Gene Upshaw Dies

Gene Upshaw has been Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association since June 1983, after a successful 16-year career as a player and he is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. On a trivia note - Upshaw became the only player ever to start on championship teams in both the AFL and NFL.

You may be wondering why I would post this story. Gene Upshaw was one of those people that I kind of knew - only because he was a student teacher in shop class when I was in junior high. First, by me saying junior high - that tells my age, as they are all now middle schools and the like. Now Upshaw was not my own shop class student teacher, but he was a student teacher while I was there. Student teachers usually only teach a couple of classes.

I will say this though. We were afraid of him. We all knew he would drive up through the wall if he gave us 'licks.' For you young-uns and overly politically correct people, that was a paddling you got for misbehaving in class. Why schools have gone away from that is just crazy - I think it was after the whimps that croed for getting lick grew up - they did stuff to "show them" by passing laws and making frivolous law suits. Sorry to digress...

He was born near where I grew up, and went to the same college I graduated from - Texas A&I. (The same school Darrel Green another Pro Footbal Hall of Famer went to). My dad was a local football nut - so I saw every home game for the Javelinas. If you need to know what a Javelina (pronounced hah-vuh-lee-nah, with the accent on the third syllable) is - go here. I remember the game where Upshaw kicked off and it would have been a field goal if such things count. Of course they kicked off from the 40 back then. At least in those days he was a giant to us. (6-5 255lbs) He would not be a large offensive lineman by todays NFL standard.

Anyhow, I just wanted to share about all of that.

Be Safe!

A Short CTO - Back in Liberia

Well, I have enjoyed a short time off from Liberia - it felt good to get out for a while. I was able to get some things done at home while on leave, but I didn't even announce to anyone that I was going home, as I had such little time there. I enjoyed the visit home, and I got a few things done around the house - some rewiring, some pool fixing, and of course we had a small storm come in when I was there. I didn't do a whole lot besides that, but it was good to be home and good to take care of some stuff. I did pick up a few things for folks working in Liberia, that they do not have available, in their home country.



One item was kind of mistake for me to pick up - it was a ginormous laptop. It has a 21 inch screen and all accessories included weighed 30 lbs. That really cut back on stuff that I could bring back with me, but, it really wasn't too big of a deal.

On a "dumb people" note:

On the flight back from Brussels to Liberia on Brussels Airlines, there was this lady sitting in an exit row seat - she had he bag in front of her and the flight crew told her she had to move it – so they placed it a couple of rows behind her in the over - head bin. That wasn't the dumb part. The dumb part was when we had stopped in Abidjizan, the plane changed flight crews. Guess what? The whole scene of the bag in front of her and having to move it was replayed. - So I am wondering, is she that dumb, or did she think that the new flight crew wouldn't notice, or maybe have different rules... Oh well, it was just one of those things that bug me.

It didn't bug me as much as the "devil child" that was sitting behind me, crying for attention only and kicking the back of my seat. Of course her mother was just ignoring all of that, and it is just a 9 hour trip or so. I quickly resolved the kicking issue by looking around the seat and giving the child one of those "I will cut you up in pieces and eat you alive" looks. It did work really well.

Other than that the trip went exceptionally well.

Spying on Gun Control Freaks - Illegal?

OK, how lame is it when a gun control group wants to file criminal charges against a former worker for “spying for the NRA.”

PHILADELPHIA - A gun-control activist who championed the cause for more than a decade and served on the boards of two anti-violence groups is suspected of working as a paid spy for the National Rifle Association, and now those organizations are expelling her and sweeping their offices for bugs. -- Story is here.

I mean, come on, how bad can it be, and what would the group have to hide to worry about being “spied on.” As far as I can tell, there is no special rights to privacy for alleged non-profit organizations. If the NRA decided to plant a person inside, so what, you can’t tell me the gun control freaks don’t do the same thing.

What is worse, is the fact it is considered a news story.

You can see my opinion on the issue below.

Stay Safe!