Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Pedal for Peace

Saturday October 2nd I am participating in a charity event called Pedal for Peace. It is an interfaith coalition with the mission to support organizations throughout the world that are committed to peace through education, especially for girls and women. You can find out more about the charity at http://www.pedalforpeace.org.

The event is a six hour team bike relay at the Major Taylor Velodrome and I am part of the “Archindy” team. Each team needs to be able to raise $1,000 in order to participate in the event and currently we are at $695. If anyone is interested and willing to make a donation for our team you can do it online HERE. Please be sure to use our team name Archindy so it can get appropriated correctly.

Thank you in advance for any help with donations I believe it is going to a worthy cause. I will also try and get some pictures and post an update after the event.

Website: http://www.pedalforpeace.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PedalforPeace
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pedalforpeace

Monday, April 26, 2010

Linguine for Breakfast…Don’t Laugh

Now if you ask me what I wanted for breakfast and I said linguine, you would probably laugh. Just a few weeks ago I would have laughed too, but don’t chuckle just yet because there is a linguine breakfast to die for.

I have been drawn to watching the Food Network as of late and whether it is because my father used to watch it all the time or that there is just nothing else on I am not entirely sure. One night Mary Ellen and I were watching the show The Best Thing I Ever Ate and the topic of this episode was breakfast. The basic jest of the show is that they interview all the different chefs and hosts of the network on what was the best food they ever ate in a particular category. I forget which chef and what restaurant they had it at but the dish was this linguine and egg concoction that looked out of this world.

Since this was a restaurant and not one of their shows Food Network didn’t have the recipe listed on their website. Mary and I were able to write down the key ingredients though and I experimented from there to come up with something that was as good as it looked. Below is the recipe I came up with and I do have to brag just a little because it was my first try as well.

This is a very flavorful dish with the egg and garlic going perfectly with the linguine. It is very filling on its own and I would suggest serving with seasonal fruit for a side.

INGREDIENTS:
  • ½ Ibs Linguine
  • 6 Eggs
  • 1 T Milk or Cream
  • 2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 Large Garlic Cloves Minced or Pressed
  • ½ Cup Chopped Spinach
  • ¼ Cup Parmesan Cheese
  • 1 tsp Basil
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • ¼ tsp Black Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:
  • Cook Linguine per instructions rinse & drain.
  • In a bowl beat eggs with milk or cream.
  • In large skillet heat the extra virgin olive oil and add the garlic. Cook garlic until tender.
  • Once garlic is tender add the eggs, chopped spinach, Parmesan, spices and linguine. Cook until eggs are done and then serve immediately.
This makes about four adult size servings and you could even experiment with other ingredients such as; Italian sausage, red pepper, onion, etc.


Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Proud of my Dawgs

This past Monday April 5, 2010 the Butler Bulldogs played in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final for the first time in school history, and even though they came up a couple of points short all I can say is WOW! If a few of those early buckets would had just fallen in we might have had a different outcome, but none the less those boys played their hearts out. I think Butler showed that they deserved to be there staying close to Duke the whole game with a chance to win it at the end. The team defense that Butler played all tournament long is a true testament to how the game is suppose to be played and it was fun to watch.

Being a small school it is extremely hard to make it to the Sweet Sixteen let alone the Final Four. The Bulldogs left everything on the court so I could not be more proud of my Alma mater. I really would like to thank them for this incredible ride it was nice to be able to focus on something uplifting for a change pace.

It was great to see Butler getting national attention and maybe next year more people from around town will show up to the games. Hopefully Gordon Hayward and Brad Stevens will both stay put for at least another year and make a go of it next season. So here is to you Butler way to go!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Evan Bayh & the Washing of His Hands

On February 20th Evan Bayh sent in an Op-Ed letter to the New York Times on why he was leaving the Senate (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/opinion/21bayh.html) and it appears mainly due to partisan politics. In the letter he gives many reasons and examples as to why Congress is failing the American People; “strident partisanship, unyielding ideology, a corrosive system of campaign financing, etc.” and he goes on to state that “any improvement must begin by changing the personal chemistry among senators.” I’ll give him kudos for coming out and stating the obvious however if you yourself are frustrated with the process how do you think the American people feel?

In effect Bayh is washing his hands of the problem and instead of fighting and working to change the culture of the Senate and politics in general he is leaving. I know for myself I have been waiting for the day where someone would get in there, stir things up, and really push for change. Someone who would say to hell with party politics and do what is good for the country. In his letter he states exactly what is wrong with Congress today and puts forth some good begging steps to fix it so I feel it would serve him better to stay and fight for what he believes.

Right now we have the extreme edges of the parties trying to dictate to each other how things need to be instead of coming to a middle ground and doing something meaningful. I was hoping Obama would be the person to change this trend but I feel he has been sucked into party politics instead of working for true compromise. Obama is not totally at fault for this as Republicans stall everything that he tries to put in motion and congressional Democrats are not much better within their own party. Right now Bayh has a great opportunity to really try and do something to change this from the inside, and I think that is what is most frustrating to me, just another wasted opportunity.

It really is becoming a never ending cycle of candidates who only care for their own political futures and not what is truly good for the people. The only way I see this ever changing is having everyday citizens start running for office, but in order to do this we need changes in campaign financing and term limits. Trying to get these changes in campaign finance and terms limits seems to be a daunting task for people whose only mission in life is to get reelected.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Map

This is the first entry in what I hope will be ongoing updates in the history of my grandfather Charles F. Hauck. My primary focus will be on his time spent in the Army Air Corps, but as I go on the scope might grow. I will be indexing these on a page over at my website (http://www.alexhauck.com/cfhauck/) for those who want to follow along.

Below is a picture of a cloth map that my grandfather acquired during a trip to Dulag City. My father had it framed and in his office so I while moving it I found a note from grandfather attached to the back of the frame. Underneath the picture I have transcribed the note.



April 8, 2000

After many sunrises and sunsets, if my memory serves me half assed, I think I obtained this map in Dulag City on the island of Leyte. I had a chance to go south of Tacloban one afternoon and I ran into a few Philippinos [Filipinos] who had resisted the Japanese and one of them gave me this map. This was in the spring of 1945.

Charles F. Hauck


Right now I am trying to collect his war records, if possible, from the National Archives along with searching the house to see what other information I can find. Hopefully I can figure out what company he served with so I am better able to track his possible locations during the war. I am also going to try and do some research on the Philippine’s resisted during the war and try to find any information regarding what this map was of.

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Click here for a larger image of the map.

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Click here for my index page.


Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Hanging In There

It has been awhile since my last blog and a lot as happened since then. As many of you know my father past away over the Christmas Holidays and to be quite honest I have not felt like writing. Usually I try to write funny stories or just give some updates on what the family is doing. Needless to say I don’t really have any funny stories right now nor have I felt about giving family updates since it seems to me I am missing a big part of my family.

While times have been trying I really would like to thank all my family and friends that have supported us. Without all of you I don’t know how we would make it through, it really is a special feeling to know how many of you truly care.

I just want to let everyone know that while it has been very difficult we are getting through. Things are starting to settle down as the whirlwind seems to be winding down, however this starts to leave more time for reflection. Before this all happened I had the below pictures as the feature on my website, and now I can hardly believe there are only two of us left.


Laurel Falls via The Little Greenbrier

Smoky Mountain National Park Sunday, February 18, 2024 Like Laurel Falls, but do not like crowds? Well then this just might be the hike for ...