Happy Christmas Day

By now you've all opened your presents, eaten to surfeit, and are basking in the afterglow. I hope it was a fine day and you got what you wanted. I ended the day at the casino, where the spirit of giving was alive and well. The place was packed to the rafters.

Merry Christmas Eve

Allow me to present a small token of joy in the spirit of the season. I plan a long, busy day with a house full of in-laws plus my daughters, granddaughter, and her daddy. What's not to like? Any football on?

True Grit

True Grit opened today and I caught the 12:50 show. You probably know the basic plot: 14-year-old Mattie hires grizzled Deputy Marshal Rufus "Rooster" Cogburn to track down Tom Cheney, who'd killed and robbed Mattie's father. Also on Cheney's track is a Texas Ranger, LeBoeuf, who wants to return Cheney to Texas on a murder charge. This doesn't sit well with Mattie, who wants Cheney to suffer for the crime against her father. This leads to conflict on the trail as the trio set out to find their quarry, believed to have thrown in with the Ned Pepper gang.

The movie is by turns gritty, funny, touching, suspenseful, and uplifting. Mattie's sense of moral purpose and Cogburn's world-weary manner provide a fine contrast and grist for many an amusing exchange. The same goes for the one-upmanship moments between Rooster and LeBoeuf. Also, the grim experiences Mattie has along the trail transform her from a pushy kid to a more self-aware young woman. The actress who played the part is excellent, as are all the other players.

I hope this movie will be enjoyed by the great unwashed and not just Western fans, and it leads to more quality films in the genre being produced. I loved it. Even the damn fool on the other end of the aisle who felt the need to audibly react to every scene didn't sully my enjoyment of the movie. I loved it and recommend it wholeheartedly.

As you might have guessed, the illo here has nothing to do with the film.

Catching Up

I've been silent lately and there are reasons. One is my right shoulder. I have a torn rotator cuff (all those years as a big league pitcher took their toll). Typing for more than a few minutes is very painful. I'll probably have surgery in January for that and it'll take about six months to be back to normal. For part of that time I'll be a vertiable left hander, and that will make typing very difficult, if not impossible. Today I talked to a doctor about prostate cancer. I don't have it, and I'm in a low risk category, numerically speaking, but just to be safe I'm going to have a biopsy, also in January. I've also been doing the usual Xmas stuff and corrupting my older girl with a couple of trips to the casino (I'm ahead $122, she won, too).

Pictured is my granddaughter, Sofia, at about three weeks, with her mother.

It seems like the latest overused phrase in advertising these days is "amazing." Seems like everything you can buy is amazing. Amazing salad, amazing service, amazing experience, amazing scarf. How easily are people amazed?

Remembering John Lennon

I'm a huge fan and admirer of John Lennon. I clearly remember my sorrow the day he was murdered, and my anger when I learned his killer got life instead of death. Thirty years ago today he died, but his music is as fresh and enjoyable to me today as it was then and all the way back into the sixties. When I was 17 I was in a garage band called The Violations. This was 1965 so of course we sang a lot of Beatles songs (those we could, a lot were beyond our ranges). I usually sang the John parts in our harmonies, making me feel an extra kinship with him. I sure wish he was around today.

Remember Pearl Harbor

A day that will live in infamy, or until a few generations pass and everything's forgotten. Well, the Cap'n remembers. I had an uncle who was wounded during the attack and since I grew up as a Navy brat most of the adult males I knew were veterans of the war in the Pacific. Here's to them.

Happy Birthday Kristine, Again

I wanted to show a more recent photo of the baby. This is it.

Happy Birthday Uncle Georgie

On this day in 1839, American hero and soldier George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio. He died for our sins at the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876.

Happy Birthday Kristine

My baby is 20 today, and every moment has been one of pure joy.

Done and Done

Retirement. As MLK said, "In the words of the old Negro spiritual, free at last, free at last, thank God A'mighty, we are free at last!" That's the editorial we, there. It was a quiet, uneventful day. I did my final processing, cleaned out the few remaining items from my locker, said adios to a couple of people, and drove away. I admit to giving vent to a rousing rebel yell as I passed through the main gate, but otherwise there was no celebration. I didn't want one.

When I was working I always hoped for jury duty. I found being on a jury interesting and I prefered being at the courthouse to being at work. Plus, I still got paid and didn't have to take leave. But I didn't get tasked for jury duty this year, until...
I got my mail this afternoon and found a jury summons therein. My reporting date is the same day as my official retirement in January. Nice timing, people.

One More Day

Really, six-tenths of a day. Today I got signed out by a bunch of organizations/sections (clinic, finance, pass & ID, etc) and tomorrow I do the final two. I made sure I gave back my Restricted Area Pass and Flightline Competency Card so I can't do any work tomorrow. It'll be soooo nice to stay in bed in the morning, to avoid the freeway traffic, and to get busy on my many projects around the old homestead.

Two Days to Go

I plan to spend as much of my final two days (one day, six hours to be exact--I work 10-hour days) clearing the base. That is, going hither and yon getting boxes on a sheet of paper signed off by various people in various sections.

Evan Lewis wondered what image I'd use to illustrate two. I thought about The Dynamic Duo or one of the better comedy teams, but these innocent lasses from the brush of Milton Caniff seemed more appropriate.

Lately I've seen a lot of people using "hoard" when they mean "horde." A hoard is hidden or stored fund or supply (I looked it up) and a horde is a swarm or throng, as of people, animals, or insects. If you're going to write or edit, you need to know these things.

Three Days to Go

Three days. Two days, six hours, to be exact. Three is a good number. My beloved Three Stooges claimed it and I'm soitenly glad they were part of my life.

It looks like I'm leaving work just in time, too. Today we learned that we're now subject to random drug testing, and O'Bama wants to freeze our salaries. Not that I'm in much better shape financially by retiring since Barak also wants to cut Socialist Insecurity.

I don't use drugs, but I can't see any reason to implement the testing. Supposedly it's because of our sensitive positions. Like urinating into a porcelain bowl that has three mirrors and a witness isn't a sensitive position. At least none of this will take place until after I'm gone, so to hell with the lot of them. I just chalk it up to one more reason I'm glad to be out of that little Bedlam. Bitter? Me? Not really, just fed up.

Len Moffatt

Since most of you read the same blogs I do, I'm sure you know by now that Len Moffatt has passed away. Len was a cornerstone science fiction and mystery fan, a Sherlockian, a John D. MacDonald expert (along with wife June), and a Marine in WWII. He wasn't very tall but he filled a lot of space with his kindness, wit, energy, and achievements. Without the Moffatts there wouldn't be a Bouchercon, period. At the recent B'con in San Francisco I shared the honor of being named the Don Sandstrom Award winner with the Moffatts, and I'm glad Len was able to receive this recognition while he was still alive. My sincere condolences to his family and large circle of friends.

Lispers

I've been watching a lot of Robin Hood TV shows lately. The ones made in England starring Richard Greene. An actor named Alan Wheatley was cast as the Sheriff of Nottingham and I noticed he had a minor but unmistakable lisp. That got me to thinking of other actors who had lisps. Humphrey Bogart and Boris Karloff come to mind. Daffy Duck? That's a stretch. I once had a girlfriend with a little lisp, too. Can you think of any others?

Four Days to Go

Yep, just a Fab Four days left til retirement. Next week will do it. To be exact, three days and 6 hours, or 36 hours.

I visited Baby Sofia earlier this evening. She was perfect; slept the whole time. I say this because my mother likes to read about it.

The last two days have been a football tsunami. I saw two games and part of a third yesterday and as I type this I'm watching my third game today. The first two I saw at work. We had a down day at the base and there was nothing to do but watch TV. On a regular work day there's ALMOST nothing to do but watch TV. I really enjoyed the Alabama/Auburn game, which Auburn won 28-27 after being behind 21-0. I don't know why I'm anti-Bama, but that's the way it is.

I picked up my younger girl's birthday/Xmas present today, an electric keyboard. She's very musically talented and I can hear her playing downstairs as I type this. I can also hear the Boise State-Nevada game, as alluded to earlier. The store where I picked up the keyboard is near the Tacoma Mall, and while there was a lot of traffic it moved quickly and my parking karma was in force when I needed a space. I also had a 15% off coupon, which was good for today only, so I was determined to use it no matter what the crowds were like.

Have a nice weekend.

Happy Birthday, Baby

After two days of agony and discomfort, my girl Stephanie gave birth to Sofia via c-section. All is well and everyone is fine, thanks. Here's a photo of her at about 20 minutes old. They put some gunk in her eyes to make them look runny, but it's not a problem. She's 7 lb, 11 oz and 20 1/2 inches. We like her.

Happy Birthday to Me

Seems like only a year ago I was marking another birthday. I'm starting to feel it more and more, too.

As mentioned yesterday, my little one took me to see the new Harry Potter movie. I liked it, as usual, and since it has been so long since I read the book I didn't recall anything. I could probably make the same claim if I'd read it last week. This installment sets up the final confrontation that will happen in the next movie, so there were some moments of exposition and quite a lot of time Harry and his pals spent camping out on the English countryside. Also some exciting action scenes, only one of which had the annoying MTV effects I'm always carping about. My daughter loved it and couldn't wait to call all of her friends and urge them to see it--with her in most cases. I see no reason to miss it unless you're disinterested in the HP penomenon.

Five Days to Go

I can almost taste it now.

On the baby front, she may be here by Tuesday.

Harry Potter, on the other hand, will be here tomorrow. I plan to see it with my younger girl.

Six Days to Go

We had a windstorm Monday that knocked out the power. I stayed up late to tend the fire in the fireplace, so I took Tuesday off. As you might know, the weather here stinks right now. But I worked today and that X's one more off the countdown calendar.

Yesterday was my daughter's due date, but no baby has appeared yet.

I'm in a good mood, though. Visa reversed a charge I'd disputed and the jackass who worked on my roof accepted the amount I sent him, so that's done with. Oh, and the windstorm blew all the leaves off the roof.