lapierrefamily.org

One of my favorite applications for the iPhone was called Darkroom Pro. When Apple updated their OS to version 3.0 last week, this application and many others, did not update with it. I since came to find out that this is more of Apples quirky decision making about what can and cannot be sold through their app store. The Darkroom camera application has been there for some time now, and has over 700,00 users, and most of them give the app a very high rating as do I. Apple recently discovered (I guess) that the way they harness the image stabilazation in the 3rd party app may not be 100% in line with their interpretation of the application (interface) rules. The link above (Darkroom) gives all the details, and it seems very trivial to me. Darkroom is one of several apps like this being banned, and potentially affects millions of users. My image of Apple is rotting fast with this and several incidents like this in the past month or two. They just seem so cold, callous, and unconcerned, even when potentially millions of people are involved. I can’t be the only one that feels this way, but it probably doesn’t matter as they likely have enough money to survive many years of public discontent. And for some reason there are a host of drones that believe Apple is god, and if Apple banishes an app from grace to the outer darkness beyond the app store, then so be it. Apple has spoken.

I was 4 years old, we were living in Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. It was 1961, not sure of the exact date, but this was the first real memory of my father. He had been stationed in Thailand for a year, and my memories of him before this were very sketchy and mostly enhanced by stories and pictures I’d seen. I laid in bed the night before he came home and actually tried to remember what he looked and sounded like – to put his voice to the pictures we had.

The next morning, probably before sunrise, I ran downstairs in anticipation but no one was there. My dad was supposed to have come home during the night. Then I saw something… he had left some gifts for us on the table. I don’t remember everything but I do remember the yo-yo and how much I liked it. It wasn’t long before he came downstairs and we had our reunion.

This was pretty much the beginning of my real memories of my father… I loved looking at his Army stuff, his watch, boots, badges, and patches; and I loved the way he spoke and carried himself with such authority. And most of all I loved that he could break away from his tough sergeant persona and joke and play with us, and knew just what to do to make us happy.

Happy Fathers Day…

From last Friday till now, time’s been scarce. With constant changes at work causing more overtime to make adjustments to my programs, two family members in the hospital, and just the day to day demands of life, there is little time to blog. I’m glad I don’t have to do this for a living.

In my 6th grade year my father re-married to a great little southern lady, Sara, which gave me an instant brother and sister. I’ve always hated the term “step” so I avoid it; (Blame Walt Disney for that) I feel as close to them as if we were born and raised together anyway. Joe has been in the hospital since Thursday June 11th with peritonitis. Mom’s been wearing herself out of course, staying at the hospital as much as possible, just living the values she taught me. She once told me that you never stop worrying and caring for your children no matter how old they get. Like many things I was told in my younger days, I’m seeing that come true. The last 2 days, Joe has shown improvement and hopefully will continue to recover.

This last Thursday night my brother-in-law Mark was put back in the hospital with atrial fibrillation issues. He started to recover last night, but will be in for a day or two more, then head up to Emory for an ablation procedure.

Also going on at this time is Jeremy’s continuing job search… he’s received a lot of good advice from his Uncle Richy, which I’m very grateful for. Richy was career Air Force and continues to serve as Civil-Service employee with the Air Force.

Layoffs continue all around me at work. Fingers crossed and working hard to make myself valuable… although I know that the stock holders and bean counters that please them will never see value in me individually, it’s all I know to do besides pray.

Last Friday I took my first long ride since my own recovery from Pericarditis. I rode 666 miles last weekend. (Someday I need to write about my Iron Butt rides, 1000+ miles non-stop)
I left the house at 3:00 PM Friday ready to cruise. I took the back roads up the eastern side of Georgia, all the way to Rome, where I stayed with my old buddy Andy. We both have heritage from the same German town, and share many tastes, wursts included. He went to a local butcher that has such a stellar reputation that people from miles and miles come there and line up for his custom meats. He hand makes all his own sausages… the slideshow below has some delicious pictures.

After stuffing ourselves Friday night, we rode to Clemson South Carolina the next morning, to the Southeast Linux Fest, which was more like a small meeting. Oh well. Hard economic times take their toll. But the ride was fantastic, completely across the North Georgia mountains, through all the twisties, and then staying overnight in Dawsonville GA. There we watched Terminator Salvation, and I thought it was good, but I’m a Terminator series fan. Up early Sunday and Interstate all the way home, by 11:00 AM. Oh well, take the Interstate to make good time, take the back roads to have a good time.

Thats whats been on my mind and in my heart this week.

Mondays – everyone wants last weeks reports by yesterday, which coincides exactly with when I’m ready to leave.

Tags: job

I’m excited about the next movie coming from our queue at Netflix! I saw this about 15 years ago and I have always thought this movie has one of, if not the best ending, of any movie ever. Classic and fun to watch again, especially in comparison to the new versions.