Twins Podcast

There’s another Twins Podcast this Sunday night at 8pm CT.

The Call-in number is: 646-652-4947

The webpage is http://blogtalkradio.com/andrade and there’s a chat room feature everyone can use prior to and during the show.

Twins Podcast

Another Podcast, same time, same channel

There’s another Twins Podcast this Sunday night at 8pm CT.

The Call-in number is: 646-652-4947

The webpage is http://blogtalkradio.com/andrade and there’s a chat room feature everyone can use prior to and during the show.

Wednesday Hero

Spc. Matthew A. Koch
23 years old from West Henrietta, New York
Company C, 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division
March 9, 2005

Spc. Matthew A. Koch was on his second tour of duty when he was killed by an IED that was detonated near his vehicle in Taji. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He previously was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon and medals for service in the fight against terrorism.

Koch enlisted in the Army in January 2002 after the attacks on September 11, 2001 and re-enlisted because he wanted to help the Iraqi people. “He was a brave soldier who made the greatest sacrifice anyone could make for everyone else’s freedom,” Diane Worman, Koch’s mother, said through tears. “He realized that by being over there, he was going to make a difference in the lives of those people.” She said her son once unsuccessfully sought green cards for an Iraqi family that had been threatened for helping Americans.

“He always looked out for the other guy, never thought of himself. He volunteered to go to C Co before our first deployment so that one of the guys from our Platoon didn’t have to deploy early and would have a chance to marry his fiance. That’s Koch for you, always looking out for his buddies.” – David A. “Buch” Buchanan.

“He really loved the service and went back,” said James Worman, Koch’s stepfather. “He had no problem. He was dedicated to the fact that people over there needed help. He was always concerned about other people. He loved children. He was a nice, soft-hearted kid.”

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

From the Notebook

-I don’t think people realize the psychological effect Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs are going to have. Recently, I had to spend a weekend dogsitting for a friend who had converted almost entirely to CFBs and by the end of the weekend I was going nuts. There is a case to be madefor fluorescent lighting causing some health problems through “over illumination” and incorrect “spectra.” Well, whatever it was, I was glad to get back to incandescent lighting.

-Normally The Big Ten Roundtableis a blog focused on the lighter side of offensive and profane news. Lately, BSOTR has been producing sound posts on public and international policies. How dare he.

-Volunteered for my BPOU at a county fair. Ugh. Lots of traffic around the DFL booth, and in an area known for voting very Republican. It was fun seeing not too bright people try to spit out witty insults at me, and my repertoire of snappy come backs was enough to get them to leave, but I don’t think I was doing the party much service.

-In my recent satire piece on Obama, I used the word “Eminent” instead of “Imminent” in the headline. Since the satire piece was about the divinely eminent character of Obama’s running mate, the title worked as an erudite play on words. If only it were entirely on purpose. Writing well is hard work. I am so often disappointed in how I write it sometimes drives me to reconsider the hobby I have spent so many hours on over the years. I read some of the dispatches I produced at the MNGOP State Convention and I’m embarrassed how poorly I wrote on the fly. Those posts are among the most read posts I have ever produced and they’re filled with repeater phrases and cliches. I can only hope to continue to improve as I go along.

-I’m not nearly as annoyed with my writing as I am with my recent performances on the Twins Podcast. The verbal pauses, more repeater phrases (combined with redundancies) and a meandering style. As someone who has done a lot of radio and podcasting, it was infuriating. I keep doing it in the slim hope I acquire some level of competence, but my views on the subject might explain why I’ve abandoned my various podcasting projects as often as I have. I’ll probably keep doing them on and off as long as I’m a blogger. “Perfect practice makes perfect” as one of my old coaches used to say.

-Speaking of which…here’s the first of what is to be a regularly produced political podcast (at least until the election):

Gabcast! On The Road Podcasts #14

Thanks Gabcast. See if you can hear me get negligible and negligent mixed up.