December, 2004

December 31, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. What a year. We have had it all. It may be that each year is like this one and the only difference this year is that I took the time to write about this one. Browsing through the archives you can easily see how much has occurred this past year. Wow!

Giving thanks for so many blessings would be appropriate as would having a few solemn thoughts for so many who were not so fortunate this past year. However, one of my favorite sayings exhorts us to a higher involvement: “Existence was given us for action, rather than indolent and aimless contemplation; our worth is determined by the good deeds we do, rather than by the fine emotions we feel. They greatly mistake who suppose that God cares for no other pursuit than devotion.”–E.L.Magoon. In English, that means that giving thanks and saying prayers is all fine and good but by themselves are insufficient before the almighty. We had best be using our minds, bodies, and many talents to do something useful in the here and now.

December 30, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Steve sent the photo (and several others) at right showing the amount of snow they had in Boston when they returned from their wedding. Brrrr…

December 29, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. This morning they are saying 67,000 people have died in the tsunami. Russell sent a link (http://www.digitalglobe.com/sample_imagery.shtml) to a page that has pictures of Sri Lanka before and after. The images are large so be prepared for a wait if you are on dialup. CNN also had some home video clips of the waves this morning. The old saw holds “A picture is worth a thousand words”. There will be more and more of these home videos surface and I expect that the news organizations will only pay to show us the gruesome ones. Be prepared.

December 26, 2004 — Cincinnati, Ohio. The Bengals won 23-22 against NY today with 22 seconds to go. Normally I could give a hoot but today I know that several family members attended the game. Sounds like it was a good one.

Let no good deed go unpunished a popular saying at work goes. Cincinnati received over nine inches of snow recently. My brother shoveled tons of snow for my Dad. He cleared the driveway, cleared walkways to my aunts house next door, and then to my Dad’s shop so he can feed the birds. Later he went home and cleared a spot for himself in front of his house. Of course he had to leave for a moment and when he returned, someone had taken his parking place.

December 25, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Happy Birthday Steve! Merry Christmas to all. May there be peace on earth and goodwill towards everyone, even if only for a day. I am heading to Cincinnati to visit with my Dad shortly.

Jeanie and I enjoyed a nice visit with my Dad. Doug and Sue stopped in. Diane called while we were there. We enjoyed a very merry Christmas.

December 24, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Today was a rather lazy day for me but not so for others. Jeanie made a wonderful breakfast for everyone. She baked cookies and pies to take to her parents house later in the day. We had a very pleasant time with her family and then she washed dishes and cleaned everything up afterwards. Thanks for everything you do to make it easier on others dear. Now and then, you should allow others to pamper you a little.

December 23, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. This evening we had an impromptu family gathering as Joe, Angie, Steve, and Mary Ellen stopped in. We organized an improvised gift exchange since we will be all over the map on Christmas day. Thank goodness for once I didn’t wait until the last minute to buy gifts. Jeanie and I held ours back (mostly) for later and Nick received a few but not all since he will also be here Christmas morning. Spending time with each other was the greatest gift. I really enjoyed the noise and the clatter.

Congratulations to Andy who graduated from the University of Maryland today with a degree in graphics design. You have made your family proud. Well done. You will have plenty of work to do later, enjoy the moment. For those interested, here is a link to his site: http://www.andystacey.com/. Should I ever start a business, he will be one of the first I talk with.

$42 million in cash was stolen from an underground bank vault in Northern Ireland recently. Get a mental image of that much cash. I am not a banker but have to wonder how useful is it for that much cash to sit in an underground vault? What possible purpose would it serve? I do not condone what was done but a few lines of the Tao do come to mind:

The Tao of heaven is to take from those who have too much and give to those who do not have enough.
Man’s way is different.
He takes from those who do not have enough to give to those who already have too much.

You have to wonder what goes on in the life of a person involved in such a crime. Do they gather with their families over the holidays? Do they spend the rest of their days fearing every knock on the door? A movie to detail all of this is probably already in the making. Cheers.

December 22, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. A nation of laws? Bill, an old friend and mentor of mine, once told me that he believed that our founding fathers intended that we be a nation of justice rather than of laws. “…with liberty and justice for all.” is a phrase we are all familiar with since childhood. What do you suppose it means? There is often a substantial difference between justice and the law when you think about it. When people hide behind laws, justice often goes out the window. In my opinion, laws are written to favor the powerful and wealthy.

Today in the news, George Bush made mention of our nation of laws. Indeed. If we are in fact a nation of laws and if our current administration ordered torture in Guantanamo, Iraq, or Afghanistan, then the people responsible should be held accountable… regardless of who those people are.

December 21, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Did today seem to fly by? In fact, it did. This was the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice. Rather than dispair over the lack of daylight, consider that this is also the longest night of the year. Also consider that each new day will now last a little longer than the day before until vernal equinox.

December 20, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Read the last words of Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu for the first time this morning. My reading page has additional comments and thoughts.

December 19, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Late getting up this morning to lovely snow. It really is beautiful this morning. Huge flakes falling on the inch of snow that fell through the night or earlier this morning before we got up.

While still fresh in my mind, I want to share a few thoughts about the wedding days of Joe and Steve. It is a very special day for parents as well as those getting married. Notice that this site begins with Joe and Angie’s wedding. Unfortunately, I was still very self conscious about writing and so wrote very little about it and only added a few photos. Steve and Mary Ellen’s wedding is my second time around at this and so I feel much more at ease with the whole idea of writing about it.

With both weddings I recall the delight I felt at having total strangers walk up to me and comment about how much they loved my son. When you realize that such kind words being spoken are totally sincere and without any possible motivation, you couldn’t be human without being proud of your kids. It also makes you aware that they are already making their mark on the world and in a positive fashion. As parents, we are probably sometimes too close to see how responsible and well liked our children are turning out. I know that I am very proud of each of our children even if I never come right out and say as much.

There is one thing that I intend to change for the next wedding. I watched everyone dancing and could see the good fun everyone was having. I have a beautiful partner and should have danced more with her. Nick, give me a couple of years to overcome my inhibitions. Hopefully by then, this old man will be able to awe you with his moves (provided the music is not too loud).

Joe and Angie stopped by this afternoon and brought the slide show that was done at their wedding. Vince added photos from the wedding after the show. It was great! I had already imagined adding some photos in after the ending before seeing what Vince had done. This just clinched the idea for me.

Steve and Mary Ellen’s wedding

December 18, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. My second son was married to his college sweatheart today. The wedding and reception were very enjoyable and I think everyone who attended had a good time. I wish them all the happiness and good fortune in the world. Having family and friends from all over meant a lot to me. Thanks to everyone who could make it. This was another very memorable day for me.

Here are a few of the first images that I’ve seen of the wedding. These are snapshots taken during the wedding. Bess, the real photographer at far right, will provide us with some shots that should dazzle us later on.

December 17, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. We went to the wedding rehearsal for Steve and Mary Ellen this evening. Afterwards we had dinner and a slideshow of photos taken of Mary Ellen and Steve through the years. Watching you child grow up before your eyes in just a few minutes is an emotional experience for me. Vince did that for Joe and Angie’s wedding a year and a half ago and I had tears in my eyes before it was over. I believe the show was enjoyed by everyone present. We will show it again at the reception.

December 16, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Happy birthday Doug!

Steve and Mary Ellen arrived in Zanesville from Boston. Nick arrived this evening from Morehead, Ky. There is a lot of travel involved for a lot of people with this wedding. I did my part by making a round trip to Columbus after work to pick up Tuxedos for the wedding.

December 14, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Another letter from you know who titled “A poem makes a good gift for loved ones”…

December 11, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Al Gereg sent another installment of his newsletter a couple of days back. I was swamped at the time and hope he can understand my delay in publishing Chapter 3: “Doc” from Pittsburg… Kansas. The story reminds me of a few trips I have made through South Dakota, the Badlands, Sturgis, and Mt. Rushmore.

December 10, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Movie review–Oceans 12. If you enjoyed 11, you will enjoy 12. Jeanie and I both enjoyed it. It is merely entertainment and that is precisely what the doc ordered to end this week. Oceans 13 is a given in my opinion.

December 09, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. The votes (both of them) are in. Unless the recount shows patterns of voter fraud, Frogtails will remain two sites next year.

• www.frogtails.com/2005/ will point to a new design beginning early next year and will remain where I post many of my thoughts and observations. This is hand coded and somewhat tedious. You may post to this page if you prefer but it is not automatic. You would have to tell me what you want or send the code and have me post it.
• www.frogtails.com/2005/wordpress/ will continue to be as it is. This is where where I encourage other writers to display their wares. The WordPress CMS takes most of the effort and tedium out of coding up the pages so anyone interested should be able to contribute and publish their pages without me being involved.

December 04, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Misti posted a very nice travel story about her family vacation in Puerto Rico. She published it a while back but it was misfiled so I didn’t realize it. Sorry for the delay in getting it mentioned.

Grandma has lost Daphne but manages to save the day with a clever substitute.

Jeanie and I went Christmas shopping today. Relax, I didn’t buy anything.

December 03, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. A late night and early morning left us with little energy to celebrate the end of Angie’s student teaching and school work but we gave it a go at the Outback with her family and a couple of the kindergarten teachers she has worked with. Well done Angie. We are very proud of you.

December 02, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mary Ellen and her family today in the tragic loss of her stepfather.

December 01, 2004 — Alfred, Ohio. Tonight I received a note from “Kris Kringle”, no subject. I nearly tossed it out without opening it. Guess everyone still wonders a little now and then and so I took a peek. Here is what he wrote:

I suspect that I know who wrote it but am not totally certain. Thanks to whoever did it. It made my day and added another word to my dictionary of peculiar words.

Last night I received a note from Cian Foley, a pleasant person from Ireland. He had found the article I wrote about gravity and had a few comments that were pretty interesting to me. This morning he sent word that I could publish our conversations. We hope that others will feel inspired and join in our discussion of this weighty topic.

Just in case… I’ve started another list.

You have heard of the bird flu no doubt. The World Health Organization (WHO) was in the news today having released some staggering numbers. In Thailand there have been some 40 some cases of this particular strain of flu. That doesn’t sound real bad until you realize that over 30 have died as a result. WHO mentioned a 79% mortality rate. But this is just a flu virus, not something bad like SARS. SARS by the way, was so feared back when because it had the then unheard of mortality rate of around 15%. That means that this strain of the flu over five times as deadly as SARS. So how bad would it be if this stuff spreads? WHO expects only six or seven million people worldwide would die if it spreads but admits that it could go as high as one hundred million. Vaccine? Nope, none exists. Wash your hands frequently, eat your veggies, and stay the #%@! away from me if you are coughing or sneezy.