Category Archives: Fallen Warriors

4 September 2017

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Hullo. Happity Labor Day, for US visitors. Happy first post in the final one third (not “two thirds”… sigh) of the year, for everyone else. Hurray for a three day weekend. I’ve celebrated by not checking email at all (for work), which means several hundred emails, mostly system generated, tomorrow. Oh, well.

Not much else to report – we went out fishing for a bit, but catching wasn’t on the menu. Otherwise a lovely weekend.

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Our condolences to the family and friends of Staff Sgt. Emil Rivera-Lopez, who was declared deceased on Aug. 31 as a result of a training incident on Aug. 25, off the coast of Yemen, where he was supporting U.S. Central Command operations.

 

29 August 2017

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Whoops. A call from a family member was required to help me notice I’ve not posted properly here. Argh!

I had a busy work week last week, then a bunch of yardwork on Saturday, leading to a very, very lazy Sunday with an early-to-bed addendum tacked on. Yay? But no post. Work is full of virtualization and SAN work and preparing for an upgrade cycle. Home is yard work and getting ready for a Fall fishing season (it’s too bloody hot here in the Summer, even in a relatively cool summer like this one). Lexi and Marcia are both well.

On the entertainment front, we’re excited to go see ASC’s Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged, (again!) in September, followed closely by Much Ado About Nothing in October. Find out more about these shows at the Annapolis Shakespeare website.

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Our condolences to the family and friends of GS-12 Daniel Hoadley, 54, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, who died on Aug. 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from a non-combat related incident. Our hearts also go out to the families of those lost in the maritime collision suffered by the USS John S. McCain:

  • Nathan Findley, 31, Electronics Technician 1st Class Charles, from Amazonia, Missouri
  • Abraham Lopez, 39, Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class, from El Paso, Texas
  • Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, Electronics Technician 2nd Class, from Gaithersburg, Maryland
  • Jacob Daniel Drake, 21, Electronics Technician 2nd Class, from Cable, Ohio
  • Timothy Thomas Eckels Jr., 23, Information Systems Technician 2nd Class, from Manchester, Maryland
  • Corey George Ingram, 28, Information Systems Technician 2nd Class, from Poughkeepsie, New York
  • Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, Electronics Technician 3rd Class, from Suffield, Connecticut
  • John Henry Hoagland III, 20, Electronics Technician 3rd Class, from Killeen, Texas
  • Logan Stephen Palmer, 23, Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class, from Decatur, Illinois
  • Kenneth Aaron Smith, 22, Electronics Technician 3rd Class, from Cherry Hill, New Jersey

20 August 2017

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Well, we topped out the last four weeks at over 10″ of rain (I’ll only say ‘over‘ because I really need to re-site my rain gauge out of the wind shadow of the tree that’s doubled in size over the last few years).  And it looks like August is going to come and go with only 2 or 3 days above 90°F. Weird. Of course, what with excessive rain and relatively mild temperatures, the lawns which should all be brown and dormant at this time of year are growing madly. I had to double-cut the front yard yesterday, and the back yard needs a combine harvester, I think. Nothing else much exciting going on.

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Our condolences to the families and friends of these fallen warriors:

  • Sgt. Roshain Euvince Brooks, 30, of Brooklyn, New York, who died on Aug. 13 of wounds sustained while engaged in combat operations in Iraq.
  • Spc. Allen Levi Stigler Jr., 22, of Arlington, Texas, who died on Aug. 13 of wounds sustained while engaged in combat operations in Iraq.
  • Staff Sgt. Aaron R. Butler, 27, of Monticello, Utah, died Aug. 16 in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations.

13 August 2017

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We saw a wonderful play at Annapolis Shakespeare Company on Saturday evening: Alice and the Book of Wonderland. It’s a brand new show based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (well, duh, me), adapted by Sally Boyett and Donald Hicken.  Laura Rocklyn plays a marvelous Alice. The six remaining cast members: Ian Charles, Bill Dennison, Olivia Ercolano, Brian Keith MacDonald, Jackie Madejski, and Johnny Weisgerber – well, they cover the balance of the 24 characters in the show. Over time, each runs off, stage left, and seemingly moments later appeared stage right in fresh costume and makeup. Holy cow, do these folks work HARD to get us up and clapping!

Extra ovations for Mr. Dennison’s twitchy White Rabbit: by turns frightened and arrogant; Mr. MacDonald’s Knave, who clearly takes a page from the Book of Black Adder codpiece fashion; and the superbly evil Red Queen (Crash! Cringe!) played majestically by Ms. Ercolano. Also we were wowed by the costume wizardry of Sandra Spence!

It’s a magical show brought further to life by projections of artwork from Carroll’s original book, as well as a projected Cheshire Cat (portayed by the face of Mr. Weisgerber). From Rev. Dodgeson rowing with the girls to the Mad Hatter’s tea party to the Mock Turtle’s sad song, the show had us riveted throughout. This is a play that is child-friendly, but with sly adult references and pin-point precise topical political commentary.

There are FOUR MORE stagings of this production, next weekend (8/18 – 8/20/2017), before it goes back into the vault. If you’re DC-local, you really should go. Oh, yes. We also just ordered our flex passes for the upcoming 2017/2018 season, and we’re really looking forward to seeing all of these wonderful actors in new roles for another year. Join us, won’t you?

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DoD announced no new casualties in the last week, but our condolences to the family and friends of Heather Heyer, who died at the hands of an apparent domestic terrorist (in my opinion), James Alex Fields, Jr., in Charlottesville, VA on August 12, 2017.

 

6 August 2017

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Well, Marcia’s home from Michigan. She went up for the week to visit family, and had fun. Lexi spent the week eyeballing me and asking when Marcia was going to be back. This is that look:

Lexi wants Marcia home

Lexi wants Marcia home

Along with doing a bit of remote work each day (and going to the office for a few hours on Tuesday), I got a lot of chores done around the homestead. Garage clean up. Mowing. A couple of days of pressure washing the deck and stamped concrete pad. All-in-all, a fairly productive week. Today we did the shopping, then I roasted coffee and relaxed. No bad thing.

Also, I read a wonderful short story by Chris Pourteau called Unconditional: A Tale of the Zombie Apocalypse. All I can tell you without spoilers is that this is told from the viewpoint of the family dog. Oh, and it’s my current favorite short story of the year. I was getting ready to put on my short list for a Hugo nomination when I learned that the story is from 2015. Ah, well. Good news: I get to go find more of Chris’s work and see if I enjoy it as much. I found the story in At The Helm: Volume 1: A Sci-Fi Bridge Anthology.

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Our condolences to the families and friends of these fallen warriors:

  • Tech. Sgt. David Board, 49, of Barboursville, West Virginia, died on August 2 in Kuwait in a non-combat-related incident while deployed in support of combat operations.
  • Sgt. Jonathon Michael Hunter, 23, of Columbus, Indiana, died on Aug. 2 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, as a result of injuries sustained when a vehicle-borne improved explosive device detonated near his convoy.
  • Spc. Christopher Michael Harris, 25, of Jackson Springs, North Carolina, died on Aug. 2 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, as a result of injuries sustained when a vehicle-borne improved explosive device detonated near his convoy.

 

9 July 2017

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I’ve got a shaking frightened dog sitting on my lap, thanks to the asshats who are once again setting off fireworks in the vicinity. This is going on 9 days, now. Poor puppy…

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More Annapolis Shakespeare fun: A bit on the spur of the moment, we decided to accept an invitation to the reception for opening night of their production of The Tempest, running in the garden at Charles Carroll House in Annapolis. Yup, this means that we’re seeing this production twice, and I couldn’t be happier. Opening night was a joy. (They have one picture up at this time on their Tempest event page on the Book of Faces. Marcia and I are in the background well back of the Sprite in the aisle.)

Starting a flash and a bang or five, the production opens with an innovative bit of magical of fabric manipulation to evoke the storm and the ship beset. As the storm and sea recedes, the stranded characters are revealed laying on the beach (err, stage … well, grass, to be pedantic). As they wake and wander off onto the island, they are beset again, by enchantment and sprites. This fine production brings the audience deep into Shakespeare’s tale, and doesn’t let go until the lights fade to black.

I’ve not seen The Tempest in decades, so the story is fresh for me. Shakespeare’s superb command of language and meter yields the directors, Donald Hicken and Sally Boyett, superpowers to wield in staging the show. The staging and choreography complement the lovely setting, providing the actors a fine canvas upon which to ply their craft. While all of the cast are outstanding (unsurprising with this Company), Laura Rocklyn’s Ariel shines both in her interactions with Brian MacDonald’s excellent vengeance-obsessed Prospero, and as she bedevils the castaways with the assistance of the Sprites. Jordan JC Payne’s Ferdinand and Olivia Ercolano’s Miranda as the young lovers are sweet and marvelously played. The big surprise for me was John Bellomo’s less-than-civil Caliban – he played the role powerfully and with great humor.

How much did we like this production of The Tempest? We’re going to see it again during this show’s short run.

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Our condolences to the family and friends of Pfc. Hansen B. Kirkpatrick, 19, of Wasilla, Alaska, who died on July 3, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, from wounds received during an indirect fire attack.

2017 June 18

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Most of a post-vacation work week gone by – I’ve just been dropping back into the groove. We’ve got patching and virtualization updates scheduled for the near future, so I’ve got a fair bit of planning to do to pull it off without causing unplanned downtime. This weekend was … hot, mostly, and humid. It’ll take me a while to drop into summer accommodation mode. We did celebrate a friend’s birthday this weekend, and we’re going to help a neighbor celebrate a birthday next weekend.

I made the Father’s Day phone call today, it was nice chatting with my folks – their weather is right now as hot as ours, but the humidity is much, much lower. Yay, California!

Here’s a happy Lexi who spent a couple of hours snoring on my chest yesterday:

Lexi snoozing on me

Lexi snoozing on me

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Our condolences to the families and friends of these fallen warriors – I mentioned the initial notification last week, now we know who we mourn:

  • Sgt. Eric M. Houck, 25, of Baltimore, Maryland, died on June 10 in Peka Valley, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, of gunshot wounds sustained there.
  • Sgt. William M. Bays, 29 of Barstow, California, died on June 10 in Peka Valley, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, of gunshot wounds sustained there.
  • Corporal Dillon C. Baldridge, 22 of Youngsville, North Carolina, died on June 10 in Peka Valley, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, of gunshot wounds sustained there.

5 June 2017

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Sorry for the delay – I’m in the midst of a long weekend. Last week was a three-day work week. So far the long weekend has been as much about helping a friend with some to-do items they’re unable to deal with at the moment as it has been about relaxing. But overall things are going swimmingly. Lexi’s confused, having me around for more than a couple of days in a row, however. But she’s not complaining much about the fact.

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On Tuesday last, we tried to catch The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged. Annapolis Shakespeare is putting it on in the courtyard at Reynold’s Tavern again this year. It’s such a blast. Sadly, the rain, it did not agree with the idea of an outdoor performance that evening. We’ll try for another presentation soon – it’s running all summer!

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More another time, when the “relaxing” is done.

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DoD announced no new casualties in the week past, for which we’re grateful. Ciao!

 

28 May 2017

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In entertainment news, we attended the theater last night. Annapolis Shakespeare’s Donald Hicken gave us a superbly directed production of Richard III. Visiting actor Kurt Elfmann was wonderful as the murderous, treacherous, and slimy Richard. His introspective Richard was for me most compelling. ASC company member Brian Keith MacDonald played both Brakenbury and a strong, well-executed (heh) Buckingham. It’s tough playing second fiddle to an erratic schemer. I don’t but wonder what sort of role models he had for that, these days?

Also ASC regulars: Olivia Ercolano and Laura Rocklyn (Lady Anne and Queen Elizabeth, respectively) lent strength and passion to their portrayals. Doomed in their interactions with Richard, the women in this play do their best to survive at the cost of horrid compromise. Dexter Hamlett’s George (Duke of Clarence) also stood out for me, playing out his character’s fate and pain with dignity and power.

The whole cast, some eleven in all, built an exquisite mind palace for this play, making do with but three pieces of furniture in the black box of the company’s education stage. Well-designed  and executed (there’s that word again!) music, drums, and lighting provided the necessary complement to this powerful Shakespeare history. Runs at the Annapolis Shakespeare Company through June 11, 2017. Highly Recommended.

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It’s a holiday weekend. So of course it’s been raining straight through. We just cracked a year’s worth of rain, some 44″ worth, since I last changed the battery in my backyard rain gauge. That year’s worth of rain did, however, take 15 months to fall. So we’re still a bit short. Friends over for supper and games tonight, and anticipation of a relaxing day, possibly with some wood-working thrown in, for the actual Memorial day. Here’s how Lexi handles a rainy holiday weekend:

Rainy Day Lexi

Rainy Day Lexi

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Our condolences to the family and friends of Spc. Etienne J. Murphy, 22, of Loganville, Georgia, who died on May 26, in Al-Hasakah, Syria, of injuries sustained during a vehicle rollover related incident.

8 May 2017

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A good week, past. Got lots done at work, including some annual testing that went as well as can be expected from a technical perspective, and finished an hour ahead of schedule, which is wonderful, for weekend work. The balance of the weekend went to chores: from roasting coffee to cutting the hay in the front and back 40’s. Seriously, about halfway through the back yard I stopped and sent a text to Marcia asking her where she was with the baler, because stuff was piling up…

Oh, I also managed a couple of hours back on the coast road to Nova Prospekt, playing the Half Life 2: Update release. Much better visuals, etc – it’s basically Half Life 2, remastered. See this article from GameSpot for more details.

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Our condolences to the family and friends of Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Kyle Milliken, 38, of Falmouth, Maine, who was killed during an operation against al-Shabaab on May 5, in a remote area approximately 40 miles west of Mogadishu.