The reason I have been quiet on the blog
I developed another blog for the last election, which I have written about here. I was busy with pre-election stuff, and then I got to working on a new web site. I need to make this blog more up to date. I have focused most of my energy on the other blog, but even at that, I have not written much there. The reason is that for the last three weeks or so, I have been busy developing my new web site. Check it out. It is changing as I find more content, learn more about html, and find inspiration along the way.

Don't get Wenzeled
If you have hours to kill and surf the internet, you will love this link. Some young punk tried to hose a buyer with a sale of some truck gears. The internet community on that web site struck back...hard. I laughed so hard, I almost fell out of my chair. Beware, however, that there is a lot of foul language. If you can look past what some people have written on the net, you will find hours of entertainment here. This message board is now getting famous, as is the punk kid who perpetrated the deal gone bad. Here is the link. Enjoy.

It has been a long time
I have been extremely busy the past three months with other projects, so I have not written in this blog much since about July. I have been writing in my other blog, though, since it was mainly geared towards the election. Now that the election is over, I can either continue to write here or use the other blog as my main blog. It has some features that I like better than Tripod's. I also already have my url troylaplante.com pointed there, as well. If you want to see what I have been thinking and have been up to, check there. I may keep this blog for more personal thoughts. I will interlink the two.

An article and a video about my home town
I grew up in Franklin, New Hampshire. Franklin is trying to improve its image. They have commissioned the creation of a TV ad. Here is the article and the video of the ad. I know some of the firefighters at the end of the ad.

The American Red Cross, in my experience, is one of the most dedicated and reliable charitable organizations in America. They have always been willing to help when disaster strikes, whether it has been a family home fire or a huge hurricane. My experience in the fire service has shown this to be true and I have known a good many hard working volunteers over the years.

I remember a story my father told about coming home from the Korean War. He said that there was one charity set up selling donuts to the service men who were returning. The Red Cross was set up giving away donuts to the service men. That speaks volumes to me.

I am sure that there will be many local churches and charitable efforts organized to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. If you wish to help, please do so. One local church in Selma has helped with hurricane victims in the past by gathering clothes, bottled water, food, and other items for transport into the affected area.

If you wish to donate monetarily to an organization that will help, then I can recommend the American Red Cross with all confidence that you will not be "scammed". Click on the banner below to donate online, directly to the Red Cross.

I know that I have been quiet on my blog
I have been focusing most of my attention on my political blog, vote4troy.com. Sorry for ignoring this blog so much.

Announcing the formation of a new nation
Last night, an online acquaintance introduced me to NationStates.net, which is an online game. You are allowed to create your own nation according to your own liking and rule it as you see fit. You can be oppressive, permissive, or in between. You can run a nation as a parody or be serious in the ruling of your nation. I started my own nation just within the last half hour. I shall see how it progresses.

Troy's new nation of "Bismo" on nationstates.net

My new business card for the campaign

My new URL
As I have written, I have been keeping a blog for the town council race. I now have my own URL. Check it out.

Today's shopping trip
I am surprised that Teresa wanted to go with me to the local gun show in Raleigh. We went there today rather than yesterday. I was looking for a few things in particular. I wanted to find a good deal on a case tumber (which I didn't find), a Hi-Point carbine (I found one, but not a great deal.), ammo, and possibly a .22 for Teresa. I found some ammo for my CZ52, for my M44 Mosin Nagant, and others. I only bought ammo for those two named guns, though.

For some time, I have been wanting to check out/acquire a Taurus PT22. I have not found a great deal on one lately except the last gun show I went to or a used one at a pawn shop I frequent. Today, I didn't find a great deal on one, but an OK deal, not too much under MSRP. I bought it anyway, since Teresa seemed real interested in it, I have been wanting one, and I had the cash. One reason that Teresa like it was that it had pink grips. Yup, pink. Here is a picture.