9/11
I remember …
telling my coworkers about the house Christine and I looked at 2 days prior and were planning to buy.
listening to a coworker say she heard on the radio a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center.
listening to the radio all day as the events unfolded in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.
emailing my mother and father and fearing the worst since they both work at a military base.
sighing relief and thanking God when they both responded that they were ok.
waiting impatiently for CNN.com, USAToday.com, or any news site to load up with up-to-date headlines.
thinking to myself, “Can this be happening to us? Why??”
wondering if anyone was safe at all anymore.
coming home and watching the TV news replay everything over and over and over again.
discussing with Christine on whether we should tell an 8-year old Daniel about what had happened.
waiting in line for nearly an hour at the gas station in anticipation of paying more at the pump (which would turn out to be considerably less than what we pay these days).
crying and praying for those we had lost and for our country.
May we never forget those whose lives were taken from us on 9/11.
May we remember our heroes who sacrificed everything on that day.
May we honor and support the heroes who continue to make those sacrifices each and every day.
May we honor and support our troops everywhere who continue to fight for our freedom and defend our country.
InBev to Buy Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc (NYSE:BUD) has agreed to be acquired by rival InBev NV for $49.91 billion in a deal that will create the world’s largest brewer.
InBev to Buy Anheuser-Busch | digg story
Farewell to the king | Sale unpopular with workers, customers
earthquake
Earthquake measuring 5.2 rattles St. Louis region
The house shook briefly at 4:37 am. Christine jumped out of bed to go take a look saying, “That can’t be good!” I was half-asleep, only recalling the windows rattle and the bed shaking. I thought nothing of it, thinking the bed moved because of Christine getting up. She could’ve sworn something hit the house, but saw nothing outside except several small tree limbs. I was so tired, I just figured it was “Bob” the possum running across our deck. It wasn’t until her mom called at 6:45 am to point out that it was an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale. Wow! Everything’s ok with no major damage; it certainly has everyone talking this morning.
anniversary
Today, Christine and I celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary Christine! I love you!
birthday celebration
Lola Naty celebrates her 90th birthday with her family.
From left to right – Jasmine, Steve, Daisy, Rochelle (behind Daisy), Nilda, Joan, Lola Naty, Jeff (behind Lola) Ted, Dinah, Dahlia (corrected – sorry girls! that’s what I get for not being around)
Thanks, Dad, for the pics – wish I could’ve been there 
if you make it, they will come
chili cook-off 2006
Originally uploaded by Teny Jr.
CL and I enjoyed yet another Chili Cook-Off in downtown Belleville. A lot more competitors this year compared to last; lots of people showed up to eat some really good chili (and drink lots of beer). We ate so many samples of chili that we couldn’t finish the last 6 booths Friday night. We returned for lunch on Saturday to try the rest, then we purchased our favorites to take home.
ten years gone
Thanks to my cousin Jeff for introducing me to chatting online a decade ago. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have been hanging out in chat rooms on America Online, signed in as “Tenyrsgon“. I wouldn’t have been in a particular room called “Friends First”, saying hello to all incoming chatters like a professional Walmart greeter. Most importantly, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet someone on this very day 10 years ago. Someone who everyone referred to as “CL”.
September 11, 2001
May we never forget those who lost their lives on 9/11.
May we remember our heroes who sacrificed a great deal on that day and everyday since then.
May we honor and support our troops who continue to fight for our country and for our freedom.
1 year
A lot has happened since I started on Blogger a year ago today …
- the creation of teny jr dot com
- CL and I celebrated 5 years of marriage
- got a new job
- D became a teenager
- spent my first Christmas in CT since ’97 (CL’s and D’s first with my family)
- got my new laptop
I reposted the original entries that got me to start blogging – basically me bitching about work. Since I no longer work there, I felt it was ok to put them back in (names were changed to protect others).
A total of 283 posts, and I don’t plan on stopping.
update 022106
Weird day at the helpdesk. Got all kinds of weird calls, and I felt befuddled. I’m glad it calmed down as the work day came to a close.
I’m enjoying the new laptop. I’m still trying to get used to it, as opposed to the main family PC. I like the keyboard very much, but the touchpad is not as easy as I thought it would be; a wireless mouse for my birthday might be good.
I’ve finished transferring the majority of my files to the laptop. The next big project I’ve got is upgrading to WordPress 2.0.1. After the upgrade, I’ll revise the blog’s theme.
I’m giving up the iPod for Lent. I’m in the process of converting certain AAC files to MP3′s. This way, I can still use my smaller MP3 player. Now some may think this is cheating. I didn’t say I was giving up music; just the pod itself. I take it everywhere I go, and it has well over 10 gigs of music. And I’m also losing the best feature – the smart playlist. My other MP3 player doesn’t even support playlists. That’s gonna suck. I’m gonna have to start listening to “albums” again.
Monday’s “hour” of 24 was another dull one for me. Too much indecision from the President, a lot of sneaking around behind the boss’s back at CTU (that happens a lot), and not enough Jack. When Jack did show up, he knocked out his fellow CTU agent Curtis and took out 2 bad guys and a helicopter with no more than his pistol.
Just finished watching the ladies on American Idol. A few good performances, but I couldn’t tell you who. Also saw Italy’s Enrico Fabris take the gold from Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick in 1500m speed skating. That might teach someone to keep their mouth shut.
update 021906
The M140 features:
Intel Pentium M 740
Windows XP Media Center
1 GB RAM
80 GB HDD
DVD burner
I’m currently trying to remove all the “crap” Dell preloaded it with, then add the apps I want to have on it.
Been enjoying the Olympics, but does it all have to be on at primetime? They stretch it so late that I’m so tired the next day. And in the age of the internet, it’s very easy to get realtime results of big events taped to be shown later that night. On several occasions I’ve already known the outcome, and the anticipation is gone.
4 degrees. 10 below wind chill. Yeah, it’s cold here.
the flying tomato wins gold
Shaun White, heavily favored to win in Torino, nearly missed making the finals. But he set the pace, and no one could catch him. “Il Pomodoro Volante” took the gold. A bright spot on a mediocre day for the US.
update 021206
Congratulations to Chad Hedrick on winning gold in the 5000m!
I have a new doctor now, and I had my first physical in 7 years. This doctor is big on preventive medicine, and he’s very thorough. His diagnosis – I’m a healthy 33 yr old with a little bursitis in my knee.
It’s finally been winterlike here; temps in the 30′s. January was unusually mild (avg temp in mid 50′s). All we want is some decent snowfall; wouldn’t mind one storm like the one they’re getting back home.
Ordered my new PC yesterday. Due to the constantly changing deals by Dell, I opted for the XPS M140 instead of the Inspiron 6000. Surprisingly, the powerful M140 is more affordable than the 6000 after I customized them with the features I want. I went back and forth between the two many times before finally weighing the pros and cons. And the M140 won decisively. I should be receiving it this week. I’m trying to contain my excitement, but it’s difficult. 
Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10
Congrats to Bill Cowher and the Pittsburgh Steelers on winning Super Bowl XL. It was a sloppy game with sloppy officiating. Seattle was robbed on several occasions and it probably made the difference. But Pittsburgh made the bigger plays, and that’s why they’re holding the Lombardi trophy.
The commercials weren’t that great either. My favorites? The cell phone with “crime deterrent” from Sprint, and the young clydesdale for Budweiser.
first snow
We got approximately 3 inches today, our first significant shot of snow for the season (although it is still fall; note the leaves on the tree).
update 1203
22 days til Christmas, 20 til holiday vacation, never enough time …
Went Christmas shopping last night with CL.
Good news – got a lot of gifts. Bad news – spent too much.
Work is better. Well, not really. It’s still tense and full of conflict. I guess I’m just used to it now.
Hamazahn.com – My cousin’s son Hamilton has his own site! I’m amazed what this kid can do!
It’s cold here.
Mmmm … I smell bacon. Catch ya later …
the day after
Friday was the first time in many years that I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving. CL and I started at 7 AM and hit Target for a few things before I dropped her off at work. With most stores opening at 5 and 6 AM, we were starting pretty late. And I knew there would be crowds, but I was amazed at the full parking lots and long, long lines. At 7 AM!! We got into an express lane and were out of there in maybe 20 minutes.
I had planned to return to Target after dropping CL off, but I decided against it after we left. My next stop, and the one I dreaded the most, was Best Buy. It took me roughly 15 minutes to find what I wanted (some things were gone already). They had the checkout line roped off, like they always do in the holiday season, and I thought nothing of it. When I was ready to check out, I finally noticed the line weaved in and out each home appliance aisle and towards the back of the store. I got in line near the vacuum cleaners, and put on my headphones. Along the way were items left behind by shoppers who changed their mind. There were also racks of DVD’s, CD’s, and accessories for us to look at as we made the slow approach to checkout. There were sodas and water ($1.25 apiece) in the fridges, as well as DVD box sets. It was interesting. I must say the people in line were patient, and there weren’t any problems. I will say that Best Buy got something right in preparation. I was in line for about an hour.
I didn’t make it too far after that. KMart was worse than Target; I left, thinking 1 item wasn’t worth the extra few bucks of savings as opposed to the hours of waiting in line. Got to the mall, and the parking lot was absolutely crazy. I found a spot far, far away, and walked. I hit a few stores, and left as quickly as possible. Needless to say, even though I had more to get, I was done for the day.
Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!
Audio Blog 1031
Shownotes:
been a long time
work: good and bad
family
D’s PSP
Christmas wishlists
$2.29 a gallon
what I want
- iMac?
- Powerbook?
- more like Dell or Shuttle
time off during the holidays
Episode III DVD
Halloween and rain
other stuff
what else is going on?
Monday I start a new chapter in my life with the IT department. I’m nervous, excited, anxious, and happy. Everything changes now.
We went to the Chili Cook-off in Belleville last night. D hung out with his buddy Dil while CL and I sampled just about all of them (we missed the last 3 or 4). We were both chili’d out by that point. Good stuff tho!
Cards are 99 and 62 with 1 last game against Cincinnati. It will be the last regular season game @ Busch Stadium. They start the playoffs against San Diego on Tuesday.
Yankees clinched the AL East division today by beating the Red Sox. Red Sox can still make the playoffs if they defeat the Yanks on Sunday or if Cleveland loses to the White Sox.
I’m now using a new theme for my blog. I just want a simpler look. I will try tweaking it this week as time allows. If you prefer one of the older themes, click on Pages, and choose Switch Themes.
With this new job, I’ll need more computer time. I’m saving for my own computer. Not sure if I’ll get a Dell, a Shuttle, or a simple machine from the local Best Buy. Need to start thinking about what I’ll need versus what I want.
