I posted this in late May on Facebook. I’m reposting it here so that if Facebook loses it I can find it here. Last monday, I got to spend time with Nate and Garrett after a two-week absence. Knowing that I would be leaving again a few days after, I created a poster for them. When I got to the house in Ohio, I sat everyone down and presented these to the boys to post in their rooms, should they … Continue reading
Back in September of last year, I stumbled across a NASA website describing the new Mars Lander scheduled for launch July 20 at 6:15 a.m. PDT (9:15 a.m. EDT). NASA offered the chance to send your name aboard the Mars Perseverance Rover etched into a chip placed on the rover. I thought this was a terrific idea for the family, so I registered the four of us and, lo and behold, we four were among the 1.2 million names that … Continue reading
It’s pretty clear lately that the only way we Americans like to classify people is solely by their politics. If you pay attention, pretty much ANY behavior from eating pineapple on your pizza to being a proud pedophile all traces back to whether you’re a republican or a democrat. There are no in-betweens – you’re either all one or all the other. You can’t be a centrist, a moderate republican or even apolitical. Sorry, but that just won’t do for … Continue reading
I started off with good intentions a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Wait, wrong franchise. It all began long before your sun burned hot in space… Damn! Right franchise, but Frank used this one last time. Ahem… A couple months back, Frank and I finally decided to get off our collective center seats and write the follow up to the wildly popular “Battle of the Star Trek Geniuses.” I diligently went through the episode list writing … Continue reading
I almost didn’t re-post this. Nearly every year, I have. It always refreshes my memory far too realistically and emotionally. Just now, I re-read it and I realized that’s the whole reason I re-post this in the first place — so that I don’t forget how I felt that day. So at the risk of being repetitive, here it is. — Dan I wrote this back in 2009 in response to all the “Where were you when 9/11 happened?” questions … Continue reading
Back here and here, Frank Simons, actor, LA Dodger fan and fellow Star Trek genius formalized our love of (nearly) all things Star Trek by each listing in writing the ten favorite episodes of The Original Series – not the best or the most revered, but the ones WE each liked the best. Ever since, we’ve been trying to coordinate our second installment of the Battle of the Star Trek Geniuses. Since I went first last time, Frank gets first … Continue reading
So as many of you know from my non-stop and regularly scheduled gloating, I’m retired. I’m now allowed by statute to yell “Get off my lawn!” to people who get on my lawn. I’ve not yet gotten to the point of calling anyone younger than 60 a young whippersnapper, a term which I never really understood, but I’m reading a book on my Kindle about how to be an effective curmudgeon. I’ll get there. Give me a minute or two, … Continue reading
I’ve been doing this ham radio thing for about a year and a half now. I have a couple more observations to add to the blog post I wrote last year. 1. The amount of learning required to get started is not massive. You can get started with a relative minimum of technological knowledge and if that’s all you want, you can do quite a bit. But… If you want to get really good at it or learn the nitty, … Continue reading