Middle America's Worldview

I am finally on vacation. It officially started Thursday night, when I was able to get away from work. (smile)

Thursday we drove to Collinsville, Illinois. We stopped at Wilson's Creek National Museum. Sweeny Museum wasn't opened, but we were able to check out the main visitor center. I thought it was all fascinating. We were able to watch a LED show of the battle regarding "Bloody Hill" as well as a short 15 minute film. There were some artifacts we could view at the center. We didn't do the drive (45 minutes), but will definitely have to come back to check out the Sweeny Museum.

We left Collinsville this morning and made our way to Tipton, Indiana. The drive from Collinsville to Tipton was pretty dry. I seen farm land after farm land as far as the eye could see.

We met up with Anne and her husband. It was nice to find our destination. I had to dust off my pool experience (been a couple of years) and play her husband. We also purchased the movie The pursuit of happyness and watched it together. It was an awesome, character driven movie.

We hit Indianapolis tomorrow for the day.

I found an interesting search engine called Good Search.

Every time you use GoodSearch, they will donate one penny ($0.01) to the charity of your choice. It's an interesting idea.

The example the provide is the following.

For instance — if 10,000 people searched 5 times a day, that could easily multiply out to an amazing $182,500 a year in support for the charity! JUST FOR DOING SOMETHING YOU ALREADY DO EVERY DAY!

GoodSearch works just like Yahoo! or any other search engine. You don't need to download any software, sign any agreements, pay any money, or even give them your name. And GoodSearch is powered by Yahoo!, one of the most reliable search engines out there. So you can be sure it's reputable, safe, and secure.

Here is the link that shows how to use the Good Search Engine

You can also download it to IE or Firefox, via a toolbar.

I received a email for "Prison Fellowship" mentioning the Good Search Engine.

Another great find on YouTube!



The video is 5 minutes 43 seconds.

Today and tomorrow. That is my mantra today. I already have my suitcase packed and ready to head out of here tomorrow.

No surprise. My preconceived thoughts to have certain things accomplished while I am up here, did not come through. However, other items have. So I simply take what I can.

Tuesday is the only evening I actually did not stay over an hour at work. Last night, I didn't leave till 6 p.m. It's like that up here. I only have a empty hotel room to go to, so why not work? (shrugging shoulders).

I plan to leave on time (ha ha) today, due to a really early flight out tomorrow. This will allow me to get to bed early tonight.

A fascinating Evolution video I came across last night.




The video is 9 minutes, 59 seconds. Well worth the time.

Although, I do not enjoy leaving the family behind as I come up here in PA, I do learn more of the group I work with each time.

Yesterday, unexpectedly, both boss ladies and a peer came to lunch with me. Normally I only take a peer out to lunch. This becomes a one sided conversation as I listen to my peer's frustration, expectation, ect.

There is a different atmosphere when the group is together. Individually, they are more reserved in discussion. However, each (well 2 anyway) still discusses something about themselves, I didn't know before. I truly find it fascinating to listen to people's experiences, history. This puts a new facet of themselves out there that allows me to gleam a little more understanding about them. The more I know about them, the easier it is for me to understand their view and perception of how the world operates for them.

The lunch was unexpected, but enriching.

Yesterday, I was in the office nearly 12 hours. I didn't get out till 7 p.m., hitting TGIF on the way to the hotel.

I was able to watch "Enterprise" and "Digging up the Truth" before crashing last night. I also picked up some Tylenol PM to assist my rest while I am up here.

I also spoke with the boss lady and it does not appear I will be required to buy another pair of shoes while I am here. I am glad, because I just can't see buying some shoes when I have 2 brown shoes at home in the closet.

I touched down in PA last night around 10:30 p.m. est time. After I picked a car from National and drove to King of Prussia, it was around 11:30 p.m.

Since I drunk 2 cups of coffee on the plane, I didn't get to sleep till well after 1 a.m. During that time, I caught a bit of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. I found myself actually enjoying it. He had Huckabee on the show for a bit. I was impressed with Mike's answers.

It was in the 60's for temperature at home, I came into snow on ever side of the road here in PA. Below is a quick shot (via phone) of the parking lot.

Believe it or not, I failed to bring my shoes. Bummer, I will be having to were the white tennis shoes today. I guess I will have to hit the mall this evening after all.

It's been awhile since a good post, so here it goes.

First, I am glad it's Friday. It has been a long week, with everything going on. I had a special school board meeting Monday night, an additional 3 and 4 year old 24/7 all week, the same raw busy running as usual (speech, church, ect.), and a unexpected call from work to top it all off. Seems, I will be running up to Corporate the week of the 19th. This was unexpected but hopefully a good trip.

The nephews should be picked up today before 3 local time. Last night one of them fell out of bed and had a bad dream. I am thinking it is probably due to having to leave today. They tell us, they miss and want to see their dad (nothing for their mom), but do not want to go home. They want to spend the night again, again, again, .....
You get the picture.

I have the regular school board meeting next Monday night. I will be taking a friends daughter with mine to a irish dance class this evening. I will have the son tag-a-long with us. Kel has to prepare for a float tomorrow while we are away.

Tomorrow holds for us a annual cub scout derby, the float, and a irish dance. A busy Saturday to say the least. Our regular church visit will be Sunday. So essentially the weekend is shot already.

Next week looks just as busy.

So, if I resort to only one good updated blog per week, hope you 5 readers will understand. (smile)

We had a great weekend away at Tulsa. The kids and I were able to play a game of LaserQuest. There were 26 players involved (2 birthday parties were happening) in the game we participated. Out of 26, guess who actually won? Yeah, I actually had the highest score. I was surprised at that as well.

Our daughter participated in the Jr. Vet class at the Zoo. I think she really enjoyed it. She was able to, among other things, dissect a chicken wing. LOL

In other news, I ran across this article involving YouTube and BBC. Since I have become addicted to YouTube, I found it interesting.

YouTube Strikes a Deal with the BBC
Joe Lewis | Staff Writer

In a move that seems to run contrary to recent trends, YouTube has
actually come to an agreement with a major content provider. The
BBC announced on Friday that it has struck a deal with the popular
video-sharing site that will see the UK based broadcasting company
share in advertising revenue generated by YouTube traffic.

After highly publicized breakdowns in negotiations with CBS and
Viacom, it looks like Google and YouTube have finally managed to
court a suitor into the video-sharing fold, avoiding any potential
copyright snares that might ensue with current BBC content on the
site.

The BBC's Tim Weber has more on the particulars of the agreement:

"One of the BBC's two entertainment channels will be a "public
service" proposition, featuring no advertising."

"It will show clips like trailers and short features that add
value - for example, video diaries of David Tennant showing
viewers around the set of Dr Who or BBC correspondent Clive Myrie
explaining how difficult it is to report from the streets of
Baghdad."G

I remember the song "Working for the weekend" by Loverboy back in the day.

Seems that is what we do anymore. At least for those that have a weekend off . Time is flying so fast anymore, we turn around and the weekend is among us already. I know I will blink twice and the weekend will be over.

Irregardless, I am looking forward to the weekend. We plan to go to Tulsa to visit family. Our daughter has a Jr Vet class scheduled for tomorrow. I also plan to play a laser tag game with them as well.

So today will fly like norm and I will working for the weekend.