Happy Anniversary! Mom & Dad

Larry & Dorothy Parsons

Married June 8, 1962

Can You Say Burnout?

I fear that it is going to be coming sooner rather than later. Lately I've had about three too many balls in the air and at some point something is going to come crashing down.

I've been procrastinating severely on several items for school - I'm so close to finished yet don't seem to have the energy left to just "get it done". It may be that things are just so in flux and have been for a while, that I'm totally zapped out by the time I get home in the evenings that that isn't enough of me left.

I'm looking forward to getting out this coming weekend with friends for a movie, a cookout with family, and that extra day off on Monday. I'm betting that I can put that day to really good use on creating a champagne box, and perhaps at least one other assignment.

That being said, it is a plan, unless Walter comes up with a whole laundry list of things that he would like to get help with.

Cross your fingers for me. Time to plow forward and get on with it.

Do You Have A Gun In Your House???

I got this in my email this week, I haven't done any 'fact-checking' on this, but even if there is a hit of truth to this we really need to pay attention. Better to err on the side of caution that be caught unaware.

When I had my gangrene gallbladder taken out and spent 10 days in the hospital for what should have been an overnight stay, the insurance company kicked me out. I had home nurse visits for two weeks and was asked if I had guns in the house. I responded that if I did I would not tell them. So the below information has some merit.

FYI , I am passing this along...there are comments from two other people have also been asked if we keep guns in the house. The nurse just kinda slipped it in along with all the other regular questions. I told her I refused to answer because it was against the law to ask.

Everyone, whether you have guns or not, should give a neutral answer so they have no idea who does and who doesn't. My doctor asked me if I had guns in my house and also if any were loaded. I, of course, answered yes to both questions. Then he asked why I kept a loaded gun close to my bed. I answered that my son, who is a certified gun instructor and also works for Homeland Security, advised me that an unloaded, locked up gun is no protection against criminal attack.

The Government now requires these questions be asked of people on Medicare, and probably everyone else. Just passing this along for your information: I had to visit a doctor other than my regular doctor when my doctor was on vacation. One of the questions on the form I had to fill out was: Do you have any guns in your house?? My answer was None of your damn business!! So it is out there! It is either an insurance issue or government intervention. Either way, it is out there and the second the government gets into your medical records ( A s they want to under Obamacare) it will become a major issue and will ultimately result in lock and load!! Please pass this on to all the other retired guys and gun owners...Thanks

From a Vietnam Vet and retired Police Officer. I had a doctor’s appointment at the local V A clinic yesterday and found out something very interesting that I would like to pass along. While going through triage before seeing the doctor, I was asked at the end of the exam, three questions:

1. Did I feel stressed? 
2. Did I feel threatened? 
3. Did I feel like doing harm to someone?

The nurse then informed me, that if I had answered yes to any of the questions, I would have lost my concealed carry permit as it would have gone into my medical records and the V A would have reported it to Homeland Security.

Looks like they are going after the vets first. Other gun people , like retired law enforcement, will probably be next.

Then when they go after the civilians, what argument will they have? Be forewarned and be aware. The Obama administration has gone on record as considering veterans and gun owners potential terrorists. Whether you are a gun owner , veteran or not, YOU"VE BEEN WARNED! If you know veterans and gun owners, please pass this on to them. Be very cautious about what you say and to whom.

Meandering Road Trip

Old truck along the roadside on 360.

This past weekend Mom & I headed out on a journey to visit our cousin, Wanda, in Hillsville. Now when we head out on a trip it isn't your quick trip down and back no, we wander and meander our way about.

It is amazing the things that you can see on just a four hour trip. 

We decided to begin our journey by taking 360 West to 58 West then on to Hillsville.

We stopped along the way to get some pictures of plants, ponds, bugs, buildings and such until we reach South Boston.

Goats milling around the sculptures
in Bob Cage's Sculpture Farm

It was about that time that we came across Bob Cage's Sculpture Farm! Amazing.

The field was filled with an huge assortment of sculptures with an added bonus of a donkey, burro and bunches of goats. They were all hanging out and playing around the sculptures.

We had a grand time taking pictures of the animals interacting with the sculptures. There was a couple of kids fighting with one another, leaping at one another and butting heads a few times.

Bears!
This could be interesting.

Further down the road we got to Lover's Leap lookout, spent some time there taking photos from the overlook. The rhododendron were also in bloom and the light was just right.

As we were getting ready to leave that was when we saw the bear crossing sign!

With cameras in hand we went on a bear hunt.

Needless to say we were disappointed when we didn't see a single one.  The sign LIED!

We finally made it to our destination in the early evening. Off then to visit with Wanda.

The Darlings - Mayberry RFD

After a dinner out with Wanda, we all headed across the state line to Mt. Airy. It was a dual purpose trip, I had purchase to make and we got to visit several of the attractions there dealing with The Andy Griffith Show.

We were even allowed to go into the mock up of the Courthouse/ Sheriff's office. It was a time capsule of television history. They even had a brick with a sign above it, "In Memory of Earnest T. Bass".

There was also several of vehicles from the series, the Darling's truck, a taxi, and Wally's tow truck.

Day Two

The second day of our journey started with a visit to Carroll House to spend some more time with Wanda. Instead of a couple of hours it turned in to nearly half a day.

Southwest Virginia Farmers Market

We were given a tour of the facility, took loads of photos of several of Wanda's friends and learned about all the activities that they were involved in.

Finally breaking away we stopped at the Farmers Market. The vegetables and flowers were beautiful.

Mom even found some new flowers for the deck and  her Hummingbirds.  I'm looking forward to new pictures from Mom featuring the flowers and the Hummers.

Our final major stop was the New River Trail Park at Foster Falls. As we were checking in we found out that it was the park's 25th Anniversary - a free day of parking!!

Cycling near
Foster Falls

We headed straight for the river and the falls, and were we in luck. The weather was beautiful. There were wild flowers in bloom and the Canadian Geese were on the water with their chicks. It was interesting to watch them swim against the current - both parents keeping the chick between them - buffering them from the current.

There was a Boy Scout troop from Mecklenburg, NC, camping and cycling throughout the park. Mom spoke to several of the boys who said they were there working on their cycling merit badge. They all appeared to be having a grand time.

We finished up our journey home by traveling back along 21 and 460, back to 360 and only tracing our path for only about 45 minutes.

More Photos from Our Meandering Road Trip

iBooks

Just learned how to create an iBook - looking forward to using this one.

I already have multiple projects that I would like to attack. Creating office manual with embedded videos; redoing my genealogy books to make them portable.

I'm sure that there are about 15 project that are out there for me to utilize the technology on.

Off to find one to get underway.

Triple Birthday Wishes

Today's a special day in our family.

Three birthday on one day! 

Happy Birthday to my cousin, Sandi! 

Happy 10th Birthday Abigail!

Happy 10th Birthday, Terry! 

Make a wish and blow out the candles.  May you each get your wish, and have a fantastic birthday!

Waiting on the Dominos

Ever have one of those days that everything just seems to topple onto everything else just like a row of dominos. It has just been one of those days.

Stuff has just seemed to fall all over itself today. Making one big mess after another. You can feel the tension building.

Something is up, just not sure what it is or if those dominos are really going to just topple over and slam into one another and all fall down. Perhaps it will only be a couple minor things that fall over and the rest remain untouched.

We shall see.

I have my fingers crossed for a much better afternoon and evening. It very well could just be all me, wouldn't be the first time. Yet I just hate it when bagging your head on a wall, seems like it would be the best option to dealing with the situation.

Closing in on the End

I am closing in on finally finishing up my Masters Certification in Graphic Design at Sessions.edu. I'm down to just completing three total exercises.

That breaks down to two packaging designs and a final exam for Advanced Packaging; and 1 final photo shoot (although I do have 1 lesson already to be turned in, but must wait until the previous one has been graded); and final exam for Digital Photography I.

For the final photo shoot I'll be heading back out to the ball field. There is always something going on there. The packing designs on the other hand just me to roll up my sleeves and dive in. I have one already started so it shouldn't be that bad.

Definitely going to knock this out before mid-May.

Sunny Afternoon

I was out and about doing errands for the office this afternoon, it was nice to be out enjoying the beautiful day.

I surely do hate shopping - the whole trip was one big shopping trip. Grr. It would have been so much better if only one store had carried everything that I was out to purchase.

I noticed years ago, when I was shopping for the family, that once you find a product that you like, know where to get either one of two things happens: 1) they quit carrying the product; or 2) they move it to some obscure spot in the store.

Then this evening Facebook had a weird glitchy-ness going on. I had friend request show up on my phone - I like the person so I went online and accepted the friend request. It was two minutes later, when they disappeared. I couldn't access their page at all. Just to make sure that I had not done something silly, I tried to add them as a friend via my instant message - which replied to me "Add Who?"

Obviously it wasn't me - with a little more research, it seems that the person who had friended me and turned right around and blocked me. Now what gets me is that this individual has been distant over the past number of years and I was encouraged that circumstances had changed somewhat. But to send a friend request and then immediately block someone is just plain ugly and hurtful.

Lunch at Akida

Ran out for lunch this afternoon with Roz. We took a drive all the way over to Robinson and Broad Streets to Akida Japanese Restaurant. It was an awesome trip. The sushi chef even let me take pictures!

The sushi rolls were every bit as good as they looked!

It is definitely worth the trip. I'm going to get a few of my sushi loving friends together and make the trip back real soon.

The Akida Roll and Firehouse Roll are delicious picks.

Photos from the Trip

Disturbing Headlines

Children being handcuffed for throwing a tantrum; the Secret Service involved in scandal; Farrakhan calling for killing our leaders; on top of these:

TSA to Search Bags: Question Passengers on Houston Buses The TSA has no business 'policing' buses. The next thing you know, we will be subject to questioning anywhere and everywhere we go. It is a terribly slippery slope.

Michelle Obama: 'This President Has Brought Us Out of the Dark and Into the Light' As if the headline alone isn't disturbing enough, the actual article cites scripture. The overt implication being that Obama is our savior.

It does appear that everyday the headlines are becoming more and more bizarre and disturbing. Rolling back the clock, no further than 10 years ago, headlines like these would have prompted alarm and public outcry. Are we, as a country, just going to go quietly down this path where our rights are trampled? Politician's aren't saviors, they are to be watched and watched carefully.

It all just makes me want to stop reading the news all together. I've given up on watching on television - no matter what channel you turn to they are all saying the same thing and nothing at the same time. I remember when the media actually questioned what was going on. Now it just seems that they are parroting whatever press release that happens to have been placed in front of them.

Unusual Sightings

 I'm not sure what is going on at the neighbor's house, but it is surely disturbing Bounce.

One of the guys that lives there keeps walking up and down the driveway, barefoot and no shirt (not terribly disturbing on these warm days, but this is usual all year). Now there is a new guy, apparently living there, that wears all black - including a hat - who is now doing the driveway stroll.

Bounce can barely contain himself. He doesn't even know what to make of it. He keeps going from door to door and window to window barking at the neighbor's house. When I don't get up and go see what he's barking at.

I'm hoping that they do decide to finally either take a true walk or go inside.

They Got Me

I can't believe that they FINALLY caught up with me. Here I was being so stealth in my coming and goings, but I just wasn't able to continue.

This morning as I was cruising down Courthouse Road, a police cruiser slipped in behind me. Please note, I had my cruise control engaged and was doing 45 mph. I KNEW I wasn't speeding and not another car behind me was even going to attempt to pass the officer or me. I felt like the leader of the parade. That was until I the blue lights started flashing in my rearview mirror.

I even glanced down to make sure that the cruise control hadn't disengaged. It was perfect, yet the lights were still going. So off to the side of the road I went. It was just about that moment when I looked down and noticed that my car registration was still folded up in the center of the dashboard. DUH! As the officer approached the window, asking for my license and registration, I passed them out the window. The registration still had the new year stickers attached!

After he checked them out, I hopped out of the car an took the full minute that was required to put them on the car. Too funny. Here I will make sure that Walt has his on his car and I forget to put my own on. 

No harm no foul. Just took about three extra minutes to get to work this morning. Once back on the road the officer passed me and hadn't traveled more that 3/4 mile until he had pulled someone else over. Hope that they had their registrations just sitting on the dash as well.

The Dark Side

I finally did it after years of toying with the idea. I have crossed over and purchased a MacBook. I didn't think that it would happen, but here I am typing this on the MacBook. The crossover probably won't be as difficult as I 'dreaded' since I already use both the iPad and iPhone - and those in conjunction with iCloud. The basics are already in place, it is just going to be the "technical" that will be different. How do I do X and where do I find Y?

There have been a few projects lately that I have wanted to do but the applications to do them are only available on the Mac. There is also the possibility of a new suite of programs coming out in the next few months and with a new release it would be great to be able to just switch platforms without losing the option to upgrade. Sort of the perfect time to make the jump - if not totally to work in dual mode.

I know that I will continue to work with the PC and MacBook, since there are a number of applications that I utilize that are only available on the PC and then there are those that are Mac specific as well. I'm really looking forward to working with iBooks Author.

Jared's Again

Got a call this afternoon from Jared's, time to get back in there and find something to replace the last ring that had 'issues'. I was so not in the mood to shop, but I did find a very unusual green amethyst bracelet and ear rings to replace the LeVivan ring. Besides finally putting that behind me I did get a couple of very unique pieces and had a great visit with Carol.

When I came home this evening I noticed that the Dogwood tree in the front yard had bloomed! We didn't think that it was going to this year. There are about half a dozen or so blooms, but there will be more next year for sure. Then there was the extra special surprise of finding a dragonfly hanging out on one of the leaves. He made for one cool picture.

Bounce was very calm this evening. Turns out that he had spent a couple of hours out at the dog park with Walter this afternoon. He won't be worth anything for a couple of days. Walt said that he behaved himself very well, and that the drooling in the car seems to be reducing in severity. Maybe the key to getting him over it is just putting him in the car more often.

Easter 2012

Wonderful dinner at Mom & Dad's house with Tim & family and even Sean. Mom out did herself as usual.

It was great sitting around and talking with everyone. Sean and I stayed a little later and spent sometime hanging out on the porch with Mom & Dad.

We missed seeing the rest of the family, but everyone else was visiting with in-laws or friends. Maybe we'll all get back together come Memorial Day.

Easter Photos

Rest In Peace Miss Carla

January 1996 - March 23, 2012

Carla passed away yesterday evening. I was holding her on the was to the vet, when she laid her head at the nape of my neck and then she was gone.

Carla was truly a part of the whole family. We adopted her way back in May 1996 from the Richmond SPCA, she was the WRVA 'dog of the day'.

I remember that day well, the kids had been told that they could have a dog as long as it was a small one. The description the kids heard over the was Chihuahua mix and that she would be around 10 lbs when full grown. Perfect! Sean, who was 4 at the time, and I made a beeline for the SPCA so that we would be there when they opened to check her out. She was so ugly that she was cute!

She and Sean got bonded and that was that! After all the adoption papers were signed we piled in the car and headed back to school. To pick up Walter & Danielle - they got a half day off from school so they could spend time with her.

On one of our family excursions out not too many months later, Carla really showed us that she was there to protect us. While the guys were fishing, I was sitting next to a big rock reading and she kept annoying me beyond belief. I finally got up and moved, which prompted her to quiet down. As we were getting ready to leave, I went to pick up a bag that was sitting next to the rock and she started up again. Turned out that there was a big copperhead curled up under the rock. She let us know right then and there that she was definitely going to earn her keep.

Her disposition has always been very sweet and gentle. She was housebroken from day one and was always ready to get in the car and go anywhere. She LOVED a good road trip. She especially liked to go out to Mom & Dad's house to visit. Mom would even 'babysit' her if I needed to be out of town for a few days.

Over the years she has travel with us virtually everywhere. Ocean City, the Outer Banks, Blue Ridge Mountains and the Southwestern part of Virginia. She liked to go to the beach as long as there were absolutely NO waves involved. One the last trips that we took her on was to Warm Springs.

A year or more ago we found out that she had an enlarged heart and there was nothing that could be done for her due to age. As her condition progressed she slowed down, but she hung right in there and helped us to bring the new guy, Bounce, into the family. She mothered him and never let him think that he was in charge for one minute. Even though she could walk under him he definitely didn't give her any 'lip'. We've seen her put him right in his place.

There are loads of stories from over the years that we will all treasure. She was just a few months over 16 years old. She was an awesome companion, loyal as the day is long, and was always there. We will miss her greatly.

Marcus Smith Memorial Scholarship

I found out just recenty that one of the patients in our office had lost his son to the tornado that hit the University of Alabama in 2011.

• His story was written up in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (read the article here).  
• Turning tragedy into something positive - the family and Alabama alumni have set up a scholarship fund to honor Marcus. Read more about Marcus and the scholarship fund. There is an article about Marcus and a picture of Micah, his older brother, accepting his diploma in August. There is a link at the bottom of the page for contributions.

Help spread the word about the Marcus Smith Memorial Scholarship by purchasing and wearing a wristband. Proceeds go to support the scholarship fund. The wristbands sell for $5 each. The colors are the University of Alabama colors  and the wristbands are made of very sturdy rubber. They will fit almost any size wrist. These can be purchased by sending an email to jsmith@parkerpollard.com. (Marcus' mother).

Break In

A friend of mine had the misfortune to have her vehicle broken into while she was at work today. She had inadvertently left her purse in her car, as she was going in to work (running late). At lunchtime she headed out to pick up lunch, only to discover that someone had broken out her driver's side window. There was glass everywhere. Her purse, several sentimental items, her gym bag, and Sunday clothes were all taken.

She had a really rough afternoon - waiting for the police to arrive, dealing with the insurance company and then there were so many things to cancel and try to schedule a time to replace. Credit cards, driver's license, etc... It was hard to believe that someone would risk being caught breaking into a car during the middle of the day!

I guess the lesson that we can all take from this is not to leave anything of any value out in the open in the car. If you must leave something in the car, lock it in the trunk. Out of sight will reduce the temptation for someone just walking past looking for something to steal.

Saturday Fun

I had a great visit with Mom & Dad for most of the day on Saturday. I was being helpful and staying away from the house while Walter caught up on his sleep.

Turned out to be a really great day, photographing all the birds that show up on the deck at Mom & Dad's. Then on an outing with Mom we saw a swan on a nearby pond and headed over to take a few shots. The swans were very cooperative. But the real action happened when a few Canadian Geese dropped by. You could almost hear the shark music from Jaws playing as the Swan went on the attack chasing the geese out of the pond. Who knew that they were so territorial.

Birds Galore - Photo Shoot with Mom

Conference

Our conference was a grand success. Dr. Martin knocked another one out of the park with his information jammed pack presentation. The energy and excitement in the room really made the weekend just fly by. The doctors and their staff really put in some work during the workshop and had loads to take home with them at the end of the conference on Saturday.

I was great seeing all of our members once again and catching up with each of them.

Conference Photos

Israel

Back from an incredible five day visit to Israel.

It was a whirlwind trip. We hit the ground running! Visiting, Tel Aviv, Caesarea, Haifa, Zefat, Qumran, En Gedi, Masada, City of David and the Old City of Jerusalem in just four days. My last day in Jerusalem was spent at the DVI Clinic during the morning; followed by additional sightseeing in the afternoon at the Bird Observatory, the Israel Museum and topping off the evening before heading to the airport a trip to the Farmer's Market.

In preparation for the trip, I had read Jerusalem: The Biography, by Simon Sebag Montefiore which was a wonderful history of the city. Which I was grateful for once there and visiting the city. We even watched a number of archeological lectures on Jerusalem and the area as well prior to the trip. Again it was the putting together of the pieces and parts of what had been learned during Sunday School with the history of the place and throwing in current events that caused me to appreciate so much the reality of the place and marvel at it's complexity. There are so many layers, historic, religious, political, and archeological one upon the other. It gives a whole new understanding to Biblical history and the country as a whole.

Standing in so many of the places where the events of Biblical history have taken place; and touring the country put into perspective both the events of the Bible and today's current events. That so much has taken place in such a small area it is hard to fathom. The experience truly does change you.

Visiting the DVI Clinic and meeting the staff, volunteer dentists, and the patients was a special time. There is dedication of the staff and dentists to the clinic can be felt from the time you enter the door. The patients come from all backgrounds and there is a feeling of unity. If the world could operate in the same way the way or world would be a much better place.

My "job" was to photograph the country, people, food, and clinic for the American Friends of DVI. Please be sure to check out their website. Pass along this opportunity to volunteer to your dentist or contribute to the work that they are doing. Changing lives one child at a time and in their own way forging peace in the Middle East.

Trip Photos on Facebook

Trip photos, subject to change and removal. Enjoy!

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Double Rainbow

Happy Birthday Danielle!

Close Your Eyes and Make a Wish!
May all your birthday wishes come true!

Late Night Richmond

I had a great evening out with the guys last night at Legends Brewery. We went out to see the Big Boss Combo perform. Before the show, I was able to slip out onto the deck and get a nice skyline shot of the city.

The band was excellent and I was able to get some great shots during their performance.

BIG BOSS COMBO Photos

Sean Hits the Road

Looking good behind the wheel.

It has finally happened! Sean has taken to the road. He picked up his learner's permit this weekend and has been logging the miles. So far he's put in over 100 and that was before supper.

Be careful out there while you are learning and watch out for everyone else, you know that they won't be watching out for you.

Happy Birthday Faith!

Another Ring Bites the Dust

I am beginning to think that something out there doesn't want me to have a ring made by Le Vian. Today, I tapped my hand/ring against a counter at work and half of the ring went flying across the kitchen! Definitely NOT what I was expecting to happen. Upon a close examination I found that one of the butterflies had sheared off at the base where it connected to the main part of the ring.

I dropped it by Jared this evening on the way home and we're not even bothering to try to have it repaired. Store credit here I come. I'll be shopping for something else when I have a better day to do it. They did tell me that they had never seen a Le Vian piece have a problem and here I have had two in less than 6 months.

Catching Up

I have been so bad with my blog post of late. So many excuses for where the time has gone between them. Work, school, family, holidays and just plain ole not having anything exciting to report.

School

Let's see since the last real posting, I've begun my final module for school, which is photography. Since deciding to finish out my program with the photography module, I have picked up a new camera (Canon Rebel T2i) which is much better suited for use than just a point and shoot for the class. It is pretty hard to learn anything about photographing using the .raw format when all you've got to work with is .jpg.

I've already begun utilizing what I've learned during my course work to improve my overall photography. Even managing to do some head shots for a dancer.

The Holidays

Walt & I had a great Christmas party at the house the middle of December. Which was an awesome success! Looking forward to our next get together at the house for the Super Bowl. I spent Christmas Eve at Mom & Dad's house and part of Christmas Day at Barbara & Jimmy's house.

Mom & I attended Christmas with the Richmond Pops the week before Christmas. We both took loads of pictures.

Richmond Pops Band Photos

On the Friday before Christmas, Mom & I went out to the Metro Richmond Zoo to see their presentation, Miracle of Christmas at the Zoo.

Photos from Miracle at the Zoo

I did have a three-day weekend for Christmas and New Years. Took a bunch of pictures and spent the extra time working on editing them. It fun getting out and taking a series of images from a new perspective.

The New Year

Here we are with January almost gone and February just around the corner. Where does the time go? Time to finally gather up all the remnants of Christmas and get them back into the proper boxes and back into the attic.

I need to get myself a packing list together for an upcoming trip. There will be loads of pictures after I return.

What the Tooth Fairy Didn't Tell You

Dr. Michael Goldberg's just released "What the Tooth Fairy Didn't Tell You, The Wise Consumer's Guide to Dentistry in the Big Apple" explain the ins and outs of dental health. The stories and pictures will inspire and educate. The book is a guide to enable you to make health-saving, money-saving, pain-saving and time-saving choices. Although his book focuses on the New York City area, it is an invaluable resource for anyone who has a mouth, anywhere.

Proceeds from this book will go to support the DVI (Dental Volunteers for Israel), Trudi Birger Free Children's Dental Clinic in Jerusalem. Healing mouths is a worthy goal but Dr. Goldberg tries to heal the World by volunteering in a clinic where Christians, Muslims and Jews, children and dentist alike, routinely interact towards a common goal...getting and staying healthy.

Learn More about AmericanFriendsDVI.org

Get Your Copy at Amazon.com or Books-A-Million

Merry Christmas

New Restaurant??

Hmm...

Mac OS Issues Revisited

As the tale ended in October, we were just days away from our conference and my fingers were crossed that the fix we had put into place was going to work (at least for the duration of the conference.) On Thursday afternoon, as I left to set up for the conference we were still operating well.

Friday morning arrived and it wasn't pretty. Doctor arrived and I expected the usual computer hand off, but NOPE! The MacBook had crashed yet again during the evening. So here we are at the 12th hour and it is time to punt.

I pull out my HP and got to the ball rolling. The big trick was downloading the new PowerPoint from my email (27 mg) and a sketchy connection to the internet in our conference room. After a bit of juggling things were set for the morning (or so I thought). There were videos that had been embedded into the presentation, that of course weren't on my computer. If that's all we have fall apart then it will be okay.

The conference was able to get off and running with minimal delay due to the availability of my working PC! It did put a crimp in what I usually do during the conference - providing tech support, sending emails immediately to members during the session so that requested information/materials are there waiting for them before they ever leave. And the biggie - sending emails back to the office so that my post-conference to-do list is waiting for me; it beats the heck out of a list on a little piece of paper.

Fast forward to Monday - Back to the phones to speak with yet another Senior Adviser at Apple, the adviser that whom we had been speaking with wasn't in and had not answered my phone message. Needless to say by this point - the experience with Apple has left a bad taste in my mouth. Hours and hours of trying to resolve the issue with very little progress. Our new Senior Adviser reviewed the information from the case, had me do a couple of things, but then said that the case needed to be referred up to Engineering. Good grief! That could take forever. While we were waiting on a response from Engineering it was suggested that we prepare just in case they sent back a recommendation to reinstall the OS. Okay sound advise.

I backed up the Mac using the built in TimeMachine (very cool piece of software); and just for good measure did the Office for Mac upgrade and backed up again.

No response from Apple before the end of business on Monday. We were left hanging and waiting. The only choice was to just wait on a call or call daily and check to see if they had responded to the adviser. My mission became to call daily to check on the progress of this case and to see if there was any way to poke the engineers into moving faster.

I guess it was Tuesday near the end of the day when I checked back again and finding no reply. It was time to talk with Customer Service - the Doctor was heading out of town on Thursday and we were getting back down to crunch time yet again. Customer service didn't keep me long they moved us up to the Management Division.

I've been dealing with Sebastian now for the past several days - not being in the technical support department there wasn't much he could do except watch and see when the reply came back from engineering. He was very good at returning my daily calls and following up on the status of the case.

Around 3:30 on Thursday I got the call from Sebastian that a reply had come down. He connected me with a new Senior Adviser and off we went to see if we could get the Mac straightened out. After checking on a couple of setting that the engineers wanted to know about the fix was to delete the "Lock" folder from Safari. Something in this folder was screwing with the virtual memory.

Not being able to duplicate the error at will, I attempted to cause it to appear but to no avail. So yet again as I left for the day, the MacBookPro was actually working. I've still got my fingers crossed that it will continue to be working on Monday when the Doctor gets back and continues to work fine from now on out.

The plan is to check back with Sebastian on Tuesday hopefully to close the case for good, but we shall see...

CHHS 30th Reunion Class Photo

REUNION PHOTOS

If you would like a higher resolution photos than the ones posted on Facebook please email me and I will be happy to send it to you.

Mac OS Issues

Apple has been the bane of the boss' and my existence today!

It seems a simple trip to the Apple Genius bar to update the OS, get more RAM and have iCloud installed has turned into a exercise in futility.

I don't know what's going with their product, but the Mac OS X Lion (10.7.2) has been on the fritz for the last two days. I'd wager to say that I've spent about six hours or more on the phone with Apple support hacking away at this issue. The boss' MacBookPro has 8 GB memory and over 500 GB free hard drive space, yet he gets this lovely pop up window that says, "Your Mac OS X start up disk has no more space available for application memory."

Two calls on Monday followed by a trip by the boss to the Apple Genius bar, wasn't doing much to create a pleasant nor productive computer owner. It has been particularly tough since he is in the middle of doing time-sensitive work. It was hoped that the late night at the Genius bar would have done the trick, but alas that was not to be.

So back to the phones I went this morning spending a staggering 135 minutes with the first level tech support. Then after just a couple of hours of operation it was time to try it again. Thankfully I was able to go through the issue relatively quickly with the tech who determined that it was time for me to speak with a Senior Advisor after another 95 minutes, I've got my fingers crossed that it is finally fixed.

In finally getting to an alleged "fixed" state, in the past two days I've: verified the hard drive, emptied the library cache (in two different places), gone through several safe mode boot ups; deleted conduit folders and files; deleted CTLoaders; toyed with the idea that there was a bad stick of RAM (thus the boss' trip to the Genius Bar); changed trust levels on certificates; done a SMC reset; PRAM reset; reset all the caches; performed another safe boot; uninstalled and reinstalled Safari; and verified and repaired permissions.

The Senior Advisor left us a direct line back to her should things go awry and a recommendation that Office for Mac be upgraded to 2011. I think that since things are kinda of sketchy that the upgrade should be put off just until we are passed the next few critical days.

So as I left for the day, the MacBookPro was actually working. I've got my fingers crossed that it will continue to do so for many more days.

Ring Explosion

A few months ago I purchase a darling double butterfly Le Vian ring. Much to my disappointment, one of the side diamonds fell out after only wearing it for four days! Not to fear, back to the store and the ring was completely covered under the Le Vian warranty and off it went to have the stone replaced. I had hoped that this process would only take a week or so, but it was well over a month until the ring arrived back to be picked up. So here I promptly went back over to the jewelers on Wednesday to retrieve it. It was lovely and good as new.

That was until Thursday evening when the diamond above the one that had been replaced fell out!! Talk about being truly perturbed. I'd only worn the darn thing for about 10 days and here it was broken once again and I was sure it was going to end up being gone again for another month! In lieu of going through this over and over I decided to return it and just be done with it - I really didn't want to spend all my time back and forth having it continually repaired.

With that in mind I returned to the jewelers and found that I was past my 30 return period. Needless to say I wasn't the happiest of campers. The manager definitely understood my frustration and proceeded to speak with one of the on site jewelers. It appeared from a quick look under the microscope that the prongs holding the stone in place were too short and that was what was causing all the issues. With a promise of overnight repairs done in house, I left the shop satisfied.

That brings us up to Saturday evening when all the fun really began. I arrived back to pick up the ring and the jeweler who was doing the repairs met me at the counter. He had that "look" that something wasn't quite right. Boy was that an understatement. He said that when he applied heat to the ring to re-tip the prong the ring blew up!

Turns out that the original casting had air bubbles in the metal and when the heat had been applied the air expanded and the rest is history. I didn't see the end result but I bet it was a spectacular show. As a result of the poor casting a brand new ring is winging its way here.

On another note - the cameo ring that picked up in Italy suffered a terrible accident. About mid-summer the dog's leash got caught under the cameo and nearly ripped it off. It had been able to be put back to visually normal but the ring wasn't nearly as strong as it had been. Picking up computer case on Saturday finally dealt the ring a death blow, the band broke in half. Since I was already at the jeweler's picking up - I was able to find out if it was repairable. Much to my joy it is and won't take forever nor cost a fortune either!!

Watching Television and Choosing a President

I had an interesting conversation this week about the political landscape and I heard the best analogy as to the condition that the voters are finding themselves in during this election cycle.

Fade in on a couple sitting on the sofa, neither in the mood to actually go out for the evening (there is nothing that is compelling them to go - no movie, play, etc.) There they sit flipping through the 100's of channels not finding anything to watch.

The wife says to the husband, "You go ahead and watch sports." He takes the remote and flips over to the sports channel only to find figure skating, ping pong, and a bridge tournament. Definitely not what he was looking to watch.

He then hands the remote back to his wife and say, "You go ahead and watch a movie." She flips through the movie channels and and comes up with nothing that she wants to watch either.

Together they finally settle on a rerun of CSI, not because they want to watch it, but because there is nothing else for them to choose from.

So here we are waiting to find a candidate that we can get behind, become passionate about, one that we just don't have to settle upon!

Jesus Comes to Visit

I heard a really interesting story this weekend at a family get together. It seems one of the cousins had a cat show up at their house a couple of years ago on Christmas Eve, clawing at their door. One of the youngsters in the house thought that the cat might be an angel so they fed it and fixed it a place to sleep. The cat was gone the next morning. The at Easter the following year the the cat showed back up and spent Easter with them and even did a little Easter egg hunting with them.

Now if that wasn't weird enough, the darn thing showed back up the very next Christmas, and once again stayed for the one day. That brought us up to Easter this year when the cat once again showed up!! This time he has decided to stay around. Well since he had been showing up at all the religious holidays, they named him Jesus!

It seems that Jesus, wasn't too pleased when they tried checking out his 'package'. In fact, he even bit her. I guess that he didn't take too kindly to being checked out like that. The other possibility was that he was prison cat and might have been abused - which have been good reason for him to be a little testy.

The story doesn't stop there. Jesus has come to live with them on a more permanent basis. He has taken to sleeping on the front porch rail and intimidating the other feline residents of the house, Puss & Stumpy. It has gone so far that Jesus has actually run Puss off (she's been missing for a few days now).

Once I quit laughing I knew that this was one story that I had to share. Knowing that it is a true story only makes it that much funnier. I do hope that you got a laugh out of it as well.

THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11

IN MEMORY OF ALL WE LOST, THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11

Hurricane Aftermath

We awoke up Sunday morning to find that the second largest tree in the backyard had indeed become uprooted and was wedged between two others at the edge of the yard. The upper canopy was also entangled with about five to six others. The Hickory that was next to it also was going to have to come down as well, its roots were all entangled with the large oak. We also had another uprooted tree at the edge of the back property line that was leaning onto another tree. Not to mention the limbs that had fallen out or were hanging on the tree in the front yard.

We had a couple of tree guys stop by the house during the morning hours to give us estimates on getting the trees down. One who was local gave us a fairly good price; and we even tried to go with them asking them to put together a contract. They told us they'd be back in an hour and they NEVER showed back up or even called. (We've passed their house several time since and there they all are working on cars or motorcycles in the garage. Obviously they didn't really want the work.)

The gentleman we did finally go with was from South Carolina - Came right out, wrote up the contract, showed up when he said and did a SUPER job. The tough job for them was to get the wedged tree down.  It was really stuck between the oak and holly near the end of woodpile. It was a real thing of beauty to see him top one of the large trees and it just swung harmlessly passed the neighbors porch. Took some real talent to do that. It took them two days to get all the trees down, cut up and limbs hauled to the edge of the yard, but it was so worth waiting for him to get back to our house.

While they cutting trees Walter was busy loading the trailer with the branches and hauling them off to Rockwood Park. By the time the tree guys were done, Walter was caught up to them in limb removal. He had only two loads that he had to take off the next day to finish up the yard. Walter has been a busy guy splitting the cut wood. He has a couple of really awesome woodpiles going on out in the yard.

Meanwhile over at Mom & Dad's house - there were trees down everywhere. No just uprooted and tilting over they were all the way over, 50 trees in all. Five fell right near or on the porch. Dad has been our working feverishly to delimb the ones that had fallen in the yard, and get them all cut up and moved. It has taken a while for them to even find out what it is going to take to get the trees taken care of and for someone to come out and even give them an estimate on the damage to the house. I guess it all has to do with the amount of work that is now out there for contractors to do. No one wants to over extend themselves when they aren't sure that they can complete the work.

As power stated coming on around the Richmond area,
those who were still without were beginning to show
signs of frustration.

The power outage was the biggest thing that we had to deal with during the week after the storm. Our water heater held out fantastic. We both were able to get a shower every day for through Thursday (the water was very tepid by then.) We had been anticipating have the power restored on Tuesday, then Wednesday, and then Friday. On Thursday the whole situation got the best of me when we were out of propane as I went to fix dinner. Walt went out for the refill and just as he pulled back into the driveway the power came on! I really should have sent him out for propane a few days earlier if I'd known it was going to work that well. The power restoration only lasted a few hours. It went back out after midnight. Even though it didn't stay on - it had been on long enough to reheat the water in the water heater. Yeah! one more hot shower. It surely was tough leaving out from a dark house with all the rest of the houses in the neighborhood lit up as I was leaving out on Friday morning. Sort of depressing. We finally had full power restoration by 3:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

Photos From Hurricane Irene

The Hurricane Chronicles

Went into work for a few hours this morning. It was amazing how quiet the office was even with the wind whipping around outside.

As I started for home the rain was beginning to fall, but the winds were the most notable indication of what was to follow. The streets were littered with clumps of fallen leaves and a multitude of pine needles. There was the occasional limb, but nothing significant.

Safely home and snug inside the winds increased and the trees swayed. The two large trees next to the street took quite a battering. I was expecting them to give way and fall over at any time. Their canopies make the perfect sails to catch the gust of wind and propel them right over (just not this time). After much huffing and puffing a limb did break out of the one on the corner, just as Kelly was pulling up to the house. It gave her quite the scare.

The kids spent the afternoon out - at the indoor shooting range. Well at least they were dry and had something to do.

After dinner was well over our real excitement began. We lost power at 6:45 pm right at the end of Dire Hard. Darn it - missed the part where he blows up the plane full of bad guys at the end. Well maybe next time. It wasn't too long after that, that we made the rounds checking out the condition of the yard when we discovered that the 2nd largest tree on the property had begun to uproot. We knew it was only a matter of time before it went on over. Luckily it was falling towards the back of the yard and the woodpile. With any luck it will make it all the way to the ground by morning and we won't have to call in anyone to take it down. Additionally there are more branches down in the front yard with one big one still hanging from the tree (that's the one that is going to be difficult to get down). Maybe it too will come down by morning.

In the middle of everything, Walter got an urge to go out for a Coke from Sheetz, since it was before dark we thought it probably the safest time to make the run out for 'supplies'. I have never seen so many people at Sheetz. It was almost unbelievable. I don't think that I've ever seen a line like that before. Not even on a holiday weekend with other things closed.

I did talk to one woman there who said that she couldn't get home due to all the trees being down. In talking with her I discovered why our power was out, it seems that a tree had come down on Newby's Bridge Road and hit the power pole just around the corner from the house. Last time we lost power to a car hitting that same pole and knocked it out. Took about 16 hours to get it back that time. So we shall see how long it takes this time - although that was an isolated incident and not part of a larger over all event.

The drive home from Sheetz turned out to be the real adventure of the night. We took one of the side streets home only to discover a tree across the road with the power lines down as well. NOT GOOD. We reversed direction and tired another route. Not to be out done by the first road block the 2nd had a huge tree across the entire intersection. Backing up and making it to Gregory Drive we headed on over to Fordham only to find yet another tree across you the road. We weaved around through a few more streets and finally made it back out to Hull Street. Where we proceeded to come home right back on Fordham. Home at last Walter went out to check for more damage and to check on a neighbor or two.

I had the house all lit up with candles and was getting settled in while waiting for him to get back - which took forever. He had gotten together with a number of the men in the neighborhood and cut up a tree that was across the side street next to us. It didn't take them long at all and reminded me of the evening that our tree had been struck by lightening & fallen. (The men had all come out with chainsaws to get the road opened up.

Walter has definitely become part of the neighborhood.

Tomorrow we shall see what the final tally of the damage is.

All Shook Up - Earthquake in VA?!

Today has been a doozie! I started out the morning seeing what looked like a 6-inch piece of gray string on the floor. Turned out what I thought was a string was actually a dead snake in my bedroom floor. One of the lovely four legged children, must have brought it in from going out to potty during the night. The cat use to bring me presents like this, but now the dogs are getting in on the action. It was 'sweet' but I surely hope that they don't get into a habit of bringing things like this into the house.

Then there was the earthquake this afternoon, the very first one that I've actually felt. Amazing! I had been through two others before and never even knew that they had happened. Today however was a totally different story. We were all visiting in the conference room when the ceiling tiles began to shake (sort of like when a heavy duty AC unit kick on), but then there was the noise that sounded like a freight train. Since the office has a train track behind it I ducked outside to take a peek. No train derailing, but the windows on the daycare center next door were ripping. It was quite surreal to watch.

UPDATE: There have been several aftershocks. Nothing big, but aftershocks nonetheless. Heard on the radio that the earthquake was a 5.8 and that the last time there was one of that magnitude here was in 1871. There was also a rumor that the Washington Monument was leaning, which turned out to be incorrect but the monument does have cracks which has caused the National Parks Service to close the Washington Monument until repairs can be made.

Back to School

Time for college students to start getting back to school for the fall. Classes started this today for John Tyler and boy are they having some issues. Walt tried to get into his class and it came back with an error telling him to try back later. The second class is also having problems. You would think that the community colleges wouldn't be plagued by this type of technical difficulty since they do operate year round.

If Walt's frustrated I can only image how many other students are suffering from the same thing. He gave it a full hour and tried again. No luck, the system is just having major issues. After a couple of emails to his professors he found out that the system is actually down and was told to try back again tomorrow. What a great way to start the semester off. Unable to actually go to class.

Here's hoping that things will be better tomorrow.

Great Turn Around

So sitting at the front desk this morning, getting things under way and in come two sales people making cold calls on various offices. We're polite; take their information and promise to pass it along. Then it happens.

They ask a couple of questions about the office and before they know it we've got one scheduled for a hygiene appointment and the other all set to give us a call back to get hers scheduled after her move.

What a way to turn the tables! It was a great way to start the morning.

365 Project Year 2

I wasn't too sure that I was going to begin a second 365 Project, but after much encouragement here I go again.

I began year two on 7/15/2011. I decided that by posting this as a single blog entry it would be easier for others to check back here and follow the progress as opposed to trying to keep up with several Facebook links. (Facebook only allows 200 photos per album). I will be adding the link to the last 165 images when I get to that point in time.

I'm looking forward to what the next year of photos will look like.

First set of images for the year.

365 Project Year 1

After seeing a couple of people on Facebook proposing to take a photo a day for a year. I jumped in with both feet. What an interesting way to chronicle the year. It turned out to be a really interested experience - it is amazing what you see if you just look around.

The majority of the photos that were taken for this first year (7/11/2010 to 7/10/2011) were taken on the route between my home and the office where I work.

First 200 days of images
Remaining 165 days of images

Happy 2nd Birthday Alec!

Alec, Have super fun birthday. - Mamaw

Happy Birthday Alice!!

Here's to a terrific year for the second of the four twelves!