All I need now is a gun rack…

I guess I am going native, I picked up a trailer so that I can transport my rototiller and firewood. LOL

Carry-On 4 ft x 6 ft Trailer, 2000 lb GVWR – | Tractor Supply Company

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Good bye to a classmate

I was at my daughter’s middle school play Beauty and the Beast last Friday and I was reminded of the time that I was in the Senior play my last year in high school. I was reminded because at the end of the B&B I was wondering if the two kids were going to kiss. It would seem appropriate if they did, since Belle and the Beast did fall in love to break the spell. The reason I was reminded of it was because at the end of M*A*S*H Hawkeye fully plants a major smooch on Maj. “Hotlips” Houlihan. I played Hawkeye and Vicki Mullikin played Hotlips.

Spring 1983
Ok, so here I am thinking to myself, I should try out for this Sr. play because I heard the parties were good (e.g. someone inevitably sneaks beer into the party). I tried out, and to my complete surprise the director Mr. Bill (?) called me and one other guy, Grover Tipton, back to re-audition. I thought “crap, did I suck that bad that I needed to re-read just to even get a walk-on part?” I found out that the Mr. Bill couldn’t decide between us who got the lead! Oh man. Well as luck would have it I looked more like Alan Alda (tall & skinny – I only weight 145lbs.!) so I got it. Maybe some iota of talent or gumption helped, who knows.

Vicki was perfect for her role too, she was loud, boisterous, popular and very pretty. She did a great job in the role. I don’t remember if it was in the script or if it was something that the director added in to finish off the end of the play with something provocative, but at the end I was supposed to kiss Hotlips. Sorry, not kiss, that sounds like a peck on the cheek. I was supposed to plant one on her, grab her, bend her over backwards and lay one on her. I freaked. I mean here I am, some skinny geek who was not really that popular, or athletic, or well much of anything outside my small circle of friends. I was even worried that Vicki would even tell Mr. Bill “no way, not gonna do it.” Well, she didn’t, and I got to kiss her four times. The whole play was an incredible experience, not just the kissing part, and Vicki and I actually became friends for a little while afterwards.

Now.
She’s gone. Saturday morning I got an email from Debbie Kohl-Kremer, another classmate that I connected with over the past couple years, asking if I had seen Vicki’s obit in the paper. I couldn’t believe it, I was just thinking about her the night before. She passed away peacefully the night before that. She was in a freak accident at Lake Cumberland in 2003 where a 40′ tree fell on her. Her husband Bernie swam 2+ miles in frigid March water to get help. Help came in time to save her, but it left her parapalegic. I guess she had complications. She was only 44.

I went to her visitation, and met her husband and son. they are doing as well as anyone can, I suppose. I told him that our family has a boat on Cumberland and that their story of the accident was legend down there. I also told him that the heroic courage he displayed that day six years ago is the kind of courage that will also help them get through this. I am sure it will.

I guess that this will start to become more common, losing friends, classmates, eventually family. That’s part of life as we all know.

Like Debbie said to me – “I’m going to use it as a reminder to work less and play more.”

Posted in Classmates, Friends | 1 Comment »

Math CAPTCHA

I was looking for a good CAPTCHA schema that would work in Classic ASP, this is it. Ian and I modified it to use AJAX and jQuery so it runs a little smoother. With the original author’s permission I think that we will redistribute it (or let him). Anyway if you are interested check it out.

http://image-genesis.com/captcha/

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M.I.A. – quick catch up

Ok, I know that I have been a little Missing In Action but it has been a really busy few months. There were plenty of things that I want to talk about, but just couldn’t commit the time. So here is the synopsis:

• Song of the Moment: M.I.A. – Paper Airplanes (Not for the faint-of-heart – or small children)
• I am so proud that our nation has moved on and elected Barak Obama. I just hope that he can fix the CF left behind by his predecessor
• I got totally serious about getting back in shape, and have put on about 10 lbs (which is a good thing). I hope to gain another 10 by summer. I hate our gym (Silverlake) and will be looking at others now that our contract is up.
• I also started running again, and it’s hard to believe how much punishment the body can take and still keep going. Each run gets easier, but later my shins and back are killing me. Hopefully this will get better…
• Buddy has been making great improvements in his speech, but still has anger management difficulties when he’s frustrated with something. (Though he likes Milestones much more this year)
• The recession hasn’t hit us very hard (yet), but I think we are going to put off building the cabin until next year
• I finally broke down and joined Facebook and to my surprise I really like it. Single serving “friends” are what I expected, but I actually have been able to catch up with some people that I have always wondered how they were doing. Mainly people I knew from Dixie Heights (high school) and old Navy buddies.
• I saw Coraline and LOVED IT!
• I am planning a garden in our side yard. I don’t really like gardening all that much, but I want to grow things that are hard to get at the local markets. Plus it’s that whole green footprint thing. We’ll see how it goes.
• RANT: I am going to post an entry about this and I encourage you to comment. I had $2200 disappear from my bank account due to credit card fraud, and it was totally the banks’ fault. They had a security breach and sent me a new CC. No big deal right? Well, did you know that when you activate your new card, the old one is not deactivated? I didn’t know that and the bank made good on it, but it took them almost a week to credit my account. I was damn lucky my account wasn’t wiped clean.
• I saw this ad – I hope that it stays true to Maurice Sendak’s original children’s book because it was my favorite as a kid

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Sailin’ South

My friend Dan is in the middle of sailing his boat from the Chesapeake Bay, near Annapolis, south to who-knows-where mainly trying to get away from cold – “anywhere warm” according to him.

Right now he is in Oriental, North Carolina and he made the front page of the town’s website – this time just for being caught in his pajama’s.

http://towndock.net/on-the-cover/pajamas-on-the-town-dock

Posted in Dan Haywood, Friends | 1 Comment »