Please excuse the lengthy write up this morning, but I feel the caption below applies to us here on the stage as well as to a dear departed friend.

We know our words here on the stage go out to the world and I honestly believe we at times make a difference in what and how we say things. Whether it is a newbie or a seasoned member being kind will be remembered vs being forgotten about because of harshness.

As stated, this thread is mainly for my first boss when I entered into the electronics profession. For some reason he took a shine to me as the saying goes from the “ get go “. He and his family had me to his house a few times, arranged for a work picture of he and I to be displayed at a commercial building, and even broke bread with him on occasion with non work conversations well into the meals.

As life will have it he passed away earlier this month. But my admiration of him was not that he took a shine to me. It was how he could be talking to a peer on their level and take the time to acknowledge someone walking by, that was less educated with the knowledge of their situation as in remembering their last meeting.

I have always had such respect for this person being in a highly regarded position and still care for the people around him. Thank You Mr. Charles Gandy for being a part of my life, you will be missed by more then you know.

In my central Missouri area we have been blessed with lots of rain or rainy forecasts for weeks and weeks now. Enough so that I have chosen not to take my boat out, remembering a situation years ago when caught in a downpour and had to deal with all the internal compartments and contents being wet and needing drying out. Part of the issue is that the good lakes are roughly two hours away and if a shower does materialize, there is not much chance of avoiding getting everything soaked.
Do you just take along a boat cover and deal with it getting wet if the rain does come or . . . . ? I am just curious how other stage members deal with this issue.
Thanks guys.

Had an 'uh-ho !' moment like that when I was about 15 - often heard
Dad and his brothers laugh and joke about some of the stupid stunts
they'd pulled at my age ! One of
those stunts involved him going
off a ski-jump with his bike (on a
dare ) !

Funny coincidence - that self-same
ski jump was a ten-minute bike ride from the house, so to prove I had at least as much guts (and chutzpah)
as him, I made (attempted) that
same jump ! Never considered the logistics (what did I know about 'logistics' - I was 15 and had never even heard the term) involved in
such a jump, nor the possible consequences of a failed attempt - both hit me in the face when I was mid-air and about 30 feet off the ground !

OOPS ! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE ? Came down hard, front wheel collapsed on impact, and I tumbled and cartwheeled down the rest of
the hill with the bike ! Was extremely fortunate in the landing - didn't break
any bones or get any serious injuries, but I was seriously battered and bruised, with numerous scrapes and contusions all over; the bike was mangled ! Was most fortunate in
that I just missed (by scant inches) getting impaled in the groin with the handlebars !

That 10-minute bike ride took nearly
a half-hour return trip home, limping and hobbling while trying to carry
the remains of that bike ! When I got home, Mom was in a panic until I assured her it was all 'surface'
damage and nothing serious ! All
I got from Dad was a raised eyebrow and a smirk as he turned his head away, trying hard not to laugh !

This was a CLASSIC case of
'The apple doesn't fall far
from the tree !'