Perspectives

Kind of a follow-up to yesterday's Memorial Day.

This morning I had my annual Veteran's Administration physical, just their chance to check the status of my service-connected stuff & see if any new issues have cropped up (and yes, my health is still fine, for those who may care).

Every time I visit the VA Hospital I'm reminded how lucky I am.

I walk down the halls, and I am fortunate. I see people using canes. Prosthetic legs. Wheelchairs. Or having to be moved by someone else, because they can't anymore.

I look at my reflection in the glass, and am grateful I am not burdened with horrible scars or missing features or limbs.

I can answer the questions from the doctors and nurses, because I still am able to hear and speak.

I am able to see these things because I still have both my eyes.

And I am able to go home to my family at the end of it all, because I was able to come back and adjust to life without some of the issues others have; and because I still have a family to be with.

It just puts things into perspective how lucky I am, and how little right I have to complain for having come through this life relatively unscathed.

Memorial Day

A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, National Guard, or Reservist....is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a check payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life".

That is an honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.

Author Unknown

For most people today is a chance to enjoy a day off from work, to sleep late & maybe to do a cookout, go to the park or visit friends and family.

For me, today is always a day I remember those friends throughout fourteen years of service, who for whatever reason, had to cash that check they wrote.

I am proud to have known you, and honored to have served with you. The sacrifices made by you and your families will never be forgotten as long as I live. Thank you for giving of yourself that others may know freedom.

Rest in peace.

Nothing to say

Sorry, the lack of posting lately has been due to my mind not really wanting to share more than a lack of my muse. Hopefully I can straighten it out soon - Lovely Wife left me a meme to take care of and I have other stuff to catch up on but it just hasn't been there...

Wow progress at last

Got the tub surround in today... which was an exercise in defying physics and developing some interesting word combinations - YOU try fitting two items the same size into the same space at once without something breaking, not counting moving things through doors smaller than intended...

But the tub part is done & curing for the next day; now it's time to look at the tile job while the motivation is still there.

Hoping to return to cop posts soon, but hey one room out of many is 50% done.

Found the problem, and the solution

No updates lately due to home insanity, busy work & not feeling good.

BUT

We finally got the piping done in the bathroom - a whole week later!

My wife found the root of the problem - apparently, I wasn't showing enough plumber crack.... once we laughed at that it all started working better.

So, our new suggestion for any plumbing how-to guide - include a rating for each job on exactly how much butt crack one must show in order to properly complete the task....


Now onto the tub portion!

New template

Since according to my wife the old one was "boring, grandmothery, and looked like everyone else that I read" I decided to try this one... may work on fonts and colors more tonight but here's the first change.

I'm also way overdue to edit my blogroll, so that is on the list as well.

Boy, that went easier than the bathroom - go figure!

Timing is Everything

Like the rest of the blogosphere, May is home improvement month apparently...

Well, sometime yesterday I decided to play host to an ickybug that wants to have fun with my stomach, head, and whole achy body... on a day I'm supposed to have training along with all the other junk.

So when do I decide it's a good time to pull out the old bathtub and install a new one (which has been waiting for a year) - yep, today. When I called in sick, and can barely make it across the house without dizziness.

The project started well - had 90% of what I needed on hand, which is about 40% more than normal. The initial removal-of-old-material was going according to plan...

But of course, when dealing with a house assembled by drunken, ignorant, malicious and incompetent chimpanzees, things are never as easy as you hope.

It started with having to drill out a few fittings where the screws had corroded - relatively normal. Then we find that the drywall was added OVER a few things instead of around... even more fun.

Then we get to the real fun. Our 1930's house has the cast iron tub installed directly on some joists... no subfloor, not properly anchored or anything. So now I have to HOPE a big pipe wrench is going to loosen this last fitting, plus I have to find a way to lever it out without destroying the rest of the room in the process, and then move the danged thing.

Yeah, today was the day to start this project. I'm a flipping genius sometimes.

Tactical Timmy

or Mall Ninja has a new job...

Over the years Tam, KDT and Marko have all posted various quality rants about the increasing militarization of our police forces, as well as the various "wanna-be's" that float about society.

Well, yesterday I think I had the best encounter I had with one of those that I've encountered in years...

Got home from a night's work and took Jacob out for donuts, and on the way home got called out for a suspicious item at our local railroad. Got down there, met up with the other guys from the unit & right away I see a figure off to the side in the green jumpsuit, tacti-cool gear and requisite goatee and sunglasses. My first thought was "Are the feds here already? Did I miss something important on the way down?" - then I looked closer and realize...

It's a railway cop.

Not only that - but on taking my closer look I start picking up all the other fun details.

He's got the "mock-trident" insignia some guy came up with, and "Counter-Terrorist Unit" embroidered on at least three items of his clothing...

The Glock with every special accessory that he could find, guaranteed to look good for his buddies and completely ruin any chance he has of dealing with a malfunction...

The tactical vest, belt, flashlight, three multitools, etc - but no handcuffs and just the two pistol magazines they apparently trust him with.

The $20 boots, bloused for the proper field look, but barely a scratch on them...

And for the next five hours we got to hear his stories, and all the ways he wanted to hook up with our SWAT guys to do entries and training and everything else...

I was amazed he wasn't running around with his fully-tricked out M4gery, ready to handle the infidel hordes in true Jack Bauer fashion...

Yes, I had some great side comments throughout the day - I couldn't help it... I was nice and at least kept them quiet!

The bad part for me isn't that mall ninja found a new job... it's that the railroad actually lets him play this game, and they somehow feel safer...