As time goes by part 2...

Here are the tribute posters for Challenger and Columbia... Sadly, these were lost along with all their crews. Ironically, I have connections to both. I saw the first night launch (STS-8) with Challenger, and was one of the search team for the Challenger when she blew up, and Columbia when she disintegrated, shed parts/pieces over our family place in Louisiana among many others...

Without further comment, here they are

Challenger-

This Tribute Display features Challenger, which blazed a trail for other vehicles with the first night landing (STS-8) and also the first landing at Kennedy Space Center (STS-41B). The spacewalker represents Challenger’s role in the first spacewalk during a space shuttle mission (STS-6) and the first untethered spacewalk (STS-41B). Crew-designed patches for each of Challenger’s missions lead from earth toward our remembrance of the STS-51L crew. Other significant accomplishments include the first night launch with STS-8; the first in-flight capture, repair, and redeployment of an orbiting satellite during STS-41C; the first American woman in space (Sally Ride on STS-7); the first African-American in space (Guion Bluford on STS-8); and the first American woman to walk in space (Kathryn Sullivan during STS-41G).

Columbia-

This Tribute Display features Columbia, the “first of the fleet”, rising above earth at the dawn of the Space Shuttle Program. Crew-designed patches for each of Columbia’s missions lead from earth toward our remembrance of the STS-107 crew. In the background are images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (launched aboard STS-93) representing Columbia’s contributions toward scientific discovery. Other significant accomplishments include the first space shuttle landing at White Sands with STS-3, first deployment of commercial satellites during STS-5, first four-member crew on STS-5, first Spacelab mission and first six-member crew on STS-9, first female mission commander (Eileen Collins) on STS-93, as well as multiple laboratory missions—many with international partnership.

Still nothing on the possibility of actually being able to get copies, but I'm pokin' around...

As times goes by...

We (the USA) are coming to the end of life on the Shuttle program, and there are some posters being considered as tributes to each of the Shuttles. Here are three in consideration, with a short (for NASA) description of each Shuttle and what they accomplished.

For Discovery:

This Tribute Display features Discovery demonstrating the renowned Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver on approach to the International Space Station (ISS) during STS-114. Having accumulated the most space shuttle flights, Discovery’s 39 mission patches are shown encircling the vehicle. The background image was taken from the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched aboard Discovery on STS-31 and serviced by Discovery on STS-82 and STS-103. The prominent American flag and eagle represent Discovery’s two “Return to Flight” missions, STS-26 and STS-114, and symbolize Discovery’s heroic role in returning American astronauts to spaceflight. Discovery’s significant accomplishments include the first female Shuttle pilot (Eileen Collins on STS-63), John Glenn’s legendary STS-95 mission, and the celebration of the 100th space shuttle mission with STS-92. In addition, Discovery supported numerous Department of Defense programs, satellite deploy/repair missions, and 13 flights for construction and operation of the ISS.

For Atlantis

This Tribute Display features Atlantis soaring above the earth. Atlantis flew seven missions to space station Mir. In addition to its many assembly, construction, and resupply missions to the International Space Station, Atlantis also flew the last Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission on STS-125. The planet Venus represents the Magellan probe deployed during STS-30, and the planet Jupiter represents the Galileo probe deployed during STS-34. Threaded through the design are the mission patches for each of Atlantis’ flights. The inset photos illustrate various aspects of space shuttle processing as well as significant achievements such as the “glass cockpit” and the first shuttle docking with Mir during STS-71. The inset photo in the upper left corner shows a rainbow over Atlantis on Pad A and Endeavour on Pad B. Endeavour was the assigned vehicle had Atlantis’ STS-125 mission needed rescue, and this was the last time both launch pads were occupied simultaneously. The stars in the background represent the many people who have worked with Atlantis and their contributions to the vehicle’s success.

For Endeavour

This Tribute Display features Endeavour soaring into orbit above the sailing vessel HMS Endeavour for which the orbiter was named. The Cupola, delivered to the International Space Station by Endeavour on STS-130, is shown framing various images of Endeavour. The images represent the phases of mission processing and execution for the Space Shuttle Program. The first ever use of a drag chute during orbiter landing (STS-49) is depicted in the top window and moving clockwise the images symbolize the following: Rollout to the Pad, Ferry Flight return to Kennedy Space Center, Orbiter Processing Facility Roll-in, Docking at the International Space Station, and Lifting Operations for Orbiter Mate in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The background image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and signifies the first servicing mission which was performed by the Endeavour crew on STS-61. Crew-designed patches from Endeavour’s maiden voyage through her final mission are shown ascending toward the stars.

I don't have any info on when/where these will be available, but if I find out, I will post it. Having lived (vicariously) through Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and now the Shuttles; I for one, am proud of what we accomplished not only for America, but the world with our Space Program. I believe we are doing the wrong thing by cutting NASA and the Constellation project...

Just sayin...

Comments needed!!!

Well, they're at it again. got this in an email from NSSF...

All Gun Owners, Hunters and Shooters:

With the fall hunting season fast approaching, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Lisa Jackson, who was responsible for banning bear hunting in New Jersey, is now considering a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) – a leading anti-hunting organization – to ban all traditional ammunition under the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976, a law in which Congress expressly exempted ammunition. If the EPA approves the petition, the result will be a total ban on all ammunition containing lead-core components, including hunting and target-shooting rounds. The EPA must decide to accept or reject this petition by November 1, 2010, the day before the midterm elections.

Today, the EPA has opened to public comment the CBD petition. The comment period ends on October 31, 2010.

Go HERE and read the blurb from the NSSF, and PLEASE go comment on the proposed legislation!!!

TIA folks...

Blogorado...

Here we go again... :-)

Yesterday we set up the range, and people started rolling in...

We met for breakfast (supposedly at 0800, but I'm not sure which time zone for some folks), and 'some' of us went out to actually do work...

So far, we have the usual suspects here, FarmFam, Sal, Matt, JPG, Lawdog, Phlegmmy, Oleg, Peter, Wing, Jim-Jim, the Nerds, AD, Gay Cynic, TD, Vine (a commenter on IRC), and a couple of others...

We've made a few more challenging set ups from last year, and Farm Dad has added more steels, a couple of more poppers, and a new rifle range set up. This year we put the half-size torso out at 550 yards, in a different direction, and a couple of folks SWORE there was no target out there... :-)

There were 'toys' to be played with, karma jumped on me (we had just been talking about reliability among pistols vs. costs, and I offered Oleg my C&S to shoot- On the second mag, the extractor broke...); and of course AD happened to be standing there, so he offered his Rock Island, which functioned perfectly... sigh...

The winds HAVE been a factor, and the heat/altitude have been interesting, but the shooting has been fun, frustrating, more fun, humorous, a few Doh moments...

One of the funnier ones today was watching Matt driving horses with the little Ford Escape (gee, I don't know why the theme from Rawhide keeps running through my head)...

As always, the conversations have run the gamut- movies, games, AD stories, tactical vs. gamers, and all the cross talk that usually happens...

At one point yesterday morning, with 22 people at breakfast, I counted 14 different conversations going on!!! The poor waitress was going NUTS!!!

From my perspective, the best shots this time out have been Matt, JPG, LD and Oleg (now Oleg cheats and actually takes time to aim...)

The food has been awesome as always (so much for any diet on this trip), the Nerdbeer was all the rage yet again (and as good if not better than last year)... and Peter contributed a couple of bottles of VanDerum liquor from South Africa (GOOOOOD).

We got rained out this afternoon, so everybody is relaxing, and taking a bit of a break. Off to enjoy the downtime and see where the conversations go tonight...

To those who didn't make it, we miss you!

I FEEL his pain...

This letter is a thing of beauty (even if the language is a bit rough)...You definitely feel the guy's pain! Supposedly actual letter to the passport office...

Dear Sirs,

I'm in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this. How is it that Radio Shack has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a cable t.v. from them back in 1987, and yet, the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date.

For Christ sakes, do you guys do this by hand? My birth date you have on my social security card, and it is on all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 30 years. It is on my health insurance card, my driver's license, on the last eight damn passports I've had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off the plane over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done at election times.

Would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother's name is Maryanne, my father's name is Robert and I'd be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and when I die!!!!!!

I apologize, I'm really pissed off this morning. Between you an' me, I've had enough of this bullshit! You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my address?

What is going on? Do you have a gang of Neanderthal asses working there!

Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don't want to dig up Yasser Arafat, I just want to go and park my ass on a sandy beach.

And would someone please tell me, why would you care whether I plan on visiting a farm in the next 15 days? If I ever got the urge to do something weird to a chicken or a goat, believe you me, I'd sure as hell not want to tell anyone!

Well, I have to go now, 'cause I have to go to the other end of the city and get another copy of my birth certificate, to the tune of $60. Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day??

Nooooo, that'd be too damn easy and maybe make sense. You'd rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find some idiot to confirm that it's really me on the damn picture - you know, the one where we're not allowed to smile?! (bureaucratic morons)
Hey, you know why we can't smile? We're totally pissed off!

Signed - An Irate Citizen.

P.S.. Remember what I said above about the picture and getting someone to confirm that it's me? Well, my family has been in this country since 1776 .......I have served in the military for something over 30 years and have had security clearances up the yingyang..........However, I have to get someone 'important' to verify who I am - you know, someone like my doctor WHO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN INDIA !

Sincerely,

You Sure In The Hell Should Know Who I Am.

.....................And you want to run our health care system?!?

Off to Blogorado ver 2.0, I'll try to get a post or two up from there...

One and halfer...

Well, this little road trip from hell paid off, in that I got to at least talk to WSF this morning, who was actually also in Seattle on business, but due to his prior scheduling he was not able to get free to meet today... dammit... We chatted about his son and his current deployment, and how it's different when it's you and when it's your son going in harms way. We also laughed over mobility and timing and how regardless how hard we try, one or the other is gonna get screwed up...

I did finally meet Earl from Just the Library Keeper late this afternoon (between a postponed meeting and traffic, I was LATE, thanks Earl for actually waiting for me to show up)! We had a chance to talk and enjoy some food and no booze (he was riding his Triumph and I was driving back to SEA in a rental. We talked about shooting, Appleseed, Frank's book on self defense, agreed we are no longer young; and our perspectives have changed over the years based on our respective experiences, but they are amazingly similar (gee, I 'wonder' if it's that whole military career thing). Sadly I had to bolt early, as I have an early go tomorrow to head back.

I do want to get back and shoot with Earl, I'm sure it will be a learning experience for me, as Earl has a LOT more practice than I do...

I LIKE This One...

Don't know where it's from, I "think" it's in Virginia, but I'd patronize this place...

Updated thanks to Alan-

Chappell Hill Bank in Texas. http://www.chappellhillbank.com/

Just Sayin...

In the middle of another short road trip (well timewise anyway)... Got to Honolulu at 11pm last night, leaving at noonish for Seattle, one day there, then back to NOVA, to turn around the next morning and fly to Denver.

If I'm lucky, my body 'might' catch up with my brain (or vice versa) later this week... sigh...

A Cautionary Tale...

I have run this my by cousin's hubby, who is also my CPA, he notes that it appears to be factually correct, and said many people are going to be unprepared for the impact...

His take is this is going to have a MAJOR impact on small/medium sized businesses, older folks at/near retirement, and families with disabled/special needs in the family.

Subject: Three great waves. A must read. This is not bashing, it is what is currently scheduled to happen.

In just six months, on January 1, 2011, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.

They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves.

On January 1, 2011, here's what happens...

First Wave:
Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief

In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families.

These will all expire on January 1, 2011.
Personal income tax rates will rise.
The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed).
The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent.
All the rates in between will also rise.
Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates.

The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:
* The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
* The 25% bracket rises to 28%
* The 28% bracket rises to 31%
* The 33% bracket rises to 36%
* The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes on marriage and family.

The "marriage penalty" (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income.
The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child.
The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level.
The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The return of the Death Tax.
This year only, there is no death tax. (It's a quirk!) For those dying on or after January 1, 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million. A person leaving behind two homes, a business, a retirement account, could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones. Think of the farmers who don't make much money, but their land, which they purchased years ago with after-tax dollars, is now worth a lot of money. Their children will have to sell the farm, which may be their livelihood, just to pay the estate tax if they don't have the cash sitting around to pay the tax. Think about your own family's assets. Maybe your family owns real estate, or a business that doesn't make much money, but the building and equipment are worth $1 million.
Upon their death, you can inherit the $1 million business tax free, but if they own a home, stock, cash worth $500K on top of the $1 million business, then you will owe the government $275,000 cash! That's 55% of the value of the assets over $1 million! Do you have that kind of cash sitting around waiting to pay the estate tax?

Higher tax rates on savers and investors.
The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011.
The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011.
These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Second Wave:
Obamacare
There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare. Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011. They include:

The "Medicine Cabinet Tax"
Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

The "Special Needs Kids Tax"

This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts
(FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children.

This one really frosts my cousin, she was for years a special needs teacher and is now involved at the state and national level in trying to get legislation passed to help these families...

There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States , and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education.
Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington , D.C. ( National Child Research Center ) can easily exceed $14,000 per year.
Under tax rules, FSA dollars cannot be used to pay for this type of special needs education.

The HSA (Health Savings Account) Withdrawal Tax Hike.
This provision of Obamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

Third Wave:

The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and Employer Tax Hikes
When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they'll be in for a nasty surprise-the AMT won't be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions will have expired.

The major items include:
The AMT will ensnare over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year.
According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, Congress' failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families-rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million. These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level.
The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.
Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear.
Small businesses can normally expense (rather than slowly-deduct, or "depreciate") equipment purchases up to $250,000.
This will be cut all the way down to $25,000. Larger businesses can currently expense half of their purchases of equipment.
In January of 2011, all of it will have to be "depreciated."

Taxes will be raised on all types of businesses.
There are literally scores of tax hikes on business that will take place. The biggest is the loss of the "research and experimentation tax credit," but there are many, many others. Combining high marginal tax rates with the loss of this tax relief will cost jobs.

Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced.
The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available.
Tax credits for education will be limited.
Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses.
Coverdell Education Savings Accounts will be cut.
Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed.
The student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands of families.

Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longer allowed.
Under current law, a retired person with an IRA can contribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA.
This contribution also counts toward an annual "required minimum distribution." This ability will no longer be there.

HERE is the website where this was drawn from...

I'm beginning to wonder if our parents/grandparents had it right about not trusting banks and other 'institutions' that purported to keep one's money safe... When I look at the bank rates and see 'most' savings and CD rates below 1% rate of return, and the ONLY one above 2% is a 120 month CD you can't touch once you open it; that old mattress is looking better and better, especially if any of the rumors about co-opting our 401K accounts turns out to be true. With gold at its highest value ever, where does one go??? Ammo? Jewels? Some portable instrument sounds like the best deal to me...

Remember YMMV, I'm not a lawyer, don't play one on TV, and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night...

Alzheimer's Test...

How fast can you guess these words?

1. F_ _K
2. PU_S_
3. S_X
4. P_N_S
5. BOO_S
6. _ _NDOM


























Answers:

1. FORK
2. PULSE
3. SIX
4. PANTS
5. BOOKS
6. RANDOM
You got all 6 wrong....didn't you?

Don't worry, nothing is wrong with your memory, it just means you were once in the Navy or probably spent a lot of time around someone that was in the Navy :-)

Now go enjoy the day!!!

Practice, practice, practice...

Went out to the range to shoot the National Match M-1 this weekend at the range, and lack of practice reared it's ugly head yet again... I didn't shoot worth a dang only 1 x and only 2 10 rings. Sigh... And the @#&* extractor decided to start acting up, so after 10 rounds I gave up on the day and wandered over to the pistol range. Low and behold, there was a bowling pin shoot in progress.

Well, stupid me, they said I could jump in, so I paid my money and got on the line...

Yep, didn't do worth a dang there either... I could NOT break 12 seconds any one of the three rounds. I could get 4 of the 5, but that fifth one just ate me up. Now granted I was shooting my carry pistol, but still, that was embarrassing; especially when some of the folks were down in the 6 second range (granted they were shooting race guns, but still...). In the 'production' group, a lady from one of the local gun clubs won with a time of 8 seconds and change! She said she shoots EVERY weekend, and dry fires at least 50 times a night. OBTW, she beat her hubby by almost a full second :-)

Needless to say, HE was not happy, but everybody else got a laugh out of it...

So, after two embarrassments in a row, I tucked my tail and went to yet another range, and practiced for an hour, at least I 'finally' got more or less back on target.

Bottom line, a month off from shooting DEFINITELY impacted my ability, and I sure as hell was NOT smooth in anything I was doing.

Italy is...well... Italy...

Okay, I'm back (physically anyway)... woke up at 0430 and that was it... sigh...

It was HOT over there the entire trip. How hot was it? Well at one point I was walking back to the barracks and I saw a dog, two cats and three lizards ALL sharing the same little piece of shade and they were all just sitting there panting...

On a bit of a historical note-

ADM C. R. Brown received a VIP airplane when he was assigned as CIC Allied Forces Southern Europe in 1958. His nickname was 'Cat' and he was well known and respected by all of his subordinates. When the original aircraft was assigned, there was a contest to name the aircraft, and the name CATBIRD was the 'winner'. This is a picture of the original drawing done by Walt Disney Studios for an emblem to be used as the insignia for the "Catbird" callsign that was painted on the side of the airplane (and Disney only charged the Navy $1 for the exclusive use and rights).

And here it is today... On a C-20 (better known as a Gulfstream G-3); the Catbird is alive and well...

Somebody asked me what kind of rentawreck I had; so here is a picture...

It's a Smartcar on steroids... It's a four door Mercedes A 140, and trust me, it has NO room for luggage... I had one regular size suitcase and it was too big to go in the 'trunk'. To/from the airport I actually had to put it in the back seat!!!

We put four people in it one night to run grab a bite to eat, and it was bottoming the shocks... The only 'good' thing? It got about 70 mpg!!!

The other 'fun' thing about Italy is driving through a roundabout, now I know you Yankees know what that is, and how to drive through one, but trust me, you would NOT like the Italian version...

In Italy there is no such thing as actually obeying those pesky little traffic rules/laws, like the person IN the roundabout has the right of way... Nope, you just drive on in, and as long as you don't LOOK at the cars bearing down on you, YOU have the right of way...

Now it's even MORE fun when you have four or five streets off each one, and multiple lanes on a couple of them, AND throw in a bus and truck or two, and the normal traffic and I'll guarantee you would age about a year per roundabout...

And you know how the US Airports are paranoid about cars parking in front of the terminal for ANY length of time? Well, below is the drop off area in front of the airport I flew out of...

This is about 0630, there are supposed to be three lanes, and I'm standing in front of the handicapped "drop off" spots... People just pulled in parked and got out of their cars and went into the airport, doing who knows what...

And the horns... the horns... EVERYBODY was honking... and a bus was trying to get through and couldn't fit, so the ramp was at a dead stop, and he started laying on the bus horn, and got ignored...

That's a quick and dirty, not much chance to actually go see stuff since this was a working trip, but I am glad this one is over. Now it's back to the daily grind... sigh...

Rednecks...

You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, 'One nation, under God..'

You might be a redneck if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if: You still say ' Christmas' instead of 'Winter Festival.'

You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem

You might be a redneck if: You treat our armed forces veterans with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if: You've never burned an American flag, nor intend to.

You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and raised your kids to do the same.

You might be a redneck if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

Well, I made it back in one piece, off to 'try' to overcome the 6 hour time difference...

First, I want to apologize to those whom I normally read and comment on, I just flat didn't have good connectivity nor, quite honestly, the time to futz around with fighting the firewalls to actually post on a lot of folks blogs.

I'll try to get a post up tomorrow about the trip and some pictures...ZZzzzz

I sense a trend...

What is it they say? Once is an anomoly, twice is a trend, three times is a pattern...

Girlfriends...

A group of 15 year old girlfriends discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that they should meet at at the Dairy Queen next to the Ocean View restaurant because they only had $6.00 between them and Jimmy Johnson, that cute boy in Social Studies, lives on that street and they might see him and they can ride their bikes there.

10 years later, the group of 25 year old girlfriends discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the beer was cheap, they had free snacks, the band was good, there was no cover and there were lots of cute guys.

10 years later, at 35 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the cosmos were good, it was right near the gym and if they go late enough, there wouldn't be too many whiny little kids.

10 years later, at 45 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the martinis were big, and the waiters there had tight pants and nice buns.

10 years later, at 55 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the food there was reasonable, the wine list was good, they had windows that open in case of a hot flash, and fish is good for your cholesterol.

10 years later, at 65 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because lighting was good and they have an early bird special.

10 years later, at 75 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because food was not too spicy, the restaurant was handicapped accessible and they even had an elevator!

10 years later, at 85 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they had never been there before.

And based on some of the folks I know that are mumble age, this is pretty much dead on... Now whereinthehelldidwegolastnight???

Just sayin... :-)

Ye Gods and little green apples...

Well, yesterday "officially" classifies as ONE of those days...

Had to go back up to Riposto, IT on a pickup run for some stuff, so got to 'play' in rush hour traffic Italian style. I'm STILL tryin to get the seat cushion out of my ass... Let's just say it was exciting and leave it at that... And that was just the trip over!!!

So, I finally get up there, pick up the stuff I need to get, and have to come back the other way in MORE rush hour traffic, except that I now have a passenger. Now the speed limit is 60 kph (bout 35 mph), I was running 110 and getting passed by grannies driving 30 year old Fiats, so I picked up the pace to about 130 to stay with the flow...

The old man in front of me is driving about 120, half in his lane, half on the shoulder, so I decide to pass- Now I'm driving a 1.4L turbo diesel (0-60 in hours), so I down shift, rev the hell out of it and get a running start at him, turn on the blinker, move over a half a lane (like a good Italian) and start passing him... kinda, sorta...

So I get about even with his front door, and I see a pair of headlights and a turn signal in my mirror, and they AREN'T slowing down... At this point I floor that little TDI (lot of good THAT did) and ease over a little closer to the old man and a Mercedes comes blowing by at probably 200 kph, close enough that I hear a 'ting' as his mirror hits mine!!!

At the SAME time, the Merc is being passed by a biker (no helmet, and I 'think' shorts on) and HE's running probably 250 kph (and, OBTW, there is a BUS in the oncoming lane now)...

And that SOB is hogging the center line... I'm figuring we're ALL gonna die momentarily, and I sure as hell will NOT have clean shorts on...

And we all manage to miss each other... How I have NO @#&( clue!

So I finally get back to the 'freeway', get back over to roughly where I'm going, and back on the side roads that I "know" from years of experience, and I come up over the railroad tracks, only to meet an Italian version of an 18 wheeler on MY side of the road and half in the ditch (this IS a side road), passing another 18 wheeler... I just turned right onto the train tracks, at that point I figured what the hell... train, 18 wheeler, it doesn't matter, I won't survive either one...

I finally get back to the base, and I realize the guy riding with me hasn't said a word in, oh probably an hour... I look over and he literally has his eyes closed and is gripping the side of the seat and the door handle with a death grip. I poke him and tell him we made it, and he looks over at me and says, "YOU are @#&* CRAZY!" and he gets out of the car an walks away.

Not even a thank you for the ride... sigh... some people...

I'm thinking wine with breakfast is not necessarily a bad idea... (maybe a gallon or two to start the day)