Aufwiedersehen Zweibrucken

Aufwiedersehen is a wonderful way to say adios or goodbye. So many wonderful memories come flooding back when I read this word.

On 18 March 1945, Zweibruecken (which means two bridges in German) was first occupied by American Troops. Three months later, by the end of June 1945, the French Garrison took over the Kaserne, the German word for fort or base. The four buildings were restored and named Turenne Kaserne. In 1953, the French Garrison was transferred to Niederauerbach Kaserne and in turn, Kreuzberg was restored and enlarged by American troops. After completion of the project, Kreuzberg Kaserne became the Personnel Replacement Center of the U.S. Army Europe and as an Army brat was my home from 1960 through 1964.

In 1957, additional buildings were erected and the first (German Army) Bundeswehr unit, the 914th Transportation Battalion, moved in. In February 1959, the Transportation Battalion was transferred to Niederauerbach Kaserne and the 931st Transportation Battalion moved into the German part of Kreuzberg Kaserne. I can still remember the German troops singing as they marched through the housing area very early in the mornings.

When I left in 1964 it was called Turenne Kaserne. I don't recall any notification that the name was changed to Kreuzberg Kaserne and the reason for my confusion. Imagine the name of your hometown being changed while you were away.

Inevitably, all those military installations in occupied Europe would eventually be vacated and lapse into ghost towns. The properties reverted back to German control and many buildings on those sites were demolished and new establishments built.

The closest thing to a pub to our housing development was the Jagerhof where many of us had our first pizza and beer. While we were not supposed to drink if we were not 21, not much monitoring was done in those days and for the most part, everything was kept pretty tame. The Jagerhof

Coming of Age in Zweibrucken is a book now available from Amazon and describes my experiences living in Europe during the Cold War.

Profanity Prevails ~ the Sound is Deafening

I've seen two of this year's Oscar award-winning films, Inglorious Bastards, and Precious and have to say these are not appropriate movies for youngsters. The first was directed by Quentin Tarantino so I would expect it to include extreme cruelty and horrific violence. What I didn't expect, because so much of the dialog is in a foreign language, is the use of subtitles would be necessary. I don't see all that well so that kind of puts a damper on things, at least for me. Tarantino obviously fantasizes about evil. He has produced several films that are full to the brim. Precious on the other hand, probably out F-bombs any film produced to date. Some of the acting is wow-good but it sure isn't an uplifting story by any stretch of the imagination. I'm thinking maybe I 'm more an Avatar kind of audience. We shall see. I'm also aware the studios seem to mix the DVD sound and soundtrack in a way that my volume is always messed up. Either the background sound is too loud or the dialog impossible to hear. Among the other acclaimed films, this year are Hurt Locker and Invictus and I've heard both are very good. I'm expecting Hurt Locker will have plenty of violence (how could it not?) and probably plenty of profanity too but maybe Invictus will spare me.

I remember the first movie I saw where the F-word was used; it was M*A*S*H, believe it or not, and I was in the Army. I remember a big hubbub about the on-post theater being able to show it because of its focus on suicide and the use of the F-word during the football game. That was probably 30 years ago and look how far the entertainment industry has pushed the boundaries of sensibilities. It isn't confined to just the entertainment business either. It's in publishing, books, magazines, online, you name it. Our society has become more decadent and corrupt as the days pass by. (This has the sound of "The Fall of the Roman Empire" I know.) I began to notice it in the sixties when "the pill" enabled the "sexual revolution." Things like integrity, honesty, honor, values have all taken a backseat and gone downhill. It has permeated Political institutions like Congress, Senate, Governors, Mayors and others who are role models for the rest of us. Especially the kids. It isn't any wonder I'm watching the news broadcast about a 15-year old being arrested for attacking a 57-year-old woman and throwing her onto the rail tracks.

Before you jump to the conclusion that I am a purist, trust me when I tell you I am not. I confess to being a conservative Liberal whatever that means. I support the military but wish we'd get out of the wars. I would have preferred it if cheap handguns and rifles had been banned after we lost a President to a crazed fanatic (my apologies to the NRA). Unfortunately, there are quite a few crazed fanatics all over the world and whether they're influenced by our entertainment industry is doubtful but I sure do admire those societies who have maintained some manners and level of decorum when it comes to the way we treat each other. In a better world, it wouldn't be phony either.

Getting right to the point, I don't think I would take offense so much if it weren't for the fact that I'm trying very hard to "be positive." Some of the films I've seen this year have been upsetting my balancing act between being positive and depression.

The Elusive Butterfly

There is a saying that goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Robert E. Lee is known to have twisted it a bit when he said, "an ounce of pretense is worth a pound of manure."

I just reconnected with friends from way back in elementary school and what a thrill it was. A longtime heartthrob of mine, we were in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades together and everybody lusted after her as much as boys with budding hormones are capable. She doesn't remember me (of course), can you believe that? Well, it doesn't really surprise me, she didn't know I existed back then either. We went to school, partied at the teen center, attended dances and spent quite a bit of time together in the same groups but I was not real memorable or remarkable back then. I still think of her fondly as someone who was special in those days.

I started smoking cigarettes in the 7th grade: played baseball, was in the Boy Scouts and had friends a plenty. But I was not the most popular guy around and she was the most popular girl. I piled up the demerits and got into some difficulties in the 8th grade, but she doesn't even remember that. Oh well, I feel like Charlie Brown.

Have you ever wondered why it is that things we thought we really wanted but never attained are our elusive butterflies? We continue to hold them in great esteem but only so long as we don't attain or reach them. If we actually experience them, whatever they may be, we find out what it's really like and it never measures up to what we thought it would be.

Just reconnecting is a big deal to me. I finally got another glimpse of one of my elusive butterflies and she is just as out of reach as ever. Some things in life are perfect.

What's Don Been Up To?

I'll bet you thought I was taking a break from blogging and I have sort of. I Haven't written anything for the blog this year but I have been busy writing two articles on Flight Simulator. One is on Multiplayer Carrier Operations flying FA/18s off the coast of San Francisco and the other is a review of PMDG/Aerosoft's BAe Jetstream 4100.

Talking Heads
I'm a big fan of television news but one of the things that mystifies me is when the announcers disappear, where do the anchors or announcers go? Here in the San Francisco bay area KTVU channel 2 has a tried and true news team that for decades has received awards for their news broadcasts. Dennis Richmond retired, as did Ross McGowan but did you notice when Elaine Corral left a few year ago? Do you ever wonder why she did and where did she go? Dennis was replaced by Frank Summerville who worked his way up to the evening news from the morning and midday newscasts.

Just last week CNN's Anderson Cooper announced his sidekick Ericka Hill left for another position at another network. And while we're on the subject of CNN don't you think AC and Sanjay Gupta deserve an award for the compelling coverage they did on the earthquake in Haiti?

Where did John King go? They keep rotating the anchor on the Sunday morning news show. I do wonder about weird stuff, I know but I was thinking there might be a market for this sort of information. There are scorekeepers no doubt in the journalism world. There are a few who have left and I wonder where they go.

Holidays and New Year - Auld Lang Syne

A good way to send out the old year and boot up a new one. A long-standing tradition, the song dates back to a Scottish poem by Robert Burns in 1788. I had to write something to end the year on a high note and bury last month's post. So I started with this traditional end of the year song.

"Auld Lang Syne"

One of the things I have is too much time. My main challenge is to find something that keeps me motivated and positive about the moment. Isn't it odd that when we're going through tough times, we feel the pain of the moment. It's only later on, sometimes years later, we reflect back and think fondly of the same period in our lives.

A very nice tradition is the way our calendar year is punctuated by gift giving and family gatherings at the end of the year. Some of us celebrate Christ's birth by decorating our homes with an evergreen tree and mistletoe to go along with the seasonal baked goodies as the temperatures dive outside. Fewer attendees at the aerobic exercise class in the community outdoor pool this time of year; a result of the changing climate and season.

Being Thankful

The year is winding down with Thanksgiving tomorrow. Wow, what a year! For a time, nobody at my house had a job or income. That's not a fun feeling. Now our health insurance is "iffy" or non-existent with changes happening all the time.

My scanner won't convert scanned images into text. The OCR software is not working. The "g" keycap came off the laptop so I glued it back on with Elmer's. Now the key is just a clump of glue. My camcorder gave out after the trip to Laguna Beach so I had the Canon repair folks put it straight for $150. My computer boots up with a red screen and the monitor cable is flaky. My ink jet printer crapped out so I had to get it replaced $175. My medical coverage has expired and I'm between insurance companies so to refill two of my prescriptions was $580. How is your day? Are we having fun yet?

I am very thankful for having friends. I really appreciate the few I have because I know how "fair weather" they can be. When I was working, I thought I had quite a few friends and I really appreciated them. After I lost my job, my friends were scarce. Now I admit I am not the most pleasant person to hang with when things are down, but I really didn't think I would fall off the map. With some of my old friends, I did.

My newer friends are online friends for the most part and I am blessed to have them. You would be surprised they are much younger than I am. That really doesn't matter to me at all. They live all over the planet too which is fun. I also have a couple of buddies in my aerobic aquatic class and I look forward to seeing them every week.

You should always be thankful for your health. Mine is not the greatest, but I manage to get out of bed on a regular basis. My sister just got out of the hospital after a week in Intensive Care for blood clots. So we should be thankful for our families too.

My son is in Afghanistan and while his mother and I worry a lot we are extremely thankful that he is alive. My wife's parents are having their medical problems too and we are thankful to still have them around. On one hand, I quarrel with my brothers and sisters but on the other, I am happy to have them. My children are responsible for considerable heartburn, but they too are surviving and doing their best and I really appreciate that.

Ying and Yang

It was the old "what goes down must come back up" summer. August and September were particularly painful but here we are in October and things are looking bright again. I actually got out of the neighborhood last weekend and traveled to southern California for my nephew's wedding. Here are a couple of photos. Had a great time when all was said and done. To no one's surprise, I demonstrated that I don't travel well. We flew Jet Blue from Oakland to Long Beach and back again and we rented a new Ford Flex for the drive down to Laguna Beach for the wedding. The ocean air was fantastic. I noticed the difference on my skin which is usually pretty itchy. We stayed at a very nice secluded motel in very nice accommodations.

The ceremony was outside on the golf course with a string trio playing traditional wedding music. It was invigorating to be out amongst the young Turks and meeting new relatives.

 It is a bit difficult modifying my diabetes schedule around special occasions like this one. Dinner on both Friday and Saturday were very late and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a glass of wine with dinner and a beer before. The net result was a few gained pounds and higher than normal glucose levels for a couple of days. Then when we got home Shelley began her new job routine which includes getting up at 0500 hours every morning, so by the end of the first week, I was pretty tired and rundown.

While I would consider our lifestyle frugal and meager, we are thankful we have the blessings we have and hope to continue to have a positive attitude.