Exile in Portales

I Let This Slide By...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:34:00 +0000

Two days ago... (this piece from Examiner.com)

All across the U.S. from Arlington National Cemetery to Sacramento Valley California 350 locations will honor and remember the fallen soldiers on December 12th 2009. Richmond is no exception. Richmond National Cemetery honors the fallen soldiers by participating in Wreaths Across America. For more info on Wreaths Across America click here.

I usually remember this event... and here's what I put up back in 2007:

Wreaths Across America

A few days back this week, blog-buddy Kris posted a story (with pics!) about Wreaths Across America. Kris had a special connection with Wreaths Across America, as her Mom was at the send-off event in Harrington, Maine (Kris’ Mom was in Belfast, ME). The wreaths arrive in Washington DC tommorrow, and the placement ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery is scheduled to begin at 0900 hours this Sunday.

The Arlington wreath-laying ceremonies are scheduled to commence at 9 a.m. Dec. 15, culminating with a nationwide ceremony and moment of remembrance at 12 p.m. All Wreath Across America participants nationwide will adorn veterans' graves with remembrance wreaths concurrently with the Arlington celebration at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The Civil Air Patrol, USAF’s civilian auxiliary, is participating in this project in a big way:

12/7/2007 - MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) -- Veterans' memorials and gravesites across the nation will be adorned with remembrance wreaths on Dec. 15 in stirring, solemn tributes to the courage and sacrifice of those who have guarded and preserved the nation throughout history.

Through Wreaths Across America, Civil Air Patrol members join with Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine, in remembering the nation's departed veterans. CAP units will lead 132 of the 268 observances this year, and will participate with other color and honor guards in approximately 25 additional locations.

This year, for the first time ever, members of the public sponsored placement of 16,500 wreaths on veterans' graves across the U.S., with more than 4,000 of those sponsored through CAP. These wreaths will be placed during ceremonies in all 50 states. Worcester Wreath Co. donated 15,644 wreaths, 10,000 of which will be placed at Arlington National Cemetery. In all, 32,144 wreaths will adorn cemeteries and memorials through Wreaths Across America.

After a sendoff ceremony Dec. 9, the 10,000 remembrance wreaths designated for Arlington will make a 750-mile journey from Harrington, Maine, and arrive in the D.C. area Dec. 14. The route will become perhaps the longest veterans' celebration ever as patriotic Americans, veterans groups and other local organizations plan to show their support for the project with parades and ceremonies at more than 20 stops along the way.

Kudos to everyone involved in this special project, but most especially to the Worcester Wreath Co.
Wreath photos: (U.S. Air Force photos/Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi)

The top photo above has become iconic, and rightly so.

―:☺:―

While we're on about Christmasy things... there's this from 2007, as well:

Dark Days

This is a hard post to write…mainly because it will be perceived by some as whinging, although it is most assuredly not that. This is also neither a “cry for sympathy” nor a plea for “I feel your pain” sorts of comments.

It simply is what it is: a statement of fact. Some of us get depressed during the holidays. A lot of us, as it turns out. Google it if you don’t believe me…you’ll get about 133,000 hits (ed: 265,000 in 2009) on the subject. The search term I’ve offered up is just one variation on many potential search terms, as Google will kindly suggest other terms that yield even MORE hits. A google blog-search, on the other hand, yields significantly less returns (approx. 11,774) and the great majority of those links have to do with the ins-and-outs of “beating” or otherwise curing the depression. Precious few accounts exist of living with it, but I only went four pages deep into the blog links. This is something we rarely discuss in the first-person, mainly because it’s uncomfortable for us (both of us: sender and recipient) to do so and, ultimately, it IS the holidays, after all. We should all be decking the halls and such. This isn’t the time to be unhappy. Quite the contrary: tis the season to be jolly!

What set me off down this lil path was reading Lex’s “tidings of comfort and joy,” which had something of an opposite affect on YrHmblScrb. On the one hand, I can SO relate to Lex’s tale of domestic bliss, the joys of tree shopping, tree-decorating, and holiday familial togetherness, because, well…I’ve had my share. But the hand I’m currently playing is completely lacking in these simple joys and I wish it were not so. Emphatically.

Christmas, to me, is all about the kids…and the grand-kids. Speaking as a father of a ten year old, it pains me greatly not to share Christmas with my youngest son as it “should be,” which is to say: as a family. I’m also reminded that, as the patriarch of what is becoming a rather large extended family, Christmas would likely as not be celebrated in my home with said extended family if things had worked out in the manner I wish(ed). But as you can well imagine, Gentle Reader, it does one absolutely no good… no good at all… to wish for things that can never be. Still and even: how do you block these thoughts, exposed as we all are to “tidings of comfort and joy” at this time of year… whether it’s in a blog post, a stroll through the mall (enduring the never-ending, sotto voce [or louder] Christmas carol Muzak), or in the messages that bombard us 7x24 on the small screen? Answer: you pretty much can’t.

So. We endure, those of us so afflicted. We smile, we wish our friends “Merry Christmas,” we go on about our lives as best we can, we conceal the sadness beneath the surface of our merry faces. And a great many of us wish nothing more than to be left alone during this time. It is a true fact (to YrHmblScrb, at least) that happiness experienced during the holidays cannot be shared unless both parties are of a like-mind. It does me no good to be wrapped in the warm embrace of another’s good cheer if I’m not feeling it. Selfish? Perhaps. But once again, Gentle Reader, it is what it IS. And no amount of effort on your or any other sentient being’s part will change it. Best just to leave it alone. Because in the end the sadness passes along with the holidays…for most of us, at least.

I’m done unburdening. I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas…and I mean it. Consider yourself blessed if you’re having happy holidays. As Lex suggested:

Another one of those moments, another of those days that I would have preserved in amber if I could, and kept someplace safe. To bring it out like the phial of Galadriel - to be a light for me in dark places, when all other lights go out.

I kinda-sorta thought I'd dodged this particular bullet this year, yet here it is... right on schedule (I put the post above up on 12/17/2007). Once again: this too shall pass. It always does.

For Andy (In Seattle)

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:26:00 +0000

Happy Hour is GOOD today...

That's one of the the Ashtons, specifically the Number 40 Maduro. And a 2 Below. Thanks, Bud... you're the BEST.

What? Another Re-Run?

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:45:00 +0000

Yup, 'fraid so. From right around this time three years ago, give or take four days or so. I dunno if Dear Arianna is still flogging hybrids, but I strongly suspect that might be the case. Anyhoo... I was sufficiently amused/incensed/outraged to pen this...

Pious. No, Excuse Me! I Meant Prius...

I fell asleep last evening as I usually do: watching the Tee Vee. I had never allowed a television in my sleeping quarters, ever, until I moved into El Casa Móvil De Pennington. As a matter of fact, there was an extended period in my life, from around 1973 until 1980, when I didn’t own a Tee Vee at all, let alone have one in the bedroom. But that was then, this is now. Now you know one of my more embarrassing little secrets. And I digress, of course.

The Tee Vee was tuned to C-SPAN2 last evening and I fell asleep watching some nerdy type give a dissertation on the brilliance of General Sherman’s Civil War strategy. A dose of Ambien or Lunesta couldn’t have put me to sleep faster. But there’s a downside to falling asleep with the Tee Vee on: you wake up with the damned thing on, too. And sometimes you wake up —this is especially true when watching C-SPAN2 on the weekends— to raving freakin’ moonbats. And such was the case this morning. A woman by the name of Eve Ensler was going on about the wonderfulness of her life-long journey of self-discovery and the most-important lessons that all the rest of us, especially if we happen to be womyn, should learn from her experience. I immediately changed the channel and set about making the coffee and doing all that other stuff I do upon awakening.

I sat down at my desk as the coffee was brewing and absentmindedly thought “Who is Eve Ensler, anyway? The name sounds familiar…I should know her.” So I googled her. Oh, yeah. That Eve Ensler, she of “Vagina Monologues” fame. Founder of V-Day, and blogger at HuffPo. Suspicions confirmed: Moonbat, First Degree. I followed one of the google links to her HuffPo blog and saw the little pic above. I clicked it, being as how it looked more interesting than Ensler’s ravings. And I laughed, coz here’s what I saw…

First, there’s Arianna herownself, going on about how it’s patriotic to drive a Japanese car, with no sense of irony at all.

Then there’s Nora Ephron and Bill (ptui!) Maher, the former who says she doesn’t really need a car (she lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side, after all) yet she bought one, anyway; and the latter who informs us in only 20 words that driving a Toyota is all about self-preservation.

And finally, Larry David makes the only honest statement on the page, although I’m certain it’s an attempt at humor:

Or a tip o’ the hat to that wonderful South Park episode on the subject: Smug Alert.

At any rate, it’s just all too, too precious, ain’t it? The whole “limousine liberal” meme is pretty tired, and most everything that should have been said on the subject has already been said at least a hundred times. Still and even, it just makes me laugh. If I were in the same financial boat as Arianna or Maher, I’d own one of these:

A rompin’, stompin’ 500-hp M5. Screw a whole bunch of ~~Priuses~~ Piouses.

The last sentence is still true three years on (the link above is dead... but this one works). We tend to practice what we preach here... or we would, if we had the wherewithal... even though we drive a Japanese car. No smart-ass remarks, please. (insert big-ass grin here)

Contrary To Popular Belief...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:02:00 +0000

... strong men DO cry. Click for larger.

From an LA Times photo essay. More "Photos of the Year" here.

Overdrawn and Overplayed, For Starters

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:41:00 +0000

I like this:

There's just one lil problem with the image: MY bank won't give me any more money if I'm overdrawn. The gub'mint doesn't have that lil problem, tho... they can always raise the debt ceiling and print more money. Which they're doing, to our everlasting detriment. This is NOT a good thing. Some pundit uttered a sentiment about our Congress recently, to the effect of "Just STOP, already. Don't do anything else. Just Go Home!" I couldn't agree more.

―:☺:―

It's the time of year when the retrospective lists start coming at us from every direction... except it's worse this year, seeing as how popular misconception has it we're closing out the first decade of the 21st century (we're not; that's next year). Yahoo! has an interesting list... if'n you're into that sorta thing... of the most popular Yahoo! search terms of the Oughties. It's chock full of links to interesting things, as well. Like this:

The terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001, left a nation stunned, mourning and looking for answers. No one will ever forget the horrific images of airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center's North and South towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. In the days and weeks that followed, people turned to the Web to find timelines of what happened, photos and videos of the attacks and information about who was responsible. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida became household names.

Eventually, people began looking for sources of inspiration and healing. Images of the twin towers falling were replaced with one of ground zero's "Tribute in Light." Online memorials and dedications to the 2,976 victims became places of remembrance while people the world over searched for ways to help victims and their families. Iconic moments from "Saturday Night Live" (Lorne Michaels: "Can we be funny?" NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani: "Why start now?"), David Letterman and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" gave people a reason to smile again.

I'm not a Jon Stewart fan and I don't watch The Daily Show, preferring to get my "news" and sarcasm from other sources. But, that said (and I had to say it, yanno? "Never miss a chance to get a shot in at people you don't like" is my motto.) Stewart's post-9/11 soliloquy was eloquent and well-said (Dept of Redundancy Department). There's lotsa other good stuff at the article link, as well.

Yet More Petty Thievery

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Stolen from Blog-Bud Morgan, who got it from Rick... Miss Alaska and the Trekkie-In-Chief (I struggled for a suitable title/honorific here) read excerpts from one another's autobiographies on The Tonight Show... which is funnier than it sounds. Really. Palin's appearance is a staged "surprise."

Hmmm. This might be La Palin's best teevee appearance to date; I was impressed. But I've seen Shatner do better in any number of different settings. Just sayin'.

Cool

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:01:00 +0000

You know how some (most) commercials absolutely, positively make ya dive for the remote - objective: mute button, and right NOW? Well, this ain't one of 'em:

I LOVE this ad... I actually turn the danged teevee UP when it comes on. Which, of course, makes me wonder: why can't ALL ads... I'd settle for half of 'em, actually... be captivating, intriguing, or otherwise engaging? Why must 97.2% of the damned things be obnoxious? Making a pleasant commercial just has to be one of the hardest things to pull off in a modern society. Obviously.

That said... I won't buy a Kindle until the price comes down by at least half. But I like the ads.

Today's Feel-Good Moment

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:56:00 +0000

At the check out line in Wally-World:

"Thanks for shopping at Wal-Mart. Merry Christmas!"

Yep. It's good to live in fly-over country. We got a "Merry Christmas" from one of these guys, as well... both coming and going... along with a big smile when I dropped a lil sumthin in the kettle.

And now to continue with our Feel-Good moments... Happy Hour on the verandah, for the second consecutive day. Yes!

The Triviality of Daily Life

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:14:00 +0000

An Ol' Fartism: So... it came to our attention that Lady Gaga was named Number Two on Baba Wawa's 2009 Most Fascinating People list and being the curious sort we are we went looking for one of her songs/videos. Turns out that "Bad Romance" is currently Numero Uno on Viral Vids top 20... the 30-day list (this link will not age well). We watched it. We were amused. But... if the test is "would you pay real money for this woman's music?" my answer would be "no." Lady Gaga kinda-sorta resembles a modern day Cyndi Lauper to these eyes, but then again... I'm not exactly into MTV any longer or most any/all pop culture phenoms. There was a time... but its expiration date has long since passed, being something like "best by 12/15/1997." Just sayin'.

And while we're sayin'... gimmee a call if Lady Gaga ever does something like this:

Poignant, innit? Not to mention being a great tune...

―:☺:―

I placed a trouble call/complaint with our local Comcast cable teevee office (yes, there is a local number... answered by a real, live human bean who actually lives and works here in P-Ville, not in Mumbai, Bangalore, or some other exotic location) about the quality of my HD service late last Friday afternoon... or more specifically the lack of quality: the transmission freezes randomly and sometimes just quits altogether. The Comcast tech was prompt in returning my call, leaving me a voice mail this past Monday which I didn't receive until Wednesday because I had stuffed my cell-phone in a coat pocket and forgotten I'd done so. Getting old... with its associated memory lapses and unexplainable quirky actions... sucks, but we digress.

So. It seems like things were fine down at the office, but can we come out and check your cable, your cable box, and associated other stuff? Sure, sez I... c'mon down. The appointment was made on Wednesday afternoon for 1300 hours yesterday and The Men From Comcast, two each, spent at least an hour and a half in and around El Casa Móvil De Pennington yesterday. The two techies identified various and sundry issues and resolved same, including swapping my cable box out for another one with a proven track record. They were also surprised that I wasn't receiving the full complement of HD channels I'm paying for... promptly fixing that lil problem and assuring me I'll get a credit for the channels that had somehow gone missing. And yes, I had noticed those channels had gone missing but assumed they were part of an expanded service offering, what with there being at least 15 different levels of available service, and me choosing the least expensive out of all of 'em, being the cheap-ass sort I am. Bottom line: Stuff works fine now. No further issues. Yays! Oh. One more thing... Am I pleased with Comcast's service? Yes, I AM.

Another revelation: the cable box also contains a DVR, which was 55% full of programs and movies recorded by its previous custodian... along with programming instructions to record the entire content of The Cartoon Channel (I exaggerate only slightly), every CSI program known to man, all Cops episodes, Family Guy, and numerous other shows... "numerous" being severe understatement. It took me a full half hour to delete all the scheduled events and clean the DVR of previously recorded krep. But we are now free from the tyranny of teevee schedules and can record every episode of Red Eye for viewing at a more convenient time, which means I will now be able to retire anytime before 0200 hrs. This is a Good Thing. Well, it will be once I figger out how to program the damned DVR... and there is no instruction manual. But Hey! I used to be a techie in a previous life, so I suppose this isn't a Big Deal compared to maintaining big-ass high powered radar systems.

Famous last words.

Comment of the Day...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:25:00 +0000

... over at Lex's place, on the subject of Miss Alaska, her recent editorial in the WaPo, and Leftie reax to same:

OldT6Flyer
December 9th, 2009 at 3:19 pm · Reply
The best thing about Sarah Palin is the every time she speaks the reaction from the left is so over the top that any rational person has to say: “What could possibly be that interesting?” and proceeds to tune into the Sarah Palin channel which, even if she’s not totally your cup of tea, comes across as a reasonable sort, especially in comparison to her tormentors, who are found writhing in the corner, foaming at the mouth, and generally making asses of themselves. As a bonus the so called “women’s movement” groups get exposed as, not all that interested in promoting women at all seeing how their silence at the obvious attacks on a leading WOMAN go strangely unanswered.

So no matter what you might think of Sarah Palin you’ve just got to love the apoplexy she causes on the left. If she didn’t exist somebody would need to invent her for the cause.

Yup. What Ol' T-6 Flyer said. It's well-known in certain circles that I'm a Palin skeptic even though I haven't posted a whole helluva lot on the subject here in the home space. Which is by way of saying I've engaged a lot on the subject of La Palin in comments on other folks' blogs. I've yet to drink the Arctic Princess' Kool-Aid and I truly believe it's way too damned early to be talking about 2012 presidential candidates. But... two things: (a) I simply LOVE the way she makes the Lefties go completely bonkers and (b) I totally enjoy crossing swords with zealots of any persuasion. And who knows? I might jump on the Palin bandwagon if she keeps on making sense and causing coronaries on the Left. Especially the latter.

Out and About

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:01:00 +0000

Our weather broke today...umm... that would be yesterday, seeing as how this will auto-publish at midnite on Thursday. Ever the pedant, we are. So, suffering as we were from a minor case of cabin fever, we got out and about and got a few things done yesterday.

First on our list was a major re-supply run. We haven't been out to Cannon Airplane Patch in a long, long time...opting instead to do our shopping at Wally-World these past six weeks or so. Which has meant a significant reduction in our choices where comestibles and beer are concerned, coupled with a modest increase in the prices we pay for the reduced selection. That negativity is offset by savings in time and distance, Wally-World being about 30 less miles there and back than Cannon. And we are lazy. Our reluctance to drive an extra 30 miles is also medium strange, as we have infinitely more time than money these days, in addition to a taste for better beer, among other things.

So... off we went and back we came, all without issue. The larder is restocked with goodies unavailable at Wally-World, stuff like big-ass shrimp (40-count; WW only sells the itty-bitty bait kind), Cajun microwavable dishes, lettuce other than iceberg or romaine, brie, Haagen Dazs... the list goes on. The fridge also has been restocked, the latter being more important than the former in the grand scheme of things (more about which below). Which means we now have at least a two week supply of 2 Below and Mothership Wit.

We accomplished one other chore while out at Cannon and that particular exercise left me a little... no, a LOT... cold. First: a lil background. I'll be turning 65 in March and aside from reaching an age that officially qualifies me for geezerhood (I'm merely an apprentice geezer at the moment) I will also be going on Medicare.

The Department of Defense took note of this impending event and sent me a love-letter last month, informing me that I must sign up for Medicare in order to qualify for Tri-Care For Life, which is the gub'mint program that kinda-sorta fulfills promises made to me in the way-back. Promises made by re-enlistment NCOs and officers over the course of my career... to the effect of "re-up, sign here, and you'll get the Big Bucks retirement check every month upon completion of 20 years service... and FREE medical care for the rest of your natural life!" Well, that certainly sounded like a good deal, right?

Not so much anymore. I was briefed on Tri-Care For Life yesterday... it seems like all the squares have been filled, the appropriate boxes checked, and all we have to do is monitor the process to ensure things flow smoothly. But I am NOT pleased. Medicare will become my principal medical insurance once I turn 65. I will no longer have an Air Force Primary Care Manager and I will only qualify for medical services out at the base (or any base) on a Space-Available basis, which is a kind way of saying "cold day in Hell," given the current manning situation at military medical facilities. Tri-Care For Life becomes my secondary provider, which means they pick up the 20 percent of medical bills Medicare doesn't pay... assuming I can find a doctor in the area that will take new Medicare patients. I haven't yet begun that search, but the stuff I'm reading in the news and seeing on my teevee isn't exactly confidence inspiring, yanno? My trepidation also includes the half-trillion dollar cuts being proposed to Medicare, of course. (sigh) Timing is everything in life, ain't it?

Well, there is good news... SN3's medical coverage will be unaffected and I'll still be able to fill prescriptions at the base pharmacy (for free), too. I suppose we should count our blessings, but I have a bone to pick with those re-enlistment "counselors." More so with my congress-critters, actually. They're the ~~ones~~ bastards that screwed the pooch... the re-enlistment guys were just salesmen, and they were selling something that existed at the point of sale but changed in the fullness of time. I'm rather pissed off about it and I'm not alone, either.

―:☺:―

Leave us not end on a down note. Remember I told ya Google loves me? Well, we went googling for an image of the Cannon Airplane Patch commissary to illustrate this post... and this was our result:

OK... EIP gets the first 19/21 images for that search? That's just ridiculous. But I like it. (insert smiley-face thingie here)

NOT Queen

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:48:00 +0000

Better.

It's been around a couple o' weeks or so. Forgive me if you've seen it, laugh if you haven't.

Another NHL Retirement...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:21:00 +0000

My heroes are all leaving the NHL. I guess that's a function of their ages... and mine. No guessing to it, actually - it's just the natural progression of things. This year we've seen two guys go that I respected a lot, one as a worthy opponent (Joe Sakic) and another (Brendan Shanahan) who was an integral part of three Dee-troit Stanley Cup teams. It pained me to see both those guys go.

But yesterday another former Wing announced his retirement and this one hurt... a lot. I've been a Wings fan since 1985 and during that time I've bought a bit of Wings paraphernalia... hats, tee shirts, coffee cups... and I've been gifted with as much stuff as I've bought. But in all this time I've only bought ONE Wings jersey (yeah: I'm cheap like that). Wanna guess whose number is on the back? Not Yzerman. Not Probert. Not Federov. Not Lidstrom. Those would all be good guesses, but they'd all be wrong. Nope... it's 25. And Darren McCarty announced his retirement yesterday. From the Wiki:

Drafted in the 2nd round, 46th overall, by the Red Wings in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, McCarty scored 26 points in his rookie season as the Wings won the Central Division title. In the 1996–97 NHL season, McCarty scored a career best 19 goals and 42 points as the Wings swept the Philadelphia Flyers for their first Stanley Cup in 42 years. McCarty scored the Cup-clinching goal in Game 4. This goal, scored on an inside-outside move around a Flyers' defenseman and goalie, was honored as one of the best goals of the year.

From the 1997–98 season until his departure from the team, McCarty was part of Detroit's famous Grind Line with center Kris Draper and winger Kirk Maltby, which was often matched up against the opponent's top offensive line.

One of McCarty's most infamous moments was in the famous "Fight Night at the Joe" on March 26, 1997 (ed: Happy Birthday to me... What a present that was!), where a massive brawl broke out between the Colorado Avalanche and Red Wings. McCarty fought Avalanche right winger Claude Lemieux with a blistering punch, and continued punching Lemieux while Lemieux "turtled" his body to avoid damage. The fight was also considered what had broken the curse over the Red Wings, as they went on to win their first Stanley cup in over 40 years. McCarty also scored the winning goal in overtime, a 6-5.

In the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs, McCarty registered his first hat-trick in Game One of the Western Conference Finals against the Colorado Avalanche's Patrick Roy. McCarty scored four goals in the series, a career best. Detroit won the series and eventually a third Stanley Cup in six years.

McCarty was the workingman's hockey player... a journeyman, never considered a star and a doubtful Hall of Fame candidate. But he showed up every night, he played hard, he took care of his team mates, and he scored some spectacular goals in his career when they counted most... chief among them his goals against the hated Avalanche in the 2002 Western conference finals. But the goal I'll always remember him for is this beauty:

That was the game winner in the final game of the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals... a four game sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers. And a prettier goal you never will see, as well. I was in a sports bar that night in Rochester NY, with two good friends... the three of us Detroit expats... and we literally EXPLODED out of our seats when McCarty scored that goal. That goal... that game... ended a 42-year Stanley Cup drought for Detroit. It sure got drunk out that night...

Thanks, Darren.

Just ONE More and Then We'll Go...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:34:00 +0000

Our WX has deteriorated... and rapidly, too. Note the highlighted bit in the forecast (click to embiggen):

To say it's windy outside is a massive understatement. The Ol' RV is rockin'!

We Are SO Easily Amused...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:18:00 +0000

Ain't technology grand? We had a German Googler drop by and s/he went to the trouble of translating us into Deutsch... so I did a screen-cap of the result (click for larger):

Heh. "Wenn ein ganzes Leben kann zu einem Tag verglichen werden, dann ist Happy Hour!" As I said: We are SO easily amused. This isn't the first time we've played this game, either:

Dontcha hate it when I'm stuck inside?

And Now... Your Local On the Eights...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Our wintry mix has turned into mostly wet, heavy snow. The walkway outside of El Casa Móvil De Pennington is treacherous, to say the very least. I imagine the roads are much the same.

I'm glad we're ALL stocked up on the mission-essential items (like beer) and I don't have to get out in this sh!te. This stuff is getting old already. Have I told you how much I hate snow? I have? OK... Never mind...

Heh

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:09:00 +0000

I'm not gonna comment on Woods' woes... other than to say there could be a whole helluva lot more people at the bar here. As a matter of fact, you could start a "Philanderer's Pub" and have a roaring bid'niz, what with all the sex-scandals we've seen in the past year or so... Edwards, Spitzer, What's-His-Name from South Carolina... and that's only politicians, and just off the top of my head. Lord knows this sorta behavior is taken for granted among the glitterati. Except for Tiger, of course. I will admit I'm kinda-sorta stunned at the sheer volume of bimbos coming out of the woodwork at the moment; we're not too far from a point where it'll be easier to list the women who haven't had sex with Woods, as some wag commented.

―:☺:―

We just poured our first cup and we're staring out the window at a rather entertaining weatherscape, to wit:

And we're glad it's relatively warm; otherwise the copious quantities of rain, snow, and ice pellets (really... that's what it is) I'm watching would amount to a blizzard like white-out. Still and even: yet another Indoor Happy Hour today. (sigh) T'is the season, and all that...

Warhol's "15 Minutes"

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:29:00 +0000

Someone tipped me to this blurb published at AFCENT's website (the post title is all about SN1 getting a lil bit of his fame allocation, and nothing else):

Leadership lessons linger

Lincoln with military officers at Antietam.

Commentary by Capt. Kristen D. Duncan
451st Air Expeditionary Wing Chief of Public Affairs

12/7/2009 - KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- It doesn't take much to find leadership in a deployed setting, whether on the battlefield, in a maintenance back shop, or among the seasoned SNCO's and officers of our Wing. I stumbled upon a meeting of the minds however, true leaders studying to become better. Better officers, better Airmen - all thanks to lessons from former President Abraham Lincoln.

The 451st Expeditionary Maintenance Group officers met Saturday, non-alcoholic beer and cigars included, to discuss the humble genius in honest ol' Abe. Led by one of the youngest ranking in the group, 1st Lt. Christopher Anderson, HH-60 HMU officer in charge, kept the briefing to only four main slides, to foster discussion and discourse.

[...]

Communication
Master the art of public speaking. Influence people through conversation, and preach a vision and continually reaffirm it.

"At my first assignment as a two-striper, we never had a doubt of the priorities," said Maj. Buck Pennington, 451st EAXMS maintenance operations officer. "It was preached over and over and when something came up, we looked at how it met each of those priorities."

Colonel Hopkins shared his vision for the Maintenance Group: people, planes and processes focused on aircraft availability and munitions support. To him, keeping a level balance between the three equals success.

To me, bringing his officers together to talk about becoming better leaders is one sure way to achieve that vision.

Next book: "Cigars, Whiskey & Winning" by Al Kaltman - Leadership lessons from Ulysses S. Grant

Heh. As I told the "someone"... the FIRST lesson to be learned from ol' Ulysses S. would be REVOKE GENERAL ORDER NUMBER ONE! (Sorry. Didn't mean to shout.) I dunno if this misguided directive is a result of Lessons Learned in Vietnam... a war that ran on booze, and lots of it... or is simply a carry-over of Gen. Schwarzkopf's GO1 from Desert Shield/Storm. I strongly suspect it's the latter and although Stormin' Norman is/was undoubtedly correct in the universal sense I doubt the impact on morale is worth the politically correct sop to Muslim culture. While GO1 might be entirely appropriate in Saudi Arabia, it looks pretty damned stupid when one reads of Iraqi entrepeneurs opening up booze boutiques. The tide may be turning in Iraq, but leave us not digress. The Wiki tells us alcohol is still banned in The Af... except for foreigners. And I read that some military folks... most notably the Germans... could have it until recently. Gen. McChrystal put the kibosh on that.

Oh, well. Enough of this. "Not Your Father's Air Force," yet again. And it most certainly ain't Your Grandfather's Air Force, either. All that said... it's a great good thing that "the management" can get together and discuss the finer points of leadership over a few (non-alcoholic) beers and cigars. I'm all for that.

(note: photo not included with original AFCENT release... embellishment by YrHmblScrb and obtained from Iconic Photos.)

Linkage

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:17:00 +0000

I always have trouble getting into the Christmas Spirit and it's been that way for over ten years now. But I'm a lot closer to being there than I ever have been in the recent past. Why? Because I just finished reading Cricket's "Joy To The World." This is a FINE piece of writing excellence and you'll be much poorer for things if you don't go read. Right now.

Especially if you're having trouble with the holidays.

Well, OK. Whatever You Say...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:00:00 +0000

This appeared in The Guardian today:

The New York Rangers came from behind to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 and complete a satisfying weekend's work in the NHL. Brian Boyle put the Rangers ahead in the 16th minute of the contest but Pavel Datsyuk levelled the scores in the second period.

However, the home side finished strongest and after Dan Cleary had netted with 2min 3sec remaining, Kris Draper put the gloss on the victory with an empty-net goal seven seconds from the end.

Jimmy Howard excelled in the home net, stopping 28 shots – including a penalty save from Ryan Callahan in the second session which kept his team just a goal adrift.

The result enabled the Rangers to follow up Saturday's defeat of the Buffalo Sabres in style, while Detroit's disappointment continued – they had gone down 4-3 in a shoot-out to the New Jersey Devils the previous night.

Just two little problems with that... (1) Howard was in outstanding form, but he plays for Detroit. And... ummm... (2) the WINGS won the game. Other than that? A typical Guardian take on most things: wrong.

Pearl Harbor Day

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Sixty-eight years ago today... "a date which will live in infamy"... the nation was shocked out of its complacency and determination to stay out of the conflict engulfing the rest of the civilized world by the horrific Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Here's an excerpt from President Roosevelt's speech to congress on the following day:

The men who fought back at Pearl Harbor formed the Pearl Harbor Survivor's Association about ten years after the war and they used to hold a reunion in Hawaii every five years... until 2006, when they held their last reunion there. I published this post to mark that occasion (note that the link to the news article is dead now):

Pearl Harbor Day

The USS Arizona - Then and Now (U.S. Navy photographs)

It’s said — quite often and by many, many people — that 9/11/2001 “changed everything.” And it is indeed true for the current generations of Americans. But I’ll submit that 12/07/1941 “changed everything” to a degree it is impossible for us who were not alive and going about our business on that Sunday in December, 1941 to realize. Those of us whose parents were members of The Greatest Generation understand my point. A smaller subset, those of us whose parents fought in World War II, understand the point a little bit better, perhaps. We have the benefit of hearing the first-person narratives of that day in December 1941, and stories from the long, long days that followed…from the dark and despair of the war’s first year to the signing of the Japanese surrender on the decks of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay not quite four years later. And a lot in between.

They are leaving us. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is holding their last meeting today.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - With their number quickly dwindling, survivors of Pearl Harbor will gather Thursday one last time to honor those killed by the Japanese 65 years ago, and to mark a day that lives in infamy.

This will be their last visit to this watery grave to share stories, exchange smiles, find peace and salute their fallen friends. This, they say, will be their final farewell.

"This will be one to remember," said Mal Middlesworth, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. "It's going to be something that we'll cherish forever."

The survivors have met here every five years for four decades, but they're now in their 80s or 90s and are not counting on a 70th reunion. They have made every effort to report for one final roll call.

Their last meeting. I know All Things Must Pass, but it saddens me so. We owe them so much, and our thank-yous seem inadequate compared to the sacrifices they made.

But: We shall continue, we shall honor their sacrifices, we will remember, and we shall rededicate ourselves to the task that faces this generation…the one that began on 9/11/2001. The Greatest Generation expects it from us.

The 2006 news article may not be available any longer, but the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is still alive and kicking. They are few now, but thank God some of those heroes are still around. It won't be too much longer until they're all gone and as I said above: "It saddens me so."

War Stories

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:54:00 +0000

In my wanderings around the blogosphere this weekend I noticed we're getting more than a few seasonal posts now that winter is upon us. Kath posted some pics, Jimmy did too, Sharon posted a horror story, and Daphne (she abiding in temperate Austin) posted an ode to the white stuff. I just can't wax poetic about frozen precip - I've seen enough of that sh!te to last me the rest of this lifetime and well into the next. Let's review, shall we? (click the pics to embiggen)

It Could be Worse, Part Deux

Up too late again. Back in a few, but until then, there’s…

Today’s Pic: Keeping with the “It could be worse” theme… Yesterday’s pic was taken at the old homestead in Perinton, NY. Today’s pic was taken in my new, post-marriage-termination quarters, a rather nice, very new apartment (I was the first tenant) in Webster, NY.

Me (on the phone, waiting for the other end to pick up)…dum-da-dum-da…
Him: EDS, this is (my boss)!
Me: Hey, it’s Buck. I won’t be in today, I’m snowed in.
Him: Snowed in? You can’t get out? Really?
Me: Really. There’s a four foot drift right outside my garage door.
Him: Really?
Me: Yeah, really. Check your mail in a minute or four. I’ll send you a picture.

And this was the pic I sent. It was very late in the day when the apartment complex finally got a front-end loader and a dump truck in to remove the snow… March 3, 1999.

3 Astute Observations:

Laurie said...

: I remember that storm well. It snowed 2-3" per hour, and cranked up a notch right around morning drive time. Many people got stuck on the expressways, or arrived at work late to find out it was closed and turn around and go home... or they arrived at work but then could not get home and ended up sleeping overnight at work. A 20-30 minute drive took 3 hours that day, if you didn't get stuck. Several people I work with ended up stuck at work overnight. A bit of a hardship because there are no food facilities here, just a couple of vending machines which got cleaned out fast. And no restaurants in walking distance in that kind of weather. Most of the restaurants were not even open because none of the staff could get to work that day. We dug out from that one, 24 inches in total, then a couple days later we got clobbered with 18 more inches. Interesting to note that we had quite a mild winter that year up until March. And we're having a mild winter again this year, so who knows what March will bring. Historically the biggest storms we have had were in March.

Buck Pennington said...

: Another vignette from that storm: Two days later (a Friday night), some friends and I did Happy Hour at the Dinosaur BBQ downtown. We had a few beers, ate dinner and then went on our respective ways. The city streets were pretty clear by that time, but not all... I left a traffic light from a dead stop and proceeded to hit one of the on-ramps to 490...only to realize (a) the on-ramp was closed, but not blocked and (b) there was about six feet worth of snow drifted on the ramp. I was going about 35 mph when I plowed (literally) into the mess. It was about an hour and a half until the tow truck arrived to pull me out. I was pretty damned red-faced (and cold), lemmee tell ya... :-)

Laurie said...

: LOL! You were lucky there was not a car hidden in that drift you hit. I recall there were still cars buried here and there on the ramps and on the expressway a few days after. Driving to work on the expressway was like a slalem around the snowbound cars.

And then there's this:

Do I Miss It?

In the comments to one of my previous posts, Laurie sez/asks:
“Tonight low 18, winds 15-25. Alberta Clipper coming through. Tomorrow, high 19. Don't you miss it here?”
"Here" being Rochester, NY. It’s said a picture is worth a thousand words; if that’s true, then my 2,000-word essay on snow is just above this paragraph. Those two pictures aren’t of the highest quality, to be sure, but that’s my car stuck in my driveway, waiting for the tow truck after about 30 minutes of me trying to dig it out. And that’s my deck, too. January 19, 2000 (ed: that was January of 1999, actually). 24 inches. Draw your own conclusions.

As I said: I've seen enough. The ONLY places I really enjoying seeing snow these days is on my teevee and in the pages of NatGeo. I know we'll get snow this year, we always do. The best thing about snow here on The High Plains of New Mexico is it's never really a lot (usually) and it almost always goes away in a day or two. I can handle that. We need the occasional reminder about why we choose NOT to live Up Nawth.

Heh

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:18:00 +0000

A friend sends this along...

Cute, eh? Dunno if I'd dress MY kid up like that, but still...

―:☺:―

And in the "Not So Cute" Dept... this:

Too much truth in that one, methinks.

For the Record, Part Deux

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:01:00 +0000

Videos of SN1's pinning earlier this week. Be advised there's a LOT of jet noise in the videos - the ceremony was held on the ramp at Kandahar, and there are a LOT of comings and goings.

Part One (A speech by Col. Hopkins (Buck's boss), the pinning, and administration of the oath):

Part Two (Buck's comments and congratulations from his peers and subordinates):

Text accompanying the vids:

B-roll of a ceremony held for the promotion of Capt. Ivan Pennington to the rank of Major in Afghanistan. Scenes include speeches being made at the ceremony, Maj. Pennington receiving his new rank, Maj. Pennington being congratulated by fellow service members and Maj. Pennington posing for pictures. Produced by Tech. Sgt. Rachelle Anderson.

Well done, TSgt Anderson... Thank you!

A Dead Horse...

buckpennington01@gmail.com (Buck) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:27:00 +0000

... well flogged:

OK. We're done with this. Back to 'Bama - Florida (Roll Tide!)... with chores done, a clean bod, a beer, and a cigar. Life is good.