WICKchad

Testing, Testing

2012-01-18T15:34:00.000-05:00

Is this thing still on?

Possibly The Best Song EVAR

2011-03-11T23:18:00.005-05:00

I love this song.. it's sad and brings a tear to my each time I listen to it.. but it's pure awesomeness

Only thing possibly better, is Andy Hull acoustic

So Maybe Wickchad will live on as a music blog

2010-05-16T22:13:00.004-04:00

Check out Dntel, this is the guy who created all the music for one of my favorite bands in the past 5 years "the postal service".

There is also a song (dream of evan and chan) that was the precursor to them doing a whole album together, really good stuff I say. And since it's my dead blog what I say is all that matters :)

Oh, and that new band "owl city" is a terrible rip off of TPS (The Postal Service), if you like owl city and haven't heard of The Postal Service, then you need to listen to something 100x better.

Extremely Impressed (for only costing $300)

2009-12-22T00:55:00.002-05:00

Fede Alvarez made a short film entitled "Ataque de Panico!" or "Panic Attack!" and uploaded it to YouTube. He invested $300 in the 5-minute movie and his investment has paid off. The BBC reports that Alvarez uploaded the video on a Thursday and by Monday, his inbox was full of e-mails from Hollywood Studios.

Sheer Awesomeness

2009-11-24T15:29:00.002-05:00

I don't watch the show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on HBO... dont' even have HBO at the moment. The main character Larry David was the executive producer/director whatever of the show "Seinfeld".

Well for his current show (CYE for short) he basically dusts off the old set and produces a "new" episode of Seinfeld... 11 years has past since it went off the air.. but I think it's an awesome testament to the fact that if they wanted to, they could bring it back and it wouldn't miss a beat.

Friends Don't Let Friends Shop @ Best Buy

2009-11-24T14:54:00.000-05:00

A coworker of mine just bought a new 50" plasma tv. Me and several other coworkers glowingly referred him to monoprice.com. The ONLY place to go to buy wall mounts, and any type of cable or wire or electrical component you could think of. Seriously. I bought my wall mount for my 50" plasma for $19... and I bought 2 10' long HDMI cables for $5 a piece.

Best Buy charges upwards of $100 for a wall mount and close to $50 for a 6' hdmi cable. Don't get screwed!!!!

Stumbled Across This

2009-10-31T00:17:00.001-04:00

Pretty damn good if I do say so myself

On My Way

2009-08-11T00:43:00.001-04:00

So I was driving home from work today when a young gentleman caught my eye. He was wearing a white shirt with a huge airbrushed dollar sign in the middle.

I immediately said to myself, "I need a shirt like that"

Captain Appropriate

2009-07-20T08:17:00.001-04:00

rofl

Tosh.0

Thurs, 10pm / 9c

Motorcycle Granny

www.comedycentral.com

Daniel Tosh

Miss Teen South Carolina

Demi Moore Picture

tosh.0

2009-07-17T15:37:00.000-04:00

funnier than Demetri Martin's show... this made me lol

On Blogging....

2009-07-13T09:18:00.004-04:00

Blogging has sort of gotten boring to me. I'm not going to start up with the same frequency that I had before. I will post something when I find it truly amusing or enlightening.

Yesterday we were up in Baltimore (Fells Point) going to a flea market, and just basically walking around by the harbor and grabbed a bit to eat at a sidewalk bistro.. where all the waiters were very... ummm... good dressers with fancy hair (you understand)?

Maria walks back to put more money in the parking meter while I take the boys in to use the bathroom. Maria runs into the restaurant to find me yelling out "the car is gone, someone stole the car!". I don't get too worked up at this point. I take the boys and tell her I'll go down to verify. I get to the spot I left the car and what do you know, there it is sitting there in all it's glory in the same spot we left it only a few hours ago. I call Maria and tell her the car's gone... to be met with about 5 seconds of silence on Maria's end... until I know I'm being mean and let her know it's still there.

She got really pissed when I started joking around with her about the whole thing... and I told her I was going to blog about it. She cussed me out a bit and I told her I was joking, then last night after we got home she complained to me that "you don't blog anymore" and I told her I would if I could tell the car story.

"Go ahead", she said.

In the land of lean beef

2009-06-15T14:18:00.003-04:00

So we went to New York this past weekend with all the kids and a good friend of ours. We left Baltimore around 8:00am or so and got to Brooklyn around 11:30. Why Brooklyn you may ask? Free parking and easy access to the subway.

The subway... I guess i'm spoiled with the subway in D.C. (nice wide walkways with air circulation, no trash piled up over my head, and ELEVATORS AND WIDE ASS TURNSTILES TO FIT YOUR STROLLER OR WIDE ASS THROUGH). That was probably the most aggravating part, that at most subway stations there were no attendants or anyone who worked there to help you. So I had to lug the strollers up and down stairs and I had to set off alarms at nearly every entrace as the only way I could see to get the stroller through there was to open the big red handled door that said to only open in an emergency.

Times Square was a little sureal. I've seen it countless times on television, but going there and walking around in person was a neat experience. So busy with so much going on... so many vendors, so many people, so many taxi cabs (wow... a sea of orangish yellow). I ran into a guy and I think he put a curse on me (he yelled at the top of his lungs as I continued to walk away.. laughing nervously). Kids got to ride the ferris wheel in toys R us and got to marvel at the huge T-rex in there as well.

Central park was pretty cool too... at least what I could see of it. Went into FAO Schwartz and the kids got to play on the big piano (cue Tom Hanks).

Overall it was a cool trip. A bit too much for just a day trip with the kids, I would love to go back sans kids and stay for a night. Go out to eat and maybe see a show or something. Pictures!

Damn Dog

2009-06-11T15:33:00.000-04:00

Black Lab.... very destructive.... needs a home.... free delivery!

The Big House

2009-05-18T11:49:00.008-04:00

So MARLA and I somehow, someway, won foster parents of the year for Wicomico County. Each county in the state every year picks a family to be their family of the year. I think we were chosen in hopes that MARLA wouldn't be as big a pain in the ass as she has been in the past towards our local DSS.

So we were invited to an awards banquet to the "Government House". We had not idea what the "Government House" was and we both weren't terribly excited about going. I figured it was just some government building... like an office conference room or something drab. When we got the directions and headed towards downtown then it dawned on us that we were going to the Governor's House for this shindig. MARLA did NOT want me to wear a tie... but I insisted I would rather be overdressed than under dressed. And I found that I drive a bit like an A**hole when wearing a dress shirt and tie.. not sure what's up with that?

So we get to the House and we have to wait out on the sidewalk. We are about 10 minutes early (imagine that) and we have to wait until 3pm on the nose to go inside. It was rather chilly but the time flew by and we got inside.

I had been inside before back in middle school on a field trip, it's a nice place. Huge vaulted ceilings... huge mirrors and paintings... huge spiral staircases. MARLA and I are both totally starving and we had no idea if we were going to get food or even a drink. As we sat down we saw people with plates loaded up with food, so without any delay I darted towards the buffet table and loaded up. Pretty nice spread all around... had a lot of kid friendly foods (chicken strips... french fries, the french fries were REALLY GOOD). About 100 - 200 people total I would imagine.

I was tempted to steal some silverware or something but I didn't. Stealing is wrong.

The Governor was milling about... as was his wife (who was hosting the event) as well as their children running around. O'Malley looked like a guy getting ready to hit the boardwalk in his untucked white shirt and blue jeans. We had pictures taken with the First Lady and everybody at our table was really nice and friendly. Overall it was a fun time and a nice little "thank you" from DSS and Mrs. O'Malley for us foster families. MARLA will have to post the picture as she has the login info.

To Emulate My Friend Amanda's Blog

2009-05-06T10:08:00.002-04:00

2009-05-02T23:16:00.009-04:00

The new Silversun Pickups has been dominating my music listening lately. Their new CD came out last week and it's pretty good. "Panic Switch" is the first single (which has a catchy as hell base line).... but "The Royal We" is by far the best song on the album.... I play it so freaking loud in my car. Honorable mention to "there's no secrets this year" to sounding like some good old fashioned SP... (smashing pumpkins...).

It's pretty easy to see the similarities... first you'd find them besides each other alphabetically, they both have a female bassist... both have a member who is Japanese (not me) and well.... just listen to the second song.... like it's ripped straight from Siamese Dream.

This Video Sums Up My Weekend

2009-04-26T22:31:00.006-04:00

If you are in any way uptight or a loser don't bother watching... but I find this video hilarious. It was the theme of our weekend heading up to Fallingwater.... totally by accident. (explicit) We also played a game at the wedding reception.... guess who used to be a man. We knew the minute we hit the lodge who it was... it was totally like the episode from Seinfeld

Seriously... so many awesomely funny this happened the trip was a total blast.... as well as a total blur (from being so short). I am totally going to attempt a proper synopsis tomorrow as I need to go to bed... but it's totally lol material (to me anyway).

Famous People I've Run Into Lately

2009-04-15T08:58:00.003-04:00

Omar Epps - Works at Giant here in Salisbury
Joe Koy - Is a Social Worker in Wicomico County
Robert Dietzway - (ok, not famous but this dude at my church looks EXACTLY like him... it's errie)
Samuel L. Jackson - Was at the Inauguration (this is the only one that is legit... all the rest were stunt doubles)

Delicious?

2009-04-05T20:05:00.001-04:00

I post that as a question because I don't know yet. What better way to enjoy your immaculately landscaped yard than to sit outside on a warm evening drinking hot tea and feasting on some chocolate dipped strawberries & granny smith apples from Edible Creations?

Great Video

2009-03-30T13:56:00.003-04:00

This song was playing on my zune... so I searched to see if it had a music video... which it does... which is awesome. Love the 2d hand drawn pseudo 3d cutout style... this video goes out to anyone who knows someone who's been near or in a California wildfire. The stuff the people are worried most about saving cracks me up.... MY COWBOY BOOTS!

Apparently this is based on a true story... not sure who's story... but it's a bit tragic towards the end but very cool video nonetheless.

Wife Thought I Was Being Dumb

2009-03-25T13:59:00.005-04:00

Most men (and women.. well... probably not women, not that many at least) who have a yard to maintain probably can relate to this. Whenever I use my weed-eater or anything else that vibrates a lot (like a chainsaw.. etc.) I get what I call "itchy arms". This past weekend I got done with a weed wacking session and after I was done I started itching my arms to help the itchiness go away. I told Maria that I get this every time I use power tools that vibrate my hands and arms for any extended period of time. She laughed and said it was from the pollen and grass particles landing on my skin.

So... what do you know? It's a medical condition (or can become one with prolonged continuous use of vibrating power tools) called HAVS or Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome.

Anybody else deal with this or am I just a freak?

Fringe Benefits

2009-03-24T13:52:00.002-04:00

Talking about some of the fringe benefits we have here at work made me think of this commerical from back in the day. Still makes me LOL

An Update

2009-03-18T14:05:00.001-04:00

One case down... one to go!

Thank you for providing information about the recent bank reversal. We have reviewed the information and determined that you will not be held liable
for this reversal because as you followed the guidelines of the
unauthorized payment protection plan.

Any funds that may have been temporarily held are now available in your
account

Sincerely,
PayPal

Total Blank

2009-03-18T08:23:00.003-04:00

It's not that I don't have anything to post about.... I'd just rather post about not having anything to post about.

So I have this big ass headache with PayPal going on. Basically what happened is that I sold my tv on ebay... and someone paid for it with "buy it now" only a few hours after I posted the auction. He then messaged me and stated the TV was for a birthday and if I could overnight it to him. I was just so happy that I sold the tv (that's a whole other blog post) that I really didn't think things through at first. I told the guy that overnighting something like a big-ass plasma tv was expensive, but I gave him a quote anyway. This tv I was selling was just discontinued and the newer model is not as desirable as the older model I was selling (they are going on ebay for a premium as we speak).

So the guy sends the additional amount and I ship the tv on a Saturday afternoon via FedEx. I then message him with his tracking info and that's that... (or so I thought).

Like I do with all money in PayPal, I transferred all of the money out of PayPal into my checking account. If you read PayPal's TOS you will see that basically they can freeze your account at any moment for nearly any reason they deem reasonable and hold it for up to 180 days. For this reason and this reason alone I never kept a large balance in my paypal account.

So I talk with a friend of mine the next morning who happens to be doing a lot of sales through ebay and paypal. He tells me of this scam he heard about while shipping items at the post office, a scam involving ebay, paypal and the buy basically reversing the charges then keeping the item. I tell him this isn't happening to me... well more like telling myself this and keeping myself positive about it.

That night the more I thought about it the more this transaction fit the profile. Guy with zero feedback buys big ticket item with "buy it now". Guy asks for it to be overnighted (to avoid charge reversal before he has the item) and also asks for item to be held at the FedEx facility instead of being delivered to the address attached to the credit card. It all made sense and I looked online, found out that paypal phone help was available 7 days a week so I gave them a call.

I asked them that I suspected a fraudulent purchase of my item I sold on ebay and asked if I should contact FedEx and have them hold the item until I figure this out. I was then put on hold by PayPal and after about 5 mins the lady came back on the line and told me not to do anything. To let the transaction complete as I didn't have any proof of any foul play (besides my instinct and common sense). She also tells me not to worry and that I am protected 100%. I say ok, and thank you and hope that I'm wrong.

3 days later I get an email from PayPal saying there was a credit reversal and that my account is frozen until I take care of my negative balance. I immediately get on the phone with paypal to see what the next course of action should be. The guy tells me that there is an investigation starting and I will get an email with a few days outlining the steps in the dispute process. I also tell this guy I called earlier in the week before the item was delivered and another PayPal agent told me to let the transaction complete. And that if in any way PayPal expected me to be on the hook for this after telling me I was 100% covered that they were sorely mistaken. I'm as polite as I can be for being raging mad and we end our call.

Luckily I had all of my money in the bank before the chargeback took place. PayPal cannot just dip into your bank account to retrieve the funds, and even if they did break the law and do that you can dispute the charges with your bank - get the money back and block PayPal from any further transaction attempts.

I uploaded all of my receipts, airbill, all correspondence with the "buyer" and all proof that I am in the right and as much a victim as the guy who's credit card was stolen. While they told me I was 100% protected it turns out that she was shoveling a lot of crap. The seller in most cases of a chargeback is not covered by any guarantee... all it takes is a asshat buyer to know how to use the system to get a free item AND sock the seller with losing both the item and the money for the item. Gladly I was not THAT naive to think I was actually protected and left my money in there. I have found a great resource on what to do in my situation called paypalsucks.com. Their forums are filled with people in my same situation and their stories and how they went about getting their money back and stopping the collection calls/harrasment.

It turns out what I do is NOTHING. I have my money... PayPal is the one out of money here since techincally they charged the stolen credit card, not me. PayPal touts their advanced "fraud detection" but that's such a joke. If your protections are so advanced how did you let this happen? What is the purpopse of even using PayPal then?

If you use PayPal alot please read around on this website to educate yourself on what PayPal says it can do with your account in their Terms Of Service you are forced to agree with just to have an account with them. paypalsucks.com has a great page where they take the whole TOS and break it down and explain what it means.

PayPal is not a bank or financial instiution and even if they take me to collections it cannot impact my credit report since they do not have my social security number. I'm just glad I was looking out for myself and have all my bases covered. And most importantly, PayPal dosen't have a penny from me!

http://www.paypalsucks.com/forums/

Business Time

2009-03-06T14:21:00.004-05:00

After watching this it will make sense... lol

Just Listen To The Whole Thing

2009-03-01T00:08:00.002-05:00

When John Mayer first came out I didn't like him at all. His first album was full of mushy "girl" music that just wasn't my cup of tea. But in the past few years his skill as just a raw guitarist became evident to me. I would love to see him live... can't deny the skills.

Watch live video from DREWS MOVIES AND ♫IN H.264 on Justin.tv

What's Up Dog

2009-02-25T20:16:00.001-05:00

Miss P

2009-02-25T10:35:00.001-05:00

My big girl Pearl is 3 years old today!

Send your love her way... I'm sure she'll appreciate it (as much as a 3 year old can appreciate things!)

I love you Peezy

I Can't Make This Stuff Up

2009-02-17T10:17:00.002-05:00

Seriously? Although tragic and horrific... with the line of work this guy is in I find a sliver of humor in the fact that he started a TV station in New York to counter Muslim stereotypes. Wow... I think you failed, bud.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The founder of an Islamic television station in upstate New York aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has confessed to beheading his wife, authorities said.

Clapping Will Be Heard In The Distance

2009-01-28T00:42:00.002-05:00

Next time my boss acts the fool i'm hitting him with the Lightning Bolt, Death manuver... nothing beats it. Seriously

Circuit Chitty

2009-01-27T11:46:00.004-05:00

So I popped into Circuit City's "Liquidation" Sale the other day just to see what the deals are like. People were buying stuff left and right to my amazement.... I guess there are people out there... a LOT of people who don't know about the internet. Prices are way lower on the exact same television sets at numerous online websites. (namely newegg.com, amazon.com, 6ave.com, buy.com, woot.com, etc....)

As I walked out of the store with a smirk on my face someone asked me if I needed any help. I said "no, I'll be back when your prices aren't so high" and walked out.

Circuit City's "liquidation" sale is a JOKE. 15% off MSRP? (seriously? nobody sells tv's even close to their MSRP) LOL

I guess I should feel bad for people who think they are getting a great deal.... but I don't.

January 20th, 2009

2009-01-22T21:42:00.004-05:00

We got up to Baltimore around 8:30pm Monday night. Dropped the kids off at Maria's mom's house and went to her father's to get to bed early. We already had our plan of attack to try to get as close as possible and to also try and stay as warm as possible. The weatherman called for temps in the mid 30's... but I don't think it even got out of the 20's.

So we layed out all of our layers of clothes... thermal underwear, sweatpants, jeans, t-shirt, long sleeve thin sweater, light jacket, heavy coat, 2 layers of ski gloves, ear warming band and a nice thick winter cap. Maria and I both stuffed every pocket we had with food, water & snacks... we were taking some cash with us but we figured the less we had to spend (and wait in hellacious lines) the better. Went to bed around 9pm and set the alarm for 2am (yes, really!)

2am came a little faster than we would have hoped, probably because neither of us got a decent 5 hour sleep and were a little restless. I can't say I was super excited... more nervous about the crowds and the amount of people and security we would be going through. But we got it into our heads early that we would be ready for the worst... the worst lines we have ever seen... the worst crowds we have ever seen.... the worst weather we have ever seen... etc....

Around 3am We headed on out the door and jumped in the car to drive to the nearest Metro station "New Carrolton". It was about a 30 minute drive away... with surprisingly little traffic, but lots of police pulling over tractor trailers... for whatever reason. We get to the Metro station with still very light traffic... but as we pull up we notice a pretty long line to park in the garage, so we shoot across the street and into the satellite parking. Lot was only about a quarter full, so we didn't feel to pressed about getting out of the car right away... but as we sat there watching cars and people stream in and out we figured we should get a move on and see if there is a line forming yet. It is now 4am.

We are in our first real crowd at this point... not a lot of people, but you can tell that we all have somewhere we are in a hurry to get to. We get into the station and start to head for the turnstiles when a security guard yells "end of the line".... oh, ok... so there is a line, no problem. So we follow the line down the hall... up the stairs... and up out into the rear parking lot. The line stretches out of sight over the curve of the long narrow parking lot. After a bit of wide-eyed "holy crap this is a lot of people already" we start to try to find the end of this line. We walk a good 5 minutes and finally get there... probably 1/2 mile long at least.

So we get in line and people are buzzing... everybody is talking, laughing... taking humor in the facial expressions of people walking by still in that wide-eyed "holy crap this is a long line" look on their face. I have the Canon Xti around my neck... and snap some shots of the line and Maria. The flash draws the attention of the couple in front of us, a couple from Connecticut who drove down just days before. We started talking cameras and we both were Canon fans so we hit it off pretty good. We had a pretty long conversation with them that made our wait in line go by fairly painlessly. We had been outside for about 45 minutes now... so far so good, still have warm toes and fingers!

So we get into the turnstile area and just fly through with our pre-purchased commemorative Obama metro tickets and up onto the platform. We wait about 5 minutes and jump on the first train that arrives... and after a few moments we notice the same couple we met in line a few seats back and continue our conversation. We also start talking with several other people around us... everybody has a story to tell, and everybody we met and conversed with were great. One lady sitting next to us was an Obama volunteer who gave us some insight into what her training was like and how she got the opportunity to help out. She was from South Carolina and wasn't too fond of the cold that morning.

So we get into downtown... the first major stop where most people got off the metro, Federal Triangle. That stop was packed! We pulled in and people were nearly pressed up against our subway car. Maria and I couldn't believe that people that it was a good idea to get off at this stop, but most everyone we were talking to either had tickets or had to get off there to help with their volunteer work. We stayed on the metro until the Foggy Bottom exit... well past the mall (about a mile), but we figured we wouldn't have any crowds to deal with or very many issues with secuirty. Plus it would give us a chance to hit up any coffee shops or doughnut places for a quick breakfast meal before it got crazy.

We didn't see much open at this point... it was about 5am now and we were in "walk towards the Washington Monument mode". The one mile walk went by pretty quickly and we were up to the back edge of the mall in no time. We started seeing our first waves of security and street closures... this whole end of town was shut down and there were national guard/military at nearly every street corner. As we started walking on the grass field surrounding the Washington monument we could look over and see the white house, and looked straight ahead to see the long line of Jumbo Trons and lights. The capital was well lit and decorated for today's upcoming festivities... it was quite a sight that sent chills up my spine (or maybe that was just the cold?).

It was a this point when you really started taking in the magnitude of what we were going to witness this day. Police lights flashing everywhere... military humvees and solders walking the streets at every turn, helicopters buzzing overhead. It was truly an electric scene that really was quite awe inspiring. This is a big f**king deal I said to myself....

We keep walking and pass all the news outfits.... CNN, MSNBC, FOX, local news people... people in crowds behind reporters acting like fools trying to get their ugly mugs on TV. We didn't see any places serving coffee or hot chocolate yet... so we figure we should just keep walking and see how close we can get. I figured before coming that the crowd would already be close to the Washington monument... but it wasn't even close yet. We got up pretty close, way closer than we expected... and stood there for a while. The constant streaming of people behind us filled in around us pretty quick, about an hour later you couldn't tell how far back the crowd was. So after standing there for a bit we were bored... and getting a bit chilly. A few people started sitting down or laying down to kill some time... it is about 6am now.

We kill time by talking.. shivering.. getting bumped into by others. At times the wait unil 10:30 seemed to drag on... but were had some cool people around us and eventually started visiting with those around us. Everyone we talked to or sat next to were so friendly and again, everybody had a story to tell. This older couple next to us was from northern Ohio.. and scoffed at how people were complaining about the cold.. saying that northern Ohio winters were much worse. He was also a Cleveland browns fan that was pretty bitter about the Ravens and thier success. The couple behind us was from San Diego California... and it was an understatement to say they were cold. I don't think they could function below 70 degrees as they lay there bundled up under some blankets shaking.

So the sun starts to rise and most people are sitting down now... people are getting pretty cold and a bit cranky about it. The jumbo trons come on shortly after sunrise and start replaying the concert from a few days previous. The crowd really got into it when Garth Brooks was singing... I didn't think I was in a Garth Brooks type crowd to tell you the truth.. but it was fun and you could clearly tell that most everyone was still in good spirits and still excited about what the day had in store for us.

Maria and I were numb at this point... our toes and fingers were not doing so hot. And once your hands and feet get cold it's all downhill from there. We decide to take a walk on the side street and see about getting some coffee or hot chocolate as we still had a few hours to kill. For as many people that were there it was surprisingly spread out and easy to get from place to place. So walking in front of the National Air and Space Museum I spot some police horses coming my way. I snap a pic of them... then notice a small group walking behind... and I locked eyes with the tall guy in the middle and then realize that it's Samuel L. Jackson! Pretty cool celebrity sighting... by the time I take his pic knowing who he is he's already walked past. I'm not one to fawn all over celebs so I figure oh well... and we head back to our spot. Maria doesn't believe me at this point... and I'm a bit bummed I didn't get a good shot. Then about 10 mins later it dawns on me that I might have a pic of him afterall and I start looking on the camera and BAM! There he is, clear as day... "I have to show this to somebody" I tell Maria and turn around to the couple from California and show them to their shared excitement..... and Maria thought they wouldn't care... pffft.

So now the dignitaries and celebs are on the terrace of the capital and we can see them on the screens. People are getting excited and are naming off the people as they were recognized. And pretty soon some big wigs started pulling up in their motorcades. You could see the video of them driving down the street and had no idea of who they were until they got our of their limos. Most everyone was greeted to cheers (except Bush and Cheney got a fair amount of jeers.. not surprising in a group of Obama supporters).

Overall it was a tremendous experience and we had infinitely more fun than I imagined we would. To me is was mostly how cool everyone we met was... how we were all sort of in this thing way over our heads and were just along for the ride. I was glad to be there and glad that I can tell others that I was there to witness history. Even when I got back to work the next day... very openly anti-obama coworkers were very interested to hear my story from the day before. It is a day I will not soon forget.

One Pic

2009-01-20T21:22:00.003-05:00

As you can see we were pretty close. Full story coming up tomorrow... promise!

We Survived....

2009-01-20T20:16:00.005-05:00

We had a fantastic time at the Innaguration earlier today.... but I'm too tired at the moment to go into it tonight. I will leave you with a game. First correct guess wins my utmost respect (it's not that hard really).

Spot the celebrity in this photo. (click to enlarge)

Slight Chill In The Air

2009-01-17T08:13:00.004-05:00

Seriously, where the heck is my snow?

Flip 'Em The Bird

2009-01-11T23:34:00.001-05:00

3 out of the 4 teams left in the NFL Playoffs have a bird as their mascot.

Just realized that.... kinda weird.

On a Mission

2009-01-10T08:19:00.002-05:00

Maria and the kids are going out of town for the day so I can paint the living room unhindered. I of course will stop @ 4:30pm to watch the Ravens whip up on the Titans.

If anybody wants to get me a flacco or reed jersey go right ahead!

We Are So Going

2009-01-05T22:34:00.002-05:00

To the innaguration

Crazy?

Cool?

I think I'm going to settle on crazy

School Days

2009-01-05T09:06:00.003-05:00

So today Holden was supposed to go back to school. He's at that age when he simply loves school and he was excited about his first day back after the holidays.

And then that little boys joy was crushed by AM Pre-K being cancelled due to an unfortunate case of DENSE FOG.

New Year's Resolution

2009-01-03T09:36:00.003-05:00

This will be the first January where I am actively going to the gym several times a week to workout. Not looking forward to the influx of people trying (many in vain) to fufill some sort of new years resolution and making me wait to use certain equipment.

Hopefully by the first week of February things will settle down.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

2008-12-28T22:53:00.009-05:00

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

2008-12-25T22:35:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-18T19:08:00.001-05:00

A Trip To The Grocery Store

2008-12-13T08:16:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-07T23:59:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-04T00:00:00.001-05:00

ROFL

Somebody's Baby

2008-12-03T23:13:00.001-05:00

Not Your Typical Roast

2008-12-02T23:22:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-01T08:57:00.003-05:00

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

2008-11-28T00:12:00.006-05:00

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

2008-11-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-21T11:28:00.003-05:00

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

2008-11-19T08:29:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-15T22:05:00.001-05:00

Action Shot

2008-11-14T00:50:00.003-05:00

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

New Medication

2008-11-06T16:52:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-06T13:20:00.004-05:00

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

2008-11-06T01:21:00.000-05:00

Make it RAIN! LOL

Not A Reason To Vote For The Man

2008-11-06T00:07:00.001-05:00

But this picture makes me laugh

President Barack Hussein Obama

2008-11-04T23:18:00.010-05:00

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

2008-11-04T15:36:00.007-05:00

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

2008-10-30T20:19:00.002-04:00

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

Time Is Up

2008-10-28T23:01:00.005-04:00

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

2008-10-27T09:19:00.000-04:00

What's Playing On My Zune Right Now

2008-10-24T10:41:00.000-04:00

Spectacular Game

2008-10-17T18:32:00.001-04:00

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

http://fantasticcontraption.com/

McCain's New Stump Speech

2008-10-15T12:20:00.004-04:00

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

YAY

What A Tramp

2008-10-15T08:20:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-14T14:16:00.000-04:00

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

2008-10-14T11:13:00.004-04:00

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

2008-10-09T16:56:00.001-04:00

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

2008-10-09T16:50:00.001-04:00

A band I like... check them out!

Sorry, I couldn't help it

2008-10-04T00:07:00.000-04:00

The Melting Pot

2008-09-30T11:09:00.007-04:00

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

2008-09-28T23:42:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-28T23:24:00.004-04:00

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

2008-09-27T20:45:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-25T09:58:00.002-04:00

Hey McCain

2008-09-24T11:26:00.002-04:00

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

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

2008-09-23T14:21:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-22T14:13:00.005-04:00

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

2008-09-22T13:21:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-21T00:08:00.001-04:00

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

Walking The Boards...

2008-09-19T00:55:00.007-04:00

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

Love This Song

2008-09-19T00:05:00.000-04:00

Making Ends Meet

2008-09-16T11:03:00.004-04:00

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

2008-09-12T14:21:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-08T09:08:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-05T22:48:00.009-04:00

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

2008-09-02T20:54:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-02T09:04:00.006-04:00

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

2008-08-26T08:48:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-26T08:20:00.004-04:00

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

2008-08-21T15:24:00.002-04:00

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

That's The Point

2008-08-19T14:56:00.004-04:00

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

2008-08-18T16:42:00.006-04:00

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

2008-08-13T15:31:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-03T00:44:00.003-04:00

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?

2008-07-31T21:14:00.006-04:00

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

2008-07-30T11:28:00.002-04:00

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.