Read a Book or Re-Read a Good Book

When I served in the Air Force a good friend of mine owned a lot of books. Some of these he would read over and over. It took me a long time to understand why. I even questioned him about it on occasion. Well Nick, I understand and I do it myself now.

I read books like some people watch movies. If I like them I will read them again. I like to revisit the stories and the characters. After a while they become old friends. The Hobbit is one of these books. I read it at least once a year. Ender’s Game is another, but this book has a tendency to grow legs and disappear from my collection . I purchase a new copy every other year or so and I am happy to do so. I would rather see a child curled up on the couch reading than playing video games (and I like video games as much as the next child).

Now that I think about it there are a lot of books I like to re-read. I think it is almost to the point where I find it more difficult to read something new (unless it is written by an author I like).

I was reading one of my favorite sci-fi action adventure novels a few days ago. Deb walks in and looks at the book “How many times are you going to read that book?” I shrug “until I get tired of it.” She rolls her eyes and walks away. She knows I won’t get tired of it.

This book is not particularly well written, but the story is about a battle of epic proportions. The characters are larger than life. The villains are larger than life. The book is a complete escape from reality. This is why I read it. It is also why I will read it again.

I read to “escape from it all”. If I want reality I will turn on the news or read a paper.

I re-read books. Some perverse part of my brain is hoping that this character won’t step on the landmine this time or maybe that character will not get eaten by the dragon when he goes into that cave again. That very same part of my brain is eagerly waiting for that same character to dance on the landmine or hand the dragon some ketchup first.

If you have never read a book twice then do yourself a favor. Go find a book you really enjoyed. Read it again. You may find that you have forgotten a lot of things that made the story fun when you read it the first time. I bet you like it just as much the second time as you did the first.

Goodbye Irene

Irene has come and gone. The only thing my son is certain of is that the Amish life style sucks.


We lost power just as the outer edge of Irene hit us. Thirty hours later power returned. Just in time to save our frozen food.

We opened the living room shades, turned our chairs around to face the windows and listened to the radio. The bedroom windows had to be checked on occasion. There was a slight problem with poor installation. It was nothing an old curtain could not soak up.

Books were read and games were played. Three cats and three humans watched Irene blow away. I cooked by flash light and we ate with the light from outside. We went to sleep with the howling wind as a lullaby. When we woke Irene was gone.

Our apartment complex is surrounded by huge pine trees. All of them survived. The area was covered with pine cones, branches and the long slender needles that these trees have. We opened all of the windows and the smell of pine filled the apartment.

Branches were moved and the sidewalk was swept clear. The vehicles were checked. We even went to the smoothie shop where Deb works and helped them prepare for customers. They did not lose power so no inventory was lost. They got busy fast when people realized they were open. The owner fed us and we enjoyed the air conditioned dining room when we were finished.

It could have been much worse. As it was several people lost their lives during the storm. It may be selfish, but I am glad it was nobody I knew.

She is on her way...

It is Friday morning and I have been called in early. A few of my coworkers are on vacation and others have been evacuated. I am here to help cover the missing people.

Downtown Norfolk is empty. There are cars on the road. There are people on the streets and in the buildings. However, there are even more cars that are not on the road and many people who are not on the street or in the buildings.

I was able to park on the 5th floor in the parking garage. That is unheard of at 11am on a Friday morning. Normally I would be on the roof (the 7th floor) hoping to find an open spot.

The sky is overcast. It is hot and humid. There is next to no wind. She will be here tomorrow.

Irene is coming.

Kill Them All! With kindness. :)

Sometimes our customers are a tad irrational.


Me: Thank you for calling Computer Support. May I have your last name please?

Caller: I need you to reset my password. (She sounded very angry)

Me. Ok. Which password would you like me to reset?

Caller: My password to sign on to the computer. (A little exasperated)

Me: I would be happy to do that. What is your last name?

Caller: (Very angry now) WHY DO YOU KEEP ASKING FOR MY NAME!? Why can’t you people just reset the stupid password? You don’t need to make a damn ticket for every call. (Actually, we do)

Me: Ma’am. We have over 10,000 employees. I suppose I could, randomly, start resetting passwords. It would make a lot of people angry. I may even get lucky and reset yours. That could take me a long time though. It would be much faster if I actually knew the name of the person I had to reset the password for.

At this point she gave me her information. She was never polite.

Some people wake up in the morning and are pissed off because they are still sucking in air. I am extra polite to them. It makes them even angrier.

I need a vacation from my vacation

All last week we visited our (mine and Deb's) home town.  It is a little town located in New York state.  Ripley, NY boarders Pennsylvania and sits on the shore of Lake Erie.  It is a beautiful place to visit.

We had a great time.  Debra's parents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.  The next day we went to a Pittsburg Pirates game.  The third day we took a break.  The rest of the week we spent time with my family (they live in the same town) and hers.  The week was topped off with a reunion and we left directly for Virginia after that.  Returning to work was almost more relaxing than my vacation.

Instant messaging fun with my son

I started this instant messaging conversation with my son on a Saturday afternoon.  He had spent the night at a friend's house and was still there.

Me:  You are going to church with us tomorrow.

Dearth:  Didn't really plan on it

Me:  It was a statement not a question.  If you look closely you will find a period after the word "tomorrow".

Dearth:  Oh yeah I just read the first word wrong lol

Me:  Yes, the "you" comes before the "are" in my statement. ;p

Dearth:  Damn :p

He went to church the next day.

Wow. That month went by in a blur.

We moved a couple of weeks ago. Not far. Two blocks, but we are saving a few hundred dollars a month with the slight down-size.


This apartment is downstairs (bonus), but is missing two half baths. We can deal with that.

The cats did not like the move, but they have more window space to look out now. So, they are over it.

After almost a month without internet we finally have that again. It may not be vital, but you can sure miss it.

This apartment complex also has a pool. It is just a short walk from our front door and is very nice on the warm days. Ha! I made it sound like there were cool days during the Virginia summer. What I meant to say is it is nice on days it does not rain.

Last weekend we helped a couple of good friends paint the inside of the home they are trying to sell. Another person helping them was Terry. He’s been a professional painter for 30 years. I learned more about painting in two days than I have in all of the odd painting jobs I’ve done over the years. He only took the paint roller away a few times. Terry had a habit of making you feel slow though. Watching that man “cut” (do the edging) with a 4 inch brush was amazing. Not only was he faster than the rest of us he was also less messy (and we were using smaller brushes).

To top everything off tomorrow is our 20th wedding anniversary. I’ve been married to my lovely wife Debra for 20 years. I still remember saying “I do”. I’ll admit that the memory is a bit fuzzy.

That reminds me. I still owe her a proposal. I never really asked her to marry me. I gave her the ring and we just sort of agreed upon it. Fortunately my romance skills have improved over the past 20 years.

Happy anniversary Debra. I love you very much.