Charest Family on the Web Posts

Published July 4, 2008 by

Happy 4th of July!

Fourth of July!
Fourth of July!

It’s the 4th of July again. Just another great day for kicking off the summer season with fireworks, Bar-Be-Ques, picnics at the parks or beaches, or just hanging out with family and friends. Oh, and it’s also the day we celebrate the official birth of our nation.

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Opinions & Commentary

Celebration Fourth of July

Published July 2, 2008 by

The New Age of Mom and Pops

Mom and Pop Shops
Mom and Pop Shops

An editorial in today’s local newspaper, coupled with a news story, has gotten me to thinking about the old-fashioned “Mom and Pop” shops.  If you look around, you might think that those type stores, small specialty outlets run by a single family, famous for knowing their customers and offering great service, were going the way of the dinosaur (and gas guzzling monster trucks).

In reality, if you look around you might recognize that those “Mom and Pop shops” have morphed into something bigger and better.  They’ve become the new age of Internet shopping.

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Opinions & Commentary

Amazon.com E-Bay home business

Published June 30, 2008 by

Journeying Through Journey To The West

Journey To The West
Journey To The West

Among the souvenirs Winnie brought back from China on her recent trip was an 11-disk set of DVDs containing the Chinese classic series “Journey to the West.”  Now, as part of our evening routine whenever Winnie and I are both home, we watch one or two episodes.  Although it’s only in the Chinese national language (no subtitles) I am able to mostly follow the action with Winnie’s help explaining the dialog.  Watching these series has becoming a lot of fun.

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Family Stories

Chinese Journey To The West

A well-Earned RewardDreams After Renovations
Published June 29, 2008 by

A well-Earned Reward

My writing has been light lately, and there’s actually a good reason for this; a better reason that just not feeling like writing. I finally finished rebuilding my boat “Sea Dreams” enough that I could get her back in the water, and that event has pretty much taken first priority.

Continue…A well-Earned Reward

Family Stories On The Water

boating Sea Dreams

Published June 17, 2008 by

Winnie Returns!

World Travel
World Travel

Winnie returned home in Virginia from her month long visit to China Sunday morning.  She reports she had a nice visit traveling around different family in different towns around south-eastern China.  However, her flying experience coming back to the U.S. left something to be desired.

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Family Stories

air travel china Family Winnie

Published May 27, 2008 by

This and That, May Edition

This And That
This And That

It’s been a fast month.  Spring is officially here and not a day too soon.  It’s still not nearly warm enough for my liking but every day gets better. The boating season has begun, but my boat is not ready for the water.  Beyond all that, Winnie’s gone to China trusting in me to keep her plants alive until she returns.

She is a very trusting soul indeed.

Continue…This and That, May Edition

Family Stories

china Commuting Gardening Sea Dreams This and That travel Winnie

Published May 25, 2008 by

It’s The Cows

Cartoon Cow
Global Warming-Causing Cow

Once again, I’ve had an interesting on-line “debate” in our very own “The Potomac News.” This time, the issues was global climate change. The letter to the editor (LTE) that started the debate was titled “Global warming: Another big, fat lie,” which is a fairly neutral title that gives one no hint of the general tone of the letter.

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Opinions & Commentary

Climate Change Cows Politics Potomac News Satire

Published May 14, 2008 by

Winnie Goes to China

World Travel
World Travel

After nearly three years and many adventures in the New World, Winnie left today to go visit her family.  One catch with marrying a person who lived halfway around the planet; going to visit family takes a lot of planning.

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Family Stories

china vacation Winnie

Published May 13, 2008 by

The Anatomy of an On-Line Discussion Thread

Wherein I Get Called a Traitor with 5 !’s After Eight Short Posts

Letters To The Editor
Letters To The Editor

I’ve made a point of getting a Letter to the Editor (LTE) of our local newspaper published at least once each month since last summer. Over these past months my writing has evolved from simple rebutting of our local Conservative columnists to writing on original topics. Part of the change from rebutting columnists is that the newspaper has introduced commenting in their on-line version. This on-line commenting is moderated but apparently only filtered for obvious spam, as evidenced by the range of opinions that actually gets posted.

A comments thread I participated in became extremely amusing to me extremely fast today. Unfortunately, it is also a sad example of what now-a-days passes for “educated discussion” on immigration in this Virginia county of Prince William.

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Opinions & Commentary

immigration LTE On-Line Debate Politics Potomac News

Published May 12, 2008 by

A Shaman Spirit Watches Over Me

After writing, Hiding in Plain Sight, a story about the possible discovery of an Indian Burial Mound on my neighbors’ property, I began to reflect back on my own near death experience, (NDE) three years ago April 2005.  I was in church helping out at a funeral for a 17 year old boy in our congregation, when I suffered a near fatal brain aneurysm.

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Family Stories

Fun Indians shaman spirt world