Shelter

Totally Awesome

-Sunday … good morning everyone, and welcome.

-We’ve got clear conditions out in the back yard this morning, with 46 degrees. Temperature is not to bad for this time of year and this time of the day. It’s 5:50 a.m.

-Today’s northland weather forecast, for our area of Minnesota calls for: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain showers. Highs 50 to 55. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph becoming west 5 to 10 mph late in the afternoon.

Color weather radar does show a few small areas of rain in north eastern Minnesota this morning … up toward International Falls and then over toward Grand Marais, Minnesota.

-Steve and I didn’t get going to Duluth until about 10:40 a.m. yesterday … we just took our time getting ready and heading on out.

It was a fairly nice day here … with temperatures in the mid 50’s under sunny skies.

When we arrived at the Miller Hill Mall area, we stopped at Target, then the Burning Tree Mall area – and finished up at Sam’s Club.

After stopping at those few places … it was time for a small lite lunch at Taco Bell … where we just had one small thing with water.

We were in a hurry to make the 1:00 p.m. movie at the Marcus Duluth 10 and we only had a few minutes to spare.

Our movie for the afternoon was Body of Lies, with Leonardo DiCaprio.

A CIA operative, Roger Ferris, uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan. When Ferris devises a plan to infiltrate his network, he must first win the backing of cunning CIA veteran Ed Hoffman and the collegial, but perhaps suspect, head of Jordanian intelligence. Although ostensibly his allies, Ferris questions how far he can really trust these men without putting his entire operation–and his life–on the line.

Let me just sum up the movie in two words … “Totally Awesome”. I would easily rate that movie at an “A”.

Having been in both Amsterdam and the Middle East … I found this movie to be captivating. The story- twists and turns as CIA operative known as Ferris (DiCaprio) tracks down the head of a terrorist cell responsible for bombings in London & Amsterdam. Caught between his ego centric boss and the calculating head of the Jordanian secret police- he wrestles with his conscience, follows intelligence leads, and tries to deal with his own fractured personal life.

This movie gives you real life glimpses of the life and current situations in the middle east.

Fascinating!

Steve and I would highly recommend you see this movie, if you like action adventure and thriller type movies.

-GLBT history month, and on this day:

October  19

October 19, 1946 – Harris Glenn Milstead, better known to the world as Divine, is born in Baltimore.  The queen of shock starred in Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and a raft of other films.

October 19, 1955 – Daughters of Bilitis, the first long-term American organization for lesbians, was founded in San Francisco by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.

October 19, 1981- Former Toronto  mayor John Sewell wins junior aldermanic seat in Ward 6 byelection. It is the first time the gay issue has not played a role in an election in the mainly gay area.

October 19, 1993 – Massachusetts state education officials announced that they would use $450,000 in funds raised from a new state cigarette tax to fund programs to stop anti-gay harassment in public schools.

October 19, 1996 – Representatives of the American Psychiatric Association met with approximately fifty transgender activists who voiced their concerns about reforming the diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder.

October 19, 1999 – A  rape center in Vancouver organization was ordered to pay $2,030 in damages for banning a transgendered person from its drop-in center.

-Today is football day around here, as Steve and I pick the teams that we think are going to win in the NFL today.  It’s part of his family’s Sunday football picks tradition … that’s been going on for … I don’t how many years.

Steve is in first place, followed by his day and me…?  I’m in third place … with eight others below me.  I’ll have to see if I can close the “gap” today and pick more winners than I did the last two weeks.

But then with the NFL … who the heck knows who is going to win.  Talk about inconsistent playing … they’ve sure got it there.

-In the Presidential election campaign here in Minnesota … the Minnesota Poll this morning shows Obama with a wide lead over McCain.

Democrat Barack Obama continues to hold a wide lead over Republican John McCain in Minnesota, largely because most likely voters believe Obama would do a better job with the economy, according to a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll.

Obama’s consistent lead in Minnesota in recent weeks mirrors his sustained edge nationwide and in several battleground states.

The Gallup organization’s most recent national daily tracking poll, released Saturday, showed Obama ahead of McCain 50 percent to 42 percent among registered voters.

Obama also has pulled ahead in a handful of critical states such as Missouri and Virginia (by about six percentage points), Florida (about four points) and North Carolina (about two points).

As much as I love the news and some of the political events … I’m going to be glad to see this thing come to a head on November 4th and end.

-Things we’ve read…

• Houdini was the first man to fly a plane solo in Australia.
• The launching mechanism of a carrier ship that helps planes to take off could throw a pickup truck over a mile.
• In Ancient Greece, if a woman watched even one Olympic event, she was executed.
• The U.S. founding fathers’ name for the American Revolution was ‘The War with Britain’.
• A person infected with the SARS virus, has a 95-98% chance of recovery.

-Well guys, I’m going to finish up the bowl of “oatmeal” that I cooked a while ago … Steve will be up in about two and a half hours from now, around 8:30 or 8:45 a.m.

We hope you have a great day … no matter what your doing.  Whether it be watching football, going to the park, going shopping or just laying in bed with your boy friend.

Have a great Sunday guys … remember to be kind and love one another.  We will see all of you back here again tomorrow morning, about this same time.

-Until next time…