Dear Internal Revenue Service:

I got this from one of my teachers and I thought you all would enjoy it .
Here is a clever letter to think about when tax season rolls back around . . . Enjoy! ))

Dear Internal Revenue Service:

Enclosed you will find my 2005 tax return, showing that I owe $3,407.00 in Taxes. Please note the attached article from the USA Today newspaper dated 12 November, wherein you will see the Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying $171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat.

I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued @ $2,400) and six (6) hammers (valued @ $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot, bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00. Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the “Presidential Election Fund,” as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one (1) 1.5″ Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from USA Today newspaper detailing how H.U.D. pays $22.00 each for 1.5″ Phillips Head Screws). One screw is enclosed for your convenience.

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.

Sincerely,

A Satisfied Taxpayer

Minnesota Twins

1st night of CMA music festival:

Well last night June 11 2009 I went to CMA music fest for the (aka fan fair) for the very first time. I went by myself for Dewayne is out of town this weekend. Not happy about it but he know about it. ANY WAY, Last night I went to LP field to listen to Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Julianne Hough, Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, and Rascal Flats. The show started at 8 pm with Brooks and Dunn singing. Man, were they full of energy, a great group to listen to. Right after them MY girl REBA came on. She got three songs in and the concert was put on hold from bad weather. A thunderstorm was coming with high winds, and hail so about 9:30 they asked us to go into the football stadium for our safety and the concert did not start back up about 12:30 and did not end till 2 / 2:30 in the morning. Reba along with Rascal Flats never took the stage after the storm but the other did.
I took off to head home about 11:15 and with me having to go over the Perdergin Bridge to get to my car. I got soaked to the bone.

Luther L Wright Class of 1990 20th Class Reunion

Good Evening Classmates!

I hope this E-mail find you and your family all healthy and doing well. As most of you all know, Nicole Misuraco and I are teaming up as leaders of our 20th Class Reunion Committee. I know this might be a repeat but Please take a second and go to this Google document and update your contact information for our class group that we have here on Facebook. This is the group that Stacey (Landis) Marzari has set up for us on facebook.
If you know anyone else’s address please add it as well. If you do not want your address posted on the spread sheet that is posted on our Facebook group, PLEASE e-mail it to both of us so we can have it and keep you up dated on what is going on. For the other classmates that are not on here, when you do talk to them either in person, or by e-mail, exe. and do not want to join facebook, please give them my e-mail address and have them send me their personal information at heczkot@hotmail.com. At the same time I will keep my personal blog up-dated on what we are doing. That blog site is htp://heczkot.wordpress.com.
Now keep in mine that this is my Personal blog site and it talks about how I feel about stuff and what and who is important in my life.
Please, we need everyone address as soon as possible.
Thanks much!
Nicole and Todd
President of the Reunion Committee

A big victory on hate crimes!

This is a great victory for the Tennessee GLBT community.I really hopes this bill will go all the way for We all need to be treated as equals in this country. I do not care what your race, skin tone color, religion or even sexually preference. we all need to be treated as equal

On Wednesday, the TN House Criminal Practice and Procedure subcommittee voted to advance HB 0335, which would add gender identity and expression as a sentencing enhancement factor to the current hate crimes statute. The bill will be heard next week in the full House Judiciary committee. Be ready to respond to TEP’s next legislative alert for instructions on how to advocate for the bill.

This is a great victory for the GLBT community in Tennessee. The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition has done an incredible job of advancing this bill. And those of you who responded to Tuesday’s legislative alert deserve our thanks as well. Our legislators listened when you spoke.

Finally, let’s all take a moment to thank Rep. Jeanne Richardson (D-Memphis) for sponsoring the bill. Without her determination, this victory would not have been possible. You can email her at rep.jeanne.richardson@capitol.tn.gov.

Thanks for all you do to advance equality in Tennessee.

The TEP Legislative Team

What is SiSU?

Sisu is a Finnish term that could be roughly translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. The equivalent in English is “to have guts”, and indeed, the word derives from sisus, which means something inner or interior. However, sisu has a long-term element in it; it is not momentary courage, but the ability to sustain the same. To anthropologists[citation needed], it is an appropriate invention for a cold northern land, dotted by thousands of lakes, and long under threat of being overwhelmed, militarily, linguistically and otherwise, by more powerful neighbours. Similar concepts exist among other cold-weather peoples, such as the Inuit and Chukchi.[citation needed]

Due to its cultural significance, Sisu is a common element of brand names in Finland. For example, there are Sisu brand cars (and Sisu armored vehicles), icebreaker MS Sisu, a brand of strong-tasting pastilles manufactured by Leaf, and a Finnish ultranationalist organisation Suomen Sisu. Mount Sisu is the name of a mountain first ascended by mountain climber Veikka Gustafsson in the Antarctic.

The term is commonly used in everyday speech to describe stoic toughness. It is widely understood in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which is home to a large concentration of Americans of Finnish descent. For instance: “Even after cutting his hand open and getting 12 stitches, he didn’t shed a tear. Wow! He’s got sisu!” This has extended to include a popular bumper sticker saying simply “Sisu”. By analogy, the term has picked up new meanings. Depending on context, “sisu” can refer to spunk, attitude, self-confidence, and so on. However, sisu is not bravery, nor strength. It is distinguished from courage, especially when talking about the military. Sisu is an ability to finish a task successfully, as defined by Roman Schatz in his book From Finland with Love (2005), and decisiveness. Usually sisu means the will and decisiveness to surmount challenges against impossible odds, or to succeed when given the Chinaman’s chance.

In Robert Heinlein’s “juvenile” novel, “Citizen of the Galaxy”, the protagonist was adopted by the captain of an interstellar trading ship which was named, “Sisu”. This reflected Heinlein’s admiration of the Finnish stand against the Soviets, Heinlein himself being ardently anti-communist. The interstellar trading “family” of which this ship was but a part, is described as being fiercely proud and independent, preferring battle and death to being taken prisoner by raiding pirates.

Sisu can be either good or bad, but the usual meaning is good. Bad sisu (Finnish paha sisu) means malice combined with ruthlessness and implacability: it means relentless striving for mischief, persecution and vengeance. It is in a sense the opposite of good sisu. The Finnish expression pahansisuinen implies “audacious”, “implacable”, “full of effrontery”, “malevolent”, etc. with aggressive overtones. The verb sisuuntua refers to getting angry, but with an element of determination and even being unforgiving. The idiom meni sisu kaulaan (“the sisu went to the throat [or neck]“) returns to the original meaning of “innards”; to “get a lump in one’s throat”, as in become too intimidated to act.

[edit] External links

Happy St URHO DAY everyone and don’t forget to wear yoru Purple!!

The Origin of St. Urho

St. Urho The legend of St. Urho is not the product of one person, but of many. The original character is usually traced to Virginia, Minnesota, but like most good legends, there have been many voices in creating the history of St. Urho.

St. Urho was created by Richard Mattson, who worked at Ketola’s Department Store in Virginia, Minnesota. Mattson is generally credited with conjuring up a Finnish counterpart to St. Patrick in the spring of 1956. Just as Patrick had driven the snakes from Ireland, Mattson’s saint drove a plague of frogs from Finland. There were several Finnish names suggested, but Saint Ero or Saint Jussi, or even Toivo or Eino, just didn’t have the correct ring of a saintly name. Urho Kekkonen became president of Finland in 1956, and some believe that is where the name came from. Others say that Kekkonen was called “Saint Urho” by the citizens of Finland, and the name was attached to Mattson’s legend.

Gene McCavic took the St. Urho legend and, with help from Mattson, wrote an “Ode to St. Urho”. It told of a boy (“poika”, Finnish for “boy”) named Urho who got strong on sour whole milk (“feelia sour”) and fish soup (“kala mojakka”). In the original, Urho chases out “tose ‘Rogs” (those frogs) with his loud voice. The original Ode also celebrates St. Urho’s Tay as “twenty-fourth of May”. The original poem was written on a piece of wrapping paper, and is on display at Ironworld Discovery Center in Chisolm, Minnesota.

[Brief note on the Finnish language: Finnish has several fewer consonants than English. Missing are B, C, D, and G. Consequently there are no sounds for those letters, and B becomes P, C becomes S or K, D becomes T, and G becomes K. When Finnish rally drivers talk about transmission problems with their cars, they refer to it as a "kearpox". There are also no articles in Finnish sentence structure -- the, a or an are not part of Finnish grammar.]

Also credited as the originator of the St. Urho legend is Dr. Sulo Havumäki, a psychology professor at Bemidji State College in Bemidji, Minnesota. He is credited with changing the plague to grasshoppers, who were consuming the grape crop that would become wine in ancient Finland. (Pre-historic Finland was allegedly a much warmer place than it is today.) St. Urho’s triumph was saving the vineyards and the jobs for those who picked the grapes. That is how St. Urho became the Patron Saint of Finnish Vineyard Workers.

The legend spread, originally across Minnesota to Finnish settlements on the Mesabi Iron Range, and to Menahga, New York Mills, Wolf Lake, and of course, Finland. St. Urho’s Day is now celebrated in towns with Finnish heritage across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; Thunder Bay, Ontario; Burlington, Vermont; Butte, Montana; and Hood River, Oregon.

Today, the St. Urho tradition is carried on in many Finnish communities, sometimes as an excuse to add an extra day of rowdy celebration to the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. In many Finnish-American communities, however, St. Urho’s Day is the celebration, and St. Pat’s feast day is merely an afterthought, a day to sleep off the hangover.

Ti

Calling the class of 1990 from Luther L Wright!

Good evening my fellow classmate:
I hope this finds everyone well and health, I know most of you have heard about a web site called Facebook. Well there is 30 + of our classmates that is on this web site. It is a FREE site as well.
This past month we have started to talk about our 20th class reunion. I know it does sound a bite early but to plan a great and successful reunion if it is a class reunion, family or whatever. It takes a lot of time and energy in planning a successful reunion. Therefore, Nicole Misuraco and I are going to be co partners on leading our 20th class reunion.
What we are asking from you now is PLEASE forward on your Home Address, E-mail address, phone number and if you have gotten married your new married last name.
We want to have a great and successful reunion and with all your help, we shall have one. We are also looking for classmates to help us out. If you like to step-up like the few that have told, Nicole and I on Facebook that they would like to help. Please let us know.
I will be posting our actives that we are working on our class group site that Stacey (Landis) Marzari as formed for us along with my blog site. This way if you like to fellow along you may do so on either one. One of Our goals is to get as much if not all of our class on Facebook before any of our other class.
PLEASE forward on your Home Address, E-mail address, phone number and if you have gotten married your new married last name. To heczkot@hotmail.com . On the subject, line please put class of 1990.
This way I can make sure, I do not mix it up with my class work (I have gone back to college) and my genealogy research.
Thanks and have a great day
By the way Happy ST Urho day.
Sincerely,
Todd M Heczko
heczkot@hotmail.com
http://heczkot.wordpress.com

I just want to let you know I am OK, Don’t worry I am OK!

Wednesday night when I thought I was going to lose one of my Great Aunts I wrote this. It right from the heart and helped me. I hope you all enjoy it.

I just want to let you know
I am OK, Don’t worry I am OK!

Their in a brief moment of darkness
was all that I had known,
out of the blue Heaven’s Gate
came into my view.

Their was all of my Loved ones and friends,
That I have missed for so many years,
Coming into view and welcoming me
With open arms and tears of joy.

All of my aches, pains and my fears
that I have ever acknowledged
from my life are finally gone.
I am finally with my loved ones once again,
I am finally home.

As I gazed upon my Lord’s
sweet and joyful face,
and seeing it for the first time in my life
I knew and felt His Amazing Grace,
That everything will be alright.

I know, my loved back on earth,
you miss me, but I am alright,
Please dry your eyes and
Show me your sweet smile.

For I will always be watching over you
and loving you from my home in the sky.

As a cool breeze whips across your face,
or you feel a light touch of rain on your cheek.
Just remember it’s just me sending you a reminder that we will be together again one day.

Your life on earth is just a brief
Moment in time, so enjoy each other now.
And, DON’T WORRY FOR I AM OK,
For I am finally home, I am finally HOME!!

Aunt Dorothy Up-DATE

This Past week my great Aunt Dorothy we thought had suffered a stroke. All of the signs pointed to that direction. At the time, she was paralyzed on the right side and she was not responding to anyone. As of Thursday, we thought that we were going to lose her for it did not look good at all. I was a very blue that night, all I could think of was all the good times my sister and I had growing up, going over to her house when my cousins came up or when just a visit seeing her and my great Uncle(my Grandfather brother)
Well about 8:15 in the morning came, my cell phone rang at work and it was my folks phone number so I thought it was the call that she had pasted on but it was not. It was AMAZING, it was my older sister Jean calling and tells me Aunt Dorothy woke up this morning and said good Morning to the doctor. I could not believe what I was hearing. Then later in the day mother called and told me that Aunt Dorothy is doing great and they are ruling out it was a stroke. I asked her why; she told me she is bouncing back 100% slowly. She knows who we all are, she can speak with no problem expect that she gets tired. Then mother told me Aunt Dorothy took her hand. She used her right hand, the same side that was paralyzed. Later that night few of my cousins and their family (2 out of 5 of Aunt Dorothy granddaughters) came up from lower WI to see her. Mother told me her eye light up big time when they came into the room with their kids. Something she needed.
Saturday she slow was still improving and now they had her sitting up in a chair. The Girls and their family had to go back to lower WI but Aunt Dorothy was happy to see them. Mother could tell. In addition, I think Uncle Peter was great full to see them as well. It is also great to see family no matter what when or why.
Well this Morning I get a call from other Cuz the BINKS and she told me that grandma/ Aunt Dorothy is eating solids (Jello & soup) and is off the IV. Therefore, it is looking good. In addition, she was to go for a MRI as well. She also told me that they would be moving her to a nursing home with Aunt Marian (her sister) so thing are looking good. Then earlier tonight, mother called and told me that, she and Jean Ann just got home from seeing Aunt/ Grandma Dorothy. She is doing really well today and Aunt Peggy and Chris (Uncle Peter wife and son) came into Ironwood to see Aunt/ Grandma Dorothy. For Dinner She eat scrambled eggs, French toast and Ice Cream. In addition, Dorothy is going for a MRI tonight as well. She told me Uncle Peter will keep her / us posted on how that goes.
Well that is where we stand so far. As I get more information and her improvement I will keep the rest of you all up dated but PLEASE keep your prays going for her.