tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76819172012-02-16T22:38:27.001-05:00This online journal / blog is for me, <b>Joseph Durnal</b>, to capture a little slice of my life. The life where I try to balance family, IT work, video games, and whatever. I'll probably post a lot about work, family, news, politics, and odd things that I see or happen.Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.comBlogger6291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-55441820963750107692011-08-08T17:16:00.002-04:002011-08-08T17:19:20.934-04:00

After making a few mistakes in getting my information to the right person to update Microsoft's corporate web site, I finally have my name and company listed on the "Meet the MCM's & MCA's" web site. http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/master.aspx#meet It was only mildly embarrassing to introduce myself as a Microsoft Certified Master, only to be questioned about why my name

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-21917388627379786192011-07-29T14:38:00.002-04:002011-07-30T15:29:27.886-04:00

It is the last day, well, sort of, we will be here one more night and leaving first thing in the morning. The boys did lashings at scoutcraft this morning which Alex seemed to like. Alex enjoyed making a candle this morning at handicraft, I'm wondering if it will melt in this heat. It has been hot this week, but today is the hottest at about 97 degrees. They worked on aquanaut and the boys

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-48833600596862143762011-07-28T15:29:00.002-04:002011-07-30T15:29:27.887-04:00

Starting out with last nights Catholic mass, it was awesome, the pastor took the time to explain setting up an alter and making the space we were in like a church. A good homily about growing boys at camp. Alex missed it because he wanted to go with his buddies to the interfaith service.This morning they worked on readyman, more on their service project, and visited camp Bowman to see an actual

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-55090506684659878842011-07-27T19:30:00.002-04:002011-07-30T15:29:27.887-04:00

Yeah, I have two day 2 posts. Today was the big hike to viewing rock which we did after boating in the morning where he paddled a canoe and a funoe. I ended up rowing another scout around taking pictures. This afternoon he did swimming, bbs, and archery. He spent the whole time in the swimmers area and was able to improve his shooting. Right now he's out at open program with a buddy and I

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-12999936157124709452011-07-26T21:38:00.001-04:002011-07-30T15:29:27.887-04:00

Today the boys had teamwork challenge and started their service project, making toilet paper holders for some latrines. Alex started his pack 195 totem for the dining hall. After lunch, they shot some arrows at archery followed by boating where Alex got to row a row boat followed by a bit of a dip in the lake. Dinner was made on the fire on the form of tin foil meals supplemented by some Mac

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-32560649916439741392011-07-25T19:24:00.001-04:002011-07-30T15:29:27.888-04:00

The first few days of the Goshen experience is supposed to be a lot like camp Snyder and for the most part, it is. Alex rotated through planned program areas on a set schedule. Nature, handicraft, scoutcraft, and bbs. The big difference is the swimming, no pool so today's swim check was in the lake. Alex passed and is a swimmer at scout camp for the first time! I'm not sure he realizes it but

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-83807496388990944612011-07-24T18:57:00.003-04:002011-07-30T15:29:04.086-04:00

Arrived a little later than we planned but it worked out. Since it is just Alex and I we were put with a large pack of boys (1483) and Alex has already made some friends. Being with a big pack got us in to a great camp site! Looking forward to tonight's campfire and dinner was great. Also looking forward to the rest of the week. After the tour, I can tell that the programs are going to be

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-59840798417116826712011-05-27T11:12:00.001-04:002011-05-27T11:12:47.513-04:00

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-29435131074101718002011-03-31T21:16:00.000-04:002011-03-31T21:17:00.175-04:00

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-90805273762362695082011-03-15T19:45:00.001-04:002011-03-15T19:55:22.073-04:00

Here is one that never seems to fail or always seems to fail. The customer requirements are to limit the maximum message size to 50 megabytes in all the various places it needs to be set (for simplicity). The consulting that sets it up enters 50000 kilobytes, a little short. The customer complains that 50 meg messages don't make it through, they bring in the senior consultant who reviews the

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-89373647972002695562011-03-07T22:45:00.000-05:002011-03-07T22:47:27.393-05:00

My customer had a common problem that was once solved in Outlook 2007.By default, when a user has full access to a shared mailbox and permission to send as the shared mailbox sends a message from their default profile with the shared mailbox in the from field, the message is placed in the sent items in the user's mailbox. With Outlook 2007 SP2 (not sure if this dates back to SP1 or RTM, but I

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-82652578038144815442011-02-01T01:45:00.001-05:002011-02-01T01:57:42.869-05:00

Today's topic in Microsoft Certified Master for Exchange 2010 was Unified Messaging. Basically, configuring Exchange Server to handle voice mail and automated attendant functions. To do that, of course, you need telephones. Well, specifically, we were given a high end laptop with Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V for an Exchange Virtual machine, and Audiologic analog to voice over IP gateway

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-85970056797022077792011-01-30T19:30:00.000-05:002011-01-30T19:30:01.365-05:00

While I would prefer to use Microsoft's Lync (Office Communicator) client, it isn't really practical for personal use, so Google Talk it is, even when I'm actually in Microsoft Building 40 out here in Redmond, using Microsoft's guest wireless, and there is a Lync Microsoft Certified Master class going on in the classroom next to me :).

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-8343231558205156202011-01-21T03:17:00.002-05:002011-01-21T03:27:33.098-05:00

This was an exercise that I really enjoyed. Our instructor setup a listener on port 25 that would allow you to type SMTP commands as if we were the server. Keep in mind that we are in a room full of the top percent of e-mail system architects and engineers. So we all know the SMTP commands that the client sends, and well, the server is somewhat forgiving of typos. But since servers don't make

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-27214308306476145642011-01-13T14:45:00.000-05:002011-01-13T14:49:12.160-05:00

I ran into a problem today that I figured I'd share. The exported addressbook format for GroupWise wouldn't work with Outlook, even though it supported the VCard format, the GroupWise client exported the entire address book in a signle .VCF file, which Outlook didn't support. While not a good solution, I decided to split up the .VCF file with a script and make multiple .VCF files that could be

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-76658687734768237462010-12-30T11:30:00.001-05:002010-12-30T11:50:39.423-05:00

Here is a long story about the problems I encountered trying to build a quick lab environment at the office. For a little background, back in the days of Compaq Proliant servers and the early days following the HP merger, I knew this hardware pretty well. But anything after the G2 era, my focus was not on the server hardware, but on the applications and storage. I pulled two HP Proliant DL380

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-11920746408762995142010-09-04T23:00:00.000-04:002010-09-04T23:00:01.919-04:00

Last year Alex sold about $2800 in popcorn, and wow, it sure was a lot of work. We still have popcorn from last year that we can't deliver, people moved, incorrect address recorded for the sale, etc. Since it was our first year selling any sort of fund raiser, I learned a lot of lessons, of which one is to be sure that you get all the information on the order form and double check it :).The

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-4608148269074335342010-06-20T12:45:00.000-04:002010-06-20T12:52:16.347-04:00

Its an old car that served me well, but the repairs are too much for me to do myself and too expensive for me to pay someone to do it. I would take it on the occasional local trip before I took the tags off of it, but it only has 2nd gear forward, so I couldn't take it very far, plan to have it towed to wherever you want it. It is an old car, but the right person could probably get it fixed up

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-58288397702257772472010-05-10T15:45:00.000-04:002010-05-10T15:56:57.307-04:00

From Mike Crowley's Blog: I often refer to this when explaining to others the differences between Microsoft virtualization products.It’s really amazing how many smart people are misusing the various product names of Microsoft’s virtualization technologies. I blame this partly on Microsoft’s lack of effort to clarify, but also the topics are just confusing. Here I just wanted to provide a short

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-58187076510047844602010-04-18T21:30:00.000-04:002010-04-18T21:43:01.113-04:00

Robin posted on facebook that she had an assignment in her American government class to write a 750 word essay explaining what you find to be the most surprising aspect of the United States Constitution. Since this is one of my most favorite subjects, I figured I'd do one for myself. Starting with deciding that I'd have a hard time choosing which aspect of the constitution is the most

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-62726649112131720522010-03-26T09:00:00.000-04:002010-03-26T09:12:43.923-04:00

Windows Office System Center Forefront Many in the IT community are confused by the way Microsoft names their products, especially some of the latest releases coming out of Redmond. Most of us know that there are different flavors of Windows in server and desktop products, but that is where the general understanding stops. This won’t be your complete guide to every product name, but just a note

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-79444179910711163432010-03-24T23:45:00.001-04:002010-03-24T23:45:00.410-04:00

I just figured out what the little medals next to your avatar on Microsoft’s Technet forums, it is a recognition system to let others know how helpful you are on the forum. Well apparently, I’m not very helpful. As forums go, I probably post most messages on www.qrz.com, an amateur radio forum, but coming in a close second would be the Technet forums, but I only have one medal, and all you have

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-84861586455446049132010-01-28T23:22:00.002-05:002010-01-28T23:26:01.766-05:00

The first time I did this, I found a great blog post to help me:Strengthening OWA Authentication with ISA 2006 and RSA SecurID by Aaron ParkerHere is the short version for the basic setupOn the RSA Server-Create new 'Net OS Agent' type Agent Host entry-Check Open to All Locally Known Users-Node Secret Created should not be checked-Obtain sdconf.rec fileOn ISA Server-Put sdconf.rec file in C:\

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-50560921097113910262010-01-28T23:15:00.000-05:002010-01-28T23:21:58.479-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while, not on here, or my internal work site. I wrote something up for work tonight, I'll need to change a few things to protect the innocent and I'll post it here too.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-11871003640334233052009-10-25T10:15:00.000-04:002009-10-25T10:18:05.222-04:00

I was scrolling through the digital cable guide and spotted the words “War Games” so I had to check it out. It was a new movie, 2008 called War Games: The Dead Code starring Matt Lanter and Amanda Walsh. The description in the guide said:In 1983, a teen computer hacker played a doomsday game against a government computer. In this thrilling sequel, another high school online whiz wreaks havoc

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-18337214279593277622009-10-18T20:45:00.000-04:002009-10-18T20:50:45.287-04:00

What a crazy afternoon I had. It started this morning, or, actually last night. When I got out of the van, I dropped my wallet and it was on the ground all night in the rain, soaked through and through. Thankfully, it was still there. After I dropped Alex off to faith formation I returned to wait in the car for a while because I had a meeting with the Director of Elementary & Family Catechesis.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-88566727697055339862009-09-30T17:00:00.001-04:002009-09-30T17:00:00.642-04:00

Alex is selling popcorn to support his Cub Scout activities. Most folks that know me know that I'm not a big fan of fundraisers. Last year we bought popcorn from others and just wrote some big checks. This year my check writing ability isn't what it was, so, I figured I'd have Alex participate in the fundraiser.Alex's online popcorn link: http://bit.ly/hAudIThe online ordering is great since

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-89098134563504419162009-08-06T23:00:00.003-04:002009-09-30T11:47:26.902-04:00

I happened to see a local troop's Philmont group photo on the web the other day and I've been wanting to get mine scanned. Here it is:Top Row:Andy Greib, Paul Thomas, Larry Thomas, Shawn Mitchell, and Mike Stumpfoil (Stumpy)Bottom Row:Jeremiah (the messiah) Cheipellie, Joseph Durnal (me), Bob (the Ranger), Dave Leasure (McLeasure), Ian Hays.This and the troop sailing trip the year later are some

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-76426619630623467792009-08-06T18:45:00.000-04:002009-08-06T18:51:47.607-04:00

I was having a problem when trying to use the same server for the Exchange 2007 server with the client access role and Office Communications Server edge server role. I know that this is far from best practice, but when you work with small businesses, sometimes the functionality desired exceeds the number of servers the budget can support, especially when they just bought a brand new 64 bit server

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-46733116838324147282009-08-03T20:00:00.001-04:002009-08-04T07:44:02.171-04:00

I managed to wake up late again, so we missed the religious service, but using the coffee delivered to camp before I woke I was able to get Alex to the morning assembly and breakfast. After the morning assembly clue, I had a good idea who Ripley was, and the rest of the clues just confirmed it.The first activity was Archery, and Alex is good at Archery, he was the best boy in the group, getting

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-30197307686408255572009-08-03T19:00:00.001-04:002009-08-04T07:44:29.432-04:00

I slept in a little, so Alex and I had to rush to breakfast, just making it to assembly before. The best part was that coffee was delivered to camp, so, I was able to fuel up for the walk to the dining hall! Alex was at a loss for words for the pack check in procedure, so, he just said “Pack 285 is here”. Other packs, most with a lot more boys, had nifty little cheers, like “Pack 35 is alive”

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-69040519345224092302009-08-03T18:00:00.001-04:002009-08-04T07:44:53.691-04:00

Alex and I left for camp at about three o’clock in the afternoon on Friday. After driving for about one and one half hours we arrived at Camp William B. Snyder in Haymarket, Virginia. We were late, check in was supposed to start at one o’clock, so, we had to do a little rushing around getting our stuff to camp and getting ready for the first assembly and dinner and we missed all of the

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-33601602515937250982009-07-10T17:30:00.001-04:002009-07-10T17:30:00.183-04:00

This started as a post on a message board, but I thought I would clean it up and turn it into a blog post. First, some background. PSK31 is a digital radio modulation mode, used by amateur radio operators for real-time informal text chatting. On the radio, I do a lot of listening, so, if there is a station on the air chatting with several other stations, I probably know what was said.When the

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-44547790188546501642009-07-05T07:00:00.000-04:002009-07-05T07:11:13.035-04:00

Ok, there were so many other folks there who I don't know their names.Bill DurnalAshley DurnalBill's girlfriendConnie StoutAllen StoutScottieWendy's sister & her SOAnd several older people that I don't really know. Since BJ & Bill don't mix, he didn't come over but I brought his children, Chloe and Calin (I guess that is how it is spelled).I know that the highlight of Harmony's day was coming to

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-27247674971039129672009-07-04T08:45:00.001-04:002009-07-04T08:59:26.577-04:00

It was great to see everyone again, well, almost everyone. Lets see if I can list the attendees, and no, I don't know all of their last names, but I'll give it a guess.Robert G. DurnalWilma DurnalJoseph Martin Durnal (that's an easy one)Amy Lynn DurnalAlexander Hamilton DurnalAidan Joseph DurnalZoe Lynn DurnalTammy VreelandHarmony StoutKirsten VreelandBrooke VreelandRobin MalloryKris MalloryAaron

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-21885635510129989852009-07-02T22:15:00.000-04:002009-07-02T22:18:05.383-04:00

Here is an example NTS radiogram that I received over the air today. I received it via voice, but I'm going to save it in a file.14 R HXG KK3F ARL 10 FROSTBURG MD Jun 30BTJOSEPH DURNAL NE3R123 STREET ADDRESSFREDERICK MD 21703### ### ####BTARL FIFTY THREE 70 HADA GREAT FIELD DAY 73BTPAT KK3F/EXThe BT is a Morse code prosign for break and the /EX is what a digital text formatted message has to

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-12321187175773565442009-07-02T06:45:00.000-04:002009-08-04T07:45:54.348-04:00

I figured that Alex would do a few requirements and earn a few belt loops at Cub Scout Day Camp, but I was a little surprised at just how much he had done. I remember a little about being in day camp, but I don't remember earning so much.Wolf Badge Requirements:1a, Play catch with someone 10 steps away. Play until you can throw and catch.1b, Walk a line back and forth. Do it sideways too. Then

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-16992753274375849482009-06-30T22:45:00.002-04:002009-06-30T23:00:21.531-04:00

Don Jones is someone who probably would never been an acquaintance of mine had it not been for Amateur Radio. Outside of radio, we couldn't have been more different, but through our common interest, we shared common goals. Both Don and I were active in our respective county's Amateur Radio clubs and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. Our paths first crossed during Field Day in 2006. Even

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-61707499807619782502009-06-30T18:00:00.001-04:002009-06-30T18:03:29.875-04:00

When I mentioned to a few people that Amy and I were going to take in her four month old (at the time) sister, the response I received was shocking to me. It was as if we were saints, seriously, the praise was over the top. I didn't understand it. There is a child that needs parents, we are parents, and I think we are pretty good parents, so what else were we going to do? And wouldn't anybody

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-83981991152720415982009-06-29T19:00:00.003-04:002009-06-29T19:00:04.117-04:00

ARRL Field Day 2009 was much different for me this year than it has been in the past. It is the first time I operated as a single operator five watt portable station and handled everything myself. I didn’t do a ton of preparation either, mainly just analyzing the bonus points that I thought I would be able to earn during my operation and making a quick list of the things I needed to bring with

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-29019353183451095712009-06-24T23:25:00.000-04:002009-06-24T23:25:02.634-04:00

The Metro board complains too much. They complain about the lack of funding, and blame everyone else for their failure to take cars out of service that the NTSB had said were no longer safe. I’m a semi-frequent metro rider on the red line, and I get annoyed with the higher fares and lower service, but what am I going to do about it? Well, it isn’t bad enough for me to do anything about it.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-50901009661981156572009-06-24T21:30:00.000-04:002009-06-24T21:40:24.834-04:00

So, I had a bit of a blog entry started about Mark Sanford, the South Carolina Governor who disappeared for a few days and his staff said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. I had written a lot about the trail, but I’ll save that text for something else, but I’ll focus on the other part of what I wanted to say.Everybody seems to be complaining that the governor didn’t leave anyone in charge

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-19431915615325347402009-06-24T19:45:00.000-04:002009-08-04T07:45:54.348-04:00

So, Amy was telling me the story of a parent that caused a bit of a ruckus at the archery range at Cub Scout day camp the other day. I was hoping Amy would blog it but she’s been so busy with school lately, blogging is about the last thing on her mind.One of the rules on the archery range is that anyone can say “cease fire” if there is an emergency, but only in an emergency, and the boys were

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-4443495987064399502009-06-07T20:45:00.000-04:002009-06-07T20:48:48.303-04:00

Interesting: It is sort of like a commercial, and sort of like a news report, but the content is the truth, people will get their information from the internet more than TV/Radio/Newspapers combined in the future, if not already. Frederick.Com is a great place to find information about businesses and other happenings in and around Frederick.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-42584597718877897502009-06-03T20:30:00.000-04:002009-08-04T07:45:54.349-04:00

Amy found out at the last minute that the pack was having each den leader do their own bridging ceremony to celebrate the boys moving on to the next year of Cub Scouts. Of course, we found out at the last minute, so I thought I'd help by trying to come up with an idea. And I did. Socks. My idea was to get the boys all new Cub Scout socks that are blue with gold tops. None of the boys had Cub

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-26400386824175744772009-05-28T02:45:00.000-04:002009-05-28T02:45:00.168-04:00

On my work laptop, I had finally reached my limits with Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 for my demo and test systems. The main problem being that it doesn't support 64 bit guest operating systems, now required for Exchange 2010, OCS 2007 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2, and more.For some reason, I decided that tonight would be a good night to rebuild my laptop with Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-43952911137152547802009-05-28T00:45:00.000-04:002009-05-28T00:55:27.011-04:00

The other day, I wake up to Aidan beside my bed. His sleepy words as heard by my sleepy ears were, "Dad, I see the fire". I think he said it more than once but in any event, I sprung into action mode, thinking that Aidan might be saying that he saw fire in the house or something. A quick look around, nothing, no smelling of smoke. Ok, all is well, glad I didn't wake up Amy! Still, I wonder

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-1023374678763096072009-05-14T20:15:00.000-04:002009-05-14T20:29:41.030-04:00

I've been a total computer geek this evening. Earlier I was doing a lot of ham radio Linux stuff, and now I can't seem to stop trying to integrate all my social network / blogging things! Yes, this is actually a test post.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-36518074022129643672009-05-14T17:30:00.000-04:002009-05-14T17:30:00.320-04:00

QST is the monthly journal of the American Radio Relay League, also known as the National Association for Amateur Radio. Basically, QST is a ham radio magazine. I am the ham radio operator in the family, and hopefully, one or more of my harmonics (children) will get their license and get involved with radio too. Amy though doesn't have plans to get a ham radio license any time soon.I don't

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-799995428731448792009-05-14T16:45:00.000-04:002009-05-14T16:45:00.094-04:00

In some ways, I'm surprised that most ham radio operators aren't running Linux already. Linux & amateur radio just seem to go together to me, but yeah, it seems that most hams run Windows and most ham radio applications are Windows based.I found a good site full of podcasts on using Linux for ham radio applications: Linux in the Ham Shack.Some of them are pretty basic, and it was tough for me,

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-52708649072624754982009-05-10T22:30:00.000-04:002009-05-10T22:36:06.148-04:00

Well, I beat The Force Unleashed today. It wasn't a particularly hard game, but it was pretty good. I had a hard time playing a character using the dark side of the force. Lets face it, I'm a good guy, even in gaming. Other Star Wars games you get a choice, but this one you pretty much have to follow the path that they give you.It isn't all bad though, in the end, you turn against the dark

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-4962357897156208082009-05-05T18:30:00.000-04:002009-05-05T18:39:20.797-04:00

I keep a lot of bookmarks in my Google toolbar so that I can access them from anywhere. I guess that means anywhere except the computer that I'm using Google's own browser, Chrome. I sort of like Chrome, but seriously, you would think that Google would at least let me have the same Google created features that I have on IE or Firefox.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-8394074826266529192009-05-04T17:15:00.003-04:002009-05-04T17:15:00.418-04:00

The Mountain Club of Maryland puts on an event called the Hike Across Maryland every other year on the first Saturday in May. Since the 1980's, amateur radio operators have provided communications for the event organizers at several checkpoints along the way. The event covers 40.9 miles of the Appalachian Trail from the Maryland and Pennsylvania line, Penmar, to the Maryland and West Virginia

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-4175949674424557982009-04-29T21:30:00.001-04:002009-04-29T21:36:40.035-04:00

This book was a little longer, at 125 pages.I just wanted to get a picture of him reading

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-88353431304391035662009-04-29T17:45:00.001-04:002009-04-29T17:45:00.820-04:00

I think that I might be the very last person ever to create a facebook page. My Facebook Profile. Folks would get a much better idea of what I'm up to if they followed me on Twitter and read my blog. I think I'm going to work on using these social networking sites to redistribute my twitter updates and blog posts and see what happens.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-80809142282896433022009-04-29T17:30:00.000-04:002009-08-04T07:45:54.349-04:00

Cub Scout Pack 285 in Frederick Maryland, of which Alex is a member held a retirement ceremony for United States flags on Tuesday. It was very interesting to see these young boys soak up some respect for the flag.I remember my early Boy Scout years, my Scoutmaster for troop 494 was very particular about respect for the flag. I failed a board of review for one of the lower ranks because I wasn't

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-6157069521930018552009-04-28T17:15:00.000-04:002009-04-28T17:15:00.529-04:00

IE8's official blurb on InPrivate browsing. InPrivate Browsing helps prevent Internet Explorer from storing data about your browsing session. This includes cookies, temporary Internet files, history, and other data. Toolbars and extensions are disabled by default. At first I thought that roughly translated to, browsing the Internet without leaving behind things that you didn't want your spouse,

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-55629931216889773572009-04-24T23:15:00.000-04:002009-04-24T23:15:20.967-04:00

I read this article several times: How to change Microsoft ISA Server 2006 NLB from Unicast to Multicast and it seemed really scary at first, but then I realized that it was a lot simpler than it looks.Basically, if you are setting up a new Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server with service pack 1, also known as Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway, TMG. All you need to do

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-36007333661223072602009-04-15T20:45:00.002-04:002009-04-15T20:45:00.417-04:00

Receiving the RTTY Bulliten on 3597.5 kHz. The video doesn't show the display very well, but you can make out some words. You can see in the lower left of the display the dual passband filter engaged that puts a nice notch between the mark & space. I'll probably delete this one also if I ever do anything of better quality.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-70536897258583330692009-04-15T17:15:00.003-04:002009-04-15T17:15:00.589-04:00

After our first Easter dinner on Saturday afternoon, Robin distributed the children's easter baskets. Nothing to facny, just small baskets with some candy and small toys. One of the toys in each basket were bible figures. I was looking at them all while Robin was sitting there. I said something like, Andrew got Golioth, Aidan got David, Aaron got Noah, Zoe got Mary, and Alex got Charlton

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-50797041823005490042009-04-14T22:45:00.001-04:002009-04-14T22:49:52.424-04:00

I snapped a few pictures of my fish. I've added a few since the last time I've taken photographs.I have 4 angel fish, here is a good picture of one of them.A school of 12 neons, I couldn't get them all in the picture!Here is my blue guppy, near one of my original females, also seen, the cory cat.Finally, a close up of the corydoras catfish.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-69311097088978300322009-04-14T22:30:00.000-04:002009-04-14T22:30:39.964-04:00

I just realized that I have a YouTube account. I didn't sign up for one but now my google account that I use for everything else google, including this blog works for YouTube too. Who knows how long this has been going on.Here is my first YouTube video, which I'll probably delete if I ever have some better videos to upload.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-20024275956981945062009-04-14T17:30:00.000-04:002009-04-14T17:42:15.769-04:00

Alex just finished reading Ivy + Bean, all 113 pages (less illustrations), and I couldn't be more proud of him. I had him read it one chapter at a time and I'd quiz him after each chapter to make sure he got it. That is quite a book for a kid his age, at least I don't recall reading anything on that level when I was in the first grade. His comprehension seemed to improve from one chapter to

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-70260029562381421022009-04-11T13:45:00.001-04:002009-08-04T07:45:54.349-04:00

Alex got a new tent from his granddad and I must have told him that we would go camping because he reminded me. Then he balked at camping in the back yard, so I figured it was about time to take him on a real camp out. I've become pretty familiar with the Appalachian Trail over the last few months and knew there was a camping area not to far from Gathland State Park where I could park the car

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-78732310992528533002009-03-26T16:00:00.000-04:002009-03-26T16:00:00.246-04:00

Amy's van has a little display with miles per gallon, temperature, etc. It also had this thing called DTE, now I knew what it meant, it was the number of miles you had before you ran out of gas. I figured that the E stood for empty, but I couldn't figure out DT. Well, now I know, DTE stands for Distance to Empty. Should I start to doubt my intelligence? I think I should have been able to

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-16497099771508010782009-03-26T10:15:00.000-04:002009-03-26T10:18:11.326-04:00

So, Barak Obama wants to answer questions from ordinary Americans, which are voted on by ordinary Americans via the web. I’ve been browsing these questions on http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/ and I was a bit surprised, especially in the budget category. I expected that some of the top questions would be related to the budget’s size, the national debt, or other budget priorities.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-25656937424979613162009-03-26T10:00:00.000-04:002009-03-26T10:17:08.234-04:00

Yes, I work on the email system for my government agency, but my e-mail account has been moved to the new system for testing. Wouldn’t you know it, the new system (which I had no hand in designing whatsoever) is having a hardware problem and they had to take completely down to fix it. This system is so full of single points of failure it isn’t funny, this problem being a good example. Since

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-31925669029243241682009-03-24T06:15:00.000-04:002009-03-24T10:26:15.327-04:00

You know, if I wasn’t married to Amy, I would probably think this stuff tastes good. But compared to Amy's cooking, my meal last night sucked.Alex's birthday was yesterday and he was able to choose anything he wanted for his birthday dinner. His choice, a Kid Cuisine prepared meal. I don't know where he got the idea that this stuff is eatable, but that is another story, maybe he is watching

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-80573479184348882012009-03-23T16:30:00.000-04:002009-03-23T16:30:00.712-04:00

One of my more favorite amateur radio contests is the CQ magazine WPX contest. The scoring is based on the amateur call sign prefix, meaning that while each contact you make counts as a point, each one with a different prefix is a score multiplier. So, if you contact N3XYZ, N3ABC, W3QRZ, W3QSL, & KB3ZZZ, your score would be 15, because you worked 5 stations with 3 different prefixes. This is

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-66304541603231389402009-03-23T16:15:00.001-04:002009-03-24T10:17:02.259-04:00

Well, the aquarium fish stocking is basically done. 4 angel fish5 corydoras catfish12 neon tetras3 kuhli loaches (that I've seen recently)5 adult female guppies3 adult male guppies2 adolescent female guppies7 juvenile guppiesa few guppy fry4 rosy red minnowsI think that two kuhli loaches have died, as has one of the original female guppies. I added an adult male guppy, a turquoise blue color. I

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-15374043215405335342009-03-23T16:00:00.000-04:002009-03-23T16:00:00.972-04:00

The last computer running Windows XP at home has been upgraded, well, formatted and had Windows Vista installed. My XP installation was showing signs that it might have a virus, which was all the reason I needed to wipe it clean. Vista runs well on this 4 1/2 year old PC with a recently upgraded video card and 3 gigabytes of memory. I also installed Internet Explorer 8, which seems OK so far,

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-67914295826428184102009-03-23T06:00:00.001-04:002009-03-23T14:11:22.080-04:00

Today is Alex's birthday. He is 7 years old. Hopefully Aidan & Zoe don't get into his cake and we can have some tonight. His party was yesterday and his gifts were right on target. A skateboard, helmet, & pads from his Grandma Debbie along Bakugan stuff from my mom, Robin, and a friend.Alex's main gift from us was back ordered and I didn't realize it. I ordered him the Cub Scout day pack. He

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-58193531382047271512009-03-22T23:59:00.001-04:002009-03-23T13:51:33.400-04:00

Well, I haven’t blogged for a while, mainly because I wanted my next blog entry to be about my grandmother who passed away recently. Jacqueline C. Gray, ObituaryWe just had Alex's birthday party, one of those things that Grandma would have attended. I sung happy birthday to Alex in French, something she would have done. Just about everything reminds me of her in some way or another.I guess it is

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-33646024628667908012009-02-20T16:45:00.001-05:002009-02-20T16:45:00.287-05:00

A few days ago I spotted a few more guppy fry in the aquarium. Oddly enough, they were in the worm feeder that I haven't used in a few weeks. They must have been just a few hours old when I spotted them. It took a while to find them all, but over the next day I was able to count seven, and I'm pretty sure that is it. That is a lot of guppies! For a while, four of them were hanging out by the

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-28230445492294485432009-02-20T16:30:00.001-05:002009-02-20T16:30:00.429-05:00

I think that a lot of people forget, or would like to forget about Maryland's place in the nation's history. Maryland is a southern state that didn't secede, but Maryland was not treated well by the north, especially during the war. Unfortunately, the south showed little sympathy for Maryland either, although I think that Maryland's treatment by the union was far worse, but that could just be

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-77328311463215773182009-02-20T16:15:00.000-05:002009-02-20T16:15:00.251-05:00

2009 Maryland House Bill 1241 if passed would change the lyrics of the state song to those of a poem of the same name by John T. White, a native of Frederick County Maryland.IWe dedicate our song to thee,Maryland, my Maryland,the home of light and liberty,Maryland, my Maryland,we love thy streams and wooded hills,thy mountains with their gushing rills,thy scenes our heart with rapture

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-41790764426682431212009-02-20T16:00:00.000-05:002009-02-20T16:00:00.954-05:00

IThe despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland!* His torch is at thy temple door, Maryland! Avenge the patriotic gore That flecked the streets of Baltimore, And be the battle queen of yore, Maryland! My Maryland! IIHark to an exiled son's appeal, Maryland! My mother State! to thee I kneel, Maryland! For life and death, for woe and weal, Thy peerless chivalry reveal, And gird they beauteous limbs

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-9498731107848573462009-02-12T20:45:00.000-05:002009-02-12T20:45:01.067-05:00

Yes, I learned a valuable and expensive lesson today, but I need to rewind about two years for it to make sense. See, two years ago I managed to break my car's outside door handle on the passenger side door. It is just a piece of plastic, so, it was bound to break eventually. At some point, I bought a replacement door handle and put in in my glove box and never really thought much about it

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-32131022318477056752009-02-09T22:05:00.003-05:002009-02-09T22:11:46.993-05:00

If there is one thing I don't want to see when I push play on the DVR, is President Barack Obama talking about anything less than an attack on US soil. Fortunately, he was just wrapping up, but I spent the whole show worrying that I would miss the end. So, Mr. President, 24 is more important to me than anything you have to say about the economy.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-82650922563360376872009-02-09T16:00:00.001-05:002009-02-09T16:00:00.923-05:00

I really enjoy reading the 20/50/100 section of the Frederick News post. This one really shows how the world changes.Six percent of Frederick High School students plan to seek technical training beyond high school, a recent survey showed. In contrast, 80 percent of the jobs in the 1990s will require technical training, rather than college degrees, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. "Many

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-213595538739764272009-02-08T20:00:00.001-05:002009-08-04T07:45:54.349-04:00

The Light of Christ is the Catholic religious emblem awarded to younger Cub Scouts, Tiger Cubs and Wolfs for completing a series of requirements. For Tigers, it at least as involved as the Tiger Cub badge itself, if not more, because simply trying doesn't cut it, requirements must be completed!I worked on it with Alex and Aaron over the last few months and they both were presented their awards

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-22117732141472238172009-02-07T23:00:00.000-05:002009-02-08T20:10:26.955-05:00

Robin had Aaron's birthday party at pump it up. I'm not a big fan of these sort of places, but the kids had a great time. Especially Zoe.Yeah, the entire point of this post was to show that picture!

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-39166599816165639652009-02-07T15:15:00.000-05:002009-02-07T15:22:58.937-05:00

I've never seen all five kuhli loaches at the same time, and they aren't easy to photograph. They are great little fish though. Not only are they nice to look at, but they do a pretty good job keeping food from settling at the bottom of the tank. Kuhli loaches also have a low bio load for their length, so you can have several of them without worrying too much about how they will impact the

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-20270070355758467182009-02-07T15:00:00.001-05:002009-08-04T07:45:54.349-04:00

Today was the annual Pinewood Derby race for Cub Scout Pack 285 in Frederick Maryland. Things are a little different than they were when I was a kid. They had computer scoring and timing, and a pretty fancy track. We'll start with Amy's car. The pink shoe with a black bow and black polka dots. Unfortunately, there was only one other leader car entered, and she came in second. She did beat

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-9345259498479945662009-02-04T17:45:00.001-05:002009-02-04T17:45:03.099-05:00

So, congress just passed a bill to postpone the date where television broadcast stations had to turn off their analog transmitters from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009. We have endured two years of constant advertising about the DTV switch on February 17. I was really looking forward to never seeing them again. I have cable, so I really don't care one bit. I as thinking about getting one of

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-34507267247307587622009-02-04T12:15:00.000-05:002009-02-04T12:15:00.402-05:00

So, Michael Phelps smoked some pot. I can’t say that I’m happy about it, but I’m not sure that it is as big of a deal as everyone is making it out to be. I never smoked weed (unless you count the occasional second hand), or did any other illegal drugs (yeah, I know, hard to believe). I know that Andrew doesn’t really understand such things, but if Andrew has a sports hero, it is Michael Phelps

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-83678873516735692009-02-04T08:00:00.000-05:002009-02-04T08:50:19.769-05:00

Today Obama is expected to say that he is setting limits on executive pay, but it sounds like all talk to me. For example, “Banks and other financial institutions that receive capital infusions, but are considered healthy, could waive the $500,000 salary cap and the stock restrictions.” So seriously, if they can just waive the restrictions, why have them? This proposal doesn’t seem right to me

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-82424431105384718162009-02-04T07:45:00.000-05:002009-02-04T08:21:23.094-05:00

Now here is a story. Passengers boarding an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to New York noticed that the pilot was drunk when he greeted them. The passengers complained, rightly so, but the response from Aeroflot representatives is classic. An unnamed Aeroflot representative announced that it was "not such a big deal" if the pilot was drunk because the aircraft practically flew itself. I guess

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-5214595141234988602009-02-03T13:00:00.000-05:002009-02-03T13:12:57.637-05:00

Regular Americans would probably end up in jail for failing to pay nearly $150,000 in taxes, but former senators and cabinet nominees seem to get a pass. Three of the President’s high profile nominees have been implicated in some way or another for failing to pay taxes. Political views aside, there is something wrong with this picture. How can we have a treasury secretary who failed to pay

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-23391227851589513682009-02-02T13:15:00.001-05:002009-02-02T13:17:05.223-05:00

Today was the first day that I used the Mr. Bento lunch box that Amy gave me for Christmas. I must say, I can’t believe that I haven’t been using it more often. While I didn’t use it as a way to keep the food warm and cold, it was great to have separate containers for my potato salad, baked beans, pulled pork, and the roll. When it was time for lunch, I heated the baked beans and pulled pork,

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-33904584651864347942009-02-01T13:45:00.000-05:002009-02-01T13:51:50.806-05:00

Thanks to Amy for staying up until nearly 3 in the morning two nights in a row so we could watch 8 episodes each night. It was pretty good, but having seen later episodes, you know some things. I won't really get into them here, but you know how it is, some characters you don't see in later seasons, you know that something is more likely to happen to them or that they turn out to be a bad guy.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-78138086465624503492009-01-30T07:30:00.000-05:002009-01-30T10:30:53.679-05:00

No, we aren’t frying guppies for dinner, baby guppies are called fry. Now I know that there are at least two guppy fry in the aquarium as I’ve spotted them both at the same time. They are still very small, but you can tell that they’ve grown from their smallest size. They are still plenty small enough to get eaten, and I’m not sure they get enough food because they are hanging out closer to

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-11300112493549866872009-01-30T07:15:00.000-05:002009-01-30T10:17:10.535-05:00

Well, I couldn’t really wait until the weekend to start watching season one of 24. It is an interesting season, but I bet it would have been better if I would have seen it before seeing later seasons. Kiefer Sutherland looks much more like he did back in the 80’s in the first season! So far I’ve seen eight episodes, which are on the first two of six discs. The plot line is pretty good though,

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-81742020077389641232009-01-30T07:00:00.000-05:002009-01-30T10:25:05.807-05:00

I’ve added five kuhli loaches to the aquarium. They are great! I stopped by the local fish store in Urbana on my way home from work to pick them up. They are very difficult to catch, and I told the guy to take his time, I’d rather wait than to see a fish get hurt in the process. He bagged them up, but included some ghost shrimp that were in the tank with the loaches. While he was ringing me

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-4749536801345227662009-01-28T22:45:00.000-05:002009-01-28T22:56:56.688-05:00

Baby guppies are very small, so the picture isn't so great, but here it is.Well, the big fish are well fed, so, hopefully that will help the little fry have a chance to survive.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-29310954232016373282009-01-28T21:45:00.000-05:002009-01-28T21:50:24.341-05:00

Well, today we saw the first baby guppy. I'm not intentionally trying to breed guppies, but when you put male and female guppies together, that is what they do. It was very tiny, and I haven't seen it for a while. It may have been eaten. And since it is rare for only a single guppy to be born at a time, I guess more than one baby guppy was eaten today. I'll keep my eyes open for them still though

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-53865077378511004222009-01-27T09:15:00.001-05:002009-08-04T07:45:54.349-04:00

The Cub Scout pack meeting for Pack 285 was canceled in December because schools closed two hours early. Since the pack meets at Tuscarora Elementary School, it has to follow the school rules on closings, so, when school is closed or let out early, there are no after school activities. While we were disappointed, we just looked forward to January.The January pack meeting was supposed to be

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-52018010251731076662009-01-27T09:00:00.000-05:002009-01-27T09:44:31.169-05:00

This morning when I went out to start my car, a neighbor asked me if I could give him a jump start. “Sure”, I said, knowing that I had been running on a weak battery for several months before replacing it recently and could have needed the same then. The neighbor’s vehicle is a large old 70’s style Ford Bronco; my car barely had enough juice to turn it over! After he got it started, I still

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-44098631536534129122009-01-26T17:45:00.000-05:002009-01-26T17:54:55.638-05:00

Maybe the rosy reds would be OK! LOL! Seriously, should I be worried when Amy looks at my fish tank and declares that she wants sushi? I'm sure that she isn't actually thinking about eating my fish, it is just a little bit of irony. Maybe the next time Amy gets sushi she should eat it in front of the aquarium.

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7681917.post-63138495806792036912009-01-26T12:45:00.001-05:002009-01-26T13:50:38.896-05:00

The first water change after adding several fish to the tank is always scary. Last night I changed about ten gallons of water, which is about the most I can do at one time. I should really be doing about fifteen gallons at a time, but I’ll have to find another bucket. Still, even with changing only ten gallons, I worried that I’d kill the fish or disrupt the biological filter. All of the fish

Joseph Martin Durnalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04615746078527284652noreply@blogger.com0