General – Page 125 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go…

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It was an awesome day today. The weather is really fantastic. Temps are in the 70’s with lot’s of sunshine and low, low humidity. Cynthia and I decided to go downtown and shoot some pics. She is testing some different film in her camera and we wanted to see how it would do before we leave for Europe.

We headed to The Flying Saucer for some beers and then headed off down Main Street.
Tested the tripod and the timer. Worked well.

Oh, we'll drink and drink and drink and drink and...

Mostly she was just burning film and I was just snapping this and that. Still ended up with a nice one of Cynthia at the corner of Main and Texas.

All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by…

I was rummaging through some stuff and found my grandfather’s photo albums.

My grandfather, J. Lee Sr., (aka “Jack”) was a Lt. (JG) on board the USS Fanning (DD-37) during the World War I.

The USS Fanning

Based at Queenstown, Ireland, Fanning and her sister destroyers patrolled the eastern Atlantic, escorting convoys and rescuing survivors of sunken merchantmen.

In the afternoon of 17 November 1917 an alert lookout on board Fanning sighted the periscope of U-58, and the destroyer quickly moved in on the attack. Fanning’s first depth charge pattern scored and as Nicholson (DD-52) joined the action, the submarine broke the surface, her crew pouring out on deck, hands raised in surrender.

U-58

Fanning maneuvered to pick up the prisoners as the damaged submarine plunged to the bottom, the first of two U-boats to fall victim to United States Navy destroyers in World War I.

Grandpa in Venice I am rather proud of my grandfather. I never really knew him. He died when I was 6 years old. Needless to say, the military history is precious to me. It is a way of knowing him even though I did not have the chance to do so real life.

There are other tales of “Jack” and I hope to document them later. Interestingly enough, in the photo album were some pictures of my grandfather in Europe. Most interesting to me was this one of him in Venice taken in December of 1919.

My intention is to take a copy of this picture with me when we go to Europe next month.

I want to find that spot and have my own picture taken right there where he is standing (maybe even with a pidgeon on my hand like he has).

I am sure one of the locals will know what and where it is.
It’s my own quest of sorts.

I guess I am bridging the span of time to reach back to the grandfather I never knew.

All blogs are lame…

…to quote BeingKatie

I suppose it’s true.
It’s all about mememememememememememememe.

Fortunately, I am pretty awesome.

I have been feeling rather nostalgic. Seeing all these kids dressed in 70’s attire with accompanying hairstyles seems odd. Didn’t those of us who lived through the 70’s pretty much decide that they sucked? Why do I find myself missing them now? Maybe it’s the youth I miss. But, as was told to me by an adult when I was younger:

“Old age and treachery beats youth and skill every time…”

An adage that becomes more true to me each and every day.

On a side note; having my editor at the Chronicle reading my blog is disconcerting as he will grade me for spelling, punctuation and grammar as was evidenced last night.

I also have one English teacher reading this so the pressure is on.

Blood ties

I have been doing a little research. Apparently my cousin is a writer and actor of no small renown.

Not to mention a huge NERD!

His name is Timothy Dehaas and he writes alot for the Star Trek franchise and does other work.

Credits include

Writer – Star Trek: Voyager – “Phage”

Writer – Star Trek: Next Generation – “Identity Crisis”

Actor – Alias – Season 2, episode 6: Salvation

Writer – Babylon 5 (comic book) – Shadows, Past and Present: With Friends Like These

Writer – Babylon 5 (comic book) – Shadows, Past and Present: Against the Odds

Writer – Babylon 5 (comic book) – Shadows, Past and Present: Survival the Hard Way

Writer – Babylon 5 (comic book) – Shadows, Past and Present: Silent Enemies

Writer – Babylon 5 (comic book) – The Psi Corps and YOU!

Writer – Babylon 5 (Graphic novel) – The Price of Peace

Shove, stuff, squeeeeeeze

I did a dry run on packing “The Bag” for the trip.
Not a lot of room in a bag this size.
Sacrifices must be made, compromises must be discovered.

Goodbye form, hello functionality.

No laptop. I wanted it to store images on and access the Internet when available. Shlepping those extra 6 pounds is not worth it. Instead I am borrowing a pocket sized 20 gig card reader to offload my images.

1/3 the stash of socks and underwear. Laundry on the road or buying new. Those are the choices.

Khaki pants instead of jeans. They are lighter in the pack and I can carry more.

So I got it all packed. 20 lbs. Not bad.

Useful utility

I get lot’s of email asking computer questions. I am going to post some of the more nifty fixes I find for people in here in case any of you need them at some point.

Today I got an email about the Windows XP task bar. The reader/listener was saying that theirs was twice the normal size and could not be resized. Questions regarding bizarre behavior from the task bar come up alot and I find this tool to be very handy…

The Taskbar Repair Tool

Whatchoo lookin’ at?

Ain’t ya never seen a parrot eating a Cheeto? We had these all the time in Africa.

Yummy yummy!

I had lunch at Lankford’s Grocery for the first time today…

I am a convert.