Happily Never After

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, the X called and invited me to go see Happily Never After with her, Scott, and Danielle. It was of course great to spend some additional time with them! The movie was OK, but not great. I did like the trailer I had seen, but evidently they used all the good (the only?) scenes to make the trailer, because I was expecting more. It would have been cheaper to wait for the rental, but both Scott and Danielle really liked it. So, for those with kids it's probably worth it from that point of view!

I was happy to hear that the voice of Cinderella was played by the Sarah Michelle Gellar former star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my all-time favorite shows.

Smiths Group plc Sells Aerospace Division to GE

Perfect Monday, cold, snowy and icy, and news at work this morning that our division has been sold to General Electric. Most people were flabbergasted by this news, and now begins the fun period (third time for me since starting to work here 27 years ago) of playing the "Will I have a new job after the transition is completed" game. Not one of my favorites, I must say!

Read about it here

Winter has finally arrived in Grand Rapids

We had half an inch of snow last evening, our first measurable snow since Dec. 7th. That’s a record for winter in Grand Rapids! In 2000, the first year we were living in Michigan, we had 96 inches of snow by the end of December, and more hammered us after that new year.

Thirty days without measurable snow beats the old record of 26 days set back in Jan.-Feb. 1919. Yesterday (Sunday) was also only the 2nd day in the past 29 that failed to reach 40 degrees! Normally by this time of year we have had quite a few days that were in the single digits.

Note however, our string of days with above average temperatures continues as the average high temperature for today is 30 and we’ve topped that…so today makes 30 days in a row with above average temperatures, though right now the average temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than this time yesterday, and 20 lower than the warmest day last week.

I remarked to Scott and Danielle this morning, that, as far as driving them to school was concerned I was glad they would be back at their Mom's this evening (I'll be picking her up from the airport later; She's been gone for 10 days down in Florida on business again) so I don't have to take them to school in the snow as they are predicting Nuisance Snow all week.

Nuisance Snow to me is less than an inch; just enough to make the roads dangerous. As we were heading to school this AM the radio was fraught with tails of terror of folks on medians on the highway, and down ditches and embankments.....why can't people just drive better? I still laugh at the idiots with four wheel drive vehicles! You know the ones I mean! Those stupid, drooling, Cro-Magnon low IQ types that think they will stop better than a car without four wheel drive!

Rest in Peace, John

I had the sad news Friday that my friend John passed away. I shall miss him and am pleased to think he has been reunited with his beloved wife who he missed so much.

Farewell, John!!!

My Friend John

I live in Michigan, so since his passing the news has been mostly about former President Ford since he was born here. While I feel for his family and those who know them, and I send my prayers and condolences their way, what about the average person that we never hear about?

Here on the day that President Ford's remains were arriving via Air Force One, it was something that had to be experienced! My company was on the route from the airport to the final resting place in the city, and you could not believe the number of police and spectators. There were helicopters too. In town for the interment there was a 21 gun salute and multiple fly-overs of 21 F-15 aircraft!

Again...what about the average person?

For example, I have a very good e-friend named John who I have know for over six years. Our first contact was when he e-mailed me to comment about one of my screen savers.

Over the years we e-mailed about computer, his sadness and subsequent coping over the loss of his wife of many years, my sadness over my divorce and the way it affected me and my three children, other issues, computers, and more. We exchanged jokes, pictures and kept in touch over the years, more so than most of the physical friends I had on the east coast. He read my blog on a regular basis and made suggestions for new screen savers and other ideas for my web site.

John was, a very good friend, and I was always happy to see a message from him in my inbox!

To make a long story short, his daughter sent out a message this week to everyone in his address book that John was now at home near death, with no hope of recovery after surgical procedures done in November of last year and the resultant complications. One of the last things he told her was he was ready to go and be with his wife and God. I was so distressed I could not reply for almost a day, but did, because she asked if anyone wanted to tell her how they knew her dad, her best friend as she called him, she would like to know. I am so saddened by this news and wished I had known him better and had gotten a chance to meet him in the real world.

I ask that everyone who reads this say a prayer for John and his family and friends.

Farewell my friend John! You will be missed!! May you find peace and joy in heaven!

New Years Daze

Well, we had fun at work on 12/28, we had a total Data Center outage planned so we could do some wiring the town's code required, we brought everything down in a controlled fashion. To make a long story short some equipment did not want to work and play nice with its neighbors so we had a rash of problems. Thank goodness for 24/7 shifts and good backups, all I can say is I need a vacation from my vacation break. The time between 12/26 and yesterday when we got the last system up and running seems like a cross between a blurred recollection of things that happened and a bad dream.....

ANYWAY....Happy New Year to All!

Update - To extrapolate further, for NY Scott, Danielle, and I stayed in. Chris went over to a friends house while the little ones and I alternated between watching TV together and them playing video games, we rang in the NY by watching the countdown at 11:55PM on the small TV in my room as the DVR was recording two shows. After hugs all around they vanished for another 30 minutes of video games, before we watched a Scrubs episode and I sent them to bed at 1AM on New Year's Day.