Tom Clancy has passed, 1947 - 2013

Tom Clancy - April 12, 1947 - Oct 1, 2013. During middle school and high school my favorite author was Tom Clancy. I first read Red Storm Rising and then discovered the Jack Ryan series. I read them in chronological order, and then re-read them…and then again…and then again. As he grew older, he began to publish less frequently, but I looked forward to each one. By the mid-2000s I had resigned myself to his 'retirement' as he had mostly stopped writing. During many of the Jack Ryan books, Clancy used George Mason University, in Fairfax Virginia as a prop/reference in his books. I knew that Tom Clancy was active on newsgroups and had been for years, so using Google's newsgroup search, I found some posts from him and learned his email address was simply Tom@AOL.com. This didn't surprise me, because it was well known that Tom Clancy was a long time computer geek, having bought some of Apple's very first machines and being one of the first people to have Internet access. He was an early AOL customer. Why did I care about George Mason University? I was a student there. I wrote Tom asking him why he used GMU in his books - he told me that he lived not too far away, in Falls Church VA, and that he thought it was a good school. So why not? He went on to answer, at length, a few other questions I had for him and wished me luck. I wrote him back, thanking him. One of my favorite Clancy quotes: “Never ask what sort of computer a guy drives. If he’s a Mac user, he’ll tell you. If not, why embarrass him?” – Tom Clancy Rest in peace Tom.

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Tom Clancy in his home library.

Making Apple Butter

This past weekend, my family got together with some friends (and a ton of planning on the part of my Dad) and held our 2nd annual Apple Butter cooking day.

This year's stats:

• 17 bushels of Stayman Apples
• 75 lbs of sugar (25 lbs less than last year)
• 1 dram of clove oil
• 1.1 fl oz of cinnamon oil
• 1.1 oz of powdered nutmeg

The copper kettle in the photos is a 50 gallon kettle. We started peeling apples on Friday at 10:00 AM and were finished by 3:00 PM. We started the fire under the kettle around 5:30 AM Saturday morning, adding the first bushels of apples + some apple vinegar. The apples were then ground through the antique grinder you see in the photos and added to the kettle. By 9:00 AM we had all of the apples grinded and added to the pot. Around 3:00 PM in the afternoon we removed the fire from the kettle and began canning. Total 2013 yield: 143 quarts of Apple Butter or 35.75 gallons.

House Update: Electrical and Plumbing Edition

On our way to the breeder today, we stopped by the house.

Since the last update we now have:

• a sidewalk
• most of the electrical wiring is done
• HVAC venting is done
• AV/telecom wiring is done
• plumbing is done
• kitchen island reinforcement is done
• we have tubs!

Housman Puppy 2.0

You can thank Marco for that title. I finally relented and gave up my fight with Steff to get a second dog. Given that Bertie is very attached to a Cavalier that lives next door who he plays a lot with, and where we're moving to has hardly any neighboring dogs, Steff has wanted to get a 2nd puppy for some time now.

I figured that a second dog for Bertie to get used to and to play with would be good for him (and the new puppy). Steffanie found a breeder not far from the new house, so we drove down to Literally In The Middle of Nowhere, VA today to meet her and the puppy.

Here are the pictures:

The Parbuckling Project - Salvaging the Costa Concordia

From the website that has been setup to explain and document the project, as it progresses:

On April, 21st, 2012, Costa Crociere and the Costa Concordia Emergency Commissioner’s Office announced that the tender for the removal of the ship from Giglio Island has been awarded to Titan Salvage in partnership with the Italian firm Micoperi. The work begun in early May after final approval from the Italian authorities. The Concordia currently rests on its side on a downward sloping seabed, almost precariously balanced on the edge of a steep underwater hill. The 6 phase project involves building a scaffolding just below the Concordia, on the slope, that is anchored deep into the seabed. The Concordia will then be tiled upright again, so that it is resting on this new scaffolding. Once this is completed, cassions on the starboard side which will be used to re-float the ship. The site contains a plethora of 3D renderings of the phases of the project.