Category Archives: Family

Mothers Day

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Mothers Day

I kind of forgot that Mothers day was just around the corner … but during a recent visit to the grocery store I saw the greeting card section and all the cards out on display.

I knew this was coming … and I’m not the first to experience it … but this is going to a particularly hard mothers day.

I imagine no mothers day in the future will be particularly easy.

Pretty soon we will be having a memorial to dedicate mom’s headstone.  Not especially looking forward to that either.

Truth be told … I’ve only visited the grave site once since the funeral.  I don’t need to.  My memories of my mom are sharp and clear.

She was my mom … she also my friend.

I will always miss her dearly.

Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me – Golden anniversary Edition

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This post could also be titled: Why Carl Kasell is the greatest guy in the world!

If it hadn’t been for my mom’s passing last week, this Sunday would be my parents 50th wedding anniversary.

My brother Mitch, the really creative one in the family, pulled out all the stops.  He got a letter from Senator Dick Durbin, a card from Barack & Michell Obama, and to top it all off … he arranged to have Carl Kasell to record a special greeting for the event.

The original plan was to do a “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” (WWDTM) format game during the anniversary party (which had been scaled back from a big even to a much smaller affair, for obvious reasons) … and Mitch thought that the only thing missing was Carl Kasell’s intro.  So he sent an email to the producers of WWDTM, explained the situation and asked if it would be possible to get Carl to record a message, and they agreed.

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Leah Gibbs

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For those of you who don’t follow me on Facebook, I’m sad to announce that my mother, Leah Gibbs, passed away last week after a long battle with cancer.

It was a long time coming and we were (more or less) prepared.  None the less, it was very hard.

The funeral was held last Thursday and, despite  bad weather, there were a tremendous number of people in attendance … they even had to open up the partition in the synagogue to accommodate the number of people. It was a heart warming testament to the number of people who’s lives intersected with my moms.

Although I wasn’t sure I would be able to do it, I did speak at the funeral service … here’s what I said:

Modem

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I found this modem in my dad’s den today … it’s an Everex EV-941 …. I think it’s a 1200 baud modem.

Yeah, you’re right, my dad is a packrat.

But I love him anyway.

[tags]hardware, modem, antique[/tags]

The Gift of Compute

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My mom needs a new computer … right now she has one of my old systems … a Pentium III 700mhz and a really junky 15″ monitor.

Since I no longer need theshire anymore (all the applications that were running on it have been moved to gondor), I figure I’ll give the system to mom.

Since her monitor is so junky also … I picked up a 19″ LCD display for myself, gave my old 19″ LCD display to Ginny, and took her 15″ LCD display for the servers (which frees up a lot of space on my computer workbench). Now I can also give mom a much nicer 17″ CRT display.

Dad just has to adjust her computer desk so the new monitor will fit. He groused about that when I told him what I was going to do.

I feel old

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I feel really old.

While talking to my folks the other day, they informed me that my nephew Josh has a girlfriend.

Ok, yes, I admit he’s 15 years old … and that’s about the time for a young man to have a girlfriend (not that I did, but I was a pretty late bloomer).

None the less … I remember when he was a baby.

I’ll get over it … eventually 🙂

Grey Gibbs drives the Grey Ghost

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Ok, he’s not THAT grey … just a bit ’round the temples.

Ginny and I went down to my folks house for dinner last weekend.

Of course the first thing he wanted to do when we arrived is take the new Escape Hybrid for a spin around the block.

I think he was impressed … although he admitted to being a bit disconcerted when he put the car in gear without the engine running, and pressed on the accelerator … and it moved. He did like the smooth transition from electric to gas engines.

Although I don’t need my father’s approval … it’s nice to have.