Empty Notebook

My father went back to Connecticut last spring to visit my grandmother, and he brought back some photos that were buried up in the attic. Over Christmas I helped him scan the photos so that we could take a closer look at some of the B-17’s that my great uncle, George Kristoph took as a military photographer. He also took some photos with my grandfather, William Kristoph, who was a guard in England during the war.

Check them out, and click on them to visit the pictures on Picasa Web!

My grandfather.

My grandfather and his best friend, Jack Kinkaid.

My grandfather and my great uncle, George, meet up overseas.

A newspaper article about the brothers.

B-17 photos that were taken by my great uncle, George. If you zoom in on some of them, you can make out the pilot, co-pilot or rear turret gunner. I’m going to scan some of these at an even higher resolution in the spring hopefully, when my father brings up the photos.

Some photos of bomb damage in England:

Bomb damage from a B-17 bombing run

My Avon Ranger TSE’s went over the 5000 mile mark on a long drive over the holidays.  What can I say? The tires continue to impress me more the longer I have them.

I continue to run them at 36psi in the front and 38psi in the rear.  Tread wear is minimal, which is should be after 5000 miles. The tread appears to be wearing evenly, and I’ll be rotating the tires in another 2500 miles. The tires continue to perform admirably in wet weather, even at interstate speed.  I hit a heavy patch of rain on I-75, and the Ranger TSE proved to be stable at 70 mph.  I’ve said it many times at this point, but I’ll say it again I can hardly tell a difference in the tires on wet vs. dry, and I’ve never experienced that before.

These tires are a great value, and I look forward to getting close to 50,000 mile on them, if not more. Although, if I don’t hit the 50,000 mark it’s because I’ll pull the tires off after 6 years regardless of remaining tread life.  For the money I paid, the tires can’t be beat.

I’ll see you at 10,000 miles for Part 5!

A review of the 2007 New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Exercise more / eat right: I started off strong and crapped out about halfway through. It’s something that is going to stay on this list for a long time. I’ve struggled most of my life with this stuff, but I’m staying positive and I’m going to make a better effort in 2008. Specifically I’m going to exercise more and overall eat less.

2. Clean out the house: Talk about making a huge dent in the project. This can fall into an ongoing list now, as there’s always a little bit of cleanup to do, but overall I’d say my goal was achieved. The paperwork is much more organized now, the closets are cleaned out, and there is generally less clutter around the house.

3. Grow ScalpEm.com’s writing base and readership: Well, I grew the readership and the advertising base, but I’ve still had no luck growing my contributors in the sense of contributing articles. However, I did get more contributions in the comments section, which means A) there are more readers and B) they are contributing that way. Mission accomplished.

So where do I head from here? 2008 New Year’s Resolutions

1. Healthy Living: It remains #1 on my list for 2008. Specifically, I’m going to exercise at least 3 times per week for 30 minutes. Eat a vegetable at least 5 times per week, and I’m going to work on ways to relieve stress, either through Zen meditation, sports… whatever works.

2. Invest some money. By the end of the year I would like to invest in either a mutual fund, an IRA (which would be a mutual fund) or a combination of both. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to save, nor am I sure what the best combination of tax benefits and flexibility of getting the money is at the moment, but I have the early part of 2008 to figure that out.

3. Push ScalpEm.com into the Top 100,000 Alexa Websites: To do this, my writing is going to have to be much, much better. Specifically, I’m going to stick to a regular posting schedule with regular features. I’m also opening a message board at TailgatingForNoReason.com.