New Year's Eve we will experience a rare 61 second minute at the very end of 2008

Always short of time? Not enough moments in the day? Tonight you'll get an extra second to enjoy 2008. Use it wisely; perhaps an extra long smooch is called for.

Immediately before midnight a leap second the first for three years will be added to atomic clocks around the world by official timekeepers.

Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at Britain's National Physical Laboratory, said the Earth's erratic rotation meant an extra second needed to be added.

"The difference between atomic time and Earth time has now built up to the point where it needs to be corrected, so this New Year's Eve we will experience a rare 61 second minute at the very end of 2008 and revelers... will have an extra second to celebrate."

Hello again

Christmas Dinner at Mables house

John with his KU shirt

Me with a cookbook :)

Vicki

Good morning everyone. Our son John came home for Christmas, John was here from the 16th until yesterday. He is now back in Mayport, FL on his ship the USS Doyle. We enjoyed seeing him and are glad he made it home to visit us. John brought his Nintendo Wii with him and I beat him in bowling but he kicked my butt in everything else. John also got to see his friends from High school and College while here and he had a good relaxing time, we will miss him.

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• John is back in Mayport, FL

John is coming home for Christmas

Good morning everyone. I've been up for a few hours now and am just brewing my second pot of coffee for the day. It's cool here with the temp outside a chilly 28 degrees. I just finished reading my news via bloglines for the day and am listening to music ( Willie Nelson's Stardust album ). Our son in the Navy, John is coming home for Christmas on the 16th and he will be here until the 28th. My parents sent me some more pictures from when John spent Thanksgiving with them in Florida. I posted one with John and my Mom above.

We haven't heard from our daughter Cindy in a while, her ship the USS Abraham Lincoln is conducting operations off the Southern California coast right now. I'm not sure what her Christmas plans are at the moment. That's about all I know now, hope everyone has a nice Sunday.

Pictures from John when he was in London

Our son in the Navy, John sent us some pictures from when his ship was in England, John went to London with several other guys. John had a great time while there. He had to buy two disposable cameras because his digital camera had some problems. He did go out over Thanksgiving and buy a new digital camera so he will have better pictures the next time he goes out. :) When I talked to John last night he said that he would have pictures taken while they were in Scotland soon.

John on the left

John

John taking a picture

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• Good morning everyone

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday

Good morning everyone, I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday. Our son John spent the day with my parents and family in Port Orange Florida. My parents picked him up from Mayport Naval base yesterday morning and he had dinner with them yesterday afternoon. John will be with them until tomorrow afternoon when he has to get back to base and his Ship. I talked to John last night and he said the food was great. Today John is out shopping with my Mom. I spent the day yesterday helping with our community Thanksgiving dinner. We were able to provide a good dinner of Turkey and all the trimmings to hundreds of people that might not have otherwise had a nice Thanksgiving diner.

My Dad

John with my Grandparents ( his Great Grandparents)

John learning about Wine tasting from my Uncle John ( my son John on the right )

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Happy Thanksgiving

As we give thanks today, let's not forget our troops overseas, especially since Xerox has made it easy to send them greetings. http://www.letssaythanks.com

John is back in Mayport, FL

Good morning, my son John called me yesterday morning at 5am to tell me that he was almost back in port at Mayport Naval Base, FL. John called again yesterday when they ( The USS Doyle ) finally arrived and he got back to his barracks room, John said that he had a good trip and that it was exciting. He got to see several places in the last two months and he had a good time. John is going to my parents for Thanksgiving this year. My Dad is picking him up from base Thursday morning and will take him back to Mayport Saturday evening, my parents live in Port Orange, FL so it is about a 100 mile drive. We're sure he will have a good time while there, he promised to send lots of pictures and I will post those later in the week.

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Good morning everyone

Good morning everyone, sorry I haven't posted much recently but I have been busy here. :) My kids are doing well. My daughter FC3 Cindy is in Everett Washington and was doing well the last time I talked to her.

My son OS3 John is somewhere in the Atlantic ocean on his ship and also doing well. John has e-mailed us several times, he visited Scotland, England, Latvia, Lithuania and some other countries and had a good time.

John said this about his time in England "I did go to London which was great. I saw among other things Westminster Abby, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham palace and Big Ben. I took 80 pictures while we were there. I bought two disposable cameras and gave one to OSSA R and I used one so I would be able to get twice the pictures. I like it here but I can’t wait to get back to the United States. I bought you and Vicki cups at one of the shops.

When I get back you have to remind me to tell you about the miscommunication in Scotland with OSSN W getting on the wrong train. I can’t tell it by email because I have to pronounce the words for you to understand.

Also we had a misunderstanding in Scotland when we asked for Coke and we got carbonated water… " .

John just turned 21 on the 15th of November he said "My birthday was pretty good. We had Pizza for dinner, a spades tournament, and I played some chess against a Chief, a First class and a LTJG. I also got 14 hours off work due to time zone change and holiday routine schedule. I did not play in the spades tournament because I don’t like the ships rules (no nil or blind nil which makes it get boring), but I did watch it and ate hot wings on the mess decks." John also passed his 3rd class Petty Officer test so he is now an OS3 and taking Petty Officer indoc. Good job John, we are proud of you. John is going to visit my parents for Thanksgiving so we should get lots of pictures of him then. He also took pictures while he was out at sea and we will have those too. I will post some here after I get them. John is also planning on comeing home for Christmas.

That's about all for now, I have to get back to my coffee. Hope everyone has a great day.

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• Picture of my daughter on the USS Abraham Lincoln

Veterans Day is today!

US Election Map

Thank you Cindy

Our daughter Cindy called from her Naval base in Everett, Washington and told us not to make dinner today. Cindy ordered us a pizza, cinnamon sticks and Pepsi from Pizza Hut. Thanks Cindy., as you can see from the photos I already took a bite from the Pizza:) Love, Dad & Vicki

Election Day

Cindy is back and she bought a new Laptop

My daughter Cindy is back in Everett Washington with her ship the USS Abraham Lincoln. Cindy called last night and wanted to buy a new laptop for herself. The one she ended up buying was the Toshiba Satellite A305-S6898. She spent some time last night taking off Norton 360 and installing AVG. Cindy was happy to be back in the states and sounded good. Welcome home Cindy.

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Links to your favorite shows free online

I have talked about watching TV on the net with your computer several times in the past and here are some good links to TV shows that you can watch free online anytime you want. This should help my daughter Cindy now that she is back in Washington. :)


NBC

30 Rock

The Biggest Loser

Chuck

ER

Friday Night Lights

Heroes

Knight Rider

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Life

My Name is Earl

The Office

Saturday Night Live

The Tonight Show

ABC

Boston Legal

Brothers & Sisters

Dancing With The Stars

Desperate Housewives

Dirty Sexy Money

Eli Stone

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Grey's Anatomy

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Life On Mars

Lost

Opportunity Knocks

Private Practice

Pushing Daisies

Samantha Who?

Ugly Betty

CBS

Big Brother

CSI

CSI: Miami

CSI: NY

Eleventh Hour

The Ex List

Gary Unmarried

How I Met Your Mother

Jericho

The Mentalist

NCIS

The New Adventures of Old Christine

Numb3rs

Survivor

The Unit

Worst Week

FOX

American Dad

America's Most Wanted

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Bones

Cops

Do Not Disturb

Family Guy

Fringe

Hell's Kitchen

Hole in the Wall

House

Kitchen Nightmares

MADtv

The Moment of Truth

Prison Break

The Simpsons

TALKSHOW with Spike Feresten

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

til Death

The CW


4REAL

90210

America's Next Top Model

Easy Money

Everybody Hates Chris

The Game

Gossip Girl

In Harms Way

Privileged

One Tree Hill

Reaper

Smallville

Supernatural

Valentine

Comedy Central


The Daily Show

The Colbert Report

South Park

MTV

The Hills

A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila

Cribs

FX

30 Days

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Nip Tuck

Rescue Me

The Riches

Sons of Anarchy

I'm still here

Good morning all, I'm still here. There is not much going on right now to write about. I have heard from my son John via e-mail on the USS Doyle, he was in Scotland with his ship participating in Joint Warrior 08. John is doing well and asked me to e-mail him the VP debate transcript so he could read it. I didn't hear back from my daughter Cindy once she got to Hawaii with her ship the USS Abe Lincoln but from what I have read in the news she should be on her way back to California before heading back to her base in Washington state. That's about all for now, the weather here in Kansas is nice and cool and we are really enjoying it. I hope everyone has a great week.

Cindy is in Hawaii

Image via WikipediaWe received a short call from our daughter Cindy last night at 11:45pm our time. She was in Hawaii and was waiting in line to get off her ship, the USS Abraham Lincoln. Cindy said that she was going to be on liberty while there. She said that she was doing well and she sounded great. Cindy told us that she would call back today sometime. The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group will depart to San Diego following its stay in Hawaii before returning to its homeport of Everett, Wash. Read more here.

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Good morning all

Image via WikipediaGood morning all, sorry I haven't posted in a while but I have been having bad headaches. I was in the hospital for several days after having a headache for 19 days straight. While in the hospital they were able to get the headache to go away on the last day I was there only to have it return intermittently after I got home. The Dr changed some of my meds and I have an appt to see a Neurologist in January.

My kids Cindy and John are doing well and are both out to sea with their ships, Cindy on the USS Abe Lincoln and John on the USS Doyle. I hear from them frequently through e-mail. :)

From what I have read in the news Cindy's ship should be back in port here in the states next month sometime. "The USS Abraham Lincoln from Naval Station Everett has been deployed since March with the Fifth Fleet as flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9. It's missions have involved deployments to support combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is slated to return to Everett next month." I'm not sure when John will be coming back from his stuff.

Cindy finally got her enlistment bonus this month so she is very happy. I have no idea what she is going to do with all that money. :) I asked Cindy how her birthday was while out to sea and asked what she did for fun and here was her response. Cindy is an FC on the Abe Lincoln.

"For birthdays underway we have every month a birthday party. Its usually held in the chiefs or first class mess for everyone who had a birthday that month. I have explored a little but the ship is huge so I haven't gone very many places. I don't usually have time for much. I work from 0730 to 2200 most days. In my lil bit of free time I check emails, read a book, play my gameboy or ds and watch tv."

John is done Cranking ( working in the ships mess ) now and back to his regular job. John is an OS on the Doyle.



John's ship in the news:

"Navy Ships Depart for Joint Warrior Exercise
Story Number: NNS080922-08
Release Date: 9/22/2008 6:18:00 AM


By Lt. j.g. Arlo Abrahamson, Commander, Destroyer Squadron 24 Public Affairs

USS DOYLE, At Sea (NNS) -- Ships led by Commander, Destroyer Squadron (COMDESRON) 24 left the U.S. East Coast for Scotland Sept. 19 to participate with allied navies in Joint Warrior, a coalition exercise designed and led by the Joint Tactical Exercise Planning Staff (JTEPS) in the United Kingdom.

Sailors from USS Mitscher (DDG 57), USS Doyle (FFG 39), USS Klakring (FFG 42), USS Hawes (FFG 53) and USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO 195) will play a prominent role in the exercise intended to improve interoperability between coalition naval forces and prepare participants for upcoming deployments.

"Joint Warrior will provide our Sailors with an opportunity to engage in a variety of training scenarios that explore real-world challenges on a strategic, operational and tactical level – in a controlled environment," said Capt John Kersh, commander, DESRON 24. "We will focus our efforts on enhancing our ability to operate in a multinational, multi-platform environment."

The exercise supports the Navy's Maritime Strategy, which revolves around partnerships and a global maritime network of many countries' navies with the goal of patrolling the world's seas. The exercise also serves as a deployment certification event for the participating U.S. ships, preparing ready maritime forces for global assignment.

"The relationships we make during Joint Warrior are vital to ensure we are ready to engage in a host of global maritime security operations," said Lt. Cmdr. Gil Ayan, material officer for DESRON 24.

"We become more effective by operating with allied navies and leveraging our individual strengths. This builds trust and mutual cooperation, which will make us a more capable combined force in a real-time operational environment."

Joint Warrior will begin in early October and is expected to last approximately two weeks. It will involve air, sea and ground assets from participating allied and NATO forces.

"This exercise captures the essence of our teaming concept with allies and partners in the execution of the Maritime Strategy," said Kersh. "The bottom line is that five U.S. ships and a host of allied ships will come away from this exercise at the top of their game and ready to support joint maritime operations worldwide. The exercise is a win-win for everyone involved."

For more news from USS Doyle and other surface combatants, visit www.navy.mil/local/surflant/. "

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