Thanksgiving Day, later

I have a lot for which I am thankful.  Sometimes I need to be reminded.

I am thankful for having reached my present age in relatively decent shape.

I am thankful for my wife of over 45 years, who is a patient and loving lady.

I am thankful for my children, who have found their own way in the world.

I am thankful for my grandkids, who make me proud and make me laugh.

I am thankful for my large extended family of cousins, with whom we have stayed in touch lo these many years, and for all our differences still like being with one another.

I am thankful for my siblings, although we are seldom together, when we are together it seems like just yesterday when we last met and talked.  That having been said, I wish one brother was closer than where he is - but I also know that I don't get to make choices other than my own - and their choices obviously worked well for them.

I am thankful for old friends and for people I have known for many years who still put up with me.

But there's more to it than just what appears above.

I am thankful for my son's having found something that he enjoys, something that he really loves doing, and for success in having fun at work.

I am thankful for mended families - my daughter who is married and has a child who is my grandson.  I am thankful for a son-in-law who has found his way, and together with this daughter have made a family unit that is sound, happy, functional and meaningful. All three of them make me proud and happy to have them as family members.

I am thankful for my other daughter's family - her husband and her two children, who serve to remind me that kids are wonderful, that growing up is not always easy, and that there is no end to surprises that grandkids can supply, nor to joys that come from just watching them grow.

Phyllis and I spent yesterday with the newly mended family, and today that family will join the other daughter's family in a second thanksgiving.  It may be a bit sappy of me to say this, but I dearly love all of them, and I am certain that there are days when I don't deserve them - but it is good to be with them, to see that all of us love one another, and that while imperfect we are all intrinsically good.

Most of all, I am thankful to have lived to see the day that I can say what I said above, and mean every word sincerely and with love in my heart.

God bless us, every one.

It's been pretty quiet around here

so I thought I'd see if I had anything to say.

Of course, I always have something to say - just gotta get it organized a bit.

I had something bad happen at work a little bit back, but it looks like it may be solved after a few days extensive research.  My work desktop PC lost its mind, and with its mind lost a number of other things, including its way to do some automated things.  I moved them elsewhere, but it turned out one event just disappeared - and it took a while to find what it was doing and to get it into shape to be used again. Happily it seems to be on the mend, although some stuff may have to be renewed to get it to behave again.  Never a dull moment....

The weather hasn't been much for motorcycling - I did get a day of commuting in last week or so, but today it is supposed to snow - and when that happens it is too cold and too dangerous even to start a bike, so both of them are covered up in my carport, waiting for the next half-decent day.  Many friends are still riding - but they all have Gerbings electrically heated suits - and as of yet I have yet to see a reason to spend almost a kilobuck on getting outfitted that way, although if I get antsy enough this winter, and it stays cold but not snowy, I just might have to do it.

Commuting is becoming a pain - there are so many thoughtless idiots out there it is a wonder there is not wreckage strewn from heck to breakfast.  I watched four this morning pass over a double yellow at speeds of 30 over the limit, and just bulldoze their way back into where they should have been.  Two of them were talking on phones and one was arguing with a passenger.  It is not comforting to know that Darwin may get these folks - because Darwin might well use me as the immovable object, and I've no desire to be a sacrificial lamb to those who will not learn. Happily, the Guzzi has an air horn - and I am considering adding one to the Volvo.

Speaking of which, I still like the Volvo.  I have not driven anything more comfortable or more stable in a very long time - and it jut starts every day.  The bunwarmers (heated seats) are lovely in this cold weather, and the heater puts out seemingly within 3 minutes. If you need something to drive, you could do worse than an old Volvo - and mileage does not seem to matter all that much - my last one was out at 180,000 when I got rid of it, this one I bought at 128,000 and it uses no oil or anything - at least not any more - it did get me pretty good (close to a kilobuck) with a radiator leak, but everything I have ever had that I kept for anything over about 100,000 did that.

If there's anyone out there needing PC parts, cables, controllers, please leave a note - I have a load of stuff scattered around the basement that has to go, and I'd rather give it away than throw it away.  Motherboards, too - at least half a dozen or so, some with memory even.... I've been building and salvaging for the last 20 or so years, and have accumulated a bunch of parts, mostly not the most current state of the art, but still usable for folks eking out the lat years of a PC.  Let me know what you need, or even what someone you know needs, and I'll look and get back to you.

The Obamacare fiasco is one I don't feel like addressing right now - it just makes me angrier when I think about it.  When you consider that the software was written by a Canadian firm after failing in a spectacular way to get Canada's long gun registration even functional, then consider that the firm is connected to a friend of Michelle - THEN consider that the back end is not yet even written, well, if you do not wonder if there's something crooked afoot, try to keep your old insurance plan....  One size never fits all - anyone who wears clothes can tell you that.

Oops - I said I wasn't gonna talk about it.  Shutting up....

I guess everyone knows I was in Las Vegas a few weeks back for a family wedding - and I found Las Vegas to be a really odd place.  It isn't a great place for a fat gimp who an't drink and doesn't gamble, that much I can tell you - and everything is just so damn big that you can't get anywhere without walking at least 20 minutes - and that walk (if it is inside) will be longer than it needs to be because you'll have to walk around several thousand slot machines, all bleeping and booping at you.  The wedding was nice, the food in Las Vegas is exceptional - but the hotel cost too much for what it delivered, and they hammer you for internet access.  I ended up plugging my phone into a charger and using the HotSpot app to let my laptop and tablet talk to the internet.  I'm sure glad I have a grandfathered plan that has no data limit....

On another topic, my middle daughter is married - something that was a long time coming. The circumstances are convoluted, but from where I sit it all looks positive.  Her husband is a welcome addition to our familial circus, and we look forward to having them around for a long time. Now if my wandering son were only a little closer to us geographically - but he's in Texas, somewhere around Dallas, and has opened up a new enterprise that is interesting.  If you are curious, a visit to Jamie's Place will show you what he's up to, and may even give you a gift idea or two.

...

I got interrupted by life - it is now a day later than when I started this.  The weather is crappy, this is the last workday this week (followed by gluttony as Thanksgiving is tomorrow) and no hope for motorcycle weather any time soon.

So I think I'll just hang up here - there will be more as time permits and as things that bug me come to light.  Meanwhile, have a really good holiday or holidays, whichever you observe, be kind to one another, think positive thoughts and remember that you are truly unique - just like everybody else.

Today.

Today was a really good day - good enough that I started up the motorcycle and rode in to work.

It was a great morning until some arzl on my right put on his signal, looked at me in his mirror and then proceeded to move over into space that I was already occupying.  Loud air horn got me a middle finger sign.

I did not shoot him.  No pistol, and anyhow I know that that isn't a really good educational tool for such behavior, although it does tend to put a stop to it (at least for that one arzl - there are always more....)  I thought a few unkind things things about his putative parentage, moved over, and went on my way - nothing will get my goat today, it is a lovely day, warm, the bike feels good, traffic is flowing and all is right with the world.

That lasted until I got to work and discovered that everything I had set up last week to run over the weekend failed to run.  Crap - now I gotta figure out why that has to be that way..

Along the way, I discovered that our efforts to capitalize on our help desk personnel by borrowing them from sister organizations was somewhat less than satisfactory - apparently sister org teaches them to rigidly follow a procedure and ignore the caller's statements about what is going on. I managed not to become impolite, but I got pretty terse before he agreed to do what I had asked him 15 minutes earlier to do.

Soon, however, I get to go outside on the roof, get my jacket out, put on my gloves and motorcycle home - and I do look forward to it.  Great weather at least for today.  Gotta get those last rides in.  On the weekend I need to get Big Suzi over to Jack to get checked out, and then think about getting her sold.  I really don't want all that badly to ride anything that heavy any more.

The year is winding down - less than 45 days before I start writing checks with the wrong year on them again - or until I would be doing that if I wrote checks any more, which I do not. Along the way, I noted some of my classmates have been married longer than I have (I was a late starter) and some are even older, but still alive.  All too many no longer live - a consequence of the aging process, I know, but the table at the last reunion with deceased's pictures was entirely too full to suit me - some good folks that are no longer have with us.

Tomorrow I gotta get serious about recovering something that has disappeared on me (again) - to see if I can convince it to come back to life.  It seems some stuff about which I had no knowledge depends on the stuff I can no longer pull down from elsewhere, so I gotta reverse-engineer what I can find and get it working again.  Life is never dull.

Things at the home of the newlywed daughter are going ell - Big Ronnie is back to work, Little Ronnie is doing well at school, and Jessica seems to be doing well.  Once in a while things do go better than one has a right to hope.  I'll talk more about that whole circumstance at a later date - but it has been interesting to watch it grow - and I am well pleased at this point.

Once in a while, my dreams take me to strange places - back to Germany, back to an earlier day and an old flame, back to school, etc.  The past week has been full of this - someone's trying to tell me something, but I cannot imagine what it is.  If I figure it out, I guess I'll just have to write about it. Meanwhile, I have phone calls to make to check on a few folks about whom I still care.

Over my lifetime so far, I've missed out on good things because of my own insecurities and perceived limitations, and screwed up in more ways than I could have imagined existed. For all of that, life is a good place, and the regrets I have, while many, are not great enough to make me do more than occasionally wish to hunt someone down an deliver an apology that I believe to be owed. It is always good to call some people that I've not seen in years and catch up - whatever I might happen to be I owe at least part to others that I have met, experiences we have shared, and answers to questions that I would never have been able to make by myself alone.  The most valuable things are often not really mine, but things shared with another.

I think it is time for me to pack it up and to go home. Y'all take care.

November 11, 2013

Today is a holiday that we know as Veteran's day.

For many, it is just another day off.

For some, it brings memories of good times, for others, bad - but increasingly it brings nothing at all, because veterans are slowly becoming few in number, and the respect and honor accorded them appears to be diminishing as they become more rare - and this is a shame.

Once upon a time (or, if you were a sailor, this is no shit!) being a veteran was a pretty normal thing to be.  I am old enough to remember the draft - and to remember when going elsewhere to avoid it was not so cool.  As a matter of fact, many who served chose enlistment as an honorable way to avoid the draft, and to avoid duty that was certain, even in peacetime, to become not-fun.

I was a draft dodger - I served four years in the Air Force rather than spend 18 months face down in the mud in the Army.  It was my choice to do so, and I was, and am, glad I made that choice instead of accepting whatever the draft board had in store for me.  What I did was interesting, we were told it was important (and hindsight shows that to have been true) and I enjoyed much of those four years, particularly those I spent in Germany.

I was in from July 1961 through July 1965.  Viet Nam had not yet got ugly, Korea had been over for almost ten years, and when I went in, I wanted to go overseas.  My father, who was not a veteran had spent critical time in 1949 in Berlin, Germany, keeping the aircraft that kept the city from starving flying and able to communicate. The time later became known as the Berlin Airlift, and is historically interesting and important.  Anne Tusa has written a very god book about the Airlift - if you are interested, I encourage you to get it and to read it.

My duties were not as dangerous as those of my father - I was not in a city surrounded by ideological enemies - it was in a relatively small city in Germany.  Overall, I enjoyed being there - the natives were friendly, the food and beer was good - what could go wrong?

What we did was a deep dark secret, but the overview was easy to figure out - we all worked at a place outside town - a fenced place with a windowless building and armed guards, where every 8 hours a bunch of guys (before the time that women were part of this career field) with headsets over their shoulders walked in and out of the guarded gate. It was possible to assume with some reasonable certainty of correctness that the folks walking in and out might have been using those headsets to listen to something.  Outside the fence there was an antenna field the size of a small town - mostly rhombic antennas (the largest kind known to man) of a size to receive certain frequencies well, all pointed in roughly the same direction.  It was reasonable to assume that we were not listening to BBC....

Our position as enlisted men was also a bit on the odd side - other services would have used officers to do what we did - and we did it very well, too.  We knew that if things got ugly we would be the last to be evacuated - we supplied information that would be needed until we were overrun, but we accepted that as part of the job - or more likely just figured as so many people so young did that we were immortal, ten feet tall and covered with hair - and that we were untouchable.  We never got to test that, and I am not at all sorry that we never got to test it.

I loved the work, even when it was boring.  Old Cold Warriors were pretty busy sometimes - but we all know that what we did made a difference.

Other veterans were in harms way - many of my colleagues who stayed in the service after the first 4 years were up ended up in Viet Nam after it got ugly.  Some died doing their job in airplanes, some died on the ground by accident of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I'm sure nobody thought about it all that much - we did what we came to do, that others might avoid being in a wrong place at a time when they would die.

Being a veteran brings mixed feelings to me - I got to be one after a large personal failure - and my enlistment was in some ways a penance for things I left undone.  But I am proud of having served, and have encouraged many kids who have asked to just take the time out of high school and go ahead and enlist - at the end of the term you will know at least 200 things you never in your life want to do again, you will have learned about people in other places, particularly if you go overseas, and you will emerge understanding the difference between commitment and involvement.  you may also find an environment to your liking, and a good career.

In the final analysis, though, I am proud to have served, I honor those who served before me, with me, and after me, and I am a better person for having served. I met people who made an impact on my life, both serving and outside the service in the locations in which I served.  I learned languages, and learned about people in foreign lands by living with them, not just by reading about them.  The four years?  I had nothing better to do at the time, and those years will always rank among the years in which I learned the most - about myself, about other people, about friends (and some non-friends) and about  people who talked funny.

Those who serve are owed our respect - they wrote a check on their lives that could have been cashed at any time, in order that many others would not have to write such a check.

/sermon ends

thanks for listening (reading?)

Friday, the 8th. It only FEELS like the 13th.

My desktop PC at work is still hosed.  Oracle won't work on it.  That means that the 24 or so automated processes that run every day haven't run since Wednesday. Maybe it is time to move them downstairs to a PC in the data center / server farm room.  I guess I ought to do that before I piss away another day trying to fix this POS outdated PC that I am stuck with....

Normally, Friday when it isnot raining would be a motorcycle day - but when I went outside this morning it was pretty chilly,and I decided t drive the old Volvo instead.  I would rather ride, but riding cold isn't much fun, and at my age, I don't need to do things that aren't fun when they are supposed to be fun.  Sunday, there's a Breakfast ride with the Ramblers that I plan on riding - hope it doesn't get colder before that.

I do plan to ride some more before it gets too cold.  Years ago, I rode all winter, but I was younger then, and had a snowmobile suit that (mostly) kept me warmer than necessary.  Maybe I should get another one - we'll have to see about that.

Anyhow, I think I will move all the automated stuff downstairs, and then get the miscellaneous pickups and sendings caught up -  then I can spend the rest of the day doing something else - like trying to make this XP POS on my desk actually talk to Oracle.

I just bought another KVM switch (powered) to replace the unpowered one I bought a while back that has gone all flakey on me.  Brought it in and discovered I had mismatched video connectors, so I ordered the needed gender menders.  They arrived yesterday.

Today I came in, hooked it all up anticipating great results, no more lost mouses - and what I got was no display - the monitor switching stuff does not work. Damn damn DAMN!  I knew everything was going too well.  Now I gotta go back to the vendor, and am still stuck with a flakey KVM switch.  I should have known it wasn't too late for something else to turn to poop for me.

Well, now I have to go downstairs and get these auto-scheduled things to run again, and get all the back stuff caught up, or I'll have a double shift facing me on Monday.

I plan this weekend to pull down everything Greywolf has ever written and store it on the Big Server.  His RosFic is too good for it to be hidden away. It will be a PITA - some of his stuff is pretty large, but I need to do it for myself and for posterity.

I'm going downstairs to curse at hardware.  Have a great rest-of-the-day, y'all.

Friday the 13th came today....

On the offhand chance most of you aren't old enough to remember Pogo, a comic strip, the title comes from a favorite statement of Pogo Possum - 'Friday the 13th came on Tuesday this week.'

This started as a pretty good day - light traffic on the way in, not too much grief waiting - at least not until I booted my PC and tried to log onto the network.

In a word, it did not happen - the blasted thing would not boot, and gave me a BS message about how something needed was not there.  Well, of course, nobody had a boot CD, nobody had a boot floppy, nobody had a release CD, so I was reduced to removing the drive and putting it into a PC that I own, to see if I could find what was missing.  I could and I did, and then I moved the drive back to where it belonged.

No joy - I changed the BS message to another BS message, but the (muttered imprecations) thing steadfastly refused to boot.

I have a release CD.  Of course, I have it at home, and it is my personal CD, not something I want all over work, so I did not have it with me.

Eventually, someone came up with a bunch of CD's designed to do everything but eat (which is a pun on a very old IBM Utility named DEBE which was later renamed DITTO....) including a current release CD, but nothing did what was needed.

So I moved everything over to a Win/7 machine that belongs to me - at least I hope I did.  hen I remembered that a whole bunch of automated stuff runs from that desktop that was dead, so I had to create auto slots for each one (that I could remember) in the new machine.  I guess tomorrow I'll get some idea of whether I fixed some or broke more. Also, if I am blessed, tomorrow I'll remember to bring my own personal recovery disk and get the other machine working again mebbe.

Now it is time to go home, and I have not one new thing to show for the day.  I guess it could be worse.

Tomorrow looks like it will be a good day for the motorcycle - looking forward to that!

Be well.

Monday Morning at zero dark 30

I should be asleep, but here's what's not happening - sleep.

The week has been productive, mostly - couple of good motorcycle days, and progress on a messy bug. I'm pretty well satisfied with results, and am headed into a week with neither medical nor other sorts of interruptions.  Possible schedule alterations, but not much else.

Today I took off this afternoon to take the a ride.  It was brisk, but not really cold, and I cracked off about 80 miles without stopping except for lights and such.  Great ride, albeit different - I took a route I haven't take on the new bike yet, and it was really a fun run.  I ended up in Pennsylvania (no I did not take my helmet off!) and rode by to salute Susan's blue heron on the way home.  Altogether pleasant except for the fact that the sun was in my eyes.  It might be time to fashion some kind of a visor for this helmet.

This entire weekend was peaceful.  Jessica and both Ronnies were over, and Big Ronnie cleaned out Jessica's car, during which process he found stuff that the previous owner had  lost, and gave Jessica a fit for not having ever cleaned it out.  Doubtless he'd've been giving me a fit had he been cleaning my car, but so far my car retains it's very own personality, unmarred by neat freaks.

Ronnie seems really good - fate is throwing crap at him, and not making his return to the fold easy or pleasant but he is weathering the storm(s) and rolling with it.  I do not envy him some of what must be learned and experienced, but I know he'll be OK eventually.  Jessica is over the moon - the family is finally complete, and Little Ronnie is loving life - his deportment at school is improving as well as his attention to his work.  Looks to me like a win-win for all of us.

Last weekend in Las Vegas I met someone with whom I have been in touch for several years but had never met.  Through various online groups I meet people this way, and it was very good to meet the actual person and family - I had a great time, wish I had had more time, but they were headed into a really busy time in a different state. It is really good to be able to put faces and places together with the names (or 'nyms) with whom I have been in contact over the years.  At least this person stayed alive - another died before we ever had a chance to meet, and it really bothered me at the time.

Someone in Las Vegas asked me when I would retire, and I thought about ti, and decided maybe sometime before I reach 80, which isn't as far a way as I might wish.  Naturally, I am interested in pensions (not that mine will amount to all that much unless I can last more than 10-15 years) but I also really enjoy what I do, and as long as someone is willing to pay me to do things I like, why should I stop doing them?

Seeing all my family members last weekend was really good - while my parents were Pittsburgh kids, many of my relatives have moved to places like Los Angeles, Texas, South Carolina and Florida - and getting together is no longer as frequent or as easy as it once was, and I find that I miss all these folks. We are all getting older, and one day they'll not be there to miss any more (along with myself, who also one day will be gone) so I rather cherish any opportunity to be with them.

One thing about Las Vegas, though - everything is to big and too far apart for old fat guys with sore knees and legs!  I actually lost weight in Las Vegas!

Well, I am hoping for motorcycle weather when I ariise - right now, it's late and if I don't soon get to bed it will be time to arise!

Be well, y'all....