Throwback Thursday #15: On My Own

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux

I've always heard people raving about traveling on their own, that it's really enjoyable and peaceful. I have been lucky to have great travel buddies, so I have never really done so. However, my last day in Rome, I went out and about myself. Cousin Whitney had already flown home the day before because she had to be back at work. Cousin Swiss Mister was being a typical male (i.e. pathetic) over a cold that he had. So, I got up early and ventured out on my own.

It was wonderful---it was early and cool and quiet and I just wondered the streets, seeing whatever I saw. For an obsessive planner, it was wonderful just to aimlessly walk around and see random parts of the city. Here are just a few pictures.

You will see that my obsession with old churches and nuns continued....
I came across this and had to take a picture---in several US cities, we have car shares, but in Rome, they have bike share!
I wondered into Piazza Navaro.....where a little market was going on.
Just walking up and down side streets and residential areas was a great way to get a taste of life in Rome.
These were the first people I saw out and about in the early morning....a running group hitting the pavement.

We are down to one final Throwback Thursday post about Europe......next week I'll summarize the trip and show you some of my favorite pictures I've been withholding! :) We'll see where Throwback Thursday goes from there----I may keep it, or I may ditch it. Thoughts??

What Do You Want To Do Before You Die?

"If you had one day to live, what would you do? Would you climb a mountain? Would you kiss the girl of your dreams? Would you tell someone how you really feel? Now, if you had a whole lifetime to live, would you lose that drive? Or would your list just keep getting longer?" ~The Buried Life

This is the question that four guys ask each week on the MTV show, The Buried Life.
The premise if the show is simple.....these guys graduate from college, made a list of 100 things they want to do before they die, bought an old purple bus, and started traveling around the US doing the things on their list. The best part.....for everything they do on their list, they help a stranger do something on theirs.

I've seen four episodes....so far they have crashed a party at the playboy mansion, made a toast at a stranger's wedding, tried (unsuccessfully so far) to play basketball with President Obama, and told a joke on late night tv. While doing so, they have purchased a new computer for an inner city 5th grade class, helped reunite a father and his son after 17 years, helped 4 childhood friends go back to their summer swiming hole 50 years later, and made a blind man's wish of riding a horse come true. To watch my favorite eposide online, click here.

Now I know that not all of us can quit our jobs, buy a bus and start traveling around the country...even though we might wish for that sometimes! But we can all make a decision to live our lives to the fullest anytime we have the chance. And we can all try to help other people.

So if there is something you've always dreamed of doing, start working towards it. Maybe it is expensive and you need to start saving 20 bucks a month for the next 5 years....that's okay, just start doing it. It's a great feeling to accomplish a goal that you've been able to set! And maybe we can't all help someone make their biggest dream come true, but we can all help someone in small ways.

Seems funny that these four, unemployed 20 something year old guys have life figured out....but I think they do.

The REAL Story of the Olympic Games

“It is the inspiration of the Olympic Games that drives people not only to compete but to improve, and to bring lasting spiritual and moral benefits to the athlete and inspiration to those lucky enough to witness the athletic dedication.” ~ Herb Elliott

Two weeks ago, I wrote about storylines of people winning gold medals. Last week, about a snowboarder who faced defeat.

While watching the games, I got a little bit jaded and annoyed at teammates bickering about who got more attention, and competitors pouting when they were silver and not gold.

Then, I found THE story. The one that epitomizes the true meaning and spirit of the Olympic games.
Meet Tugba Karademir. She is the first Olympic figure skater from her country, of Turkey. Ever. You didn't see her on the podium. She didn't expect to be there. Her goal was to make the top 10. She ended up placing 24th.

You're probably wondering why this is THE story? It's because she knows the joy of simply being able to compete. 13 years ago, her family left their home country of Turkey and all of their family and friends. They moved to Canada, in order to allow Tugba to train and have a better chance at her Olympic dream.

Her parents took blue collar jobs, working in factories and washing dishes. They sacrificed so much, simply to allow their daughter to go after her dream. Her dream first came true in 2006 in Torino. She was chosen as the Turkish flag bearer for the Opening Ceremonies that year. Something was missing for her.....her parents were not in attendance. They couldn't afford the trip.

In Vancouver this Olympics, the same problem was on track to occur again. Tugba's parents were not goint to be able to make the trip from Ontario. An Olympic sponsor, learned of Tugba's story. The sponsor paid for her parents to come to Vancouver. Last Tuesday night, they were in the stands as she skated at the 2010 Olympics. They beamed and proudly waived the Turkish flag.

She may not have won a medal, but she got to compete. And her family got to watch. In the end, maybe that's what is more important.

Here is a video of Tugba telling part of her story.

So all these cry baby, spoiled athletes who seem to be more worried about attention and publicity than anything else, might need to look around. The Olympic Games are bigger than any gold medal, tv interview, or one athlete.

Goooo Pokes!!

"Rewind; remember cool autumn air walking to class and passing friends, exs, lovers and the rush you feel every time you go back; A lump in the throat, a bitter-sweet graduation in a cap and gown; A desire to stay forever. Although we are gone, we are still there." ~ "Why We Wear Orange"

In case you live under a rock and don't know, my COWBOYS beat the #1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks this weekend! GO POKES!

VIEW VIDEO

This is a huge win for us. Just a couple of weeks ago we were in a 4 game losing streak, and were listed as "one of the last four in" the tournament by ESPN. Since then we've beat Oklahoma, Baylor and now Kansas. The big dance is calling our name!

The game took me back to college.....my very first game in Gallagher Iba arena was Oklahoma State v. Kansas in 2004. It was Big Monday on ESPN. We were both ranked. Dick Vitale was calling the game. And we won by 20. There was never another game like that first one for me....although watching the students rush the floor today, sure came pretty close.

There's nothing like going to a school with such a proud tradition and such great fans. You get the chance to be a part of something bigger. And even though none of these players, nor the head coach, was there when I was there, I still feel like a part of this team.....that's just OSU for you!

Those of you still there, enjoy it. The time goes by too fast. Soon you'll be an alum watching on tv wishing you were there to rush that floor again!

Family Farm Friday #8: Victory for Family Farmers!

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." ~Henry Ford

This week, the USDA announced that it is cancelling the National Animal Identificaion System (NAIS). This news was music to the ears of many American producers and pro-agriculture organiztions. Especially for family farmers, and any smaller scale producers, survival may rest on the death of NAIS.

The NAIS program began in 2004 by the USDA. At the most basic level, the NAIS would have eventually required the registration of all farm animals (cattle, bison, poultry, swine, sheep, goats, deer, elk, horses, llamas...). The program began as voluntary, and never moved into the required stages.

The NAIS required producers to have a "premises identification" number that identified their particular farm or ranch. This identified the locations where an animal had been at one time or another. There would have also been an "animal identification" number, which would be specific to each animal. So, if a rancher had 100 cows, he would have only one premesis identification number, becuase that number referred only to his ranch. He would have 100 different animal identification numbers. The final requirement was "animal tracing" which would follow the movements of animals between locations. This information would be maintained in a database owned and managed by private parties.

There were several concerns about the NAIS program, and several producers and agricultural groups that strongly opposed the program. The concerns include:

• Confidentiality: The information maintained in the databases could have been sought by people under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or similar state statutes. They could be subpoenaed by a court in litigation. This would provide names, addresses, phone numbers, information about where animals are transported, housed, sold, etc.
  
• Liability: These records, if released, could lead to liabilty for producers in cases where an illness arose. Because they would track an animal at every location it might have ever been, producers who did nothing wrong, and then sold the animal could still have been subject to lawsuit. Even if they were eventually found to be free of fault, the cost of this kind of suit could be enough to put a producer out of business.
  
• Costs: The government requirements of keeping records, tagging animals and reporting statistics would have fallen entirely on the producer. This would have been seriously problematic for family operations. Many of these family operations involve several types of livestock, and the owners might have hundreds or thousands of animals. The costs of implementing the NAIS requirements could have been monumental.

The NAIS being cancelled is a great example of what can happen when producers ban together. People and orgnizations spoke out about these, and other, problems with the NAIS. It took six years, but the government listened. Producers need to be willing to make noise and oppose programs, regulations, laws....whatever is out there that is harmful for our industry. When we join forces, we can make positive things happen!

National FFA Week!

"I believe in the future of agriculture..." ~ The FFA Creed


It's National FFA Week and I feel obligated to write a blog about this organization that gave so much to me. Throughout my life, I have been involved in a lot of different activities.....4-H, high school sports, college judging teams, clubs, organizations, church groups......but for me, hands down the most influential on my life was FFA. There are so many reason why. First, you get the chance to meet so many people and make so many friends from all over the state. To this day, some of my best friends are people I met through FFA. People are always amazed at how I know people from different places all over New Mexico. They ask how in the world I know someone from across the state, who lives in a town I've never been in. More often than not, the answer is FFA. I think that showing at State Fair was probably the best place for meeting people.....you would live in the dorms for a week with everyone, eat all of your meals with different people.....you developed friendships with the other kids, but also developed relationships with their parents and ag teachers, who became like your second families.
Second, you are able to travel all over the US. In high school, FFA allowed me to travel throughout the US going to judging contests, shows, and leadership contests. I know Louisville, Kentucky like the back of my hand! :) I was able to meet producers and and see livestock operations of all different types and scale.
Third, you learn to work hard, to compete, and if you're lucky, to win. My ag teacher always said that you had to learn to be winners....FFA gives you that opportunity. You learn so much more than to analyze livestock or identify chicken parts or give linear scores to dairy cows or to show a lamb. You learn a work ethic and to be dedicated to something. Constests teach you to memorize, to analyze, speak in public and think on your feet. Showing teaches you responsibility, about animals, and to manage your money (or occasional lack thereof!).
Next, is the family bonding that goes on because of FFA. I really think that my brother and I owe a great deal of our success in FFA to our parents. They spent countless hours helping us with all of our FFA activities. Dad making us practice our speeches or the creed until we were ready to scream, my mom proofreading bibliographies and helping with math for record books, all the hours spent at the show barn....a family really does become close because of all these things. Of course, it's not all roses---there are the occasional father grabbing son by the neck on the wash rack, mom threatening divorce if one more stock show was added to the calendar, and the ever present brother/sister battles that usually end with someone being struck with either a pig bat or a scotch comb. Even when we were fighting, we were still doing it together. Oh, and let's not forget the great family photos from the fair....

Finally, a huge part of the reason why FFA meant so much to me was my FFA advisor and my teammates. I was fortuante to go through FFA with a great group of people and an advisor who became like family to me. There was a group of us who did just about everything together....when we would win one contest, our advisor would sign us up for the next one. We thought he was crazy, but he always knew what he was doing. I wouldn't trade the memories I had with these people for anything.

The Olympics and the Agony of Defeat

"But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for." ~Paulo Coelho

Last week I blogged about how great the Olympics were because of deserving people winning gold. This week, I'll write about the other side of the coin. Sometimes people work hard, get their chance, and things just don't go their way.

That's what happened to US snowboarder, Lindsey Jacobellis. Four years ago in Torino, she made a mistake that cost her the gold. In the snowboard cross competition, there were four women racing for gold. Lindsey was way in front...having what seemed to be an insurmountable lead. She went off the last jump and decided to do a "showboat" move, a method grab. So she jumped, grabbed the edge of her snowboard....and fell. A Swiss boarder passed her, despite havin been three seconds behind, and took the gold. Lindsey took silver.


She has waited 4 years for redemption. That's the thing about the Olympics, you don't just have to wait a few months for the next season to redeem yourself like you do in other sports. You have to wait four years. Four years that you dedicate to that moment, four years of hard work to have one chance. She waited because she wanted her gold.


She waited four years for redemption...that didn't come. Last week, in the semi-finals in Vancouver, Lindsey landed badly off of a jump (nothing fancy, regular jump on the course) and went through a gate, meaning she was disqualified.


We like to hear the happy stories from the Olympics, the nice guys winning. The couple who worked for 18 years finally gets their gold medal. But there are plenty of tales of defeat as well. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work and how much you might deserve something, it's just not meant to be. That's the Olympics, and that's life.

Fancy and The King

"The great thing about George Strait is that he’s being doing it since the early ‘80s, but he still makes every sound check, which is more than a lot of guys below him can say. He brings who he is to each town, which is really a Texas dance hall singer. He can make the biggest arena feel like it’s a honky-tonk, trying to take that crazy energy to the biggest venue and making it feel as small as possible. He still enjoys touring after all the years" ~ Dierks Bentley

So this weekend I crossed my first item off the bucket list for 2010. George Strait concert. Not only was it George, The King of Country, but he was touring with Reba. That's right, George Strait and Reba McEntire in concert on the same night. It was contry music heaven....and I was there!

Now, you need to understand why this is such a big deal for me (beyond the fact that it's a big deal for any woman to be in the same room as George). This was my first real concert. Seriously. Of course I'd gone to the ones after the rodeo at State Fair, but never saw anyone very big. And of course in college at OSU I frequented the Calf Fry stage, but again, not the same thing.
You know how your parents would tell you that you'd appreciate things more when you really want them for a while, work for them and pay for them yourself? I always thought it was a line because parents didn't want to buy you the mustang on your 16th birthday. Turns out, maybe there is something to the line. The fact that I've loved George (and Reba) for literally over 20 years and have always wanted to go to the concert made it all that more exciting to finally go. The fact I hadn't been to a million concerts to where this was just another one on the list made it that much more exciting. In fact, when George walked out, I was so excited my hands were shaking too bad to take a picture! I managed somehow to balanace the camera on my knees to get one.
Anyway, my point is, that even though it was just watching a concert, it was pretty cool to be able to do something I had wanted to do for so long. That's the whole point of the bucket list I think......it makes you think about doing these things, and reminds you that the clock is ticking, so when we get the chance, we better take it!

And now...finally.....pictures!

We will start with my favorite view. Whatever Wranglers pays this man for advertising and wearing their jeans is just not enough.

And yes, in case you were wondering, I did take some of the front view as well!

While he sang Troubador, they did a slide show of some old pictures....here is one of him and Norma.

I love these ones where you can see him on the jumbotron, and then down below as well.The song might be about a girl, but let me tell you....he'll leave you with a smile himself!

And Reba rocked as well...she's just awesome. Sidenote....her hair is SO red in person!

She had a couple of special guests....LeeAnn Womack (who actually opened the show) came out to sing "Does He Love You?"

And then Barbara Jean came by.....if you loved the show, you would have loved it! It was so funny!
Her finale was awesome. You thought she was done, she left the stage and everything. My cousin and I looked at each other and said "I can't believe she didn't play Fancy!" Well, about that time, the video for Fancy comes up on the jumbotron...you know where she's the rich lady in the cab going back to the shack? In comes a cab......and Reba in her red dress!
And I saved the best for last. Here is a video of George doing my favorite, and what he said last night was his favorite, song ever.....Amarillo By Morning!

On Hold.....

So this week's family farm Friday is on hold due to the fact that I'm getting ready for the big GEORGE and REBA concert this weekend! Didn't want anyone to think I was dead in a ditch or something because I didn't post a blog. Be back on Monday......be ready for George pictures from every angle! ;)

Throwback Thursday #14: Bascilica of St. Paul

“Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” ~St. Paul, Eph 6:13

As I mentioned in my blog about the Vatican, I didn't get the spiritual feeling I expected when I was there. I love going into old churches anywhere.....I find them beautiful and peaceful. The Vatican, while amazing, didn't do that for me. It was crowded, very touristy, and sort of commercial.

However, the Bascilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls made up for that. We almost didn't go---it's way out of the way from anywhere else you want to go in Rome. But, both Cousin Swiss Mister and I really wanted to see where St. Paul was buried, especially since he was such an influential teacher of the Word in the New Testament. So, we load up on the metro and head to the Bascilica.

We get there.....and realize we are in the ghetto. Like seriously scary. We wonder around, while praying we don't get shot, and finally figure out where the church is. An example of the type of neighborhood we were in can be seen here. These would be shards of glass that are placed on the top of the wall surrounding the church. Seriously. Although, if you think about St. Paul's ministry, it seems fitting that he is buried outside the walls of Rome, that he is with the people who are on the outside. He was called to preach the word of God to the Gentiles.....he was used to being out of the limelight, among those on the outside. We happened to come up on the back of the church. This is what we see.

I'm thinking, you have to be kidding me....this is kinda a dump. How could Paul be buried here? Little did I know how amazing it was going to be once we got inside, and found the front of the Bascilica.

The Bascilica is absolutely huge, with beautiful frescas, huge pilars and marble floors. There are several different small chapels inside the one large Bascilica.

The center of the Bascilica is where the tomb of St. Paul is located. As you can see, there is the statue over to top of the tomb, and you can then go down the steps and kneel in front of the tomb itself.
Above is the tomb. The window lets you see right into the marble within which St. Paul's bones lie. The inscription reads PAULO APOSTOLO MART, which means Apostle Paul, martyr. Below is a chain. This is the actual chain that was used to hold St. Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome. Seeing these things with your own eyes, being this close to such an important part of history was amazing.

If you get the chance to go to Rome, I would recommend walking up to the front of the Bascilica. Here is what you'll see. It's quite different than the back. :)

Cousin Swiss Mister was so impressed, he shot some video of the Bascilica. I am improving my blogging skills, so I think this will work and you will be able to check it out!