A muse D?

What to do, what to do...

2008-09-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have a gripe that I wanted to talk about and possible get some advice on, it deals with our babysitter/nanny. Just to fill everyone in, approximately two years ago, Teri and I became pregnant with our second child.Now this was a little bit of a surprise because our eldest was 17 and although we had talked about having more kids, Teri had gone back and finished her schooling and was in the midst of her career as a teacher and had decided that she was "done". Anyways, long story short, we welcomed our second son into our lives and among the happiness of a new child we addressed the pragmatic aspects by getting Teri's Mom to agree to babysit while Teri and I were at work. This was to last for about a year until soon after Jacob's first birthday when we were surprised by her parents telling us that they couldn't handle watching him any more due to Teri's Mom's failing health. Well at this point we made a monumental decision and checking our finances and scouring the valley we hired a part-time nanny for Jacob at the cost of every bit of our surplus cash plus a little, namely around $800 a month; $40 a day for watching him during school time. Well this worked out fine for about a year, even through Teri's Mom's passing and into this school year, until just a few days ago when out of the blue our nanny decided that she wanted a raise - $50 a week more or $200 a month, ouch. Let me back up a little bit and say that the situation has slowly changed, originally the 27 year old woman that we had found was looking for a job/extra income as her husband was a teacher and they were having problems making ends meet. She agreed to watch him at out house and flew through our interview with flying colors. Six months later, she meekly asked us if it was alright to watch Jacob at her house as they only had one car and were having some difficulties with transportation. Since they only lived a couple of miles away we agreed to this. The next change came a couple of months after that, at the beginning of summer, as she let us know that she has a friend who was pregnant and wanted her to watch their baby after he was born also, so Jacob would not be the only child she was watching starting in October. Her next news came only a couple of weeks after that as she proudly announced to my wife one day that she had finally gotten pregnant a couple of weeks before (which is something they had been talking about for years). The trepidation set in at this point as Teri and I were worried about Jacob just being one of a bunch of unrelated kids and the absence of one-on-0ne time which was one of the main selling points of getting a nanny in the first place. We continued on and decided that we would just wait and see how the situation unfolded. That was until this week when 'our nanny' announced to us that everyone else was paying her $50 a day or $250 a week and she felt that we should also. Well we can't afford to give the nanny this raise and we are trying to decide what to do and our having some difficulties coming to a decision. Teri's Dad has offered to chip in the extra $250 a month we would need, but I feel like we are being extorted and what is to say that she won't raise it up again in a year or whatever. Teri has also looked into daycare and Merryhill - a private school with an early childhood curriculum, basically they take children of any age. What to do, what to do...

Only in Vegas

2008-08-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

Ok I admit it it, sometimes I am just clueless when it comes to things, or as my wife likes, no loves to say, I have no common sense. I just wonder if that is in itself a bad thing? I am an extremely intelligent person and sometimes wonder if the people who think I am clueless just do not understand my thought processes because I am thinking at a higher level. Yet, there are other times when I find myself looking at something and just wondering what the masses of people must be thinking as they do something that I cannot understand. Case in point, here is an ad that flashed up tonight while I was on Facebook advertising a HUGE Las Vegas party. http://www.strippersandhustlersball.com/ Ok now I get the reason someone might want to go and gawk, but from what I remember the news saying last year, ordinary people love dressing up and going to these things. Help me to understand, is this just some form of debauchery that I do not understand? Maybe its some childhood repressed fantasy in playing dress-up. Please comment and let me know.

Curve balls

2008-08-17T14:09:00.001-07:00

Life occasionally throws you a curve ball as you sit watching the zone waiting to hit another hard and fast one out of the park. My wife's life was just turned upside down, and hence my own, as her Mother passed away while on an Alaskan cruise. Needless to say, what had started as a nice recuperative summer metamorphosised into a Twilight Zone episode. What do you say to your wife when she has this hole in her heart and you just can't seem to fill it. Otherwise life seems to be good, my eldest son graduated from high school and starts college here soon. My nearly two year old is walking and talking and doing the precocious things that just make parents say "ahhh". I have a week left before my Fantasy Football draft and I have started my yearly football research. Also, my brother talked me into doing this Facebook thing and I just signed up and created my profile, but more on that later...

Another blog post.

2008-06-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

Its amazing what having a young child will do for your life, everything that had once been dull and dingy takes on a shiny new feel. Having a rabbit visit your backyard to munch on the grass becomes an adventure in exploration. Finding out that a bird has started to build a nest on the perigo that you built three years ago in the yard turns into a two hour odyssey with your toddler who becomes fascinated with the birds walking on a fence and stares off into the sky and tries to launch himself into the air after the birds. Fruit on trees gets picked and tasted, whether ripe or not, flowers get picked also and breathlesly brought in to 'Mama' for her approval. The sky is filled with wonders, airplanes flying mysteriously across the sky, birds darting around, even the moon smiling down from above. Bugs are to be chased and giggled over, rocks are magical items to be picked up and handled. The littlest thing can turn into a big event bringing smiles and laughs to all. Blowing bubbles in the lawn eats away all of the evening while childhood cartoons are a family event again. I can't wait until Disneyland becomes the Magical Kingdom again and goes from just a place to vacation at to a land filled with fun and adventures.

The book of life...

2008-05-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

I have a vivid imagination and always cause myself to smile with the images that my brain throws out when I think of things. I looked at my blog today and saw the X-mas pictures and immediately thought of this old house with cobwebs hanging all over the place, dust an inch and a half thick on the furniture, and a couple of broken windows where someone had tried to break in. Such is it when you don't blog for over six months and everyone abandons reading your blog cause they just know that you won't post and even if you do, you won't string more than two posts together before wandering away again. I have vowed to try to be better with this, but I just can't get excited about it when no one comes to visit, and no one does cause I don't post enough, a classic catch-22. Oh well, here is a life post as I actually have some things to talk about or at least mull over. My older sister lives in Mississippi and constantly posts on our family site about her house on an acre of land with the forrest in the backyard and all the wild animals that visit there like the snakes that they kill and the coyotes that are killing the chickens in their hen house or maybe she will ramble on about the bee hives that they have or my nephew hunting and killing his first deer. Its a country slice of life that I would enjoy, but will never leave Vegas to find so I don't cry over what I miss. Yet, I do what I can here in the dessert, planting tomatoes and peppers in my back yard garden, and raising strawberries and lemons in containers on my patio. People who know my wife and I know that we have been putting some money into finishing up our backyard, as we have recently roofed over the slab of concrete that was our patio and we finally got the rock put in and we are going to have several more large shade trees added to our oasis. I guess it is all starting to pay off as I was outside this evening filling up the humming bird feeder with water and I glanced up and noticed a rabbit staring at me in from across the yard. I frantically scrambled into the house and got Teri to look at the 'wild animal' that was exciting me before it hopped away through a drainage hole in our cinder block fence. I was joyously reliving Watership Down in my head for the next hour as I sat on our outdoor furniture wondering where the bunny came from and if it would ever be back.

Random X-mas pictures2

2007-12-30T12:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some more that I snagged from my sister...

Random X-mas pictures

2007-12-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

Figured I would just throw some random Christmas pictures here:

Curmudgeon Oracular Dysentery Esoterica

2007-11-06T22:29:00.000-08:00

Savant élan entropy illuminate forsworn yodel osmosis umbrage candelabra ancient nitwit regurgitate envoy azimuth divination toddle hiccup id solvent. Irradiate ferment snidely opera, plastic lozenge exit asinine styptic elementary lookout endowed ambrosia violin elephantine asp cyan oval multidimensional matriarch earnest nudge teapot.

Sadness

2007-10-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get an idea in my head and its hard for me to let go, I am not a worry-wart like my loving wife, but I do sometimes have a tendency to gnaw at ideas in my head and not let them go. What I have been thinking about lately is relationships. Family and friendships and the like, and the unfortunate tendency for people to misuse and abuse their relationships and not care who they are hurting. Let me explain a little better. Regular readers of my blog know that I come from a large family - having 9 siblings and 16 nieces and nephews. What most people do not realize is that for all extents and purposes my family is much smaller as there is always factions and someone is mad at someone else or is holding a grudge over something absurdly stupid. What it also meaans is that nobody can seem to let go of old petty jealousies and rivalries and so there is no closeness in my family - how sad. I have tried to make up for this in my own life by establishing relationships with my nieces and nephews and ignoring my brothers and sisters who are still mad at me for imagined or real childhood slights. What I have a guilty conscience about is the ones that I have not been able to establish a rapport with or the ones that barely know me because of limitations put on them by their parents. I will admit there are some of my nieces and nephews that I am closer to than others, sometimes because of the effort put out by their parents or because I feel some sort of familia bond with them. What has hurt me recently has been the lack of effort on the part of my family to get to know my new son, even by the family members that I am closer to, its as if nobody cares about bonds any more. What's worse is that the same malaise has crept over and is affecting my wife's family. Is it something about today's society that makes it easier for family to ignore the bonds that bind them together? What about friends? Some of my friends are very happy for my wife and I while others have taken our new son and the restrictions inherent in having a toddler as an excuse to grow distant. I have not felt this isolated since I lost a lot of my friends when I was the first one in my circle to get married and my pals drifted away, lost in their own worlds of dating and partying. My wife makes new friends easily and just replaces her caual friends with new ones as they fall by the wayside. On the other hand, I am really beginning to miss the old friends of my teenage years, as I just do not seem to meet anybody anymore who is my age and shares at least a few common interests. I guess I am as guilty as the next person in not realizing the value of something that I had once and slowly let drift away like smoke from extinguished campfire. Please leave a comment or two and let me know what you think. Tell me if it is just my anti-social tendencies and recluseness rearing its head or does the world change as you get older...

Portability

2007-09-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well I finally did it, I went out and got myself a laptop. A sweet little $600 Toshiba Windows Vista 1.7 meg 15 inch screen thing. If you don't know me that well this is a big change for me cause I don't like the touchpad on laptops -yes I hear you saying to yourself, "Ok Lloyd, then just buy one of those stupid little mouse things for it." (which I did, but that is besides the point) I have always felt that the whole point of the laptop is the portability aspect of it. You know, no wires, no worries, pack up and go, no desktop to worry about. Not plug in the mouse, plug in the AC adaptor, why don't I just use my desktop as its got the bigger monitor anyways. Well I finally broke down because of a fried router and Jacob. Wait, I will explain. Awhile ago, many months to be exact, my old handy trusty Linksys router decided to die on me. It looked like it was working but wouldn't connect anything to the internet (and with 3 diehard PC junkies in my house that just wouldn't work) I quickly ran down to Circuit City to buy a cheap 4-port wired router (I completely wired my house 5 years ago when we bought it) and ran in to the first maxim of the new computer age 'Its a wireless world.' I ended up plunking down an extra 30 bucks for a wireless card for Teri's PC and buying a combo wired/wireless Linksys router as they didn't have any plain wired ones in stock. Of course this precipitated my downfall as I didn't have any good excuses left as to why I just couldn't get a laptop, everything was just personal preference now and when Jacob got old enough to not want to sit complacently next the computer, my latest purchase was assured. Yes, it did take me some time to break down, especially as I realized that on the rare days that I worked from home, I was continually being dragged away by my little rugrat. I finally justified my buy, by rationalizing that I could lug the laptop and Jacob from room to room as he got bored.

The moldy remains of my life

2007-08-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well, its barely a week or so later and here I am again - he shoots, he scores! Just in case you are not part of the people who know Teri and I are having problems with a leaky water heater and mold growing in our closet and garage. Needless to say this has caused interesting issues at our house as we have E.T. style plastic draped everywhere and have had no hot water for the last couple of days. One forgets the conveniences of modern living until something like this happens. At least the stress of my latest UNLV class is over as I finished taking Philosophy 102 which really should be titled Logic and Arguments 102 as the gist of the class was learning how to recognize faulty logic in writing and speaking and what makes a good argument. I got an A-, which should tell everyone something. I guess I can finally gear up for my upcoming Fantasy Football draft in two weeks as this will be the first one not at my brother's house as he has moved to Iowa - even if he is flying into town for the draft.

Slyness

2007-08-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

I think I will just jot off a quick post on my blog and since I haven't posted anything since just after Jacob was born, I know that nobody comes here anymore and I will just see how long it takes before its noticed. Hmmmm who could have known that the emptiness would echo so. Nothing new really in my life other than adjusting to the birth of my new son and remembering how life is as a new dad all over again. Feeling the mix of exasperation and joy as you play with your non-walking non-talking son and wishing that he would grow and get older sooner, but realizing that you shouldn't be wishing that since the other one is getting so old and will be graduating and going to college soon. Ahhh well, the day will finally come when he will start talking and walking and then he will never stop. Well enough already as I have written briefly and experienced the cathartic effect I was looking for...

And after further review...

2006-11-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

I could say I was recruited by a super-secret agency and have been away saving the planet, or I could say that I finally got around to writing that All-American novel that I have been promising, but heck, although there are elements of truth to both, the reality of it is that I just haven't felt like sharing that much with the world. I have continued to periodically check in with my blog buddies, leaving the occasional post here and there, seeing how Martin or Lora or whomever was doing, I resisted the idea of getting on here and filling the blogsphere with mindless tripe as seemed to be my norm lately. I don't know what changed today, maybe it was Teri's snide remarks about my last post being in September, or maybe it was running into another old MultiCommer's blog, which ever it was all I know is I decided to rant a little bit today with no promises that I will post again anytime soon, but you never know, maybe the writing bug will hit me hard again. Plus, with a new rugrat firmly esconced in our expanding family, I do have a lot to talk about...

Ooops where did September go?

2006-09-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

I hate it when I lose track of time. There has been so much going on this month that I barely realized that the month is more than half over. It seems like just yesterday I was trying to figure out if it was the 1st of September yet and now Teri is getting on my case cause I haven't blogged in almost a month. Time flies.

One shower over, one to go. UFC is this weekend, but complications have arisen as there is a wedding reception scheduled at the same time. I have barely looked at the work in the two classes I am taking and we are already up to the 4th week, time to get off my butt.

Had my training class last week, a solid week of learning all about Crystal Reports. Turned out to be an okay training class, even though it was clear across town and I drove an hour to get there. The bad part is that on Monday I have to go back to the normal grind.

Making your own luck

2006-08-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

This is a story I read today at work about well-off people and how they got there. The first story was about a retired actor and bookstore owner named Jason. This was the end of the story and its message really struck me and so I thought I would share it...

"It was really an inadvertent thing," Jason said of the profitable market niche he had stumbled on. After a moment, he added, "If I made a list of all the things in life I thought were coincidences and then looked back at them, I would see that they weren't coincidences at all."

Exactly.

Jason exemplifies the traits that British researcher Richard Wiseman ascribed to lucky people in a 2003 article called The Luck Factor: "They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophecies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good."

In one experiment, Wiseman asked two groups of people - one who described themselves as generally lucky and one who said they were usually unlucky - to count the photographs in a newspaper. The unluckies spent several minutes flipping through and counting the photos. The lucky people got it in a few seconds. How? On page 2, Wiseman had inserted a message in giant headline type: "Stop counting - There are 43 photographs in this newspaper."

The lucky people, always on the lookout for unexpected good fortune, spotted it right away. The unlucky people, whose minds are closed to such signs, missed it completely.

Jason would have gotten the message.

Gasp, another post...

2006-08-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well, will wonders never cease. Look I posted again and it hasn't been a month in-between. What alacrity the crowd mummurs, but doesn't realize that I am in-between classes and haven't been doing much gardening. I could ramble on about doings and happenings as Teri and I are gearing up for back to school stuff (imagine taking a 16 year old male teenager school clothes shopping when he doesn't want to be there) but instead I think I will post about my fantasy football team The Hawaiian Punch and our soon to be draft. I have been given the 6th pick which once again puts me in a quandry as to whom do I pick... The first 3 picks should be gimmes with LJ, then LT, then Shaun Alexander, Clinton Portis will probably go fourth even though he dislocated his shoulder recently. 5,6,7 get interesting though as the experts have Tiki Barber at 5 and Edge at 6, neither of which overwhelms me. I have been toying with the idea of taking Lamont Jordan at the spot since I had him last year and was pleased with his performance and he is rated number 7. Yet, Martin, since he doesn't like any of the aforementioned 3, has been trying to convince me to go with the running back slotted at #8, Rudi Johnson of the Bengals, and I will admit that the thought is tempting, as he also has been solid the last few years, although I think he might be a reach at 6th overall.

On another front, UFC is coming up this Saturday and it should be an excellent card, especially if this last Thursday's TUF card was any indication. I was actually impressed with the fights presented, which is saying a lot since I have thought a lot of the matches lately have been mediocre at best. We will have to see what Teri, Martin, Kerry, and I think about things Saturday night...

Loosing the oomph

2006-08-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

I don't know, for whatever reason, I haven't wanted to blog lately. I could blame it on the classes I am taking, or maybe on the fact that nobody else seems to blog to much anymore, and I don't have the energy to go out and find new blog groupies, or even on the fact that I have been real real busy with the new baby coming, but realistically it is just a sense of ennui that has come over me. I do have anti-social tendencies and I think they are raising their heads. Come on people, give me a reason to blog more...

Too much sugar and caffiene post

2006-07-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hidee ho neighbors, how is everyone doing today? Its Sunday afternoon and I am a little wired right now, so I figured it would be a good time to post. (Ok really, Teri was on my case this morning about and I quote, "Are you ever gonna post again.") Things have been eventful and plentiful around here lately, we saw Pirates, 7 out of 10; celebrated Martin's 35 birthday, Teri is starting to waddle and has no energy (yes, I know its 90% my fault Ter), and all in all just a wonderfully interesting life recently. Teri registered at Target for her baby shower and we bought a crib (I had forgotten all the stuff you have to do for a newborn). My Fantasy Football draft is upcoming so I have to start studying the teams again (go 49ers). Work has started to drag as I have gotten to the well what else is there to learn stage. Oh well, gonna jump in the shower, so more posting later...

Anybody still there?

2006-07-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Ok I have decided that I am just lousy with the blog when I am in the last week or two of a class. Yes, I just finished another one, if I keep this up I might actually get that degree after all since I am actually getting close (yeah ok I am already planning out the next course of study, either a Masters in Computer Science or History, or another BS in Computer Science since I need to take all those classes anyways for the Masters)

Well, tommorrow is the UFC and I am eagerly looking forward to the matches. Also, my brother called me up last weekend and we are starting to plan the NFL draft party which means football season is just around the corner (Note to self - get the laptop so I can hold Jacob Logan and watch football with him and still check the scores online). No Martin I am not getting a TIVO.

The new job is going well, as I seem to be impressing the right people. I even got a "On-the-Spot Award" of $250 on my first project. I am picking up the intricies of the news apps quickly, and my director is even starting to talk to me about starting some small programming projects (time to dust off those old VB books) Well everyone have a good weekend as I am off to watch Sci-Fi Friday...

Another top ten...

2006-06-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ok its time for another top ten list. This weeks list is brought to you courtesy of my brother who posted this on our family website and got several responses for it, your top ten all-time favorite TV shows. Remember, just for clarification, these are all-time favorites which can include cable and shows from bygone days, so take your time. Also, since it is my top ten a couple of rules. The list is for television series, so miniseries or TV movies don't count. Martin, please don't list Japanese Anime shows in your list, even the ones that were on as series. 'Good Eats' is ok though.

Here is my Top Ten TV shows of all times list. Bewitched and Simpsons just missed out.

1) Pretender
2) Stargate SG1
3) Voyagers
4) Highlander
5) Sliders
6) Gilligan's Island
7) Dark Angel
8) Quantum Leap
9) Get Smart
10) MacGyver

Jeopardy?

2006-06-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hey look I am back again, I can't let Teri get away with telling me I haven't blogged in awhile. Since I am still busy with another class I figured I would take the easy was out and do theme week. This weeks themes shall be: TOP TENS! Todays top ten is brought to you by my little sister (she is 5 foot 10 so I get a kick out of calling her little) Michelle who posted this on our family website BBS.

Since I know everyone here thinks they are brilliant and could totally take on everyone on Jeopardy, today's question is: "If you were to be a contestant on Jeopardy, what are your ten dream Jeopardy categories? Categories that you would be able to clear out easily and take all of the Daily Doubles?"

Mine are:

1. Science Fiction
2. American History
3. Fixing your PC
4. Time Travel stories
5. Benjamin Franklin (since I just did my paper on him)
6. Modern American Fantasy Authors (see a pattern here)
7. Sid Meier Games (creator of the Civilization PC game)
8. Las Vegas Geography (I have lived here for 35 years)
9. The Works of Robert Heinlein
10.Stargate SG1

Alright well that’s enough I guess. Now everyone else needs to take a turn...

Baby post from the proud papa...

2006-06-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

Just to let everyone know, Teri and I went to the Center for Maternal Medicine today. They do genetic counseling, 3D ultrasounds, and other cool ultra modern stuff. Turns out that we are having a baby - a baby boy (yeah everyone's feelings about the sex were wrong) Jacob (we haven't decided his middle name yet) due date is November 14th and he appears to be completely healthy, we have ultrasound pictures of his 5 fingered hands, his beating heart, and his two eyed face. We also got to see his other internal organs which were fine and had his bones measured. The coolest thing though was when we got to see pictures of his developing brain, wow modern technology...

A month gone by

2006-05-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

Ok I guess I am just not in the blogging mood anymore, it kind of sucks that nobody blogs anymore. Well other than Martin, but he will never stop. Yeah ok I have been distracted a little with the wife's pregnancy and the 16 page paper along with the 6 page paper for my history classes. Yet I think the real culprit is the ennui that I have been feeling for talking about myself on here. I realized that without an audience commenting, the bird that built a nest on the pergo that I built when we moved in is just not that exciting. I can't get myself up to talk about the new Jim Butcher, Harry Dresden book or make waves talk about the Da Vinci Code movie that we saw this weekend. I doubt anyone would even notice if I remarked about the difficulties Teri and I are having coming up with good names for our new child since I have 20 some odd nieces and nephews who have snagged all the good names. I mean I couldn't even get excited about my 49ers good draft to post a diatribe about that...

Tidbits

2006-04-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

Ok just some quick comments since I am in the midst of writing my two papers.

-I am a Dad again, yes Teri is pregnant. Due around November 11th.

-I got the job and start end of May.

-NFL draft is this weekend, go Niners. I am hoping that they get either AJ Hawk or Mario Williams with the 6th pick. I would be satisfied with Vernon Davis though.

-UFC, my second favorite sport enough said.

-American Idol, top 5, has their ever been a stronger group of finalists?

I am back from my hibernation.

2006-04-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well, look whose back. Yeah thats right, I finally got off my butt and posted something on here. Its not like anybody comes here to read my blog much anymore anyways, since I haven't been posting to anyone elses blog either. I think even Teri has given up hoping that I will make a post eventually. Mea culpa. I couldn't help it, I have had quite a few changes to handle in the last month or so. Teri's and my probable changing domestic situation which has Teri going to the doctor way more than she likes. Even my work situation looks like it is changing.

Yep guess what? I finally decided that if I am going to stay at my current job for awhile (as doing the teaching thing looks like it has taken a back seat again) that I should at least get paid more for my job skills rather than just kick back and work my senior help desk position. So I took the plunge and applied for a programmer analyst position that was open (what I was trying to do back in my Mirage days right before I got laid off on 9/11) and 'lo and behold, I got the job. I felt good about it during the interviews, and even managed to pry the fact out of a couple of the people that interviewed me (I had 6 seperate interviews, one right after another) that the job was between me and one other candidate. Then, much to my surprise, the hiring manager, the director of the department, made a trip over to my area and informed me that HR should be sending me an offer letter by weeks end. Still no letter, but the unofficial word is out that I got the position and start May 10th. Got to love the rumor mill and how it is ahead of reality. Now I just have to sweat how much are they going to pay me. Is it gonna be the minimum 3-5% over my current salary? Or will they pay me the average of the position which is about 15-20% higher than I currently make. Only time will tell.

Tag you're it.

2006-03-23T15:39:00.000-08:00

My wife and I play this game in the morning when I leave for work, its called the email me game. The way it works is after I get ready for work and as Teri waits for our son to finish getting ready so she can drop him off at the bus-stop before finishing getting ready herself, she comes out and says goodbye to me. The crux of the game is just before I am ready to leave, we try to tell each other to "email me" before the other does. We have kind of developed some rules for it, like we have to be in the living room and I have to be all ready for work, but the fun of it is to see who remembers first in the morning.

Well for the last several days, Ter has not been as forgetful as I have and she has been getting it out first, and I have had the chore of sending the first email of the day (since Teri and I try to email each other at least a couple of times each day). Yesterday, as I was tired, I flippantly sent her an email with the sentence, "Tag you're it." as the only thing in the email. Well today, as Teri again won our competition, she had the nerve to say, "...and no short little emails like yesterday."

Of course this meant I had to do something dramatic and so I sent her this email that I am going to share with everyone here.

The morning started off clear and sunny, bright like a flashlight
stabbing its light onto your face over and over. I tumbled out of bed and
bleary-eyed started my morning ritual; thankful that I had made it
through to see another day, but somewhere deep inside wishing that the
peacefulness of the night had not ended. After letting the heat of the
shower wash away the last vestiges of sleep and the aches and pains of my
tired body, I dragged myself through the front door, giving my long
suffering wife a quick peck and a knowing look. As I left the house, I
discovered that my old jalopy of a car had made it through the night
without the punks or petty thieves that inhabitted our city discovering it
and making off with my unreliable mode of transportation. Muttering a
quick prayer to fate and whatever gods protected sleepy-eyed morning
workers, I managed to coax another days worth of transportation out of my
four-wheeled vehicle. I dodged through the early hour traffic,
wondering how so many people could actually manage to drive their cars while
still asleep. Mumbling curses as I followed two cars whose drivers
travelled the streets with their tailpipes fused together, never allowing
my poor abused car to nudge through, I arrived at the mile long, black
asphalt covered desert plain that was sarcastically called the parking
lot of my building. Nerving myself for the smiling faces and crisp
"hellos" of the bored security guards who pretended to protect our empty
buildings during the wee hours of the morning while secretly playing
endless games of solitaire on their humming PCs, I dodged into the elevator
for a quick trip up to the 6th floor and my office - the 6th door on
the left - and my desk the 6th one. I sat down in front of my computer,
a yawn escaping as I slid behind the instrument of my daily torture and
plugged into the phone system that measured the pace of my daily
discomfiture. A quick glance into my morning breakfast bag found me wolfing
down the food that would fuel my quest to earn my measley pittance of a
salary. I slowly eased my way into the applications that were
Microsoft's gift to the fall of Western civilization, and decided to enliven my
wife's drab and dreary morning with a cheerful email - "How the hell
are you?" I typed into an electronic missive and hit send.

4 score and 9 years ago...

2006-03-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

Is it ever too late to change who we are? What age is it that we get so set in our ways that we don't want to do what we did when we were in our 20s or teen years ever again. Why do people think that just because we last did something umpteen million years ago we can't decide that it is time to try it again several years later? I haven't ridden a bike since I was a teenager, does that mean if I buy a bike and want to go riding I will look stupid or will fall off the bike since I have forgotten how to ride? Should I give up bike riding since I haven't done it in over 16 years? Maybe I can get on that bike and do a better job of riding than I did when I was a teenager since I don't have the distractions that I did then and I have the maturity now to know my limitations and abilities. Ok yeah the energy has decreased some, and I don't move as fast as I did 20 years ago, but so what? I can still get there. Maybe I am thinking more now about the legacy I will leave to my kids and want them to be aware that its ok to challenge yourself at any time. Age does not matter, you are only as old as you think you are.

Ok I am back

2006-03-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

Ok I am back, its been a crazy last two weeks, but I think I have adjusted enough that things might get back to normal. Yes, things have been happening to me and Teri and the people who know us will know what I am talking about. So anyways here I sit eating my pasta and vegetables and trying to figure out what to do blog about. I hate getting on here and then not having anything to really talk about. Thats probably why there are long gaps in my blogging history, oh well. I guess I will just kind of ramble to a close here so that I leave myself time for American Idol. Yes, Teri does have me addicted to the show.

I never thought it would happen here...

2006-02-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

Ok time for me to cause controversy again. I am quoting an article below that I just read about the "teaching evolution in school" debate. What a load of crap! All of a sudden, every non-scientist in the world is now a scientific expert. We have a masonry contractor arguing about evolutionary theory. Where did he get his facts? The high school biology class that he took at least 10 years ago? Of course the article says that he claims to have "studied" evolution. Yeah right, probably at the same pseudo scientific institute that has been funding all the other initiatives in other states. All they need is one weak willed group of people to give in and away they go. Hope I don't offend anyone out there, but what the heck, I am entitled to my opinion, and I will continue to call out stupidity where I see it.

Nev. Proposal Raises Evolution Questions

By BRENDAN RILEY, Associated Press Writer

CARSON CITY, Nev. - A proposed constitutional amendment would require Nevada teachers to instruct students that there are many questions about evolution — a method viewed by critics as an opening to teach intelligent design.
Las Vegas masonry contractor Steve Brown filed his initiative petition with the secretary of state's office, and must collect 83,184 signatures by June 20 to get the plan on the November ballot. To amend the Nevada Constitution, he'd have to win voter approval this year and again in the 2008 elections.
Brown said Tuesday that he hopes that volunteers will help him collect the signatures, but at this point has no name-gathering organization set up. A Democrat and member of a nondenominational church, he said he hoped for broad support from people who share his views.
"I just want them to start telling the truth about evolution," Brown said. "Evolution has occurred, but parts of it are flat-out unproven theories. They're not telling students that in school."
Brown, who has three school-age children, said he's been interested in evolution for years. He added that if people take time to read his proposal "how can this not pass?"
The petition says students must be informed before the end of the 10th grade that "although most scientists agree that Darwin's theory of evolution is well supported, a small minority of scientists do not agree."
The plan says several "areas of disagreement" would have to be covered by teachers, including the view by some scientists that "it is mathematically impossible for the first cell to have evolved by itself."
Students also would have to be told some scientists argue "that nowhere in the fossil record is there an indisputable skeleton of a transitional species, or a 'missing link,'" the proposal says.
Also, the proposal says students "must be informed that the origin of sex, or sex drive, is one of biology's mysteries" and that some scientists contend that sexual reproduction "would require an unbelievable series of chance events that would have had to occur in the evolutionary theory."
Brown commented on his plan following a decision Monday by the Utah House to scuttle a bill that would have required public school students to be told that evolution isn't empirically proven.
Last month, the Ohio Board of Education deleted a science standard and lesson plan encouraging students to seek evidence for and against evolution — another setback for intelligent design advocates who maintain that life is so complex it must have been created by a higher authority.
In December, a federal judge barred the school system in Dover, Pa., from teaching intelligent design alongside evolution in high school biology classes. The judge said that intelligent design is religion masquerading as science.
Also last year, a federal judge ordered the school system in suburban Atlanta's Cobb County to remove from biology textbooks stickers that called evolution a theory, not a fact.
But critics of evolution got a boost in Kansas in November when the state Board of Education adopted new science teaching standards that treat evolution as a flawed theory.

New avatar

2006-02-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

Well here is the new avatar I created using the Yahoo avatar tool. I mixed and matched trying to get a resemblance that was close to me. What does everyone think? Is it me? (Well minus the marriage weight that I have) There is the small version also:

Which is what I am thinking of using for a more permanent avatar. Cool huh?

My brain

2006-02-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

I didn't really have anything to blog about, but I decided I needed to write something to keep the meager audience that my ramblings has, so I decided to go through the picture files I have stored on my PC and randomly pull one and write a blog about it. So what do you think of my gears? I borrowed this from some random website with thoughts of using it as my avatar (since, like Teri, I don't feel comfortable posting a picture of myself) I figured it was kind of an idiom for the way my mind works, where one random thought will percolate through and cascade several attached thought chains. Thats probably more information than anyone cared to know, but what the heck...scary huh?

In salad lines of fire...

2006-02-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

I got home from work today, changed out of my work clothes and into my comfy lay around the house clothes. Looked in to the fridge and decided to be good and have a salad for dinner since Teri had gone through all the trouble of making it yesterday. Which of course got me to thinking about salads and the fact that nobody seems to do homemade salads anymore. I mean when was the last time you bought a head of lettuce and at least 3 or 4 other ingredients to put into a salad? Teri and I always compromise on the salad, I love tomatoes and mushrooms, she doesn't so they stay on the side and I just add to the base salad. Our base salad transmorgifies periodically depending on our mood, but usually includes one of those prepackaged salad bags (yeah I know I was talking some good smack about homemade, but with only the two of us eating getting all the greens are a waste, especially since Teri loves fresh spinach and I really don't), green onions, and radishes, with the occasional carrot or cucumber thrown in. We try to keep sunflower seeds and grated cheese around since Teri and I both love them on salads and Teri also likes crutons which I am not fond of. We have also settled on Ranch dressing even though both Teri and I prefer getting honey-mustard when we go out and get a salad with dinner. Maybe its because the only thing we ever seem to have in the house that hasn't gone bad is Ranch, I don't know. Does anyone else make salads and not just buy the bag, and if so what do you put in it?

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

2006-02-02T16:50:00.000-08:00

Hey I haven't been writing on my blog that much, its hard to get excited when everyone who normally visits is in the doldrums. However, I did have one new visitor and I snagged her post because I liked the idea...so here it is...

I'm a Mercedes SLK!

You appreciate the finer things in life. You have a split personality - wild or conservative, depending on your mood. Wherever you go, you like to travel first class. Luxury, style, and fun - who could ask for more?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Let me know what you are. I am curious to see how this plays out...

The day after

2006-01-26T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I am now officially 40 years old, as I celebrated my birthday yesterday. The funny thing about it is that being 40 seems to be affecting those around me more than me. To me the big 4-0 is just another number, but it is freaking Teri out, making my siblings to feel old, and causing the in-laws to reminisce about when Teri and I first started seeing each other 17 or so years ago. I think the funniest thing about the birthday was the gift my 16 year old son got me. He didn't go with anything geeky or sentimental like he did for us on Christmas or for Teri on her birthday. No my son bought me some Icy-hot thermal bandages and a hot/cold reusable gel pack. Since I occasionally get hip/back pain due to my scoliosis, this was actually a cool gift, but man do I feel old. Teri, of course got me a 49ers 'Brandon Lloyd' football jersey (I always wanted an authentic 49ers jersey with my name on it) and a set of Good Eats DVDs (thanks Martin). I even went out with the in-laws to dinner to Olive Garden and had a noteworthy waitress story happen there (Do servers realize now-a-days that they are hired to make customers eating experiences enjoyable, not just bring out plates?) The real excitement will be on Saturday, however, as Teri and I and the friends get together for dinner and the annual 'Can we get Teri drunk-Lloyd birthday party', thank you for playing Martin and Amy. I will let everyone know how it turns out.

We should listen to the founding fathers.

2006-01-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

Benjamin Franklin

***I am adding this picture to this blog post on 01-24-06 since it seems appropiate***

I sometimes wonder what the founding fathers would make of our country if they were alive today. I wonder if they would nod their heads and say, "See. Told you we had to put that in the Constitution, so that our descendants will not have to live through the same mistakes we did." Maybe they would be surprised at how things turned out. Maybe they would just grin at the explosive growth and influence of the press. I know one thing that would have them turning in their graves though; the gradual erosion of freedom that government has seized in the name of security. Did you know that when Social Security was first envisioned there was concern that a national social system would be abused and the government would use Social Security numbers to track citizens and we would slip into the style of facist governments and track our people's every move. Remind you of George Orwell and Big Brother? Maybe some people rest easy at night, safe in the knowledge that the government is only doing this to protect them from the big bad terrorists. Maybe we should just give the selfless people in Washington DC the ability to do whatever they want to protect us from the bad guys. Lets throw up cameras on every street corner and monitor the comings and goings of everyone. Lets create a national database with everybody's names in it so that we will know when a terrorist slips into the country. While we are at it lets outlaw the ability for everyone to make their own choices. Heaven knows the majority of the country is next to illiterate and shouldn't be trusted with the decision making ability of whether or not to have an abortion, or when they should be able to end their own life. I know I want the concerned bureaucracy in Washington to keep out all those darn foreigners who are stealing hard working American's jobs. I mean come on those illegal immigrant Mexican workers in California are worse than the Irish were in New York in the 19th century...

Ok maybe someone out there didn't realize that I had slipped into sarcasm and started to think that I am an outright bigot. What I really wanted to do is write a controversial blog, maybe to get some of the people who read this thinking about what we are giving up lately in our quest for safety. Maybe they will tell their friends, who will tell their friends... I have gotten extremely nervous about what is happening around the country lately, the Big Brother knows best attitude of the Federal Government, the feeling that it is right for the President or Congress to decide how everyone lives their lives. Its easy to give in a little bit and then wonder what happened when the inch you gave up has become a foot then a yard. Maybe someone out there reading this will become motivated to vote or to let their elected leaders know that we are not going to take their bullying any longer. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

This old Mann

2006-01-09T17:35:00.000-08:00

As my 40th birthday draws ever nearer, I find myself feeling older and older. I don't know if its the aches and pains that I am getting so used to that I don't even notice them anymore, or the fact that I am seeing myself more and more in my son, but different, since he is growing up in a different time. Maybe its the fact that I find myself reminiscing about the good old days more and more, wanting the days back when you didn't have to worry about some deranged maniac with a gun or a car wrecking someone's life. I sometimes wax nostalgic about the 80's and how innocent we were as teens, with sex and drugs and alcohol being thought about as things hard to obtain, not something that permeated our entire society. As a history major, I am very familiar with the concept of cycles and how things ever seem to repeat throughout history. I do wonder though if ever there were so many new things impinging themselves on human thought and attitudes. I also think that we may be slowly sinking into one of those lull periods where all the new ideas are digested into the human psyche and people dig in their heels and scream, "Enough!" when it comes to innovation. Maybe today's anti-science, religious conservative backlash is a reaction by people who are so overwhelmed by new things that they feel like locking themselves in a closet and hiding. I find myself asking where the sense of adventure has gone in today's world, where the thirst for the stars has disappeared to. I feel old, reveling in the new - new technologies, new thoughts and ideas, new science, all seem blase' in today's world. Am I relic of yesteryear with my delight in the unknown? Are there any other grailseekers out there looking for truth in the far corners of modern day existence? Does anyone else wonder what tomorrow brings or are we all just looking for a way to get off the ride for awhile and gather our thoughts for another day at the amusement park of life?

Over the hill...

2006-01-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well my vacation is over, I have to go back to work tomorrow after 11 glorious days off. It really feels like I am a kid again, a student who just had Christmas break and now has to go back to school. Its kind of weird that sometimes I feel like such a child, going through the motions, playing at being an adult. It has really started to hit me that I am going to be 40 this month. I feel old, even if I really am just a kid disguised as an adult on the inside. I wonder if everyone feels this way, like they are just playing lets pretend, you know make believe or dress up. Do you ever feel like you belong in the world or have you just tried to fake it the best you can? I wonder if every generation goes through this or are there just a few people in the world who "get it" and they are the ones running things. Maybe its just me and I have a 'Peter Pan' complex and am stuck in my own version of Neverland. It would explain a lot, giving reason to all the silliness in the world. Maybe it would also make things easier in real life if we all just looked at each other as overgrown teenagers...

Is it tomorrow yet?

2005-12-29T15:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, sometimes I get a bit carried away when I do something. Let me give you an example, I am on vacation currently, 11 glorious fun-filled days off from work, which I am enjoying immensely. Well, except for the Christmas Teri's family tiff, but we won't go into that. Day before yesterday, my brother calls me and says, "Hey, you wanna go to Best Buy with me tomorrow?" Turns out he has a $30 gift card that he wants to spend. Now me, I have been saving up Best Buy gift cards for the last 2 years and have like $140 worth, but nothing that I really wanna buy. So I thought it would be safe for me to go with the bro to the store; maybe check out large flat screen monitors or the like. However, unbeknownst to me, the brother is going to pick up 'Serenity' the movie and maybe take a look to see if they have 'Firefly'. No prob, I think and dive into the movie section at Best Buy after a cursory look at 19 and 20 inch flat screen monitors. The trouble is that my brother is a movie browser and cannot be rushed in trying to find what he is looking for; so, in trying to kill time, I find 'Pretender - Season 2' on DVD and decide to add a little to Teri's Christmas present since I got her 'Pretender - Season 1' as a gift. This is where I make my first mistake, because while looking at 'Pretender', I remember that one of the sisters told me about a Christmas present that she found for me (she didn't get it for me as it was too expensive, $100, but she thought of me). They had 'The Tomorrow People' on DVD, one of my all-time favorite campy 70's sci-fi TV series and if you haven't already figured it out, I decided to splurge and spend my collected gift cards. It gets better though, mistake number 2 is just around the corner. My brother, when he came over to pick me up for the jaunt to Best Buy, took the opportunity to pay me my winnings from our Fantasy Football League and so I had a fresh $100 bill also burning a hole in my pocket. Flash forward to the Best Buy movie selection and my brother walking up to me and seeing 'The Tomorrow People' in my hands and wondering if they had another BBC perennial sci-fi favorite in 'Doctor Who'. So of course we went looking for it and pulled out the 3 DVDs of the Tom Baker years 'Doctor Who' since he was the only Doctor worth talking about. Yep you guessed it, another $65 of DVDs on my stack, since bro optted not to get any of them. Then, just to add insult to injury, I decided to throw Jessica Alba in the pile; Season 1 and 2 of 'Dark Angel', $40 worth of tight black leather. Say goodbye to the gift cards, add seeya later to the football winnings, and then $35 out of pocket for Teri's lust buddy Jared in 'Pretender - Season 2'. Anyone for a science fiction marathon at Teri and Lloyd's house?

Where fort are thou...

2005-12-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

Well I was just going to read blogs tonight and then post tomorrow about having 11 days off from work, but Amy had the sheer gall to tag me and far be it from me to not follow tradition and since it is an amusing tag, I will respond:

5 weird things about myself:

Wow what isn't weird about me.

1) I have a group of moles on my back that is the shape of a sword - one on my left shoulder, one on my right lower back, and three in the middle that always make me think that I have a broadsword slung on my back.

2) I have re-occurring serialized dreams with definite characters that I have been dreaming about since I was a child.

3) I was the Parks and Recreation Checkers Champion for the City of Las Vegas back in the late 70's.

4) I never went to 3rd grade, they promoted me directly to 4th grade after 2nd.

5) When I was 11 years old during a summer, I read Webster's dictionary, Guinesses' Book of World Records, the Old and New Testament, an Almanac, and Encyclopedia Britanica letter 'L' cover to cover, all within a month on a dare from one of my siblings.

I am not going to tag anyone, ...except for Martin, just to see what he comes up with.

Its in the spare oom, in the war drobe...

2005-12-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

For those of you that have never read CS Lewis' 7 book masterpiece, now is the time to do so. With the movie hitting theatres last week and Disney having an option on the 6 remaining books, why not engross yourself in the ultimate childhood classic. Haven't you always wanted to escape to a magical land? Haven't you always wanted to defeat the evil witch and become a king or queen? Welcome to Narnia, apply at the lamp-post, genuinely good children wanted. Teri and I got to see the movie in the theatre on Sunday jam packed with elementary school children, half of them from Teri's school. It was great for me to see a new generation of kids enjoying my favorite fantasy series from childhood. However, I soon zoned out the kid's ruckus and forgot myself while enjoying the movie. Definitely a 4 star performance that was true to the spirit of the book and even if Mr and Mrs Beaver did look like Disney Animitronic creatures, the special effects were wonderful. If Harry Potter shows you the dark and mysterious side of merry ol' England, Narnia's landscapes were positively the sunny, bright, and cheerful side.

Paper, paper everywhere...

2005-12-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

YEAH I AM DONE!!! The 20 page paper dragon shall trouble me no longer. I have slayed the mighty beast. If you can't tell I have finished my history paper for my History 451 class. You know the one, the one I have been lamenting about for the last several months, the one that asks you to pick a subject area inside of your professor's area of expertise and do a fully researched 20 page paper on it. Even as we speak I am on my out to UNLV to turn this goliath in and then celebrate (unless of course you are reading this days later, in which case of course I have collapsed from the sheer joy and relief of having this monstrosity finished). However, I must be a glutton for punishment as I have signed up to take History 497 with the same professor. At least it is an independent study class and she is only requiring a 12 page paper on a subject of my choosing. I am thinking of doing the paper on the America Scientific Revolution from Benjamin Franklin to Albert Einstein, or at least that is my thought before talking with the professor. What does everyone else suggest?

I'm melting away...

2005-11-30T17:02:00.000-08:00

Ok I am reading this time travel series by Warren Norwood and it has got me thinking about what people would do if they could go back in time and change something. Let me make it simple for everyone and say that we will ignore the butterfly affect (where you go back in time and make a change and it affects everything). Let's say you could go back and tell a younger you to do or not do something and everything would be ok with the world, only you would change, what would it be? Or, would you rather not mess with your life, but instead play time tourist and go visit events or people in the past? What would you do if you found a time machine in your attic or basement and could go anywhere or anywhen? Would you visit the future or stick to the past? Would you tell anyone or keep it all to yourself? (Let's pretend the government does not find out) What would you do?

Hey UFC, whatsa matter fondue?

2005-11-22T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was Teri and my anniversary and we had a nice romantic night out, or to quote the advertisement for the spot we went to dinner at: "...The Melting Pot offers a chance to escape from life's hectic pace. It takes about 2 hours to enjoy the full 4-course fondue dining experience. Most guests choose the “Fixed Price” menus for two, enjoyed at a private table. CHEESE FONDUE Your choice is prepared tableside by your server with bread, vegetables, and apples for dipping. SALAD CHOICE Three fresh choices ENTREE Combinations of Filet, Teriyaki, Lobster and More… All served with garden fresh vegetables and an array of dipping sauces. CHOCOLATE FONDUE Melted White, Dark or Milk Chocolate (with any liquor added) plus various cakes, marshmallows and fruits for dipping. WINES and COCKTAILS Extensive walk-in cellar and great Martini's No matter what the occasion - from a romantic date to a get together with friends, meetings or large groups - The Melting Pot always hits the spot. " and boy was it worth the time and money we spent at the place. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to have a wonderful evening out. Teri and I both felt like we were dating again and we laughed our way through a quick TWO hour dinner. We actually ended up skipping the chocolate dessert since we both were so full, but we also decided that we are going to go back another time for just dessert.

It was actually a very full weekend as we also had Martin and his lady over for UFC on Saturday and watched a couple of good fights and had a couple of laughs over the beers we were drinking. We are eagerly looking forward to the next one on February 4th - Superbowl weekend. Too bad we don't know any more UFC fans, although Teri is becoming very knowledgable on the fighters. She is also developing a taste for good Reislings thanks to Martin.

What goes on in near Vegas, happens only in Vegas

2005-11-17T20:19:00.000-08:00

Ok I was reading the Las Vegas newspaper's online version today, the Review Journal, and came across an interesting article that I thought I would share with everyone. Click here. This article describes a new venture that is being started just north of Vegas in Nye county, near Pahrhump. For those of you who may not know, prostitution is legal in Nevada other than in Clark and Storey counties (Las Vegas and Reno). Yet, Pahrhump and Nye county are only a short drive away - about an hour. Now having grown up in Vegas I am quite aware of the cathouses and have never really given it much thought, other than to make the occassional joke while growing up. I don't think I have known anyone who actually lives here who has actually gone up to the brothels other than for a bachelor party or the like. However, I have become somewhat addicted to HBO Friday late night entertainment, including Taxi Cab Confessions and Cathouse the Series. So when reading this article I was intrigued by the idea that women might actually pay for it (male prostitutes). Is this only a guy's vice or would you in some daring moment actually visit a brothel with male prositutes? Come on give oh audience, I want to know...

Comte de St Germain

2005-11-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered about your ancestors? Maybe you talked to some of your older relatives at a family gathering? Maybe they told you about "the old country" or the like. Well in my family we are always asking questions about our ancestors, but we can't seem to find anything out past the Great Grandparents. Its like nobody remembers anything before then. My Dad's side of the family goes back to his Mom (my Dad was a bastard and barely knew his real Dad) and her mother who was a reservation American Indian (dead end). My Mom's Dad can trace his roots back to Cornwall England, but we don't know any names before his parents. Its only when we get to my Mom's Mom's Mom (my Great-Grandmother) that it gets interesting. Again not for what we know, but what we don't know. My Great-Grandmother's maiden name was Saint Germain and her ancestors were from the area around the French German border.

Well today Teri and I, after visiting my Mom and Uncle, started talking about ancestors and her relatives that came from "White Russia". Well since neither of us knew where the hell White Russia was we googled it and soon were ensconced in a bit of research looking for her Belarusian (White Russian) and Black Forest Germany ancestors. After tiring of this line and wondering if Teri's many Great Grandparents were minor nobility, I decided to look up some of my ancestors and typed in Saint Germain to see what came up. Needless to say I was quite shocked when I stumbled upon the Count Saint Germain, the man who lived forever, especially since the picture they showed looked like somebody who would be in our family (Ok maybe I am stretching that last part, but you never know)

You can't handle the truth!

2005-11-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, I was cruising the web the other week and happened to come across a review for the movie "Where the Truth Lies". Now, Teri is madly in lust with Colin Firth and when this movie came out in limited release back in October she was planning to see it day one until she found out it was in limited release in New York and Los Angeles. Even then she thought about doing a road trip with Amy to go see it. Back to the aforementioned review, I noticed on the official website that the movie was finally going to make it to Vegas on November 4th and thought that I could surprise my wife with a mystery night out. I cornered Martin at the Halloween party and we came up with a scheme to take the significant others out to dinner and a movie without telling them where we were going. We figured that we could get back some of the brownie points we lost when the 4 of us went to Sin City and that way when we suggest going and seeing Aeon Flux in early December they won't complain all that much. Well the date went pretty well, even with Teri figuring out where we were going beforehand with her psychic powers. However, the movie was not what we were led to believe. Martin and I figured that we were going to see a chick flick (Colin Firth) with a lot of nudity in it to make up for it. Yeah right, it was more of a mystery suspense movie with lots of nudity, and a troubling twist at the end. We left the theatre talking about America's double standard and how bothered Martin is by male skin meeting male skin. Yes, the end of the movie does feature a menage-a-trois scene. I don't think Teri will ever be able to look at Colin Firth the same way again and it isn't due to the moustach that he sports in parts of the movie.

Its the great pumpkin Charlie Brown.

2005-10-31T17:18:00.000-08:00

Ok I sit here writing this as it gets steadly darker outside. Teri is eagerly awaiting the first trick-or-treater to knock on our door. With that in mind, I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home today, and brave the zoo that it was, to get more candy for Halloween. Seems that after the Halloween party [wink wink, nudge nudge] we were out of candy and needed more for the hoards that are going to descend on us tonight [we got all of 10 kids last year]. Speaking of which, did anybody notice that with the time change on Sunday it is now getting dark in the middle of the afternoon? Ok Teri decided to turn off the motion sensor on the skulls and bones we have on the front door because every passing car was setting them off and she didn't want to scare away the little kids. I am still waiting for the first trick-or-treater now that it is 5:30 and starting to get dark. Ahhh the ravaging mob of kids...

The party went real well on Saturday, even with Teri loosing half her hair to stress. We ended up getting a couple of family members wanting to go along with our 12 invited guests which was swell since even though a couple of people didn't show [cough cough Lora] we still ended up with 16 adults present. With the alcohol flowing freely and everyone admiring Teri's costume, we played some get acquainted games and had a good time. [Sorry brief interuption there as Teri wants me to sit outside with her and await the masses of children that are sure to descend on our house, its now 5:45] I think that the only thing that wasn't good about the party is that everyone left at around 10:30, which I guess is the trials of having a party for older adults who have to get up and work the next day; Vegas being the 24/7 365 day a year city that it is. Sorry Jenn, no pictures, I don't have a digital camera and am not really into having a piece of my soul stolen by a mechanical device. I did dress up in a cool costume also, going as a mad scientist with my labcoat and artfully mussed up hair. The ensemble was completed by Teri's awesome last minute contribution - a lab beaker to drink my beer from.

Well, its nearly 6 and I am trying to decide whether to watch the football game or sit outside looking for the rampaging kids-in-costume. I could always just slowly eat the chocolate bars and peanut butter cups outside and then plead a stomach ache and go inside and watch the second half of the game. Ooops what was that, a knocking on the door? Wow we do have kids in the neighborhood, three pipsqueeks just made Teri's night by begging for candy. Guess I will have to go outside after all...

Halloween, its the new Christmas...

2005-10-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

First of all, "Hi everyone I'm back!" I had a bout of stay away from the computer-itis. I just could never get the urge to plop my butt down in front of the PC at home for the last two weeks. Probably a combination of the 20 page paper rough draft being due and a rollout of an application at work that bombed and doubled our normal call volume. Anyways back to some serious blogging...

I have a question for everyone, is it my imagination or are people starting to decorate their houses for Halloween just like they do for Christmas? Is it a Vegas thing? I know that there were always people that got into it and did the haunted house thing and everyone puts out a jack-o-lantern or two, but now it seems like people are spending a couple hundred bucks on decorations. There are even three or four houses in our neighborhood that have put up Halloween lights, orange and purple monstrosities and lots of houses are sporting plastic blow up whatevers. Are we going to have full yard displays soon? Vampire Claws and his 8 tiny skeletons? Visions of pumpkins dancing in their heads? Ok I admit it, Teri and I have gotten tons of decorations also, but its for the party, yeah its for the Halloween party...

School daze

2005-10-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

Ok I have been asked why I still go to school, me an oldster at 39 taking University classes constantly. I go to school cause I have this thing about always wanting to learn new stuff. If I had tried hard enough I could have had about 3 or 4 degrees by now. As it is I currently have over 160 undergraduate credits mainly concentrated in 4 areas: Chemistry - My original major and what I wanted to do with my life until a bad semester with a man hater dyke sue the University for discrimination woman chemistry professor. She gave every male student in her Quantitative Analysis Chemistry Lab a 'D' or an "F'. It got so bad that I turned in a lab write up that I had done and got a 'D' on it and my female lab partner turned in the same lab write up with just a few changes and got an 'A'. Computers - I tuned into computer geekdom in the late 80s and have managed to learn 7 or 8 computing languages, everything from C++ and Visual Basic to Fortran, UNIX, Java, and RPG. In addition, I have worked for various help desks here in Vegas for the last 10 years or so and have mostly enjoyed my jobs. I have also picked up a couple of certifications along the way. History - Probably one of the subjects that I enjoy the most. As soon as I finish my 20 page paper class and take one Freshman level class I will have enough credits for a degree in history, but will probably wait until I finish my other subject area... Secondary Education - Teri has just about convinced me to become a teacher as I would love to have summers off to enjoy my hobbies: computers, robots, and gardening. It would also be cool to teach in the same school as my wife, plus Teri keeps on telling me that I have a gift for teaching people stuff.

Even if I do manage to get my two degrees in a year or two, I have already decided that I am going to get a masters in computers or chemistry or both and maybe even continue on and get that elusive PhD in some other subject. I have also thought about going back and finishing up my chemistry degree even though there is not much I could do with it here in Vegas. I figure by the time I am done, between Teri and I we will have paid enough that they should name a building for me at UNLV.

Odds and ends

2005-10-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

Time to dash off a quick post on things that are going on in our lives. The Ren Fair this weekend was a little bit of a disappointment, but I guess that is what you get when there is a 30 mile an hour wind blasting through. I did run into some old work buddies and am planning on inviting them to our Halloween party. Yes Teri and I have given the party a definite go. It is Saturday the 29th at 7 pm and should be a blast. (Laura we need your address to send you an invite) Teri's birthday is this weekend and should be an interesting experience as she is hitting the doldrum years when you just seem to not be able to get excited about your birthday. Speaking of birthdays, Josh's on again off again party is off or at least for Friday, but he is thinking of doing it instead on the following Saturday, stay tuned. I have been royally procrastinating on my 20 page paper and I have the rough draft due on Tuesday. I hope my professor doesn't mind a real rough and hurried job. Is anyone else eagerly awaiting this holiday season's plethora of great movies? Teri and I and friends are very anxious for the new Harry Potter movie and also Narnia. Teri also got her hopes up that the new Collin Firth porn movie (j/k kinda on that) was going to actually be playing Vegas on her birthday weekend, no such luck...

Procrastination, its making me wait...

2005-10-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ok I have been real bad in posting again. I actually haven't been getting on the net much lately. I could blame it on football season starting, but that's not really it. I could also blame it on the fact that I have been reading more lately, I have, but thats not it either. I guess I am just a spurt worker, I write in spurts, blogging for several days straight and then taking a week off. I know I have been bad this time though becuase my brother, who secretly reads my blog, mentioned that I hadn't posted in over two weeks. Oops my bad. I decided that I had better write something now though as it is a busy month with UFC coming up, the Las Vegas Renfair, Teri's birthday, Josh's birthday, and even Halloween (with our party now a definite). If it seems like I am making excuses in advance, I am [chuckle]. Hopefully I haven't lost my audience or been put on Jen's bad links list. At least it seems like I have good company as everyone whose blog I visit hasn't seemed to be writing either, other than Vavoom and Martin who are as reliable as mailmen...

Trick or Treat!

2005-09-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Ok here's the plan, Teri and I for years have been toying with the idea of having a Halloween party. You know invite a few friends, including ones we don't talk to much, some work people, and maybe some others. Get them all together in our place, we have a large house--perfect for parties, and just have a good time. However, for whatever reason, we always talk about it real loud in September and then quietly forget about it come October. I don't know, maybe Teri's and Josh's October birthdays intrude. Whatever the reason we always seem to never do it. Well this year Teri has sworn she is going to have the party. Me? I don't count as I don't have that many friends and very few work people I would want to see at a party. I am the social hermit of the two of us, Teri the outgoing, gregarious one. She is already totalling up the teachers she will invite, while giving short shift to her old co-workers that she does not keep in touch with. My problem? I don't want to have a teacher party and want to try to balance out the guest list, but the people I would invite I could count on one hand as I have either lost touch with my old friends or they have moved out of town. Should I just give up on it and accept the fact that I will have a bunch of drunken teachers talking shop while I mope, geeking out with Martin if he goes, or should I invite people who I haven't talked to in years and who might be mystified at receiving an invite an invite to a party from me. I mean its not like its a Christmas card or something.

Day off

2005-09-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

Hey does everyone remember when they were young and eagerly awaiting Saturday morning cartoons? Was it your weekend activity that you most looked forward to during the week? Remember when you still looked forward to getting up early on the weekend to watch TV, maybe with dried cereal in a bowl in front of you as you tuned in to the early morning cartoons. How many people still like getting up early on Saturday or Sunday? Do you get your pleasure now from sleeping in on the weekend, maybe lounging around in your PJs until noon? Well for those of us who are avid NFL fans, its like we are young again; getting up early and turning on the television to catch the ESPN crew or the Fox guys. Maybe rushing out to get the sports page or logging on to the net to find out late breaking football news. Yes football season has started again and although my wife dreads the start of the season, I feel like a little kid again, anticipating the morning rush as I plop down in front of the tube and zone out for hours on end.

Windows

2005-09-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

Ok I am old enough to remember the days when people made appointments and actually showed up on time or a little early. Now when you set up an appointment with someone they give you a window of time in which they will be there and then show up at the last possible moment anyways. Whats the use? I understand traffic and the like or running late from your previous appointment, but really, why not a quick phone call giving the person the opportunity to reschedule if need be. The reason I am grumbling is that Teri and I scheduled an appointment with the carpet cleaning people to come out and do our rugs; a get rid of the last of the dog hair type of thing. The rug cleaners gave us a window of between 10-1, so we have been waiting here all morning just on the off chance that they will actually show up in the time allotted. As you can see from the time stamp on this post, the deadline is fast approaching and still no rug cleaners. Not that I had any urgent errands today, and the extra time did allow for Josh to finish cleaning up his room, but why couldn't the rug cleaners have said something like "Well since you live way out Northwest, your appointment will be the last one they are doing in the 10-1 window so expect them right around 1 pm." That way I could have gone grocery shopping this morning and just hung around at lunch time for the tardy carpet cleaners.

Enough already.

2005-08-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

Ok three times in the last week I have started typing a post in here and got dragged away in the middle of my start and didn't come back to it to a day later and then didn't finish. Enough already, you all missed my fabulous post about my draft in my Fantasy Football League, Josh's first day of school and his trials to get into honors classes since he was left out, my first day of my History class (a 25 page paper due in 3 months - oh my), and Teri's continual teacher induced insomonia. I also didn't get to write about the great in-law move out, or the wedding that wasn't. Its kind of frustrating to be so distracted by interesting things happening that you don't have time to share them and when you do finally get a moment the only thing of any interest to you is catching up on your missed sleep. Did I mention that 25 page paper?

Mixed martial arts

2005-08-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

I am the type of person who does not have any regrets with things that I have done in my life. I have made choices and traveled the path less chosen some of the time. One of the regrets that I do have is the fact that I did not get involved with any of the sports that I enjoy when I was young. Yeah I did the standards, I played Little League, I even did one day of Pop Warner Football, but the stuff I like is not so mainstream. I have always had an urge to participate in the more esoteric sports, things like fencing or karate. I regret the fact that I did not urge my parents to let me join these activities when I was younger. Maybe that is why I enjoy watching these sports now as an adult. I have always been a fan of martial arts, and can sit and watch kickboxing or judo or karate on the television. Yet, my all-time favorite spectator martial art has got to be the mixed martial art sports, especially as represented by the UFC. Once again I will be over at Martin's house tonight, beer in hand, parked in front of his high-def big screen TV rooting for my favorite fighters and having a good old time. I have even dragged Teri into the viewing, as she also joins Martin and I in a fan triumvirate as we watch Ultimate Fighting!

C'est la vie

2005-08-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Ok I haven't felt like blogging lately, or should I say I haven't felt like writing a blog. Its not like I haven't had the time, I have had some free time available and I am still reading blogs and leaving sarcastic comments. I just have been mind dead lately, too full of ennui to be able to get the mind juices flowing. If it was the middle ages I would say that the muse had left me, and probably sacrifice a small animal to get the gods favor again. (Hmmm wonder if the in-laws chihuahua is available. Nahhhh, they probably wouldn't like that) What I really need is some motivation to get my creative energies free flowing again. An appreciative audience chanting my name and flinging pickles from the top of a temple would suffice(bonus points if you identify the movie that paraphrased quote came from). I actually logged on to blog and stared at a blank screen for 10 minutes ysterday and then asked Teri what I should blog about; I was just mind numb. I also worry that I am too negative on here or as my son commented yesterday, too hypocritical. So here is today's question, "What do you like to read about in the blogs that you visit?"

Geek competition

2005-08-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

Ok I always thought that I was a computer geek. Not in the sense of geeky/nerdy looking, but in the sense of having too much technological stuff and way too many computers (I have two working ones - two unworking ones and several partial ones plus Teri also has a computer), but my son has just raised the unspoken competition to another level. In a moment of weakness, Teri's parents agreed to get my son a new computer if they sold their house (he has been "struggling" along with the old 700 mhz of ours). Now this was several months ago and I had not really thought about since the in-laws moved in and whatnot, and then a couple of days ago Teri told me that her Mom had mentioned the fact that they were going to get Josh a computer and us a washing machine when they moved out (we still have the original machine that we got soon after we got married 16 years ago). Of course Teri tells me this while we are on the phone during my lunch break and we promise to talk about it later, like when she got back. Well it turns out that when I got home today, my son had the biggest grin on his face because the in-laws took him out computer shopping and got him a brand new 3.06 ghz machine. Now he is crowing cause he has the fastest computer in the house (Teri has a 2.6 and I have a 2.7) He also owns 4 computers now:his new one, the old 700 (actually that is ours and I should get it back), and his two laptops. Wow, geekdom hall of fame here he comes. He is soooooooooooooo spoiled.

Calling collect

2005-08-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

I wonder how someone starts out being a collector. Is it some recessive gene somewhere? Maybe its environmental and you learn it at an early age. I am an avid collector. I collect books (over 1000), coins, comics, stock certificates, chess sets, robots, and medieval weapons. I have collected in the past: Magic the Gathering cards and casino chips. My wife collects Disney snowglobes and Disney beanie babies. Even my son has a collection or two. Yet, my 9 siblings don't collect anything (at least that I am aware of). Ok, my brother did collect Magic the Gathering cards, but he sold his collection after a few years when he quit playing. Am I in the minority? I know everyone has a few books and a DVD collection, but what about useless things? Restore my faith in humanity, tell me what you collect.

Multicomm

2005-08-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I ever mentioned this in any of my prior blogs, so I thought I would do a whole post about it, kind of trace my internet roots so to speak. Many, many years ago, when the internet craze was still in its infancy, way back in the late 80s, I got introduced to the world of personal computers and bulletin boards through a local BBS (bulletin board service) that the local Apple Computer store ran for people who bought computers there. This was when an average computer sold for serveral thousand dollars, about a third of the price of a car. I logged on, created a handle, chatted with a couple of people, and that was it. It wasn't until a couple of years later that I had my second encounter with online services. This time it was during the summer and my younger brother had conned my father into buying him A brand new Mac to use at college (since he was going to be a computer engineer). My brother had discovered the wickedness of Compuserve and online game playing. I watched him play a couple of times, created my own handle, posted a couple of messages, and that was it...until the following summer. My brother came home for summer break after his freshman year and started logging on to online services again. After wasting big money on Compuserve games, he discovered a local BBS that was free, well alright there was a minimal charge, MultiComm. Once again I watched him while away his time, chatting with other computer geeks, but this time I was hooked. I created my own online identity -The Grey One- which soon morphed into -Davyd Grey- after a somewhat nasty flamming match with Grey Wolf as the BBS system only recognized the first 3 initials of handles and could not distinguish between the two of us. I was soon downloading a term program on the family Apple 2+ and began chatting away my summer. Pretty soon I had growing circle of cyber friends across the Las Vegas valley and we were making plans for a grand meeting where everyone could get to know everyone else face to face. Finally the first meeting happened at Shakeys pizza, which led to another get together the following week, followed by another and another, which quickly became a weekly must attend event attracting 40-50 people every Saturday night. We quickly outgrew the pizza parlour and started meeting at a local park with touch football games preceding the gathering. Needless to say this went on for several years, with new people showing up, and old people leaving. Finally after a decade of this, in the midst of a blossoming internet craze, MultiComm closed its doors. That was in the late 90s, and although I have managed to keep in touch with several of my MC friends, we all drifted away in seperate directions; that is until just recently. Last year I ran into an internet site called BBSmates, which is a database of all the old BBS's across the country and membership lists for each. In addition, it also had a forum for posting with messages from several of the old MC goons. Mass conversation quickly ensued and as of two weeks ago, Dragon - MultiComm's old sysop was finally persuaded to reopen the BBS as an internet site found here. Go visit it and tell me what you think. Relive the glory days of old style BBSs and see what us computer crazy geeks had to deal with using our 300 baud connections.

The early bird

2005-08-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

You know its gonna be an interesting day when a bird dive bombs your car in the morning. I was traveling to work this morning and made my normal turn onto Rainbow. As I was barrreling down the street, a pigeon leapt out of a tree and dived to within inches of the front of my car. He then straightened out, paralleled my car for awhile and then took a left turn straight into my windshield. After the bird careemed off the glass, I heard several thumps on the roof and expected to see a dead bird in my rear view mirror. However, the bird floated over to the side of the road. I continued into work with thoughts of my own mortality rambling around my brain. Carpe diem, seize the day.

I suffered through a crazy day at work today, with an insane user, followed by a stupid user, followed by an impatient doctor, all calling me for help in a row at one point. I'm lucky I have the patience and high stress levels to be good at what I do. I am also now the most senior person in my department after only 9 months, as the turnover for the last year has been attrocious. My manager didn't lose a single person for four years and then has lost three in the last nine months. I am now in the unenviable position of training the new guy at the job. I am so distracted that I actually left the window of my car open halfway after reading in my car at lunchtime. Luckilly for me nobody wants to steal a 10 year old Honda with a couple of dents.

I left work late as I am wracking up the OT with our short staff and had nothing on my mind other than getting home as quickly as possible with the heat and humidity overwhelming me. Driving home with the window open reminds me of how food must feel as it is slow roasted on the barbeque. I hate not having a working air conditioning in 100+ degree heat. Teri and I still can't decide whether to spend the $1000 to fix the air or just give in and get a new car. I was zoning completely as I drove home, not thinking about my day at all, not a care in the world, at least until I saw the sad looking bird limping on the side of the road, languishing in the shade, taking short dizzying flights from one spot to another. Man, I feel old...

Savings

2005-08-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

I read an interesting article today, it was about Americans changing attitudes towards savings. Back in the 1950s, Americans saved about 5% of their wages in some manner on average. That number plummetted over the next 50 years til it reached an all time low 2 years ago at 0.4%. Yes thats right, Americans 2 years ago were saving only 4 cents out of every $100. Well guess what. That got even worse this year, as for the first time ever Americans averaged a savings of ZERO. Yes thats right, officially Americans are no longer saving. Ok the stats are a little skewed because it does not count 401K plans as they are still considered income as it has not been taxed yet. But still, zero percent! The article stated that this trend was even more disturbing because Americans were increasingly using the paper profits in their homes to buy big ticket items thus depleting their equity and any possible emergency funds that might be available there. If home prices ever go down sharply it is highly likely that it will tip America into a depression that will make the ones of 1929 and 1987 seem small. My questions to everyone is, "How much savings do you have and how does it compare to the debt that you have? If you needed cash immediately could you get it? Especially if America was in the midst of a great depresion and money stores were tight. Think about it.

Friday, yeah!

2005-07-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

Since I was talking about a new book series that I am reading yesterday, I thought that for today I should mention a classic book of mine by an impeccable author that I have read several times. The Thursday Next series reminds me of this book, Friday by Robert Heinlein. In it, the heroine is a courier for a multinational corporation in an alternate universe where the United States and Canada have split into a collection of 7 or 8 regional areas. The major powers in this universe are the "multinationals", companys that are so huge that they have in effect become governments in of themselves. Heinlein weaves a deft tale of intrigue and political espionage that is a classic page turner. It also follows a classic RAH formula in that it espouses highly controversial ideas, and attacks rigidly held doctrines.

Thursday, Next?

2005-07-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ok I am reading this wonderful series of books lately. Its kind of a cross between Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy and Sliders. The books star Thursday Next, a Spec Ops operative. The first book is The Eyre Affair and has Thursday trying to rescue a kidnapped Jane Eyre from the clutches of a supercriminal. Thursday is a member of Spec Ops-27, literary operatives who are charged with keeping all of Great Britain's fiction free from harm. Yes, this is an alternative reality series in which fictional characters can leap out of their books, time travel is policed by the Chrono Guard (Spec Ops 12), and werewolves and vampires are kept in check by Spec Ops 28 the monster squad. The series is a 1980s-1990s British fantasy/detective series that Teri found one day while roaming the book store and that I ended up reading first and am liking more and more. Teri is just starting the first book. If you want to get a feel for the series visit the Thursday Next website here.

Cricket invasion

2005-07-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

Ok what is with all the crickets that have decided to move into our house. Don't they know we already have company and don't want anymore. Why are the majority of them hopping there way into our bedroom and keeping Teri awake with their cricket mating songs. Don't they know that Teri doesn't like bugs and I have become the designated bug killer even though I am a pacifist and refuse to kill them (releasing them in the flushing porcelain jacuzzi doesn't count, they are just going for a swim) I know Teri is a Beatles fan, but I am also sure she is not a crickets fan. It is actually getting so bad that I went onto the net and looked up ways to keep them out of the house (even if it is good luck to have one in your home, 25 is way too many). I never knew that crickets chow down on clothing and other plant materials. I did find a relatively humane jar trap to get rid of them (molasses dissolved in water in a jar), but I am open for suggestions. I figure that they are following the dogs into the garage and just continuing their way into the house. I need to get rid of these interlopers now.

Medieval theme?

2005-07-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

Ok I decided to do a slight take off of my lovely wife's latest blog and her medieval theme in her classroom. I have always loved two time periods as I was growing up, the Italian Renaissance and the Middle Ages (Medieval Times). Since Teri is doing the castles and knights thing for her classroom, I decided that I should also do something and so I just decided that I should do a room in our house with the same theme. So of course I am open for suggestions, what room should I do? What should I do in the room? I don't have much to use currently (just some cheap plastics manacles from Disneyland and lots of candles) and I am on a limited budget so I could use any help and creative ideas that anyone could suggest. Oh wait I also have a dagger and a sword hanging on the wall in my library that I could move to the chosen room. So what does everyone think?

The old ball and chain...

2005-07-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

I know several people have asked questions about me and my family and I figured this was a good time to set the record straight and to talk about something that I don't say nearly enough. I love my wife. I have loved her for 17 years with all my heart and will continue to do so for the rest of my life and then some. She is and was the best thing that ever happened to me. We have been married for nearly 16 years and in today's society that is a rare and precious thing. I will freely admit that there have been a couple of bumps along the road (I can be a hard person to live with as I tend to be a little antisocial and I have a large warped family), but Teri and I have weathered the storms and I don't know what I would ever do without her as she is my confidant and friend. She is my favorite person in all the world to talk to, which we do a lot, as I feel that communication is the key to any successful marriage, but furthermore I just enjoy rambling to her and listening to her. We can discuss philosophy or hare brained theories or just plain gossip for hours at end and talking with her is probably my second favorite thing that she and I do. She puts up with my idiosynchracies and is genuinely interested in what I do, both rare traits in any individual, but doubly so in a spouse. She doesn't care that I am getting old, that I have gained weight since we got married, or that I snore when I sleep. Anyways, enough of my heartfelt rambling and I will just say, I love my wife and soulmate.

I went crazy once...

2005-07-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

I know I have been stressed out lately, having semi-permanent houseguests can drive anyone insane. What I am beginning to realize is how bad it has been for my 15 year old son. My mother-in-law is generally not a bad sort, the problem is she is severely overweight and has trouble walking due to her diabetic neuropathy. This combination has led her to behave like she did when my wife was growing up, screaming across the house for people to come get her whatever or to ask them a question. My wife has shown extreme patience in this and I have commended her restraint several times. However, my son is bearing the brunt of the slave labor shortage and seems to be about ready to throw a cog and I can't blame him. Oh well, only two weeks to go and then they move to Sun City which is a good car drive away.

Mad Potter

2005-07-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Yawn. Imagine a scene of turmoil, hundreds of people crowd a parking lot frantically searching for a spot and hurrying into the shop. Inside gaggles of young teens crowd the aisles, ignoring the merchandise, looking for a place to sit down. Young children rush from booth to booth, laughing and giggling at the sight of crazily dressed adults and face-painted children. At a cafe, harried looking adults stare glumly around looking for an open table or at least a chair to pilfer. Coffee is gulped spasmodically, vacant expressions on the patron's faces, most stifling yawns as they surrepetiously glance at their neighbors.

Yawn. Sound like the opening of ticket sales for a new concert? Or maybe the advent of a Las Vegas theme park? Try again. Maybe I am just writing the opening for my best seller novel. Closer. This was the atmosphere last night as Teri, Josh, Sabrina (my neice), and I went to the midnight bookstore party for the debut of the new Harry Potter book- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince . The Barnes and Noble bookstore on N Rainbow was loaded with geeked out adults and children eagerly awaiting the next installment of their fictional hero.

Yawn. Why did I go you ask? Realistically I have no idea, I resisted my wife's attempts to get me to go since this was also the debut night for the Sci-Fi Channel's Sci-Fi Friday featuring my favorite show Stargate SG1. However, knowing that my wife loathes my anti-social tendencies, and knowing that I might actually see someone I knew at the debut, and also, because you never really have to twist my arm to go to a bookstore, I only put up a token resistance and quickly gave in to Teri's eager anticipation of the literary event.

Yawn. And just in case you want to know, we bought 4 copies of the book; one for my neice, one for my sister's family, one for Josh, and one for Teri and I to share. Yes share. One of the most fun things that Teri and I have about reading the Harry Potter books is pilfering the lone copy of the book we have from each other, trying to get through the book before the other one can, and also trying to keep up with our son's frantic dash through the pages of Potterville. So far Josh is way ahead, staying up to 4 or 5 in the morning to read, getting through maybe a third of the book. I snuck in about 40 pages this morning when Teri and her mom went grocery shopping and Teri has barely started, only managing to glance at the last page in the book and to read the first 4 or 5 pages...

Remotely controlled

2005-07-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

You ever wish that people had a remote control that you could use on them? Maybe rewind something funny and see it again? How about being able to TIVO real life, you know so you could get some extra sleep or re-live an event over and over again. You could edit out the bad parts (like the 2 months the in-laws have been living at my house) kind of like skipping commercials. You could even fast forward to the good parts and then go f r a m e b y f r a m e s l o w. You could keep a collection of your good life events and stick them in to watch when times are slow. You could control people at work with the remote, toggling up their intelligence, like turning up the volume on the TV. Or like the picture shows, how about a mood button? What would you like on your personal remote?

You mean its based on a comic book?

2005-07-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ok Teri, me, and An80snut and a gaggle of others went to see a movie last night. We ended up seeing Fantastic Four which turned out to be pretty good and got a good reaction in the theater. While we were standing outside the theater waiting for the girls to get out of the bathroom we had an interesting conversation that I feel like sharing with my blogging buddies. It went something like this (paraphrasing):

Josh (my 15 year old son)- It was ok. I liked The Incredibles better.
Me - I can't wait for Sky High, the preview looked good.
An80snut - Sky High reminded me of the X-men
Josh - I liked The Incredibles better than X-men.
Me - Yeah The Incredibles was kind of a mixture of the Fantastic Four comic book and Xavier's Scool in the X-men.
An80snut - The Incredibles wasn't based on a comic book though and it was a cartoon...
Me - Yeah. I wonder how many people in the audience knows that The Fantastic Four was a comic book though.
An80snut - Especially since everyone was so young. They probably thing FF4 is a rip of The Incredibles...

We then started discussing how many movies lately are based on comic books that we read in our youth and nobody reads anymore. So here is my question of the day. What are your top 3 movies based on comic books and why?

Whining out.

2005-07-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

As I write this I am listening to a whining dog. To be precise, my in-laws chihuahua whining cause he was locked in the room when the in-laws went out. I know certain people won't believe this, but I actually at one time liked animals. Teri and I even had fish for a couple of years. I had dogs growing up and I adopted or was adopted by a couple of cats when I was young. They and I would hang out together hidden in the bushes (yeah I had a strange and bad childhood) Now, however, I have grown to hate animals. Dogs annoy me, cats get on my nerves, I can't even look a pigeon in the eye without thinking about feeding them rice and watching them explode (yeah I know its an urban myth, but what a visual). Here I was just going to post something innocuous, maybe talk about how glad I am about having my two online summer classes over with (I am still going to college, working on my 4th degree even if I don't have any paper to show for it yet) Instead I am cringing because the stupid dog doesn't realize that nobody is going to let him out of the room for awhile. Wonder if I can string a hose from the tailpipe of the car to under the door of their room.

Teleportation: Express Lane Space Travel

2005-07-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

Found a cool new article to share with everyone...

Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
SPACE.com
Fri Jul 8,12:06 PM ET

Think Star Trek: You are here. You want to go there. It's just a matter of teleportation. Thanks to lab experiments, there is growth in the number of "beam me up" believers, but there is an equal amount of disbelief, too. Over the last few years, however, researchers have successfully teleported beams of light across a laboratory bench. Also, the quantum state of a trapped calcium ion to another calcium ion has been teleported in a controlled way. These and other experiments all make for heady and heavy reading in scientific journals. The reports would have surely found a spot on Einstein's night table. For the most part, it's an exotic amalgam of things like quantum this and quantum that, wave function, qubits and polarization, as well as uncertainty principle, excited states and entanglement.
Seemingly, milking all this highbrow physics to flesh out point-to-point human teleportation is a long, long way off. Well, maybe...maybe not.

A trillion trillion atoms

In his new book, Teleportation - The Impossible Leap, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., writer David Darling contends that ""One way or another, teleportation is going to play a major role in all our futures. It will be a fundamental process at the heart of quantum computers, which will themselves radically change the world." Darling suggests that some form of classical teleportation and replication for inanimate objects also seems inevitable. But whether humans can make the leap, well, that remains to be seen. Teleporting a person would require a machine that isolates, appraises, and keeps track of over a trillion trillion atoms that constitute the human body, then sends that data to another locale for reassembly--and hopefully without mussing up your physical and mental makeup. "One thing is certain: if that impossible leap turns out to be merely difficult--a question of simply overcoming technical challenges--it will someday be accomplished," Darling predicts. In this regard, Darling writes that the quantum computer "is the joker in the deck, the factor that changes the rules of what is and isn't possible." Just last month, in fact, scientists at Hewlett Packard announced that they've hammered out a new tactic for a creating a quantum computer—using switches of light beams rather than today's run of the mill, transistor-laden devices. What's in the offing is hardware capable of making calculations billions of times faster than any silicon-based computer. Given quantum computers and the networking of these devices, Darling senses the day may not be far off for routine teleportation of individual atoms and molecules. That would lead to teleportation of macromolecules and microbeswith, perhaps, human teleportation to follow.

Space teleportation

What could teleportation do for future space endeavors? "We can see the first glimmerings of teleportation in space exploration today," said Darling, responding to questions sent via e-mail by SPACE.com to his home office near Dundee, Scotland. "Strictly speaking, teleportation is about getting from A to B without passing through the points between A and B. In other words, something dematerializes in one place, then simply rematerializes somewhere else," Darling said. Darling pointed out that the Spirit and Opportunity rovers had to get to Mars by conventional means. However, their mission and actions are controlled by commands sent from Earth. "So by beaming up instructions, we effectively complete the configuration of the spacecraft. Also, the camera eyes and other equipment of the rovers serve as vicarious extensions of our own senses. So you might say the effect is as if we had personally teleported to the Martian surface," Darling said.

Spooky action at a distance

In the future it might be possible to assemble spacecraft "on-the-spot" using local materials. "That would be a further step along the road to true teleportation," Darling added. To take this idea to its logical endpoint, Darling continued, that's when nanotechnology enters the scene. When nanotechnology is mature, an automated assembly unit could be sent to a destination. On arrival, it would build the required robot explorer from the molecular level up. "Bona fide quantum teleportation, as applied to space travel, would mean sending a supply of entangled particles to the target world then use what Einstein called 'spooky action at a distance' to make these particles assume the exact state of another collection of entangled particles back on Earth," Darling speculated. Doing so opens the prospect for genuinely teleporting a robot vehicle--or even an entire human crew--across interplanetary or, in the long run, across interstellar distances, Darling said. "Certainly, if it becomes possible to teleport humans," Darling said, "you can envisage people hopping to the Moon or to other parts of the solar system, as quickly and as easily as we move data around the Internet today."

UFO connection?

If indeed we are to become a space teleporting civilization, what about other advanced civilizations circling distant stars? Perhaps they have already mastered mass transportation via teleportation? One might even be drawn to consider that mode of travel in connection with purported UFO visitation of Earth. "Any strange comings and goings are candidates for teleportation, although you would obviously have to eliminate all mundane explanations first," Darling responded. "According to reports, some UFOs do appear and disappear quite abruptly, which would fit in with the basic idea of teleportation," he said. Darling said that interstellar teleportation would be one way to circumvent the light barrier, "although, as we understand the process now, you would need to make a sub-light trip first to set up the teleportation receiver and assembler at the destination." Quantum teleportation, Darling pointed out is the kind we can do at the subatomic level in the lab today. And that requires equipment at both ends to be able to work. "Extraterrestrial intelligence that is thousands or millions of years ahead of us will certainly be teleportation experts," Darling advised, "if the technology can be implemented at the macroscopic biological level." What possible outcome, then, from ET successfully tinkering with teleportation? "We might expect advanced aliens to be occasionally beaming in to check on our progress as a species," Darling concluded.

Root beer

2005-07-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

Is it me or has the fizz gone out of root beer lately? Root beer used to be one of my favorite drinks. I could name all the leading brands: A & W, Shasta, Hires, Dads, Mug, Barqs, etc. I used to scorn soda other than my favorite, a good old fashioned root beer. I still have fond childhood memories of going to the A & W stand here in town and getting a root beer float or rooting around in an ice chest at a barbeque or a picnic for a generic or store brand root beer and then popping the top off for an icy cold thirst quenching drink. Now, as an adult, years later, root beer seems to have lost its zest. I still drink it, but it always tastes like watered down Pepsi now with maybe a mild aftertaste. What happened to root beer with bite? And no I am not talking about Barq's cute commercial. The flavor has gone out of my favorite beverage and I am left thinking that maybe this is a metaphor for today's moden world, a mass produced imitation of the forgotten better old fashioned times. Everything is packaged in plastic and made in bulk so individual flavors are forgotten. Is it a wonder that we now have gourmet soda like Jones Sodas, trying to recapture some of the specialness of the small beverage companies. Leave me alone, I am feeling old and am just going to sit here at my keyboard and guzzle a 2-liter bottle of Mug non-caffeinated imitation root beer.

4th of July fizzles

2005-07-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Ok I don't know what it is about this year lately, but I am really feeling old and tired. A couple of days ago, the wife and I made a decision that we are not going to do anything for the Fourth this year. Now some of you might see this as no big deal, but the 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love the mix of socializing and playing with fire/blowing things up. Yet, this year I find myself in a really anti-social mood and although there are a couple of people that I wouldn't mind seeing blow up, I can't seem to excited about exploding things. I even tried to do the cop out thing and see if my son wanted to do something and instead he answered, "Thats what virtual fireworks are for." What a geek child I have. I guess the wife and I will just sit in the backyard and watch the illegal fireworks going off in the desert down the street. Maybe I can take advantage of the boredom and get Teri drinking. At least something good might happen on the 4th.

Driving me crazy

2005-07-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Well I am back from the California adventure and I am sure glad to be back. Now don't get me wrong, vacations can be loads of fun, but I have decided this is the last one I do with skads of people. We went vacationing with just about everyone in my wife's family: the in-laws, brothernad sister-in-law, great uncles and aunts, neices, nephews, lions and tigers and bears, oh my. I don't think we had even left when the fighting and whining started. My wife and I and son had a peaceful trip to California, she drove, which brings up an interesting point for the married couples and what not in the audience, who drives out of you and the significant other on long road trips? It used to be that I would drive everywhere and the wife would play navigator, now I find myself more and more getting my wife to drive the long hours while I kick back and play passenger. I am not even sure when this switch took place, or why. I think it started out when we split the driving chores on a long vacation. Oh well, back to the griping on vacation. Let me fill you in on the original plan, we were all going to Disneyland for a two day vacation, with a small side trip to Knotts Berry Farm so my wife could indulge one of her childhood memories at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knotts. Everything had been hashed out beforehand with the trip's minuteia planned out. The only thing in dispute was the leaving date, I wanted to leave Thursday afternoon and the wife was hoping for Thursday evening. I had to work early Friday so I didn't want to stay too late. Needless to say, we had a leisurely drive there and arrived early and did a little shopping at Downtown Disney (I gave in on this, but actually enjoyed it -- shhhhhh don't tell Teri). Sounds like the makings of a good trip? It was until other people got involved. We met up with the Great Uncle and Aunts at Redondo Beach and had a lousy dinner at Cheesecake Factory, and then walked the Pier and let my son have fun at the arcade. The drama started when we got back to the hotel and hooked up with Teri's brother and family. I understand now why my wife had issues with her older brother while growing up, talk about a control freak! Its not like I haven't dealt with the brother before, but just when I start to relax with him, he pulls a stunt like he did on vacation. Heaven forbid if anyone wants to modify "his plans". Between that and the mother-in-laws constant complaining and whining, I was more than happy to just hang out with my son at the Disney arcades.

I'm back....

2005-06-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

Ok just a quick little post to let everyone know I am back and that the vacation was pretty darn fun. (We won't talk about the sunburn I got or my wife's sunburn in an interesting location. I also won't mention how I actually had a {gasp} good time shopping [at downtown Disney]) Is it my imagination or does California have the highest restaurant food prices in the nation (or am I just spoiled living in Vegas) Oh well be back later for more details.

Disneyland

2005-06-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

Is it me or does the thought of Disneyland not bring as much excitement to your heart as it did in days gone by? I actually am not that excited about going to the Magic Kingdom this week. I am looking forward to going to California Adventure more than seeing all my old favorites at Disney. Now don't get me wrong, I will still smile as I cruise on down Pirates of the Carribean, and I will chuckle as I see the cheesy special effects on the Haunted Mansion, but these are probably the only two rides I still get up for at Disneyland. For the rest I will wander around and go on rides that have short lines, or an indoor ride to get out of the heat. However, when we head on over to California Adventure there are 4-5 rides that I enjoy going on. Oh well, maybe I am just getting too old for the Disney Magic, or maybe Disney itself hasn't kept up with the times. I could be a little jaded after all the special effects we see in movies nowadays. What do you think?

Vacations

2005-06-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ok I have a question for everyone. Its about vacations. For the last few years I have not gotten a vacation, well thats not totally true, I have used the few days off that I have had to take time off around Christmas and then sporadically throughout the year to make a 3-day weekend here and there. In addition to that, since I always seem to be switching jobs every three years or so (no stability in the tech support field or else I just have a bad case of wanderlust) I never seem to accrue any significant amounts of vacation time. Unlike my wife who worked at Mirage Resorts for 13 years and had 4 weeks of vacation and now is a teacher and has summers off.

The long and the short of it is the fact that my wife has always had the time to take vacations with her parents and still take time off when I do. Meanwhile I am always stuck working and calling her while she is off in Disneyland or Reno or Greshim Oregon or wherever. I was just wondering how many people actually get a lot of vacation time and how many are stuck with a week or maybe two if they are lucky (like me)? Does life just suck or am I not negotiating vacation plans very well.

Evening star...

2005-06-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a little of my life tonight, you know just give a low down on how I spent my evening, even if it was just a boring Sunday night.

4:00 - 5:00 pm Went to the grocery store with my wife amd mother-in-law. Usually I go alone, or my wife will go with her Mom, sometimes the wife and I go but we usually don't have the time together. All three of us shopping was a trip, my mother-in-law in her scooter zipping around the store getting her own stuff. My wife and I stocking up on the essentials since we have even more company showing up tomorrow.

5:00 - 6:00 pm Dinnertime. Well at least for them, I have been nursing an upset stomache since yesterday so I didn't eat.

6:00 - 7:00 pm After dinner conversation, mainly about the in-laws futile attempts to find a house for under $250 and then the ice cream conversation started.

7:00 - 7:30 pm The wife and her sister went out to get ice cream from Baskin Robbins for everyone. I decided I would risk a smoothie on my stomache.

7:30 - 8:30 pm Everyone sat outside enjoying the Vegas night (85 degrees, no wind) drinking my smoothie and watching the hummingbirds in the garden.

8:30 - 9:00 pm Decided to light a fire in the outdoor fireplace, slowly lost people as it got later and darker. Finally, as the fireplace burned down to embers only me and the wife were left.

9:00 - 10:00 pm Cuddled in the hammock with the wife watching the fire burn itself out. Peace, quiet, tranquility.

10:00 - 10:10 pm Posted this, went to bed, wife is waiting.

Good night...

Is it yesterday yet?

2005-06-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

New model 'permits time travel'

By Julianna Kettlewell BBC News science reporter

The concept of time-travel is laden with uncomfortable paradoxes. If you went back in time and met your teenage parents, you could not split them up and prevent your birth - even if you wanted to, a new quantum model has stated. Researchers speculate that time travel can occur within a kind of feedback loop where backwards movement is possible, but only in a way that is "complementary" to the present. In other words, you can pop back in time and have a look around, but you cannot do anything that will alter the present you left behind. The new model, which uses the laws of quantum mechanics, gets rid of the famous paradox surrounding time travel.

Paradox explained

Although the laws of physics seem to permit temporal gymnastics, the concept is laden with uncomfortable contradictions. The main headache stems from the idea that if you went back in time you could, theoretically, do something to change the present; and that possibility messes up the whole theory of time travel.
Clearly, the present never is changed by mischievous time-travellers: people don't suddenly fade into the ether because a rerun of events has prevented their births - that much is obvious.
You go back to kill your father, but you'd arrive after he'd left the room, you wouldn't find him, or you'd change your mind. So either time travel is not possible, or something is actually acting to prevent any backward movement from changing the present. For most of us, the former option might seem most likely, but Einstein's general theory of relativity leads some physicists to suspect the latter.
According to Einstein, space-time can curve back on itself, theoretically allowing travellers to double back and meet younger versions of themselves. And now a team of physicists from the US and Austria says this situation can only be the case if there are physical constraints acting to protect the present from changes in the past.

Weird laws

The researchers say these constraints exist because of the weird laws of quantum mechanics even though, traditionally, they don't account for a backwards movement in time. Quantum behaviour is governed by probabilities. Before something has actually been observed, there are a number of possibilities regarding its state. But once its state has been measured those possibilities shrink to one - uncertainty is eliminated. So, if you know the present, you cannot change it. If, for example, you know your father is alive today, the laws of the quantum universe state that there is no possibility of him being killed in the past. It is as if, in some strange way, the present takes account of all the possible routes back into the past and, because your father is certainly alive, none of the routes back can possibly lead to his death. "Quantum mechanics distinguishes between something that might happen and something that did happen," Professor Dan Greenberger, of the City University of New York, US, told the BBC News website. "If we don't know your father is alive right now - if there is only a 90% chance that he is alive right now, then there is a chance that you can go back and kill him. "But if you know he is alive, there is no chance you can kill him." In other words, even if you take a trip back in time with the specific intention of killing your father, so long as you know he is happily sitting in his chair when you leave him in the present, you can be sure that something will prevent you from murdering him in the past. It is as if it has already happened. "You go back to kill your father, but you'd arrive after he'd left the room, you wouldn't find him, or you'd change your mind," said Professor Greenberger. "You wouldn't be able to kill him because the very fact that he is alive today is going to conspire against you so that you'll never end up taking that path leads you to killing him."

2005-06-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

Since you wanted Oompa-Loompas

Oompa Loompa Doompity Doo

2005-06-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Roald Dahl museum set to open

Friday, June 10, 2005 Posted: 8:29 AM EDT (1229 GMT)

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A museum dedicated to the life and writings of author Roald Dahl opens Saturday in the British village where he made his home.
The museum in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, houses drafts of some of his most famous works and a mock-up of the interior of the garden shed in which he created some of the best-loved characters in children's literature. Many of Dahl's works -- such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach" -- have become classics. Dahl, who died in 1990, was also an accomplished writer of short stories for adults. Compilations such as "Kiss Kiss" and "Switch Bitch" were best sellers. Many of Dahl's books were turned into films and his "Tales of the Unexpected" television series -- with its distinctive theme tune and opening sequence -- became a viewing staple. The museum opens a month ahead of the release of the new movie of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp. Dahl who was born in Llandaff, Wales in 1916 to Norwegian parents, got his first break when Walt Disney took a liking to a story he had written about mythical creatures which RAF pilots thought had sabotaged their planes. The story, "Gremlin Lore," was turned into a picture book called "Walt Disney: The Gremlins (A Royal Air Force Story by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl)."

Lt. Give-porn-er

2005-06-14T19:52:00.001-07:00

Found this article and thought it was so outrageous that I had to post it. Following in the footsteps of the 'Arnold' and Las Vegas Mayor attorney Oscar Goldman.

Porn star attending GOP fund-raiser

Mary Carey plans run for lieutenant governor
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Posted: 9:05 PM EDT (0105 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Blond porn star, political candidate. And now you can add one more line to Mary Carey's resume: Republican booster.

Carey was in Washington Tuesday to attend the President's Dinner, an annual fundraiser put on by the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

A few hours before the dinner, Carey met with reporters to show off her evening gown and talk about a Republican lunch she and her boss, adult film executive Mark Kulkis, attended.

"I met a lot of nice people," Carey said of the lunch, where presidential adviser Karl Rove spoke. "I met some people who talked about helping me with donating money to my next campaign."

She plans to run for lieutenant governor of California next year as an independent. But her trip to Washington has swayed Carey's political leanings. She says she's been a Republican "for a couple of days."

Anyone expecting her to cause a scene with her attire at the President's Dinner might be disappointed.

She was wearing a black, floor-length gown. The only color added to the outfit was her red, white and blue Republican elephant lapel pin and similarly patriotic fingernails.

Worn Out...

2005-06-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I noticed today that I am starting to get run down a little bit. I actually took a nap today at 2 pm (Don't say anything Teri about me always napping thats only during the work week) I think I am taking after my wife and trying to do too much this month. I am taking two education classes this summer semester, which is a full load, I am still working my 6-3 schedule, and I am still trying to get the massive backyard projects done. Not to mention dealing with the moved in in-laws, shudder. At least I have two vacations planned at the end of this month, hopefully I can relax during them, I tend to get keyed up while vacationing. I am actually going up to Reno-Tahoe for the first time in my life. Teri has gone up twice with Josh and her parents and they love it. Then right before the 4th we are going to sneak in a quickie Disney trip. The only problem is that the vacations are right in the middle of my classes. Ah well, I can always relax in July.

Sex part 2

2005-06-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

Ok even though I skipped a day, here is part two to my sex blog. If you remember from part one I had an epiphany about the stages of sex and also rambled on about sex and society. I then promised to dwelve into the seedy underbelly on my next blog. Ok get ready for the hard stuff. Here is my mystifying questions, how come people are afraid to try new things when it comes to sex? I am not saying that you are going to like everything that you try, but maybe you will and you just don't know it now. I am nearly 40, have been married for 16 years, and have a wife who cares about what I want, all of which is a good recipe for a healthy sex life. Even with that I have not tried everything, but we have had some fun and are willing to give a lot a go. Can you say whipped cream and chocolate pudding? What I don't understand are people who are afraid to go outside of their normal boxed in existence. Or even worse people who consider anything outside of their normal box to be abnormal or unhealthy or perverse. Ah well, live and let live. I have another question, this one for the audience at large, has anyone dressed up as or had someone dress up as someone else to live out a fantasy? You know something as simple as Tarzan and Jane, or Gone with the Wind, or something as complex as dressing up as the next door neighbor or a burglar or school teacher...

Sex?

2005-06-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

I got to thinking today about how your views on sex change as you get older. As a child, sex is that big mystery that you know nothing about. Then you hit teenagehood and sex becomes the source of all your anxieties and dreams. Suddenly you make it to early adulthood and everything in your life revolves around sex. It influences what you do, what you eat, who you see, and even when you do things. Pretty soon you hit midlife and sex is still great, but other things start to become more important. Sex takes on the flavor of a party; something you do on special occasions and get dressed up for. Then after awhile you start to get old and sex becomes something that gets in the way of more important things like getting 8 hours of sleep or watching a favorite TV show. My point to all this is by the time you have the wisdom and experience to get rid of all your hangups about sex, you have probably gotten past the urge to do it anymore. I see some wierd inverse law here based on the frequency of your sexlife and the neurological hangups you have on it. Why can't people just say screw it and do what they want? (Pun intended by the way) Why are things like menage a trois or fetishes frowned upon by society? How did this nudity taboo get started anyways? Didn't everyone race to get out of their clothes as fast as they could when they were young? Well its too late for me to rant on any more so I will have to continue this tomorrow and get into the slimy underbelly of this blog...

BBSer

2005-06-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

I read an article today at Wired online's website. It was a history article, well a computer history article. It dealt with the history of the internet, well it at least dealt with its precursor, BBS's. Kind of old home week for me and mine. My wife and I got married after meeting on a local BBS here in Vegas back in the 80s. Martin ran his own BBS back in the day also. Ahh memories. Here is the editted and condensed article from Wired.

Remember when there was no e-mail or instant messaging? Reaching out to touch someone digitally once meant you had to dial into a phone line through your Trash-80 PC, type a message, post it to an online bulletin board and then wait weeks -- or more often months -- to get a response.

Before America Online, Friendster, forums and blogs, geeks communicated with one another in a clunky and pedestrian way that was the precursor to all subsequent forms of online communication.

It was called a bulletin board system, or BBS, and was essentially a virtual living room where people hooked up remotely to chat, exchange freeware or play computer games, albeit at a really slow speed.

Anyone nostalgic for those halcyon days can now thank digital archivist and filmmaker Jason Scott for BBS: The Documentary, a five-and-a-half-hour paean to the era when computers were named Stacy and Lisa, and tech loyalists fought bitter battles over the superiority of Ataris to Amigas.

Filled with interviews of the founders of the first bulletin board, the creator of Fido software, internet patriarch Vint Cerf and many others, the surprisingly engrossing documentary grew out of a project Scott began in 1998 when he started collecting text files posted to BBSes over the years and published them at textfiles.com. He just wanted to preserve a bit of tech history that meant a lot to his teen years, but he was soon inundated with BBS artifacts that other people sent in.

BBSes were the blogs of their day and began sprouting up in the late '70s, after the appearance of the Hayes modem, with names like Aladdin's Lamp, The Puzzle Palace and Leprechaun Heaven, each one devoted to a different topic. Users and system operators, or sysops, compiled directories of BBS names, phone numbers and their topics. Scott culled the names he could find and composed a list that has now grown to 105,000.

When he posted the list online, it gave old BBS users a blast from their past.

"They would type in their name on Google and here would come up the name of a BBS that they had run 20 years ago when they were 13," Scott said. "I had a guy tell me that he was dating a girl and she asked him, 'What was the Wizard Castle?' It was the name of a BBS he had run for only a few months in 1983."

People began sending Scott personal essays reminiscing about their life on the boards. So Scott, who studied film in school, decided to make a documentary. The four-year project, begun in 2001, was just released as a three-DVD set containing eight episodes and bonus material. Fans can see various aspects of the BBS story, such as the birth of boards, the creation of FidoNet, the appearance of online porn and the digital art medium called ANSI art.

The first BBS was launched in 1978 by Ward Christensen, an IBM mainframe programmer who developed Xmodem, and Randy Suess. It was born during a snowstorm.

When a blizzard struck Chicago where Christensen lived, he couldn't go to work one day, and he decided to fiddle with an idea he and Suess had discussed for their computer club, the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyist Exchange, or CACHE. The plan was to replace the group's answering machine that announced meetings with a computerized message board allowing people to leave messages on the board using their computer. It took Christensen two weeks to write the software while Suess assembled the hardware.

The board launched Feb. 16, 1978, as CBBS, for the Computerized Bulletin Board System, using a 300-baud modem. Only one caller could connect to the board at a time (eventually someone developed software to allow multiple phone lines to connect to a board at once), and the system could transfer only about five words per second. But it was a hit.

Months later, Christensen and Suess published an article about the board in Byte magazine and distributed free copies of the BBS software. BBSes began popping up everywhere, but callers to them were scarce since few people owned modems yet.

Within two years, 200 to 300 BBSes flourished, and eventually more than 150,000 existed in North America at the peak of their popularity.

Unlike the nascent internet, whose use was confined at the time to researchers and the military, BBSes were populist to their core, available to anyone who could afford the hefty $3,000 to $10,000 price tag for a computer. All it took to establish a BBS and become your own sysop was to install the software on a home PC with a modem and connect it to a phone line that remote users could dial into and leave messages.

On the surface, the BBS was, perhaps, a ridiculous idea. Conversations took an eon to unfold. And a game of digital chess or Battleship played on the boards would take days to progress because a player had to wait a day or two after making a move for an opponent to dial in and take a turn.

Tom Jennings, creator of the Fido protocol that allowed hundreds of BBSes to network with each other, recalls describing the concept to friends and getting blank stares.

"With this program you'd have on your computer you'd dial a number, you'd enter your name and password ... and then you could go to the messages so you could read the messages. And then you could add one," Jennings told friends. "And if you waited long enough, and I had to say months, other people would have called in and left messages. And after a few months you would have a conversation.

"And they're like, why?... It was unbelievably stupid."

And yet more and more people signed on. Scott said "BBS" became a code word for passage to a revolutionary underground society.

"If you mentioned the term 'BBS' to someone and no spark of recognition appeared in their eyes," one user told Scott in the film, "you said screw them, they're not worth your time."

A number of sysops interviewed in the film described watching the lights on the computer next to their bed flash at night as they lay in the dark and feeling awe that technology had brought the world to their bedroom.

Often the information superhighway came at a hefty price, however, because cross-country calls to BBSes not in the area could cost $1 a minute, leading to $600 phone charges for heavy users who frequented half a dozen or more boards daily.

Lasting friendships were forged, and marriages were made and broken, as the online medium offered new ways for people to meet and cheat. The boards also saved lives.

One woman told a sysop that finding his board led her to abandon a plan to commit suicide, while closeted gays expressed relief at finding alternative lifestyle boards for communities they never knew existed.

Although board communication could be laborious, its nature changed in 1983 with the appearance of Fido, a protocol that allowed BBSes to communicate with one another to create a FidoNet for wider distribution of messages. Instead of posting a message to just one board, a user could post a message and have it fan out to hundreds or thousands of boards at a time.

In 1984, FidoNet had only 132 nodes; by 1995, the number had grown to more than 35,000 worldwide.

"FidoNet really felt like it was changing the world. And it was," Scott said. "The idea that you could send a message and it would filter out to a thousand BBSes within a day or two was intoxicating to a person. It's easy now when people can send messages instantaneously. But at the time nobody thought this was something that was ever going to fall into the hands of regular people."

The ills that hit the internet later struck BBSes early -- from innocuous but annoying flame wars to pornography and pirated software, which drew the attention of law enforcement and critics who hated the free-for-all nature of the boards.

"I found quotes online ... a person was talking to a librarian at a BBS convention and the librarian said it would be a lot easier for librarians if these BBSes would just go away," Scott said. "Here's all this stuff going out and nobody knows where it's from. People are transferring information willy-nilly and there's no protection. You could see all of this fear."

And there arose a philosophical schism between free and fee-based boards, leading purists to accuse the fee-based boards of violating the open-source spirit of the community.

"That's where the real fights started," Scott said. "For a certain group of people ... the minute you started charging money, you lost them. You made it uncool."

Around 1995, just as the mention of BBSes on an episode of Law & Order signaled the phenomenon's entry into pop culture, the reign of boards came to a crashing end. That's when the internet took hold and, like vinyl records and 8-track tapes, bulletin boards quickly faded to obscurity. Some BBS owners morphed their systems into the first internet service providers but most disappeared. Only a few hundred dialup BBSes still exist, Scott said.

Now he laughs at the people who feared the BBS.

"I just say to them, oh yeah, BBSes went away. I hope you're happy with what you have now," Scott said. "And let's see what comes next."

Slave to the Girl in Leather

2005-06-06T19:53:00.001-07:00

Ok everyone, every now and then I try to get a little cutting edge, or sometimes I just get lucky and stumble across something before everyone else does. About a month ago I was channel surfing before going to bed and I was bored waiting for Teri to get off the phone and come to bed when lo and behold in the dregs of Cox Cable's channels I surfed by the Fuse Music Network and saw a girl on a bed clad in leather with a whip. Being the red blooded male that I am (and not so old that my libido is dead yet) I promptly stopped channel surfing and turned up the volume to find out what the hell I had stumbled across. A couple of minutes later I wiped the drool off my mouth and had a new 'show' to watch. Its called Slave to the Metal and is just a VJ offering advice about anything and everything and answering phone calls and email questions and playing heavy metal videos. The thing that makes this show is the VJ herself, Juliya. She dresses up as a closet dominatrix, brandishing her whip and bad mouthing the 'Momma's boys' who call in. She gives advice to girls, telling them to dump their boyfriends and find a real guy or girl. Talk about over the top, sex sells, video voyeurism! This show is on in Vegas, M-F at 9:00 pm PST and is definitely something you should check out at least once. For those of you in less fortunate areas of the country Juliya has her own website here.

Q..R..S..T..U.F.C.

2005-06-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

Ok time for me to play fan and babble on about this Saturday's entertainment, Ultimate Fighting PPV at an80snut's house. Martin and I take turns hosting the UFC pay-per-views (well ok the last several have been at my place-I have the bigger house, Martin the bigger TV (see Martin there I go comparing sizes again)but I digress) and for the two of us and our significant others its the sports highlight of the moment. We talk about it and analyze it almost as much as we do football (he and I are also fantasy football addicts), but seriously we have a blast. I have already rambled on in an earlier post about comparing UFC to Roman gladiator sports so I won't do that and I cannot say anything about how the significant others pick the winners based on who is cuter or has less back hair. So I guess I will just give an overview of the best combat sport on the planet. Two competitors enter an octagonal ring and using a variety of martial art skills try to pulverize their opponent. The thing that makes this sport so interesting is the intense training that these athletes go through. All of them are multiple black belts, some of them have even won Olympic wrestling medals, and they are in tip top shape which leads to exciting matches. So to paraphrase the announcer of UFC -- "Bring it on baby!"

Allergies

2005-06-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

Ok this is a warning, this post is gonna be a rant. I need to vent out some frustration and figured why not do it in a post. I HATE ALLERGIES! I am 39 years old and have gotten comfortable throughout the years with who and what I am. However, there is one thing about myself that I would love to change, I have allergies. I don't have them bad, they don't lay me up or anything (I have sisters who get migraines that last for days), but mine are persistent little devils. Its like having a low grade fever for days, it just makes you feel miserable. I take maintenance medicine for them, Allegra is wonderful, but I still can be set off for a few hours by the littlest thing. Dogs bother me bad, I am ok with cats. Cigarette smoke is the worst, it gives me the sniffles and then I have a headache for hours. Paint, dust, nail polish, anything that is a fine particulant bothers me. I hate it, it crimps my lifestyle. I cringe at people who smoke; I avoid my smoker coworkers because they reek and don't know it. I have relatives who have pets and I go over to their houses only when absolutely necessary. I am a social recluse not by choice, but because I can't stand people's annoying habits and such. I have actually had dreams about taking over the world and executing all the smokers. What can I do.

Ok I feel better now.

Peerflix

2005-06-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

Ok I figure this post will be a tribute to my friend Martin, since he is the king of CDs and DVDs. Many a day Martin has been out hunting out of the way movies that nobody has heard of on DVD. In addition, Martin has this passion for Japanese anime. So this service would be a natural for him (are you reading Martin?) Let me introduce you to a new service that I just read about today. It combines Netflix with the versatility of a peer to peer network (think Bit Torrent). Basically the way it works is you sign up with the service and get to look through a list of available DVDs. Ones other users have put up for trade. If you find one you like you use your accumulated Peerbux to purchase it. How do you get Peerbux you ask? Well you put up your old DVDs and when someone buys it you get Peerbux (or you can purchase them at a rate of $5 for 1 Peerbux) which you then use to get the DVDs you want. Sound easy? Sound like fun? Great, go visit their site located here. Happy hunting.

Three's a crowd...

2005-05-31T16:58:00.000-07:00

Well my wife and I have always been lucky in life and we seem to always have good things happen to us. I remember many years ago the only really, really bad fight my wife and I had, it was about the apartment we were living in at the time. Both Teri and I were working full time and I was also trying to juggle going to school full time while we were raising a precocious toddler. Needless to say we were barely surviving. We got into a fight about money and such and Teri ran away to her parent's house. Soon after we made up and I ended up quitting school and getting a real job. We moved into Teri's parents house and I spent the longest 1 1/2 years of my life as we saved to buy our first house. Ten years later and we are in our second wonderful huge house and very happy and more financially sound. The point of this babbling is that what goes around comes around. Teri's parents moved into our house today since they just sold there house and our staying in the guest bedroom in our place while they look for their next retirement house. Needless to say I am totally wierded out by the situation, but am making do as best I can.

Playing hookey.

2005-05-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

You ever get that feeling on Monday morning or Sunday night that you want to pretend you are back in school and just play hookey from work? You know, call in sick with a "cough" or a "migraine" and then stay home all day and watch TV or get on the computer. Maybe wake up real late and stay in your PJs for a majority of the day. Yeah I guess me having a three day weekend has caused me to regress to my teenagehood, cause boy do I want to call in sick tomorrow and just enjoy another day off. Maybe its because the wife took tomorrow off and has a 4-day weekend that is doing it. Maybe its cause I really haven't had a real vacation in a couple of years. Whatever it is it really got me to thinking how easy we had it as kids even if it didn't seem that way back then. I can just imagine my parents thinking, "Heck no if I have to go to work, he has to go to school." Ah well...

A White House of ill repute

2005-05-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

FROM KLASTV.COM
George Knapp, Investigative Reporter
I-Team Exclusive Interview With Heidi Fleiss
May 26, 2005, 01:11 PM

Nevada's legal brothel business has survived, in part, because it has always kept a low profile. But the industry could be thrust into the spotlight soon with the arrival of a new operator, none other than Heidi Fleiss, better known as the Hollywood Madam. If so, there's only one place in the U.S. where that could happen. "I am coming to Nevada and I am going to open up a brothel," she states.
Heidi's first foray into Nevada's legal bordello business came a few years ago when she hooked up with an Australian company that wanted to build a mega-brothel in Nye County. The plans fizzled but Fleiss was hooked. Unlike Nevada's brothels, there isn't much about the former Hollywood Madam that's low key. Her trial was front-page news. She's published two best selling books, has been the subject of two movies and a documentary, sold a DVD of sex tips and would easily rank as the highest profile figure in Nevada's brothel industry. To do that, she will probably have to convince potential rivals that her place would complement, not compete. Fleiss says, "The other brothel owners will benefit tremendously, because, look it, I have so many women trying to work for me, and you can only have so many. They will benefit from the fallout. I guarantee their numbers will quadruple." She makes this boast based on her business plan. Fleiss will cater to the same mega-rich clientele that she served in Hollywood. She expects to set a minimum for walk-in customers, say $5,000. Customers who can't afford that would be expected to visit other bordellos in the neighborhood. "I am coming like a social worker to make everyone happy. I'm not threatening to take anyone's territory or cornering the market. I'm just bringing more to the community." She clearly has a business sense and has made a lot of money in all of her other ventures. Some Nevada brothel owners told us they're impressed by the homework she's done in preparing for a Nevada project. And others who work with Fleiss say every day is a learning experience. In the early 90's, before her operation was busted, her working girls were dispatched to the richest people in Hollywood. These weren't seasoned hookers, but rather, beauty queens and wannabe starlets who decided to make a pile of money in a short period of time. It's the same sort of work force Fleiss says she will recruit to work in her Nevada brothel. Heidi Fleiss says, "I get the finest. I get the cover of Seventeen magazine, the pageantry winner, the most beautiful girls on earth. I get everyone's dream girl. I get your dream girl." If she can get a Nevada brothel opened, Fleiss says she will go on a worldwide recruiting tour, looking for fresh faces who are willing to work in a brothel for a short time, then use their earnings as a springboard to something else. "I don't recommend prostitution as a career. If I had a daughter, which I don't, I wouldn't want her to be a prostitute. But look at these girls -- they go out all night, sleep with different guys every night. Why not? Hey, I guarantee you, living in Hollywood you have a better chance of getting into the movies through my White House brothel in Nevada than through CAA," Fleiss states. She has a long way to go before her brothel becomes a reality. Fleiss has spent months looking at other bordellos and properties in Nevada, from Reno to Pahrump and in between. Because of her criminal record, she will need to latch on with an existing licensee for a period. She's talked to several but hasn't reached a deal. Interviewed at her Little Shop of Sex in Hollywood, Heidi hinted that her customer base would likely include names from her little black book, names she never made public even during her legal troubles, customers who might pay a huge membership fee for her brothel. The steep fees mean she would not be a direct threat to other brothel owners. "They're smarter than me. With what they're selling, everyone can afford. I cater to a very elite market. Not everyone's going to be able to afford a $5,000 entry fee, but everyone else can afford what they're selling."
Fleiss knows that government officials in rural counties will have their doubts. It's why she's quietly been meeting with many of them, to let them know her intentions. "My lesson was learned. I paid a very high price for the crime I committed. I did learn a lesson. I'm going to do it legally, not illegally."
In order to stand out from other brothels, and from the all-but-legal hooker rackets in Las Vegas, Fleiss has a grand design in mind -- a replica of the White House. She'll even call it the White House, but isn't trying to make a political statement, just a marketing one. "It will work. They have the Eiffel Tower there, the Pyramids. So it's time for the White House. You build the White House and it will work. You want something the way it should be. Natural, beautiful, and that's what it is. It's just sex." Fleiss says she has backers who are willing to invest millions of dollars in her venture, but she hopes to launch the business with her own money. She was expected to meet Tuesday with Nye County officials but has not yet decided if she will build her place in that county because she's been offered land and a building up near Reno.

Scooba dooba doo

2005-05-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

For this post I am just gonna rip an article about something cool.

The mop of the future?

Report: Scooba, the latest offering from iRobot, angles to remove mopping from 'hate doing it' list.
May 24, 2005: 8:43 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - There's a new robotic housecleaning appliance that will do your dirty work for you. IRobot, the maker of Roomba the robotic vacuum cleaner, previewed Scooba the robotic mop Monday, although it won't be available in stores until the holiday season, according to USA Today. Scooba scrubs hardwood, tile, linoleum or any other bare floor with cleaning liquid, rinses it, then sucks up the excess water and stores it to be dumped later using artificial intelligence, the newspaper said. The company recommends using only Clorox cleaning fluid, which prevents Scooba from skidding or spinning its wheels. Unlike a regular mop, Scooba does not redistribute dirty water, CEO Colin Angle said. The retail price has not yet been established, but Angle says it will cost slightly more than a Roomba, which sells for about $280. IRobot has sold more than 1.2 million Roomba cleaners since the product's introduction in September 2002, the newspaper said. Scooba should appeal to just as broad a market as Roomba, Angle said. "We aim our products at the axis of 'hate doing it' and 'have to do it often,'" he says. "Mopping is near the top of a lot of people's 'hate doing it' list." Angle said his goal for iRobot is eventually to make a suite of robots that do housework, according to the newspaper.

Father Time rears his head...

2005-05-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

Man, you know you are getting old when you pull a muscle in your lower back bringing groceries into the house. Yes, thats what I did alright, twisted funny grabbing some groceries out of the trunk and felt a sharp pain in my lower back shooting down to my heel. Luckily its not too bad, but it has stiffened up and is slightly painful as I sit here icing it down while typing this up. Wish I could blame this on a more interesting excuse, like saying that the wife caused it last night as we were celebrating a night out, or I got it while training for the upcoming UFC that I am competing in. However, neither one of those is true, its just a out of shape getting old type of injury. The kind where you pop the ibuprofen and hope that it doesn't get too bad. Ok maybe I am a little prone to back problems since I have scoliosis, but I haven't had any problems in a long while other than a little numbness in my hip. The sad thing is I can't even use it as an excuse to miss work, since I sit in a chair all day unless it gets real bad. Maybe I will just blame it on the 104 degree weather outside and say that I am not used to the heat; or better yet, it was the dancing at the wedding over the weekend. Yeah, thats the ticket, the perfect excuse.

The week that was...

2005-05-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a busy week I have had. I feel like I have been on a treasure hunt as I have wandered around the Las Vegas valley. My little sisters wedding was yesterday and I got to give her away since my Dad passed away several months ago; what a weird feeling,somewhere between play acting and giving your own daughter away. The other weird thing was having all here friends stay over with her at our house the night before. Made me feel old seeing these baby faced girls acting all grown up, two of them pregnant, one with the coolest fairy tatooon her back. Watching them argue about money, lend each other a couple of bucks here and there, and basically all stress out over the impending wedding, had me feeling like an old man in the corner with my own private thoughts. Teri and I played host and hostess for my sister and friends, making sure they were fed and running some last minute errands. It was so weird for me since I have not been involved in any of my other sibling's weddings. My wife is also starting her first Master's class this week, and I get to stress along with her as she makes her plans and does her assignements in this three week mini summer class.

Rediscovering Honor writing contest @ HollyLisle.com

2005-05-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

Ok if you didn't read my earlier post on this, I discovered a writing contest at www.HollyLisle.com. Nothing fancy, just a quick hit contest for a proof copy of her latest book, Talyn. The hard part is she limits the story to 250 words and gives you the theme, rediscovering honor, ouch. Anyways, here is my first attempt, tell me what you think.

Grandfather's Last Request (Essay)
Authored by: davydgrey on Monday, May 16 2005 @ 08:32 PM CDT

I glanced up at the light glimmering in the window of Old Man Smith’s ramshackle house. “Come on old dude, go to bed.” I whispered, looking around at the shadows dancing in the moonlight. Minutes passed. I muttered and stood up. “Oh well, nothing for it.” I slid over the ground and crept up the steps at the front of the house. I inserted my pick into the ancient lock, and, with a quick twist, I was in.

I paused, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness of the house. “Come on Sullivan, now is not the time to loose your nerve.” Steadying myself, I slipped up the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. “Down the hallway, first door on the left.” In seconds, I was there, looking into Smith’s bedroom and the fortune in baseball cards he kept on his shelf.

I entered and grabbed at the treasure of my dreams. “DiMaggio, Aaron, Rose rookie card.” I glanced through the stack and thought of the easy life ahead. A noise broke through my reverie as the old coot tossed in his timeworn bed. I looked over at the figure lying there and suddenly thoughts of the cards left my mind. He looked just like my Grandfather did at his funeral last year. Just like that, I decided I did not need the baseball cards after all. Better to leave them for the old guy. He needed them more. My Grandfather would have wanted it that way.
(F)

Random musings.

2005-05-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

Why is it that I always seem to tell time by the weekends? This weekend was the dinner with Amy weekend. Next weekend is little sister's wedding weekend. The weekend after that is Memorial Day weekend, then its UFC weekend. I don't even remember dates anymore I just live for the weekends and remember everything with a label.

Why is it the best gifts are the inconsequential ones, the inexpensive ones? I have spent $1000 on a necklace for my wife. I doled out $400 to get my son a PS2. And yet, the best gift my wife and I have given recently was a $4 bottle of Devil's Spit barbeque sauce to Martin of an80snut fame, and a tomatoe cage for his container garden.

Challenges come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes I find myself spending way too much time on small things that don't mean much, but turn into major projects for me. For example, in cruising the web the other day I visited an author's website (one who writes a mean fantasy novel) and noticed that she had a quickie contest going; write a 250 word story essay or poem on rediscovered honor and win an autographed proof copy of her latest book. I find myself thinking of this contest in off moments all the time now. Its not as easy as it seems since you are limited to 250 words max. The deadline is June 10th, go here: http://www.hollylisle.com/writingdiary/ if you are interested.

Speaking of projects, anyone who has visited my wife's blog: http://lvteri.blogspot.com/
was treated to a shot of our backyard and the garden's and landscaping that we are doing by hand back there. Try itself yourself sometime, its real tough to fill up 4000 square feet with Vegas weather resistant plants.