Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Day at Last

I just wanted to to take a moment this morning to hand out my dose of thankfulness. Here's what I'm thankful for:
  • Allison
  • Our kids
  • My multiple quadrants of family, and Allison's family
  • My many friends
  • Our humble abode, in which we are hosting dinner (and probably other meals as well) today
  • All the great food we will be eating today
  • The Interwebs
  • TiVo
  • Comedy Central
  • Tom Lehrer
Allie and I are sitting on the couch (before 7am), watching The Exorcist while we have some time before the kids get up. I emptied the dishwasher, took out the trash and recycling, made room in the garage for Barry and put him away, while Allison seared the turkey giblets for the gravy. We woke up early this morning after going to bed at a rather conservative time last night (you know, because sometimes you have to do that after drinking a whole bottle of wine for yourself).

We are both very excited to now have the proper facilita to host social gatherings that don't need to have exterior spillways, and don't intrude upon the home theater either!

HAPPY THANKGIVING!!!!!
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Friday, November 21, 2008

In Order to Concert

My sister, Kimbolily, and I were recently accosted by my wife, Allie (of Ask Allie fame), about our lack of activity on our blogs.  There was something about it being disconcerting.  I blabbed something back, and threw up some half formed thoughts about how we've been thinking about trying our hands (and nerves) at Tornado Chasing, while I was at work.

Kimbolily, on the other hand got all creative and invited outside participation.  I bit, and in so doing feel obliged to do the same thing.  I think it won't be a problem, as I have more blogs than readers.

I'll start with the questions Kimbolily came up with for me: How did you get to be so tall, and How do you feel about your time in the Navy?
  1. Tall?  To begin with, I have never thought of myself as particularly tall, but maybe that is because I'm a fan of the great game of basketball, where I'm lucky if I'm average height.  I can tell you that it was amazing how many people started to take notice of my stature somewhen around the age of ten.  At that point it became my goal to see how many tall things I could reach, be they tops of door-frames, basketball nets, the ceiling, you know, tall stuff!  It was fun to hear our older relatives wax historical about tall genes (including Gene's) in the families.  A fun fact to know is that my parents actually conspired to keep me from growing.  I remember taking a bath in the Watts house and they were talking about how freckle removal was the key to slowing the growth of children.  I think my freckles heard them, because they really dug in to resist.  I guess it could be possible that they were looking for a better excuse for scrubbing the dirt off a seven year-old boy, but I don't think so.  In any case, they were unsuccessful and divorced shortly after (Wow! I never really put it together like that before).
  2. Overall I'm really glad I went into the Navy.  I think that it helped me grow wise in many ways I otherwise could not have for some time to come.  When I signed up for the Delayed Entry Program, I was not all that confident in keeping myself on the straight-and-narrow path.  I hadn't been feeling all that great about going to school, and wasn't looking forward to any job I'd probably be able to get at that point.  Going through both good times and rough times in the Navy are things that I'm proud of, and while I hated being so far from my family at times, I feel really lucky to have been able to spend weekends with them when I was stationed close by.  I am happy to have experienced such a large cross-section of people from around our nation, and feel that it has made me treasure it more than I could have, even in any other branch of service.  Lastly, I might not have had as good a "pickup line" for finding such a nice person for having children (and other adventures) with as Allison, if I hadn't done my time in the Navy.
I'm going to copy Kimbolily's set of questions & answers, word for word. Respond by posting your name and:

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you which song or movie you remind me of.
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle you in.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I'll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wondered about you.
8. I'll tell you my favorite thing about you.
9. I'll tell you my least favorite thing about you.
10. Post it on your profile so you can play with your friends.
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Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Latest Craze at Home: STORM CHASING!!

Editor's note: This may turn into a multi-blog discussion as plans evolve. Please check in at Autogotistical Carpinions for more of the vehicle oriented discussions in the future.

One of the latest TV thrillers gripping the heart-strings of each occupant in our house of late has been Storm Chasers on Discovery. So far, the show has been very illuminating, and is doing a good job of recruiting. Allie and I are having some semi-serious discussions about making a pilgrimage or two down toward Tornado Alley (ooooh! good nickname for the whirl-winded-wife!!).

As I have discussed before, I have a thirst for gadgets, and I haven't had nearly as many as I would like in the recent past. Trouncing tornadoes might be just what I need to quench that desire for a time. The other part helping that along would be designing and building our own RADAR system for the chase vehicle. After seeing the DOW on Storm Chasers, I know there is LOTS of room for improvement, and I have it: End-Fire RADAR Arrays. I've worked a bit with phased arrays, and end-fire arrays aren't much different for this type of use. The advantage we would have over the DOW is that we could build it on much smaller vehicles. What I would like is to have a kit of eight arrays to attach to any vehicle, but only requiring a minimum of 4. The software controlling the RADAR would be able to change it's usage of the arrays based upon their positioning on the vehicle, allowing you use almost any vehicle you want!

More to come later!!
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Friday, November 07, 2008

Blah, blah, blog!

What am I doing? I'll tell you.
  • I'm catching up on The Daily Show with John Stewart, and The Colbert Report, while Allie exercises her brain and fingers.
  • I am happy having heard that one of my cousins has another child on the way.
  • I'm exited about the prospect of having a sizable group of family and friends over to our new digs for Thanksgiving Dinner (YUM), featuring a few other cousins.
  • I am waiting for twitter to start working again. In the mean while I've stopped getting updates on my phone.
  • I'm happily attempting to connect with yet another cousin and his family, whom I have discovered can be found on twitter on occasion.
  • I just checked my Adsense account, and afer YEARS of making space available on this blog, I have earned all of $4.21!!! Only $96 more, and Google will have to pay me the month after!!! Woohoo!!!
Does "reconnecting with the fam" mean I'm getting old? I don't care. I'm just happy to have the opportunity to to do so. Growing up significantly older than most of my cousins, I've always had a soft spot for them, and they are ALL a joy to converse with. I enjoy their divergence, wisdom, and wit. I'm only sorry that I can't still give them piggy-back rides and tickle them until they are rolling on the floor. I guess it is okay that some of them now have children so I might be able to make them laugh in turn.
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Saturday, November 01, 2008

Crate Watchers Update

Woohoo!!  I lost my first 10 pounds!  Now I'll have to recalculate my daily allowance.  My losses have tapered off a bit, but I don't consider it too bad, when after the Halloween festivities I had a big meal from BK.  We'll be getting lots of crates in the coming weeks as well, so that should help.
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