May 22, 2009 at 7:38 am
Memorial Day is supposed to be a remembrance of those who died while defending the United States....While I have no problem with taking a day to relax, barbeque, and spend time with friends and family
Actually, virtually EVERY holiday, regardless of original intent, both religious and secular, ultimately comes down to food and family.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
May 22, 2009 at 7:44 am
Cheese puffs, beer, and Warcraft
May 22, 2009 at 8:09 am
If I'm not working from home on a day off from the office, I'd much rather be fishing. Like they say, "the worst day fishing is better than the best day working." 🙂 As for this Monday, I'll be firing up the grill from my grandpa that I just restored, go for a nice run with a stellar view of Long's Peak, do some lawn bowling, the usual summer activities.
On a more serious note and in light of Memorial day here in the U.S., I would like to thank all of the men and women who have served in the United States armed forces - your contributions, heroism, and commitment are very much appreciated by me and my family.
Thanks all and have a great weekend!!
May 22, 2009 at 8:33 am
My family and I will be doing what we normally do on this long weekend.
1 - Grand kids will be spending Friday night with us
2 - Celebrating my birthday (won't say how many but it is over 50 😉
3 - Watching the Memorial Day Parade
4 - Going to Colorado Territorial Days Event
5 - Having a GREAT BBQ!
As normal - will have to wait until next weekend for rest and relaxation as this long weekend will be full!
As a Veteran and an American, I wish all an enjoyable long weekend but do take a few moments to remember those who gave all so we have the freedom to celebrate this Memorial Day as we please.
May 22, 2009 at 8:36 am
SwedishOrr (5/22/2009)
Like they say, "the worst day fishing is better than the best day working." 🙂
We like to say the same thing about skeet and sporting clays wich I hope to be doing but I also need to get the pool open for the kids this weekend. On Monday I will also visit the Vietnam War Memorial with my dad and some of the members of his B-52 crew.
May 22, 2009 at 9:06 am
Memorial Day in particular is about remembering those who have fought and even died for our freedom. My grandparents were WW II vets, my great grandparents were POWs in a Japanese camp in the Philippeans, so I spend at least part of Memorial Day remembering them.
My ideal for a just-plain-day-off kind of thing is to spend the time with my wife, sometimes playing D&D or online games, or going out to the park or the zoo or to the shooting range, or watching movies. As long as it's time spent with her, it's a good day.
This weekend, we're planning on catching the new Terminator flick, and then pretty much getting caught up on household stuff that's we've neglected for a few weeks. Once that's done, it'll just be relaxation at home.
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May 22, 2009 at 9:13 am
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. A random day off, especially mid-week, finds me on the motorcycle riding my favorite mountain roads to Lake Tahoe for lunch at a local cafe. A day ride like this can clear weeks of work stress. Cheers 😀
May 22, 2009 at 9:30 am
A good day off for me would be a round of golf (hopefully not playing too bad) and a bit of lunch with the wife (to keep myself in the good books)!
But ideally, a good day off, is not having to think about work. We all work hard enough and should be able to enjoy a 3 day weekend (we have Monday off in the UK as well) without having to stress too much about work.
May 22, 2009 at 10:04 am
A long weekend usually means that my wife (a paediatrician) spends most of her time at the hospital, so I get either some chores assigned, or I just laze around. If she does manage to get those days off (and weather permitting) it is time to go camping. There are so many beautiful and quiet places here in the Western Cape in South Africa, many of them with no cell phone reception, that alone choosing where to go to already makes for a healthy debate amongst the family.
You were referring to Remembrance Day. Since I am not American (but my wife is) it probably means a slightly different thing to me than to you, because I see the other side as well. When I was a child and still lived in Flanders, my Aunt and Uncle often took me and my siblings for long bicycle rides around the countryside (it is nice and flat). One of those took us to the south-western tip of the West Flanders province, the area around the city of Ieper (Ypres in French and English, although it is a Flemish town). That was the place where the German assault on France first came to a standstill during WW1, the probably most vicious and useless war in human history, actually giving rise to WW2 due to the way the Allies treated Germany. Hundreds of thousands of young men were thrown into that battle (and in Northern France as well) on both sides, but fronts moved by a few meters back and forth only. For what?
The many Military Cemeteries are still there, crosses painted white every year. Gravestones with "Unknown Soldier" on them largely outnumber those with names on them. The number of graves is simply mindboggling. And that's just those that were burried properly. There must be a whole lot more that were burried by the mud that was swung up by mortar fire and then disappeared without a trace, or that were poisoned by gas or mutilated and taken home to be burried in their home towns. Let's not forget those who survived mutilated, both bodily and mentaly. It is simply incredible what humans can do to other humans.
So my thoughts are with those young promising people on all sides, who were caught up in a war where they were indoctrinated with the idea that only a dead German/French/English/American/Russian/Vietnamese/Korean/Iraqi/substitute your favourite enemy... is a good one and ended up giving their own life.
Happy Remembrance Day! Let's Give Peace A Chance!
PS: If you haven't read Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Im Westen Nichts Neues in German), you should do so.
May 22, 2009 at 10:41 am
Tom Brown (5/22/2009)
Over the Spring Bank Holiday (Whatever happned to calling it Whitsun) I'll be out on my bike, getting muddy - probably over at Cannock Chase - but possiby somewhere more distant. If its really hot and sunny - making energetic cycling too uncomfortable - I have the option of helping out my dad at the River Avon locks at Pershore - Requirements beer and a deck chair. 😀
hopefully a shower is involved as well! 😛
May 22, 2009 at 10:43 am
Steve Eckhart (5/22/2009)
Steve,I find it very sad that your description of Memorial Day, "something that celebrates the start of warm weather and time off," is all that Memorial Day means to most citizens of the United States now. Memorial Day is supposed to be a remembrance of those who died while defending the United States. I'm glad that you do plan to attend the flag ceremony with your sons. I hope you'll take your daughter, too.
While I have no problem with taking a day to relax, barbeque, and spend time with friends and family, I hope more people will at least give a passing thought to what the holiday is really about.
Sorry for the rant.
Steve Eckhart
Celebrates was a poor choice of words. "Marks" would have been better.
It is a day of remembrance.
May 22, 2009 at 10:47 am
Yard work, Lowes, plant vegitable garden with my kids, a little hiking, my daughters will be walking in a memorial day parade and the finally a bbq
May 22, 2009 at 11:13 am
I'm going to try to do as much of my number one favorite thing as possible. That being NOTHING! At least no structure. I'm not planning on doing any thing. Of course my wfie will want me to do my SECOND favorite thing, but that's TMI for this group. :w00t:
ATBCharles Kincaid
May 22, 2009 at 11:40 am
My father was in WW2 in Italy rather out the way of danger. He was an aeroplane mechanic and themost danger he ever faced was when they had to test(fly) the aeroplanes to make sure they are fixed. He wanted to become an aeroplane gunner until one day when a rather battered areoplane landed. The gunner was shot to pieces and his commander said to him he must be mad to want to be a gunner and he has to stay put where hewas. I used to love listening to his war stories and that kind of made me love reading war stories and watch war movies. I think those guys did a wonderful thing fighting for the freedom of the whole world. I read a book once about the boys from a town in America that went to war in WW2. They all took part in D-Day on Normandy and the book told the stories about how they landed in boats on Omaha beach. These poor people were almost all killed by German machine guns. I will always remember the soldiers that fell in that war even if we do not have a day like Memorial Day in South Africa.
My day off would find me doing as little as possible or catching up on my e-mails (private) and surfing the Net.
:-PManie Verster
Developer
Johannesburg
South Africa
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)
May 22, 2009 at 11:48 am
A good day off would be any day where I didn't think of work, log into work from home, answer an email from work or have anything to do with work at all.
Yeah, like that is going to happen any time soon...:w00t:
Just spending time with the family doing anything is good time off. Right now, taking my daughter out for driving lessons is some of the best time off I can imagine. It can also be some of the most stressful - but that's okay too. :hehe:
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“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
― Charles R. Swindoll
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