My dad would have been 64 today had it not been for his untimely passing 13 days ago.

I started writing this post a week or so ago and have erased the first couple of paragraphs two or three times simply because I pen a few words and then don’t know what to say, don’t like what I’ve said or just think it looks stupid as hell.

The last two weeks have been pretty difficult for me as well as the rest of my family, particularly my mother. The two of them have been together for the better part of 48 years except for his time overseas and occasional business trips. My parents, like myself (or vice versa), have never been huge social butterflies or anything along those lines. While they have friends, they are each other’s best friends. It’s pretty fucking hard to lose your best friend in life.

I suppose one of the reasons I am having a difficult time finding the right words is the fact that I haven’t really given myself time to grieve or work this out for myself and what it means for me. I’ve spent the last two weeks keeping busy and that’s it. I don’t really know how to grieve very well. I’m not a particularly emotional person, or at least I hide it well anyway. Messy emotions have no place in my little plan and tears get in the way. That makes for a pretty fucked up day when you just want to shed a few tears.

I think I’ll just ramble for a while. Stick around. Or not. I don’t really give a fuck.

…

Some of my favorite memories from my childhood were our camping trips. My dad, while not an avid outdoorsman, loved to go camping. They did it as children as well and he spent his childhood in the Boy Scouts, as did I. I can’t recall if he ever made Eagle Scout or not but if not he was pretty damned close. I think I remember him talking about the Explorers, so that would mean that he was an Eagle.

As I said, camping was a favored activity as a child. Since it was the four of us it was never serious backpacking but just having a good time at places like Stone Mountain, Amicalola Falls and Unicoi. One year we camped at Stone Mountain on Easter weekend. That was pretty fun. The park was different then than in recent years.

When I was ten my mom and dad took me to Disney World. That was my first trip there and a memory which I cherish. Back then it was only a few years old and the only park was the Magic Kingdom and you had the choice of three different places to stay unless you wanted a hotel in Orlando. We camped in the Fort Wilderness campsites, which is where I took the family in April 2009. I can remember sitting on the beach with my mom and dad watching the light show on the lake that they did at night. Utterly fantastic, particularly for a child of ten. I got the privilege of using their early 70’s Kodak Instamatic 110 during the trip and took all sorts of nonsensical pictures and maybe a few decent ones as well. I don’t have any of them but I plan on rectifying that son. I’m pretty sure my mom has some of them in photo albums I can scan.

…

One thing I never understood until the last few years is how much pride my dad took in his two sons. I seem to remember doing a lot of stupid shit as a kid and once I hit high school it only got worse. The proverbial black sheep, as it were. At one point in time they thought about sending me to live with my Great Aunt who had retired in Florida, but my other relatives down there wanted no part of my acting out so they had to choose other solutions which we won’t get into here. I didn’t involve duct tape though, thank goodness.

There are people who can make the right decisions automatically all through their lives and be very successful. I’m not one of them. Until the last few years I’ve made a lot of bad choices, tend to jump to instant decisions rather than weighing the consequences, just generally didn’t care at the time how my choices would play out in the lives of other people. We are after all the center of our own universes. Being the center of my own universe hasn’t changed much but I’ve learned from doing stupid shit. Learning from our mistakes and taking a different course of action is one of the things that makes us human I guess.

All the while I was making bad choices my father was unwavering in his love for me. I realize that now and I never had the opportunity to express that to him, which is now distressing me to no end. I only recall a couple of occasions where he would get really angry and I deserved it at the time. Mostly it was just concern and love and when I would eventually work my way out of the situation my parents were still there.

….

It’s hard to type when you can’t see the fucking keyboard through the mist.

…

This thing has been sitting on my computer most of the day today. I meant to finish the post but I think I’ll just put it up as is.

Richard Edward Miles was born at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia  on August 12th, 1946, the son of Fred Harrison Miles and Amy Reese Miles. He grew up in Sandy Springs, Georgia and graduated from Sandy Springs High School in 1965. Shortly after graduation he joined the Marine Corps and got married to his wife Rhonda, who he had been dating since 1961. They would have celebrated 45 years of marriage this November.

I was born in December of 1966 while my daddy was in Vietnam and my brother in February of 1971.

My dad worked for Western Electric (now Lucent Technologies) until the late '70s or early '80s and then worked briefly for Life of Georgia. He went to work for MCI in 1985 and worked there until the WorldCom fiasco. He has been at Verizon Business ever since, getting ready to retire in the next few years.

He was well-loved both by his associates in the work place as well as at home. I am having a hard time right now putting anything down 'on paper' as I am still in shock at our sudden loss. At some point later I may be able to write a proper tribute to my father but this is not the time.

My dad was very proud of his military service and over the last few years he has let that pride show. He was also very proud of the fact that his grandson Christopher has been in the United States Marine Corps for the last three years.

Richard 'Ricky' Miles passed away suddenly Friday July 30th at the age of 63, two weeks before his 64th birthday. He was proceeded in death by both parents and grandparents. He is survived by his brother Robert, his loving wife and my mother Rhonda. two sons Richard and Charles and five grandchildren.

Visitation will be held at Sandy Springs Chapel on Mt Vernon Highway in Sandy Springs, Georgia on Wednesday August 4th from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. with a service to follow.We are having my father cremated so there will be no funeral. We ask that in lieu of flowers all donations to be sent to Veterans for Common Sense at http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/

One of my favorite photos from the girl's first trip to Disney. Actually all three of the children were there. This was two years before Chris joined the Marine Corps. Pete and RePete were six and two, respectively. That year we stayed at the Contemporary Resort for a week at the beginning of October. As a matter of fact we ended up adding an extra day at the end of the trip. It was a blast and the beginning of what has turned out to be several trips back.

We skipped a couple of years and in 2008 we stayed at the Polynesian Resort for a week at the beginning of June. It was an extremely tiring week (very fucking hot!) and on the last day we got up and decided to just make the damned drive home. That's been part of the problem. I am fairly limited to my vacation time. I get two seven day and one ten day vacations each year. Normally my ten day is in the summer when the girls are out of school. It's somewhere between 8-10 hours to drive from here to Orlando so by the time we make it we are usually too exhausted. Two days wasted.

Last year we went during spring break. Holder and the girls really wanted to go so I booked us for three days and four nights at the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds. I was in the middle of paying the IRS a crapload of money so didn't have a ton to spend so we went the cheapo route. We had a good time but it was rainy and again, the drive didn't help at all.

Anyone who's been around my blog(s) for a while, and it would have to be quite a while since up until recently I haven't posted dick except for crime stories at Sick Crimes, knows my aversion to flying. The older I get the less I enjoy it. I think part of that is the fact that I just don't fly a lot. It may also be a control issue. I have the same problem riding shotgun in a car. Perhaps if I took flying lessons that would help me out. Not that I'm about to buy a plane any time soon but it would be cool...

Anyway, we're heading back down to Orlando again. This time we are flying down at the end of October (October and February seem to be the most comfortable down there). We're only going to be there for four days but Holder can only get three personal days off of work and the girls will also be missing three days of school as well. Fuck it, some things are worth it. Not only that but we will be there Halloween weekend, which is coincidentally my favorite holiday of the year as well. I am The girls are really looking forward to trick-or-treating at the Magic Kingdom :)

We are also going to be staying at the Grand Floridian this time, which is one resort we haven't stayed at yet. Repete is now seven and Pete turns 13 two days before the trip. Amazing how time flies when you're having fun.

Update - The Marine Team won the competition this afternoon. Right now we are sitting at $37,199! They are still taking donations though so don't stop now. It's a great cause and it's tax deductible as well.

Original post - It's that time of year again. From October 26th through November 11th (Veteran's Day for those that aren't conscious) Project Valour IT raises money to provide voice-activated laptops and other helpful equipment to severely wounded troops. This has been going on for several years and I haven't had the chance to (or was just too darned lazy) to get involved but this year I caught it early enough to get in. So what is Valour IT and how did it get started?

Lisa Nowak, the diaper-clad diva who drove 1,000 miles from Houston, Texas to Orlando, Florida in February of 2007 in order to attack a rival for the affections of another astronaut pleaded guilty earlier today to reduced charges and ended up being sentenced to a year of probation.

Originally Nowak had been charged with Attempted Kidnapping and Burglary along with Misdemeanor Battery. Under those charges she could have faced up to life in prison.

Nowak was dismissed from the Astronaut Corps after she was arrested and has been on active duty at a Naval Base in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Back in September of last year a woman in Las Vegas, Nevada found what she thought was a body in a trash can sitting in a parking lot and called the police. After an autopsy the cause of death was uncertain but the coroner announced that it was suspicious and might have been asphyxiation. Originally the woman was a Jane Doe but after relatives started looking for her she was identified as Helena Haley (MySpace), originally of Whiteville, North Carolina.

During the investigation it was discovered that she had lived in San Bernardino, California and after taking her children to relatives in Whiteville she had moved to Las Vegas (where she was murdered). A letter was sent to Haley's aunt purportedly by Haley which had no stamp or return address and the handwriting was not familiar to the family. It also contained 29-Year-Old Khalfani Howard's fingerprints. Khalfani and Haley had lived together in San Bernardino. Haley's aunt and uncle also received a phone call at some point from a woman who identified herself as Haley but that they said did not sound like her.

Police interviewed Khalfani earlier this year in San Bernardino. He told police that Haley moved to Vegas on her own after taking her children back to North Carolina. Police also collected a DNA swab at the time.

Through good old fashioned police work they traced Haley and Howard's movements through Greyhound bus tickets and discovered that Howard left Las Vegas on September 10th, 2008, the day that Haley's body was discovered. A warrant for his arrest was issued last month and 29-Year-Old Khalfani I. Howard was arrested at his home by San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputies late last week. He is being held without bail and will be extradited to Clark County Nevada where he will stand trial.

Khalfani's step-brother Aaron Leach was killed in a drive-by shooting in January of 2005.

Khalfani's Streetball Profile

Khalfani's ExploreTalent Modeling Profile

Source

Earlier this year 21-Year-Old Brandon Kuntz of Grand Forks, North Dakota was arrested for having sex with three underage girls during the Spring. He has now pleaded guilty to gross sexual imposition in one case involving a 14-year-old girl and also to two counts of corruption of minors in cases which involved girls aged 14 and 15.

In exchange for his guilty plea Brandon will serve less than a year in jail and then get probation. The deal still has to be approved by the judge. His sentencing is supposed to be held on January 8th.

Brandon hasn't logged onto his MyYearBook page in a couple of months but one of the things that surprised me (but probably shouldn't) is that among his listed 'friends' on the service are several girls under 18. His MySpace is set to private but his screen name there is Marshall1818 after Eminem and he is "~King*Kuntz~ Don't mess with a king..." His hobbies include skateboarding, hockey, friends, family and hanging out. He forgot to list screwing teens in there but I guess that's not something he wanted to advertise...

Source

Back in early October a 15-Year-Old girl and two of her friends who were having a sleepover decided to go visit 36-Year-Old Jeffrey Robinson, owner of Olde Naples Surf Shop in Naples, FL, and his girlfriend Christy Peterson. Apparently they knew Peterson and figured it would be a cool thing to do. Robinson and Peterson allowed the girls to drink alcohol while they were there and then the girls stayed the night. The 15-Year-Old girl started falling asleep so Peterson offered to let her use her bed. Around 5 a.m. The girl woke up to find that Christy Peterson had left the bedroom and Jeffrey Robinson was allegedly molesting her. She managed to get out of the room and called her boyfriend to pick her up.

The girl didn’t report the incident for another week, because she was afraid of her mother knowing about spending the night at a stranger’s and drinking. Since too much time had passed for them to do a rape kit police set up a phone call between the girl and Peterson during which Peterson basically admitted to what happened.

Robinson was arrested earlier in the week when he surrendered himself at the Naples Police Department. He was charged with Lewd or Lascivious Molestation.

Source

Folks that get arrested are generally not at their best when their mug shot is taken and 27-Year-Old Diana Kay Mills of Healdton, Oklahoma is no exception. 13, 15 or now at 43 there's not enough alcohol in the world that would get me to hit that. You would have to drug me up as well and that is exactly what Diana Mills is alleged to have done.

A 13-Year-Old boy reported to his mother that Mills had given him prescription drugs and alcohol and then had sex with him. She also reportedly gave a 15-Year-Old drugs and alcohol but apparently he was able to resist her worldly charms as she didn't sleep with him.

When police investigated the claims Mills confessed to having sex with the boy. She has been charged with Rape and Contributing to the Delinquency of Minors.

Source