Fun Stuff

Mom and Angel

My mom loved animals. At one time or another while growing up we had a flock of ducks, a goose, a crippled Blue Jay, a ferret, a rooster, rabbits, dogs, cats, and two goats. After I left and moved away, mom got an Umbrella Cockatoo. She named him Angel.

Mom decided to train Angel to do some tricks. Angel learned how to go shopping, he picked up things and put them in a shopping cart, play basketball, move over Michael Jordan, play dead, do somersaults, ride a scooter, and several other tricks. It was pretty impressive. Below are a few videos of Angel in action.

Yes, my mother was on David Letterman. Pretty cool! She said that Letterman and everyone associated with the show was really nice and treated her with respect. It was my mom's "Brush with Greatness."

Uh Oh! Dad's Bragging on the Kids Again

I have two kids, a son and a daughter. They are both good kids.

Both my children were in band starting in Middle School. Joseph played saxophone and Michelle, following in my footsteps, played tuba. Below are some videos of them performing in high school.

A Mother's Day Gift

Over the years I have bought my wife a variety of Mother's day gifts. One year I got her a Kitchen Aid mixer she wanted. Another year I got her a snow blower. When the kids were growing, cash and a trip to the mall for her was a pretty standard gift. A few years ago, I bough her trapeze lessons. She loved it and did really well.

Some Pretty Slick Mending

My daughter Michelle inherited my mother's love of crafts. She does all the mending for the household. Michelle is also very environmentally conscious. She is a believer and a practitioner of "Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make it Do, or Do Without" and "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"

My favorite denim work shirt I got while working at SRC Inc, was getting pretty ragged. Michelle resurrected it using a Japanese mending technique called Sashiko. Fixing the shirt kept it out of the landfill and I can now continue wearing my favorite work shirt. Also, it is super cool.

An Encounter With A Highly Accomplished Astronaut

In the spring of 2022, my wife and I went to the Norman Rockwell museum in Stockbridge, Massachusets. My wife wanted to take a a look at one of the buildings on the property. It used to be a house and now is the administrative offices for the museum. While Marlene was taking a picture I saw a gentleman exiting the house. I said "Smile, you are on camera." I struck up a conversation. He told me that was his boyhood home. Later in the conversaton he told me his name, Story Musgrave. My immediate reaction was "Holy cow! I am talking with Story Musgrave." He is one of the most famous and accomplished Space Shuttle Era astronauts. He was on the crew that repaired the Hubble Space telescope in 1993. It was a joy and privelege meeting him. Read more about Story Musgrave here.

First PC I Ever worked On

My father bought a Zenith Z-150 PC in the mid 1980s. It was the first PC I ever worked on. I found a user manual for it here .

I kept the sales flyer for years and just recently had it framed for display on my office wall.