Birthday Boy

Today is my son's Birthday... big number 9. The last birthday before he hits double digits. He is getting so big!

Today, he also came home with his report card.

Language Arts - A
Math - A
Reading - A
Science - S
Social Studies - S
Spelling - A
Music - S
PE - S

Considering where we were at the start of 2nd grade, this is nothing but a pure miracle!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

May you have a blessed year.

Friday Night Storms

With me not feeling well yesterday, I forgot to talk about the storms that came through Friday night. I'm not sure how, but they managed to knock out my Satellite. Two of my receivers aren't receiving, and 1 (in the bedroom) is only picking up 1 of the 3 satellites it should be.

Wait it gets better. They can't get anyone out her till Wednesday between noon and 5:00.

Wait, it gets even better. The OSU bowl game is Tuesday night and is on ESPN.

I think I get ESPN on the upstairs TV. I think, but I'm not sure.

Sick!

I started getting sick Tuesday with a low grade fever and a cough Tuesday night. The fever finally broke (for good) Thursday night. My cough is still annoying and my throat hurts and I'm hoarse.

Yesterday, my wife started complaining about her stomach hurting. It looks like she's got the stomach virus that's going around. Today, I've started having problems.

*sigh*

Some Vacation.

Merry Christmas

I wanted to post earlier today (on Christmas Eve) but I've been running a fever since yesterday evening.

I hate being sick on Christmas.

Anyway, I hope you all have a good Christmas. I'm hoping to go to bed soon and get more rest. I was in bed most of Christmas Eve.

Anyway, If I'm sick or not, Christmas is here and it's still time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ!

Luke 2:1 - 20

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Merry Christmas Adam!

I wanted to take a moment and wish you all a Merry Christmas Adam today ( you know, Adam came before Eve).

I also wanted to share this picture with you. My WONDERFUL wife got me this hat Saturday! I love it!

Death of a Friend

Today, my son had his real first touch of death.

We were cleaning out his hamster cage today, and he took Ang out, but Katara didn't come out after him, so he went digging through the bedding and got her. When I came in from cleaning the top of the cage, he had me look at her. She was dead. Not only was she dead, but it looks like Ang might have chewed on her a bit after she died.

He did really well for about 15 minutes or so, and then he started crying. We went to have a funeral for her, but he didn't want to go outside when it was time. He wanted me to go and bury her by meself. I felt really bad for him.

He's doing better now.

No more Santa pictures?

Yesterday was a little sad. My boy didn't want to take a picture with Santa today at school.

When I asked him why, he told me why would he want to take a picture with a fake Santa?

"Santa's fake?" I asked him. He informed me that this one is, you can take his beard off real easy, just by pulling it.

I asked if he might be one of Santa's and he told me Santa didn't need any help.

He agreed to go ahead and get his picture takenso we were happy aboout that, but who knows about next year.

Snow?

Went to Walmart this evening and as I walk buy one of the entrances, I saw this stand of snow shovles with a sign on it.

If you can't read it, it says

Weather forecast is snow late Tuesday all day Wednesday and early Thursday morning..

I'm so glad Walmart is looking out for us by letting us know the forecast.

Bah!

You know, there are days that I really don't like AT&T

A while back, AT&T Yahoo stopped their photo storage and went to Flickr. Anyone that paid for their AT&T Yahoo account would get Flickr for free! I had used the Yahoo one, but several of my friends used Flickr and I used it some. So when they made that offer, I was all over it! I was impressed.

Then today, I bought a new camera, and uploaded several of my photos to Flickr, and I see this message:

Due to changes in your AT&T Internet Service, your Flickr Pro account will expire on 1st February, 2009.

I wondered what was up with that, so they had a link asking why my Pro Account is expiring, so I clicked it:

AT&T and Verizon Internet Services have reworked their broadband packages and will no longer be offering Flickr pro to subscribers after January 31, 2009.

Now, I can upgrade my Flickr account to Pro for $24.95, but still, AT&T is the one that offered it for Free to begin with. They didn't need to do that to begin with, now that I'm used to using Flickr, I either have to switch to something else, pay for the pro account, or go back to their free account.

*sigh*

:(

Our house is mourning after the 4th quarter ended. The Pokes did pretty well, but about half way through the 4th quarter, they just couldn't keep up with the Sooners.

Lost

While watching the BIG game, we saw an awesome Lost preview. It looks really, really good. January 21st won't get here soon enough.

Back to the game.

Christmas Shopping

First things first.

Thanksgiving was AWESOME!!! The food was great! I got to see a whole lot of the family, we looked at the sales ads in the paper, and did I mention the food was great?!?!?

As usual, I went shopping today. I did get out early, but not as early as I have in the past and I was out earlier than I expected as I woke up before the alarm went off this morning for my wife to go to work, so I went ahead, got up and went shopping.

I didn't hit as many stores as I normally do, but as usually, my shopping is now complete. I spent WAY too much money, but I had a great time, and I can't wait to see everyone open their presents.

I love to shop, it's a lot of fun, but by far, watching everyone open the presents is by far the best.

I'm so tired though it's all I can do to stay awake and try to finish wrapping some of the presents I got.

I did manage to get the tree up, so later, when my wife gets home, we'll decorate it and get these presents under the tree.

I love this time of year!

Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. While working out in the yard this afternoon, I got to thinking about what I'm thankful for. There's actually a lot.

So, as you glance/read through my list, maybe something I say will help you.

I'm thankful for:

• Jesus Christ - Without him, I'm not sure how I'd get through life. There are so many difficulties in our daily life. He doesn't make them magically go away, but he helps me get through them.
• My wife - My wife means so much to me! She is always there to make sure I don't take myself to seriously. To watch how she loves her kids and her friends and is always willing to give to them really makes me smile.
  
• My kids - Even when they drive me crazy, I'd not trade either of them. They are both so very special. It's such a blessing watching them grow.
• My family - I've been very blessed with a loving and caring family that is really close. I know people that don't have that. My family is always there to help each other out.
  
• My job - I've told several people over the years how much I really like my job. I believe this is the first job I've ever had that I really like. And I'm so thankful for that. Too many people go through life working where they are miserable. I can honestly say I don't work at such a place.
• Possible layoffs - Yea, you read that right. I am thankful for these layoffs that's going around at work right now. It really helps me see what I have. There's nothing like the possibility of losing your job that helps put a little perspective on your life (well, except for actually losing it).
• My house - I know I complain about this 100+ year house a lot, but I really am thankful that we have it. There are many other places we could live that isn't as nice as what we have here.
• My country - Yea, you read that right too. I am happy and thankful to live in the US. I know things aren't perfect. But they aren't anywhere else either. Plus, here I have the right to disagree with what is going on and not fear for my life. I have the right to worship God (or not). This country isn't the best, but I can't think of any other place I'd rather live.
  

Well, I guess that's long enough for the moment. Maybe I'll get on later and add to it. But that will do at the moment.

If I don't get on here again, I hope each of you have a great Thanksgiving. No matter what you do. If you go to friends and family's for big celebrations, or stay home for a small, quiet day. I hope you all take a moment to see how much there really is to be thankful for.

Mouse 5, us 1

ahh, but how much that 1 means.

I believe that Jerry stole the bait out of our traps at least 5 times... maybe a couple more. When I came home yesterday, both traps were empty. So I loaded one back up and tried the other but no luck (don't buy the off brand mouse traps).

My wife had me stop and buy some of those Don't view, don't touch mouse traps by Dcon, I did and got them set last night.

Anyway, when I woke up this morning, the trap I set after work yesterday had a little visitor, but this time, the cheese was still on the trap... as was the mouse!

I am victorious!

Now we keep traps set to see if we have more visitors I guess.

Mouse in the House

Today, I come home from work, and as I walked into the kitchen, I thought I heard some scampering noises coming from the oven... but I wasn't sure. I did have to check to make sure both of my boy's hamsters were in the cage, and they were.

So, I'm about to head to bed, and was walking into the kitchen for a drink and as I walked in, I noticed our cat looking up at the stove top. I look over and sure enough, there is a little grey mouse running for cover! It ran from behind the crock pot, through a slight clearing, under a cast iron griddle and into the stove top I think.

What good is having a cat if it wont keep the mice away. I'm picturing Tom the cat getting yelled at while Jerry raids the fridge. At least this one isn't doing that... yet.

I know it's getting colder out side, and they tend to run for warmer places, but I don't think I've ever seen a mouse in our house.

ISS Anniversary

Today is the International Space Stations anniversary.

The very first piece of the space station was launched 10 years ago today. It's really hard to believe it's been that long. It seems like that should have been just a couple years ago and here they are now making room for 6 people to stay at a time. Incredible!

I was going to post earlier today, but, well, just never got around to it.

Happy anniversary ISS.

Vote Today

Well, today is the day. The last day we'll hear those annoying political ads and have those automated phone calls.

But as much as I hate all of that, I do like that I can vote. I get to have a say in what the government does. It may not seem like much, but it's much more than many other countries allow.

I got into work too early to vote before going in, so after work today I'm going to take my son with me and go vote. Allow him to see how it works, and try to share the importance of today with him.

So, today, go out and vote. It's important.

And as I've said for many years, if you don't vote, you don't get to complain.

Dirty Keyboards?

On Wednesday, Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer had commented on some of the strange stuff she puts in her dishwasher to clean and sanitize and invited people to add comments on other non-dish stuff they put in theirs. So I added mine. My keyboard!

Well, on this post she actually linked to my blog about it, so I figured I'd try to write up something for those that may have questions. (though she called me a she when I'm really a he, but granted Terry and be either and she has mostly female readers, I'll let her slide hehe)

First of all, this isn't something I do all the time, but after a while, your keyboard can get all nasty. or worse, stuff spills on it.

So, I put it in the top rack of the dishwasher, keys down. I don't use soap, the hot water and water pressure is usually good enough to do a decent job. I also do not have the heated drying cycle on.

When it's done, I take the keyboard out, and take it apart. Just unscrew the few screws on the back and take the back off so it can dry REALLY WELL.

The 2 most important things to this is to NOT use the headed drying cycle, and to let it dry completely before plugging it back in.

(And DO NOT use a hair dryer on your keyboard to help dry it. My daughter did this once after spilling a large cup of sweetened tea on my keyboard. She didn't unplug it (so electricity was still running through it) and then used the hair dryer on high heat to dry it out. I tried the dishwasher, but it was too late. Needless to say, I had to buy a new keyboard.)

One of the ladies at my wife's work spilt Chinese food in the keyboard about a month ago and she called me up asking how to wash it. They washed it up, and it still works.

I've done this probably half a dozen times, if the keyboard was just dirty, it has worked every time for me. (see the story of the tea above)

So, still have questions? Ask away.

UPDATE: There are a few things I wanted to add. First, I've not heard of them, but if your keyboard has a battery in it, take it out. Second, I've not tried this on wireless keyboards, so I'd do more searching on the 'Net before trying it on that. Third, I've done this close to a dozen times and have never had a problem, but I guess there is always a chance there could be a problem. If it's completely dry before you put electricity to it then I would not expect you to have any problems.

It Happened

It happened last night. The Pokes finally lost a game ending their awesome winning streak.

Much to my dismay, I did miss the game, but again, my wife sent me text messages letting me know how it was going.

The game final was OSU 24, Texas 28. And from what my wife said it was a great game and that they played well! On Friday I checked, and Texas was a 12 point favorite.

So, they are now 7-1, but they can still end the season at an incredible 12-1 if they don't let this loss get to them.

Next up, Iowa State this coming weekend at home.

Go Pokes!

Freshwater Jellyfish

Thursday, while we were at War Eagle Caverns, my wife and son were feeding the fish, and she hollered out to me and our cave guide, "Are these Jellyfish?" To which the man replied "No, Jellyfish are only in salt water." I tended to agree with the man, but my wife knows what a jelly fish is, so I left him to go see.

Sure enough, there were these things in the water that looked like Jellyfish. So I did my best to take pictures of them. I didn't expect them to come out, so I tried doing a rough sketch of what they looked like to try to find them online later.

When we got back to camp, I pulled out my phone and sure enough, freshwater jellyfish to exist and she had found some there in Beaver Lake.

I looked up this picture earlier to show you what they looked like with a good picture. This picture came from USGS.

I managed this shot. It's a bit blurry, but a good straight on shot

Another shot I got of a Freshwater Jellyfish in Beaver lake

You'll need to click my links to see it better.

The Streak Continues

Saturday, Oklahoma State continued it's winning streak to 7-0 with a 34-6 win over Baylor!

We were on vacation at Beaver lake in Arkansas during the game. I did my best to find a radio station that would air the game, but I couldn't find one. So I do what I normally do in situations like this, I turn to technology!

I ended up using the Skyfire browser (which uses flash) on my AT&T Tilt phone and streamed the game.

I checked the polls today, and OSU moved up from 8 to 7 as Texas Tech moves from 7 to 8. Most everyone else on top stayed pretty much the same.

Texas Tech won their game of Texas A&M, but it wasn't a great game from what I heard, which is why we probably switched places.

This coming Saturdays game against Texas will be the hardest we've faced all year. We beat Missou, but Texas creamed them, and from what my wife told me about that game, we had our hands full with Mizzou to squeeze out that win.

Go Pokes!

UPDATE:
I found out that the BCS poll has come out. They have OSU ranked 6 with Texas Tech at 8. OU is still at 4 with Texas still at 1

Come and get it!

We've had some visitors while we've been here. Yesterday these two kittens stopped by. It's obvious they were smart kittens as they read Gizmo's food and water bowel and helped themselves.

My family liked them much more than myself, I kept trying to get them to go away but to no avail. After we went to bed, they decided they wanted to join us I guess as they kept getting under the rain flap. I tried to ignore them but it just didn't happen. After swatting at them several times I put on some shoes and proceeded to try to scare them off. I'm throwing sticks and rocks and eventually small bolders at them. I ran and kicked as well. I felt like Wile E Coyote chasen the Road runner and being made a fool of! I finaly gave up. There was two of them and only one of me after all.

Camping

Yesterday was the first day of our Fall break vacation. We came over to Beaver Lake for some camping.

It was a very chilly night last night, but it makes camping fun!

Today we went to War Eagle Caverns. It was my boys first time in a cave. He seemed to really enjoy it.

That's enough for now. I have to get this fire going, its starting to get chilly.

(Tonights forcast is 44 degrees)

Nooooooooo

The world is conspiring against me watching OSU play football this year, and especially since they are winning (though maybe my not watching is helping them win?).

Anyway, this weeks game against Baylor is not televised. No shocker there.

However, I just learned (as in about 5 minutes ago) that the OSU/Texas game will be televised!!! on ABC!!!! at 2:30 in the afternoon!!!

Why is this so tragic? I'm going with our church to take the kids and any adults that might like to go to a Corn Maze. We'll have a fire for hot dogs and marsh mellows. Now, truth is, that sounds like a lot of fun, but knowing we'll be leaving the church at 3 and not be back till 8 means I'll miss the game.

*sigh*

Maybe someone will take pitty on me and text message me updates.

Mobile Air1

Most people that know me, know I love Air 1. And for me, I hate being away from one of their radio stations.

Well, today, I found Mobile Air 1 and I am so excited!

You can their Verse of the Day, News links, a searchable station list, recent songs, and if your mobile device supposes Real Player of Windows Media player, you can listen too!

Too cool!

What's that stentch?

Last night, my wife made Chicken Teriyaki for dinner last night. It was good. I was about to tell her it was the best thing I had eaten all day, but then I remembered the breakfast I had, so I change it to best thing I'd had since breakfast. Well, my son quickly piped in that she needed a better complement than that, and it was the best he'd had all day! It was very amusing. After dinner, he went upstairs to watch some TV.

Well, we had some noodles left, so my wife decided to cook some more chicken to go with the noodles. When our boy came down to brush his teeth before bed, he asked "What's that stench?" with the most disgusted tone in his voice. Well, she'd burnt a bit of the teriyaki sauce. It wasn't bad. 1000% times better than the smell of burnt popcorn.

We laughed so hard!

What I found very amusing is I'm not sure I'd ever heard him use the word stentch.

Ahh children.

OSU Football

Sorry for all the football talk, but to same I'm pretty excited is an understatement.

Well, the new standings are out, and the Pokes are ranked 8. Not bad. OU dropped to 5th after their loss to Texas (which they moved to 1st).

So, looking at the rest of our schedule, we have:

• Baylor next week. They should be able to win assuming we don't go in all full of themselves and not play football. (It's unfortunately happened before).
• Texas the week after that in Austin. They are currently ranked 1 in the AP poll. To win that game will be a struggle, but not impossible. They'll have to take stay concentrated like they did over the weekend to pull that off.
• November 1st is Iowa State at home. Again, we should be able to win assuming they stay concentrated.
• November 8th it Texas Tech at Lubbock. Texas Tech is currently ranked 7th in the AP. Again, if they can stay focused a win is not impossible.
• Colorado on the 15th in Boulder, and as will Iowa State and Baylor, just stay focused and on the task at hand.
• And yep, 11/29 is Oklahoma. at HOME! The home will help, but since Norman and Stillwater are so close, expect a lot of Crimson in those stands. We've beat OU several times. It's not unheard of, but in the last 10 years, we've only beaten them 3 times (1998, 2001, 2002). Though, it's about time for another win.

I just realized that they have a week off between Colorado and Oklahoma. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It should let them have players healed up and rested up for one of their hardest games all season.

To say we have an easy end of year is a lie. To says it's hard is an understatement. Well, for half the games anyway.

The Pokes have always seemed to have a problem staying focused on the here and now and not underestimating their opponents. If they take it one game at a time, and play them all like it's the Big 12 championship, then they very well may be playing for said championship. But if they let their focus drop for even a moment, Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma will eat them for lunch!

The next 7 weeks are going to be very exciting!

Pokes get another W

Wow! The Pokes pulled out a win over Missouri tonight! 28-23 I wish I could have seen that game, sounded great! Oh, and did I mention that was at Mizzou?

I am so excited right now. So, #17 beat #3 on the AP poll while #1 lost to #5 in the same day. I'm really going to be excited to see how all this stacks up.

I'd heard that the Pokes were after the Big 12 championship this year. This is how you go about it, one game at a time and keep bringing home those wins.

They're 6-0 for the first time since 1945 (ESPN)

Go Pokes!

Think before he speaks!

My mom and my sister are both preachers wives and over the weekend they went to a preacher's wives conference.

When I saw them this weekend at my parents house, they showed me and dad this video (over dial-up which took forever)

Anyway, this is too funny. Maybe it's because I'm a preachers kid and they are talked about as much as preachers wives. Maybe it's because I've gone to church my entire life, and I've heard many a sermon illustration with their wife and or kids.



Go ahead and watch it. It's not long (unless you have dial-up and even then it's worth it).

It's too Funny!

Pokes Football

Wow!

That's just about all I can saw with the way the Pokes have come out this season. I can't tell you the last time they have been 5-0. Ever? Not that I'm complaining, I love it, I'm just surprised!

Granted, it's 5-0 overall, but only 1-0 in conference. This coming weeks game playing Missouri AT Missouri is going to be the hardest game they have played this season. But if they can make it past Missouri, it will be a huge hurdle. If they can't, I still don't think all is lost. So far, they are setting themselves up really well.

I've had a couple of my friends (non-pokes fans) tell me that at this rate, they could end up 8-4. I'm hoping it's much better than that. But they'll have to get past Texas, Texas Tech, Missouri and Oklahoma. None of those games will be easy, and the pokes will have to NOT do something they do all too often... Choke.

I'm not saying that they wont have to concentrate on getting past Colorado, Iowa State and Baylor, I'm just saying I believe they will beat them if they keep their heads in the WHOLE game.

So, do I think they can come away 12-0 this season? I truthfully doubt it. Is it possible? I think so. Do I think they'll do better than 8-4? Absolutely. However, I think they are still working on building the program and from what I've seen so far, I believe they'll be better next season than this season.

Go Pokes!

Air 1 Pledge Drive

I love listening to Air 1. It is such a great radio station.

Last Thursday, they started their pledge drive and it will go till this coming Thursday. If any of you listen to Air 1 and don't give, let me encourage you to give. Several years ago, we started giving to them. We listened to them all the time, and decided to give.

The surprising thing? We never missed the money.

Every time we get in the car, my boy asks if it's on Air1. The other day he told me that he always hoped the radio on the school bus would be on Air 1, but it never way. And it made him sad.

He listens to Air 1 every night as he goes to bed, and he listens in the car everywhere we go.

There is so much that goes into our heads through the music we listen to. I know the music I listen to affects the way I feel. So knowing that my boy loves listening to music that uplifts and points to Christ!

Cub Scouts

This past weekend, we had a cub scout campout. It was a lot of fun. The weather was just about perfect! My boy and I got there and got camp set up, had lunch and then managed to go on a hike on part of the Trail of Tears.

My wife made it too! This was the first cub scout campout that she has got to come to. My boy was so happy that she got to come. When he saw her, his face just lit up!

My boy is such a daddy's boy, but he loves his momma, and loves spending time with her.

So any mom's that might be reading this, I want you to know that no matter how big of a daddy's boy your son may be, they still want and need you to be a big part of their lives.

Christmas?

Ok, I'm mad! I am really and truly upset.

Stopped into Walmart to get a couple things, and they were putting up a Christmas tree!

It's SEPTEMBER!

Karate

Today, my boy had his testing for his Yellow Belt.

He did really well. I almost had a heart attack when I saw them pull out the wooden boards for them to break. They had been testing with plastic boards that were tensioned, so when I saw the real ones I was surprised.

I was very proud of my boy today.

Pokes Football

I didn't get a chance to listen to the game tonight, but my wife did. Pokes win! I'm shocked and amazed. Not that I don't believe they won. They are a good football team, but, well, they don't always play the way I know they can.

So, after 2 weeks of football, they are 2-0. I wonder how longs it's been since they started the season 2-0.

Woo Hoo!

Go Pokes!

Karate

We had another great night at karate last night. At the end of the night, we received his white belt. He was very proud.

I'll admit, so was I.

Jiu-jitsu

Tonight, at karate, they worked on some jiu-jitsu. I'm not sure how much he learned, but I had several really good laughs.

Bliss

I am in complete and utter bliss!

As many of you know, I've been wanting a Playstation 3 for, oh, since before they came out. Well, I've been saving and saving, and it always seemed like something always came up and I had to spend my saved money on other, more important, things.

Well, I picked up some extra work, and it paid for my PS3, and a couple games! My boy and I have been in 7th heaven!

I've played it and even watched a movie or 2. The upconverting from it to my HD TV is incredible. I can't wait till I get a Blu-Ray movie to watch!

While talking to my wife about some details on setting it up. She commented that whatever I did, she didn't want any more remote controls. I guess needing 3 remotes just to watch TV was a bit much. Anyway, I did some looking and found the Harmony 550 remote control at Amazon for about $50. Harmony remotes are great. You can set them up to run just about any IR device, and if it doesn't have the device in it's database, if you have the remote, it will learn from it. Harmony's can get very pricey, but the 550 looked like it would do everything I wanted, and $50 wasn't too bad. Especially if it makes my wife happy.

Well, the remote came in the mail today, and I finally got it all set up. The TV, Satellite and Surround Sound are now all working off of one remote. One of the coolest features is I can turn on ALL the devices with the press of a button (well 2, the activate button and then "watch TV").
And all the devices turn off with the press of the power button.

Needless to say, I'm a very happy camper right now.

Star Wars - Clone Wars

This afternoon I got a chance to take my boy to see the Clone Wars. I'd heard it wasn't very good, but I really enjoyed it. My son LOVED it!!!

It's timeline is between the Clone Wars cartoon on Cartoon Network and Episodes III.

Also, some of the characters in this movie are from the Cartoon Network show. So I won't say you'll be lost without seeing it, but it will help.

Anyway, if you like Star Wars, there is a good chance you'll at least enjoy the movie.

Skunks!

Skunks!
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

On my way back home from church tonight, I saw what looked like a bunch of birds in the road, or maybe something that had been hit and was still flopping around, but as I got closer, I noticed that it was slowly making its way across the road.

Then I saw the white stripe! It was at that point I hit the breaks, nothing worse than hitting a skunk. Well, actually there is. Hitting 4, and there were at least 4 skunks in this family.

It was really neat to see the momma keep turning around and making sure the "kids" kept up. You could almost hear her saying "come on, keep up" and "hold hands as we cross the street".

It's really nice to see the love a momma has for her kids... even when they are skunks.

Weather Bug Station in Town

I just found out that there is a Channel 2 (KJRH) weather station right here in town. And since they are tied into the WeatherBug program, I can finally get C-ville weather online (as opposed to guesses).

I've added a link in the side bar.

First Day of 3rd Grade

Today was my boy's first day of 3rd grade!

I can't believe that he is getting that old. It makes me both proud and sad all at the same time. He's gotten so big since the beginning of Second Grade.

I always love the start of the school year. I always have, as a kid and as a parent, the excitement of everything. Course my son isn't a fan of school, I'm hoping he likes it this year. He has a long way to go before he can get out of school. Not good to be miserable.

Olympics Opening Ceremony

Wow! This opening ceremony is just amazing!

If you missed it, you really missed something. Wow. Words just don't do it justice.

Olympics!

I love the Olympics, and I'm so happy it's that time. I finished watching the US Women play Norway in Soccer. Both teams played real well, but it took the US a bit too long to get into the game, and ended up losing 2-0. Both goals were made within the first 5 minutes. Crazy!

Anyway, Friday is the opening ceremonies (not that I care about that, but then games besides Basketball and Soccer will be on).

New Car... Again

A week ago yesterday, my daughters car broke down in Norman. For those that don't know, it's a ways away. Her transmission went out. So, with the help of one of my friends from church, we drove down there, loaded her car up on the trailer and came back. Which was an adventure, all into itself.

Anyway, Tuesday, my daughter and I went out shopping for a new car. Her car was in no condition to put a new (or rebuilt) transmission into it. Well, Saturday, in the 105+ degree temperature, and 7 car lots later, we finally found a car (and a few days during the week of shopping as well). It's a 2001 Hyundai XG300. Here it is...





As you can see, its really nice. It beats her last car which was a 1993 Saturn and her first car which was a Mazda 323 (don't remember the year).

Here is hoping it lasts better than it's predecessors.

Peppers, Peppers and More Peppers

I canned some of my Jalapeno peppers this weekend. Only canned about a gallon bucket full of peppers, got them all sliced up and canned. That was a lot of peppers! Probably left at least that many still on the plants!

Yummy!

Money Free Weekend?

While looking at Lifehacker during lunch today, I saw a link to this story about a Money Free Weekend.

We are not allowed to spend any money on anything, no matter what.
In other words, we can't make a run to the store to buy food, we can't
spend money on any sort of entertainment, and so on. Since we often do
our grocery shopping on Saturdays, on a "money free" weekend, we delay
it to Monday or Tuesday.

We can use our utilities, but no extra expenses on these utilities. No renting movies on cable, no text messages that aren't already covered by our cell phone plan, and so on.

I'm not sure I like the idea, but it can't hurt. Anyway, in this article, it talks about 100 Things to do during a money free weekend, and there are some really interesting things. So, you may want to go check out the article, if nothing else, it can give you some cool ideas for a weekend project.

Goofed up

Well, I really goofed up. I ended up letting my drivers license expire. Before that wasn't THAT big of a deal, but now, there are lots of rules about getting a license. Since it expired, I had to take my Birth Certificate in to get a new license (along with my old license). *sigh*

So, I come home yesterday and start looking for it. I looked all over. I asked my wife to help, and she looked all over as well. We couldn't find it anywhere.

I called my dad to see if they still had it, and he couldn't find it. Well, I kept looking and my wife checked what I needed to get a new one. For the record, you need a drivers license (ok, other photo id's too, but without any other photo id, you'd be in a lot of trouble).

Anyway, as I finish looking in the last spot I could think of, the phone rang, my dad found it!!!

So I went in today and got my drivers license, so I'm legal again.

As a side note, you can get a new license 6 months before yours expires, so stop what you are doing right now, and go check your license, if it's within 6 months of expiring, go do it now.
I knew in January that mine would expire in June... then I forgot all about it until July.

Oh well, all better now.

Happy Sadness

Not sure the subject really makes sense, but let me try to explain.

I've noticed how much my boy is growing. In August, he'll start the 3rd grade! He seems to be growing my leaps and bounds! So, on a whim, we went upstairs and measured him to see how tall he was. He is now 4 foot 1/2 inches tall!!!

He's broke the 4 foot mark! You should have seen him when I told him. And while that is great and all and I am really and truly happy to see my boy grow, it makes me sad too knowing that it wont be long till he out grows me, and wont want much to do with me.

I know that's natural and part of growing up, but it makes me really sad.

Failure

I know I've had days I've felt like this...

Happy 4th

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

It's this time of year really think about our freedom and all that others have done to keep that freedom.

Be safe everyone!

Hard to believe it's been so long since I last posted. It's always busy when you come home from a vacation.

I've posted some pictures on my Flickr account, and hope to post some here along with stories, but if you want to see some pics, go on over and take a look.

Finally Home

We are home. We are tired. I've got the pictures on the computer, but haven't really had a chance to go through them yet.

I've also not got the roll of film from the rafting to Walmart yet to be developed, and the picture we bought from the rafting trip? I can't find it to scan it or I'd probably have posted that tonight.

Anyway, trying to get caught back up on the real world. I'll have more pictures and stories in the next few days.

White water rafting update

The rafting was a blast! I came very close several times to ending up in the drink, but I managed to keep my rear in the boat.

I was in the front left side of the raft, so with the exception of the other front guy, made me the wettest guy in the boat.

The train ride was nice, but there were several fires in the gorge (some of which the train caused) which caused major delays. Our 1 hour train ride turned into 3 hours.

All of my pictures were taken on a water proof camera so they'll have to wait till I get the film developed.

Oh, and our guides name was Mciver.

Here is the picture we got from the River guide service.

White water rafting

We are sitting outside Echo Canyon River Expeditions waiting for our white water rafting trip.

I hope to post a follow up after the trip.

Trip pt 2

I tried posting from upon Pike's Peak, but the best I can tell, I lost the post.

We had a great time with exploring some cff dwellings to shopping, to taking the cog train to a beautiful and clear Pike's Peak.

Tomorrow is white water rafting and a train ride, and who knows what else. We are looking forward to it.

My beautiful bride hasn't been feeling well, so please pray for here.

Pike's Peak

As I type this, we are sitting in a cog train waiting to go to the top.

It's been misty/raining all morning, so much for the great forecast. Rumor has it it's sunny on the top, we'll see.

Trip pt 1

Today, we left my sisters place on the way to Colorado Springs for our 10 year anniversary get-a-way, and after a crazy drive on a New Mecican "highway" which was gravel and had cattle guards (17 long miles considering we had to go to the bathroom), we finally came to a "store" in Colorado. We stopped for a bathroom break and a drink.

When we finally found the guy that works there, he said he had an outhouse. At this point my bride didn't care much. I talked to him for a while and found out he did have a flush bathroom, but many travellers stop and go then go and don't buy anything. Water is a bit scarceand he has to haul it in, so he saves the bathroom for real customers.

For the record, his stuff was great (artist). But around 3ish or so, we were his first customer of the day.

For your enjoyment, I took a picture. The first door is ajar and doesn't look like it can even open.

Anniversary Get-A-Way

I was talking to my boy yesterday about our up coming trip a bit. We are taking him to my sisters house where he'll get to play with his cousins, and it came up that we weren't coming home. He asked why, so I told him that me and his mom have been married for 10 years, and we are going to go and spend some time together.

THEN he said, "Why? You've been together for 10 years!"

Ahh children. Sure made me laugh though.

VBS Update

VBS has finished, and we all survived!!!

We had a good time, and I'm exhausted. We averaged 26 people (workers and kids) with a high of 27 and a low of 24.

GameSpot Mobile

I think I'm in love.

Ok, Maybe not, but I am way excited about an email I received this morning. It was an email from GameSpot talking about their new Gamespot Mobile which is currently in Beta.

First, for those that don't know, Gamespot is a game review page. You can see what how the "experts" rank a game, as well as how other people rate a game. It's really a helpful site when you're buying a game, there's nothing worse than spending money on a game, and get it home and find out it's crap.

More than once I've been at the store (used game store actually) and saw a game that looks really cool, and wondered how it was... well now, I'll be able to pull out my phone, and look it up much easier than before.

This is just too cool.

Another mobile test

I'm curious if I can also post pictures as well...

This is a picture of a truck at work. It must have remote entry, but this person better hope he doesn't lose his keys.

Mobile Blogging

I'm checking out the new mobile bloggiing feature of Google. Might mean more frequent posts...

We'll see.

VBS

Vacation Bible School starts this evening. I guess we'll see how ready I really am.

I'm hoping things go well, and I would love to have a group half the size my sister's church had!

We are trying something new this year. A Sunday Night through Thursday Night VBS with a Friday Night Parents night.

I've gone out and bought some Hawaiian Shirts. The Theme is Outrigger Island, so we'll be in the islands this week.

10 year Anniversary

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary! It's really hard to believe it's been 10 years. We are planning to go out to dinner tonight, and I'm really looking forward to it. Our real gift is a trip to Colorado Springs in a couple weeks.

I have truly been blessed to have her as my wife.

Busy Weekend

I had a good, but busy weekend. Friday, I managed to get the yard mowed, the fence line sprayed (to kill the grass growing in it), around the pool sprayed (Same reason), and the sandbox sprayed (yep, you guessed it, same reason). And I got the garden weeded, and got the grass trimmed back around the tomato plants (since I couldn't weed in there.

And that was just Friday evening.

Saturday, I managed to get the back porch cleaned off. I probably should have taken a picture to show you, but I was really just too embarrassed to show anyone how hideously messy it really was, so no pictures for you.

It wasn't all work though, I did have some nice time playing games, and doing some reading. Church was good, except for getting drenched helping people get from the education building to the sanctuary dry.

And I made it to the grocery store. I forgot that I don't go to the store on Sundays, and at the first of the month. Sunday it was both!

12 days till our trip, and I can't wait!

Flash

I found out today that there is a vulnerability in the Flash player if you don't have the latest version.

You really need to check which version of Flash you are running (on all browsers you have installed) Firefox's flash can be a different version than IE. And when you patch one, that does NOT patch the other one. You can check which version you are running at http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_15507&sliceId=1

And if you need to upgrade to the latest version you can do that at
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

BTW, when you check, the latest Windows version should look like WIN 9,0,124,0

Cub World Camping Trip

Armor
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

Over the weekend, we had our camping trip to Cub World at Zinc Ranch. It was a lot of fun.
This year, we camped near a castle they have built there, so they had the boys make swords, shields and swords. My wife and I made his sword and shield. It was really cool and he likes them very much. Then Friday, I made his helmet. It wasn't as cool as I would like, but its not bad. It even has padding in the helmet. He was happy with the set, so we were ready for our camping trip.

So, we went Saturday morning and had a great time. The grass was WAY high, but the castle rocked!!! The kids had a great time storming the castle and fighting for ground. It was an awesome time. Saturday, my boy got hurt though. He was at the castle playing and basically ran into a pole. I'm not sure if it was inside or out, but he gave himself a little shiner.

Inside
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net


Outside
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

Memorial Day

IMAG0216
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

Every year, Floral Haven raises hundreds of casket flags of US servicemen who's flags have been given to them. There were hundreds of flags all over. It was a wonderful site!

On Memorial Day, they lower all the flags, and it's a huge undertaking, so they have invited all the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and Brownies to come help. This is the second year me and my boy have been able to go and help take down the flags.

This year, we started with my grandfathers flag. He served in the US Navy and died 10 years ago this summer. It was very heart warming to see my son and his friends lower my grandfathers flag and fold it.

Camping trip?

We woke up to rain this morning. Rain and camping just doesn't mix. It's not too bad if you set up dry and are there long enough for everything to dry out before packing up. As it is, the ground is probably already soaked.

Well, here we go.

Better gas mileage

As everyone knows, gas now costs an arm and a leg. Last week it cost me over $100 to fill up both vehicles. This is just pretty crazy, and I know it's not going to get better. Also with all the ethenol the gas companies are putting into the gas, my miles per gallon has dropped.

The gas mileage usually runs between 22.3 and 27.7 mpg. I think once I've had the car to over 30 mpg.

I watched a news story a couple weeks ago about slowing down would help with fuel efficiency, so I decided to give it a try. I decided that I'd not drive faster than around 62 mph.

After the first tank of gas, I got 29.5 mpg. Yesterday, I just filled up from my second tank, and I got 30.2 mpg. It really does help. At least for the first 2 weeks I've tried it, I've raise my fuel efficiency by around 10%. That's about a 1 way trip to Tulsa I'm saving each week. Over a months time that will save me enough for 2 round trips to Tulsa! Which is close to half a tank.

And the truth is, you don't lose that much time going somewhere. At 65 mph you can go 65 miles in 1 hour (hence the catchy name). But at least on a daily basis, I'm not going 65 miles. I'm going about 25 miles or so. So it takes me about 1-2 minutes longer to get to work than if i drove 65.

For the moment, I plan on continuing to drive at around 62.

Overwhelmed

Do you ever have so much to do, you just completely and utterly overwhelmed?

On the bright side, with this busy weekend coming up, hopefully I'll have some good blog fodder.

How does your garden grow?

Well, I've had 2 posts today cause I've been reminded that it's been over a month since I last posted. I'm not sure it counts but I've thought about it a lot.

Anyway, My garden is doing pretty well, though the brussel sprouts didn't come up.

I found it very amusing that I already have 3 tomatoes and 1 jalapeño. The corn is doing nicely as well.

Spelling Words

Now that school is about over, I wanted to share with everyone this WONDERFUL piece of software I found a little over a month ago. It's called My Spelling Words.

My boy had been having some problems with his spelling words in school. In fact, it was getting worse. Before I found this program, the last 3 tests were F, F, D. The conventional ways of writing your spelling words out over and over just wasn't working, at least for him.

So, I did what any good geek dad would do, I hit Google and that's when I found this program.

The reviews of it were great, but I don't put much faith in reviews that are listed on the software's own web page... who knows i they were really written or not.

But it had a 30 day free trial, so I figured what did we have to lose?

First week using this program to help him study his words, he made a 100%!!!

WOW!!! But was it just a fluke?

Week 2, 100%, Week 3, 100%!


At this point, I figured it was worth the $20. But it continues.


Week 4, 95%, Week 5 100%

Needless to say, I can't say enough good things about this program.

you do need a sound card and a microphone if you are going to use it.

Dusk Fishing

IMAG0138
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

Saturday evening my boy and I were fishing late, and as the sun set behind the hill, I noticed how beautiful this view was, so I got my phone and took a picture.

You may have to click to enlarge, but the colors are just amazing, well, in my opinion they are.

I was excited about how it came out.

I was sad that I lost a fish in the process.

Geocaching

I first heard of Geocaching from Steven a couple years ago but didn't have a GPS to give it a try. About a month ago, I got a new cel phone that runs Windows Mobile and has a built in GPS in it (more on my phone later). So, after searching a bit on Geocaching and for some software that I could use with geocaching, my boy and I went for our first hunt.

We had a blast! I had found a cache that was close to the house, and went up to see if he was up to go on a treasure hunt. Not only did he say it sounded fun, but he put down his DS, and picked out something to leave in the cache and came happy as could be.

When we found the cache, he wanted to go find another one. Since I only had the one loaded in the phone, I told him no, but we could do more later.

I've got 4 more loaded up and ready to go.

As we were leaving, we caught a great sunset.

UPDATE:
I forgot to mention that this was the cache we found.

Storms

Well, it's 3:45 a.m. About an hour ago if that, I was awaken to tornado sirens.

I get up, and turn on the TV and check the computer to see whats going on. Sure enough, rotation west of Sperry, headed this way.

I watch the TV for a bit to really make sure that it's headed this way.

Let me explain for my non-Okie friends, tornadoes can go in a V shaped path from the point of the rotation. So, paths can very a pretty good distance, and even though you are in the path, if you are on one of the outside paths, then, you're pretty safe... if you are in the center, well, not so much.

We were in the center of the path.

So, I woke up my wife, and we watched the weather reports for a while. We didn't want to wake the kids for no reason. I don't want them to feel like we cry wolf or in the case of my boy, grow up scared of storms (And in my bedroom every night it storms).

Things were going ok. It was on track straight for our town, but no rotation had been spotted, and it seemed to be weakening. I was feeling pretty good about going back to bed. Then they cut to a storm chaser*. He said he was a bit east of my town, and was watching the storm. He saw confirmed rotation above my town! Hello, that got my attention, so I did what any self respecting redneck would do, I walked out on the back porch to see for myself.

But when the winds got very strong and hail started pummeling the house so I came back in. Then the tornado indexes shot up on the storm (they had dropped low) and the storm chaser talked about seeing a power flash in town, and another. Did you catch that? IN TOWN.

I was looking out the window at the same time looking for his power flashes, and then I saw one! It was either AT the church next door, or across the street! About the same time my wife said OK as I said NOW!

I hollered at my daughter to get up and head to the basement and I ran up the stairs and grabbed my son and we all ran to the basement! I got my daughter under the stairs wrapped in a blanket. My wife sat down at her feet and our son crawled up in her lap, and they wrapped up in a blanket. I stood posed to cover them up if necessary... then I realized, I didn't have a blanket to protect me from anything.

So, again, I did what any self respectin redneck would do, I came upstairs to get one, and since I was upstairs, I might as well look out the window. I took a quick look, and then as I headed to get a blanket, I grabbed the remote and turned up the TV nice and loud so we could hear it downstairs! I grabbed a blanket, and went back downstairs. I wrapped the blanket over my back, and was prepared to throw myself on my family to protect them from anything that might come.

We waited for a bit and listened... and waited. Then I did what any self respecting nerd would do, and pulled up the radar on my phone. It looked like it had passed, so I came back up and verified it was good, and the family came back up and everyone headed back to bed.

Except me. I decided to blog. I've been in many storms in my life. Gone to the cellar more times than I care to count, but I don't believe I have ever been this scared.

As I sit here typing this, another round of VERY heavy storms above the house. I keep hitting save just in case I lose power.

Anyway, it looks like that's it. Guess I'll watch a bit more TV and then try to go to bed soon... the alarm will go off before I'd like it to.

(oh, and the hail was about pea sized or so)

*Storm Chasers - again, for my non-okie friends storm chasers are people that are a few fries short of a Happy Meal, and when strong storms come out, they get in the cars and chase these storms. Some chase from behind, some from in front! They have their phone, and cameras and other high tech gear (now anyway), and report into the TV station what they are seeing. Now, don't get me wrong about saying they are a few fries short. They really do help the stations let people know whats going on.

Garden and stuff

Yesterday (Saturday) I decided to get the tiller working again. The pull string broke last year, and I said I'd fix it before the Spring.... well, Spring got here, and I didn't have it fixed.

So, if we are going to have any veggies, I have to get the tiller fixed, or break out the hoe and get to work. So, I go to Atwoods and get a replacement, I get home and finally figure out how to change it out.

While doing that, I realized the belts are in sad shape. So sad, I'm surprised they didn't break instead. That got me to thinking, so I checked the air filter, and it was in sad shape as well. So, I take them off and head back to Atwoods.

They no longer make the same type of air filter, but i found one that was similar, and got it. But I don't know the length of my belts... so I walk around looking for the tape measures. I then try to measure the belts. I go back to the other side of the store, and get the belts.

After getting home and trying to get the belts on, I realize that one belt was to big, the other, too small. So, I cut them and measure them... sure enough, one was 1 inch to large, the other 1 inch to small. Since I was going through all this trouble, I checked the spark plug, and I'm surprised it could spark.

Anyway, I finally get everything replaced and put back together, and couldn't get it started... I gave up and went fishing. Got 2 small perch.

Today, after church, I got back out there, and emptied out the old gas, and put in fresh, and got it to start up. So, I got the garden tilled. In celebrations, I went fishing. Didn't catch anything. Because of everything that has been going on, and how hard this week has been for my wife, we stayed home to spend some time as a family, and we went ahead and planted the garden. We have corn, and brussel sprouts, jalapeños, and tomatoes. We already have some onions, cilantro, and oregano going. My boy wants some cucumbers, but I need to till up some more dirt before I can get them planted.

More Prayer

Last Tuesday, I asked for prayer, and I thank you. Today I ask for it again, but for a different reason.

Yesterday morning (Wednesday), Treiton passed away. He was the sweetest 6.5 year old I knew. He was funny and brave. He enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest.

Please pray for his family and everyone who knew him as they morn his passing. Our heads tell us his in a better place now. He's no longer in pain, and is in the presence of our Lord. But our hearts miss him terribly. And for my wife and I, we see our boy, and see what his parents will miss.

His funeral is set for Saturday.

Debt

Well, on October 15th, 2002, we had around $31,000 in debt, most of that credit cards. We actually had more, cause we had the house and the car, but we had 31K of stupid debt.

Today, 5 years and 5 months since we started, we made the last payment on our stupid debt. And let me tell you how good it feels! It's incredible!

We still have a car loan, and our house payment, but everything else is paid off!!!

Well, I'm going to get off here and go see about buying that boat I saw for sale.

Just joking. Actually, going to finally start up my 401K again at work, and adding to the car payment to get it paid off faster, and also trying to get some money saved up.

Fishin

We went fishing today. I'm really enjoying the Collinsville Lake (Pond). It's nice to be able to drive to the lake, fish, and be back in 1:15, and fished for about an hour.

We did pretty good. I caught 4 fish, and my boy caught 1. 1 crappie, 1 bass, and 3 perch. All too small to keep, but it's always fun catchin. I took pictures of 4 of the 5 fish, but too small to mess with putting up here.

The weekend calls for rain and cooler temps, so probably wont go out this weekend.

Prayer

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Eph 6:18 (NIV)

I know many that read my blog are Christians, and I ask each and every one of you, right now, to please, take a moment, and pray for a little boy named Treiton.

He is the son of my wifes life long friend. He has been battling cancer for a couple years now, and had been doing well. Tonight, he's fighting for his life. We don't know what the problem is. We know his kidneys aren't working well, his blood pressure is down and his heart rate up. Last I heard, they think an infection may be causing it, and with his weakened immune system, it's tearing him up.

He is one of the most precious kids I've ever had the privilege to meet.

Our God is alive and well! He has made us, and can heal this little boy. I believe in the power of prayer, and at the same time my heart breaks for this little boy. Younger than my own boy by a year or so.

Also, please keep his family, and especially his parents in your prayers.

Hair-less

Or maybe less hair would be a better title.

I got all crazy this weekend and shaved.

About 2 weeks ago, I shaved my beard back into a goatee, but today, I shaved almost everything else off.

Back in September, I started growing out my goatee into a beard, and didn't mess with it until the day after Thanksgiving. I trimmed it down, and kept the beard trimmed until Saturday when I shaved. I took pictures then, so you can see the before here.

And here is the after.....





wait for it.....





ok, you ready?




Here you go

(Click for larger view)

I realized that I have had either a goatee or a beard for over 11 years!!! My wife had never seen my upper lip. Every time she looks at me, she laughs. She hasn't decided yet if she likes it or not. I had a lady at church tell me today, I look about 10 years younger. I don't know about 10 years, but I will agree I look younger.

Ram it?

Today, I went out to lunch with a few of the guys at work and as we were walking to the car, we passed this Dodge truck, and well, I guess the tag and pictures say it all.



For those that can't read the tag, it says "If you can't Dodge it, Ram it!"

Looks like he did.

Spring fever

I guess you'd say I have a full case of Spring Fever. After the fishing trip this morning, my boy and I washed the car and the truck... Planning on charcoaling some trout on the grill later.

It's a beautiful warm, sunny, windy day. It's 3:21 and 73 degrees.

I'm really hoping all this activity will help me get my strength back from being sick all week.

Fishin

It's been a long week with both me and my boy having the flu. So, today, we got up, ate some donuts, and went fishin. We went to the Collinsville Lake to give it a try. Not quite sure if I'd really call it a lake or not, but it was a place close by to go for a nice little fishing trip.

We had fun, and my boy even caught a little bass.

It's days like this that build memories.

(click for a larger picture)

And yes, I have seen bait larger than that fish.

Flu Sucks

The flu sucks! That is actually an understatement, but I've learned something that is worse than the flu, and that is having your son sick with the flu... that he got from you.

I guess I started getting sick Saturday morning. By the afternoon, I had a slight fever, but didn't think much of it. Saturday late afternoon, my dad called asking if I was up to a trip to OKC? I asked when and he said now. He was in a wreck, so out of bed I came and headed to OKC to get him and my mom. (Neither of them were hurt, but the lady that was with them was.)

Anyway, I got them home, and I've been real worried they would get this. If I had known I had the flu, I'd probably had them try someone else. See, they headed out of state Tuesday. The drove to Alabama I think for some convention, where they are speaking. If they get what I have, it's not going to be pretty.

When I talked to them yesterday, dad was starting not to feel well. When I talked to them today, he was feeling better. That's good, cause if that's the case, he didn't get the flu.

OK, more rest. I'm trying to get back to work. Today is the first day I've even tried to get out of bed.

Format Wars Over!

It truly may be the end of the format wars.

I've already talked about Best Buy and Netflix, but last week Walmart was added to the Blu-Ray only stores.

Then today, Toshiba announces that it is to quit producing HD DVD's!!!

Stick a fork in it, it's done.

Hugo Blogs

Ok, so technically, that isn't true. Jorge Garcia (who plays Hugo) blogs.

His blog is called Dispatches from the Island.

One of the guys I work with sent me the link. I've read through several of his posts. Amazing! He is as down to earth as I am. And when I say that I mean normal. You know how actors can be.

So Jorge, if you happen to read this, you rock!

Everyone else? Go read his blog!

Blu-Ray v HD-DVD update

I heard some great news today. It appears that Netflix is phasing out it's HD-DVD and going to only carry Blu-Ray.

This is great news on many fronts. Mainly cause I think think will help bring the end of this format war to a close. Format wars are not good for anyone, especially us consumers.

More studios are going Blu-Ray only than HD-DVD. Blu-Ray sales are also out pacing HD-DVD. I've said all along I hope Blu-Ray wins this war. But I'll not count my disks till they are burned so to speak. I've read specs and articles till I'm blue in the face (no pun intended). I've seen and heard the pro's and con's of both formats, and I've still chosen Blu-Ray.

Hopefully this event will help.

Precinct Delegate

Well, I'm not sure if you all know this or not, but there is a presidential election later this year. (Yes, I was being funny, you'd have to live under a rock not to know that)

Anyway, I had a lady call me a week ago asking if I would be able to come to the Republican precinct meeting. Unfortunately, I couldn't go, but I was very interested.

She called me a few days ago asking if I would be interesting as serving as one of our precinct delegate (we get 7 or 8, I don't remember). Anyway, I had been giving it some thought anyway from the call a couple weeks ago, and decided I would. So, I guess on February 23rd, I'll go to our county meeting.... should be interesting to say the least.

Lost

I love Lost. Have I mentioned that lately? No, I guess I haven't. But I do. Lost rocks. Plain and simple.

It is just so interesting how they do that show.

Wow, just wow!

Derby Update

We are back from the races. We had a good time. There were over 50 cars there!

The Pack got a new track this year to go with the new electronic timer we got last year. With the software they got and the timers, the races went fast! Each of the boys got 4 runs. It was great!

My boy didn't place in the Wolf division. But he enjoyed it. He came in 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, and 4th.

All the scouts got to vote on their favorite car in each age group. My boy did the

Wolves Coolest Looking Car

Needless to say, he was very excited about it!

Pine Wood Derby!

Yes, it's that time again, time for the Cub Scouts Pine Wood Derby.

We had a lot of fun making his car this year. And I think it looks much better than last years model.

He didn't really want to do it, or so he said. Truth is, he's excited about it. Especially now it is done, but he didn't want to take the time from playing video game to work on it. Silly boy.

The big race is tomorrow, lets hope we do better than last years last place finish.

Camo Formula 1 style race car? Who woulda thought?

Self Disclosure

I was tagged by Bowden McElroy from Counseling Notes to participate in the following exercise in self-disclosure.

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

Seven Facts About Me:

1. I am an Oklahoma State Alumni. I graduated with a BS in Com-Sci more almost 13 years ago.
   
2. The summer after graduating from High School, I went on a 3 week student exchange program to the USSR. It was a great, but at the same time, was the longest 3 weeks of my life.
   
3. I am a Junior. And I believe people should not add Jr's or numbers behind their son's names. It become confusing later in life.
4. This year will be married to my wife for 10 years! It's been a great marriage!
   
5. I enjoy gardening even though I don't eat many vegetables.
6. I really enjoy Sci-fi and Fantasy in all its forms. (Video games, books, and Movie/TV)
   
7. I've had a computer in my home since I was in 7th grade (around 11/12 years old). So though I've not have one all my life, I consider myself one of those that have grown up with computers.
   

I know this says to tag 7 others, but I'll save you all the worry and I wont. But I would love to have some of you do it. Comment if you do so I can stop by and read.

Birthday Cake

Today, we are having my boy's birthday party. On Tuesday (his actual birthday), my wifes parents went with us to CiCi's Pizza, and he got to open some presents. But today, 4 of his friends are suppose to come over and go with us to Chuck-E-Cheese Pizza.

Last year, I made him his birthday cakes. They both were Yoda and they were the first cakes I have decorated in a very long time. Today, I decorated this years cake.

The writing was a bit sloppy (as he pointed out) but it's not too bad. And for the record, the 8 eights are suppose to be at different angles.

He likes it, and that is what really matters.

Happy Birthday

Today is my boy's 8th birthday!!! It's hard to believe it's been 8 years since he was born.

8 years since he stopped breathing and turned blue. 8 years since they put him in N-ICU. My 9 lb 6 oz giant in with all the premie's. That day was one of the happiest and scariest days of my life.

He's growing up so fast! Though I guess all kids do.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday My Love

I wanted to take a moment before this day is over, and wish my favorite wife in the whole world...

HAPPY "29th" BIRTHDAY!

(Yes, i know, she's my only wife, but still doesn't stop her from being my favorite!)

Happy New Year

Well, today is January 1st, 2008.

It's hard to believe that 2007 is over, and 2008 is just beginning.

I always like the new year. Something about it is refreshing.

I hope everyone has a wonderful new year!