A Different Christmas Poem The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. "What are you doing?" I asked without fear, "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts, To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night. It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times." "No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at Pearl on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas Gram always remembers. My dad stood his watch in the jungles of Nam, And now it is my turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile." Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... an American flag. "I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother, Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall." "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long. "For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled Is payment enough, and with that we will trust That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

You're very welcome! Glad to be of help. When you paste into Works, see if under Edit, if there's a "Paste Special" option. If so choose "Plain Text" or wording close to that. It's been a long long time since I've used Works and I greatly dislike the program for several reasons so I can't be more specific there. Or just drop it into a text file then recopy it. happyday's examples are (part of) why Firefox has moved down consistently in my browser choices. (It took them 10 years to get Paste & Go as a part of the browser fer cryin out loud! LOL) Back in the early versions it was my backup browser to Opera but I've never found it functional enough to make it my first choice and it went downhill for several versions though they seem to have plateaued a bit. I still stick with Opera as #1. It's far more refined and professional. Even with the mail client and other features built in it's still smaller, lighter and much faster than Firefox. You can configure it in so many ways, skin it if you want and much more. I'm spoiled with the keyboard shortcuts and it drives me crazy when I use any other browser now - I hit X & Z and other shortcuts and of course they don't work. Firefox is too geeky and patched together, being a committee project (where committee members aren't focused) and accordingly it requires constant updates and modifications and you have to add extensions to it to get basic performance though I will say some are interesting for other features. I simply want to use a browser with minimal fuss (Really pretty silly to have to put 25 extensions onto a browser to have it perform as a browser should "out of the box") and I do like the larger screen area on Opera and ability to configure to each user's needs. My second choice is K-meleon, third is Chrome. I've tried Safari but that's a very basic browser too from what I've seen and don't need another of them. I still use Firefox for the webmail check but Chrome now has the same/comparable extension so Firefox might just get retired altogether from my systems. I don't automatically load it on new systems anymore. Don't get me wrong, I like the open source concept and OpenOffice is proof of what can be done with open source. Just seems like too much bickering going on with the Firefox folks and there's no focus to the project. Which reminds me, instead of using Works, get OpenOffice. Far more functional, it's free and has a lot of compatibility with Microsoft Office that Works does not have. Far better choice than Works. It also has the paste special feature. It's an excellent program. I only use (therefore only set up) the "writer" (word processor) portion since I don't need spreadsheets often or the other items. Whenever I set up computers for clients I remove Works if it's on there to save myself support issues! It's really bad news IMO. OpenOffice, Opera, Comodo, etc are all on the essential list of software and get loaded up when I set them up. But I digress! Incidentally the encoding thing should work in any browser. I thought I said that but it sounds like I might not have made that clear to everyone. Just to clarify. Hope your browsing is much clearer now with less extraneous characters!

Oh you might be surprised!!! Harry gets a 'birthday cake' each year. It's an artfully arranged platter of tiny bits of all his "favorite foods." There's tiny bits of butter, cheese, broccoli, red bell pepper slices, green bell pepper slices, apple slices, and a dab of raw meat in the center. Being the "noble and elegant" beast he is, he carefully picks off the red peppers first; they're his favorite. Then he picks off the green peppers, because they're his favorite. Then the butter, cheese, apple, and broccoli disappear. They're his favorite. Then he slurps down his favorite, the meat, and says "Is that all I get?" Are you hinting that your pantry is not in perfect, alphabetized, and rotated order right now? I'm shocked.

You mean they didn't fly him in by helicopter? I'm almost surprised. Would have been a bigger spectacle. If the Jacksons contribute 10¢ to the costs I'll be amazed. The city should just assess the estate. Having been involved in City government I know that event costs are far more than JUST the police costs. There's numerous ancillary costs involved here and I have trouble believing that some tax from hotels and restaurants will cover all costs unless there's some horrendous tax rates there. Even with law enforcement, keep in mind they had to bring in assistance from all over. Not sure if that's factored in or not. We'll get a better idea in the next month or what the costs are. That the wacko-groupies committed suicide shouldn't suprise anyone. Sure doesn't surprise me. Just another example of what happens in cults. I can't figure them out either but I shan't shed a tear for them either. I'm almost surprised someone didn't off themselves at the event. (Unless someone did. I didn't watch or listen on the radio.) Considering that the t-shirts from the concert tour were going to be sold outside the stadium, I can't believe the Jacksons aren't benefiting from those sales. Surely you don't think JoeJoe and company would donate them do you? They wanted to charge $25 a head to watch TV fer cryin out loud!