Up, Up and Away

For my father-in-laws 70th Birthday, all the kids and spouses got together and bought him a hot air balloon ride for 2.


Today was the big day.

They were to meet behind the Chili’s in Owasso at 6:45. As I was pulling up (to take photo’s), my in-laws (Linda and Vaughn) had just parked. Shortly after that, the man from Airgasmic Balloon Adventures pulled up. We had to wait for some more people to show up before we could get started. Plus, they had to figure out where they were starting from but that start was based on wind direction and speed and where they would put down later.

While waiting, they filled a black balloon up and let to float off and watched it to figure out the air currents. The balloon basically went straight up. (I thought that was smart, course that’s their job to know what they were doing). Anyway, once the last group of people got there, we headed to the 8th Grade center for launch.

We got to the 8th grade center, and they let off another balloon. This time, is slowly drifted to the south west. So, they decided to go to Freedom Baptist Church which was at 177th E Ave & 96th St N.

Off we went again.



We get there, and they started unloading and setting up the balloons.






There were 2 groups of people going (and 2 balloons). 3 people is all those baskets could hold!
At approximately 7:30, they lifted off.

They looked excited, but also a bit nervous (in my opinion anyway).







I called my wife several times cause she was extremely interested. After I told her they were up, it wasn’t long till she left work and started chasing them herself. She said the honked and waved, but when I asked Linda, she said she didn’t see her.

I enjoyed chasing them around in the car. The sun roof made it nice to be able to stop and take pictures without even getting out of the car.






During this, I had gone to QT for breakfast and a Dr. Pepper. When I got out, I started chasing them again. I almost missed the landing, but luckily I knew the area enough that I could get to where they were at without much hassle.


As they were coming down, from where I was out, it looked like they were going to land in the trees. But once I got to a better location, I could tell that their pilot knew what he was doing and was aiming for a small (very small from my point of view) clearing. At approximately 8:15 they had a very soft landed.






The ride wasn’t quite an hour. It would have been a bit longer, and they would have traveled father, but because of light winds, and locations to land they were only up for about 45 minutes, and traveled about 1.5 miles or so.

When they landed, the whole neighborhood came out and watched. Everyone grabbed cameras and took pictures and watched. It was even one couples 50th wedding anniversary. The woman said that they made their day! (Man below in green shirt and his wife is in the blue pants and white blouse).


I gave Linda a hard time cause the took a disposable camera with her instead of her digital camera. Hopefully I'll get some pictures from her camera scanned in and add them later. I'm sure they were beautiful, if the pictures come out.

Linda and Vaughn both had a really good time.

(Click on the images for larger versions.)

Home Improvement Projects update

Last weekend, we replaced the shower in the house.

We started around 4:30 Saturday afternoon, and worked till 1ish.
Started again Sunday around 1:30 p.m., and worked till 2:00 am.
I got up with my wife got up for work and worked from around 8:30 till 1:00. The shower was done except for cleaning and hanging the shower curtain.

We took off to Independence Kansas to go to a cheap water park and picnic, putt-putt, and a little train ride. Saw my parents and sister on the way home. We got home around 11 that night.

If I was going to take a shower in the morning, I needed to clean the bathroom and hang the curtain, so I proceeded to do that. Got the bathroom clean, and went to hand the shower curtain, and the curtain rod was too short.

*sigh*
Off to Walmart. I got a new shower curtain rod and went home (almost 1 a.m.), went to hand it, and it was about 2 or 3 inches too long.

*sigh*

Off to Walmart. I got a smaller shower curtain rod, went home, hung it, and it fit! Put the curtain on it. Looked at it and the shower curtain was about 6 inches too short. So I had to lower the curtain rod, but it was still too short, but would have to do, I was not going back to Walmart. I went to bed around 2:15 or so I think.

The next day, I got a new shower curtain and a new shower head. This one has the massage function and a hand held too.

The next day, my wife rearranged some stuff, and now the shower is very nice.

I'm glad we replaced it, but it was a LOT of work!

We still have to do the trim which I'm sure will be a pain, but then we'll really be done.

All told, to this point in getting the shower installed, we had 6 trips to Lowes and 4 trips to Walmart all in 3 days.

I told you I hate home improvement projects.

World Cup almost here!

I know most of you probably don't care about the World Cup if you even know what it is. But it is almost here.

10 days till the games start.

USA's first game is the 10th game of the games.

12-Jun-06 11:00 (CT) USA:Czech Republic
17-Jun-06 14:00 (CT) Italy:USA
22-Jun-06 09:00 (CT) Ghana:USA

There will be much soccer to be watched. And I'm looking forward to it (and not just for the USA soccer).

Oh, and in the link above, click on the time to convert the shown time to your time zone.

Here is the FIFA World Cup page for all your information!

Home improvement projects

Have I mentioned how much I hate doing home improvement projects in this house?

I do. It will be good when it's done, but they are a pain.

More later.

Baby Cardinals update

Back on May 12th, we noticed we had 4 cardinal eggs in a nest in a bush by our porch.

Well, we have a baby. Only one as of Thursday night that I could see.

Wild Ramblings: Mystery Solved

Back on March 1st I blogged about the Mystery Solved USB drive Microsoft was sending out by just filling out a simple survey.

Well, today, I got this response:

Thank you for your interest in the Mystery Solved Windows® licensing promotion. We've received your request for more information to help clarify Microsoft® Windows Desktop Licensing pre-loaded on the USB drive. Unfortunately, this Mystery Solved promotion was available in the U.S. only and while supplies last. Supply is depleted at this time, so we encourage you to please utilize the online alternative today. Simply download* the Windows Desktop Licensing reference files directly at: www.microsoft.com/mysterysolved/corp To help simplify Windows Desktop Licensing, keep these points in mind:
	There are two legal ways to acquire a full Windows Desktop license: through your hardware vendor (OEM/System Builder) or Full Packaged Product.
	Volume licensing covers Windows Desktop operating system upgrades only.
	OEM operating system licenses live and die with each PC–they are not transferable.
Again, thank you for your interest in Mystery Solved and for helping us spread the word about proper Windows licensing. Sincerely, Microsoft Corporation

My translation?

Thanks for filling out our survey sucker, but we didn't really have any drives, we just wanted all you marks to fill out our form, and it worked.

Oh well, shouldn't expect something for nothing. I would be curious if anyone knows of ANYONE that actually got a USB drive.

Rain

It rained today.

Week was suppose to be dry until I scheduled the detailing on my car.

It then rained.

Caliber

We got the car back today from getting the windows tinted and the sun roof installed.

Here you go. Actual pictures of our car.

Harry Potter / Star Trek?

Ok, you know the geek in me. This is interesting.

Long story short, I found this article at CNN about how Scientists may be able to make an invisibility cloak

Oh, that's cool.

So, basically, we may not be too far off from a cloaking device or an invisibility cloak.

Lost - Season Finale

Wow.

New Car

Saturday, my wife and I traded in our 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue and bought a 2007 Dodge Caliber.

We had been having some problems with the Olds, and a month or so ago, my wife saw an ad for this one in a paper. We both thought it was cool.

The car is Inferno Red, and by the end of the week will have tinted windows.

It's a cool looking car, if I do say so myself.

Once we get the windows tinted, I'll post some pictures. That was suppose to happen today, so I had waited to say anything till now, but since it wont happen till Friday, I wanted to go ahead and post about it.

Time for a road trip!

Garden update

With all the other posts I've made this evening, I'll keep this short.

We have my first tomato bloom!

The peas are doing well, and we have LOTS of lettuce.
(and the cilantro is blooming so we'll have Coriander soon)

If you build it they will come

I'm not talking about baseball either.

Sunday, we bought a wooden playset for our boy. We've wanted one for him for a long time, and finally got around to getting one.

That in itself was an event. Went to 1 Walmart, they called 2 others before we found one. Then had to drive to go get it, then get people to get it for us, and check out, load it, get it home. whew.

Then we opened the 2 box set. Wow, what a mess. It is a good thing my wife and I work well together. Something like this could send people to divorce court, or at least a bar.

We opened the box, and the instructions stated that depending on your experience, it would take 6 to 12 hours to put this thing together. (It took us close to the 6 hours).

Anyway, He loves it. He finally got to get on it tonight.

When we finished with it, we had him get out of the pool, and he was really impressed he could get on it while he was wet. hehe




And as I said in the title. If you build it, they will come. And all the neighborhood kids were at our house just having a ball. (ok, maybe not all, but the ones he plays with regularly)

Schools over

8/18, my youngest child started his first day of kindergarten.
Today was his kindergarten graduation, and tomorrow is the last day of kindergarten.

How the year has flown by. It seems like yesterday he just started, and it wont be long till those next 12 years fly by, and I'll be going to his High school graduation.

He's grown so much this year.

Reflection

What a week.
I've had 3 High School Graduations to go to this week. Well, not really had, but I went.

Two young ladies from my church and my niece.

Collinsville on Tuesday night.
Owasso on Thursday night.
Skiatook on tonight (Friday).

I'm exhausted. Though it was nice being able to see these young ladies achieve this accomplishment.

Sitting through 3 graduations in one week can get a person to thinking. Well, me anyway. These students are at a threshold. A door they are passing through never to return.

16 years ago, I passed through that same door.

Since then, I went to two colleges (TJC and OSU). I've receive a B.S. in CompSci.
I've had 4 jobs in my profession since graduating.
I've been engaged twice.
Married once (to a wonderful, beautiful woman!)
Adopted a beautiful daughter, and had a son.
I've lost a job and a baby.
We currently have a car and a truck,
A dog, a cat and fish.
I've started doing maintenance on my own cars.
I have and like to garden.

Is this where I planned to be when I left high school?
I don't know.

I'm not sure I really had what you would call plans after high school.
I did finally go to OSU for college.
I did marry a beautiful woman, though not the one I planed on when I was in high school.

The more I think about it, I think I am where I wanted to be.

I wanted to marry a beautiful woman and have a family with her.
I wanted to be a good husband and father.

I had no grand ambitions other than that.
Well, not really. Not serious ones anyway. There was of course astronaut, President of the US, and millionaire. (Not necessarily at the same time). Though I'm still hoping for the last one.

As I sit here now, typing, thinking of my future to come. I don't get much more ambitious.

I want to see my kids graduate high school and go on to do something they love.
I want to see my son come to know the Lord.
I want my daughter marry a Godly man and live a Godly life.
I want my son to marry a Godly woman and live a Godly life.
I want to grow old with my wife enjoying the slow, quiet evenings on a porch swing.

These are all goals I have IF the Lord doesn't come home before then.

Console Prices

One of the blogs I go to almost every day is Gizmodo.

They had this post today: Console Prices Adjusted for Inflation OR $500 Ain't 'Spensive

On it, they have two bar graphs which I've included here, but you may want to go read their article.

This first graph shows the prices of Consoles from 1976 to Present. Looking at the purchase price, the PS3 is not the most expensive console to market todate. (Click on the graphs for larger versions)


The second graph shows takes into consideration inflation. Looking at this graph tells gives me a much better idea of the consoles costs.


That being said, the PS3 is more expensive than the XBox 360, and both are way more expensive then the Nitendo Wii (expected to be releases around the $200 range). The Wii (other than its silly name) is getting good reviews.

Anyway, of these NextGen consoles, their prices are not that out of sync than the older systems.

Don't get me wrong though, they're still expensive.

Mystery Bird - Brown Thrasher

On my search to figure out my Mystery Bird, I went to www.birdsofoklahoma.net and they had a link if you needed help identifying a bird. Bill answered me telling me it was a Brown Thrasher. I found a much better picture at All About Birds.

While reading about it, I read

An aggressive defender of its nest, the Brown Thrasher is known to strike people and dogs hard enough to draw blood.

This did not surprise my wife or I since anytime we came close it went crazy. Luckily it didn't attack my family of my son's friends.

I am so happy I finally know what that bird is. I also want to thank Michael for his help too!

I can now rest easy tonight.

Mystery Bird

I'm still trying to find out what kind of bird had their babies the other day in my Forsythia.

Here she is, up close and personal. She wasn't very happy with me being this close to her (though I wasn't as close as the picture would have you believe. Gotta love zoom!)

Here is another picture of her sitting on the fence. (I hadn't figured out my digital zoom on my camera). She is in the center of the gray air conditioner. You'll get a better view if you click on the picture.


If anyone knows what kind of bird this is, please let me know. I'll continue my search!

Here she is flying towars our bush where her babies were at.

Birds - Cardinals

A few days ago, my wife noticed a new birds nest (and more eggs) in another bush.

At first, we thought it was the same type of bird that we had seen before, but she later found out it was a cardinal nest this time.

I went to the Wildlife Departments web page to find out more about Cardinals, and I found some very interesting things.

One of the most interesting thing I found out was that they are Nonmigratory (which I knew) and territorial (which I didn't). They also may spend its entire life within a half-mile of its birthplace.

So for these 4 eggs may very well spend the rest of their lives around my house. That's sorta neat to think about.

Well for me anyway.

Oh, and the other day, I was outside on the swing just relaxing, and I heard this really short chirp. I didn't recognize it, so I was searching for the bird. I finally found it. It was the mommy cardinal. While I was on the web page I also found out that

Their call is normally a very short and sharp chink, but may vary from a what-cheer, cheer, cheer to a sweet, sweet, sweet.

(I thought the words to their chirp was funny till I said them out loud and realized just how right they were. hehe)

AT&T / Cingular

About a year and a half ago, I got AT&T Wireless celphone service. I liked it.

Then last year, Cingular bought them. I am still having problems with their web page logging into my account because of them moving all the AT&T Wireless accounts over to the Cingular system. (Going on 3 months now.)

As many know, AT&T is buying BellSouth.

Guess who owns Cingular? That's right, BellSouth.

So AT&T will get Cingular. Currently, AT&T is planning on killing the Cingular brand and renaming it AT&T Wireless.

We've come full circle.

PS3 Controller

With all the new information coming out of 3E there were bound to be information on the PS3. Last nights post was on the pricing. As I've done some more reading, I've found some very interesting information on the PS3 Controller. PS3 Controller to be Tilt-Sensitive. That's right it will have "six degrees of freedom built in".

It is also no longer looks like a boomerang or a banana. It looks very similar to the DualShock2. It also is to weigh less than the DualShock2.

The 6 degree's of freedom is an interesting concept.

I'm not sure I'll like it. In theory, it's a great idea. In practice, I'm not so sure. I'll play games in all sorts of positions, so the controller isn't always level. I would think that games that take advantage of this 6 degrees would have to be played from a sitting position I would think unless you have the ability to calibrate to how you are sitting/laying.

Also, this could be a problem for littler kids I would think. My son for one moves the controller ALL OVER the place when he plays. I could just imagine what would happen if the game took advantage of that.

It also may be something that can be turned off in the games, like the vibrate functionality.

This could be nice.

Anyway, to me, this is good news. The controller looks normal and the box looks nice itself.

Now, I just need to find some money.

Playstation 3 Pricing

We finally have it! The PS3 will have Two Price Points.

20 GB HD version at $499
60 GB HD version at $599

Start saving your pennies!

KOTV webpage update

I'm not much of a news fan. I know, you are all surprised.

I do occasionally watch the news... mostly for the weather. But I do hit the new web pages at least once a day or so. (usually for the weather) When I do watch the news, I hit Channel 6 (KOTV).

I noticed today that the KOTV.com page has been updated today. I'm not always fond of web page updates, but this one seems nice.

It looks nice and clean.

New Restaurant in Town

C-ville has a new restaurant.

El Jalapeno Grill. They opened last week.

I was making Mexican tonight, and needed some chips for my cheese dip, and my wife suggested I go and get chips & Salsa from the new restaurant.

Not bad. Their normal salsa is pretty good. Their HOT is very nice. It has a good flavor as well as heat. Not just heat and no taste.

While I was there tonight, I picked up their menu. On the inside, there is something that really made me laugh.

Best Mexican Food in Town

That is easy enough since they are the ONLY Mexican food in town!

Looking through the menu, it appears that most of the menu items are under $6.00. The most expensive thing on the menu is the Shrimp Fajitas for Two at $13.99

I can't wait to go try out some of their other menu items other than chips and salsa.

Impressive

Tonight it was just my boy and I. We went to my in-laws to work on their computer, and then we went to McDonald's. I think it's funny just how much fun we have there, and how much I notice about my boy as he plays there.

This evening, he was playing in the toys with a girl about his age, and her little sister (maybe 3). Well, two young teenagers, or pre teens went in. And one of them was scaring the little girl. Her dad jumped up and was headed that way. I looked up in time to see my boy come around the corner of one of the tubes (between the old girl and the little girl) and told the older girl in no uncertain terms, "You're scaring her!"

Both her (the three year old) and her dad thanked him for helping her.

I was so impressed.

Later, there was a 2 year old or a bit younger maybe that was trying to play in the tubes. My boy helped him climb up to the second level. Then he showed him where the slide was and showed him how to slide down the slide. But the little boy wouldn't go down. So my boy walked back around, climbed back up to the boy and they both slid down together. The little boys dad thanked him for helping him.

My boy plays so well with kids older or younger than him. It's funny.

It does make me feel really good as a father to know that he watches over kids that are littler than him.

Soccer!!!!

Today's soccer game was the last schedule game of the season. (We do have one make-up game we have to play by next Saturday, so not sure if we'll get it made up or not.)

Anyway, it was a cool, wet, muddy game. But it really was a good game. We got smoked as my son would say, but not as bad as the last time we played this team. Which really had me feeling pretty good! The first game of the season, (if we kept score), it would have been 30-0 I think. Well, today was probably 12-3. It was way muddy. I almost fell several times just walking the ball to center field. Well, one of the girls on my team took down one of the other players (their best in my opinion). SPLAT, right in a mud puddle! It was funny. Happened a couple more times too.

The best part of the game though was my boy scored his first goal all season!!!

I'm a way proud father.

The game itself was good. It was nice to hear parents from both sides of the field cheering for all the kids. That is what this game at this age group is all about.

I handed out trophy's to the kids today after the game. You should have seen their faces! You would have thought they just won the World Cup!

More ABC streaming

Now that we have 2 weeks of shows (Lost) I went out to the ABC streaming page to see if I could watch past shows as well as the current show.

You can.

I'm liking this ABC streaming thing more and more.

Lost

Man what a show.

Rain

It's wet.

It's a bit strange saying that since we went sooooo long without rain, but in the past 2 weeks, we've received around 8 to 10 inches of rain.

It started raining around 1:00 this morning and it is still raining at 8:30. Most of that time it's been moderate to heavy rains. Now, as the rain seems to be moving out, it has lightened up.

There was flooding in Broken Arrow with last nights rain.

With all the rain, the burn ban has been lifted in all but 20 Oklahoma counties.

This means that people can start smoking, and charcoaling.

It also means that we can go camping. I love to camp though I've not been a lot in recent years. But when I camp, I want a camp fire.

Now, where did I put my water wings?

Episode Streaming Update

I reported yesterday about ABC.com Episode Streaming. Well, I got a chance to watch Lost today.

It wasn't bad.
I had 4, 30 second commercials through the show. That was it. Not too bad.

The picture and sound quality were good. The streaming was well done. I can't remember having to wait on content to download to continue watching the show.

Not too bad.

Monopoly Here & Now

Monopoly is coming out with a new version.
It is called Monopoly The Here & Now Edition

Help decide the future of the newest Monopoly game--on shelves everywhere this fall!

vote for your favorite landmark in 22 U.S. cities--those with the most votes will earn a place on the new Monopoly Here & Now game board!

Vote daily through May 12.

Ok, so I had to take a look at this, I wont tell you what the landmarks are, but I will tell you the cities in the line-up

Boston
New York
Philadelphia
Cleveland
Washington DC
Nashville
Atlanta
Orlando
Miami
New Orleans
Chicago
St. Louis
Dallas
Houston
Phoenix
Denver
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Seattle
Minneapolis
Honolulu

You can pick 1 of 3 choices at each of these location.

The cities vote will determine the location on the board.

Oh, and one other change airports will be replace the rail roads

And according from this CNN Money article:

airports will replace rail roads
property values will be going up
money will have larger denominations
"Community Chest" and "Chance" cards will have modern scenarios

ABC.com Episode Streaming

ABC.com has started their Streaming of their shows...

Lost
Alias
Commander in Chief
abc promo (check out the latest shows on ABC!)
Desperate Housewives

ABC.com: Full Episode Streaming

If this is successful, and I can't image it wont be, I'm sure more shows will be added.

Immigration Day / Shopping Day

Ok, so come Monday morning, supposedly, all the immigrants are suppose to "walk out" to show us all how important they are. This is suppose to be in response to the tougher laws that have been looked at on illegal immigration.

I don't get what the big deal is for many of these people that have their pannies in a wad. All of this stuff is about illegal immigration, not legal. I have no problem with legal immigration. Shoot, unless you are an American Indian, you're an immigrant. What the law makers are doing is trying to crack down on those that don't follow the legal process and sneak into the country.

If you go to the Immigrant Solidarity web page, you'll find this on their front page along with other stuff.

May 1, 2006: Call to Action!

"El Gran Paro Americano 2006" "The Great American Boycott 2006"

"Un dia sin immigrante" "A day without an immigrant"

Nationwide General Immigrant Strike!
Wear White T-Shirt at May 1st!

We are clling No Work, No School, No Sales, and No Buying, and also to have rallies around symbols of economic trade in your areas (stock exchanges, anti-immigrant corporations, etc.) at May 1st to protest the anti-immigrant bill.

Again, the laws are concerning illegal immigrants, not legal immigrants. Of course, I could be wrong, there may be some things in there to make it harder for immigrants to come into the US. But in a day where people come into our country, and then try to hurt us, I can understand that.

I also think charging illegal immigrants with a felony is a bit harsh, but from what I've heard, that is really the only thing that I don't like in these bills.

Anyway, I got an email today that suggested everyone go shopping on May 1st. Here are some excerpts:

They hope to show that they have an impact on our economy, they hope to hurt American business, they hope to emotionally and economically blackmail us into submission.

So what can we do? All Americans who support LEGAL immigration but demand that all immigrants RESPECT our law are asked to act on May 1st. Wear RED or BLUE that day (They will be wearing white), and go SHOPPING.

...

Wear red or blue to show your pride in your country, and your opposition to weak border and amnesty legislation. And GO SHOPPING!

I personally like this idea.

Flood Watch Issued

We have been in a drought for I don't know how long. A Flood Watch has just been issued.

We so need this rain. Monday's storms raised Skiatook lake about a foot, but it was still 6 feet below normal. The swimming beach at Tall Chief Cove was still closed. Hopefully this storm system will help.

Crazy weather.

Zoo Trip

Yesterday my wife and I got to go with our son on a field trip to the zoo.

It was a lot of fun.
There were a lot of parents there to help out. I was glad to see several dad's there as well as moms.

It was a very enjoyable day.
We had a boy and girl with us along with our son. I was glad I went. I was concerned about going. Kids can get on my nerves pretty easily, but I didn't have any real problems. At lunch, I did get on to one of my boys friends cause he was calling a girl next to him names.

Once the kids got there and got off the bus we took our group and went around. We had a scavenger hunt list to go through to help keep it educational for the kids, but still have fun.

We got to see a good part of the zoo before we had to meet for lunch. All the different groups met at the picnic area for lunch. There were a few of us...


We were not the only school at the zoo that day. There were groups from at least 2 other schools there! It wasn't bad unless you were in one of the buildings, then it got a bit more crowded, but it still wasn't bad.

After lunch, we got to go to the rain forest.



After we met back with the teachers and the rest of the kids to drop off our extra kids and sign our boy out, we stayed at the zoo a bit longer. He got to play at the play ground. We decided we would head to the see lion show. On the way, we walked by some of the monkeys, and we were standing in front of a glass window watching a couple, and my boy was eating his fruit snacks. Well, the monkey saw him and he wanted his snacks. We had too much fun.



After laughing real hard, we went to the sea lion show.


We walked around a bit longer, then finally head out.


After we left, we headed to Ted's Escondido for dinner, we got there between 4:30 and 4:45 (closer to 4:45 I think), and got seated right away. No wait. I almost didn't know what to do.

It was a wonderful day!

Field Trip

Tomorrow, my son's class is going on a field trip. To the zoo actually.

I love the zoo. Always have. I don't go as much as you would think.

My wife and I will be going along to help out. (Assuming my wife feels up to it, she was sick, last night and today).

I hoping for a good time. I'm not sure how I'll do with THAT many 5-6 year olds in one place hehe

Birds & yard work

After church today, my wife and I went out to trim back out forsythia bush. It was over-grown 6 years ago when we moved here. I've trimmed it once, but just a light trim. Today, we hacked it.

We didn't hack it a much as we had planned because we ran across a nesting bird with eggs. And we didn't want to disturb them. Once the eggs hatch and fly away, well finish it off.

I also took a wack at a pine tree we had in the yard. The lower limbs are all over the ground making mowing very difficult. Plus, it just didn't look very good (plus my wife wanted those lower limbs gone) . So, we had basically finished with the forsythia bush, so off to the pine tree I went. Well, I finally got the lower limbs removed, but I really needed a bow saw. And since I didn't have one, I'll go back out and get some of those limbs a bit closer to the trunk of the tree.

In the process, I ended up getting pine sap on my arm. Specifically, my arm hairs. It is very, very sticky. Have you ever tried to get sap off arm hairs? Well, I tried one of the orange cleaners. Didn't work. I tried Dawn dish soap. I put some on, let it soak. Didn't work.
I finally tried some of the hand cleaner I use when I get grease and oil from working on the car. That took it right off. So, remember, hand cleaner you can get at any automotive store will take tree sap off your skin and hair.

Back to the birds. I'm trying to figure out what kind they are. They are a reddish brown to me. There are two of them which means the male stays around. It made a twig nest in the forsythia bush. I first thought the eggs were gold, but I looked later, and they may just be whitish with dark colored spots. I'm going to try to get some pictures soon.

Well, I'm sore and tired. I think I'm off to bed.

Soccer

We had a game today. As usualy, the kids are getting better. They seem to get better each game.

It was a good game, and not just because we actually tied. But because we played a team who's coach tries to do the same things I do. Teach the kids how to play soccer, and have fun.

Too many people forget that is what sports are really about.

Silly Car

So, as I've said before, my car was acting up this morning.

I was afraid it might be the transmission, so I called my mechanic, and made an appointment for Friday morning. I just took the car down there, and had absolutely no problems with it. None at all.

So, either I've completely lost my mind, or it's going to be one of "those" problems.

I decided to leave it down there and let him take a look at it anyway.

We'll see what he has to say I guess.

Planting

I finished planting my garden tonight.

I got my okra, some mint and sweet basil planted today.

The mint and basil I've planted in pots.

While out shopping with my wife, I picked up a soaker hose at Big Lots. I put it around the peppers, tomatoes, and okra. Then I gave it all a nice good soaking.

Wont be long now.

Yummy!

I don't think so

My car was acting up today, so I ended up taking the day off.

I went with my wife who also had the day off shopping. First stop was Goodwill.

She loves this store. Other than the amount of money it saves me when she goes shopping, could care less.

I was perusing, just seeing what junk they have and see if anything just jumps right out at me.

One thing did. What do I see on the shelf but an athletic supporter.

That is something you just shouldn't buy second, um, hand.

More Garden updates

Last night, I got my cucumbers planted. 2 different types this year.

One is the same as last year that everyone commented was so good. The other is a new type I'm trying that says it is good for pickling (which my whole family loves).

Now, I just have to get my okra in the ground and I'll basically be done.

Stupid People

I saw a signature today that I just had to share

I'm not saying there should be capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we remove all the warning stickers from everything and let nature take its course?

This is just too good!

Sounds like a plan to me.

Pain and Hope

I know several people that are going through a lot of pain right now.

One has lost her faith and trust in someone close to her.

One has lost trust with those around her.

One has had his heart broken.

People turn to so many different things when they are in pain. Some turn inward, others turn to friends, some turn to other things.

Some turn to God.

Sometimes, people give their problems to God, and then promptly take their worries back!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" - Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah was hurt and in pain too. But God was there to truly comfort him. And like Jeremiah, God does have plans. He has plans for all of us, if we want to hear them or not. Willing to listen or not. He truly has plans to prosper each one of us. (not necessarily monetarily, but prosperity.)

Remember, it is ok to hurt. Pain is something we all deal with. Remember to share your pain with those close to you, but remember to give it to God (and let him keep it).

You have hope.
God has given you hope!
God has given you a future!

Gardens Etc

Title sounds like a name of a store.

My garden is doing pretty well. It wont be long till we are eating lettuce from our garden. The spinach is starting to go. The cilantro is about to bolt I think. And the peas are doing well. Last week, my wife picked up a square collapsible tomato cage. I took it a part and opened it so the peas could climb on it. But it only did one row. So, I went today, and got 2 more so I could get the peas to climbing. While I was at Atwoods, I also picked up a gate to go behind the pond, 2 roma tomato plants, 2 jalapeno plants, and 2 Rutger's Select Heirloom tomato plants. Got them all planted and mulched. Got it planted 6 days earlier this year than last year.

Earlier today I changed the oil in mine and my daughters car. I hate doing it, but I'm happy once it's done.

Soccer was ok. The kids had fun. I'd have more fun if the other coaches would concentrate on teaching all their kids how to play the game instead of making sure their "good" players get the ball so they can score a lot.

1 Year Anniversary

I have been blogging 1 year today. I find it funny that I was not sure what I would think of it when I started as you can tell by my first post entitled, ehh.

Now, one year later, I manage to blog almost on a daily basis (sometimes multiple times a day) and have 456 posts in this blog not counting this one. Not only that, but I have also started another blog to help parents find good Playstation games their kids can play called Playstation Games 4 Kids.

My friend Steven had an interesting entry for his 1st anniversary of his Roemerman on Record.

I thought I'd give it a try. Steven had commented on how hard it was sometimes to pick just one post, and I'll have to agree with him.

So, here is an interesting post from each month of the past year.

April
Raising Seeds was a post concerning similarities in raising children and gardens.

May
More on Daughters

June
We took a trip to Maryland. In stories from the Trip, pt 3 I talked about the fun trip to Virginia Beach and my boys first time to see the Atlantic.

July

In 1 down, I talked about how my son lost his first tooth.

August
I had several things I would like to post for my months highlight, but I think the Good News of my wife stopping smoking tops it all. She's still smoke free! I'm so proud of her!

September
Truth from a 5 year old.

October
Kid Crafts for the Seasons and Holidays was about a crafts page I found with activities for your children.

November
I found a fix to my problem of the Windows XP Firewall was grayed out and I had a blank screen.

December
I had a Busy Vacation with a home makeover.

January
I posted on the creation of my new blog on Playstation Games for Kids.

February
I had some helpful hints on how to handle Spyware & Viruses.

March
Who is St. Patrick?

Google Calendar

Google has added another feature their expanding web based programs, Google Calendar.

Gmail has been modified to automatically recognize when messages mention an event so you can seamlessly add it to your calendar.

SBC DSL had teamed up with Yahoo, and they have had a web based calendar. I never really used it much. It defiantly didn't help put appointments from emails into my calendar. I'll have to see how this goes. I would imagine for someone without a PDA or Outlook on their PC, this could be extremely useful!

Online TV

All I can say is it's about time they started.

Disney to put TV shows: "Hits like 'Desperate Houswives' and 'Lost' will stream for free, but commercials can't be skipped."

This is good news. Ever miss that show? Well, if you have high speed internet access, you can watch. Now, unlike your TiVo or PVR/DVR, you wont be able to skip the commercials. Small price to pay to get to see your show.

This can also be good news for my cousin Laura in Saipan who watches Lost one week behind the rest of the world!

Now let's get the rest of the shows aired.

One thing I would really like to see, and probably eventually will, is just having the channels streamed so you can tune in from any High Speed computer and watch your favorite channel.

UPDATE: Forgot to mension, this begins April 30th

Beautiful Morning

This morning was so beautiful. Sun was shining and birds were chirping. It was just beautiful.

I wish I could have just sat on the porch swing and just sat there and watch the day go by.

It's days like today that make me wish I had a job where I could enjoy it. (and it's nights like Sunday night that make me glad I don't).

Update Finally

Long time since I've updated. Let me catch you up.

Saturday, was a soccer game. It was pretty good. They played well. My boy had several really good plays. Made me happy.
Saturday was also Prom here in town. So my daughter went to it as well. From what little I heard about it, it was good. I do know that my girl looked awesome! See...



They have a thing here in town called the grand march. It's when all the kids come driving in and show off. There were limo's in all shapes and sizes. But the most interesting was this.


Yes it is a covered wagon. There are three couples in there. What I find most amusing is those aren't horses. They are mules. I tell ya. Nothin fancier than goin to prom in a mule pulled wagon. hehe

Sunday, I changed the blade in the lawn mower since I hit something in the high grass the week before and broke the blade. So, I was mowing, and it died. Strange, I started it back up, and it died again. Ok, what's up. I checked the gas. It was fine. I opened the oil and smoke came out. Put some oil in there, and tried to pull the string. Nothing. Engine was froze up. So, I had to buy a new mower. Sorta an expensive lesson, but I guess it's cheaper than a car engine.

So, after church last night, I was able to finish mowing the yard. Had a nice dinner. Things were going pretty well. But then I tried to sleep. Couldn't. I woke up at least once every hour with my allergies. I had to call into work sick today because of them.

As the day progressed, I felt better, but we had soccer practice in those winds this evening, and as I sit here and type, my eyes feel like they are on fire.

Well, enough typing.

Canon Printer Problem Update 2

Monday I gave an update on my Canon Printer Problem Update, well last night, UPS dropped off my new printer.

I got it unpacked and set up and no problems. Packaged up my older printer, and shipped it back today.

Not too bad. It broke on Saturday. Monday I called. Thursday I had a replacement.

Old programs and new printers

For anyone out there with kids, you may be like me and find really neat older computer programs for the kids to play.

That happened to us. My boy had a program called Blue's Clues Kindergarten. It's a really cool program that he likes to play. As you finish activities, you get pages that you can print and continue learning off the computer as well.

My boy went to print and he couldn't. The program said there wasn't a printer attached to the computer.

My guess was that since the printer is a new USB printer, and the game was probably written for LPT printers. So, how can he print on this newer printer.

After some Googling, and some trial and errors, I found the answer and wanted to share with you.

1. Open Printers and Faxes
2. Right click your printer, and click on properties
3. Click on the port tab
4. Click the check box next to "Enable printer spooling"
5. Make sure the check box that your printer is connected to is check, then scroll up and also click on the LPT1: check box and hit OK.

That's it. Start your old application, and print your merry little heart out.

Tired

I am so tired this morning.

I went to bed at a decent hour last night (after watching Lost), but I set the alarm for 5:30 instead of 6:30 so I could go for a walk this morning.

During the night, I woke up with my allergies bothering me. I hate allergies, I really do. I've had them all my life.

Anyway, the alarm went off at 5:30 and I turned it off, and laid there for a few minutes. Got up and went for my walk. It was a beautiful morning for a walk. I got to spend some good time in prayer during my walk.

So, it was a real good morning, but I'm tired. I think I've planned out my day.

1. Take a nap
2. Go to lunch
3. Have a siesta
4. Go home
   

Not a bad day if I do say so myself... Course, that wont happen. Well, 2 and 4 will, but I'm sure 1 and 3 wont.

Nano breath test for cancer

While cruising Gizmodo.com I ran across this article on we make money not art titled "Nano breath test for cancer"

A team, led by Joerg Lahann at the University of Michigan, have won funding to develop a breath test device which will use nanotechnology to detect breast cancer.

I can just imagine that most women that would rather blow into a tube for a breast cancer test than have her boobs smashed between 2 ice cold plates for an Xray.

Now if they can only do that for prostate cancer before I get to the age for those tests.

Funny Oddity Thursday

Something funny will happen 2 times on Thursday.

3 seconds past 1:02 the time will be

01:02:03 04/05/06

I said it was funny, not profound.

Canon Printer Problem Update

As I talked about a couple days ago, I started having problems with my Canon Pixma MP450. I got a hold of their tech support this morning, and just as they were about to help me, I was paged for work. So I had to hang up with Canon.

This evening, I called again. I ran through some tests they wanted me to run on it. What I told him on the phone was that I think the wheel that pulls the paper into the printer isn't rolling. Once I finished all their test, and it still didn't work, they offered to get it serviced or replaced. I chose replaced.

They are shipping it UPS, and it should be here on Wednesday. Not only that, but I also get to keep the ink that came with this broken printer.

I've been real happy with this printer, and the service I received so far has been great.

Raising Happy Children

Steven had a really good post on Raising Happy Children

I've actually seen parents take making their kids happy to the extreme. They don't want to discipline them because that will make them sad or mad. Know what? Tough!

Though the article that Steven referred to did not say it, kids need discipline. They need to know that parents have rules and will stick to them. If you cave in all the time on punishment and what not, it lets the kids realized that what you say doesn't really matter.

Some people fail to realized that we punish our kids because we love them, not because we hate them. We want to see them grow into great adults.

Show me a kid that doesn't have a lot of stuff, but who knows their family really loves them and supports them, and I'll show you a happy kid. Sure, they probably would want "things", but they don't equal happiness.

Many of you probably know kids (and maybe even some adults) that have all the stuff in the world, and are not happy.

Happiness = Love

Cannon Printer Problems.

The first weekend of March I believe, we went and bought a new printer (Canon Pixma MP450) My old one had died after several years of use.

I ended up with a Cannon 3-in-1 (copy, scan, print).

Today, I printed a map from Map Quest. It finished printing, then the printer complained about a paper jam. Well, I looked, and there was no paper at all! After much looking, poking and prodding, it still says the same thing.

So, I called Canon. They are closed on the weekend. They will reopen on Monday at 8:00 ET. (Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind they are closed on the weekend, but it's frustrating when you need them.)

Halo 3 update

Back in May I talked how it looked like Halo 3 was to be released at the same time as the PS3. Since it has been pushed back, there was some speculation if Halo would be pushed as well. Would it still come out at the same time as the PS3?

Well, it appears we have our answer. Halo 3 (possible called Forerunner) has a March '07 release date now according to this Next Generation article.

Revolution/GO Specs

Well, Nintendo has revealed the specs for its Revolution (aka GO) .
Next Generation - Revolution Specs Revealed

The specs are better than the GameCube, but far below the 360 and PS3. Though according to IGN "there is no way to accurately gauge the performance difference between GCN's PowerPC-based architecture and the Intel-based CPU of Xbox".

Either way, you'll not see me in line for this one.

Photo Contest

I entered a photo contest yesterday at cvilleok.com with a picture from the snow we had last week.

A set of judges will pick the winning entries each month and award a cash prize (likely $50) and the winning photos will be enlarged and displayed at locations such as City Hall and used in publicity for Collinsville.

It would be cool to win.

Solar Eclipse Wednesday 3/29

I'm slow in talking about this, but there will be a full solar eclipse tomorrow. Course, no where around here. To see the totality, you'll have to be in parts of Brazil, Africa, and western Asia.

While reading about this, I found it interesting that the Astronauts on the ISS will see the moons shadow on the earth similar to this picture from a total solar eclipse of Sunday, Nov. 23, the Moon dropped an odd shadow on Antarctica. (assuming 2005).

What I didn't realized were some of the myths about solar eclipses.

One Indian paper advised pregnant women not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a blind baby or one with a cleft lip. Food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out afterward because it will be impure and those who are holding a knife or ax during the eclipse will cut themselves, the Hindustan Times added.

So, if you have extra money to spare, maybe you'll want to fly to one of these spots, and take a look.

gethuman

I've talked about a web page that had listed many of the short-cuts to get to a real person when you dial a company so you can skip their IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems.

Well, it appears it has taken off, and now they have created the gethuman database. There are many more numbers than there use to be, and much more information.

R Gym PlayPlace

McDonald's introduces new PlayPlace design

"The gym has climbing walls, dance games, basketball goals and the classic climbing toys."

This sounds interesting. When I first heard they were looking to make their playgrounds healthier, I was skeptical, but this sounds interesting.

If you want to see, then you have to go to the 21st and Garnett McDonald's here in Tulsa. It is the prototype of this new playground.

Burn Ban Back

*sigh*

Yep, the burn ban has been reinstated. I could defiantly smell the fires this afternoon at soccer practice.

Time for allergy meds.

Soccer Saturday

We had a good soccer game Saturday.

The other team called wanting to reschedule since they had 2 kids call in sick, so would only be able to play with 3 kids (having no subs). I hate canceling and rescheduling games. Plus we would not be able to have a ref if we did since we didn't give the 2 days advanced notice that the refs require. For our age group, that isn't necessarily bad, but I wanted the other coach to know that.

So, he decided not to cancel. I was glad since my parents were coming down to watch my boy play.

My wife pointed out that I could let one of my kids play on his team to help them out. I thought that was a GREAT idea. So I offered and he took me up on it.

I ended up putting my boy on his team for a few reasons. The main reason was because I didn't mind and you never know how parents will react to that.

Well, my boy didn't like that. He played pretty miserably the first quarter. I went and talked to him at half time and what point he just cried and cried on my shoulder. I felt bad both for him and the other team.

I told him that if the team he was playing on won, so did he, and if his normal team won, he won too. Didn't work.

Tried explaining how he was being a good helper by playing with them. Didn't work either.

So, I resorted to bribery. Told him we'd get ice cream if he played good. That seemed to work. He played much better the last quarter. (Though he still wouldn't throw in the ball).

Plus, at the end of the game, he ended up with snack from both teams. I think he made out like a bandit. He still didn't like it.

What really upset him was he didn't get to play on daddies team.

Star Wars

My son and I watched Episode II tonight. He acts as if he has never seen it. We have had a lot of fun. 1 thing I noticed tonight though that I found amusing. Obi-Wan cut a persons hand off in a bar in this episode. He does the same thing in Episode IV.

hmmmm.... interesting habit.

Spring Snow

Well, we are a few days into spring, and I thought I'd shared some pictures of Spring in Collinsville Oklahoma.




Here is a lovely close up picture of my red bud tree.





And here is my snow covered Forsythia. I think the yellow and white look sorta cool. (no pun intended)




I drove by this creek while taking my son to day care. This was just beautiful!






Here is an old grain silo I see when I take my son to day care. There is something really neat about it.


I'm really glad I took the time to take this pictures this morning as the snow is quickly melting away. This will probably be the last snow of this season... probably. This is Oklahoma after all.

(You can click on the pictures for larger versions)

Battletech becoming real?

Ok, that is a bit of a stretch. However, it appears that artificial muscles may no longer be science fiction.

UTD NanoTech Institute - News: "University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) nanotechnologists have made alcohol- and hydrogen-powered artificial muscles that are 100 times stronger than natural muscles, able to do 100 times greater work per cycle and produce, at reduced strengths, larger contractions than natural muscles."

In the Battletech universe, there was a substance called Myomer that was a form of artificial muscle.

I always find it very amusing when things from science fiction work their way into reality.

Firefox 2.0 alpha set for release | Tech News on ZDNet

Firefox 2.0 is starting it's alpha stages.

"The final release of Firefox 2.0 is expected in the third quarter of this year."

This article from ZDNet has states that this Alpha is not recommended for anyone other than developers and testers. It is an alpha after all. They tend to be a bit buggy.

Something else to look forward to this fall other than the PS3.

Death for a convert?

Have you heard this story coming out of Afghanistan. And this is not a story from when Afghanistan was lead by the Taliban, this is out of current day. Today.

Abdul Rahman, a 41 year old father of two, is awaiting trail for rejecting Islam.

He had approached police on an unrelated matter, but told them he had converted from Islam, and was carrying a Bible. They arrested him. Afghan law is based on the Islamic law. And in that law, conversion can mean death.

Here is a quote from this CNN article:

"They want to sentence me to death, and I accept it," Rahman told reporters last week, "but I am not a deserter and not an infidel."

That is what having faith in the One True God is all about!

There is more to the story than this as you can imagine. There are the political twists that are involved. Take the time to read the whole article, but what strikes me personally is that here is a man that is truly willing to die for Jesus Christ! Some may think that this is no different than what the homicide bombers do, but I disagree. See, these men blow themselves up to kill "infidels" to earn their way into heaven. Rahman has already done everything he needs to do to get into heaven. He's accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior which means he's given his life to Him, and letting Him lead him.

As Paul said in Philippians 1:21

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

If Rahman dies, he gets to see his God. If he lives, he gets to keep living for Christ.

I know that I for one will pray for Rahman and his family as they goes through this.

Update!

I know I've not updated much lately, but not a lot going on really.

Saturday;s soccer game was cancelled, which I found strange since we've played in colder and wetter conditions than that, but that wasn't that bad.

My sister and her kids were up as well as my cousin and her kids, so my boy and I went up to see them and have lunch with them in Bartlesville. That was a lot of fun. Though on the drive up, I started not feeling well. That never got better, and I was sick that evening, Sunday, and into Monday. I had flu like symptoms, but either it wasn't the flu, it was just a short flu, or the flu shot I had helped me get over it quicker, I'm feeling much better this morning. Still have a nasty sounding cough though.

Anyway, that's mostly it. We've had several days of a nice slow rain, which is what we needed. They lifted the burn ban, so tonight, we grill! Well, I hope.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone! I hope this day treats you all well.

I've been doing some research on St. Patrick's Day, and have found out a lot of stuff I didn't know about.

One thing I learned. The whole pinching thing? It was made up by school children.

Some Facts about Patrick

• Patrick was a real person born in 373 A.D in Roman Britain.
• He birth and death dates are not know. (Tradition says March 17)
• He was not Irish, but a British Celt
• He was not Roman Catholic.
• He brought the true Gospel of Christ to the Irish as a Christian missionary-evangelist around 405 A.D.
• He was taken by pirates to Ireland as a slave. He escaped after 6 years. He later went back as a missionary
  

You can read more about St. Patrick here.

Also, I found a lot of information at a Saint Patrick's Day FAQ, but this is much like Wikipedia, the answers are given by people like you and me, so, if they are wrong, so is the answer.

Sony Postpones PlayStation 3 Release

This is not surprising, but it is official that Sony will postpone the PlayStation 3 Release till November.

I think this is a good move. It gives them the opportunity to do it right, and not rush it out the door.

That said, it better be right, or this will be really, really bad.

Guess you know what'll be on my Christmas list huh?

Classic '80's Games

While doing some searching on Google for legitimate work reasons, I stumbled upon Classic '80's Games. The Google link caught my eye.

Being the avid game player I am, I bookmarked it and moved along to the legitimate work I was doing.

Though not all the games on this page are from the 80's (Pong), most are, and many will make you smile.

Games like Duck Hunt, Pacman, Frogger, and Space Invaders are just a few.

Take a look!

Distracted Drivers

After reading the report from Yahoo! News that Distracted Drivers: Even 'Hands-Free' Talking is Dangerous my head hurt.

So, we as humans have problems looking and listening at the same time? I find this hard to believe.

But, let's play along.

Since we can't listen and drive at the same time, we have to get rid of everything that makes noise.

Ok, here is the list of things that makes noise when I'm in my car.

1. Radio
2. my wife (not a slam on my wife, we talk to each other in the car)
3. my kids (the younger, the more distracting)
   
4. engine
   

Get my point?

Ready to get rid of the radio in your car?
How about other people that are in your car? Or, if there are any, no talking allowed.
Though I think my favorite is the engine. Have you ever listened for a strange noise the car is making and tried to figure out what it is? Probably.

OK, so no radios, or people, or engines, or cell phones in our cars so we can all drive safe.

Silly researchers.

Tulsa Master Gardeners

I mentioned yesterday that I had gone to see Paul James, the Gardener Guy at the Tulsa Home and Garden Show. He was the highlight of the trip, but a close second was the OSU Extension's office Tulsa Master Gardeners exhibit. It was beautiful. They also had lots of information in handouts that you could get like creating butterfly gardens or attracting birds to your yards.

I also got a really cool calendar, runs from March 2006 to February 2007. It gives you month by month gardening task reminders, and monthly gardening tips.

I probably should have gotten a few calendars, but I didn't. Sorry. But, I did get some really cool information. The link above for the Tulsa Master Gardeners links you to their web site, and all the information I found at the garden show, you can get from their web page.

They have information on Butterflies, Calendars, Diagnostics, FAQ's, Herbs, Insects, Pruning, Soil Tests, Vegetables, and other information.

If you like to garden, I'd take a look. I've also added their page to my links section to the right.

Paul James, the Gardener Guy

I got to see Paul James yesterday! It was too cool. He was speaking at the Tulsa Home and Garden Show.

The area around the stage was packed. He commented on how he didn't expect that many people there at a 3:00 show. Said we must either be retired, didn't have jobs, or called in sick.

I was a bit worried. I love watching his gardening show on HGTV called Gardening by the Yard. He is too funny, and just acts like a genuinely nice guy. I didn't want to meet him in person and find out he wasn't. He didn't disappoint!

Instead of doing a lecture, he did an hour Q&A session. It was cool. I even got to ask him a question. I had to really think to find out a question I wanted to ask. I asked a question about my extremely overgrown forsythia. It has some places on the bark that look like nasty growths on it. Basically, he said don't worry about it, but I can go to town on it to remove the old branches. So, here is a picture. Once it finishes blooming, I'm going to town on it.


Another person asked "How do I keep squires out of my potted plants? He answered something to the effect of You can buy a product called Remington, or Ruger, or Windchester... (he went on, basically the answer was you really can't.)

It was a lot of fun.

MRO orbital Insertion

It's been a while since I've talked space. This is a good of topic as any.

In just about an hour, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will start braking to orbit Mars. Doesn't sound bad, but NASA is 2 for 4 in orbit attempts.

NASA is suppose to have live coverage on NASA TV from 3:30 to 6:00 PM ET.

I hope this works and they get the MRO into orbit.

There are several instruments on this, but the one that has me most intrigued is a High Resolution camera that can phone items as small as a dining room table on the surface of MARS.

UPDATE: The MRO succesfully entered MARS orbit this afternoon. SPACE.com has a full MRO Mission to MARS page that shows info on the current mission.

Email Blogging

It appears that I now have the ability to blog from my PDA!

Not sure how much this will get used, but I find it interesting.

This post was made from my Palm.

Collinsville Election

Since I do not live in Ward III, I know very little about today's elections. I can, however, give you the results as they are currently known.

Ward III Totals: 50 Bateman & 46 Davis

And as Ted at the cvilleok.com site states, in this count, "absentee ballots may not be included".

Election Day

Today is Election Day. Sadly, I had nothing to vote on in Collinsville today. The only election was for Ward III City Commissioner.

For some of the Tulsa Election Coverage, stop by Roemerman on Record: Election Day coverage.

New Palm

I know I've gone a few days without a post. I've just sorta been busy.

This weekend, we had a bit of a shopping spree. This is not a regular occurrence. So, it was a lot of fun.

I got a new PDA this weekend to replace my Sony Clie that had been crashing. I got a Palm TX. I'm really enjoying this new palm. It has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. It can switch it's screen from portrait to landscape. It plays music and videos and shows pictures. It has a screen resolution of 320 x 480.

I've got the wireless to work at my house without much problem. The biggest problem I had with that was remembering to put the palms MAC address in my wireless router. I've had more problems getting the wireless to work at work because of the VPN. Being able to sync at work via the Bluetooth is nice though. That has been the hardest thing to set up though. Still not sure I've got it perfect, but I can at least hotsync.

Soccer Season Begins

Today was our first soccer game.

If I was to describe the game in one word, it would be


*sigh*

It wasn't pretty. The referee never moved from one spot on the field. Lots of balls went out, but she never called them out, cause she couldn't see them.

I guess what made today's team worse was 2 of the players on the opposing team had played before... on my team. I had coached them for the last 2 seasons.

We don't keep score, not really, but if we did, it would have been 30 to 2 I think, maybe 30 to 3.

action shot of my son kicking in the ball

Tulsa Mayor election

I wish I had paid attention to the call I just received and didn't hang up on the "automated" phone call.

The Caller ID said "Private Name Private Number"
It was a woman's voice on the phone.

She started out by saying "I'm calling about the upcoming elections for mayor. Tulsa is in real trouble..." I hung up.

See, I live in Collinsville which is north of Tulsa by about 20-25 minutes or so. I can't vote in the Tulsa election for mayor. I know I'd vote for Chris Medlock. If you are from the Tulsa area, and are interested in the election, I'd suggest you go to Steven's blog of Roemerman on Record. He'll talk more about it since he actually lives and votes in Tulsa.

Anyway, back to the call. After I hung up the call, it made me wonder who's campaign office was wasting time and I'm sure money calling numbers that can't vote in the election. And if they don't know who can vote for them, then who exactly are they going to be representing as mayor?

TV & Weight loss

Last Sunday, our pastor encouraged us to go a week without TV, and see if it made a difference in our lives. He wasn't saying that TV is bad, just that many of us (himself included) watch too much TV. Also, we have a revival at church next week. This was also to help us get ready for that.

We decided to give it a try. And strangely enough, I've enjoyed the week with the TV turned off. Now I will admit, Wednesday night when Lost was on was a little hard (it is recorded).

Friday night, however, has been the worse. There were several times I really just wanted to sit down and watch TV. Not because there was anything I wanted to watch (well Battlestar Galactica, but I don't watch that with my boy). I just wanted to "veg" or "zone out". Instead, my son and I played some games of UNO, and then we went to McDonald's for a while. We eventually came home and played some more UNO, and my wife joined in and played a couple of games before bed.

I've spent more time reading my Bible, and other books. I've spent more time in prayer.

A surprising side effect event that has happened, is that I've lost some weight. I've lost around 3 pounds this week. That isn't a lot, but considering I've not gone for my walks this week, that is great.

What I think is happening, is 2 things,

1. I'm not munching on stuff while I'm watching TV. I'm less likely to eat when I'm reading than when I'm watching TV.
2. I would dare say most of us eat out of habit, not because we are hungry. I've spend my time this week, out of habit meaning, out of my normal habit. Because of such, I've only eaten in the evening when I'm hungry.

Anyway, the week is almost over (much to my son's delight). And tomorrow, the TV will come back on. But I'm hoping for some changes in my own TV watching. I'm hoping I'll reach for the remote more and hit the big red button and turn it off.

Here is the deal. I really only watch 2 TV shows each week, Lost and Battlestar Galactica. I also like watching Gardening by the Yard, and Good Eats. So I guess that is 4 shows I like to watch. But the TV is on from the time we get home in the evening till bed time with very few exceptions.

Well see how it goes I suppose.

Strange thoughts

Do you ever wake up with a song stuck in your head and don't really know where it came from?

Well, happens to me all the time. And it happened again this morning.

There was a song that I learned when I was a kid, and I woke up singing it this morning. Well, most of it. I couldn't remember all the words. That's what Google is for right?

Which I could tell you the tune, but I've only heard this tune from this song.

Anyway, for your listening (or viewing) pleaure...

You take a leg from some old table
You take an arm from some old chair
You take a neck from some old bottle
and from a horse you take some hair... you take some hair.

And when you put them all together...
with some string and a little bit of glue
And I'll get more lovin from a dumb dumb dummy
than I'll ever get from you.

My family thinks I'm nuts going around singing this song. But they are smiling!

South Dakota H.B. 1215

I know you get those emails forwarded to you by people that talk about this Bill or that Bill that is being considered, discussed, or whatever, and it's important you call your representative yadda, yadda, yadda.

Today, I got one of those emails. Though, it was a bit different than most. This one was not a forward of a forward of a forward... You get the point. This was sent to the person that sent it to me. It was sent from the American Family Association (afa.net)

That caught my eye. An excerpt of that email was

A bill that would ban nearly all abortions in South Dakota and spark a challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision is heading to Governor Mike Rounds for his signature.

It goes on to encourage you to go to this web site and sign a petition to encourage Governor Rounds to sign this bill.

Wow, that email sounded encouraging! If it was true, and stuff you get in emails can be worse than newspapers about accuracy.

So, I decided I wanted to know about bit more about it, and hit Google, and did some searching. Come to find out it is true. I found Law Librarian Blog and other information about this Bill. It has links to the full text of HB 1215. It also has links to the text of the US Supreme Courts Opinion in Roe v. Wade.

I found this bill very encouraging. I hope Governor Rounds signs this bill, and other States take note and follow its example. I also pray that this bill will hold up in the Supreme Court, which I'm sure it will find its way.

Snow Day

Back on the 18th, I wrote about the fun my boy and I had in the snow. Well, I finally got around to getting my picture out of my camera.

We had so much fun that weekend. 3 long days of sledding and hot chocolate.

What really makes it real amusing is 10 days ago, was our last day of sledding. Yesterday, it was nearly 90 degrees outside. People were wearing shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops.

Well, you know what they say, "Don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute" (or in this case a week)

Mystery Solved

As stated on the Mystery Solved page at Microsoft.

Some things will always be a mystery
Windows licensing doesn't have to be.

It appears that you can get a spiffy USB drive FREE to you, provided by Microsoft.

The USB drive will come with FAQ's, Windows Licensing Guide, License brief, Production Information, Transfer of Volume license information and other resources.

From what I can tell, all you have to do is fill out the form, answer a few questions and wait for your USB drive.

The only catch I can see if that you have to give Microsoft your home address. hehe