Veteran's Day

There are many veterans with all types of service. There are those who fought in wars, and for us in the US, most of them were in far off places. Some of them did not come home. There are many more who didn't fire a weapon at the enemy even while serving in those same far off places. And there are also many who trained for battle but were fortunate enough to have never left base to see action.

Some veterans spent years on active duty, others in the reserves, some both.

I remember how Dad would refer to his six years in the reserves as being in the “Boy Scouts”.

Thank you Spc5 John J. Meyers for your service.

John Joseph Meyers
April 27th 1935—November 11 2008

Réquiem ætérnam dona ei, Dómine.
Et lux perpétua lúceat ei.
Requiéscat in pace.
Amen.

Reminder of Links

Just in case you had forgotten, I do update my Google Notebooks much more often than I post an entry here.
Make sure that you check out the Halloween links.
And don't forget to make suggestions.

New Car

After a few weeks of no mini-van and several days of research, we went and bought a new vehicle. It's a blue 2008 Hyundai Entourage. We did ok at Alexandria Hyundai. Let's walk around the vehicle and see what it looks like. Now that we're at the back, let's open the hatch and take a peak inside. I like the way that the rear seats can fold down into the bin. I also like the bin itself; it should stop stuff from rolling around the whole cabin. The process of folding the seats is pretty easy too. Just pull on the cloth straps. First you pull on the long one to unhook the seat back. Then you can fold it down. Then you pull on the small one to lift the whole seat up and toward you. And finally push it all the way into the bin. There is a down side to this folding seat stuff: the seats are pretty close to the floor and there isn't that much leg room. It's really made for kids. But let's move on to the middle seats. The middle seats are fairly nice bucket seats. They are not as low to the ground and there is much more leg room here. Adults can handle these seats. Not to be outdone by the back seats, these also very easy to fold up. If you pull the lever at the base of the seat, the seat folds forward. When the top is completely down, the base also lifts up. Note that there is also a cloth strap in the rear so that you could do these from the outside or from the rear. Finally, the seats themselves can be ulatched and lifted out of the vehicle for even more room. The last picture is of the front console and instrument panel. So far so good.

Onehand Blogging

Well, it's almost two weeks since the crash.

I've come along reasonably well. The clam-shell splint is gone and a wrist splint is in it's place.

I guess I'm ok. I wish I could say the same about the others. But I still would like to know what really happened. Too bad that won't happen (definitively) until the final accounting. Of course, this will be the least of my worries then.

I have to admit that, while the apple juice is nice, apple pie would have been much better.

Oh well.

Milestone

Today is one of those days that guys dream about. All of my children have been big enough to get me a beer for several years now. But as of today, they are all old enough to buy me a beer. The next milestone will be when they can pay for it!

Myrtle Beach 2008

Well, the annual vacation with the extended family is over. It was a pretty relaxed week. But that's pretty much the norm any more. The high point was the weather: it was never higher than the mid-80s and we almost always had a nice ocean breeze. And the rain pretty much held off until we were leaving. Here's one of my favorite photos (so much it's now my background shot on the laptop).

Party Notes

Well, the first thing I have to say is that I'm too old for this sort of thing. A few hundred of my closest friends isn't my idea of fun anymore. Like I said, I'm just too old for this stuff.

That being said, I'm glad I got to show up—even though no one knew me. It was nice to see that there are so many people in the area who shared a common interest. Maybe if I hadn't gotten there an hour and a half after the start it would have been better. Work gets in the way all the time doesn't it?

I was a bit surprised by Scoble: he's a little taller than I had expected. Robert appears to be a little over six feet tall. I have no idea why I would have expected him to be smaller, but I did.

One thing that I did miss was his trademark laugh. I'm certain that he must have laughed sometime while I was there. But it was so crowded and so loud, that I never heard it.

Next time there is an event similar to this, I'll probably pass unless it's a dinner. It will have to be less crowded then. Like I said, I'm too old for this—I'll take food over drink. Of course if we had both...

I'm on the Net Where?

I have many places that I keep stuff online. But I'm also something of an early adopter. Well, more like an early signer-upper. You need to use this stuff to be an adopter.

The most commonly updated place is my Google Notebook. I shouldn't tell you about the ones that aren't shared, but I will tell you that--for some unknown reason--there is an extra forward slash ("/") in the links at the moment.

I should also mention my humor list too. I promise to start updating it again soon. And since all that stuff that I've saved for the past year is mostly forgotten, maybe it will seem funny again. Maybe.

I also have a Google Sites page that lists the places where I can be found. (Yeah, I could have just pointed you here in the first place, but where's the fun in that?)

Party!

wack... cough... hack...
Damn cobwebs.

Looks like I'll be hanging out with the geeks in DC on Wednesday. Scoble, Gary Vaynerchuk and Jim Long are hosting a wine and tech party. Yeah, most of the political discussions won't be quite my style. But I won't hold it against them.

Father's Day

Well, you can't get a better Father's Day gift than more children. And I got two this year! Sarah joined us last September and Caroline just yesterday.

Robert and Sarah, September 1st, 2007

Stephen and Caroline, June 14th, 2008