The journey to Pennsylvania was successful, the older boys started fighting each other and complaining about how long the trip was in the last 45 minutes of an almost-five hour drive.  The trip down had construction all along the Ohio Turnpike, but was thankfully not congested, though I failed to stick to I-79 South and ended going through ( Read more... )

The weather was perfect for traveling and I admit that using our friends' van was a blessing in that their EZ Pass made the trip easy as it ever was.  Traffic was relatively light and it was a quick trip.  Bright Eyes was (mostly) well-behaved until the end, when he was just done with being in his car seat and wanted everyone to know this.  His ( Read more... )

Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday in the United States in that it is a wholly-secular holiday that neatly fits into any religious, historical, or even philosophical inclination that a person might have.  It is also the only holiday that is two days long, being the last Thursday and Friday of the month of November.  None of the other holidays ( Read more... )

adviniuswas up for a few days ahead of his "business trip overseas" over the last two weeks.  We got to see him quite often in that time, despite the fact that he was so busy.  Because it was so busy, it seemed like a relatively short visit, but it was good to see him.  His last evening in town, we all went to Famous Dave's for dinner, then we went to a ( Read more... )

When I visited my brother in New York City about three weeks after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01 there was a lot of introspection and discussion. He showed me some papers that had blown on the breeze from the World Trade Center, over the Hudson River and onto the roof of his old apartment in Brooklyn Heights. These were nothing of importance, ( Read more... )

So, it has been a month and the question of "Where's Hicks?" has really not been answered. Yes, I did report picking up my sheepskin (the diploma for my MBA) and noted that I liked the movie Speed Racer. I told you about my new desktop wallpaper based on the "new" old Enterprise, but not really talked about what has been going on, so I am finally ( Read more... )

The trip to Columbus was wonderful, the fact that the trip back was actually fairly easy is making me wonder why we only visit once a year. It takes about as much time to go visit my friends in Columbus as it does to visit the cottage, sans the currency exchange and Customs garbage. It is simply a straight shot southward along US-23.

Here is a ( Read more... )

J., the Boys, and I are visiting some our friends ldysabella and her husband ssines down in beautiful Columbus, OH. I got to know these wonderful people when I was in the Corps, ssines was one of the mess men assigned to the shift that was a mess sergeant for. I noticed him reading one of the "Robotech" novels - one of the sequels to the actual ( Read more... )