Heritage....

The awards above belonged to my Grandfather and my Dad. The Marine Corps Globe and Anchor insignia was my Dad's Father's and is from the First World War; he fought in the battle of The Belleau Woods. The Combat Infantry Badge was my Dad's. He landed at Anzio and fought his way into Italy with the 45th Division, then was re-landed on the shores of Southern France after D-Day, heading towards Germany until succumbing to frostbite in the Vosges Mountains. My Dad recuperated at Air Base Depot #2 in England while the 45th made it all the way to Germany liberating Dachau concentration camp on the way to Munich.

My Grandfather was a Marine Corps infantry private, my Dad an Army infantry sergeant. I was a an Army infantry officer.

Veteran's Day...

Surfin' Again....

Loading IE ver. 6.0 and AOL ver.9.0 on Ma's machine has her surfin' down the digital superhighway once again. Surfin' slowly on dial-up and AOL, but connected again none the less. Thanks to the guys at A.G.E. Systems for the IE 6 software. According to the experts there, I was correct, IE ver 6.0 cannot be found anymore.

Problem Update.....

We shall soon know if Ma's computer will be back up and running on the Internet. As I described on Monday, converging glitches caused her to be offline for about a week now. In the intervening time I have gotten her to think outside of her box and to consider going to bundled services including broadband. Now just when we were about to go in that direction, through my friends at A.G.E. Systems, I've found a copy of Internet Explorer 6.0 which will allow repairs to AOL. Staying with AOL is the easier way in her mind.

But she has made progress. She went so far as to call Suddenlink to get prices on bundled service which we discussed at her 84th birthday dinner tonight. I have to say that Suddenlink seems to be more expensive than Grande which I have and have recommended to her. But unbelievably, no actually quite believably, there were cascading problems with getting broadband too!

Seems she has Suddenlink as her TeeVee provider. Also seems that some years ago my Dad paid a considerable sum of dough to have all their incoming utility lines buried, including Cox Cable, now Suddenlink. So if we got Grande they most likely would have to string a cable across the now uncluttered yard......so Suddenlink is the only choice she'll even consider.

But on Friday I'll install IE Ver. 6.0, install AOL Ver. 9.0 reboot her computer without problem, I'm sure, and she'll be happy, back where she was before. I'm sure all of this will happen. I pray all this will happen

Law of Cascading Problems

First off let me say that my Ma, who'll be 84 on Wednesday, does really well on the computer. She's been online for 5 or 6 years now and can email, surf the web, Google and even has an account at Amazon.com.....which she uses! She knows what she uses really quite well. But try to explain change to her computer world and....well that's a challenging experience.

She's been on AOL the entire time she's been online and even with my explanations doesn't really understand that there's another way to dial into the internet that may be actually easier; using a regular web browser and an email client program. But after years of carping about fixing her AOL problems, I've come to realize that she does well on it so let sleeping old ladies lie.

But....over the last weeks she's been complaining about being disconnected from AOL after only 3 or 4 minutes. Again, quite proud of her....she actually called the AOL helpline and explained to me [after asking me if I knew what she had to go through to talk to a real person...gee really!] that the nice man in India checked her system and the problem is that she's never updated her AOL software. She's on Version 5....AOL is on Version 9. Thus the disconnect problem.

I called and verified this with a nice AOL guy in Pakistan who confirmed this and said all we had to do was to go to Wal-Mart, pick up the new Version 9 CD and install it and our problem would be solved adding that to be sure I uninstalled the old AOL software before installing the new. Check. So off to Wal-Mart I went last Friday to pick up the CD and install it. And this is where Craig's Law of Cascading Problems began.

Craig's Law of Cascading Problems says that, with computers, whenever you are faced with an answer that is too easy beware; in applying the easy fix you will generate a never ending series of new corollary problems that become increasingly harder to fix. And so it was.

I uninstalled the old AOL version and ran through the entire install of the new AOL Version 9...that is until at the end a warning box appeared stating, "Version 9.0 requires at least Internet Explorer Version 6.0, please install IE 6.0.....Good-Bye". My Ma has IE Version 5.5. Muffled cursing ensued as neither the nice guy in Pakistan, nor the instructions on the software CD nor on the AOL help website had made any mention of this. I had no clue that AOL was in any way linked to Explorer. But being the model of serenity these days I told Ma that there was a problem and I would have to download something on my computer, put it on a CD and return the next day, thinking that surely I would find IE version 6.0 on a download site somewhere and retrieve it.

Silly me. Microsoft©, being who they are, likes to expunge all earlier versions of a product once a new one comes out. There is not a complete IE Version 6.0 to be found on the internet. So, I thought, I'll go to Microsoft© and download the larger Version 7....the new browser. Being somewhat savvy in these things I looked up the machine system requirements necessary to run Version 7.0...Ma's computer being 5 or so years old. It looked like her machine would handle IE 7.0 or so I thought until I read the fine print. Version 7.0 is not compatible with Windows Millenium Edition. Ma has Window Millenium Edition. More cursing ensued. How can they offer a new browser that won't run on one of their own operating systems. Apparently Microsoft© is trying to expunge the Millenium edition too.

I found this out over the weekend and knew I would have to report my findings, Ma has become an email junkie and is getting the jitters about not having the Internet. So today I just had to, in the simplest of terms, explain to her the problems. "We couldn't update your AOL because the browser, which you didn't even know existed and have never seen is out dated. They no longer offer the best updated browser that is the simplest fix and the newer browser won't run on your operating system, which I know you've never heard of, because Microsoft© rushed a dog of a product out and now denies it ever existed".

I asked her if she understood any of this. She said, "well maybe I need to call an expert.......the nice man in India said all I needed to do was get a new CD at Wal-Mart".

Fall at last....?

Though the weather feels like early September instead of the 1st of November, at least last evening I could imagine that it really is Fall. As I was watering the flower beds, while Daphne frolicked with her ball a flight of 10 Canadian Geese flew over at tree top level, several honking their lungs out. The geese are part of the recently returned wildfowl group that winters at the "A" Street duck pond not far from my house. Apparently not chased south by cold weather up north, I suppose they just determined that it was time to come on down.

It was nice to see and hear them, they are pretty spectacular flying close over head. Too, I could imagine that I was back in Minnesota or Michigan where possibly the leaves are changing color a bit.

The Immaculate Lateral [s]...

[Precise running patterns not to scale]

By now, most of you have seen the video of my alma mater, Trinity University, and their instantly famous "immaculate lateral" football game on Saturday. This is actually a play that the then Quarterback Forrest Dunlap and I drew up at the Nugget Lounge in 1970. I'm surprised they waited so long to use it, but glad it worked. Except for the 8th, or was it the 10th, pitch back they ran it just they way we drew it up!

To the uninitiated the play looks like a hodgepodge, or at best extremely complicated. Which is why I decided to recreate our original diagram above. When seen this way, the obvious simplicity of the plan becomes evident. Doesn't it?

Update: The Immaculate Lateral [s] has taken on a life of it's own. Here is the Wikipedia analysis of the game and the The Play, which ESPN is now speculating may be the longest play, timewise, in college history.

Christmas for Our Troops...

Our service men and women, volunteers all, do a magnificent, tough job of protecting our freedoms. You can do a small, but hugely important part in showing them that they are appreciated by sending a small token of thanks this Christmas. And it's pretty darned easy. Just go to Christmas for Our Troops check our "needs" page and then take your gifts to one of our pick-up points.

Thanks to the Midland Reporter-Telegram for today's front page story, if you didn't catch it in print, here it is online. Also, frequent reader Jeff, contributes an article that he wrote mentioning Christmas For Our Troops.

Malibu fires....

As some people know, I have a connection past and present to Pepperdinie University. Pepperdine, sits on one of the most beautiful spots of any college I know of and has been in the path of the horrendous wildfires raging around Malibu. I have had several people email me and one reader, a news anchor with a premier outlet even called to see if I had any news. I didn't at the time, but do now courtesy of a contact there, Ronnie Zamora in the sports information office.

Hey Wallace,
Thanks for the concern. We're all doing fine at the moment, the fires seem to be moving east, away from campus. There is no school today and offices are closed again, but there's been no word on tomorrow yet. The winds are supposed to calm down today, and that will help the firefighters contain the fire, because wind gusts have been crazy- up to 80 mph in some areas. The school hasn't been too affected, some trees and grass have burned and a few cars in the parking lot, but all the buildings are still intact. Hopefully the fires will be put out today and people can go about their lives again, because PCH has been closed throughout the city and that has really shut Malibu down. Thanks for your concern again. I guess we just need to pray that the fires get under control and stop spreading and affecting different homes and buildings.
-Ronnie

Tennis Final....

Although you'd always like to win the big enchilada, coming in as runners up in the womens singles and doubles at a major tournament is a grand accomplishment. That's what our Pepperdine girls did today. It could have gone either way in both finals. Not to take anything away from the girl from TCU in singles, nor the great doubles team from UCLA who defeated the Wave girls, but Sylvia Kosakowski our #1 player was in both the singles and doubles finals and to get there had to play three matches a day for three straight days. That's about six hours of continuous competition level tennis each day. She was tired. I was tired watching her.

We were proud of the girls, but since Sylvia has dominated the tournament for the last three years, having previously won championships in both singles and doubles, we wished that she could have taken home one more trophy. Still, a great match for the girls.

Tennis Time...

Perhaps the best tennis event occuring in the USA this weekend is underway in Midland. The best kept secret too, apparently, with hardly a word appearing in the local paper. The attendance by local folks is well, underwhelming. I am a great tennis fan, but it sure makes me wonder why we need to spend several million dollars on a new tennis center with 30+ courts and stadium seating when no one seems interested in attending a premier event at a facility we already have.

But, none the less, this is your chance to see some of the top college players in the nation at the Racquet Club NCAA Invitational. The number and quality of teams that I noted today in attendance is amazing. UCLA, USC, Duke, the University of Miami, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UT Arlington, North Texas, Oklahoma, SMU, TCU, Rice, Boise State, Arkansas, New Mexico..and I'm sure I've left some out. Like Pepperdine, my grad school alma mater and perennial top seeded womens contenders with players like Sylvia Kosakowski. I've known Sylvia for four years now through the tournament. Sylvia is a senior this year and is the 8th ranked doubles player in college tennis, she was also recently named an "All American". Sylvia won the womens tournament 2 years ago and was a finalist in womens doubles last year.

She looked good today winning all her singles matches and with doubles partner Anete Bandere from Latvia, she should be a potetial doubles champion again. Of course Anete always looks good, winning or losing. If you have any interest in tennis or just want to spend some time up close and personal with some great college athletes, try and make it to the Racquet Club this weekend.

The War.....

I've been meaning to comment on "The War" since it aired on PBS. I knew I would and seeing Ken Burns speak Tuesday night made me not let the opportunity slip away. I won't go into what a great series The War was, if you saw it you know, just what it meant to me. And that's a great amount.

Most of you know that my Dad died last November, one of a trilogy of tragedies in my life that occured last Fall that I'm still dealing with. My Dad fought in Italy and like most veterans of that age talked about it very, very little. Only in the last 5 or 6 years of his life did he reveal anything other than than he'd been in Italy, saw his best friend killed the first day there, later had his feet frozen and had been evacuated back to England for the duration of the war.

In going through records my Mom has had but had not shown me until my Dad's death, I've learned more. I knew that he'd been in the 45th Infantry Division but that was the extent of things. I've recently learned that he was a replacement in the division, sent to re-man the 179th Regiment after the horrendous losses they had sustained after they landed in Southern Italy. My Dad landed at Anzio.

Many people think of the ground war in Europe as starting with the "D-Day" invasion in France. "The War" did a brilliant job of portraying, in detail, that the war in Europe had started in violent fashion in Italy more than year before our forces landed at Normandy. Italy saw some of the bloodiest fighthing with the heaviest ground losses of the war. My Dad was with the 45th in their march up Italy, until two months after "D-Day" when they were sent to start a second front in France; they landed in Southern France near St. Tropez and started slogging towards Germany. My Dad didn't finish the march. After 8+ months in combat his feet were frozen in the French Alps.

What made "The War" very special for me occured in one 3 or 4 second clip in the 2nd episode. In this small slice of video a group of soldiers was shown standing around talking in Italy after the Anzio breakout. Nothing special about a group of grunts standing around talking except that one of them was the spitting image of my Dad. This was a fairly close shot, the soldiers being without helmets and one looked just like my Dad, young and handsome. Now, I know, the odds against this being my Dad are great...but wasn't it wonderful to believe it was and to get to see him all those years ago.

Sputnik....

I couldn't let today's anniversary go by unnoticed. Frankly it would have been lost on me unless I had read a small blurb in today's local paper. Today, 50 years ago, the world went into space. The Russian's launched the 183 lb Sputnik I into orbit to do nothing more than to prove it could be done and send out weak radio signals to prove that it was there.

I remember the day, or rather night, well. I was a young lad living with my family in New Orleans and vividly remember the entire neighborhood being out front in the street trying to catch a glimpse of Sputnik. I don't believe that we did, but just knowing it was there was science fiction come to life.

Just 12 short years later the US would land men on the moon. Fairly amazing considering the technology of the time.

Hear Sputniks actual transmission......

One more Air Show...

The 2007 version of the CAF Air Show is a done deal. I'm always excited when Air Show weekend arrives and equally glad when it's over. I had some great friends, new and old, help me out with my responsibilities all went well and we all had a great time. I got some great photographs from the ground and in the air....

The Big Gold Dog...

This week marks one year since the passing of Tres, The Big Gold Dog. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about that sweet big dog and all he meant to me. When he slept at night in the hallway, sometimes his paws would be touching the wall and when he was dreaming his feet would make a running sound as they brushed the walls. Sometimes I think I can still hear that sound as I go to bed at night. It is sad, but most of all he makes me remember what true loyalty, love and friendship is all about.

Destroy it and they will come...!

It's very interesting to me that some people, and frankly some that I know quite well, seem to think that tearing down buildings in downtown Midland is the solution to redevelopment of the area. Especially when the replacement is a parking lot.

Having been in the office building business in a prior life I know from an economic standpoint it is hard to redevelop some of these older buildings; still with some vision it has been done in other cities and quite successfully.

But perhaps my friends have a vision too. Midland as the parking capital of Texas. I suppose they see people from Dallas, Houston and Austin coming to Midland to park. Locals too. "Say Honey what do you want to do tonight"? "Well Bobby Sue let's go to downtown Midland and park, I hear there are some real parking bargains down there".

Off and running....!

Some projects that you undertake reach a point at which you know, "this is the break through". Today was that day in our efforts to restore the Chaparral Racing test track back to it's important place in auto racing history. Today we got owner and racing legend Jim Hall's enthusiastic approval to begin.

Our first goal will be to host a regional competition of the Society of Automotive Engineers Formula SAE competitions. Several years ago I had met Midland native Dr. Ron Matthews, the Formua SAE's founder and director of the University of Texas' General Motors combustion engineering research center. Formula SAE has grown to be the largest student engineering competition in the world with over 300 universities around the globe participating. In a strange twist, Jim Hall was one of the first judges of the competition in 1983. Today Dr. Matthews flew out to visit with Jim , the first time they'd seen each other since the original event and the reconnection was immediate.

Hosting this event next summer will require the track to be resurfaced and draw national attention to the Chaparral facility, a good start to further plans.

Life....!

If you don't already, I hope that you have the opportunity to live in the same city as your aging parents. You'll enjoy the experience.

This afternoon at 2:58 my cell phone rang, showing my mother as the caller. You'll learn that when aging parents call your cell phone in the middle of the day, nothing good can come of it. In that microsecond when you see their name in the caller ID you pray that nothing serious is happening then wonder what the hell is wrong now.

Today it was a flat tire. "Hell-o, I must have run over something, I'm in a parking lot and my tire is flat. I wonder what I should do"? You think......"gee Ma I wonder too" knowing full well that I'm on my way to change a tire. So after I changed clothes there I was. Luckily she was on a good flat surface and not in the middle of the street. So after reading the manual on jack placement etc. for that car I got started. Lug nuts loosened, small doughnut spare tire out of the back, car jacked up. So I go to put the spare on and its as flat as the doughnut that it is named after.

My Dad came to the rescue once again. He had had a micro air compressor in his car which I, luckily, took for my own when we sold his car. It actually worked very well. As I was changing the tire I noticed that there were some severe scruff marks around the edge of the original tire, then I spied the valve stem.....completely chewed up with the end broken off.

I asked Ma if she had hit a curb anytime recently. "Well", she says, "I did just now as I was pulling into the cleaners. I like to get real close to the drive in window." And indeed she did! "I did hear a hissing sound but I thought it was the steam cleaners inside the laundry".

But all is well now, I got the tire changed and followed her over to the Exxon station that still has full service, and in a twinkling of the eye they had the valve stem changed, the tire was OK and off to home we went to await the next "event". And I have no doubt that this is God's plan, payback for all those telephone calls from me when I was a kid, when they undoubtedly thought in that microsecond...."What's wrong now?"

Attention racing fans....!

I've been away, been busy and had out of town company. Not a whole lot of interesting news there.......but. One of the things that I've been interested in for the last several years is revitalizing the old Chaparral Racing test circuit, Rattlesnake Raceway south of Midland. This Friday I hope the dream will start to come true.

Late last year I was invited to be on the advisory board of the Chaparral Racing Museum at the Petroleum Museum, thus allowing me to "officially" start talking to people I had met who were interested in preserving this piece of racing history. Friday some of these interested parties are coming to Midland to discuss details and talk about development plans with owner Jim Hall. Should be fun, but more importantly productive in once again having world class racing machines, including the Chaparrals, back on the track.

Happy Labor Day..!

Hope you and yours have a happy Labor Day. I'm taking my Mom out to dinner and then we thought we'd visit the local Teamsters Union.