tedmichalik.com

Now that I have a little free time before going back to work after the holidays, I’m going to make a serious effort to convert a website I maintain for my condo association.  Joomla was OK, but I found I liked WordPress better.  A search found the Joomla / Mambo to Wordpress 2.5 migration wizard by Jeremiah Hester.  Since WordPress is now at version 2.7, his migration wizard will probably require a little tweaking.

Today is Jeannie’s Birthday. She would have been 56 years old. A couple of days ago at work I got a pop-up reminder about it from my Outlook calendar. I had forgotten to disable it after Jeannie had passed away. I had a momentary panic attack thinking I had neglected to get her a card, cake, and gift. Reality quickly came crashing back in and I found myself feeling very alone.

I had a good day today, however. I went out to dinner with Jon and Erin. We had a great meal and a nice time. Jon got me to join his Fantasy Football League and we chatted about that and how I got screwed in the draft. The fact of it being Jeannie’s birthday was not brought up. Erin was the one who suggested we go out tonight, and I suspect that she selected it so that I wouldn’t be lonely today. I am truly blessed with a wonderful daughter.

Erin, Jon, and I made a road trip to Block Island, RI to scatter Jeannie’s ashes at the Southeast Lighthouse.  It was six months to the day since she passed away.  It was not planned for an anniversary, but just happened to work out that way.  Jeannie had never been to this lighthouse before, but it was one of the ones in her collection of stained glass lighthouses.

We arrived by ferry around noon and had lunch at the National Hotel.  Our seats were on the front porch of the hotel where we had a great view of the harbor and the main street of the town.  Jon was very impressed with their clam chowder and said it was the best he’s ever had.

After lunch, we rented bikes and rode out to the Southeast Lighthouse.  We took the tour of the lighthouse and walked around the grounds.  The lighthouse sits on top of Mohegan Bluff.  A short distance from the lighthouse are steps that we took down to the shore.

We made our way back along the shore to a secluded spot below the lighthouse.  There we scattered Jeannie’s ashes and stood in silence for a few minutes.  I thought of the good times we had and how unfair it was that she was now gone.  A couple of times I thought of saying what I was thinking.  Each time, however, I could feel the tears start to well up so I just kept quiet.

Goodbye Jeannie.  We are going to miss you.

Many people commented on what a good job the funeral home did on the montage at Jeannie’s funeral. I finally got the individual photos used to create it uploaded to my photo gallery. Click the photo at the left to see them.

Yesterday was four months since Jeannie passed away. Today would have been our 34th wedding anniversary. The picture at the left is obviously from early in our marriage. I chose to use it here because we ended up being as happy with each other as we look in this picture.

It seems like there are big empty spaces in my life now. I am reminded of it every time I open a closet door and see an empty shelf where Jeannie’s stuff used to be. Staying busy helps as does the support of family and friends.

Special comment on Bush’s unforgiveable interview

Countdown’s Keith Olbermann gives a Special Comment on President Bush’s recent Politico interview. Pres. Bush suggested that electing a Democrat as president means “another attack on the United States.” He also shows his empathy for the death of U.S. soldiers… by giving up golf.

Erin graduated from the University of Louisville yesterday with a Masters in Public Administration. I am very proud of her. Completing a degree while having a full time job is not an easy task.

I ran into a problem trying to get some photos of the event with my old digital camera. I was able to get a few shots with the cameras on my cell phones. The ones outside turned out good, but the ones indoors are pretty pitiful.

I found that my old digital camera has bit the dust. I couldn’t even get it working with brand new batteries. I thought I would have to to start shopping for a new one, but Erin said she has an old camera that I can have.

I had a good birthday yesterday.  I took the day off from work and just relaxed.  Jon and Erin took me out to dinner.  We had sushi.  Then we went to see the new Iron Man movie.  They really did a good job on it.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  To finish off the evening, we had some of the ice cream birthday cake that Jon and Erin got for me.  The card they got for me says it all:

Birthdays
are good for you.
Statistics show that
people who have the
most live the longest!