"THE FLATWOODS MUSEUM ONLINE" BLOG Home of Bond's Blog.....Established December 2008 2010-09-25T02:24:26Z WordPress http://theflatwoodsmuseum.com/blog/feed/atom/ Administrator <![CDATA[Life & Friends…..]]> http://theflatwoodsmuseum.com/blog/?p=43 2010-09-25T02:24:26Z 2010-09-25T02:23:09Z Hey friends…& anyone who may happen to stumble upon this entry. I sit here on a Friday Night…thinking that I need to get my butt back into writing & posting here on my blog. It was been some 14 or 15 months WOW….Yeah I have been slacking….but maybe…just maybe I can get myself into the swing of things…Today I wish to toss out some thoughts & comments on friends. I have been told on many occasions…that friends come & friends go….some are in your life for a very short period of time…some longer & some will be your friend forever. To me that thought seems very dismal & depressing….well…the part about the short period of time friends. I have been around for 36 years….I have seen & met a whole lot of people in that time period….some I wish I had never ever met or come across, some of them were & are nice and pleasant to be around, some I am indifferent about…..and then there are those rare few…and let me emphasize RARE few….that you meet….and you just want to talk, play, associate & be around them forever.

In looking at my life….I am one who doesnt make friends that easily…possibly due to shyness…or who knows…ask the people who have known me or been around me. Some will tell you that I am an arrogant & self righteous bastard. Some will tell you that I will talk your arm & leg off & then some. Others will tell you that I am one of the nicest people they have ever come across. And still others will tell you that I can be depressing, and a bit annoying & a few other choice things. I take this past year well a good chunk of it anyway to use as an example.

Last summer of 2009, I started playing a online game called Evony…well I played it seemingly around the clock from July to January of 2010…when I quit….as I wanted to work on my website & redesign a bunch of stuff. I wanted to completely rehaul my militaria collection portion of it. Well I put my energies into doing just that & also establishing or attempting to establish 2 militaria collecting forums…..which are both still doing well I might add. Then we fast forward to March of 2010. I happened to be looking at a skype conversation with a bunch of my friends & aquaintances I had met through Evony…when I received a request to add a girl who’s game name was Jewelz/Jewelianna. Well i was intrigued as I had only previously heard about this girl Jewelz. She was a co-founder & host of the most powerful alliance on our Evony server. So I accepted…..and everyone was excited to have me back playing. Well Jewelz & I began talking & getting to know each other….then a 2nd girl KillerB came into the picture. The 3 of us became really good friends and due to the nature of the game, we spent hours each & everyday for 5 months talking & chatting & playing. Sometimes it was 2 or 3 hours…sometimes as much as 7 or 8 hours a day. Now…6 months later…I am no longer playing Evony…exactly…Jewelz has been extremely busy with her family & life & other pursuits. KillerB still plays the game and is one of the leaders of the alliance. I still talk most days to them…although it is sometimes only a few short minutes as I am rarely on the computer anymore, at least over the past month. The reason I tell you this…is they are both very neat people. And now as life & time are passing…our interactions are getting less & less. It is a sad thing…when someone so unique comes into your life and you spend hours everyday with that person talking, chatting, playing, etc…and you form a bond with them that you hope NEVER EVER gets broken. And then life occurs & things change. In so many ways the change is an unpleasant one, but unfortunately there isnt much that can be done to prevent it..as life goes by & time marches on. All I can do is hope & pray that our friendship is strong enough to weather the forces of nature that life & time tosses our way. There have ONLY been a couple of people I have met outside of my family that I HOPE to NEVER lose from my life. You know who you are!!!

I look at my best friend…we have known each other for close to 25 years maybe. We have been out of sorts with each other over the past year…We rarely talk to each other. It isn’t for lack of trying, I will leave messages on his mobile phone & his home answering machine….and 99% of the time they go ignored. I am saddened by this…but again all I can do is my part…I cannot do anymore….so if the relationship ends…then unfortunately it ends. So friends are a really touchy subject to me. Just ask the girls…they will both tell you that I can drive them nuts.

Another perfect example is my sister…who ran away from home almost 2 years ago…and we have seen 1 time I think for 30 minutes…and we never really spoke exactly…We have basically NOT heard from her in 2010. And I thought that we all were really close….25 years of doing things together….just to have it destroyed in a single afternoon.

So my advice is this…GO find your friends and tell them how much they mean to you….because they just might not be there tomorrow. My family has had the bad experience of meaning to go see someone…be it a family member or someone we go to church with…and not making it or changing our mind at the last minute…ONLY to have the person die on us. THEN there is NO WAY that we can go see them or visit with them….well at least on this Earth. I am not saying all of your friends are going to die…BUT we dont know all of the curve balls life throws at us….so while you are walking on one path…they might go down a different path….and your paths may never cross again. SO…NEVER TAKE FOR GRANTED your friends & family because after all they are ALL that you have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bond

]]> 0 Administrator <![CDATA[The blessing of expressing opinions]]> http://theflatwoodsmuseum.com/blog/?p=36 2009-07-29T06:49:33Z 2009-07-29T06:48:43Z I must admit…that is the TRULY neat thing about living in America…We ALL have opinions and we have the FREEDOM to express those opinions. I am amoung the lucky ones who has a website, where I can spit out my thoughts & ideals to whoever decides to read them. Alot of blogs spew hatred & animosity, others express religious views, lots are political in nature, BUT mine is a sort of therapy…a way for me to come to terms with the world as it is, in its’ downward spiral. Each and every day…things grow worse & more immoral, more violence, more drugs, more sexuality, more stupidity…you get the idea!!! Well…I am here to say it the way I see it & the way I know it…The world according to bond…I may be in my 30’s BUT I can guarantee you that I have seen more in those years than the majority of people will in their entire lifetimes…more pain, more anguish, more anticipation, more worry, more concern, more difficulties, more miracles, more ghosts, more fun, more fright, more happiness, more hope & more triumphs…I am sure there are a lot more..BUT I think you get the idea.

Some of you reading these entries will NOT agree with me…that is fine…I don’t expect you to. In fact some of my posts may very well be about you… who knows…but know that many of my views will be FACTUAL as I don’t have or see ANY reason to lie or make up stories…

So let the adventures begin…there WILL no doubt be alot to talk about…..

until next time…

]]> 0 Administrator <![CDATA[IACMC versus the Harvard of Camouflage…Which one do I choose???]]> http://theflatwoodsmuseum.com/blog/?p=27 2009-07-29T06:05:01Z 2009-07-29T00:36:05Z OK…there are a multiplicity of militaria forums & message boards out there…I am ONLY going to focus on 2…IACMC, which is run by a governing board of sorts…with me as the FINAL say. I also created the board, and spent countless hours refining & redesigning the site. In fact we are on our 3rd forum site. The 1st 2 were on another site but did NOT give us what we were exactly looking for, so the board was derelict for around 6 months before 2009 hit and my best friend & I said “why not give it another shot…it is a NEW year maybe…just maybe we can get the thing off of the ground….see before we only had about 30 members with about 3 or 4 active posters…which equates to a joke. Well, in Feb of 2009 the site was launched…or shall I say relaunched. In about 5 months, we have about 109 members. We will see how it goes…We like to collect militaria & have fun doing it.

Now the other board ICUS is run by 1 person & 1 person alone…they make ALL decisions & there are NO moderators…sure you can send in your opinions & ideas…but there is NO guarantee that the ideas will be acted upon. Now ICUS is mostly for camouflage…previously was ONLY for camouflage. It is the Harvard for collecting camouflage(well at least that is how I look at it) ICUS was previously only a YAHOO group for however many years. Well the entire time it was a YAHOO group it was strictly for camouflage ONLY…NOW for a few facts about the startup of IACMC & ICUS as forums…

ICUS was at that time only a Yahoo group, it had not yet become a forum like this one. I joined because I was buying large numbers of uniforms in 2006 & 2007 especially. Throughout my time there…I and eventually nkomo(my best friend of over 20 years) noted a few important things…The group was strictly ONLY for camouflage at that time…so if you had a dress uniform or a helmet or patches…ICUS was not for you…during this time my friend was a member of the US Militaria Forum, so I joined there at some point. BUT the problem there was that it was strictly for US items not international stuff & Whermacht Awards was pretty much ONLY for German & East German…NO one forum was dedicated to militaria & topics from ALL time periods & ALL countries. So we decided back in 2007 to come up with something like IACMC. Well I was the one who had more time due to taking care of my grandfather here in my home & also I knew more about how to do stuff like that. I had my own website I had made & was working on, etc. So in Jan of 2008 the 1st incarnation of IACMC was created…later on there was a 2nd one and this one in 2009 is the 3rd & hopefully final version. The reason for the changes were finding free forum software that was easy to use & yet had features that were comparable with the paid software…and forumation was the one chosen.

But…back in January of 2008, quite possibly the 18th…was when the IACMC forum was created. At that point in time ICUS was STILL a Yahoo group. ICUS had plans to develop a forum but had not as of yet…THEN I was courteous and after a 2 week period emailed the “brains” behing ICUS to let him know that we had created a forum & explained it etc. On Feb 11, 2008 I received the link to join the new ICUS FORUM. And 3 1/2 paragraphs of the 7 paragraphs were concerning this forum. He told me “no, there are no hard feelings from my end towards your creation of an alternative website for militaria collectors.” YES..I have this email. and later on in it told me that he wishes me luck with it. Well…he & 1 other joined our forum right away and WOW…the ICUS forum was created & was OPEN for business about 2 weeks after ours went online..and another interesting footnote is it resembled ours pretty closely…In our opinions this was NOT coincidence. And then ICUS suddenly had areas for other items like headgear, patches, gear etc…even though those sections have very few entries/posts. This was apparently due to suggestions from members.

IACMC is for ALL militaria & ALL countries from ALL time periods…SIMPLY put…We are for EVERYTHING. We WELCOME all collectors from all corners of the world. We are a happy bunch of people(generally-haha) and we LOVE to see photos from everyones collection…We are almost a show & tell while learning. We BELIEVE that the best learning takes place when the atmosphere is relaxed & there is a sense of FUN in the air. Just ask any of the 109 folks in there, I have not heard ANY negative comments yet….with the exception of the “ICUS COMMANDER” who is NO longer a member….

So if you LOVE camouflage…go join ICUS…they may let you in…if you love to have fun & collect all sorts of things…then join IACMC….Frankly I could care less…BUT even better…join both & see for yourself….We have many of our members who have either left or got “fired” from USMF & ICUS in our forum….BUT that is OK…we will BE GLAD to have ya…

]]> 0 Administrator <![CDATA[MUSINGS ON THE 2009 STIMULUS BILL]]> http://theflatwoodsmuseum.com/blog/?p=21 2009-02-06T07:40:16Z 2009-02-06T07:23:30Z Ok…if you guys have been paying attention to the news…be it…newspaper, magazine, radio or television…..you will have heard all about it. Well…here comes my opinion on the matter. While I agree something somewhere needs to be done….adding all the miscellaneous NONSENSE to it(the bill) for the large sums of money that the NONSENSE amounts to is simply HORSE MANURE!! such as: $31 billion to build and repair federal buildings and other public infrastructure, $420 million to combat avian flu, $335 million for programs that combat AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis, $850 million to prevent forest fires, $6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes. NOW for the WHY..In the midst of a GREAT DEPRESSION more or less….why spend huge amounts of money to remodel federal buildings. Fight avian flu??? who cares about avian flu….eat an apple a day…take a tylenol & call the doc in the morning…..DON’T WASTE $420 MILLION on it. As far as AIDS, STD’s & TB….These have been around long enough for people to be AWARE about these…NO NEED to spend $335 MILLION on it. Prevent forest fires……SURE…while noone wants to see forest fires…you cannot prevent them from occuring….So IS the government going to PREVENT random lightning strikes…STOP birds from carrying cigarette butts into the woods….STOP arsonists from randomly starting a fire….WELL TRUST ME…$850 MILLION will NOT PREVENT FOREST FIRES!!!!!! and that you can take to the bank!!!! And why on earth would the government PAY to help weatherize houses….that is the homeowners’ responsibility……THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD spend money to ALLOW 90 year old bedridden folks to get to & from their doctor’s offices without it COSTING $800-900 each trip…considering MEDICARE WILL NOT pay for it!!!! THAT IS WHERE SOME OF THE MONEY SHOULD GO!!!!!!! for WORTHWHILE causes….not these other items that all the money in the world CANNOT prevent!!! chew on these thoughts for a while….NOT a day goes by that I don’t think about it!!

]]> 0 Administrator <![CDATA[WALMART EXPOSED!!! A DECEPTIVE & DESPICABLE PRACTICE REVEALED!!!!]]> http://theflatwoodsmuseum.com/blog/?p=12 2008-12-18T07:29:49Z 2008-12-18T02:30:10Z Well…..I am here to tell you about something that happened to my family….this is MOST CERTAINLY NOT hearsay. On Monday the 15th…We (mom & myself) went to one of our local Walmart stores to pick up several supplies…including several for my grandfather. Well, the cashier that checked us out…..was certainly NOT the brightest cookie in the package…but definately NOT his fault. I checked the spinner thing to assure myself that all the purchases were retrieved. We left and…..now FAST FORWARD to Wednesday. The home health aide was at our house to bathe my grandfather….and well….we noticed…the shaving cream was missing and 2 other items…a body wash & a box of q-tips. These 3 items were valued between $12-13. We searched the car several times, the house and the 3 items were definately NOT here. So we called the Walmart and the customer service associate checked for us….and comes back and says…”yeah…they were put back into the computer”. They went on to tell us all we had to do was to go get the 3 items again and bring them to the service desk. Well….we did just that and got the items back….no questions asked.

NOW…the deceptive part of this is that good old Walmart….put those 3 items that were paid for…back into their inventory and were placed back on the shelf so be purchased AGAIN!!!! That is just WRONG on so many levels….what Walmart should do…is to donate those things left & not claimed by customers to a food bank/homeless shelter…etc. NOT put them back on the shelf so they can make even MORE money. So….just think on all those items that invaribly get left behind….and one wonders why Walmart is so filthy rich…..WELL, NOW YOU KNOW AT LEAST 1 REASON WHY!!!!

So until the next time, better double check to see that you got ALL the things that you paid for….I wouldn’t want you to pay TWICE :)

]]> 0 Administrator <![CDATA[Cold Weather??? Leave already!!!]]> http://theflatwoodsmuseum.com/blog/?p=7 2008-12-18T07:06:28Z 2008-12-17T20:30:50Z Well…I figure that the first one will be about the nasty weather we are having. Ok…now I know what you are going to say….”bond…it is middle of December…what do you expect?” Well….I expect some weather in the 60’s & 70’s…because that is what we have had for the last number of years. Blame it on El Nino, La Nina, global warming, Al Gore, Obama, Pres Bush…or whoever or whatever, but the last major winter weather…as in deep snow…and a long cold winter was in 1994 or 1995 (while I was in Hawaii) and then…..I come back and BOOM…Florida like weather….I distinctly remember people mowing grass a week before Christmas a year or 2 ago. This year…we seemed to skip fall…..and we went straight to winter…YUCK :( As you can tell….I am a SPRING/SUMMER/AUTUMN type of guy….guess that is why I want to live in Phoenix so bad. Like right now at 8:21pm in the east…we are suffering through snow, freezing rain & bitter cold. I like rain…just not when it makes a ice skating rink outside….I can attest that when a 6 foot 2 inch guy falls….it hurts….hurts bad….So unfortunately I am stuck with the “freezing” consequences of mother nature…until next time!!!! STAY WARM!!!!

]]> 0 Administrator <![CDATA[Hello world!]]> 2008-12-18T07:07:09Z 2008-12-16T23:12:52Z WELL GUYS, I AM GOING MAKE AN EFFORT TO POST A BLOG ABOUT MY THOUGHTS, FEELINGS & IDEAS IN THIS SECTION OF MY WEBSITE. I CAN TELL YOU THAT SOME OF THE STUFF THAT WILL BE FLOWING OUT OF MY MOUTH…WILL BE VILE, THOUGHTLESS & DOWNRIGHT RUDE. BUT THAT IS THE POINT OF “MY” BLOG….I CAN SAY WHATEVER I DARN WELL PLEASE AS IT IS MY BLOG ON MY WEBSITE..SO TAKE THAT!!! AS MANY OF YOU KNOW ME OR KNOW OF ME…I AM A VERY OPINIONATED PERSON…I HAVE OPINIONS ON ALMOST EVERYTHING FROM POLITICS & RELIGION TO THE TYPE OF CANDLES YOU BUY IN THE STORE. SOME OF THIS WILL BE FAMILY RELATED & SOME WILL JUST BE ABOUT THE WORLD THE WAY I SEE IT….IT SHOULD BE LOADS OF FUN & EXCITEMENT….SO READY OR NOT HERE I COME……..

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