Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas.........

We had a great Christmas with the family together except Angela was not able to make it. Liam has grown quite a bit and we saw our first granddaughter Piper for the first time. She is a very placid child. Liam proceeded to play train wreck with a set of Brio Trains we have passed down to him from our kids. We gave our customary annual wood stove donation to an Indian reservation out west and I received a nice Pilot 823 Fountain Pen from Regina.







Above is a family shot of the clan during Christmas and below is a shot of some Christmas decorations. The stars were made by my 2nd Cousin Renata Clausenitzer. Thle last shot is of me and my granddaughter Piper. Its the first time we saw her in person.


Thursday, December 3, 2009

HELLO WORLD!!

As you can see by the date, its been a long time since I have posted. Aside from being very busy, I haven't felt all that well. Had a bad Gout attack followed by a hospital stay followed by yet another Gout attack. Needless to say I haven't been in the greatest frame of mind recently. However, I have been to see a Rheumatology specialist and if he is right. my troubles may be subsiding ( pun intended for you fellow gout sufferers) a bit down the road.One thing that has bouyed my spirits recently (though dimmed my wife's) is the latest cap I received in the mail. She hates my cap collection but take a gander at this baby:

It is the cap of the USS NEW YORK, recently commissioned right here in NYC. She was docked on the west side up a couple of slips from the Intrepid. Since I was one of those deemed essential I had to stay throughout the week after the attack and do whatever was necessary to keep my building up and running. The USS NEW YORK has about 7.5 tons of steel in her from the Trade Center so every time I wear the hat it is a tribute to the victims, first responders, Navy and my fellow building managers, engineers and service employees who stayed behind to do what must be done.
This old Coastie now has three Navy caps. One from the USS LOUISIANA my oldest son's boat, USS EARLE my Dad's ship and now USS NEW YORK.
It's been a rough couple of weeks, I can't wait to get back to work and get the year overwith to start the new one off on a different foot :-).