Tao of FAU

Veterans and the Mo

It's Veteran's Day today when we take time to say thank you to all those who have put their lives on the line for America. These are brave men and women and we do right by taking time to honor them once a year.

On a personal note I want to thank my Father for his service and my cousin Steve who use to jump out of planes for the Army. I'm also thinking about two people I know who are serving in war zones right now: Steve's son Trent and Jordanna. Stay safe and be well. 

All this talk about Vets got me thinking about the lack of awesome facial hair among our current set of Generals. One can't really imagine David Petraeus sporting a 'stach, but go back to the Civil War and you find the Grandfather of creative Mo's: Ambrose Burnside.

This man's Mo was so notorious that they name sideburns after him. Now that is a lasting impression left by one of our greatest Vets (also a Governor and Senator from Rhode Island).

I may be a long way from Gen. Burnside's growth, but that shouldn't stop you from giving to my Movermeber effort. Thousands of men, many of them Vets, suffer from prostate cancer each year and as we remember the heroes who fought overseas, let's also remember those who fight battles with their health here are home. Please help by giving today.

Thanks to Michelle J., Jen P.S. and Mary O. (wife of Steve, Mother of Trent) who have already donated.

 

Movember

I have decided to donate my face to Movember.

Why you ask? Because thousands of men are diagnosed with prostate and testicular cancer each year. In fact, you likely know more than one person who's life as been impacted by one of these diseases (I know 5).

So what can you do? Support my newly hairy lip and give a small amount to this cause. $10, $20, maybe even $50. It only takes one second, it's tax deductible and you get to see a picture of me with a "trucker" 'stash.

Thanks.

Sad or cute?

Predictably my son is obsessed with the film Cars and he now requests that I play two songs from the movie whenever we are driving around: "Real Gone" performed by Sheryl Crow and "Life is a Highway" performed by Rascal Flats.

Today, I had my iPod on random shuffle and the original "Life is a Highway" recorded by Tom Cochrane comes on. About 30 seconds into the song I actually thought, "That's odd, this song doesn't sound right."

Immediately I was struck by two embarrassing realizations:

1. The cover version from a kids movie has become the "new normal" for me
2. I have two versions of this song on my iPod

Is this sad or cute?