December 16, 2008 • 4:51 pm
No doubt many of you have noticed my posting tapering off the last week or two. That’s because I’ve been preoccupied with closing out my job here.
The last 5 days have been spent visiting the various departments out processing, finalizing pay, closing out my housing and turning in my equipment.
I’m headed back to Cali tomorrow to spend Christmas with the family and burn off the last of my leave until I get picked up for my newest job in Tampa.
Effective immediately, I’m on blog holiday, unless I feel an urge to post a note. For those of you that follow my on Twitter, I’ll post my cross country blurbs. But, I imagine you have to be pretty bored to do that.
Until then…
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Filed under: Christmas, Holiday
December 13, 2008 • 5:39 pm
Wassailing as a practice falls into two distinct categories; the House-Visiting wassail; very much similar to caroling, is the practice of people going door-to-door singing Christmas carols. In modern times it is most commonly known through reference in various traditional Christmas carols (e.g., “Here we come a-wassailing / among the leaves so green”). And the Orchard-Visiting wassail. The term refers to the practice of singing to trees in apple orchards in cider-producing regions of England to promote a good harvest for the coming year.
Wikipedia: Wassailing
Filed under: Holiday
December 7, 2008 • 11:51 am
The surprise was complete. The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were heading back to Japan.
Before dawn on 7 December 1941, the American strategic center of gravity in the Pacific reposed in the seven battleships then moored along “Battleship Row”, the six pairs of interrupted quays located along Ford Island’s eastern side. Quay F-2, the southernmost, which usually hosted an aircraft carrier, was empty. Northeastward, Battle Force flagship California was next, moored at F-3.
Then came two pairs, moored side by side: Maryland with Oklahoma outboard, and Tennessee with West Virginia outboard. Astern of Tennessee lay Arizona, which had the repair ship Vestal alongside. Last in line was USS Nevada, by herself at quay F-8. These seven battleships, ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-five years, represented all but two of those available to the Pacific Fleet. The Fleet flagship, Pennsylvania, was also in Pearl Harbor, drydocked at the nearby Navy Yard. The ninth, USS Colorado, was undergoing overhaul on the west coast.
Battleship Row during the Pearl Harbor Attack
Filed under: Military
December 6, 2008 • 11:42 am
Heh-heh… I guess Army Black Knights haven’t been doing so well the last few years. Maybe this year they can get it right today!
Army cadets take trash-talking to new heights
December 5, 2008 – 2:12pm
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Perhaps bothered by losing the last six Army-Navy football games, a few Army cadets took trash-talking to a whole new level this week. College football’s most storied rivalry just got a bit more personal.
* Video courtesy of Garrison Haning
(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
Army cadets take trash-talking to new heights – wtop.com
Filed under: Uncategorized
December 4, 2008 • 8:39 pm
This one goes back, waaaay back. Early ’70s I believe. Memories of records cut out of the back of the Super Sugar Crisp box being played on my “close-n-play” (The song was Sugar, Sugar by the Archie’s)…
This thing goes for over $100.00 bucks now!
But the two that were my absolute faves and haven’t seen for over 35 years until I googled them tonight are Erik the Viking and his Armored horse. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Christmas, Fun
December 2, 2008 • 10:00 pm
Tonight I went to my local restaurant for a simple dinner and a beer. While there, a young man struck up a conversation with me. He never introduced himself, but through our conversation, I found out that he was an above knee amputee from being wounded in action in Iraq. I soon discovered he was also a member of the Army’s Golden Knights.
There was no bragging, no war stories, just simple conversation. As I was leaving just a few minutes ago, I said my good byes, thanked him for the conversation and got his name. With a simple hand shake, he said his name was Daniel.
So, when I got home, I “googled” the Army Golden Knights and found out who his is…
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Military
Ham
Recent Comments