Doing the News

I'm in the process of resurrecting the content from the old website covering the kids adventures and family (finally made it through 2009!). During the sifting, I found these pictures that I've never published before from a trip I took to NYC in 2009. On the way back home to Garner, I stopped by to visit my Uncle Frank (from the Hungarian side of the family) in South Amboy NJ and enjoyed a nice little…

I loved Mike Milbury's take on the Canes/Rangers series where he really didn't think a whole lot of our chances. No way we could stand against Panarin and Zabinejad and the oh-so-mighty goalie combo of Lundqvist and Shestyorkin. I wasn't expecting him to be a fan given his connections to the Bruins and Islanders but if you're going to purport to be an analyst, you need to at least pretend to consider all of the…

Yesterday's adventures included a quick trip to downtown Chapel Hill…on the way back, we decided to wander about Brier Creek and let the Traverse have a vote on our cuisine. Let's just say the "arroz chaufa" with Inka Kola really hit the spot! Then there was this purple corn and pineapple concoction called "chi cha morada" that was very interesting and tasty. The roasted chicken and sides that were shared all round were amazingly tasty…

With Wednesday's nasty storms came a big power outage caused by a lightning strike to a pole just outside the neighbourhood. The surge seemed to go at least as far as a junction box about a fifth of the way to my house and it took about seven hours before power was finally restored. But let's just say I'm thankful that all of the electronics round here seemed to survive perfectly fine in spite of…

Today’s phrase in Hungarian is inspired by one of my lovely neighbours who was truly shocked to find their idea of my age was decidedly less than what they thought it was to the tune of about 15 years… ;) Hogy lehet ötven éves?!? (How can you be fifty years old?!?) That has to be a first for me! It reminded me of when I was at university at UCF many eons ago…I used to…

A few days ago, Katie noticed that the nest on the porch needed the "No Vacancy" light with the new Lady Robin taking up residence. It's clear she wasn't terribly impressed with the original design of the nest and she definitely has added some height to the walls. I've really missed having the robins round the front porch area even if it means I'm not going to be able to avail myself of the chair…

Whilst researching NC DMV registration fees, I discovered that the numbers on their site to register a personalised plate didn't exactly add up to what they're wanting on the renewal bill. It turns out that NC DMV is increasing their fees starting 1 Jul 2020 to the tune of at least $2.75 on a personalised plate. Now, you'd think I'd discover this unfortunate news on their website…a press release, an indicator that fees were going…

Today's trip down memory lane comes from the back of Dad's house in Port Orange in November 2006. Mind you, this was many years after the crops of corn and other vegetables he would help grow on Grandpa's farm in Hutsonville IL. Grandpa's farm wasn't huge by the corporate farming standards of today but it was a decent and respectable size and that with his job as a turbine operator at Central Illinois Power helped…

With all of the protests and civil unrest going on recently , this public statement from former SecDef and Marine Corps General James Mattis may well have flown under most people's radar. But the fact that General Mattis has broken with the usual tradition for retired military officers to avoid the appearance of violating Article 88 (contempt toward officials) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is rather shocking, to say the least. And…

Yes…even knowing Katie was going to be all eye-rolly and NERD, there was no way I wasn’t going to have the live feed from Pad 39A on the TV. But I can’t be the only one amused at the names of the astronauts… ;)

It's not often I get to tell Bob Murray of Murray Energy where he can file his Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan (here's a hint…it's a rather notorious orifice!), thoroughly reject Santander Consumer USA's completely inadequate response to my consumer complaint a couple of months ago, and at the same time suggest that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is at best a paper tiger with no interest in actually regulating bad actors in the financial services…

Sometimes it is just a matter of perspective of experiencing the bitter makes one appreciate the sweetness when it comes round. Lindsey truly gets it. It might be hard to remember at times but perspective is always the key! (Look up her “String Sessions” duet with Amy Lee of Evanescence if you don’t believe me. The song was amazing but the interview afterward even more so…) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uSWXKh9JpY&feature=youtu.be

I'm thinking the driver of this vehicle and I would agree on quite a lot of things, not the least of which would be that the Peruvian sense of humour totally rules! :)

There are some lessons one can learn from spending any amount of time on a nuclear submarine that definitely apply to social distancing and navigating tight confined spaces. This is especially critical on an attack submarine (think Los Angeles class) which are much smaller than the missile submarines ("boomers" like the Ohio or Virginia class boats). One of the most critical is that unless you need to be somewhere quickly, you hug the walls or…

In a nutshell (!), I inherited a portion of my great-grandfather's mineral rights from under the family farm land in Southern Illinois which have had mining leases with several coal companies, the latest being Murray Energy that bought out The American Coal Company that operates the Galatia IL coal mine. In our main story, yesterday I finally received the latest in a series of love letters from the law firm handling the Murray Energy Chapter…

When it became patently clear that Seb was getting the boot, the prohibitive favourite to take his seat was McLaren's Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniel Ricciardo moving on from Renault to take Sainz's seat. We've not even raced a kilometer in anger this season and already three major pieces are shuffling round the grid. And it's almost certain that this is only the begining of the unsettled silly season when you consider that Vettel really…

This got ugly really quickly and the feeding frenzy for his seat with the Scuderia didn’t take long with Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo scenting the blood in the water. I wouldn’t have imagined Vettel scrambling for a drive but even more unthinkable is a possibility that a four-time World Champion will be all the way out on his ass way sooner than I would have ever imagined. It seems clear Lewis only has to…

Three of the four baby robins are out and about leaving one poor lonely soul to stay behind and guard the nest and get a bit of feeding. I'd imagine this one was the last to hatch but I don't think it'll be terribly long before they're winging their way round the neighbourhood… It'll feel pretty weird when that nest is finally empty. Maybe it's nature's way of providing a bit of training for what…

Those little chicks are getting to be not so little and have spilled out of the nest to the bit of the pillar next to the nest. It almost reminds me of those old war movies set on a submarine where everyone is hot-bunking in the crew quarters and there is no space to be had! Amazingly, Lady Robin was able to get everyone underneath her last night but how I have no idea because…

"Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings, Love Clarence." Clarence Oddbody, "It's a Wonderful Life" Today started out as so many have of late…waking up early to go collect Alex and Katie and then ultimately rousting all three kids from the beds they'd much rather stay in (and truth be told, so would I!) in time for their virtual school day. I'm firmly convinced that every teacher…

All four of the chicks are growing seemingly exponentially and one especially brave soul decided to flap their wings a bit. They're definitely much more feathered than they have been and it's hard imagining how that nest isn't standing room only! It won't be long before they're off to adventures new and Lord and Lady Robin are left with an empty nest. :)

If you happen to be in a narrow aisle at the shoppes where your trolley is parked in the centre of the aisle and pointed opposite to the direction of the three arrow signs within 1m of the trolley whilst you're messing about with your phone completely oblivious to the other shoppers nearby…that would be exactly the WRONG TIME to cop an attitude toward those very same shoppers who comprehended the meaning of the arrows…

Today I managed to catch Lord and Lady Robin bringing some tasty morsels of worms and bugs for their four very hungry chicks! This seems to be a near constant job taken in shifts which is something I'm sure we can all relate to. This is the first day I've really been able to catch the baby birds stretching their heads above the top of the nest and it was nice seeing all four eggs…

The last week and a half has been rather uneventful in the nest with the days going something like this: Lady Robin sits on the nest.Occasionally Lady Robin leaves the nest for a bit.Lady Robin returns to the nest.I open the front or garage door and she gets right cross and flies away.The one time I was of a mind to sit on the porch for a bit after mowing, I got the most dreadful…

The missus of the nest hopped a wind which allowed some having fun with a ladder and two cameras (an iPhone 8 Plus and the D7000 with a 40mm Micro-Nikkor lens). Much as I love the D810…the 50mm f/1.4 doesn’t focus close enough in the small space between the nest and the underside of the porch roof. Anywho, she’s been incubating four beautiful blue eggs that will likely be chirping for worms presently.