New Addition to My Family

My new baby is due sometime next week. I've been contimplating having another one for a while now and finally made the decision yesterday to just get it. I saw an ad in the newspaper and the offer was one I just couldn't refuse. Here's what he looks like.



Dell Inspiron E1505

Built for Entertainment
With an optional dual-core processor, up to 2GB of shared1 memory, optional Dual-channel 2 memory, a 15.4-inch widescreen display, optional TV Tuner3 and stereo sound, plus up to 100GB4 of storage capacity, you can get more out of entertainment. More power, more storage and more speed add up to an intense audio/visual experience. Watch DVDs and videos, listen to your favorite songs, organize and edit digital photos, and more - the Inspiron E1505 has enough power to make it the perfect PC for those who want a great balance of price and performance.

One-Touch Media Access
With Next Generation Dell MediaDirectTM , you can access your movies, music, video and photos without booting up Genuine Windows® . You get fast access to rich content regardless of location- hard drive, USB key, or optical drive with an intuitive Windows-like user interface.

Dual-Core Performance
Do more with optional dual-core power. The new Intel® Dual CoreTM mobile processors leverage two execution cores on a single chip to help increase your PC's ability to maintain maximum performance while running multiple applications such as background virus scans. No more waiting, no more hiccups - that's the dual-core advantage.

Control Your Multimedia
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 gives you total control of your multimedia. With easy photo and video editing/organizing, access to online content providers, TV tuner integration3, DVD and CD playing and more, Media Center lets you turn your notebook into a complete entertainment solution.

Built for the Road Warrior
Dell notebooks are RoadReadyTM -- durable design and rigorous testing delivers a dependable customer experience.

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Dell Inspiron E1505 Dual Core Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2300 (2MB Cache/1.66GHz/667MHz FSB)

LCD Panel - 15.4 inch (1680 x 1050) Wide Screen XGA Display

Memory - 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm

Video Card - Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950

Hard Drive - 80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive

Operating System - Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005

Network Card and Modem - Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem

Combo/DVD+RW Drives - 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

Sound Card - Integrated Audio

Wireless Networking Cards - Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps)

Carrying Cases - Dell Nylon Deluxe Carrying Case

Operating System - Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition re-installation CD

Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack - Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience


I ordered a couple of extras which raised the price some.


~~~ Primary Battery - 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
I spent an extra $100 for the larger battery, which is supposed to last up to 5.33 hours. I'm sure it's not going to be that much, but it will be a lot more than the 2 hours usage with the standard battery.

~~~ Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition re-installation CD
I also spent the extra $10 for an orignal Windows XP CD in case I need to reinstall the operating system.

~~~ Logitech - V270 Cordless Optical Bluetooth Notebook Mouse - Silver
I just had to have the wirelss optical mouse too. It looked so cute that I just couldn't refuse.

All this and free shipping and handling, I think I got a pretty good deal.

I had a busy 3-day weekend

Now that I’ve caught my breath, I want to fill you in on my weekend.

Friday Lori came to my house after she got off work. She changed and we left for a concert to see a local group, Jacks Waterfall. We got something quick to eat on the way and arrived a little after 7:00. Jack lead a drum circle from 7 to 8. We’d never seen a drum circle before and found it very interesting. The concert was until about 10.

After the concert, we got something to eat and then went to the hotel. We fooled around and watched TV for a while and got to sleep pretty late.

Saturday morning we fooled around some more and slept in until about 1-something. We went to a very late breakfast (~3:30) and then went back to my house to watch TV until we left for dinner around 8:00. We had Chinese food and then back to the hotel room where we watched naughty movies and fooled around.

I forget what time we got up Sunday. We fooled around and then got some breakfast. We drove around for a while and then spent the afternoon at the local maritime museum. That night we ate at a Mexican restaurant and then went back to the hotel, fooled around and got to bed late again.

I had a doctor’s appointment Monday so Lori took the day off to keep me company. We were up early, fooled around and checked out of the hotel about 10:30. We went to breakfast and got to my appointment at the VA hospital around noon. The appointment was for nothing special. They have me come back every six months for check ups and this was one of those. They are very through, so we spent the better part of 4 hours there. I also set up a few tests that I will have to go back for later. I can’t wait for the colonoscopy!

When we left the hospital, I took Lori back to the neighborhood in Smithtown I lived in from the time I came to New York in 1963 to when I left to get married. Then we went back to my house and stayed there until she had to drive home at about 7:30. Lori met my son Brian for the first time. He typlically works from about 2 until 10, so he's never been around when she's been at my place. Yesterday day he had off so was home to meet her.

Today is Lori’s daughter’s birthday so I will be meeting them after Lori gets off work. We’re all going to dinner together and then we’ll go back to Lori’s place for birthday cupcakes and presents and then American Idol. I’ll be staying there tonight so after Idol, it will be off to bed for some fooling around and hopefully some sleep.

We'll be up early at about 7:30 so Ii can drop Lori and her daughter off at work. I'll come home and hopefully go back to sleep.


PS
I had some pictures but Blogger is acting up again.

Here's an update Wenchy

Sorry I didn't update for a few days Wenchy, but I just got home a little while ago. I was away this weekend from Friday evening until late this afternoon. I was with Lori (DUH!) and we had a busy weekend. I'll tell you about our weekend tomorrow, but now I'm tired and I don't have the energy right now.

I did want to give you an update on my fucking haircut now that I've had a few days to live with it. IT STILL FUCKING SUCKS MONKEY DICK!!!!!!, but I'm getting used ot it. Lori told me she likes it, but agrees it's too short. She likes the length in the front, but thinks the sides are too short. She told me if the sides were as long as the front, it would be just right in her opinion.

Personally, I hate it like this and I want to put out a hit on the bastard that cut off my beautiful hair last week. I am getting used to it though, but "used to it" doesn't mean I like it.

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM! Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter 23: My Trip Back to the World

On 2 December 1968, the doctor in Japan cleared me for discharge the hospital and transfer back to a hospital in the United States, or as we called it, The World. They gave me choices of any hospital in the United States I wanted to be transferred to and I choose St Albans Naval Hospital in Queens, New York. This hospital was the closest military hospital to my home in Smithtown on Long Island, about 40 miles away. The doctor told me my orders would be cut that same day and I would be transfered the next.



I was so excited when the next morning finally came. The trip to the airport in Japan was the reverse of my trip to the hospital; ambulance to the helipad, the medevac helicopter ride to the airport and then an ambulance to the medevac plane. The plane was laid out pretty much like the one I took from Vietnam to Japan, but only larger. There were racks to hold the stretchers and seats for the amblatory. I was on a stretcher which was hung in a rack just like the last flight.



The flight home to New York was far from non-stop.


The first leg of the trip was from Tokyo, Japan to a military airbase in Anchorage Alaska. We stopped here for refueling. Everyone had to disembark during refueling except the patients that were unable to walk, like me. I was near the doorway in the plane so every time someone came in or out, a freezing cold blast of air hit us. I asked one of the airmen what the temperature was outside. He joked that they were having a warm spell, -20 degrees F (-29 degrees C).

After about an hour, we took off for either Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco, California or to Andrews Air Force Base in Washington DC. My orders said I was to go to Travis, but I don’t remember that stop. I just remember landing in Washington DC. I may have slept through the stop in California, because I was given pain medication shots every four hours due to the rigors of the flight and having to lay on the stretcher for all those hours.

We did eventually land at Andrews Air Force Base at night sometime. I don’t remember what time though. I do remember we were all taken off the plane, but I’m not sure if I stayed in Washington overnight or put on a flight right away for the short trip to New York City. I was probably put on the flight to New York City right away, because the paperwork I have says I was admitted on 6 December 1968 at 2125 hours (9:25 PM).

The reason I’m not sure about the stops, is because of my confusion looking at the timeline I put together when I looked at all the paperwork I've saved. I left Japan on 3 December 1968 in the afternoon sometime and arrived at St. Albans, Queens, New York at 2125 hours on 6 December 1969. Considering that Japan is a day ahead, I left Japan in the middle of the night on 2 December New York time, but I didn’t arrive in New York until 6 December, which would be four days later. That’s not possible because I wasn’t in route that long. So who knows, and lets just forget it. What I do know is that I was admitted to St. Albans on 6 December 1968 at 2125 hours (9:25 PM). These are a couple of old pictures of St. Albans from 1948, but it still looked the same twenty years later. (Hey, I was born in 1948)

The day after I was admitted, I weighed myself on a scale that was in the bathroom, I only weighed 112 pounds (52 kg). I had been skinny my whole life, but this was ridiculous.


I stayed at St. Albans for almost eight weeks. Not all of wounds had healed yet and I needed a lot of physical therapy before I could walk normally. I could get around okay, but just okay at this point.

My Haircut HNT

Lori told me suggested that I better may want to get a haircut before the weekend.



So I decided if I expected any sex this weekend she was right, that I did need a hair cut and to get it this morning. I expected it would turn out like my last one. Remember this beautiful head of hair? This what I looked like after my last haircut.



So I stopped this morning at my usual place, but my usual guy he wasn’t there. I should have turned around and walked away. Why you ask? Because this guy butchered me! HE FUCKING BUTCHERED ME! I started directing him to minimize the damage, but finally I just stopped him before he made it any worse and left.

When I left there, I went down the street to the owners other shop. The owner wasn’t there, but one of my son’s friends works there so I talked to him and explained what happened. He accessed the damage and broke the bad news to me. He said there was no choice, but to scalp me take it down some more to make it even. I nearly cried, but managed to hold back the tears and told him to go ahead.

This what I wound up with.



I am so fucking pissed! My hair hasn’t been this short since I was in fucking Basic Training in the Army!

Happy Birthday Brian

Today my son Brian is 24 years old. He’s making out pretty good with presents this year. Brian asked me to pay for a brake job for his car as my birthday present to him and his girlfriend Cheryl bought him a bunch of nice things and is taking him out to dinner tonight.

Last night, Cheryl gave him his presents; a few shirts, a DVD rack, a case for his CD's and some Godivia chocolate. Brian loves Godiva chocolates almost as much as his late mother Barbara did.

Since the brake job is for all four wheels on his car, including new heavy-duty rotors, I just gave him the birthday card and 20 'Bingo' scratch off Lotto tickets this year. Barbara used to buy him the scratch off Lotto tickets every birthday and holiday. The Bingo scratch-offs are his favorite, so she always made sure to get him some of those. I sure hope he wins a few bucks.

A couple of days ago I asked him if he would like to go out to dinner tonight for his birthday, but he said no. He said his girlfriend Cheryl was taking him. She asked him first, so what am I gonna do? He told her that he wanted to go to the 'Good Steer'. He said he remembered the three of us (him, his mom and me) going there when he was younger, so that's where he told her he wanted to go. He told me he doesn't remember much about the place, because it’s been so long since he’s been there, but he does remember how much we all liked the onion rings. They make the best onion rings.

Redneck Rules of Etiquette

General

- Never take a beer to a job interview.
- Always identify people in your yard before shooting at them.
- It's considered tacky to take a cooler to church.
- If you have to vacuum the bed, it is time to change the sheets.
- Even if you're certain that you are included in the will, it is still considered tacky to drive a U-Haul to the funeral home.



Dining Out

- When decanting wine, make sure that you tilt the paper cup, and pour slowly so as not to "bruise" the fruit of the wine.
- If drinking directly from the bottle, always hold it with your fingers covering the label.



Entertaining in your home

- A centerpiece for the table should never be anything prepared by a taxidermist.
- Do not allow the dog to eat at the table...no matter how good his manners are.



Personal Hygiene

- While ears need to be cleaned regularly, this is a job that should be done in private using one's OWN truck keys.
- Proper use of toiletries can forestall bathing for several days. However, if you live alone, deodorant is a waste of good money.
- Dirt and grease under the fingernails is a social no-no, as they tend to detract from a woman's jewelry and alter the taste of finger foods.



Dating (outside the family)

- Always offer to bait your date's hook, especially on the first date.
- Be aggressive. Let her know you're interested: "I've been wanting to go out with you since I read that stuff on the bathroom wall two years ago."
- Establish with her parents what time she is expected back. Some will say 10:00 PM; Others might say "Monday." If the latter is the answer, it is the man's responsibility to get her to school on time.




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