DC Heron Family

September 11th- 10 Years Later

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 08:01:00 +0000

September 11th 10 years later

View more presentations from Darryl Heron.

Ten years ago today the world as we know it changed. Sadly, we'll never be able to return to the workd as we knew it before that Tuesday morning. We won't be able to bring back the family and friend that dies that day. Sometimes it seems that it was only yesterday and at other times it seems that it was worlds away, in fact it was a different world that we lived then.

I decided that I wanted to do something different as part of my tribute for the Tenth Anniversary of September 11th, I decided to create and upload a presentation at Slideshare. While I've done many Powerpoint presentations over the years, this is the first time that I've done something like this, so I hope that it will be memorable and worth the effort that I put into it.

I hope that you'll have a look at some of the tributes posted at Project 2996. Project 2996 has the goal of seeing that an tribute is posted for each and every person lost that day, so it would be great if you decided to write about someone that doesn't have a tribute post about them yet. If you don't have a web site or blog to post it, then I'd be more than happy to post it for you on this blog here. Let me know in the comments below. I've really found the experience of being involved in Project 2996 has be truly worthwile and I can't recommend it enough.

As I mentioned in the preparation post that I wrote, I discovered Prepare New York a few months ago. They've done so many great things in the last few months. I was reading about Ribbons for Hope which is running from September 9-12 in Battery Park. If you're in the area I believe that should be worth checking out and participating in. Why not check out Prepare New York and see what you can learn and share with others?

Find more photos like this on Prepare New York

Yahoo! News has been running a special series on the Tenth Anniversary of September 11th.
While there will be tons of specials commemorating the Tenth Anniversay, this has been a nice portal to see all the stories about the families of victims or the way that peoples's lives were touched. It is worth checking out and finding all the gems that are there.

As we go about today, my thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends. I hope that we can use the Tenth Anniversary of September as a healing moment that brings us closer together. I'm also thinking of my mother how lost her battle to cancer at the same time that the World Trade Center was being attacked. I hope that all of you are able to celebrate this event in a way that is meaningful to you and that more brighter days are ahead.

Preparing for the 10th Anniversary of September 11th

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:30:00 +0000

Now that August is upon us, we're a little more than a month away from the Tenth Anniversary of September Eleventh. I'd like to ask your help in honoring this event. For the Tenth Anniversary, I had hoped to do something really memorable and while the clock is ticking, there is still time to make this memorable and I need your help.

What were you doing on September 11th, what were you doing and where were you when you heard about the traggic events of this now infamous day? I was working when I got a frantic telephone call from my wife asking me to come home. I heard various things from NPR coverage of September 11th being broadcast over AFN (Armed Forces Network) as I was driving home that day. When I opened the door to my home, I was aware of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the plane crash in Pennsylvania, but my wife told me that my dad called and that my mother lost her battle to cancer sometime between the two planes hitting the World Trade Center. I was watching the coverage and dealing with the loss of my mother. The two events are forever connected within my mind. So September 11th is very personal for me.

Project 2996

On the 6th Anniversary, I wrote an article for one of my blogs and in researching the article I discovered Project 2996. The idea is pretty simple, they wanted to see that there were tributes posted online for all of the victims. For the 7th Anniversary I wrote about David Lychak, who was working at the pentagon. For the 8th Anniversay I expanded my tribute to include several firefighters who lost their lives.

There is little doubt that there have been a lot of bad things that have happened after September 11th, but what isn't in doubt is that all of the victims that died that day were people. Some where parents and had spouses, girlfriends, or boyfriends. Most of them will be missed by family, friends, coworkers, and a host of other people who never had the opportunity to know them or the gifts and talents that they brought into this world. Ther e were the police men and women, firefighters, EMTs, and other professionals who put their lives on the line all the time. There were a lot of people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but there were 2996 people that died that day and countless others that lost loved ones and friends. Personally, I always feel bad when a child loses a parent at a young age, because I know that losing a parent at any age is never really an easy thing.

Over the past few years I've written tributes to the people listed below. If anyone has new information about any of them that I could share with my readers I'd love to post updates. I'd love to be able to share about some of the good things that have happened to the families and friends of the people that have left a mark on my life. Afterall, ten years have gone by and a lot can happen in ten years. I was fortunate enough to exchange emails with David Laychak's sister for the initial tribute that I wrote about him and I was thrilled to see a comment from his wife to the post that I did in 2009.

Keith Roma (27)- of the Fire Patrol
Christopher Santora (23)- of Engine Company 54
Joseph P. Henry (25)- of Ladder 21
Karl Henri Joseph (25)- an EMT
Dana Hannon (29)- a NYC Firefighter
David W Laychak (40)- a civial working at the Pentagon

In addition to helping me put together a memorable tribute in honor of the Tenth Anniversary, maybe you can help Project 2996 reach its goal of having an online tribute for all of the victims. Please feel free to host a tribute at your own blog or website or I'd be happy to post one in your honor if you don't have your own blog or website. You can leave a comment to this post or contact me via Twitter.

Prepare New York

A few months ago I found a Social Network that caught my eye. Prepare New York is differnt than any othe Social Network that I'd seen before. In a weekly newsletter that I received after joining, they described themselves as "Prepare New York is a coalition of New York based interfaith organizations including-Auburn Seminary and its Center for Multifaith Education, Interfaith Center of New York, Intersections International, Odyssey Networks, Quest, and Tanenbaum and its Religion and Diversity Education Program, who are committed to preparing New York City (and the nation) for the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 by promoting civil dialogue, education about religious pluralism, support for the Muslim community, and coordinating events on the day of the anniversary. September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and 9/11 Communities for Common Ground serve as advisers to the coalition."

What I really like about this social network is that it is an interfaith effort between Muslims, Jewish, Christians nd other to prepare for the 10th Anniversary of September 11th. They wish to clear up a lot of the missunderstanding and if possible some of the hatred that has fostered in the past decade (and actually goes back quite a bit father). I'm filled with hope when I think of what more interfaith projects such as this one can accomplish. Maybe they can encourage more acceptance of diversity and an embrassing or differences instead of driving us apart.

In Conclusion

As the 10th Annivesary of September 11th approaches I'd like to use this occassion as a healing moment that brings us all closer together. I'd love to see each and every one of you write a tribute for Project 2996. While you're at it why not check out PrepareNY and see some of the great things they're doing, maybe you can even make some new friends. Let us all remember that we lost nearly 3000 people on that sad September day, let us honor their lives.

Here are some other links that you might be interested in...

Project 2996

My posts for the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Annivesaries

Prepare NY

Photo credit: New York 2 courtesy of mistereels.

Danke, Thomas!

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:15:00 +0000

Thank you, Thomas! (Danke, Thomas!) Saturday marked the last Summer open-air "Wetten Das?" with Thomas Gottschalk as the host and so his nearly 25 years as host of one of the Saturday television shows in Europe is drawing to an end.

The show was origingally hosted by Frank Elstner, who hosted it from 1981 to 1987. Thomas Gottschalk took over the reins in 1987. The show has been normally broadcast live from various cities within Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, with a Summer open-air show that has been done live from Mallorca a few times as well as Disneyland Paris, and Turkey (to name a few). The show inspired the British show "You Bet!" and other international versions around the world. Ordinary people attempt to do various unusual and sometimes very difficult tasks. Celebrity guests then would "bet" on the outcome of these challenges. The celebrities that lose their "bets" often have to do some embarassing, humiliating, and often times entertaining activity as a result. I've been amazed by the number of well-know American and British actors, singers, and bands have appeared on the show.

It wasn't long after I moved to Germany that I discovered the show. While I haven't seen every show since I've been here, I've seen quite a few and haven't missed many. So Thomas Gottschalk and "Wetten Das?" have been a big part of my German experience. Like, much of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria; I was watching the show on December 4, 2010, when the 23 year old man wishing to launch his career as a stuntman had that terrible accident while trying to jump 5 moving cars while wearing spring-loaded shoes/boots. They momentarily stopped the live broadcast of the show while doctors looked at the stundman's injuries and eventually cancelled the rest of the show. I sat glued waiting to hear that he would be alright, bud sadly the young man ended up being paralyzed. This heavily influenced Thomas Gottschalk's decison to leave the show in 2011. While the young stuntman did probably know about the risks of the stunt he planned, the thought that he'd end up being paralyzed probably didn't seem like such a huge risk, how could he have known? He might have thought that he might get a bruise or a broken bone or two, but not paralysis! Nobody knows where this young man's life will take him and how bright his future will be, I cetainly hope that he can make the best of his situation. I wish him the best.

The show started with Status Quo doing a medly of their hits. Cameron Diaz (actress) , Jennifer Lopez (singer and actress), Kevin James (actor), Heidi Klum (famous German model), Sebastian Vettel (famous German Forumla One driver), and Dieter Bohlen were all guests this past Saturday. In one of the oddest things I've ever seen, a man removed the shell off coconuts with his teeth (the video at the top of this post). When Kevin James came on the stage he was "shelling" what looked like oranges. The other bets included two cranes playing tennis, the man who threw 5 kg barrels of beer into a basketball hoop, another man who did handstands while trying to shoot baskets with his feet, and another man jumpted his bike from bikestop to bikestop. J-Lo performed "On the Floor", Peidro and Sarah (the 2011 DSDS finalists) sang "I Miss You" (their new duet), and three young Italian tennors sang a crowd pleasing "O Sole Mio". In the final song of the evening, Status Quo performed "Rocking All Over The World", you could see that Thomas was having a blast, this was after all his evening, and he had rocked all over the world.

Like the Prinzen said is their song "Deutschland"...
Natürlich hat ein Deutscher "Wetten, dass" erfunden
Vielen Dank für die schönen Stunden"
(translated as Naturally, a German created/discovered 'Wetten Das?', many thanks for all those wonderful hours). Thomas, I'm glaod to have spent all those Saturday evenings with you! I wish you all the best with your future projects.

Here are some other links that you might be interested in....

-Wetten-Das.com
-Wetten Das on ZDF
-Wetten Das @Wikipedia
-Wetten Das YouTube Channel
-Wetten Das on Facebook
-"Rad" bet
-"Basketball" bet
-"Crane Tennis" bet
-"Handstand" bet
-Status Quo - Rockin All Over The World - 2011 - Gottschalk's "Wetten Dass" Farewell
-Status Quo - Medley (LIVE @ Wetten Dass? Mallorca, 18.06.11) (HQ 16:9)
-Jennifer Lopez- On the Floor (LIVE on Wetten, dass ...) (June18th, 2011)
-Peidro and Sarah- I Miss You
-O-Sole-Mio
-ZDF Video Status Quo "Rockin All Over The World

Goodbye, Space Shuttle Program

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:02:00 +0000

The Space Shuttle Endeavour landed for the last time last week. This was not just the last flight for the Endeavour but now all that remains for the Space Shuttle program is the last flight of the Atlantis (currently scheduled for July 8th). Given all the focus on cutting budgets right and left, who really knows what it will mean for the American space program or for space programs in general, but the end of the Space Shuttle Program is near.

President Kennedy Says America Will Put A Man on the Moon And Return Him Home Safely By the End of the Decade... And America Answered

The U.S.S.R. was leading in the Space Race and President Kennedy challenged and inspired America....

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters" (President Kennedy's address before Congress on May 25, 1961.

JFK - We choose to go to the Moon, full length (Address a Rice University)

In a bold and daring move, President Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the Moon. He demonstrated the leadership, vision, and a whole host of other things that were needed to make this a reality. At a point in the Cold War where others might have thought that this was a crazy idea, he shared the dream and what space exploration and travel could mean to America and the world. America heard the call and put a man on the Moon (and returned him home safely). Below I've embedded President Kennedy's address at Rice University (above) and his address to congress (below) where he laid out the vision and the challenge. Both videos show a visionary leadership that is hard to find in the world today.

John F. Kennedy "Landing a man on the Moon" Address to Congress - May 25, 1961

The Space Shuttle Program

The "Space Transport System" (the offical NASA name for the Space Shuttle Program) was different than previous programs in that it was based on the use of a few reuseable spacecrat compared to the more "conventional" approach to "disposable" rockets. The Endeavour flight was number 134 and the upcoming Atlantis will be number 135. The Columbia's first mission was in 1981, so the program has had 30 years of service.

There are certainly plenty of criticisms that can be made of the Space Shuttle Program. Without getting into all the details they tend to fall into the categories of costs; cultural issues and problems (the shift in NASA culture away from saftey in order to make frequent launches), Shuttle operations, and the accidents of the Challenger and Columbia, and so on. There is a nice entry at Wikipedia on the Criticisms of the Space Shuttle Program that gives a nice summary of some of the more common ones. So, I won't argue that there could not have been better programs or that there weren't ways that the program could have been improved, far from it. The focus on the program, it could be argued, slowed down other developments because the bulk of the budget and focus was on the Shuttle Program. In order to make the program more attactive to Congress, work was spread to several companies based in several different locations throughout the U.S., this added a great deal of complexity and opperational costs, and since the aerospace industry went through a lot of consolidation, ultimately, most of the Shuttle is coming from just one company, Boeing. There are plenty of lessons that can and should be learned from the Space Shuttle Program, but they need to be learned and applied, not just a decission to end all space programs because they're seen as too costly.

Our Future In Space

At a time when our current age seems so bleek and nobody really seems to want to think past today let alone to the future, we need the bright promise of a space program that is commited and has a compelling mission that engages the people. We need the hope of a brighter tomorrow, not one more dismal than today.

Every since I was a little boy I've dreamed of space travel and seeing other worlds. I was captivated by Captain Kirk and later by the world of Star Wars, but I've always thought that we should be exploring space, that this is something we MUST do. Without a high profile program and the right backing, I fear that space exploration and travel will become a victim of budget battles and I wonder if it will ever again have the the emphysis that it needs. We don't have a President Kennedy inspiring us to send a man (or woman) to the moon (or a host of other seemingly far away locations) and safely return him (or her) within this decade.

We don't have someone inspiring us to develope an affordable and safe successor to the Space Shuttle Program. We don't have someone motivating us to find faster ways to travel the astronomical distances of light years (warp drive technology to borrow a term from Star Trek). Proxima Centauri, (also called Proxima, or Alpha Centauri C), considered the closest star to our own Sun, is approximately 4.24 light years from our Sun. A light year is the distance that light travels in a vacume within one Julian year and is equal to approximately 10 trillion kilometers or 6 trillion miles. (Wikipedia) A plane flying 400.2 miles per hour would take 20 years to fly the 93 million plus miles from the Earth to the Sun. (kidsinflight) So you can see why it would be necessary to travel faster than the speed of light to travel the vast distances of space within one's own lifetime.

President Kennedy had a lot of compelling things to say about going into space in his "We Choose to go to the Moon" speech to Rice University (September 12, 1962), including that space like science didn't have a conscience of its own and that if it were to be used for good or bad that would depend upon man. He also thought that space could be explored without feeding wars and other mistakes that man has made. He said that man was determined and space exploration would go on with out without us but that this generation wanted to be a part of it and would lead it.

"Why go into space when we have so many problems here on Earth?" and "What does the space program do for me?" are a couple of questions that are often raised about having a space program and funding it. What is often overlooked and/or forgotten is that for every dollar spent on the space program in research and development there is a huge return (around $7) in terms of corporate and personal income taxes from increased jobs and ecomonic growth (NASA's Spinoffs Bringing Space Down to Earth). The space program has helped forge and improve countless products and services. Satellite television and dishes would be kind of pointless without Satellites orbiting the world. The navigation system in your car wouldn't work to well without the Statellites either. Countless software programs have been adopted and utilized for all kinds fo things as a result of the space program. Imagine that we wouldn't have Google Earth or probably a host of other Google products. Much of the technology sector, medicine, and electronics owe a huge debt to work that they've done with or for the space program.

The future benefits of space exploration and travel are almost limitless. All kinds of new materials have been created through the space program, what kinds of other materials can we create through continued space programs, maybe we can derive a replacement for plastic that doesn't use petroleum or all kinds of other materials. By building colonies in space and colonizing planets we can avoid many of the natural disasters that we've experienced in the last few years. Can you imagine no more earthquakes, torandos, hurricanes, tsunamis, and flooding? How about planets for the Palestinines and Isralies? The possibilities are only limited by our imaginations.

As the Shuttle Program is winding down Boeing announced that it will lay off 510 workers with the program ending. We need to make space exploration a priority again. In today's world I don't think that any one country needs to lead in space, but if we can pool more of our resouces together and do more projects in cooperation with with ESA, Japan, India, Russia, and other countries involved in space now (and countries interested in becoming involved) we can achieve some great things. How about we commit to building a spacecraft capable of traveling at light speed then we could make a trip to Alpa Centouri and back within a decade instead of over the course of generations? How about finding some planets with an atmoshpere that would support human life and building some colonies?

NASA video: Space shuttle Endeavour final launch

Earth viewed from the moon by Neil Armstrong

Here are some links that you might be interested in
-NASA
-From cell phones to computers, technology from NASA's space program continues to touch everyday life
-Space Spin-offs: Technology Derived from the Space Program: Lots of interesting links
-Benefits of the Space Program
-Shuttle Missions: Lost of information on the Shuttle missions

Prince William Married Kate And I Passed the PMP!

noreply@blogger.com (Systems Overload) — Sun, 01 May 2011 03:35:00 +0000

On Friday Prince William married Kate and I passed the PMP. While much of the world was watching the pagentry of the royal wedding and the associated festivities, I was busy answering questions on the PMP exam.

For many years I've wanted to take the PMP exam (Project Management Professional) from PMI and Friday I took the exam and passed it. Since a little time has passed now, the elation level has dropped but I'm still pretty excited about it. It has been a long term goal to get my PMP, but life seemed to always get in the way. In true project management fashion, I'd just like to say that I'll schedule my lessons learned session for another time but for now the serious lessons learned about actual test preparation and strategy are out of scope.

Last Summer I became aware of a virtual PMP preparation session being offered at my company. A different Knowledge Area is covered every week and you review the material with colleagues scattered in different locations online and via telephone conference. I thought that it would help give some structure to my studying efforts and would help me to stay motivated. They've been doing this for a few years and I had heard that a few collegues had used this as a part of their preparation. I was glad that I was able to get a spot in the wave that started in September. I'd say that this is when my current journey really started and I became serious about taking the exam.

As often happens in the project world and with life in general, my projects heated up and I was too busy to study very much during Decemeber, January, and well into February. The nature of my projects meant that I needed to work several weekends and some pretty long weeks. My orginal timeline had been to take the exam in December or January, but I had to rebaseline when my project load was so crazy. When I could see some light at the end of the tunnel, I scheduled some time off and the exam for April 29th.

I bought a copy of the PM Prepcast. in August. This is an multimedia series of audio and video programs that can be played on your iPod or other devices. I listended to the various episodes when I was driving around by myself and watched episodes on my computer. It is a good way to prepare for the PMP, because you can make use of non-tradtional study time and listening (watching too) helps to reinforce your learning. For those of you that have a hard time focusing on dry text books, this is a really good way to cover material you need to know for the exam.

I was on cloud nine when I saw that I had passed. Just to make sure that there wasn't some kind of malfunction at my testing unit, I confirmed with the guy running the part of the testing center where I took the exam that I had passed, he gave me a print out that showed how I did in the areas where your performance is reported.

I knew that my father would be happy for my accomplishment and was ancious to get a hold of him and spread the good news. At first I only got his answering machine and he returned my call about an hour later or so. He was so excited, you could really hear it it in his voice. I know that this brought back his own memories of taking his first certification, all those years ago. I know that he remembered how my mother helped him study for his exam and the pride that he feld when he was certified in his profession. I have to thank my wife and kids for putting up with all my studying the last few months. They really supported me more than anyone can expect their family to do. If they had not been behind me, there is no way that I would have been able to do it.

It wasn't too long after I scheduled my exam date that I realized that there was also this little wedding going on at the same time. That just makes the passing the PMP all that more special for me. Lots of people have taken and passed the PMP, but how many people can say that they did when Prince William got maried? So it is with great pleasure that I now add those initials after my name.....

Until next time.

Darryl Heron PMP

Photo Credit: "Success, succeed, business, money sign" courtesy of lockstockb.

P.s. Be sure to check out my Systems-Overload Blog and look for me online at some of the usual locations.

Goodbye Howard Cunningham And June Cleaver

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 02:33:00 +0000

With the recent passing of Tom Bosley and Barbara Billingsley I just want to take a little time to reflect on their deaths. Both played television icons that will live on long after their deaths via televsion syndication, cable television, DVD sales, and overseas markets. How many Americans haven't at least heard of Happy Days and Leave It to Beaver, it they're not familar with the Howard Commingham and June Cleaver?

Both shows were set in the 50's and for lots of people including myself who wasn't born yet and didn't live through those years, these shows were and still are our window into that time period. Mr. C. (as Fonzi referred to him) was a role model of fatherhood for lots of people. While there are lots of jokes about how perfectly dressed June Cleaver was no matter what, her character defined how many people view mothers and the role of wives in society.

Life certainly appeared simpler on these shows than it has been since that time period. The problems faced by Richie and the gang an those of the Beaver seem downright simple compared to the problems and issues that we're facing today. This probably has a lot to do with a fondness that we have for the "Good Ole Days" and much of the desire to want to turn back the clock. Images depicted on those shows are very welcoming and reassuring. There is a civility and friendliness displayed between neighboors and people that you meet and people seemed to genuinely care about each other. Things were black and white without all the grey area that we have today with people doing all kinds of things that they should know in the back of their mind (or whereever their conscience is hiding) are wrong, and doing them anyways. You might even venture to say that this was the American Camelot.

Of course televison, movies, and books can choose to focus on certain things often ignoring others. Given the things that have happened since the 50's there was obviously a lot that was ignored or was brewing under the surface. There was not too much involvement of minorities in either of the shows and given America's melting pot image and demographics, there were plenty of minorities around even in the 50's. Equal rights and the role of women in the work place were not really takled other than being the sterotypical role of women being only mothers and wives. The taboo issues were never reallly touched and we never really saw a darker side of Howard and June, certainly there were areas where they would have both been flawed. You have to wonder how they would have dealt with some of the issues that seem to divide us today?

Much of life and attitudes in those shows are worth bringing back and if given a chance, I think that much of the American population would like to be able to return to the more simpler life of the 50's. In fact there are lots of politicians who have hijacked the "family values" theme for their own corroupt and warpped use. Americans would like to be able to trust their political and business leaders again, but that trust has been violated and a true return to honor in those fields seems like a long way off in the horizon (if it is there at all). Most leaders in that era did seem to genuinely care about their country and the American people as opposed to those today that seem to only be looking to line their pockets at any cost. You wouldn't have expected CEOs back then to get millions of dollars while shipping the jobs of their workforce off to the far corners of the world in the name of Shareholder value. Eisenhower warned the public about the Millitary Industrial Complex, you got to believe that he would not have started a War on Terror, or wasted taxpayer money so irresponsibibly as many of our leaders since.

Finally, I'd like to say goodbye to actors portraying Howard Cunningham and June Cleaver. You've created characters that many of us identify with in our window to that time period. There are lots of fond memories of your shows and the chacters you created will live on in our memories and new generations will continually be exposed and get to know those characters via methods that are probably not even conceived of yet today.

Photo Credit: "Oldsmobile Super 88" courtesy of straymuse.

Germany- 20 Years After Reunification

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 05:23:00 +0000

October 3, 2010 marks Twenty Years that Germany has been reunified. I couldn't let this event pass without saying a few words. I'll try not to repeat too much of what I wrote last year in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and
German Reunification- Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 Years Later but as we get older we do sometimes repeat ourselves.

First of all you have to wonder where all the time has gone, can it really be twenty years now? We have two generations of people that were born after the event and have no idea of what it was like before. For these post German unification- Fall of the Berlin Wall generations, it must seem just plain stupid that we ever lived that way and that we put up with life being that way.

I never got to experience the East/West situation first hand because by the time that I had moved to Germany, and it had already been more than 10 years since it had all happened. I do remember how exciting it was that the Iron Curtain was falling down and all the hope that people felt. It seemed that if the Berlin Wall could fall and Germany was united again that anything was possible, what a great feeling that was, we could stand to have some optimism like that again!

The countries and people living behind the iron curtain were thrust into Western society and Captialism and while many joined wholeheartedly, many others were reluctanly pulled along. Can you imagine how much of a change that was for all those people that new nothing but life behind the Iron Curtain (and even those who were fortunate enough to taste life in the West)? I remember a scene from Moscow on the Hudson, a movie where Robin Williams is a circus performer from Russia and while performing in New York, he decides to defect. One scene in the movie his is flabergasted by the ceral selection in a local supermarket and is almost paralysed with having to make a choice. Can you imagine going from bread lines to being able to buy 100+ different breakfast cereals? On paper and in the back of our minds we think oh what a great change for these people, but for a lot of them the transition was not and is not easy, they're still people that have had to deal with some tremendous change.

Germany is in a bit of a bad position in the Europe that is emerging. West Germany was properous before with a strong economy. They were certainly glad that Germany was one country again and that they could travel around freely (how refreshing that had to feel for so many people!) but they probably had not idea of the financial costs that would come with welcoming the former East Germany in. In West Germany they've paid a lot of taxes because of the reunification and the various projects to develop East Germany. The jobs have not really lived up to what was hoped. Lots of jobs are continually drawn out of Germany into other former Iron Curtain countries where the labor costs are cheaper. So you have a population that has had to spend a lot of taxes on reunification, but business is not returning that investment into Germany. Something doesn't seem right about that!

I briefly saw a report on a daily morning show about a survey on how happy Germans were after 20 years of unification, the figures and the the questions asked seemed to echo much of what I had read in Germans Disappointed by Reunification, New Poll Shows. From the story just mentioned, it was pointed out that while many easten Germans felt exploited and that they didn't really get a good deal out of hte reunification, Manfred Guellner said that "western Germans have the feeling that they have simply footed the bill for eastern Germany". Since more than 1 Trillion dollars have been transfered from West to East since the reunification, you can understand why many might feel that way. Also, bear in mind that 1 Trillion dollars for Germany, a country much smaller than the U.S., 1 Trillion dollars is a lot of money, heck it should be considered a lot of money anywhere!

The Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Breakup of the Iron Curtain, and the German Reunification caught much of the world by surprise and it seems that our leaders didn't have too much time to recover and re-adjust before the current War on Terror. After all those years of the Cold War and all the money that was spent, there should have been more thought given to how the world should move on afterwards instead of getting drawn into another endless set of wars.

So on the 20th Anniversary of German Reunification, I wish to say congratulations to Germany and to all the people living in the former Iron Curtain. I'm glad that you got to breakaway from the awful Cold War era existance that you were living. I hope that we can find a good way forward, that you didn't just trade one form of oppression for another. Capitalism (and the Free Market) and our Democracies, need some sterring to keep us away from the iceberg on the horizon. I think that we'd all rather have choice than live under oppressive totalitarian regimes and freedom means more than being able to buy Coke or Pepsi at your local market.

You might also be interest in the post that I wrote about my trip to Dresden last year.

Photo credit: Market place view of the Dresden's famous Frauenkirche taken in August 2009

September 11th- Nine Years Later

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 03:07:00 +0000

Today is the Nineth Anniversary of September Eleventh. I hope tht you'll take time from all the hype and all that is going on in your life and stop to think about what it means to you. On this day nine years ago a terrible tradegy happened to America and the world. People that died in those awful attacks that day came from different parts of the world, had different nationalities, and differing world and religious beliefs. Most of the victims that day had not met each other previously, bar the people that worked together or were traveling together that day, but now they were all brought together and share a common event. The world will never be the same.

I hope that we as peoples of the world can be driven to aspire for greatness, to look for ways that we have in common and can relate to each other. I hope that we will build and create great things. I hope that we'll raise our kids to be good and wonderful people that believe that anything is possible. I'm really glad that I discovered Project 2996 because its goal of remembering each victim is something positive and a worthy aspiration, one that I hope will be fullfilled, is certainly a better response than some of the other things we've heard about since September Eleventh.

I hope that you'll join me in remembering and preserving the memory of six of the heros of that day:

Keith Roma

Keith Roma was 27 and with Fire Patrol. Last year when deciding who I wanted to write about I was drawn by a picture of him holding a baby. His daughter (Samantha) was seven at the time of his death. I discovered that there had been some controversy about including him in the list of FDNY victims of September 11^th list, because the New York Fire Patrol was not officially part of the FDNY. There were witnessed accounts of him saving people that day and he died trying to save 9 people. You can read more about Keith in my tibute from last year.

Christopher Santora

Christopher Santora was 23 and part of Engine Company 54. He was one of the youngest fire fighter to have died. He had been a substitute teacher and even turned down a permanent job at junior high to follow in his father’s footsteps as a fire fighter. He played “stickball” as it was called in his neighborhood. He wasn’t a Mets or Yankees fan but rooted for the Toronto Blue Jays. You can read more about ChristopherKeith in my tibute from last year.

Joseph P. Henry

Joseph P. Henry was 25 and with Ladder 21 out of Manhattan. Last year when I read the following tibute to him I decided that I wanted to include him the the people that I was honoring...“I was trapped in building one for an hour. I would not be alive if it weren't for the firemen who unlocked and broke down the doors to the stairwells. I want Joseph's family to know that when the time comes and I get married and have a family, I will name my first born boy after him. He was an amazing person and I will forever keep him and his family in my prayers.” Vanessa Sierra, college classmate (from the CNN Tribute to September 11th). Julia Corrales, his girlfriend, wrote that that he had only been a fireman for 11 months before September 11th and that they were going to go to Ireland on their first vacation together on October 19th, 2001. (from the Irish Tribute website). You can read more about Joseph in my tibute from last year.

Karl Henri Joseph

Fire fighter Karl Henri Joseph was 25 and working from Brooklyn. He was an EMT. Karl and his family came to the U.S. from Hati. Lucy Bouciquot, a family friend wrote in a tribute at Legacy "He liked Haiti, but America was his home." Mr. Beehler, a fire fighter that went to the academy with him said "Karl had a way of shrugging off the ribbing. He had a great smile and a great laugh...As far as the job, he was top-notch." (from his Legacy entry). Karl is another shinning example of an immigrant working hard for a better life in America. Tuxedo Cat Grandma wrote a nice tribute 2996: Karl Henri Joseph in 2006 worth checking out.

Dana Hannon

Dana Hannon, 29 at the time of his death was the first of the group of fire fighters that I came across when preparing for last year's tribute. Before being a professional fire fighter, he was a volunteer that became a Captain before becoming a professional. While a fire fighter in Bridgeport, Connecticut he was awarded a medal of valour for a rescue there. Dana proposed to Allison Dansen from the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia! They married the folowing fall. "He was the best brother anybody could ask for," said his sister, Kyle. (tribute at Legacy). Danielle at Stupid Trivia wrote A TRIBUTE TO DANA HANNON a nice article that I assume was a Project 2996 tribute in 2006.

David W Laychak

I first wrote about David W Laychak two years ago. Since he was my first Project 2996 tribute I think of him often when I think about Project 2996 and September Eleventh. David worked as a civilian at the Pentagon. His brother was largely responsible for the memorial at the Pentagon which opened two years ago. I'm grateful to his sister (Molly Laychak Walen) for the information that she provided to me. I was pleased to see that Ms. Laychak put a comment up after last year's article. David was a civilan working at the Pentagon.

As I wrap up my tribute this year, lets remember the lives of these and other true heros that lost their lives on September Eleventh. To the families and friends of those that lost loved ones, although they're gone they're certainly not, nor they ever be forgotten. The world is a better place for countless ways because all of these 2996 people lived. May their memory live on in spouses, parents, siblings, children, grandchildre, friends, and even in those that never met them.

My Other Posts About September Eleventh...

Photo credit: "Twin Towers III" courtesy of mrgoose.

Input Wanted for September 11th Post

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:05:00 +0000

As the 9th Anniversary of September 11th draws near, I'm starting to prepare for my post and was hoping that I might be able to get some help from our readers. This will be the 3rd year that I've written a tribute honoring some of the victims of September Eleventh. Three years ago I stumbled upon Project 2996, a sight dedicated to remembering the victims of September 11th and making sure that their memories live on, and became involved two years ago writing a tribute to David Lychak. Last year I expanded the number of people that I paid tribute to, including some firefighters.

I'm still thinking about what I'd like to do this year, so your ideas and feedback are wellcome. I'd like to pay tribute to the people that I've writen about last year but I also don't want write the same things that I did last year, so I'm looking for additional information that could be provided about:

Keith Roma (27)- of the Fire Patrol
Christopher Santora (23)- of Engine Company 54
Joseph P. Henry (25)- of Ladder 21
Karl Henri Joseph (25)- an EMT
Dana Hannon (29)- a NYC Firefighter
David W Laychak (40)- a civial working at the Pentagon

I'd like to know about: How their family and friends have coped with their loss? What people have done to preserve their memory? How and what the family and friends are up to? I'd also like to know if the families and friends have any other things that they'd like to share. What I don't wish to do is publish anything that would effect the privacy of the family and friends, so if there is anything that you'd like to share with me that you don't wish published, please let me know, because I know that the family and friends have suffered greatly and some of them would like to stay out of the lime light.

Because Project 2996 is dedicated to remembering the victims of September Eleventh, they'd like to see as may tributed published as possible on September 11th, ultimately, they'd like to see a tribute for all 2996 victims, consider yourself invited to write your own tribute. They've provided some good resources to aid you in your search at their Tips on Research page. You can learn more about Project 2996 at their What Is Page? It sure would be great to see Project 2996 meet their goal.

You can provide your input in the comments section below or you can email me at systems.overload.time at googlemail.com. I look forward to getting your feedback and seeing some great tributes.

Here are links to the posts that I've done on September Eleventh in the past

Good Bye, Ronnie James Dio

noreply@blogger.com (Systems Overload) — Mon, 24 May 2010 03:53:00 +0000

Heavy Metal's legendary singer, Ronnie James Dio, died of Stomach Cancer on May 16th at the age of 67. I thought that I'd like to say a few words.

I woke won morning in 1983 to the amazing sounds of "Rainbow in the Dark" blaring from my clock radio. I was immediately captivated by the vocals of Ronnie James Dio. This was one of those moments that you never forget. I was fortunate enough to see Dio in concert in the Summer of 1984 on his "Last In Line" tour along with Twisted Sister at Pine Knob. This was one of many great concerts for me that Summer. Those were the days before CDs, when we listened to cassettes.

Like a lot of other boys at the time, I was into Heavy Metal and Hard Rock and had known Ronnie James Dio as the guy that replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the lead singer in Black Sabbath. He was also the first singer in Rainbow, the band founded by guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore after leaving Deep Purple. Between various stints with various incarnations of Black Sabbath, he had his own band. After replacing Ozzy, Dio seemed forever tied to Black Sabbath, not ever really get too far from the band as you can see if you look at his musical history. Kind of like Billy Martin and the Yankees, he would get a way and always get pulled back in.

Dio was one of the artists that organized "Hear N Aid" that got various Heavy Metal and Hard Rock musicians together to raise money for Africa as a sort of Hard Rock answer to U.S.A. for Africa. This was not to be his only venture into the world of charity and giving. Manager and wife, Wendy Dio has requested that fans make a donation to the Ronnie Jame Dio "Stand Up And Shout" Cancer Fund (you can read more about it at Dio's homepage).

Dio revealed last Summer had stomach cancer, after wrapping a tour in Atlantic City with Heaven And Hell ( the latest version of Black Sabbath). Wendy Dio has written quite a bit about his battle with Cancer at the website. On March 12, Wendy wrote... "Well, now it has been Ronnie’s 7th chemo, another cat scan and another endoscopy, and the results are good – the main tumor has shrunk considerably..." Like so many others, Ronnie James Dio wasn't victorious in his battle with Cancer, but he fought and kept the music going.

Heavy Metal, especially that which Dio, has had a lot of good verses evil themes, many of them very epic in nature. I thought that I'd site a few of the more famous lines from Dio. (I don't even dare to try to match the imagery)

From "Heaven And Hell"- Black Sabbath (you can read the rest of the lyrics at Lyrics Freak here)

The devil is never a maker The less that you give, you're a taker

The lover of lifes not a sinner The ending is just a beginner The closer you get to the meaning The sooner you'll know that you're dreaming

Well if it seems to be real, it's illusion For every moment of truth, there's confusion in life The world is full of kings and queens Who blind your eyes and steal your dreams

And they'll tell you black is really white The moon is just the sun at night And when you walk in golden halls You get to keep the gold that falls

From "Rainbow in the Dark" - Dio (read the rest of the lyrics at Lyrics Freak here)

When there's lightning You know it always brings me down Cause it's free and I see that it's me Who's lost and never found

No sign of the morning coming You've been left on your own Like a Rainbow in the Dark

Do your demons Do they ever let you go When you've tried do they hide deep inside

From "The Last in Line" - Dio (read the rest of lyrics at Lyrics Freak here)

We're a ship without a storm The cold without the warm Light inside the darkness that it needs We're a laugh without a tear The hope without the fear We are coming - home

We'll know for the first time If we're evil or divine We're the last in line It's the angel or the beast And the answer lies between The good and bad

And lastly from the "Mob Rules" -Black Sabbath (read the rest of lyrics at Lyrics Freak here)

If you listen to fools, The mob rules

Upon hearing the news, I played several songs from Dio at Blip.fm. I'll be getting out my CDs with Dio to hear him again. My condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Ronnie James Dio. This was truly a sad day for music. Dio was such a big part of my teenage years and my early twenties. I'd like to thank him for the music and for all that he has meant to me over the years. Although he might not have to wait to much longer for "the judgment", in the hearts of his fans, he'll always be the "Last in Line" singing about those epic battles of good verse evil. It is really amazing how the lines between good and evil have become so blurred that it isn't so easy now a days to know the good from the bad. Ronnie, it seems that you work isn't done. R.I.P, Ronnie.

Here are some links that you might like if you're a fan of Ronnie James Dio...

The official website

Become a fan at Facebook

The official Twitter account

Wikipedia entry on Rio James Dio

Yahoo story about his death

Photo credit: Heaven And Hell 5 from Wikipedia Commons

DSDS 2010 Finals Tonight

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:02:00 +0000

Tonight (April 17th) is the final and it boils down to Mehrzad Marashi and Menowin Fröhlich, who will be the German Superstar for 2010 (Season 7)?

I enjoy hearing good music and seeing musicians that are good at it. I'm not so much into the whole reality tv thing and the trumped up drama that goes along with it. I have to also say that I'm not really happy with the selection process. If the process were truly democratic it would be one person one vote, not whoever is willing to spend 50 cents per vote to vote. This is not democratic at all, only a matter of who's fans are willing to spend more to vote. Every season has some controversy, let's face it that is something that the networks and show producers want to see. They want to have people talking about their show and as the expression goes ever bad press is still press. This season I was disappointed to see Nelson Sangare didn't make it to the top 7, I had him pegged for the top 3. This season there seemed to be an awful lot of problems with the candidates remembering the text, even Menowin had some problems at Dieter Bohlen made a comment about "Ayo Technology" from Milow sounding like alphabet soup.

I'm not happy with the way that Menowin is being "pushed". Last year the Bild promoted Annemarie Eilfeld (wikipedia entry), there was almost a story about her every week. This season there seems to be an awful lot of coverage of Menowin. Watching the show last week it seemed like the jury was really pushing Menowin, almost will to give him the DSDS title then and there. I love a good Cinderella story, to see the underdog come out on top, but we've had a few other recent down on their luck Superstars (Thomas Godoj, and in particular Mark Medlock) and I want the music to be the story not promotion by the Bild or someone at RTL that thinks Meonwin is the person they want to hang the success of DSDS 2010 upon.

One thing that I've been disappointed with about the show, is that they don't really promote the winnners. With the exception of Mark Medlock, you almost don't hear anything at all about the past winners. One of the reasons that Mark Medlock has done so well is that he really learned how to "play" Dieter Bohlen (wikipedi entry), so he didn't have too many problems getting promoted. He and Dieter even went on tour together. When you think about how many people watch the show and are fans of this or that candidate, it seems hard to believe that it promoted properly, that more of the former winners and candidates wouldn't be doing better and be better well known.

Both Mehrzadt and Menowin can dance and have moves (this can't be said for all of the contestants this year). Menowin's voice is higher and more suited toward's Michael Jackson type songs. He sang Santana's Maria Maria with an intensity that I really liked. He did a good version of the Simply Red song "If You Don't Know Me By Now", since the lead singer for Simply Red has a higher voice, it matched pretty well. I also really liked the version of "We Are the World" that he did (but in the back of my mind I kept waiting to here the famous singers of that song chime it).

Mehrzadt can perform a variety of songs and can really give a song a lot of feeling. He gave the Lionel Richie song "Hello" more feeling that Lionel Richie himself gave it. Although Dieter Bohlen seemed to that that "Runaway (Del Shannon)" was too old for the audience, I wonder how many out in tvland were enjoying that golden oldie? I also thought that "Mr. Boombastic" (Shaggy) was fun, even if Dieter thinks Shaggy is one of the worst singers. Mehrzad seems like a class act. Last week, in his thrid song, Mehrzad proposed to his girlfriend, so regardless of if he wins or not, this show will always have a special memory for the two of them as a couple.

I've seen the set list for tonight...

Menowin will sing...

That's What Friends Are For (Dionne Warwick)
Billie Jean (Michael Jackson)

Mehrzat will sing...

Endless Love (Lionel Richie)
Fresh (Kool & The Gang)

Both will sing "Don't Believe" written by Dieter Bohlen. I would have almost bet that Menowin would do at least one Michael Jackson song (so not really a surprise here), while I'm sure that Mehrzat will give the Lionel Richie song a lot of feeling. Here's hoping for a good show. If you're a fan of any of the other candidates from this or any of the other past shows, it is worth having a look at the Wikipedia entry to see who has their own webpages and who is making a career post DSDS.

------------------------------------------------------

Here are some links that you might want to check out.

Photo credit: DJ Night 3 courtesy of fangol

Our Tenth Wedding Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 03:00:00 +0000

April 7th war our tenth wedding anniversary, so before going any farther I'd just like to thank my wife saying "yes" and agreeing to share her life with me! While I wish to avoid the cliché about it seeming like only yesterday, it doesn't seem like we've been married for ten years! I don't claim to know all the secrets to a long-lasting and happy marriage, and while there are factors which are outside of our control, I can share what I know about my marriage.

I've found someone to share my life with and someone to share her life with me. I think that this is what most everyone is looking for, ultimately. Sure you might want this or that in your spouse or significant other, but you want to be able to share your happy moments as well as your sad ones, for better or worse as the vows often say.

In the beginning of most relationships there is the excitement of getting to know the other person, everything is new and exciting. While there is the honeymoon period to your marriage, you could also say that there is a honeymoon period to most of your relationships (regardless of if you are married or not). Some couples that have been married for a long time say that they do various things to keep the spirit of the honeymoon period alive and to keep their relationship exciting and new. Other couples do various things to rekindle the spirit of that honeymoon period. I think that you need to find some sort of balance so that this doesn't drive you and your spouse crazy with trying too hard and that you don't drown in the mundane parts of life or in all its tribulations.

I believe that common or shared interests are essential. Early in relationships you can have lots of differences, maybe even there is a spark or chemistry because you're so different than your significant other that drives your relationship, but later on it is helpful to have interests that you share. My wife and I both like to travel and learn about places that we haven't been before. We both get excited about visiting a new place that we haven't seen before, or going back to a place that we really enjoyed. Some couples have hobbies that they share together. The more things that you share that both enjoy, then this can also mean that more of your time together can be fun quality time that you both really enjoy.

Raising kids together can really help bring a couple together. In many marriages the children become the focus of our lives. When the kids are little there are the wonderful memories that you have of all the firsts and all the cute things that they do. Later on there is all the learning and development of your kids. A word of warning, while kids can bring couples closer together, they won't necessarily save a marriage. Not everyone wants kids and there is a lot of work and responsiblity that goes with having kids, so it is not a decission that should be made too lightly. It sure is hard to beat the satisfaction of seeing what good kids you have and somehow feeling somewhat responsible for that.

Mine is not a prefect relationship. In fact, if you were to ask my wife, I'm sure that she could list some things that I could do better in our relationship. What I think is important is to realize that nobody is perfect and not drive yourself crazy trying to find "the perfect relationship". On the other hand you also need to realize when you're not happy with the relationship and get out. If you're miserable now, why do you think that you'll be happy a year from now or farther down the road with your significant other. You also need to realize when you're in a toxic relationship and run. I've known lots of women who wanted to fix this or that guy, but it is really hard to change someone and being able to change someone into what you want sometimes makes them "unexciting" and "unattractive".

My wife has a German passport and nationality but she is American in her mind, soul, and heart. From early on she had an attraction to American things and people. She was an exhange student in high school and was able to spend some time in America. While she is German, she often felt herself being American. How does this lead to a successful marriage you might ask? It is hard to quantify, but this is one of those intangilbe things in our relationship that makes it work. I used to dream about living in Europe, and through my wife I've been able to do this. Through me, my wife was able to live in the U.S. for a year, have an American family that lovers her, and further cultivate her "Americaness". Maybe there is the secrete ingridient to marriage, that bonding or imprinting experience that draws the couple together. This might also be the "this is our story" component, every marriage and every relationship has its own "unique" story behind it.

I remember that my grandfather used to describe my grandmother as "good friend" when he talked about her to others. He used to say that talking to her about what happened to him during the course of his day was one of the things that bothered him the most after she died. I'd say that is one of the things that I was looking for, regardless of if I really knew it or not.

I remember before getting married having said that I thought that it should be harder to get married, to which one of my sisters said to be careful what you wished for. One of the things that I had meant by that statement was that was if people had to think more about marriage before getting married, there would be less divorces. When Christine and I said our wedding vows, we made a comitment to each other. While we've certainly been blessed, we both decided that that our vows meant something to us and that we were going to be there for each other

Couples need to find a way to disagree and to fight. This is one area where many marriages and relationships fall apart. It is darn near impossible that two people will ever agree on everything. You might be able to go a long time without finding and major disagreements but they are bound to happen and you need to be able to know that your relationship can survive the differences. How this is handled will vary with every couple and every relationship. If there are never any disagreements, you have to wonder if the relationship is in good shape, there might be warning signs. If one person is always going along with other person they might not care about all the small decisions but they might also be building up a resentment over always giving in.

Christine, thank you for taking me into your life and being my wife! I look forward to many more years to come. If you're interested you can read about how we met, the wedding, and another post that I wrote in honor our 7th Annivesary. I find it hard to believe that it has been ten years. When I think about couples celebrating 25 year anniversaries, that doesn't seem so far off now any more. I hope that everyone can find some to share their life with that makes them happy and is good for them.

Photo taken at the Wiesbaden Biebrich Schloss (castle) April 7, 2000.

Our Star for Oslo 2010 Final Tonight

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:05:00 +0000

Tonight is the Finals in the "Unser Star für Oslo 2010" (Our Star for Oslo 2010) televised contest in Germany. The winner will be Germany's entry into the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest being broadcast in May. Among some of the more notable careers that the contest has helped launch are ABBA, who performed Waterloo in 1974 and Céline Dion who performed "Ne partez pas sans moi" in 1988 oddly enough for Switzerland.

Germany is tried of finishing poorly for so long and they do some pretty creative things to win (or at least finish better). One of the first efforts that I'm aware of was that of ProSeiben personality Stefan Raab hosting a contest on one of his shows that resulted in Max Mutzke performing "Can't Wait Until Tonight" for Germany in the 2004 contest (note Max is performing this is song in the video embedded at the top of this post). This year ProSeiben and ARD have been airing a contest to determine who'll represent Germany in the 2010 Eurovision. While there are more and more music casting shows, this is first that is co-hosted on two different networks, with ARD being publicly run no less.

I remember seeing some of the promotion for Max when he was going to perform at Eurovision and getting excited about his song. The song was very catchy and sounded like something that Joe Cocker could have sung very well. I watched the 2004 Eurovision and realized that I had somehow gotten old and out of touch because most of the music being performed didn't appeal to me and I was surprised to see that Max didn't finish near the top. I had kind of written off the whole Eurovision experience off after that.

I didn't see the Unser Star Für Oslo from the beginning but came into it later on. I found it really refreshing that this was focused on people that could really sing and not creating drama and conflict. Clearly most anyone of the candidates could do a good job representing Germany. I've also enjoyed that the jury has not been overly critical, obscene, or uncivilized. Maybe the performances didn't lend themselves to those types of critiques but it has been nice not hearing any below the belt commentary.

Tonight it boils down to who will be representing Germany in Oslo this year, will it be Lena Meyer-Landrut or Jennifer Braun? I don't know if I'll be tuning into Eurovision this year or not, but it sure would be nice to see one of these two women win it. I'm looking forward to hearing some good music tonight.

Additional Information

Hobbit's Second Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:03:00 +0000

Yesterday was Hobbit's second birthday. Its hard to believe that he is already two years old.

Having had dogs most of my life, those years without one seemed as though something was missing. My mother's last dog was a Bearded Collie that I was very fond of, so when I got my first dog I decided that I wanted to get a Bearded Collie because of him.

Hobbit and his brothers and sisters

We were pretty excited when Hobbit was born (I think that I was more excited than everyone else!). That excitement built up to our first visit, then the first time that the girls got to see him, then there was all the anticipation of seeing how much he had changed from visit to visit, until the day finally arrived when we could pick him up and take him home.

When we did take Hobbit home the fun really began. It didn't take long before Hobbit was a full-fledged member of our family and it was hard to imagine life without him. Being a cute puppy made him pretty popular with the neighborhood kids. Six months, one year, and now two years have really flown by.

Hard to believe that Hobbit was ever this small!

Even as Hobbit is now two, he is still very much a puppy. He loves people and still wants to great everyone that he meets (which does scare some people). Although his black hair has turned gray, you wouldn't know that he isn't a puppy anymore. Having a dog or other pet can give you so much joy and happiness.

If you'd like to read more about Hobbit, I've written quite a bit about Hobbit at the DC Heron Family blog, posted some pictures at Facebook, and some pictures at Flickr. The drawing above is one I recently did of Hobbit and have posted to Flickr.

20th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall's Fall

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:36:00 +0000

Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall fell this was surely a watershed moment for mankind. Amongst other things this means that there is at least one generation of people alive today that have no recollection of a divided Germany and the Berlin Wall. How do you explain to them what had happened and how Germany was divided? The Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany recently tried to do just this as part of the Children's University 2009 Program in the topic "Eine Mauer in Deutschland- order: Eins plus eins ist eins!" (A Wall in Germany- One plus one is one!, in English)

I've attended two of the Kiddie Uni programs so far and have been quite please and plan on attending other in the future. Parents need to see if they think that the children are old enough to attend and if they'd be interested in the topics covered but they do a good job and it can be a fun an educational experience for your kids. They set up one lecture hall where the kids sit to take part in the topic while parents wishing to stay can view the lecture (and keep an eye on their kids) from another room as the event is televised and they pan to the kids from time to time (to ease the minds of the parents) and to get the reaction of the kids. It should be noted that the programs are in German

There was some explanation of how Germany was divided at the end of World War II, without a lot of detail about the war itself. Uncle Sam and Uncle Ivan played the parts of America and the U.S.S.R during the lesson. The kids were told about the freedoms that people had in West Germany and how the party decided what was best for the people in East Germany. They even made their own wall between the kids and dived them into East and West.

Uncle Sam passed out Gummi bears (something most all kids in Germany know and love) to the kids in West Germany, while the kids in the DDR didn't get any. You can imagine that this got a reaction out of the kids and some were ready to "defect" to get their Gummi Bears. There was genuine concern among their parents about if their kids were in the DDR or in the West, and you could see them looking intently to determine if their kids were in the DDR or not.

A little later on there were calls to tear down the wall and Uncle Ivan disappeared, while they told the kids about President Reagan's call to "Mr Gorbechev, tear down this wall..." the wall came down and all the kids got to have Gummi Bears. Gummi Bears for all.

In honor of the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, I'm playing Pink Floyd's "The Wall" on Blip.fm. I recently wrote an article about 19 Years of German Reunification And the Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 Years Later, if you'd like to read more about this topic.

Photo Credit: "American Sector" courtesy of Lietmotiv.

Rothenburg OBT And Leyk Lighthouses

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:57:00 +0000

I recently made a trip to Rothenburg OBT, Germany and the nearby Leyk Lighthouse outlet in nearby Woernitz. Rothenburg is one of the most famous walled medieval cities still exiting today and There is a good chance that might have seen a Leyk Lighthouse and not realized it. If you happen to be in the area it is worth the visit.

Leyk Lighthouses

Leyk Lighthouses arranged in a tribute to Rothenburg ODT

Leyk Lighthouses are hand-made ceramic houses that are fashioned after the famous German Fachwerkhaus (half-timbered house) that many people think of when they think of Germany. The Leyk Lighthouses are referred to as "Lighthouses" because you can put a tea-light in them (probably not the lighthouse that first came to your mind I'm sure. Some of these houses are modeled after famous building in Germany, while others are inspired by actual buildings, but they all have a certain charm about them. We've been collecting them for a few years now, so we were excited to see the outlet where they actually do produce some of them. Before heading up to the shop, we peaked into a room where several houses were in various states of production, some were drying, waiting to have color added to them, while others had varying degree of color painted on them. In the shop there was a huge table displaying the houses as one big city. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture the impressiveness of the spawling city, but I did take several pictures of the Leyk Lighthouses and I've posted them to a folder at Flickr.

Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber

A view of part of the city's wall from outside.

Rothenburg ODT (Ob Der Tauber), Germany is a very memorable place. In fact I've heard it described as a place that time forgot. The name of the city can be translated at Rothenburg above the Tauber (Wikipedia). This walled medieval overlooks the Tauber river. Rot is German for red, with burg being "a fortress, in which the villagers from the surrounding area seek refuge in case of an attack. It's a military structure, either located on top of a hill or surrounded by a moat (or both), with thick walls and tiny arrow slits..." (Leo.org/forum). Many of the roofs on the houses in Rothenburg are red and the process of retting flax for linen production is rotten in German. Rothenburg was once very prosperous as a result of the textile industry.

Notice the cobble-stone street (one of many in the town)

This place is special to me because shortly after I got married, we took several members of the wedding party there. I was charmed by the city back then and have fond memories of the charming older gentleman that the drove our group's carriage through the cobble-stone streets making a pass at one of the women in our group, while nature was taking its course and the horse relieved itself. He told us lot of stories of the various buildings and the the town's history. We were their on a Sunday and the Christmas store was closed so I made a personal vow that I would one day go back to at least see the Christmas store. I was excited to hear that my wife and a friend were planning a trip to visit the nearby Leyk outlet.

The Marien Apothek (Pharmacy) shown here is a popular Leyk Lighthouse

One of the things that makes Rothenburg so unique is that it remains on a very few walled cities in the world. When you look around the city there are various entrances through the walls but their aren't so many, so you can imagine how this could have protected the town from invaders in the past. We took the Nightwatchman's tour, which is normally offered nightly from April to December with one tour in English and another in German. A very entertaining and informative man is dressed as a night watchman might have been back in the day and he talks about some of the town's history and what it mush have been like to live in the city. He told us that one of the reasons the city is so well preserved is that time kind of passed it by at one point only for it to later be re-discovered by tourists with millions of visitors since. He also told the story about how the city was saved from being totally destroyed during World War II, even though their had been orders given to do so.

A gift bus parked in front of the Christmas Store

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to go the Christmas store, well I finally did it and I was not disappointed! Käthe Wohlfahrt is the name of the famous Christmas store in Rothenburg. Having been to a few famous Christmas store before (Bronners in Frankenmuth, Michigan and the Canterbury Village in Michigan) and having a general fondness for Christmas and Christmas decorations, I was excited to finally be able to go in. Visitors aren't permitted to take pictures inside, so unfortunately I don't have any but it is hard to describe the wonders that you see inside, so I leave this up to your imagination. The assortment of all things Christmas is amazing and worth seeing.

A view from the Market Place in Rothenburg ODT

I really enjoyed our overnight stay in Rothenburg. I had hoped to be able to climb around and see the wall from inside and to climb one of the town's taller towers to see the magnificent view but I guess those are all more reasons to return there again. Rothenburg is full of Bavarian charm and this German Disneyland if worth checking out.

Here are some links related to Rothenburg and Leyk that you might want to check out...

Photo Credits: All the pictures displayed above are located in the Leyk and Rothenburg folders at Flickr.

German Reunification- Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 Years Later

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Today is the 19th Anniversary of German Reunification. November 9, 2009 will mark the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Events started in the Summer of 1989 that led to the wall that separated the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany) and GDR (German Democratic Republic) or East Germany (referred to as the DDR or Deutsche Demokratische Republik by Germans) being torn down and "officially" accepted travel between the two former German nations and the Reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990.

President Kennedy says "Ich Bin ein Berliner"

President Reagan Says "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down this Wall"

ABC coverage with Peter Jennings

The Excitement And Atmosphere Of the Fall of The Berlin Wall

Andreas Ramos says in an article about his experience during the Fall of the Berlin Wall, "We walked through the border. On both sides the guard towers were empty and the barbed wire was shoved aside in great piles. Large signs told us that we needed sets of car documents. The East German guard asked if we had documents. I handed him my Danish cat's vaccination documents, in Danish. He waved us through." The account of Andreas shows the chaos, excitement, and hope that was experienced in the days that the Wall fell. I wasn't in Berlin or Germany when this historic event happened but I remember the sense of excitement that existed in my classes at the time. There was a feeling that if this happened, then anything was truly possible.

Unification Was The Only Way

Hans-Dietrich Genscher (Foreign minister of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1992) was asked in an interview that appeared in honor of the 15th Anniversary of German Unification at Deutsche Welle if looking back that reunifying Germany so quickly was a good idea, his response was "There was no other way. It was a window of opportunity in history that opened and we used it to peacefully implement German unification. It was absolutely right."In the same interview he described how he thought at the time that while there were still two division between the German states that production should have been encouraged more the former East Germany, so that there would have been more value added when they were joined, but this plan didn't make it past his coalition partners. This idea reemerges from time to time.

My Experiences In A Reunited Germany

I've lived in the Frankfurt, Germany area for eight years now, coming over before September Eleventh. I was amazed to think that Angela Merkel was elected Chancellor of a united Germany and included that thought in my article on the 17th Anniversary of German Reunification. Who would of thought such a thing were possible even twenty-five years ago! Recently, Germany held elections and Angela Merkel re-elected as German Chancellor. In my time here I've been able to see a little bit of Germany but it wasn't until this past August that I was able to visit East Germany. I was really excited about going on the trip and enjoyed visiting

Erfurt, Dresden, Meissen, and Weimar. Although back in 2002 I took a short trip to Prague, I hadn't really been to East Germany till that trip. In everyday life you don't think about there being two German states that often, but every now and again it hits me that twenty-five years ago taking a trip like this would have been a lot different. As an American, I tend to often believe that anything is possible, but I wonder how different my own beliefs would have been had I been part of a family torn between East and West, if I had grown up in East Germany?

Twenty Years Later Germans, East And West Do Feel The Promise Has Been Achieved

Much of Eastern Europe wasn't really ready for the march to market economies that came next, nor most of the Western World for that matter. When the Wall fell, East Germans were euphoric about the possibilities and the expectation that life would be so much better. Families and friends could now see each other again without having to plan as though they were characters in espionage stories. Die Welt ran a story in early 2009 about a poll that Forsa did with 1,000 Germans about Reunification. "Only 46 percent of Germans in the former communist east said their personal situation had improved. That number was as high as 71 percent in 1989." The survey indicated that "every fourth person in eastern Germany believes that life is worse now in the eastern states than it was under communism until 1989. Only 39 percent believe they have profited from reunification." And "in western Germany where 40 percent said their lives had improved since the end of Communism; in 1989 that number was 52 percent." While the eastern Germans think they got a bad deal and have been exploited, Forsa chief Manfred Guellner said, "western Germans have the feeling that they have simply footed the bill for eastern Germany." In fact at the time of publication Die Welt reported that one trillion dollars had been transferred from the west to the east since reunification. During the Communist years of East Germany, not nearly enough money was spent on infrastructure, which has meant the need for lots on investment in new and repairing old infrastructure. The outlook is further amplified by the movement of jobs to cheaper emerging markets within Eastern Europe and outside of Europe so that the good jobs aren't there or are disappearing.

The Fall of The Berlin Wall Caught The World By Surprise

I believe that the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the decline of Communism caught most of the world off guard and they weren't really prepared for what followed. Although President Reagan told Gorbachev to tear down the Wall, there doesn't really seem to have been any real plan and preparation by world leaders for a Post Cold War World. So much of structure, institutions, and policies of many world governments are a direct or indirect result of the Cold War. Military transformation alone is a monumental task that hasn't truly happened yet. World leaders still haven't really found an effective way to function in the Post Cold War. How should they deal with each other and how should they deal with "rogue" states? Who would have thought during the Cold War that shortly after it ended we would have another prolonged "War on Terrorism" that doesn't really look like it will be ending anytime soon.

Twenty Years Is A Short Time

20 years is a long time in terms of many of the people that are alive today, but in terms of the length of the Cold War or even in terms of German history or the history of mankind, the Fall of the Berlin wall is still relatively recent and one of those historical events that will be talked about for generations (providing of course that mankind lives for generations). I wonder how long it will be until the majority of people in Germany will look at their country and themselves as one country and that a separate Communist East Germany will be only a footnote or a vague recollection of an old family member or acquaintance?

Time For Celebration

In America, Independence Day (the Forth of July) is a big celebration. In Germany there will be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and this the 19th Anniversary of German Reunification, but it is not burned into the "national" psyche in nearly the same manner. For a lot of people it is just another day, but for me it is a triumph of mankind and something to be celebrated. While it doesn't hold universally true in all cases, but in American on the Forth of July, you can often feel a sense of pride amongst Americans, even those that might not ordinarily see eye to eye on this day, there is sense of unity (even if ever so slight, its there). Maybe Germans have seen too much in their lifetimes and throughout their history to see this event as I do, but I do hope that they can take some time to think about what today means and realize that they have reason to be proud.

I do hope that peoples of the world won't need to be separated from their family and friends because their nation is divided (as we have with Korea today). Hopefully, one day there will be one Korea too. My hope is that we never go through anything like this again but will we be able to learn from history and that we aren't doomed to repeat this kind of activity yet again! I hope that the world leaders are able to figure out how to lead in a Post Cold War World and I do hope that we can get past the current infatuation with "maximizing" shareholder value and executive bonuses because I don't think that those men and women that have lost their lives during the Cold War (and during the wars previous to that) did it for the "Corporatism" that seems to have usurped "Capitalism". Happy "Tag der Deutschen Einheit" or Day of German Reunification, everyone.

Some links that might be of interest to you....

Berlin Wall Online Lots of great stuff here

Berlin Wall at Wikipedia

German Reunification at Wikipedia

East Germany at Wikipedia

Germany at Wikipedia

Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989- There are lots of links to check out here

A Personal Account of The Fall of the Berlin Wall: The 11th and 12th of November, 1989- Personal account of a Dane that visited Berlin at the time

Fall of the Berlin Wall Video

Items Related to the fall of the Berlin Wall

Autumn of Change from CNN- series of reports about the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe

A City Divided- CNN- Part of the CNN series My City My Life. "Paul Van Dyk takes us on a tour of Berlin and talks about his memories of the Wall divided city."

Images of the Berlin Wall and its history set to Bob Dylan's "Masters of War"

Germans Disappointed by Reunification, New Poll Shows

Angela Merkel Re-Elected As Geman Chancellor

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:02:00 +0000

Angela Merkel emerged as German Chancellor (Kanzlerin) yesterday. She'll now lead a coalition of her CDU-CSU (Christan Democratic Union-Christian Social Union) party with the FDP (Free Democratic Party, Freie Demokratische Partei). This "officially" ends the Grand Coalition that put Merkel in power back in 2005 between the CDU-CSU and SPD (Social Democratic Party, Sozialdemokratische Partei).

SPD Chancellor Candidate- Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Merkel and her CDU/CSU party alliance received 33.7% "unofficially" according the Associated Press account linked to below, that along with a coalition of the FDP will give her a majority of seats in the German Parliament (Bundestag) without the Grand Coalition that has existed since 2005 with the SPD. Needless to say this is big for Merkel and the CDU/CSU. The results are likely to be analyzed every way under the sun but they no doubt will show the German voters' unhappiness with the Grand Coalition that has existed since 2005.

Many traditional SPD voters felt that the party had moved too much to the right as part of the Grand Coalition with Merkel and the CDU/CSU. Much of the SPD's power base has eroded over the last few years. Gerhard Schröder (SPD) beat Edmund Stoiber (CDU/CSU) in 2002 and had enough votes in the German parliament by forming a coalition with the Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen). Oskar Lafontaine (a former prominent and storied SPD memember) decided in 2005 that the SPD didn't fit him any longer and joined the WASG (Labour and Social Justice Electoral Alternative). The PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) and successor of SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the ruling party of East Germany till 1989) gained popularity with German voters in 2005. In the 2005 election the PDS and WASG both drew traditional voters away from the SPD. Since there wasn't enough seats in the Budestag based on historical alliances (the SPD and the Greens and the CDU/CSU and the FDP) talks started between the SPD and CDU/CSU. Resulting in Merkel becoming the first women German Chancellor.

The election results are encouraging for the FDP, often referred to as being "liberal" and "pro business", as they're likely to get more cabinet positions and have more influence on the emerging government. They're seen to be backing more radical tax cuts and pro market reforms.

The election results are also encouraging for the Die Linke (the Left), which today is a coalition of PDS and WASG that joined forces in 2007, got 12% of the vote (again unofficial). This is something that has to really bother SPD leadership as they plan for the future. Frank-Walter Steinmeier conceeded fairly early yesterday, indicating that he would now wear the mantle of opposition leader.

Being an American observer in the German elections, I can't help but look at things through my American experiences and background. I tend to look at the CDU/CSU as being more like the American Republican Party, while the SPD is more like the American Democratic Party. While all the parties will state that they're different than the others, I find that the major parties are too similar and maybe don't really reflect the "average" voter (whatever that might be now a days) that well. I have said to some of my German friends before that if you voted for say the Greens, wouldn't you be disappointed that they then form a coalition with the SPD? The response was a pragmatic that by voting for the Greens, you give them more seats in the Budestag and they can have more influence on policy and votes coming out of the government, which is a lot different than the all or nothing view of the American system.

If there wasn't such widespread belief that the SPD have left its members behind, you would think that they would have been able to capitalize on the financial crisis and take control of the government in Berlin. There is a lesson to be learned by politicians and government leaders everywhere, the framing of that lesson will be colored in kinds of ways, no doubt. It'll be interesting to see the official numbers and see how the candidates did in the different areas. Only time will tell what the parties learn from this election (if they learn anything at all).

Links You Might Want to Check Out...

Photo credits: Angela Merkel (2008)-2.jpg courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and
Frank-Walter Steinmeier 0918.jpg courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

September 11th- Eight Years Later

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:35:00 +0000

As time goes by we find that eight years have now passed since September Eleventh and although it is still often talked about and not something that will be forgotten anytime soon, the memories fad and the events of that day get buried behind other tragedies and world events. I’d like to that the time to honor the memory of some of the victims. Project 2996 celebrates the memory of the victims. Last year was the first time that I participated in this worthy event writing about David Laychak. I discovered Project 2996 when I was writing a post for the Sixth Anniversary of September Eleventh and decided that I wanted to participate.

This year I decided that I wanted to write about fire fighters Keith Roma, Christopher Santora, Joseph P. Henry, Karl Henri Joseph, and Dana Hannon who all died while saving lives at the World Trade Center as well as honouring the memory of David Laychak. This year my journey has really been a journey. I wanted to write about fire fighters this year and starting looking to see who I would write about. All the fire fighters mentioned above kind of jumped out at me for one reason or another, so I thought that I’d like to write about them all this year.

Keith Roma

Keith Roma was 27 and with Fire Patrol. When I first saw his picture with him holding a baby I was drawn to him. His daughter (Samantha) was seven at the time of his death, so I had an immediate connection. Of everyone that I researched this year, I spent the most amount of time reading about him. There had been some controversy about including him in the list of FDNY victims of September 11^th list, because the New York Fire Patrol was a fire fighting assistance organization run by the New York Board of Fire Underwriters that typically responds to commercial fires trying to salvage stuff. When at fires, the Patrol was required to follow the orders of the fire department management at the site. Keith was called to the World Trade Center and fell under orders of the FDNY then. There is little doubt that Keith was a hero, as there were witnessed accounts of him saving people that day and he died along with nine people that he was trying to save.

New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani said at Keith’s memorial service “I kept wondering, where do we find people like this – that can walk into a fire and take people out?” “I figured it out after all these memorial and funeral services. We find them because of their families and the way that they were brought up.” (quote from AN FDNY HERO’s LAST GIFT) The was one of the last of his funerals as mayor.

Keith’s parents were presented with a plaque from National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) President Michael Pickens and New York State Superintendent of Insurance Gregory V. Serio in recognition for the service of their son. "Keith Roma is a true hero and embodies the spirit of the New York fire patrolman," said Serio. "As a firefighter, I have seen firsthand what these men and women go through each and everyday and I thank each and everyone of them for their service to this great city over the past two centuries." (quote from NAIC HONORS NEW YORK WTC HERO KEITH ROMA)

Keith has a street in Richmondtown name after him. Keith gave flowers to a woman he ran into that was crying over the anniversary of her mother’s death one day. She had pink roses for the family when they visited the Fire Patrol.

Fire Patrol’s website has a tribute to Keith Roma along with other fire fighters. There is a nice remix of Arms of the Angels - Sara McLoughlin played on this page as well as access to other parts of the. I saw a report that the Fire Patrol was being disbanded, which would be really sad considering their long storied history and Keith Roma’s heroic efforts on September 11^th. Breaking the 9-11 myth describes efforts to get Keith Roma listed among the office FDNY September 11^th victims list. There is a lot to read about Keith at the Voices of September 11^th website.

Christopher Santora

Christopher Santora was 23 and part of Engine Company 54. I was immediately struck by his age. I’ve read that he was the youngest fire fighter to have died of the September 11^th victims, but it he wasn’t the youngest he was one of them. After graduating from Queens College, he was a substitute teacher he even turned down a permanent job at Junior High School 10, to follow in his father’s footsteps as a fire fighter. He father had been a deputy chief. Growing up he played “stickball” as it was called in his neighborhood. Christopher wasn’t a Mets or Yankees fan as you might expect but rooted for the Toronto Blue Jays. He seemed to enjoy holding different opinions. Richard Grech, his oldest friend said "If you said something stupid, he was all over you." (quote from the New York Times). He had just finished a shift when his father got a call asking him to go to the fire at the World Trade Center.

A scholarship fund has been established in Christopher’s name “This scholarship celebrates that student who can engage the judges in a topic taken from today's political or historical forums. Oftentimes our winners are not the top of their class. Sometimes they're the ones who more blend in than stand out for their academic accomplishments. But somehow they show us passion and skill when we ask our annual question. They show us a spark, a flame. They make an emotional connection with us through their words and ideas. These are the students we seek to encourage, the flames we seek to kindle.” (from the Christopher Santora Website)

Although a rather odd name, “P.S. Q222 - Fire Fighter Christopher A. Santora School”, was named after Christopher. His sister decided to enrol her son there, even though she didn’t live nearby. You would have thought that the heroic fire fighter’s nephew would be able to get in without any problems, but that wasn’t the case, but ultimately the nephew was accepted.

"It [will] be a great honor to have my son attend the school that's named after my brother," said Jennifer Echevarria, 34. "Even though he never met [his uncle], he has a sense of knowing him. He's aware that it's named after his uncle," she said (Jennifer’s quotes from a story at NY Daily News) . The school is listed on a New York City Schools portal, but I didn’t find an actual website specifically for the school.

There are a lot of tributes to him at the Voices of September 11th website.

Joseph P. Henry

Joseph P. Henry was 25 and with Ladder 21 out of Manhattan. I was immediately drawn to him when I read “I was trapped in building one for an hour. I would not be alive if it weren't for the firemen who unlocked and broke down the doors to the stairwells. I want Joseph's family to know that when the time comes and I get married and have a family, I will name my first born boy after him. He was an amazing person and I will forever keep him and his family in my prayers.” Vanessa Sierra, college classmate (from the CNN Tribute to September 11th).

Julia Corrales (his girlfriend) wrote “Joe Henry worked as a Fireman for only 11 months before he was taken from us on September 11, 2001. He was a great boyfriend, friend, brother, and son. He is missed by everyone. He went to the WTC with his fellow brothers from Ladder 21 but none of them got to walk out and go home.

Joe always told me to be strong and enjoy life. He always reassured me about how much he loved me and how strong our love together was. I can truly feel that now. I can look at his pictures and remember all the love that we shared. I know my Joe is ok and with God. As are all his brothers from the FDNY. They will all be missed. OCt. 19, 2001 was to be our first vacation together as a couple. We were going to Ireland. We never got to take that trip. Someday Ihope to go and see it for the both of us.“ (posted at the Irish Tribute website)

“Firefighter Joseph Patrick Henry Lane” in Brooklyn was named after Joe. (Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signs bill naming 81 streets after heros of 9/11). He was one of 81 September 11^th victims to have a street named after him.

Jenn did a very nice tribute to Joseph as part of Project 2996 that is worth checking out. I wonder if Vanesa will have have that son? I wonder how many other victims were engaged and will never be able to marry their loved ones just as with Julia?

Karl Henri Joseph

Fire fighter Karl Henri Joseph was 25 and working from Brooklyn. He was an EMT. I’m not sure when, but Karl and his family came to the U.S. from Hati.

Lucy Bouciquot, a family friend said "He liked Haiti," she said, "but America was his home." (from his entry at Legacy).

"Karl had a way of shrugging off the ribbing. He had a great smile and a great laugh," Mr. Beehler said. "As far as the job, he was top-notch." from his entry at Legacy). Mr. Beehler is a fire fighter that went through the academy with Karl. Tuxedo Cat Grandma wrote a nice tribute 2996: Karl Henri Joseph in 2006 worth checking out.

Karl is another shinning example of an immigrant working hard for a better life in America.

Dana Hannon

Dana Hannon, 29 at the time of his death was the first of the group of fire fighters that I came across. At 29 he was the oldest of the fire fighters that I selected. I was struck almost immediately by the following quote about Dana…

“Although I did not know Dana all that well, I had the honor of attending his celebration of life. Dana was not only a NYC Firefighter, but a true and gracious friend who was always there to help others. I am sorry that I did not have the chance to know him better. He will be truly missed by his family, his fiancee, his co-workers and his friends and most of all me - a person he barely knew. Dana, thank you for all the lives that you touched throughout your life. You will always be here in spirit.”D.K (From his entry at the CNN Tibute to September 11th)

Before being a professional fire fighter he was a volunteer fire fighter, rising through the ranks to become Captain. He was a fire fighter in Bridgeport, Connecticut where he was awarded a medal of valour for a rescue there. He was an avid hunter interested in hunting deer, ducks, and geese.

Dana proposed to Allison Dansen from the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia, talk about a memorable marriage proposal! They married the fall after that. "He was the best brother anybody could ask for," said his sister, Kyle. "Just the right mix of friend and tormentor." (from his tribute at Legacy)

Danielle at Stupid Trivia wrote A TRIBUTE TO DANA HANNON a nice article that I assume was a Project 2996 tribute in 2006.

David W Laychak

I wrote about David W Laychak last year and just wanted to mention him again this year. David worked as a civilian at the Pentagon. His brother was largely responsible for the memorial at the Pentagon which opened last year. I’m sure that David’s family and friends are glad to know that the memorial opened up! I also wanted to thank his sister (Molly Laychak Walen) for the information that she provided to me last year. David, you have to know that your family and friends are thinking about you on this and many other days!

Since I want to publish this on September 11th this year, I’m going to need to close. To everyone that lost a family member, loved one, friend, or just feels connected to this sad day, I hope that we’ll take a few moments to remember the lives of those that we lost back on that day in 2001. Maybe you can go over to Project 2996 and look for some other tributes that you can read. Why take time to let those that are close to you know that you appreciate them or honor of those September 11th victims that we can't reach out to. Thank you for taking the time to read my tributes. If you like this blog, why not think about adding us to your RSS feed, subscribing by email (button located on top right-hand corner of the blog). Feel free to add/friend/follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or any of the other various sites listed in the upper-right hand corner of the blog. Be sure to check out my Systems-Overload blog. To family and friends of the victims that I wtote about I”d love to hear from you and would be glad to include any additional information that you might want to share with my tribute next year or in subsequent follow up articles, feel free to leave comments or email me at systems.overload.time at googlemail.com. I’ve accumulated a lot of September 11th websites and hope to share some of these links in the near future. Till we meet again.

Darryl

Photo credit: "honor the fallen" courtesy of notmyown

Dresden 2009

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:11:00 +0000

August 15th-17th my wife and I took a road trip to Dresden along with Hobbit. This was my first visit to the former East Germany (sometimes referred to as the DDR), so I was pretty excited about going. This was my wife's first trip to East Germany since Germany was reunited.

Erfurt

Our first "official" stop was in Erfurt. Erfurt is located in German federal state of Thüringen (also known as Thuringia). I live in the German federal state of Hessen, which borders Thüringen. Erfurt is home of the German kiddie television network Kika, that I became familiar with through my kids. I didn't get see their studio, but I did drive by it and saw some statues of some of their characters around town. I took a lot of pictures in Erfurt and have placed many of them in a folder Erfurt 2009 pictures @ Flickr. I climbed the wodden stairs in the tower at the Methodist church in the Klaemer Bridge (you'll notice the United Methodist Banner hanging on one of its entrances below along with a few other pictures that I took from the tower and of the famous bridge) and had a really awesome view of Erfurt. If you look in the picture of the Kraemer Bridge you might notice a horse hanging above a shop window, the sign reminded me of the "Prancing Pony" in Lord of the Rings. At various restuarants and little fast food stands throughout Germany you can buy a bratwurst, it will often be referred to as "the original Thüringen" so I had one at lunch along with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes at a nice outdoor cafe that was somewhat secluded from the main traffic of the city (picture of my lunch located further down in this post). I was really impressed by what is sometimes billed as the "only inhabited bridge North of the Alps".

Kraemerbruecke

A View from the tower in the Kraemerbruecke

Another View from the tower in the Kraemerbruecke

A view the Kraemerbruecke from the ground level

My Lunch (a specialty of the region)

Dresden Day One

Balloons over the Elbe

After checking into our hotel we drove to the outskirts of the city and had dinner at a brauhaus overlooking the Elbe river. I enjoyed drinking one of the beers that was brewed there and we enjoyed our view. There was also some kind of hot air balloon event and we saw seven different balloons go by. It turns out that we drove by this brewery on a tour that we took the next day.

Dresden Day Two

Market place view of the Dresden's famous Frauenkirche

It wasn't long after arriving at in Dresden that we realized that they were having their annual city festival and that the downtown area would be packed. We took the strassenbahn near out hotel into the downtown area and immediately saw all the stands that were waiting for the big festival later on that day. It was nice to walk the bank of the Elbe and see all the empty little food stands that would be bustling with people eating later in the day waiting for their day to begin. We walked to the Frauenkirche before it opened and returned after it opened to go inside.

A piece of the remains of the Frauenkirche after the bombing

Inside the Frauenkirche

The Frauenkirche (translated loosely as the Womens' church) is one of the most famous landmarks of Dresden. It was bombed almost to oblivion during World War II and there was a huge campaign to try to restore it to it's former glory. I read in "THE DRESDEN FRAUENKIRCHE: The original building - The destruction The reconstruction" (Schoning Verlag), which I bought at the church gift shop that there was apparently some controversy about the restoration and some surviving pieces of the church were used in the church that stands there today. There was a huge rock that stands outside of the Frauenkirche which survived the bombing and was placed outside of the church as a memorial. The church looks quite a bit different than most that I've seen and I was amazed at how light it was inside, as I've seen so many churches that are very dark inside. The inside also reminded me of the way that fancy opera houses are often portrayed with deluxe luxury boxes for the patrons. Because we didn't believe that we could bring Hobbit into the church we took turns going inside the church with the other enjoying a nice piece of cake at the Coselpalais Grand Cafe & Restuarant, which is close to the Frauenkirche and has a great view of the church. The cafe has quite a story to it (like many of the buildings in Dresden, I imagine). My wife had seen a story about the cafe on a television show she had watched that showed all the nice cakes they served and so on. She was amazed to find the waitress interviewed in the story was working there and she got to talk to her for a few minutes. There was also some kind of event that day where a hundred people or so were dressed up as Aristocracy (I was able to get a few pictures before the crowd got too big for me to move around) and they hung out at the cafe before there event kicked off. Seeing all those people dressed up made you think that we were time travelers or something.

Coselpalais Grand Cafe & Restaurant- Wouldn't you like to have cake and coffee here?

Time to get all dressed up

We walked around the Zwinger Place, which reminded me somewhat of the Louvre and Versailles. The grounds had a manicured look with a lot of green grass and lots of statues. We also walked by the Semperoper, another famous landmark of Dresden. The historic opera once opened operas from Strauss and Wagner and is still in use today. The opera is featured in many commercials and advertisements of Radeberger Pilsner. There are various tour companies conducting tours of the Dresden, we took one and saw the city on a double-decker bus. Our tour was an hour and a half long and we boarded just outside of the Zwinger Place. We could have hopped on and off at various points throughout the tour but we stay on to be able to see the whole tour in one go. At several points during the tour I was totally amazed at the scenery and wished that I'd have the opportunity to come back at look at this or that at my own pace but our visit didn't allow this. I know that this bus tours are very "touristic" but it does give you a chance to see many things that we might not otherwise have seen and they tend to offer various language selections (if your German isn't up to snuff). I took a lot of picture and have place them in the following folder Dresden 2009 pictures @ Flickr. Dresden is a wonderful city, definitely worth checking out if you get the chance.

A view of Dresden on the banks of the Elbe from the bus

The sight-seeing tour company we used

Meissen (Famous European porcelain China and more)

Meissen around the center of the village

Meissen around the center of the village

Meissen, Germany is known for the porcelain china company bearing the same name. We didn't even try to tour the museum because we didn't believe that Hobbit would be welcome on such a tour. There is a castle that is shown in various tour books but we weren't able to park near it due to treacherous mountainous and one-way streets that conspired to keep us away! After driving around for a while trying to reach the castle, we decided to go to the village center. Since we were hungry, we looked for a restaurant and were surprised to see most of the few that we could find open were all offering basically the same mushroom dish. We did finally decide on a place but weren't too impressed with the food or the service. I tend to be more forgiving about restaurant service, since I did a stint waiting tables, but as I sometimes say in these situations, we don't know what situation was like for the people working at the restaurant. I didn't take so many pictures of Meissen because we weren't there that long and it was dark after we had dinner but I did put a few pictures in the following folder Erfurt 2009 pictures @ Flickr. I'd like to have seen the museum and castle, maybe some other time.

Weimar

Goethe and Schiller, two of Weimar's famous residents

Weimar was recommended to us by a family doctor as a place that we should visit, so I was glad to see that we could easily accommodate a visit to this city on our trip. I noticed that many of the buildings were painted yellow (both Schiller and Goethe had houses there painted in yellow), I'm not exactly sure why. Friedrich Nietzsche lived the last few years of his life there under the care of his sister according to "Weimar Centre of European culture" (Schoning Verlag) that I bought there. When we were walking around Hobbit wanted to have a look at the Pushkin statue (I have a picture of him standing by the statue). Since Weimar was a stop for us on the way home, we only had a few hours to look around but we saw enough to be impressed and enjoy a nice lunch at the Ratskeller. On our way out we walked through Goethe's garden. I took several pictures of Wiemar and have put them in the following folder Erfurt 2009 pictures @ Flickr

View from the Weimar market

Another view from the Weimar market

After leaving Weimar we hit construction right away and ran into some traffic problems. I believe at one point that we had one traffic jam of over 12 kilometers! Times like that make me wish that I had an automatic transmission in our cars!

All in all we had a wonderful and memorable trip to Dresden, Erfurt, Meissen, and Weimar. I'm glad to have finally gotten a chance to venture into the former East Germany. Erfurt appears to be about two to two and half hours by car for us (depending upon traffic and construction of course), so it doesn't seem as far away as we had once thought.

I've created two different slide shows from the trip. Both of them have music and because I don't wish to have the music removed or that they get yanked, I haven't placed them on Youtube. All of the pictures from the slideshows are posted in the two folders mentioned earlier in this post. I plan to Blip all the songs, so that you can try to recreate these on your own (if you'd like) in the next few days. Feel free to check out my Blip profile to see what songs I used, or I will also put up something here indicating that I have blipped the songs.

Here are some links to further information that I thought might be of interest to you.

Erfurt, Germany

Dresden, Germany

Meissen, Germany

Weimar, Germany

Sugestions Needed...

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:16:00 +0000

In honor of the eight anniversary of September Eleventh, I was planning to write about another one of the victims and am currently trying to decide who to write about. I was hoping that some of you might have some suggestions for me.

Project 2,996 has been running for a few years now. Every year on September 11th people take the time to remember the victims of September 11th. Project 2,996 say on is about page "we’ve heard the names of the killers, and all about the victim’s deaths. This is a chance to learn about and celebrate those who died. Forget the murderers, they don’t deserve to be remembered. But some people who died that day deserve to be remembered––2,996 people." I participated for the first time last year writing about David Laychak and planned to write again this year. Since I don't have any family members that died as part of the attack, I'm open to suggestions as to whom to write about. My mother died of cancer between the two plane attacks on the World Trade Center, so I have a personal connection and always think of my mother when I hear any combination of September 11th. This is kind of my way of doing something for her as well.

If you lost a loved one, family member, or friend in the attacks and you'd like to have something written about them, please feel free to put a comment below and I'll consider writing about them for this year's event. I was thinking that it might be nice to write about one of the fire fighters that lost their lives, but am open to other suggestions. The one requirement that I will make is that there is material available that I can use to write about them. I would prefer to have some memories and stories about the victims something that can be used to celebrate their lives.

Feel free to participate in this year's event as well by going over to the Project 2,996 site to read more about it. You can write about one of the victims at your website or blog or you an write a tribute at the Friends of Project 2,996 site. I'm currently open to suggestions and will allow till August 22nd before I make up my mind, to allow time to put together a nice tribute. I hope that you'll have some good suggestions for me and that some of you will participate in this year's event. I think that it would be great if all 2,996 victims could be remembered this September Eleventh!

40th Anniverary Of The Moon Landing

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:00:00 +0000

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." President John F. Kennedy
"The Eagle has landed." Neil Armstrong
"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong
"Space, the final frontier" Star Trek

You might have heard one or more of the quotes above in connection with the moon landing of the Apollo 11. July 20, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of this historic event. President Kennedy ignited a drive to put a man on the moon within the decade and the U.S. did it. There have been some big moments few are bigger are more remembered than Neil Armstrong taking that one small step.

For as long as I can remember I've always had an interest in space and space travel. There is something exciting about using your imagination to think about how things might and could be. I've often thought that colonizing space would give us the chance to try different things and maybe get past some of the differences that we hold here on Earth. How exciting it would be to be able to travel faster than the speed of light, and to make use of some of those far out science fiction inventions. Isn't it funny how our mobile phones of today resemble the communicators of Star Trek? You also have to ask if we're not along in our universe.

I have to wonder how many people were inspired by that moon landing to do things that they might not have thought possible before that day 40 years ago? How many people will be inspired in the future? The moon landing proves, if nothing else, that anything is possible when we get enough of the right people involved. If we can get a big enough goal that inspires us we can do it, no matter how crazy it might seem.

The clip below is restored footage of Apollo 11 provided at YouTube by the Associated Press.

Some more information about Apollo 11 and the moon landing...

Apollo 40th Anniversary from NASA

-NASA has restored several videos of the Apollo 11 mission that are available here and on YouTube

A chance for you to connect with this historic event and talk about your memories

It is time to celebrate this achievement and I hope that we're now inspired to take the space program to new heights and realize that we do have a future in space. I do truly hope that the moon walk was only one small step for man.

Photocredit: "July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind" courtesy of NASA.

Good Bye to Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite passed away the other day, shortly before the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. "He had a passion for human space exploration, an enthusiasm that was contagious, and the trust of his audience. He will be missed," astronaut Neil Armstrong said. How right Neil is. Walter Cronkite covered the moon landing and so many other historic events.

"Our job is only to hold up the mirror - to tell and show the public what has happened." Walter Cronkite

"I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that." Walter Cronkite

And to use that famous tagline of Walter Cronkite one more time...

And That's The Way It Is

Goodbye Michael - Time To Make A Change

noreply@blogger.com (Systems Overload) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Unless you've been living under a rock or stranded on a desert island, you've probably heard that Michael Jackson recently died. I just wanted to say a few words about our loss.

I arrived home on July 7th to see my wife watching coverage of the funeral on CNN and I caught the end of the song "We Are The World" being performed. I had just arrived from work and didn't realize that the memorial was being covered at that time. It didn't take long to realize what a big event this was. People pass away all the time and while I'm saddened to see that most anyone has died, some deaths have more of an impact than others. The event reminded me of when John Lennon had died. I had just turned 14 and shortly after waking up, the first thing that I heard was my father telling me that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I wonder, after enough time has passed, how many people will be able to look back and say that they became musicians because of Michael Jackson or John Lennon or how many people will have been influenced by either death in some way.

Driving home the other day I heard that Rep. Nancy Pelosi decided to block efforts to get a resolution in congress passed that would honor Michael Jackson because of the controversy and debate that it would likely cause. I instantly realized that she was right and was saddened to think that something so harmless as a resolution recognizing Michael Jackson in congress wouldn't happen because of such likely controversy! As a society we have become so intolerant of people that are different from ourselves and we're so quick to pass judgment (regardless of if we're asked to do so or not). There are a lot of people claiming to be religious that aren't very tolerant of people different than themselves that would likely have spoke up and the action might have passed but not before a lot of intolerance showed its ugly face.

I have to admit that I've found Michael Jackson rather odd at times but it doesn't take long to realize that a lot of people have found hope in his music and he has touched a lot of lives. None of us have lived the life that he has so it is easy for us to criticize him. Beside all the music that he has made in his life, he did a lot of nice things for other people that didn't get a lot of coverage by the media. Hopefully more of those stories will surface in the coming days. I don't really know what his total involvement was in U.S.A. For Africa, which produced the song "We Are The World" and was the American musician response to Band Aide, but he did lend his image (and accompanying publicity) to the recording and later on in 1985 the world witnessed Live Aid. Band Aide, U.S.A. For Africa, and Live Aide all put a spotlight on starvation in Africa like it had never seen before and the exposure brought it to the top of the the topics in the news, even if it was only for a short while.

"Man in the Mirror" is one song from Michael Jackson that really stands out for me. It is a call for us all to take a look at our lives and make some changes.

"'I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place...
Take a look at yourself, and
Then make a change" (thanks to Lyricsfreak for the text)

I'd like to see us all see what changes we can make, how can we make the world a better place and how can our planet be better because we were here. There are so many problems in the world it is hard to figure out where you can start. People often get discouraged and think that that they're only one person what difference can they make? But one person can make a difference! Our world has had many changes over the years and things that seemed like they'd go on forever have changed or ended. If you think about it, slavery existed in America until the Civil War ended it and that was only in the 19th Century, so changes can be made.

"What can I do?" You might be asking yourself.

You can start be treating other the way that you'd like to be treated. If more people really did this, there'd already be some profound change
Before striking out at someone in actions and/words, give some thought to what your actions might do and maybe you shouldn't do it. Remember how your mom always told you not to do things in anger and to count to 10 before doing something when angry
Think about what you buy, do you really need what you're thinking about buying, what benefit will it really bring you and could you possibly better spend your money by buying something else or do something better with your money
Demand responsibility from our global corporations. There are too many companies today that don't feel any responsibility to the communities where they're located and to their employees, that are too focused on executive pay, "maximizing shareholder value", and short-term profit. How can it be allowed that CEOs can earn $42 million plus in a year that they announce that they'll cut thousands of jobs from the company's workforce (actually moving the jobs off-shore in most cases)? Become aware of companies that are doing this and let them know that you won't buy their goods or services until they become the responsible global citizens that they should be. Let them know that you'll start or become involved in boycotts
Let your leaders know that they shouldn't do business with irresponsible companies
Let your leaders know that you want them to look after the average citizen and not just those with lobby power. Unfortunately, the average taxpayer doesn't have to much lobby clout
Be more tolerant of others with opinions different than yours. Being judge and jury all the time takes a lot of effort and can be drain your energy
Look for things that you can do to help others. If you don't have money to give, you can give your time
Be a mentor and share your knowledge and experience
Smile and laugh and help someone else to smile and laugh
Be creative

In remembrance of Michael Jackson, I challenge you all to take a look in the mirror and see what changes you can make. There are a whole host of things that one person can do. I write about some of them from time to time at Systems Overload and in this blog why not subscribe to them both. In honor of Michael Jackson, I played several of his songs earlier this week at Blip.fm, they have a lot of music from him and a lot of other great music you can listen to (I previously wrote about Blip.fm here). Goodbye Michael, thank you for the music!

Photo Credit: Michael Jackson's Thriller album cover picture found here.

Sarah's Last Day of Kindergarten

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:01:00 +0000

Today is one of those days that parents are bound to remember with bittersweet memories. Today is Sarah's last day of kindergarten.

She's going to bring some treats so that she can celebrate with the other kids. Sarah could continue to go to kindergarten up until she starts first grade in August but we decided that we'd take her out since Anna was starting Summer Vacation after today as well. Some of the kids that will be going to school with her will still be going longer, but those kids' families didn't have children close enough in age to decide to pull them out at this time.

Christine and I have talked about this day a few times and while I'd always point out that it was the end of an era, she'd always say with all the activities in their daily lives that she was ready for Sarah to be in school. I'm wondering now if this will be a big tear jerking moment for her? I know that time marches on but it seems sad to think that we won't have another kid in kindergarten, that this time is coming to an end for us. With Anna, we were all excited about her going to school. I was sad to see this time come to an end for her, but I knew that Sarah was still in kindergarten and now this is coming to an end.

For Sarah, kindergarten started on a snowy day in Geinsheim, Germany shortly after she turned three. When asked about it, Sarah doesn't remember living in Geinsheim. As we moved and she started kindergarten here in January 2007, she's spent most of her kindergarten life here, so here kindergarten memories are of here.

I remember Christine telling me about how nice the kindergarten was after she'd had a chance to check it out before the girls started. I was impressed when I first saw it and thought that it must be nice to be a kid and go there.

Last Friday, all the kids that were going off to school had a sleep over at the kindergarten. There was a nice program for the parents, where we saw the results of the projects done by the kids going off to school and the kids sang a nice song about being strong and brave and "We can do it". I walked around soaking it up and thinking about all the last times.

Sarah finally found out earlier this week who her first grade teacher will be. She had met both of the teachers at her new school and now she's got the teacher that she prefered of the two. She was so excited to get the news and she could hardly wait to start.

When I have a moment or two today, I'll think about Sarah being off in Kindergarten saying good bye to the teachers there and thinking that this will be the last time she goes there as a kindergarten kid. Ok, maybe she won't think that maybe I'm just being a mushy parent. Sarah, I'm proud of you and wish you all the best in your school years.

One Year Since The Fire

noreply@blogger.com (dcheronfamily) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:25:00 +0000

It was the Tuesday after Pentecost last year that our backyard shed was destroyed by a fire. So with a year behind us I thought that I'd take a look back.

Because Easter was earlier last year, it has actually been more than a year but because the event is so tied to the Pentecost holiday, it seems more like a year. The fire is one of those events that is hard to put a time on. On the one hand, it doesn't seem like it has been a year but on the other hand it seems farther away.

While I can's say that this is the single worst event in my life (losing my mother to cancer on The September 11th and losing my grandfather are certainly up there is well) it is certainly up there near the top. Looking out my bedroom window I could see the flames blazing out of our shed, stories tall, and I could feel the adrenalin flow. Immediately I was relieved that my family (including oma, who was staying with us for the holiday) was all together and I could see that everyone was safe. We all waited what seemed like an eternity for the fire department to arrive and put out the fire. The fire never reached our actual house and we were lucky that it only destroyed the shed, fence, and the other damage it caused but as it was burning I didn't really know how far it would get especially since our backyard is not so big that you could look at it as just a little fire in our shed. I have a newer appreciation for those people that have watched their homes destroyed before them, unable to stop it. I won't pretend to fully understand how such victims truly feel, because that would be unfair to them, but I did feel fear and a sense of helplessness like I'd never felt before. Since my wife was woke by the sound of the blazing fire and woke me up around 3:30 am and it was pre-dawn, the fire had the element of darkness that you can't really see what is going on and how bad it is, that magnified the intensity some how.

As daylight came and I was able to have that initial view of the damage, I was shocked to see it all. As time went by you start to realize more and more the things that were in the shed that either need to be replaced or that you have to live without. Looking at the damage it was more a sense of absorbing the magnitude of it all and feeling the associated emotions. Looking around of course you notice the charred and burned wood of the shed and surrounding wood fence and melted metal and melted rubber of all the things that were in the shed.

When you think about a fire, you realize that there will be work afterwards, but you don't realize how much there really is to do. For months after the fire I had all kinds of work. Getting rid of all the debris took several days and trips to the local dump and something that would have been a lot harder if my neighbor Gerhardt hadn't helped me so much and let me use his trailer to haul some much away. After cleaning away the debris, I started working on putting up a fence. We briefly thought about putting up a metal one but it didn't take long to realize how expensive that would have been, so we decided upon a wood fence. I felt a lot of pride and accomplishment as the fence went up and I painted it. Gerhardt helped me design the fence and was an immense help in putting it up. After getting the fence up, it didn't take long to realize that Hobbit would be able to slip through the rows, so first we tried to put up this bamboo type material, only to find out that it was strong enough and wouldn't work. Later on I added two more rows across the fence (and of course had to paint that all too!). The new shed was finally put up in August. Clearing and digging out the area where it was to be built was a lot of work. Gerhardt and my neighbor Frank, helped me put the cement sills in that would support the shed as well as putting cement around the sills. Around the time that the work crew was scheduled to put our shed together, it was discovered that more support was needed under the shed. This meant further delays as I needed to put wood beams 90 degrees to the cement sills and now we had to wait for an opening in the schedule of the work crew. After the shed was stood up I painted it with the same stain and sealant that I had put on the new fence. Putting a couple of coats on took a few days.

There is still work that I need to do. I still need to put grass in the yard in the area where the old shed had been and am currently planning to do that later this Summer or fall. I'm also going to add another couple of coats of stain to the fence and shed. I hope that by using only stain that the color will be closer to that of the rest of the neighbors. I put several pictures from the fire and the work done for the shed in an album at Myspace.