This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter). Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon

Categories

Calendar

Moody Balloons

Earlier today we went to a Moody Blues concert. This is becoming an annual tradition in the Minter/Donaghy/Roney household. This time it was outdoors at a winery. Some hot air balloons floated overhead during the concert. I think I liked them a bit better in the enclosed sort of venues from previous years. But it was still fun. Amy brought one of her friends from school as well, and a good time was had by all.

Especially at the end. Amy and her friend had gone to the designated “dancing area” near the stage for the last few songs of the concert. Then when the band came out and got on their bus, the kids happened to be right at the closest spot you were allowed to be as the bus turned and started to drive away. Nobody else seemed to be paying any attention at all. But Amy and her friend started waving frantically at the people in the bus. John Lodge saw them, looked straight at them and started waving back at them. Then suddenly other people around the area noticed that the waving was going on and started waving too.

But the girls (and Brandy) were very excited that they were waved at, and that they had been the only ones waving at first, so he was waving at THEM. :-)

Anyway, it was a fun time.

DVD: Independence Day

Given the week, we thought it was a good time to watch this movie. Um… OK, that’s not true. It just happened to be the next Netflix movie on my queue, and I’d had it on my desk for quite some time. But earlier today we decided to watch it. I had never seen it before.

I’m not sure how exactly I went more than a decade without actually seeing this, but I did. As it turns out, I enjoyed it. It was fun for that sort of movie. Amy also had never seen it and was getting quite into it and very animated. Thus, it was a good family movie night over all.

Brandy needed to point out all the inaccuracies about the planes of course. I refrained from mentioning the whole virus into an alien ship with a couple of hours of analysis thing. But it all really doesn’t matter, cause technical accuracy is certainly not something this film was interested in at all. You don’t need to in order to have an aliens attack, they are winning, then we fight back movie.

Worth a watch. Fun. Will probably never watch it again.

Oh yeah, we watched the Special Edition, which had something like 10 minutes of extra footage, apparently mostly character background development near the beginning.

Two Minters on the Ferry

A Visit from Dad

My father is currently in the midst of a 64 hour visit. About 31 hours into it at this point actually.

On Tuesday he arrived and the day ended as we were driving home from the airport.

Wednesday we did the tour of the house, the four of us went out to dinner (Mexican) and then chatted for a bit at home before everyone turned in. After sleeping, we went to a National Forest and drove around a bit looking at mountain scenery and even dipped our toes in a stream. After that was just lounging around at home.

So far today while Amy and Brandy went to see 4th of July fireworks (which for some odd reason is happening early on the fifth – shrug) my dad and I went for dinner (Chinese) then chatted a bit about one of the projects he is involved with.

Now he has turned in for the evening and I am waiting for Brandy and Amy to return. After sleep, the plan for the rest of today is to show him where I work, then explore downtown Seattle a bit, then maybe take a ferry somewhere in the afternoon.

Then Friday we’ll probably do the Space Needle around dusk, then after sleep it will be an early wake up to get him to the airport and then I’ll head to work as usual.

In any case, it is good to have my dad visit. He never got a chance to visit while I was in Florida, which was a shame, but here we are now. Good visit so far.

Mary Ann Mendenhall

Just a short time since the last ancestor this time, but never the less it is time for another one. Mary Ann Mendenhall is my mother’s father’s father’s mother… #25 in my ahnentafel.

I do not know much about her at all other than the fact that she lived in Darke County, Ohio all her life, she married Robert G Brandon and had 10 or 11 kids with him, 7 of whom lived to adulthood. Her third child was my great grandfather David Clement Brandon.

Does that sound a lot like what I know about her husband Robert G? Yup. This is one of those cases where pretty much all I know is that the two of them married and the list of their children. And some dates and locations. But no real biographical information. Maybe someday I’ll turn up more info along those lines, but I haven’t found that sort of info yet.

Schizophrenic Bumblebee

Curmudgeon’s Corner 2007-07-01

Yesterday the fifth Curmudgeon’s Corner of 2007 was released. This episode is entitled “The Long Made Short”.

This time Ivan and I talk about:

  • The UK Bombings
  • The Great Erasure
  • iPhone
  • Supreme Court
  • Ron Paul

Podcast XML Feed

1-Click Subscribe in iTunes

Allergic Reaction

So I presume that this means that any day now they will announce that no private vehicles will be allowed within a one mile radius of any airport, and we’ll all have to take the bus if we want to fly, right?

Oh wait, there were also car bombs in the city so this means we shouldn’t allow any cars in cities at all, right?

Those aren’t any sillier than the restrictions and fake security that have already been put in place, which result in no actual extra security and just loss of freedom and increased inconvenience for everyone.

As of last time I checked (a few hours ago) they have yet to announce exactly what new “enhanced security” they will put in place after these incidents, either in the UK or here. But every time anything happens I fear the reaction is going to once again, like the reactions to almost all of the previous incidents in the past few years, be in the allergic reaction category where the response of the system to the attack (or even just perceived attacks in some cases) ends up causing far more damage overall than the threats which are supposedly being defended against.

Sigh.