Thanksgiving Thoughts

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
-President George Washington
October 3, 1789

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
-President Abraham Lincoln
October 3, 1863

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

-H.U. Westermayer

A GRATEFUL HEART

With a grateful heart on Thanksgiving Day,

I see all the blessings that have come to me;

and I know no words could ever say to thee,

how grateful my heart is on Thanksgiving Day.

I didn't earn these blessings, no not one gift,

yet you continue to send them forth my way.

So all that I can give, I give to thee today,

to thee my grateful heart is my greatest gift.

-Ryan O'Berry

Thanksgiving Day 1999*

To the three or four of you who occasionally stumble by accident on to this blog; Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and may we all be a little better at remembering to be grateful for all the blessings we have.

*©1999 Ryan O'Berry. Please do not copy.

2012 - Explosions, Fires, Floods, COOL

So, I also went and saw 2012 this past weekend. I don't know that I have a whole lot to say about this one. Ultimately, it was just a really fun movie. The premise was a bit ridiculous and the crazy scenes where cars (or RVs) jump huge chasms are totally unrealistic but the fact of the matter was it didn't make much difference because this type of movie would never work if there were to much realism. This was a fun action/disaster movie that also had some heart to it. So, I would definitely recommend it to anybody who just wants to watch an exciting movie.

A Christmas Carol

This past weekend I went and saw the new computer animated Christmas Carol movie from Disney. Now, the last time I had seen a movie in 3D in a theatre it was when I saw Captain EO at Disneyland so I was pretty excited to go see this. Since it had been so long since I had experienced the whole "3D thing" I decided I needed to find the biggest movie screen I could. Therefore, I went and saw the movie at the IMAX Theatre at Jordan Commons. I did think the 3D was pretty cool even though it did give me a bit of a headache at times. I also noticed that if I tipped my head to the side that the picture became all blurry. It was especially cool on those shots were something appeared to actually come out of the screen. I also enjoyed the parts where you were flying through the city.
As for the movie itself; it was your pretty standard Christmas Carol adaptation and wasn't really much different from the dozens of other movie versions of Charles Dickens' classic tale. Most of the lines were directly from the book with no significant changes. The only thing that really made this one unique was the fun computer and 3D effects. Now, for those who might be considering bringing their young kids to this show, I would recommend that you don't. There is one somewhat disturbing and scary part associated with the Ghost of Christmas Present and the two little children "Ignorance and Want" that might be a little too much for younger kids. The Ghost of Christmas Past is also a little creepy. Anyway, if you're looking for a kind of fun Christmas movie (Yes, I said Christmas not Holiday. Take that Politically Correct establishment!!) than this is a pretty good one to go see.

The Box - Well, at least I went and saw it

So, I went and saw The Box this past weekend. Unfortunately, I seem to be one of the only people who did. The movie opened up at number 6 for it's first weekend bringing in a measly $7.85 million. Needless to say that was a real flop considering that's not even enough money to cover Cameron Diaz's salary.

In spite of its lackluster box office performance I genuinely enjoyed the movie. It really had the feel of an episode of The Twilight Zone in that you kind of felt like you were getting a little glimpse of a story taking place in an alternate reality where the rules that apply in our world don't exist. In fact, the movie was based off of a short story by Richard Matheson called "Button, Button" that was made in to a Twilight Zone Episode back in 1986. And, like a Twilight Zone episode The Box ended with that kind of feeling of foreboding caused by the knowledge that the strange and disturbing phenomenon you just finished watching is just going to keep on happening in that kooky little world. As the movie was coming to an end I half expected the screen to go to black and white and to see Rod Serling standing there with a cigarette to tell us all the moral of the story.

I liked this because it really was a "thinking" movie. The movie explored a number of issues regarding human nature such as whether people are inherently good or bad as well as whether people are really free or are simply destined to follow a particular road. So, even though I may be one of the only ones to do so, I would recommend this movie for sure.

Funny Job Post

So, I was job searching (surprise, surprise) and as I was reading through a job posting I came across the following description of the physical demands of the particular position they were hiring for:

While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to sit. The employee is frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.

I'm not sure how I feel about having to use my "hands to finger, handle or feel." I would be more comfortable if they would specify what type of substances or people I would be required to "finger." I'm confident in my vocal and auditory skills so I'm sure I would have no problem with the requirement to "talk or hear." I must say though, I'm not too thrilled about the requirement to "reach with hands and arms." I really do prefer to reach with my legs and feet.