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Post by Phil Maurice on Apr 19, 2015 13:26:51 GMT -5
So, for the past couple of months, my daughters (26) had been planning a trip to Kenya as part of their school's nursing program. They would be travelling for two weeks in early May to the southern portion of the country to administer vaccines, distribute needed medical supplies, and generally offer aid to those in the poorest, most remote rural areas. They were required to raise the funds for the trip themselves, a staggering $3,000 a piece, as well as collect a required 50 lbs. of supplies through donations and out-of-pocket.
A week or so ago, a horrible attack on Garissa University in Kenya by the despicable Al-Shabaab resulted in over 140 deaths. Since then, my wife and I have been beside ourselves with worry for our daughters' safety. Thankfully, clearer heads have prevailed and the Kenya trip has been cancelled.
Our girls will now instead travel to Brazil for two weeks beginning May 8th with identical mission parameters. There, the greatest threat to them will be the Brazilian Wandering Spider, as big as a dinner plate and boasting one of the most painful bites in nature. On the upside, being female, our daughters will not have to worry about the awful priapism that often accompanies the bite. 
Naturally, we are relieved that they will not be visiting Kenya. We are also pleased and excited for them to be embarking on this important humanitarian journey. |
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Post by the4thpip on Apr 19, 2015 13:37:11 GMT -5
Sounds like you have some superheroines right at home, Phil.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 19, 2015 14:31:52 GMT -5
I'm still in Microsoft Update Hell. 3,4,5,or 6 updates continue to install each time I power down. And its not because anything previous failed to apply. What have I done? What PC God have I displeased? Am I in configuration purgatory? Must I make a sacrifice to sate the Microsoft deity? Do I need to kill something named Mac? Would MC suffice. Those of Irish extraction are hereby warned. I'm at my limit This is what happens when Jeter has apotheosis and tries to run things in his godhood... -M My Update Apocalypse has now seemed to have subsided. i can also reveal the soon to be publically announced surprise Mission To Mars that NASA will commence by the end of this year. Derek Jeter will be the first to set foot on The Red Planet. This secret mission was the reason for his premature baseball retirement in order to train for this endeavor. If conditions on Mars are as expected, he will also build one of his mansions there
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2015 14:59:07 GMT -5
Our girls will now instead travel to Brazil for two weeks beginning May 8th with identical mission parameters. There, the greatest threat to them will be the Brazilian Wandering Spider, as big as a dinner plate and boasting one of the most painful bites in nature. On the upside, being female, our daughters will not have to worry about the awful priapism that often accompanies the bite.
[/quote] That Spider that you've described here sends me a chill down my spine; and on a serious note I'll be thinking of your daughters safety and they are true heroes and you've should be very proud of them. Thanks for sharing this. |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Apr 19, 2015 16:14:02 GMT -5
[I'll be thinking of your daughters safety and they are true heroes and you've should be very proud of them. Thanks for sharing this. Thanks MG. Awfully decent of you to say. I'm very proud of course. I want my kids to see as much of the world as they can. Conditions in Kenya have unfortunately escalated recently such that the State Department has advised against travel to the region. A planned trip by President Obama in July may be cancelled as well, amid concern that the presence of a world leader and the attendant media attention could inspire further violence. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2015 19:42:41 GMT -5
This is what happens when Jeter has apotheosis and tries to run things in his godhood... -M My Update Apocalypse has now seemed to have subsided. i can also reveal the soon to be publically announced surprise Mission To Mars that NASA will commence by the end of this year. Derek Jeter will be the first to set foot on The Red Planet. This secret mission was the reason for his premature baseball retirement in order to train for this endeavor. If conditions on Mars are as expected, he will also build one of his mansions there
This is one of those one way missions where the volunteers are not given any means of returning to Earth right? They had one of those volunteers on Larry Wilmore's Nightly Show a few weeks back, I guess Jeter was too busy to be booked for the appearance.... -M |
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 20, 2015 6:07:36 GMT -5
I don't remember whether Shax mentioned this FB or here but in NY, there were 9 shootings just Saturday. Violence seems to arrive with the better weather.
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Polar Bear
Full Member
Married, father of six
Posts: 107 
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Post by Polar Bear on Apr 20, 2015 7:50:28 GMT -5
Naturally, we are relieved that they will not be visiting Kenya. We are also pleased and excited for them to be embarking on this important humanitarian journey [to Brazil]. I've wanted to go to Africa as long as I could remember. I truly have no idea if I'll ever get to fulfill that dream; I'm already 45, and I don't feel like I have the finances yet. I would feel sorry for my Mom, who'd always wanted to go to Brazil (the subject of a research paper she did in high school, back in the 1950s) before she passed this spring, but given that she traveled to five continents, I think feeling sorry for her would be awfully silly.  Have your daughters say "hi" to the country for Peggy Rae, though. |
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Post by hondobrode on Apr 20, 2015 10:50:45 GMT -5
Sympathies to everyone going through a rough patch. My niece Karly, the one who's "inherited" big chunks of my collection and was with us at the CCF dinner earlier this month, was run over by her own car in a freak accident yesterday. She has a concussion, a crushed ankle, a broken leg, a lump on her head the size of a baseball, a horrific case of road rash, plus various abrasions and contusions. She's lucky to be alive. As it is, she's going to require reconstructive surgery on her ankle and will be laid up for at least 8 weeks. Since I just bought a new tower, I'm going to give her Kurtificus Maximus, the tower you folks bought me a few years back, loaded with comic scans to keep her entertained while she's down. Cei-U! I summon the moral of this story: don't buy your car's transmission off Craig's List! Good God ! That is bizarre and almost sounds like a Stephen King story ! Best wishes for a healthy recovery. |
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Post by hondobrode on Apr 20, 2015 10:55:47 GMT -5
So, for the past couple of months, my daughters (26) had been planning a trip to Kenya as part of their school's nursing program. They would be travelling for two weeks in early May to the southern portion of the country to administer vaccines, distribute needed medical supplies, and generally offer aid to those in the poorest, most remote rural areas. They were required to raise the funds for the trip themselves, a staggering $3,000 a piece, as well as collect a required 50 lbs. of supplies through donations and out-of-pocket.
A week or so ago, a horrible attack on Garissa University in Kenya by the despicable Al-Shabaab resulted in over 140 deaths. Since then, my wife and I have been beside ourselves with worry for our daughters' safety. Thankfully, clearer heads have prevailed and the Kenya trip has been cancelled.
Our girls will now instead travel to Brazil for two weeks beginning May 8th with identical mission parameters. There, the greatest threat to them will be the Brazilian Wandering Spider, as big as a dinner plate and boasting one of the most painful bites in nature. On the upside, being female, our daughters will not have to worry about the awful priapism that often accompanies the bite.
Naturally, we are relieved that they will not be visiting Kenya. We are also pleased and excited for them to be embarking on this important humanitarian journey. Our niece went to Africa a few years ago on a church sponsored humanitarian trip to help build homes for families. None of us was thrilled as she was only 14, but everything went smoothly. Good luck to your daughters. I think Brazil is a lot safer. |
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Post by hondobrode on Apr 20, 2015 11:00:13 GMT -5
Ugh. Hectic week. Tip of the iceberg ... well, OK, that's hardly accurate; it was the iceberg ... was coming home about 12:40 p.m. Wednesday only to see a couple of kids running out of he carport door from my kitchen. Not yet awake enough to frame a cogent narrative, but suffice it to say that: *My back door's jamb was splintered (at least the door itself held when they decided not to accept the deadbolt's refusal to allow them egress) *Nothing was irretrievably taken (my laptop was sitting in the back driveway, none the worse for wear, luckily). *The cops caught the little jokers within an hour or so. The only thing separating my backyard from a public junior high school's ballfield is a chainlink fence, & that's where they came from. Presumably school security cameras proved to be their downfall, especially since the police found their school uniform shirts (about all I could identify them by, since I got only side & back glimpses as they skedaddled) in the drainage ditch behind my side yard, on school property. Refreshingly, considering the inevitable stereotypes surrounding not only youth crime but also Montgomery's overwhelmingly white-flight-afflicted public schools, the little miscreants were white. (Probably still are.) As part of the surrealism of it all, when I was waiting to give my statement to a detective at CID, which luckily is only a couple of miles from my house, I wound up talking to a couple of guys in their 40s or thereabouts who turned out to be the kids' dads. They were astounded & disgusted, not with me but with their boys. More odd details later, if anyone's interested. I know my FB friends here have seen a blow-by-blow, but that's only a few of you. Dan, my god ! Maybe you should get a security system. We got one last winter when someone was trying to break in on a Saturday night and we were home ! Nothing's happened since, but knowing that you have you might be enough to keep them for trying any funny business. I got our through Cox, our cable company. All the equipment was free and we pay $ 30/mo for monitoring. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2015 17:16:27 GMT -5
Dan, do you think these are the same people that had been using your house as a hangout a little while back? Sounds likely to me.
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 20, 2015 17:52:38 GMT -5
Dan, do you think these are the same people that had been using your house as a hangout a little while back? Sounds likely to me. I think you should start leaving refreshments for them, at the rate that they keep visiting... |
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Post by wickedmountain on Apr 21, 2015 0:32:55 GMT -5
I don't remember whether Shax mentioned this FB or here but in NY, there were 9 shootings just Saturday. Violence seems to arrive with the better weather.  so sad |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2015 0:38:07 GMT -5
I don't remember whether Shax mentioned this FB or here but in NY, there were 9 shootings just Saturday. Violence seems to arrive with the better weather. so sad Crime rates and especially violent crime rates historically increase during the warmer months. More people are out and about, people are out later, people are generally more active during these months as well, and all activity, not just criminal activity increases in these months. Live in a big city and it's just part of the natural cycle of things, you hear more sirens and arguments coming from outside your place during the summer than you do in spring, winter and fall. -M |
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Have your daughters say "hi" to the country for Peggy Rae, though. 
so sad