Parenting/Family

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/

I feel as if someone beat me all over with a padded stick. No bruises or anything, just a dull ache.

I was already sore before I ever made it to the gym this afternoon, but I did go for my second trip there. I used several of the weight machines and ended up on the elliptical for awhile to stretch out the leg muscles a bit. I managed to get there at 2:30 today and it was much less crowded than yesterday evening, so that was nice. I am going to try and start going daily, at least three or four times a week. It really just depends on what is going on.

Yesterday I felt like I was going to blow chunks when I got finished. I guess there is all sorts of nasty crap stored up in my fat and muscles that doesn’t belong there that’s moving around now. Next thing you know I’m going to have to start eating healthy. Fuck that. Maybe later.

Of course as soon as I drove out of the parking lot of the gym I lit up. Last smoke. I had a couple in my car from the other day and what the hell do you need more after a good workout than a hot cup of coffee and a Winston? I’ve been home for a while now and don’t have the slightest urge to go smoke though. That last one as I was driving home wasn’t too good. Tasted like dogshit actually.

I have a bit of web surfing to do and then I have to go pick the girls up. I would have gotten them on the way home but today is chorus and I don’t think it finishes until 4:30 anyway. Besides, Pete and RePete get angry when I pick them up too early from late stay. The really enjoy hanging out there with their friends.

Damn. Now that was a good nap.

I hadn’t planned on sleeping but it just turned out that way.

The wife and girls went to church for supper tonight. Now before you say it, “Gawrsh, they let the Miles household into church!”, the girls particularly enjoy it. The wife isn’t exactly church-going and I would rather have my toenails ripped out of my feet with a pair of pliers than have to sit through a sermon. Except for all that God clap-trap and preaching church is OK I guess. I always felt that it was a good place for the kids and the social environment. Unless you go to one of those snake handling places, I guess.

I used to attend church as a kid with my great aunt. Speaking of whom, I don’t remember if I have posted this or not but it’s me at around 3 and my great aunt.

I see that I must have posted it before, it was already on my server.

Anyway, her health isn’t too great. She’s eightiy something, has diabetes, glaucoma, heart problems, has broken her hip at least once, is pretty much blind because of the glaucoma and is in generally piss poor health. I really need to drive in to Atlanta and see her soon but I hate too because she has changed so much mentally over the last couple of years. Not for the good either. I actually get two days off next week for the first time since before I went to Nassau in the middle of February, perhaps I will make the trek to Atlanta then.

While Atlanta is on my mind, the Georgia Renaissance Festival is happening soon. The last couple of years we have made it an annual thing and year before last we left the kids with babysitters and had a freaking blast. This past year even Zonker met us down there. Normally I end up going toward the last weekend but this year I am off the weekend of April 12th and 13th. As it stands now I am planning on being at the renaissance festival with beer in hand on Saturday the 12th. If you have a compelling reason why I should change it to Sunday, let me know as I am flexible. It would be pretty cool to get a couple of bloggers down there. This year they have the Royal Lipizan Stallions show and that’s supposed to be pretty cool. Photo opps abound!

I thought I had some photos from last years ren fest up on Flickr but apparently not. I have solved that world issue and here are some of the photos from last years jaunt to south of Atlanta. Mind you, some of the pictures were on my phone. I may get around to sending them to flickr one of these days.

Updated – oops, I just pasted the photo link, forgot all about that img src crap…

I told him nobody should drink two at a time, but do you think anyone fucking listens to me? Oh, hell no!

Something I just am not getting enough of.

I have probably posted more today than I have the entire week. It’s funny how that ends up working out. I had actually planned on coming home yesterday and spending the majority of the day on the computer but I was at work until about midnight Tuesday and then my half day yesterday turned into me not getting home until 2pm. I was pretty whipped so I worked outside in the yard, knowing that if I came inside I would fall asleep.

Today I have pretty much taken it easy. I managed to get about nine hours of sleep last night, which was much needed but it sure doesn’t feel like it fixed my sleep deficit. Maybe in a couple of weeks I can take more than one day off. One can hope…

Pete has a concert tonight for the chorus. I am checking her out of school early this afternoon because they have to be there by three p.m. in order to start practicing. Why they don’t just stick the kids on a bus is beyond me. Anyway, we don’t have to be there until 6 or 6:30 so I will come home and throw something in the oven that we can eat before we go see them. If it’s charged up I may take our video camera as well.

On another note, I hate telemarketers. I generally don’t answer the phone on my day off but I got a call this morning and I answered it before I realized I don’t know the number. It was some telemarketer trying to sell me a small business phone system. While I might be interested, that’s something I will go out and look for. I certainly wouldn’t buy it sight unseen over the phone. Jerks. I can do my own research without you having to call me and wake me up.

24 hours later and the blog is publishing again. I am still not sure what the heck was up with that. I made some changes in my templates and cut out some overhead but I still think it was some sort of database issue. Either way it pisses me off but I won’t bitch too much. Any time I have a complaint my host will stay on it until they get it fixed.

Two more weeks and I will be on vacation. Damn, I am seriously looking forward to that.

Both girls are still sick. I mentioned earlier in the week that RePete had tested positive for Flu and Pete had all of the symptoms. Now they have ear infections and Pete has the beginnings of Pneumonia. We have a small pharmacy going on here on the kitchen counter. Both of them are pretty miserable. I felt a bit under the weather earlier in the week and it seemed like it was going away but now the crud seems to be creeping back into my chest. Crap, I can’t miss work. Nobody to call in to as the boss…