September 11

Today marks the 6th anniversary of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the failed attempt with flight 93. It was a terribly sad event both for the reason of the lose of life and the realization that we could be attacked at home. Today we should all take a moment and really appreciate what we have here. We Never Forget, and I don't think we should either. I will always remember that day, like it was last week. It was a Tuesday, like today, and on the way to work I remember the radio saying it was national 9-1-1 day because of the date, and I thought that was funny because today would probably be the least used day of the year for 9-1-1, but boy was I wrong. I remember hearing about the first plane when I was setting in a QS9000 meeting and one of the people from the other plant who had come for a prep meeting got a phone call from his Mom saying that we were under attack. We kind of blew it off at first because we didn't have all of the details. Then she called back and said both of the World Trade Centers had been hit. It didn't really sink in and what happened next was kind of a blur until I walked into my trailer/office and saw the TV set up and it showed the towers falling and I said 'Oh my God they fell'. And there were two people in there watching and they just kind of nodded, because they had already seen the footage several times. My heart kind of sunk because you knew it wasn't a real 'accident' but you didn't know what kind of attack it was going to be. I remember standing in the desulf control room at about 2:30 PM and the lights went out and I said 'we are under attack', and I really thought a power plant or lines or something had been taken out. Unfortunately we just had an inconsistent power supply at the coke plant, and within a few minutes or seconds the power was back on, and we were trying to sort out what happened. I don't remember exactly what failed, but I remember being there late that night and checking on the coverage that was playing in the conference room and later they showed bombs being set off in Afghanistan. I remember seeing them show the people in that general geographic location celebrating what had happened on American soil earlier in the day and I was anxious to see us retaliate because I didn't really know the extent of the attack on us, but it did kind of feel like we should be fighting. I hate that our children will never know what it was like living in a world before 9/11, you know going through the security at the airport with your family and them staying at the gate with you watching your plane take off, but after 6 years I'm not sure I really remember what it was like myself. I think people will always give up some personal freedom or time to feel safe, but I don't know that anyone will ever be totally free and totally safe ever again.

Another Bathroom Update Again

Finished.

NFL Pick 'em Week 2

Did I say the Browns would go 9-7, I meant 7-9. Yeah that's it. Ok last week I was way off about the Rams and now Orlando Pace is out for the season so they probably won't be as good as I thought. Good news though for the Browns as they play the Rams in week 8. Last Week's record was 3-2, not bad for the 1st week, especially with the redskins winning in overtime and Denver winning on literally a last second field goal. Here we go week 2:

Cincinnati over the Browns. What I'm realistic. I hope the Browns will win, and if they do then I could pick them to lose every week and they will win. Bwah hah hah (evil laugh).
New England over San Diego.
Tennessee over Indianapolis - (Upset)
Bears over the Chiefs
Dallas over Miami
Carolina over Houston

Bathroom Update Again

The toilet is installed, but the water line was a little short. I'll pick one up tomorrow after work. I decided to use an extra large wax ring to make up the difference of the tile rather than use one of the kits that has the gasket system because when I put it in and set the toilet on it I didn't really feel like I could trust it. I talked to my brother today and he said the same thing. The rubber can wear and breakdown later, but wax, well wax lasts forever.

Family Tree

Spent some time with my Aunt at the Cemetery today. She told me a lot about my family and I now know who my Great Grandparents are.

Mom's side: Lucetta (Claus) and Charles Mann
Racheal (Matz) and Jacob John Christman
Dad's side: Jane (Pittman) and Sedrick Smith
Sevilla (Headley) and Leon Mobley

We all have 8 Great Grandparents do you know who your's are?

'Fantasy' Football

The Browns win their opener, barely. After surviving an early 17-0 deficit the Browns turned to their future star Brady Quinn to lead them on 3 scoring straight scoring drives opening up the second half. The Steelers managed to score again putting them up 24-21 mid way through the last quarter. On the next drive, Quinn led the Browns down the field and on the strong legs of Jamal Lewis, the Browns were able to score from 2 yards out with less than 2 minutes remaining. On the subsequent drive the Steelers' QB Ben Rothilesberger threw a pick to Leigh Bodden and Quinn was able to assume his first victory formation, as the Brown secured their first victory of year. . . .

Whoa, what happened there, I dozed off at the keyboard for a second. No No No the Browns didn't really win, but honestly how long do you have to be loyal to QB's that have guided you to a 4-13 record over the last 17 games. I mean really your best shot is with the unproven rookie that other teams haven't prepared for. And he is the best mix of the talent you have anyway. Frye is mobile, although he took six sacks, and Anderson can throw, but Quinn can do both and better. For Romeo's sake he needs to be good, if he plays early. If he waits to play him, then he needs to stink too, so Romeo can say he really didn't have much of a choice. I mean between Frye and Anderson they have 2 years experience, and most of those weren't meaningful games. Just put the rookie in, let him hand off a lot and make throws when he needs to, and let him get some experience so you can win games in two or 3 years. This isn't like Green Bay where they draft that Cal quarterback and he is still on the bench because Favre, a 3-time league MVP, is still there. Frye and Anderson haven't even been in the league for 3 years. I think Quinn is mentally strong enough to take losing if he is gaining experience. He QB'd at Notre Dame for 4 years, so he is not a one-shot draft-cash-in like Ryan Leaf (that will be Jamarcus Russell) instead Quinn is more like Manning. I'm not saying that he has the talent of Manning, but he is more of that mold, especially more than Frye and Anderson.

NFL Pick 'em Week 1

Ok, gonna try my hand at sports for a bit. I thought the Browns could go 9-7 without even looking at their schedule and after looking at the schedule I still think they can go 9-7. The Gurus at the sporting News say 3-13, so we will see who is right. If I hit it right on, I am canceling my subscription. They were so close to winning 4 or 5 more games last year and I think they have up graded at enough positions to put themselves over the top. So I'll be like a lot of other sports folks pick 4-5 cake games and then an upset. Alright here we go;

- Browns over the Steelers. (upset) although mild since Tomlin makes his debut for the Steelers. Do you realize that Brian Bilick is now the lone white coach in the AFC Central. Just an observation. L
- Denver over Buffalo W
- Washington over Miami W
- Green Bay over Phili W
- Rams over Panthers (could be another mild upset, but the rams could score more points than any team in the NFL this year.) L

Bathroom Update Again

No I'm still not done. The toilet will get attached Saturday. Have been busy at work with the DCS install. Siemens is here this week and they are configuring the control room. So far so good. I told Sophie not to wait to make dinner for me until the install is done. Yeah, that's the kind of week it has been.

Bathroom Update

Just a note Sophie finished the grout on the floor, YEAH!!!! So I cut the trim behind the toilet with my Father's Day gift, a miter saw, so she could stain it. Tomorrow the toilet goes on. If I am lucky. Also thinking of starting a family tree in Excel. I'll let you know how that goes.

Number 14 Finish

Finished my two weeks of finishing things. Ha. Bet you weren't expecting that. Oh well, this 'labor day' weekend has likened to killed me. You are supposed to be taking the weekend easy, celebrating the fact that you are normally laboring, but no, not this weekend I swear my arms hurt so bad Saturday night I could barely get to sleep. It reminded me of what my arms felt like after setting carbon for about a week straight, and all I did was try and remove the linoleum. Feeling better now, hey just in time to head back to work. There are still some things to finish in the bathroom. Sophie laid the tile today, she'll grout tomorrow or Wednesday (Oh yes, Sophie does the tiling), and then I get to try and put the toilet back on. Home depot says expect to take about two hours for toilet install. Ha. The Home Depot's got nothing on me. If they knew me they'd say you better take the day off work or plan on a Saturday for install. We'll see Home Depot, we'll see...

Number 13 Finish

Hey, Finished laying the cement board floor in the bathroom yesterday.

Historic Start for The Big Ten Network

Doh! That is the sound heard from the people running the Big Ten Network today. It looked like a good idea on paper, let your preseason top 5 team start the season out on your network to showcase the true powerhouse capability of the Big Ten as Michigan pounds away on poor 1-AA Appalachian State. Except you know Michigan gets beat... at home... by the 2-time defending 1-AA National Champion Mountaineers of App. State. Did I mention that Michigan had a chance to put the game away twice in the last 3 minutes, but both field goal attempts were BLOCKED. Missed I could understand, but how do you give up two blocks in less than 5 minutes. That was terrible, and oh by the way this was the first time a team from the division formally known as 1-AA (it is the Bowl Sub Division now) has ever beaten a team in the AP top 5. Congratulations Big Ten Network on making history, I can't wait to sign up and watch the highly competitive Big Ten lose to non-conference foes. 'Next week on the Big Ten Network Wisconsin takes on a Pee-wee football team from Eastern Wisconsin.' I'll have to record that, I don't want to miss history again.

Number 11 & 12 Finishes

Finished taking the toilet off yesterday so we could tile the floor (#11). Finished taking off the linoleum today (#12). Hopefully I'll get the backer board down soon. This was a lot harder than I thought. I kind of knew it was going to suck going in, but remember those Old Milwaukee ads where they said 'It doesn't get any better than this'. Well I found the opposite, 'It doesn't get any crappier than trying to redo your bathroom' (pun intended). Alright well I gotta get back to it. Did I mention this is the first Saturday of the College Football season? What was I thinking doing this stuff this weekend? Oh well, it is months that are really busy that make you appreciate the slow months when you can relax.