What was that about a pig?

I thought I had a dream last night - my wife was telling me there was a pig running down our street. When I woke up, she asked me if I saw the pig being chased by the neighbors dog. Well, it's not everyday you get to see a wild pig being chased down your street and I can't believe I missed it.

I've learned my lesson: always be ready, you never know when a pig will come running down your street.

Good bye grandma.

After many years of toughing it out, my grandmother died today. She survived a lot of wild stuff in her days and after the stroke, the home stretch was no picnic. But man, what a lady. She survived WW2 on Malta and immigrated to the US soon after.

Her life as an immigrant (as anyone could guess) wasn't glamourous, but to me she always was. Like only a grandma can, she loved to spend time with me and we spent hours upon hours playing Pinochole - a game reserved for her and the few family members who know that I can play, but mostly just for her. When you are a kid, adults are awfully mysterious and the only thing that matters is when they want to spend time with you - and she often did.

She was always making sure we were well fed. I was told long before I could know what it meant to never go without food because you never know when you will have to go without it. Later, my grandfather told me some stories of what it was like to live on an island in a war. So, I stopped complaining.

I guess there's a lot that will pass on with her, things like the lullabye that I can still hear her sing, but have no idea what it is because I don't understand Maltese (except for the things my grandfather used to call me). The baked pasta that had the specific density of lead but tasted so good you always had at least two hunks. The way she could smile and let you know that this old lady with one working leg can still see right through you and you aren't getting away with shit, so don't think that you are, but, it's OK because I'm not going to tell anybody.

Would have been nice if she could have lived longer, but she was done and I'm just damn lucky to have what I got which in the end was quite a bit.

If this whole post makes a little less sense than it should, it's because I need to get all the details together for the family to get to Detroit... probably for the last time as there isn't really a reason to go anymore.

gMail - Big whoop.

I've had the 1 Gig of email space available for over a week and exactly 3 emails recieved. I can't seem to get excited about another webmail account...

Blogger is better now...

The improvements are noticeable upon my return - everything from comments to new templates. Glad to see it.

The shooting sports

One on the things I picked up since moving to the liberally encrusted Bay Area is an interest in the shooting sports. Yes, the most Republican of all hobbies. What can I say, I love to shoot skeet. There is a great challenge in it and I've met some really interesting people out there.

I hadn't been up to the field in over five years and was just going to have a little fun. One of my friends had never shot before and he was plenty gutsy to go out there and give it a try in front of a group of regulars who were enjoying an afternoon beverage. When we were done, he had the most excited look on his face and was smiling huge. I don't know if he'll ever do it again, but I know he had a great time.

I'm back

I guess it's been long enough. While nothing new has happened in the last 6 months since I looked at this blog, I thought I'd take a few minutes to document my own personal brand of nothing.