According tk the AEP website, Lancaster power will be restored by midnight, July 7th. I'll be staying at Linda's. I feel bad for those who have no place to go.

Drive through Lancaster on the way outta town. It was awful. Trees. Very old trees uprooted, landing on historic homes.

No power since 5 sumthin last night. Could be five days before they can restore it. Goodbye to a freezer full of food.

Storm comin.

Chuck :D
Sent from my iPhone

I love experimenting with food. :D I made salmon baked in a mixture of homemade bbq sauce (spicy) and seedless blueberry preserves (sugar free). OMG, it was delicious!! Sydney loved it too!

Linda and I made sushi

Had a Groupon for private sushi making lessons! It was awesome.

We made 4 rolls, and ate them. Spicy Tina, soft shell crab, spicy eel, and a California roll.

Chuck :D
Sent from my iPhone

Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes: Columbus Step Out

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/duckwalkers
We are the Duckwalker family!

Join us to walk, or donate if you can. Every little bit will help!

Why do bat shit crazy people, who've been blocked, continue to try and view my page? One in particular. I think I made it clear that I think she's looney toons and a certifiable nut-job!

Lazy day Saturday

I've not done much all day today... just the way I like it. :D

I did get up around 5 or so to install an outdoor light for Linda's porch. The one she had out there was brass, and it had this awful patina/rust on it... it was horrible.

I replaced it with a powder coated cast aluminum. It's really nice, and fits the new little 60w (equivalent) cfl bulbs. Not only pretty, but cost efficient.
I also replaced the doorbell a few weeks ago that didn't work.


We were going to have another fire in the pit tonight, but I think we're gonna sit this one inside due to a chance of storms. Ordering pizza and gonna sit in front of the tube watching movies and the Food Network. :D

And now, I'll leave you with one of the pics I've downloaded and worked on a bit this weekend.

Gah

I get home last night to a toilet that's leaking. Fun stuff. It's hot, and I've just worked all day. I'm in NO mood to deal with this mess. Little did I realize what a mess it was going to be.

Of course, there's water. Everywhere. My daughter doesn't seem to understand that a towel will only soak up so much water, until it becomes ineffective. Moving the towel around doesn't work. The water was turned off, but if she had to use it at all, the tank filled up, and what was left in the tank leaked out.

I get home and try to remove the bolt and figure I'd just apply some washers/bushings, and we'd be good to go. Yeah, right! The bolt was a horrible mess... felt like the washer under it just fell away in my fingers (it did, really). The bolt was rusted in place.

They make the bolts in tanks so stoopidly... How in the world are you to get any kinda grip on a flathead screw IN THE TANK, in order to really apply pressure to loosen the rusty nut? You can't. I can't. So now, I have a tank with NO bushings, so that a small leak will be a large one, as I don't have the tools to remove the screw until tomorrow evening. (I lost all my tools in the fire YEARS ago.)

By then end of this (and it's not even fixed) I'm wet, sweaty, dirty (those bolts and innards of the tank get a sediment of sorts... no, not POO!), and my fingers hurt from trying to pry that damned nut off!

To make matters worse, my daughter is sick (she gave herself food poisoning... d'oh!) She seems better today, but it wasn't so fun for her last night, or this morning, without a properly working toilet.

It's funny how we take these modern conveniences for granted, until that moment when they aren't readily available, or working properly.

The Airman's Creed

My daughter has to know this before going in...

This is the Airman's promise to country and colleagues.

I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN.
I AM A WARRIOR.
I HAVE ANSWERED MY NATION'S CALL.

I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN.
MY MISSION IS TO FLY, FIGHT, AND WIN.
I AM FAITHFUL TO A PROUD HERITAGE,
A TRADITION OF HONOR,
AND A LEGACY OF VALOR.

I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN,
GUARDIAN OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE,
MY NATION'S SWORD AND SHIELD,
ITS SENTRY AND AVENGER.
I DEFEND MY COUNTRY WITH MY LIFE.

I AM AN AMERICAN AIRMAN:
WINGMAN, LEADER, WARRIOR.
I WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AIRMAN BEHIND,
I WILL NEVER FALTER,
AND I WILL NOT FAIL

Geekiness

Ok, so I'm a geek. This we all know. Some realize it more than others. It's a large part of who I am.

I love science fiction, space fantasies, fantasy fiction (ie, knights, dragons, wizards - though not Harry Potter). I've been a fan of this stuff for as long as I can remember. I recall sitting and watching the Godzilla movies with my stepfather, brothers, and uncle Scotty. Uncle Scotty used to always come up behind us and scare us (the movies weren't scary, but... he did it anyway). We'd laugh, and have the best times I can recall from my youth.

As a result of that, I get kinda excited when I see things that unintentionally reference the genres, and it was no different when I saw this package earlier this afternoon at work.



This is a package of uniforms for our properties. We pulled out the uniforms, and one was a 4x... so my co-worker Keila draped it on, and it was very robe-like... we LAUGHED!!

I really hope some of you get the humor in this... If not, I'll explain later

Las Vegas Hotels - ARIA Rooms at CityCenter

http://www.arialasvegas.com/
This is where I'll be in November... :D

Chillin'

Got my grillin' hat on and smoking pork ribs with apple wood chips. Yum!




Chuck :D
Sent from my iPhone

Father's Day

I was given this card this morning. It's huge! There's a 32" tv behind it. :-)




Chuck :D
Sent from my iPhone

Sydney's Graduation - Air Force cake

Chuck :D
Sent from my iPhone

The last dance recital was tonight. No more... She's done. Now the process of reviewing 250 photos...

Picture Perfect - Show me some fun

This moment was hilarious!

It was an awkward moment of unintentional butt grabbing... :D



For more fun in Picture Perfect, click on the link <----------

This is where...

My company plays in the corporate kickball league.




Chuck :D
Sent from my iPhone

Sydney's Big Day

Last week I took my baby girl out and about in preparation to enter her new life as an Air Force service-woman. I did my best to duckument the day, in as much as she'd allow me to take pictures... and she was a very good, and understanding sport in this. :D

First we had to drive back to her mom's house about 20 miles from mine. I let her drive as she needs to get used to driving a standard automobile. She did very well... and looks good driving a Jeep.

Sydney is the ONLY person, aside from myself, to have EVER driven my Jeep. It felt ODD sitting in the passenger seat. I made the best of it...

Next stop was the doctor's office... she wasn't really appreciating the duckumentary at this point...

 

Once she recovered from the hyperventilating, we went over to Bob Evan's to get a bite to eat. It was a much better atmosphere for the continued duckumentary.

 

After a meal of blueberry crepes (her) and a burger (me), we were well satisfied and ready to head down the street to the recuiter's office. We had a lot of questions to ask, and things to clarify... I let Sydney deal with most of it, and the recruiter was very patient and walked her through everything she'll need to know when she receives her orders to ship out.

 

And now, here she is, signing on the dotted line... my girl, volunteering to serve her country. It was an awesome moment, and I was elated to be able to be there by her side... in fact, it was MY honor!

 

Look...

You can see my house from here!

I'm the blue dot. That's my bedroom. Stop watching me!!




Chuck
Sent from my iPhone

For Lee Lee

Some of my favorite "point and shoot" shots. :D

Joy

So for the Columbus Museum of Art's Photo Hunt, I used the picture of the little girl with the parachute, did some cropping and sharpening... this is what I came up with. :D



Here's the site to find out more about it, and maybe how to find more (search by the "hash-tags" - those are the keywords with the # symbol). You can do this in Flickr, or Instagram.

Columbus Museum of Art Photo Hunt

CMA Photo Hunt Assignment 3: Joy | Columbus Museum of Art

http://www.columbusmuseum.org/blog/2012/06/08/cma-photo-hunt-assignment-3-joy/
I've got the perfect shot for this I think... One I took yesterday.

Long Day

It's been a decidedly LONG day. It didn't start out too very early, but just now ended.

I can't get into it all now, as I am exhausted and still have to work in the morning, but I'll leave you with highlights of the day:

Went to get Sydney's papers from home (birth certificate and diploma). I let her drive the Jeep out there (20 miles) and she did wonderfully well. It's a standard auto and she's not totally used to it yet.

Took her to the doctor's office and got a shot (second in a series of three, I believe). She hyperventilated and was going pass out. The MA asked her to stay in the room sitting down before even giving her the shot, saying he was certain she had "Skinny White Girl Syndrome". Which is what happens when you ask the girl if she has eaten anything, and it turns out to have been a pop-tart and pepsi 5 hours prior, only to have them pass out after the shot. :D

She then took ME to lunch at Bob Evans... Where she had a blueberry crepe and I had a Smokehouse burger... (chipotle mayo and bacon and beef and...) It was good, and even better since the first time in over 18 years, she paid! Not for a lack of asking for them to pay, though!

Then was the Air Force recruiter meeting. It went well... we got questions answered, things cleared up... what to say and not say during the physical... wow, that was a challenge. After two hours, and some candy peddlers coming and breaking a mug... she signed the final page...



I got her home, and immediately went out to pick up Linda and head up to Columbus for the first of 8 corporate league kickball games. :D My company is playing in its second season, coming off a somewhat disappointing year... It didn't affect us much as we won the game 19-8!

After the game we all went to meet up at Little Palace where the GM was to buy the team a round (or two). Mind you, the GM - "general manager" never showed up for the actual game. :D

It was an absolutely wonderful day! I'll get you all pictures hopefully this weekend... I've got plenty. :D

Today, I take the girl to start on her life's adventure... She's going sign up for the Air Force. :D I'm going to do my bestest to duck-u-ment the day... It'll be interesting to see if I can, and how I'll do it.

Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes: Columbus Step Out

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/duckwalkers
If you can't donate, you can still join my team. Be a "virtual walker" if you can't make it to the event in October.

Anyway at all that you can help, helps millions!

Thank you!
Duckie!

I got the Star Wars Kinect Xbox

It was an early Father's Day/Sweetest Day/Christmas/Birthday present from Linda. We (Linda, the kids and I) played it last night and had a blast. We were laughing at just how much fun it is, and how active we all were.

I picked up a transfer kit (to move information from the old Xbox to the new one), and Kinect Sports as well. The kids and I played for a while, and it takes pics and/or video of your live actions.

Here's a sample of Logan and I playing soccer (football to some).



We truly are having a blast with this... and it gets the kids "off the couch".