Happy Memorial Day!

Hope you had a great Memorial Day....back into battle tomorrow!

Adventures across Central Carolina

Michelle and I went on a road trip yesterday!

We covered about three hundred miles and completed a circle across the east half of NC.

After she had me model some horrific suits and completely destroy my dignity, we went up I-95 to Greenville, NC to East Carolina to drop in on Professor Papalas and hash out detail on the Thesis...yes, it is capitalized for a reason...LOL

Michelle found a nice place to hide in the air conditioned library while yours truly marched across the campus in 100 degree heat like Xenophon and the Ten Thousand across Persia. The gyros we ate earlier completed the allusion....

After Professor Papalas and I discussed battles of the Corinthian War, Spartan shortcomings, and Theban cunning, we examined the NHL playoffs..He is of the opinion Detroit should have held off San Jose but concedes a Red Wing victory over Vancouver would have been unlikely. I think the Pittsburgh Penguins had a great year considering all of the injuries we had. I think Tampa will go all the way but they have a game seven against Boston tomorrow...winner faces off with Vancouver, who Carl Swanson predicts will win the whole thing.

Discussions off all kind echo in the hallowed halls of academia......

Michelle and I left Greenville and vectored west towards Raleigh but went to Cary, NC. We tromped into a store called REI and looked at "toe shoes" or "shoe skeletons". Wearing these are supposed to mimic running barefoot. Why not just run barefoot?

Then we ventured into Trader Joe's because there are none in Freakville while there are two within a stone's throw in Cary and Chapel Hill. I ate some scones and Michelle looked at some weird kind of sauce before buying some olive oil.

We turned south towards home but set our sights on Lillington, NC where my cousin Angelo has a store. We hopped in just before closing and spent an hour shouting about the Steelers and Cowboys and Michelle looked on as I patiently explained hockey to Angelo.

We decided it was time to nationalize the oil companies but more on that later

Michelle and I kept south, drove through the nighttime countryside (no deer for a change), a deserted Spring Lake and arrived home where the cats demanded to know where we had been all day.

We gave them some food and they might have forgiven our transgressions....

....for a little while.

May 21, 2011--Kronia Pola!

No Rapture today, so I guess I better get back to working on my thesis...

May 21 is my name day. In Greek culture, a name day is the feast day for the saint you were named after...Saint Constantine in this case.

That way, everyone in the village gets to celebrate in one big party...also cheaper than individual birthday parties too I notice....Well, we are dealing with Greeks.....LOL

Saint Constantine was actually Constantine the Great, the Roman Emperor. Legend has it that in one of Rome's civil wars, he saw in a dream the sign of Christ over Malvin Bridge in 313 and painted the symbol on his men's shields. He won the battle and immediately halted the persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. Oddly enough, he did not convert to Christianity until he was on this deathbed in 337. Possibly, the "let the good times roll" until it is about time to check out. This might also be the first recorded "deathbed conversion."

He is also regarded as a sort of "founding father" of the Byzantine Empire. In 330, he moved the capital of the Empire to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople.

Sounds like Constantine might have had a bit of an ego....

Nonetheless, no Rapture today. If you believed today was the day, I guess you are disappointed but don't worry. It will happen one day.

It just wasn't today.

Don't let that stop you from getting me name day gift though!

Happy Friday the 13th

I don't know why Friday the 13th has such a bad reputation but after hearing some idiot blasting Britney Spears from his radio at 4:30 am, I think there might be something to it after all....LOL

The heat and humidity is starting to make themselves known and even though I live in a forest with a lot of shade, the grass still grows out of control! There must be a large septic tank around here someplace....might explain why the White House has such a green lawn.

Think about it.

I am getting ready to move on the thesis--"Changes in Greek Combat in the Fourth Century, BC"--wait for the movie...LOL

I have a pretty good outline and a good plan of attack and I am hoping to get it wrapped up by September 12, the anniversary of Marathon. Anniversary # 2501 if Phillip August Bockh's calender calculations are correct. I will try to avoid the day before that, of course...

The Fourth Century, 399BC-300 BC, is often neglected. The Fifth of course features the Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War but Hellas was not at piece after the surrender of Athens in 404 BC. The Greeks were just taking a break before resuming hostilities. Eight years after calling for the destruction of Athens, Thebes and Corinth were joining forces with their old enemy in Attica against their old ally Sparta and the whole thing started over again.

Alexander pops up the back end of the century so I am trying to shed a little light on a part of history that does not get a lot of attention.

Yes, I am going to turn it into another book!

And Book Three, following up Ares Marching, I will get to after the thesis.

I am not bored!

Just as well, it keeps me off the streets :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Remember not to look so shocked when they accuse of stealing flowers this year!

Good Job, SEALs!

I had no idea that helicopters carrying US Navy SEALs were moving into position, flying through the skies of Pakistan at about the same time I was writing "moving into position."

I guess that was the idea....LOL

Awesome job and the world is a better place without Osama Bin Laden. I am waiting for some more of the details to come out but it is still a good day for the world.

Now, speaking of going after terrorists, do you think we can turn the SEALs loose on oil speculators?

Moving Into Position...

Today is May 1....a good Communist holiday....LOL

I finished a 25 page paper on British Redcoats fighting here in North America during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) . It was a tough one but I got it done. Counting the bibliography and endnotes, it came out to about 30 pages.

By the way, the redcoats never adapted to American conditions....they created a European war on the North American continent. I found a way to expand that sentence into 25 pages.....

That war was fought in Europe, India, and here in North America. I never understood why it was never called the First World War. I guess 1754 was not as big as 1914. But, still, the 1914-1918 war was called the Great War until Hitler invaded Poland.

I think I have a pretty good case here. Who do I see about changing this?

The French and Indian War, or Seven Years War as it is called in Europe, has always been fascinating to me. It might be because it started near Pittsburgh :-) It might also be because they were fighting since 1754 before officially declaring war in 1756, so your math was indeed right!

French and Indian War is a fun one but it does not compare to the Persian Wars or even Punic Wars. Not a bad second, though!

This paper represents the end of my coursework for the Master's Degree. Well, I have to take a Spanish exam tomorrow but that won't be hard. Just translation.

Then it is on the the thesis-Changes in Greek Combat in the Fourth Century BC--wait until the movie!

First, I am going to play some Madden. The Steelers had a good 2010 season until the end....Now I have time to replay it with a better ending this time.

For a little while anyway ;-P