Most Dangerous Object in the Office This Month: $2 Pocket Shots

It's like sports gel for alcoholics: a generous pour of gin, rum, vodka, whiskey, or tequila in a rip-top, palm-sized plastic pouch that's simple to tote and conceal. What could go wrong?

read more | digg story

Dude, Your Not Getting a Dell

My son John ( in the Navy ) ordered a Dell XPS M1330 laptop Saturday over the phone. He told the Dell Sales Rep the items that he wanted ( the specifications ) for the laptop and placed his order. He was given a total and he told the sales rep that he wanted it fast and the Dell Rep promised he would have it within a week ( he paid for quick shipping ). Sunday I checked his order online and found out that he was not getting the parts in the Laptop that he had told me the night before and the price was $200.00 higher than he had told me, also they had his address wrong. I e-mailed John Sunday morning and luckily he used a computer on base and checked his e-mail and he was very upset and asked me to cancel his order so I did. They had already debited his bank account for the purchase. The estimated shipping date was September 25 with a delivery date of October 2nd, not a week later as he was told. When I called Dell I was told that he would get his money back within 10-15 business days. I advised John to go to his Bank ( The Navy Federal Credit Union ) and tell them what happened, he did that yesterday ( Monday ) and the banker told John that if Dell has not refunded his money to his account that they would take care of it with the help of the Navy Legal Department. I guess he should have known that something was going to happen when the Dell Sales Rep ( this one in The USA ) did not know what the "United States Navy" was. :)

I have been buying Dells for years now and have never had a problem with them. John said Sunday " I loved Dell computers but now I don't know if I will ever buy from them again". I feel the same way.

Once he is refunded his money I am going to help him buy a laptop and I will get a cheaper and better one for him. Just one piece of advice. DON'T order over the phone. Order online, that way you can see what components you are going to get before you pay the company the money. He didn't know that the Dell XPS M1330 has been having build and shipping problems when he placed his order ( he was out of the loop while in Boot Camp ) and couldn't read the latest tech news and the Sales Rep did not tell him.

When we get him his laptop I will let you know what he gets. I can tell you one thing ( It won't be a Dell ).
Read more about the Delays on the Dell XPS M1330 at these links from Dell.

From the Dell Blog Link 1

From the Dell Blog Link 2

Another article about the Dell Shipping Delays

UPDATE: His money was refunded back to him today. :) ( August 23, 2007 )

UPDATE: Dell also blames Inspiron delays on inability to paint stuff

Update: Friday, September 07, 2007

Dell CEO Blames Laptop Delays on Poor Planning

Another Call From My Son In The Navy

My son John called again last night at 12am. He had just got off duty. He is planning on buying a laptop computer this weekend. He is leaning towards the Lenovo ThinkPad T61p He wants Windows Vista Ultimate, at least 2 gigs memory, and a 7200 speed hard drive. It is also Powered by NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M video card and comes with Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The Lenovo can accommodate all that and has built-in speakers and is very reasonably priced starting at about $1200.00 It also received good reviews from www.notebookreview.com and is an Editors Choice at PC Magazine with a 4.5 out of 5 star rating and an Editors Choice at laptopmag.com. John was majoring in computer science in College and had completed 37 credits before joining the Navy.

Now for the Navy News, John said that he was picked to be on the "Navy Drill Team" but couldn't tell me much more about that until he gets all the details himself. He was exhausted when he called and was falling asleep while talking on the phone. Today is his day off so he plans on buying some food for his room and making a dental appt to get his teeth worked on along with several other things. I am still trying to get my daughter Cindy ( also in the Navy at Great Lakes ) to send me pictures that she took last weekend when she spent the weekend with her brother. Cindy is suffering from stress fractures from all the running and marching and is on light duty right now. As you can tell I am very Proud of both of my children that are serving our country with the United States Navy. :)

CCleaner 2.0 beta can be run from a USB thumb drive

My son and I have been using CCleaner to clear off temporary files, cookies, and unused registry settings for a few years now. The program is updated often and the updates are usually incremental.

Now it looks like the folks behind CCleaner have pushed out a beta of version 2.0, with some exciting new features:

* CCleaner can be run from a USB thumb drive
* Take it with you when visiting your parents for the holidays.
* Faster analyzing and cleaning
* Select files, folders, and registry keys to ignore
* Rebuilt in C++ to support 64-bit compatibility and Windows Vista compatibility
* Redesigned GUI

The fact that you can now carry CCleaner with you on a USB drive is a nig step forward. The file takes up almost no space at all, making CCleaner a great addition to your portable toolkit.

This is beta software, so not everything works as well as it could but CCleaner should have that fixed soon. Best of all CCleaner is free and the software does NOT contain any Spyware, Adware or Viruses....

You can download the Beta here.

My son John called tonight at 11pm from his Navy "A" School in Great Lakes

My son John called tonight at 11pm from his Navy "A" School in Great Lakes. He was doing laundry, tomorrow they have to do a march "Pass-in-Review" in front of an Admiral and several other top Navy brass and he is going to be in the front row and is a little nervous about that. I know he will do just fine. :)

He is going to go to the Navy Bank this week and make an appointment to learn about managing his money. He plans to go every other week for a while until he knows the ropes so to speak, then he said he would go monthly. He said that he went out and bought cup-a-soup and lemonade Kool-Aid so he can avoid the vending machines and spending $1.00 for a soda or snack. John has always been careful with his money. He wants to set up an emergency fund for himself, do some investing and other savings. He also wants to buy a cell phone and a laptop and wants help to set up a budget for that. This is one kid that doesn't waste money.... In college he was always buying Ramen Noodles, and cup-a-soup. No soda except for the occasional Mountain Dew Code Red or Lipton Brisk Iced Tea when it was on sale at WalMart. I am very proud of him. He said that he is going to talk to "Legal" before signing a cell phone contract too. That is a good idea John. You never know where you will end up in the Navy and he doesn't want to be stuck with a big bill for a phone he wont be able to use. Very smart, thinking ahead like that. He has never been an impulse buyer. He said that he spent a good part of the day after classes with his Sister Cindy ( also in the Navy and currently at Great Lakes ) just learning where things were on base. he said that he would call again tomorrow night. We can't wait :)

In other news we are still trying to get Cindy to send us the pictures that she took from their weekend in Chicago. As soon as she sends them I will post them here on my Blog.

U.S. NAVY 2006 YEAR IN REVIEW

I just watched a great Slide show about the USN. You can click here to watch it.

My Navy Daughter... Cindy in her Dress Whites

Cindy's Rating Fire Control Rangefinder

My Navy Daughter Cindy in her Dress Whites ( FCSA USN )

Cindy a few weeks before Boot Camp

Congratulations Division 259 Navy Boot Camp

Congratulations To Division 259 Navy Boot Camp
Graduated from Great Lakes, IL August 10, 2007

Here is a link to two videos that I posted earlier that show some of what they do in Boot camp with the Navy.

Navy Boot Camp Graduation Photo Division 259

Click on Images for larger view.

My son John just graduated from Navy Boot Camp in Great Lakes, IL Friday August 10, 2007. Here is his Division photo and the other photo is of Boot Camp. My son John is in the upper left side of the picture in the corner. Congratulations to Division 259. GO NAVY!!!

I thought I would post a link to this site for the Naval Services FamilyLine. If you or a family member is new to the Navy this is worth reading.

http://www.lifelines.navy.mil/FamilyLine/NewtotheNavy/index.htm

UPDATE: 05/28/08 To see all Comments on this post Click "Post a Comment" at the bottom of this page and then on the comment page at the bottom of all the comments click Newer or Newest. Hope that helps. John

UPDATE: 01/29/08
I have had so many questions and conversations start in the comments sections of my posts and guestbook for this Blog about Navy Boot Camp and Navy life recently that I decided to start a message board to help facilitate conversation between users, and answer questions. You can see the board at http://kansasdad.aceboard.com/

Feel free to continue using the comment sections of the posts if you wish, just trying to make things easer for everyone. :) As always you can also e-mail me at kansasdad@gmail.com too.

Another Hot Day!!! 106 degrees

I have to tell you, I am sick of the heat. It zaps all the energy right out of you. Living in an old house without any insulation in the walls doesn't help much. The air condition runs non stop on days like this... Today's high was 106 degrees as you can see from the graphic below. Just look at the picture where it says "So Far Today"

How Lazy Can we get?

Roller Coaster Shopping






I just saw this video and wondered, how lazy can we get? Maybe I shouldn't ask that... Unbelievable.

Vintage Smoking Ads

I couldn't resist posting these vintage smoking ads. :)

John's pictures from the Navy

I just got my son John's pictures Federal Express from the Navy. He Graduated Boot Camp Friday August 10th. He starts his A School for OS Tuesday in Great Lakes. He went to Chicago over the weekend with his sister Cindy ( currently in her A school for AECF FC in Great Lakes ) and several of their Navy friends and they took pictures. As soon as I can get Cindy to send the pictures to me I will post them. :)

Very Hot for South East Kansas 104 degrees

It's Hot Out There!!! So far the high today has been 104 degrees with a heat index of 111. The temp is vacillating between 101 and 104 degrees here in south-east Kansas with a heat index running up to 112 degrees. Yuck!!!

Still HOT here in South-East Kansas

As I sit here and finish my last cup of coffee for the day at 8:30am, it's 83 degrees outside. It looks like the heat wave will be around for a while longer with the next several days running close to or at 100 degrees. I did manage to mow the lawn yesterday when it was 98 degrees outside with the help of my wife bringing out cups of water for me. :) She also trimmed some bushes that we have in our yard and filled the bird baths and ended up with tons of mosquito bites.

Every day we have a Heat Advisory lasting until the next day. I wish they would just say until further notice. :)

Heat Advisory Remains In Effect Until 7 PM CDT Monday...

A Heat Advisory Remains In Effect Until 7 PM CDT Monday.

Dangerous Afternoon Heat Indices Around 105 Degrees Will Remain Possible Across Much Of The Area Today Through Monday. Heat Indices Of This Magnitude Are Capable Of Causing Serious Health Related Problems... And Can Be Life-Threatening In Some Cases.

A Heat Advisory Means That A Period Of Hot Temperatures Is Expected. The Combination Of Hot Temperatures And High Humidity Will Create Conditions Where Heat-Related Illnesses Are Possible. Drink Plenty Of Fluids And Stay In An Air-Conditioned Room If Possible. Limit Your Exposure To The Sun And Check Up On Relatives And Neighbors. Be Especially Attentive To The Elderly And Children. Watch Your Pets. Make Sure They Too Are Kept In A Cool Environment And Have Plenty Of Water.

Cindy and John ( my children in the Navy )

Cindy and John ( my children in the Navy ) and a bunch of their friends spent the day yesterday in Chicago and Cindy took pictures with her phone. They called us a few times and both might come home for Christmas if they can. :) As soon as I can get Cindy to send those pictures to me I will post them here. She still has not sent her graduation pictures. :( John sent his Federal Express so we should get his any day. I will post some of those on here as soon as I get them.

Google Pack Adds StarOffice to it's lineup

Google Pack added StarOffice to it's lineup. Google Pack, the collection of applications recommended by Google, includes a new software, StarOffice, an office suite developed by Sun. In 2000 Sun released StarOffice's source code, which became the foundation of OpenOffice.org, an open source project sponsored by Sun.

StarOffice 8 is a full-featured office suite that contains a word processor, a spreadsheet tool, applications for presentations, databases, math formulas and drawing. It has support for most Microsoft Office formats (except for the formats introduced in Office 2007), but it can also export documents as PDF out of the box. The software normally costs $70, but it's available for free in Google Pack. It's worth noting that StarOffice has a huge installer ( more than 140 MB ), so you should download it only if you have a fast Internet connection.

Phone Calls from Both of my Kids that are in the United States Navy

My son John that graduated Navy Boot Camp yesterday called again yesterday evening. He sounded great. He told me that he sings the cadence for his Division when they march. He is "ARock". If you don't know what that is, a cadence call is a traditional call-and-response work song sung by military personnel while running or marching. He and his sister Cindy along with some of his friends that just graduated and some of her friends from her A school in Great Lakes are going to Chicago together today. They promised me some pictures today, so when I get them I will post them here. My son also sent his pictures from Boot Camp Federal Express so I will post some of those also as soon as I get them. John starts his A school next Tuesday in Great Lakes for OS.

One other note, John said the gas chamber in boot camp really helped clear his sinuses. The next week we has a stuffy nose and thought about how nice it would be to go do the gas chamber again to clear that up. LOL




Cindy is currently learning about troubleshooting and operating the SPS-64(V)9 radar system. Good job Cindy. :) She is a Fire Control Technician. I'm proud of you Cindy.

Guest Book and a letter from another Proud Navy Dad

I had a private post to my guest book from Jim. I am not going to post his last name or e-mail address here, but the content of his letter is definitely worth sharing. Thanks Jim, best of luck to your daughter. We wish her well. John


John,

We finally got a call from our Daughter in Boot Camp. She says she's fine, but busting her butt to earn another call. She graduates on 31 August, some three weeks after your son. From GL, it's on to Lackland AFB, TX, for her Master at Arms training. I don't care for that too much, but she wants it. Gotta support the kids, as you know. I am very proud of my service, John, but I'm realizing that I'm even more proud of all these kids today who are enlisting during such troubled times. Maybe some day the world will no longer need its military forces. Until that time, though, we can all be secure in the knowledge that our various services are filled with young people who've chosen to do this because they want to, not because they must. Please give both your children my thanks and deepest regard. And, again, thanks for posting your son's letters. It has helped us understand this new Navy thing a lot better.

Take care.
Jim
Retired Air Force

Congratulations to my son John for passing Navy Boot Camp

My son John just graduated Navy Boot Camp today Division 259. He called and talked to my wife for a while but I missed his call. He said that he would call back later. He was going to the movies with some friends. :) Congratulations John on a job well done. I am proud of you. Also Congratulations to all the other men and women that graduated Boot Camp today, TG 37 12 Divisions (253, 255 – 264, 937) . We wish you fair winds and a following sea...

Patches that Microsoft has planned for us next Tuesday

The updates will come as part of Microsoft's regular monthly security patch process, and will be made available to customers late Tuesday morning, Pacific time.

Less-serious updates are also being readied for Windows, Windows Vista, and Microsoft's Virtual PC and Virtual Server software, Microsoft said in a note on the upcoming patches, published Thursday.

With nine sets of patches, August will be a busy month for system administrators. Microsoft released just six updates in July, and has averaged around seven updates per month this year.

Here are the patches that Microsoft has planned for us next Tuesday:

* 6 CRITICAL patches - some of these will require a reboot

* 3 IMPORTANT patches - some of these will require a reboot

Microsoft is planning to release four non-security, high-priority updates on Microsoft Update and two non-security, high-priority updates for Windows on Windows Update.

Got another letter from my son at Navy Boot Camp

Got another letter from my son at Navy Boot Camp. He sent this last Sunday ( the 5th ) and he already called us Tuesday. He graduates this Friday the 10th. Div 259.

His letter home below.

"The 20 min run was fun
I passed the final PFA ( Physical Fitness Assessment ) and I also passed Test 3.

Results below

1 1/2 mile run 10:49
2 min Push Ups 62
2 min sit ups 97
Test 3 3.8

The gas chamber sucked. I had a hole in my mask and they told me "You will live" so I got every pill of tear gas. Plus I was in front of the hot pan, that thing they drop the pill on. I did not throw up or anything, but I could not see at all for a few minutes. If I would not have had a hole in my mask it would have been easy. You get one pill for less that 30 seconds.

We had Captains Cup yesterday ( Saturday ) My Div got 3rd out of 12. The Seals division got 1st. The Seals division chant was that song "Afternoon Delight" which I still find funny, seeing a bunch of to-be Seals hopping and skipping around while singing that song.

I can't wait till Tuesday. We get a Pizza Party, Navy Ball caps, a phone call home and we are going to watch the movie "Saving Private Ryan". Well I have to shine my shoes for graduation and we now do all laundry in-house so I have to help with that too. ( 76ish people to clean clothing for )

Talk to you Tuesday.

Love, John "

Publix supermarket chain said today it will make seven common prescription antibiotics available for free

Publix supermarket chain said today it will make seven common prescription antibiotics available for free, joining other major retailers in trying to lure customers to their stores with cheap medications.

The oral antibiotics, representing the most commonly filled at the chain's pharmacies, will be available at no cost to anyone with a prescription as often as they need them, Publix CEO Charlie Jenkins Jr. said. Fourteen-day supplies of the seven drugs will be available at all 684 of the chain's pharmacies in five Southern states.

The prescription antibiotics available under the program are amoxicillin, cephalexin, penicillin VK, erythromycin, ampicillin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, and ciprofoxacin.

This along with Walmarts $4.00 perscriptions of over over 300 different drugs helps millions of people get the medicine they need and might otherwise go without. Also Kmart, a unit of Sears Holding Corp., began last month offering a 90-day supply of generic drugs for $15. Now, more than 300 drugs are included in that program as well.

This is funny and a good idea... :)

I just saw this cartoon over at my buddies blog The Cook Shack--Gab & Grub and got a good laugh. For more like this along with a great attitude on politics go on over and take a look and tell Cookie, who just happens to be an old Vietnam era DAV Seabee, (and an old conventional Sub-sailer ) that John sent you. He also cooks up some great food to help wash it all down.

Good Morning it's going to be another Hot day...

Good morning all. I just woke up after sleeping for a whole 3hrs last night. My tooth is still bothering me, what a pain... The forcast today is for another hot one here in South East Kansas. Today's high is supposed to be 100 degrees. In fact it is supposed to get to 100 degrees for the next several days. Yesterday's high was 98 with a heat index of 107 degrees. Yuck!!! :)

EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THURSDAY.

THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING.WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THURSDAY. THE HEAT ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

DANGEROUS HEAT INDICES OF 104 TO 112 WILL OCCUR ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING HRS TODAY.& AGAIN FOR THURSDAY AFTERNOON.


AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING MEANS THAT A PROLONGED PERIOD OF DANGEROUSLY HOT TEMPS WILL OCCUR. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPS & HIGH HUMIDITY WILL CREATE A DANGEROUS SITUATION WHERE HEAT ILLNESSES ARE LIKELY. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS & STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM. STAY OUT OF THE SUN & CHECK UP ON RELATIVES & NEIGHBORS.

My Son called from Navy Boot Camp

My Son John called from Navy Boot Camp this afternoon. He passed Battle Stations 21 and got his Navy Ball Cap today. Battle Stations 21 started last night at 6pm and ended at 8am this morning. :) He sounded great... He graduates Friday. He and his sister Cindy are going to meet at the NEX Saturday morning and go to Chicago for the day. Cindy is also in the Navy and currently stationed at Great Lakes. I am very proud of my children for serving their country......

Waiting for a call from Navy Boot Camp. Battle Stations 21 last night.

The USS Trayer

My son John did Battle Stations 21 last night aboard the USS Trayer and I am waiting for a call from him telling me how he did. If he passed he will get his Navy Ball Cap this morning and be in the United States Navy. Click the link below to see a CNN video of Battle Stations 21.

"Video" CNN's Keith Oppenheim reports on a new Navy simulator near Chicago designed to train the next generation of U.S. sailors.



( Battle Stations 21 aboard USS Trayer (BST 21). Battle Stations 21 is the culmination of all training received at the Navy’s only boot camp. It is a grueling 12-hour test of a recruit’s skills in several shipboard evolutions, including fighting fires and stopping floods. The event is held entirely aboard Trayer and marks the recruit’s final rite of passage into the Navy. )

Had to post this quote from my Navy daughter,

"FC all the way!! = ) Wish me luck in school. Its goin to be a long haul in Greatlakes but it will be worth it. Miss you all. Wish my lil bro luck he is in division 259 in bootcamp. He graduates August 10th. He is goin to be an OS. I am a United States Sailor. I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me. I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world. I proudly serve my Country's Navy Combat team with HONOR, COURAGE, and COMMITMENT. I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all. HOOYA

Microsoft Releases Another Halo-Themed Zune, Only for Sale to Military Personnel and their families

Being a soldier isn't an easy job. If you aren't being shot at in hostile territory, you're doing lots of pushups and getting haircuts. At least that's what movies have lead me to believe. Well, Microsoft wants to give something back to our servicemen and women, which is why they're releasing an exclusive Halo Zune for military personnel. But wait, Microsoft is giving these to the troops for free, right? Well, not exactly.

They're giving 300 of them to a group of soldiers leaving for active duty today, with the rest of them being available for sale exclusively at "military retail stores." The Zunes will be brown with fancy Halo artwork and will come pre-loaded with artwork, trailers and music from all three Halo games. No word on whether or this military exclusive will sell to soldiers for any cheaper than the standard pricepoint of $250.

UPDATE: This will be sold to military personnel and their families for a "discounted rate," although how discounted hasn't been disclosed.

I have a toothache

I went to the ER Friday night. I have an infection in my tooth/jaw. I have to tell you it was good that I went to the Emergency Room when I did. I was up the entire night Friday night. Every time I dosed off in my recliner, even for 5 minutes I would have terrible pain in my jaw. I haven't slept in bed for a week because laying down is out of the question, too much pain then. I think it is because when I fall asleep my teeth close and touch ( the bottom and the top ) and that causes allot of pain. I really needed the antibiotics. The ER Dr. prescribed Amoxicillin and Lortab, and gave me two of each there in the ER and gave me 4 more Lortab to take Friday night. He told me to take 2 every 4hrs. I even took the Lortab which is Hydrocodone and Tylenol, the exact same thing as Vicodin in the same milligrams.

I went to go to Wal-Mart and got those prescriptions filled Saturday morning. Friday night the Lortab wasn't even enough to stop the pain. I slept all day Sunday ( from 12:30pm-8:30pm ) with a washcloth between my teeth so they wouldn't hit against each other and Sunday night I slept about 5 hrs too. I hope his goes away soon. Last night was another night of no sleep, why do these things always get worse at night? I will see the Dr again tomorrow and have it checked out. Meanwhile I am waiting for a dental appointment...

In other news my son in Navy boot camp has Battle Stations tonight ( Battle Stations 21 aboard USS Trayer (BST 21). Battle Stations 21 is the culmination of all training received at the Navy’s only boot camp. It is a grueling 12-hour test of a recruit’s skills in several shipboard evolutions, including fighting fires and stopping floods. The event is held entirely aboard Trayer and marks the recruit’s final rite of passage into the Navy. ) Tomorrow they get their Navy Ball Caps and get a phone call home. He graduates Friday August 10th. :) Go Navy!!!

Defcon Catches Dateline Mole With Hidden Camera

Dateline NBC sent a mole to Defcon, associate producer Michelle Madigan, who had a hidden camera in her purse and was trying to catch attendees committing crimes. She was outed by the conference’s organizer Jeff Moss (aka Dark Tangent) at the annual “Spot The Fed” game, which he temporarily changed to “Spot the Undercover Reporter”. Wired’s Kim Zetter has the full story, complete with photos of Michelle by Dave Bullock.


"Video"NBC Dateline Reporter flees Defcon 15



Update: Wired Threat Level blog has more.

According to DefCon staff, Madigan had told someone she wanted to out an undercover federal agent at DefCon. That person in turn warned DefCon about Madigan's plans. Federal law enforcement agents from FBI, DoD, United States Postal Inspection Service and other agencies regularly attend DefCon to gather intelligence on the latest techniques of hackers. DefCon holds an annual contest called Spot the Fed, in which attendees out people in the audience they think are undercover federal agents. The contest is good-natured, but the feds who get caught are generally ones who don't mind getting caught.

DefCon staff say that Madigan was asked four times -- two times on the phone and two times at the conference -- if she wanted to obtain press credentials, but she declined.

Been Busy and had company

Vicki & Sheila at Vickis computer

Me & Sheila

Vicki & Sheila in Living Room

Last week my wife's friend Sheila from Arkansas came to visit us. She and my wife Vicki have been friends since high school. We had a great time. Sheila, sorry I had a toothache the whole time. It was great having you here and you are welcome back anytime. Your room is always ready.

350 TV like channels you can watch in your browser.

Index of around 350 TV like channels you can watch in your browser. Just go to http://www.likevid.com/

Happy Birthday Mark

( My Brother Mark )

I just wanted to say Happy 41st Birthday to my little brother today. Have a Great day Mark.

MSN Messenger worm spreading

From the F-Secure Weblog. There's a MSN Messenger worm spreading.It sends messages to other Messenger contacts that are along the lines of:

Psssssst .... just between me and you, please accept Looking for hot summer pictures ? well here they are !!

If you get that in you MSN messenger just delete it. Do Not Click On The Link!!!

Just some Sunday fun...

I was worth $3,455. if you want to see what you would be worth answer these 20 questions and it will tell you. Just some Sunday fun...




$3455.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth. From Mingle2 - Free Online Dating

Mingle²

Another letter from my son John this week who is currently in Boot Camp with the Navy

I got another letter from my son John this week who is currently in Boot Camp with the Navy. Letter below.

"I got really sick on Monday the 16th and ended up having to go to medical. I had a temp of 101.6. If your temp is above 100.8 they make you SIQ " Sick In Quarters". I was SIQ on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, the 16th, 17th, and 18th. I was vomiting about 6 or 7 times a day, and I lost my voice. I am feeling Great now ( August 22nd ) though, so don't worry. When I was sick I really missed home. It would have been nice being in my own bed watching TV and eating soup.

Vicki your letter really helped me when I was feeling sick. No they don't check the mail except for pictures. I am learning allot of cool stuff like how to use a 9mm and a Shotgun. Since I was SIQ I wont do the real guns until Monday the 23rd. I can't tell you if there are things I can't tell you. LOL

Hea, send me some song lyrics! I like reading the. The full " Come Sail Away by Styx and some other GOOD SONGS. NO ABBA SHIT!! :)

Tell Mable and Ruel, Joan, Doris, Gram and Pop, Cindy, Mike and on Facebook Alex and Adam that I said hi. And anyone that I couldn't think of.

I don't have allot of time to write since I was SIQ for 3 days. I have allot to catch up on as far as studying goes. This will be the only letter I write this week. Hope everyone is doing good.

Love, John"

Power outage in SF's Soma district takes many websites offline

6 back-to-back power outages hit the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco Tuesday afternoon causing major havoc with popular web services. 365 Main data center is down, along with craigslist, Netflix, Technorati , SixApart, TypePad, LiveJournal and parts of ZDNet. These datacenters are supposed to have redundant power sources, so it may not be the entire story.

Read more here

New cable modem

Not allot going on today. I did get a new cable modem today. I found out over the weekend that our cable company is no longer going to support the one we had. Speed test results below.


By the way, you can click on the picture below and check your results.

Share your iTunes with SimplifyMedia

If you've ever wanted to listen to your iTunes away from home, or share your music library between your friends, now you can. SimplifyMedia is a plugin for iTunes (both PC and Mac) which allows limited sharing and encrypted streaming across several computers. I have been using it for a week and have been very happy with it. The only requirement is that you both have SimplifyMedia and iTunes installed.

Navy Boot Camp ( another letter home from my son ) and a Call from my Daughter in the Navy

I just got the mail and got another letter from my son that is in Navy Boot Camp. Here is the rest of his schedule. He Graduates August 10th. :)

He says " don't send newspapers" but if you see anything interesting in the news you can quote it. Can you tell me what else is going on in the world? What's on CNN? Top Stories?

The weather here is nice. It's in the 80s. Most of the people here say it is too hot. They use "heat conditions" which is like a heat warning system. When it gets to heat conditions ( which is like 85 degrees ) we are not allow to double time outside.

This week was mainly marching and PT. We are going to play a joke on one of the Petty Officers ( It was the Chiefs idea ) and instead of the AROC ( assignment recruit petty officer ) Singing the normal 123... 2341 412 3 crap he's going to do one to the tone of Johnny Comes Marching Home 1234 your 1 your 1 your 1234. It's pretty fast and we have to stay in step with it. It's 3s are left foot and 2s and 4s are right foot. We had a 12 min run on Friday, I helped people with getting their breathing under control. I am pretty good at the now. Our Division still sucks on counter marching, mainly because "starboard watch" is an idiot and can't figure out when he is supposed to stop... And the flag holders take tiny steps because they are all really short. A counter march turns the Division around.

July
15th
Go to Navy Exchange

16th
USS Marlin Spike ( Practice handling lines "rope" on a Ship )
Get our ATM Cards

17th
RDC Classes ( will talk about officer programs )
Marching Inspection

18th
Laser Gun ( use laser gun on targets )
PT ( Physical Training )

19th
Weapon Live Fire
Get Uniforms Back

20th
Uniform Check ( check to see that they fit correctly )
Photos for Yearbook

23rd
Thrift savings Plan sign up

24th
Anti Terrorism Classes

25th
Uniform Exchange

26th
Shots!!
Haircut
Navy Exchange
Reach Brief ( Medical stuff )

27th
Division Photos
Basic Damage Control Class
20 Min Run

30th
Fire Fighting Class
Gas Chamber!!
PI Inspection - Yes after we throw-up in our shirts we have to get a personal inspection.

31st
PFA ( Personal Fitness Finals )

August
1st
PFA ( Personal Fitness Finals )

2nd
Drill Inspection
Fire Fighting Inspection

3rd
Test 3

4th
Captains Cup ( athletic competition ) between divisions

6th
Haircut
Bank Brief
Battle Stations

7th
Battle Stations
Get Navy Ball Caps
Phone Call home!!

8th
Pick up Photos
In house classes
PT ( Physical Training )

9th
Graduation Practice

10th
Graduation

11th
Liberty

12th
Liberty

13th
Travel Info
Classes

14th
Leave Boot Camp

My daughter Cindy ( FCSA USN ) just called from her A school in Great Lakes ( she is going into AECF FC "Advanced Electronics Computer Field Fire Control" ) and she just graduated from Apprentice technical training and received a Dell Axim X50 as a gift from her school. She starts her FC training Monday. Congratulations Cindy.

Navy Boot Camp ( Call Home )

My Son John ( before boot camp ) currently in Boot Camp going to be an Operations Specialist ( OS ) Graduates August 10th, 07

My Daughter Cindy ( FCSA USN ) in her A School for AECF FC

My son John just called from Navy Boot Camp and we talked for 30min. It was great hearing from him. He said that he is doing well and will graduate Aug 10, 2007. When I asked how boot camp was going he said that it was hard but going good and definitely worth it. I am very proud of both of my children that are serving in the United States Navy. My daughter Cindy is in her A school and is also doing well and loves it. We are very proud of them.

Navy Boot Camp ( Third letter home )

We got another letter today and my son John asked me to post this part. This letter should have been the second but it got lost in the mail.

I've had allot on my mind and have been very busy. I stood watch again and two Petty Officers checked in and started inspecting me. They asked me to tell them the 5th and 11th General Orders, which was not hard then they checked my socks, pants, and shirt to see if everything was perfect. The only thing that was wrong was one button which was not buttoned yet because I had just started The Watch and didn't get a chance to button the last button before they came.

Shots Suck, I've lost count of how many I've had now. Only two more to go. Write me every day or even more. I love getting letters and they are really helping me get through this.

Navy Boot Camp ( Second letter home)

UPDATE... My son John is out of Boot Camp and has his own Blog here http://navygeek.blogspot.com/ I still post allot about what he is up to but he also does quite a bit.

My son is in Boot camp with the Navy and asked me to post this for his friends and family to read. This is his second letter home.

Hi Dad and Vicki,
I am going to write this letter one day at a time.

Monday,
We marched to the other side of RTC in order to fill out some paperwork on insurance / taxes and get our ID's. I picked you and Vicki for the $400,000 insurance if I die ( Which will never happen ) Then we had to march all the way back ( about 7 or 8 miles total ) The Petty Officer told us we were impressive. From there we went to lunch then back to our rooms where we practiced making beds, we have 12 minutes to make our bed perfect, which is not easy, but I can get it done in about 10 minutes and use the rest of the time for anything and make it look better. We then had to go to the room across the hall with our sister division ( division 260 I think ) and the ships officer LT. Summa (sp) made us official divisions. For the marching I wanted to hold one of the flags, but I am too tall. They want the short people in the front and the tall people in the back and flags are the front two rows. Anyway after the thing in the other room we went to dinner, did a fire drill, made our beds some more and then did intensive training ( exercise ) where they go until someone need to go to medical but this time after one guy passed out they kept going. Don't worry I made it through. After that we took showers, got mail and went to bed. We get mail every day. Any info you have about Battle Stations would be great. Wish I could see pictures of you guys and stuff. We are not suppose to talk to each other most of the time but we do anyway and then have to do intensive training because of it. But Yeah I made friends here. I think the division is about 80 people today but will go to 77 tomorrow. How's the weather?

Tuesday
We got up around 7 or 8am and ate breakfast then went to the pool to take the swim test. I passed it. We had to jump off a ten foot platform and swim to the far side of the pool using one of four different strokes. I ended up just using the one where your on your back, it's more relaxing. Then we had to do a thing where we used coveralls under the water ( while wearing them ) which means your head has to go under too then bring the arm up out of the water 3 times, this brings air into the coveralls which you use to float, then we had to do a dead mans float where you take a breath and hold it then put your face in the water and just float for 1 minute. Your allow to bring your face up to breath from time to time. After that we went to a speech which was suppose to be done by the Captain of RTC, but she was not there so a Commander did it instead. From there we went to dinner and came back to our rooms to clean and learn to do the Watch Logs correctly. I then helped with Laundry. I pass it out and clean it. I have also removed stains from peoples shirts for them ( ink stains, we stamp a lot of stuff) We have a stain remover that's made for putting on the stain right before you wash the clothing, but I figured out a way to use it without using a washer. I just put the stuff on the stain then rub it in and let it sit for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes I use cold water and rinse the stuff out while rubbing out the stain. This worked with dry ink stains and a tomato sauce stain so far.

When you write me letters write down everything that happens, it gives me something to read. I expect 20 letters a day :) Oh by the way, you know that rope thing that divides the pool that has round floats on it. There are 386 of those floats on the rope in the pool here, that should give you some idea of the pool size. Oh yeah, we lost two people from our division and gained one from another division. Another thing, if you see anything that I will care about in the newspaper cut the article out and send it with the letters you write. That will give me more to read. Crap, I keep forgetting things, before the Commanders Speech we watched a video about the Navy and it had ""Come Sail Away"" by STYX playing through the whole thing which I really enjoyed.

Wednesday
I actually don't remember what happened Wednesday. I think that was the day we made our beds a bunch of time and got yelled at...

Thursday
We did the first Fitness test . I did
47 push-ups
71 Sit-ups
Ran 1.5 miles in 12:04
then we did inspection practice.

Friday
We did a 5 mile run in the morning, from there we went to breakfast. We had guest at our meals they included Senor Chiefs, Chiefs, Master Chiefs, a few Sergeants from the Marines and a few First Sergeants from the Air Force sitting right around me. They were all really nice and talked about when they were in boot camp 20+ years ago. Lunch and dinner was more of the same.

Saturday
We did B.A.S.E.S. or ( Balance Agility Strength Explosion and Stamina ) is a weekly exercise routine which incorpoarates shipboard required skills with aerobic and strength training.
That includes a bunch of different things, like pull-ups, pulling a 200lb bag on a rope with a team of 6. Jump rope, running, push-ups, and so on. From there we went back to our room to prepare for inspection. I passed the fake inspection. I also went to Medical on Saturday because I have a cold and I wanted to get a "Cold Pack", It has pain killers, stuff for stuffy nose and cough drops. Besides having a cold I feel pretty good.

The Division is down to 77 people, we lost a bunch and gained 4 from other Divisions. Most of the people left for medical reasons. Our Oldest person is 28 years old now. We did have a 33 yo but something happened to him, people are saying they heard he has a Stroke, but I am not really sure. All I know is he couldn't read anymore and kept yelling in Korean in his sleep.

Well, we have inspection tomorrow so I am going to do laundry, remove stains, shine my shoes, and clean up my locker.

Please write more!

Love you both, John

Oh yeah, I had to stand watch from 4-6am this morning ( Sunday). Some idiot decided they wanted to sneak in food from dinner and and other guy on watch and I discovered the food on the guys bed so we had to report it " to report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce" I think that person may get kicked out. Not sure yet. ( Update: He didn't get kicked out. In fact allot of the guys had food in their bunks and this guy took the fall for all of them. He is in "A" School now with my son and doing great... ) ( Update Sept 6, 2007 That guy Graduated "A" School last Friday and left today for his next assignment )

I have to get ready for inspection now.

UPDATE: Allot of people come to this Post from Google search looking for information about Navy Boot Camp. If you click on "Navy" in the Labels section below this post you can read all his letters home" We'll you should be able too anyway but Blogger does not do this well yet. You can also go to the Archives on the right side of this page and start with June. Or you can just click here to see the first letter home. If you have any questions feel free to ask me. You can either leave a comment on any post, or sign the guestbook ( there is a link to it on the right side of the page ) . If you don't want your message public just mark the guestbook entry as Private. You can also e-mail me at Kansasdad@gmail.com I will respond to all comments. When you are done go to the main Blog page here and you can see where he and his sister Cindy are now. They are both doing well and love the Navy.

You also might want to look at these two videos that I posted earlier that show some of what they do in Boot camp with the Navy.

Doctors Smoke Camels? LOL

I love this ad. To see more great ads go on over to my friend Cookies blog here.