginning to come around to being a productive member of society.

Anytime the Government alters the natural course of anything, be afraid... be very afraid.

<Soapbox Mode IDLE> (more thoughts to come)

So let me get this straight.... we give a bunch of taxpayer money to financial institutions interest free.  They in turn loan it out to taxpayers with interest.  They might pay back the money?

Is it just me or does something seem fishy about this convoluted thinking?  I know there's more to the EESA than I state above, but in a nutshell that's basically the crux of the situation.

Although President Bush was trying to shotgun this one through the political machinery, the House defeated the EESA v2.0 by 23 votes (228 NO, 205 Yes).  Oklahoma's representatives voted as follows:

District 1 - John Sullivan (R) - No
District 2 - Dan Boren (D) - Yes
District 3 - Frank Lucas (R) - No
District 4 - Tom Cole (R) - Yes
District 5 - Mary Fallin (R) - No

For a couple of days I have been trying to get my head around the magnitude of the proposed bailout.  The first step was trying to determine exactly how much a billion with a "b" was.  I billion is 1,000 million or 10^9.  This would be $1,000,000,000 which by itself is an absurd amount of money.  700 billion with a "b" would equate to $700,000,000,000, which is even more absurd.

Based on the CIA Fact Book the US has approximately 303,824,640 men, women and children that live here.  Divide 700 billion by the population and you get approximately $2304/person.  That's how much a bailout would cost everybody in the US.  The CIA Fact Book also breaks down the Demographics of the population into age groups, i.e. 15-64 is 67.1% of the population.  This is the age spread which is most likely to be turning a buck, and paying into our wonderful tax system.  If you divide the number of people that fall into that sector into the bailout price, it's approximately $3434/person.

In comparison the so-called Tax Stimulus Check that my wife and I received earlier this year was only a measly $1200.  I'm thinking the check was just some lube for what is to come.  Relax, lean back, and take it because resistance is futile.

At the end of the day, or when I return from being on the road, my wife will ask me what I did and I guess I sound something like the following YouTube video to her because she usually gets kind of blurry eyed before I finish.

Struggles with Tulsa's BOK Center Daytime Debut
Among a day filled with inspiring motivational speakers, Tulsa citizens found a few areas for major improvement before the next all day event.
View more »

My wife told me that she got caught in the traffic heading to work and it was not pretty.

"Build it and they will come," we were told.  It was built and indeed they did come..... boy did they ever.  I wonder how many will come again after their downtown experience.

Started on July 25, 2003, the Blog Oklahoma web ring has grown into a diverse and interesting community of Oklahoma bloggers.

I originally found out about Blog Oklahoma's web ring from Tulsa's "Grand Potentate" of blogging, Michael Bates of Batesline.com.  I'm pretty sure that's where I discovered what a blog was as well.

Kevin not only manages the Blog Oklahoma ring, but has an excellent site on Oklahoma History called.... you guessed it, BlogOklahoma.us.  Want to find out more about the great state that we live in?  If so, you most definitely want to bookmark this site.

Want to see some "Bleeding Edge" technologies at work?  Check out the long list of web sites that Kevin has a hand in at..... yep, you guessed it a again, BlogOklahoma.net.  While you are there check out the Blog Oklahoma podcasts.  I've dabbled in podcasts from time to time and you would think it would be easier to talk than write a blog entry.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Podcasts can be perplexing at best and tormenting at worst.

I've listened to more than one of Kevin's podcasts so he must be doing something right.  I do not know where he finds the time to accomplish what he does, but I'm happy he chooses to do what he does.

Thanks Kevin!