What have I been up to?

I've been Answerbagging since earlier this year. It's an extremely addictive question and answer website, at www.answerbag.com. For the most part, I've been providing advice for relationships, having some fun, and answering Answerbag questions. I've put a page in my Orange Frog Productions FAQ section about "Prettifying Your Answerbag Profile", explaining step-by-step the HTML you can add and modify. (It's a bit like entering a blog... You don't have to do paragraphs, but you do have define the whole page as a DIV and do your styles on IT to do them all.) I'm working on a comprehensive User Guide for it. It will be on OFP soon, I hope!

Meanwhile, my VR counselor was promoted, and I've gone through two more Crossroads job coaches - the last is changing positions soon. AND, I'm STILL looking for a job. I don't understand why 25 years of programming experience doesn't seem to count for anything. Anyway, I'm only looking for entry level (or a little above) for programming, help desk, customer service, office, web design/devel0pment, etc. Sooner or later, someone will take me, I hope! Or, the two people I've been talking with, and I, will start a business tied in with Genealogy. We'll see, I guess.

Speaking of genealogy, I haven't been doing much on it, recently. I WILL be getting back to it when I get that User Guide done, I'm sure.

Also (genealogy/history-related)... Even MORE history was lost recently in the midwest, with the number of homes and towns destroyed and damaged by the floods in Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, etc. It should be a wake-up call to everyone to MAKE SURE you scan and/or otherwise protect your family's photos, documents, and anything else you can, and save copies on multiple CDs/DVDs, sending copies to other family members who are not in the same areas as yourself. While the digital copies will not be LEGAL, at least you have all the information in all of them, can have pictures reprinted, etc. Imagine all the historical records LOST when the downtowns of these places flooded out. This is why THEY should scan all their records to optically store them, and have digital text copies, besides! I hope SOMEONE takes this type of thing into account. Also think about the cemeteries that were lost/damaged by the flooding. It's sad... It's really sad, that all this history is gone forever.

That's enough for today. TTYL

Aren't You Done Yet?

My wife noticed me working on my genealogy the other day, looking for more people. She asked, "Aren't you done looking for people, yet?"

I created a graphic for her to show how many ancestors each person could have, and she seemed to understand. But, I know others that are confused, as she was, about genealogy and those of us who research our ancestors.

So, I wrote an article for my website around that graphic. Check out "Aren't You Done, Yet?" at Orange Frog Productions.

Scam Alert

I've published a new page on OFP related to some emails I received yesterday. They contained the subjects

You've received a greetingecard from a Neighbor!
You've received a postcard from a School mate!

Note that neither mention a name, which is one of the warning signs. See my experience, full examples, and a link to a Scam Alert about these at OFPv2/Scams - Malware Email Examples #009-011.

I've also added some correspondence I had about my OFPv2/Shams - NRPI page, and sent a letter to the editors of the Lebanon, Indiana Reporter and Indianapolis Star newspapers concerning the cemteries article I mentioned last week.

Other than that, I've been researching the William J (or G) Laughner family in Tennessee and Boone County, having problems finding them in 1850 (they're supposed to be in Boone County). They seem to tie a lot of my peripheral families together.

New Stuff on OFP, Genealogy and the Media

I've put a few more pages on OFP. I:

• Added a couple of NRPI Responses
• Added Summary to Shams Home Page
• Added Correspondence - Real Estate auction sham w/IRS/Government
• Added NRPI Responses (2) - Correspondence from a former NRPI Employee(?)
• Added Commercials and Links to Commercial Music page
• Added Article - Cemeteries and Headstones Being Lost and Images

The last one ties in with my "Losing History" blog posts here.

Otherwise, I've been looking for a job - had a couple of "phone-screen" interviews, and haven't heard anything back, yet.

I've also been researching and entering more and more people into my Genealogy Database. I now have 11,372 Individuals, 3855 Families, and 405 Sources. Every time I think I was wrong about my extended family (those in my DB) having come to Central Indiana and making it pretty much what you see today from heavy woods and forests, I find even more who came at around the same time. And whenever I drive through some of the "woods" we have left, and think about it, it absolutely amazes me that most of Central Indiana was completely covered like this, and people in MY family came here with their families, and cleared a lot of it to make the farmland we drive through the majority of the time, with just axes, hoes, saws, horse-drawn plows, blood, sweat, and tears.

If that can't stir your interest in genealogy (where and when were YOUR family here, and who were they?) then I don't know what will.

Oh, yeah... We went to see the travelling Vietnam Memorial Wall in Colfax last weekend. After going the length of the wall, we stopped and talked to a couple of soldiers who were on one of the armed transport vehicles there - One had been to Iraq and the other wanted to go, but they don't need the job he does.

More people should talk to more of the soldiers who have been there and WANT to go or go back. My wife is adamantly anti-war, but seemed to soften her tone once she talked to these guys. The guy who had gone said he had six kids, and not only is willing to go back, but WANTS to, because he thought of HIS kids when he saw all of the kids there. Under Saddam, the kids all ate what was thrown out in the garbage. And the insurgents don't give a shit (he didn't say that, I did) about who gets injured and killed, including women, children, old people, and other non-combatants, as long as they get a bunch. He talked about the media and how they do interviews for hours with these guys, and only show the few parts where they may say they wished they were home. The media also doesn't show the kids coming up and hugging the soldiers, the people who are so happy we're there and don't want us to leave... they show the killings and blood and guts, because that's what sells! I said something about the protests about us being there reported, and he said something like "You get 50-100,000 people protesting in a city the size of Indianapolis with a population of Indy, New York and Chicago combined; point the cameras at them, and they will yell." It happens here, too. Even my wife said that everyone should talk to those who were there... And don't get one view, but get many. (Talk to the guys who tell you about the good we've been doing there... The media will show you the problems... )

Holy Shit! Doesn't EVERYONE understand that? We go to NASCAR and other races to see the stars and the CRASHES, of course hoping nobody gets hurt... (I hope!) We wanna see THE BIG ONE! Why are the "X" games so big? Because while they have great stunts, they also have spectacular crashes! No matter WHAT anyone says about Sex and Violence on TV, that's what sells the most! Well, in Iraq, it's what sells, too. Hasn't anyone else noticed that the media only report on the controversies? They don't report on the good things that happen, only the bad.

I've noticed that the Mississippi Coast has been advertising recently. Have we heard anything about New Orleans or the other Gulf cities and towns so devastated by Katrina? What about the rebuilding in the Tsunami zone, where so much media was reporting about so much death and destruction? No one is there talking about how things are going now. If they do, they send a 2nd-tier reporter, and MIGHT give them 2-3 minutes. Then its back to scandal, conflict, death and destruction.

Come on America. They do the same thing with Politics (report only on the controversies, the "flip-flops" and the gaffes (mistakes)), and if they can, they MAKE it happen. Very few people watched the Democratic You-Tube debate, if Jay Leno's audience is any indication (I didn't). Well, apparently, Barrack said something about the war and meeting with all the states (foreign) involved. Hillary said she wouldn't do that, and called Barrack "naive". Of course, no one heard anything about it because Brittany Spears had a melt-down at a paparazzi, and Lindsay Lohen got arrested for drunk-driving again. (What can be done to save these poor girls!?) Well, Barrack and Hillary, now, are "fighting", and the media are pushing that - between keeping us informed about Brittany and Lindsay.

It's almost as bad as the reporters driving up and down the bunch of people outside the New Orleans dome after Katrina asking what they thought about the government not being there. Does anyone remember there were floods, fallen trees, and other debris that the ground crews had to get through? ... And if they had done the "food and water drops" there would have been rioting (remember... people were shooting others, and even at those who went to save people) and a drop or two would probably have killed someone by landing on them. Of course, the media would have reported THAT situation as "Why did they drop it HERE!?... or at all?" (Duh! Could it be because THAT'S where they people were?)

Remember that most media is biased. They are not supposed to be, but they are. They have their favorite people, and know who and what will get viewers to watch, and that's what they put on. They will NOT report on the good things and rebuilding going on in Iraq. They will report on the killings, the "behind schedule" and "missing the deadline" things.

Read between the lines.

-wds

New Stuff on OFP and What Have I Been Up To?

It's been a while since I've posted. What have I been doing? Well...

On Orange Frog Productions

1. My grandmother died April 21, 2007. I created a tribute page to her, received a few comments and created a Responses page.
2. I got my Handicapped Voting at the National Guard Armory in Lebanon, IN viewed by politicians by sending a letter to the editor pointing to the page, and got responses, which I posted on a followup page.
3. I created a page of links for Crossroads Work One/Training deaprtment from a hard-copy they had posted on a wall. (I will NEVER understand why webpages with single-click access to the page in question are NOT created... Instead they create a table with links typed in? GEEZE!)
4. I added a Commercial Music page, which I keep updated fairly regularly (I have since I put it up, anyway!)
5. I added a couple of Rumors (Urban Legends/Lies/What-have-you)
6. And updated a few other pages.

Personally

1. I've been trying to get my feet healed. I'm diabetic, and have an ulcer on each foot.
2. My grandmother had TONS of pictures and papers, and I've started scanning them. I have three (3) file-boxes, here, and Dad has 3-4 at his house. I have scanned well over 1500 items, and have only gotten through the first 3/4 box! Right now, I have to keep my feet up, so I can't scan anything very easily. When I can keep my feet down, I will have to start again.
3. I've been updating my genealogy database. I have added at least 300 people in the last couple of months.
4. I've been meeting with the Crossroads Job Placement facilitator almost weekly. We send out my resumes to a number of jobs, some of which I've found, some that she's found, and some that we've found together. I had a pretty strong nibble a while back, and thought I'd have heard from them by now, but they were moving from one building to another, and had some (physical) security issues. I'm still hoping.
5. I've been working on a PHP/MySQL thing to handle the external links and links pages on OFP. I've still got a ways to go, design-wize, but think I'm getting there.

Part of the geneelogy part came about from my grandmother's funeral. A guy who I'd met a couple of years ago, but hadn't had much contact with since then, attended and talked to me, telling me I should join a group he'd joined, of people with many connections to my family in Indiana. I did, and found more info there. Then he, himself, is taking pictures of cemeteries around Sheridan and Boone County, where many of the people in his genealogy DB are, and I'm finding that may are related to those in MY DB.

Of course, all of this is taking time, and when I get a job, I will have even less of it to do some of these things. But, I obviously, keep myself active (well... mentally, maybe...)

Oh, yeah. For the past couple of years, I've not cooked much for myself. My wife went on a diet last year, and has lost over 50 pounds, herself. Well, I was weighed before minor surgery, recently, and have found that since I was last weighed (in 98?) when I couldn't find too many scales that would weigh me, I've lost at least 50 pounds myself! I think most of it's come since she went on her diet. (It's GOTTA be her cooking! LOL) If that's the case, it won't be long before I can get weighed at the doctor's more regularly (long as I can stand, I guess). So, I guess I'm getting healthier, in some respects, too.

That should cover it for now. TTYL. -wds

More History Being Lost & One Solution

WTHR (Channel 13) Indianapolis ran a story tonight about how historic Shelby County (IN) records are being lost. (See the video, here. NOTE: I had to manipulate the link a little, because when I tried the full on, it gave me the "yellow bar" at the top of the browser, and immediately "turned it off", showing their home page. Even THIS link will give you the warning (but will stop, allowing you the CHANCE to allow popups. If you do not allow popups, it will tell you. Just temporarily allow them for this.)

The Shelbyville News carried the story, yesterday, apparently related to story on the building, "Shelby Manor" (aka the "County Home" - "For nearly 160 years, Shelby County's 'poor farm' or 'county asylum'") and its deteriorating condition. The roof has caved in in at least one spot, and water leaks from the roof to the ground floor in others.

County records are stored there, some in boxes, and many old ledger books, some dating to the 1800s, are simply stacked haphazardly, in various rooms, some covered with mold and mildew.

I'm absolutely positive that Shelby County is not the only local government (including various towns, cities, townships, etc.) or old business (funeral homes or cemeteries, included) with old records stored in extremely unstable environments. Simply keeping them in courthouses is no guarantee of protection. Look at all the historical records lost in New Orleans and in various other floods (think about all the records lost in the major flooding along the Mississippi a few years back) and fires. I already talked about one of the most recent in History, both Local and Family, lost (October 9, 2006 post).

Apparently, plans are being made to purchase a house near the courthouse annex, and move all the records there. However, there are boxes stacked floor-to-ceiling in offices in the basement of the annex. Sounds to me like nothing's organized, and it will take years to clean, restore, preserve, organize and store them correctly.

The problem is, government budgets for preservation and restoration of historic documents, buildings, etc. are continually being cut. The money is then used, sometimes for valid purposes, sometimes for "pork". Please note: I am not, in any way, saying that the latter is the problem in Shelbyville, I don't know. It's just that I've seen and heard about so many government agency budgets being cut, then heard about strange programs suddenly getting much more money than was originally budgetted.

"Ah... It's just old stuff... Who cares?" I expect to hear this from almost anyone under 20, but as you get older, you do start becoming interested in history. If you destroy it when you are young, you will NOT have it when you really want to look into it. And, even if YOU are not interested in it, there are millions of people who ARE. And there will be millions more people interested in the future. Those who make "fun" by going around, defacing and knocking down gravestones, are no better (and those who destroy records on purpose are no better than them.)

Besides, it's our state's (and with all combined, our country's) history. And, for the individuals, it's our FAMILY's history. It can be used to trace from where a family came, where they went, who married who, who divorced who, who was named in wills, who owned property, who went to jail for what, who died of what and when, names, dates, locations, jobs, etc. Demographics can be generated for each location for state historians and others, allowing for spotting of trends. (This type of statistic is how they figure out what item carries E-coli from an individual Taco-Bell... Everyone who got sick at SOMETHING that caused it...)

No... It's not the family stories every family has, but it's the proof that those stories are real.

What can be done? I guess it's time to share an idea I've had for the past few years, but not known of any way to implement it. Maybe some of these records can be saved for posterity.

A foundation or organization should be created (or a division of an existing one) that is fully-funded. If started by the government, no budget for it should ever be cut. Donations by organizations and individuals should be made possible. The idea is to make it self-sufficient. How? Read on.

Personally, I feel that these records MUST be digitized. While every library has a micro-fiche reader, many of these are very old, and I believe that optical devices should be used. (CDs, DVDs, even high-capacity hard-drives.)

There are book-cradle copiers/scanners, that will allow copying/scanning of the pages of the old books and ledgers without destroying the bindings. Recent loose documents should fit in a more normal scanner. A "mergable" text database, with the standard text being master field records and the written information (where the underlines show what needs entered) being detail record fields, needs to be created for each type of record. The images should then be linked to each detail record. These detail records may then be printed in reports using various appropriate sorts. All of this information can be stored on optical storage devices (CD/DVD/etc.) or removable hard-drives. Copies should be made, and sent to various libraries and historical museums, at least state-wide. As new records are created, they should be digitized in much the same way.

For even larger documents (plot maps, etc.), a large-format scanner should be employed. The scan could then be stored as a more "normal"-sized page, and/or "broken up" into smaller, more manageable pieces and stored. In these cases, the index numbers/letters on the maps, and the actual plot numbers (and associated names) could be put into a database. And plot books (when I sold insurance on a debit route, these were generated yearly, and banks, title offices, and county offices usually GAVE copies of them away... They're probably all sold, now...) should be digitized. (Old and current.)

Doing this could make all records (especially the text databases and low-resolution copies of the images) available on the internet. The individual optical records may also be sold by the libraries/museums, or even the governments or businesses themselves.

For privacy advocates, remember that all of these records that I'm talking about are "public record". Anyone could/should currently be able to go to the courthouse and look up the information there. Anything considered more sensitive (prosecution records - also stored at the Shelby Manor, and other such items) would be secured for the standard 70 or so years.

Something to think about: With online phone books, numerous public record search firms, etc., I don't know why the census records are so sensitive, except for showing family income, which could technically be blurred! Ancestry only shows indexes and images those from 1930 and before, though they have many states that allow marriage, birth and death records, to well-past 2000. And Social Security Death Indexes are pretty current.)

As for the books and actual records, once the data has been digitized? They should be donated to the state museum. A copy of (or master of) the digitized data should be, too. If they don't want them, a secure warehouse, centrally located to the state, should be built, climate controlled, fireproofed (no water sprinklers - halon or better), and guarded 24/7. This should be where all the archival data in the state should be organized and stored. Sensitive data should be locked in a special vault. With the digitized records as a "card index", the location of each item could be found. The building should be open daily, and historians, genealogists and even interested general public should be able to use the computer to view the records in which they are interested. If the books are in too bad shape for the public to handle, maybe a reference librarian or two should be on-duty, too. Since digital copies of the records have already been made, there should be no reason for anyone to actually have to read the books, unless the scans have had problems, and this should have been taken care of when they were scanned.

Maybe someone from government, or in a position of money or power. will actually read this blog post, and consider something like the above. Maybe someone from the History Channel's "Save Our History" will.

I hope so... We are losing our history at an alarming rate. It MUST be remembered that our history doesn't just mean buildings and monuments, though they are important, too. (Does everyone know that the Ambassador Hotel, where RFK (Bobby) was assassinated, was demolished?)

If you're interested in something like this, or have a better idea, let me know.

Bill Sanders

History, both Local and Family, lost

The Williamsport, Warren County, Indiana library burned, almost to the ground, last night (Sunday, October 8, 2006). It was four (4) years old. The fire was started in a dumpster and spread to the roof, where it ... "spread like wildfire" ... burning books, displays, shelves and historical documents indiscriminately. (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061009/LOCAL/610090436 and http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5514765, which just ran a story on the fire, much longer than what's shown, here.)

Being my family's "historian", and knowing that one part of the family came from Warren County, I'm sure that papers that would have been available, there, are no longer. And it was ARSON! (Why would anybody set a fire to a library? Just for "fun"? What kind of "fun" is this? You have devastated the library staff, patrons (daily, weekly, or even occassionally), children who visited for story-time and to check out books for themselves, townspeople, county officials, those who donated books and their family papers to the library, those who gladly paid (and even though who didn't) extra taxes and funds, for the building, and many others. Happy? (IDIOTS)

I hope this also points out to EVERYONE that there are assholes in our midsts that care nothing for education or local history. PLEASE be sure to keep an eye out (small towns through big cities) when travelling around your, or others', towns. If you see ANYTHING suspiscious, report it (call 911) IMMEDIATELY. This town just lost a new jewel. They plan on rebuilding, but there were many items lost that are irreplacable.

I also hope this points out to people, everywhere, that your historical records are just that close to being gone. With the advent of computers, money should be spent and time should be taken to at the very minimum scan every historical document (papers, pictures, books, etc.) you have into the computer. Then make copies and keep at least one "master copy" of them off-site. This includes every town/city with historical records in special rooms, stored in the basements (there HAVE been floods that have destroyed records), every courthouse and library (and whereever else they're stored), museum, etc. I have ideas about this, if anyone is interested.

This admonition also includes every family with old family documents, pictures, bibles with pages of listed family, etc. Think of all the people in New Orleans and elsewhere who have lost every picture, every document, everything, pertaining to their family. They have lost irreplacable items handed down from generation to generation. With off-site scans, they could be reproduced... Not the same as the "real thing", but better than nothing at all.

No matter how "safe" and "protected" you feel you are by sprinkler systems (water destroys records), Halon Systems, Security Systems, alarms of any type, watchmen, or whatever type of system you have, you are vulnerable to assholes. Just like those who send out computer viruses, trojan horses, adware, spyware, etc., that are only built to cause problems and destroy others' computers and records, they are out there. They could care less about "historical value", "business records", "personal records", etc. They exploit the smallest "hole" in the security. All they want to do is destroy.

Remember, that at one time, all of the federal census records were stored at Commerce Building in Washington. There was a fire:

[The 1890 Federal Census images and indexes on Ancestry.com] have been extracted from the remaining population schedules for the 1890 Federal Census, which was destroyed by a fire at the Commerce Department in Washington, DC on 10 January 1921. The surviving fragments consists of 1,233 pages or pieces, including enumerations for Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. The records of only 6,160 of the 62,979,766 people enumerated survived the fire.

(Source: Ancestry.com, 1890 Census - http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=5445&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0 - MY bolding - BS)

Even the Federal Government is vulnerable, and THEY should know better. Spend the money to scan all of our National records.

I've heard it said over and over that to know someone, you must learn their history. We learn from the past and mistakes made. If all the history is lost, how will we ever learn? Whether you are interested or not, others may be. (Many family historians are thought to be crazy by their families... They want every scrap of paper, copies of every picture, copies of various documents, etc. And many are "pack rats". It's necessary to PROVE someone was who they said they were, where they were, what they were, etc.) Although images (scans) are not the actual documents and, technically, can be "massaged" (think of all the fake pictures sent around in emails), they are better than nothing, and if the actual document is destroyed, they may be all we have.

Various organization are involved in a "Save Our History" campaign, tied in with the History Channel. Part of our "history" is the history of our families. When it's gone, it's gone.

Scan those records. Create databases. Back them up and save copies FAR AWAY and safe from damage, if something should happen to where the actual records are stored. ("In a fire safe" on the same site means nothing. Fires in these buildings can reach temperatures high enough, for long enough periods of time, to damage or destroy things in many of these safes.) It's worth it.

Bill Sanders

Where've I Been?

Ok... So I'm not very good at "keeping up" as far as journalling my activities and interests go. Sorry!

I've been working on adding new content to and revamping Orange Frog Productions (my website.) I'm trying to do as much as possible in CSS and SSIs. Currently, the site uses external javascripts for some of the formatting, and this causes the warning bar to appear. I've worked out some problems (using divs, a class to indent instead of "blockquote" and other things), and am working on splitting the site into three sections (main, personal and scams/shams... ) with a link to my subweb, LYAO OnLine. It will take a while to convert all the current pages to the new styles (especially with working on other things), but I believe it will be well worth it.

Speaking of LYAO, I'm continually adding to the LYAO subweb... I'm revamping and adding all the old LYAO joke-letters to the site. So far, I've got between 60-70 from 1998 in there... a few more months of those and I can start on 1999! Then only 6-8 more years to go! WHEW! I didn't realize I'd put out so many of them! AND, after a hiatus, I'm pretty-much back to sending them out at least once-a-week.

I've also been working on some genealogy (distant cousins). I'm having problems finding my great-great grandmother (Florence Elizabeth Rawlings/Rawlins/Rollings/Rollins/etc. b:06/1860 IN, d:03/07/1920 Sheridan IN, m:12/18/1877 Hamilton County, IN to John Charles Freemont Emry/Emery b:1857 OH) ) with her parents in ANY census records (I use Ancestry.com.) My only conclusion at this point is that I have the wrong parents for her (Aaron and Hester A (Stephens) Rawlings/Rawlins/etc.?) Anyone have any ideas? (This and the following paragraph may appear in a genealogy category/section of this blog, too.)

BTW: Those of you with ties and/or relatives from around Sheridan, Noblesville and Boxley, Hamilton County, IN and Lebanon, Boone County, IN should know there's a great monthly newsletter put out by Barb Hiatt of Lebanon (formerly of Sheridan area). The site is www.sheridannews.net. The newsletter is called "Our Home Town" and past newsletters are archived. Barb gathers and posts information about the happenings in these areas, the obits and asks for "memories". I have found hundreds of items on family members (many distant and many not-so-distant) cousins and relatives in the archives. You can sign up for the newsletter on the main page. The archives are "passworded" (a simple password to remember) and there's a pretty good search engine used in them. Barb is "genealogically inclined", so tries to make sure there's family information in the obits. Check it out.

I'm STILL waiting to get hand-controls and other modifications to my van through Voc Rehab (see OFP, What's New(s) for more). I can't believe that it's taken almost three (3!) years to get to the point where at least we have the bids and are just waiting on a completion date from the vendor so authorizations can be sent out. I can "get out" now and then, when I have someone to drive me and help get my scooter out of the back of the van using aluminium ramps. (I can walk some, but if I will have to walk very far, I need to use the scooter.)

My son graduated from Purdue, May 12th, and because my wife works third shift and sleeps during the day, and because I couldn't ask my 70+yo father to help with the ramps, I couldn't go. (Ok... and because of the hassle of driving a scooter around Purdue with all the students and parents and...)

My uncle's girlfriend's mother and uncle - her mother's brother - passed away just a few days ago (within a couple of hours of each other) and, for the same reasons, I couldn't go.

Luckily (if you want to call it that - scheduled for a Friday, so my wife could sleep after it), I made it to my ex-wife's mother's viewing a couple of weeks ago. ("Ex-wife's mother?" you ask. Yes. I spent 15 years with my ex and had two boys. The divorce was between me and HER, not her family, and her mother was STILL my sons' grandmother... Right? Even if we didn't get along, I needed to at least "make an appearance".)

If my van was modified, I'd have at least had the option, the prior times. GEEZE!

And, of course, all the "good" television shows (as far as I'm concerned) have been running their season finales.

I don't know how well I'll do on "keeping up" here, but I guess we'll see. Check out those links (and the ones on the side.

Later