Middle America's Worldview

Each New Year brings on new beginnings, new promises and new resolutions. Like a broken record we make promises to ourselves or others, this year will be different, better.

Well, I truly hope whatever you strive for, comes true. Unless it's a bad thing to others. heh heh

I wanted to change my blog look as well. I searched and searched to find the one template that I wanated. For those that read my blog, hope you enjoy the new look.

Tonight, we have friends over to play games. Yes, its the same couple that we watch their kids. I hope the kids can play good and allow the adults a good game with adult conversation. Kelli picked up Trivia Pursuit 90's. The hope is we actually know some answers. On the way home, Kelli asked some questions out of it (to see what were up against). Needless to say, she knew the answers and I didn't know squat. Oh well, perhaps I will win in a spade game.

Just finished cleaning up the house and finished off the new blog template. I will make the kids lay down for a nap. Kelli is already ahead of them. : )
Hope everyone have a good safe New Year'.

Not to diminish the Tsunomi in anyway nor the massive, massive lost of lives, I need to bring up two arguments.

1) With the world's attention focused on the earthquake/tsunami that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in at least 10 countries that surround the Indian Ocean, media organizations like Reuters are pinning part of the blame for the catastrophe on "global warming."... Like something out of ‘The Day after Tomorrow’ movie, over 62 thousand death toll, from the devastating earthquake and tsunami rocks Asia. It seems unbelievable that such devastation could occur so quickly and seemingly from nowhere. According to the news the undercurrent crashed through 500 miles an hour. No way anyone could had escaped that rift. I recall when the Day after Tomorrow movie premiered and the global warming tree huggers had been screaming it is a truthful movie and without America changing its ways it would occur and of course it would be our fault. Now it appears regardless of the lost of lives and devastation, some media organizations and the global warming tree huggers are using this to further push their ideology.

2) Jan Egeland calls Rich Countries are being ‘stingy’. Hmm, I wonder who this U.N. voice was referring to? Considering U.N. is still reeling from the Oil and food scandal that stole billions from the Iraqi population this seems to me to be a stupid remark. Surely they are not referring to the United States who alone provided 40 % of all world relief alone. Our Nation has provided more relief, support, funds, peace than any other Nation. That says a lot considering this Nation is considered to be the youngest.

Just google to find more info on the above.
I wonder if this occurred to the United States if the other parts of the world would be so willing to assist us?

I haven’t blogged for some time due to the holidays. Looking at my blogs of interest, I see most others are the same.

We celebrate each Christmas pretty much the same way. My parents and immediate family comes over to our house Christmas Eve morning. Kelli’s parents and immediate family comes over to our house Christmas Eve afternoon. Christmas Eve night Kelli and I swap our gifts while the kids are in bed waiting on Santa Clause. Christmas day we stay home and the day is pretty much for the kids, asking anyone to come over for lunch.

The morning went as expected. My brother and crazy wife was late as usual. My dad called before coming over to ask if anyone was there, who was going to be there, ect. As if I hadn’t told him 3 times already. It went smoothly without a fight, but the crazy sister in law kept telling Kelli how proud she was by not having to spend any money on my parent’s gifts. Yes, while they sat in the next room. Sigh. I will say they stayed longer than expected. Normally my family is in and out within 1.5 hours. So that was a nice surprise.

That afternoon we actually went to Kelli’s parents rather than them coming to us. It was nice and as usual, I snacked and tried all appetizers, ect. While we were leaving the palms of my hands began to itch like crazy. I asked what it meant when your palms itch. I had always heard it was dependant on which one. One would be your getting money, the other you’re going to lose money. I never could recall which one. One the way home, my stomach boiled and my bottom lip started to become numb.

When we arrived home, it was pretty obvious I was having some kind of allergic reaction. I popped 2 benadryls, (my wife had me too immediately). Probably due to the fact I was getting red all over. Both my lips were now swelling. I itched all over. It wasn’t pretty. Since, I had popped the benadryls; I really didn’t stay up later than I wanted to. We did get a chance to prepare Santa’s arrival with the gifts from Santa and Kelli and I swapped gifts. But that was about it. I crashed. Benadryl and Tylenol P.M. are two things that just kick my butt. By morning I was doing ok. No red rash as before and no swelling. It was weird.

Christmas morning was very nice. This year it wasn’t a free for all. We had our son and daughter open one at a time and actually enjoyed the time in it. It was also nice the fact they said thank you after each one. I wasn’t really looking for that one. Normally it the Tasmania devil times too blitzing through the packages.
The day went nice. Kelli’s immediate family came over for lunch. They ate and basically everyone but the kids and I took a nap. Sure went by fast though.

We hit a couple of stores for the day after Christmas sells the next morning. We came home and played with our new toys. We then went back to town and checked the remaining stores that were now open. Hastings had a sale on their used PS2 games. You buy 2 and the 3rd one is one penny. I grabbed ‘Hitman Contracts’, ‘Max Payne 2’, and ‘Simpsons Road Rage’. I also grabbed a Digimon game for the kids in another store. That was the hit game.

Sunday afternoon I watched the kids play the new Digimon game for nearly 2 hours. I finally had to get in on the action. It was a blast. We all had a really good weekend.

Monday was back to work. No-one was hardly at Corp. so we expected a slow day. I put away as much of the Christmas decorations and tree ornaments as possible throughout the day. I had already removed the outside lights, ect Sunday. I managed to finish most of it by the time Kelli got in from work. I then was able to get everything up in the attic before I took my kiddos to the therapist.

Two things are the absolutes during the Christmas for me. 1) I always manage to break a teapot either putting up or bringing down during decorating. 2) There is always a HMF (heavy mother f**ker) of a Christmas box. No matter if you break the stuff out to 20 boxes to put up, there is one that fills like its lead plated.

The HMF tricked me this time. I had about 12 boxes in total to put up in the attic. Now picture this. I have a 7 foot ladder and a 3x3 hole in the garage ceiling to work with. These boxes are your standard 30 gallon or 60 gallon Tupperware. Of course you have to fill these bad boys up. We purchased a couple more to help the load. I pushed a heavy one up there and thought that was the HMF. But the 3rd to the last was the true HMF. I had already done some amazing things to get these boxes up there without falling back down with a box on top of me. But when I hit this one, man it was tough. I got it half way up the ladder and it came right back down. ‘OK, you’re going up there.’ I made it but it was a job.
I have just come to accept the absolutes. Like the fact there is a creator, the fact you always can find 5 Philips sitting in your tool chest when you’re looking for a standard screwdriver.

Tonight, we have 4 girls and 2 boys at hour house. Our girl is having a sleepover with 4 girls and one of their brother.

Yep, the fun never stops around here.

Ever seen those pics of Hiroshima, the mushroom cloud?

I received an early Christmas present the other day. It was a small air compressor. Pretty cool. Today I officially used it. Since the day was a bit slow at work, I took the opportunity to clean my office. Looking over at our home P.C. it desperately needed a cleaning. My thought was ‘ahh yeah, the compressor’. So I grabbed it and plugged it in.
I aimed and fired the glorious stream of air at the dusty P.C. A cloud of dust spewed out as if St. Helens itself belched. “Great Scott, this is dirty.” It’s a wonder it worked. I then proceeded to the back of the P.C. and proceeded in my duty. The fan belched more of the filth. “How the heck did this thing breathe?” I called my wife to see how filthy this thing was. She looked from the hallway and informed me she could tell from the dust in the air. I turned up and around and seen the air was indeed dusty. I then turned on the ceiling fan. It was unbelievable. We vacuum every other day, but I wouldn’t think so much dust could be in a 3 yr old machine. I will definitely have to put this on my list of to-dos.

Tonight we opened the ‘family present’. It’s a PS2 for the kids. I was thinking I would be able to play it after the kids and wife goes to sleep, but I think they will have a sleep over in the living room. Oh well. It will keep till I can get to it. : )

I got the chance to watch Farenhype911. Even though the election is over and the 3 million margin winner already declared, I wanted to see it. I found it in a Blockbuster bin for 6.99, if you can believe it. I couldn't find it anywhere less than 15 bucks or online and now about 20 of them can be acquired for 7 bucks a piece.

The show was about 80 minutes in length. Basically it seemed to be nothing more than allowing those on farenheit911 to speak freely. This consisted of statements such as, "I didn't even talk to this Michael Moore, I was talking to and then I find out later they took the footage and used it for their film." Either that or showing the false statments and claims in the farenheit movie by rebutting it with facts or clarification. What I would had liked to see in the movie is some continued education on the topic of Soros, Democratic party, Republican party and the Saudis. All in all, it was an interesting documentary and pretty much puts farenheight in a disdainfull view.


Tonight the family and I went to the park and viewed all the lights. Each year Creekmore puts up many lights. Among them can be found the nativity, santa in an airplane, gingerman doing a cartwheel, ect. We drove back through some residential areas and viewed other light wars going on. Some were impressive. I looked at them, thinking first wow check that one out. Then I thought, someone had some time to kill with the setup.

We stopped over to my dad's house and visited a little while. Well, my wife visited while my son mauled me on the chair. He let me borrow Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne PS2 games. I will have to blog my thoughts on them when I can check them out. I played GTA III on the PC before and seen my dad play the Max Payne. I look forward to both.

I figured I better give an update on my exciting life.

First off, Monday was a true blue Monday. It doesn't sound like I was alone either. During the day two individuals in separate facilities had bad days as well. I had also called my dad yesterday evening during my son's therapy and he 'informed' me nearly 15 minutes of his suck a%% day. Oh well.

Regardless, my Monday ended with a bang. I had the opportunity to go shopping for stocking stuffers for the wife. After giving the kids showers I took a lone trip. I hit about 3 stores and it was nice to get out and about. One part I enjoyed was the ability to look at the new games and consoles. Readers know we are giving our kids a playstation 2 this Christmas. Yeah, it's true I am psyched for it too. I am an old gamer at heart, but just don't have the time to play. Well, I plan to put this gift to use when the kids and wife are in bed at night. Anyway, looking at the consoles I was asking this guy about cheat codes used in PS2. I wondered how they differ than the old Nintendo game genie. I found out not only does the PS2 contain USB's, the newer cheats come in USB and memory cards. Seems you can jack the cheat in, play the game and then switch to your saving memory card. So now I know. I am curious if you can download cheats off the net onto a regular USB storage and then use that in the PS2. I will have to test that. It may be a specific format on the cheating device.

The old gamer was reignited in me; looking at the cool games and actually speaking game. The guy asked 'where have I been' and my only reply was trying to catch up. I must had sounded like I bunked with Bin Laden in a cave for the past 2 years. sigh.

Today at work wasnt nearly as bad, Thank God. I had time to run an errand during lunch which is not usual anymore. I actually was also able to campain for School Board a bit.

I also started watching the second season of 24. Man, it's a good show. I am not going full blown, staying up in ungodly hours. I don't think I will be watching season 4 when it starts in January. I I just can't seem to be able to keep up with an actual show. Usually something comes up not allowing me to see it or time gets away from me and I miss the shows.

We are having to watch the friends kids tomorrow. Today is the kids last day in school before Christmas vacation. Lucky dogs. Anyway, seems we are watching them tomorrow all day. I am sure I will be locked in my office. Guess I can't go pee with the bathroom door open tomorrow.

I can't help but notice the kids doing comparisons on each other. Take for instance my daughters friend. She came in yesterday for a little bit (the girls are in the same class together). My wife does a newsletter and she has a card exchange within it. This along with friends and family, we acquired a few cards on our wall. She likes to display them, giving us that much more a Christmas cheer. Anyway, the other girl comes in and immediately says, wow you have alot of cards. We have alot too, we have 23 already. Then proceeds in counting ours. sigh. Just one example. I guess it's in all of us to do some type of comparison or evaluation. I heard everyone does it. Regardless what you think, in the first 2 minutes of initial contact with someone, you subconsciencly do it.

Yesterday afternoon, I finally figured out what was wrong with the stupid VPN. The PCLan dude had given me the wrong group. Basically it allowed me to Corp but not as the interface team, hence no access to my desirable stuff. Crimey. I acquired the proper group and password and boom, asterburners on. I kicked in overdrive and worked that night as well, trying to catch up.

Friday I was on support and it was busy. Seems everyone only finds charging issues on Friday afternoon. I won't go into detail but by 1 p.m. Friday everyone seems to slow down and do not return your email nor voicemails.

Looking at the other blogs of interest I tried to give Jack instruction on creating a link within his blog. But the blasted thing kept screwing up. So I figured I would try to spell it out in today's blog.

Basically it is done like this.

(a href="http://middle_americaworldview.blogspot.com/") Your description here(/a)

Lets break this out.

First off, you do not use the parentheses. Rather they are lesser than and greater than symbols.
I had to use them simply to show the whole descriptive link.

Hence, "(" would be the less than sign the one above the comma and replace the symbol ")" with the greater than sign the one above the period.

Ok hope that's not too confusing.

A href= this is the equivalent of the link itself. Also called an attribute.

" gotta have the quotes

http://middle_americaworldview.blogspot.com/ This is the website the link will be using

" gotta end it with the quotes.

/a This ends the link.

Note the Your description here would be the only value showing up in the webpage.

Example:

(a href="http://middle_americaworldview.blogspot.com/") Your description here(/a)

is viewed as Your description here.

Hope this helps and it doesn't sound too confusing.

Finally received the VPN software I need to get back online with Corporate using my cable internet access. Still trying to get it properly installed. Suppose to be a simple uninstall/install function. Yeah, ok. Currently cannot get into Lotus Notes. Doesn't seem to be my week to get anything done right.

I am figuring it's the VPN not being configured. Bummer man.

I heard on the news today in Florida, an individual won in the supreme court the ability to display a nativity scene in public, by other religious displays. What's the deal with America around Christmas anyway? We are suppose to be tolerent with the exception of Christ's celebrated birthday, that also happens to be a federal holiday? Talk about bias. A friend sent me an interesting email I will post below.

Take Your Christmas and Stuff It

"Christmas with the Kranks" is not only the name of a holiday movie this
year, it is also a national trend. Once again, Christmas is under siege by
the growing forces of secularism in America. Put these facts in your
stocking:

* Federated Department Stores, which includes Macy's, has suggested that
managers avoid displaying "Merry Christmas" banners and have ordered
employees not to talk about it.
* In Denver, a church was banned from the "Festival of Lights" parade
because it wanted a religious theme to its float.
* The Maplewood, New Jersey school board has banned all religious music
from "holiday" concerts. (Would somebody please tell me exactly what holiday
this is?)
* And New York City Mayor Bloomberg insists that the lighted tree outside
City Hall is not a Christmas tree, it's a "holiday tree." (What holiday,
Mr.
Mayor?)
Surveys show that more than 90% of Americans celebrate the Federal holiday
of Christmas, signed into law by President Grant in 1870. Despite that
overwhelming number, the tradition of Christmas in America continues to get
hammered.

The anti-Christmas forces say it's all about diversity, protecting the
sensitivities of those Americans who get offended by the mere mention of the
birth of Jesus. Somehow, I haven't been able to locate any of these
people--folks who find a baby in a manger so off-putting, it ruins their
day.

So the diversity excuse is a bunch of bull. What's really going on here is a
well-organized movement to wipe out any display of organized religion from
the public arena.

The secular-progressive movement understands very well that it is organized
religion, most specifically Christianity and Judaism, that stands in the way
of gay marriage, partial birth abortion, legalized narcotics, euthanasia,
and many other secular causes. If religion can be de-emphasized in the USA,
a brave new progressive society can be achieved.

It has happened in Canada. Once a traditional religious country, Canada has
become like Holland in its embrace of the secular movement. Some facts: In
1980, 79% of Canadians said that religion was important to the country. That
number has now fallen to 61%, according to an Environics Focus Canada poll.

In 1971, less than one percent of the Canadian population reported having no
religion whatsoever; now that number has risen to 16%.

The fall of religion in Canada has corresponded to a change in public
policy. Unlike Americans, Canadians have legalized gay marriage and any kind
of abortion. Also, the age of consent for sex up north is just 14 years old.
Can you imagine American adults being allowed to fool around with children
that age? I can't.

Even drug legalization is close to being a reality, as the city of Vancouver
is developing a heroin give-away policy, and pot has been largely
decriminalized across the country.

The Canadian model is what progressive Americans are shooting for, and so
religion must be dealt with. Since Christmas is the most demonstrative
display of organized religion, the strategy of minimizing the birth of Jesus
makes perfect sense.

I know this sounds kind of conspiratorial, but it really isn't. Most of
those marginalizing Christmas have no idea about the big picture I've just
presented. They simply think they're looking out for the minority of
Americans who don't celebrate the birth of Christ.

But committed secularists in the media, in the courts, and in the education
system know exactly what's going on. And now so do you. Merry Christmas!

Although I have not seen it much in the news, new information has been produced regarding the Matthew Shepard case. If you recall Matthew Shepard was murdered in 1998 brutally. It brought big news due to Matthew happened to also be a homosexual. The gay activity groups used Matthew Shepard as an icon for the hate crime bill. With the activity group pushing to add homosexuality on the hate crime bill, the news of Matthew Shepard murder helped facilitate it.

I seen a snippet on 20/20 with new knowledge proving the Matthew Shepard case was not a hate crime. Although this is significant, I do not believe enough news has been given to it.

I recall a book I once read where a character had setup a church to look like a terrorist organization. The character understood once the FBI had done an investigation, it would show to be a setup. However, the character also knew by the time the truth was unfolded, no-one would really care or recall the truth, rather the big lie__the church was a terrorist organization.

This same scenario was done with the Matthew Shepard case. The gay activist took this unfortunate activity and wields it to their own use. Now we have the truth, the case was not a hate crime. However, he was used for another purpose and agenda. Recently Focus on the Family has requested Katie Couric to retract her anti-Christian statements after the Matthew Shepard story. NBC had refused to do so. I will post the full article below.

I condemn the act against Matthew Shepard; I also condemn the gay activist to take his murder and use it for their own personal agenda.

NBC Stands Behind Couric's Anti-Christian Comments
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
December 14, 2004

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (Talon News) -- A network executive with NBC News sent a letter to conservative Christian group Focus on the Family last week refusing to comply with their request that "The Today Show" host Katie Couric apologize for her anti-Christian comments during a broadcast just days after a so-called "hate crime" was committed against Matthew Shepard.

Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

Felt like crap all morning. I called in the 8:30 weekly team call for work like normal. However, only 2 of us decided to show up in it. Throughout the morning, it was apparent he and I was the only ones online. Around noon, I picked up our friends son again. The preschool teachers informed me they been trying to get ahold of his parents because he has over 100 temp. sigh. "Come on bud." I took him home and gave him some motrin. Poor kid looked like I felt. I sat him in the living room with a soda and a cartoon on the boobtube. The parents were finally contacted by my wife and came to get him. He will not be attending preschool tomorrow.

Around 1 p.m. today I lost my internet connection. Totally failed on me. I called Cox, worked with tech support (after 45 minutes on hold waiting for them to answer). Tech support and I worked on it for quite some time, but to no avail. Frustrated I made a decision and took the modem to the local Cox in Fort Smith. I told them to take it. I went to buy a new one at Best Buy. Came home and recalled Cox support to give them the inner details of the new modem. It took an addtional 2 hours ( not kidding ). I was on hold initially for support for another 40 minutes. Once I acquired someone (must been the first techs brother), he started to setup his side for the new modem and then had to transfer me over to the conversion department, since they have now a faster net than what I had. I waited around 25 minutes for her. Once the lady in there answered, she set me up. She then had to resend me back over to tech support to finish setting up the modem. Yes, another 30 minutes waiting till I get another guy. He set me up and we were underway. Whew.

Supposedly the faster speed is called 4 meg. I can actually tell a difference.

Bottom line....must been 4 people working in tech support at Cox today, Cox had upgraded to a faster net but didn't inform those on the slower one, and now I have a Cox bill 10 dollars less per month due to owning my modem as opposed to renting theirs.

I started to get my voice back a bit this afternoon. Feel better than I did this morning, but still not 100 percent.

I also finished the buttermilk. Retched stuff. I had to hold my nose to chuck it and then continue to hold it eating or drinking something else before I could let go.

Saturday morning, Kelli decided to run to town and grab some items. She ended up coming back and we had lunch at Olive Garden. It was nice to just sit with the immediate family.

The remaining afternoon consisted us taking showers and relaxing. I managed to wrestle in the floor with the kids for over 2 hours. Then between commercials. They wore me out. At one point I started to get up from my knees and my right knee wouldnt bend. It was a bizarre feeling. So this is what old age feels like? Crimey.

Sunday morning we went to church. It was a full house today. Some kid had hit my son right in the spot of the procedure. This caused our son to seize for 70 seconds. We took him home early. Yes, I wanted to beat the hell out the snot. But on the other hand, the kid doesn't have any parental guidance at all. I recently heard he and his sibling had already been kicked out of all the other local churches. So with respect of understanding the situation, I just wish someone had a better handle of him.

Our son took a nap and felt much better afterward, fortunately. sigh.

Other than that, my wife seems to be getting sick and I am losing my voice. Just need more mending, I guess.

Thursday, we basically drove all day to home. We arrived home around 4:30 p.m. and man I am glad of it. Fortunately we cleaned house prior of leaving. It is always nice to come home to a clean house. Unfortuantely it didnt last long due to unpacking and the beginnings of 5 loads of laundry. We did our ritual of returning from a trip by grabbing a pizza for the night. The kids wanted a sleepover in the living room, so we laid out the pallet for them.

I crashed early, having to get up early and head into Little Rock.

Friday, getting up around 5 a.m. I shower and head off. I had already prepared myself by laying out the chlothes, lunch ect. the night before. By 5:40 I was already well on my way with a full tank of gas.

It took about 3 hours to get to my destination. I was in early enough for my registration and twiddling my fingers to get this going. It was a Fred Pryor Seminar on presentation and clarity. I found it interesting and useful. The day went along fast enough. The only thing was the hour long lunch. I never get an hour lunch, so within 20 minutes, I am ready to get back in there to go. Kelli had purchased me the second Tim Lahaye book on cd. It was "The Secret of Ararat". It wasn't a bad book. I was appreciative of her getting it.

The seminar ended at 3:30 p.m 30 minutes less time than expected. I quickly gave my respect to the instructor and was well on my way. As I drove home, I was thinking I put in 20 hours on the road this week. I don't see how those driving for a living actually do it. I was exhausted and quite frankly sick of it. I drove 7 hours Monday to Amarillo, 7 hours back home Thursday and now 3 up and 3 down Friday for Little Rock.

I stopped into Fort Smith and chatted with my Dad on the way. He had to show off his new bird, computer, ect. It was nice to just sit and relax. For one afternoon I only received one call for work (still on-call ). It was only a FYI for the weekend. So no interruptions.

I arrived home nearly 7 p.m. already stopping for gas as well filling the tank. I ate my hotdogs, chips, watching Digimon with the kids.

I guess the little sleep and all the driving has worn down my system. I feel a cold coming on. I had a pimple Sunday. I told Kelli, I cant believe I am breaking out, must be the stress. You would think at 33 you wouldn't have to deal with that crap anymore. But it broke out to a cold sore. Great. The one week of seeing everybody in a facility (some not in 7 years ) and a seminar, I have a cold sore that feels like mount olympus on my lip. sigh. Oh well, what are you going to do. I been treating it since Thursday with medicine. I will take the plunge and drink buttermilk tomorrow. I have heard it will get rid of them quickly. My dad also swears by it. I will have to hold the nose and drink quickly.

The reason I am blogging at nearly 3 freaking a.m.? I call from work of course. I was called at 1 a.m. paged the vendor to recycle their side. I waited an hour and then called again. Finally resolved it. Yes, now I am awake and figured I should blog.

Going to bed now and try to sleep in till at least 8 a.m. Wish me luck..

Is it really Wedndesday? Well, I came into the command center it was pretty obvious they had not did a maintence on the circuit last night. The morning update meeting informed us not only did not bring down the circuit but they did not know when they would. So you had over 26 facilities prepare for downtime around midnight for no reason what-so-ever. Not good.

I had only a couple of request during the day. They were easy revisions. I was able to work on a couple other projects and resolved a Medquist issue at another facility.

I finally was able to leave due to everything cool fro interfaces. I was able to rest for a bit once back in the hotel. The family and I went out to 'On the Border' meeting with Kell's aunt and uncle again. I had two calls during the dinner. So much for 30 freaking minutes. The kids and I came back to the hotel while Kelli went to the stores with her aunt. After resolution of issues, the kids and I hit the pool. I enjoyed playing with them in the pool. We had the whole pool to ourselves.

Now it's night and the kids are already in bed watching Teen Titans. We plan to leave early in the morning heading home. My son doesn't have to see the doctor in Little Rock. It looks like I will be taking that trip alone Friday.

My son's procedure took literally 12 minutes. I was so glad to hear this. It went well and other than a slight fever yesterday eve, he was none the wear. Kelli and the kids went to see the Incredibles. She said it seemed a bit long, but all enjoyed it. They plan to go to Mr. Gattis today.

Yesterday was more of twiddling fingers than actual working on the live. I ended up catching up on all my other tickets and projects. OPUS OM was down till around 3 p.m. due to printer issues. Since they could not resolve the printer issues, everyone remained on downtime. Another issue that was occuring; with only around 40 people on the system, it dragged it down to lag. This was a big concern ( and the reason we were suppose to be moving over from 03 to 06 server). I never did hear why they had not done that. With the obvious issue of processor speed (affecting 3 other facilties too) they decided to move it around 4:30 p.m. This was accomplished shortly after 6 p.m.

I was able to leave around 4:45 p.m. since there was literally nothing I could do until the system was back up. I had already changed the IP's over to the 06 server. I was able to eat with the family and Kell's aunt and uncle at Logans Steakhouse. I recieved 3 calls during my meal, buy that's just the way it was.

I expected to recycle all facility interfaces last night around 2 a.m due to Corp taking down a circuit for maintenance. However, I never received the call. I woke up 4:30 a.m. and checked the interfaces, all remained up. The email was explicit of the time, perhaps a miscommunication?

I was up and around by 6:20 a.m. and went out to get some Krispy Kreme's. mmmmm

Well, here is hopeing for a good day.

The Monday rush wasn't as bad as I feared it would be.

I had to turn in my chance to run for school board Monday morning. It opened at 8 a.m. Fortunately, they gave me the papers prior to. That allowed me to fill them out and have it already notarized by 8 a.m. I was in and out in 10 minutes and we then could get on our way to Amarillo.

I made contact with my supervisor around 10 a.m while on the road. I told her I wasn't very comfortable on a number of things, no-one seems to have this project in control one of them. She basically agreed and acted like she was also disturbed there seems to be no clear direction. So much for guidance.

We drove pretty much straight to Amarillo, stopping only on 3 occasions. We arrived around 5 p.m. It rained in Oklahoma City and in Amarillo. While we loaded in the hotel in Amarillo it started hailing like crazy. Fortunately it passed over quickly and we didnt have to drive in it.

I made my calls after we unpacked and then we went to eat at Joes Crab shack. When we came back in the hotel I started support. I had to basically go through every facility and check for any connections to be recycled. I had no less than one and no more than 6 in every stinking one. It took over an hour to get them all recycled. Note this was for support not the live NWTH was going through.

Fortunately I was needed for the order system live going on. I will be going to the hospital soon and be point of contact for the interface team. So my fear of being there for 36 hours straight wasnt a reality. My supervisor isn't here in Amarillo either. I will be acting as the interface team alone. Oh well. I was hoping my wife and she would meet in person but it's not going to happen on this trip.

This morning my son has his procedure. It sounds like it will be done within 30 minutes upon startup. Praying all goes well and this is indeed the last one.

The weekend was one of activity and rest. Friday evening we went out to a Seafood buffet. It was my wife's mother and aunts birthday celebration. For you nothern readers, the buffet consisted of salmon, catfish, crawfish, shrimp, ect. It was pretty good. I filled my self too much though, but heh it was all you can eat. : )

The kids wanted to stay over night with their nana and papa (wifes parents). So after everyone ate the kids went to their house. This allowed my wife and I some time alone to do some running. We hit the Office Depot (supplies), Kholes (wife had 20 dollars in coupons), Walmart, Books A million and Hastings. Kelli was able to find some books for our long drive to Texas, Monday. We came home around 10:30 p.m. drinking a hot chocolate for her and a Mocha for me. That night while still awake on mocha I watched 24 till around 3:15 a.m. Yeah, I know crazy.

Our kids had basketball games pretty much all day Saturday. The games were strung out, 30 minutes each and we had some time in between. We left for home around 12:30 p.m. Took a nap and Saturday night went out to look at Christmas lights around town. I was impressed with on particular drive. There were about 10 houses; in each yard a part of the 'Night before Christmas' story was told. Definitely some group effort there.

I was able to finish the remaining season one for 24. Whew, I wanted to finish it before I left Monday and was able to accomplish it. Man, it was really good. I would suggest this one to any and all. My wife didn't watch it with me, but I told her the plot each morning as I viewed them.

Today, Sunday, we are going to Church and then dropping the dogs over to Kelli's aunt. She is watching them for us as we are away. We also had planned on cooking hotdogs over a fire at her parents house. Currently, that does not look to happen considering its been raining all morning.

A: According to evolutionists, the oldest fossils ever found are a blue-green algae that lived along the coast of Australia and South Africa. These fossils have been dated by them to be 3.5 billion years old. But when they examined these fossils under the microscope, they found that they were identical to the blue-green algae that are still living today.

Dr. William Schopf, a leading evolutionist, says that this presents a tremendous problem for evolution. You see, evolution is based upon change, and yet these algae don’t appear to have changed at all in their supposed 3.5 billion years.

If evolution is based on everything changing, why do we find these oldest fossils to be identical to the living algae today? And it’s not just the blue-green algae—scientists continue to find many living animals that appear to have hardly changed at all compared to their fossils that are allegedly millions of years old.

The answer is in Genesis. God made all living things—including blue-green algae—only thousands of years ago. They’ve always reproduced after their own kind, as commanded by the Creator.

I th0ught I would post a quick blog before I started work today. I had a chance to read other blogs on my list and add a new one. I still find it rather fascinating some blogs are dedicated to ones life, while others are purely for information.

I didn't mention this yesterday but my daughter ( now 7 going onto 21 ) brought a note home today to show me and my wife. It was a love note from Daniel. Some boy in her class. It basically read 'I love to Brittney'. She was all excited stating he took his snack time to write this for her, but didnt have time to write from Daniel. sigh. These kids are in 1st grade for crying out loud. Hell, looking back in my old photos and notes, I think I had a crush for my 1st grade teacher, but love notes to other classmates? I don't think so. I can only see trouble for my ulcer and more grey hair for my future.

The kids had a basketball game last night at school. It was one of those class A against class B types to help raise money for a field trip. I caught this guy sitting behind me on my right hollering 'Go Daniel' as my daughters class played. I asked the dude if his kid was Daniel. He replied 'yes' somewhat enthusiastically. I mentioned his son gave my daughter a note today waiting to see if he gave a shit. He really didn't raise an eyebrow. Oh well, discussion closed. Watching the boy on the court I couldn't help the feeling this will be one of those preppy kids in school. I mentioned the guys reaction to my wife when we where home last night after the games indicating he seemed to be non-sociable. Kelli informed me the mom's snotty. Great. These are the types I detested while growing up in my small school. Yeah, it's only 1st grade and I really shouldn't be thinking of this crap right now. However, I look around and realization keeps reminding me its' a different world then when I grew up.

Where are those tums.

Yesterday at work I pretty much dedicated the whole day to finish a grid. Basically data entry on routes and route assignments. Talk about a time killer, but it was necessary. I been putting it off for far too long. At least it was completed.

Today I was on support. Pleasantly it wasn't that bad. I had only about 5 tickets from support today. I will be on it again tomorrow but heh its Friday.

The auditors finish scavenging our company and put out what they expect. In a nutshell, more documentation. Open a ticket on every project, task, request and be darn sure to include any update, change, discussion, email, documentation, fart in that ticket to cover all areas. sigh. Yes, we live in a world where in court, if its not documented, it didnt happen. We keep hearing about trying to go to a paperless society, but do we really have to replace the paper with a thousand lines of data? I am all for CYA but now it's coming down from the top.

Next week will be very busy for us. The family will be driving into Amarillo, Texas Monday. I will be working at a facility site doing an Order system update. Our son will have a procedure Tuesday in Amarillo. We will remain there till we drive back home Thursday. Then on Friday we have to drive into Little Rock, Arkansas. I have a work seminar to attend, while my family takes our son to another Doctor visit there.