Today's song is Cast Your Fate To The Wind by Vincent Anthony Guaraldi, released in 1963.

My best friend, Bill Artus, informed me on Sunday that his neighbor's son was killed in Iraq last Monday. I extend my sympathies to his family and friends.

I don't remember meeting him, although I'm sure I did when visiting with Bill's family during the early 1990's. He is the first person killed serving our country in the War on Terror that I came in contact with so far.

His parents are a great couple and I spoke with them in September 2005 during my visit to see Bill. I remember them telling me their son served in the military. I thanked them at that time for their son's service in time of war.

Someday a memorial will be built to this war, it probably won't be built for many decades. Such memorials aren't usually built until wars are over. His name will appear there along with all the others who sacrificed their lives for a cause they supported as volunteers. I write this now for him and all the others, Thank you for your service to our country.

I published a new short story, The Perfect Year.

Flat Daddies is great idea for kids who's parents are serving overseas in the military.

I found an informative article about why Community Colleges are popular.

Here are some cool photos of Apple's booth at NAB 2007.

If you're using WI-FI, you should know about this.

I end today's message with the following Digital Insight.

Emotions In Turmoil (Created in February 2000)

My mother passed away in January 2000 at age 83. Many of her descendants had a hard time dealing with her loss. For a few weeks I was in deep grief myself. Finally, I started coming back to the light of the world and my art helped me and other family members move on with our lives.

Whenever emotions get us down, we need to remind ourselves that the Sun will shine again -- one day. Each day will get better and the lessons from the experience bring understanding in new terms.

Death of loved ones is only one of the ways we experience loss. Some other situations in life cause the painful ending of relationships too. This image covers a wide range of emotional discomfort when those times arrive. Using my own words, I quote a portion from that page's narration:

"Death and renewal of relationships."

Don