As Sunday the 9th of January comes to a close, I need to reflect on some issues of the day.

Today would have been my fathers 68th birthday. I keep him in my thoughts, especially today and even prayed to him at his burial flag that is in my living room. I was extremely happy that I got to call him and wish him a happy birthday back in 2000, because it was 7 days later on January 16th that he passed away. For many years, we had not spoken, after I moved from Pensacola to Tucson in 1994 up until 1998 we rarely if ever spoke. From 1998 until his death, we spoke more often and he and I tried to mend our relationship. I felt much closer to him when he passed and it affected me deeply.

Fortunately, I pretty much kept myself preoccupied with my research, which has surpassed the 200 pieces of data and is currently at 212. I still have the states of Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Washington DC. That is also not including the approximately 109 cook-off events whose websites basically stated “Check back soon for 2011 information”. My advisor was wanting me to get between 200 and 250 pieces of data and I have met that goal and could actually surpass it. Incidentally, each piece of data has about 50 or so variables. I think this research is going to make for a great part of my dissertation.