2008 Summed Up In A Couple Of Paragraphs

I’ve decided this year needs it’s own wrap up. We’ve gone through a lot of changes in 2008 and I wanted to get them down for later review.

The year started off with Lisa in Zanesville and me in Virginia. Lisa did make it to Stafford for New Years but as I recall it wasn’t that great. We went to an Italian restaurant called Amici’s I think. The food was okay and the guy playing the piano was loud.

Lisa made it out to Virginia on several more occasions. We did the trips to D.C. and Gettysburg and that kind of stuff. Basically your typical fun-filled Brian and Lisa activities. During the year we pursued our favorite pastime and went to a movie just about every week this past summer. We saw Ironman, Baby Momma, and The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace, Rock'n'Rolla, Marley & Me and more than I can remember. All the time I had been applying for a new job. I enjoyed the job at Quantico and felt like I was just starting to get the hang of being a site manger and there I was looking for a career change. And as some of you know I got the new job.

So in June Lisa, Moon and I moved to St Charles, Missouri. We've really liked it here but it never felt like home. We were renting because I wasn't sure if I would like the new job or not. It was a nice house but not ours. We had a whole parade of visitors to St Charles. My niece Ashley, Lisa's sister, her brother and mother, her niece and nephew and my Mom and Dad all came out on different occasions. The normal site to take our visiting tourists was the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial (ie the Arch). One of our favorite pastimes was barbecuing in the back yard and beer on the front porch, watching traffic go by and gas prices go up and down. Sometime in October I applied for a transfer to Colorado Springs. I was passed over at first. The guy Colorado Springs hired turned them down and I got a second chance. It was a no brainer to accept but it was still a tough thing to do. Lisa started preparing for the move.

Finally the week of Christmas we moved our household goods to Littleton and Colorado Springs. I've returned to St Louis to work until January 16th. I'm staying at Intown Suites which is a pretty anticlimactic way to depart from a good home although Lisa came in for the New Year and we're staying at a nice Marriott in Creve Coeur. Like I mentioned, we've loved it here in St Charles, it was really our first home together as a family and we'll miss it I'm sure. The 29th of December was an especially rough day. Lisa and I went to the house one last time to drop off keys and we got pretty sad saying good bye to the neighborhood. And then we went to see the worst movie ever and that didn't help.

Last Entry For 2008

As the year draws to a close, I just wanted to say bye. I hope everybody had a decent year even though it's been a little rougher then usual. I usually don't use the term blessed but I really have been. With a great family and friends. I hope 2008 was a good year for you and 2009 is better for us all.

New Years Weekend (Counting Down)

Lisa and I have been staying at a Marriott in Creve Couer, Missouri for the the last two days. It's been pretty fun. We went to see Marley & Me yesterday. We also went to the Borders book store right next to the hotel. I got Born Standing Up by Steve Martin and replaced Solomon Kane that a friend from work kept (bastard!). I'm flying through Steve Martin's book. Like most things from Steve it's awsome. We had dinner last night at Macaroni Grill which sucked. They "misplaced" our ticket and the food took about an hour to getto us. Rob, our waiter, brought Lisa her wine in a juice type tumbler.

Today we went to downtown St Charles for some last time shopping on Main Street. We've never really had the luxury of spending money while we've been here so it's been fun and we probably over did it a little more than we should. There is a purse store on Main Street and Lisa had her eye on a few bags, so she finally got them. We got some interesting spices and hot sauce for a gourmet shop too.

We ate at Allin's Diner for breakfast this morning. It a great diner that was right around the block from our house on Houston Street. It's always busy and looked really cute. It was great food, and we both agreed that we should have tried it sooner. Best of all it's smoke free which is rare around here.

We went to the Galleria Mall off of I-17o and Brentwood Ave and walked around a little. It's a nice place but just another mall. Right now Lisa is swimming in the pool at the hotel. I've never met anyone who loved to swim as much as that girl. She's been in the pool at least three times since we checked in.

Tomorrow we'll take it easy, see another movie (probably Seven Pounds) and then have New Years eve dinner at PF Changs by the Chesterfield Mall.

Worst Movie Ever!!!

Lisa and I just watched Marley & Me and about ten minutes from the end I decided I hated this movie. It's the biggest tear jerker I've ever seen. Lisa never cries at movies, I cried watching Schindler's List (don't know if it's sociably acceptable to admit that as a man) and that's pretty much it. Up to now anyway. I was still crying when I left the theater. I got back to the hotel, started thinking about our dog, Moon and started crying again. I will never see this movie again. I would recommend that you never see this movie.

Waiting For Lisa

After a whole three days of rest Lisa is driving to St Louis to spend New Years Eve with me. I have to work New Years Day so she'll probably not hang around although I hope stays. I imagine our night will be a case of me going to bed at 9:30 and Lisa getting mad at me because she wants to enjoy life, where as I don't.

It's 7:30, I'm watching King of the Hill, and waiting for Lisa to call so we can meet at Panera's (known as St Louis Bread Company here) for dinner. This kind of reminds me of my first post all those years ago.

A Long Week (Almost As Long As This Post)

The timeline of our move goes like this:

Sunday, December 21st - I left work at 3:30 and we picked the U-Haul 24 ft truck up at around 4:30. Once we got back home we spent a couple hours loading to get a little head start. And the temperature was 6 degrees.

Monday, December 22nd - We got up at six and started loading by 7:00, it was 4 degrees when we started and got up to a sunny 16. We loaded the truck until around 1:30 p.m. 0r 2:00 at which time we switched to cleaning and errands mode. After running to the cable place to drop off the modem and trying to track down the recycling center for our last load of cans and bottles (which we never got rid of), we ran home and scrubbed and scrubbed. We got to bed at around 9:30 exhausted.

Tuesday, December 23rd - We got up at 3:00 a.m. and did some last minute packing and were on the road by 5:00. We stopped for one last fountain drink refill ($.89) at the QT and departed 239 Houston Street for the last time (almost). Forecasts across Missouri and Kansas were calling for temperatures around freezing with rain. Not the best news. By the time we got to Kansas City (the one in Missouri) it started raining and it was freezing on the windsheild. The road didn't look that bad but a Jeep Cherokee started doing a 360º spin on the opposite side of I-70 and got clipped by a semi. It was white knuckles for awhile. It eventually dried out on the western side of Kansas City (the one in Kansas).

We stopped for gas and Taco Bell in Lawrence, Kansas. Gas and Taco Bell being somewhat redundant. By 4:30 Mountain time the radios were calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow through eastern Colorado. Since it was getting dark and the trailer's taillights were out we decided to stop for the night. We picked a Holiday Inn Express in Goodland, Kansas to spend the night. We're both "push on" kind of people, especially when we're that close to our goal. I don't know why but we had a fit of good sense that paid off. By the time we got Moon unloaded and were ready to go to dinner there was a blizzard outside. At the recommendation of the hotel clerk, we went to a place called Crazy R's. It was a great smokey dive and there were several local families there having dinner and playing pool. I had a great KC Strip and Bud Select. Unfortunately, as you might guess, they didn't have much vegetarian fare and the cigarette smoke was closing Lisa's throat so it was less fun for her. She got Subway afterwards and got to swim in the pool so she was happy.

Wednesday, December 24th - We hit the road at 7:00 for the remainder of the trip to Littleton (where Lisa's Mom lives). We rolled in around 12:00 and had lunch from Noodles Inc. and unpacked the stuff Lisa would need while staying in Littleton. Than we left for Colorado Springs with Lisa's sister Jennifer who graciously volunteered to help us unload.

When it was all said and done we had the truck unloaded and we were back in Littleton ready for bed by 8:30.

Thursday, December 25th - Christmas we went to Idaho Springs for dinner at Chris's house and then Lisa dropped me off at the airport for the flight back to St Louis. Which is where I'll stay until January 16th at which time I'll be heading for Colorado Springs.

That was about it. There were some misadventures last night after I got back to St Louis involving my search for food and the tricky entrance to the Best Western but other than that the trip kind of wore down. I had to go to work this morning and I'm still tired so I've got to end this thing quick. Night.

Last Post?

Don't worry, I was just doing the old marketing trick, I would never deprive you of my wonderful misives and keen insight. This is merely the last post for a few days. The computer goes into the box today and the internet will be turned off shortly. I'll miss you while I'm away. Think of me often.

Facebook?

My friend Dan is on Facebook, as are all my friends it seems. Everyone is on Facebook now and I still don't know what it is. Facebook apparently had a big controversial make over a few months back and to be honest, I didn't even notice. The thing is so full of weird gee gaws that seem to be designed for nothing, except to spread Facebook like a virus. I used to get friend suggestions for the kids my nieces go to school with because I'm friends with my nieces and I used to go to the same high school all their friends go to. I don't want friends and I sure as hell don't want to be friends with people who write things I can't understand like IMAO or LOL. Well except for you, Ashley, I feel it's my Unclely duty so I'll tolerate it from you. I'm actually trying to keep my list of contacts to as few people as possible, I would like to be the guy with the fewest friends. And after what I've written on some peoples' "Superwall" I'm a little surprised I have as many friends as I do.

I guess you can share photos and that could be why I'm not that impressed. I've been using Flickr for my photo sharing for years so I don't need another site for that. Maybe the key lies in the fact that I'm anti-social and it's a social networking site.

The only thing I really enjoy is the "What are you doing box?" I also like it for the Sumatran Rat Monkeys. Those are good too.

Dick Cheney, The CEO Of Blackwater & Me

I was all excited about the news that Obama may not legally be eligible to be president, then the Iraqi shoe throwing hub bub broke. I'll save the Obama thing for later (we have at least 4 years to get back to it). While I don't think W has been the greatest president we've had, at least he's no Richard Nixon. The reason this episode bothers me is a matter of personal perspective I guess. He wasn't throwing his shoes at W, he was throwing them at the United States of America, me and you. If you're to believe most news outlets there's only a few of us that think the war in Iraq wasn't that bad an idea. I for one like the idea of being proactive and killing terrorists before they kill us. I know, I'm a hawk. I joined the Air Force and went into EOD in the 80's because of the Achille Lauro and TWA flight 847 and a whole list of Wikipedia entries of terrorism. I remember how angry and helpless I felt when Leon Kinghoffer's body was dumped overboard. I still see Robert Stedham's body hit the tarmac with that flat ugly thud. I used to think that the t-shirts they sold in Soldier of Fortune magazine were funny. The one that said "Hey I think I stepped in some Shiite" was particularly funny, especially after the Beirut bombing. I guess it's a softening that comes with old age but I don't subscribe to Guns and Ammo anymore. I find myself being more tolerant and politically correct than I used to be and I don't get a kick out of the new Paladin Press t-shirts. But even with all of that, as nice as I seem now there's still a part of me that holds to the "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" school of thought. Really the only reason I hope we get done in Iraq is so we can send more troops into Afghanistan. I remember Mike Farrell (BJ Honeycutt himself) proclaiming Afghanistan was the next Vietnam. Richard Gere suggested we not invade the country after 9/11 (and got booed off stage in New York City). Now everyone likes it for the go to war spot. Even Obama wants to go there, or I should say send our troops there.

I heard this afternoon on Paul Harvey that the "martyr" that threw the shoes is asking for a pardon. Pussy.

The Countdown Continues

It's less then a week now before we pack up and head west. As usual (like the last time we moved) Lisa has everything organized and most of the work done. She never did find work here in Missouri and I marvel at all the poor bastards that didn't get to utilize her energy and organization. She makes me feel lazy by comparison, which I am of course but she makes me see just how lazy.

We have most of the stuff down stairs and in boxes ready to go. The plan is to get a U haul Sunday night, wake early Monday morning and have everything loaded, hopefully before dark that night. Tuesday we haul ass to Colorado Springs and Wednesday we down load it all into a storage unit, whew! I am so looking forward to this!

Meanwhile, we finished the second half of the Christmas card operation. Sixty freaking cards! I don't even know that many people.

And as I like to do from time to time to put my life into the perspective of the bigger picture I would like to point out some things that happened today. Apparently they figured out who killed Adam Walsh, although it seems like they kind of sorta knew for awhile now. It seems odd, in a way it's like the Lindberg baby case. It's a part of history. I'm glad it's giving his family peace.

Gas started out at $1.57 at the QT, we got ours at Sam's Club for $1.47 and by the time we got home it dropped to $1.54 at the QT. It bottomed out a few weeks ago at $1.37 and it's been up and down since.

Also, Obama may not be a legal citizen!!! This is big people!!! And he may have a twin!!! Check here daily.

The Start Of The Christmas Season

Lisa and I spent the afternoon filling out Christmas cards and prepping them for mailing. Lisa is very good about sending out cards every year and for some reason I can't help but imagine that is the case in most marriages. The wife is the responsible, sociable one. I don't think I sent more than three Christmas cards my entire life before I got married. Of course Lisa pointed out that with the exception of my family I really only have three friends to begin with. Most of the cards were for her friends.

We spent the day taking Moon to the vet, running to Goodwill to get rid of stuff we don't want to move, Walmart for packing supplies and Office Max to get our Christmas letter printed up. After doing chores in 11 degree weather it was nice to sit down and write out cards to friends and family I don't think about enough. This year we'll be moving during Christmas week and I'll actually be flying from Colorado to St Louis on the 25th so it really won't feel much like the holidays. Today is probably as close as I'll get to being in the spirit until next year. That's okay though since I don't like Christmas all that much anyway.

Giving Up

I made it to day 11 and I've decided that this is a bad idea. I think 365 entries would be too much. I'm already out of ideas and I don't feel like perusing Yahoo News to come up with stuff to write snarky commentaries on. So it is in the spirit of the season that I promise to write only when something interesting happens or until I at least have something to write about.

Gee, I Missed The Call On This One

The day in history -

Day to 'call in gay' finds few willing to strike

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 29 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – A daylong work stoppage during which employees were encouraged to "call in gay" to express support for same-sex marriage drew spotty participation nationwide Wednesday, with some gay rights activists praising the concept but questioning its effect.
In San Francisco's gay Castro district, residents and merchants said they endorsed the message behind "Day Without a Gay" but didn't think a work stoppage was practical given the poor economy and the strike's organization.
"If we are going to make a huge impact and not be laughed at, then we have to take the time and make the time to communicate with all the parties. We could have shut down a lot of the hotels," said David Lang, a San Francisco gymnastics coach. "In theory it's a great idea, but it's being done wrong and now that it's been done wrong, I don't think it will be done again."
The protest, which a gay couple from West Hollywood organized through the Internet, was designed to demonstrate the economic clout of same-sex marriage supporters following the passage of voter-approved gay marriage bans in California, Arizona and Florida last month.
Participants were asked to refrain from spending money or at least to patronize gay-friendly businesses for the day.
Paul Ellis, 51, a manager at Cliff's Variety hardware store, said he didn't want his employer to bear the burden of his support.
"My employers have always been there in every possible way. I didn't feel comfortable discomfiting them when they have gone out of their way to be there for me," he said.
Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that promotes equality for gay and lesbian employees, suggested that gay marriage supporters could send an effective message beyond Wednesday by openly discussing the issue at their workplaces.
"When people go into the voting booth and vote against (gay) rights, they often have no idea they are voting against the person sitting next to them in the next cubicle or office," said Selisse Berry, Out and Equal's executive director.
Berry noted that only 20 states have laws to protect workers from being fired for being homosexual, making lesbians and gays reluctant to reveal themselves to co-workers in most jurisdictions.
"Constantly lying about our weekends at the water cooler or changing pronouns, that takes up so much energy that we could be putting into our jobs," she said.
Participants who opted to take the day off from their jobs were encouraged to perform community service, and charitable organizations across the country said volunteers showed up.
"Visibility is really important for the gay community, so after a lot of thought I decided I would come out and be visible with my colleagues at work and use the time working for the community," said Carrie Lewis, 36, a University of California health researcher who spent the day working at the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center.
Backers of "Day Without a Gay" organized evening rallies in San Francisco, Austin, Texas, Logan, Utah, and other cities so supporters could gather to discuss the next steps. Rallies also were held earlier Wednesday in Chicago and on several college campuses in California.
"The movement that fought for equality and succeeded in electing Obama president is really looking to make progressive gains now," said Mark Airgood, who used a personal day to take off from his job as a middle school teacher in Berkeley. "I think we really can, and I think this is an important day for that."

The reason I find this and the Mexican immigrant boycott of a few years ago so stupid is the idea behind it. That idea is, if you were to remove these large groups of people all of a sudden the rest of us couldn't function without them. Isn't that pretty much true of any fucking group of people? It bothers me for the same reason those stickers you see on the back of semi tractor trailers bother me. You know the ones I'm talking about? Something about how we would all be shit out of luck if it weren't for truck drivers. I think we'd find someone or something to replace you (how hard could it be to replace uneducated lard ass amphetamine freaks?). It's the idea that the country's parts are more than it's sum, or more specifically some parts are more important than others.

The 9th, One Of My Days Off

Today nothing much happened. We rented Wall*E which I hadn't seen yet. I thought it was a very clever little movie. It was rainy all day yesterday and down in the mid-thirties. It was a good day to do nothing although we like to do errands in the crappy weather. Before we went to Blockbuster we went to the local grocery store Dierbergs for bread, Liquid Plumber (which was $.30 cheaper than Drano) and Milk. We also picked up our favorite local treat Gooey Butter Cake. It was apparently invented in St Louis.

Going To My Happy Place

Today we took a trip to the Anheuser-Busch brewery for the Budweiser tour. I was ecstatic. I'm not sure why. I like Bud but I'm not one of those guys that decorates everything with a Bud motif. Bud is one of those American icons though. Bud beers account for 50% of the US beer market annually (a factoid we learned on the tour). That's a lot of beer. A few years ago I took a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery. I thought that was a better tour for the most part, the guide was some salty good old boy that looked like he had been making and drinking whiskey for decades. Our guides today didn't look like they were old enough to drink yet. Everything was kept at a distance on the Bud tour too. In Lynchburg you got to walk up and take a whiff right out of the fermenting tank. It was neat to see thousands of bottles zooming down a belt full of beer but it was a long way off.

The highlight of the tour was probably the stables and the Clydesdales. We drove to St Louis last week to take the tour and cancelled it for this week when we got to the brewery and the stables were closed that day. That's how much we wanted to see the stables. We still didn't get to see much of the horses. The campus is gorgeous, historical and well maintained. There are a few National Historic Sites on the property. And as usual the history of the company had a lot of interesting facts, the company saved itself during prohibition by making trucks and malt syrup among other things.

All in all it was a very good tour. The one thing it had over Jack Daniels was at the end of the tour there was two free samples. I had the freshest Budweiser from tap you can possibly get. It was good too. The place was like Disney World, Mecca, outer space and a little chunk of Heaven on Earth. And unfortunately the 10:00 o'clock evening news is saying that In Bev is laying off employees to "streamline" costs. A friend of mine also said the brewery in Virginia will be shutting down as well. I can't believe that a company that does 50% of the beer business in the US needs cost cutting. I would think, in a recession beer would be one of those few things that the demand actually increases. I hope they don't stop the tours to cut costs as well.

December 7th

Today marks two milestones. Personally speaking it's my brother Bryce's birthday. Have a happy one soldierant.

In the broader historical scope it's the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I consider World War II one of those things in life that shouldn't be forgotten and should be drilled into every school kid's head. I found these photos* on the web today and think they are pretty interesting:



Give a look and remember not only the sacrifice of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines but the civilians that gave up the luxuries and then the necessities of life to help defeat a bunch of assholes. Follow the link and it has a little info on where these rare photos were found.

*Please note as with all things on the Internet I did not verify the photos' authenticity. Hopefully these aren't photoshopped scenes from that horrid Michael Bay movie.

December 6th

Nothing happened today out of the ordinary.

5th Day, A Little Less Rockin'

This is turning in to a bit of a chore now. If I thought it was tough to be original before I'm really behind the eight ball now. I didn't have a lot of time to think at work yesterday so no topics came up. I got to see the Office and 30 Rock last night. I'm not sure about the Office right now. It was funny but it's been awhile since I laughed out loud at it. 30 Rock was a good one though. After being hit and miss at the end of last season it's starting to get good again.


The heat is not working again. It's 55 degrees in the house again. Thanks for sharing a few minutes of your precious time with me, sorry for wasting it.

The Fourth Rockin' Day Of December

Today was the first day back to work after my weekend. It was a little tough going back. I have the incredibly good luck to enjoy my wife's company so much I actually hate to go back to work. I know Lisa would like to have friends and a little more of a life but I'm happy with her and the dog. The following video illustrates my point.



Really, I don't think I need to explain why there's no reason for me to leave the house.

The Third Day Of December

Today we started to head out to the Budweiser brewery for the tour. When we got there the stables were closed for the filming of a commercial so we decided to try next week. We stopped my Soulard Farmer's Market on the way home. It was pretty quite, I guess most of the activity happens on the weekends. We stopped for lunch at a quaint little bar down the block from Soulard called Llwellyn's. I had, if not the best certainly the largest chicken wings I've ever ate. As if gorging myself on a pound of chicken wings wasn't enough, we walked to the QT for snacks when we got home.

We returned home and did a little more packing and took Moon around the neighborhood for her walk. I think we'll all miss the neighborhood, it's a great place to walk.

And tonight we watched Pushing Daisies, our favorite show. Of course it's soon to be cancelled and replaced with some reality show from Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher, or a reality show about the Homeland Security forces. TV sucks!

Well, on that sour note, I'm outta here.

December 2nd

Don't worry, I'll try to come up with more original titles as the month progresses.

So far today, Lisa and I have been carrying boxes up from the basement in preparation for the move. That was a back breaking but thankfully short undertaking. I got distracted briefly when I ran across some old magazines I've been keeping since 1993. I'm kind of a pack rat for magazines ever since I was little and would go through Dad's old National Geographics. The old automobile advertisements were fascinating to me.

We also got rid of the oil from an old lawn mower we threw out a few weeks ago. We just got back from the IGA down over the hill where we had to get yard waste tags. I know that won't mean anything to anyone but me.

We're getting ready to see Australia in a little while. At three hours we should get our moneys worth even if it isn't all that great.

And six hours later - We're back home. Australia was good if not a little intimidating to watch. Hugh Jackman's abs are a tough act to follow. Tonight was a bad misadventure in traffic also. We got caught on I-270 and thought we would be clever. We hopped off the highway and headed toward a Noodles and Company but got caught in aother traffic jam at an intersection with about six police cars in it. We just circled back around and headed home over Lindberg Ave and up to I-70.

December 1st

I wanted to start practicing for 2009. My goal will be to see if I can do one entry a day for a year. I haven't been able to do it for a week, let alone a month or year. It's an ambitious undertaking so we'll see how it goes. The reason I want to do it though is because we are basically starting a new life at the beginning of the new year. I feel like it's symbolic.

I like December, it's my birth month and before I got all cynical about Christmas, it was the month of my favorite holiday. It'll be a challenge to post an entry every day considering how busy we'll be moving but I'm still going to try. I don't consider it cheating if I write the post in word and post it a few days later.

Our heat went out last night and the repairman just now fixed it. The house got down to 55 degrees this morning and my fingers are numb so this will be the extent of this entry. Maybe later today I'll be able to post some pictures from Thanksgiving.

Something You Don't Often See

Disparaging remarks about AIDS research. In P.J. O'Rouke's book Parliament of Whores from 1991 the author actually makes the same point as John Oldfeild. Actors and rock stars want to wear the red ribbon for AIDS but while more children die of dehydration from Diarrhea (from malaria) and the cure was a tablet that (in 1991) cost $0.08 a piece no one was wearing a brown ribbon (PJ's words, not mine). It's only taken the rest of the world seventeen years to catch up with PJ.

Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer – Sun Nov 30, 11:58 am ET

LONDON – As World AIDS Day is marked on Monday, some experts are growing more outspoken in complaining that AIDS is eating up funding at the expense of more pressing health needs.
They argue that the world has entered a post-AIDS era in which the disease's spread has largely been curbed in much of the world, Africa excepted.
"AIDS is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, but it's just one of many terrible humanitarian tragedies," said Jeremy Shiffman, who studies health spending at Syracuse University.
Roger England of Health Systems Workshop, a think tank based in the Caribbean island of Grenada, goes further. He argues that UNAIDS, the U.N. agency leading the fight against the disease, has outlived its purpose and should be disbanded.
"The global HIV industry is too big and out of control. We have created a monster with too many vested interests and reputations at stake, ... too many relatively well paid HIV staff in affected countries, and too many rock stars with AIDS support as a fashion accessory," he wrote in the British Medical Journal in May.
Paul de Lay, a director at UNAIDS, disagrees. It's valid to question AIDS' place in the world's priorities, he says, but insists the turnaround is very recent and it would be wrong to think the epidemic is under control.
"We have an epidemic that has caused between 55 million and 60 million infections," de Lay said. "To suddenly pull the rug out from underneath that would be disastrous."
U.N. officials roughly estimate that about 33 million people worldwide have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Scientists say infections peaked in the late 1990s and are unlikely to spark big epidemics beyond Africa.
In developed countries, AIDS drugs have turned the once-fatal disease into a manageable illness.
England argues that closing UNAIDS would free up its $200 million annual budget for other health problems such as pneumonia, which kills more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
"By putting more money into AIDS, we are implicitly saying it's OK for more kids to die of pneumonia," England said.
His comments touch on the bigger complaint: that AIDS hogs money and may damage other health programs.
By 2006, AIDS funding accounted for 80 percent of all American aid for health and population issues, according to the Global Health Council.
In Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and elsewhere, donations for HIV projects routinely outstrip the entire national health budgets.
In a 2006 report, Rwandan officials noted a "gross misallocation of resources" in health: $47 million went to HIV, $18 million went to malaria, the country's biggest killer, and $1 million went to childhood illnesses.
"There needs to be a rational system for how to apportion scarce funds," said Helen Epstein, an AIDS expert who has consulted for UNICEF, the World Bank, and others.
AIDS advocates say their projects do more than curb the virus; their efforts strengthen other health programs by providing basic health services.
But across Africa, about 1.5 million doctors and nurses are still needed, and hospitals regularly run out of basic medicines.
Experts working on other health problems struggle to attract money and attention when competing with AIDS.
"Diarrhea kills five times as many kids as AIDS," said John Oldfield, executive vice president of Water Advocates, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that promotes clean water and sanitation.
"Everybody talks about AIDS at cocktail parties," Oldfield said. "But nobody wants to hear about diarrhea," he said.
These competing claims on public money are likely to grow louder as the world financial meltdown threatens to deplete health dollars.
"We cannot afford, in this time of crisis, to squander our investments," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general, said in a recent statement.
Some experts ask whether it makes sense to have UNAIDS, WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, the Global Fund plus countless other AIDS organizations, all serving the same cause.
"I do not want to see the cause of AIDS harmed," said Shiffman of Syracuse University. But "For AIDS to crowd out other issues is ethically unjust."
De Lay argues that the solution is not to reshuffle resources but to boost them.
"To take money away from AIDS and give it to diarrheal diseases or onchocerciasis (river blindness) or leishmaniasis (disfiguring parasites) doesn't make any sense," he said. "We'd just be doing a worse job in everything else."

I'm not trying to be an ass about AIDS. It just fascinates me how these things work, the politics of it all. I'm sure Bono is sincere in his desire to help Africans stop AIDS but why that cause? I guess you have to pick one and stick with it.

First Snow

I woke up this morning and there is a thin layer of wet, wet snow on the ground. It's very peaceful and relaxing this morning and surprisingly warm in a house that is otherwise as drafty as the Nina. Pinta and/or the Santa Maria.

Thanksgiving Part II

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I know we did. My parents left yesterday, headed for home with a brief visit to our old hometown, Martinsville Indiana. We lived there for about five years I think. This was around the time I entered middle school and my first year of high school. Dad likes to visit Martinsville and I think the folks have been there a few times since we left. Dad tells me our old house has fallen on some hard times but the cornfeild across the street is still there. I guess there isn't a big rush on developement in rural Indiana, which makes me happy. I would love to get back to Martinsville myself someday. I actually visited one year while I was still in high school and hung out with my old friend Paul. If Martinsville has a downside it's probably the fact that it's the most racist town in the US. I remember a cross burning on the lawn of one of Dad's co-workers who happened to be Indian or Pakistani (can't remember which). I remember just a few years ago reading a headline of a small article in Sports Illustrated. The article title was something about a small Indiana town's high school basketball team being suspended from play in their league because of an incident involvong an all black team from Indianapolis. I remember thinking right away it was probably Martinsville, and of course it was (otherwise what would have been the point of this antedote).

Enough about racist little Hoosier towns. Thanksgiving was a treat this year. Like I mentioned in the last post I made dinner. It was low stress, I made it in a crock pot! You really can't get any lower stress than that. We got up and took a ride up the Illinois side of the Mississippi river to Alton Illinois. It was an interesting little town that used to hold a Federal prison during the civil war. I think we all enjoyed that a lot. Friday we went to the main street of St Charles, which was packed because of all the Christmas shopping and festivities going on. It was like a Yankee Doodle Christmas.

The folks are gone and I miss them but I'm glad they made itout for a visit before we leave St Charles.

Thanksgiving Is Reason For Thanks

Thanksgiving is shaping up to be my favorite holiday.  I'm not sure why.  Between the growing commercialism of Halloween and the King of crass commercialization, Christmas, there is this sweet simple little feast with an awesome tradition I can get behind.  You gather friends and family together and gorge all day long.  Genius!  Thanksgiving is of course not without it's controversies.  You have your typical kill joy that likes to point out how badly we've treated the native Americans for 400 years or so.  I'm sorry, now can I enjoy my jellied cranberries?  Of course that's a traditional Thanksgiving dish, but the thing I like about this holiday is mixing it up with non-traditional dishes.  This year my parents drove out to St. Louis and I'm doing the cooking.  We're having apricot glazed pork tenderloin for dinner and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  They're easy to make (we actually bought the cheesecake) so we get to spend time visiting.

Another benefit of Thanksgiving is the family gathering together.  Over the last several years it is getting harder to get the family together but usually you can still see everyone you love around this time.  I'm sad that my brothers and their families couldn't be with us this year.  I'm sure Lisa feels the same about her family.

Having Mom and Dad is a hoot though.  Anyone that knows them, knows they could have their own sitcom.  Of all the people that have ever visited me, my parents are probably my favorite just because of the overwhelming enthusiasm my Mom has for everything.  She doesn't travel much but when she does she remembers the trip for ever.  I'm thankful that we got to show them the St Louis arch and St Charles before we left for Colorado.  And I'm thankful that we'll have a new place to introduce them to next year.

Thanksgiving has become my holiday of choice.

Tales From My Yoot

I was recently reading an article in USA Today about bullying and it's affects on the grown up victims. My first thought was that it was a bunch of whiners who never moved on. I'm not sure where I stand in the bully scale but I imagine it was somewhere in the middle. I wasn't a target of a coordinated campaign like some kids I knew. When I was picked on I had some misplaced sense of bravery and would either smart off or stand up to the bully. I only suffered physical attacks two or maybe three times. I'm sure my experiences weren't much different than 90% of America (or maybe just my generation). I got to thinking of the article though and noticed that most of the victims were girls. I started thinking of Samantha Kershaw. Samantha was probably the most ostracized girl in the history of Martinsville West Middle School. Her biggest offense was that she was homely. I don’t recall ever picking on her myself but I do remember any contact with her was social suicide. If you think of this stuff long enough it can really get you down. I know it’s all part of growing up but it’s still a pretty fucked up part of growing up.

The few bullying events that occurred in my life were relatively tame. How hard can a fourth grader hit really? And as a kid you’re still pretty rubbery. I got picked on during a game of kick ball at recess in the first grade. I don’t really remember the event but what happened after word. Back in class I put my head on the desk and started crying. Yeah, I know, right. Big pussy. My teacher, instead of doing something about the bullying, gave me some advice that actually stuck. She told me not to let him see that he got to me. The “he” in question was Tommy Wheeler. The biggest kid in class and not really the classic bully I guess. He did like to start fights. When I was a kid we tended to rotate through the roster. Tommy and I could be friends one day and enemies the next. For the most part I liked him and that was true of most of the kids from my elementary school.

When we moved to Lyndhurst, Ohio my tormentor was a little douche bag named Happy Hughes. He was a grade behind me but was the boss of the school. He worked his way through the school, picking one new kid every couple of weeks to terrorize. I got lucky; he picked on me in the winter months. I remember it like it was yesterday, I had a huge jacket on, he had two toadies pin me to the wall and he commenced to wailing on my stomach. Of course I felt nothing physically; I had three freaking layers of clothes on. They flung me to the ground and Happy climbed on top of me. Looking back on it now it was almost homoerotic and I don’t wonder if he was dealing with some issues. Wish I’d been smart enough to figure that out then, I could have used it. A teacher broke us up and scolded us to stop. To this day I remember being incredulous to the fact that I was included in the rebuke like I had somehow been a willing participant. My response to Happy was to make fun of him as loud and as often (which with a name like Happy wasn’t too difficult) as I could and to make sure I picked on his toadies whenever I saw them alone. I’m not sure what kept me from another ass beating. It sounds like I was well adjusted to the situation, but at the time I was mortified and lost a lot of sleep over it.

I guess like everyone I’ve had my share of shameful behavior too. I remember some odd brief week long period where I would let some kids egg me on into picking a fight with some kid named Billy every morning in the classroom. I’m not sure how it happened but I know I would start it and there was name calling and shoving but nothing too bad. I guess it gave me a feeling of power to find out that there was actually someone more timid then me. Fortunately Billy and I, like Tommy and I, made up and became friends again.

I like to think that with a rare lapse in judgment I’ve always been a good guy. When I was in Kindergarten an older boy thanked me for being nice to his sister. She was a quiet, pudgy little girl who didn’t seem to get picked on a lot but didn’t have many friends either. I always talked to her and I guess it made a difference. Her brother thanking me made a difference to me too.  It stuck with me all these years.

It’s a shame that as adults some people had such terrible memories of bullying they can’t get over it.  I wonder if Samantha Kershaw ever got over it?  I certainly hope so.  While I acknowledge that bullying is a part of growing up, nothing makes me angrier faster than a bully.

Colorado

Well, the Glass-Miller clan is on the move again! I’m transferring to Colorado Springs in a month or so. We’ve been trying to get to Colorado ever since I began applying for my job. It’s actually one of the first places I applied for over a year ago. I don’t know what took them so long to fill the position but it’s been a source of aggravation for me for the past couple of months. If they had excepted me back then I could have saved myself several thousand dollars in relocating costs moving to St Louis first. That’s neither here nor there now I guess.

I’ve been swinging back and forth on the decision to move since I found out about the possibility of a transfer. There were a lot of things my decision hinged upon. First I like the people at STL. I don’t think there’s a single person I don’t get along with (or failing that I can’t just avoid) and I love the work. Second we love St Charles and our neighborhood. It feels like home after just a few months. On the down side is the almost catastrophic collapse of the job market around St Louis. The airport looses flights everyday (of course what airport doesn’t). The biggest doubt I had was the information I received that my location pay would drop, meaning my salary would be cut. By the look of our research the cost of living was no cheaper in Colorado Springs than it was in St Louis.

When I flew to Colorado Springs (CS from now on) I immediately remembered how beautiful Colorado is and how much I love it. The pendulum swung west. After a day at the airport I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough to do (it’s very small) and the pendulum swung east. By the end of the second day after talking to the HR specialist and finding out I had been misinformed about the locality pay (it’ll stay the same) I was sold. I got to check out houses and it seems like we might actually get a bigger place for less. It won’t have the character of our current house but I can live with that.

So off we go, packing and moving an entire household for the second time in seven months. WE’RE STAYING PUT THIS TIME!!! 

Unless there’s an opening in Alaska.

Health Issues

Well, this is frustrating. I had two profound thoughts I wanted to write down but in the time it took me to get from the bathroom to the computer they were gone. That’s right. Profound thoughts come to me on the can. Of course it doesn’t do any good because they usually disappear five minutes later. I’m hoping that some day you’re not reading this and watching the slow collapse of my mental capacity as I slide into old age, senility and dementia. There was, after all, a study a few years ago that tied dementia to obesity. And like the study that claims I’m obese, it’s got to be true. Of course I don’t consider myself obese. I’m 5’8” and 220 lbs so I am fat but I like to think of myself as strapping. My last job required a physical every year and every year I tested fine for everything but triglycerides. They were always “elevated” and the form letter that accompanied the test results suggested I consult a physician. Well this year as I slide closer and closer to fifty, sixty, senility and dementia, I decided to consult a physician. Like all doctors I’ve seen before, he was impressed by my genes, which is always comforting to me. Apparently I come from good stock, the Glass family tends to go on, the occasional case of emphysema not withstanding. I digress. Anyway after a “battery” of tests it was determined that I was healthy except for elevated triglycerides. I was sure I would receive a severe dressing down from my doctor but my condition was met with a life affirming “meh, it’s not that high”. I guess at this time I should point out that triglycerides are related to cholesterol in some shady way that I don’t completely understand, it’s the fat count in the body or some such. I should also point out that Lisa had elevated levels too and got the same devil may care response from our doctor. Either he’s one callous bastard or these triglycerides aren’t as big a deal as the Today Show would have us believe. Lisa’s results got me wondering how many people have this problem (I’m not typing triglycerides again). Is it the internal medicine equivalent of labeling everyone not 5’8” and 164 pounds as obese? Do I sound bitter?

As always I have no conclusions to draw from any of this, I was just hoping that that profound though would have come back to me by now.

The End Of 2008

All I can say is thank God. Maybe 2009 will be better. Actually, for me that's really just a joke, so far it hasn't been that bad for us. Not economy-wise anyway. I took a pay cut to take my current job and the adjustment has been a little rough but the pay off is we have a normal life. So now I don't know if our hard times are a result of the crappy economy or my crappy pay check.

The USA Today cover story from yesterday was about American's digging deep to save money. Maybe the recession will be good for us. It seems like people are working to pay down credit card debt. It doesn't make sense to me why it's a crisis when the interest rate for credit cards is 27% but people were still charging when it was only 18%. Lisa and I have stopped eating out since we can now enjoy the thrill of making our own food. I guess luxury is a matter of perspective.

In other news Martina McBride will be performing with Elvis in a video. She'll be inserted into his comeback special. I would like to meet anyone that thinks this is a good idea. I would like to know why that person would enjoy it. I assume that there is a demand for it or they wouldn't do it. I saw Celine Dion's duet with the King on the American Idol special and it was disgusting, and it would have been even without Celine. I just don't get it.

They are also apparently killing off Bruce Wayne as Batman for a reboot. There's another term I've grown to hate over the years. Maybe curmudgeons are only people that have been around long enough to see it all come back around and think it was better the first time. Sometimes a reboot works, like James Bond (which made $70 million this weekend) or the Batman movies but now it's just getting old. From the retooled Star Wars with Greedo firing first to the new Star Trek, reboot is a fancified word for retread.

Right now things aren't looking good for the big three auto makers. I remember I was devastated when AMC disappeared in 1987. Do you remember when you were so new it seemed like everything was always there and always would be. I can't imagine that the government will let them go under. GMC has $16 billion in operating cash which they estimate will last until sometime next year so $25 billion split three ways won't help for long. When I was young I also didn't think I would be around to see the fall of the US as the world's financial leader either. Hopefully I'm just over reacting and they'll all be able to turn it around, just like Chrysler under Lee Iacocca and Harley Davidson after AMF Voight did.

And finally the Simpsons featured the New York Times crossword puzzle in last Sunday's episode, which I found odd.

Today We Did Nothing

I work weekends so that's about all I did. I watched an episode of 30 Rock on NBC.com at lunch. I'm sure that's not legal but at least it was on lunch. I got home and Lisa and I ran to the nearest Walmart Supercenter we could find around here, twenty miles away. We got groceries had dinner and now I'm ready for bed. If your Saturday was any more exciting than that I would love to hear about it. Oh and gas is $1.79.

18,000 Views

I hit a milestone of sorts today. I had 18,000 views of my photostream on Flickr today. It's not really much of an accomplishment. I've been on Flickr since 2005 so it was bound to happen but I still thought it was interesting enough to note. I still like Flickr but I haven't practiced photography as much as I had hoped. I don't think I've gotten any better either. Some day I'll pare my hobbies down to a few dozen and be able to concentrate on becoming a better picture taking guy (photographer sounds like too lofty a goal).

Our Monday Afternoon

Lisa surprised me by agreeing to see RocknRolla. I think it was Gerard Butler. She loved his abs in 300 and his soft sensitive side in P.S. I Love You. Well whatever works. It was a good day for a British crime drama, cold and cloudy. I've never seen a Guy Ritchie film before but this one was pretty good. I may have to go back and check out Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch.

After the movie we played Uno at which time I pissed Lisa off with my obsessive demand for adherence the rules. The game ended poorly, but thankfully she has forgiven me.

That was pretty much our day, the best parts anyway.

A New Era

Well, I thought I would write some stuff down and check back in four years and see how things are going. I would like to try to look at things objectively and I'm going to start practicing right now. While I'm Libertarian, I'm not blind to the weaknesses of that idealogy. So since this is the beginning of a new, exciting time (for some people anyway) and this is the first time I've had a blog for a new President it seems like a good time to try being objective. I don't remember seeing so many happy people after an election, not even when Clinton won. I've noticed the press has already started stirring it up, accusing Obama's choice as Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, as partisan. It may be true (apparenly he once sent a dead fish to a rival) but do we have to hear about it already?

So for the history record, the unemployment rate is at a 14 year high of 6.5 (which was midway through Clinton's first term). Ford announced a $129 million third quarter loss and gas is at $1.97 at the Qwik Trip on our block. I'm curious to see how much changes. I hope I can keep up my interest for the next four years. I hope things get better, right now I'm feeling a little hopeful myself but I'm sure that'll pass in a few hours.

Congratulations To President Elect Obama

I won't hold P Diddy's support against you. And good luck, you'll need it.

Damn It

It looks like P Diddy is going to get his way. Lisa and I voted this morning at 7:30. I voted pretty much straight Libertarian down the line except where one wasn't on the ballot. Barr for President, Finkenstadt for Governor. I probably won't get my way.

Gas Price Today

Gas is down to $2.11 at the QT around the corner. It's about $2.04 at the Sam's Club.

Grandfather And WW II

I just wanted to share some photos my Grandfather took during World War II. They're all pretty neat with interesting things printed on the back. They're some of the most interesting things I have in my possession. I would say own but I fill like I'm just the custodian, my Dad sent them to me for safe keeping and I think they belong to the family, although I'm keeping hold of them (sorry guys).

The Enlightened Genius

Today I had a root canal. The Vicodan is not kicking in.

I'm hoping that Obama doesn't win. Not that I want McCain either but I'm so petty I just don't want P Diddy to get his way.



I like how he gets excited that his kids will be broadcast across the nation on the internet. He would really be thrilled to hear that they'll be seen across the World. It doesn't mean as much though when you realize this girl is also seen across the world. I'm not sure P understands that the internet isn't just for the rich and famous. Jackass.

Don't feel obligated to watch the video, I could only make it through the first forty seconds.

Gas Prices

Gas dropped to $2.99 at the station across the street yesterday. It's the first time since we've lived here that I remember it being below $3.00 although Lisa said it dropped one day and than shot back up the next.

Taum Sauk State Park

Lisa and I found our way to the highest point in Missouri yesterday. It's on a mountain called Taum Sauk, pronounced Tom Sock (kind of). It's about an hour and a half from St Charles. It's part of the St Francois mountains which are pretty and remote. We had a great ride down except for the fact that we were both feeling under the weather. Speaking of weather, it was a perfect fall day. When we started out in the morning there was a brisk chill in the air. Even after we arrived at the state park at 11:30 or so it was still nice and cool which made the hike down to Mina Sauk Falls a pretty pleasant walk.

The waterfall is what is known as a wet weather falls (I think, that's the term). It only really flows during rainy weather. It was a slight trickle when we got there but the scenery was pretty, well, scenic. We were deep in a valley in the St Francois mountains. After being to Colorado and through the Sierra Nevada mountains these looked more like big hills, but pretty none the less. It also felt pretty secluded. We had lunch, took some photos and started the hike back, which was mostly uphill. The drive back was just as enjoyable as the one down and we even scored some cheap gas, $3.29 compared to the $3.38 it was going for around St Charles at the time. All in all another good day for the Glass/Miller clan, except Moon, she didn't get to go and was fed late.

This Day In (Future) History

Paul Newman passed away at the age of 83. He placed second at the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1978, oh and he made some movies or something.

Gas was $3.57 a gallon here in St Charles.

Lisa and I went to Oktoberfest and paid $10.00 each for a Miller Lite and a commerative mug. The mug is pretty nice but the beer was like water. We didn't get to stay late because it is a worknight

The Word Obvious Comes To Mind

A big day in celebrity journalism today, these are two headlines I noticed on the E News website.

"Clay Aiken Coming Out" and "Officer, 'Barker and DJ AM shaken after crash'". No shit?

Take That Jack Johnson

After weeks of enduring VH1 and Jason Maraz and Jack Johnson strumming on their stupid accoustic guitars there's been a devil horned shot of Gibson/Marshall relief. VH1 just premiered the new AC/DC video! Thank God. Of course it's the same AC/DC video and song they've been doing their entire career but I don't care.

The Aftermath Of Ike

It started raining Saturday night. I went out to the garage and the big box was sitting against the truck. I scratched my head trying to figure out who had moved it and it took me a minute to realize that it was floating on a puddle of water. I opened the garage door and the water flowed out and joined the torrent pouring down the street. The wind was shaking the truck all the way to work. It was a cool day actually. I liked being secured away in my truck and I was glad I have an indoor job now.

The news said the Missouri River rose thirteen feet. It was a biblical rain. Almost.

Geni Again

I've been working a lot on Geni lately. My Dad sent an envelope of documents. Dad has been sending me mail in the red, white and blue flat rate envelopes for as long as I've been away from home. The thing that makes that note worthy (since I'm sure he's not the only one to use these) is that he makes it a point to mention that he's sending me my mail in a flat rate envelope. To most an envelope is a means to an end but to Dad the envelope is the journey. It's one of the eccentricities I love about him.

As you might notice, Geni has been making me more introspective than usual. Tracking ancestors is a sobering and slightly depressing pursuit. If you're one of those people that would rather not contemplate your own mortality Geni is not for you.

The documents in my flat rate envelope were small in size but were big parts of my grandparents lives. They were the birth certificates, the marriage license, report cards, news paper clippings and finally the death certificates. My favorite was my Grandfather's military records. I've always had a great deal of pride that he served in Europe during WW II.

As excited as I was to have all of this juicy information to record for history's sake, I started getting a little sad when I realized that once my brothers, my cousin Carrie and I are gone there won't be anyone to remember my Grandparents. And of course thinking that thought leads to the inevitable, "I don't even have kids, I'll really be gone fast." Even celebrities don't stay around forever, just look at Walter Connolly? He was a pretty big name back in the 30's.

Oh well. Here one day, gone the next.

Tracking The Celebs

I saw Nelly a couple of days ago from a distance. I was excited until I found out it wasn't Nelly Furtado and I realized I don't really know who he is. The guys I work with say he's a nice fella and comes through all the time.

I also saw Sean Michaels (the wrestler?) last week. I didn't know it was him, I don't know who he is either, but he looked like a celebrity. Once again I found out later from one of the TSOs who couldn't stop drooling.

Just Like Shia LaBeouf

Little Winnie has grown up and is making the world safe for sexy nerds.

Aawwww

@ Yahoo! Video

Places I've Been (Up To 2000)

While going through my old filing cabinet I came across a "resume" I was compiling for work way back when (on Wake Island). It had a lot of my old jobs listed. I wanted to record them before the paper was lost.

• Ft Sill, Oklahoma with HFA - April 1993 to Oct 1993
• Pueblo, Colorado with HFA still - November 1993 to Feburary 1994
• Ft Ord, California (Oceanside) from March 1994 to April 1994. I met Dan here again after kind of knowing him in Tech School.
  
• Ft Sill, Oklahoma again from April 94 until November 94
• During the down time I was working at Pizza Hut in Zanesville
• Jefferson Proving Grounds, Indiana for a company called PRC - April 1995 to May 1995
• Camp Simms, Maryland (southeast D.C) back with HFA thanks to Don Mears - July 1995 to August 1995
• Ft Devins, Massachusettes from August 1995 to October 95. That was an interesting time and still kind of a favorite of mine. I first met Andrea there.
• Ft Meade, Maryland from October 95 until February 1997, a long one. We had a huge blizzard in Feburary 96. Also my last job with HFA.
• Ft Wingate in Gallup, New Mexico for CMS - April 1997 to September 97. This is the job I got my Vmax on.
• Ft Ord again, this time with the IT Corporation (my employer for the next ten years). This was from September 1997 until December 1997.
• China Lake NAS in California - December 1997
• Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. My first of many visits there over the years. January 1998 until April 1998. I went back and forth between Ft Ord and here for awhile.
• Wake Island, Hawaii - June 1998 until August 1999. I could write several entries on this island by itself.
• Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant in Ravenna, Ohio. My one and only job in my home state, although I did return there briefly before quitting Shaw earlier this year.
• Edgewood, Maryland - November 1999 to January 2000.

That's pretty much where my list leaves off. I'm going to try to go back and fill in seven more years of information. It'll be hard, especially those one or two week (or sometimes one or two days) jobs.

Another New Obsession

Like most things I do, I've latched on to something I've had around for awhile but never really gave much thought to. Bryce invited me to join Geni earlier in 2007. I didn't think much about it although I thought it was a cool idea. I kind of forgot about it for awhile. I was still getting email notifications for anniversaries and birthdays but I usually just erased them as a nusiance. Finally a remainder for Bryce and Leanne's 9th anniversary came and for some reason I thought I would send them a greeting so I went to the homepage and checked out all the new features Geni has added in the last few years. While I was there I decided to add my in-laws and something got me interested in updating the family tree. And now I can't stop. The next step is to buy a scanner so I can start uploading those old family photos. I hope whatever form the internet takes in the future Geni is still there.

Last Day Of The Month

I just had to get an entry in today so I didn't miss a month this year. We've been busy settling in. We had my niece, Ashley stay with us for a week at the beginning of the month. That was a good time, but it convinces me that I don't want a daughter. I thought I was going to have to throw a beat down on some tattooed tough guy one night while we were out walking Moon. Lisa and I were trailing Ashley and Moon, this guy was sitting in a yard talking to a friend and didn't see us following behind. He whistled and was trying some (what I imagine to him seemed like) smooth talk. I was quiet and just watched, he never crossed the boundary but, as I was feeling the need to say something anyway, Ash and Moon made it across the street and out of ear shot, both apparently oblivious. I found out later that Ashley heard but ignored him and just kept on going. Good girl.

Quick Rundown

I thought I would put up a brief record of the weekend. I've been in Cincinnati since last Sunday training for the new job so I got to run home this weekend to Zanesville. I stopped in Columbus to see Bryce. Unfortunately his air conditioning was broke so little Edison was at his Grandma and Grandpa's in Mansfield. I had a nice time with Bryce albeit brief. I had a gyro from East Side Cafe. It was pretty good. I headed home and met up with and took Brent home, picked up Ashley's friend Abbey and brought her and Ash back to Mom & Dad's to spend the night. I was beat so I was able to go straight upstairs to bed missing out on my Mom explaining The Lake House to my hyperactive teenage niece and her hyperactive friend.

The next morning was the moment I've been waiting for. I took the nieces to see The Dark Knight. It wasn't a perfect movie but it was as good as the hype. It wasn't anywhere close to as violent as a lot of people make it out to be. Most of the real violence was out of view and it wasn't as bad as a lot of other PG-13 movies I've seen.

Later in the day Rachel and Ashley wanted to see Step Brothers and against my better judgement I went. The funniest thing about it was that it was rated R and half the audience were in the neighborhood of 12 to 10. It earned it's R too. And it sucked, out loud.

After the movie I went to visit my cousin Jim. He's been doing a lot of fix up projects on his house and it looks 100% better.

Sunday I spent a little time with Mom and Dad and headed back toward Cincinnati.

There you have it. If you read all of that you must be pretty bored, with nothing better to do.

Rush Plays Rock Band

My brother, Bryce, sent this link to me today. I thought it was pretty good. I don't know anything about Rock Band, whoever wrote the blog entry said they did surprisingly good but 31% doesn't sound too impressive to me. Not that I care, Rush still rocks.

My Weekly Ride

I posted this at my other blog, Riding, but I thought I would put it here too.

This weekend's ride was to Hannibal Missouri, boyhood home of Mark Twain. The forecast was calling for thunderstorms through the day so I grabbed my rain suit and decided to leave the camera at home. As with last week's ride in to Illinois I had to start out on I-70, this time headed west. I had about a 10 mile section from home to State Route 61. SR 61 is a four lane road that runs pretty straight through some painfully flat farmland. There's not a lot of variety in scenery but since I had a specific destination in mind I didn't mind too much. The trip up was an uninspiring 93 miles. The road was decently paved and traffic was light at 10:00 on a Saturday morning. The section of SR 61 north of I-70 was no where near as interesting as the section south I rode last week.

Once to Hannibal I stopped for a quick lunch at Taco Bell along the prerequisite fast food, strip mall road off of the interstate. After lunch I felt ready to cruise around downtown to check out the sites. I have to confess that I've never read Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn or any of Mark Twain's other works. As a result I didn't spend much time site seeing. I decided to come back some other time with my wife to take a ride on a stern wheeler. The effects of the past couple of months of flooding were still evident with buildings sandbagged and debris and brown grass in the low areas. This would actually be a theme for the rest of the trip back. After consulting my map, I saw that State Route 79 actually runs closer along the Mississippi River so that's the road I decided to take. Shortly out of Hannibal 79 starts up into the hills. The road from Hannibal to Clarksville is as fun a motorcycle road as I've ever been on. There are constant twists, gentle, high speed arcs and several changes in altitude. One long gentle high speed corner was especially fun and I let out an involuntary whoop after going around it at close to 80 mph. There was little traffic and ample passing opportunities for the times when I got stuck behind the odd slow moving truck. I also saw a lot of evidence of the flooding and unfortunately I saw several homes with the dirty brown mark on the side some as high as half the height of the door. It really put a damper on my spirits and made me appreciate how lucky I am.

Most of the rest of the ride was straight and uneventful. I slowly started easing back into St Peters and before I knew it there was I-70 again. The total for the trip was 205 miles. I've been doing long rides to make up for the lack of mileage this summer and last.

Please give to the Salvation Army. I know the Red Cross is helping also but from what I saw the Salvation Army was everywhere and looked to be doing the most in the areas without the media attention.

My Memorial Blast

The guys from Shaw did demo yesterday at Quantico. Before I left I told them to put my hard hat on the shot and give it the proper send off, this is the photo they sent me. Even though I asked for it I thought the shape charge through the top was kind of mean.

Another Celebrity Encounter

I've got another name for my list of almost encounters. I was standing at the security check point at work and I noticed some odd looking older blond woman with HUGE sunglasses standing there. The sunglasses are what first drew my attention and I turned away. One of the guys I was standing there with asked me if I knew who that was. Thinking he meant the crazy blond woman I turned around and he pointed out everybody's favorite crazy old pervert voyeur/guitar player, Chuck Berry. I didn't even recognize him. He gave me a nasty look and sauntered off. I think he lives around St Louis.

My First Find Of The New Town

While Lisa's away, the man-boy will play. Mark Twain Hobby Center is just the answer to my plans of turning our basement into a model building paradise. It's a beautifully stocked hobby store with a lot of harder to find kits. Quite a few are ones you usually only see on eBay for a lot more money. They've also been nice enough to place it about ten minutes away from the house. Now I just need to get my first paycheck, and a new couch, and a new bed, and some other grown-up stuff.

Tee Hee

Looky, looky!!! That's really pretty smart. At first I thought he was a cheap bastard but he did pay for the Pro account.

How funny is that? And John McCain*? Well, check out his pointed commentary on economics and foreign relations.


*And no that isn't Presidential candidate John McCain

More From This Weekend

Lisa went home to visit her family in Denver for a week or so before she gets tied to a job. She left at 3:30 a.m. this morning and is camping as I write this. That means it's just me and the girl. I just got back from taking her for a walk which we had to cut short because of fireworks. They tend to spook her as they do most dogs. This week will be the first time Moon and I have been alone without Lisa. Lisa is afraid I'll forget to feed Moon for some reason, you forget to feed a dog once and you're branded for life.

I got to take a motorcycle ride for the first time this year. I was pissed at myself for not taking care of the maintenance issues sooner. As soon as I got on the road I regretted all the time on the bike I've missed. The ride was decent. I'm worried about the state of riding in this area however. On the Illinois side of the river it's flat, boring farmland. One of the biggest problems I had with taking a job in one place was the thought of all the different places I won't be riding now. No more Pacific Coast Highway or Rocky Mountains. I still have the Ozarks.

I've been a little elusive on the new job for reasons I explained in another post. I know for a fact that one of the guys from another office Googles to find references on the web about it so I'm trying to keep it off Life's Been Good. I can say that I work for the Federal government and as you can probably guess, it's been a bitter pill. I know it's hard to take me serious when I go on my crazy man rants against big government, half the time I'm not even being serious. I really do believe that most things the federal government does is wasteful. I swore when I got out of the Air Force I would go into politics and reveal the irresponsible spending. Of course I never did and now that I've spent time in the corporate world where you're actually accountable for what you spend, the federal way seems even more ridiculous. I'm sure you'll get to hear more of my bitching in the future. The bad part is I'm a huge hypocrite so I'll try not to bitch too much.

Happy 4th of July

Things are going good for the Glass/Miller clan lately. We are getting settled into the new place (which we are renting not buying). We enjoyed some fireworks last night and Lisa left for a week long visit in Denver. She took off at three this morning leaving me and Moon to fend for ourselves. Lisa is worried Moon will starve to death while she's gone.

I'm getting ready for my first real ride of the year so this post is short. Happy Independance Day weekend.

Happy Memory & New Home

Maryland Vista
Originally uploaded by brian glass

Here's that view from Sideling Hill that made me happy in the last post. Now it's a happy memory posted here.

For those that don't know, Lisa and I made the move to St Charles, Missouri a little over a week ago. I started the new job on June 23. It's a little boring so far but I'm sure it will improve. It's hard to explain but it's difficult getting used to knowing I'm in one place permanent but then sometimes it seems natural.

Things That Made Me Happy Today

I was driving back home from Virginia for the last time (with Shaw anyway) and was in an extremely good mood. Everything seemed so much better for some reason. I'm appreciating what's around me more. Some of the things from my trip that made me happy were:

• the twang in Dwight Yokam's voice
• a perfect downshift and up shift on a hilly, curvy section of I-70 in Maryland
• the sunrise over the fog covered Allegheny Mountains from Sideling Hill rest stop
• the smell of the woods of southeastern Ohio (sometimes broken air conditioning works out for the better)
• Exactly two Budweisers and 1 shot of tequila.

Don't worry, that last one happened last night, not on the drive home. It was the memory that made me happy. Not a bad day for Friday the 13th.

Last Day

I just got back from my last day at work. I have one more day for travel and that will be it. It still doesn't feel like anything is changing. It's a normal everyday occurrence to leave a job when it's finished so I guess it just feels like moving on to the next job. I'm wondering when it'll feel real. I have to say that I've had a charmed life when the most traumatic thing to happen is changing jobs. Dad worked for the same company for 40 years, Mom tended to stay with a job until she was laid off when a place went out of business. I guess it's a generational and locality thing. Southeastern Ohio is one of those places that has been on the decline for decades so when you get a job you cling to it for dear life, even when it's shitty. I might not live there but I have that mentality.

Well, I can't say I'm nervous about the move. I've been going back and forth on how I feel and right this minute, I'm looking forward to the new experience. Check with me tomorrow though.

Standby For News!

I found this story on the local Fox News website today -

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- The Montgomery County Council has voted to demolish a house located on future parkland, rather than allow a needy family to live in it.

Residents of Bethesda's Hillmead neighborhood had bitterly fought the plan to house a homeless family on the property.

The county authorized the purchase of the 1.3 acres to expand an adjacent park last year. At the time, it postponed a decision on what to do with the house.

Residents who opposed the plan said they're not opposed to helping poor people, but believe the decision should have been made with community involvement. Supporters of the plan said it was a moral issue.

The council voted 5-4 to demolish the house.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

What caught my eye was that I had seen the story the night before and it's amazing the amount of detail this little news release leaves out. The biggest omission in the quest to make "rich" neighbors look like raging ass holes is the fact that the house was unlivable and required $2,000,000 in repairs. That's 2 million, which was also tax payer funded. How can people get away with this? The caption on the photo actually read "The Montgomery County Council has voted to demolish a house located on future parkland, rather than allow a needy family to live in it."

Of course I didn't do any further investigating, the TV news probably left something else out and the rich people really are dicks.

A Little Book Review

I've been trying to write once a night if I can help it. Not much has been going on so I thought I would write a small review, a reviewette, of a book I'm currently reading. I haven't finished the book yet but it's that kind of book that you really don't have to finish to review if that makes sense. It's called Orphan's Journey by Robert Buettner, and it's the third book in a series about an intergalactic war between humans and bug like aliens "slugs" It's science fiction that has been compared to Robert Heinlein a lot. I guess because of the vague resemblance to Starship Troopers. It's like that book in that the hero wears an armored combat suit but the similarities grow a little thin after that. It feels a little like Heinlein's line of books for adolescents in that it could be written for children (particularly teenage boys) but would fit as an adult book. I think it's aimed at adults actually but is one I would have enjoyed more as a boy. In brief it's about a soldier from about the year 2078 or there about. Through a series of slightly improbable events he finds himself and his friends trapped on a planet with dinosaurs, humans and the slugs. It's written by a former soldier and you get the impression that he's happy to be living the dream of writing. The story is likable enough with just enough violence for a teen boy to enjoy but not enough to shock or horrify a parent. So far it's a nice little diversion or summer book.