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!!!!!)