Project Valour IT -- Give to Those Who Gave For Us

Today's warfare leaves thousands of men and women who serve America seriously wounded for life.

Project Valour IT can provide these troops with voice-activated laptops and other high-tech gear. Please take some time to learn about this project, then make a donation via the widget at the very bottom of the post.

From Villainous Company:

Project Valour-IT began when Captain Charles "Chuck" Ziegenfuss was wounded by an IED while serving as commander of a tank company in Iraq in June 2005.

During his deployment he kept a blog. Captivating writing, insightful stories of his experiences, and his self-deprecating humor won him many loyal readers. After he was wounded, his wife continued his blog, keeping his readers informed of his condition.

As he began to recover, CPT Ziegenfuss wanted to return to writing his blog, but serious hand injuries hampered his typing. When a loyal and generous reader gave him a copy of the Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred software, other readers began to realize how important such software could be to CPT Ziegenfuss' fellow wounded soldiers and started casting about for a way to get it to them.

A fellow blogger who writes under the pseudonym FbL contacted Captain Ziegenfuss and the two realized they shared a vision of creating libraries of laptops with voice-controlled software that could be brought to the bedsides of wounded soldiers whose injuries prevented them from operating a standard computer. FbL contacted Soldiers' Angels, who offered to help develop the project, and Project Valour-IT was born.

In sharing their thoughts, CPT Ziegenfuss and FbL found that memories of their respective fathers were a motivating factor in their work with the project. Both continue their association with this project in memory of the great men in their lives whose fine examples taught them lasting lessons of courage and generosity.

Here's more of CPT Ziegenfuss' story, reposted from Cao's Blog:



Cao also notes:

Chuck blogs at From My Position on the Way, here.

Read about Chuck and his steadfast and courageous Carren, here and their amazing attitudes while he was recovering from his injuries.

The fundraiser ends Wednesday, November 11th, Veteran's Day. Please donate here:

*

Project Valour IT -- Give to Those Who Gave For Us

Poetry Break: Wallace Stevens

Politics has been a bit of a drain on my psyche these past 10 days, and I just so happen to have come across a great Walt Whitman post over at Bungalow Bill's tonight that has inspired me, so I ask your forgiveness if I digress somewhat into a more deft and gentlemanly world for a post or two.

The Emperor of Ice-Cream

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

-- Wallace Stevens

I owe knowledge of this poem to two people: Alan Natali, may you forever be the gentle linebacker with mangled fingers and a subtle touch with students who give a fuck about writing; and Ron Forsythe, may you be bending the ear of Zeus on the finer points of everything from the NFL to the summary phrase at this very moment.

*

Poetry Break: Wallace Stevens

I'm Feeling Amazonian Tonight

You know, Amazon Women on the Moon.

WHAT? Never heard of it? What a sheltered life you lead.

If you don't click below, you'll miss the best thing Arsenio Hall's ever done on screen... Woof! Woof! Woof!

*

I'm Feeling Amazonian Tonight

Random Thoughts of Little Importance While on Vacation

Weird scenes inside my muddled brain, from the driver's seat and the beach and the boardwalk and the hotel balcony, that I posted on Twitter and Facebook from my Crackberry this past weekend, during a family trip to Hollywood Beach, Florida. And some people take pictures.

Don't ask...just read.

And be glad I left out the little nastiness that occurred when the Haitians at the Turnpike rest stop refused to give me ketchup for my Whopper, the business with the mace too vial and terrible to retell, even for my usual recklessness.

May 30
GONE TO FLORIDA. MAY NEVER RETURN!

Obama can't produce a birth certificate. He used it to roll a fatty and smoked it.

Road to Florida tweet: the Cracker Barrel in Jimmy Carter's hometown is as crappy as his policies were. #TCOT #SGP

Florida is just as beautiful as when I lived here. That's it. I'm staying.

May 31
Fear and loathing in the hotel room...nervous morning. Children bouncing off the ceiling. What's that bird, Daddy? Look at the sailboat! Stop throwing pears at me! Daddy can we go to the beach?...Meanwhile, Daddy just finished his steaming hot beer from last night...and the liquor store doesn't open 'til noon (damned Florida legislature!)...Daddy, if I jump, can I land in the water? Don't know. Let me try first...

My new tradition: Since I'm never coming back, I'll be having a bloody Mary, like now, with breakfast @La Brochetterie...which I'll buy with my stimulus check.

At the beach, fat men with shaved chests look like giant Butterball turkeys, except I'm pretty sure even the sharks would avoid them.

I thank the woman wearing the g-string (but shouldn't), whose husband just put lotion on her cheeks. I didn't need my breakfast anyway.

Worst beach band song of all-time: Hotel California...reggae style...

Beach scene: Man holding a Bible, a camera slung around his neck, marries a couple (snapping a photo after delivering each line), the groom wearing Bermuda shorts and a t-shirt, the bride wearing all white: cotton dress, lacey vail ... and thong.

June 1
Beach scene: Homeless dude, asleep sitting upright on a park bench, arms folded across his chest, a mosquito net pulled down snug around his bushy beard.

Why do people who obviously don't exercise suddenly start when they go to the beach?

Next new tradition: Since I'm never coming back, I'll start off every Monday morning watching beach bunnies over two beers.

Beach lite: paying hundreds of dollars for a room on the ocean so you can spend the day...by the pool.

June 2
Road from fla tweet: In Valdosta...drive thru girl: have you seen the 09 pennies? Me: no. Do they have Obama's face? Drive thru girl: huh?

Think I'll avoid eating @ any Shoney's with all letters burnt out except for HO.

Overheard in a convenient store: "Habnis habnis habnis habnis. Hahahahaha." Apparently "habnis" is some funny shit in Arabic. #TCOT

Paradise is being kicked in the back @ 80 mph by a 5 year old in a meltdown.

June 3
You know it's been a great vacation when your work fat pants are tight.

Amazing how some peace away from the office makes you forget how many dicks you work with, and how quickly you remember once you return.

*

Random Thoughts of Little Importance While on Vacation

Great Moments in Al Bundy's Life

And now for something completely different...

One of the reasons I no longer watch much TV is...well...I have this friggin' blog to feed.

But there's really not much on TV anymore that appeals to me. I can handle a gazillion seasons of Lost, 24, and House for only so long.

But Married With Children? I could watch that show forever. Al Bundy is an island unto himself...in Al Gore's twisted world of rising oceans and sinking land masses.

Luckily, Uncoached could too, as evidenced by this posting of "Great Moments in Al Bundy and Hot Chicks."

Sorry ladies, but I must offend...mi compadre in matters of family doth need worshiping. (And, if truth must be told, it shows how lame we men really are...but I digress.)



Go ahead...click the link...you know you want more.

*

Great Moments in Al Bundy's Life