AuntieMaim.com "relaunch" is gearing up!

by in Events, News | 1 Comment

Whether you call it really early or really late, we’ve been rabidly Spring cleaning around here, and the new look for the website is almost done. Just a bit of tidying left to go, and then the world can see the end result of all our labor! Here’s the best bit: I will be able to post news updates on the fly while on location at all of the convention events I attend in support of Grimmie!

Massive thanks goes to our new Webmaster for setting up the framework (and doing most of the hard work) to make the relaunch a success! Also, I want to thank Mark at the hosting spot for fixing a few behind-the-scenes issues where permissions and settings beyond our grasp had to be tweaked.

If all goes well, we will be ready to make the big switch soon! Hope you all enjoy the new look!

News Archive 2008 – November 2009

by in Events, News | 3 Comments

2009

* 10/15/09 – Crypticon Houston starts at 5:00 PM, and we will kick it off with a brain-hunting good time: don’t miss it! Let’s make this event a rousing success so we can keep it coming back every year!

* 9/19/09 – Crypticon comes to Houston! This will be the first home town horror convention we’ve had in 14 years! The convention will be on the weekend of October 16, 17, and 18 at the Reliant Center. I will have a signing table there, and some wonderful friends are going to attend dressed up as characters from my novel, Grimmie! I’ll have lots of ooky spooky candy, too, so come on out and say hi! Head over to www.crypticonhouston.com for details on the show.

* 8/20/09 – In Spooky Empire Convention news, I will be moderating five discussion panels! My panelists will be: book agent and reviewer Gary Roen, reviewer Laura Reuther, and authors Scott Kenemore, Brett Link, and Kevin A. Ranson. Kevin and Brett will be running a sixth panel (and it’s a blast) called “Ultimate Occult Showdown”. All of us will be signing autographs as well. Check out the events schedule at www.spookyempire.com for times and details. The convention is in Orlando, Florida, October 9, 10, and 11.

* 7/29/09 – Fiends Radio News! The first podcast is now available in the iTunes store (see the Fiends Radio page for details). For those who lack iTunes, it can still be found at the hosting link, as well. The interview is with Scott Kenemore, author of The Zen of Zombie, a satirical “self help” book, to be followed on August 1st by the sequel, Z.E.O. Don’t miss them, they are hilarious!

* 7/21/09 – My second whirlwind time at Ancient City Con (their third show) has come and gone, and we all had a blast. The panels were fun and well-attended, and the gaming tables (and the dealers’ tables) were hopping. The only difficulty is, it is hard to hear during the panels because it’s all in one room and the gamers and video games are not a quiet lot. Rumor has it, the wonderful staff plan to have a separate room for panels next year, and possibly a separate room for a schedule of video showings, too. It’s sure to get bigger and better from here!

* 7/12/09 – Fiends Radio News! The first podcast is up at its hosting location (see the Fiends Radio page for a link) and it has been submitted to iTunes as well, and is currently under review. Once iTunes approves it, we will let you know!

* 6/11/09 – Website News! We will soon be revamping things around here. The emails are already in the process of being changed. There will be more of them, but the ones you’re used to are the same, with only the base changing. Instead of using “lindascowden.com”, it will now be: info@auntiemaim.com. We have to get that branding process going…. Also, we have a brand new blog and forum available, both of them to be linked here, soon. The blog is on WordPress.com and the forum is through the social networks site, Ning.com; more news on those as they get linked up. And I am happy to report that we have a new webmaster. This will be far better than me trying to upgrade, trust me!

* 6/6/09 – Fiends Radio News…. Unfortunately, Ad Astra Radio.com must close down for the time being. I’m sure they’ll be back down the road, but for now, we will be turning Fiends Radio into a podcast, starting with the first show and moving forward until all of the present 14 shows are podcasts. Then I will start putting together new shows. As you might imagine, this could take awhile, but when the first show is available to download, I will announce it here. I hope it won’t be too long before the first one is done, at least. All the best to Ad Astra Radio in the meantime, we wish them well and a speedy return!

* 5/28/09 – Oasis 22 went very well in Orlando. I always enjoy being at that show. Fun panels, great opportunities to meet folks, and we had a showing of Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog in the video room. And to a trio of delightful young women I had fun paling around with, I trust your writing will be stellar!

* 4/22/09 – FX International Convention came and went, and I met Spock! Mr. Leonard Nimoy was the guest of honor, and we got to attend his Q&A, too. I also enjoyed seeing some folks from last year and a few seriously awesome costumes. Oh, and Charlie the Monkey made an appearance at author Kimberly Raiser’s table next to mine. He kept us all entertained while giving away candy and Kimberly’s post cards!

* 4/2/09 – Horrorhound Weekend was a smashing success! I got so many interviews done for Fiends Radio that I needed a lozenge. We had Ari Lehman’s band First Jason play for the VIP party on Saturday night, and the convention as a whole was a blast. I got one of Ari’s CDs, and permission to play as much of it on Fiends Radio as I wanted! Now for the best part: my friend and I got to meet Christopher Young, the composer of the Hellraiser music used on Fiends Radio! I grabbed the chance to interview Chris, and he also gave me his blessing for using his music on my radio show. Ah, life is good….

* 3/30/09 – This coming weekend I will be heading out to Horrorhound Weekend in Indianapolis. My friend and zine reviewer Laura Reuther will be there with me, and I hope to catch some juicy interviews for my radio show, Fiends Radio with Auntie Maim. More news on that after the event!

* 3/22/09 – MegaCon went very well and the show was a lot of fun with a huge turnout. It was fun being right on a main pathway, directly in front of the celebrity section, too. I know people were just walking around in costume, but considering where our table was, it seemed like a parade put on just for us. My table buddy, the author Kimberly Raiser, traded with me to man the table so we could both take breaks for shopping and autographs. We also had a few visits to our table by Cousin It/Twiki, actor Felix Silla. Felix was a lot of fun, and kept us amused all weekend.

* 1/18/09 – Zine news: We will be turning the Arrythmic Souls zine into a two issues per year endeavor in 2009. This decision came about post-Ike, but mostly was due to a desire to have more quality over quantity. The new deadline for the Spring/Summer issue is March 1st, and the new deadline for the Fall/Winter issue is September 1st. For those interested in turning in submissions, we will need them in at least a month ahead of those deadline dates for consideration in the current issue. However, if you miss a deadline, your submission may be considered for the following issue. We hope this change will enable us to improve the zine while having more time to do so as well. There are many projects afoot for Auntie Maim Enterprises, and we have to make time for them all. Thank you for your patience and support!

2008

* 11/3/08 – Next year’s conventions are mostly lined up. See the events page for details. One or two may change down the road. More interviews are being gathered for new installments of Fiends Radio with Auntie Maim, and the next issue of Arrhythmic Souls is almost complete. Hurricane Ike delayed the new zine issue quite a bit, but we’ll play catch up and get back on our quarterly schedule soon.

* Spooky Empire Con was a great success! Auntie Maim participated in the Zombie Walk on Friday afternoon, and manned three writing panel discussions as well, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. More details can be found in the blog on this website. This is one of the best horror conventions out there, so if you have the chance to go next year, don’t miss it!

* Ancient City Con was a rousing good time, and a great convention all-around. Auntie Maim participated in a total of six panel topic discussions, and met some wonderful new friends over the course of the weekend. She was invited to return to this event next year, and it is going to be even bigger in 2009!

* Oasis 21 in Orlando was a huge success! Our thanks to Juan S. for making it such an enjoyable event, too. Auntie Maim was on two panel discussions, and they both went very well. She plans to attend Oasis 22 in 2009, so if you can get to Orlando, don’t miss this event!

* Horrorhound Weekend in Indianapolis was a blast, and a very busy event! Auntie Maim now has some excellent interviews by gracious Cenobites and their friends, for her new radio show titled: “Fiends Radio”. Check the Fiends Radio page for details on shows and where to get them.

Games for BlackBerry

by in Acquisitions, Happy Stuff, Phones | Leave a comment

I’ve never been what you’d call a “gamer”, unless you count board games. I love Monopoly and Clue, especially, as well as Life, Risk, and Stratego.

Recently, a friend introduced me to two games I’d never heard of before that are fabulous: Red November, and a card game called Guillotine. I am also dedicated to Warhammer 40K. The only roleplaying success in my experience has been with Vampire: The Masquerade L.A.R.P.

For computer games, I like Dungeon Keeper, 7th Guest, and Myst (though I hate the puzzles in the last two; just let me roam around in the scenery, thank you). I do own a mystery game of the Titanic, but all I’ve ever done with it is enjoy the walk-throughs.

My one true computer game obsession, though, (and I’m darn good at it) is Dune 2000, and I refuse to own a computer that will not run it.

I possess a wonderful game called Spieluhr (it’s a game the band Rammstein had made) and I’ve only finished it once, but I enjoy letting it kick my booty while trying to best it a second time! I also like Jezzball, Ski, and that grand dame time-waster, Mahjong (for which I developed a secondary obsession years ago).

Along came a little device called a BlackBerry. Mine came with a game called Brick Breaker, which is very fun. I’ve only gotten as high as level 10 once, but someday….

For more than a year now, I haven’t bothered to acquire any other BB games because they offer nothing I care to play – until I found bplay.com. They have a Mahjong just for BBs! I went and grabbed it (pretty cheap at $4.99) and it is awesome, with animated graphics, special effects, and all. Yeah, the screen is a tad small for Mahjong, but it’s not too bad. Thus far, I get a kick out of the falling leaves, snow, and flying butterflies per background theme. I suppose they’re designed to be a distraction, but I just find them charming.

So what’s the point of all this? You guessed it – it’s another “Reasons I love my BlackBerry” post. Seriously, this is the best thing I’ve ever spent money on in my life. It beats the computer, the iPod, and even the car. Just plain bliss – and now, bliss includes Mahjong!

Evolution (but not Darwin's).

by in Men & Women, Rants, Sociology | Leave a comment

The evolution of man (and woman) is lagging sadly in this modern age.

What began as a lively and fun discussion with my highly evolved boyfriend ended up inspiring the following rant when he mentioned a slang term known as a “man card” and I had to weigh in on society’s idiotic expectations for both genders. If you are an evolved person, you should end up smiling, nodding, or even muttering, “Darn straight!” However, if this rant ends up offending you, do yourself a favor and try to sort out why. Who knows? You may just end up evolving a little more.

Here goes….

I was issued a “woman card” as early as the seventh grade. It arrived in the form of being told by society that if I didn’t wear a specific brand of designer jeans, I’d be doomed to be marginalized forever in my school.

I’ve long since learned to ignore the card, but tucked it away as a keepsake of my unevolved past. What made me abandon society’s dictates? I grew up, experienced the futility of trying to be “good enough” for the in-crowd, and embraced my inner weirdo (nerd, geek … pick a label that makes you happy).

I also read the requirements on the back of the “woman card” and decided that most of them are either insane or just plain silly. I now disregard those “requirements” in favor of logical behavior.

However, the requirements on the back of the “man card” are often equally insane or silly. It’s a matter of how evolved one is, and these cards were voted in by a rather unevolved societal majority.

For an evolved female, an unevolved male is better shut down on sight before he can waste her precious time. Same goes for the reverse-gender situation. When the evolved of either gender attempts to date the unevolved, the result is similar to showing a double feature in which the movies are “Quest For Fire” and “Hamlet”: at some point, half of the audience is going to walk out.

Evolved persons (or those aspiring to be) have it extra tough in some areas. Society tries to tell a man that he must be a drunken, skirt-chasing jerk who treats women like edible trash in order to be “a man” (check the fine print on the back of the man card, it’s all there). Society tries to tell a woman that she must be a neurotic, clingy, hollow idiot who lives her life like she’s a bought accessory to a man, a baby factory, and catwalk-model-turned-hooker in order to be “a woman”.

For those of us who are evolved (regardless of gender), I thank God for our hard work, insight, and fortitude to become evolved. Now we can munch popcorn while pointing and laughing at the ridiculous fools who abide by society’s “rules” for gender-identity behaviors. Let them call us all the names they want – the barbs can’t fly far. In the end, we know who is having the better life.

Now we just have to kept finding each other and pairing up (and travel in packs) until we slowly become the dominant social norm: logical, respectful, brave, and possessing a vast array of social talents to stun and amaze those aflicted with an emotional deficit.

Our brains can string more words together than, “Hey, baby”, and our muscles can lift more important things than beer. We can stand on our own two feet (that’s the hind legs, folks) and when we chose a mate, we represent two whole and healthy people becoming one, instead of a pair of wounded or half-evolved neurotics attempting to. That’s a fine accomplishment – no matter what the cavemen and cavewomen think of it.

"Back to School" gets weirder….

by in Huh? | Leave a comment

I was driving around town when a sign caught my eye and its message has bothered me ever since. Here’s the message:

“Call us about ‘Back to School’ specials!”

Okay, I know that’s common, not weird. However, at the bottom of the sign was the name of the company:

The Pasadena Health Clinic

Huh? A health clinic has back to school specials? On what, exactly? Are parents taking Junior in for a tune up before his big day?

“Hey, Doc, top off the oil while you’re at it!”

Seriously, I hope this is for vaccines; if not, maybe I don’t want to know. Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss.

My latest obsession: BlackBerry themes

by in Acquisitions, Happy Stuff, Phones, Technology, Thanks | 1 Comment

I had to stop in at the local Verizon Wireless store and have them upgrade the software on my phone (which they did for free, awesome) before I could successfully download and install themes.

Warning: These things are like potato chips or tattoos – you can’t install just one. And they are free! Seriously, does it get any better? A theme for every occasion, mood, holiday, or event! They aren’t even eating up much space at all on the phone. Ah, bliss! 

Just let me add one plea to those amazing souls who make these themes: Please make the icons on the home screen customizable. No matter how much I love a theme, if the home screen icons are static (and they aren’t the “right” icons) I delete the theme and keep hunting. Awesome animation tricks on these icons is not enough to sway me, either. For the record, these are the important home screen icons, in this order: Messages, Address Book, Browser, Call Log, Media, and Calendar. If you have more spots than that, Memopad and Tasks are next. Also, we need more Halloween themes (without Hello Kitty). Haunted house images are best, with icons that look like Jack O’ Lanterns. And thanks across the board for creating these wonderful things. It feels like Christmas morning when I find a really amazing one! 

For the uninitiated (to either BlackBerry phones or themes for them), let me first extend my condolences and urge you to take the plunge. They don’t call them “Crackberries” for nothing. Yes, any addiction can get ugly, but aside from sore thumbs and less sleep, this one’s pretty easy to live with.

To explain the theme obsession, think back to when you were a kid with your favorite toy. For the girls, it was probably Barbie, but why did we like Barbie? For the clothes. For the boys, how about those Matchbox cars? You wanted more than one, right? Yeah, that’s it – now you understand. No one wants to wear the same outfit every day, and neither should your phone.   

Alas, with most things that bring bliss, there’s a downside, as I mentioned briefly earlier. My BB has rendered me sleep-deprived by infecting me with Theme Obsession Acquisition Disorder (TOAD) combined with “Smart Phone Thumb Syndrome”. Factor in my OCPD (which kicks in hyper folder organizing compulsions) and you have someone who should have gone to sleep at 11 pm scrolling and clicking away past midnight, no matter how aching her thumb pads and joints are. On the other hand, I now have seriously kick-butt themes and a newly “pimped out” phone! This device is bucking for the “Best Thing I Ever Spent Money On” award…. I’m considering being buried with it.

Hey, if they can do knee and hip replacements, can thumbs be far off?

Things that make you go, "Hmm…." (Fake Flat Screen TVs)

by in Criminals/Crime, Humor, In the News | Leave a comment

I first heard about this on the radio, and then (being the militant researcher I am) looked it up to get the actual facts. I found the story in the Oakland Tribune, written by Jason Sweeney. This story is from August 7, 2009. 

Apparently, on Wednesday, August 5, 2009, the whistle was blown on Anthony Myles, a 52-year-old from Richmond, in San Leandro, California because someone was suspicious of him trying to sell a 37” Sony flat screen TV out of his car. The box in the car had a Best Buy sticker stating it was priced at $1,949. The bargain price? $100 bucks. Great deal, huh? Except that it might be stolen, which is why the concerned citizen grabbed his proverbial whistle. 

The police stopped Myles and arrested him for driving on a suspended license. Someone must have recalled the tip about a guy in a 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass possibly selling stolen goods, and when they searched the car, they found out what was actually in the official-looking box: an oven door, covered with flat screen TV decals! The box had installation instructions, cables, and all the proper packaging materials of a new TV. His story to potential customers? He had bought it at a flea market for $60. 

Myles was attempting to sell the oven door in the parking lot of the San Lorenzo Wal-Mart, at 15555 Hesperian Blvd. According to reporter Jason Sweeney, the San Leandro police Lt. Pete Ballew referred to the scam as a variation of the old “rocks in a box” trick. Lt. Ballew called the man’s effort “ingenious”. In today’s economy, many of us are eager for bargains, and common sense can get lax – but go ahead and be suspicious when a guy tries to sell you a box out of his car; you’ve been warned! 

In Sweeny’s story, Lt. Ballew said, “If you think you’re getting something for nothing, you’re probably getting nothing for something.” He also said you should call the police if you suspect someone is attempting to sell you fake merchandise.

Personally, I had quite a good snicker over this story. I also feel a little better about the collective IQ of humanity, that Mr. Myles hadn’t yet managed to sell his oven door. Now we know where the slang, “dumb as a box of rocks” comes from: that’s what you’d call someone stupid enough to fall for the flea market pitch! Still, points for cleverness must be awarded to Myles for his presentation.

The Big Top

by in Childhood, Happy Stuff, Melancholia | Leave a comment

A new old tradition has been revived in my family: going to the circus. I have an extremely dim memory of the first time, so it must have been in California before my family moved to Texas.

I recall that my dad would play some of the games for prizes, after asking his daughters to decide what sort of prize they wanted. My sister usually zeroed in on stuffed animal lions and tigers, but this was so long ago that I was still in my doll phase. I remember coveting a pale “lady doll” who had black hair and blue eyes (in other words, she looked like my ancient hero Wonder Woman). She was way at the top of the dolls. My dad never had trouble winning the games, and after the prize was won, the guy reached for a blonde doll behind him. My dad wouldn’t take no for an answer – it had to be the one his baby wanted. So the guy had to take a pole with a hook on it to get the doll with the black hair, and I clutched her with glee as we all went off to win a stuffed tiger down the row. I wonder what happened to that doll? Someday, I’ll have to hunt for one to stand in for her. Maybe the next time I’m in the Oh Susanna shop in the French Quarter. But I digress….

We used to go to the circus every year when I was little, in California and later in Texas. We’d get cotton candy, popcorn, and chocolate malt balls (though after one night of far too many malt balls, I can’t even smell them to this day).

I suppose what broke the habit was when the family moved to Saudi Arabia for my dad’s job, and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey couldn’t follow us there.

Last year, I was driving through Houston and saw a billboard for good ole RB and B&B, and called my sister to read off the information to her. We went with our mom on a nostalgic whim, but ended up having such a good time that we knew we’d want to go again. Well, that time is now – or actually, that time is tomorrow evening. We’re even planning to be there early enough to visit the performing animals in their cages before the show like we used to way back when. I won’t be scarfing down malt balls, but the cotton candy will not be safe from me!

Here’s a bit of circus trivia for you: Ringling Bros. used to be a rival of Barnum & Bailey, and sometimes the competition got out of hand. Funny that they ended up joining forces and still exist today when others have disbanded and disappeared long ago. When I’m watching the performances, I often think about the history of the show and how they used to travel by train with special cars. Watch “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, at the beginning – you’ll see one of these special trains, complete with a giraffe staring at you from a hole in one of the cars. Bygone times….

It’s terribly cool that the circus shows are still around, and even though a lot has changed, you can still see the lion tamer, the trapeze troupe, and the magnificent horses – and of course, those wonderful clowns and pretty acrobats. Good times.

Ancient City Con III Wraps Up

by in Conventions, Happy Stuff, Writing | 1 Comment

Jacksonville, Florida’s Hyatt (the one on the river) was once again host to the Ancient City Con for their third annual show. With more space (and hopefully more for next year) it was easy to move around and see and do many things. I don’t get into the table gaming or the video game contests, but many others did, and I know the panels were successful. They also had “Make and Take” projects going on, which are like classes that teach you to make a specific item.

I had some wonderful success with book sales, and most of the dealers I spoke to on one of my shopping rounds reported that they were making good sales, too. I wasn’t surprised, since last year this was the most successful convention for sales as well. However, after the dismal outcome (sales-wise, anyway) of one of my 2009 cons in Orlando, dismal for all of the dealers that is, it was nice to see all that happy commerce going on in Jacksonville.

My panels, “The Pillars of Writing” and “How to Beat Writer’s Block” were very well received, and I had book agent Gary Roen and author William Hatfield on those with me, as well as a few other esteemed authors for either one or both topics.

For the late night panels, we had MovieCrypt.com putting on both the “Vampires, Vampires, Vampires” panel, and the infamous “Occult Showdown” panel, in which the audience picks sides in versus-style match ups and helps “make the case” for how/why their pick would win over their opponent. The coup de grace was the last match: the Blob Vs. the Stuff. As a member of the audience, I was leaning toward favoring the Blob to win. In the end, it came down to a deciding factor of body count: the Blob had wracked up more bodies than the edible Stuff. Another popular one, early on, was Buffy Vs. Anita Blake. Naturally, Buffy won. It’s hard to beat someone who has already died twice and come back swinging both times! As Buffy herself said in one episode while comparing “stuff happens” with her ex, “Did you die?” When he says no, she replies, “I’m gonna win.”

The weather was a bit soggy, the hotel managed to have two waitresses in the bar area at lunch with two conventions in the building, and the Mongolian BBQ place I wanted to revisit is now a Gold’s Gym, but hey – the little Mexican food place at the Landing, Cinco De Mayo, made up for a lot of that. We were three tables worth of people, but it was great having about three waiters hovering and ready to fetch stuff and freshen drinks at any moment. Plus, their food was amazing!

For next year, our suggestion of a separate room for the panels is in the planning. They also want another separate room for showing a schedule of films. I think these plans will greatly enhance the whole experience for Ancient City Con IV.

And to some friends of mine who live in Jacksonville, I’ll call them “The Muses”, it was wonderful to hang out with you all again, ladies, and great to meet those of you who I didn’t know already on Saturday morning. Along with my other friends from Florida, you all made the weekend even better with fun conversation and excellent stories told. I look forward to doing it again next year!

July 10, 1937 – for Darhl C. Cowden

by in Birthdays / Anniversaries, Melancholia | Leave a comment

In February two years ago, my dad passed away. June and July are always a little odd now, in particular Father’s Day and today, July 10th – Dad’s birthday. I usually stop by the cemetery (just a few streets down from home) and spend some time in a “visit”, clean off the stone, straighten the flag and flowers, water the grass if it looks parched. Today he would have been 72, having been born in 1937. Part of my brain still reflexively thinks, “I need to get a cake and a present.”

Not that he didn’t have his problems, but he was a great dad and if I say so myself, he did a fabulous job of raising my sister and I along with our mom.

He was a blast when we were little, and then he took us all over the world after his oil company job moved us to Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Western Europe and Kenya and Egypt in Africa – dreams fulfilled to be in some of those places. I’m a history buff, so it meant a lot to stand in the Parthenon in Greece, the Roman Coliseum, and among the pyramids of Giza. We toured Munich, and visited London and Amsterdam multiple times (they were the stops on flights to and from Saudi Arabia), as well as Switzerland, and others. We visited Cowden England, and ate lunch in a pub named after us.

One of the best adventures was going to Exeter, England and learning how to sail. We went all up and down the English and French coasts, discovering wonderful towns, beautiful little islands, and meeting some of the best people in the world. I even got to explore the ruins of a once grand villa on the French coast that had been shelled in World War II! What was left of it (mostly just some walls) was still riddled with bullet holes.

Now, I have to wonder if I’m a history buff because of these travels? Probably so.

One of my guilty pleasures, watching “Dancing with the Stars” was started because my dad was watching it.

He loved Corvettes, movies (especially James Bond), and listening to the Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffet. His enjoyment of “Cast in Bronze” (the Carillon at the Texas Renaissance Festival) got us all to fall in love with that humbling, soaring music. He loved Country, too, and 50s rock and roll, and the tales of King Arthur.

Because of my parents, I have an abiding love for broadway musicals, especially “Camelot”, and Folk music like Peter, Paul and Mary, and the Kingston Trio.

I made a cloak for him for the Renaissance Fair so he could look like Richard Burton’s King Arthur, and he bought a lovely gown so my mom could be his queen.

At his funeral, they had the Air Force honor guard there, with a rare bugler to play “Taps” live. Even now, I can hear it, as they folded the flag and handed it to my mother, and everyone there who had either served or ever loved someone who had, ended up in tears.

His magnificent RC model airplanes still hang on display in the family garage where they were built. He was a pilot in California when I was a baby, and a Sheriff, too. He used to make his own bullets, and he taught me how to shoot a handgun. Even now, I follow in his footsteps with my job in Records Management (the same job he did in Saudi for Bechtel and then later for Shell).

And now it’s July 10 again, and memories, happy and sad, crowd in. I gave him a song, a sort of dedication: “I Am A Town” by Mary Chapin Carpenter, and it always makes me cry. All I have left to say is this:

Happy Birthday, Dad. We love you, and we miss you.