Goodbye, Grandpa

It has been a very busy few weeks since I last wrote, but I'll mention a few of the big events.

First, I'm sad to report that my Grandpa Doug passed away yesterday. He fell ill a few weeks ago, and went to a hospital. A CAT scan showed a mass in his lungs that was likely cancerous, but he declined to have it biopsied. If it were cancer, the act of surgically getting a sample would likely have sped the cancer's growth. Instead, Grandpa decided to let nature take its course, and come what may. He passed away peacefully in the hospital, and is out of his pain now. He was a Vietnam veteran, and was never ashamed of who he was, never let people's opinions define his self-worth. He will be missed.

In other news, I've left my job with Transportation Services to try and find more fertile ground. TS has always been good to me, but many things contributed to my decision to leave. I was getting tired of working odd hours, early mornings, late evenings, starting and ending in different places, and the other realities of working in the transit industry. Also, it's time to start looking into internships and other programming opportunities. I need to build my skills and my résumé. I have some opportunities on the horizon, so we'll see what pans out.

One other exciting event was Veterans Day last week. I decided to have a late lunch and take up Applebees' offer of a free entrée. There were a lot of veterans there. While I was being seated, another gentleman was being seated near me, and the hostess suggested that we might eat together. It turns out he was drafted during the Vietnam era, went to Signal School at Ft. Gordon (as I did), and was lucky enough to be assigned to South Korea. While he was there, he was overheard by chance playing a piano, and was eventually picked up for a chorus that was performing throughout South Korea. That happy chance influenced him to change directions in grad school when he got home. He became a faculty member in the CU School of Music, and just recently retired. It was a great meal, and it was a lot of fun to converse with him. I hope I get the chance to do something like that again. Maybe this is why people join veteran's organizations...

Energy drink video from Iraq posted

More to follow, but here's a video from Iraq that I just uploaded:

Fun times.