Middle America's Worldview

Well, this week is still sucking. I know, I know it's my first day here. I arrived and settled in the hotel last night around 8 p.m. After running around to get something to eat and water for the week, it was nice to pull the shoes off.

I have a guy on the team leaving this Friday. I like the guy and he knows his stuff. There is also another gal on the team that has been out all week. She happend to be on call this same week, so they begged someone to take her call. I took tonight and tomorrow. I don't want this weekend. I have to travel back Sunday and I start next week on-call. I don't know what they are going to do. Nobody seems to want this weekends oncall. If I was home, it would be different.

I was able to acquire wirless for my work laptop. I have to say it's pretty sweet. I just plugged it in with the cd install and boom. I am online. The weird thing is at this Hilton the wireless net is free but if you just have a plug, then you have to pay for it. Last night I couldn't get online.

Now I sit here finishing up some work stuff and able to blog. I have a red wine, merlot sitting here beside me. I am finishing up on my Tostado Nachos fro TGIF watching some weirdo movie on my 15 channel lineup.

After my poor wife allowed me to vent, I feel better. Or it could be the Corona I had after work and knowing this wine is waiting on me.

My Monday in word..sucked. Since I was up late last night, it seemed to just continue in the morning. I was on support today and it seemed to never stopped. Due to the servers being down last night, some files didn't cross over. Hence, a continuation. I tell you man, it was a Monday.

I did manage to get the grass mowed this morning after my barrage of tickets. It was already hot hot early morning. So I sweated it out and took a shower midday. But it is done prior of me leaving tomorrow.

In a quick synopsis of my day...Worked, cut my and neighbor's yard, ran the kids to speech, ran the kids to the doc's, hit the school board at 6:30 local time and managed to fix the broken fence in the back yard.

But enough of me griping.

The day is over and I am off to Pennsylvania tomorrow morning. I am sure once I am there, I can relax at night alone.

School Board meeting was quick tonight. We were in and out 29 minutes flat.

Through out the weekend, I heard basically 3 things from my kids. "When will mom be home", "Can I call mom" and "How long before mom is home".

I selfishly played and entertained the kids all weekend. I say selfishly with a grin, because, I have a school board meeting Monday night and leaving for Pennsylvania Tuesday morning. I will not be back till next Sunday. So I purposely spent alot of time playing with the kids all weekend, as opposed to ignoring them. (wink)

Kel asked me not to trash the house (lol) while she is gone. I managed to not only clean up my and the kids messes, but shampoo'd the carpets, wipe down everything and clean out her car. (big applause for me) Other than that, I pretty much gamed with the kids.

Unfortunately I was awoke Sunday morning around 6:30 a.m. by work. I had forgotten in my slumber I was actually on-call this Sunday (took it for a peer). Talk about a rude awakening. As you know, once I am up, I am up.

Now that it is 2 a.m. local time, I am again awaken for work. Not a single call all day with the exception of these off hour ones. I guess I shouldn't gripe. Seems there were 3-4 servers down. No telling why. I just spent 40 minutes recycling what I can with a vendor. I updated the siemens ticket and paged the facilities to recycle their side. I should head back to bed gathering what little sleep I have left, but I figure as soon as I do, my cell will ring.

I am glad Kel is back home. I knew she would be tired. I didn't think she would be up too late this night and I was right. around 7:15 p.m. she was already crashing. What surprised me was our son beat her to bed. Unreal.

Saturday with the kids was great!

I picked the kids up earlier than normal, when they stay over at the kids Nana and Papa's. After staying for a bit, we headed home. I started another load of laundry (those seem to never end) and shampoo'd the carpets. The kids started watching a cartoon on tv. I fixed lunch and we headed to our errands afterward. We dropped off the library books (kids didnt want to go in) then all the movies from last week and last night. The kids found 2 more movies to rent for our all nigth stayup, Pokemon 3 and Teen Titans Volume 1 DVD. We also picked up the pizza on the way home, so we didnt have to get out again.

Once we arrived home, I had the kids jump in the shower and pajama's. They had to wear one of their moms sleepshirt since they missed her. I pulled out my surprise for them. It was a new PS2 game called Xmen Legends. All four of us could play on it at the same time.

We gamed most of the evening with the Xmen. Taking a break, we watched Pokemon 3. After that we gamed some more. During this time, we actually received rain so let the dogs in the garage.

Our plan was to stay up all night gaming and movie watching. Around 9:30 this old man was already feeling it. We took another break to watch the Teen Titans. Knowing, it was a long dvd I picked up the snacks, pizza ect. The living room looks like a Frat party had taken place. Sure enough, our son fell out first with our daughter to follow around 10:30 p.m. local time.

I followed suite and headed to my own bed. I didnt plan to be beaten and squashed all night tonight.

Around 12:30 Kel called from her partying. It was loud in the background and she mentioned Eugene jumping into the water. My honey was still rocking and partying, while I was dozing at home. Sounds like she is having a blast and I am glad for it. She much deserves it. I keep telling her, just bring pictures back.

My father-in-law grabbed the kids around 4. I finished picking up the house and cruised over to my buddys house. He and I ate out at Logans. I actually had a Corona (the only beer I like) with my steak. We then hit Blockbuster to see if they had any movies for later. Picking up Hide and Seek, I seen if they had Evil Dead. The classic that scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. They didnt have it. It was a shame the kid that worked there even stated there really wasn't any good scary movies, other than Hide and Seek being pretty good.

We watched Batman Begins. Seeing the previews of War of the Worlds, we wondered if we picked the wrong movie. However, I personally thought it was a great movie. This guy far outweighed any other Batman movie (if you call anything with Val Kilmer a movie). I would suggest it to any guy to watch. I will be owning this bad boy when it hits DVD.

After the movie, we decided to run by Walmart picking our choice of beer. A 6 pack of Corona for me and a 6 pack of Smirnoff for him. Adding a bag of chips a piece we then hit Movie Town for 2 additional movies, Girl Next Door and The Jacket.

Since he has surround sound, we watched two movies there. After the second one, I left and headed home. It was 1 a.m. and he was yawning way too much.

During our movie watching the girls (Kel and her party animals) called and sounded like they were having a great time.

Well, that was my guys night out.

Friday morning started off way too busy and didnt stop. I knew I was going to get our friends kids Friday for me to watch around 8 a.m. However, what I didnt expect was that 7:55 call from work. I received a call about a project I am not even working on for questions (well its mine now). Two ladies called me for 'questions' (I hadnt had my coffee yet my girl was still asleep. The questions became more questions then they pulled in the vendor on the call to get this all settled. Next thing I knew it was 8:35, Erich and his kids are at the door. Being on mute, I asked them to get it. The kids let them in and the house alarm went off. With a phone jack in my ear, I quickly turned it off. I didn't even say hi. The kids were dropped off and 10 minutes later I am still on the phone. Then the cops were at the door. "Yeah we are ok, just didnt turn the alarm off." Left him and still on the phone. Then the neighbor was trying to call like crazy. I ignored it. Then she walked over. Phone still plugged in my ear while the vendor is speaking specs. "yeah we are good" Left her at the door. Finally, off the freaking phone after over an hour.

I called the neighbor gal back and let her know my first morning wasn't a tragedy. Fixed the kids breakfast and finished my half pot of coffee.

The remaining of the day was just busy busy for work. It was just too crazy for a Friday.

Kel left for the big city of Oklahoma City last night. It was around 6:30 when the other girls (2) came and they headed out. Our daughter hugged and held her most of the time of her escape. I pulled the mat from the office sofa/bed into the living room for the kids to sleep on. I had picked up a couple of movies for us to watch as a kickoff for the weekend. Our son picked out 'Fat Albert' and our daughter wanted to watch 'Are we there yet'. I had seen neither movie so was looking forward to watching something new.

Anyway I pulled the mat out and made the snacks and we were on our way to partying our weekend.

We started off with 'Are we there yet' and before the movie was half way over, our son didnt like it and didnt want to watch it. I had to inform him we were finishing it before we started watching Fat Albert. He then said he didnt want to watch Fat Albert. I reminded him he picked it out. "uh huh" Oh yes you did.

Needless to say, every hour (for 4 consecutive hours) the kids wanted to call mom. I held them off at least that much. They told me it's just not as fun without mom. Yeah, that's how much I rank. Even though, I leave for a week at a time, they are just not use to having mom gone. OH well. I say we stil had a good time.

We watched the two movies and then turned on Digimon. The kids talked me into sleeping in the middle of them. I laid there half asleep while digimon was playing and asked them if they are asleep. No answer. I turned the tv off around 11:30 p.m.

During the night I had one girl on one side that took up half the mattress. On the other side a boy that must had been dreaming of playing on the monkey bars (I was pulled, kicked, halfway beat to death). Then the dogs from outside first screamed to come in and then must had communicated that to the neighbor dogs, because it seemed to me they were up half the night barking.

Is it really Tuesday already? It's hard to believe Kel will be heading out to Oklahoma City in two days. Now I know how she feels being on this side of the fence. The honey leaving for a few days. I will have the kids to myself all night Thursday and Saturday. Friday, I get to work and watch my kids in addition to our friends kids being over all day Friday, I have my work cut out.

I have to say, I am looking forward to the nights alone with the kids. I purchased Xmen game for the PS2 that allows all of us to play at the same time. I told them we will stay up all night playing games, ect. I plan to get the pizza and party with them all night long. : }

Friday night, the kids will be picked up by Kel's parents. Even our friends kids. This will allow my buddy and I to go out to the movies. He want's to watch Dukes of Hazard, but realistically the more I see the previews, the cheesier it looks. I mentioned to him yesterday, I would prefer to see War of the worlds or Batman Begins on the big screen. I have heard rave news on Batman Begins and War of the worlds looks to be a cool movie on the big screen. Guess we will see.

I been trying to work on a certain project today and yesterday. More research here lately than me actually doing anything yet. I spoke with a senior analyst today in my idea and he replied with 'thats alot of work'. Yeah, but what are you going to do?

Tonight we had 15 girls over for a slumber party. Around 9:30 it dwindled down to around 9 girls as 4 left. Then another one left just now, 10:30 p.m. local time. I actually enjoy these parties, knowing the kids will not be young for long, but they wear me out. They were able to swim, play on the swing set, Kel had them creating a craft with flip flops, and they put on a fashion show with dressup makeup the works. Yes, even the little brothers had to put on a dress.

Now the trick is to get them to settle down. We also went through 6 pizzas. Thankfully Eureka Pizza has the buy one get two pizzas free. I sure thought we would have some pizza left in the morning, but nada.

Sigh, gotta go settle them down again.

I better update the remaining of the week.

Thursday: To be honest I can't recall. So it must had been really exciting.

Friday: Hey it's Friday. What else can be said about it? I recall it seemed like it took forever to be 5 o'clock. I was so ready to get outta the office, it wasn't even funny. Quite a contrast since the weekend is already almost over. (long sigh)

Yesterday, I was stuck working on our home P.C. Seem it grabbed something nasty to cause a software corruption. I was on the phone with Dell nearly all day. They had a office in India containging 1700 support personel that was flooded. So that left approximately 158 support personel in U.S. to help everyone. I kid you not. This is what I was informed and the cause of the 35 minute minimum wait for support. This was better as the morning was 85 minutes. So if you own Dell and wonder why you always get the guy who can speak with a broken language...there you go.

I heard a fascinating thing on Attack of the Show (please don't hold it against me) the other night. Evidently, there are hired spies to monitor movie theaters as you go into them. Kevin P. reported they were wanded and no camera's, camcorders ect was accepted as you entered the theater to watch your movie. Then on top of that, there were 2 guys in the lower corner of the theater watching everyone to ensure no-one was taking snapshots or video of it.

My thought on it? Why don't the Entertainment Industry clean up their own backyard first. It has already been shown most movie leaks, ect come from inside the Industry as opposed to some lame video hound from the street.

I hadn't actually had a chance to blog about the week. First of TGIF. I am glad its Friday tomorrow. I will try to pull in my week without too much detail (also what I actually remember of it).

Monday: I was on support for work. It was busy as usual, hence my interest in getting it done and out of the way. I recall Monday night I found out my brother had called in for his work. This really pissed me off. I normally do not speak of such language on this blog, but I was actually beyond aggravated on this one. He had actually called me Sunday and was mentioning his nutso wife pulled another hospital visit (she does them for sympathy and attention). Kel and I asked why don't we watch the kids so you don't have to call in (he has been calling in way too much for work). He got pissed and defensive mentioning a babysitter. Low and behold he ended up calling in to pansy his wife.

Tuesday: Work day wasn't nearly as bad. Had a conference call with a facility and vendor to schedule a live date on a project that took way too long. I was excited. I started to look for Christmas stuff online for the wife. I get paid once a month only and with that type of situation Christmas is only a few paychecks away.
I also caught the end of Criss Angel on A and E. Has anyone seen this guy? He is a illusionist slash magician and seem to have his own show. We also took the kids to our old church. They are having their vacation bible school between 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. I had mixed feelings seeing the old members. It was nice to see everyone again. Plus Kel and I actually had nearly 1.5 hours alone time. Sigh, good times.

Wednesday: Did some heavy research on a Christmas gift for Kelli. I think I now know what I will get her. I came close to ordering it, but they didn't have it. Work was work. I also did some research on this Criss Angel guy. Seems he was awarded Magician of the Year twice, which is unheard of. I was impressed with the short videos I seen. We took the kids to vacation bible school again. However, as I took the kids out, our friends were driving toward our house. I returned and they were still there. The girls were in the kitchen shooting the breeze and I was remarking Erich and I needed to choose a movie to watch. The girls are going to a PTA conference in Oklahoma City, leaving next Thursday till Sunday. I will have the kids Thursday and Saturday night alone. I am excited! Friday Kel's parents are actually watching ours and our friends kids. This allows Erich and I to take off and do some guy stuff. He wants to watch The Dukes of Hazard movie. I had mixed feelings on it. I grew up watching it as a kid. But, how will the movie be? It looks totally cheesy. He had'nt seen the "boots were made for walking" video by Jessica Simpson. So I had to ablige him by promptly taking him to the office and we both watched it online. Hmm, after seeing Jessica Simpson kick butt and washing the General Lee, I might have to watch it now. : )

I had to add this article in the blog. I read about this in the local newspaper yesterday. I could only shake my head with a grin.

Basically it boils down to this statement from her.

"Let’s start by uniting against the hard-right ideology in Washington,” Clinton said. “All too often we have allowed ourselves to be split between left, right and center. "

Yeah, they need to do something in the Democrat Party. Anyone with one eye can see the Democrat Party is split between the far left liberals (such as Hillary) and the moderate Democrats (such as Lieberman). I liked Mongos take on it. It's hillarous to see Hillary trying to ride on her husbands Presidential term and putting on the angel suit for take-off. Perhaps we will see her fall in a heaping defeat.

Sadly, if you can believe in polls, some people actually are buying it.

On another note, I really don't see anyone, Republican, Independent or Democrat, standing head and shoulders above for the next Presidential Election.


Some online articles on it.

Union Leader ran it

Cleveland article

I received another email regarding more screaming from the left on John Roberts. Just think of what one can better do with Soro's money. I can personally think of removing poverty in my county, first off, alone.
====================================================================================

JUDGE JOHN G. ROBERTS

MoveOn.org, the far left-wing nut group operated by billionaire George Soros raised $1.3 million to fight Judge John Roberts' confirmation to the Supreme Court BEFORE he was even nominated, and within minutes of his nomination called him "another right-wing croney."


Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who's most recent controversial remarks came when he compared American troops to Nazis, called Judge Roberts a "controversial nominee" who guarantees a "controversial nomination process."


Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), said, "I voted against Judge Roberts for the D.C. Court of Appeals because he didn't answer questions [about his views] fully and openly when he appeared before the committee." REALITY CHECK: He was one of only three Senators who voted against Roberts in the Judiciary Committee. Roberts was confirmed by the full Senate by unanimous consent!


Senator Reid (D-NV), the current Minority Leader, stated that confirmation could take "months" indicating he intended to try to stall the nomination indefinitely.


The far left Los Angeles Times could not really find any way to attack Judge Roberts, so the second day after his nomination by Bush they ran almost a full page story attacking his wife Jane. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT - the Times ran a lengthy story attacking Jane Roberts because she at one time served as an officer of the pro-life organization Feminists For Life.


On one TV talk show I actually heard a panelist demand to know "what kind of people" Judge Roberts attended church with and there was some concern because he attended a Catholic Church in the DC area that was thought to be "conservative."


Judge John G. Roberts will be confirmed. The fight will be short, but it will be intense and costly. In the end President George W. Bush will prevail and Judge Roberts will be confirmed because the Senate now has 55 Republicans! Had this seat opened last year when the Republicans had only 51 seats the results could have been different. Of those 51 there were two North East liberals who had voted more with Democrats than with Republicans. But in the 2004 election more of our kind of Republicans were elected. GING-PAC was intimately involved in two of those Senate elections --- John Thune (R-SD) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) --- we also supported Sam Brownback (R-KS) when he first ran for the House and then when he ran for the Senate. Brownback is on the Judiciary Committee and will help with the John Roberts confirmation!

==================================================================================

Even with all this chatter, mostly by the left wing groups, it appears the Senate has yet to pull a filibuster. You have to feel sorry for the liberals in one way. They live with a dying ideology and it's giving more and more people a bad taste in their mouths when they speak or hear of it. Let's face it people, the world is changing and we need to change with it.

Supreme Court Nomineeâe's Record, Philosophy Debated

(CNSNews.com) "No Democratic senators have threatened to block the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, but that has not stopped liberal groups from trying to stir up opposition to President Bush's selection. Many conservatives, meanwhile, stand ready to defend Roberts" from his liberal critics....

The weekend is already almost over. Saturday morning before 8 a.m. I was out and sweating my butt off. It is absolutely unreal how hot it is in Oklahoma. Friday showed to be around 113 with the heat index and I think it was the same Saturday. Around noon Saturday the Bank temp showed 105. That's without the heat index. This Sunday morning, I cleaned out the garage and straightened out the back storage, again around 8 a.m. and looked like a whore in a church house or pig in heat, take your pick. After my second shower this Sunday, I just put on my pajamas and we planned to just stay inside.

Yesterday (Saturday) we took the kids to the Circus! A actual Barnum and Bailey Circus came into Fort Smith. It was within the Convention Center so we were inside and cool for the whole show. It contained one hour of preshow and 2 hours of actual circus time. So 3 hours of watching feats the human body can actually do. Quite amazing if you asked me. I think the kids enjoyed it and like them, it was the only acutal circus I personally have ever attended. The girls were hot and the animals were very well trained. : )

After the circus we hit a resturant with our friends (that came with us to the circus) and pigged out. We then hit the house and actually took a nap. It is very rare we get to take a nap, so I deeply enjoyed it.

Today, I plan on watching the movie National Treasurer with the kids. I finally was able to talk them into it. This is a great movie for the family.

Another attempted attack on London's system the day after a botched job was done early this morning.

I woke up this morning with my wife informing me a attempted terrorist was shot down by London police. My first thought was, already another attempted attack?

The nut-job was shot down 5 times in Scotland Yard under the shoot-to-kill demand from the up and up.


From Fox News website this morning we read the following.

The man, desribed by passengers as South Asian, was shot was wearing a thick coat when he ran into the Stockwell subway station in south London Friday. Witnesses said armed police in street clothes chased him, he tripped, and police then shot him. The man died after being shot by officers at, police said.


"They pushed him onto the floor and unloaded five shots into him. He's dead," witness Mark Whitby told the British Broadcasting Corp. "He looked like a cornered fox. He looked petrified."


Whitby said the man didn't appear to have been carrying anything but said he was wearing a thick coat that looked padded.

At first glance it would seem the police there had itchy trigger fingers. The reality is not every police persons even carry guns. Now at 8:30 a.m est we hear the suspect wasn't carrying anything but ran from the police when asked to stop. Plus it appears this same individual was a suspect from yesterday's bombing. More than likely he was running from being apprehended and questioned.

I have two main concerns from this.

1) This action will most likely be a backlash on the police from doing their duty in apprehending a suspected terrorist.

2)The second thing is (in my opinion) these jobs done in London stations is a bigger job than what the surface appears.

Let me explain. It appears the first individuals might had been told one thing (drop the bags and leave) but was duped to be part of the operations. Then the botch job exactly two weeks after the first bombing. This must be significant and planned out. My fear is someone or a group is placeing emphasis on the stations and then will hit their primary target, something large, whatever that may be.

It took exactly twelve minutes for left-wing groups and liberal Senators to go on the attack against President Bush's conservative nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge John Roberts:

People for the American Way is "extremely disappointed" in the President's selection, saying it's "a constitutional catastrophe."

Alliance for Justice "cannot support Judge Roberts' elevation to the Supreme Court" because President Bush has a "track record of selecting ideologically-driven, divisive candidates for the bench".

The National Abortion Federation "calls upon the Senate to stand up to President Bush's attempt to destroy the fragile balance on the Supreme Court".

Planned Parenthood stated, "The nomination of John G. Roberts raises serious questions and grave concerns for women's health and safety."

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), whose most recent controversial remarks came when he compared American troops to Nazis, called Judge Roberts a "controversial nominee" who guarantees a "controversial nomination process."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), immediately announced that "I voted against Judge Roberts for the D.C. Court of Appeals because he didn't answer questions [about his views] fully and openly when he appeared before the committee."

Hinting at a possible judicial filibuster of the President's nominee, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) announced on Fox News, "The fact that Sandra Day O'Connor stepped down creates an extraordinary circumstance."

MoveOn.org raised $1.3 million to fight Judge Roberts... BEFORE he was even nominated, and reacted to the nomination by calling Roberts "another right-wing crony."

NOW (the National Organization for Women) said of Judge Roberts that "our hard-won rights will be in jeopardy if he is confirmed," and that President Bush chose "to pick a fight. We intend to give him one."

NARAL stated that "President Bush has consciously chosen the path of confrontation, and he should know that we... are ready for the battle ahead."

Below is a snippet of the email sent out by NOW

"Once again, George Bush has chosen partisan politics and paybacks over uniting the country," said National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy. "Roberts' background shows a political ideology that is inconsistent with the independence we have a right to expect from the Supreme Court. He does not have a commitment to the basic values of fairness and equality, and our hard-won rights will be in jeopardy if he is confirmed."

"NOW will fight Roberts' confirmation through a nationwide grassroots lobbying campaign. Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, leaves us a legacy as a centrist and independent jurist who upheld the rights of women. We don't need someone with an extremist political agenda, tied to special interests, who will tarnish that legacy," said Gandy.
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Other than a liberal choice, we expected the Left not liking any choice made whatsover. Personally, I think most of the verbage will be behind the scenes on this one.

Just a little on-call hell yesterday eve and last night. I was called yesterday evenign regarding a server outage that took out 8 facilites. Everything had to be recycled. It took 4 hours and then about 4 facilities never replying to my endless text pages for them. Sigh. Then around 12:30 a.m to 1 a.m. some facility I.S. that was on-call called me up griping about not getting called for a specific interace issue. This came from a facility not even part of the 8. Unreal.

So, I am up to 3 nights of little sleep. Last nights bit of hell and the two prior nights of nightmares. I am off call starting tomorrow morning and looking forward to it.

Today we were able to go to church. It was nice to see everyone again. I have to admit I do get aggravated at some of the things going on, but all in all it's a good church, with a good pastor.

When we came back home, we cleaned the house and outside yard. I didn't mow the yard, but we did get other stuff done. Inside the house, I had the cd blaring Def Lepard while cleaning the kitchen.

My great wife reminded me of Dead Zone being on. Talk about a rocking series. I absolutely love the show.

My night out with my wife for our 10th anniversary was great! Her dad picked up the kids a bit earlier than expected. I was hoping to get out early as well, but that didn't work out. My scheduled conference call lasted 1.5 hours. I was thinking more of a 20 minute call would occur. Someone took my on-call for the night, so no worries there.

We went out to a resturant we had not been since we were engaged. Being young and new, we had gone to it as a celebration of our marriage engagement, so only fitting to return to it for our 10th anniversary.

After dinner we went to Books-a-million and walked around. I love looking at books and it was a pleasure to view my interest (computer, ect.) without a bother. It was also interesting to see the people already showing up for the Harry Potter book release. They had setup a table in the back and the employee's was dressed as characters. I never read any of the books, but there was much chatter about it.

Saturday
I was awaken with work issues, so the one night relief was good to have. I took the kids out to watch Fantastic Four. I know Aggressive Voice flamed it pretty hard, but I personally liked it. I had a friend inform me, it was worth just seeing Jessica Alba. After seeing it, I have to agree. Man, I need to start watching Dark Angel. I admit the movie was nothing more than a intro to the characters. I also know the main actors/actress signed up for a 2 movie contract. Thus in my opinion, it's a clear attempt to gain more money by having this and another movie draw out the audience, toys, ect, ect. There was a couple of moments, I was concerned for my kids viewing, but they seem to roll with it.

I was on support today for work and it was a busy day. We kept having a server go down all day (still down) affecting 4 facilties. The gurus were on the phone with HP trying to see what the heck is going on. I guess they are still on the phone. I will probably get the call when I am almost asleep tonight, whenever that will be.

Today I received the call from the jewelers regarding Kelli's ring. They already had it resized. Man, that was quick. So I took off down there after work before 9 p.m. and picked it up. Brought it home and asked Kel if she would stay with me for another 10 years. Yeah, she picked it out, but you gotta admit 10 years is something to be proud of these days. And we are actually happy together as opposed to many. I was glad it came in before Friday and able for us to actually get it.

I also asked Kel if she wanted to go out Friday night. She said she "didn't care we could even bring some food home and stay inside". I replied, "I wanted to do something special". In that sweet voice she stated, "any thing with you would be special". how sweet for her to say Then she finished it with, "I put up with you for 10 years, haven't I"? Classy babe. : ) Well Kel, put on something nice, we have reservations for 5 p.m. Friday. (wink, wink)

The Vice President of PTA came over tonight and the 3 (Kel, she and I) went through all the 'stuff' from the PTA. There were papers back in 97 and 98. Unreal. They, more than me, really cleaned through it all. She just now left nearly 10 pm. local time.

During this my son kept asking me, "Dad can you help me with this game?" I being the game master said sure. So I tried to get Shaggy across this scenario (scooby doo game) without freaking dying. After the 5 attempt and my son informing me the ice stage is next I gave up. Crap, where was my gaming abilities? I went back to the pile of PTA mess and when I looked up he was already passed my point of defeat. I said, "Your already there? Your better at this game than me." His reply? "Yeah, I know." Man, I feel old.

Monday wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared it would be.

This week is Kelli and I 10th anniversary. It sure went quick for me. I am oncall this week, but managed to trade this Friday with another peer so I didn't have to worry about it. Kel's parents will take the kids Friday night to allow us some quality time. I looked into a night at Beland Manor. It is located in Fort Smith, not far away. It is also the outside location where we married. Due to finances and all our running this summer, I was still willing to bite the bullet. I also wanted to get her something nice but realistically I couldnt. Now comes the cool part. Kel spotted the exact anniversary ring she wanted in Kmart Monday. Kmart was having a 70 percent discount on their jewelry. So I grabbed the kids up and headed that way during my lunch to meet her there. The cost of the ring and having it resized is less than one night cost at Beland Manor. I think she was very excited about it. I personally was relieved to be able to get her something I wanted her to have.

I had a school board meeting Monday night as well. For the amount on our agenda, it went pretty quick. We were in there from 6:30 p.m. to around 8:20 p.m. I actually hanged a little afterward to catch an opportunity to speak with a couple of the other board members. I feel like I still need to get my language correct and more knowledge down before my next meeting. Fortunately, I wasn't called or buzzed from work during the time I was up there.

The weekend was nice in two ways. The first, we actually deep cleaned the house and organized. Well, Kel did most of the organizing. Second, we actually stayed home all day Saturday without having to go anywhere. Sounds crazy, but after running all week and having Kel work the full 8 hours everday it was nice to just stay home and clean.

We didn't even go to church today. I mowed mine and my neighbor's yard. It was hot as hell, figuratively, out there. Crazy thing was, when I finished we started to get a cool breeze. I guess the sweat did me good though.

We also went to our friends house today around 4 p.m. local time. They had invited us over for supper. It was nice to go to someone else's house to have them cook for us. Normally we have them over for these type of occasions. The food and company was good. Both our kids are around the same age so had a blast playing together.

Kel and I now are about to organize for the week to come. She doesn't have to work the full 8 hours each day, but again has a lot of running to do. It just crazy with all the running she does. Everything from doing the average errands, Doctor visit's, taking our son to the therapies ect.

Speaking of our son, I have to say he is doing great! We had our neighbor's girl come over last week and she could tell a dramatic difference in his speech. When I took him to the chiropractic and was informed he wasn't out of alignment. He also made 100 percent on his 4 syllable words. The speech therapist said he will now start on the 5 and 6 syllable words. Crud, I told him in the car, I would have to look those up. Those are too big of words for me. : )

Last night we started to watch The Greatest American Hero dvd I received for my birthday/Fathers day. My daughter loved it, but my son started to ask, "when is this movie going to be over?". Oh well, I was surprised they started to watch it with me anyway.

You can't but help feel sorry for some of these left wing organizations. Below is an email sent out by NOW rallying their supporters for a shout out to Bush. They are urging all to stop Bush from threatening women's lives. Little did I now women's lives were at stake.

I put the email in italics, my comments in bold.
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Women's lives are at stake. Tell your Senators to oppose any Supreme Court nominee who would threaten women's rights and civil liberties.

Lives are at stake our liberties could be removed from women. Wow all from one vote in a pool of others.

Please contact your Senators immediately and urge them to oppose any nominee who would overturn Roe v. Wade or limit the civil and human rights of any group of people.

So here is the crutch of their worry. An overturn of Roe v. Wade. Regardless of the fact Roe herself tried to overturn it 2 years ago.

With the resignation of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, George W. Bush will have the opportunity to replace a justice who has often made the difference in the preservation of essential rights. With a fragile 5-to-4 split in the Court on issues like abortion and affirmative action, we must fight for the appointment of a justice who will uphold and protect our hard-won Constitutional rights. Justice O'Connor played that role in many key decisions for women. Urge your Senator to oppose any Supreme Court nominee who would overturn Roe v. Wade and limit the economic and reproductive rights of girls and women in the U.S.

How can it be considered 'reproductive rights' when your destroying life? How about bringing it to a state by state decision or better yet a vote from all people? I admit this is a sensitive subject but realistically why should a lifetime appointment pend on his/her view of one issue?

Action Needed:

Please contact your Senators immediately and urge them to oppose any nominee to fill Justice O'Connor's vacancy who would overturn Roe v. Wade or limit the civil and human rights of any group of people.

Again the plea of roe v wade issue. It's obvious their primary concern.

After emailing your Senators, please call their local office (it's more effective than calling the DC office) to request a meeting with them or their chief of staff back home to discuss the importance of appointing a Justice who will uphold and protect all of our hard-won rights. You may not actually get a meeting, or it may be with a staff member, but a lot of requests for meetings will demonstrate the depth of our commitment.

Yeah, that's what our Senate needs, another meeting. Personally I am bogged down in them with my work. Why would you want to hold a 'meeting' when a simple request via phone, email or letter would suffice. There are only so many ways to convey your message. I guess they can later use this as a tactic to state "my Senator wouldnt see me or hear my comments".

Background:

As Texas governor, George W. Bush demonstrated that he doesn't require legal skills for a judicial nominees. His only requirement was that judges share his anti-abortion, pro-corporation ideology. Many of his nominations to the federal bench seem to have followed the same pattern.

The man's been in a Presidential office going on 2 terms and they still can't accept it. Unreal. It has already been shown the majority of the people reside on the moderate to conservative side. NOW just happens to be on the far left in ideology.

The character and record of anyone nominated to our nation's highest court must be thoroughly reviewed and considered by the Senate in their important "advice and consent" role. The Senate must be certain the nominee can discern between personal conviction and interpretation of the law as they balance the interpretation of our Constitution and our democracy's promise to protect and expand the civil liberties of all people, not just the privileged few.

Yeah right. I think we already seen the mockery of how the Senate abuses the filibuster and we already heard from some Senators they will go to an all out war for any form of conservative nominee.

Again, take action NOW!

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Nice

Again, it appears they are very worried on this change in the most liberal circuit. I recently heard possibly 2 of the circuit may step down and retire. It would be interesting to see the most liberal circuit become a moderate or conservative one. I wonder how long it would take for an outcry to break them up? Guess we will see.

This 4 day work week sure feels like a 5 day work week. Man, the last two nights I haven't slept worth a flip. I am taking drugs tonight. Whether it's tylenol pm or Melatonin, I don't care. The night before last I had nightmares all night and last night I just couldn't get rested.

My honey had to work all week at her job. So I am home with the kids all week. That's ok, we pretty much have a routine down now. The brats sleep till after 9 a.m. and play games all day. : )
Just kidding honey. heh heh

Looks like terrorist struck again. This time in London. Unreal. I was surprised to hear this, but not surprised to hear the the left making unreal statements. When will people wakeup and realize we are in a war? We fight a ideology in terror and on the supreme court bench. The question is who is more persistant?

Other than that, I personally continue to pray for safety and health to all.

Man, has the time flown. We had a great 4th of July weekend! We arrived home safe Friday night and finally unpacked the last bag tonight. heh heh

Basically we hit Dallas, Texas Friday night and then drove on home. It took nearly 1.5 hours just to get out of Dallas due to construction. At least we didn't get lost on the way back. : )

Saturday we spent the day doing our necessary errands to catch up and put some food in our fridge.

Sunday we went to Kel's parents to help out with the yard and get things ready for the 4th. Actually worked that day on the yard and cleaning up the garage, ect. That night Kel cooked 80 cookies and 24 cupcakes. I ate about 10 of the 80 cookies. Some were broken (had to eat those) and some were not (had to do a sample taste).

Monday we spent the day with Kel's parents. We had some of our friends over and enjoyed their company. Her dad had two grills going and cooked enough for an army. We had many variety of meat with some special delicacy ect. Man it was good. Some were smoked and others grilled. Toward the end, we were comfortable enough to actually get out and play some volley ball. There were 3 (counting us) families with 4 in each plus her parents and aunt. Then her brother showed up with some friends and about 3 kids. They didn't stay though. Even with all those eating, all took food home.

Get to get out of here tomorrow. I am so ready. I have to say this has been a good week having the family with me. I chided my wife by saying 'I never done this before'. However, I have to say this has been a very enjoyable week with them.

Tuesday night I had literally no sleep. Well maybe one hour. I had a datamove that night and ...it .... took .... all ..... night. I was able to knock back 3 cups of coffee all morning. This allowed me to move through the day. In fact that same day/night, we went to see some friends we use to live near 6-7 years ago. It was amazing to see the 'baby' now nearly a teenager. Unreal. Talking about feeling old. I was told I looked more grey and pudging out. Yeah, tough crowd. It was nice to see them though.

Today, I spent all freaking day trying to assist a peer in her project. I didn't get anything accomplished on my own stuff and I will be traveling all day tomorrow. I refuse to do it now. Its nearly 10 p.m. and we need to get up 4 a.m. The plane departure time is 7:30 a.m. It will be an early morning.

Did I say I am ready to go home?

My first work day in PA wasn't too bad. I only had one meeting, which helped out a lot. The day was pretty much taken in creating documentation and material for some education I will give to the group on Wednesday. I will be going over some applications I pretty much soley use, within the group.

Seems like Kel had a bad time with the directions. She called me up and I had to attempt to steer her the way to the zoo. Looks like Mapquest was way off on this one. Fortunately she found her way there, was able to take some pics and more importantly find her way to me. I was ready to get out of there.

The thought of seeing everyone and getting to converse with them in person is a nice thought. However, the reality is your still stuck in front of a computer within a cube doing your work. The primarly form of communication remains IM and email.

The Hampton were staying at had Pizza for us Monday night. So we chowed on it. They hotel provided it to it's guess. How cool is that? I chowed on pizza and then had one merlot and one zinfandel wine. The hotel is more impressive than I had thought it would be. I think I will be saying goodbye to MainStay and start coming here. They are currently renovating but overall the facilties services have been excellent.

I sit here alone in a huge office meeting room. The interface team was to get together and share ideas, knowledge. However, that is not happening. Two of the six was in here about 5 minutes. One of the six skitters back and forth. Only the guys stayed here the longest discussing. Oh well. I have 2 more days after this and I get to go home where it is sane.

Man, it's been too long since I have blogged. I tried to start one before I left for PA, but the stupid thing crapped on me. Oh well. I was going to comment on the crazy events going on within the news. But, its already 10:30 p.m. est and I am tired. I gripe at the other bloggers I read for not blogging after a couple of days, so I also felt obligated to get back in here.

The kids did great on their plane ride. Both were excited and after we were above the clouds the gameboys came on.

Basically the week went as follows.

We had the extermco guy come and do his thing Thursday around 11 a.m He showed up around 10:30 a.m. The guy really soaked everything down with the poison. The more the better, is what I say. Kel and the kids went out when he started to be away from it. She took them to watch 'Shark Boy and Lava Girl'. I had no desire anyway. After hearing my wife would rather have a bullet than to watch it again or when she is pissed at me, I would have to see it over and over again, I am glad I didn't. Evidently the kids liked it but my wife kept looking at the watch. I stayed in the office to finish up my 'have to' stuff with work before I grew a headache with the fumes. I took off and ran to Fort Smith for a bit.

We left as soon as Kel and the kids arrived home. We drove to Dallas getting there Thursday night. This allowed us to get in the Airport early for our flight Friday morning. We got turned around more than once and it took us a bit to get to the hotel. Once there, we found we were able to park the van there for less than 3 bucks a day. This is far less than expected. They shuttled us over and will shuttle us back when we return. Yes, honey, I am sorry for the crazy drive there.

We hit the airport earlier than needed. But oh well, it's better to get there early than late. This was the first time I used Air USA. I normally take America Airlines out of Fort Smith. We drove to Dallas purposely so we didnt have to take on 2 flights (Fort Smith and Dallas to PA)with the kids. Just a flight to and from on one plane for us.

We are staying at Hampton Inn in King of Prussia. Again, it's different for me in this regard too. I normally stay at Mainstay. I am happy with this hotel so far. Evidently on the weeknights (mon-thur) they provide free drinks and a meal in the evenings. I look forward to seeing if its any good. If so, I will stay here from now on.

We also hit the Green Dragon the same night we arrived in King of Prussia. It was closing down by the time we arrived. We was able to grab some fruit for the week and had some food on the way back to the hotel.

I had a hard time getting to sleep and when I did, the hotel's fire alarm went off around 1:30 a.m. Evidently the lobby's microwave threw a circuit.

Saturday we went to the Central Philly and rode the ducks while they explained the history of the area. It was cool.

We then walked King of Prussia Mall this afternoon. A very eventful 48 hours.

Too much has gone on, so I will be brief and try not to digress.

Fathers Day was good. I was able to get the yard done, but unfortunately without incident. I should say, I was able to sweat my butt off while I did our yard in addition to our neighbors yard. As my lovely wife has posted, one of our dogs unfortunately ran into the wrong crowd. We have 3 little dogs in the back and when I mow the yards it allows them to actually roam free. They get to go mark the other yards. Well, the smallest one went into the fence of 2 larger dogs. Why, I have no idea. It appears they mauled him to death. When I got there, he was already gone. My daughter, justly so, bawled her eyes out with my wife following suite. I buried him in the back and was man enough about it, till I came in the living room. Listening to my daughter talk about it, with both girls shedding tears was just too much. My heart ache and my eyes watered. It's one of those things you wish you could do something about, but just can't. The only thing I could do was listen and keep saying we will get through it. I also had to tell her the story of my first dog I lost. Yes, we re-live through our kids, unfortunately also through the bad times.

Monday was just another busy day. I had the kids all day and made them work. heh heh I managed to get them to do one closet. Yeah, real slave driver.

We plan to go to dinner with the friends tonight. Supposedly the kids eat free at this place tonight. It was unexpected and came into light, during church.

I had the kids again today. I plan to put them to work, if I can pry them from their gameboy and cartoons. We made a run between my meetings to get haircuts here in town. I like this gal. She is quick and normally not that busy on the times I happen to hit her. I received the pleasure to hear how she and her 1.5 year husband split up 2 weeks ago. Fortunately we were pretty much in and out. A short cut for my boy, bangs cut on the girl and a good trim for me. Slam bam, thank you maam.

We are now planning to drive into Dallas, Tx, thursday night after work. We fly out to Pennsylvania Friday. I had to take that day off as vacation.

What remains of our week looks like this;

Tuesday - dinner at night with friends
Wednesday - work and dinner at night with Kelli's family for her birthday (Sunday)
Thursday - have exterminators over to hit it again, drive to Dallas that nigth after work.
Friday - fly to Pennsylvania.

In the mean time, continue to keep house up and clean. We still need to pack and get ready for the trip. Get the guilt trip from my parents to see them before we go. Fun Fun.

I was able to watch Star Wars Episode III last night with a bud of mine. It was the first time he and I got out of the house together. I enjoyed his company as we were transfixed with the show. He like I, has a wife with no interest in the Star Wars saga. Also, he like I, has a birthday this week. So, with both wishing to see it on the big screen, broke loose and watched it.

The movie in one word was, coooool. I had read the reviews and thoughts of others watching the movie, no spoilers for me. I agree with some but not all. I personally didn't think it dragged at first. The 2.5 hours went quick for me. Yes, the desirable questions were answered, why, why, why. As we watched it I caught myself saying out loud. 'That's why....' Yes, the movie was great.

The plan for last night was for me and a friend to watch the flick, while my honey had some time alone last night. The kids went to their nana and papa's since we will be flying into Pennsylvania next Friday for a week. I couldn't help having the image of my wife waiting for me in bed at home while I watched the show. Yes, my imagination is good. I also had the lingering wonder if she would actually be asleep, LOL. The movie was over at 9 p.m. and my buddy and I talked as I dropped him off at his house and headed for home. I unlocked the front room door and sure enougth the lights were out with the exception of the bedroom. As I came in, Kel said she had to hide the guys in bed. I thought she was kidding, but then she said "and the pokemon movie". Then I heard the movie in our bedroom.

"What?"

Our son was in the bed watching a Pokemon movie.

She explained around 8 p.m. someone was homesick and came back. I quickly calculated that gave her barely 2 hours alone time.

So, no alone time for my honey and my dreams of lust bit the dust.

The week has been busy, yet again. I have attempted to do more and get additional 'stuff' done during the day of my work while Kel and the kids are away. I think I must have vacuumed the house 20 freaking times, wiped everything down again and keep everything picked/straightend up with the exception of my desk.

Since I find Fox news becoming repetitive, I found myself listening to C-Span during the day. I have also been searching on the net for a free website without banners. I will be testing out CJB.CC to see how it is.

I turned 34 yesterday. I don't feel any older or younger. I tried to consider how I changed over the years with reflection. I may post on that later.

I acquired 'Greatest American Hero' and Star Wars on DVD yesterday. In addition two really cool "Fear God" shirts. All of which I am tickled to death to receive. The kids and I watched Episode IV Star Wars and I was happy and surprised they stuck with me throughout the movie. I thought it was cute how my 6 and 7 year old kept asking questions during the movie. 'What is the forc? Is Yoda in this one? Those people look weird. Why is there a silver C3PO?' On and on they kept inquiring through the movie. I think I will try to go see Episode III at the theaters with a friend tonight.

Yesterday before my wifes family and my dad came over last night, I cleaned up the Frog pool in the front. We have a small circular pond about 2.5 feet in diameter with a frog in our front by our door. Kel received it last Christmas from her Aunt. I cleaned it up and filled it up with water. I planned to turn it on to allow the water be spitting out of the mouth. Well, when i plugged it in, no water. Hmm, messing with it I found there must be something in the tube. Well the tube part comes out of the butt of the frog. I tried to blow that end with no success and then attemped to other end. The mouth to mouth didn't work either. Of course after I did this, I couldnt help having the realization of what it looked like. Grinning, I grabbed the air compressor and gave it a good shot in the butt with air. Whatever it was, finally blew out.

I was able to get Monday over with, finally. Yeah, its nearly 12 a.m. est.

Work wasn't too bad today. I was able to get some things done and accomplished. I only had one conference call, that always help. Afterward, I ran our son to speech therapy then a doc's appointment. We then ran by Walmart on the way home. Kel had the supper ready and we feasted. I had a School Board Meeting tonight at 6:30 local time. I managed to eat, clean the kitchen and start the dishwasher, throw the kids in a bath before I left. The meeting ended nearly 9 p.m. It ended up a long meeting. Sounds busy but my wife had a busier one. She had to do vacation bible school and afterwards take 3 kids (ours and one more) to basketball. She then took care of our daughter and friend, while I was gone with our son's running, till the friends mom showed up. Then while I was at the meeting till 9, the kids evidently did not let her do any work. They hit the bed when I arrived back home.

That was pretty much today. This weekend was pretty much the same busy-ness.

We arrived in town Friday night around 5:30 p.m. Once we entered the home, we were abruptly attacked with fleas. Unbelievable. Where did these come from? We immediately started to call exterminators. Fortunately we found one nearly 6 p.m. Making arrangements, the guy would come over Saturday morning. No way we could sleep there tonight. We didn't even unload our stuff. We drove over to Kel's parents house and all 4 of us spent the night over there. Not really what we wanted to come home to, but better to a burnt or damaged house.

The next morning, Kel and I ran back to the house, leaving the kids at Nana's and Papa's. I mowed the yard, dipped the cats and dogs before the guy showed up. I told him to spray everything and do whatever it takes. We had them exterminate the house and yard. Kel and I had to hang with the cats out of the house for about 2 hours allowing the poison to settle and let the fleas scream to death. After she and I went back in and actually tried to relax, microwaving a burrito for lunch, we ended up with headaches.

We took off for a bit and came back home for that night. It was better after awhile. We ended up cleaning top to bottom as far as we could till around 10 p.m and crashed.

Sunday morning we finished cleaning everything. Wiping down every room, vacuuming again and mopping we totally cleaned the place. I think we ran the crazy washer and dryer for nearly 10 hours.

We went to church that Sunday night and crashed that night.

Regardless, it is nice to be home. It was so nice to see green as we passed into the states from Arizona. We get to do the exterminator thing again in 14 days, right before we head off to Pennsylvania for one week.

Glad to say we get to leave the day after tomorrow now. Yesterday we had a small crises.

Kel took our son to the doc, but didn't get very far. The car wouldn't start. Sigh, I went out to check it and to me it sounded like the starter. She would crank it and nothing but click click click click as the starter attempted to turn over. Great. We ended up calling a cab (35 bucks one way) to get her and our son to the doc, then I started to make phone calls. Seems the price was going to be nearly 500.00. Nearly 100 for the tow and early 400 for the manual/parts, ect to replace the starter. The gentleman came to pick up the van and ended up doing a jump on the van. He said it was the battery not the starter. He had it running for me. My daughter and I paid him 45 bucks for his wisdom and jump and headed to find a battery. Not stopping the engine till we found a Autozone, the girl and I made up stories as we went. I pulled the battery out and took it into Autozone. They did a free test, I figured might as well get a confirmation. Sure enough it was bad if not dead now. So we ended up with a new battery rather than a new starter. 150 bucks (if you count the cab fare, battery and the tow guys jump/wisdom) was better than nearly 500.

I have a small frustration dealing with my son's situation. As you know our main purpose on this trip was to get our son back on track and into the ability of not having to return here (unless it's a simple checkup). Seems the good doctor was able to view him in a different surrounding while we were at his sons birthday party. How, I don't know, but I will leave that alone. Regardless, it seems we will be given a new exercise routine for him. During my short time to discuss with him, he kept asking me if I had any other questions. I replied with the fact its hard to ask the right questions. It reminded me when I started doing interfaces. I cannot ask the right question until I am in a specific situation of need. I am the type that learns by doing. I go head strong into a given subject, devouring the information then analyzing the required answers I need. Looking back, I did this all my life. When I was given a problem or interested topic, I would do research on it and then come out with my answers. The problem here, is I cant seem to get the proper information, therefore I am frustrated with the feeling of not having the answers. I recognize everyone is different and this is just the way it is, deal with it. My wife gets aggravated at me regarding the way I do certain things. Sorry, but I am just designed that way. It just seems if I do have a specific question for the good Doctor, I get the feeling of hesitation from him. I don't mean to back him up in a corner with specifics, but it is hard for me to work in a relative environment when I am attempting to get specific answers. Oh well, just blowing out my frustration.

This last weekend in Arizona has been fun. We were able to go to the Doctor son's birthday party. He invited us over for his sons sixth birthday. I thought it was a nice gesture and it supposedly allowed him time to view Bradens interactions. I ended up pitching to the 10 kids outside in the backyard without my hat. Now I have a sunburn on the top of my head. This is yet another reminder of how less hair I have then when I was younger.

This sunday we treated the kids out to a place called Mukutas Island. It was a combination of Chuckee Cheese and Rainforest cafe on crack for kids. The place was awesome. It had a huge floor with a giant tree in the middle of the room. Inside ladders, tunnels, firepoles, mazes within and all over the place. Kel liked the fact it didn't focus on the game playing (had a small area for the token games) but the play area itself. I liked the play area and trying to keep up with the kids, empasize on the keep up.

I bought Kel some socks and we put our stuff in the 50 cent storage locker and explored the place with the kids. I was impressed Kel actually went inside the tree, up the ladders, through the small holes/mazes, it was great. Me, there was no doubt, I had to go and play, but she normally sits on the sidelines. As we traveled the ever expanding tunnels on our hands and knees, we were reminded by our bodies the fact we are slower than the kids. They just kept staying ahead of us pushing us to go faster. heh heh

After the first round of play, Kel and I called for a break. We had to get something to drink and actually walk upright for a few moments. We bought the one 1.85 bottle of water and shared it for awhile. Then it was off again to run the playground. Kel held back, saying she was too old for this. I had to go on. Well, at first on that second round I was ok, then I started to sweat like a whore in church. Then I got really tired. Man, what was going on here? My body stopped reminding me and screamed 'give it up dude'. So I gave in and we hit the token games. After the tokens were gone, we took a lunch break and allowed the kids to hit the playground for another 20 minutes. I with Kel stayed out. For awhile we were all kids, then reality set in. I probably will be sore tomorrow, but it was cool.

You can check out Makutu's Island website here.

Ahh seven days to go and counting. We get to leave for home next Friday! I have enjoyed the stay in Arizona. I have enjoyed the bond and more bonding of the family as we lived in this 'hotel of four walls'. But the cracks are starting to show.

Unfortunately, some of the family members get anxious or upset (myself included) over the little things and it is becoming apparent more and more we are ready to go home. Just imagine being with your spouse, two kids for 5 weeks and the hotel room is as large as your living room. Yeah, I will leave it at that.

I think my wife is wearing me down on this cursed pool want. Prior of our 5 week tour, she was talking about getting one of those blow up pools for the back yard. You know the kind. I am sure you seen them in most of the stores. They range from sizes 15' to 18' in diameter coming with a electric filter. Yeah those round blue ones. When she brought this up, I must had initially looked at her as if she had 3 heads. Our kids get out of school and were gone for 5 weeks. When we get back to ou home, we have 2 weeks before we leave for another week in Pennsylvania. Then the kids start back to school August 11.

Hmm, lets see how this looks to me.
We start out with about 14 weeks of summer vacation for the kids.

Gone away literally for 5 weeks right off the bat, leaving 9 weeks left.

We are home 2 weeks. However, the first week will consist of vacation bible school during the day and basketball during the evening for both kids. Then we leave that following Friday, barely 4 days there. (Lets not forget getting our crap caught up from our leave) That's seven of fourteen weeks down.

We are then gone for one week in Pennsylvania. The family actually gets to come to work with me. Six out of fourteen down.

Alright, so that leaves six weeks for the pool. Hmm, that's if you play in it every weekday. With rain and other stuff going on, I am not sure. It just doesn't seem worth it to me, inititally anyway. She threw me a new bone the other night. Let's just say images of two adults under the stars. Not fair using that while we are here in the same room with two kids for 5 weeks straight.

For some reason, I woke up this morning contemplating on perception and in regards to ones situation.

There is a great book/cd out called ‘who moved my cheese'. I listened to some of it during our 10 plus hours down here. One of the things he pointed out made a lot of sense. He said “humans our different than animals in the regard we can decide our actions rather than our actions being decided on the outside stimulation".

The example was our ability to choose to become angry, afraid, ect. with the given outside stimulation.I let that thought linger awhile as we drove into Arizona, now more than 3 weeks ago.

Last night similar thoughts entered in my conscience again. I heard my wife speaking with one of her friends on the cell. This friend of ours is also going through a hard time. She has a disabled child and it just seems an uphill battle for her in regards of the school providision. In addition it seems generally a bad week regarding her health. I heard my wife make the statement “I guess we did something bad in our life to have to pay for it now." Or something to that effect. So I made the statement to her “No we are making small steps for something good in our life". I think she thought it was humorous. However, I already see a differences in our lifestyle and way of thinking then in other families within our area.

We live in a small town with small ideas. With our family having to go outside the area and bring in ideas outside the box, it has given us new perception of life and knowing there is more than the local community. Having been introduced to new medical treatment, Kel has introduced this to a local Doc/friend. This has created a symbiotic relationship in regards to now having the medical equipment closer for us, and allow the doctor to branch his office to new more availability for others. Since our son is special in some areas, Kel has grasped everything available to Oklahoma parents and passed that knowledge onto others who are less fortunate in acquiring knowledge and rights. I personally have a better sensitivity toward other parents having disabled children and this will bring me more clarification regarding a school board member. I just wanted to point out a couple of things this experience has given me and my family. In addition I wanted to point out what I meant by perception. Rather than wallowing in the idea of woe is me. I am viewing this as an opportunity to learn from it. For now at least, I may be griping at a later date. Heh heh

Another example of a change in perception for me personally stood out last night. Being here in Arizona, one cannot help to notice the other people. I am speaking in regards to attitude and especially body habitus. There are some good looking girls/women around here. Being a guy, I simply cannot help but notice. Now, however, I have noticed a change in myself regarding my appreciation in their physique and appearance. It hit me as I was waiting for this skinny girl to fix my mocha. My wife and kids were waiting in the car as I stood there thinking about this. This chick couldn't be about 17 (but who knows anymore). She was a cute girl. I can recall my dad and I going out on the town, way back then before marriage and kids. He and I would scope out the chicks. As I stood there in line zoning and thinking on these things it hit me. ‘We would probably be scoping this chick out too and this girl'. Then another thing hit me, 'that could be my girl fixing the drinks while some perv was scoping her out'. It was a chilling but serious change in my perception. My daughter is going to the second grade, but I realize in no time flat she will be in this same situation too soon.

I know I probably digressed too much, but wanted to blog this as I was thinking about it. Never know when it might actually mean something to someone else.

On another note, Gary Bauer wrote this interesting statement yesterday. I thought it fit well with my view of perception so early this morning.

About Deep Throat

Well, the Washington mystery has been solved. “Deep throat," the source responsible for leaks to The Washington Post that brought downthe Nixon presidency, is none other than W. Mark Felt, formerly the number two man at the FBI.

Mr. Felt was being judged a hero last night for his clandestineleaks. But just a few years ago another “whistle blower," Linda Tripp,released secret tapes that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment and I don't remember anyone in the “mainstream" media calling her a hero. Did whistle blowing go out of style, or does your status depend on which president you attack?

I received another interesting email today. This time from American Family Association. It calls for a boycott on Ford. I intend too. In addition I have also added it to my 'check out links' on the top of my blog.

----------------------Here is the letter-------------------------------------
Ford Motor Company Supports Homosexual Marriage Movement You are probably unaware that Ford Motor Company is a major supporter of the homosexual movement, including homosexual marriage. From redefining family to include homosexual marriage, to giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to support homosexual groups and their agenda, to forcing managers to attend diversity training on how to promote the acceptance of homosexuality, to sponsoring a "commitment (marriage) ceremony", to sponsoring Gay Pride Parades, Ford leads the way.

To let you see Ford's support, we developed the BoycottFord.com site. I urge you to take action today. Sign the petition to boycott Ford. Call your local Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar, Mazda and/or Land Rover dealer (all are part of Ford Motor Company) and inform them you will not be buying a Ford product until they stop their promotion of the homosexual movement and homosexual marriage. Be sure to forward this information to your friends and family. They will be as surprised as you to learn of Ford’s extensive promotion of homosexuality.

Click here to go to BoycottFord.com and take the action listed on the right hand side (signing the pledge and calling your local dealer). Remember, calling your local dealer is very important. Please be polite. If the dealer wants more information, refer him to the BoycottFord.com page.

Sincerely,
Don
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and ChairmanAmerican Family Association

P.S. Don’t forget to call your dealer and to forward this to family and friends.
----------------------------End of Letter------------------------------------

On a lighter note,Michelle Malkin had a funny link to share of our weeping Senator. Poor George Voinovich.

Constatine is a heavily CGI film depicting halfbreeds (angel/demons mixed with humans) that get their butt kicked back to hell. The movie started out pretty good. I was thinking I might actually buy this one to keep but as the movie dwindled to a closing, I thought..nah.

I won't digress in the inaccurate theology (my opinion), nor the inaccurate account of Jesus death. I won’t even point out once you enter heaven or hell there is no turning back. No 2 way ticket on those rides. If you can overlook these main themes in the movie, you can enjoy the show.

Constatine was born with a gift/curse to be able to see half-breeds (demon-human) that influence us human kinds for our souls. The struggle between good and evil lies in the Earth where the quest for souls is the prize. Constatine unsuccessfully attempts suicide, thus puts his soul in the possession of hell. Regardless, he attempts to work for his acceptance in heaven as long as he lives here in Earth.

The show isn't bad as a storyline goes for entertainment. However, I wonder how many people will actually watch this and wonder if there is any truth in it. This is my primary dislike of the show. It is built around the concept of a persons actions to gain access to heaven by works. I realize this is the same concept as most if not all but one religion. This is not the fact of the truth, in the concept of Christianity. Biblically, the only means to attain Heaven is by accepting you're a sinner and ask Christ to take your place (as He did on the cross) for your sins. I digress.

I thought Keanu Reeves did well playing Constatine, considering the given character. Keep in mind I never knew of this character till the movie. I also enjoyed seeing Keanu with Rachel Weisz again. I liked them together in the movie Chain Reaction.

All in all it was a decent movie and entertaining to watch. The cool main website is found here.

Initially when we headed to Arizona for our 5 week tour, I had at least 3 things on my mind to accomplish. Unfortunately due to laxidazia and simply falling into a routine, they just didn't happen.

Thought number one. I figured I would start excercising on a regular basis. Either get up early to do it or during my work lunch hour(yeah right, more like 15 min) or in the evening. Somehow I started out doing more than normal and then it was shortened due to business to simply stopping all together.

Thought number two. I figured I could catch up on my web site creation, revision, and home projects for church ect. Again the thought was there, but I find myself on the computer all day for work. I am unable to get on the actual internet due to having to be connected to work via VPN. Hence my online activities are restricted to early before work (prior of 6 a.m. local time) or in the afternoons. Well, I find myself again tired of the computer after being on it all day. I normally just delete my personal email junk and read the blogs of interest, when possible. Needless to say, this hasn't been done yet either.

Do an indepth study of the bible or something and write a small article on it. Sounds good but this takes time to do and personal study. I find myself in my off work time simply playing with the kids. Then the fact being in the four walls, we find ourselves wanting to simply get out of the hotel. This is usually either in the park(when it's not hotter than hell) or walking the malls.

All in all, I have myself to blame. I should just simply do it, regardless of what the it is.

I finished reading Song of Susannah, the second to last book of Stephen Kings Dark Tower Series. It was an excellent book and I can't wait till July when the last book goes to paperback. I simply cannot spend 35 bucks on a book, sorry.

I started reading James Patterson' Big Bad Wolf, in paperback. I like Patterson's writing, as I do Kyle Mills. The chapters are small, but it started out pretty good.

I am completating on seeing the Keanu Reeves movie Constatine at the 2 dollar movie. It is only playing at 9:30 p.m. tonight. I would be watching this alone and while the kids and Kel more than likely be asleep at the hotel. I told Kel, 2 bucks is cheaper than a retal. This would be one of those movies where I alone would watch at night with the kids and Kel asleep anyway. Depends on how tired I am around then anyway.

Tomorrow Kel is taking our daughter to watch The Ice Princess while our son and I stay at the hotel. He doesn't want to watch it and my on-call starts tomorrow (yeah Memorial Day) anyway.

Since Yu-gi-Oh was so dark, we switched over to Pokemon. Little did we know the kids not only enjoyed ,Pokemon, but seem to be possessed by it. First it was the cards, then the movies, then the shows and toys! I mentioned we acquired a used Pokemon board game the other weekend as well.Yes, we are entrenched with Pokemon, so I figured I should analyze it.

Pokemon card game_Deck

Initially we bought 3 deck themes. The game was easy enough to learn. At this time the kid's ages were five and six. In fact, this game was far easier than Yu-gi-Oh was. Plus I didn't have to keep reading all the cards over and over again as we played.
Basically you can have a maximum of 60 cards in your deck. The guidebook we bought suggested 28 energy cards, 16 Basic Pokemon, 10 Trainers, 4 Stage 1 Pokemon, and 2 Stage 2 Pokemons. The easiest for a beginner is to just purchase a theme deck and then you can buy extra cards to change out, modifying the theme deck to your liking. I use Team Rockets, James theme deck. The kids just acquired 2 new themes decks, both Deoxys. Now they pretty much kick my butt. Luckily I just enjoy playing with them. The game plays as one on one. However, the kids and I all play the same time. Normally they gang up on me and annihilate me pretty quick. Before the Deoxys decks, I could still take care of them, but no longer. ( shaking head sadly) All in all, the game plays easy and well. I would suggest Wizards of the coast official guide ‘Lets Play Pokemon' book. My wife found it for 3 bucks in a discount table. We usually use it more often then the rulebooks.
This is one game I enjoy playing with the kids. I use to play Magic about 10-11 years ago. So this is a way for me to play again while enjoying time with the kids. In fact, I plan to look into creating a league in our area when we are able to. Yes, Yu-Gi-Oh is the primary card gaming in our area as well. However, I think this game can become popular with some push and organization.

Pokemon cartoons

The family and I don't watch the Pokemon cartoons on TV. However, I found some DVD sets that contain plenty to watch, over and over and over again. Quite frankly it's to the point of identifying which cartoon by just listening to it. Sigh.
The cartoons are geared to the younger audience. I haven't heard any attempts to push theology on the kids, unlike Digimon. However, the cartoon isn't so silly as to not be entertaining to adults. Maybe it's the kid in me but I find myself watching the crazy things as well. We have 3 DVD sets. Within the sets, the team with Ash Ketchum works together along the way to some tournament. In each cartoon, Team Rocket (the humor part of the show) attempts to steal Pikachu. The characters are sound and the storylines are actually good. This is one cartoon I feel comfortable with my kids watching without me having to be in the room or preview them.

As a side note, I bought the Pokemons Master Quest rather than the individual dvds. You can purchase Pokemon Master Quest through Amazon.com here.

Below is an email from NOW in bold. My thoughts in italics within the email.

NOW Condemns Senate Confirmation of Priscilla Owen

May 25, 2005

Today the Senate approved the controversial nomination of Priscilla Owen after a filibuster was ended — the result of a "compromise" by 14 senators Monday night. Democrats filibustered Owen's nomination twice in the past four years, and it is worth noting that they again garnered more than the 41 votes needed to maintain a filibuster, had that option not been removed by the compromise.
"Another notch in Karl Rove's belt," NOW President Kim Gandy called the Senate's 56 to 43 confirmation of Owen to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Karl Rove's involved with this?


Owen, whose career from obscure Houston lawyer to the U.S. Court of Appeals was engineered by Karl Rove, embodies the basest of political motives—payback, pure and simple. Rove plucked Owen from relative obscurity and raised nearly $1 million for her first campaign. And he will no doubt be gratified, as Owens' anti-women, anti-civil rights, anti-worker and pro-business opinions benefit the wealthy and powerful—George W. Bush's political base. Like her fellow Texan Tom DeLay, Owen is ethically challenged, having taken campaign contributions from corporations like Enron and Halliburton and then ruling in their favor.

Are they speaking about a terrorist here?
According to the facts... She was a standout at the top of her Baylor University Law School class; she became a partner at a major Houston law firm, Andrews & Kurth, where she practiced commercial litigation for 17 years; and she was elected in 1994 to the Texas Supreme Court, and re-elected in 2000. She received the highest rating, "well-qualified," from an American Bar Association committee that reviews judicial nominations.
Hardly from an obscure past. If she is so anti (such a negative word) why did she get nominated twice and well spoken by the American BAR Association?

"Priscilla Owen is now the proud owner of a lifetime appointment to the second highest court in the United States, where she can inflict her utter disregard for individual rights on the people of Louisiana and Mississippi—as she has been doing for the more than 10 years in Texas," charged Gandy.

Unlike your ideology oppressing the public, eh Gandy?

As a member of the Texas Supreme Court, Owen consistently took the side of big corporations and the powerful against workers and against ordinary people who had been injured by wrongdoing. In one case involving a young man who had been injured in a truck accident, Owen delayed writing the opinion for a year and a half. According to the New York Times, "the man, who was on a respirator, died when the family could not afford nursing care because the appeal delayed the multimillion-dollar verdict." Her pro-business bias is so strong that in her 2002 judiciary committee hearing, despite an extensive record of dissents, she could not find even one occasion in which she had dissented in favor of an individual suing a corporation.

Rather than pulling one example in 17 plus years, I would like to see the whole grid of her actions.

Owen's contemptible record on women's rights, civil rights, and individual rights makes her unfit for a lifetime appointment, and many innocent people will pay the price for this base act of political patronage. Her opinions were publicly criticized at least a dozen times by Bush's own Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, when they were both on the Texas Supreme Court. In one case, when Owen tried to re-write Texas' abortion laws to suit her own ideology, Gonzales referred to the attempt as "unconscionable judicial activism."
"Our democracy and our rights were compromised by the machinations of a power-hungry administration and its lackeys in the Senate who put their allegiance to George W. Bush above their oath of office," Gandy said. "The fight is not over. Moderate senators must put the interests of their constituents ahead of the Republican leadership's slash-and-burn politics, and refuse to be strong-armed into approving any more extremist nominees."

Dang Gandy, sounds like your in a war, rather an organization to further your cause. Who were the lackeys in the Senate that compromised the unwilling up or down vote? Put the interests of the constituents ahead? That would be a first.

Today I was itching to get out of the hotel room. I don't know why today moreso than any other ones. I wasn't on support at work, but it went fast enough. I was able to catch up on my projects and get rid of the ever increasing tickets. I managed to do all this with the family in the same room most of the day. I had only one conference call scheduled today, but end up on the phone about 3-4 times.

I sent a long email to the Doc. Regarding Kel and our son. It wasn't blistering, but I hope to drive home a couple of things. Like a good little hubby, I let Kel read it before I sent it. I had to get the email address from her anyway. Perhaps he will return it with some clarification. I also will try to take a day off next week to get some clarification from him. I get out of here 2 p.m. local time. This should also be enough time to allow a evening discussion without me losing a day. I guess we will see.

I am ready to get back to my routine at home. Tonight, we are stealing the one tv in the room. I will be watching the last Contender finale and then Kel wants to watch Dog the Bounty hunter. I think we are both pretty much cartooned out. The kids can watch a movie on the portable dvd player.

I also been progressively playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 on the PS2 with the kids. Nearly have this one beat. Even with some cheat codes, this is a booger to beat. We finally beat the bloody thing.

Other than this, I been laughing my butt off of Jays, Trashman, and Jacks blogs.

Being in the hotel, we found 'Robots the movie' to be on the pay per view. We watched it last weekend. In short, a great family movie with a good message.

The story consists of a son of a dishwasher robot, dreaming big. The dream is to be an inventor that makes the world better for the other robots. As he grows up to the point of moving out his mother wishes for him not too. The father on the other hand supports his son and tells him about his own dream he had. The dad goes on and explains, if you have a dream and do not follow or try, you will always wonder if your life will be different. He was trying to explain he had not followed his own dream, rather just became a dishwasher as his dad wanted.

Finally a show about the Father having the brains in the family and supporting the kids in a clean decent way.

The son heads to the big city to only find it's not what it's cracked up to be. However, he ends up helping others, as he wanted to do.

The story unfolds more and in the end the son of the dishwasher comes out on top. I am not going to give it away. However, I will say there were many underlying jokes (my wife and I got, but the kids didn't) that cracked us up. Did I mention this is an incredible story with a resounding good quality message? Most movies anymore has the message of tolerence. This message is about someone wanting to use their talents to assist and better others by following their dreams, believing they can be more than they are.

I was surprised of all the known actors providing their voices in the movie. The list contains; Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, Greg Kinnear, Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, and Robin Williams.

This is a movie, I will definitely buy for the kids once availble on DVD. The official website is found here.

You can also purchase the dvd from Amazon.com here.

What can I say. It's been a busy week. We have mainly been eating in the hotel all week. We broke that last night by actually sitting in a nice restruant. So what did I order? A double hamburger with all the works, lettuce, tomatoe, red onion, cheese and mustard. Sigh. Man it was good. I finished it today for lunch.

This week we also revisited a used book store. I was going bonkers to get out after being cooped up in the hotel. At least home, I can step away from the office. In here it's all the same room. The bed, foldout couch, and island to separate the little kichenette from the bed and couch. I don't feel like I can step away. Anyway, I found 2 magazines to read. A biblical archeology for 2.50 and an old wired magazine for a buck. The kids found a used Pokemon board game. We already played it 4 times. It's actually a good game and last for about an hour for the 3 of us to play.

Kel took the kids to a zoo today. It sounded very impressive. It was their luxury outing this week. She was good to take some pics which I could see this afternoon. Sounded like they had a blast.

I had also bought the Song of Susannah, Stephen King, book this week. I started it last night. I am a fan of the Dark Tower Series and look forward to the story wrapping up. I bought the paperback and seen the last one in hard back. The hard back looks thick, approximately 5 inches (no kidding). I noticed the Song of Susannah is large print and not very thick, so don't expect it to take too long to read. I am not ready to swallow the price for the last hardback though.

Nearly half way there regarding to staying here. Last night during our meal, I noticed our son staring out and mentioned it to Kel. Then he had a full blown seizure. It's not the kind of grandmal seizures of the jerking but a starting out lost of time kind. Kel called the doc and took him back within that hour, dropping my daughter and I at the hotel. Kel later told me the Doc. was glad to see this episode and believes he now knows what to do to resolve our issue of his body to progressively keep the toxins out. I don't know, Kel didn't ask any specific questions and I had plenty. I guess I will have to do a 101 QA with the doc at some point to get all my inquiries out there. I want to get to the technically specific and it is a bit frustrating to hear Kel generaliize. I get the feeling this doc is one of those generalizer's that doesn't like specifics. Perhaps doesn't want to get put in a corner. I don't know. I hate to speculate.

I will say this day was the fastest of the other 3 this week. I ended up on 4 conference calls and more IM's. I grow tired of the PC by end day.

Yesterday the family and I went out to get away from the 4 wall hotel room. It was nice to stretch the legs outside and leisurely walk around.

On our way back to the hotel on Broadway street, I witnessed something I never thought I would.

Waiting on the red light to change, we sat in the second to last right lane. The farther right lane turns to the right. A guy on a Bicycle was cruising in front of us from the left side to the right. A car on the farther right lane started to make a right turn. The guy on the Bicycle approached him and I could tell was screaming "GO! GO! Go!" Well the car didn't just go. It stopped halfway in the turn in front of the path of the bicyclist. That evidently infuriated the guy screaming Go, because he nearly stopped and literally tried to hit the back of the car with his hand screaming obscenities. The car finally moved along away from the screaming guy on the bike. Then to add to the comical scenario, another guy in a van in the other street screamed at the 'mad bicyclist'. Probably to chill out. The bicyclist responded with a finger.

What the heck is up with some people? Perhaps a bad day? But in a logical setup, the car could had backed into the guy and creamed him easily enough. Unreal, but somewhat amusing.