I didn't know you were called Dennis

Today is my birthday. Well, today here. It's not quite 1 AM here on Osan, though it's still noonish Monday back home. Anyway, it has begun fairly well. Just got done with some pretty cool gaming. Lots of jokes flying back and forth. Good problem solving, good bash and grab. It's not my home group, but we had fun just the same.

I think tonight (in another 19 hours or so), I'll go sing karaoke on the other side of base. That'll be fun. But who knows what the day has in store for me. Sleep first.

Oh, if you want to know how old I am, you should have gotten it from the title. "I'm not old."

Playing Catch-Up

I have been seriously falling down on my blogging duties. So much has happened.

Son the Elder is 6 now; Son the Younger is 2. (Yes, their birthdays are that close together.) My mom got a year older (Happy B-day Wabbitt!) I passed my 14th year in the USAF, and my 4th year at this blog (really that long?). My office moved. I did an Adopt-a-Spot and got sunburned. I have gotten Saundra to 3 karaoke nights (in a row, no less). I realized that Wil Wheaton Twitters, so I'm following him. I've played tons of Bully. Our gaming group has died, but I'm resurrecting it one player at a time in Hellgate: London.

And I'm less than 2 weeks from Marching for Babies and I haven't gotten a single sponsor. D'oh!

See you in another month! (No really, I'll try to be more punctual.)

In-decent

There I am. Yesterday was Towel Day (in honor of Douglas Adams) and I kept my towel on...hand.

Happy Birthday!

I'm 1!

1, 2, 5!

Wow...3 years later (as of yesterday) and my blog is still rolling along. Who'd have thought I could keep doing something for so long? And I think I now have enough readers to count on two hands. (Sweet!)

And now, as then, I'll be walking for the babies in two weeks. 14 days from today, I'll meander down the boardwalk with my wife and kids, one of which has directly benefitted from the work that the March of Dimes does. So, if you can, please add to our collection here.

So many changes over the years: format, my links section, the comments, labels. Perhaps I'll play with the look again over the next few days.

--Beav ("Still crazy after all these years")

That's not a tear, it's sweat dripping out of my eye!

Dorm Chief: "A 3-2-2 Graduate is:"
Flight: "Hard-working, motivated, trustworthy, dedicated. Never, ever be outdone. That's because we're second to none! A-oof!"
DC: "A-what?"
F: "A-oof!"
DC: "A-what?"
F: "A-oof! A-oof! A-oof!"

It is bizarre what memories surface from nowhere. 13 years ago, I learned that chant - and lived it - in Basic training.

I'm not easily susceptible to brainwashing, but it was nice to believe, for a time at least, that everything was as simple as having all your shoes aligned perfectly under your bed. To fear nothing more than your TI finding a T-shirt not properly grounded in your wall locker. When I accepted the label "Protestant" because it meant getting out of the barracks for a couple hours every week, and the service was dominated with singing and joyfulness. (The irony, of course, is that my date of enlistment is one day before my pacifistic mother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Wabbitt!)

When today's hard decisions creep up and sit in your belly, it's a little comforting to look back, feel the pride of belonging to "Mother Russia - the 322nd Training Squadron," and tell myself that it's all so simple.

--Beav ("Permission to adjust!")

5? No way!

Today, Ryan turned 5. That's way more than it was supposed to be; I'd swear it. Cool when your birthday falls on Friday. He got a new soccer ball (which he did look at for a minute), a Spiderman watch (that he got to pick out himself), and a Cars game for his V-Smile game system (which has consumed him since he got it). It was a pretty exciting day, and he's even staying up late.

Wow, we forgot to get out the ice-cream cake. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

It's Christmas Eve! Happy Anniversary!

As I said, it's Christmas Eve. That makes it my anniversary. (Hence the 1224 on my name.)

This morning at midnight, Saundra and I exchanged gifts. I was able (finally) to find something to give her that fits the "Willow" tradition for a 9th anniversary. She happens to love weeping willows, so I got her a willow bonsai tree. She got me Dancing Barefoot by Wil Wheaton. I was totally stoked, and finished it by noon (though, to be fair, it only has 110 pages).

Saundra made a very astute observation this evening. When you're a child, and all you have to do is wait, Dec 24th dra-a-a-ags! But, as a parent, when I've (you've, we've, whatever) got to set out all the Santa presents and get everything as you need it for tomorrow morning, do last minute Christmas Dinner shopping, etc, it flies like an SST.

Happy Christmachannukwanzica!

--Beav

I'm Still Not Old

So now I'm 34. Unsurprisingly, today looks much like Thursday, when I was 33. But now I can call people whippersnappers. No, wait. I've been doing that for years.

"Now it's either I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want, or I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do."

--Beav

Happy Birthday!

Wow...today it's been 1 year since I started this blog. I wasn't sure I'd see this day. It's been a fairly full week - the 12th marked 11 years I've been in the Air Force; the 13th was my mother's birthday (Happy Birthday, Wabbitt!); and today the one-year anniversary of this blog. I hope nothing else comes up, or I'll have to take this week off from work in the future.

I know it's been way too long since I posted. I'll try to improve. But, I do have a couple things to relate.

First, I found a story in the news that piqued my mind and brought forth a memory from last year...Apparently, some conservatives on the national scene (and presumably some not on the national scene) want to impeach Supreme Court Justice Kennedy because he (among others) found that the law did not support their views (specifically in the case of Terri Schiavo). This, in and of itself, does not worry me. What does worry me is this quote (from paragraph 6 of the linked article from WashingtonPost.com):

Ominously, Vieira continued by saying his "bottom line" for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. "He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'no man, no problem,' " Vieira said.

Now that's a scary thing to voice to the world at large, particularly when we've already had several incidents of judges, and judges' families, attack and killed in the recent past.

The memory it brought to my mind is different, and seems to me to indicate an odd view of things. In August of last year, a 19 year-old named Derek Kjar was questioned by the US Secret Service because he had a bumper sticker on his car that said "King George - Off With His Head." I would consider it in bad taste, and certainly not the attitude I'd like to see. However, I can't see that it's a legitimate threat against the President, or 'borderline terrorism,' as the Secret Service agents claimed.

What a difference 8 months makes.

Well, it was a year ago today, that I started this blog. And not long after, I mentioned my upcoming (and then just passed) WalkAmerica day. It is indeed that time of year again (that's what reminded me that it had been a year). On my page, you can see how I'm doing, and see a more recent pic of Ryan and I. I can't wait; it's always such a fun time.

And for the funny moment of the day, my son learned a lesson in drinking the other day; namely that it's not an activity to be enjoyed while laying down. He came to me asking for help getting the cap off a bottle of water, then disappeared behind the end of the couch. A couple minutes later, I hear "glug, glug, sputter, cough...wwwuuuaaaaaah!" And Ryan comes around the end of the couch with water dripping from his nose, all over his face and shirt. It took all the control I had to keep from laughing while I toweled him off and calmed him down.

And finally, because I couldn't do an anniversary post without at least one, a couple marquees.

"If God had a wallet, your picture would be in it."
"God accepts knee-mail."

I saw those both on the same day, and thought both were very clever.

So, put on your party hats, enjoy the cake, and have fun!

--Beav