My best guess is that the dead are at peace by now, having been processed through whatever lines exist in the afterlife by this time, even with the sudden influx. The same cannot be said for the living.

Jaded as I am, I made my donation to tsunami relief today on behalf of my wife and I. I only did so after a long and thorough review of various charities. I already have enough money stolen and wasted by Uncle Sam and various state and local tin pot dictators. It would pain me greatly to throw more away thinking I was helping disaster victims only to find out later my money was used to pad the pockets of a third world petty bureacrat.

If you haven’t yet, please consider making a donation. We decided to give to the Samaritan’s Purse due to a variety of reasons.

I am never content with just the basics. That’s why I’ve wasted any number of hours trying to figure out how to change the look and feel of my blog. I finally found a well written guide that was very helpful. Thank you so much for writing it, Podz.

I’m well on my way to ruining the beauty and elegance of Ryan Boren and Matthew Mullenweg’s original product design.

Elena is a dear friend from my high school years. I hadn’t seen her in a while, but I finally got to have dinner and catch up with her and her parents this year. Hopefully we’ll both stay in touch from now on.

It’s easy to forget about your friends because time has a way of speeding up the older you get. I am amazed by how quickly the days pass now that I’m in my 30s.

On the other hand, some memories burn themselves into the retina of your mind’s eye. Watching the Princess Bride with Elena is one such memory that has etched itself into my mind forever.

Sometimes it would be nice to recapture the relative innocence I had in high school. Other time I wouldn’t trade what I know now for the world. But most importantly, I’m glad I have good memories of good friends and that every now and then we get to play catch up with people we love that time has seperated us from.

I don’t think you get to have many good friends in a single lifetime so I’m grateful for Elena.

A decade is way too long not visit with a friend.

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My wife’s Dad turned 90 this year and we took a trip to Rochester, New York for the celebration.

Human life is amazing, especially when you reach 90 with your mental faculties intact and even more so when physically, you’re in good shape considering your nine decades of existence.

Needless to say, you’ll be sitting a while if you’re on dial-up.

Some of the photos are taken at Nancy and Walt’s lake house, which is beautiful. We had a great time with them playing some sort of silly domino game that involved a choo choo train. You probably had to be there.

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You’ll probably see a number of these camping trip galleries appear on this site as time passes. The portion of North Carolina depicted here is absolutely beautiful year round, but especially so in the fall!

These photos were taken in the Nantahala National Forest a few miles outside Highlands, North Carolina in October, 2004.

You probably don’t want to bother clicking the above link if you aren’t blessed with broadband. This is a HUGE chunk of data, with random pics of some of our family dogs located near the end.

We like to go camping about every three months in the forest. There are a wide variety of moderate to excruciatingly painful hikes in the area, and some really amazing scenery. Our camp site is right next to a rushing stream, and makes for some of the best sleep I ever get.

If you know me, remind me to tell you the story of when Stan fell into the campfire. I wasn’t there, but it’s still funny!

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