2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 120,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 5 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Lex LeFon-Two Years

Today marks two years since CAPT Carroll “Lex” LeFon, USN (Ret.) passed in an accident at NAS Fallon.

We’ve talked about his accomplishments as an officer, an aviator, a family man.

We’ve praised his writings many times over the years.*

Let’s take a moment to discuss another aspect of his legacy.  He had a fantastically loyal cadre of readers and commenters.  To be sure, as a milblogger, a goodly number of them were fellow sailors and aviators, or otherwise connected with the service. But a large swath had no connection at all to the service beyond enjoying his writing. A large Facebook community sprang up, and is still going strong. Other Lexicans share on WordPress.

And this weekend, many will gather in San Diego at Shakespeare’s, Lex’s favorite pub, to remember Lex, enjoy time with Mary, his widow, and look to the future.

We miss you, Lex. And we thank God we had you in our lives, if far too briefly.

 

 

 

*Sadly, the blog is down. But I do know the family is working to restore it, and looking at publishing at least some of his works.

A Bleg From NaCly Dog

Need to put on your thinking caps.

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 160,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 7 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Shakespeare’s Meet Up Hot Wash

We had a great time there last night, with Mary, Beth, her husband Armando, Padre Harvey and his bride Tamara, Dwight, and Patrick. I only got two pics to come out, but hopefully Beth can get the pics Mary took, and Patrick needs to forward a few. Dwight too, for that matter.

 

Much Guinness and a fair amount of Jameson (and the odd gin and tonic) and some fantastic stories from Mary. Lots of hugging, laughing, and just plain fun.

It was a hoot. I’ve been to quite a few blog inspired meet ups over the years, and it’s always amazing how you meet people for the first time, and you pick up your previous online conversations without a break. If you’ve never done one, you really should do so.

Padre Harvey kicked it off with a very nice invocation. He also said something that touched Mary. Pointing to the seemingly sparsely populated venue, he stressed that every seat there was filled, by you, dear Lexicans, in spirit.

And I’ll never hear the song “Roxanne” the same way again (inside joke).

San Diego Lexican Meetup Next Week?

I’ll be in San Diego next week, probably starting Wednesday, and at least through the weekend. Any interest in a meetup? I’m already planning on meeting Padre Harvey, but I’d love to make new acquaintances also. And would you believe, I’ve never actually been to Shakespeare’s?

If you’re interested, drop me a line at bariejr  “at” gmail dot com. As soon as I have a date/time I’ll try to let ya’ll know.

 

XBradTC sends.

VF-45 Blackbirds

Back in the day, Lex was a member of VF-45 Blackbirds, a Key West based adversary squadron. And it so happened, a documentary was made of the squadron back then. And our dear Lex makes a brief appearance. But finding a copy of it has been tough. Zane, longtime commenter at Lex’s, has, with a little help from a Lexette, uploaded it in avi. format to Rapidshare.

It’s a huge file, and in multiple parts.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

If you have technical issues, just ask, and I’m sure someone here will be happy to help.

UPDATE: You can download the entire file as one avi. here.

Plan Pr0n Sunday

 

A-6 Intruder

A-7 Corsair II

F-4 Phantom

EA-6B

E-2 Hawkeye

SH-3 Sea King

FiFi needs a little work done. Hey, at her age, she’s entitled!

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 140,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

A good start.