Wednesday, June 28, 2006
20:42
Earlier this week, Qalmlea (see the Sporadic Maunderings blog in the links list) took the long way while traversing to Oregon and visited me. As she mentioned on her blog, we went to a Thai restaurant, and the food was very good. It is always nice to meet an old friend again. I've relocated three times since finishing high school, and it seems like with each move it is harder to establish new connections when I know I'm probably going to have to sever them again. I try to keep in touch with people, but it doesn't always happen.
Monday evening and yesterday morning we had houseguests here. "We" at that time meant just myself, Mr. Eby, and Nala (the dog) because Mrs. Eby was still in Canada. This family that visited has ten children. The oldest is in college and the youngest is barely out of diapers. They said that they've decided ten is enough, and this is the first time the youngest has been that old.
Next week I'm visiting a friend from college who I haven't seen in about five years. I leave on Saturday and come back after the 4th on whatever day that week works out the best; the bus tickets are not date-sensitive.
Since I'm not likely to blog during that time, I'll post something patriotic right now:
Oh say, can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Who's broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming!
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Monday evening and yesterday morning we had houseguests here. "We" at that time meant just myself, Mr. Eby, and Nala (the dog) because Mrs. Eby was still in Canada. This family that visited has ten children. The oldest is in college and the youngest is barely out of diapers. They said that they've decided ten is enough, and this is the first time the youngest has been that old.
Next week I'm visiting a friend from college who I haven't seen in about five years. I leave on Saturday and come back after the 4th on whatever day that week works out the best; the bus tickets are not date-sensitive.
Since I'm not likely to blog during that time, I'll post something patriotic right now:
Oh say, can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Who's broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming!
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
17:18
I've added some links to the sidebar to non-blog websites run by people I know. If I know you and you have a website that I didn't list, tell me and maybe I'll list it.
The Turnbull family goes to my church here, and Matt Turnbull leads the Tuesday evening Bible study that I attend. Speaking of which, I forgot to go last night because it was about 21:30 before I remembered it was Tuesday. The website is about his wife's battle with cancer.
Wolff's Lair is the website of BlackWolff, who's blog is in the blog list. It's basically just a links page with three links. One link goes to a private forum that you already know about if you're a member, one takes you to his blog, and one goes to an alphabetical listing of his books, which is alarmingly long.
Visual Basic Thunder is run by a friend of mine from highschool. It's of particular interest if you are a programmer, particularly if you use VB 6.
The Turnbull family goes to my church here, and Matt Turnbull leads the Tuesday evening Bible study that I attend. Speaking of which, I forgot to go last night because it was about 21:30 before I remembered it was Tuesday. The website is about his wife's battle with cancer.
Wolff's Lair is the website of BlackWolff, who's blog is in the blog list. It's basically just a links page with three links. One link goes to a private forum that you already know about if you're a member, one takes you to his blog, and one goes to an alphabetical listing of his books, which is alarmingly long.
Visual Basic Thunder is run by a friend of mine from highschool. It's of particular interest if you are a programmer, particularly if you use VB 6.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
22:22
My lack of posting was due to allergies followed by schedule upheaval. Before the allergies, my friends John and Brandon visited me. They got here on a Tuesday evening and left on the following Thursday morning. Tuesday evening they went to Bible study with me, and afterwards we played my board game. The board game is no longer called "Wizards and Lizards," because I found some smaller rubber creatures at a toy store. They are mostly sea creatures, but that's okay. They fit on the tiles. They liked the game well enough to want to play it again on Wednesday night. We played cooperative and won both times, but the second time we found out afterwards that the Level 1 Flier card had been left out of the deck, which went a long way towards explaining why the flier didn't come attack us. Incidentally, that particular flier now looks like a blue pigeon.
Before that, we made an abortive attempt at hiking -- John got worn out quicker than he thought he would. That might have been when I inhaled whatever I was allergic to. We toured the town and did touristy sorts of things, including taking a tour of the local candy factory. It was really good to see them both again; TMC seems like it was ages ago now.
In other news, classes are out for the summer so it's just me and the solutions manual, which I hope to finish this month. Actually, for this week, it's just me, the solutions manual and the doggy. The Ebys had to go on an unexpected trip to Canada because Mrs. Eby's father died in the operating room on Friday morning. So far everything's gone well here, aside from the FedEx guy not showing up to deliver the equipment we're going to need when they start filming math lectures next week.
The other day while riding home I saw a dead deer on the side of the road. In fact, I had to swerve into the main traffic lane to get around it. A couple of days later, it had been moved off the road, but was still dead.
Before that, we made an abortive attempt at hiking -- John got worn out quicker than he thought he would. That might have been when I inhaled whatever I was allergic to. We toured the town and did touristy sorts of things, including taking a tour of the local candy factory. It was really good to see them both again; TMC seems like it was ages ago now.
In other news, classes are out for the summer so it's just me and the solutions manual, which I hope to finish this month. Actually, for this week, it's just me, the solutions manual and the doggy. The Ebys had to go on an unexpected trip to Canada because Mrs. Eby's father died in the operating room on Friday morning. So far everything's gone well here, aside from the FedEx guy not showing up to deliver the equipment we're going to need when they start filming math lectures next week.
The other day while riding home I saw a dead deer on the side of the road. In fact, I had to swerve into the main traffic lane to get around it. A couple of days later, it had been moved off the road, but was still dead.
