Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Busy Day

When I got to the office this morning this little fellow was hanging out near the back door. He was moving very slowly, probably because of the low temperatures.

It has been a busy day. I completed production on three magazines today, plus all the normal daily stuff.

Walter headed out this morning to the orthopedic and finally find out what was going on with his leg. The word is that the bone has finally healed. He'll be a few more months getting his muscles back to normal but it is really good news.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Happy Sunday!

It has been a fantastic Sunday. Sleeping a bit late, going out for 'brunch' with Walter, Jeff & Sarah.

We hit Aunt Sarah's for brunch. The meal was great, but the service today was an epic fail. Poor Walter & Sarah, both having worked in the food industry, they have high expectations. Which were most assuredly not met. We even did a bit of shopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I haven't been out just shopping in a long time. It was great fun. I even found a wall hanging for the dining room.

Battle of the Bands


Clover Hill has marched into the future, but how do they compare to the past. Can the band of the past out march the band of today.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

CHHS Band Reunion

back row: Tim Sanders, Judy Parsons Smith, Doug McNamara, Joe Simpkins,
Laura Loper Griggs, Donna Kelsey, Susan Terry Martin
middle row: Alan Blackmon, Jeff Creech, Diana Moon Morris, Tom Griggs, Steve Tuck
front row: Wendy Link Routhier, Joe 'Jose' Brame, Russ Bahorsky

Members of the Joe Simpkins' era Marching Cavaliers gathered together this evening for a march down memory lane. It was a great evening catching up with former band members, and watching a specially produced DVD of the 1980 Band Documentary with Bonus Video" edited and produced by Tom Griggs. It was an amazing evening, recalling fantastic times.

More photos from the band reunion.

Friday, September 25, 2009

CHHS Homecoming

It was awesome getting together with everyone at the game. Not a bad turn out on with only a month's notice. The Joe Simpkins' era band members found a home in the bleacher sitting behind the current band.

Walter was a hoot. He played gargoyle for us and warded off any potential invasion from non-band members. We also enlisted him to take group photo.


More Homecoming Photos:

2009 CHHS Homecoming
2009 CHHS After Homecoming

DentistryForDiabetics Conference

We started off our conference weekend on Thursday evening, with a pre-meeting meeting. It was quite the social event. It was a great time for the doctors to meet and really get to know one another.

Even though Friday morning started off rainy our spirits weren't dampened. We had a full house.

Dr. John Gaeta and Dr. Eric Compton during a communication exercise on mirroring.

Conference Weekend Photos

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Thursday Happenings

On the way to work this morning the sky as so pretty. I got this shot of the clouds at the intersection just up from the office.

We're holding our conference at a new venue this month, the Hotel Sierra out at Short Pump. Very nice facilities. The decor is very calming - the colors and general feel remind me of some places in Italy. They even have a roof top area for outdoor events that really reminded me of the roof top of the hotel where I stayed in Naples.

This evening we are having a pre-meeting meeting, just a small group get together to bat around some ideas. Many times these pre-meetings produce loads of great ideas, discoveries and ah ha's that may not have come about in the larger group setting.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Saying of the Day:

Life Life Happy
Wear old sneakers every chance you get
Ride roller coasters with your hands up
Play hooky the first super sunny spring day
Don't settle for store bought cake
Stand up for the little guys

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Hump Day! Yippee!!

Yippee!!! I've made it through the day! We have been extremely busy at the office in preparation for our conference this weekend. Brian F. and I have been putting some final touches on some designs for a website, gathering up documents for distribution and just getting the normal daily stuff done.

On the way in I caught these geese flying over the field at the end of the road.

This evening I've got lemon chess pies in the oven, and a couple of more ready to go in. I haven't made these darn thing in almost 30 years. Lord, help if they don't turn out right because I'd never, ever, ever hear the end of it. Dad had already put in his order for one, so I just might end up making more than I thought I would.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Countdown to the Weekend

Preparations have been underway for a few weeks now and we're finally coming down to the wire. Homecoming is Friday night followed by the band reunion. I'm looking forward to both events.

I'll be busier than a March hare both days. We are having a conference at work on both days, prior to the evenings festivities. So I'll be racing from one event to the next.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Terrific Sunday

It has been a beautiful day, fantastic temperature, with just a hint of a breeze.

I've been working on the final transfer of data and program installations to the new computer. The old one decided to work, at least temporarily, so that has been helpful in getting the information transferred and making sure that I have all the programs installed that I usually use. You know the first thing that would happen on Monday is that I'd find out there was something on the old one that I need to use during the day.

The band reunion is coming right along. In fact, it seems to be growing by leaps and bound. I am forward to Saturday, catching up with everyone. All you band members out there if you haven't signed up do so now so we'll know how many are coming! http://budurl.com/chhs

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Henricus Publick Day

The girls (Mom, Elda, Abby, me, and our escort Sam) ventured out this morning to Henricus, in southern Chesterfield. We spent the morning and early afternoon meandering through the Fort, Indian village, and touring the Godspeed (which had sailed up from Jamestown).

Abby and Sam were particularly taken with the Indians. They were very informative. They even had a flint knapping demonstration. We were told that a group of the Indians had slept in the lodge last night.











There were various demonstrations: carpentry, blacksmith, traders, musician, cooking, tobacco farming, laundry, gardening, and medical treatments of the time. Everyone was informative and entertaining.

Both Abby & Sam were off almost from the minute we hit the fort gate, taking pictures of everything. They are really quite the shutterbugs. Once they had taken a photo they were off to find something new to see. Abby was having such a good time taking pictures of the chickens and turkey that were in the barnyard. We even got in a few bugs and a caterpillar.

The kids and I slipped away from Mom & Elda, and I got them big scoops of Bruster's ice cream. The little bunchkins wouldn't even give their mom a bit. They definitely enjoyed it.

I was so glad that we had gotten there early, the lines weren't long and we were able to get down to tour the Godspeed before the crowds really arrived.

The kids enjoyed the Colonial games and crafts that were available. Sam was having fun trying out all the different activities. Abby got very involved in to making a sachet. She spent a long time decorating the outside. She was being quite the little artist.

On the way out we caught up with a mother and her 4-year-old re-enactors. The little guy was just as cute as a button. He posed for us, and then started 'flirting' with Abbey. Doing some of the cutest things. His antics were a great ending to the tour of the fort.

Friday, September 18, 2009

End Of The Week

It has been a full and frustrating day. It started off fine until I fired up the computer and the display went black. I held my breath and waited, but it didn't recover. I tried rebooting and running things in safe mode, but that didn't work. In fact it threw a couple of new errors. Well, sometimes, a good reboot from Safe Mode works, but not this time. A black screen with various blocks of undefined color scattered in the corners. Yuck!! Of course, the timing could not have been worse. We were working on getting out a book out to the publisher. That has been postponed till Monday now.

I dashed out almost immediately and headed for home. I needed to pick up my CS4 software for installing on another computer. Then on to BestBuy for a new computer. While waiting for a 'geek' in the computer department, I was on the phone with Adobe verifying that the Creative Suite would run on the Windows Vista 64 bit system. Once I found out that it would I was set. Following the basic rule of thumb for computer purchase, get the most RAM, largest hard drive, and fastest processor you can. I have upgraded from my HP Pavillion d9000 to a HP Pavillion dv7.

Once back in the office I delved into the arduous task of setting up a new computer, with all the inital setup steps that you must go through. Once I had that done, well not quite all done. I went ahead and got my Creative Suite installed and was able to get to editing.

I've finally gotten the last of 56 Microsoft updates installed this evening. On top of all the normal Office programs. There are a number more programs that I still have to get done before Monday. But I'm not going to push too hard to get them done this evening.

Dr. Martin and Brian F. took me out to Firebirds for lunch in celebration of my birthday. It was a very nice lunch. While I was out Walter came by the office and fixed the door handle on my car door. Now I can get in and out of the car without rolling down the window.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Year in Review

Last year on my birthday I was sitting in Naples, in our hotel lobby listening to one our tour group members play on a 100-year old mandolin, while drinking Lemoncello that we'd picked up in Capri. It wasn't too many days later that I was vising the Trevi fountain in Rome and throwing my coins in. (They say if you throw in one you will return to Rome, if you throw in 2 you'll find love.) It was a too short trip, yet there are so many memories.

The rest of my year seemed to be just about as eventful. Just after Christmas the Facebook community exploded! It is truly amazing how everyone is getting back together after 30 years or so. The monthly Monday get togethers are turning in quite the events.

In January, Walter (my son) bought a house and I moved in with him at the end of the month. That has been an experience. Construction everywhere for the first three or four months. Then, of course, once they completed the house, trees had to come down. Only 55!! Firewood is still everywhere.

During March and April we took a couple of impromptu trips to the Outer Banks. One was absolutely on a whim on a Saturday afternoon. We ended up in Ocracoke for dinner. What a drive that was. Our second trip was a little more planned and that time we took my mom with us. That trip too turned out to be a real adventure. We even managed to get in the Kenny Loggins concert at Innsbrook.

At the end of the Spring I enrolled at Sessions.edu in the Graphic Design Master Certification program. So far classes have been going well. All A's so far. I just really need to get over Typography class.

August brought Brian in from the frozen land of the UP of Michigan. We had quite the turn out for his Welcome Home/Going Away party.

September slipped right back around and has been filled with a flurry of activities. Planning Homecoming events and band reunion in addition to actually working.

All-in-all the year began and ended on a high note. Here's to another terrific year!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

CHHS Band Reunion!

Calling All Marching Cavaliers!

We have a reunion coming up on September 26th. Take a minute and click on the link below and let us know that you are coming.

I'll Be There!

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

CHHS Marching Band Photos

I've been burning up the scanner this morning. Scanning in band photos from Joe Simpkins' personal archives. Diana (Moon) Morris and I were able to borrow them from him yesterday. I still have some slides to do, but am going to wait for just a little while before I get started on them. Here are links to all the photos that I have scanned in so far:

1981 Florida Band Trip

Various CHHS Band Members

Various CHHS Band Group Photos

CHHS Band Random Photos

CHHS Band Random Group Shots

CHHS Band at Southside Plaza

CHHS Miscellaneous Slides

Saturday, September 12, 2009

King Tut! Has Been Found

We've been telling our friends and family about this performance for years and now after 30 years in hiding the video has resurfaced! Thanks to Tom Griggs for letting me digitize his copy. But the real news it that the original footage has been found and Tom is having it converted over to DVD format.

I had a fantastic journey down memory lane today visiting with Diana (Moon) Morris, Joe Simpkins, Tom & Laura (Loper) Griggs. The photos and videos are priceless. I've got a whole box of photos on loan from Joe Simpkins to scan, so be on the lookout for new "old" band photos.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Surprise

I got a big surprise this evening. I went out for an improptu dinner with Diane & Ryland at Glory Days Grill. The stinkers, had a birthday cake for me. It was very sweet and totally unexpected. Thanks guys!!

I caught Walter this evening before he was heading out for the evening. Amazingly he wasn't wearing the usual jeans and flannels. He does clean up well.

Randy the Raccoon

Just when I thought that I was going to be totally stressed out for the entire day...I heard from Tim about their interesting adventure with a Randy the Racoon. The story goes something like this...

They were having the chimney taken out of the house due water problems. It seems that Randy had decided to take up residence in the chimney this Spring, much to the dismay of the construction workers when they began tearing out the old chimney. Randy wasn't all too keen on the fact that his hiding spot had been discovered and retreated to the furthest point away from all the activity. Only to discover that they had only left him one means of escape...a straight path to the crawl space door and the freedom of 'raccoon world'.

Once Randy was safely out of the house, they did a little investigative work and found that he had apparently scaled the side porch. Then climb up onto the roof and then slid right down the chimney. There were sooty footprints left at the scene.

Just goes to show you never really know what you'll find when doing home improvements.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

A Long Day

Grrr Webinars... Just when you think that you have everything running as smooth as silk, something has to go wrong. Oh, well I was able to back up and punt. It went fine after we figured out what was causing the issue, but even though it shouldn't have messed up in the first place. Especially when what causes the problem is looking at the software that you use to run the darn thing. All in all though the first one went well, now just to prepared for a replay much later this evening. It's going to be a long day.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

ONE
Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.

TWO
I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "divider", looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?" I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK," and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.

THREE
A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy."

FOUR
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. " Do you need some help?" I asked.. She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?" "Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk."

FIVE
Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five "blank" copies.

SIX
I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra in "Twister." I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the "cruise control" and then went in the back to make a sandwich.

SEVEN
My neighbor works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: "I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?"

EIGHT
Police in Radnor , Pa. interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.

NINE
A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room, the kid was eating ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and it should be fine .. The mother says, I just gave him some ant killer......

Dispatcher: Rush him to the emergency room!

Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid.
And remember - these people can vote

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

And It's Only Wednesday

Just when I was thinking that the week couldn't get any longer, I realized that it is only Wednesday! I have been bogged down with encoding video for the past two days, a very slow and sometimes painful process. Topping all that off with experimenting with GoToWebinar prior to our upcoming webinars this week. Yikes. I thought there for a while I was going to lose my mind. I just hate learning new software on the fly.

This evening I was off to a RAUG meeting. I was hoping that Alice would be able to meet up with me this month, but she's been swamped as well. Maybe in October? The meeting was very interesting we covered Kuler and ConnectNow as well as some templating issues in InDesign.

I almost forgot! Duh! The funniest thing that happened to me today. On the way to the RAUG meeting I thought that I would make use of the travel time to catch up with family. So I got Tim on the phone and was chatting away with him, when suddenly I noticed that I was crossing the Huguenot Bridge. Oops! I was suppose to have turned on to Chippenham Parkway. Talk about a "senior moment", oh well it worked out alright. I picked up the Downtown Expressway off Cary Street and made it back across the river to Artworks in plenty of time. Next month I'm going to have watch where I'm going more closely or else I'll wind up in the West End without even thinking about it.

Thought For the Day: When time are tough and your rope is short, just don't use it to the end, climb back up and start over again. - Tony Bowen

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Back to Work

What a dreary day to start the new work week with! Rainy and yucky!

Brian F. and I have spend virtually the entire day working on the PowerPoint Presentation. We've been synching an audio track to the individual slides. It is has come along way in a week. We're in the final stages of completion now, unless there is some change we'll be good to go tomorrow. We've got some video editing to do on another project that will need to be finished before the end of the week. It all just takes time, and heaven forbid if there is something that needs to be corrected after the video is rendered. Then it's time to start all over again. The computer is tied up for an hour or more.

I've brought home the video to re-encode this evening. It's being processed right along now. Taking what seems to be forever, but not really. In total it should take about an hour and a half. Then we'll see if it is the quality that I'm looking for. I surely hope so, making the adjustments just takes forever.

11:00 p.m. The video finally finished encoding!!! Only 4 1/2 hours after beginning. I sure hope that there aren't any changes tomorrow, otherwise it'll be tomorrow afternoon before it can be used.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For the Day:
The race you are guaranteed to lose is the one you don't start. - David Bullock

Doctor's Office Advertisement

This should get a "rise" out of you...

I'm sure that you have seen pharmaceutical advertising in doctors' offices on everything from tissues to exam table cover paper. Well, in my book, this one should get the prize...

My Chinese doctor emailed back. If the light stays on for more than 4 hours, call your erectician.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Labor Day

We had a girls day planned for the day, but that fizzled out pretty quickly today. Elda & Abbey were coming over, but Elda is suffering so from allergies she wasn't up to coming out. Alice & Cassie didn't make it either. Alice is suffering from too much work (home & office) so she was just going to vegetate for the day.

So Mom, Mamaw & I spent the afternoon together. We spent the time chatting and ordered in Chinese for lunch (so no one had to cook). It was a very nice afternoon of catching up on things and generally doing nothing much. Mamaw wasn't very talkative, she was just 'listening' to things.

This morning I received my final assignment grade from my InDesign professor. Yeah! Took the exam and have completed the course with an A. Now on to working on completing my Fundamentals of Typography class. I've been gathering the necessary elements to complete the first assignment and hope to have that finished before the end of the week.

The rain finally arrived here early this afternoon. It looks like it has settled in for a good long visit, until Friday according to NOAA.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom: Your present plans are going to succeed. (Oh boy!!!)

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Trip To Yorktown

Sean and I left around 9:30 for a trip to the Yorktown waterfront. We had a relaxing drive down on Colonial Parkway. We even made a stop to take several pictures along the parkway.

We arrived in Yorktown at just the right time, the Alliance was out on the river. It was cool to see a ship that large using sails. Oh there were quite of few smaller sailboat, but it was impressive.

Sean hung out on the beach for awhile digging a huge hole, which he promptly got into and covered himself up with sand. Even going so far as to decorate himself with some spare parts! After having that much sand all over him, he spent the rest of his time in the water.

Click Here For More Trip Photos

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Fireworks

Mom called me this evening around 7 p.m. to let me know that there was going to be a fireworks display at the reservoir. Sean and I hopped in the car and headed out to watch.

We started out over on Genito Road as the moon was coming up. I got this interesting shot of the moon rise. (I was using manual settings and made it a bit too bright. It looks too much like sunrise.)

When we realized that we were in the wrong location we hurried thru Woodlake to Hull Street. We arrived just in time to quickly settled in, across the street from Woodlake, in the McDonald's parking lot to watch. It was a great vantage point.

We got there just in time to enjoy the show. It ran about 15 minutes was nice. I got a number of photos and a video too!

Click Here For Firework photos

Out with Sean

Ran out with Sean to pick up a few things that I needed for typography class, and ended up at the new Wally World. Well that was not all that it cracked up to be. It had loads of space but it really didn't seem to be all that impressive.

Sean commented about it being way too blue inside. I could agree with that there was a blue cast to the lighting in the store. Or it could have just been the light reflecting off all the blue signage.

Saturday

It has been an interesting morning. I received some very odd text messages on my phone. Who knew that Ocracoke Island could send text messages? Since then my phone has created a blog of it's very own. I suppose that it is trying to exert some independence. I mean really. I gave it a little space in the right column and then it just took off from there. I never know what it is going to have to say. It'll just keep us all guessing.

Talked to Sean early this afternoon. He's going to come over and spend the night at the house and then we're going to head down to Yorktown beach on Sunday morning. Sean wanted to get out to a beach before the summer was truly over. I figured that Yorktown might not be nearly as crowded as Virginia Beach, but you never know. We may get there and just keep on going. Tomorrow will tell. Time to breakout the beachwear.

Blog of Interest: Navy Moms For Freedom of Speech

Starting the Labor Day Weekend

Slept in just a little late this beautiful Saturday morning. We've had the windows open at the house for the last three days. I even opened up a few more last night, since I won't be heading out to work until Tuesday. It is so peaceful listening to the birds during the day and the crickets, etc at night.

I believe the game plan for the weekend is to continue with the yard clean up. Mr. Sleepy is still in bed and I believe that he is enlisting one of the boys from next door in moving and stacking the remaining wood.

I need to get into my typography class exercises. Most of these are not online and require hand drawn letters and even a 'field trip' of sorts to find different font styles.

Friday, September 4, 2009

And just how many hats have I had on today....

As the day at the office began, I found myself manning the front desk (thank goodness Jami will be back on Tuesday) and working on a PowerPoint presentation with Brian F. The deadline for the presentation is quickly approaching, but we've had to move out of my quiet office and up to the front desk where there are loads of distractions.

Patients, phones, radio, other staff, loads of different noises that we don't normally deal with, plus questions from patients, pharmacies, and other practices. YIKES! I definitely feel like a fish out of water up there. Some stuff isn't so bad, it actually reminds me of way back when I worked for Jefferson Ward as the PBX operator.

It really is the dental stuff that gets me. Thank goodness that Roz has been here to play back up to our stint in the 'receptionist' position, or rather hot seat. She's been able to tackle all those questions that neither of us have been able to field. Jami is dynamite dealing with all this everyday, God love her.

Walter started out the morning messing on Facebook. He and Jeff surely entertained themselves over my status updates. Hopefully he has gotten out and started finishing up clearing the woodpiles from out of the yard. It will look so nice once it's all stacked in the back. Just in time to enjoy a cleared yard for about 15 minutes before the leaves begin to fall. Then it'll be time to start all over again. It won't be as bad as it was when we first moved in, 55 trees gone and virtually all the previous years leaves gone as well. One season of leaves shouldn't be so horrible now.

As the day has worn on my appreciation level for Jami has risen as well, aside from all the other stuff that I ranted on earlier, she has to keep the office schedule in line. Now that is a job. Most people don't think anything about calling and cancelling a dental appointment at the last minute, but when they do it really throws a monkey wrench in the works and effects at least 3-5 other people as well. Then there is all the shuffling that is needed to fill the vacancy.

Walter sent a text to my phone to help me out with greeting patients. Here's the audio:
Ever since Walter found out that my phone had the capability to read text messages he has amused himself by sending me some very odd and interesting phone messages. The following one was just one of the longest that he has sent. Some context is necessary. Josh repairs ATM machines, and some of his biggest problems arise from people putting coins into machines that are not designed to accept them. Wayne is forever teasing him about putting coins in the ATM's. Thus the running joke about coins in an ATM. In addition to all this Walter has decided that when my phone is in vibrate mode it sounds like someone passing gas, when it vibrates, while sitting on the counter or table. I know. Horrible potty jokes abound.

With that being said, here is a message that my phone 'read' to me one day recently about world domination:

As you can tell Walter has put a whole lot of time and thought into theses messages. It is surely a cheap way for him to entertain himself, and others. :)

Going backwards to the beginning of the day, as I was heading into work this morning I was greeted at the intersection of Hull Street & Fordham by five Chesterfield police cars all lit up like Christmas trees in front of the Sheetz. From the light I couldn't 'see' what they were up to and wasn't enlightened much further as I turned onto Hull. What i did find was yet another crusier slightly up the road. As I got closer to Courthouse Road, near Rockwood Park I saw four officers walking on the side of the road looking at or for something.


Much later this evening Walter found out that someone had been shot near the Sheetz. Although the report from the Sheetz is that they didn't hear a thing. I guess we'll eventually find out what happened on the news, sometime in the future.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

From today's edition of the Patriot's Post: "U.S. Soldier Demands Apology From Senator Claire McCaskill at Town Hall -- a soldier explains the difference between his keeping of his oath to support and defend, and McCaskill's eagerness to break that oath."

Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure
The True Story of a Great American Road Trip
by Matthew Algeo

Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.

The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri. His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.

When he retired from office in 1952, his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year..

After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.

When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, "You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale."

Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."

As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.

Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale. (sic. Illinois)

Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!

I say dig him up and clone him!!

God was missing for six days...

Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day.

He inquired, "Where have you been?"

God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds,

"Look, Michael. Look what I've made.

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put life on it... I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a place to test Balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, "I'm still confused."

God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I've placed a continent of white people, and over ther e is a continent of black people. Balance in all things."

God continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land area and said, "What's that one?"

"That's Washington State , the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains.

The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of software."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, "But what about balance, God ? You said there would be balance."

God smiled, "There's another Washington . Wait till you see the idiots I put there.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Full Moon on Friday

I knew it! People are acting out of character and pretty crazy. You can always tell when it is close to or there is a full moon. Things just get really strange.

Back when I was working for AT&T as an operator, we would get some really strange calls from men who it seemed didn't have much else to do late at night. Some of the propositions were quite graphic, needless to say they ended up being quite surprised when they found out they were talking to supervisors and not us.

I saw that Tropical Storm Erika was passing by the Virgin Islands today. I guess it is making for a soggy day in paradise, but tomorrow is another day and I bet the sun is back in full force. If things are like here, you always can use the rain, it just the pesky strong winds that are a problem. Here's hoping & praying that there aren't any big problems as a result of the storm.

It has been a cool evening. Walter & I ran out to the grocery store this evening. The stinker was out to get a couple of pieces of birthday cake. I was good. I picked up more salad for the weekend.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For the Day: "[T]he people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government and to reform, alter, or totally change the same when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." --Samuel Adams, quoted in the Patriot's Post

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Mid-week Craziness

Things got a little crazy today. Sessions notified me that they had locked my InDesign class. What's up with that? Turns out that they had the class ending yesterday, when it should be sometime next year. All fixed. So just as soon as the professor grades my final assignment I can take my final exam.

The office has been just a bit out of sorts as well, with Jami missing from the front desk Brian and I have been recruited to fill in during the afternoons and will be taking over the whole job of receptionist/administrative assistant. We even heard from one of the doctors, that we work with in Florida, who's had a really exciting day. A patient drove their car into his building! We hear that the damage was basically cosmetic, but nonetheless major event. Some of the jokes were horrible, others fairly funny. Particularly ones about sedating patient's before they get in the office and have a 'drive-thru' dental practice. I'm sure he'll have a few stories to tell at the conference at the end of the month.

[8 p.m.] It has been a great evening. Typography class is going smoothly and seemingly quickly. The hardest part that I can see right now is collecting the 10 type rubbings that I need to gather. There aren't alot of things that I am around on a daily basis with raised text. Lots and lots of print, but not too much signage. We'll see, there actually may be more than I realise once I get started.

We've still got the windows open here. I'm loving it. No ac or heat! Yeah! It is such great sleeping weather.

Just saw an add on television for getting certified as a massage therapist. At the office they tell that it would be a great 'third', 'fourth', or 'fifth' career. I think I'll stick with the graphic design for now. :)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

New Beginning

Heard this afternoon that Brian has made it safely to the Virgin Islands. Here's wishing him all the best and tremendous luck on his new adventure.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For the Day:
We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. - Harrison Ford

URGENT SWINE FLU ADVICE

Hi All.

I don't want to worry you, but with all the hype and attention in the media recently concerning the spread of H1N1 virus I decided to ring the Government's new Swine Flu Helpline yesterday just to check on what the Symptoms are.

Basically ...

If you wake up looking like this ...

Don't go to work !!!