Welcome to my most humble Home Page. I've been working on it on and off for nearly three years now. I've learned a lot. And am eager to learn more. I'm really excited by JavaScript. But haven't had much time to read/learn more about it. It seems capable of performing many amazing things without requiring a high level of programming expertise. If you've found something amongst my web pages that has helped or entertained you in some way then I've done what I've set out to do. I'll keep plugging away at the site. Hoping to improve and expand it until it's complete. Yeah Right!
Robert L. Vaessen
This listing is an archive of the What's New entries from 2000.
Aside from some technical changes involving tildes "~" and the various ways to represent them, there really haven't been any major changes to the web pages lately, so I thought I'd take the time to just talk about the last month and the upcoming new year. (The next What's New entry will be on a new page. I'll archive this years entries and start over again.)
December in Misawa. It's a Misawa winter; temperatures ranged from highs in the 50's to low's in the teens. We had a lot of snowfall. Something like 58 inches this month. But, as is typical for this area, most of it has melted. We have about 50% snowcover on the ground. Misawa is a coastal city, and warm trade winds keep it mild throughout the winter. Just a few more miles inland, and the story is vastly different. Japans mountains keep the inland part of the island insulated from the warm coastal breezes, and as a result the snow accumulates.
I must have been a very good boy last year, Christmas sure was bountiful. I raked in a lot of goodies. The two most expensive gifts under our tree this year were cameras. I got a Fuji FX-2400Z digital camera, and Kim got a Cannon Rebel 2000/EOS 300 35mm camera. Two excellent cameras. The Rebel is a joy to work with, and the digital camera will permit me to share photos with friends and family over the internet. Now all I have to do is get some family members connected to the internet! Kim seems to be a natural with the Cannon. Her friends at AAFES introduced her to the Rebel, and all her photos seem to come out perfectly composed. She has a gift with the shutter under her finger.
January first marks the beginning of the new year. 2000 was an excellent year for Kim and I, and I hope it was just as good for you. The new year marks the begining of a new Milenium, despite all the hype of last year. It seems odd that to this day no one is touting that fact. I guess the media figures that people are too ignorant to realize the truth, or they overstated their claims last year, and can't realistically expect people to be excited about the begining of the new milenium all over again.
Thanks to the fine folks at GeoCities, I've had to update 21 of my web pages, and troubleshoot a problem that I didn't even know existed. It seems that they no longer support the tilde (~) as a valid part of a URL path. Thanks for letting everyone know! (Not!). GeoCities Plus users used to be required to use the tilde (~) in their URL path if they wanted to use their username instead of one of those incredible long GeoCities neighborhood URL paths. So the URL for my home page used to be http://www.geocities.com/rvaessen. A few months ago they informed all the GeoCities Plus users that the tilde was no longer necessary. As a result I slowly started changing some of my URL paths to something like this http://www.geocities.com/rvaessen. Recently GeoCities stopped accepting the tilde as a valid part of the URL path. Unfortunately, they didn't tell anyone that they were going to do this, or that they had done it. I had to find out after receiving email from freinds who had problems getting to my web page. After a bit of investigating, I located the source of the problems. Today I corrected, and reposted, the 21 remianing web pages which still had tilde's in them.
O.k. November's over. December's here. Kim and I have received our next assignment. The Air Force has decided to send us to Denver for my final military posting. Check out my recently updated BIO page for the details.
Aside from updating my schedule page, I haven't made many changes to my web pages.
I'm still on leave. I've been updating some of my web pages while lounging about like a lazy butt.
Actually created some new pages! Ah yes, crisp new HTML, the smell is so enticing. Made three new pages, and even included them on the master index.
In addition to the new pages, I updated a bunch of pages as well. In some cases the updates are significant. In others, trivial.
As a final touch, I updated my schedule page, just to make sure you all know that I'm on Leave! :-)
I'm on leave. I've been sick the last couple of weeks, so I took some leave after my boss returned to work from a two week long class. I've been using the time to update some of my web pages. One of the biggest changes I've made is something most people won't notice. I had to update all the counters on my web pages. Thanks to a change in the way GeoCities does things, I've had to change all my web pages. As a result many of the counts are out of whack. Basically, I had to make wild ass guesses for all the web pages except the index.html. I had to guess because GeoCities lost all records of the counts on my pages. Gee, how convenient. The updates took a considerable amount of time. now the counters won't display when I use iCab. I hate it when people write browser specific code!
Aside from the counter updates; I also updated some of my pages. I updated the Books page with a bunch of new books, and some comments regarding books I've already read. I also updated my software favorites page. Upgraded some software, and disseminated some information regarding BBEdit's Table Builder. Finally, I made some corrections to the Character Sheet pages.
Just updated my Schedule page.
I wasn't happy with the Other Games page. I added a bit of a border to the left edge of the page, a background image, and a epitath commemorating the demise of Avalon Hill.
O.k. It's October. The month is nearly over, and I'm catching a cold. Kim and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary recently. It's hard to believe that we've been married 15 years. Time sure has flown by. I haven't made many changes to the web pages. I updated the Junk Mail declaraion, and Feedback pages. Removing references to my excite email address. I couldn't stand it. I was getting 5 SPAM a day, and that's all. No other mail at that address. I finally got fed up. I also updated the Character sheet, PBeM, and Favorite software pages. I recently upgraded my software from Stuffit Expander 5.5 to 6.0. I had to changes links to the free version of Expander for Windows. I also upgraded my version of iCab from 2.1a to 2.2. I also updated the Books page. I finally finished reading the Dune series.
September was a relaxing month. I was on leave most of the month. As promised, I have updated my Music page. There have been a lot of additions to the music list since the previous update. Thanks to all the young folks where I work (Jenn & Bubb) for turning me on to some stuff I had never heard before. I changed the format some, but it's still not the way I'd like it to appear. There may be more updates to the Music page. I also updated the the monthly Schedule.
O.k. I've had a bit of time off, and completed some updates. The primary update is to my 'Military Honor and Decency Act of 1996' page. I revamped the page; placing the text in tables, and changing some of the font characteristics. I also added a background. It looks a lot cleaner now; easier to follow.
Other updates include:
August was a relaxing month. I was on leave most of the month. Rob & Ryoko came and visited, and I managed to get some web page updates completed. I updated the monthly Schedule, revamped the Character Sheet page. Updating the files, as well as the format. I also updated my software favorites page, and my listing of books I've read.
July flew by faster than June. I was totaly swamped at work; filing in as my divisions branch chief. Luckily the IG inspections ended. Manning was still at an all time low. The division was down to about 50%, but we were still expected to run at 100% productivity. It's been hectic. I haven't had much time to work on my web site lately. I did update the monthly Schedule and a few other odds and ends.
June flew by. After returning from my TDY I have been swamped at work. I'm still filing in as my divisions branch chief. Luckily the IG inspections have ended. Our division was rated excellent, and we were lauded as one of the best the inspector had ever seen. Unfortunately for me, everyone went on leave after the IG left. The division is down to about 50%, but we're still expected to run at 100% productivity. It's really wearing me out. I haven't had much time to work on my web site lately. I did update the monthly Schedule and a few other odds and ends. Most notable is the updated Other Games page. I returned from my TDY with a whole pile of games, and Kim and I are eager to try them out. We've started playing alternate games on Saturdays. So far everyone is enjoying the games. I'm also working on an update to my online Character sheets. I've also purchased AppleWorks 6 recently, and would like to start using some of it's capabilities to help with my web page authoring.
I just got back from a two week TDY (Temporary Duty) to Fort George G. Meade Maryland. Quite a trip, took over twenty four hours to get from Misawa Japan to my Hotel in Linthicum. I attended two conferences, speaking at both. I got together with some of my old friends, and spent a lot of money on things you can't get in Misawa. The only thing I've had time to update this month is the monthly Schedule and a few other odds and ends.
Wow! Kim and I had a heck of a vacation. As a result I didn't spend much time on the web pages. I did manage to finish reading a book, and as a result I updated my Books page. I also corrected my Bio, because of a problem spotted by a co-worker. In addition to these changes I also updated my Software page, the monthly Schedule and a few other odds and ends.
I havn't really done much work on the web site lately. I have updated my Spam Offer page. I renamed it due to some changes at the site where my ID number is registered.
I also spent a considerable amount of time making some minor updates to several web pages. The updates were changes to URL paths, correction of HTML coding errors, removal of extraneous coding, etc.
Finally; I updated the monthly schedule. It now lists the itinerary for the inlaws. Kim's parents are coming to visit us in Japan. We sure hope they have a good time.
I just added a picture to, and did a bit of tinkering with my 'Origins of the Wheel' page. I just don't buy the fallen trees rolling down hill theory. Check it out. I'm sure you'll see my point.
I recently returned from a snowshoeing trip in the Hakkoda mountains. (It was fantastic, thank you) While there I took some spectacular pictures, which support a long held belief regarding the origins of the wheel. I just don't buy the fallen trees rolling down hill theory. Check it out. I'm sure you'll see my point.
Did some minor maintenance on my web pages. Updated the Favorites page, and the calendar schedule.
Did some minor maintenance on my web pages. Updated the Favorites page, my Spam offer page, and the feedback page.
I've been on leave this week, and have found some time to do a little coding. The only significant change is the addition of a new page. Basically it's a how to page. I posted it to help those who might want to learn how to eat using chopsticks. I can't take credit for the information posted on the web page, as I culled the internet for bit's and pieces, cut and pasted the best, and came up with this little treatice on eating in Japan. I added it to my Misawa page, updating that, and my bio page in the process. Of course the index page, and front door had to be updated as well.
I've been toying with the idea of adding some pages for my f2f (Face to Face) AD&D® campaign. The only problem is, I can't decide what I should post. I don't want to post anything that might compromise the continuation of the campaign in the future. When I PCS to a new base I bring the campaign with me. Resucitating it anew with minor changes in a never ending effort to make it better than the last time. The only thing i can think of so far is something like the who's who page from the now defunct PBeM capaign. If you jave any ideas regarding what I should post please send me some email.
I've also started removing the HTML 4.0 valid declarations from my web pages. Thanks to the rocket scientists at Geocities, all of my web pages are no longer valid HTML. They insist on adding some sort of invisible gif on every page. The code for this gif is added at the very end of every web page. Yes that's right, it's after the closing </HTML> tag. I've written them several times about the matter, but they seem incapable of recognizing the problem, or forming a cogitant response. They simply spit back a placebic canned FAQ response every time I point out the problem to them.
<RAMBLE>Did I just coin two new words there? Neither of them is in my CD-ROM Britanica 99 encyclopedia/dictionay. Let's check the Webster's unabridged (2129+ pages). Placebic isn't in there. Cogitant... Ah, cogitant isn't in there either, but cogent is, and it's the word I should have used. O.k. maybe just one new word. Placebic certainly seems to make sense in the context I used. Placebic - Placebo like. Intended to act as a placebo. What do you think?</RAMBLE>
Just returned from my trip to Sapporo. Had a really good time. About the only change has been an update to the books page. I finished reading another book, and started on the next. I also updated the Spam Offer page.
I have been really busy at work so the web pages haven't received a lot of attention. About the only change has been an update to the books page. I finished reading another book, and started on the next. I also updated the schedule page.
I have been really busy at work so the web pages haven't received a lot of attention. About the only change has been an update to the books page. I've finished reading a couple books, and loaned a couple out.
I've been doing some tinkering. Nothing that I'd normally mention, aside from the fact that I've made some minor changes to the front door. You may have noticed that the My Favorites page has received prime time on the main page. I've also eliminated a couple of other software references. I left the BBEdit reference because it's the only tool that I can't live without.
First entry of the new year. If you want to see the old 'What's New' entries check the links at the bottom of the page.
I created and posted a listing of favorite software. It's a listing of the software that I use to create my web pages. Hopefully it'll prove useful to some MAC users who are just learning HTML.
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Author: Robert L. Vaessen e-mail: 
Last Updated: Sun, Dec 31, 2000 9:11 AM