well, if you ask me …

After a year and a half of doing other things and ignoring this place I am finally back. I thought I was done with this but I decided I missed it.So, I’m back! 

As many of you know, September is a busy month for me, but I’m back.I have some old drafts to clear out.

My son tied for 2nd place on the verbal section of the test given by Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.News in pdf or check Google’s HTML version.Good work Billy!

Tell me this is not cool!The night it was announced my son and I began brainstorming what we should try. We came up with about two dozen ideas and decided I should try about 8 of them.Here are two maps I threw together as a learning experience. They are not finished yet, but it shouldn’t take much moreUPDATE: I forgot to post the links to the maps. This one actually works. It may not work well, but you can actually do searches. I have to click on one of the panel items to make the map show, but I am looking into that. This one is a mock up of the next one I’d like to finish. It doesn’t work yet. I plan to pull all the data and store in on my server.

Well, it’s been a while since my last post. I was planning on posting about some of my previous work, and I got distracted fooling with my link blog. Then I wanted to post all about that and Google announced its API for the maps. How cool is this?!!So, I have been busy (obsessed) with doin’ the Google maps thing. Loads of fun!Some quick updates:

Mom is all moved in to her new place. Billy did get a chance to visit Famous Daves (Terri and Becky did too) Billy was accepted to the People to People program. Becky graduated from Kindergarten Billy graduated from 6th grade. He won several academic awards and the PTF award.

When Doug Brien missed two field goals to blow our game against the Steelers this year I was quick to defend him. After all, you can’t blame a whole game on the kicker. Can you? It is his job to kick that ball between the posts, right?Anyway, my daughter got me this great Jets desk calendar for Christmas. It’s the kind with a little rip-off page for each day. I love it, but…I am officially sick of Doug Brien.

February 11

Doug Brien was named the AFC’s special-teams player of the week after kicking 2 field goals, including the game winner in overtime, in the Jets’ 27 - 24 victory over Oakland in week 10 of 2003.

May 2

While with San Fransisco in 1994, kicker Doug Brien recovered a fumbled kickoff that helped the 49ers forge a big first-quarter lead over Dallas in the NFC title game. San Fransisco went on to win that game, then the Super Bowl.

May 14/15

Kicker Doug Brien’s 105 points in 2003 fell just 1 short of his career best. For what team did he score 106 points in 2000? Ans: - New Orleans

June 2

In what two games did Doug Brien kick 3 field goals in 2003?

I could not care less!!!

Yesterday was dad’s birthday.Mom decided the kids should do something special in memory of him. We all got some flower seeds to sprinkle in the yard or garden. We also got some helium balloons to ‘release.’ It was very nice. We all arranged to do it at about the same time since we could not all be together. Becky drew a smiley face and wrote “Happy Birthday PopPop” on one of her balloons (and one of Billy’s). She said that would let PopPop know that we were saying “Happy Birthday.”I miss you very much, Dad.We all do!

You may or may not know that I’m not really a handyman. This weekend I had the opportunity to do some things I don’t normally do.1. measure trim2. hammer nails3. go to home depotHavin’ fun.

I never like being away from the family. I can go to work for 12 hours and not really mind, but as soon as I leave to go do something that’s not really work (especially if I have to spend the night away), I miss them. Love you guys. See you tomorrow.

Right now I’m sitting in the parking lot at Home Depot. The kids are watching a muppets DVD. Brian and Jennifer have to pick something out. There happens to be a wireless network in range here called ‘orange’ and the key is ‘depot.’ Interesting. I couldn’t obtain an IP addy though. I wouldn’t do such a thing anyway, so I’ll post this later.

Finally paid a visit to famous Dave’s for some St. Louis ribs. Fantastic stuff! Can’t wait to take Billy. He’s a big fan of ribs. Maybe if Billy comes with me to help Mom move.After the ribs, we went to Circuit City to get a router and card so we can set up the wireless for Mom at Brian’s.

Coach was thrown out of the game today. I got there after the fact and noone seemed to know why. One parent made a comment that he probably had just been doing what he did every game. His style may be a little rough around the edges but I think he did a fine job this year. Thanks coach.

No need to break precedent now. I’ve posted about every one of our garage sales, so why not now.Today’s sale was not the event the others were. Our community has these twice a year and the kids love the chance to make some cash. They actually did very well this time. We did buck tradition some though by using the earnings to buy lunch instead of dinner. Lunch is cheaper!

Haven’t posted in a while. Things finally settled down at work a little, but May is a hectic month and Billy is playing baseball (did I mention that?). So, we’ve been busy.Billy had three games this week. In game three the boys played very well. In the second inning we were down 4 - 0 with the bases loaded and two outs. All of a sudden the coach yells, “Wait, wait, where’s Soistmann?” He called time and made sure he got Billy to pinch hit. Wow, pinch hitting. Good stuff Bill.See Billy in action here.

Went to see Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy last night with Brian. We were all at his place for a little birthday get-together for Terri (4/12) and Jennifer (4/28). I mentioned that we should see it and 25 minutes later we were in our seats with popcorn and soda.It was very funny. Brian had never read the book and he still found it funny. I thought they did a good job translating that kind of written humor to a film.If you’ve never read the book, you should.If you don’t know where to find the book,Don’t Panic!