Ivan and the Terrible, Horrible, ALMOST No Good, Very Bad Reign

Today's subject in Daniel's World History class....Ivan the Terrible. Yeah, sure, the chapter starts out with Vladimir, sashays over to Ivan the Great, but then it gets right down to business with Ivan the Terrible.... He starts to make one feel good about pretty much any other political leader.

Ivan had more than a few bad/lethal habits. He liked to ride his horse through Moscow and slash away at innocent bystanders with a whip. If Ivan was offended by your face he would have it removed - at the neck. He took some of his advisors on a winter trip to the country...he stripped them naked and made them walk back to Moscow barefoot and naked in the snow(question: was it uphill both ways?) He killed his oldest son. He made a hobby of inventing new tortures. The list goes on and on.

There is one thing that Ivan did that I like. A lot. He ordered construction of a cathedral. The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin. Well, no one calls it that anymore, in fact, soon after it was built the locals started calling it "St. Basil's". Ivan had this glorious flight of fancy built around the same time the rest of Europe was going all ga ga over classical Greek and Roman architecture. You've gotta admit it's a whole lotta fun to look at.

Ignore the man behind the curtain....

The election is over. Here's an appropriate song...perhaps it should be O's theme song. And for more puppets....here.

I've done my civic duty, and all I got was this lousy sticker.

Resignation. That's the emotion of the day. R-E-S-I-G-N-A-T-I-O-N. I suppose that's better than outright nausea...low expectations are what are keeping me afloat right now.

I did stop by Starbucks this morning - waltzed in right after seminary - dropped off our ballots - and waltzed right on out. Okay, okay, there was no waltzing. Appropriately enough it was pouring rain...even the heavens were weeping.

I refuse to give in to depression. As I told a friend of mine yesterday (she was bemoaning the fact that the Dems will control everything) - we get to blame everything on them for the next 4 years. Everything. I suppose that's sort of the "here's a lovely parting gift" kind of reward, but at this point I'll take anything positive.

The Elder Andrew Show

I feel like renaming my blog..."The Adventures of Andrew in Japan" or something like that. We seem to be getting a lot of pictures lately, and somehow or other they end up here. Oh well, enjoy. Dignity, always dignity.

ANOTHER picture of Andrew...

These are about half the missionaries in the Kobe mission. Andrew is on the left standing right next to the older couple. I'm a little disappointed that I can't blow up the picture(I know, I know that does seem a bit churlish of me).

Konnichi wa Elder Nishi (West)

Elder Andrew is the second from the right - just look at that smile!

Check out the McIntyre Family blog...this picture was just posted. Love the internet...love, love, love blogs. Don't forget to write to Andrew - you can use regular paper and envelopes - you need to get an international stamp (they cost 94 cents).

Time Marches On...

It still seems weird that we don't change our clocks until November. (yes, it is November 1st today). I have a ton of clocks. A ton. There's one spot in my living room that I can actually see 5 clocks...five. I have fourteen clocks on my main floor alone. I think there are only 4 downstairs - so that makes a grand total of 18 clocks that need to be set back one hour today.

I know what we'll be doing this evening.

Here's a "timely" song for you.