Brian's Blog

Washington DC & Arlington Cemetery Trip 11-18,19-2010

2010-11-22T16:10:00.001-05:00

Marine One

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

WW2 Memorial

Viet Nam Women's Memorial

Viet Nam Memorial

The White House

Uncle Fred's Marker

Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Kennedy Family at JFK Memorial

Caroline Kennedy

The Capitol Building

Happy Birthday, Sadie!

2010-11-06T10:40:00.000-04:00

It was 27 years ago tonight when you came into our lives (10:52 pm), and what an entrance you made! After a couple of "false starts", I was recalled to the hospital to witness your arrival. Your Mom's doctor had arranged for you to arrive on November 7, but you decided that you couldn't wait to join us! And we were so happy to see you, too!
You have been a true joy in our lives, Sadie. Thank you!
And as you continue on your life's journey, know that you continue to make us proud and happy. We love you, sweetheart! Happy Birthday!

"The Truth" Gets Wet

2010-09-14T23:51:00.008-04:00

OK, so it's been a long time coming, but after much preparation & cleaning, along with trailer brake repairs, The Truth made its 2010 maiden voyage Wednesday, Sept. 14. Here's how it happened:
Karen had a date with our cardiologist at 10 while I worked to finish emptying the pool, and rewinding hoses, I was hooked up and ready to go at 11. Just for fun, I decided to check the battery. No juice. The engine wouldn't turn over. So I quickly hooked up the battery charger, gave it a boost and let it set for an hour. I hooked up the hose, gave her another try and she started right up!
With Karen relieved with good news from her appointment, we headed east on Main Street. Both of us were hungry, so we were discussing our options. We decided to try a new place just east of Wagram called "Biggs Bar & Grill". There's also a drive through.
The bartender was cordial and friendly, and the place was clean, so we decided to stay. I had fried bologna (which comes with swiss cheese and a pile of cole slaw on the sandwich) and homemade potato chips (REALLY GOOD!!) Karen had fries & a burger, which she described as, "Delicious!". We'll be going there again.
With lunch under our belts (literally and figuratively, lol), we made it to the St. Rt. 79 ramp, where we readied the boat like old pros, and successfully launched. Karen took it to mid-harbor while I parked the rig. Her approach to the dock to pick me up was nothing short of fantastic... just the right approach in the wind, just the right speed. She put it in reverse at just the right moment, and backed us away like she'd done it for the 100th time that day! She gladly relinquished control and hopped into the co-pilot's seat. As the iPod came to life, I hammered down, lifting the bow and setting us back in our seats. Three seconds later, she planed out and I began to incrementally raise the trim until we reached optimal speed, about 44 (by speedo... we would later find out that gps was about 10 mph slower than the speedometer). The lake was basically empty, except for a random pontoon or fishing boat. It was flat/calm and we could run at will.
We made the laps around the west end, cutting back to Millersport, then around to Lieb's ramp. Eastbound, we slowed to no-wake at the bog. About 1/2-way across, I shut down and we took in the surrounding sights. The new stereo & speakers sound pretty darn good, so we let them play for a bit before heading further east, to Heron Bay.
After cruising around for a while, we headed in, both declaring the 2010 maiden voyage a "success".
Next day, I called my friend, Doug Byrd, to go out with me in the afternoon. We arrived about 3:30, when I learned that, although Doug had been boating with Doc, he knew absolutely nothing about boating. I knew it would be entirely up to me to do all of the boating, but I did say that everyone aboard was responsible to look out, and Doug was sure to notify me of every approaching vessel. The lake was down about 2 feet, so it was important for me to pay attention to the churn as we sometimes plowed our way in the channels. After a couple of hours, we decided we should get some food, so we tied up at Island House on Leib's Island. Doug picked up the tab for our fishtail subs & beer. About 6:30, it was time to load up, so I showed Doug how to retrieve solo. I think he was impressed, too. I'll try to include him in more of my outings.
Well, the tank's about 3/4 or less, so it won't be much longer before I can fill 'er up, stabilize the gas and re-winterize until Spring, 2011!
Leave a comment, or don't. The boat's gotten wet, and all's well with the world once again.

Happiness is a new grill...

2010-09-05T11:06:00.003-04:00

After discovering the 3+1/2 year-old grill was shot (rusted out burner), we decided to get a new one!
Like I said on FB, it's too nice to use so we're just going to set it up in the living room and watch it instead of the TV.

Leave a comment, or not. Won't hurt the taste of the steaks at all.

Presidential Visit

2010-08-20T23:05:00.003-04:00

In the midst of a 3-day political stump for projected close Democratic races, President Barack Obama flew in about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 17. The President stayed at the Westin in downtown. After a backyard neighborhood meeting in Clintonville, the President motorcaded back to downtown Columbus to the Atheneum. I had hoped to capture Air Force 1 as it took off Wednesday afternoon, but they took off to the west.
And the excitement just continues...
Leave a comment, or not. I won't get excited.

Happy Birthday, Seth!

2010-08-16T21:56:00.002-04:00

30 years ago tonight I can tell you exactly where I was and what I did...
Friday, August 15, 1980, we were entertaining our next-door neighbors, Joey and Mike Dennison to a spaghetti dinner, when, mid serving, Karen's water broke sending us to St. Ann's Hospital. This was the beginning of 20-something hours of labor. Of course Karen's obstetrician, Dr. Veach, was unavailable, but there were certainly enough residents to get us through the night, the morning, and the next afternoon.
We knew the baby wanted out. We wanted the baby out. Finally, I had enough, and calmly but firmly told the staff nurse that it was time this baby was delivered. C-section was the only option. Karen's stand-in doctor was called in and we were prepped for surgery. On Saturday, August 16, 1980, at 3:54 p.m., a healthy 5 lb. 11 oz. baby boy was born, introduced as Seth Brian Distelzweig. My Mom, Dad and sister PJ were in the waiting room. I gave Dad a big hug, then gave out the information. Karen was still in recovery, and I wasted no time getting back to her and Seth. I held Seth in my arms, his tiny fingers wrapping my finger. He gazed into my eyes and yawned. Soon he drifted off to sleep and a nurse got him ready for the nursery. Karen took her good ol' time coming out of the anesthetic, but was awake a couple of hours later. She wanted me to rest, as well as get some rest for herself, so she sent me home about 7:00. I remember taking E. Broad St. all the way home, rejoicing in the fact that Karen and Seth were both OK, and that I'd see them the next morning.
I got home, got cleaned up, and made all of the phone calls informing everyone of our new addition!

Yep, I remember it like it was just yesterday. And it was just yesterday. A blink of an eye.

Happy Birthday, Seth, my precious son! I love you!

Princess Kilowatt (1995-2010)

2010-08-06T19:20:00.003-04:00

Rest in peace, Princess KiKi. You were a fighter to the end. I'll miss you.

Comments appreciated. Meow.

Darrell Funk (1953-2010)

2010-07-31T12:30:00.012-04:00

Very sad. My friend of 30+ years died unexpectedly yesterday morning. Darrell was a good friend, loyal and true.

FUNK Darrell Leo Funk, 56, of Pickerington. A funeral service honoring his life will be held Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 11 a.m., in the chapel of the HOSKINSON FUNERAL HOME, Kirkersville, with Pastor Stolzenberg as celebrant. Burial with full military honors by the Licking County Veterans Alliance will follow at Kirkersville Cemetery. Darrell died suddenly, Friday, July 30, 2010 at his home in Pickerington. He was born September 6, 1953 in Columbus, the son of the late Leo David and Mildred Elizabeth (Stanford) Funk. He was a 1972 graduate of Eastmoor High School, served honorably in the US Navy 1973-1975 and was a retiree of American Electric Power after 33 years of service. He was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle enthusiast and an avid boater; along with being a member of American Legion Post 283 Pickerington and the American Legion Riders. He is survived by his loving family: his wife of 24 years, Cindy; his daughter, Elissa Lynn (Mike) Shivers of Hilliard; his granddaughter, Julia Shivers; his brothers, David Wayne Funk, Leo David (Lynne) Funk and Arthur Funk; his sister-in-law, Vicky Love-Lindsey; and brother-in-law, Bruce Love; several nieces and nephews; along with multiple family members in Florida. His family will receive friends on Monday, August 2, 2010 from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at the funeral home, 285 E. Main St. in Kirkersville, where an on-line guest register is available at www.hoskinsonfuneral.com Friends may also call on Tuesday one hour prior to the services at 11 a.m. The family has requested that memorial contributions in Darrell's memory be directed to Pickerington Post #283 of the American Legion for the Viet Nam moving wall. Hoskinson Funeral Home, Kirkersville, is honored to care for the Funk Family.
Published in The Columbus Dispatch on August 1, 2010

In a ceremony befitting Darrell, the "Harley"-themed funeral took place, many friends riding their 2 and 3 wheelers in the mist. The procession left the funeral home, passing 6 American Electric Power line trucks, headlights, rotators and 4-ways all on, their drivers standing at attention shoulder-to-shoulder. Soon, the funeral travelled under an arch by two of the AEP Hybrid trucks, and American flag mid-span.

At the cemetery we laid Darrell at his grave. Full military honors were performed, including a 21-gun salute, "Taps" and the release of 4 white doves. A couple of prayers, and the rite was over. As we were leaving, I looked down and gathered a brass shell casing.
At the wake, Cindy walked over and handed me a brass shell casing. I was touched to know she cared enough to make sure I got one. We all drank to Darrell's memory and had a light lunch. An hour later, we were headed home.

I miss you, Darrell. Rest in peace.

No comment can ease this pain.

Update November 3, 2010: Cindy called me yesterday to say Darrell's headstone had been set:

Miss you, Darrell.

Again, no comment can heal this hurt.

Update 11-17-10: Brutus & I visited today. I left a small token:

I'm sure Darrell wouldn't mind a little Buckeye spirit. O-H--

Love ya, Bud.

A fun day of spending...

2010-07-20T00:28:00.002-04:00

...it like we got it: $5K furnace/AC, $0.9K for 2 trees removal. Ouch! The furnace was installed with minimal discomfort, but the temperature in the house was 96* on the electronic thermostat before we got the furnace blower going and the AC unit running. (By midnight the temperature was a comfortable 77*.)

For those not following on Facebook, here's a potential horror story with a happy ending:
After having the big tree in our front yard cut down & removed, one of the tree guys was using a chainsaw, walking on the ground ivy. When he was done, Karen walked over, spotted something, and gave me a shout! I went to the tree, leaned down and saw a newborn/days-old squirrel pup, slight bruise on his head and one paw, but squirming around. Its eyes and ears had not yet opened, and it squealed when Karen poured water over it. The groundman on the crew told us that he had seen a squirrel run up one of our other pine trees. I couldn't see her, but I could tell she was watching us as we gently handled her baby, laying it at the foot of her tree on a small bed of ivy leaves. I returned back to the stump and began removing more of the limestone rocks so the stump could be ground, when lo' and behold, I found another pup! I laid it next to its sibling and went to look in earnest for more li'l squirrels. And found one more! These last two were in excellent condition and were reunited at the base of the pine.
It's remarkable, that with all the branches and tree trunk pieces falling and landing in their close proximity, not a one was injured or killed!!
An hour later, Karen had just left to go to her exercise class, when I spotted mama squirrel carrying another pup from the ground ivy and watched in wonder as she bounded up the tree. Being too nosy for my own good, I walked over and was delighted to see that one of the pups was also gone!
When Karen returned from exercise, she said that another pup had disappeared. When we returned later from Chick-fil-A, the last little baby had been taken away. Good Mama Squirrel! On my final excursion to the front yard, I again saw Mama at the base of the big tree. When she spotted me, she took 3 leaps to reach the tree of her new home, scampered up and was out of sight. And that's the important part of the day... NOT the money we spent, but the wonder of watching nature.
Comment?
Hmm... didn't think so!

Vacation 2010-UPDATED

2010-06-29T08:45:00.013-04:00

We've been at Tradewinds Island Grand resort for the last week. What a lovely place!
Here's picture of the wonderful sunsets we get to see every night:

The full moon last week was also breath-taking:

Having a deep interest in NASA, I pulled the scheduled observation times of the International Space Station and the Soviet's Progress spacecraft to see when they'd fly over Tampa. We were treated to several times during the week. No photos---they just look like little stars gliding slowly across the sky (if 17,000 mph can be considered 'gliding slowly', hehe).

One bad thing happened last Wednesday. Karen's 80+ year old mother fell at her condo, breaking her right femur. She had surgery to repair it last Friday, and continues to recoup at Palms of Pasedena Hospital where she's resting comfortably (as comfortable as can be, anyway).

Fireworks on the beach last Thursday night were both unexpected and wonderful. We're looking forward to more here at Tradewinds over the next weekend. woo-hoo!

We were eating at the Grand Plaza resort restaurant, a roof-top rotating restaurant on the beach, when we spotted something large swimming parallel to the shore. It was probably a manatee, but what was humorous was this gentle creature would approach groups of people and would subsequently scare the hell out of 'em. We, and our neighboring tables, enjoyed that!

Every late afternoon, 5:30-ish, we can watch schools of dolphins cruise up and down. Several times, now, we've watched the playful mammals leap out of the water.

Tomorrow, we plan to take a little cruise to Egmont Is. for snorkeling (sp?), shelling and a picnic lunch. Should be a great time, too.

I'll be updating this post as our vacation stretches into its second week.

Leave a comment, or not. It's all sandy here anyway.

UPDATE:
We met Jay's new interest, Sher. She's a nice woman, employed as a concierge at the Hyatt. Wish I had a pic... oh well...

The trip to Egmont Island was ok, but had the sun shone, it would've been much better. Water visibility was only in the 5' to 6' range, so snorkelling was a bust, but the boat ride was pretty cool. After snorkelling, they took us to the boat dock on the opposite side of the isle, where we ate lunch and went exploring. Karen & I had no sooner split up when Miss Florida USA 2010 came walking around the corner. I was lucky enough to introduce myself to Megan Clementi and her handler offered to take our picture together:

She was super-friendly!

The weather hasn't been too cooperative the past couple of days... rain off-shore traversing back and forth. But we're getting by. Here's a pic of Karen taken from our balcony about 200 yards away:

Fireworks last night here at the hotel were early and somewhat abbreviated due to rain & t-storms. Still a good show, but the crowd rapidly dispersed when the rains came. More are planned for tomorrow night just up the beach from us. Should be a pretty good show!
I'll continue to update this post as I can. We'll be flying home on Tuesday.
Later!

7/6/10: Phew! Flew back today, and, Boy are my arms tired! ugh--even I can't believe I just wrote that! Sorry.
Hotter than Hades here in Columbus! How do you people stand it?!
Hey, stay tuned! Seth's going to show me how to transfer video to digital and I'll post the fireworks we could see from our balcony! Should be up in the next couple/three days.
Or not. It's YOUR loss...

Thanks, Dad

2010-06-20T08:18:00.002-04:00

Sitting around the house on Fathers Day, waiting to see what the day brings.
It seems appropriate that lately I've been thinking a lot about my Dad and how much I've missed him over the last 25 years. I think he'd be proud of how it all turned out. Thank you, Dad, for everything you did for me.

Another night at Gatsby's

2010-06-13T22:46:00.007-04:00

Dave Heinmiller, a.k.a., "Heindog", had his 55th birthday last Wednesday. He celebrated it Thursday night with his band, Heindog & Stadz by playing at Gatsby's. Dave promised me that I'd be up singing (after a 6-week hiatus from their stage) for at least a couple Beatle songs.
Here's a few killer photos of my part of the evening (Thanks, Tom Welsh Photography! Great photos!):

If you can't tell, I had a freakin' BLAST!

We'll probably not be back to Gatsby's for a couple/three weeks. Hope they can get along ok without me. HAHAHAHA, sometimes I crack myself up!!

Leave a comment, you coward! Or not.

A week & 1/2 into this thing...

2010-05-25T21:32:00.003-04:00

...and I'm still not sure what, exactly, I'm supposed to be doing.
We kinda took last week off but hit it hard this week: Sunday, I "edged" across the back garden. Also dropped 200# of dirt & 100# of peat moss. Monday, cut grass, edged the sidewalks, curb & driveway, and edged the street flower garden.
X spent the night:

Today, took X to school, washed the truck, bought, moved & laid out 500# of dirt, bought gas (30 gals), picked X up from school, built a fire in the back yard out of the pine cut last fall, Karen vacuumed the house, did laundry, cleaned the interior of the 4Runner and roasted marshmallows (fixed dinner, too!), so we've been pretty busy. We tried to lay out a bit of a schedule, but it went out the window the first day, lol! AND... we're discussing what jobs will line up after we return from vacation.
I guess it's just going to take some getting used-to. Hope Karen doesn't kill me in the mean time, LOL!

Leave a comment, or don't. I care not.

The Last Day of Work

2010-05-12T21:25:00.005-04:00

Two days
Friday
My last day of work
Two weeks of vacation, one day of holiday pay, then 'bye-'bye
January 31, 1972 - May 31, 2010
38 years, 4 months
June 1 will mark the 1st time in 62 years that a Distelzweig will not be working at the Electric Co.
Yes, my severance application was approved. My duties have all been transferred to others who have been gracious in their acceptance of additional work on already-too-full plates. For that, I feel a little guilty. It was never my intent to be burdensome.
So, while I'm absolutely elated on the one hand, I'm also a touch saddened knowing that many long-term working relationships will be permanently severed at the end of the month. How many of you will I not see again? Well, since this is happening quickly, all the best of luck, health and wealth, in case we don't get the chance to talk.
And although a little sad, I'm also unsure of the future, and that's a little unsettling. Well, no one said this would be easy.
There's plenty to keep me busy around the home front... bathroom re-hab, re-stipling the ceilings, painting inside & out, new flooring throughout, kitchen sink, counter-top, stove (etc.), new doors inside & out, finish painting basement walls, facia & soffet on the garage with gutters & downspouts, "summerize" the boat, boat trailer needs overhauled, cars need a good wash, wax & detailed inside & out... the list grows & grows!
Haven't gotten up with Heindog & Stadz the last couple of times. We'll see what happens next time, eh?
Thinking about learning the harmonica... don't know why I just said that...
Oh, back to the retirement: I'll have to keep you posted on how that works out. Stay tuned.

Leave a comment, or don't. I'll still be awesome anyway.

Well, here's an unexpected turn of events...

2010-04-18T09:49:00.008-04:00

.
Yeah, I know it's been way too long since I wrote one of these things. There'll likely be more time for it, 'tho, in the near-future.
First, the big news:
After 38.3 years of service, I'm now awaiting word from AEP to confirm that I'll be able to take a voluntary severance May 31, 2010. It's a bittersweet realization. A large part of the book of my life is coming to a close, yet probably the most facsinating chapter is about to begin! Karen & I meet with HR at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Think we'll start with breakfast in the cafeteria at 7:30.
.
For those of you who don't know, Karen & I have taken up the habit of attending Heindog & Stadz "performances" on Thursday nights at Gatsby's. They are absolutely amazing, show after show. Even on an 'off' night they sound fantastic! They've let me sit-in with them a couple of times, and it sure brings back some good, wholesome fun-filled memories!

.
Next Friday night, Dave's band, A Dying Breath headlines at Bernie's Distillery. Planning to go see them rock me into unconsciousness, hehehe.
.
As always, leave a comment. Or not. I'll not lose any sleep either way!

A very nice birthday!

2009-10-11T18:32:00.002-04:00

Wow! What a nice 56th birthday I had!
First, Karen gave me clothes, socks & Snow Leopard! Can't wait to install it! Then, after a short walk with Brutus around the neighborhood, we travelled up to West Campus parking for the Wisconsin game. And WHAT A GAME IT WAS!! An impressive win for the Defense and Special Teams!
Afterward, we visited Mom, who gave us a beautiful pumpkin-shaped iced brownie. Just what our waistlines needed! And it was G-o-o-d, too! Pizza for a late dinner and the day was done.
Another year in! Woo-Hoo!

Princess Kilowatt

2009-10-08T20:50:00.002-04:00

Princess Kilowatt has cancer. She has small lumps, and a larger one under her skin on her shoulder. Amazingly, tonight, the lump on her 3rd eyelid has reduced to the point where we can now see her eye. It might be due to the steroid shot the vet gave her two days ago. Kiki is still ambulatory, and doesn't seem to know she's sick. So, that's a bit of a relief. Still, the discussion's started on if we should put her down or not. It's too early.. I'm not ready for her to leave.

Do you ever wonder

2009-09-26T23:34:00.002-04:00

where in the hell the time goes?! This last 10 years has flown by! My birthday's coming up in a couple of weeks, but it seems like I only just turned 50. How'd we get to #56 so fast?

Tomorrow

2009-08-15T19:30:00.003-04:00

marks the 29th anniversary of a very important event in our lives. Seth was born at 4:06 p.m. (I think). I remember it began the night before, a Friday, because we had our neighbors, Joey and Mike, over for spaghetti dinner when Karen's water broke. Seth was born 20-some hours later, on August 16, which was also the day of that year's union picnic. One of the happiest days of my life, I'll tell ya!
So, Happy Birthday, Seth! You're the best son!
Love ya!

STAY TUNED FOR AN EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT MESSAGE!

2009-07-01T20:10:00.001-04:00

The title says it all. Keep it here, folks.

Love makes you do silly things

2009-06-05T11:57:00.004-04:00

So, to show my never-ending and complete love for my wife, I decided to have her beautiful name affixed permanently to my left ring finger. As this was my first (and only) tattoo, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it only took 7 minutes and wasn't too uncomfortable. It's only slightly swollen, and I should be able to wear my ring in a week or so. Here's a close-up:

Leave a comment!

Can we just stay here and never go home?

2009-05-31T17:22:00.004-04:00

First, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, KAREN! 34 years of putting up with me... geesh! Thank you!

Pictures (on Facebook) linked to the title, folks. Just click on it.
Wow! We picked THE nicest place to stay on St. Pete Beach: Trade Winds Island Grand Resort. The room is wonderful, the service excellent, with very good food! Our 5th floor balcony opens up to the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 yards away. The calming sound of the surf never stops, and is such a great way to go to sleep, and to wake up. The sun, surf and sand work magic on your cares and worries. If I didn't have to go back, I don't think I would.
Well, time for my afternoon siesta...

Comment on paradise, if you dare! lol

Boss, X and ADB

2009-05-09T17:38:00.002-04:00

What a good day, Friday!
First, my boss called and asked to take me to lunch. It was good to catch up and hear what my new responsibilities might become. We ate at Shade's on the Canal.
Later, it was time for Xavier to visit and have an overnighter. What a good time! We went to Hallmark for Mom's Day cards and ended up leaving with 2 Bakugons. It was a "buy one/get one free" deal... one is a snake, the other looks a lot like a scorpion, but who knows?!
At 10:30, he was tucked safely away and asleep, and Karen was getting ready for bed, so I was able to slip out to see A Dying Breath at Billiard Club. They were the headliners, taking the stage after midnight and, once again, giving their all in their performance! Those guys can flat-out rock! Talk is, they may be asked to perform at a fund-raiser outdoor concert in WVA.

Well, time for pizza, so "later!"

Leave a c o m m e n t.

Pig Sick

2009-04-29T18:36:00.002-04:00

OMG, the end is upon us! The swine have invaded, death and destruction of the world as we know it!
That's it, I'm packing up and moving to the deep woods. Thanks, Mom, for all the early experience you gave me with primitive camping. We don't need no stinking electric, or flush toilets. We're survivalists. If I only had more ammo for my gun.
See you on the other side, Pilgrims!

Don't need to leave a comment. This is the end!

Too long ago, too far away

2009-04-23T20:43:00.003-04:00

I don't know what to make of this. It's called "Archdiocese Youth Council" It originally came out in the mid 1980's, but was quickly discarded. I don't know where it went, or when it came back, but here it is:

It's been brutal the last couple of weeks. I had an outer ear infection that gave me fits. I finally went to the dr. a week ago. He prescribed steroids, a strong antibiotic and ear drops. After 5 days, I finally started getting relief. I returned for a follow-up yesterday, and was given a clean bill, except I've got to finish the antibiotic (or risk a return engagement), and use the drops for another week.
In the meantime, I've been working on the boat. The new dash is installed, the switches are all connected and everything's good. I started installing the radio, but it sure isn't going as easy as the last one went in. And they're basically identical units. I got the new larger speakers installed and all the wiring hooked up, including the radio antenna, but the darn radio doesn't want to cooperate.
So today I stopped at the audio installation dept. at Best Buy. Since I've got all the wiring run, he said they could do it for a flat rate of $49.99. Guess what?! I'm going to let them handle it. I'm going to "help" (make them take their shoes off, watch they don't damage anything, etc.), and they said to make sure it's a sunny day.
In order to be ready, I need to re-new the trailer tags. Which reminds me, I've got to get the trailer looked at because the tires are wearing badly and unevenly. I also re-newed the boat registration. Luckily, the cost hasn't risen from the already-outrageous $48-for-3-years. But I digress.
After getting the radio installed, the trailer repaired & re-tagged, then I'll work on repairing the gelcoat on the bow, and sanding off the growth on the hull. Then it's time for an oil & filter change, and trim & tune trip to the lake. So, that'll be, what, mid-July, maybe? I still haven't had the cover repaired, although I did send an email to a girl at work whose mother is an industrial seamstress.
Well, it's past my bed time, so I'll check you later.

Leave a comment, or not.

Congratulations, Chief!

2009-04-04T14:40:00.004-04:00

Chief Walter L. Distelzweig was sworn in yesterday in a ceremony at the James Jackson Columbus Police Academy. We were fortunate to be invited to share the experience. Present were all the city dignitaries as well as representation by many surrounding sheriff's departments and law enforcement, Federal agencies (including the Secret Service, the FBI and the CIA). As Mayor Coleman said, "I've never felt safer in my whole life!"
There's a Mass and reception this afternoon at Bishop Hartley High School, where many family and friends will meet.

Congratulations, and best of luck, Chief Distelzweig!

Jackets Win, ADB Show, Karen Home

2009-03-28T20:59:00.007-04:00

My new old boss, Brent and I went to the Columbus Blue Jackets/Calgary Flames hockey game Thursday night. The Jackets looked crisp and the Flames looked flat. Final score, Flames 0, Blue Jackets 5. There was some good fist-to-cuffs, too!
Last night, I headed out to the Billiards Club to watch A Dying Breath and others. There were 4 groups on the schedule: A 3-person, guitar, drums, vocalist that opened. They were "different", but palatable. I forget who was next, feargrinder or the other band, but both brought their "A" games and put on good shows with nice repertoires.

The headliners were A Dying Breath who, once again, put on a hell of a show! They just keep getting tighter & tighter!

They worked their asses off!

They talk about finishing up a 6-song CD to be released soon! I can't wait to hear it.

I think they're planning to play late next month, to be announced later! If you get the chance, you should really check 'em out!

Karen got home just after 1 pm today! Brutus & I really missed her, and we're glad she's back where she belongs!
Leave a comment!

It's gonna be busy around here

2009-03-25T21:04:00.002-04:00

...Karen is headed to Pittsburgh for her Dad's birthday on Friday (Happy Birthday, Walt!! Wish I was there to help you celebrate!). I'll be going to the Jackets' games Thursday and Sunday. A Dying Breath plays what could be their last show for a while on Friday at The Billiard Club. I think I'll go see 'em. Singer/Songwriter Adam is having neck trouble and might need surgery! We're concerned for him.
So, Karen will be back Saturday to go with Brent, Wayne and me to see the Blue Jackets play the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. They've been playing well of late!

Leave a comment.

Weekend Blues

2009-03-22T18:56:00.004-04:00

Happy be-lated birthday, Ann! (I called her Friday and woke her up... just like a big brother should, hehehe.)
All too soon, it's over. Here it is, Sunday night, and I'm wondering just where in the heck the weekend went?!
Karen doesn't know how to get there yet, but I set her up in Facebook. We'll have lessons so she can get around. She hates not being able to navigate with the computer like she should, and desperately wants to learn.
My work's laptop hard drive crashed Friday. Hoping that they can salvage what was on it, because I don't back-up often enough. I will from now on, 'tho.
My boss got a new boss. We'll have to see what all that entails. I just started keeping track of how I spend my time at work. I mean, I know what I do, and my boss knows what I do, but I thought I should probably start tracking my time to help me evaluate where I can become more efficient.

A Dying Breath plays the Billiard Club Friday night. If you're around, and can spare the bucks, you owe it to yourself to see their show.

Leave a comment.

MacBook Pro

2009-03-18T22:19:00.005-04:00

(No, I'M not a pro at MacBook.)

It didn't take much convincing for us to decide to drive home a brand-new, shiny MacBook Pro from the Apple store at Easton. Ours was 5 years old and had been giving us trouble connecting, among other things, so we saw what they had to offer, then called Seth for his "blessing" (Not really 'blessing'... but I did want his input before dropping big change!). He said, "Whichever, you're getting much better than you have," and that seemed to turn the trick. It's 250GB + 2GB Memory, 2.4Ghz, and it's got a built-in camera (which takes pretty good pictures, for its size!) I think this will fit our needs for at least the next 5 years!

A Whole Lotta Hockey Goin' On

2009-03-11T17:37:00.002-04:00

Columbus Blue Jackets, that is!
Gotta call from my old boss, Brent, last night around 6:30. Did Karen & I want to go to the Jackets-Bruins game. I didn't hesitate: "Yes!", I said. Didn't even check with Karen first. He had to run to Grove City to pick 'em up but would meet us at the parking garage at 7.
We nearly killed ourselves getting ready to go, but were on the road in 10 minutes. Got parked and waited for Brent, who arrived just about 7:10. We crossed the street to Nationwide Arena and got to our seats with still 15 minutes to go in the first period. It was a hell-of-a-defensive battle all night, up to 5 minutes left in the 3rd period when Columbus scored on Boston. With only 2 minutes left, Boston pulled their goalie and placed him on offense. The Blue Jackets held on, fighting bravely for the puck. All of a sudden, Rick Nash broke loose a shot from in front of the 1st blue line toward the empty goal. It seemed to take the puck forever to get there, but when it did, it was squarely in the net! What a shot! Game over!
So I'm at work today telling the tale when out of nowhere a guy comes up and asks if I'd be interested in going to the Columbus-Pittsburgh game tomorrow! "Sure!", I said. He said if his schedule wouldn't allow, then I could have his seat. So, we'll see about that.
Right after that, I opened a work email announcing winners of Blue Jacket tickets when they play St. Louis on March 29. Guess who won 4 tickets??!! Yep!
Who woulda thunk it?!

Leave a comment, or not. I don't give a puck!

Anybody else see it?

2009-03-06T15:56:00.002-05:00

I was home today, playing hooky from work. About 10:30 I'm answering email, etc., when I look out the window and spot Air Force 1 on final approach to Port Columbus. What a magnificent, inspiring and awesome sight as the huge 747 lumbered across the sky! Wish I had my camera...

Leave a comment.

Proud of a cousin

2009-03-04T18:01:00.003-05:00

Distelzweig is city's new police chief
Columbus native, 57, has served on force for 36 years
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 8:58 AM
Updated: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 02:11 PM

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

TOM DODGE | DISPATCH
Walter Distelzweig was introduced today as the new Columbus police chief, saying he will take a "hands on" approach to the job.
"I'll be out there, you'll see me," he said during a morning news conference in City Hall. "I'll be accessible."
Mayor Michael B. Coleman chose Distelzweig from among four applicants, calling him "a leader, first and foremost He gets things done."
The 57-year-old deputy chief is a Columbus native and has been a member of the force for 36 years. He will replace Chief James G. Jackson, whose retirement is effective March 16.
A charter change approved by voters in 1999 limits police and fire chiefs to two five-year terms, but it is unlikely that Distelzweig will serve that long.
He confirmed in October that he is enrolled in the state's deferred-retirement plan, which requires those who enroll to retire within eight years or forfeit their accumulated benefits. He declined today to say when he enrolled; that information is not public.
Asked this morning how long he will be able to serve as chief, he said, "I can't answer that question."
Coleman laid out his priorities for the new chief during last week's State of the City address. He said he wanted Jackson's successor to be more open to new crime-fighting tactics and more efficient ways to run the division.
He also called on the new chief to build a more diverse police force in Columbus.

Followed the plan to a "T".

2009-03-02T18:46:00.002-05:00

As anticipated, we pretty much vegetated all weekend. Sure didn't feel like hittin' the road to work this morning...
Had an interesting meeting with my boss today. We discussed my performance, my incentive pay, and this year's expectations. He said he was happy with my performance, and asked if I had any comments. I told him that if he' s happy, and if his boss is happy, then I'm extremely happy. ***NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS CONFIDENTIAL***: Looks like there might be a big shake-up coming, so we'll be keeping our ear to the ground. If something breaks, I'll let you know.
Hmm, radio commentator Paul Harvey died Saturday. I liked him; he had really interesting stories, especially his, "Rest of the Story" tales. He'll be missed.
Can't wait for this weather to finally give up. Brutus & I need and miss our daily walks. It'll be good to get back into our routine.
Well, not a lot more to report, so it's your turn... Leave a comment.

We took a vote

2009-02-28T09:14:00.002-05:00

and decided to totally veg-out this weekend. Karen's been fighting a cough for a few days (got a prescript from Doc Hollingsworth) that I've been successful at avoiding so far. The only real 'job' I've got planned is to give Brute a bath. He's getting pretty used to it (we've got a nasty seborrhea problem we're still trying to beat) so a couple of baths a week are getting to be our usual protocol now. He doesn't seem to mind, but he still hasn't quite 'embraced' the idea as being 'fun'. He's such a good boy, 'tho.
Ate last night at Olive Garden (God, I love their salads & garlic breadsticks!). Karen had the shrimp-something, and I had the 4 cheese mezzaluna with sausage. Mmmmm!!
Well, time for another cup o' coffee.

Leave a comment!

At CBR's, A Dying Breath 2-20-09

2009-02-21T08:31:00.004-05:00

Another most-excellent show last night. So I took my cheap camera to get some pics, and wouldn't you know, the batteries died. But not before I could get these:

They switched up last night for their new song, The Runaways, putting Adam on lead guitar and David on lead vocals. Again, another awesome song for their repertoire!

ADB's in the studio today trying to finish up a couple songs they've already recorded, and adding a couple new ones. Hope they get their CD out soon!

Leave a comment.

Will Winter Ever End?

2009-02-19T17:44:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I know it will, but it sure seems to want to hang on, doesn't it? Or am I just getting too anxious?
Guess who went right out and spent 1/2 of the fed tax return on a 7kw generator? Yep, I'd be he! It's a Honda Black Cat with 6 120v outlets and 1 120/240v outlet. Pretty awkward unloading it (Thanks, Dave!). Unpacked it, put the wheels on it, oil & gas in it, and fired it up. Electric start. Too cool! Now watch... now that I've got one, I'll never need to use it. Just wait!
Took Brutus for a walk today. The 25 mph winds and the 20* temps drove us back indoors after only 40 minutes or so. Brr!

Leave a comment. Just some cold-ass comment.

Another storm... Columbus this time

2009-02-14T21:02:00.005-05:00

Wednesday afternoon I received a phone call asking me to pack a bag for possibly working storm damage in the morning. Thursday, Ohio got hit again, this time with 65 mph winds. The DDC asked me for some help, but they really didn't need it. Instead, I was sent up to Northeast Line to meet up with a driver to go out and assess damage. With only 2 hrs of daylight left, we knocked out a quick 5 calls, finding some serious trouble. Friday morning, we met at Northeast at 7, were out on the streets by 7:30, finding our first hazard a few minutes later. This one was a large pine tree that tore down a service and caused a part-out situation at 2 residences. The owner took a chain saw and cleared up the tree. The 70-yr-old didn't much like me telling him that he was lucky, and that he should never approach a downed power line. When the truck arrived to clear the hazard, we went on to check about 20 more calls that day. Everyone was impressed with the number of calls we cleared. Late Friday we were sent to Northwest Line, where we cleared 3 calls before calling it a night. The first one was a banner stretched across all three phases at a gas station with 138kV line 10' above. If it arced, no telling what damage could have occurred, and with gas pumps close to the source of ignition, it could have been tragic. When the crew arrived to clear the banner, they followed my suggestion to drop the circuit to do it more safely.

I was told that I'd be running Exelon crews (from Chicago) today. So, I lost my driver, but kept the car. She was thanked for coming in, but as there was no work, she was released. I was assigned 4 trucks and a yard dog. We found 2 broken poles that they worked on all day, and I found 2 more broken poles in the same neighborhood. It was a long day that was reminiscent of my early years as a lineman. I impressed them with my knowledge of line work and even showed them some tricks I still remembered. I was released about 5 o'clock and made it home in time to meet the with the CPA as he was ready to leave. I'm a tired puppy, so I'm headed to bed to catch up.
Thank God there are line crews willing to come in from out-of-town to help us restore electricity to the city! A nice bunch of guys who worked their butts off!
Leave a comment. Tell me if your lights were out.

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear...

2009-02-10T20:37:00.006-05:00

...Karen, Happy Birthday to you!
I think the Mrs. had a pretty nice birthday, today. She went to lunch with good friend Paulanne, did a little shopping, then came home in time for me to take her up to Z Cucina Ristorante & Bar in Grandview Heights. Rick Ziliak, the owner, seated us in a window seat. He had mentioned that he was lucky to have walls and a roof, but we didn't catch his meaning right away.
Dinner began with a nice Pinot Noir over a Z Tavola Tasting Plate of Calamari Fritti, Parmigiano Risotto Fritters, House-Made Mozzarella and 3 Chef Creations. It was a huge appetizer... one that we would consider eating as a meal before or after a game. But we weren't quite finished. She had the Goat Cheese Ravioli and I had the Z Bolognese Lasagna. Both were too much for two people, so half or more came home in the pooch pouch. While we waited for the check, the lovely waitress brought a chocolate mousse in a wafer bowl surrounded by "Happy Birthday" script in dark semi-sweet chocolate. We made short work of it before finally settling the tab. Not too expensive nor too cheap.
When we left, we noticed that the row of shops next door to the restaurant were all burned out, and I remembered there had been a huge fire there a couple of weeks ago. THAT'S what Rick was referring to when he sat us. Phew! From the damage, he should be thankful he was still in business.
So, we came home, popped in a Blockbuster movie, and called it a night. I hope Karen had a wonderful birthday!

In other news, I had my yearly APR (annual performance review) with my boss, yesterday. While he rated me differently than how I rated myself in only one catagory, overall it appears he's satisfied with my work over the past year, and gave me my goals to achieve in 2009. There won't be any merit raises this year ("Thanks, Economy") or incentive pay for 2010 ("Thanks, Economy"), but there should be a small incentive payout in the next month. That money was already budgeted for in 2008. So, in 3 or 4 weeks, there ought to be a little extra cash coming in. Just in time for us to fix the bathroom. Oh boy.

Leave a comment. A "Happy Birthday" comment.

For you who missed...

2009-02-08T13:38:00.004-05:00

...A Dying Breath's show at The Billiard Club last night, it was another fabulous performance! As artists, these young men have blended their talents well, picking up and delivering with impeccable timing, then adding a certain panache leading to the next breath-taking tempo twist.
The boys plan to return to the studio later this month. Looking forward to their upcoming CD!

EDIT: Click on the title to link to a video shot Saturday night! Pretty good quality for hand-held!

Leave a comment only if you're an ADB fan! Really. I mean it. Don't push it.

To finish up the ice storm story...

2009-02-06T22:09:00.002-05:00

...we were released Monday evening and I was home by 11. They didn't need me to run crews, but ol' Fidelis and I assessed our butts off our last day, finding an energized pole, a rotted pole, 2 spans of primary down, two spans of primary neutrals down. jumped 4 deer while traversing the side of a steep mountain. We made quite a few people happy that we were there looking at their damage, asking how long we thought they'd be out. I'd usually tell them by noon Tuesday, but before we got out of there, crews were already beginning repairs. I heard later that they were all back on by midnight Monday night. Took Tuesday off, and spent the rest of the week trying to catch up. Glad the weekend's here!

Trouble In Southern OH

2009-02-01T21:26:00.011-05:00

I went south to Pomeroy, OH on Thursday morning. The ice had caused over 30,000 customer outages there. My job was to assess trouble for crews to repair. We did that on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and today. There's still over 1200 customers out in this area, as well as another 12,000 out around the rest of southern Ohio.

Tomorrow, since the assessments are done here, they've asked me to run a contract crew. I only prepared to be here until today, so I'm basically out of clothes. I'll get by, I guess.

So, wish me luck...

I'm watching the Super Bowl now. Pittsburgh's on top of Arizona by 6, 20-14 with 3 minutes to go.

[EDIT] OMG!! A touchdown for the Cardinals made it 20-21, Arizona. Then a safety on Pittsburgh made it 20-23, Arizona. With less than 30 seconds to go, Rothlesberger hit Santonio Holmes in the endzone with a fantastic both-feet-touching-in-bounds catch to make it 27-23, Steelers over Arizona. The Iron Curtain held the Cards' last-ditch effort to go on to win Super Bowl 43! Best damn Super Bowl I've ever seen! Go Stillers!!
Leave a comment.

The sky is falling!!

2009-01-28T17:08:00.003-05:00

"White Death" visited Central Ohio today. Ice was well established even before I left the house @ 7. The roads weren't crowded, so it only took 25 minutes to get to work. I was surprised they only had around 12,000 customers out. It didn't take long before that number multiplied by nearly 10X. Non-essential Central Ohio employees were released at noon, but I was "volunteered" to pick up lunch for the DDC from Canal Winchester. Nearly white-out conditions and only 30 mph or less on St. Rt. 33. But I transported the $200's worth of pizza, pasta, salad, wings & breadsticks from Pizza Hut... 22 pizza boxes worth of food and 3 tins of wings. The windows all fogged-up as I pulled away, increasing the adventure.
I stayed at work until 2, then came home to shovel snow. Chuck used his snowblower which helped immensely (Thanks, Chuck!!), but the ice from this morning didn't want to budge. If the sun comes out, even if the temperature is below freezing, most of the ice should melt off (I hope!) At any rate, I'm ready for this crap to be over!

Leave a comment.

Spend it wisely

2009-01-24T16:54:00.002-05:00

Had a better-than-expected meeting with the VIPs at work. Not too bad. They pretty much rejected the high-dollar recommendations, so we'll see what else we can do. Enough about work.

It's the weekend! Xavier's coming over for a while tonight so Mom & Dad can go to the movies. We'll go out, maybe eat, shop for dog food, and go to Blockbuster so he can pick out a movie.

Still getting used to the Blackberry, so the jury's still out.

That just about catches us up.
Leave a comment. Or take a comment.

Have you noticed how stupid (insert your own gripe here) are?

2009-01-21T19:30:00.004-05:00

Last Friday I ordered a Blackberry to replace my old work cell phone. I thought maybe I'd like to see what my peers at work were raving about. "Oh, Brian, you've GOT to get a Blackberry! You'll wonder what you did without one for so long!"
Well, in only 3 workdays, I received a package with a new Blackberry. Getting older hasn't made it any easier to see the little keys, but I suppose I'll be able to type in my sleep soon enough. One major detriment, IMHO, is that there's no camera in it. I can call from Europe or Asia, but I can't take a freakin' picture! That's a bummer! Oh well, with new advances in technology, I guess there has to be a trade-off.
It was my month to give a safety meeting at work, so I picked the topic of the month for my department, Stress Management. I don't think it was merely coincidence that 10 minutes before my presentation the video projector decided to start giving me fits. Before it was over, I was joking to the group that I needed some stress management for my Stress Management. After that, I hosted the monthly Safety Committee meeting that discusses switching errors. Right at the start of that, I received word that my immediate boss, Gary, had been involved in an auto accident on his way to work, and that he was being treated at Riverside Hospital. His boss, Tom, (my boss' boss) kept the office informed and his condition trickled down to us. Later on, Gary called me from the hospital to make sure that someone picked up the lunches being delivered for a meeting group he's involved with. I could have his, he said. It was pretty good... Panera's. I think I had the Sierra Turkey. Mmmm.
About 2 pm, Gary called me from home; he'd been released with some prescription painkillers. He wanted to talk about work, but I deflected the conversation back to his health and how he needed to rest to let his body recover. Maybe I'll see him tomorrow at the office downtown. If not, I'll know that the pain was too much and he took the day off.
Speaking of being downtown tomorrow, the reason I'm down there in the morning is because I'm one of 5 presenters of recommendations to mitigate energy control errors to the Distribution Leadership Team (DLT), which consists of AEP Executive Vice-Presidents, operating company presidents and others. It's my first presentation to the group, which will be on video conference. Of course, I won't be alone in the room. My boss (if he shows), my boss' boss, my boss' boss' boss and his staff will be present. I'm taking along a support person that was instrumental in my team. He's a contractor working for Transmission Dispatching, and he's one smart son-of-a-gun. Wish me luck!
Leave a comment, or I'll tell my boss, my boss' boss, and my boss' boss' boss on you!

A week ago...

2009-01-16T20:53:00.002-05:00

...is how long it's been since I was here. Hmm, way too long, right?
Well, not a lot going on this week, except for the cold weather. Oh, and the kids came over for dinner tonight! Poor Megan couldn't come; work needed her! Maybe next time, we hope!

Leave a message!

A splendid time was guaranteed for all...

2009-01-11T17:45:00.006-05:00

.
At the Newport Saturday, Jan. 10, '09:
.

Hey! You didn't think you'd get outta leavin' a comment, did ya?!

Woo Hoo! Seth fixed the laptop!!

2009-01-10T13:21:00.003-05:00

Ha-ha... the weather isn't stopping me from posting. Na-na-na na na.
Thanks to Seth for the help getting my laptop back online. Must have been some corruption with the OS data. Reinstalled Tiger and we're back up!! So much easier to use than that ol' Windows machine in the basement!
So, if you lost your internet access, how would you survive?
Leave a comment, even if you don't want to. It's mandatory. You have no choice. You have no say.

I'm sure that hitting the weekend had something to do with improving my health...

2009-01-09T22:50:00.002-05:00

...or, at least, it sure didn't hurt anything!
Yeah, I'm feelin' much better, thank you.
Took my honey out to a movie and dinner tonight. We saw "Marley & Me" at the Marcus. There were some tearful moments there toward the end. Good movie, 'tho, and I recommend seeing it.
As you know, the Great White Death is supposed to arrive here in a couple of hours, so this may be my last entry. (Don't you wish...)
If it's not too crappy, I might make it to The Newport to see A Dying Breath and a whole slew of other bands tomorrow. Doors open at 4:30. $12 @ the door, $8 in advance.
Well, it's bedtime, so all for now.

Leave a comment, or don't. It won't affect my opinion of you, either way.

Still not recovered...

2009-01-08T16:59:00.004-05:00

Man, Tuesday evening, just before dinner, I came down with the worst nausea. It didn't advance further to the next stage (thank God), but the sick feeling stayed with me all night and all day (which I spent in bed). I felt a little better about 7 last night, but I still have a touch of whatever it is. I hope I kick it soon!

A Dying Breath takes to the stage Saturday at The Newport. Doors open at 4, $8 in advance (call Dave), $12 at the door. Looks like 10 or 11 bands are scheduled, so it ought to be a musicly-filled extravaganza! I don't think Karen's interested in going, but I told Dave to hold a ticket for me (I'll pay you for it tomorrow, dude!).

For you out-of-towners that might be reading this from afar, Columbus' weather really sucks now. Temps in the 20's, with occasional snow flakes. There's about 1/2" on the ground, and a lot of the side streets are icy, so driving's an adventure!

Still having trouble with my Mac laptop... won't stay connected to the internet, even after replacing the air-card. Seth's supposed to come over and re-install the OS. Can't wait to see if that cures it. If not, the Apple Genius Bar says it might need an "upgrade" (a.k.a., a new laptop). A new Mac is definitely not in the budget, but we'll have to see what happens.

That's it for now. Still in "recovery mode".

Leave a comment, or not. I don't care...

Happy New Year!! 2009 (may she be much better than 2008!)

2009-01-02T00:01:00.001-05:00

.
Wow, it's 2009 already! Some news to catch-up on since I was last here.
Christmas was a somber event this year with my cousin's death. Christmas Eve night we went over to Mom's for hors d'ouvres. As usual, everything was fantastic! I especially liked the scallops wrapped in bacon... Mmm!
Xavier was ill the beginning of the week, and as all children should, promptly passed it on to mom & dad. So, for Christmas dinner, I went and picked him up. We all had a good time opening presents and eating, and Xavier had a good time.
The day after Christmas, Karen got a bug. Looked a lot like a bad cold, but she attributed it to possibly inhaling mold found in some yarn she inherited from a friend's mother. I tried to baby her as much as I could, but she was down for a good 4 days.
Tim's viewing was on Monday night, and his funeral was Tuesday. Very very sad.
Later on that day, (and not to be outdone by Karen) I too caught the aforementioned 'bug'. I could feel it coming on strong & fast, so I told Karen that we needed to re-schedule the trip to Pa. for when we were all well. Of course, then it hit me like a train. I was down for the count. It kicked my ass.
That pretty much catches us up, except for treating myself to a new iPod Nano (silver) 8G. Karen gave me a couple of gift certs to Best Buy, so I fought the traffic and went over there the day after Christmas (like some kind of an idiot!). Yes, it was a mad-house, so kind of you to ask! When it was my turn, I asked the clerk what he had in stock. Just a blue one, oh and an open package yellow one. I told him that neither one of those colors inspired me (does the term, "maize and blue" sound familiar?!), so I came home, got online, went to Best Buy dot com and ordered a silver one there. That was on Friday. It arrived Tuesday. I expect the covers I bought for it to arrive via USPS today or tomorrow.
Oh, and Seth replaced the aircard in my Mac laptop, but it still won't stay connected to the internet. I've backed up everything I want on a dvd. We'll re-install the OS sometime when I feel better. If that doesn't work, it may be 'upgrade time'.

HAPPY NEW YEARS, ALL!
MAY 2009 TREAT YOU TO GOOD HEALTH, GOOD WEALTH AND PROSPERITY!!

(No need to leave a comment, unless you want to, of course!)
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Horrible News

2008-12-25T12:24:00.004-05:00

I received a call from Mom yesterday morning. My 1st cousin, Tim Hopkins, passed away in the early hours of Christmas Eve. He leaves his wife, Cheryl, and kids Bobby, Jodi, Timmy and Danny. RIP, Tim.
;(

Here's a link to his obituary:
http://www.spencefuneralhome.com/obituary.jsp?site=0168&id=38560

Visitation will be Monday, December 29, from 2-4 & 6-8 p.m. at the DWAYNE R. SPENCE FUNERAL HOME, 550 Hill Rd. North (St. Rt. #256), Pickerington, Ohio 43147 where a vigil service is to follow at 7:30 p.m.
Funeral Mass will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, December 30, at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish Catholic Church, 600 Hill Rd. North, Pickerington with the Rev. Fr. Jim Klima celebrant.
Interment St. Joseph Cemetery, Lockbourne, Ohio.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Timothy J. Hopkins Sr. Children’s Education Memorial Fund, c/o National City Bank, P.O. Box 218, Pickerington, Ohio 43147 or any National City Bank location.

Vacation Time!

2008-12-23T20:10:00.000-05:00

Phew! Made it to vacation today. Will be off until Monday, January 5, 2009.
Planning ham and turkey for Christmas dinner! Yum!

OK, you don't need to leave a comment if you don't want. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is coming on!

Later!

Where have I been??

2008-12-21T19:36:00.004-05:00

.
Wow, I just remembered that I haven't been here for 2 weeks! Where, oh, where did the time go?!
I'll not complain about work, and the lack of time I've had for not only myself, but with my sweetheart, too. Luckily, I only work 1 and 1/2 days, and then I'm off for a couple of weeks... Well deserved, too, I might add.

ADB gave another beauty of a show last Friday! Karen & I made it our "date night". She lasted until after the boys played (and they played very well, too!), but left right after. I stuck around until after it ended, around 10:30. Not a very large crowd, and a lot of people our age... probably Mom & Dad, bro & sis coming in to see their son/brother up on stage. But if all the bands had to sell 40 tickets each, there should have been 160 people there. There wasn't.
Good news is they've got another show planned January 10th.

Had "Christmas Dinner" at my cousin's house this afternoon. It was great seeing everyone, and noting how much bigger the 2nd & 3rd cousins have grown. Little X was sick, so Sadie and Dave couldn't make it, and Seth & Megan had to work. TC's headed to Florida on Thursday, so we had to move dinner up from Christmas Day.
We're having Christmas dinner here this year for the family. Looking forward to a good time, too!

Well, that's pretty much it for now.
Leave a comment!
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Happy Anniversary X5

2008-12-05T17:36:00.003-05:00

Sadie & Dave are celebrating their 5th anniversary tomorrow! Happy Anniversary, Kids! Many many more! We love you!

Post-Black Friday

2008-11-30T18:44:00.009-05:00

Xavier, Karen & I went boot shopping yesterday @ Easton. He picked out some cool firefighter boots, some snow boots and snow pants. X was a very good shopper, considering the crowd. We stopped in at Build-A-Bear and he picked out a nice husky dog. He pushed the pedal, filling the dog with stuffing. After it was to his liking, he placed a heart in Monster No (the name he christened it), and we picked out some shoes and skates. We registered it and printed out a birth certificate. A little later, we met up with this guy:

He was a nice old elf, relating a story behind the "cheese" you say when getting your picture taken. He said that "cheese" puts an unnatural expression on your face, but if you use the French, "fromage", your face looks much more relaxed. So, next time you're posed and the photographer says, "Say 'cheese'", say "fromage", instead. Let me know if that works for you.

We stopped at Mom's to help her out with her new LCD HD tv. I had to call WOW for their help when I screwed up the remote and the cable box. They got me straightened around, and we left the rest of the hook-up to the installer, due on Tuesday.

Later that night, I was able to catch A Dying Breath's show at The House of Crave. They rocked the house!

Unfortunately, I couldn't hang around to help them load up. I left about 11:00.

All told, it was a pretty enjoyable weekend (except for the lingering sadness of the news of my online friend's death).

Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T11:20:00.004-05:00

Click on the title to go to my thoughts about Thanksgiving and Lester.

We all met at Mom's yesterday for a wonderful Thanksgiving feast of turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, etc. Everything was delicious and the conversation was excellent! Later, TC and Vickie Sue came over for desserts (of which there were a gazillion!!). Great fun, great food, great conversation... it doesn't get any better than that!

Yesterday, too, was a good day for A Dying Breath. The article about them ran in the paper (Columbus Dispatch, Weekender, page 12), advertising their show tomorrow night at the Basement in the House of Crave. We're watching Xavier tomorrow night, but with a little luck, I'll be able to sneak away to see their performance.

Leave a comment!

Shocked

2008-11-26T20:11:00.001-05:00

Just found out my friend, Lester, passed away overnight. I only found out he was sick last Sunday. I'm crushed right now.

Home Thankfully

2008-11-25T18:00:00.002-05:00

Left for Roanoke at 11:30 Sunday night after a nice dinner @ Mom's. After being on the road for over 2 hours I when I was getting on I-77, I was made aware that deer like to be out throughout the nighttime. There was a single doe feeding along the freeway. I didn't see any others on my way down. I arrived at 6 a.m., and had the dispatcher set-up and ready to take his test by 7. While he was engrossed in that, I accomplished a little work. Later, we graded his test (he passed with at 90%!) and they took me to lunch at Logan's (Their kickin' chicken is pretty good!!). I checked with the DDC Manager and we discussed a couple of current events, then checked with Jim Maynard's co-locate for the Roanoke DDC, and made sure that she knew what we wanted for the D4-to-D3 advancement test and how to get it done. I got to my room at the Roanoke Plaza hotel at 3:30, exhausted from the long drive and the long day. I hadn't been there 20 minutes when my cell phone rang. I saw it was the Tulsa DDC manager, who left me a message about a project he needed me to do before end-of-business today. I tried to get online at the hotel, but try as I might I couldn't connect. I went through all the directions (twice) with no success. I then called my IT support. After about an hour, we decided to call it off. I called the manager to tell him the bad news. He had already tried to call my boss, but got my boss' boss instead, who told him the assignment wasn't as critical as he thought, and that it could wait until the end of next week. After we discussed my part of the work, I hung up and began the work. I finished it in about an hour, then laid back on the bed & called home. Karen & I talked for about 15 minutes, before we said our 'goodbyes'. I don't remember when I fell asleep, but it wasn't long after my head hit the pillow.

The alarm woke me at 5:30, so I cleaned up, packed up and headed out for home about 6. Traffic was light, but I knew not to speed in Virginia (their fines can be in the thousands of $$!!!) I stopped in Princeton, WVA for breakfast at Bob Evans. It began to snow as I pulled in to park. By the time I left there was an inch on the ground, and it was coming down hard. I got on I-77 North to traffic at a crawl through the mountains. It took me an hour of stop & go (thank God for anti-lock brakes!) to go the 32 miles to Beckley, where the snow lightened up. I ran through snow all the way home with no other problems. A whole flock of turkeys were just outside Ripley, WVA, and they all took off & flew over me as I passed. What a sight! I lunched at Wendy's in Ravenswood before crossing the bridge over the Ohio River and into Ohio and back to Columbus. I arrived home about 2:30 and rested until dinner @ 6.

One more day of work this week, then a 4-day weekend! Woo-Hoo!

Another Bummer

2008-11-23T18:48:00.000-05:00

Found out a good online friend has what sounds like terminal cancer. Jeff (the bed guy) is going down to visit tomorrow to talk with him and his wife. I'm so sad...:-(

Buckeyes Get It Done

2008-11-22T18:44:00.002-05:00

#10 Ohio State hosted the Michigan Wolverines by beating them decisively, 7 - 42. Blue tried to keep up in the 1st half, but were dominated by the OSU defense. We don't wish them better luck next year (because, after all, they are Michigan), but we hope they have a good off-season watching all the bowl games.

The Buckeyes share the Big 10 Championship with the Nittany Lions of Penn State, who also dominated a Michigan team, the MSU Spartans, 18 - 49. Penn State will be going to the Rose Bowl.

Thanks for a good season, Buckeyes! Good luck in whatever bowl you get!

Go Bucks!!

OSU/Michigan Eve

2008-11-21T15:36:00.004-05:00

12:00 noon, OSU hosts the wolver-weenies. The Bucks are 20 1/2 pt. faves, the largest margin given in the history of the rivalry. We're not planning anything special, but if someone comes over, they're welcome.

GO BUCKEYES! BEAT BLUE!!

This blows.

2008-11-15T22:36:00.006-05:00

No, really! It does blow! And it sucks up leaves, too!

So Thursday, Karen says, "Let's go to Lowe's for a new blower," since mine burned up and the back yard looks like someone held a huge oak tree upside down over our back yard and shook it long & hard. Suffice to say we can't see the grass for the leaves.

Instead, I head over to Vanity Fair. I know they deal with Black & Decker refurbished tools, but they're guaranteed for 2 years and they're cheaper than new. This blower lists for $79, and I bought a refurbed for $44. Not to mention that it blows 40 m.p.h. harder than any other blower I've owned: 230 miles per!

I picked Xavier up from Taekwando today and brought him back to the house while his mommy took her lesson. While at Master Choi's, I was 'volunteered' to hold a punch bag for the Little Tigers. It was cute telling them to give me 2 kicks and remember to chiops (sp?) (yell) when they delivered. Although I knew I was missing the beginning of the OSU @ Illinois game, I had a good time. Soon enough, it was time to leave for home. When we arrived, he headed for his room to watch Scoobie Doo and I headed for my room (living room) to watch the tube. (OSU won the IlliBuck, 30-20.) It didn't take long for the cartoon and a nice warm chocolate milk put him away for 3 hrs. or so. After the game, we let him get up on his own and had dinner.

We got X home about 7 p.m. Dave made me a copy of the Newport DVD (Seth, you were supposed to get ME one, too, remember?!) and we were on our way home before 8.

That's about it for this time!

Leave a comment!

Crime Bites

2008-11-12T21:13:00.003-05:00

Monday was not a good day for Dave, Sadie and Xavier. Let me preface this to say that no one was hurt.

About 4:45 pm Sadie called. Someone had driven a car into the side of their garage. I decided to go over to see what was happening.

When I arrived, there were 6 cruisers and 2 undercover cars, with cops scouring the neighborhood. As I walked up to the house, it was pretty evident what happened.

3 ganstas had stolen a small SUV, driven it erratically in rush-hour traffic which alerted a Whitehall policewoman. When they discovered she was following, they bolted, leading her on a high-speed chase, ending up going up & down Manfeld Dr. During their last trip down the street, they lost control, crashed into the side of the garage, and they ran.

I went inside to talk to Dave when Xavier jumped into my arms, all teary-eyed and upset. I held him and reassured that Mommy & Daddy and Bella and the kitties were OK, and that it was ok to be scared, but it was all over and he was fine. It took him a while to recover. Soon, we decided to go back outside to look at the car. The cop told us how they'd broken in the back window with a screwdriver, punched the ignition and took off. Luckily, they missed Dave's work truck and only damaged the garage wall, along with probably having totaled the SUV. After a few minutes, an undercover car returned and pulled out a young teen dressed as young teens dress: black ball cap, black pants & shirt... typical gansta. The woman cop said, "Yeah, that's one of them!" as they walked him, hands cuffed behind his back, to the back seat of the cruiser. I couldn't resist telling Xavier that he was a bad guy and not to grow up to be like him. I also couldn't resist telling the punk, "I bet your momma will be real proud of you!" He looked over, not very happy.

I overheard one undercover cop say they found him hiding in a trash can. She told me that if they caught one, they caught them all because of that "no honor among thieves" thing.

Sadie came over later and took one of my old tarps to cover up the hole.

Leave a comment!

OMG, What a show!!

2008-11-08T09:19:00.023-05:00

Dave @ The Newport

I am so blown away! What a great show, and the showcase of great bands last night only reinforces my thinking that Dave and the boys are star-bound!

The Newport was almost identical to how I remembered it, except that I never got to go backstage before, nor did I actually know anyone playing there before... OH, and that the crowd was SO much younger tonight than it used to be! :)

Dave & Seth before the show

Backstage, countin' down

Live Action!

Rockin' the Masses

As good as the group is, I always think there are some lessons to be learned. The groups that followed ADB showed there's opportunity for a little improvement on choreography, a little more crowd interaction (although Adam really got the crowd moving mid-set), and more of David S.'s fabulous spin-kicks! Justin, David & Dave worked good on the boxes, too! What a good last-minute addition! A little more action on them couldn't hurt, either, IMHO.

There's no doubt in my mind that A Dying Breath is in control of its own destiny! I expect great things from them! You owe it to yourself to see 'em at least once in concert! Here's their schedule:

November 29, 2008, 6:00 pm, Basement / House of Crave, Neil Av., $7 pre-sale.

This is a benefit show. Help the needy this year by rockin' out!

December 19, 2008, 7:00 pm, The Newport Music Hall, High St., $8 pre-sale.

This is a holiday benefit show! Help people in need!! Toys for Tots, Columbus Food Pantry. Bring canned food item or unopened toy and receive a raffle ticket for great prizes!

Leave a comment!

(Oh, and Seth, please send a dvd! Thnx!)

Concert Time

2008-11-06T23:16:00.004-05:00

A Dying Breath has their big show tomorrow night at The Newport on campus. I witnessed their practice tonight, and these boys are AWESOME! I can't wait to take Karen to see 'em live & on stage. They've sold a lot of tix, so the local support's there. Mark my words, these guys are star-bound!

I'll give you a report after the show tomorrow. Expect nothing but rave reviews!

Leave a comment!

Election? What election?

2008-11-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

So we'll have a new president on January 20. As of this writing, we still don't know who that'll be (but it's looking more & more like Obama).

On the boat repair front, I found a replacement dash online from US Marine. The bad news is they won't sell it to me because I'm not a dealer. So I contacted Hern Marine to see if they could get it for me. I don't know what it costs them, but it'll cost me $584 plus shipping. That's better than Delta Marine's quote to me--$665. Seems like a lot for a piece of plastic with 6 toggle switches. But I tried to be frugal and epoxy the broken dash. What a nightmare! It seemed like a pretty easy thing to do, right? Just put some glue on it, slap it together, and "voila!", repairs complete. It wasn't that easy, however. I got epoxy all over everything, including the face of the dash, the kitchen tablecloth, etc. (just not on me, I was wearing rubber gloves... epoxy's some nasty stuff if you get sensitized to it), and it ended up in a bag on my workbench. It'll eventually make it to the trash, but I want to hang on to it until the new one arrives.

Hope all your election dreams came true! If not, better luck next time.

Leave a comment!

Double Gold!

2008-11-01T17:49:00.006-04:00

Xavier attended his Taikwondo competition today with the veracity of a mongoose after a cobra. As he was getting psyched-up, he turned and gave me the big "thumbs-up"!

Soon, he was called for his turn. He ran onto the mat with a hearty, "Woo-Hoo!!", much to the delight of the judges and observers. One of the judges gave Xavier his instructions. After a couple attempts, he finally figured out the routine, bowed to the judges, took 3 practice kicks, bowed to the judges again, and let one fly. The resulting "snap" confirmed a broken board on the first attempt:

While the judges decided their scores, Xavier was asked to turn his back to them.

When the counting was done, Xavier had taken 1st place!

That made Master Choi very happy!

Proud Mommy got him ready for the next event: The Spar!

Xavier was picked to face his good buddy, Andrew. During the warm-up just prior to the bout of two 1-minute rounds, there was a bit of concern when Xavier took a fist to the nose. The tears fell from not only the injured, but the injurer... One because of the hit, and the other because he made him cry. Soon, however, both fighters recovered and readied themselves for the square-off. The contestants bowed to the judges, bowed to the referee and bowed to each other before they were commanded to fight:

The action was hot and heavy with Xavier causing Andrew to step out-of-bounds a couple of times. The referee warned him that if he stepped out again, he'd have half a point deducted. With that came the end of the first round.

When the fight continued, Xavier was quickly on the offensive, punching Andrew in the chest in rapid combinations, with a kick or two thrown in at random. Andrew put up a valiant fight, staying with Xavier most of the way, but when the fight was over, the winner was Xavier!! Andrew was relegated to fight another opponent, KC. She tried to put up a fight against the significantly taller and more-powerful Andrew, but could not overpower him. Andrew took 2nd place, with KC taking 3rd:

The day ended with a Halloween potluck dinner hosted by the dojo. It was quite a day!

Leave a comment!

Begger's Night

2008-10-31T22:26:00.004-04:00

The night was for the kids!

I didn't count, but I think we had about 100 trick-or-treaters at the house. Sadie, Dave, Xavier & Bella came over to make the rounds, with X lasting about 45 minutes before deciding he'd received enough candy. I dressed up in my traffic vest, put Brutus' backpack on him, and stood guard at Red Coach and Hunt Valley. Several motorists needed reminded to slow the heck down. I gave them my sternest warnings and (lucky for them) all obeyed. The lady across from Jenny came over and gave Brutus a peanut butter dog bone. A little later, Lolo and Heather showed up with their kids.

If I had to guess, we probably gave out about 2 lbs of candy.

Things calmed down by 7:30, so we packed it up and closed the door. Imagine our surprise when the doorbell rang at 8:25 by two costumed kids accompanied by a woman. Brutus was going insane, so I cracked open the door and told them that it was too late for trick-or-treat and for them to go home. The woman seemed shocked that I wouldn't give the kids candy, but I didn't want them to think it was OK to canvas the neighborhood at that late hour. I guess if it were Christmas you could've called me a Scrooge---bah, humbug, but rules is rules. I didn't make 'em. Complain to the city! Anyway, I wanted to make sure there was enough candy left for me, hehehe!

Leave a comment!

A bad last few weeks

2008-10-30T18:10:00.004-04:00

The past weeks have been pretty rough for us and a few people in our lives:

Bobby Markley, my friend for 35+ years, passed away October 7.
Lil Dolder, longtime friend to Claudia and Karen, passed away October 23.
Carol Keith (Karen's friend from her days at Capital University) lost her father on October 26.
Dorothy Slifko, our neighbor, passed away October 28.
Phyllis Fire lost her mother October 29.

Please keep the family and friends of those people in your thoughts and prayers.

May they all rest in peace. Amen.

Living in a Fishbowl

2008-10-29T20:36:00.009-04:00

Today's the 79th anniversary of the big Stock Market Crash of 1929. Sure hope we're not having a 79-year flashback!

I think we're all ready for Halloween. Karen got out all the pumpkins the black cats the scary bear and all the other stuff and bought all the candy (in which I've made an unhealthy dent). All that's left now if for all the little basta..., I mean kids, and their pathetic attempts at "Trick or Treat". I'll put a reflective vest on Brutus and stand guard near the street. It's funny when kids come up to him and ask if he's a police dog. Of course, I tell them "yes", and he seems to perk up and play the role.

I got a call from Suzie at US Marine about the boat dash. She said it didn't look good, that there weren't any dashes around, but when I told her that I had the part number and could send her photos she seemed to brighten up. I answered her email tonight with the photos. Sure hope she can help! Looking at the two pieces, it appears that it might be easily glued or epoxy'd. Not sure if I have steady enough hands, but worst case, that's what I'll do. I've pretty much decided to just have the canvas repaired and double-stitched instead of replaced. Should only cost me a couple of hundred dollars, if my guess is right. Delta Marine gave me the name of their canvas guy.

Been locked-up at work for the last 2 days in a face-to-face meeting. Not my favorite way to spend days at work. Only one more day to spend with this group and I can get back to my real work.

OK, that's it for now. Leave a comment!

Adding Insult to Injury

2008-10-26T14:28:00.005-04:00

OK, so Penn State came into Ohio Stadium and handed the Buckeyes their collective hat. OSU couldn't win that game in any case: If OSU had won, it would've been because Penn State had an "off" night. And since OSU lost, it's because "they were over-rated, anyway". No respect. And but for 2 little mis-cues late in the 4th quarter (a careless fumble by Terrelle Pryor, then again with 27 seconds remaining in a frenzied attempt to bring victory to reach, an interception in the endzone), the outcome might have been much different. Of course, if the dog didn't stop to sniff, he'd have caught the rabbit.

So it wasn't bad enough that OSU got beat. Some scUM stole my 4' X 6' Buckeye flag from my big tree. Granted, it was over 5 years old and beginning to fade from the UV rays, but still... my flag is MY FLAG! They also took the pole to which it was attached. Damn!

Any of you gentle readers that don't have a clue as to what to get ol' Dad for Christmas, a nice OSU flag would certainly be an option. (HINT: Flag Lady's Flag Shop, 4567 N. High St., OSU Flag - Block 'O' with Buckeye Leaf & Nut 4' x 6', $59.99.)

So, the season may be over for my beloved Buckeyes, there'll still be a bowl game for them somewhere.

That's about all there is for now.

Leave a comment!

Why Are We So Lucky?

2008-10-25T13:41:00.008-04:00

So, I came home the other day to see this sitting on the street in front of our house:

It may be a little inconvenient, but I'm glad the city's got an eye on my neighborhood... even if it is just trying to slow traffic. I wonder, though, how many drivers decide to speed up to see a big number on the board?

Found out something neat while drinking this morning's cup of coffee. For the first time, I used a coffee mug given to me at the EPRI conference in San Antonio. I didn't know that it was thermo-reactive! When "cold", it looks like this:

And when it's warm, it looks like this:

Cool, yeah?

Leave a comment!

Skewl Daze (Now with Photos Added!)

2008-10-24T05:50:00.011-04:00

Work this week was an advanced training session that I held for Distribution Switching Dispatchers for the 1st time ever at the "new" Ray King Transmission Training Facility at 6501 Mink Rd SW in Pataskala. Originally, we had 7 instructors and 12 students, but because of budget restrictions (due to damage caused by 2 hurricanes, and a turbine fire at a generating plant which caused unexpected and unbudgeted-for multi-million dollar expenses toward the end of the 3rd quarter), and the subsequent inability to pay airfares, hotel expenses and other costs, there were only 6 students (from Roanoke, Corpus Christi and Columbus) and 4 instructors.

The facility was excellent and the hospitality was superb, with 3 substations built indoors and a control house holding all the related relays and controls.

The first day was spent familiarizing the students (and instructors) with each other and the equipment. Tuesday and Wednesday were devoted to classroom work, and Thursday culminated the training with a joint venture between the dispatchers and a class of station mechanics. We set up some problems with equipment, then the dispatchers sent crews to the stations to determine what was wrong and how to restore service. The training was very realistic and appreciated by the dispatchers and the station mechanics, as they could watch each others' processes in analyzing the situations and restoring service. It was so successful that we'll try to put on 4 schools there next year: a beginning and an advanced school in the Spring and in the Fall.

My boss' boss, Tom ^

My boss ^ (grn shirt) Gary

Dave

@ wall of

electro-mechanical

relays & controls

Leave a comment!

Plan "B"

2008-10-18T18:19:00.006-04:00

Good news/bad news on the boat repair front.

Good news: Got the insurance check today. Bad news: I received a reply from Hern Marine in Cincy... Maxum doesn't make replacement dashes for a '97 any more. I'll put feelers out for suggestions from iBoats, Maxum, Bayliner, etc. I'm afraid to get into the boat to look at how gluing the old back together will look, if that's my only option. We'll see.

After being only 3-point favorites, the OSU Buckeyes handled the Michigan State Spartans, 45 - 7. Go Buckeyes! Beat Penn State!

Leave a comment!

TRAPPED!

2008-10-16T20:25:00.004-04:00

Brother John saw visions of God

So they put him in chains

For acting too odd

As the crowd shouted, "off with his head"

The priest said, "Have mercy

Let's burn him instead"

Trapped

Trapped in a world that he never made

I woke up with my head on the floor

In a windowless cell

A room full of doors

I got lost, now i'm so far behind

Took so much advice

Forgot my own mind

Trapped

Trapped in a world that i never made

We can't be slowed down by a big bunch of lip

And nobody cares about your paranoid trip

You know death and the devil sure got it easy today

Souls come so cheap some people give theirs away

You've got to break out, you've got to prove you're alive

What makes you think that the weak survive

And if you don't have the stomach

For all this radical crap

Then have the guts to stand for something

Or you're gonna be trapped

Trapped

Trapped in a world that you never made

Leave a comment!

Public Service Announcement

2008-10-13T06:12:00.003-04:00

I don't know if you saw the accident in Obetz last weekend, but a 4-year-old boy was killed in a park parking lot where youth football games were being held. Here's Channel 4's story:

http://www.nbc4i.com/midwest/cmh/search.apx.-content-articles-CMH-2008-10-11-0009.html

This kind of backing accident happens too often and this tragedy can be prevented with a little forethought...

SLOW DOWN! Nothing is THAT important.
Do a 360-degree walk-around your vehicle prior to driving, and especially if you need to back-up. This helps you see the 'big picture'.
Plan on how you'll be leaving when you arrive. Use a pull-through parking space so you can avoid backing up.

Backing accidents account for 60% of all vehicle accidents. Most of the time they can be avoided. Remember that little 4-year-old might be playing behind your car, out of sight. Make sure he's not there before you drive.

Take care, and leave a comment!

Rooster

2008-10-11T18:12:00.005-04:00

The names have been changed to protect the guilty, but I swear the story's true.

About 1972 I made friends with a guy I'll call Rooster.

Now, Rooster was a good ol' country boy from Glouster, Ohio, and when he was young his family was dirt-poor. They couldn't afford electricity, so when the sun went down, it was time for bed. Rooster hated the dark with a passion, so when he grew up and left home, he vowed he'd never live in a dark house ever again. How I know this is because I stayed over at his house one night. I'm not saying he had every light lit, but his house looked like a shopping mall at Christmas. I had to ask, "Rooster, why leave the lights on all night?" His reply was that not only were they on all night, they were on all day, too! He was hell-bent that his house would never be dark.

As strange as it was, Rooster's behavior did not escape the attention of the local law enforcement. They noticed the lights streaming through the curtains all night and immediately concluded there was an illegal pot-growing operation right there in the middle of downtown Little Town, USA. They noticed his rapidly-spinning electric meter and obtained a court order for his bills from the Electric Co. A judge granted a search warrant.
Imagine Rooster's surprise when S.W.A.T. broke through his door at 5:30 a.m., warrant in hand. Rooster rolled out of bed with bleary eyes and asked, "What's going on?!"
"Lay down on the floor and keep your hands where we can see 'em!", they answered.
They searched his house in a little over 10 minutes, quickly deducing their information was flawed when they found no evidence. They quickly left, offering neither an apology, nor a number to get his front door repaired. But nice guy that Rooster was, he said they just made an honest mistake. He repaired his door and frame without a second thought.
Last I heard, Rooster still lives in the same house, with the lights on day and night.

Leave a comment!

Fickle Pickle

2008-10-08T19:59:00.008-04:00

As we age, it seems that time accelerates.

Oh I know the Earth circles the Sun once a year like it has for eons, and that it takes 24 hours for the Earth to complete one rotation on its axis. But the mind plays strange tricks on itself. It's cruel and unusual punishment just for living longer. When you think you've got time to enjoy the fruits of your labor, the mind makes you think the days are shorter. It's perception deception. And it sucks.

I guess the worst part is that your days off fly by quicker than the time you work. Wanna make time stand still? Watch the clock at the office. Sometimes it'll even appear to go backwards... sort of like time-travel of the wrong kind. But enough lament for time spent. See you later!

See what I mean? It's later, already!

Leave a comment!

Sad

2008-10-07T17:09:00.002-04:00

Robert Markley died this morning at 3:00 a.m.

Rest in peace, Bobby.

Happy Happy Happy Birthday!!

2008-10-07T05:20:00.005-04:00

To Mom! (yesterday)

Spent some time with Mom on her birthday for a little bit of ice cream & cake (two kinds... Thanks, Irene). While we were there, PJ & I trimmed Guinness' nails (a thrill in itself, hehehe), and we only hurt her once! (Sorry, Ginnie (sp?)) PJ and Sue worked hard on the router security and were still hard at it when we left. So, Happy Birthday, Mom, and many many more!

Returning to the boat story, after giving Seth a tip, Channel 4 sent reporter Matt Alvarez and cameraman Steve (Seth's neighbor) out Sunday afternoon to get a story. They mic'd me up and shot an interview that you can see here:

http://www.nbc4i.com/midwest/cmh/search.apx.-content-articles-CMH-2008-10-06-0003.html

I took the boat over to Delta Marine for an estimate and faxed it to my insurance. They said they'd cut me a check, minus the $250 deductible. I'm hoping I can get the parts cheaper than what they're covering and maybe do most of the repairs myself (...replacing & installing the stereo, repairing the dash and having the cover repaired rather than replaced, using my own labor, etc.) but we'll have to see. All-in-all it's been a pain, but not as much as if I didn't have insurance and had to eat the repairs myself. By the way, I was wrong about the stereo not being covered... it is (You were right, Seth!)

Enough for now, gotta get ready for work, which, by the way, has pulled me in about 17 different directions lately. I'm on several pretty active committees: Distribution Operations Safety Committee; the Energy Control Error Reduction Team (2 subteams: Best Practices team and Training team); leading a team for re-vamping the Distribution Dispatcher Development Program; developing and delivering an Advanced Switching Dispatcher School at the new Transmission Training Facility in Pataskala in less than 2 weeks. Besides that, I've got my 'regular' job to do. Phew, I make myself tired just thinking about it. Wonder if I can take a couple weeks of vacation? Naw, didn't think so...

Leave a comment!

(And, PJ, send me your blog address)

New Candidate for President

2008-10-05T11:51:00.002-04:00

Tired of the same ol' mud-slinging campaigns of the Repubocrats and the Demolicans? Check out this candidate:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370617&altf=Csjbo&altl=Ejtufm9xfjh

A vote for he will set you free!

Leave a comment!

A Dying Breath, A Dying Friend and a Grrr

2008-10-03T18:43:00.015-04:00

A Dying Breath

Wow! I stopped out in Pataskala last night to listen to my son-in-law's band practice. They're known as "A Dying Breath". The guys seemed genuinely glad to see me, as it had been quite a while since I last saw them. Former-guitarist-now-lead-singer Adam and I went into the kitchen where he showed me the pics Seth took of the band last week, and how Seth photoshopped them, using his great imagination (Seth, send me those pictures!).

They looked really professional, and I can see them as a CD insert.

I made my way past Jason (the 'new' guy), Little Dave and Big Dave to lean on a PA speaker while I listened. Andrew was on his throne behind his shiny, Gretsch drum set with his shiny, new cymbals. Adam grabbed a hand mic as they broke into a new song. Drew's hard, driving beat and Dave, Dave and Jason's excellent guitar work mesmerized us mere mortals into head-bobbing, toe-tapping groupies. Adam topped it off with great vocals. Man, they were G-O-O-D!! Their extended repertoire was written on the white board on the wall. Lots more songs on it than I remembered. Also noticeable were the three new mics in stands, and a hand mic for Adam. A Marshall stack stood behind Jason, and next to him was a small soundboard/PA and a couple PA speakers. But what really stood out was the professional stage presence of the group. They looked like they'd been together for years, singing/shouting in harmony, dancing around each other, giving the audience (us--me, a guy who works for Dave, and the guy's girlfriend) plenty of eye contact and knowing smiles. I was really impressed. They practiced for a good 2 hours before I finally had to leave. The band's on their way up. They've got a date to record a CD, and a live date at the Newport on November 7. I can't wait to see them on stage! A Dying Breath---go see 'em!

A Dying Friend

Now some not-so-good news. I got word yesterday that my friend of 35 years, Bobby, is actively dying. He & I always had good times together and when he goes, I'm sure I'll miss him. Godspeed, Bobby!

and a Grr

Lastly, some more bad news... I went to pull the boat from the water today. When I arrived, I saw this on the ground:

Can't see the foreground? Here, let me show you a close-up:

Still can't tell what it is? OK, I'll tell you. The green thing is a flashlight. Below it is a laminated map of Buckeye Lake, just like one I have in my glovebox on the boat. Hmm. A coincidence?

Not really. As I turned for the boat, my fears were realized. A large cut was in the mooring cover, and inside I could see the contents of my "locked" glove box on the floor:

This is the mooring cover, sliced open.

This pic was taken 'through the hole'. The midship cover pole is sitting on some contents of the glove box.

Notice in the bottom picture the broken dash and a hole where the stereo used to be. The woodgrain dash will be tough to replace, and I may need to epoxy the old one if Maxum can't send a replacement. If so, it'll always be noticeable, so I might need to think about replacing both top & bottom. Anyway, back to the story...

When I finally realized what I was seeing, I tried to call the ODNR office on Lieb's Island. I got their answering machine, so I left a message and my phone number. Then came the fiasco of trying to get the Fairfield County Sheriff on the phone. I tried the free 4-1-1 number on my cell, but couldn't get the automated service to find Fairfield Beach, Shell Beach or Fairfield County. I hung up and called 4-1-1. The guy that answered said he needed a city to look up, and couldn't use a county. Finally, I recalled the county seat was in Lancaster (duh!), so I gave him that. He connected me to the Sheriff's dispatcher's office. I explained who I was, where I was, and what I'd found. She said that there were others that had reported trouble at the docks, and she would send a deputy. While I waited, I called Karen with the bad news, then called the insurance agent. He told me that we had a $250 deductible (which the mooring cover alone would cover). I'm sure that the stereo isn't covered. Because of the adjusters still working on storm claims, he said that it'd probably be next week before someone called, but he'd be happy to go ahead and file for me. After that, I decided to walk around the docks to see if anyone else had been 'hit'. I quit counting when I reached #20, and there were plenty more than that.

The deputy arrived an hour later, told me that she'd taken a lot of reports of the same thing over the last 2 weeks and asked me what was missing. Not wanting to disturb anything, I said I hadn't opened it up to see, and she told me to go ahead. The dash was broken, the stereo was gone, and the glove box was unlocked. I couldn't see anything else missing (but have since remembered a few other things that were in the boat that I'll need to see if they're still there). The deputy asked me if they had slashed the upholstery like they had on several others. I was lucky, I guess, because there wasn't any other damage. I untied the boat, removed my fenders from the dock and headed for the ramp.

On the way home, I decided to stop at Buckeye Lake Marina in Millersport for an estimate. $880 for a new mooring cover. No estimate for the dash (they don't deal with Maxums) but advised me to check with Delta Marine. Also, they clean boat bottoms for $9/foot, and will paint the bottom for $850. A new bimini top would run between $850 and $1200, depending on the style.

I also stopped at Delta. They took my information, but needed me to make an appointment so they can have adequate time. Josh was very helpful, giving me the same trailer recommendation (JT in Lancaster) as Buckeye Marina. He told me that before I put too much money in the trailer (did I tell you the brakes on the trailer aren't working right, and the left side tire's wearing 'funny'?) that I might want to consider replacing the surge brakes with electric, or consider buying a new tandem trailer, which he said was probably the best option. I'll take The Truth over to him Monday morning.

Check back later to see if I needed to edit this.

Oh, and leave a comment!

The Dichotomy of the Mind and the Brain

2008-09-28T14:57:00.008-04:00

There's an interesting story on AOL.

Are our minds really in our brains, or are our minds and brains separate? Do our minds reside, instead, in our souls?
Sure, I know the brain is the control center of the body. There can't be life without it. For example, cardiac arrest stops blood flow to the brain. In about 10 seconds without fresh oxygenated blood the brain begins to shutdown/die.
But according to near-death experience survivors, that's about the time when their experiences begins. You've heard of the scenes: Some of these survivors say they saw a tunnel with a beautiful, inviting light; some say they hovered over their own bodies, looking down at their lifeless forms, with doctors and nurses working feverishly to revive them.
Question: If their minds were in their brains, would it be logical to say that their minds would also shut down and not allow them the experience?
I have no hypotheses, no answers. What do you think?
Leave a comment.

Good News, Bad News

2008-09-26T17:13:00.007-04:00

You might remember in an earlier post I said I'd received bad news. Well, as most of you know, Mom had an operation to remove a supposedly inoperable mass between her sternum and trachea. She got the results on Monday that it wasn't cancer!! Woo-Hoo! That was the best news I'd received in a long time! She decided to celebrate by treating the family to dinner & drinks at The Old Bag of Nails at Nelson & Broad. We arrived around 6:30 to an absolutely packed restaurant. There were some seats at the Tiki Bar on the patio, where we found Mom, Sue, PJ, Ann and neighbor Irene. We all had a drink or two (or three...) before Gary arrived. It seemed to take forever, but in a while we were shown to our table(s). The eight of us had a great dinner, and too soon it was time to call it a day. As you might know, the area is not a very good one, and as we crossed the street, a group of 3 or 4 couples hollered at us to wait for them (the "Safety in Numbers" concept). I announced (rather loudly for anyone to hear) that I had my gun with me and I wasn't afraid. Wouldn't you know that further down the street, in the shadows, there was an unsavory character standing next to a pole across the street and not a threat, but a little unnerving, none-the-less. Crossing under the RR overpass, Ann slowly followed us in her car while we continued the walk to ours. We arrived safely and headed over to St. Charles, where we saw Sean's tree, and the Sean P. Reed Memorial Plaza. It was very nice and very moving. Rest in peace, Sean.

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Cruising for Burgers in Daddy's New Car

2008-09-18T19:30:00.017-04:00

We left Columbus on the morning of Sunday, September 14 at 9 for the 1 hr flight to Detroit and our connection to San Antonio. We didn't realize how very nice and very big the Detroit airport really is. To get you from one end of the terminal to the other, there are moving sidewalks every 100 ft. or so. There's also a tram running along the top right of the long terminal, with stations every so often. Karen & I were really impressed.

Then it was time to board our Airbus 300 for the 3 hr. flight to San Antonio. We arrived there about 3 p.m. By the time we got our luggage and rented a car, it was 4:30 or so before we arrived at The Saint Anthony Hotel at the corner of E. Travis and Navarro. Checked in, unpacked in our 6th floor room and headed out to the Riverwalk, 2 blocks south. We knew we couldn't stay out long, so we walked along until we came to Landry's Seafood restaurant. The food was excellent, and since we were right out on the walk, we had this view of the river:

The Riverwalk from Landry's

After dinner, we began to lose daylight, and being unfamiliar with the area, we thought we should head back to the hotel. We heard from Seth that Columbus had been blasted by the remnants of Hurricane Ike, with 70+ mph winds. When I logged in to the AEP internal site, imagine my surprise when I saw that AEP Ohio had 350,000 customers out! I didn't know it then (but highly suspected) that Sadie & Dave and Mom & Sue were without electric.
The next morning, I received a phone call from my boss, Gary, at about 6:30 Texas time. He was to be flying down the day before on a later flight and was supposed to land close to 11. He told me that his first flight had been cancelled because of the wind, and then his second flight was cancelled and he would not be making the trip down. I told him I was disappointed that he wouldn't be there and that I'd take really good notes and bring back the presentations.

The conference's first day was pretty interesting, with several presentations in the morning that we could learn more in detail in any three follow-ups we wanted to attend in the afternoon. Soon the first day was over, and Karen & I decided to re-visit the Riverwalk for dinner. We found a nice table at Sawgrass where we could look up & down the river. There seemed to be a lot of folks there, but it didn't dawn on us until later that there were some 10,000 refugees from Hurricane Ike's havoc on Galveston and Houston.

Leaving the restaurant, we decided to take a riverboat tour of the walk. I think that was one of the best decisions we made. Our captain was very knowledgeable on San Antonio's history, and entertained us with plenty of stories about the area.

Onboard the Riverboat

The trip lasted 45 minutes, and we began exploring as soon as it ended. Crossing the river to the east bank, we worked our way back to the Hilton, where there were 16 waterfalls between the river and Alamo Plaza Blvd. across from the Alamo Shrine.

The Shrine at The Alamo

We crossed the street and walked around the front of The Alamo and realizing the importance of this historic site, we made plans to return in time to get inside the next day.

The next day, the conference had more presentations in the morning and Q&A sessions in the afternoon. We were dismissed about 4 pm, so Karen & I headed to The Alamo. We rented headphones with digital recorders that told the story at 33 different spots inside and out. It was fascinating and awe-inspiring. That those early Americans died defending their territory made us respectful of their patriotism and bravery. It closed at 5:30, so we headed back to the Riverwalk. We went into the Riverwalk Mall and perused the shops for a while, then we headed back to the hotel.

The next day, we left for a ride in our modest rental. We went to a mall at the north end of town. After breakfast at The Cheesecake Factory, we headed to Best Buy and Circuit City to buy a replacement GPS (the one in the boat is 'toast'). We found one on sale, then headed back to the hotel. We went to the IMAX theatre and watched a nature film, The Deep, or something like that. It was cool and lasted for 45 minutes, wearing 3D glasses.

After the movie, we walked what was probably the only portions that we hadn't yet seen. Soon, we were at the hotel, where we packed as best we could. It would be an early start the next day (3:30 a.m.) to catch our 6 a.m. flight.

We caught the plane to Memphis, just in time to make our connection at the gate next door, and flew into Columbus at 11 a.m. After lunch at Nordstrom's, we finally headed home. When we arrived, I was shocked to see all the branches and leaves in our driveway and front & back yards. Our large maple tree sustained some pretty bad damage so I called our treeman, Andy, to come and take a look. As of this writing he still hasn't come over, but he's pretty busy with the cleanup and his other job, so I don't expect him soon. Luckily, there doesn't appear to be any life-threatening or house-threatening broken branches, so it can wait.

I returned to work Friday to be 'volunteered' to assist the DDC with switching dispatching. It was nerve-wracking and it didn't take long for me to remember why I no longer enjoyed that work.

After 13 hours, I was relieved in time to come home, grab a bite and go to bed. I was scheduled to work 12 hours on Saturday.

Saturday, again was a buzz-saw of activity, trying to restore service to all those customers still out. During the 14 hours I worked, over 20,000 customers' lights were back on. It was satisfying and exhausting. I grabbed a pizza on the way home, and could not keep my eyes open past 10:00.

Well, I think that gets us up-to-date.

9-11

2008-09-11T18:12:00.004-04:00

Where were you at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001?
I was at work as the supervisor of the dispatch center when one of my dispatchers called to me to change the tv channel from The Weather Channel to CNN. His wife had called to tell him that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. I immediately changed the channel and watched the inferno. It was awful, but I thought maybe it was an accident and even though I knew the passengers & crew were dead, I hoped that the building could be safely evacuated. It's a little fuzzy now on when the next plane hit... was it the second WTC tower, or was it the Pentagon? No matter, when it was obvious that it was a terror attack after the second crash I decided to err on the side of caution and called my boss in Gahanna. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I replied, "Let's get our trucks off the street and send them to their garages to stand by."
He said, "Good idea. I'll call the garage supervisors to let them know the plan, and to tell them to hold-over everyone until further notice. And let's go ahead and move to 'Defcon 3'". That was our code for "high alert" and that any trouble call was to be examined by committee before dispatching it out. No AEP crew would be on the street unless absolutely necessary. I also called the Load Dispatcher and asked him to call in off-duty station servicers on overtime to man some of our highest profile substations, in case there was a terrorist conspiracy that might involve energy disruption. The supervisor agreed with me and made the order. He would notify the station supervisors of our plan. When that was completed I called AEP Security and asked them to order an armed guard for our lobby. They agreed we were vunerable and, in turn, called the Groveport Police for an off-duty cop. In 30 minutes when she arrived I met her at the door, showed her where the gate monitors were, and how to open & close the gates. I also asked her to refuse anyone entry that didn't have an AEP ID that would let them in the gate. No deliveries, no employees without IDs, nothing.
With all that in place, I decided to sit back and watch the news. I was mesmerized by the replays of the skyscrapers crumbling, the fire at the Pentagon, and (by then) the crash of United Flight 93 in a Pennsylvania field. I closed my office door and turned my chair away from the door as tears ran down my cheeks. A few moments later, I composed myself and got on the phone to call in extra dispatchers. I didn't know what would happen, whether there would be marshall law invoked and I might not get relief for my dispatchers, so I wanted them on the road and in the office as soon as possible. The first three that answered the phone were happy to oblige. By 5:00 that afternoon, it looked like there wouldn't be any further attacks, so I began releasing dispatchers and suggested to my boss that the line crews should be released. He held the crews for 4 more hours. I was physically exhausted as I made the drive home.
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Ike

2008-09-10T05:59:00.005-04:00

The first time I ever heard "Ike", it was the nickname for President Dwight David Eisenhower. Now, it's the name of a huge hurricane. AEP Texas is gearing-up for a hell-raiser. I can't imagine getting ready to face such a potential disaster...

We're planning to head into the middle of (by then) tropical depression Ike when it's over San Antonio, Texas on Sunday. My boss & I will attend the 2-day EPRI Switching Safety conference there. Karen & I haven't been on a trip since the conference two years ago in Des Moines, Iowa, so we're flying down. We plan to hit all the tourist traps, including The Alamo and The River Walk. Anyone know of anything else we should see? Hopefully, we'll have good weather on Wednesday, our day to be out-and-about.

Well, it's time to get ready for work.

Leave a comment!

I Wanna Fly Like An Eagle

2008-09-07T09:17:00.005-04:00

(Happy 55th birthday yesterday, Darrell!)

My old boss & his family met us at our house yesterday afternoon (1:30-ish?) and followed us east to Buckeye Lake. After introducing Brent, Margaret, Alyssa, Laura and Wayne to our boating safety practices, we left the dock for an afternoon of tubing & boating. At the west end of the lake (the Millersport side), it was a little windy, causing us to drift dramatically while waiting for the kids to climb aboard the tubes. (One tube was completely uncooperative---hard to mount, hard to stay on---just 'hard'. We ended up deflating it and taking it back to the dock.) After skirting the north side of the bog, we headed further east, where we found the lake more calm. It was much easier to tube without being bounced around too much. It was still bumpy, but a little smoother. When tubing was done, we headed back in. At one point, Karen looked up spotting a bald eagle. We had heard there were two nesting pairs around the lake, but had never seen them until now. We watched in awe through binoculars and Brent took a few pictures of it. Soaring high on the thermals, we could make out his white head and the distinctive markings under his wings. We must have watched it for five minutes as it swooped across the sky.

Feeling fulfilled, we headed back to the dock to empty out the boat, and put her to bed for the night. The Stegners treated to dinner at Pizza Cottage and made plans to do it again. All too soon dinner ended, so we said our goodbyes and headed for home, tired but happy.

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Oscar Hotel Niner Five Six Seven Bravo Whiskey

2008-09-05T17:33:00.008-04:00

Got some unfortunate news yesterday which soured my entire outlook on life... at least temporarily. When the time is right, I'll share.

Today started out with an early (6:45) return call from someone I left a message with last night. That wasn't so bad. After I hung up, I returned to bed thinking I could grab another hour or two of sleep before getting up. Well, so much for that plan when my phone rang just 40 minutes later from a comrade from work who was having difficulty assisting a dispatcher with an advancement test. That forced me up and about, grabbing my work laptop, connecting to the company LAN and checking the web site. The web site looked ok, so I brought that particular individual up. Somehow her access time had switched from 00:05 hrs. - 03:59 hrs. instead of from 00:05 hrs. - 23:59 hrs. I don't know why that sometimes happens, but I learn to live with it. Since I was already up, I decided to check my work email to see if there was any hot topics I needed to look at. There were only a couple, so I answered them, and subsequently finished another two tasks in the process. My boss sent me an email asking why I was online while I'm supposed to be on vacation. I didn't have a good answer for him, but as I had planned to only stay on for as long as it took to rectify the problem, I wasn't planning to stay on for much longer.

Hurricane Gustav travelled up to our area overnight, so I thought I might cut the grass & treat the weeds before the rains hit. I didn't have to worry too much, as we only got about 10 drops. Luckily, I was already done so I didn't get very wet.

Later, we all (Karen, Brutus & I) decided to take a long walk, through the neighborhood, Kennedy Park, and on over to Seth's house. The first floor windows had been changed out, and the first floor siding ripped off. They discovered a second "front" door had been closed off! That raised some questions about "why"? We couldn't come up with a good answer.

But time was fleeting, as Xavier was supposed to be at our house at 3 pm. We hustled back to the house in record time... about 40 minutes, just in time. Sadie brought X in and stayed for a little while before taking off to run errands, etc. She's excited about a new job offer at HK Enterprises (I think), where they put together gift packages and the like. She'll be part-time on demand, so it'll be important that she has child care (whom she described as part-time Karen and Seth so far). We'll have to see how that plays out.

Xavier spent the afternoon/evening with us, crashing on the couch for ninety minutes after clashing head first with the hard-headed dog. Ouch! He had a nice bump on his melon, but thankfully Brutus was unhurt (I'm kidding... I wasn't worried about Brutus, but Xavier's head concerned me for a bit). Dave came by at about 8:30 to send email and pick up the little guy.

Supposed to meet the former boss & family at the lake tomorrow. Arrangements still need finalized, but it's pretty sure to happen.

PS, Critter was still here, same place, all day.

Leave a comment!

Critter

2008-09-04T12:19:00.015-04:00

We went out to breakfast at Scrambler's this morning, but on my way out the door, I found this hanging upside down under our canopy:

This one's only about 1.5 inches long, using the macro setting, but it's still a little difficult to make out:

A little easier to recognize here, but if you had never seen one, you might still not know what it is:

Again, upside down, but you can make out just a bit of his/her forelegs:

Here's another shot:

Four hours later, and Mr. Mantis had moved from under the canopy to a rope that ties it down.

This picture was taken with the camera held sideways:

And the last one is seconds later, camera right-side up:

Little-known praying mantis facts:

Kingdom - Animal, Phylum - Arthropoda, Class - Insecta, Order - Dictyoptera, Family - Mantidae, Genus - Stagomantis, Species - carolina

The plural of "mantis" is "mantises".

There are nearly 2000 species of praying mantises.

Mantises grow from 2.5 to 12 inches in length.

The praying mantis is a carnivore that eats an assortment of invertebrate insects, typically grasping them in their strong, over-lapping spined forelegs, then biting them behind the head to quickly paralyze them yet leaving them alive so the "meat" is fresh.

Diet includes: other mantises, beetles, butterflies, spiders, crickets, grasshoppers.

The praying mantis is also known to have captured & eaten vertebrates such as small tree frogs, lizards, mice and hummingbirds. Praying mantises can resemble flowers that 'sucker' the hummingbirds in to their reach. They can also eat other nesting birds.

As always, the preceding information was provided at no cost to you, the subscriber, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management.

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You DON'T want to EVER arrive at your boat and find this...

2008-09-03T20:31:00.008-04:00

In case you can't tell, the boat under the red cover is listing badly to starboard at the stern. The cover is under water, as is the starboard transom, I think. She's taken on a lot of water, and I could hear the bottom alarm going off from across the channel. I called the ODNR and eventually an officer came out to check on it.

Took my boat out for just a short run to make sure it was operating correctly. She was quick to respond and the water was as flat as I've ever seen it. There were probably only about 10 boats out & about. After a "once-around" Millersport, I headed back to the dock. After I tied up, I threaded up a nightcrawler and plunked him down at the rear of the boat in the slip next to mine. The bobber hadn't settled after it hit the top of the water, when "BAM!", this 5# catfish hit. I pulled him aboard, took out my camera phone and snapped this:

Man, that was a good fight, and fun!!

Later, all!

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Sit Down! Yer Blockin' My View! (Edited)

2008-09-02T18:34:00.010-04:00

(Edit) Man, don't know where my head's at, but there were other newsworthy items I totally missed reporting. For example:

Monday, Sept. 1 was Brutus' 5th birthday. Happy BD, Brute!

Also, Mom had a great Labor Day picnic at her home on Monday. Kathy Hopkins and practically everyone else in the family showed up (after going through the list, Mom said that only Joe Fallon's family and Seth & Megan were MIA). It was great seeing everyone one more time this summer. If there's more stuff I missed, I'll add them as my Alzheimer's allows, hehehe. (Remember, they say that memory is the second thing to go. I forget what the first thing is...)

So, remember that good deal on a Hunter ceiling fan I told you about earlier? Well, I put it up today. It almost beat me, and it put up a great fight, but I finally won! Thanks to Dave for giving me a little over-the-phone advice.

Here's a picture of the end result:

And another, this one's a close-up:

Might try to get out on the boat tomorrow. Will let you know if I do.

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I have visions

2008-08-29T23:32:00.016-04:00

I have visions, I have visions of a happy land
And in this happy land, happy land
There is still one unhappy man
Because of all the things he wants
There is always something he can't have
It's like a siren singing, like a church bell ringing
I can feel you winning, and my head starts spinning
Now I'm back at the beginning
I, I, I see you lying there and
I, I felt a wave come over me and
I, I, I thought I had escaped you
As I sat down by the roadside
And it hit me like a train
Hit me like a freight train
When the truth came down on me
It hit me like a long, slow train

It is written, I know it's written
All God's children get smitten
And if there's anyone, anybody
I know the [Lord] can fit that description
And if I could turn back the hands of time
Still I wouldn't know what I'm supposed to change
It's like a well gone dry, like a kiss goodbye
As the grip gets tighter, I continue to fight it
Then you strike me with your lightning
I, I, I woke up in a cold sweat and
I, I thought I heard you call my name and
I, I, I had to reach out for your fingers
And before I could call the doctor
You hit me like a train
Hit me like a freight train
When the truth came down on me
Swear you hit me like a long, slow train

Lord you hit me like a train
Hit me like a coal train
When your love came down on me yeah
Say hit me like a long, slow
Lord I feel it coming down and
I, I, I, I, oooh
I, I, I, oh Lord have mercy [on me]
I can't hold out no longer
I was ready to surrender
And it hit me like a train yeah
Hit me like a freight train
When your love came down on me yeah
And it me like a long, slow train
Lord you hit me like a train
Hit me like a soul train
When your love, when your love came down on me child
Hit me like a long slow [how long was it] long train
Hit me like a coal train?

Wow, so much since I last posted. Where to start?

Ok, well I flew to Houston Geo Bush Intercontinental Monday afternoon by way of Charlotte, NC. Landed at 9:30 pm, picked up the Suburban ($230/day, X 2 days)(I should explain... there were 8 of us and a Suburban fit the bill), checked in the Airport Marriott ($260/night for 2 nights)(Glad it was a business trip... I couldn't have afforded it for myself). After doing the ironing, I got into bed about midnight. We met with the folks at CenterPointe Energy to examine their recently purchased switch order program, TOCA (Transmission Outage something something) that we are considering as a replacement for our outdated and outgrown system. They were very hospitable, showing us their entire dispatching operation, then showing us the program. We all discussed our perceptions of the program and how we could benefit, etc. Anyway, at dinner we all decided that we would recommend purchasing the program.

Flew back the next day, again by way of Charlotte. A full schedule the rest of the week, just in time for me to take the week of Labor Day off.

Friday afternoon, we headed out to Buckeye Lake to enter the state boat dock lottery and to go somewhere we had never been before... the Sweet Corn Festival in Millersport! Let's add it up: $10 to park, $6 for 1/2 a bbq chicken, $4 for a bucket of fries, $4 for a fried bologna sandwich, $2 for 2 waters, and $4.50 for 4 ears of corn. That comes up to $30.50. Not too bad, I guess, for a typical country fair--booths, rides, games, tractor-pulls, food and the best and sweetest corn I think I've ever tasted.

We left after about an hour and headed for the dock. As we pulled up, we checked out the weather. Although it didn't look threatening, it looked like a very suspicious sky. We decided to stay on shore, so we turned around. It continued to grow darker, so I pulled over and put the top up. Sure enough, about 1/2 way back home, the skies cut loose. We could really benefit from an all-night rain. Stopped at The Andersons for some animal stuff. Ended up spending over $200 on a new ceiling fan, dog treats and other assorted stuff. (The good thing about this part is that we saw the fan demo with a price tag of $135, but when the salesman checked it at the register, it showed to be $165. I told Karen then that they had to give it to us for the advertised price. And I was right!) I'll probably hang it on Sunday.

Tomorrow is OSU's first game of the 2008 season! And we've got tickets to the noon game! We'll need to leave at 9, and we have to take our 'cold' clothes because we leave the game and head to Nationwide Arena for Skate for Hope's extravaganza at 5. We'll be busy, but we should have fun.

***EDIT***

Here's a pic at OSU Stadium before yesterday's tromping of YSU, 0 - 46. The weather was sunny & mid-80s. Those of us without sunscreen paid the price (that Karen is SO smart...).

From our vantage... Go Bucks!

(PS, Beanie Wells was injured in the 3rd quarter. We'll see how he recovers. I've high hopes that he's the Heisman Trophy winner for 2008.)

(PPS, the Skate for Hope was simply awesome! There were silver medal winners, and the pairs gold medal winners from Russia, and kids & teens that gave their very best for our entertainment. Our seats were at ice-side, and at the finale, all the skaters flew by us, slapping our hands in high-fives! What a good time with my 2 former bosses, Terry and Brent, and their wives.)

Skate for Hope

That's it for this chapter, boys & girls!

Leave a comment!

Lottery

2008-08-23T14:18:00.002-04:00

No, not that kind.

Trying to get registered for the boat dock lottery at Buckeye Lake. We stopped & picked up an application yesterday on the way out to the boat. I only have until the end of the month to return my app, but there's a hitch. I won't be able to send in my application until Thursday at the earliest. I hate to be rushed. Also, the instructions are a little conflicting, so I'll probably need to appear at the ODNR office on Lieb's Island. While there I'll get a little more information on how the lottery works.

Forgot a vital part of the application process last night, coming home. Left the boat registration on the boat, and I need to include a copy of it attached to the application. So Brutus & I loaded up this morning and went back out there to get it. He enjoyed the ride.

Wish us luck on the lottery!

"Fight the team across the field..."

2008-08-21T17:28:00.003-04:00

" ...show them Ohio's here...."

Guess who got their game tickets today??!!! 2 tickets to the OSU/Youngstown State game, AND 2 tickets to the OSU/Minnesota game!! Granted, they're in C-deck, but we paid extra to have padded seats, and we're just about even with the giant scoreboard just to our left, so even if the players look small on the field, we can still see them vividly on the big screen. We're getting pumped!!
So, look for upcoming camera-phone pics coming soon to a blog near you!

Go Bucks!!

"...set the earth reverberating with a mighty cheer! Hit them hard and see how they fall. Never let that team get the ball. Hail, hail, the gang's all here. So let's win that old conference now!"

You say it's your birthday. It's my birthday, too.

2008-08-16T20:56:00.005-04:00

You say it's your birthday. We're gonna have a good time. I'm glad it's your birthday. Happy Birthday to you!...

28 years ago today, at 3:50 p.m., I became the proud papa of a bright-eyed baby boy, whom we named "Seth". And he's been a joy and a treasure ever since!

We had a little cook-out/get-together last night for the birthday boy. Memaw, Sue, Ann, Sadie, Dave, Xavier and Megan joined Karen & I to celebrate. (PJ called me earlier to wish Seth a happy bd and to tell me she was not going to make it.) We chose Friday, a day early, because Seth had to work on his birthday, and Friday was his day off. Steaks, filets (Thanks! Dave & Sadie!!), Bahama Mamas, hot-dogs, grilled corn-on-the-cob, pasta, Key Lime pie, and Karen's special chocolate eclairs. I ate way too much because it was all too good! Everybody had a really good time, I think. With darkness falling, we were saying 'good-bye' too soon.

This morning, we took our time getting up & getting ready, then headed out for breakfast at Scrambler's. Nearing 11:00, we headed to Taylor Rd. and Gander Mountain for a dozen nightcrawlers. We arrived at the boat about noon and got out on the water. The lake was busy but navigable. After a trip east, we returned to the bog and dropped anchor. A couple of worms later and we were fishing. Some time later and with nary a nibble we hauled in, weighed anchor and headed west. Division of Watercraft was set up and advertising at the west entrance to the no-wake. We soon left him behind and headed for Millersport, where we found a couple of squads, a sheriff and a fire truck in the parking lot of the state beach. Don't know what that was all about. We decided to head back for the dock to drive over to Buckeye Lake village and our favorite BL pizza place, Pizza Cottage. Got done & back to the dock at 5, where we drowned a couple more worms (stolen off both rigs by a turtle... as we were buttoning up the cover, he stuck his head out of the water. I swear he stuck his tongue out at me!). Then we packed up & headed for home.

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The Last Bardo

2008-08-11T18:10:00.005-04:00

Was I shocked at the sinister creature that watched me with its beady little eyes?! I was cutting a few low-hanging dead branches from a couple of pines out front. As I went along filling the 'yard waste' can, I was smashing down the trimmings to make enough room. I was just about to push down harder when this little guy caught my attention. Lucky for him, or he'd have been on the menu as 'green mush'. I gingerly picked out a few of the pieces, careful not to frighten or injure him (I can only presume it was a "him"...) but he kept hopping from twig to twig. Seeing an opportunity and wasting no time, I ran inside, found my trusty camera, and went back out to find him. He didn't want me or my help, but I finally managed to get him to climb on my hand, and I lowered him to the ground. Let me tell you, for just a little guy no bigger than an inch, he looked ferocious... and pissed! So I snapped these, reached down to pick him up (under protest, I'm sure) and let him loose on a pine tree. It didn't take him 10 seconds to disappear.

I love watching praying mantises (or whatever the plural of mantis is).

Gotta go! Leave a comment!

Beijing

2008-08-09T21:29:00.003-04:00

Wow, I guess I should have stopped what I was doing at 8 o'clock to watch the beginning of the Olympics. I was working on applying anti-foul wax to the boat hull and wanted to get as much done as I could. About 9:15 Karen called me in to watch the opening ceremonies. What a wonderful opening! It looked to go off without a hitch! The choreography of the entire proceedings at and surrounding the bird's nest, the Olympic stadium, was perfect, with thousands of people, tens of thousands of fireworks, l.e.d. lighting, and the stands holding different colored glow sticks. Wish I had recorded it.

This morning I finished the hull waxing. Man, that wasn't an easy job, either. Karen & I decided to go to the lake, launch the boat and eat lunch at Island House. She & I split a large order of potato skins, she had 1/2 a pizza sub, and I had a large fishtail sandwich. The food was great, and I stuffed myself. Afterward, we cruised the lake, back the channel to The Port, then to the condos at Heron Bay, then west to the housing development at Heron Bay. About 5:30 we decided to head back to the dock, button up and head home.

Well, the Olympics are on. See ya later!

EDITED! Wilson's Still Here, Just A Little Lower, But Here's A Neat Experience

2008-08-08T23:33:00.023-04:00

EDITED: To make it easier to find the 'edit', I'll put it over top of the story about Wilson. Friday night was the start of MOPAR Nationals weekend. Karen & I dropped the top and took the Sebring out for 'show & tell', cruising Brice Rd. The muscle cars were too cool! Both near & far, you could here squealing tires and smell burned rubber. We cruised through the parking lots on both sides of the street, checking out some really nice cars all along the way.

On our third trip south, we were slowly making our way in the right lane, where we came across a wet spot. The guy with the water jug gave me the 'thumbs-up' to burn out, so I braked hard with my left foot while revving up the monster 3.5L V6 to about 4500 rpm. The front of the car raised up in protest of the hard torque I had her under, and I let off the brake, squealing both front tires for about a second. The crowd loved it, and Karen & I did, too! What a rush!!

If you can, you ought to plan to sit out on Brice Rd. at next year's MOPAR Nats. Might I suggest sitting in your lawn chairs on the west side of Brice Road... the sun will be behind you.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

In a fit of inspiration I finished my presentation with Wilson. Here it is:

OK, so I know it's corny, but I received favorable feedback from Nadine, my boss' boss' administrative assistant. If she tells him I did good, he'll believe her.

But, hey, don't let me influence you... Leave a comment!