November 10th, 2006
We celebrated the Marine Corp birthday at the office. This was a first for me. The General had a birthday cake. It is typical for marines to cut the cake with their sword. I also found out that if the marine is disliked, they place the sword back in its holder without cleaning it–a bad clean up mess. Also, after the cake is cut, the oldest and youngest marine get to sample the cake before distributing to all the guest. We saw a DVD of the Marine Corp history and a message from the Base Commandant.
The Marine Corp Museum also opened today. President Bush gave a grand opening speech. The amount of security on base and on the roads was unbelievable. They shut down the HOV lanes to allow buses to transport people. I guess everything went well. Can’t wait to go visit.
Happy Birthday Marine Corp!
Tags: Birthday, Marine Corp
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October 26th, 2006
I got the news from my Mom that her brother Arnie had passed away from emphysema. He was slowly dying from the disease for a few years. My uncle and aunt lived in Holland Michigan, mom and dad are traveling to Michigan for the funeral. Mom said that he is going to be buried in thier hometown of Escanaba Michigan.
My fondest childhood memories are of the annual Henriksen family reunions. My parents have been driving to the Escanaba area from Des Moines Iowa, my hometown, every year for the past 50+ years. I remember all the fun times that I had with my uncle’s and aunt’s. I remember mom calling my uncle “Horse”, I have no idea where that came from. Arnie is the first of my mom’s brothers or sisters that have passed. Most of mom’s family live within a few hours of where my uncle Arnie and aunt Anne live.
This is going to be hard for mom, since the death of Doug, she has been struggling. She had been attending a support group for those that have had their children die. I wish I could be there for her.
Tags: Death, Funeral, Uncle
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October 9th, 2006
I found a job that I absolutely love. After spending three months with the worst company I have ever worked at, I finally found the job that I know I’m going to absolutely love. I do want to add that it wasn’t the job that I disliked at my prior job, but the environment conditions. I am finishing my degree so that I can do what I love best. I found this job through an ad on the paper. I have been told that jobs listed in the newspapers are the worst jobs and jobs people don’t want to do. I posted my resume on so many places online–monsters.com, government agencies, ihire.com and many others–and had no response from any of them.
I am now working for a non-profit organization, doing what I love to do, and working for a group of people that I would have to say make the working conditions the best place to work at. My three boses, I would have to say are the best boses anyone could ever have. Needless to say, I’m hoping that this is the last job I’ll ever have.
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September 29th, 2006
This summer, after coming back from a funeral, I took a job with a construction company, whose name will remain anonymous, in Sterling. I was offered the job before we left for the funeral, but took some time to think about it. Initially, my plan was to reject the offer, and I should have listened to my instincts. I ended up accepting the offer and started immediately after I returned back from my trip. The first week of training went very well, I thought. By mid-week of the second week, I felt that I understood the process and began to work independent. When I got into the bookkeeping part of the job, I realized very quickly that this company was very much in financial trouble. The payables were so overdue. Vendors were calling on a daily basis and at times make threats because they wanted their payments. My boss was very short and rude at times and seemed to so willingly put the blame on me for things that happened before I began my employment with them. I know that I did my best for them and worked diligently, however, you can only take so much of it. After being with them for almost three months, I began to experience things that I didn’t make me feel comfortable. My last Friday on the job, was payday Friday. I was reconciling the bank account and the balance in the checkbook was very negative. I went to cash my check on Saturday, and the bank wouldn’t cash my check. They told me I had to wait until Monday. That weekend, my husband and I decided that it was time for me to give notice. Needless to say, my employment was terminated and things worked out to my favor. All I can say is that it was the worst job ever and I would never recommend anybody to them.
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September 20th, 2006
I moved my web and mail server to a new provider, Jaguar PC. Nothing like building a server from scratch, it can be a real time sink. It took about a week just to get the mail server up. The server itself is using Virtuozzo to setup a virtual server. This is just like running a physical server and once you are on the box you really can’t tell that it is just a small part of a larger server.
The server runs Postfix for mail, Courier-IMAP for imap, MySQL for the database, and Apache for the web server. The biggest problem that I had was with building Courier-IMAP. I took me a long while to find the right rpms for this install. Since I needed mysql support, getting the right authlib files were the biggest problem. Another problem was with the famd support. I had to build that from scratch.
Once I got the mail server done, everything else just fell into place. I hope I don’t have to move this server for a while.
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August 21st, 2006
Well the day finally arrived for our daughter. She’s been waiting for a while to have her braces removed and the day is finally here. She is all excited. Now she has to wear her retainers for about 3 months all day and after that only at night time. Now it’s kind of funny, because she now talks with a lisp. We are certainly going to be sure to have her say “S” words.
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August 6th, 2006
I know that it’s been a while since our last blog and you might be thinking that it’s about time. Many things are going on or should say consuming our summer. For starters, we are working on getting a driver’s licence for our youngest. She is now working and we have to juggle around to make sure that she gets to work and gets picked up on time. I know that I’ll probably regret saying this but I’ll be glad when she gets her license. I’m looking forward to the little bit of independence. I’ve started working for a small business. So far I really enjoy it because it’s what I always wanted to do. I’m still finishing up school. Hopefully one more semester and I’m finished.
I can tell you that summer has gone by so fast. Pretty soon school will be back in session and before we know it, graduation will be just around the corner.
Currently, the temperature is 89 degrees and we are outside on our patio enjoying life. It’s pretty funny because the only way that my husband will come outside with these temperatures is if he is cool enough; well, I managed to accommodate him by bringing a fan outside. So needless to say, he’s been outside without complaining of how hot it is.
I hate to say that’s all for now until my next blog.
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August 2nd, 2006
Yesterday we tied the high here at 97 degrees, today we are expected to hit 100.
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June 30th, 2006
I buried my brother today.
This was the day that I was not looking forward to since I heard the news of Doug’s death. The viewing and graveside service was mostly family. A few of Doug’s coworkers drove up from Lubbock, but mostly it was my parents, brother and sisters, Tammie and her sons. Tammie’s mother, brother and sister and nephews were there. Also. some of Mom’s brothers and sister-in-laws drove down from the Chicago and southern Michigan Area.
Doug was buried with full military honors. It was a very solemn ceremony, one that I think Doug would have appreciated. He is buried at Leavenworth National Cemetery in section 58 row 9 site 5.
It was a tough day for everyone. It was hard to see my brother at the viewing. I sat there for a long time just staring at him in the casket, remembering the good times we had. Also, regretting the lack of contact we had, but then no matter if we called each other every day… that would still not be enough….
Good Bye Doug… I love you….
Tags: Brother, Funeral, Military Funeral, My Brother
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June 24th, 2006
At some time in your life you will hear the words “I have some bad news”. For some, it will be the loss of a job, others it will be the doctor giving you the diagnosis. Some will be told face to face, some will be told over the phone.
For me, it was on my cell phone while I was shopping at Kohls. My sister-in-law told me of the death of my brother. It seemed like the whole world started spinning in slow motion, I could not believe the news. “He died this morning from a heart attack” she said. I stopped listening sometime after that and I slowly handed my phone over to my wife. At that point, the problems I had, seemed small and insignificant.
My mind raced to when we were kids, the teasing and torture that an older brother, I am the youngest, inflicts to a younger brother. To the time I called him on autovon because of some girl problem that I had. To that summer in ‘79 when my oldest brother and I drove down to Clovis New Mexico to see him. It was the first time I drove a stick.
I spoke with my remaining brother this evening, he has had his own struggles as his daughter was killed in a car accident. We talked about how each were feeling, sharing our memories of our brother. tallking about how the other members fo the family were doing…
Both of us shocked, at the words we don’t want to hear.
Tags: Bad News, Brother, Death, Family
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June 18th, 2006
Today is Father’s Day and I want to wish all those wonderful men that have played an important role in my life “the best Father’s Day ever.” To my wonderful husband, thanks for being a Godly influence in our daughter’s life. For the love you give to all of us and for all the sacrifices you have made for us. I want to thank my dad for always being there for me and exemplifying all those years what a dad is all about. To my husband’s father, well, you know how much you have succeeded when you look at your kid’s lives.
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June 13th, 2006
I’m in the kitchen cooking dinner, when all of sudden, my husband goes running out the door in a rush. I saw him looking out the window and then he said “Oh my gosh!” and ran out the door. I thought that maybe there might have been an accident outside. When I looked through the window, Baby Car (our daughters Toyota Echo) was rolling backwards down the driveway. I guess he forgot to put the e-brake on. It would have been really bad to tell our daughter that her car ran away and got into an accident.
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June 10th, 2006
We were invited to several graduation parties and open houses. We tried to time it so that we would be at both at the right time. We were able to see some friends of ours that we haven’t seen for a while. We ate and talked for some time, it was a nice reunion. When we went to the 2nd open house, they had ribs on the bar-b-cue made by the Brooks and they were delicious. We had a good time talking with church friends or some of the teachers.
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June 9th, 2006
This year the Senior graduation falls on our Anniversary. Needless to say, we will celebrate at another time since this will be a busy weekend. We were at the school until about 4:30pm helping with the decorations. When I left, the gym looked so pretty and ready for the reception. The theme this year was “Reaching for the Stars.” The guest speaker had a ribbon which had Emmanuel Christian School Flames engraved on it. He had the Seniors come up to the front and he rolled out the ribbon from one end to the other with each Senior holding it. Then he had the Pastor come cut the ribbon in pieces for each Senior. The ribbon, in one piece, represented the whole class as they were today. When it was cut, it represented the class as individuals going out their seprate directions. He had all the parents stand behind their child and they prayed over the family. I’m sure that both parents and seniors will remembers this forever. Also, it is a tradition at Emmanuel Christian School for the Senior class to pass the flame to the Junior class. The passing of the flame ceremony was beautiful and touching. The Seniors, with their lit candle, will light the Junior’s candles and extinguish their candle which symbolizes the end of their Senior year and the start of a new year for the rising Junior. Amber, my daughter’s best friend since the 3rd grade, will be passing her the flame. I can’t believe that we now have a Senior in the house. Actually, we now have 3 Seniors in the house. I will provide a link for pictures soon.
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June 9th, 2006
Well today marks our 22nd wedding anniversary. I married to my wonderful, beautiful wife on this day… It still seems like it was only yesterday….
It was a warm Saturday. Having to tell my best friend to step down as my best man because his girlfriend had “issues” with my future sister-in-law. My brothers threw me a bachelors party that almost ended my marriage before it started. I remember standing at the church about an hour before seeing my blushing bride flying by the church in her sisters car not ready for the ceremony. The small church packed with family and extended family. A ceremony that we cried over. The reception at the VFW. And our first night together as man and wife…. that she still does not remember…. You fill in the joke…
I am still in love with my wife and this has been a wonderful adventure….
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