Both of my sailors grew up to be shellbacks.  

I'm just so darn proud. 

Here's a photo of the band in front of the admiral's helicopter, there on the Blue Ridge:

Alex is behind the right-hand sax.

Did Middleageguy say he was going to shut down his Xanga and I missed it?

Well, dang.

If I'd known he was going to do that, I'd have cut and pasted some of my favorite posts of his. 

I am SO depressed.

Is ABC serious?

Found at CNN.com:  Geico cavemen could star in TV series

Good grief.  Don and I loathe those commercials featuring supposed cavemen.  What they have to do with car insurance, we cannot imagine.  There was one last night that was even more idiotic than the previous ads, were that possible.  Two of them talking outside on a balcony or something, and another one comes out and is chased off by them.  There was absolutely no connection to insurance.  None.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.

This has been increasingly common, ISTM....there being no connection whatever between the ad and the product it presumably is intending to sell.  The "cavemen" ads are particularly egregious in this respect, though.

Another departure from traditional advertising practices that I've noticed is that, where it used to be attractive, witty, intelligent people were used to promote a product (silent message:  "Use the product the Beautiful People use!"), nowadays those hawking products are idiots and buffoons.

Use the products the idiots and buffoons use?  Why would I want to do that?

An example of this type of ad is one for Sonic's tater tots, where two guys are sitting in a car rhapsodizing about the deliciousness of their tater tots (which have apparently been loaded down with a bunch of stuff), and one of them says it's as if the tots were meteors that zoomed through some sort of field, blah blah...it was stupid.

So, I'd want to self-identify with a jerk like that by eating what he eats....why, exactly? 

To be honest, however, there is at least one exception to this, and that's the truly hilarious Bud Light commercial featuring a couple driving at night, who spot a hitchhiker along the side of the road.

Male driver:  "Look!  He's got Bud Light!"

Female passenger:  "He's also got an axe."

M/d:  "But he's got Bud Light...."

F/p:   "And an AXE!"

M/d:  "I'm sure there's a good explanation"....stops car, opens passenger window...."Hey, buddy.  What's with the axe?"

Hitchhiker:  "It's a, uh, bottle opener."

M/d:  "Hop in!"

Another hitchhiker is spotted.

M/d:  "Look!  He's got Bud Light!"

Hitchhiker, from back seat:  "And a chainsaw....!"

I howled like a loon the first time I saw it and it still gives me the giggles.  The actors are perfect.  I love the female passenger and her intonation and facial expressions....they're just right, not overdone as could easily have happened.  That ad ought to be a shoo-in for an award at the ad agencies' version of the Oscars (Clio?).

According to Alex's blog, Beth and Hannah made it home safely!  

The flight went well, as even though it was close to full they were able to have a seat for Hannah, who sensibly napped for the first couple of hours.  Afterwards they watched Rocky Balboa and Happy Feet. 

Since it's night in Japan, they're undoubtedly zonked right now.  Hopefully Beth'll post something before too long.

Praise God for their safe travel to and from Texas. 

The Seventh Fleet Band played at the Curve Mall in Kuala Lumpur; here's a photo of said mall at Christmas, filched from Flickr:

You know, I realize it's foolish of me to think big shopping malls are the sole province of the USA, but I'm always surprised when someplace like Malaysia has a big mall like this.  Insular, that's me. 

Here's a couple of shots of the band playing:

And here's one of Alex performing (there isn't much need, really, for a tubist for a lot of the music they're playing, so he's their male vocalist, too):

Maybe he's on vacation, but I'm fearing not.

Another dear Xanga friend is Fortworthguy, aka: Tim.  His health has been, er, challenging and becoming more so, and I've learnt that when he doesn't post for a week or so, there's a strong chance it's because he's back in the hospital.

His last post was Thursday, Feb. 22. 

I'm not waiting to get official word....I'm going to be proactive and use as a working assumption that Tim's health has taken a downward turn yet again, so am moving him up to the top of the prayer list.

Please join me in praying for healing for Tim, and for his wife and daughter (whom he affectionately refers to as his "girlies".)

Don and I were watching a show about submarines on the History Channel, so forgot about the lunar eclipse until it was almost over.  Then I did manage to take some photos that showed promise, "protected" the ones I wanted to keep, then hit "erase all".

ALL the photos were erased, protected or not. 

Either that thing's messed up or, more likely, I didn't do it correctly.

Hurried to try again but the eclipse was fast retreating; this is the best I could manage:

Fortunately there's to be another lunar eclipse in August....I'll have another shot at it then.

Saturdays in March are popular days for birthday parties, judging by
Brianna's attendance at two in a row today.  This morning I collected
her and off we went to Carvel's Ice Cream & Bakery for Benjamin's
party...he's the one with his arm raised:

Matt pointing out a desirable element of whatever gift that was:

Here Brianna is on the right, hoping her gift finds favor:

It was one of those Air Rocket things, and the ooohs and aaahs reached a satisfying level.  ;^) 

Someone gave the gift of weaponry, which elicited heartfelt cries of admiration from the boys, particularly:

In the forefront is Bethany worrying one of her top front teeth; it was loose but hanging on with grim determination.  Virtually every photo of the present-opening includes her and her troublesome tooth.

Finally it was time for the goodie bags to be passed out:

Afterward, Matt tried to help encourage the tooth to give it up already:

WARNING:  BLOOD AND GORE AHEAD!

Still hanging on.  Tiresome tooth!  

Afterwards Brianna and I went to Kirstin's for a little bit, waiting till it was time for the next birthday party.  A very pleasant afternoon!

There's an eye-catching subject line, eh?  Certainly caught MY attention at Yahoo! News.  

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered
just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality
early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that
there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken
invasion.

"We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem," Daniel Reist told The Associated Press.

Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.

Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in
Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault
rifles but no ammunition. "It's not like they stormed over here with
attack helicopters or something," he said.

Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn't have an army.

Wouldn't you just hate to be the leader of those troops, marching 'em
around in the dark without a clue where you are, only to discover
you've left the country entirely and are in a neighboring nation?

"Um, I guess maybe we'd better retreat, guys."

Yeah, I guess maybe you'd better.  

Yesterday I wasn't on the computer much until early afternoon, and when I did get on and check email, mercy Maud...!  

There was a veritable plethora of emails from Beth, Alex, Beth's mother, and Beth's father, regarding Beth's and Hannah's failure to snag seats on the weekly MAC flight to Japan.  Beth was understandably agitated, wondering what does she do NOW?  There she is with Hannah in SEATAC airport and no flight back to Japan.  Buying tickets at the last minute like this is a pricey affair, indeed.

To make a long story short, she bought a ticket for a flight on Sunday (Hannah's just gonna have to sit on her lap for hours, is all), and was prepared to stay at a military base's lodge.  She'd been at the airport's USO, using their computer facilities, and after a couple of hours Alex (who missed a night's sleep due to anxiety over his wife and daughter's predicament, and being available for email communication) reported he'd received a cheerful email from Beth, saying that she'd made a friend while at the USO....a young woman named Brittany, who was there with her two children, one Hannah's age and a baby, and Brittany had kindly invited them for a visit to their home on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound; she'd make sure Beth and Hannah got back to SEATAC in time for their flight on Sunday.  Brittany's husband is also on a ship somewhere, so she'd taken the children down to California to visit her mother; they were hanging out at the USO while waiting for a shuttle bus to take them to the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island.

American military hospitality!  Gotta love it. 

Here's a coincidence: my friend, Kelly (aka: Badgermum), says Whidbey Island is where her husband, Mike, was born.

Small world!