Thoughts on Virginia Tech

I really think most of what needs said has probably been covered, recovered and then covered some more so that most people are sick of hearing of it.

A couple of things really stand out in my mind though regarding this whole thing.

First and foremost, and I know this will come as a shock to most of you reading this. This tragic event could have been prevented by just one more law on the books.

Just one more law and those 32 people who were just beginning their life would still be with us.

Just one more law and those 32 families would not be grieving.

Just one more law and we would not have the face of evil staring out of our televisions 24 and 7.

Just one more law and we would not be enduring this repeated media barrage of the tragedy.

Just one more law is all it would have taken.

Just one more immigration law. That’s all it would have taken. Think about that before buying off on the screaming for more gun control.

Also think on this, The only way to prevent an bad person from using a gun for evil is to put a gun in the hand of a good person. Did you know that just last January the Virginia legislature debated allowing concealed carry license holders to legally carry their firearms on the campus of Virginia Tech? Just how might that one little change in a state law have affected the outcome of Monday’s tragedy?

Another thought, one of the people killed was a 76 year old MAN, Liviu Librescu (and I use that word specifically) who was a survivor of the Holocaust. When confronted with Evil, he barricaded the door with his own body in order to give time for his students to escape out the window. What an incredible example of bravery and of standing tall in the face of evil. He made a conscious decision to oppose the evil he was faced with. He made a conscious decision to stand tall and not cower in a corner and hope it didn’t happen to him. He made a conscious decision to make the ultimate sacrifice so that others may live. I’ve no doubt in my mind that he is standing in Glory before God.

I heard an interview with a male of the species, (and I use that phrase very specifically) who was in a room next door to the shooter. His comment, (and I paraphrase) was, “we heard the shooting and were scared so we tried to hide”. I’ve heard and read reports of how the 30 killed in the class room lined up against the wall, put their hands behind their heads and kneeled down.

I can’t quite understand that mindset. Did no one in the room think to fight back?

Did no one, when the crazy guy with the gun first ran into the room spring into action?

Did no one start throwing books, notebooks, chairs, cups of coffee or sodas at the shooter?

Did no one think to jump up and charge the shooter while he was busy dodging all the stuff being thrown at him?

Did no one think to FIGHT BACK in EVERY WAY POSSIBLE with EVERYTHING possible?

Did no one think that if they could get the crazy guy on the ground and proceed to beat his head into a bloody pulp that he would have been dead and they would be alive?

I pray for those who willingly will stand in harms way to defend the innocent.

I pray for those who willingly answer the call serve to defend us and our freedom.

I pray for those who willingly serve the public whether they are fire, police or ambulance, volunteer or professional.

I pray for our troops who while they may be scared they charge toward the sound of gunfire rather than trying to hide.

I pray for our nation where we have created a generation of emasculated males who would rather cower and hide, than stand and fight against evil.

I pray that those who have been emasculated by their culture and beliefs would wake up, choose to stand tall, and become a MAN in the process.

I pray for the ones and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice and stood tall to defend right from wrong, good from evil, justice from injustice.

And I pray for the ones who will stand on that lonely piece of ground and stare into the face of Satan incarnate and shout back at them, “You shall not pass!”

Semper Fidelis and Semper Vigilo

There is a smart way to do things and there is a dumb way to do things…. Then there is the Dave way.

Dad always had a saying. There is a smart way to do things and a dumb way to do things. I’ve seem to found a third way, the Dave way.

This usually involves not only doing something the dumb way but on occasion making whatever task I am doing even harder and more painful than it really should have been.

Case in point was last night. We had received a package of some, well lets just say, “stuff” that was covered in cosmoline to protect it from rust. For those who don’t know cosmoline is a petroleum product that is generally liberally slathered on metal parts before they are put into long term storage. It’s really great at protecting against rust. It’s also a real pain in the backside to clean off of whatever it’s been applied to.

After spending some time researching different methods of cleaning cosmoline on the internet I picked one that I thought should work and be fairly easy. I did discard the recipes involving gasoline and open flames. I may be a little crazy but I am not that crazy! Everyone seemed to agree mineral spirits would just dissolve the cosmoline away and leave the metal clean and shiny with a minimum of fuss and mess. Of course I had to do things, the Dave way.

Rather than take time to change into my grubby yard-work clothes and find a pair of rubber gloves I decided it wouldn’t take long to clean this stuff up. Oops! That turned out to be a rather painful mistake.

I had 24 items to clean with an original plan of cleaning my friends stuff for him also. That didn’t quite happen.

Who knew that 3 hours of bathing your hands in mineral spirits and cosmoline would make them feel like they did? It was kind of a cross between having strong acid and molten lava poured on them and then being hooked up to 220 volts AC. Of course by morning though my hands are pretty much back to normal, I do though, have this new twitch in the neck, not really sure just where it came from…

Let’s just say, lesson learned.

Walking the “Dave” way…

Well as some of you know I started walking again at the first of the year. My type II diabetes had not been responding well to the medication that I was on. It also didn’t help that my diet and exercise programs were not great and non existent.

By the first couple of weeks of walking I had the bright idea to start wearing some boots I had got for cheap on closeout. I know what your thinking, cheap boots, are you nuts? Actually these are good boots bought for a cheap price. I highly recommend 5.11 HRT boots.


If any of you see them for sale in a 10.5 or 11 for less than $50 give me a call ASAP!

Another week or two of walking and I had the bright or not so bright idea of putting together a GO BAG and carrying it while walking. So I did a little Ebay shopping and found a Camelbak Motherlode backpack for cheap. And let me just toss in a recommendation for all things Camelbak, they make great gear and stand behind it!



My initial load out in the bag tended to run around 30 pounds or so. The stuff that I was carrying was essentially what one might carry while backpacking and camping. Some of it, mainly food related was geared to my diabetes and possible low blood sugar events.

Another week or two go by and I start thinking of a challenge to give me something to focus on for my walks. Being rather goal orientated anyway it had to be something that would give me a significant challenge and mean accomplishing a major goal. I soon ended up with the not so bright idea of trying to walk home from work. Of course with goals you have to set deadlines and I choose to finish this “hare brained” idea before my 42nd birthday.

Of course I also knew that as long as I kept my mouth shut I wouldn’t be committed to it and I could keep it in the “interesting idea” department of my brain. And then I opened my mouth. My dear, sweet, wonderful wife soon posted my idea up on Glocktalk for all the world to see. Now I was committed, oh joy.

By now I had eight to ten weeks to train for this bright idea of mine. Training for something like this is easy. Walk, walk lots, walk some more, and then walk even more. It got to the point on my weekend walks of first five, then six, seven, eight, nine, eleven, and fourteen miles that even the dogs were staging weekly mutinies. Cody, even as dense as he is, knew where the turn for home was on my walks. And if I didn’t take it, I’d soon find myself dragging 70 pounds of stubborn as a Missouri mule ridgeback.

I did a lot of planning, looking at maps, aerial overheads, satellite imagery and walking portions of my route. My best calculations and guesses were it should be right around 16 miles. I’d thought I’d learned the lesson of never trusting maps and intel in the Marine Corps but I must have forgotten that one.

Time soon ran out on my training program and it came to the time to actually get it done. Fortunately the weather cooperated with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid to upper 70’s. Beautiful weather for north Texas in the springtime.

I’d picked a Sunday morning for the walk in hopes of encountering less traffic in the stretches where I needed to walk alongside a road. Another lesson learned, traffic never really stops here in the Dallas area.

I’d also picked a start time of 0730 but didn’t actually start till 0815, lots of minor delays just getting everything ready and checking and rechecking my gear to make sure I had everything, other than my cell phone which I forgot. Actually it would be probably have jinxed me had I not forgotten at least something.

My load in my pack that day ended being right around 40 pounds, about 10 pounds more than I was used to carrying. The extra weight was mainly due to extra food, water, and a few other essentials.

It was actually very easy to get started, much easier than I’d anticipated. Just start walking and keep on going.

Happy Dave



Five hours, 45 minutes, two Cliff bars, two MRE squeezy cheeses, around 75 ounces of water, and 18.1 miles later, I was home.

Tired Dave



Sore feet



And almost three weeks later, note the pressure bruises under the toe nails.



It was overall a very good experience and a fun time. Of course I do have a somewhat warped sense of fun.

And I did learn some important lessons.

1. Make sure your shoes fit! I’d changed out of boots to shoes with the change to warmer weather. They were just a touch to small.
2. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can be a good thing at times.
3. Blisters might not pop up until several days later.
4. I still tend to over pack.
5. You can do it if you put your mind to it. After-all, it’s mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!
6. It will stop hurting when the pain goes away!
7. People don’t pay attention to anyone else.
8. Foot powder isn't just for feet!
9. Dad walked 18+ miles a day, five days a week for 15 years. I’ve got a whole new level of respect for what he did to keep a roof over our heads and dinner on the table.