New Years and Old Ships

Well, as of yesterday it's 2007, and we all have our own resolutions and such. Since one of mine is to write more stuff, here we go:

For the Frau and I, 2006 was, to put it mildly, an eventful year. For a look back at the year that was, here is the official 2006 Year In Review. (Maybe I don't say this often enough, but God bless Dave Barry.)

Speaking of the past, this article from today's Post-Dispatch made me surprisingly sad: "Romantic" wants to rescue sunken minesweeper.

The USS Inaugural: Then...

...and now.

I had a lot of good memories of climbing around on the USS Inaugural, an old World War II-era minesweeper, on the riverfront as a kid, especially with my Navy veteran grandfather, and I always wondered where it went. Now I know. (zoom out for a better view of its location.)

Apparently this was one tidbit of news that escaped my attention during the Great Flood of '93 (Lord, do I sound old when I call it that). How weird that I vividly remember watching the news as the Burger King boat broke loose and floated away - and nearly rammed a flood gate in the process - but I don't remember anything at all about the Inaugural that night.

The very, very best of luck to Mr. John Patzius in his efforts to raise the poor old minesweeper and put it to good use.