Let us NEVER forget

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
- "In Flanders Fields," John McCrae, 1915

(from http://www.usmemorialday.org/)

Please take some time over the next few days and think about the sacrifices made by countless American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines to preserve freedom, both here and abroad. This weekend honors the American men and women who fought and died so that we might stay free. By Presidential declaration, 3PM Monday (local time) is designated a "National Moment of Remembrance," but it is not necessary to wait until then, or to think that one moment is enough to appropriately honor our veterans.

If you're out that way, the West Tennessee Veterans Cemetary is right off of TN 385 / Bill Morris Parkway at the Forrest Hill-Irene exit (just north of the Mississippi line). I would be there myself, but I'm in Tullahoma.

New Truck

I am driving my new 2006 Chevy Colorado. I got it when I was in Memphis this past weekend, and I drove it back to Tullahoma when I came back. We still haven't received any type of invoice or request for payment, so I'm driving somebody else's truck (with their permission, of course). I'm really liking the truck. It's a little less powerful (5 cylinder engine vs. 6, and a somewhat bigger vehicle), but still has plenty. It has a built-in CD player, which is nice, but I had a 6-CD changer that I had added to my old truck, so this is actually a step back in that respect. But the new care smell makes up for anything like that.

My trip home was quite good. I originally had a meeting Friday afternoon, so I was planning to leave after that. Then, the meeting got moved to Wednesday afternoon, so I left Friday morning and drove back to Tullahoma Tuesday afternoon. Then, my Wednesday meeting got moved to Friday afternoon. As of now, that's still on the schedule.

Among other things while home, I got a chance to play a round of disc golf Tuesday morning with Lee. I kept score, but didn't add up the strokes. I had a pretty good round overall, but had a couple of bad holes probably sent my score higher than I'd like. Not bad for the first round I've played in forever.

I finally signed up for my summer classes, with fall registration still not immediate enough to be important to anyone but me. I'll be essentially done with my explicit requirements by the end of fall. Everything else I would take would be considered electives, also known as the easiest classes I can find.

My office has been officially reassigned. I'm no longer in the bullpen. The new office is in the main academic building, and I share it with a new student. Not sure all the implications of that. I like being in the main building, but you can never predict sharing an office with someone. For having been here a semester, things sure aren't settled.

Something is happening with the CBU site. It doesn't seem like it's just the student sites, but that doesn't mean that they're not taking the sites down. I don't guess that bothers anybody but me, but it still has a lot of useful links for me. Maybe it's not gone. Maybe it's just a temporary incompetence. More tomorrow.

Fun with Wireless

My office isn't mine anymore. Apparently, everything has been given to high school students up here doing something or other. It's not that I actually need an office or a computer until my project gets going, but it's about to start, and they did assign me the office months ago. At least I can still log into the computer and log off whoever happens to be using it right then, so that's nice.

I had a meeting tomorrow, but it got pushed to Wednesday, so I'll be in Memphis about noon or 1 instead of 3 or 4. I'll have to be back here by Wednesday afternoon, but I had already planned on that, so it's no problem.

I mailed my lease extension notice today. It just guarantees me a place to sleep after June 30 without locking me into anything longer than I want. I'm actively looking for something else, but this place isn't awful. It's not great, either. I hate to move my stuff again.

Well, I better get ready to leave in the morning. More tomorrow.

TV, who knew?

Since finals ended, I've been catching up on the TV shows I missed during the semester. Well, it's more watching old episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and whatever movies happen to be on the free HBO preview. That, and lots of sleep.

I think I mentioned on the old site that I'm reading an alternate history novel that Lee loaned me. Years ago, I'd be done with any book within a week, but somewhere in the reading of bad literature for English classes, the tons of homework for AP classes, and general laziness, I've slacked off big time. Now, I tend to read right before bed, and only a chapter at a time, so I'm only about 5 chapters into this book. Still, good book.

I almost have my truck emptied of anything I want. That's news considering the amount of junk in the extended cab. I've still got a little bit to clean out, but I'm a whole lot better off today than yesterday. More tomorrow.

It's Sweeps Week

Or so the great Bill Shatner reminds us in the Boston Legal season finale. Among other things, this episode spends much of its time admiring Jeri Ryan's hotness. Marriage is proposed, repeatedly, by Bill (Captain Kirk from the original Star Trek) to Jeri (7 of 9 from Star Trek Voyager). There's some trial or something to advance the plot, but who cares? Jeri Ryan is hot.

Yes, this is the first official post to the new blog site. I had a placeholder post here that I plan to delete. If you've found your way here from the old site, expect a new site to be operation eventually, probably at some UTK address. If you've found this some other way, what are you, stalking me?

So this past weekend, I went to Atlanta to see two Braves games. The first game was about as exciting as possible, ending on a bottom-of-the-ninth grand slam homerun. The second game wasn't as exciting and ended in a loss. But I always enjoy going to games, and the weather was perfect.

Friday night, my shoes broke. Just the right one. The shoe part came unglued from the sole part. It's been happening slowly for a couple years, but I didn't know that's what was causing the symptoms. It was going to be a troublesome weekend, what with the right shoe no longer attached to the sole, but forunately, on the way between here and Atlanta is a large factory outlet mall, which had a shoe store. Yes, I could have gotten shoes almost anywhere, but I still would have had to stop somewhere, so I might as well get what I want.

Oh, my new laptop arrived. It's widescreen, which is an adjustment, but I'm enjoying the aspect ratio. The processor is also quite a bit faster. I'm also planning to use it more as a laptop than the last one, which I used mostly as a desktop that moved. I've already been using it downstairs on the couch as opposed to the office / spare bedroom. It's always nice when you can pirate a wireless network signal for some free internet access.

I'll be in Memphis this weekend. I don't have cable internet anymore, so don't expect to see me online much.

I guess that's enough for tonight. I should really be doing stuff around here. More tomorrow.