The in-laws crack the mainstream media!

Actually it's my brother's in-laws, but anyway, they were recently recognized by the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Cobb couple showing soldiers they care

Mary and Ed Ettel spend most weekends in their basement creating care packages for troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Kosovo/Serbia. In 16 months, they have mailed 376 boxes weighing 5,723 pounds and helping 6,365 service members.

The east Cobb couple and about a dozen volunteers packed 16 boxes Saturday with snacks and hygiene items. During summer mailings, they add baby wipes, salty snacks and water bottles. They also put in Beanie Babies, candy and sometimes soccer balls for soldiers to give to the children they meet.

The Ettels get requests for items through a program called AnySoldier.com. Soldiers post items they need on the Web site and volunteers kick into action.
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How cool!

IQ and birth order

An interesting story on IQ and birth order appeared in the New York Times recently. It makes sense, and jibes with my experience. Money grafs:

The average difference in I.Q. was slight — three points higher in the eldest child than in the closest sibling — but significant, the researchers said. And they said the results made it clear that it was due to family dynamics, not to biological factors like prenatal environment.
...

“Like Darwin’s finches, they are eking out alternative ways of deriving the maximum benefit out of the environment, and not directly competing for the same resources as the eldest,” Dr. Sulloway said. “They are developing diverse interests and expertise that the I.Q. tests do not measure.”

This kind of experimentation might explain evidence that younger siblings often live more adventurous lives than their older brother or sister. They are more likely to participate in dangerous sports than eldest children, and more likely to travel to exotic places, studies find. They tend to be less conventional than firstborns, and some of the most provocative and influential figures in science spent their childhoods in the shadow of an older brother or sister (or two or three or four).

Interesting stuff. The older sibling is the best situated to take advantage of the existing structure, so they take advantage of that, and the younger sibling is shielded from the consequences of risk taking, so they consume more of it.

The headstone is in

I got back yesterday from the headstone commemoration ceremony. It was good to see everyone, and the headstone is very nice. The stone from the military (featured below) was a pleasant surprise.

Sad reminders of things gone.

Random photo

From the recent trip.

Back from the old country

I'm back, photos to come.

I blog from the old country

I finally make it up to Kentucky, after a detour into the ugly side of Chattanooga. Surprisingly there was very little Bonaroo traffic.

New photo gallery

Sunday night in Alpharetta

Friday night in Alpharetta

At long last, a new gallery, with photos made with the new flash, the one below is my new favorite self portrait.

Hearth, home, etc.

Deepthink of the moment

From the ever interesting Jane Galt about child rearing and careers

I'm not sure. If childrearing is a) necessary and b) as tedious as everyone assures me, then it strikes me that whatever feminine thrill women get out of doing it probably increases the happiness associated with the activity. And, based only on my own previous relationship experience, I'd imagine that socialization which reduces the number of areas that have to be negotiated probably, on net, makes marriages happier.

That would go a long way to explaining why opposites attract, if in fact they do.

Gone for a while

I'll be out of town for a few days....

Family photos

Photos all posted. They're in the family account on Flickr.

Uploading the photos finally

To the great delight of the massed family I have processed the photos from the family reunion and am currently uploading them.

Initial reunion photos

Mother's Day 2006

I went to the cemetery for the first time in a couple years today. It was a busy day for that sort of thing (as one would think). Everything is pretty much the same; it's still a tranquil place. To think, it's been almost seven years, it's staggering really.

Yet another good one from Jane Galt

It's about conflict between working and stay at home moms. It goes into it in ways I've never thought of before.

Back in Louisville

The lucky silver dollar.

A long post about my grandfather will be up soon.

Sad

Here's the obit.

Blogging will be light the next few days

I'm off the old country tommorow, I'm not sure when I'll return.

I'm back

No photos, I got my first speeding ticket in 10 years though.

Blogging will be light the next few days

As I visit the old country. Photos to come.

Time between

It just occurred to me that the notion of Christmas is always better retrospectively than prospectively. That is to say thoughts of Christmas future pale in comparison to memories of Christmas past.

I wonder why.

Reunion photos are up

One the whole I think they turned out fair. There were about 35 photos (mostly from the reunion but a few from the day before) that turned out very poorly due to my mistakes with the Auto Exposure Lock (AEL) feature of the camera. I need to read up a bit on how to use that.

Most of the AEL problems occurred when I was trying to photograph people in the shade while still capturing a lot of the sunny landscape. I deleted the over/under exposed photos from the gallery. Very little retouching has been done to the photos.

When viewing the gallery please note that clicking the main/large image will take you to the next image in the series.

With no further ado

The 2005 Johns Family reunion

I'm back

Expect mucho photography to come.

Back in a bit

I'm off to the old country. Expect lots of photos.

Update: I've added word verification for commenting. Everyone keep following the saga of DirectNic vs Katrina.

And before you complain about "gouging" please read this post from Jane Galt..

Coolness

I find it really cool that my grandfather has his own letterhead and envelopes.

A day behind on the blogging

I'm almost caught up on the blogging, now. I went twice around Stone Mountain yesterday with Mike and Erin (happy birthday Erin!) and afterwards we had German good with Mary and Ed.

Then I fell asleep incredibly early for me (around midnight). When I woke up at 5:50 this morning I thought I'd slept through to the next night.

Had dinner with Mike and Erin

At what they called Uncle Julio's, but to me it will always be Casa Grande. It's a lovely little Mexican place on Peachtree that I ate at many times when I worked at Bridge. It would seem the I need to elaborate on why the defensive style of Pernell Whittaker is important.

It was a lovely dinner, someone has torn down the old apartment building next door to the restaurant and left only this gateway.



I wish I had a better camera so I could go back later and take some good shots of it, but I guess that will have to wait until later in the year.

Things that annoy me, part million and four

The headline "Jane Fonda Film Banned From KY. Theaters" caught my eye immediately, and I started wondering if some combination of veterans and film critics had seized power in a subtle coup in order to have the power to ban a movie.

I then read the article and I find that a theater owner isn't showing the movie. Some ban. Why won't newspapers let words mean what they're supposed to? I suppose I've blacklisted the movie by not seeing it. It being a small world, all of this happened in Elizabethtown (near Fort Knox), ancestral home of the French clan.

Full Article Here