Random Thoughts 11/11/11

• Happy Veteran's Day.  May God bless those who have served and sacrificed for our freedom.  Remember that today marked the anniversary of the end of World War 1 and just so happen to have the National World War 1 museum right here in Kansas City at Liberty Memorial!
• 11/11/11  Palindrome dates are cool and we've had two this month with the 8-digit 11/02/2011.  Here's a list of seven and eight-digit palindrome dates this century.
• KU plays it's first "real" game tonight!  Rock Chalk!
• If you like architecture, check out this gallery of all 357 Apple stores in the world.  You can sort by country and China's and the UK's Apple stores are particularly stunning, especially contrasted to many of the smaller American storefronts tucked away in malls.  My two Apple stores here in KC are #86 and #218.
• Normally we don't decorate for Christmas until Thanksgiving night, but Shannon and I decorated a tree in our yard today, one of the first outdoor decorations we've ever done.  Anneliese cooed at it, saying it was "sooo pretty" and "Daddy made a Christmas tree just for me!"  This might have to be a new tradition.
• It looks like I'll be playing in a men's basketball league on Friday nights in December and January.  I'm really excited about it.
• It appears that the President has announced a new permanent military base in Australia.  We'll have Marines stationed in Darwin.  Interesting.  I wonder what China thinks of that?  I wonder what Marine Corps families that like living in exotic places think?
• My kids want to see the new Muppets movie.  I hope it's good.