Geezer

There are 384 posts filed in Geezer (this is page 19 of 39).

Fourteen years

Wedding_Day

Today marks fourteen years from the day that I became the luckiest man in the world. On that beautiful September day, in front of family and friends, Kelly Swanson became Kelly Swanson Turner. Fourteen years later, she still amazes me with her grace. Recently, after we had each upped the ante on some joke, erupting into fits of laughter, I have to stop.

“You know,” I said, “there’s just not another woman like you.” I mean, I say that once I catch my breath again.

And it’s true. There’s only one Kelly Turner, and today I celebrate fourteen years of love and laughter.

NSA job rejection letter

My NSA job rejection letter

My NSA job rejection letter

I was reminded I had this scrap of paper today after reading week after week about the NSA. It’s a polite job rejection letter I got from the NSA in 2001, after I offered to dust off my security clearance and help catch some bad guys. I find it amusing now, now knowing just how far off the mission the NSA has wandered since then.

Hearing as I get older

The other day I was telling Kelly how I seem to have to ask Travis to repeat what he’s saying a few times. Travis always has a lot to say regardless and I don’t always listen as closely as I could as that would be akin to drinking from a firehose. Even so, it seems that more often I have had to ask him to repeat himself. Kelly responded that the issue isn’t all mine, that Travis does have a habit of mumbling at times.

I also know that my hearing isn’t what it used to be, and that thought brought me back to when I was Travis’s age. I would mumble as a kid and thought it was strange when my parents or other grownups couldn’t understand me. Now as I’m older I appreciate how much more acute a kid’s hearing is compared to an older adult. I have to say that it’s a little uncomfortable being on this side of the communicaton gap!

Helen Thomas, bulldog reporter, passes away

Helen Thomas, legendary White House reporter, died today.

Helen Thomas, whose keen curiosity, unquenchable drive and celebrated constancy made her a trailblazing White House correspondent in a press corps dominated by men and later the dean of the White House briefing room, died Saturday at home in Washington. She was 92.

Ms. Thomas covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama for United Press International and, later, Hearst Newspapers. To her colleagues, she was the unofficial but undisputed head of the press corps — her status ratified by her signature line at the end of every White House news conference, “Thank you, Mr. President.”

I loved Helen Thomas. She was a reporter who wasn’t afraid to ask the tough questions – and to keep on asking them if she didn’t get a straight answer.
Continue reading →

My experience with Gulf War Syndrome

USS Elliot (DD-967) in North Arabian Gulf, circa 1998

USS Elliot (DD-967) in North Arabian Gulf, circa 1998


On the Gulf War Veterans Facebook group, one of the members asked if anyone had mystery illnesses. It sparked a lively discussion – one that sometimes veered off into black helicopter land – but it did inspire me to share my mystery symptoms with the group. I’ve alluded to these previously but have not shared them in this detail on my blog before.

As I said in my Facebook post, my desire for answers outweighs my reluctance to post this info in a public forum. If you know me you know what a statement that is. I hope it draws out others to share their experiences, too.
Continue reading →

Nextdoor and neighbors

My friend Reid Serozi wrote a blog post in support of Nextdoor.

Almost one year ago, I started questioning the value of using Google Groups and started to wonder if there was a better way to communicate with my neighbors. I discovered Nextdoor in early 2012 and immediately recognized the value and how it could address the pains I found with using Google Group for a neighborhood/community communication tool.

He makes some good points, but doesn’t address the issue of how poorly Nextdoor deals with neighborhood boundaries. Reid ran into this issue himself this week, as this post to the Oakwood mailing list shows:

I am trying to reach the Historic Oakwood Nextdoor lead.

It appears we have a boundary issue, since the Mordecai CAC overlaps your neighborhood boundary near East Franklin.

Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. All these boundaries. Virtual gated communities is what it is. Even with Nextdoor’s announcement that they’re reenabling their Nearby Neighborhoods feature doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Maybe I’m a geezer (okay, maybe the question should be how much of a geezer I am), but I’m all about open, open, open. Let everyone participate, don’t put up barriers (i.e., membership). Let people own their own data.

Then again, I didn’t see the value of Facebook but now I visit it constantly. You kids get off my lawn!

via Nextdoor Explosion | Reid Serozi – Civic Geek.

Did U.S. Gov’t Lie about TWA Flight 800 Crash? Ex-Investigators Seek Probe as New Evidence Emerges | Democracy Now!

There is a petition active with the NTSB to reopen the investigation into the crash of TWA 800. The plane exploded in July 1996, shortly after leaving New York.

The official explanation blamed a short circuit in the center wing fuel tank, though that’s never happened to a 747 before. Many witnesses reported seeing a streak of light rise in the vicinity of the plane.

I stopped believing the official explanation early on when I read a CNN story reporting that the nose-wheel doors were blown inward, suggesting an external explosion had taken place. The NTSB said the investigation would have to see how that evidence fit the official theory:

But Shelly Hazle, an NTSB spokeswoman, downplayed the significance, emphasizing that investigators will have to see how this newly discovered evidence fits into their theory of how the plane blew up.

The NTSB was cherry-picking evidence to support its theory. I knew then that the investigation was a sham. What downed the plane? I have no idea, but I do firmly believe the federal government knows more than it’s telling.

Seventeen years ago, TWA Flight 800 crashed off Long Island, killing all 230 people aboard. The official government investigation blamed mechanical failure, but now a group of former investigators are petitioning the National Transportation Safety Board to reopen the probe, saying the original report was falsified. Was the plane accidentally shot down by the U.S. Navy conducting a nearby exercise, or was it a terrorist attack?

via Did U.S. Gov’t Lie about TWA Flight 800 Crash? Ex-Investigators Seek Probe as New Evidence Emerges | Democracy Now!.

Everybody’s in

One of my shipmates, an engineer who served with me on the Elliot, posted a comment to one of my NSA Facebook posts that made me think. Referencing my cryptologic technician past, he said.

You should have been an engineer. No one would care what you say or think.

This implies that I have something worth listening to – which as anyone who’s ever read this blog knows is patently ridiculous. Tales of my past as a crypto tech are about as far removed from James Bond as possible. It would bore anyone to tears.
Continue reading →

Tanning no more

Once upon a time in my foolish youth I thought it was cool to get a suntan. There were many summers during my teens where I would “sunbathe” with almost nothing protecting my skin. Several times I got a crispy result.

The turning point for me was a visit to Hong Kong with the Navy back in 1991. Many of the crew and I visited a water theme park in the hills above the city. It was blazing hot so I removed my shirt, I had no sunscreen, and I was on a mountain in the tropics for several hours. I had huge blisters on my back for the rest of the week and came very close to requesting a light duty chit to recover from that foolhardy damage. Never again would I take that for granted, I vowed.
Continue reading →

Hallie leaves elementary school

Hallie's first day of school, 29 Aug 2007.

Hallie’s first day of school, 29 Aug 2007.


Today is Hallie’s last day at Conn Elementary school. It was 2007 but it seems like only yesterday we received the thrilling news that Hallie was accepted into Conn’s magnet program. On visiting Conn at its open house, Hallie was thrilled as well:

“I love it so much I want to kiss the whole school!”

“I don’t think anybody is as happy as I am!”

“This is the greatest day of my whole life!”

“I’m so overjoyed I feel like I’ve got a bellyache!”

“I don’t think I can wait one bit for Conn!”

“I wish they’d named it ‘I love it!’”

“When I first went down there I felt a bit scared and look at me now!”

And, on our way out of the parking lot, “Turn around!”

Now our girl is bound for Ligon and the future is just as bright for her. Still, it’s a day that reminds me how fleeting life is, how quickly the days pass, and how we don’t get to do any of those days over again.

Pardon me if I’m a weepy mess today.