nairb

The Big Tip

2010-12-26T20:38:00.002-06:00

Each year at Christmas our family has a tradition. We eat out very close to Christmas, usually the day before and usually for dinner. The dinner part is strategic. You see it's at dinner time that the sun begin to go down and those outside the restaurant are generally not able to be seen by those inside.

There is not anything too special about what we have to eat. For several years it was at the Purple Cow so we had burgers. This year, since both boys were working, Jen, Emma and I went to IHOP (Emma's request). Like I said, there is nothing special about where we eat.

We prefer to leave a tip after our server thinks that we have completed payment. Always in cash! The tricky part is paying attention to how the tables are bussed. This year it was the nearest person. Our plan was not to tip the nearest person, but specifically our waitress. So, whereas in the past we'd leave the tips in a somewhat obvious spot, it would always be hidden enough for us to get outside and enjoy the sight. This year we had Emma take a tightly folded stack of money directly to the waitress. The only visibly bill was of low value. The waitress nicely thanked her headed behind the partition to her post. Meanwhile Jen and I watched from outside. We got to see her jump excitedly and run to tell her friend about the big tip she'd gotten. Emma got to hear all of this on her way out of the restaurant.

As we drove off we imagined how out waitress might be able to do something special with that extra cash. At the very least we thought she'd be that much nicer to people for the remainder of the night.

Hollywood: What about us?

2008-02-11T21:48:00.000-06:00

I watch TV and enjoy it... at least I did. I am totally behind the writers and so have waited patiently. What I don't understand is why it's ok to keep the TV season as if it was being "re-joined already in progress". As in tough luck. Sorry you were bored to death for a couple of months but we won't be bringing your favorite show back and if we do it will only be a few episodes. Don't worry we'll bring them back in the fall... you know after the Olympics are over.

This all makes me wonder if I can sue the television networks for failing to entertain?

Why Church

2007-07-05T19:58:00.001-05:00

Does anyone know why we have Church? I know one answer is our parents went. Really, there must be a reason. I believe we come together to worship. On the other hand... whener two or more are gathered in his name, they praise him... right? So then why Church?

In the past year, my family has been blesses by our Church family. We've had some trying times, especially the last few months. Our friends have been HUGE in our lives. They have feed us, cleaned our house, stepped up to teach, produced another great year of VBS and even taken my wife nd I out for a 'mental health night'. I haven't even mentioned the help with taking care of our children.

What a better testament could we have than friends like these? I can't imagine. How would we have these friends if not for Church? This brings me to my only conclusion for 'why Church'. It is the relationships.

We build each other up, protect one another and even clean the toilet of someone who needs it. I often hear how my Church doesn't do enough outreach or enough benevolence or a hundred other things the church doesn't do or provide. Let's not forget the one thing it does provide that is bigger than all of those. It provides each of us the opportunity to 'love one another'. If you choose to truely take part in it, you are family.

Ask A Ninja: Least Favorite

2006-10-18T07:56:00.000-05:00

I see this Guy as Trey.. but it's not.

A Ninja's Least Favorite

Farewell September

2006-09-25T08:09:00.000-05:00

Another month nearly gone. I was reminded last week (again) that I haven't posted in some time.

It occured to me this morning that I have done a dis-service to the Crowley Church of Christ. They changed their sign some time ago, but I never updated my blog to reflect this. It appears that they are waiting for me to give them the press that my blog provides them. They have also nearly missed all of September. So today I changed my blog.

I hope the folks at Crowley Church of Christ can forgive me...

PVR Greatness or Curse?

2006-07-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

We got a PVR (DVR/ Tivo like device) a few years ago. My first thought was how great it was to not have to worry about finding a blank VCR tape when I recorded a show. Truth was most shows were not worthy of such attention from me. It was always a hassle. Over the year I have learned to appreciate it much much more. I love to pause.. go do something.. and return where I was.

In the last year I have noticed the PVR has given me some type of affliction. I have a type of 'jump-back syndrome'. In my head I feel like everthing should be able to jump back 5 seconds. This all started in the car. I change radio stations a lot. I wwould hear the end of a weather forcast and reach out to the radio to 'jump back'. I don't have the ability to do this with my radio. It is a side effect of my PVR illness. At one point I started thinking about how I could develope this idea into a product. I soon realized that, unlike my TV PVR, I didn't want to jump back on the station I was listening to but any station I may turn it to. That is a very different problem. For now it is just a frustration.
Last night at Church, we attended a dinner. Some people spoke. Most of it was quite humorous. I turned to look at something going on and missed what was said and immediately thought how can I jump back to hear the joke. Basically this has entered my life as something I think about often.

Do you think God does this when we do something funny?

Fame, Glory or Downright Shame?

2006-07-10T15:36:00.000-05:00

I got a fever... And the only prescription is more cowbell!

Is the Devil on the Phone?

2006-06-01T14:22:00.000-05:00

Tuesday Night at VBS rehearsal was very good. We had a circle prayer time to re-unite and energize the group. During the prayer at least four cell phones went off. One was on vibrate but being next to them I heard it. I talked with my wife afterward to get her take on it. Did she think it detracted from the prayer. She said something I found a very refreshing way to see it. She said she pictures the devil on the other end of the phone. Cell phones give him another way to try to interrupt our talking with God. Since it never stopped the prayer he loses. She said it reminds her of how he is always trying to come between us and God.

Obviously since I know how many times it happened, it did distract me. On the other hand it didn't really have any effect on the groups as a whole. In fact I felt the entire group was uplifted through the prayer and me especially.

Another one the devil couldn't win!

Something brings May flowers?

2006-05-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I complained about how short February was. While May is not short, it IS over (almost). Mowing season is upon us. We are taking our chances on four new trees this year. Not really a great bet considering we started out the year in a bad drought. It has been 21 day since our last measurable rain. I think the first tree is showing some shock. I think I'lll cal it early on-set death. Jen yanked out two trees that dies since last fall. My favorite willow suffered as well losing nealy half of its growth, but it remains alive. The glass is half full!

Our blue bonnets did not come up again this year. I say the "April showers bring May flowers" Myth is .... BUSTED!

Tagged

2006-04-25T13:10:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by Danny....

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Engineer
2. Printing Press Operator
3. Air Force Maintainer
4. Mazzios Pizza cook

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. The Jerk
2. Fletch
3. Blazing Saddles
4. Tommy Boy

Four places you have lived:
1. Fort Worth
2. Tulsa
3. Biloxi
4. Altus

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Scrubs
2. Las Vegas
3. Earl
4. CSI

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Disney World
2. Las Vegas
3. Madison, Alabama (sister & NASA)
4. Hawaii

Four websites you visit often:
1. www.woot.com
2. www.twit.tv
3. www.live.com
4. www.digg.com

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Pizza
2. Steak
3. Mexican
4. Italian (not Pizza)

Four places you would rather be right now:
1. Las Vegas
2. Hawaii
3. Disney
4. Anywhere with wife and kids

Buying cars

2006-04-19T08:37:00.000-05:00

I hate buying cars. You always feel like your getting ripped off, even when you do all the research in the world. I can't think of another item that we purchase that costs so much and is worth so little just a few years down the road. In fact its worth drops the moment that first wheel leaves the lot. I actually wonder if the worth drops before the pen is lifted from the gigantic loan you just took out to pay for such a car.

Don't you love hearing Bill Gates analogy of cars and computers? I don't either. While it's true I use a computer far more than I do a car, if it crashes no one dies. I know it may feel like it, but they don't. I actually expect to buy a new computer every few years to keep up with technology. This is not how I feel about cars. I want to drive them into the ground. Before buying our last two cars our previous cars had 170,000 and 145,000 miles on them. I still have the later car and continue to drive it some. Unfortunately, depending on the nature of the break-down, I now consider a car a throw-away similar to a computer. Our Explorer spawned transmission troubles a couple of years ago just before we got the van. We spent over $3000 to get the transmission repaired. We barely got it home before the transmission flaked out again. I know we should have taken it back. Instead I asked my wife to meet me at the dealer. If we were lucky the transmission would be flakey as they drove it to the back of the lots for valuation. It didn't, we got a decent price for it and traded it in on the van.

You know our parents paid less for their houses than we do for our cars and I am not talking about buying a Hummer, just a regular new car.

Does it seem backward?

2006-04-08T20:21:00.000-05:00

To be honest I don't think Crowley Church of Christ meant it this way but this is how it reads. I hope they reverse it. I' ve always included their billboard saying in my right menu-bar because they are always quirky. If this keeps up I may have to replace them.

Just down the road is a bit better.

Two quick, what I clicked

2006-03-22T16:05:00.000-06:00

Chris Bliss can Juggle
http://marketplace.espeakers.com/movie.php?sid=5290&aid=10558

News story on autistic basketballer
http://gprime.net/video/autisticballer/

New Truck

2006-03-21T07:56:00.000-06:00

Operation: Taco Bell

2006-03-13T09:26:00.000-06:00

Never mind the thievery. This is funny. I don’t know why. I think it’s the music.

Dare to dream big!

http://media.putfile.com/Operation-Taco-Bell

Debunking Katrina Myths

2006-03-08T11:26:00.000-06:00

Hopefully this post is viewable. Unfortunately, this post is a link to some interesting Katrina Myths put together at Popular Mechanics

Debunking Katrina Myths

It at least some interesting information that isn't presented by the media.

I hate February

2006-03-03T08:58:00.000-06:00

Ship Residents Sue?

2006-02-28T09:45:00.000-06:00

A news story yesterday told how residents aboard one of the Katrina ships were suing the government to stay on-board the ship since FEMA hasn't provided them alternative housing yet. Are you kidding me? Six months isn't enough? I can see a few months to see how the water would recede and find out if their home we habitable or not. It has been six months.

I can understand that losing everything is a horrible thing. At some point you need to pick yourself up and move on. Get off the government dole. Even though FEMA didn't put its best foot forward from the beginning, thousands of other groups did. My Church took up a healthy collection and provided meals for the first few months afterward for those who made it to North Texas.

The question to be asked is "How long is fair?" If not six months, is a year long enough? Should we see some of those people into retirement? Don't forget there will be another hurricane season coming. I hope we can provide 'Emergency Needs' for the people affected by the coming hurricanes.

Father Daughter Date Night

2006-02-18T14:21:00.000-06:00

My date started on Tuesday. On Tuesday I took my cell phone into the far end of the house and called the home phone. I asked for Emma and ultimately asked her if she'd like to go on a date Friday night. She was very excited. I could hear her telling mommy all about it.

On Friday, I met Jen for lunch and bought some daisies for Emma. Over lunch Jen told me that Emma said she needed to bath before her date and that she would do it right after school and snack time. By the time I got home from work al of that was finished and she was practically all ready.

Our date actually started in the entryway of our house. I presented her the flowers and helped her on with her coat. I helped her into the car and headed off to Olive Garden. She loves Fettuccini Alfredo. She was very excited and kept telling me how happy she was. The folks at Olive Garden were nice and complemented her on her flowers. She didn't put them down all night. Funny enough she didn't eat much. She was to excited. After OG we headed off to Build a Bear. This was another surprise to her. She picked out monkey, who we named "Dates" (to remember the night). After that we went to the Church for dessert(s). Everything was great! Emma wanted to be sure we had our picture taken together. We decorated a frame together to keep the picture in. When we left for home we added Coleton to our car. (Jen and Eric stayed to finish clean-up.) Coleton assumed, since he was older, that he would sit shotgun. I pushed him toward the back and told him my date wasn't finished. I could tell Emma was quite happy about this. When we got home Cole kept telling her to get out and she said, "A lady waits for a gentleman to open the door."

It was a great night; we talked to the whole time.

Coleton Baptized

2006-02-15T20:47:00.000-06:00

The Trouble with Boys

2006-02-07T16:15:00.000-06:00

While at CPC, one of our speakers talked mentioned this article. On the plane ride home I read it. I think you should too.

The Trouble With Boys They're kinetic, maddening and failing at school. Now educators are trying new ways to help them succeed. Here!

Brokeback.. to the Future

2006-02-06T15:13:00.000-06:00

I came across this today and just had to give you guys the link.

Brokeback to the Future

Enjoy!

CPC Technology Dissappointment

2006-01-30T16:28:00.000-06:00

One of the workshops I attended at CPC was about new 'stuff'. (Technology for use by Children's ministers.) I am very geeky myself but am always open to new ideas, so I went. I fully expected to hear about things I already knew. Needless to say I was very disappointed. The guy giving the talk came un-prepared, spent part of class setting up equipment and only proposed equipment and software that is well beyond what most Children's Ministries have budget for ($900 rack-mountable DVD player). Note for presenters: When you plan to rely on using a projector, don't rely on everyone having a smooth white wall to project onto. (The walls were tan and textured. He ended up projecting on a side wall that was tan, but smooth) Take a screen or ensure one will be available.

Instead of just throwing out negativism on the subject, I put together a new blog for 'on the cheap' tech stuff for use in Children's Ministry. Want to se a topic, just let me know. Want to co-write this deal let me know. I will set us up.

6th Graders

2006-01-16T09:12:00.000-06:00

These kids have too much energy for their own good. We hosted a lock-in Friday night (8p-8a). One of the first questions they had upon arrival was, "Do we have to go to sleep?" I thought I was up for it. While we did have a quite time starting at 2am, I agreed to stay up and keep movies going until morning. I think I was the only one up at the start of the second movie. I caught a quick nap and woke in time to change to the third movie. The concrete floor sleeping surface had something to do with it also.

I felt good that the few kids that stood in the corner determined to not have any fun or enjoy no part of the evening got over within the first hour. These kids know how to have fun together. Most of the kids brought an outside friend to the lock-in. I was surprized by the old school rap on one the kid's ipod. Some of the stuff I enjoyed in the early eighties. (My break dancing years... yes I know the worm very well).

I love teaching them on Wednesday nights.

Great Game

2006-01-05T08:13:00.000-06:00

I'm not really a big UT fan. I'd love to be an OK State fan, but with things the way they are I am really more of an anybody but OU fan. Last nights game was awesome. Two top notch teams playing some heavy duty football. Way to go Texas!

After Holiday Food

2005-12-27T08:30:00.000-06:00

With Christmas officially over, I consider myself officially over with holiday food. Here is the twist. Our tradition doesn't really involve traditional holiday food. This year our family decided that my home made fajitas would be our 'Christmas dinner'. Last year I believe it was home made pizza. I can't really recall when or if we ever had Turkey or Ham at our home for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

So what do you do with holiday, being sick of holiday food that simply isn't holiday food? I think more of it is a bit of house fever. Maybe its just an excuse to say I am tired of eating anything we already have in the house.

After thanksgiving we also go through this. When we leave our families and head back to Texas, we usually stop for McDonald's french fries. I think I will see if going to Luby's today will cure this illness.

Angel Tree Give Away

2005-12-19T08:20:00.000-06:00

Yesterday our Church handed out gifts from our Angel Tree. This was our second year doing such a thing. Last year seemed chaotic and it was. We had around 200 Angels last year. We all expected to double that this year with about 500. The night of the sign-up God challenged us. We ended up with over 950 signed up the night of the stew supper. To be honest I never imagined that we could do it. I felt like we struggled to get 200 kids taken care of the year before. This one is a real testament to the folks at our Church. The final Angel number was right around 1050.

Presents had been rolling in the last few weeks. Yesterday morning when I arrived at Church, the place was packed. There were toys everywhere. I have never seen so many bikes in one spot. There were toys lining the halls. There were toys on the stage in the auditorium. There were in the chapel. About 1/3 of the foyer was filled with toys.

Volunteer began at noon getting the toys staged. They were placed by Angel number in most of the classrooms and the chapel. At three pm Bobby gave a briefing to the volunteers that would work getting toys to the parents, helping wrap those toys, retrieving toys from the rooms and watching children while the parents did their thing.

Send a big thanks to Jennifer N who did almost everything leading up to the event. She was a picture of organization. She worked tirelessly on this project.

The drawback..
There were a few parents who caused problems. There was one returned to say that there was nothing attached to the angel tag and demanded she be given something of value to fill that void. She doesn't know that while I was at the front door letting people in I saw here detach the tag from its gift before returning to the building to complain. There were others who even got belligerent about what the child received. Others showed up for gifts that never signed up in the first place. To all of the above, I would tell our member's, "So what?". There will always be these people. Of course we gave them what we could to make them happy. In the end, they were.

The 6 o'clock crowd...
We had many show up that couldn't sign up before. They were told to come back at six. Everything should have been picked up by then. If it hadn't we'd help them out as well. We did. A couple of ladies made a last minute run to Wal-Mart, just to have those extra gifts. It reminds me of the parable of the field worker. They were late in coming, didn't put in the work of the others, but received the same pay. This was a truly thank group of people.

Don't let the negative side stick in your mind...
You should read this last paragraph nearly a thousand times or more. When dealing with over a thousand people, there are going to be bad eggs. Most of the people were thankful and gracious. One many hugged everyone on his way out. I saw him hug and personally thank at least eight people in the Children's area. The best gift of this doesn't belong to the parents anyway. In the end it is all about the kids.

Pictures Here!

Secret Cookie Recipe

2005-12-16T08:16:00.000-06:00

Since my blog has degraded into a recipe festival, I chose to reveal one secret. I don't thing my wife would mind. If so, I am really taking a bullet for you all.

Secret Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

Holiday Food

2005-12-08T13:07:00.000-06:00

One of the best things about the holiday's is food. My beautiful wife always believe she won't make much, but folds when the kids and I hound her to death. This morning I made a special trip before work to pick up baking soda. She started making cookies last night, but was missing baking soda. Today she can bake the cold day away. She will make chocolate cookies (sorry Dad) and snickerdoodles at a minumum. We usually have chocolate dipped pretzels. On good years we will also have sugar cookies with icing on top. I love them all.

What is you favorite holiday treat? Maybe we can talk Jen into making some...

S'ti Samtsirhc

2005-11-22T08:30:00.000-06:00

I t'ndid ezilaer Gnivigsknaht dah emoc tey. Nehw I tog emoh tsal thgin I dnuof tsom fo eht Samtsirhc ffuts dah neeb thguorb nwod morf eht citta. Ynam fo meht erew denepo. Ym efiw sevol ot etaroced rof Samtsirhc. Ehs sevol ot od ti llew daeha fo emit. Ot eb riaf, ehs lliw eb oot ysub rof eht txen wef skeew ot teg siht enod yawyna. Osla I ma yllaer gniyojne ti siht raey.

Tsal thgin ew tneps emit gnidaol eht stnemanro no ruo OWT Samtsirhc seert. I yas gnidaol esuaceb ereht era tsuj os ynam fo meht. Enoyreve si deticxe tuoba gnittup meht no eht eert.. ta tsrif. Msaisuhtne seid nwod a tib 03 setunim retal. Taht si htiw lla evif fo su gniod ti. Ew llits evah wef suoicerp stnemanro taht t'nevah neeb thguorb tuo tey. Eht Legna eert reppot lliw eb tsal.

Woh ylrae od uoy tup ruoy eert pu?

What Happens in Vegas

2005-11-12T19:50:00.000-06:00

We have returned. I now fully understand discount airline. We paid $40 for two BLTs and two Dr. Peppers. We had a great time together. I would say more but I may be violating a Nevada law ('Stays in Vegas')

Nov 10, 2005 – Our 15th Anniversary – My First Secret Trip

2005-11-09T06:30:00.000-06:00

We have only really taken three trips by ourselves (Arkansas, Six Flags, Granbury). More importantly I have never been able to keep a secret from Jennifer. I usually get too excited and spill the beans. Otherwise she gets hint that something is going on and hounds me until I tell her. She told me six months ago, when we were talking about such things, that I could never pull it off. I didn't take it as a challenge, it just truth.
Last month I started it. I made reservations for us to go to Las Vegas for our 15th Anniversary, which is tomorrow. I won't give all the details as I don't want to give it all up yet. I made arrangements with our friends to cover her duties at Church or to cover my class. I got someone to watch the kids while we are gone. I had the tickets sent to a friend’s house. I spoke with her boss about having the time off. It is very difficult to cover all of my wife's bases!
As a rouse, I created an entire itinerary of things we would do on Thursday here in DFW. I had to. I had to find a way to get her to work her normally off-day, Tuesday. I also created the itinerary in case she caught wind of something and I had to reveal how she thwarted my plan. I even doctored web pages and emailed myself this fake schedule. I did all of this to cover my tracks. She has been great about it. I revealed the rouse on Sunday morning and asked her to please not ask any more about it. She hasn’t. She was a little put back by so many people knowing. In return she asked that I stay out of our bank account this week so she could buy me something. Knowing my wife, I assumed it was a big ticket purchase. I found a way to convince her that it wasn’t a good idea since we’d be making a ‘big purchase’ on Thursday. I hope she will forgive this lie. I’m not sure how much the trip will ultimately cost us but truly it is for both of us.
This morning I told Jennifer to pack her bags. We are going on a trip. She'll have a blast once she realizes that it’s all covered.

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!

I Love my Wife!

September 13, 2002 - Our second house

2005-11-08T08:30:00.000-06:00

This one was more fun than the first to buy. The problem was selling our old house. We had begun construction when we placed our house on the market. It seemed like forever until we had the first of what ended up being three different buyers. The fist buyer didn't last a week. The second buyer looked good. We packed all of our stuff and put it in storage and found a place to house sit for the summer. The day before closing we called to find out where closing would be and found out the lender wouldn't loan to a ‘dead-beat dad’. Now we panicked. We thought for sure we'd have to give up the new house and move back to the first. Finally the house sold. We were very happy to be homeless. Several weeks later our house was ready and we moved in.

That summer Jennifer did everything with the kids. When took them to swim lessons, I would meet them at the pool for a long lunch. We had a great summer in a very small house. Jennifer made what could have been a bleak summer for all of us one of our best ever. She and I had a great time this summer. We were living the dream of family time.

When August rolled around, Jennifer drove the kids 20 miles away to their new school, every day. She never missed a beat.

We love our new house and have plans of improving it as we go. The first year I used an old riding mower that broke down as often as it ran. She was the one who convinced me that I should buy a new one. “I could be spending part of that time with the kids” she said. We also went through a period when we were going through the motions but not relating to each other much. She is my compass. She insisted that we take time to ourselves and made all of the arrangements for a weekend away at a B&B. It was a much needed rejuvenation.

I love my wife as much today as I ever did. She is still that girl full of energy and life whom I stole away from her father at too young of an age. If you've seen our wedding picture you'd agree. I can't believe after all of these years she still loves me, but she makes it apparent every day. We are really a team now. We'd rather spend time together than be anywhere else.

I love my wife!

March 20, 1998 - Our first house

2005-11-07T08:30:00.000-06:00

We had finally gone through the most ridiculous process I had ever seen. We bought a home. It wasn't far from where our rental was so our kids had the same elementary school. I think the best part was the pool. Of course it was a luxury for first time owners, but we loved it.

We had problems here too. This time it was ours, so they were our problems. One winter our Heating unit gave up for good. We didn't have enough saved to pay someone to replace it. So, I replaced it... mostly. I called someone to come finish it. My wife supported me through the process, even though I had no experience (and it remained very cold in the house).

Jennifer had gotten sick again and another surgery. She was told that if we wanted any more kids we'd better get it done. It took a while, but we did ( :-) ). We had our daughter. We were very happy. Our family was now complete.

She came up with the idea to start a pre-school at our Church. She built up a plan and submitted it to our elders who approved it and she started the school a few (hectic) months later. In all of this time she had remained the anchor of our family. Our love for one another had never diminished into that routine-ness we always hear about.

It was in this house that we finally learned that LM had won the contract. This meant that LM could be the company I work for until I retire. A year later we searched for what could be our dream house. She knew I wanted a little more land and a place where our boys could have their own rooms. She was excited thinking about a place were our kids could grow up and even come back to visit once they moved out.

I love my wife!

May 25th, 1997 - I Graduate and move us to Texas

2005-11-06T08:30:00.000-06:00

The last couple of semesters were packed. We decided that financially we couldn't afford another summer of my being in school. I carried 18 and 15 hours of senior level work my last year of school. I am sure it was as hard on Jennifer as it was on me. I ended up spending the night with friends in Stillwater a lot. There was too much lab work to come home some nights. She rarely complained. Finally in May I graduated. We were on top of the world.

In the months leading up to graduation I interviewed with companies as often as possible. I had a job nailed down at Halliburton in Duncan, OK. We had gone down and found a house to rent and placed our deposit. The starting salary was good, better than I expected as a new graduate. The job started the week after graduation. We only needed me to pass.

During dead week I got a call from Lockheed. They had been trying to get a hold of me. They wanted to fly me down to interview. So Wednesday of dead week I did it. By Friday they offered me the job. It was more in line with what I wanted and had a better starting salary. It was far away in Texas, but we decided it was a better option. We went for it. Now the problem was the job started in just a couple of weeks and we didn't have any place to stay. She had to pack for the movers to get our stuff the week of graduation. So the Wednesday of finals weeks I came to Fort Worth and found a rent house. I only hoped she'd like it. A couple of days later, graduation happened and we headed to Fort Worth. We got here late at night and when we got in the house that night we found out it had a horrible roach problem. To make matters worse we'd be sleeping on the floor. We all slept in the same room that night with a towel shoved under the bedroom door.

The next few months she came to realize all of her friends were in OK. The people here hadn't quite taken with us yet. She got very active in the Church. Friends came later. Our boys were growing. Eric started kindergarten from that house. Jennifer got ill and had to have surgery. It was a frightening time. We still didn't have much money. School bills were actually needing to be paid back now and we had to buy a new (to us) car. She eventually took a job at Walmart for a while. She hated it. We never saw each other. She knew it would help us and was always willing when that's the case. She made sure we had great Christmas that year.

At work there was worry. LM had a very big contract that everyone was waiting on. If it fell through nearly everyone would be let go. I thought we should stay in the rental until we knew for sure. She knew we couldn't live life in fear. DFW was a big place and I could definitely get a new job. She is always building me up. So we started looking at putting down some roots.

I Love my wife!

February 1994 - A Selfless Woman

2005-11-05T08:30:00.000-06:00

I had started school and continued working for folks again. We attended Church whenever it was open. Our class at Church was very active. The guy who taught our class was also our elder. His wife called us the biscuit class. The groups of 80 of us held class in the hallway in folding chairs which had to folded and put away before the other classes got out and headed for services. This time our elder had everyone to his house for Valentines party. The whole group was always a blast. At one point in the evening we went around the room and he asked that each person give a one word description of there spouse. I was at least half way around the room, so my answer wouldn't be easy. Many gave a smart-aleck answer or something typical (caring, loving...) When it came to me I said that Jen was 'selfless'. I didn't intend to say it. It just came to mind. She immediately burst into tears. I assume she was touched and maybe slightly embarrassed. I don't recall anything else that night not even what she said about me. But my answer got me thinking. I was right. She was selfless. She always did anything anyone asked of her. She always followed me faithfully. I am sure there were times she shouldn't have. She would rather do without than not contribute to an angel tree at Christmas.

When we met my life plan was to use my skills from the Air Force and get a job to earn enough money to be able to enjoy my family. I would get job with aircraft and if that didn't work out I would heed the advice of my sister and go to college and get my electrical engineering degree. This would ensure I could make enough money to enjoy my family. My first job at an aircraft company came when the airlines were doing terrible in the early nineties. A day before my six month temporary employee status was to be over, I got laid off. I took it hard. Honestly I was young. The truth was I was crushed. Jen stiffened up and said it was no problem. She put me at ease. I am sure she was as concerned as I was about where our next meal would come from. We spent the weekend with her folks. Eventually after searching I went back to work for my folks. After some time she helped me remember my dream was to go to school. We decided then that I would go to school full time.

She held down the home front while I went to school. I held a full time job and went to school full time. She worked part time for my folks and handled everything. She did our budget until we moved to Texas. Those were the lean years. I have no idea how she did it. We never made enough money for anything. If it weren't for her, school loans and tax refund checks, we'd have lost it all.

More importantly she always has been my compass. She made sure that we had family time, that we visited relatives (even those in Illinois). When she knew I was over whelmed she'd make me a bath and put on some George Strait and made sure I wasn't disturbed.

I Love my wife!

November 10, 1990 - Marriage

2005-11-04T08:30:00.000-06:00

It was a perfect day. We had a small wedding at Jennifer's folk’s house in Edmond. We filled the front room with a few friends and our families. The guy that introduced us was my best man. Jennifer was radiant. A more beautiful bride there never was. A family friend performed the ceremony. We had orange (not peach) cake. We enjoyed being with family. We left in her VW Beatle. Our friends had written we need money on the window. Just a few miles away at a stop light a nice couple asked us if we really needed money. Looking back we should have said yes. Our honey moon consisted of a room at the Embassy Suites across town. That night we went to Olive Garden for a 'fancy' dinner (We were young). Some time during the night we watched Crocodile Dundee. It was a short honeymoon. We were poor and had to be at work Monday.

Jennifer and I agreed on a date to tell her folks about us getting married. We went to Edmond that weekend for what was mostly a normal weekend at her folks. Finally Jen and her mom went shopping and for pie at Tippins for her to tell her mom. I was going to ask her Dad while she was gone. I was terribly nervous. He and I spent time cleaning the garage. Then Jen and her mom returned. They were done and I hadn't even edged into it one bit. She and her mom went inside without saying anything. They knew I hadn't asked her dad yet. So I gutted up. He was very thrilled. No problem what so ever. All that time doing projects around his house had paid off. He and I in our typical fashion began plotting against the girls. So he stormed into the house yelling screaming about me how he knocked me out. Her grandma, who was living with them at the time, was quite upset by his actions. Jen ran out to the garage to check on me. When she opened the door I was there smiling.

Leading up to the marriage was interesting. As I said before her parents had recently move to Edmond. They purchased an older home that needed some work. When they found out we wanted to be married there. They freaked a little. The house work immediately began. A new floor in the kitchen and sod the front yard is what I remember most but there was a lot of other work that went into it. Thousands!

I didn't have a bachelor's party. My best friend came to town the morning of the wedding. We spent some time together talking away from her folk’s house. We thought we'd plot that I'd changed my mind and headed back to Tulsa. This was a horrible mistake, which I regret to this day. Jennifer, I am still sorry we put you through that.

I love my wife!

August 1990 - You should move to Tulsa

2005-11-03T08:30:00.000-06:00

We went on our first trip together to visit a friend of hers in Arkansas. Her friends were a lot of fun, but didn't believe in air conditioning. We couldn't sleep. We talked a lot on our trip. We decided we didn't like seeing each other only on the weekends. As we were about 20 minutes outside of Tulsa, I said "you should move to Tulsa". It seems like she didn't blink. She agreed.

Earlier in the summer (June) her folks had moved to Edmond as did she. She went to work at a grocery store. In short order she was acting as the manager. When I convinced her to leave for Tulsa, they were about to make it official. They didn't want to see her go. Hind sight tells me I should have moved to OKC.

She moved to Tulsa and got a job at the mall. It was good because she wasn’t good with directions and the mall was at the end of the freeway. I continued to get dressed up and smelling good to go eat lunch with her or pick her up. I don’t recall that we did much more than when she lived in Ponca, but we were together. We’d grill up some country ribs on the hibachi and watch ‘In Living Color’.

I have tried to remember what exactly we did for fun, but all I can recall is being happy, being with her. It was clear quickly she shouldn't just live in my town, we should be married.

I love my Wife!

April, 1990 - The first "I love you"

2005-11-02T08:30:00.000-06:00

The first "I Love You" took about a month. We had both been burned in the past and didn't want to commit ourselves too quickly. I did dorky stuff when we talked on the phone like say, "You know I really, really, really like you... a lot". At the time a new record out by Jane Child was called 'I don't want to fall in love'. I played it to her all the time. It was really our anti-song. It got much worse before I broke out the 'L' word.

I drove to see her every weekend. I got a job where I worked 4-10 hour days giving me three day weekends every week. I spent them all with her. If I came to town when she was working I would get her flowers and ask the first person I found at her job to take them to her. I would hide and wait to see her reaction. She always cried and then began looking for me frantically. I am surprised I didn't get her fired from that job.

Our first fight came and went some time later. I have no idea what it was about. You can bet it concerned our not getting to see each other enough. The night it happened, I immediately got into my car and headed to Ponca. I showed up on her door step playing Chicago's "Love me tomorrow". No I hadn't seen 'Say Anything', but it is now one of my favorites for this reason.

Our weekend usually involved at least one trip to Mazzios. We usually did free stuff as much as possible. We spent time at the park, the lake, the dam but mostly just hung out at her apartment. Sunday's, starting from the first date, we went to Church. She insisted that her parents would never approve of someone who didn't. We always went to her folks for Sunday lunch. I spent time in the afternoon endearing myself to her family by doing odd jobs around their house. Unfortunately, this went on for years. My leaving on Sunday nights was nearly always with her crying.

The truth is I loved her from the moment we met. I could have married her by month one. I am a lucky man!

I love my Wife!

March 20, 1990 -We Met

2005-11-01T08:30:00.000-06:00

I was living with my folks in Tulsa after I got out of the Air Force. I was trying to find my civilian life. I worked at my folks print shop. My best friend Grant had over the last couple of years had talked about this girl Jennifer he went to school with. One night he said she and her apartment-mate would be having a party and we should go. Of course I didn't have anything better to do on a Tuesday night (yes Tuesday). To my parents dismay, I took off part of the day on Tuesday so we could drive to her town a couple of hours away. When we hit town, Ponca City, we stopped at the Pizza Inn. After that we went on to 'her' parents house.

We got to 'her' house about the same time she did. She had been running and not planning on us being there. The first time I saw her she was wearing a multi colored striped shorts out fit. Her hair was up in a pony tail. She was gorgeous. She was full of energy. The three of us had some small talk. I teased her about the small size of her towns newspaper was. (Those who know me know meeting people isn't my strong suit.) After some time we agreed to meet for pizza at Mazzios. On the way out of the driveway, I was overwhelmed by my feelings for her. Meanwhile my friend and I would head to the store for refreshements for the party. In an awkward moment I first met her mom, after purchasing said refreshments, in the parking lot of the store. She didn't know about the party and we were't talking.

At Mazzios she did the girl thing eating very little. I convinced her to eat at least one piece. I have no idea what was said, but it remains a fond memory.

She and I spoke some at the party. I tried to keep some distance as my friend was obviously thinking she was his. He soon saw the chemistry between us and gave me the green light. We had our first kiss that night.

I spent the rest of the night and on till 5 am when we had to leave to get my friend to work by 8 am in Tulsa. She cried when I left. I slept most of the day away. My folks weren't thrilled about another day of work missed. I called her that night. She was somehow surprised. I returned that weekend for our first official date.

Worth the wait

2005-10-14T11:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a banner day. I have been waiting months. I have been patient. I got to see progress nearly everyday. Finally yesterday it happened. The lights were on and orange barrels blocking the lot were gone. I swerved across traffic, trying not to create an accident. As an aside, when I moved to Texas I called the company and asked when they were moving in. They had begun placing stores on the other side of the metroplex. It would be a while before they made it to my side of town. As soon as we moved from our old house a store was opened up right next to my old house. It was quite a disappointment. A couple of other opened shortly afterward. THe problem is they were out of my way. DOn't let that fool you. I went out of my way to get there. Last spring I noticed the construction on my way to work. It was a totally unexpected location. Six months later it has opened. Texas finally has a quality convenience store. Nothing beats Guaranteed gasoline, great coffee and certified quality fountain drinks. The fountain drinks are delivered at 34 degrees so they won't melt the ice. A summer full of 49 cent QT Quarts are in my future. This is a great Tulsa based company. I made it through high school on their fountain drinks and a microwave ham and cheese hot pocket for breakfast. I trust them enough to eat a hot dog off their rolling hot dog warming area.

Recall by Sound

2005-10-06T08:37:00.000-05:00

Isn't it weird how a sound will bring back a specific memory or feeling from a time long past? The first time I noticed this was in the 90's when I heard Toto's 'Rosana'. The summer that came out I was an 8th grader and spent an enourmous amount of time at our neighborhood pool. It was a great summer. I was ususally up by 9am and off to the local arcade for a few dollars worth of Donkey Kong. Then I went back home to cook up a frozen pizza (Tony's Pepporoni). Finally off to the pool for the rest of the day.

This morning as I walked from my car to my office (long walk) I heard the nearby military base sound off a bugle call. This brought me back to my days in the Air Force. This bugle call would always go off a few minutes before the day officially began. By officially I meant the raising of our flag. Although highly discouraged, the bugle initiated many people to run to their next location. They did this so they wouldn't 'get caught' outside. This is because during the raising or lowering of the flag the national anthem is played. Once this begins, all personnel outside are expect to stop, come to attention and salute in the direction of the base flag pole. It usually last 2-3 minutes. I never ran. I love that song. It always puts a lump in my throat. What a great feeling of pride to be a part of something so great.

Fall has arrived in Texas

2005-09-29T08:28:00.000-05:00

Don't read this go outside quickly! I'll wait...

Wasn't it awesome? It may last for a few days. When I got up this morning and went outside, it was actually cool! For those that didn't know yesterday September 28th was the hottest day on record for 2005. It was 104 degrees out. Today is expect to only get to 76 and we should get down to the mid 50's tonight. I am very excited. Unfortunately I can't take the day off work to enjoy the FREE cool weather. So if YOU can please do and let me know what you did. I may leave weather.com up on my machine all day, enjoying the low numbers. Please, for me, go back outside and enjoy the weather!

It is STILL Hot

2005-09-20T09:09:00.000-05:00

To underline my point out air conditioner is out again. This time its going to cost. Compressor is shorted out. We are waiting for cost / schedule info to get it fixed. We were able to get the temperature down to 82 by 6am, but it will only go up from there. To try to gain your sympathy I am adding the weather bug below. It will provide an estimate of how hot out house is.

Iced tea gladly accepted.

Remember this mornings low was 73, but I was only able to get the house down to 83. Any ideas welcome.

My Silver Lining

2005-09-15T16:46:00.000-05:00

I try to be a good father, but some things I am not used to doing. One thing that comes to mind is getting the kids up and off to school. I got the chance to practice this skill earlier this week. I say I got the chance because really I loved eating breakfast with my kids. I usually am out the door well before they wake. I learned my youngest son isn't just good at getting up when his alarm goes off. I think I have found out that he wants as much time as possible to eat a couple bowls of cereal. He usually reads Garfield comics while he eats. I learned my daughter can be extremely grumpy when she hasn't had a good 10 hours of sleep. She almost always changes her mind about the clothes she wears from what she picked out the night before. Her hair is harder for me to brush/ style than I thought. I did learn that her grumpiness can be tempered by offering her a drink immediately when she wakes. I mean night and day difference. I noticed I lean on my oldest boy to help me figure out 'how mom does it' a lot. He never complained.

Through all of this, and this is always true when she leaves, I missed my wife. I don't eat nearly as well, I am unhappy, have stress and don't sleep when she's gone. My 'cloud' had turned dark. She came back last night to the joy of all of us. The kids jumped up out of bed and even the dog wouldn't leave her alone. When I awoke this monring to the familiar foot to the back, I could look at her, talk to her, call her on the way to work and have lunch with her. I can't wait to get home to her.

I am glad to have my silver lining home!

Being Positive

2005-09-08T08:46:00.000-05:00

It is tough to be positive. It is easy to be negative. Think about sitting with co-workers. The talk always seems to head downhill. I have personally never experienced co-workers saying how lucky we are to have jobs, how well paid we are, how great are the benfits or even the work schdule. What is the effect? Does anything improve? Sure you can commiserate. I find the newest person in the group starts heading down the path toward being completely negative. It starts to be all consuming. I have been in many of these circles. I tend to be negative.

We should all strive to find the things each day that went well. It seems that the good things never get the proper attention. Its the squeaky wheeel syndrome. For my part I have placed a new feature on my site. On the right side under the Crowley Church of Christ Billboard will be a Thought for the day by 'The Daily Motivator'

Judgement.. it can wait

2005-09-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

It seems to me that we could suspend our judgement of what is happening. This morning a local radio station DJ spent an entire segment berating the President's (in)action, FEMA (in)action, military and aid organizations. I tolerate his completely liberal stance on the office of the President because usually it doesn't come up that often. He happened to be planning a fund raiser for his own organization but was conviced by others to turn it around for Katrina victims. That make him better because he gathered money first. I believe that we are all taken back by the enormity of what happened. I think those of us in a place to help in some way are doing that. The stories of riots and shooting at those trying to help proves that we must wait for order to be established before assistance can proceed. In the mean time we are collecting those items needed in preparation to assist.

Those in a position to provide stability are aware of the situation and are putting remedies in place. The media seems bent on obtaining admission from officials stating their failure. How does that help? Mobilization of this many resources takes time. I say do what you can where you. Distracting officials to berate them is only distracting them from getting the job done.

For those of you bent on exacting judgement, you can rest assured that someone, somewhere will call for a congrassional investigation by the time this is over. Jusgement will be passed then. For the greater judgement, it too will come.. later.

Don't Forget Mississippi

2005-08-30T10:52:00.000-05:00

It seems like the media has an infatuation with New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina was supposed to hit there but turn and made direct hit on Gulfport, Mississippi. Is the French quarter more important. I understand there is higher population in New Orleans, but the worst damage was not there.

I spent eight months of my life in Biloxi, Mississippi during my Air Force training. Its a great place with great people. They were obviously not as ready. The story of complete destruction is not as 'media-cool' as breaking levees. So remember when stories covering Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the country, begin to fade, they took the direct hit.

https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

New Bed

2005-08-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we received our new bed. A b-day present for me. It is awesome. It is soft. It is firm. It is KING size! My poor wife has to take a running jump at it. I insisted on high thread count sheets. It is, according to the salesman, "like sleeping on a cloud".

Front Porch Stories

2005-08-18T08:41:00.000-05:00

Have you eve experienced what I recall as a 'front porch story' with your parents. When I was a middle teeenager, I distinctly remember a few. This is probably one of the first times that I can remember seeing my parents as actual people instead of parents. We had been discussing my wanting a motorcycle. Dad began telling me the story of his first mototrcycle and exactly how far from the house he got before he crashed it, how many times he crashed that day and the bizarre ways in which he crashed it. We laughed our butts off. That was a great day. My folks did crazy stuff when they were young(er).

BTW, I believe that was the last day my Dad rode a motorcycle for a long time.

I did get a motorcycle the following christmas. My folks sold one of their two cars to buy it for me. I have great parents!

An Independent Hawaii?

2005-08-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

This morning's NPR reported on the effort of a movement in Hawaii to return the Kingdom of Hawaii to an independent country. The story cited a 1993 apology declared by the US Congress the 100 year anniversary of the 'illegal overthrow of the Kingdome of Hawaii'. This is some crazy stuff. He is the meat of the apology.

UNITED STATES PUBLIC LAW 103-150

103d Congress Joint Resolution 19
Nov. 23, 1993

whereas...

SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND APOLOGY.
The Congress -

(1) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893, acknowledges the historical significance of this event which resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian people;

(2) recognizes and commends efforts of reconciliation initiated by the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ with Native Hawaiians;

(3) apologizes to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893 with the participation of agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination;

(4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in order to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people; and

(5) urges the President of the United States to also acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and to support reconciliation efforts between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people.

So now there is a group (http://www.hawaii-nation.org) that wants to return to Hawaiian independence. There is some interesting reading here.

What to do?
I think the US should now apologize to us Native Americans and remove themselves from our land, currently referred to as the United States of America. I am sure that former Soviet republics would be willing to give back our 7.2 million if we agreed to give back Alaska. No harm no foul, right?

I think we all agree that invading others land is seen as a 'bad thing' nowadays. Then again we have come a long way toward civility. As a Native American myself, I can't imagine this land not being the USA. I think all would agree that it has changed significantly and generally for the better. "Change is inevitable, we don't have to like it but we do have to del with it" (Someone else's quote).

The wife and I watched the final Little House on the Prairie the other night. Its the one where someone bought up the town and forced everyone out. They blew up everything they had built. This allowed the new land owner to have the land, but not the town which they had worked so hard to build. Would we do the same in Hawaii? Would we obliterate the hotels, the infrastructure, the airport? They import 75% of what they use. Would we remove that? This would all be quite an impact. Think of the number of seamstresses alone that would be needed to remove that start from all of our flags. Maybe this could use some serious thought.

Of course most of what I say here is in jest. Some things just sound ridiculous. Besides, being from Texas, my own state has a similar group working towards Texas independence (http://www.nationoftexas.com).

A Mother's Sorrow

2005-08-12T10:27:00.000-05:00

I will say up front that nothing can be harsher than a mother's sorrow...

I can't believe what I have seen over the past few days concerning the mother, Cindy Sheehan, protesting the war outside Bush's Texas ranch. You might actually believe that Bush pulled the trigger by the end of today. Yesterday I heard about the story on NPR. They tend to offer a longer story (read fewer sound bites, more meat). By all account of this story the thing she was most upset about was that Bush wouldn't meet with her. The story mentioned that he did precisely that (June 2004) albeit along with other in the same situation of lost love ones in Iraq. He knows she is protesting. NPR reported that when asked a question on policy, Bush failed to answer that question directly but rather gave a short empathetic story directed in the broad direction of Cindy Sheehan. Let me tell you by the time I was driving home last night, the story had been "sound bit". From this version of the story it seems that Bush is truly insensitive at all to any death as a result of the Iraq War.

To continue, today on MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8909497/) there is an AP story whose second paragraph states that Ms. Sheehan's son entered the ARMY in 2000... "NEVER IMAGINING HE WOULD SEE COMBAT". You got to be kidding right? Anyone who has entered the military on the standard 3-4 year contract (which is actually eight) since 1991 has had an extremely high chance of seeing combat. My last stint started in 1990 and my group was on 48 hour notice when the last Iraq War ended.

The mother wants the troops pulled now; Bush believes that would destabilize what is currently so fragile now. They are on different sides of whether or not it would honor her son's memory to 'finish the job in Iraq'. If it were my son, I would hate for him to die to no end. I believe this soldier died performing his duty. In fact his mother wanted him to...

"I begged him not to go," she said through tears. "I said, 'I'll take you to Canada' ... but he said, 'Mom, I have to go. It's my duty. My buddies are going.'"

Again, I'll respect this mother's sorrow. I also respect all of the families that may see it differently. We don't need the media reporting snippets unless they tell the whole story.

(Anonymous comments are allowed... bring it!)

Loved Disney

2005-08-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

I loved Disney. Some of the people there won't be missed, but we had a great time. I love my family and after a full week of non-stop family, I still do.

We were upgraded as 'family of the day' when we arrived, which basically meant nicer room for the week. We were upstairs from Chef Mickey's. This meant every morning we awoke(awakened?) to Mickey's celebration song. They actually start serving breakfast at 7:00 am... when people are on vacation. Pure craziness!

I promise not post any pictures until my wife does. As an inside peek there are over 400 of them. I also promise not to post 99% of them. I do love a digital camera though. THere was no film to mess with and the battries lasted most of the week.

6 Days in Disney

2005-07-30T22:25:00.000-05:00

As long as I can get the family on the airplane we will be spending 6 days in Disney. Jen is the only to have gone before. We are ALL very excited! We re-watched the Disney promo video tonight and one by one all of the kids came in to the room and were captivated. I bet none of them sleep the night before we leave.

Ym Tsrif dna Tsal CCSI

2005-07-23T10:22:00.000-05:00

I tsuj dehsinif a keew ta Hcruhc pmac. I yllautca koot a keew ffo fo krow ot dnet ot 051 sdik ta a pmac htiw lanigram doof dna elttil ot rehto naht tahw ew thguorb htiw su. I tnew ot od eht oediv rof pmac. Siht boj si rehguot naht ti sdnuos. I dah ot eb ta gnihtyreve DNA osla tide nehw I dah yna eraps emit. Yb eht dne fo eht keew I dah hguone detide ot wohs 03 setunim htrow.

Os tahw devom em siht keew? Eht sdik. Erom yllacifdiceps eht pihsrow emit. Eht sdik gnignis saw emosewa. Yeht evah os hcum ygrene. I t'ndid yllaer wonk ynam fo eht sgnos, tub I deirt ot teg ni ereht ot hctaw dna netsil sa netfo sa I dluoc. Siht si yleurt gnihtemos ot ecneirepxe. Ti saw a taerg keew dna llew htrow a skeew noitacav

Loohcs Sserd Sedoc

2005-07-13T14:22:00.000-05:00

I dnuof siht oediv hguorht rehtona etis. Ti si desoppus ot etartsomed eht eulav fo gniriuqer sdik ot raew sehtolc ni eht rennam ni hcihw yeht erew edam. Yltnerppa fi uoy t'nod a Yvan Laes yam retne ruoy loohcs.

ptth://wohsremmik.moc/elifRemat/ihomed.vmw

Ym sdik evah ot trats gnikcut rieht strihs ni rof loohcs siht raey. I t'nod kniht yeht evah ylevitcelloc denialpmoc tuoba os hcum tuoba eno tcejbus. I t'ndid dnim gnillet meht taht I ma lla rof loohcs smrofinu. Yeht yllaer etah taht aedi.

Ym Sdik SyadhtriB

2005-07-08T09:50:00.000-05:00

Yhet era os yppah. I hsiw I dluoc eb os yppah oot. Ym sdik era 41, 11, 6. S'ti yzarc. Niatrec yadhtirib ekam em leef dlo. 41 si yletianifed eno fo meht. I sseug yeht lliw lla eb siht yaw rof eht elbaeeserof erutuf.

Dneps sa hcum emit htiw ruoy sidk sa uoy nac. Yllyaicepse nehw yeht era gnuoy hguone ot dolh. Kcor meht ot peels yreve thgin. Liops meht nottor!

-Nairb

That was Awesome

2005-07-06T15:57:00.000-05:00

I was exhausted...

My neighbor now dislikes me for all of the things that ended up in his yard.

My family spent over an hour picking up his yard on the 5th (I was at work).

Next year an effort will be made to coorinate for more of a show. Jen also suggested I build a concrete pad in the backyard to shoot from (removing the neighbor factor). I bet she would love for that pad to be not too far from a new pool... hmmm?!

Thanks to all who came out. It was a blast "literally"(SNL Reference).

July 4th

2005-07-01T20:16:00.000-05:00

I have always loved the fourth of July. I like blowing stuff up. We used to blow up cans when I was young. How many firecrackerswill blow a can how high kinda stuff. One year my cousin and I had a firecracker fight. We'd light and throw them at each others feet. This was great fun until just like I did at VBS with the 'plague of basket' I got too excited and forgot to throw my lit firework. That really hurt.

Since we moved to our new house outside of city limits, we have had a 'last minute' fourth of July party at our house. This is great fun. Last year a couple of people hit the fireworks warehouse last minute before heading out here. We shot stuff for hours, including the big stuff. I love having peoplle out on the fourth. We have a great view of at least three major shows from the top of our hill. This does not include the battlefield that is Mayfair and beyond.

Today I took the kids the shop for fireworks. We have a ton of stuff. This is the most I have ever spent at one time on fireworks. I teased Jen that I was going to buy the $500 package. It includes one of everything, one case that is. I did not buy that one. I can't wait.

Reno 911 & Jeff

2005-06-27T15:32:00.000-05:00

This could also be titled my other brother-in-law (Jen's side).

I am so happy that RENO911 is back on the air. That show definitely cause me to laugh a few pounds of back-end off. It reminds me of my brother-in-law a lot. In fact whenever they show 'Junior' doing anything, I think of Jeff.

I have ridden in the car with Jeff a few times, while he is patrolling. He is ate up. He could not have picked a better profession for himself. He must be one of those guys that loves what they do so much they would do it for free. He drives 80-120 or not at all. My legs hurt after riding with him from bracing myself. He apparently has night vision. I apparently have blurry vision. We spent a day once constructing a device that would allow him to look around a corner to survey the area and the perp. He is on the front line when swat goes in and provides everyone the layout. He is crazy! He is 5 foot nothing and doesn't back off of taking down a couple of 6 foot 8 rednecks who have been drinking for a week straight (or even OC students, he said they are the worst). As much as it scares or hurts me, I can't wait to go riding with Junior again.

"Press hard, three copies"

My brother in-law

2005-06-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

Recently graduated from OC. A new EE. Getting Married 6/25. Moving to TUL.

This is the same guys who caused my first free night since VBS to be spent out shopping for new clothes for the whole family to match his wedding. I can't tell you how many problems that will cause him this weekend.

Would you say I have a "plethora"? - The Three Amigos

VBS05 Complete

2005-06-23T12:08:00.000-05:00

From the great Loverboy

It's over, it's over, it's over
It's over, it's over, it's over

We finished cleaning up the set around Midnight (~3 hours). Thanks to all those who helped getting those put away as well as the costumes, paint, errant plagues.

The parting of the sea was awesome. I was down front with the kids who went wild as it parted. They completely lost it when the confettii cannons went off. The lighting was perfect, the material was also. Brad Glass would even appreciate this nearly perfect "big jump finish".

VBS Night Four

2005-06-22T07:29:00.000-05:00

From night one to night four. There really were two in between. After night one night four is my favorite. It has nothing to do with content. I think of it like Christmas decorations. Your wife puts them up in early November so that by December 25th you are ready to take them down. The second stage at VBS has been up for a couple of weeks now and it is time to come down. I am tired of eating fast food. Last night we ate at chilli's and I almost felt like we had a sit down meal. At least wee were all around the same table (and it wasn't surrounded by little yellow chairs).

I love VBS. We had a great night last night. I think everyone had fun. I know I did. Unfortunately I believe I will be smited today for adding to the Bible. I add an 11th plague. The plague of the plastic basket. While throwing plagues from the upper stage, I got so excited I forgot what I was doing and threw the basket they were in. I should have removed a shoe and threw that for good measure.

The parting of the sea tonight should be great fun.

Don't forget to stay late tonight and help the set guys take down the stage.

VBS Night One

2005-06-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

Night One is in the Can. Can you say 'in the can' when its a live performance. Its more like 'its been uploaded' anyway. You can see it here. (Emily - I am sorry the first part of your opening didn't make the 'saved' broadcast. When we started the broadcast we were a little too into watching the performance and forgot to hit the record button until about half way through your song.)

Also check out http://www.altamesa.org for a great VBS mini-site put together by Mark Houston. That guys has some crazy skills. He always comes through for VBS.

More than Tired?

2005-06-15T07:43:00.000-05:00

Is there a word for being more than tired? Something like exhausted doesn't cover it. It doesn't really get the feeling across. I think I'll just say I am VBS'd. Up at 6 am for work 30 minutes for dinner then to Church till 10 (or later). I can't wait until June 23rd. One evening of rest may help.

A Great Day

2005-06-10T22:58:00.000-05:00

A while back my folks asked to have the kids for a week this summer. This IS that week. I took them up this morning. Last minute I decided it would be really cool to run around with my Dad. I met them at 10 am, when we ate McDonald's and handed the kids off to their grandma.

I immediately took dad to a little dive burger joint. Jen and I used to eat their all of the time. I believe Cole's body was actually partially made of these delicious burgers. ( We ate a lot of them when Jen was prego with him). I asked the waitress for two burgers and root beer for each of us (they make their own AND its good). So my over-bearing voice foiled me again. The waitress brought us back two burgers EACH. Although we had just eaten breakfast (30 minutes earlier), we dug in. We joked about it the whole time. I told him it was ok, but we couldn't have pie because we needed to have popcorn at the movies.

We then went to see Star Wars EP III. We did have popcorn(medium) and a drink (medium). We had some great conversation and laughed our butts off. I love my dad.

VBS is Closing in

2005-06-07T10:21:00.000-05:00

I count eight more practices before Sunday June 19th. Two this week (wed & thurs) and everyday next week except friday. Friday is a tech rehearsal only, so I'll be at that one but most of the cast won't.

I will cherish today. We have nothing planned. < subliminal > spaghetti < /subliminal > Only a dinner of which I am not sure what we will have. There won't be another night like tonight for a while. Thursday I take the kids up to my parents and return Friday or Saturday. Practice, Practice, build, build, pick up the kids and start the show.

Note: I won't actually be starting the show.

Outdoor VBS Display

2005-06-06T16:28:00.000-05:00

This looks way cool when the wind is really blowing. When it isn't, the right side falls over like waves anyway. But it always windy.

Signing Formal Certificates

2005-06-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

My wife post today about hand written letters got me thinking of an annoyance that rears its ugly each time I receive some kind of Cetificate/ Diploma/ Formal Recognition/ Congressional Medal of Honor (haven't actually receieved one of these and would prefer not to.. you mostly have to die in some heroic way. I prefer to die OLD). So here's my beef. I worked as a printer for eleven years. During that time I printed a lot of signatures. I hated that. I hate getting correspondance with a printed signature. If the document is important enough to warrant a signature, sign it. DO NOT sign your name on a template and have tha mass produced.

I will note that when I graduated college and did not ask the Dean to put his actual John Hancock on it. I was happy to be done and ready to leave. This is just an anoyance of mine. I think my wife is happy the annoyance has lessened to just picking on signatures. I used to evaluate the paper quality it was printed on as well (linen or cotton, what weight? brghtness, appropriatness to message, waste of others money)


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-   A GOOD DEED IS    -
-    A GOOD HABIT     -
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Paintball Hurts

2005-05-29T22:11:00.000-05:00

I had my first experience at paintball today, with my son. Conclusion... It hurts. To be fair no one warned us this possibility or ways to account for it. We had a great time. It was at a place over in Grapevine with three different fields of play. One was laid out for 'storming the beach at Normandy' The first time around I was coming up from the beach. The majority of my team went around while I stayed right up the middle to fraw fire. And I did draw fire. My worst injury of the day happened there. I was nailed in the forehead. It drew blood. What makes it worse is my own son was the one who shot me. He apparently began telling everyone he was going to be grounded. When I confronted him he denied it. Some one shortly after gave him away. I got him back next round.

When we got home my wife said to throw our clothes away. Is this right? If so I won't be playing often. I need some of my clothes.

Church Billboards

2005-05-26T21:42:00.000-05:00

For those of you that don't travel past Crowley Church of Christ, they have begun being very active in using their refurbished sign. Occasionaly I will post their latest.


     '''''''''''''''''
     ' WHEN A CHURCH '
     ' MEMBER RESTS  '
     '  THEY RUST    '
     '''''''''''''''''

It must be working because last week on our way home from our Church, there were more cars there than we had ever seen there at one time.

As an aside the Baptist Church down the road has a sign that is kinda small for the large side of the building it on. It simply says "come grow with us'. What a positive statement for such a little sign.

pet-oh-abbub

2005-05-26T07:48:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen this movie, you should. This movie has it all. First Elvis isn't really dead, he is a a retirement home in Tyler, TX. Along with him is the NOT assassinated John F. Kennedy. As it turns out there was some big conspiracy and they dyed him black(African American). You can imagine why nobody believes he's is the former president. These two battle an ancient soul sucker.

Not for the kids. Elvis' opening monologue speaks of an unmentionable problem he has related to his many exploits as a 'ladies man'.

Official Site: http://www.bubbahotep.com/

IMDB: http://imdb.com/title/tt0281686/
Plot Outline: Elvis and JFK, both alive and in nursing homes, fight for the souls of their fellow residents as they battle an ancient Egyptian Mummy.
Genre: Comedy /Horror

Blockbuster: http://www.blockbuster.com/catalog/DisplayMovieSpecialOffers.action?channel=Movies&subChannel=&movieID=109022&displayBoxArt=true

my first post

2005-05-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

I am providing the mandatory "This is my first post" entry.

Don't expect much here. Those who know me know I don't talk a lot. Oh I spout off about stuff. Yes, more than willing to tell you how wrong you are. In fact I am starting to fume a little bit just imagining what comments to my blog you may put. I am so ready in fact that I allow anonymous posting, so bring it on... punk.

Over.