What To Say

I really like the idea of blogging, and I'd really like to get started again. There's only one problem: my life is pretty darn boring. So, I'm open for suggestions. What would you like to see on my blog?

Remembering September 11th, 2001

On Twitter today, someone asked:

"Remembering 9/11 today. Do you remember where you were?"

I responded back:

"Guam, Late. ODO for duty sect. Had 2 call whole dept back 2 ship"

The memories of that day just can't be described in 140 characters or less.

On September 11th, 2001, I was standing duty on the USS Frank Cable in Guam. We were in, I believe, twelve section duty at the time. That meant that everyone on the ship was broken into twelve sections, each section having to take their turn staying on the ship overnight (basically, had to be there for 24 hours). Twelve sections were nice, because that meant you only had duty once every twelve days. But, that also meant fewer people per duty section, and fewer people to stand watches. I was part of the Operations department. My job was actually taking care of the servers, and during duty days that meant running all of the backups. I, as an E5, was also the highest ranking enlisted member in Operations during my duty section, so I was the Operations Duty Officer. In addition to my normal duties I was in charge over everything in Operations at night after everyone had left for home, including running colors. Basically that meant I had make sure all of the flags were put up throughout the day, including playing the national anthem at dusk. If the Captain came on board, I'd have to run up and put his flag up, too. If he left, run up and take it down.

At 10:46 p.m. Guam time, I received a phone call from Radio asking me to come up right away. They had just gotten some alarming message traffic. I went up and we huddled over the terminal to read the messages that were coming in. We watched, horrified, as the messages changed from one plane hitting the World Trade center accidentally, to another plane hitting and it being quite obvious that this was no accident. My first thought was, "Someone just declared war on us."

I immediately called the Operations Officer at home and explained the situation. He directed me to begin recalling our entire department. He would be calling the Captain. Right after I got off the phone with him, Radio called me back to let me know that the television news (that we got piped in from California) was showing it at that very moment. I turned on the television in my office, but didn't get more than a 5 second look at it, as I had a job to do.

I have to admit that the next person I called wasn't even in my department. It was my then-boyfriend (now-husband). He was at home, asleep. I woke him and said simply, "You have two choices. You can go back to sleep and wait for another phone call later on from someone in your department, or you can turn on your television." I then hung up and began making my phone calls. I wasn't surprised to discover that several people weren't home, as they were already on their way back to the ship, having seen the news.

We moved to 3 section duty after that, and stayed that way until I left the Navy in May of 2002.

Shoes for Sara

I finally found a crochet shoe pattern that was close to Sara's size, and I finished making them the other day. I made some changes to the pattern, such as less stitches and felting, but I think they came out pretty great. I'm thinking about felting them a bit more in the sole, just so they'll hold up a bit better when she walks around outside.

Pattern on Crochetville Forums

Nose Bleed

Soli got a nose bleed last night. Apparently she had one the night before, but it wasn't very bad. This one was bad enough that it caused blood to go down the back of her throat. She was so scared, and started to panic a little. I calmed her down pretty well, while trying not to panic myself! It's always hard to see any of your children suffer, I can't imagine the pain a parent of a terminally ill child goes through.

Where have I been?

You may have noticed that aside from that one post where I was trying to win some diapers, I haven't been around in a while. I'm still posting interesting news articles I've read, but I've been doing it through Twitter instead of here. I really want to start posting here again, but bring it back to a "my thoughts, for what they are worth" blog instead of a "regergitation of what others think" blog. The problem is, I don't really have anything interesting to say, at least not at convenient times. I think of plenty while I'm driving my car for instance, but due to my complete lack of wanting to die in a horrible car accident, I don't write anything down then. Also, since my memory is pretty lacking right now, I forget anything witty I had to say as soon as I get where I was going. So, if you really miss me, feel free to follow me on Twitter, otherwise, I promise I'll think really hard about ways to post more to this blog... in my car.

AppleCheeks diapers and Giveaway

Here's a giveaway for some AppleCheeks diapers. They are so cute, don't you think?

*just a couple of my favorite colors out of the many they offer!

Alarm Clock by Tarry91 Manages Multiple Timers

Windows only: Alarm Clock by Tarry91 is a compact (if lengthily named) portable alarm manager and timer. Packed with features, it can help you with everything from tea brewing to early rising.

Alarms and timers can be extremely useful, in more ways than one might expect. We've encouraged you to use a timer for everything from getting stuff done to avoiding repetitive stress injuries and brewing perfect tea. Alarm Clock by Tarry91 supports an unlimited number of events, and allows for every-x-minutes, daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly alarms to be set. Various actions can be set up to occur upon the alarm event, including MP3 or video playback, opening a specified file, and system shutdown, hibernation, or logging off the current user. The application resides in the system tray and has a quick event menu, accessible by right clicking on the tray icon, to add countdowns in commonly used blocks of time like fifteen and thirty minutes.

Alarm Clock by Tarry91 is freeware, Windows only.

http://lifehacker.com/5153602/alarm-clock-by-tarry91-manages-multiple-timers
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This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

VideoCacheView Finds Flash Videos in Your Browser Cache

Browser cache locating utility VideoCacheView searches through your browser cache for already-watched videos--so you can copy them to your videos folder.

Using the utility is simple--just launch the application and wait while it searches through the cache for each of your browsers (even Chrome!), and then either play the file or save it for later. Using the play function requires a media player that can play Flash files like the previously mentioned Gom Player--or you can convert the file to a more compatible format using any number of tools.

VideoCacheView is a free download from NirSoft, works on Windows only. While there are any number of ways to download a YouTube video (like Lifehacker's own Better YouTube extension), this utility could come in handy for saving videos from other sites.

http://lifehacker.com/5153265/videocacheview-finds-flash-videos-in-your-browser-cache
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This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

WinBubble Customizes Vista Icons and Context Menus With Ease

Windows Vista only: System tweaking application WinBubble is one of those gems with a killer feature you wouldn't expect--you can add items to context menus and customize certain system icons.

WinBubble is very similar to most tweaking applications--including previously mentioned Ultimate Windows Tweaker--but the best features can be found on the Icons and Miscellaneous tabs, where you can customize certain system icons and add your own custom menu entries to the system context menus. Ever wanted to quickly add a new tool to the desktop context menu? No problem! This feature alone makes this no-installation-required software a great addition to your flash drive toolkit, and worth a look for anybody looking to customize their desktop.

WinBubble is a free download for Windows Vista. For more desktop customizing goodness, check out any one of our featured desktops. Thanks, austin316gb!

http://lifehacker.com/5152407/winbubble-customizes-vista-icons-and-context-menus-with-ease
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This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com

Moonlight 1.0 Gives Linux Users Silverlight 1.0 Compatability

Linux users running into the web's brick walls of "This site requires Microsoft Silverlight," rejoice. The Moonlight team has brought Silverlight compatibility to Firefox browsers on Linux systems.

Moonlight installs like any other Firefox extension. Once it's installed, you should be ready to use any site or webapp that requires Silverlight 1.0; 2.0 access is, hopefully, coming up soon. You should also be able to work inside Silverlight apps with traditionally Windows-based media codecs, another compatibility bonus.

http://lifehacker.com/5152266/moonlight-10-gives-linux-users-silverlight-10-compatability
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This article was sent using my Viigo.
For a free download, go to http://getviigo.com