12 years ago
What's Up With These Ugly New Road Signs?
January 29, 2010
I've seen a lot of these ugly new signs around Greenwood that seem awfully superfluous. 
Random Picture Friday -- The Cherry Tree at the Washington Monument / Rock City
Haden sitting in the big cherry tree at the foot of the Washington Monument at sunset
On our way to Memphis in 2005, we stayed overnight in Chattanooga and stumbled across Rock City. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. You walk a path through the nooks and crannies of a mountain, similar to Chimney Rock.
That's Mel standing above the Lover's Leap sign
| Posted in »
2009 VACATION,
Chattanooga,
haden,
MEL,
Memphis TN,
Random Pictures,
Rock City,
The Washington Monument,
travel
Internet Outage
January 27, 2010
Our Internet just came back on after a two-day outage.
Northland Cable
Mel's 30th -- Key West
January 23, 2010
We're taking a road trip to Key West for Mel's 30th birthday this summer. I booked the Casa Marina Resort.
View Larger Map
That's Good Stuff Right There
January 22, 2010Looks like The University of Soccer Liner lost its case to use the logo "USC" to describe itself:
Neil C. Jones, the Greenville, S.C., lawyer representing the University of South Carolina, said school authorities hadn't yet decided whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Scott Edelman, an attorney representing the Los Angeles university, hailed the ruling as protection of the school's "primary athletic mark" used on team clothing and equipment that brings in significant revenue. He also suggested that the letters were more deservedly linked to the Trojans' warrior image than to "a goofy little chicken." read more
Random Picture Friday
Here's my view from the bus on the day that we left for our deployment in 2004. I appreciate all of you coming out.
Visit 5000
January 20, 2010On Monday, TaiMelWillHaden.com welcomed its 5000th visitor. Someone from Dumas, Mississippi viewed this page (my guitar calluses).
Thanks to everyone who visits!
This is Outrageous
A soldier in Afghanistan has been imprisoned for a completely bogus charge:
"Tonight a Quad City area soldier is in Afghanistan being forced to stay to face charges connected to pictures his mother sent to him. The mother says the pictures were designed to ease the homesickness of life on the warfront but she had no idea they would lead to a child pornography investigation and months of wondering whether the accusations would bring charges. 8 On Your Side Reporter Chris Williams looked into the case.
The child is a relative whom the family says Billy treated as his own child when the girl was diagnosed with cancer as her father went through boot camp. Her father told us he can't believe the charges, especially since they're on other family computers and on Facebook pages and no one else has been investigated.
The Army says Billy will stay in Afghanistan until he faces court martial or there are other recommendations." read more
It looks like the Army has made a dreadful mistake on this one.
Remember Double Dare?
January 15, 2010
This is worth watching just to see the old Nintendo presented as a revolutionary product.
I wanted to be on Double Dare bad, and I was certain that if I could get on that show, I could win every event.
I was also absolutely sure that I was light years better than any kid I ever saw on Nick Arcade:
Here's What I've Been Reduced To By the 5th Day of a January MULA
I can only sit here and imagine my Summer MULAs in the hammock with a book and long, warm naps instead of being cooped up in the house.
Double, Triple the Number of People at The Festival of Discovery?
January 14, 2010
This Festival of Discovery thing is turning into an even bigger event than it already is... can't wait to see who shows up this summer.
" Jones said the Food Network producers told her that a festival or event featured on their channel will usually grow the event by double or even triple the number of people seen the year before. Now that they know the episode is going to air, the group is preparing for a larger number of people than they have ever seen come this July. "
The 2010 Festival of Discovery will be July 8-10 in Uptown Greenwood. Be there!
ESTAR Luggage
I finally got myself a good set of luggage instead of hauling my footlocker through airports. Now I can roll my bags.
I actually got a Samsonite 3-piece set for free using my ESTAR points.
Book Catch-Up
January 13, 2010I really need to buckle down on reading since I got a handful of books for Christmas, plus I haven't even started on the 007 
series... and Mel's been attacking her books, too.
I finally finished I Am Charlotte Simmons this morning while sitting in bed drinking coffee.
The writing is very good, but there are bouts of rambling about three quarters of the way through.
I started A Walk in the Woods (the story of the author's journey on the Appalachian Trail) a few days ago. It's holding my attention so far.
Deviled Eggs
January 12, 2010I just made some deviled eggs for the first time ever. mmmmmm.
I'm getting used to this MULA thing.
Northland Cable -- Greenwood, SC
January 10, 2010
Northland Cable in Greenwood, SC needs to work on their communications.
I filled out an online form for a service request because my Internet hadn't been working for a couple of days. I specifically listed the times and days of the week that I would be home and that I prefer email correspondence, since I live in the 21st century and all.
So, while I'm at work, they call me and leave a voice mail saying they're sending someone to my house right then and it would be great if I could be there to let them in! Obviously (per my email) I wasn't home, so they left a door hanger indicating they were there. Then, they sent me an email asking when I would be home so they could come by. I replied to the email to let them know, once again, when I would be home.
The next day, they sent someone to my house again while I was at work, then called me to ask when I would be home!
Camp Anaconda
Someone drove a car into the water supply that fed Camp Anaconda, which contaminated our water, which led to a water shortage. We had a lot of rain around that time and our vehicles were nasty, but we couldn't use any water to wash them. So, I drove one of our trucks to a mud puddle and washed it with a broom. It worked pretty well.
I tried to keep a positive attitude as much as possible, but good times were few.
These next few pictures show a mortar that came through one of our latrines. Very fortunately for the people in there, the mortar was a dud and it didn't explode. The latrines were just a small trailer that they installed some toilets in.
here's where it entered through the ceiling
went through the floor
They can't leave unexploded ordnance lying around, so they had to move the trailer and dig it out. You can see the round in this picture.
EOD exploded it after they dug it out. It takes a brave soul to look at all the available jobs in the Army and say, "I want the one where I have to handle bombs."
The insurgents hit something with this one. This was about our third day in Iraq.
This one didn't turn out well. This rocket hit at the PX and a guy caught some shrapnel in the neck. He didn't make it.
Mandatory Unpaid Leave of Absence
January 9, 2010
This week, I found out I have to take four weeks of MULA this year (one week in each quarter). My first week will be next week, so I'll have to think of something to keep myself occupied. I know I'll spend considerable time in the gym. I'll also walk the boys to and from school (weather permitting).
I want to finish learning Shine On You Crazy Diamond, too.
I Solve Problems
January 7, 2010I am The Wolf
In an absolute classic scene in Pulp Fiction, two gangsters, Jules and Vince, are driving with a passenger in the back seat. The car hits a bump, and Vince accidentally shoots the passenger in the head. This creates a big mess, as you can imagine.
Driving around in broad daylight in a blood-soaked car is a problem for gangsters.
They drive to a nearby friend's house to get off of the road. That friend's wife will be home soon and he wants Jules and Vince out of there ASAP.
Instead of working the situation out logically, they are paralyzed by panic; they see a problem and they throw their hands in the air and say, "I don't know what to do." Jules calls his boss, and his boss calls The Wolf.
The Wolf arrives and says, "I'm Winston Wolf. I solve problems." The Wolf asseses the situation, tells them to move the body to the trunk, clean the car, clean themselves, and leave; something they could have very well done on their own without having someone tell them to do it.
Well, that's me. I'm The Wolf -- both at work and at home.
Panic and irrationality are my enemies. I'm not immune to panic, but when it happens, I squash it real quick and start thinking rationally.
I'm also tremendously curious, but I don't ask questions -- I love to seek out answers for myself. That way, I feel like I've earned that knowledge, which means I'm much more likely to remember it.
I guess people notice those qualities, and think that I possess some higher wisdom than them.
That gets frustrating, but I've decided to embrace my role as The Wolf and see how that works out for me.
As Colin Powell said, "The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them, or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of a relationship."
...Another Goal I Forgot to Include
I just thought of another goal I have for 2010:
Since nobody has a bracket that connects our garage door to our garage door opener, I'm going to have to use my engineering skills to make one myself. I will certainly have to wait for warmer weather on that one, though.
Gimmick Tech's Offense is Stupid
Nothing prepares you for a pro career quite like flopping around on the football field on your hands and knees.
DeAndre McDaniel Will Return
January 5, 2010
Several websites are reporting that DeAndre McDaniel will return to Clemson for his senior year.
Reached for comment, Christian Ponder said, "oh my."
2010 State of the Union
I've always considered New Year's resolutions to be as corny as the Hallmark Holidays. However, there is merit to setting goals, and one of the tools to help achieve those goals is to write them down or tell other people about them; It's an accountability thing.
We are in a good place as far as our net worth goes. I have our annual net worth goals mapped out up to $1 million, which I'm forecasting we will achieve 14 years from now. After taking a hard hit in 2008, we recovered those losses and then some in 2009, exceeding our net worth goal by 2.2% for the year.Barring another down year in the stock market, we should meet or exceed our 2010 net worth goal. I increased my 401(k) withholding to 3% pre-tax and 5% after tax. I contribute after tax dollars because you can only withdraw pre-tax 401(k) money after age 59.5 without paying a 10% early withdrawal penalty. Since I plan to retire much sooner than that, I make after tax contributions, which are not taxed at withdrawal, and have far fewer restrictions if withdrawn before age 59.5. Separate from our net worth situation, we need to significantly increase our cash reserves in 2010. We have one vacation already paid for (New York), and one still to plan (Key West, FL for Mel's 30th birthday).
Given our penchant for travel and the age of our roof, deck, driveway, and back yard fence, it's going to be challenging to build up enough cash savings this year.
Posts
