It's beautiful, 70 here right now. I hope I can fit in my jog this afternoon. I have a hair appointment at 4:30, and a party to go to at 7:30. So basically, I'll be getting my hair washed, cut, and styled, just to put in back in a ponytail and get sweaty enough that I'll need a shower (so I'll be washing my hair again) before I go to the party.

I'm tired.

Are you on pain meds DS? If so, I bet that's your issue. Which sucks.

Not sleeping sucks. Hope you can get that fixed, DS.


Ugh, it's "city-wide garage sale" weekend. That means that all traffic laws and regulations are only suggestions from now through Sunday.

DS, you should show us some pics of Maranda's work some time.

Hey y'all. I'm just getting here to check in. It's been a busy day.

It started Friday afternoon. A van of basket ball boys were coming home from a one day basketball camp when an oncoming pickup came across center lane and struck them head on (only about 15 miles from home). The head coach, assistant coach, and nine of our boys were in the van. The two coaches were killed on impact. Two boys were treated and released, the rest were hospitalized at least over night. The pickup driver was a 70 year old man who was also killed. We don't know what caused him to cross the center, but word on the street is that he had been helping get ready for a garage sale and the last thing he said to anyone was "I'm just so tired, I gotta go home", and he left. The guess right now is that he either fell asleep, or was having a medical issue that caused him to black out.

From what I understand at this point, one of the boys is still in critical condition being kept in a drug induced coma while waiting for the swelling in his brain to subside. Reports are saying that they have let him come out close enough to test reflexes and he is responding to pain in extremities. There is hope for him. Two others are still in the hospital with shattered limbs, etc, but are not life threatening. The rest have been released. One of the boys lives directly across the street from us.

The head coach that died was in his first year teaching here. He was only 24. He came from another area so has no family here. The assistant coach has been at this school 14 years. He taught upper-level math, coached football, basketball, and golf. He was our pastor's brother (they were VERY close). I sat directly beside him in our church sound booth most every Sunday. The last thing I said to him last weekend was "See ya next week!".

His funeral is Friday. The school gym floor is being redone so it can't be held there. Our main city building is already committed so it can't be there. Our church is about the next biggest facility in town. We are expecting a HUGE crowd. Many of our own church people will come, then you add in the family, students, and many local citizens who have been rocked by this whole deal. Our main sanctuary seats about 300 max. We have an additional area that we spent most of the morning running cables to try to get audio and a video projector set up for an additional 250-300 there. I expect we still won't get everyone in the door. We are working on setting up remote parking and shuttle buses.

In a town of 3,500 you're not many steps away from knowing each person in that van in some manner. The elderly driver in the pickup was a banking customer of my wife's when she was at the bank before this latest one.

So, as we prepare, I spent the morning dragging coax through the insulation in the attic. This was something that needed to be done anyway. This gave us a push to do it now. I then spent the afternoon rebuilding the computer network. That was project I was planning on doing anyway, but I needed it to be done before getting serious about broadcasting our services on uStream video. We may broadcast the funeral service so I needed to get the broadcast computer off WiFi and onto wired LAN. Pastor is deciding if he wants it broadcast (for remote family memebers).

What a sad weekend, yet, we can be happy that more kids were not seriously hurt or even killed.

Good day, all. I'm finally feeling a little caught up from being off all last week.

WOW, Web... what a tragedy. Horrible loss for you community. Yes, it is good to be able to lend some support. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

I wish I could have taken some time off this morning as there was a funeral in my town too. A soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. My bike is down for repairs, so I didn't have the opportunity to ride with the Patriot Guard, or I certainly would have. The church where that service is to take place is only about 3 miles from my house. I pass it just about every day on my way to/from work. Usually I admire their lovely grounds. Today I had a hard time not crying as I was watching some of the Patriot Guard riders filing in to set up in advance of the crowd, and the police officers setting up traffic cones to block the lane closest to the church. Having attended a few of those services, I can honestly say it is incredibly difficult to not feel moved by the loss.

On the hopeful news front, Pambo tells me that she has an appointment with Dr. Casey in Detroit on Monday. He is the Dr. who did both of her surgeries related to the nerve issue. She and Richard are going to head up this weekend, so hopefully something good will come from that.

Otherwise, it is a beautiful day here. Just got back from having lunch outside on the terrace with Little Man. Its a shame to have to be inside... perfect day out there.

Hope everyone is having a good one.

Howdy.  Still trying to make it by as time allows.

So sorry to hear about such a tragic moment for your community, Web   It's just heart breaking.  You all will be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Web, is there any way to test it first?

Even if there are problems, you'll be letting more people participate who wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

Good day, all. We have finally reached Thursday afternoon. I'm ready for this week to be over. Not a lot going on here today, so that makes for a very long day.

Web... glad you got that issue sorted out. I read the sentence about jitter and started down the mental road of trying to remember where all in the IP settings you can impact jitter. Its one of our least favorite issues to troubleshoot.

And now, I think I'm ready for a nap.

Good luck with everything this morning.

Well, that was quick. And it apparently failed. Too bad, so sad.

Looks like another beautiful but boring day in my neighborhood.

Hope everyone has a great day.

I'm glad it went well Web, as well as can be for such a sad situation.