One special evening

Take one marvelous violinist, add one very proud Dad and what do you have? An amazing evening which I frequently re-live in my mind.

March 14, 2008

Thanks, Sean.

The Strong Arm of the USA

Like a "city set on a hill" these United States were born. For all the faults of which we are aware (and many of which we likely are not aware), for all the mistakes we have made, for all the selfishness, greed and personal ambitions we've seen in our selves and our leaders, yet God bless the USA.

When I heard about the Haitian earthquake, then heard about the massive relief effort the US military was mounting, I was in tears. Once again, the God-given strength of the US military is being used for good, for rescuing the weak, for protecting the helpless, yes, for ... good.

Despite the mistakes we've made and the terrible thing war is and how much we hate that terrible evil, yet the US military is more often than not used to maintain peace, to keep order, to promote health, to rescue, to protect those who can not protect themselves. "Peace is our profession" as it says on the main gate of Fort Carson, Colorado.

God shed His grace on thee, America. Thank the Lord for the US military.

Coffee from out of this world (or out of something)

Today I went to Coffee Club to work on American History planning for this semester. I ordered a Mocha Latte. It was very good. I was just sitting there, minding my own business, when the server came by and gave me a free sample of some new coffee they just got in. She said that someone wanted me to try it (some other guy there whom I should know, but don't). The name of the coffee was "Kopa Luwak" (phonetically). It was very good. It ought to be.

This gentleman then comes over and shows me a picture on his iPhone or iPod touch. The guy is about 70 years old or so. It's a picture of some type of small animal -- like a possum or similar -- in the jungle. He tells me that this animal eats the pods of some red seeds, then passes the remaining coffee beans out in the animals feces (poop for those of you in Rio Linda).

They then harvest the beans from the animals feces, cleanse them (I hope) and sell the coffee beans. This is the Kopa Luwak coffee beans.

As I mentioned, the coffee should be quite good. The cost of the beans is ...

$250.00 per 8 oz of beans.

Apparently, according to this gentleman, the story of the animal and the Kopa Luwak beans is detailed in a movie called "The Bucket List" which he highly recommends.

And that, my friends, is my story for today.

David