Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Maria and I had a great Christmas trip to Baltimore over the weekend. We got a surprise when both Maria's sister and mother asked to watch all of the kids saturday night (without us even asking!) so we made spur of the moment plans to go up into the city, have dinner at our favorite restaurant and go see a movie at the Charles.

Dinner was fantastic... this was only our second time eating at The Helmand (both times without reservations) and we got seated right away AGAIN! The restaurant was very hot, but they put us by the front door... our total bill only came to $53! The Helmand was just rated #2 overall best restaurant in Baltimore... so we were a little concerned with that publicity it would be impossible to get a table... lucky us I guess.

Then we walked down the street to see a movie at the Charles Theatre. It's an old, small theatre with flat floor (not stadium seating)... but the atmosphere was cool but the seats were terrible... at least for those of us who are 6'-2" 230lbs. We saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire and it was fantastic. I had seen a preview on tv for this movie... but I really had no idea what it was about. It was mainly an action flick.. with a romantic sort of side story which in a way becomes the main story... but I won't get into so I don't ruin the movie. Maria thought it was fantastic as well, in case you were wondering.

Overall the movie was so packed with good stuff and it was so unique as far as storyline goes.... no cliches to be found! Slumdog isn't playing in all theatres... but if you look around you'll be bound to find it somewhere nearby. It's a shame that utter shit movies get wide release, when great movies like this don't nearly get the recognition (or ticket sales) they deserve. So seriously... you gotta see this movie at some point. I can't wait to see it again when it's released on DVD. It's directed by the same guy who directed 28 days later (danny boyle).



So this was probably one of the best date nights we've ever had. Usually the ones you don't plan for and just wing it work out that way.

3 Little Pieces of Paper

So this year Maria and I decided to not get each other presents.... which of course isn't a big deal when you are an adult, as you can typically just go out and buy whatever suits your fancy throughout the year. It was sort of weird though... waking up on Christmas morning with nothing to open. Maria and I are in debt pay off mode... as all of our christmas money and most of my bonus check from work is going towards bills. While this is not the use those who gave us this money might have intended, I just know that in the long run... when we are debt free (I mean the bad type of debt... credit cards... un-needed loans) things will be so much easier.

So Maria and I gave each other "coupons" that we can use at any time for things that we know the other likes. It will be nice when I have that morning that I want to sleep in to use my "sleep in until the cows come home" coupon... I haven't slept in past 8:00am in at least 4 years (Yikes!).

The kids had a great morning... we didn't get them a ton of stuff (they get plenty between the 4 different family stops) and through the mail from my family back in Missouri. Larry has been super sweet with his guitar... dragging it everywhere he goes banging it on everyone and everything left in his wake. I don't think the paint job is going to last too long at this rate on that sucker.

Holden got a leapster which he is really getting into. We got him a couple of games... Dora the Explorer, Backyardigans & a math shooter game. He took it with him in the car to Grandma's and played it the whole way. Of course on the way home he fires it up and not even 5 minutes later we can still hear the game music... but look back to find Holdy asleep with the game barely sticking to his fingertips. Nobody had naps so everyone was exhausted.

Pearl got a barbie from her Great Grandma that she really likes! This is her first exposure to Barbie but so far so good... I'm sure it's the first of many.

Delilah really had no interest in opening presents... she did get a giggling baby that she loves to run around with and make laugh.

Overall (besides me having what I guess you could call a hybrid tension/migrane headache) the family had a good time. Maria tolerated my mom, tony & family (complete with a 60+ year old lady passed out on the couch) and the kids got some sweet schwag there too.

Here's a song I'm listening to at the moment

Bring on New Years!

Use The Force

A Trip To The Grocery Store

I borrowed my friends Subaru the other day to go get a gallon of milk and some bread. I guess all those years of playing videogames came in handy.

Subaru Fun

Thud

So we were heading up to Easton this past Saturday evening. We were driving along.. Maria and I were talking about this guy, and I saw about 3 or 4 seagulls sitting in my lane about 500 feet ahead, but I figured they would fly away. All of them did except one... he was probably the biggest of them all and he just started taking off when.. BAM he hits the driver's side mirror on the expedition and it sounds like someone just threw a bowling ball at the truck.

Once I'm done crapping my pants I realize the mirror sitting there dangling (just ordered a new one earlier tonight). About an hour later on the way home we drove by the same spot and didn't see any dead birds on the way back.. so maybe the only casualty was the mirror?

End of Ze World

ROFL

Somebody's Baby

Not Your Typical Roast

So we are having a couple of Christmas get-togethers for work, one that is a fancy affair at a restaurant (or this year, a winery), and the other is at work in the lunch room. We have about 5 principals (the big, big bosses) and I have been asked by my bosses (the people under the principals, but over me) to make a "Roast" video of them to show during our in work luncheon. It will be fun to make, but I'm a little concerned. I have a few principals that will be easy to clown on, but a few really are going to be hard to come up with something that's not too mean, or just not quite politically correct. I have several things that jump out that I could make fun of... but I'd like to keep my job intact.

Maybe I should make sure I get my bonus check before we air it? I will post it here once I get it done in the next few weeks.

I <3 IKEA

Took the wife and kids to IKEA to have lunch and do some furniture shopping... just general browsing because the store is so awesome. Anyone who hasn't been to one yet, needs to just take half a day and go... very cool stuff, and the cafeteria is pretty decent too. Pics from the adventure below.

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year (as we did last year) and it went off without a hitch! The food was really good, everybody who came seemed to have a good time. After dinner we played a little Trivial Pursuit (Pop Trivia 2 DVD Edition) which took forever until Maria and I finally won.

Earlier in the day I took Holden with me over to Fruitland Baptist Church here a few blocks away to help serve those less fortune than ourselves. I wasn't too sure if bringing Holden was going to be a good move or not. I was afraid he wouldn't have anything to do or wouldn't be willing or able to do anything useful.. boy was I wrong! As soon as we walked in the place was slammed. There were a lot of people coming and going... filling to-go containers to take to homes or centers where people aren't able to get out and about.

A nice older lady stopped us and introduced herself. She was sort of "in-charge" I guess you could say. She asked Holden if he wanted to help and you should have seen his face light up! He followed her over to a table covered in boxes of cornbread muffins. His job was to take a muffin out of the box, and put it in a small zip-lock bag and then set it in another box. When he started I didn't think he would stick with it or want to do it for any extended period of time... but he probably bagged 150-200 muffins! He had several friends from Church there alongside him, so that probably helped. It was a little bit funny, all the people walking by patting him on the back and giving him props for working so hard... made me proud.

I helped working the assembly line, putting the meals together for the folks who were taking them out into the community. I wish I could have done more, but I was glad to have even just a small part in serving over 1,400 thanksgiving dinners.

What I liked seeing the most was how excited Holden was to be there helping out. Although when he hit the last bag he made no qualms to tell me that we were going home. I can't wait until all the kids can take part in events like this. I think it's great to keep your kids grounded and hopefully recognize how they shouldn't take for granted the things they have.

I hope everyone out there in internet land had a great Thanksgiving as well.

She's Making A List

The HR person here at work was just walking around the office. And one by one looking in each person's cubicle/office with a pad and pen and jotted notes. Either I'm getting new furniture or my office is too dirty.

I'm feeling it's the latter... but I'll live in denial (and clean my office) until then.

Weatherman

So I'm kind of a weather nerd. Don't know where the facination came from... seriously no idea. It's not like I come from some lineage of great weather experts or even have my own weather collection station in my backyard or anything.

So this week we have had snow.. twice. Sure it's little insignificant squalls and flurries that don't accumulate, but we didn't get jack as far as snow down here last year... so this gives me hope. Hope that the farmer's almanac might be right this year. We keep joking that this will be the year we get a blizzard down here on Delmarva... on Feb. 5th.

Write it on your calanders folks... I'm going all Babe Ruth on you folks here and calling my shot.

Here you go... 5 minutes ago outside the back door here at work.

It's a Gas

I work in a big open room with cubicles with about 6 people. I am right next to the main plotter here at work, so nearly everyone in the office at some point of the day comes back here for something.

So yesterday afternoon, somebody drops a bomb in the plotter area. I mean it sounded like a cartoon fart... just that comical sound and all that. So me figuring it was Ed or Eric I say "GOOOT!" pretty loud to no response. A few seconds later I realize it was my only boss who lacks a sense of humor. It was pretty awkward to me at the time, he didn't say anything and just headed back up to the front where his office is. Then I figured why do I feel embarrassed? I'm not the one who sounded like they just shit their pants.

Beach Pics

Action Shot

I caught my boy doing some random jumping... maybe you want to see, no? I call it "invisible jump rope"

New Medication

I might start taking this just to make the world a little simpler.

See more Adam "Ghost Panther" McKay videos at Funny or Die

Doubletalk

The whole thing is pretty good, but the second half is where it's at. Each night I watch a segment of Fox News I watch some MSNBC shortly afterward to get the other side of the story.

And They Keep Coming

Make it RAIN! LOL

Not A Reason To Vote For The Man

But this picture makes me laugh

President Barack Hussein Obama

Yes, I typed his full name above. Are we over the fact that yes, his father was a Muslim and gave his son a Muslim name? If he actually was a Muslim would it have been an issue that would have kept him out of the Oval Office? (Magic 8 Ball Says "YES"). Is it some sort of law that our Presidents always have to be Christian? (Which Obama is, no matter what those emails you probably got over the past year said otherwise).

I was going to type up some long post about my feelings now that the election is over. But that will come at another time. While I'm excited to see Obama win, I am also at the same time anxious to see how he governs. Is he all talk and no substance? Can he really unite the country? I feel like he has all the makings of being a great President, but only time will tell. Too bad for all those "real americans" out there, they must be shellshocked.

Election Day

So I voted this morning. I didn't leave home early like I planned, but I wanted to do it this morning before work... as I feared there would be pretty high turnout. As I drove by the school I saw no line, so I pulled in and gave it a shot. Walked right in got my little card thingy, found a booth and took care of business.

Also went and saw Anberlin Sunday night @ the 9:30 club... what a great show! Scary Kids were pretty good too, but nothing close to the totally amazing show Anberlin put on. Below is a pic I took with my phone, and here is a link to a video someone else took from the same show.


















Pearl busted her head playing outside the other day and she had to get a staple in the back of her head. She was a trooper from what Maria said and didn't cry and flinch at all when they closed her wound up. She was super excited to show off her boo-boo to me and the boys when she got home. And how else do you celebrate cracking your head open than a trip to Chuck E Cheese?

I've always been into watching the returns on election night... almost as much as I'm into the weather (dork alert!). So I know what i'll be doing tonight.

Oh and if you haven't done so already... get out there and VOTE! (here is some help)

Music From the Zune

Here is something I listened to today "Save Us" - Cartel

Time Is Up

So many of you may or may not know that I haven't talked with my stepfather in close to 5 years. Shortly after Maria and I got married he got all crazy and said he had "his own family" to take care of. Of course my Mom was stuck in the middle and it was tearing her up inside. I got to see my sister maybe once every 3 months at most when she would come up with Mom to watch the kids so Maria and I could go out for a little date night.

We pretty much gave up on getting through to him several years ago. Then out of the blue he tells Mom that he is ready to put everything behind us and wanted us to come down for lunch and maybe take the kids out on the go-cart or maybe go fishing. I was sort of shocked when my Mom called and told me this... my first feeling was to say no. I didn't say no though as I knew how much it meant to my Mom for us to be a family again.

So we went down Sunday after church and we had a shockingly good time. Sure it was a bit awkward at first... sitting down, watching the Ravens game and trying to conjure up some small talk. My mom was upstairs still getting ready, so she wasn't there to help as an icebreaker. How awkward would you feel towards someone if said person had a MAJOR role in raising you and had never met any of your children?

We had a few times outside when it was just me and my stepfather and Holden when we had some good conversations. He said he was happy we agreed to come down and he hopes we can come down more often and try to build our relationship back up. He also told me some things that led to his change in heart, that Mom had been rushed to the emergency room several times in the past year for stress related reasons. For all these years he was making her choose between her life with him and me and my family. She had a nervous breakdown where she thought she was having a heart attack, and then a few months later had a vein in her nose rupture (due to stress she was told). I guess it took some pretty severe events like that to show him the folly of his ways. Mom also said that someone from their past.. an old friend had a hand in this too. I didn't get too much detail on this, but apparently they called or wrote an email that just really hit home for him. Frome what I heard a few sermons at their church seemed to really strike his heart, I guess making him realize your bonds as a family should overcome any petty and childish grudges you may hold.

So yes, it looks like things are on the mend with my stepfather. I got to see my younger brother for the first time in 4 years and he's almost as big as me now! Quite a shock to see him so different. I guess now the Holidays just got a bit more stressful with another house to visit ;)

But overall I'm just very excited that things are finally looking up with this situation. Maria and I have had countless conversations about this and never fully understood how this all came to be.

I just have to make sure that politics NEVER come up in casual conversation around the dinner table during the holidays. And I'm thankful to sort of get my mom back in a way, this whole thing has been so stressful and you could just tell how giddy she was for us all be in the same house and getting along so well. Holden called him "grandpa" without any prompting (much to Maria's chagrin) but I just figure you let something like that happen. Holden didn't know this man even existed before this past Sunday, so he's basically starting off with a clean slate with my children. I didn't see any need to muddy that up right off the get-go, Maria was concerned about him breaking breaking their heart of he goes back to his old ways... but to me that's not even an option at this point.

Pretty Good

What's Playing On My Zune Right Now

Spectacular Game

Try it out.... how far can you get?

http://fantasticcontraption.com/

McCain's New Stump Speech

Where did he come up with all these new talking points? The man blows my mind...

YAY

What A Tramp

So I put the kids trampoline together and after I was done (and feeling rather proud of myself) I started thumbing through the safety portion of the booklet.. you know, what NOT to do. Then in the section of "things not to store or put under your trampoline" there was this picture.

It made me LOL

Help Me Out JH

I need to convince Maria to let me go to the Anberlin show Nov. 3rd @ 4:30pm at the 9:30 club! Tell her how cheap the tickets are! Tell her how badly you want to hang out with your buddy wickChad! Tell her that my buddy Eric wants to go too!

Thanks!

Johnny Law

When I (rarely) get pulled over for speeding I have found that telling the officer the truth about how fast I was going usually gets me a reduced fine or just a warning. But next time it happens, I may try to alter my approach. I know I would make a terrible cop, all the pizza delivery guys would know my weakness.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa City police say a man who was driving drunk tried to bribe a police officer — with a sandwich.

Police say 25-year-old Mark Booth of Iowa City, was charged with drunken driving early Sunday morning.

Police say he was pulled over after an officer saw him driving with his headlights off.

Police say that Booth was riding with a police officer in a squad car when he offered the officer free sub sandwiches if he could go home.

The officer declined.

Holden has this thing figured out

Holden the other day told Maria.

"Mommy... I'm going to be a vegetarian who eats meat when I grow up."

I think that's a fair compromise

Silversun Pickups

A band I like... check them out!

Sorry, I couldn't help it

The Melting Pot

They say the financial system in America (and possibly the world) is possible in some sort of melt-down mode (I love grilled cheese sandwiches, I hope the meltdown smells like that... or roasted marshmallows). I say let it melt down, let these companies that took unnecessary financial risks pay the price, not us.. the average American taxpayer. Sure we are going to feel the effects of this no doubt, but I feel like we can't just print more money to make this all go away. The housing bubble was huge, you know something is wrong when hardly anybody can afford to buy a new house over the past few years. So we thought we had all this equity in our homes (some of us still do) but now that home prices have started coming back down to sane levels nobody has anything to borrow against. And now all these banks and institutions have all of these millions of homes that people defaulted on that were overvalued and now they now have to try and sell them for a loss (good luck selling them in the first place with nobody able to get a loan now).

I feel bad for the people losing their jobs and their homes... but I don't feel bad for the wall street execs or loan officers who over the past 10 years or so have given out shady loans for way more money than people could ever hope to pay back. I feel that if you bail these companies out, you negate the consequences of their actions. Say I decide to go to Vegas and blow my substantial fortune (har, har) would I expect somebody to come along and pay off my house and cars, put all the money back into my bank account and still let me carry on as if nothing happened?

No bailout

Nascar

I don't get Nascar. I tease Maria all the time that i'm starting to get into it and that i'm a fan of so and so.. but I do that mainly just to get a rise out of her. But really, what is the attraction?

If I want to watch racing I would much rather watch this (without the annoying music)

Church Politics

It's that season I guess... politics are running rampant at church lately. I get to church early to help setup, and it's nearly a non-stop topic of discussion among the set-up crew/staff. I don't like mixing church and politics at all... so I don't (if I can help it)... but it's hard not to lately though.. when I walk in and someone is like "we read your blog man.. we know.." and yes, that is sort of the point of this blog, to air my opinions. It's not like I didn't think church people wouldn't read my blog as I go through no effort to hide it from them.

Maria and I left a church once over politics.. at the time it was the 2004 election (Bush vs. Kerry) and the church we were attending... basically the pastor at the end of his sermon made it abundantly clear that if you didn't support Bush getting re-elected that you weren't a true Christian and that you didn't have your priorities or values in the right place. I won't get into it any more than that.. but suffice to say that was our last Sunday.

I've never worried about this happening at our current church and I don't think it ever will. I've just come to a place where I realize some people are deeply entrenched in their choice (as am I) and no amount of going back and forth is going to change that.

Octoberfest

I don't really drink beer that often anymore. I just don't have the time or reason anymore to just sit around and kick it with a brew like the olden days (i.e. 2001). Maria tonight is out with some lady friends at a local restaurant.. so since she was going to be out having some fun I figured I'd get a 6 pack and kick back on a Saturday night and hang out around the house. You know you aren't much of a drinker anymore when you are pretty buzzed on 2 beers and weigh about 230 lbs... (makes me a cheap date too....)

I went to Giant to get my brew... I thought at first to play it safe and just stick to ones that I know I liked.. but I thought I'd try something different. Maria got me a case of Sam Adams "summer ale" for Father's day and it was pretty good. So tonight I picked up something in a similar vein, Sam Adams "Octoberfest". Great beer for the fall. Not necessarily a "heavy" beer, but a nice rich beer that is perfect for a this time of year. I never before had any reason to stray from cheap domestic watered down beers, but now I do.

So... bottoms up!

Just a simple comparison

Hey McCain

How's that De-Regulation stuff going for you? Dumbass....

Put On Your Best Shoes And Lock The Kids In The Closet

IT'S A WOOT OFF!

We Report And Look At Things From Only One Perspective, We Know You (Like Us) Already Have Your Mind Made Up

I love when people think fox news is "fair and balanced". Notice anything on nearly EVERY article and headline on the front page of the politics page of Fox News?

WE REPORT (positive things about McCain),
YOU DECIDE (if Obama is a muslim!!!!!)

Something Shared, Something Compared

Maria and I were sitting in church listening to the sermon. Reid was talking about how Jesus picked somebody seemingly totally unprepared for the job to be his right hand man (so to speak), then went on to compare McCain selecting Palin as his running mate (and it was a good comparison... totally)

And I would feel much better about Sarah Palin.... if John McCain were Jesus.

Cat Owns A Printer

As you can see below I'm easily amused...

Walking The Boards...

We hardly ever go to OC in the summer... the fall is so much more enjoyable.

Love This Song

Making Ends Meet

It been a rough 3 or 4 months around the Stewart household. I don't know if it's the increased cost of groceries, or gas, or __________ (fill in the blank), but we are really maxing out our budget lately. We are never late with a payment, and everything gets paid for... we cut WAY back on using credit cards and the like... but it seems like we don't have the buffer we used to have (when I made a little less). I got a raise at work in June, and it still seems like something is out of wack.

I guess my raise has been gobbled up by the increased cost of living over the past year. I was talking with an old friend the other day and he told me too how they are just barely getting by... I guess it's a little re-assuring that we aren't the only ones just treading water here lately. It could be worse, way worse... like losing a job, health concerns or home foreclosure. We have a house to live in, food on the table & the water and lights are still on... but it sure would be nice to go out and have a little family meal or go out and get pizza or Chinese a few times a month.

A lot of this is caused by only me working, but it makes no sense for Maria to work basically to just pay for daycare. I also have the side business that I need to get off the ground, but time is short (like always) and I have started making more videos to sell (and that business is starting to pick up a little bit). But I don't do any sort of advertising or do anything to get my name out there yet. I guess in the evening I just want to unwind from a day at the office and watch a football game or play with the kids instead of sitting at a computer till the wee hours.

I just want enough to pay all the bills, put a little in savings (besides the 401k) and have some leftover for something special like once a week...Maybe that's asking for too much?

History Channel Special

I missed the actual show, but someone clued me into the website the other day... truly chilling stuff. I dare you to watch one and not be able to watch them all... it's impossible. Each little location bubble over the buildings is a video when you click on them. Truly amazing footage from random people in New York during 9/11.

You have to copy and paste the link.. for some reason I can't link to it

http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=60326#/home/

Back To The Grind

And not happy about it. Went out to get in my car to come to work and it wouldn't start (battery dead.. not sure why) and some drama around the workplace.

Boo

I Need An Obama Yard Sign

Are You Kidding Me?

It's becoming more and more obvious to ME that the party more closely aligned with "God's Will" is certainly not the GOP.

Certainly God wants you to pay less taxes (so you can spend more money on your self) and He certainly wants us to start as many wars as possible (He love the smell of Napalm in the morning). He really doesn't want poor families to have any health care, that would be crazy. And you know He wouldn't have any problems with big corporations raking in billions upon billions of $$$ a month only for the Republicans to give them huge tax breaks to pay less in taxes that in the end would help those less fortunate folks (who GREATLY outnumber the rich folk).

Being raised in a staunch Republican household I never dared to step back and see the big picture. I have more to add, but for now I have work to do. I leave you with some music on the subject.

Google Chrome

Some people won't know what this is, but it is Google's new web browser to combat Microsoft Explorer & Mozilla Firefox. I currently love me some Firefox(open source 4lyfe), but I have given Chrome a download (i'm posting using it now), so far i'm very impressed for this being the very first beta release. It's super fast and so far stable. It needs a lot of features added (you have to dig and check an option just to show a "home" button.. sheesh) but I have a feeling i'm going to start using it quite a bit.

Google wants to take over the world.. and for some reason i'm OK with that

The Festival Is Upon Ye

Had quite the action packed weekend. Took Friday off because I went to the Ravens game on Thursday night (thanks Shani!) and the weather held off and the game was pretty entertaining. Friday we sort of just hung out around town, did a little shopping and it rained most of the day.. which was ok, it was our "down" day anyway without anything really we needed or wanted to do.

Saturday we went to the Renaissance Festival, which is quite a slice of awesomeness. On the way there is was fairly cloudy and looked like rain.. but once we got there the clouds parted and the sun came out... and it got pretty hot. Really hot (to me). We haven't been to the Renn Fest in a few years, but not much has changed. Lots of creepy guys wearing full body armor (lots of guys were wearing like black security shirts with a kilt... don't know what kind of club that is, but it is one I don't want any part of.) Lots of umm... "plus size" women with "plus size" boobs trying to see how close to their chin they can shove them with their girdle. And a lot of them tended to put like random crap in between them.. like a flower, or a fake knife or something.. I guess it kept me entertained as I was looking. Maria probably didn't notice them, but being a guy and seeing boobs hanging out with crap in between them I couldn't help myself.

Overall though, it was a blast... other than us magically losing $20 before even walking into the door. I swear that's why I never carry cash on me.. you lose it that's it... no recourse, I only had the cash on me because most everything there is cash only. It took a while for Maria to cool down about losing the money (I'm pretty sure she lost it paying for the tickets... I gave her my whole wallet.. which I'm used to by now.)

We also went to the beach on Monday and it was packed. Everybody getting in their last beach weekend of the year... hopefully we can go one more time.. but you never know. Hanna is looking like it's going to come up the coast, so we'll have to see how that plays out.

Reminds Me Of Most Christians I Know

It is sobering today to find Christians choosing the political strategy of the crowd instead of that demonstrated by Jesus. It will cost us more than we realize. If we choose to defend our religion rather than seek the whole truth, we will lose three very important capacities: (1) We will lose our ability to see God outside of our own tradition; (2) we will lose our capacity to influence people in any positive sense toward God; and (3) we will lose the opportunity to grow in our own faith.

When voters choose to limit themselves to the singular strategy of defending a religious tradition, they minimize their capacity to positively influence other people toward God. When we are so narrowly focused upon our own concerns, we cannot expect others to truly hear us.

(Edited for content)

Taken from here

Minefields

So Maria and I are on the *new* school year schedule. Holden has his first day of Pre-K at the "big boy" school right up the street from us tomorrow. As a part of our new schedule Maria got up when I do to get herself ready (while I make the kids waffles, french toast sticks, or cereal), so in turn she would have enough time to get the kids ready while I took a shower a bit later.

We have a new puppy, her name is Nina, she's a black lab... about 4 months old. Her and Lucas (our other dog) have really bonded and are having a lot of fun together (as much fun as biting each others tails and ears can be). Well Nina is not housebroken yet, so we keep her and Luke locked in the kitchen to make it easier to clean up any accidents Nina may have. Lately she has been doing really good, I think 3 out of the past 4 mornings have been mess free. Just as I think we've turned a corner, I come downstairs this morning to a veritable diarrhea minefield in the kitchen.. with a bit of cat food throw-up and peed-on doggy bed to act as the cherry on top.

Probably took me about 25 minutes to clean it all up.. and even after that I wasn't satisfied and pulled out the mop & bucket and went over it a second time with that.

I think I'm going to invent a doggy diaper and all my problems will melt away like snow. On a brighter note, only 33 days till Dexter season 3 premiere.

September 28, 2008

OMG I can't wait... love this frickin' show!

That's The Point

The other day I overheard someone say they didn't like blogs because "people can say whatever they want to on them" and while yes, not everybody is nice and posts everything that is good and wonderful about the world... nobody is making you go read them. While it is easy to stumble upon one that might not be your cup 'o' tea, it's not that hard to hit the back button and stick to blogs you like, you know? Or maybe don't read them at all if you don't like people voicing their opinions.. just because you don't agree with them doesn't make yours any more valid.

I just found it funny.

NFL Experience

So I went to a Ravens pre-season game this past Saturday evening. It was a perfect night weather-wise and I was took a buddy of mine that I work with that had never been to an NFL game up until recently (he went to the Redskins/Bills game at FedEx the week before). We left the house around 2:30pm to give us plenty of time for travel and so we would have some time to walk around the stadium and take it all in.

We hit the road for the 2+ hour drive, get up to Baltimore to get our tickets... pick up the tickets and head up for the Cromwell station light rail parking lot. There were a surprising amount of people already waiting for the train.. I don't have a Ravens jersey yet so I felt a bit left out, but I'll get one eventually (not before I get a Chiefs one though.. Ravens are a close #2). Get on the train for the ride and by the time we hit the stadium it's packed.

So we get out and bam, we are right there in the shadows of the east side of the stadium. We get out and a short walk later we are in. So we get in and since we are a little early the concourse isn't very crowded and it's pretty easy to get around. We walk around for a bit and check stuff out.

Then we peak out one of the tunnels leading out to the field and we see a bunch of players signing autographs and warming up. We venture about half way down but don't go all the way down.. and the ticket check guys at the end wave us down.. so we go on out and down. Pretty good crowd of people already down there oogling at the cheerleaders and getting their autographs. Some players are signing as well.

We figure we should find our seats, so we go find them and we still have some time to kill, so we head on out to grab a sandwich & drink ($32). We come back out and the seats are really filling up.. it seemed like it was going to be fairly roomy around us, but it filled up pretty fast. We sat down and we have some really loud guys behind us. They hate the redskins and we sit down right in the middle of a big argument of how bad FedEx field is (my buddy that I brought is a redskins fan, but likes the ravens too). He's the quiet type and didn't say anything of course.. but I thought it was hilarious the beating he took from them.

OK, game is over and we stuck around to watch Phelps go for his 8th gold.. that was pretty cool. Watching that with like 15,000 people going crazy was a trip... it was easily 10 times louder at that point then at any point during the ravens game, (yes, it was a preseason game though). We left the stadium and we couldn't go through the east side, so we were forced out to the street on the south side. We were heading down the street then all of a sudden the road is barricaded because the players are leaving. We don't feel like waiting so we cut through the crowd and keep on going. Before you know it we see a crowd of people behind a fence yelling out for Rex Ryan (Ravens Def. Cord) and before you know it I turn around and there he is right behind me. The guy right in front of me was proud that he got Ed Reed to sign his jersey and wasn't shy about showing it off. So somehow we got into an area we shouldn't have.. in between players and some of the coaching staff.

A few other players were milling about, but with us staying and watching the race and it being really late with a long drive ahead of us we knew we needed to get on our way. Well, we ended up getting on the wrong train (heading north) and proceeded to get off at the next exit. This was actually a great strategy as it got us up to the next station before and got on before the throngs of people could heading south.

It was a good time, seeing the Phelps thing was pretty cool in a crowd like that.. that alone almost made it worth it. Some pictures of the trip.

Canada

The other day I got upset when I thought about Canada. I was worried that they might try to overtake the United States and force us to like polar bears, molson ice & hockey. Canada is a big country and they sit on top of us.. like that fat kid that sits on you on the playground and makes you smell his feet.

But then I looked at the medal totals at the Olympics and I realized Canada wasn't really worth worrying about after all. They are sort of like a colder version of France.. except they don't try to talk a bunch of junk and get pwnd.

Home Depot = American Idol

So I was in Home Depot the other day on a mission looking at some plumbing supplies. The in-store music was blasting.. well, not blasting but it was fairly loud. I feel like a tool for even knowing what song it was and looking it up on youtube (and listening to it while I'm typing this).

I'm not sure if it was a customer or an employee of Home Depot.. but somebody took the chorus (1:18) and proceeded to shred the song.. sang nearly the whole chorus very loud and surprisingly well. It made me LOL right there in the store.

You so want to hear it right now, so here you go... taste the best (WTF?)

What are the odds?

I got to work pretty early today. Judy was right behind me and was wearing a green shirt... I make a comment to Judy that we match today.

1 Minute later in walk Greg & Eric... both wearing green. I yell to Judy to look at them and we all start laughing.. what are the odds?

A few minutes later we are talking and are like.. there is no way Mark will be wearing green... but would it be crazy? What do you know.. in strolls mark wearing green.

We go up front and 2 more people are wearing green that come in the front entrance. 7 of us out of like 18 are wearing green... totally by accident! One of my bosses insisted on taking a picture to capture the total randomness of it all.

Reel Big Fish

I took Holden fishing yesterday in a monsoon. It poured when we loaded up into the car, and the entire drive over the the fishin' hole. We stopped and got some worms & a few more hooks for Holden's spiderman fishing rod he got for his birthday. He was excited mostly when we got the worms.. holding the worms was a big deal.

We get there and the rain has stopped.. the sun has come out and we got to work. Holden was very good at ripping the worms apart, and he was cool about letting me put the worm on the hook.

We have been practicing casting in the yard, so he already had a good grasp of how to cast. Mrs. Mary was out there watching us and had no idea... Holden pulled the rod back, and flung his hook and bobber about 20 feet out into the water. "Wow.. he casts better than me!" is all she could say.

After about 5 minutes of nibbles and bites Holden hooks his first fish.. a little Sun fish.. Holden laughed and giggled as he reeled it in and was very proud of his first fish of the day. It was pouring down rain at this point, but Reid was there and brought an umbrella out for us to keep dry (sort of).

Holden caught 3 fish total.. one got off the hook as soon as Holden started pulling it out of the water. It was the biggest fish of the day, but Holden was just happy to be out there casting and playing with the two monster horse sized dogs that were next to us. We had a blast though.. I think this fishing thing is something we are going to start to do more of.

Let's Kick The Cat

So I was coming down the stairs and I saw Otis at the landing.. he meowed at me (like he does, he's the noisiest cat around) and challenged me to kick him. So I skipped a couple of steps to try to catch him off guard. All this really accomplished was me drop kicking the corner of the wall and possibly breaking my 3rd toe from the big toe. I like to think of myself as being "agile as a motherf***er".. but I think old age is starting to set in.

It's still very tender and sore. I also purposefully told Maria I merley "tripped down the stairs" because I was embarrassed that the cat made me look so foolish. Actually.. posting this on my blog... probably did a better job of that now that I think about it. Oh well

This is an infinitely better story than the last time I broke my foot. (maybe God is telling me to stop kicking things?)

The Stock Market

The stock market fascinates me. I have been investing for several years now, and i'm just kinda dumbfounded at how the whole system works. But it seems the more I dive into it the more it seems like it's ALL speculation and what have you done for me lately.

One day you'll hear the market was down big because existing home sales are lower than they expected, and then the next day it's up big on good news about new home sales... (but what about the existing home sales that had you pissing your pants yesterday?) The market to me seems like 4 year old who can't make up their mind about anything. I have my portfolio setup with Google Finance so I can see the daily fluctuations (i.e. me losing lots of our 401k monies lately.. well not lots.. but it's in the negative ytd). I just need to stop looking at it and go with the flow.. or so I'm told.

I guess it's just tough for some people to ride out the rough patches. I haven't been pulling money out of any funds or accounts (like some of my coworkers).

SO... AND UM.. YEAH

So I sat here at my posting page for my blog wanting to say something. So here goes...

It's been opressively hot around here lately.. we have a kick ass pool in the backyard, but you can only go out there and play for only so long. I had the big kids (everyone minus Delilah) this past weekend and it went pretty well. One thing that Maria always tells me (and I carelessly would refute) is that Pearl is a diva.. and OMG I experienced it first hand.

I retired the old machine and got a new Quad Core, 4gigs ram, Vista 64-bit edition doozy that should "hold it down" for a good while. It's not like I ever have any time, but when I do I'm going to do big things with it for the company. It's already a tax deductible item.. so.. yay for that.

Just found a band called "rouge wave" and their song "lake michigan" very cool song.. need to check this band out a little further.

Maria just called me.. the boys just broke the light globe on their ceiling fan. That's the only downside to rowdy boys.. is they tear the ass out of your house. I guess it dosen't bother me as much as it used to.. find me a house with 4 kids in it that isn't somewhat worn around the edges. Maria does an admirable job keeping the house together during the day, but you feel like the minute you pick up some mess and turn around to clean another.. they just undid the mess you just cleaned up.

It's a vicious cycle.. but it's worth it. Kids are awesome. The end

ciao

Built to Spill

Been listening to them a lot lately.. my zune was on random yesterday here at work and one of their songs came on. I then switched over to just play BTS songs and it's carrying over to today.

If you've never heard them I suggest you check them out.. very chill and laid back, and very good. Probably their catchiest song (I like it, not my favorite though)

I like their song "You Were Right" a lot.. it's the catch phrases from a bunch of classic songs.. can you catch them all (a pokemon reference??? lol)

So, whadda ya think?

I've had a lot of Computer Repair business lately.. enough to basically pay for a new Quad Core rendering/editing/graphics machine. I haven't done much with growing my company this year as most of my work comes by word of mouth through friends and family. No advertising... yet.

I had someone ask me the other day if I had any business cards, so without further adieu.. here is my first stab at one. Let me know what you think! Is it too busy? Too much info? Not enough? Looks like poopy? Don't hold back, constructive criticism would be most appreciated.. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

And before anyone asks... I do not have a web presence yet. I have hosting setup through a friend and I'm getting ready to lock in a few domains. I will add the website address when I get that up and running. As I come up with alternates I will add them to this post.

"I'll take two... to go!"

Wonder why us Americans are a bunch of big ole fatties?














This is the "Lady's Brunch Burger" (what type of "Lady" would eat this at a brunch?) If you can't tell from the picture, here is what this bad boy is made of

1/2 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley leaves
1/2 tablespoon grated onion
House Seasoning, recipe follows
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 egg
3 slices bacon, cooked
2 glazed donuts

I know what I'm having for dinner tomorrow night!

You Know You've Had Too Much When....

So we were hanging out with some friends that we hardly ever get to see... and we had a great time. We brought a bottle of wine that we proceeded to finish off so they got out a bottle of theirs. About an hour later Chuck comes downstairs with two Light Sabers and gives one to Holden and they start to battle. I took some cool low light pictures, but I left the camera in Baltimore... so you'll just have to take my word on it for now. His light sabers are actually pretty awesome. They are very heavy and make very realistic sounds (as realistic as a fake sword can sound). And before anyone asks.. he has the RED & BLUE ones

We had a great 4th though... actually saw fireworks on the 3rd and I'm glad we did, cause I think a lot of displays were delayed due to rain up in Baltimore. And today at work everyone told me about how bad the storms were that night and a lot of people missed out on the fireworks because they had to shoot them off early to beat the storm. I bet there were a lot of pissed off people sitting in their cars seeing the fireworks going off like WTF! It's not 9pm yet!

Ciao

ROFL

Genialer Spiegel Streich - MyVideo

Love It

If you've seen more than 50% of the original youtube stuff in this video consider yourself a huge dork (like me... I think this video is hawt)

Won't Allow Embedding.... GRRR....

One Of My Favorites

I Love me some of this. I haven't had any for 4 days...might... have... to... pick... some... up...

Coffee doesn't do anything for me in the morning.. but give me a 16oz Red Bull on an empty stomach and I'll show you what it's all about!



















And on another note, Holden got a bitchin' new waterpark from his Grandad for his birfday coming up in July. The kids love it. I'm not sure where Larry is in this pic, didn't want anyone to think we didn't let him play in it too. ;)

Don't Be Such A Winery

I got to go to a winery today that we did the architectural design for.. but the contractor (and the owner) decided to change things on the fly and built a lot of thing differently than the county had approved. So I had to go down there today and measure, take pictures and just look around to see what didn't match up.

It's quite a nice little place.. already open for business and the fancy interior and whatnot will be completed before the fall. And his house on the other side of the property is amazing, might be one of the most beautiful houses I've seen in person (yes, it is that nice). I think I see a fun little Saturday excursion for Maria and I to taste some wine in our future.

I was hoping to get a bottle of wine to try out (my boss said he gives them away all the time to spread the word), but I guess he just figured I wasn't a "wine man" (if there is such a thing... well, I guess he is..so..yeah)

Owned

Calling All NFL Fans

I just created a Fantasy Football league in Yahoo! for the upcoming Football Season. I had a great time last year being Commish and if you would like to be a part of my league this year reply to this post and if I like you I will send you the info to join. The winner of my league recieves (1) new in the original packaging Chia Pet

These Would Be Pictures From the Missouri