My father died when I was 9, so I don't know any stories of his service in WWII, except that he was a sergeant in Army artillery in the South Pacific... somewhere. I gathered that he helped maintain and repair guns and cannons, rather than firing the things, but that's maybe the kind of thing you tell a little kid.

It would be a cool thing to investigate what he did (service record) and where he went. If he made it to sergeant, he couldn't have been too much of a screwup. I don't even know if he was drafted or volunteered. (As the son of German immigrants, the Army sent him to the South Pacific.)

In a fit of enthusiasm, I volunteered to come back this morning for Hour of Code at the grammar school, even though I wasn't originally scheduled. There were five volunteers at one point yesterday, which meant at one point one small person was getting coached by three adult programmers. Small person wasn't cowed, however.

Only one other volunteer scheduled for this morning, though, so more hands onboard is good. Polgara, there are so many kids that I'm not actually learning names, or rather retaining them, except when the spelling is so... creative that it sticks. I have to say, I'm really impressed with this grammar school and staff.

Hope you had a good birthday, Consuela!!

Kat, any interest in a sweatshirt?

Zenkitty, would it help any to shorten the trip?

ION, I went to bed plenty early last night, but woke up a couple of hours later so cold I thought my heat had turned off. It happened last year -- the boiler needed more water or something -- but I couldn't deal with thinking about getting up and going to the basement. So I got my heating pad, but had the worst time trying to get back to sleep! The heat was not broken, and when I got up at least, the house was 62 like it normally is, so I'm not sure what my problem was. But now I'm tired and not that mentally prepared for my day.

My dad was in WWII but he never spoke of it. He had enlisted in the Air Force and was a pilot. He had always had allergies, but they stationed him in SoCal, and for the first time in his life he had asthma. They kept him in the hospital there and grounded him. He never got to go serve the way he wanted to and it was devastating to him. Men of his age, graduating HS in 1940, served. They talked about it. It was like a horrible shaming experience for him. He was angry and bitter about it since all other geographical areas weren't an issue, and there were no enemy in San Diego.

He never, ever, wanted to talk about it.

That's all my relatives who served in the Pacific (which is all of them that served, as I recall)

My grandpa was stationed in Northern Africa for most of his WWII service. Years and years later, when he was retired, he had a huge crazy vegetable garden in their back yard, and he would go out in the middle of the day in the hottest part of the summer and work in the garden for hours. My grandma, who loved central air as much as I do, would yell out the window at him, "Paul, it's too hot! If you die out there, I'm leaving you where you fall!"

And my grandpa would reply, "It's not too hot! I was IN AFRICA!" (My grandma's rejoinder to that was "You weren't BORN THERE!!!" And then she would slam the window and go back to watching her stories. Good times.)

Congrats on passing the test, Anne!

aurelia, anything college-related is perfect. Wednesday I wore K's Minnesota State women's hockey shirt.

Jesse, sweatshirts would be awesome!

Rainy day today (woot!) but I think it's making me stupid. I put my skirt on inside out today. And I'm wearing rainboots all day.

Does anyone remember what part of Fl Laura lives in?

Jesse, sweatshirts would be awesome!

I have a Penn sweatshirt I would lend you, but I think I'll want it for my 20th reunion in May....