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Contest Today

Today is the day our district's OMEA Solo and Ensemble Contest takes place at Perrysburg High School The young one and his Sara along with many other musicians from his school in all levels of the instrumental music program will be participating. This is an adjudicated event in which students perform for an assigned OMEA judge and are assessed on their rudiment skills and a solo that they have worked to prepare. The young one is scheduled to participate at 2-ish and his Sara before him 1-ish this afternoon.

The event is an important step in the process in preparing for his (and his Sara's) audition for entry into the College of Music. With this event under his belt, he will have experienced again the pressures of "showing his pro" one on one with an adjudicator observing him, and he will get a chance to be able to practice managing his anxiety. He is very much a perfectionist and will doubtless be unhappy with his performance no matter how exceptional it really is, but the experience is a valuable one, and I am glad that he has taken the responsibility to prepare for it and follow through. I will let you know later how everything goes...for now keep him, his Sara and his friends in your good thoughts for skilled performances and a good showing today.

On a totally unrelated note...at Daytona International Speedway today, the "DURA Rolex 24 At Daytona" begins. Special events include 5k Run/Walk, Chili Cook Off, Wine and Cheese Party at Daytona International Speedway. This is of special interest to me for two reasons: 1) Years ago, I was actually at the speedway once (very cool BTW) and 2) I have a friend who is going today to see the race. Should be very interesting to hear about later after it ends on Sunday. To see the beginning of the race, tune in to your local Fox affiliate for the first ninety minutes and two other segments as well, to be aired through the 24 hour span. (To catch a glimpse of my friend there, look in the infield for the RV with Georgia license plates ***private joke***)

That's it for now...back later with more about contest perhaps, and maybe even an update on the Rolex 24...much love to you...

v

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6:00 PM - Returned home from contest and dinner with the young one and his Sara. Results of the day...see the photo, right? The ranking is based on a system of roman numerals I thru V, with I being the best and V being the lowest you can get. In the photo, the young one is ID Number 2216 - and......he got a "I" in Class A solo for percussion! His Sara got a "II" in Class A for her euphonium solo as well, so I am practically bursting with pride! Long and stressful day finally over, the young one and his Sara are recreating in the living room watching "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". I will be taking it easy here in my room, and the firstborn and his Ann are secluded in their room resting as well. All in all the house is calm and quiet, save the occasional giggle from downstairs....a good day, with calm finally setting in, snow falling lightly and all seems pretty good in our part of the world.

Checked on the race online when I got home and found a cool race blog on SpeedTV website, written by Mike Johnson (I'm not sure who he, is but the blog is very engaging and informational) Since the race has started, I'm not sure how he will be doing much posting, but it will be interesting to check back later to see what he has to say about things.

Well, that's it from here...good day, eh?...much love to you...

v

On the mend...(I Think)

Everyone in the house save the young one at home right now, although except for the extreme fatigue from being ill (all asleep now but me) all seem to be hanging in. Food not an issue as noone has the inclination to eat yet, to assure that tummies calm down and the easy stuff like water and gatorade will stay down. Both Ann and the firstborn working later today, so the sleep is good for them, and having them sleeping in my room where I can keep an eye on them also helps make me feel better, since I can assure that they are OK easier that way.

While they rest and recover, I have been trying to relax and not work on stuff that I am behind on and have been thinking about. I decided to revisit a project that I was working on a long time ago...one that came to me since my hire-in at my new job. The creativity in the office inspired me to try a project similar to one that the artists execute for new hires...the "Root Wall" artist rendering of new staff. Being inspired by the awesome job that Adam did on my Root Wall portrait, I thought I would try my hand at it in a portrait for my friend "strollerguy". Take a look at the sketch at the top of this post....product of a lot of experimentation and learning....I think it is a pretty good rendering of him.

In any case, may be back with more later...off to take a nap now...all are feeling better than yesterday and apparently on the mend...much love to you...

v

A lull in the action....

So far for about a half hour now, noone taking a trip to the facilities, hurling or any other characteristic action of acute gastro-intestinal distress...everyone currently at home (Ann, the firstborn and myself) are all one stage or another in becoming ill. Seems very nice and convenient though that we seem to have gotten ourselves in sync of sorts, so noone is in misery waiting for access to the restroom. The young one is currently out...if he is not feeling poorly as well, perhaps he would be well advised to stay with a friend tonight, so as not to get contaminated!

Anyhow...for now, this is a sick house...if not better by morning we will all be home commiserating about how awful we feel...more later perhaps...till then, love to you...

v

Breathing Room...

In subtle ways, everyone at my house is making an effort to get set with a little “wiggle room”, as it were…a little extra time, a little extra money, a tiny little bit of “doing something fun instead of something you have to do” time…the last few weeks have been very burdensome on all of us and have taxed our patience, drained our resources and our time, and left us all feeling used, tapped out and very very tired.

As it has always been and always will be, the rollercoaster seems to be climbing the next hill; where the summit will be, there is no way to know. All we know for sure now, we have sluggishly passed through the low part of the course and it is time to travel back up toward the sky and see what is on the other side of the next crest.

Also as always, good is taken from challenge and learning has occurred in the most distressing of situations…our task at hand now is to assure that we retain the learning and move past the disappointments…that is how we can yank some success from the jaws of what seemed like dismal failure.

With that in mind, our family moves ahead…stronger, braver and more adaptable than we were before….we have overcome our current challenges…in the grand scheme of things they are already distant memories…we live, we learn……such is life….

With much love to you….

v

This is MY part of Ohio....

Or.....

(POP Tiffin MS, Part 2)

By about 3:30, I had all my things packed up and was trudging, pack mule style to my car. Once dumping my supplies back in Matt's auto in the passenger seat, I situated myself behind the wheel on the driver side and composed my thoughts. There were several things to consider, not the least of which was how the heck to get back to the route north toward Fremont. Relying on my never ending supply of optimism and infallible sense of direction, I set out to make my way in the nebulous "north" direction (on the one way street grid of Tiffin) with the intention of reconnecting with Rt 53 and proceeding on to Fremont.


The turns I made as I left the area around the school felt "right", so I proceeded with a moderate level of confidence, although little was familiar, landmark-wise. As I passed the courthouse, it seemed that even the statue in the lawn in front was aware of my predicament, as he stood high above the traffic on the street, pointing off in some direction that I did not think I wanted to go (needless to say, I did not take HIS advice!) As I passed under his outstretched arm, I seemed to see him watch and shake his head….he, as so many others before him, indicating his incredulousness at my seeming ineptitude as far as navigation is concerned.

With congratulations to myself, I did manage to make my way back to Rt 53 and on my way out of town without losing my way ONCE! I drove for about five miles, sites seen on the way south earlier in the day further reassuring me that I was indeed where I wanted to be, when without fanfare or warning, all heck started breaking loose inside my purse. My cell phone indicated by its lovely “receiving text messages” tone that I was getting a boatload of them (only ended up being 6, and four of them were reminders to go to the event in Tiffin **rofl**) and the Blackberry vibrated dutifully to let me know that someone was working WAY too hard today and sending email to my work account. I pulled out the cell phone to make a quick call (can you say “communications withdrawl”?) to check to assure that all was well at the homestead. No worries there, so I continued on with my drive, intent on sightseeing and enjoying the brilliantly sunny and crisp winter day in Ohio.


My first stop of interest was an old cemetery that is situated at the side of the road in Ballville Township called Hill Cemetery. It is not situated on a hill, as such, so there must be some “Hill” family affiliation somewhere. I pulled off the road to take a few pictures (these types of places are intriguing in the antiquity to me) and then headed on my merry way.


My next point of serious interest was the “Fremont Airport”. This little patch of land with one large plane situated to face the road was interesting in the fact that I could observe no hint of a landing strip anywhere in the vicinity of the planes. There was one “hanger” with two small planes in or near it, and a sign, also situated by the road, indicating the availability of “Rides”. Hmmm…the next time you think you are inconvenienced at your major national airport with your national carriers, think of it this way…..you could be flying out of FREMONT.

While driving toward Fremont, I considered my options. I often think that I would like to take a little trip over to the Hayes Presidential Center there, as I have not been there in “a coon’s age” (whatever that is”). The ex, the firstborn and I were known to go there with some frequency when the firstborn was young, to make use of the extensive genealogy library they maintain there with records pertaining to the founding folks of that area. At that time, we were extensively involved in researching the history of my dad’s family. With help from the ex’s uncle, Henry Timman, historian for Huron County, and acknowledged genealogy guru, we were able to flesh out a family history for me (and the boys) about my dad’s side of the family, that did not exist in any form, to my knowledge. In the process, I also became acquainted with a real living distant relative, as well, who provided a lot of information that went very far back, so the Presidential Center has some very pleasant memories for me. With that in mind, when the sign came that indicated the turn off Rt 53 toward the Presidential Center, today, I did not drive by; I turned.

The short drive to the Presidential Center, on the grounds of the Hayes home, known as Spiegel Grove, was nice enough. The center is located in an area of Fremont that is obviously older; large stately homes surround the Hayes Center, and the facility itself, with the Presidential Library, the Hayes home and the grounds, sits on a very substantial piece of property in this residential neighborhood. As I approached the gates, I recalled so many other times of passing through, the young one not even a twinkle in the eye yet, and the firstborn most likely asleep in his car seat, lulled into submission during the forty-five minute or so drive. I drove up the shaded winding driveway to the parking area at the Presidential Library and paused a moment there to take a photo. Memories continued to come back of walking the grounds, and becoming familiar with all the staff and resources at the center as we spent so many hours there working. I was saddened to realize how long ago that was, and considered with regret the possibility that some of the people there who had been so kind and understanding to us with our young tag-along had likely passed on. With a hint of sadness at that, I proceeded up the driveway toward Spiegel Grove.


In the afternoon sun, filtered by the tall pines, Spiegel Grove stood, dignified and beautifully understated. This photo really does not do the home justice…to fully appreciate it , you really need to see it in person. I continued on my drive around the automobile accessible parts of th grounds and then taking one last look at the home, I directed myself back to the imposing front gates and headed back toward Rt 53 and home….so I thought.


Once back on Rt 53, I noted a plume of very white “something” in the distance. As I headed toward my ramp to proceed on Rt 20 back toward Toledo, the nature of the something became clear….Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant, on Rt 2 was executing a regular release of steam and the cold winter air allowed the released water to maintain its snowy white appearance for an extended period of time as it wafted away from the cooling tower. Oddly enough, I had recently been engaged in discussion with a friend about just an event such as this, as they too were all too familiar with the processes that can be observed when you live around a nuclear power plant. Deciding that this was too good a photo opportunity to pass up, and although I had no idea how I was going to get there from where I was, I decided to follow the plume to get some pictures. At the first country road that headed in the general direction of the plant, I turned, and off I went, totally clueless as to where I was going other than knowing that I was going to keep turning toward the cloud of steam.

I felt OK about this….I was heading north after all…and north was the GENERAL direction I wanted to head in anyway. I knew that I would eventually cross the turnpike (one landmark) and hit or cross other major roadways, so I figured that this excursion was a low risk deal at best. The only thing I did not check was level of gasoline in the tank (in retrospect, that would have probably been a good idea – lots of rural roads and all that) but as it happened, I passed through several small towns on my travel, including Oak Harbor, so I was very seldom totally out in the “boonies”. And as long as the cooling tower continued to loom larger in my field of view as I drove, I knew I was going in basically the right direction.

And loom it did….as I continued to drive, the plume became more and more prominent in the sky and the facility itself was much easier to see. The tower poked high into the clear blue sky and the brilliant white steam floated steadily from the top. As much as I was totally interested in the sight, I observed as so many people driving on the roads with me were totally oblivious…in my tiny little mind, I wondered how they could not be interested in such a cool looking thing going on in the sky just above their heads.


Route 2 goes past the plant, and is one of the direct routes to the Sandusky area (Cedar Point) from Toledo. There are a lot of cool things to see beside the power plant, including several wildlife preserves and parks. This ironic picture is taken of the entrance to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. No birds falling from the sky, but some can be observed flying….my question…does Blinky the three-eyed fish live here? I also drove past a sign for Bono – not the singer, but the town. There are a couple more photos of Bono-esque items in the Flickr photo album, right.


My last little bit of fun came as I got closer to Toledo, and realized that my trip on Route 2 ended me up at Route 280 as my way to proceed the rest of the way home. All the Toledo folks will tell you that Route 280’s current claim to fame is the slalom track you have to drive under the construction for the new bridge over the Maumee River, which has a name, but I forget what it is. It reminds me very much of the Clark Bridge that I was so enamored with when I visited Alton, Illinois awhile ago….that photo still resides on my computer as my desktop picture. There are some really great photos of the construction area and the progress on the bridge work in the Flickr album, but this one is by far my favorite (I even amazed myself on this one!)

The rest of the drive went by without incident or sights of interest to snap photos of. Once home, I moved all the photos off my camera to my computer and relived my day by looking at them. I’m glad I took the time to explore a little of my part of Ohio yesterday, and I am happy that I have this opportunity to share it all with you.

Hope you enjoyed it…and enjoy the photos in the Flickr album…..back tomorrow with a much shorter post….till then, much love to you….

v

January 20, 2007 – Power of the Pen – Tiffin Middle School

Or......

I hope this is not setting precedent...

(Preface - If you are unfamiliar with the program Power of the Pen , please click on the link to learn more about it before you proceed)

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Stayed much longer at work than I should have last night, with several problems and responsibilities there taking a lot of concentration and effort. When I got home, I had to prep things for today (I know; ever the procrastinator) and when all was said and done, I finally fell into bed to grab a few winks of sleep at nearly 3 AM. I knew that the travel to Tiffin would be relatively uneventful and in comparison to some of the events that I have scored, the distance not long, so I allowed myself the liberty of sleeping till 6 before literally throwing myself out of bed to get myself ready to leave.

I had every good intention; I had my computer ready with drivers loaded, a bag ready to be packed, and my Nano loaded with all the music I could have ever wanted to listen to in the hours that pass between doing nothing to being the center of everything at these events. I stopped on the way out of town to grab a quick nibble, then hopped on the expressway to head toward Tiffin, by way of Perrysburg and Fremont.

The morning was cold, but the car was not; it was a comfortable drive and I was actually taking enough time to grab the camera out of my backpack/purse to snap a few pictures of the beautiful sky as the sun started to rise. The progress to the split in Fremont was quick…because I was distracted by the fact that my Nano had stopped dead (froze) when I tried to use it in lieu of the radio on the last leg of the drive. Frustrated, I dropped it on the seat with my other items of necessity on this trip and redirected my attention to the road.

Tiffin is a college town, but even with that in mind, it has the appearance of a small community. It has a pretty little downtown area and several high schools, as well as Tiffin University and Heidelberg College within its boundaries. It was (not sure if it still is) home to the State Mental Hospital (a standing joke among folks who are long time residents of the area). Tiffin must also hold some sort of world record for the most one way streets in a small town...How do I know all this, you ask?

Well...once crossing the city limits line of Tiffin, all of my magical intuitive navigation skills went totally OUT THE WINDOW, and I spent way too many minutes driving east to west and then eventually north to south, criss-crossing the area in which my Mapquest map indicated the school would be. Finally, I spied a very welcome “School Zone” sign. Eureka, I thought to myself; finally my flawless sense of direction had gotten me to my destination! Alas, it was not to be; the school was Tiffin Calvert High School, and in my desperation I entered its hallowed halls seeking aid in my quest for the elusive Tiffin Middle School. A very lovely lady there actually escorted me to the school from Calvert HS, assuring that I reached my goal without further incident. I cannot express how nice it was to encounter such a generous soul so early on a Saturday morning!

Once at the school, I resituated all the accoutrements of my work in their containers for transport into the building. I first approached (logically) the main doors to the building. All locked, and taking a peek inside, I saw no lights on and no activity of the human sort. Not totally unusual for events of this kind, and after all, even with my “dilly-dallying”, I was still early for any activity of the registration or scoring sort. Nonplussed, I proceeded to a side door; the parking lot there appeared to be the temporary home to quite a number of vehicles. A pull on the door handle….also locked; all four of them. I peeked in these doors; at least there were lights on in the hall! Standing in the cold air (did I mention it was cold?) and with all my supplies in their bags, slung over my shoulder, I stood disheartened at the door, wondering if there was some OTHER Tiffin Middle School that I didn’t know about. Just as I was losing hope, I saw a woman walking in the hall inside. I knocked on the door and gestured to her to let me in. She came to the door and held it open; I queried, “Is the Power of the Pen event to be held here today?”. She responded yes, it was, and offered to escort me to the staging area in the building. Isn’t it nice that so many people are willing to take care of me? I have been twice amazed so far today at how kind and generous people have been.

The event Tabulation Room is in the Media Center. I chose a tiny piece of desk in the Mac (yay!) lab there. The lab is equipped with about thirty eMacs, and the building, as far as I can tell is equipped with at least 4 unsecured access points. My NIC (Network Interface Card) is old and not all that good, so although I can connect to the access points, the signal is not strong enough to support a connection (after some additional investigation, I determined that there was a further complication of a manual proxy in use for filtering services for their district which was impairing my ability to use the wireless access points to surf and use instant messaging). No worries, I thought to myself; I still have my Blackberry and RAZR if I need to communicate with the outside world.

OK, so here’s the deal…there must be some sort of “black hole of communication” in Tiffin. The RAZR can get no signal, even after power off/ power on (I will probably try the “remove the battery” reset a little later) The Blackberry is in exactly the same circumstance; I don’t think that I have ever seen it with NO SIGNAL AT ALL. Coincidentally, both are connecting using Cingular wireless service; perhaps they would be well advised to “enhance” coverage in the Fremont/Tiffin area?

Right now it is about 9:45 and orientation is going on for the students (a Welcome Address) and the tab room staff. When I arrived at about 8:30 the student volunteers were getting their orientation about what runners do and other stuff that they can help with. Once all the registrations are looked over for changes, they will be handed over to me, so that I can change any team members (drop/add) or teams (drop) in the scoring database. After that task is complete, I will wait again, until the first round of writing is over, then I will have some data entry to do. The event has 10 teams today with usually 6 kids per team. There are three rounds of writing for which I will enter scores; not a high pressure day, but accuracy is imperative so it never pays to be complacent.

I think I will save this document for now…go track down some coffee…I think I am gonna NEED it!....back in a bit…

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Been drawing for about an hour….as I was waiting for scores to come to me, I overheard one of the late arrivals to the Tab room explaining to all the other folks in a rather loud voice that she was late because SHE GOT LOST. See, it is not nearly as uncommon as you might have thought, since it was only me up to this point that had a hard time getting here! Again, the issue of the “one way street” plague was mentioned as well. Also, I overheard a person who is apparently a teacher, or AV person for Tiffin Schools complaining with some contempt that someone had used a Whiteboard as a dry erase board in one of the rooms…they need to put the little warning labels on theirs like the ones that have been applied to the ones in our local district!

Scores coming in now (11:25 AM), so off to data entry; more in a little while.

_________________________________________________________________

After a few groups of sheets, I decided to dig up the iPod Shuffle to keep my distracting outside noises under control; nothing worse than hearing people around me speaking the same kinds of numbers and letters that I am trying to enter...can be very confusing...so now Neverending White Lights is my companion as I go back to data entry...back later...

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After many score sheets, two pieces of pizza and a can of Coke that one of the tab room folks very kindly brought to me, it was time to finally rank the scores so that reports could be run for the awards ceremony scheduled to take place at 2:30. I did the ranking on the 7th grade only to find that there were ties that needed to be broken by the representative of POP that was running the event. I generated the scratch sheet for her to use to figure everything out and then waited to see what would happen next. There were two ties of students so evenly matched that it was determined that there was no way that they could be broken, so the tie was left as is. This made it necessary to manually renumber the rankings for all the top people in that grade level so the two students tied would be both be the same rank and then the ranking from that point would continue with the next number. I did not recall the procedure for doing this, so we had to make a call to the Big Kahuna of POP, Frank Merrill. Our unfortunate connections with cell phones caused us to have a significant amount of difficulty communicating, but Frank, much to his credit, was persistent, so the issues were resolved, the reports were run, the newspaper people got their information, the ceremony proceeded only marginally later than scheduled, and as I was leaving, as there always is, I heard the cheers of kids emanating from the gym, where the awards were being...well...”awarded”.... :-)

When I left, I had no idea how to get back to the route I came in on because the lady who was kind enough to get me to the school traveled on the few roads that I had not already driven on my own during my early rambling tour of Tiffin. I decided to head in a general northerly- feeling direction and hope for the best. Amazingly enough, staying the course (so to speak) and trusting in my own sense of direction, rather than some dumb map paid off. I approached an intersection after a few minutes of my northern progress and as I got my bearings, I burst into peals of uncontrollable laughter...I was again at the intersection I had originally turned on to create my “lost” condition; now it was taking me back exactly to where I wanted to be....

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In a change from my usual rambling narratives about the POP experiences, I am stopping here for this day’s entry. I took quite an extensive “long way home” drive after the tournament, and in order to do it justice, I have decided to take tonight to work on it a little more and post it tomorrow, along with a photo companion...stop back tomorrow for the concluding entry for this weekend’s Power of the Pen event saga...."This is my part of Ohio"

v

Meet Hoss Delgado

".......equipped with all options, 4WD, Dana axles, a hefty Chrysler Torqueflite transmission, and to top it all off, its motivated by not the Chrysler 318 V8 but the AMC 360 cid V8. 5.9 litres of house ripping power kids."

- from Jan 18, 2007 post, "Fuel Economy is for Suckers"

"Heaven has no rage..."

"...like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

- William Congreve

Finished

Don't know why and don't even have it in me to care anymore...winter cold and frigid indifference has hardened my heart. No more overtures, no more giving heart and soul for nothing in return....I am too old and too tired to go keep going through this kind of angst; I quit.

This Longing - Neverending White Lights

This endless longing as it was before
And all my angels came alive once more
They said "hey, you in the dark"

Another day spent in a broken shell
And all my demons they know all too well
They say "god..you..take your soul"

This life was meant to take from your breath
Away

I seem so empty
My endless longing goes on
I'm living like I'm lost these days

No comfort in the dark....

I sit alone in the darkness of my room, no pleasure here, nothing to console my aching heart and soothe my troubled mind...so little said, but so much is lost...nothing left...how easily joy comes into a life, and how painful when it leaves it.....and the gaping void that remains...how can it ever be filled again?

So many things to say, yet noone to say them to...so much to give and noone to receive....no second chance, no hope, no forever....all gone...no reason...simply...taken away...

Two strikes.....

One more and I will be totally out...of patience, of time, of money....cars are in bad shape right now, with both Gunhaver and Viktor with transmission problems (read DO NOT GO). The young one is now without his car so that I can get to and from work, and the firstborn has challenges with getting both to work and school. Tempers are short here and frustration levels are high...keep us in your good thoughts as we try to figure out how we are going to fix this. Just figures....

Since I can't afford to hire a skywriter.....

Never had problems saying so, and have many times in my life....don't ever want ego or stubbornness to perpetuate a misunderstanding....if I messed up, I'm sorry (see photo)....please forgive me...

v

From "gapingvoid.com"

Quick post, but massively GREAT news....

The young one received notification on Saturday that because of his HS GPA and college board test results, he has qualified for the maximum amount available under the University of Toledo's "Tower Scholarship". He will continue to be qualified for this scholarship for three years as long as he continues to conform to its criteria, of number of credit hours and college GPA.

He is well on his way, with auditions to the College of Music fast approaching and the filing of forms for financial assistance due very soon. It really is happening....he will be following his dream of music ed...a very exciting time

More later, perhaps....much love to you....

v

IMPORTANT UPDATE.....

In a post pirated directly from the Sea of Quiddity site of author David Wayne Black, here is the latest info on the Dream Warriors project:
________________________________________________

"Thanks only to "my girl Friday," Vicki, ALL 47 segments of the "Dream Warriors" manuscript are now available as audio files. These will work on most mp3 players, including your iPod and Windows Media Player.

If you prefer the text versions, those are online as well.

All at www.davidwayneblack.com .

Please note that, while all of THIS is free, the CONCLUSION of the non-fiction work is NOT. More details to follow soon...

david

P.S. "Dream Warriors" is not to be confused with the most excellent "Dream Reaper." For more on that, please visit www.myspace.com/hackmovies ."

___________________________________________

Keep checking back....big things happening with this project.

v

We embark on the journey.....

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called "Opportunity" and its first chapter is New Year's Day."

- Edith Lovejoy Pierce
_________________________________________________

First one awake, and the house very quiet on this very first day of the new year. It is still damp outside from yesterday's torrential downpour, but there is no fog this morning and all is calm (not even a dog barking or car on the street to break the silence)

The firstborn and his Ann spent their first New Years Eve together in the comfort of our home (I am so glad about that) and rang in the change of the year together. The young one, with his newly acquired independence, traveled to an event at his Sara's church and spent a bit of time there before heading on home. I had spent the bulk of the day yesterday in technology endeavors, and although not physically taxing, I was mentally fatigued, so is spent the evening at home, listening to the fireworks from the "First Light" celebration in our town about 9:30 and the fireworks set off throughout my neighborhood at midnight.

There have been successes and failures for everyone here this past year. Those are now in, in every sense of the word, "in the past". This is the forward-looking day, the first one of a year full of potential. Happiness and success wait here to be created...comittment and effort will be involved, but truly that is what makes the successes and happiness all the sweeter.

As I ruminate here on this, so do my progeny, the firstborn at ironduke.net and the young one on his own site at BuddhaofDrumming. For them, this year has much larger implications, and looms imposingly in front of them as they embark on the work of creating their lives to come. They are people of talent and quality (not because they are my children, mind you!) and are not put off by hard work...the year that they will shape will be very interesting to observe.

As you progress through your year, may your successes be plentiful, your challenges all be conquerable and your happiness grow exponentially throughout. I think of you often and with love, and look forward to our shared happiness and successes in the year to come.

v