Through the looking glass

Someone should have thought this through....

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:55:41 GMT

Ok, So I just sat and watched a holiday special called "The Flight Before Christmas" on CBS with my kids. Now, I like to think of myself as an open minded guy. However, this show kind of put me off a little and I am wondering if it was inappropriate for my kids to be watching. And that is with the knowledge that they were the target age range.

It's about a little rain deer named Niko who lives with his mother and their herd in some hidden area where the wolves can't find them. Niko's father does not live with them because he is one of the flying rain deer who live with Santa. However, none of the other rain deer believe that story, which I found odd up until Niko was going to bed one night and asked his mother to tell him about his father again. This was her story....

“One night Santa's sleigh broke down near my home. I met the most handsome rain deer of Santa's flying forces and he took me for a sleigh ride and then later that night he flew off and I never saw him again.”

Niko was born the next spring.

So basically she had a one night stand with some guy who knocked her up and she never even got his name.

So later in the show Niko finds his way to the hidden vale where Santa and his flying forces live. He presents himself to the flying rain dear and tells his story. And you know what happens? Does one of them come forward? No! They all to a one say that it's just not possible and none of them have ever been to the place where he lives or know anyone by his mother’s name. In other words the father lies and try’s to send him on his way. The rain deer themselves turn out to be kind of stock up brutes who are living it up in there owe bar at Santa's work shop.

In the end we find out that Prancer is his father but by that time Niko decides to go back to his mother and live with the squirrel that raised him.

I don't know what else to say, you should check out the reviews on Amazon.com .... All I can say is wow, just wow.

It's been explained

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:57:31 GMT

I have always enjoyed a woman in tall socks and short skirts. Now it has been explained thanks to my wonderful SO. I know some of you will find the link as interesting as I did.

http://animedesho.animeblogger.net/?p=2585

Enjoy.

The other shoe has dropped

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:55:31 GMT

The call came today. After being with the same company for 12 years Shelby is unempolyed. She was not the only one in her department and it was done for down sizing reasons not for any job related ones. There goes a good stable 50Gs a year from our income.

If anyone has any leads on anything feel free to lets us know.

And send Shelby some hugs, she needs them. After 12 years at the same place it's like your husband coming home and telling you he does not love you any more and is getting a divorce.

It hurts.

Just a short update

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:16:07 GMT

It’s been awhile since I have posted. I’m not the best at calling people, posting, or keeping people informed in general. I tend to get wrapped up in day to day life things and forget the things that are important to me, such as friends. That’s not to say that I have not been writing posts because I have. It’s just when I get around to posting them they no longer seem accurate because things have been changing so fast. From one day to the next things seem like they are completely different. But anyway, on to the long over due up date.

As most of you know S and I have made it back to Baltimore. I have been back for a year now and S and the boys got here last Aug. We found a house we like in the very neighborhood I grew up in and things seemed to be going well. Then I had to lay off all my employees and close SCS back in Nov. Verizon went 3 million over budget and was holding all work until Feb or March of 2009. And with SCS being such a new business I did not have the funds to hold on with no income for five months nor the time to change the business over to a new market and still have employees to hit the ground running. So that meant laying off a bunch of people right before the holidays, one of those people being a long term friend. Needless to say that friendship did not survive. That also had me hitting the job market in the middle of a recession right before the holidays. It was looking like we were going to have to move again to a much smaller place and sell most of our stuff just to make ends meet. However, against the odds I had two offers in short order and signed a contract for a new job on Jan 20 th. It has taken some work but we are just starting to crawl out of the hole we fell into. We only owe the landlord a few hundred in back rent and are current on most of our bills. Yesterday morning I was laying in bed thinking about starting a savings account and what we needed to do about investing for the future. Then it happened. In a few weeks we might be right back where we were in Nov of last year. It remains to b seen yet however we have at least some sort of plan if it happens.

Wish us luck.

Are geeks with kids not expected to have kids?

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:11:26 GMT

Ad posted to craigslist Baltimore

Geek, Gamer, Poly, Couple With Kids Seek Friends - mw4mw - 33 (Baltimore)

Wow, talk about lables! I think we have another half dozen or so that you could throw on top of the three in the subject line. But lets cover those three first. Yes we are geeks. We tend to geek out of all sorts of things from WoW, to table top RPGs, to cult movies, and well, TONS of other stuff. Gamer? Umm... did I say we play games? Yeah? Well we do that a good bit. We are also movie freaks, love bad reality TV, and surfing the interwebs for new and interesting stuff. Humm what else? Oh yeah, poly... we are indeed poly and if you know what that means cool. But we ARE NOT looking for dates, hook ups, or any other such thing. In addition to that we have been together for 10 years but are not married, have three kids ages 8, 7, and 2 and an old man cat. We live in the Hampden area of Baltimore city and we both work and are as stable as anyone can be these days. We are also informed, educated, and like to think we are smart and witty, but you be the judge.

We are seeking friends! People to come over and hang out. Game with us on line and off. Play board games, watch a movie or three, and in general be friends, you know real friends. People who understand that when there are kids involved you can just pick up and go out. People who understand that sometimes you are "poor" this week and so you need to do the cheap dinner and date. People who know the meaning of the word friend. And if you have been to a con or ten that would not hurt either.

Drop us a note and let us know.

Number of replies to ad? One

Ran the following ad on craigslist Baltimore

Geek, Gamer, Poly, Couple Seek Friends - mw4mw - 33 (Baltimore)

Wow, talk about lables! I think we have another half dozen or so that you could throw on top of the three in the subject line. But lets cover those three first. Yes we are geeks. We tend to geek out of all sorts of things from WoW, to table top RPGs, to cult movies, and well, TONS of other stuff. Gamer? Umm... did I say we play games? Yeah? Well we do that a good bit. We are also movie freaks, love bad reality TV, and surfing the interwebs for new and interesting stuff. Humm what else? Oh yeah, poly... we are indeed poly and if you know what that means cool. But we ARE NOT looking for dates, hook ups, or any other such thing. In addition to that we have been together for 10 years but are not married. We live in the Hampden area of Baltimore city and we both work and are as stable as anyone can be these days. We are also informed, educated, and like to think we are smart and witty, but you be the judge.

We are seeking friends! People to come over and hang out. Game with us on line and off. Play board games, watch a movie or three, and in general be friends, you know real friends. People who understand that sometimes you are "poor" this week and so you need to do the cheap dinner and date. People who know the meaning of the word friend. And if you have been to a con or ten that would not hurt either.

Number of replies? 12

wtf people. All because we have kids we can't have friends? Now that I think about it most of our friends don't have children. Only two couples do off the top of my head. Do geeks not have kids? All we want is a bunch, well maybe a few, cool gamer/geeks to get together with and hang out and have fun. All we are asking is that they be understanding when it comes to the children, that's all.

Obama And A Little History

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:55:36 GMT

I have been hearing a lot in the news and from friends, both on the left and the right, about our most recent election results. From my friends on the left I hear about Obama’s plans for the future and how wonderful he is going to make things. Because after all, he has this mandate from the people to bring about change. From my friends on the right I also hear about his plans for the future and how bad they are going to be for the US and maybe the world. Such a sad day that the people could elect such a socialist for President.

I think everyone needs to relax and do a little review of history. This is after all, not the first time we have seen election results just like this under very much the same set of circumstances.

First I want to say that I did vote for Obama. But I did so with the knowledge that it was the lesser to two evils. A man with little to no experience but who’s heart was in the right place or a man who I once liked (back in 2000) but had changed so much that I don’t even think he knows who he is any more. Add to that his choice of a running mate after only a 30 minute chat on the phone and there was just no way McCain could have gotten my vote.

Now let’s go back to 1992. We were coming off the Gulf War and the economy was in a recession and Bush the first had alienated much of his conservative base by big spending and raising taxes. Then along comes this man out of nowhere who speaks well and draws crowds wherever he goes. He runs a well put together primary race, picks a long time Washington Senator as a running mate, and proceeds to blow Bush out of the water with 370 electoral votes to Bushes 168. We also saw the Senate in control of the Dems at 56 to 44 and the house also in control of the Dems at 258 to 156.

Today we have the war in the Middle East, the economy is in recession and Bush the second has alienated much of his conservative base by big spending and growing government. Then along comes this man who speaks well and draws crowds wherever he goes. He runs a well put together primary race, picks a long time Washington Senator as a running mate, and proceeds to blow Bush out of the water with 368 electoral votes to McCain’s 163 (still waiting on MO to count their votes). We also see the Senate in control of the Dems at 55 to 40 with 2 independents (3 races are undecided as of yet). And then there is the house which is also in control of the Dems at 255 to 174.

The short of it is that Obama has the same set up that Clinton had in 1992. Dems in the White House with a so called mandate from the people. And Dems in control of the House and Senate by about the same margins.

But what happened in Clintons first two years in office? What did he get done? Little to nothing. He could not even get his budgets passed. Why? Because of the minority in the House and Senate. All the moderate middle of the road Republicans had been weeded out during the elections and what was left were the hard core right wing conservative good old boys. And they sick together like glue. If Clinton said the sky was blue they would say red. They would not vote for anything he tried to push through. And Obama has it even worse. Not only have the middle of the road Republicans had been weeded out once again, but he has a bunch of what they call blue dog Dems in the House. For those of you not in the know these are Southern right leaning conservatives who have run as Dems in states that normally go red. But they are not 100% with their party being pro-life and fiscally conservative. So Obama will have even a harder time getting any of his special programs passed in the next two years. What we are likely to see is a repeat of Clinton’s first two years in office. Even more so since he has been picking Clinton people to staff the White House. Maybe there will be a new economic bill passed but that may happen before Obama takes office. But even if it does not both sides know the need for that bill and it will happen, but otherwise I see little change coming down the road.

And we all know what happened in 1994. The Republicans started taking back the House and Senate because the Dems had nothing to show for being in control for two years.

The only hope that Obama has that Clinton did not have is the fact that the Republican party is so out of whack and weak right now. They screwed themselves good this time around and no one trusts anyone. Maybe Obama can take advantage of this fact and get something done. If not we will see the Republicans taking back seats in 2010.

If you ask me I wish him good luck and god speed, he is going to need it.

Just saying

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:01:36 GMT

I know it has been awhile since I have posted but I day the day to day stuff on my LJ to try and keep up on what is going on in everyone's life. I just have so much going on right now. Some of it really good stuff and some of it really bad stuff and since it all seems to be happening at the same time it is like I can't keep my head on straight.

They say...

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:50:19 GMT

that stress kills.

I have 14 days till we have to move out of the house come hell or high water. To date I have only seen one house that will come close to fitting our needs as a family. It's more then we have ever paid for rent, even my home loan was less then this. The guy who owns it may work with us so I am trying to stay positive. I am taking Shel to see it on Monday so we shall see. Stress.

My house is a mess. There is stuff everywhere and it just does not feel clean to me which wears on my nerves really bad. I end up being in a bad mood for no real reason and snapping at the kids. I know the reason behind it but it still happens. And I hate myself a little each time I do. But it is not like I can say look boys, while we are moving daddy is going to be a real asshole but once we are done everything is going to be ok. More stress.

On other fronts the business is doing ok. I got past the payroll issue but still owe my crews back pay. Work is going ok but has slowed down since I have not really had the gas to drive there and over see what amounts to a bunch of new employees. I spent most of last week in Baltimore sleeping in the car at night just so I could be on site during the day. Even more stress.

Oh, and have I said I hate moving even under perfect circumstances. That alone is enough to make me nuts. So lets say this move is less then perfect. Stress, Stress, Stress.

Also, I want to say that there are numbers of people who I should be calling and or writing to, or at the very least repling back to comments in my journal. I know this but when I am stressed I become highly anti-social.

Aug 2nd is make or break time.

yahoo....

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:01:39 GMT

SUCKS!!!!

Going Home

Sun, 18 May 2008 03:57:31 GMT

Well I know this has been a long time coming, that have let the few readers that I still have down and not posted in a LONG time. However there has been so much going on that I have had little time to sit and write anything meaningful. Well, here is one of the most meaningful things I have written in a long time. WE ARE MOVING BACK TO BALTIMORE!!!! That’s right folks, after talking about it for years, kicking around how we were going to make it happen, and all that other good stuff, we are moving home after 7 1/2 years. Don’t get me wrong here, TN was OK and we made some wonderful and what I hope are life long friends there. And VA has been nice and it has been cool being so close to family these last few months but none of these places have ever felt like home.

So we have the basics of a plan coming together. I have allowed my contract with my current employer to end as of last Friday in order to pursue another contract with the people he was contracting with to begin with. This will help in a number of ways. One it will increase my pay a great deal since my past employer will no longer be getting the lions share of the pay for the work I was doing. Two, the new contract, if I do indeed get it, will put me working in the Baltimore/DC area allowing me to live in Baltimore once again. Really it is a win win situation. I will start working on the new contract as of Monday and I am hoping to have the green light to start working in Baltimore in a week or two. This will put me in Baltimore in early June. Most likely I will look for a room to rent for the first month or two and see Shel and the kids on the weekends. Our lease does not end at our current place till Oct but there may be something we can work out there if things are going well enough with the new contract.

It feels good to be moving towards being home again. We have been in town twice in the last two weeks and every time it is harder and harder to go back to VA. Tonight we got to hang out with our friend Vox who we have not seen in forever and it was really good to hang out and relax with someone to connected to. We went out to dinner and walked around Fells Point for a bit before heading back to VA.

Now as luck would have it we are sitting in traffic. It is midnight on 495 and it is bumper to bumper heading into Alexandria. Boy it feels good to be home.

Just what does it mean to...

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:37:22 GMT

Settle down and enjoy all that life has to offer.

I have seen this in a number of personal ads and it is always a woman who wants a guy to settle down and enjoy all that life has to offer. I never see a guy asking women to do this. Just what does this mean anyway?

To move or not to move, that is the question.... again.

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:18:50 GMT

Frustrating, that’s what it is, frustrating. We moved to Virginia to be closer to Baltimore, the ocean, and family. We expected that we would be able to make friends here and maybe have more of a social life then we had back in Nashville. That is turning out not to be the case. Our target location was Virginia Beach but we ended up in Gloucester Virginia. It’s a very cute house not 500 yards off the York river sitting on a little over 3 acres of land. Behind us is a salt marsh and lots of wildlife. When we first moved in we were thinking that it was great. However we are starting to see a problem with our choice of location. And that problem would be the lack of friends.

I’ve made some effort to make to make some friends through work, even went to a weekly poker game. But where everyone was very nice and I did ok in the game I just did not fit in. They were all very right of center and a lot of the discussion was almost uncomfortable. Then there were all the invites to there church. I almost felt like they were trying to recruit me or something. So we tried craigslist, livejournal, and yahoo groups. Seeking out local gamers and like minded people. But it seems everyone who fits the mold lives an hour of more away and have to come through one of the tunnels and then over the Coleman bridge just to get to us and that is just too far to meet new friends.

On top of the there are no local kids for the boys to go out and play with and they keep letting us know it. Just has gone as far as to tell us he wants to move back to Nashville so he can play with his friends. I was very short sighted on this. We have all this room outside yet all they want to do is stay in the house.

So I am stuck wondering what to do. Move yet again? Make the boys switch schools so we can be in the more social area for us and them? I have we have already down graded their school in order to move states. We have gone from what I thought of as excellent to just acceptable. To move yet again we risk putting the boys in a school that is unacceptable either because of curriculum or behavior issues.

And if we are going to up and move where do we move? Maybe back to Baltimore? That brings with it a lot of wonderful benefits as well as some issues we would rather not deal with. Or maybe back to Nashville? The nice thing about Shelby’s job right now is she can work anywhere. Nothing would really change for her no matter where we went. And if we did go back to Nashville she could go back to work in her old office. But it would sort of leave me out in the cold as far as my job goes. I enjoy what I do in as much as I can enjoy working for someone else. And I make ok money at it to boot. But if I move out of range then I give that up.

This kind of sucks. I gave up something I enjoyed for something else hoping to find that other thing on the other end and it has not happened. Now do I trade again? Guess I am just too hard to please.

Type your cut contents here.

Well, I made it home

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:16:16 GMT

I found an alternator last night around 8pm for 205.00... a hell of a lot better then the 700.00 Midas wanted! I put it in myself and it only took me an hour and a half in the cold dark parking lot. I had a little help from a buddy who was nice enough to back to MD. Without him I could not have gotten to the store to pick up the alternator in the first place. And I needed a jump to get the truck moving again. But once I got going everything seemed fine and the truck did start right up this morning so I am guessing all in all it worked out.

I got home around midnight and ended up cleaning the house. Seems S is sick... again... and did not get much done in the house so I cleaned everything before heading to bed... or sofa I guess I should say since that is where I slept.

So now I'm going to head out and do some holiday shopping and then head to my company holiday party. Then it is back to MD at some point tomorrow night until next weekend.

Guess it is better then not having anything to do.

Well here I sit....

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 00:32:33 GMT

I should have seen it coming. Things have been going too well as of late. This morning the big white truck would not start so I had to get a jump to get over to the job site. Then when it was time to move buildings the same thing happened. Then when it was time to wrap things up and head home for the weekend the same thing took place. So I am thinking that if I just don't turn the truck off maybe I can make it home. So I roll over to the gas station and fill up with the truck running then stop at the drive thru of Burger King to get a bite to eat and a drink to see me on my way... And that's when it happen. The battery light in the truck comes on and then the truck shuts off. End of truck... no driving home for me. So I call S and let her know what is going on which does nothing but serve to upset her and then walk my way to Midas which just happens to be up the street from where the truck died. They get it in their doors and give my the bad news... the thing that charges the battery is toast... then come the really bad news. It will cost 762.92 to fix it and get me running. That is the end of my kids X-Mas. S and I were to do our shopping tomorrow. So I'm trying to work something else out. Wish me luck!

I know, long time no update

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:48:24 GMT

Wow, it has been such a long time since I have written any sort of up-date in this thing that I am not sure were to start. But as I am sitting in a hotel room in College Park MD I have little else to do. My other half may have done an update somewhere along the way from Nashville to here but I’m not sure what has and has not been said. So……

As some of you may know I left Nashville in September for a job in Virginia Beach and to find us a new house in Virginia. The new job went about as well as expected and I found a very cute little house in Gloucester VA right next to the York River. It’s very quiet and I can watch the eagles and hawks fly around outside and in the summer we can walk down the street and go fishing, crabbing or swimming at the beach. There is lots of history in the area as well being right next to Yorktown so I can’t wait for more free time to explore and see what I can find.

It has taken us a while to get settled in to the new house ad in some ways it still does not feel like my home. But it’s getting there as we ad new things to replace a lot of the stuff we got rid of or sold before we moved. But we have finished with things like a new sofa and such and are just waiting of a few curtains and maybe a rug here and there. I also kind of want to re-do the boys bedroom and we still have the office to work on. Heck, we have not even started on that yet. But all of this is taking a back seat to the holidays so I will start to focus on those things maybe mid January.

The kids are doing well I think. G seems as happy as he was back in Nashville but it seems he can roll with almost anything. However J seems a little sad. He had friends back in Nashville and he misses them bad. We are so far out from everything that there is little chance of him meeting and making any friends at our new house. It seems to be bothering him enough that when I asked what was bothering him he out and out told me. His older brother is not always nice to him and I think he would really like someone else to play with. Maybe when our lease is up we will look for something in a different area.

But wait you say! Why if you moved from Nashville TN to Gloucester VA are you in a hotel in College Park MD? Well I’ll tell you dear reader. After S and the boys moved into the new house in Oct I worked a few weeks at my new job to make sure things were stable and then took a job with a new company running fiber optic lines. It pays better with better hours and no weekends. My other job had me working six days a week. And because of this new job I am doing some out of town work to make a little more money then I would if I had stayed at home in VA. I’ve been here all week staying at a four star hotel but will be rolling back home tomorrow night. Then it is the company holiday party on Sat and some alone time with S and then back to MD Sunday night until next Friday or Sat. Lots of running and lots of working but I’m loving life right now. I have a family I love and a job I like. Go me!

Ah, but I must be off to bed, I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow and need my beauty rest.

This is just wrong....

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:46:02 GMT

So I leave to go to the store today and I see that they are evicting number 11 behind our place. I hate to say this but I was raised to be a scavenger. I grew up with a father who went to the local dump to bring things home. So whenever I see an eviction taking place I normally stop to see what is being put out. They can often times be a good place to pick up something small they you could really use. However there is never anything really good. They never put out a big screen TV or anything like that. Most people know ahead of time that their eviction is coming and get the stuff out of their homes that they really want well before it happens. And since we are moving (I'm out of here tomorrow) I did not want to look for anything that I might have to move with me so I just forgot the whole mess and went to the store.

When I got back I was gald I did.

These people must not have known they were being evited. Everything they owned was put on the street. TVs, Computers, Ipods (yes more then one) XBox 360, mini DV camcorder, and a whole bunch more. One guy had his truck loaded with stuff. And all I could think to myself was why would these people have left all this stuff behind? Did they truly have no place to put any of it to keep from losing everything they owned? Did they not care?

Well, it turns out they do not know they have been evicted. The complex we live in has changed their policy along with the new owners. Now, if you are late twice they evict you. This is the first month they are doing it. For me, not paying your rent is one thing but just being late is another. This policy is REALLY fucked up. When these people come home from work today they will find out that they have nothing. Everything they owned is gone. If you look outside there is almost nothing left. They have no place to live, no clothes other then what they had on their back when they left for work this morning, nothing. I am so glad I am moving out of here. I could not stomach living at a place that would do that to people.

The Six Million Dollar Man Is Coming...

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:44:41 GMT

It's coming folks. Faster then some may have thought but it is coming. Makes me wonder what the world is going to be like for my grand kids.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/07/24/bionic.hand.ap/index.html

http://www.gizmag.com/go/6855/

Word of the day... just because...

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:28:34 GMT

The Word of the Day for July 13, 2007 is:

libertine • \LIB-er-teen\ • noun

1 usually disparaging : a freethinker especially in religious matters

*2 : a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality; specifically : one leading a dissolute life

Example Sentence:

The writer was portrayed in the film as a libertine who relied heavily on the vices of drinking and gambling.

Did you know?

The word "libertine," which originally meant "freedman" when it appeared in 14th-century English, traces to the Latin "libertus," a term that in Roman antiquity identified a slave who had been set free. By the late 1500s, "libertine" had been extended to religious and secular freethinkers; Shakespeare used it to refer to anyone who follows his or her own inclinations. By 1600, though, the term had come to imply that an individual was a little too unrestrained, especially in moral situations. And yes, the Latin root of "libertine" is "liber," the ultimate source of our word "liberty."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Well, time for some new...

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:48:54 GMT

glasses. Mine are well over three years old and I need a new pair bad! I was all set to get lasik and be done with the glasses which I hate more then anything else about me. Went to my pre-op appointment and had a date picked out but it looks like money is going to be a problem so I have to for go the lasik until things are better off money wise. I've started to take the ones I have now off more and more, to the point of driving home without them on last night. They hurt my nose and are giving me a tick in my left eye that bugs me to no end. But I still might have to wait till Aug sometime before I can get some new ones since I think these cost me close to 300.00 last time. But hey, I'm starting to think that seeing is over rated anyway. Maybe I'll just get rid of these and squint at everything. Humm, maybe that will work.

OK... who took the lake?

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 06:15:31 GMT

There is a movie in this somewhere just waiting to be made.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/21/missing.lake.ap/index.html

Just an update...

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:21:16 GMT

Well the house is quiet, that’s a good thing for once. I had a rough night last night with the baby. He decided for some reason that midnight was not a good time to be asleep and I ended up going into his room and letting him crawl all over me till he fell asleep around 3:30 or 4am. Then it was back in the crib for him and I ended up crashing on the floor next to it so I would not wake S up coming back to bed. I woke back up when S hit the shower to go to work but was just too worn out to get up and move into the bedroom. Then G and middle J woke up at about 8:30 and decided to run out and down the hall yelling “Flame On!” at the top of their lungs which woke the baby back up. At that point I said screw it and changed his diaper, gave him something to eat and told the boys that they woke him up and they had to watch him, then headed for bed. Not like it did me any good since they all came in the room every 15 minutes to tell me about one thing or another. And now it’s too late to nap. The baby is napping sure but the boys are outside playing and I have to be wake to keep an eye on them. Oh the joys of fatherhood.

I’m cleaning the house today in the hopes of hanging out and watching movies with S tonight. I’m kind of stressed out as I have this legal thing I have to go do tomorrow that is going to change some things in our life, maybe limit some of our choices a little more, and I am trying to keep my mind off of it. I’ve put a number of things of hold already because of it and I just want it to be over and done with at this point.

And speaking of things that are on hold I have almost finished my complete business plan for our game business. I don’t believe I have said anything about it here, and if so not in any detail, but S and I are looking at opening a gaming shop. We will be selling hard to find board games and well as role playing games of all sorts. We plan on vending at cons around the US as well as getting center floor space in some malls in different areas for a weekend here and a weekend there and then working up to a full store front over time as we build our stock ad our name. We will supplement that with a internet presence selling the same produces as well as buying and selling used games. Just about everything is in place as I write this. Shelving units are here, business plan is in place, research has been done and contacts for wholesale have been made. The only thing I need now is some extra money for the business license ad the tax ID so I can get my wholesale price lists and start putting together an inventory. Then a cart to put behind my horse in order to get from point A to point B and it is off to the races. I’ve also toyed around with maybe bringing on a silent partner for some financial backing in order to get the ball rolling sooner rather then later. I was thinking it might be nice to set up a full store front for the holidays in one of the local malls. But we will have to see how that works out. Maybe if someone steps forward and is interested in getting involved. Who knows.

Trying to loss weight sucks

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:54:39 GMT

I’m really kind of down today, well down on myself mostly. I tried on a pair of pants that in April were falling off of me and now I can’t button them. When S and I started changing our eating habits back in Feb I was the heaviest I had ever been at around 265 pounds. Between Feb and May I dropped to 232 pounds which was a loss of 33 pounds. I was getting up in the morning and had myself a set schedule every day. I was going to the gym doing cardio a few times a week plus working out with weights a few nights a week as well. I was sleeping well at night and had the energy to really DO stuff during the day. Now I’m not sleeping at night, my back hurts all the time, and who knows when I will crawl my lazy ass out of bed. I’m letting things slip.

I think it all started the last day I went to the gym with S. I was in a super good mood and walked unto the basketball court to throw a couple of balls around while S changed her clothes. When she did come out we started playing around a little and the next thing I know my heart feels like it is going to explode and I can hardly breathe. And it was only 15 minutes… maybe. After that I was weak as a kitten and could not work out. I’ve not been back the gym since then. That bothered me for awhile but I kind of kept it to myself because there is only so much self pity that S can take. Then G got out of school for the summer. The boys started sleeping in and so did I. Then they started getting the baby out of his crib to play with him in the morning allowing me to just lay in bed even longer. Then we were tight on money once again so I did not want to waste gas by driving S down to work and going to pick her up again which meant she would get up in the morning and I would just lay in bed and stay there till noon.

So I have been sleeping in all morning which is keeping me from sleeping at night. Not working out and for the most part well, not doing anything. Now just walking to the office here at the apartments wipes me out. And then there is my weight. I’m now four pounds heavier then I was when I started back in Feb and I am not sure I can do this anymore. I am amazed at S, she has lost so much weight and looks so different then she did back in Feb. From a size 22/24 to a 16/18 and still dropping. She has this change in eating habits down. And where I am so happy for her it success puts a large spot light on my personal short comings.

Hell, I’m not really going anywhere with this. Just ranting or venting or whatever you want to call it. Think I will head off and do nothing for awhile.

HELP!

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 22:16:20 GMT

We need a baby sitter for Tue night 6-5-07. We thought we had it covered but the person who was going to baby sit has broken his neck. Going a little far to get out of baby sitting but what can you do? So we are in a bind. We have a work dinner that we can't get out of and three kids that need to be watched. This will be a paid position at our place so if anyone can help out please let us know ASAP!

Thanks a bunch!

Life is good, this really sucks?

Fri, 11 May 2007 14:53:10 GMT

I’m kind of down today. Things have been going really well. I have a new part time job that is completely stress free and gives me time to do other things while I am at work.

Things are going really well with the kids. Once again we have been blessed with an advanced baby. Eight teeth after just a few months, going up steps by seven months and fully walking by 10 months. He is starting to apply sounds to certain things and people such as DaDaDaDa to me and MaMaMaMa to Shelby. Gabriel has been doing great in school this year and getting all Es on all his report cards and Josh is so well behaved some times I wonder if he is our child or not. And both of the older boys are becoming more and more interested in games and gaming, maybe they are our children after all.

I also have some really good and solid school plans that I am going to be following through on within the next three months that I am really looking forward to. Updating all my computer certifications in the next 56 days or so. CompTIA A+, Net+, Security+, Microsoft MCSE, and the Cisco CCNA and CCNP. Then it is back to the work force for me and I am really looking forward to it. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being at home with the kids every day but I will also love the added income that will come with me going back to work. It should more then double our income.

And speaking of money Shelby and I have been doing really really well with our budget. We have been paying off our credit reports and the bills that were run up from having the baby and are getting closer and closer to being debt free. Once everything is paid off and I am working things will be so different for us. For the last few years Shelby and I have not gotten anything for each other on our birthdays, X-Mas, mother’s day, father’s day, and any other holiday that comes to pass. I for one can’t wait to have money that is not being sucked up by debt that I can use to buy her something nice and or special.

Then there is my writing. I have been banging away at a few projects recently that I had put on the back burner ad things are looking kind of good in that area. The gaming book is really starting to flow and more is getting added every day. I have been personally wowed by the way it has changed and evolved from the first draft concept to the current design and concept. I’m still going back and forth on if I want to farm it out to another system as just a world setting or if I want to use my own system and go it alone. They both have their pros and cons but since I have two other related games I may just go it alone. I guess need to weigh everything out.

So if everything is going well why am I down? My weight loss. When I first start this weight loss it was to be a lifestyle change. Not a diet program. A massive change in the way we eat. Watching our serving sizes and what we eat. Lowering our calorie intake to around 1500 max a day. And it worked. Boy did it work. I dropped from 270 to 238 in a matter of a few months. I went from a tight 42 size pants to a 38! I had not been in a 38 waist in years. And Shelby has done even better. She was in a size 22-24 and is now down to an 18 and still dropping. I am so proud of her that I can’t put it into words. But that’s the thing’s she is still dropping. I have gone back up. I’m 256 right now and my 40 waist pants are all tight on me. I have slipped and slipped hard and can seem to gain my footing again and it is really bothering me. I looked so different (out of clothes) just a few weeks ago and somehow have put all this weight on recently. It has me so upset. I just laid around the house all day yesterday and I feel bloated and fat and like a lazy slug. I don’t want to be fat anymore. I’m sick of it. I wish I had someone to go to the Y with me during the day. If I was rich I would hire someone to make my food for me so I would not have to deal with how many calorie intake. Boy have I become that lazy? I thought about going to the gym today but I have too much to do and both of the boys are feeling under the weather. I need to wash clothes and make sure that the house is clean. And I need to do research for my gaming book. I work tonight so I will not be able to do it then and Shelby is going to the gym tonight so I need to make sure things are clean before 2:30 this afternoon. This really sucks. But I guess that is life.

In the future there will be fat people...

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 05:27:59 GMT

Shelby and I were chatting about what the world was going to be like in the future. Not any one date mind you, but where the human race might be going. She started out by saying that since humans had this trend towards obesity and since being heavy tended to hinder movement; that she was wondering how humans would evolve in order to adapt to such a change. I expressed to her that I thought the natural evolutionary processes in humans was slowing down. That we no longer had to evolve to adapt to our environment. That we had crossed a line somewhere and where now able to change our environment to fit our own special needs. Sort of if the grass is too tall for us to see over then cut it down rather then stand up type of thing. So I told her I thought that if humans as a whole were to get too fat to really move around that we would invent much better virtual reality systems to allow us access to each other without having to travel from our homes. Also look at robots as personal assistants. We already can see big moves in these directions today. And what I really find funny is that we already know the pit falls of such moves. I remember in I Robot where Will Smith is walking into a factory that builds robots and he asks the woman he is with where the people are. She tells him that the factory is run completely by robots with minimal human contact. His statement is as follows. “Great, robots building robots, that’s real smart.” And in the beginning of Dune it is talked about how humans had become so reliant on “thinking” machines that the human race almost died out. Recently a report was released that said that we were only a few years away from seeing true artificial intelligence and once a machine could think for itself that it was not out of the realm of possibility of governments giving said machine rights just like people. Will all of this happen because people get fat? I don’t think so. However I do think that we are indeed on that road. As they said in the Matrix, we will marvel at ourselves as we give birth to AI. We are smart and we know what all the pit falls are. We would never let any of that happen to us. After all those were just movies