The end of 2015 and the start of 2016

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I will close our blog for 2015 stating that it has been a very good year. Although we are still trying to get our finances situated so that we can save up to purchase a home in 2016 we are still doing okay.

2016 brings with it the fact that I start receiving my Social Security Retirement in addition to my Navy Retirement. To be honest those two Retirement incomes combined is more than I made at my last full-time job which was from November 2008 to May 2009.

For 2016 I plan on writing about specific subjects each month. To give you teasers for 2016 here are the general topics for the months where I've already drafted blogs to post.

January = Discrimination
February = Love & Hate
March = March Related Comments
April = April Related Comments
May = Maybe I Shouldn't Have (subject goes here)

See you in 2016.

Andrew

Christmas 2015

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Christmas Day has been totally blown out by commercialism. Today I am going to talk about Christmas when I was a boy and then I will talk about what Christmas means to me today.

When I was a boy growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s Christmas was not as commercialized as it is today. You could not even find a Christmas tree until the second week of December. Today as the calendar turns from September into October there are already Christmas tree lots selling trees and all the stores have Christmas decorations for sale.

Growing up we looked forward to Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. Today Halloween and Thanksgiving seem to be obscured by all the Christmas hype starting in August.

I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I never asked my parents for specific gifts for Christmas. Us kids watched the commercials on television and we knew what toys and games were the ones every kid wanted so we did ask. We rarely got what we asked for though. We understood that our parents were not rich. However every so often we would get the gift we really desired.

Just to let you know how it was in my family I didn’t get my first multi-speed bike until I was a teen. Yes, you heard me correctly; my first bike with 5 speeds was when I was 13 years of age. I never was able to obtain that 10 speed bike from my parents though.

Then when all us kids turned 16 and obtained our Driver’s Licenses, all my friends were getting motorcycles and cars for Christmas gifts. Did I ever get a motorcycle or car for a Christmas gift? No I did not. My first mode of “real” transportation was a Honda 50 motor scooter. I worked odd jobs for my father and when I obtained $100 I purchased the Honda 50 motor scooter from my father’s friend. When I turned 17 I was able to trade my Honda 50 motor scooter for a 1959 Volkswagen Beetle. Actually it cost me the Honda 50 and $100 but the VW Beetle was a good purchase. That car served me well and I sold it when I joined the United States Navy in March 1972.

Today Christmas for me is a time to reflect on the year which has passed and to be happy I have a great loving family and great friends. Even if I had a lot of money I would not commercialize my Christmas experience. I always purchase a few simple gifts for my family and they purchase small simple gifts for me. We all appreciate what we receive because of the love behind the gifts.

My Brother's Birthday

Written By:  Andrew Eide

This month my brother’s birthday arrives. My brother, James (Jim), celebrates his birthday on December 17. This is a very significant event for my brother as he turns the magical 73 years this time around.

My brother is 11 years older than me and 9 years older than our sister, Starr. Due to our age difference I have very few memories of my brother when I was a child. By the time I was old enough to understand what was going on around me he was already enlisted in the United States Air Force. Jim is closer with our sister since they are 9 years apart.

I would like to tell you what my brother did for me back in 2009 when my life was falling apart due to many factors. I lost my job due to the poor economy. I couldn’t pay the mortgage on the house without a job so I lost my house also. My wife died of cancer on July 17, 2009 and my dog, Lucky, who was 14 years and 4 months old, died on July 19, 2009 just two days later.

With nothing left but the clothes on my back and in my closet, two desks, and two computers, I called my sister in Cleveland to ask if she could possibly take me into her home for about one year until I can get back on my feet financially. Unfortunately, due to a previous family situation which didn’t work out, she and my brother in-law had to make the decision that to invite family into their home again was not an option.

I contacted my brother in the San Francisco Bay Area and asked for his advice. Jim immediately offered his home to me by requesting I move back to the Bay Area and live with him until I am financially situated.

At the end of August 2009 I moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area and I resided with Jim and Carol at their home on Bethel Island until things improved financially for me.

Not many family members would do what my brother did for me. So, even though I could make fun of him this month, since he is turning 73 years of age, I will not do that. Well…I don’t do that publicly here in this article anyway…lol

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is December 7. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attached on December 7, 1941, during World War II, by Japanese aircraft which flew in low off the ocean to accomplish the attack. Although it was a brutal attack, and extremely effective, I accept the fact that it happened and it is part of the history of a brutal World War.

I am going to state what happened in my own words. You are welcome to research the Internet to verify how close I came to the real story of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Most of the information I present today came from my father who served in the United States Navy during World War II.

The Japanese were very effective in the Pacific. The United States decided to get involved in the war in the Pacific. The Japanese leadership flatly told our Government that if they were to get involved in the Pacific there would be an attack on the United States. Of course us, being so damn arrogant, laughed off the attack threat as idle talk.

During the same time frame RADAR was still in the early development stage. The Military stationed a unit to scan the skies with the new technology of RADAR. From what I have been told the RADAR operator called his supervisor to report that he is seeing items on the RADAR. Even though the Japanese previously issued a threat to attack the United States the RADAR operator’s supervisor told him to ignore the blips as waves or reflections and say nothing more. Those blips on the RADAR were Japanese aircraft and not reflections or waves on the ocean.

Even if the United States Government had been put on alert I am fairly sure the attack on Pearl Harbor would have still happened but probably with fewer deaths and injuries.

What we should have learned from this incident is that when someone who claims to be your enemy issues a threat you need to take that threat seriously. Maybe the threat will never happen but it is better to be prepared and it doesn’t happen than to wave it off as an idle threat and then it does happen.

On Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day please remember those brave men and women who perished that day in 1941.