happenings my life for the past 50 years. Not that your things aren’t important too, but it is my birthday. 😉

1) 1959 I was born — That made this post possible
2) 1983-1984 I met my future wife and married her
3) 1981 thru 1991 My four daughters were born
4) 2003 My wife of almost 20 years died (not good important, but it did make a big impact)
5) 2000 and 2002 Parents died (see above)
6) 1981 Graduated College (set up for all jobs since then)
7) 1982 First job in computer field
8) 1990 Second job in computer field
9) 1992 3rd and current job in computer field (no longer automotive)
10) 2006 Oldest daughter got married (first “step”-grandchild let’s drop the step, it doesn’t mean anything to me)
11) 2007 2nd daughter got married (2nd and 3rd grandkids)
12) 2008 3rd announces pending wedding
13) 2009 1st daughter announces pending grandkid 🙂
14) … To be continued

I’m not exactly sure what I did, I don’t remember deleting a post, but one I spent a bit of time on is gone. This will hold a place until I find the missing text. Maybe tomorrow.

Original Post Title.

The Last 50 Years.

A show on PBS right now (started 10:00pm Tuesday 10-Feb-2009) is about the translation of the early Christian bible to native tongues. The Catholic Church and many countries made it heresy to translate the bible into the vulgar, but people after reading various “heretical” translations started creating many vulgar translations.

While I knew a lot of the stories and history around this, it gave more of an insight to the lives and deaths of those men who translated the bible. This of course opened the way for people to have a bible at home and allow people to study religion on their own.

Of course not only did this lead to the protestant reformation, but also led to other more radical ideas. Not exactly what the original reformers had in mind, but it did happen.

For more information on the PBS show, see here.

Again a very interesting show.

Year after Year, the Ice fisherman go out onto the Great Lakes in droves. They will drive their jeeps, trucks, ATV and snowmobiles. It was reported on National News outlets that over 100 people were trapped out on the ice when it broke away from shore.

Warmer temperatures, high winds will all contribute to this happening. It was lucky that only one person lost his life. I just wonder why people take go out on the lakes at these times. I even wonder more why they take expensive machinery out on the lake. I can understand the lure of fishing, I’ve done it many times in the past. Me, I liked the summer fishing the best, but then I have another interest that will have me sitting for extended periods in the cold.

I have gone ice fishing in the past, but only on small inland ponds and lakes. I always wanted to make sure the complete lake was frozen. Even on those days, when the wind picked up, you could hear and feel the ice buckle beneath your feet. I can’t even imaging feeling this on a lake where you could end up drifting miles off shore.

Well, anyway they did it again this year, and I’m sure they will do it again next year. I’m very convinced they will, because I heard today on the news, that they were out again today. I’m almost certain that some of the people rescued earlier were back on the ice today. I hope they stay safe.

I’ve written about many things. Family, friends, food, pets, acting, theater, movies, books, blogs, computers and other things I can’t remember. Today I think I will write about something else, Politics.

Most of the time, I will avoid the topics of religion and politics on this blog and in real life. I’ve seen more friends almost come to blows when discussing these topics, so I generally keep them out of my daily conversation. Recent events just beg for some discussion.

I’m very concerned about the number of Obama nominees have trouble paying taxes. Not to just pick on them, this started me wondering how many Federal politicians have the same problem. The nominees didn’t pay their back taxes and penalties (if any) until after they were nominated. If they knew about the tax problem, they should have paid as soon as they knew, or at least filed paperwork to get this taken care of. From everything I’ve read, this has not been the case. And the politicians doing the approving didn’t think this wasn’t enough to keep them from serving in their appointments. Heck, one has already been approved.

It seems to me, if these amounts had been owed by a ‘normal’ citizen, that citizen would have been on trial at least, and maybe even thrown in jail. And the politicos in Washington don’t think this is anything big. Could it be that they also have something to hide? What would we find out if their taxes and backgrounds were scrutinized? This is a very troubling condition in Washington. They are the ones that pass all the tax laws, shouldn’t they be the most careful in filing their taxes.

I guess this is one more reason to try to get a flat tax or even a national sales tax to replace the income tax. Make it real easy to pay your taxes, and even easier to find out if you didn’t pay the taxes you owe. That is probably the reason we don’t have an easy tax system, it would make it harder for all those politicians to hide there missing payments.

Grrrr… Can you tell I’m filling out my tax forms… 🙁

Feb 2, Groundhog Day. Any excuse to look for spring. Here we are, just a few days past mid-winter in Ohio, and everyone is looking forward to spring. We’ve had plenty of snow, ice and cold temperatures, and we will have quite a few more before winter is through. It seems like winter just goes on and on.

Of course, I do have a custom for groundhog day. I put in the movie Groundhog Day and watch it again. Since the movie came out in 1993, I think I’ve seen it at least 16 times. I know it is more than that, because some years, when the mood strikes I do watch it over and over again. Seeing that this movie is a looping movie anyway, watching it over and over again is an interesting experience. I wouldn’t recommend that for everybody, but I enjoy it on occasion.

So tonight, I was able to watch Groundhog Day again. I had to split it up into two sessions, since I had play practice this evening, but the custom continued. But this got me thinking. I know there are a lot of movies I will watch again and again at a certain time of year. I will read certain books at certain times of the year. It would seem that I never have time for new books or movies, but I get those in too. Books are easy, I read very quickly and I can get through most novels in a day or two. Movies are a fixed length, so I have to make the time. I do this my not watching many television programs. That gives me time to watch a few movies every week.

So any movies or books you watch over and over again.

[poll id=6]

I like to play with computers. Both hardware and software. I like to take them apart and then put them together again. My first computer was one I put together from bits and part. I’ve added this and that, played with software and hardware. And since I work in the computer field, it is like getting paid to practice my hobby.

Many times I’ve helped friends with their computers. I’ve replaced hard drives, installed software, added memory and video cards for friends. There are times when they want to pay me for the things that I do. I feel a bit strange about taking money for helping my friends. I never know how much to ask or accept. After all, I am again getting paid for something I would do for fun.

Funny as in strange, my wife had the same problem. She was very good with everything involved in thread, yarn and material. She enjoyed working and creating with these things. Again she would help out friends when they needed a bit of sewing, knitting or some other needlecraft done. She often wondered about how much to accept or charge when friends wanted to pay her.

I have no such worries when I go to work. I know what I get paid to do my work. Why would I think that something less than my hourly rate is to much too charge for computer work. Someday I may figure it out.

My wife had chinchillas for pets.  She worked in a pet store and brought home many rescue chinchillas from owners who no longer wanted them.  Today the last rescue chinchilla died.  We’ve been calling her old lady for at least the last 6 years.  Our best guess on her age would be 18 years.   Not quite a chinchilla record, but not bad for an animal with a ‘normal’ life span of 12 to 15 years.   For the past 6 years, this little girl was acting her age.  The inquisitiveness normal in chinchillas was almost absent in her.  We kept her comfortable and fed.

Today she left this world.  I like to think she is now with the lovely lady who saved this little chinchilla from a much earlier death.  We got her as a retiree of a pet breeding program/business.  They don’t keep them very long after they stop breeding.  We were very luck to find her. She was the second chinchilla in the house. Many more followed, but the first two were my wife’s favorites. They are both gone now.

I found a couple of pictures of this little chinchilla, so I though I would share those.

Recalled peanut butter and peanut butter products are in the news. Another outbreak of salmonella. Salmonella in spinach, lettuce, carrots and other salad fixings, but now in peanut butter.

What got me on this is that I heard about the recall right after finishing off a box of nutty bars. No, I didn’t eat they box all at once, I just ate the last one right before I heard about the recalls. Quick check of the recall list, and I found out these were not on the list. But what kinds of foods that I eat are on there? Peanut Butter Cups? Cookies, Ice cream, candy?

So far, the things I normally buy are not on the list. Unlike the recall of the baby spinach last year. I guess I will have to keep an eye out as this recall expands or contracts. Peanut butter is in a lot of things I buy. I sure am glad I don’t have peanut allergies.

More about the peanut butter recall and list of products not recalled.

First one big cheer!! I finally got my truck back from the body shop. It looks great and I can’t even tell a deer hit it. 1 week without my truck and driving around in a mid-sized car, grump, grump. Even though I have a mid-sized truck, I missed the higher ground clearance and view. What really surprised me, was that I missed the gas mileage. The car I was driving got around 20-22 miles per gallon, my truck on the other hand gets 25-28 miles per gallon. This is mostly highway driving, I’m sure the in-town driving is much less for the truck. Since I usually drive highway miles, that is what I need to measure. The 3+ extra miles per gallon made a difference in the driving I had to do last week.

For those who aren’t in the know, I use my truck as a truck. If there had only been dents and dings on the body after the deer hit, I would probably have left it alone. But I was without my front driver side head lights, and that needed some attention. I was 1 week without my truck during the coldest/snowiest week of our winter. So it was a bit harder moving firewood and driving through deep snow.

The other part of my afternoon was spent with a Doctor. Turning 50 early next month has prompted my Dr. to want me to get all sorts of preventive procedures. Today was a meeting with the Dr. who will perform the first of many procedures. I won’t go into what will be involved in the procedure, just need to say I will be sedated through the whole thing and then need a ride home. I really don’t like being driven anywhere, and it gets worse when I am in an incapacitated mode. My daughter should have fun!!! This will be the first of many such tests and procedures I will have over the next few years. Can’t wait.  😯