and a belated Merry Christmas to you all!

Well, we made it. Almost didn't, but in the end made it here faster than we'd originally planned.

The short of it is that our original NorthWest Flight from Harrisburg was delayed beyond our ability to make our connecting flights to get us here to Hawaii before Christmas. Someone, obviously overcome with Christmas spirit recognized this and after spending 2 hours of creeping forward in the ticket counter line we were informed that we had been re-routed on United and were scheduled to arrive in Honolulu 4 hours early.

So we're here. Wish you could be too.

"White Christmas", when it's the sand of Waikiki beach can be a tradition I could  become acustomed to I think.

Oh, FYI - there actually is a United Airlines Flight Number "1"

and I thought that they started their numbering sequence at 1,000

Many more updates to come... perhaps. Time to get out and enjoy the sunshine now though.

about 4 hours from now Kara and I are off to spend Christmas with her mother. Christmas with my Mother-in-law... my first.

For any of you thinking to yourself that Christmas with the Mother-in-Law has got to suck, and you're feeling bad for me, you've obviously never met my Mother-in-Law.

She's a fun fun lady, and a "good head".  And other than the initial "she's your girlfriend's Mother" you have to not like each other schtick, I've really liked her from the start.

So for the next 12 days or so I'm going to be celebrating Christmas and New Years with  my Mother-in-Law, her boyfriend Don, and of course Mrs. It gets even better... really. M-i-L is an officer in the USN. Stationed at Pearl Harbor.


So before you feel too bad, check the weather first. :-)

In the movie "The Recruit" Colin Farrell's character gets the best line in the flick. During one of his CIA entrance interviews he is asked if he has ever been intentionally cruel to animals. He responds with something the the effect of:

"Yes... I once dressed my dog up with reindeer antlers and took a picture of him."

Well...


I guess...


I'm doubly guilty...


Well actually...


Make that thrice...

I wish I had video and sound for that last one. That little snowman sings a little song and it drives Pride nuts. He picks it up and carries it around with him. He's incredibly gentle with it. Unlike his brother who I'm pretty sure holds the international record for reducing a stuffed animal into the most number of its individual components within the 7 second time limit. He's also the only dog I've ever heard of actually destroying the "Lifetime Guaranteed" indestructable dog toy... twice.  He still can carry the groceries... I think. Haven't actually tried that with him in a pretty long time though. We'll have to put that early training to the test again as soon as we get back. When he was about a year old or so I started walking to the store with him and getting him to carry the bag home. At least part of the way anyhow. He hated it at first but then once he got the hang of it, and developed a fan club for his abilities he seemed to actually enjoy it.

Been writing... A LOT over the past month.

Mostly on my survey report due to be released here in the next week or so but I took some time out to pen the first of what is shaping up to be 3 parts. Originally it was going to be a single article but the more that spews out onto the keyboard the more I think it's going to be harder to edit it down to only even two parts.

Anyway, Part I hit this morning over at ISP-Planet. Enjoy. Please send me any comments, good bad or indifferent.

I'm sitting here watching the Apprentice and I gotta say that it's become a Kelly love in.

He's my pick too, don't get me wrong, but I'm really getting just dying to see someone say something nice about Jen.

Ah, OK... her boss. He claims to be sad to lose her but take her...

Pretty dumb ending to an otherwise good show.

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later and last night it did. Our first snowfall that didn't melt as it hit the ground.

Weatherman says it won't last but what the heck do they know. They didn't know this was coming...

Tis' the season for good wishes and stuff.  Every year I get a bunch of cards and emails from family, friends, associates and some from people I barely even know.

There are several that I anxiously await (as weird as that sounds) including one that arrived via email just a few minutes ago.

My Fishing Bud Dave Fremlin sends a unique email card.


For those who don't know Frem, he's easily one of the nicest guys on the planet. In the top 2 or 3 funniest people I've ever met, and has perhaps the coolest job of anyone I know.

He also plays the pipes... something that he did with great distinction at my wedding and added realism to his portrayal of the infamous "Drunkin Piper" in Men with Brooms. 

Kara and I got to spend last weekend in the Bay area. It was a great weekend.  We both do a lot of travelling, but we rarely get to do it together and this was a nice change.

Responding to an invitation from our long time friend Deb Howard to join her and new husband Terry, we happened upon a rare gravitational anomaly whereby a bank of frequent flyer miles, availability of vacation time and the ability of qualifying flights,  we were able to RSVP in the affirmative to their request to join them  in celebration of their recent nuptuals.

We had a nervous start to our adventure when our initial flight was delayed beyond our ability to make our connection.  Yet another rarity occured however when the Delta gate agent at the Harrisburg airport was not only helpful but was indeed assertive in getting us transfered onto another flight to route us a different way.

In addition to getting to spend some time with Deb and meeting Terry, we also managed to squeeze in a few other activities. The highlight, other than the reception, was doing some winery tours/tastings in the Livermore Valley wine region. I never even knew this area existed and I must say that we were pleasantly surprised by the diversity and in general, the quality of the wines we encountered there. We bought 10 bottles and then lugged them back accross the country, and would have bought more if we'd had a way to get them home. PA is one of those states that you can't ship wine to for some draconian reason escaping my understanding. 

Mike Cassidy made the time to pop down from Walnut Creek to join us for a little while on Saturday and to partake of a couple of wineries products with us.

Funtimes had by all. Now, other than a trip to the farm this weekend we're both actually going to be home for the next 10 days... odd. The next great adventure begins early on the 24th when we are returning to Hawaii to spend Christmas with Kara's mom.

I was out in the backyard this morning just shortly after sunrise when movement caught my attention.  I looked up to see this flock come in for their landings in a standing dead pine tree on our lot about 60 yards from the back of the house.



I'm pretty sure that they were Turkey Vultures. They were a carrion eating breed of some sort for certain. Crappy photo I know but I didn't want to ge too much closer to them than this.

The group sat there almost motionless and silent for 2-3 hours.  The only real movement was when I walked out to snap the above photo. The only noise they made was the sounds their wings made as they shifted nervously about the tree. The dogs didn't seem to bother them in the least but I was not a welcome figure.

It was actually more than a little creepy. My morbid curiosity had me getting up to check on them every 10 minutes or so.  Nothing, they just sat up there. The harbingers of death, in a dead tree, just waiting. Maybe I've seen a certain Hitchcock movie too many times but they kept me interested in them for a good long time.

Weird way to start the day.

After supper last night I fired up to do some online work and this is what Firefox got back from news.google.com



This happens less than a week after reading through a rather long and flattering story on the technology behind Google I found courtesy of FastCompany.

In an odd sort of way I was actually relieved to see that error. Just proves that no one's immune to the occaisional problem.