43,000 Names on the Wall

Since last Thursday a 1/2 scale version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has been set up in a park not to far from our house. The Wall That Heals travels around the country allowing folks who can’t or won’t make the trip to the actual memorial in Washington DC. Donna and I visited the actual Wall way back in the early 80’s when it had not been open for very long, so we thought it might be cool to see this version too. Because the traveling wall, like the original, is open 24 hours a day, we decided to wait until 10PM or so last night to visit, so we could take advantage of the cool night air. Plus there is something about the memorial that makes a visit in darkness more fitting.

I know, there are actually over 58,000 names engraved on the Wall, but 43,000 works better for me here because that is the amount of miles the Emperor has traveled in it’s lifetime. Passed through that mark on the way home from Augusta this morning.

We went over to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie at an early morning showing in a theater with stadium seating. I enjoyed it more than Donna did, but we still felt it was worth the time, money and effort to see it in an actual movie theater instead of waiting for the DVD. Not as much humor and not nearly as many quotable lines. There was a lot more action, some of it bordering on the unbelievable. I say bordering, because after all, if you can except that Davy Jones has the head of an octopus, one hand that is a lobster claw and his still beating heart is locked in a buried chest miles away on a dessert isle, how can three men carrying out a raging sword fight on a 25′ water wheel as it rolls down a hill be unbelievable?