Well, Tropical Storm Fay isn’t finished with us yet. It stormed this morning and they put up the dreaded double red flag. No swimming for us. At least not until this afternoon when conditions are expected to improve.

We headed on down to the beach anyway.

Who you lookin’ at?

Many more pictures after the jump.
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Mei walking on the beach.

We are down at Sea Grove Beach, FL for a church retreat.

The older kids had to stay home because of school, but we brought Mei. Thanks Nana and Papa!

We took Mei to the beach a few minutes ago. This is her first time at the beach. The verdict? She seems to love it. We’ll see tomorrow when we really take her down to play in the sand and surf.

With Daddy

Hey, what’s that on my hand?

Uncle Jon playing with Mei

Can’t wait for tomorrow.

Wish you were here.

I read this in Chapter 15 of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and couldn’t pass up the opportunity:

“I thought as much, sir, when you mentioned rabbits. The thing about rabbits, sir, is that everybody has one. I’d like to see you step up to the goat-class where I feel you belong. Frankly you look more like a goat man to me.”

“What are the advantages to goats?”

The animal salesman said, “The distinct advantage of a goat is that it can be taught to butt anyone who tries to steal it.”

“Not if they shoot it with a hypno-dart and descend by rope ladder from a hovering hovercar,” Rick said.

The salesman, undaunted, continued, “A goat is loyal. And it has a free, natural soul which no cage can chain up. And there is one exceptional additional feature about goats, one which you may not be aware of. Often times when you invest in an animal and take it home you find, some morning, that it’s eaten something radioactive and died. A goat isn’t bothered by contaminated quasi-foodstuff; it can eat eclectically, even items that would fell a cow or a horse or most especially a cat. As a long term investment we feel that the goat-especially the female-offers unbeatable advantages to the serious animal-owner.”

“Is this goat a female?” He had noticed a big black goat standing squarely in the center of its cage; he moved that way and the salesman accompanied him. The goat, it seemed to Rick, was beautiful.

Bingley, did you help write this book?

I was running an errand to Wal-Mart just a few minutes ago when a song came on that I’d not heard in years.

Brace yourself, this is highbrow stuff: “Afternoon Delight”.

When I was a kid, I loved the song, especially the parts about “sky rockets in flight”. I had this mental picture of the 4th of July. Oddly enough, that proved to be an accurate picture.

It’s funny now, because I understand that song. When I was 5 or 6 I didn’t have a clue. Mom still let the song play when it came on the radio though.

Tonight I actually listened to the words. There isn’t any innuendo at all. It’s all right out there. Thankfully, I was a naive child. It took until I got to college to fully understand some things. Anyway, take this awesomely deep lyric:

Rubbin’ sticks and stones together makes the sparks ingite
and the thought of rubbin’ you is getting so exciting.

You don’t say… Hey Mom, what are they talking about?

BTW, it occurs to me that there is a very high probability that the lead singer was never fortunate enough to experience a little “afternoon delight” himself. Then again, it was the 70’s, an amazing time for ugly people. I’m just sayin’.

Yay!

It’s Friday!

Heard this on the way to work today - “Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore” by REO Speedwagon:

A few things:
One - Check out that head of hair on the lead singer. My God!
Two - The video (1985) is quintessential mid 80’s ballad crap
Three - What a depressing video

I’ve always liked this song. I know, it doesn’t make much sense. I tend to think it’s because I’m a very sentimental person and this song came out when I was 12 and full of raging hormones. I desperately wanted to do something that would impress a girl. Songs like this and some of the cheesy Chicago songs of the same time period were stories of fighting for love and saving the girl. That appealed to me.

Plus, as someone who had a mild speech impediment** as a child in regards to being able to say “R’s”, this dude sure can enunciate his “R’s”. Check out the chorus.

And I cant fight this feeling anymorrrrrrrrre
Ive forgotten what I started fighting forrrrrrrr
Its time to bring this ship into the shorrrrrre
And throw away the oarrrrrrs, forrrrreverrrrrrrrr

I almost forgot another fun song of theirs – “Take It On The Run”

What is it about this dudes voice?

** No really. I couldn’t say my “R’s”. I had to go to speech therapy and do tongue exercises.

Oh….I see…

You can pass through Fay, but you must keep moving to the west. No turning and heading north ala 1994.

You’ve been warned.

Rats…

The first rain bands from Tropical Storm Fay just hit us….

Yes, we can always use the rain, but couldn’t it have waited until AFTER I cut the grass tonight?

Because of the projected rain and the fact we are going out of town, I won’t be able to cut it until next Tuesday…

By next Tuesday my dog may be lost in the jungle. Stupid healthy yard.

Right now I’m waiting for all the little files to transfer from Blairsville, GA to Albany, GA…

Hurry up you 1’s and 0’s…

Oh it gets better. Yes it does…

How about some hot XPStorm action baby!

Ooooo….ahhhhhh

I have grown tired of Google Image search and wish to attract visitors to this site for something other than a picture…

To that end, I have created a robots.txt file that tells the spiders and Google bots to NOT index directories which hold pictures.

It has worked like a charm. I’m now registering hits from normal readers (you guys) and standard Google search strings. Well, some aren’t so standard, but at least I don’t get any more hits in from image searches…

Or so I thought…

*sigh*

There is one post I wrote back on August 28, 2006 in which I joked about Google ratings and certain search strings. In doing so, I referred to the amount of traffic the good people over at File It Under receive concerning a certain actress and a certain picture of her undergarments being exposed as she bent over to tie her shoes which carries with it a funny euphemism. All because they posted a picture of said event.

Notice how vague I’m being.

There is a reason.

I can’t get the Google Bots to stop indexing that post in image searches. The reason being I linked to the picture over at File It Under, rather than host the picture on my site. As a result, they still keep indexing that picture.

My solution? I deleted the link to the offending picture.

As of today, I’m still not having any luck.

Here is a screen shot:

Out of the 20 visitors shown, 11 of them came looking for that one picture. This is typical.

UPDATE: I make a statement at the end of this post about what I was doing when I was 19, compared to my Dad fighting in Vietnam at 19.

Well, I found a picture of what I was doing at 19. See here. I’m the hairy one on the left. I know, no comparison to my Dad.

I was looking through family pictures with my Mom on my birthday when I came across this one of Dad in Vietnam:

I’ve written about Dad’s service in Vietnam before. See here.

Here he is cleaning/loading the M-60 he fired as a door gunner. If you look closely you will see the green strap hanging down from the roof of the helicopter and wrapped around the gun. It was the make shift gun sling they used. I say makeshift because it was a seatbelt from the helicopter.

He would sit on the red cushion with the box of grenades at his feet. He tells me that when they would go out on patrol, he and the other door gunner would sit and lean out the door, looking over the skids with a smoke grenade in their hands. If they saw activity, they would drop the smoke grenade, thereby giving the pilot the location of the activity.

Since they were in a gun ship, their purpose was to protect the flanks of the helicopter on a gun run. As the helicopter would come in for a pass, Dad and the other door gunner would give suppressing fire to the sides to prevent anyone from sticking their head up and firing off an RPG. As the helicopter climbed and banked at the end of the run, the gunner on whichever side the helicopter was banking would provide covering fire.

How they didn’t fall out of the thing is beyond me.

To think, he was just 19.

Compare that with what I was doing at 19….

Dad, if I’m not quite accurate, let me know.

Roxanne
You don’t have to put on the red light
Those days are over
You don’t have to sell your body to the night

You want to know what the most annoying sound in the world is?

Me singing this song at the top of my lungs in the car.

It’s bad, but I can’t help it. It’s a song that just begs to be sung as loud as possible.

We had our court hearing today to formalize Mei’s adoption in the State of Georgia.

Yay!

This was it…the LAST piece of paper to fill out in regards to the adoption!!

The
Last
One!

We started the paper work in May of 2005…

Yes 2005…

Today brought the entire process finally to completion.

The judge was very gracious and our wonderful lawyer had everything ready to go. It was as simple as answering a few questions under oath and the judge signing the paper work.

Now, the State of Georgia will issue a Georgia birth certificate!

Now Mei is a U.S. citizen, she has a Social Security Card and she will have a Georgia birth certificate.

Now for some pictures.

Kids getting ready for the hearing

Left to Right: The In-laws, our family, the judge, my Mom and Step Dad, and my sister

Us with our lawyer

I’m guessing if you live in states that make finalizing much easier, the cost is much less.

It doesn’t matter!!! It’s over!!!!

Remember when I posted about the hysterical ravings from the Cult of Global Warming that there was a good chance the Artic would be ice free this summer?

Yeah, well, it ain’t happening….

Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the “North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer”. Others predicted that the entire “polar ice cap would disappear this summer”.

The Arctic melt season is nearly done for this year. The sun is now very low above the horizon and will set for the winter at the North Pole in five weeks. And none of these dire predictions have come to pass.
—
A comparison of these maps (derived from NSIDC data) below shows that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007.

You know, people (i.e. the media and politicians) should stop believing all this hype.

I’m just starting Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

It’s seems a bit odd, but it’s too early to tell.

I did run across a great line:

He wished to god he had a horse, in fact any animal. Owning and maintaining a fraud had a way of gradually demoralizing one.

I turned 35 years old today.

My how time flies.

Happy Birthday To Me - 1976

I’ve had a great day.

First off, Jen and the kids made me my favorite breakfast: bacon, eggs and pancakes. I ended up eating half of the package of bacon.

Then I headed up to the church to help Jon cut the church property.

After a well deserved shower, I sat down and ate the rest of a rotisserie chicken from Sams. I think I had a leg, wing and a thigh.

The kids were watching a movie, so after lunch I was able to plop down on the couch and finish The Man In The High Castle. Great book. Really enjoyable reading.

Then it was time to head to the movies. I had promised the kids I would take them to see the new Star Wars cartoon thing. Thanks to my in-laws, who provided the tickets, it only cost me a few popcorns and drinks. The movie? Yeah, it’s about like the rest of the prequels. Terrible writing, though nothing as corny as “Hold me like you did on Naboo.” The funny thing about the movie is that it isn’t all that different than the prequels. I mean, Lucas uses so much computer imaging, that the full on cartoon movie didn’t look much different. The kids loved it of course.

After the movie, we dropped the kids, yes all 4 of them, at my Mom’s house. Jen and I headed out to dinner at the local Japanese steak house where I ate my weight in sushi. Man, I love the spicy tuna rolls!!!

Dinner without kids was most enjoyable. Back at Mom’s house they sang “Happy Birthday” to me and I ate two pieces of my Mom’s homemade chocolate pie…

Oh
My
God

How I’m not in a diabetic coma right now is beyond me.

I got a new Hawaiian style shirt, or as I call them, a new fat man shirt. I love it. The kids got me a Southern Living Cookbook and a journal to keep by my bed. Very nice indeed.

Later tonight Jon and Jo should be coming over to watch Phelps go for gold one more time.

It has been a very happy birthday.

Look, this stuff is important and scary.

I was lying in bed last night thinking about a post that had been in my head for the past day. I sent an email to my friend Tejash in response to his comment on the situation with Russia.

My thoughts boil down to this:

1. Georgia is not totally innocent in all this

2. While they had every right to exert control over the province in question – it is part of their country, the fact that so many of the population holds Russian citizenship made the move stupid.

3. I really wonder what Georgia was thinking Russia would do? Sit back and let it happen? Did they expect the U.S., already bogged down in two wars, to come to their aid and risk war with Russia?

4. However, it is kind of odd that Russia had so much available firepower right along the boarder. They had more than just a boarder security force. It appears they had armored columns just waiting to roll.

Anyway, I didn’t want to give the impression that the Georgians were totally without blame, but I do worry that Russia’s actions are consistent with their veiled threats against other former republics in regards to NATO and a missile shield.

This does seem to be part of Russia’s long range plans to regain control over their former buffer states as a way to counter act American power.

Today we learned that Poland has agreed to house missiles as part of a missile defense shield. Why? They just saw what happened to Georgia and they don’t want to be next.

The Russian’s response?

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland’s agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.

The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations.

Russia is also scared to death of Ukraine entering NATO.

With that in mind, here is what my friend Tejash has to say and I tend to agree with him:

[In answer to what Russia is up to]…Oil. That and to test how strong NATO is or will be. This is Russia trying to figure out how the next 20 years of its existence will play out.

Sure there is a lot of bravado at work, and a best effort made to rekindle the feeling of Nationalism. China has taught Russia, that you don’t have to let go of dictatorship when you remove the Communist ideology. Earlier this year when the Tibet-related unrest created boos and hisses from the international community, in China itself, the reverse occurred. People, so distorted on the existence and reality of Tibet felt that there was something so unholy and so un-patriotic going on, that a proud and resurgent Nationalistic spirit took over just prior to the Olympics. (The earthquake, as unfortunate as it was, worked wonders on nationalism as well) Russia is going to see how it too will need to tinker with its own national pride.

With price of Oil where it is, all countries, and I mean ALL countries with oil…every Tom, Hugo, and Vladimir, thinks they have reached immortal status, and the right to carry a big stick. They have all kinds of wealth rolling in, thus the thick wallet to really flex some muscle.

So what with NATO slowly surrounding Russia, from it’s 7 o’clock to 11 o’clock position they are going to test how the NATO countries react to a notion of one of their future partners getting roughed-up a bit. One of the most obvious reasons is due to one of it’s Natural Gas pipelines that run through Georgia, while the other, to test the solidarity of NATO and its raison d’etre.

I have a feeling that since Georgia is not in the NATO fold, and the international community kind of just did a belly flop, Russia got the affirmation it was looking for. They also timed it perfectly. Middle of the Olympics. Most of the International communities have most of their foreign correspondents handling PR in Beijing. And of course, it’s dead-middle of August. In August half of Europe is on Vacation. Even the news orgs are missing people, either due to the Olympics or due to the Holiday season. Russia has been planning this for a while in my opinion. I mean how does one mobilize hundreds of tanks that quickly, and in such short notice. We are not just talking tanks. But those bad-ass T-72’s suck gallons not in hours but in minutes. Imagine the logistics coordination, the supply trucks, the men required for that. This was not a spur of the moment decision. If it was, they would have sent in Paratroopers, and light mechanized force. But bringing in tanks takes some effort.

So what now? Well I don’t necessarily think they will take over Georgia. Not yet at least. But don’t be surprised if you see some squabble arise with the most recently joined NATO countries in the Baltic’s (Latvia, Estonia) or with Bulgaria, and Romania in the next 12-18 months. With the ultimate warning going to Ukraine. They will never, NEVER, let Ukraine join NATO. There will be WWIII before that happens. If Russia goes after any of the new NATO members, everyone will be watching how strongly NATO reacts. What are they willing to do? Basically this will be NATO’s ‘put up or shut up’ time. Will we send forces to support these members as we are obligated to do? Me thinks no. Why? Mostly because most of NATO’s founding nations are in no position to do anything. And what about the USA? Well again. We can try, but do we have any leverage or the will? Due to our debt imbalance, we borrow heavily from countries like China, and Russia, to pay for our spending habits. Second, we love oil. We can’t get enough of it. So like a pimped-out crack whore, we suck down the oil with no understanding of the future consequences. So even though the crack whore gets testy with the drug dealer, they would never kill the goose. Or better yet CAN’T kill the goose.

We need clarity in this situation.

Tejash, I cut off your ending because I wanted to highlight what the dangers are with Russia. I plan on making another post using the rest of your comment and some of my input.

Ace is on a roll today.

Care to see what the Left believes about Russia’s little “operation” in the sovereign nation of Georgia?

Then go here and watch Ace go to work.

[according to Robert Scheer] It is wrong for Georgia to expect that it can govern Georgian lands without risking a Soviet, ahem, Russian invasion; that to expect its own country to be free of foreign armies’ interference is, I sh*t you not, an “imperial design.”

Once a lefty Stalinist toe-sucker, always a lefty Stalinist toe-sucker. Russia’s not the one with imperial designs here; oh dear me, perish the thought! Sure, their armies are rolling into another sovereign country, but it’s the latter country that actually has “imperial designs” on keeping its own f-ing territory.

According to Dr. Cranium and his ilk, Russia never invades or conquers other countries for sport and empire. Oh my, no.

But it does maintain of list of countries it might have to liberate with truth and tanks (but mostly tanks) and reserves the right to do so at times of its convenience.

Oh my.

As alluded to in this comment, I had an English professor when I was a freshman at Georgia Tech who was very much into the whole cyberpunk genre.

Her name is Anne Balsamo (now at USC) and she didn’t like me.

I wrote about her several years ago and since it came up in a comment, I thought I’d repost my run in with Anne:

I was enrolled in English 102 and had a woman professor named Anne Balsamo. This was the first quarter after the first President Bush had lost and she was absolutely giddy about her boy Clinton being President. We had to read Maya Angelou and watch the inauguration as well. The first day of class she stood up and told us that she was a liberal and that if there were any conservatives in the class or anyone that liked Rush Limbaugh, they had best be on their way out the door. She went on and on about this liberal agenda and that piece of legislation. It got rather humorous, as at that time the vast majority of Tech students were conservative leaning. I guess I had a smile on my face while I was contemplating the next ten weeks of hell that I was about to go through when she stopped talking, looked at me and asked, “Do you have anything you wish to add to this discussion?” I looked around as if to say, “Me?” Then I said, “No Ma’am.” To which she replied, “Then stop smirking!” I kid you not. Everyone looked at me and their looks told me they were thinking the same thing I was, that I had best get out of that class. Well I did not leave and I refused to buckle under to her liberal mantra. As a result, I got a “C”. Go figure.

So yes, Anne killed cyberpunk for me. Who knows, maybe I would’ve liked those types of books. Maybe my life would have been different…

Or…maybe I need to read Neuromancer one more time without Professor Anne’s input.

I read this in college and enjoyed it. Seeing how that was over 10 years ago, it’s time to re-read it.

Then I’m going to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Then?

Don’t know, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.

UPDATE: Greetings CNN.com readers. Background info on me and previous posts are on the right. Feel free to look around.

Also, we recently spent 15 days in China to adopt our daughter. Having been in the country and been through the process, I feel I have some insight into how the govt. is operating. See our trip here.

Don’t forget while watching the Olympics that China is a brutal dictatorship that will stop at nothing to project the image of a modern state with happy people.

Also don’t forget that they are so image conscience that nothing is beyond them.

Such as: adding computer images of fireworks to the news feed so they fireworks display would be better.

And this….

A little girl and her song captivated millions of viewers during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. But what they saw was not what they heard.

Games organizers confirm that Lin Miaoke, who performed “Ode to the Motherland” as China’s flag was paraded Friday into Beijing’s National Stadium, was not singing at all.

Lin was lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was heard but not seen, apparently because she was deemed not cute enough.

“The reason was for the national interest,” said Chen Qigang, the ceremony’s musical director, in a state radio interview. “The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression. … Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects.”

The decision was made at the highest levels, Chen said.

“We had to do it,” he said. “We’d been through several inspections. They’re all very strict. When we rehearsed at the spot, there were several spectators from various divisions, especially leaders from the Politburo, who gave the opinion it must change.”

Nice group of thugs you’ve got running your country.

xkcd.com is great today.

Check it out.

If you’re not reading it several times a week, you’re doing it wrong…

I love the Olympics.

Jen and I watch them every night we can.

That is all.

My friend and co-worker, Nancy, died last July.

She was a good friend and a great person.

One of her duties with the City was enforcing the Tree Ordinance. She loved trees and was sometimes affectionately known as the “Tree Nazi”. If you were cutting a tree on City right-of-way, you better have had a permit or Nancy would get you!

She loved trees and loved Albany.

After she passed away, the City Arborist took up a collection to have a tree planted in memory of her. It is a fitting tribute to a lady who worked so hard for the trees of Albany.

The tree was dedicated on Friday and I was fortunate to attend.

They planted a Liberty Elm in front of the education pavilion at Cheehaw Park:

Many of her friends came, as did her daughter, son and grandkids. The news media even made an appearance.

Her daughter is on the left and her pastor is in the grey suit

After the tree was dedicated by the Very Reverend (dude in pinstripe suit with collar), the family gathered for a picture:

left to right: Her daughter, her sister, her son, son’s wife and all the grandkids

They placed a plaque in one of the stones that surrounds the tree:

I still miss Nancy and have thought of her often since her death. I’m glad she has a living memorial. She deserves it.

The Jawa Report gets it right.

I get a bunch of hits every day for a silly post I did 2 years ago about funny stick figure cartoons.

Since I’m busy today and it’s been 2 years, I thought I’d repost it. My favorite is the first one.

A little humor to lighten your day.

Today, WunderKraut gives you: Stickman Art!

More past the jump.

(more…)

Sometimes I hate learning new things.

I seem to follow a predictable pattern when learning new things that are not inherently intuitive:

1. I get completely overwhelmed and sometimes have the urge to cry, want to quit my job, run away from life, join a commune…stuff like that…and no…I’m not joking.

2. Next comes frustration. I get frustrated that I can’t figure it out. I’m a smart guy, I should be able to figure this out.

3. I spend several nights lying in bed at night thinking about the problem.

4. I finally kick my own butt and decided to jump into the details. I will study the references and background material. I’ll call people who know how to do whatever it is I’m trying to figure out. Then I end up attempting to work through the problem, one issue at a time.

5. Once I work through the problem the light bulb usually goes off and I understand what I’m doing…usually.

So these past few days I’ve been struggling to understand how to do determine the hydrology for a bridge replacement job.

Normally, I would just fire up TR-55 to determine my Time of Concentration and then plug that into HEC-HMS and do a standard SCS Hydrograph. Simple stuff. Done it many times before.

But…

This is different. This bridge is located in the Harris County Flood Control District and they have their own methodology. They want to see a different rainfall distribution, they use Green & Ampt for initial loss, they use Clark hydrograph and finally they use Modified Puls for routing.

I’ve never done any of those things before… Something about TC+R and distance to the centroid of the drainage basin.

Centroid…oh my God…I haven’t done that in 12 years…Ah, my cad program has a little button you hit…

I pulled up some reference material that HEC-HMS has for their program. It didn’t help a bit and made me more confused. Reading theory confuses me. Ken probably understands this stuff…Geek…

wenden Sie sich bitte in Englisch?

Anyway, I went through stage 1 Tuesday, stage 2 yesterday and stage 3 both nights. Today I have a better understanding and I’m ready to jump right in. Thanks to a call from one of my colleagues in Texas, I think I can do this.

We shall see.

BTW, this reminds me of Homer going through the 5 stages of death.

UPDATE: You have to read his Wikipedia entry. They have some of his best quotes. He was great.

My favorite one from back in the 1980’s: “And, like lambs to the slaughter, the Braves take the field”

As I mentioned yesterday, legendary baseball announcer Skip Caray died Sunday.

Skip and his announcing partner, Pete, were fixtures of Atlanta Braves baseball for over 30 years.

I grew up watching Braves baseball on TBS with Skip and Pete calling the games. As Crotalus mentioned, this was back in the dismal 1980’s when it was not uncommon for the Braves to lose 100 games in a season.

Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard once quipped:

What do Michael Jackson and the Atlanta Braves have in common?

They both wear one glove for no apparent reason.

Yeah, they were bad, but I watched them all the same.

But in 1991, they turned it around and went on a 14 year winning streak. When I went off to college (1992), the Braves were having another stellar year and appeared ready to head back to the World Series. I remember the fateful night in October when the Braves pulled out a victory to win the National League Championship. We were playing intramural football and missed the game, but someone had a radio tuned to the game on the sidelines and would shout updates from time to time.

Then it happened….

Sid Bream somehow made it around the bases and beat the throw to home by inches….

Skip was there: Here’s the legendary call

Every baseball season I was in college was spent watching the Braves almost every night on TBS or SportsSouth. My buddies and I had a system worked out so we could hear Skip the whole game.

Skip and Pete would do half the game on TV and the other half over the radio. When it was their turn to head over to the radio both, we would mute the TV and turn on the radio.

Why?

Because Skip was incredibly funny to listen to. The man knew baseball. Unfortunately he also had a drinking problem, but that made it even more enjoyable. He would say off the wall things and we would yell at the TV “Take another drink Skip”. You just never knew what was going to come out of his mouth.

I never met the man, but sure wish I had. Back before the Olympics, Atlanta Fulton County Stadium was the place to be. There wasn’t a bad seat in the place. You could get in for next to nothing and watch the Braves actually win a game. Turner Field just doesn’t have the same feel.

So here’s to you Skip.

I’ll miss listening to you call the games.

Rest in peace.

The two boys headed back to school today.

Yay!!! They were very excited.

Jennifer has the picture and low down.

I can’t wait to get home so I can find out about their day.

For dinner tonight, I cooked up a batch of biscuits and gravy.

This isn’t your weak Cracker Barrel white gravy. Nope, it’s chock full of tasty pork sausage!!!!

Pork, the other white meat.

Here’s how you do it:
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I finally finished Panzer Leader.

Yay!

It was a good book, but tough to get through because I’ve never studied the war on the Eastern Front and I’m not familiar with the campaigns and landscape.

My final assessment? General Heinz Guderian was a good man.

I may have been a little harsh on him in this post, but in the end, he was a good man. He held to his convictions and stood up to Hitler during the last year of the war when he was the Chief of Staff for the Eastern Front. His accounts of his encounters with Hitler were vivid and amazing to read.

He loved Germany and the Army. He claimed ignorance of the atrocities being committed and only focused on the military situation at hand. In that, he failed, as did the German people. But I tend to believe him, given how he stood up to Hitler.

Very good book.

Now on to some fiction. Should I read Lovecraft or Philip K. Dick?

A college student drowned here in Albany yesterday trying to save two boys who were swimming in the Flint River.

He managed to get one kid out of the water, but he went down with the second.

He is a true hero.

He acted on impulse.

He didn’t think.

He acted because it was the right thing to do.

His actions saved one child but unfortunately it cost him his life.

My prayers and sympathies are with his family and friends.

Our offices in Houston, Texas look like they will be getting a wet in the next few days.

Head for higher ground guys.

Only take essential items, like the thing that makes my paycheck.

I’m just sayin’.

UPDATE: Say Anything has a great graphic depicting the effects of a windfall profits tax.

St. Barack Obama wants to tax oil companies…yeah, that’ll lower gas prices…idiot

Under Obama’s proposal for a windfall profits tax, the government would tax some of the profits from big oil corporations and use it to provide a $1,000 rebate to people struggling with high energy costs.

I do believe that oil corporations pay almost 51% of their profits in taxes already….

51%

*sigh*

Look, let’s go through this again. If you increase the cost for a company to operate, that increased cost will be…WILL BE…passed along to the consumer.

So to follow St. Obama:

He wants to increase costs for oil companies.

He then wants to “give” Americans the money the oil companies earned.

Americans would then use that money, which they didn’t earn, to offset high energy costs.

Oil companies will raise prices to offset the added costs.

Energy prices will go up.

They will stay indefinitely.

The $1,000 dollars “given” to Americans will run out.

Americans will be left with higher energy costs than before St. Obama taxed the oil companies.

Seriously, that’s his plan.

OMG, can someone please throw an economics book at this guy.

Also, do we really want the government redistributing wealth? I know they already do it, but do we want them to do it more often?

What happens if the “Government” decides you make too much money, so they hit you with additional taxes that they will use to give to the less fortunate?

Oh, yeah, they already do that. It’s called our current tax code.

Skip Caray died today.

[Skip] Caray and Pete Van Wieren have been broadcasting Braves games since 1976. Caray’s sarcastic wit made him a popular lead voice of the broadcast team, and his fame grew nationally as TBS carried Braves games to a national audience for 30 years.

I’ve watched Braves baseball since we moved to Georgia in 1983. Skip and Pete were always there.

They were there in the good times and in the bad times.

When I have more time, I’ll write about some good memories of watching Braves games. The highlight was always Skip.

Mei took her first steps today.

Jen was sitting on the couch when she saw Mei out of the corner of her eye stand up and take about 4 steps.

Of course we made her repeat the performance over and over again. She was very proud of herself, as well she should be!!!!!

Here is the video:

She’ll probably be running by tomorrow!!

Jen’s back just said Hallelujah!

I DO NOT live in Florida…yet for some reason the man who previously owned my house (30 years) loved palm trees.

I have 4 large palm trees in my front yard. I didn’t mind them when we moved in…that’s because it was March.

The above picture is of one of my 4 trees.

Looks pretty enough. You may be asking, “Gee WunderKraut, what do you have against pretty trees? Get up on the wrong side of the bed today? Jerk.”

Well, hold on a second. I have my reasons.

See, these particular palm trees produce an orange fruit as seen below:

Again, you may be wondering what the big deal is. Let me tell you a thing or two about this fruit. They grow in bunches as shown, with each tree producing around 3 to 5 bunches ever summer.

Know what happens when the fruit gets ripe?

It falls to the ground.

Know what happens to ripe fruit sitting on the ground in South Georgia?

It rots.

Well, actually, I think it ferments and then it rots.

You end up with piles of rotten mash around the trees. As seen here:

Nice no?

The double plus to this story is that these steaming piles of rotten mash smell heavenly on a hot day, when I’m mowing the lawn. Running over the mash just spreads the smell and pulp all over my yard.

The smell. My God it’s terrible. Not to mention the millions of little gnats that hover over the piles. Adding to the millions of normal gnats, gnawing on my ears.

The yard looks good though.

UPDATE: Thanks to Ace of Spades, who was having the same issue, the problem has been fixed!!!! Apparently it was a Site Meter issues screwing with IE7. I removed Site Meter and things work fine now.

So, if you have Site Meter and you have the problem I was speaking of, remove it.

Also….Chet…you Mac guys crack me up.

I hate computers.

Earlier tonight…like 6:30, everything was working great. My site was fine, the wireless router was fine….

Now….

Not so good.

For some reason I am getting this error when I open my website in IE7:

res://ieframe.dll/dnserror.htm

I’ve looked around the web and nothing anyone says has helped. I even disconnected the wireless router and hardwired my cable modem into my computer. Same problem.

I can view the site fine in FireFox…go figure. This seems to be a purely IE7 issue.

I need help. Anyone out there know what to do? Email me at mtalley@wunderkraut.com or leave a comment.

I’ve decided to grow a beard again.

It’s been a long time since I last grew one, so I figured I’d try it out.

Not bad for the first week. I am a little depressed about the amount of grey coming in on my chin. But oh well.

I’m home today, watching the kids because Jen is sick. She needs to rest, so I’m doing my best to keep the kids quite, yet entertained.

Wow. That’s harder than it seems.

It’s days like this that make me very, very, very grateful for all the things Jen does for our family.

Addressing comments on my first drainage report for a bridge replacement in Texas:

Funniest comment is comment #2:

In the first paragraph under “Hydrology”, suggest re-wording the last sentence; one does not “determine the hydrology”. Rather, one uses hydrology to estimate peak flow rates.

Smoke and mirrors. That’s all it is. Smoke and mirrors.

That’s why it’s been tough learning the hydrology and hydraulics side of engineering. There are no real hard rules. Merely a loose matrix of standard practices, assumptions and magic.

Especially magic.

I am finishing up the Drainage Area Maps for 5 bridges in Harris County, Texas…just west of Houston.

Here’s my handy dandy Google Earth map to help me remember which is which:

On a related note Google Earth Rocks!

So L.A. had an earthquake today.

Not too big. Just 5.4.

Anybody want to bet on how quickly someone will blame Global Warming for this?

Think I’m crazy?

Check out this simple Google Search.

Here’s one article to prove the point.

Man, I guess Global Warming now causes everything, such as:

Heart problems
Oppression of black people
Higher mountains
AIDs

And anything else that the Left/Socialists/Communists have an interest in.

Isn’t it convenient that Global Warming…or the now in fashion Climate Change…only causes things that can only be “solved” by self destructing our economy and ushering in all the “utopian” dreams and fetishes so loved by the Left?

Odd no?

How come we don’t hear “Global Warming causes tax rates to fall” or “Global Warming causes freedom to break out across the globe”?

Just asking.

I was flipping channels before dinner tonight when I stumbled on the beginning of Apollo 13.

I
Love
This
Movie

I have seen it scores of times, yet every time it’s on, I HAVE to watch it.

It makes me proud to be an American.

Hell, it makes me proud to be human.

The scene when they are being strapped into the command module, just before liftoff, gets me every time. It almost brings tears to my eyes. Tonight was no different. I actually felt the tears welling up…

Then the rocket clears the tower, the families, the looks on their faces…wow!

Those guys were and are heroes. They were tough as nails and braver than I can ever imagine being.

I watched it with Jen and our oldest, Nathan. I’m glad he got to see it. He needs to see that regardless of what school, the media or his friends tell him, there are real heroes out there and that he should be proud of his country.

I know how the movie ends, yet there I was…waiting on the edge of my seat…

Makes me want to hug my mom, bake an apple pie, salute the flag and sing “God Bless America”!

I love cemeteries. I always have.

My sister thought I was horribly morbid when we were kids, but I’ve always loved them.

Not any old cemetery, mind you. I love old ones. Even more than old ones, I love hidden ones. The ones no one has seen in years.

The most thrilling cemetery hunt I’ve ever been on was when I went searching for the ancient WunderKraut family burial plot on the long gone site of the Old WunderKraut Plantation.

It took me several weeks of prep work, followed by a few days in the courthouse. It all came together and I was able to find the site and see the graves:

See this post for more info.

Anyway…

When I was 10 or 11, my family drove to Atlanta to take my sister to the airport. We took the road from Albany to Columbus and then onto Atlanta. I’m not sure what they called the road back then, but now it’s known as 520.

On the drive up, I occupied myself by looking out the window and out of the corner of my eye, I caught what appeared to be a cemetery in the woods on the opposite side of the road. I excitedly told my Dad what I’d seen and asked if we could pull over. I was told no because we had to get my sister to the airport, but if…IF…I could find the place on the way home…maybe…we would stop.

I’m sure Mom and Dad were confident I would never find the site again.

On the way home, I kept a constant vigil for the cemetery. As we grew closer to it, I mentioned to my Dad that I felt it was close. I guess he must have slowed down, because when I saw it, he was able to pull off the road and into a farm entrance not far from the cemetery.

We walked around a bit and looked at several old graves. Then it was time to go.

Years later, I often wondered where that cemetery had been. I mistakenly thought it was on another road and would look for it every time I traveled that road.

Then a few years ago, I was heading to Lumpkin and driving on 520. I was bored, so I occupied myself with trying to remember where the cemetery was located. I would see a patch of woods with a farm entrance next to it and slow down. Nope, that wasn’t it.

Finally, I passed a spot that looked promising and made a mental note to stop on my way home.

Sure enough, there it was.

It was very overgrown and the only reason I saw it was because there had been a recent burial and the overgrowth was cleared out enough around the graves. I guess it’s an old family cemetery and some of the old grey hairs are wishing to be buried next to great grandpa.

On the way home from Dalton, I stopped at the cemetery to take some pictures. There are two portions of the cemetery that are sort of cleared. There are probably 20 visible graves. My guess is that there are many, many more hidden under the leaves and in the other portions of the property that are not cleared. As evidence, I found two very old graves (one from 1899) that were on the fringe of the clearing and there was evidence of other stones in the woods.

I did not venture far as the gnats, mosquitoes, spider webs and poison ivy convinced me that maybe I should come back in the winter.

There were many other depressions in the soil, indicating the possibility of other graves. I would love to find out who owns the cemetery and how many people are buried there. I would also love to clear the lot and fence it so that those buried there will have a proper burial.

I took lots of pictures and need help with some of the hard to read inscriptions. Anyone have a way to make them clearer?

Pictures past the break.
(more…)

I’m still reading Panzer Leader. Yes, it’s taking me a while, but you try to follow the campaigns in Russia with the “maps” that are included in the book. At one point, I had to read the book with Google Earth open so I could figure out where in the world 4th Panzer was attacking.

Anyway, the book was written by German General Heinz Guderian, the father of modern tank warfare. Since the book was written in the early 1950’s, I have been taking his pronouncements with a few grains of salt. After all, after the horror of WWII and the complicity of the German military, leaders and citizens in said horrors, I’m sure he was writing with an eye on his legacy.

Sometimes you can almost feel his shame and see how he tries to deflect criticism.

When writing about the preparations for Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of the Soviet Union - he refers to the orders which unleashed the Eeinsatzgruppens and the “Commissar Order”, which set in motion hell on earth for the Russians and then for the Germans, but then he quickly adds:

At that time I dutifully informed the Commander-in-Chief of the Army Group that I was not publishing or obeying this order.

The equally notorious, so-called ‘Commissar Order’ never even reached my Panzer Group. No doubt Army Group Centre had already decided not to forward it. Therefore the ‘Commissar Order’ was never carried out by my troops either.

Looking back, one can only deeply regret that neither the OKW nor the OKH blocked these two orders in the first place. Many brave and innocent soldiers would have thus been saved bitter suffering, and the good name of Germany would have been spared a great shame. Regardless of whether the Russians had signed the Hague Agreement or not, whether or not they had approved the Geneva Convention, German soldiers must accept their international obligations and must behave according to the dictates of a Christian conscience. Even without harsh order the effects of war on the population of an enemy country are cruel enough, and the Russian civilians were as innocent of causing this war as were our own.

Right….

Sorry dude, history shows that by and large the German soldier entered Russia all too willing and eager to kill off the inferior race they encountered. Yes, the Russians did things that made the Germans look like mere juvenile delinquents, but the Germans started the war and started the wholesale slaughter. The Russians were just paying them back. You reap what you sow.

There are other instances in the book where he tries to make the German soldiers and the Generals look better to the post war world.

Look, there are reasons it is unfitting to have memorial services for the dead German soldiers, to dress up in jack boots, to fly the Nazi flag and why there are so few monuments to their “achievements”. The reason is because of what they stood for.

After 1942, I would hazard to guess that the majority of the German army was fighting to save Germany from the swarming hordes attacking from the East. They knew what was in store for their families and their lives if the Russians won the war. They knew because they had inflicted the same fate on the Russians in 1941-42. The German soldier fought admirably and it is amazing they lasted as long as they did in the East, but the fact remains that they stood for absolute evil. I’m not giving the Russians a pass here. Stalin and his boys killed more people than Hitler even dreamed of killing.

The same analogy can be made here in the U.S. in regards to the American Civil War.

NO I’M NOT COMPARING THE SOUTH TO NAZI GERMANY AND HITLER.

Now that we have that out of the way..

What I am saying is that in many ways the reason there is a backlash against having Confederate memorials and flying the Rebel Flag is because of what the soldiers and the flag stood for.

Oh sure, you can say that the average Southerner did not own slaves and was only fighting for States Rights or for the protection of his home, but ultimately the Confederate armies were fighting to preserve a way of life which was and is wrong.

The Confederate soldiers were amazing fighters who succeeded against tremendous odds, but in the end, they were fighting for something that was not good.

Not totally unlike the German armies of WWII.

Anyway, it’s an interesting book and I’m about 3/4 of the way through it.

I do love South Georgia.

It must be that time of year again.

The tree rats are already out in force.

Sure squirrels are cute and all, but they are eating machines who leave their mess for me to clean up before I mow….grrrr

We even have one who built his nest in one of our dogwood trees. It’s hard to see, as it looks like a little ball of leaves at the top of the trees.

All I have to say is that the Momma squirrel better take care of her babies. I don’t want to accidentally run over her young with my mower.

Like last year.

I’m still in therapy.

I have a class up in Dalton, GA Tuesday and Wednesday, so I’m leaving mid morning to head on up there.

This should free me us for some additional posting, as I will have my evenings free. Then again, I’m lazy, so we shall see.

Today’s “Gee, Do Ya Think?” headline of the day:

Minimum wage rises, so does business cost

I’m no economics wizard, but dang, the economic understanding of the average American citizen is woefully inadequate

My buddy and his wife took some great pictures of the kids at a 4th of July event we had here in Albany a few weeks back.

I have good pictures of all the kids, except Nathan. He was off with his buddy, their son, when all the pictures were being taken. Ah to be 8 again.

Anyway, here are some great pictures:

Mei

Me and Mei

Charlie

Charlie

Madi

I try to cut the grass during the week, to free up Saturday, and Tuesday made a week since I last cut the yard, but we had something going on Tuesday.

No problem, being the planner that I am, I figured I would just do it Monday. No dice.

Oh well, then I will do it Wednesday, but then we got an invite for dinner. I’m not turning down hamburgers, hotdogs and swimming.

That left yesterday. No problem. I’ll mow it right when I get home, but then Jen called and said some friends of ours who moved away were in town and a bunch of people were meeting for dinner to see them.

As a result the grass was in desperate need of cutting and there was the very real possibility of losing a child in the jungle.

What to do?

I decided to cut the grass after we got home from dinner.

I started the backyard at 7:45 and finished by 8:30. It was getting darker, but I figured I had enough light, so I started the side yard. The last few passes it was hard to see the line, but then I moved to the front yard.

It was easier in the front because of the streetlights and lack of trees. My front yard has three sections which I mow separately. Yeah, I know, I spend way to much time figuring out the most efficient pattern to follow when cutting grass. Anyway, there is the front yard that attaches to the side yard, there is the front section and finally, there is the small section beside the carport. By the time I finished the first two sections, it was dark, but my neighbor had her outside light on, so I pressed on to the last section.

Mi Casa

The last 10 minutes were spent mowing and re-mowing the same sections as I could hardly see my lines.

In the end, I staggered into the house at 9:30, just as the full moon was rising above the trees, tired but happy the yard was cut.

As info, I use a self propelled push mower to cut my yard. So no, I didn’t have headlights. I did think about duct taping a flashlight to the mower, but ruled it out because it would take to long and I would lose precious daylight.

Also, I use 6 differnt mowing zones for my backyard. Honestly, I need help.

Go watch this video about all the things Obama has said, yet then said he didn’t say, yet then said again, only to deny saying it….got it?

UPDATE: Time for my answers:

1. Usually briefs, but depends on what is clean. I have boxer briefs as well and also think they are an amazing invention.

2. No, I don’t think life exists outside of earth, apart from Heaven, as other people have stated.

3. My gigantic forehead is an oddity, but I’m not sure that counts

4. Coolest toy…this one was tough. I got a BB gun one year and that was pretty cool, but I guess the coolest would be the Christmas I got my 10 speed bike. My parents had it hidden in the hallway and after we had opened all the presents, Dad asked me to get something from his room. As I opened the door to go down the hallway, I almost ran right into my new bike. I was so excited. That was pretty cool and that bike served me well for years.

I’m too busy to post anything else and my nights are quickly filling up with things to do. Sorry to let you guys down.

I know. I’m a terrible blogger for not giving you new and exciting posts everyday…that and I’m lazy…deal with it.

So, let’s see, how about some sort of conversation starter…

Question 1: Boxers or briefs?

Question 2: Is there life outside of earth?

Question 3: Do any of you have strange physical attributes (i.e. webbed feet, tail, third nipple)?

Question 4: Coolest toy you had as a kid.

Comment away my pretties!!!

Editors Note: I wrote this post sometime last week, but never posted it for some reason.

Cherish the times you are with your loved ones. If you can’t be there with them, then when you call, always make sure you let them know how much you love them. Never leave mad.

There are many men and women who are either married to or are themselves members of our armed forces who understand the value of my advice.

One such person is Elizabeth, wife of Bronze Star recipient Spc. William “Bill” McMillan III, a medic with the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment:

He was killed last Tuesday while serving in Iraq. His wife of only 18 months talked to him only hours before he was killed and said:

The last thing he told me was he loved me. I’ll always have that

Yes you will.

Thank you Bill for your service to this great country.

…We rolled into Albany, Georgia from Southern California.

I can’t believe it’s been that long.

I am going to write much more about this later on when I can also get my hands on some pictures.

Sit tight until then.

Today is Nathan’s 8th birthday. As the oldest of the WunderKids, his birthday makes me feel very old.

8 already….Wow, I guess I better start that college fund for him…I only have 10 more years….

Nathan is an amazing kid. He is almost always in a good mood and he is very considerate of his younger siblings. He has always set the tone for the other kids in the house and is a good example to them.

20 months old holding Charlie

Getting big

Blowing out the candles

LEGO’s!!!!!!!

His birth was earth shaking for both of our families**. He was going to be the first grandchild on either side. About a week before Jen went into labor, her mom and dad moved in with us so they wouldn’t miss the birth. We were living outside Atlanta at the time and it is a 3 hour trip from Albany.

We were living in a little 2 bedroom townhouse and while it was cramped quarters, we had a great time. As the day of the birth drew closer, her sister joined the rest of the family in our townhouse.

There were many, many false starts. Not knowing what to expect in regards to pain, she timed her contractions and when they got to where the book said they should be, we called the doctor. Sometimes they had us come in so they could check her, other times they said just be patient.

Jen walked all the time. The way the townhouse was laid out, you could make a circle from the kitchen to the living room, to our room, through the common bathroom, down the little hall and back to the kitchen. I see her now, great big pregnant…I’m not joking….walking her little circuit course.

Speaking of big pregnant. She came home from the store one day and said, “I swear, if ONE more person asks me if I’m having twins, I’m going to hit them.”

The doctor said it would be anytime now, so they told her to walk as much as possible. So we headed to the mall and walked and walked and walked. Around noon, we went back to the doctor hoping it was time…it wasn’t.

We packed up and headed back home, convinced Nathan would always be inside her. Her mom made a big batch of tuna salad and we all lay down for a nap.

After about an hour or so, Jen woke me up and said she was having contractions. Having been down that road a few times, I was skeptical. So I suggested she hop in the shower to see what that did.

When she came out, she was writhing in pain. I thought to myself, “Hmmm, this is different…”

And off we flew to the hospital.

Jen went through 12 hours of labor, with no epidural, only some pain medication. But her contractions slowed down and things just weren’t going like they were supposed to be going.

The midwife called the doctor in around 4 in the morning. He looked at her and said that he was going to perform a C-section on