Moment of silence for Fort Hood victims and family...

Via the Emergency Network Messaging System:


As a mark of respect for the victims of the violence at Fort Hood’s Family Readiness Center on Thursday, November 5, 2009, the Secretary of Defense directs a moment of silence beginning 1434L(EST) Friday, November 6, 2009.

Guy Fawkes Day...

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

I remember when I lived in England the bonfires and associated parties were epic, a cross between Halloween and the 4th of July.

I believe it was during one of said drunken revelries that we got carried away with the bonfire we were having at my friend's house and started burning bookshelves, tables, and a few chairs.

Did I mention it's Movember?

Just like last year I'm growing a stache for the cause, but not registered as such.

Here's the link to the official US site:

http://us.movember.com/

I don't have any pics yet, but you can see last year's progress here.

http://madurkeevirginia.blogspot.com/search?q=Movember

Halloween...

A little blurry, but that pretty much sums up my weekend. Got pirate drunk Saturday and spent Sunday "in the doghouse".

Three day suspension...

...for #1 son. grrrrrr.

Apparently he was either climbing around in his classroom's ceiling or he was attempting to, can't get a straight answer out of him. For all I know he could have been trying to recreate that scene where John Bender does it in The Breakfast Club.

I'm definitely no Sherlock Holmes...

…because The Case of Who Took The Brand New Batteries Out of The TV Remote remains unsolved.

The night before last, I put two brand spankin’ new AA batteries in our bedroom TV remote…yesterday, they were gone…then finally replaced with older batteries. I asked/yelled at all three kids to try and get to the bottom of who took them. Of course I got the Family Circle response – NOT ME.

Hey, I know it’s not a big deal, there are batteries in there – but now I was really getting pissed because all three kids swore up and down that they had nothing to do with it. In an attempt to get the truth out of somebody, I tried some old tired line that I had seen in one too many detective shows.

Me: I will find out who took the batteries.

Kids: We didn’t do it!

Me: I’ll find out, because…(cue detective music)…those batteries had a special coating on them. A coating that reacts to a special flashlight I have in my computer repair toolkit.

Kids: Yeah right, Dad.

Me: We’ll find out, you three stand here while I go get the flashlight. Does anyone want to change their story before it’s too late?

Kids: No.

Me: Okay, I’m going to get it…right…now…

I actually broke out some little Maglite that I use when I’m looking in computer cases, the kids were looking at me with some interest and not too much concern. I went to turn it on, but guess what.

Sum bitch. There weren’t any batteries in it.

I told the kids to beat it.

Even system administrators screw up their passwords...

Yeah, there I said it. I'm fallible, I occasionally make "user" errors.

This morning I was going to log in to my T-Mobile page and download some pics that I had uploaded from my phone over the weekend, but I had the caps lock on and locked my account.

No biggie, figured I would just call T-Mobile support and get my account unlocked...no dice. Apparently I'm not authorized to do that, I'm not listed on the account as someone who can do that sort of thing. The Wife will have to call up and have them unlock the online account for my phone number. Ugh.