Life

So I'm sitting here in the dining room listening to the movie that is one downstairs and thinking of how life is going. I have no complaints at this time, which is good. I have been thinking a lot recently of things that I would do if I came into a lot of money. Taking trips, golfing all over the place, having money to go out to eat when we feel the desire. You know just having a good ol time. Money wouldn't solve all my problems, but it would sure make things a lot funner.

One thing I was thinking about is how nice life is right now with my family. Knock-on-wood, we are all pretty healthy and happy, except for Keighlee who is currently crying in her bed. Life seems to be headed down the right road and work is getting better. I was struggling there a little bit for a while. Now things are starting to move forward and hopefully I'll get to help them move along.

One nice thing about things today is that the snow is finally melting. I know, there will be more before the end of the season, but I'm excited that what is there is going away. It's nicer to have a spring snow storm because it doesn't usually stick around very long.

Well that is all I have to say today, have a good night.

10 Years!!!

Today is my 10th anniversary. I am really excited about that. It makes me really think about relationships and I realize that you can never really tell where something will lead.

When Aly and I got together, I don't think either one of us really knew what to expect. We had both been in a variety of relationships that were good, bad and ugly (sometimes all at once) but never was a fit enough to last. I know that I have not been and am not the easiest person in the world to get along with and there are very few people that I have ever met that can really deal with me. This is why I have so few friends but I am ok with who I am. You either like me or you don't and that's ok.

Aly and I dated in high school for a very brief time. It didn't last long because I was a jerk and was not ready for any type of relationship. I wanted one but wasn't ready to commit to one. Up to that point, I had only had one real relationship that mattered at all and I wasn't ready for anything different. I liked the idea of relationships, I always have but was awful at them. Mostly because I was too self-conscious and shy.

Luckily, I didn't commit to anything right after high school because I had a lot to learn and a lot of growing up to do. I went to basic training and came home trying to grow up too fast. I tried school and work right after getting back when I should have taken a break and failed at both miserably. I spent the next 5 years trying to figure out what it was that I wanted. In fact, it was my 5-year high school reunion. I almost didn't go because I had a class.

I went for a little while and talked to maybe 4 people while I was there, one of which was Aly. The rest were fairly superficial conversations and as I looked around to everyone showing up, I realized that I wouldn't have anything in common with 99% of the people that showed up anyway. So, I left (after getting Aly's number, of course.)

We pretty much clicked right away (after I finally called her. It took me a month.)

Anyway, long story short, we made it work. It hasn't been easy and I have learned a lot about me during that time. I woke up this morning and knew I had made the right choice 10 years ago. I love Aly and our kids and the life we have created for ourselves. I am excited to see what the next 10 years holds.

Loads of Snow

This is my neighbors yard. My yard wasn't this bad, probably only about half as tall. Lucky I have a nice neighbor with a snow blower or I would have never dug my way out. Thanks to all those that helped me and such. Not that any of them read this...

Happy Valentines Day!!!

When I was growing up, Valentine's Day was always one of those holidays that really wasn't much for me. I didn't have many girlfriends through my youth and I don't think I ever had one during the Valentine's Day season. I always liked the symbology of Valentine's Day though. I never thought that you needed an excuse to tell the ones that you love that you love them or to celebrate that love but we have a holiday to celebrate that. Those of us that celebrate our love through the year, Valentine's Day gives us one more excuse, just like an Unbirthday gives you a reason to celebrate as well. For those that are a bit slower that need a hint, it gives them that hint to show the ones that they love the appreciation they deserve. Back when the wife and I were just engaged, we were trying to pick our date to get married. It was January and we weren't planning a big wedding. We didn't have the 6-month or year wait that is typical. We sat down with a calendar and tried to pick a day that was convenient for us as well as our attendees so we looked at Saturdays. That year, Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday and as we debated the day, we had several pros and cons for picking that day. One the one hand, what a day to get married? The holiday that celebrates love could be our anniversary along with all the cliches that came with it. On the more practical hand, try getting a reservation anywhere for your anniversary if its on Valentine's Day. Good luck to that!!! The other con came from the wife. Her parents had been married on Valentine's Day and that had ended in divorce so, to her, that was a cursed wedding day. So, we chose Feb 21st. We had decided that since our anniversary was so close to Valentine's Day, that we would celebrate both together on our anniversary and reserve Valentine's Day for us and the kids. Anyway, a bit of history but relevant to the time of year. I wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you all get the chocolate, flowers, or dinner from the one you love.

Ouch...

Last night I went sledding with the Young Men of the ward. All I can say is...ouch. I'm not that old, but I know what people mean when they say they felt their age. There was this one run on the hill that we went to that was very, very bumpy. Hitting those bumps helped me remember that there are bones in my body, mostly because all of them were rattling together. After feeling like I wanted to lay in the snow for a bit to feel better about the bone jarring run, I found a run that wasn't as bumpy. This one looked smooth, so I thought, good, one that won't kill me. About 1/4 the way down I notice that there is a drop off in the middle of the hill. It was only about a 6 inch drop but when you are flying down the hill, you hit that and then you hit the ground. Let's just say I have a bruised tail bone. Then one of the young men found the nicest run and we went down that for the rest of the time we were there. Now I'm sitting at my desk and wishing that I would have used the brains that I have and not gone sledding with the youth. I could have watched from the bottom of the hill. But no, and I fear that I will act not my age again as time goes on. I better get in shape so that I don't have to feel so old the next time my 31 year old body acts 15 again.

Pile it on

As I sat in my office trying to dig my way out of the mountain of stuff I need to get done, the GM came in to my office talking about all the stuff we should be doing. Why limit ourselves? Well, let me tell ya....

If you REALLY want to know why we can't bring on more thing, it is because there are only 24 hours in a day and because of the laws of physics and biology, I can only operate at a certain speed without having my head explode. There is only so much work that can be done in an 8 hour work period and I have to function as a father and a husband to get stuff done at the house, help with homework and provide entertainment to all the people there. Not to mention laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and trying not to be a grumpy old man.

So, at this point, I can do more but the quality of work is going to severely suffer. You have a choice, quantity or quality. I'm guessing a good mix of both with a lean toward the side of quality. Quantity just doesn't cut it if you have to re-do something.

Anyway, thanks for the vent. I feel much better and it didn't cost me $150/hour.

Caffeine for Me

So last October, I was having issues with being tired all the time. I took drastic measures to figure out what it was. So I cut caffeine from my diet, well caffeine in the form of soda pop. Well after 4 months, I'm back to the faithful beverage of Dr. Pepper. I'm not drinking a ton of it and I've implemented a lot more water into my beverage diet, but I'm back to my caffeinated ways. Why you ask, after four months, why return to the vice. To make my excuse, I'm a big pop fan. I love soda and it's hard for me to go a couple days without the refreshing taste of something artificially flavored and carbonated. When you are a soda drinker and don't drink caffeine, you limit your selection of soda pop and you get really tired of drinking the same stuff all the time. So for the time being, I'm drinking more choices of soda pop and if it has caffeine, oh well.

Help...

I'm sitting here and wanting to hear some summer music. I'm so burnt out on the snow and need a pick-me-up. If you have a song that reminds you of summer, please send it my way. Anything to give me a mind set of chillin' on a nice summer day with a cold pop in my hand.

So Good....

I just finished putting the first season of Firefly on my laptop. When I'm working on something at work that doesn't require a lot of reading, basically when I'm writing code, I'll watch something. It breaks up the day a little. So I just finished watching an episode of Firefly. All I have to say is shame on Fox for letting this show fail. Joss Whedon is a genius with this series and it is just so good. If you haven't seen the series, and I think all 3 of my readers have, I suggest you pick it up. I think you can generally get it from your local library or buy it on iTunes. Either way, it is a must see series. Ok, that's all for now...

Waste of Time

So last night for our FHE activity we decided to watch Spider-man 3 which we got from Netflix. The kids have been really excited for it and I'd heard that it was better than the other two. So I was kind of excited. I'm not the biggest fan of the first two movies and I think Toby McGuire is a horrible actor. It was a waste of time in the fact that I had to watch the movie, it was fun sitting with the family and watching the movie, though that is usually uneventful. The kids are old enough now to just watch the show and not be too annoying, like kids can be. Well except for KK, she's a cute little pest.

Back to the movie...I missed the Jazz beating the Spurs for it. The highlight of the movie was Topher Grace. He did a great job as the bad guy. In my opinion he was the best actor in the whole movie. Kirsten Dunst just looks drunk during the whole movie. It was funny to see the cameo of Stan Lee. I laughed at that and then had to explain why I was laughing to my wife. She's not a huge comic book fan so she didn't know who he was. Anyway...if I was going to grade this movie, I'd have to give it a D. Only watch it when there is absolutely nothing else on. And if possible, borrow it from some dope that bought it, don't waste your money on it.

That's all I have for my movie review blog. I have Oceans 13 and The Game Plan at home, so I'll post again on those. Have a great day.

Family Games

This weekend my mom was able to come into town. I think its fun when she comes in because we all get together for a little while and share some food and laughs. This weekend we got together on Saturday night and I was able to try the new Singstar game.

For those of you that don't know, Singstar is like karaoke with the music video for the background and a score. So not only do you have to listen to your own crappy voice like you would with karaoke, you are getting scored by the game console. Rankings like "Wannabe" and comments like "awful" make for a great morale booster while allowing others to laugh at you. The only redeeming quality of the game is that they have the original music videos playing in the background.

If I really cared what people thought of my crappy singing voice (it IS crappy and I know it and I really don't care), I might not ever want to play again but I really enjoyed it. Especially when I'm singing side-by-side with my brother who's voice is about like mine.

One of those days....

Sometimes things seem to run smooth and then you hit patches where everything seems to hit at once. Well, the last month as been one of those patches. So here is a list of events that have occurred in the month of January to give you an idea of just how much Murphy really hates me. Most of it is annoyance so its not really painful but its enough to keep you on your toes:

1. Stove died - Not all of it, just the oven portion. There is a computer board inside our oven that regulates the temperature, self-cleaning, etc. Well, that board went out 2 years ago and we replaced it at the cost of $450. It went out again this month. The stove is probably 7-10 years old so its not under warranty (of course). We have since been to Lowe's (awesome store) and we get our new stove Saturday. (They will be hauling the other one away which is good because it may end up at a target practice range if they didn't.)

2. Toilet plugged - It was a partial plug so it would somewhat flush sometimes and then clog others. You could plunger it and it would work fairly well for a little while and then clog again. It ended up being a part of one of those kid's meal toys. It was far enough down that the toilet had to come up, a new wax ring and new bolts applied, and resealed. The first time I put the toilet on the bolts (really difficult by yourself because the bolts don't just stick up and line themselves up), one came out of its socket and I ended up at Walmart at 10:30pm on a Friday to get a new wax ring. 2nd time was a charm (only because I bought a spare wax ring in case I screwed up one.)

2a. Toilet cabinet broke - I placed this under 2a but it was a separate problem. It is linked because if I didn't have to work on the toilet, it wouldn't have broke. Anyway, it was sitting outside the bathroom door. At about midnight, I'd had enough of the bathroom. Took a shower and then sat to watch a little tv. The wife's cat decided it would be a good play toy, jumped up on it and toppled it over breaking the doors off in the process. It has since been replaced by a better cabinet.

3. Sick daughter (kind, of) - Jayna has complained off and on about a sore ear. She complains, then runs off playing and having a good time without another thought. Tuesday I was called by her school because she was complaining and they were a bit on the sensitive side because a week ago they had a case of strep throat in that class. So, I went and picked her up, took her to the doctor's office on Wed. She doesn't have strep but did have a little bit of a red throat. She's fine other than it being winter.

4. Computer problems at work - The day I take off to take care of my pseudo-sick daughter, I get a call that our accounting program won't let anyone sign in stating that they are already signed in. After 1-1/2 hours at work shutting down computers, restarting the server (more than once), we finally get it fixed. After that, I head off to the doctor's appointment.

5. Flooded basement - Before you get excited about this (I was excited about it enough for everyone), my wife called me while I was waiting for the doctor to come in. She got a call that our basement might be flooding. So I rush (after the doctor gets done with Jayna) out the door heading home. Come to find out, the frost-free faucet in the front of the house decided that it didn't want to be closed anymore. I think the gasket seal inside decided to finally conk out. It had problems before but would still seal so I wasn't really surprised. Anyway, I already had one purchased, got it changed and got the water back on within 10 minutes of getting home. (Most of it was trying to decide where I hid the new frost-free faucet.) Amount of water in basement was a gallon or less with one wet sweater, one wet Animal Shelter uniform and the bottom of one box.

6. Various work issues that seem out of the ordinary. Too many to mention individually but its been interesting. Maybe I'm being over-sensitive or maybe people just need to take a nap. Haven't figured out which yet but if there's a nap to be taken at work, I will volunteer.

Anyway, just a glimpse into my life. I'm not trying to complain but blogs are cheaper than therapists and blogs can't have you committed. (I guess they do provide a written record that can be used against you, but we will worry about that at the hearing.)

Just Sittin' Here

I'm sitting at home today. January is a crappy month for kids and family being sick. Jarik came upstairs last night and said that he had thrown up in the toilet. Chels spent the night in his room because he wasn't feeling well. Which in turn I think made her feel a little sick as well. So I stayed home today to help them all feel better. I just was sitting here watching my dog eat his own poop, which is really gross. I don't think he's feeling well. He's a big dog and he's a lot of fun to play with, he's just crazy. Anyway, now that I've succeeded in blogging about nothing, I'll finish now. Have a great day.

So much fun ... I'm sore.

Last night we went to Bouncin' off the Walls for my niece and nephew's birthday. It was a lot of fun but it really helps you to know just how out of shape you really are. I got to throw the kids around, tackle them, ride down the slide with them and let them beat me at air hockey.

Today though, I'm paying the price. I'm tired and sore; I have a rug burn on my knee. The cool thing is that I don't mind because it was a lot of fun. Every time I move and feel a bit sore, I remember the smile on their faces and know it was worth it.

Blog, Blog, Blog

I got a message from my daughter that she wants to start blogging and sent me her beginning message. We discussed a bit then I sent her to a couple of sites where I blog and realize, I don't blog enough.

Anyway, boring day at work. Going to go hang out with the fam in a little bit to go play for my niece and nephew's b-day party. Nothing like a birthday to bring the family close together. Mostly so you can beat them at air hockey!!!

Blog Just to Blog

So I'm going to blog just to blog today. Things are going well right now. Work is going in a direction, which direction that is, is yet to be determined. Things are moving forward, which is nice.

The family life is good. Kids are growing and doing all sorts of fun stuff.

I actually had an idea to blog about something earlier today and didn't so now it's left me. If I remember I'll revisit and add another blog laters.

Go Elf Yourself

This is funny...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1311440760

Stupid 'Where' Clause

So I'm taking a little break and decided to write in my blog. It has been a few months since my last entry. I know I'm a slacker. Anyway, I'm taking a break because I did a programmer mistake and I'm now waiting for my database table to come back up. I'll make this as simple as possible. In programming we use Oracle databases and to update a table you simply write a query that tells the database what you want to change but you need to tell it what exactly to change or it will change everything. Hence the 'Where' clause comes in. Well I forgot the where clause and updated the whole table. That is my embarrassing moment for today. Have a great day.

New Story idea

Not sure if everyone is linked to my "McGee Films" blog, so I thought I would share here also. I have come up with an idea for a video-short which, if all goes well and we get enough collaborators and help, can turn into a series.

I have posted the series idea and episode 1 summary in a document on Google.com. There are a few collaborators (Tracy, Chels, Nic, Aly) that can view this and add to the idea. Here is a brief summary:

I have come up with a new idea for a video-shorts series. It is "Brother vs. Sister". While it is on the hush-hush for the moment (except for a select few), I think it will be a lot of fun. If all goes well, we could have this 1st one filmed and on YouTube, MySpace, or any other video sharing site. I think it will be a lot of fun.


That was the post on McGee Films. Anyway, for those of you that are interested in helping (I know there are a lot of creative types that we know and that were interested in helping with other projects before), send me an e-mail giving me your gmail account and, if I count you worthy, will add you to view the documents to start the little hamster running the wheel that is your mind.

Anyway, will post more later.

New Music...

As you all know, all 2 of you that read this post, I'm a big fan of music. I'm always on the lookout for new music that I can add to my ever growing collection. The radio started playing this song...



a while ago. It's pretty cool. This week iTunes has Bubbly free. Go get it, it's definitely worth having in the collection. Let me know if either of you hear any more good music.

P.S. I think I have 2 readers, but I may be way over-exaggerating.

Oh, the memories

So today I've been thinking back on the past. What a fun journey. I got up early and went golfing, it took me back to the days in Logan when we'd get up at the crack of dawn to hit Logan River before class. Those were some good ol days.

As well, the other day, I was laying in bed with the fan running and Chels was putting on some of that girly lotion that smells good. I woke up and thought for a second that I was back in Logan going to school in our small apartment in Aggie Village. It was a nice memory. Our apartment in Logan was always hot and Chels would put that lotion on and the sweet smell would spread throughout the house. Another good memory.

Then today I was just playing on YouTube and found the Def Leppard video of Pour Some Sugar on Me.



I just remember when I was a kid in Rose Park and we'd watch MTV when my step-dad wasn't around and this was always on the top 5 videos that we'd watch. Def Leppard and this one by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince...



Enjoy!!!

Introducing Wash...

I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the McGee family...



This is Wash. Named after the pilot on Firefly and Serenity. I picked Malcolm, but Chels suggested Wash and it stuck.

Beans, the Musical Food

Last night for dinner we had Navajo Tacos. You know scones and chili. It is sooo yummy. Well while we were eating, Bree, the 3 year old, was picking like she normally does. She gets this bean stuck on the end of the fork and says, "Beans make you fart". It was so funny, it was just out of the blue and we normally don't talk about how beans make you fart. We do sing the beans, beans song once in a while when we do have beans, but I didn't know she had picked up on it. It was just funny. OK, back to work.

Another Year...

...under my belt. Saturday I turned a year older than I was, 31. Am I any wiser, no, fatter, yes, but not much wiser. Had a good birthday, could have been a little funner, but with it being Father's Day weekend, I decided not to do to much. I'm starting to feel like a home body. Going places where there are crowds just annoys me. It is usually fun when I get there, it is just the idea of going into a crowd. I don't know if that is the old talking or the fact that I have 4 very "active" children that have broken ears most days. I told everyone that my kids weren't going to be like that, but they are like that and worse. Buy my kids are the best kids on the earth. They make my day. Anyway, just some odd ramblings.

Thanks Hess and Crew...

Yesterday one of my best friends left for training with his National Guard unit on their way to a one year tour in Iraq. For this, I want to say "Thank You". Something about Hess that I think everyone needs to know. This man has always put himself in the face of danger for those he cares for. Even if it is facing up to a monkey boy that was more than a foot taller and about 150 pounds heavier than him. He cares about all of us and knowing the type of man he is, and the group that he's with, I'm glad that they are there helping to protect this great country we live in. While this blog isn't coming out as it is in my head, I hope that everyone that reads this will know that I truly appreciate all he and his fellow soldiers are doing for me and mine.

I heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing the Star Spangled Banner live yesterday and what a sweet song to help me remember that I have freedoms that I wouldn't otherwise have if it wasn't for people like Hess. I know he's not to fond of praise, to that I say too bad. As I said to you when you told me you were going, I'd be right there by your side brother. Thanks! See ya in a year.


Read Neal's Blog - "Godspeed My Brother"

SO COOL!!! So Bored!!!

It is Sunday, I'm sitting at the hospital working on a big ITS initiative to go from paper charting to electronic charting. For the most part I sit here and twiddle my thumbs. I was curious yesterday if I could find that pinball song from Sesame Street online, and sure enough...



SO COOL!!

Finally...San Fran Pictures

So I put all my photos from my recent trip to San Francisco online. There are some good ones and some ok ones, you choose. I added some captions for some of the pictures, but not all of them. Enjoy the slide show.

San Francisco, JavaOne 07

Funny Stuff

Over the last little while, Bree has had a hard time going to bed. She shares a room with Tiaree so I always thought she'd be ok. Recently she is crying when we put her to bed because she is scared. Or at least she says she's scared. I ask what of and she never really answers clearly enough for me to make out what she is saying. The other night, she said she was scared of the thunder, it was a cloudless night.

Last night, I went in to say goodnight after getting home from Young Mens and she was doing the normal crying thing. I knelt down and told her that if she was scared she could think of pink butterflies. Tiaree added that she could think of blue ones and green ones. I left the room with her smiling really big. Went and did a couple things then heard her crying again. I went into see why she was crying and she told me "I don't know what butterflies look like". It made me chuckle. So I laid down with her till she fell asleep. It was cute. Kids do say the darnedest things sometimes.

Back From San Francisco

Well I am back from San Francisco. I can't believe that it went by so fast but there was so much going on at the conference and at home. Things are better this week. I took a few pictures while I was there and hope to eventually get them online, got neighborhood cleanup today and tomorrow so I'm going to be busy in the yard and what not. Here are a couple pictures from the trip.


This is Barry Bonds hitting home run #745. This was cool, but the Mets still won, which was cooler.



This is Lombard Street taken from Coit Tower. Got to love the good 'ol zoom lens.

I have about 400 images that I'm still trying to sift through to get the bad ones out. For the most part, they all turned out pretty good. I'll keep you posted on how it is going to have them posted.

Remodeling

I am so excited to announce that we have almost completed our 1st home improvement project. There are a few more things to do but for the most part, the hardest stuff is done.

For our first project, we decided to work on the master bedroom. We have painted it and pulled the old carpet. Tomorrow we lay down new carpet. Tonight is electrical night. I am going to change out the plugs and light switch and put in a ceiling fan.

Once everything is done, I will take pictures and upload them for everyone to see. Once the items above are done, we are going to put up some shelves in the room and hang a new door. Those will be completed later after we have moved back into the room. I'm still debating on closet doors or curtains for the closet and we have to figure out the window coverings but that shouldn't be too hard.

I'm Stoked

So on Monday I leave for the JavaOne Conference in San Francisco. I got online today to find out if the Giants were playing to maybe catch a game. The Giants for those of you who don't know are the Major League baseball team in San Francisco. It just so happens that they are playing the Mets. Which is my favorite team. I don't keep up with baseball all that much, but I really like the Mets and I keep tabs on them. So I'm going to go watch the game on Monday or Tuesday and I'm taking my Mets hat and maybe my ball glove if it will fit. Anyway, just wanted to blog and say I'm excited for that. Ok, laters.

Only 8 More Shopping Months 'Til Christmas

Pretty catchy title aye. I thought so. It's there to reflect how quickly this year is going. I can't believe that in less than a week, 4 months of 2007 will be gone. Crazy days I tell you. I don't know if it is the kids that make things move faster or if it is the busy days at work. Either way, the days are flying by.

My world, well nothing is happening right now in the McGee household. We just planted two trees, a ash tree in the front yard, and a peach tree in the back yard. It's cool. we also have a nice little garden going, radishes and peas are growing well. It's exciting. I have a little bit of work to go on the garden to get the other stuff planted that we want to plan.

Well that's all for today...I'll write again eventually.

New Post

It has been over a month since the last post. How much our lives are either too busy to post or too boring to tell anyone.

Anyway, just wanted to blog about how cool life will get soon. It is now spring and moving into the summer months. Lagoon is open again and is working on a new and exciting ride. Plans are being made for camping, hunting, fishing, geocaching, etc. Lots of fun things going on.

That's pretty much it. That's basically the excitement of my news. Hopefully life will get more entertaining than that. At least enough to give details but until that time, I guess this will have to do.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Countdown

Flickr Fun

It's time to start posting some of my pictures where everyone can see them. I'm using flickr for the moment to do my pictures. Here are the URL's...
Photos
People

I don't know why there are two, but they gave me two url's. Enjoy...

White stuff.... again.

After reading the post from Tracy, I wanted to chime in with my 2 cents. I'm sure we need the snow. I'm sure Utah, especially the SL Valley will benefit from the snow. Do you know how hard it is to geocache in the snow? It really does suck, for a few reasons.

1. It's cold. Snow is actually frozen water which makes it cold. I hate cold.
2. It's wet. You climb out in the snow, you bring some heat with you. It is enough to melt the snow and therefor is wet. Add that to cold and you are wet and cold.
3. Geocaches are not to be burried. Since they are not originally, now you have snow burying them. It is a lot harder to look for a cache if it is under 2 feet of snow.
4. Tracks. If you search around for a cache in the snow, you leave tracks. For the curious observer, their thoughts are "Why are their all those footprints around that tree?" They either think we are complete idiots for circling a tree, that we are sniffing around for a place to pee or that there is something of interest. Even if the cache is hidden as it should be for other cachers, the curious observer may find and, not knowing about geocaching, take the cache.

Anyway, not trying to complain but spring better get here quickly. According to the forecast, it is supposed to snow off and on for the next couple of days. Basically a series of storms are lining up to dump and run. How crappy is that. Hope to get to geocaching before to long.

One More Storm...

Ugh...there is one more storm coming on Thursday. Please STOP!!! I know we can use the water, I guess, but I'm ready for the winter to be done. I'm ready to get outside and do some walking around, playing with the kids, whatever else can be done. Especially geocaching. I am looking forward to the warmer weather and being able to get out and find some caches around work and home. I'm excited. One of these weekends I am going to take my father-in-law and brothers-in-law out geocaching. Anyway, I know I am a nerd but these things are fun. That's all I have today...

How to handle telemarketers

Give this a listen. If you can do this and keep from laughing and letting on, you are doing better than I would.

http://howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com/

Great Weekend, Minus the Drive

So me and the fam spent the weekend in St. George snapping pictures and hiking and Geocaching. It was a load of fun. We stayed with my Mom and took her on all of our outdoor experiences. It was fun. Saturday we went to Zions had lunch and did the Riverside Walk, which takes you back to where the Narrows start. Then we did the Canyon Overlook hike, which was fun with the kids since there are some major drop offs. Then on Sunday we went and did the Emerald pools, Lower, Middle and Upper. It was fun, long but fun. On our way home we stopped at a small ghost town called Grafton, they filmed some of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid there. We did a couple caches in that area as well. Monday we got up and packed up the car then went out and found a couple of caches in my mom's area. There are some amazing sites there where caches have been hidden, forgot my camera though. Bummer!

Got on the road and hit some nasty weather between St. George and Cedar City, but we made it home finally. We had a movie on for the kids to distract them and keep them quite and it worked. It wasn't until the movie was over that Bree realized that it was snowing. It was kind of funny, guess the distraction worked.

Gotta Have Your Music....

or the monsters will get you. I don't know why, but it has been an exceptionally bad day. Just my mood, nothing anyone did, just feeling depressed. Maybe it's all the damn snow we've had. ;) Anyway, I decided that I needed something to boost me up today and nothing does it better when I'm at work then my music. Just turn it up as loud as my ears will handle, find some good songs and just rock out. It's some of the best medicine out there for chasing those monsters away. The nice part is I have music to battle almost any monster. I have Mo Tab to bring in the spirit when it's needed. Some good upbeat music for the general times. Today I started with My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade. Good upbeat song. Went from there to Rodney Atkins, If You're Going Through Hell, then Bowling for Soup, Almost. Then one of my favorites for digging out of crappy days. Will Smith's Lost and Found album. The whole album is one of the best for chasing away monsters. Now the monsters are gone and I'm going to be headed home in about 10 minutes, cross my fingers, when my ride gets here.

New Camera Fun

So the new toy that I talked about the other day was a new camera. I got myself a Canon Rebel XT. It is one of the SLR type cameras and has been a lot of fun. It gives me a lot to work with as I start into this new hobby of mine. Here is a cute picture of Keighlee that I took tonight.


She is such a cute little girl. She was attacking me I think. That or she just wants to eat the camera. I'm sure that I am going to post more pictures as time goes on. Anyway, look at that cute little almost 8 month old. Well have a good night.

Good Morning!!!

Well it is finally Friday. This has been one of those up-down weeks where life takes you and throws you around a little. Being Friday things should go smoothly. Even though it is 7:15am and I'm already at work. Just means I'm leaving early today.

I found out this week that I got the position of team lead over my team. It is funny how the wheel turns. I work on a team, leave it, come back to another team and then apply and get the lead position for the team I started on. It is kind of funny. It should be a lot of fun and we are a month or so out from releasing a pretty big application. Other than that life at work is life at work.

Life at home is going well. I'm doing a diet thing, which has helped me drop a few pounds and start exercising a little bit more. I've had 1 hamburger all year, which for me is amazing. I have had chicken sandwiches from Wendy's but only one hamburger. It was an Apollo burger from Apollo Burger. It was a good hamburger. The kids are all doing really well. Keighlee is starting to get around a little, though backwards is her favorite direction. It's cute. She's also trying to pull herself up on things now and that's not always working. She's going to be an early walker. Other than that, life is going about as normal as it can. I did get a new toy yesterday, which I will blog about another day.

Testing

Moving to heynerd.us.

The Christmas Box House

Tonight I had the opportunity to do some service at the Christmas Box House. It was a lot of fun. I played Yahtzee and Hangman with one of the kids there. I came home and was sad though. It is awesome that there is a place like the Christmas Box House, but at the same time it is really sad. I came home and my oldest daughter was crying because her cousin left without giving her a hug. Minor issue to me but a big deal to her. All she needed was a big hug from her daddy and to cry a little bit on my shoulder. I gave her a big hug and let her know it was ok, and that we'd see her cousin again. Then Bree came up and gave me a big hug and I started to cry. There were kids in the Christmas Box House that were pretty young. There was one that if you looked at her just right she looked almost exactly like Bree. It made me sad. It was a great opportunity as I said before and I decided that I will have a hard time doing it again because it tugs the heart strings. Well Keighlee is being a little snot about going to sleep so I think I'm going to go steal her from Chels and put her to sleep. Thanks for reading.

Time to Post for the Day

I'm sitting here at work and working on an application that is being somewhat of a pain. I'm working with Spring, Java, and Tomcat and when you change a Java class file, you have to restart the Tomcat instance on the machine. It takes a couple minutes for it to restart and populate all the information that we have it populating for the app. So I just restarted the server and decided I'd write something. Just for the heck of it. Well I'm done rambling now.

Feeling Good

I've started playing basketball on Tuesdays and Thursdays and it's a lot of fun. Well by started, I mean that I've played two days, but it's fun so I plan on playing more often. Last Thursday was the first day and I beat myself up. We played for so long and so hard that I was in pain the rest of the day. It also gave me a headache that didn't go away really until yesterday. I went and played today, we played for a a little over an hour, I didn't run as hard and I'm not as sore today. I actually feel really good.

That's it. The end for this post.

No Pain, No Gain

Today I'm feeling pretty good. I've started a little diet and trying to do more exercise. I didn't do it as a New Year's Resolution because they don't usually last very long. The diet is going well. I'm getting into the exercise thing and I'm a little sore. I worked out on Wednesday, I'm still a little sore from that. I ran on the treadmill on Tuesday for 15 minutes. I actually ran for the 15 minutes, which is a big step for me. Yesterday, Thursday, I played basketball for an hour and a half and minus a headache, I'm feeling pretty good. After the first week of the diet I lost 8 pounds and this week I'm doing pretty good too. I think I'm around 3 pounds down, but you aren't supposed to stand on the scale except for weigh-in days. Oh well. It's my diet and I'll do what I want. Today we are planning on going to the gym to lift again and I'll probably run again either today or tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Who started this whole Christmas thing?

Got this in my e-mail today and instead of hitting the forward button, I hit the blog button. I hope you all enjoy this:


A woman was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours
of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable; and
after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on
those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids.
She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of
the year - overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every housewarming,
taste all the holiday food and
treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping
list, making sure we don't forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure
of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card. Finally the
elevator doors opened, and it was already crowded. She pushed her way in and
dragged her two kids in with her and all the bags of stuff. When the doors
closed, she couldn't take it anymore and she stated, "Whoever started this
whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and killed."

From the back of the car, everyone heard a quiet, calm voice respond, "Don't
worry, we already crucified Him."

For the rest of the trip down in the elevator, it was so quiet you could
have heard a pin drop.

This year, don't forget to keep "the One who started this whole Christmas
thing" in your every thought, deed, purchase and words. If we all did it,
just think of how different this whole world would be.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son; that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16)

Thoughts of Sugar Plums...

I love Christmas. The time is getting closer now as we are only 5 days away from one of the most exciting days of the year. While I have watched people stress throughout this year and even more so now, I'm glad that I have been able to keep a level head and a cool demeanor.... for the most part.

I have watched Christmas shows that I haven't seen in years. I have listened to music that celebrates the season and the birth of the Savior. It has been great.

Tonight is "date-night" for Alythea and I and we are going to the Voice Male Concert at Abravanel Hall. I figured something out last night. Of all the dates Alythea and I have been on, this is the 1st concert we have ever been to together.

We have seen concerts together, sort of... There were times where we were both working at the E-Center during a concert or event. I think my stint with the E-Center and my experience with concerts have caused the lack of desire and we never had the urge to go. There have been some concerts that we wanted to see, but never enough to get tickets or schedule the time to go.

So anyway, Merry Christmas and we hope that this season bring joy, love and family to everyone.

Geocaching Bag

So when we went geocaching the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I was told that I needed a bag for it. Well I got one. Here's the story...

For Christmas every year my work does Christmas gifts. It's pretty cool. Well the last couple years I've ordered a gift that hasn't come or was shipped back for some reason. This year I ordered a DVD player, it was just a cheap on, but it was something I could have put in my car for when we go on long trips. So it didn't come in and I was sort of upset. Two years in a row I'm getting the short end of the stick. Of course I have ended up with something both years, hence the new Geocaching Bag. I got this card called a "Thanks" card. You go to this website and order your gift online and they ship it to you. I went on line and there were only a few cool things. They had a lob wedge, a box of Nike golf balls, things you'd find under 25 bucks. I found this really cool hip bag that I think will work perfectly for Geocaching. We'll have to get it filled and go from there. I'll let you know how it works.

Geocaching and A Great Song

So at lunch today I tried to run over and do a quick cache. Didn't work because of the snow on the ground. However, there were some deer just hanging out in the thicket that we were looking in. It was pretty cool. I have my Garmin at work and everyonce in a while I'm going to go caching. I have a friend here that has one too so we are going to go on lunches and find a few here and there. It'll be fun.

A great song... Kenny Rogers is one of the best story singers, my own term, I think there is. He tells a great story in his songs. The Greatest, The Gambler, well a new song of his, called The Last Ten Years is about what the last ten years has brought us. It's a good song. It has a subtitle because every time he sings the chorus it's different minus the line, "We even lost Superman" and the last time he says "Gonna miss you. Chris..." It's a pretty good song to cover the last ten years in memories and important figures in our world. Here's the lyrics


Oh, the last ten years, it's been quite trip
Over thirty-six-hundred spins around without a cosmic slip
But within the realm of our atmosphere
We're 'bout as out of whack as we've ever been in a million years
We watched the Y2K scare in a panic
An' we watched as time proved Nostrodamus wrong
An' we watched as Mother Nature shook the planet
An' cellular replaced the telephone
We lost Charlie Brown, Ray Charles an' Johnny Cash
We even lost Superman, mhm.

Well, the last ten years, look at the hills we've climbed
The best golfer's black, the best rapper's white an' it's about damn time
But we best beware, there's a brand new fight, you see
An' I hate to say we might be our own worst enemy
We watched Oklahoma sifting through the damage
An' we watched a US President get caught
We watched shareholders watch their savings vanish
We all cried when we watched those towers fall
We lost Minnie Pearl, Ron Reagan and Sam I Am
We even lost Superman, mhm.

Expensive gas an' free downloads
The dot-com boom, an' reality shows
What's gonna happen next is anybody's guess
Satellite radio and hybrid cars
Hand-held computers an' a trip to Mars
It's all become a part of who we are
In the last ten years.

In the last ten years
We lost George Harrison, John Paul and June Carter-Cash
Hell, we even lost Superman
Gonna miss you. Chris...


You can download it from iTunes.

Just Thinking...

I know this is a shock, but I was just thinking...about some stuff that I wanted to get off my chest. Nothing important really, just the little things that bother me about the sporting world. Yes, this bothers me, don't know why but it does. What's wrong with the world of sports you ask, well everything about it is unfair. Think about it, the Jazz have the best record in the NBA and they get very little attention, except here in Utah, pardon the favortism. They have beat some good teams. Minus the ugly loss to Kobe and the Lakers, they have had a pretty good season. Where's the love. It's because they are from Utah. Oh well, people don't know what they are missing.

The other thing in the world of sports that is really stupid that people are whining about is the idea of a Ohio State/Florida match up in the National Title game instead of Ohio State/Michigan. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people complain about stuff they have no control over. I understand making your voice heard, but make it heard and stop complaining. If your voice isn't going to change things, is it really helping to make your voice heard. I don't know, I'm a pretty passive person and really don't care I guess. I don't know. Anyway, back to the BCS and what not. It, the BCS, is a broken piece and should definitely be looked into, but until the powers that be find it in themselves to get off their duffs and do something to fix it, it's the best we have. I think it's funny that the people are complaining that the BCS is dumb because it didn't pick Michigan over Florida in the #2 spot so we could see a rematch of Michigan and Ohio State. They argue that if we had a playoff system it would match the best teams. I'd like to point out that not always are the top seeds the ones that win the playoff. Look at the unlikely winners of the Colts/Titans game were last Sunday (10/3 Colts lost on a final second 60 yard field goal by the Titans). This isn't a perfect sports society and never will be, period. Stop complaining and let's all enjoy some good sports.

If you read this and are saying to yourself, "Why did I just waste my time?". Here's the answer, I'm complaining about something I can't fix, my voice has been heard, and now I'm done. Have a great day.

Christmas Time

I really like Christmas. I mean, a LOT. Its not because I get presents, but is because of the season. First, its a b-day celebration for Jesus. What a wonderful thing to celebrate, the birth of the savior. Second, it celebrates what humanity is all about. The giving, caring, sharing, being together are all part of the season. You sing Christmas carols, drink egg nog, have family parties and generally just have an opportunity to be happy.

I do see that sometimes it is a stressful time of year because of what has happened to Christmas. Having little to no money for gifts or seeing others with lots of "stuff" and it not being enough for them. I sometimes get caught up in the idea of "buying" Christmas, but that is not what its about. I remember being a kid and the magic of the season. It was so special. Christmas songs, Christmas movies, and looking at the lights on the tree, all part of the magic of the season. As I see people get caught up in the $$ of Christmas, I remember a story from my father's youth that has become a family classic and will probably be an immortalized story within the family.

Years ago, when my father and his siblings were kids, they were a poor family. Unfortunately they lived in one of the richer parts of town. How and why, I don't think I'll ever know but they were definately out of place. Grandma was a divorced mother and during those times, it wasn't very common and was frowned upon. Talk about piling troubles on a family.

When Christmas time came, money was lean so presents were scarce. Grandma made I.O.U.'s for Christmas. These were little things like helping to do one of their chores or cleaning their room or something that was performed to help out the recipient of the I.O.U.

Now the kids, having received this, didn't understand the repurcussions of this gift. They went outside to see all the neighborhood kids playing with their nice, new, shiny toys and were upset.

Years later, they understood one basic fact from that Christmas. Christmas wasn't about toys and things but was about giving of one's self. Sharing with others who you are. Giving them time is more important than a shiney, tangible item. Love and charity are what Christmas is all about.

I've had Christmas' where were able to spend abundantly and other Christmas' where you had very little and had to get creative. Of all the Christmas' that I remember the most, the one's that stand out are not the times where we received a lot of gifts, but the times where we spent watching Christmas movies together, or singing (badly I might add) along with the Christmas albums.

I hope I am able to instill that into my own children as they grow up. I hope they will find more enjoyment in the season than in the gifts.

Merry Christmas, and in the immortal words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, everyone!"

Beating the Tag

Chels is sitting next to me writing a blog because she was tagged. So since I know she is going to tag me, I'll just go ahead and do my list at the same time. It's a Christmas Tag...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg Nog, Hot Chocolate is good but I have to be in the right mood for it. Otherwise it gets really cold and gross. Out of 5 cups of hot chocolate, I drink about 2 of them.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrap. That way we can watch the money we spent on the wrapping paper go right out with the trash.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Color. It makes it more festive looking. White lights are all over the place. Colored lights are cool.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Who needs it. Kissy, kissy, kissy.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the Thanksgiving weekend. So around Emily's birthday. ;)

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Spiral ham...duh!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: The power was out one year. We woke up to no lights on the tree, but we started a fire in the fire place and opened the presents by the light of the fire. It was nice because with every present the flames got bigger when we'd throw the paper in the fire. See what I mean about the money. Oh and every one since my kids have been old enough to get excited.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What truth about Santa. He's real. I will not stop believing.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? The kids open some pj's. We also have a Christmas party at my grandparents house and we open gifts there.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Lights first, then ornaments. No order really to the ornaments. As a matter of fact the kids are doing the ornaments now and Chels and I just go around and space it out a little. Star on last of course.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Dread it. Lived in Utah my whole life and there have been some good snow storms, not like Minnesota I'm guessing, and I don't like snow. If I lived in Minnesota I'd hate them too. I'm not a cold weather fan.

12. Can you ice skate? Yep, not good, but I don't fall down much.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My favorite gift, hmmmmmmm. I'd have to say that it was probably my Nintendo when I was young. You remember when the original Nintendo came out. I can't think of many gifts.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? The family. The fact that it is to celebrate the birth of Christ.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Same as my all year round dessert, Angel Food Cake.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I'd have to say the Santa letters. We changed Chels' family tradition a little. Here's how it went, and then how we changed it. The first snow fall after Thanksgiving, Chels and her brothers and sister would write their letters to Santa and he would come pick them up and leave a little gift. We do the same thing, but we do it after we finish decorating the house for Christmas. He comes and makes sure the decorations are fit for the season and festive enough.

17. What tops your tree? A star, that Jarik put on this year.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving. I like to give meaningful gifts.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song! Carol of the Bells.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Depends on the flavor. I know you could argue that real candy canes are only in peppermint or whatever flavor, but I like the cherry ones. They are the best.

21. What is your favorite holiday movie? I have a few. The Santa Clause 1 and 2 and Miracle on 34th Street. I also like A Christmas Carol and A Christmas Story. They are all pretty good.

22. Do you go all out with Christmas lights outside or just enjoy riding around seeing them on ther homes? Both, but not too close to Christmas for the riding around, it gets too crowded. "Whey don't these people just stay home?" Guess who said that.

23. Have you been Naughty or Nice? Nice, yeah, nice. *wink, wink

24. Do you shop on Black Friday and if so what is your most memorable experience? A little. But we don't get up early to do it. That's just stupid. Sleep in people, it's a day off.



Add a question to the bottom of this list asking something that YOU would like to know. Post it in your blog (or put your answers below) for others enjoy this tag!

25. Do you like to listen to Christmas music? Yep, on my mission we would start listening to after Halloween because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Ireland. And we get sick of the music that was approved. Since that was all I listened too, approved music. *wink, wink

26. When do you take down your Christmas decorations? Usually New Years day. Or thereabouts.

Pretty Fun Weekend...Common Theme

So the Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone without too much weight gained. We are now in full Christmas mode. Thanksgiving was good. Total of 4 dinners, with the last one being last night with my wife and kids. It was nice. Lots of turkey and stuff. The day after Thanksgiving, while the rest of the world is shopping, I am busily setting up Christmas decorations. I like to decorate, it is fun. Usually I take the Friday and Saturday after to do it, but our Saturday was booked. So I did the outside lights on Friday and the indoor stuff on Sunday. Looks nice.

Saturday we went Geocaching in Spanish Fork. When I say we, I mean me, Chels, kids, B, Aly, Mason, Nikki, Jayna, and Harold. I got my Garmin Legend not too long ago and now I know how to use it a little bit better. It's pretty cool. It was fun, we found 9 caches on Saturday. Then things started going south. Here's where the common theme comes in. I'm a sports fan, my favorite teams include the 49ers (NFL), Jazz (NBA), and Utes (College). This weekend all of them lost. The Jazz got their butts kicked and the Utes and Niners lost on last minute drives. What a bummer of a weekend.

Besides the big loss to the Cougars though, Saturday ended pretty good with a fun game of the Amazing Race, Darden style. Our friends the Darden's put on a party where we were in teams and did a "Amazing Race" style race. It was fun. Long, hard, but fun. Well that's my weekend in a nutshell. Have a great day!

Geocaching fun

Today was supposed to be Tracy's first geocaching expedition (yes, I'm rubbing it in.) He called yesterday to tell me that instead of going geocaching, he was going to St. George (see previous blog.) Anyway, we went anyway. Solved a puzzle cache that took us up little Cottonwood Canyon and a very long hike.

It was a lot of fun and felt, since I was logging the cache, that I would write a quick blog to tell Tracy, "We had fun with out you so there."

Next Saturday is a special geocaching trip. Am extremely excited about it and it appears we will have a fairly decent group going. It's so exciting!!!

Surprise for Mom

I am sitting in St. George blogging. Yesterday at about 12:30pm, Chels and I decided to join Rick and Nic in a trip to St. George to surprise my mom. We came down as a group to have a Thanksgiving dinner since she won't able to make it to Salt Lake for dinner at Grandma's. It was so cool to get here and have her totally surprised. We sent the kids up to the door and it was fun to watch my mom look through the window to try and see who was at the door. Bob opened the garage and Rick and Chels go running across the front of the house trying to hide. It was hilarious. We are here and it's been a good weekend so far. Here's a picture we took on the way down.

heynerd.net Changes

So I am moving slowly but surely on heynerd.net. I've added some text on a couple of pages, including my playlist and my geocache pages. These pages are kind of taking form, there needs to be some styles added to it and I need to put some pictures on there, but for the most part, they are moving. Go for a visit and enjoy what I have on there for now.

Black Hole

OK, so I've decided that black holes exist and they aren't in the vast expansions of space but right here on earth. Impossible you say, I don't think so. The dictionary has this as part of the definition of a black hole. Something that consumes a resource continually. So what is this black hole I speak of. E-mail. While e-mail, or email how ever you flavor it, is a necessary evil, it is one that can cause someone to enter a black hole. One of the biggest black hole issues is the e-conversation, you know that conversation that is going back and forth in email, black hole. Get IM for these things. Anyway, just wanted to mention that. Laters.

Number 400...Wow

Well this is the 400th blog in Whadda Blog. We've come a long way since that stolen Red Socks cup way back when.

Right now it is so quite in my house, minus the coughing by Bree, that the click, click, click of the keyboard is the loudes thing I'm hearing. It's is a little after 10 and if I was smart I'd head to the softest warmest place in my house, my bed. As a matter of fact, I think I hear my pillow calling. Such sweet sounds, haha.

The reason I'm writing right now instead of heading to bed is because Daddy gets to be proud about something before Mommy. Mommy gets to stay home and see all the fun stuff the kids do and gets to get all the fun information, good and bad, about school. So she got this good news but I get to be the first to brag about it. I know pride is a sin, but I'm pretty proud. Tiaree came home and was really excited because her and one of her classmates got the "Principal's Pride" award at her school. This is an award that is handed out to good students. She was so excited, her and Mommy get to go have lunch with the Principal of her school tomorrow. It's an exciting thing. In my day, having lunch with the Principal and my mom meant that I'd done something wrong and a simple phone call wouldn't do. But my kids are better, smarter, and cuter that I was. They are smarter then I am come to think of it. Well the proud daddy is now going to publish this post and head to that wonderful pillow and mattress that is calling me ever so sweetly. Goodnight.

While We Are on the Subject

I'm not the biggest fan of TV shows, usually. I don't like the time commitment, I'm afraid of commitment. Anyway, the shows that I actually like are Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Crossing Jordan. These shows rock. However, I'm in fear for both of them. Crossing Jordan aired on Sunday nights, now thanks to the NFL, NBC has football on Sunday evenings, kicking Crossing Jordan into the great vast emptiness of space. While I like football, my wife isn't the biggest fan and watching Crossing Jordan was our one last ditch effort to do something together on the weekend without the kids. Won't work with football, I've tried. So while we wait for the season of Crossing Jordan to kick off, no pun intended, we have been watching Studio 60. Then today I read this article about it. I guess it helps me remember that TV isn't the cure all to family entertainment, but you can only watch Cars so many times, thank the entertainment gods for Netflix.

Blog This!!!

Acually, I guess the title would indicate that I'm angry but I'm not really. I think I'm just in a cranky mood. First, I'll tell you why than move into the reason I wanted to blog.

Last Monday, I did something to my shoulder/back area. It got really sore. Tuesday, it was so bad, I didn't go to work. Wednesday and Thursday it seemed to be doing better but Friday was aweful. I spent the weekend down mostly. What we have determined I have, (self-diagnosis anyway) is a pinched nerve. So, Its been a miserable week and I have a doctor's appointment today either to fix it or give me enough drugs that I don't care. (I'm really a wimp when it comes to pain. Not that I can't stand it, I just complain a lot.)

Anyway, reason for the blog: Since I was down all weekend, I found out that Season 2 of "Quantum Leap" was at the library. Having borrowed Season 1 a couple of months ago, I felt it time to spend the weekend on the couch watching Season 2.

For those of you that don't know about "Quantum Leap", learn. It was an awesome series back in the late 80's/early 90's and was one of the very few series that I actually watched and kept up with on a regular basis.

Anyway, one thing I always wonder about is "after the story." What happens next? This is always something that has plagued me because, while you get to know Sam Beckett, you also get to learn about the characters quite a bit. What happens to them AFTER Sam leaves? What happens to the person that Sam leaped into after they return to their body?

In the show, Al states that they are in the waiting room. Basically, the souls change places but the bodies stay in their respective time frames. So, while we see Sam as Sam, everyone, including Al, sees Sam as the character in whom he leaps. You assume then, that the person displaced leaps into Sam's body. Does the displaced person, upon return to their body, remember that they leaped into someone else's body? Do they have a recollection of the past few days that they experienced through Sam? Given that Sam doesn't have their memories, my guess to that question is no but I think I could make a good Devil's Advocate arguement for it as well.

One episode that brings this up very strongly is an episode called "Sea Bride" in which his ex-wife is about to be married to a mafia-type and Sam is supposed to break up the wedding. In the process, the mafia-type groom tries to kill Sam by hanging him by his wrists and then throwing him out with the garbage. Sam escapes running up to the area where the wedding is taking place to announce that the groom tried to kill him. He succeeds in stopping the wedding and winning the girl, but then leaps out.

My question is this, did the mafia mobster get arrested and convicted of attempted murder? I know its not important to the show because the person being helped is the bride, but sometimes Al and Sam get a minute or two at the end of the episode to discuss the future of those helped and so you can know the rest of the story.

Knowing the impact of what Sam is doing, in my opinion, is very important to the story line. When you change something in the past, you change the future. This show does show that some of what we do is directed but that we do have free choices to make and somethings are meant to be.

Anyway, I really like this series and have my reservations in for Season 3 at the library. The show ran for 5 seasons and is, in my opinion, good, wholesome family programming.

A Long Wait

I'm a Simpsons fan and just wanted to let you know you can watch a new trailer on The Simpson's Movie.

Other Favorite Things

So my last post was about my favorite foods. I thought I would now write about some of my favorite music, movies, and other stuff like that.

My Favorite TV Show is Crossing Jordan. This is a show that Chels and I have watched for the last few years, it's our show and it's pretty cool. It was on Sunday evenings so we would get the kids in bed and watch it. Now we are just waiting for it to come on again. Another show that we are getting into is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It's pretty cool too.

My Favorite Movie(s). This is hard to say because there is so many movies out there that I really like. Here's a short list of some of them. LOTR Trilogy; Serenity; House of D; The Legend of Bagger Vance; I, Robot; Independence Day; I really like Will Smith as an actor and a singer, so most of his movies. You'll notice a pattern when I get to my favorite albums. So moving on...

My Favorite Albums. I like a lot of different music, but to find whole cd's that I like seems to be rare. I like a lot of the Disney soundtracks, Little Mermaid, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast...etc. Avril Lavigne, both albums, Let Go and Under My Skin, They Might be Giants - Flood, Most of the Garth Brooks albums. But I think that my favorite one at the current time is the newest by Will Smith. I like all of his, and a lot of his DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince albums. Lost and Found is a great album with some good guest artists, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige to name a couple.

Well that is quite a bit. I'm putting together a list of my favorite songs and artists, a playlist of sorts, that I will be posting on heynerd.net in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Cheese and Crackers and Other Favorites

So I'm sitting at my desk at 8:00 in the morning munchin' on saltine crackers. I have come to believe that saltine crackers are one of the best munching foods of all time. You can add a little cheese and have your own little tray of Hors'Douvres and I know we all love Hors'Douvres. So today I'm going to blog briefly on what are my likes for food and what not.

Favorites broken down by category:
Fast Food: Cafe Rio. We have been there twice this week and it was excellent both times. However don't eat it and then go to bed shortly after.
Sit Down Restaurant: Chili's, still my favorite, just haven't been there in a while.
Snack Food: Cheese and Saltine Crackers, I found that mild cheese is better than medium.
Drink: Dr. Pepper, though I do like Diet Pepsi or Diet Dr. Pepper with a lime.
Candy: Right now I'm in a bit of a any candy is good now. Frozen Snickers are good, but if I have to choose one I'd say Milky Way Dark.
Dessert: Angel Food Cake or White Cake, it doesn't need frosting. Just hand over the cake. Frosting is ok, but the cake is just fine.

Anyway, just wanted to blog since I haven't for a while. And this was a good topic. Well that just about does it for today. Laters!

Happy Anniversary

Nine years ago, I married a woman that has put up with me for the last nine years. So I decided to take a minute and give a short list of our accomplishments as we have been together:

Nov. 7 1997, Sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple
1998 moved to Logan, UT to go to school at Utah State
April 2000 welcomed Tiaree into our family
December 2001 finished up school in Logan, moved to Salt Lake
March 2002 welcomed Jarik into the family
November 2002 I started working for the U
October 2003 welcomed Bree into the family
April 2005 moved into our new house
June 2006 welcomed Keighlee into the family
July 2006 endured 6 weeks of Bree being in a spica cast (half-body)
Today celebrate 9 years of marriage.

There isn't a lot in that list, but it has a lot of our life changing events. Life has been great and we have had a good marriage. To my dear sweet wife, I love you and look forward to forever more with you.

heynerd.net

I'd like to introduce a new website that I'm going to do. heynerd.net. Ok, so it's isn't up and running with anything cool yet. I have to define what is cool first, then I will put it on there. I have some ideas for the site but you'll have to be in the know to understand some things. But for the most part I think I'm going to use the site to practice some web development stuff that I want to work on. Other than that, it's just going to be a lame website. So get ready for lame and enjoy it the best you can...

Wednesday, Ugh...

So it's Wednesday, the week is half over. Thank heavens! I was going to take Friday off to go to Tracy Aviary with Jarik's preschool class, but I have a presentaion that day. Stupid presentations.

So I'm getting ready to change jobs back to the web team, where I started. I'm heading back there to get back into that. It will be a nice change, since I'm not HIPAA ready. It's a tough team to be on. The web team will be fun to get back to. The reaction I got from the team members was nice, they are all excited to have me back on the team. Kind of gives me a big head. Anyway, it's all good.

Song of the Day time...I missed yesterday, but I did two on Monday so that makes up for it statistically for one per day of the week. :D Today's song is by Will Smith. I have liked Will Smith for a long time, he's one of my favorite actors and he's got some good music. Espically his early stuff when he was Fresh Prince with D.J. Jazzy Jeff. Today's song is Who Am I. It has Will Smith, Tatyana Ali, and MC Lyte. It's a pretty good song. Have a good day!

Return of the Song of the Day!

So I've been going through my music on my computer getting rid of some things keeping some things. Just cleaning up really. I came across a couple of good songs and realized that I haven't done a Song of the Day for a really long time. So today I'm going to do two.

The first one, and if you haven't heard it, you should. It's called "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What A Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. It is a way cool song.

The second one is "Safe In My Garden" by the Mama's and the Papa's. This song is cool because of the counter melody that is going on through the song. It just sounds really good.

If you haven't heard either of these songs, or haven't heard them in a while, go for it. I've linked the songs in the iTunes Music Store if you want the. :D

Fine, 8 Weird Things

So my wife has been bugging me to find 8 weird things about me and post them. She got "tagged" on her blog and mentioned that she was going to tag me. I watched for the tag and it never came, but I guess it was a verbal tag because she alwasy says something like, "Where are your 8 things" or "You haven't posted your 8 things yet" or some other smart comment like those. Well as hard as it sounds, I will work on my 8 weird things.

1. I have an order for when I take a shower. First the hair, then shaving, if it's time to shave, and then the rest. The soap runs down so it would be dumb to wash my hair last and let the dirt get all over a clean body. Makes sense to me anyway, and since I don't shower with anyone else, who knows how weird this really is.


2. I think that if one of my favorite sports teams wins, they should all win, if one loses, then the others should make up for it. Now since this isn't really true, I'd say it's wierd. After all the Utes lost to Boise State 36-3 and the Niners got shut out 41-0. So much for that weird thing.


3. Trains aren't bad things, unless they are on an overpass and I have to drive under it. While the overpass is surely stable and can handle the weight of the train, I shudder, physically, when I drive under a train on an overpass. When Chels is driving, she slows down, which really makes me go crazy. Stupid I know, but it is a true thing.


4. Although many don't find it to be wierd I think it is. I can't hold a new born baby unless it is my own. I don't think I've held any of my neices or nephews until they were at least 2 or 3 months old. Maybe even longer. I just don't trust myself.


5. I have to poop fast. Gross I know. There's something about hanging in the bathroom for too long when you've just left a stinky. If I have a good book, then I can spend some time in the bathroom but that's mainly because the book takes the stink away. That or it adds to the imagination of the book, who knows. For me it's get in get done and get out. Whewwww, don't go in there.


6. Another weird thing. I type a lot and I only use one shift key. I only use the left hand shift key. It doesn't matter what letter or special character I'm looking for, it's always the left hand pinky hitting the shift key. It's espically hard when I'm trying to captilize the Z or the X.


7. Trying for 8 is really stretching it. Sometimes when I walk, I have to take one step in the middle of the side walk and one on the line. If that makes sense. This is hard to do when the lines are spaced out quite a ways. Hence the reason I only do it sometimes. And even on regular sidewalks it isn't something I always do, just once in a while.


8. So while this is #8, I've been given the go ahead to just do 7. My dear sweet wife of almost 9 years says that I don't have many things that are weird. I can't think of any that most people don't do. And then there are some things that I do that you would all have me put in the looney bin for. But for the most part, these are the weird things in my life. Only 7 of them and that is stretching it for a couple of them. I guess I'm pretty laid back, or maybe I'm totally weird and noone has bothered to point it out to me yet. Anyway, which ever the case may be here are my 7 weird things.

Well now it is late, almost 11. I have to work tomorrow and so I'm going to bed now. Besides holding this laptop on my lap is getting really hot and I'm sweating. Please feel free to comment on anything you may think is weird. Have a good one.

I Found It

So I've been looking for a CD by The Beach Boys for a while. Don't ask me why I needed this particular cd, I couldn't tell you, but I needed it. For a long time iTunes didn't have it, and today I was just doing a search on it on google and google said that iTunes had it. To humor the dummy that put it on the website that iTunes had it, I clicked the link and sure enough, iTunes pulled through. So this CD that I've been dying to have I have. I'm excited as I sit here at my desk and listen to the cool sounds of The Beach Boys.

What a Week

So last week was a crazy week. This week is headed in that direction. We have Jarik and Tiaree in sports and the time that those takes is crazy. Welcome to the crazy world of parenting. Before it was easy, we had nothing going on and now we have a ton of stuff packed into one day. It is exciting to watch the kids play their sports though. I'm actually the coach of Jarik's t-ball team and it is fun. The kids run and run and run and there is nothing I can do to stop them, but for the most part they do a great job. Well I just wanted everyone to know that life is hectic and doesn't look to lighten up for a couple weeks. It's all cool though.

ATTENTION: Please Read!!!!

(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.

(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000.

(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171

Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Health Human Services.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Now think about this:

Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U. S is 80,000,000.
(Yes, that's 80 million.)

(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.

(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .000188

Statistics courtesy of FBI

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Remember, "Guns don't kill people, doctors do."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Please alert your friends to this alarming threat.

We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!!!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Out of concern for the public at large, I have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear the shock would cause people to panic and seek medical attention

Archer Fan

Ok, so I don't blog a lot and today is the second day in a row that I've blogged. I wanted to blog and let you all know that I have been doing a lot of reading this last two weeks. I finished two novels and have started on my third. The one I am currently reading and the one I just finished were by Jeffrey Archer. (link to his blog)

The other book I read was called Three by Ted Dekker. It was a good book. It had a slow middle section where you are saying to yourself, "get to the point", but it gets really good at the end. It didn't end bad, not how I was envisioning it, but it was pretty good. Chels is just finishing it up which is good because then I can complain to her about it.

The Archer book I just finished is called "The Eleventh Commandment". It is really good and is up to par with the other books I've read by him. The one I am reading is called "False Impression". I'm not very far into it and I'm already liking it a lot.

Not being a big reader I'd say that I'm liking it more and more. One of these days I'll finish the Eye of the World series by Robert Jordan. My wife has read them all and I have a couple friends that have read them all.

A couple of recommendations for reading if you haven't already read them are "Three" by Ted Dekker and "The Eleventh Commandment" by Jeffrey Archer.

3...2...1...Cast Off

So as some of you know, about 6 weeks ago my little Bree broke her Femur bone. Not the easiest bone to break but she did it. On July 22 she was put in a Spica Cast. For those who aren't familiar with the medical lingo, it means she is in a half-body cast. The cast goes from the toes on her right foot, up her leg, around her waist and back down to the knee on her left leg. Assuming you know it was her right leg that broke. We were camping at the time and she was running to see a bunny, damn bunny, and she tripped on a big root sticking out of the ground. Anyway, this Thursday we have an appointment to get the cast off. They will x-ray the leg again and if they feel it's healed enough and properly then the cast will be off...WAHOO!!!

If you ever want to watch someone who is already pretty bossy turn into the bad boss from hell, have a 2 year old break their leg and become immobile. When you ask Bree what she is going to do when she gets the cast off she mentions things like swimming, going on walks, general kid stuff except for running. Running in my little 2 year olds eyes right now is the worst thing anyone should ever think about doing. She says that you get hurt when you run, more specifically you break your leg.

She has done an exceptional job for being the spunky little 2 year old that she is to sit for the last almost 6 weeks and not be able to swim or play or anything really. She has had it with the cast and has let that show a couple of times. She breaks down and cries, though it is only for a minute it is the hardest thing in the world to watch. When she gets it out and realizes that there are only a few more days until it comes off she is happy again. Someone asked me if it went by fast and I think, no, it has been the worst 6 weeks of my life. Bree has really been an example to me in enduring to the end and having a lot of faith in the doctors and cast to help her heal. We have big plans this weekend and most of it includes swimming, swimming, and more swimming, oh and some walking.

If you were to ask me who my hero was right now, I'd say Bree McGee.

Lyrics Freak

So, I sit at work all day and work and listen to music. There are times where I think that I would like to either sing along and bug those in the cubes around me or just want to see what the lyrics are to the song. So I heard about this killer website called Lyrics Freak. So it's cool, you find the artist that your listening too and then you can find the song lyrics. I did it for a They Might Be Giants, Letterbox today and it was funny to try and keep up with them as they sang. Anyway, check it out...

Laters

A Trip to the Dentist

Today was my scheduled cleaning for my teeth. As many of you may or may not know, I'm not a regular visitor to the dentist. I'm pretty sure that anyone that chooses to be a dentist of their own free will has issues. Think about it. They willingly putting their hands in your mouth and sit so close that they can tell you, by the smell of your breath, what you had for lunch. How discusting.....

Anyway, I've re-evaluated a few things and feel that if I want to prolong my denture-wearing days, I need to make sure I'm providing the best care for my teeth that I can. So, I got dental insurance for me and the family and scheduled my appointment to have them cleaned and examined.

First thing they did was take 2 types of x-rays. One was a panaramic view of my teeth and the other one were the ones where you bite on cardboard. After having x-rays done, the dentist came in to scrape "stuff" off my teeth. Apparently, you can get mineral deposits on your teeth and I had some so he spent some time scraping that off.

He examined the x-rays and was very impressed. My teeth were perfect. No cavities, gingivitis, gum disease, etc. They were straight, the roots looked good and with the exception of some normal stains (probably left over from my smoking days) I was given the thumbs up on my teeth.

Next, a dental hygenist came in to do the normal cleaning and I was then done and on my way. I can definately tell something was taken off my teeth and they feel great. So, thought I'd share my good fortune since, well, my life is so exciting that I blog about a trip to the dentist.

...Then She Got on the Bus

So today was the big day...the start of First Grade. I left for work and my dear sweet wife was crying a little. She misses her really bad. It's weird to have her going to school all day, she is still my little girl. They grow up way too fast. Jarik starts preschool in a couple of weeks and then 3 days a week the mornings for Chels will be just Bree and Keighlee. I am excited to see how the first day goes. If I have time I'll blog about it tomorrow.

Target: Rabbits

Saturday I took Mason rabbit hunting for the 1st time. I was concerned whether he could handle the idea of killing an animal. To my suprise, he did handled it in true hunter fashion.

We went with one of my friends and had Mason "finish" off a couple of hits that didn't result in immediate death. He seemed to have trouble at first with the hiking portion but as the killing started, he became more involved with seeking out animals and on several occasions was on hand to shoot a rabbit to finish it off even if it was already dead.

Anyway, morbid subject but we had a lot of fun. The eldest wants to go so I may take her out to see if she can handle hunting.

Long Time No Type!!

It's been a long time since I've entered anything into this little blog of mine. So I decided while I wait for the dumb Microsoft updates to install I'd take some time and let you know what has been going on.

Life in general is pretty good. Work is good. The new job is pretty fun and I am doing a lot of fun little things. It's amazing how many things there are to learn when you start a new job. Life is good there.

The most exciting things in life, the kids, are doing well. Bree broke her leg about 3 weeks ago. When I say her leg, I mean her femer bone. One of the biggest bones in the body. Well because it was the femer bone to cast it the put on a spika cast, which is one of those half-body casts. It's really quite annoying sometimes because Bree is starting to act like a little princess and she's getting really bossy. You feel bad for her because she can't move, but you get frustrated at the same time. Here's a picture:

Then good news is that we found out that the cast can probably come off in 3 weeks. It is exciting. Bree gets this huge smile on her face when we talk about getting the cast off. She loves the attention but is starting to realize she's missing out on all the fun.

Other news on the kids. Keighlee is now 2 months old, time flies. Tiaree starts first grade next week. Jarik starts preschool soon. He needs it. Chels is good she just started Weight Watchers again, she is excited. Well time to go. Good night.

Sad days

It has been almost a month since anyone posted a blog to this site and I felt it time to post. Unfortunately, the thing I want to post about is not a fun thing nor is it a happy thing.

I felt I should post this because I am a father. I love my kids dearly and could not imagine having any harm come to them let alone causing harm to them. I may be over protective, but from the look of currant events, it isn't unfounded.

Two cases that have really got me bugged are Destiny Norton and Angela Andrews. For those of you that haven't paid attention to the news or the world around you (at least in the Utah area), Destiny Norton was a 5-year old girl who was abducted by a neighbor. When Destiny tried to scream, the vile creature covered her mouth with his hand suffocating her. He then sexually abused her dead body and hid it from police and investigators.

Angela Andrews was a 10-year old girl who was beaten to death by her father who stated that he "lost control". Information has arisen as to the life this child had. The things described that this child had to go through, I would not want for any child. And the worst of all, this was done by her father and step-mother.

Another case of late is Jayden Cangro, a 2-year old boy killed by his mother's live-in boyfriend who threw him across the room when he was babysitting.

I just have to say, these people are sick. It is scary out there to realize how bad it is really getting out there. I can't believe that people would do this to children. I know I've led a pretty sheltered life and that there have been numerous cases throughout history of evils done to children, but these just clarify that there is something wrong with people.

I know that after thinking about these aweful events, I've probably brought down the mood of a Friday, but I just am about to burst. Having children, and even children close to the age of these cases, really makes these events hit home harder than they should. I love my kids and would only want the best for them.

I hope I haven't ruined your day and hope that if you are a parent, that you will appreciate the beauty that is in every child. I hope that you will take the time to make sure they know you love them.