Todd Cochrane Ramblings and Happenings

After 300 Plus homes and several false alarms I think we have found what both my wife and I consider to be an acceptable home. All I can say is thank goodness the hard part is over.

The house needs no work, we are pretty sure no termites and it will make a perfect place to entertain guest and not have to run the A/C 24/7 as it is at one of the highest points in Honolulu and is a corner single level home with 1600 square feet of space and I am pretty excited about moving.

Getting through escrow will be the fun part, the sooner the better

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:20 AM | Permalink

Well my Navy career is winding down, I have my papers in and am waiting for the formal approval to come back. I spent some time in NYC last week meeting with some media buyers to help drive the business of RawVoice along.

I am still busting out a degree and have 5 classes left which makes it nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Overall I guess life is pretty good. My mom is doing ok and my niece is on the mend from the accident that took my dad from us.

It is a truly a miracle that she is still alive. My grandparents on my moms side are not 98 and 96 respectfully and when I was home last week I set them down in front of a camera and recorded some family history starting in 1907 and getting through the mid 1950’s.

Those tapes are worth their weight in gold. Lots of interesting things going on almost to many to blog and some business stuff that I am pretty excited about as well.

We have decided to wait a while and hope that the housing prices here in Hawaii cool a little bit. A $4000.00 a month mortgage payment is so over the top I cannot even imagine writing the check for that amount each month.

I have neglected this space way to long but it is time to update it more often.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:59 AM | Permalink

Shoko and I have been actively looking for a home here in Hawaii for about a month, and I will be honest with you. The situation here is absolutely out of control.

I have walked into absolute dumps that would be worth more burned to the ground listed for $650,000. I have walked into Town Homes that have less than 1100 square feet with three bedrooms for $600,000 with a monthly maintenance fee of $600.00. I have seen homes that were priced at a good value but in a school district that ranked at the absolute bottom of the scale.

I have walked through beautiful sub-divisions with model homes to die for that are listed at $550,000 yet the test drive to get to the main highway from the location averaged a hour plus an additional 45 minute commute. The distance travelled in one hour was less than 3 miles. Not to mention those homes are in another crappy school district.

Not to mention a Job market that absolutely does not support at estimated $4000.00 a month mortgage payment. Bankers are more than happy to finance you a home where they know you will be spending as much as 60% of your base salary on a mortgage payments.

Heck we have not even talked about Electric, Water, Sewer and Garbage. I’ll be honest with you, this is a housing market that is completely out of control and for the life of me I do not see how people are able to afford these type of mortgage payments based upon the economy.

So here I sit making a significant salary and completely demoralised that we are finding it near impossible in buying a home at our self imposed cap. Something has to give because if a guy like me that has significant resources is scared of the housing market then I cannot even imagine what others are thinking.

The state simply has to get off their ass and do something because as much as I love Hawaii the shitty schools and crazy home prices is making me look eastward and making me consider packing my suitcase and getting the hell out of of here.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In the past 24 months I have consulted with over 500 podcasters and more than 20 corporations. Many times these services were done over the phone, and nearly a dozen times people have flown out to Hawaii to spend a weekend to consult on a strategy for a new show or idea.

I have not advertised these services in the past as they have come primarily through referals, but now that I am ramping up to go full time in the space. I thought it was time to advertise publicly that I am available. While not usually necessary I am also available to travel worldwide.

Feel free to contact me if you are in need of expert help in getting your project off the ground or back on track. ceo@rawvoice.com

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:52 AM | Permalink

Show 200 was to be a celebration of technology instead I have decided to talk about, and celebrate my father who was killed in an auto accident two weeks ago. The regular show will be back next Tuesday. I made a decision to share with all of you my families experiences over the past two weeks. I thank you for your indulgence in this podcast.

News Link:
Photos of Accident
News Story
News Story

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First I want to thank the 3000 plus people who sent condolences e-mail, voice mail and private phone calls. The outpouring of support has been unbelievable. There will be no way I will ever be able to answer all the e-mails but I do want to say Thank You, your support has been incredible.

As an update we arrived at my mothers home on Tuesday morning. The number of people that were their supporting her was awe inspiring. We all quickly got to work taking care of arrangements, not only did we have a funeral to plan with the myriad of details that need to be dealt with we also had a surviving niece in Intensive Care 3 plus hours away that even tonight is not out of the woods with significant spine, head and abdominal injuries. So your thoughts and prayers towards her recovery is appreciated.

This tragic event happened at the busiest time of the year for of my parents business, (they are produce brokers) with two coolers full of produce. The largest cooler is 64ft by 32ft and 18ft high and is nearly full of peaches, apples and pears which were all scheduled for delivery this week. With the largest delivery truck destroyed in the accident and with their operation having been a 2 man show, we now have a monumental task ahead of us in the coming days as we try to get the product delivered before it spoils in the bins and get cooler cleared before a 1000 bushels of fresh picked peaches arrive Tuesday.

As we have dealt with this loss as so many others have I must say I was nearly brought to my knees on Thursday when we had almost a 1000 friends, family, customers and of course family show up during the visitation period, it was an experience that I will never forget everyone waited for hours to talk to immediate family members. It really helped in the grieving process and reaffirmed what I already knew about my father.

As I close this out for now as we have a very long weekend ahead of us I again want to say thanks again for all the support and kind words. Hold your children tight and make sure that you make the best of every day that is given to you.

Todd...

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If the guy depicted in the linked video is indeed a Marine trying to escape duty in Afghanistan he needs to be brought up under charges under the UCMJ. This makes me really angry. The military is a volunteer force, and I have proudly served for 23 years, to see this makes my stomach turn. This is a insult to the 100's of thousands of service members that live by the motto, Honor, Courage, Commitment. I hope the Marine Corps finds this guy and throws the book at him. [video.google.com]

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Life is beyond busy with all the things I have going on in the podcasting space, I really need an assistant hopefully that will possible soon. We have added to our team at RawVoice and that group has become a well oiled machine. Everything is still ship shape at Podcast Connect and between the two companies I am on track to do a significant amount of business this year. Sponsorships for the Podcast Awards fell in place early and we are moving that site to better hardware to make sure we can handle the load. This is all the while still doing my day job in the Navy. Retirement is about a year away and I am also going to school again to refresh the old skills. As I have said for many years Sleep is for the Weak.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:00 PM | Permalink

Today my book on Podcasting was presented to some of the most influential media buyers in the United States, in a exclusive media presentation in New York. I was happy to forward copies to those in attendance, and hope that it helps the education process in the realizing the potential of this new media evolution we are experiencing.

If you are a media buyer and represent a major firm you can send me a e-mail at podcast@podcastconnect.com with your name, agency and companies you represent along with and address and contact number and I will send you a free copy of my book to help you understand the power of the medium.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Amazon has named my book Podcasting the Do it Yourseld guide a "Best book of 2005" as chosen by the editors of Amazon.com Called a Editor's Pick, In talking with an Amazon Representative yesterday I am honored in having my book picked as a "Best Book of 2005" [Amazon]

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 5:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am at the Consumer Electronics show or better known as CES and am bringing daily podcast to the masses on the coverage their at my main site Geek News Central

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:51 PM | Permalink

I am pretty proud that my book Podcasting The Do It Yourself Guide made the New York Times list of most blogged books of 2005. Was on the list at number 19, if you look at the other books in the list I would say that it faired pretty well. Big thanks to all those bloggers and podcasters that did reviews and talked about the book on their blogs.
[Most Blogged-About Books of 2005 New York Times]

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:14 PM | Permalink

I am trying to collect as many pictures as I can of the Podcast Awards Ceremony if you have any please point me at them as the photographers had trouble as the crowd was so close to the podium.. Please e-mail to podcast@podcastconnect.com

Thanks Todd

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 2:23 PM | Permalink

The Microphone we awarded to Adam Curry and Leo Laporte was the Heil PR40, both Adam and Leo have praised the sound quality. This microphone won a cool stuff award at the NAB

I wanted to pick something really special and my friend Paul Figgiani over at Podcastrigs.com sold me on the purchase. It is a great dynamic mike for under $400.00 we purchased the mount for them also which was another $75.00

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 2:11 PM | Permalink

Podcast Connect Inc my company was the organizer for the 2005 People's Choice Podcast Awards. Our Platinum Sponsor StreetIQ.com representative Andrew Coffey was on hand to present.

Other sponsors included KYOURadio.com, Wiley Publishing, TNC Media and host of other companies that gave prizes and cash.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 2:04 PM | Permalink

Dawn and Drew accepting their Podcast Award!

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 2:01 PM | Permalink

Leo Laporte accepting his Podcast Award from Andrew.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:57 PM | Permalink

Can I first of all say it has been a hell of a year. First the book deal "Podcasting The Do it Yourself Guide" happily it has sold a boat load of copies and still selling well five months later. A huge year at Techpodcasts.com with meeting my motto Podcasters do the Work Podcasters get paid being managed by Podcast Connect.

To top it off 5 months of hard work and the team at RawVoice launch Podcaster News Network. Pretty busy year and the year is not finished yet.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:41 PM | Permalink

I did the announcing while our Platinum Sponsor StreeetIQ.com handed out the prizes. Adam was great said a few words and he loves the microphone that he was given.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:39 PM | Permalink

The Podcast Awards which I dreamed up, and ran this year came down to handing out about $4500.00 in cash and prizes. This picture does not show everything that was on the table. But I think between checks, trophies, visa gift cards, microphones we handed about $4000.00 worth of stuff out in about 20 minutes. Lots of fun and the fund raising for next year starts shortly

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:28 PM | Permalink

Make sure you visit Geek News Central this is were you will find techology information. It is also the home of Todd's show and the Geek News Central Podcast.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 3:43 PM | Permalink

A Year ago I was laying in a hospital bed overseas having just come out of surgery that resulted in some stainless steel in my back with 4 wicked screws, and a severely damaged vertebrae. This would be the start of 13 days in the hospital, being fit with a full body cast, then graduating to a clam shell device that cost my insurance company 7k, and a heavily medicated patient for 8 weeks following the surgery.

The day I quit my pain meds I went cold turkey on a Friday, told my Doctor on Tuesday after having a very agonizing 3 days, and nights. I obviously needed the pain meds early on, and having remembered laying on a hospital emergency room bed screaming for about the first 9 hours because the morphin they gave me didn't really help I was reluctant to go down that road again.

I returned to work after 8 weeks off and within a week, was back in a Airplane on a 6 week business trip. My Doctor lost his mind but hey when it was time to get back to work you have to dive back in. The hardest part for the 3 months was the clam shell was not being able to pick my kid up.

Finally in Feb of this year, I was given the green light to start light exercising. I podcasted my hospital experience and you can find the audio clip on this post you can take a look at the hardware I carry around here.

I am not complaining, as I am very blessed to be walking, and even though I live in a constant state of low level pain life is good. The wife had expected me to be rolled off the airplane as the initial prognosis was really bad and instead I walked off.

One thing though because I flew back from the middle east only 15 days after being injured, I had to lay flat as much as possible so I enjoyed 1st class on 3 consecutive flights and enjoyed the food but had to decline the liquor, as the Roxicet and the Oxycodone I was prescribed was enough bad stuff in my blood stream.

Thus having spent my 40th birthday in that hospital bed contemplating life, and having really looked forward to 2004 being in my rear view mirror the road ahead is a bright one and I am happy to be have faired as well as I have. So their may be times when I get excited about stuff and jump in with both feet but the reason for that is simple I was given a second chance to make profound changes in my families and people I come in contact withs life.

My Wife, and Kids were champions and my extended family and friends prayed and took care of my wife when I was half a world away. Thank you for being here during the past year also it has been and amazing ride.

Todd..

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:36 AM | Permalink

My Wife arrived back from Japan and everytime she goes she has the kids pictures taken their at a local Japanese Studio wearing authentic traditional japanese kimono. I am sure you realize that men in Japan were Kimono's also. Isn't this the nicest picture you ever saw. I have a wall of these types of pics and like any father I am pretty damn proud.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 3:57 PM | Permalink

I do not plan on putting up a regular podcast for this site but promised to produce one on my injury. Hope you enjoy it. [Injury Podcast]

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:23 PM | Permalink

It's hard to believe that 4 months ago I was coping with a spine/vertebrae injury in which I was one of only 10% of the population to not suffer any paralysis. My recovery has been good considering the hardware in my back and having had to deal with a body brace for 3 months. Don't get me wrong I am absolutely not complaining. When I was able to get online after my injury and read everything I could find on it, I knew life would have been much different if that bone spur that displaced my spinal cord by 60% had been sharp versus dull.

My family has a good friend and he has been paralyzed for over 35 years and when he told my mom told him of my injury and the pain that I endured he said take comfort in the pain because when I was propelled from my motorcycle and landed there was no pain. If that doesn't make you sit back and appreciate life nothing will. Overall I am a inch shorter and physical therapy has been good. I can tie my shoes without grunting anymore and can actually almost touch my ankles.

My Cousin died a number of years ago from complications of her paralysis. With today's news of Christopher Reeve death it makes me more than determined to do things to the best of my ability and to appreciate the small things like being able to tie my shoes.

I may do a personal Podcast and put it up on the net I have gotten pretty good at telling the story. Seems Doc Searls had a scare today also and you must think out all of your actions. [Doc Searls]

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 5:51 PM | Permalink

Those of you that where reading the site in June know I was severely injured in an accident overseas. I have spent the last 3 months in a body brace that has immobilized my spine and caused me great discomfort during the summer here in Hawaii. On Sept 1st the brace came off part time and life has been much better. My upper body strength is terrible and I have been visiting the physical therapist and he has been living up to the reputation that most PT have. I can't bitch though as I could have been paralyzed. My recovery is on track and my doctor who is keeping track of my progress is predicting between March and June of next year before I am back a 100%. But I will tell you this it is nice to get out of the brace part time and I am looking forward to putting it away permanently in a couple of weeks. [Burst compression Fractures] [My Hardware]

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 11:30 PM | Permalink

In June while I was in recovery from my Spinal injury I hired a Web Designer to help us clean up the code on Geek News Central to optimize it for MT version 3 and to develop a skin for this site. I paid a $280.00 advance on work to be completed. To make a long story short the web developer cleaned this site up and then provided me some images of what he had in mind for a skin for the other site. I approved one of the images and he then promised to get it chopped up into CSS and put up on the website.

Make a long story short he quit before he finished. I think it may have had something to do with the political views on the other site but if my views where not obvious in the beginning he must have been blind. At this point I am awaiting a return of 1/2 of the money I paid him. I am sure I will get it but this guy is struggling "Artist" in New York and it will probably be a long time before I will see it.

I think the thing that pisses me off the most is this. At the time the developer was out of work I figured hey he needs some work and I have a small project and this could work out for both of us he earns some money while unemployed and I get a skin from someone that appears capable of doing original work. He gets a real job during the design of the skin and quits working on the project and then claims he has no time when he is already 90% finished.

Meanwhile I have a site that still needs a skin and I am very gun shy now on who I will hire. So are you a web designer that finishes what you start?

I highly recommend that you avoid AnziDesign as this supposed designer/artist cannot be relied upon to complete a project that he has agreed to start.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 3:08 PM | Permalink

This is the skin we went with fearing this was the best he could come up with. This was as far as he got when he welched on the job.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 3:06 PM | Permalink

This is the first design my so called Artist web designer came up with. Obviously he was trying to be funny as I rejected it after 3 seconds of looking at it.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 3:03 PM | Permalink

I am awaiting a refund on some of the money I used to pay a web designer to build a skin for this site and fix some issues on Geek News. Thus I am in the market for a web designer again. If you are a good web designer I have some JPG's of the ideas that the old developer put forth before he quit that I would like put to use. Let me know as soon as possible if you would like to do that and only contact me if you can complete the work.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 6:49 PM | Permalink

Went to see my Neurology doctor today, and after him asking me about 50 questions, taping on my knee's and various other places and sending me to Radiology for 3 separate x-rays and over to the Brace shop to order me what's called a LCL which supposedly cost about $5000.00 he gave me the thumbs up to return to work tomorrow.

I am a bit apprehensive as I still cannot sit straight up for long periods. Guess I will be taking frequent breaks. Hopefully I can keep up with the pace my job demands. I am not looking forward to spending 6 more weeks in the brace but hey it could have been much worse. Supposedly the LCL will be more comfortable. The attendant that measured me said I will loose about 10 pounds during the first month sounds good to me already lost 10 in the first brace and the wife is jealous. Physical Therapy will be lite for the first 6 weeks then he is going to cut them loose on me.. Oh boy!

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:18 PM | Permalink

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* This site is NOT fair and balanced, nor does it purport to be. It's owner is obviously a bit right of center and clearly thinks the far left are off their collective rockers (just kidding maybe). This should be readily apparent to anyone who has read more than one post here.

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Thank you, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

I could not resist posting this thanks to asmallvictory a great daily read for you conservatives out there

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:25 AM | Permalink

In Hawaii parking can be a bear at times. When we go downtown sometimes we park in a parking lot several miles from downtown and ride the bus the rest of the way in. I have a couple of spots that the tourist usually don't find and if another local hasn't parked their I get lucky.

To get on with the crux of the story check out what happened when this guy had his parking spot snagged. [Pacific Beach]

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:01 PM | Permalink

I have received a handful or header images today and they where all great. I replied to the designer and gave him a green light to proceed so I would imagine that we will have a new skin at some point in the neat future.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 11:08 AM | Permalink

I hate laying around it just does not fit my personality. But I am getting quite a few things done I have been putting off for awhile.
Going to raid the fridge and see what is lurking and feed my face.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:45 PM | Permalink

I have been searching for a website designer to do some work for quite awhile and had a fast response from a gentleman today. Hopefully we can get this site and a couple of others looking better with some customization and better graphics.

I am using MT version 3 on this site as I used a canned template but the Geek News site has to be cleaned up before I can roll it over and use the new version and from what I have read on the developers site he looks like he is the perfect candidate to do the job.

I also have registered a couple of domain names that I will keep under wraps for now but they are Navy Centric and will revolve around being a Chief Petty Officer (my perspective). I will have to be careful with what I say on the new site and have to come up with some personal posting guidelines. I am still active duty and what you say can hurt you so I will need to keep that in perspective.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:57 AM | Permalink

Well I arrived home on the 15th and went to see my Neurosurgeon on the 16th he is pretty happy with what they did overseas and has put me on 30 days bed rest at home. Being not the type that likes to stay still this has me distressed a bit and I am sure after being home for the next month my wife is going to go stir crazy with me here.

My work is being great and the good thing about my job is it involves a great deal of computer work and I can do a lot at home. I spent 4-5 hours on the phone Thursday covering some issues so it is not like I am totally helpless.

But it is great to be back home with the kids and wife getting plenty of TLC. I told my daughter she could be my nurse and will make some extra allowance for helping dad around the house. Amazing what kids can do even when they are her age.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:52 AM | Permalink

I have been getting a lot of e-mail from Family and Friends wanting more details here is what I sent my wife and mom and hopefully it will suffice.

There was some confusion my Injury was located at L1 and the fusion is between d12 to l2 I had compression-burst fracture and from what I have been reading I need to thank the lord for watching out for me as the majority of people that suffer this injury do not walk away. What is even more amazing is the bone fragments I had pushing against my spinal cord did not cut the spinal cord truly a miracle.

Spine Info

http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article1434.htmlhttp://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article927.html
http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article1394.html
http://www.tcspine.com/education/burstfractures.asp
http://www.vh.org/adult/provider/anatomy/AnatomicVariants/NervousSystem/Images/30.html

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 5:28 AM | Permalink

I am hoping that I am on a flight home tommorow accomodations for me with the condition my back is in is not that great at this local. Hopefully the plane tickets will come thru and I will have a seat that can accomodate me. I tell you it sure is great to walk around 12 days in the hospital room was enough for me.

I have taken the time while laid up today in the room to convert this site to a movabletype version 3 site. Bye Bye Radion Userland forever. I have some cleaning up of the code to do yet but it looks ok for now.

Posted by Todd Cochrane at 8:11 AM | Permalink

<FONT size=2>
<P>Some Details of my injuries sustained Jun 1st</P>
<P>First of all thanks for the well wishes. Well I have had a pretty big scare and came as close as any man would want to come to becoming paralyzed, even though I was severely injured I am damn lucky as all toes and parts are working as they should. By the number of e-mails wishing me well in my inbox and the number of you asking questions I wanted to&nbsp;post this and&nbsp;let you know I am doing ok and will be headed back to&nbsp;Hawaii in the next several days. </P>
<P>On June 1st I fell while having some fun at the pool with my crew who was scheduled to go home the next day. The facility we where staying at had a large water park type waterslide. Having probably slide down the thing 50 times over the past month I headed to the top to give it one more whirl. Upon reaching the launching area I simply slipped and fell in a swooping motion backwards. It was like someone had pulled the rug out from under my feet and I landed very hard and painfully on my tailbone. My body continued down the slide with me screaming. My&nbsp;co-workers where their to rescue me as I came pummeling out of the water slide and into the pool. They removed me from the pool as paramedics would and called an ambulance. Upon arrival at the hospital while strapped to a backboard drugs where administered to ease the pain to no affect (they fixed that later). The doctors initially thought I had bruised my tailbone muscle and after several screaming sessions with them poking a prodding got the good stuff out..</P>
<P>It took two sessions of x-ray's followed by a Cat-Scan. They drugged me up heavily and put me to bed. It was determined the next morning that I had fractured a vertebrae in the T1 region with a bone having misplaced that was pressing against my spinal cord to pinch it by 60%. I was taken to surgery several hours later where they "jacked" my spine up got that bone away from spinal cord stabilized everything and used some steel plates and rods and screwed me together getting my alignment back to 80% normal which will result in my being a 1/8 inch shorter.</P>
<P>The prognosis is good I have no ill side effects all parts are moving as they are supposed to no tingling. I was in a body cast for 5 days and then fitted with a prosthetic device that immobilizes a part of my back and makes me walk like a robot. I am currently&nbsp;trying&nbsp;to get home&nbsp;I have been discharged from the hospital and can walk for short periods and am spending a lot of time on my back. </P>
<P>For the rest of the blood and gore I will save it for later as I definitely have some great stories. Reminder to all don't get hurt in foreign countries as medicine outside the US is definitely different.</P>
<P>Thanks Again for the well wishes</P></FONT>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:22 AM | Permalink

It is nice to see when a mainstream publication finally comments on Al Gores comments that he made the other night. Thank goodness he was not the President I can not even imagine how he would have mucked things up. [<A href="http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/view.bg?articleid=29658">Boston Hearld</A>]
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 4:49 AM | Permalink

<P>As we approach 3 years since the events of 9/11 and some of those events become a not so distant memory my thoughts drift towards the widows and families that lost oved ones. I am sure their are thousands of stories to be shared but one of the best I have read recently revolves around a group of widows that call themselves "The Dead Wives Club" it is a refreshing story I hope you enjoy it. [<A href="http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/9189/">newyorkmetro.com</A>]</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:22 AM | Permalink

<P>Watching the News over the past few days has left me with a very sick feeling in my stomach. I am terribly upset at what has transpired in an Prison in IRAQ. I am very sure the Army will hold those that are responsible accountable, my emotions cry out that these individuals have betrayed the trust they where intrusted with. </P>
<P>My personal feeling is that these idiots have done significant damage&nbsp;and have opened up a&nbsp;Pandora's box. Do they not realize that the proper treatment of prisoners as outlined by the Geneva Convention is of the highest priority. What happens when&nbsp;the next military member&nbsp;is detained. Will he&nbsp;or she be subjected to torture because of the&nbsp;alleged&nbsp;actions. I cannot express publicly what I think should happen but needless to say the UCMJ will be brought to bear on these individuals. </P>
<P>I am ashamed when the President of the United States has to go on television to express his disgust. I can guarantee you when a President is Upset shit is going to roll downhill in a big way and I am sure there will be a very public prosecution of these individuals.</P>
<P>The United States Navy and the United States Marines live by&nbsp;the motto "Honor, Courage &amp; Commitment" these ideals shape our daily actions. I think the Army will need to step back and look at their Value system. The job we have been ordered to do is one that the majority of us support. The majority of us strive to do that job with the value system that has been instilled in us. It is a very sad day to have witnessed what the world has witnessed and should be a wake up call that you do not win the hearts and minds of people by the mistreatment of prisoners.</P>
<P>"The comments listed above are solely mine and may not be re-printed without explicit permission from the Author." "The View of the Author&nbsp;is not an official statement of the United States of America"</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 8:52 AM | Permalink

Wow what a interesting 2 weeks I spend&nbsp; 4-5 days on the east coast then I turn around and head out to Japan for 5 days my body has no idea what time zone it is in and it will not be getting much better. Otherwise it looks like I will get a chance to wind down a little and not have to put in so many hours for the next couple of weeks as I have completed a bunch of primary projects. We are basically just doing clean up work on paperwork. I will say the last 3 months has been some of the most intense I have ever had to deal with.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:19 AM | Permalink

<P>I have been so busy with my other sites I have had no time to work on this site which is sad. But those of you visiting the website will know who I am voting for this year.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:48 AM | Permalink

<P>Well everyone is up in arms today on the President saying he want to go for a Constitutional Amendment to ban Gay marriages. I am not sure where I sit on this one. With the media shoving the gay lifestyle down our throats every day along with all the other heavy sexual material I guess it is time to pull the plug on the old TV for a while. With the majority of the people in the US against Gay marriage if it ever reached the ballot I am sure it would win. Time will tell...</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 8:42 AM | Permalink

I about fell out of my chair today when Janet Jackson Breast was exposed during the Half Time show. The <A href="http://www.drudgereport.com/mattjj.htm">Drudge Report</A> has a few revealing pictures and I am sure someone will extract the full scene from their TIVO and put the clip on the net. CBS and MTV who produced the show are claiming it wasn't planned but the question is why would she have a tassle cover the nipple?
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:13 AM | Permalink

<P>State of the Union</P>
<P>All I can say is the President know how to bring the house down and he delivered what I would describe as one of the most impressive speeches I have heard in several years. "4 more years, 4 more years, 4 more years"</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:02 AM | Permalink

Had to laugh today after reading all of the weblogs around the US as a bunch of people are pretty shocked at Howard Dean getting his ass kicked last night in Iowa. Being the Democrats want another pretty boy running for president I doubt Kerry will be able to carry the day. My Guess is that Edwards will end up being the Democrats choice.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:00 AM | Permalink

<P>I am 100% disgusted with Dave Winer over at Scripting News. I would love to leave him a comment on his site but he doesn't have the sack to leave a comment button. He has said that he is not bothered when people compare <A href="http://archive.scripting.com/2004/01/05#When:7:03:57PM">Adolf Hitler to our President</A>.&nbsp;&nbsp;To agree with such a comparison is absolutely disgusting the man has no credibility. It goes to show how desperate the Left Wing Liberals are as&nbsp;they know down in their heart that they are totally screwed. Dean will be their candidate and he has a snowballs chance in Hell in winning in desperation they support what other lunatics are saying about our President.</P>
<P>Can you imagine the quagmire we would be in today if Al Gore had been president. Thank God we have the man that we do in office and you can damn well be sure that I am going to vote for him in November as his leadership will ensure that my children will live in a safer world.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 8:56 AM | Permalink

<P>Time magazine has announced the Time person of the year as "The American Soldier" which is terrific but what troubles me about this is the wording. They refer that the award is for all American&nbsp;Military personnel&nbsp;well&nbsp;Hello Marines are not called Soldiers, Navy personnel are not called Soldiers, Airforce personnel are not called Soldiers only people in the US Army are called soldiers so they have there wording incorrect if they are trying to give credit to all American Military.</P>
<P>Many Marines, Navy, Airforce and even Coast Guard personnel&nbsp; hung there asses out on the line. Times has insulted 75% of the military by lumping all branches of service into calling all of them American Soldiers. Now if they where honoring just Army people that would be cool. Maybe I am reading more into this than I should but there where a lot of us out there&nbsp;in the fight&nbsp;it was not a 100% Army show.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:15 AM | Permalink

I tell you what I like Radio Userland but I like Movable Type a hell of a lot more. I have tried to get pictures uploaded to this damn weblog&nbsp; for&nbsp;a couple of days and said the hell with it. You can view one of the better Baby pictures at this link. <A href="http://www.cochranefamily.net/news.html">cochranefamily.net</A>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:58 AM | Permalink

Shoko and I are happy to announce the arrival of the newest member of our family. He arrived by special delivery as an early Christmas present. Mom and Baby are resting and doing fine. Dad is wiped out and is going to catch 2-3 hours of sleep and back to the hospital. We weighed in at 6 lbs 9.6 oz and measured 18 1/2 inches long arriving screaming like there was no tommorow. His siblings attended the birth and did terrific.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:53 PM | Permalink

Some of the parasites out there meaning some US News venues continue to play up the liberal press on there spin on what is happening in IRAQ but they sure did not report about the <A href="http://www.instapundit.com/archives/012962.php">massive demonstration</A> in IRAQ that was reportedly the biggest rally yet where banners read "No Sabotage" "Thank You America" and many more pro Americana and a surprising many anti-arab slogans. Seems a big percentage of Iraqis are not happy with how the Arab press is reporting on what is happening in Iraq
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:16 AM | Permalink

<P><FONT color=maroon>TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,<BR>HE LIVED ALL ALONE<BR>IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE<BR>MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY<BR>WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,<BR>AND TO SEE JUST WHO<BR>IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>I LOOKED ALL ABOUT;<BR>A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE:<BR>NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,<BR>NOT EVEN A TREE.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,<BR>JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND.<BR>ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES<BR>OF FAR DISTANT LANDS...</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,<BR>AWARDS OF ALL KINDS...<BR>A SOBER THOUGHT<BR>CAME THROUGH MY MIND.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT.<BR>IT WAS DARK AND DREARY.<BR>I FOUND A HOME OF A SOLDIER,<BR>ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING--<BR>SILENT, ALONE--<BR>CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR<BR>I! N THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,<BR>THE ROOM IN DISORDER;<BR>NOT HOW I PICTURED<BR>A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>WAS THIS THE HERO<BR>OF WHO I'D JUST READ?<BR>CURLED UP ON A PONCHO;<BR>THE FLOOR FOR A BED?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>I REALIZED THE FAMILIES<BR>THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT<BR>OWED THEIR LIVES TO THIS SOLDIER<BR>WHO WAS WILLING TO FIGHT.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>SOON 'ROUND THE WORLD<BR>THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,<BR>AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE<BR>A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>THEY ALL ENJOY FREEDOM<BR>EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR<BR>BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS<BR>LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>I COULDN'T HELP WONDER<BR>HOW MANY LAY ALONE<BR>ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE,<BR>IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>THE VERY THOUGHT<BR>BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE.<BR>I DROPPED TO MY KNEES<BR>AND STARTED TO CRY.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>THE SOLDIER AWAKENED;<BR>AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,<BR>&nbsp;"SANTA, DON'T CRY.<BR>&nbsp;THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE."<BR>&nbsp;"I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM.<BR>&nbsp;I DON'T ASK FOR MORE.<BR>&nbsp;MY LIFE IS MY GOD,<BR>&nbsp;MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>&nbsp;THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER<BR>&nbsp;AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP.<BR>&nbsp;I COULDN'T CONTROL IT;<BR>&nbsp;I CONTINUED TO WEEP.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>&nbsp;I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,<BR>&nbsp;SO SILENT AND STILL;<BR>&nbsp;AND WE BOTH SHIVERED<BR>&nbsp;FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>&nbsp;I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE<BR>&nbsp;ON THAT COLD, DARK NIGHT--<BR>&nbsp;THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR,<BR>&nbsp;SO WILLING TO FIGHT.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>&nbsp;THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER<BR>&nbsp;AND WITH A VOICE, SOFT AND PURE,<BR>&nbsp;WHISPERED, "CARRY ON, SANTA.<BR>&nbsp;IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY,&nbsp; ALL'S SECURE."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=maroon>&nbsp;ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH<BR>&nbsp;AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.<BR>&nbsp;"MERRY CHRISTMAS, MY FRIEND,<BR>&nbsp;AND TO ALL, A GOOD NIGHT.</FONT></P><FONT size=2>
<P>This poem was written by a Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He makes the following request:</P>
<P>"Would you send this to as many people as you can? Christmas is coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate this and other holidays. Let's stop and think of our true heroes who have sacrificed their lives or parts of their lives so that we may enjoy our many freedoms</P></FONT>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:53 AM | Permalink

<P>A bunch of Democrats are all excited about the Howard Dean endorsement by AL Gore, while the 90% of mainstream democrats are shaking in there boots realizing that he has about 1 chance in a million of winning and yet he will take over the DNC. The Democrats have blew it before they ever stepped out of the starting gate..</P>
<P>#1 Reason why Howard Dean will not win he opposes the war on terror and seems to forget that thousands of Americans died on 9-11</P>
<P>#2 He is ahead because the Democratic Old guard is simply that OLD and BORING</P>
<P>#3 The Clinton's will loose control of the DNC and loose the election but Hillary will run in 2008 I am sure the rainbow coalition will be happy when she runs</P>
<P>Howard Dean will not win he will become another obscure politician that talked a lot of smack and got beat by George Bush I have no doubt that George will win again God Help us if he looses as this country will be totally screwed. Howard Dean does not have the fortitude to do what is needed because he can not handle the truth meanwhile he continues to manipulate a portion of the country that do not really do any research and are blindingly willing to jump on a locomotive that they know is going to jump off the track. He;'s done put a fork in him...</P>
<P>God Bless America and God Bless President Bush </P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:58 AM | Permalink

Yesterday is one of those I would rather forget sometimes life throughs you a curve ball and you get hit smack in the face.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 6:53 AM | Permalink

Well we are a little over a month away from the delivery of the newest member of our family and Shoko has went into what is refered to as the nesting mode. Getting house and rooms ready for the little one. Still working on the name but hey it's a important decision.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 2:56 AM | Permalink

<P>Sometimes I would just like to smack some people in the head. Last Friday I provided very explicit instructions on what I needed for my upcoming road trip. The request was simple get visit request out to some respective parties so that I could get through there front door when I arrived. Well it is Thursday and it hasn't been done and I have a meeting scheduled in the morning that requires this paperwork to be submitted. I am at 30,000 ft and having to wait till I land to call and start screaming at someone has me frustrated.</P>
<P>Why are people such boneheads sometimes...</P>
<P>Anyway in other news my mom is in surgery for a planned procedure and that has also added to my frrustration well such is life and I am sure she will be fine...</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 5:54 AM | Permalink

<P>What a vacation, terrific visit with the family and we spent some time traveling in the tri-state area of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio plus we went an spent some time in Chicago. It was terrific to unplug from the Internet and spend quality time with the kids. On a sadder note my grandmother sight continues to get worse and I am afraid that she could be totally blind at some point. Both of my grandparents on my mom's side of the family are in there 90's and I guess I should be thankful that they are as in good shape as they are. The hearing aids that my grandfather got has actually allow him to hear things he has been missing for years. I am hopeful that they get some domestic help to do some of those things around the house that have begun to slip. Makes me feel guilty being all these miles away and not being able to help. My Dad's parents are in pretty good shape considering the problems they have had.</P>
<P>Getting older is a bitch and as I look in the mirror I am not getting any younger. I guess it goes without saying you better do your best the first time around. I am hoping that by the time I am 90 we can just plug-in and download the gray matter between our ears. Otherwise I am not hedging my bets.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:02 AM | Permalink

<P>Back home at last and finally a real vacation is just around the corner. With Shoko almost 6 months pregnant we are excited to get away before she gets to the point where she will want to stay close to home. This is the first real vacation we have had in 5 years I am keeping the kids out of school and taking them to see the Grandparents, my sister and her kids along with the Great Grandparents. My sisters husband is currently deployed in Japan and my sister will be joining us in Hawaii and getting her house setup prior to his arrival off of deployment. I on the otherhand hopefully will be home for a spell and will actually get to enjoy my house. I have only been home 7 days since early May and I am ready to sleep in my own bed and get caught up with my kids.</P>
<P>We are going to hit Chicago and various other venues in the greater Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois area. Although only 20 days long we will try and stay busy. But anyway I have not posted to this site in some time as I have just been to plain busy with Geek News Central it's success has truly astounded me. Will update you on what is happening when we get back.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 2:39 AM | Permalink

<P>It has been quite a long time since I have posted anything to this site. I have been as busy as one could be. Having wrapped up what I was doing in Texas and then only being home a week and back on the road again it has been a very full summer. I am really looking forward to the vacation I am going to be taking in September. I will be going to my class reunion and seeing old friends plus I am going to be scouting out Pensacola as we are thinking about trying to get orders there next. I have to make a decision on what I am going to try and do by November. Some very deep soul searching is going to be needed. I can go 2 ways I can go overseas to a demanding short billet or I can come back to the mainland and be an Instructor. Or find a desk job that is easy and finish my degree and get ready to retire and start on another carreer</P>
<P>The Navy has been good to me and at best I have 6 years left before I will be put out to pasture. The past 5 1/2 years have been the most rewarding of all and words cannot describe what I have accomplished and seen. But a decision will have to be made soon and hopefully it is the correct one. With guidance from those above me I will work it all out.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:52 AM | Permalink

The hulk is really a Hulk imagine you win a Hulk doll at a fair give it to your daughter she takes it home to join the shelf with her Barbies etc. Now imagine she is wondering why the Hulk shorts are a little tight. You guessed it [<A href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003310256,00.html">SUN Online</A>] I think I will be checking any dolls we may pick up as it looks like Manufactures have lost there minds.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 3:24 AM | Permalink

Hi all well I have been laying low lots of things happening and I have been working like a dog. I guess it comes with the territory not complaining happy to do the job. Looking forward to getting back to Hawaii here at the end of the month. Hotel living is getting old.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:25 AM | Permalink

Great trip home and great visit with the family too bad it was so short but well worth it. Getting caught up with family and friends was good. My best friend from childhood and his family came out it was like old times I swear the more people change the more they stay the same. I am very happy that he and his wife have found there nitch and it's nice to see that there are some women out there that are not afraid to get there hands dirty. Work is the same as ever and there is never enough hours in the day.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:07 AM | Permalink

Sitting in Dallas Int on a WiFi connection headed towards Detroit should be a fun 3 days and look forward to seeing everyone.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 11:12 AM | Permalink

<P>Well it looks like I am going to be able and take a couple of days off and see my folks at the end of the week. Airline ticket is purchased car rental is setup should be fun and I am looking forward to it. Almost two years since I have been home it's always curious to see what has changed in the neighborhood.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 4:52 AM | Permalink

<P>Most conservatives cringe when&nbsp;they read some of the biased stories in the news or watch some of the news stories being reported. I get so disgusted that I tune the coverage out. Well apparently that some top level editors are trying to irradicate reporting bias. I am all about fair and balanced repoting. Which is the Fox News Channels slogan. If a reporter reports both sides of the story without bias, prejeduce and gives both sides equal coverage so long as those they are quoting are credible most people can make a educated decision on the story. </P>
<P>Obviously political agendas and extremist can never be persuaded one way or the other but those people are truly ignorant in that they fail to even try and find out the truth. </P>
<P>But I am very proud a editor in California who had the courage to send a stern memo to his underlings at the paper reports for. [<A href="http://www.laobserved.com/carrollmemo.html">L.A. Observed</A>]</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:10 PM | Permalink

<P>Today being Memorial Day&nbsp;made&nbsp;me&nbsp;reflect while watching the ceremony in Washington DC. For reasons I will not go into there are a couple of guys that made the ultimate sacrifice&nbsp;who's life was cut short by the ravages of War. There families and many others have been ever changed by the events that happened that night. The events of that night will forever be etched in my mind. War is hell and so many American Men and Women have made that sacrifice so that others may continue to live in a Free and Safe United States of America. </P>
<P>Someday I may write about it but I imagine it will be many years in the future as some things are better left unsaid</P>
<P>God Bless there souls and God Bless the United States of America</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 11:26 AM | Permalink

<P>Waco Texas what a wonderful place ;( here I sit and the wife and kids are headed for Tokyo tomorrow. Very depressing I am so spoiled by Hawaii that I have forgotten how utterly boring it can be. Waco Texas is kind of a weird town. Large in size but it seems everyone knows everyone if your a outsider it is difficult to break into the inner circles that people develop here. There is also is seems an alarming number of people that drink and drive. I am unsure what the local Police are up to but they do not pay much attention to the alcoholics. Baylor University is just down the street from the Hotel I am staying and all I can say is this traditional Southern Baptist school is no different than any other University in the United States. By the amount of money these kids spend I would venture to say that most of them don't have to work very hard. But I do see some earning there keep in traditional college jobs. </P>
<P>I just haven't been able to place my finger on the pulse of this town though. I have spent considerable amount of time here but it is just weird. I do know one thing the town is in need of a place that doesn't play country music. Every damn place I go in is playing country. Now don't get me wrong I like Country but jeez they need to get a clue. Country 4-5 couples dancing for 45 minutes then they throw on some top 40 and the dance floor fills up. But you can tell the DJ's are clueless. They need to travel around a&nbsp;little and get a clue. </P>
<P>I could guarantee from my previous DJ experience where I was pulling in capacity crowds at the clubs I worked which the smallest had a capacity of 750 and the largest 2500 we always had people at the door waiting. I tried giving a guy a hint the other night but he would not listen. I could make someone a but-load of money in this town they just need to wake up.</P>
<P>The Hotel is decent it's a Residence Inn I am a bit pissed that they are not honoring the military rate and I will be paying out of pocket a little which is ok as I am making it up in food cost savings. The rest of the hotels here in Waco are pretty standard and no others offers suites that have kitchens. It was hard to find one with a fridge and microwave. </P>
<P>The place I am working is off tomorrow for Memorial Day I think I will drive up to Dallas and see if I can find something to do. There is absolutely nothing to do here thats for sure. I also wish hotels would hurry up and get with the program I need broadband bad and I am stuck on dial-up that max's out at 24.4 which sucks ass.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

<P>The Sony Vaio that I am using now the PCG-GRV670P has been terrific. Even though it is a desktop replacement it has been easier on my eyes with the 16' screen and I am sure will be my companion for the next several years. WIth a 2.4ghz and 512 megs of ram and a awesome video card and software package It should do everything I need it to. Working with Autocad drawings has been remarkable as I can actually get work done without moving the damn sceeen all the time. </P>
<P>Several people that have seen it have commented on it as it is so big that it draws attention from the most unlikely people. Even a friend of mine who is a MAC lover had to comment that it was a nice machine. Pretty big admission from a mac loyalist. If some gace me a Mac I would probably play with it and see what it could do but I am not going to go out and buy one.</P>
<P>One thing I did have to dump was Microsoft Works I can't beleive they still that piece of Garbage. My office has been pretty supportive and we got Office for it and loaded it up. Not Office XP but Office 2000 which is still a sight better than Works.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:38 AM | Permalink

<P>I swear packing my bags and getting on a airplane is getting harder to do. I enjoyed one of the longest periods home the last few months and it was tough packing the suit case and heading back on the road again. Being the Navy is in charge of my travel they do all the flight, rental car and hotel booking. The only flexibility we have to the hotel booking. If we can find nicer accomodations at the same rate that they booked they do not mind us moving from one location to the other. If you exceed the rate then you pay out of pocket. I normally prefer not to do that. But on this trip I am going to pay $5.00 a day out of pocket. But the choice is simple. Regular hotel you have to eat out 100% of the time. The place they had me staying in did not even have a refrigirator in the room. In the past I have been able to get Residence Inn's to match the government rate. But some Residence Inn's have limited Gov't rate rooms. The Waco Texas Residence has been extremely difficult due to the president flying into Waco from time to time and I imagine that the Secret Service guys don't like to stay in a regular hotel. Although I have never seen any of them in the hotel. So I begged and pleaded with the General Manager and he set me up with a room a little over Government Rate. We have threw that place a lot of business and I really don't understand why they are being so hard headed the initial rate he quoted me was almost 2 times the Government rate. Waco is not the center of the universe amazingly though this particular hotel has the highest regular rates in town.</P>
<P>But back to leaving. With the wife pregnant it sure made it tough, she had morning sickness real bad last week and was loosing weight but over the weekend it cleared up and I hope she can maintain the tolerance of food the rest of the way through. But there will be no fried foods in my house for the next 9 months. We went to a movie and was a super trooper and made it through I was ready to pack it in as the popcorn smell was nauseating.</P>
<P>She will nto be alone though as she loads the kids up this Saturday and heads for Japan. We have a surprise for them as she is hitting Tokyo Disneyland on here way to Okinawa. Been pretty good about keeping it a secret. I gave them both some extra spending money and told them it was for something special so there brains are working overtime. Picked up some calling cards as it is cheaper to call Japan while on travel with thouse than incur the hotel rate which would put this entire trip over budget. The wife gets us .05 cents a minute from Hawaii to Japan which is pretty amazing as it is now cheaper to call Japan that it is to call the mainland. This is for calls over 10 minutes if she calls for under 10 minutes it is cheaper to use AT&amp;T&nbsp; at .13 cents a minute to Japan. But 90% of the time she plans her calls so they will be longer than 10 minutes. </P>
<P>With the prospect of not seeing her and the kids up to 60 days has me in a quandry as my schedule is such that it could be 90 if all the pieces do not come together as planned. So if any of you that read this are in the Dallas / Waco area give me a holler and we will have to hook up would love to talk to are Bloggers.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:31 AM | Permalink

<P>Your Not Going to believe this.</P>
<P>We announced to the world via this website and several others on Mothers Day that we had found out the week prior that my wife was expecting. Up to that point we had told only a few friends. We withheld the big surprise for the grandparents on Mothers You will not believe what I found in the mail today! Read on.</P>
<P>So here's the background on April 28th we decide we better go down to the local supermarket and get one of those home pregnancy kits. The wife pays for the purchase with a Visa Checking Card. She comes home and we do the test the morning of the 29th. Results are positive, so a call goes into our Doctors office to make the appointment to get an official test done. She goes in late on the 29th submits the sample as she is leaving minus the results the doctor gives her a prescription to pre-natal vitamins when she leaves the doctors office goes to the pharmacy and picks up the vitamins. She goes to the Pharmacy and gets the prescription. Note: My insurance requires no money change hands just the insurance card etc. On the morning of the 30th we find out the official lab results which are also positive. Then we sit on this information for the next 10 days to try and give everyone an extra surprise on Mothers day.</P>
<P>My youngest child is 5 thus we have no babies in the house at the moment. So what do we find in the mail today the 13th of May? Check this out! A card that say Congratulations Baby (our last name) with an offer to subscribe to Parenting magazine. We have never had a subscription to this magazine. SO how in the hell did Parenting magazine find out my wife was pregnant so quick. </P>
<P>My bet is on the Visa checking credit card. I will be calling the associated bank in the morning and reviewing our privacy settings. I explicitly went to all of my banks last year and made sure those accounts were locked down. I will be expecting an answer from them on this. Someone is going to give me the info I am looking for, as I will find out hell or high water how parenting magazine was able to get this info so quick.</P>
<P>Being I am in Hawaii and mail takes about 5-7 days to get here the data had to be gleaned from the purchase of the pregnancy test. But here's the kicker what if the test had been negative? Did this purchase tip the CC marketing company to query my Insurance Company and her picking up the prenatal vitamins confirmed the pregnancy? </P>
<P>A bit surprising to say the least to get this in the mail less than 2 weeks since we have had the results. I knew that these companies are good but geez I am totally surprised. I also checked the Internet Explorer history files and the wife has not been visiting baby sites. Being she is a pro at this having kids thing she said that there was no need to go looking for information.</P>
<P>If you find this as surprising as I do drop me a line and let me know what you think. Also I know the Info did not get released via the Doctors office as they have a strict privacy policy in place. But I wonder if the Lab is so inclined not to release results like this. Makes you wonder ehhh...</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:14 AM | Permalink

<P>We waited until the flowers for Mothers day where delivered to make an announcement to our families via a hidden URL on our website thru the enclosed card. Earlier last week I said I had big news to impart to everyone and not to get to excited. Well we have been pretty excited but we announced it with some clues, one of the clues was 3+3=6 and 3+4=7 and some other neat stuff. Well for those of you puzzled, my mom and dad currently have 6 grandchildren and in January we are expecting to increase that number by 1 thus the 3+4=7. Obviously we and they are completely elated. I have rolled back into the over protective husband roll. But this will be it for us. I will be going thru the outpatient procedure that starts with a "V" anyway we will keep you updated here from time to time. With a 13 yr old from a previous marriage and 2 that are 6 and 5 and soon to be newborn</P>
<P>But most of the pregnancy news will go on the personal site. I plan on blogging the hell out of this. What a way for a kid in 10 year&nbsp; to read about what dad was thinking about before, during and after birth cool ehhh.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:32 AM | Permalink

<P>No updates yet but we will have some shortly life has been nuts the past few days. All will become apparent in the coming weeks</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:26 PM | Permalink

<P>Well Mothers day is right around the corner and&nbsp; I have been trying to figure out what to get the wife. After making the typical husband mistakes over the years I am being a selective shopper and hopefully I will come up with the perfect gift. I will let everyone know what it is on Sunday. So be sure to check back here Sunday.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:57 AM | Permalink

<P>Big news coming from my house. Some of you will never guess.. Some of you are going to Laugh, Some of you are going to be surprised. Check back here soon.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 4:23 AM | Permalink

<A href="http://www.madblast.com/view.cfm?type=FunFlash&amp;display=2224">Will the real Saddam Hussein stand up</A>. :)
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:49 PM | Permalink

I usually do not publish personal information on her but the post I am going to reference is worth making some correlations. I have been married going on 9 years, my wife is from Okinawa Japan. I had to laugh tonight when I found a site that talks about Japanese customs. I have been traveling to Japan for 20 years and have many business/personal contacts thus I have learned some of these strict customs the hard-way. My father-in-law owns a large company and is the company president. He is picked up by a driver I have had the opportunity to hang out with him numerous times and have observed formal meetings and have participated in the business courtship in bars and restaurants. As a foreigner there is always the opportunity to sing Karaoke and have business people practice English on me. For many years I was amazed at there work ethic and wondered how they worked all day partied all night and still made it to work the next day. The experience for the non initiated can be gruesome especially when the sake is still flowing at 3am and you have to be back in the office at 7. The average American Business man would collapse after a couple of weeks of this but you learn to pace yourself. The culture and traditions are very in-depth and one would have to study for many years to fully appreciate the Japanese culture. [<A href="http://www.nora-krug.com/bowl/">How to Bow, Drink and Visit a Home in Japan</A>]
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:42 PM | Permalink

Here in Hawaii a pyscho killed his 8 year old daughter for no apparent reason. What would drive a person to do this is beyond me. Simply terrible.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:05 AM | Permalink

Not much news here just work work work..
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 11:22 AM | Permalink

<P>Wow what a trip, I do not recomend 3 cities in 4 days. Getting into the hotels/motels in the middle of the night for most of the stops if I had not needed a shower I could have just slept in the car. Anyway lot's of fun. I did try to find WiFi hotspots as I was on the move. Pretty sad results all hotels and airports I went through did not have hotspots. Makes you wonder why some company doesnt get off there butts and rollout WiFi in this high traffic areas.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:44 AM | Permalink

<P>Well here&nbsp;I am again at 35,000 feet headed towards LAX for a 5 day trip with 3 cities in as many days. It was supposed to be a 2 city trip but something came up aand now a easy 5 days turned into pure hell. </P>
<P>If all goes well I will be back in Honolulu saturday afternoon meanwhile I rack up another 6-7 thousand frequent flyer miles. But the way the trip is setup I will be on&nbsp;3 different carriers. Shoko cashed in some free miles recently and we were ablt to get 2 round trip tickets to Okinawa while having to pay for one which was about $800.00 so not bad considering the damages could have been around $2400.00</P>
<P>I spent some free time this week re-designing the <A href="http://www.cochranefamily.net/">Cochrane Family Website</A> and thus far it looks damn good. We incorporated a Movable Type weblog into the news section so it will be much easier for me to update as needed. </P>
<P>I have been working on drumming up some new editors for the Geek News Central website as my schedule is going to be very crazy over the next several months and I do not want content to suffer. We have built up quite a following and if I don't drive them away&nbsp;because of &nbsp;my slap shot the site should continue to grow.</P>
<P>I am originally from Michigan and even though I live in Hawaii and travel a great deal it seems my travels either have me on the west coast or overseas, I havent been back home in 3-4 years and I feel the need to go home and stretch my legs out for a couple of weeks. Hopefully I will be able to squeeze this in sometime this summer. </P>
<P>Shoko and the kids are headed to Okinawa at the end of May and will not be back for 2 months so hopefully as soon as they get home we will be able to sneak out and take a vacation. I would like to take 3 weeks but we will see what the schedule allows for.</P>
<P>Hopefully United doesn't lose my luggage as I am really going to be a moving target for the next couple of days.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:39 AM | Permalink

<P>First Project rolled out and I am now cleaning up. The <A href="http://www.cochranefamily.net/">CochraneFamily</A> website has been cleaned up and I am currently re-adding all the pictures but the site looks pretty damn good.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 2:23 AM | Permalink

<P>CNN owes every dead Iraqi that was killed by the Regime and every dead military person a profuse apology. They should crawl on there knee's head bowed and ask forgivness from each and every family. Their revealed actions makes me sick. I hope the people involved loose a lot of sleep. If there ever was a reason to wonder why people do not trust ordinary news sources. [<A href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/opinion/11JORD.html">New York Times</A>]</P>
<P>If they had reported things as they really where maybe the President would not have had such a hard time raising support. Shows you the almighty dollar drives everything even if people get killed. I watch Fox the majority of the time but I have just locked out CNN on my cable box. Good riddance.</P>
<P>I apologize for breaking our geek thread but I had to rant.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 3:26 AM | Permalink

<P>Many of you Ladies hate Cigars. Every man needs a vice and my alloted 1 or 2 cigars a month is I suppose my vice. My Patio at home is the best place. My dad and I built it&nbsp;2 years ago and I don't get to use it as often as I do. But&nbsp;oh boy is it nice to sit on that Patio and smoke a Cigar.</P>
<P>I had been doing major battel with over that patio with the housing association. It took a year but I did not roll over to the libeal pinkos. But now all of my neghibors are using our floor plans and building there own patio. The housing authority was not used to someone fighting them but we won thats the major thing. So the next time I smoke a cigar in my bug/pest freePatio I will be effectively throwing the bird at those assholes. Now where the dart board I need to get that mounted up. I have a TV out there the Wifi reaches and all I need is a keg keeper and I will be in heaven. I may not have a garage but by god I have a patio. Hmm I wonder if we can mount some tools to the wall ;) nah need to keep it civil so the wife can entertain.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:17 AM | Permalink

War is War people see the images on TV and get the idea that it is a big game out there. After 20 years of service I have seen my share of interesting things. But one thing for sure those men over there that are getting killed are dead. Dead is Dead and when you think about that for a little while. You realize it is not a game. God Bless there familes, the price of freedom and helping repressed people is not cheap.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:05 AM | Permalink

<P>Have you ever been so frickin tired that you could hardly navigate. I swear I have been running on reserve power for the last&nbsp;20 months and I need a vacation like it's going out of style With 70 some vacation days on the books I need to burn some vacation time. I guess when I'm dead I will get caught up on sleep as there is no time to sleep now. I have vowed that if I do get some vacation time I am going to leave my Cell, Laptop and PDA at home.</P>
<P>I am unsure why I do this to myself but besides my regular&nbsp;<A href="http://www.navy.com/">Job</A> and keeping&nbsp;<A href="http://www.geeknewscentral.com/">Geek News Central</A> updated,&nbsp;I have had 3 huge projects in work for about a week now.</P>
<P>#1 Is the FaceLift of BBS Networks <A href="http://www.bbsnets.com/public/beta.htm">here is a beta</A> of what it is going to look like. It has been running the same basic design for about 5 years and I'm sick of it.</P>
<P>#2 I am scraping the curren&nbsp;<A href="http://www.cochranefamily.net/">Cochrane Family</A> site and have done a hell of a job with the re-modeling&nbsp;here is a <A href="http://www.cochranefamily.net/beta/index.htm">sneak&nbsp;peak</A>&nbsp;it is&nbsp;just a shell at this point but will get it populated&nbsp;over the next few dayd and when it is ready we will roll it out.</P>
<P>#3 I am not sure I will get it done this year but I have went looking for some help. My <A href="http://www.bbsnets.com/">BBS</A> still has several 1000 visitors each day but most miss our biggest feature. We have nearly 1/2 million shareware files on-line. Three or four years ago I purchased the domain <A href="http://www.filearchive.net/">filearchive.net</A> and have not really developed it. As it&nbsp;is just pointed at the&nbsp;bbsnets.com domain.</P>
<P>&nbsp;But a certain fellow in California rolled out a site today he has been sitting on for awhile and I think we may do the same but it is going to be a huge undertaking as I need to find a net aware software package that will work with my current storage structure. It was a daunting challenge 5 years ago but it's not so bad now as technolgy and out of the box software packages are much more diverse. My main man down in Floridia could solve our dilema with a week's worth of work on a current package I am currently running but he can't stop development to change the package at this time.</P>
<P>Meanwhile considering the world situation I am keeping real busy. Since my promorion last year I have had about twice the workload and I thought I had a lot going on before.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:05 AM | Permalink

<P>Not much action here as I have been putting in some crazy hours there's a war on ya know :) But if your reading this we have moved to&nbsp;a new server I have consolidated 5-6 domains at one provider.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:49 AM | Permalink

<P>12:10 am I get in bed and instantly asleep, RING RING RING RING RING ohhh thats the phone.Hello? Chief Cochrane this is the duty office I need you to come in immediately the sprinklers upstairs are going off. ??? (it is now 0100) Is there a fire? No they just went off. Be right in.&nbsp;</P>
<P>So I get dressed and drive like a mad man to work. As I roll up to the hanger fire trucks and cop cars are parked outside and a monson wall of water is cascading down from within. First thing that my mind process's is why are the sprinklers still going off. I live 20 miles away and I was not the first person that was called and almost a hour has passed. They get the water shut-off finally and I make my way upstairs to look at the pending doom. I open the door to the hallway and about 3 inches of water runs out, suprisingly&nbsp;things are not looking that bad. Turns out that the sprinkler system is zoned and the second floor where 90% of our computers and records have been spared minus the flooding.</P>
<P>Then I realize as I am walking down the hallway that the power is still on and there are a shitload of power strips plugged in all over the place and then I have the feeling that I better back up and go find the circuit breaker panel. Then I wonder what has happened to computers hooked up to power strips that are submerged. I cringe thinking about the 100 or so gigs of data that is backed up on a secondary drive within the same computer in my workspace and say to myself that probably wasnt a good idea.</P>
<P>Anyway after we get the power shutoff, we find varied levels of destruction of PC's forunately when I open the door to my office we seem to have had the forsight to have all of the UPS's and power strips off the floor and my PC are all safe and not smoking holes. My paperwork is safe I say a small prayer "thank you lord". We will have to sit down now and figure out how to safeguard 20 years worth of work that is largley in paper form that have 100's of thousands of man-hours invested. </P>
<P>5 hours later and we are still cleaning up but my data and my archives are safe. Others were not so fortunate but we are hoping that we will be able to recover hard drives etc. Not feeling to bad for being awake for 36 hours. Now the regular workday must continue.</P>
<P>Fine Navy Day</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:32 AM | Permalink

<P>A very amazing X-Ray of President Bush is on the Net. I knew he was tough but man oh man [<A href="http://www.gradis.net/xray.htm">X-Ray</A>]</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:21 AM | Permalink

<P>I am sitting here very pissed off at the moment. These brutal, lawless, no moral Iraqi war fighters need to be punished harshly. We go out of our way to treat POW's humanely. We feed and shelter them and follow all of the rules of the Geneva Convention. From what I am observing on the News it seems once again American Warfighter are being brutalized.</P>
<P>I can gurantee one thing I would save myself 1 bullet and take myself out rather than have to be tortured and brutalized by these savages. My heart goes out to there families and they are in our prayers.</P>
<P>God Bless America!</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 11:07 AM | Permalink

Wow what a week the President has determined that we are not going to take anymore shit from that Idiot in Iraq. Like the rest of you I have been glued to the TV when I havent been at work. Thus I am about a 100 hours behind on sleep. My prayers and support go out to all of those out in harms way. Let's hope that this thing gets wrapped up quickly.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Here we are on the Brink of war. I hope that idiot in Iraq has the common sense to get the Hell out of Iraq if he doesn't my fellow service brothers and sisters are going to do our best to send his ass straight to hell. The rest of the lunatics in the world better pay attention your all next. Anyway we shall see what happens.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:06 AM | Permalink

<P>I am sitting here eating my lunch. During my trip to Texas I was working out at the gym and trying to be healthy. Not an easy thing to do in Texas but I did manage to loose around 5 pounds during the month so I feel pretty good about it. The wife and I decided to try the Atkins Diet for a couple of months. We are day 2 into our 14 day induction cycle so we shall see how receptive I am to everything at day 14. But I want to shed another 10 to 20 pounds and if I can do that over the next 3-4 months I will be happy. I think the key is exercise. My goal is to be able to work out 5 days a week for at least 45 minutes each day. This will mean waking up at 4 versus 5 so that I can get the work-out done and into work on time. </P>
<P>When I was younger I was in terrific shape but after 20 years of playing hard and not enough exercise has left me a little heavier than I want to be. Considering everything I can't complain. I have weighed around 185 for the past 10 years but recently that number keep creeping&nbsp; up a little higher. If I could get down to around 175 and maintain that weight I would be happy. Not sure what the national medium weight for 5' 10" is but I figure 175 is a good goal.</P>
<P>We shall see and I will keep you posted on the battle of the bulge.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:07 AM | Permalink

<P>This does not happen very often but this country needed some good news and they got it tonight the missing <A href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/884413.asp?0ql=crp">Utah teen Elizabeth Smart was found today</A>.&nbsp;The two&nbsp;scum bag's&nbsp;that were caught need to be brought out of the jail put in a public stockade and let the general public stone these two. The unfortunate thing is the Death Penalty is not an option but let's hope the general population takes care of these two.</P>
<P>But thank goodness this young lady is back with here family. She is lucky and has beat the statistics.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:07 AM | Permalink

<P>Well the drunks sitting in front of me passed out after about 4 hours and woke up looking real bad once we landed in Honolulu. That's a way to start a vacation. :)</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 8:06 AM | Permalink

<P>I have been putting a quite a bit of effort into <A href="http://www.geeknewscentral.com/">Geek News Central</A> and I have been doing a great deal of reading and also following a large number of other Blog's out there and I have noticed that Blogging appears to be a predominatly a liberal thing.&nbsp;I am sure I am going to receive massive hate mail over this but where the hell are all the conservatives. Talk Radio is dominated by the conservative cause but ohh boy the blogging world is very liberal.</P>
<P>At least it appears that way from the way&nbsp;<A href="http://www.daypop.com/">Daypop</A> tracks the popularity of posts</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:35 AM | Permalink

<P>To bad I can't do this in real time. Here I am at 35,000 feet headed for Honolulu and we have a real life CNN moment getting ready to take place. These 2&nbsp;idiot's that&nbsp;are sitting directly in front of me got on the aircraft drunk as a skunk.&nbsp;They slipped by the stew's and as soon as we take-off what ever he has been&nbsp;drinking prior to our 11am departure is catching up with him. As soon as wheels were up one them&nbsp;bolts for the head and after about 90 minutes the stew ask his co-hort to go se if he is ok.</P>
<P>Well he comes back to his seat with a lot more color in his face and I can tell this boy is going to be hurting before the flight is over as he is consuming mass quantities of water. Well to top it off and I am just about losing my mind the drink cart comes by and the stew serves the one that has been holding his own another beer. This pisses me off more than the two drunks.</P>
<P>So we shall see how the flight goes. I have flown hung over before and so long as you have a liberal amount of water to drink you can recover but these 2 are going to get to feel a hangover like they have never had before. :)</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:06 AM | Permalink

<P>I am about sick of hearing North Korea talking smack. I read an article today that said they were going to detonate a nuclear weapon in American cities if we attack them. Are they stark raving mad. Do they have any idea what we could do to them. I know the world is short on parking space but I would hate to have to see Japan have to deal with the nuclear fallout. I think we need to send some Prozac to the North Korean Dictator. What is even more amazing is that the Chinese are allowing these fools to do what they are doing. The Chinese need to go jack slap these idiots. </P>
<P>So far as Iraq goes well we all have pretty much seen the writing on the wall. His days are numbered and the Iraqi people are going to be set free. I predict they will fold like a deck of cards in under 72 hours. Saddam will be dead or in exile and we will be on the road to cleaning this mess up in the middle east. But I can imagine the Saudi's are scared to death. I wonder how they will deal with a Democratic Iraq.</P>
<P>God Bless America the home of the strong.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Don't tell me this war is going to take a long time the Iraqi soldiers are so scared they surrendered to live fire training. [<A href="http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/page.cfm?objectid=12715943&amp;method=full&amp;siteid=106694">Sunday Mirror</A>]
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:22 AM | Permalink

I have been a very busy boy. Seems there are never enough hours in a day. Someday when I am rich and famous ;) I will have myself a professional assistant that will take care of the BS that I have to deal with every day. I am headed back to Hawaii in a few days Kids and Wife are ready for Dad to be home and I have about a million things to do at home that will probably keep me busy for a few weeks. My time in Texas has went fast. I am looking forward to my high speed Internet connection again. Hotels need to get there act together and get broadband . I am staying at an Residence Inn and they are way behind the power curve. No Cable Modem No WiFi which is really sad.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:51 AM | Permalink

<P>I have been playing with Groove for the past couple of weeks. I am simply amazed at what can be accomplished these days. </P>
<P>If you are reading this the post it was generated inside a Groove Space that I have setup. What is even more powerful if I authorize another Groove user to join the space they could then post to the weblog. For those that want to try this out download groove and when you get setup let me know and we will&nbsp;experiment with it some more. <A href="http://www.groove.net">www.groove.net</A> </P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 7:00 AM | Permalink

I tell you it takes a lot to move me but if you love America and want some serious reading that will brighten your spirit for the day read this essay. "<A href="http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000035.html">CONFIDENCE</A>"
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 1:05 AM | Permalink

<P><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif" size=4><U>A friend sent this:</U></FONT></P>
<H2><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif" size=4>I sat in a movie theater watching "Schindler's List," asked myself, "Why didn't the Jews fight back?"<BR><BR>Now I know why.<BR><BR>I sat in a movie theater, watching "Pearl Harbor" and asked myself, "Why weren't we prepared?"<BR><BR>Now I know why.<BR><BR>Civilized people cannot fathom, much less predict, the actions of evil people.<BR><BR>On September 11, dozens of capable airplane passengers allowed themselves to be overpowered by a handful of poorly armed terrorists because they did not comprehend the depth of hatred that motivated their captors.<BR><BR>On September 11, thousands of innocent people were murdered because too many Americans naively reject the reality that some nations are dedicated to the dominance of others. Many political pundits, pacifists and media personnel want us to forget the carnage. They say we must focus on the bravery of the rescuers and ignore the cowardice of the killers. They implore us to understand the motivation of the perpetrators. Major television stations have announced they will assist the healing process by not replaying devastating footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers.<BR><BR>I will not be manipulated.<BR><BR>I will not pretend to understand.<BR><BR>I will not forget.<BR><BR>I will not forget the liberal media who abused freedom of the press to kick our country when it was vulnerable and hurting.<BR><BR>I will not forget that CBS anchor Dan Rather preceded President Bush's address to the nation with the snide remark, "No matter how you feel about him, he is still our president."<BR><BR>I will not forget that ABC TV anchor Peter Jennings questioned President Bush's motives for not returning immediately to Washington, DC and commented, "We're all pretty skeptical and cynical about Washington."<BR><BR>And I will not forget that ABC's Mark Halperin warned if reporters weren't informed of every little detail of this war, they aren't "likely -- nor should they be expected -- to show deference."<BR><BR>I will not isolate myself from my fellow Americans by pretending an attack on the USS Cole in Yemen was not an attack on the United States of America.<BR><BR>I will not forget the Clinton administration equipped Islamic terrorists and their supporters with the world's most sophisticated telecommunications equipment and encryption technology, thereby compromising America's ability to trace terrorist radio, cell phone, land lines, faxes and modem communications.<BR><BR>I will not be appeased with pointless, quick retaliatory strikes like those perfected by the previous administration.<BR><BR>I will not be comforted by "feel-good, do nothing" regulations like the silly "Have your bags been under your control?" question at the airport.<BR><BR>I will not be influenced by so called,"antiwar demonstrators" who exploit the right of expression to chant anti-American obscenities.<BR><BR>I will not forget the moral victory handed the North Vietnamese by American war protesters who reviled and spat upon the returning soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines.<BR><BR>I will not be softened by the wishful thinking of pacifists who chose reassurance over reality.<BR><BR>I will embrace the wise words of Prime Minister Tony Blair who told Labor Party conference, "They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent. If they could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000, does anyone doubt they would have done so and rejoiced in it?<BR><BR>There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. &nbsp;And defeat it we must!"<BR><BR>I will force myself to:<BR><BR>-hear the weeping<BR>-feel the helplessness<BR>-imagine the terror<BR>-sense the panic<BR>-smell the burning flesh<BR>- </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif" size=4>experience the loss<BR>- </FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif" size=4>remember the hatred.<BR><BR>I sat in a movie theater, watching "Private Ryan" and asked myself, "Where did they find the courage?"</FONT></H2>
<H2><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif" size=5><FONT face="Times New Roman,Times,Serif" size=4>Now I know.<BR><BR>We have no choice. Living without liberty is not living.<BR><BR>-- Ed Evans, MGySgt., USMC (Ret.)<BR>Not as lean, Not as mean, But still a Marine.<BR></FONT></H2></FONT>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 5:50 AM | Permalink

<P>My year long project at <A href="http://www.geeknewscentral.com/">Geek News Central</A> received a nice review yesterday. It's nice when someone takes the time to look at the content and write a honest assesment. I am by far not a liteary genius those of you that have worked with me are probably laughing and shaking your head yes. But like anything else it is a work in progress.</P>
<P>I am still&nbsp;away from home and&nbsp;staying very busy. But I guess if were not busy I would be bored. My body is recovering from a hard workout at the gym last night. Why does getting in shape have to be so painful..</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 5:36 AM | Permalink

<P>Have you ever went to bed early and still felt like you havent slept. That's the mode I am in now it's weird. But according to a lot of studies people are running around sleep deprived all the time so I am not surprised. I have been going to the Gym every day and I think my body is adjusting and needs time to repair all of those muscles I have not been working out in a while. </P>
<P>At least on this trip I get to talk to the kids and wife every night that helps the lonliness. But I am keeping busy work is consuming 12 hours plus every day like normal. Someday I will find myslef a regular job that pays well and only requires 40 hours a week.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 4:41 AM | Permalink

<P>We have all been watching the news and when officials in this country start saying some of the things they have been saying for the past week I think it behooves us to listen. If you haven't followed the precautions that they have been outlining then I think it would be worth the minimal amount of money outlay to try and protect those you love and care for. God forbid one would have to tape up ones house but the alternative could be death if your not prepared. If it turns out that nothing happens then you will have some duct tape and plastic to use around the house and yard. I bet gas mask will start selling good. If anyone has a good location to buy a military quality gas mask and canister drop us a line. I wonder if you can even buy a quality gas mask on-line.</P>
<P>Keep your eyes open and stay vigilant. <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59412-2003Feb11.html">Washington Post</A></P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 5:07 AM | Permalink

<P>Well I was able to score&nbsp;a deal and get a short term membership at a Gold's Gym 2 blocks away from my hotel and I am quite happy about it. Even though I will be putting in some serious hours being on the road without normal dad duties I can find time to hit the gym even if it is late.</P>
<P>I hate eating healthy and the food in this state is fantastic I am sure I will have to eat out a couple of times a week but at least I have a outlet to get rid of the calories after eating this fat and delicious food.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 4:19 AM | Permalink

<P>Well here I am at 39,000 feet on an American Airlines Flight headed for Dallas / Ft Worth and having just eaten something that I would not feed my dog I am bit disturbed. My wife is pissed my kids are mad and I'm thristy and need some water. (Dummy me forgot a water bottle) The way they are rationing it you would think it was in short supply.</P>
<P>The 2 weeks I had in Hawaii were not necessarily spent at home I was at work the majority of the time and my kids thought I was gone as they were in bed when I went to work and in bed came home. The weekend I got to spend with them went to quick and when I broke the news that I had to travel&nbsp;again the mood went from fun to reserved. My boy sulked and my daughter&nbsp;is plain mad. Not to mention how the wife feels.</P>
<P>After 5 years of traveling 250+ days per year they have&nbsp;a right to be mad. But duty calls and hopefully this trip will go off as scheduled. </P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 8:56 AM | Permalink

Well first day off in about 4 weeks and I am just relaxing. Kept the kids out of school so we could have some time together. Will take them for shaved ice here in a few minutes. God Bless 80 degree tempatures here in Hawaii.
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:44 PM | Permalink

<P>All of have our favorite magazines. One that I have been reading for about 15 years is going on-line. Hand writting has been on the wall for some time.</P>
<P>Before many of you knew anything about the Internet there was a on-line community that dialed into community Bulletin Board Systems. A little history review is needed before I go into the above headline. I initially launched my dial-up &lt;a href="<A href='http://www.bbsnets.com/">BBS</a'>http://www.bbsnets.com/"&gt;BBS&lt;/a</A>&gt; in 1987 it ran on a Commodore Colt with a 8088 processor with a 47 meg RLL hard drive. It had one of the best modems of the time which maxed out at 2400 bps. At the time I was king of the hill in my community. It had one dial in line and could handle around 250 callers a day. Most called locally but may called from all over the United States. They logged in and stayed a few minutes to download mail/file's or play a game.. My system was like thousands of other small hobby boards. We featured shareware, forums and on-line games through a text colorized ANSI interface. </P>
<P>My system grew and just prior to the revolution known as the WWW we had 14 dial-up lines running on a several 486 machines using desqview to multitask the command windows via Dos 5.0&nbsp; We had nearly 5000 users of which nearly 500 payed a monthly fee to have access to premium sections of the site. We actually made money :)</P>
<P>This is where Boardwatch magazine comes in. This publication which in it's hay day had nearly 100 pages of color content. Kept BBS sysops all over the world connected and up to date on the latest happenings and new technologies. We all chased faster connection speeds and craved to learn the more on the latest and greatest software packages, tools, games and resources. </P>
<P>For our primitive beginnings we offered 5 minute delayed stock feeds for free as early as 1990. CNN acknowledges today that there stock feed is 15 minutes delayed isn't technology grand. We were in effect community AOL's as many of us offered a large number of services. I was one of the first to offer e-mail when most had no idea what e-mail was.</P>
<P>Companies such as US Robotics, Hayes, 3com owed much of there financial success to Boardwatch and BBS operators. People who dial-up today at 56k can thank BBS Sysops. They were the driving force behind faster modems. Heck the modem companies catered to the BBS Sysop and had special programs in place to entice us to purchase the latest models heavily discounted which in turn fueled our dial-up users to upgrade to the latest standard.</P>
<P>When the WWW revolution hit most small BBS systems folded or went off-line as they failed to go the next step and migrate to the web. I and a number of people I have known for nearly 15 years migrated to the web and our &lt;a href="<A href='http://www.bbsnets.com/">Net'>http://www.bbsnets.com/"&gt;Net</A> based BBS&lt;/a&gt; are still thriving. There were a few bleak years but then people started looking for communities of users again that refrained from spamming and actually could have intelligent conversations in forums. So today &lt;a href="<A href='http://www.bbsnets.com/">BBS'>http://www.bbsnets.com/"&gt;BBS</A> Networks&lt;/a&gt; has nearly 25,000 users.</P>
<P>Well Boardwatch changed it's BBS focus early into the www revolution and went after the ISP crowd. The ISP owners who subscribed were not so surprisingly were in a large extent Ex-Bulletin Board Operators. The magazine was sold a number of years ago to Penton and the longtime Editor Jack Rickard quit and fell of the face of the earth. Thus the demise of the magazine began. He was the foundation to why that magazine was a success.</P>
<P>Penton changed the format and it has been downhill ever sense. The magazine has been sold again to a company I have never heard of called &lt;a href="<A href='http://www.lightreading.com/">Light'>http://www.lightreading.com/"&gt;Light</A> Reading&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href="<A href='http://www.boardwatch.com/">Boardwatch</a'>http://www.boardwatch.com/"&gt;Boardwatch&lt;/a</A>&gt; will now cease being a published magazine and become a net based publication. We will see what happens now but the good ol days are definitely gone. I imagine my collection of Boardwatch magazines that go a long way back will probably be a collectors item someday.</P>
<P>[&lt;a href="<A href='http://www.boardwatch.com/">www.boardwatch.com</a'>http://www.boardwatch.com/"&gt;www.boardwatch.com&lt;/a</A>&gt;]</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

<P>The last 2 weeks have been very busy for me. With no relief in site I am running on pure emotional power now. Sleep has been an luxury. I am looking forward to sleeping more than 4 hours a day. Not sure when that is going to happen but that's life I guess.</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:36 AM | Permalink

<P><STRONG>It is a sad day for America.</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>There is no words that can express my personal feelings and my heart goes out to the families. I had awoken at 5am Hawaiian time to go to work and when I jumped in the car my heart missed a couple of beats when I heard it on the news on the radio.</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>With Columbia lost NASA will have to piece to together what happened. We will be inundated with reports and speculation. I am at a loss for words so I will close with this thought.</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>Americans have suffered through many National Losses and we will do as we have always done is pick up and carry on.</STRONG></P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:40 AM | Permalink

<P>Working 12-15 hours a day can kick anyones butt and mind is pretty much kicked. I haven't been this tired in a long time. My wife is pissed I haven't seen the kids in awake in a month. So you can imagine the attitude at my house. After 19+ years in the US Navy you would think I would be used to it. </P>
<P>I hate to tell the junior sailors that I need them to work for the 3rd week&nbsp;straight.&nbsp;I can see it in there eyes that they need a break but they do there duty.&nbsp;I sometimes wonder if the American Public truly know what&nbsp;sacrifices these people are making.&nbsp;</P>
<P>The cause is just and we have sworn to protect and defend and that we will.&nbsp;</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 8:39 AM | Permalink

Well folks I hope you like the new design I have some work to do to get it all setup I will be adding items as I get a chance. I was not happy with Blogger. I have some design issues on how to implement everything that was in the previous design
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 10:12 AM | Permalink

<P>I have decided to re-launch Todd's Weblog and have employed a different publishing package.</P>
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Posted by Todd Cochrane at 9:44 AM | Permalink