The move is ON!

We had a great big meeting yesterday here at LifeTalk radio and the Move is FINALLY going to happen. And just like they say about the events at the end of time will be, "Rapid ones." The move here will be VERY RAPID.

Found out yesterday, we've got to get our back up studio on the air by Friday because Sunday (And this really stinks cuz I won't get to watch any NFL Divisional playoff games.) We're completely disassembling our Main control room and moving it down to Southern to be reassembled next week. Then next week we've got to pack EVERYTHING up and will be moving it down the following Sunday. (Again - that is lousey because of the NFL Championship playoff games. I kiddingly/seriously told my boss if he plans any 'movement' other than sitting on my sofa at home on Superbowl Sunday - I'll have to call in with a sick feeling - feeling sick they scheduled stuff on Superbowl Sunday and I don't feel good enough to come in! He, he, he!)

By Feb 1, we'll be broadcasting out of the studios on the Campus of Southern. Wow!!!

The final moves will be "RAPID" Ones! :)

At Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN we stopped taking pictures of the anphibious critters for a moment and took some photos of bipeds in the building as well!

If you couldn't tell - I LOVE sports so I've decorated my cubicle at work to reflect that "Good" taste! :) See if you can find it all! :)

At Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN, my brother-in-law (L) Randy and friend Chuck K got hungry during the walk through, so stopped at a tank and picked up a quick snack. It was kinda crunchy though! :)

My brother-in-law and I picked up a couple of shotguns to hunt up some skunks so we had to test them out on some skeet first. Yup they work. (I had the sore shoulder to prove it!) Baaa booom! Oooohhhh yeeaaahhh!

Our stylist cut Joelle's hair and put it in ponytails and little 'me too' got her hair in ponytails too!

At the Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN my daughters were trying to compare their mouth's to that of a replica of the largest shark's jaw found in the world. Natalie trying to open her mouth and Joelle's comparing her teeth! :)

Dominant Intelligence - Eh?! :)

This one was kinda fun to do and it seems to be pretty accurate. Doreen? Yeah, I know the dance thing ain't anywhere near accurate. When I try - it's just scary!

If you take this test, let me know what you are!

Later!

Your Dominant Intelligence is Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

You are naturally athletic and coordinated, good at making your mind and body work together. Sports are fun and easy for you, especially those requiring good hand - eye coordination. There's also a good chance you're a great dancer, or good at expressing yourself through body language. You learn best by doing, and you feel like you've always got to be moving (even if it's just your hands). You would make a good athlete, physical education teaches, dancer, actor, firefighter, or artisan.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Playoff OUCH OR Cool Sheets VS Warm Sheets!

Happy New Week y'all!!

Hope your weekend was blessed and that you're ready for a new week - just ahead!

I'm in mourning today because my Broncos got literally CRUSHED by the Indy Colts. I'll have to say this 'grief' was not expected. Since the Broncos made it into the playoffs last week I have been, honestly, expecting the worst and hoping for the best. But alas - the Colts offence, and frankly Defense just steamrolled us. Hey - the Broncos made the playoffs, and 2/3rds of the NFL teams can't say that - so that is 'something' to be proud of. It was a fun game to watch though - with the Colts just lighting up their offense and they looked good. It'll be interesting to see how they do against the New England Patriots next week. Go Indy!! :)

And what's with 3 of the 4 road teams winning this week? Man that is extremely ODD in the playoffs. Homefield is typically a HUGE advantage. The Chargers, Seahawks and Packers just couldn't make the best of a good thing. Too bad, don't let the door hit your rear on the way out of the playoffs.

Been looking back 'mentally' at 2004 a bit and overall it was a good year. The only really 'bad' thing that sticks out, literally, is that in 2004 I gained about 12 lbs. Of course I don't gain evenly all over - I get it all in my belly! So this year - I plan to take that 12 lbs off and hopefully at least another 12 to 20. Right now I'm 212, and I'd like to be 180 ideally, but anything under 200 would be acceptable. I've started working on that by not eating late. I eat at 5a, then between 2 and 3 and that's my eating for the day. Around 11:30a I'll have a V8, then about 5p when my family eat supper, I'll sit with them at the dinner table drinking some herbal tea (iced - no caffine) or some juice.

A couple of times lately we've ended going out to eat late, and at one place I only had a Sprite and the other place, an egg roll, some egg drop soup and steal a few bites off Natalie's plate. (Typically I eat a TON a that restaurant - good Veggie Chinese food - yummy!)

Hey, is your preference Warm sheets or Cool sheets? Typically, when I slide into bed - I really prefer the crisp coolness - it just helps me get in the mood for a good sleep. Well, Saturday night after the day at church, potluck and visiting our property in Collegedale - we got home, watched the rest of the Jets/Chargers game and then I got online, blogged, surfed and stuff. Doreen went to bed after the game was over. About 2am I'm ready to crash so I go climb into bed - and I find my side all toasty warm - and it was nice, very nice. You see when I'm not in bed, Doreen takes over the whole thing! :) When I get out of bed at 4:30a to get ready for work, sometimes before I even hit the bathroom door, she's 'spread' out to take my side too. Well - Sat night, since my feet were cold and I was wiped - a nice warm bed just put me out in "2 shakes of a lambs tail." Very nice - but I still prefer cool sheets! :)

Don't know if you all have noticed some comments from JW Richards, but this is a friend from college days. A good friend! He is a wonderful singer with as he puts it, 'eclectic' tastes in music and has a very dry/drool sense of humor. Both of us were taking Broadcasting at Southwestern Adventist College/(As it was called back then) University. (As it is known as now)

We've kept in touch vaguely over the past 11 years, with contact every now and then. Well somehow he found my blog, (Was it through Scotts?) and has made a few comments. I thought I'd share two memories of Jerry, that I really enjoy remembering and since I just heard from him - they 'popped' back into my head and give me pause, to think and to chuckle with great memories from a friend.

Jerry and I both worked at KJCR 88.3 - the college station playing very 'traditional' Christian music. This was in the days where we still used vinyl albums with a mixture of CD's. As I recall, (And age is making recollection a bit more difficult) I was on the air from 6p to 8p and Jerry was on 8p to 10p. I was to play 1 1/2 hour of medium tempo music (Yello Tags - Every CD had a color coded tag for the average tempo of the songs on it)and had a 1/2 hour program (Focus on the Family) to finish up my shift. Then Jerry played an hour of slow tempo (Green Tags) music then the classical hour.

I remember, Jerry coming in 7:15p-ish and going into the music library and pulling out the new Blue Tag CDs. (Blue Tags = Contemporary) Then he'd pop into the production room - right next to the on air room with a huge picture window between the two rooms - put the CD on and CRANK IT UP. The rooms were sound proof, so I couldn't hear it, but I could see him. He'd be singing along for all he was worth, then he'd get this look of 'pain' on his face. Of course I'd be right of the middle of back-announcing my previous set of songs live on the air and knowing why the look of 'pain' hit, I'd have a hard time not laughing. After I closed the mic, Jerry would come running over and say, "Man you've got to listen to this - the harmony here is so good it hurts."

Then, he, he, he - then all us DJ's were to strickly follow the required format for our timeslot (Scott - you remember this right??!!) - and mine were the medium tempo yellow tags. Well, I'd go in and pick out an hour and a half of 'blue tag' albums and then pick the yellow temp songs of the albums. So Jerry would come in and give me a 'hard' time about picking blue tag albums. (Of course he'd occassionally do the same for his 'green tag' shift!!)

Dang, you know it's really sad that I've got all these cool memories of stuff with friends and family 'stored' in various parts of my brain and some of them only activate very rarely!! :)

Of course, Jerry's comment in a previous blog here about me smelling like pancakes when I'd come in to a morning class after my opening shift at McD's. (Yeah - I had two jobs and squeezed in some school in the middle.) Some days I'd get into the studio smelling like french fries or a vat of french fry oil after I had to clean it. You know, stuff like that. Jerry wouldn't eat breakfast before class so the 'pancake' smell on my clothes would drive him nuts! :)

Then there was our Media Law class with John Williams and the format was open discussion on topics, first of current events dealing with Media Law and secondly the 'reading' or assignment we had from the previous class. Of course with ANY discussion class, we'd occassionally 'drift' from Media Law in to sports or politics or other current events. So Jerry had a sign he drew up during these 'drifts' that said, "DIGRESS." He was making the point we'd gotten TOO far off and should get back to the topic we were supposed to be discussing in class. I LAUGHED every time that sign came out. (Typically once per class - at LEAST!) Ha, ha, ha! Jerry - you still got that sign?? Ha, ha, ha, ha!

Anyway, those are the thoughts rattlin' around in my head this Monday morning. Here for your amusement or boredom - whichever!

Have a Maaarvelous Monday!

"It's good.

It' GOOD.

IT'S ALL GOOOOOOOOOD." (Jim Carrey - Bruce Almighty)

(Just bought that DVD - LOVE that movie!!!)

Later y'all!

Broncos Not Good - Not Bad or SS Not Good - Not Bad

Hey

Hope you're weekend is going good. Our ain't too bad at all. Actually - it's been pretty decent.

First time in 3 years I've been to an Adult Sabbath School class - finally got promoted out of Cradle Roll. He, he, he! For the past 3 years Doreen and I have either been helping our daughters in SS or been in leadership and gotta be there.

Well - now we're both out - and now SS is boring as all get-out! Studying the lesson is ok - and learning more about what we believe is fine - but to just 'preach to the choir' so to speak, and re-hash stuff again and again and again... it just ain't gonna do. I need a SS about pratical Christianity. A SS discussing the Bible and current events. A SS that's real, ya know?

Today, we were taught/preached to with the predictable dramatic... pauses in the right place after the teacher asked a question - then the quiet answer and the yeah that's good, but not quite what I was looking for, then the teacher telling us his answer and then a short sermon to be followed by another question, dramatic pause... quiet answer, teacher response, sermon, question, pause, answer response sermon...
Aaarrrggghhh!

Talked to a friend last Sat night at a New Years bonfire and their Sabbath school - talks about the lesson and relates it today and during the discussion (Hum, interesting idea) a member (Not SDA YET - but more likely to become one) mentions a struggle they're having with getting electrical passed in an older house. The next week some SS members show up and do it right. Get's passed - ok to live in.

Now which one would you rather be part of??? Yeah - me too, but unfortunately, that's not possible until after we move to Collegedale. Oh well - for now... question, pause, answer, response, sermon - - - !!!

I love my church, really I do, maybe for now I ought to go back to Cradle Roll! :)

Ok - just finished watching the Jets amazing comeback vs the Chargers. Man, was that an up and down game. (By the way, Poor Marty S - Chargers coach - how many times have I seen that look on his face as he loses a playoff game when they've lost to us and others. Wow - poor guy! I kinda feel bad for him, so close and yet so far.)

So now, I'm thinking about the Broncos. They have NOT won a postseason game since winning the Superbowl after the '98/'99 season. That's pretty sad. So I'm thinking man, my Bronco's suck. Why do I even continue to be a fan. Well - #1, I'm a Colorado native and they're part of me, #2 - who else would I be a huge fan of, #3 - I LOVE orange and blue. #4 - I've already got a Bronco room, I can't afford to change it, #5 - They're not really that bad.

No, stick with me for a moment. They're not that good, but face it, they aren't that bad! Right now the San Franciso 49ers and Washington Redskins are THAT BAD. The Oakland Raiders (Yeahhh Baby ***GRIN***) and Arizona Cardinals are that bad. (But they do have hope with Denny Green as coach and a new stadium coming soon.) The Broncos have not had that many - Losing seasons in quite a while. They've had one here or their, but they are typically in the top half of average. We had those two superbowl seasons where they just ROCKED everybody. Now I'd like to have that ALL the time - but that just ain't possible. Players get greedy for money from somewhere else (Clinton Portis), they retire (Zimmerman/Elway/Sharpe). Some are salary cap casulties and some get injured. Coaches, GM's, Presidents change, or move on or are fired, so the possibility of AWESOME seasons ALL the time is just - unachieveable.

However - they can do their best, and come tomorrows playoff game versus the Colts, win or lose, I will ALWAYS be a Bronco fan!

GO BRONCOS!!!!

"Recording Artists" Bah Humbugggg!

You know, I'm getting very 'tired' of all the "Recording Artists" out there.

You know the type I'm talking about, singers (or supposed ones) out there selling CD's and tickets to concerts and they just SUCK!

Lately, on just about EVERY music awards show or 'big game' halftime show that Doreen and I have happened to watch - we've spotted one or two fakies. They either lip synch (A HUGE PET PEEVE OF MINE) or sing so bad and off key, or missing notes it's just pitiful. Then people after the song is over, cheer and applaud. Why I ask!

Well, Tue evening at the halftime of the Orange Bowl, Kelly Clarkson, Trace Akins and Ashlee Simpson performed. One of them BOMBED terribly, Ms Simpson. I didn't watch the halftime show because we were watching the Amazing Race, but I heard her performance on the Mike & Mike in the Morning Show on ESPN Radio yesterday morning - they were doggin' her something bad, with good reason. It was awful.

And people pay to see her perform and buy her CD's? Really? Why?

Now I'm not just doggin' on just Ashlee, this is one of the latest in a LONG line of 'performers' who have no talent, but yet because they know someone, or are related, or had enough money to 'buy' their way into a record company to become a 'recording artist.'

(Got a friend in the Women's SDA music group called Message of Mercy. They recently just began recording new music for an upcoming project and the studio they're recording at asked if they want to use the new pitch fix technology. Basically it's a mic with a computer chip that if the singer begins to slide slightly off pitch, will alter the soundwave being recorded to make it sound like the voice is on pitch. [They declined this option.] Too many recording artists are just that because they can sing good enough in a studio to make an album by using fixes like that and of course just fixing little sections where they couldn't get it right - so when they get in a live situation, they just can't handle it because they didn't actually "sing" it in production - they sang just 'parts' and then an engineer assembled it for them.)

There are TOO MANY people out there with actual talent that are struggling cuz losers like this have the 'cool' gigs. That is an enormous travesty. Not only to those who really deserve it, but to us as well who have their ears assaulted, or are made a mockery of by not actually singing, but using a track.

Sad, sad, sad!

Let's DUMP the recording artists and get back to real musicians with real talent performing for us!!!

Property NOT on the Move

I HATE selling property.

I prefer owning as opposed to renting, but I HATE selling property once we get ready to move.

Just heard about a friend who's daughter bought a place in Silver Spring, MD for $95,000 3 or 4 years ago just sell it for $250,000. It wasn't even on the market for 7 days before they had a signed contract with two or three other people interested! Good for them, but when it comes to us and selling property, we've not been NEAR as lucky! Aaaarrrggghhhh!

The home and property we bought in Illinois while working at 3ABN, the only way we could sell it, was we paid it off while working on the truck and now we're 'holding' the note.

We've got our home here for sale now. Listing Number 32079 We've only gotten a couple of calls on it. We've also got 3 acres in Vonore we're trying to unload as well. Listing Number 32081 and we've gotten more calls on that, but none really serious yet.

The price we've asked for each has been very reasonable - but we've always decided to live in a rural area and it just NEVER, for us anyway, seems to sell quickly, good or at a decent price.

Maybe I oughta ask $250,000 and people might get interested! HA!

"This, is CNN"

Yesterday was COOL!

Doreen and I took a tour through CNN studios in Atlanta, GA.

One of the changes happening at LifeTalk is that we will be one day soon be creating Christian TV programming.

My boss claimed that CNN uses exclusively fluorescent lights to lite their sets. So, with his permission, Doreen and I took a 'paid' trip down to Atlanta to specifically tour the CNN studios to 'check out' how they light their sets so we can light ours when we get it set up.

So we took the girls over to my in-laws and jumped in the car and headed the 3 hours down to Atlanta.

(We had to take a quick trip to the pediatrician before we left though. Natalie's had diarrhea for 2 days and slept 12 hours overnight, woke up, climbed in bed with Doreen and slept another 45 min and then woke up and ate, but while eating - was about to fall asleep again. That worried us, so, to be safe rather than sorry took her in and Dr Bean [yes, that's his name] did a thorough check, only heard a rumbly tummy, told us what to keep an eye out for and sent us on our way. Glad she's "fine." She'll probably be over this very soon.)

We got there, got our tickets and then the first thing we do is ride the 8 story escalator to the top. It's actually the tallest escalator in North America. For the next 50 min we saw the various studios and news desks where they create the various news programs. Most of the news comes from Atlanta, the other 'shows' come from around the country/world.

They have a HUGE building with 4,000 employees worldwide and 2,500 in the building. In fact downstairs they have their own 'food court' just like a mall. (Including Taco Bell, Subway, Arbys and many other Fast Food Joints.) Pretty impressive.

They also had a division called CNN Interactive - which is the web. Right near their location is a huge screen with CNN on it, and just below it was a number counting the web pages hit for the year. Can you guess what the total was for the first 4 days in 2005? 84 million. Already, 84 million!!! Wow!

It was a cool tour. I saw the lighting, and was disappointed that is wasn't as advertised by my boss, so now I'm gonna have to tell him the bad news - then figure out how to get our set lit properly, with little 'wisdom' in that area! Ouch!

On the way home we were looking to stop at an Olive Garden for supper, but couldn't find one - so we hit a Spaghetti Warehouse. They typically have the 'trolly' somewhere in the middle of the dining area - and I NEVER get to sit in it. Oh well - someday! Cool location and ambiance, not as impressed with the food. It was palatable though. The piece of 12 layer chocolate cake with a scoop of ice-cream we split was great though, although, it's like our waitress said it's so good, it's "Death by Chocolate Cake." Well - if that's the way I have to go - so be it! :)(Saw an Olive Garden 9 miles up the Interstate after we had already eaten though. Doh!!!)

Got home, grabbed the girls and put them to bed, watched The Rebel Billionaire and Amazing Race 6 and a few minutes of OSU absolutely CRUSHING OU in the final BSC Bowl Game of the year. Then Crashed!

Stay tuned for more news, on the SS Pester Blog! :)

The 2004 Pigskin Pick'em Champion is...

ME! Oh yeah.

For the third consecutive year I take home the Nelson/Pester Pigskin Pick'em Championship!

Here's the final talley...

#1 - Me 160
#2 - Doreen 153
#2 - Dad/Larry 153
#4 - Mary 151
#5 - Scott 145
#6 - Staci 143
#7 - Tim 108
#7 - LeAnne 108

It was an awesome season.

The last week's picks were very hard because of the teams that had locked in the playoffs deciding whether or not to play their 'stars.' But as always, the first week of the season is always tough.

Here are some interesing bits...

-- Over the 4 years that I have records, my final score has been pretty average.
2001 - 153
2002 - 161
2003 - 156
2004 - 160

-- Doreen and I had the 'high' weeks this year. In Week 11, Doreen posted a 15,
in week 12 I also posted a 15. Both of us just 1 away from a perfect week.

-- Doreen, Dad and Mary were in a heated race for 2nd place. Doreen and Dad ended up tied. Unfortunately, Mary didn't make her picks for this past week and so posted a 0 - it would have been interesting to see what the standings would have been had she picked.

-- The lowest week posted, other than a few Zero's, or no picks, LeAnne with a 5.

-- Best Week Scores posted, week 11, we ALL were in double digits. (The only week we all had double digit scores.

Overall - it was a GREAT NFL season for Pigskin Pick'em! (Sadly, I can't say the same for the Denver Broncos. They made the playoffs, but unless they play the game of the year for them - I've got a feeling they'll get beat this first week! But any team can win on Any Given Sunday!!![Here's to hoping they win!!])

---Did you know that players who play in the post season get $18,000 to win the winning wildcard teams, (Losing wildcard teams get $15,000) Division teams, winners and losers get $18,000 per player, Championship games the players get $32,000 and the superbowl winners get $64,000. (The losing team gets $34,000.) But I digress...--- :)

Thanks to all who participated, hope you enjoyed it thoroughly!

I'm looking forward to next year - hope you are as well.

I'm gonna miss the NFL season, I'm gonna miss this challenge of picking the games against family. Guess until next season, I'll just have to do more blogging!!!

Thanks for playing y'all. It was a BLAST!

Sailing Along!

Here's the tower for our church's Low Power FM station going up. After all the work in assembling the tower and pouring the foundation, it's was exciting to see it go up so quickly and easily! Now we gotta buy $21,000 worth of radio equipment. Wheeewww!

Here's a photo of the Apt/Studio I've been talking about from time to time. As of right now, most all the shingles should be on - the framing for all intents and purposes is done. Next - getting the Electric & Plumming done.

Dueling Potties. (Our youngest is right in the middle of potty training right now and she's also little "Me Too" so anytime here big sister has to go potty little "Me Too" has to try too.)

Here's a Santa's Little Helper!

Here's the other 'Santa's' Little Helper.

Happy New Year!!!

Can you believe it's gonna be 2005 in just under 4 hours. Amazing!

Seems just like yesterday that everyone was so concerned with Y2K.

The freight train of life just blew by that date and just keeps on a 'chuggin!

Hope you have a very Blessed New Year!

"Tower" Up

In June of 2001 our church applied for a Low Power FM station. (LPFM) The LPFM is a small station that should have the listening radius of about 10 miles. It was designed by the FCC to fit in between big stations where there are 'signal holes' to allow more choices, give non-commercial corporations an opportuntity to broadcast and a way for them to make more money! :)

Anyway, Sept 2003 we we received our Construction Permit, so we began raising funds. By Aug Sept 2004 we'd had $24,000 of the approx $30,000 it would take to build it out and put it on the air.

So we ordered the 100' tower in Oct and 5 weeks later it showed up. We dug an 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 wide by 4 foot deep hole and filled it with the anchor bolts and 10+ yards of concrete and assembled the tower and now...

...Today the crane is going to show up and we're going to stand it up into place. Awesome.

I've got a bit of work to get accomplished this morning then, I'll get to the church around 9a, when the crane is supposed to show, and take pictures, video and assist in getting that tower erected.

Then, THEN I just got an e-mail from our treasurer letting me know that we're close enough on funds to go ahead and order the $20,000 of equipment we'll need to have. So after John (Our LPFM Affiliate Dir) returns from his vacation in WI, I'll hand him and check and tell him to get the ordering process going and - Lord willing - we should be on the air by the end of January. A full two months ahead of the deadline to get on air.

I'll tell ya about how it goes later!

So Sad or Missing Bits or Pieces

24,000

Wow, that is a LOT of people to be killed when the tsunami hit Sri Lanka and surrounding areas. That is so very sad.

Found this odd story though. All those people were killed, but they can't find any dead animals. Even though they aren't considered as 'smart' as we are - they do have a 6th sense or instinct that lets them know to make tracks and get outta dodge.

It's neat to see all the world coming together to help. Read a story recently (can't remember where though to post a link) of a list of every country in the world and what they were sending to help in the rescue, recovery, rebuilding effort.

Can't believe that 'politicians' are using this experience for opportunities to take pot-shots at each other. Man, as I get older and older, I'm getting to the point where I detest just about anything that is political. I really, REALLY don't like many politicians at all. They're there for their own good - for the most part - and that's about it. YUCKY!

Recently I've been recording, at work, from the Discovery Channel a program called American Chopper - Orange County Choppers, a family business that builds awesome bikes. It's neat to see the bikes and the process and the human interaction with the building of a chopper. I recorded 4 full tapes (6 episodes per tape) with NO problems, but the latest tape I did, for some reason I got another program in the middle of an episode and completely missed another program on one I cut off the last few minutes of one.

Don't know what the problem was, but it was annoying the beejabbers outtta us. That just happens occassionally, when we record something and miss bits or pieces. Gotta get TiVo someday! :)

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Possible Threepeat, Terrible Twos and One Merry Christmas Weekend

Well - Back to work.

After a good weekend, a great weekend - it's always hard to get back to work. But I'm getting older now and the time between the weekend goes faster and faster. Of course the weekends go faster! :)

A vicious cycle! :)

Doreen and I are thinking that Natalie has finally hit her terrible two. Case in point, yesterday afternoon at my in-laws building project, Doreen and I were moving some lumber and all of a sudden heard some screaming. One voice saying No, the other saying yes. I run around the corner and see at the front door, one girl is on one side pushing trying to close it, the other is pushing trying to open it and screaming at each other. They both got a good thumpin on the butt for fighting and sat down - apart from each other.

I tell ya, they have been "at" each other a LOT lately. Wow!!! AAAarrrrggghhhh. Drives me nuts - so we're cracking down on this and hopefully, we'll minimize it a bit, but we gotta get it under control a bit cuz I'm tired of hearing the fighting and crying.

It's looking like - barring a complete blowup - I should wrap up the 'championship' for this years Nelson/Pester Pigskin Pick'em contest. Minus tonights games, right now I'm in the Lead with 152 points, Doreen and my brother-in-law's sister-in-law Mary are tied for second with 145 points and my dad is 4th with 143. So in the next 17 games, (Tonight's Monday night football, Eagles at Rams and the 16 games scheduled next week) I've got a buffer to get 6 games wrong and Doreen and Mary have to get them ALL correct for me to win. (No one in our group has done that yet, ever.

That could be a challenge with some playoff locked teams not playing their starters waiting for the playoffs. With the 2nd stringers win the game or not? Will the teams out of the playoffs have a HUGE chip on their shoulder to take down a playoff bound team to hurt their momentum or just to win to end the season.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Here's a Blog from the beginning of the NFL season with info on the previous 'Champions' of the Nelson/Pester annual Pigskin Pick'em Contest. I'll have more on the 'comments' of one particular player later - but for now, let the final 17 games begin!!!

Have a good week as we wrap up this year!

The Post Christmas Assemblage

Hey,

Hope your Christmas was Merry!

Ours was great, albeit green. Had a 20% chance of snow, but all we got this morning was a HEAVY frost and Cold. 11 Degrees. Burrr.

We had a LOT of fun opening presents with the girls tonight. They got Barbies, 2 Barbie Cars, 1 Barbie Horse, 1 Barbie Bathroom get-up & 1 Barbie Baby set. They got a dress up set, a neat Hullabaloo game, some Home-made dolls from great Grandma March and, and, some other stuff I don't remember! :)

Man they cleaned up.

Doreen got some very nice apple decor for our kitchen and some $$$. We gave her a Miracle Blade Knife set (She'd been complaining lately about such DULL knives in our house.) I got a VERY warm Bronco blanket, a Bronco Pen/light and a laser straight thingy.

ALL very cool.

One thing I NEVER realized is how much 'assembling' goes on after Christmas. This is the first year our kids didn't just get 'baby' toys, and this stuff they've gotten takes a lot more in putting it together, putting stickers on - getting it functioning right. I think it took us maybe 30 to 45 minutes to open the presents, then an hour to two hours, taking everything out of the boxes with all the tape and twistie ties (there were 7 twistie ties on one Barbie I opened. 2 Arms, 2 legs, 1 torso, 1 neck, 1 hair. Ridiculous!!!) then getting it all together with stickers and making sure part "A" went into part "B." Wow!

All the while the girls are wanting to play with this, that, this, those, this and the other thing. (This being the one thing I'm struggling to get out of the box, every time I think I've just about got it - I find some hidden tape somewhere else holding it firmly in place. He, he, he)

It was cute watching them though. I tell ya what - seeing their excitement, truly made Christmas a LOT of fun!

I can't wait for next year. (My pocketbook says I can though - He, he, he!)

Merry "Aftermath" of Christmas! :)

Merry Christmas Eve

Hey y'all hope you are planning to have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.

We really feel like we've already had our Christmas last week with family in Minnesota - but it's kinda sinking in that Tomorrow is really Christmas day!

Tonight the girls got to open their first gift, a toy dinnerware set from Grammy & Papa. We couldn't hardly tear them away from it when it was bath & bed time! Thanks Grammy & Papa, you done GREAT.

Doreen's been hearing some Christmas songs by Avalon recently and telling me about them. So finally I remembered to check our music library at work and sure enough we had it, Joy - A Christmas Collection. So I snagged it and brought it home to listen to. It's a very good album. We listened to it right after we got home from Wal-mart (Which was an absolute NUT-House this afternoon. They are closing at 6p for Christmas Eve evening and Christmas day and will open back up Sunday morning at 6a. I stood in the 20 items or less line for 20 minutes, at least. The other lines were a LOT LONGER!!! By 5pm they were already encouraging shoppers to make their final selections and get in a checkout line. Meanwhile people were still STREAMING in. Wow, glad we got out when we did!) Anyway, we listened to it, but the phone was ringing, the girls were fighting and the microwave was going and the refrigerater was opening and closing, so I didn't really get to enjoy it. But after everyone else but me is in bed, while surfing the web and the family Blogs (Which I enjoy reading religiously at least twice a day to keep up on stuff) I've been able to really listen and enjoy it. Cool album - Doreen was right - I do like it.

My favorite song on it, really suprised me. Cut 10 is We Are the Reason - originally recorded by David Meece in the 80's. I LOVE that song and it is so powerful. Hadn't heard it in years - and I just really enjoyed hearing it again for the first time in a really LONG time.

So what is your plans for Christmas?

We're headed to church, with a special Christmas program that Doreen put together with some music, a couple of poems and stories, more music and stuff. Should be very good. The only challenge is we've got to take Doreen's Marimba to church - that's always a big job - so she can play a medley.

Then we'll come home and if the girls fall asleep - then we'll all take naps then eat a lupper (lunch & supper combined! ***GRIN***), or if they stay awake, we'll eat then all take naps. Later in the afternoon, we'll go take care of a friend's Amazon Parrot, then back home to have pizza, salad & Mayfields ice cream. Some of the Best this side of the Mississippi! :) Delicious. Doreen picked out Jamocha Fudge and the girls and I of course LOVE Mint Chocolate Chip. Yummmy! Of course we'll have to have a sample of both!

Then we'll read the Christmas story, and then open some gifts.

It is a day we're really looking forward to!

So you all have a Very Merry Christmas!!!

3 Minor Trips + 1 Major Trip = 1 Tired Boy.

This afternoon will make the 3rd trip to Chattanooga (1 hour 15 min one way) this week.

Tuesday morning we got home at 6:30a and slept for 3 hours. Got up, breakfast, fuss around the house and load the windows onto the pickup and head to Chattanooga.

Yesterday, work, home, load doors onto pickup, head to Chattanooga. This time though my family went with me and thankfully Doreen could drive and between the girls fussin' at each other I caught a snooze or two. The trip started off awful though. We got 25 min away and realized we'd forgotten important paperwork and had to turn around and go back home and pick it up, then head out again. Aaarrgghh!

We did have some fun after delivering the doors and stuff - we went to the absolutely crowded mall and ate at Taco Bell, then rode the Carousel they have in the food court, then played at the playplace.

Today, after work, I gotta head down there again to deliver more materials. This time though, it'll be me and the girls. We'll drop off Doreen to clean the church - something we do every other week. Then, get down there - drop off our stuff, talk with the 'framer' a bit - then back up and help Doreen finish the church and then home again jiggity jog! :)

I'm tired, real tired, right now of long trips in a vehicle. Done TOO much of it lately! :)

Have a Merry Christmas Eve!

On Frozen Pond

Man, Is it GOOD to be home.

It's always a kick to travel and visit and stuff, but it's ALWAYS GOOD TO GET HOME AGAIN...

...especially from the frozen North.

Buuurrrrr.

We had a GREAT time visiting Doreen's sister and family in Aitkin, MN. It's fun for the cousins to play together and get to know each other better and enjoy playing. The Play Shelly wrote was a lot of fun. And running around with Doreen, Joelle & Natalie in the snow was a blast as well.

The below freezing temperatures at times were a little bit, well, chilling - through and through! It was neat to see whole lakes frozen over though. Absolutely Amazing!

We left yesterday morning (Mon at 10:45a eastern) and it was 19 degrees. We heard the Twin Cities had 'freezing rain' and since we were 2 1/2 hours North of them, Doreen drove first. The roads were clear until Minneapolis, and just a bit wet so Doreen drove all the way into Wisconsin - where we stopped for lunch and switched drivers.

I drove in 'sick' weather, snowing, blowing, icky flat out nasty stuff for HOURS, sometimes only going 30, 35 MPH. I saw 3 accidents (after they'd happened), 1 really bad one. Then one guy in a pickup pulling a trailer blew my doors off, about 20 miles down the road he'd spun into the median. Couldn't help but chuckle a bit!

Finally around the Dells, WI we ran out of the BAD, BAD weather. The roads were clear the rest of the way home - thankfully.

One pretty big 'burp' on the trip was just to the west of Chicago, Joelle, who had been complaining a bit of an upset tummy, hurled everything she ate at supper. So I had to quick pull over and Doreen and I are trying to clean her and her seat up and get her fresh clothes and calm Natalie from crying at the whole event. Wheeeeew. What a stresser! She felt better after that though! :)

We got to the house this morning (Tue at 6:30a) 19+ hours later. Wheeew. It was a balmy **GRIN** 41 degrees. After being in the Cold in MN - didn't even feel like I needed a coat. :)

We threw the girls into bed and jumped into bed ourselves and all of us slept until 9:30a and felt much, MUCH better!

We just finished 'brunch', getting all the 'junk' out of the van and into the house, getting the laundry started.

Just checking our e-mail and news on the web and now I've got to load about a dozen or so windows on the pickup and take them to the framer of my inlaws apt/studio in Chattanooga, an hour and 20 minutes away.

More driving.... :(

Feels like we're on the road again in our truck.

...Almost.

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Temperature Here -13 to 12, Temp at Home 38 to 52

Why I live where I live! :)

This morning when I got up it was - 13 degrees! COOOOLLLLLDDDDDD!!!!

Last night when we headed out to the Christmas play, we got in the van and it was 7 degrees. By the time we got to the church 17 minutes later it was 2 degrees. The play was at 7:30 and we hopped back in the van and headed home about 10p and it was -3.

Dang man - that is COLDDDD! Ice Cold.

Randy (Doreen's sister's husband) just talked to his brother Brian who lives in Florida. The temp there is over 78 degrees. That means, there's almost 100 degree difference between there and here. WOW!

The play, one of the main reasons we came up here, was VERY nice. Doreen's sister Shelly wrote, directed and produced the entire thing. It was from the point of the angels during Christ's birth. Very cool and unique.

We're headed back home tomorrow morning. It's been fun and stuff, but can't wait to get back a little bit of warmth!

Until later, buuurrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

:)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Hello from Minnesota,

Oh it's COLD up here. We had snow leaving Tennessee and into Kentucky, but once we got into Indiana, nothing but clear skies.

The trip up here, took us 18 hours of driving time, but we stopped once in Wisconsin to sleep for 3 hours. Doreen and I were bushed.

We got up, drove into Minnesota and ate breakfast at Denny's and then drove on into Mineapolis, MN and I got to do one of my favorite things. If we get an opportunity - I like to take photos of NFL stadiums. So we drove around the Vikings Metrodome and I snapped a few photo etc. Very cool.

Then we headed to the Mall of America - the biggest mall in the USA. We wandered around inside a bit, then went to Camp Snoopy - an inside amusement park with rides and stuff. We had a LOT of things to ride on and had fun doing. It was cool. Then we headed to Brainerd, MN and Doreen's sister's place.

This morning we got up ate breakfast, chilled a bit (no pun intended) then jumped in snow gear and went outsided to play in the snow. Fun, Fun, FUN! Natalie got fussy at one point so we sent her inside and Doreen, Joelle and I slid up and down the hill and really enjoyed it.

Right now they've got about 4 inches of snow on the ground and it's snowing pretty hard.

This afternoon we're going to make Chocolate mice for the church play afterparty. Yummy, yummy! We'll see how many are made and eaten today! :)

"Pester" ya later!

On the Road Again

Today we are leaving for Minnesota for a week.

I'm wrapping some things up at work I've been NEEDING to get done, then I'm out of here by 11:30a. Gotta make a quick stop at Wal-mart to pick up my father-in-law's med's. Then boogie home - do a double check that we've got everything, pack the last minute things - hop in the van and head North.

We'll get this all done hopefully before or right at 1p because according to Mapquest it's 1128 Miles, estimating it'll take us 18 hours 40 minutes. That's averaging about 60mph. Hope we can do it! That'll put us there about 6am tomorrow morning. Aye, yai, yai! Then it'll be sleepy time for Steve & Doreen!!! :)

We're going up to see Doreen's sister and family. We're also maily going to see a play for their church Shelly's written, and hopefully be able to sneak in an hour or two of ice-fishing or even hunting Randy, my brother-in-law. (We'll Ice fish together, but he'll do the shooting if we hunt - don't wanna buy an out of state tag there in MN. Mondo expensive!)

Hope to be able to get online and post while I'm there, but not sure if that's a possiblity.

Later alligators!

Where's George Milestone

Since March 2002 I've been a user of Where's George. Basically, when you get paper money (Any denomination between $1 and $100) you log it into the site using the Denomination, Serial # and Year it was made. Then you mark the bill by either writing or with a stamp that says the website on it.

When the next person who logs it into the website with the same 3 items, I get a hit and e-mail telling me where it was hit, how far that is from here, the days, hours and minutes it's traveled etc. It's kinda cool!

Well - I hit a milestone today. Of the 706 Bills I've logged in, worth $3,545, I got my 100th hit. Yeee haw! This bill has travelled 548 Miles in 2 Yrs, 17 Days, 8 Hrs, 58 Mins at an average of 0.73 Miles per day. I entered it Nov 27 '02 and it got hit yesterday in Ozark, AR. So far for every 11.7 bills I log in, I'm averaging 1 hit.

Way cool.

THESE are the GREAT Memories

I’ve got precious girls. They are always doing VERY cute things. Natalie is in the midst of potty training right now, and getting quite proficient at it. It’s cute watching her run to the bathroom. Well, now she wants to clean up her own little potty after she’s tinkled. I was snoozing on the floor and vaguely heard her run to the potty and tinkle. Then I her ‘flush’ her potty. Then turn it around - dump the contents into the ‘big’ potty then flush that one. We got in there by then to finish clean up -but can you believe it? Too cute!!!

Then this afternoon, we had someone come by wanting to look at our house. For the first few minutes, Joelle and I were finishing the wrapping of a gift for Mommy, so we were ‘locked’ in the Bronco (spare) room. So we got done and Joelle put the gift under our tree and then found Doreen and the people interested in the house. She basically took over the showing process and took them all around the house telling them all about it. VERY CUTE!

She did tell them about the leaking sink in the bathroom that daddy fixed. He, he, he! We’ve got a little realtor on our hands! J

One other quirky part of this story. Was that when she showed them her closet - she said, “These are my Sabbath dresses.” The lady turned to Doreen and said, “Sabbath, are you Adventists? We are too.”

What are the odds?

Have a great weekend!

Days of Our LifeTalk - A Drama in Progress.

OK,

Here’s the full blown story at work…

3 or 4 months ago now, we get a new President. He’s supposed to be this great leader with radio experience and will take the ministry to the ‘next level.

Well, he comes in and has a couple of meetings with us then basically drops off the face of the earth.

About a month and a half ago, we’re ready to ‘launch’ a new live interactive talk show, and we tell him about it, figuring he’d be excited because one thing he said is he’d like more live SDA shows. So we’re starting one - and he puts a halt to ALL new programs in the works. He’s been listening and studying and ‘soon’ will want to make some programming changes. (Mind you, he doesn’t tell us what those changes are. We’re kept in the dark.)

So we try a couple of times to get this new program running, but always he says no, always! With no or just a very vague reason, always!

Well, the people we ‘agreed’ to have host and finance the show are kinda upset because we backed out like this. (These are General Conference officials - not good when you’re trying to stay in their good graces for a number of reasons.)

Finally we move on from that topic.

Then, in worship we find out (not from him but the COO) he’s hired an engineer to ‘build out’ the studio in Collegedale. So I just said in passing, I hope we get to help ‘design’ the layout. The response from the COO was that he didn’t think so, that the Prez has it all laid out like he wants it.

Oh - that just lit my fire. #1 - He’s hired an outside engineer when we have 2 completely capable engineers, without telling anyone. (Felt like a stab in the back to our guys.) #2 - He’s ‘planning’ a studio with VERY little radio background of his own and not talking to the people who have to run and maintain it. (Stab #2) #3 - He’s not talking to us AT ALL ABOUT ANYTHING. He showed up one day for 20 minutes, we go to have staff worship and he waves and walks out the front door. Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!

I was hot, but didn’t say anything - because I’ve learned popping off at the mouth causes more troubles than keeping quiet.

So - the COO calls me into his office to tell me that while he doesn’t understand everything the Prez is doing but to keep cool, it will all come out soon. I lay it out for him - about how upset I really was and can’t understand why he doesn’t communicate with us, why he doesn’t trust us, why he’s planning things without any input from us on what we’ll be using and maintaining and be responsible for should things fail.

The next day, we hear he’s called a staff meeting on the following Monday with one on one meetings to follow after the general meeting.

Well, basically we’re all pretty much steamed. And the morale had dropped to it’s lowest ebb ever there. Then there’s the uncertainty of what he’s got planned because one thing he wanted to discuss one on one was “Job Reassignment.” What did that mean.

So we get to the meeting and he basically told us that the ministry was not nearly as strong as it needs to be. He laid out a number of things he’d like to see happen to strengthen it and help stabilize it financially. To do that we’ve got to build an SDA donor base. We’ve got a very strong Non SDA, but religious base, but not strong donors. So he wants the ministry to become a Multi Media Evangelistic ministry.

Basically, he wants to add making TV programs. That’s what it comes down to.

He’s looking at other ministries, It Is Written, Evangelistic TV that also does radio. Voice of Prophecy, Evangelistic Radio that also does TV. Amazing Facts Evangelistic TV & Radio.

So we’re going to do both.

Now, that’s fine - but my concern is we’re going to do both without adding staff. We’re a small staff of 9 full time and 2 part time and can hardly keep up. We’re adding a WHOLE other dimension to the ministry, and be expected to keep up? Hummm? Not sure if that’s going to work.

There is a LOT of little things that have to be done to keep either going and not just any ‘volunteer’ he thinks he can find to come in will be able to do it.

Well, in my one on one meeting he asked what I thought of the general staff meeting. My reply was #1 - I like the evangelistic ‘thrust,’ #2 - I like that we’re not going ‘ultra conservative’ and CUTTING everywhere, but trying to build the ministry instead of trying to salvage and barely hang on to what we’ve got, #3 - the realistic outlook on the financial situation. (Which is not his fault or the two previous Prez’s. The ‘founder’ squandered over 4 million (Yes!) dollars that was supposed to be in a trust to keep LTR ‘running’ forever! We’re still trying to recover from that.)

I also mentioned that I was disappointed by the lack of ‘team’ atmosphere and the lack of communication from him.

He listened and said that “All” was going to change as of this meeting. (The jury is still out on that one.)

Then he started talking TV with me. Would I be interested in doing the TV shows, etc. So for the next 30 min we talked programs, editing, equipment, etc. Guess where my job reassignment is? Right - LTR TV.

I told him that my passion was production, preferably at a ministry. And that if he wanted me producing in radio, I’m there for him, or if he wanted me in TV, I’m there for him.

We’ll still be doing a LOT of cross over work, because we have such a SMALL staff - it can’t be super split - so I’ll still be doing both - A LOT.

Anyway, I found out the next day he ‘released’ one of our engineers, thus further cutting our staff.

I hope ‘his’ plan works out, without us having to put in 80 hour weeks, because I just WON’T do it. The max I’ll even think about it 50. I’ve got a family and am not going to trade time with them for time at work. If things don’t get done, we’ll - that’s just too bad. He’s asking an awful lot of a VERY small staff.

Because of his ‘lack’ of presence at the ministry, I’m not just sure that he really understands ALL that we do and ALL that is necessary to keep the ministry running and is over looking a LOT of very small buy VERY important details.

This should be interesting. For now, we're back to 'normal' just waiting for the "Move." They’re estimating that we’ll be moving the ministry from Vonore, TN to Collegedale, TN and the Campus of Southern Adventist University by the end of Jan the beginning of Feb.

We’ll see!

Tah, tah for now!…

Wore Out

Yesterday was a heck of a day.

Got up at 4am to get ready for work.

Went to work and did a bunch of stuff between 4:45 and 7:30. Then jumped in the car and drove to our church in Athens, TN.

Once there - began working on prepping the hole for the foundation of the antenna and the completing the final assembly of the tower. It is now all in one piece.

After we finished assembling the tower - we took a quick lunch break, then back to work finishing tying rebar into the foundation hole and positing the bolts for the bottom of the tower, then waited for concrete...

...and waited

...and waited

...and waited.

Finally the concrete arrived and the driver couldn't get his truck up the hill. He took too many sharp turns (that were unnecessary) and was too timid with the throttle. So the guy I was working with got his tractor with a bucket and started shuttling concrete up to me and I'd push/shovel it into the hole. We started the concrete about 5:20p and I finally left the site at 9pm. I moved most of the 10 yards of concrete we ordered.

I'm sore, I'm tired, I'm just flat out wore out today!!!

Shocked or Well Behaved Kids

Hey ya,

Busy, busy, busy here in our lives.

This weekend I had to chuckle because Joelle wanted to plug in our Christmas lights on Sunday. "Fine," was my reply, "but just plug them in and leave them alone."

Can you see what's coming.

She plugged and unplugged (daddy with warning to leave them plugged in and quit playing...) and plugged and unplugged and plugg... ZAP! :) Crying... come over to daddy for a hug... daddy softly chuckling - Lesson learned, I hope! :)

Yesterday, we had to take my father-in-law's minivan into the shop. Some hose for the power steering had been re-called and it needed an oil change because we're leaving for Minnesota in it on either Tue or Wed of next week. Dropped it off at the dealer, packed in our car and headed to the Olive Garden for lunch.

By the way... I had the grilled chicken breast with noodles and broccoli in a garlic sauce - I think that's the BEST thing I've ever gotten at an OG! Wow!

Our girls were, EXTREMELY well behaved. They both ate without prompting, or excessive spilling, or consistant wigging. It has been the best meal we've had 'out' with our two youngins. That was way cool!

In fact they were so well behaved, an elderly lady (Who was sitting 3 tables over with two other ladies who were obviously having a GREAT time sharing stories and laughing - it was funny listening to them.) came over and mentioned that they were noticing how well behaved our girls were being and really appreciated seeing two girls sitting and eating like little ladies.

We hope this means that some of our work on these two is paying off! Plus, they are just REALLY good kids to begin with! That was a very nice compliment.

After Joelle finished eating, she quietly started singing "Silent Night." A lady at a table across from us sat just listening and watching Joelle. She also mentioned what good girls we had - and to enjoy them cuz they grow old fast! (She was having a meal with her teenager.)

Love my family!!!

Tennessee Plane Crash Kills Four SDA Church Officials

This is so sad for our church leadership here in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference.

The communications guy, Jamie Arnall I had worked with 2 times and talked with a number of times.

Very Sad indeed.

Story

Too Dang Much Happenin' Right Now

Man, I AM Swamped.

This week after our meeting (And I've gotta give ya the lowdown on that soon) at work, it has just been absolutely NUTS!

The nuttiest thing going on right now is what happened yesterday, going down today and keeping me busy next week. The church I go to applied for a Low Power FM radio station 3 years ago. We've finally raised the funds needed to begin assembling the station.

Yesterday, the tower arrived - so I had to go help take delivery of that tower. 100' of galvanized steel tower in a BUNCH of sections.

Today, I've got to go between 8a and 10:30 and begin assembling the tower while another guy from the church helps by putting re-bar in the 10'x10'48" hole for the base of the tower. Then I've got to run back to work and do a live show, then back to continue tower assembly and wait for the concrete truck to show up to pour the foundation.

Then next week we're having a crane come in and erect the tower in 2 sections. Aye, yie, yie, yie! Not to mention I've got to take my Father-in-law's mini-van into the shop in Knoxville because a part (A hose) has been recalled and we're taking that to Minnesota leaving the 15th. Want it to be running right etc!

Man, I'm swamped right now. Gotta slow down. GOTTA SLOW DOWN!!!

Later 'gater!

Top 10 Words Looked Up in Online Dictionary

Found this today. Kinda cool. The only word I didn't know was #10. I know it now! :)

Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2004
Based on your online lookups, the #1 Word of the Year for 2004 was

Blog noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writerClick on each of the other words in the Top Ten List for their definitions in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

2. incumbent
3. electoral
4. insurgent
5. hurricane
6. cicada
7. peloton
8. partisan
9. sovereignty
10. defenestration


Link to Story.

Still Have a Job

Just got out of the Meetings with our Speaker-Director.

I still have my job! :)

He's got some big plans and promised to be a better communicator from this point on - so we'll see.

Thanks to those of you who've been praying!

It is much appreciated!

Great Weekend or Today's the Day

Man, with all the drama at work, this weekend at home was really simple and just FANTASTIC!!!

I've already told you about the activities on Saturday, let me tell ya about our Super Sunday.

The girls didn't wake up until after 8am. Ohhh yeaaaahhh! In fact, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep so I snagged my book and read a few minutes, when we heard them finally stir - the go into full whirlwind mode! :) Having the kids sleep in like that always makes a GREAT start to a Sunday!

We had breakfast, then my in-laws came over and we put up Christmas in our house. We put up the tree with lights and ornaments. We hung the stockings by the chimney with care - we really did. We put lights in the front window and have little decorations around the house that just give it a holiday feel. Very nice.

We finished in time for lunch - ate a nice meal and then everyone, except Doreen and Joelle, ended up taking a nap. Boy did I feel good! :)

After Natalie & I got up we put on some warm clothes and headed to the park for some playtime and a walk. Good to get a bit of exercize - hadn't been able to recently.

Got home, snagged a quick simple dinner then the girls went in their room to play. Doreen watched some football and I made some fresh apple juice. A week and ahalf ago we bought a bag of apples and just hadn't eaten them all and they were getting soft. I like a good crunchy apple, not one that's mushy. So I cut 'em up - threw them in our champion juicer and made 2 1/2 quarts of fresh apple juice. The girls drank some, Doreen wanted hers later, and I threw a bit of cinnamon in mine and drank it down.

Oh my word was that yummy!!! :)

Watched a bit of football when I got everything cleaned up. Up until the Sunday night game, I was perfect on my picks for this weekend. Man that was awesome. But then I found out this morning that My Broncos let me down and got beat by the hated Raiders. *&#@!##@$% Can't believe they got beat. How annoying. Not only do they lose 1st place in the division to the Chargers, they blew probably my only chance ever to get a perfect week with Pigskin pick 'em. Dag-nabbit! :)

Well, I couldn't watch the game cuz we don't have access to ESPN, so I kept up with the score through the beginning of the third quarter with my Sirius radio. Doreen and I watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, then we watched two shows of American Chopper that I had taped at work. They build the !Black Widow Bike. Awesome, AWESOME bike man. $150,000 bike though. Ouch!

Then I went to bed at a very decent hour to get plenty of sleep for today.

Well - it was nice to have such a great weekend because with the 'drama' that may be unleashed today with our Speaker-Director/President, it has helped calm my nerves. Family is really great for that! I didn't even feel a bit of 'dread' driving in today. But that's probably because I was surving around my Sirius radio trying to find out of the Broncos won or lost. Of course, once I stepped in the front door it was like, oh great, "it's" gonna hit the fan today. Should be interesting. I'll let ya know what happens

Nice to Be at Home

How are ya?

Good! (Right? LOL)

Sounds like many of you had a very blessed Thanksgiving! I just LOVE blogs and being able to keep up with family and friends and what they're up to on a regular basis.

It's not that I'm a bad brother, but I haven't talked with my sister Staci since we were out there in October. It's not that I don't love her, but calling and talking isn't high on my list. But between her blog and my bro-in-law Scott we're able to know whats happening in each other's life. (That is if she reads my blog! He, he, he - Hi sis - how are ya? *GRIN*) At least we can keep up with them.

Well - the ongoing saga at work continues. I would love to just enjoy my job for what it is... but we've got all this drama with our Speaker-Director (Just got a piece of mail today with his NEW title on it. It was an upgrade from President Humm - it would be nice if he actually was a speaker on any LifeTalk program and if he actually communicated with more than 1 employee I'd agree with the director part, but I digress.) Friday was pretty OK, because only 3 of us were there - and we pretty much stayed out of each other's hair. I didn't feel like discussing it with those present. Monday the Big announcement comes down. (Jaws music playing in the background - or Twilight zone if you wish! :)

Friday was cool though. Did my work and got home and everyone was asleep - so I crashed out on the couch for about 30 minutes. Joelle got up to go potty so Doreen asked me to make sure she fell asleep. (Turns out she was only faking being asleep when I walked in.) So, I climb up in the bunkbed and within 10 minutes we're both out like lights! I just LOVE Naps! :)

Woke up and grabbed a quick snack (hadn't eaten since 5am) and then started cleaning around the house because our friends the Vences (formerly known as Heather McRae) was coming over with Rebekah and Grandma Betty for the girls to all play together. So we got the house spic-n-span and they show up. The girls played together so nicely and we had a good conversation. Then the rest of the Vence clan shows up and we have a nice meal and good conversation. (A group of us did end up talking Shop for a bit, just to see where we all stood on the Monday meeting - but it was good.) They went home and we crashed.

At 3am I woke up - because of the lousy alarm I had set - and headed to work to downlink a set of 2, thirty minute programs we have to grab off the satellite every weekend. I got to work and realized I'd grabbed Doreen's key. No key to the front door at work. So I ran back home, swapped keys and got back to work - got the programs, auditioned them and headed back home with enough time for another 90 minutes of blissful sleep.

Got up showered and we went through our Sabbath morning routine. For some reason we were running WAY behind today. Typically we're ready to leave between 9a and 9:05, but we didn't get in the car until 9:21. Still made it on time - barely.

I got to tell the childrens story today - and I think it went well. Had a great sermon and delicious potluck and home to put the girls down for a nap. Natalie crashed in the car, so we just transfered her to her bed, minus shoes and she didn't even bat an eyelid. Joelle got into some comfy clothes and asked to sack out on the futon in the Bronco room. Within 3 minutes she was out like a light. I tell ya - there's some magic in that room! :)

Then Doreen and I read for 30 minutes or so. (She - the Guidepost, me - Atlas Shrugged) Then we crashed. Did I mention that I LOVE NAPS???!!!

After waking up, my in-laws come over with pizza and cake and we have little family birthday party for my mother-in-law's b-day today. Joelle JUST loved it. She LOVES to sing happy Birthday. It was cool!

We had a nice fire going in the fireplace (It's been in the 40's here the last couple of days.) the girls watched the little drummer boy and the adults talked. Then we put the girls to bed and we just finished watching For Richer or Poorer with Tim Allen and Kirsty Alley. Funny, funny movie! (By the way Scott, we're down to either 3 or 4 movies left to watch. Gimme a 'short list' of the addition to your collection you'd like to have when we send 'em back.)

Now I've just checked news and info on the web - decided to write a blog and now I'm gonna go join Doreen who's already close to dreamland.

Night y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving 2004

What a NEAT holiday.

It's really very simple and just a blessing!

We basically celebrated Thanksgiving last week with Doreen's sister and family here from Minnesota. So I'm at work today and this afternoon we've gotta clean the church for Sabbath.

We can still be thankful though! ;)

Cute Joelle story that emphasizes Thanksgiving.

Yesterday, my in-laws volunteered to watch the girls while we did our grocery shopping. (We pretty much figured Wal-mart was going to be a mad-house, and it was!)

Sandra told us that Joelle brought a picture over that had everyone in it, the Ottos, Pesters, Great-grandparents etc. She went through and named EVERYONE, then put the picture back. Joelle then went to stand next to Sandra again and then announced, "The perfect family."

That is so special - that is the true spirit of Thanksgiving.

I'd have to agree with her -- we've got the perfect family!

Have a happy holiday!

Doing Better - Still Annoyed Though

Hey,

I actually didn't DREAD coming into work today. Maybe because I knew it is Thanksgiving and I'd be the only one in the office. That helps because I know I can get actual 'radio work' done and not worry about the office politics.

Got an e-mail from the Prez yesterday about our Staff Meeting on Monday. His 3 points he wants to discuss in the general staff meeting are...

#1 - The Direction of the Ministry
#2 - The Move to Collegedale
#3 - Job Assignment Changes

All three have challenges. #1 & #2 have been planned without talking to the staff. We've had NO input and suggestions. He is planning it all independently of any of us who have done radio, have degrees in broadcasting, who have to maintain and use the equipment... and I could go on and on - but I'll stop there, cuz thinking about it is getting me worked up! :)

What the heck does #3 mean. Are some people going to lose their jobs? Is he taking the power from everyone? What does that mean? Aaarrrggghhhhhh! I HATE BS like this!

Then after we 'meet' and listen to him talk - we each get our own special little meeting with him. Don't I just feel special. :(

Do I listen to him talk, do I tell him what I think, will I lose my job, will I be given more responsibility that I don't have time for, will responsibilities be taken from me?

Monday is NOT going to be a good day I'm thinking. Too much up in the air. Too much having to 'walk on eggshells.' Too much DRAMA!!

Oh well! Only 96 hours until D time. (Drama time! LOL)

Pentecostal Daughter

My oldest LOVES birthday parties. It doesn't even have to be her own. She just loves to help people celebrate another year.

My in-laws invited us out to eat last night, and after we finished, paid and walked out we stood on the steps of the restaurant for few minutes talking. Earlier, we'd decided to have a birthday party for my mother-in-law on Saturday night, her actual birthday.

So my father-in-law tells Joelle that on Saturday night, 4 sleeps (that's how we help her grasp the concept of time right now), we're going to have a birthday party for grandma.

Joelle lets out a huge "WHOOP" gives my mother-in-law a MONSTER hug. After about 5 seconds of hug, she lets go and runs, jumps and skips around with her arms in the air with a yell, that we can only describe as something we've heard in a Pentecostal meeting when people are gettin' the 'holy spirit.'

Then she ran a couple of circles, still yellin and gives grandma another hug.

We laughed and laughed and laughed! :)

It was SOOOOOOO cute!

You just had'da been there!!! :)

Can't Shake the Funk

Darn-it.

Today isn't any better.

Typically, when something pretty 'negative' goes down in my life - a night of sleep will give me a better outlook on it all.

Not with all this crap going on at work.

I was actually fine getting up, taking a shower, dressing and getting my lunch together - but on the way to work, this sickening dread came over me.

I REALLY DON'T WANNA BE HERE RIGHT NOW, OR AT ALL! I don't have motivation to do anything.

What is with this funk? Very FEW times have I felt this way and you know what, I don't much like it!

Doreen and I, and my in-laws (who are still in town) talked this subject around the block six or seven times last night.

I did forget about it all for a bit while watching
The Rebel Billionaire (Sir Richard Branson is like the leader I'd like to have here right now instead of 'little dictator') and The Amazing Race 6. Needed those two hours to not think about 'stuff.'

Well - hopefully today will get better. With ALL the rain we're having, it'll be a challenge! :)

Right Now - I Hate Work!!!

I'm going to have to agree with my Brother-in-law's Scott's blog from Nov. 18.

I don't even want to go to work tomorrow. Don't want to look at the place. Don't want to get more accomplished there. I don't want to do anymore for them right now.

Background, about 4 months ago we get a new President. I've seen him in the office 2 maybe 3 times since he became President.

Anyway, we've had little or no communication with him since he took the helm. When we have talked with him - he's been very vague on the direction he wants to take the ministry, etc. We've needed some decisions made and he's put them off. For the last two months we've done nothing new - just all the same old stuff. We've had opportunity to add some new quality programs and have been stopped dead in our tracks.

Well, we found out today that our new president has hired a freelance engineer to build our new studio facility at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, TN. Supposedly he and our president have completely worked the entire facility out, studios, rack room and office space all out WITHOUT talking to ANY of us who currently work there.

This man knows LITTLE or NEXT TO NOTHING about running radio. He was previously a church conference president. And yet he wants to build us a complete studio without our input. We are the ones that have to operate it and keep it functioning. This is OFF HIS DESIGN.

Supposedly we have financial issues - if so, why is he hiring an outside engineer to do the work when we have 2 very capable full time engineers.

This has been a brewing issue for the last couple of months and we've all felt like we're walking on egg shells. Now this bomb is dropped on us.

We have a general Staff meeting scheduled for Monday at 10am for our President to lay out his vision and direction for our ministry. Our Chief Operating Officer has requested that we listen to him first and then talk with him privately about our concerns.

My question is - why should we listen to him when he hasn't even attempted to listen to us - AT ALL???!!! WHY?

Dog-gone it - this has me both ticked off and sick right now because this man has done nothing to foster a feeling of 'teamwork' and staff unity and basically made it him against us and I hate to see what is going to happen Monday.

I'm not going to say anything at the meeting and just listen - then probably come home and puke - then decide what to do.

At this point I have NO interest in working for this man AT all. If he doesn't even show us the least bit of respect by at least communicating with us, instead of just keeping us in the dark, I don't want to work for someone like that.

I don't know! Crap!

All I know is right now - I HATE WORK!!!

What a Shot!

Sports Office 1

Sports Office 2

Fun Famliy

Rough Bunch of People!

A Proper Pose

Racing Girls

Blah - Blah - Blah

Hey,

Ok - a quick, vague explanation to the Aaarrrggghhh Post from Thur Nov 18. You know where you get into one of those situations where it's kinda catch 22 type thing? I got myself into one of those no-win situations. Things were happening and I didn't feel they were quite fair. So I could #1 - said nothing and just simmered inside or #2 - spoke my peace and then look to be the bad guy. So, I kinda felt that either way I was gonna be unhappy for a while - so why not (nicely, I might add) tell what I felt and see if that made any difference. WRONGO. Boy did I end up being the bad guy for speaking up. Doreen and I talked about it later and we came to an understanding as to why everything came down the way it did. Part of it was a mistake, part of it was not clearly communicated and part of it was not fair to part of us - so it was a multiple problem, that eventually got worked out - but did cause a bit of trouble for a bit. I HATE those situations.

We had a GREAT time with Doreen's sister and family visiting from Minnesota. Gatlinburg is a cool place to play. LOTS of stuff to do. We hit Ripley's Saltwater Aquarium. Beautiful! We played miniature golf, rode go-karts, did some shopping, went on this HUGE slide (The kids REALLY loved this one) ate lots of good food, stayed in a comfortable Chalet, enjoyed watching the kids interact and had some good time to visit.

They split Sabbath afternoon - and we just hung out with Doreen's folks and grandma. After we put the girls to bed, they played a game called Upwords which is a 3 dimentional version of Scrabble. Not for me so I watched Tomb Raider. (Almost done with your movies Scott.) Then crashed.

Sunday I wasn't feeling so good - so I just lazed around ALL day pretty much. I watched an edition of American Chopper. Cool show. Love watching them build those bikes.

Got a call from my brother-in-law Scott, who had to 'rub' in that he was watching the Bronco game and I was forced to watch the Tennessee game and the Cowboy game. Glad to hear though they did score two touchdowns within the first four plays. Awesome! :)

Later in the afternoon we did have a Thanksgiving Banquet at our church. Man their was a TON of good food and we had a neat little program. My wife and her dad played the marimba and piano for a couple of duets. At the end - everyone watched my 'end of the year' slideshow/video and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it!

Came home and crashed.

Now we're back into a work week. I'll be working through Thanksgiving because I took the holiday last week with family visiting - so no holiday this week. In fact on Thanksgiving we'll probably be cleaning the church! :)

This morning I got up at 3 to take our Pastor and wife to the airport and bring their car back to keep it where I work LifeTalk so they didn't have to pay $8 a day for long term parking. That adds up pretty quickly. We'll take the car back they day they return and leave it in short term a couple of hours before they arrive so they only have to pay a few bucks. Just trying to be friendly!

Hey what's the deal with the "Malice in the Palace" there in Detroit? Both the fans and players were wrong on that deal. Hope some of the 'fans' that got involved will be dealt with just as harshly as the players who have multiple game suspensions.

Can't believe our society has gotten so out of hand that we have stuff like that going on. YUCK!

Just like the NHL lockout. Both sides have gotten so greedy that they won't even talk. (Worthwhile talks that is) to try and meet in the middle and get the season going again. Do they NOT realize this is NOT helping to improve their fan base? I mean HELLO! Quit screwing around and come up with something and play, or just completely dissolve! Both sides need a good spanking and thumping up side the head for throwing tantrums and get back to hockey!

Anyway - hope you enjoy some of the photos I've posted.

Those are my thoughts for the day. Now I've gotta get more 'dust' to fill the empty space left in my head! :)

Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Aaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhh....

'Nuff Said!

Fun, Fun, FUN

We're havin' lots of fun now!!!

Yesterday afternoon, Randy (Doreen's Sister's Husband) and his two oldest and me and my oldest went on our first Geocaching treasure hunt. This is what we were searching for.

It took us only 10 minutes to get to the location - but probably 20 to find our bearings the first time and actually find the Latitude and Longitude where we were supposed to find the treasure, but finally got there. After some searching through the leaves at the base of the stump we found what we were looking for! Way cool dude!

Then we hopped back into the car and headed to the video store to get Spiderman 2 to watch - IT'S NOT OUT YET!!! RATS! Doesn't come out until Nov 30. CRUD! :( So we picked up Stepford Wives instead. Pretty funny movie with a pretty good twist at the end!

Watched the rest of Monday Night football after everyone split, then crashed. I spent a few hours at work this morning then came home early to get ready to head to Gatlinburg, TN.

Did a few things around the house - then called Randy to test out our new toys. So in about an hour, we shot up a box of clay pigeons. We'd alternate throwing and shooting our 12 gauge shotguns. WAY COOL DUDE! In the beginning, we were missin' them ALL over the place. After we got more comfortable with our shotguns, we were nailing those skeet! Most excellent dude.

I've gotta make a couple of sound tracks now for Sabbath so they can practice their songs - then I'm gonna take a 30 minute nap and then we're gonna eat one of my favorite meals, Lasagna, garlic bread & salad, then go.

FUN FUN FUN!

Update y'all later after we get back!

How Much do You Match Your Zodiac Sign!

Yup,

This is kinda what I expected on this! :)

Try it for yourself - it's kinda fun!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

You are 73% Taurus

How much do you match your zodiac sign?

Family Visiting Or Suprise Purchase

Well, Doreen's sister Shelly and her family are visiting from North Central Minnesota. (Hubby Randy, Calvin 7, Carlie 5, Colby 2 -just 39 hours older than my 2 year old Natalie.) They got here late Saturday night.

We had a great Sabbath. Church was a blessing, potluck was yummy. Got in a Sabbath afternoon nap, then went with my in-laws to a friends house who has a home built recording studio. My father-in-law, friend and I spend the evening recording a song to make a sound-track for my wife, her dad and sister to sing with on Sabbath. That was a TON of fun.

We got home and the girls crashed and I popped in "Princess of Thieves." Ok movie - but I expected a 'princess of thieves' to be a bit more 'proficient' in her thievery and not so bumbling. Decent movie - probably wouldn't watch it again though! :)

The movie finished up and I jumped on-line for a bit and Doreen flipped through the channels and then we heard Shelly and clan arrive. We popped up and scooted over to my in-laws to welcome them here. Talked for a bit and then crashed.

Sunday, after breakfast we headed over and talked for about an hour - then Randy and I headed to a friends to help move a desk and a couple of other bit pieces of furniture into a newly finished upstairs.

When we got back - we checked out our shed, which had pawprints across the sidewalk in front of it... coming from a hole in the ground going right under the shed. It was the prints of a skunk that Randy and Shelly saw going in when they got here. So we've got an UNWANTED neighbor under our shed.

We had 45 mins while everyone was finishing getting ready for the day, so Randy and I went to Wal-mart to get some 'bug-bomb' to try and flush the skunk out. All we had to 'finish' it off is a little .22 target pistol I've got - so we made a quick decision and bought a couple of 12 gauge shotguns. (I had done some audio editing work and from another source I had about $440 of cash in my pocket. So after some quick calculations in my head I figured I could spend $100 without too much getting in trouble, so I bought a New England single shot, cool gun.) The only catch was they people at the sporting goods desk were SUPER slow. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get everything processed in this transaction - meanwhile everyone's basically waiting for us. Ouch!

Anyway - we finally got the guns, threw them in the trunk and met up with everyone - swapped car seats and kids - and headed to Collegedale to visit our property to show Randy and Shelly. We had fun walking around and stuff, then we headed to Chuck E Cheeze for dinner and playtime for the kids. What a blast - but what a NUTHOUSE. It was packed. It was hard not to turn around and not trip over someone! :) (Translation someone=kid blowing by ya. LOL)

Finally finished our pizza and all our 'game' tokens, got the goodies at the giveaway desk and headed home. Everyone went over to Larry & Sandra's house. Randy and I got out our guns and threw down a little Debbie cookie down for bait and went 'a skunk huntin. Sat for 40 mins with nightscope, headlamp and 12 gauge shotguns unfortnately and no skunk. So I set off a bug-bomb underneath the shed to try and smoke him out - nothing. So we figure he had already left 'home' for his nocturnal activities of eating and stinkin'. So we're gonna give it another shot today (pun intended) after I get home from work and see if we can snag this little bugger. (Translation snag=shoot into oblivion)

Well - it was a GREAT weekend. This week should be good. I'm working on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. But Wed and Thur we're going to be in Gatlinburg enjoying the sights and sounds and fun up there with everyone and another famliy of friends from Collegedale. Can't wait to tell y'all about it!

Have a Wonderful Week!

My favorite cartoon! This one today REALLY cracked me up. Have you ever had a day where you felt like you kept smaking your head against the sneeze guard at a salad bar? I have - I can relate - I know exactly what those kind of days feel like.

The Croup

Well, it's official. After visiting the Dr yesterday, both our daughters are officially sick. Both of them have a mild case of the croup and are doing better with the medication we were prescribed.

Sunday night Natalie woke up - coughing, breathing quickly and croaking like a frog. Poor little girl. She had worked herself into a panic and trying to cry - but couldn't get a big enough breath to cry. So I held her for a few moments - and she calmed down and did much, much better the rest of the night.

Now she's on steroids to clear this stuff up. Joelle just has a wicked cough, sore throat and a runny nose.

Doreen's doing MUCH better and I've not gotten this yet, (Knock, knock, knock on wood! LOL)

I've been working on a video for our Thanksgiving Social at our church in two weeks. My computer does all right - but it's just woefully pityful when it comes to video editing. I wish I could afford a full power video editing system to really do some cool stuff - but that's like 2 1/2 miles down the list of things we need/want. :)

This is actually the first time I've gotten a video done for any church event and not stayed up to 3 or 4 am the night before we show it! :) The reason...

Doreen's sister and family is coming down from Minnesota next week and I won't have time to be working on it - cuz we're gonna be playing. Oh yeah!

Well, better get back to work - have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Crying at My TV

It is VARY rare for a tear to roll down my cheek while my TV is on. A movie or two has caused me to ‘well’ up. I still get ‘teary’ when I watch the replays I have of my Denver Broncos winning Superbowls 32 and 33. One program on the air now, constantly touches my heart and pretty regularly I get teary. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is that show. Doreen and I absolutely LOVE it. Every week, Ty Pennington and Crew spend and hour (This week it was a 2 hour special) showing us how they and 100+ construction workers take a home that is in pitiful shape and fix it up to be extremely functional, good looking and just plain cool! I can guarantee that just about every week, I’ll get choked up, or have tears rollin’ down my cheek, because they help REAL people.

Most of TV is trash – as my brother in law, Scott – will attest to. We enjoy some reality shows (Amazing Race, The Apprentice and Survivor), but mostly we just watch sports and movies.

We make sure though – that every week we either watch or tape and time-shift Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

This week’s two hour show, was for a family where the parents are deaf, they have a son who is normal and a younger son who’s blind and autistic. They were living in a dump and putting all the time and money and effort into helping the younger son.

EXM: HE came in and gave them a new home complete with ALL the gadgets and doodads to help them in some amazing ways.

That is ONE awesome show!!! It’s worth the time to watch it every week.

On to the rest of life – most of my family is still battling being sick. I’ve still got a hint of it myself, but not as bad as I felt Sabbath. Hopefully we’ll get all well soon!

The Broncos won this weekend – by playing like I know they can. It’s about time!

Yesterday, Doreen and I got out and did what I “hope” is the final mowing, weed-eating of this season. It REALLY needed it, and it looks great now. I’m extremely sore from all the extra weed-eating I did around our fence line and the ‘plateau.’ (A ½ acre plot my in-laws bought across the street to ‘protect’ our view and investment purposes.)

We’ve got family coming from Minnesota this next weekend, arriving Sat or Sunday. We're looking forward to a week with them. We'll spend 3 days playing around Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN having fun. It'll be a nice break from all that's been going on lately.

Have a great week!

I HATE Getting Sick

For the last week or so, my daughters and wife have been sick. Joelle has had it worse than Natalie. Doreen had it worse than both the girls.

Last night before going to bed - I noticed I had a bit of a sore throat, now this morning it is ABSOLUTELY on fire.

Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!

Thank Heavens!

I AM so thankful that we know who our next President elect is with out a TON of legal brew-ha, ha, ha! It's not that I don' t appreciate lawyers, because in some situations - they are extremely necessary. I just hate it when the legal system gets misused and abused!

It is so nice that Kerry cowboyed-up and took his medicine and did the honorable thing and conceded instead of fighting, wining and pouting like a big baby. (Can you say Gore?)

Watched the election coverage until 9:30ish and realized that NO-One would have an inkling until the next day or two - so I crashed.

Well - we took Joelle and Natalie in to get pics today. It's time for Natalie's 2 year old pictures. (Post 'em when we get 'em back) They did great.

Now we're getting ready to watch Survivor and the Apprentice. Oh yeah!

Kids Say the Darndest Things or Wishing for a Landslide

Well,

Here it is, the Wednesday morning after the election and we still don't know who's going to be our President the next four years. I'll be happy if this gets resolved today and not WEEKS from now! It just makes me long for the days of the landslide victory - no legal wrangling, (you can read that as legal BS!), no arguing about how many provisional or absentee ballots are out there and no more difference of opinion over 'exit polls.' (Even More BS)

I'm hoping that by noonish or late afternoon we've got a president elected - or at least we've got a canidate (Mr Kerry - I'm talkin' to you) come to his senses and realize he's been beat - not by much, I'll give him that - but he's been beat and to not pull a Gore and drag this thing out. Concede, take defeat gracefully. Don't act like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum!!! :)

All washed up.

I was watching some of the election returns last night and actually getting into a bit of it - then I flipped over to CBS when Fox and ABC went local. Baaaaddd idea. Dan Rather just needs to RETIRE ASAP. A field reporter in Ohio told about how the polls had just closed and it was still too early to predict the vote of the people of Ohio. Then Mr Rather, very seriously said, "Let me repeat this to you to make sure I understand, the polls have just closed in Ohio and it's still too predict the vote of the people of Ohio. Am I understanding that correctly?" So the reporter repeated his statement, then Mr Rather went on to 'report' the finding of the reporter, that he repeated, that he had repeat the report and then reported on the report! DOH!!!! AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! I could sit at an anchor desk and do that. How incredibly ANNOYING. Get OUT man. Move on! Aye ayi yai! After this and the debacle of the 'forged' Bush papers story and a number of other things - it's time to retire Mr Rather!

On to a much more interesting topic...

Yesterday Joelle found a 'sucker' cup we had around the house for some reason. I think at one point it held a mirror on a wall in the bathroom or something. Anyway, Joelle started playing with it - sticking it to my face, books, walls, the refrigerator, well I think you get the idea. I went to give both my girls a bath and so I got them undressed and ready for the tub. Before I put Joelle in, I pulled the sucker cup off her chest - where she had most recently stuck it - and tossed it on the counter and dropped her in the water. I brushed their teeth, then started walking out of the bathroom to get something to finish the job and I hear Joelle pipe up as I'm walking out the door, "Daddy - where's my boob?"

I stop dead in my tracks and just start laughing. Oh that was SOOOOOOOO funny! I of course had to tell Doreen the 'line' and she got a pretty hefty chuckle out of it!

I LOVE MY GIRLS!!! The are extremely precious!