I have taken to creating unique graphics based on some pictures that I have created. Here is just a little picture of things that I can do. I started with my little Buddy and developed a graphics logo around it.

You can check out other graphics that I have created at my FP Designs website.

Return to the Gorham Family Page

Well, I just got back from a business trip to Las Vegas. Although the trip was terrific the journey really bit the big one. To start it all off, the first journey of my leg wound up being cancelled and we had to reschedule. The only problem there was that the next available flight was not going out until the next morning. That would have got us to Vegas a little late for the course and conference I was attending.

Eventually I did land in Sin City and managed to check into my hotel with little difficulty and the rest of the week went relatively smoothly until of course the return trip. You can check out the pictures that I have put on the net… well once I post them. They should be available shortly at www.gorhamfamily.com/vegas .

If you thought that the trip there was something you should have been on the return trip. It all started at 03:00 in the morning Las Vegas time. Why this early you may ask? Well in order to ensure that you clear the extremely long lines at the security counter you need to be at the airport at least and hour before the flight, preferably two. The flight was at 06:00 so I planned to leave the hotel at 04:00. That should give me plenty of time you would think. Well as it turned out it was plenty. Despite the 40 minutes waiting in line first to have the boarding cards made then another 20 minutes to get through  the security scanners I did eventually make it to the Gate with time to spare.

Everyone was ready to get on board at 06:00 for a 06:40 take off but wait… there’s more… The plane was held at the airport in Vegas as there were delays in planes taking off and landing in Chicago. Suffice it to say that the plane did not actually get airborne until 12:30 Vegas time. Of course the connector in Chicago was missed…well wouldn’t you miss a plane if yours was 6 hours late. After getting in line for another ticket and waiting for the plane to arrive… which of course was delayed also. a 15:45 plane which did not take off … of course after playing musical gates…until 21:30 (Chicago time now(21:30 Vegas time)). It finally landed in Toronto at 11:30 Eastern.

To top it all off, there was another delay at the receiving gate at the Toronto Airport. Due to the backlog caused by Chicago, and the weather in Toronto, there were no available gates at the terminal for over 1 and 1/2 hours. Talk about boring. Waiting 200 metres from the gate for an hour and a half doing nothing. Now isn’t that fun! .

So after that we still had a 3 hour drive to get home… remember the first part of our trip was cancelled thanks to the wonderful airline.. What does this all add up to. Well for a flight that would normally take a little more that 4–1/2 hours managed to balloon to a full 24 hours. We almost could have made better time if we drove to Las Vegas.

Well I have not been as active on the blog as I should be but hey, I’ve been busy.  The family pages have been updated. I just started using the latest version of Sothinks DHTML Menu and I needed to figure out how some of the new features worked. Suffice it to say that I finally did succeed. I still have some more work to do in making the site is up and compliant with WC3 conventions but I am finally on my way there.

I heard and interesting thing on the news today. It appears that smoking bans have been put into effect in Prisons. The funny thing is that the prisoners are not complying with the ban. Strange thing that is, isn’t it, criminals not adhering to the law. Who would of thought.  I guess there are some pretty naive people in the system if they think that the prisoners are going to stop the smoking on their cells just because the law states that it is wrong.

Well the Christmas holidays are over and it is now time to return to the rat race of school and the office. Welcome to 2006. This year the cost of utilities has already gone up a whopping 17%. So much for those long hot showers. The cost for heat has gone up as has the cost of water. Now if I could only keep the daughter’s showers down to 5 minutes I may be able to afford it. But you know how teenagers are. They take really really long showers.

The new year started out with a bang. The snow hit and again I was called to clear the driveway. The wife has come down with the first winter cold that she has had in a year and I hope that it does not attack me. She has had it now for 4 days and I have been spared the symptoms. Knock on wood I will escape the dread of winter.

Well another visit from St. Nick has come and gone and the kids have all kinds of new things to occupy them for the next couple of weeks. At least until they have to head back to school.

We did a little travelling this holiday season but had to cut it short as the little lady had to work on Boxing Day. Oh well such is the problems you face when you want that second paycheck coming in to pay for all the christmas bills.

Our families were happy to see us nonetheless as it had been some time since our last visit. Any time that we get to go home is a good time. All kinds of friends and family that we have not seen in some time were there.

Today I helped my daughter build a snow fort. We had a dumping of the white stuff last night and the weather was pretty warm today so the snow was perfect for packing. It turned out well and she promptly challenged the boys next door to a snowball fight.

Here are a few jokes that I though I could post here too.

Q.  Do you know what a wok is?
A.  It’s something you throw at a wabbit.

——

 MICROSOFT NEWS RELEASE:
It has come to our attention that a few copies of the Georgia edition of Windows 98 may have accidentally been shipped outside Georgia. If you have one of the Georgia editions you may need some help understanding the commands.
The Georgia edition may be recognized by looking at the opening screen.

It reads WINDERS 98 with a background picture of the General Lee super imposed on a Confederate flag. It is shipped with a Daisy Duke screen saver.

Also note:

Recycle Bin is labeled Outhouse
My Computer is called This Infernal Contraption
Dialup Networking is called Good Ol’ Boys
Control Panel is known as the Dern Dashboard
Hard Drive is referred to as 4 wheel drive
Floppies are them little ole plastic disc thangs.

Other features:

Instead of an error message you get a winder covered with a garbage bag and duct tape.

OK = ats aww-right
cancel = hail no
reset = awa shoot
yes = shore
no = Naaaa
find = hunt-fer it
go to = over yonder
back = back yonder
help = hep me out here
stop = ternit off
start = crank it up
settings = sittins
programs = stuff that does stuff
documents = stuff I done done

Also note that winders 98 does not recognize capital letters or punctuation marks.

Some programs that are exclusive to winders 98:

tiperiter…………….A word processor
colering book…………a graphics program
addin mershene………..calculator
scratch paper ………..notepad
jupe-box …………….CD Player
inner-net…………….Microsoft Explorer
pichers………………A graphics viewer
IRS………………….M/S accounting software
IRS2…………………M/S accounting software with hidden files
coon dog……………..American kennel club records
fishin……………….Bass Anglers Sportsman Society records.
NRA………………….National Rifle Association
shot gun …………….Remington Arms price list
riffel……………….Winchester price list
pisstel………………Smith & Wesson price list
truck………………..Ford & Chevrolet dealers in GA. by zip code
house………………..Nearest Mobil home repair service by zip code
car …………………same as truck, just need two lists in Texas
cuzzins………………family history usually a 3 meg file
tax records…………..usually an empty file
shells……………….ammunition inventory, another 3 meg file
bud………………….list of Budwiser dealers by zip code
racin………………..NASCAR racing schedule includes list of TV stations that carry the race car n’ truck
Parts…….nearest Junk yard by zip code
doc …………………veterinarians by zip code

We regret any inconvenience it may have caused if you received a copy of the Georgia edition. You may return it to Microsoft for a replacement version.

The Christmas Parade took place last weekend and I took the family down to the event. Even the little Fella. He enjoys the travel in the car and the walk amongst the people. He is sure to get plenty of attention as he is such a cute pup. The night was beautiful. About 5 degrees and clear, which allowed a good turnout. I think that the best part of the parade for Buddy was the Radio Controlled cars. As they came racing down the street he wanted to get a closer look and ventured out on the street much to the pleasure of the assembled crowd.

I think that I will have to ask for one of these cars…just to give him a little joy of the chase.

After a very mild start to November and a beautiful couple of weeks winter has finally come. The snow has hit the ground and the yard is now buried under 13cm(5 in) of snow. I spent part of the morning clearing away the driveway and as soon as it was clear, I had to start all over again. Eventually the snow let up but not until my back was sore and shirt was all sweaty.

I took the little fella out with me while shoveling and even though he is cute in the snow, it does make it a bit difficult trying to scoop the stuff off the driveway when all he wants is to jump in front of the snow being thrown.

He seems right at home in the snow but he has a problem when his paws tend to have the snow stick in the pads and form small ice balls. Then he has to lay down, tries to remove the things with his mouth which makes his paws wetter causing his paws to pick up more snow. 

The house then has little ice pellets all over the place as they free themselves from the fur on his paws.

The Fuzzy Little Guy.

We have had a couple of games and for the first four games of our season we were always the visiting team and we were 0–4. Now that we are heading into a home team stretch we are finally winning again. We are now 2–0 at home. But since the season has just started we have a long way to go still but I now believe that we can kick some serious butt.