All posts by Jim Trottier

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King Kong – The Movie, The Puzzle, and The Obsession

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Kevin and I went to see King Kong on New Year’s Day. It was surprisingly uncrowded. It was showing on 2 screens though, which probably evened out the numbers. I thought it was a great movie–excellent special effects, well-told, and a very cool period piece. It was amazing to see how they recreated New York City from the 1930’s…and then to watch King Kong totally demolish it near the end of the picture!

I’ve heard people say that it was too long, running around 180 minutes. But Kevin and I really didn’t notice. I would have expected him to get bored or fall asleep at some point if he didn’t like it in some way, but he was glued to it the whole time. There was a bit of a slow part as the movie started, which may have been why he stayed alert. He was waiting in anticipation of seeing the dinosaurs and King Kong, so he stayed patient and waited through it. He wasn’t disappointed either. There were plenty of dinosaurs and lots of King Kong scenes to keep him amazed. I even caught him covering his eyes during a couple parts that were a bit gruesome. Overall he loved it though, and had a great time.

Today he even rented the 1976 version of King Kong and watched it in the car on our trip to Union Grove, so he’s still on his ‘Kong Kick’. He also had just finished assembling his King Kong jigsaw puzzle the night before seeing the movie, so he was really excited to finally get to see King Kong “for real.” That’s Kevin’s pattern though–he’ll find a particular movie or subject that interests him and just dive into it for days studying every aspect of it, learning all he can from it, watching every movie he can about it, etc. I think it says a lot about him, and hopefully it’ll serve him well in the future.  I think I’ll be starting another obsession of my own real soon–A couple of Simpsons Photomosaics should be at my door in a few days…uhoh.

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Photo Mosaics

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Ever since I created that Christmas Calendar Cover Page that I mentioned earlier (and put in the downloads section) I have been seeing “photo mosaics” everywhere.  Photo Mosaics are large photographs that–when viewed up close–consist of hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of smaller images arranged by overall shade and color to represent a “pixel” in the large photo.  If you squint or view the large image from afar, it looks like a normal photograph, but the closer you get the more detail you can see in the hundreds of tinier images.  I saw a large poster of a president at Kevin’s school that was a photomosaic, and when Christmas shopping I also saw a photomosaic jigsaw puzzle from Disney which consisted of a large cel from a Disney cartoon, and all of the smaller images were each inividual frames from other Disney movies–over 1,000 cels in all.  It’s fascinating to me.

So over the last few days I’ve been researching and trying out the free programs that create these Photomosaic images.  I tried several shareware programs, none of which gave me the kind of resolution I’d like in their “free” versions.  If you pay for the “full” or “professional” version of the program you presumably get the high-resolution mosaics that I was looking for.  Sometimes, depending on the program, this could be $25, or $50, sometimes even $100 or more for the “full” version.  That is, until I found a program called “Centarsia.”  Centarsia is a freeware mosaic program that does exactly what I want it to, nothing more, nothing less.  A lot of the other programs had many more features, but as I said, you have to pay for them to get all of the features (and the high-resolution mosaics).  This one appears to have been originally written to be a commerical application (there’s even a “Pricing” link on the website), but when you click on it it tells you it’s a free program, and then gives you a username (“webuser”) and a serial number (“09765-44986-1205716296”) to enter into the program to “register” it.  This is important information too, because just like the other programs, without “registering” it you’re limited to low-resolution mosaics. Once registered with this generic user info though, it works great and you can have unlimited mosaics with unlimited photo “block” images for it to choose its “pixels” from.

So far I’ve created only one big mosaic.  They take a while to create, since they access so many different photographs to compose an image, but it’s pretty fun to watch as it progresses.  Keep in mind, if you try this yourself, that you need a pretty wide variety of images for it to choose from to make halfway decent mosaics.  For my first one, which you can view with the link below, I used over 4,000 photos consisting of every digital photo I took in 2005.  I found a decent online “viewer” for them too, so this should make it pretty easy for you to get a good idea of exactly what a photomosaic is, in case you haven’t heard of them before.  Click here to take a look (or click on the thumbnail above).  Use the “+” and “-” controls at the bottom of the image to zoom in and out.  Once you zoom in all the way, drag the image around and look at all the photos close-up.  Let me know what you think.  Remember, it’s only my first attempt.

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Christmas Highlights

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Our Christmas section for 2005 is now complete.  I added a bunch of highlight photos this morning.  We took a ton of them though, so I only posted a few.  Click on the thumbnail to view them.

Interesting highlights from this year included:

  • The puzzle Matt had to solve to get his gift card.  It’s called Bilz Obstacle, and Ginger got it for Matt to make his gift more than just a “get and forget” gift card.  It worked well, and actually took Matt a little while to solve.
  • Nice to see everyone in the family “going digital” (Beth and George) – Except old-fashioned Penny.
  • Kevin loves his new Roboraptor and Mini Roboraptor.

The Bears/Packers rivalry was in full swing this Christmas, even more so because the rivalry game itself was played on Christmas.  Yes, we watched it, and Sandy managed to plan the festivities around it pretty well so as not to force anyone to have to leave early.  There’s a really interesting mix of Packers and Bears fans in the family, so things get quite amusing to say the least.  I’m neutral, but Sandy’s a Packers fan.  The Bears won this one, but she wasn’t too disappointed.  Christmas turned out being pretty good, and that’s what really mattered.

Socks also got along very well with all of our guests, which was a surprise.  We thought we’d have trouble with him, especially after the way he acted when I tried to bring him over to my dad’s a few weeks ago to play with Tiny.  He was constantly agressive and kept trying to attack Tiny.  I ended up bring him back home and going back alone.  He was a bit nervous each time a new guest arrived on Christmas, but he came around quickly and cozied up to each of them for some petting a little while after each of them arrived.

Overall it was a very nice Christmas!

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Goodbye Peanut

We have been struggling for a couple years with problems with Peanut, our tan chihuahua. As you’ve probably read in a couple previous articles, we’ve been through a lot with him, including having him get lost in a strange neighborhood for a few days in the freezing cold. Well, our problems began after that incident in the cold, and they never really improved after stuggling day after day to try to get him to behave properly (he always hated Sandy, growling and snapping whenever she got close to him or he to her) and he continued to pee and mark everything in the house even after being fixed, training with training pads, using “Stay-Off” spray, and everything else we could think of.

As a result of his continued “marking” issues, we’re pretty sure this is what caused my leg infection twice, both of which were very serious, extremely painful, and costly in both lost work time and medical fees. The leg infections cleared up, but I recently got an arm infection that no one can explain, so we’re assuming it is somehow connected with the previous leg infections. Anyway, we had been seriously considering our options for Peanut for the past few weeks, and thought it would be better for him in a new home. He just doesn’t–and isn’t ever–going to get along with us and learn to behave properly. We also have Socks, our black and white chihuahua, and he is the total opposite of Peanut. He has learned to tell us when he needs to go outside, in emergencies he uses his pad to do his business, and he’s very friendly to the entire family. Neighbors and outside family members are another story, but that’s just a chihuahua trait in general.

So before doing anything else with Peanut, we called our good friends who gave him to us originally, who still owns Peanut’s father, mother, and even a sibling. They agreed to take him back, which was a tremendous relief for us. It’s bad enough having to give up a pet you’ve been with for years, but at least we know he’s with a good family, and has other playmates to live with. They picked him up last night, so he’s gone now. Socks is adjusting already. He’ll get all of our attention, just like he’s always wanted, so he’ll be fine.

We just felt we couldn’t afford to have any more of my infection problems, and thought we needed to do something before anything else was destroyed in the house. He has wrecked numerous CDs, DVDs, boxes, shoes, and basically everything we’ve left on or near floor level. He would even get so angry whenever one of us left the house that, after attacking the door we walked out of, he would run around and pee on two or three things. Yes, we had already previously tried to bring him outside at these points, when we could, but it didn’t help the situation at all. And even when we crated both dogs each time all of us left the house, Socks would go willingly into his cage, sit down and be calm, while Peanut would throw a tantrum, snap, growl, and bark, while we nudged him into his cage and locked it. Even after years of this he never came around and grew into the routine.

So he’s gone now, but he’s still in town and we can visit him and his family whenever we want, so we’ll see what happens. We’re hoping he adjusts and does well in his new environment.  You can see more photos of Peanut if you’d like by clicking on the thumbnail.  That will take you to Peanut’s Photo Album.

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A new Incredimail complaint

I did a lot of research in the last few days, and boy am I ticked off now–once again. Many of you might recall my previous complaints about Incredimail. If not, click here to catch up. Yes, Incredimail took content that was free before and put a price tag on it, even for the faithful users who bought their program. I feel that this was wrong, and to get right to the point, they’ve done it AGAIN very recently. Remember their Junk Mail filtering feature built into Incredimail? Well, I just learned that they removed it and now call it “Junk Filter Plus” and charge a fee for it. And on top of that, it’s an ANNUAL fee!! This is horrible, and certainly tells you what you can expect from them. It’s all about the money. Gotta keep the machine running. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point in the near future we see a “PLATINUM” gallery appear, which would contain content even BETTER than their “Gold Content” and cost yet another–completely separate–fee, most likely annual.

That’s not all though–they’ve done one more thing that really sucks. They wrote an “Outlook Addon” for Incredimail some time ago, over a year ago. This add-on is really the only reason I still used Incredimail. I use Outlook for my e-mail, so I get the huge benefits of all of Outlook’s features (contact management, excellent calendaring, sophisticated e-mail features, etc.) yet I can still use Incredimail stationery, animations, e-cards, etc., when I want, at the click of a button.

So, when I thought about it I began to wonder if there have been any updates to the Incredimail Outlook Add-on. I went to Incredimail’s site and was shocked to find no mention of it whatsoever! It’s been completely removed from their site, and even all of the links right from the Outlook Addon itself that go to Incredimail’s site–like Help, Tips, and FAQ’s–give me an error! The pages don’t exist at all any more! So my fear was that they discontinued this product because people using it don’t constantly see the annoying  “Junk Filter Plus” folder that nags you to buy it every time you click on it.

In an initial attempt to try to determine what they’re doing, I sent a VIP support message to them and told them I use the Outlook Add-on and I reformatted my PC and reinstalled everything, but I don’t have a copy of the Addon any more, so I need to reinstall it. I asked them where I can get it because I can’t find it on their site any more. Here’s the response I got:

Hello, I apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced, however we no longer provide support for IncrediMail for Office Outlook Add-On and it is no longer available for download.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Best regards,
Ronen
IncrediMail Support

This was an annoying short response to my request, and since Ronen told me to let him know if I have any more questions, I replied with a few more:

Ronen,

Yes, actually I do have more questions. First of all, the only reason I still used Incredimail’s content and features is because of the Outlook Add-On. I was never happy with the Incredimail Program itself, it was too feature-limited for my needs. Outlook 2003 has everything I need, and with the Incredimail Add-On for it I was very happy. My next question is therefore: Has another company taken over support and development of the Add-On, or has it been scrapped altogether?

Another question I have is why? Why would you abandon an entire group of Incredimail users like this by dropping a very useful program like this?

Lastly, I just wanted to comment on the growing trend I have seen with Incredimail over the years that saddens me. I have used Incredimail from the beginning when I bought the Premium version of the program and enjoyed the entire Gallery and the “Download Entire Album” feature and many other advantages. Then I was disappointed to see a lot of that content literally taken away from me when you add the “Gold Gallery” feature. A lot of the the previously-free content was now in the Gold Gallery and inaccessible to me. I watched for months and months as the gold gallery grew, and eventually I took the plunge and purchased a lifetime membership. During this same period you developed the nice Junkmail filtering features into Incredimail, and I was sure glad I had the premium version so I could reap the benefits of it. Then it happened again–The Junkmail features were mysteriously taken away from me in one update and now you wanted more money–this time ANNUALLY–to provide features that were previously included in the Premium version I paid for!! Then this last problem with you dumping the Outlook Add-On completely–I just can’t figure out how your company can stay in business this way. You seem to constantly disappoint your loyal, paying customers, continuously asking for more and more money as you take away more and more features. It’s like you’re holding features of your own software and gallery hostage. I just don’t get it. I can see a company needing a decent regular inflow of cash, but at what point is enough enough? When does the greed stop and Customer Support begin?? I, for one, am probably done with Incredimail now, after having purchased the Premium & Letter Creator Bundle and the Lifetime Gold License. What a waste. But I won’t give up Outlook 2003 and go back to using the limited Incredimail program. If the add-on isn’t available anywhere else I will be looking to other options for HTML e-mail creation, stationery, and notifiers.

So when can we expect the “Platinum Gallery” to be unveiled? I guess it will have even better quality letters, notifiers and skins…? But at what price?

–Jim T

I don’t expect a satisfactory response to my questions, if I get anything at all, but I’ll be sure to post any response I get. So I’m beginning to look at alternatives once again, only this time there’s a difference. I’m still using Outlook for my e-mail, contacts, appointments, calendar, etc., so that won’t change. It’s an excellent program with tons of features. Microsoft–And every other respectable software company I’ve seen before–Doesn’t have a policy of routinely removing program features and content and charging a fee for them, so I don’t think I have to worry about losing features in Outlook that I value, so I’ll stick with it. I would just like to find a source for nice, quality stationery. I’m open to suggestions.

Update: 12/13/05 – I received two e-mails from Ronen this morning.  Here’s the first one:

In regards to the IncrediMail for Office – Outlook Add-on, is was not taken by another company, at the moment, we no longer provide support for this product and therefore, it is no longer available for download. We may consider adding it again in the future. Thank you for your feedback. We are always happy to receive suggestions that may help us improve IncrediMail and our service.

Best regards,
Ronen
IncrediMail Support

And the second one:

Hello,

I would like to apologize for the inconvenience that you experienced.

I understand your point of view and your claim that when you first downloaded and began to use IncrediMail, JunkFilter was available to all users free of charge.

The basic JunkFilter was previously available to all IncrediMail users, be it IncrediMail Premium members or users of the free version. This should clarify that the basic JunkFilter was not a part of any IncrediMail package previously offered – it was offered to all our users for free.

Please keep in mind that the basic JunkFilter that you previously enjoyed is no longer available. We have replaced the basic JunkFilter with an improved and much more powerful anti-spam tool – the JunkFilter Plus.

Since JunkFilter Plus is a major upgrade to the basic JunkFilter that was previously offered, it is subscription-based. It is important for me to re-emphasize and for you to recognize that the JunkFilter was not part of the Premium package that you purchased.

We certainly did not remove ANY features that were and still are a part of the Premium package that our users purchased. I hope you can recognize that new offerings simply cannot be included as added features in packages that our users purchased in the past.

As an IncrediMail Premium user, it is important for me that you remain a satisfied user, and I would therefore like to offer you a $20 discount coupon for the first year of the JunkFilter Plus yearly subscription. Let me know if you wish to take advantage of this offer and I will send you a coupon.

Best regards,
Ronen
IncrediMail Support

So basically he told me everything I already knew, and I knew the JunkFilter was part of the basic Incredimail program as well as the Premium, but it was still removed!  They DID remove features, but they’d rather talk their way around it by telling us we didn’t pay for them.  But if JunkFilter Plus is so much better than JunkFilter, why did they even HAVE to remove JunkFilter?  Why leave all of your existing users totally unprotected when you once helped them control their JunkMail, even if only a little bit?  It just doesn’t seem right to me.

The discount offer was pretty much what I expected.  If it gets me into their annual subscription system, sure, why wouldn’t they give me money off up-front?

Well, I’ve had it.  I am finally throwing in the towel and giving up.  There are no refunds on their Premium program or Gold Gallery, and I have Lifetime Licenses for both, so I’m out the money, but it was a lesson well learned.

All I can say is “More Power To Open Source!”  And I hope to see an awesome program of this nature in the future.  Thunderbird is sure a far-superior open-source e-mail client already, and it’s been out for quite some time.  It just needs more add-ons to offer templating abilities similar too (and hopefully much better) than Incredimail does.

I hope this posting helps others in some small way, whether you’re searching for a nice e-mail client, having your own troubles with Incedimail, or just looking for something better.  Learn from my mistakes.

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Christmas Tree Lighting

We attended Kenosha’s Christmas Tree Lighting tonight at the Museum.  The weather was pretty rough though–blizzard conditions!  Kevin, Matt and I toughed it out though, and sat in the cold on a bench in front of the tree outside the museum for about 45 minutes for the ceremony.  I took a few photos, and Matt even managed to capture the entire audio of the ceremony with my Olympus DS-2 Digital Recorder.  Thanks, Matt!

Kevin froze most of the time, and got mad when I called him Rudolph because he had a red nose.  He just kept asking to go home.  I kept reminding him that it wouldn’t be long and that we’d go to Christmas Lane and see the Christmas Train afterward, but he said he just wanted to go home.  After the ceremony we warmed up in the car, got nice and toasty and we headed over to Christmas Lane feeling much better.  Matt took some more photos and Kevin talked to Santa and got a couple of gifts from him at the Christmas Train House.  They even served cookies, treats and popcorn!  We stood around a fire pit they had set up and kept warm while we drank hot cider, hot chocolate, and had a few snacks.  It was a very nice evening all around and we had a nice, Christmastime night, even if it was a bit early.

Click here for the audio from the Tree Lighting Ceremony, and click here for the photos we took.  And as an added bonus, click here for an awesome display now showing at the museum:  David Valentine Holmes: The Mystical Mechanical Menagerie.  When viewing the images in this gallery, be sure to view them FULL SIZE.  The detail is amazing on all of them, and I left the original images quite large to show the detail.

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Armageddon Better!

My arm feels pretty good now.  I saw the doctor yesterday, and he drained it, cleaned it up and re-dressed it and had me make another appointment in a week, but said I could cancel it if keeps getting better.  I sure wish I had known I could have gotten better this quickly before I went through the whole 2-day hospital stay with all the IV’s.

Anyway, there was an inch of snow on the ground this morning, but it melted by late afternoon.  And it’s supposed to be in the 50’s tomorrow, so we’re going to have a heat wave!  Kevin and I ran a few errands today and tried to stop at Menards because I needed a few things.  I circled the parking lot twice and couldn’t find a single open spot, so we gave up and went home.  Sheesh, how do they manage to get everyone to shop on the same day every year?  Aren’t there many people out there like me, who hate the long lines enough to try to avoid any kind on shopping on Thanksgiving weekend?  Are the sales just that good??  And who are these people that actually GET any of the items on sale??  I gave it one chance–Yesterday I tried to pick up one big-ticket Christmas gift at Target.  I got there early in the morning, actually found a parking spot, and wedged my way through the crowds to the proper department.  When I finally got some help I was told that they sold out of the item just after opening the store.  I should have known.  I went home and that was it for me.

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Thanksgiving

This year has been a real roller coaster for me. I’ve lost what I thought was a stable job, was on unemployment for a while, and then ended up getting a great job as a PC Tech at a big hospital, then losing THAT job after three months. Both terminations were totally unexpected, of no fault of my own, and were both due to cutbacks and “downsizing.”

In addition to that, I’ve suffered another battle with a leg infection, which I had just recently won. But alas, a totally new infection has attacked my left arm, throwing me back into the same world of pain, hospitalization, doctor appointments, and antibiotics, both oral and intravenous. This time, however, I had to see a specialist (today), and he had to go in and dig out a hunk of infection from my arm (sorry to those who might be squeamish). It feels a bit better already though, and he said without cleaning it out I would have went through a never-ending series of IV antibiotics only to have the infection return again over and over.

So here I am, unemployed and in a great deal of pain, with the holidays fast approaching. Thanksgiving is tomorrow (actually it’s today, since it is now after midnight) and I’m just hoping that all of the tryptophan I consume tomorrow will help to ease the pain in my arm a little. But I’ll be fine though. I’m alive. And Thankful. For many things. And just to remind everyone of what the season’s all about, I’d like to post the lyrics to a Christmas song that came out a few years ago, which I really like:

The Christmas Shoes

It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line
Tryin’ to buy that last gift or two, not really in the Christmas mood
Standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing ’round like little boys do And in his hands he held a pair of shoes

His clothes were worn and old, he was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay I couldn’t believe what I heard him say
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It’s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size

Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there’s not much time
You see she’s been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight

He counted pennies for what seemed like years
Then the cashier said, “Son, there’s not enough here”
He searched his pockets frantically Then he turned and he looked at me
He said Mama made Christmas good at our house
Though most years she just did without
Tell me Sir, what am I going to do,
Somehow I’ve got to buy her these Christmas shoes

So I laid the money down, I just had to help him out
I’ll never forget the look on his face when he said Mama’s gonna look so great
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It’s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size

Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there’s not much time
You see she’s been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight

I knew I’d caught a glimpse of heaven’s love
As he thanked me and ran out
I knew that God had sent that little boy
To remind me just what Christmas is all about

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Bad move for Sony

I’m sure by now everyone is aware of the whole uproar about Sony’s automatic installation of a “rootkit” on your PC when you insert one of their music CDs into your PC’s CD-ROM drive.  But let’s assume you’ve been under a rock for the past few weeks.  This new “feature” of Sony BMG’s music CDs basically installs an autoloading program on your computer that notes whenever you play one of their Cds and “phones home” that information to a Sony server.  It does other things as well, and has the potential to do much more, all at Sony’s will.

As expected, the discovery of this has caused an uproar of huge proportions.   The best article I’ve read on the issue so far is actually an Open Letter to Sony BMG from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  Click here to give it a read.  I’m very curious how much of this Sony will actually implement.

As for me, I’m very disappointed with Sony.  And I’m a big fan of theirs.  I’ve had a Sony Vaio PC for a few years now, and it’s the most reliable PC I’ve ever owned–I haven’t had a single problem with it.  I also have a Sony DSC-P90 Digital Camera that I love, which I’ve also had for a few years without any problems.  I know there’s little connection between the different divisions of Sony, but it’s still a brand name and I’m sorry to see the name tarnished this way.  Hopefully they’ll see the light quickly and come to their senses.

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Kemper Haunted House

We went to the Kemper Haunted House tonight. We haven’t done much of anything this year for the Halloween season because Sandy and I have both been so busy with our jobs, helping my dad, and my leg problems, and I just felt like doing something fun with Kevin. So Sandy and I took him to a haunted house. It was pretty neat, except Kevin never made it further than the front door.

We assured him over and over before we even left the house and when we got there that none of it was real, there’s no real monsters and it’s all for fun, and he seemed to accept it very well. From just after we got out of the car though, things changed. If you haven’t been there before, The Kemper Center seems to be the perfect place for a haunted house. It’s a very very old structure, several floors, lots of trees around it, and it’s just perfect for a scary setting at night. So when we got out of the car, we immediately noticed darkly dressed people wandering slowly through the parking lot, lawn, and all around the area. They would even walk up to you (or SNEAK up to you, if they could) and just stand perfectly silent and stare. They were usually dressed all in black, and most of them were covered in blood and injuries. One that stood out quite well still had a huge chunk of glass sticking out of his face. I figured he was an auto accident victim. Nice effect.  The top floor of the building had flashing strobes in most of the rooms, and when they flashed you could make out figures in the rooms and windows.

From this point on, Kevin was very nervous, requiring us to hold his hand the entire time. We bought our tickets and got in line. The line formed between two buildings, lined appropriately with tombstones, lots of fog, and the walking dead. They’d stand with you in line and stare just to be intimidating. Kevin was thoroughly spooked. There was even a young girl, she seemed about Kevin’s age, who appeared to be walking dead, holding a teddy bear and just standing in the fog where it came out of the ground, near a couple of tiki torches lining the entrance. By the time we got through the line and up to the entrance Kevin was freaked. We were greeted by our tour guide and invited into the house�she was dressed in white, holding a large knife, and covered in blood. Kevin said I don’t wanna do this! I don’t wanna do this! We nudged him, but he refused. A nice lady at the entrance (not in costume) offered to keep him with her until we got back, so he became her helper and Sandy and I reluctantly went in without him. It was kind of a disappointment, since we mainly went for him, but we had already paid and they had a no refund policy.

It was a bit short, but fun nonetheless. Our guide took us into various rooms that with scary surprises, including the girl from The Ring, Lizzy Borden killing her mother, etc.. Various high-pitched screams, some very close most of the time, were really effective. A pitch-black maze topped things off, and contain weird-feeling things hanging around, on the walls, and a strangely textured floor in some places. Afterward we ended where we had started, and Kevin was helping the lady at the entrance and was glad to see that we had survived the experience unscathed.

All in all it was pretty fun and I enjoyed myself. I only wish Kevin would have taken the plunge. I think he would have come out feeling pretty good at having made it and he’d have something to tell his friends afterward. Oh well, maybe next year.

Oh, I did bring the camera, but everything was so dark I didn’t think much would turn out. I took one photo near the entrance that I really like. It’s pretty spooky, take a look.  That’s the little girl I mentioned at the entrance, just standing there.  You can also see a portion of a headstone to the right.

News

Lillian Vernon Fiasco

Back in early September (September 10th to be exact) Kevin found a really neat costume set for Halloween from a catalog we received in the mail.  It was a Lillian Vernon catalog.  I checked them out online and they sounded legit, so we decided to order the costume for Kevin.  It was a Harry Potter costume, complete with magic wand, tattoos for the forehead scar and others, and of course, the robe along with a few other things.

We ordered the costume that day, 9/10/05, and we were assured shortly after that it would be delivered no later than 9/28/05 — in plenty of time for Halloween.  Well, you can guess the rest, but I’ll give you all the painful details.  A couple weeks after we ordered the costume we got a postcard informing us that it was now on backorder and there would be a delay in shipment.  We were called on the phone by someone at Lillian Vernon and asked if we still wanted the item, which they assured us would still be shipped in plenty of time for Halloween.  Since we were assured to get it in time, naturally we said we’d still take it, so they kept the order going.

Now here’s where it gets bizarre.  Last week we received a postcard in the mail telling us that our order has shipped, and to please allow 5-7 days for delivery.  Excellent, we thought!  So we waited, checking the mail every day, waiting for the package, until it got well over 7 days and into this week.  Today we got another postcard in the mail that says “SORRY, BUT WE CANNOT FILL YOUR ORDER AS REQUESTED.  We are unable to deliver the items listed as they are sold out.  YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED FOR THESE ITEMS.

BUT IT SHIPPED!?!?!?! How can a company simply LIE like that?!?! And what would be the point?? To keep us from cancelling while they try to find a costume for us?? This is rediculous!  So Sandy called their Customer Service number on today’s postcard to complain.  She explained to the customer service rep and asked what the heck was going on, and they checked on what had happened.  The lady apologizes and then says that the system shows that they now have the costume available for immediate delivery, and that we could have it here by Friday is we would like to order it.

We were thoroughly confused at that point, and very frustrated at having been spun around so many times we were now dizzy.  Sandy gave me the phone and had her explain it to me.  Once she did, I was very angry and no longer willing to trust them at all.  But I had one more question for her first.  She had a heavy accent, and I wanted to confirm what I already thought: That this was just some outsourced “Customer Service” Service located overseas, like every other company is doing these days, and she really knows nothing about the actual company at all, but is just following a written (or computer-based) procedure.  She admitted that yes, she is located in the Phillipines.  I then told her that I would NOT like to order it any longer, and told her we no longer trusted this company, and would not be ordering from them in the future, and I hung up frustrated.  Needless to say, I also removed their link from our Bookmark section on this site.  We’re no longer willing to support or recommend them.

Sandy went out searching for a costume solution for Kevin after this call today, and I think she did a nice job.  It’s totally different than what Kevin originally wanted, but she must know what he likes, because after we explained the situation to him and showed him his new costume he really liked it.  We told him that if he still wanted to be Harry Potter instead, we would return this one and look for Harry Potter, which we had even seen recently at Toys R Us.  He said no, he’d keep this one, and was very excited about it.

I’ll save the “Shock and Awe” of what his new costume is for when we post the Halloween photos, but this sentence is enough of a clue in itself, so there ya go.  😉

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A Scary October!

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Wow, have I been out of it.  I worked last Saturday night and began to feel like I had the flu at work.  I made it through my shift, but felt pretty wiped out and every bones in my body ached.  I drove home and went to bed, assuming I had the flu.  Sandy even bought me some flu medicine, and I called in sick to work Sunday.  Sunday night I awoke with a very sore leg and a fever of 103F.  I had a nasty redness forming on my left leg, which was hot to the touch, and along with the fever I knew this was not good.  Sandy took my to the E.R. that morning, and I have Cellulitis of the leg.  Very painful, and very serious if left untreated.  I was prescribed an oral antibiotic, pain meds, and sent home with instructions to keep my leg elevated, use hot compresses, and stay home  from work for at least 2 days, and follow up with my doctor the following day.

My doctor prescribed a second oral antibiotic  to go along  with the first one, along with more pain meds. He also said I need to stay off my feet and out of work for the rest of the week.  So here I sit, in front of the computer, leg elevated (on top of a tower PC on the floor).  For the first few days I was pretty out of it.  There was a lot of pain, so I rested most of the time, alternating between the bed and my recliner in the living room.  On the bright side though, I was able to watch the entire 15-hour mini-series of Kingdom Hospital in 2 days!  Now if that doesn’t scare me away from wanting to go back to work at a large hospital, nothing will!

I’m feeling much better now.  There’s not much pain today, mostly major itching where the redness is (which is also much less than before).  But I just wanted to let everyone know what’s been going on.  I’ve missed many phone calls and messages this week, so I’m just now trying to get back to everyone and get caught up with things again.

So basically, with watching Kingdom Hospital and having this big health scare, this is turning out to be a pretty scary Halloween season!  It’s time to get out to a haunted house or two, visit a few pumpkin farms, and do some carving to get in the mood!

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Dad’s Fall

Dad T took a bit of a fall the other day.  I’m sorry I’m a little late with posting, very busy as usual.  But I guess he slipped and fell to the floor when getting out of bed early Monday morning.  Clayton was there though, and said he lost consciousness for a few minutes as well.  Clayton called 911 and had an ambulance take him to the hospital.  He’s alright, and he looked ok even when we first visited him right after he got to the hospital.  They’re keeping him for a couple days for observation, to run some tests, and to have him do a little therapy.  They’re looking for possible clots in his legs, etc., but no word yet on any problems found.  I’ll try to keep everyone posted more promptly.

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Socks Scare

We had a scare with Socks yesterday.  Sandy came home with groceries, so Matt and I went out to help bring them in.  As usual, the dogs ran out too, so I tried to keep them inside the gate while we went out to get the groceries.  They like to get out just to check out the neighbor dogs and mark their territory, but fortunately they don’t run to get away.  So yesterday Socks managed to sneak around my legs and bolt out the gate as fast as he could.  I yelled, but he was off and running and ignored me completely.

He immediately ran across the street, got cornered in a yard surrounded by bushes, and excitedly barked at the kids across the street from it.  I walked over to get him, but then he reversed direction when he heard the neighbor’s dogs from across the street from us barking.  They have a tall wooden fence around their backyard, and they have a German Shehperd and a smaller dog.  Socks ran up to the fence and began sniffing and barking at their smaller dog through a small hole in the fence.  The barking continued to escalate for a moment, and then the German Shepherd suddenly scaled the wooden fence and came right over the top of it!

Socks stood up to him, which was his downfall I think.  They growled and barked at each other, and then began fighting rougher.  I was yelling, trying to shock them enough to distract them a little so I could grab Socks.  The German Shepherd tried to grab hold of Socks’ neck, but Socks squirmed away quickly and fought back.  Then  the German Shepherd got more aggressive and grabbed Socks by his hind quarters with his mouth, picked him up and shook him like a rag doll in his mouth for a few seconds.  This was terrifying, and as I continued yelling I had no idea what to do.  I didn’t want to get attacked by this German Shepherd, but I needed to get Socks out of there before he was killed.

The neighbors who own the German Shepherd then came out and called their dog back.  He didn’t seem angry, and backed off a bit while Socks continued to be defensive until I calmed him down and picked him up.  He cried and yiped quite a bit, and was shaking tremendously as I held him.  I brought him into the house and checked him out.  Amazingly there was no blood.  The big dog somehow avoided drawing any blood at all, and seems to have only bruised Socks.  He’s not limping or anything, and gets around ok, he’s just extremely sensitive in certain areas if you try to pick him up or pet him, and he won”t jump up on things like he usually does, right now.

Perhaps he’s learned his lesson now though.  We can only hope.  Having a run-in with the “neighborhood bully” just might have put him in his place a bit.  He’s sure not barking at every little thing during the day when I’m trying to sleep now!  But I think not being able to jump up on the back of the couch and SEE every little thing out the window to bark at helps with that though.  We’re keeping a close eye on him now, just to make sure his injuries aren’t more serious than we think.

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Bugs

We went to a great Fish Boil today, an annual event held by a friend of Sandy’s. We’ve gone for the past few years and the food is just great every time. It was just as great this year. The only problem we had, which seems to be getting worse, is Kevin’s fear of every little bug he sees and even plenty of those he DOESN’T see! Anything moving around him small enough to maybe be a bug frightens him.

In thinking about it, it explains a lot now. Kevin never wants to go outside and play with his friends any more. We figured maybe he just doesn’t feel like it whenever his friends are outside, but now I think it’s actually his fear of bugs. He just can’t concentrate outside at all without whipping around, back and forth, constantly checking his surroundings for any sign of a bug. We continue to explain that most bugs are totally harmless, try to get him to look at them more on the computer and in books, etc. Hopefully he’ll just outgrow this problem, but it’s pretty disturbing at the moment. ParentCenter.com had this to say on the subject:

For now, your job is to acknowledge his anxiety and help him feel more comfortable with creepy crawlies. Encourage him to talk about what scares him and reassure him that you understand why he’s frightened. Resist the urge to laugh even if his fear of flies seems a bit silly. If he has had an unfortunate encounter with a bee, he’s got ample ammunition for his aversion. Recognize that contact with some critters can indeed hurt, but do so in a calm, matter-of-fact fashion.

Be sure to point out examples, such as fireflies and butterflies, which are beautiful and harmless. Check out bug books from your local library, then sit down together to read about the wonders of the insect world. The more he understands about spiders and their habits, the less fearful he’s likely to be. Taking a trip to an insect exhibit at a natural history museum is another “safe” way to expose your child to beetles and bugs. You can also casually introduce him to insects on your walks together — just don’t overreact when you encounter something that stings. Say, “Look at that lovely blue dragonfly.” And, “Watch out for the wasp.” In their own time, most kids combat this angst and go on to become fascinated with everything six-legged and small. Your child may wind up keeping worms or collecting cocoons for pets. So if a moth lands near him now, go ahead and help him shoo it out a window. Eventually he’ll learn to appreciate these creatures of nature.

So there you go. It sounds like good advice. We’ve taken him to the museum many times and focused on bugs, looked at their parts under the microscope, etc., so we’re doing what we can. We’ll see how it goes I guess.

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I’ve been busy

My apologies to those loyal readers of this website who visit daily (I know there are at least one or two of you).  I try as much as possible to post SOMETHING every day or two, whether it’s in the forums, in this blog, or even just a funny photo in the daily photos section.  But the past few weeks have been extremely busy for me, and I’ve had to put the website on the back burner for a bit.  But we’ve still been getting regular postings, and I did still pop in almost daily for a minute or two at a time, even though I haven’t had time to actually compose a forum post or blog entry.  I’d sure love to have the activity that KenoshaOnline.net gets though, and I always keep dreaming that I DO still get as many visitors, they just don’t POST here much, they just read.

But anyway, I’m still here, I’ll never give up on the site.  I am now back to gainful full-time employment after a short period of searching, and I feel really good about it.  I’ll still try to provide meaningful content and news as much as possible, and you may even notice some slightly outdated postings in the forums tonight.  I added those just “for the record”, so I’d have the complete timeline of major current events on my site for future reference.  I don’t “prune” any of my content, so I intend to end up with quite a bit of accumulated worthy content some day.  Hang in there with me.

Family News

In Memory of Donna J. Trottier

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Today is the anniversary of my mother’s birthday. She passed away in 1992, but her memory will always live on in our hearts. In honor of her I’m re-posting the sermon by Reverend Charles King, written for her funeral service:

Donna J. Trottier
by Reverend Charles King
First United Methodist Church, Kenosha, Wisconsin
March 5th, 1992

Yesterday my wife and I went out for lunch and, as usual, we discussed what we had done that morning and what we planned to do in the afternoon. I mentioned to Nancy that I had spent time at the Trottier home talking about Donna and this service. Then my wife asked, “Do you have a theme or an idea for your message tomorrow?” And I said, “Not yet. In fact there is so much to share I’m not sure right now what I’ll say.” Later in the afternoon an idea came to me. Donna was a great collector and compiler. She put together many scrap books and photo albums. In fact she made albums for all the family members, and wanted to make sure there were pictures for every occasion. And it occurred to me that what I had on paper and in my head was a series of pages from a scrapbook of her life. So let’s open that book now and talk about what is there:

On my first page are memories of Donna and her sisters–growing up both in Kenosha and in Iowa. Five girls in one house. Just saying that can lead one’s mind off in all sorts of directions–the teasing that must have gone on; arguments; discussions; sharing of belongings. The hours that they spent playing with paper dolls; listening to the radio–not so much music like teenagers today, but the dramas–Inner Sanctum, the Shadow, and so on; and can you visualize a room whose walls were entirely covered with pictures of movie stars? Her’s was. And of course there were responsibilities around the house. As a teenager Donna hated to cook and so she traded off with one of her sisters–“I’ll do your ironing if you’ll take over my cooking assignments.” All those experiences created a real closeness which has continued through phone calls, visits, and a regular Round Robin Letter among the sisters.

Another section of the scrapbook would include travel photos. In childhood there were trips–both on foot and on bicycle–out to Petrifying Springs Park; trips to pick apples and strawberries; later as the family scattered there were yearly trips to the family reunion and, in one of those facts that causes a lump in the throat–an unfulfilled plan–she had her airline ticket for an April 23rd trip to see Charlene and Mary Ann in California. And the recent purchase of the van by Harold and Donna opened up all sorts of travel possibilities for them. That usual sparkle in Donna’s eyes was especially brilliant some months ago as she told me about the new van and some of their plans for its use. I also heard sadness and regret in her voice last week as I stood at her bedside in the intensive care unit and listened as she spoke of illness this winter which had kept her home more than she wished, now that they did have the van available to use.

Do we prepare a page in which we address Donna’s physical weaknesses? I think so. Even as a child her health was often precarious and knowing the handicaps which she overcame makes her life and witness–her spirit–even more remarkable. A word that came to mind this morning was”courage.” I wondered what I might have collected in my files on the subject of courage and found an article bemoaning the absence of heroes in society today. There are heroes around, but most are nameless. And then the author proceeds to describe who are the courageous: “That person who, in spite bitter disappointments, still praises God as the Giver of all good gifts. All those who stand by promises and commitments made in good faith, who remain loyal to friends, who are truthful in conversation, who are alert to opportunities for helping others–especially the small and the weak.” According to those criteria, Donna was a courageous hero. And I think she was, don’t you?

This album of memories will contain a section for her husband, and their children, and the children of those children. Donna and Harold went to school together here in Kenosha and when the family moved to Iowa, Harold managed to cross Wisconsin to continue to see Donna. He was considered by Donna’s sisters, “Almost a part of the family.” But they had to wait until Donna was eighteen and had graduated from high school before they could get married, and so they did.

Obviously Donna loved her family, and I know that you who are here can fill in the blanks with example after example of her love and forgiveness and patience and the cheer that she radiated and which was kind of contagious. You are the ones who can share with each other sentences that start out: “Do you remember the time we. . .” I grew up in a very small family and when I was a child that was fine–one sister was even too much at times. But when I witness the support that larger families provide one another and all the interaction that takes place, I know that I missed something–like traditions at Easter and the entire family around to decorate the Christmas tree, and waiting until midnight and the start of Christmas to open presents. So there will be a large number of pages in this family section.

Should the next page be titled “hobbies”? I’m not sure. I want to mention that Donna was a collector–maybe even a pack rat as one of her children put it. There is her collection of angels, plates, and bells. The many books she read. And there is evidence all around of her work with plastic canvas. She was skilled at crocheting, but the arthritis eventually put an end to that. How many of you here have received one or more gifts “Made with tender loving care by Donna Trottier”? What I have is her gift to me and Nancy at the time of our marriage. And I used to have but have given away the little squeeze boxes with candy inside. Now can you imagine making favors for all the children who would show up at family reunions?””~year after year?-­Donna did that!

Let’s include one more section in this album, one in which we highlight her Christian faith and life. At the funeral home on Monday Harold handed me this key and key chain. As I looked at it, my face wrinkled up. It is Donna’s key to the chair lift here at church. And it is attached to a plastic holder which says, “I Love Jesus.” She did. We started Saturday evening services here in the fall of 1990 as an experiment. We didn’t know if many would attend; well they did, and do. Donna was able to get out to these late afternoon services, and I remember the statement that Pastor Hintzman made one day. “Even if Donna were the only one attending these Saturday services, we’d have them for her.”

And when she was unable to attend, she still participated because she listened to the services on cassette tape–singing along with the congregation as they sang, from her own hymnal–a hymnal, incidentally which I discovered had bookmarks noting three hymns: “He Touched Me,” “He Lives,” and “Because He Lives.” There is another entire message possible in an examination of the words in those three hymns and matching the lyrics with the life and faith of Donna.

Yes, Donna loved her church and her Lord and the Lord loved her! Via cassette she listened to gospel music as well as to the Bible itself. Years ago she was active as a kindergarten Sunday school teacher and I understand the teaching went on at home, for she was someone that her children could turn to in trying and difficult times. Her children could say something to her and know that it would be held in confidence; they knew that their ides would be heard and respected.

At the end of the month I will be preaching a Lenten sermon about ageing. I started my reading on this subject at the beginning of the week. Always in the back of my mind was Donna’s death and this service, so several times that which I was reading got put aside for possible use this afternoon. I want to share three of those things which spoke to me, in hopes that you, too, will find help and strength in these words for this time of grief.

The first is a single sentence: “No one should die before his life is over.” There are people walking around who are merely existing; something in them died long ago. Now often an illness or accident will create that condition–death before actual death. But we gather today to celebrate the life of one who, even from a wheel chair or hospital bed, expressed life with all its joy and excitement.

Next is a statement made by the Catholic priest and writer Henri Nouwen at the time of his fiftieth birthday: “Within a few years I will no longer be on this earth. The thought of this does not frighten me but fills me with a quiet peace. I am a small part of life, a human being in the midst of thousands of other human beings.

It is good to be young, to grow old and to die. . .God became flesh to share with us in the simple living and dying, and thus made it good. I can feel today that it is good to be. . .What counts are not the unique accomplishments in life that make me different from others, but the basic experiences of sadness and joy, pain and healing, which make me part of humanity. The time is indeed growing short for me, but the knowledge sets me free. Mourning and joy can now both deepen my quiet desire for the day when I realize that the many kisses and embraces I received today were simple incarnations of the eternal embrace of the Lord himself.”

And the final thing I saved out from my reading was this passage from a devotional booklet: “[Al suggestion for coping with growing older is to acquire or possess a meaningful faith. . .We need the faith of the psalmist who testified in Psalm 71 to the strength and help God gave him in his youth and who knew that even as the years went by he never would be alone because God would be with him. Yes, the older we become the more we need to hear and take to heart the words of Helen Keller: “˜A simple childlike faith in a Divine Friend solves all the problems that come to us.. .Difficulties meet us at every turn. They are the accompaniment of life. . .The surest way to meet them is to assume that we have a friend who slumbers not, nor sleeps, and who watches over us and guides us–if we but let that happen.'”

Donna had such a friend, and so it is in confidence that we commend her now to that friend in heaven–to the eternal embrace of the Lord himself.

Family News

Our day at Six Flags Great America

We spent the day at Six Flags Great America Wednesday (8/25/04). We had the day planned a couple weeks in advance, and got a good deal on the tickets, so Sandy, Kevin and I went with my sister Beth and her daughters Brianna and Ashley. The six of us had a great time. I printed all the park info beforehand (ride height requirements, etc.) and even printed the hourly weather forecast for each hour we were at the park since it was supposed to rain all day–sometimes heavy–on Wednesday. As it turned out, we had a few sprinkles throughout the day, but that was it. No downpours at all, and no heavy rain. Nice going, weather.com. As it turned out though, I think the awful forecast helped us out a great deal. The park was pretty empty! It looked like most people cancelled the day or rescheduled it, probably expecting a lot of rain, so the park was very empty for us. There were no lines for nearly all the rides, and the few that did have lines were short with only a few minutes wait. We were able to ride several rides multiple times, and Kevin even went on several rides by himself, with no one else on them but him. Brianna–Beth’s daughter–even did the karoake studio thing and recorded her own single.

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Kevin even won a stuffed animal (Pirate Taz) from one of the games and he got a few other toys as well. We took a few pictures and even got a preview of some of the great Fright Fest sets that were already in place for their annual Halloween celebration. They were pretty cool. One demonic statue had blood contantly dripping from its tongue hanging out of its mouth!. And there was even a headstone for me and my sister Karen, side-by-side, and a Fright Fest hearse. All of the pictures are right here, so take a peek if you want.

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As expected, the dancing old man from the Six Flags commercials was plastered all over the park, and there was even a giant inflatable version of him just inside the park entrance to greet everyone coming in. And, of course, that wacky music that always accompanies his dancing could be heard over and over throughout the park, and during the morning opening of the park at the carousel all of the Looney Tunes characters danced to it as well. That silly song is still stuck in my head.

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Prairie Family Days

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We spent the afternoon and evening at Prairie Family Days today.  We got there about 4:00pm, staked out a great spot on the lake to watch the water, laser, and fireworks shows, and then visited the games and vendors.

Kevin did the Titanic slide again–twice, the moonwalk, and played just about all the games.  He won a bunch of small toys and had a very good time.  He was a little disappointed that he couldn’t ride the Kiddie Train this year though.  He was looking forward to it a lot, and it was even advertised in the paper as being there this year, but once we were there it was nowhere to be found.

I don’t know if it was just me, but the laser show seemed much better this year than last.  It seemed like there were more lasers this time, surrounding us completely.  I only remember two sources last year, located on the opposite side of the lake.  It was awesome, something that must be seen in person.  Pictures just don’t do it justice.  The fireworks were great too, and they combined the lasers and the fireworks very nicely a few times throughout the show.  The medley of television theme songs were also a treat.  I was able to identify every show they played, and it was very funny when they played the “Friends” theme and hundreds of people did the four-clap part right on cue!

I took over 160 pictures throughout the day, and I uploaded the best ones tonight. Take a look.

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Tall ships are just around the corner!

It looks like Kenosha’s 4th of July Festivities were a huge success this year. No major incidents or accidents, 200 fireworks calls–but those were normal for the holiday though, and no major problems reported at the fireworks, which reportedly attracted 19,000-20,000 people to the lakefront to watch. Just like our little home-based event, everything went off without a hitch for the most part. It’s actually a relief to see something nice reported on the front of the newspaper for a change.

I regret missing the Patriotic Pooch contest though–that would have made for some pretty cool photos for the site I think. And if Kevin were able to ride his bike well enough, we would have even participated in the Kids Bike Decorating Contest and Parade that they had. He’s just not to that point yet, but we’re working on it. Hopefully he’ll be good to go for next year’s event. We’ll keep him “in training” for it until then. And if we could just get Socks to keep a stars and stripes top hat and coat on for a few minutes he’d certainly win the Patriotic Pooch Contest walking around like that on two legs! The Tall Ships Festival will be here next month! (August 4th-8th) So we’re anxiously awaiting another good time.

In other news, Louie got a very perty new toy to play with! I was going to post the photos on my site, but since Pam did it already, I’ll just point you over there, since it’s their new toy anyway. There are very few RumbleBees made, and each one is individually serialized, as you’ll see in the photos. They also cost a pretty penny more than the “simple” Ram 1500 that they’re based on, based on the info on DaimlerChrysler’s website. Zoom zoom. Whoops, wrong vehicle ad… Gotta Hemi?