Friday, December 29, 2006

Whoooo... are you?

I spent some time last night with one of my Christmas presents, "Family Tree Maker" software. It's made by, and includes a subscription to, Ancestry.com, which, if you're even remotely curious about your family tree, can suck you in and kill a few hours before you even know what's hit you. We had had a subscription some few years ago when I first got interested in my genealogy, but we had hit a roadblock right around my great-grandfather. We knew some names beyond him, but no info apart from that. Well, last night, without even trying particularly hard, we found parents, siblings, and cousins, and even managed to correct some information that we already had that turned out to be sort of, well, impossible (you can't be a father if you're born 11 years after your son...). And then we found Susie's grandfather's WWI and WWII draft cards. The original documents, scanned online. And (maybe) her father's WWII enlistment info. Wild stuff! I think I know how I'll be spending at least part of my weekend!!

Also, not unimportantly, today is David's 8th birthday. He's getting to be so big and more and more amazing every day. I hope he has the great birthday he deserves!!

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas to all...

Christmas Eve. Sitting with the family around the fire, watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" with the tree glowing in the corner. I hope anyone who reads this has as nice a Christmas Eve as I'm having, because I don't think it gets much better than this.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Friday, December 22, 2006

"Look behind you!!"

I don't think I've laughed so hard in months. This Panto thing, they might be on to something! I wish I could put some of the funny into this post, but I just couldn't do it justice. And the best part was, it was funny for all of us, grownups and kids alike. All I can say is, if you ever get the chance to see one, run, don't walk, to the box office.

What the heck is a Panto?

It's Christmas time, and here in England, that means Panto season. Panto is short for "pantomime," but if you're an American, it's not at all what you think. Think "vaudeville," with the booing of the villain and the cheering of the hero, and the guys in drag, and double-entendres that the kids won't get and the parents hope they won't ask, "What was so funny about that?" (Check out wikipedia's Pantomime article for more details.)

Why do I bring it up? Because today we're taking the kids to our first Panto. It's "Jack and the Beanstalk" in Hunstanton, and it looks to be a great deal of fun. I'll let you know...

Thursday, December 21, 2006

A new beginning

So my wife Susie, she of the great blog over at "The Knit Farm," (and look over to the left of the page for a link there) has been bitten by the blogging bug. Now, I've wanted to do one of my own for a while, and in fact I even made a start at it a while ago, but for one reason or another I didn't keep it up. Well, here I go again. If you're reading this, then maybe you're interested in what I have to say, so I have to put a few things up front.

If you know me, you know what I do, and who I work for, and that's fine. But anything I ever post on here is from me. It is in no way representative of my work, my employer, or anyone or anything except me and my own views. This is important. I may from time to time comment on things that contradict things you may have heard. That's fine, because it's me, as me, speaking my own mind. My boss doesn't have anything to do with this, and that's as it should be. End of story.

If you're reading this blog and want to comment, that's great. I encourage it. (Hey, at least I'll know if anyone is reading this thing!) But on my last attempt, the only comments I got were from comment-bots, that put ads in my comments. No sir. Not happening again. So, if you're leaving a comment, and you aren't a blogger member, you'll have to do one of those "type the letters you see in this box" thing that computers haven't (yet) learned how to cope with. No biggie, just hit a few keys, and voila! If I want ads in my blog, I'll join adsense.

I know, this all sounds pretty pretentious for a nothing blog from a nobody like me, and maybe it is. Sorry.

Anway, that's the opening salvo. Check back later for actual content!

Oh, the name? I dunno, seemed to go well with Susie's, eh?