End of the Year

WOW,, another year has gone by. Amazing how fast it flies. I have to say this has been a very exciting year. Alot of things have happen in my life. All the newspapers/magazines and news websites along with all the TV networks have the most important issues of the year list a sorta TOP STORIES OF THE YEAR we all have seen them and read them and we all have thought how we might change the list around what we thought was the most important. Well I have come up with the Bill Brown TOP STORIES of 2007. I don't think Newsweek will rush to use my list and am sure CNN will have a completely different list. My list isn't centered on the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, or the politicians or the weather, which I agree as my life goes those are way more important, but I have some issues that have been important to me and really in some cases have completely changed my life. Here they go if you read any that you think you would like to make a comment on, go ahead I will read with interest.

1. Getting Baptised. I was 46 years old and not Baptised. I had prayed for quite awhile and after talking it over with my pastor made the decision to give over my life to my Heavenly Father. Thanks Pastor Chris, and all my Church Family. Add to that I got Baptised with my wife out at Folly Beach, SC. What a day that was.

2. Family Speaking Again. This one almost won out as the most important for me. Alittle history first. June 2003 my Mom and I had a bad argument and from that time on till May of 2007 she nor my Dad would speak to me. It was really a silly argument and one that I could have easily let go, but I didn't. I thought I was right and I was going to prove a point. Well I didn't like the outcome almost 4 years of silence from my parents, that was alittle rough. I had come to except it and didn't try to push myself onto my parents. Then during my niece's Graduation weekend, Susan and I went to my brother's house in Texas and so did my parents. to make a long story short by the time the weekend was over we were very much a family again.
3. Sons Marriage. My one and only Son got married in June, it was a very special week. Since my Mom and I were getting along Susan and I stayed at the house. The bride was beautiful and the weather was great.

4. Anniversary. I made it through my 1st Anniversary with Susan. How I got this lucky could be the story of the century. This woman is about as remarkable as you can ever imagine, but as things go for 2007 it is story #4.

5. Boat. July Susan and I bought a boat as you can see on my blog we have had a great time with it.

6. Addition to the family. Susan and I got a little puppy. We got ourselves a short legged Jack Russell. She has been so much fun. I was alittle worried after reading about how much energy a Jack Russell has and how much attention one needs, but Sassy has been awesome, and talk about smart am alittle worried that am now the 3rd smartest in house.

7. Vacation. Took my first cruses. Susan and I took the kids and we went on a 5 day cruse through the Caribbean. Our granddaughter had a great time as well. Susan and I got to swim with the Stingrays in the Grand Caymans, and we walked up Dunn's Falls in Jamaica, and that water was cold. Who can forget watching my granddaughter petting the dolphines.

I guess that would top my list. How about yours, what are your top stories from this past year?

WOW,, been a while!

Yes it has been quit awhile since my last post and Alot of things have been going on. First let me say that my son seems to have gotten things under control. Control now that is a funny word isn't it. Well he seems to have gotten things lined up so that he can atleast keep some control over his life. Time will tell.

My daughter has gotten a new job and seems to like it, it certainly it pays more than working in daycare. She was very upset at not be able to take my granddaughter to see Hannah Montana. She was more upset about it than Lilly was. I guess tickets for the concert was going for over $200... for the cheap seats. Got to love Capitalism. It is called Supple and Demand. She said something about it being totally unfair, and I once again I reminder her that "Life isn't Fair".

I have finally gotten done with my 1st month of Mid-night shifts 6pm-6am and now am on a month of day shift 6am - 6pm. Though there is alot of work, I much more enjoy this shift than the nights. I have some pics that am posting with this entry to show you some of the places that I forecast weather for. The 1st pic is from the IceRunway tower where he have webcam located. it is looking out towards the south and you can see Mt Discovery across the McMurdo Sound. the 2nd pic is from the webcam on one of the hills overlooking McMurdo Station and you can see out over the McMurdo Sound and you can see the TransAntarctic Mountains in the background also you can see Ice Runway down below the town on the Ice. The 3rd pic is of South Pole Station. The final pic is from the webcam looking out from Palmer Station. It is located on a Island just of the Antarctic Peninsula. So if you get a map a look you can see we forecast from one side of the Antarctic Continent to the other and everything in between. Just thought you find some interest in it. Well for now I will close and I promise to me more forth coming with my posts. Now if I could only get Susan to post here,,, it is her Blog as much as mine.

Phone Call

Well since the last entry I did get a call from the son, and we had a long talk. He laid out his plans on how he wanted to handle his situation and I listened answered acouple of his questions and had a couple of my own. I really can't say how this is going to play out for him or the family. I guess only time will tell. I am worried about him, and I pray for him that God will look into his heart and open it up so that the Holy Spirit will take over his path. I don't know, maybe, just maybe I can get him down here live.

Loving Your Children (no matter what)

You know over the last couple years my kids have grown into, what I would call good young adults; for the most part they contribute to society and not take from it. Though I get the feeling that their mother and her husband, their Dad (me) and my wife are people simply put on the planet to give them money. My son in particular has really been doing things that are way off the wall. I won't go into details because it is things that I know he isn't proud of, but it seems like he can't help himself. Add to that he won't call me to ask my advice, that is till it is too late for me or anyone to do anything about it except write the check and tell him I love him (which I have done). My wife his stepmother has been great it could be real easy for her to look at me and tell me NO, no more money and that goes for both of the kids. She is very concern about my son and some of his recent gaffs and wonders what we can do to help him. She has called him on her own. Got the voice mail and left a message. Do you think that she could get a call back? No she hasn't and she still is concerned and wants to know what is going on. You might ask how I found out about his latest mistake, get this my ex his mother called my Susan and told her so that she could tell me so that I wouldn't get angry. I don't know what to think, he has had plenty of chances to talk to me and tell me what is going on, and he hasn't. So do I make the call, I know he is in trouble (not with the law) but he is having some serious issues,, I don't know when do you as a parent say enough and tell the kids to figure it out on their own. I guess this is where I could go into the old story of how hard I had it growing up in my young adult life and how I didn't have the help of my parents, but that is such an old cliché that I just can't go there (or did I?). I do know that I am praying for my kids especially my son right now and hoping that he will figure it out. You know loving your children no matter what doesn't mean you won't get angry over what they have done or what they might do. Just love them, I do.

Another Night Shift

How many of you out there, can understand the concept of staying up all night so that you can have a paycheck. Some people love this shift. Lets see some people have said they love it cause the boss isn't looking over their shoulders, or it is quite or there isn't as much work to do. I don't care if the boss wants to look over my shoulder if am working he is going to get bored quick enough and leave me alone and it's quite for a reason, everyone with a clue is asleep and the part about there isn't as much work to do... well that is just lazy. I have mid shifts, for those you don't know what that is... my night shift starts at 6pm and goes to 6am and it sucks. Oh well enough complaining it isn't going to change anything.
I can give you a short sample of what is going on right now at work. First to those that care I work in a program that supports the US Antarctic Program. Am a weather forecaster and yes I know that it is cold in Antarctic, thanks for the insight. My primary job is to support the aircraft that flies to and from Antarctic Continent and during the summer season they fly all over the Continent to support the scientists that want to go dig around in all the snow and ice. Myself and the 7 other forecasters use different tools to forecast weather around the Continent. I have attached acouple of pic's of one of which is a Meteorological Satellite image another is of one of the computer models that we use and 2 of them is from a WebCam from McMurdo Station on Ross Island (Google that and you will get a ton of info). Right now we are trying to get aircraft into the South Pole, but the weather at the South Pole isn't looking to good, less than a mile with blowing snow and it is only going to get worse. Oh well maybe tomorrow. I can't control the weather if I did,,, they couldn't afford me! Enough for tonight maybe I will post something tomorrow morning oh wait that is only 4 hours from now.

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New Family Member plus Bill's Night Shifts!

WOW,,, has it been that long since my last post. What has been going on, alot it is never ending something going on at the Brown household. First things first, we have a new member to the family, yep alittle baby. She is 13 weeks old and weighs in around 5lbs now. Her name is Sassy Brown. A cute little Jack Russell Terrier. Yes the answer to your question is we are slightly crazy. I know I have read and heard just about everything on Jack Russell's how they are 120 lb. dog in 8 lb. package, how you will never break them of jumping up on people (already started the training and she doing good already). She is full of energy. We will get a few pic's on here and share them with you all.
Another thing that has started is the Antarctic Summer Season which means shift work for me, have I ever mentioned "I hate night shifts." Our night shift are from 6pm - 6am just plain ugly. I will work these hours for about 28 days working 2 on 2 off with everything weekend a 3 day weekend, now that isn't bad,,, but it is still night shifts. After the 28 days then I will swap around and work day shifts 6am - 6pm again 2 on 2 off every other weekend a 3 day weekend. I will be working this schedule till sometime after the middle of February when the Antarctic Summer Season begins to shut down and they start getting ready for the winter season.
What else, ah yes bowling has started. Susan and I are on a bowling league that started a few weeks ago. We really enjoy ourselves with our friends Joe and Vicky. Am not all that good. Am holding on to about 150 average and Susan has about the same average. All I can say is "thank goodness it is a handicap league" That falls on Monday nights so you can see with me working these night shifts things can get in the way of having a somewhat normal life.
Wednesday night is our Small Group meeting for church. Susan and I think that we have gotten into a great group from church. We meet 3x a month and discuss different things, lately it has been the Sunday Sermon given by our Pastor at church. We will be starting on Bible lesson plan going over the New Testament soon. Again my night shifts will get in the way of that as well.
Umpiring usually falls on Tuesday and Thursday night and my assigner would give me twice that number if I would let him. Am umpiring Fall Ball. The age group is from 11-12yrs and 13-14. I enjoy umpiring alot, of course it would alot better if the parents would just stay home. I think the kids would have alot more fun.
Friday night Susan and I try to set this night aside for ourselves but with my night shifts you guessed, that doesn't always happen.
Well once again this post is way too long. Thanks again for checking in with us. We will try and make more posts and make them shorter so as to do a better job as to what is going on with Susan and Bill.

Very Relaxing

After several days of being on the run. Susan and I finally had a weekend that we was able to relax alittle. It started on Friday night with a movie and dinner. We went out and watched Rush Hour 3. Ehhh it was okay, but I would say that it is defintaly a movie to wait till it comes out on DVD. Dinner we went to Olive Garden, well you know what the wait was like 35 minutes, you know what normally I hate to wait, but this time I just sat down and relaxed and Susan and I talked about different things very relaxing evening.
I did have to get up early (be at work at 6am) both Saturday and Sunday and go into work for a few hours, but I was the only one there so it was nice a quite and I got the work done and got out of there. Saturday morning got back to the house and sat down had a small breakfast with Susan and read some of the paper and then I headed over to a friends house and helped her move. Now I really like Malissa but she isn't the most organized person in the world, but she did have things ready for me and James to jump in there and get things moved. She is moving into her own place I think for the 1st time. Anyway I got finished with that and was able to get back to the house by 1pm. Just in time to watch some college football. The good news Indiana University won their game but Norte Dame got their butts kicked.
Now it is the begining of a new work week, and things are starting to get busy. The Antarctic summer season is offically starting today. It might be the 1st of Oct here in the States but it is the 2nd of October down there (other side of the Date Line). First flight out of Christchurch New Zealand will be taking off this this afternoon with about 100 passangers and alot of cargo. Shift work will be starting and it sucks.... rotating between days and nights 12 hour shift. Oh well enough complaining it pays the bills.

Busy, Busy, Busy

You know sometimes you just want to crawl up on the couch and veg out. No neighbors no friends no phone, just you and the TV, maybe a good book or 2. Susan and I are tired and this is only Monday. Let's see lets go back for a couple of weeks and see what we have done. Of course 2 weeks ago I was sitting in San Diego for a class, for the entire week. I did get to watch some TV in the hotel but who can really relax in a hotel room? besides I missed my wife. It took all day Saturday 15th to fly back from San Diego,,, no relaxing in the airports or or airplanes not any more. Jet lag, made it hard to get any sleep Saturday night, so I was sitting in Church Sunday morning listening to Pastor Chris message and WOW did I have a hard time staying awake. It had nothing to do with his sermon cause it was a good talk and yes I remember what it was about ( the wild ride that the apostles took on the boat and how Peter got out of the boat to walk to Jesus only to loose faith and to fall) and you didn't think I could tell you about it. Where was I? oh yea. Susan made me go to Micheal's a craft store here in town. I thought I was going to die. finally Sunday night got to watch alittle football before going to be early. Then the work week started off with a early shift. Then bowling that night. Tuesday and Wednesday nights I umpired baseball, no relaxing there. Thursday night I was suppose to umpire but Mother-Nature decided that we needed rain more that we needed baseball. Finally I get to stay home and relax. No!! Had things to do Thursday night.... Friday the 21st comes. I couldn't lift my head off the pillow. I didn't go into work, I was planning on a half day because we were heading off to Gatlinburg Tn with Joe, Vicki and Bryan and Susie for a long weekend up at Joe and Vicki's cabin. The view was awsome, but we stayed busy for the entire weekend. Don't get me wrong we had a great time, did some go-cart racing some put-put golf, plus we went to a dinner show. Did I mention that we had a great time. Sunday we drove back home. Work week started with another early morning Monday. Tonight we go bowling again. Tuesday and Thursday night I am schedule to umpire and Wednesday night. Susan and I will be going over to some fellow Coastal Community Church friend and starting a Wednesday night small group. We are planning on studying the old Testiment. So that leaves Friday without anything planned. Care to take a wager that it won't last?

The Cruise

It has almost been a month now since we got back from a Caribbean Cruise (few pics on the side). We took the kids and went on a 5 day cruise. The stop overs were Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We all had a great time. I had a blast with the kids but being there with Suzy was really where the fun was for me. Hope you all enjoy the pics

The Boat

The name of the boat is "Loving Life ~ Living Large" we bought it on the 2nd of July. We have heard how a boat is nothing but a money pit, well we have had it now over 2 months and we both have enjoyed it so much. No regrets here. We can hardly wait to get the kids down here for a ride around the lake. Hopefully our son won't try and kill himself tubing. We have some video and when I can figure out how to post it on here it will be added. We haven't had it out into the big water yet but that isn't too far off.

The First

This is the first of many. We hope that all that come feel welcome and will post comments to let us know what they think of this site and let us know what is going on in their lives.