Year in Review

All in all, this is a year I'd rather forget. We had disaster in February, catastrophe in April, cataclysm in August, calamity followed by heartbreak in October, and a complete debacle in November. We lost Bill Buckley, Ivan Dixon, Jesse Helms, Charlton Heston, Van Johnson, Bill Melendez, Tony Snow, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Sir John Templeton, and Paul Weyrich. I had to replace my cell phone, my car, my assistant, my laptop, my starting quarterback, my television and my right Achilles tendon. There was no shortage of underwriters to debate or of clients to placate. Yet, with seven days to go, we appear to have survived, and we have something to look forward to in May 2009. A few somewhat random thoughts to wrap things up...


Quote #1 -- Hogan's Heroes, episode 96
Newkirk: The first thing we must do is not panic.
Kinchloe: I already have -- what's the second thing?


Quote #2 -- Johnny Most, 1986
"The Boston Celtics are the World Champions for the sixteenth time. They have come back from all kinds of adversity, and they have shown the world what a great ball club they really are."


Quote #3 -- attributed (erroneously) to Winston Churchill
"Never give up.
Never give up.
Never, never, NEVER give up."


Quote #4 -- George S. Patton
"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."


Quote #5 -- Ronald Reagan, 1989
"My friends, we did it."


Quote #6 -- Apostle Paul, Ephesians 3:20
"[God] is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think."

Quote #7 -- from Saving Private Ryan
"I'll see you on the beach."