Middle America's Worldview

Man, I am glad it's Friday. A big TGIF. I am counting the hours down now. I was busy busy this morning and looked up to see it was already 12:00, half way there.

Since we now have internet again, stable too boot, I been catching up on the blogs I normally read everday. Mongo I respect your decision on not posting verbatim stuff, but surely you have something to say? I miss the Neil Borz stuff. Cox Cable actually pulled through and did credit us for those inactive days, with no hassle. I couldnt help but hear a continued stream of cable commercials during the outage. I guess they were working hard for the PR.

I already started the fourth book in Robert Jordan Wheel of time series. Man, I am hooked on those. Fortunately for me, the library actually has them.

I am in the process of watching my christmas gift, season 4 dvd set of 24. I had to take a break midway due to the fact, if I started to watch them, I end up staying up half the night finishing at least one cd (4 hours). Unreal, but the show is soooo addicting.

Tonight, we plan to stay indoors with the kids and play games. Tomorrow we have the basketball tournament that will basically last all day. So our Saturday is already shot.

That's it for me. Work, Eat, and little sleep. I try to get in my addiction where I can.

I finally get to stay at home and work within my own walls. It's interesting how the little things, you miss so much. Yeah, fI know over dramatic for my 3 days. However, it was a stark reminder how much we utilize the net.

Things I missed while working in the coffehouse.
1) Able to work with no shoes on. (Silly but true)
2) Able to keep the laundry up. (Yes guys can do laundry)
3) Able to jump on the internet checking my personal email (while in vpn I am unable to get on the internet)
4) The ability to go pee without the worry of losing anything. LOL


I changed the template again. I am now on Book four of Robert Jordans "Wheel of time" series. I am officially hooked.

I find it frustrating on the kids getting around in the mornings. If I wake them, they drag worse than 10 weights on a fish line. If Kel wakes them, they are happy as a lark and around, ready by 7:30 a.m. giving them time to watch t.v.

This morning Kel was up at 4 a.m. again. I was going to wake the kids up around 6:40 and Kel said she would, so they would get around. Frustrated I let her. This time I observed (while not being seen) trying to determine what's the big difference.

I will put my way and kel's way to see if you can tell. I can't see what's the big difference.


My way
I knock on the door and open it gingerly. "Good morning, kids! It's time to get up. Let's roll. Up and atem." I am met with "Dad! I'm tired!".
Then they move like sloths.

Kel's way.
She sneaks in our daughters room first. She barely whispers, "Good morning beutiful girl. It's time to get up. Let's get up and around to show dad your a big girl." It looks like she is lying down with our daughter as she is whispering to her.

She then sneaks into our son's room. Again barely audible at the door. "Good morning my baby boy. Did you have a good nights rest." It looks like some snuggling going on. She then appears to talk some baby gibberish to him and I hear "Lets get around for daddy this morning."


Hmm, I didn't see any money being passed to the kids or promises of chocolate. Could it be a conspiracy?

It wasn't as fun the second day as the first. Sweetbay was much busier and many came looking in the room at my coveted dark corner.

I was still busy as 10 bees during work. I had 2 cups of coffee and then 2 mochas on top to help me along. Kel and I woke up the night before and could not sleep for nearly 2 hours. It was nice to just lay and talk for awhile.

I went home and found we could access one pc to the cable modem, if I renew the IPconfig.

I also received a call that night from Cox (first time they called back) to inform me it was definitely on their servers not at my location. Duh. I was reinsured all days of non-activity would be credited and it should be resolved in 18 hours, as of 7:30 p.m. central time. However, this morning check did not show it working correctly.

I can at least access it by one pc (work pc). This allows me to stay home today.

Our internet is out and no ETA on the resurrection of our beloved pipeline to the outside world.


Kel mentioned last night, I should go to Sweet Bay and work from there. Hmm, that's a hell of an idea. Mocha at my leasure and a new surrounding. The commercial of the poor guy in a chair trying to work while being bombarded by all the people, slightly entered my mine. It's not all that bad actually.

I called Sweet Bay this morning asking if they still had the net problem. They did not. I asked if I could squat there and do some work. The super basically said, yeah sure, we have people here all day at times. Sweet. Dropped the kids and away to the calling Mocha house.

I am squatting in a 'dark' corner in a simple room. A nice cubby hole with the monitor only pointing to me. The shops been slow today (the attendants were commenting to each other outside the room) and it's actually cozy. I think later in the future, I might have to do this again to just change the surroundings. The workers havent even came in here nor bothered me at all. I leasurely drank my Mocha all morning, the wife came over and we had lunch. I cranked out tons of work. Ahh, if it can only be this way everyday.

As far as Cox Cable, they did some kindof conversion Saturday night. We woke up Sunday morning and could not get our net fix. I called for an outage and was told a conversion had taken place, try later. At 3 p.m. central I called back and asked for a status, still no net. I was then told the conversion took longer than expected and it was done an hour ago. OK. I rebooted everything and still no go. It showed connection but no-go on the browser. Hmm. I called back and finally got ahold of someone else. "Yeah, we are showing everything good on our side, but no traffic on the backbone. Seems like your one of those areas still effected. The tech guys are on it and it should be done by midnight (day end)." Thanks buddy. I won't say what the other guy said but to make it short, it wasn't resolved. A 6 a.m. Monday call provided no fruit either, nor a 11 a.m call. The people answering the phones simply are not informed by anyone on the field. One guy ( I spoke to about 8 today) told me at least 20 other calls were in on the same issue in my area. Hence, it's not just us. This was after another one told me it wouldn't be till Thursday till a tech guy was availible. Unacceptable. I pissed and moaned till someone called their super and was then informed a tech would be in our area, if not our house today. Sigh, it sucks the Squeaky wheel gets the first turn.

I grabbed some Mocha today because I wanted to stay up and alert abit tonight. Since I am on support Friday, I took advantage by leaving for lunch today. I was able to drop some papers off here, Fedex there, pick up some items at Walmart and snag me a Mocha from the local coffehouse, SweetBay. Man, I love Mocha's.

I was also able to pull my 10 scattered papers together and compile them onto one page (front and back but regardless one) so I have all my todo's, projects in one location. Nice. This was done while I waited in the vehicle line to grab the kids. I was able to finish it at Speech.

I also updated my detox footbath site. It was sorely needed and past due.

I still have alot to accomplish at work tomorrow, but I feel half organized now at least. It seemed I was losing ground there in all my projects. It's pretty bad, when you have a team meeting givig updates on your projects and the other peers make statements like 'we knew that wasn't all' after your 4-5 project updates. Oh well, someone has to be the boyscout.

Sigh, I am glad tomorrow is Friday.

Hard to believe it's already Wednesday. Well, I finally was able to get the Pocket PC to work. I had to download the newer version for the Pocket PC and install it. Once this was done, it worked like a charm. Now I have wireless internet access through the Pocket PC. I have to say, I am excited. Now once Kel checks it out, I am sure she will want one. I have already read where some are utilizing Skype with their wireless pocket pc's. This would give you free internet calls via through your pocket pc. But that is another test/project for later.

I had a few minutes today (for once anymore) during work. So I was able to get the house picked up, vacummed, and the clothes, dishes caught up. Not to mention getting in touch with Dell and fixing the pocket pc issue.

I also let the dogs in after I picked everything up and vacuumed. The old lady, phoebe, didn't even want to come in. I guess she thought it was bath-time. Oh well, I wasn't in the mood to chase her down. The other two (party poodle and half chiahu/half something else) came in with excitement. After checking every room and inch of the carpet for something to eat they have settled down in the office with me.

Already 2 p.m. est. Need to get the kids in less than 2 hours from school. The plan this evening is too hit speech, library, fedex, toys r us, and grabbing them somethign to eat on the way back home. Kel will be late getting home today, so its just me and the kids.

I also put a WEP on our wireless router. It now requires you to put a password key to login. I wonder how long before Kel will say, what is this and why do I need to login for? LOL

This week at work was pretty much stress and High Octane. I played School Board member pretty much all day Monday with a very stressfull School Board Meeting Monday night. Fortunately for me, the expected fight and confrotation was met. However, the stress was still there, only deviated to another source. Sorry, can't be specific, but take my word for it, it was stressfull. After I came home, I had to have a drink, the hard kind.

All week, I been busting my butt in trying to get organized for work. This year we seem to be moving faster already with more and more projects piled our way. I have been informed the "other members" of our group cannot handle any other applications, and rarely anymore projects. I have been blessed with the ability to multitask (at work, the wife can't believe it) and my supervisor is utilizing it in every way.

So on Friday 5 minutes after my regular shift, I am completing my final touches on 3 projects, updating my weekly report and ready to get the hell out of here.

I acquired a new toy this week. My Palm PDA bit the big one awhile back. I have been maintaining my contacts, calendar through my PC, but the Palm simply would not turn on. I can't really complain due to the fact I had it for a couple of years and from what I read online that is do-able. Needless to say, any choice I made on a new one, would be an extreme upgrade. I went with a Del Axim V30 Pocket PC. I did the normal search and read the reviews. It's not the newest on the market, but was highly reviewed. I have to say, it looks pretty sweet (son's favorite new word). Unfortunately, I am manually transferring all my contacts, ect over to it. This will require alot of boring, time consuming evenings. However, the Axim comes with wireless and bluetooth capabilities. I have yet to get the crazy thing to pick up our home wireless router, but last night on our outing, I did get it to connect at a coffee shop. I know at least it does work. If I can get it to work at home, I am pretty sure my wife will beg for one as well. There are more freeware applications out there for a Pocket PC (9 out of 10) than a Palm. I shouldn't be bored anytime soon.

I was pleased to hear back from the office of the Arkansas Governor. However, I wasn't really pleased with the actual reply. I will like it below. Basically it sounds like 'we are looking into proposals with our task force' but they negate the actual current legislation in place for sex crimes. I sent another letter back replying to the letter. I will see what they say on it.

I would submit to all reading this particular post to contact Senator Blanche Lincoln, Senator Mark Pryor and Governor Huckabee expressing your view on this important issue. As in most Legislative offices, it helps more if you are a constituent within the same state.

Mark Pryor

The River Market

500 Clinton Ave

Suite 401

Little Rock, AR 72201

Phone: (501) 324-6336

Fax: (501) 324-5320

Blanche Lincoln

Little Rock Office

912 West Fourth Street

Little Rock, AR 72201

Phone: (501) 375-2993

Fax: (501) 375-7064

Governor Mike Huckabee

Governor's Office

State Capitol Rm 250
Little Rock
Arkansas 72201

Here is the response I received from Arkansas Governor's office, by John Brackin.

Here is my response to this letter above.

I haven't blogged in awhile due to it being consistently busy. We had our first game of Basketball with the kids last Saturday. I felt proud for our teams we been working on. Personally, I think they did well. Now our practices will only be on Tuesday nights till the tournament. This will at least free up our Thursday nights.

Of all the letters I sent out to our Representives and Governers, only one has replied thus far. Governer Brad Henry;s office (Nicholas Atwood, Agency Liaison and Public Policy Specialist) replied quickly informing me "on May 17, 2005, Govener Henry signed into law Senate Bill 631, also known as the "Jessica Lunsford Act".

I at least know the actual Senate bill for the Jessica Lunsford Act. I will post his response, excluding my name and address below. Now if I can get Arkansas to kindly reply, that would be good.

I seen on the last 2 episodes of the Oreilly Factor a major spotlight has been put on Judge Cashman from Vermont. I thought Orielly would had come through the screen and beat the Criminal Defendant and speaker for Massachesets bar association. Personally I think it's the bloggers that put the new lights on these dark actions. The media is just picking it up from the electronic outcry. I also sent a letter to Judge Cashman with the address I found, I doubt if I get a reply from him or his staff.

Can anyone believe the Sam Alito hearings? I am recording them off of C-span radio and what little I hear, seems to be the same spill Judge Roberts went through. I think they clocked one Senator rambling 12 minutes without a single question. The poor dumb liberal Senators can't help themselves. Do they not realize it continues to put a bad light on themselves? I guess it boils down to the fact, the liberal mindset is to take advantage of its own ideology. They know their liberal ideology can only be met by force at the bench (the American public will simply not go for it) by those creating laws and legislations as opposed to correctly interpretating those laws and legislations. By placing non-liberal ideologist that will not push their beliefs on the powers given to them, the liberal groups lose.


Here is that quick reply by Governer Brad Henry's office.

I had to post my thought on this idiotic choice by a Vermont Judge. Thanks to Scott for pointing this out.

A Judge Edward J. Cashman put a sex offender, Mark Hulett-age 34,in 'recovery' for raping a child many many times in a four year span. The girls horror started at age 7. Why would this Judge not put this child rapist in jail?

"..Judge Cashman explained that he is more concerned that Hulett receive sex offender
treatment as rehabilitation."

Is he serious? This is the same garbage Arkansas is trying to regurgitate in their child sex crimes. They are more interested in the why as opposed to stopping those that do it.

I'm personally fed up with our undeserving Judges and Politicians spewing this type of crap and ideology. I swear, if I had the time, I would create a dedicated website to post everyone of these individuals. I am sure the database would require a server it itself, but at least a light would be placed on these types of Judicial actions.

Way to go Scott on pointing a light on this guy.

Below is the bio and contact info for this Judge. I plan to send a letter to the office on this one.

Address:
Honorable Edward J. Cashman

Addison District Court

7 Mahady Court

Middlebury, Vermont 05753

Judge Edward J. Cashman's Bio from Judgicial Bios 2003.

Edward J. Cashman of Essex, Chittenden County. Appointed District Judge by
Richard Snelling in January of 1982. He has served as a trial judge in ten of
Vermont’s fourteen counties over the years. He is a graduate of Boston College
(1965) and the Washington College of Law (1968). He served with the U.S. Army
including a tour of duty in Vietnam (1969-1971). He married Gail Sylvester formerly
of Saint Albans in 1966. She worked as an emergency room nurse at Fanny Allen
Hospital for 25 years They have three children: Jeffrey, a pilot with Vermont
National Guard, Michael, a law student and faculty member at the University of
South Carolina, and Brooke, a graduate student at The American University in
Washington, D.C. Judge Cashman has served as an Assistant Attorney General for
the State of Vermont (1971-72); Chittenden County Clerk (1973-75), Commissioner
of Public Service (1975-1978), Grand Isle County State’s Attorney (1978-1982). He
has also held local government positions with the Village and Town of Essex as
Planning Commission member and Town Agent. He maintained a private practice of
law for ten years. Judge Cashman taught courses at the University of Vermont and
Johnson State College in Environmental Law and the Law of Zoning and Planning.
He presently teaches a course at Johnson State College in Constitutional Law. He
has taught at the National Judicial College on the topic of Restorative Justice and
Community Based Court Systems. He has held positions with the Vermont Dismas
House Board of Directors, the Saint Lawrence Parish Council and the Knights of
Columbus. He is a past president of the Vermont Trial Judges Association and the
Chittenden County Bar Association. He is a member of the Franklin County,
Chittenden County and Vermont Bar Associations. He serves on the Civil Rules
Advisory Committee. His mailing address is 29 Lamoille Street, Essex Junction
05452. E-mail is Ejc29@aol.com or cashman@chitdis.crt.state.vt.us.

Last week I had the opportunity to go alone with our daughter to basketball practice. On our way back home, we had the chance to chat. I love talking with my kids on a personal basis. Probably, because I didn't get much of it when I was a kid. However, the conversation was not as I expected, as the kids are always surprising me. Here was the short conversation. Keep in mind she is in 2nd grade.

Daughter: Dad, have you ever been in jail?

Me: (paused) No.

Daughter: Do you think I will go to jail when I am as old as you are? I don't mean to say your old.

Me: No, that is ok. I hope you wouldn't go to jail. Why would you think you would go to jail? (I was a bit surprised and had no clue where this was heading)

Daughter: Well, (slight pause) Dillon is my boyfriend and he's a bit wild. We were playing cars and he is always fast. I think he will be trouble later on and get a ticket going to jail.(She was so serious)

Me: Well, if you think he will be trouble, why would you marry him in the first place? (I think I made a 'he's an idiot' remark)

Daughter: Dad, (rolling her eyes she learned so well from her mother) we were only playing and I am still in school. (you see she first talks so seriously and when I return in kind, she goes to the 'Im a kid, duh' stance)

Daughter: (oh yeah, she goes on)And another thing Dad, A) you wont talk about my boyfriend that way. B)blah blah C)blah blah (I cant recall the list)

Me:Are you done? (with a tint of aggravation)

Daughter: and D) I love you?

Me: OK. A) I love you too and B) if your boyfriends an idiot I will tell you and him.

Fortunately we arrived home at after that.

My wife was better at the resolutions for the New Year than I already. We did our devotions with the kids last night starting the New Year off right. It really didn't take long at all and I sat there wondering why we haven't kept them from last year.

I wasn't going to post my personal resolutions, however, I guess if I did, I would then be more inclined to uphold them. Gotta love the accountability.

1) As Kel said, I want to be more active and tone up. She purchased a cool weight scale. The crazy thing actually shows body fat. I don't have any idea how it does it. 4 buttons allows you to put up to 4 individual weights, goals and progress of body fat loss (or gain). We have our's programmed in and I am scheduling myself to lose 20 pounds. Will it happen? Who knows. I plan to not get crazy, rather take it slow.

2) Take things slower. I have a tendency to jump in with both guns blazing when I want something or feel the need to do it. This year, I plan to actually plan out a progressive, realistic goals as opposed to just doing it within a week and then give it up.

3) Be more of an advocate for the healthy body. This will mean me being more active as well as pushing the whole family in a supportive way to be more active. I want to keep eating more healthy and push more for vitamens, holistic approaches ect. This may be aligned with my number one. I see number one as more physical, whereas number 3 will be more mental. I also plan to see if I can really make something out of the selling the detox foot baths.

4) Be more organized. This will please my wife greatly. I want to utilize as much time. I am already 1/2 way through my life cycle here on Earth and I want to use the remaing time as best I can.

5) Devote my time to my family and my God. I can't save the world nor our small town. I can only do that which I am limited to do. I need to accept that and more importantly act upon it. I plan to spend more quality time with the family and do more of personal devotion to God. Going to church is not the same as a personal devotion to God and I plan to not only utilize my remaing time here, but put it where it counts the most.

Well, there you go. I hope I do all the above, and maybe more. Those 5 things are on top of my mind as we enter into year 2006.

I have added a new link on my blog called Jessie's Angels referring to promoting Jessica Lundsford Act. I also wrote to both Governers of Oklahoma and Arkansas imploring them to push for this type of legislation. I guess it may be no more than a 'make me feel good' letter from my civic duty. However, if I don't call for it, who will?

In addition, I also was informed of S1086 still not going through the Senate. So, in my feeling of being politically activated this week, I fired off letters to my Oklahoma Senators in addition to the Arkansas Senators. I will let everyone know if I get any replies.

Also I want to inform everyone on the HR2679 Hostetters Bill. Please contact your Senators and Representives about this important Bill. This would amend the "Civil Rights Attorneys Free Act of 1975., U.S.C. Section 1988". ACLU is making millions from the states on their crazy sueing practices. Hence, your tax dollars are being taken to push their agenda. With Hostetters Bill, ACLU would still be able to sue and attempt to push their agenda, but without the states being forced to pay for their work. Please, please look into this and contact your Representives to make them aware of and support it.

From Gary Bauer..
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Muslim Groups Slam Radiation Program

Major U.S. Muslim groups are furious about reports that homeland
security monitors have been checking the air for unusually high radiation
readings outside mosques and other sites in at least five U.S. cities.
The purpose of the monitoring is to detect the possible presence of a
"drty"nuclear bomb, which Al-Qaeda and other groups are known to want to
smuggle into the United States. Two groups have actually filed Freedom of
Information Requests demanding to know which sites were monitored.
Ahmed Younis, national director of the Muslim Public Affairs
Council said, "The problem is...it further gives the Muslim community a sense
they are suspect, they are under the gun." Mr. Younis doesn't get it.
If anyone is "under the gun" it is the United States. We know that 24 hours
a day co-religionists of Mr. Younis are working feverishly to bring to us
another day of sorrows, death and destruction like the one that we
experienced on 9/11.
Arsalan Iftikhar, legal director of the Council on
American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), said that his group wanted to protect "our
nation's borders" but "we are not willing to give up our guaranteed
constitutional and legal rights in order to do that."

It sounds like Mr. Iftikhar learned his lessons well at whatever
left-wing law school he attended. No one from the U.S. government has
entered a mosque without a warrant, and no one is hauling Mr. Iftikhar off
to a detention camp. There is no right in the Constitution that
prohibits appropriate authorities from measuring for dangerous levels of
radioactivity in the middle of a war with an enemy that has
repeatedly stated its goal is to detonate such a weapon on U.S. soil.

Let's briefly review the facts again. After 9/11 there were
strong reasons to believe that Al-Qaeda wanted to hit us again just as we were
trying to recover from their first blow. In May of 2002, Jose Padilla was
arrested on suspicion of planning an attack using a nuclear device.
Documents discovered in Afghanistan indicated our enemy planned to use a
U.S. mosque to store such a device. In other words, the government was being
prudent in taking the step that it did.

Wouldn't it be wonderful, when one of these controversies broke
in the news, to hear one of the spokesmen for the U.S. Muslim groups
say something like this: "We are not happy that our community has come under
additional scrutiny, but we understand the necessity to permit it. Vicious
fascists, operating in the name of our faith, have declared war on the
U.S. As loyal Americans first, we are prepared to make sacrifices to ensure
our adopted nation is safe. On the morning of 9/11, the enemy killed
Christian, Jewish and Muslim civilians who simply went to work at the World Trade
Center. Like all Americans, we don't want to see another day of such
horror in our homeland. We will fully cooperate with the FBI to make sure
that no Muslim site is exploited by Al-Qaeda to attack our fellow Americans."

Now, that statement would be a Christmas miracle!
--------------------------------------------------

Let's get a fact straight. They are not imposing on the civil rights. They are checking
on public ground. I have said it before, and I will say it again. Not all Muslims
are Terrorists, but all Terrorists are found to be Muslims. Get a freaking
clue people. Same thing with this wiretapping the Demo's are trying to get a
rise out of people. I like what I heard on the radio to the other day on this topic.
"Do people really expect the Government to search out those possible terrorist outside of
the United States but ignore those within the United States communicating with them?"
I probably didn't get the exact wording but the meaning is still there. I would think
we would be more harsh on those possible sleeper cells within the United States. We are
in a war (regardless if it's not officially called that) and unfortunately there are
those among us who would do us harm.

The 4 day weekend was tremendously fun. We survived another event with both inlaws, no bloodshed was cast, only some aggravation.

I enjoyed one of my movies, Left Behind 3, and Farscape season 3, last night. Overall of all the movies ect. I enjoyed more of the home movies we are converting over to DVD. It is soooo cool. Plug in the VHS tape and dub to DVD-r. Man how we all have changed in the past 3 years alone.

My beloved wife tricked me on this Christmas. She not only acquired season 3 but season 4 of Farscape is on it's way! Unfortunately the series only lasted 4, but now I have all of them! This is a tremendous gift indeed.

Believe it or not, we pulled down the Christmas decorations, tree yesterday. I still have to get the lights and Snowman out from outside. Kel is working on putting the house back together prior to the Holidays (excluding New Years).

The kids, Kel and I actually sat in the floor and played old maid, go fish, war and crazy eights. It was nice to just sit and play a non-electric game. We kept laughing like crazy as the kids held onto the Old Maid.

Had to be back in work today. I start on-call tomorrow night. Yeah, the weekend was a true treat, but back to work.

Christmas did indeed start early this year, say around 3:30 a.m.

Kel and I exchanged our gifts last night and as I pat myself on the back, I actually was able to surprise her on some stuff.

Kel was up around 3:00 a.m (prob earlier), and by 3:30 was jingling bells in the hallway trying to wake the kids. LOL. They were up and atem, pretty quickly. Let's just say Santa was good to them.

The presents were torn through by 5 a.m. Thanks were given and as my wife said, it looks like Toys R Us exploded in the living room.

Her parents will be coming over around lunch. We are all in our new pajamas and enjoying our new toys.

I wish all readers and bloggers a Merry and Safe Christmas.

One down and one to go. My family hit us last night, today is Kel's family. Prior of picking my mom up yesterday to bring her here, I picked up two boxes of Excedrin Quick Tabs. I figured with both inlaws over the weekend, Kel and I will probably need them. I already popped one this morning. : )

Last night went pretty much as expected. I brought my mom over early so we can have some time together. I never noticed till last night, how much she is not a conversationalist. There were more than one time of silence. I guess we have grown so different over time. It was still nice to have her over. Dad ended up coming over early as well. Each one had tried out Kel and the kids goodies before they ate supper. My brother and crazy was late as usual. It kindof aggrevated me, considering everyone changed to late Friday for her needs. Oh well. It was all over by 9:30 p.m. I didn't get to talk much with my brother. I did a better job to keep crazy from dragging Kel alone. She normally tries to corner her and piss and moan to her.

The kids big present last night was a Nintendo Gamecube. Too cool. I am impressed with the graphics and quality of the games. I had to run to Walmart last night to grab a Gamecube memory card. Talk about nuts last night. I again spent more time in the self-check out lane than grabbing my 6 items. I picked the self-checkout with the younger couple rather than the older thinking it would be going faster. Bah. How do I get behind the technically challenged? The guy made the statement "I guess this is the most stupid thing they created." I felt like saying "no dumbass only the user" but I held my toungue. The gal finally was finished and asked out loud.."do i get a receipt?". I did inform her it was on the right side of the machine. (shaking head) oh well. Perhaps people will get use to them.

I had to play with the kids a bit last night with the new game cube. It came with Pokomon XD and we let them open another gift, Nicktoons Unite game. This allowed the three of us to play at the same time. I can't help it. I really enjoy playing with the kids, working together on the games.

This morning, my 3 kids. Yes, Kel included wanted to open up the presents between ourselves. We opened the kids presents to us (Kel and I) and let the kids open the ones between each other. They have to wait till tommorrow to open our presents to them. Kel and I will exchange our presents between each other tonight. Anyway, I received the Chronicles of Narnia book. It has all of the books combined, a ornament and Golden Corral coupon. : )

We are also going to read the real story of Christmas tonight to the kids. The presents are fun, but the true meaning of Christmas is real.

I received this in my email and wanted to share it.
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A young man's perspective , we all have heard of him ..read below excellent read!



A university professor challenged his students with this question.

"Did God create everything that exists? A student bravely replied "yes, He did!" "God created everything? The professor asked.
"Yes sir", the student replied.
The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists and according to the principle that our works define who we are then God is evil".
The student became quiet before such an answer.
The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to them;

Students that he had proven once more that religious faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question, professor?" "Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor does cold exist?"
"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists.
Have you never been cold?"

The students snickered at the young man's question.
The young man replied, "In fact, sir, cold does not exist.
According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality, the absence of heat. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.
Absolute zero (- 460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.

The student continued: Professor, does darkness exist?"
The professor responded, "Of course it does". The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color.! You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can Break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to Describe what happens when there is no light present." Finally the young man asked the professor. "Sir, does evil exist?" Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We see it every day.
It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold,
a word that man has Created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat.
Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.
The young man's name --- Albert Einstein

Ok, 4 days and counting, technically.

At our house the present opening will begin Friday night. My family will (in case they change their mind again) be coming over to our house Friday night to celebrate Christmas. We can exchange those presents among ourselves. This is actually cool, because the kids will get the Nintendo gamecube that night. This will allow us, I mean them to play it all day Saturday. LOL

For some reason it doesnt feel like a normal week of work. Yes, we are still extremely busy. Yes, we keep moving along, but there is definitely Christmas in the air.

I am scheduled off this Friday and Monday is considered a Corp. holiday. This allows me 4 days off without on-call (I have it again starting next Wed.). I am so looking forward to it.

Yeah, this year, it's not just the kids asking "Is it Christmas yet?"

This has been by far one of the better Monday's I have ever had in a long time. Work wasn't out and out crazy and even though I was on support, it didn't kill me.

The movie Skeleton Key was actually pretty good. It had a storyline (unlike most anymore) and it kept my interest. I was close to the knowing what the ending would be, but it didn't all sync in till after the movie. This to me, makes for a really good storyline. I enjoy the ones, I have to think about sometimes. Plus, it wasn't a spin/rip off of another movie.

Can you believe only 6 more days till Christmas? Unbelivable. Fortunately, for me, I have all mine done. I am now only waiting to see their excited faces as they open them.

In addition to renting Skeleton Key, we rented Star WArs BattleFront 2 for the PS2. The kids absolutely loved it. So much we are keeping it an extra night/day. I have to admit, I have been playing it with the kids. Its a max 2 player game, unless you have online gaming. We only have been playing the split screen games. We havent even started the actual storyline game, but it kicks butt.

Since Kel and I both were out this evening we met at the Chiro with the kids and ate out. It was a nice treat to sit at a booth with the kids.

God not only abliged me one night, but 2 nights of rest. Sweet!

Friday burned through like a hot knife in butter. That night, our friends came over and we played a game called "Disney Scene". It actally was pretty fun.

This morning, Kel had to go into work early. Yes, early Saturday morning. We let the kids sleep in. Our daughter slept till 9:30 a.m. Our son was up around 8 a.m. A all time record for them. I managed to paint our son's room and we cleaned up the house. I then took the kids with me to pick up lunch and we headed to Kel's work. I helped Kel moved some equimpment around, install some software, put up a new computer ect.
She took the kids straight home, while I hit the library, picked up a movie/pizza and headed home.

I found the "Skeleton Key"to watch later tonight when everyone else goes to sleep. I also found a game and a scooby doo cartoon for the kids.

This evening Kel put the remaning wallpaper up allowing me to finish the painting in our son's room. Now that's done, we can put up the trim tomorrow.

Needless to say, our Saturday flew quick.

In short, yes.

Here is the deal. I had a hell (its not over yet) of a on-call week so far. Monday night I was called every 2 hours and early Wednesday morning (3 a.m our time) I was called due to a UPS. Basically the power went out of the Corp. datacenter again. Everything went down including Corp. ability to call out on the lan lines. Sigh.

I was up from 3 a.m till around 9 p.m. That morning, after the fallback, I had to take my mom to see the doctor (around 8 a.m.). I then hit Walmart, Sonic (more caffeien!) on the way back home. When I left the doc visit with my mom, we ran by the pharmacist for her script, it was closed till 9 a.m. Sigh. In short, Up since 3 a.m., worked till we resolved all 16 facilites interfaces that were down. Ran my mother to the doc, hit a closed pharmacy store, dropping her home. I had two calls while at the doc's visit. One from work and another FYI'ing me some parent went to highschool and kicked a teachers ass. (I guess I will be hearing about this one)

I then proceeded to Walmart. I was efficient in grabbing all the PTA items until I hit the paint section. We are re-doing our son's room now with camo and new paint. No-one in sight. It took 2 request to call overhead before someone showed up. After 10 minutes of them creating the paint, I wheeled off to the checkout. Unbelievably, I had the chose of old checker to older checker. There were 3 carts lined up in the 6 availble old ladies checkers. This is super walmart for crying out loud. I stood there in obvious hurried look until I could stand there no longer. I went to the self-checkout lady and asked if I can write a check in this lane. She replied "uh yeah, but I would have to take it." Fine. I immmediately swung the full cart (6 gallons of tea, nearly 7 2-liter soda's, paint, 2 bottles of salsa, worcestire sauce, 4 cans of mushroom soup and other items) to the self-check out. Thank God for them. I can haul ass on those. I beeped every item through, wrote my check and then paid cash separately for the paint. I was through that bad boy faster than the original cart could make it to the checker in my prior lane.

I then headed home, calling my boss-boss to give her an update on the mornings UPS fiasco. I hit sonic and ordered 2 route 44's. My wife was awaken with me on my 3 a.m. wakeup call. I finally made it home around 10 a.m.

Once home, I proceeded to again catch up on my work email, IM's ect. It finally slowed down around noon. I wanted Kel to have a full day home. She managed to get all the Christmas items out of the garage hiding holes and wrapped them accordingly. I managed a few without serious damage to the eyes.

I took our son to Speech that same evening. During that time, I grabbed my mothers script and ran them to the same pharmacist. Unfortunately, he did not have that particular drug in. He made some concoction in the back (suppose to be the same effect as said drug). It took freaking 30 minutes to create 11 pills. I was on edge all day, feeling behind and this didn't help any. I did make a proposition and if it works out, I will blog on it later.

I finally was able to leave and grab our son, heading home again. Kel had supper ready and we ate in peace.

Last night, I fell out around 9 p.m. praying to God no calls from work and he abliged.

I woke up this morning at 4 a.m wide awake. I guess the exhausted 7 hours of sleep was enough.

They say time is relative and is contained within our physical, moving world. Well, I swear the world is moving faster. This year is nearly gone and even on those rare occasions to sit and watch a full movie, seems to be done before I finish my snacks.

I also knew this week would be going fast, and it hasn't turned out wrong yet. Monday at work went by way too fast. I had a school board meeting last night, taking my son to speech therapy, taking our daughter to the library, it was 9 p.m. at night before I could stop.

I have already been on the phone 3 times and worked on/completed 2 projects this morning before 9:30 a.m local time. It appears today will also be a runner. We have basketball practice tonight and I am resolving myself to butt out of the undisciplined kids running haywire.

I did acquire a new Christmas present this morning online for my wife. I am excited this year. I hope I can pull in some surprises for her. Normally, she has already tagged everything. ; )

Welcome to the 2005 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends!
Here's mine................
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Eggnog. It's the only time of the year I can drink it. Not too much, though.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Our Santa has them non-wrapped in separate piles for each kid.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Our current tree is prelit with white lights. Love the plug and play.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? When we can find one. Never had it over our bed before. Maybe I will try that this year. ; )

5. When do you put your decorations up? As soon as my dear wife makes me. She normally cannot wait till the day after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Is there another favorite holiday dish? I would say the appetizers (cheese, crackers) that sit out during the day. I keep going to them.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? The excitement as a kid early in the morning. The snow is 5-6 inches thick, cold outside but a fire in the house warming us. Looking back, we really didn't get that much, but we were happy.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes with my parents. Kel and I also exchange our gifts to each other when the kids are in bed. It is a special time with just the two of us sitting on the floor under the lighted Christmas tree. I look forward to it every year.

10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Last year was cookies and a pepsi. This year it will be milk, since our daughter want's him to have strong bones.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I don't mind the snow and enjoy it during Christmas. I just hate the ice.

12. Can you ice skate? I never have tried.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? The unexpected one.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Watching my wife and kids face lit up when they open the presents. The warm feeling and thankfullness of each year.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Love Pecan pie.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Hearing my wife explain all the special ornaments to the kids when we decorate the tree. She has a iron clad memory and can explain each ornament on when and where we acquired them.

17. What tops your tree? This year is a snowman's head.

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? I won't deny I love the gifts. I am a big kid too. But I love giving them to Kel and the kids. Something about the gratefullness in the ability to give gifts to the family.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? Cheech and Chong explaining how reindeers can fly. ; )

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Blahh. I hate sticky candy. I don't care for them.

I will add one. One thing I hate is the continuation of others taking the religion out of the holidays.

I came in from Pennsylvania on Saturday evening. Needless to say, that whole day for the weekend was shot. Sunday, we decided to stay home from church. It was nice to get a partial time to rest. The sleeping in ones on bed is a luxury missed. Having a wife to hold and snuggle with is pleasure in itself.

Monday, the blog was down. For some reason I could not look at my blog page, so no updates were given. Basically, the day consisted of work and errands. It was 9 p.m. before I knew it.

Last night the kids had their first basketball practice. This time, they are on different teams. Our son's practice starts at 5:30 and ends 6:15. Our daughters practice picks up from there and ends 7 p.m. This puts Kel and I at practice for 1.5 hours.

I can see some improvements need to be made in having them practice already. BUt it was the first day. Everyone had to give shirt sizes, name their teams, ect. I was trying to recall how Upward Bound was teaching them in throwing the ball, ect. One guy kept screaming at his grandkids from the sideline "Don't throw that ball like that. Throw it right. Use both hands." blah blah. I finally said, you should teach the kids. He only replied in their too young for me to teach. I felt like saying shutup then. But oh well.

When the 1st grade was done, our daughters time was up for practice. This time I stayed to the side and tried to play hall monitor. There were alot more people in the gym by this time and some kids were running everywere on the sidelines. Initially when it was requested to use the gym, it was understood the school did not want a bunch of people running the halls or poking around in the building. Stay in the gym or to the restrooms, ect. I kept having to tell kids not to run in the bleachers, keep them out from under the bleachers. Once I helped some small kid to the restroom, and 3 teens came out of a dark teachers lounge. I asked them what are they doing. They replied, "uh, just talking" Yeah, get on out of here. I spoke with the parents that were in 'charge' of this event. (I felt fortunate I wasn't actually the one running this one). I tried to convey the fact, I wasn't wanting to be a hardass, but I was worried these kids were going to get hurt running helter skelter, while their fat ass parents didn't seem to give a care of anything. They tried to tell the parents to keep an eye on their own kids. Guess we will see what becomes of it. I told Kel last night after we all settled home, the next time I am just going to watch my kids and the hell with the others. It doesn't do me any good to harp after the other kids, playing babysitter while the fat ass mom's sit there on the bleachers and read a book or flap their jaws with other mom's without a care in the world. Yeah, I am griping but it burns me when I see parents that see this event as free babysitter time.

I found this article very interesting and wanted to share it.

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Conservatives Make New Push on College Campuses
Posted by Bobby Eberle
November 30, 2005 at 7:13 am
>> Printer-Friendly Version

It has long been known that left-wing thinking dominates the environment of America’s college campuses. In poll after poll, professors have identified themselves in overwhelming numbers as "liberal." Now, one group is stepping up to counter the liberal indoctrination with a dose of conservatism.

As covered in the Agape Press's story Delivering the Conservative Message to Combat Campus Liberal Bias, a new group known as the Network of College Conservatives "vows to expose and combat liberal bias on university campuses."


The Network of College Conservatives has been launched to provide a voice for students who are being harassed, intimidated, or even shouted down on campus because of their conservative or "right-wing" beliefs.

Christopher Flickinger, the founder of the Network, says its goal is "to help those students get a well-rounded education" because, "they’re certainly not going to get it from their professors in the classroom."

Flickinger needs all the help he can get. According to a story earlier this year in the Washington Post, "College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says."

By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week. The imbalance is almost as striking in partisan terms, with 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identifying themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans.

The disparity is even more pronounced at the most elite schools, where, according to the study, 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.

Another study sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute in 2002 found that today’s college campuses are not "diverse" places. "Quite the opposite: They are virtual one-party states, ideological monopolies, badly unbalanced ecosystems. They are utterly flightless birds with only one wing to flap. They do not, when it comes to political and cultural ideas, look like America," concludes the study.

Liberals outnumber conservatives 18 to one at Brown University. At Cornell University, the number is even higher, with liberals outnumbering conservatives more than 26 times. Penn State displayed a bit more balance, with the ratio of liberals to conservatives being six to one. Even the smallest disparity, at the University of Houston, had a ratio of three liberals to one conservative.

Despite this stark imbalance, liberal groups, driven partly by fear and partly by outrage that conservatives are now starting to make inroads, are stepping up their funding. Earlier this year, Howard Kurtz, in the Washington Post, noted that one liberal Washington think tank was "funneling money to universities to encourage liberal journalism." Kurtz asks, "Isn't that a bit like pumping sand into the Mojave Desert?"

"We're not winning the battle of ideas on campus," says David Halperin, who is running the project for the Center for American Progress. Conservatives "have this insurgency mentality, even though they run the world."

Hmmm… liberals overwhelmingly dominate the two major institutions of academics and the media and yet conservatives "run the world." If it were only true! The fact is that conservatives need to step up their efforts to reach college students. This is a crucial time in a young person’s development, and liberal professors and interest groups have a virtual monopoly on what is being fed to these young and inquisitive minds.

Our other peer showed up for work yesterday. She in turn did the Briggs Myer online test. This of course began a similiar conversation regarding her thoughts on life and such. I was surprised of her beliefs.

You may have seen those small booklets regarding the kid going friend to friend asking each 'what is the meaning of life'. These booklets attempt to have each friend cover every religion possible. I have seen the booklets out there, but it is quite something different when you are actually seeing individuals embarking on all those diverse beliefs.(especially in one room together)

Oh well. As opposed to the new guy yesterday, she has the belief life is a test. She believes in reincarnation, this is hell, her god could never have a literal hell. Basically she was all over the map. Once she stated, when you die, you go to god. Yet, then said some people do not know they die and they are trapped here on earth. This is opposed to new guy who simple doesn't know so doesn't have an opinion on the matter. Some of their ideology was different, but a lot of similiarities. Primarily both believed in good works to enhance their lives.

I also found it fascinating neither one of them, yesterday nor today, asked me of my opinions or thoughts on the subjects. I simply asked this and that and they were more than willing to answer. I was asked by the peer to go to lunch today to finish out the conversation. I wonder if she will ask me today? I guess I will see.

One other thing I found interesting. Both did not believe in the death penalty. Each valued life so much that it was not man's place to kill anyone. So that pedophile or mass murderer will rot in jail the rest of their lives but not be executed. When asked about abortion, each had a different opinion. She, absolutely no-one will tell her what to do with her body. He, does not believe in it, but did not know when life begins. I inquired to both, "ok, i agree with the body, but common sense would say, a womans egg mixed with a different man's sperm would create a separate dna, hence a new entity. So wouldn't that not be actually a part of your body?" She just kept saying it was man's laws made against women and no-one will tell her what she can and cannot do with her body. If they take that, then they will take away her means to vote next. (shaking head) He simply said, yeah, but when does life actually start?

All in all, I found it was very fascinating and this was the best Kumbaya I ever attended. It was a fresh breathe of air. We actually learned a little about each other, (well they talked about themselves) and I actually belive it helps.

As I said to each of them, I personally think each individual has their own worldview, based on their beliefs and up bringing. Everyone bases their actions on their own worldviews. If you have an understanding of their beliefs, ect. it helps to understand where they are coming from in their thoughts and actions.

So,is it really true as they say and agree on? It's all about love. No-one knows and we must learn from our life, doing good works and being nice to all?

I agree, no-one really knows. Creation... Evolution...no-one really knows. It takes faith either way on your belief. Life after death? Who knows, but it is fascinating to me on everyone's thought on the matter.

I think in a age of technology and information, we are still so unsure of it all.

I am reminded of a cork bopping in a large lake or ocean with no idea of the land where it originated or any idea of the land ahead. It just bops and moves alone with the wave or tide. Surely, we should have more of an anchor.

I flew into Pennsylvania fine last night. The plane touched down around 6 p.m. I grabbed a orange beetle type car (first one I see of these) from National Aisle and took off toward King of Prussia. It was 20 miles an hour on I-95 and ten on North 476. There was a wreck on 476 that caused the slow crawl. Still don't understand why 95 was so backed up. I basically hit an ACME and then the hotel. I reached the hotel around 8 p.m. and stayed there.

I ate a sandwhich last night, that I picked up from ACME and read more of the Robert Jordan book. I actually am enjoying it. At first I thought, another fantasy tale. Yet, as it actually started, it became interesting and is easy reading. After I blog tonight, I plan to read some more. The book kept my interset till 11:30 last night, before tiredness took me.

Today at work, we played kumbaya at midlevel. The whole interface team was suppose to gather in the same conference room all day today and tomorrow. We also had Siemens to give us a development show. This was scheduled at 9 a.m.
I was able to get a PCLan guy to setup the hub and I had the projector out and ready by 8:50. Nobody showed up from my team till after 9 a.m. Siemens all showed up 9:05. Unreal. The guy that lived the fartherest (me) was at Corp 7:30 a.m .in the freaking morning and everyone else half hazardly showed up nearly 2 hours later. Oh well. I don't plan to get there till after 8 a.m.

I finally met face to face with our new team member. He is based out of Chicago. They never look as you would picture them on the phone. He seems nice enough. We took a online Myers Briggs test this afternoon. I scored a INFJ. Funny how it pegged me. My super scored a INTJ. If you decide to take it yourself, post your result. I would be curious. I always found psychology fascinating. The 3 of us (super, new guy and myself) was alone for awhile this evening (boss lady and 2 other peers were out today). We had a deep casual conversation between us, bounced off from our results. I found it totally fascinating on the new guys ideology. He scored a ENFJ.

Oh well. We are definitely all different. I enjoyed the kids pics kel emailed me and I picked up the kids surprise this evening on the way to the hotel. I grabbed Sky High on dvd. I think I will be looking forward to watching it as much as the kids will, when they see it as their surprise.

I grabbed Tostado Nachos for supper and watched my "Last Boyscout" on dvd. I plan to brush my teeth, get under the covers and read my book.

I cannot believe it is already Sunday evening at the end of my vacation. I look back and see I basically ran most of it. Oh well, I did manage to do a couple (yes probably 2) of things I needed to or wished to do, before the end.

Yesterday we primarily stayed home. It was nice to just stay indoors without running somewhere. We cleaned the house up and that was about it.

Today, we spent lunch at Olive Garden together. We had enough left over to have it again for dinner. ; ) The kids finished up on their homework and managed to play a little bit of Playstation 2. I know, hard to believe.

We only hit a few places to finish up on some Christmas shopping. I also picked up "The Eye of the World' by Robert Jordan from the library. 2 of Kel's cousin told me, on different occasions, that the Wheel of Time series was very good. I thought it was odd 2 cousins (one in Texas and one in Oklahoma) on separate end of the poles as far as peronality told me about this series. We were not even speaking about books. So I managed to find the first book of the series at the library. It must be pretty good considering out of 6 copies, the library only had one. The others were noted as lost in the database. I plan to read it on my travels tomorrow to Pennsylvania.

We did our footbaths early today. Each of us does one, once a week, normally on Sunday night. We already gave the kids their showers, in their pajamas and ready for bed.

I went through all my work email this evening. I did good. I didn't check it all week during vacation. It was harder than I thought. I really had the urge to check in, last Tuesday.

I have a meeting with the interface team and the CIO tomorrow morning. I fly out around 11:30 tomorrow to Pennsylvania and will be at Corp. till Friday. I get to go home Saturday. I will be trying to get the PTA stuff done tomorrow morning at schooll as I take the kids to school. I normally always kindof look forward to the 2-3 days alone time on these trips. However, this time, I just want to be home only. I am dreading this one, even though, I know it will be going fast.

Well, it's already 7 p.m. this black Friday and it was a pretty good day. Yesterday for Thanksgiving we went to Kel's Aunts house for a feast, played games and planned the sales day out. We played the horse racing game again with about 8 people. This was the same one we bought Kel's dad while we were in Arizona. It was pretty fun. I left with less quarters than I came into the game with. : (

The kids, their papa and I played on their four wheeler for awhile as well. Kel's parents had it gassed up and ready to go. The weather yesterday was around 71, if you can believe it for the end of November. Unreal.

The kids stayed at Kel's parents house for the second night, last night. Kelli wasn't feeling well so she and I headed home around 6-7 p.m. We finalized the path for our money saving trip the following morning. Nearly every store was opening at 5 a.m.

Kel fell asleep pretty fast. I was jacked up from drinking coffee and soda's nearly all day. I popped 4 melatonin's to no avail. I didn't even watch cable tv. I popped in my Farscape from Kel. She gave me the second season early (yes I am spoiled). I am glad she did. I have enjoyed it immensely this week. I watched a couple of hours and popped an additional 3 melatonin's. I finally fell asleep around 11:30 p.m.

We woke up before 4 a.m. without an alarm. Kel's mom came to pick me up 4:30 a.m. and we headed to Walmart. She and I have been a team of this for the last 4 years. Not much was picked up there. Only one admatch was found. We were in line to get out longer than we were grabbing the items. A lady 3 people up ahead of us made some people curse. She and her husband had a large basket (top and bottom) filled to the rim. She had tried 4 credit cards that would not go through. She then went to her check book and did not have a single check in there to write one. Talk about unprepared. We changed lanes and moved on. How embarrassing. The bargain I found was two dvd's (The last boyscout and Swordfish) for 3.44 apiece.

We then met up with Kel at Kohls. Talk about a freaking crazy store. I went in there and basically went straight into the line. It was already throughout the whole store around 2 corners of it. Kel shopped while I stood there holding her findings. Again, it was basically for everyone else, not our stuff. Oh well. I did manage to sneak a couple of items from there for Kel's Christmas. ; )

We then hit Old Navy and found some really nice clothes for Kel and the kids. We also found some polo shirts (10 bucks a piece) that allowed me to match our son. Cool.

I left Kel and her mom to go to Hastings. It didn't open till 8 a.m. I purposely wanted to grab 2 dvd sets to get the free dvd stand. I wanted to acquire the first season of Full house for our daughter and one for Kel. While i stood there for 20 minutes I found out I wasn't so hard core. Some dude ahead of me was talking about being up 16 hours. He was in front of Best Buy since 10 p.m. the night before? Seems there was a computer on sale, with no mail in rebates. I had to ask if actually got it. He said "Oh yeah, I was the 16th in line". Wow, 16th at 10 p.m. the night before. He had a cot, sleeping bag and hot cocoa. Best Buy had sent out free wifi so they could browse the net for free while being out there all night. Crazy, man.

I didn't find the initial dvd sets I went for. However, I did grab 2 of them and 2 dvd's Kel's cousin had wanted. I grabbed the dvd set, season one ane two, the original scooby doo. I barely found it. I snagged the dvd stand. Yeah.

We gathered together at IHOP to eat breakfast together and then everyone departed their own ways. Kel, the kids and I went home. Looking at our sacks of sales, I see we only had clothes, my two dvd's. I was kindof surprised to only find primary clothes for our discomfort and no sleep. Oh well. Our daughter and I wrapped Kel's presents and now we have something under the tree.

We did manage to get a nap in today. We plan to do nothing but rest tomorrow. Only 2 days of my vacation left. Drat.

I haven't blogged in awhile, but it wasn't due to inactivity. I have also been enjoying being unplugged for awhile.We made it to and from Amarillo safely and with good results.

It amazes me how our son bounces back so fast after his surgery. It is a laser surgery on the brain. Although he had a couple of conflicts and giving his mother a few grey hairs, he bounced back the following morning after as if nothign had occurred. Truly amazing and a true miracle in itself. Yes, things could had gone far worse, but it had not and we cannot dwell on the 'what if'.

During our stay (Wednesday night through Sunday morning), I was able to walk over to NorthWest hospital to vist an old friend. It was nice to see face to face again and catch up on everything, work and family. Plus it allowed me to grab a mocha. Man, I love mocha's. It was a nice break and I did acquire some usefull information, I will have to followup on when I go to Corporate next week.

Our son's procedure was done on Thursday, and my daughter stayed with me during the time it took. She played on her mom's pc as I worked on mine. We took a break to walk the hotel, but there just wasnt much there. Friday, the kids went to watch 'Chicken Little' with the mom as I worked during the day. This was the day I snuck over to the hospital. The kids didn't speak too much of the movie, but seem to like it. Kel didn't come back into the hotel room with the same crazed look speaking gibberish as she had done with 'shark boy and lava girl', so it must had been feasible to sit through. (smile)

Saturday, I was able to take the kids to the 'Discovery Center' with their papa. It was a cool place and alot of hands on stuff for the kids to do. It also had a 9 hole putt putt that was included in the package. We went through the facility and then hit the hotel again for enough time to allow the kids to swim in the pool. The hotel doesnt have much, but it does have a warm swimming pool inside. We met the girls (kel and her mom) at the nearby mall and had a barbeque lunch. The platter was Texas size and very good. That night we had our 'Christmas' in Texas, exchanging gifts with Kel's side of the family down there. The kids received a gift from everyone, you thought it was Christmas. I was able to learn and play a new game. You use quarters and bet on which horse would win. I can't recall what the name of it is. Kel will have to comment it. We bought it for her dad when we were in Arizona, during the summer. It was actually pretty fun.

Early Sunday morning we split (around 5 a.m. ) and arrived home at a decent hour. Exhausted we immediately started laundry and started to diverse the stuff out to each room.

We finished the laundry yesterday, Monday, and put up all the Christmas stuff in the house. Yes, we have the tree up and ready as of yesterday. We plan to have Christmas pictures taken Wednesday for Christmas cards. A lady will come into the house and take them for us. We had her do this last year and was very pleased with the results.

This morning, I put up all the outside lights and front yard stuff. A large blowup Snowman, candy canes and changed the front lightbulbs to red ones, decorating them with reefs. So we are pretty set now. We are waiting on kel to get back from her work today and head over her Aunts house. I will weed eat and change a front door lock. Kel will do some additional work in Poteau while the kids and I clean her Aunts house. Thanksgiving will take place there and Kel plans to have everything ready for it. She doesn't want her aunt to have to do anything.

I only have about 5 more days to be on vacation and it's going fast. I fly out to Corporate Monday after my interface team meeting with the CIO. I hope to grab War of the Worlds today. I really want to see it.

the wife and son are off to the procedure. We had our time of prayer prior of them leaving. The daughter is already on her mom's computer and watching cartoons. We are in a suite at the hotel, so plenty of room on this trip. I am not really in the mood to work today, as my concentration will be elsewhere. Googling around I found another quiz on someone else's blog.

You scored as Moya (from Farscape). You are surrounded by muppets. But that is okay because they are your friends and have shown many times that they can be trusted. Now if only you could stop being bothered about wormholes. Moya (from Farscape) 94% Serenity (from Firefly) 88% Millennium Falcon (from Star Wars) 69% Bebop (from Cowboy Bebop) 63% Nebuchadnezzar (from The Matrix) 56% Enterprise D (from Star Trek) 50% Galactica (from Battlestar: Galactica) 50% SG-1 (from Stargate) 50% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

We arrived safely around 7 p.m. local time. Wireless internet access rules! I had some time to catchup on my work email and browse the blogs I read daily.




Dwarvish


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

We are about to head out to Amarillo, Texas tomorrow. I am taking a half day and look forward to get out for awhile. I noticed yesterday morning, I am actually off all of next week. I failed to remember we set it up for me to be off the whole week. This is great. I need to get some things done around the house and it will be nice to unplug from work.

I also had a board meeting last night and my daughter had to come with me. Her friend was sick and the neighbor was out, so she was stuck with me. I have to say she did great in sitting there during the open meeting. I know she was bored (with the exception of the gameboy she was playing), but she had picked up some stuff from the meeting. When I took them to school this morning, I pointed out the playground equipment they were putting up in the school yards. She promply stated, they talked about that last night during the meeting....that's my girl.

I am catching up on laundry today between meetings and work today. It's a 6 hour drive, so I am also combining some of the kids favorite songs on cd's for them to listen too.

I have to say, I am reading a really good book. Fade by Kyle Mills is a rivoting action book. I am nearly half done and it's hard to put it down.

The wife is exhausted and I am hoping between this trip and next week she can find some relaxation time.

I have been reading up on the Crusades and it is actually pretty fascinating. Here is a bit of knowledge,I am gleaming regarding jihad.
===================================================================================
The first campaigns of the Islamic holy war (jihad, literally 'striving')were waged by the Prophet Mohammed and his followers as a reaction to aggression and the secure booty for the infant Muslim community. But the jihad soon went on the offensive - to extend Muslim dominions. There was no question of forced conversion, although, in time, the growth of territory under Muslim, rule led to the spread of the faith. During the Muslim expansion, participation in the holy war was made the duty of all adult male Muslims; those who perished were assured of paradise, adn the idea entered Muslim tradition.
After the early eight century, Islamic conquest wanted adn enthusiasm for holy war was only intermittent, in reponse to local events such as teh Frankish invasion of Syria and Palestine.
Christian holy war had its roots inteh Just War, first defined by St. Augustine of Hippo in c. 400, which enabled Christians to reconcile Christ's rejection of violence with the need to uphold justice and order in an imperfect world. The influence of Germanic warrior converts to Christianity, and the threat to Christendom posed in the ninth an tenth centuries by the attacks of pagan Vikings, Magyars and Muslims, also modified the Church's attitude towards war. The idea of the Christian knight, who fought for the Chruch or on behalf of the poor and defenceless, was nurtured by churchmen who gave some measure of sanction to the pursuit of arms.
====================================================================================

It's interesting how the Christians created the Knights as a defence mechanism. I also read many of the Christian knights were from France. How odd and drastic that country has changed in religion and ideology. With the Muslim riots in France hitting 17 days straight, it appears history is repeating itself.

So how did the idea of using jihad to advance Muslim domain change to suicide bombers in the name of Allah? I am not about to say I totally understand this Religion of Peace, but I am trying.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media hasnt hit the story of 2000 Muslims burned down three churches, a nuns’ convent, two Catholic schools, the houses of a Protestant pastor and a Catholic priest, a girls’ hostel and some Christian homes, according to Asia News. So where is the ACLU, the out cry or just a mention of this in the media? I understand some nuts will use any religion or reason to do the unthinkable. But let's get real. No other religion has been used for these types of acts as the one in the name of jihad.

I was able to hear most of the speech given yesterday by our President during the Vet memorial. I was glad, actually relieved when he finally started to stand up on the decisions made regarding Iraq. It's past due. Although the left loony's are hanging themselves with their self blinded rhetoric, someone needs to point out their hypocrisy. Hence, my relief when Bush finally did.

Within the nearly 1 hour speech, 3 paragraphs are being regurgitated in every media....

"While it is perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began. Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war. These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs. They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein.
They know the United Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions citing his
development and possession of weapons of mass destruction. Many of these critics supported my opponent during the last election, who explained his
position to support the resolution in the Congress this way: 'When I vote to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein, it is because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a threat, and a grave threat, to our security.' That's why more than 100 Democrats in the House and the Senate, who had access to the same intelligence voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power.

"The stakes in the global War on Terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges. These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who send them to war continue to stand behind them. Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. And our troops deserve to know that whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our Nation is united, and we will settle for nothing less than victory."

Was he strong enough in his speech? I am not sure. I guess it will show as time continues. No doubt the Dim's were prepared for it. Kennedy couldn't run to a mic fast enough for a rebuttal. No, the Dim's will call this speech nothing more than a means for an attempt to raise the poll numbers. Ahh Politics.

Here is a Link on Kennedy's old rhetoric.

Call me a hack, but I seen this on my wife's blog and had to do it. : )


10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

10 Favorites…
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Food: Spicy
Favorite Band/Singer: AeroSmith/Don't really have one.
Favorite Hobby: Reading
Favorite Movie: The Boondock Saints
Favorite Sport: Martial Arts
Favorite Season: Fall
Favorite Day of the Week: The day I am truly off
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Coffee
Favorite Time of Day: Morning

9 Currents…
Current Mood: At Peace
Current Clothes: House socks, Jeans, All Star Dad T-shirt
Current Underwear Color: Green
Current Desktop Picture: Default XP
Current Nail Color: None
Current Time: 8:44 p.m. central time
Current Surroundings: In bedroom
Current Annoyances: The wacked out Far Left that just don't get it.
Current Thoughts: Too dirty to describe : )

8 Firsts…
First Best Friend: Brian
First Screen Name: mcwolf
First Pet: Australian Dingo
First Tattoo: No tattoos
First Crush: 3rd grade teacher
First Music Group: Ratt
First Car: 76 Chevy Nova, red

7 lasts
Last Cigerette: Age 13, a joint
Last Drink: Rum and Coke, last night
Last Time on Drugs: Coffee every morning (get a headache if I don't)
Last Kiss: one moment ago
Last Movie Watched: Farscape
Last CD Played: Robots the movie
Last thing bought: Gasoline

6 Have You Evers…
Have you ever dated one of your best friends? No
Have you ever broken the law? Yes, God's law and Man's law
Have you ever been arrested? No
Have you ever skinny dipped? No
Have you ever been on television? Yes
Have you ever kissed someone you didn’t know? Yes

5 Places You’ve Been…
Texas
Pennsylvania
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Nevada

4 People You Can Tell Anything To…
Kel
My Dad
Jesus Christ
--That's it--

3 things you can hear right now:
TV
The Air Purifier
Kel looking through the paper

3 things you can’t live without:
Air
Food
Water

3 things you do when you’re bored:
Scan through the tv channels
Cruise the internet
Eat snack foods

2 Choices…
Black or white: Black
Hot or cold: Cold

1 Thing You Want To Do Before You Die…
To make a positive impact in Society

I had heard there was a Mosaic found under the Prison within Iraq yesterday, briefly on the news.

I wanted to share this link to the article stating Prisoners and archaeologists were working side-by-side on Tuesday, gently cleaning the two mosaics as prison guards stood nearby. The rough outline of the original building was visible under the large plastic tent erected above it.

When I read the article, two things stood out to me. ..it is ancient and possibly the oldest church found in Israel, but that it clearly shows there was public Christian worship here at a time when Christianity was still outlawed in the Roman Empire and when Christians were being persecuted.. and ..they include a memorial to four women, at a time when women were not usually mentioned in such a way... I am surprised for them to be surprised on the fact it was a public Christian worship purchased by a Roman. There is an account within the bible where Romans approaced Jesus for blessings in addition to Jews. The other thing many may not understand is the fact woman were not persecuted or looked down upon by the early christian faith. Unlike many other religions, the bible clearly states for the man to treat the woman as Christ treated the true church. I know there are many who misinterpretate scripture for their own purpose and goals. However, those interpretations are not literal nor correct.

Another interesting note is the fact there are more than one reference to Jesus Christ. It was stated this is the oldest findings in reference to Jesus Christ. No surprise there considering He was a actual person, no matter what Peter Jennings thought.

The left is totally excited about retaining their two Dem Governor positions. It is hilarous to hear the left are trying to show this is due to further their insane causes. What is sad is I really didn't expect these true blue areas going red. I would be surprised if it had. Most propable for the Dem's excitement is the fact they didn't get their A##'s kicked again. They are losing on nearly every other ground, when it is given to the people to vote on. Look at yesterday's Texas marriage ammendment( ..An overwhelming 76 percent of voters approved the constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman... ) that was overwhelming approved by the people as an example. When it's clear cut and given to the people, they respond overwhelming against the far left's ideology. The Dem's know it and cry at night while they try to sleep. I guess we can allow some room for their small glee.

Pirates hijack ship off Somalia

"Several ships carrying UN food aid have been hijacked. Pirates have seized a cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, local officials have confirmed. They said the Maltese-registered ship, Pagania, was attacked late on Wednesday as it sailed from South Africa to Europe with a cargo of iron ore. The hijackers are reportedly demanding a $700,000 (£394,000) ransom for the release of the ship and its crew, all believed to be Ukrainian. More than 20 ships have been seized or attacked in the area since March. "


What Nimrod started calling these terrorist pirates? This goes back to my rant a couple days ago. Let's call black..black and white..white. Let's get real people.

These are not Pirates of the Carribean. These are terrorist attacking ships for cargo and kidnapping. A fascinating read on Somalia could become springboard for jihad shows where these incorrectly called Pirates are coming from. So get real people they are groups of terrorist from warlords out of Somalia. Another recent article here points it out......sea lanes have been taken over by ransom-seeking, ocean-going warlords, officials say.

While I am on the terrorist issue, I just heard Paris has hit 5000 cars total burned out in Paris by the unrest. The first victim died in Paris due to being beat to death. I am actually amazed only one has occurred with all the burning and ravaging the landscape. Anyone recalls the Los Angelos riots, where the black community basically burned and destroyed everything in site? This sounds similar. The sad thing is, who will be the ones hurting over this? Those living in the neighborhood being ravaged.

It is interesting to note, France is second in Jewish popluation after Israel, over there. These riots are being led primarily by Muslim.

Unbelievable weather in Oklahoma allowed us to clean up the yard, cars and garage today.

Since we basically did nothing Friday night and Saturday, we caught up today with our cleaning and preparing for the week to come. It will be hectic as usual with all the errands, jobs, and ect. We went to Sunday School at Church but was going to leave early to lunch. I was caught by a teacher at school and had to ask how things were going. Again, I heard similar issues with the principle. Unfortunately, it appears no-one wrote it up. I continue to hear similiar occurances from more than on source, but the frustration on my part is simple. I cannot do anything until it's presented to the school board with paperwork. I guess we will see if they will write this up. I continue to convey this needs to be written up as a complaint and keep a copy of it for their own.

We did get to go out to lunch today as a family and it was extremely nice. Making a list of todo's and just enjoying each others company without interruption was a true pleasure. There is a new (first and only one) Starbucks in Fort Smith. We drove by it and I had my first Mocha Venti there. It was pretty good. I should now have a worthy caffeine high to get stuff done throughout the day. : )

I watched two movies Friday night. I rented "Land of the Dead" and "Warriors of Heaven and Earth". Both movies were worthy to rent. I enjoyed both of them. Land of the dead is the latest in the living dead movies. The zombies are starting to think for themselves now. It was a pretty good storyline. Warriors of heaven and earth was a japanese movie with english subtitles. Again, the story line was good. I love the Seven Samurai and do not mind reading subtitles on movies.

One final event this week is worth mentioning. I received a Christmas present early. Yeah, really early. I was given the second season dvd set of Farscape. This is a big big gift. The prices for these sets are outrageous. I am truly gratefull for my wife willing to spend it for me. A great shoutout and thank you to Kel for it. It was nearly 11 p.m. before the kids and wife went to bed last night, yet I watched the first two shows of the set.

Farscape is truly a great great SciFi series. It is a shame only 4 seasons occured. However, I bet my wife is glad due to the prices of each. LOL

I grow tired of the incorrect perceptions people place on one another. At times, I have to point out the inconsistency, or lack of priorities in regards to school functions. Rather than my peers agreeing with me (or disagreeing with a valid example) they just wish to shuck it off stating he/she are doing a pretty good job. This is really irritating.

I am a fixer. Plain and simple. I receive tickets at work to resolve issues of interfaces, etc. I logically look at the flow and find the kinks and find resolution. I can't help but do the same thing in my home or other environment. Yet, when I attempt to address these issues, I get a ho-hum attitude. It seems they have this perception of their own rather than a reality view. This attitude of "it could be worse, don't rock the boat" is troublesome. Don't get me wrong. There are good qualities in most people, but this inability of addressing flaws because of fear or the person's insecurities is driving me nuts.

You can take this same issue with people and their God. Rather than looking at literal scripture, they have their own perception of how God should be or is. The statement of "I don't think God would do that" or "I don't believe God is like that". Why not just state, this is what my bible says or this is what the angel had told me as I was on my knees. The sad truth is, just because you want it to be true, often it's not. My point is, I rather have facts than perception of belief.

Take the same issue with a family member on drugs, spouse abuse, etc. There are always those in denial or looking only at their perception of what they want, rather than what is.

I don't know how to correct this, other than to continue pointing out facts and comparisons. Oh well, I guess I am just ranting.

It's nearly 3 a.m. here. I woke up around 1 a.m with a killer dry mouth and throat. After quenching it with water, I couldn't get back to sleep. I laid in bed tossing till around 2:30 and finally got up and came in here looking at blogs. None of the ones I daily read had anything new to say, so I scanned around.

I came across Busting Agenda that depicts the pro-homosexual activist pushing agenda driven drivel targeting nothing less than school kids. No, it's not about std's or aids,(that might actually be educational) rather it's conveying to K-3rd graders it's ok to be gay. If your parents don't see it that way, tough sh*t, their prejudice and don't know any better(my words). The article is long, but well worth the read.

A lot of the blogs are talking about the senate calling for closed session. Yeah, some thinks, wow, this is a good move by the Senate. Others are wondering what the hell? There is no reason for it. Well, I have a opinion on the matter. Basically the loony left are losing it again. This is not a good move, nor a right one. Let's face it, liberals continue to lose ground in the sight of the individual people, regardless how the major media attempts to portray them.

1. Their spotlight from the once one source media is going south (yeah the media still give them the light, but more and more people are looking at alternative news sources, ie the net and talk radio)

2. The false indictment didn't reach up to the top as they had hoped. Damn their luck.

3. Iraq is actually coming around. There will always be bombs going off. Do you hear the news about radical muslims in Europe causing chaos over there?
Per Gary Bauer....
Events in Europe this week offer a disturbing glimpse of the future, but you wouldn’t know it from the American media which has virtually ignored the developments.
First, there have been five nights of rioting in the suburbs of Paris by Muslim youth battling police. And in Denmark a number of young Danish Muslims have been arrested and charged with plotting suicide attacks in that country and throughout Europe. In Holland a group has been apprehended that was plotting to assassinate Dutch politicians who want to restrict further Muslim immigration into the country.
All in all, it looks like the strength of Muslim extremists is growing in Europe, posing a severe threat to the freedoms of many western nations.
Seems like an important story to me.
Yeah seem like an important one to me as well.


4. This new justice nominee is just another nail in their liberal coffin. The fact he is conservative has the same liberals chasing their tails. There really was no surprise the same three, Shumer, Durbin, Feinstein, would cry foul irregardless of the candidate. It was expected. That is what they get paid to do from their liberal money pouchers.

The Senate probably needed to reassess their situation (what the hell are we going to do now) and this requires time. It's just stonewalling on their part.