Take Me Back To Tanzania

I want to apologize for letting everyone down by not posting my journal of my experiences while in Africa. It proved to be a much larger task than I had anticipated. However, I have begun to post pictures of my adventure on my facebook profile. There is only about 50 Safari pics right now but as soon as I finish sifting through all 2,500 of them more will be posted. So keep checking back over the next week or so. Don't worry you dont have to be a member of facebook to look at them. Here is where you will find them:

http://wtamu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138576&l=b0afe&id=23916452

I will assure you of this. I am still taking in everything I did and everyone I met while I was away and when I feel like I can sit down and type a cohesive final thought about the trip and what it ultimately means for me and my life, I will post it. I'm still alittle overwhelmed by it all. You might think I sound crazy but it was so unbelievably life changing. Enjoy the pics and check back soon!!

FINALLY!!!!!

I want to start by apologizing to everyone for taking so long to finally blog. Internet access is scarce here in Morogoro and now that I found it its dialup and it costs. Only 3 cents for 15 minutes though, pretty good. Unfortunatley my days are very busy and I only have about 5 more minutes(took 10 min. to load this page). I will come back an update later. Sorry no pics now since I am on a shared computer. Things are going great and I absolutely love it here. I have been taking a journal and will type it here later. Goodbye for now. Continue praying.

I'm Leaving!!

The day has finally come. In about 2 hours I will board a plane to take me on my journey to Africa. For everyone reading this, please keep me in your prayers over the next 2 weeks that everything will go as planned without any major hickups, and more importantly that God will open my eyes to better appreciate his wonderful grace and beautiful creation. I want to thank all of the people who helped encourage me as this day drew closer, especially everyone from work. I hope to blog at least every other day while I am away, so check back regularly for my journal and pics of my adventures. My next post will be from either London or Tanzania. Talk to you soon!

Dallas & Oklahoma Trip

Here are some pictures from my recent trip with my brother to Dallas & Oklahoma. I haven't had time to put them in Photoshop and mess with them so they are raw. The trip began with The Police concert but unfortunately you couldn't take cameras inside the arena. Just take my word for it, it was amazing. We then had two days to kill before we had to be back in Frisco for the soccer game so we decided to go and visit my Grandma and Grandpa on thier ranch in Oklahoma. Oklahoma was fun but I had never fully realized in all of my past visits over the years how incredibly backwoods it is. On our second day there my grandpa took both me and Andrew out on 4-wheelers about 8 miles into the woods and I was just taken back at how amazing God and his awesome power are to have created the whole of the earth from nothing. It was a nice reminder of God's unfailing grace. After 2 days of catching up and relaxing we left Oklahoma and made our way back to Frisco and Pizza Hut Park for the F.C. Dallas v. Houston Dynamo game. Andrew and I were completely stoked about the game seeing as it was our first professional soccer to attend. It was so cool and unlike any other professional sports game I have been to. We had amazing seatz; second row on the mid-field line. Neither team is my favorite MLS team but I guess I wanted Dallas to win. The only thing that stunk about the game is I didn't get to see a goal. The final score was 0-0, a tie. Ole well, thats soccer. Its was a blast. Enjoy the pics and talk to ya soon.

"The Police", here I come!!!!

Well this is it. The day has finally come. Tonight at 7:30 I will be watching the one of the greatest bands of all time play in front of my very eyes. Yes, you guessed it... THE POLICE. This experience will be as surreal as 'walking on the moon'. The 'voices inside my head' and everyone I know has been telling me how lucky I am. I know we are only 'spirits in a material world' but I felt like I needed this concert like you need 'every breath you take'. It will be filling such a 'hole in my life'. While waiting months for this concert I have felt like the 'king of pain' but God found my 'message in a bottle' and after tonight I will have 'synchronicity' in my footsteps. So I say this...'bring on the night', this night.

P.S. I couldn't think of a clever way to put Roxanne in a sentence in this context so I will just say it, ROXANNE is awesome.

I'm sitting here at Hastings. Its raining outside. I'm listening to one of the most beautiful songs to have ever been created; Piano Concerto #3 in C Minor, Opus 37 by Beethoven. Please get it and listen to it if you haven't ever done so.

Its been a while since my last post. So many things have happened. Big things. I purchased my first iPod. You're probably thinking "Welcome to the 21st century Daniel" and that buying and ipod is not a big deal. Well, I think it is. I have been succesful for almost three years in fending off the evil, world consuming beast that is Apple. But alas all good things must come to and end and so my trusty Dell mp3 player did. You will be missed. So far it has been a pretty eye-opening crossover. I never knew of all the stuff you could download from iTunes to your iPod. So far so good. I also got a new Canon Digital Rebel XT. I just got it yesterday so I haven't really had the chance to open it up and see what it can do, or rather what I can do with it. I can now relax knowing that I have a reliable, quality camera to take pictures on my trip to Africa in July. I hope this blog isn't boring you. I think I'm trying to hard tonite to write something clever. I'll just stop and try agian later. Sorry.

This is for you David.

Title??

What do you guys think about the name I finally came up with? I kindoff like the sound of it. Its cool....Right?

Churchill Speeches

I have recently become infatuated with the life of the greatest orator Winston Churchill and am fasinated with the intensity and passion of his speeches. Here are a few excerpts from some of my favorites. They are truly moving. Enjoy.

June 18, 1940
House of Commons

"...I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour."


First Speech as Prime Minister
May 13, 1940
to House of Commons


"...To form an Administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself, but it must be remembered that we are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history...I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realised; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal. But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

BBC, May 19, 1940
First Broadcast as Prime Minister to the British People

"Having received His Majesty's commission, I have formed an Administration of men and women of every Party and of almost every point of view. We have differed and quarreled in the past; but now one bond unites us all -- to wage war until victory is won, and never to surrender ourselves to servitude and shame, whatever the cost and the agony may be. this is one of the most awe-striking periods in the long history of France and Britain. It is also beyond doubt the most sublime. Side by side, unaided except by their kith and kin in the great Dominions and by the wide empires which rest beneath their shield - side by side, the British and French peoples have advanced to rescue not only Europe but mankind from the foulest and most soul-destroying tyranny which has ever darkened and stained the pages of history. Behind them - behind us- behind the Armies and Fleets of Britain and France - gather a group of shattered States and bludgeoned races: the Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Dutch, the Belgians - upon all of whom the long night of barbarism will descend, unbroken even by a star of hope, unless we conquer, as conquer we must; as conquer we shall.
Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be."

I think I will continue this by adding a different speech each week, whether it be Winston Churchill or not.

The Modern Toilet

Well I feel like I need to lay any doubt to rest about the infamous 'Modern Toilet' resteraunt that my dad and brother went to in Taiwan last week. I was trying to tell some of my friends(you know who you are) about it and some of them didn't believe me. Well here is the concrete evidence. Photographic proof that that there are some really wierd and disgusting things in this world. At The Modern Toilet the patrons sit on a toilet at a table that is a bathroom sink with a pane of glass over it. If you can't read chinese you order from a menu you have no idea what it says. They procede to bring you what you ordered and no idea what it is in a miniature toilet with a few side dishes some of which are in a container that when the lid is on looks like a turd, I'm not exagerating. The first and second pics are my dad standing in front of the Modern Toilet and my brother eating his delicious meal out of the toilet. The 3rd pic is what my dad ordered. He said he had no idea what it was in his toilet. The 4th pic is the ice cream dessert which consisted of one scoop of actual ice cream on top of a toilet full of shaved ice with toppings of beans, some sort of a jello substance, crackers, and lets not forget the chocolate syrup. Sounds delicious doesn't it? My brother said it was the #1 but I call it the #2, if you know what I mean. These stories of mystery food make me very nervous about what types of food I will be eating on my trip to Africa in July.

Week Off!!

Hello Everyone,

Public school is finally out for the summer so I finally get a week off before the summer program starts. This is a picture I took on the last day of school of me and my wonderful kids from this year. Thats Hipolito on my knee, he's freakin hilarious. I'm so blessed to have God put them in my life. Only one is going on to middle school so I'm happy I will get to see most of them this summer and next year.

This week I have done absolutely nothing, which is nice for a change. Well I guess that isn't entirely true, I just haven't done very many productive things. I am a movie freak so I have watched a new movie every day for the last eight days. Some of which include Letters From Iwo Jima, The Fountain, The Tiger and the Snow(Italian movie), the new Pirates of the Caribbean, and Pan's Labrynth. All of these have been pretty good and would recomend any of them. If you have a favorite movie, new/old, independent/major, foreign/english, please tell me about it and I will try my best to get ahold of it. I have also been enjoying some new cd's that I have bought in the last few days. Some of these include the new Travis(track 3-Closer, is especially good), the new Jeremy Enigk(he did the music for one of my favorite movies United States of Leland), the new Mogwai(soundtrack to the documentary about Zidane), and also I got two older albums by Sigur Ros which are great, as expected. This is also the first week in about 23 weeks to not have a new episode of Lost and I am already going through withdrawls. I think many would agree with me when I say that it is the best Drama/Action show on tv right now.

Better go. Talk to ya soon. Will try to post something you would care about reading tomorrow.

What Are Men?

Well I just finished reading some of my friends blogs and I now feel very depressed. I just realized that I don't know enough about the people that are closest to me. Does that mean they aren't really my friends? I guess they could probably say the same thing about me. This has to change, and now. I will keep you posted on my progress or failure.

Anyway, on a lighter note. Here is my first topical blog. WARNING: Much Sarcasm Involved. I call this:

What Are Men?

Why are men, men? Why are men from mars?

What makes us tick? What makes men so

masculine? Why are we all so rough and

rugged and irresistible to women?

These are some of the many questions about men.
And here at (insert clever title I have yet to come up with here), I aim to answer them.

First of all, men have XY hormones. I don't know what

that means, but it's important in the field of science.

But this is beside the fact that men are men are men.
We like meat. We like beer and wine and trucks. Us

men like fights (not me, however. Karate teaches me

to seek peace through force and to yield like the

willow tree but with deep roots that cannot be

severed). WE like paintball and laser tag and

Creedence and Medieval reenactments and German Culture.

But most importantly, men like women.

We certainly like their bodies and their outfits, but

we also like their soft lips and skin and taste in furniture.
Women make us who we are, not only with their wombs,but with their femininity.

Fact: Men are better at taking charge.

Fact: Men are better at maps and directions and driving.

Fact: Men are better at jousting and dueling.

Fact: Men are better at facts.

Question: What are women better at?

(Note: Please don't be offended, feminists. I respect you AND am probably attracted to some of you.)

Daniel Merker. Man.

Blog #1 - The Beginning

Here it is. My first blog.....Uhm....? Just kidding. I'm looking forward to this. I've wanted to get started for a while now. My good friend David's 100th blog posting inspired me to finally get started. You should check his out, http://dmesler.blogspot.com/ , it's really good.
With each new blog I will reveal alittle more about myself as well as offer my insights and advice on various things. I don't want to start off lame but its late and I'm going to bed. I will post something clever tomorrow. If anybody read this, Thanks. You've been with me from the very beginning.

P.S. I would like to add that eventually I will be coming up with a name for this blog. If you have any suggestions please let me know.