The Gratitude Campaign

This post is not about politics or whether you support war or oppose it. It is about the people who serve. Both my father and my wife's father served with pride in the military. That is how my wife & I met, both of our families were stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas; at the time, the largest military facility in the world. While my father was considered a medical risk to serve in Vietnam, my father-in-law did two tours. I'm intensely proud of both of them. Although my father passed in 1981, my wife's father is still alive and we've never once discussed his service nor have I ever thanked him for his selfless service to our country in an unpopular war, much like today's conflict in Iraq.

To the point of this post and I'll just quote from the site:

"For the past several years as I've been traveling around the country, I've been approaching Soldiers in airports and thanking them for serving for us. On several occasions I have noticed that it felt a little awkward for both of us. There are several reasons, some of which I am even just now learning as I produce this film and talk to more Service Men & Women and Veterans. But they have always appreciated being thanked, and I have always felt better having expressed my gratitude.

I started to think that it would be nice if civilians had a gesture or sign that they could use to say "thank you" quickly and easily without even having to approach. I did some research and found the sign that we are now using.

Is this limited to the military? Not at all. If you look around you I'm sure that you'll find lots of people who are serving their communities, from local to global. If you appreciate their service, give them a sign. Say "thank you from the bottom of my heart." -Scott Truitt, FOUNDER, The Gratitude Campaign

Please visit this site and spend 30 seconds viewing the short video - http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/shortmovie.php. It brought tears to my eyes as often happens in the airport when I see our brave young women and men in service. After you watch this, take action the next time you pass someone in service to our country, regardless of your political views or opinions.

Thanks to TJ for sending me this link.

Back to work...

Goodbye Ford, hello Honda

After 1,516 days of faithful service, my Ford F-150 is now gone to the used car lot at the Mall of Georgia Honda.



We spent the better part of a month or more discussing a new vehicle for my wife to drive. She really liked or thought she would like the Toyota Sienna. But after looking at it closely, it just did not past close inspection. It had a lot of nice features, but we chose the Honda Odyssey because of price; fit & finish, features and the dealership. Seriously, this was the most painless purchasing experience we have ever had in 30 years of purchasing automobiles. We used the Internet sales department, found the style we likes, got a fair price, got a fair trade-in for the truck, signed the paper work and left. Almost too easy.

These are not great pictures, but trust me, it looks great and the ride is wonderful.



We are enjoying the XM radio 90 day trial, the excellent GPS navigation, the voice control everything (almost) and the overall quality of the vehicle.

Back to work...to pay for this nice ride :-)

The Craziness Returns

You know that feeling you get after a nice vacation? You get all relaxed, you get self-reflective and start to analyze your life, the way you spend too much time working or thinking about work. Then about 4 days into the vacation you realize you haven't thought about work for an hour or so. Then you go 3 or 4 hours without thinking about work. About the time you've completely put work out of your mind, the vacation is over and reality comes crashing down upon you; the craziness returns.

Don't you hate when that happens?

I've been doing pretty good since getting back from our week + 2 day vacation. Even managed to stay completely calm most days. The craziness is slowly returning this week. My excellent co-worker is on his well deserved holiday with his wife, scuba diving someplace warm and fun. His work load I happily take over, as long as it is just this week, and the craziness returns. I'll be happy when he's back. Of course, I'll be on the road again that day - to visit a Customer. But we'll sync up on Tuesday.

The point is, why can't that relaxed feeling last longer? I find I am more productive just after vacation. More rational. Make better decisions. Listen better. Remember more. Generally, I'm a whole lot 'smarter' too.

Never lasts long; the craziness returns.

Back to work... (sigh)

Fender Bender!

Well, it was bound to happen. We've lived here since 1994 and I'm the only one in our household that had not been in an accident. I think I had broken some major statistical records by going almost 14 years without so much as a minor ding.

That all changed on Sunday, around 5:10. Some 'so and so' decided he would race across the Sam's parking lot, cutting through to the gas station. He did not see us. We were driving slow and carefully (legally, I might add) down the parking lane on our way out to Hwy. 20. Then boom, here he comes and into our lane, too fast to stop and too close for me to avoid hitting his car on the left front fender. We hit him straight, but were slid about half a car width to the left from the impact.



No one was hurt, thankfully, but boy was I pissed. My lovely wife had to physically restrain me from giving this young man a nasty verbal lashing; "calm down, calm down, we're okay". All I got off was "You can't go speeding across a parking lot, DUDE!!!!" He didn't seem phased, hurt or for that matter, too apologetic...

All of this with her heading out of town today, Monday, to help her parents. I got out of the car, after I yelled at him, and looked at the front of the car - thinking the worst. Wasn't bad at all. We have some parts shifted to the left, some broken plastic, scraped off paint, generally it looks crappy - pictures here - not bad really, but still - DAMN. How frustrating. What a way to end a lovely Mother's Day.

So now the dance begins - his insurance has already called the house and I missed the call (of course) and could only get voicemail the 4 times I called them back. It will be a PITA to get it into the shop, get them to rent us a car, then get it back. Oh well, I'm very thankful no one was hurt, even the little racer dude and his speedster car.

We'll see how it goes next. Back to work...

Vacation to Bavaria & Austria

As a 30th anniversary gift to each other, my wife and I took a trip to Bavaria and Austria; Munich, Honhenschwangau (where the castle Neuschwanstein is) and Salzburg. Boy was it fun. Pictures are going to be posted on my Picasa site here - the beer, food, people, sites, nature - everything was just wonderful.

We flew into Munich and stayed there for 2 days. The first day is always the zombie day due to the overnight flight, but we still managed to get out and wander the streets and various Platz's of town. Eating was the key objective and we visited the Hofbrauhaus - a very famous beer hall in Munich. The food & beer was so very good.

The next day, after a good nights rest, we headed to the English Garden or Englischer Garten as it's known there. A massive, beautiful (can't use that work too much here) park that rivals Central Park or other large public parks. It was in partial bloom and although the weather was overcast and drizzly, lots of people were wandering about with their children or pets.

On the third day we rented a nice Audi A5 and drove to Hohenschwangau - the small village where King Ludwig II build his romantic palace Castle Neuschwangau - the basis for Walt Disney's castle at his theme park in California. We stayed at a family owned hotel, Muller and had a wonderful room on the second floor with a huge outdoor patio on the roof of the gift shop.

We hiked up to the older castle just behind the hotel and tour it - the build dates back to the middle ages and was a hunting lodge for knights before it was remodeled by King Ludwig's father in the early 1800's. But just a small place compared to the larger castle Neuschwangau.

We drove from Germany through Austria and back into Germany to a smaller town - Oberammergau - an exquisite Bavarian village with many fresco's painted on the buildings. Check out the pictures on the Picasa site.

One of the interesting things about this region, aside from the natural beauty is the fact it is so neat and tidy. Sure you can find some trash and the German kids love their graffiti - but you just don't see sloppy yards, businesses or junk - when you do see some odd bits & pieces, they are always stacked or organized very neatly.

After a drive back to the lovely Hotel Muller, we had one of many exceptional meals. Then off to bed for an early departure back to Munich to drop off the car and catch a train to... Salzburg, Austria.

What an awesome city Salzburg is. So very old and so very lovely at the same time. The weather was nice & hot when we arrived and a front promptly came through and dumped some hard rain - but we would not be deterred! We had a great time walking all the little connecting passages between streets on the old side of town. All the people were friendly and we had no issues communicating with them.

After two days here, it was time to board the train and travel the 1.5 hours back to Munich. Once back in town, we stayed at a Hilton that was just above the S-Bahn station and were able to get back downtown to check out a few more stores and the Paulaner Brauhaus!

I must say what wonderful beer culture that is prevalent everywhere in Munich and the smaller villages we visited. You did not find that so much in Salzburg, it was more about style and grace and Mozart!

Overall, we had a tremendous time and will return as soon as we can to explore more of the sites and towns in the area. We highly recommend it to anyone that would like a relaxing, romantic vacation.