The Muffin About Town

"Don't Know Much About..."

2012-01-19T09:25:00.003-06:00

As I drove in this morning, I heard Sam Cook “Cupid”, and began thinking about how my mother influenced my politics, music and just over all growth. Normally I think about some initiatives, their impact and time frames of implementation while building a message inspiring ownership and enthusiasm because of the growth it will create in the team and hopefully extend innovative thinking in the team. Boring right? Not for me.

But today I rested my mind enjoying the oldies I have begun to listen to lately and Sam Cook has always been one of my favorites. The smoothness of his melodies and the voice that just sounds like a golden tone out of an old Philco dashboard radio surrounded by miles of metal dashboard and yellow AM lights. It warms up the mind and reminds me of times when I was around five and my mother began introducing me to music. She would play me records from Bread and David Gates or she’d let me stay up and watch the Midnight Special and see Tina Turner and Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones and then there was Wolfman Jack introducing Manfred Mann Earth Band or Earth Wind and Fire. Sly and the Family Stone. All these songs and lyrics would spin around and fill the room with such warmth and energy and you couldn’t help but be happy and alive listening and watching these wonderful musicians share there experiences and talents with us.

So Sam Cook plays and I think of that influence and how one day, after hearing him, the Beatles, Stones and such and really liking them, I finally heard Elvis and was sold. This was the end. He provided me at age 5, with a full voice and nice melody and gave me an eagerness to get home and fire up the record player after school. Nothing else would do. I didn’t want to hear the radio and no one but Elvis mattered.

But then in second grade, I stumbled onto Kiss. And my life started over! Theatrics, danger, controversy, satanic worship rumors. All the things a shock rock band is known for and more. This was followed with David Bowie, Mark Bolin and Sweet. Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin when I found out I was partially named for Jimmy Page.

My whole trip this morning started with a sound. Science says more memory retention and reaction comes from smell but I challenge you to not have a memory pop up when a song comes on the radio, good or bad, that doesn’t remind you of a key point in time that will make you smile and remember that time. When I hear 70’s music my first thought is summer and the 4th of July, movie theaters and carnivals. I saw Saturday Night Fever 20 times if once and Grease I cant even think of how many times I saw that. Just the music that played as you waited for the feature to come on reminds me of sitting in the faded curtained auditorium as the curtains parted and that Paramount screen showed up warning us the movie was starting.

Getting on a skateboard and riding through the park as the geese and ducks run to the pond when you fly by and in the back ground someone has Jerry Rafferty playing or Styx.

Anyway, I must get to work now. I have reviews to write and thought I would get my mind going as well as write something not work related to loosen my brain.

XO ILY YM

Shut Up Jimmy Ray. You got yours...Cherish it!

2012-01-18T16:03:00.004-06:00

I have problems. I have issue at work. I have concerns about my kids. I worry about my oldest kids and their approach and way in life. I worry about supporting my family and our retirement. Then I see a little 5 year old boy that finds out after being treated for allergies he has an incurable brain cancer.

I will stress over the things I mentioned no doubt. Every now and then however, God says, “Everett, you don’t know crap. Shut up! “

Message received sir! This is me praying you step in and give this boy a life he can enjoy and not have to deal with sickness the whole time he is breathing and love the family he was given as well as touch that life waiting to be touched by his laughter and smile.

And on a side note, on the way out to Pennsylvania last month, we saw sign after sign about Sandusky, OH
and this was during all the crap with Penn State and Sandusky the coach, so we got tired of sseeing it. And wouldnt you know it, this boy is near Sandusky, TX. Just a stupid connection I made that means nothing but I draw attention to it for my own sake.

A quick post from his father on his facebook page nearly crippled me:
So just some interesting tidbits to share!

Fri 13 1982 I had open heart surgery, defied the odds that I wouldn't even make it out of surgery and 30 years later I'm still here!

Fri 13 2011 Brayden found out he had cancer and was given an average of 12 months to live. Given his last MRI results I don't think he's going with those predictions either!

Daddy loves you big guy:)

Now, I have to dry my tears and get back to work.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/PrayersforBrayden?sk=wall

Paterno and Occupiers..blah....

2011-11-15T13:21:00.001-06:00

As I see all the fervor and support for Joe Paterno, I can understand how such atrocities can exist when people will first weigh in with their shock of an incident happening to a time honored institution before the severity of the human impact has touched the senses. I mean really, rioting because a man was let go for FAILING, that’s right I said FAILING as a human, coach and leader. I don’t care how many games this man has won, how many players have went through his hallowed halls, he failed miserably at his primary job as an authority figure. P-E-R-I-O-D. Thought I would spell that out since the actual punctuation doesn’t carry the weight it should.

The man admitted in the LEAST, that he knew enough and didn’t act the way he should. In addition, the moronic journalist goading on the trustees about how they were acting harshly before a verdict had been rendered in Sandusky and Paterno’s case is just plain stupid and now I can see why the people in all these cities that claim to be representing me and the rest of the 99% are failing miserably! I don’t want a reporter asking stupid questions like he is protecting my rights when he won’t look at a situation realistically in the place of protection he should be rendering to those kids in the first place!

I mean I don’t think enough has been done yet civilly actually. We have at least three coaches that failed as role models, leaders, coaches, men and fathers. They all had pieces of a puzzle that said something was happening. One saw it happening, told one person, and stopped there. I wonder f it were his kid would he feel he did enough by just telling Paterno? Rhetoric I know but the moron has had to think about that so I have no sympathy for him. Not to mention if it were me, or most any other man in this universe that wasn’t a pervert, we would have kicked the man’s ass right there, and the news head line would have been “Assistant Coach Everett kicked the shit out of a child molester and is now arrested for aggravated assault.” Because I would have picked up anything and beat the shit out of him! Incase you missed it earlier, P-E-R-I-O-D. Moreover, do you think any court would convict me knowing the facts we know now? And when I went home to my family, my wife and children, even if I went to jail, would hold their head high knowing I didn’t let one more kid be mistreated and scarred by these bumbling morons!

And that’s what this boils down to: we are adults. These children need us to protect them. THAT’S OUR JOB IN LIFE WHETHER WE HAVE KIDS OR NOT!!!!! They need and have to have us so GET OFF YOUR ASS and stop worshiping a fool and start being the adult, man, woman and coach, leader you’re supposed to be.

And Paterno, come on! You of all people don’t have the common sense to smack a mosquito off you. How can you have something brought to you like this and ignore it? I get something brought to me, I don’t care how much I know or think I know someone, I HAVE TO ACT ON IT AND FIND OUT THE TRUTH!!!!! Some things there is just NO recourse for but to take action. Sometimes it’s not what we want to do but we are backed in a corner and have to do THE RIGHT THING! I have had to do it many times and will not change a thing about the way I approach matters of severity.

It sickens and stuns me that someone at any level in any organization could turn such a blind eye to those little innocent children in this manner. SEND THEM ALL TO JAIL FOR NEGLECT AND ABUSE OF AUTHORITY FIGURE! THEY ALL DESERVE IT!!

And what is it with coaches now. I have seen articles where coaches are using racial slurs against their athletes, forcing them to take part in drills with adults, cussing them out and beating on them. My coaches were harsh and road our ass but never abusive and honestly, some of us probably urged it on by our behavior but it never happened that I was aware of.

Now I hit on the Occupy Wall Street thing a few minutes ago. Sorry fellas, I am not getting it and you look like morons. I understand the financial problems we have. I understand the problems with commerce, the global economy and such, but a sit in on Wall Street is only delaying a person on their way to Starbucks. Go to Washington! VOTE AGAINST THE MORONS! Not the Republicans, Independents, or Democrats. THE MORONS. Get educated abut who is running and get the people closest to doing the right things in there. Send the fogies home. Let’s generate some concern around term limits and how it ties to retirement. Why are we paying a full pension to a congressman or representative that serves one term? He wasn’t good enough to last more than on term HE DOESN’T DESERVE MONEY FOR LIFE! GOOD LORD MAKE THEM EARN IT LIKE WE DO! We don’t get to get pay for life if we don’t last at our jobs past a certain point. We get what we earn.

Set up a pension plan where they have to invest like we do. Make them invest in privatized healthcare.

I think it is unrealistic to make them hold down another job the way it used to be as the world is just to complex and large for that. We have grown to develop so many regulations and such that we need for our fairness, we need someone who only has that distraction and not having to provide for his/her family but the other things and benefits? Please!

In addition, the problem with the economy started with deregulation brought on by one party and carried out by the next. It’s not partisan. OUR COUNTRY LET it happen. If we told you we would give you $100 a month for free, you wouldn’t turn it down so why should any commercial institution. They’re thinking of themselves! Give them a rope…they’ll hang themselves. It’s like a Raven. The animal not a football player, the bird will explode on blood if allowed to engorge himself on a carcass nonstop. It’s his nature. Why stop?

Regulation, accountability are the two things we need in government. Partisanship is a symptom of a bigger problem. Agenda of Power. It will always be there and can never go away. George Washington knew it when he saw it in the early stages of the country. Regardless of Alexander Hamilton’s efforts to keep politics non partisan, it occurs because people have different views of what is right for the country. Washington knew that and knew that the basic concept of this was good for the country. And it is. What we have now is selfish thought. Many politicians are there trying to do what’s right and cant. Many things are held up and denied because a moron didn’t get his drainage ditch built in Arizona. Therefore, someone goes without benefits until the next bill can have a rider attached to cover the toothpaste factory in Utah. That’s government now. Trades, not differences. It’s been perverted and needs to be wiped clean.

Vote them out! Protest the WHY’s NOT THE WHO’s on WALL STREET! Occupy frikin Washington and do it like the guys did in the 60’s. Don’t make this a romantic notion! Make it a point that needs to be dealt with and fixed! THEN action will happen. The crap you guys are doing right now is just dirtying up the streets and looking stupid on TV.

Well, there ya go. I blathered and ranted. Comment and let’s argue!

XO ILYYM

2011-11-04T11:20:00.002-05:00

I dont have a lot to write about today, or actually let me say, I dont have a lot of time to write today but I do want to post a new commercial I am in from my company for our LTE/4G launch. It is posted here: http://www.uscellular.com/4G/index.html

I am very proud of my company and what we are accomplishing.

XO ILY YM

C’mon man!

2011-09-29T11:58:00.001-05:00

I have a few things of note today that make me wonder as I drive my 1.5 hours home and to work each day. Well on the way to work, I think about work and things I can do to help enable some change for the better or improve on something. On the way home, I am brain dead and think of silly crap like the list I have here. So today, I give you my “C’mon man!” segment.

1. What the heck does MW on the back of all these cars I see mean? First notice I make is they are all shitty drivers. The majority of them are unsafe, cut you off, change lanes in an intersection, constantly jockey around trying to get a spot ahead every mile as far as possible only to end up in the lane next to me waiting on the same light after risking everyone’s life and spending more gas than any of us with their tomfoolery. Do they get a ticket? No! But I will for going 12 over on a highway while other cars PASS ME ILLEGALLY!!!! C’mon man!

2. Has anyone ever went into a mattress store due to the little teen-ager that stands out with the mattress outfit on in the July sun dancing around to get your attention? I mean, is a mattress really an impulse buy that can be swayed because of a kid standing in the gutter waving like a moron? It’s a great way for a kid to make $7.00 bucks an hour but C’mon man!

3. Now it’s time for Sugarland: the band. I apologize to those of my readers and dear friends that like them. I have to say I do not. The lead singer reminds me of Paula Dean and her overdone southern accent. This woman let’s her “a’s” turn into “i’s” and every word is a shortened contraction version of another contraction. Then there’s that little man hopping around the stage with his cowboy hat that’s bigger than he is like a little elf version of Garth Brooks. The nervous energy that squirt emits needs to be bottled and besides, WHAT DOES HE DO? I mean I see a show they do and he’s all firing off across the stage distracting everybody and then he’s gone. I think finally! Now we can listen to some music and hear her sing and then POW! There he is again. It’s like a little “wack-a-mole” game with him popping in and out of off screen or something! I hope he writes because if not, the girl can sing and she don’t need his little bunny-fru-fru ass anyway. Switch to decaf, sing like a normal person and stop ruining my radio! C’mon man!

I’ll have more later and as I remember them, I’ll try to step in where Art Rooney is leaving off and fulfill the curmudgeon tendencies we all have and desire to talk about but wont. Enjoy your day!

ILY XO YM

It's 30 degrees: I guess Fall is here early...

2011-09-15T12:51:00.002-05:00

We’ll be moving soon so my route to work will need to be altered a bit. I will be limited in my route preferences however; I enjoy the challenge of evading traffic jams and shortening my drive time as well as conserving as much fuel as I can in my tank.

I am having a little fun researching areas where I can hunt in the manner I am used to, for example, openly and not restricted to certain days etc… That is proving to be difficult without driving some good distance away. I am resigned I will need to drive two hours to enjoy the true settings for my usual hunt pursuits: Honestly, that’s not that bad. I was telling my wife last night that I drove two hours or more in Tennessee as well yet two hours in Tennessee is twice the distance it is in Illinois.

One thing I am aware of is my renewed love for fall. Hunting, crisp air, football, leaves, the smell of smoke from burning falling leaves, Halloween. All things I used to love and still do but now I don’t approach the season with sadness. It used to remind me of my mother’s passing and all the other bad things that happened to me as I grew up. But now, because of my wife, married in the fall, she loves it, and makes it feel so much better, lets me remember the events in my life as experience and not regrets.

So I can think of scouting and hunting and walking in the woods with happiness and longing for enjoyment and not to escape my troubled thoughts. I wish she enjoyed a lot of the fall activities I do but she’ll never be sitting in a blind with me holding a bow. Maybe we could do that with a camera some time. She could not only enjoy watching the wildlife with me while experiencing the woods the way I like to but she could also say she shot a deer or turkey then!

So back to work so I can make the money to do the things I love and enjoy my life with the ones I love.

ILY XO YM

It's Fall and that means...

2011-09-08T10:33:00.004-05:00

It’s almost fall again. The crispness is in the air and the leaves are slowly turning. On my way home yesterday, in my favorite field I have been watching since April, I saw three does standing eating clover. I almost cried I got so excited to see them. It may sound funny but one thing I love is watching deer and other wildlife in their natural setting.

This field is perfect habitat for deer too. It is next to a soy bean field, near a creek and has lots of cover all around the edge creating wonderful funnels of travel between bedding areas, food, and water. I imagined myself sitting on the edge of the field, binoculars and camera in hand, as well as my bow nearby inside a hunting blind just watching the behaviors and travel routes of the deer. Logging the bucks and estimating age to get an idea of herd size as well as age and make-up. However, this is private land and I obviously can’t do that.

One of the things that make me miss Tennessee is being able to just head out on a whim to a forest or public land and scout deer. In Illinois, if it’s not private land anyway, you have to schedule it or go on specific days to scout. Because deer are on schedules you see…

The scene was made even more perfect by the sun dipping low on the horizon creating an orange glow across the field providing a small bit of silhouette to the deer but leaving just enough natural light to see the color and sex of the deer. I hate that I had to drive near the speed limit and couldn’t hover around a bit to maybe get a snapshot of it because it was pretty.

To alleviate my sadness, I had to remind myself I didn’t have my hunting license yet, my bow hasn’t been tuned or set up either. With that, I sighed and continued on my merry way. Here is the Google Link to a satellite view of that area. Between Country Club road and Fleming is the area. Anyone that hunts can see the gold in this area. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fleming+Road,+Bull+valley,+Illinois&hl=en&ll=42.307118,-88.388336&spn=0.008061,0.021887&sll=40.987993,-90.042013&sspn=7.281943,5.819167&t=h&z=16&vpsrc=6

This does raise the question in my mind, you have your bike and its getting colder so the morning rides you had planned could be more beneficial if 1.) you went this way, and 2.) went in the evening! Something to think about.

I catch myself looking at camouflage in the Basspro Shop ads and online. I look for fluctuations in the prices of new bows and think of selling the old one on Craig’s List when I finally decide on a new model I can afford. Then I start thinking about how I should shoot left handed since I am left eye dominant instead of right handed. That limits the bow models available to me though, but I would shoot more accurately and further. Currently I am within two inches of spot on at 30 yards. I would like to have that accuracy up to 40 yards. I saw a sight that could help with this. Technology is truly amazing these days.

It’s from a company called IQ Bow sights. You can get to them on this link and see the sight. http://www.iqbowsights.com/ Awesome technology. The 4 pin sight however is $199.00. So, I guess I’ll be doing it the old fashioned way. HA! And really I shoot decent with the old $14.00 Wal-mart sight I have now. I just need to change out the pins so I can see better at dusk and dawn. This bow has great ratings, up to 85% let off, very light as it only weighs 3.4 pounds. http://www.basspro.com/RedHead-Kronik-Compound-Bow-Package/product/101408/-1502927

So lots occupying my mind with the coming of Autumn. Football has started and I have made my divisional selections as usual. I haven’t settled on a Super Bowl yet but I am leaning towards Green Bay over the Patriots this year. We’ll see I guess. This also brings on the Fantasy Football teams from the department I work in and AJ, you will be defeated this weekend. If by some mistake I do lose, I will purchase that soda with dignity and bow to your supremacy for the week.

So back to work and to get ready for the next conference call.

XO ILY YM

Do you wad or fold? (Silliness)

2011-08-31T16:07:00.001-05:00

So, here is some dinner conversation or ice breaker material for you to discuss next time you’re in need of mindless ridiculous subjects. First, let me preface this with why I thought about it. I had read an article that folders are more likely to pass more germs than wadders when they wipe in the bathroom. The link to some studies is here. There are more believe it or not. Apparently, this is a hot topic in the science and statistical communities.

http://www.wonderbarry.com/TP%20Site/general.html

Just to run down some statistics:

44% wipe from front to back from behind their backs.

60% look at the paper after they wipe.

50% say that they have wiped with leaves.

8% have wiped with their hands.

2% have wiped with money.

The following are some interesting percentages on toilet paper use taken from a Kimberly Clark survey in July 5th, 2000. It shows that more men "fold" and more women "wad".

40% fold or stack, 40% wad or crumple, 20% wrap it around their hand.

52% (Men) & 38% (Women) are "folders"

38% (Men) & 52% (Women) are "wadders"

6% (Men) & 6% (Women) have no preference

4% (Men) & 3% (Women) don't know

So I was in the bathroom and was washing my hands and reached to dry with the towel. I noticed I always grab three regardless of how long I wash my hands. The guy in the other side getting paper towels was damaging Brazil with as many towels as he was grabbing. Some how I got to thinking about the toilet paper and how I am a folder and how the study said I would get more germs than a wadder. (Which I don’t see how since its all wadded up and nasty! But then again, IT’S TOILET PAPER PEOLE AND IT’S RUBBING YOUR BOOTY! So there you go, DISCUSS!!!!!!!! And post your thoughts here, I won’t tell anyone. Heh!

XO ILY YM

Driving, Riding and it better be a tractor man...

2011-08-26T10:02:00.000-05:00

Traffic this week ahs been terrible. I have managed to knock my MPG down to 13 miles per gallon due to the absurd traffic jams! I now know the reason for “Take a Back Road” by Rodney Atkins. I liked it anyway but the line about knowing what a field of corn and cotton looks like and if there’s a jam it better be a tractor man! I have actually created a tracker in excel to measure my routes and such.

I am limited to three anyway. Distance varies from only 28 miles to 34 miles. There are only four ways across the Fox River:

1. Interstate 90 – the most traveled and also under construction

2. Algonquin road – the next most traveled, mostly two lanes and constant back-ups

3. IL 14 – Not as many back-ups but traffic is sporadic and you never know when it will be backed up ridiculous and where

4. Down 31 and onto Higgins – also under construction and backed up due to folks jumping off the interstate to avoid back-ups

So this is definitely a quandary for me but, I like driving and I like the country side. I also like the opportunity to sing and work on my voice again as I haven’t done it in so long I get some practice. Now I said I like driving. Driving; not sitting still. Yesterday it took me 30 minutes to get from the Cary Metra station to the Fox River Grove Metra Station. Crazy. Done harping.

My wife is awesome! I got a new bike. It’s awesome and I can’t wait to start riding. I plan on riding every morning for 30 minutes in order to get my self back into shape and start doing some longer distances and speeds. I plan on doing it before showering in the a.m. before work and then expanding to a weekend ride. There is a trail here that is about 26 miles long and goes from Algonquin to Wisconsin. I plan on riding it and logging my trek. There is a web site that has some major pictures of it and how it links to other trails. Its pretty neat. The trail connects to over a 100 miles of other trails as well. I am very excited about this and cant wait to get to work on it!

And now back to work. Had a short break for a moment to clear my mind before starting on another avenue to work on.

ILY XO YM

Never look a gift box in the wrapper...

2011-08-19T11:58:00.000-05:00

Let’s start things off with a little absurdity. My wife receives a present from her friend in the mail. A nice gift card from Bath and Body works: Definitely something very nice and useful that she likes. A few days later, she receives a bigger box, (picture to come soon because I will be posting this!) this box is approximately 2 feet long by 10 inches deep and 6 to 10 inches thick. It’s very light as well. She opens it up and guess what’s inside? Another box: A gift box. A long flat gift box sealed in plastic with Bath and Body Works on it.

So being the thoughtful person her friend was she selected a gift box for her gift card to come in and create a nice presentation of the gift. However, the wise folks at B&BW grabbed a large gift box and sent it separately, paying extra shipping and in a box way larger than needed and even with protective wrapping inside. Wow…****SHORT DIATRIBE AND RANT WARNING*******

Our toys have really damaged our kid’s intelligence and thought processing skills. We need to smash all the computer toys and games that do stuff for them and give them Hotwheels, dolls and board games. Another rant is posted somewhere here relating to that so I won’t go off on that tangent. I will say however, this week has presented itself with a plethora, a veritable cornucopia of reasons that lead me to the upbringing of our spawn. Give it to me now, give it the way I want it because I matter more than you and I don’t care about the impact to anyone else. WRONG THOUGHT PROCESS!

So I am singing in the truck with my mp3 player and really getting my voice back finally. I am loving the music I am creating on my acoustic. I now need to get back into the habit of writing and trying to record. My Xmas list will have some recording elements to it so I can begin that hobby/process again. There is nothing like going to a bar and playing music you have written and see people concentrating on the words trying to hear the story. And with me its so much more enjoyable because most people think songs are born from experience. Some are, but mine are just how the words fell on the page and how they fit the music. Sure I have a few that have significance to them but for the most part, they are just songs.

When I let some colleagues hear a couple of songs I had, both are blues rock type songs and have a strong element of being bitter towards a woman. The feed back I got from most women who heard it was “Man I’d hate to be her!” Now its not bad and I didn’t wish ill will on anybody or write about hurting anyone but I did detail the anger and hurt felt from their actions.

I told my wife a week or so a go I had about 10 songs that I think would fit specific artists and after reviewing the lyrics and music I knocked that down to about four and a possible fifth if I worked on it some more: That’s an avenue I have thought about pursuing: selling some music to some current artists. I like performing and I think I am still young enough in talent that I could survive a music career for 3 to 5 years but I really like playing small places and writing songs. Knowing I have material that someone else would be happy to pay me for and perform even if they had to alter it a bit is still very rewarding and satisfying. We’ll see.

I still have an idea for a kennel so I can work with animals on every level. I may begin investigating the business plan for that and developing a structure to approach it some how. Especially if I chose to buy some property soon it would be great to develop the business while I have another job. Growing the kennel in stages saving funds and developing partnerships with vets and ASPCA shelters and such. I would really like to do that full time eventually.

So there ya go. Random thoughts of crap as I break from work and process other things through the channels of this industry.

Today is my mother’s birthday. I miss you mom. Listening to “Purple Rain” (Prince), “Comfortably Numb” (Pink Floyd), and “Someday After While” (Eric Clapton) right now and thinking of you.

In case you don’t know about the significance of these songs I’ll give a short reason here. There are quite a few posts with more detail around them earlier on in this blog.

Purple Rain – Played at her funeral by her request. People didn’t want it played but damn it, it’s my momma’s funeral and she never got what she wanted in life she is damn sure gonna get what she wants now! Plus it is her way of saying hello to me every now and then and letting me know she is still there.

Comfortably Numb – When I began playing guitar around 12 she told me when I can play all of Comfortably Numb exactly the way it is, she would consider me a good guitarist. I worked hard at that and could do it by wrote before I was 18. So she at least got to hear me do that.

Someday After While – This one I just think of her when I play and hear it. Reminds me a lot about the way she lived her life and how she looked forward to the future no matter what overshadowed her life.

Jamming the Country Tunes at our Air Force Departure Party

Pappaw, Momma, Me and Granny

XO ILY YM

My girls...

2011-08-10T12:44:00.000-05:00

I could easily write another diatribe about how old I am, feel and getting but I won’t. I won’t dwell on my little girl coming up with her boyfriend that she may marry one day so I can meet him. I won’t dwell on the memory of the day I realized I had to let her go and grow up. I remember it vividly.

She was 12 years old and at Skatetown, USA in Maryville, TN for a friend’s birthday party. I saw her skating around the same floor that her mother and I used to skate on each week. We’d go there often to see each other outside of the normal place, which was at church. We’d break up there and see other people, make each other mad and all the things a young teenage couple experience in that place.

Now my daughter, the same age as when we met was skating around, flirting with boys and giggling with her friends and it hit me like scripture: I had to let her grow up. She was no longer the little girl that looked at me as a hero when I took that fish off her fishing line. She was going to get her heart broke a dozen times and I would have to wait it out with her and let her work through that pain so she learned to cope healthily with the loss. No matter how much I wanted to go break his legs, I had to let her handle it and deal with it.

I knew she was going to have problems with her work one day. She would be in situations where she felt alone and no matter how much I wanted to come in and save the day, I had to let her do it alone and learn how to manage and pull herself up alone.

It sucked. I felt the pain of a lifetime in that moment. I had felt it before with her brother so why can this not be easier the second time? It’s now 8 years later and I still don’t have the answer to that question. Also, I have a four year old daughter and will get to go through this pain again at an older wiser age which means I will experience even more pain but have less discipline to hold myself back from breaking a man’s legs that hurts my girl whether she is wrong or right. It don’t matter. She’s my little girl idiot.

I listened to a Darius Rucker song this morning that got me to thinking this way, “It won’t be like this for long”. And ain’t it the truth?!

I am meeting the boy this weekend and I look forward to it. We have a lot of things changing in our future as a family and I trust and love my daughter to do the right things and not put herself in harms way more than is reasonable. At some point, a parent has to let go and trust that you have done all you can and allow them to make mistakes and have successes on their own without your help. They won’t do everything that’s right or what you want them to do or how you would do it. But, if you at least get the courtesy of a question from them on how to approach something, you did your job. You gave them confidence in themselves and in your parenting. Everything you worried about is now a memory and they have the reigns. Let them drive it and live their life.

I love you my little girl. I wish you all the best and hope for nothing less for you in anything you do. You will hurt and be mad and dismayed at times. But, never think someone somewhere loves and cares about every feeling you have and understands when you make a mistake you will learn from it and you don’t have to pay for it the rest of your life. Never distance yourself from your mother no matter what. Don’t turn your back on your father because you don’t agree. Don’t not talk to your brother because you get irritated with each other. Don’t allow people you love and that love you to go without hearing you care about them no matter how stupid we get with each other. We’re family. You get tired and sometimes you just want to be mad.

Make your mistakes, make your successes and love your life. At any moment, you have so much to be thankful for regardless of what you have going on and it should be cherished.

Now pray for your old man not to scare the crap out of your beaux and be able to keep from breaking the fingers of the first guy that hurts KB’s heart.

Guess I did everything I said I wasn't going to do. NO WAIT! I didn't blather about my age!

XO ILY YM

"Why is this thus? What is the reason for this thusness?"

2011-07-27T16:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, I’m old. I said it. I don’t mind it. If you have a problem with it and need to make yourself feel better by joking and laughing because you will be in the same position one day, it’s not my fault. Sucka!

I come to this realization naturally, genuinely, and honestly. I don’t have a problem with it. I am not writing like this to affirm or deny it. I am not writing this to rationalize a need/desire for a two seat sports car. I am however writing it to belabor a point of one of my whims I have; (Yes, I have many, they’re free and I’m allowed.)

I have gained my interest back for music recently and still have an interest in journalism and I see my friends having fun playing and jamming with people all over the world. I see them doing what we used to do together and making connections with all manner of talent from extremely familiar and famous like Joe Walsh, Blake Shelton to obscure and local artists. The main point though, they’re playing and having fun. I will be playing again soon and playing my own music which will have copyright so I can possibly sell to some folks in the end. A great outcome of that would be the awesomeness of actually being able to write on a regular basis for artists. I like to perform but it hasn’t been a goal of mine to be a professional performer of notoriety since I was 20. Not because I don’t feel I can do it but it just isn’t as valuable to me as just being CONNECTED to the industry and enjoying the time of playing for folks while they enjoy their time with you.

Some folks put down playing out in bars and other places as if it is trivial or meaningless and since most are drunk, you don’t matter. That couldn’t be any farther from the truth. The majority of audiences are out to have a good time. Whether they were drunk or not doesn’t negate the fact that they came out, witnessed your performance and hopefully had a good time doing it. That’s why the owner of the establishment had you perform in the first place. Then you bring in regulars to follow you and spend more money at the spot and attract their friends. And their friends tell their friends and yada.

I have the utmost respect for musicians that spend their Thursday and Friday nights playing for us folks that just like to appreciate decent live music and relax. They practice hard through the week work a main job and take care of their families. And if they’re having fun then its better for us.

I remember a band my wife and I used to watch back at Kingston Alley in Knoxville, TN. They aren’t together anymore but my wife and I really enjoyed them. They were a cover band and had some distinct characters in the band. They had a singer guitar player who reminded me of Sam Elliot and I forget who he reminded my wife of but he was definitely a decent singer. The bass player was a real character who reminded me of a Doobie Brother but could play the crap out of a bass. They had a drummer that could sing decently and were just a real tight band. They were called The Hip Twangers. We would look for where they were playing each weekend for the chance to go sit and hear “Bad case of Loving You” or ”Jessie’s Girl”. I think that was an indelible mark on my memory that I will have for ever and cant think of a bad night out listening to those guys. I want to have that kind of impact when I play. That’s a great legacy.

If I can sell a song or two and say “You know Kenny Chesney sings a song I wrote?” I don’t like him but that would be cool. So off I go!

ILY XO YM

SOX Controls and hopefully they win tonight.

2011-07-25T12:45:00.002-05:00

An exciting day awaits me: Discussions on Sarbanes Oxley Controls: YUMMY! But first, lunch. A ham sandwich with home made wheat bread and Swiss cheese, potato salad and some Pork Rinds.

So I hear Google+ is taking over the earth now. The new Facebook is the latest new and improved avenue for everyone and my son, who doesn’t want to go on Facebook for security issues, is pawing around looking for an invite to be a beta tester.

I recently, yesterday, found out one of my birthday presents was stolen from me. I had received another Xbox controller and it hadn’t even been opened yet and it is now gone. One of the repairmen that fixed either the AC or the electric has taken it because otherwise, someone broke into the house and took that yet left the brand new laptop and other items there: Pisses me off.

I haven’t played my games much yet. I have Madden, MLB and Medal of Honor as well as a few Kinect type games. I was looking forward to maybe playing one night when the house was quiet and I could focus on learning to play again since it has been so long. I can still play with one controller for me but it was purchased to play the sports games with the kids.

I’m going to fix my bike this week so I can go riding again. I need some tubes and probably should replace the tires. I am just not going to spend $100 doing it. I couldn’t believe how much some places charge for an inner tube and tire. Wow!

As mentioned earlier I am entertaining a business idea of starting a kennel. It is of more interest to me than usual and I think would be a great work for my heart and bring a lot of satisfaction, I just need to build the business case appropriately to generate enough income to sustain life for the family. I look forward to working on making that happen. I would love to work with animals like that: They’re better than people…

Gotta go, lunch break over. LETS GO SOX! White sox I mean.

It was the Summer of 69....NO 79! I'm not that old!

2011-07-22T14:48:00.000-05:00

Songs remind you of all kinds of things. I know one I write about often on here is “Purple Rain” and my mother. Today I heard one while at work that took me back to the summer of ’79. “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones. Not sure when that was actually released, but it is a song I remember hearing a lot that year.

I had a friend I hung out with all the time. We used to have a gang we called the Mad Dragons. Yeah, it was 6th grade. “The Warriors” was one of our favorite movies along with “Saturday Night Fever” and believe it or not “Grease”. We saw that movie a hundred times easy. We went to the Palace Theater every Saturday afternoon and watched episode after episode. They used to let us in free. There was hardly anybody in the theater with us and we’d just sit there and watch trailers and movies.

Another song around that time that always played when we were waiting on the movie to start was “My Love is Alive” by Gary Wright. That song got me into the 70’s funk music. I love Parliament and George Clinton. I got into Lakeside and so many others.

My mom really pushed me to be open to music and I was but since the early 90’s I have been more critical. Music just isn’t as good. It is getting harder and harder to really find good music.

I remember watching the Midnight Special with my mother and the one memory that I remember above all others was the night Janis Joplin was on and Momma turned the TV up real loud and was dancing. We lived in an apartment down town and one of the neighbors called the cops and had said a woman was screaming down stairs and thought she was fighting with her husband. Now my mom wouldn’t hold back from knocking the crap out of my dad if he got stupid and they did tend to get rowdy, but tonight she was dancing and enjoying her music.

Back to my original thought, there are a lot of songs that make me think of times in my life like that. That one is pretty nice to remember running all over Blount County, Tennessee, riding my bike or skate board. Playing baseball and going to the swimming pool. No bills to pay, just school was all I had to worry about and the occasional bully or fight.

I miss my mother and those times and I know I had fun back then, but now I can really appreciate what she was enjoying. She just loved good music and feeling alive and would share that with anyone. Her favorite thing she always did was sit at her desk with the radio on, listening to the Eagles and writing short stories. She would do that all day and be perfectly content. I love you momma.

Back on the wagon...better buy extra wheels though!

2011-07-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

Now our AC is fixed. I need to vent a little about my new abode, which I know is all relevant to the time of year. I understand this that storms will come and go and no one knows what will happen from one day to the next however, I have lived in rural areas all my life and never had so much failure of infrastructure and broke parts in my life.

Thee events have me really wanting to move much sooner than I originally wanted to. Logic says the cost isn’t prohibitive but not effective. However when calculating loss and inconvenience, long term costs are outweighed by short term comfort and sanity.

Right now, if asked by my cute wonderful spouse if I want to move? YES. Just tired of the problems. Beautiful country but they suck at taking care of the area. I have never had so many power outages and just felt so isolated before in my life. I’m from Tennessee BF Egypt areas too. This is ridiculous. I don’t want to hear another redneck joke about a Tennesseean again from these idiots when it takes a week to restore power to a small rural area just 40 miles west of Chicago. Give me a break. In the words of one of my favorite AFV videos, “Now How you gonna tell me….” You can’t provide high speed internet out here yet? I have to use satellite DSL to get to the internet and can’t get cable. Really? This close to Chicago you can’t upgrade the facilities enough to provide cable and internet. Don’t ever talk about how far above raising you are from a southern boy!

Anyway, I have plans for this weekend. We’re grilling a little. Making some spinach lasagna on Sunday and I need to get parts for my bike so I can enjoy the bike trails around here. Plus a trip to the square to see what the market has to offer now that corn should be grown and I think I saw peaches and tomatoes too.

I’m making fried chicken, beans and mashed potatoes with cornbread tomorrow night. I need to get my wife by the library and check out some more music. I find myself in rotations. I listen to classic rock for a while and then back to country. The reason is that I get tired of the same old songs all the time but I can’t stand the new rock and pop crap. Country is the closest to original classic rock anyway.

So what happens is I give it a year or so and then new country music comes out that’s good, I get tired of it and switch back to rock for a while. I am finding though in my old age, acoustic guitar appeals to me more and the singing with the accompany accompany accompaniment is more pleasing to the ear and my voice.

I am also still in need of getting back to school and improving the grey matter a little. I have plans. Some long term plans include

(SOMEWHERE HAS BEEN NARROWED TO THREE AREAS NOW! BUT I’M NOT TELLING!)

Opening a Kennel somewhere

A used bookstore with a coffee house somewhere

Writing songs for extra dough

Of course writing books/journalism as a hobby(Free for a local rag or something)

Playing at diners or small bars in a duo or trio maybe o if I get back to stage presence I used to have doing it alone.

Biking

Disc Golf

Hunting

Fishing

Camping

Cooking

And what’s cool is most of this my wife would do with me in some fashion (Except the hunting)

What do you have going on now? Drop a comment!

XO ILY YM

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

So it has been since….well look at the previous post. That long. So let me update:

Truck broke, truck fixed, car broke, car fixed, wife bought great toys for my birthday and fathers day: Martin Guitar, Telecaster Guitar, FX Processor, Music Stand, Guitar stands, guitar case, CD’s and DVD’s Galore, some cool sport collectibles which I adore, kids have been out, daughter at bday, sun at July 4, been to three baseball games, its hot, power outage lasted three days for us, ac broke, still broke, satellite TV broke getting fixed today, electrician out to repair some outlets, outlets broke after electrician installed, no electrician out to fix yet, health issues with me and my numbers unexpected, lost a lot of weight, gaining some back now, my wife had some health issues which we are still dealing with and I wish her well and she has blabbed about it to some degree on her blog, changes at work that were unforeseen and not pleasant but we’re weathering through, did I mention it was hot?

So yeah that last paragraph is a bit cryptic and for good reason. Topic and subject is enough since I don’t have time or patience to write the diatribe that would reveal the boring details around those events.

On a lighter note, I am playing guitar a little more again. I am editing some of my songs and bringing them up to date with the world and lingo of today to maybe sell a few one day. I am working on getting some folks together to play out in a few venues one day soon. Maybe a lounge or something. Just a simple little gig with acoustics maybe.

I need to repair my bike so I can start hitting the trails up here. There are a lot of bike trails in Illinois and especially where I live. This one trail is 27 miles long and goes to the Wisconsin border. It had 100 miles of trails attached as well so that sounds interesting. I want to start a bike log and record the trek on here with pics.

I also played a little disc golf while the boy was up. KICKED HIS BUTT I DID! 9 under par for me. Yes thank you.

Anyway, I have a basketball hoop to put together as well for exercise but not until this heat is done.

So until next time…adieu!

XO ILY YM

2011-04-29T10:22:00.001-05:00

I hate this day.

A post long over due...

2011-04-27T13:27:00.001-05:00

It’s been a while since I have been on here, which isn’t unusual however, my recent absence has been due to circumstance. It has been extremely busy at work and I have also been moving my residence and it is still in a bit of disarray as we try to get established in the new place. In the mean time however I just want to state for the world the positives in my life as most recently I have a lot of negative that I could ant about or focus on but I refuse to. I have too good of a life to allow it to overtake me right now.

1. I have a great loving family, which, I love dearly whether I am mad at them or extremely pleased with them.

2. I have a great job that supports said family which I love and enjoy doing. It is with great people that anger me as much as my family does yet they also have to put up with me just like my family does. I suppose that is a two way street so I cherish them as well.

3. I have music and can make music although I need to improve drastically just to get back to my former level of play to be satisfied with it, however I have wonderful equipment provided by my #2 love.

4. I have great pets. One old cranky dog, one neurotic moronic dog and a puppy. All which seem to care about me as much as I do them.

5. I have come to like an area of the country I never thought I would like so much. The area we have moved to is rather scenic and similar to home minus the mountains and I am coming to enjoy being there. When I can go fishing, camping and hunting I am sure it will become more of a joy.

6. I am embarking on a new era in my life due to some changes that occurred recently to my benefit and that is truly a blessing I wasn’t expecting so soon. It speeds a few things up for me and my family and will definitely make our lives a bit better in the long run much sooner.

So negative things take a hike or leave me a lone. I have no room for you and the things that I hold dear to my heart are still there and still bless me each day regardless of how much work it is to maintain the status quo or how much we as people piss each other off.

Thank you to my family for putting up with me and loving me and helping me to understand better how to put up with you. Thank you to my coworkers, leaders, and staff for the same. It’s all a journey as they say and it is definitely a roller coaster that we control and are having fun on. I am loving every minute.

ILY XO YM

Monkey's, Storms and blow outs...

2011-03-21T10:07:00.000-05:00

As I wrote earlier, I got my truck back. Then on Saturday, we had a tire go out because the tread was separating: Wonderful. I ended up spending almost to the penny exactly what we saved on the registration. I had snapped a picture in Elgin on the way to the DMV that made me laugh and I wanted to write about it. Now looking back, I think it was the supreme being telling me, SAVE YOUR MONEY. You’ll need it.”

The picture below, as you can see, is a Jesus picture next to a spoke rim. When I first saw it, I thought, “Now that’s an eclectic shop there. You can get everything from rims to Jesus pictures.” Now it makes more sense, “You’re going to have a blow out and in the end, you will need the money you’re about to save.” Thanks. Didn’t make it any better for my wife having to spend the money she “BANKED”, like on ‘The Weakest Link’, but it was an omen I guess.

Fast forward to Sunday, now I am achy because I tried to change the tire myself and I couldn’t get the jack to work properly and no way was I going to risk causing more damage to my truck so soon after I got it so we called a tow service to change it out for us. That’s another story. It caused me to be late to pick up my desk I wanted. No big problem there I just don’t like looking lie a flake. We had to change the time from the morning for reasons I want get into and then this made it look like I was a loser and flaked when I really missed the time because of real incidents. Anyway, passed that now.

We had Keira’s early birthday party and she had a lot of fun. There were a lot of people there. We went to Monkey Joe’s, which, for those that don’t know is a huge air jumper place where kids go and behave like monkey’s and it’s okay. I only have to pay $10 and make sure she isn’t an evil bastion from hell and she can romp and frolic about as much as she likes. We had some folks from the NOC bring their kids as we haven’t really got her socialized with anyone in Schaumburg yet, and they were extremely cool. She liked having them there but I think she was overwhelmed with the ability to lose her mind and see so many kids in one place she didn’t get time to really bond with them. She will have opportunities in the future as we live closer to two of the families and we will have picnics and such for her to get more fun in with them.

While at the party, we had a huge storm roll through. Knocked the power out twice. All the air jumps were deflating, kids were screaming like they were on the Simpson’s and riding on flaming amusement park rides. It was a bit funny but it was also a little concerning as the rides deflated and kids were on top of them. Afterward we found out the worst of the storm was directly over us, we received the largest amount of hail and lightening in the area. Nice.

Back to work now, lots going on and I am tired.

ILY XO YM

It's My Blog...

2011-03-17T12:48:00.002-05:00

This will probably be a ramble but oh well. It’s my blog.

American Idol

Sucks this season. Many reasons. The contestants suck. The judges suck. Although Steven Tyler did provide me a different view of him and see him as a cool and considerate person, the judging has been awful. Every performance regardless of how crappy and error filled as well as just having no substance to them to even say it was good karaoke, is met with THAT WAS AWESOME! You Owned it! You were terrific! BLAH BLAH BLAH!” How about giving these kids some direction they can use so they can improve and be better instead of just so touchy feely nice?! Eventually these kids have to perform and one of them will be doing it under contract. I’ve them some frikin direction! That’s why you’re there!

Work

I am glad to say two folks in my department have been promoted this week. Great for them but now I have to begin the process to back fill.

Home

Got my truck back. I go tomorrow to get it registered again and I am back on the road. I plan to get some things to dress it up and repair the cosmetic problems lingering as well as maybe some renewed lights and such to make it a little cleaner and better at night.

Home Front

My wife has been an organizing and knock out a list fool the past few weeks. She has made it so we can get everything done we need done and appropriated the right amount of fundage to purchase me this!

Also she is packing and stacking so we can move easily. Next week we go paint some in the new place and take our first truck load of boxes up to store.

Now I should get back to work and quit complaining about American idol crap.

ILY XO YM

OO OOO that smell....

2011-03-08T19:17:00.002-06:00

Been awhile since I posted, but I have been under the weather and not in the mood. Also for me, I have been tied up with work and none of it is anything I should post about really. Nothing bad but nothing that should make it onto a BLOG.

So review time is over. All our reviews are done and we have been working on informing folks of raises and such so it has been a happy week in that regard. We have been doing a lot of house keeping items getting ready to improve our processes and such so no one has been running slowly.

We took another trip up to the house we will be renting and took both kids to see it. Keira of course loved it and is all ready. She loved seeing horses and cows and wanted to jump right in. She saw the rooster and hen and said they were loud and didn’t like them. She wants to paint her room and be a big girl and sleep in it. Awesome! On track! The boy seemed to like it as well. We shall see.

After we viewed the house, we went to Walmart to try the new Walmart out and make sure it fit the bill. While shopping for our groceries, we went down the drink aisle. In the aisle was a gentlemen using one of the wheel carts for the handicap. Now I know some folks have it difficult to clean properly and have a hard time bathing. Apparently this gentlemen did. And wow! I swear to you I haven’t smelled anything that made me gag and throw up in my mouth in years. That smell, even when he was gone, lingered and hung around. I walked backwards past where he was hoping maybe that traveling in the opposite direction will thwart the lingering. Nope! OMG I was in a backwash of funk and it floored me. Melina was walking on looking at the ceiling lights covering her nose as he passed and left me in the wake of the drifts. I was gagging and hacking and wanted a life alert to get someone’s damn attention! HELP! I’m smoten and cant smell anymore!

I was so close to puking and to now I can think of the funky fungus odiferous melodious mess that was this man’s “eau de toilette” and I weep. Lord that was funky and strong. Putting anything George Clinton could play to shame. Lets hope we don’t cross paths again or I may actually hurl next time.

My wife has some funny stories about the folks that came to see the house and her day on Monday but I will allow her to relay that as it is first hand evidence.

Now the house was supposed to be showed on Saturday. No one came. Then on Sunday, a hoard of people came through babbling and looky looing . Nothing of fruition.

On Saturday I also took that opportunity to take little miss to the theater for her first moving. SHE LOVED IT! The experience was awesome and she had a blast. We didn’t watch the entire movie because she got bored but we got drinks and popcorn and treats and relaxed the whole time. It was a great time.

Looking to this week we plan to start more packing and fixing things and moving on! Woodstock here we come!!!!!!

XO ILY YM

A rose by anyother name...It doesn't have to be a rose to create a wonderful memory

2011-02-27T13:15:00.000-06:00

We went to Woodfield Mall yesterday and did some shopping: A lot of good sales that were saving a lot of people money. I’m not a mall guy but I was extremely satisfied.

While on our trip to the mall, we stumbled upon these local farmers that were giving out free potatoes. They will be featured at “the Jewel” in the future and were handing them out for publicity. We got two bags and I plan on fixing a bag tonight for dinner. My menu?

1.) Chicken breast rollups with Swiss cheese, parmesan and seasoned bread crumbs.

2) Butter roasted new and red baby potatoes with olive oil, garlic, paprika, pepper, salt and red onion, and carrots

3.) Fried bread in butter, garlic, and parmesan cheese

We took Keira to Target with us today and she had a blast. I got to give her the first bouquet ever! She was all smiles. She pointed them out when we walked in and we looked at them and that was honestly enough for her but when she found out she could have them for herself and keep them at home she was so happy. We picked out the color she wanted and handed them to her and she was all aglow! As I gave them to her, I thought some day, some crappy boy is going to give them to her, and she will smile and love them, but no way he will ever appreciate her smile as much as I do especially today. They’ll never appreciate her smile and laugh as much as I do.

I went through this with Melanie, my first daughter with other events. Skating, movies, dinner etc…each time, a little piece of her grew up, and I grew sadder each time as she grew into a woman: but she is still my little girl and I love her so much. (I’ll still break a boys legs if he hurts her enough for her to tell me he did it. She handles her idiots herself mostly. LOL)

My little girls, each growing up and taking different steps: They should all stop growing at 6 or 7 and stay alive forever really. That’s the most fun time.  Nothing has jaded them at that age and they can still enjoy new experiences with wonder and open eyes. Sigh.

I am watching NCIS marathon while I eat a bologna sandwich with BBQ chips and Dr Pepper.

I played guitar last night for quite a while, that is until Keira tried to climb on me. For the most part, she usually plays her Spongebob guitar or dances while I play, but I guess I played too long and she got bored and wanted to sit with me. I think I hurt her feelings because I told her no twice and once forcefully. She ran crying and whining as usual onto the couch, so I stopped playing. I didn’t stop because she interrupted me as much as she would be climbing on my back and hurting me as well as I could just see her toppling off the chair while I was oblivious to her status.

It’s getting near spring time here and is a little warmer. We have however, about 60% of our prior spring snow still left to receive before spring is truly here. I look forward to the new place: Sitting on the back porch watching the sun in the morning across the fields and the horses, walking in the woods and fields by the creek and playing basketball in the driveway again.

Back to here, I have two papers to read and an hour of relaxation and quiet to enjoy before my wife and wonderful daughter wake up to breech that silence. LOL

ILY XO YM

Opinions and noses...we all got 'em.

2011-02-25T09:16:00.002-06:00

I will probably piss off some folks with this one but oh well. It’s my blog and my opinion.

I see this stuff on TV about the union bill, and being a democrat I have to side with the Republicans and say I would love to see Unions gone! They are now everything that unions were put together to protect against. I should not be MADE to pay into anything I don’t believe in or not allowed to work or be treated differently because I am NOT in the union or want to be in it.

First, arbitration is ridiculous. It’s a coin flip. No one is benefiting from it. They decide when they walk into the meeting, when the associate or employee is not present, and give and take then the show begins for the associate so the Union looks like its taking up for the associate. Just ridiculous.

Now Unions had their place and they have run their course. With labor laws the way they are now, occupations are protected well enough and can be handled with normal litigation when breaks in the regulations occur.

I am speaking from experience when I refer to my step-dad’s tenure at a company in Tennessee and they were on strike for 6 months. He was on the picket line everyday for up to 12 hours a day and made $10 a week from the union. Wow. Thanks for that dough. We ate biscuits and gravy for 6 months. I loved going to school so I could get a big good lunch. Aside from that he almost lost his job during one of the arbitration meetings because he was the third to go in that day and they decided in the meeting to throw the union a bone. Originally he was slated to lose. He knew this and still stuck by the union. They didn’t get paid any better and what raise he did see, they increased the dues and got part of it anyway.

Enough.

I read a blog the other day that was written by a college girl about spirituality, biased to Christian that is but still can be applied to any faith I feel. She was basically stating that the problem with parents and faith these days is they are not providing their view and beliefs when imparting spiritual guidance. I agree. As with baby sitting, especially our generation plops a kid in front of the tv and there you go, the id is occupied and out of our hair and is getting an education from a cartoonist. WAY TO GO!

So in faith, we plop them in a classroom of our desired faith and come get them after service, we look at their pretty pictures they colored of Jesus and the lambs and all is well.

Wrong. We need to be involved just like regular school. What are you learning? What does that mean? This is what it means to me? This is what I think God and Jesus meant and how we are to apply that in our lives. If these discussions aren’t happening, your kids will end up in more cults than experiencing the hope and insight faith provides a soul regardless of whether it is Islam, Catholic, Baptist, Buddhist or what have you.

We should be providing our children with all the information they need for faith, the world, school and jobs as possible not pacifying them or sating them while we go off and enjoy our lives or get our work finished.

I know this is a Christian statement based on bible principle but I think it applies to all faiths.

Jesus said “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Any light or hurt or harm caused to a child holds a special place with him and will receive special punishment because of it. And I don’t think it stops there. We have an obligation to children and our families to provide them with the tools to make a decision on their own about many things including faith and if we fail in that, we are failing in our faith or lack of or main responsibilities as a parent. So get involved even if you don’t believe a faith and are agnostic or atheist. Your kids deserve to make their own decision based on the facts and information available and not left to determine on their own which is the best way until they have learned the information from not just teachers but from their parents. We should police what is being put in our children’s heads.

And it’s Friday and I am tired. Time for me to relax some more and let go of the heavy, which I started my blog with.

I shall be playing this weekend and practicing some. I have been listening to some good music that makes me want to play. I saw a beautiful guitar on “Craig’s List” the other day extremely cheap. Missed that opportunity.

Nearing closer when I may be able to find a nice guitar to develop my sound further. I plan on teaching myself slide guitar now. I started many years ago and never succeeded. My old age makes it hard for me to learn something new as I don’t have the patience to go through the mistakes and learn but I want to learn this and develop it as a character of my playing.

So off I go.

XO ILY YM

I wanna know, have you ever seen rain...and suburb drivers?

2011-02-20T15:49:00.000-06:00

Due to our dryer being out and our landlord not responding (in the true fashion of someone who cares about their tenants) that we have to dry our clothes at the laundry mat. I’m not a snob. I have done it many times in my life including doing regular laundry in the laundry mat for not having the equipment etc: that’s not the point. The point is he is scraping to save a little dough and its not affecting his laundry so what doe it matter. Schmuck I say.

Regardless, we make our way to the “Tan and Wash”. Yes, an idea I had is a realization here and I see that it does not garner the revenue I thought it would, however, they don’t have the coffee bar, the used book store, or the location needed to support such an idea.

We headed down the road and pass by one of the many houses we see on that route on a usually day: I see the Ford 150 extended cab that I always covet. It is a 1997 model like mine was except it is green instead of red. I miss that truck and he obviously adores his as much as I did mine because he still has it and it is in good condition and driven lovingly. Also, two houses down is a house that likes to decorate for the different holidays using the “bbb bbboy bb bboy friend.” I HATE BTR! Right in the middle of my writing that crap busts in with no creativity and Snoop dog selling out like he likes this song or cares for these suburban white boys. Please! I don’t know he actually might. Back to my story…

The next house decorates for most every holiday that there is a decoration available. I have no problems with that and they often decorate festively and nicely. They mostly use the blow up type of decoration and still have their Christmas decorations up. It’s a month from spring and near Easter yet Santa and his elves and other forms of Santa are lying all over the yard still. And, the worse is that since the blizzard of 2011, they have all been under 22 inches of snow. It has recently rained, warmed up and the snow is mostly gone. The only thing left is the carnage of the holiday assassins who have obviously paid a visit. They are strewn about as if a drive-by has occurred and the police haven’t arrived and chalk lined the bodies yet. It is truly worrisome looking. Almost as if they planned the hit even.

The only other real occurrences on the weekend are the over aggressive Yankee Candle Associates who accost us as we enter as bad as the Sacks Fifth Avenue perfume sprayers. The only worse aggressors would be time share sellers but that is excusable of course. I mean the store is pretty small anyway, there are two of you and only one of us as a customer couple, once one person has hit us up and tried to assault us with the specials and sell us a candle sniffer, our decision is pretty much done, reassurance is not required any longer.

The usual moronic teen-age driver driving too fast and oblivious to the rest of the world in the worst possible conditions imaginable, weaving in and out of traffic to get one car length ahead of my slow old ass only to find they are sitting next to me at the traffic light and have already forgot that I am the one they passed to get to he same place I am using more gas, driving faster and unsafely. Youth. Yes I know that was a long badly written sentence followed by a fragment but guess what? It’s my blog and I got the emotion conveyed. Look for Oliver Twist if you want perfect grammar.

I’m having my coffee late in the day and have already mentally moved to Woodstock with my truck already fixed and don’t really care for this area much anymore other than Sonic. I need my back porch sunrise with some toast, jam, oats and coffee. How very nice that will be.

All righty, bored everyone enough. Time to take care o the little girl and read the paper.

XO ILY YM

Boredom awaits all who read this entry...sorry

2011-02-18T21:17:00.002-06:00

So I am trying to get Keira to eat her dinner, or at least get her interested in it. As I am cooking I tell her, we’re going to eat at casa de table. She says “casa day Cabool?” Yes! Casa de table. Pretty funny to me anyway.

And then tonight I am walking the dog and one of my neighbors has put in a huge fluorescent light in his upstairs room and has it all aglow like he’s about to start interrogations or something. A little odd.

Had a rough week this week. Obtained a stomach virus from a co-worker. Lived through that so far though. Still have some stomach issues though. Every now and then it hurts awful. Hopefully tomorrow bodes better.

I plan on making some pulled pork or brisket this weekend with homemade BBQ sauce. My stomach better let me enjoy it.

If everything goes well we will be moving to a great place. I like where its at and I like the drive allowing me to get awake before work and loosen up and unwind before I get home. It’s all one floor with a porch over looking a pasture and 60 wooded acres complete with ponds and creek. I plan on using that porch a lot when its warm. I am looking forward to it very much!

Since I have stayed home and drench myself in rest I haven’t had much happen or much to think about so sorry for the boredom written here. I have the whole weekend for crap to happen so things are looking up. I trust I will have some interesting events after this weekend. It’s the first warm one after the blizzard and most of the snow is gone and what isn’t gone will be after the rain that is scheduled our way.

Happy whatever sale weekend it is to you all!

XO ILY YM

My Guitar does not gently wheep...it moans and wails.

2011-02-13T12:48:00.000-06:00

Today as I worry about all the trifling things that affect my life and my future, I a, zapped back to the things that matter once again by a tragic event affecting millions around the world. The death of guitarist Gary Moore comes in to shock me and snap me back to reality and remember that all the materialistic things we strive for are just toys to help us enjoy the world a little more than we would if living by necessity.

In the end, we all just die and what is left is our legacy. How we will be remembered? Will our enemies still hate us or remember that we treated them with dignity and love even though we disagreed? Will my children see that I did all I could and tried hard to make their lives better than mine? Will my friends at work understand I only had theirs and my best interest in mind through our adversities and when the company does better, it’s because we all grew as friends, leaders and workers?

This event however, also makes me remember that this man touched my life deeply. He gave me the notion that playing what you like and with your heart is more important than anything else. When I started off as a musician in my teens, I had designs to get signed, get that contract and rock the world. As I grew older, a family was more important to me and I coveted a family with a community to grow in and give back to. As children grew I still did the things that gave me joy with music, just playing along with Walking By Myself and Still got the Blues and trying to figure out every little nuance of the songs, not to imitate but to understand the technique and grow as a player. Not to show off or better myself for performance, but to have the satisfaction of learning and growing and enjoying the intimacy that resides in a song written and performed by a giant like Gary Moore. To pull off a feat of that stature allows me to have the swagger inside that warms my soul and in the end, makes my momma proud.

Yes this ties back to my mother again. My mother set a bar for me when I first started playing, and that was when I could play Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd note for note, I would be an accomplished guitarist. I satisfied that level of play before I went to the Air Force but I drove myself to perfect it and understand it, not just play it. Through my growth, I learned from the best as if I were in the room with them. I grabbed Randy Rhoads and began a classical tenure mixing it with metal and dark lyrics. I developed speed from Yngvie Malmsteen. I worked with Neal Schon to understand melodies and song structure. I worked with Ace Frehley to use pure drive to push my emotion into the audience. I worked with Rik Emmet to just understand theory and how it applies to pop music. I continued with Pink Floyd understanding phrasing and intonation. I listened to Eric Clapton and Bryan May tell me “Say more with less. Make a note mean something! Don’t just play a thousand notes cause you can and do perform every teaching in one song. A song is a message and emotion.” I finally focused on Stevie Ray Vaughan and how he brought color and fun to music.

All my teachings married themselves and brought my own sound and I was finally my own player. I could now profess my teachings and establish my prowess among my friends and local patrons of the establishments I played in and hold my head high as an individual virtuoso. Then Gary Moore came out with a blues album. I knew he was good. I had seen him play many rock songs and respected him but my god! He just played and fire came out of the speakers and tears followed. He was awesome and stayed that well. Even when I didn’t like the song, he just blew it away. I would hear him play with greats like BB, Albert King and Collins and he couldn’t help it, when he played he couldn’t play down it had to burn! I don’t know how that void will be filled now. It took me years to get over the fact that I wouldn’t see another Stevie Ray Vaughan record that he didn’t get to improve and perfect before releasing it. I have no idea how his brother got over his loss and now I have to go through the process for Gary Moore.

After hearing him play and watching him, I had the final ingredient in what was my influences for my style and sound. He was the personification of the last style I loved that reminded me of my mother and I knew would obtain her approval. Now for the hard part, I never sat down and played for her once I became accomplished. She never got o hear me play as an adult with skills. She passed and I lost my chance. My only solace is that she is now hopefully in the same place with Randy, Albert, Stevie and Gary and she is able to hear them play and enjoy the music that meant so much to me and I know did to her. She can experience the emotions they continue to provide me and they can see the joy they brought to so many people including me. How they changed the direction of so many musicians and influenced so many avenues of music.

I have a few heroes left still and I need to take advantage of being able to see them before they pass on. I am entering an area of my life where my friends are failing of natural causes and the athletic and artistic heroes of my day are leaving the world. Eric Clapton, Bryan May, Ritchie Blackmoore, Rik Emmet, David Gilmoore, Eddie Van Halen, Yngvie Malmsteen, Gary Richwrath, Neal Schon, Ian Moore, Rick Neilson. I need to see them when I have the opportunity and not waste it.

Now back to my mom and Gary. I have a blog some time ago talking specifically about what I felt was a supernatural communication from my mother. It could have been coincidence but it was very eerie and too much coincidence not to be something. If there is an afterlife that is organized enough to allow interaction with these other people of note, I do hope my mother has the opportunity to interact with them. She would truly enjoy herself so much as she loved this style of music.

As you can see, I rambled a bit today. I can’t imagine how I can ever speak enough about the influence this man had on my music life and how it connects with so many facets of my regular life. The unexpected death of such great artistic people such as Gary Moore, Randy Rhoads, Jeff Healey and Stevie Ray Vaughan only maximize the expectation their lives could have had on the music industry if they had been allowed to be around longer. The short careers thee men had and yet the massive impact they had resonates and echoes loudly forever. If you are not aware of them, or even just mildly aware of them, the strength of their art and creation isn’t fully aware in your thoughts. They were truly giants in a genre that didn’t need pop culture. They played what they loved and how they loved it. They were unaware of their true impact until their deaths and their families and friends are the ones that get to enjoy the flowers. They get to bask in the memories and successes of their loved ones and see the real benefit of being such a great artist. The stories you hear about people like this is most always the love that flowed from their souls through the music and through the events crating it. It is amazing and wonderful to watch them come alive in the conversations of people close to them. The eyes light up and smiles form on their faces as they remember the silly and wonderful experiences they had and it makes it even harder on the rest of us to see them as such great people as well as artists.

They made mistakes. They are human but the gift they gave us is one that stays forever and for me, I want to impart that to my children like my mother did to me. She showed me what she loved in music, why it meant so much to her and how it took her to another place so she enjoyed her time here even more. Now maybe she is getting to see those guys playing with some older greats like Hendrix, Joplin, Muddy Waters, Jim Morrison! What a show could be going on right now with those guys all together at once playing Red House and just enjoying the music.

To anyone who hasn’t experienced any of these genuses, please look up some music and just listen for the nuances and changes in the music. Watch them on the screen and see the emotion as they relive what caused them to write the music and words they perform. It is true art and is passing emotions of pain, joy and remembrance as they play and sing. It’s not just about making money: They loved what they did and pursued it with passion.

Gary Moore, on this day of loss, thank you for your dedication, love and wonderful artwork. You helped me develop myself and will continue to impact young guitarist for many years to come. Take your place at the table with the greatest artists ever and relish the wonders you bestowed on this world and rest in peace.

XO ILY YM

Chopped is the theme! The show, my yahoo account and my glasses..CHOPPED!

2011-02-08T21:26:00.000-06:00

So I am watching Chopped and decide to clean my glasses. It looked like I had a little crud on there foggy up the view. So I take them off and wala! They fall apart from the center. Yep, less than a year old and broke in half. I will be taking those to the store to get replaced soon.

Now the funny thing is I go to use a pair of older prescripts and put them on and I see perfectly fine. What’s even better is that they are two prescriptions ago meaning that I basically have on glasses that have a prescription from around six years ago and I See perfectly clearly and fine. What’s more, they feel good on my head as if they never left. They are Nike frames and very light: Titanium. So, I am pleased and not sure if I even want to wear the newer ones when they are repaired. I have lost weight and it caused my frames to be slipping constantly and not rest on my nose properly so I am wondering if my prescription wasn’t right after all and was more related to my health at the time, pre-diabetic and not as meaty a head on my shoulders. I’m pleased basically.

Also today, the dryer has been making some funky noises so I sent an email to our landlord to let him know. Now, tonight, I go to put some pants in to avoid ironing this evening and it doesn’t even move. No squeaky noises no nothing! Great. I inform the landlord in email again. I go back and tweak it and run the FLUFF cycle. Does nothing but put dog hair on my pants. So, I go back and tweak a little more and it seems to be working. I have to go now and check and see if it put out any hot air to remove my wrinkles. We’ll see I guess.

I have been battling sinus issues these past two weeks and it has cost me two sick days this year already. I need to get to the bottom of that. I don’t need to be calling in sick so much. I have a lot of things to do and will need some time next month to move hopefully and I want to relax while doing it and not feel like I am getting behind at work.

Had my favorite meal tonight: Burritos. Nothing fancy, just simple burritos from cheap taco sauce with good fixin’s. And my daughter was eating tacos!

I want to see that new movie about the Gnomes. I don’t know why. Maybe because of the one Gnome in the wrestling leotard hopping around. This may be my KB’s first theater trip.

Had some funky stuff going on with one of my yahoo accounts so I had to axe it today. We had a hacker once before and I aint playing around with it. Down side is I am in the middle of a basketball fantasy league and I have a few trophies from the football and baseball leagues I will be abandoning. But I already spent that money so it’s really no big deal. Just something I can tease my wife about. So, for those of you I had on Yahoo, if you haven’t seen a request yet or an email, you will soon.

Got to go! Need to check my pants and hit the couch to relax a little.

XO ILY YM

My Uncle has a country place, that no one knows about....

2011-02-05T23:16:00.000-06:00

in•ter•ac•tion [in-ter-ak-shuhn]

–noun

1. reciprocal action, effect, or influence.

2. Physics .

a. the direct effect that one kind of particle has on another, in particular, in inducing the emission or absorption of one particle by another.

b. the mathematical expression that specifies the nature and strength of this effect.

I had me some interaction today: Very interesting interaction. We left to do our errands this morning: The usual stuff, groceries, bank, house stuff etc… Our first stop was to get a little breakfast at McDonalds. While looking for a seat, one of the booths was taken up by whom I assume was a homeless man sleeping. I was a bit startled at first but he wasn’t bothering anyone and there were plenty of places to sit for paying patrons. I looked around and the woman who was cleaning ignored him as he slept away. No one worried about it or drew attention to it. Other patrons sat down, started their meals, and ignored him including a gentleman who came walking by whistling, very vibrantly and annoyingly. My wife noticed another older man roll his eyes and give a sign of disgust at the whistler and not the homeless person. Once the whistler sat down, he stopped whistling and I believe it was really due to him noticing the man sleeping.

My first thought as I saw him was the poor guy was finally getting to relax a little after the blizzard. Then I went further in my head and thought, I have four bucks in my pocket and I am huffing down a bagel and coffee I bet he would love to do the same. It’s only a buck for sausage and biscuits and a coffee is only a dollar as well. Then I thought, what if I wake him up, and he gets pissed and rails at me? So yeah, I talked myself out of it but the whole time my conscious was saying this man needs it and you have the ability to provide a little comfort for him. In the end, I rationalized myself to being happy for him to get some warmth and for everyone being considerate and leaving him alone to rest. Still, I feel I missed an opportunity that was given to me for a reason. In reflection, it provided me the state of my compassion and how weakly I have applied it.

We left and went to the bank, uneventful this time, thank goodness. Just in and out: If they were selling burgers, I wouldn’t have been happier.

Onto Wal-Mart I get a GREAT parking space up front. I mean, they do exist. Someone has to be able to park in them in order for them to not be available right? So, that means occasionally a bone gets throne to me: and today, I was the big dog! Booyah! So we’re sitting there and I watch this big SUV pull into the parking lot in front of us and he spies the open space next to mine that is even closer to the store. He whips his truck into reverse and I swear backs up so fast he almost runs over the people walking out of the store. Then as his young punk butt pulls up next to us, he is making eye contact with me and looking back all the time because he knows I watched him look like an idiot. Moron #1.

Later at Sam’s, we are at the checkout and the lane next to us opens up. The manager points to us and the person in front of us to come to the line to check out and as we are walking up, this bozo comes flying in like he’s gonna get the FRONT ROW all excited in Bob Uker type action. DENIED! Go to the back of the line. No check out fro you. Come back, 45 minutes! He looked so ridiculous like a cat that just ran into a glass door and tries to play it off. Meow..I meant to do that. HA! Moron #2.

Now we get to Ultra and get to the second aisle where the condiments are and this older couple, I would say mid 50’s maybe older, are deciding on sauces and such. The guy, lord, is standing there in the middle of the aisle holding a ketchup bottle and arguing the difference in the ketchups and how expensive they are. As we walk past I hear him say “And look at this, they take OUT the salt and charge you more. You’re getting less ingredients but you pay more.” YOU’RE NOT STEPHEN WRIGHT AND THAT’S NOT FUNNY! What’s worse is when we go back by them, standing in the same annoying manner and location, he is still discussing this. They haven’t moved and there is still nothing in their cart. Is this how every shopping rip is for them? I’d kill Melina! Sign me up for the 48 hours show. SHE WOULDN’T SETTLE ON A FRIKIN’ BOTTLE OF KETCHUP!

We stroll about the store some more doing our shopping and then we see them finally moving off from the area of condiments and they have two bottles in the cart, no ketchup by the way and I hear “Maybe some of that other sauce would be good for the mushrooms?” Let it go dude. She don’t want to go back to the sauces and right now, I bet she’d eat a piece of frikin’ leather with shoe polish on it to get you to shut up. Moron #3.

Then we are at the deli and this guy wasn’t paying attention and gets all frothy when he comes back to find they are 8 or so people away from his number now. Why’d you leave? Why didn’t you listen? Get another frikin number before they get further away from your lethargic ass. Moron #4

Checked out and headed to get lottery tickets, my wife is in line and this old, I mean ancient old man comes up, smiles at her, runs his cart over her foot and steps in line in front of her to buy a lottery ticket. He got a quick pick too so if I see his old ass on TV with my money, I’m going to a voodoo lady and getting’ mine. Moron (senile) #5.

Fast forward to later in the afternoon and we are at Hobby Lobby. We get some stuff that to the first glance we think is on sale. Turns out not to be due to retail trickery or pixie dust or something. Either way, we get it and understand, and move on with our lives. At the next register, the manager, who we have seen act as a moron before, is yep, you guessed it, acting as a moron yet again. He is arguing with a patron over the sale price of an item and a coupon. Finished annoying these fine people, he over hears our discussion with the cashier and begins to interject into the conversation which has ended by the way, with our understanding and acquiescence, the same exact information the cashier told us satisfactorily. We tell him the signs were not clear and that’s why we misunderstood. He says the same thing again and adds, it’s not on the candy. We do what my grandmother said never do, argue with an idiot, and say actually no, it is over there but we understand and are fine. He continues to be an idiot, I finally say, “GOT IT for the third time.” I ask the cashier out loud so others can hear, “Does he just float around trying to find arguments? Every time I have seen that man here he is arguing with someone. Maybe he gets a bonus based on the disagreements and aggravation he causes.” Definitely Moron #6 and possibly Moron of the day.

Although there were many stupid drivers on the day, the Hobby Lobby manager takes it for the lead.

We had a decent dinner I think. I made some pork ribs with what I like to call fried bread, some slaw and some egg noodles for the ladies. Keira ate well and she has enjoyed her trip to her Mecca, Toys R Us. She is on a puzzle kick and we have a few to do yet. She still wants to help me with mine, a 1000 piece deer scene puzzle.

I played a little guitar and she has her Spongebob guitar now so that she can jam with me.

Watching the Bulls right now. They aren’t going to beat the Warriors as bad as last time. Last time it was 120 to 90 or something like that. They are pretty close tonight really. Chicago is on a 7 game win streak. Looking great right now and they play Portland Monday night. It would be nice to see that extend to 9 Monday night.. I may have to change my background to a Bulls symbol until Baseball Season. I have Stevie Ray on there right now.

Guess I should close and relax a little while I can. Enjoy this game and go to sleep.

XO ILY YM

The Blizzard of 2011..storm of the century...so far...it's just 2011!

2011-02-02T09:55:00.002-06:00

Not too much to report since we last talked. The Blizzard of 2011 has hit in Chicago and it is taking names: 400 to be exact. The total of persons rescued from stranded vehicles on the roads of Chicago. Again, that is just Chicago and doesn’t count the suburbs of my residency. It is definitely quite a bit of snow. Not as much snow as I have seen in other blizzards of note, but enough to shut down most of the businesses for a day.

It is cold as well. We look to get to a -10 mark within the next two days, winds at 25 to 45 mph still and then back up to 2. Woo Hoo! I even saw a 0 on one of the weather predictions. Cool stuff. The first is our entry at work and the second is my entry at home with our Lab Mix Luke and The Boy walking. Luke is trying to find a spot to pee but its all near his head or higher. HA!

The crew at work some are doing a double and getting the OT and some are trudging in if they can make it. Most of the routes are shut down and without four-wheel drive, it is not recommended to try the trek. We have some rooms reserved for folks and the leaders are bringing in some lunch meat and such for the guys that are keeping everything running. I am truly proud of my guys and the work they are doing. They are getting better and better at doing their jobs and are building even better relationships every event that happens.

Onto other events that have occurred. I received my very first Dynamic Deed from another leader in the organization. 15 years with the company and I had never received one. Now I am not complaining about that because I have been rewarded kindly through my tenure in many ways for my performance. Problem is, now I have to change my speech on promotions and such that I usually use my self as an example. “Fifteen years with U.S. Cellular® and I have never received a Dynamic Deed. They are great measurements of an associates dedication and drive but they are not a requirement for promotion. I have been promoted four times during my tenure with U.S. Cellular®: from NOC Technician to Manager and have loved the time I have served. I have received recognition for accomplishments and growth. I feel I am recognized appropriately and am grateful for just the recognition received from my leader. So please don’t think you are not eligible to be promoted because you don’t have any Dynamic Deeds.” Now I have to alter that and say, UNTIL…

With all jesting aside, thank you for the notice and recognition. It means a lot to me and I appreciate you recognizing the progress our teams are making together: You know who you are.

Now I am sitting here working on miscellaneous things that I cant usually get done in the office to the back ground of Spongebob Squarepants and hearing plankton trying to steel the crabby patty formula. I am also reading the notes of other associates around the country dealing with the different weather situations and it is truly amazing at the reach this storm has had. Rain and winds in the Southeast have the home area reeling a but in places, and all through the Midwest we are receiving reports of ice and snow build up. Pictures are coming in of truly wild visions. I look through Facebook even further, and as you all have witnessed through my rantings, I am longing for Spring and Fly Fishing. I see an entry from the host of the show I usually watch and he has this pristine stream in Brazil with little bubbles floating through an eddy with the closest cold spot being in the cooler with their cokes!

I guess I should get back to my day. I see other folks having conference calls and I feel guilty as I have none. I moved all mine to another day due to a meeting that was scheduled for today and canceled due to the weather. So I guess that leaves me free to help out where I can.

Anyway, getting off here and focusing I guess.

XO ILY YM

I'm odd, but I'm okay with that...

2011-01-30T19:09:00.000-06:00

My wife will definitely tell you I have a few eccentricities, but today I noticed myself looking through the Sunday news paper and organizing the ads. I laughed because I know I have been doing this ever since I have been reading the paper. I read the paper in order by section but my favorites I leave for last so I can enjoy them. The funnies are of course last.

For the ads, I had to think about it and understand what the pecking order was. For the most part, I leave the same ads last: Wal-Mart, Target, K-mart as these we frequent the most, but I also order them based on whether or not we have the funds available to buy something from certain stores. For instance, I hardly ever look at Best-Buy as we don’t really go there often and it’s usually on a special occasion. It’s just something I noticed silly about me today.

I made some biscuits and gravy today using sausage my daughter brought me from Tennessee. Tasty! I also folded some butter into the biscuit mix and almost have it as light as I would like. I need to use some buttermilk and I think it will be just right for jam or honey.

Tonight I had beef stew I had stewing all day. The vegetables really turned out good in it. I will be having that tomorrow for lunch with some left over rice for sure.

Now I am sitting here fighting a sinus pressure head-ache as I can feel bad weather coming. We have a storm on the way that is supposed to bring us near 18 inches of snow this week before it’s done. I think my body heard the yelling about it before my ears did because it’s been hurting since last night.

I got to see a few minutes of the Bulls game last night but had a lot of fun reading to Keira from her Bug Book. She knows the Giraffe Beetle exclusively but the others she still has to be reminded of.

It was good to see the Celtics beat the crap out of the Lakers today, YES! Although, I slept through the game, I was awake enough to change the channel to some cooking shows for the rest of the houses liking. I am finally getting to see some basketball that is decent and some players I really like are all on the same team so it makes it much better to watch. The Bulls are doing very well. I really hope they get into the finals this year. Big road to head down though.

I need to get off here and relax. I have lots of work to do this week.

XO ILY YM

The Titans will truly stink now...but will my Bears be better for it?

2011-01-27T19:03:00.000-06:00

I’m feeling a little sad and excited right now. I just saw Jeff Fisher is no longer with the Titans. Sad that he stopped his career with them but it was obviously time to go for him. Now the next step: COME TO CHICAGO! OR another team I like but Chicago would be good. Problem is I think his leaving may signal the shape the NFL is in we are headed for a lockout. He is on the rules committee and other teams as well and for him to call it quits definitely says volumes.

I know the Bears have one year left on his contract and Angelo is thinking of extending him but with a lockout looming and the crap he has allowed to happen, why in the world extend him? I would love to see Jeff Fisher up here. Get rid of Cutler and let him bring Cecil and the rest of the staff here and keep the O line coach, that guy did some good work. Head into the draft with some hole-filling selections and pick up a few veteran receivers so these kids can learn how to play.

Enough of that, I guess we’ll see how it all plays out. On the Baseball front I se the Padres are embarrassing themselves with new uniforms. Yuck! Sox look like they are trying to head the right direction. I hate that Jim Thome isn’t with them but I still like them as I always have since I was a boy.

Off now, not much of a blog but I had a thought or two and wanted to write it down.

XO ILY YM

Hamburgers, Bugs and Ritual oh my!

2011-01-25T20:25:00.000-06:00

“Do you know how those bags under your eyes come to be? It’s capillaries that bust and the blood pools there.” YUCK! Whoever came up with that ad idea alienated 50% of the country and attracted 50%. Maybe I’m off on the percentages but still, yuck.

Now that I have your attention, do you have an appetite? I need help with a hamburger recipe I want to try. Trouble is my grill has snow on it and I am a wuss when it comes to the cold and wont be out there grilling any time soon.

I was watching Worst Cooks in America last night, I know, this isn’t getting any better is it? But I was watching that show when they had to create a burger for a taste challenge and it hit me when I saw a few ingredients. I have cooked burgers with cheese in them before, not a very neat trick as much as it is done. Then I thought, I know exactly which one I would make and here it is:

A teriyaki burger with ginger and sautéed onions mixed in topped with a grilled pineapple ring or a pineapple chutney on Hawaiian sweetbread buns. I’d have a honey Dijon mustard as well. The side item would be a red cabbage slaw with sesame seeds and a sweet dressing. So one day soon I will be trying it. If you get the nerve before I do, test it and see if it works out and let me know.

I was reading a book about bugs with Keira tonight. Every bug she would ask me, “What it doos?” I’d tell her and if it had pinchers, I’d make the action of the pinchers and creep my fingers toward her and she’d say “No! That’s no good!” I’d also tell her when they would bury in your skin or bite you and make it itch and she would dig at her neck and scratch it: So funny. She was getting creepy crawlies!

The next thing I want to write about is yet another selfish thing. It is my blog. I have lately had a particular little ritual of my own that has provided me much relaxation at night. It is bad for me, but relaxing. I get my sunflower seeds, a root beer, some chewy sprees and my on demand TV. I eat the seeds till I am tired of them: loaded with salt of course but I love them! Eventually I tire of them and hit the sprees for a little. Watching my stupid TV this allows me to relax and mull over the upcoming baseball season. I know it’s stupid. But it allows me to let go of work and stress and think about eating seeds while the Sox are beating the crap out of the Indians or Twins: I CAN DREAM!

It’s a very important part of my day. I get to sleep easy after that and it really does relax me a lot. This has been a disappointing football season, I don’t watch hockey, and at least the basketball season is looking up. The Bulls are getting a lot of attention and my 3 favorite players are racking it up. Boozer, Deng and Rose are really playing well. I could care less about Noah. The one guy, Asik I like an usually has some break out games. I’d like for them to keep the lead in the fourth quarter and increase the winning side of the record a little more. I have had a few problems with Thibadeau and his style of holding players out in the fourth like one game he took Rose and Boozer out with 12 minutes left because he said he had a better defense in at the time. You lost. Was it really better and maybe it was offense you needed since you were OUTSCORED!

Anyway, they play the Heat this week and I would LOVE to see them join the ranks of the teams that have spanked their butts this week.

All right, back to reality and waiting on Spring and baseball and fishing.

XO ILY YM

Vesuvio or Vesuvius? I think the latter actually...

2011-01-21T22:48:00.000-06:00

I hate when I have a lot of negative vibe in my writing. I don’t like to post so much negativity or ranting and raving unless there is humor in it. Tonight I may find some humor but I am not sure.

The week has been a bit rough on the eating out front. Given that the majority if not ALL of my dining has been eating out this week due to my work trip; it’s been a suck week. To sum up, the only meals that were actually good in terms of quality and not company, were Papa Johns on Cedar Bluff in Knoxville, Arby’s, again on Cedar Bluff, Cracker Barrel on Cedar Bluff and finally, the holy grail, Mecca and the only place left besides the hills, mountains, rivers and lakes of East Tennessee that remain holy: Los Amigos. Truly awesome every time I have been there.

Add to this problem that my wife and daughter got sick this week with some type of stomach crap and I have to take my daughter to the doctor due to her fever and stomach tomorrow, this has not been a good week.

Work went well and I did get a lot accomplished.

Now to the events of the night: We decided to order out one last time given that we were arriving home and didn’t feel like cooking and figured surely we can’t have another bad experience. GUESS WHAT? Yeah we can!

We order from this place called Carmen’s Pizzeria, Pasta House and Catering. It’s on Golf Road in Schaumburg, IL and yes, I will be telling all here as well as I plan to report to the Better Business Bureau and find every yap and yip site there is to tell everyone about how crappy from start to finish this place is.

Item 1: We order our food and it dose arrive on time. Check 1 for them as good.

Item 2: The delivery guy says, “Um, I forgot to run your card at the store, can you sing this piece of paper for me?”

“What?” I say.

“I didn’t get a receipt because I didn’t run the card before I left. You can sign this.”

“A piece of paper you wrote my order down on? I don’t think so.”

I give him his copy and he says to me, “You not gonna give me a tip?”

“Are you kidding me? You show up at my door and don’t even have my receipt, hand me a smelly bag of garlic, you don’t give me anything that says how much my bill is going to be and now you have the nerve to ASK me for a tip?”

I shut the door, go to my phone, and immediately call the manager to tell him about this unusual occurrence. I get the manager, maybe Carmen, as he wouldn’t give me his name of course. Says the delivery guy is a good kid and forgot to run the receipt. Then tells me he was going to have him bring out a receipt. I said, “I don’t care if he is a good guy or not, this sounds like a scam. I don’t know how much my charge is or how much will go through. He didn’t plan to come back with a receipt and he had the nerve to ask my for a tip for not doing his entire job. Now you, his manager make it seem like this is a normal occurrence and I’m supposed to feel comfortable that this is all right because he is a good kid.”

He, the manager then says, this is the way they do it and it’s not unusual. He then tells me I am blowing this out of proportion and should calm down about it. He’ll send him back with a receipt and I can give him whatever tip I felt like. HAHAHAHAHAAH.

“Don’t send him anywhere near my home again, I am never doing business with you again, everyone I know will know about your practices and my charge card better show the right amount which is how much again?”

He tells me and I write it down and finally get his name. Again, he launches in about how I am unreasonable and they drive back on every delivery to deliver the receipt. ARE YO KIDDING ME?! You send your drivers out to deliver all the food without receipts, then send them all back with receipts after the fact. OKAY, keep lying to me moron as you cover for this kid you obviously have had issues with in the past or you wouldn’t be feeding me this bull shit right now. Not once did he EVER say, you know what sir, that was an error on our part and we can rectify that for you. We will get you a receipt and I will instruct and remind my drivers to make sure they are prepared before they go out on their deliveries. HOW FRIKIN HARD IS THAT!!!!!! You can’t just swallow your ego for a minute and admit that your boy screwed up and was maybe a little shady in what he was doing? Of course, you can’t because legal problems may ensue.

So that over, door slammed in delivery a-holes face, phone conversation with moronic restaurant manager complete, I sit in my hair and brood trying to calm down so I can enjoy my first night back home. I have on demand to watch and a couch crying for me to lie on and watch Letterman. So, I go to check out the food and the stench of garlic is ridiculous. I look at my wife and she has the disgusted look on her first of nasty flavor, although, I may be confusing it with fear over my ranting on the phone earlier and she is just wincing in the corner. I find out later, it sucked: she wasn’t wincing, too much.

I didn’t want the interaction and ridiculous conversation to ruin my evening or my dinner as it partly did so I thought, maybe the food is at least good. Guess what? No way will they disappoint. IT SUCKED HORRIBLE BUTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out the picks below.

The fettuccini alfredo had no alfredo really. The shrimp was left with the tails on and not de-veined. The chicken was basically bits of chopped up chicken. They gave us two rolls that were hard and bland. I am assuming processed rolls that were left over from yesterday. Garlic bread wasn’t toasted at all. It looked like grinder bread that had been left in a pan of garlic, butter and oil. It was literally soggy soft bread drenched in garlic and stinking my house up. No chance any vampires are biting us until garbage day comes and goes.

I got Chicken Vesuvio which was supposed to be award winning. I am now questioning who the judges were, what the award was and when and where was this contest judge and did anyone else enter when they put this crap in the contest. The chicken was dry, greasy and drenched again in garlic and oil. I guess this is there special sauce or something and everything gets a dose of it but pasta since the fettuccini was dry. The potatoes were not cooked all the way and as the chicken was sitting in a pool of the sauce. It was also covered in a dry Italian seasoning that just layered the chicken: very thick. Just nasty.

The best part though was the salad. A 6 oz cup filled with chopped iceberg lettuce and a single sliced cucumber. On top. Wala! Salad!

I tried. I mean I had already given my dinner to Nic because I knew I would have a hard time eating it out of my irritation. I am picky that way in that I get frustrated to the point my appetite is gone. However, I wanted to at least give the food the benefit of the doubt. Had my billing situation gone well, and I had given a tip without the little moron asking for it, I would have STILL been ill with this man and his business as his food SUCKS!!!!! And so does his business and customer skills. So there it is, the infamous interaction with the Italian ristorante manager.

Now et me relate one other nice little ditty from the week of my trek to the eating out world.

Texas Roadhouse, Turkey Creek, Farragutt, Knoxville, TN. We go in and everyone is very cordial, waitress was very nice and seemed to be good at her job from what we witnessed. I went in with the positive thought of, (AS I HAD ALL WEEK INCLUDING TONIGHT), this cant end badly too can it? Oh my guess what?

We ordered probably the most simple dishes you could order there. Staples actually. My wife, a chicken salad. Come on now, a little lettuce, tomato, cheese, slice the chicken and bring some dressing right? Me? Beef tips with mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes. The beef I said rare so it won’t take too long. Over 45 minutes goes by and I still am not complaining. I had a side salad, my wife and I were talking and having a nice time, Keira was playing and munching on some bread and tomatoes. Then the food finally comes out. As I am sitting there I look down and I think, “Aw! Man! This looks like its been sitting there for ages.” The gravy is set and congealed, the potatoes look set as well. But open mind I take a bite of each and sure enough, cold. I was done. My wife’s salad was okay but the chicken was definitely cold and dry. We summon the waitress and I send the food back because I am just done with it. I don’t want another one with cook spittle in it. I don’t want another dish period. This has been a bad week anyway and the last time we ate here, a year ago at least, the same thing happened to us and a few of our friends. Cold food that had been set under a warmer because thy cooked it in the wrong order or waitresses took the wrong food or whatever and tried to pass it off instead of making it right.

So the manager comes out to try and make it right. Now for me, I know when a customer tells me something, I listen and I take it as gospel and apologize. I told her, I don’t want another meal, I don’t want a card for a free meal because I am not coming back. I am done with the chain.

She says “this is good for two meals up to $15 each.”

I said, “I don’t want it, but thank you. I appreciate your effort.”

“She says, “I just want to make this right.”

As I hear this, I am getting pissed and my internal dialogue is going, you listened to me, you know what happened and what needs to be fixed, ENOUGH! I don’t want your frikin certificate! Outside in my big voice I say, we wont be back for at least a year and wont use it at all.”

She goes “well they don’t expire.”

My wife seeing me about to come unglued says thanks, grabs a box and boxes her salad as we take the certificate to give to my sin to use with one of his rock climbing friends.

As I stood there, my wife heard the table next to us talking to our waitress and she was giving them the same spiel about their dinner being late. There were 6 at the table and 3 had plates eating. One was asking, “Any news on that plate yet?”

She responds with “I think its about to come up soon.” And trots off quickly.

“Come up soon? It’s been 40 minutes?” We left and they still had not received their meals yet and the rest of the guys were over half done. I didn’t feel so bad then. What’s bad, IT WASN’T REALLY THAT BUSY AND THEY WERE STAFFED UP PRETTY GOOD!!!!!! AND IT ISNT TOP CHEF or CHOPPED MENUS!!!!!!!!!!!! DANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then economy is bad, you should be putting your best effort forward when you are providing less for more cost. Service is all you have left.

Anyway, for the second time this week I had pork rinds, sunflower seeds and a myriad of other snacks for dinner. I am in the middle of chips and salsa right now.

Tomorrow is another day and this weekend I tell ya, “Châteaux Jimmy Ray” is open and it’s salt pork great northern and pinto beans with jalapeno cornbread time. And next week my barbeque brisket will be in full force! Finger to you restaurants! You know which one man!

Now for other good things that came about this week. My wife got me a cool blanket. I really like it. It is white sox colors and has the right weight to it. She also got a new UT shirt for but it was only to replace a UT shirt she got for me that I love that has an ink spot on it and looks like I got shot through and through. It’s grey of course cause I like that.

A friend of ours got me a nice UT jersey in the new black colors. COOL SUFF! Things are on track for the house and its repair and possible use that will ease our minds a lot.

My boy is Rock climbing which scares me ut it’s a healthy exercise that lets him enjoy the outdoors too and I love it.

My girl is till in college and doing well and I hope to see her do even better.

A friend of mine seems to be doing well with his band and I have other band members I used to play with and we are missing each other. Shout out to Rick and Marty! You guys rock and I miss our jams.

So, enough for now, I have TV to watch and salsa to eat.

XO ILY YM

Just a Check in Before the Trek

2011-01-20T22:38:00.000-06:00

The two females are getting better. They were out today and were able to gain some appetite again. Tomorrow should be better and I wont be in the car trapped in a vomit fest as I thought I would be. Short lived for sure but they didn’t look good last night, especially the little one.

Had Los Amigos tonight and no one noticed I didn’t order my usual Carne Asada with a Guacamole salad. I had a taco, beef tamale and a chicken enchilada. Very nice with a mild mole sauce. Tasty.

I’m watching Mad Money while waiting on Letterman. Man, that guy is in tune with the market. I need to get some stock going again and make some money.

Not much to write about really. Went to McKay’s today and got some books for Keira and Melina. Did a little work and actually was productive. Had dinner tonight with two good friends and my oldest son. Met their little boy in all his cuteness and he seemed to get along with KB well.

Back here now and ready for bed. We start back tomorrow to Chicago and there’s some weather in between us and there right now but I am thinking with the traffic for the work week, most of it will be cleared and melted by the time we hit the major areas where it dumped.

I’m a little tired right now so I will sign off and not monologue about anything deep. See ya!

XO ILY YM

Meetin' Day...and sea sickness has hit the crew...

2011-01-19T21:13:00.002-06:00

My wife and daughter are sick with some stomach thing. Not sure where it came from but when you eat out everyday on a road trip, you takes ya chances. I hope they get better soon. We have to travel Friday and that will be miserable for all of us if they have to do that. I know it stinks when you have to be cramped in a car and don’t feel good during crappy weather.

Changing the subject, I often think and talk about these things that give me pause or make me try to understand myself better. Watching American Idol, and no I am not being facetious. I am watching American Idol and I was mainly doing it for the wife. The auditions are my favorite for obvious reasons, see the loons and guess at who will be in the finals. I also like to hear people I identify with in terms of music and such. However, tonight I was pleasantly surprised not by a contestant but by Steven Tyler. I don’t like Aerosmith. I don’t like his sleaze bag tendencies, which I don’t know if he is truly a slut or if he was just doing the persona thing. What I do know is he was someone I could easily see me working with or hanging out with as long as he wasn’t trying to act like a teenager.

I saw him truly look into people and enjoy what he was doing. I saw him be constructive and grow through the auditions and I hope he and Jennifer Lopez continue to grow. They need to experience what happens when you don’t work with someone and five them direct constructive feed back and then they will never soften a message again or beat around the bush. Other than that, I think the chemistry that I saw tonight and the dedication that was exhibited will be a good fit. I think there is still a lot of difficult things they must go through before they gel but so far so good.

One girl I think should not have been let through as she won’t make it past the first week anyway and they know it. It was early on and they felt guilty. That needs to change and I think it is. So I actually think Steven Tyler is a good fir. He was amiable and approachable and gave a good calm to the room that I didn’t expect. I cant wait to see his input and instruction through the whole process once this really gets kicked off with single performances.

Had a good meeting today. I didn’t care for the breakfast much but I am picky. Lunch was okay and dinner was better but I ate too much of course. I am trying to catch up on my water drinking today as I am woefully behind and had too much coke and Mt. Dew.

All right, off to wait on Letterman and then sleep.

XO ILY YM

Back in Tennessee

2011-01-17T13:02:00.000-06:00

The trip wasn’t so bad. First hotel was decent considering it was way cheap. I like how over all I am spending way less than many would spend for a one night trip here by flying. So I am over all saving the company some dough as well as getting some work done face to face and getting to cruise around Knoxville and the Midwest.

During the stay in Indianapolis, not my favorite of cities, we stopped at an Extended Stay. It wasn’t a shining example for the franchise by no means but it upheld its purpose nicely for the price. While there, we had dinner at a KFC. Let me tell you, I am getting angry about that Podunk piece of crap place right now. I was so irritated with the crap I was handed that I won’t even acknowledge that the Pepsi’s they gave me tasted good. I will be letting the wife handle that complaint: I wand a coupon or something for a free lunch from a KFC that has food. First, the order wasn’t right to begin with but even worse, the food was inedible. Cold, stale and nasty. Honestly, and I am meaning this 100%, the worst I have ever had from any restaurant EVER! I have the store number available if anyone wants it to avoid when you go to Indy. Now onto better things.

We got up later than we expected from Indy but were still on the road and made good time so we (Melina), could watch the second half of the Bears game. I didn’t care really but I like trying to take time off the GPS estimator for arrival. I shaved 35 minutes in this case and 10 of it twice because of stops for gas and bathroom.

We got here and I ran to Arby’s and got our lunch. That actually went well. A big Montana for me, baked potato and Jamocha milkshake. YUM! Roast beef with cheese and curly fries for the misses. No problems at all there and it was tasty. Later that night the kids came over and we went to Wasabi for dinner. Very nice meal although the waiter was a dimwit. I seem to be attracting them lately. I got three glasses of water total for the entire meal. Had to beg and borrow to get some water for my daughter. Mel had to get her high seat, I had to steal a plate after we asked for it all numerous times. The cook was decent though. Food was prepared as normal and I wasn’t looking for flashy other than to let KB experience the show now that she could understand it better. (FOR THOSE NOT FAMILIAR WITH WASABI IT IS SIMILAR TO BENNI HANA.)

BTW, my wife made a bet that the JEts would beat New England. I was dead wrong as was over 3/4 of the country and she was right. I told her though, if they played again today I still would bet New England. But she did it.

She saw fire go up on one hibachi and then Keira said, “I want a fyewa.” So the guys comes by and starts his grill and WAM! Fire! And hse shrieks and hides behind her plate as she holds it up li,e a shield. “No more fyewa!” She finally came back out and had a few bites of rice and chilled while we all ate. It was very nice to take her somewhere and she not lose her mind!

So today I go to lunch with Mel and Keira and the teen convention is in at the Chic Fi La and I feel like the crabby old man down the street protecting his lawn. I mean I was totally agitated. Just this large hoard of idiot teens loud mouthing every chance they got, crowding into the Chi Fi La like there isn’t a restaurant around that could feed them but this one. Then when I order the lady behind the counter wants to argue with me on every aspect of my order, I finally said, you know what, just order it please. However it is called or organized, I need my food. Thanks!” DO I HAVE A SIGN ON ME THAT SAYS I WOULD LIKE TO EXPERIENCE A BAD TIME PLEASE. I STILL HAVENT HAD THE WORST YET SO GIVE IT A SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” YES I HAVE HAD WORSE! It was in Indianapolis remember?! Done it, I want regular mediocre now. Not even looking for wow factor.

Anyway, back at work now and finishing reviews as well as organizing for this weeks work. I have some meetings and a Quarterly to attend as well as a few project calls. Then I will be taking a vacation day to drive back to Chicago. I am actually looking forward to going back already to tell you the truth. Not because things are better I just feel after coming back and experiencing things I used to love, they don’t seem as good anymore. They were only good being here with family and doing it on the fly spontaneously. Oh well. Time for new memories and maybe one day, all the kids will circle back around and live near us again.

I am still anxious for baseball and fly fishing so the winter doldrums must be setting on me heavily. It will be nice when its warmed up some and I can get to the river and throw a line in to wet it.

Back to work!

XO ILY YM

Musha rain dum-a-doo dum-a-da

2011-01-14T14:33:00.000-06:00

I must say we are having some good conversations at work recently. The teams are working well as always but the direction, goals and discussions are really centered on good production and quality. We are getting more granular and raising expectations. Most would think this is not a good thing but what I se is we are providing a higher level of product and it has become an expected deliverable and thus, we must provide better if we are going to measure ABOVE the bell in the future. This is a great indicator for my team and me.

On to more interesting stuff. I played guitar for a short time last night. I had been contemplating not getting a new amp good enough for playing out and just taking over my son’s amp, which I gave him for Christmas. Reason is it is used, one speaker doesn’t work, and the buttons are a bit floating otherwise a great amp. My amp is a Fender Frontman 212. A solid state that is a good amp but just doesn’t afford me the flexibility and tone my Cybertwin gave. I loved that amp and shouldn’t have sold it but I felt it was the right thing to do. Vox has a great amp out that is new but similar to the Cybertwin and I plan to go that route. It is $549.00 over half less than the Fender is. My son is saving his money to buy mine, which I can put towards the purchase of that new amp.

My main discussion started about how I had originally decided not to pursue purchasing a new amp. After playing last night, I still want to. The short time I played let me feel first that I am still too Rusty to play out anywhere, but it reminded me of how good my drummer and I were together not too long ago. Just he and I used to play in his house and draw folks out to hear us. We would play Pride and Joy, Tight Rope, Whiskey in the jar and so many other songs including some originals. We would jam and jam and before we knew it, it was after midnight and we were sweating and ready to go for another 2 hours.

I messaged him on Facebook yesterday when I heard Thin Lizzy’s original version of Whiskey in the Jar, we used to play the Metallica version. “Mush a rain ramma do ramma da!” Occasionally we would aggravate each other in meetings or assume the other was asleep and text something stupid like that to be annoying. It was funny at the time. Guess you had to be there. Sooooooooooooooooo

So yeah, new strings are needed, an amp and practice and then to find some musicians so I can begin again. It is a shame he doesn’t work up here or I don’t work down home because I have a lot of connections to gigging in Knoxville. I can build it here as well but it isn’t that often you connect with a musician where everything just clicks and you begin to just KNOW each other. He and I could write, practice and jam all day and hardly ever screw up a timing or hand off. He was very cool and I miss him.

Must get back to work now. I have things to do and to get ready. I have the big road trip this weekend, a hair cut at some point and I plan on relaxing as well. :-)

XO ILY YM

My Kingdom fo ra Slim Jim, a Hotwheel and a Root Beer...

2011-01-13T21:49:00.000-06:00

Pretty good day today. Productive and got to see a work friend I haven’t seen in a long time. I follow his many adventures on Facebook and foursquare as he checks in across the country. He’s a good guy and I like hearing from him.

Since we are in transition between the post season of football and the start of spring practice for baseball, all that is left for me is the occasional good match up in basketball. However the Bulls look good this year and if the coach would apply some consistency, I think they could make a run this year. Spurs have the best record in bball this year as well but I don’t really get to see them play up here.

I am going to start yoga soon. Yep! Yoga. Saw a friend who is pretty deep and adept at it and he looks awesome! He runs a yoga and Tai chi place in Knoxville. I know I am not using the right terms so if you want to look it up and check his credentials he has a web page and Facebook page. His name is Dan West.

Anyway, I will be starting. It looks very interesting to me and can be done rain or shine. I also like the idea of the quiet calm meditation as you exercise. That really appeals to my old fat butt.

I was talking with some of the guys at work today and we got on the subject of how kids are having so many problems with bullies and the high rate of suicides and I boil it down to one problem. You may think I am going to say parents. Nope. Tertiary to the main problem. You may say no God or faith of any kind to guide them. Nope. Wrong again. That I just a symptom of the problem.

My thinking is they have lost or never gained their coping mechanisms. Why did they lose this? Toys. Yep. Toys. Not too many. Not that they are spoiled. It’s the TYPE of toy. How many kids do you give a gift to and the first thing they ask is “WHAT DOES IT DO?”

What does it do? Back when we grew up, you got a hot wheel or matchbox, a doll, some play clothes, a stick or box and you made do. You went outside and you made them work and used your brain! You didn’t get out a dinosaur that walked, roared and operated its mouth with a remote control and then put it on your dresser. You had to cope and work it. Come up with your own stuff and work together.

You built cities in the dirt with sticks and your vehicles. You brought a friend over and you made a neighbor city and connected them with dirt highways. Then you traded cars and fought over stuff and learned to COPE! When you were disappointed, you learned from it and went with it.

You had camp outs and went to the park and played baseball and basketball and tennis. You played hide and go seek not Kinect or Wii. Mario and Pacman didn’t have crap to do with anything until you went to Pizza Hut for that once in two week shot at eating out. You went to McDonalds and had a burger and fries with a regular coke. NOT A TUB OF COKE, A VAT OF FRIES AND A CHUNK OF SUGAR RIDDEN COATED SAUCE! And that wasn’t splurged on either.

Even teens now, they go to Applebee’s and Chili’s or Olive Garden maybe even TGI Friday’s. We went to McDonald’s, shared gas money, split what was left to get a shake and fries that we shared. WE DIDN’T GET TO BLOW $30 on a Friday night date BEFORE we went and spent $30 more on a movie! We sat on the hoods of our cars at the Midland Shopping center as we watched the other kids drive around and show their rides off. We met girls from other schools because we thought they were different than the girls in our school. We split those fries and licked the salt off the box to stretch the gas money so we could cruise the shopping center some more.

Then for me in the south, we went home, slept and got up early on Saturday and went fishing for the fish fry Saturday night. Unless there was a singing at church. We had regular lives and worked for our money as we enjoyed each others company and learned how to be a contributing part of society. We enjoyed being around our elders and learned from them. We did what we were told because if we didn’t we would get panged with a hammer across the head!

I could go on but there are many, many reasons these kids are having troubles with bullies, being teased and prodded. Bullies aren’t new. They have been here forever just like nerds, geeks, jocks and preps. It was just different names in different times. We failed the kids brought from our generation and the ones before us in that we relied on technology to teach and nurture our children. That’s why they don’t truly VALUE love or even know what love is. They don’t know what sex is because people are too scared to discuss it. And to tell a kid to be scared of strangers caused them to rely on authority figures so much that THEY now abuse our children because it is a perfect scam to treat them that way.

So I will now be partaking of my root beer and slim Jim as I watch Dave and relax so I can go to sleep. I have a big week end ahead in preparing for my drive and then driving. I am looking forward to it and getting excited. I love road trips.

XO ILY YM

Dreams, Alligators, Idiots and back to the Blog life

2011-01-11T23:14:00.001-06:00

Okay, yeah! Hello there. Been a week or so. Sorry ‘bout that. Anyway, I am perusing the newspaper when all of a sudden I have a definite subject for my blog today.

In Wheeling, IL at the Indian Trails Public Library, a nature or wild life expert brought some exotic pets for kids to see. Among them were lizards, a tortoise and some snakes. In addition, he brought an American Alligator named Bubba. In a picture there is a 3-year-old girl riding him. RIDING HIM!!!! Are you kidding me?

(Link posted here so as not to anger the copyright gods about the photo I had wanted to publish.)
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101229/news/712309888/
Man I would lose my mind if I saw my little girl on the back of an Alligator. Now if this were a school I would be the lead party in a lawsuit and never have to work again. However, since it is a library, these stupid parents obviously don’t have that option BECAUSE THEY WERE THERE WITH THE KIDS AND CONSENTED!!!! There are as many opinions out there about stuff and kids as there are parents and kids I know, I am just voicing mine here.

The last few days Keira has been very attached to me and I must say I love it. She has been very sweet and showing signs of growing up. As I have mentioned in previous blogs I don’t like that because that means eventually she won’t want to be around me as much just like other children have done. They get their own lives, run down their own paths, and worry the crap out of me while they grow up, test the waters, branch out and become adults with their own ideas and decisions.

I remember my little girl looking at me and saying in a low voice as she points down to the ground saying “DOE!” By now, we figure she meant down. She wanted to get down. She is so stubborn and strong willed. I think often that I need to break her before she goes to school but I feel that would be a travesty. Regardless of what she will do and what calls I will get, I think seeing her creativity and decisiveness harnessed would crush her fearless approach on the world and I am eager to see what she has to say about the world and how she smacks it right in the mouth and does whatever she wants the way she wants.

Then I think, man I will have to save my benefit time or retire early because she’s going to keep us busy. LOL

In the last week, I have been focused on a lot of decisions at work. We have reviews starting u and are focused heavily on those as well as finalizing goals and getting ready to attack this year which will be loaded with some very exciting things.

I don’t want to beat it to death or drone on it but I do want to give a thought to the folks in Arizona and the shootings that occurred last week: Yes, there were two: One in Chandler and one in Tucson. People died in both yet one has and will be in the press due to a politician being the target. Dreadfully, that is what drives ratings.

And to the morons protesting that little girls funeral like you have the soldiers funerals, I really can say that I harbor more ill will and suffering on you than Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, Hitler, insert other dictators and killers in here. You people are sick! And you need a wake up call and I hope Jesus brings it soon. I have never, in all my years wished bad things on a person until I had witnessed the crap you people spawn as you breathe my air.

Why don’t you people do a Jim Jones and drink the frikin’ Kool-Aid and get it over with and stop hurting everyone else in the world in the worst time of their lives? Or stand on the bridge or roof top and we’ll all stand below and be very supportive in your jumps! Hell we’ll push you to go higher and then PUSH YOU! Just get out of our way and let us continue to live without the memory of your stupidity. Hell gang bangers and drug addicted morons have more morality and sensitivity than you do and you are supposedly Christians. DEFINITION: Christian – Christ like. UM NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t associate your dumb ass with anything of my faith.

Done with the rant. Now that I have flagged my blog with some of the most popular provocative search terms of the recent history, I am sure to get some readers now. Thanks morons, now I will have all kinds of nuts hitting my link because of your stupidity.

Nice things now. I have a trip to Knoxville this next week for work. This will be a great trip minus the snow. I hope it is melting by then and our trip will be safe. I like watching Melina get excited about going back to Tennessee. Summer trip I will be bringing the fishing rod for sure! There will be a trip to Mckay’s I say as well as Wasabi and possibly to The Christmas Store. And if we do hit Pigeon Forge, Huck Finn’s will be visited for some vittles and catfish.

I played a little guitar Saturday night and the little one got a guitar and in her words, “Rocked Out!” with me. She says we are rock stars. She sings and dances and all kinds of stuff. A very good performer I watch her skate. She does the opening scene of Charlie Brown Christmas and sings the song. I think she is on the road to being a performer of some sort. I had hoped for a women’s golfer and vet with a trip to Stanford or UT but we’ll see.

I looked at the aquarium tonight and I think I finally need to do a huge water change and cleaning. I try not to do but a few partials so the balance stays clean and normal but it’s looking grungy and can use some cleaning. I need to get that done but probably not until after I get back from Knoxville.

About a week ago I had the feeling I was on the verge of something but couldn’t say what. That sounds very vague and it is. So deal with it. But I felt that way and I still feel that way so we’ll see.

On to dreams. I had a dream the other night, very weird and I haven’t looked its meaning up yet. I was at an amusement park with my daughters and Keira was still very little. I have no idea why I left her in the comedic car, like a clown car alone, but it felt very acceptable and right to do in the dream, while I go to look for a bathroom because I needed to pee bad. Of course, I really needed to pee bad in real life so naturally it would be a symptom in a dream.

So, I and Melanie went to find a bathroom. As I searched I felt like I had been there many times and knew which bathrooms were full all the time based on the time of day. On my way back from the bathroom, here comes Keira running up to me and I freak out yelling at her to get back in the car. Scared me to death. Then I look at Melanie and here she comes with a big ass hotdog on a pretzel bun with cheese. I’m like, “DID YOU PEE?!”

Most of my dreams are pretty symbolic and prolific leaving me with a sense of “That’s profound and prophetic in that I can make an upcoming decision about something.” With this I am left with, “Where do you get a big ass hotdog like that and which bathroom is the best to use when I am at this amusement park?”

Actually symbolism for my dream:

KEIRA AND HER RUNAWAY FROM THE CAR: Keira will be independent as she is now and go her own way. She will enjoy her life with her family but she is who she is and everyone needs to understand that and get over it.

To see or eat a HOTDOG or sausage in your dream, symbolizes material values. I hear Melanie seems materialistic sometimes and I don’t think so.

To see or be in an amusement park in your dream, indicates that you need to set some time for more relaxation and enjoyment in your life. The rides, booths and elements in the amusement park are an expression of some aspect of yourself or some area in your life. Look up the symbolism of specific rides for more details.

To see your daughter in your dream, represents your waking relationship with your daughter and the qualities that she projects.

I like the overall synopsis and understanding of the dream but still, it was pretty freaky. Oh and the urge to urinate:

To dream that you are urinating, symbolizes a cleansing and a release of negative or repressed emotions. Depending on your dream context, urination is symbolic of having or lacking basic control of your life. You are literally "pissed off" and not expressing yourself in a positive or constructive manner. I STILL THINK IT HAD TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT I DRINK A LOT OF WATER AND NEEDED TO WAKE UP AND PEE BEFORE MY LAZY ASS WET THE BED,

XO ILY YM

Ghost Hunters and Two Dickens Stories in One: What a Deal!!!!!

2011-01-06T21:49:00.000-06:00

Master has the heat down again. I had to find my house shoes, (a southern term according to my dear wife. It endears me.) my feet were freezing. I look over and she is crocheting a thick yarn blanket sitting under a thick yarn blanket. It’s so cold the dog is hid under the blanket. I turn on Iron Chef America and instead of cooking stuff they have the chill battle going on! Ugh! I feel like Bob Cratchet before Scrooge changed. I’m hunched over with my tight little pants and my over coat on whilst checking the coals for an ember to hold in my hand. Anybody want to send more Snuggies I could use one!

Actually, it is cold but not due to anything my wife has done. I also searched out my house shoes in order to warm my feet up because I am telling you, if I am cold, it’s cold.

Had a good day at work: Very successful meetings with a lot of team work and one mindedness.

Fish are fed, kids, me, my wife, dogs and cat all taken care of and tucked in bed. The cat I hear is lying in the middle of my bed right now. He’ll be down soon to perch on my blanket or Snuggie.

Tonight Keira put together a letter. One of her things is to write letters to us and seal them up. She brings them to us and stands there waiting for us to open them and then right as we do and we are about to unveil the surprise she says “It’s a pikcha!”

“Ah it is. Good job Keira.”

In this case, she wanted to send it to Grandma. So I staved her off a bit by saying, “I don’t know Grandma’s address.”

She said “What?”

I repeat myself and she says, “Who does?”

“Mommy.” I say.

“Oh. I be right back.” She ran over to mommy and had her write the address on the envelope and then came back to me pointing to the ledge where mommy’s keys were for the mail box. She wanted that firkin letter put in the box and now!

So we got the keys and I took her to the mail box to put her letter in. She was very proud of herself and is expecting correspondence from the grandparents now. Trouble is, the letter had no postage and I went right back out and put it in my pocket. As cool as it would be to send that letter, we need to be a little more organized next time and make sure it is a legitimate letter with a sealed note or picture; a stamp would be good too. And then we can really send something from Keira. This letter might get flagged and searched for Anthrax or something.

End result, she’s happy and feels good about the letter and the post of it to our mail box.

Have you ever HEARD a cat come down the stairs. I mean you hear him lumbering along but cant see him. If I didnt know it was him I would be on the road looking for something to record EVP's for Ghost Hunters. (EVP is Electronic Voice Phenomenon. THats for Mel.)

Oliver is so weird. He is a cat and is supposed to be all agile and fast as well as stealthy. He’s clumsy, loud, getting large, slow and agility is not in his near family tree and apparently a pyromaniac. (See previous stories a few entries ago.

I’m sitting here right now and hear he is tired because I heard him thump on the floor as he stretched. Isn’t he supposed to be quiet? Then out to the landing he strolls as I hear a groan and some claws and then here he comes, lumbering down the stairs like a tiny hare with a big ass! Thump, thump squeak on each step. What the heck? You’re a cat dude!

Now he’s on the pony wall staring at me wanting food. He’ll get mad in a minute and come sit on my lap and stare at me as he paws on my stomach saying “Hey Jim, remember that stuff over there y the sink? I could take care of some of that for ya. I don’t have thumbs so I kinda need ya in there with me and then I will leave ya alone. Just a little hep…hep I say. My name is Oliver! Some more please suh!”

Lord. Lets feed the cat. I need some water anyway. Till tomorrow y’all!

XO ILY YM

My Realm from a Snuggie Covered Throne...

2011-01-05T21:53:00.000-06:00

Sitting under my camo Snuggie won from my boss’s boss in a white elephant this year while writing an perusing blogs and Facebook. It’s a bit cold. My wife is a budgetmeister and keeps us freezing all the time. Especially when she goes to bed and I am left with my couch and TV. So I have to roll up under a Snuggie as seen on TV, so I don’t get hypothermia or frostbite. Seriously though, I did tease her about it today just playing around but she let out a little acknowledgement about always approaching the mail box with trepidation dreading the Nicor bill. AHA! J'accuse!

Actually, we don’t have a split heating and ac system for the upstairs/downstairs and we have HUGE cathedral ceilings in the living room so the heating and conditioning of our house sucks. So while I freeze down here, they sweat and lose weight up there. I hate heat man so I turn it down and wrap a Snuggie up. It’s a lot cheaper and easier for me to do that and let them have a decent temp to sleep in and besides, I like a blanket or something on the couch with stupid TV. I get some sunflower seeds, a glass of water and a little Numbers or NCIS and I’m good. And she got me all the Dexter books too so I have plenty of interesting things to read to let my eyes relax for sleep.

Speaking of sleep, while the kids were here I thought I may need to have a little help getting to sleep so I got some Tylenol PM to kid of help me a long. As most of you that follow me know, I tend to stay up late and if I miss the window for the sandman, it is TOUGH trying to get back into the moment and fall asleep. Then throw my temper into it and the night sucks. So I hit some Tylenol PM and it worked that first time. A few days later I had a head ache right before bed and some upset stomach so I hit it again with something for my stomach, fell asleep like a baby and relaxed well. NO DREAMS! I was just Nyquil out man! Down and then up the next day.

Then the kids were gone, I was back to my routine and before I knew, it was time to go back to work. I had rested well to get ready for work, no errands that were hard, my wife took it easy on me Sunday and we had a great weekend. Then she ironed for me so I didn’t have to but that night, Sunday that is, I couldn’t get to sleep and I had sinus pain building. Man I cant go in with that going on I have too much to do and get started on: This is going to be a big year for us and way too much to do. So I hit the Tylenol. I woke up and felt like I was a walking dream. Remember that scene in Young Guns? “We’re in the spirit world…they can’t see us!” (Stated all slow and dumblike.) That was me all day.

And first thing that morning I have an extended staff meeting with the guy I stole the Snuggie from, I can’t be lethargic and drug induced! That day was difficult to focus but I did it and it is behind me now. I hit it one more time on Monday night and it was late. I couldn’t get to sleep and head was feeling sinusy again like the original headache never went away and yep…Tuesday was a drag at first but I pushed through! NO MORE TYLENOL PM FOR ME! I cant handle it. Natural fatigue and boring TV will suffice.

I came home today with Taco Bell for dinner. I wanted to try that new Beefy Crunch Box. $5 man! That’s a lot of food! It was awesome as I thought. It created some excitement for me and Mel, well for me, I’ll let her chime in I she wishes. But we didn’t have to cook, no dishes, new meal to try and we had a party man. I, the wife and the little baby, a dose or two of AFV and the news and the dogs getting stupid because they cant have any it was fun. My stomach is stuffed and I dread tomorrow physically after the Taco Bell, but I think it was worth it.

Had some good discussions today at work with some folks. Things are heading in the right direction and it is exciting to see and hear the changes in people and seeing the energy that is there. We need to harness that this year and really focus on how we can develop and help each other grow this year. I am very excited about that for our company but really excited for our teams and what it holds for us in terms of personal and career growth. I have such a great team of people to work with. It is really growing into a family. They make me mad, they make me laugh, they inspire me and make me want to be better so I can be the leader they need as well as be the person I should be personally.

I have learned a lot in the training I have been to and in the ways I have applied different things and the more I take the time to reflect on those things, the better I become in all areas of my life. My family deserves the best of me and I should strive to provide that.

As long as I come home with the energy tomorrow, I think I may begin a regimen of guitar practice and get my fingers back in play. I need to play some Stevie and Jeff Healey as well as Gary Moore.

So it’s off to the couch to relax a little and get out from under the Snuggie and under a throw with my Dexter book and wait on Dave to pop on the tube. No on demand TV worth watching this week with all the reruns on TV but I have some DVD’s and a book and that will do. NIGHT!

XO ILY YM

Little Pink Houses, Andrew Luck and a Faked Orgasm..I'm not kiddin'!

2011-01-04T22:45:00.000-06:00

I was supposed to be working on reviews but I fell asleep for a short nap watching cupcake wars and woke up in time for Chopped. Now I am just watching Sports Center while waiting on David Letterman to begin.

I will definitely have time to work on the reviews tomorrow and will probably take a day from the office to focus on those alone before the due date. I’m not trying to bore you to death I promise. It’s just that reviews are taken more seriously with our company than others. All the leaders are involved in helping understand the real contributions our associates make to the company. We help each other with identifying strengths and development areas as well as growth opportunities. It also gives other leaders insight into the associates in case they are looking to move into another area. We help with guidance on how to work together and help our associates grow personally as well as with their career.

A lot of time goes into writing, reviewing, editing and ensuring that the reviews are not just representing the history of the associate but it provides a path and marker for future progress.

I’m very proud of our company and the way we focus on our teams growth and development and its only getting better.

Enough of that, so, coaches are dropping like flies all over the NFL and college. This next year is going to be interesting. I am thinking if the lockout doesn’t happen, this might be Peyton Manning’s last season and I will have to look for a new hero to admire. Andrew Luck will be coming in at about that time if he doesn’t declare for the draft this year. If he does declare for the draft, I may have a use for the Panthers jersey I have since Carolina said they will pick him as their #1 pick this year. I don’t particularly care for that bit of news but hey, that’s something to root for. Andrew Luck is a great find for the NFL with Brady and Manning coming near twilight. Both great QB’s but everyone gets figured out finally: And these guys may not have enough left for more than a year and may not want to frankly. And btw, I had Andrew Luck on my radar a long time ago as I did Clay at Wisconsin and Poole at Tennessee. I’m in the wrong profession.)

I also like the Chiefs next year for the play offs and maybe the big game. They look good. They’re young, running well and the team is just working pretty good all together. If they true up that defense this year through the draft and some off-season transactions, they look good. Also, if my wife finishes my afghan in Chiefs colors, it’s a lock. I know this because I picked the Titans to go all the way this year at the end of the super bowl last year. Obviously, that didn’t happen. And it’s all because she didn’t finish my Titans afghan. So now, all that powder and dark blue, crimson and white yarn needs a home. But next year, the red, yellow and white will be supporting the Chiefs until Lovie is rode out of town and I hope Martz an Cutler go with him. (For my Bears pals out there.)

Now for the Hollywood segment. What the heck is wrong with Meg Ryan?!?!? I mean really? John Melencamp? And this guy, just separates from his wife and announces he is running around with her. I’m sick. Such a pretty woman whom I thought was smart but now I wonder if she hit her head back when she threw her head around in that scene at Katz deli in When Harry Met Sally. Enough of that.

Well, David is on and I need some dry humor to open up my brain waves and help me relax into oblivion for the night. I may have something more informative for you tomorrow yet tomorrow isn’t here and I ain’t promisin’ nothin’.

XO ILY YM

Well let me tell you....

2011-01-03T22:01:00.000-06:00

Actually, this is going to be very deep this evening (SARCASM) so any lightweight intellectuals may want to disregard reading this. So I was thinking about American Idol this weekend and the naming of Steven Tyler to the judges chair. Nice pick, I don’t like him or Aerosmith but he has talent obviously, has reinvented his sound to a younger generation and is living the dream again. Obviously, he qualifies for judging and will undoubtedly help some of the singers on their way: They will definitely be better if they listen to him.

But my judging chairs would be as follows: Jon Bon Jovi, Madonna, John Cougar Melencamp and Pat Benetar. I mean these people have reinvented, written, choreographed, produced and lived it all. They would be great I think. My opinion of course.

Enough of that. I have been looking at pictures and videos of folks I used to play with in different places around the country and miss it. I haven’t played guitar in a month or so and I would like to play more and eventually find a couple of folks to do some cover stuff locally just for fun. I don’t want to get signed and open up for Justin Beiber (OH GOD THAT WOULD SUCK!), I just want to play out in a comfortable setting that’s not too loud, be able to enjoy some other people playing and maybe do some impromptu stuff with them. But I haven’t sought that avenue out with anyone or any locations that do that sort of thing.

A place down in Knoxville used to do that and I played a couple of times with a friend of mine but I never really prepared or let myself go so that I performed as well as I can or as well as I should have. Missed opportunity and now I am missing the opportunity.

Anyway, watching the Orange Bowl and looking for friends that play up here maybe trying to get something going one day again. We’ll see I guess.

XO ILY YM

Interesting Discovery

2011-01-02T00:28:00.001-06:00

It’s funny how many blogs there are out there, or in here, whatever. But as I look through the many, many “blogs of note”, seeking a kindred spirit that just wants to write down their thoughts and post it for the world to see and critique, makes me giggle a little inside. I mean some of us blog to just put thoughts down. Some of us do it to keep friends and family up to date and some of us do it for attention.

Of course, there are many more reasons to blog and I am sure as many as there are bloggers at least. My main reason is to put down thoughts and musings that come to me through the day that I will most likely relate verbally with friends. However, I also want to try and paint a picture with written words and convey the scents, sounds and feelings of the event without voice inflection. To me that is power and strength. To write something and have someone else feel it with their imagination: To fill in the blanks left there either purposefully or not.

I see things occur every day that in my mind send me on a journey of "Why did that happen?" and "What could have been different?" or I think, "What thing in the past had to occur for this to have occurred right here in front of me now, this way?" I know, it’s either deep to some or ridiculous to others but I think like that. My mind stays busy with these things as I go about my day. I wonder if everything is just cause and effect. For example, I see a wreck in front of me and wonder if that was all set into motion because one person ten years ago handled a part on that car in the manufacturing plant instead of someone else because they went on break. I mean am I crazy for thinking like that?

If that person that was on break had waited ten minutes to take a break and DID handle that bumper, would that wreck have occurred? Silly but it keeps me busy wondering about the electric responses in our world as it is connected to our brains.

So I see these blogs and I wonder, "How many things have I actually effected just by my thoughts expressed, my words I use or the incidents I relate?" It gives me pause to ensure that I preface opinion appropriately and state facts intelligently. We live in an impressionable time and the more we present our lives, thoughts and beliefs online, the many more hundreds of people we have reading it and reacting to it somehow.

Many times I will read something and later that night I am lying awake and thinking to myself, “I wonder what they were really thinking when they said that?”

As the weather changes this year, my blog will revert more to the outdoors and the things I love to do and within that, there will be little stories of my family and our experiences peppered in there. In no way do I think I am special and my stories and experiences deserve the attention of the world, but I think that a small portion of us want to see what the other person is doing and see how much love and real compassion we have in us. We don’t see it enough in application and I believe blogs give us the few ounces of human dignity and compassion that we expect is truly resident in a being. The goodness that needs to exist to make sure our society keeps going in the right direction: The direction of taking care of each other and helping in the way that is from our strengths, even if it is just encouragement in the written word. We're all looking for something whether concious or subconciously.

So keep writing, keep reading. Some of these blogs are entertaining and some of them are just reaching out to see who is listening and can lend a kind ear and a word of support through a rough time. It’s not about superiority or ego. It’s about shrinking our enlarged community down to the true caring and interested readers that can help us help others and stay amused.

XO ILY YM

Football!!!!!

2011-01-01T23:32:00.000-06:00

And the bowl games keep getting worse for me. I have no idea what Wisconsin’s staff was thinking tonight. You have three running backs averaging 7 yards a carry and you throw twice as much as run. ARE YOU STUPID? Wait, don’t answer, I’ll do it for you…

YES!

Now with that said, time to move on with my life. Pro is back on tomorrow and I have to watch with interest to see either the Bears, Chiefs or Colts get to the Super Bowl or it’s going to be a boring game for me. I mean, if Philadelphia and the Pats get in, I will be a Patriot fan for sure. That is unless Kevin Kolb is the QB and Michael Vick is nowhere to be found then I am an Eagles fan unless I’m betting on the game and I become a Pats fan again. What teams do I feel can make it in and what will the game be like?

Pats and Eagles – Interesting

Pats and Bears – Seen it already but interesting and nostalgic.

Pats and Falcons – Blow out and boring

Pats and Saints – Boring

Pats and Rams – Interesting with a good new QB starting against an experienced one.

Pats and Packers – Boring

Steelers and Anyone, boring, I’ll be rooting for anyone from the NFC.

All these games will be fun to watch I think…

Colts and Anyone but the Bears or Rams and I will be rooting Colts. Rams I will be rooting for the Rams, Bears, I will probably be a Colt fan.

Ravens or Chiefs I will be a Ravens or Chiefs fan unless the Bears or Rams are in then it will be tough for me.

Jets and anyone but Eagles I will be an NFC fan but the game will be boring.

Tampa Bay and Jacksonville aren’t ready yet and just don’t have it to get there this year.

So there you have it: “Jimmy Da Greek Marrier’s” entertainment evaluation for the Super Bowl.

Now for my predictions: One of these scenarios is what I feel will be the Super Bowl Match Up.

Most likely match ups?

New England vs. Chicago or Philadelphia

Pittsburgh vs. Chicago or Philadelphia

Indianapolis vs. Philadelphia

My wish match-up given the teams strengths and most likely out come?

Indianapolis vs. Chicago

New England vs. Chicago or Philadelphia.

I’m still holding out hope for St. Louis and Kansas City though. That would be cool to see Eric Berry get a ring and see Sam Bradford in his first.

I am sure to some of you this dialogue is riveting, but I was just playing some of this out in my head and weighed my effort and want to see the super bowl based on the match ups and the stigmas or draws associated with each.

All righty then. Nothing enlightening to impart today so I will send you on your way until next time…adieu!

XO ILY YM

Quick Quip...

2011-01-01T11:57:00.002-06:00

Well I’m up, it’s 2011 and I don’t feel different. I am still waiting for spring. I still see pictures and entries of friends in bands across the country that make me long to play again. I see pictures of the outdoors that make me want to hike and fish as well as take pictures and water color. I have so many things I love and I have not yet reached a level of satisfaction with any of them.

I saw my friend Mickey has an active band life going again. He is pursuing his interest healthily and sounds and looks great. I applaud you my dear friend. I miss you even more.

I got news of an old high school friend passing yesterday. I am not sure how he passed though. I saw pictures of him with his wife and he looked very happy. I wish the best for his family and children and if the pictures tell the story I believe he left after living a happy life. I feel sorrow for his family and their loss. I remember him as a kind and happy person and from the looks of it he only got happier and kinder. He must have left a large hole in the lives of his friends with is passing.

My eyes seem to be blurry this morning and make it hard to read: Very watery and allergy like. It’s making me angry as I try to see the updates and news articles on the internet here.

I shall stop rambling now and try to focus on waking up fully. I have no reason to be hung over or tired as I didn’t stay up all night partying but stayed up and watched boring TV until I fell asleep.

More later as I become inspired and maybe even informative or funny. We’ll see I guess.

XO ILY YM

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T21:07:00.000-06:00

Obviously, I haven’t written in a while. Due to the holidays and my children visiting I wanted to devote my time there and not to my usual rituals. The kids are home now. Their trip was not uneventful, as they were delayed a few times and after getting through all that, because of the delays, their luggage was still in Chicago. The luggage that arrived was from a flight that had landed the night before. Whoops! Southwest proves why they are cheaper again. HA! However, they are home safe and are enjoying the last bit of time before they start working and schooling again. I look forward to seeing them again this summer when we can go do some stuff down town and not be afraid of freezing to death.

I won the Fantasy Football game in my $20.00 league this year. That was pretty cool since I felt I was way out of the running giving Peyton Manning’s performance this year wasn’t his usual. I may try the $100.00 league next year but not sure. I think $20.00 is about all I can muster up courage for when it comes to betting.

I have to feed the kitty on my online betting too if I want to get started on baseball when it begins in April. Between now and then I need to budget so I can fund it and start trying to build money for next football season if it is going to happen anyway. There may not be one the way they are talking lately.

The time with the kids was really nice. Thanks to my wonderful wife’s hard work to make it happen. We were able to pick them up and run to Gurnee for a trip to the mall. We had meals at home mostly, as my daughter wanted to learn a few of my recipes. I don’t feel my cooking has been so good as of late, but we didn’t have many left over’s so either they were hungry or it was edible.

Christmas was good. I won’t laundry list my presents and just say I have many things I wanted and some things I am blessed and glad to have.

I will say I have all the Black Keys albums now. Yes! In addition, I am starting on my NCIS collection. I am beginning to amass a nice DVD collection, which entertains me superbly.

Last weekend of the NFL regular season and I am more ready for baseball than the super bowl. As with fishing, I will have to wait for that as well.

I get yanked back to work occasionally with thoughts of what I have to do when I get back, what I forgot to do or didn’t do before I left but I have a good group of guys taking care of things while I am away.

One funny story as this cant all be reflective: During dinner tonight, Keira had finished hers and began to do her nightly loss of mind thing, and began climbing on the back of the couch. Her tray was on a box she used as a table in front of the couch. She had some tomatoes left on her plate and it sat precariously on the edge of the box that formed her table. She crawled up the back and then slipped backward right after I had told her “Keira, get down. You’re going to get hurt!” and mars is down….

She toppled backward and fell face first into her plate, right where the tomatoes were. Melina was watching and laughing because she could see her face wretched with fright and amazement as she teetered back and forth to edge further toward the floor and back onto the couch. She finally got her self righted and front end back to alee. Once on her balance she sat up and looked warily at me awaiting the tormenting cat call that she knew was coming and it came with a ringing of the bell, “I told you, you were going to fall on your butt and you did! I told you!”

She ran away and hid under the kitchen table with more embarrassment than fear and hid out until the smoke cleared. To help her avoid the chastising feeling she was building to, we began to chant, “Do it Agains!” which is the Keira label for America’s Funniest Home Videos. She said it a few times and finally came out smiling and feeling better about her fall. Pretty funny stuff.

It’s New Years Eve, Tennessee lost, my bowl picks aren’t going too well as my favorites keep losing by two points or less and I really wouldn’t go anywhere tonight even if I had the chance. I am a bit tired and really just want to relax a little, read a bit and maybe watch some stupid TV while my mind finally stops for a bit. I think I actually have a weekend to recuperate from my vacation this time.

So, this next year, most take time to reflect on the past and make resolutions for the future but they hardly ever follow through. They don’t set their goals effectively and don’t say or write them aloud for others to see or hear and thus they have no accountability. I don’t make resolutions. I do however, look for something in my life I should change and I try to do that. I fail some times but I learn from those mistakes and come away knowing more about myself. This year, I need to make sure I take time to do something clear my mind from work and stress. My focus if you have read anything I wrote at all, will be on fishing and outdoors. Things I can do with the family or alone and still get the same results. Disc Golf: It’s free and its exercise.

So o resolutions for me, just solutions.

Happy New Year, happy holidays and I’ll write to you next year.

XO ILY YM

The Cat, The Cat, The Cat is on Fire...we don't need no water let the ....

2010-12-25T23:12:00.000-06:00

All right then: Two days of catch up.

Let’s cover Christmas: My wife got me a great coat, some CD’s I love as well as a couple of DVD’s and some wonderful gift cards to the Mecca. (As said in previous BLOG entries, that’s Bass Pro Shops). We had a great morning. Especially Keira. She got an art easel that she draws on quite a bit and her Zhu Zhu pets. She likes those as well. Many things from the west friends and family as well like coloring books and puzzles.

The boy, Nic got some cool stuff too, clothes he needed and wanted and my wife and I put together a box of all the things he has stolen from us in the past and on a regular basis so he will stay away from them in the near future: Underwear (mine not my wife’s), Slim Jims, Oreo’s, an orange chocolate ball, socks etc….

I got my wife some of the things she likes but nothing like I really wanted to get here. Next year will be different on every front.

Last night we missed on the tapas meal a little. We made onion rings and Bruschetta. I tried to make some homemade potato cakes and missed terribly. We also skipped on the potato skins but should make some this week or soon. While the kids are here, we plan to make Pizza Meat loaf, Potato Soup and General Tsaos. We’ll also have some homemade fresh salsa and a chicken pesto tortilla pizza or two. A trip to either the sushi place or the Mongolian stir-fry may be in there as well but we’ll see when they get here.

No onto events of the day. I took the hams to work for the folks working Christmas day. I hope they enjoyed that because they sure looked good. Left there and then trekked to find some hamburger for my wife’s lasagna since we forgot it at the store yesterday. This was an effort of course on Christmas Day. But I found a Mexican grocery that was open and it had some great lean meat there as well as vegetables and such. Picked up a few tomatoes never can have enough, and we headed home.

I tried to watch Predators a second time and fell asleep in the exact same spot. Action movies like that just don’t do it for me anymore. I need a movie that will make me think. I woke up and made a grill cheese in my iron skillet and some tomato soup. Yummy lunch.

Later my wife began cooking the ingredients for the lasagna. I went in to start some of the bread we were going to have for dinner and was putting my ingredients aside as Oliver our cat, began pacing back and forth on the pony wall. My wife had a candle burning on the end and the wall ends right in front of the cupboard where his food is kept. When he does this he is saying, “Hey stupid! You haven’t fed me, or I don’t remember you feeding me so how bout some grub!” As we went to the cupboard to get

I want that Yoshi Knife! WOW! And it cuts mufflers too! Sorry, watching an infomercial while this mountain climbing show is on from Yosemite on Ultimate Sports Network. There even showing my dull knives on here as the alternative that sucks. Lord. Back to the story…

Every time I went to the cupboard or Mel did, he would trot over to the edge to paw at us and make us notice him and get his food with a meow. Now I am over by the sink and I see him step across the wall over the candle and reach toward Mel. Keira is down below looking up at him laughing. Now Melina is saying “Oliver, you’re gonna singe your hair again.” (He has often singed his hair by sitting too close to the flame. His tail swishes and he sits there till it burns like a moron and then the house smells like brunt hair and he yelps and looks around at us like we did it.)

This time the moron stays over the flame and Melina is yelling, “You’re on fire! you’re on fire!” and swooshing at him with her hand. I see the smoke and start laughing because he’s just standing there over the flame, smoke rising and Keira is squealing and Melina is yelling and batting at him to get down and she finally pushes him off. Oliver flies off the wall and looks at me like ‘What the hell? I just want some food!”

Melina looks at me and yells, “You’re no help!”

Keira runs off under the table yelling “Olivour is on fiwer! On Fiwer!

Oliver in the mean time, still smoldering, is by the sliding windows looking outside bewildered thinking, “You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family. SOMEBODY OPEN THE DAMN DOOR! I’M GONNA PROVE THAT PHRASE WRONG!”

I’m still laughing as I walk out of the kitchen toward the cat. Melina is telling me the whole story and I feel like the referee that was signaling good, when the other referee was signaling no good because the ball went outside the pole on his side of the field goal but I didn’t see it. We checked him out and other than singes fur and stank, he was fine and no wore for the wear, however, he reminded me of the dog in Funny Farm where Chevy Chase had to lift the dog’s tail out of the fair and put it out because he was so lazy.

That cat man, he has a rough existence but he is happy. He has plenty of laps to get on, he is part of most of Keira’s little play sets whether he wants to be or not and Penny loves him and when Luke goes outside for a walk, Oliver pines for him to come back until he walks back in the door.

So now I am watching this mountain climbing show as I write this and I find myself very interested in the freedom and release this sport brings to a soul, however, there is no way in hell I will be climbing any mountain any time soon especially El Capitan. But I do admire them greatly. When they talk of their younger existence and how they mastered these peaks, you see their eyes light up and they are living it all over again. They are living it with zeal and are relaying a piece of history where the sport changed and they lead the change. It is very inspiring to watch as they speak technical jargon and nomenclature and how they used it to scale these faces. Applying that kind of fervor and commitment to any thing you do will make you feel good about your effort as well as your accomplishments regardless of the outcome. You guessed it, I can’t wait to get out fly fishing.

Well that’s all for today, maybe more tomorrow after the kidlets get here and my fantasy football championship is over. Hopefully, I will be a few dollars richer after Monday night’s game.

XO ILY YM

Santa's big but your parents never told you about Christmas Steve!

2010-12-23T22:02:00.000-06:00

It’s been a few days since I have updated here but not too long. I think I am getting better at this, updating anyway. The writing, well, it’s coming along but I have been distracted with other things like fishing and Christmas.

Yesterday, I left work a little early: boss tells you to leave, you leave. Came home and was able to spend some time with the little one and relax a little before the fray began.

We had burritos again, my favorites, and I made some refried beans, which, were a little runny. Then, after dinner, the beans had set and were perfect for burritos. Figures.

Today I stayed with Keira while my wife went out to finish some shopping and such and we had a great time. We had breakfast together and chatted and played. At one point I said “Keira, you know what tomorrow is?”

“What?” she says in her quick cute tone.

“Christmas Eve!” I say.

“Christmas Steve? Who’s that daddy?” she says.

“No Christmas EVE.”

“Who is he daddy?”

“I give up. He’s the elf that comes before Santa and sets everything up.”

“Oh. Okay. Oliver’s a bad boy. He blah blah….” And she is onto the next thing.

Christmas time and Christmas crazies are out. Isn’t it funny how we aren’t a Christmas crazy but everyone else is? Anyway, we’re out today and driving around and this guy almost slams into us in an intersection as he is turning our way. He is in the intersection and is trying to beat the light as I am in mid turn. He beeps at me as if I am wrong. Oh well. And the day went on with more of the same, someone jumping lanes and swerving, to someone seeing I am not as fast as they are and skirting around me. Let it go boy.

We got some stuff done today but not all. I get to take in two big hams tomorrow for work, I always like doing that kind of stuff. And we are planning our meal here at home as well. Tapas tomorrow night and big meal on Saturday. So I need to get back to that now.

I already have some good gifts given to me early and I love them. Especially my coat today. Its nice, very nice!

ILY XO YM

Is it really not Winter yet?

2010-12-21T10:54:00.000-06:00

We got officially 4 inches of snow last night. Felt like close to 6 inches when I took Luke out for a walk last night around 8. Whatever, they say 4 inches so it is four.

I would have liked to have stayed home and played with KB in the snow a little, try out her new snow block maker to make castles or igloos. That would have been fun. Nevertheless, I am at work on conference calls all day. I am lucky that my office I do not have any windows and my routes through the building I do not have the opportunity to look outside unless I make an effort.

I am finding it hard to focus this week given it is Christmas and most everyone is taking the approach that vacation started Monday, and my team and I have to remind people, “We have three days of work ahead of us you know?” However, aside from the Christmas distraction I have been distracted with the outdoors. My staff has given me Cabela’s gift cards: Such an awesome gift. I love getting cards for there and Bass Pro, any outdoor store really.

Because of this, I have been researching the site and looking for the best purchase to maximize the cards. My focus this year is to Fly Fish as much as possible, fish in general really. I have also been focusing on camping, as I want to take my little girl on her first trip this summer. I want to do at least one day to do some hiking and fishing and then sleep one night in the wild. My list currently has a new fly reel, a tippet wallet, some new tippet material, a new hat and hopefully my old vest will fit now so I don’t have to get a new one.

With looking at all these resources, it has made me want it to be spring badly. That’s not good as it isn’t Winter yet really. I am hoping that by the end of March it will be warming up in the water enough to start chasing some trout or musky in the Warm Water Discharge up here. Then by late April early May, I can start chasing walleye, sauger and bass a little more. I should be able to catch a few Blue Gills for eating too and increase my practice time with my fly rod. The ultimate goal is to get proficient with my fly equipment so I can take it with me wherever I go and start logging my time across the country. The end game is a chance to fly fish for Chinook or Steelhead in Alaska or maybe a trip to Colorado for rainbow or browns. I am getting very excited.

Just thinking about standing in a stream about half shin high wakes me up: My line is out floating down the current near a big rock. Mending the line so it floats naturally and then see it straighten and a soft tug pulls on the line. A small ripple in the water as the fish swirls and then it raises its head to spit the lure. Bow the rod to the fish and let him roll.

This, I think, will be a great way for me to get back in the wild a bit, share the experience with KB at times, take the boy a few times as well and do it cheaply too. Its just $16.00 for the license and $6.00 for the trout stamp and I have the Wisconsin and Minnesota borders here too. Maybe a trip to the Mall of America and I can hit one of the thousands of lakes up there. It definitely opens some doors to some great experiences for me anyway.

The whole time I am writing this I am thinking selfishly obviously, and then my wife posts this video of this wonderful guy in India that is taking care of the indigent in his neighborhood. They were cooking food and feeding them, giving them baths and just overall taking good care of them occasionally by spending time with them in ways no one else would. And I felt like crap. We usually, I say we meaning me and most of America, throw money at it. I want to do more than that and at least do a little that means something like Meals on Wheels. Just a little time spent with someone and sharing a moment can go a long way.

Over all, I am really liking the holidays more. My wife has led to that and adding her CFO skills has made that appreciable as well. We still have some challenges before it gets to where I am fully immersed in the season but this next year I feel will be different and much more pleasurable. Thank you honey for all you do.

So here’s to a great trip to Cabela’s and Gurnee with Bass Pro and the start of a journey for me logging and writing about my fishing experiences and seeing a new human experience the outdoors with me as my other two did and as I hope to continue with them and the one I call “the boy” as well. I plan to teach him fly fishing this year. Fun to come.

XO ILY YM

A Weekend Note or Two

2010-12-20T09:44:00.002-06:00

I am in the final round of the fantasy playoff. I won over the man who knocked me out last year so there was a tasty victory in itself.

While at Wal-Mart this past weekend, I was on the way to the restroom by the back stock room when I heard an employee tell a customer, “Let me check the electronic computer for that.” I was first in awe that they had an electronic computer but more so that they were using a NON-electronic computer. I immediately got my mind moving in all directions thinking, “Does she have an abacus near by? Is there really a computer that is not electronic? Why on earth do you describe one computer over another in that manner?” With this comment, you can see it was a busy afternoon for my brain.

Off I go back to my wife and daughter to convey the message and still thinking heavily on it, the only thing I can assume is the person meant mainframe. Maybe she was looking for an item that was in stock but not on the shelves and she wanted to check against the main frame and not just the little handheld she was using. Either way, this conversation kept me busy for ten minutes or so while I performed the functions in the rest room.

I had a horrible day for cooking until dinner came. My lunch I had prepared partially the night before by making my beans with salt pork. Then Sunday when we came home, I made some jalapeño cornbread as I always do when I have beans. I used my iron skillet as I always do. I followed the directions for regular cornbread as I always do and I chopped up my jalapeno and put it in the mixture, heated my oil and coated the pan and poured it all in to bake. When it emerged from the oven, it was stuck to the pan, it wasn’t cooked right and was so soft and fluffy it tore apart. TIRADE, RANTING, RAVING, THROWING OF THINGS, BENDING OF A SPOON, SURSING, SWEARING, MAKING UP OF CURSE WORDS AND VULGARITIES. Luke, our oldest dog scurries off to hide, the cat runs under the Christmas tree to maximize his evilness while he can under the guise of my event, yet Penny sits by the pony wall with her head turned to the side wondering when I’m going to drop something. Funny, but at the time I have no patience for this: MOVE ALONG LITTLE RAT!

So I sit and sulk and rapture myself from the throes of anger until I settle that I will eat my beans and I shall have do it with NO CORNBREAD, but I will include my onion and a pickle in homage to the great Huck Finn’s restaurant in Pigeon Forge of which I love the vittles and catfish dearly. The beans were good but not as tasty as normal as I ran out of chicken broth when making them but they’ll do! The onion was sharp and the pickle delicious. The cornbread missing was a definite absence that can not occur again when I make this dish.

The dinner was awesome for me. I am told and I believe her that my wife’s chicken was edible, but my steak was awesome! I had marinated the steak in soy sauce, garlic, Worcestershire, pepper and salt. I seared them, I had two by the way, in my iron skillet first and then laid them on a baking sheet. Normally I would use the pan but baking two I didn’t have enough room in the skillet. My wife made me a baked potato as well. For some reason I don’t get them in the oven in time or leave them in too long. I can eat them in any shape they are in but I don’t like to force my palate on others when its an obscure taste like a baked potato over done.

The only thing missing from this meal was sautéed mushrooms with red wine or burgundy. That would have been nice.

I have the steak for lunch today and haven’t had breakfast yet, and am already hungry. I forgot my steak sauce but the steak will actually hold up without it so I have great lunch plans!

I have a plan for my Senior Director’s Christmas gift. He’ll be getting it after the holidays but I think he’ll appreciate it. Bacon Cupcakes. Sounds horrible but the recipe I have will be awesome I am sure. I will be testing it out this week at home to see what comes of it. I’ll post if it turns out okay. If not, I guess I’ll get him a snuggee.

ILY XO YM

Saturday Tripping

2010-12-18T22:20:00.001-06:00

Today went well. We got up early, my wife earlier than I of course, and took Keira B with us to grocery shop. We still needed to get some Christmas stuff too so this trip may take us a while. KB and trips don’t usually go well depending on the time of day and her metabolism. Do you remember the snickers commercial with Aretha Franklin being a diva? Yes, KB.

However, on this trip she handled it extremely well. We put her in the car with a DVD to watch, Disney’s Princess and the Frog. She watched it both ways and was a great little girl. In the store, she was very nice: asking to get down from the cart and walking with us, shopping and being a big girl. She found a baby doll she wanted and held all around the store taking care of it and talking to it. I was very proud of her.

We came home and I made some of my home made potato soup, heated up some sausage balls I forgot to take for the office party and read the newspapers and magazines that had piled up through the busy week while my girls took a nap. They awoke and came down stairs and had their lunch and then we watched the Grinch who Stole Christmas, Jim Carey version.

After this, my wife and I headed out to find those elusive gifts that are still, well, eluding us. No luck. A couple that we did find were broke and that isn’t any good.

Back home now we began to munch on the Taco Bell we picked up on the way home and I found my wife’s favorite team on TV. A rarity she actually got to watch a hockey game of a team she liked: The San Jose Sharks. We watched that while we let the KB drift off asleep and then my wife looked a little drowsy as well so she headed to bed.

Now I sit here alone in the quiet watching Untold Stories of the ER, writing this blog and drinking my ice water. It’s pretty cold and I drink so much water I get full and stuffed and collapse on the couch drifting off watching my favorite boring shows. I need to watch a few shows to catch up but I also have a DVD from Netflix, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, I hope that it is good.

I got a great gift from my supervisors today and I plan on doing some damage at that store once I can make a trip there. BARGAIN CAVE HERE I COME!!!! You guys rock!

I just want to say thank you to my wonderful wife who makes Christmas wonderful and handles so much. Thank you my dear for great holidays and everydays because of what you do.

ILY XO YM

UPDATE: Sorceror's Apprentice: SUCKS, for lack of better words. I found myself annoyed with the dialogue and the little rodent that played the boy. His voice has to be a voice over for other Disney movies and I kept picturing him being this whiney little cartoon rat. Next Movie!

Ketchup (Catsup) from last Two Days

2010-12-16T14:19:00.000-06:00

I have been out the last couple of days from the blogging world. I have been studying for my final in History this week. I don’t think I did as well as I would have liked. I feel I passed but could have done better. I am very happy to have gone back to school and am on a path that I feel will enlighten me further and bring enjoyment, as I get grumpier and older. I love learning and improving my moneymaking skills is an awesome plus for me.

I did receive a 92% on my paper. Some of it I expected as I wrote too much and the data provided didn’t really reflect the content I wrote for my paper. My topic was The Corps of Discovery and Its Impact on the Growth of America. We were to write eight pages, provide a bibliography containing four sources: two primary and two secondary. I received a 20 out of 20 on my bibliography and an excellent rating. My style I received a 19 out of 20; Grammar and spelling was a 17 out of 20 and Data was a 17 out of 20 due to I didn’t cover much of the core trip stories and data but I expressed a thorough knowledge of the event and its impact on American Growth both negative and positive. Again, my faux pas was writing almost double the expected pages and not speaking to every aspect of the event. I will do better next time, period.

I have been extremely busy with work, this week especially. A lot is being accomplished yet it is very tiresome. We are having many meetings and discussions: the direction is positive but very taxing on the brain. Today we have our Holiday Extravaganza with two of my shifts: the midnight and swing shift. We will be doing a white elephant and a potluck meal with the main entrée provided by the office. Then I get to do it a third time tomorrow with the day shift and the rest of the office. I will be bringing pigs in a blanket with cheese this evening and tomorrow my sausage balls.

I need to give a shout out to the awesome people I work with that have made this company the best wireless company in the country. I want to list the awards and accolades we have received this year and say thank you to all those that have worked to make this company great and continue to help each other be better than they were before so we can continue to be the best. Most of the awards are direct from the customer bases drawing first hand recognition for the service and integrity of our company. AWESOME STUFF.

JD Power Award for call quality in the North Central Region – 10th Year in a row
2010 Customer Value Enhancement of the Year Award for North America – Frost & Sullivan
Consumer Reports, listed U.S. Cellular on their list of “Nice” companies to do business with this holiday season because of our Overage Protection offering: THE ONLY WIRELESS COMPANY ON THE LIST!!!
Audit Integrity ranked us as one of the Most Trustworthy Companies in a list of only 100 most trusted companies.
And even more impressive are the number of Best Cell Phone Company awards we received in our markets, including: New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Virginia and Iowa.

I am very proud of what we are accomplishing and the more we do the better we become.

I still have presents to buy for Christmas and it’s not due to procrastination, there are sales people! So, that will be some fun this next week. I hope to make some extra mullah through my fantasy leagues, which will enhance those after Christmas sales a little more. :-D

So, off to work some more after this break.

ILY XO YM

Hello

2010-12-13T22:39:00.001-06:00

We got our Christmas tree today and it’s very pretty. We got a good deal on it too. We went to Menard’s and they didn’t have crap really. And then we went to Lowe’s where we found more trees but not many nice ones that weren’t a thousand feet tall and a million dollars. But we found a decent one and my wife got us a deal man! Pretty tree. No pictures posted until we get it fully decorated.

It was a non-eventful day at work. Lots of progress and planning that is going the right direction. The guys are fired up to be productive and have a great plan to get us moving forward this year and we will accomplish some great things this year. I am very excited with our company and especially our department.

We’re coming up on Christmas now and I still have some presents to get and we still have packing to do as well. I am liking how the little girl is getting into Christmas and the other holidays. She is really starting to be fun.

I’m tired, I have a book to read and some relaxing to do so TTFN.

XO ILY YM

I have a checklist damn it!

2010-12-12T00:18:00.000-06:00

Today’s Checklist (As the blog goes on, this list evolves and should have checks next to completed entries but the format of the font on the site doesnt support that. Visual is impaired a little when the list apears.)

1. Bank

2. Library

3. Gas

4. Sweet Tomatoes

5. Go to the Mall

6. Go To Target

7. Go To Grocery store

8. Go Pick up Tree

9. Go home

10. Relax

Cam Newton won the Heisman. He’s the third from Auburn to win it. In a few years, maybe sooner, will be the second to have it stripped from him. It’s not just me that has this prejudice against him. Even the snide way he accepted the award, to me, disrespected it. He sauntered up and didn’t look surprised at all. IS he a good athlete? Yes. Is he a credible athlete? No. I’m telling you there is some Michael Vick level crap going on there. Even reporters, the one’s that voted for him, are saying things like this:

“Still, it invites speculation that the newest Heisman winner could perhaps be heading down the same path as Reggie Bush, who returned his trophy three months ago after the NCAA ruled that he and his family received cash and gifts while he was at Southern California.”

Now back to my day. I woke up a bit after 8:00 a.m., trying to get as much done as possible before the pending blizzard. That’s not a joke for those that don’t live here or pay attention to the news. We were trying to get as much done BEFORE THE PENDING BLIZZARD. Went by the bank and deposited some funds and picked up some funds after a short diversion of standing in line, doing some research on human interaction and customer satisfaction whether I wanted to or not. Here’s why.

Standing in line, about 8 of us I counted, all waiting to do our different banking business. In the past, I do this every two weeks mind you, they have not had enough staff to keep the line moving appropriately. Appropriately is an adverb that is subjective, but I think my audience can prepare the subjectivity needed to create the vision o this debacle effectively.

A few things that have happened in past events here, two attendants, one floor manager representative whatever you want to call it, is on duty and they cant move the line along well enough to take less than 15 minutes or so to stand in line. If one of the reps approach you and take you into the back, it will take even longer because they can’t get your money any faster, they still have to go to a teller. Today they had 9 people working. I was sure I would be in and out in less than 10. Nope. Not sure how long it was but it was annoying as to the reason why.

3 tellers in the front 1 in the back, and 4 representatives, yet only 1 can provide money back. The others can only TAKE money. The rub is none of us know this until we saunter up to the window and perch on the ledge, offer up our papers and requests and we’re told politely, “Oh, sorry. I can only take deposits, I can’t give back money.” In my annoyance of hearing this quite a few times I say out loud when the final teller I go to tells me that same phrase, “This is a bank right? You do have money here at THE BANK?”

The teller answers then with, “The only one of us that has access today is down at the end here.”

Yes, I have a response as you wonder inside reading this relating of my day. Why wouldn’t I to such bright, young, energetic burgeoning business persons. My response, “It would be nice if one of your 9 folks standing back there with you doing nothing could possibly come out here and help us understand the best way to route through your maze. The information you just shared would have been very helpful to us about 15 minutes ago. I don’t think it needs to be a secret and if we had two lines and were informed, your jobs may even be easier as well and there wouldn’t be a huddle standing back behind the counter waiting for money from this one poor little girl who has it down here: Just a suggestion.”

This was met with astonishment that someone actually spoke against the Group Think impressments we were pushed into by these young wiper snappers thinking they were doing us a favor by withholding the information from us for a greater good for ourselves: Enough of this location.

We went to the library, picked up and dropped off books. I got the first Dexter book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter: excited about that.

We then trekked over to Sweet Tomatoes where I indulged my self in a verbal sparring match with my wife. That was fun. I had to work up the appetite and get the aggression out before the mall so strangers don’t take the brunt of my frustrations as they are just out doing what I am doing only more annoyingly and with entitlement that pisses me off.

Lunch was nice after our spat: I made my wife cry. Kudos there. That resulted in a trip to Jared. Just kidding. We had lunch, paid too much for the crap we got but I got something cool out of the deal. Through the conversation, which started the argument about purchasing another vehicle in the spring, I have been awarded my old truck back. I will be pursuing repairing my old truck. I love it so much and this really does has me elated. I mean, I was liking the idea of getting a new car but I love this truck and if I can get another year out of it, a new car a year or so later will be welcomed but this truck really means a lot to me. It has been a great vehicle and no other car or truck has ever made me feel like it is an extension of me than this one.

I sat in it the other to start it up and had to jump it off to charge the battery. As I sat in it I could hear it groan as the battery drained saying, “You don’t see me anymore. Why don’t you ever take me out. I have been looking at this stack of Christmas decorations and whatever other stuff you have there for over 6 months! At least put the fishing, hunting, and camping stuff over here so I can remember the good times.” Today as I walked by I heard it say, “Any change? I see snow. You need me in snow.” I haven’t had the conversation with it yet but I may tomorrow so it will know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and possibility of the truck rising in performance and importance again. Very exciting.

I did apologize to my honey for my discrepancies and part of the disagreement that was not right nor deserving for her. And she and I found some things out we knew but had never really resonated. So it was needed and I think it helped. Saved a lot of people at the mall and actually lent to aiding a stranger once we were out in the tussle.

We had to look at the map to find where we were going. Woodfield Mall is a hellish place regardless, but put in Christmas, a mall manager that increases temperature instead of reduces it when it is packed and the idiot mentality with entitlement and you have a recipe for a nightly news show with just highlights of morons behaving badly.

My wonderful beautiful wife with the Xmas center of the mall behind her. MWAH!

We stand at the map and start looking for our target and this woman asks my wife in a southern drawl near to my forefathers, “Do you know where the Baby Gap is?” My wife immediately keys in and she is from Tennessee. We talk with her for a while and in true southern fashion, we connect but also in American fashion, she shells out most of her life’s story and we shell out some of ours. We use the Laws of Connectedness and Esteem to inform her of how and where to get to the things she wants. We assure her of her routes and efforts while she is here and actually, it was a pleasant conversation. I feel we helped someone who felt alone and immersed a little more than she expected to be in one of the biggest malls in America to have a good shopping experience and a more confident trip to the Chicago area than she was having.

Review Amended Checklist:

 Bank

 Library

 Gas

 Sweet Tomatoes

 Argument with Wife

 Make Wife Cry

 Make up with Wife

 ~~Go To Jared~~

 Go to the Mall

 Make someone else happy

 Go To home pick up Yarn

 Go To Target

 Go To Grocery store

 Go Pick up Tree

 Go home

 Relax

You’ll notice one amendment here that is obvious from the first list, “Go Home to Pick Up Yarn.” Yep. My wife is selling some yarn on Craig’s list, pretty-good prices too. She sees an offer come in and this woman wants to meet us around 2:30 p.m. My wife is reading me the email and I notice a trend in the communication. The lady is in sales at a low level and apparently new to it because she is using a sales technique on my wife, that doesn’t work at all by the way because my wife has a set price and that’s it, the technique was used feebly and weekly anyway. But it’s the small commitments up to the main point you want an agreement to and this woman drops the price in half after getting my wife to go through a stage Yes answers and agreements that are very small and then the ultimate motive at the end of the deal WABAM! Give me your crap for way less than you want! No. End of that part of the list. Checklist amended to, Go To Target and ignore moron.

We go to target and obtain the necessary items we looked for, settled on Dinner, BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT of the day. Besides avoiding Jared, that’s up there.

We get home now and the boy is in a mood because he didn’t get to go out and he’s getting pissy as teen-agers do but he was prepared mentally all the way through the point of when we left of what his day would be like. BABY-SITTING! Deal with it! So he’s in the kitchen giving the mother lip and I hear it but let her handle it. He comes out and I try to lighten the mood a little by saying, “Get out of those bags you don’t need to see anything in there anyway. I’ll take care of it.” Met with no response because he’s pissy. I lend the comment of “and lose the attitude.” He responds with tone and saying “What?” I lose it. Both barrels. Send him inside and we discuss further all together where we are at with this attitude and you can imagine how that goes. I have been on him a lot lately for many different reasons and they are deserving, but I try to hold back as well because constant barrage of discipline doesn’t help anyone.

Now he’s getting ready for work and I am not feeling bad about my position at all, but I am feeling bad that he is getting constant stress from me, whether he deserves it or not it is worrisome and I know making him stressful. So as soon as he gets back down stairs and Is ready to go, I made up my mind to give him a hug to let him know, even though he is an ass and pisses me off daily, I still love him. I didn’t say it but I hugged him for a long time, made the wife cry again and bonus! Made the boy cry! Where’s that damn check list?

Review Amended Checklist:

 Bank

 Library

 Gas

 Sweet Tomatoes

 Argument with Wife

 Make Wife Cry

 Make up with Wife

 ~~Go To Jared~~

 Go to the Mall

 Make someone else happy

 ~~Go To home pick up Yarn~~

 Go To Target

 Make Wife Cry Again

 Make Boy Cry

 Go To Grocery store: YEAH NOT HAPPENING TODAY

 Go Pick up Tree YEAH NOT HAPPENING EITHER

 Go home THANK GOD!

 Relax LAST ITEM AWAITING MY ATTENDANCE!!!!!

Now we are emptying shopping bags, I should say my wife is, and Keira is looking for her gift. She asks when we come home usually, well after she tells us she missed us and welcomes us home, she says “What’d ya get me?” I respond and mommy responds, “Nothing today honey.”

She spots some Zuu-Zuu Pets and is on alert. That damn kid is smart. Crisis averted as it is hidden appropriately now and we distract her with new mittens we got her for the impending Blizzard. Yeah, a call back to a reality that’s on it’s way. I start trying to put the mittens on her and one goes in but the other is giving me trouble. I cant get her thumb in and she is trying hard. I tried for a long time too with her laughing and trying hard with me. I’m telling her a story the whole time about how we’re going to use these to build snow men and forts and snow balls and how they will keep her hands dry and warm and she is loving it and really looking forward to it. I give her to mommy and mommy determines the one glove is just not sized right and wont work. My little girls heart is broke. I just melt as she comes over to me expressing how much she wants to go out in the snow tomorrow and make forts and snowmen and snow balls and how she cant now that her gloves don’t work and she’s sorry. I died inside So, where’s the freakin’ list now?

Review Amended Checklist:

 Bank

 Library

 Gas

 Sweet Tomatoes

 Argument with Wife

 Make Wife Cry

 Make up with Wife

 ~~Go To Jared~~

 Go to the Mall

 Make someone else happy

 ~~Go To home pick up Yarn~~

 Go To Target

 Make Wife Cry Again

 Make Boy Cry

 Go To Grocery store: YEAH NOT HAPPENING TODAY

 Go Pick up Tree YEAH NOT HAPPENING EITHER

 Go home THANK GOD!

 Make daughter cry. Is this day going to end?

 Relax LAST ITEM AWAITING MY ATTENDANCE!!!!!

Finally dinner is here. I sit down with my girl and we have our dinner and its fun and she is being a doll. Dogs are jockeying for food which drives me nuts but is a usual occurrence. Kid gets a shower and I do the dishes. They come down stairs and Keira and I play guitar to some music as I am trying to develop my calluses and improve my rusty twang-chung. She says she’s a rocker and is strumming on anything she can hld and make into a guitar. Very cute stuff. Finally, relaxing. Last item on the list checkedoff and I am tired and fall asleep like an old man at 8 p.m. Now I am up with new energy and awaiting the Blizzard. Oh it will come.

Thanks for sticking out this long to those of you that did. There was much more but I don’t think anyone is ready for a novella today. Maybe I can flashback to what I didn’t cover tomorrow.

ILY XO YM

FRIDAY! (and I'm tired)

2010-12-10T21:54:00.000-06:00

Training’s over. I did have an Aha moment for myself in that the training was a very high level view of knowledge I already have. I have now come to the realization I need to start applying the tools I have in more detail. By that, I mean I am using the tools I am comfortable with and recognize areas where I can use others but don’t apply them affectively. I can do better and my plan of action when I get back is to start preparing to do just that.

The main point I got after this epiphany was I have retained the knowledge even though I don’t use the nomenclature. The concepts are there and I need to employ them further. Lookout next years review. It will be even better.

The weekend is here and so is the weather. I have begun to like the cold weather some. It brings excitement but to me it also brings a longing to be in the woods with a bow or camera working and existing with the wildlife. I truly love sitting in a tree stand for 4 to 6 hours just watching the wildlife come to life around me as they either ignore me or get used to my presence. The things one sees are truly wonderful. I can understand to some extent why Thoreau would take off to the woods and spend so much time living alone.

I say some extent because the idea that one doesn’t need to be a part of society is a little too far for me. I agree with morality existing only in the company of another. I mean you can think anything in your head you want to. Until it comes out of your mouth, you are the only one to judge it. Only you know you and can be true to yourself. But once one has delved that far away and stayed away so long, getting back into society is a labor since you would give the impression of having turrets syndrome and vomiting vile ideas and beliefs onto am unassuming crowd of folks and would probably land you in some deepwater depending on the company you keep and where you live. Okay, now I am just rambling.

Touching on this however, I noticed through some studying recently I believe I am a hybrid transcendentalist. I dwell on the romanticism of nature and our impact to that ecosystem. I believe everything starts with the understanding of one’s self and we evolve from their using experiences and guidance from the respected and authoritative figures in our lives: good or bad. So applying that concept without the notion one doesn’t need to possess morality or social conformity, call me a transcendentalist.

Back to the weather, we’re looking at 3 more inches this weekend and freezing on Sunday. We still have plenty of researching and hunting to do for Christmas as well as just stock the homestead up with sustenance. If the weather holds out I still need to take the little girl to see some lights.

Not sure what I plan for dinners this weekend. Not in the mood for anything really but many things come to mind. I’ll probably have an idea by mid morning Saturday and post some menus on Facebook. Then in my daily notes here I’ll probably give a run down as well.

Gotta go now! Dave Letterman will be on with in the half hour, I have on demand to catch up on as well as start studying for my final next week. TTFN!

ILY XO YM

Thanks and a Quick Update

2010-12-09T23:15:00.000-06:00

I wanted to thank you all for following and commenting on my blog. I apologize for being away for the last two days and not providing the promised entertainment. I was otherwise detained through school, work, and fatigue. Tonight fatigue is taking over again. Last night I was up late again, tidying up some work mishap from earlier in the day and then had to trek into Rosemont for training this morning.

The training session is good so far. I like the material and the instructor is charismatic. Needed for a course about expanding your influence and teaching the art of persuasion I guess. I see a lot of opportunity for me in the lessons. I mostly like the networking and hearing other’s stories and input from so many different work disciplines and industries. Tomorrow is the last day and then the weekend!

We have some errands to do as always but I plan, as long as the weather holds out, taking the little one and my wife on a Christmas Lights Tour around the area. Keira is a t a level now where she really appreciates the lights and the season. It is so nice to see that light in her eyes when she talks about Christmas and Charlie Brown.

I need to get off here and stop boring those that dare step into the domain of the Muffin. I’m tired, have to finish my homework and relax a little.

Thank you again to all those following and helping me improve my writing. It means a lot to me and I appreciate it greatly.

2010-12-08T22:46:00.002-06:00

Long day and getting to be a long night. Not much going to be creative this night. Sorry. Have to check back tomorrow for anything new.

The Ritual

2010-12-07T21:49:00.000-06:00

Every night there is a ritual that occurs: almost every night anyway. Actually no, a ritual occurs every night it’s just what ritual. It involves the animals of the house and the child and the mother.

The mother perched in her seat is focused on crochet. The child is up and down up and down from the couch with the exclamation every now and then of “Please move penny.” Penny is our cattle dog mix puppy who lies next to mother at night. Once this begins, Penny knows what’s coming: She’s about to be called by me to move her from the spot the child wants nearest the mother. It happens over and again.

Now as this plays out with the occasional seating arrangement changes, the cat is coming down stairs and beginning his nightly ritual. His name is Oliver. Oliver will now assert himself into the mix by lying on the lap of the mother pawing at her legs trying to get her to go to bed so he can take his place with the father, me, and begin his nightly sleep. Cats sleep about an average of eighteen hours a day by the way. Yeah.

Now the mother has had enough and it is time for the child to wind down and go to bed. The mother prepares her crochet and gathers the things that will accompany her and the child to bed. This is the signal for Penny, the dog to prepare for bed as well. Once this trigger occurs, the child and dog both know that walking up the stairs to bed is eminent and the second part of the ritual begins.

Penny, I believe actually mimicking the mother and child will come to me and stand on her hind feet, embracing me about the shoulders nuzzling in my beard as if to give me a hug and kiss good night. Yes, I kid you not. She usually comes to me first before the child or mother, I don’t know if that is a good thing or not but I will tell myself it is. The cat sits back and monitors the situation for the right moment that he can pounce onto my chest and purr the night away.

The child will run to me and perform her ritual, Kiss to daddy! Then using symbols she points to her eye, “I”, makes a heart in her chest “Love” and finishes with a point to me “Daddy!” She then tells me she wants a kiss and a hug and her stuffed animal, currently a fluffy dog, must perform the same ritual. A month or so ago it was a tri-fecta of stuffed animals, the doe Clarisse from Rudolph, a ghost and a purple sock monkey.

The mother tells me she loves me as she leans over to kiss me good night; Penny waits for her last attack so she can leap in and get another hug and kiss getting the last word in as it were, and then trot off upstairs. Now the alteration to this ritual is that the child may go to sleep earlier and I carry her upstairs. Then the ritual involves the mother, the cat, and the dog.

In the wings is the oldest dog, a black lab mix Luke whim my wife has had for about eight or nine years. He perches at the top of the stairs to watch the disgraceful display of butt kissing the child and dog go through and you can hear the grunts of discontent as he moans in dog language aloud.

Yes I am just looking for the couch to be organized so I lay my big ole butt lazily as I watch a stupid on demand show or one of my old stand bys like the Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter or Silverado on DVD.

It’s a little bitter sweet in that I have been listening and talking all day long with other people and I just want an hour to stop my head from thinking. But, when they go, it’s relaxing and quiet yet I miss them too. I guess that’s why God made duct tape.

Yes, it’s like a kid’s story book. Either way, the dog always gets a hug and nuzzle.

I love you honey. XO

Catch Up from Saturday to Monday

2010-12-06T16:57:00.002-06:00

Saturday came and went. We had a good time n the snow but the cold and my little girls gloves didn’t match for the event. She had mitten type gloves and the snow was a very wet mushy one so she got cold quickly. Although she was up for staying out longer, I didn’t want her out there in wet clothes that long. She had a great time and it was fun to watch her smile and play.

I took her out again and made a tower with her about three buckets high. That gave her a kick. We need to get her some good gloves to play in the snow and we can make forts and snow men next time.

Sunday started out with me having a headache. Sinus from the change in temperature I guess as well as both Saturday and Sunday I slept in too late.

My fantasy football team is hapless right now. No matter whom I activate, they are having the worse game possible. I lost badly this week but I don’t feel too bad about it. I had enough of Peyton Manning failing me so I put tin Kyle Orton who is currently the second best QB playing. I thought anyway. Yet he didn’t get me 10 points. The main problem was the guy I was playing against had Adrian Peterson, Drew Breeze, Arian Foster, Marques Colston, and I forget what other superstars they were. I had an uphill battle to begin with anyway.

I usually score around 110 to 120; he scored 126 I scored 86: Wonderful right? I beat him earlier in the season but he didn’t have the "All Madden" team in play. I have already secured a playoff spot so I wasn’t worried but I would have liked to have another win under my belt still.

My main strategy that almost worked was I picked up Robert Meacham to take some of the points Mr. Breeze would be doling out and negate that for him. It worked somewhat. The other part of my strategy was to pick up the back up running back for Adrian Peterson. Peterson was hurt this week and a game time decision. If he hadn’t played, well, this would be a happier post. I gambled and I lost. Oh well, on to next week.

Today I stayed home from work. I didn’t feel like I had a restful weekend even though it was non-eventful. I didn’t have many things pop up from work so that was good. However, I just felt tired and achy and run down. Later Sunday night, I finally got some relaxation for a short bit and was ready to watch some Dexter and my son broke his key off in the lock. I missed the start of the show dealing with that and then I got aggravated as it grew in impact since we need to replace the locks now.

Seems like a very trivial event I know but all I wanted was to watch this hour long show and fall asleep. I am not asking for much. Why is it happening right in the middle of the one thing I want to do before bed?

I get past this aggravation because dwelling on it will only make it worse. I resign to watch it when it comes on again or on demand and focus on something else. I begin searching for something else to rest my eyes on and settle down. I find something and before you know it I am drifting off to sleep. I guess I was a sleep about thirty minutes from the point of the show I was watching, nothing groundbreaking just Numbers, and my wife comes out to tell me my daughter is asking for me. I love my wife and my daughter but at this moment, I am thinking, ugh!

I go upstairs and my daughter has already fallen back asleep. I guess she decided it took too long and she will deal with her monsters on her own.

I traipse back down stairs, emitting a grunt or sigh I am sure, I know my wife feels bad about this and I don’t want to make her feel worse but not sure how well I handle that interaction half asleep. (I know she doesn’t get good sleep either thanks to our little angel.) I make it back to the couch and now I am awake again. I find some more mindless TV and I don’t know how long I was awake because I refused to watch the clock, but I definitely didn’t sleep enough because I called out of work today to get some rest.

I still don’t feel rested or like I accomplished anything. I have a lot to do at work; I have two classes left and one test in school and it's review and goal setting time at work as well. I have a big load going on right now and my wife is handling Christmas mostly by herself with a few inputs from me. It’s a bit busy and a bit stressful. Add my head hurting this weekend and it was a no win situation.

Chili’s cooking right now: it tastes and smells good. My wife is taking good care of us again and I am very proud and grateful for that. If she wasn’t here to do it I couldn’t work like I do and enjoy my family the way I do. One day it will be better than it is now and we will be more relaxed and fulfilled. Maybe I’ll get that job writing for a news paper one day and be able to do what I really love to do and get paid for it. We’ll see.

2010-12-03T23:08:00.002-06:00

Today my wife and I went about our business on my day off from work. With a possible storm coming, we wanted to get as many errands out of the way as possible. We had to drop off some books at the library and then get some lunch. After that we needed to do some Christmas shopping and then onto grocery shopping.

Before going to Kmart, we needed to have some lunch. We went to Subway. I love Subway and could eat it most everyday. My wife however, could do it maybe once a month. She isn’t a big fan but tolerates it. I opt for the foot-long Spicy Italian with pickles, onions, tomatoes, and banana peppers. I like it on honey oat bread, not toasted with American cheese and spicy brown mustard.

The women starts assembling my sandwich and in normal Subway fashion putting things on a little at a time. She gets to the vegetables and asks me "What else do you want?"

I say, "Tomatoes." She places three small ones on this long sandwich.

She looks at me and asks “What else?” I look at the sandwich thinking “Really?”

I look back down at the options and say, “Pickles, onions, and banana peppers.” She puts a few pickles on maybe five, goes for the onion and layers a few slivers in a way that looked like she put fingernail clippings on it. Finally I get irritated with the skimpy manner she is building my sandwich and say, “Would you put some more onion on there please?”

“Okay.” She says as she layers a few more nail filings. “What else?”

I say to my wife out loud, “I am never coming here again." I turn back to the woman "Banana peppers.” My wife has been watching and giggling because it is so ridiculous in how she is skimping as if they will use this same vat of vegetables all week long. Times are hard I guess.

My sandwich makes it to the register and I am waiting for hers to be finished so we can pay. I am looking at this flat sandwich that somehow, the bread deflated on the way down through the sandwich building process and it is so much flatter than before toppings were put on it. The process actually reduced the size of the sandwich: really?

My wife looks and says, “That’s awesome.”

Again, out loud to the woman’s face that carried herself as if she was the owner, this is an assumption, I say, “I will never be here again. The sandwich is actually smaller than when it started. I can’t see veggies, maybe I will be able to taste them.” I think to myself, “I will drive 8 blocks to avoid using this stingy deli.” Out loud, my inner monologue absent now from the silliness I was involved in I say, “$14.00 for two loaves of bread and mustard. This is not going to taste good.”

My wife gets her sandwich built. We paid and sat down to eat. Sure enough as I bite into it, a little meat, some mustard and occasionally the crunch of an onion with little flavor.

I am not saying I need to be catered to or held to a different standard than others but come on, is it that hard of an economy that you have to skimp on veggies, the cheapest ingredient in your arsenal. I know there are standards used to build these sandwiches in order to maximize profit and I have been to so many subways across the land there is no way she put the minimum on that subway instructs them to. Anyway, it's not a big problem. It was just a part of the day where I viewed someone differently than I normally would. It gave me an urge to discuss money saving and the impact to repeat customers with her just to understand why she did what she did.

At Kmart, we got many of the things we wanted as before for the kids. We had placed quite a few items in lay-away with them a couple of months before, and on the weekend we were supposed to pick up the lay-away, Kmart called us with some bad news. They lost it. All the things we searched for and found for finicky little snot nosed brats, was lost in the digital universe. The store had been the last of many Kmart’s in the country to move to a new system right in the middle of the lay-away season and Christmas. My wife went down and worked things out with the manager to get the lay-away money back and he gave us a 25% discount on our next lay-away. At first my thought was, “Yeah right as if I will be doing this again with you people.” Yet here we are doing it again. The 25% goes along way now that we need to increase the drive to finish shopping for Christmas.

That finished we head to the grocery store. While in the store and actually in the last few minutes of standing in line at Kmart to pay for my new house shoes, (I am wearing fake fur lined slippers. I am so old. However, this is frickin Chicago and its cold damn it!), I was on a conference call with work. While on the road to the grocery store and most of the time in the store, I was on the phone. We made our way through the store in a speedy fashion not really noticing the increased business of the store, at least I didn’t due to the distraction of being on the phone. Of course, many people are stocking up for the storm and getting ready for Armageddon as always: Milk, bread, cheese, eggs, etc.

Finally, I get off the call and we realize we missed some things. I head to the other side of the store to pick up a few items and just before I make the turn down one of the aisles, an awful odiferous yet unholy funk hit my nostrils in a way so strong I could have vomited. This odor was so odd and strong I couldn’t begin to describe it. I can only compare it to the protestors I had the unfortunate opportunity to arrest demonstrating in the United Kingdom when I was stationed there in the military: The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament or the CNDer’s as we called them. These people were horrible. As an added problem to policing their activity near the bases, they would not bathe or shave whether woman or man. They would stuff used sanitary napkins in their pockets, not use the napkins during mensus and many other vile things we would have to feel through when performing searches incident to apprehension. It was very disgusting.

This smell took me straight back and almost made me vomit. As I got around the corner, it was visible where the smell came from; it was a mother and an older teen-age daughter, both dressed in baggy clothes and disheveled. Messy hair, unkempt skin, demeanor, and this horrid odor wafting all around them like the cloud from pigpen on Peanuts.

I don’t know how anyone can walk around with that kind of smell emanating from one’s body. It was so drastically awful even being the one sporting such an odor would have to smell it surely!
Quickly I ran down the aisle and got the items I searched for and ran even faster through the wake of the “two anti-glade crew”. The stench was so strong and thick it lingered in the air. I saw people twist their faces in anguish as they walked by and poor pedestrians that walked unknowingly into the wake of their draft, physically bent backwards at the waist to avert their nose as if someone had stuck a festered foot in their face. The amount of people bending and wailing was growing as the smell lingered. If anymore patrons moved in their direction, it would look like something out of Bible where they describe the rapture: One being aken and the other left. "Just fall to the floor ma'am, dont worry about the nausea. Let it happen naturally. Dont fight it.

We finished our shopping and headed home. I talked my wife into having my favorite meal and one she doesn’t care for as much so I won twice today. She made my favorite burritos and I stuffed myself as usual.

In the news, my White Sox seem to be wafting on the personnel front. They are keeping some players I don’t like and letting the ones I do go. Some of the core team looks to be remaining but many are going into free agency this year so I don’t know what the season holds this year.

I like that my wife has become a fan and has her favorites. It’s very nice to have a spouse that has an interest in sports. Her favorite is football, mainly NFL. I like college and NFL as well as the MLB. I feel like a know it all at times when we talk about certain events in sports by spouting off inside information as to why certain plays happened the way they do but I enjoy talking about it so much.

I make predictions and for the most part, I come very close in being accurate. I don’t feel confident enough in my predictions to put money on them but if I did, I know I could make some good money: Maybe one day.

This year I liked two teams for the Rose Bowl. Mostly out of the interest that I just wanted to see them in it. I knew Wisconsin was looking good and I like many of the players on there. I would love to see them and Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Stanford has a great quarterback and I think the match up would be classic this year.

After all the mess they have been through, my college team, the Tennessee Volunteers look to be headed to a bowl. They look great for a rebuilt team with a new coach and system and I can’t wait to see how they develop. So New Years Day will have some nice excitement this year where it has lacked it in the recent past.

Tomorrow I plan to play in the snow with the daughter a little and do some inside stuff like paint while watching some Christmas movies and of course, I will do another one of these Blogs. I plan to keep this up and work on my writing a little. So leave some comments and feed back. I am looking for some feed back on my writing style and flow. I tend to be a little opinionated, who isn’t? Never the less I want to decrease that harsh judgment from my writing and just tell the story I see with a little color of my take on it to let out some of who I am as I tell the story.

A little rambling and rhetoric

2010-12-02T22:40:00.001-06:00

I am so sick of the social interaction deviants that are our fighting against so many different causes right now. How can any of these idiots say they are tolerant, open, or benevolent? For instance, gays in the military, why is it so wrong to think that a gay person can serve our country openly? What is it really going to hurt?

I read comments on one o the articles and it’s the same old crap: Religion! It’s against God! What if these GAYS, aren’t Christian? That really doesn’t matter then does it? You know why? BECAUSE IT’S YOUR BELIEF!!!!! You are not supposed to force it on another person! Faith is a choice moron!!!! That’s what makes it faith and a personal relationship!

So let’s entertain this for a minute: You want another person to behave and believe the way you do because you think its right. Why are you right and no one else? I am a Southern Missionary Baptist and I know that what makes a faith stronger and more loving is not beating a person down for beliefs they don’t have yet, but loving them and accepting them and LEADING them to your faith through love and understanding. You don’t have to lie and say you think its right. When asked for your opinion gives it to them. However, don’t force it on them! I mean think about it, you are taking your belief system and saying, THIS IS WRONG! DON’T FORCE IT ON ME! Yet not acknowledging that you are forcing YOUR belief system on them. It’s like our stupid country and how we are bent on making all other countries like ours! THESE COUNTRIES DON’T WANT THAT! THEY DIDN’T ASK FOR IT! AND OUR COUNTRY’S GOVERNMENT ISNT THAT GREAT! I quote Winston Churchill commenting to something similar to the Hobbes and Locke debate: “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” Read on Hobbes and Locke a little on that. Yet another essay for another time.

Now let’s focus on the morons who think they are God’s gift to lesbians and gay men. Just because you are naked in the shower with a gay person doesn’t mean he is looking at you and lusting for you. Gay or lesbian doesn’t mean NYMPHO!!!!! The gay lifestyle actually affords the person the opportunity to be selective and peruse the sexual meat market for the body of their liking. Most likely, your little penis in the shower isn’t doing what you think its doing so let it go! If you do get hit on, consider it flattery as if it were a woman and say no! Move on with your life and get over it! Same for women exactly!

Now the next argument that always comes up is security and traitors. GAYS AND LESBIANS are more susceptible to being turned as traitors because of their nasty habit. PLEASE! First, let’s think about this. If it weren’t a point of contention, how can you blackmail some one and force them into being a traitor. Therefore, that’s the logical approach. Enough of that.

Then thinking of other problems, laws, and military code breakers. Adultery is a law as well that if broken in the military, you are to do time and can be punished a number of different ways depending on rank and other factors. Why isn’t that being practiced? You can definitely be blackmailed and coerced over that fault.
I’m just sick of the responses and idiocy. Let them get married, let them serve. Their sexual preference is between them and their god and if you feel like judging them and breaking God’s law that way (because the bible says Judge not lest ye be judged yourself. Moreover, that no man knows another man’s heart) then fine, say to yourself they’re going to hell and you’ll be self sanctified in your own mind!
One last biblical thought: In the bible, I read it says all manner of sin is forgivable save the sin of blasphemy. This tells me WE place morality and levels on sin. In God’s eyes, murder, lies, alcoholism, gay sex, whatever is all the same to God. It’s sin and doesn’t matter. Therefore, you little lies you tell, the lustful thoughts you have that Jesus said meant you had already committed adultery in your heart are all the same. Especially if you keep repeating them and not trying to rid your self of it, you are the same as a gay man or lesbian.

And remember, THIS IS CHRISTIAN BASED TALK!!!!!! Add the other faiths of the world into the mix and you’re just another voice! Leave these people alone and let them live! And don’t give me how America was founded on Christian principles. Read your history. It was not. It was founded on RELIGION TOLERANCE!!!!! And that was hard fought even after we escaped England and the Anglican Church but that’s another essay.

So for the transcendentalists, they thought it started with the self. As long as society wasn’t brought into it, morality was not an issue. And that’s true. Morality is not an issue in your on mind. It only becomes a factor when you affect another person’s life and when you have to interact. Read Self Reliance by Emerson some time and lighten up. The world could be a hell of a lot worse!

Food Blog and Wishes for my special CFO

2010-10-15T12:49:00.000-05:00

I got a lift from some of my coworkers this week in that they want me to start posting my recipes on facebook for the stuff I cook when I am bored or in the mood for something from back in my child hood. Aside from it being slop in my form, I guess it has an appeal and many want to try them so I guess I will do that.

I mainly do it just to say Hey look what I did: Especially if it’s baking! However, some of it turns out better than I expected and I guess I am proud of it and want to shout it out. Even if the family doesn’t like it, I do. I wish they liked a lot of the stuff I eat more. Like my cornbread with jalapeño. Nic likes it okay but the wife doesn’t like that style of cornbread at all. Always says it smells good and it comes out looking SCRUMPTIOUS!

So anyway, I guess I need to start.

Blessings wish to my wife. She does so much for us and I try to tell her and show her I care and I can’t say I do it enough. I love you. You work hard to keep us happy and I am so appreciative of it. I know there are things you want and we will get most of them and be happy trying to get the rest I promise. I wish there were more things I could do to make those a reality and I will try hard to do that for you. I love you!

Hello...

2010-06-25T11:22:00.000-05:00

Not much to talk about today. I have a lot of meetings and have just enough time to heat some ravioli and get to another. I have a lot of deliverables to get done as well as make some job offers. We have been doing a lot of interviewing over the past three months and it is exhausting.

Today I plan on playing guitar again but at least I will be playing Xbox tonight. I want to tear into that Splinter Cell Game! And I want to try the Call of Duty or whichever war game Nic has.

I am so ready to not be here for three days but I still have too much work to do yet so I need to get my head in that realm and pace myself till I can be gone.

We will probably seeing the crafts fair that is the prequel to the July 4th festival in Hoffman Estates given good weather that is. That should be fun. Maybe see some good artistry and hopefully some decent baked goods. What’s a crafts fair without nuns selling tarts?!

Tired....

2010-06-24T09:25:00.003-05:00

I didn’t play guitar last night. Although I did go home and had energy to expend on the family, my 3 year old sapped it all out: and not in a fun way. She already can speak for every second she is awake during the day but last night she had a little extra! She didn’t get to go out of the house much due to the storms and humidity so she was cooped up all day and no park visit and plus the time I get home is the time she starts getting keyed up anyway for some reason.

So I was fine with her energy level up until just before dinner when she began to lose her mind about any little thing. I know I usually have a shorter fuse than most but last night twice I had to stop her and get her to calm down and stop being a brat! Poor thing had so much energy pent up she was busting. I felt bad for her but at the same time that shrill loud mouth little varmint was occupying the entire house with her operatic vocal. She was taken by the mother to bed a little earlier than usual as she (my wife) over heard me mention to the daughter about how I may be on 48 Hours telling my story soon.

I did contemplate the guitar after they went to bed and the house was quiet, but it was just too good to sit there and record new music onto my laptop instead. Then I laid back on the couch and put in yet another Harry Potter DVD and drifted off.

I have had the interest to begin playing again and have looked at new equipment up to and including PA Systems even. They are extremely cheap now given the new technologies available. I mean for $400.00 I can get four microphones, two speakers with stands and an average wattage PA with cables. That’s well over 75% lower than a few years ago.

The reason this route is good for me is because, well…I am old. Therefore I am not playing Megadeth and Anthrax anymore. Not out in public anyway. Most of the music I will be playing will be either acoustic or blues and will not require extra volume to push out the vocals. The music should be at a manageable level to begin with as also the venues will not be Royal Albert Hall but Spunky Joes Eat and Greet and that type of clientele is right up my alley.

I haven’t been out much at all well, actually at all since we have been in Illinois, to hear any music. I know a few places have music from the ads I hear on the radio and the occasional business lunch I have at a local spot so maybe I should find one that is along our genre lines and take a few hours one night to hear the kids from the area. I mean I am in the spot where some big name folks started like Cheap Trick. And those guys still hang out in Rockford and play a lot up here. My wife and I have talked about doing that every now and then and just havent done it yet.

So anyway, trying to keep my mind busy with something other than worry and work and I do miss playing and singing.

Just a quick shot of useless information from me...

2010-06-23T15:52:00.001-05:00

Haven’t been here in ages but I may start again when I have time. I haven’t been able to write creatively for quite some time now. All my writing has been technical and hardly personal at all. When I have written personally it has been posted elsewhere.

So I may try to make this a habit again to collect my sanity back through writing again.

Let’s see if my mood changes but I plan on playing my guitar tonight. We’ll see anyway. Got a cool autographed picture from my boss of Paul Reed Smith yesterday. That capped off a great father’s day weekend that spanned two weeks! Mel and Nic thought fathers day was the previous week. I didn’t know either so its not a slam, but I got to stretch my stuff over two weeks! HA!

I racked up! I got some beef jerky, movie money, cash, heartfelt cards, texts and calls from my kids in Tennessee, DVD’s, a cool ass coffee cup and an Xbox game I was hoping to play (Which I haven’t played yet but plan on doing it soon.) Hugs and kisses and just all around good stuff. So much I can’t remember and confuse it with my birthday gifts which were awesome too!!!!! I also had Chipotle for dinner…yes…Chipotle…it wasn’t free this time, I think they reached their 300 limit on giving out free food to us. HA! Long story.

They tried to get me a bike I wanted but it wasn’t in stock. It was a cool mountain bike with University of Tennessee Colors and logos.

So anyway, there you have it. I’ll try to keep writing and hopefully something may interest the occasional folk to some degree and read all of it. HA!

Happy Birthday to me...

2010-05-26T15:06:00.000-05:00

It’s my birthday. Do I feel older? Nope. What should older feel like? I do feel older in general in that I know my mind says my body used to be able to move and do things that it no longer can: Mainly because I am a couch potato, but still, it is a mental fitness now: a reminder that I am getting older.

My priorities have changed as I have gotten older. My main focus is staying alive as long as I can to watch my children grow up and live their lives. I don’t want to be a burden, just as instrumental and memorable as my Papaw, Granny and Mother were to me.

So far my birthday has been great. Other than a small hiccup with my spun honey this morning for breakfast in that it was not spun but hard as my dream said it would be, it has been great. Relaxing with my wife and daughter, had a little walk with her too where she took her pretend pictures and then had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch before she took her nap.

If you have read any previous entries I probably look like a flake that starts stuff and doesn’t finish: From this little bit of information you would be correct. However, I cherish my relaxation time and this takes precedence over the little things I do to occupy my mind. With my job my mind is occupied quite a bit and sometimes it takes a long vegetation to clear it enough for sleep. As I said before I am old.

Recently however, I have begun sketching again. I used to draw all the time, play guitar, all kinds of stuff. I barely read or do a crossword now. Anyway, I have a lot of things I need to do again I used to do and one of them is getting rid of the belly and trying to get my creativity back.

So happy birthday to me! I miss you momma and thank you honey for always thinking of me. I love you.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-08T20:25:00.001-05:00

My last post was about the women that raised me. This one may not be as long but I assure you this woman means the world to me. She gave me my daughter. She gave me my sense of humor back. She gave me my seasons back so that I can enjoy them again. She allows me to be mad at her, love her, make her laugh and gross her out. She is my best friend and the mother to my little girl.
Melina, my mom would have loved you so much. I love you more everyday even when I am mad at you. You are truly the woman of my dreams in every aspect and each day you show me something different that proves it. Thank you for being my best friend and wife and mother to my child, step mother to my brats.
I love you and will never let you go.

Happy Mother’s day honey.

Early Mother's Day Post

2010-05-06T23:14:00.000-05:00

I wrote this in homage to my mother and grandmother during woman’s month a few years back. I wanted to post it again in this forum for Mother’s Day as I miss my mother and remember her for all she was to me. I love you mom. I hope Elvis is serenading you or you can hear Purple Rain clear as day when I play it for you.
I owe my success, failures and character to my mother. My life started as the son of a sixteen-year old girl. Her life just starting, she made the mistake of unprotected sex as a teenager. Thanks to her mistake, I have life and am part of my children’s lives as well as others. The opportunities and influences I have been privy to have me counting my blessings everyday as I cherish each one. Moreover, my wife’s love for me and the interaction we have as we impart what knowledge we have to our children, is deemed such a privilege that I find myself in tears at times, thanking the force that has brought us together and given us such gifts.
Fortunately, my mother was a strong woman as was my grandmother. My grandmother had been alone with children and no spouse and had raised my mother and Uncle without a father figure. From this, I am certain my mother gained her pride and strength. She had faith in raising me and she had faith in herself as a woman and mother. I do not think this was all due to her upbringing, but more due to her education and the teaching of the accomplishments and strides other women had made before her.
The United States was still going through changes when it came to women in the work force when I was born. She, being half-Indian and a single mother, labeled her and slighted from the start. Nevertheless, she looked to her heroes and education to lift her to the seemingly insignificant place she needed to be to help raise a child.
My mother would point out obvious women to me that she deemed strong and wise. At the time, I merely took her word on what was right and wrong, but over time, I saw those women unfold into the great women she always knew they would be. I saw them do things she never saw them do but just saw the strength and intuitive drive that drives any human to excel.
For example, Tina Turner: She joined Ike Turner in the late 50’s and sang for him. They later married. She was no doubt a great singer and performer with Ike but the way she was treated and used forced her to understand her place and her dreams. She left Ike in 1976 and went onto a stellar career by believing in herself. She turned a back up singing career into the Diva and stardom we see today. My mother saw that early on when my mother was young and it was evident to her that Tina would be great one day. She was right and she learned from that strength and character of such a woman.
Cher: Cher met Sonny Bono in 1963 when she was sixteen. Their career together blossomed over the years into a comedy variety show until finally it ended in 1974 after their divorce. Cher began her solo singing career and then made her way into the movies. Her performances in dramatic reenactments and true-life stories obtained great appeal and kept her going in entertainment. For Moonstruck, she won the Best Actress Oscar and continued to turn out inspiring music.
My mother did not view these women’s lives as a statement of “Leave your man and you will do better.”, she took the actions as they were. Just because one is a single parent does not mean one is alone. It also does not mean one has the right to just quit and uphold one’s responsibilities and dreams. These women all had every chance to turn their backs and wallow in self-pity because the world favored men. Yet they stood up to the norm and rose to the challenge. They formed their businesses and characters until their names were synonymous with success, talent, creativity and perseverance.
Another woman my mother revered was Oprah Winfrey. Born in Mississippi pre-civil rights movement, she became the first African American women to reach billionaire status in 2003. She started in 1986 with her talk show, which is the highest rated talk show in syndication history. Her book-of-the-month feature on the show regularly raises books from obscurity to national bestsellers. She owns a production company, Harpo, and is one of the highest-paid celebrities in the world. She went on to act and receive great reviews and accolades for her performances. In April of 2000, she launched O magazine, which became one of the most successful new magazines in publishing history.
None of these women could have succeeded in such a grandiose manner if it were not for the many women who came before them, stood and demanded to equal treatment. When they were not heard, they made their demand in action like Eleanor Roosevelt. When Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with poliomyelitis, she took a more active interest in public issues in order to restore his links with the world of politics. As wife of the governor of New York and then as wife of the U.S. president, she played a leading part in women's organizations and was active encouraging youth movements, promoting consumer welfare, working for the civil rights of minorities and combating poor housing and unemployment. She conducted the first press conference ever held by a U.S. president's wife. She also for a time, conducted a radio program, and she traveled around the country, lecturing, observing conditions, and furthering causes.
In 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton started the National Woman Suffrage Association whose primary goal was to achieve voting rights for women by means of a Congressional Amendment to the Constitution. 51 years later, fruition of this movement was realized in 1920 when Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed it into law granting the right for women to vote. Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1921, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942. However, the FDA did not approve Birth Control until 1960.
In 1961, a man very strong in support of women’s rights, President John Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairperson. The report issued by the Commission in 1963 documents substantial discrimination against women in the workplace and makes specific recommendations for improvement, including fair hiring practices, paid maternity leave, and affordable child care.
We are all positively affected directly by the movements in women’s rights over the years. If it were not for these events, my mother would not have had the support, courage and pride to rear me properly. By properly I mean to respect a woman for not only her beauty and love but for her contributions to society, achievements, leadership and direction as well as her contributions to the family. Whatever role she decides and takes within the family structure or in society will be of importance and will count. The impact will largely depend on her perspective of how important her contribution is. Treated lightly it can be detrimental. Taken seriously it can be such a positive impact that it shapes history as did these other women.
Our country has definitely missed some great achievements by holding down some great women and their ideals. Although not as strong as the women who marched out and affected these few changes in my life, there was no doubt many brilliant women with great ideas and energy smothered with ridiculous gender bias.
I am grateful to live in a world where I see that happen rarely. These old adages and beliefs do not hold true due to education and most of all, the perseverance and strength of the women who have gone before and accomplish the impossible and improbable when there was no law or support. They only relied on themselves so succeed.
So this is where I as a parent, not a Father, must not just educate my son to understand, respect, aide and revere women in all walks of life, but also educate my daughter of what so many have done before her and what the horizon holds for her. She has a blank horizon that can be painted, drawn and structured by her energy, strength, thought and love. Her desire and wants will take her to the level of her achievement.
Zadok Rabinwitz said, “A man’s dreams are an index to his greatness.” Obviously, this is correct for one is only limited by the limits one establishes. Robert Browning also added, “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp. Or what’s a heaven for?” Have dreams to guide you and do as Tennyson said and follow the gleam! We have to teach our daughters and sons about the women before and make sure they understand their potential and need in the world. One day one of them will have the cure for cancer. One will find the right clean fuel. If we keep providing things that will accomplish processes for them and take, away their dreams and visions, they will no longer succeed and advance but they will continue to exist and just be. The world can not survive on followers alone. Someone has to lead and why not a woman?

TNT, Crying, Kids and Drama...

2010-04-07T22:34:00.000-05:00

I think the TNT folks are really starting to get the formula for their dramas. They made a business plan to be the best at it and they are coming up with some great stories while they center a star and some kind of familiar thespians in support.

I have watched a season of Southland so far and I have allowed it to grow on me. I haven’t cared for too many actors that are on that show or for many of the others actually but last night I saw a performance that impressed me to tears as many others have from the TNT dramas.

Of the TNT shows, I used to like The Closer but have gotten away from it since the writers strike. The show has never been the same to me since then. Dark Blue? At first, I didn’t care for it but after a season, I can’t wait to see the new one. Then there’s Leverage. Love that show. It has a great lead actor in Timothy Hutton and a great supporting cast. It provides the right level of comedy that isn’t cheesy but the right blend of twists and drama to make it a great show.

Southland is pretty gritty and dark yet realistic. Almost too realistic in that it makes you feel a little filthy after watching it: All the sins and darkness that happens along with the people who are protecting us committing the same moral mistakes and miscues providing mixed anti-hero mentality that colors the show enough to give it edge. I hadn’t had any characters on there that I could identify with or feel for until last nights episode I watched on demand.

But first, on Leverage, a scene from the first season just floored me so much emotionally that after I watched it I had to go upstairs and hug my wife and daughter. I was so moved by Timothy Hutton’s portrayal of a father watching his son die right before his eyes on the operating table. His anguish was so visible and real. It just dug inside me and ripped my heart. I truly know what he was feeling when he cried out “No!” and ran through the ER to be with him and hold him. The pain that is released when that happens to a mother or father just radiates through the world and anyone coming in contact with it has to absorb some of the pain and suffering because what is portrayed and just imagined to be felt is too grievous for anyone to bear. Being a father makes it worse for me obviously and then being a sap doesn’t help either. This still stings me in the chest when I think about it.

So on Southland, for this season they have been introducing a young Latino boy about 11 or so: Not really gang age yet. He has been mentored by one of the homicide detectives and the detective has been getting too close, basically trying to keep him out of trouble, keep him in school and such. It’s a way that makes the detective feel he is doing something right with his position. So I see the story right? He’s gonna get killed at some point regardless of what the detective does.

So I watch and I think I see the story coming. All the way to the end of the show. The detective finally gets to meet the mother and father. Neither are good enough to have such a bright kid. He loves to read and had just read Where the Wild Things Are AFTER he saw the movie because he wanted to see how close it was to the movie. But he didn’t want that to get out so he would lose his street credit.

So towards the end of the show, the boy is riding his bike after getting in trouble with the police twice already and sprung by the detective both times. While riding his bike some kids confront him and begin to beat him. You can’t see it all unfold but a shot rings out and one of the kids falls to the ground. They cut to another scene while you hear the detectives car get called to respond to a homicide.

So there it is right? He will drive up on scene and that poor boy will be laying there dead from a gun shot before he ever got to live his life. Nope. Not the boy! A guy standing over on the corner calls out to the detective and he strolls over to talk to him. The guy says, and this carries so much weight as you see the detectives face turn whiter than it already is and his lips purse in a tight clinch while the pain goes through his body, “The trees are talking. You didn’t hear it from me. But someone said that boy that hangs here named (don’t remember the name) did it. Rode his bike that way.”

Immediately, the detective runs off down the hill with his partner running to his car. So on foot the detective runs downhill to the bys house. He busts in to the house, knocks the father over and runs to the boy’s bedroom. There on the bed, and here I am breaking up as I write it and remember it, sits the boy with a gun. His mouth his bloody and he has some cuts on his face from his beating. He has some blood on his clothes too and he is crying and just looks so alone. As the detective sees him there he takes the same actions a father would. He isn’t mad, he isn’t angry but every other emotion rises to the surface and all the little boy could say just like any child not old enough to handle this kind of situation is “I’m sorry! I’m Sorry!” The detective runs to him and grab the gun and throws it on the floor. He picks the boy up and holds him all the way against the wall as he hugs him and cries. Then you can hear the detective let out the internal realization that the boys chance at normal life is over. He lets out a muffled growl of pain as if this boy was his own. And that was enough to make me lose my tears but then taking the whole situation in, his father never entered the bedroom, his mother never tried to come in. The by had no one but this detective and now it was out of his hands and couldn’t protect him any longer. He had killed someone. So many options are now gone that the boy had in his mind to attempt as an adult and the detective knew it.

Just seeing him hug that boy so tight with sorrow while he wailed and cried was so powerful: And being an actor I never really cared for really showed me yet again a respect for some of these actors that may just not have found the role that they can naturally play yet. This man transformed his character and put emotion into a situation that can only be imagined.

So now I have cried twice experiencing these scenes again in my head like an old sap. But I feel it anytime I think about it. These are two scenes that will always make me cry just like my song I want played at my funeral by Ellis Paul “The World Aint Slowin’ Down.” I will blubber and get sentimental every time. It like these scenes tell what I feel inside and what my connection to this world is about. Children and teaching children whatever I know, whether it be my mistakes or successes.

XO ILY YM

The Shroud of Turan...BAH!

2010-03-30T21:35:00.000-05:00

So many people are trying to prove and disprove the Shroud of Turan to be Authentic and be the cloth used to shroud Jesus in the tomb. Let me help all you educated degreed people with a few simple things.

1.) There is no, I repeat NO history that links this to ANYONE let alone Jesus other than here say and wishful thinking.
2.) The image on the cloth, although depicting a figure we commonly refer to as the classic Jesus image, IT IS NOT JESUS! Why do I know this? Because Jesus was a Nazarene and at one point, the Nazarenes cut their hair and beards and did not wear long hair and beards anymore.
3.) Also, they can’t even decide how old it is in the first place. The fire that happened further confused the situation and now they can’t even agree on when the fire occurred.
4.) Now for a couple of basic Biblical principles. NOT DOCTRINAL or DOGMATIC, but Biblical.
a. Jesus said an “Evil and Adulterous generation will seek after a sign and none will be given them.” This was in relation to the coming of Jesus and proof of the existence of God. Therefore, as said here, if God is giving no proof of his existence as Christianity is a faith based religion, IT IS NOT JESUS!
b. The bible says that many things are left in this world to confound the wise. The reason is to force us to rely on faith as commanded so our true works will come forward as righteous and not through knowing conscience. It must be by faith. IT IS NOT OF JESUS!

So many of these things are revered and held up as relics of faith and worshipped even, prayed over and many other things which is short of idol worship. It is also written that these things are not of God but of the Devil as they are here to betray the righteous. Furthermore, the bible states NO MAN MAY KNOW THE FUTURE. Therefore the Lady of Fatima is not of God and was not prophetic as if we can know the future, why would God send Mary to speak to children and have them tell us prophecies of the future? EXACTLY!

Either the bible is the base for Christianity or it isn’t. Pieces cant be right and pieces be wrong or the faith is ridiculous and incomplete and thus a hoax all together.

You must believe on faith and if you use the bible as your faith based text, The shroud, stigmata, prophecies other than the bible, psychics, lady of Fatima all of it is fake, of the devil or good intentioned Christians not understanding their bible fully.

The shroud is not of God. If it is, then we were lied to in the bible and our belief system is not faith based and is a sham. Because it will fully contradict what is stated by God and Jesus all through the books of the bible no matter what doctrine you follow.

Just my opinion but it is an educated one. Even if it isn’t college based education.

2010-03-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

I miss my mom.

I don't like sunsets...TELL ME WHY!? Okay...here it goes.

2010-03-10T22:42:00.001-06:00

I thought tonight, “I hate sunset.” I saw the trailer for “Where the wild things are.”, and there’s a few spots where they are looking at what looks like the sunset and I thought to myself, if it were sunrise I’d like it. That means a start, a beginning. Sunset, as a kid to me meant time to go home. My time with friends was done and whatever was going on was at an end. I see that and it makes me sad as I think of what it is like when things have to stop.

Even now, when I am tired and my wife and little one have to go to bed, I’m sad. The time with them is ending and I want them to experience what I love. I know most of it is boring to them but it is so much better with some one there. Isn’t that the thing? Why do it if no one is there to share it with you?

I love to play guitar but haven’t played it more than an average of once every few months. Playing by myself I improve and get better for the times I play with others around: but I love to play when my wife is in the room. Not because I need such support and my ego stroked, but because I like her being there and I like it when someone is around. I could never say a word to her while I played and could go without hearing a word about it when I am done: Just having her there is enough for me.

So anyway, I don’t like sunsets even though I am with the ones I love save my oldest boy and girl. They trigger the end of things to get ready for tomorrow. And to me, the now and present is so precious I want it to last and last and never go away.

If I were a ghost one day, I would want to have my guitar and set on the porch of our perfect house and play my guitar till the sun sets. And when it does, I’ll keep on playing to myself and fill the air with comfort and love so they would know I miss them and was always there. I’d hope they wouldn’t be scared. But I would hope they could feel me there every time they sat on the porch and saw that sunset and say “Your daddy would still be playing trying to make the sun stay up so he could be with us every minute he could.”

The Healthy Man Cometh...watch out kitty, I may sit on you.

2010-02-01T11:48:00.002-06:00

So I had my annual doctor’s visit recently. I had surprisingly lost 16 pounds. It wasn’t hard for me to believe as my body does respond well to drinking more water and less soda products. I don’t crave sweet things much at all but coke is my bane. I can drink them quickly and go through them entirely too quick for my own good. But I love iced tea too. Un-sweet. I know, I am southern and what southerner doesn’t like Sweet tea? Answer? Me.

So I am good on that front. I need to drink more water, tea and juice. I have coffee every now and then but mostly it is black. Occasionally I put some sugar and cream in but not often and not much.

My blood tests came back and I am extremely high in cholesterol and my sugar. I see my doctor this afternoon and I am afraid he will tell me I need to go on diabetic medicine of some short. I don’t think I am at the insulin shot level but I do know from symptoms I thought were related to other things, I am at the Diabetes 2 level. This will mean some major diet changes which I should have made anyway due to my fat butt being so sedentary.

The first problem I have is with carbohydrates. One they are cheap. So the poor man fills his meals with them: Bread, rice potatoes, corn. So this aspect alone will be a difficult one to harness. Reducing red meat. No problem there. I can eat chicken or fish everyday or even forgo meat for a few days for vegetable meals. Doesn’t bother me. It’s the bread and then the butter and sauces that make these meals awesome!

My new plan as of now will be to increase my fish and chicken intake for proteins. Baked fish of any kind especially salmon, chicken breast baked with many different kinds of vegetables. I have already purchased many frozen varieties in preparation of what I thought was coming. But I also want to start eating more salads. This will be using vinaigrette and Italian dressings more than the cream variety of course. My favorite is the zesty Italian Free. 0 calories and no sugar and it tastes awesome.

So I need to reduce the portion sizes of these carb meals. I mean I can think of the flavor and the way I build meals now with corn, potato and or rice as the sides then fried meat slammed on the plate. That’s two to three starches on one meal. Cheap yes but health wise, not good. That needs to change to the majority of the meal being green vegetables. Either steamed boiled or baked with less butter and salt. More flavor. Water and tea for beverage and if any bread is used it needs to be grained bread not enriched flower. It will work!

Then part two: GET OFF MY BOOTY! I need to do some in home calisthenics at least. What’s wrong with crunches, sit-ups and pushups? Why cant I use the stairs to do leg and glute exercises? I don’t need a gym to move my body enough to help it! I mean is that not better than poppin’ a twinkie and downing an RC while falling asleep watching Dexter? HELL YEAH!

I’m doing this people! This is my thing! A starting picture will follow this week of where I am complete with test results on the page. And then my next check up, another pic with results provided. I may not have stuck to my photo journal deal but this I will. This is my life. I got kids I want to see grow old and have kids that bug the shit out of them like they do me!

It’s done! Today is Monday. What better day to start something?

Love you honey!

And to my point: I have entered on calorie counter what I have consumed today and the break down is ridiculous!

57.3% is carbohydrate.
12.9% protein
29.8% fat

They gave me a C+ but I think it sucks!

Saw The Book of Eli

2010-01-31T16:44:00.000-06:00

I watched The Book of Eli today. It was surprisingly good. There is an undertone to the movie that I think most people will not get, sadly but it’s true. Most, I am sure by the tone of the movie and its trailers and advertising, assume the same as I did, that it is a morph of The Road Warrior, I am Legend and other apocalyptic stories. But it is less about that and more about religion and what it means to the world.

All through the story there are notions and comments as well as themes that point right to what religion provides for this world and what happens without. Over and over the main character finds people that have committed suicide, gave up on society and each other as well as turned pure cannibalistic and hedonistic with no focus on a deity or faith at all. They have either forgotten or turned from it in despair and allowed materialistic views and survival needs rule their lives.

Another underlying theme with the antagonist of the story is that some people DO realize what religion means to the world and can manipulate it for their own gain. Some lines refer to it specifically how the book, has been used in the past for the purpose of control and will be used again. How it is something people hold strong to and use and will follow anyone as long as what they say comes from the book. This referring to charlatans and what many refer to as antichrists or false prophets lead the way to showing all phases of Christianity and other religions that provide that one thing that man has searched for from the beginning of time: Why am I here?

The movie does a good job in relating the importance of religion and what it does to the mind if absent. The thought of just being molecules in space with no purpose other than to procreate is truly a depressing thought and truly reduces a person’s contributions and existence to an undue disrespected position in life in my mind. And the results of an apocalyptic change as this and trying to survive would truly provide these myriads of expectations given the different minds and wills at present in the world.

Once the Book of Eli was place don the shelf next to the Qur’an and other scientific and religious books, the story culminates itself to show its true meaning, to me anyway. There wasn’t just a sole individual of divine selection transgressing across Post Apocalyptic America to provide the world with a book, it was a person of divine selection providing the world with another form of peace and contentment as well as hope to live on and help one another. That’s the point of religion correct? Provide a place of solace and hope while showing a way to help other people MORE than yourself.

Although this was Christian based, as it is considered an American tale and the majority of Americans are currently Christian, it did truly focus on the Christian as it really waits until half way through the movie for one to finally put together it was about the Bible. I did notice however it was the New King James Version that made it, and not the regular King James. A nice twist there by the author as well.

I commend the script writer as this was a good story with enough intrigue and action to retain the action minded and fiction based viewers: But I applaud the writer for thinking deeper into the minds of humans and doing a true study not just on how people will react but WHY they will react the way they do. A person needs to understand and believe they are more than just surviving from day to day or why exist at all?

Thank you Gary Whitta for a good story and making some of us think a little instead of just a mind numbing experience of violence and explosions. Although it does not provide the full action most of this type of film look for, I think a person that likes to see symbolism and a little more thinking to a movie it is a good mix of both and not a bad see.

New Things

2010-01-28T14:10:00.001-06:00

I can’t believe how selfish I have been in my thinking. I have now, for quite a while thought, I wouldn’t mind another child but I wasn’t excited or driven to get one. My mind set has been I don’t mind.

Yet again I listen to that damn song by Paul Ellis and it makes me see my life differently. The World Ain’t Slowin’ Down. It’s not. I get it. But as I hear the one line, “Aren’t you the kid that climbed on the merry go round?” I start thinking of how a child comes into the world and there they are…ready to rid eon the merry go round. We guide them and teach them and hope for the best.

Then I begin to think, The World Ain’t Slowin’ Down and I am reminded of my one thought which floors me and makes me sad of how when I die, nothing will stop. Everything will just keep going on whether I am alive or not. So why am I so selfish in keeping a gorgeous child from experiencing this worked with my family?

I began to cry thinking about how that merry go round should be full that I am on. As full as I can handle and give the love they deserve. How fun is it to be on a merry go round by yourself? Exactly, it sucks. But fill that thing up with kids and people that love you and it’s a blast! I want my kids and I want more. I want them to try and fail and try and succeed at the things they do. I miss my first two kids and I hurt every time I see my youngest ask for them and where they are. But the pain is worth it if I can impact another child’s life and experience that wonderful feeling every time one of them says I love you daddy. The feeling of one of them smiling at me and hugging me means more than anything I have ever felt in the world.

Honey, give me a new baby. You can thank Paul Ellis. It wasn’t you who gave me the epiphany I know. But it is still our child I want and is what will keep me alive long after I am gone. I love you.

Yadda Yadda...

2010-01-26T15:20:00.000-06:00

I don’t get on here much. I was intending on writing a lot this year but my job has just absorbed me and now all I get done is work, reading my wife’s blog occasionally and Farmville on Facebook. Yes that absorbs a lot of time, work and Farmville. Sometimes I multitask and do both at the same time but here lately, I have not been afforded that opportunity. That’s a good thing though. As long as there’s work and I am progressing, I have a job.

We got back last week from a business trip and my truck was frozen. I think the starter froze with some water or something as well as some water in the gas line which caused it not to start. This was premature to the tune of two months as it needs to last at least that long so I can get into another vehicle. So this morning I tried to start it and it finally did. Sounded more like a fuel problem than a start so I am glad for that. BACK ON TRACK!

M
As I said early on in this post, I had intended to write everyday. I believe I lost quite a few that were going to follow it and I apologize. I may be able to pick it back up here soon once this part of my corporate year is over with. However not sure how long that will last as I want to go back to school this fall and get my MBA. Maybe minor in some sport thing and see if I can get into that arena. I have a knack for picking rookies that excel apparently. I either need to start betting on it or parlay it into a career and make some kind of money. I just don’t know that I want to travel that much if I’m not playing golf or fishing.

So anyway, I love my kids, love my wife, love my job and I cant wait till I can do what I want when I want or at least have the monetary means to do so. That would be cool in itself. Ta Ta!

Peoiple are gone but their memory is still precious

2009-12-16T13:22:00.001-06:00

Well, not because of the time of year, I know it doesn’t help, but because a friendof mine that passed away unexpectedly a few months ago, has me a little teared up today and missing my sisters and mother.

The friend worked for the same company I do and that’s how I met him. I didn’t have a lot of time with him in person, most of it was spent over the phone repairing cell sites and stuff. One of his best friends, actually a guy so close they were like brothers, found a bunch of pictures of him and put them on Facebook for the rest of us to enjoy. Earlier this week in our East Region meeting, the Director for that region had a photo he shared at the end of his presentation for us to remember him. I looked around the room and you could tell those that knew him and those that didn’t because it was pretty emotional. That man touched a lot of lives and was such a good person to everyone he met.

You couldn’t forget Donnie Bolton. He was outgoing and just did whatever was needed for anyone to be taken care of in anyway. He was so unselfish and loving.

And the pictures you can see it. He was everywhere and loved his life and made sure everyone around him felt the same way when he was there. IF you were down, you wouldn’t be long because he wouldn’t allow it and no matter what you were down about, he had a fix for it.

Seeing him in the pictures with the kids and just enjoying his time with them treating them like they mattered and not just after thoughts. He would play and sit and talk with them until they both fell asleep.

We miss you Donnie and your affect has made me miss my family even more than before. I hope my sisters and brother are okay and getting their lives back some how. I miss you and wish you well.

Love Little Jimmy

The World Ain't Slowing Down for No one

2009-11-13T13:24:00.002-06:00

“The world ain’t slowing down”

That song always makes me cry because it reminds me of how my little children have all grown up and have their own problems. They make more of their own decisions and thus make more of their own mistakes. They learn from them, they hurt from them, they feel vindicated from them and they react and turn and grow and flex and digress from the decisions. I started feeling it when my son was 12 and my daughter made it more evident when she was 13.

Now my youngest. 2.5 years, I see doing the same thing. She makes decisions that hurt, that make her laugh, make her experience love and loss and pangs and she doesn’t understand it yet. I see her growing and I hear this song and I hurt for what she will experience without me there to help her and shield her. It has to happen but it saddens me. It saddens me that my little girl I wont be able to hold onto much longer.

I hurt when I hear the song but it is a happy and sad hurt. I see her in it and the other kids too. I hear the words, “It hits you like scripture” and it belts me in the stomach and takes my breath. It floors me to know I don’t have control over it and I have to yet one more time, let go of something I love and hope my guidance prepares her enough to experience that level with authority and knowledge to make the right decisions. It smotes me to a place of understanding and humbling that I cant just hold them in my arms and push the rest of the world away and just be happy with them. They have their own lives to live and their own journeys to make. Life isn’t hard because of the troubles and complexities. Life is hard because the moment does not stand still when you have all that is you for centuries to come in your arms and it is growing by the second and preparing to leave you.

I love you m children. Thank you for having what is the best of me in you. I am sorry for the things that are the worst of me that reside in you. Please learn from my mistakes and grow your lives for your families even better than what we prepared for you.

The best things in life are free....

2009-10-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

Some things are overrated in this life: Fame, money, power. Of course for those of us that don’t have it, that’s easy to say. Tonight I saw a show that touched me deeply with one frame at the end. One frame and this big 275 pound manly man was reduced to a blubbering mass in no time. That’s not hard to do of course, especially in my old age but it happened none the less.

So I sat and watched as this little girl, taken from her mother was reunited with her. She ran to her mother and jumped in her arms, legs around her waist and arms around her neck. Over the mothers shoulder you could see her smile the smile of a contented and safe feeling child. One that had everything back in the right places after the pieces were mixed up and frightened her. But now she was all right. Now she was back in the safe loving arms that had always made her feel the safest and warmest she had ever felt. The only arms that can give the comfort, love and solace a child needs.

That’s it? That’s all that made you whine like a baby? Close. But what did it was thinking about how right and perfect that feels. To have a child impart the energy they feel when they are feeling perfect: when they feel the way they do after being scooped up by their mother or father. That’s what did it. That feeling that courses through me when I have lifted my child off the ground and feel those arms reach for safety and comfort that can only be given by a parent.

I have experienced this with every child of mine. The one on one feeling of being the protector and safe haven for them when they feel their most vulnerable. They latch onto you and surrender their safety to the trust they have in you.

Just seeing that girl grab onto her mother reminded me of that feeling and made me so thankful that of all things there are in the world, I would never want to give up that privilege of having my little girl grab me around the neck and say “Daddy, boo-boo chicken.” I will gladly stay poor the rest of my life and only ask for the means to keep my family satisfied before I would ever release the privilege of that feeling.

So some things are overrated and I don’t need them. They would make life nice and even nicer for those I love. So I know some people value those things more: But then my sadness returns when I think of those that have not felt that warmth and contentment. The ones that may think it is overrated and resort to other means of fulfillment. If they only knew what they were missing.

I’ll take my hugs and kisses and I will return every ounce of love I receive sevenfold and ensure my child receives everything she deserves and more. Everything I didn’t get and everything I know will make her love her child the same way one day. Because she will look back and KNOW how it feels to have that love supporting you.

It may not read so blubbering, but it meant a lot to me to understand the true sentiment of that hug and all the emotions and communication that was transmitted in the simple free act of a hug and squeeze.

Sports...a season is closing, a season underway and two seasons to begin...

2009-10-11T23:43:00.001-05:00

So the White Sox didn’t make it into the play offs. Yeah not good. Then they trade my favorite player. But not just trade him, they sent him to the dodgers. The dodgers! ( this is said in the form of the voice that only the word lamentation could fully describe.) At least they’re still in it so I can see my boy Thome a little longer before he retires. Downside is the Cardinals got knocked out but they deserved it. They didn’t play well enough: simple.

Then the Red Sox got knocked out YAY!!!! That leaves the Yankees and Angels. Can’t wait for that series this week, I may watch all of it.

Which brings me to my next problem. The Rockies are playing the Phillies and well, the Rockies aren’t doing well but the announcers are so firkin boring. It’s like Bob and Doug McKenzie calling the World Cup fo Soccer. You know those two canooks have no clue about that! Neither do these guys and they sound tired.

Now keep in mind I am in Central Time, the game is in Mountain time so its after 11 here and it MAY put me to sleep!!!!! It just may.

I had a rough weekend on the betting side. Missed a big money maker Thursday with Nebraska and Mizzou by 1 frikin point! 1!!!!!!! Picked them right though but took the over under bet and missed! My fault. And then on Saturday I broke my rule and bet on a Tennessee game. Only I didn’t bet on them I bet against them. Never bet on Tennessee in any form unless it’s the Lady Vols Basketball team.

Then for pro football I got my big game bet right on the money. Then we made another parlay with four games. Indianapolis came through in fine fashion, so did Philly and so did Pittsburgh. But that firkin crazy San Francisco didn’t even win their game let alone make the spread. Sigh…missed out on some dough there but didn’t really lose a lot of money. I am actually sitting with a nest egg of 66% profit for the weekends activities. I will be parlaying that this next week into another small tidy lump sum as well. Hopefully exponentially.

I only see four games right now worthy of betting on PRO. Not touching baseball till the world series. College is going to have to be Florida playing New Orleans school for the dead before I touch it. But basketball is coming up and My honey will be giving me insight on Hockey as soon as it becomes viable for betting.

So I sit each weekend and always wind up with a problem on my fantasy team. I usually have two or three players that depend on the guys players I am playing to succeed and I usually have a bet on the team they play for to lose which makes it hard to enjoy much. But it does make for an exciting day! So I will continue!

Anyway, that’s my sin for the week. Back to watching the playoffs!

Vandalism and the angry mob...good grief.

2009-10-10T22:41:00.001-05:00

I just got through reading a story about some kids in my home area of the country that was caught spray-painting the back of a school during a rivalry week of football.

Okay #1, I do know vandalism of this nature is illegal and should not be condoned and I do not condone it. HOWEVER!!!!!! I do know every class has done something to the other school across this country and had fun doing it without hurting a soul! I also know it isn’t a felony or a hate crime. Its firkin school rivalry and pride at work.

Some proposed solutions: Banning the teams from playing each other ever again? Suspending this game due to escalating vandalism? (I didn’t know spray painting we’re #1 was escalating vandalism.) Press charges against them for felony destruction of property?

What part of this story did I not hear? How much is the Police department keeping from us? Is there a serial killer associated with the crime? Did they find Hoffa under the football field? Maybe one of them has new information about the Lindbergh kidnapping. No I got it, one of them MUST have information about Joseph Manglia. Has to be it.

Give me a break! They actually did a lab test on the damn paint and traced it back to a specific Wal-mart, (I knew a Wal-mart would be involved. That satanic retailer is behind everything. But I digress again!) then obtained video of every person buying paint and uncovered some teens purchasing paint cans. Very circumstantial but I bet if they can get the epithelial off of the paint fragments and connect it to the boys hands and fingerprints that would tie it up more. And what would cinch this case for the DA all nice and tight would be determining the lingering form of Axe body spray left on the premises by the alleged would-be Da Vinci’s once and for all: Thus sealing the coffin and nailing with facts how the teens went about their dastardly destructive and subversive behavior which undoubtedly has sank our wonderful and virgin society to the depths of the cesspool that is now criminal.

PLEASE!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!! You know there are a few murders in that area that could use this type of direction and attention!!!!! Think we can get on that some time soon!!!!!!!!! HUH!!!!!!!???????!!!!!!! External School Vandalism during a rivalry week???!!!!!??? REALLY!!!! This is out attention!!!!!!

We stood by and watched a woman be murdered on TV in Iran and didn’t even impose a sanction on the place. We let genocide occur daily in the Congo and say nothing! We donate, sometimes some of us do anyway, our spare change to the people collecting for good causes in the street but most of the time even roll our windows up and ignore them instead of helping. But our noble efforts and devotion is deserved of this endeavor. BRING THESE TEENAGE FOOTBALLERS TO JUSTIVCE AND MAKE SURE THEY KNOW YOU CANT PAINT OUR SCHOOLS LIKE THAT!!!! YOU CANT DO THAT AND GET AWAY With it!!!

But you can become the leader of a small faction of idiots that want to wipe out a race and we won’t bother you for a while until the right people get involved or it becomes something the WORLD says we should intervene for.

STUPID!!!!!!!!

I know I blow this out a bit but really. I know I took part in silliness of this nature as did most of the cops involved in the investigation BECAUSE IWENT TO SCHOOL WITH SOME OF THE MORONS!!!!!!!!! THEY HELD THE DAMN CANS WITH ME AND THEY ALSO USED THE BAG OF LIE THAT WE PUTON THE FIELD TO BURN OUR FLAG INTO THE FOOTBALL FIELD SO IT WAS THERE ALL SEASON! But they want to crucify these guys because the Sadducees and Pharisees are hurling stones and threatening to call Caesar!

Now I feel like Eddie Izzard. Breathe! K. There you have it.

Catch the kids with normal effort not the cinematic efforts of CSI: MIAMI. And when you do, charge them with very low-level vandalism charges. Make them clean it up and do some public service LIKE YOU HAD TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!! And be done. Trust me, this is not the premonition of a group of Ted Bundy’s that need to be stopped now before they get out of sorts.

Good lord. No wonder our world is so screwed up. I bet our parents wouldn’t have turned it over to us if they knew we were going to get this stupid.

Soap box vacant. Diatribe over. Commence milling around and discussing now. Thank you!

Day Six: And Ye Shall...

2009-09-30T09:36:00.003-05:00

My wife and I saw this outside a church in Alcoa, Tennessee a couple of years ago and it cracked us up. Thought I would lead with this since this post s of a religious nature and a little more serious than usual. Enjoy!

Last night I was watching some on demand when the program blew up and would not let me anymore. Some kind of maintenance I guess that Comcast was doing. Of course, it never worked again and from what I understand, it is still broke: Nice job people. I do not think we can handle any more upgrades or improvements around here. However, as I tried to watch Dexter, the channel I was on had a religious program going when it reverted to regular TV. Now I have been raised God fearing. I have recently been given to doubts but things I have witnessed and seen in my life have me conflicted with my belief system. So like many of the enchanted young minds of the 60’s looking for the answers, my mind wanders occasionally to the “What ifs?”

I do not think this is a bad thing to do and really, part of free will based on Christianity gives us the right and choice to ask these questions of ourselves and of others. It also lets us ask it of God himself. From what I have read, he expects us to do it in order to enhance our faith and prove his existence to the unbelieving.

That being said, stumbling upon this religious program, the usual hype of poor sinner come to repent and then the majority of the talking turned to the usual: Send me money. The person was shameless. They even have set fees established to give gifts back to the donators at different pay levels. For instance, the lowest donation amount was $58.00. Not $50.00, not $25.00 but $58.00. Maybe that is the person’s regular hotel bill for the hooker he goes to see after the show, $58.00 an hour. Either way this fee schedule went up to $10,000.00 with commensurate gifts. Astonishing.

Now when I read the Bible it does state that in prayer and giving, these are to be considered holy gifts if given in love and charity for the sole purpose of uplifting God’s kingdom and in that regard they are deemed seeds which will grow spiritual gifts for the giver. Now given that definition and guidance, one cannot give to anything thinking, “If I do this, then I’ll get this in return.” Sort of a spiritual savings account. God does not work that way. A gift has to be given, regardless of monetary value or materialistic properties in the embrace of love and kindness, not in expectation of reciprocity. Nevertheless, this person, as many others I have seen, taut how these donations “Will grow…and if you have given before,” he sleazily slurs to the screen, “just give more. For whatever reason God has not allowed that seed to germinate and grow but the more you give, the more it will grow. Say you gave $58.00 last week and it has yet to grow. Give $1000.00 this week, and I tell you God has said it will grow. It may be in some business venture you have going on that will prosper. It may be in other ways but it will grow out of God’s love.”

I was literally sick to my stomach with this vile bull sh#$t! How can anyone prey on the weak like that and do it in the name of faith and it is legal yet alone not reprehensible? These people should be put in jail! This is not a difference in doctrine that makes it okay for him and others to do this, this is the violation and exploitation of a specific principle of faith that people believe in and our being taught is okay. It is not! That is not the way tithing and gifting works.

Yes, it is true it will grow. Whatever your gift is to a ministry will in turn grow if given in love and with a clear conscience and heart and free of expectation of reciprocity. Moreover, it will and can grow in many ways dependant upon what God feels is best for you.

Now I send out to this man a little reminder of what God does to people like this. He needs to read Acts and how the man feel dead in his doorway for begrudging God his gift and giving it out of what he felt was REQUIRED of him and not because he wanted to give. In addition, how he expected return on his investment. They need to remember this is God’s in the first place. Everything you own is God’s and it is all about the mindset and what you INTEND to do, not WHAT you do that is important and either a sin or a blessing. Also, I seem to recall another TV preacher of our time, standing on his stage spouting dogma and rhetoric as old as the Bible at the camera and then giving an ultimatum to gather more rewards from his gullible audience. Oral Roberts shouted at the camera “You must help me achieve $1 million by midnight or this station won’t be able to broadcast anymore. God has set a deadline!” And as if on queue, God spoke in words of nature and said “Enough.” Lightning hit the stations antenna and took it off the air: Well before the supposed deadline set by the deity.

I do not know if that woke him up to the possible existence of God because he obviously was not a believer and neither is his son. And you may be saying to yourself, “Who are you to judge these people?” And I say I am a fence sitting Christian who understands the Bible and it says, “Try the spirits to see if they are of God.” It also says, “Be on the lookout for false prophets. You will know them by their works.” Therefore, when a man stands before spouting stupid doctrine that is perverted from the direction of the Bible for his own gain, I call it what it is and I judge it rightfully so. We all sin and do stupid things we need forgiveness for and God has only two levels of sin for man. All sin is forgivable in God’s eyes save the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. However, I feel one of the worst sins to commit is to lead a person astray in their beliefs and cause them to not hear the true word of God and benefit from his guidance.

If there is a God and I am leaning to think there is, I know these people will receive just rewards some day. Even if there is not one, I still believe in Karma and that such evil cannot go inappropriately rewarded. So dude, think about what you are doing and regardless of whether you believe or not, why make some one else’s life so miserable and prey on possibly the only thing they have giving them hope for something better? You suck and I hope you get what is coming to you because you deserve it.

Sorry for the deepness of the post today but that really made me sick.

Day Five: Were it nobler...

2009-09-29T23:55:00.009-05:00

Ogle Cabin, Gatlinburg, TN

Sir John Ogle

A picture paints a thousand words. But if I leave this picture up here and do not tell a story of discovery, you would probably think, “Why is there a picture of Shakespeare and Jesus on this dudes blog?” I tell this short story not to brag on my heritage but just as a funny little trek I took through genealogy last year.

Actually it is one of my ancestors from England, Sir John Ogle: A knight who served King Edward II around 1310. I started working on my ancestry back last year and it was exciting and addicting. For a month I worked hard on it and uncovered so many things. I started out thinking my ancestry was German Indian: Cherokee specifically. This was based on word of mouth information passed from my mother, a half-breed and my grandmother full bred. My great grandmother was full and considered a shaman type character. (I am not sure of the terminology for the female of the vocation. I didn’t look that up as it was more interesting assembling the names and lineage and still is actually even as this small discrepancy presents its self to me.)

So with that, I was in for a shock no doubt. I knew I would stumble in the research since it is a very daunting task. I mean one sole person taking on years of history and documents mostly handwritten and poorly kept. Then there is the problem of Indian data being inconsistent due to rebellion of the populace defying the government by not signing on to the rolls. My family was one of the ones that did not sign and thus past my great grandmother, my trail gets cold for the Cherokee side.

My German side comes from my father who is first generation German. His father and mother came over from England and before that were denizens of Germany. After that, it is also a cold trail. So there is the German and Indian.

So for the shock and surprise that shouldn’t be: My grandfather was English, from a long line of English. I actually traced it all the way back to 1033. There were at least five knights in the line. Just around the time of Lady Jane Grey, her uncle was in my direct line. I found that Isaac Newton was a cousin twice removed from that line as well. From that line a man worked with William Penn and rebelled in England with him and was arrested on many occasions fighting for land rights for the commoners. Then he came to Anne Arrundal County, Maryland and helped set up the township there and became one of the first mayors and legislators as well as the family setting up a sheriff’s office.

Then later I found as the lineage passed on, that Robert Ogle left Maryland and came to a little cove in east Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains. While in that cove he set up a small village that grew into what is now Gatlinburg and Sevierville, Tennessee. After he died, my great, great, great grandmother sold off some of the land to pay for the things she needed and helped establish Gatlinburg as a trading area and it grew and grew.

This family I discovered is so large and prevalent that a full society exists to establish more and more history around the line. I discovered there were many people across the world that are tied into my bloodline. There is still one of the many castles standing that King Edward awarded to Sir Robert for his efforts and loyalty during the wars with the Scottish. (A more dark time in the Ogle family as Sir Robert was one of the fine men that stood against William Wallace. Oh joy…)

Anyway, a rich history and great stories come from this research and there is so much more to discover. I plan on going to England one day with my wonderful wife and seeing this castle and maybe some more places related to the tree. Such a great thing to know this about my family and it makes me so eager to dive into the Indian and German side so much. As long as I don’t find I am related to Gobels or Himler I’ll be okay.

I worked on my wife's line and hit awall but I want to go back in. I may have to get another subscription and make the dive. I will leave any stories or tales of my wife's line to her.

But one interesting tidbit as I sat here with my family last May. We discussed movies and things we wanted to see and do and such. And as I thought I came across the “Angels and Demons” movie, the sequel to “The Da Vinci Code”. It dawned on me a very important part to that story or theory actually told in “Holy Blood, Holy Grail”, is of the Priory of Sion and the lineage back to Jesus. In that line there was of course Leonardo but one stuck out to me and stuck out for a reason I didn’t realize until almost two years after reading “The Da Vinci Code”. Some other name jumped into my thoughts and immediately I was ready to start teasing my family. “If that story is true,” I said.

“Isaac Newton was in that line, thus, I am related to Jesus Christ. I began to tell my wife who with a grin and a giggle raised her head to the ceiling as I explained the link and said “Oh My God.”

I said “Actually, very much mine but I’ll share. It’s all free. But you guys think you couldn’t take my ego before….How do you like me now?!”

Day Four: I want you...

2009-09-29T23:54:00.004-05:00

Okay, technically I didn’t take this picture but it is relevant to my day and that’s how I plan on continuing this when I don’t take pictures and have time to write. So this is for September 28, 2009.

Meatloaf. The other day I was in the bathroom and had the stupid Target commercial stuck in my brain. The one where it sounds like a French chick trying to say mocha…I have no clue as to what is being said nor do I care. I just hate the commercial.

So I try to get it out of my head and start thinking of songs from the 70’s and “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad” pops in there. I was immediately flashed back to my summer of 6th grade and running around with my friends as we stayed out late, camped in the yard and became as close to derelicts as I would allow myself without getting into trouble with my mother. Because my mother would do more to me than the law ever would and I couldn’t bear to have her be disappointed in me.

So there I was showering, trying to wake up and clear my sinuses. My sinuses have been horrible these last few weeks with the change in weather and it is my first fall in the Chicago land area. So I am being exposed to some new molds and spores yay!!!! Sigh..

But I kept cleaning the cob webs as I had the chorus run over and over in my head, “I want you, (I want you…) I need you, ( I need you…) but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you now don’t be sad. (Don’t be sad…cause) Cause two out of three ain’t bad.” And bam! It hit me! All these years and I just thought it was an ambiguous statement you know, “two out of three ain’t bad.” No, I finally know it is two out of the three things said. Taken from the old Elvis song, “I want you I need you I love you”. Two of the three but never gonna love you.

DO YOU KNOW HOW STUPID I FELT STANDING THERE WITH WATER RUNNING DOWN MY FACE? DUH!!!! Needless to say the Target ad was out of my head and I was awake and ready for work. Thanks Mr. Marvin Lee Aday for making me feel like an idiot for oh, 30 some odd years!

Day 3 installment of the 365 Journal: My Chair

2009-09-21T16:32:00.003-05:00

This is my chair. It is my throne. It doesn’t look like much but it represents a lot and it allows me to do some of the things I love doing the most. For instance, from here I watch as my wife sits across from me and we argue and discuss and banter about everything under the sun. I see her sit so cute as she works her crocheting and poises herself for the boring shows I keep busy with at night. I watch her confront our teen with the “Why’s” and “How to’s” every teen is faced with these days. I watch her divine answers from him of questions he doesn’t want to answer as he sits and gives a blank stare as if that absolves him from all responsibility. I watch as she plays with our daughter and sends her running to me in fright. I watch her enjoy a meal I have cooked for her and I trust that she at least thinks its edible and doesn’t croak or gag.

Then my chair also allows me to do another thing I value so much. I get to relax at night as it is quiet and my head is clearing. The buzzing has stopped and NCIS comes on and I feel my head lighten as I finish a crossword puzzle and hear only the TV on low volume. Then rest follows and I soon fall asleep in the chair as I relax finally into slumber while the rest of the Everett camp lays sleeping in other parts of the house.

Then my chair also allows me to lay claim to my abode as El Presidente or better yet, the in house title of “Big Poppa”. When I leave for trips the oldest lays claim to the chair and draws a level of importance as the man of the house as well as feeling as if he has claimed something from the power seat without being chastised for it.

But the one thing I do from this chair I think I have enjoyed more than anything else. And that I am sure is because I didn’t do it with either child before her, is watch my youngest grow. From this chair I have watched her discover words, utensils, toys and body parts. I have seen her learn to jump and run as well as become even more self dependent until that “boo-boo chicken” becomes too much and she needs attention of a parent to make it better even though it doesn’t hurt. I have seen her scoot across the table with a pet animal toy in her hand as she set them in line and counted them from one to ten and back again. And I have seen her accomplish this feat in Spanish as well as English.

I watch the little girl sit and review a book not just for pictures but to exhibit understanding of what a book is and how it is to be utilized to the point she tries to read the words. She has learned shapes like circle, triangle and square right before my eyes. I have watched as I fought back tears when she discovers a word for the first time and smiles so big in approval of herself.

And as in a post from days before I watched her tell her first lie to me. Which didn’t hurt me but made me smile that my little girl is discovering so much about herself.

But one thing I saw that seems like so long ago now, yet still makes me cry inside every time I hear it, is when she tells me she loves me. Any problem I have melts away when ever those little lips mouth the words and make the signs that mommy taught her to say “I” (points to eye) – “Louve” (twirls finger around the heart in a circle) – “Daddy!” as she points to me and smiles awaiting approval.

And the reason this is so special is not because she is singling me out in this cutest of cuteness, but because she is like a sponge and is learning something everyday. One day she will learn more and something more and something more and she will keep growing and growing and eventually my little girl will be a woman. I am going through that stage with my oldest daughter now as she approaches womanhood. She is having the pains of being hurt and tested as a woman and it is so painful to me. And as I think that I did not have the chance nor did I make the chance to sit and watch her or her brother grow up like that and see and indulge that effort of every little accomplishment no matter how small, I get pangs of heart break that this will be just a memory one day too and I cant keep seeing the same wonderful things from her without her being exposed to the hurts and pains of the world.

I don’t want her to grow up and interface with this world and discover the hardships that are there waiting. I want her safe and constantly growing in my view from my chair and our little family just stays together and thrives as we laugh and smile and grow with no pain or problems.

But that’s not realistic. And my girl is growing up. I will remember and cherish these moments when my wife and I see her leaving for college and remember that little girl that stood in front of this chair, leaned in on my knee and looked at me when I was crying watching her and said “Are you okay?” Not knowing she has made me the happiest man alive because she and her mother have showed me what real love is and what it can do.

That chair provides me more than a resting spot. It is my window on a world that unfolds everyday for the first time for a little soul that loves me and needs me. And I have a wonderful woman to thank for that. That chair ties my family together forever.

Brobee is Missing! (Day 2 of 365journal)

2009-09-17T09:57:00.007-05:00

Here we are on day two. I assume if you are reading this then there is some interest in the goings on of this little house near the prairie so I will continue on with my diatribe.

My second installment was not hard to find or even difficult to write in story. At first glance of the picture, one would think how cute, some baby toys perched on a sofa. “One is that little blue dog from Nickelodeon and the other is some robot creature just the right size for a tot to have some fun.” Thinking this way one would be sadly mistaken. Underneath this shy repose is a more sinister and diabolical story: A story of deranged jealousy or maybe even of the slave trade. I am positive if Bill Curtis were to investigate the tale he would undoubtedly be led down roads that traverse the seedy side of the cartoon world. The course of the investigation possibly infringing upon the sordid realms of pleasure vices and other despicable behaviors may reflect control by more powerful or maybe just bitter former characters of the cult of personality.

Digressing in this hypothesis, I detract from my original goal: tell the reader a story about my picture from day two.

Yesterday was full of work and toil and the day went busily well as one initiative fell after another. After arriving home, I prepared dinner and enjoyed it with the family hastily as we had other efforts to wield on the day before it slid away into history. We had yet another Craig’s List rendezvous which led to the sale of our Wii system garnering a much needed sum of monetary profit, and after that a trip to Target to pick up a few things needed at home as well as a few items of flagrant enjoyment such as adding to my Pez dispenser collection. After all the Halloween selection is neat this year as they glow in the dark. Not to mention they are cheap and easily stored as to not take up so much room much like another hobby I wanted to pursue at an earlier date of building a train set. I could just imagine the enjoyment of building hills and patterns on a huge table in the garage, maybe even reflecting some real locations from my home state of Tennessee to be forever memorialized in plastic, felt, glue and faux wood. However once complete, other than running the train, the item just takes up a huge amount of space and that space is forever lost for storage or other use. Store the system and then to use it at ones whim results in an all day chore of set up and tear down which detracts from the fun and suddenly becomes work. From this the reader can deduce that I tend to over think things a little and probably miss out on a lot of fun.

Back to the story at hand: viewing the picture Blue stands happily beside Plex the robot on the sofa. Our trip to Target yielded the robot as we saw it as an addition to the collection my daughter may unofficially be starting of Yo Gabba Gabba toys. She already has Brobee, “The little green one!”, as the tune professes at the start of the show, but wait, why isn’t Brobee in the picture?

I searched the bottom floor of the house and couldn’t find him for the photo shoot. All through the house I wandered calling “Brobee!” in a low whisper all the while complaining under my breath about how stars have their issues and prima-donna complexes that develop with notoriety. Before my search was over I was confident that Brobee was jealous of Plex since he sings most of the songs and has his own instructional segment of the show teaching processes and procedures for such great acts of growing up as “It’s fun to wash your hair.” and “This is how you brush your teeth.” I mean who can top that anyway? There aren’t many unless one takes a trip back through the annals of children’s television and pulls out Barney or Howdy Doody or maybe even Bozo the clown but still, one is hard pressed to find an instructional segment of this nature on a program that is not deemed educational or in the category of Sesame Street or the Electric Company: so I can see why a star of Brobee’s caliber and mental strength would be upset with the addition of a new toy in the house after being a fixture since the last Christmas. Understandingly, it is a slap in the face to give a person such control, reign and authority and then suddenly expect them to share it.

But after I take the picture and think a little longer about the situation, I begin to fear for Brobee. Thoughts race through my head about Brobee being hurt or even killed through accident or maybe something more sinister like Blue and Plex deciding the house is not large enough for three characters. Add to that Plex is a robot and is the smartest of the three. We have stories all through history where this kind of intelligence goes awry and fights back due to its superiority complex.

All through the night, well at least until I fell asleep on the couch watching X-Files, I tried to find him. Even as I lay on the couch, one has to rest a little when leading such an exhaustive search effort, I could hear his little Brobee voice echoing through the house, “Sometimes I like to move around and be loud, loud, loud!”

Maybe he will show up today. Through the course of Keira playing with different toys and digging through her toy box maybe he will resurface and we will finally know the truth. Maybe he will be able to tell his own story and rekindle the fire of prominence and fame through reinventing himself as the star who survived. Or maybe Brobee will be silent forever and this will stay an enigma and be filed away with our other stories of similar nature like the case of the missing Godfather Saga, or possibly the case of the missing Galaxy Quest DVD. I can envision our story being a conspiracy case reviewed and discussed for the decades along side the Kennedy assassinations or D.B. Cooper.

So whether we find him slumbering in the toy box, shredded with his stuffing ripped out behind the washer or see him doing stage renditions of "Rent" or "Wicked" in a road show slave trade, Brobee will be missed.

And if he doesn’t turn up, we’ll go buy another one.

365journal: Day 1

2009-09-16T11:22:00.006-05:00

All right! So it is the first day of my 365journal. The journal in which I track each day with a picture and short story to follow it. This picture is a very simple one. It’s not extravagant or picturesque or even noteworthy but there is a lot of story to go with it.

Yesterday we were on a trek to pick up a TV from a person on Craig’s List. We got a great deal on it and it is in great shape, sort of a miniature of the one we have in the living room. A nice one with a clear screen and all the gadgets we need to operate with peripheral devices and make watching TV in the bedroom more pleasurable.

My lovely wife made the deal and set up a pick up time. She then sent me the address and I Mapqwested it and attached all the contact information so it was readily available. I take a look at the distance and it says 24 miles northwest of us. Normally 24 miles means nothing but in Chicagoland, 24 miles is an outing not a jaunt especially around 6 pm.

Anyway, I forgot all about this until I got home and my wife and I talked of leaving. Once in the truck I noted the distance to her again and was then reminded that our son had just been here on an overnight trip with a high school friend a week or so before. During that trip they not only traveled the 24 miles back to his home but they went to a fair which was 24 miles south of us thus the trip one way being 48 miles one way and 96 miles in totality! Not to mention we were never informed of this adventure, the old, get forgiveness instead of permission. But I digress as usual.

Traveling to the TV set was a little longer than I expected but it wasn’t a bad drive. Then when we got there, we discovered the folks we were buying from were house poor. I mean this house was so huge my garage and living room would fit in the living room. And it was on this small lot where you could hand toilet paper to the bathroom window in the house next to you if needed, ridiculous: but inside, hardly anything at all. Very sparse smatterings of furniture and odds-and-ends here and there. Then he tried to up-sell us on some hideous lamps that look like something out of Barry White’s bedroom in the 70’s. Sorry dude, you can keep those, just fork over the set.

So we get the TV and head back. The drive was decent and not eventful at all. We went to Taco Bell and got some dinner, which by the nature of Taco Bell will not agree with your stomach especially if you are going straight to bed afterward. Get the Dream Meanings book out and try to keep up if you attempt this feat.

So we get home, and starting the next day, today that is, we are supposed to be having our driveway sealed so I cant park in the garage or driveway which means I have further to walk with this TV set. Across the street in over-flow parking is the lot for me. We park and I look down and my “Check Engine Soon” light illuminates: wonderful!

So as I get aggravated with my truck having issues, I start thinking in my head, this TV now costs an eighth of a tank of gas, whatever the cost for my repair will be, $30.00 and a back ache from carrying it down the stairs of the house poor guys place, out to the truck, from the truck to the house then eventually upstairs to the bedroom. And my truck is still a problem which irritates me more. I am reminded of a friend I lived with in high school that went out to get a hardees biscuit in the snow one morning and drove his car off the elevated driveway. The car got stuck and cost $150.00 to tow off the embankment fo the carport, to fix the breaks and tubes that were damaged in the wreck was near $50-0.00 so that biscuit sale that was 2 for 1 at $2.00 ended up costing over $600.00. Expensive biscuits. LOL

But we have a good TV and I like it. My truck would have the engine light come on regardless it would have just been on the way home from work or to the grocery store this week anyway so the TV didn’t cause it but the comedy of errors and my aggravation as I think of the entire event along with flakes on Craig’s List that don’t like to show and add that the money we will make off any sells we have will probably go to fix my truck just irritates me that much more.

Then we get in and start to eat our Taco Bell and the baby is acting up because she’s tired. She’s ready to explode and doesn’t like her daddy and mommy being away for so long. Not to mention she has been glued to the TV now most of the day and is probably in cartoon “Yo Gabba Gabba” overload so give her a break.

So that’s the story. We got a good TV, I have my truck parked until we get it checked and Taco Bell will eat your stomach lining.

DISCLAIMER: I in no way want this to sound as if my wife made a bad decision or we shouldn’t have made this trip: I was in full agreement and felt it was a good thing to do and still do feel that way. We needed the TV, it is a good set, the trip was fine and everything is okay and I am happy with our decision. I am glad we got the TV and I am glad the truck acted up across from the house instead of on I90 in rush hour. I am just irritated I am in a position where I cant just fix it and sell it and get something new. The rest is just circumstance that makes for an interesting story. I love you honey!

XO ILY YM

Great Accolades for a Great Company and a new path for me...

2009-09-15T13:13:00.000-05:00

I have to say my job has certainly taken off regardless of the progress I have not made that is just taking longer than I want. We had a forum this week with all the leaders of the company. I was privileged to be part of the few that were here at the first meeting of this type ten years ago. There were a little over 360 of us. This time there were over 1400! Wow! Our company is growing and growing well. We are one of a few companies in this industry that is still hiring when others are laying off people. Moreover, that is because our leaders, CEO, CIO, CFO, CTO and VP’s all were planning for this last year and before.

We have liquid assets that allow us to buy things outright that other companies have to finance. Our owners love us and we actually provide support in terms of funding for our parent company now that we have had such success.

I mean just this last year in my new position; I have created two positions to hire this year. I hired nine people and that is due to promoting others into new positions. I have set up new processes and programs that relate to equipment reliability and it has started a fire with other departments and organizations in the company to make it an enterprise effort.

Our new facility is set for 35% growth. We paid out bonuses and merit raises, not as good as last year obviously but still we paid them. In addition, this year we are still doing better than any other company in the industry is. We are doing so well one other company has put out ads stating they will pay extra money for any customer that defects from us and goes to them! WOW!!!

I was with this company on virtually the ground floor: just a few years out from its infancy. The department I am in now operated with nine people. Now, there are more than that on one shift!

Enough bragging, I just am very excited about what all we have done and what we still have to do. I have a great team of people even though sometimes they are misguided in their focus at times. I have a good team of leaders under me that take direction well and we work well together. We are ahead of the demand on every item that pops up and I could not be happier.

So today, I have been inundated with meetings and calls trying to secure other system related technologies to help us to do better work, but I still wanted to write something.

I saw a friend is doing a photo journal on another site. It looks very interesting. A picture a day with a description of what is going on. It is called 365 Journal, I think; anyway, I was thinking of taking this activity up instead of the original reason I started this blog. With the current economy and my bill structure, I just have not had the money to go out and experience anything to write. However, that in itself is a good topic. Things to do for free with pictures! Sounds like a plan!

I may do that. Most of the initial pics will probably be of home life and such but eventually a walk in the meadow may emerge and such. So anyway, that is my plan. A daily photo blog with a short story. And off we go!

My daughter is a liar

2009-09-09T14:29:00.000-05:00

My little girl of almost 2.5 years is a willing liar. She now can openly and consciously tell me a fib or hide materials in an attempt to conceal her involvement in anything of a mischievous nature.

This weekend I was playing with my daughter in one of the many ways we have fun. She will run from me carrying something she thinks I want and she is not supposed to have. With a squeal she trots off giggling all the way as she evades capture from the authorities heading to home base, the couch, and waiting to see if I follow her. Most of the time she is good about not getting too many things that is delicate of mine. (Mainly because I keep them under lock and key or have them up so high she “can’t reach it!” One of the many cute things she says now: “I can’t reach it!”, but I digress: more of the flagrant sinning heathen of Schaumburg.)

Saturday she was playing with my laptop, running her fingers across the keys like she was typing and looking at me with that mischievous grin of hers with a silly giggle accompanying. She turns to me often through this process and grins and waits to see what I will do and of course, I provide the usual “I’m gonna get you!” in various intervals to keep her guessing and the excitement level appropriate. The last time I say it however, she takes to a run. I grab her and pull her in close to me as I sit there and start tickling her neck and she begins giggling uncontrollably. Then she starts reaching out to her snack on the table with a whimper like, “bread, bread, I want my bread.” I let her go and what does the little wench do? Yes. She looks back at me and runs away as fast as she can! She lied to me! My little girl just openly lied and used me to get lose so she could run away! I was just astonished at the sight of seeing her that intelligent as well as using me so easily without a glimmer of shame or remorse for doing so.

And the weekend got worse. I was upstairs taking a shower and she, my daughter was downstairs with her mother. She had grabbed a dirty rag from the laundry and was playing with it and chewing on it. Her mother told her to put it away and not to do that, it was nasty. She ignored the mother figure and kept at her activity.

I began walking to the stairs and stopped on the landing. Her mother pointed out that I was on my way down and she had better put the rag back and stop. As I watched her from above, I saw her sitting next to my chair chewing on this rag and ignoring her mother. She looked up, saw me and quickly went into cover up mode as I walked down the stairs. She threw the rag by the chair and began feebly trying to cover it up with a dog leash. Once she had applied what she thought was ample coverage from the leash, she got up and ran toward me speaking tenderly and cutely as the little girl we all know she is saying “Hi daddy!” As if to say, “Why hello Father. I didn’t know you were here. When did you arrive? You didn’t happen to see my former activity did you? If so it wasn’t me. And if it was, I was probably nudged into doing whatever it was you know?”

My daughter the liar.

You better jump in and not miss the boat...the river moves fast and...

2009-09-06T01:26:00.002-05:00

You might not get to be part of it one day.

Today was a good day. I got up late because I have been on an odd cycle of staying up too late and for some reason I get into a euphoric state by the time I can relax and go to sleep. Then I fall asleep on the couch. Anyway, that’s nothing to do with why I write today.

I write today because I had a great time with my wife and daughter today: especially with my wife. I took her to a Christmas store that is only open on the weekends and it is the first weekend of the store being open. We saw some things that were cute but nothing struck either of us. They also had Halloween stuff which was cool as well and we obviously had the same reaction to this part of the store as we left with nothing.

But through the day as we looked at more seasonal items, I found some cookie cutters for Halloween so I could make my daughter and I some sugar cookies. And as each aisle came up, I remembered, and in some cases thanks to my wonderful wife, how much I love Halloween. And then she further reminded me about how I hated fall and the holidays when I first met her. I have a totally different take on things now though.

I love the time. The movies, the food, the smells and the sights. I am eager now to start watching the horror movies for Halloween. I have many in mind and own most of them.

I cant wait for Christmas to see my daughter finally take hold of the holiday and start experiencing it for what it is. The family atmosphere and the love she already receives each day will be there but it will be touched and canvassed by the sounds, sights and smells of the season.

So we came home from a great day of just being together and had a good dinner. I look forward to the rest of the weekend and the good things to continue to happen.

My family is truly awesome and my wife has given me a wonderful world that allows me to enjoy the best things in life every day and all I have to do is wake up and step into the river. Just float a long some time and experience the true joy of life and see where it takes you. Your soul will be ten years younger for one trip down I promise.